Friday, May 9, 2025

May 9, 2025

Good morning,

Welcome to the news for independent thinkers

Leading the News . . .

Pope Leo XIV calls Church 'a beacon to illuminate dark nights' in first mass . . . The new Pope, Leo XIV, has called for the Catholic Church to "desperately" counter a lack of faith in his first mass at the Vatican. Speaking the day after he was elected as the 267th Pope and first US leader of the Church, he warned that people were turning away from faith and instead to "technology, money, success, power, or pleasure". Leo said he had been elected to be a "faithful administrator" of a Church that would act as a "beacon that illuminates the dark nights of this world". BBC

Newly-Elected Pope Leo XIV Opposed Gender Theory

Voted Republican

Leo XIV's brother recalls the feeling of 'disbelief' over his sibling becoming pope

Americans in St. Peter's Square were stunned

Why he chose "Leo"

Social media account linked to Pope Leo XIV criticized Vance, Trump over immigration . . . A social media account under the pope's name repeatedly criticized the Trump administration — and especially Vice President JD Vance — in the months and years before assuming the papacy. A series of posts under an account for Robert Prevost — now the Bishop of Rome and newly anointed as Pope Leo XIV — shows the Chicago-born Cardinal reposting an op-ed criticizing Vance on his interpretation of his faith, and the strict immigration policies that Vance along with President Donald Trump have touted. Politico

Politics

Virginia, New Jersey Gubernatorial Races Show 'Leaning Democrat' Trends . . . The first "Sabato's Crystal Ball" report of the 2025 campaign season has been issued, and it shows that both states, which were carried by Kamala Harris by six points in 2024, are "leaning Democrat." Six points is certainly outside of the margin of error but not by enough to classify either state as "likely Democrat" yet. Daily Signal

There's a lot of concern in Virginia about Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, the GOP candidate.

Sen. Josh Hawley: The Pelosis Beat Every Hedge Fund with Their Stock Trading . . . Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and her husband, Paul, have made hundreds of millions of dollars off Nancy's insider knowledge, but Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) has a plan to stop it. Hawley reintroduced the Preventing Elected Leaders from Owning Securities and Investments (PELOSI) Act in April to ban members of Congress and their family members from being able to trade or hold stocks. Breitbart

Trump taps Jeanine Pirro for interim US attorney for District of Columbia . . . President Donald Trump on Thursday said he had picked Fox News host Jeanine Pirro to serve as interim U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia. The move came after Trump announced he was pulling current interim U.S. attorney Ed Martin's nomination for the full-time role amid faltering support from Capitol Hill Republicans. rior to joining Fox News in 2006, Pirro worked as a county court judge and then served three consecutive terms as Westchester County district attorney. Politico

GOP Lawmaker Introduces Bill to Combat Antisemitism on College Campuses . . . Following a rise in antisemitism at universities, Rep. Randy Fine, R-Fla., has introduced legislation aimed at stopping antisemitic harassment on college campuses. "I think if people are troubled by antisemitism on college campuses, this is the easiest way to stop it," Fine said of his bill. Universities have been aggressive in efforts to protect various minority populations, and yet some institutions "seem to lose all interest when it comes to protecting Jews," according to Fine. Daily Signal

House Votes to Rename Gulf of Mexico "Gulf of America"

Transportation Secretary Unveils Overhaul of 'Antiquated' Air Traffic Control Systems . . . Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced a massive overhaul of the United States' antiquated air traffic control system to modernize operations and reduce delays and inefficiencies. The Government Accountability Office had warned former President Joe Biden and former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg about the failing air traffic control system. GAO published a report titled "Air Traffic Control: FAA Actions Are Urgently Needed to Modernize Aging Systems" on Sept. 24, 2024, yet the Biden administration did not act. Daily Signal

Buttigieg was about as AWOL as he could be and is going to turn that into a run for president.

Joe Biden blames Kamala Harris' loss on sexism and racism . . . "They went the sexist route," Biden said of criticism that "a woman couldn't lead the country and a woman of mixed race."Biden rejected concerns about his cognitive decline prompted by a disastrous debate performance last June. "The only reason I got out of the race was because I didn't want to have a divided Democratic Party," he said, adding that the broader party didn't buy into concerns about his age following the "terrible" debate performance "but the Democratic leadership and some of the very significant contributors did." Associated Press

Blah blah blah, blah blah. Blah. Blah blah blah.

