The Morning Report — 4/ 21 /25

Good morning kids. Hope you all had a blessed Easter Sunday. And of course the big news this morning is that Pope Francis has died.

I want to be very careful what I write and how I phrase my thoughts because the last thing I want to do is offend my dear Catholic brothers and sisters. Regardless of the background, and it is a very checkered background indeed of this Pope, he was the head of the Catholic church, and his death coming as it does at the end of the Easter holy week, makes writing this column all the more problematic.

Yet, that said, His life and background defined who he was. And by looking at this summary of his words and actions from the invaluable Discover the Networks makes it crystal clear, and this excerpt is just the bullet point intro:

*Calls on America to welcome illegal immigrants fleeing persecution in their homelands
*Characterizes capitalism as an economic system “where the powerful feed upon the powerless,” and which leads inevitably to “the greedy exploitation of environmental resources”
*Asserts that the “inequality” inherent in capitalist economies constitutes “the root of social ills” and “eventually engenders … violence”
*Believes that “the bulk of global warming” is due to “the great concentration of greenhouse gases” generated by “human action”
*Opposes the death penalty and life-in-prison

From my perspective, until the very end he was essentially the same unreconstructed Argentinian Communist he always was. It's not that he embraced and promoted secular political causes, it's that the causes he embraced were at the forefront of a movement that sought the dismantling of the Church he was supposed to lead and antithetical to his stated beliefs about humanity, inclusiveness, justice and the lofty ideals he supposedly championed.

Most horrendous was his embrace of Islam, as Islam ramped up its ongoing 1,500-year war against infidels, including the Church all over the world and most brutally in one of the last major bastions of Catholicism and Christianity in general in the world, central Africa.

As he welcomed and embraced the most radical imams to the Vatican he made no mention of their bloody rampage, and yet insisted that the Western world and Catholics commit societal suicide by erasing their borders, destroying the greatest engine of prosperity the world will ever know, free market capitalism, and accepting the global warming/climate change lie as the excuse.

Also, his views on homosexuality and transsexualism in service to that dissolution were not merely the echoing of the sentiment of loving the sinner and hating the sin, but also as yet another assault on the Church from within. Perhaps if the Pope spent less time on demanding the faithful accept teachings antithetical to traditional Catholicism, he would have better served the faithful in defending them instead of defending the forces of darkness and evil seeking their destruction.

So an extremely flawed man who held the title of Pope has passed, and it will be up to the Lord to render His final judgement.

I certainly hope and pray that the next Pope is someone, who like John Paul II not only understands but perhaps like him at one point actually lived under the boot of and then stared down the face of evil. It would be most appropriate that Francis' successor be his diametric opposite. Given what's going on in the world today, it would be a Divine blessing, and I would be thrilled to see the cardinal from Nigeria or any from that part of Africa , whose flock has and continues to be decimated by Boko Haram and its allies be elected.

I have no idea what the internal politics are of the Vatican and college of cardinals. Given the twisted politics of far too much of the Western and putatively Christian world, insofar as the infection known as Wokism, Perhaps the best we can hope for is not another Pope Fiction, communist in Papal drag. I don't think they'll have the stones to elect someone who will be as vocal in calling out Islam as Francis was in apologizing for Islam while denouncing the advancement of Western civilization over the past two millennia.

And lastly, a quick shout-out and thank you for your continued support in hitting our tip jar. It truly is appreciated more than you can know. 

ABOVE THE FOLD, BREAKING, NOTEWORTHY
• Pope Francis, who rose from janitor to the Catholic Church’s most powerful leader by proving equally at ease with intellectuals as society’s most downtrodden, has died at age 88, the Vatican confirmed.
  POPE FRANCIS DEAD

• Clarice Feldman: The broad scope and speed of the administration’s actions have knocked the sense out of the media, the Democrats, and the judiciary. They cannot seem to process the swift and expansive range of change without making themselves look ridiculous.
  Is it Time to Ignore the Judiciary?
  
• Victor Davis Hanson: Elite universities push for federal funding while ignoring legal and ethical obligations, fueling public distrust as they prioritize ideology over academic rigor and free speech.
  Do Elite Universities Really Wish to Fight the Federal Government?

