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Korean Air bans roosters from flights to Philippines after Texas tied to cockfighting supply

Korean Air has banned roosters on flights from the U.S. to the Philippines, following a report that found a large swath of Texas is tightly tied to supplying birds for cockfighting in the Asian nation. 

According to the airline, the decision was based on care for the safety of animals. 

While cockfighting is illegal in the U.S., breeding and selling roosters for agricultural or other benign purposes is not.

Korean Air restricts roosters

What they’re saying:

In a statement to FOX Local, Korea Air said the suspension applies to all roosters, regardless of age:

“Korean Air has suspended the transportation of roosters of all ages on routes from the United States to the Philippines. Korean Air is firmly committed to the lawful and safe transport of live animals, in accordance with applicable laws and regulations.”

The backstory:

Some months ago, an animal rights nonprofit called Animal Wellness Action (AWA) released an in-depth report calling an area including North Texas the “primary hub of illegal cockfighting” in the nation, with multiple reports of rooster breeders taking their animals to the Philippines for that purpose. That report claims Korean Air was the airline of choice for such operations. 

What they’re saying:

“We are grateful to Korean Air for giving us an audience and allowing us to present the mass of information revealing that the company was being rooked by U.S. cockfighters, pretending to be “farmers” and benign “breeders,” but who have been supplying fighting birds to the Philippines every year by the tens of thousands and directly participating in the fights themselves,” the group said in a Monday statement after Korea Air’s announcement. 

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Republicans Could Gain DOZENS of House Seats After SCOTUS Outlaws Racial Gerrymandering — Here’s How

Republicans could pick up as many as 27 additional House seats following the Supreme Court’s decision to curb race-based redistricting, a shift that could reshape the 2026 midterm map.

The projection stems from analysis of how congressional districts may be redrawn now that states are no longer required to prioritize race when complying with Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.

Estimates indicate that weakening Section 2 enforcement could ultimately produce even larger gains, with Axios reporting that 27 seats could shift toward Republicans over time.

The changes would be concentrated primarily in Southern states, where previous maps were challenged and altered to create additional majority-minority districts.

With the Court ruling that racially gerrymandered maps are unconstitutional, states now have broader authority to redraw districts using traditional and political considerations rather than racial targets.

The impact could be significant given the current balance of power in the House, where relatively small seat changes determine control.

The Louisiana case at the center of the ruling involved a dispute over a second majority-Black district added after legal challenges.

A group of voters later sued, arguing the map relied too heavily on race, and federal courts agreed before the issue reached the Supreme Court.

The Court’s decision effectively limits how Section 2 can be used to force states into drawing districts based on racial composition.

This removes a major legal obstacle for Republican-led legislatures seeking to revisit congressional maps ahead of 2026.

Ongoing legal battles in Texas and Florida suggest that mid-cycle redistricting efforts are already underway, with courts allowing those maps to remain in place while challenges proceed.

Republicans are also expected to benefit from structural advantages in turnout and district geography, which, combined with new map flexibility, could further strengthen their position.

The ruling does not eliminate the Voting Rights Act but significantly narrows its application in redistricting cases, reducing the likelihood of successful legal challenges based on racial representation claims.

While most pollsters believe that Democrats will take back the House in November, there are some signs that a so-called “blue wave” is not a foregone conclusion.

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After Comey indictment, acting AG leaves door open to Whitmer investigation over ’86 45′

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer could face a federal investigation into an “86 45” emblem visible in the background of a virtual appearance she made several years ago.

The term 86 is slang used in the restaurant industry to signal something should be removed, like a menu item that’s out of stock or a disorderly person in a bar. President Donald Trump is the 45th and 47th president.

The Justice Department secured an indictment Tuesday against former FBI Director James Comey over a photo he posted last year of seashells on a beach arranged to read “86 47,” which prosecutors say was meant to be a threat to Trump’s life.

Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche told reporters during a press conference Tuesday that “other instances of threats against the president of the United States … will be investigated.”

“You cannot compare,” Blanche said. “It’s not fair to the American people, it’s not fair to the defendant, and it’s certainly not fair to the prosecutors to compare, ‘well, if you did it here, why didn’t you do it there?’”

Trump’s 2020 campaign accused Whitmer of “encouraging assassination attempts” against the president by having the emblem visible in the background of a virtual appearance on “Meet the Press.”

The interview was recorded days after federal agents thwarted an alleged plot to kidnap and kill Whitmer.

When specifically asked whether Whitmer’s 2020 appearance would also be investigated, Blanche did not rule that possibility out.

“Every case is different. The facts are different. Who makes the threat matters? What the threat says matters,” Blanche said.

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Bio-Engineered Venom in our Food, Veggie Seeds, Common Drugs

The Shocking Truth About Venom Genetically-Engineered Vegetable Seeds

Imagine biting into a fresh tomato or serving up a bowl of rice, unaware that deep within the plant’s DNA lies a venom protein borrowed from a snake, scorpion, or spider. It sounds like science fiction, but it’s not.

According to a peer-reviewed study published in the journal Venoms (November 2021), scientists have been exploring ways to incorporate venom proteins into vegetable seeds as a new line of defense against insects… and those developments may already be far more widespread than the public has been told.

Venom for Dinner? The Study That Started the Alarm

The journal article, titled Applications of Venom Biodiversity in Agriculture, outlines a growing body of research in which venom peptides… proteins derived from creatures like snakes, spiders, and scorpions… are used to engineer pest-resistant plants.

The rationale?

According to the study’s authors, venom-based biotechnology holds promise for creating what they call “bioinsecticides.” The idea is that plants, through genetic-engineering, can internally produce venom proteins that repel or kill attacking pests. It’s been offered by marketers as a more “natural” solution than synthetic pesticides.

But some researchers aren’t convinced… and the backlash is growing.

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COVID Vaccine Hearing Exposes Deliberate Blind Eye to ‘Overwhelming Evidence of Harm’

For four years, Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) has wondered how US health officials could ignore “overwhelming evidence of harm” from the COVID vaccine.

“Now I know,” he says.

The truth is, health officials didn’t “ignore” safety signals. They buried them instead.

And now we have the receipts:

The US Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations investigated what federal health officials knew and when they knew it—and dug out a timeline that would make any American furious.

This is not a fringe “conspiracy theory.” It was revealed by the government’s own investigation—and it’s a story they don’t want you to read.

According to VAERS, the US’s vaccine adverse event reporting system, more adverse events and deaths have been reported following COVID vaccines than from all other vaccines combined over the system’s 30+ year history.

More dangerous than ivermectin. More dangerous than hydroxychloroquine (which turned out not to be so dangerous after all).

It was 55 times more deadly than the flu vaccine (0.46 deaths vs 25.5 deaths per million doses).

And even more dangerous than Remdesivir, which earned the nickname “Run Death Is Near” after it wreaked havoc on the kidneys and livers of tens of thousands of COVID patients in the hospital.

But still the question remains. How did US health officials miss a safety signal this big?

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Iran War Cost $25 Billion in First 2 Months, Pentagon Says

Combat operations against Iran have cost the U.S. military about $25 billion in two months, a top Pentagon accounting official told House Armed Services Committee members on April 29.

The Wednesday hearing marked the first time Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine have testified publicly to Congress since U.S. and Israeli forces commenced attacks on Iran on Feb. 28. U.S. and Iranian forces exchanged fire for about five and a half weeks before the parties entered into a ceasefire agreement on April 8.

Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), the ranking member on the committee, asked the Pentagon to account for the costs of U.S. munitions expended as well as for equipment destroyed in the course of the fighting.

Jules Hurst, the acting War Department comptroller, estimated those costs at about $25 billion.

