PrairiePundit

 Wall Street Journal: Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker shrugged last year after several high-profile corporations left his state. “Countless companies are choosing Illinois as their home,” Mr. Pritzker said. Then why does a new Internal Revenue Service report show an accelerating taxpayer exodus from Illinois and other high-tax states? The IRS each spring publishes data on the movement of adjusted gross income (AGI) and taxpayers across state lines from year to year. Some Democratic Governors such as Mr. Pritzker claimed that the 2020 Census undercounted their state populations, but the IRS data shows blue states are losing taxpayers and income at an increasing clip.... ... The IRS data shows a net 105,000 people left Illinois in 2021, taking with them some $10.9 billion in AGI. That’s up from $8.5 billion in 2020 and $6 billion in 2019. New York’s income loss increased to $24.5 billion in 2021 from $19.5 billion in 2020 and $9 billion in 2019. California lost $29.1 billion in 2021, mor...

 Fox News: A Missouri judge on Thursday moved to hold a George Soros-bankrolled prosecutor in "indirect criminal contempt" after she and her subordinates failed to show up for multiple court dates, lambasting her office as a "rudderless ship of chaos." Judge Michael Noble announced he will appoint a special prosecutor to oversee the contempt case against St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kimberly Gardner, the city's top prosecutor , and Assistant Circuit Attorney Chris Desilets after no one from Gardner's office appeared at a trial and subsequent hearing in an assault case involving the wounding of an 11-year-old girl. "It appears that Ms. Gardner has complete indifference and a conscious disregard for the judicial process," Noble said during a hearing to address the no-shows. "There is sufficient evidence of disdain and disrespect for the judicial process to determine that both Ms. Gardner and Mr. Desilets' conduct support a finding of indirect...

 Breitbart: Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) is calling on the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to launch a “full-scale” investigation into the whereabouts of 85,000 migrant children who have been released into the United States under President Joe Biden but whom the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has lost all contact with. Since Biden took office, HHS officials have lost contact with  some 85,000  Unaccompanied Alien Children (UACs) released to adult sponsors after arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border. At the same time, Biden officials have reportedly  ignored  warnings that many UACs are ending up in a widespread  labor trafficking pipeline  as well as sex trafficking. ... The Biden administration is morally responsible for their fate. The President lifted Title 42 restrictions on unaccompanied children in early 2021.  Reporting reveals that HHS loosened vetting processes for sponsors and retaliated against whistleblowers who raised the...

 Western Journal: ... Attorneys representing the son of President Joe Biden urged Batesville Judge Holly Meyer to soften her previous decision ordering their client’s appearance. But instead of allowing for Biden’s remote participation, Meyer ordered him to “physically appear” for all of his court dates from this point forward — beginning with a hearing on Monday. According to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette , the original order for Biden to appear came on April 24. Biden’s ongoing court appearances revolve around a paternity dispute with former stripper Lunden Roberts over their 4-year-old daughter. ... The young girl was confirmed to be Biden’s in 2020, and he soon reached a deal to begin making child support payments. Two years later, he attempted to adjust the payments. The May 1 hearing is expected to involve partly the issue of an expert witness on Hunter Biden’s laptop, a key piece of evidence that Roberts’ lawyers argue holds critical information about the financials of the ...

 Just the News: Nearly 9 in 10 in new poll hold feds responsible for border crisis, most expect states to fix Among Republicans, 91% in Trafalgar survey said it was the federal government's responsibility. Surprisingly, only slightly fewer Democrats, 83%, gave the same response. Texas has already been taking action leading migrants to go into the three other border states, New Mexico, Arizona, and California.  Some migrants are also going to Canada first to migrate to northern states. See, also: Crenshaw won't support 'crazy' GOP border legislation that 'doesn't address the cartels' ... "It doesn't talk about the cartels," he added. "So the people who have operational control of the border, the people who are killing 80,000 Americans a year by trafficking fentanyl through the border — are completely unaddressed in this bill. This is something we've brought up to leadership many times over the past few months as they've gone over th...

Washington Post: Key nations sit out U.S. standoff with Russia and China, leaks show THE DISCORD LEAKS | The leaked intelligence findings, which have not been previously disclosed, illustrate how emerging nations’ bid to duck the power showdown between Washington, Moscow and Beijing has put President Biden’s global agenda at risk. Biden's lack of leadership is also exposed at home where he is polling in the 30s. 