DOMESTIC AFFAIRS, THE COURTS, WASTE/FRAUD/ABUSE
• Gary Shapley was replaced after Bessent complained to President Donald Trump that Musk circumvented Bessent’s office to secure the position for Shapley, the NYT reported. The outlet cited people who said they were familiar with the situation. Shapley was a longstanding IRS agent who accused the Biden junta's Department of Justice of dragging out its probe of Hunter Biden’s tax issues.
  Hunter Biden Whistleblower Replaced As Acting IRS Commissioner Just Days Into Job
• Prior to President Donald J. Trump’s second term in office, employees at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) secured a lucrative policy allowing them to work remotely all but one day a week through an agreement between the agency and the National Treasury Employees Union. The policy received significant pushback from IRS senior leadership, who contend that excessive teleworking could hinder the agency’s ability to serve taxpayers effectively.
  A Federal Labor Arbitrator Says IRS Employees Can Continue Working from Home Four Days a Week. (fire the arbitrator - jjs)
  
• The president’s memo insists that federal agencies comply with recent Supreme Court rulings.
  Trump to Bureaucrats: Follow the Law

  THE ECONOMY, STUPID

• Trump’s reforms may hurt now, but supporters say they're necessary to prevent economic collapse from America’s $37 trillion—and growing—national debt.
  Trump Versus the Meteor
  
• Comparative advantage may work in theory, but in a world of mobile capital and asset trade, it's a recipe for national decline.
  Debunking Comparative Advantage
  
• Not in the quantity (though that is also quite bad!), but in the quality. Trade deficits hollow out and destroy a people.
  Trade Deficits Are Worse than You Think
  
• Tariffs are a blunt instrument and a scolding. America’s innovators deserve better.
  Ayn Rand’s Case against Tariffs
  
• Progress isn't instant, but it's real: factories are hiring, trade talks are moving, and our future looks brighter.
  How Trump’s tariffs are paying off for Gen Z

  
  CIVIL WAR 2.0: J-6 FBI FALSE FLAG "RIOT" & AFTERMATH, LEFTIST PERSECUTIONS, DEMOCRAT PUTSCH, AMERICAN DISSOLUTION

• It's the second arrest of a Tesla arson suspect this week.‘You Will Spend Decades Behind Bars’: FBI Arrests College Student Over Tesla Arson Attack
  
• Right before the Summer of Love, reporter Andy Ngo noted that many of the violent rioters on the streets, some of whom attacked him, were what he coined Trantifa. And now there seems to be a similar connection with Tesla attacks.
  Another Alleged Tesla Bomber Is Charged—Aaaaand He Looks Like a Girl
  
• Democrat-led 'protests' are proof that the Trump administration is on the right course.
  The Rioter Cell of the Democrat Party has been Activated
  
• “Incendiary rhetoric, purposeful disinformation — it all helped lead to this hateful and destructive act. Leaders need to be conscious of their words having consequences.”
  Cory Booker Pathetically Plays ‘Both Sides’ Game After Assassination Attempt on Josh Shapiro
  
• Is this really the start of the promised Golden Age or just the descent into another recession?
  Not in Kansas Any More
  
• About three seconds later, two police officers finally walked into the restaurant and forced the woman and the ponytailed loser guy she was with to walk away - hopefully out of the restaurant and straight to the nearest mental hospital.
  Leftist Nutjob Screams at Elderly Couple at a Restaurant Over the Man's MAGA Hat

  "BIDEN/HARRIS BORDER BLOODBATH," AMNESTY, IMMIGRATION, BORDER SECURITY

• President Donald Trump’s deputies should stop talking about the apparent criminal record of the deported Salvadoran illegal migrant, says Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD).
  Sen. Van Hollen Pleads: Stop Talking About Abrega Garcia’s Crime Links
  
• Why desperate Dems are all in on letting alleged gang member Kilmar Abrego Garcia stay in the US.
  Do Desperate Dems Really Want To Die On Illegal Immigration Hill?
  
• Public terror, economic control, attacks on authorities, and political manipulation—these tactics mark MS-13 as a terrorist force, indistinguishable from groups that weaponize fear to achieve their ends.
  MS-13: A Transnational Terrorist Threat Ravaging America
  
• Daniel Greenfield: Securing the border is the entire purpose of the military.
  If the Army Can’t be Deployed to Secure the Border, What Good Is It?
  
