Update (2358ET): After a long day of back-and-forth, the House Rules Committee late Wednesday night advanced President Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ to the House floor after nearly 22 hours of negotiations.

The panel voted 8-4 to advance the measure, which included several last-minute changes designed to appease both blue-state (SALT) moderates, and hardline conservatives.

Leadership released a ‘manager’s amendment’ about 20 hours into the Rules Committee meeting – which raises the state and local tax (SALT) deduction cap to $40,000 for individuals making under $500,000 – and implements enhanced Medicaid work requirements “no later than December 31, 2026.”

Other alterations were made regarding energy and environmental policies.

The bill now heads to the House floor, where the full body will debate the measure overnight in the hopes of passing it out of the lower chamber and sending it to the Senate by Memorial Day. 

The legislation also extends the 2017 Trump tax cuts & boosts the debt limit by $4 trillion.

*  *  *

After weeks of turmoil and negotiations, House Republicans are inching closer to passing their sweeping domestic-policy package, anchored by a multi-trillion-dollar suite of tax cuts, as Speaker Mike Johnson races to finalize the legislation ahead of the Memorial Day recess.

Following a personal visit to Capitol Hill on Tuesday by President Donald Trump and a flurry of behind-the-scenes bargaining, House GOP leaders believe they are nearing a deal with key factions. The House Rules Committee convened late into the night and early morning hours Wednesday, preparing the reconciliation bill for floor action. The committee had only just concluded its first panel – which included the chairs and ranking members of the Oversight, Budget, Armed Services, and Financial Services Committees – shortly before 4:30 a.m. (and then returning to their coffins for a nap?).

The second panel will include top lawmakers from House Homeland Security, Judiciary, Natural Resources and Transportation and Infrastructure committees, while a third panel will include the chairs and ranking members from Agriculture, Energy and Commerce, Education and the Workforce & Ways and Means. 

In total, 537 amendments have been submitted to Rules – none yet from Democrats. Notably, GOP leadership has still not released its long-awaited manager’s amendment, which will incorporate many of the compromises Johnson negotiated to appease internal party divisions, including revisions to SALT, Medicaid work requirements, and clean-energy tax credits, Punchbowl News reports.

Despite the complexity, Johnson is moving aggressively. He hopes to pass a rule and hold a full floor vote as soon as today – a schedule driven by his desire to meet the Memorial Day deadline, avoid attendance issues later in the week, and capitalize on rare momentum.

The legislative sprint follows a dramatic shift in tone after Trump met Tuesday morning with warring GOP factions and urged unity. Several Republican holdouts publicly maintained opposition afterward, but six senior Republicans involved in the talks said many were privately seeking off-ramps – policy concessions that would let them support the bill while still claiming political victories.

*  *  *

Best sellers at ZH Store last week:

• Steak Lover’s Bundle

• Grassfed Ground Beef Bundle 

• Ultra Combo Wagyu Bundle 

• Paper Street Tallow Set

• ZeroHedge Waxed Canvas Hat

*  *  *

As Just the News notes, a final push will require some conservatives to make a leap of faith, like Rep. August Pfluger (R-TX), the chairman of the House Republican Study Committee, is taking. 

“Look as a conservative, I want to save as much money as I can, and we have pushed for that in the Republican Study Committee,” he told the outlet on Tuesday. “But the President was pretty clear that we’ve worked five or six months straight on this, and it is time to get it done.

“That doesn’t mean that a guy like me doesn’t want more. Yes, of course I do. But I also want to govern, which means you don’t get 100% of everything you want every single time. You have to come back and do it again, and we will,” he said during the John Solomon Reports podcast.

Currently included in the Bill…

Trump tax cuts; the largest in history with an average $5,000 decrease per household, and includes ‘No Tax on Tips, Overtime or Social Security.’

Immigration and Border Security:

• “Big, Beautiful Deportations”: funding for 1 million deportations per year

• Completion of the border wall

• Expansion of border personnel – including 10,000 new ICE agents, 5,000 customs officers & 3,000 Border Patrol agents – and $10,000 bonuses for front-line border workers

Medicaid Reform:

• Remove 1.4 million illegal migrants from Medicaid

• Requires work for benefits starting January 2029

Spending Cuts and Fiscal Reform:

• $1.6 trillion in mandatory spending cuts – the largest deficit reduction in nearly 30 years – though the Penn Wharton Budget Model predicts deficits of nearly $3.3 trillion, even when accounting for “positive economic dynamics,” while the Joint Committee on Taxation sees the House reconciliation bill increasing deficits by $3.8 trillion through 2034.

  • The White House Council of Economic Advisers projected that the bill would boost GDP by 4.2% to 5.2% in the short run — a staggering level of growth that goes far beyond the mainstream consensus, via Axios.

• Repeals all of Biden’s “Green New Scam” subsidies & ends electric vehicle mandates

Social and Cultural Measures:

• Ends taxpayer-funded sex reassignment procedures for minors

Infrastructure and Modernization:

• Major overhaul of air traffic control systems

Support for Families and Workers:

• Launch of “MAGA Accounts” for newborns (tax-advantaged savings)

• Increased child tax credit, strengthened paid family leave, and repeals IRS gig worker reporting rule (>$600 for Venmo/PayPal)

Support for Farmers:

• $10 billion+ in tax cuts & eliminates death tax to aid generational farm transfers

SALT

One of the most contentious sticking points has been the state and local tax deduction, or SALT. Republicans from high-tax states have demanded relief from the $10,000 cap implemented in 2017. After intense pressure, Johnson offered a revised framework: a $40,000 cap for households earning up to $500,000 (down from a Tuesday proposal for income up to $751,000), with the cap and income threshold escalating 1% annually for ten years. While it falls short of SALT advocates’ hopes – particularly in addressing the so-called marriage penalty – it’s more than many conservatives are comfortable with.

