Why you mad they sayin' how awesome we are.
Good argument.
Good argument.
Biden broke federal law by not revealing this report on Covid at World Military Games
Seven Americans may have contracted COVID-19 in Wuhan in October 2019, several months before the reported start of the pandemic, according to a bombshell military report obtained by the Washington Free Beacon that the Biden administration concealed from the public.
The December 2022 report, which the Biden administration was required by law to release to the public over two years ago but didn’t, reveals for the first time that seven U.S. military service members contracted COVID-19-like symptoms during or after their participation in the World Military Games in Wuhan in October 2019—contradicting the Biden administration’s public claims in 2021 that there was no evidence that any American participants contracted the virus at those games. The revelation adds to a mounting body of evidence that the virus was circulating in Wuhan for months before China disclosed it to the world in December 2019 and further bolsters the growing consensus that it could have leaked into the human population from a Chinese lab.
The 2022 National Defense Authorization Act required the Biden administration to make its report on the 2019 Wuhan World Military Games "publicly available on an internet website in a searchable format" by the summer of 2022. Though the Biden administration transmitted copies of the two-page report to the House and Senate Armed Services Committees in December 2022, it didn’t see the light of day until sometime in late March when the Trump administration quietly uploaded it to a Defense Department website.
The potential COVID-19 illnesses from the American participants in the Wuhan World Military Games appear to have been a closely guarded secret of the Defense Department. Chinese authorities have suggested since as early as February 2020 that America could have unleashed COVID-19 into Wuhan through their participation in the World Military Games. Former Biden Defense Department spokesman John Kirby told the Washington Post in June 2021 that the military had "no knowledge" of any COVID-19 infections among the troops that participated in those games.
The first Trump administration issued similar statements regarding the Wuhan games. In June 2020, the Pentagon told the Prospect that it did not test any of the American troops that participated in the games because they were held "prior to the reported outbreak."
The games were held within close proximity of the Wuhan Institute of Virology, where Chinese scientists, backed by U.S. taxpayer funds, conducted risky gain-of-function research on the same sort of bat coronaviruses that caused the pandemic. That research, which was supported by former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Dr. Anthony Fauci, "almost certainly caused COVID-19," Rutgers University professor of chemical biology Richard Ebright told the Free Beacon.
The American military athletes traveled to and from Wuhan via Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, according to the Prospect, which noted that Washington was one of the earliest COVID-19 hotspots in the country.
The report speculated that other respiratory infections could have caused the COVID-like symptoms exhibited by the seven service members and that there was no "statistically significant difference" in COVID-like cases at the military bases those soldiers were stationed at compared to those without them. The seven soldiers all recovered from their symptoms within six days.
The Pentagon did not disclose when it discovered the potential illnesses. The Pentagon declined to comment
Knowledge that U.S. troops may have contracted COVID-19 in Wuhan during the October 2019 games may have been well received by U.S. allies. Military athletes from Germany, France, Italy, and Luxembourg who competed in the October 2019 games also reported coming down with COVID-19-like symptoms during their stay in Wuhan, which they described as a "ghost town," the Daily Mail reported.
Ebright, one of the most prominent academic proponents of the theory that COVID-19 leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, said he was appalled that the Biden administration concealed crucial information about the first potential American cases of the virus from the public amid the ongoing debate over the pandemic’s origins.
"It is an outrage that the Biden White House and the 118th Congress Senate and House Armed Services Committees did not publicly release this information when it became available in 2022, but, instead, withheld this information for the duration of their terms," Ebright told the Free Beacon.
"This new information strengthens U.S. and allied intelligence data indicating that COVID-19 was circulating in Wuhan in October-November 2019, U.S. and allied intelligence data indicating that researchers working with genetically enhanced SARS viruses at Wuhan Institute of Virology contracted COVID-19 in October-November 2019, and phylogenomic data indicating that the virus that causes COVID-19 entered humans in July-November 2019."
Ebright’s sentiment was shared by Sen. Joni Ernst (R., Iowa), who said the report’s findings discredit the theory that COVID-19 originated from a Wuhan wet market in December 2019.