• The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) had been turned back by two judges prior to the Supreme Court’s emergency injunction, with associate justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissenting from the ruling, Fox News reported. The ACLU had also gone before United States District Judge James Boasberg of the District of Columbia, who held a Friday evening hearing on the matter. (RELATED: Alan Dershowitz Predicts Judge’s Threat To Appoint Prosecutor Over Deportation Flights ‘Won’t Stand)
  SCOTUS Presses Pause On Trump’s Tren De Aragua Deportations
  
• Castellanos has plead “not guilty” to charges of murder and assault on a child under 8 years old causing death, and is currently being held on a $2 million bail.
  Migrant Mom Charged With Drowning Her 7-Year-Old Daughter Was 'Depressed' Over Her Immigration Status, Fiancé Says
  
• Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), along with federal law enforcement partners, concluded a week-long operation in New York, resulting in the arrest of 206 individuals illegally residing in the U.S. The operation ran from April 6 to April 12 across New York City’s neighborhoods as well as Long Island and the Lower Hudson Valley.The agency highlighted that many of those detained have significant criminal histories, associated with offenses such as manslaughter, rape, assault, and drug trafficking. Officials specifically targeted offenders considered dangerous, some affiliated with transnational gangs like MS-13, Tren de Aragua, Sureños, and the 18th Street gangs.I
  ICE Detains HUNDREDS in Major NYC Crackdown.
  
• The Republican-led legislature passed a bill that outlawed local jurisdictions from passing ordinances that would prevent local police from working with federal immigration authorities or block federal immigration actions and funding, the Associated Press (AP) reported. (If this is not overridden, Arizona should lose its statehood - jjs)
  Arizona Dem. Gov. Hobbs Vetoes Bill Requiring Police to Cooperate with ICE

  ISRAEL vs IRAN & GAZA/HAMAS . . . AND BIDEN

• “I will not surrender to murderers.” 
  Netanyahu Vows to ‘Destroy Hamas in Gaza’ as Terrorist Group Rejects Latest Ceasefire Offer
  
• The body of a guard assigned to the American-Israeli, Edan Alexander, had been recovered from the site of a recent Israeli strike, Hamas’s armed wing the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades said in a statement.
  Hamas armed wing says fate of US-Israeli captive unknown
  
• 'The Treasury Department is proud to use every tool available to us' to target Iran-backed terrorists, spokesman says (Rain MOAB's on Moab - jjs)
  Trump Admin Eyes Fresh Hamas Sanctions Under 'Human Shield' Law That Biden Junta Ignored
  * * * * *

• Time to give the rally goers their one free Islamic flying lesson off the roof of the Tehran Hilton!! - jjs
  WATCH: U.K. LGBTQ+ Rally Calls "Palestine" a ‘Shining Light’ in ‘Struggle’ for Trans Rights
  
• Hundreds of thousands of dollars in mandatory student fees will fund concert featuring singer who called for 'intifada'
  'F— Israel, F— Zionism': Uproar at Cornell Over Featured Spring Concert Singer Kehlani
  
• Pure extortion.
  Pro-Hamas Brownshirts Present Themselves as the True Victims of the Columbia Demonstrations
  
• The Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture canceled the issue over federal and state funding concerns
  A Top Architectural Journal Planned To Center Its Latest Issue on Israeli 'Settler-Colonial Apartheid and Genocide.' When Its Publisher Said No, the Whole Board Resigned.
  
• The Washington Post, a former newspaper, has soiled itself badly with this one.
  Mahmoud Khalil, a spokesman for an organization advocating killing Jews, likens himself to an Auschwitz victim
  
• A profile in maudlin, self-aggrandizing twaddle.
  Mahmoud Khalil’s Letter From a Louisiana Jail

  WE-ALL-SLAM-FOR-I-SLAM

• A Muslim ‘no-go zone’ has popped up in Texas.
  Is the Jihadist Trojan Horse Winning?

