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Trump Says Iran Ceasefire on ‘Life Support’
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Calling the response from the mullahs “garbage” ( Rapid Response). He’s clearly frustrated: President Donald Trump called out the “piece of garbage” peace proposal from Iran on Monday from the Oval Office, saying only “stupid people” in Iran are questioning his resolve in guaranteeing Iran will never have a nuclear weapon. The latest Iranian proposal reneged on a past vow to give up enriched uranium, according to Trump. “They come back, and they want to negotiate, and they give us a stupid — it’s a stupid proposal and nobody would take it,” Trump said. “Although Obama would have taken it, Biden would have taken it” ( Fox News). Duane Patterson of Hot Air and veteran with Hugh Hewitt: It’s no longer a question of whether Donald Trump will resume kinetic action against the remnants of the IRGC holding onto power in Iran by their fingernails. By mid-afternoon on Sunday, Washington time, the question of it moved into the realm of when and to what level of intensity…. Showing they’re taking the sublime into the arena of the ridiculous, the regime, after rejecting Trump’s proposal and countering with their own, only to have Trump reject that, rejected Trump’s rejection of their rejection of Trump’s rejection that they’re going to ever become a nuclear power or control the Strait ( Hot Air).
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Tomorrow: Trump Travels to China for Second Summit With Xi
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The president is expected to pressure the Chinese president on Iran. Financial Times: President Donald Trump will urge President Xi Jinping to curb China’s support for Iran when the leaders meet in Beijing this week. “I would expect the president to apply pressure,” a US official told reporters in a briefing. He said Trump would resume previous discussions with Xi about China’s support for Iran and Russia, including providing them with dual-use components and potential arms exports. “I expect that conversation to continue. I think you’ve seen some actions, meaning sanctions, coming out from the US side just in the last few days that I’m sure will be part of that conversation,” the official added. The state department on Friday imposed sanctions on three Chinese satellite companies for providing imagery and other services to Iran that helped it conduct military strikes against US forces in the Middle East. The Treasury also sanctioned Yushita Shanghai International Trade for helping Iran import man-portable air-defensive systems [Manpads] from China…. Trump and Xi are meeting six months after reaching a one-year trade war truce at their summit in South Korea. The second official said it was unclear if they would extend the ceasefire in Beijing, or later. “I’m confident that we’ll announce any potential extension at the appropriate time,” he said ( Financial Times).
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Entourage of Tech Leaders to Join Trump on China Trip
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Including, notably, Elon Musk. Rusty Weiss at RedState: President Trump and Elon Musk … reunited again? The president has personally invited the Tesla CEO, along with a powerful delegation of top American business leaders, including Apple’s Tim Cook and BlackRock’s Larry Fink, to join him on a high-stakes trip to China this week…. After months of distance following the 2024 election cycle, the high-profile reunion signals a renewed alliance as the Trump-Musk power duo prepares to negotiate major business deals and push for American interests. The band is back together again, albeit in a less dramatic capacity ( RedState). More of the list of tech moguls reported to be joining Trump: Tim Cook of Apple, Stephen Schwarzman of Blackstone, Kelly Ortberg of Boeing, Jane Fraser of Citi, Chuck Robbins of Cisco, H. Lawrence Culp of GE Aerospace, Dina Powell McCormick of Meta and more ( Luntz). More from David Manney at PJ Media ( PJ Media).
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Supreme Court Clears Path for New Electoral Map in Alabama
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It could take the Alabama congressional delegation from 4 Republicans and 3 Democrats to 7 Republicans and 0 Democrats. New York Times reports: The Supreme Court on Monday cleared a path for Alabama to use a new voting map for the midterm elections, a victory for Republicans and another sign of the significance of the court’s recent decision narrowing the Voting Rights Act…. The one-paragraph order involved a pending petition before the court by Alabama lawmakers who challenged the state’s current congressional map, which includes two majority-Black districts that both elected Democrats to Congress in 2024. The Supreme Court’s decision will send the case back to a lower court judge to reconsider the legality of the Alabama map in light of the court’s recent decision dealing a blow to the Voting Rights Act of 1965, a landmark civil rights-era law…. That new map would include only one majority-Black district, instead of the two in the current map…. On Friday, Gov. Kay Ivey, a Republican, signed off on legislation that would allow for new House primaries, should the state be allowed to use a different congressional map. That map was first approved in 2023, as the legislature faced a court order to draw district lines that allowed for a second majority-Black district or margins “close to it” ( New York Times). State Attorney General Steve Marshall: For too long, unelected federal judges have had more say over Alabama’s elections than Alabama’s voters. That ended today. My job: put the Legislature in position to draw a map that favors Republicans 7-0. Done ( Marshall).
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Virginia Democrats Back Off Plan to Remove Members of State Supreme Court
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If there’s a positive lesson here, it’s that America has yet another opportunity to see how genuinely radical today’s Democratic party is. Dmitri Bolt at Townhall reports on legal scholar Jonathan Turley’s response: “Well, you know, I wrote about this, not because I think that it’s likely to succeed, but this sack-and-pack proposal really captures this age of rage. It captures the fact that now many on the left are saying that we will win by any means necessary,” Turley said. “And this is a very important issue for Hakeem Jeffries. He’s very unpopular with most people in the country, but he hopes to be the next Speaker of the United States. But in order to do that, he’s got to engineer a majority. He’s got to get Democrats there in the House to vote for him. He’s watching that evaporate across the country. So these radical ideas are nothing new, but I think the public needs to understand that many of these same voices have been saying publicly that they will pack the Supreme Court as well,” he added. “As soon as they take power, many Democratic pundits and politicians have said that they want to pack the Supreme Court to create an instant liberal majority. It’s the same mindset of by any means necessary. No institution, no value is truly sacred” ( Townhall).