 NY Times: They Refused to Fight for Russia. The Law Did Not Treat Them Kindly. Since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, hundreds of Russian men have faced criminal charges for avoiding battle. It has not stopped others from doing the same. Thousands have left the country and of those who remained hundreds have made a "farewell to arms."   The war with Ukraine is one of the most absurd wars in recent memory.  Ukraine was never a threat to Russia.  Putin just wanted to reconstitute the Soviet empire.  See, also: Fire breaks out in sanctioned Russia's factory manufacturing MLRS

 Fox News: The Biden administration is under fire for regulatory proposals critics have warned could serve as a backdoor attack on hunting and could lead to more aggressive measures targeting hunting. According to experts and hunting industry officials, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) is expected to publish draft hunting guidelines that would substantially curb the type of equipment sportsmen are allowed to use on federal refuge properties. The guidelines are, among other provisions, expected to expand the refuge area where cost-effective lead ammunition and fishing tackle will be banned. "Raising the cost of hunting, raising the cost of fishing and raising the cost of our crowd doing their thing is objective number one, without a doubt, because they know if you make it more expensive, less people will do it," Todd Adkins, the vice president of government affairs for the Sportsmen’s Alliance, a pro-hunting group, told Fox News Digital in an interview. "When it...

 Fox Business: After American billionaire Ray Dalio returned from his China trip with grim warnings, policy experts are chiming in on "the scale of the threat" the Communist Chinese Party poses to national security. Through his LinkedIn profile, Dalio published an article focusing on the "great power conflict" and what’s going on with China. He claimed the piece is informed by two recent visits to Beijing where he spent a total of 13 days. "The United States and China are on the brink of war and are beyond the ability to talk," Dalio wrote. "I want to emphasize that by saying that they are on the brink, I don’t mean to say that they will necessarily go over the brink. I mean to say that they are very close to crossing red lines that, if crossed, will irrevocably push them over the brink into some type of war that damages these two countries and causes damage to the world order in severe and irrevocable ways — like Russia’s invasion of Ukraine did fo...

 ISW: Wagner Group financier Yevgeny Prigozhin threatened to withdraw Wagner forces from Bakhmut if the Russian military command fails to provide more ammunition to the Wagner mercenaries. Prigozhin stated in an interview with a Kremlin-affiliated milblogger on April 29 that the Wagner mercenaries will continue to fight in Bakhmut but will need to “withdraw in an organized manner or stay and die” if the situation does immediately not improve.[1] Prigozhin stated that Wagner needs about 80,000 shells per day — its previous shell allowance prior to apparent Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) efforts to reduce Wagner’s influence. Prigozhin added that Wagner is only receiving 800 of the 4,000 shells per day that it is currently requesting. Prigozhin claimed that Wagner and Deputy Commander of Russian Forces in Ukraine Army General Sergei Surovikin developed a plan to “grind” the Ukrainian forces in Bakhmut that deprived Ukraine of its initiative on the battlefield. Prigozhin’s mention o...

 Chicago Tribune: Tenfold surge in migrants arriving in Chicago fuels crisis, aldermen told, as families sleep in police stations: ‘This is unacceptable’ Biden's failure to secure the border is having an impact beyond the border states.  See, also: 5/11: As many as a million migrants mass at the U.S. border for illegal entry -lawmaker

 Military.com: The Marine Corps ' top general expressed serious regrets over the fact that Marines were not available to help in two major crises in recent months because of a lack of available Navy ships to position units in nearby waters. "Places like Turkey or, the last couple of weeks, in Sudan -- I feel like I let down the combatant commander," Commandant Gen. David Berger told members of the House Armed Services Committee on Friday. "[Gen. Michael Langley] didn't have a sea-based option -- that's how we reinforce embassies, that's how we evacuate them," Berger added, referring to the head of U.S. Africa Command . The remarks come amid a growing debate in the halls of Congress over how the Navy is meeting the legal requirement to operate 31 amphibious ships for the Marines, designed to be used as maritime operations hubs. Corps leaders and even lower-ranking officers have been stressing that they need those ships at sea to fulfill their mission...