  FIRST AMENDMENT ISSUES, CENSORSHIP, FAKE NEWS, MEDIA, BIG BROTHER TECH

• "If they can do it to them, if they can snatch students off the street without any pushback or recourse, they will do it to any of us."
  MSNSDAP Host Says Black American Citizens ‘Next In Line’ If Deportations Are Allowed To Continue
  
• As the interview wound down, Homan returned to basics: “The statute says if you come to our border without proper documentation, you shall be detained. Not maybe. Not think about it.” He closed with a stark reminder: “When 95% fewer people are crossing the border illegally, how many women aren’t being sexually assaulted? How many children aren’t dying? How many pounds of fentanyl aren’t coming across to kill Americans?”
  Tom Homan Schools [credibly accused murderer] Joe Scarborough on Border Security, and it Was Epic!
  
• During testimony in a federal libel case, former New York Times opinion editor James Bennet expressed remorse to Sarah Palin for a 2017 editorial that inaccurately linked her political action committee to a 2011 shooting. Bennet, tearful and emotional on the stand, admitted to having “blew it” by erroneously connecting a graphic from Palin’s Political Action Committee (PAC) to the attack that severely injured Rep. Gabby Giffords and killed six individuals. He openly apologized to Palin, acknowledging the error publicly.
  NY Times Editor Tearfully Grovels to Sarah Palin in Court Testimony

  RED-GREENS, CLIMATE CHANGE HOAX, DEMOCRAT-LEFT WAR ON FOSSIL FUELS,

• The Greens go to the dogs.
  Man's Best Friend or Environmental Villains?
  
• As we approach Earth Day this Tuesday, it’s tempting to believe that the world is on the brink of environmental collapse. We are constantly inundated by dire predictions of climate catastrophe and warnings about the planet’s imminent destruction. But this is misleading. Rather than spiraling into panic, we should take a moment to appreciate the remarkable progress we’ve made in improving the environment, and acknowledge that a key factor is prosperity.
  Environment improves as more nations prosper — the greatest polluter is poverty
  
• Oregon's supermajority Democrats are pushing for control of all water rights across Oregon.
  When Oregon became Bart Jason

  AMERICA AND THE WORLD IMPRISONED: CHINESE+Fauci-created CORONAVIRUS FICTIONS AND FACTS

• David Zweig argues America's expert class failed during COVID, revealing a deeper flaw: the belief that expert opinion should always outweigh the will of the people.
  The Failure of the Expert Class…Again
  
• Fauci leveraged his celebrity status as the top trusted messenger on COVID-19 to pad his earnings in 2023, just as newly empowered Congressional investigators sharpened their focus on the ways Fauci betrayed the public’s trust at the pandemic’s height.
  EXCLUSIVE: Fauci’s First Year Of ‘Retirement’ Was A Money Making Bonanza, Docs Show

  
  EDUCATION, AND WHAT PASSES FOR IT

• In her recent Fox News op-ed, American Federation of Teachers (AFT) President Randi Weingarten unleashes a hyperventilating attack on Donald Trump’s executive order to dismantle the Department of Education (DOE). Her arguments — thinly veiled in concern for “students” and “equity” — are little more than performative panic designed to protect the political slush fund that has enabled the ideological capture of America’s education system for over three decades. Let’s be clear: this is not about protecting children or learning outcomes. It’s about safeguarding the taxpayer-funded bureaucracy that props up the teachers unions’ political influence, subsidizes failed progressive experiments, and centralizes control in Washington, far removed from parents and communities.
  Randi Weingarten’s Latest Op-Ed Isn’t About Students — It’s About Power and Fear
  
• Against what, you ask? Against just about everything that makes sense.
  Higher Ed is Fighting Back!
  
