Did MAHA’s Food-Stamp Restrictions Force Wave of 7-Eleven Closures?

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Did MAHA’s Food-Stamp Restrictions Force Wave of 7-Eleven Closures?

(Ben Sellers, Headline USA) A prominent advocate for the Make America Healthy Again movement suggested that 7-Eleven’s closure of 645 underperforming North America locations may be linked to the Trump administration’s cutback of government-subsidies for unhealthy snacks.

“Wait it’s all fraud. Always has been,” said a meme accompanying the post from Heart & Soil, which suggested the once ubiquitous chain of Texas-based convenience stores was being buoyed by the government through food stamps.

Under the stewardship of Health and Human Services Sec. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Agriculture Sec. Brooke Rollins, 22 states have been granted waivers to restrict the purchase of items including candy, sweetened drinks and processed foods through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

Financial disclosures did not directly address the decision by Seven & i Holdings Co., 7-Eleven’s Japanese parent company, to shutter the locations, many of which will be converted to “wholesale fuel stores,” according to the Associated Press.

The company still oversees some 86,000 7-Eleven stores, including 13,000 branches in North America.

Some of the decline may be attributable to the growth in competitive chains like Sheetz, Wawa and Buc-ees, which have followed 7-Eleven’s business model of round-the-clock convenience while improving the quality and variety of food offerings.

The April 9 report from Seven & i also suggested inflation may be to blame.

“[A]lthough the economy remained robust, personal consumption also began to soften … particularly among low-income households, as inflation continued to weigh on spending,” it said.

New CEO Stephen Hayes Dacus is overseeing efforts to freshen up the chain — literally — by investing in more fresh food offerings and expanding its delivery service, 7NOW.

Ben Sellers is a freelance writer and former editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/realbensellers.

Kari Lake Unloads on Alleged Swalwell Wingman Ruben Gallego

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Kari Lake Unloads on Alleged Swalwell Wingman Ruben Gallego

(Ben Sellers, Headline USA) Former Arizona senatorial candidate Kari Lake unloaded on her 2024 Democratic rival, Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., amid an unfolding scandal surrounding Gallego’s association with disgraced ex-Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif.

In a cringeworthy press gaggle, Gallego adamantly denied any advance knowledge of Swalwell’s alleged sex crimes, which include multiple accounts from female victims and a video that is believed to involve an underage sex worker.

Gallego likewise denied that he was the unidentified wingman in the video, which has spurred possible criminal investigations by the federal Justice Department and the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.

A forensic analysis by Human Events host Jack Posobiec showed a likely match between Gallego and the second man featured in the viral video.

Moreover, prominent behavior analyst Scott Rouse broke down Gallego’s denial of his relationship with Swalwell, calling it “rehearsed.”

“This guy’s about to freak out, he’s so nervous,” Rouse said.

Swalwell was forced to resign when the allegations went public last week, as well as drop his bid to be the next California governor.

However, critics have expressed skepticism over the shock that his Democratic colleagues have expressed over Swalwell, with some saying that the flatulent honeypot mark’s tomcatting was an open secret in political circles.

Yet, Lake said that Gallego’s own secrets went well beyond his bromance with Swalwell.

“Most candidates have a few skeletons,” she wrote in an X post. “Gallego’s opposition file was a massive three-ring binder so heavy I couldn’t lift it.”

Lake cited, among other things, allegations that Gallego committed mortgage fraud and his suspected connections to Mexican drug cartels, as well as an $80,000 vacation Gallego and Swalwell took to Qatar during COVID lockdowns.

Ben Sellers is a freelance writer and former editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/realbensellers.

Free Lunch? Chicago Mayor Demands Restaurant Reparations

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Free Lunch? Chicago Mayor Demands Restaurant Reparations

(Ben Sellers, Headline USA) Bombastic Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson was back at his race-baiting during a recent speech in support over his One Fair Wage policy.

Johnson was roundly mocked after the viral clip showed him claiming that the food-service industry was a product of systemic racism and pushing for a form of “reparations” by raising the minimum wage for restaurant employees.

“The restaurant industry has its ties to slavery,” Johnson said.

“So, when we think about the history of this country, and we think about the need to repair the damage that has been done over the last several hundred years, we have to be honest about that,” he added. “And so, in this city, we need reparations.”

The speech followed Johnson’s call last month for a Reparations Study as part of his “Repair Chicago” initiative. The vaguely outlined plan sought to gather “personal testimonials and resident feedback” about discrimination via a communitywide survey.

It also planned a series of bus tours, community town halls and public hearings to further encourage participation from minority residents.

