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Friday, June 27, 2025

Trump Hosts Event Pushing Big, Beautiful Bill

As the 4^th of July holiday approaches—a much talked about target day for passage of the bill. CNBC: President Donald Trump on Thursday afternoon hosted a group of working-class Americans at the White House, as he cranks up pressure on Senate Republicans to quickly pass his massive tax-and-spending agenda. The event in support of Trump’s “One Big, Beautiful Bill” featured a collection of what his administration described as “everyday Americans” poised to benefit from the legislation’s tax cuts and other provisions. They included truck drivers, firefighters, law enforcement, healthcare workers, ranchers, and workers who rely on tips (CNBC). Video from the White House: “The One Big Beautiful Bill will secure our borders, turbocharge our economy, and bring back the American dream. This is the ultimate codification of our agenda to very simply Make America Great Again.” –President Donald J. Trump (White House). Full event (Truth).

Senator Tuberville Calls for Firing of Senate Parliamentarian

The GOP Senator from Alabama is pushing Majority Leader Thune (R-SD): The WOKE Senate Parliamentarian, who was appointed by Harry Reid and advised Al Gore, just STRUCK DOWN a provision BANNING illegals from stealing Medicaid from American citizens. This is a perfect example of why Americans hate THE SWAMP. Unelected bureaucrats think they know better than U.S. Congressmen who are elected BY THE PEOPLE. Her job is not to push a woke agenda. THE SENATE PARLIAMENTARIAN SHOULD BE FIRED ASAP (Tuberville). The Hill: Tuberville (R) on Thursday called for Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) to fire Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough “ASAP,” hours after she delivered a major ruling against a Republican proposal to slash hundreds of billions of dollars in federal Medicaid spending to help pay for President Trump’s tax agenda. The parliamentarian also ruled against provisions to prohibit federal funding of Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) for adults or kids whose immigration status cannot be immediately verified and to lower federal Medicaid funding for states that provide Medicaid coverage to immigrants in the country illegally. “The WOKE Senate Parliamentarian, who was appointed by Harry Reid and advised Al Gore, just STRUCK DOWN a provision BANNING illegals from stealing Medicaid from American citizens. This is a perfect example of why Americans hate THE SWAMP,” Tuberville posted on the social platform X. “Unelected bureaucrats think they know better than U.S. Congressmen who are elected BY THE PEOPLE. Her job is not to push a woke agenda. THE SENATE PARLIAMENTARIAN SHOULD BE FIRED ASAP,” he said (The Hill). Senator Jim Banks: We’re not going to let the parliamentarian, Democrats, or even squishy Republicans stop us from passing President Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill to cut taxes for working families and fund mass deportations (Banks).

Supreme Court: No, the States Do Not Have to Fund Planned Parenthood

A victory for life. From Alliance Defending Freedom—who represented South Carolina: The high court’s ruling means that the state can direct Medicaid funding—funds intended to help low-income individuals obtain necessary medical assistance—to comprehensive health care rather than entities that exist primarily to perform abortions. “States should be free to fund real, comprehensive care and exclude organizations like Planned Parenthood that profit off abortion and distribute dangerous gender-transition drugs to minors,” said ADF Senior Counsel and Vice President of Appellate Advocacy John Bursch, who argued before the court. “The American people don’t want their tax dollars propping up the abortion industry. The Supreme Court rightly restored the ability of states like South Carolina to steward limited public resources to best serve their citizens. We also thank South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster and his administration for persevering through many years of legal battles to achieve this victory” (ADF). SCOTUS Blog: The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that a South Carolina woman and Planned Parenthood do not have a legal right, known as standing, to bring a lawsuit challenging South Carolina’s decision to exclude Planned Parenthood from the state’s Medicaid program on the basis that the organization provides abortions. By a vote of 6-3, the court, in an opinion written by Justice Neil Gorsuch, held that a provision of the Medicaid Act requiring states to ensure that Medicaid patients can obtain care from “any qualified provider” does not create the kind of clear and unambiguous right required under the Supreme Court’s cases to allow private lawsuits alleging violations of the provision (SCOTUS Blog). Speaker of the House Mike Johnson: This is a big win in our work to rebuild a culture of life (Johnson).

