TYLER O’NEIL: Trump Finally Reverses Biden’s Travel Ban on Prominent Soros Critic.

An outspoken opponent of Hungarian American megadonor George Soros can finally visit the United States after the Biden administration banned him in 2021, accusing him of corruption.

Sali Berisha, former prime minister of Albania and head of the Albanian opposition party in an election Sunday, accused Soros and current Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama of conspiring with Secretary of State Antony Blinken to prevent him from visiting the U.S. When then-Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y., pressed Blinken for evidence of Berisha’s alleged corruption, the State Department stonewalled him, Zeldin said.

Berisha, who served as Albania’s president from 1992 to 1997 and as prime minister from 2005 to 2013, originally welcomed Soros’ investments into Albania but has opposed Soros’ efforts for decades.

The full headline includes the question, “WAS SOROS INVOLVED?”

With a possible answer to that, here’s DataRepublican (small r) last week:

This question pops up in my comments a lot. The answer is simple: Republicans and Democrats work with him.

The references I found were not from some random academic journal. Over 30 direct mentions of Soros or his NGOs appeared in the Journal of Democracy. It’s the flagship journal of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), the same organization featured prominently in that widely circulated “Uniparty NGO” network diagrams below.

NED is a U.S. government-funded outfit. It includes currently sitting members of Congress on its board… from both parties, not just former officials.

Soros’s involvement is deep. He has co-chaired NED conferences abroad and his Open Society NGOs regularly partner with NED operations, especially in countries undergoing “transitions” (read: regime change or soft power penetration). Together, Soros and US-backed NGOs have shaped funding pipelines, media narratives, and even foreign electoral strategies.

So when people ask, “Why isn’t Soros banned?” … they need to understand: he’s not an outsider. He’s part of our government. The Uniparty protects and partners with him, because he helps carry out a shared foreign policy vision… the same one that labels President Trump as a threat to democracy.

Much more at DR’s X thread.

THEY’RE FLAILING: MSNBC Bet Big on Jen Psaki’s New Prime-Time Show. They’re Losing.

HEH:

Anti-gay hate crimes recorded by police in 2023:

Saudi Arabia: 0
Pakistan: 0
Yemen: 0
Brunei: 0
Somalia: 0
Afghanistan: 0
USA: 2402

And you’re telling me it’s the Islamic states that are homophobic? 🤦🏽‍♀️

— Titania McGrath (@TitaniaMcGrath) May 9, 2025

Related? One-Third of American Cities No Longer Report Crime Statistics to the FBI.

No report, no problem.

NEWS YOU CAN USE: A stadium-sized asteroid will fly past Earth on May 9, and you can watch it live.

FLORIDA MAN FRIDAY [VIP]: Driving While Drunk and Waving Guns. “It’s time for your much-needed break from the serious news, and this week, we learn what not to wave around in the car when you’re driving drunk, how to rescue a baby owl, and what not to give a raccoon in Ohio.”

XI’S GOTTA HAVE IT: China’s latest stimulus measures fail to impress as investors focus on U.S. trade talks.

EVEN WITH A SCORECARD, I CAN’T KEEP UP: Trump Wants 80% Tariffs on U.S.-Hating China.

WELL, THEY AREN’T WRONG:

Thousand of young British patriots chant "Keir Starmer’s a Wanker"

He has completely lost the youth. pic.twitter.com/WDYW0k3VyO

— Inevitable West (@Inevitablewest) May 9, 2025

INDEED: Pro-Hamas Protesters Finding Out that 2025 Is Not 2024.

NICK BOSTROM, CALL YOUR OFFICE: Gravity could be the definitive clue that the universe is one giant computer.

SARAH HOYT’S SHOCKED FACE IS RESTING COMFORTABLY: Iran Is Hiding a Nuclear Weapons Development Site: Report.

WHIPLASH: US weighs plan to slash China tariffs to as low as 50% — down from 145% — as soon as next week.

