TASS: Trump vows to reduce customs duties for China

"At some point, I’m going to lower them because otherwise, you could never do business with them. And they want to do business very much. Look, their economy is really doing badly. Their economy is collapsing," he told NBC News in an interview.

In a very predictable turn of events, National security adviser Mike Waltz and his deputy, Alex Wong, have now been fired from the Trump administration. This comes after Waltz took responsibility for the "signal leaks" on military operations in Yemen to an Atlantic journalist, and Laura Loomer led a social media campaign to get Waltz and Wong fired, including an in person meeting with Trump.

Trump's national security adviser Mike Waltz and his deputy to leave posts in White House, sources say - CBS News, 1 May 2025

Update: Trump is sending Waltz to the UN (essentially giving him a "soft landing" instead of being kicked to the curb), Marco Rubio will dual hat as both the Secretary of State and the National Security Advisor, similar to Henry Kissinger from 1973-1975. Some were portraying this as a win for the "pro peace/negotiations with Iran faction", but given Rubio's appointment and subsequent statements, that is not the case. With Musk and Waltz now gone or relegated to background characters, Rubio has consolidated a ton of power, as I've said he's in the same position as Henry Kissinger was. In fact, Rubio has even more power than Kissinger did, with USAID under State Department control.

The Houthis appear to have struck Israel's Ben Gurion airport with a missile.

The missile launched from Yemen by the Houthi armed group has struck about 550 metres (1,804ft) from the main control tower of Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion International Airport and about 650 metres (2,132ft) from the nearest aircraft parking area, according to Al Jazeera’s fact-checking unit, Sanad.

The Washington Post reports that Mike Waltz was dismissed due to his extensive communication with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about military action against Iran. Officials in the Trump administration believed he was trying to 'tip the scales in favor of military action' and was closely collaborating with the Israelis.

• Telegram

I’ve now seen some of the first officially released footage of DPRK troops training and fighting together with Russian forces.

Russian and DPRK soldiers embrace after liberating a Kursk oblast settlement: https://news-pravda.com/world/2025/04/28/1278139.html

The training of DPRK troops that participated in liberating the Kursk oblast border areas: https://news-pravda.com/world/2025/04/28/1278340.html

President Putin also thanked the DPRK for its military assistance, stating, “We pay tribute to the courage and selflessness of the Korean warriors who stood side by side with the Russian Armed Forces to defend our homeland as if it were their own.

Our Korean friends acted out of a sense of solidarity, justice, and true comradeship. We highly appreciate this and are sincerely grateful to the Chairman of State Affairs, Comrade Kim Jong-un, the entire leadership, and the people of North Korea.” https://sputnikglobe.com/20250428/putin-thanks-north-korea-for-helping-to-defeat-ukrainian-militants-in-kursk-region-1121945378.html

Plus, some bonus videos…

A Kiev regime Su-27 crashed while attempting to attack Russian Geran-2 drones today: https://news-pravda.com/world/2025/04/28/1279097.html

Russian drones struck a Kiev regime airfield near Cherkassy: https://s5.cdnstatic.space/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/chrk.mp4?_=1

Power outage in all of Portugal, something to do with "tension issues" in power distrolibutors (idk Im not an electrician)

I'm already hearing bazinga brains talking about PUTIN PUTIN PUTIN, wish I could line these people up in minecraft and.....tell them they're not that important

The HTS-led government in Syria has arrested the Secretary General of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command (PFLP-GC) and shut down all of its offices. This follows the Syrian government's arrest of two commanders from Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) just two weeks ago, who still remain in custody with no charges.

• Telegram

On the loss of an F/A-18E Super Hornet aircraft and a tow truck/tractor during an evasive turn by the USS Harry Truman aircraft carrier during an Ansarallah/Houthi attack (as confirmed by US sources), here's the statement from the Yemeni Armed Forces on the attack (this statement was released before the news of the loss of the F-18).

This is the first time that an Anti Ship Ballistic Missile (ASBM) has been fired at US Navy warships in over 20 days from what I recall (there was one launch at a supply ship, not a warship, during this time with a ballistic missile). This, along with the statement about "fleeing north" afterwards, suggests that the USS Harry Truman aircraft carrier tried to get closer to Yemen, including coming within ASBM range. During this, it came under attack, including by ASBMs and evidently there was some big error that led to the F-18 going overboard while evading this attack.