“This is purely a House play and designed to deal with the political challenge they have to get to 218,” Senator John Thune (R-SD), a longtime opponent of expanding SALT, said in an interview Tuesday. “But, I mean, that seems like an incredibly generous offer.”

Thune alluded to possible markups in Senate committees once the legislation arrives from the House. But that’ll be dictated by the House’s timing and what senators think of the proposal.

“I’m a regular order guy. I think you can improve the product,” Thune said. “But obviously, depending on what happens in the House and the timeline we have to work with, getting committees up and going and doing their thing takes a while – and how ready the product is for prime time… There are certain things the Senate wants to have its imprint on.” -Punchbowl

Meanwhile, to placate the House Freedom Caucus, Johnson has proposed accelerating the phase-out of clean-energy tax credits enacted under President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act. Initially scheduled to begin after 2028, the new plan would start the phase-out in 2028, with a carveout for nuclear credits. Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris (R-Md.) signaled progress Tuesday evening, backing off prior demands to slash Medicaid funding and saying talks were “moving in the right direction.”

Still, not all conservatives are satisfied. Reps. Chip Roy (R-TX) and Thomas Massie (R-KY) are expected to vote no. Others are calling for the party to return to a two-bill strategy – a position rejected months ago by both House and Senate GOP leadership.

ROY just came out of confab with Johnson super sad. Says “we will see” if he still a “no” https://t.co/Xh3NuZULr5

— Erik Wasson (@elwasson) May 21, 2025

Despite those tensions, GOP leaders are betting on Trump’s endorsement and the pressure of a looming deadline to push the bill through. “Things don’t get better when you hold it out there,” one senior Republican said. Another added bluntly: “It’s easier to break up with someone from a basement over email. Harder to do it in person, face-to-face.”

Meanwhile, Democrats are preparing their messaging campaign. A memo from the House Majority Fund – a group aligned with Democratic leadership — advised lawmakers to focus on how the GOP legislation would raise prices for everyday Americans while benefiting the wealthy, rather than lean on technical deficit arguments or hyperbolic language.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) added fuel to the fire Tuesday night, estimating that the Republican bill would increase the deficit by $2.3 trillion over the next decade. The CBO projected automatic spending cuts to Medicare and other safety-net programs without congressional action and warned that the bill would boost the incomes of the wealthiest 10% of Americans while reducing incomes for the bottom 10%.

Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-PA), ranking member on the Budget Committee, called the legislation “absolutely devastating” for working Americans. Protesters gathered outside the Capitol on Wednesday morning, denouncing proposed cuts to Medicaid.

Despite the fierce opposition, House Republican leaders believe they are close. And if the manager’s amendment is released in time, Johnson may force the issue by calling a floor vote before lawmakers – including members of his own party – have had a full opportunity to digest the final terms.

For Johnson, the choice is strategic: act quickly or risk watching weeks of work fall apart under the weight of delay.

Authored by Jennifer Cowan via The Epoch Times,

FBI Director Kash Patel says the flow of fentanyl into the United States is coming from his country’s northern neighbour. He says China, Russia, and Iran are partnering with cartels to smuggle the drug into the United States via Vancouver.

Patel told Fox News that the Chinese Communist Party and the regimes in Russia and Iran are responsible for the influx of fentanyl pouring into his country. He said hostile regimes like Beijing, Tehran, and Moscow are collaborating with criminal organizations to smuggle fentanyl across the Canada-U.S. border following President Donald Trump’s sealing of America’s southern border with Mexico.

“They’re sailing around to Vancouver and coming in by air,” Patel said during an interview with Fox News host Maria Bartiromo that aired on May 18. The FBI is focused on fentanyl coming across the border and calling on state and local law enforcement partners to address the issue, he said, also noting that the Canadian government needs to do more.

“You know who has to step in? It’s Canada, because they’re making it up there and shipping it down here,” he said.

“I don’t care about getting into this debate of making someone the 51st state or not, but they are our partner in the north. And say what you want about Mexico, but they helped us seal the southern border. The facts speak for themselves.”

With Vancouver being identified by the FBI as a problem area, B.C. Conservative MLA and public safety critic Elenore Sturko is calling on Premier David Eby’s NDP government to implement a provincial fentanyl strategy, appoint a bipartisan provincial drug task force on drug trafficking, and launch two public inquiries.

“The FBI has issued a warning to Canada to prepare in the event that we see an increase in the production of fentanyl and other deadly drugs as a result of American enforcement on their southern border with Mexico,” she said in a video posted on social media on May 18. “This shouldn’t come as a surprise to Canada, because we know that between 2023 and 2024, Canada saw an increase in the number of gangs and cartels and terrorist organizations doing business here in Canada, primarily in Ontario and in British Columbia.”

A 2024 report from Criminal Intelligence Service Canada (CISC) indicated that participation of Canada-based organized crime groups in fentanyl-related activities has increased by 42 percent since 2019.

There are 235 criminal organizations engaged in fentanyl-related activities, with 35 of these groups participating in the export of domestically manufactured drugs like fentanyl and methamphetamine, according to the report.

