News of the Week for February 23rd, 2025
- Abortion
- Gun Rights
- Hide the Decline
- Obamacare
- War & Terror
- National News
- Economy & Taxes
- International News
- Opinion
Abortion
Dobbs Decision
Lawsuit filed by 17 states against abortion accommodations in the workplace can proceed
A lawsuit filed by 17 states challenging federal rules entitling workers to time off and other accommodations for abortions may proceed, a federal appeals court ruled.
Missouri bill proposes registry for pregnant women to ‘reduce preventable abortions’
This registry would also incorporate hopeful adoptive parents who have completed certain screenings, including background checks, home studies and other investigations, according to the legislation.
Baby Born With Tumor Bigger Than Her Body Now Thriving After Parents Refuse Abortion
When Zalya Schier was born in July 2019, she arrived with a tumor even bigger than she was. The Australian baby girl developed a rare tumor called a sacrococcygeal teratoma on her tailbone while she was growing in her mother’s womb, The Mirror reports.
Gun Rights
Second Amendment Roundup: 5th Circuit holds suppressors not to be protected “arms”
It’s time to have a serious discussion about a device that enhances the exercise of the right.
VICTORY! Court Strikes Down Illegal Firearms Mandate in Pima County, AZ
In a victory for Arizona firearm owners, a state court judge today struck down an illegal law in Pima County that required residents to report lost and stolen firearms to the government within two days…or face $1,000 fines.
Supreme Court amicus briefs on gun crime in Mexico
Mexico’s amici take shots at our brief in Smith and Wesson v. Mexico
Hide the Decline
Environment &“Green Energy”
Pennsylvania’s Governor Puts ‘Green’ Messaging Ahead of Realistic Solutions
Josh Shapiro is telling Pennsylvanians he’s saving them a penny when he’s really picking their pockets.
Obamacare
Government in Healthcare
Measles outbreak in Texas rises to at least 58 cases — the state’s worst in over 30 years
A measles outbreak in Texas has grown to 58 confirmed cases, local health officials confirmed to CBS News Tuesday, making it the state’s worst in over 30 years — and officials say additional cases are likely. At least 13 people have been hospitalized in the outbreak so far, Texas officials said.
7.3% of All People Who Died in Quebec Were Euthanized
An article by Yuan Yi Zhu, a Canadian academic, that was published as a Special to the National Post on February 18, 2025 explains that 10 years after the Supreme Court of Canada Carter decision (that legalized assisted death in Canada) that Canada’s MAiD law was not a slippery slope; it was a cliff.
Canadian Children May be Euthanized Without Parental Consent
A report by the Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying (AMAD) was tabled in the House of Commons on February 15 calling for a drastic expansion of euthanasia (MAiD) in Canada. Among other recommendations, the report recommends that euthanasia be expanded to include children “mature minors.”
Misinformation alert — RFK Jr. keeps peddling his detestable autism lies
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has spread many detestable theories in his life, but none is more detestable than his scaremongering over autism and vaccines.
War & Terror
Trump administration fires and then tries to rehire nuclear weapons workers in DOGE reversal
The Trump administration has paused the firings of hundreds of federal employees working on the nation’s nuclear weapons programs, in a reversal that has left workers confused and experts cautioning that DOGE’s blind cost cutting will put communities at risk.
Navigating geopolitical chess: Insights from Trevor Loudon and Jeff Nyquist on Trump’s strategy in Ukraine
In the latest episode of “Trevor Loudon Reports” on America Out Loud, host Trevor Loudon and guest national security analyst Jeff Nyquist delve into the complex geopolitical landscape involving Russia, Ukraine, and the United States under President Donald Trump’s administration. The discussion sheds light on Trump’s foreign policy maneuvers, the influence of pro-Russian sentiment within the U.S., and the broader implications for global power dynamics.
Negotiations with the Devil Begin
On the menu today: The U.S. begins its meetings with Russia in Saudi Arabia, a visit to the smoothest-running border post connecting Poland and Ukraine, and calculating the odds of something heavy and Russian falling on my head sometime soon.
Death Match: China’s CCP vs. America’s Democracy
President Trump, according to reports, wants to go to Beijing in his first hundred days and reach a bargain with China. Unfortunately, an enduring accommodation with the Chinese regime is not possible.
A Ukrainian Perspective on Munich: America ‘Is Not Seeing the Whole Chess Board’
I spent much of Tuesday interviewing attendees of the Defense Tech Innovations Forum here in Kyiv, a conference that brought together Ukrainian companies of all sizes in the defense sector, as well as investors and officials from partner countries.
