Source: Common Dreams
“As the United Nations Security Council prepares to vote Thursday on Palestine’s bid to become a full U.N. member, the Biden administration (which claims to support Palestinian statehood) is lobbying UNSC nations in an effort to wrangle enough ‘no’ votes so that the United States can avoid resorting to a veto. Leaked cables obtained by The Intercept show U.S. pressure on Security Council members including Malta (which currently presides over the body) and Ecuador. While claiming that President Joe Biden backs ‘Palestinian aspirations for statehood,’ one of the cables asserts that ‘it remains the U.S. view that the most expeditious path toward a political horizon for the Palestinian people is in the context of a normalization agreement between Israel and its neighbors.'” (04/17/24)
https://www.commondreams.org/news/palestinian-statehood
Source: France 24 [French state media]
“Burkina Faso has expelled three French diplomats for ‘subversive activities,’ according to a foreign ministry note seen by FRANCE 24 on Thursday. The three were declared ‘persona non grata’ and told to leave the country within 48 hours, the foreign ministry said in a note dated Tuesday that was sent to the French embassy. Since coming to power in a September 2022 coup, the junta has distanced the West African nation from France, which ruled the country until 1960. It has notably cancelled a 1961 military accord between the two countries. The French ambassador was recalled after the coup and is yet to return to Ouagadougou, the Burkinabe capital.” (04/18/24)
https://www.france24.com/en/africa/20240418-burkina-faso-expels-three-french-diplomats-accused-of-subversive-activities
Source: Crooked Media
“Black voters’ views on Biden.” (04/17/24)
https://stitcher.simplecastaudio.com/9aa1e238-cbed-4305-9808-c9228fc6dd4f/episodes/b0c9a72a-1cb7-4ac9-80a0-36996fc6470f/audio/128/default.mp3
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Ian Miller
“As the Covid vaccines failed spectacularly to stop the spread of infections and did nothing to lessen all-cause mortality or even decrease population level Covid-associated deaths in highly vaccinated countries, Pfizer saw another opportunity. Sure, their signature product failed to perform as expected. So why not create another one as an antidote? Enter Paxlovid. Paxlovid, an antiviral drug, was supposed to help individuals with symptomatic Covid, who’d already been infected, recover more quickly and lessen the risk of severe illness. Sounds great right? … A newly released study on Paxlovid on randomized adults with symptomatic Covid; one subset was given Paxlovid (nirmatrelvir-ritonavir) or a placebo every 12 hours for five days, with the intent of determining how effective it was at ‘sustained alleviation’ of Covid-19 symptoms. Spoiler alert: it wasn’t effective at all.” (04/17/24)
https://brownstone.org/articles/pfizer-lied-to-us-again/
Source: Eunomia
by Daniel Larison
“The president published another strange op-ed tying the wars in Ukraine and Gaza together. His immediate goal was to urge Congress to pass a bill funding more military aid for Ukraine and Israel, but to do that he insists on linking the two wars together as if they are comparable and equally worthy of support. This is the same line he has been pushing for months ever since he decided to try to use Congressional support for Israel to get more funding for Ukraine last year. It was a strained and unpersuasive argument six months ago, and now it is just insulting.” (04/18/24)
https://daniellarison.substack.com/p/bidens-moment-of-truth
Source: CNN
“A Los Angeles Police Department officer will not face criminal charges in the 2021 fatal shooting of a 14-year-old girl killed inside a department store when police fired at a man suspected of attacking a woman, California prosecutors said Wednesday. Valentina Orellana-Peralta and her mother were holding one another and praying in the dressing room of the Burlington Coat Factory in North Hollywood, California, after a man began attacking customers in the store on December 23, 2021, police previously said. When police arrived and confronted the suspect with gunfire, an officer’s bullet pierced through the wall and fatally struck Valentina, who was pronounced dead on scene. Police also fatally shot 24-year-old suspect Daniel Elena-Lopez.” (04/18/24)
https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/18/us/valentina-orellana-peralta-teen-killed-no-charges/index.html
Source: The Tom Woods Show
“David Hogg Meets Buzzsaw in Gun Debate.” (04/17/24)
https://tomwoods.com/ep-2479-david-hogg-meets-buzzsaw-in-gun-debate/
Source: Beat The Press
by Dean Baker
“I am not ordinarily a celebrant for the state of the economy, but the media have been so over the top in pushing the economic doom story during the Biden presidency, that I feel the need to put some reality into the picture. One of the central lines among the doomsayers is that we are spending a larger share of income on housing and that for many it has become altogether unaffordable. I will agree that housing is a serious problem. … but a big part of that story is that we are spending a much smaller share on other things. … In 1947 we spent 23.0 percent of our income on store-bought food. This had fallen to just 7.1 percent last year. The share of income going to buy clothes fell from 10.3 percent to 2.6 percent. The share for buying household furnishings dropped from 5.5 percent to 2.5 percent.” (04/17/24)
https://cepr.net/in-the-good-old-days-one-fourth-of-income-went-to-food/
Source: Libertarian Institute
by Ted Snider
“Iran’s chosen response to the fatal strike on its embassy seems not to have been about retaliation nor escalation. If it had been, they would have fired more missiles than drones, and they would not have announced the drones as soon as they were launched nor declared the operation ‘concluded’ before they arrived. They would not have shared in advance the details and timing of the operation with Saudi Arabia, other Gulf countries, and Turkey, a member of NATO, who then, predictably, shared it with the United States. The chosen response was about re-establishing deterrence.” (04/17/24)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/this-weekend-iran-changed-everything
Source: Fox News
“More than a dozen House Democrats voted against a resolution condemning Iran’s airstrikes on Israel Thursday. The resolution, which also affirms U.S. support for Israel responding to the attack however it deems necessary, overwhelmingly passed 404 to 14. Just one House Republican, Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., voted against the bill. Fox News Digital reached out to Massie for comment. Massie was joined by 13 Democrats, including ‘Squad’ member Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.; Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich.; Cori Bush, D-Mo.; Ilhan Omar, D-Minn.; Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y.; and Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass. Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., was also among those opposing the bill. House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., the No. 3 House GOP leader, tore into the Democrats who voted against condemning Iran in a statement to Fox News Digital after the vote.” (04/18/24)
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/13-dems-vote-against-resolution-condemning-iran-after-israel-strike