"Taxpayers deserve to know the truth about COVID-19 origins, but the Biden administration concealed this information from the American people for years," Ernst told the Free Beacon. "This report should have been made public immediately and not restricted to Washington insiders. If Americans visiting Wuhan were potentially infected with the COVID-19 virus in October 2019, those claiming the pandemic began in a wet market just two months later would be completely off base."
Congressional Republicans have long since concluded that the 2019 Wuhan World Military Games served as "one of the earliest super spreader events" of the pandemic, with House Foreign Affairs Republicans issuing its findings on the matter in August 2021.
The Defense Department uploaded the report sometime in late March to a section of its website dedicated to "quality-of-life" issues for military service members and their families. The Wuhan World Military Games report is sandwiched between two separate reports on military spouses obtaining occupational licenses.
Several federal agencies, including the CIA, FBI, and Energy Department, say the COVID-19 pandemic most likely originated from the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
https://freebeacon.com/biden-administration/biden-administration-concealed-congressionally-mandated-report-on-earliest-suspected-american-covid-cases/
unusual_whales
@unusual_whales
BREAKING: South Korea has stated it will not retaliate against U.S. tariffs, is seeking to negotiate a new trade agreement, and will not join China or Japan in efforts to counter the U.S. measures, according to CNN.
https://x.com/unusual_whales/status/1909604048678068595
Supreme Court lets Trump move forward with firing thousands of federal workers
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed the Trump administration's firing of 16,000 probationary federal employees to go forward, at least for now.
Without addressing the question of whether the terminations themselves were lawful, the court in an unsigned order said the nonprofits that brought the case did not have legal standing to sue over federal employees' firings.
Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson would have kept the firings paused while the case plays out in the lower courts.
The court's narrow ruling applies only to the nonprofits in Tuesday's lawsuit, and it did not decide on the case as a whole. Nonetheless, the court's decision makes it more difficult for groups affected by government layoffs to challenge mass firings systematically.
In that sense, the court's action is a victory for the Trump administration and its effort to dramatically shrink federal agencies and programs, concentrating executive power in the White House.
Probationary employees dismissed
Following an executive order signed by President Trump on Feb. 11, the Office of Personnel Management told agencies to terminate all but essential probationary employees. Probationary employees are typically recent agency hires or tenured employees serving in new roles.
Various agencies promptly began firing employees, ultimately totaling tens of thousands. Federal workers' unions and a group of nonprofit organizations sued the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and several agencies, including the departments of Veterans Affairs, Agriculture, Defense, Energy, Interior and the Treasury, to halt the firings.
Those challenging the dismissals argued that OPM didn't have the authority to order firings. They also argued the federal government did not follow the proper procedures for firing probationary federal workers, including providing adequate notice to the terminated employees and the affected state and local governments.
Judge William Haskell Alsup, a District Court judge in San Francisco appointed by then-President Bill Clinton, initially ruled that while the unions had no legal standing to bring the case, the nonprofits did have standing because they depend on government services and say they're negatively affected by the government's reduced capacity.
After a brief hearing last month, Alsup reinstated federal employees at six departments — the departments of Agriculture, Defense, Energy, Interior, the Treasury and Veterans Affairs.
Alsup said that the Office of Personnel Management, which helps set the government's human resources policies, could not direct agencies to conduct mass firings. Rather, only the departments themselves can make those decisions.
The government countered that OPM did not direct agencies to do anything and that the terminations were otherwise lawful. It took that argument to the court of appeals, which refused to intervene immediately.
So the Trump administration kicked the case up to the Supreme Court, asking the justices to come to the rescue.
In its Supreme Court briefs, the government contended that the dispute over the terminations was, like all employment disputes, exclusively between the federal government and its employees. The government insisted the nonprofits didn't have standing to bring this case on behalf of the employees because the employees themselves needed to go through the proper, yet limited, channels to challenge their firings, with each employee fighting his or her own battle.
A majority of the court seemed to side with the Trump administration on that point, ruling that the nonprofits should not have been allowed to continue bringing their case.
