Trump and his team doesn’t realize it, but history will look back at summits like this one and realize just how high the stakes really were, and how slight the possibility of real success there is for America, in the long term. I’m reminded of other high stakes summits in history. Like the disastrous meeting between FDR and Stalin in Yalta, during WWII. Roosevelt bent over backward to please “uncle Joe,” and turned over all of Eastern Europe to the future control of Soviet Communism. FDR and now Trump fail to realize that Communism is a deadly existential enemy, and their leaders are feigning moderation and will tell you everything you want to hear, as long as they get their way. Trump traveled to Beijing with an entourage of the rich and famous in order to lavish China with future trade deals and hopes to gain China’s help in bringing Iran to heel. Advanced trade with China will be easy, but Xi has his own much bigger ambitions and hopes to mimic Putin’s success in winning Trump over to his side. He also wants to stop Trump from giving advanced weapons to the country they will invade—in this case, Taiwan. But Xi also wants to restore his Iranian oil supply. China’s current president-for-life was the first global tyrant to discover how susceptible Trump was to flattery in Xi’s visit to Mar-a-Lago during Trump’s first term. He promptly tutored Kim Jong Un on how to fool Trump and Kim played as if Trump won him over as a “friend.” By the time Trump visited North Korea, Kim knew he could keep his nuclear program, and has grown it rapidly since. In this latest iteration of Communists fooling a US president, Xi is pulling out all the stops and giving Trump a red carpet welcome no other head of state has seen before. It’s working; Trump came away believing, like Neville Chamberlain before, that he has secured “Peace in our Time” with Red China. To receive a free, one-time sample of this brief, along with options on how to subscribe, click on Request a sample on the left.
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What Happened to Trump’s Proposal to Iran Last Week?
The FDA fired Tracy Beth Høeg, the agency’s top drug regulator and a staunch advocate for vaccine safety. It’s the latest in a string of high-profile exits from the agency, many of which followed the appointment of Chris Klomp as HHS’ No. 2 official, Reuters reported. TrialSite News suggested the departures were “associated” with the “COVID-era dissent class” — and that Klomp may have directed the changes on behalf of the White House. The Defender could not verify that claim.
Virginia currently has an independent redistricting committee that drew a congressional map with a Democrat advantage of 6-5. However, voters in April approved a change to the state constitution to allow the partisan redistricting in a narrow referendum last month. The state’s high court determined the state legislature violated the Virginia Constitution in bypassing normal procedures to pass a constitutional amendment.
The Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal from over 1,000 LAUSD employees fired for refusing a COVID-19 vaccine mandate, despite CDC admitting the shots do not prevent transmission.
The ruling relied on the outdated 1905 Jacobson precedent, which dissenters warned grants unchecked government power under the guise of public health.
A controversial test of parenting competency that put many Greenlanders’ kids in foster care was dropped in 2025. But parents and kids remain separated.
The secretary of state said on X that he terminated Adys Morera’s permanent resident status. She will remain in ICE custody pending removal proceedings.
Iran's parliament speaker and chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf says that Tehran sees signs that the United States is seeking to restart the war
Oil tumbles after Pakistan again touts final deal draft text imminent, followed by Trump claiming US in 'final stages' of peace talks with Iran, though Tehran hasn't budged on nuclear issue.
Tehran (IRGC) warns next round of war could spread conflict 'beyond the region' - which was cast as a threat.
Iran's IRGC Navy says 26 vessels, including oil tankers, container ships and other commercial vessels, transited in the prior 24 hours "in coordination" with Iranian authorities.
The vessels departed the strategic waterway on Wednesday, after being stranded inside the Persian Gulf for over two months, lending hope to an end to the closure of the strait.
The crude cargoes were split evenly among three Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs) heading to Asian refining hubs.
Four years of war in Ukraine have rewritten how warfare is fought, accelerating the urgent need for low-cost aerial unmanned systems and ground robots. It has also prompted Taiwan to emerge as a supplier of low-cost suicide drones.
Taiwan's national news agency, the Central News Agency, reported that a Taichung-based Taiwanese drone manufacturer is now focused on producing a domestically made variant of Iran's Shahed one-way attack drone.
With 58% of the vote counted, Gallrein had about 54% to Massie’s 46%, DDHQ reported.
Gallrein, 68, is a relative newcomer to politics. He ran a low-key campaign by refusing to debate Massie and generally avoiding the press. His chief selling points were his military service, his endorsement by Trump and his promise to be a reliable vote for the president’s policies.
With the U.S. national average sitting at $4.53 per gallon (according to AAA data) and no resolution yet on a U.S.-Iran peace deal or the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, pump prices risk rising even higher into the holiday weekend as the summer driving season begins.
The number of tankers laden with crude but sitting in the Persian Gulf and near the Strait of Hormuz has jumped since the U.S. initiated in the middle of April a naval blockade to prevent Iranian oil exports and force Tehran into a deal, a Financial Times analysis of shipping and satellite imagery data showed on Tuesday.
