Via The Cradle

New satellite imagery captured over the weekend shows the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier entering the Indian Ocean, signaling Washington’s escalating military build-up in the region as part of its war on Yemen and ahead of a possible attack on Iran.

The USS Carl Vinson, a Nimitz-class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier named in honor of US Congressman Carl Vinson of Georgia, was originally deployed in the western Pacific. It is now the second US aircraft carrier in West Asia, joining the USS Harry S. Truman.

Last week, the US also deployed a fleet of B-2 Bombers to its base in Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. Together, the US carriers and bombers greatly expand the US military’s ability to launch air and missile strikes on Iran and Yemen.

The satellite imagery and maritime data showed that the USS Carl Vinson and its strike group transited through the Malacca Straits to reach the Indian Ocean.

The US military has been bombing Yemen since March 15, after the country’s Ansarallah-led government announced its intention to resume attacks on Israeli-linked vessels in the Red and Arabian Seas in response to Israel’s blockade on Gaza.

The US military’s bombing campaign in Yemen has cost nearly $1 billion in under three weeks, according to sources speaking with CNN, who said the campaign had caused a limited impact on the Ansarallah-led Yemeni Armed Forces’ (YAF) capabilities.

Yemen, a close ally of Iran, first began attacking Israeli-linked ships and targets in Israel in November 2023 in response to Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.

The US military build-up in West Asia intensified after US President Donald Trump threatened Iran on 30 March with bombing and secondary tariffs if Tehran did not come to an agreement with Washington over its nuclear program. “If they don’t make a deal, there will be bombing,” Trump said in a telephone interview. “It will be bombing the likes of which they have never seen before.”

US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has also issued warnings to Iran. “Secretary Hegseth continues to make clear that, should Iran or its proxies threaten American personnel and interests in the region, the United States will take decisive action to defend our people,” Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement issued Monday.

Iran has made clear it is not willing to enter direct talks over its nuclear program while US officials threaten military action against it.

However, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has stated Tehran is open to indirect talks via intermediaries in Oman. Araghchi wrote in a post on X, “Diplomatic engagement worked in the past and can still work. But, it should be clear to all that there is – by definition – no such thing as a ‘military option,’ let alone a ‘military solution.’”

Following Trump’s threat, Ali Hajizadeh, the commander of the Aerospace Division of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), directly threatened US bases in West Asia.

“The Americans have around 10 military bases in the region – at least near Iran – and 50,000 troops,” Hajizadeh told Iranian state TV on Monday. “It’s like they’re sitting in a glass house. And when you’re in a glass house, you don’t throw stones at others.”

The US aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson arrives in the Middle East.

The US is sending a second aircraft carrier to the Red Sea not to launch airstrikes on Yemen. One aircraft carrier is enough ..

The goal is to provide air cover for the ground battle it plans to ignite . This… pic.twitter.com/9lwgTDE8Xy

— Ahmed Hassan 🇾🇪 أحمد حسن زيد (@Ahmed_hassan_za) April 6, 2025

Iran has long rejected claims it seeks to produce a nuclear weapon, saying such a move is un-Islamic due to the threat such weapons pose to civilians. Tehran insists that its nuclear program is entirely peaceful, in line with a religious fatwa against weapons of mass destruction, as well as the fact that it is a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). 

However, analysts suggest Iran could quickly develop nuclear weapons if US and Israeli threats to bomb and invade the country continue.

The White House announced that a Honduran national in the U.S. illegally has been indicted for allegedly stealing over 40 firearms from a Tennessee gun store, according to Breitbart and a DOJ press release. The guns, still bearing price tags, were found in his car.

“Under President Trump, criminals like this are being hunted down and taken off our streets,” the White House said on X.

The DOJ wrote in a press release: “Carlos Alberto Diaz-Chavez, 21, a citizen of Honduras without legal status in the United States, has been charged by criminal complaint with being an Alien in possession of a firearm, possession of a machinegun, possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, announced Acting United States Attorney Robert E. McGuire for the Middle District of Tennessee.”

Acting U.S. Attorney Robert E. McGuire added: “We will not hesitate to keep our community safe from those who would illegally possess dangerous firearms, deal deadly narcotics, and who put our first responders at risk by their actions.” 

According to the press release, on February 17, 2025, a Williamson County deputy attempted to stop a silver Toyota Camry on I-65 for failing to yield to an emergency vehicle. The car fled, prompting a chase that ended when deputies deployed spike strips and the vehicle crashed into a guardrail near Spring Hill.

Three individuals fled on foot. One, Diaz-Chavez, was caught carrying a backpack containing a machine gun, methamphetamine, and drug paraphernalia. Two more guns were found in the car. He later admitted to being in the U.S. illegally since 2019 and said he used the firearms to protect himself while dealing narcotics in Nashville.

