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DEVELOPING: Putin Ready to Discuss Truce with Ukraine After Trump Threatens Russia with “Large Scale Banking Sanctions” and Tariffs

Russian President Vladimir Putin is reportedly ready for a truce with Ukraine after President Trump threatened to sanction Russia.

President Trump on Friday morning threatened Russia with “large scale” banking sanctions and tariffs until Vladimir Putin reached a ceasefire and final settlement on peace with Ukraine.

“Based on the fact that Russia is absolutely “pounding” Ukraine on the battlefield right now, I am strongly considering large scale Banking Sanctions, Sanctions, and Tariffs on Russia until a Cease Fire and FINAL SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT ON PEACE IS REACHED. To Russia and Ukraine, get to the table right now, before it is too late. Thank you!!!” Trump said on Truth Social on Friday.

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FCC’s Brendan Carr Advances Investigation into NPR, PBS Running ‘Prohibited’ Ads

Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr advanced his investigation into NPR and PBS running “prohibited” commercials.

Carr ordered an investigation in early January into the taxpayer-funded NPR and PBS, believing the nonprofits are running commercials that they are barred from airing.

“I am concerned that NPR and PBS broadcasts could be violating federal law by airing commercials,” Carr wrote at the time. “In particular, it is possible that NPR and PBS member stations are broadcasting underwriting announcements that cross the line into prohibited commercial advertisements.”

Public broadcasting stations are prohibited from running commercials, and instead they often air corporate underwriting spots, which cannot issue a “call to action” to urge listeners to purchase a product or service.

An FCC source said, at the end of last week, the agency sent out 15 letters of inquiry, two to NPR and PBS, and 13 letters to their affiliates, seeking to know more about their advertising and prospective underwriting practices.

Some of these stations include WETA, the Washington, DC, PBS station, WAMU, the American University NPR local affiliate in the D.C. area, and WNYC, a New York City NPR affiliate in the Big Apple.

“For my own part, I do not see a reason why Congress should continue sending taxpayer dollars to NPR and PBS given the changes in the media marketplace,” Carr continued.

This is not the only inquiry the FCC has taken since Carr has led the telecommunications regulatory agency.

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Gov. DeSantis Seeks Permanent Ban On mRNA Vaccine Mandates And Other Restrictions

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and his wife Casey have called on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to stop recommending the COVID-19 vaccine for children, as well as for the state legislature to permanently prohibit mRNA mandates and to add vaccination status protections to the Patient’s Bill of Rights. 

“Guided by common sense and sound science, Florida has led the way in protecting patients’ rights. Now is the time to secure these protections and do even more to defend medical freedom,” said DeSantis (R-Fla.). “Let’s keep Florida the beacon of freedom in health care, where the rights of all patients are enshrined permanently in law.”

“Today, Governor DeSantis, Surgeon General Ladapo, and I called on the Florida Legislature to make permanent the prohibitions against the COVID mRNA vaccine mandate,” said First Lady Casey DeSantis. “Florida stood in the breach to protect people during COVID, now it’s time to make sure these protections last.”

“I am deeply grateful to Governor Ron and First Lady Casey DeSantis for continuing to put the needs and rights of Floridians first,” said State Surgeon General Dr. Joseph A. Ladapo. “These proposals will strengthen the sovereignty of patients, and we look forward to advancing these issues with our federal partners at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.”

The call to ban mRNA vaccine mandates by DeSantis is a law that already exists in the Sunshine State but is set to expire in June. 

DeSantis said he has no idea why the Legislature added an expiration date in the bill, but he is calling on lawmakers to extend the ban and make it permanent.

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U.S. Indicts 12 Chinese Nationals in ‘Hackers-for-Hire’ Conspiracy

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) on Wednesday announced 12 Chinese nationals have been indicted in a global “hackers-for-hire” scheme to “inflict digital harm on Americans who criticize the Chinese Communist Party.”

Court documents unsealed on Wednesday accused China’s Ministry of Public Security (MPS) and Ministry of State Security (MSS) of directing and financing the hackers to “conduct computer intrusions against high-value targets in the United States and elsewhere.”

