News of the Week for August 3rd, 2025
- Abortion
- Gun Rights
- Hide the Decline
- Socialized Medicine
- War & Terror
- National News
- Economy & Taxes
- International News
- Opinion
Abortion
Court Cases & Legislation
Department of Veterans Affairs looks to end certain abortion services for veterans
The US Department of Veterans Affairs is proposing to end certain abortion services to veterans, rolling back a Biden-era move to expand abortion rights.
Gun Rights
NC Republicans Override Governor’s Veto of Pro-2A Bill
North Carolina lawmakers reconvened in Raleigh this week with Republicans intent on trying to override a string of vetoes from Gov. Josh Stein, including two bills dealing with the right to keep and bear arms. So far they’ve been successful at enshrining one bill into law despite the governor’s opposition. The second bill is still awaiting action in the House, though, and it’s unclear whether it will get a vote at all.
Hide the Decline
Environment &“Green Energy”
Bioethicists Want Ticks to Infect People to Stop Them from Eating Meat
This is not a parody. Two bioethicists have argued in the prestigious professional journal Bioethics that we should breed ticks to cause more infections of a condition that causes an allergy to red meat. Seriously.
Socialized Medicine
Government in Healthcare
‘Right’: Chris Cuomo Nods Along as RFK Jr. Claims Schizophrenia Can Be Cured by ‘Dietary Changes’
NewsNation host Chris Cuomo nodded in agreement with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who claimed that not only is schizophrenia being cured, but that it is being done via dietary changes.
Killing for Organs Pushed in the New York Times
Good motives sometimes lead to terrible places. Such is the case with the understandable desire to increase the organ supply, which for years has tempted some bioethicists to stretch the ethics of transplant medicine beyond the breaking point.
War & Terror
Russia runs low on Soviet-era arms as North Korea fills gap
Logistics data shows shipments from vast military storage facilities falling to pre-invasion levels
Thailand and Cambodia Reach ‘Immediate and Unconditional’ Ceasefire
The root cause for the clash may be a “Shakespearean betrayal” ending a once close relationship between former allies.
China may gain greater control of Panama Canal after BlackRock deal misses deadline
President Donald Trump previously warned about Chinese influence over the strategic waterway that the US completed in 1914
Donald Trump blocks Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te from New York stopover
Move comes as US and China hold trade talks and seek to stabilise relations
Will the US Field Its First Hypersonic Missile This Year?
After years of hesitation, the Trump administration and the Pentagon appear to have acknowledged the significant shortfall in America’s hypersonic capabilities.
National
Tom Lehrer, Musical Satirist With a Dark Streak, Dies at 97
A mathematician by training, he acquired a devoted following with songs that set sardonic lyrics to music that was often maddeningly cheerful.
City commissioner sent nude photos of himself to 12-year-old girl prior to arrest; Bond set at 360K
Bond was set at $360,000 for Fort Pierce Commissioner James Taylor during his first appearance at the St. Lucie County Courthouse on Friday.
In Trump 2, personnel isn’t policy
It’s a piece of conventional wisdom on the new American right that Donald Trump struggled in his first term because he hired the wrong people — old-think Bush Republicans, figures like Rex Tillerson and Steven Mnuchin, who didn’t have a populist bone in their bodies.
Gunman who killed 4 at NYC building was targeting NFL offices but took wrong elevator, mayor says
A gunman who killed four people at a Manhattan office building before killing himself claimed in a note to have a brain disease linked to contact sports and was trying to target the National Football League’s headquarters but took the wrong elevator, officials said Tuesday.
NYC Shooter Killed Four People, Including NYPD Officer
One man remains in critical condition.
DOGE builds AI tool to cut 50 percent of federal regulations
An internal proposal suggests how the Trump administration is planning to slash federal regulations, but obstacles loom.
The FBI’s Leaders ‘Have No Idea What They’re Doing’
Michael Feinberg had not been planning to leave the FBI. But on May 31, he received a phone call from his boss asking him about a personal friendship with a former FBI agent who was known for criticizing President Donald Trump. Feinberg, an assistant special agent in charge at the FBI’s field office in Norfolk, Virginia, realized right away that he was in the crosshairs of the bureau’s leadership at an unusually chaotic time. If his 15-year career at the bureau was coming to an end, he wanted to depart with at least some dignity rather than being marched out the door. By the following afternoon, he had resigned.
