International
Julian Assange breaks silence, slams Mike Pompeo for wanting to assassinate him

From LifeSiteNews
By Stephen Kokx
The WikiLeaks founder told the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe that ‘the CIA drew up plans to kidnap and assassinate me within the Ecuadorian embassy in London and authorized going after my European colleagues.’
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is standing by his assertion that the U.S. Deep State sought to assassinate him while he was detained.
🇪🇺JULIAN ASSANGE: THE CIA TARGETED MY WIFE AND SON
"By March 2017, WikiLeaks had exposed the CIA's infiltration of French political parties; its spying on French and German leaders.
CIA director Pompeo launched a campaign of retribution.
It is now a matter of public record… https://t.co/0GB83xT1JO pic.twitter.com/CEezku6ZKI
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) October 1, 2024
Assange, 53, was in Strasbourg, France today making his first public appearance after being released in June from London’s high-security Belmarsh Prison, where he had been confined for five years.
Speaking to representatives of 46 countries at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the Australian journalist reiterated that Mike Pompeo, Donald Trump’s CIA director, planned on killing him.
“It is now a matter of public record that under Pompeo’s explicit direction, the CIA drew up plans to kidnap and assassinate me within the Ecuadorian embassy in London and authorized going after my European colleagues, subjecting us to theft, hacking attacks, and the planting of false information,” Assange said.
“My wife and my infant son were also targeted,” he continued. “A CIA asset was permanently assigned to track my wife, and instructions were given to obtain DNA from my 6-month-old son’s nappy. This is the testimony of more than 30 current and former U.S intelligence officials speaking to the U.S. press, which has been additionally corroborated by records seized in a prosecution brought against some of the CIA agents involved.”
After founding WikiLeaks in the mid 2000s, Assange came under intense scrutiny from Western governments after he helped expose war crimes committed in Afghanistan and Iraq. He sought refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy in the U.K. beginning in 2012.
In total, Assange spent 14 years of his life as a political prisoner until he struck a plea deal this summer with the U.S. government, which had charged him with 18 counts of violating the Espionage Act. He says that he chose to make the deal as the likelihood he would ever receive justice was nearly impossible.
“The CIA’s targeting of myself, my family, and my associates through aggressive, extrajudicial, and extraterritorial means provides a rare insight into how powerful intelligence organizations engage in transnational repression,” Assange said Tuesday. “I am not free today because the system worked. I am free today after years of incarceration because I pleaded guilty to journalism.”
Reports of the CIA’s plan to take Assange out surfaced in 2021, when Yahoo News revealed that intelligence agents had stated that Pompeo had been looking into possible methods of assassinating Assange following his release of “Vault 7” in 2017, which the agency described as “the largest data loss in CIA history.”
Last year, an uncomfortable Pompeo told libertarian journalist John Stossel that it “would have been illegal” for him to draw up plans to kill Assange, who he said is simply “trying to save his tuchus.”
In November 2023, Tucker Carlson announced on X that he had visited Assange at Belmarsh. A photo he posted to the platform showed Carlson walking with Assange’s wife Stella, who was at the event in Strasbourg today.
Visiting Julian Assange at Belmarsh Prison this morning pic.twitter.com/5XR51QTZgy
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) November 2, 2023
Among other notable moments in WikiLeaks history is its releasing of emails from high-ranking American political actors, including longtime Clinton associate John Podesta. Podesta’s bizarrely worded emails about “President Obama,” “hot dogs,” and “cheese pizza” are believed by some to be coded messages about Washington elites engaging in pedophilia and human trafficking. Other Podesta emails indicate he had an extensive plan to liberalize core teachings of the Catholic Church under the auspices of a “Catholic Spring.”
In August 2016, Assange implied that one of his sources was slain Democratic Party staffer Seth Rich, who was found dead on the streets of Washington, D.C. in 2016 at 4:20 a.m. after being shot in the back. Some contend that the 27-year-old Rich, who was a Bernie Sanders supporter, was murdered for leaking emails about how the party rigged the presidential primary in favor of Hillary Clinton. Rich’s family – perhaps under pressure from clandestine forces to remain quiet – have stated that such accusations are untrue.
Assange and his supporters have repeatedly maintained he has done nothing wrong, stating that he is a journalist and that the public has a right to know what their corrupt leaders are doing. Governments have maintained that the data he published is top secret and that his actions did and does endanger lives.
Business
Trump eyes end of capital gains tax in 2025