Rubio Assures EU Counterparts Involvement in Ukraine Talks
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told his French, British, Italian and German counterparts that the European Union would be involved in talks on the war in Ukraine, Italy’s foreign minister said Tuesday.
The American Betrayal of Ukraine Begins
On the menu today: Regarding the war, President Donald Trump says to the Ukrainians, “You should have never started it!” Somewhere in Moscow, Vladimir Putin must be grinning from ear to ear. Meanwhile, in Saudi Arabia, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio pledges that the U.S. will cooperate with Russia on “matters of mutual geopolitical interest and historic economic and investment opportunities,” despite the fact that those mutual geopolitical interests don’t exist, and here in Kyiv, a report of cartel thugs from Brazil signing up to fight on behalf of the Russians.
Leaked document shows how Russia plans to take over Belarus
The document, written for Putin’s Presidential Administration, envisages the total incorporation of Belarus into a “Union State” with Russia by 2030.
Trump calls Zelensky a “dictator” in latest smear
President Trump escalated his attacks against Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday by calling him “a dictator without elections.”
Russian aircraft fly in Alaskan Air Defense Identification Zone, US says
Russian activity in ADIZ occurs often, not seen as threat, NORAD says
‘On the backs of veterans’: Senators rail against federal workforce purge as vets hit hard by cuts
Marine Corps veteran Andrew Lennox was wrapping up his last day of online orientation as a newly hired administrative officer at Ann Arbor VA Healthcare System in Michigan, when his cell phone pinged alerting him to incoming email.
China issued ‘disconcerting’ warning of live-fire exercises to planes flying above, Australia says
Airliners were over the Tasman Sea crossing between Australia and New Zealand when the Chinese navy warned they were flying over a secret live-fire exercise, Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles said on Friday.
‘Communist China Is Our Enemy’
Why does Senator Cotton say that the Chinese Communist Party is “evil”? Why does he think it’s preparing for war? What does he mean when he says that it’s engaged in “economic warfare”? Has it really “infiltrated” the United States? Why should TikTok be forced to become an American company? What can we do to avoid disaster?
Can Europe afford to defend itself without the US?
Also in this newsletter: The EU’s peace offering in Trump’s trade war
Ukraine war latest: Russia wants to declare ‘victory’ over Ukraine on Feb. 24, Ukrainian intel claims
Russia is instructing its propagandists to declare “victory” in the war “against Ukraine and NATO” on Feb. 24, the third anniversary of its full-scale invasion, Ukrainian military intelligence (HUR) claimed on Feb. 21.
Houthis fired surface-to-air missiles at US fighter jets in first attack of its kind
Yemen’s Houthi rebels fired surface-to-air missiles at a US fighter jet over the Red Sea in the first attack of its kind, Fox News reported Saturday.
National
Jan. 6 Rioters Argue Pardons Apply to Charges Including Murder Plot, Child Porn
Defendants argue that Trump pardons should absolve them of additional crimes, some discovered during investigations of the Capitol riot
White House Changes Federal Contracting Rules to Eliminate DEI Considerations
The new policy reverses a Biden administration initiative
Why DOGE Functions So Awkwardly
One of my basic rules of politics, law, business, sports, entertainment, and many other walks of life is that when you can’t admit the real reasons for what you’re doing — or when the rules prohibit you from doing what you want directly — it ends up distorting every aspect of what you do and how you do it.
US Supreme Court tackles straight woman’s ‘reverse’ discrimination case
Marlean Ames received numerous promotions and good evaluations over the years working in Ohio’s youth corrections system, so when she was denied a promotion and demoted in 2019 with a $40,000 pay cut she said she felt “shocked and hurt and humiliated.”
Steve Bannon Warns Republicans the ‘Oligarchs’ Will Abandon Them: ‘They’re With Us – But Only Temporarily’
Steve Bannon struck a word caution for Republicans who have fully embraced tech “oligarchs.”
Jesse Watters Makes On-Air Plea to Trump for Veteran Friend Who Got ‘DOGE’d’ In Pentagon Cuts
Fox News host Jesse Watters made an on-air plea that the Trump administration be “less callous” when implementing when laying off federal employees after a military veteran friend was “DOGE’d” in Elon Musk’s Pentagon cuts.
Mark Levin Defies Trump By Backing Zelensky and Trashing Putin — Bashes ‘Sick’ and ‘Un-American’ Foreign Policy
Fox News’ Mark Levin delivered an implicit rebuke of President Donald Trump’s rhetoric about the ongoing war between Russian and Ukraine on Wednesday, debunking a series of false and misleading claims made by the president.