“We cannot talk about reparations without centering the lived experiences of Black Chicagoans,” Chicago’s chief equity officer, Carla Kupe, said in a press release.

“This series is an opportunity to listen deeply, learn collectively, and ensure that community voice is not symbolic, but foundational to the policies and recommendations the task force bring forward through the study,”  she added.

It remained unclear, however, what any of that had to do with restaurants.

Both the minimum-wage hike and the reparations task force seem to be modeled on prior failed experiments in California.

The Golden State’s decision to impose a $20 minimum wage for certain food-service jobs resulted in an array of unintended consequences, including price hikes for customers, workforce cuts (with some restaurants opting instead for automation) and a shortage of workers in other service-industry fields where the wages were not in effect, such as school cafeterias.

One beneficiary of the policy, however, was Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom, who reportedly received a $160,000 donation in return for exempting Panera Bread from the new law.

Newsom’s plans to study reparations for black residents were equally disastrous.

A statewide task force in 2024 spent millions of tax dollars coming up with a 500-page report that called for California to pay $800 billion in reparations, essentially bankrupting the state for its virtue-signaling cause.

Newsom appeared to scoff at the price tag, even after having touted the initiative earlier.

The pandering, however, may have backfired on Democrats after black activists signaled their intention to punish leftist lawmakers for the inaction.

In February, pro-liberty watchdog the Pacific Legal Foundation filed a lawsuit against the city of San Francisco over a similar plan to pay off minorities at the municipal level.

Ben Sellers is a freelance writer and former editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/realbensellers.

Identities Revealed by Respective Mothers of 8 Children Shot to Death

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Identities Revealed by Respective Mothers of 8 Children Shot to Death

(Darren Svan and Alan Wooten, The Center Square) Mothers and the coroner’s office of a Louisiana parish have identified the eight children ages 3-11 killed early Sunday.

The office of Dr. Todd Thoma, the Caddo Parish coroner, said the shooting was just before 6 a.m. in the 300 block of West 79th Street. Lawmen are still investigating and autopsies have been requested for each of the victims.

Identified by the mothers, the children killed were Jayla Elkins, 3; Shayla Elkins, 5; Kayla Pugh, 6; Layla Pugh, 7; Markaydon Pugh, 10; Sariahh Snow, 11; Khedarrion Snow, 6; and Braylon Snow, 5.

Two women were also shot and remain in critical condition. Police said one of the women is the mother of seven of the children. A teenage boy who jumped from the roof to escape the violence was also injured.

Shreveport and Caddo Parish have 15 homicides to date in the calendar year.

According to police, 31-year-old Shamar Elkins is the suspect – and father to seven of the children – who hijacked a car, led a chase into Bossier City, and was eventually shot and killed.

Shreveport Police Chief Wayne Smith on Sunday said a motive was yet to be determined. He asked for patience from the community.

“I cannot begin to imagine how such an event could occur,” he said.

The community will gather for a prayer vigil at 6:30 p.m. to honor the young victims.

“What began as a domestic dispute has ended in irreversible harm,” said Caddo Parish District Attorney James Stewart. “This reality underscores a truth we must continue to confront: Domestic violence is not a private matter. It is a community issue with far-reaching consequences, often affecting the most vulnerable among us – our children.”

Shreveport City Council is expected to share more information later Monday.

“Today, we grieve,” Stewart said. “In the days ahead, we must stand together in resolve to honor these lives by continuing the work of prevention, protection and support.”

Pentagon Has Approached US Automakers About Helping Manufacture Weapons

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Pentagon Has Approached US Automakers About Helping Manufacture Weapons

(Dave DeCamp, Antiwar.com) Two major US car makers have been approached by the Pentagon about the possibility of helping the US government manufacture military equipment, as the Trump administration seeks a significant boost in arms production.

The discussions were first reported by The Wall Street Journal last week, which said that the CEOs of General Motors and Ford Motor Company were both approached separately by US War Department officials.

A source told the Detroit Free Press that some of the conversations happened as early as last year. US military stockpiles have been significantly depleted by the war in Ukraine and the wars in the Middle East, including the 12-Day US-Israeli war against Iran that took place last year and this year’s war against the Islamic Republic.

The US military has been using air defense interceptors and other munitions in the Middle East at a much faster rate than they can be produced, even with plans to significantly ramp up production.

For example, in less than two weeks of war with Iran, the US and its allies in the region used more than 1,000 PAC-3 interceptors, which are fired by the Patriot air defense systems. Lockheed Martin currently produces 600 PAC-3s each year and has said it wants to increase annual production to 2,000, but it will take several years to reach that goal.