I don't think that the Harry Truman will try get closer to Yemen again anytime soon, and will continue to stay between Jeddah and Yanbu, between 700km-1000km away from Yemen. ASBMs, by all evidence of the current US Navy campaign, seem to be a "game changer" weapon in area denial capabilities. Even without landing a single hit so far, these weapons have been very effective in area denial against US Carrier Strike Groups (CSGs). While their not magic wands that erase CSGs, they can keep them further away (area denial). Ansarallah/the Houthis were the first ever military force to use ASBMs in warfare, and have been highly innovative with these locally manufactured, Iranian designed, weapons. The CSGs don't dare to come within 700km of Yemen (Zulfiqar Basir ASBM range). This is the first time they've tried to in three weeks, and it resulted in a fighter jet going overboard during evasive maneuvers. It's no wonder that the US Army wants ASBMs, and other longer range ballistic missiles, now.

Overall this was a very expensive "test" by the US Navy in my opinion, they wanted to see if Yemeni ASBM capability remained intact after over 40 days of airstrikes, reduced amount of Yemeni missile attacks, and over 20 days without without an ASBM being fired, so they sailed closer to Yemen to find out. It turns out that yes, Yemeni ASBM capability was (and is) still very much intact, and an F-18 and tow truck have been lost as a result of evading a Yemeni attack.

Palestinians in Lebanon fear another ‘War on the Camps’ as Israeli airstrikes continue

As Israeli airstrikes throughout Lebanon continue, the Lebanese state is threatening to disarm Palestinian factions in the refugee camps. Residents fear this is a prelude to an all-out assault on the camps — and the Palestinian cause.

https://mondoweiss.net/2025/05/palestinians-in-lebanon-fear-another-war-on-the-camps-as-israeli-airstrikes-continue/

WaPo is reporting they Waltz was fired because he was seen by Trump as working for the president of the wrong country. Can you guess which one?

So, as it turns out, Iran has been given short reprieve while Trump replaces someone who is rabidly dedicated to Israel in Mike Waltz with someone merely enthusiastically dedicated to Israel in Marco Rubio.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/05/03/waltz-trump-israel/

https://archive.is/jp223

Power is back on in some parts of Portugal. I'm getting word that apparently amidst mass suspicious of a russian attack provoked by an image of a fake news CNN Portugal article shared around whats app people were filling up supermarkets to buy non-perishables, water and toilet paper, same thing happened when covid started because of a whats app message saying covid caused extreme diarrhea.

Around me everything was pretty chill, a lot of work was canceled and it seems most people took it as a chance to touch grass and socialize, I walked around and a lot of cafes were well attended. Overall the blackout lasted 8 hours.

As for me I busted out my pirated nintendo 2ds to play kid icarus and I watched Jackie Brown. Since work was canceled today and Friday is worker day this will be a 3 day work week.

Cool May 1st art from Palestinian artists:
https://xcancel.com/atlajala/status/1917838350863720732

On the Day He Was Fired as National Security Advisor, Mike Waltz Used an Israeli [sic] App to Archive Signal Messages | Drop Site News

During Wednesday’s meeting for Trump’s cabinet, Mike Waltz checked the app on his phone, using what appeared to be Signal. As news broke that Waltz had lost his job as National Security Advisor, images from the cabinet meeting circulated widely online on Thursday. Upon closer inspection of the photos, it turned out that Waltz was not using the traditional Signal app. He appeared to be using an archiving app made by Israeli [sic] firm TeleMessage, which sells companion apps meant to enable archiving messages.

Prior to the WFP's announcement of suspending services in Gaza due to all of their food having been depleted, the amounts were rationed to a quarter of what was originally intended and even that provided supplies for only a million people. There are also over 3,000 aid trucks sitting outside Rafah, with tens of millions of kilograms of food already rotting. This was one of many points brought up during the "Open Rafah Now" demonstrations outside the Egyptian embassy in Pretoria earlier today.

A full video that was livestreamed by Salaamedia will be posted for archival/preservation purposes on TankieTube later (assuming YouTube doesn't vaporize the saved broadcast before I get home from work). Link will be provided here once uploaded.

