Abortion has been a notoriously divisive issue in America, but actually I see an emerging consensus: that abortion should be legal up until a certain number of weeks, and restricted thereafter. Even in the reddest of red states, voters reject total abortion bans. And in blue states, almost no one supports third-trimester abortions except to save the life of the mother. And so I support the emerging consensus that abortion should be unrestricted up until a certain point. 

But I also believe that we can reduce more abortions in America by choice than by force. This is at the heart of the “More Choices, More Life” policy we’ve developed. Every abortion is a tragedy, and by better supporting mothers, parents, and families, we can dramatically reduce abortions across the board. //

I'm going to support President Trump's policies on Title 10. I agree with President Trump that every abortion is a tragedy. I agree with him that we cannot be a moral nation if we have 1.2 million abortions a year. I agree with him that the states should control abortion. President Trump has told me he wants to end late-term abortion, he wants to protect conscience exemptions, and that he wants to end federal funding for abortions here and abroad as Title 10 states. I serve at the pleasure of the president, I'm going to implement his policies. //

Lankford asked, "Will you step in and say that healthcare individuals have the right of conscience again as the federal law allows?"

Kennedy responded:

The first thing that occurs to me when you ask that question is what patient would want somebody doing a surgery on them that believes the surgery is against their conscience being forced to perform that. I don't know anybody who would want a doctor to perform a surgery that the doctor is morally opposed to.

Kennedy took his argument further: that recognition of conscience exemptions is a part of the diversity of thought that the country needs to return to. //

LANKFORD: Will FDA move to be able to actually give transparency to the America people and to say, "this drug is no different than any other drug, we're not going to protect it just because it's political to some folks." People should know side effects on this drug and there should be reporting?

KENNEDY: It's against everything we believe in this country that patients or doctors should not be reporting adverse events. We need to know what adverse events are, we need to understand the safety of every drug, Mifepristone and every other drug. And President Trump has made it clear to me, one of the things, he has not taken a position yet on Mifepristone—a detailed position, but he's made it clear to me that he wants me to look at the safety issues, and I will ask NIH/FDA to do that. //

Indylawyer
6 hours ago
Those are the sorts of responses I was hoping to hear. I do not expect the federal government to eliminate abortion by legislative fiat anytime soon, and certainly not by administrative fiat. But the Democrats and RINOs have long been twisting law and policy in all sorts of hideous directions in order to promote and encourage abortion. Our abortion policy at the federal level ought to be similar to what Lincoln sought to do with slavery - recognize that it is immoral and contrary to natural law while acknowledging it that states have certain sovereign powers and we need to temporarily permit them to exercise their discretion not to protect unborn life within their borders until we can build a true national consensus that abortion has to be eliminated. RFK Jr.'s responses sound consistent with that. //

St. Joseph, Terror of Demons
7 hours ago
And so I support the emerging consensus that abortion should be unrestricted up until a certain point.
There is no “emerging consensus that abortion should be unrestricted up until a certain point.” As a practicing Catholic, I believe all abortions are immoral, even in the incredibly rare cases of rape or incest. The child is innocent, has an immortal soul, and deserves a chance to live his or her life. Note: Some pregnancies are not viable (e.g., ectopic pregnancies), and in those sad cases, it is permissible for a doctor to terminate the pregnancy to save the mother’s life. //

With the Electoral College votes now cast, here is a recap of how Americans voted in 2024. //

Trump won 77,284,118 votes, or 49.8 percent of the votes cast for president. That is the second highest vote total in U.S. history, trailing only the 81,284,666 votes that Joe Biden won in 2020. Trump won 3,059,799 more popular votes in 2024 than he won in 2020 and 14,299,293 more than he won in 2016. He now holds the record for the most cumulative popular votes won by any presidential candidate in U.S. history, surpassing Barack Obama. Running three times for the White House obviously helps.

Kamala Harris won 74,999,166 votes or 48.3 percent of the votes cast. That was 6,285,500 fewer popular votes than Biden won in 2020, but 774,847 more than Trump won in 2020.

More than 155 million Americans voted in 2024: 156,302,318 to be exact. That’s the second largest total voter turnout in U.S. history in absolute terms. It is also just the second time that more than 140 million people voted in a presidential election.

In relative terms, voter turnout nationally in 2024 was 63.9 percent. That is below the 66.6 percent voter turnout recorded in 2020, which was the highest voter turnout rate in a U.S. presidential election since 1900. Nonetheless, turnout in 2024 was still high by modern standards. The 1960 election between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon (63.8 percent) is the only other election in the last 112 years to exceed 63 percent voter turnout. If you are wondering, the election of 1876 holds the record for the highest percentage voter turnout: 82.6 percent. That was one of America’s most controversial and consequential elections—and not in a good way. It was also an election in which more than half the adult-age population was ineligible to vote.

