Apple Removes Private VPN Apps From Russia App Store

Apple pulled several custom VPN clients from the Russian App Store last week, including Streisand, V2Box, v2RayTun, and Happ Proxy Utility.

These aren’t the big-name commercial VPN providers that Apple already removed in 2024 at Roskomnadzor’s request. These are tools that let users connect to their own private servers and configure manual proxies, the kind of apps that give technically savvy Russians the ability to route around state censorship without depending on any company’s infrastructure.

Russian tech outlet Kod Durova first reported the removals, noting that the same apps remain available through Google Play on Android.

Days before the removals surfaced, Digital Development Minister Maksut Shadayev announced the Kremlin’s most aggressive anti-VPN campaign yet. “We have an obligation to fulfill the tasks that have been set before us. In this case, the task is to reduce the use of VPNs,” Shadayev said on the state-backed messenger Max.

He linked the push to what he called “long, difficult and ultimately unsuccessful” talks with foreign tech companies over compliance with Russian law.

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New York’s Governor Seems Indifferent to the Health Consequences of a Steep Tax on Nicotine Pouches

By pushing a 75 percent wholesale tax on nicotine pouches, New York State Budget Director Blake Washington says, Gov. Kathy Hochul is trying to address “a public health concern.” That rationale is absurd on its face, since this tax would sharply raise the cost of a nicotine product that is far less hazardous than cigarettes, perversely discouraging smokers from making a switch that could save their lives.

Hochul, who seems determined to portray a money grab as a benevolent intervention, is either oblivious or indifferent to the health consequences of taxing nicotine patches at the same rate as cigarettes. “We see it as a distinction without a difference,” Washington told reporters in January.

That position ignores the huge difference between inhaling tobacco smoke, which contains myriad toxins and carcinogens, and orally absorbing nicotine from a pouch placed between the lip and gums. Hochul’s framing also contradicts what the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said four days before the end of the Biden administration, when it authorized the marketing of Zyn nicotine pouches in two doses and 10 flavors.

That decision was based on the FDA’s determination that “the new products offer greater benefits to population health than risks.” The data, said Matthew Farrelly, director of the Office of Science at the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products, “show that these nicotine pouch products meet that bar by benefiting adults who use cigarettes and/or smokeless tobacco products and completely switch to these products.”

Nicotine pouches contain “substantially lower amounts of harmful constituents than cigarettes,” the FDA noted. They therefore offer “a lower-risk alternative for adults who smoke cigarettes.”

How much lower? To give you a sense of the difference, the Royal College of Physicians estimates that “the hazard to health” from e-cigarettes, which likewise do not contain tobacco or burn anything but do require inhalation, “is unlikely to exceed 5% of the harm from smoking tobacco.”

Nicotine pouches “contain far, far fewer harmful constituents compared to traditional tobacco products,” notes Mary Hrywna, a tobacco control specialist at the Rutgers School of Public Health. The FDA’s Zyn decision implicitly acknowledged that nicotine pouches are “much safer than cigarettes,” says Ray Niaura, a professor at New York University’s School of Global Public Health.

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Truth, Fear, and the Collapse of Control

There are moments in history when systems of control begin to lose their effectiveness—not because they are dismantled, but because they are no longer believed.

We may be entering such a moment now.

The signals are contradictory. On the surface, the world appears increasingly unstable—conflicts escalate in the Middle East, economic pressures tighten, energy costs rise, political narratives shift rapidly, and digital systems expand their reach into everyday life. At the same time, something more subtle is occurring. More people are beginning to recognize that fear itself has become one of the primary instruments through which modern systems maintain influence.

This is not a conspiracy in the simplistic sense. It is structural.

Modern governance—whether expressed through media institutions, financial systems, technological platforms, or regulatory frameworks—depends less on direct coercion than on the management of perception. Control is exercised not only through laws or force, but through the shaping of attention, the framing of events, and the constant stimulation of emotional response.

Fear plays a central role in this arrangement.

A population that is uncertain, anxious, and reactive is easier to guide than one that is stable, reflective, and inwardly anchored. Under conditions of sustained pressure—economic, informational, or social—people become more likely to defer judgment, seek authority, and accept narratives they might otherwise question. In this way, fear does not merely accompany modern systems of power; it sustains them.

Yet this mechanism has limits.

When fear becomes constant, it begins to lose its effect. When every development is presented as urgent, every disagreement as existential, and every event as a crisis, fatigue sets in. People may not fully understand what is happening, but they begin to sense that something is off—that the intensity of the messaging no longer matches their direct experience of reality.

