• Senate passes DOGE cuts: In a big victory for Donald Trump, the Senate yesterday passed a rescissions bill by a 51-48 vote. Two rumored-to-be-Republican senators, Susan Collins (ME) and Lisa Murkowski (AK), voted against the legislation. The bill, which will now head to the House, claws back some $9 billion in foreign aid inspired by DOGE cuts. The lower chamber will have until Friday to pass the bill, or else the Trump administration will be forced to spend money in accordance with the rules of the Impoundment Control Act. Part of the rescissions bill targets $1.1 billion in taxpayer funding for public broadcasters, including the likes of NPR and PBS. While Democrats have disingenuously framed the NPR and PBS rescission as a cut to life-saving programs, House Speaker Mike Johnson has expressed confidence that the House will pass the legislation.

• Trump continues to battle fentanyl, Rhode Island Democrats scream outrage: Donald Trump signed the HALT Fentanyl Act on Wednesday. The bill permanently schedules knock-off fentanyl products developed to skirt fentanyl’s Schedule I classification as FRS (fentanyl-related substances) that will be prosecuted like any other Schedule I substance. At the signing were many “angel” parents of children killed by the dangerous drug. On Tuesday, ICE announced the arrest of Ivan Rene Mendoza-Meza, an admitted MS-13 gangster and fentanyl trafficker who had previously been put on an ICE detainer before Rhode Island’s Sixth Circuit Court released him. Providence Mayor Brett Smiley and Council President Rachel Miller held a press conference, assuring their constituents they will rapidly determine if any Providence police assisted in the arrest, as that would have violated a city ordinance against working with ICE.

• Jill Biden to be subpoenaed? Republican lawmakers aren’t getting much help from members of the Biden administration as the House Oversight Committee conducts its “investigation into the cover-up of President Joe Biden’s mental decline and potentially unauthorized executive actions.” Thus far, Biden’s former doctor, Kevin O'Connor, and an aide to Jill Biden, Anthony Bernal, have invoked their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination during committee hearings. Bernal pleaded the Fifth yesterday after being asked if any unelected officials or family members ever took on Biden’s presidential duties. Republicans have grown frustrated with witnesses clamming up, suggesting that they’re doing so to cover up a crime. Meanwhile, Committee Chair James Comer said that the odds of Jill Biden being subpoenaed to testify have “increased significantly.”

• Trump vs. Powell: Donald Trump was raging again this week against Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, with rumors flying Wednesday that his firing was imminent. Trump denied the rumors, saying, “I think it’s highly unlikely. Unless he has to leave for fraud.” The fraud charge may be the only way Trump could legally oust Powell; there is significant debate about whether the president has the authority to fire the chair of the Federal Reserve. The fraud allegation stems from cost overruns on the renovations to the Fed’s DC headquarters. Trump suggested that spending $2.5 billion on renovations might in itself be a fireable offense. His real beef, however, is with the Fed’s persistently high interest rates despite lower inflation.

• California high-speed rail funding derailed: Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and President Donald Trump have ended federal funding for the ongoing California high-speed-rail project that has failed to lay any track in 16 years. The “HIGH SPEED TRAIN TO NOWHERE,” as Trump called it, has been plagued by constant cost overruns, as well as by typical California political nonsense. Last year, a letter sent by California lawmakers to then Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg asked for $538 million in funding to be approved before Trump took office, citing the project’s goal of “addressing equity issues” and confronting climate change. The project has so far cost $28.8 billion, with $6.8 billion coming from federal coffers. California GOP Rep. Kevin Kiley applauded Trump’s move, explaining that the rail is “projected to take until the end of the century at a cost of $130 billion.”

• Mamdani window-dresses “globalize the intifada”: New York Democrat mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani recently defended the anti-Semitic slogan “globalize the intifada” by saying that he supports “the idea” behind it, while at the same time pledging to discourage his supporters from chanting it, which occurred when he won the Democrat primary race. Mamdani then elaborated that, for him, the phrase means a protest against the Israeli occupation of Gaza. The trouble is that Israel has not occupied Gaza since 2005. It seems that Mamdani is not objecting to the message behind the chant, which is the removal of all Jews from Israel. Rather, he’s fine with finding a different phrase due to the public’s negative response to it. Apparently, he’ll support “nicer” words that convey the same anti-Semitic message.

• NPR’s CEO is still gaslighting for money: NPR CEO Katherine Maher, who once opined on truth getting in the way of progress, is now explaining that defunding NPR will reduce broad swaths of rural America to news deserts with no contact with the outside world. The issues with her statement are manifold. Projects like Elon Musk’s Starlink are rapidly bringing high-speed internet to even the least developed places on earth. Moreover, the idea that NPR is a staple in rural (read: conservative) areas is laughable. Nevertheless, NPR assured critics for years that taxpayer funding was only a tiny fraction of its budget, so the loss of federal funding should be easily overcome. Maher and PBS CEO Paula Kerger also contend that one of the primary critiques of their organizations — leftist bias — is hard to find. Sen. John Kennedy has the receipts on that one.

• Home Depot co-founder reverses: Ken Langone, the billionaire co-founder of Home Depot, blasted Donald Trump in April as Trump was raising tariffs across the board. “I believe he’s been poorly advised by his advisers about this trade situation and the formula they’re applying,” Langone, a longtime GOP donor, complained. Now, he’s singing a different tune. In an appearance this week on CNBC, Langone said, “I am sold on Trump. In fact, I will say this: I think he’s got a good shot at going down in history as one of our best presidents ever.” When asked about his turnaround, Langone stated, “What I’m seeing happening is absolutely nothing short of a great thing. There’s a beat. People are walking with more bounce in their step. It’s all around.” He added, “Knowledge implies one thing: when you make a mistake, admit it.”

Headlines

• James Comey’s daughter fired from her federal prosecutor job in Manhattan (Just the News)

• David Hogg’s candidate loses in Arizona (Daily Signal)

• Hunter Biden says Democrats lost 2024 because they weren’t “loyal” to his father (Washington Free Beacon)

• More than 150 countries to get tariff notices from the U.S. (Barron’s)

• Louisiana police chiefs charged with reporting fake crimes against immigrants in visa fraud scheme (NY Post)

• California professor accused of throwing tear gas canister at ICE agents during raid (National Review)

• Coca-Cola agrees to use real cane sugar in U.S. drinks (NY Post)

• After IDF strikes, Syrian president accuses Israel of seeking “chaos and destruction” (Times of Israel)

• Humor: Biden’s teleprompter assures nation it approved all autopen decisions (Babylon Bee)

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