Sturko said immediate action should be taken by the B.C. government to deal with the fentanyl issue.

“It’s never been more important for us to take action on illicit drug production in British Columbia,” she said.

B.C.’s Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General Garry Begg has said that his government is expanding police resources and “intelligence-led” enforcement to fight drug trafficking.

“Just this past October [2024,] RCMP federal drug policing dismantled the largest fentanyl and methamphetamine superlab in Canadian history, preventing over 95 million lethal doses of this drug flooding our streets. This is the kind of action that saves lives,” Begg said in the B.C. legislature in February. “We will continue to support enforcement crackdowns on drug traffickers and bad actors wherever they may be in British Columbia.”

Drug Concerns

The comments from Patel and Sturko come just days after the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) released its 2025 National Drug Threat Assessment, which links Mexican transnational criminal organizations (TCOs)—including international drug cartels and other violent criminal groups—to the fentanyl supply in the United States.

The law enforcement agency says Mexican cartels are capitalizing on the relative ease of the production of synthetic drugs compared with traditional plant-based drug production to generate immense revenues, primarily sourcing the necessary precursor chemicals from China and India. They maintain a “complex and robust” network—couriers, border tunnels, and stash houses—to smuggle all of the major illicit drugs into the United States via air and maritime cargo as well as overland traffic, the DEA said.

Canada was named in the DEA report as a destination point for shipments of precursor chemicals as well as a source of “growing concern” due to “elevated synthetic drug production” occurring there, particularly from sophisticated fentanyl “super laboratories” such as the type seized by the RCMP in B.C. in October 2024.

The production of fentanyl and its illicit smuggling across borders by Canadian criminal organizations has been a point of contention between the United States and Canada for several months.

Trump levied 25 percent tariffs on Canadian products not covered under the countries’ free-trade agreement USMCA, as well as a 10 percent levy on Canadian energy products, saying that Canada must do more on border security to curb the flow of illegal immigrants and drugs flowing into the United States.

White House senior adviser Peter Navarro has said the tariffs were implemented because “the president is fighting a drug war,” while dismissing accusations that his country was launching a trade war against Canada.

Canada has earmarked $1.5 billion to boost border security since Trump first threatened tariffs and, at his request, has also appointed a “fentanyl czar” to oversee a Canada–U.S. Joint Strike Force and named a list of fentanyl cartels as terrorists.

The Prime Minister’s Office said in January that less than 0.2 percent of fentanyl seized by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) comes from Canada.

According to the DEA’s 2025 National Drug Threat Assessment report, as of spring 2025, 22.7 kilograms of Canada-sourced fentanyl were seized at the Canada-U.S.border in 2024, compared to 9,354 kilograms seized at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Precursor Chemicals

But China analysts say the statistics on northern border drug seizures do not account for the Beijing-linked fentanyl precursor operations that are based in Canada.

“It doesn’t have to be that border services at the U.S. [bust] a big load of finished fentanyl,” author and investigative journalist Sam Cooper told The Epoch Times in a previous interview. “What is key here is that the precursors are coming into Canada and being shipped elsewhere, and the money laundering is being directed from Canada.”

Once these precursor chemicals are brought into the country, they predominantly find their way to superlabs located across Canada, especially in the Western provinces. “Superlabs” is the term used by the RCMP to describe the clandestine synthetic drug production facilities, which are “large-scale, highly organized labs generally tied to organized crime where drugs are produced for the purpose of wholesale trafficking.”

Federal investigators in British Columbia said they dismantled the “largest, most sophisticated” drug-production lab in Canadian history last fall, dealing what they described as a “decisive blow” to a major transnational organized crime group operating in the province.

Pacific Region RCMP Assistant Commissioner David Teboul said officers seized a combination of precursor chemicals and finished fentanyl products that could have amounted to 95.5 million potentially lethal doses of fentanyl.

Several million more “potentially lethal doses of fentanyl” were seized by the B.C. RCMP in March after investigators dismantled three synthetic drug labs in the province. All three labs have been tied to transnational organized crime groups based in British Columbia.

The police said it was not known where the drugs would have been shipped, but a June 2024 briefing note by Global Affairs Canada said that past seizures of Canada-sourced fentanyl have occurred in places like the United States and Australia.

The report identified China as the largest source country for illegal fentanyl and chemical precursors exported to Canada and North America since 2015.

Authored by Adam Sharp via DailyReckoning.com,

My dear friends, I think you are in very big trouble. Whether you believe it or not, YOU ARE AT WAR. And you may lose this war very soon together with all your affluence and freedoms unless you start defending yourselves.

–Yuri Bezmenov, 1984

In 1970, a Soviet KGB agent named Yuri Bezmenov defected to the West. His story is fascinating. Yuri shared key details on how USSR propaganda and subversion worked.

But first we need to discover why Yuri came over to the West…

Since the 1960s, Yuri had been stationed in India. His cover assignment was as a journalist for the Novosti Press Agency.

But his real job as a KGB agent was to influence policymakers, academics, and journalists. Yuri’s mission was to infect these targets with Marxist-Leninist ideology.

He planted stories about how benevolent and fair the USSR was. He charmed diplomats and politicians with vodka (and less tasteful means). He planted stories to discredit the United States.

He built relationships with influential Indians with a goal of shaping the narrative around the Soviet Union. He worked with students, recruiting future Indian leaders to study in Moscow and Saint Petersburg.

His job was to corrupt both individuals and institutions.

