Important Takeaways:
- Israel’s military leadership wants to see a ceasefire in Gaza, even if it leaves the Hamas terror group ruling the Strip, The New York Times reported on Monday, citing six current and former security officials.
- “I don’t know who those unnamed parties are, but I’m here to make it unequivocally clear: it won’t happen,” said Netanyahu
- “We will end the war only after we have achieved all of its goals, including the elimination of Hamas and the release of all our hostages.”
- The Israel Defense Force also responded to the report, saying it was “determined to keep fighting until it achieves the goals of the war, the destruction of Hamas’s military and governance capabilities, bringing back our hostages, and safely returning residents in the north and south to their homes.
- An end to the fighting in the south would open the door for Hezbollah to hold its fire. The Iran-backed Shiite group has pledged to keep striking Israel as long as the war against Hamas in Gaza continues.
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Important Takeaways:
- French President Emmanuel Macron and his allies this morning launched a fresh week of intense campaigning hours after their party was humiliated last night in the first round of parliamentary elections by the hard-right National Rally (RN).
- Rioting engulfed the streets of Paris last night as thousands of enraged left-leaning voters set light to rubbish, smashed up shop windows and launched fireworks after Marine Le Pen’s RN steamed to victory with 33% of the first round vote.
- Hordes of riot cops were dispatched across the city, particularly in the French capital’s Place de la République where the police clashed with flare-toting rioters into the early hours of the morning.
- Macron’s Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, who is likely to be forced to resign after the second round, warned that the right was now at the ‘gates of power’ and implored voters to block the RN in the second round set for Sunday July 7.
- But Macron’s centrist alliance is languishing in a distant third place with just 20% of the vote behind the left-wing New Popular Front alliance on 28%.
- Le Pen late last night gleefully declared that Macron’s party had been ‘wiped out’ as she celebrated the victory, with the RN now targeting an absolute majority in the second round of elections this coming Sunday.
- Such a victory would mark the first time a hard-right force has taken power in France since World War II amid the occupation by Nazi Germany – a fact not lost on left-wing politicians.
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Important Takeaways:
- Even Americans earning more than six figures are worried about their finances
- A growing number of Americans making six-figure salaries are worried about paying their monthly bills, according to a new survey published by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.
- The survey shows that more than 30% of respondents earning between $100,000 and $149,999 are concerned about making ends meet within the next six months. That marks a sharp increase from one year ago, when 21.3% of individuals in that income bracket expressed concern about making ends meet.
- At the same time, about 32.5% of individuals earning more than $150,000 are worried about being able to pay their bills, which also marks an increase from the 21.7% figure reported one year ago.
- Interestingly, those more affluent Americans are actually more worried about their finances than many individuals who are earning less money. About 29.8% of individuals making between $40,000 and $69,999 said they are concerned, up from 23.9% last year.
- The typical U.S. household needed to pay $227 more a month in March to purchase the same goods and services it did one year ago because of still-high inflation. Americans are paying on average $784 more each month compared with the same time two years ago and $1,069 more compared with three years ago.
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Important Takeaways:
- The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of former President Donald Trump on Monday, holding in a 6-3 decision that presidents are covered by limited immunity from criminal prosecutions for actions taken while in office.
- The decision is here.
- The Court held, according to the summary of the decision:
- Under our constitutional structure of separated powers, the nature of Presidential power entitles a former President to absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for actions within his conclusive and preclusive constitutional authority. And he is entitled to at least presumptive immunity from prosecution for all his official acts. There is no immunity for unofficial acts.
- The Court also ruled that a president is entitled to a pretrial hearing on immunity that can be appealed all the way to the Supreme Court before a trial begins.
- This means that any trial of the former president will take place after the November 5, 2024, election.
- The case will now be remanded, and will likely result in the dismissal of some or all of the charges facing the former president in federal court in Washington, D.C., relating to the Capitol riot of January 6.
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Important Takeaways:
- The US military has raised the alert level of several of its bases across Europe to the second-highest level in a move that hasn’t been seen ‘in at least ten years.’
- The US Army Garrison in Stuttgart, Germany, America’s military headquarters in Europe, bases in Rheinland-Pfalz and Ramstein, and Aviano Air Base in Italy were all put on alert level ‘Charlie’ over the weekend, several publications reported.
- The ‘Charlie’ threat level only ‘applies when an incident occurs or intelligence is received indicating some form of terrorist action or targeting against personnel or facilities is likely,’ according to the US Army.
- It is not currently known why the four bases, which together make up the largest overseas US military community, raised their threat levels.
- But a US official told CNN that they haven’t seen a threat level this high ‘in at least 10 years’, adding that this usually means the military is aware of an ‘active-reliable threat.’
- In addition to the formally raised alert level, Spangdahlem Air Base in West Germany told airmen from its 52nd Fighter unit that they were prohibited from wearing their uniforms off-base, and must commute in civilian clothing, military publication Stars and Stripes reported.
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Important Takeaways:
- SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Hurricane Beryl began pounding the southeast Caribbean on Monday as a powerful Category 4 storm after becoming the earliest storm of that strength to form in the Atlantic, fueled by record warm waters.
- The storm was expected to make landfall in the Windward Islands late Monday morning, according to the National Hurricane Center.