That being said, the Supreme Court's stay, which allows the administration to execute the firings for now, while it litigates in federal court, does not mean the terminations were lawful. The high court did not address those questions Tuesday, and it left the door open for other parties, with better standing arguments, to bring a case in the future.
Indeed, still playing out in the lower courts is a similar challenge in Maryland, where 19 states and the District of Columbia sued to reinstate employees at more than 20 agencies and so far have partially prevailed.
The states suing in Maryland may have a better case than the nonprofits affected by Tuesday's decision, because the states could have a stronger argument as to their legal standing.
https://www.npr.org/2025/04/08/nx-s1-5351799/scotus-probationary-workers
Huge Trump-Hegseth Win as U.S.-Panama Jointly Affirm Shift from China, Secure Canal Traffic, Address Migratio.
PULSE POINTS:
❓What Happened: U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth met with Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino and Panama Canal Authority Administrator Ricaurte Vásquez on April 8, 2025, reaffirming and expanding U.S.-Panama security cooperation.
📍Where: Panama City, Panama.
🕰️When: April 8, 2025.
👥Who Was Involved: President José Raúl Mulino, Secretary Pete Hegseth, ACP Administrator Ricaurte Vásquez, Minister Juan Manuel Abrego, and U.S. Admiral Alvin Holsey.
💬Key Quotes: Hegseth “strongly welcomed President Mulino’s commitment to make Panama the first country in our hemisphere to exit the Belt and Road Initiative.”
⚠️Fallout: Panama is doubling down on security cooperation with the U.S., stepping back from China, clamping down on illegal immigration, and reactivating key joint military exercises.
📌Why It Matters: Panama is a strategic chokepoint in global trade. As tensions rise with China, the U.S. is securing access to the Canal, expanding cyber-defense efforts, and resuming military readiness operations in the region.
IN FULL:
PANAMA CITY, Panama – The U.S. and Panama are rebooting their strategic partnership, ditching China’s influence and locking in a robust security upgrade centered on the Panama Canal, The National Pulse can report late Tuesday evening.
In a high-level meeting on April 8, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth joined Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino and Panama Canal Authority Administrator Ricaurte Vásquez in Panama City to reaffirm their decades-long security relationship. At the core of the new commitment: boosting joint military training, strengthening cyber and maritime defense, and streamlining military vessel passage through the Canal.
Hegseth strongly endorsed Mulino’s pledge to pull Panama out of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) Belt and Road Initiative—making it the first nation in the Western Hemisphere to formally exit the Beijing-backed infrastructure scheme. U.S. officials have long viewed the CCP’s growing influence in Latin America as a direct threat to global trade routes and regional sovereignty.
Hegseth also praised Panama’s firm action on border enforcement, commending the Mulino government for reducing illegal immigration and sealing off the notorious Darién Gap—long used as a corridor by smugglers and illegal migrants.
With over $230 million in U.S. security assistance delivered over the last five years, the leaders agreed to deepen cooperation even further. Under the new agreement:
-Warships and auxiliary vessels from both nations will be guaranteed expedited passage through the Canal under Treaty obligations;
-A new mechanism will be developed to compensate Panama for tolls and charges under the “First and Free” neutrality framework;
-A new Memorandum of Understanding will expand U.S.-Panama military collaboration at joint-use facilities;
-Regular joint jungle warfare training will resume, and the large-scale PANAMAX 2026 defense exercise will return to Panamanian soil;
-A new Joint Statement of Understanding between Minister Juan Manuel Abrego and U.S. Admiral Alvin Holsey will bolster security cooperation and professional education;
-Strategic, cyber, and maritime security planning will be enhanced with U.S. Department of Defense support;
-The U.S. Southern Command and the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) signed a new Cyber Cooperation Arrangement;
-The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will continue providing technical support to ensure the long-term sustainability of the Canal.
In tandem, both nations are revitalizing the High-Level Security Dialogue, with a sharper focus on Canal security, commercial shipping resilience, and military preparedness.
For Washington, the stakes are high: the Panama Canal remains a critical artery for global commerce and military mobility. For Panama, the renewed alliance signals a break with CCP encroachment—and a return to sovereignty-centered defense with American backing.