We the people of Johannesburg do not merely just stand with or support Hamas; We are Hamas

Death to ameriKKKa, Death to isnotreal

The US Army has just canceled their bloated assault gun "M10 Booker", one year after entering limited production. After eight years of development they finally realized that 42 tons is an excessive weight for convenient air transport. For comparison, the M1128 Stryker MGS it was meant to replace, the Chinese ZTL-11, and the Russian Sprut-SD all weigh around 20 tons.

Kyiv ready to sign US minerals deal within 24 hours, Ukrainian PM says https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2025/apr/30/germany-spd-coalition-friedrich-merz-ukraine-volodymyr-zelenskyy-russia-vladimir-putin-europe-live-news lol

Middle East Spectator (Telegram):

Israel is currently bombing dozens of targets across Syria in key HTS gang strongholds such as Idlib, Hama, Homs, and Damascus. This is likely to take advantage of the current tension between Jolani's forces and Druze communities in Southern Syria, some of whom have appealed to Israel for military support to remain autonomous of Damascus.

Reports of Turkish jets being scrambled to confront the Israelis, exchanging verbal threats in aerial standoffs. Meanwhile Russian jets have scrambled from their air base in Lataika.

A Turkish TB-2 drone was scrambled to monitor syrian airspace.

Israel is on a home demolition rampage in the West Bank. Its aim is to force Palestinians to leave. Hexbear Post

Elsewhere in the West Bank on that same day, Israeli forces moved to demolish several more Palestinian homes: in Beit Ummar, north of Hebron, a seven-floor residential building was demolished, and in Anata, north of Jerusalem, 14 Palestinian properties received demolition orders. Later in the week, Israeli forces demolished a three-floor residential building in the village of Za’tara east of Bethlehem, in addition to several water wells in Tarqumia, west of Hebron.

The demolition of Palestinian homes is the other side of the coin of Israel’s seizure of Palestinian land for settlement expansion. Since 2023, home demolitions have displaced 7,392 Palestinians.

How the feds abandoned reservations to burn Hexbear Post

The Colville Reservation is one of the many Indigenous tribal communities protected by its own tribal wildfire fighters with funding from the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). In 2019, about 80% of tribal forests were managed in part or fully by tribal programs funded directly by the BIA. Tribal communities that lack their own programs can opt for direct management by the BIA.

However, these tribal wildfire fighters, who protect some of the nation’s most vulnerable communities, are stretched to their limits. Long-term federal land mismanagement and climate change have caused the number and intensity of reservation fires to soar. About 7% of the 4 million acres of tribal lands in the country burned between 2010 and 2020.

Wildfire-fighting programs across the nation all struggle with low pay, funding and recruitment. But on tribal lands, the pressure is even more acute.

5-6 km Russian breakthrough southwest of Kostiantynivka, per https://t.me/s/kalibrated

Some initial reports that Russia may have also begun assault operations on Pokrovsk. A few soldiers were apparently geolocated within the city.

Wholesome content: Vietnamese kids reenact the liberation of Saigon
https://xcancel.com/CarlZha/status/1917558597615247819

U.S. Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth: 'Message to IRAN: We see your LETHAL support to the Houthis. We know exactly what you are doing. You know very well what the U.S. military is capable of — and you were warned. You will pay the CONSEQUENCE at the time and place of our choosing.'

• Telegram

https://www.al-akhbar.com/arab/833658

54 martyrs in Gaza from starvation.

Palestinian Prisoners’ Day: On the Experience of Struggle Inside the Prisons

By free prisoner Wael Jaghoub

Being a Zionist and getting caught up in organ trafficking, name a more iconic duo:
https://xcancel.com/GhassanKDE/status/1916782626481807629

Palestine Action Éire actionists halt US Military CRAF flight at Shannon Airport:
https://xcancel.com/pal_action_eire/status/1918011838526308538

WSJ: The Russian Military Moves That Have Europe on Edge

In 2021, before the invasion, Russia made about 40 of its main battle tanks, the T-90M, according to Western intelligence estimates. Now it is producing nearly 300 a year. A senior Finnish military official said almost none are being sent to the front line in Ukraine, but are staying on Russian soil for later use.

Russia is tailoring its rearmament plans to meet the needs of the new troops to be stationed along its NATO border. Those units will get much of the new equipment. Most of what is being sent to the front line in Ukraine is old and refurbished Soviet-era arms.

