Stories Speak Volumes: May 3-8
A Round-Up of National and International News
Compiled by
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:
Trump Announces ‘Project Freedom’ To Escort Ships Out of Hormuz — ‘Any Interference Will Be Dealt with Forcefully’
May 3: Breitbart by Joshua Klein
President Donald Trump announced Sunday that the United States will begin what he dubbed “Project Freedom” on Monday to guide and free foreign ships trapped in the Strait of Hormuz, warning that any interference with the humanitarian operation “will be dealt with forcefully” as vessels he described as “neutral and innocent bystanders” remain stranded amid the conflict.
In a Truth Social post, President Trump said countries “from all over the World” that are not party to the ongoing regional conflict have asked Washington to help free ships “locked up in the Strait of Hormuz,” describing them as “neutral and innocent bystanders. For the good of Iran, the Middle East, and the United States, we have told these Countries that we will guide their Ships safely out of these restricted Waterways, so that they can freely and ably get on with their business,” he wrote, adding that U.S. representatives have been directed to “use best efforts” to secure the safe departure of both vessels and crews.
President Trump framed the operation as a humanitarian mission, emphasizing that many vessels are “running low on food, and everything else necessary” to sustain large crews, calling them “victims of circumstance.”
He coupled that message with a clear warning: “If, in any way, this Humanitarian process is interfered with, that interference will, unfortunately, have to be dealt with forcefully.”
Gunshots Fired Near White House, National Mall
May 4: Daily Caller by Nicole Silverio
Gunshots were fired near the White House complex and the Washington Monument Monday, prompting the Secret Service to lock down nearby locations. United States Secret Service confirmed that law enforcement shot one individual at 15th Street and Independence Avenue during the incident, and a bystander was struck; both are alive, authorities confirmed at a press briefing Monday. Agents reportedly engaged in a heated confrontation with an armed man near the White House and National Mall before President Donald Trump’s event in the East Room of the White House began, RealClearPolitics national correspondent Susan Crabtree first reported.
Longtime News 12 Viewer Steps Up to Donate Life-Saving Liver to Former Anchor Amy McGorry
May 5: Gateway Pundit by Cassandra MacDonald
Former News 12 Long Island reporter Amy McGorry, who has been battling two rare autoimmune liver diseases for years, has found a living liver donor, a longtime viewer of the station who came forward after seeing coverage of her desperate plea.
McGorry, 56, was diagnosed with autoimmune hepatitis and primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) while still in college. The conditions slowly destroyed her liver over decades. About six months ago, she passed out and was hospitalized. In February, doctors told her she needed a transplant due to dangerous internal bleeding.
Due to the wait for a deceased donor being so long, her best chance was a living donor with O-positive blood. In March, McGorry made an emotional public plea for help in a video posted to social media.
News 12 and other outlets covered her story, and a loyal viewer quietly stepped forward, underwent testing, and was confirmed as a match. The donor is a woman unrelated to McGorry and has asked to remain anonymous until after the surgery.McGorry learned the incredible news Monday while teaching her health science class at Long Island University. She told the New York Post that the students, who had been following her journey, erupted in applause.
MAGA Takes Indiana State Senate
May 6: Gateway Pundit by Cristina Laila
Several RINO Indiana State Senators on Tuesday evening lost their primary elections. Trump-endorsed candidates swept Indiana on Tuesday night.
In December, President Trump unleashed on the spineless Indiana Republicans who just torpedoed a slam-dunk redistricting bill that would have handed the GOP a crushing 9-0 congressional stranglehold on the Hoosier State.
As The Gateway Pundit reported, the Indiana State Senate stunningly killed a proposed congressional redistricting map that would have locked in a 9 Republican – 0 Democrat congressional delegation, even though Republicans hold 40 of the chamber’s 50 seats. The bill failed after more than half of Senate Republicans voted AGAINST it, effectively doing the Democrats’ work for them. The move comes as Democrats aggressively gerrymander congressional maps in blue states to cancel out Republican votes nationwide, a strategy Indiana GOP leadership chose not to counter.
President Trump went off on the RINOs again on Tuesday ahead of the primary elections: “Good luck to those Great Indiana Senate Candidates who are running against people who couldn’t care less about our Country, or about keeping the Majority in Congress. There are eight Great Patriots running against long seated RINOS — Let’s see how those RINOS do tonight!” Trump said.