The development is a sign that the Trump administration is preparing for global conflict, as Ford, GM, and other US car makers helped manufacture military equipment during World War II. President Trump has also requested a $1.5 trillion military budget for 2027, a nearly 50% increase from this year, with some of the additional funds earmarked for increasing weapons production.

This article originally appeared at Antiwar.com.  

FBI Director Kash Patel Sues The Atlantic for Article that Alleged Excessive Drinking

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FBI Director Kash Patel Sues The Atlantic for Article that Alleged Excessive Drinking

(Headline USA) FBI Director Kash Patel hit The Atlantic magazine with a $250 million defamation lawsuit on Monday, claiming an article that talked about mismanagement at the agency and his alleged excessive drinking was false and a “malicious hit piece.” The Atlantic said it stood by its reporting and would vigorously defend against the “meritless lawsuit.”

In the article, posted on the magazine’s website Friday, author Sarah Fitzpatrick said Patel is deeply concerned about losing his job and that “he has good reasons to think so — including some having to do with what witnesses described to me as bouts of excessive drinking.” Fitzpatrick was also named as a defendant.

His behavior, including “both conspicuous inebriation and unexplained absences,” has alarmed officials at the FBI and Department of Justice, leading one official speaking anonymously to say that worry about what would happen in the case of a terrorist attack in the U.S. “keeps me up at night,” the magazine said.

The White House told The Atlantic that Patel remains a critical player on the President Donald Trump’s law and order team and credited him for decreases in the crime rate. Trump team is also said to be pleased by Patel’s willingness to go after the president’s rivals.

Patel, in the lawsuit filed in district court in Washington, denied the allegations of his behavior and criticized the magazine for relying on anonymous sources. Fitzpatrick wrote that she interviewed more than two dozen people and granted them anonymity to “discuss sensitive information and private conversations.”

“Defendants cannot evade responsibility for their malicious lies by hiding behind sham sources,” the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit said Patel’s lawyers asked The Atlantic for more time to respond to accusations but the magazine did not reply. “It is among the strongest possible evidence of actual malice,” it said.

The Atlantic said Patel had been spotted drinking heavily at the private club Ned’s in Washington and at the Poodle Room in Las Vegas, where he often spends time on the weekends. Six people told the magazine that briefings and meetings involving Patel had to be rescheduled for later in the day because of drinking the night before.

It said that on “multiple occasions” Patel’s security team had difficulty waking him and at one point requested equipment designed to forcibly open a building when Patel was unreachable behind closed doors.

With his lawsuit, Patel is following a playbook used by his boss to fight back against damaging stories. Last week, a judge in Florida dismissed Trump’s $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal over its report about a risqué birthday greeting he had sent to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The judge said Trump had not plausibly alleged the story was published with actual malice, the standard for a libel finding.

Last September, another judge dismissed Trump’s $15 billion lawsuit against The New York Times and some reporters for a story critical of the president’s business acumen. Trump was allowed to file an amended lawsuit, which he did.

Trump also sued CBS News and ABC News for stories he didn’t like before taking office again for his second term. Both of those news organizations paid a settlement out of court to Trump before the cases could go to trial.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press. 

Calif. Dems Complain as ‘Jungle Primary’ Used to Freeze Out GOP Backfires

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Calif. Dems Complain as ‘Jungle Primary’ Used to Freeze Out GOP Backfires

(Ben Sellers, Headline USA) A leftist California lawmaker called for an end to the political system that Democrats have regularly used to entrench the state’s one-party rule after it threatened to backfire on them.

“In 2028, Californians should get rid of the jungle primary,” wrote Rep. Robert Garcia in an X post on Friday. “It has not worked out as intended, and it’s time to get back to real primaries.”

The post was widely mocked by conservatives, including RedState columnist Buzz Patterson.

“This is absolutely hysterical! Democrats have used the jungle primary in California for 14 years requiring the top 2 candidates, regardless of party, to move forward to the general election,” Patterson wrote.

“It has served them well,” he added. “So well, in fact, that if a Republican even wins a primary, it’s been considered a ‘win.’”

The current system dictates that the state hold open, “nonpartisan” primaries where the top two candidates advance to the general election, regardless of political party. It first took effect after voters approved a ballot initiative, Proposition 14, in June 2010 with support from then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

But Schwarzenegger, a notorious RINO, would prove to be the last Republican elected governor in California, with Democrats exploiting open-border policies, ballot harvesting and other dubious practices to give themselves an insurmountable electoral advantage in the state that gave rise to former Presidents Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon.

