News
Compiled by Michael Hernandez, 7-18-25
There are so many stories making up the mosaic of national/international news that we can’t cover them all every week. The biggest stories now seem to be: Israel and Iran, the Trump presidency (lawfare and judges), immigration (migrants and illegals), wars, weaponization of government (the deep state) against Trump and conservatives, our nation’s debt, massive inflation, climate change controversy and related expenses of government, industry attempting to address these issues, the Chinese threat, national security, abortion, taxpayer cuts, Ukraine peace, and hatred and violence against Christians. Here are just a few:
July 13: Breitbart News By Nick Gilbertson
Republican Lawmakers, Officials Thank God For Saving Trump On Anniversary Of Butler Assassination Attempt
One year after President Donald Trump was nearly assassinated at the infamous Butler, Pennsylvania, rally, Republican lawmakers and officials are crediting God with saving the president’s life. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD), and a slew of other leaders in the Republican Party took to X to remember July 13, 2024, and the role they believe God played that day.
“One year ago today, God miraculously spared the life of President Trump, and He is using him to lead our country back to greatness,” Johnson wrote in a post, sharing a video of the moment Trump was struck in the ear, and the moments after, in which he pumped his fist defiantly with a bloodied face.
Johnson’s counterpart in the Upper Chamber, Thune, wrote that Trump survived the attempt on his life “thanks to the grace of God” and shared he was praying for peace and for the loved ones of firefighter Corey Comperatore, who was killed by a bullet meant for the president while attending the rally with his family.
July 14: Gateway Pundit By Jim Hoft
FBI Opens Investigation Into Decade Of Democrat Party Antics And Misconduct – Opening Door For Appointment Of Special Prosecutor
The FBI, under the direction of Director Kash Patel, is opening an investigation into a decade of Democrat Party antics and misconduct. According to Just the News the investigation has been ongoing for several weeks now. The investigators are looking back at Hillary Clinton’s illegal home-brew server. The investigation is expected to reveal credible information of wrongdoing ignored by the FBI.
July 14: Fox News By Brooke Singman
Trump Gathers CEOs For Unprecedented Faith, Economy Meeting To Renew US ‘Spiritually And Financially’
President Donald Trump will recognize CEOs and business leaders who donate their time to faith-based charitable works and encourage them to continue investing with the White House Faith Office during a luncheon at the White House on Monday. The president and the White House Faith Office are expected to host the luncheon, which will include more than 60 CEOs and business leaders, in the State Dining Room.
July 15: Breitbart By Paul Bois
General Motors Announces Plan To Expand Production Of Gas-Powered Vehicles In Michigan
General Motors has announced plans to expand production of gas-powered vehicles and SUVs in Michigan as well as the manufacturing of pickup trucks. The Detroit-based auto manufacturer said in a statement on Tuesday that it will “begin production of the Cadillac Escalade, as well as the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra light duty pickups at Orion Assembly in early 2027 to help meet continued strong customer demand.”
According to CNBC, the Escalade is produced in Arlington, Texas, while the Silverado and Sierra trucks are made at an assembly plant in Fort Wayne, Indiana, which will continue to produce the vehicles. The move builds on GM’s plans to invest $4 billion in U.S. facilities, which the automaker announced in June. That announcement came after President Donald Trump earlier this year implemented 25% tariffs on imported vehicles and 25% duties on many auto parts imported into the U.S. It also builds on the automaker’s gas-powered vehicle production.
July 16: Red State By Bonchie
Trump Slams ‘Past Supporters’ Still Talking Epstein, Calls Them ‘Weaklings’ Buying Into A ‘Hoax’
President Donald Trump put out a lengthy message on Wednesday, slamming those who are still talking about Jeffrey Epstein as “PAST” supporters, accusing them of buying into a Democrat-created “hoax.”