- Hurricane warnings were in effect for Barbados, Grenada, Tobago and St. Vincent and the Grenadines as thousands of people hunkered down in homes and shelters. The last strong hurricane to hit the southeast Caribbean was Hurricane Ivan 20 years ago, which killed dozens of people in Grenada.
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Important Takeaways:
- Muslim Slaughter of, and Violence against, Christians
- Nigeria: Some May headlines from the ongoing Muslim genocide of Christians in the African nation:
- May 1: “Fulani Herdsmen Kill 12 Christians in Plateau State, Nigeria”
- May 6: “Herdsmen Kill 28 Christians in Benue State, Nigeria”
- May 7: “Six Christians Killed, Eight Wounded in Kaduna State, Nigeria”
- May 10: “Suspected Fulani Herdsmen Attack Catholic School in Nigeria”
- May 14: “Christians, Others Increasingly Targeted in Plateau State, Nigeria: Amnesty International reports 1,336 people killed in three months”
- A raging Muslim mob attacked and savagely beat a 74-year-old Christian man, on what turned out to be a false accusation of “blasphemy”. Nine days later, on June 3, Nazir Masih Gill died from his many injuries, including a smashed skull. — Morning Star News, June 3, 2024, Pakistan.
- The Muslim employer of Saima Bibi, a 24-year-old Christian woman, dragged her outside and shoved her toward an electric chaff cutter—which sliced off one of her ears, cut off most of her scalp, and injured an eye. Her husband, Shahzad, who worked on the same farm and was present, said that one of their employers, Muhammad Mustafa, was angry that they were taking a break and ordered them to cut fodder for the cattle. — Morning Star News, May 15, 2024, Pakistan.
- Shahid Masih, a 35-year-old Christian dairy worker, was falsely accused of theft and subjected to “merciless torture” at the hands of Muhammad Ijaz. It included forcing him to ingest acid, from which he died in the hospital 11 days later…. Last reported, authorities are refusing to prosecute Muhammad Ijaz and his murderous accomplices. — britishasianchristians.org, May 15, 2024, Pakistan.
- Many other attacks on churches in France persisted throughout the month of May, including arson attacks, general desecrations, desecrations of cemeteries, defecations in churches and urination in their baptismal fonts, and bomb threats. — France.
- “Imagine the uproar if it was Christians throwing rocks at a mosque? MPs and the media would be all over it screaming ‘Islamophobia!'” — Tommy Robinson, British activist, x.com, May 1, 2024, England.
- The Church of the Holy Trinity was vandalized with Islamic graffiti, which included “Allah Akbar,” “Remove this church from here,” “Only Muslims are here,” “We don’t want churches, we want mosques,” and “Islam is the only true religion!” — orthodoxtimes.com, May 15, 2024, Kosovo.
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Important Takeaways:
- The Pentagon has warned Israel against any “miscalculation” along its northern border with Lebanon, as fighting between the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the Iran-aligned Hezbollah militia continues and Israeli leaders threaten to launch a full-scale cross-frontier incursion.
- Pentagon Press Secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said the U.S. believes a diplomatic solution to the border tensions is still achievable and that “no one” would benefit from a new Israel-Lebanon war, which could plunge the region into fresh conflict
- Israeli troops, meanwhile, have been training for a possible incursion into southern Lebanon for several months, with “operational plans” for an offensive into Lebanon already “approved and validated,” according to the IDF.
- Hezbollah has said it will keep fighting until Israeli forces fully withdraw from Gaza. But Israel is demanding that Hezbollah pull back its forces north of the Litani River—around 18 miles north of the Israeli border—in accordance with a 2006 United Nations Security Council resolution that sought to end the last major clash between the two sides.
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Important Takeaways:
- The U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on Thursday allowing abortions for women facing medical emergencies in Idaho – for now – despite the state’s near-total ban on the procedure does nothing to lift the confusion in many states surrounding when emergency abortions are permissible, according to legal experts.
- The case is one of several around the United States over when abortion is legally available in medical emergencies under exceptions to state abortion bans.
- Doctors have said that they are unable to perform abortions that they believe are medically necessary for fear of prosecution because it is not clear what is allowed
- In Thursday’s order, the Supreme Court found it should not have agreed to hear the case in the first place because lower courts needed more time to work through factual and legal issues, and dismissed it – restoring the judge’s order blocking the law while the case proceeds.
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Important Takeaways:
- Gardeners in southern California made a chilling discovery outside a family’s home just a week after the same strange item was found in another yard.
- The recording device was found pointing at the single-family home, hidden under a landscaped area of the front yard.
- It was covered in camouflage tape and hidden amongst plants, the police said.
- Cops have urgently warned homeowners to survey their properties as hidden cameras linked to ‘burglary tourism’ are on the rise in crime-ravaged Southern California.
- ‘These cameras are strategically placed in discrete areas, such as bushes, to allow thieves to gather information about homeowners’ daily routines to burglarize their homes.’
- ‘Burglary tourism’ involves foreign nationals entering the United States using tourist visas to commit burglaries, Glendale PD Sgt. Vahe Abramyan reiterated last month.
- ‘They’ll commit these crimes, they’ll use different identities, things like that and eventually they’ll go back to their home country.
- The thieves typically then ship the items they steal back to their home countries or sell the items before leaving, both cops said.
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