Eventually Yuri became disillusioned with his work. He realized that his efforts were actively harming the Indian people, whom he had become quite attached to.

So he decided to defect to the West. He disguised himself as an American hippie, and joined one of the wandering groups of backpackers which frequented India at the time.

Yuri slipped his Soviet handlers and made his way to the American embassy. They granted him asylum, and he was debriefed by the CIA and FBI.

Lessons in Ideological Subversion

Once in North America, Yuri Bezmenov changed his name to Tomas Schuman and worked as a producer for the Canadian Broadcasting Company (CGC). Ironically, part of his job was now to target Russian-speaking countries with Western views.

Yuri wrote books and lectured all over North America, warning that if the United States didn’t guard its values closely, they would be overwhelmed by the same type of social warfare he used in India.

Bezmenov described this process as “ideological subversion”. He claimed that 85% of the KGB counterintelligence budget was used to subvert countries. Less than 15% of KGB spending was on the cloak-and-dagger stuff we see in movies.

The USSR ran the same playbook in countless countries, and Yuri warned Americans that we were now the primary target.

He explained that ideological subversion generally has 4 stages.

• Demoralization (15-20 year process) – begin to undermine a society’s values, religion, and institutions.

• Destabilization (2-5 years) – encourage political polarization, unrest, inflation.

• Crisis (sudden but with lasting effects) – enacting change by taking advantage of a major destabilizing event such as war or economic crisis.

• Normalization (indefinite) – The now authoritarian and demoralized society becomes normal to citizens, and they barely notice its negative aspects.

Yuri said that it takes 15-20 years to demoralize a nation because that’s how long it takes to propagandize one generation with socialist ideals.

Bezmenov also said that once someone is subverted, it is extremely difficult to reverse the process. You can show them all the factual information you want, but it won’t change their views. They have become completely demoralized.

I would argue that America’s crisis stage was 9/11. It was a war combined with an economic collapse. Interestingly, this date also coincides with America’s declining religiosity. In 2000, 68% of Americans reported belonging to a church, synagogue, temple, or mosque. Today it’s just 45%.

Source: Gallup

Americans of all religions have been losing faith. Yuri predicted this. Disrupting a country’s religious values is a key part of the subversion playbook. However, we’re beginning to see signs of a religious reawakening. Many of my kids’ friends have actually encouraged their parents to join a church, which is a positive sign.

If you can’t guess, we are still in the midst of the normalization stage. However, Americans do finally appear to be waking up.

The only thing that will wake fully demoralized people from their slumber is a “kick in the balls” as Yuri said. In other words, conditions have to get bad before the brainwashed population wakes up. We’re reaching that stage now and I suspect we’ll hit the tipping point over the next decade.

Set in Motion Long Ago

To be clear, modern Russia is not actively subverting America. This plan was set in motion many decades ago during the peak of the cold war with the USSR.

Subversion is a “set it and forget it” type of operation. Once you influence one generation, the effect is self-perpetuating (up to a point).

It’s a disturbingly brilliant form of warfare. Silent, effective, and cheap.

Fortunately, there is a way out of demoralization. Yuri encouraged Americans to vote conservative, and basically said the only way out is through strong right-wing leaders. We have that in Donald Trump, and his return to the Presidency is a good sign for the country.

The left tried everything to prevent the re-election of Donald J. Trump. Fake criminal charges, lawsuits, slander, and more. Yet Americans saw through the lies. This is encouraging.

Additionally, young Americans are increasingly conservative. The old demoralized political left is withering away. Their appeal amongst young voters has plummeted, and the DNC is rudderless.

Our country will get out of this demoralized phase in time. We’ve already made good progress over the past decade and this should continue.

For those who wish to learn more, here are my favorite interviews, books, and lectures featuring Yuri Bezmenov:

• Socialist Subversion Explained (Youtube)

• Full Interview with G. Edward Griffin (Youtube)

• A Love Letter to America (PDF)

• 1983 Lecture on Subversion (Youtube)

Authored by Allan Stein via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

PHOENIX—While many retailers have struggled, business has thrived since Estefania Gasca and her husband, Cristobal Zepeda, established Thrift It Forward consignment store in Phoenix nearly two years ago.

Some days, the second-hand goods sell as quickly as they come in.

The couple has learned to appreciate the intrinsic value of old things, as second-hand resale and “do-it-yourself” repairs grow in popularity.

Gasca views it as a gradual paradigm shift—a new way of living based on old-school thinking.

“I feel like people are being more frugal. I feel that people are resorting more to buying second-hand rather than new,” said Gasca, standing behind the check-out counter on May 1.

“I feel like we haven’t experienced a [major] change just yet.”

COVID-19 revealed weaknesses in supply chains, resulting in empty store shelves and foreshadowing potentially worse situations due to global trade conflicts and import tariffs.

If it’s broken, second-hand tools can fix it as fine as new, Gasca said.

Used electronics, such as old gaming systems, computers, and digital devices, are among her best-selling products. They provide good quality at a significantly lower cost than large retail stores.

However, Gasca told The Epoch Times she is worried about the current unstable economy, which could lead to problems with pricing and availability, even for resellers like Thrift It Forward.

“We buy all of our stuff. We don’t get any donations,” Gasca said. “I’m afraid people will start selling more expensively. It will affect our prices. The [profit] margins won’t be as good.”

That means that thrift, budget, and consignment stores will have to start selling inventory at higher prices, undermining the purpose of buying second-hand items.

