At the moment, amid ongoing Yemen operations the US has sent two aircraft carriers, deployed a significant number of B-2 stealth bombers and fighter jets, as well as deployed missile defense systems to the Middle East.

But some top US officials have argued that China remains the top ‘pacing threat’ and rival. These officials fear that Washington is overcommitting itself to the anti-Houthi campaign, and blowing through valuable resources which will be hard to replace quickly.

Some defense officials also fear US force readiness in the Pacific is being hurt by the commitment to the Red Sea theatre. This is precisely what some told the NY Times in a fresh report.

“U.S. commanders planning for a possible conflict with China are increasingly concerned that the Pentagon will soon need to move long-range precision weapons from stockpiles in the Asia-Pacific region to the Middle East, congressional officials say,” The Times writes. “That is because of the large amount of munitions that the United States is using in a bombing campaign in Yemen ordered by President Trump.”

At this point both CNN and the NYT Times say the Yemen campaign has surpassed a one billion dollar price tag after just three weeks of bombing raids.

And yet the Houthis haven’t given up, but have continued launching attacks on Israel and US warships off Yemen’s coast. They have also claimed to have downed several expensive MQ-9 Reaper drones.

According to more from NYT:

Several Trump aides, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Elbridge Colby, the under secretary of defense for policy, have said that the United States must prioritize strengthening its forces in the Asia-Pacific region to deter China, which is rapidly building up its military and its nuclear arsenal.

Those officials argue that U.S. arms support for Ukraine in its defense against Russia and decades of military campaigns in the Middle East and Afghanistan have siphoned off important resources from Asia. If Israel attacks Iran’s nuclear enrichment sites in the coming months and ignites a wider Middle East war, the Trump administration would almost certainly commit more U.S. military resources to the region.

The New York Times reported last week that the monthlong bombing campaign was much larger than the Pentagon had publicly disclosed. The Pentagon used up about $200 million of munitions in the first three weeks alone, U.S. officials said. The costs are much higher — well over $1 billion at this point — when operational and personnel expenses are taken into account, they added.

Of course, Ukraine has been a conflict the Pentagon has poured billions worth of its own arsenal into, dwindling US defense stockpiles.

Recently in the Middle East, American troops have paid the ultimate price for US defense preparedness being prioritized elsewhere…

“It’s maddening”
“Shameful”
US Army outpost that was attacked by a drone and 3 troops killed had asked and was denied new anti-drone defense system and radar 4 months earlier.
Yet we drew down our stockpiles for Kyiv.https://t.co/NhkkyKq26q

— Kelley B. Vlahos (@KelleyBVlahos) April 7, 2025

Whether in Yemen or Ukraine, Washington does not as yet have clearly defined mission goals. This has long been par for the course when it comes to US foreign adventurism abroad.

President Trump wants to rapidly wind down the Ukraine war, but has verbalized he’s ready to keep bombing Yemen until the Houthis relent in their attacks. And meanwhile, a push for a renewed Gaza ceasefire is nowhere on the horizon.

Authored by Forrest Marion via RealClearDefense,

In recent days, domestic terrorists have engaged in political violence against Elon Musk’s Tesla enterprise: torching cars, vandalizing dealerships, and more. Leftist political leaders have employed the same kind of rhetoric against Mr. Musk that, during last year’s campaign, encouraged two assassination attempts against President Trump. Apparently, the ongoing violence against Tesla and the personal threats against the former darling of the Democrats are for no other reasons than Musk’s willingness to lead the Trump 47 administration’s attempts to curb the long-running and insanely wasteful, fraudulent, and corrupt federal spending that threatens the country with fiscal and economic ruin. In short, Musk is doing his best to halt Social Security payments to “eligible” recipients who are, literally, older than Moses (Deuteronomy 34:7).  

These developments are timely for recalling Elon Musk’s accomplishments a decade or more ago, which have proven indispensable to advancing his adopted country’s space capabilities and in the process bringing benefits to many millions of Americans as well as to earthlings all over the globe. 

I’m fully aware that the documented record of the 2010s is ancient history for many. So this piece seeks to lay out the historical record plainly and concisely.