Turns Out “Operation Midnight Hammer” Really Hammered Iran’s Nuclear Sites

Senator John Kennedy: In technical terms, we knocked the living crap out of our targets in Iran (Kennedy). The Institute for Science and International Security gets a bit more technical, but with a similar conclusion: After 12 days of military operations, a survey of the resulting damage is appropriate. . . . Overall, Israel’s and U.S. attacks have effectively destroyed Iran’s centrifuge enrichment program. It will be a long time before Iran comes anywhere near the capability it had before the attack… Complicating any effort to turn weapon-grade uranium into nuclear explosives have been extensive attacks against Iran’s facilities and personnel to make the nuclear weapon itself. Its infrastructure to build the nuclear weapon has been severely damaged. The time Iran would need to build even a non-missile deliverable nuclear weapon has increased significantly. In particular, major setbacks include: the elimination of, or severe damage to, the majority of the centrifuges at the Natanz site, significant damage to the Fordow underground site, destruction and damage to several facilities at the Esfahan Nuclear Complex. . . . The attack on the IR-40 Arak Heavy Water Reactor has likely destroyed the reactor, eliminating a potential future source of plutonium that could be used in nuclear weapons. . . . (Wall Street Journal). Charlie Kirk: CNN is now backtracking, platforming a former Middle East coordinator of the NSC saying that Trump’s strikes in Iran worked “flawlessly.” “It worked. It seems to have worked flawlessly.” “The 20,000 centrifuges … they are all completely destroyed” (Kirk).

A New Middle East

The prospects for a re-shaped political, economic and cultural region are more plausible now than—perhaps—any time since the Iranian revolution of 1979. Seth Mandel: On CNBC on Wednesday, Steve Witkoff, the Trump administration’s globetrotting envoy, teased new additions to the accords: “we think we’re going to have some pretty big announcements on countries that are now coming into the Abraham Peace Accords. And we’re hoping for normalization across an array of countries that maybe people would have never contemplated, would come in. So we’re excited. We’re excited for that prospect that will also be a stabilizer in the Middle East” …. This is yet another boon of President Trump’s decision to bomb Iranian nuclear sites. He has followed through on his promises in the Middle East, giving him credibility and a certain amount of leverage in the region. He has won the favor of Riyadh and, for the moment, knocked Tehran out of the ring. So there is no way around the U.S. (and therefore Israel) if you’re looking for alliances in the Middle East. And wouldn’t you know it, Abbas has now reached out to Trump so he doesn’t get left behind. The Abraham Accords may have begun as a limited diplomatic framework. But in the years that have followed, they have continually defied those limits. They might one day soon become simply the status quo (Commentary). Max Abrahams: Syria joining the Abraham Accords would arguably be more momentous than Saudi Arabia which is a longtime adversary of Iran, hasn’t been a top Israel adversary in war at the level of Syria or as complicit in sponsoring terrorism against Israel (Abrahams).

Iranian Detainees by ICE Now Numbering Some 800; Tom Homan: "This is the biggest national security vulnerability we’ve ever seen"

With 130 recently detains and 670 previously in custody. Rep. Wesley Hunt: Among those obtained are ex-Iranian military personnel, individuals with ties to Hezbollah, and illegal criminals (Hunt). Fox News: Multiple federal sources confirmed the numbers, as administration officials and national security experts have warned about the possible risk of sleeper cells being activated, as well as those who may be inspired to retaliate domestically after the U.S. strikes on Iran’s nuclear program sites. “The presence in this country of undocumented migrants or Iranian nationals who have links to Hezbollah, IRGC, is, in my judgment, a domestic law enforcement concern of the highest magnitude,” former Obama-era Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said on “Fox & Friends.” The border crisis under the Biden administration, which resulted in millions of people entering the country illegally, also underscored the concerns. “We don’t know who they are, where they came from, why they’re here,” border czar Tom Homan said last week. “This is the biggest national security vulnerability we’ve ever seen” (Fox News).

