• Rescissions package passes House: By the narrowest of margins, 214-212, House Republicans successfully passed a rescissions package that cuts $9.4 billion in taxpayer funding for foreign aid and public broadcasting. The targets of the funding cuts are USAID, NPR, and PBS. All Democrats and four Republicans voted against the bill. Fiscal hawk Rep. Thomas Massie welcomed the bill’s passage, stating, “These are the first DOGE cuts.” However, he was quick to add, “$9 billion won’t solve all our budget problems, but it’s an incredible start. Let’s cut more.” The bill also cuts “$6 million for Net Zero Cities” in Mexico and “$6 million for supporting media organizations and civic life of Palestinians,” Speaker Mike Johnson’s office noted. The bill now heads to the Senate, where its passage is far from guaranteed.

• The three stooges testify: Democrat Governors JB Pritzker (Illinois), Kathy Hochul (New York), and Tim Walz (Minnesota) testified before the House Oversight Committee on Thursday. Republican Reps. Elise Stefanik and James Comer grilled the governors over their sanctuary state policies. When asked about some of the vicious crimes committed by illegals in New York, Hochul was unable to name a single perpetrator. She claimed after the fact that she would have worked with ICE to remove some of the killers, but as Stefanik pointed out, Hochul did not. Presidential hopefuls Pritzker and Walz were grilled on cultural issues as well. Walz looked panicked and claimed not to understand the question when Rep. Nancy Mace asked, “What is a woman?” Democrat representatives, for their part, pivoted to their claims that the Trump administration is inflaming the situation by deporting illegal aliens.

• Judge rules Trump unlawfully seized National Guard: On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer, a Clinton appointee, ruled in favor of California Governor Gavin Newsom’s lawsuit against Donald Trump over his sending in the state’s National Guard to help quell the anti-ICE rioting in Los Angeles. Breyer asserted that Trump’s actions were in violation of the Tenth Amendment and that “he must therefore return control of the California National Guard to the Governor of the State of California forthwith.” He added, “Federalism is not optional.” However, the Trump administration quickly appealed, and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals granted a temporary stay on Breyer’s order, allowing Trump to maintain control of the National Guard as the court further considers the matter.

• Protections for illegal alien farmers: President Trump moderated his deportation position somewhat on Thursday. In a post on Truth Social, he explained that deportations are hurting farmers and hotels when longtime illegal workers get deported, adding, “changes are coming!” Border Czar Tom Homan had said earlier this week that enforcement against U.S. companies employing illegals was going to ramp up. In April, Trump outlined a plan for farmers to come forward with the names of illegal immigrants they rely on so the administration could streamline their return as legal workers. Conservative commentators like Matt Walsh have come out strongly against allowing illegal workers to remain and contended that companies that rely on illegal labor “should be in prison.”

• Padilla’s peccadillo: Senator Alex Padilla of California interrupted Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s press conference yesterday and was briefly detained. Video footage shows Padilla interrupting Noem mid-sentence and continuing to speak as security removed him from the room. While being forced out of the room, he identified himself verbally as “Senator Alex Padilla,” but he was not wearing his security pin and had not previously identified himself. Once he was removed from the room, he was brought to the ground and handcuffed before positive identification was made, and he was released. DHS reports that Padilla and Noem had a 15-minute meeting after his identification. Democrats are calling Padilla’s brief detention “outrageous,” while DHS calls it “disrespectful political theatre.”

• Trump says he’s no king: This weekend, leftists across the country are planning rallies to express their opposition to Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration, which they are dubbing the “No Kings” protest. During a bill-signing event at the White House yesterday, Trump responded to the planned protests, saying, “I don’t feel like a king. I have to go through hell to get stuff approved. … We’re not a king at all.” The protest organizer’s website states, “We’re not gathering to feed his ego. We’re building a movement that leaves him behind.” Noting that Flag Day is tomorrow, the message continues: “The flag doesn’t belong to President Trump. It belongs to us.” That is indeed ironic given the fact that the anti-ICE protestors and rioters have been waving the flags of other countries, like Mexico.

• Senate confirms Billy Long as IRS commissioner: A former U.S. representative who once sponsored legislation to abolish the Internal Revenue Service has been confirmed as its new commissioner. Long hopes to make “real, transformational change” to an agency that needs it more than any other, he says. In December, when Trump nominated Long, he sang his praises, calling him a “people person” who is respected on both sides of the aisle. Plans for the IRS include modernization by moving toward digital payments rather than “old-fashioned” paper-based payments.

• SPLC labels Focus on the Family a “hate” group: Once again, the Southern Poverty Law Center has demonstrated it no longer exists as an organization fighting against racial hatred, but rather has become a radical leftist organization pushing hatred against those who don’t adhere to its radical social and political views. Furthermore, the SPLC has increasingly become an organization that hates orthodox Christianity. Recently, the SPLC labeled the conservative Christian organization Focus on the Family as a “hate” group. The SPLC explains that Focus on the Family “has long relied on its biblical worldview strategy to push back against LGBTQ+ progress and reproductive rights." The irony here is that the group guilty of engaging in hatred is the SPLC, as it promotes religious bigotry against a long-established Christian organization whose motto is "Helping families thrive in Christ.”

• India crash: Yesterday, a commercial aircraft crashed — in this case, a very reliable Boeing 787-7 — just 30 seconds after takeoff, killing 241. (Amazingly, there was one survivor.) It may have been an engine thrust issue (compressor stall or bird strike) because the Ram Air Turbine (RAT) is believed to have been fully deployed. Alternatively, an error in the flap configuration of five degrees may have resulted in insufficient lift. It is difficult to tell given poor video resolution of the aircraft before the crash, but the flaps do not appear to be extended as the plane reached 425’ above ground level and 175 knots before losing altitude. With an ambient temp of 104 degrees F, an error in the flap configuration could be the issue if the pilot retracted the flaps before retracting the gear.

Headlines

• Trump blocks California ban on gas-powered cars (National Review)

• Trump suffers legal blow in E. Jean Carroll case (Newsweek)

• CIA releases more than 1,000 pages on RFK assassination (NY Post)

• School choice may soon be expanded in all states as part of Big Beautiful Bill (Center Square)

• Feds nab man accused of dropping off masks to anti-ICE rioters in LA (Fox News)

• Jury chaos forces mistrial in Harvey Weinstein rape case (Newsweek)

• Meta sues company behind AI app that creates fake nude images (Dow Jones Newswires)

• Hamas names “Ghost of al-Qassam” as its new leader after Israel wiped out his two predecessors (NY Post)

• Humor: Newsom says it’s his duty to represent the illegal immigrants who elected him (Babylon Bee)

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