Judge orders Mississippi newspaper to delete editorial criticizing public officials
First Amendment lawyers and press freedom advocates blast blatantly ‘unconstitutional’ order
Warning signs for Trump in new polling
Two new polls show the president’s approval rating is slipping.
Holocaust Victims Lose Long-shot Supreme Court Case Against Hungary
The Supreme Court handed down three opinions this morning. While some dealt with more compelling subjects than the others, they all basically turned on questions of process and statutory permissions to sue. One, Wisconsin Bell v. U.S. ex rel Heath, is a victory for False Claims Act lawsuits against fraud on the government, with the Court unanimously concluding (in an opinion by Justice Elena Kagan) that fraudulent “claims” on the government can be covered by the statute over a reimbursement request in a program to subsidize classroom and library internet, so long as the government pays part of the reimbursement. Justice Clarence Thomas wrote a concurring opinion noting his skepticism that “the FCA applies to funds that private parties pay to other private parties,” an implication he found in the government’s argument. Justice Brett Kavanaugh also wrote a short concurring opinion reiterating separation of powers concerns he has about qui tam lawsuits, in which private parties sue on the government’s behalf.
Dave Yost Campaign Polling Memo Suggests Competitive 2026 Gov Matchup Against Vivek Ramaswamy
Former biotech CEO and 2024 GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy has gobbled up lots of media attention in recent weeks ahead of his long-anticipated 2026 run for Ohio governor, which he is expected to announce in the coming days after he parted ways last month with the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Ninth Circuit Denies Government Request for Emergency Relief in Birthright Citizenship Case
The first of what may be many appellate rulings on the Trump Administration’s most controversial and questionable Executive Order.
At Testy Town Halls, Republicans Take Heat for Trump’s Bold Moves
Big crowds are showing up to complain about the unilateral nature of Trump’s early orders
Trump administration eyes canceling leases for space used by US judiciary
U.S. President Donald Trump and billionaire ally Elon Musk’s push to radically overhaul the federal government is now reaching the U.S. court system with a demand that the judiciary justify why the administration should not cancel leases for space it utilizes at 160 locations nationally.
Short Circuit: A Roundup of Recent Federal Court Decisions
Idling buses, an iPhone non-search, and high seas cocaine.
Trump uses merch to monetize agenda
President Trump’s political operation is profiting from his flurry of executive orders by hawking gear such as “Make Greenland Great Again,” “Gulf of America” and “DOGE” T-shirts, along with the black “dark MAGA” caps worn by Elon Musk.
New geology study explains how rocks can help ‘heal’ racism
Two University of San Diego professors published a study investigating the ‘racist geologic formations of subjecthood.’ The researchers spoke of how ‘people can use rocks to heal from this horrible history’ of racism.
Economy & Taxes
How to Fix the Busted Budget Process
There’s a way out of perpetual deficits
Stephen Miller: DOGE will restore ‘faith and confidence’ in IRS
White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller said Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) will restore “faith and confidence” in the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
The US GDP: Everywhere and Nowhere
Dominic Pino breaks down what the GDP actually is and how it should be understood.
KFC moves U.S. headquarters from Kentucky to Texas
KFC is moving its U.S. headquarters from Louisville, Kentucky, to Plano, Texas. Parent company Yum Brands is calling remote workers back to the office. Many employers have been rethinking the location of their corporate headquarters due to lower taxes and changes to office space needs.
Trump signals 25 percent tariffs coming on cars, semiconductors and pharmaceuticals
President Trump on Tuesday indicated he would unveil tariffs on imports of automobiles, semiconductors and pharmaceuticals in early April, starting at 25 percent.
You Pay Higher Interest Rates Than Banks Because You’re Not a Bank
In one of the strongest displays in recent memory of the bipartisan impulse to pretend economics doesn’t exist, Senators Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) and Josh Hawley (R., Mo.) want to cap credit card interest rates at 10 percent, and they’re making some exceptionally silly arguments to do so.
Chavez-DeRemer Supports Biden’s Union Pension Bailouts
Under questioning from Senator Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.), the ranking member of the Senate HELP committee, secretary of labor nominee Lori Chavez-DeRemer said she supports the Butch Lewis Act, Joe Biden’s bailout of union pension funds that was part of the American Rescue Plan Act.
Musk Mulls Sending All Americans $5,000 Checks Using DOGE Savings
Billionaire DOGE head Elon Musk said on X, formerly known as Twitter, he would ask President Donald Trump about a proposal for a “DOGE Dividend” that would give taxpayers a refund check of $5,000 funded by the savings from his Department of Government Efficiency.