Top UN Women’s Rights Expert Fighting for Actual Women

Yes: As in biological women. From the Center for Family and Human Rights: A war of words has broken out at the UN as the top UN human rights official for women told governments to define gender based on biological sex. She also told governments to stop using gender-neutral language when referring to women. “You cannot protect what you cannot define,” said Reem Alsalem, UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women and Girls. “I never imagined the day would come where the mandate would deem it necessary to prepare a report affirming that the words ‘women’ and ‘girls’ refer to distinct biological and legal categories,” said Alsalem as she presented her explosive new report at the 59th Session of the UN Human Rights Council. Alsalem said the topic of her report provoked “visceral reactions” and that powerful governments and UN agencies tried to discredit her. The report on “sex-based” protections for women in international law is the biggest blow to gender ideology since the concept of “gender” was first added to UN policy…. Alsalem pushed back against her critics. She said that biological sex was not “taboo or an outdated concept, but an “innate, immutable, and fundamental aspect of human existence for women and for men alike” (C-Fam).

Andrew Sullivan Critiques How Sexual Revolutionaries Went After the Kids

The right-of-center gay writer, writing for the New York Times 10 years after the Obergefell decision and how the movement “Lost Its Way.” After all their wins, what did the movement do? Sullivan: So what did the gender revolutionaries go and do? They focused almost entirely on children and minors. Partly because the adult issues had been resolved or close to it, and partly because true cultural revolutions start with the young, it meant overhauling the education not only of children with gender dysphoria, but of every other kid as well. Kids all over the country were affected. Your children were taught in elementary school that being a boy or a girl was something they could choose and change at will. Your daughter found herself running against a trans girl (i.e., a biological male) in athletics. Children in elementary school got to pick pronouns, and some children socially transitioned at school without their parents’ knowledge or permission. I suppose there are other ways you can resurrect the ghost of Anita Bryant, and all the homophobic paranoia that followed her, but this will probably do the trick. And then most radical of all: gender-affirming care for minors, which can lead to irreversible sex changes for children. The “care” included off-label “blockers” to arrest puberty, almost always followed with cross-sex hormones… (New York Times).

Elite Media Silent in Face of Massacre of Christians in Nigeria

Madeleine Kearns with feature-length coverage of this pattern of Islamist violence, picking up with a quote from Nigerian journalist Steven Kefas: “Over 200 people were slaughtered. You can’t find it on CNN. CNN will not make it a topic. Al Jazeera will not make it a topic where you have guests coming to analyze this situation,” said Kefas. His assessment was blunt: “The international community has failed these people.” If Western media reports on the persecution at all, it typically characterizes it as land disputes between neighboring ethnic groups. For instance, after the atrocities at Yelwata, the BBC reported: “The authorities have not blamed any group, but it is safe to assume that there are lots of victims on both sides, as any attack usually leads to revenge and then a cycle of violence.” But where is the evidence that Christians are killing Fulani Muslims by the hundreds, shouting “Christ is king” as they hack people of other faiths to death? True, the terrorists may seize their neighbors’ land out of opportunism, or desperation. But the way they target Christians—killing them at Mass or on their holy days—as well as their sheer brutality is proof of their “conquest ideology,” said a priest who survived a slaughter in Benue State that took place during Holy Week (The Free Press).

10.

Peter Thiel on 50 Years of Stagnation: “peace and safety”

The Tech leader behind PayPal and Palantir and—notably—a 2016 supporter of Trump has long bemoaned the great stagflation. Why, for example didn’t we get anything like the great stuff of Back to Future? From an interview with Ross Douthat: What I’ve just told you so preposterous, as a broad account of the stagnation, that the entire world has submitted for 50 years to peace and safetyism? This is I Thessalonians 5:3 — the slogan of the Antichrist is “peace and safety.” And we’ve submitted to the F.D.A. — it regulates not just drugs in the U.S. but de facto in the whole world, because the rest of the world defers to the F.D.A. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission effectively regulates nuclear power plants all over the world. You can’t design a modular nuclear reactor and just build it in Argentina. They won’t trust the Argentinian regulators. They’re going to defer to the U.S. And so it is at least a question about why we’ve had 50 years of stagnation. And one answer is we ran out of ideas. The other answer is that something happened culturally where it wasn’t allowed. And the cultural answer can be sort of a bottom-up answer, that it was just some transformation of humanity into this more docile kind of a species. Or it can be at least partially top-down, that there is this machinery of government that got changed into this stagnationist thing (New York Times).

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