In the latter part of the George W. Bush administration (2001-2009), the space shuttle program was expected to end by 2010. As a result, America’s hopes for returning her astronauts to the moon by 2020 rested on the Lockheed and Boeing contracted Constellation program. But as the incoming Barak Obama administration took stock in 2009, the Constellation program’s unsustainability became apparent. It was two years behind schedule and well over budget. In 2010 the Obama space team judged the Constellation program “unexecutable.” Obama cancelled it along with the shuttle program despite the furor of some former astronauts, most notably Neil Armstrong. (Developments since 2010 strongly suggest that Obama made the right call on the cancellation, albeit having no more than a modest interest in space.)

Enter those whom author Christian Davenport called “the Space Barons” in his fine book by the same title. The U.S. government’s civil and National Security Space (NSS) programs needed fresh thinking and simpler processes to attract young entrepreneurs willing to take risks that the large, legacy contractors could not or refused to take. Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin were the two up-and-coming space enterprises that most notably entered the field. And they produced.

SpaceX had achieved orbit with its Falcon rocket in late 2008. Over the next several years, Musk’s company continued improving its capabilities and cost effectiveness in terms of space transportation. One unforgettable moment in that evolution occurred in December 2015 when on a mission to fly eleven commercial satellites into orbit, SpaceX not only succeeded with the satellite mission but on the back end managed to land the Falcon 9’s first stage booster safely—the company’s first-ever successful landing of a first stage rocket. It was only the second such landing, as Blue Origin had done it only a month earlier on a suborbital launch. The pandemonium at SpaceX headquarters that night reminded many of Apollo 11 in 1969. The door was now opened to huge cost savings in commercial space as well as NSS missions. It was a game changer. 

In a meeting with Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter at the Pentagon in June 2016, Musk and the defense chief discussed innovation. (Note that Musk’s visit to the Pentagon earlier in 2025 was not his first meeting with a U.S. defense secretary.) More important, in the spring of 2016 SpaceX secured its first U.S. Air Force contract to fly NSS satellites into space. Led by Musk and Bezos, the “NewSpace actors” – as Obama had called them – were gaining prominence and partnering more closely than before with NSS interests.

Without the leadership of Musk and Bezos a decade ago, U.S. civil space and NSS might look much different than it does today. And for any Tesla-attacking terrorists who want to show the rest of us the strength of their convictions against Elon Musk, all they need to do is throw away their cell phones, shred their credit cards, and turn off their cars’ navigation systems – all of which depend on satellite capabilities, much of it thanks to Musk’s SpaceX.    

Forrest L. Marion, Ph.D., is a retired military historian. The author of four military histories, his most recent work is Standing Up Space Force: The Road to the Nation’s Sixth Armed Service (Naval Institute Press, 2023).  

Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Maine is suing the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) over the agency’s decision to block federal funds because the state allows male athletes to compete in female sports, which the department says violates anti-discrimination rules.

On April 2, Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins sent a letter to Maine Gov. Janet Mills saying she has paused federal funds for certain educational programs in the state, citing the violation of Title IX laws. Specifically, Maine was accused of failing to protect female student athletes from having to compete against or having to appear unclothed before males.

On April 7, Maine filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court against the USDA and Rollins, accusing them of committing a “blatantly unlawful action” by freezing federal funds allocated to Maine “to feed schoolchildren.”

“The secretary took this action without following any of the statutory and regulatory requirements that must be complied with when terminating federal funds based on alleged violations of Title IX,” the complaint said.

In her letter, Rollins said the funding pause “does not impact federal feeding programs or direct assistance to Mainers; if a child was fed today, they will be fed tomorrow.”

Title IX prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in any education program or activity receiving funds from the federal government.

The complaint said that freezing funds would make it difficult for the state to compensate certain employees and pay for equipment associated with school meal programs.

“Without staff and equipment, there will be no way for CNP [Child Nutrition Program] staff to collect, approve, and process claims for reimbursement from schools and other facilities providing meals to children and vulnerable adults. There will thus be no way to get funds from the USDA to schools and other facilities, and children will not be fed,” the lawsuit said.

Maine argued that the Agriculture secretary’s interpretation of Title IX is wrong.

“Several federal courts have held that Title IX and the Equal Protection Clause require schools to permit transgender girls and women to play on girls’ and women’s teams,” said the argument.

The lawsuit further asked the court to vacate the secretary’s action and issue a temporary restraining order as well as a permanent injunction prohibiting Rollins and the department from freezing federal funds for alleged Title IX violations.

In the letter to the Maine governor, Rollins said that the “defiance of federal law has cost your state, which is bound by Title IX in educational programming.”

