Senate Advances Big Beautiful Bill in Dramatic Saturday Night Vote

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The Senate voted to proceed on President Donald Trump’s Big, Beautiful Bill in a rare drama-packed Saturday night vote.

They key procedural vote on the motion to proceed is a significant victory for the President and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) and clears the path for amendment votes to begin, likely late Monday night.

The bill contains many of Trump’s key campaign promises and addresses immigration and border security, energy, national security and defense, and taxes – notably extending the bulk of Trump’s 2017 tax cuts and instituting no tax on tips and overtime.

The vote was 51 to 49. Vice President JD Vance led negotiations with Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) and a handful of conservative holdouts.

Vance arrived at the Capitol with the expectation his vote would be needed. Although his vote proved unnecessary, his role in negotiations on behalf of the White House ensured the bill advanced. (Read more from “Senate Advances Big Beautiful Bill in Dramatic Saturday Night Vote” HERE)

Poll: Majority Favor Chaplains in Public Schools

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A recent poll found a majority of adults think public schools should allow chaplains to support students.

The news is according to an Associated Press (AP) NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll, the outlet reported Thursday.

The poll showed 58 percent of adults surveyed think “religious chaplains providing support services in public schools should be allowed,” the survey said.

It noted that “Republicans are more likely than Democrats to think religious chaplains providing support services in public schools (70% v. 47%), teacher led prayers (60% v. 29%), and mandatory school prayer periods (49% v. 27%) should be allowed.”

The AP article also pointed to the debate on how religion should play a role on public school campuses and highlighted examples such as “a lawsuit against a new Arkansas measure that requires the display of the Ten Commandments in classrooms, a push by lawmakers in multiple states to allow religious chaplains to serve in student support roles in public schools, and the U.S. Supreme Court’s 4-4 decision that blocked plans for a publicly funded Catholic charter school in Oklahoma.” (Read more from “Poll: Majority Favor Chaplains in Public Schools” HERE)

Massie Warns Trump, AIPAC to Think Twice Before Trying to Take Him Out

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Republican Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie warned that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and President Donald Trump’s attempts to primary him in the upcoming midterms could backfire in an exclusive interview with the Daily Caller.

“The political calculus that both the president and AIPAC have to consider is, if they go after me and lose, they’ve lost a lot of credibility — both of them,” Massie told the Caller.

The Caller reported exclusively Thursday that AIPAC is fielding primary challengers to take on Massie in the 2026 midterm elections.

“I’m aware that foreign lobbyists have conducted a push poll and are trying to recruit another candidate to run against me, due to my opposition to foreign aid and forever wars,” Massie told the Caller in a statement.

Trump’s political allies are also gearing up to replace Massie, Axios reported, as the president attacked him for his positions on the Israel-Iran war and the “Big Beautiful Bill.”

Massie suggested, however, that such efforts might be in vain. (Read more from “Massie Warns Trump, AIPAC to Think Twice Before Trying to Take Him Out” HERE)

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr

‘Direct And Blatant Attack On Our Country’: Trump Announces End To Trade Talks With Major Partner

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President Donald Trump announced Friday he is ending trade talks with Canada over the northern neighbor’s decision to impose a digital service tax on American technology companies.

Trump called Canada’s decision “a direct and blatant attack on our Country” in a Truth Social post.

“They are obviously copying the European Union, which has done the same thing, and is currently under discussion with us, also. Based on this egregious Tax, we are hereby terminating ALL discussions on Trade with Canada, effective immediately,” Trump also wrote.

Canada is reportedly going ahead with the tax despite its inclusion in the Group of Seven (G7) agreement in which President Trump agreed to remove Section 899, also known as the revenge tax proposal, from his “Big Beautiful” tax bill, according to Bloomberg.

The tax will require digital services companies like Meta to pay 3 percent of the digital services revenue they make on Canadian users above 20 million Canadian dollars ($14.6 million) in a calendar year, according to Bloomberg. (Read more from “‘Direct And Blatant Attack On Our Country’: Trump Announces End To Trade Talks With Major Partner” HERE)

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr

House Committee Demands Interviews With Jean-Pierre, Top Biden Staffers About Former Boss’s Decline

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House Republicans are demanding interviews with Biden Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and other top Biden White House staffers about the former president’s cognitive decline.

