News From Around the Web
#1 NY Lawmakers Back Mamdani Push to Tax the Rich, Setting up Clash With Hochul - Jimmy Vielkind and Jon Campbell, Wall Street Mav, Jack, Adam Carlson/Morgan McKay, Steven Fulop/Jennifer Jacobs, and Jean on X
Democratic state lawmakers are formally backing a version of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s proposal to tax the rich, setting up a budget showdown in Albany with Gov. Kathy Hochul. Leaders of the state Assembly and Senate inserted much of the Democratic mayor’s agenda Tuesday into their official “one-house” counterproposals to Hochul’s state budget plan. That includes a tax hike on people reporting more than $5 million of income as well as an increase in the state’s corporate tax rates from 7.25% to 9%. The two houses, both controlled by Democrats, also included various changes to New York City’s tax code sought by Mamdani, including versions of his proposals to boost New York City’s corporate, business, and “mansion” taxes. The new revenue would help the city erase an estimated $5.4 billion budget deficit...
#2 Trump Names Replacement for Kari Lake After Court Throws Her Out of Key Role - Robert Davis for Raw Story, Adrienne Bradley, TheRealThelmaJohnson/
BonnieHotInArizona, R eng, Martin/Navid/Cyrus S, and NOTUS on X
President Donald Trump named the new leader of the U.S. Agency for Global Media on Thursday, just one week after a federal judge ousted one of his allies from the post, according to a new report. NBC News reported that Trump named Sarah Rogers, the undersecretary of state for public diplomacy, to lead USAGM after Trump ally Kari Lake was ousted by U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth last week. Rogers is a First Amendment lawyer who formerly represented the National Rifle Association, or NRA, and challenged social media companies for allegedly censoring the late conservative activist Charlie Kirk and other conservative voices...
#3 Washington State Lawmakers Pass ‘Millionaire’s Tax' - Natalie Fertig for POLITICO, @MichaelOlhava, Bellingham Herald, The Seattle Times/Pickle Rick, M.A. Rothman, and Planet Seattle Updates on X
Lawmakers in Washington state this week approved a new income tax on residents making more than $1 million and could spur other states considering similar bills to approve their proposals. Legislators in the Democrat-led Senate on Wednesday night approved the tax, which will impose a 9.9 percent tax on earners making over $1 million per year and will fund education, prisons, universal school lunches, and replace or reduce other taxes, among other things, Democratic leaders said. The bill now heads to Democratic Gov. Bob Ferguson, who has already pledged to sign it...
#4 Iran’s New Impotent Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamene, Releases First Statement — After Reports He’s in Coma, Had Leg Amputated - New York Post, Reform Hub UK, Newstrends.ng, NABEELA SHAH/Us.Force (community note), Global Peace Advocates, H, and Ashwini on X
Iran's new Supreme Leader is reportedly in a coma, having lost at least one leg in devastating strikes by the U.S. and Israel. The 56-year-old son of slain Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the new Iranian regime leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, has reportedly lost at least one leg and has also sustained severe stomach or liver injuries. It remains unclear whether he was injured on the same day his father perished, but he is apparently receiving intensive care as a result of his wounds...
#5 Trump Claimed in G7 Call That Iran Is “About to Surrender” - Barak Ravid for Axios, BRICS News, Globe Eye News, MeidasTouch/Annmarie Hordern, Visegrád 24, and GB News on X
President Trump told G7 leaders in a virtual meeting Wednesday that Iran is "about to surrender," according to three officials from G7 countries briefed on the contents of the call. 24 hours later, Iran's new supreme leader issued his first public statement vowing to keep fighting. Trump is as confident about the war's outcome in private as he is in public. But his assessment is colliding with a more complex reality on the ground. The Iranian regime has shown no signs of imminent surrender or collapse — and on Day 14 of the war, is moving to gain more leverage by choking off the Strait of Hormuz. Trump boasted about the results of Operation Epic Fury on the G7 call Wednesday morning, telling allies, "I got rid of a cancer that was threatening us all."