Earlier today, Secretary Hegseth announced the reopening of the long-abandoned Fort Sherman, doubling down on the cooperation between the two nations and investing in Panama’s security with U.S. interests in mind.
https://thenationalpulse.com/2025/04/08/breaking-huge-trump-hegseth-win-as-u-s-panama-jointly-affirm-shift-from-china-secure-canal-traffic-address-migration/
104 percent tariff on China takes effect at midnight
WASHINGTON/BEIJING (Reuters) -The United States said on Tuesday that 104% duties on imports from China will take effect shortly after midnight, even as the administration of President Donald Trump moved to quickly start talks with other trading partners targeted by sweeping tariffs.
U.S. stocks dropped on Tuesday for a fourth straight trading day since Trump's tariffs announcement last week, with the S&P 500 closing below 5,000 for the first time in almost a year. The index is now 18.9% below its most recent high on February 19, close to the 20% decline that defines a bear market.
S&P 500 companies have lost $5.8 trillion in stock market value since Trump's tariff announcement last Wednesday, the deepest four-day loss since the benchmark was created in the 1950s, according to LSEG data.
Global markets had previously posted gains on hopes that Trump might be willing to negotiate down the array of country and product-specific trade barriers he is erecting around the world's largest consumer market.
Japan's Nikkei saw a broad sell-off on Wednesday morning and other Asian markets were braced for falls, hours before the tariffs were set to take effect.
The administration has scheduled talks with South Korea and Japan, two close allies and major trading partners, and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is due to visit next week.
"These are tailored, highly tailored deals," Trump said at a White House event, where he signed executive orders aimed at boosting coal production. "We've had talks with many, many countries, over 70, they all want to come in. Our problem is, can't see that many that fast."
But the White House made clear that country-specific tariffs of up to 50% would nevertheless take effect at 12:01 a.m. Eastern Time (0401 GMT), as planned.
Those tariffs will be especially steep for China, as Trump has ratcheted up duties on its imports to 104% in response to countertariffs Beijing announced last week. China has refused to bow to what it called blackmail and has vowed to fight to the end.
Administration officials said they would not prioritize negotiations with the world's No. 2 economic power.
"Right now, we've received the instruction to prioritize our allies and our trading partners like Japan and Korea and others," White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett said on Fox News.
Trump's tailor-made approach to negotiations with individual countries could take into account foreign and military aid as well as economic factors, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said.
Trump's lead trade negotiator, Jamieson Greer, told Congress his office is trying to work quickly but is not facing a particular deadline.
"The president has been clear, again, that he's not doing exemptions or exceptions in the near term," Greer told lawmakers.
At an evening speech to Republican lawmakers, Trump said he would soon announce "major" tariffs on pharmaceutical imports, arguing the duties would push drug companies to move manufacturing operations to the U.S.
Trump's sweeping tariffs have raised fears of recession and upended a global trading order that has been in place for decades.
China is bracing for a war of attrition, and manufacturers are warning about profits and scrambling to plan new overseas plants. Citing rising external risks, Citi cut its 2025 China GDP growth forecast to 4.2% from 4.7%.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said his country's 25% tariff on some vehicles - a countermeasure to match Trump's approach - will take effect immediately after midnight.
"President Trump caused this trade crisis — and Canada is responding with purpose and with force," Carney said on X.
Canada and Mexico were exempt from the new round of tariffs Trump announced last week, but previous levies remained in place. Most goods that comply with the existing trade agreement between the three countries are not subject to those tariffs.
AMERICANS WORRIED ABOUT PRICES
Three out of four Americans expect prices to rise as Trump's tariffs kick in, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll.
Chipmaker Micron told customers it will impose a tariff-related surcharge starting on Wednesday, while U.S. clothing retailers said they are delaying orders and holding off on hiring. Running shoes made in Vietnam that now retail for $155 will cost $220 when Trump's 46% tariff on that country takes effect, according to an industry group.
Consumers are stocking up while they can. "I'm buying double of whatever - beans, canned goods, flour, you name it," Thomas Jennings, 53, said as he pushed a shopping cart through the aisles of a New Jersey Walmart.