“Victims include U.S.-based critics and dissidents of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), a large religious organization in the United States, the foreign ministries of multiple governments in Asia, and U.S. federal and state government agencies, including most recently in 2024,” DOJ said.

“By employing these hackers-for-hire, the PRC government further allowed these same hackers to profit by committing additional computer intrusions around the world with impunity, and then to sell stolen data through Chinese data brokers,” DOJ added.

The first two Chinese nationals indicted in the case, Yin “YKC” Kecheng and Zhou “Coldface” Shuai, were allegedly linked to a state-sponsored Chinese hacking group known as APT27, “LuckyMouse,” or “Emissary Panda.” 

The group has been active since 2010, with an early emphasis on cyber-espionage attacks against corporate and government systems in the Western world, the Middle East, and Taiwan. APT27’s later exploits included profitable cyber-crimes.

DOJ charged Yin and Zhou with “sophisticated computer hacking conspiracies that successfully targeted a wide variety of US.-based victims from 2011 to the present day,” inflicting “millions of dollars worth of damages.” Both Yin and Zhou have previously been named in multiple-count indictments for fraud, identity theft, and money laundering.

A second announcement from DOJ on Wednesday added indictments for two MPS officers and eight employees of an “ostensibly private” company called Anxun Information Technology Col. Ltd., also known as i-Soon.

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FBI Arrests Three U.S. Service Members for Treason, Allegedly Selling Military Secrets to China

The FBI made a major announcement on Friday, revealing that three U.S. service members have been arrested and charged with treason for allegedly attempting to sell classified military intelligence to agents of the Chinese government. 

Two active-duty U.S. Army soldiers and a former soldier were arrested after they were accused of conspiring to transmit sensitive national defense information to Chinese agents, according to a statement from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). 

The DOJ identified the suspects as Jian Zhao and Li Tian, both active-duty soldiers stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord and Ruoyu Duan, a former U.S. Army soldier. The three were accused of conspiring to transmit sensitive national defense information to Chinese agents, endangering U.S. national security.

The indictment alleges that Zhao began planning to sell classified intelligence in July 2024. He is accused of transmitting “SECRET” and “TOP SECRET” materials to individuals connected to China, including sensitive data related to U.S. military capabilities. 

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New Hampshire Lawmakers Unanimously Approve Psilocybin Decriminalization Bill

A House committee in New Hampshire has advanced a bill that would decriminalize use and possession of psilocybin.

Members of the House Criminal Justice and Public Safety voted unanimously, 16–0, to pass the bill, HB 528, from Rep. Kevin Verville (R).

Prior to moving the bill forward, the committee first adopted an amendment to temper the proposed reform. As originally introduced, it would have completely removed all penalties around obtaining, purchasing, transporting, possessing or using psilocybin, effectively legalizing it on a noncommercial basis.

The amended version of the legislation imposes penalties, but they’re significantly lower than the state’s current felony-level prohibition.

Under the new amendment, a first psilocybin offense would be a violation, subject to a fine of $100 or less. Second and third offenses would be class B misdemeanors, carrying fines of up to $500 and $1,000, respectively, but also with no risk of jail time.

Fourth and subsequent offenses would still be classified as felonies.

Notably, language of the proposal does not include any specific limit to the amount of psilocybin a person could possess.

The committee’s chair, Rep. Terry Roy (R), said that while he opposes full legalization of psilocybin, he believes the drug has medical value and ought not be punished as a felony.

“I’d like to see it done through proper scientific channels, through university studies and the [Department of Veterans Affairs],” Roy explained. “But having said that, I support this bill lowering it from a felony. We don’t need more intoxicated people, but we also don’t need more felons.”

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Taking Rights Seriously

“If all mankind minus one were of one opinion,
and only one person were of the contrary opinion,
Mankind would be no more justified
In silencing that one person,
Than he, if he had the power,
Would be justified in silencing mankind.”

— John Stuart Mill (1806-1873)

The world is filled with self-evident truths — truisms — that philosophers, lawyers and judges know need not be proven. The sun rises in the east and sets in the west. Two plus two equals four. A cup of boiling hot coffee sitting on a table in a room, the temperature of which is 70 degrees Fahrenheit, will eventually cool down.