 Power Line: Democrats have mostly given up on denying that Joe Biden is suffering from an advanced stage of dementia. Their strategy, as exemplified by their mouthpiece the New York Times, has shifted to a defense of senility. Do we need a mentally competent president? Nah. This morning’s  Times email , which is curated by David Leonhardt, the Times’s “senior writer” who writes for “The Times’s flagship daily newsletter,” said this morning: Strange as it may sound, the American government can function without a healthy president. Hey, Edith Wilson did a great job! The issue that makes many Democrats even more anxious than Biden’s second-term capabilities is whether his age will prevent him from winning a second term. If enough voters are turned off by the idea of a president who would turn 86 in office, Republicans might win full control of the federal government in 2024 — and Donald Trump might return to the White House. I know that it may seem crass for Democrats to worry m...

 Trending Politics: Republican Rep. James Comer has accused Joe Biden’s legal team of threatening witnesses who were set to testify in an ongoing investigation into Hunter Biden’s business dealings. During an interview, Comer spoke about the pressure that has been placed on witnesses in his district, saying, “We’ve got witnesses that are scared to death to come forward. They fear for their lives.” He also mentioned that banks that had worked with his investigation were being squeezed by high-ranking officials in the Democrat Party for complying with subpoenas. ... Comer went on to express his disappointment with the way the attorneys have been behaving, adding that they are “testing the limits with respect to witness intimidation.” He also accused Jamie Raskin, a Democrat representative from Maryland, of serving as an attorney for the Biden family, saying, “He was all about investigating and impeaching Donald Trump. But then evidence emerges, thanks to us, about wrongdoing within t...

 FoxNews: Texas state authorities working with Austin police on Thursday seized a cache of deadly drugs and multiple firearms headed for Mexico. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott attributed the seizure to the partnership between the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) and the Austin Police – a collaboration that drew some protest when it was first announced last month. Abbott said the discovery came after DPS Special Agents assigned to the Austin Violent Crimes Task Force (AVCTF) observed a drug deal and made a felony arrest. An investigation led to DPS’ SWAT unit executing a search warrant. The agents seized more than half-a-million lethal doses of fentanyl – or enough to kill roughly half of Austinites. The agents found methamphetamine, cocaine, and heroin that had been smuggled in from Mexico. DPS Special Agents also found thermal infrared binoculars, ballistic vests, ammunition, and a range of firearms – some of which had been stolen – that were bound for Mexico. ... The DPS got inv...

 NY Post: Murders jumped 10% since 2021 in major Democrat-led US cities thanks to soft-on-crime policies: study The murder rates in major US Cities have soared more than 10% in the past two years — with most homicides occurring in Democratic areas with soft-on-crime policies. In a study released by WalletHub Wednesday, researchers found that Memphis, Tennesse; New Orleans, Louisana; Richmond, Virginia; Washington, DC; and Detroit, Michigan are suffering from the biggest homicide rate problems. All five cities are led by left-wing mayors. After comparing the rise in murder rates in 45 of the country’s most populated cities between 2021 and 2023, scholars noticed that killings were rising faster in Democrat-led cities than in their Republican counterparts. ... It should also be noted that defunding the cops has been a contributor to the increase in crime.  Why Democrats push such a ridiculous policy is inexplicable.

 I&I: In one of the most memorable presidential debate moments, Ronald Reagan asked voters if they were better off in 1980 than they were when Jimmy Carter was elected in 1976. The obvious answer was, for most, a resounding “no.” Whoever runs against the Democratic nominee next year needs to bring back that question, because it’s a certainty that in the fall of 2024, we’ll still be worse off than we were in pre-pandemic 2020. And for that, we can thank, or rather blame, Joe Biden. In a poll taken earlier this year, 41% of Americans said they were  financially worse off  than they were two years earlier when Biden took office, the highest number in “ABC News/Washington Post polls dating back 37 years.” Only 16% said they were better off, the lowest number since 2009, when only 8% said their financial situations were better. At roughly the same time in Donald Trump’s term, only 13% said they were worse off than when he became president while a quarter said their finance...

 Political Insider: Cruz Mocks Biden Admin for Pushing All Electric Military Vehicles: Hopefully Our Enemies Will Be Nice Enough to Install Charging Stations ...   ... The Biden Big Green agenda is a clear and present danger to US national security. 

 Breitbart: On Friday’s broadcast of HBO’s “Real Time,” Twitter CEO Elon Musk stated that the anti-meritocratic and anti-free speech aspects of “the woke mind virus” are dangerous to society and that the “woke mind virus” is due to “the amount of indoctrination that’s happening in schools and universities” that is “far beyond what parents realize.” Host Bill Maher asked, “You have talked about this woke mind virus in really apocalyptic terms. I don’t — you should explain why you don’t think it’s hyperbole to say things like it’s pushing civilization towards suicide. First of all, what is the woke mind virus? And if we don’t deal with this, nothing else can get done. Tell me why you think that.” Musk answered, “I think we need to be very cautious about anything that is anti-meritocratic and anything that results in the suppression of free speech. So, those are two of the aspects of the woke mind virus that I think are very dangerous, is that it’s often very anti-meritocratic, and yo...