US accepts ‘unconditional donation’ of Qatari jet, cost of retrofitting is classified: Sources
The Air Force plans to retrofit the plane for Trump’s use.
The Illegal Immigrant Who Became a Cop
On the menu today: It sounds unbelievable, but a small town in Maine hired a cop who was an illegal immigrant. According to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, however, that’s exactly what happened; the local police force blames the E-Verify system, which is run by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, part of the Department of Homeland Security. Meanwhile, you may be surprised how many DACA recipients are ending up getting jobs in America’s local police forces.
NYC mass shooter Shane Tamura found with note blaming NFL for giving him CTE — even though he never played pro football
The crazed gunman who killed an NYPD officer and three other people in a Midtown skyscraper on Monday evening was carrying a note in his pocket that expressed grievances with the NFL and claimed he suffered from CTE — a brain injury linked to head trauma, sources told The Post.
Cops find note in NYC shooter Shane Tamura’s Las Vegas apartment revealing he felt like a ‘disappointment’ to his parents
Investigators found a note left by Midtown mass shooter Shane Tamura at his Nevada apartment saying he felt like a “disappointment” to his parents — including his father, a retired cop, sources told The Post.
UCLA agrees to $6.13 million settlement to end ‘Jew Exclusion Zone’ lawsuit
‘The settlement is believed to be the largest private settlement in campus antisemitism cases,’ attorneys say
Baltimore’s register of wills office spent over $1M on media, unaired TV show, audit finds
Baltimore’s Office of the Register of Wills spent, but could not justify, more than $1 million on media and promotions, including almost $200,000 for a television series that never aired, according to a state audit.
Radioactive wasp nest found at site where US once made nuclear bombs
Workers at a site in South Carolina that once made key parts for nuclear bombs in the U.S. have found a radioactive wasp nest but officials said there is no danger to anyone.
Major ‘sex toy leak’ reveals shoppers who bought them and even ‘personal emails’ as company scrambles to fix bug
The app is also used to “find like-minded thrill seekers”, according to the company, and came under fire in 2017 for a “minor bug” that recorded users’ sex sessions
DOJ announces UCLA violated civil rights of Jewish students hours after University settles suit for $6.45M
The University of California has agreed to pay $6.45 million to settle a lawsuit stemming from alleged anti-Semitic incidents on campus. Hours later, the Department of Justice announced findings of civil rights violations by the university.
Major Corporations Reported Bigger Donations to Trump’s Inauguration Than His Committee Disclosed
General Motors, Amazon and Microsoft all disclosed donations far larger than what the committee previously reported to the FEC.
Trump goes after Susan Collins for her voting record
Collins, a target for Democrats in 2026, voted against key Trump legislative items.
Why ICE Is Spying on U.S. Citizens’ Medical Data
ICE’s misuse of medical claims data not only threatens undocumented migrants but also, by eroding trust in the public health system, endangers all Americans.
LA’s secret celebrity tunnel was just a rumor. Until workers found it.
A long-rumored tunnel between Chateau Marmont and the old Players Club building wasn’t just a yarn
Newsom Seeking November Special Election to Redistrict California
Remember, this is the guy who doesn’t think Illinois is gerrymandered at all.
Federal Appeals Court Rules Takings Clause Creates Cause of Action Even Without Additional Federal or State Legislation
Victims of uncompensated takings can sue directly under the Constitution. The case involved uncompensated seizure of horses.
Short Circuit: An inexhaustive weekly compendium of rulings from the federal courts of appeal
Miami vice, tactical dog bites, and the tantalizing takings clause.
Economy & Taxes
Reagan Prized Free Markets
He favored free trade and opposed protectionism.
‘Vegas is not fun anymore’: $9 cups of coffee and pricier rooms are steering travelers away from the vacation mecca
Las Vegas has become more expensive by many measures, though local officials point to a decline in international travel as the key reason for a recent tourism slump
The real reasons Las Vegas is losing visitors
Las Vegas is experiencing a notable downturn in tourism, with hotel occupancy, visitor numbers and spending all slipping.
