🚨 What a windsock! – April 23 2025

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Lead: Ukraine’s Peace Deal

Photo credit: Sputnik

The U.S. special envoy, Steve Witkoff, will head to Russia this week to meet with President Vladimir Putin.

The U.S. has presented a framework for peace negotiations with Ukraine. It would include recognizing Crimea as part of Russia. Which it is.

Ukrainian President Zelensky said that Ukraine will not recognize Crimea as Russian.

“Ukraine will not legally recognize the occupation of Crimea,” Zelensky said at a press conference on Tuesday. “There’s nothing to talk about here. This is against our constitution.”

As if it matters. It has been 11 years since Crimea has been a part of Russia, no matter how the Ukrainian government feels about it.

The deal could also lead to the U.S. lifting sanctions on Russia and include a ceasefire while the details are negotiated.

Meanwhile, Europe is pretending that it could go to war with Russia with what they call a “Pan-Nordic Army.” What they mean is that any of of these countries would lose a war with Russia but maybe, just maybe, if they stick together, they could die slower.

WEF Shakeup

Photo credit: Shutterstock

Is Klaus Schwab a scoundrel? He is but did he also scam the World Economic Forum?

Schwab resigned as the head of the WEF and now the organization reports that he is under investigation due to a “new whistleblower letter alleged financial and ethical misconduct by the longtime leader and his wife.” He refuted the allegations but he was ousted before he could make his case.

Some of the allegations include instructing aids to withdraw cash from WEF funds so that he could pay masseuses. Or that they would schedule WEF meetings in fancy places so that they could take trips.

Well wait…those things could be business expenses. Companies pay for massages for their executives all the time as part of their wellness packages. And if you want to have a business meeting in a fancy place, you’re free to do that as long as you really do hold those meetings when you go. We’re no fan of Klaus Schwab but why is the WEF suddenly throwing him overboard?

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New Peace Plan for Gaza

Photo credit: BBC

Peace mediators from Egypt and Qatar have put forward a “truce lasting between five and seven years” for Israel and Palestine.

According to the BBC, the plan involves “the release of all Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails, a formal end to the war, and a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.”

Why are they “hostages” when they are Israeli and “prisoners” if they are Palestinian? Wrong. They are all hostages, innocent civilians held by governments that are hostile to them.

Officials from Gaza are heading to Cairo for negotiations but Israel has not responded to the proposal. Instead, it launched air strikes in Gaza, killing at least 26 people and injuring 60 more. They are also reportedly deploying bulldozers to the wreckage.

What’s Trending?

Photo credit: Columbia Pictures

“I Know What You Did Last Summer” is trending because a sequel to the 1997 film is due out in July and the trailer was released today.

Andrew Garfield is trending because he was on an episode of Who Do You Think You Are? where famous people are told about their ancestors.

St George’s Day is trending because the U.K. holiday, which is usually on April 23, was moved to April 28 this year because of its proximity to Easter.

News By The Numbers

Photo credit: Getty Images

$2 billion. That is how much Airbus spent on its hydrogen-powered jet project in order to “go green.” Unfortunately the company is reportedly scrapping the project now due to “technical hurdles and sluggish adoption of hydrogen across the economy.”

71%. That is how much Tesla profits dropped in Q1 of this year. Elon Musk says that he will devote more time to the company and less time to the White House as a result.

3. That is how many prosecutors resigned at the Justice Department over disagreements regarding the indictment of New York City Mayor Eric Adams.

Doing It For The Babies

Photo credit: Getty Images

The Trump administration may offer women incentives to have babies in order to close the widening birth gap. One such incentive would offer American mothers a $5,000 “baby bonus” for every child born.

Several Eastern countries have incentives like this that actually have worked to encourage population growth. In China, couples are offered money to marry younger. Russia offers mothers sizable cash payments if birthing mothers are younger than 27 years old which can be used to buy a home, childcare or medical expenses. In Hungary, birthing mothers under 30 years old are exempt from personal income tax for the rest of their lives.

According to The New York Times, the Trump administration is also considering “funding programs that educate women on their menstrual cycles — in part so they can better understand when they are ovulating and able to conceive.”

I think AOC may have fainted when she read that.

These aren’t bad ideas but we can’t know for sure where they would go considering the source for the New York Times is “four people who have been part of the meetings who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations.”

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