The EU has transferred €1 billion of macro-financial aid to Ukraine, bringing its total spending on supporting Kiev since the beginning of the special military operation to €150 billion, European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen wrote on X.
“Today we disburse a new €1 billion to Ukraine, bringing our total support to almost 150 billion,” she wrote.
The US quietly delivered hundreds of Hellfire missiles to Israel before its unprecedented attack on Iran on Friday, Middle East Eye can reveal.
The US sent around 300 Hellfire missiles to Israel on Tuesday in a large-scale stock-up of supplies before its attack, and as the Trump administration was saying it was ready to continue engaging Iran in nuclear talks.
The transfer of such a large quantity of Hellfires suggests that the Trump administration was well-informed of Israel’s plans to attack the Islamic Republic of Iran, two US officials told MEE on the condition of anonymity.
The US’s delivery of Hellfires or other large quantities of weapons in the lead up to Friday’s attack has not been previously reported.
The US military helped shoot down Iranian missiles that were headed towards Israel, two US officials told Reuters on Friday.
Hellfires are laser-guided air-to-ground missiles. They would not be useful for Israel to bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities, but for precision strikes.
Israel’s military used more than 100 aircraft in its attack on Friday, which used precision tracking to target senior military officials, nuclear scientists, and command centres.
“There is a time and place for Hellfires. They were useful to Israel,” one senior US defence official told MEE.
Israel killed scores of senior Iranian officials and nuclear scientists on Friday.
I mean, I wish I could say you can’t make it up, but the Left has become so unspooled that nothing shocks. It doesn’t mean it makes it any less entertaining, however. There are anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement protests and riots popping up nationwide. There’s bound to be shenanigans at this ‘No Kings’ event today, especially in Philadelphia. We’ll keep you abreast of that, but remember that anti-ICE protest in New York City? A horde of white liberals blocked the road, which prevented a black mother from getting to work. They laughed at her face and told her illegal aliens’ kids were more important.
Well, that guy in the video is reportedly a Black Lives Matter activist, Trevor Britvec, who got a six-figure settlement from the city during the 2020 summer of mayhem.
California’s Democrat-controlled state legislature has pushed tens of millions of tax dollars into the hands of non-governmental organizations that work to thwart deportation and out ICE agents, according to a report.
Five of these far-left, pro-illegal alien organizations have received $73.6 million in state tax dollars since 2023, according to a report by budget watchdog group Open The Books.
According to the review of state spending, the notorious group Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA) was the biggest recipient of state funds, with handouts of a whopping $35,226,566 during 2023 and 2024.
CHIRLA has reportedly been at the center of efforts to track where ICE agents are working in Los Angeles so that activists can be dispatched to the area, often followed by rioters and agitators. The group has set up a tip line for members of the public to out ICE agent activity, as well.
“Aside from their current activities fomenting unrest in L.A., CHIRLA runs many different campaigns and programs as a part of their regular operations, including the ‘Wise Up!’ program to teach high schoolers how to become activists,” Open The Books reported. “The CHIRLA website states this program is an ‘initiative to organize high school students—both undocumented and allies—around immigrant rights, and full access to educational opportunities.’ The website further states WiseUp! ‘activates students’ by ‘engaging them civically to fight in the legislative arena and the public square for measures that ease their access to education and citizenship.’”
Progressive U.S. lawmakers and human rights defenders demanded an end to unconditional American armed and diplomatic support for Israel after it launched a series of attacks on Iran early Friday, reportedly killing senior military officials and civilians including nuclear scientists, women, and children in a dramatic escalation that Iranian leaders vowed to avenge.
Iran, later on Friday, reportedly fired hundreds of ballistic missiles toward Israel, and smoke was seen rising from the city of Tel Aviv as Tehran began its retaliation for the large-scale attack that Israel’s military committed just hours earlier.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) wrote on social media that “all of Israel is under fire.” Minutes later, the IDF said that the “Iranian attack is ongoing,” noting that “dozens of additional missiles were launched toward Israel.”
The Israeli military instructed residents across the country to “remain close to protected spaces” and minimize “movement in public areas” until an all-clear is given. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
Unnamed U.S. officials told the Associated Press that American military assets were being used to help the Israelis intercept incoming missiles from Iran, though the sources, according to the AP, “did not say how the U.S. provided assistance.”