If Maine is to continue receiving USDA funds, it must demonstrate compliance with Title IX protection of female athletes, the letter said.

USDA has also initiated a review of grants awarded to the Maine Department of Education (MDOE) by the Biden administration, many of which “appear to be wasteful, redundant, or otherwise against the priorities of the Trump administration.”

Investigating Maine

In February, the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights initiated an investigation into the MDOE for potential violation of Title IX. In March, the office concluded that MDOE had breached the regulations.

The investigation came after President Donald Trump signed a presidential action on Feb. 5 opposing “male competitive participation in women’s sports” and rescinding “all funds from educational programs that deprive women and girls of fair athletic opportunities.”

Allowing men to compete against women at sporting events is “demeaning, unfair, and dangerous to women and girls, and denies women and girls the equal opportunity to participate and excel in competitive sports,” it said.

On Feb. 21, Trump and Mills, a Democrat, clashed over the issue at a White House event. After Trump accused Mills of allowing her state to violate an executive order prohibiting males from competing as females, Mills responded: “We’re going to follow the law, sir. See you in court.”

Meanwhile, the Department of Education and the Department of Justice (DOJ) last week announced the formation of the Title IX Special Investigations Team amid a “staggering volume of Title IX complaints.”

The team of DOJ and Education Department investigators will apply a “rapid resolution” process to deal with the rising number of cases.

“Today’s establishment of the Title IX SIT will benefit women and girls across this nation who have been subjected to discrimination and indignity in their educational activities,” said Secretary of Education Linda McMahon.

“To all the entities that continue to allow men to compete in women’s sports and use women’s intimate facilities: There’s a new sheriff in town. We will not allow you to get away with denying women’s civil rights any longer.”

Authored by Stacy Robinson via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden ruled on April 8 that President Donald Trump’s administration cannot exclude The Associated Press news wire service (AP) from limited-access presidential events, solely based on its refusal to use the name “Gulf of America” instead of Gulf of Mexico.

The AP had sued the Trump administration and some of its press staff after it lost its place in the exclusive, 13-member press pool, which has access to the president in places like the Oval Office, or while traveling on Air Force One.

McFadden ruled that the government infringed upon the AP’s First Amendment rights by denying it access to events on Feb. 11, after it refused to update its style guide to reflect Trump’s order that changed the name of the body of water bordering the southern United States.

On Feb. 25, the White House announced that its press team would decide who was eligible for press pool access, taking that privilege away from the White House Press Correspondents’ Association.

The AP defended itself by saying it was an international outlet, and that most of the world still used the term “Gulf of Mexico.”

It alleged in court that the White House was limiting its access to events that were generally open to most other media.

McFadden found that the AP had indeed been “excluded from large events far more often than its peers,” although it was sometimes allowed to have a photographer, or a journalist from one of its overseas branches, present.

He also noted that the AP has been “hemorrhaging” money for the past two months, as the quality of its reporting and photography declined due to lost access, and its customers turned to other outlets.

However, the judge did not directly order the White House to grant the AP “permanent access to the Oval Office, the East Room, or any other media event,” but narrowly ruled that once access is granted to other outlets, the AP must not be excluded because of its editorial viewpoint.

“Indeed, the AP is not necessarily entitled to the ‘first in line every time’ permanent press pool access it enjoyed under the [White House Press Correspondents’ Association],” he wrote in his ruling.

“No, the court simply holds that under the First Amendment, if the government opens its doors to some journalists—be it to the Oval Office, the East Room, or elsewhere—it cannot then shut those doors to other journalists because of their viewpoints.

“The Constitution requires no less.”

Tom Ozimek contributed to this report.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) has launched an investigation into food company WK Kellogg Co. for potentially violating the state’s consumer protection laws. Paxton alleged that the company’s cereals such as Apple Jacks, Froot Loops, Rice Krispies, and Frosted Flakes are advertised as “healthy” and claimed such products contain artificial food colorings that are linked to health issues.

“A critical part of fighting for our children’s future is putting an end to companies’ deceptive practices that are aimed at misleading parents and families about the health of food products,” the Texas attorney general said in a statement. “Artificial food colorings have been shown to have disastrous impacts on health, and in no world should foods that include these dyes be advertised as ‘healthy.’ There will be accountability for any company, including Kellogg’s, that unlawfully makes misrepresentations about its food and contributes to a broken health system that has made Americans less healthy.”