“We want to push reasonable prices because we know the economy is not as good,” Gasca said.

However, “we don’t want to raise our prices,” and there are indications that more challenging times may lie ahead.

If there’s a silver lining, Gasca said, Americans are becoming less wasteful and more practical with their personal belongings.

Hand-Me-Down World

Gasca said the country should be more self-sustainable. “We are a big throw-away society.”

“I feel a lot of people are coming in to buy [second-hand] as opposed to buying brand new, trying to keep their costs down,” she said.

“Automotive mechanics come to see us. We focus heavily on tools because there are a lot of fix-it-yourself people. Things go [fast].”

According to research by Capital One Shopping, between 16 percent and 18 percent of Americans shop at thrift stores annually, visiting more than 25,000 resale, consignment, and nonprofit resale shops across the United States.

Of these consumers, 93 percent primarily shop online, with bargain hunters spending an average of $1,760 a year on second-hand items.

In 2023, the U.S. second-hand market generated $53 billion in revenue, projected to grow to $73 billion by 2028, according to Capital One’s research.

During this period, the clothing resale sector has grown 15 times faster than the overall retail apparel industry and should continue expanding at an annual rate of 17 percent through 2028.

The most commonly thrifted items include clothing (67 percent), books (60 percent), furniture (49 percent), shoes (36 percent), and toys (29 percent).

‘Planned Resilience’

At the Christian Family Care Thrift Store in Phoenix, volunteer cashier Deborah Locker has noticed an increasing interest in recycling old items, commonly known as “thrifting.”

She sees it as a logical progression in a throw-away society, and people are often surprised by the quality of second-hand items.

“We got a new Prada purse yesterday,” which usually retails for hundreds of dollars, and now is selling at a fraction of the cost, Locker told The Epoch Times.

With other items, they will say, “What a bargain! It would have cost me $60, but I got it for $20.”

“I’ve seen more information on thrifting on the internet lately,” Locker said. “They’re in my news feeds.”

As global trade encounters increasing disruptions, Locker envisions a domestic economy focused less on planned obsolescence and more on planned resilience.

Locker said she tries to be a good steward of the world’s resources, not a “throw-away” person.

Thrifting is one way of expressing that conviction.

It often involves do-it-yourself repairs, and Marlina Kessler, co-owner of Bernina Connection in Phoenix, believes that knowing how to sew and mend clothes is an essential skill for the 21st century.

The sewing shop offers classes specializing in Bernina sewing machines, regarded as the Mercedes-Benz of the industry, along with fabrics and quilting supplies.

At the top of the sewing machine sales line is the B735 computerized patchwork edition, which sells for around $8,000.

“It’s amazing. I tell people it’s like a CNC machine that sews instead of cuts [metal],” Kessler said.

Kessler is primarily a garment “sewist” rather than a traditional quilter.

When she purchased the shop, established in 2002, she leaned more toward fabric sales and garment repair.

With rising prices and a renewed interest in extending the lifespan of clothing, Kessler believes that “fast fashion” is declining.

Fast fashion refers to the rapid and inexpensive production of trendy clothing that saturates the market. This phenomenon goes hand in hand with a culture of disposability.

Kessler said that this is where sewing and mending skills truly shine.

“We do a lot of classes. I’ve got a 23-year-old son, and he is much more aware than I ever was at that age about our environment, things that are just disposable,” Kessler said.

“I think the newer generation is placing much more value in sustainable things, creating clothing, and getting good products.”

New Life From Old Clothes

Purchasing second-hand items gives new life to old fabrics and reduces the cost of alterations, Kessler said.

“These bundles here are made from vintage quilts,” she said, pointing to a set of fabrics.

“And people will use that for what they call visible mending. They‘ll make their patches. Sometimes, they’ll stitch and elaborate, making them look cute.”

Currently, students in the Bernina Connections sewing classes are learning how to “upcycle,” which involves creatively reusing fabrics.

At the same time, Kessler knows that many of her suppliers are worried about import tariffs and the potential increase in wholesale prices.

“Our machines are going up in price across the board. We’re going to try to absorb as much of it so that we don’t see that [passed on] to the consumer,” Kessler told The Epoch Times.

When it comes to clothing, Kessler is practical and thinks long-term.

Why spend $100 on a new pair of fashion slacks or denim jeans when you can fix the ones you have for much less?

Why choose a shirt that lasts only a couple of years when you can repair one and make it last a decade or more?

Kessler said there’s pride in mending and creating clothing and value in keeping things longer.

Buying new items means spending a lot of money in some cases, constantly. And in the garment industry, there are certain immutable realities.

One is, “You’re always going to need to take up or let out your slacks,” Kessler said.

“You’re always going to need to shorten tops. It used to be so easy to say, ‘Oh, I’ve got a hole in my jeans, I’ll just go and buy a new pair.’

“Now, that option is more difficult. So we do classes on how to patch them up.”

For thrift store customer Sara Stafford of Phoenix, it’s all about product longevity and finding treasures “wherever you are.”

She is not very concerned about import tariffs at the moment.

“I think it’s going to build back up soon, especially with the small businesses,” Stafford said.

“And if we give back to our small businesses, it will be booming again.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has remained defiant and came out swinging in a Wednesday press conference amid growing international isolation and pressure, even from allies.

He declared at a press conference in Jerusalem that Israel will control all of Gaza when the military offensive ends, and this remains the ultimate goal – to fully and finally crush Hamas.