Diaz-Chavez faces multiple federal charges carrying up to 20 years in prison and fines up to $1 million.

The case, led by the ATF and local law enforcement, is part of Operation Take Back America, a DOJ effort to combat illegal immigration, cartels, and violent crime.

The Supreme Court on Monday sided with the Trump administration’s request to halt lower court judge James Boasberg’s order stopping Trump from deporting suspected members of Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua under the Alien Enemies Act (AEA).

“We grant the application and vacate the [temporary restraining orders],” the court said in its unsigned 5-4 opinion.

And while this may be a win for Trump, its impact was muted by the fact that detainees must be given due process before they are deported.

“AEA detainees must receive notice after the date of this order that they are subject to removal under the Act. The notice must be afforded within a reasonable time and in such a manner as will allow them to actually seek habeas relief in the proper venue before such removal occurs,” the court wrote in its majority opinion.

Predictably penning the dissent was Justice Sonia Sotomayor – who was joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson, while Justice Amy Coney Barrett partially joined Sotomayor’s dissent.

The decision came after the Trump administration and plaintiffs in the initial case filed competing briefs to the justices.

According to Acting US Solicitor General Sarah Harris, the “case presents fundamental questions about who decides how to conduct sensitive national-security-related operations in this country—the President, through Article II, or the Judiciary, through [temporary restraining orders].”

The Trump administration launched their appeal to the Supreme Court after the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit sided with Boasberg.

The plaintiffs, which included a group of Venezuelan nationals, told the court on April 1 that the lower court’s block on deportations “ensures that, based on an unprecedented peacetime invocation of the AEA, additional individuals are not hurried off to a brutal foreign prison, potentially for the rest of their lives, without judicial process.”

The Supreme Court on Monday sided with the Trump administration’s request to halt lower court judge James Boasberg’s order stopping Trump from deporting suspected members of Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua under the Alien Enemies Act (AEA).

“We grant the application and vacate the [temporary restraining orders],” the court said in its unsigned 5-4 opinion.

And while this may be a win for Trump, its impact was muted by the fact that detainees must be given due process before they are deported.

“AEA detainees must receive notice after the date of this order that they are subject to removal under the Act. The notice must be afforded within a reasonable time and in such a manner as will allow them to actually seek habeas relief in the proper venue before such removal occurs,” the court wrote in its majority opinion.

Predictably penning the dissent was Justice Sonia Sotomayor – who was joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson, while Justice Amy Coney Barrett partially joined Sotomayor’s dissent.

The decision came after the Trump administration and plaintiffs in the initial case filed competing briefs to the justices.

According to Acting US Solicitor General Sarah Harris, the “case presents fundamental questions about who decides how to conduct sensitive national-security-related operations in this country—the President, through Article II, or the Judiciary, through [temporary restraining orders].”

The Trump administration launched their appeal to the Supreme Court after the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit sided with Boasberg.

The plaintiffs, which included a group of Venezuelan nationals, told the court on April 1 that the lower court’s block on deportations “ensures that, based on an unprecedented peacetime invocation of the AEA, additional individuals are not hurried off to a brutal foreign prison, potentially for the rest of their lives, without judicial process.”

*  *  *

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• IQ Biologix Colostrum (25% IgG from first milking of grassfed cows)

• IQ Astaxanthin Ultimate Antioxidant (6,000x stronger than vitamin C)

• ZeroHedge Multitool (Extremely solid, very sharp, comes with ZH Logo belt pouch)

• Anza Red-Black Infinity Handle Knife (Made in the USA from carbon steel)

Apple contracted at least five emergency air freight shipments of iPhones and other products from India and China to the U.S., aiming to avoid new tariffs following President Trump’s “Liberation Day” blitz last Wednesday.

“Factories in India and China and other key locations had been shipping products to the US in anticipation of the higher tariffs,” The Times of India reported, citing a source familiar with the situation. 

The source continued: “The reserves that arrived at lower duty will temporarily insulate the company from the higher prices that it will need to pay for new shipments under the revised tax rates.”

Apple’s emergency stockpiling of iPhones and AirPods—primarily manufactured in India and China—will allow the company to maintain current pricing on exports to the U.S. The company faces a 26% tariff on shipments from India and a 54% tariff on goods from China. Trump made threats earlier today of possibly doubling tariff levels by 50% on China. 

Trade data via the supply chain platform Sayari shows that Foxconn India is a major supplier for CEO Tim Cook.

Here’s more color on Apple’s global supply chain that resides primarily in Asia (or the region where Trump unleashed a tariff bazooka): 

• India, where Apple is increasingly building iPhones and AirPods, will have a 26% tariff.

• Vietnam, where the company now makes some AirPods, iPads, Apple Watches and Macs, will be hit with a 46% levy.

