• April inflation: The inflation numbers for April came in slightly lower than anticipated. The consumer price index ticked up 0.2% last month, putting the 12-month inflation rate at 2.3%, the lowest since February 2021. The core CPI also rose 0.2%, coming in below the predicted 0.3% increase for a total year-over-year level of 2.8%. The primary driver of inflation has been shelter prices, while food, apparel, and used car prices have declined. The price of eggs dropped 12.7% in April — that’s obviously the right direction, though the price is still up 49.3% from a year ago. President Donald Trump’s tariffs remain the big wild card, but his new temporary deal with China certainly boosted the stock markets, with the hope of an eventual longer-term deal widely anticipated.

• GOP releases tax bill: The House Ways and Means Committee released its 389-page tax bill on Monday. It includes no taxes on tips and overtime, which Donald Trump campaigned on. For fiscal hawks, the included $4 trillion debt limit increase is alarming but probably inevitable. The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act extension was expected but pleasant, with a small increase to the standard deduction. States must take SNAP (food stamp) payments more seriously. States with higher-than-average improper payments from the program are required to shoulder 25% of benefit and 75% of administrative costs. Perhaps the shakiest part of the bill is the state and local tax (SALT) deduction increase from $10,000 to $30,000. Blue-state Republicans say that isn’t nearly enough, though such a high deduction already makes the blue-state tax burden the problem of every American.

• Trump’s Middle East trip: Donald Trump launched his first major international trip of his second term today. The first stop is Saudi Arabia, an important regional strategic partner, followed by Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, with a possible trip to Turkey. Trump announced a trade deal with Saudi Arabia in March, with that nation promising to invest $1 trillion in American companies over four years. On Tuesday, the White House announced that Trump secured a $600 billion Saudi investment. The UAE made a similar deal for $1.4 trillion. The meeting with Qatari leadership is the most anticipated following the announcement of a possible gift of a $400 million jumbo jet to replace Air Force One. Trump has said he may also travel to Turkey to attend a potential Thursday meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

• Afrikaners flee South Africa as genocide threats mount: The Trump administration recognizes that it’s a bad time to be an Afrikaner/Boer in South Africa. Chants like “Kill the Boers, kill the farmers” are common and widespread, including with prominent politicians. Given these facts, the administration accepted a flight of 49 Afrikaners into Virginia on Monday, promising a fast track for citizenship. The Afrikaners were seen waving American flags in celebration of reaching safety. Evidently, this is a bridge too far for the Episcopal Church, which used the acceptance of these refugees as an excuse to end its decade-long partnership with the U.S. government to help settle refugees. The Church explained that being “expected to resettle white Afrikaners” crosses a moral line in the sand. Readers can draw their own conclusions from that quote.

• Judge okays DHS to use IRS info on illegals: On Monday, Federal Judge Dabney Friedrich, a Trump appointee, ruled that the DHS request of the IRS for basic information on illegal immigrants in its system is permissible. “At its core, this case presents a narrow legal issue: Does the Memorandum of Understanding between the IRS and DHS violate the Internal Revenue Code? It does not,” Friedrich ruled. Specifically, DHS has requested access to the Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) on illegal immigrants within the IRS system, since illegal aliens are by law ineligible for Social Security numbers. These ITIN records would provide DHS with full names and current addresses for illegal immigrants. The DHS has requested ITINs for some 700,000 illegals.

• DHS subpoenas CA over possible SS payments to illegals: In keeping with Donald Trump’s April 15 executive order directing the federal government to ensure that taxpayer dollars are not being distributed to illegal immigrants, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem announced that subpoenas had been issued to Los Angeles County for records related to the state’s illegal immigrant benefit program. Known as CAPI, the state program provides monthly cash payments to disabled illegal aliens. DHS suspects that California may be using federal Social Security income to fund its CAPI program. DHS is seeking to “identify abuse and exploitation of public benefits and make sure those in this country illegally are not receiving federal benefits or other financial incentives to stay illegally,” Noem explained. “While this subpoena focuses only on Los Angeles County, it is just the beginning.”

• DNC overturns Hogg’s election: Democrats aren’t trying to oust a dangerous threat to their power. They protest that they’re just terrible at holding elections! That’s the takeaway from the story of David Hogg’s brief tenure as Democratic National Committee (DNC) vice chair, which appears to be coming to an early end. Hogg, a longtime gun-grabbing activist, was elected on February 1 — the first member of Gen Z elected to the position. Since then he has been open about his desire to overhaul the flailing Democrat Party, including threatening primary challenges for milquetoast Democrats. On Monday, the DNC voted to void his election because of improper parliamentary procedures. Hogg will be allowed to run in the new election for the position. The Democrat civil war continues; it’s hard to decide which side most deserves to lose.

• Trump EPA to “fix” car start/stop tech: One of the most annoying and nanny-state-motivated devices in new cars is the EPA-incentivized engine start/stop system. Under the guise of fuel conservation to “save the planet,” auto manufacturers were encouraged to include this “feature” in new vehicles that automatically turns off the engine at stop lights and back on again when you release the brake. Well, the Trump administration is looking to end this headache of unwanted tech. “Start/stop technology: where your car dies at every red light so companies get a climate participation trophy,” EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said derisively. “EPA approved it, and everyone hates it, so we’re fixing it.” This is another 80-20 issue that is an easy win for the Trump administration.

Headlines

• Tariff receipts topped $16 billion in April, a record that helped cut the budget deficit (CNBC)

• Labor Department admits hundreds of thousands of Biden jobs were fake (Townhall)

• Southern border apprehensions plunge more than 90% from year ago in April (Fox News)

• Planned Parenthood makes over $2 billion killing a record 402,000 babies in abortions (LifeNews.com)

• Newsom calls on cities to clear homeless encampments ahead of 2028 (Daily Wire)

• Germany suddenly drops AfD surveillance (Hot Air)

• Humor: Here’s everything Trump scored in the China trade deal (Babylon Bee)

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