Important Takeaways:
- Yesterday, Oregon Governor Tina Kotek declared “Abortion Provider Appreciation Day,” aiming to recognize and honor the work of abortionists in the state. But pro-life Americans are aghast at a day set aside to celebrate killing babies.
- “Here in Oregon, we understand that abortion is health care, and providers are appreciated and can continue to provide care without interference and intimidation,” Governor Kotek said.
- From a pro-life perspective, this declaration is deeply concerning. Abortion ends an innocent human life, and thus, celebrating those who do abortions contradicts the fundamental value of protecting life at all stages
- Last year, Kotek announced she is expanding the state’s supply of the dangerous abortion pill mifepristone in response to Donald Trump’s November 5 reelection.
- Abortions obviously kill babies but they also hurt women.
- A 2009 study from Finland found that chemical abortions were associated with an adverse reaction rate four times that of surgical abortions, including an increased risk of hemorrhage and incomplete abortion. And per the FDA, roughly 85% of women who take the abortion pill regimen report at least one adverse reaction. In 2022, two Georgia women died after taking the abortion pill when they suffered incomplete abortions (a known risk) and contracted sepsis.
- “Kotek’s rhetoric and actions obscure the fact that mifepristone is dangerous for women and deadly for the unborn,” Anderson said. “The Oregon government should be informing women about these risks instead of stockpiling the drugs and ginning up anxiety.”
- “For our part, Oregon Right to Life will continue to raise awareness about the reality of chemical abortion and ensure that pregnant women are connected with real, life-affirming resources, including Abortion Pill Reversal treatment for women who regret taking mifepristone and want to save the precious life they carry,” Anderson added.
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Important Takeaways:
- America’s seventh biggest bank will shut 38 branches as it continues to roil from massive penalties related to failures in its anti-money laundering controls.
- TD Bank has filed notice with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to close locations across 10 states on June 5.
- Closures will include six each in New Jersey and Massachusetts, five in New York, four in New Hampshire and Maine, and three in Pennsylvania and Florida, according to The Philadelphia Business Journal.
- Of the bank’s roughly 1,100 branches across the US, it also plans to shutter two locations each in Connecticut, Virginia and South Carolina, and one in Washington D.C.
- It comes as banks are shutting branches across the US, leaving communities without access to vital services. Experts are warning that 2025 could be the worst year yet for closures.
- The bank has been in cost-cutting mode since an investigation into its anti-money laundering compliance efforts ended in October with a $3.2 billion fine.
- The investigation revealed that failures in its compliance efforts allowed criminals to launder millions in proceeds from fentanyl and narcotics trafficking.
- It also found that drug traffickers were able to bribe TD employees in some US branches, Reuters reported.
- TD became the largest bank in US history to plead guilty to violating a federal law aimed at preventing money laundering.
- It comes as major US banks shut more than 100 locations in just three weeks earlier this year.
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Important Takeaways:
- The Polish president said there’s a need for NATO’s deterrence to shift eastward to Poland following the end of the Cold War
- Polish President Andrzej Duda has asked the US to deploy nuclear weapons to Poland to deter a potential Russian invasion.
- Duda argued that NATO’s deterrence should shift eastward from Germany to Poland following the end of the Cold War, adding that he has discussed the option with Washington’s Ukraine-Russia envoy Keith Kellogg. However, Duda did not divulge the details of the conversation.
- “The borders of NATO moved east in 1999, so 26 years later there should also be a shift of the NATO infrastructure east. For me this is obvious,” Duda told the Financial Times (FT).
- “I think it’s not only that the time has come, but that it would be safer if those weapons were already here,” he added.
- Duda made a similar remark in the summer of 2024, saying at the time that Poland was ready to host nuclear arms if NATO decides to deploy the weapons in the face of Russia reinforcing its armaments in Belarus and Kaliningrad.
- Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk also made similar comments in recent days, saying Warsaw has been “talking seriously” with France to deploy its nuclear arsenal in Poland after French President Emmanuel Macron talked of a potential nuclear umbrella for Europe.