Paxton warned that companies found to be unlawfully misrepresenting their food products will be held accountable.

Kellogg’s previously announced plans to remove artificial dyes and the preservative BHT from its products, but so far, these changes have only been implemented in Canada and Europe, not in the United States, KVUE reports.

Kellogg’s has yet to issue a statement in respond to Paxton’s investigation.

Paxton’s probe into Kellogg’s coincides with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s rollout of the “Make America Healthy Again” initiative. Kennedy, a steadfast critic of processed foods for decades, has vowed to transform the U.S. food system to improve Americans’ well-being in the face of escalating obesity rates and chronic diseases.

Despite the FDA’s stance that approved artificial food dyes are safe when used in compliance with regulations, Kennedy has specifically criticized several Kellogg’s cereals for their use of these dyes.

“If you look at a pack of Froot Loops in this country, it’s all chemical dyes. Yellow, blue, red dye, which are poison,” Kennedy said. “In Canada, across the border, Froot Loops are a different color; they’re all colored by vegetable oils. It’s the same company. Kellogg’s knows how to create safer products that don’t have chemicals in them.”

In the United States, Froot Loops contain a mix of artificial colorings, including Red Dye No. 40, Yellow Dye No. 5, Yellow Dye No. 6, and Blue Dye No. 1., according to ABC News.

Last year, a crowd of hundreds assembled outside WK Kellogg’s Michigan headquarters, urging the company to fulfill its commitment to eliminate artificial dyes from its U.S. cereals.

“I’m here for the moms, all the moms, who struggle to feed their children healthy food without added chemicals,” Food activist Vani Hari said at the time.

A recent Falcon Funded study highlights just how steep the price tag is for those hoping to retire at 40 in the U.S.—and how dramatically it varies by state.

Using the widely cited 4% rule, which assumes a retiree can safely withdraw 4% of savings annually, the analysis factored in monthly living expenses, rent for a one-bedroom apartment, and healthcare costs.

New York tops the list, requiring a staggering $2,018,775 to retire early, largely due to sky-high rent averaging $3,886/month and annual healthcare costs of $14,007, according to a Falcon Funded.

As the study notes, “Retiring at 40 in New York calls for $2,018,775, the highest savings requirement of any state.”

Massachusetts ranks second with a needed nest egg of $1,787,246. While also costly—rent sits at $3,382/month—the state boasts the highest quality-of-life index, making it, as the study suggests, “a trade-off between cost and livability.”

California follows in third with $1,402,824 in required savings. High rent ($2,504/month) and moderate healthcare costs contribute to total annual living expenses exceeding $56,000.

Surprisingly, Hawaii comes in just below California despite its reputation for high costs. The lower rent ($2,188/month) keeps its retirement figure at $1,389,085.

The Falcon Funded study said that Washington rounds out the top five at $1,363,249, while Illinois, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Vermont follow close behind, each with required savings between $1.26 million and $1.35 million.

Pennsylvania is the most affordable among the top ten, requiring just $1,238,642 to retire at 40. With rent under $1,800/month and annual living costs below $50,000, it offers the most accessible early retirement option on the list.

Nathan Nolan of Falcon Funded put it bluntly:

“A person aiming to retire at 40 needs to think far beyond lifestyle goals – they need to think geographically. Housing remains the biggest driver, but healthcare and quality of life metrics also shift the savings target dramatically from state to state. Even small differences in monthly expenses can add up to hundreds of thousands in retirement savings over time.”

The message is clear: where you live can either break your early retirement dreams—or make them financially feasible.

You can access the full research findings by following this link.

Authored by Susan Crabtree via RealClear Politics (emphasis ours),

Republicans celebrated a consolation prize in Wisconsin Tuesday night, predicting that the big win for a strong voter ID law in the critical swing state could have reverberations as far away as California.

“Even far lefties want voter ID,” Ric Grenell, Trump’s envoy for special missions who is weighing a run for California governor in 2026, declared in an X.com post. “Next up…California!”

Although the GOP candidate for state Supreme Court lost in the hotly contested Wisconsin election in which Elon Musk played a starring role, Republicans from Musk to President Trump to GOP state legislators around the country touted the voter ID victory. Musk said, with some online blowback, that Tuesday’s silver lining will have more long-term impact than the Democrat’s judicial win.

“This was the most important thing,” Musk posted on X in response to a post that the voter ID measure had prevailed by a wide margin.  