Hurst said munitions accounted for most of it, but said he also factored in operations and maintenance and equipment replacement costs. Hurst joined Hegseth and Caine at the hearing, as Congress weighs military funding requests for fiscal year 2027.

The Trump administration has been working on submitting a supplemental funding request to Congress to cover the war’s costs, but has yet to finalize it or settle on an exact figure.

“We will formulate a supplemental through the White House that will come to Congress once we have a full assessment of the cost of the conflict,” Hurst said.

The Pentagon is already seeking a $1.5 trillion military and defense spending budget for fiscal year 2027. The request amounts to a 42 percent increase over fiscal year 2026 military spending, which totaled approximately $1.03 trillion.

Among other items, the Trump administration’s 2027 military budget request seeks $52.9 billion to boost procurement for 12 weapons systems that the Pentagon has classified as critical munitions.

In March, President Donald Trump announced he had met with the CEOs of BAE Systems, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon parent RTX Corp., Boeing, Honeywell, and L3Harris Technologies to discuss boosting their munitions production levels. Weapons produced by the companies—including the Patriot and Terminal High Altitude Area Defense missile defense systems and offensive weapons like the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile—have featured heavily in the Iran war.

Beyond the immediate material costs to replace weapons and equipment, the Iran war has also disrupted global oil and gas flows out of the Middle East, leading to rising prices for consumers.

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How Interstate Licensing Agreements Became Shadow Governments Policing Your Job

This month, Virginia became the 18th state to join the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact (NPVIC). This provoked an agitated response because, if the agreement ever goes live, it will deliver all the state’s Electoral College votes to the presidential candidate who wins the most votes nationwide, rather than the person Virginia voters selected.

With a war to cover, the news cycle moved on. While the country breezes past the question of whether states can compact away the Electoral College, the same loophole is being used to build compacts arguably more invasive.

A network of professional licensing agreements that would govern not just how Americans vote, but how they work, what they’re taught, and what ideological commitments they must demonstrate to keep their careers. In states where professional compacts have been enacted, there’s no need to ask for further consent.

The Constitution’s framers must have eyed compacts with suspicion, because they limited state authority to enter such agreements without congressional approval unless they were being actively invaded. Looking at the NPVIC, their concerns were justified. The Supreme Court relaxed those restrictions to facilitate states solving shared problems, such as coordinating water supplies or managing forest fires. But the risks remain.

The NPVIC isn’t an agreement to solve a shared problem. It is a mechanism for accomplishing, via compact, what Article V reserves for the amendment process. And professional licensing compacts are exploiting that same loophole to achieve a quiet revolution in governance.

Private Rules with the Force of Law

Professional licensure compacts achieve the worst of their outcomes by distributing rulemaking authority to private industry bodies through required exams or accreditation. This is how privately crafted codes of ethics or educational standards now bind practitioners on a national level with the force of law. Should one of these private bodies require professionals to understand the pervasive impact of white supremacy, or affirm gender identity, that sticks. 

There is no pathway to adjust these compacts through elections or legal accountability. This is rule without consent, delivered through one’s licensed career.

The details of how these compacts function are a significant part of the problem. The American social contract is based on consent, but these compacts destroy it on three levels.

First, they’re run by unelected industry insiders. Second, they hand rulemaking to professional associations and private bodies. Third, they give those private bodies’ codes and standards the weight of law. The result is a parallel government structure that sidesteps the Constitution to govern practitioner behavior.

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Red State Audit Exposes Taxpayer Spending Bombshell

A newly released audit in Mississippi is raising fresh questions about how taxpayer dollars were tracked after state officials uncovered more than $10.5 million in Medicaid spending tied to illegal aliens over a three-year period.

The findings have reignited debate over government transparency, border enforcement, and whether residents were fully informed about the financial burden placed on public programs.

The report, issued by State Auditor Shad White’s office, covers federal fiscal years 2023 through 2025 and follows a prior review that first highlighted the broader taxpayer cost of illegal immigration in the state.