- Duda also referenced Russia’s deployment of tactical nuclear weapons in neighboring Belarus in his comments to the FT. Poland shares a border with Russia’s Kaliningrad enclave and Moscow ally Belarus.
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Important Takeaways:
- Scientists in Beijing have created ‘the world’s most powerful spy camera’ which can pick out facial details from distances exceeding 63 miles (100km).
- It means the spy camera could potentially be in space aboard a floating satellite while clearly seeing faces of people on Earth’s surface.
- It could also take high-resolution images of foreign military satellites operated by other nations that are also orbiting Earth, the South China Morning Post reported.
- The technology, detailed by the scientists in a new paper, could be launched aboard a satellite in the near future.
- Robert Morton, author and member of the Association of Former Intelligence Officers (AFIO), called it a ‘massive security concern’.
- ‘Millimeter resolution from 60+ miles up? That’s next-level surveillance,’ he said in a post on X (Twitter).
- The spy camera has been newly developed by China’s Academy of Sciences’ Aerospace Information Research Institute in Beijing.
- It uses a system called synthetic aperture lidar (SAL), a remote sensing technology that sends out a pulse of light energy and then records the amount of that energy reflected back.
- Capable of operating day and night, SAL creates 2D and 3D reconstructions of surfaces of the Earth in various weather conditions.
- Because it relies on optical waves, it’s capable of creating imagery with much finer resolution and better detail – described as a ‘quantum leap’.
- The experts conducted a successful test across Qinghai Lake in China’s northwest, with the SAL device on one side and the target 63.2 miles (101.8km) away.
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Important Takeaways:
- More than 100 million people are in the path of a gigantic and dangerous storm system set to barrel through the US this weekend.
- Meteorologists warn that this ‘mega storm’ will likely bring tornadoes, flash floods, blizzards, and even fires starting Friday and rampaging through Sunday.
- The storms are expected to stretch as far south as Alabama, Texas, and Louisiana, and as far west as Nebraska, Kansas, and Oklahoma, before driving through the center of the country towards Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin.
- However, the states in the middle of this massive zone, including, Arkansas, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, and Tennessee, will need to brace for the worst parts of this destructive storm.
- According to AccuWeather, these areas will see an extreme risk of severe thunderstorms heading into Friday night. There is also a high chance for golf ball-sized hail which could damage homes and cars.
- The threat of potentially deadly tornadoes is centered in Arkansas and Missouri, but small parts of Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Mississippi are in this danger zone as well.
- Wind gusts could reach up to 80 mph, spreading the risk of fires across five states and into Mexico.
- DePodwin is calling this weekend storm the ‘biggest severe weather outbreak’ of 2025 so far.
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Important Takeaways:
- A delegation of United States diplomats arrived in Moscow on Thursday morning for talks on agreeing a ceasefire in the Ukraine War, with a possible call between President Donald Trump and President Vladimir Putin to follow.
- America’s Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff flew into Moscow’s Vnukovo airport on Thursday morning, having travelled from Doha, Qatar by way of European airspace…
- To this point Russia has been relatively circumspect on the ceasefire, saying only after it was agreed in principle by the U.S. and Ukraine that they would wait for further details from Washington to study before commenting further. The two nations had agreed to work towards peace at talks in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, a decision that saw the Trump administration resume military and intelligence support to the Kyiv government.
- Who will be representing the Russian side in negotiations today has not been stated by the Kremlin but it has been briefed Witkoff and the American delegation may speak to Russian President Vladimir Putin. It is also suggested, but not confirmed, that a telephone call between President Trump and President Putin may take place later today.
- Meanwhile, Russia states it continues to retake its own territory in the Kursk Oblast from Ukraine’s counter invasion, a bid to grasp a bargaining chip which appears to be falling apart at the very moment it is most needed. Western intelligence community-adjacent media has stated Ukrainian troops have withdrawn in large numbers to escape being totally encircled and massacred, and Russian state media asserts most of what Ukraine once held has now been recaptured.
- On Wednesday, the U.S. said on peace the ball is now in Russia’s court, and the White House urged Moscow to sign.