Some 63% of Wisconsin voters Tuesday approved the measure to enshrine the state’s voter ID law in the state constitution. The Badger State already required that voters have a photo ID in order to participate at the polls, but the law is now elevated to a constitutional amendment.

The move makes Wisconsin the latest state to formalize voter ID rules, and it’s one of 36 states that have some form of voter identification requirement, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

The win also is emboldening proponents of voter ID laws as far away as solidly blue California. A Gallup poll last fall found that large majorities of Americans back photo ID laws, with some 84% of Americans saying they back having “all voters” provide “photo identification at their voting place in order to vote.”

Grenell, who served as director of national intelligence during the first Trump administration, wasn’t just touting California’s voter ID campaign out of nowhere when suggesting that California would be the next state to back voter ID requirements. Before joining the Trump administration again in January, Grenell was busy as the co-chair of Fix California, a nonprofit devoted to increasing voter registration and imposing stricter voting rules around the state’s mail-in and loose ballot-harvesting laws.

Before the 2022 midterm congressional elections, Grenell said he aimed to register up to 1.4 million potential conservative voters in the state, aiming to replicate the results of Stacey Abram’s Fair Fight organization in Georgia. Late last year, California election analysts, including Rob Pyers of the nonpartisan California Target Book, reported that Republicans had increased their share of registered voters across all 58 counties and in every congressional, state senate, and assembly district.

The latest California secretary of state update in mid-March shows that Republicans have gained 1 million registered voters in California over the last eight years.

(Republican registration has ticked up to 25% of registered voters, pulling ahead of “no party preference,” which now stands at 22%. But they are still far behind the 46% of voters who are registered Democrats.)

One of Grenell’s close political allies and friends is leading the voter ID drive in California. Republican Assemblyman Carl DeMaio, a former conservative talk show host who heads a different nonprofit, Reform California, is now focused on passing a bold 2026 ballot measure that would not only change the California constitution to require voter ID but also mandate citizenship verification to vote across the state.

In early March, DeMaio formed “Californians for Voter ID” and released polling from Public Opinion Strategies showing strong support in California for new laws requiring identification to vote. Some 68% of all Californians back a change requiring an ID when casting a ballot, including 93% of Republicans and 52% of Democrats, according to the poll. The survey also found that a whopping 72% of Californians support verifying citizenship for anyone wishing to register to vote.

Proponents of voter ID laws argue they boost the public’s trust in election outcomes and reduce voter fraud. Critics contend that such rules disproportionately prevent voters of color, low-income, and older voters from vesting ballots because those groups are more likely to lack some form of photo ID.

Right now, citizenship is required to vote under California law, but voter registrations through the state’s online DMV application only require California residents to check a box marked “U.S. citizen” without requiring proof. DeMaio has mocked the process as only requiring “pinky swearing” that residents are citizens.

“Here’s the deal. Neither side should ever be in doubt about the integrity of an election,” DeMaio said during remarks at the California GOP convention in mid-March. “If you have a third of voters of any party upset with the integrity of an election, you have a problem with your democracy, and you must fix it, no matter what side of the aisle you’re on.”

DeMaio then introduced then-Assemblyman Bill Essayli, a Republican representing Riverside, California, who had co-authored several voter ID bills with him over the last few months. Trump this week named Essayli, 39, as U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, an office employing more than 250 lawyers.

In addition to Essayli, DeMaio’s voter ID coalition partners include GOP Rep. Ken Calvert, the longest-serving Republican in the California congressional delegation who narrowly won his election by three percentage points in 2024. Other players are Julie Luckey, mother of tech entrepreneur Palmer Luckey, a big Trump funder, and the Lincoln Club of Orange County, a conservative organization.

Despite the majority support for voter ID laws in California and nationwide, DeMaio is well aware that getting a constitutional amendment passed is no easy feat. The assemblyman pursued an unsuccessful “election integrity” ballot initiative in 2023, which didn’t end up qualifying because it failed to attract enough signatures and financial backing.

This time, DeMaio believes he has the wind at his back, although he’s leaving nothing to chance. He says he’s already enlisting thousands of volunteers across the state to gather the 1 million signatures needed to qualify and has garnered financial commitments from big Trump donors to help make that happen.