Wisconsin holds the place of pride as the state with the highest voter turnout in 2024—76.93 percent of eligible voters in the Badger State voted. Five of the six battleground states that switched from Biden to Trump saw their turnout exceed the national average; only Arizona (63.6 percent) was below, and then just barely. Hawaii holds the distinction of being the state with the lowest voter turnout. Just 50 percent of Hawaiians voted.

A Landslide Election or Not?

Early election coverage described Trump’s victory as a landslide. But whether you go by the Electoral College vote or the popular vote, it was anything but. The 312 Electoral College votes that Trump won are just six more than Joe Biden won in 2020, twenty less than Barack Obama won in 2012, and fifty-three less than Obama won in 2008. Trump’s Electoral College performance pales in comparison to Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s landslide victory in 1936 (523 electoral votes), Lyndon Johnson’s in 1964 (486), Richard Nixon’s in 1972 (520), or Ronald Reagan’s in 1984 (525). In terms of the popular vote, more people voted for someone not named Trump for president than voted for Trump in 2024, and his margin of victory over Harris was 1.5 percentage points. That is the fifth smallest margin of victory in the thirty-two presidential races held since 1900. //

The 2024 election was the tenth presidential election in a row in which the margin of victory in the popular vote was in the single digits. That is a record. The longest prior streak began in 1876, when seven consecutive elections were decided by single digits. The last person to win the presidency by a double-digit margin was Ronald Reagan in 1984. He won by eighteen percentage points. The last time someone won the presidency by more than five percentage points was Barack Obama in 2008. He won by seven percentage points. The bottom line is that whatever one makes of the mandate that Trump did or did not win last month, the United States remains deeply divided politically.

Across the country today, medical professionals are maiming and sterilizing a growing number of impressionable children under the radical and false claim that adults can change a child’s sex through a series of irreversible medical interventions. This dangerous trend will be a stain on our Nation’s history, and it must end.

Countless children soon regret that they have been mutilated and begin to grasp the horrifying tragedy that they will never be able to conceive children of their own or nurture their children through breastfeeding. Moreover, these vulnerable youths’ medical bills may rise throughout their lifetimes, as they are often trapped with lifelong medical complications, a losing war with their own bodies, and, tragically, sterilization.

Accordingly, it is the policy of the United States that it will not fund, sponsor, promote, assist, or support the so-called “transition” of a child from one sex to another, and it will rigorously enforce all laws that prohibit or limit these destructive and life-altering procedures. //

The order also targets the alleged science behind the treatments. It calls out the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) Standards of Care Version 8 as "junk science” (The Arguments Supporting 'Gender-Affirming Care' Have Never Been 'Based on the Science' – RedState) and directs all agencies to "rescind or amend all policies that rely on WPATH guidance."

As a kicker, the Department of Justice is directed to investigate deceptive practices or misinformation regarding the long-term effects of gender-affirming care, including potential fraud or violations of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. //

anon-o6eq
7 hours ago
Many countries in Europe have already taken this position after the Cass Report was released in England. Cass found that most of the science supporting child transitions was based on faulty data and an inappropriate relationship between WPATH and the organization doing their research to support their recommendations. Cass found that as many as 95% of kids who identify as trans as children will revert to their biological sex by the time they are adults if they are not treated with anything other than talk therapy. That is now the way most major European countires treat children who identity as trans - psychotherapy only until they are 18.

C. S. P. Schofield anon-o6eq
5 hours ago
This lines up with something my late mother was told in the 1950’s. She was being hired as a history teacher at a girls school (private) and her headmistress told her that many girls going through puberty would be uncomfortable with their bodies and blossoming sexuality. Some would develop same sex crushes, and some would experiment with masculine identity. The best course was to treat all this quietly as normal. Don’t make a fuss unless there’s a serious problem. The vast majority would get over the phase.

OrneryCoot
3 hours ago
There is something inherently wrong with the idea that the leader of the executive branch of government cannot fire persons under his authority, tasked with implementing his policy, in the executive branch. That is all kinds of "only in Washington" dumb. Trump is right to blast through that and try to tee up a SCOTUS decision. In the meantime, I will breathe a sigh of relief that these people are removed from their positions of power. Democrat appointed workers in the administrative state are open sores that need to be cut out. //

TexasVeteran
6 hours ago edited
Milley reminds me of General Thomas Conway, the backstabber who conspired with others to replace George Washington with Horatio "Granny" Gates. What a disaster that would have been. To get satisfaction, Washington encouraged his supporters to challenge the conspirators to duels! Talk about FAFO!

When challenged Gates cried, apologized and begged forgiveness. Conway fought a duel with Brigadier John Cadwalader, who shot Conway in the mouth. "I have stopped the damned rascal's lying tongue at any rate," he said afterwards. We could use a little Colonial justice today!