Iran’s retaliation followed at least five waves of Israeli airstrikes targeting not only Iran’s nuclear facilities but also its military leadership and capabilities, Al Jazeera reported. In addition to airstrikes, Israeli and international media reported that operatives from Mossad, Israel’s foreign spy agency, also conducted assassination and sabotage attacks in Iran.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) claimed that Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Commander-in-Chief Major Gen. Hossein Salami and Iranian Armed Forces Chief of Staff Major Gen. Mohammad Bagheri were assassinated, as were numerous Iranian nuclear scientists [and key nuclear negotiator Ali Shamkhani.]
Israeli attacks targeted cities including the capital Tehran, Natanz, Isfahan, Arak, Tabriz and Kermanshah. Iranian television reports showed bombed-out apartment towers and said that an unknown number of civilians including women and children were killed in the strikes. [The New York Times cites Iran’s Fars news agency’s report of at least 78 deaths and 329 injuries.]
Hegseth brought up the cruel and wasteful animal research during his testimony before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense on Wednesday.
The exchange began as Democrat Sen. Dick Durbin grilled Hegseth about his administration ending many wasteful research grants.
“Give me an example of a ‘boondoggle’ in medical research and defense health,” Sen. Durbin said, likely unprepared for the response.
“I mean, we’re talking about some stuff I shouldn’t say in public, you know, marbles in the rear ends of cats, tens of millions of dollars,” Hegseth said while pantomiming inserting a marble in a cat’s rectum. “Things that don’t have a connection to what you’re talking about.”
“Is this like three hundred and fifty year old Social Security check that the president told us about?” the senator shot back.
Hegseth replied, “I respect completely the issue that you’re speaking with, and this department couldn’t be more sympathetic to that and ensure that it’s funded. But the Defense Department has been a place where organizations, entities, and companies know they can get money almost unchecked to whether or not it actually applies to things that happen on the battlefield.”
Sen. Rand Paul thanked Hegseth for highlighting the spending that he worked with White Coat Waste, an organization dedicated to ending taxpayer-funded animal testing, to expose.
Some liberal Democrat governors are starting to roll back state (taxpayer) funded healthcare for people who are in the country illegally. Why is the left not protesting them? Could it be simply because the left gives Democrats a pass? Do they even know this is happening?
Under Gavin Newsom in California, the state is so broke that they are being forced to do this because there’s simply no money for it and the program came in costing billions of dollars more than people were told.
The same thing is now happening in Minnesota under Tim Walz and Illinois under JB Pritzker, all far left Democrats.
NBC News reports:
Democratic governors seek to roll back state-funded health care for undocumented immigrants
A trio of states with Democratic governors viewed as potential 2028 presidential candidates have taken steps in recent weeks to freeze or cut government-funded health care coverage for undocumented immigrants.
Democratic Govs. Gavin Newsom of California, JB Pritzker of Illinois and Tim Walz of Minnesota have largely attributed the proposals to budget shortfalls stemming from original plans to expand health care to immigrants without legal status.
But the moves also occur against the backdrop of broader debate within the Democratic Party over how to handle immigration, an issue that dragged it down in the last election and that President Donald Trump and the GOP have continued to try to capitalize on…
The latest development came in Minnesota on Tuesday, after both chambers of the Legislature passed a bill to end state-funded health care for undocumented adults…
Newsom’s plan in his 2025-26 budget has called for freezing enrollment for undocumented adults to receive the full scope of the state’s Medicaid program, known as Medi-Cal…
As the leftists running Los Angeles fail to get the leftists destroying Los Angeles under control, two Republican lawmakers aim to hold sanctuary governments accountable for impeding federal law enforcement officials from enforcing immigration law.
Reps. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, and Sheri Biggs, R-S.C., on Tuesday introduced the Mobilizing Against Sanctuary Cities Act, which “blocks federal financial assistance for one year to any city or state that refuses to honor ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] detainers.” The legislation also prohibits state and local governments restricting communications with the Department of Homeland Security.
“If any city refuses to comply with the laws of our nation, blatantly works against the Department of Homeland Security, and wastes billions of taxpayer dollars shielding illegal aliens at the risk of American citizens, then they should be cut off from receiving even a penny of federal funding,” Gill said in a joint press release.
A similar Republican-led bill introduced by Rep. Jeff Duncan of South Carolina died in the last session of Congress.
Sanctuary cities, such as Los Angeles, bar local police from helping ICE and other federal law enforcement officials with immigration-related operations. In November, the Los Angeles City Council unanimously voted to officially designate the nation’s second-largest city a sanctuary city, “prohibiting city resources or personnel from being used to help federal enforcement of immigration laws,” NBC4 Los Angeles reported. The vote came two weeks after President Donald Trump was elected.