DeMaio told supporters on a conference call last week that these “big Trump donors” have committed $16 million to help qualify the initiative but will release the money only if the grassroots donor campaign hits a $3 million target to unlock the funds. The funds will pay for social media ads and text messages to support the campaign, legal work to draft and file the initiative, paid signature gatherers, and the costs of printing and sending petition kits across the state. DeMaio is also planning a statewide bus tour with rallies every month in different areas of the state.

During the late March conference call, DeMaio outlined several key upcoming deadlines for the voter ID campaign, including May 1, the deadline for forming the statewide commitment and raising initial costs for filing the initiative, and Aug 31, the date the initiative language must be filed with the secretary of state. The secretary of state then formally approves the initiative in early October, and once that takes place, the campaign has 180 days to attain 1 million verified signatures by April 2026.

On the same conference call last week, DeMaio warned supporters that Democrats, the media, and even some Republicans are already attacking the campaign as a misuse of time and energy.

“All I had to say to them is it’s a shame your name is going down in the history books as people who are trying to keep our state controlled by the blue supermajority that has ruined it,” DeMaio warned. “We cannot have people try to split us up. We’ve got to unite. We’ve got to demand that elected officials who are Republicans do everything they can do.”

Susan Crabtree is RealClearPolitics’ national political correspondent.

Disney’s Magic Kingdom in Orlando will begin offering ticket discounts from late May through September 20, as the upcoming launch of Universal’s Epic Universe next month is expected to draw families away from Disney.

Disney’s website offers half-price tickets for three-day or longer passes for kids ages 3 to 9 from May 27 to September 20.

The promotion comes ahead of the launch of Epic Universe on May 22—a $7 billion Orlando theme park featuring franchises like Harry Potter, Nintendo video games, and Universal’s movie monsters. The new attraction will draw traffic away from Disney’s theme parks, hence the promotion for kids. 

A recent JPMorgan note to clients forecasted a 1% drop in attendance at Disney’s Orlando theme parks this year, citing the impact of Epic Universe’s launch next month. 

The Most Magical Magical Place on Earth has a new location. The amazing team at @UniversalORL invited us to experience their newest park, #EpicUniverse, and without doubt, they just changed the theme park industry forever. With Epic Universe, the creative masterminds at Universal… pic.twitter.com/RNMG7of8gq

— Variant (@variantcomics) April 9, 2025

Combined with the launch of Epic Universe—which is expected to pressure Disney’s attendance—another factor that could accelerate the slowdown is the mounting recession risks and the growth downgrades Wall Street banks are now issuing as the trade war with China deepens.

“We think there is a high chance that we continue to push toward full recession pricing, which would imply weaker equities, wider credit spreads, a deeper Fed cutting cycle and higher longer-dated equity volatility,” Goldman analysts Dominic Wilson and Vickie Chang wrote in a note on Tuesday. 

This economic uncertainty may force consumers to reassess or scale back travel plans this summer, especially given that a family of four should expect to spend anywhere from $5,000 to $15,000 for a week at the theme park.

The live-action remake of Snow White, which bombed movie theaters nationwide, also will not help Disney ahead of the summer.

Disney shares trade around the $81 handle – or Covid lows. 

Bloomberg data shows the average Wall Street Consensus Rating is around 72.5% “Buys,” 25% “Holds,” and 2.5% “Sells,” with an average 12-month price target of $125. 

This won’t help Disney… 

Foreign Travelers Boycott USA After Tariff War Erupts https://t.co/qN7xjbqYxB

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) April 9, 2025

Epic Universe is set to eat Disney’s lunch this summer. If Disney hopes to win back some of its lost audience, it may need more than just discounts—it might need to rethink its toxic woke strategy completely. 

Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Idaho is set to become the latest state in the United States to allow anti-parasite drug ivermectin to be sold without a prescription after the state Legislature passed a measure.

Senate Bill 1211 was easily approved in the state Legislature on Friday and delivered that same day to Gov. Brad Little’s desk.

The bill, according to its text, “adds to existing law to provide that ivermectin may be sold or purchased without a prescription or consultation with a health care professional,” meaning it can be sold over the counter.

The bill passed 29–9 in the state Senate and 66–1 in the House.

Little has not publicly commented on whether he will sign the bill or not. The Epoch Times contacted the governor’s office for comment Sunday.

Sen. Tammy Nichols, a Republican, presented the bill on the floor on April 3. “We’re not mandating use, we’re not prescribing treatment, and we are not mandating that it be sold,” Nichols told KTVB-7. “What we’re doing with this bill is simple. We’re removing a barrier.”