The U.S. estimates that around 30,000 Russians are signing up each month, up from about 25,000 last summer. Some Eastern European intelligence officials say the ranks are now swelling by some 40,000 soldiers a month.

The article is written to push the narrative that Russia is inexplicably preparing to invade NATO, just because they can. Of course, Russia does need to remain prepared for war with NATO in the event of some serious provocation (say, something involving Kaliningrad).

That said, I think this information also fits my theory that Russia is basically preparing an entire separate, fresh, and modernized army to swiftly end the war in Ukraine, once the age of attrition is over.

I do wonder if we'll see many more vehicles at the Victory Day parade this year.

Australian elections ended up with the labor party winning again, in a landslide by the looks of things. I guess this counts as news.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-05-03/federal-election-2025-live-anthony-albanese-peter-dutton/105245936

As the UK Labour right's increasingly circular firing squad intensifies after expected blowouts across recent local elections they're announcing (via the political editor of The Times) that they're going they're going to chainsaw - as in shut down - the Department for Media, Culture, & Sport, while their ministers are on Twitter screaming about how they have to do "more deportations, faster".

The DfMCS supports and strategises for a huge amount of sport and tourism in general, but it also oversees two very obvious and important things that the far-right (in Labour, Reform, and the media) are desperate to be able to sack and dismantle...

The first is that it oversees funding and provides support for things like galleries, museums, their links with education, and also things like music and the arts. It's a massive culture war target for the frothing at the mouth fash who believe that anything other than white-supremacy and the glory of the British Empire is critical race theory and the woke mind virus. It's history rewriting time folks, not to mention that no doubt the government is probably eliminating it at least in part for retribution against artists like Kneecap (who the Met Police anti-terrorism task force have now assigned units to trawl through every online video of the band ever posted to try and find grounds to charge them with offences, it was revealed the other day) as well as literary and art figures who have spoken out against the genocide in Palestine.

The second is that it also oversees matters of press freedom and media regulation. Dismantling it provides a perfect attack vector for not only directly forcing media to follow the party line (as oppossed to implicit method of it being one big club of about 300 privately educated lunatics funded by foreign billionaires at the moment), but also eliminating whatever tiny sliver of regulation there is on the right-wing newspapers and television news, the protection of journalists, and defence of ordinary people / groups from smear campaigns and libel (& frivolous libel suits too).

I've been saying for months that Starmer's government is following the Trump policy agenda in everything but speed and tone and here we have the tone shifting as they scream to speed up the process.

Bukele enjoys popular support because the alternative to his massive anti gang measures is having the highest intentional murder rate in the world. The US mass deported MS13 and other Salvadoran gangs in the late 80s / early 90s after the Salvadoran civil war and overwhelmed the newly formed government. The gang rule resembled the Spanish feudal order in many ways and a lot of people couldn't leave their place of birth. Bukele ended that system and re-established state rule over El Salvador.

His methods and motivations are extremely questionable. The campaign itself included attempts to ease the human rights concerns of some critics through claims of rehabilitation for low level gang members. I haven't been able to substantiate this claim though. Not to mention the suspicious ties to Israel for military equipment, often obscured by Bukele's Palestinian heritage.

His origins in the deeply corrupt FMLN (a Marxist nationalist organization named after one of the leaders of a mass communist indigenous uprising in the early 1900s) made understanding his moves difficult. Founding Nuevas Ideas (New Ideas) probably should have been a wake up call though. Its not like he started a new workers party or people party. The new ideas were basically bitcoin and arrest every gang member. Though he has invested significantly in infrastructure, medical facilities, and schools, but I don't know what demographics those facilities are meant to / practically serve.

Growing up, my understanding of communism was shaped by the communist resistance in the civil war. Holding out for the people against US funded death squads. Even making it as far as forming a legitimate government, but nothing really changed after that until Bukele took power. The FMLN enjoyed massive popular support for a long time and mostly used it to take bribes and help the gangs entrench themselves.

Lmk if there's any points to the history that I'm getting wrong. Happy to make corrections. I'm 2nd generation Salvadoran, this is based on following the news, some study, and chisme from my aunts and uncles who historically supported the communists, but have been sorely disappointed by FMLN.