• Malaysia, where Apple is increasingly producing Macs, will have a 24% tariff.

• Thailand, where the company also makes some Macs, will get a 37% levy. Ireland, within the European Union, gets a 20% tariff. Apple produces some iMacs there.

• Indonesia, which will soon begin making AirTags and mesh for the AirPods Max headphones, gets a 32% tariff.

• The latest tariffs will be 34% for China, bringing its total level to 54%. But the overall picture suggests Apple isn’t going to get as much benefit as hoped from diversifying away from that country. Apple will still be taking a hit on iPhones made in India, AirPods made in Vietnam and Macs made elsewhere in Asia.

Apple is panicked about the tariffs. The question remains if Cook will be able to maintain the current psychological pricing threshold for the next iteration of the iPhone at $999.   

Authored by Victor Davis Hanson via American Greatness,

Two strange phenomena now characterize the political landscape.

One, opposition to the Trump administration’s initiatives has reached a near-unprecedented fever pitch.

The frenzy is manifested in strange ways. At the bottom end, there is an epidemic of street terrorism, including the keying of Teslas, bullying their owners, firebombing dealerships, or vandalizing charging stations.

All that is mostly the logical but dirty reification of those in the media and the Democrats who brand Elon Musk as a foreign-born counterfeit citizen and a disloyal un-American foreigner, thus deserving to be “taken down,” in the words of Rep. Jasmine Crockett. Or is he to be ostracized as an “ass-h*le” in the invective of Sen. Mark Kelly and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz? The latter cheered a downturn in Tesla stock prices, contrary to the interests of his own state’s public portfolio.

Sometimes, the impotent Democrat Congress issues kickboxing/ninja videos of its feistier female representatives. At other moments, senators race to the bottom, echoing each other’s pottymouth expressions of “sh*t.”

Rep. Al Green could neither disrupt nor end Trump’s speech to a joint session of Congress by shaking his cane and screaming epithets. Nor, as he damned Trump on the floor of the Senate for 25 hours in a filibuster to nowhere, could Sen. Cory Booker offer a single word that might offer his supposedly better way to address crushing debt and deficits.

Two, there is a second common denominator to all this frenzy and fury: there is so far no alternate agenda on trade deficits, budget deficits, and debt.

That is, no one on the left—or, for that matter, the libertarian right or the now inert Republican establishment—can outline an alternate pathway to Trump’s remedies for America’s dire problems. Just as the left used to worship Tesla’s breakthrough EV cars and now tries to destroy them, so too it once lectured the country on the merits of tariff-enforced symmetrical trade—until Donald Trump made that his signature issue.

So in lieu of serious counter-proposals, we get from the left vulgarity, the smash-mouth of Rep. Crockett, and street terror against fellow Americans. All this inanity is the natural bookend to the prior four years of lawfare, the efforts to remove Trump from state ballots, the Mar-a-Lago raid, and two assassination attempts.

Most of the organs of Wall Street, the free-market think tanks, and the few liberation university economics departments likewise issue virulent denunciations of tariffs, of even massive DOGE cuts in the federal workforce and budget, and, strangely, of the deportation of Tren de Arugula, a terrorist-designated violent foreign gang whose members entered and now reside illegally in the United States.

So why does the left not simply claim that its prior support of tariffs was wrongheaded? (See the now-ancient denunciations by Nancy Pelosi and Bernie Sanders of Bush-era “free trade,” deindustrialization, globalization, and lost jobs.) Now, the left supports… what exactly? Mini-tariffs? No tariffs? Reciprocal tariffs?

Absent is concern about the ticking time bomb of $3 billion in interest payments on the debt per day, in addition to the monstrous $37 trillion in debt itself. Did Cory Booker spend a single minute of his 25-hour address to outline ways to reduce our 125% debt to annual GDP?

Per year, the interest cost on the debt is larger than the defense budget; does AOC ever note that?

The current Biden vestigial budget is nominally $1.7 trillion in the red. Is there a Democrat agenda to head us toward balanced budgets?

So, what does the left propose as its financial remedies?

Is it to raise taxes on those who should “pay their fair share?” That is, do they want the top rates to rise from 37% to 40%, 45%, 50%, so that their own constituent “affluent” in blue states like high-tax California, Illinois, and New York should properly and deservedly pay the IRS 50% to 60% of their earnings in income tax alone?

Does the tax-and-spend left prefer instead a value-added tax or some sort of federal sales tax? Or do they think current levels of spending are just fine?

Is there really no waste, fraud, and abuse in the federal budget, but instead too few federal workers?

Or are they modern monetary theorists, who believe money is but a construct, one that the government can do with in whatever manner it wishes? Thus, debt is simply remedied by printing more of the construct, or finding ways to expropriate private wealth, or inflating our way out of debt?