On Friday the House Oversight Committee sent a series of letters to Jean-Pierre, Ian Sams (special assistant to the president), Andrew Bates (senior deputy press secretary), and Jeff Zients (White House chief of staff) asking that they appear for transcribed interviews later this summer. According to Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., the requests are part of the body’s “aggressive investigation into the cover-up of [Biden’s] cognitive decline and potentially unauthorized executive actions” while serving as commander-in-chief.

“President Biden’s inner circle repeatedly told the American people that he was ‘sharp as ever,’ dismissing any commentary about his obvious mental decline as ‘gratuitous.’ They fed these false talking points to progressive allies and the media, who helped perpetuate that President Biden was fit to serve,” the Kentucky Republican said in a statement.

In their letter to Jean-Pierre, Oversight Republicans highlighted several examples of the former press secretary downplaying or dismissing times in which Biden showed signs of mental decline. In a press briefing following the Delaware Democrat’s disastrous June 2024 debate performance against Donald Trump, for example, Jean-Pierre claimed Biden was “as sharp as ever.”

“If White House staff carried out a strategy lasting months or even years to hide the chief executive’s condition — or to perform his duties — Congress may need to consider a legislative response,” the letter reads. (Read more from “House Committee Demands Interviews With Jean-Pierre, Top Biden Staffers About Former Boss’s Decline” HERE)

U.S. Missile Defenses Heavily Depleted in Shielding Israel: Report

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The U.S. drew down a significant portion of its advanced anti-missile system to bolster Israel’s defense against Iranian aerial attacks during a 12-day conflict in which Israel and the U.S. struck nuclear facilities and Iran retaliated with missile launches, according to defense news outlets and independent analysts. . .

Israel has long relied on the Lockheed Martin developed Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense, known as the THAAD battery, for shielding against ballistic missiles from Iran or its proxy groups such as the Yemeni Houthis.

The U.S. military operates seven THAAD batteries. An eighth, getting integrated into the Missile Defense Agency, is capable of tracking hypersonic missiles. The THAAD deployment to Israel is part of a broader challenge where supporting allies in conflict zones means using resources that could affect military readiness and future deployment.

During the recent Israel-Iran conflict, the United States used an estimated 15 to 20 percent of its global THAAD missile interceptor stockpile, incurring unprecedented costs exceeding $800 million, according to the Bulgarian Military News and Military Watch Magazine outlets. (Read more from “U.S. Missile Defenses Heavily Depleted in Shielding Israel: Report” HERE)

South Korea Detains Americans Trying to Send Food, Bibles to North Korea

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South Korean police detained six Americans on Friday caught with over 1,000 bottles carrying rice, Bibles, and American money that they reportedly intended to send across the sea to North Korea.

The incident is the largest scale of its kind in years, since leftist former President Moon Jae-in began cracking down on missionary activities targeting the repressive communist state as part of its campaign to ingratiate Seoul with the rogue regime. While Moon’s successor, Yoon Suk-yeol, was a hardline conservative during his term, he did not lift many of the restrictions imposed on individuals seeking to send political leaflets, religious material, or humanitarian aid towards Pyongyang.

Yoon was recently impeached following an attempt to impose martial law in December and replaced this month by the winner of a special election, currently President Lee Jae-myung, another leftist who has promised to increase engagement attempts with the North.

According to the South’s Korea JoongAng Daily, the six Americans were found carrying over 1,300 plastic bottles filled with rice, Bibles, USB sticks featuring foreign media banned in North Korea, and American money and admitted to engaging in missionary work. Missionaries often use plastic bottles in this manner as they float and easily travel across the sea via currents into rural, impoverished areas of the North.