 Washington Post: As fentanyl crisis grows, U.S.-Mexico divide deepens Mexico’s president denies the opioid is produced in his country. U.S. Republicans want to send troops across the border to attack the labs. It is not clear why the Mexican president is siding with the cartels in the distribution of Fentanyl into the US.  Donald Trump considered missile attacks on the cartel labs responsible for killing more Americans than lives lost in the Vietnam War.  What is clear is that Mexico has little interest in stopping the trade. See, also: Texas conservatives, activists to hold rally calling for tougher border bill to repel migrant ‘invasion’

 Fox News: Texas shooting leaves 5 dead, including 8-year-old; manhunt underway San Jacinto County, Texas sheriff says 5 shooting victims were from Honduras, suspect is a Mexican male The San Jacinto County Sheriff’s Office responded to a call for "harassment" around midnight and discovered five people had been shot at a property at the 100 block of Walters Road in the Trails End area of Cleveland, about 50 miles north of Houston. A SWAT unit from neighboring Montgomery County arrived to assist and cleared several properties near to the crime scene. The shooter was determined to have fled the county. Four people were pronounced dead at the scene and one victim was airlifted in critical condition to a local trauma center. The victim died at the hospital. Three other victims were taken to the hospital "covered in blood," according to the sheriff's office. It was not clear if they were injured or if the blood belonged to the other victims. Sheriff Greg Capers told...

 ISW: ... The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) Shandong aircraft carrier strike group conducted exercises in the Philippine Sea from April 13 to April 24, likely to maintain operational readiness and demonstrate the ability to isolate the Philippines during Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang’s visit. The exercises were a continuation of the carrier strike group’s activity in early April closer to Taiwan in the response to Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen meeting with Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy. The carrier strike group was comprised of the Shandong, a Renhai-class destroyer, two Luyang III-class destroyers, two Jiangkai II-class frigate, and a Fuyu-class support ship. [9] This is the first time the Shandong conducted exercises in the Philippine Sea since commissioning in December 2019. [10] The ROC Ministry of National Defense (MND) subsequently detected the group on its return voyage 120 nautical miles southeast of Taiwan. [11...

 ISW: ... Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on April 27 codifying conditions for the further large-scale deportation to Russia of residents of occupied areas of Ukraine. Putin signed a decree entitled “On the Peculiarities of the Legal Status of Certain Categories of Foreign Citizens and Stateless Persons in the Russian Federation” that defines those who are living in Russian-occupied territories who have declared their desire to retain their current citizenship and refuse to accept Russian passports as “foreign citizens and stateless persons currently residing in the Russian Federation.”[8] The decree holds that such individuals may continue to reside in occupied territories until July 1, 2024, suggesting that these individuals may be subject to deportation following this date.[9] This decree codifies coercive methods to encourage residents of occupied areas to receive Russian passports and also sets conditions for the deportation of Ukrainians who do not agree to b...

Fox News:  GOP bill would repeal Biden policy forcing people with good credit to subsidize high-risk mortgages Rep. Stephanie Bice, vice chair of the Main Street Caucus, unveiled the legislation Wednesday I suspect there are a lot of Democrats who also don't want to subsidize people with poor credit.  I know that I do not. 

  American Action News: Ten major liberal environmentalist groups have been caught lobbying Congress to allow the importation of illegal Communist Chinese solar panels made with slave labor. In 2021 Congress passed legislation outlawing the importation of solar panels made in Communist China by slaves in Uyghur detention camps, which Communist China evaded by laundering the panels through shell companies in other countries. In addition, the Trump administration placed a tariff on slave labor-made solar products. As part of President Joe Biden’s “green energy” agenda, that tariff was repealed and Communist China was allowed to continue importing slave labor “green energy.” Congress responded by introducing a Congressional Review Act resolution overturning Biden’s order and reinstating the tariff, which quickly drew the ire of major environmentalist groups, who rely on Chinese slave labor to make so-called “green energy” products, which rely heavily on heavy toxic metal from pollutin...