But again, please tell us how the left has a superior agenda to Trump’s that will get us more quickly and efficiently to a balanced budget, if not a reduced national debt.

Or is debt itself not supposed to be a problem? Does the left believe interest rates are the real crux? As in the recent past, if interest rates are no more than the rate of inflation, then essentially, the government can borrow all it wants at zero interest—and literally did so at times over the last half century. Is that their remedy?

Can the Republican establishment help out and pause a moment from their napalming of the Trump initiatives? Can it issue briefs that outline how to take us to either a balanced budget and reduced debt or convince us that debt in all manifestations is no big deal?

Then we turn to trade deficit. Again, there is utter silence about solutions from most critics. No counter-proposals, no alternate agenda, just fury and hysteria—or denials that deficits and debt are a problem at all.

So, does the left or right believe that 50 years of continuous trade deficits do not matter? Who cares if we are running a near $1 trillion annual outflow in the gap between what we export and import?

Please make the argument that the real losers are the recent economies of India, China, or Mexico, which supposedly foolishly tax imports and yet demand tariff-free exports, all to run up surpluses. Are they suicidal and we, the masters of trade deficits, the real geniuses?

Does it matter that almost all of the proposed Trump tariffs are in some way responsive? In that sense, they are calibrated on autopilot, leaving the proverbial ball in the court of those with high tariffs and huge surpluses to set new shared reciprocal rates.

So, if it was wrong for Trump to level reciprocal tariffs, was it right for others to initiate asymmetrical tariffs on us?

Is it more logical to damn those who object to $1 trillion in annual trade deficits rather than those whose tariffs resulted in their warped surpluses?

Or is it wiser to blame the victim? The U.S. deserves its trade deficit because it is too affluent, too naïve to object, or too profligate to be saved?

Or is the argument one of the Sermon on the Mount: we must turn the other cheek as we have for a half century? Or, as an affluent sort of good Samaritan, can we afford to stay forbearing and take the hit for the global team?

The final problem with the notion of Trump as the 80-day destroyer of America is not just the poverty of economic counterproposals from the left or right. It is also the complete news blackout of what Trump has already accomplished in 10 weeks.

Does anyone notice that, almost overnight, America’s southern border is now magically secure, with virtually no illegal immigration—and without the much-ballyhooed need for “comprehensive immigration reform?”

How did we go from 10,000 illegal aliens a day to near zero? What was so bad about identifying hundreds of billions of budgetary dollars in fraud and waste in a mere two months?

Why are we now talking about ways to end the Ukraine war rather than boasting “as long as it takes” to feed the new Stalingrad?

Why are the Houthis now being abandoned by the Iranians, who, in a matter of weeks, no longer seem to be the feared bully of the Middle East? Were not their terrorist tentacles just months ago considered unstoppable and sacrosanct?

Was it wrong finally and dramatically to reflect the wishes of 80 percent of the American people, who do not want biological males to overturn a half-century’s worth of hard work to obtain parity for women’s sports?

We, as a nation, need to calm down.

Either acknowledge, however reluctantly, the good that has already been done in the first ten weeks. Or, if one feels the border should be open, or the war should be accelerated in Ukraine, or the campuses were just fine until 2025, or women just need to get over losing to transgendered men, then just say so.

Or if one believes huge trade and budget deficits and unsustainable national debt are no big deal, then argue just that.

Or, if the rub is that Trump is addressing these existential and long-neglected crises in the wrong way, then please present alternate plans for quicker and better resolutions or better messaging.

Should he limit tariffs only to those nations with deficits and asymmetrical tariffs? Should he speak more quietly and mention more frequently that he was moved to act only by a half-century of neglect? Could he emphasize more that the $3-4 trillion in promised foreign investment will ignite job growth within a year?

But if there is no alternate agenda, no constructive criticism, then why would anyone listen to those who either helped to get us into this mess or have no clue about its solutions?

In a surprise statement President Trump says he has been holding “direct talks” with Iran and a “very big meeting” involving “very high-level” officials is planned for this coming Saturday.

The declaration was unexpected given that as recently as this weekend Iran repeated that it would not hold talks with Washington so long as “maximum pressure” by the White House remains in place. Tehran has also rejected that talks can happen while Trump threatens to bomb Iran.

The other surprise is the context, as Trump made the claims while hosting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office. The Israeli leader has applauded Trump’s return to maximum pressure, and has hinted at Israeli military action if Iran is perceived as pursuing a nuclear bomb.

“We have a very big meeting on Saturday, and we’re dealing with them directly,” Trump stated in reference to the Iranians. “You know, a lot of people say, ‘Oh, maybe you’re going through surrogates, you’re not dealing directly, you’re dealing through other countries.’ No — we’re dealing with them directly.”