#6 Trump Eases Russian Oil Sanctions as Iran War Sends Prices Spiking - Alexander Smith for NBC News, Barak Ravid, Lord Wolfen, Mike IV, Shashank Joshi/TimC/Alex Magnus (#5), and Charles Hecker on X
The United States has temporarily lifted sanctions on Russian oil, a boost to the Kremlin as Washington tries to contain energy prices sent soaring by the American-Israeli assault on Iran. President Vladimir Putin’s team welcomed the move to ease penalties that were imposed over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and pushed Friday for the U.S. to go further. The decision caused dismay in Europe, where officials feared it would give a timely boost to the Moscow war machine on their doorstep as attention shifts from Ukraine to the Middle East...#7 Cuba Will Release 51 People From Prison, an Unexpected Move Amid Pressure From Trump - CBS News, NBC Bay Area, Mynameis...Miro, Marc Roberts, Reverend Jordan Wells, and Miguel Fernandez on X
Cuba's government said Thursday night it would release 51 people from the island's prisons, in an unexpected move that comes as the Trump administration puts immense pressure on the country. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that the release will take place in the coming days. It cast the release as an act of goodwill stemming from the country's close relationship with the Vatican, which has helped broker prisoner release deals and U.S.-Cuba normalization talks in the past. The government did not identify who it would release, except to say that "all have served a significant part of their sentence and have maintained good conduct in prison."
#8 The States Suing RFK Jr. Aren’t Defending Science—They’re Defending the System - Tracy Beanz and Michelle Edwards for The HighWire, UncoverDC, Chris Stoddard, Todd Smith, Steve Hilton/Julie4Butte5, and Vaccine Safety Research Foundation on X
On any given day, Americans are subjected to the tremendous disdain that Democrat-led states have towards President Trump and the actions of his administration. One such example is HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy’s efforts to overhaul the childhood immunization schedule in the United States. That move centers on protecting children, respecting family autonomy, aligning US policy with international best practices, and rebuilding public trust in our nation’s health institutions. Apparently opposed to informed consent and making our children healthy again—remember, the United States has some of the most unwell kids in the world—fourteen attorneys general and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro filed suit in federal court last month over that very overhaul. Co-led by California, Governor Gavin Newsom, who recently took it upon himself to sign his state up to rejoin the World Health Organization, remarked...#9 Holmstrom Slams $40 Million Democrat Rental Aid Bill as Taxpayer-Funded Bailout Amid Minnesota’s Affordability Crisis - Minnesota Senate Republican Caucus, MN House Republicans, Libs of TikTok, no mas, Eric Lucero, and Dustin Grage on X
Minnesota Senate Democrats yesterday passed a $40 million rental assistance bill that would use taxpayer money to cover individuals’ overdue rent and utility payments. Senator Michael Holmstrom (R–Buffalo) strongly opposed the bill. “The “Rent for Riots” bill is a $40 million pilfering of taxpayer money,” said Sen. Holmstrom. “Affordability is a real issue in Minnesota right now because Democrats spent the $17 billion surplus, grew government spending by 40%, and increased the tax burden by another $10 billion. Nothing has gotten more unaffordable for Minnesota families than the cost of running government.”
#10 Florida’s Legislature Passes Its Version of Save America Act - Gary Fineout for POLITICO, Eric Daugherty, MAGA Voice, Marc E. Elias, ⁿᵉʷˢ Barron Trump, Katrina vandenHeuvel, and ForthRight Strategy on X
The Republican-controlled Florida Legislature muscled through a sweeping elections bill Thursday designed to enact tough new proof of citizenship requirements modeled after the federal SAVE America Act championed by President Donald Trump. But there are some big catches: The new proof of citizenship requirements won’t take effect until next January, after the crucial midterm elections. Florida legislators also made no changes to the state’s excuse-free use of mail-in voting, despite Trump’s continued call for strict limits...