MxM News
Quick Hit:
In a historic announcement that rattled markets and reignited debate over tax policy, President Donald Trump revealed plans to eliminate the capital gains tax starting in 2025. The unprecedented move would allow Americans to retain all profits from asset sales—whether in stocks, real estate, or other investments. Supporters tout it as a bold pro-growth measure, while critics warn it may cause budget strain and market instability.
Key Details:
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President Trump announced the elimination of capital gains tax effective 2025, describing it as a move to reward success and promote wealth-building.
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Currently, capital gains are taxed at rates up to 20%, with additional surcharges for high earners.
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The announcement caused a major rally across financial markets, though critics claim the change favors the wealthy and could disrupt the economy.
Diving Deeper:
At a press conference on Monday, President Trump laid out a sweeping proposal to eliminate the capital gains tax in its entirety, calling it a “long-overdue correction” to what he described as a punitive tax on prosperity. “Why should you be punished for building wealth?” he asked. “This is America—we reward success.” If enacted, the change would allow investors to retain 100% of profits from the sale of assets such as stocks, homes, and businesses, with zero tax liability.
This proposal marks a sharp departure from decades of entrenched U.S. tax policy. Currently, long-term capital gains are taxed at rates ranging from 0% to 20%, with potential surcharges including the 3.8% Net Investment Income Tax for high earners. Trump’s plan would zero out those liabilities entirely starting in the 2025 tax year.
Conservative economists and market analysts have lauded the move as potentially the most transformative supply-side reform since the Reagan era. They argue that removing the tax will unshackle trillions of dollars currently locked in unrealized gains, spurring investment, entrepreneurship, and broader economic dynamism. “This is a game-changer,” said one pro-growth advocate. “It sends a clear message that America is back to being the most investment-friendly nation on Earth.”
Predictably, left-wing critics erupted. One Democratic senator labeled the measure a “grenade” that would detonate the federal budget and widen the wealth gap. Others warned of asset bubbles and increased volatility as investors rush to dump assets ahead of the reform’s implementation. These concerns, however, do not seem to have spooked the markets—at least not yet.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped nearly 600 points following the announcement, while cryptocurrencies surged on expectations of tax-free gains. Real estate portals and trading platforms like Robinhood and E*TRADE saw surges in activity as users began strategizing around the policy’s timing. Online, the announcement triggered a wave of memes and commentary. The hashtag #NoCapGains began trending on X (formerly Twitter), with some calling it a “wealth liberation act” and others denouncing it as “Robin Hood in reverse.”
Legislation to formalize the proposal is expected to hit Congress within weeks. While Republicans have largely expressed support, Democrats are preparing for a fierce battle. It’s unclear whether some establishment Republicans—many of whom have been resistant to bold reform under Trump—will help move the bill forward or slow-walk it in favor of more moderate compromises.
Until the law is officially passed, financial advisors are urging caution. “The promise of zero capital gains tax is tempting,” one planner said, “but don’t bet the farm until it’s signed, sealed, and delivered.”
Still, with the 2025 tax season approaching fast, the stakes are enormous. If passed, Trump’s plan would not only mark one of the most dramatic tax overhauls in modern history—it would redefine the very incentives that drive American investment and wealth accumulation.
International
UN committee urges Canada to repeal euthanasia for non-terminally ill patients

From LifeSiteNews
The UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities has warned against Canada’s euthanasia program, urging the repeal of legislation that allows the killing of non-terminally ill individuals.
Canada’s euthanasia regime has become too radical even for the anti-life United Nations, who recently called on the nation to repeal its law allowing non-terminally ill patients to qualify for death through the state’s “Medical Assistance in Dying” program.
In closing remarks published March 21, the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities argued that Canada should repeal its 2021 MAID expansion legislation that allowed those who are chronically ill but not terminally ill to be put to death by the state.
The committee said that Canada’s regime “establishes medically assisted dying for persons with disabilities based on negative, ableist perceptions of the quality and value of the life of persons with disabilities, including that ‘suffering’ is intrinsic to disability rather than the fact that inequality and discrimination cause and compound ‘suffering’ for persons with disabilities.”
It pointed out that “the concept of ‘choice’ creates a false dichotomy by setting up the premise that if persons with disabilities are suffering, it is valid for the State Party to enable their death.”
In Canada, euthanasia is divided into Track 1 and Track 2 requests. Track 1 requests deal with those whose death is allegedly imminent or foreseeable. Track 2 requests deal with those who are not terminally ill but have lost the will to live due to their having chronic health problems.
The UN committee took specific issue with Track 2 MAID, writing that it is “extremely concerned about the 2021 amendments to the State Party’s Criminal Code through Bill C-7 that expanded the eligibility criteria for obtaining Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID), known as ‘Track 2’ MAiD by removing the ‘foreseeable death’ criteria.”
The committee further recommended that Canada not euthanize its citizens for mental health reasons and abandon additional expansions of the program. Such an expansion is slated to come into effect in 2027.
It is worth noting that while Track 2 cases of MAID are indeed evil, so are Track 1 cases. The Catholic Church infallibly teaches that euthanasia is a grave evil tantamount to murder and must be rejected in all circumstances.
The UN committee’s criticism of Canada’s euthanasia regime comes after many have pointed out that the regime has spawned a culture of death and eugenics in the country, with the disabled and the poor often being those who request or who are even suggested to request death via Track 2 MAID.
In one case, a Nova Scotia grandmother revealed that doctors repeatedly offered her euthanasia while she underwent cancer treatment, making her feel as though she was “better off dead.”
“I felt like a problem that needed to be [gotten] rid of instead of a patient in need of treatment,” she said. “I don’t want to be asked if I want to die.”
Similarly, in May of last year, LifeSiteNews reported on a Canadian man who felt “completely traumatized” and violated that he was offered MAID “multiple times” instead of getting the proper care he needed while in the hospital.
The most recent reports show that MAID is the sixth highest cause of death in Canada. However, it was not listed as such in Statistics Canada’s top 10 leading causes of death from 2019 to 2022.
When asked why MIiD was left off the list, the agency said that it records the illnesses that led Canadians to choose to end their lives via euthanasia, not the actual cause of death, as the primary cause of death.
According to Health Canada, in 2022, 13,241 Canadians died by MAID lethal injections. This accounts for 4.1 percent of all deaths in the country for that year, a 31.2 percent increase from 2021.
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