Thursday, May 8, 2025

May 8, 2025

Good morning,

Welcome to the news for independent thinkers

Leading the News . . .

Trump to Announce U.K. Trade Agreement . . . The United States and Britain are expected to announce a trade deal on Thursday that will lower the burden of President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs, delivering a political victory for U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer that Trump can also use to validate his turbulent approach to the international economy. Trump posted on his Truth Social platform that the agreement will be "full and comprehensive." Trump is scheduled to speak from the Oval Office at 10 a.m. EDT, and Starmer will make his own announcement around the same time. Associated Press

Politics

Gov. Shapiro Silent on Women's Sports Bill After It Passes Pennsylvania Senate with Bipartisan Support . . . Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro has declined to tell The Daily Signal whether he will sign or veto a measure to protect women from unfair competition in sports, after the bill passed the state Senate in a bipartisan vote Tuesday. The Daily Signal reached out multiple times and connected twice with a staffer, but Shapiro's office did not provide a response by the deadline. Shapiro has previously opposed a substantially similar bill. Shapiro may be declining to take a stand on the issue due to presidential ambitions. Daily Signal

With Trump changing the tide of the culture, a lot of Democrat "moderates" who were either afraid to speak up to he left or agreed with them are now trying pretend they care about women's rights in sports.

Fetterman raises alarms with outburst at meeting with union officials . . . Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania was meeting last week with representatives from a teachers union in his home state when things quickly devolved. Before long, Fetterman began repeating himself, shouting and questioning why "everybody is mad at me," "why does everyone hate me, what did I ever do" and slamming his hands on a desk. As the meeting deteriorated, a staff member moved to end it and ushered the visitors into the hallway, where she broke down crying. Associated Press

Not clear to me if this is a thing or if it's the MSM trying to call Fetterman crazy the minute he starts making sense.

Biden admin prioritized 'social engineering' over air traffic safety, key aviation Republican says . . . The chairman of the House's Aviation Safety Caucus is accusing the former Biden administration of helping fuel the current air traffic control (ATC) crisis by its choice to fund progressive diversity initiatives instead of modernizing the aging system. Rep. Nick Langworthy, R-N.Y., told Fox News Digital that the former administration's marquee bill, the bipartisan infrastructure bill, was among several "missed opportunities" to fund a revamp of the ATC system. Fox News

Trump Taps MAHA-Favorite Doctor Casey Means To Replace Surgeon General Nominee . . . President Donald Trump is nominating Dr. Casey Means for the position of surgeon general after pulling Dr. Janette Nesheiwat's nomination. Means, a Stanford-educated doctor, co-authored a book on metabolic health with her brother Calley, who has become a fierce ally and public-facing spokesman for Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement. Means focuses on using nutrition to restore metabolic function as a means of preventing chronic disease. Daily Caller

Republicans fall further apart on Trump's 'big, beautiful bill' . . . House Republicans are falling further apart in negotiations on a reconciliation package that represents President Trump's first-year legislative agenda, with just weeks to go before their self-imposed deadline. GOP lawmakers on Wednesday sent conflicting signals on how to cut Medicaid, indicating they were no closer to a deal on one of the biggest points in their internal negotiations. On another key issue, raising the state and local tax (SALT) deduction cap, they lost ground in talks to reach a compromise. The Hill

Trump administration eyes release of Hur interview blocked by Biden . . . The Trump administration is making plans to release the audio of former President Joe Biden's interview with Robert Hur, the special counsel who investigated Biden's handling of classified documents and raised questions about his mental acuity, according to two Republicans briefed by top Trump officials. The details of the plan are in flux and it is not clear whether President Donald Trump and his advisers have made a final decision to make the audio public. Politico

Tim Walz: Trump Will Wear Military Uniform Soon, We're Fully Headed Toward Authoritarianism

Tim who?