Democrats fume over Biden's return to spotlight

Trump fires Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden in abrupt move, sending Democrats into a frenzy . . . President Trump unexpectedly fired Library of Congress head Carla Hayden on Thursday in a move that sent Democrats into a frenzy. The sudden firing comes after accusations from conservative groups that Hayden promoted children's books with "radical" leftist agendas. "The current #LibrarianOfCongress Carla Hayden is woke, anti-Trump, and promotes trans-ing kids," the American Accountability Foundation tweeted earlier Thursday, just hours before the firing was made public. "It's time to get her OUT and hire a new guy for the job!" New York Post

At Tribute to Another First Lady, Melania Trump Calls Families 'Foundation of a Healthy Society' . . . First lady Melania Trump elevated the important role that families and the home play within society at the unveiling of former first lady Barbara Bush's U.S. postage stamp on Thursday. "Strong American families are the foundation of a healthy society and served as a steppingstone towards building a better world," the first lady told a crowd seated in the East Room of the White House. Daily Signal

Notably, in what appears to be a middle finger tribute to President Trump, George W. Bush did not attend.

Culture

Disney Picks Anti-LGBTQ Middle Eastern Country for New Park . . . Disney, which once dared to attack Florida Republicans for the sin of wanting to preserve kindergarteners' innocence, is now opening a new park in a nation where homosexuality is a crime. Disney announced Wednesday it would be opening its seventh park in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Left unmentioned is that Abu Dhabi's "vibrant culture" bans same-sex marriage, adoption of children by same-sex couples, production of or sharing of pro-LGBTQ material, and well, homosexual sex, according to Equaldex, which tracks countries' laws on LGBTQ matters. Daily Signal

Oh well, so much for that "Don't say gay" stuff, there's money to be made on Abu Dhabi.

National Security

Up to 1,000 transgender troops are being moved out of the military in new Pentagon order . . . The Pentagon will immediately begin moving as many as 1,000 openly identifying transgender service members out of the military and give others 30 days to self-identify under a new directive issued Thursday. Buoyed by Tuesday's Supreme Court decision allowing the Trump administration to enforce a ban on transgender individuals in the military, the Defense Department will begin going through medical records to identify others who haven't come forward. Associated Press

International

China's Xi Jinping stands with Putin at Russia's Victory Day parade . . . Vladimir Putin has led Russia's Victory Day commemorations with a parade in Red Square and heightened security after days of Ukrainian strikes targeting the capital. China's Xi Jinping joined Putin as he told thousands of soldiers and more than 20 international leaders that Russia remembered the lessons of World War Two. Putin used his speech to tie the war to today's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and said all of Russia was behind what he called the "special military operation" - now well into its fourth year. BBC

Money

Trump Brings Millionaire Tax Idea Back to Life . . . Fifteen days after taking a marginal tax-rate increase off the table, President Trump put it back in play. The president, who rejected a "millionaire tax" April 23, is now considering backing a tax structure that would return the top individual income-tax rate to 39.6% from 37% for people making over $2.5 million, people familiar with White House discussions said Thursday. Wall Street Journal

Please don't punish and disincentivize success. That's not what conservative populism should be about.

You should also know

Freed Hamas Hostage Slams Pulitzer Board for Awarding Prize to Activist Who Denied Her Captivity . . . Former Hamas hostage Emily Damari on Thursday condemned the Pulitzer board for awarding a prize to a Palestinian poet who publicly questioned her captivity and defended Hamas's Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack on Israel. "Imagine my shock and pain when I saw that you awarded a Pulitzer Prize to Mosab Abu Toha," Damari, who was released this January after nearly 500 days in Hamas captivity, wrote in a post addressed to the Pulitzer board. Washington Free Beacon

What RFK Jr. believes about his father's assassination — and how it's torn the Kennedy family apart . . . Robert Kennedy Jr. has long maintained that Sirhan Sirhan, who has spent nearly 60 years in prison for killing his father, is innocent of the crime. That belief has fueled division between him and the majority of his siblings as well as their mother, Ethel, when she was alive. And it's sure to heat up again as Sirhan, 81, could be eligible for parole again next year. "I believe Cesar killed my father," Kennedy Jr. wrote in a 2021 San Francisco Chronicle op-ed of security guard Thane Eugene Cesar, who died in 2019 and was never charged. "Sirhan," Kennedy Jr. wrote, "is not my father's killer." New York Post