A co-sponsor of the bill, Senate President Pro Tempore Kelly Anthon, a Republican, said that the drug has a wide range of applications.

“This is a drug that has had really immeasurable impacts on improving the lives of billions and billions of people throughout the world since it was discovered. It’s been called, in many places, a wonder drug,” Anthon told lawmakers in an Idaho Senate committee in on-camera remarks last week. “It’s been able to serve in treating and in many ways curing human diseases—treating parasites, worms in humans. And in most countries, it is legal over the counter.”

With the legislative action, Idaho became one of several states that have either passed or are considering a bill to deregulate the sale of ivermectin.

Earlier this year, Arkansas allowed the over-the-counter sale of ivermectin after the state Legislature passed a measure, which was signed by Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders. In 2022, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, also a Republican, signed a similar measure.

The drug became popular during the COVID-19 pandemic as some doctors and studies said it was effective in treating the virus, though U.S. health regulators have warned people not to take it for COVID-19. 

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has said that the agency has not cleared ivermectin to be used for COVID-19, while advising against people using forms of ivermectin intended for animals.

“The FDA has not determined that ivermectin is safe or effective for these indications,” the agency’s website says.

A study released in June 2021 found that ivermectin, however, was linked to “large reductions” in COVID-19 deaths. Among hospitalized COVID-19 patients, the risk of death was found to be 2.3 percent among those treated with the drug, compared to 7.8 percent for those who weren’t, according to the study.

A March 2022 study found that the drug was associated with decreased mortality as compared with remdesivir usage by analyzing a national federated database of adults aged 18 and older with a confirmed COVID-19 infection from January 2020 to July 2021.

Tom Ozimek contributed to this report.

On Wednesday Yemen’s Houthis have claimed yet another shootdown of a US drone over neartheastern Yemen. Military spokesman Yahya Saree said that a US MQ-9 drone was intercepted “while carrying out hostile missions” over Al-Jawf province.

If true, this would mark the third Reaper drone downing in just ten days, and at least the 18th since the Red Sea conflict started. Watch newly published video purporting to show the destroyed drone on the ground, released Wednesday:

Yemeni Houthis (Ansar-Allah group) published a video of their 22nd American MQ-9 drone shot down this morning (April 9, 2025) in the Al Jawf governate . pic.twitter.com/jTwUESB3gI

— Mehdi H. (@mhmiranusa) April 9, 2025

Saree described that it was brought down by “a domestically made surface-to-air missile.” The Pentagon has no confirmed this, and has been silent on the recent Houthi claims of repeat MQ-9 drone downings of late.

If accurate, this would also mean that relatively cheap Houthi-made missiles are taking out $33 million advanced US drones. These drones further cost millions more to maintain.

According to emerging details:

Footage released by Houthi-linked media shows wreckage allegedly from the drones. The images appear consistent with known components of MQ-9s, although the U.S. Department of Defense has not confirmed the exact locations or methods of the shootdowns.

Analysts believe the Houthis have used mobile surface-to-air missile systems and possibly electronic warfare tactics to target the drones. Their arsenal likely includes Iranian-derived systems like the Sayyad-2C and Saqr, as well as Russian-made SA-6 missiles. This mix suggests a blend of pre-war stockpiles, smuggled hardware, and locally adapted technologies.

The latest US airstrikes on Yemen have reportedly killed at least six people, according to fresh statements from Ansarallah officials.

Russian media has mocked the Pentagon’s inability to deal with the Houthi threat in the Red Sea region…

Like shooting fish in a barrel — Houthi spox announces downing of 18TH $30+ million US MQ-9 drone

‘3rd in 10 days’ pic.twitter.com/yOow93gXMG

— RT (@RT_com) April 9, 2025

The Houthis are clearly trying to show that they will not back down despite the constant US coalition bombings, which have reportedly involved B-2 bombers flying from Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean.

US Central Command (CENTCOM) is still showing off all of its shiny toys being used against the Houthis…

Arming aircraft aboard USS Harry S. Truman for operations against Iran-backed Houthis…#HouthisAreTerrorists pic.twitter.com/tLrXQsu314

— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) April 7, 2025

…this despite recent media reports saying the Yemen operations have reached about $1 billion in just three weeks.

Neither the US nor Yemeni sides are backing down at this point. The Houthis have demanded nothing short than a full Israeli military withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.