- Trump’s Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said: “This is the closest we have been to peace in this war”. President Trump has warned there would be consequences for Russia if they refuse to go along with his plan, having stated: “That would be very bad for Russia… I don’t want to do that because I want to get peace”.
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Important Takeaways:
- During overflights on March 7 and 11, AVO measured significantly elevated volcanic gas emissions from Mount Spurr volcano. Newly reactivated fumaroles (gas vents) were also seen at the volcano’s Crater Peak vent. Elevated earthquake activity and ground deformation continue.
- The increase in gas emissions confirms that new magma has intruded into the Earth’s crust beneath the volcano and indicates that an eruption is likely, but not certain, to occur within the next few weeks or months.
- The most likely outcome of the current unrest is an explosive eruption (or eruptions) like those that occurred in 1953 and 1992. Those eruptions each lasted a few hours and produced ash clouds that were carried downwind for hundreds of miles and minor ashfall (up to about ¼ inch) on southcentral Alaska communities.
- We expect to see further increases in seismic activity, gas emissions, and surface heating prior to an eruption, if one were to occur. Such stronger unrest may provide days to weeks of additional warning.
- We cannot assign an exact timeframe for when an eruption will occur, if it does, but the increased gas emissions recorded on March 7 suggest that an eruption may occur in the next few weeks to months. We expect to see additional changes to monitoring data prior to an eruption, if one were to occur, as magma moves closer to the surface. This would include a change in the rate and character of earthquakes, onset of sustained seismic tremor, further increased gas emissions, changes in surface deformation, and melting of snow and ice. In 1992, such changes occurred about three weeks prior to the first eruption.
- Should earthquake activity or other monitoring data suggest that an eruption is likely within hours or days, AVO would raise Mount Spurr from its current Aviation Color Code Yellow and Alert Level Advisory to Aviation Color Code Orange or Red and Alert Level Watch or Warning. Alert level definitions can be found here: Alaska Volcano Observatory | Volcano Alert Levels.
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Important Takeaways:
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin has rolled out 31 groundbreaking actions to dismantle the suffocating web of radical environmental rules strangling America’s economy.
- These bold reforms advance President Trump’s Day One executive orders, promising to unleash American energy dominance, drastically lower living costs for American families, supercharge economic growth, and restore constitutional governance by empowering state authorities.
- “Today, I’m pleased to make the largest deregulatory announcement in U.S. history,” declared Administrator Zeldin in a fiery video statement.
- “The Environmental Protection Agency is initiating 31 historic actions to fulfill President Trump’s promise to unleash American energy, revitalize our auto industry, restore the rule of law, and give power back to the states.”
- Among the regulations being reconsidered are the following:
- UNLEASHING AMERICAN ENERGY
- Reconsideration of regulations on power plants (Clean Power Plan 2.0)
- Reconsideration of regulations throttling the oil and gas industry (OOOO b/c)
- Reconsideration of Mercury and Air Toxics Standards that improperly targeted coal-fired power plants (MATS)
- Reconsideration of mandatory Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program that imposed significant costs on the American energy supply (GHG Reporting Program)
- Reconsideration of limitations, guidelines and standards (ELG) for the Steam Electric Power Generating Industry to ensure low-cost electricity while protecting water resources (Steam Electric ELG)
- Reconsideration of wastewater regulations for coal power plants to help unleash American energy (Oil and Gas ELG)
- Reconsideration of Biden-Harris Administration Risk Management Program rule that made America’s oil and natural gas refineries and chemical facilities less safe (Risk Management Program Rule)
- LOWERING THE COST OF LIVING FOR AMERICAN FAMILIES
- Reconsideration of light-duty, medium-duty, and heavy-duty vehicle regulations that provided the foundation for the Biden-Harris electric vehicle mandate (Car GHG Rules)
- Reconsideration of the 2009 Endangerment Finding and regulations and actions that rely on that Finding (Endangerment Finding)
- Reconsideration of technology transition rule that forces companies to use certain technologies that increased costs on food at grocery stores and semiconductor manufacturing (Technology Transition Rule)
- Reconsideration of Particulate Matter National Ambient Air Quality Standards that shut down opportunities for American manufacturing and small businesses (PM 2.5 NAAQS)