• The parish school is not the only way to deliver Catholic education, just as an assigned public school is not the only way to deliver non-Catholic education.
  To Think Bigger About Catholic Education, Start Thinking Smaller

  THE 2020 and SUBSEQUENT ELECTION HEISTS , SHENANIGANS/FRAUD and AFTERMATH

• Ranked choice voting -- or outright fraud -- may be to blame.
  Flip! Suddenly, radical leftwing Barbara Lee surges ahead to win Oakland's mayoral election after extended counting

  DEMOCRAT/LEFTIST AND RINO SCANDALS, MESHUGAS, CHUTZPOCRISY

• An investigative report commissioned by state Attorney General Letitia James had found that Cuomo engaged in misconduct against as many as 11 women, including Bennett and a state trooper, but the new legal papers claim the probe was a hit job and none of the accusations have held up in civil or criminal court.
  Andrew Cuomo threatens suit against sex-harass accuser Charlotte Bennett — before New York can pass law blocking cases targeting alleged victims

• “Despite the overwhelming evidence, Senator Van Hollen decided that he would use Senate funds to fly to El Salvador and advocate for an enemy of the United States. The very least that can be done is to not force the American taxpayer to foot the bill for Senator Van Hollen advocating for terrorists. Leader Thune, we hope you will refuse to allow Senator Van Hollen’s expenses to come out of patriotic Americans’ tax dollars, wrote President of the American Accountability Foundation Thomas Jones.
  Government Watchdog Files Ethics Complaint Against Sen. Van Hollen Over Trip to El Salvador to Meet With Alleged Gangbanger
  
• 'Something potentially very wrong is afoot,' ethics watchdog says
  Raphael WarlockWarnock Slapped With Ethics Complaint for Living in Free $1 Million Luxury Home (reverend Free-flow dollar$ - jjs)

  CONFIRMATION HEARING News and Views

  POLITICS
  

• A new poll shows that there’s cause for optimism about the younger generation.
  The new conservatives
  
• The voters, long ignored, know they finally have a champion in the White House.
  Donald Trump: The People’s President

• Once considered too progressive for a national run, AOC is now climbing in the early Democrat primary polls
  TItty-Caca AOC and JD Vance Define 2028 Presidential Race Early
  
• The Democrats have staked their political fortunes on the issues that Americans dislike the most.
  Democrats Dying on the Most Desolate Hills
  
• “I don’t understand why the American Left falls in love with the worst people.”
  The Left Has a Hero Problem

  THE UKRAINIAN "FRONT"

• Daniel Greenfield: Peace negotiations are for suckers.
  Trump is Right to Walk Away From Ukraine-Russia Peace Bid
  
• “As of Easter morning, we can say that the Russian army is trying to create a general impression of a ceasefire, but in some places, it does not abandon individual attempts to advance and inflict losses on Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said in a post on X.
  Zelensky Accuses Russia of Continuing Attacks During ‘Easter Ceasefire’

  FOREIGN AFFAIRS, INTERNATIONAL

• Holy See Who's Next. . .
  Pope Francis Dead At 88, Sending Catholic Church Into Mourning, Reflection As World Speculates On Possible Successor

• Initial talks were positive, but the threat of military strikes still looms.
  Here’s What You Need To Know About Saturday’s Nuclear Talks Between The U.S. And Iran

• Robert Spencer: A harrowing reminder of what will happen if leftist elites reestablish their hegemony.
  Media Sneers as Trump Meets With European Leader Who Vows to ‘Make the West Great Again’

  DEFENSE, MILITARY, SECURITY AFFAIRS

• The U.S. military’s defense capabilities have been neglected for far too long — and President Donald Trump’s record $1 trillion defense budget proposal will help reverse course, a former Pentagon official told the Daily Caller.
  Trump Admin Wants A Record $1,000,000,000,000 Pentagon Budget — But Does America Need It?

  HEALTH AND HEALTH CARE

• Woke institutional capture has not spared the profession of psychiatry, and its doctors doesn’t deserve accolades.
  Let’s (Not) Celebrate Psychology Week
  
• One in 36 children are diagnosed with autism, according to a new CDC survey.
  ‘Let RFK Try To Help Us’: Families Of Severely Autistic Americans Come To Kennedy’s Defense

  ACTUAL SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY

• Scientists have already experimented with using CRISPR to generate enhanced cattle, pigs, sheep, rabbits, and goats
  Argentina’s Scientists Create Gene-Edited Polo “Super Ponies”
  
• Now we’re learning the problems with the Starliner were far worse than NASA has admitted.
  The Starliner: worse than we thought
  
• The company did not name the satellite for MEV-1’s next servicing mission. Meanwhile the company’s second MEV remains docked to another Intelsat communications satellite, its contract extended to double the amount of time it will provide service to the satellite.
  Northrop Grumman’s first Mission Extension Vehicle completes first commercial undocking in space
  