The Trump administration is weighing a plan to slash the 145% tariff on Chinese imports by more than half — effective as soon as next week — as top US and China officials head to Switzerland for high-level trade negotiations, The Post has learned.

Specifically, US officials are discussing a proposal to lower President Trump’s punishing levy on China goods to between 50% and 54% as they begin what promise to be lengthy talks to hammer out a trade agreement, sources close to the negotiations said.

Meanwhile, trade taxes on neighboring south Asian countries would be cut to 25%, the source added.

“They are going to be bringing it down to 50% while the negotiations are ongoing,” the source said of the trade tax on China.

There are almost too many moving pieces in these negotiations to keep track.

THAT REALLY OUGHT TO HAVE BEEN AN EASY A: College President Flunks Test on Whether It’s Wrong to Celebrate Hamas Murders of Jews.

GLOBAL MILITARIES TO STUDY INDIA-PAKISTAN FIGHTER JET BATTLE.

The aerial clash is a rare opportunity for militaries to study the performance of pilots, fighter jets and air-to-air missiles in active combat, and use that knowledge to prepare their own air forces for battle.

Experts said the live use of advanced weapons would be analyzed across the world, including in China and the United States which are both preparing for a potential conflict over Taiwan or in the wider Indo-Pacific region.

One U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters there was high confidence that Pakistan had used the Chinese-made J-10 aircraft to launch air-to-air missiles against Indian fighter jets.

Social media posts focused on the performance of China’s PL-15 air-to-air missile against the Meteor, a radar-guided air-to-air missile produced by European group MBDA (AIR.PA), opens new tab, (BAES.L), opens new tab, (LDOF.MI), opens new tab. There has been no official confirmation these weapons were used.

“Air warfare communities in China, the U.S. and a number of European countries will be extremely interested to try and get as much ground truth as they can on tactics, techniques, procedures, what kit was used, what worked and what didn’t,” said Douglas Barrie, senior fellow for military aerospace at the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

“You have arguably China’s most capable weapon against the West’s most capable weapon, if indeed it was being carried; we don’t know that,” Barrie said.

I don’t think anybody really considers the French-built Rafale to be “the West’s most capable weapon.”

But the point stands about Chinese jets and missiles — the days of China making nothing but cheap copies are long over.

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: You Know, a Letitia James Perp Walk Sure Would Be Fun to See. “The big difference between the current Department of Justice and the previous one is that it’s actually going after people who have broken the law, rather than just making things up to persecute political enemies. The Dems don’t see it that way, of course. They say that Trump is weaponizing the DOJ. They are known for their projection issues.”

HMM: Trump eying Fox News host Jeanine Pirro for top prosecutor in DC.

President Donald Trump is strongly considering installing Fox News host and former prosecutor Jeanine Pirro as interim U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.

The potential selection comes as Trump told reporters in the Oval Office Thursday that Ed Martin, who is currently serving as D.C.’s interim top prosecutor, would not be taking the position permanently after losing support among top Republicans in the Senate.

An announcement about a new interim U.S. attorney could come as soon as Thursday, sources said. Sources caution that plans could always change and a decision is never final until publicly announced by the president.

She’d be good, but can she get past Sen. Thom Tillis?

Oh, and kudos to Tillis for his promotion by ABC News to “top Republicans in the Senate.”

ICYMI [VIP]: Thursday Essay: Skynet Might Be Fiction, But It’s Coming for Our Jobs. “Please note that Europe and the UK — which gave us the Industrial Revolution, Adam Smith, English liberty, and the World Wide Web — aren’t even in the running. By the time the European Commission on the Correct Use of Foreign Things We Don’t Like But Still Need convenes its Third Plenary Discussion on Proper AI Regulation and Taxation, private firms in the U.S. and China will have made three more leaps.”

THE NEW ANTIFASCISM LOOKS AN AWFUL LOT LIKE THE OLD FASCISM: I Tried to Cover a May Day Protest. Antifascists Had a Problem With That.

