• Appeals courts hands Trump a win on foreign aid cuts: President Donald Trump placed a 90-day hold on all foreign aid as one of his first acts in office on January 20. Later, the administration refused to disperse funds already allocated by Congress to two nonprofit groups: the AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition and Journalism Development Network. A lower court ordered the administration to pay $2 billion in outstanding aid while a lawsuit from the nonprofits worked its way through the courts. Yesterday, though, the DC Court of Appeals, in a 2-1 decision, sided with the Justice Department’s argument that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has the task of suing the executive branch on behalf of Congress over issues of funding impoundment. Since the GAO has brought no suit on this issue, the executive branch can continue to withhold the funds unless its coequal branch of government steps in.

• Dem congresswoman calls ICE a “terrorist organization”: Illinois Democrat Rep. Delia Ramirez is in the news again. She recently told the Pan-American Congress in Mexico City, Mexico, that she was “a proud Guatemalan before I am American.” Border Czar Tom Homan took offense to her Spanish-language comment, calling it “disgusting” and observing, “I mean, she’s a sitting U.S. congresswoman, [a] citizen of this country. She is serving at the privilege of her state. Her voters put her in there.” This week, a video clip of Ramirez speaking at a recent progressive conference in New Orleans came to light in which she blasts Homan for his immigration enforcement and adds, “We will continue to call out the terrorist organization that is ICE.” Apparently, Ramirez sees her primary role as representing the interests of noncitizens over and against those of American citizens.

• “Nebraska men” busted for sex trafficking: The owners and operators of four hotels in Omaha, Nebraska, and surrounding areas have been charged for conspiracy to commit labor trafficking, sex trafficking, and harboring of aliens. Five men ages 32-42 were named in the documents, and they don’t sound like your average Nebraskan: Kentakumar Chaudhari, Rashmi Samani, Amit P. Chaudhari, Amit B. Chaudhari, and Maheskumar Chaudhari of Elkhorn, Omaha, and Norfolk. The U.S. Attorney’s Office says at least one of the men was running a sex-trafficking operation of both adults and children. Sex trafficking was encouraged at their hotels, and drugs were being sold openly. Several hotel employees who crossed the Arizona border a few years ago reported to Customs and Border Patrol that they would be staying at the defendants’ hotels.

• VA governor orders probe into school funding minors’ abortions: Virginia Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin has ordered a state police investigation into a Fairfax County school over allegations that teachers there assisted two students in getting abortions without telling their parents. “I am deeply concerned with the allegations that Fairfax County Public Schools officials arranged for minors to get abortions without parental consent and may have misused public funds to pay for them,” Youngkin stated. According to Virginia law, parents or guardians of a minor must give consent for an abortion. The alleged incident took place in 2021. Fairfax County Public Schools Superintendent Michelle Reid responded in a letter, stating, “I want to stress that at no time would the situation as described in these allegations be acceptable in Fairfax County Public Schools.”

• City-run grocery store to close: In yet another example demonstrating the predictable failure of socialism, a Kansas City, Missouri, grocery store is closing. The reason is due to basic market reality: it wasn’t making money. And this was despite the fact that the city “invested” some $13 million into the store in an effort to keep it up and running in the poor, crime-ridden Linwood neighborhood. Maybe the city should have invested more taxpayer dollars into policing and fighting crime to make the neighborhood safe and attract businesses rather than ignore the primary reason these “food deserts” are being created: high crime.

• Mexican cartels target Americans with timeshare fraud: The U.S. government is warning Americans of timeshare scams out of Mexico. With migrant smuggling operations drying up thanks to the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration, Mexican drug cartels have increasingly sought out other criminal means for revenue streams. Some cartels have taken to selling scam timeshare properties south of the border. Last year alone, the FBI received some 900 complaints of Mexico timeshare fraud equating to over $50 million. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent explained, “These cartels continue to create new ways to generate revenue to fuel their terrorist operations.” One of the leading cartels engaged in timeshare fraud is the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), a terrorist organization to which the U.S. has sought to cut off revenue streams by sanctioning companies accused of helping CJNG in its oil theft operations.

• UN officials demanded bribes to deliver U.S. aid to Afghanistan: U.S. taxpayer funds sent as aid to Afghanistan were diverted into bribes (paywall) for UN officials, says a report from the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction. Ten individuals confirmed the bribes, including one current and one former UN official. As little as 30%-40% of the aid was dispersed as humanitarian aid. The UN and Taliban collaborated to place Taliban family members in decision-making positions within non-governmental organizations attempting to provide aid. As a result, aid often ends up going to Taliban-favored areas rather than to the neediest. Most of the allegations centered on the World Food Program, although eight other UN divisions were also mentioned.

• Trump cuts red tape for commercial rocket launches: President Trump signed a new executive order Wednesday to “eliminate or expedite environmental reviews for launch and reentry licenses.” The EO directs Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy to review and eliminate outdated rules for space vehicles. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is directed to move the Office of Space Commerce to the Department of Commerce, taking it out from under the umbrella of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. On a related note, Duffy also announced a plan to place a nuclear reactor on the moon, explaining that any moon base would require power generation capability.

Headlines

• Russia reveals plans for Trump-Putin Alaska summit (Newsweek)

• Pentagon terminates security clearance of Russia collusion hoaxer Susan Miller (The Federalist)

• Melania Trump puts Hunter Biden on $1B notice over “false, defamatory” Epstein comments (Fox News)

• Bank of America finally axes rule that sparked “debanking” of conservative religious groups (NY Post)

• Appeals court allows Arkansas ban on gender mutilation for minors to be enforced (Fox News)

• Loudoun County school board votes to keep transgender policies, defying Education Department order (WFB)

• Toronto Film Festival cancels October 7 documentary, citing lack of “legal clearance” from Hamas terrorists (WFB)

• Record-low percentage of Americans now drink alcohol (Not the Bee)

• Humor: Democrat mayors report violent crime down 40% since they redefined “violent” and “crime” (Babylon Bee)

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