“I think everyone agrees that doing a deal would be preferable to doing the obvious. And the obvious is not something that I want to be involved with, or frankly, that Israel wants to be involved with, if they can avoid it,” Trump said, in apparent reference to a military option.

Continuing to speak about potential future strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities, he continued, “So we’re going to see if we can avoid it. But it’s getting to be very dangerous territory, and hopefully those talks will be successful. And I think it would be in Iran’s best interest if they are successful.”

But Iran certainly hasn’t confirmed that direct talks have been happening. Instead, Trump could simply be anticipating talks which haven’t happened yet but are in the works in terms of preparation – though he did clearly emphasize direct talks were happening. A Monday afternoon Bloomberg report notes a fresh Iranian Foreign Ministry statement as follows:

Earlier Monday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said the country was waiting for a US response to what he called a “responsible, generous, and wise offer.” He added that the Gulf-Arab Sultanate of Oman, which has facilitated dialogue between Tehran and Washington in the past, is a “main candidate” to mediate talks with the US if they take place.

“The offer for direct negotiations isn’t acceptable to us for reasons repeatedly stated before, but we’re ready for indirect negotiations through Oman,” Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said earlier, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency. “The ball is in the US court.”

At the moment, a second US aircraft carrier is en route to the Red Sea region to support Yemen operations. The USS Carl Vinson is in the Indian Ocean, and Iran has been carefully monitoring its progress, with reports of Tehran leadership having put the Iranian armed forces on high alert.

A big problem here is that the people Trump is listening to on the Mideast are telling him it won’t be a “war” with Iran. They’re selling it as one big attack on the nuclear facilities and downplaying the risk of Iranian retaliation, even though it will almost certainly happen. https://t.co/k5rjdkEFVo

— Dave DeCamp (@DecampDave) April 7, 2025

Advanced American bombers are also conducting counter-Houthi operations out of Deigo Garcia in the Indian Ocean, and Tehran is worried about their proximity. Many analysts believe these Pentagon assets were moved there in case anything big happens with Iran.

Tehran has also been warning Gulf Arab states that they must not cooperate with any kind of US or Israeli military operation targeting the Islamic Republic. So far countries like Saudi Arabia have signaled they will stay out of any conflict, and will refuse their airspace for any preemptive attacks.

* * *

More reporting on the coming Saturday talks, via NY Times correspondent…

SCOOP: Three Iranian officials tell me that Iran and U.S. planning to meet in Oman on Saturday for indirect talks. Iran had told Washington it is open & willing to hold direct talk if the first round goes well, a clear shift in position.

— Farnaz Fassihi (@farnazfassihi) April 7, 2025

Update(1759ET): Netanyahu did not get the quick or clear answer he was hoping for from President Trump in the Monday afternoon meeting in the Oval Office. Netanyahu pledged Israel will move quickly to close the trade gap and reduce trade barriers with Washington.

“Israel can serve as a model for many countries who ought to do the same,” the Israeli leader said, adding, “I’m a free trade champion, and free trade has to be fair trade.” However, Trump indicated he might not reduce tariffs on Israel. “We give Israel $4 billion a year,” Trump said, and quipped in a troll-like manner: “Congratulations by the way.” Watch the awkward scene play out of Bibi getting put in his place…

Q: Do you plan to reduce the tariffs your government put on Israeli goods?

Trump: Maybe not. Don’t forget, we help Israel a lot. We give Israel 4 billion dollars a year, that’s lot. [Looks at Netanyahu] Congratulations by the way, that’s pretty good… pic.twitter.com/ODrv25eVFU

— Assal Rad (@AssalRad) April 7, 2025

* * *

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in Washington on Sunday for a visit to the White House, in a stay which is planned through Tuesday. The two leaders are meeting Monday afternoon.

He will be the first foreign leader to meet President Trump in-person in an effort to negotiate a deal to remove Trump’s tariffs, which for Israel is a 17% rate, the result of a significant US bilateral trade deficit.

“Upon his arrival in Washington with his wife, Sara Netanyahu, the premier headed from the airport to Blair House in a convoy, where he met with US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer,” Israeli media wrote.

And Axios noted just ahead of the the trip that Israel tried to “avoid the tariffs Trump imposed on nearly every country in the world by announcing it would preemptively lift all tariffs on U.S. products. It didn’t work.”

This visit, which is Netanyahu’s second to the White House since Trump took office (the first was in early February), was by all accounts rather hastily put together, and also high on the agenda will be the Gaza crisis. Currently there are still 59 hostages still in Hamas and Islamic Jihad captivity – with many feared deceased.

Israel has controversially expanded the war, and now has Rafah surrounded once again and has ordered an evacuation of the civilian population. Hundreds of thousands have fled the southern Gaza city, also as basic necessities of life for the Palestinian population are running out.

