2 months ago
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PULSE POINTS:
❓What Happened: Russell Brand, a podcaster, comedian, and actor, has been charged by British prosecutors with multiple sexual assault charges, including two counts of rape.
👥 Who’s Involved: Russell Brand, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), and four women who reported the offenses.
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📍 Where & When: The charges were announced in Britain, with Brand set to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London on May 2. The alleged offenses occurred between 1999 and 2005.
💬 Key Quote: Jaswant Narwal, a prosecutor, stated that the charges are related to “reported nonrecent offenses” involving four women.
⚠️ Impact: If convicted, Brand faces prison.
IN FULL:
British prosecutors have charged Russell Brand with multiple counts of sexual assault, including two charges of rape. The charges, announced by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), involve alleged offenses that took place between 1999 and 2005. Brand is scheduled to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London on May 2 for an initial hearing.
The allegations emerged after British police began investigating Brand’s past behavior following a joint investigation by three news organizations in September 2023. The prosecutor, Jaswant Narwal, clarified that these charges stem from accusations made by four women regarding offenses that are not recent.
Brand has maintained his innocence. In a video released on social media in September 2023, he asserted that he had never committed sexual assault. Brand acknowledged a history of promiscuity in his past but emphasized that all of his sexual relationships were consensual. He also criticized the British media for what he described as “a litany of extremely egregious and aggressive attacks.”
Brand is a former liberal who endorsed Britain’s far-left Labour Party in previous British elections. However, his politics have changed recently, with the comic embracing conservative figures, including President Donald J. Trump, former Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson, and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
PULSE POINTS:
❓What Happened: Former Vice President Mike Pence, who is pushing the GOP to reembrace unpopular globalist economic policies, is criticizing President Donald J. Trump’s imposition of extensive global tariffs, claiming they represent the largest peacetime tax increase in U.S. history.
👥 Who’s Involved: Mike Pence, Donald Trump, and America First conservatives, including Trump’s trade advisor Peter Navarro.
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📍 Where & When: Pence posted criticism to X (formerly Twitter) Wednesday evening following President Trump’s “Liberation Day” event.
💬 Key Quote: “The Trump Tariff Tax is the largest peacetime tax hike in U.S. history,” claims Pence.
⚠️ Impact: Critics like Pence claim the tariffs could cost American families over $3,500 per year, destroy jobs, and weaken conservative political standing. Additionally, the Pence-led Advancing American Freedom PAC contends the tariffs will counteract the benefits of previous tax cuts.
IN FULL:
Former Vice President Mike Pence publicly criticized President J. Donald Trump’s imposition of a 10 percent blanket global tariff and additional targeted tariffs in response to pre-existing foreign trade barriers, claiming the new import duties will result in significant economic burdens for American families. Additionally, in a Wednesday night post on X (formerly Twitter), Pence asserted the tariffs represent the most substantial peacetime tax increase in U.S. history.
“The Trump Tariff Tax is the largest peacetime tax hike in U.S. history,” Pence claimed, adding: “These Tariffs are nearly 10x the size of those imposed during the Trump-Pence Administration and will cost American families over $3,500 per year.” Attached to Pence’s X post was a screenshot of anti-Trump tariff talking points pushed by his Advancing American Freedom PAC.
Advancing American Freedom PAC’s claim that the tariffs will cost American families over $3,500 per year is based on a Goldman Sachs estimate, which pegs the total tariff revenue at around $300 billion annually. However, Pence and his Advancing American Freedom PAC appear to assume that American families will bear the bulk of the tax burden imposed by the tariffs—a fairly unlikely scenario—and not foreign companies attempting to maintain their market share in the United States.
Meanwhile, Pence’s assertion that Trump’s tariffs are “the largest peacetime tax hike in U.S. history” is on equally shaky ground. While tariffs are technically taxes, they are not entirely borne by Americans, with at least part of the import duty paid by foreign companies. Additionally, Advancing American Freedom PAC states that Trump’s tariffs are the highest imposed since the 1800s, claiming the imposed rate is higher than the Smoot-Hawley tariffs from the Great Depression.
The first claim is dubious at best, though the assertion that the Trump tariff rate is higher than those imposed under Smoot-Hawley is patently false. Pence and Advancing American Freedom PAC are playing fast and loose with what they consider the average tariff rate to make the claim. The Smoot-Hawley tariffs imposed a 59.1 percent rate on dutiable goods, though around 63 percent of foreign imports were not considered dutiable under the law. This places the average tariff rate under Smoot-Hawley at just under 20 percent.
President Trump’s tariffs include a blanket 10 percent tariff on all imports with additional target tariffs on specific countries with pre-existing trade barriers against American exports. Estimates regarding the average rate range from around 15 percent to 20 percent, though the lower side of the range appears more likely.
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