That comes after the Department of Justice, led by Attorney General Pam Bondi, essentially closed the Epstein case. In doing so, it was stated there was no blackmail conspiracy and that there was nothing left to reveal about the situation. A 10-hour-long surveillance video of Epstein’s cell block was also released, with the note that no one entered or exited during the time of his alleged suicide.
July 16: Gateway Pundit By Jordan Conradson
Trump Signs HALT Fentanyl Act into Law
President Trump signed Rep. Bob Latta (R-OH) and Rep. Morgan Griffith’s (R-VA) HALT Fentanyl Act into law on Wednesday to reclassify fentanyl as a Schedule I Substance and increase penalties for fentanyl-related offenses.
“The HALT Fentanyl Act permanently classifies lethal fentanyl-related substances as Schedule I substances, closing a dangerous loophole traffickers are exploiting. The temporary Schedule I designation was set to expire in September 2025,” according to a press release. The President was joined by Angel families who lost their loved ones to the poisonous drug.
During the ceremony, President Trump declared another victory over the “vicious” cartels and drug traffickers who have been flooding our country with products and killing Americans for decades.
July 16: Breitbart By Sen. Jim Banks
Sen. Jim Banks: Taxpayers Should Not Be Giving NPR Another Dime
It’s one thing to talk a good game when it comes to cutting spending in Washington. But it’s another thing to actually do something about that. The American people are sick and tired of seeing their tax dollars squandered, and nothing reeks of Permanent Washington more than reckless spending and government waste.
This is a big week on Capitol Hill. The Senate is working with President Donald Trump to pass a rescissions package that cuts billions in unnecessary spending and makes the DOGE cuts permanent. This rescissions package before us defunds $1.1 billion for the left-wing Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which uses Americans’ tax dollars to fund radical outlets like National Public Radio (NPR). This should be a no-brainer. We should not be giving NPR another dime for its liberal propaganda masquerading as “news.”
July 17: Breitbart By Simon Kent
Senate Passes $9 Billion In Cuts To Global Aid, Public Broadcasting
A $9 billion package of federal spending cuts aimed at public broadcasting and overseas aid was passed by the U.S. Senate early Thursday morning in yet another sweeping legislative victory for President Donald Trump.
The Financial Times reports broadcasting institutions NPR and PBS would lose their flow of taxpayer dollars when the package, which the Republican-led Senate approved after 2 a.m. by 51 votes to 48, is signed into law.
The bill also shuts off funding for foreign aid grants for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) once final approval by the House of Representatives is given after a vote due this week. The legislation must pass by a Friday deadline.
NPR and PBS have long been positioned as staunch left-wing opponents to the Republican agenda even as Trump vowed to deliver on his promise to drain the swamp in Washington, DC, and embrace fiscal sanity over a never-ending flow of taxpayer funds to public institutions.
July 17: Gateway Pundit By Antonio Graceffeo
Pentagon Withdraws from Aspen Conference
The Pentagon pulled roughly a dozen senior Defense Department officials from the Aspen Security Forum on Monday, July 14, 2025, just hours before the event was set to begin the next day. The decision marked a sharp break from decades of Pentagon participation in what was once considered one of the premier national security conferences in the United States.
The withdrawal signals a deeper realignment of American military priorities, shifting away from globalist ideology and toward America First principles. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s move underscores the administration’s commitment to refocusing the military on its core mission of national defense, rather than supporting globalist, liberal, or ideological agendas.
Pentagon Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson made the administration’s position unmistakably clear. “The Department of Defense has no interest in legitimizing an organization that has invited former officials who have been the architects of chaos abroad and failure at home,” he said. Wilson described the forum as promoting “the evil of globalism, disdain for our great country, and hatred for the President of the United States,” emphasizing that such values are “antithetical to the America First values of this administration.”
July 17: Breitbart By Senator Rand Paul
Looking Back One Year After Butler Assassination Attempt
The near-assassination of President Donald Trump was the result of numerous, completely preventable failures which nearly cost President Trump his life. There must be accountability for the United States Secret Service’s failure to protect the President and those attending the rally on July 13, 2024. It cost the life of a devoted husband and father in the audience. The American people have demanded answers, and the victims of that day deserve them.
As Chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, the chief oversight committee of the United States Senate, I have thoroughly investigated the scandalous mistakes that were made before, during, and after the attempted assassination of President Trump, and I have released the findings of the investigation as our nation marks the one-year anniversary of that tragic day in Butler, Pennsylvania.
If not for a tilt of his head, President Trump may not have survived the failures of those tasked with protecting him. This must be a wakeup call for our country’s top protective agency and how it safeguards our leaders. There will need to be substantial changes within the Secret Service in order to prevent a future tragedy. Congress must now demand accountability and reform, ensuring that the Secret Service corrects each and every mistake that my investigation has uncovered.
To be clear, and what my investigation has confirmed, is that this was not a tactically superior threat outmaneuvering the Secret Service or a single lapse in judgment made in a matter of seconds. This was a systemic failure—a top-to-bottom breakdown that allowed a single gunman, deemed by law enforcement as suspicious, to roam free for nearly 45 minutes, eventually gaining access to a clear line-of-sight on President Trump.
July 17: Gateway Pundit By Mike LaChance
Approval Rating For Democrats In Congress Drops Below 20 Percent
Democrats in Congress are facing a new low in their approval rating, according to new polling from Quinnipiac. Last month they dropped to a 20 percent approval rating and many people wondered if it was possible for them to go even lower. Now they’re at 19 percent. Could they somehow, possibly, make it even worse? Yes, they can.
All Democrats have to do to go lower is continue defending criminals who are in the country illegally and lose their minds over everything that President Trump says or does. That should get them to 16 or 15 percent approval by September.
July 17: Red State By Katie Jerkovich
NPR Head Claims It’s ‘Non-Partisan’
NPR CEO Katherine Maher is back on CNN digging herself into an even deeper hole. She claims that NPR is “a nonpartisan organization,” said Louisiana Senator John Kennedy, “So why did a former NPR editor find that their $201M D.C. newsroom had 87 Democrats in editorial positions and ZERO Republicans?”
July 18: Breitbart News By John Binder
Soros-Linked Groups File Lawsuit To Ban ICE Agents From Arresting Illegal Aliens At Courthouses
Left-wing organizations linked financially to Alex and George Soros’s Open Society Foundations have filed a lawsuit to ban Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents from arresting illegal aliens at courthouses.
This week, the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Legal Education and Services, National Immigrant Justice Center, Democracy Forward, and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area filed a lawsuit that seeks to preliminarily enjoin ICE from making arrests of illegal aliens inside courthouses — often the safest environment for agents to take custody of some of the most violent offenders.
Democracy Forward partners with several left-wing organizations, including the Center for American Progress, which receives millions in funding from Soros’s Open Society Foundations every year. In 2023 alone the Open Society Foundations threw $5.7 million at the Center for American Progress.
July 18: Breitbart By Joel Pollak
Gavin Newsom Sues Trump Over $4 Billion In Cuts
The State of California sued the Trump administration Thursday over President Donald Trump’s decision to claw back $4 billion in federal funds for the state’s troubled and delayed high-speed rail project.
As Breitbart News reported this week, the “bullet train” has been a debacle. Originally scheduled for 2020, it will now only be completed in 2040 — at four times the price, and without linking San Francisco and L.A. as designed. Trump cut the funding after Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy ordered an audit, which in turn concluded that the project was not viable.
Michael Hernandez, is co-founder of the Citizens Journal–Ventura County’s online news service and writes for CitizensJournal.net, MountainTopMedia.com, (your)news.com, and thrivenews.co. He is a former Southern California daily newspaper journalist and religion and news editor, writer of CaliRed News on Substack.com and “Prayer Over News Daily” and edits the weekly “Stories Speak Volumes” and other columns. Mr. Hernandez mentors citizen journalists/podcasters and can be contacted at: [email protected] or by going to MikeHernandezMedia.com.
