A federal judge in Manhattan Monday sentenced self-exiled Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui to 30 years in prison for financial fraud. Guo was convicted in 2024 after transforming himself from wealthy Beijing insider to U.S.-based anti-Communist crusader with prominent conservative allies and a luxury lifestyle. U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres said he had "preyed on people seeking to bring democracy to China," causing more than 1,000 supporters "substantial financial and emotional harm." Guo fled China in 2015 amid an anti-corruption crackdown. "By 2017, he was a member of Mar-a-Lago" and quickly "built political and business connections with some powerful people" in President Donald Trump's orbit, notably Steve Bannon, The New York Times said. Bannon was arrested aboard Guo's yacht in 2020 for allegedly defrauding investors, though "Trump eventually pardoned him." Bannon "has repeatedly called for Guo's freedom," The Wall Street Journal said.
The Wall Street Journal editorial board lambasted President Donald Trump over his efforts to secure a durable peace deal with Iran. U.S. and Iranian officials have agreed to halt their attacks on one another and meet Tuesday to talk out their dispute over the Strait of Hormuz, and the conservative newspaper's editors bashed the 80-year-old president for failing to keep the crucial waterway open " as it had been before he launched the war on Feb. 28. "The best selling point for President Trump's memorandum of understanding with Iran was that at least it opened the Strait of Hormuz," the board wrote. "Well, now the regime is trying to nullify those terms by using force against commercial vessels, Gulf states and U.S. bases. All of this violates the deal and calls into question why Mr. Trump signed it."
Rep. Tom Kean, R-N.J., made his return to the Capitol on Tuesday, saying he was treated for depression during a nearly four-month disappearance from the public eye. It was Kean's first time in the House of Representatives since March 5, having missed more than 140 votes in the chamber since then. "Several months ago due to health concerns I entered the hospital for some testing. I did not believe that this would result in a long-term stay. I was given the diagnosis of depression," Kean said in a speech on the House floor. He said his doctors "recommended that I remain in the hospital to address my illness" and added that depression means more than "feeling sad" " "it is physical, it is emotional, and until you experience it yourself, it is difficult to fully understand how powerful this illness can be."
Yeehaw
A Roman Catholic nun was released from the custody of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after the agency arrested her while she walked to mass in her habit in south Texas. Sister Leticia Ugboaja was walking to Our Lady of Sorrows church in McAllen, Texas, just a few miles from the US-Mexico border on Sunday when she was detained by ICE officers, the church said in a statement on social media. The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and ICE have not responded to a request for comment since Sunday. The nun is part of the Daughters of Mary Mother of Mercy and volunteered as what is known as an extraordinary minister of holy communion at Our Lady of Sorrows, according to Brenda Riojas, a spokesperson for the Catholic Diocese of Brownsville, Texas. Ugboaja is also a registered nurse at South Texas Health System, Riojas confirmedg. She also worked previously for 10 years as a certified nursing assistant at DHR Health in Edinburg, Texas. Read more
And then there's this... thepostmillennial.com
Secretary of War Crimes Pete Hegseth announced the appointment of 15 members to the Defense Policy Board. Ambassador Robert Lighthizer will serve as Chairman and former Senator Norm Coleman, a registered agent and lobbyist for the Saudi government, will serve as its Vice Chair. Venture capitalist Marc Andreessen is the general partner at Andressen Horowitz, a firm whose investments include OpenAI, SpaceX, Skydio, Hadrian and Anduril " all companies that have contracts with the Pentagon.
The Defense Policy Board members will enrich themselves while bankrupting the US
Like a demented sequence killer, the US-funded Israeli Death Forces murdered 12 defenseless Palestinians, including four children in Gaza over the past 48 hours. Meanwhile, the ghoulish Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced plans to establish three settlements in Gaza over the graves of tens of thousands of slaughtered or nebulized Palestinians.
Israeli hypocrisy
On hatemonger Glenn Beck's podcast, Lara Trumpf whined there are only 13 Democrats who signed an inane "Promise to America" pledge vowing to fight against Democratic Socialists like successful NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D) or popular Congresswomen Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI): "I do think there are a few reasonable Democrats left out there, the John Fettermans of the world, who see this sort of thing and they're like, 'oh my God, this is the new party. This is the face of our party.'
Tom Suozzi (D-Israel) inexplicably initiated this idiotic anti-progressive pledge
More than 100 people just deported from the United States were being held in a hotel when earthquakes struck Venezuela, setting off a scramble to find survivors and bodies buried in the rubble, according to survivors. A deportation flight from Miami arrived in Venezuela hours before Wednesday's earthquakes. On board were 146 Venezuelans, including 19 women and seven children, according to ICE Flight Monitor, an initiative of Human Rights First, which tracks deportation flights. They were transported to a hotel in La Guaira.
With the window for finding survivors shrinking fast, Venezuelans combed Monday through more ruins of buildings toppled by last week's powerful back-to-back earthquakes, and attention turned to the country's humanitarian crisis that could persist for years.
Trump lost three of the four cases he had before The supreme Court.
The Russian leader said a task force was working to alleviate the issue, which has grown into a serious crisis as the Kremlin grapples with simmering discontent on a range of issues.
A JetBlue Airways pilot reported that a drone struck his plane above the cockpit as the flight was on approach for landing at John F. Kennedy International Airport on Monday morning.
America's Skies are a "Wild West" for drones
Some portions of the United States are preparing for real feel temperatures upwards of 110 degrees ahead of America's 250th birthday. Others will be cleaning up heavy snowfall with nearly three feet of snow falling in some regions.
The Supreme Court ruled Monday that President Donald Trump does not have the authority to fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook from the central bank for now. The court did not rule whether Trump ultimately will have the power to fire Cook or any other member of the Fed. Instead, the 5-4 ruling rejected Trump's bid to stay a lower federal court ruling that had prevented her from being terminated as her lawsuit challenging her dismissal proceeds.