Democrats have been able to gerrymander many of the congressional districts to maximize their advantage, assuring that deep-blue pockets in cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco exercise disproportionate influence over the redder agricultural areas in the northern and eastern parts of the state.

Although the Republican candidate has finished second in each of the subsequent gubernatorial primaries and advanced to the general election, the Democrat has prevailed by double-digit margins once the party is able to coalesce around its nominee.

By contrast, Republicans in the state have been forced to invest their relatively meager resources into simply winning the primary, all while knowing that a general election victory will be a longshot.

But with Gov. Gavin Newsom out of contention, the current frontrunners for the June 2 primary are Republican candidates Steve Hilton and Chad Bianco. Democrats’ woes stem largely from their own weak field, with leading candidates Eric Swalwell and Katie Porter both weakened by scandal.

Swalwell formally dropped out of the race last week after a series of whistleblowers came forward with reports of sexual assault. However, his name will remain on the primary ballot per state law.

Democrats also face a more crowded field, with additional competition from billionaire hedge-fund manager Tom Steyer and former Biden Health and Human Services Sec. Xavier Becerra drawing support away from Porter.

Steyer, a longtime Democrat donor, may have pulled strings to get powerful party members like former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Adam Schiff, both longtime Swalwell allies, to throw him under the bus. And he may do the same to Porter, thus further shoring up his own support and pulling into the lead position ahead of Hilton.

This is not the first time panic-stricken Democrats have disavowed the open-primary process.

Some strategists observed in 2018 that the system’s inherent vulnerability was giving a disproportionate advantage to those with name recognition, funding advantages and pre-existing power that they could use to silence their intra-party dissent.

“The top two primary is an obvious problem, more for Dems than the GOP just because there are more Democratic seats in California,” Parke Skelton, a Pasadena-based Democratic consultant told U.S. News & World Report.

“We’ve got to get rid of it ASAP,” Skelton added. “It makes elections more expensive and rewards those who are best at gaming the system. I think it will cost Dems one or two seats this year.”

SCOTUS Liberals Slow-Walk Redistricting Case to Meddle in Midterms

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SCOTUS Liberals Slow-Walk Redistricting Case to Meddle in Midterms

(Ben Sellers, Headline USA) Former Trump press secretary Sean Spicer revealed that the Supreme Court’s three radical left-wing judges may be trying to run out the clock on a crucial decision impacting the midterm election cycle by slow-walking their dissenting opinion.

The final case on the court’s present docket is Louisiana v. Callais, which will likely upend policies enacted by the Voting Rights Act during the era of segregation that required certain states to ensure minority representation.

The case challenges lower-court mandates that Louisiana was obligated to carve out a second “black” district following its most recent round of redistricting, even though recent SCOTUS cases have ruled against race-based gerrymandering in different contexts.

The decision may have a chain effect in other red states that have been forced to factor race into their redistricting maps to accommodate black minority voters.

During an appearance Friday on Steve Bannon’s WarRoom, Spicer — who now serves as a political commentator for NewsNation —  said he had been told by reliable sources that the court’s pending decision would upend Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.

But the dissenting justices — presumably liberals Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson — were delaying their opinion in the hope of forcing deadlines to lapse as states begin their primary processes with the existing districts already set.

“They’re taking their sweet time writing what will probably be a 50- or 60-page diatribe about how this is the return of Jim Crow or whatever nonsense they come up with,” Spicer said.

“The problem is, under the Court’s own rules and the timeline for redistricting, states need the final ruling with enough time to redraw maps before candidate filing deadlines and primaries kick in,” he added.

While cases tend to follow a pattern of being released in quick succession before the court goes into recess, the Louisiana v. Callais case, which initially was argued in June 2025, met with delays that prevented it from being released last October.

“If they drag this out just a few more weeks, several GOP-controlled states — including Louisiana itself — won’t have time to redraw their maps in a way that complies with the expected ruling,” Spicer said. “That means Republicans could lose multiple House seats this cycle purely because the Left is playing games with the clock.”

According to Federalist editor Molly Hemingway, who recently released a biography on Justice Samuel Alito, this is not the first time the court’s leftist arm has attempted to weaponize the calendar on a landmark ruling.

She reported a similar phenomenon occurred following the high-profile 2022 leak of the Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade. While the leaker’s identity has never been confirmed, the news fueled violent protests on the radical Left, and even assassination attempts on their fellow justices.

The spectacle comes as the court’s liberals have adopted an increasingly partisan tone, with Jackson — the Supreme Court’s sole Biden appointee — having recently delivered a scathing attack on her court colleagues during a Yale Law School speech.

