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PULSE POINTS:
❓What Happened: An extensive international child pornography network called “Kidflix” was uncovered and dismantled by Europol, which supported authorities from 38 countries in shutting it down.
👥 Who’s Involved: Europol, Bavarian State Criminal Police Office, and law enforcement from 38 countries, including the U.S., Canada, and Australia, were involved. The operation led to 79 arrests so far, with additional suspects identified.
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📍 Where & When: The operation spanned approximately three years, with a key part being the shutdown of servers in Germany and the Netherlands.
💬 Key Quote: Europol described the network as “one of the largest pedophile platforms in the world” with an estimated two million users.
⚠️ Impact: The platform reportedly hosted over 91,000 child exploitation videos, with around three new videos uploaded hourly. The crackdown aims to tackle global child sexual exploitation severely, highlighting the issue’s widespread nature.
IN FULL:
An international crackdown led by Europol has successfully dismantled one of the world’s largest child pornography networks, named “Kidflix.” Authorities across 38 countries collaborated to take down the platform, which disseminated a staggering amount of heinous illegal content.
The investigation led by Germany’s Bavarian State Criminal Police lasted nearly three years and concluded with significant enforcement action. As of April 2, around 79 individuals have been taken into custody, while 1,400 others are under suspicion. According to Europol reports, the network had approximately two million users from 35 countries.
Servers hosting the Kidflix site were located in Germany and the Netherlands, and they were instrumental in enabling the illegal transaction of child sexual abuse material (CSAM). Users of the platform could anonymously pay to access, stream, and even upload their own videos of abuse. Cryptocurrencies were utilized to avoid detection through financial transactions.
Kidflix shockingly archived more than 91,000 videos depicting child abuse. It also introduced new uploads at an alarming rate, averaging three new uploads every hour.
This successful takedown forms part of a larger effort to combat online child sexual exploitation by law enforcement agencies worldwide. Europol stated those apprehended are not only charged with watching or posting exploitative content but also suspected of directly abusing children.
CSAM distribution remains a significant problem on the regular Internet, often called the surface web, as well. Pornography websites like OnlyFans and Pornhub have been found to have hosted CSAM material in the past. Even mainstream social media websites like Instagram and Facebook have had millions of reports of CSAM being shared in recent years.
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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