 Moneywise: ... Roughly 80% of Americans name “costs” and the “availability of charging stations” as their EV biggest concerns. There are only 53,000 electric charging stations in the U.S. compared to 145,000 gas stations, according to the World Economic Forum. Charging an EV is substantially more time consuming, which explains why charging stations need to exceed gas stations for comparable availability. Reliability ranks as another key issue. Drivers seldom have to worry about their local gas station being out of service – but one-fourth of charging stations tested by climate advocacy group Cool the Earth didn’t function. Resolving these issues could take years, which means the Biden Administration’s target of 67% EV adoption is likely unrealistic. It also means gas-powered vehicles and fossil fuels are here to stay for the foreseeable future. The petroleum sector is under appreciated by many investors, which could create bargain opportunities. ... I am with the 80 % when it come...

 Victor Davis Hanson: ... In other words, Dominion walked away with hundreds of millions of dollars on the accusation that some raving guests and a few Fox journalists insinuated, falsely, that the machines had thrown the election to Joe Biden. Yet no one argues that such post facto accusations influenced the election. The postelection dispute instead was over whether a news organization was responsible for all that its hundreds of guests and hosts say that proved later to be not substantiated, false, or defamatory. Fox settled with Dominion reportedly to avoid messy revelations of its internal texts and to stop the hemorrhaging of its brand. But by doing so, the network may have inadvertently set a dubious standard that any speculative opinion, voiced in public media, however nutty and later proven to be inaccurate, will be actionable. If that is the standard, we are going to see a lot more costly lawsuits. Compare Dominion’s writ with the twin “Russian collusion” and “Russian dis...

 Power Line: Nearly every time Vice President Kamala Harris speaks to the public, the occasion ends with a humiliating and viral sound bite. And this time was no exception. In her first public appearance since President Biden’s re-election announcement, Harris delivered remarks at an abortion rights rally at her alma mater, Howard University, in Washington D.C. on Tuesday. Describing the significance of the moment, Harris told the crowd: So I think it’s very important, as you have heard from so many incredible leaders for us at every moment in time and certainly this one, to see the moment in time in which we exist and are present, and to be able to contextualize it, to understand where we exist in the history and in the moment as it relates not only to the past but the future. ...   What is remarkable is the frequency with which these occasions occur. Last month, at a White House event commemorating Women’s History Month, Harris said, “So, during Women’s History Month, w...

 Margot Cleveland: 8 Ways Government Shielded Joe Biden From The ‘Laptop From Hell’ While team Biden lying about ‘Russian disinfo’ is dirty politics, government’s assistance in burying the scandal is election interference. It was clearly a part of a coordinated effort to rig the 2020 election and the results have been terrible for America.  I suspect that those in government who were responsible for this information operation wanted to defeat Trump and the Republicans.  The GOP House should be investigating those responsible for the operation and finding a way to deal with them.    

 Washington Examiner: Lawmakers at both the federal and state level are seeking to “blacklist” or otherwise crack down on Chinese ownership of U.S. farmland, including but not limited to land near U.S. military bases. The February shootdown of a Chinese spy balloon off the Atlantic coast after it traversed the continental United States, along with Chinese purchases of land near U.S. military bases in Texas and North Dakota, helped crystallize the China challenge but also highlighted U.S. weaknesses and significant gaps in tracking and addressing it. WHO OWNS AMERICA? SHORTCOMINGS IN CHINESE FOREIGN OWNERSHIP DATA Chinese investors owned just 69,295 acres of American land at the end of 2011, according to the Department of Agriculture, but by the end of 2021, Chinese investors controlled 383,935 acres. A flurry of federal legislation to limit Chinese ownership has been introduced recently, much of it led by Republicans in the House and Senate but with some Democratic support....

 Washington Post: California shifts to an experiment in coercion to treat the homeless A new court system seeks to find a middle road between jail and ignoring the mentally ill, many of whom live on the streets. It appears to have abandoned facilities for the mentally ill with more of them living on the streets.  I suspect drug addiction in California has contributed to the problem.  See, also: Gov. Newsom sends National Guard and CHP to tackle San Francisco's fentanyl crisis

 NY Times: Large-Scale Russian Attack on Ukraine Kills at Least 19 People Missiles and drones were used to target cities across the country. Most of the strikes were intercepted, officials said, including a cluster aimed at Kyiv. Russia's attacks on Ukraine continue to make little sense.  Targeting civilians is unlikely to make Ukraine accept Russian domination.  It will not result in Russia reimposing the Soviet empire that collapsed.