H.R. 867—a bill that would punish Americans for supporting boycotts of Israel—has been removed from this week’s US House of Representatives schedule.

https://xcancel.com/DropSiteNews/status/1919195123360948346

related to this https://hexbear.net/post/4804836

Israel indirectly places blame on the United States, with the Israeli Air Force stating that the American 'THAAD' system missed the Yemeni missile, allowing it to impact at Ben Gurion Airport – Kann

• Telegram

Trump is sending his Sanctions Coordinator, David Gramble, to Brazil on Monday to negotiate "punishment" for one of Brazil's 11 Supreme Court Justices, Alexandre de Moraes. People like Trump & Greenwald accuse Moraes of censorship but sanctioning a judge IS a form of censorship.

Moreas oversaw the criminal investigation of Trump's buddy Jair Bolsonaro. When sanctions are levied against a foreign judge as a direct response to their rulings, they function as a tool of censorship by seeking to control or punish judicial speech (i.e., legal decisions). Moraes is also the Supreme Court Justice behind the temporary ban of Trump overlord Elon Musk's X platform, when it failed to abide by local laws.

According to Brazilian journalist Paulo Capelli, the Trump administration is thinking of barring Moraes from visiting the US (as if he cares), and freezing any US assets (of which he doesn't have any).

Silicon Valley technofash and their puppet-journalists have wasted so much effort pushing the false, Moraes as dictator narrative, they don't seem to realize that if he were deposed tomorrow, it wouldn’t affect Bolsonaro’s trial. Only 2 Justices are expected to vote 'not guilty'.

• Twitter/Telesur

US airstrikes continued on Yemen for the 45th night, and 46th day, in a row.

Nighttime airstrikes hit the following governorates:

Sana'a

• Multiple airstrikes on Bilad Ar Rus district.
• 4 airstrikes on Jabal Nuqum.
• Multiple rounds of airstrikes on various areas of the capital itself, US Navy fighter jets were heard over Sana'a.

Amran

• 3 airstrikes on Harf Sufyan district.

Saada

• An airstrike on Sahar District.

Dhamar

• airstrike hit unknown area.

Daytime airstrikes hit the following governorates:

Al Jawf

• 6 airstrikes on Bart Al-Anan District.

Ta'izz

• 4 airstrikes on Maqbanah District.

Warning for potential graphic imagery during ongoing airstrikes:

Al Masirah TV twitter

Xcancel mirror

Pierre Poilievre no longer entitled to live at public mansion: Privy Council Office

Long form article (15 pages) on the history and legacy of the martyr Sayed Hassan Nasrallah. Highly reccomended.

The Flower That Broke Through the Rubble: The Legacy of Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah

Abstract:

hey newsheads, question— not that I give a shit about the ritual minutiae of our liberal "democracy", but why does the president have complete uniliateral authority to determine tariffs? seems like something the legislature should be doing. I remember hearing someone say it was because of some bullshit national "emergency" execption because of some made-up shit involving fentanyl or whatever?

US airstrikes continue on Yemen for the 50th night in a row. The following governorates were hit by airstrikes:

Hodeidah:

• 2 airstrikes on Kamaran Island.
• 1 airstrike on As Salif District, near Ras Isa Fuel Port.
• 2 airstrikes on Ras Isa Fuel Port.

Ma'rib:

• 6 airstrikes on Medghal District.
• 5 airstrikes on Majzar District.
• 3 airstrikes on Majzar District in a second round.
• 2 airstrikes on Baraqish area in the Majzar district in a third round.
• 3 airstrikes on Majzar District in a fourth round.

Saada:

• 3 airstrikes on Sahar District.
• 8 airstrikes on the Takhiya area in the Majz District.

Al-Jawf:

• 2 airstrikes on Al-Mahzamat area.
• 10 airstrikes on Al-Hazm district.

Very intense rounds of airstrikes tonight, almost 50 total. None on Sana'a though.

Warning for potential graphic imagery during ongoing airstrikes:

Al Masirah TV twitter

Xcancel mirror

I hope to get a post out tomorrow on "frankenSAMs" using air to air infrared guided missiles converted to a surface to air role, passive infrared detection systems and unmanned surface vessels, and why 5th generation aircraft capabilities combined with weapons that use multiple forms of guidance to track moving targets are important for modern air forces, in the context of Ukraine and Yemen, given recent events (Ukraine shot down a Russian Su-30 over the Black Sea). No promises though.