Authorities did not name the individuals in question, identifying them only as men “in their 20s to 50s” who had entered the country two to three months ago with American passports and did not speak fluent Korean. Authorities stated that they did not have and would not pursue an arrest warrant for the men, according to the South Korean news agency Yonhap, as the activities the men were engaging in did not rise to the level of public security threats meriting an arrest. South Korean maintains exceptionally positive relations with the United States and, following an especially volatile six months in which five presidents took helm of the country, its government is likely to consider aggressive law enforcement action against American missionaries needlessly aggravating of a delicate situation. (Read more from “South Korea Detains Americans Trying to Send Food, Bibles to North Korea” HERE)

Haunting Words 14-Year-Old Son Said as He Hallucinated, Walked off 120-Foot Cliff in Front of Terrified Father

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A 14-year-old California boy walked off a 120-foot cliff in front of his horrified father — telling him he saw “snowmen and Kermit the frog” while hallucinating from altitude sickness.

Zane Wach is now in a medically induced coma from the fall on Mount Whitney in the Sierra Nevada mountain range on June 10 that left him with severe head trauma, as well as a broken ankle, finger and pelvis, according to SFGate.

The frightening events unfolded as the pair made their way down the mountain, but dad Ryan Wach initially had no doubts about his son’s ability to handle the hike.

“He’s in better shape than I am,” Wach told the outlet, adding that his son had hiking experience and was an active teen who competed in distance running, swimming and triathlons.

“The idea was that this would be kind of like his introduction to mountaineering.”

However, as the father and son were on the journey up the mountain, Zane slowly started exhibiting symptoms of altitude sickness, his father said. (Read more from “Haunting Words 14-Year-Old Son Said as He Hallucinated, Walked off 120-Foot Cliff in Front of Terrified Father” HERE)

‘America Is Hot Again’: A Week Of Wins For The Trump White House

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President Donald Trump was in a great mood as he took the podium at a surprise White House press briefing on Friday.

His team called the briefing just after the Supreme Court upheld his executive order on birthright citizenship, ruling that lower courts do not have the authority to unilaterally block Trump’s agenda.

Not only that — the court also ruled Friday that schools violate religious liberty when they bar parents from opting their children out of classroom instruction involving LGBT-themed books, a major win for religious conservatives and for the Trump White House, which has championed parents and their right to decide what their children are taught.

Each ruling in and of itself would have been celebrated by the White House. But together, on the heels of Trump’s success negotiating a ceasefire between Israel and Iran, achieving a 5% defense pledge from NATO members, gas prices dropping to their lowest since 2021, and the stock market nearing record highs, the news made Friday “a really big day” for Trump.

“We’ve had a big week,” Trump told the clamoring reporters in the James Brady Briefing Room.”We’ve had a big week, we’ve had a lot of victories this week.”
The past week has indeed been full of wins for the president, both at home and abroad. After the United States bombed key Iranian nuclear sites with Tomahawk missiles and 30,000-pound “bunker buster” bombs on Saturday, the president announced a ceasefire on Monday, strong-arming the two countries into a cessation of attacks on one another with a rare, emphatic f-bomb. (Read more from “‘America Is Hot Again’: A Week Of Wins For The Trump White House” HERE)

Donald Trump Is About to Confront the Real Reason the U.S. Keeps Starting Wars

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Donald Trump spent the last 10 years campaigning against “stupid wars” in the Middle East and returned to the White House in January endorsed by a retinue of so-called restrainers — advocates of scaling back America’s role as globo-cop — who took him at his word. Many were appointed to key positions in his administration.

But then, like so many presidents before him, Trump seemed to succumb to the temptations of American power, jumping into a new war of choice in the Middle East by launching air strikes against Iran.

The question many restrainers and hawks alike are asking now is this: Was the U.S. attack a one-off, or was Trump fooling us all along?

It’s difficult — perhaps impossible — to pin down Trump on any particular point of view, especially the second-term Trump who in his inaugural address pledged to be a “peacemaker” but who promptly made threatening moves toward Greenland, Panama and even Canada. In the weeks preceding the June 21 strike on Iran, the administration swung wildly from pursuing diplomacy and denying any U.S. involvement in Israel’s attacks on Iran’s nuclear sites to Trump demanding “unconditional surrender” from Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. (Read more from “Donald Trump Is About to Confront the Real Reason the U.S. Keeps Starting Wars” HERE)