This is where a shift begins.

It does not start with large-scale political change. It begins at the level of perception. Individuals start to withdraw their automatic emotional investment from the stream of narratives presented to them. They still observe events, but with greater distance. They become less willing to be pulled into cycles of alarm and reaction, and begin—however tentatively—to rely more on their own judgment.

This is a quiet development, but a significant one.

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Backlash After NYC Mayor Mamdani Blames Death of 7-Month Old Baby on Guns Instead of the Violent Criminals Who Killed Her

Radical socialist Mayor of New York City, Zohran Mamdani, is facing backlash for politicizing the death of a 7-month-old baby and blaming ‘guns’ instead of the violent criminals responsible for the tragedy.

On Wednesday, the baby, Kaori Patterson-Moore, was shot and killed as her mother pushed her in a stroller down a Brooklyn Street. Two men drove past on a moped, with one of the men firing two shots at passersby.

Per The New York Post:

Sources said the tot’s mom heard the shots and rushed her daughter into a nearby bodega for shelter — then looked down at the stroller and saw the blood.

The suspects fled but crashed the moped two blocks away, sending one of them to the hospital where he was identified as a person of interest and the second goon still on the run.

Meanwhile, the tragic youngster was rushed by ambulance to Woodhull Hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 1:46 p.m.

Rather than addressing NYC’s soft-on-crime policies and blaming the actual violent perpetrators, Mamdani instead blamed guns.

Mamdani said during a press conference, “Earlier today, a 7-month-old baby was shot and killed on the corner of Moore Street and Humboldt Street here in Brooklyn. A life that had barely begun was taken in an instant.”

“This is not the first family in our city to know this pain. Too many children have never grown up into becoming adults. Too many parents have had to bury those that they love the most. We cannot accept this as normal. In our city.”

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Illegal immigrants charged in 75% of this year’s murders in Fairfax County, VA: DHS

The Department of Homeland Security revealed on Friday that of the four defendants in Fairfax County, Virginia currently facing murder trials so far this year, three of them are illegal immigrants.

“Of the four defendants in Fairfax County murder trials this year, THREE are ILLEGAL ALIENS,” the DHS wrote. “Governor Spanberger must end her sanctuary policies that allow these illegal aliens onto our streets and work with DHS to protect the citizens of the commonwealth.”

In one of the most recent cases, Misael Lopez Gomez was arrested on Tuesday and charged second-degree murder and a felony child abuse for allegedly killing his 3-month-old daughter. Preliminary results from the autopsy conducted by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner determined that the cause of death was blunt force trauma.

The DHS said that it had issued an arrest detainer. He allegedly admitted to entering the US illegally through the southern border near Albuquerque, New Mexico in July 2023.

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French Government Tries to Ban Major Muslim Gathering in Paris for Security Risks, But Court Decision Confirms the Event

The Islamization of France is a fact, with 2,5 million Muslims in Paris and the metropolitan area alone.

Back on Thursday, the French government announced the ban of a major gathering of Muslims planned for the country’s capital.​

The head of police said it ‌represented ‘a security risk’, but the decision was later overturned by a French court.

Reuters reported:

“’At the request of the Interior ​Minister Laurent Nunez, I have issued an ​order prohibiting the 40th edition of the ⁠Annual Meeting of Muslims of France, from April ​3 to April 6 at the Paris–Le Bourget ​Exhibition Centre’, the Paris police chief Patrice Faure said in a post on X.

‘This decision is set within ​a national and international context marked by ​heightened tensions and an increased level of terrorist alert, risks ‌of ⁠public disorder, and the large police presence on the streets in the coming days’, he said.”

The attempt at a ban came after ⁠a foiled bomb attack on Bank of America building in Paris.

But the gathering is happening as planned, after a French court overturned the government’s bid to ban it.

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Trump Set To Unveil His $1.5 Trillion Military Budget Request Amid Raging Iran War

President Trump is expected to unveil his request for a $1.5 trillion military budget for the 2027 fiscal year on Friday, Reuters has reported, marking a 50% increase from this year’s already massive budget.

The 2026 military budget marked the first to officially exceed $1 trillion, which was achieved by Congress passing a 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) worth about $900 billion and combining it with $150 billion in supplemental military spending that was included in the so-called Big Beautiful Bill, a reconciliation bill that became law last year.