The two young alleged gunmen who descended upon a San Diego Islamic facility on Monday -- killing three men and themselves -- have been identified, along with early indications of their motives. Police sources have told multiple outlets that 17-year-old Cain Clark and 18-year-old Caleb Velasquez -- driven by hate -- scrawled racist themes on their weapons and carried a gas can emblazoned with a Nazi SS sticker. One of them left a suicide note emphasizing "racial pride."
In a May 19 post on Truth Social, Trump wrote that Paxton has been loyal to him and is a “MAGA Warrior.” The president said that Cornyn “is a good man,” but was not supportive of him “when times were tough” such as being late in endorsing him for president in 2024.
In just the past few days, various anti-Massie PACs have filed disclosures indicating another huge load of cash showering down on the race. The Republican Jewish Coalition is spending another $470,000. The misleadingly-named United Democracy Project, which is a PAC affiliated with the formidable American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), revealed more than $950,000 in additional spending. The MAGA Kentucky PAC -- which was created solely to oust Massie and funded by non-Kentuckian Jewish billionaires Miriam Adelson, Paul Singer and John Paulsen -- disclosed more than $1.6 million since May 7.
The fallout from the recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) ruling that computer model high emissions pathway RCP8.5 is “implausible” is only just beginning. Most mainstream media fearmongering stories over the last 15 years need to be moved into the junk file, as do the increasingly shrill sandwich-board pronouncements of King Charles and Sir David Attenborough.
The letter calls it voluntary but if you don't comply, the plant can't take your milk. And if the plant can't take your milk, you're out of business.
That's Pathways to Dairy Net Zero in practice.
Pathways to Dairy Net Zero (P2DNZ) is presented as a voluntary, science-based initiative to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from dairy producers. In practice, however, it functions as yet another sector-specific implementation of global ESG and net-zero governance.
The Maryland Freedom Caucus, with the help of the American Accountability Foundation, has uncovered alarming information: Mr. Roberts was a registered voter in Maryland not just once, but twice.
Key Information Redacted by State Officials
Trump says holding off on 'planned' Tuesday attack upon request of Gulf states.
US denies earlier Tasnim report of agreeing to lift oil sanctions during talks; Trump tells NYP 'not open' to Iran concessions.
Trump calls for Iran's total military surrender in Monday morning Truth Social post.
Oil rebounds on Tasnim reporting Iranian denial: Tehran "under no circumstances" will negotiate nuclear issue as part of an end to the war.
A flurry of (the somewhat typically-timed) Monday opener headlines have pushed oil prices lower, erasing weekend gains, including Al Arabia reporting that Iran is ready to accept a long-term nuclear freeze, instead of full dismantling.
Iran has submitted its latest proposal comprising 14-points through Pakistan, amid reports that the US has offered to lift sanctions on Iranian oil during the interim negotiating period.
Despite a near-halt in daily Hormuz traffic, Bloomberg reports that almost all large non-Iranian tankers that have entered the Persian Gulf during the war appear to have successfully exited with a cargo, underscoring the emergence of a small group of shipowners willing to risk crossing the Strait of Hormuz.
China, U.S. Agree To Cut Levies On Select Products, Expand Agricultural Trade
China, U.S. Reach Boeing Jet Purchase Agreement
U.S. And China Agree To Establish Trade And Investment Boards
Trump-Xi Summit Delivers Modest Trade Wins
"An ASTRA OSINT analyst has determined that in addition to two high-rise buildings, an oil refinery in the city was damaged. Photos taken by witnesses were taken near the Olympic Town microdistrict, approximately 4 km from the Ryazan Oil Refinery," one independent Russian outlet wrote.
President Trump's earlier previewed controversial troop cuts for the European continent may already be in progress, and could happen more rapidly than previously thought.
The US Army has canceled the deployment of the 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division to Poland, NBC reports this week. The deployment would have involved over 4,000 soldiers as well as military equipment.
The 11th China Military Intelligent Technology Expo opened Thursday at the China National Convention Center in Beijing, showcasing a lineup of drones, robotic war dogs, grenade launchers, wheeled unmanned systems, artificial intelligence, and other modern battlefield technologies.
The key takeaway is that many of these once-futuristic war machines have moved well beyond the conceptual stage and are already being tested, fielded, or deployed across multiple Eurasian conflict zones.
The first sentence was an “unacceptable sentence, because they have fully agreed no nuclear, and if they have any nuclear of any form, I don’t read the rest,” he said, stressing that he remains unsatisfied with the "level of guarantee from them."
U.S. and Chinese leaders agreed to establish a new "Board of Trade" and a parallel "Board of Investment" during President Donald Trump’s two-day visit to Beijing - a summit that ended much as it began: with significant pageantry, warm personal rapport between the leaders, and modest, incremental progress on trade. The new boards aim to oversee bilateral purchases, manage trade differences, facilitate deals in non-sensitive sectors (with roughly $30 billion in goods identified), and provide a standing channel to prevent future escalations without constant high-level intervention.
There is little doubt that Iran's Shahed drone threat has become a major concern, menacing surrounding Gulf states, commercial tanker traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, and U.S. bases across the region. This backdrop helps explain why the State Department's Rewards for Justice program has now put up to $15 million for new information in connection with an already sanctioned Iranian drone-production network linked to the IRGC-Qods Force.