Netanyahu described that it was days ago, upon the approval of Operation Gideon’s Chariots – the greatly expanded ground offensive in Gaza – that he made the decision to initiate the next stage of the war.

He asserted that “At the end of this campaign, all of the territories of the Gaza Strip will be under Israel’s security control.”

However, he did also say that “If there is an option for a temporary ceasefire to free hostages, we’ll be ready” – this after calling back Israeli negotiators from Doha this week.

He further said in the televised news conference, which was his first since December, that “We must avoid a humanitarian crisis in order to preserve our freedom of operational action.”

Shortly after the address, regional headlines cited that dozens of aid trucks entered the Gaza Strip, which marks the end of an 80-day cutoff, and after intense pressure from allies to let aid flow, and amid fears of famine gripping the Palestinian population.

The BBC observed that Netanyahu’s tone was one of defiance and defensiveness:

Benjamin Netanyahu was in defensive mode, sticking to his guns and unfazed by critics – foreign and domestic – of his decision to step up the war in Gaza.

Operation Gideon’s Chariots is intended to “complete the war, the job”, said the Israeli Prime Minister at a rare press conference tonight to which only Israeli media were invited.

Despite recent reports this week that President Trump is “frustrated” with Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister believes he still has Washington’s full backing:

Despite growing calls from Israel’s European allies to end the war and address Gaza’s dire humanitarian needs, as long as he has the backing of the United States to continue the war in Gaza, Netanyahu indicated he will not change tack.

He said that his controversial aid plan for Gaza, which would bypass existing UN structures and facilities, would give Israel “another tool to win the war”. It’s a plan that has been widely condemned by the UN and foreign governments as akin to “weaponizing food aid”.

Bibi vs. the world…

BREAKING: Netanyahu: “I stand alone against the world — even against the self-haters in the Knesset — and I will not surrender. We will defeat Hamas.” pic.twitter.com/9FkUUyGxYv

— daniel (@LionsOfZion_ORG) May 21, 2025

“The president [Trump] is frustrated about what is happening in Gaza. He wants the war to end, he wants the hostages to come home, he wants aid to go in and he wants to start rebuilding Gaza,” one White House official said to Axios.

Yet, the reality is that US arms flow has shown no signs of slowing, nor has the billions in annual foreign aid doled out to Tel Aviv. Western leaders will likely continue their largely symbolic hand-wringing and expressions of ‘frustration’ – but nothing is likely to fundamentally change regarding the Israeli military’s trajectory at this point. Gaza is being turned into a parking lot, essentially.

Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news,

Every now and then John Stewart says something that undeniably hits the nail on the head, and he’s done it again while commenting on the renewed Biden cognitive decline and cancer saga.

In a Daily Show segment Stewart said of the cancer diagnosis “Maybe it is another cover-up. I don’t f***ing know. If they came out and said, yeah, Biden knew about it five years ago, I wouldn’t be shocked.”

He continued, “If they came out and said Biden found out on Friday, I wouldn’t be shocked. And I understand the excitement over an insidious Democratic cover-up about Joe Biden’s mental decline. The thing is, though, it was a terrible cover-up.”

“Because we all f***ing knew. All of us knew. There was no cover-up.”

He’s right.

Everyone with eyes and half a brain knew Biden was out of it and that his entire presidency was fake and scripted.

Stewart continued, “Poll after poll showed vast majorities of the public thought Biden was too old and too out of it to run again.”

“And that’s what’s so hilarious about politicians,” he further urged, emphasising “The cover-up doesn’t work when everyone knows you’re lying… the tell is when you’re so over the top about what you don’t want to tell the truth about.”

Stewart also absolutely seared CNN grifter Jake Tapper for suddenly developing a conscience and desire to report the truth now he has written it down in a book he wants the public to buy.

“How fucking weird it is that the news is selling you a book about news they should’ve told you was news a year ago … for free,” Stewart brayed.

* * *

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In 2021 Loudon County Schools in Virginia were implementing DEI policies that allowed for trans students to use the bathrooms and locker rooms of their preferred gender.  The institutional decision to let trans students essentially do whatever they please regardless of safety concerns led to an incident in May of that year in which a trans girl (boy pretending to be a girl) sexually assaulted a female student in a school bathroom.  

The Loudon case sparked a national firestorm, not just because of the rape (which the boy was eventually convicted of), but because of the reported attempts by school officials to cover up the attack. 

The teen perpetrator was found criminally responsible for two counts of sodomy in the May 28 incident at Stone Bridge High School and a separate incident on Oct. 6 at Broad Run High School after he was transferred to that school. He was placed on supervised probation in a locked juvenile treatment facility until his 18th birthday. 

According to court documents from the civil suit case, the victim claimed the Loudoun County Public Schools system failed to protect her when she reported the sexual assault to leaders at the high school, who did not follow Title IX protocols.  The filing claimed that the school tried to avoid reporting the assault to the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office and a guidance counselor refused to talk about the sexual assault at first, calling in the victim’s parents because she had been “beaten up” by a male student in the bathroom.

The lawsuit says the school only called the police when the teenage victim’s father “caused an incident at the front office,” as he became upset about the lack of law enforcement’s involvement.  This was the same father who was arrested later for trying to speak out about his daughter’s assault at a public school board meeting. 

This event and others set in motion a national debate over transgender policies in public schools.  Progressive run districts argued that parents have little to no say in their children’s educational environment.  Parents who raised concerns about trans policies were placed under investigation by the FBI for potential “domestic terrorism”.  The politicized nature of US schools was exposed.  The culture war was about to go nuclear.