Sen. Josh Hawley introduces bill to send tariff rebate checks to Americans
First to NBC News: Hawley pledged to sponsor legislation after President Donald Trump expressed interest in sending out rebate checks last week.
Republicans and the Teamsters, a Bad Relationship
Our interest was piqued when National Review’s Audrey Fahlberg posted a snapshot of the program inset for American Compass’s recent gala featuring Vice President J.D. Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. It has been widely documented that the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, a major funder of economic and non-economic left-wing movements on issues ranging from environmentalism to abortion, is the largest known funder of American Compass, a policy shop that dresses European socialist policies in “America First” drag to sell them to conservatives.
Rare Earths/Critical Minerals (and a Civil War)
One key element (so to speak) in U.S. efforts to end its reliance on China for the supply and processing of rare earths and other critical minerals will, surprise, surprise, be deregulation, whether with regard to the mining of new supplies or their processing. Scrabbling around in the back of the couch is also to be encouraged.
Tax-Cutting President Brags About Raising Taxes
Donald Trump’s legislative legacy will be as a tax-cutter. He signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in 2017 and signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act this year that made most of the TCJA’s provisions permanent.
US Copper Prices Plunge as Trump Tariffs Exclude Refined Metal
US copper prices collapsed by more than 19% in minutes after US President Donald Trump excluded the most widely imported form of copper from his planned import tariffs.
Indian state refiners pause Russian oil purchases, sources say
Indian state refiners have stopped buying Russian oil in the past week as discounts narrowed this month and U.S. President Donald Trump warned against purchasing oil from Moscow, industry sources said.
Tariffs: The Magic of Central Planning
Central planners, such as those trying to design an industrial policy, are not known for their ability to think everything through. That’s not always their fault. Life is complicated, business is complicated. What is their fault is their belief, let’s call it their fatal conceit, that they can think everything through.
‘Bidenomics’ at 3: Invisible Waste Becomes (More) Visible
U.S. ‘ghost factories’ are a worrying sign of our industrial policy future.
U.S. added just 73,000 jobs in July and numbers for prior months were revised much lower
Nonfarm payrolls growth totaled 73,000 for July, above the June total of 14,000 but below even the meager Dow Jones estimate for a gain of 100,000. June and May totals were revised sharply lower, down by a combined 258,000 from previously announced levels. The weak report, including the dramatic revisions, could provide incentive for the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates when it next meets in September. Health care and social assistance combined for some 94% of the job growth.
Stunning revisions show US added 258K fewer jobs than first reported
The U.S. added 258,000 fewer jobs in May and June than the Labor Department first reported, according to federal data released Friday.
Dow tumbles more than 600 points as weak jobs data, new tariffs spark sell-off: Live updates
Stocks were under pressure on Friday to kick off August trading as investors weighed stark signs of a weakening economy and President Donald Trump’s modified tariff rates.
US Manufacturing Contracts at Fastest Pace in Nine Months
ISM factory gauge decreased to 48 in July from 49. Employment index showed biggest contraction since 2020.
Tariffs: Ford Takes a Hit
Not only that, U.S.-based carmakers must pay 50 percent tariffs on imported aluminum and steel. This will have consequences for such companies and for the Americans who would like to buy the cars those companies make.
Beware the Tariff Police State
One underdiscussed part of President Trump’s tariff executive order from Thursday is that it creates a new effort to punish what the order calls “transshipment” to avoid the tariffs.
Trump Says He’ll Fire Labor Statistics Head After Weak Jobs Data
President Donald Trump said he was directing officials to fire Erika McEntarfer, the commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, hours after a report showed US job growth cooled sharply over the last three months.
US manufacturing extends slump; factory employment lowest in 5 years
U.S. manufacturing contracted for a fifth straight month in July and factory employment dropped to the lowest level in five years amid tariffs that have raised prices of imported raw materials.
Lutnick Disbanded Statistical Task Force Working to Improve Survey Response Rates
Trump is mad about inaccurate jobs reports. One of the top reasons the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ jobs reports have been more error-prone in recent years is that the response rate to one of its most important surveys fell off a cliff during Covid and has not recovered. The Federal Economic Statistics Advisory Committee (FESAC) was a team of unpaid statistical experts that was working to solve the issue of low response rates, among other things. FESAC was disbanded in February by Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick.