Netanyahu’s office has has further indicated that “Israel-Turkey relations, the Iranian threat and confronting the International Criminal Court” will be on the agenda.

Trump may emerge from the meeting declaring that Israel is an example of how his tariff policy is working – that foreign capitals will come scrambling to negotiate.

One interesting aspect to Netanyahu’s travels is the impact the International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant is having on his itinerary. He’s still not able to visit most of the European continent, and last week’s Hungary trip was the first, after Budapest declared it would not arrest him or cooperate with the ICC.

Times of Israel pointed out that “The Wing of Zion state plane took a flight path that increased the journey from Budapest to Washington by some 400 kilometers in order to avoid flying over countries seen as likely to enforce the arrest warrant issued against him by the International Criminal Court should the plane be forced to make an emergency landing.”

Isn’t it interesting that Israel had huge tariffs on American goods, despite the billions in money we send them, and nobody who is currently outraged at Trump ever said anything about this nonsense? pic.twitter.com/iNmDSDuRnF

— Cernovich (@Cernovich) April 7, 2025

“As Israel believes that Ireland, Iceland and the Netherlands would all enforce the ICC warrant, issued for alleged war crimes in Gaza, Wing of Zion instead flew over Croatia, Italy and France,” the report added.

Hungary last week declared it is exiting membership in the The Hague-based ICC due to the action against Netanyahu, with PM Viktor Orban decrying that it’s a “political tool” of Israel’s enemies. The Trump White House is certainly on board with Orban’s decision.

Via Headline USA,

About 45 years have passed since a U.S. state last eliminated its income tax on wages and salaries. But with recent actions in Mississippi and Kentucky, two states now are on a path to do so, if their economies keep growing.

The push to zero out the income tax is perhaps the most aggressive example of a tax-cutting trend that swept across states as they rebounded from the COVID-19 pandemic with surging revenues and historic surpluses.

But it comes during a time of greater uncertainty for states, as they wait to see whether President Donald Trump’s cost cutting and tariffs lead to a reduction in federal funding for states and a downturn in the overall economy.

Some fiscal analysts also warn the repeal of income taxes could leave states reliant on other levies, such as sales taxes, that disproportionately affect the poor.

Which governments charge income tax?

The 16th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution grants Congress the power to levy income taxes. It was ratified by states in 1913. Since then, most states have adopted their own income taxes.

Eight states currently charge no personal income tax: Alaska, Florida, New Hampshire, Nevada, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and Wyoming. A ninth state, Washington, charges no personal income tax on wages and salaries but does tax certain capital gains income over $270,000.

When Alaska repealed its personal income tax in 1980, it did so because state coffers were overflowing with billions of dollars in oil money.

*  *  *

Though income tax eliminations have been proposed elsewhere, they have not been successful.

“It’s a lot easier to go without an individual income tax if you’ve never levied one,” said Katherine Loughead, a senior analyst and research manager at the nonprofit Tax Foundation. “But once you become dependent on that revenue, it is a lot more difficult to phase out or eliminate that tax.”

What is Mississippi doing?

Republican Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves recently signed a law gradually reducing the state’s income tax rate from 4% to 3% by 2030 and setting state revenue growth benchmarks that could trigger additional incremental cuts until the tax is eliminated. The law also reduces the sales tax on groceries and raises the gasoline tax.

If cash reserves are fully funded and revenue triggers are met each year, Mississippi’s income tax could be gone by 2040.

Supporters of an income tax repeal hope it will attract both businesses and residents, elevating the state’s economy to the likes of Florida, Tennessee and Texas. Their theory is that when people pay less in income taxes, they will have more money to spend, thus boosting sales tax collections.

The tax repeal “puts us in a rare class of elite, competitive states,” Reeves said in a statement. He added, “Mississippi has the potential to be a magnet for opportunity, for investment, for talent –- and for families looking to build a better life.”

Mississippi is among the most impoverished states and relies heavily on federal funding. Democratic lawmakers warned the state could face a financial crises if cuts in federal funding come at the same time as state income tax reductions.

The income tax provides “a huge percentage of what the state brings in to fund things like schools and health care and services that everybody relies on,” said Neva Butkus, senior analyst at the nonprofit Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.

What has Kentucky done?

A 2022 Kentucky law reduced the state’s income tax rate and set a series of revenue-based triggers that could gradually lower the tax to zero. But unlike in Mississippi, the triggers aren’t automatic. Rather, the Kentucky General Assembly must approve each additional decrease in the tax rate.

That has led to a series of tax-cutting measures, including two new laws this year. One implements the next tax rate reduction from 4% to 3.5% starting in 2026. The second makes it easier to continue cutting the tax rate in the future by allowing smaller incremental reductions if revenue growth isn’t sufficient to trigger a 0.5 percentage point reduction.

Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear signed the legislation for next year’s tax cut but let the other measure passed by the Republican-led legislature become law without his signature. Beshear called it a “bait-and-switch” bill, contending lawmakers had assured the guardrails for income tax reductions would remain in place while pushing for the 2026 tax cut, then later in the session altered the triggers for future years.

What actions have other states taken?

New Hampshire and Tennessee already did not tax income from wages and salaries, but both states had taxed certain types of income.

In 2021, Tennessee ended an income tax on interest from bonds and stock dividends that had been levied since 1929.

New Hampshire halted its tax on interest and dividends at the start of this year.

Some other states also are pushing to repeal income taxes. The Oklahoma House passed legislation in March that would gradually cut the personal income tax rate to zero if revenue growth benchmarks are met. That bill now is in the Senate.

New Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe, a Republican, also wants to phase out the income tax. The House and Senate have advanced legislation that would take an incremental step by exempting capital gains income from taxes.

Authored by James Howard Kunstler,

“Ah, the delicious smell of peak fear on Sunday/Monday…and max NOISE on X.” 

– Raoul Pal

That ruckus you hear in the capital markets is the sickening howl of the Fugazy Economy meeting its extinction. 

Fugazy means fake, unreal, dishonest, misaligned to what societies need to thrive. Fugazy means mis-using the time-value of things that purport to be wealth to multiply fake wealth in the hands of a few at the expense of the many. The pernicious effects of that system are visible all across the ruined landscape of our country, a nation of broken cities, failed towns, and a demoralized populace.

Mr. Trump apparently aims to convert the expiring Fugazy economy into a production economy — yikes! — based on making things of value, and perhaps more importantly, of people at all social levels having meaningful roles in the making and moving of things.

The Trump tariffs are the first big step in a process that is already generating a whole lot of friction, heat, and ferment. The aim of the tariffs is straightforward: the end of a trade regime that punishes and cripples American production.

The response so far is heartening. 

Many other countries suddenly seek new trade arrangements with the USA, correctly sensing that Mr. Trump means bidness. (This ain’t no Mud Club. . . this ain’t no foolin’ around. . . .) It’s even possible that these readjustments will happen so swiftly that the tariff differentials will be a wash before summer, and everybody will be, at least, on a firm footing, knowing what the clear new rules say. This new disposition of things required forceful incentives to change entrenched, harmful practices.

Another angle on this process is the dynamic known as import-replacement. It means exactly what it sounds like: where you used to get stuff from other lands, you now make it here. It should be obvious that this can’t be accomplished overnight. But the question is: okay, when are you going to start? Part of the answer is: we can’t afford to put it off any longer. There’s an awful lot of stuff, from machine tools to pharmaceuticals to military equipment that we had better start making again — or else slide into collapse, perhaps even slavery to other powers.

That process starts with deploying real capital — as opposed to Fugazy capital — to re-start businesses and industries. That will take money away from hedge funds and other rackets that exist to play games with evermore abstract layers of things that only pretend to represent money. As that occurs, a lot of pretend money will vanish. Don’t be too shocked by this. That’s what happens when a society bends back toward reality: you start sorting out the real money from the fake money. That’s why the price of gold keeps marching up.

I sense that Mr. Trump and his colleagues knew full-well that the tariff play would rattle the markets badly, that these “corrections” are an unavoidable consequence, and are better gotten-over as quickly as possible. 

What else would you expect in a system that has dedicated itself for decades to mis-pricing the value of just about everything? The snap-back is sure to be harsh.

The psychopathocracy that drives the Global Left lost more traction last week in its quest to keep all of its old rackets running. Their foot-soldiers in the USA have been defunded effectively by Mr. Musk’s DOGE, starting with the immense network of rackets that were run around the USAID program. The Woke NGOs are no more and the fat paychecks are no longer going out to the nose-ring-for-lunch-bunch who came to infest the DC Beltway — and their satellite offices in Democratic Party controlled cities. Hence, the feeble turn-outs in last weekend’s street actions.

The Baby Boomers have gone especially psychotic. That’s why there are so many old folks waving those Soros-made placards in the astroturfed crowds of the “Hands-off” protests. After an eighty-year run of the most mind-blowing comfort and convenience enjoyed by any generation in world history, America’s Boomers stare into the abyss of their fading Fugazy fortunes as their stock portfolios tank. Kind of too bad. Maybe you shouldn’t have gone along for the ride. Maybe you should have cared for your country a bit more.

Here’s your poster-boy for that: the retarded slob rock-and-roller Neil Young, performing in support of the US Intel blob, the Covid-19 vaccine campaign, the degenerate Democratic party, Senator Adam Schiff, and BlackRock. Neil Young’s estimated net worth is about $200-million. 