When Democrats tried to ideologically groom other people’s children, that was the moment they committed political suicide. 

Fast forward to 2025 and the American people have decided the trans agenda is an unacceptable element of US schooling that needs to go.  The wider culture war is over but there are still elements of progressive indoctrination everywhere.  Case in point:  Loudon County Schools are once again in the headlines as they continue to try to force students to accept transgenderism as a normal part of their education. 

This time, instead of ignoring Title IX protections, they are misapplying them in an apparent effort to silence three male students who were caught on camera complaining about a transgender student (girl pretending to be a boy) changing in the boys locker room. 

School officials have pursued a Title IX investigation against the boys, calling their complaints “sexual harassment”.  Parents report that the officials tried to interrogate the boys and also refused to show the video evidence until pressured to do so.  

Nothing in the video footage indicates sexual harassment.  In fact, the boys respond quite the opposite, saying they are uncomfortable with the locker room situation.  The trans student who illegally filmed inside the locker room was, of course, not placed under investigation by the school.

Luckily, the story has caught the attention of the Virginia Governor’s Office.  Gov. Glenn Youngkin is looking into the district response, saying he’s “deeply concerned” about how Loudoun County Public Schools handled the matter.  Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares announced that the state will investigate Loudoun County Public Schools following media reports.

“Students who express legitimate concerns about sharing locker rooms with individuals of the opposite biological sex should not be subjected to harassment or discrimination claims,” Youngkin said in a statement.

The situation is reflective of a larger issue, which is the ongoing progressive attempt to change the legal language of sexual harassment to include charges against people that speak out against open door policies for transgenders in historically gender exclusive spaces.  The use of sexual harassment investigations is simply a weapon to silence dissent against the trans agenda. 

Women’s locker rooms and bathrooms in particular have become a battleground, with mentally ill men invading women’s private spaces across the country while claiming to be the opposite gender.  Incidents involving trans boys (girls pretending to be boys) are more rare, but represent an equally troubling development.  The Trump Administration’s intent to defund schools that enforce trans inclusion ideology will perhaps finally bring an end to the absurd debate, the the entrenched nature of woke ideology in the education system is a problem that will surely take years to sort out. 

Authored by Gary Anderson via RealClearDefense,

I recently received a call from an old Marine Corps acquaintance who now works for the Corps as a contractor. He has been heavily involved in the controversial Force Design (FD) project begun by former commandant, General David Berger, and continued by his successor General Eric Smith. FD has caused an intellectual civil war within the Corps that has pitted the current senior leadership against many retired marines as well as a growing underground resistance in the active ranks.

I have been a particularly virulent critic of FD for six years and have gone so far as to recommend replacing General Smith with a commandant more open to an approach which would head the Corps back to becoming a balanced world-wide force in readiness rather than being a China-centric force as directed under FD.

I was asked what actions on the part of the current leadership would cause people like me to be less antagonistic toward General Smith and FD.

I started off by telling him that I don’t presume to speak for the other people who think that FD is a terrible idea, including every living former commandant, with the exception of Gen Berger. Every living USMC Medal of Honor winner, most of the former Marine Corps combatant commanders, and the editor of the alternative Marine Corps publication “Compass Points”.

However, I did outline three steps that would shut me up. All of them are designed to give future commandants some latitude to determine the future of the Corps. Right now, whoever the next commandant is, he will have one option, and that is FD.

First, conduct a real operational and tactical field test of FD. Most critics argue that it is a flawed concept at the strategic, operational, and tactical levels of war. Its operational assumption is that small groups of Marines known as Stand-in-Forces (SIF) can operate from the hundreds of isolated islets and shoals in China’s first island chain, firing sub-sonic NEMSIS anti-ship missiles at Chinese naval combatants. The theory is that they will “shoot and scoot” from islet to islet before the Chinese can develop a firing solution. They would theoretically be transported by light, yet to be built, Navy Medium Landing Ships (LSM).

Most of the critics of FD, myself among them, believe that the SIF will not be able to scoot fast enough to avoid Chinese detection and destruction. Although the personnel numbers are relatively small, the missiles, launchers, and radars are bulky and not easily transported. However, I for one, am willing to be proved wrong.

After six long years, the Marine Corps has exactly one SIF deployed to the Philippines. It could be declared an experimental unit and tested in deployment/employment exercises with the U.S. Navy playing the Chinese Red Team.

However, since the transport LSMs do not yet exist, the marines would have to borrow Army ships with similar capabilities for the experimental exercises. These exercises should be conducted and umpired by the Commander of the Indo-Pacific Command. Being the supported Combatant Commander, If he determines that the concept is as useless as many retired and current marines think it is, the concept can be scrapped before it does any more damage to the Corps in particular and national defense in general.

The second step is a logical follow-on to the first. The commandant should form two more experimental units, one of tanks and one of heavy engineers to include an assault bridging capability. If FD shows itself to be the fraud that I think it is, the next commandant will at least have something to build from.

The Army is looking at some lighter and more transportable tank and engineer capabilities that the Marine Corps discarded to afford the missiles and radars to support the SIFs for FD implementation. At least the new commandant would have something in the way of expertise with which to rebuild a semi-castrated Marine Corps.

A final step would be to insist that the Navy commit to a thirty-eight big deck amphibious ship fleet. When General Berger released the Navy from that requirement the then CNO promised him that the Navy could maintain the capability to maintain three Marine Expeditionary Units afloat world-wide 24/7.