White said the controversy centers not only on the amount of money spent but also on how long those costs went unreported.

His office launched a follow-up review after concerns emerged that Mississippi’s Medicaid system had not properly disclosed expenditures linked to illegal aliens through required reporting channels.

The newly released findings have fueled criticism over whether taxpayers were kept in the dark for years about the true cost to public programs, according to The Daily Signal.

White argued transparency is one of the core responsibilities of state government.

Under federal rules, hospitals must treat emergency patients regardless of citizenship status. States are also expected to track and report how much taxpayer money is used to cover those emergency-related services.

White’s office said Mississippi’s Medicaid program did not begin properly reporting those figures until scrutiny increased after the earlier audit. That disclosure gap became a major focus of the new review.

The deeper investigation ultimately found more than $10.5 million in Medicaid-related expenditures connected to illegal aliens during the three fiscal years examined.

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Vermont Christian School Banned from All Competitions for Standing Up for Girls Wins $566K in Damages

A Christian school that was punished for refusing to play against a transathlete has won a settlement from the State of Vermont.

In 2023, The Gateway Pundit reported that Mid Vermont Christian School (MVCS) withdrew from Vermont’s Division IV basketball tournament due to a biological male being on the opposing team.

MVCS head of school Vicky Fogg explained in a statement it was unfair and unsafe for the high school girls to play against a biological male.

Following the forfeiture, the school was banned from participating in sporting events going forward. In addition, the school was banned from participating in all VPA-sanctioned activities, not only athletics but also extracurricular competitions such as drama and debate, as well as science and math fairs.

In November 2023, Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) attorneys filed a lawsuit against Vermont officials on behalf of the school. A district court denied the school’s injunction request that would have allowed it readmission into the VPA for all sports, so ADF appealed the case to the 2nd Circuit and,  in September 2025, the 2nd Circuit ruled in favor of Mid Vermont Christian.

Per ADF:

“The VPA likely violated Mid Vermont’s First Amendment right to free exercise of religion because its consideration of Mid Vermont’s case was not neutral,” the ruling reads.

The court went on to explain: “[the VPA] acted with hostility toward Mid Vermont’s religious beliefs. The VPA’s Executive Director publicly castigated Mid Vermont—and religious schools generally—while the VPA rushed to judgment on whether and how to discipline the school. In upholding the expulsion, the VPA doubled down on that hostility by challenging the legitimacy of the school’s religious beliefs.

And … the punishment imposed was unprecedented, overbroad, and procedurally irregular. Those facts strongly support the inference that Mid Vermont’s religious objection ‘was not considered with the neutrality that the Free Exercise Clause requires.’

Now, Fox News reports that State education agencies in Vermont have settled with the school for over $566,000.

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California Approves Rules Allowing Automakers to Test, Deploy Heavy-Duty Autonomous Vehicles

The California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) on April 28 approved new regulations that would allow autonomous vehicle (AV) makers to test and deploy heavy-duty AV technology on California roadways.

The California DMV said manufacturers are required to test their vehicles with a safety driver, then progress to driverless testing, before they can apply for deployment on state roads.

Manufacturers must complete 50,000 miles of testing at each phase for light-duty vehicles and 500,000 miles for heavy-duty AVs and provide “a structured safety case” showing the safety of vehicle hardware, software, and operations in order to obtain a permit, according to the DMV.

The new rules would also expand safety and oversight requirements for all classes of AVs, allowing law enforcement agencies to cite companies for moving violations committed by their vehicles.

Under the regulations, companies operating AVs must respond to first-responder calls within 30 seconds, and local emergency officials will have the authority to issue “electronic geofencing directives” requiring autonomous vehicles to leave active emergency zones.

“California continues to lead the nation in the development and adoption of AV technology, and these updated regulations further demonstrate the state’s commitment to public safety,” DMV Director Steve Gordon said.

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