"Gone are rules banning a wide swath of gas stoves. Gone are the strict water standards governing dishwashers and shower heads. And gone is the government-wide effort to force electrification of the economy through appliance regulations. It is all part of a historic action the Trump administration announced Monday, reversing dozens of energy regulations, saving consumers more than $11 billion, and cutting more than 125,000 words from the United States Code of Regulations.

"As part of the Department of Energy's sweeping action unveiled Monday, it will rescind dozens of energy efficiency regulations targeting common household appliances that the Biden administration issued as part of its climate agenda. That includes rules restricting sales of certain types of gas-powered stoves and ovens in addition to microwaves, clothes washers, dishwashers, faucets, shower heads, and dehumidifiers.

"'It should not be the government's place to decide what kind of appliances you or your restaurants or your businesses can buy,' Energy Secretary Chris Wright told the Washington Free Beacon earlier this month. 'Everybody wants clean air and wants to lower their energy costs and run their factories good as they can. The big hand of government doesn't actually help that process at all.'"

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"The U.S. is on the brink of a tax nightmare, with Democrats pushing the largest tax increase in history.

"President Trump's signature legislation from his first term, the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, is set to expire at the end of the year, and Democrats are united in their efforts to end this successful policy and implement an automatic $4.5 trillion tax increase.

"Republicans were elected up and down the ballot in 2024 with a mandate to end the lunacy of Bidenomics and make America competitive again. This means enacting bold tax reforms that go beyond simply extending the Trump tax cuts and -- most importantly -- preventing any tax hikes. Trump recently reminded Republicans that they cannot repeat the same mistakes that sank previous administrations. A tax increase of any kind would ruin any chance of success in 2026 for the Republicans as would failure to go beyond the tax cuts.

"The tax cuts expire on Dec. 31. If Congress does nothing, an automatic $4.5 trillion Democratic tax hike will land squarely on working families, many of whom are already struggling under lingering Biden-era inflation. Less than a year from now, the average taxpayer could see a 22 percent tax hike. For a working family of four, that's a $1,700 tax increase."

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"Democrats are blasting former President Biden's reemergence in the spotlight following his interview Thursday on 'The View,' his second major post-presidency interview.

During the sit-down, which took place alongside former first lady Jill Biden, Biden slammed President Trump's second administration, saying he's had 'the worst 100 days any president's ever had.' The former president also denied reports of his mental decline during his term and took responsibility for Democratic losses in 2024, telling the show's hosts, 'I was in charge and he won.'

But some Democrats are criticizing Biden's recent appearances, arguing the former president is becoming a drag on the party as it seeks to rebuild following its widespread losses in 2024."

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"The Biden administration authorized federal law enforcement four years ago to target Americans engaged in 'concerning non-criminal behavior' in the name of fighting domestic terrorism, with a specific eye on those serving in the military, owning firearms, or spreading what officials considered to be 'xenophobic' disinformation, according to newly declassified documents.

"The stunning breadth of the mandate was disclosed when Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard recently released a fully unredacted version of the prior administration's 'Strategic Implementation Plan for Countering Domestic Terrorism.'

"The June 2021 memo exposed for the first time the law enforcement and intelligence framework that led the FBI to monitor and probe conservative Catholics and parents who protested against some school board policies and justified Homeland Security to engage in censorship or debanking of Americans the administration considered to be potential enemies of the state."

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"The Taliban took in $3.4 billion in revenue over the last year, boosting its cash supply by 14 percent amid the return of Afghanistan as a central safe haven for terrorist organizations across the Middle East, according to a U.S. government watchdog group.

"The repercussions of the Biden administration's disastrous 2021 military withdrawal from Afghanistan continue to reverberate across the war-torn country, with multiple al Qaeda affiliates accessing American-supplied 'weapons seized from the former Afghan National Army,' according to a new oversight report by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR).

"The United States left 78 aircraft, 40,000 military vehicles, and over 300,000 weapons in Afghanistan in a withdrawal that saw 13 American service members lose their lives. According to the SIGAR report -- which the watchdog group delivered to Congress on April 30 -- the Taliban transferred many of these arms directly to terrorist affiliates, while others made their way to the black market."