CNN Founder Ted Turner Dies At 87
May 6: Daily Caller by Nicole Silverio
CNN founder Ted Turner died Wednesday at the age of 87. CNN Worldwide Chairman and CEO Mark Thompson confirmed Turner’s death in a statement, calling him the “presiding spirit of CNN.”
Turner’s media career began in 1963 when he took over his father’s billboard company, Turner Outdoor Advertising, following the elder Turner’s suicide, CNN reported. He bought up radio stations and later entered television in 1970 by acquiring a local station in Atlanta called Channel 17. He harshly criticized broadcast television, and believed the U.S. had so many problems because of how “ill-informed” Americans were.
In an attempt to create a news channel, Turner recruited Reese Schonfeld, CNN’s founding president, to create the network, which first went live on June 1, 1980, according to CNN. He launched other channels such as TBS, TNT, Cartoon Network and Turner Classic Movies.
Turner sold his company, Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., to Time Warner in 1996 for approximately $7.3 billion, which included CNN and other networks he founded.
Sen. John Fetterman Just Said What Democrats Don’t Want to Hear About Themselves
May 7: Red State by Ben Smith
Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) — not leaving the Democrat Party, but making clear in a Thursday op-ed that he understands exactly what’s wrong with it. In doing so, he may have delivered one of the clearest public indictments yet of where the Democrat Party has moved politically.
The piece, titled “I haven’t changed. Here’s what has,” reads less like a party unity message than a eulogy for a Democrat Party that no longer exists. Fetterman’s argument is straightforward: the positions that define him today, border security, government solvency, and unwavering support for Israel, were mainstream Democrat views not long ago. The party moved. He didn’t. And his reward for staying put has been public denunciations, resignation demands, and protesters showing up at his home in Braddock.
“My party cannot simply be the opposite of whatever President Donald Trump says,” he wrote. “The president could come out for ice cream and lazy Sundays, and my party would suddenly hate them.”
Social Media Erupts After Democrats ‘Burned $64M’ On Failed Virginia Gerrymander: Nearly $40M came from a super PAC aligned with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries
May 8: Fox News by Adam Pack
The Virginia Supreme Court’s ruling striking down Democrats’ costly redistricting push sparked an uproar on social media over the massive sum the party spent to pass the now-defunct congressional map.
Virginians for Fair Elections, the main pro-redistricting group, raised north of $64 million in support of the Democratic-friendly gerrymander that could have netted the party four GOP-held seats in November’s midterm elections. Nearly $40 million of that came from an outside spending group aligned with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., who was heavily involved in the effort to redraw the state’s congressional map.
The pro-redistricting campaign outspent the opposition 10 to 1 on television ads, according to analysis from The Washington Post. But the legal challenge that Republicans helped bankroll to get the map thrown out proved more decisive.
3 US Warships Were Fired on by Iran Non-Stop as They Traveled Strait of Hormuz, Official Says
May 8: Fox News by Liz Friden
The three U.S. guided-missile destroyers targeted by Iran on Thursday faced non-stop incoming fire as they traversed 500 miles through the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, a senior U.S. official told Fox News on Friday.
U.S. Central Command said Thursday that “Iranian forces launched multiple missiles, drones and small boats as USS Truxtun (DDG 103), USS Rafael Peralta (DDG 115), and USS Mason (DDG 87) transited the international sea passage.”
CENTCOM added that the U.S. military “responded with self-defense strikes” and that no U.S. assets were hit by Iran.
CENTCOM said it “eliminated inbound threats and targeted Iranian military facilities responsible for attacking U.S. forces including missile and drone launch sites; command and control locations; and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance nodes.”
Mike Hernandez is co-founder of the Citizens Journal–Ventura County’s online news service and writes for CitizensJournal.net and MountainTopMedia.com. He is a former Southern California daily newspaper journalist and religion and news editor, writer of “Prayer Over News Daily” and edits the weekly “Stories Speak Volumes” and other columns. Mr. Hernandez mentors citizen journalists with trainings held every other month (on Saturdays at Shasta Bible College and online) and can be contacted at MikeHernandezMedia.com.