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Virginia Democrats Make Long-Shot Appeal of State Map Decision to US Supreme Court
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Last week: The Virginia State Supreme Court had ruled that the special election enacting a new map was not held according to the state’s own constitution. Now: State Attorney General Jay Jones is pushing a hail Mary to the U.S. Supreme Court. Washington Times: Mr. Jones said the state court misinterpreted the meaning of “election day” in its ruling. He said the federal justices must correct that. “By forcing the commonwealth to conduct its congressional elections using districts different from those adopted by the General Assembly pursuant to a constitutional amendment the people just ratified, the Supreme Court of Virginia has deprived voters, candidates, and the commonwealth of their right to the lawfully enacted congressional districts,” he said in his brief. The lawsuit is a long shot that attempts to drag federal courts into what had generally been viewed as a state issue. At stake are as many as four extra U.S. House seats that Democrats could gain if their map prevails. They envision a 10–1 split in the state delegation, up from the current 6-5 majority they hold now ( Washington Times).
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Keir Starmer Facing Growing Calls From Cabinet Ministers to Resign
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Some are expecting a resignation this morning. This after disastrous local elections for Labour Party last week. Telegraph: At least three ministers, including Shabana Mahmood, the Home Secretary, have told Sir Keir to consider setting out a timeline for his departure, according to The Times. Ministers are now expected on Tuesday to use the first Cabinet meeting since the disastrous local election results to tell the Prime Minister his position has become untenable. On Monday, Sir Keir’s last-ditch attempt to rescue his premiership backfired as dozens of his own MPs responded to his reset speech by demanding his resignation. The mutiny against the Prime Minister grew, with more than 70 MPs calling for him to quit, after he pleaded with his party to avoid the “chaos” of a leadership contest. Four ministerial aides resigned, the first members of the Government to publicly call for Sir Keir to stand down, joining more than a quarter of Labour backbenchers ( Telegraph).
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The Slaughter of Christians in Northern Nigeria Continues
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And there’s very little high-profile reporting on the atrocities. Brad Brandon of Across Nigeria: The conditions in northern Nigeria have deteriorated significantly over the past six months. Attacks have increased dramatically — it feels as though massacres have become a daily occurrence. I recently spoke at a burial for eight people who were killed in a single night. The very next day, another 30 people were murdered in a separate attack. A few days later, 20 more lost their lives. It has become almost impossible to keep up with the scale and frequency of the violence. Boko Haram and other terrorist groups have grown bolder in both their rhetoric and their actions. A few weeks ago, Boko Haram released a video declaring their intent to drive Christians out of the northern region by force. Another video warned that all Christians must “convert to Islam or be killed.” Attacks by radicalized Fulani groups have also escalated, leaving Christian communities paralyzed by fear. Almost 150 Christians were slaughtered during Holy Week — 34 on Easter Sunday alone — making it one of the deadliest Holy Weeks on record here in Northern Nigeria. This has precipitated the need for a new and important ministry for us at Across Nigeria as we are now serving over 547 widows whose husbands were killed in recent attacks — and the numbers and need are growing rapidly…. How can we justify our silence? ( Washington Stand).
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42 Percent of Democrats Believe Butler Assassination Attempt Was Staged
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And: On the recent attack at the gala of the White House Correspondents Association, 34 percent of Democrats believe it was staged. To say we have a very fundamental truth crisis feels like an understatement. The survey comes from News Guard/YouTube: The contention that the three events may have been staged correlates strongly with party identification. Across all three events, Democrats were far more likely than Republicans to endorse the “staged” framing…. For the most recent event — at the April 25, 2026, White House Correspondents’ Dinner — 34 percent of Democrats and 13 percent of Republicans said it was staged, a 21-point gap…. The 2024 incidents show an even larger partisan divide. For the Butler, Pennsylvania, shooting — when a bullet grazed Trump’s ear and a local firefighter attending the rally was killed — 42 percent of Democrats called it staged, compared to seven percent of Republicans — a 35-point spread, the largest partisan gap in the survey. For the Trump International Golf Club assassinaton attempt, 26 percent of Democrats and seven percent of Republicans said it was staged ( Newsguard). Washington Post points out the obvious: No evidence has surfaced to support the conspiracy theories claiming that any of the three gun-related incidents at Trump’s public events was staged ( Washington Post). Larry O’Connor: EVERY Democrat running for office should be asked by reporters if they believe the Butler assassination attempt was real or staged. EVERY ONE OF THEM ( O’Connor).
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A Crisis of Religious Illiteracy on Our Ivy League Campuses
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And, no doubt, the problem is probably more acute across our other colleges and universities. Gregory Conti is a professor at Princeton. He’s also a secularist. Conti: Several years ago, one of my colleagues at Princeton University hosted a lecture on religion and free speech. The talk didn’t seem to be landing with the students. Finally, he realized why: The speaker had made repeated reference to the Ten Commandments, and several students didn’t know what they were. This isn’t an isolated problem. It’s increasingly common on college campuses to encounter students who are unfamiliar with the most basic features of Christianity, such as the difference between the Old and New testaments or between Catholics and Protestants. They seldom recognize the allusions to the Bible that appear in Shakespeare’s work or in Lincoln’s second inaugural address (or in Obama’s first, for that matter). These students are bright, conscientious and curious. But they lack religious literacy — and their ignorance of religious ideas means they struggle to understand a wide array of Western art, literature and philosophy ( Washington Post).
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