Why Walmart’s warning may have more to do with weight-loss drugs than tariffs
Walmart’s stock dives as quarterly earnings are expected to decline for the first time in three years, with strength in groceries and GLP-1 drug sales continuing to pressure margins
More eggs are being confiscated at the U.S.-Mexico border amid the bird flu outbreak
As the cost of eggs in the U.S. surges, more people are attempting to bring eggs across the U.S.-Mexico border, authorities say.
Trump says DOGE could return 20% of its savings directly to taxpayers. That could reignite inflation
President Donald Trump said he is considering a plan that would give 20% of savings identified by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) back to Americans, potentially complicating the country’s ongoing battle with elevated inflation.
Economist Warns That Elon Musk Is About to Cause a “Deep, Deep Recession”
“This is going to be very, very bad.”
International
Trump’s Threats Against Canada Upend Conservative’s Playbook
With his unapologetic conservatism, his vow to fix a “broken” nation, his “common sense” fight against elites and all things woke, his norm-shattering personal attacks against political rivals, his pugilistic use of demeaning nicknames and his open disdain of the news media, Pierre Poilievre, the front-runner to become Canada’s next leader, has become a darling of the American right.
Trump administration pressures Romania to lift restrictions on Andrew Tate
Tristan and Andrew Tate have been charged with sexual misconduct, organised crime and money laundering
70 Christians Beheaded In Congo Church
“We don’t know what to do or how to pray; we’ve had enough of massacres.”
Germany shifts right as exit polls show clear lead for Merz
Germany’s centre-right CDU/CSU bloc is on track for a clear victory in Sunday’s parliamentary elections even as support for the far right surged, according to exit polls from public broadcasters ARD and ZDF.
Opinion
‘A Bit of This and a Bit of That’
Mitch McConnell is an unusual cat. He was the only Republican — the only one out of 53 — to vote against Tulsi Gabbard as director of national intelligence. And the only one to vote against Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as secretary of health and human services. McConnell was the leader of the Republicans in the Senate for 18 years: 2007 to 2025. But now he stands alone. Yes, an unusual cat, and I lead my Impromptus today with him: here.
We Must Employ Lawfare to Stop Lawfare!
In context, the title of the working group is Orwellian. We’ve learned too well that the defining characteristic of weaponized law enforcement is its targeting of a person rather than a crime. Yet that’s exactly what Bondi’s directive does, targeting by name Democratic prosecutors who went after Bondi’s boss; from there, the basis for investigating DOJ and FBI personnel will be guilt by association — not necessarily in any specific act of misconduct but in taking direction from or assisting the named prosecutors.
The Boring Stuff Matters Most
Bird flu has crossed into multiple people now. A lady in Wyoming is hospitalized. In Texas, there are now forty-eight cases of measles in a town. In Kansas, there is a tuberculosis outbreak. Though small, it keeps flaring back up.
Walk-Back Season at the Trump White House
A disciplined, well-managed presidential administration shouldn’t regularly find itself in the position of having to walk back things said by its most senior officials. We rightly mocked the frequency with which Biden administration officials had to clean up things that fell out of the president’s mouth. That said, the only thing worse than making shambolic, ill-considered pronouncements is deciding to dig in and defend them simply because somebody important said them.
Impeach the Precedent
Trump’s flood-the-zone approach means his political enemies, once in power, will follow the same playbook.
AG Bondi’s ‘Weaponization’ Directive Peddles President Trump’s Political Narratives
AG Bondi’s strategy “against” the weaponization of law enforcement adopts the Democrats’ lawfare model not only by naming targets (which we discussed in the third post of this series). Her weaponization directive barely pretends to be anything other than a partisan political document.
Don’t Do It, Governor Hochul
Longtime Democratic strategist James Carville should take his own good advice.
It isn’t too early for Democrats to get nervous about the midterms
Democrats would love to retake the Senate in the 2026 midterms. Surprise retirements aren’t helping.
The Rule of Law Has Seen Better Days
‘He who saves his Country does not violate any Law’?
Mnichovská Zrada
Ukraine is being punished for its insistence on surviving as a nation and a people.
Ukraine Is Not the Bad Guy
Even before they’ve begun in earnest, the negotiations designed to secure a resolution to Russia’s war of conquest in Ukraine have already hit a snag.
More on Birthright Citizenship and Undocumented Immigrants – Rejoinder to Barnett and Wurman
Why their response to me and other critics fails to refute key objections.