“The Court’s stay decisions can, at times, come across utterly irrational,” said Jackson, whose lines of questioning during oral arguments and written decisions frequently have been derided as showing a weak understanding of the law.

The outcome of the 2026 election could have far-reaching consequences, even impacting the court itself.

Four justices are now in their 70s, with an increasing likelihood the court’s most conservative justices, Clarence Thomas (78) and Alito (76) may need to retire at some point during the next presidential administration.

If Democrats dominate the midterm elections and gain control of the Senate, Trump’s hopes of clearing a pick during his lame-duck term would be increasingly unlikely, making it a gamble that a Republican will control the White House.

Both Thomas and Alito have indicated that they have no plans of retiring ahead of the midterm elections.

Ben Sellers is a freelance writer and former editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/realbensellers.

Navy Reservist Arrested, Accused of Fleeing to Hong Kong After Wife’s Body Found in Virginia Freezer

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Navy Reservist Arrested, Accused of Fleeing to Hong Kong After Wife’s Body Found in Virginia Freezer

(Headline USA) A man accused of fleeing to Hong Kong after his wife’s body was found in a freezer in their Virginia apartment has been apprehended, authorities said.

David Varela, a 38-year-old Navy Reservist, was wanted on a first-degree murder charge in the death of Lina M. Guerra, 39, who was found dead at their Norfolk apartment in February, FBI Director Kash Patel announced in a social media post. Varela had been on the run for more than two months, “but justice doesn’t forget,” he said.

Varela was returned to the United States on Wednesday and remains in California, where he faces federal charges, Norfolk police said Thursday in a news release.

A notice filed Wednesday in federal court in San Francisco states that Varela was arrested on an unlawful flight warrant and accused of fleeing to Hong Kong from Virginia to avoid prosecution for first-degree murder and concealing a dead body to prevent detection.

On Feb. 5, Norfolk police searched the home of Varela and Guerra, identified in an FBI affidavit as Lisa Maria Guerra Echavarria, after her brother reported her missing. Her brother hadn’t been in touch with her for more than two weeks and detectives hadn’t been able to reach her or Varela.

Varela, a U.S. Navy Reservist on active duty, hadn’t responded to calls from his supervisor, who told police that was unusual, according to the affidavit. During the search, a woman was found dead in the kitchen’s freezer, and preliminary fingerprints determined the woman was Echavarria.

The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner ruled her death a homicide, Norfolk police said when they announced charges against Varela. Police did not release details of a motive or the circumstances surrounding her death.

Homeland Security Investigations determined that Varela took a flight to Hong Kong around the day the search took place, according to the affidavit, which also noted that emergency disclosure requests from WhatsApp showed location data originating in Hong Kong.

Online court records do not list an attorney who could comment of Varela’s behalf.

  Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press. 

Mother and 6 Children Killed in Explosion and Fire at Central Pennsylvania Home

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Mother and 6 Children Killed in Explosion and Fire at Central Pennsylvania Home

(Headline USA)  An Amish woman and her six children ranging in age from 3 to 11 were killed in a swift-moving house fire after an explosion that shook nearby houses in rural north-central Pennsylvania, authorities said.

Firefighters responding to a report of an explosion and fire at a home in Lamar Township in Clinton County near Mill Hall on Sunday morning said seven people were trapped, but they couldn’t search the house engulfed in flames, Pennsylvania State Police said in a statement.

All seven died. Police identified them as Sarah Stoltzfus, 34, four sons, ages 11, 10, 5 and 3, and two daughters, ages 8 and 6.

An obituary posted online by a local funeral home identified Stoltzfus as a member of the Old Order Amish Church community. She is survived by her husband, David Stoltzfus, it said.

A police report issued earlier gave the spelling of her last name as Stolzfus.

The cause is under investigation. A propane leak inside the home may have caused the explosion and fire, police said, noting that exterior propane tanks did not explode and were not contributing factors for the explosion and fire.

Neighbor Christina Duck told WNEP-TV she was eating breakfast when it began.

“And I heard a boom and I could feel it and I got up nd looked out the window and I could see the flames through the windows and I come running outside and within a minute the whole house was completely engulfed,” Duck said. The family moved in a couple of months ago, Duck said, noting that she often saw the children outside playing.

By the time firefighters got there, “there was no saving that house, it went up so fast,” she said.

WNEP-TV showed video of what it said was members of the Amish community arriving at the scene to clean up and pay respects.

The Amish prioritize their deep Christian faith and family life, eschewing many modern conveniences. They wear traditional clothing and use horses and buggies for much of their transportation. They often speak a German dialect known as Pennsylvania Dutch.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press. 

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