New York Hypocrite
Infamous New York Attorney General Letitia James has been hit with allegations by the Trump administration, accusing her of mortgage fraud. Fox News reports that the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) sent a criminal referral to the Department of Justice, accusing her of crimes. FHFA Director William Pulte said in a letter that James appears to have falsified records to meet certain lending requirements and receive favorable loan terms. In an interview on Fox, George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley remarked on the irony of James getting accused of falsifying records. “This is a person who prosecuted Trump for everything short of ripping a label off a mattress, and, among the charges that were brought in New York … was making false or misleading statements to financial institutions,” said Turley.
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Israel and Iran
Independent news agency “Drop Site” recently revealed in a blockbuster report that former Israeli Ministry of Defense official Merav Ceren is now leading the Israel and Iran desk at the National Security Council—a position that gives Ceren access to all U.S. intelligence on the two countries as well as an inside view into any policy decisions made in regard to them. The news comes at a time when the Trump administration has been negotiating with Iran to curb its nuclear program. With Ceren in that post, reported “Drop Site,” Israel has “an unusual advantage in internal policy discussions just as the Israeli government has launched a new campaign to pressure the American government to start a war with Iran rather than continue with negotiations toward a nuclear deal.”
Bring the Troops Home
CNN recently reported that, to meet Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s budgetary and strategic goals, the U.S. Army will have to shrink the number of U.S. ground forces in Europe by a sizable number. President Donald Trump has been emphatic that the United States can no longer serve as the continent’s primary security guarantor and that other issues should take priority, such as China and protecting the U.S. southern border. As AFP goes to press on April 24, some 100,000 U.S. forces are currently stationed throughout Europe.
Trillion-Dollar Military
The Trump administration announced recently that they want to increase the U.S. military budget to an unprecedented $1 trillion for 2026. If the appropriations package passes Congress, for the entire year of 2026, the Pentagon will be spending $2.74 billion per day or $114 million every hour or $31,709 every second.
Not a Terror Group, Says Hamas
In an extraordinary legal filing in London earlier in April, Hamas is arguing that the British government should remove its designation as a terror group and recognize its legitimate role as a Palestinian resistance movement engaged in a struggle for self-determination and liberation. A top political leader of Hamas, who has been involved in the lawsuit, said his organization rejects allegations that the movement is a terror organization, adding the group poses no threat to Western nations. “Hamas is not a terrorist group,” wrote Mousa Abu Marzouk, the head of international relations for Hamas and the applicant for the lawsuit. “It is a Palestinian Islamic liberation and resistance movement whose goal is to liberate Palestine and confront the Zionist project. We also look outward to draw inspiration from the glorious tradition of all those peoples and groups who have resisted colonialism, occupation, and imperialism in the name of justice, dignity, and human equality.”
Plenty of New Fighters
According to a new report published by Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz, Israeli military officials believe that Hamas has been able to fill its military ranks and now has 40,000 combatants in spite of the near constant bombing Gaza has sustained since October 2023. In addition, these same Israeli officials estimate that the military has only been able to destroy about 25% of the tunnels in Gaza that Hamas fighters use to navigate the region. According to some estimates, the Israelis have dropped more than 100,000 tons of bombs on Gaza, an area about the size of Manhattan.
A Half Billion Dollars
Since March 3, the Houthis in Yemen have been able to shoot down six U.S.-operated MQ-9 Reaper drones, reports Fox News. Each drone costs U.S. taxpayers about $30 million. Since President Donald Trump ordered attacks on the Houthis in early March, the U.S. military has carried out 35 days of bombing, and, yet, the Houthis continue to fire missiles targeted at these expensive U.S. assets. The Houthis also keep firing ballistic missiles at Israel, and international shipping has nearly ground to a halt in the Red Sea—the very reason Trump ordered the attacks on Yemen in the first place. In all, the Houthis have shot down at least 16 American drones since the start of the Israel-Hamas conflict in October 2023. The loss of 16 Reapers totals more than $500 million. According to Fox News, the U.S. only has 230 Reapers in its arsenal.
Audit & Fire the Fed
The Supreme Court is getting ready to tackle a question that, while not directly about the Federal Reserve, could determine whether presidents have the power to fire the chair of the privately owned and controlled central U.S. bank. So far, the high court has been tightlipped about where the justices stand on the issue, but the decision will ultimately determine if Trump can fire Jerome Powell, whom he nominated in 2017. Perhaps Mr. Trump might first audit the Fed, to find out what is really going on over there, as former Rep. Ron Paul has urged for decades.
Punishing Scientists
American researchers can protest any country in the world—except for one—according to a new policy set by the Trump administration’s National Institute of Health (NIH). And it’s not just revocation of funding that is at risk. U.S. scientists who engage in nonviolent protests or political expression related to this one particular country could even face civil and criminal penalties. NIH is the largest public funder of biomedical research in the world, and it touches every corner of the scientific community, so the policy affects just about every scientist in the United States. The new NIH policy, which mirrors anti-“boycott, divestment, and sanctions” laws applied to government contractors in 38 states, will now silence hundreds of thousands of researchers, effective April 21. If you haven’t figured out by now, the one country you can’t criticize is not the United States. It is Israel.
