Source: Town Hall
by Sally C Pipes
“President Joe Biden recently unveiled his $7.3 trillion budget proposal for next fiscal year. He has pitched his plan as one that would ‘preserve Medicare benefits and the Medicare trust fund’. It’s a nice soundbite. But it’s not the whole story. The president’s budget would raise taxes without solving Medicare’s financial woes. … For years, Medicare’s Board of Trustees has warned of the imminent bankruptcy of the entitlement’s Part A hospital insurance trust fund. According to the latest projection, the fund will run out of money by 2031. That’s in part because the entitlement is growing. Roughly 26 million Baby Boomers will turn 65 and become eligible for Medicare through 2030. As a result, Medicare spending is expected to more than double in the next decade. Last year, Medicare spending was roughly $1 trillion. That number will reach about $2.1 trillion by 2034, according to a new projection by the Congressional Budget Office.” (04/22/24)
https://townhall.com/columnists/sallycpipes/2024/04/22/medicare-is-in-serious-need-of-reform-bidens-budget-plan-wont-cut-it-n2638075
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“A UN report into the Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA has concluded it must do more to improve its neutrality, staff vetting and transparency. But the independent review also said that Israel had failed to back up a claim that many of the agency’s staff belonged to terror groups. Some of UNRWA’s staff were accused by Israel of involvement in the 7 October attacks and of being Hamas members. This led several countries to halt funding to the humanitarian agency. The new report says Israel has not yet provided ‘supporting evidence’ for its allegations. However it adds that the agency’s monitoring processes need to improve, and that neutrality-related issues persist despite the fact that the organisation has a ‘robust framework.’ The Israeli authorities have rejected the findings, claiming the report ignores the severity of the problem.” (04/22/24)
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-68875863
Source: Reason
by JD Tuccille
“If you’re looking for further evidence that the world is recovering from the disruptions of pandemic policy, the Simon Abundance Index provides just that. After a brief retreat, the index once again portrays a world of cheaper commodities that contribute to human prosperity. Born from a famous 1980 bet between economist Julian Simon and doomsayer Paul Ehrlich, the index stands as testimony for Simon’s belief that the greatest resource is human ingenuity — although government intervention is perfectly capable of screwing up a good thing.” (04/22/24)
https://reason.com/2024/04/22/julian-simon-was-right-ingenuity-leads-to-abundance/
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“A mass grave created by the IDF has been uncovered at a Gaza hospital, where Palestinian civilians appear to have been the victims of a gruesome massacre. ‘Bah, that’s old news, Caitlin,’ you may be saying. ‘We already know about the massacre and mass graves which were discovered a few weeks ago at the al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza.’ No no, that’s a different mass grave from a different IDF massacre at a completely different Gaza hospital. The now completely destroyed al-Shifa Hospital was in Gaza City; I’m talking about the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis, where some 210 bodies have reportedly been discovered in a mass grave after Israeli forces withdrew from the city earlier this month. Two different massacres, two different hospitals, two different mass graves full of Palestinian civilians.” (04/23/24)
https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2024/04/23/israel-is-turning-hospitals-into-mass-graves-while-the-west-fixates-on-antisemitism/
Source: Seattle Times
“Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee conceded defeat Monday in his push to enact universal school vouchers this year, acknowledging there was ‘not a pathway for the bill’ after months of Republican infighting. … Lee first unveiled his plans last fall to allow families to access public money for private schooling, regardless of income. At the time, he was surrounded by national school choice advocates, the state’s top Republican legislative leaders and even Arkansas GOP Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who had signed into law a voucher proposal just that year and used the event to tout that a conservative education revolution was happening around the country. Yet despite the initial support, Lee’s vision was always considered ambitious in a state where rural GOP lawmakers have remained skeptical of losing limited public school money in their own districts.” (04/22/24)
https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/nation/tennessee-gov-lee-admits-defeat-in-school-voucher-push/
Source: The Volokh Conspiracy
“‘World on the Brink’ — Interviewing Dmitri Alperovitch.” (04/22/24)
https://reason.com/volokh/2024/04/22/world-on-the-brink-interviewing-dmitri-alperovitch/
Source: Big Head Press
by Scott Bieser
Cartoon. (04/22/24)
https://www.quantumvibe.com/strip?page=2476
Source: Associated Press
“The medical records of women will be shielded from criminal investigations if they cross state lines to seek an abortion where it is legal, under a new rule that the Biden administration finalized Monday. The regulation, which is intended to protect women who live in states where abortion is illegal from prosecution, is almost certain to face legal challenges from anti-abortion advocates and criticism from abortion-rights advocates that it does not go far enough. ‘No one should have their medical records used against them, their doctor or their loved one just because they sought or received lawful reproductive health care,’ Jennifer Klein, the director of the White House Gender Policy Council, told reporters on Monday. The new regulation is an update to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, which prohibits medical providers and health insurers from divulging medical information about patients.” (04/22/24)
https://apnews.com/article/abortion-medical-records-privacy-hipaa-biden-07d3419f3d44050af71de3b3536e3938
Source: The American Conservative
by Peter Van Buren
“Fourteen retired four-star generals, admirals, and other military leaders (including the former NSA head Michael Hayden, who certainly knows a thing or two about illegal orders) filed an amici brief with the Supreme Court, arguing against former President Trump’s claims of immunity in his criminal cases, particularly those dealing with J6. … They argue Trump should not be granted immunity by the Court for three reasons: The claimed immunity would undermine the national commitment to civilian control of the military; Trump’s immunity would undermine the military’s adherence to the rule of law, its orderly functioning, and public trust; and Trump’s claimed immunity, by implicating the peaceful transition of power in particular, threatens national security.” (04/22/24)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/the-generals-trump-brief-actually-makes-a-compelling-case/
Source: US News & World Report
“Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan began a rare visit to Iraq on Monday aiming to reset ties between the Middle East neighbours by inking a raft of deals covering security cooperation against Kurdish PKK militants, energy and trade. His long-awaited visit is the first by a Turkish leader since 2011 and follows years of rocky relations as Ankara ramped up cross-border operations against PKK militants based in mainly Kurdish, mountainous northern Iraq. Iraq has said such operations violate its sovereignty and have killed civilians, but Turkey says it must protect itself against the PKK, which it, the U.S. and others have designated as a terrorist group.” (04/22/24)
https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2024-04-22/turkeys-erdogan-in-iraq-to-push-for-reset-of-ties-cooperation-against-pkk