These examples, of which there are legion, are not true because we believe they are true. They are true essentially and substantially. They are true whether we accept their truthfulness or not. Of course, recognizing a universal truth acknowledges the existence of an order of things higher than human laws, certainly higher than government.

The generation of Americans that fought the war of secession against England — according to Professor Murray Rothbard, the last moral war Americans waged — understood the existence of truisms and recognized their origin in nature.

The most famous of these recognitions was Thomas Jefferson’s iconic line in the Declaration of Independence that self-evident truths come not from persons but from “the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God.” Thus, “All Men are created equal and are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness” is a truism.

Jefferson’s neighbor and colleague, James Madison, understood this as well when he wrote the Bill of Rights so as to reflect that human rights do not come from the government. They come from our individual humanity.

Natural Rights

Thus, your right to be alive, to think as you wish, to say what you think, to publish what you say, to worship or not, to associate or not, to shake your fist in the tyrant’s face by petitioning the government, your right to defend yourself and repel tyrants using and carrying the same weapons as the government does, your right to be left alone, to own property, to travel or to stay put — these natural aspects of human existence are natural rights that come from our humanity and for the exercise of which all rational persons yearn.

This is the natural rights understanding of Jefferson’s Declaration and Madison’s Bill of Rights, to the latter of which all in government have sworn allegiance and deference.

A right is not a privilege. A right is an indefeasible personal claim against the whole world. It does not require a government permission slip. It does not require preconditions except the ability to reason. It does not require the approval of family or neighbors.

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DHS Ends TSA Collective Bargaining After Bombshell Finding Of ‘More Full-Time Union Workers’ Than Airport Screeners

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is ending collective bargaining for Transportation Security Officers with the TSA, Fox News reports, citing a release obtained by Fox Business.

According to the report, The TSA has more people doing “full-time union work” vs. performing actual screening functions at 86% of US airports. Put another way, 374 out of 432 federalized airports have fewer than 200 TSA Officers to perform screening functions, while the rest are paid by the government but work “full-time on union matters” and do not retain certification to perform screening.

What’s more, DHS cited a recent TSA employee survey which found that over 60% of “poor performers” are allowed to stay employed and “not surprisingly, continue to not perform.”

(Also, maybe get rid of the nut-grabbers in the TSA patdown area when we don’t want to submit to those Total Recall scanners made by Leidos – formerly SAIC).

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CDC to study link between vaccines and autism in bombshell move

The CDC will study the potential link between vaccines and autism, sources have revealed.

Two sources told Reuters the agency is planning a large study into the long disproven connection. 

It is unclear whether newly appointed health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, who has long been skeptical of vaccines, is involved in the planned study or how it would be carried out. 

The CDC and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) could not immediately be reached for comment.

The bombshell move comes amid one of the largest measles outbreaks in US history, with more than 150 cases across the country and two deaths in Texas and New Mexico. 

Experts believe the outbreak has been fueled by declining vaccination rates in parts of the US.

Kennedy, whose role includes authority over the CDC, has long sowed doubt over the safety of the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine, along with Covid shots made by Pfizer and Moderna. 

However, he did make a U-turn move earlier this week when he urged people to get the shot to prevent measles. 

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Covid booster vaccine reawakens world’s deadliest virus inside man’s body

Doctors have revealed an extremely rare case that saw the Covid vaccine reawaken a deadly virus inside a man’s body.

The unnamed 47-year-old had been living with a dormant tuberculosis infection that was not causing symptoms when he received his booster shot in India.

Five days after vaccination he he began experiencing ‘severe constitutional symptoms’ including fever, fatigue and night sweats.

Doctors discovered that his immune system, now stronger from the vaccine, started attacking the TB infection too aggressively, causing inflammation and the flare-up of symptoms.

He was diagnosed with tuberculosis immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome (TB-IRIS), marking the first known case linked to a Covid booster. 

He was treated with high dose steroids that helped control the immune system’s overreaction, and he gradually stopped using them over several weeks as he recovered.

Tuberculosis replaced Covid to become the top cause for infectious disease-related deaths in 2023 and has been the number one killer since.

Around 8million people are diagnosed globally each year and more than a million die.

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