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"On Monday The Washington Post announced that it won a Pulitzer Prize in the breaking news category for its coverage of the July 13, 2024, attempted assassination of Donald Trump.

"The 'coverage' in question?

"That Trump was 'taken away after loud noises at rally,' according to a July 13 headline.

"According to the Post's self-congratulatory write-up on its award, WaPo's 'live-updates file' -- from which the aforementioned headline came -- earned the paper what was once journalism's top honor, the Pulitzer."

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"For years, would-be higher-education reformers have warned that America's higher education crisis -- soaring tuition, crippling student debt, and weak learning was rooted in a dangerous myth: every high school graduate should go to college.

"In 2025, the proof is glaring. Public confidence in colleges has crashed to 36%, down from 57% in 2015. The college-for-all dream, though well-intentioned, has inflated costs, buried millions in debt, and watered down education. Built on sand, its reputation is collapsing before us."

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"The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) has released the results of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) for the 2024 school year. Known as the 'Nation's Report Card,' NAEP assesses the reading and math skills of America's fourth and eighth graders. The latest report reveals something surprising: after adjusting for demographics, the reading and math scores of students in Mississippi and Louisiana, two heavily Republican states and among the poorest in the nation, have surpassed those in deeply Democratic states such as California and New York.

"The secret of Mississippi and Louisiana's educational success is not secret at all; it is about returning to the fundamentals and following the evidence. Mississippi's Republican-led legislature has implemented effective education reforms in 2012 that prioritize phonics -- teaching students to sound out words -- and enforce a retention policy for third graders who do not meet essential reading benchmarks. Furthermore, the state invests $15 million each year, or approximately $32 per student, into training teachers on literacy and providing dedicated reading coaches in schools.

"The reform has produced remarkable results, with Mississippi's fourth graders' reading scores rising from 49th in the nation in 2013 to the top of the rankings (after adjusting for demographics) in 2024. The progress among black students is particularly impressive. According to Republican Gov. Tate Reeves, the reading scores of the state's black fourth graders have improved from 45th to third place during the same period. This reflects the effectiveness of Mississippi's literacy program, which has provided a learning gain equivalent to a full year of schooling. Moreover, the state's graduation rate has seen a significant rise from 72 percent in 2013 to 89.9 percent in 2024.

"This drastic improvement has been dubbed as the 'Mississippi Miracle,' and even caught the attention of Vice President J.D. Vance, who praised Mississippi's education success on X.com: 'This is pretty incredible. Smart education reform drastically improved Mississippi's schools.'"

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"The Anti-Defamation League recently asked people in 103 countries whether they agreed with 11 antisemitic statements including: 'Jews are responsible for most of the world's wars,' 'Jews have a lot of irritating faults,' 'Jews have too much control over the media,' and 'Jews' loyalty is only to Israel.'

"The ADL Global 100 survey for 2024 classified almost half of respondents as 'possessing antisemitic attitudes' because they agreed with at least six of the 11 statements.

"Of course, an average that high means that in some places, the percentage stands considerably higher: 92% in Saudi Arabia, 62% in Russia, 58% in China, and the highest level, at 97%, in the West Bank and Gaza.

"Another ADL survey polled 4,143 Americans in January 2024, finding that 24% embraced at least six antisemitic sentiments."

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"It wasn't long ago that a California governor made it clear that oil refineries were not welcome in his state. Then another California governor asked regulators to loosen the chains on refineries to ensure that they will be profitable and remain in the state that every day burns an enormous volume of gasoline.

"Actually, it is the same governor, one who has turned his attention from playing to his hard-left, blue-state constituency to shifting toward the middle for a 2028 White House run.

"It was just last summer when Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a 'plan to prevent Big Oil "profit spikes"' that would also 'save Californians money at the pump.' He groused about refiners 'playing games to earn even more profits' and vowed to force them to 'act responsibly.'

"Two months later, he signed a bill that is intended to limit 'higher profits for the industry.' Within hours, Phillips 66 said that it was closing its Los Angeles refinery complex."

Read the entire article here.