The combination of incompetence and negligence the Navy has fallen far short of that promise. Incredibly, the other living commandants recently allowed Berger to sign on to a letter urging the Navy to expand its amphibious fleet. That is akin to letting the fox complain about hen house security.

I warned my former colleague that my recommendations would probably not be well received at Headquarters Marine Corps or at Quantico and that the current Marine Corps leadership has an unfortunate reputation for shooting the messenger. However, if General Smith wants to quiet the insurgents in the family, those recommendations would be a good place to start. To paraphrase Lynyrd Skynyrd – give me three steps General – and you won’t hear from me no more. 

Gary Anderson is a retired Marine Corps Colonel who also acted as a Special Advisor to the Deputy Secretary of Defense. He is the author of Beyond Mahan; a Naval Strategy for the 21st Century.

Authored by Philip Wegmann via RealClearPolitics,

Dubbed a White House-in-waiting during his exile, the America First Policy Institute now seems nearly like another White House campus – almost half of President Trump’s Cabinet is expected to address the AFPI policy summit this week in Washington, D.C.

The roster of speakers reflects not just the rising influence of the new think tank but also the stunning reversal in Republican political fortunes. AFPI was born from failure. After the 2020 election, founder and then-CEO Brooke Rollins was looking to salvage the “Trump 2.0” policy portfolio, the detailed plans for a second presidential term that never came, or rather, one that was delayed.

Her motivating question at the time: “How do we continue moving forward when we are no longer in the White House?” The answer will be on full display when assorted MAGA dignitaries kick off the summit Tuesday at the Kennedy Center by toasting “the America First Moment.” After decamping to a nearby Beltway hotel for the next two days, they will celebrate the crowning achievement of the young institute.

Over 86% of the 196 federal policies that AFPI drafted and recommended in 2022, while Republicans were still in the wilderness, have been advanced or enacted during the first 100 Days of the Trump administration, RealClearPolitics is first to report.

“President Trump has kept his promises. His administration’s speed and clarity in acting on these priorities is not just impressive, it’s historic,” said Greg Sindelar, who took over as interim CEO earlier this year. “The America First Agenda was always rooted in the needs of real people, not the whims of Washington. What we’re seeing now is the natural result of a movement that’s aligned with the public, led by conviction, and governed with urgency.” 

Some of the policies now implemented were already standard GOP boilerplate, like border security and economic deregulation, when AFPI made their recommendations. Others directly mirror institute white papers, like the plan to reclassify the employment status of thousands of civil servants, lay off large portions of the federal workforce, and remake the bureaucracy in Trump’s own image.

Known as “Schedule F,” the expansion of executive authority was an Institute brainchild. Its mastermind, a policy wonk named James Sherk, went with Trump into the White House. So did many of the AFPI staff, and while some in the beltway will quibble over who originated what policy idea, what is undeniable is that the Trump think tank maxed out the maxim that personnel is policy.

The AFPI people are everywhere in the White House and in key positions across the administration. By their count – and reported here for the first time – no less than 73 institute alumni now work for the president. The most prominent can be found seated next to Trump in the Cabinet Room.

Rollins took a hiatus from the think tank to lead the Agriculture Department, while Linda McMahon, who chaired the AFPI board and later co-chaired the second Trump transition, now serves as the head of the Education Department. They are not the only former colleagues around the Cabinet table.

Attorney General Pam Bondi led the think tank’s legal arm before taking over the Department of Justice. Veteran Affairs Secretary Doug Collins was previously the chair of the AFPI state chapter in Georgia. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin helmed the institute’s China initiative. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner led the Center for Education Opportunity.

Other Cabinet-level officials who are AFPI alums include CIA Director John Ratcliffe, FBI Director Kash Patel, and National Economic Council director Kevin Hassett.

It is a full house. And by design.

“When we roll into 2024, we will have policies and we will have the people that are set to go,” predicted Keith Kellogg before the Biden presidency had even reached the halfway point. When they were new in town, the first Trump transition team faced a personnel crisis, the retired Army lieutenant general told RCP, forcing the incoming White House to scramble to find qualified staff. But with AFPI as a talent scout, he said, Trump will not “have the JV team.”

Kellogg now serves as U.S. special envoy to Ukraine.

And in this way, by identifying key personnel early and by hammering out policy ahead of time, AFPI built out-of-the-box instructions for the current president. More efficient than the original, Trump 2.0 has been defined by a flood-the-zone strategy. The speed has even awed some former Biden officials. One told Axios recently, “Gosh, I wish I could work for an administration that could move that quickly.”

While the administration raided the AFPI bench for talent, the think tank continues to churn out policy from its new headquarters in the offices adjacent to the luxurious Willard Intercontinental Hotel across the street from the White House. They have already replenished their ranks with 56 new hires this year. It is designed to be a full-stack operation.

Kellyanne Conway, who served as senior counselor to the president in the first Trump White House, leads the AFPI polling operation. [ZH: hmmmm] The topline of a poll commissioned ahead of the policy summit: “America First” policies are supported by the public by a 12-point margin (47% to 35%).

Those numbers are central to the current and overall argument of the institute. The populism of Trump is more durable than just the current moment, they insist. They believe that it can and ought to serve as an enduring foundation for the next several decades of the GOP. Their ambitions are grand. “The road ahead is clear,” said AFPI spokeswoman Jen Pellegrino. “Build on this foundation and lay the groundwork for an America First century.”