• RFK Jr. delivers MAHA report: HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has released the Make America Healthy Again Commission’s report on the state of health in America, honing in on the nation’s youth. Kennedy called the report a “diagnosis,” and the overall health of the nation is not good. He noted that a second report will be issued near the end of August, serving as the “prescription” to these identified health issues. The report paints a sobering picture: autism diagnoses are increasing, childhood cancer has spiked 40% since 1975, and “over 40% of the roughly 73 million children (aged 0-17) in the United States have at least one chronic health condition … such as asthma, allergies, obesity, autoimmune diseases, or behavioral disorders.” NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya said the next generation of children is less healthy than their parents and if not remedied “will live shorter lives than their parents.”

• Supreme Court says Trump can fire “independent” regulators: The Supreme Court continued its rapid decision-making Thursday with a stay on reinstating two “independent” bureaucratic regulators fired by President Donald Trump. The Court ruled that the president “may remove without cause executive officers who exercise that power on his behalf” — in this case, former National Labor Relations Board member Gwynne Wilcox and former Merit Systems Protection Board chair Cathy A. Harris. The Court clarified that this authority does not apply to the Federal Reserve or its chair, which operates under unique rules. The unsigned decision permits the firings but leaves the lower courts to wrangle over the case’s merits. Justice Elena Kagan dissented, arguing that this de facto overturns the longstanding precedent of Humphrey’s Executor v. U.S.

• Trump can’t downsize the Department of Education, says district judge: Remember when the head of the executive branch ran the executive branch and not 670 members of the judicial branch nationwide? Massachusetts U.S. District Judge Myong Joun ruled Thursday that Trump, as head of the executive branch, cannot fire and transfer members of his own Department of Education. Joun ordered a stop to the reduction-in-force that Trump and Education Secretary Linda McMahon have been carrying out and the reinstatement of DOE employees fired on or after January 20. If the Supreme Court does not end this kind of judicial overreach, the presidency will be reduced to a figurehead position.

• SCOTUS deadlocks on religious charters: In a decision that came down to a 4-4 tie, the U.S. Supreme Court let stand an Oklahoma Supreme Court ruling against permitting the nation’s first religious charter school. The Court deadlocked due to Justice Amy Coney Barrett having recused herself without explanation. Observers speculate that it was because she knows one of the advocates for religious charter schools. Because this was a deadlock, the decision does not establish a precedent. Charter schools are public schools, and the rub is the constitutional prohibition against government establishment of religion. Oklahoma AG Genter Drummond welcomed the ruling, stating, “This ruling ensures that Oklahoma taxpayers will not be forced to fund radical Islamic schools, while protecting the religious rights of families to choose any school they wish for their children.”

• Harvard’s student exchange program nullified: On Thursday, the Trump administration slammed the proverbial hammer down on Harvard University, as DHS Secretary Kristi Noem announced that the Ivy League school’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program would be canceled. Noem explained that Harvard was being held “accountable for fostering violence, antisemitism, and coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party on its campus.” She charged the school with failing to provide requested information on all its foreign students, noting, “Harvard had plenty of opportunity to do the right thing. It refused.” Noem also called it “a warning to all universities and academic institutions across the country.” Roughly 27% of Harvard’s student body are foreigners from 140 countries. Harvard responded by filing a lawsuit against the Trump administration.

• COVID-19 vax and myocarditis: An interim report released by the Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations concludes that the CDC received early warnings of the dangers of myocarditis associated with COVID-19 mRNA vaccines but intentionally downplayed the risk to the American public. The 2,400-page report notes that as early as February 2021, just two months after Pfizer’s and Moderna’s mRNA vaccines had received approval, CDC officials began receiving early warning signs of heart inflammation conditions linked to the vaccines. The Israeli Ministry of Health contacted the CDC and FDA late in February 2021 over concerns of myocarditis linked to the vaccine, especially in young people. Officials in Europe also reported seeing the same problem. Yet the Biden administration downplayed concerns, directing health officials to call myocarditis and COVID vaccine links “misleading claims,” all while forcing mandates on numerous sectors.

• CA EV mandate quashed: Yesterday, the U.S. Senate voted 51-44 to pass a bill revoking California’s EV mandate. The bill now heads to Donald Trump’s desk as the House previously passed the legislation in a bipartisan vote of 246-164. In December 2024, the Biden administration granted a waiver to California for its vehicle emissions standards that were far stricter than federal standards. In 2022, California’s Democrat-dominated legislature passed what amounts to an EV mandate, requiring an annual incremental increase until all new vehicles sold in the state are emissions-free by 2035. The Alliance for Automotive Innovation celebrated Congress’s bill, stating, “Congress has made clear that California regulators have no authority to dictate what cars Americans can buy or to ban internal combustion engine vehicles. President Trump can now deliver on a major part of his campaign promise to end EV mandates in the United States.”

• NBC’s dezinformatsiya: The Leftmedia carry water for Hamas; this isn’t news to readers of The Patriot Post, but sometimes they step so far over the line that it’s worth addressing. On Tuesday, NBC posted on social media the outrageous claim that 14,000 Gazan children could die of malnutrition in the next 48 hours. That claim was based on a report, likely relying on Hamas propaganda, that there could be 14,000 cases of malnutrition in Gaza between April 2025 and March 2026. NBC reported that 14,000 children could die by Thursday based on a report that said there might be 14,000 children with malnutrition by next year. On Wednesday, the day after the false post, a man chanting “free, free Palestine” was arrested for murdering two Jewish people in DC, and NBC quietly deleted its post and updated its story.

• Say goodbye to the penny: “A penny saved is a collectible since they aren’t made any longer” — isn’t that how the old saying goes? President Trump announced his intention to stop producing the penny in February on Truth Social. The Treasury made its final order for pennies this month, using the last blanks produced. Those pennies will enter circulation by early 2026. Two bipartisan bills have been introduced this year to end penny production— the Make Sense Not Cents Act and the Common Cents Act. If Congress is good at one thing, it’s snappy bill titles. Initial annual savings on the penny are projected at $56 million, with more savings coming as production facilities power down. Each penny costs nearly 4¢ to produce, and as much as 60% ($14 billion worth) of those in circulation are believed to sit in coin jars.

Headlines

• Gas prices hit four-year low ahead of Memorial Day weekend (Fox Business)

• House-passed budget bill defunds Planned Parenthood (Daily Signal) | What else is in the massive tax bill (Morning Brew)

• Columbia violated students’ civil rights, government investigation finds (WSJ)

• Trump will impose 50% tariff on EU as talks break down (Newsweek)

• Trump says a 25% tariff “must be paid by Apple” on iPhones not made in the U.S. (CNBC)

• Major Russia-Ukraine prisoner swap is underway (Fox News)

• Humor: Eleven statements that are not protected by the First Amendment (Babylon Bee)

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