- Reconsideration of multiple National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants for American energy and manufacturing sectors (NESHAPs)
- Restructuring the Regional Haze Program that threatened the supply of affordable energy for American families (Regional Haze)
- Overhauling Biden-Harris Administration’s “Social Cost of Carbon”
- Redirecting enforcement resources to EPA’s core mission to relieve the economy of unnecessary bureaucratic burdens that drive up costs for American consumers (Enforcement Discretion)
- Terminating Biden’s Environmental Justice and DEI arms of the agency (EJ/DEI)
- ADVANCING COOPERATIVE FEDERALISM
- Ending so-called “Good Neighbor Plan” which the Biden-Harris Administration used to expand federal rules to more states and sectors beyond the program’s traditional focus and led to the rejection of nearly all State Implementation Plans
- Working with states and tribes to resolve massive backlog with State Implementation Plans and Tribal Implementation Plans that the Biden-Harris Administration refused to resolve (SIPs/TIPs)
- Reconsideration of exceptional events rulemaking to work with states to prioritize the allowance of prescribed fires within State and Tribal Implementation Plans (Exceptional Events)
- Reconstituting Science Advisory Board and Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (SAB/CASAC)
- Prioritizing coal ash program to expedite state permit reviews and update coal ash regulations (CCR Rule)
- Utilizing enforcement discretion to further North Carolina’s recovery from Hurricane Helene
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Important Takeaways:
- A senior official at USAID instructed a number of the agency’s remaining staff to convene at the agency’s now-former headquarters in Washington on Tuesday for an “all day” group effort to destroy documents stored there, many of which contain sensitive information.
- The materials earmarked for destruction include contents of the agency’s “classified safes and personnel documents” at the Ronald Reagan Building, said an email sent by USAID’s acting executive director, Erica Carr, and obtained by POLITICO.
- “Shred as many documents first, and reserve the burn bags for when the shredder becomes unavailable or needs a break,” the email said. Carr instructed staff to label the burn bags with the words “SECRET” and “USAID/B/IO/” (agency shorthand for “bureau or independent office”) in dark Sharpie.
- The email didn’t provide any reason for the document destruction. The building is being emptied out after mass layoffs, which may have disrupted routine document destruction timetables. Customs and Border Protection is planning to move into the USAID facility, having rented 390,000 square feet of office space in the building last month.
- Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced this week that more than 80 percent of USAID’s programs have been canceled, and the remaining ones will be administered by the State Department.
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Important Takeaways:
- Kennedy has pledged to tackle chronic illnesses by overhauling the U.S. diet and food dye elimination is part of his plan for reform.
- He has encouraged fast-food chains to switch to beef tallow instead of seed oils for French fries, and pushed for bans on additives like food colors, as Breitbart News reported.
- At a closed-door Washington gathering, which included the CEOs of Kellogg’s, Smucker’s and General Mills, Kennedy said it is a top priority of the Trump administration to rid America’s food of the artificial dyes, wrote Melissa Hockstad, president and CEO of the Consumer Brands Association, a trade group, who penned a memo seen by ABC News.
- According to the YouGov poll almost eight in 10 American adults said they support requiring nutrition education in federally funded medical schools, while 74 percent support banning certain additives, including dyes, from the nation’s food supply.
- Banning food additives has widespread support across the political spectrum, the poll found, with 74 percent of Democrats and 81 percent of Republicans supporting such a plan.
- Likewise, 66 percent of Americans — including 71 percent of Democrats and 66 percent of Republicans — want the federal government to increase restrictions on the use of pesticides in agricultural products.
- In August last year, while endorsing Trump for president, Kennedy laid out a vision for the government’s regulating bodies where none are controlled “by giant for-profit corporations” that have allowed the U.S. food supply, medicines, and environment to be compromised by toxic chemicals and additives, leading to a rising chronic illness epidemic.
- “Two-thirds of American adults and children suffer from chronic health issues,” Kennedy said.
- “Fifty years ago, that number was less than one percent. We’ve gone from one percent to 66 percent.”
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