The SNL Skit That Wasn’t an Attack on MAGA
In light of the grievance du jour, conservatives would be well-served to remember why the cultural tides turned against progressives in recent years. It wasn’t just over public policy — it was that many of their cultural gatekeepers became insufferable.
More on the Outrageous Eric Adams Deal
Co-blogger Josh Blackman gets the Eric Adams Affair all wrong
‘Dumb Tribalism’
Is tribalism bad per se, or is it just bad in politics? Why has it got so much worse recently? To what extent is technology to blame? What can we do about it?
We’re All Neocons Now
I happen to believe that the character of the regimes the U.S. partners with abroad matters. It’s not a hard-and-fast rule when American national interests are at stake. Statecraft is a dexterous art. In the main, however, promoting liberal democracy abroad serves U.S. interests. Barring prohibitive exigencies, the U.S. should do what it can to encourage democratic reforms in our partners and preserve those conventions in our allies.
Conservatism used to mean something. Now it’s just whatever Trump says.
Conservatism is the revered philosophy of the rule of law, limited government, personal responsibility, moral clarity, fiscal responsibility and family values.
America will regret throwing away the free world’s respect
Trump’s muscular displays of raw power against US allies could be bad for its material interests as well as its international standing
More tips for being non-partisan in a partisan age
It ain’t easy, it can be exhausting, and you’re not always going to get everything right. But you have to keep trying.
Finally Regulating the Regulators
There is a lot of sound and fury emanating from the White House these days, and it can be hard to tell which executive actions are significant and which are just kicking up dust.
Realism for a Condo Salesman
Trump 2.0 goes abroad, and it’s what you’d expect.
There Are Rumors Trump Is Working Up to 7D Chess
Donald Trump has said some pretty grotesque things about Ukraine over the last 48 hours, but you don’t need to worry about it, because it’s all just 4D chess. Everything Trump says is 4D chess, you see. Unless you like it. If you like it, that’s what he really thinks, and he’s brave and correct for saying it. If you don’t like it, it’s 4D chess and you need to relax. Trump has to play 4D chess, you understand, because he’s the president. Before he was the president, he also had to play 4D chess, because he wanted to become the president, and because playing 4D chess is how you get to occupy the chair.
Trump’s Revealing Choice of Which Foreign Leader Gets Denounced as a ‘Dictator’
On the menu today: Donald Trump calls Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky a dictator, a term that he curiously has never applied to Russia’s Vladimir Putin; meeting up with the leader of the Chechen government in exile; and more air-raid alerts and audible air defenses over Kyiv.
The cost of conservative hypocrisy
Young people are moving rightward—but also watching conservatives who heap praise on destructive behavior
This Is Wrong
History is filled with examples of people convincing themselves of things to avoid dealing with the implications of a situation.
America is being sold out by its leaders
If Trump and Elon think they can forge a grand right-wing alliance with China and Russia, they’re heading for trouble.
Donald Trump’s New World Order
What a Kissinger-inspired strategy might look like.
It’s Just Business, and It’s Personal
President Trump’s rejection of government ethics makes sense for his “business model” presidency.
A Stiff Drink From the Trump Fire Hose
Some of his actions are exhilarating. Some of them make you ask: Are these people clinically insane?
They Think We’re Stupid
The bipartisan habit of patronizing the public
Get Ukraine into the European Union
On the menu today: Ukrainians see the sudden shift in U.S. policy toward the region, sigh, shrug, and go on with the fight to ensure their continued right to exist. If NATO membership is out, then there’s another European alliance that may prove to be a worthwhile substitute. A Kremlin spokesman laughably declares, “No one can dictate anything to any country, and we are not going to do that.”
Mr. President: Putin is THE dictator and 10 Ukraine-Russia war truths we ignore at our peril
This has been a dizzying and disorienting week in international diplomacy. One with wild implications for Ukraine, the future of America’s standing in the world and President Trump’s legacy.
For Labour to avoid annihilation, it needs to cut spending now. Britain’s problem is that it won’t
To defend itself, the UK needs to be rich. If we continue on our current path, penury and servitude beckon
Gangster’s Paradise
The mafia didn’t get rich by accident.
Will FBI Director Kash Patel Be a Principled Reformer or a Trump Hatchet Man?
The newly confirmed head of the country’s leading law enforcement agency has a history of advocating politically motivated investigations even while condemning them.
Pam Bondi’s ‘Weaponization’ Group Staffing Is a Ticking Ethics Time Bomb
The conflict of interest of its members could not be any clearer.
