🚨 Pope Chic – May 06 2025

*Stock data as of market close, cryptocurrency data as of 5:00AM.

Lead: Complete Siege on Gaza

Photo credit: Reuters

The Israeli military has approved a full siege on the Gaza strip. The plan includes sending the IDF into Gaza and demolishing every single building and forcing every single civilian out.

The Israeli cabinet unanimously approved this plan, according to Haaretz, in “an effort intended to provide Israel with additional leverage in its negotiations with Hamas.”

If Gaza is empty of Palestinians, what is there to negotiate?

Haaretz quoted an Israeli insider thus: “The official said that Netanyahu has made clear that this plan differs from previous ones in that it moves from raid-based operations to ‘the occupation of territory and a sustained Israeli presence in Gaza.'”

If you think that this plan is new, you haven’t been paying attention. This has been the plan all along and who will stop it? The United Nations will continue to condemn it as it did this weekend but to no avail.

Gain of Function

Photo credit: Shutterstock

The Trump administration issued an order to end gain-of-function (GOF) research on Monday. Which is great except when you consider that the Obama administration also tried to end gain-of-function research in 2014 and Mad Scientists ignored that order and did it anyway.

Obama’s pause on GOF was lifted by the National Institutes of Health in December of 2017, during President Trump’s first term because then-director Francis S. Collins said “GOF research is important in helping us identify, understand, and develop strategies and effective countermeasures against rapidly evolving pathogens that pose a threat to public health.”

So…naturally we should have questions before we celebrate this. How do we know that this order will actually end GOF research? And since the order only applies to federally funded research, couldn’t the private sector still conduct GOF? And if they do, won’t they do so with less oversight?

There is also the concern of U.S. funding of foreign labs that may not be forthcoming with the public about their projects.

The executive order does not address these questions. It only requires the agencies to present a plan within 120 days.

Help is Here! Pay Off Those High-Interest Credit Cards

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Despite the Fed’s efforts, inflation remains a significant concern: fuel costs, groceries, and home repairs are all more expensive. Many are paying these bills with a credit card.

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Cash for Deportation

Photo credit: Getty Images

The Trump administration is offering to pay for illegal immigrants who are willing to self-deport. Migrants can apply through the CBP Home App for a plane ticket to their home country and, once their return is confirmed, an extra $1,000.

The White House says migrants who self deport would be more favored to return someday but migrants who are caught and deported on the U.S. government’s own time will not be.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said that the U.S. spends approximately $17,000 to deport people so offering them $1,000 in travel incentives plus a plane ticket is basically a good deal – a 70% cost reduction.

Here is a lingering question: What if someone self-deports and the money never comes? They would be abroad with no way to enforce their right to the money. I wonder if the U.S. government would be faster with those payments than it is with citizens’ own tax returns.

What’s Trending?

The Met Gala is trending because it happened and the celebrities wore things like this.

Rihanna is trending because she announced that she is pregnant with her third child with this photo.

Jennifer Aniston is trending because a man reportedly rammed into the gate of her Southern California home.

News By The Numbers

Photo credit: Madonna

29. That is how old Madonna’s boyfriend turned this weekend and the 66 year-old singer wore this bra and robe to the party.

15,000. That is how many employees of the USDA has reportedly accepted the buyout offer to resign in exchange for months of paid leave and benefits.

13 percent. That is how much the Trump administration wants to increase military spending in 2026. The new annual defense budget would be a whopping $1.01 trillion.

Asian Response To Tariffs

Photo credit: ASEAN

China, Japan and South Korea stand united against the tariff war with the United States. The 13 countries of the ASEAN+3 trading block issued a statement of regional solidarity against U.S.-led protectionism, including tariffs.

They do not mention the U.S. or President Trump specifically but they lay out a plan for regional growth and resilience to international trade.

These Asian countries, they say, account for more than 40% of global growth. The joint economies grew by 4.3% in 2024 and expect the same in 2025. Could they do this without the U.S. market or the World Trade Organization? Time will tell but it does seem, for now at least, that President Trump has unified Asian countries that were not previously unified.

Except North Korea of course. They’re not a part of this.

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