The White House is expected to go with a similar strategy to reach $1.5 trillion. It may request an NDAA worth about $1 trillion or less and seek a supplemental spending bill for $400 to $600 billion. Republican leadership in Congress has already begun working on the potential supplemental.

The Trump administration is also expected to soon ask Congress for $200 billion in “emergency” spending for the Iran war, mainly to replenish the air defense munitions and missiles used so far in the conflict, which has been raging for more than one month. It’s unclear if the $200 billion for the Iran war would be in addition to the supplemental for the 2027 budget.

The Reuters report said that the massive $1.5 trillion request will include the $185 billion “Golden Dome” project, Trump’s plan for a major new missile defense system for all the territory of the United States, which will be a major boondoggle for the US weapons makers and may spark a new arms race.

The report said the administration also plans to use the money to fund more weapons production with the goal of “deterring” China and to replenish weapons used in the Middle East wars and in Ukraine.

Bloomberg reported that the White House’s budget plan will frame the Republicans’ midterm election message around a massive military buildup, partially paid for by cuts to domestic agencies. The request will come as the US appears to be on the cusp of launching ground operations against Iranian islands and ports, which could lead to significant US casualties.

At the beginning of his term, Trump suggested he was interested in reducing the military budget, but he then dramatically expanded US military interventions worldwide and sought record-breaking spending levels.

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UK Schools Rake In Record £572 MILLION for Non-English Speaking Pupils

Mass immigration is once again exposing the true cost to British taxpayers, with UK schools now receiving a record £572 million to support pupils who do not speak English as their first language.

The bill has soared by £157 million since modern records began in 2020, according to Department for Education figures. This comes as the number of such pupils has climbed to 1.8 million – one in five children nationwide – up from 1.2 million a decade ago.

As revealed in a Daily Mail report, two schools alone – one in Manchester and one in Northampton – each collected at least £500,000 this year for translators, bilingual teaching assistants and support materials. Manchester Academy topped the list with over £670,000.

The funding is not ring-fenced and councils admit it can be spent on “almost anything” within a school’s overall budget. Nationwide, the average payout sits at around £27,418 per school, or roughly £320 per eligible pupil.

This latest education bombshell ties directly into the wider crisis of unchecked migration straining every corner of British life.

As we’ve highlighted, migrants are set to swallow 40% of all new UK homes by 2030, based on Conservative analysis of Office for Budget Responsibility projections. 

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POWDER KEG EUROPE: Serbian President Vučić Says Explosives Were Found Near a Pipeline Carrying Gas From Russia to Serbia and Hungary

Serbia in the eye of the storm.

While the eyes of the world are fixated on the developing crisis in the Middle East, Europe is still getting more dangerous by the day, with an energy crisis worsening the socio-political mess and the divisions over the war in Ukraine.

In this context, countries that lead independent foreign policies, like Serbia, are under relentless pressure.

Today, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić came out publicly to disclose that explosives were found near a pipeline that carries gas from Russia to Serbia and Hungary.

Euronews reported:

“Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić announced on Sunday morning that army and police found explosives that had been placed near a pipeline that carries gas to Serbia and Hungary.

He said that ‘two large packages of explosives with detonators’ were found inside backpacks in northern Serbia’s Kanjiza, ‘a few hundred meters from the gas pipeline’.

The Balkan Stream pipeline is an extension of the TurkStream pipeline, and transfers Russian gas to both Serbia and Hungary.”

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Obama’s Tower Of Doom Is Harder To Get Into Than America Itself

In yet another jaw-dropping display of elite hypocrisy, Barack Obama’s Chicago Presidential Center – long derided as the “Tower of Doom” – now requires proof of U.S. citizenship or lawful permanent residency just to enter a ticket giveaway for its grand opening ceremony on June 18, 2026.

While Democrats in Washington relentlessly push policies that treat America’s borders like an open invitation, the Obama Foundation has quietly imposed strict eligibility rules for its own high-profile event. 

The sweepstakes for two free tickets, complete with a potential $1,500 travel stipend for winners living 100 miles or more away, is explicitly limited to U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents who are legal residents of the 50 states, D.C., or Puerto Rico and at least 18 years old.

Kayleigh McEnany cut straight to the point: “Why do we have stricter standards for the Obama library than for voting?”

Rep. Brandon Gill (R-TX) delivered the obvious answer: “Well, because Democrats would like to allow non-citizens to vote in American elections.”

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