Broad-based price hikes may not show up immediately, as tariffs will not apply to goods that were already in transit before they took effect.
The market slide has prompted some business leaders, including those close to Trump, to urge the president to reverse course.
Global oil prices steadied after falling to four-year lows.
The European Commission, meanwhile, is mulling countertariffs of 25% on a range of U.S. goods including soybeans, nuts and sausages, though other potential items like bourbon whiskey were left off the list. Officials said they stood ready to negotiate.
The 27-member bloc is struggling with tariffs on autos and metals already in place, and faces a 20% tariff on other products on Wednesday. Trump has also threatened to impose tariffs on EU alcoholic drinks.
European pharma companies, also fearful of the tariff fallout, warned the European Commission Trump's tariffs would expedite the industry's shift away from Europe and toward the United States.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/china-criticises-trump-tariff-blackmail-025526063.html
SecDef Hegseth Announces Plans to Reopen Elite, Cold War-Era Military ‘Jungle School’ in Panama
PULSE POINTS:
❓What Happened: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announces plans to partially reopen the “Jungle School” in Panama, a former U.S. jungle warfare training site in the Panama Canal Zone, dormant since 1999.
👥 Who’s Involved: Pete Hegseth, U.S. troops in Panama, President Donald J. Trump.
📍 Where & When: Panama, during Hegseth’s trip for the Central American Security Conference (CENTSEC), April 8, 2025.
💬 Key Quote: “I should never put you in a fair fight. My job is to put you in a fight where you are overwhelming.” – Pete Hegseth
⚠️ Impact: Signals a U.S. military push to revive jungle training and reassert influence over the Panama Canal Zone, once American territory.
IN FULL:
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has said he intends to partially reopen the “Jungle School,” where up to 9,000 troops a year trained in jungle warfare from the 1950s to 1999 in the former Panama Canal Zone. Secretary Hegseth made the announcement to U.S. troops in Panama amid an ongoing trip to the Central American country, where he will attend the Central American Security Conference (CENTSEC).Thanking the troops for their service, Hegseth said, “We will have your back; President Trump has asked me to share that with all the groups of troops I talk to,” stressing the importance of the military’s “warrior ethos” to the administration and its determination to rebuild the military.
“I should never put you in a fair fight. My job is to put you in a fight where you are overwhelming… First of all, hopefully, deterring the enemy, [but] if it comes to conflict, overwhelmingly closing with and destroying the enemy,” said Hegseth, himself a decorated former infantry officer.
The Defense Secretary is joined on his Panama trip by Raheem Kassam, Editor-in-Chief of The National Pulse, providing exclusive coverage and commentary to Pulse+ members as the trip unfolds.
The Panama Canal Zone was under U.S. sovereignty in perpetuity until its surrender to Panama in 1979 under the late Democratic President Jimmy Carter. The canal was largely American-built and funded, and incumbent President Donald J. Trump has expressed a desire to regain control over it, lamenting its handover as one of his predecessors’ worst-ever deals.
“The purpose of our deal [with Panama] and the spirit of our treaty has been totally violated,” he said during his inaugural address, noting Chinese involvement in the canal now and vowing, “We’re taking it back.”
https://x.com/RaheemKassam/status/1909656667320729684
https://thenationalpulse.com/2025/04/08/exc-secdef-hegseth-announces-plans-to-reopen-elite-cold-war-era-military-jungle-school-in-panama/
Collin Rugg
@CollinRugg
NEW: Rep. Jasmine Crockett suggests the United States needs illegal immigrants because "we done picking cotton."
Crockett made the argument that the U.S. needs immigrants for farming while speaking at Grace Baptist Church in Connecticut.
"So I had to go around the country and educate people about what immigrants do for this country or the fact that we are a country of immigrants."
"The fact is ain't none of y'all trying to go and farm right now… We done picking cotton."
https://x.com/CollinRugg/status/1909389179290894645
I Meme Therefore I Am 🇺🇸
@ImMeme0
PURE EVIL: Extreme leftist, while holding a sign wishing Trump dead, regrets that his assassin missed and hopes someone will try to k*ll him again.
https://x.com/ImMeme0/status/1908880972134637788