Just months into the 119th Congress, the balance of partisan power continues to shift within historically narrow margins.
Although Republicans held on to their House majority, Democrats managed to flip nine seats, while Republicans flipped eight seats, narrowing their advantage. The GOP also took a hit when several members of the Republican conference, such as former Rep. Mike Waltz of Florida, were tapped to serve in President Donald Trump's administration.
With multiple vacancies and several special elections, the House's partisan split continues to fluctuate, and every seat counts.
Former Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida was also initially recruited to head the Department of Justice, although he eventually dropped his bid and announced that he would not return to serve in the 119th Congress.
These vacancies leave Johnson with just a one-seat majority, requiring Republicans to vote in lockstep for every partisan vote.
To fill the Floridians' vacancies, the state will hold a special election on April 1. While both seats are expected to be filled by Republicans, Johnson is bracing himself for another vacancy in New York once the Senate confirms Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik to serve as U.N. ambassador. As a result, Republicans have made an effort to prolong Stefanik's confirmation, given how valuable her vote is in the House.
Once Stefanik does vacate her seat, Republicans will have a challenging time replacing her. Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York reportedly plans on slow-walking the special election to fill Stefanik's seat, prolonging Republicans' narrow majority.
On the other hand, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas is also tasked with replacing Democratic Rep. Sylvester Turner after he passed away on March 5 at the age of 70.
With multiple vacancies and several special elections, the House's partisan split continues to fluctuate, and every seat counts.
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Climate alarmists are planning yet another summit under the auspices of the United Nations to discuss changing weather patterns, wealth redistribution schemes, and ways of regulating human behavior.
Instead of holding a virtual meeting, thereby eliminating the need for the November conference's over 50,000 participants to fly around the world, the 2025 UN Climate Change Conference will be held in Belém, Brazil — the gateway to the Amazon River.
To ensure that COP30's participants enjoy easy motorized transit in and out of the city, a four-lane highway is being cut through the protected Amazon forest, which absorbs one-fourth of the supposedly problematic carbon dioxide absorbed by all the land on Earth.
According to the BBC, eight miles of rainforest has already been cut down to make room for the partially built Avenida Liberdade highway. Former carbon-capture systems are being stacked high along the roadside.
The American conservation site Mongabay reported that construction on the highway through the 18,427-acre Belém Environmental Protection Area began on June 15, 2024.
Adler Silveira, the state government's infrastructure secretary, stated at the outset, "We are committed to advancing the works respecting environmental legislation and the preservation of local fauna and flora."
While rainforest is being flattened, the state government indicated that the highway will be illuminated with solar-powered lights and have bicycle lanes.
The state government has reportedly been interested in clearing an 8.3-mile stretch through the beleaguered rainforest to build the highway since at least 2012, but environmental concerns got in the way. The decision to hold COP30 in Belém, however, provided the state with an excuse to start chopping down trees.
'COP30 will be the first to undeniably take place at the epicenter of the climate crisis.'
While at the UN headquarters in New York last year, Hedler Barbalho, the governor of Pará, assured his peers that Belém could handle the conference and that preparations were underway to provide guests with "the most extraordinary experience of the environment ... on the floor of the Amazon."
Brazil's president-designate for the summit, André Aranha Corrêa do Lago, noted in a Monday letter to other parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change that "COP30 will be the first to undeniably take place at the epicenter of the climate crisis, and the first to be hosted in the Amazon, one of the world's most vital ecosystems, now at risk of reaching an irreversible tipping point, according to scientists."
Corrêa do Lago noted further that forests — like the one being chopped down outside Belém — "can buy us time in climate action in our rapidly closing window of opportunity. If we reverse deforestation and recover what has been lost, we can unlock massive removals of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere while bringing ecosystems back to life."
Environmentalists and biologists have criticized the project, suggesting that the highway could devastate the local ecosystem and disrupt wildlife movements. Other critics have suggested that the Avenida Liberdade highway will pave the way to more deforestation.
Daniela Dias de Souza, a geographer and project coordinator at the conservation NGO SOS Amazônia, told Mongabay that "deforestation tends to become increasingly stronger along roads because of the opportunities they create, for example illegal logging and even drug trafficking."
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With Trump’s presidential victory in the rearview mirror, many people have begun asking questions about the future. What is the world going to look like in five, 10, 20 years? Luckily for everyone, the United Nations is proposing a mandatory, unsolicited solution for the future of digital technology, which includes digital IDs, censorship, and mass surveillance.
According to a report from Reclaim the Net, a committee of the United Nations has adopted two resolutions, “one of them aimed at the [U.N.'s] Department of Global Communications establishing and strengthening ‘partnerships with new and traditional media to address hate speech narratives.’”
While the United Nations may not seem like an immediate threat at present, it has posed itself as a forum for these types of ideas to be flushed out and developed.
Reclaim the Net reports that the resolution of the Special Political and Decolonization Committee reaffirms the U.N.’s commitment to “Our Common Agenda” and the “Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), UN Pact for the Future, and Global Digital Compact,” all of which are plans for the vision of the future proposed by the United Nations.
“Our Common Agenda” reportedly “proposes bank account-linked digital ID.” One of the goals of this resolution is “promoting a trustworthy Internet by introducing accountability criteria for discrimination and misleading content.” The bank account-linked digital ID is one of the proposed solutions for combatting misinformation.
Another policy brief related to Our Common Agenda makes this even more explicit: “Digital IDs linked with bank or mobile money accounts can improve the delivery of social protection coverage and serve to better reach eligible beneficiaries. Digital technologies may help to reduce leakage, errors and costs in the design of social protection programmes.” Essentially, the digital ID would serve as a deterrent for the further spread of “misinformation.”
The resolution was met with various degrees of enthusiasm. For example, Reclaim the Net said Italy’s representative advocated for “the use of AI in combatting ‘misinformation and disinformation.’” The U.K.’s representative was likewise on board with increased U.N. censorship, according to Reclaim the Net: “The U.K. remains committed to digging its heels in when it comes to characterizing ‘misinformation’ as a major threat.”
The U.K.’s support of these policies is unsurprising in light of the national effort to pass speech codes and digital policing frameworks, such as the Online Safety Bill, which Reclaim the Net says gives “sweeping new censorship powers to the UK’s Secretary of State and its communications regulator, the Office of Communications.”
Some representatives also proposed solutions for the punishment of individuals who disseminate what is deemed to be hate speech and misinformation. For example, Pakistan’s representative not only wanted a system of deterrence, but also a system for “censoring and demonetizing content algorithmically,” according to Reclaim the Net. A digital ID linked to bank accounts would serve as a solution to both of these demands.
On the other hand, Argentina’s representative expressed concern that “the term ‘hate speech’ can be abused by those wishing to stifle ‘pluralistic debate,'” according to Reclaim the Net. This did not sway any opinions, however, and the resolution was passed. Argentina’s representative was only able to “dissociate himself” from the parts of the resolution relevant to the attacks on free speech.
It is easy to dismiss the United Nations and its plans for global governance. They often sound far-fetched or way too extreme to put into action. However, even supposedly free countries like the U.K. are beginning to implement hate-speech laws and guards against misinformation of their own accord. While the United Nations may not seem like an immediate threat at present, it has posed itself as a forum for these types of ideas to be flushed out and developed. Therefore, the recent triumph of free speech figures in the United States should not be taken for granted, and we must remain vigilant in this age of increasing censorship and surveillance.
Americans were told that, with enough help, Ukraine could liberate all of its territory. It was a murderous lie.
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