Italians are playing a fantasy-league-style game called Fantapapa to predict who the next Pope will be. Polymarket currently favours Pietro Parolin.
Photo credit: Fantapapa
In Case You Missed It.
🧑⚖️ A newly revealed court filing shows that the migrant that Democrats are so fiercely defending, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, beat her to the point of bruising and bragged that he could kill her without consequences.
💉 RFK Jr. says that all new vaccines will be required to undergo placebo testing before approval. Many current vaccines do not.
🕵️♂️ The FBI has “reassigned” agents who knelt during 2020 racial protests.
📢 The White House launched its own news wire site which is being called the President’s own Drudge Report to highlight news about the administration.
👩🏽⚖️ Former Vice President Kamala Harris made her first major address since losing the presidency and called the Trump administration “reckless” and “self-serving.”
🔓 Ten U.S. citizens were released from detention in Kuwait after negotiations by the Trump administration including this man, Tony Holden, who has been imprisoned for four years.
⚡ Reuters says that it wasn’t renewables that were at fault for the Iberian power outage. It was the “management of renewables.” Riggggghhhhht.
🔥 Join Redacted live today at 4 PM Eastern Time. Click here to subscribe for FREE and turn on that bell notification so you’ll know when we go live.
MARKETS
Gold
$3,228.90
-2.40%
Silver
$32.05
-1.69%
Bitcoin
$94,980.69
+0.17%
Dow
40,669.36
+0.35%
S&P
5,569.06
+0.15%
Nasdaq
17,446.34
-0.09%
*Stock data as of market close, cryptocurrency data as of 5:00AM.
Lead: Ukraine Resources: It’s A Deal
The Trump administration secured the Ukrainian resource deal that was tanked when President Trump and President Zelensky had a tiff in the White House in February.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced the deal, calling it a “historic economic partnership agreement between the United States and Ukraine establishing the United States-Ukraine Reconstruction Investment Fund to help accelerate Ukraine’s economic recovery. Economic security is national security.”
The U.S. will “invest” in Ukraine and “unlock” natural resources, they say. This means that once the war ends, the U.S. will have rights to rebuild Ukraine and mine the resources that the Ukrainian government has historically exploited through corruption. It’s a good deal in exchange for all of the money that the U.S. sent to Ukraine. It is exactly what Democrats said that they wanted out of Ukraine in secret. The Trump administration is doing it in plain sight.
“Today’s agreement signals clearly to Russian leadership that the Trump administration is committed to a peace process centered on a free, sovereign and prosperous Ukraine over the long term.”
If the war ends, Ukraine will hardly be sovereign. It will be beholden to the United States like it has been since 2014, only more so. But at least the war would be over and the current U.S. puppetmasters would not be provoking Russia.
GDP Shrinkage?
Photo credit: Bureau of Economic Analysis
The Gross Domestic Product for the first quarter of 2025 dropped by 0.3% and the media is saying that this is the negative fallout from President Trump. But not when you drill into the details…
Almost every marker of GDP was UP except Government consumption expenditures and gross investment. Government spending, which was always up during the Biden administration, was down by 1.4% in the first few months of the new Trump administration. Anyone who reads the news would know that. But other measures were up including domestic investment by 21.9% (whoa!), fixed investment, goods and services.
Net exports of goods and services is down, which is to be expected due to tariffs.
The Biden administration was criticized for touting economic growth that was based on government spending. The contraction of the GDP under Trump is clearly based on reduced spending but economic growth outside of the government is impressive.
Media Bias Is Real, Here’s How to Avoid It
As many of you long-time viewers already know, the heart of what we do here is bringing you the stories that the mainstream media misses or chooses to ignore. Recently, we came across a tool that aligns perfectly with our mission. That tool is Ground News. If you’re tired of the misleading narratives in the media, you’ll appreciate this. It’s a way to see how different outlets are covering the same story, all in one place. Imagine being able to compare coverage on the same story from different news sources worldwide.
Ground News has become a valuable tool for the team at Redacted to sort through the bias. They don’t generate the news; they simply compile it in one place and give you a visual breakdown of the news outlets. Try it right now and Redacted readers will get 40% off of their unlimited plan by signing up right here.
Covid Origins Fight
Photo credit: Getty Images
China is pushing back at the U.S. since the Trump administration launched a website blaming Wuhan for the Covid lab leak. China published a white paper suggesting that the Covid pandemic could have come from the U.S.
Well, there is evidence that could have happened as well. The U.S. was participating in Covid-related gain of function in Boston prior to 2019 and there was a 2019 outbreak of a respiratory virus in Virginia that may have been related to a lab leak from nearby Fort Detrick. China has repeatedly asked the U.S. to look into this and no one ever took them seriously.
China says that the U.S. made its own bed during the pandemic, which is why it was so bad.
“The slow and ineffective US response during the early stages of the outbreak set an appalling example to the international community and made the US performance in handling the pandemic the worst of all countries.” They go on to blame Republicans for “[encouraging] and [spreading] vaccine conspiracy theories, inciting resistance to and skepticism about vaccines among the public.”
So it’s to be a war of words over the Covid-19 pandemic then. How does this help anyone really?
Palestinian Man Released
Photo credit: AP
A judge ordered the release of a Palestinian man who was arrested at his citizenship hearing a few weeks ago. He was arrested because he supports the Palestinian people.
The judge ruled that his detention was wrong, writing “if the Government detained Mr. Mahdawai as punishment for his speech, that purpose is not legitimate, regardless of any alleged First Amendment violation. Immigration detention cannot be motivated by a punitive purpose. Nor can it be motivated by the desire to deter others from speaking.”
The judge condemned the arrests of “legal residents – not charged with crimes or misdemeanors – being arrested and threatened with deportation for stating their views on the political issues of the day.”
When Mahdawai was arrested, he was given a Notice to Appear stating that his “presence and activities in the United States would have serious adverse foreign policy consequences and would compromise a compelling U.S. foreign policy interest.” What foreign policy interest is that exactly?
Mahdawai has repeatedly called for peace, telling 60 Minutes: “The fight for freedom of Palestine and the fight against antisemitism go hand-in-hand because injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
What will happen to him now? The government will have to formally charge him with something if it wants to continue pursuing him but he said that he is not afraid of the Trump administration.
$100,000. That is how much the Atlanta Falcons coach Jeff Ulbrich had to pay in a fine because his son pranked-called Shedeur Sanders during the NFL draft. The team was also fined $250,000 and both parties have apologized publicly.
Michael Bolton is trending because he is featured in People Magazine talking about his fight with brain cancer.
John Elway is trending because his former agent and friend Jeff Sperbeck died from injuries sustained when he fell out of a golf cart that Elway himself was driving.
Want to support our independent journalism and snag some Redacted gear? Visit our store for hats, mugs, t-shirts, and more.
*Some of the links in this newsletter may come from our affiliates or sponsors, meaning we could earn a commission if you purchase.
At Redacted, we believe in digging deep into every story—and sometimes that means we invest in (or use) the products and services we cover.
Please remember: we’re not financial advisors. Our content is for educational and informational purposes only. Always perform your own due diligence and consult a qualified professional regarding your personal financial decisions. All investments involve risk.
Thanks for reading Redacted and standing up for independent journalism.