He could lose ninety percent of that and still live a life of luxury. In 2022, he inveighed against Covid vaccine “misinformation” and promoted the shots. Guess, what? You were dead wrong about that, Neil, and now a lot of people are dead and dying because of those vaccines. He has many compadres in showbiz who took the same position against reality.

The time is not far-off when they will be revealed as disgraceful tools — Public vaxx champions such as Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Oprah Winfrey, Howard Stern, Ryan Reynolds, Lady Gaga. . . the list is long and discouraging. Meanwhile, they’re all out there rallying the Woke troops against the Golden Golem of Greatness as the Left’s leaky lifeboat goes down, gurgle, gurgle. In the process, they’ve destroyed Hollywood, rock and roll, and comedy. The country will recover from that, too. You’ll have plenty of opportunity to laugh at them in the years to come as the obituaries roll in.

Meanwhile, brace and rejoice! Great changes are set in motion. Roll with the turbulence. 

You’ll come out the other end, stronger, wiser, steadier, perhaps even happier.

And, mark ye, the silence emanating from the DOJ and the FBI these budding spring days. The New York Times is nervous as all git-out.

Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news,

A ‘Harassment and Sensitivity’ employee training video that is really used by top Fortune 500 companies has gone viral, because it’s unintentionally hilarious.

It features a guy called Ken (straight and white, obviously) being over the top insensitive toward disabled, transgender, and obese people.

No one in the real world actually behaves like this except for absolute c*nts, and if they did they would be instantly and rightly fired, which is what makes this fantastic comedy. It’s almost exactly like Ricky Gervais’ The Office.

Highlight reels from actual ‘Harassment and Sensitivity’ employee training, used by some of the top Fortune 500 companies. pic.twitter.com/4UTjmMPHOC

— B S (@BS1134202358) April 5, 2025

Ken calls a small person, midget, dwarf, whatever you want to call them, in an electric wheelchair “speedy gonzales” and says “slow your role and come talk to me.”

The little guy tells Ken to stop, and Ken says it’s just a joke.

He then turns to the camera, rolls his eyes and says “remember before all this PC stuff, when we could just be ourselves?”

Ken then asks another “old dog” colleague, “did you get any this weekend?” presumably meaning sexual action.

Ken also calls a transgender dude a ‘man’ who is “creeping everyone out” and says he knows the guy is doing stinky shits in the guys stalls.

LOL.

Ken is the hero we all need

— B S (@BS1134202358) April 5, 2025

Straight into my veins

— hork. (@clonewarveteran) April 5, 2025

The rancor monster is upset that Ken noticed it is wearing a circus tent as a dress.

— skunky (@skunky) April 5, 2025

“Look, man…or whatever…”
Ken is only saying what everyone else is too afraid to say. Ken’s the only one with literal, and figurative, balls in his workplace.

— Unserious Stoic (@kingsfan231) April 6, 2025

Ken is the hero in this series.

— ManChild (@MarcC_StuckInNJ) April 6, 2025

Ken rocks, I’m team Ken https://t.co/Bn55U246KI

— Enguerrand VII de Coucy (@ingelramdecoucy) April 5, 2025

Ken is the only free thinker in these videos

— Robert Doge III (aka RD3), 1776 (@bob_justbob_22) April 6, 2025

The video was produced by a company called Skillsoft, which has an online learning platform that it claims is “building the teams that companies need.”

Presumably companies need more transgender, disabled and obese people and fewer Kens.

The company has other videos which are not quite as funny but still entertaining, like when the small person goes to complain about Ken, and the manager doesn’t really care.

Others include guys playing pranks and just generally being dicks.

We’d suggest that the guy’s extremely aggressive reaction to being pranked is more concerning than the fifth grade level immaturity of the bros in this one.

Another has a guy (white again obviously) complaining to other colleagues about a ‘muslim’ who has been hired possibly being a fundamentalist terrorist, except that he’s talking about a sikh who wears a turban. The guy is obviously an absolute prick, which is again why it’s hilarious.

Another video features the aggressive locker guy bragging at the bar about how he’s been sucking dick all night long, which is insensitive to the muslim, sorry Sikh, guy and the old white cleaning lady, who seems jealous more than anything.

Another video features a delivery man just relentlessly perving on the secretary in the office before he’s brutally smacked down by the diverse girl boss manger lady.

The poor secretary is perved on by other guys in the office too, because seemingly every white man they’ve hired is a mentally retarded sex starved deviant. This one, called Zack, is also an absolute asshole who bullies women when they won’t go to dinner with him.

Zack also left a laptop open with a porn video playing… or something.

The overriding question we’re left with is who on earth is in charge of hiring at this company. Is it literally Satan?

Can someone turn this into an actual show? There are way worse things on Netflix and Disney +.

*  *  *

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