Jill Biden's explosive secret White House diary could make her and Joe $30 million in tell-all book deal . . . Joe and Jill Biden are re-emerging from their post-White House life to hit back against a spate of new books revealing embarrassing details about the former president's declining health. Their first big joint stop will be an interview on ABC's The View on Thursday morning but the former first couple have other options they are considering, including a massive deal to publish their tell-all memoirs. Biden is already hard at work on his own tome about his White House years, writing at his home office in Delaware and his post-presidential office in Washington D.C. Daily Mail

Culture

Payton McNabb Responds to Democrat Moving to End Hearing Before She Could Speak . . . A House Democrat moved to adjourn a hearing before Payton McNabb, who as a teenager suffered a traumatic brain injury after getting spiked in the head by a male athlete in women's volleyball, could testify. McNabb told The Daily Signal she thinks the Democrat did this in order to prevent McNabb from speaking. The House DOGE Subcommittee in the House Judiciary Committee held a hearing called "Unfair Play: Keeping Men Out of Women's Spots." Daily Signal

Pro-Palestinian Protesters Take Over Columbia Library . . . Pro-Palestinian protesters took over the main library at Columbia University, hanging Palestinian flags from the walls, the first major demonstration on the campus since the ones that overwhelmed the school last spring. Protesters wore masks and kaffiyeh scarves, a symbol of Palestinian solidarity, according to video and photos on social media. People were standing on tables shouting on bullhorns, "Free Palestine." The New York Police Department took into custody several individuals who didn't comply with verbal warnings to disperse, a spokeswoman said. Wall Street Journal

International

Still no pope . . . Cardinals failed again Thursday morning to find a successor to Pope Francis, sending black smoke billowing up through the Sistine Chapel chimney after two more inconclusive rounds of conclave voting. With no candidate securing the necessary two-thirds majority, or 89 votes, the world will need to wait longer for a new leader of the Catholic Church. The 133 cardinals took a lunch break before returning to the Sistine Chapel for Thursday's afternoon voting session, where two more ballots were possible. Associated Press

Money

The Fed Isn't Ready to Join Other Central Banks in Cutting Rates . . . Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell played down any impressions Wednesday that the central bank was looking ahead to cushion economic weakness from President Trump's tariffs by cutting rates. At a news conference, he used some version of the word "wait" 22 times to underscore how the Fed isn't in a rush. Other economies haven't imposed large tax increases on imported goods. As a result, they are seeing the effects of softening demand and weaker labor markets but without the effects of higher prices that Fed policymakers could grapple with later this year. Wall Street Journal

Huge win for Trump as world's second biggest carmaker relocates manufacturing to US . . . Volkswagen Group, the second largest automaker in the world in 2024, is preparing to join the growing list of automakers looking to rejig its US factories in response to the tariffs. The German automaler's luxury brand, Audi — which assembles most of its lineup in its home country, Hungary, Mexico, Slovakia, Spain, and China — is planning to make some of its crossover and SUV models in America. Daily Mail

You should also know

Pam Bondi: FBI poring through 'tens of thousands' of Jeffrey Epstein's child porn videos . . . The FBI is reviewing "tens of thousands of videos" related to Jeffrey Epstein's sexual crimes against young girls before releasing any of the information to the public, Attorney General Pam Bondi said. Ms. Bondi denied claims from frustrated GOP lawmakers that the files have been destroyed or have gone missing. FBI agents, she said, are scouring the evidence to protect the victims of Epstein's sex crimes. Washington Times

Humanoid Robot Attacks Workers During Testing In Chinese Factory

The incident reportedly transpired at an undisclosed factory in China.

This country has the most beautiful women in the world — and it's a short flight from the US

Smokey Robinson denies sexual assault allegations . . . Motown legend Smokey Robinson has denied allegations of sexual assault that were made by several former employees. In a lawsuit filed on Tuesday, four female housekeepers accused the singer-songwriter of sexual battery including rape, plus false imprisonment and a number of labour violations. In a statement to the BBC, Robinson's lawyer Christopher Frost called the allegations "vile" and "false". BBC

Smokey Robinson?

Guilty Pleasures

Kangaroo caught hopping down road in Florida . . . Authorities in Florida said a kangaroo caught on camera hopping down the middle of an Osceola County road has been captured, but its origins remain a mystery. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said multiple calls came in reporting a kangaroo on the loose in St. Cloud about 5 p.m. Monday. Kaila Mullins captured video of the kangaroo hopping down the middle of Hickory Tree Road before going under a fence into some nearby farmland. UPI