• The first stage completed its twelfth flight, landing on a drone ship in the Pacific. . . SpaceX now leads the rest of the world in successful launches, 44 to 35.
  SpaceX launches another classified satellite for National Reconnaissance Office
  
• America has been bogged down for too long with regulations and red tape.
  Trump’s vision for technological greatness

  
  FEMINAZISM, TRANSGENDER PSYCHOSIS, HOMOSEXUALIZATION, WAR ON MASCULINITY/NORMALCY

• Diest spoke about her humiliation as a transgender athlete who identifies as a girl, ogled her as she undressed in a school locker room.
  WATCH: Teen Girl Cries While Describing Being Ogled by Trans Athlete, School Board Pres. Tells Her to ‘Wrap It Up’
  
• “A person is either a woman or a man.”
  Daniel Greenfield: UK Supreme Court Finds Women Exist
  
• In an “emergency demonstration”, thousands of radical gender ideologues took to the streets of the UK capital, calling for “trans liberation”. Participants carried placards reading “trans women are real women” and “biology is not binary”.
  Feminist Statue Defaced as Pro-Trans Protesters Rage over UK Supreme Court Ruling
  
• In a video recently shared by Libs Of Tik Tok, an apparent father recorded himself asking a stereotypically woke teacher why she feels the school MUST provide its kids with a guide titled, “How to use a Butt Plug for newbies” 
  Teacher Calls Father 'Homophobic' For Not Wanting Kids Taught About Butt Plugs In School
  
• Prominent physicians have made startling admissions about their approach to trans-identifying minors.
  The Dangerous and Muddled Logic of Gender Medicine

  CULTURE WARS, NATIONAL SUICIDE

• Thad McCotter: Communist regimes wage war on religion to assert total control, yet the stories of faith, persecution, and resistance remain powerful truths the world must remember.
  Remember the ‘Modern Martyrs of Communism’
  
• The dramatic excessiveness of Coachella makes the appearance of Sen. Bernie Sanders all the more ironic.
  At Coachella As In The Real World, Privileged Leftists Pretend To Be Counter-Cultural
  
• “This is what managed decline looks like in the therapeutic age.”
  The Working Class Needs Jobs, Not Therapy
  
• Katy Perry, Lauren Sanchez and Gayle King, pretended to be astronauts and corporate media pretended their brief trek was news.
  Ridicule Is The Final Frontier For The Ladies Of Blue Origin
  
• Christian Toto: Tina Fey, Jimmy Kimmel aren't content to merely criticize Republicans
  Celebrities Dehumanize Trump, MAGA in Worst Ways Possible

  
  HITHER & YON

• The former J. Geils Band vocalist’s memoir is a poignant reflection on urban life.
  Peter Wolf and the Lost Art of Chance Encounters

  THOUGHTS ON EASTER

• Easter: the Resurrection of Jesus Transformed the World Forever
  Easter is the celebration of the finished work of the messiah Jesus Christ, the ultimate rescuer and savior for mankind, who sacrificed his life to provide forgiveness of sin.
  
• The essence of Easter’s celebration of the resurrection is that Christianity’s founder, Jesus, is still alive, having overcome death.
  How Easter Transformed The World Like Nothing Else Ever Could
  
• It is one of the more recent discoveries at the site, which has a rich history in Christianity.
  REVEALED: Medieval inscriptions found at site where Jesus, Apostles held the Last Supper in Jerusalem

ALSO: The Morning Report is cross-posted at CutJibNewsletter.com if you want to continue the conversation all day.

And. . . PODCASTING NEWS: the Podcast feeds have been fixed so you can now listen to them on the RSS feed as well as Apple Podcasts and Spotify, and of course directly at the CutJibNewsletter site. We also post a version on our Rumble channel within 12-24 hours of going live at the above.

Also, do follow us on X (Twitter): @CutJibNews

And my X (Twitter) account at: @therealJJSefton

and on Instagram: @Cutjibnewsletter

TIP JAR : Your support helps keep the lights on and is truly appreciated. Note: We are on Stripe, not PayPal.

posted by J.J. Sefton at 07:25 AM

| Access Comments