“We have been a pro-immigrant city for a number of years, we know that there is a target on our back from this president-elect, and what we are doing here is we are hardening our defenses,” Councilman Bob Blumenfield said at the time, as reported by NBC4. “We are codifying our good policies on protecting immigrants.”
People who want a larger, more active state frequently point to their favorite European country (usually a small Scandinavian nation) and ask why America doesn’t provide lots of “free” services like that alleged utopia. The answer is that it could but that wouldn’t necessarily make people happier. The U.S. is a large and diverse country where people don’t nearly agree with each other on what they want, and it’s difficult for government to provide more services without fueling arguments over what and how much should be provided. Importantly, too, those services aren’t free—they carry a very high price tag.
“Governments with higher taxes generally tout that they provide more services, and while this is often true, the cost of these services can be more than half of an average worker’s salary, and for most, at least a third of their salary,” Cristina Enache wrote last week for the Tax Foundation. “Belgium has the highest tax burden on labor at 52.6 percent (also the highest of all OECD countries), followed by Germany and France at 47.9 percent and 47.2 percent, respectively. Switzerland had the lowest tax burden at 22.9 percent.”
The U.S. government’s tax bite comes in at 29.9 percent, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The average across the OECD as of 2023 was 34.8 percent.
That cited tax percentage isn’t a formal rate set by any government, but a “tax wedge” created for the purpose of comparisons across diverse tax systems. The OECD defines the tax wedge “as the ratio between the amount of taxes paid by an average single worker (a single person at 100% of average earnings) without children and the corresponding total labour cost for the employer.” It doesn’t account for adjustments such as tax breaks offered to families with children. It also doesn’t allow for wild variations in tax compliance that can turn nominal tax rates into suggestions when you’re discussing the difference between 83 percent compliance in the U.S., 62 percent compliance in Italy, and 70 percent in Belgium, where tax evasion is something of a national sport. But the tax wedge allows us to roughly contrast the cost of government in Belgium with that in Spain or the U.S.
It turns out governments offering lots of “free” stuff to the public, like health care and higher education, charge dearly for such services. You won’t have to pay for that appointment or a degree, but you’ll also never see somewhere between one-third and half of what you should be taking home in pay.
And the price keeps going up.
It should be clear by now that, despite the assurances from President Donald Trump and his allies in government, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act—which passed the U.S. House of Representatives last month—not only won’t reduce the federal budget deficit but will in fact increase the nation’s debt load by $2.4 trillion over the next decade.
Given that Trump came into office promising to cut federal spending, it’s worth looking at how Trump’s bill does the opposite of what he and other Republicans say it does. And one of the more egregious things it does is boost corporate welfare for wealthy farmers.
“The government provides agricultural subsidies—monetary payments and other types of support—to farmers or agribusinesses,” says the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). “While some subsidies are given to promote specific farming practices, others focus on research and development, conservation practices, disaster aid, marketing, nutrition assistance, risk mitigation, and more.”
“In reality, this support is highly skewed toward the five major ‘program’ commodities of corn, soybeans, wheat, cotton, and rice,” according to the Environmental Working Group (EWG), an environmental advocacy organization. “Despite the rhetoric of ‘preserving the family farm,’ the vast majority of farmers do not benefit from federal farm subsidy programs and most of the subsidies go to the largest and most financially secure farm operations.”
The new bill will only make the problem worse: According to an analysis by the American Farm Bureau Federation, the bill “would increase agriculture-facing programs spending by $56.6 billion over the next decade,” of which “$52.3 billion is tied to enhancements in the farm safety net.”
That “farm safety net” comprises most agricultural subsidy spending in any given year. It includes price and revenue guarantees for certain crops, ensuring farmers earn a set minimum on staples like corn and soybeans, as well as crop insurance assistance, covering up to 60 percent of farmers’ insurance premiums in the event of price declines or poor harvests.
The programs are a bad deal for taxpayers—indeed, for anybody but the very wealthiest agribusinesses. “Just in the last 10 years, crop insurance agents and the 14 companies the USDA allows to sell and service crop insurance policies…received almost $33.3 billion from the federal Crop Insurance Program,” EWG Midwest director Anne Schechinger wrote in 2023. “In some years, up to one-third of crop insurance payments are made to companies and agents, not farmers.”
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