Union dispute at Hammond poultry facility leads worker to challenge 86-year-old NLRB policy
A worker at a Hammond poultry plant is challenging a nearly 100-year-old federal labor policy that blocked him and his coworkers from petitioning to leave their union.
Today’s Federal Circuit Oral Argument in Our Tariff Case
Outcomes are hard to predict. But the judges seemed skeptical of the administration’s claim that the president has virtually unlimited power to impose tariffs.
International
‘Hell on Earth’: Venezuelans deported to El Salvador mega-prison tell of brutal abuse
Carlos Daniel Terán, 19, still remembers the words a prison warden told him when he entered El Salvador’s mega-prison, CECOT.
Fans of heavy metal could face jail in Russia as Putin bans ‘satanists’
Fans of hardcore and goth music at risk of prosecution after the Kremlin designated the ‘international satanism movement’ as an extremist group
Age Verification Laws Send VPN Use Soaring—and Threaten the Open Internet
A law requiring UK internet users to verify their age to access adult content has led to a huge surge in VPN downloads—and has experts worried about the future of free expression online.
BBCTube
There is only one country in the world — the U.S. — that has a definition of free speech as strong as that based on the First Amendment.
UK Government blatantly disregards Online Safety Act petition
The UK Government has chosen to blatantly disregard an effort by constituents to have the draconian Online Safety Act repealed.
EU Age Verification App to Ban Android Apps Not Licensed by Google
The EU is reportedly planning to add an Android app integrity check into its age verification app. This would mandate the user to only use the apps licensed and installed from the Google Play. It uses Google’s Play Integrity service to identify and verify the app’s authenticity.
Migrant traffic through the Darién Gap falls to near zero
New data show that the number of migrants attempting to cross the dangerous Darién Gap from Colombia into Panama has dropped to almost zero.
Image by WikiImages from Pixabay
Engineers Invent “Cosmic Veil” That Could Revolutionize Energy Generation in Space
Opinion
Ed Feulner, Movement Man
The emergence of postwar movement conservatism owed much to a small group of people. Few contributed more than Ed Feulner.
Star Trek’s Forgotten Encounter with NR
The man who boldly went where no scriptwriter had gone before.
In Praise of Summer Bridge Programs
In North Carolina and elsewhere, formalized “early starts” are a worthwhile post-DEI solution.
Kamala Harris’s Ambition Haunts California Democrats
There’s still time for former Vice President Kamala Harris to beg off a run to succeed Gavin Newsom in California’s governor’s mansion. As such, it’s hard to assess the degree to which Harris skeptics in the Golden State are genuinely terrified by her flirtations with a gubernatorial bid or whether they’re exaggerating their trepidation to convince her to recalibrate her ambitions. Either way, California Democrats are rubbing their temples today.
Would Maine Democratic Governor Janet Mills Really Be a Strong Senate Candidate?
Today’s Morning Jolt focuses on another dramatic development in Maine, but elsewhere in the state, this morning’s Bangor Daily News reports, “By not making an explicit decision on running for the U.S. Senate, Gov. Janet Mills is causing several Democrats to hold off on deciding whether or not to challenge U.S. Sen. Susan Collins in 2026.”
Lucky for Democrats, they picked the least-worst time to be unpopular
Despite dismal polling, Democrats have some encouraging signs. But they need to get in shape, fast.
Scruton on the Importance of Blackstone
English Justice Sir William Blackstone’s writings are the most cited among our Founders’ writings, after the Bible. Roger Scruton wrote about Blackstone’s importance to our intellectual tradition in his book Conservatism: An Invitation to the Great Tradition.
Trump’s Reckless Move to Fire BLS Commissioner Will Backfire
This morning, the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced weaker-than-expected July jobs numbers, finding a gain of 73,000 jobs vs. expectations of 100,000. The report also downwardly revised prior months’ numbers. When I looked at the report, I thought the mild miss made it hard to draw too many conclusions, so I didn’t think it was worth getting overly excited about. President Trump clearly disagreed.
A Rough Day in Court for Tariffs
An appeals court seems skeptical of Trump’s use of an emergency law.
Trump should heed, not hide, the jobs numbers
Firing the Bureau of Labor Statistics commissioner won’t improve the U.S. economy.