Last week, I was hounded out of a protest by a pair of authoritarians opposing fascism.

Billed as a “May Day” rally on behalf of workers, the event, which began in Foley Square in downtown Manhattan, was one of dozens of such protests promoted by 50501. This one was organized by a coalition of unions and other progressive groups, including the New York City chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America. I attended the rally and had spent about an hour interviewing participants and onlookers when the trouble began.

My questioning a DSA member about the idea that private ownership was the root of our nation’s troubles had evidently aroused the suspicions of a cadre of masked, yellow-vest-clad organizers bearing arrow signs reading “Right-Wing Troll,” which they then deployed to warn any future interview subjects from speaking with me.

Two of these people followed me doggedly, eventually driving me from the event to a nearby side street, where they continued to monitor me until I eventually whipped out my phone and made a contribution to the GOP.

Heh. Read the whole thing.

WAIT, WHAT? Georgia Man Files Suit Against the NFL Over Shedeur Sanders’ Draft Slide.

YOU WOULD NEED A HEART OF STONE NOT TO LAUGH:

A source “very familiar with the Bidens” tells @MarkHalperin that “Biden Inc.,” the family business that generated millions of dollars in revenue to support their lifestyle, has dried up. “The trough is empty, the spigot is turned off,” says Mark. “Biden Inc. needs a source of… pic.twitter.com/T1CVgO7p4Z

— 2WAY (@2waytvapp) May 8, 2025

I assume Biden will still be able to pull in speaking fees but there’s some doubt about how much even sympathetic groups are willing to pay.

IT’S A GAME THE WHOLE WORLD CAN PLAY: Trump’s Not The Only One Slapping Tariffs On China.

IT’S MY THURSDAY ESSAY FOR VIP SUBSCRIBERS: Skynet Might Be Fiction, But It’s Coming for Our Jobs “Listen, and understand! That Terminator is out there! It can’t be bargained with. It can’t be reasoned with. It doesn’t feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop… EVER, until your job has been fully automated!”

ACTUALLY, YES YOU DO NEED TO EXPLAIN — IDEALLY TO A PROSECUTOR:

Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett says she doesn't have to explain why her family has been cashing their dead grandmother's Social Security checks since 2004.

"Our family business is our family business."

Sure. Until your family business is defrauding the taxpayer,

DOGE has… pic.twitter.com/73IYjJcW23

— Texas 🇺🇸 (@MustangMan_TX) May 8, 2025

ART OF THE DEAL: Where’s the Beef? It’s in Trump’s Unprecedented Trade Deal With Britain.

GOOD QUESTION: How Can You Be a Cop in a City That Hates You?

There might be no city in America that monitors its police force more than Chicago. There are at least six oversight agencies scrutinizing the department’s every move. There are even 22 civilian councils—one for each police district—tasked with moving grievances up the chain. Plus, noncitizens—“regardless of immigration status”—get to contribute their “perspectives and experiences” through a first-of-its-kind Noncitizen Advisory Council. Then there is the fact that since 2019, the department has been under a 236-page federal consent decree. That followed a lawsuit won by Black Lives Matter Chicago and other activist groups.

A lawyer who helped represent BLM Chicago told me the group has a “direct role in shaping oversight” of the police department’s reform process. The NAACP also has “intervention authority,” the lawyer said.

Given all of that, perhaps it is no surprise that Chicago police are struggling with a suicide rate that was more than 60 percent higher than the national average, according to a 2017 report from the Justice Department.

Through public records requests, The Free Press was able to uncover that 53 officers, including 12 retirees, have committed suicide in the past decade. The situation is much worse than previously thought, with past estimates putting the figure at “more than 30 police employees.” The Policemen’s Annuity and Benefit Fund of Chicago, which distributes police pensions, told me that one out of every five deaths they logged since 2015 was a suicide.

Read the whole thing.