We need fewer Milleys and Conaways!🤦‍♂️. //

UpLateAgain
3 hours ago edited

3. " the infamous incident where he called "Chinese counterpart on two occasions in the final months of Trump's first term, warning him the U.S. military had no plans to strike China in a bid to avert tensions between nuclear-armed countries."

It was even worse than that. Milley reportedly told the Chinese that he would be the one who determined whether or not nuclear weapons would be deployed...... and said this in a room full of major US Commanders.

THAT is tantamount to assuming overall command of US forces and constitutes a coup. i.e. treason... plain and simple. He may not be chargeable because of the pardon, but he should lose ALL his stars... and in fact, his commission. I don't know if they can take his retirement without a criminal conviction. Officers generally retire at their highest grade achieved. There may not be anything they can do about that. But commissions exist at the pleasure of the President. Trump should be able to revoke it. //

GreyBob Sarcastic Frog
5 hours ago
Nine ranks of enlisted soldiers: private (E-1) to sergeant major (E-9) five ranks of Warrant Officer, and nine ranks of officers Second Lieutenant (O-1) to General (O-9). Sometimes there is an extra general rank, but usually only in times of a really big war.

Busting this guy down to private would be fun, but not allowed under what he is being investigated for.

President Trump followed up his rampage through the National Labor Relations Board (Trump Goes Pearl Harbor on the National Labor Relations Board, Fires Chairman and General Counsel) by firing two Equal Employment Opportunity Commissioners and its general counsel. The newly reduced EEOC can no longer bring enforcement actions or initiate rulemaking as it doesn't have a quorum. //

Under Joe Biden, the EEOC bullied companies into submitting to DEI and replacing Equality with Equity.

Much like the defenestrated acting chairman at the NLRB, the two fired Democrats were not happy about the cruel turn of fate. //

Unlike the NLRB commissioner, whose firing seems questionable because the law says NLRB commissioners can only be fired for cause, the EEOC's enabling legislation does not require that.

The EEOC now only has two members and cannot act until President Trump nominates replacements. This is mostly a good thing.

I think there is something else going on with these firings. It seems like the Trump White House may be teeing up a challenge to a Supreme Court case.

In 2020, the CFPB was challenged for its blatantly unconstitutional structure. Under the law, it was managed by a single director who could only be removed "for cause." The Supreme Court agreed that allowing a single individual to control an agency outside the reach of the president to remove them was unconstitutional.

I believe the target of Trump's removal of three commissioners, one who can only be removed for cause and two without similar protections, is to convince the Supreme Court to overturn Humphrey's Executor vs. United States. This 1935 decision held that the president could only remove the commissioner of independent agencies for reasons established by Congress. The Selia decision established that did not apply to single commissioners; Trump wants to take a run at it to see if he can get that precedent overturned the way Chevron was reversed last summer; //

We'll see how this turns out, but even if Trump is wrong, the NLRB and EEOC will not be lumbering about the countryside and disturbing the livestock until the Supreme Court speaks. //

OrneryCoot
3 hours ago
There is something inherently wrong with the idea that the leader of the executive branch of government cannot fire persons under his authority, tasked with implementing his policy, in the executive branch. That is all kinds of "only in Washington" dumb. Trump is right to blast through that and try to tee up a SCOTUS decision. In the meantime, I will breathe a sigh of relief that these people are removed from their positions of power. Democrat appointed workers in the administrative state are open sores that need to be cut out.

Lisa Boothe 🇺🇸
@LisaMarieBoothe
·
Follow
This portrait, while gorgeous, says I have seen some things and am taking no crap these next four years.
FLOTUS Report
@MELANIAJTRUMP
BREAKING: First Lady Melania Trump’s official White House portrait
3:54 PM · Jan 27, 2025

anon-n5wm
6 hours ago
A woman wearing a cross in a room full of atheists, God bless America. //

Tech in RL
4 hours ago
It’s not suprising she’s good at her job. She was Deputy Press Secretary to Kayleigh McEnany, after all. She studied with the master. Trump is the most transparent president in recent history and makes her job even easier. She doesn’t have to lie like the DEI hire did. //

anon-wy307
4 hours ago
Seila Law vs. CFPB (2020). The President is the sole individual in whom the executive authority is vested, and the authority of the President to fire personnel is absolute. Congress attempting to interfere or be consulted violates the separation of powers. The 30-day notice is unconstitutional.

That was the ruling.

There's good news for federal employees who were unhappy to learn they were expected to return to working in the office under the new Trump administration: They have another option — a buyout.

The White House will issue a memo Tuesday offering to pay federal workers who don't want to return to the office through Sept. 30, as long as they resign by Feb. 6, an administration official tells Axios. //

There's good news for federal employees who were unhappy to learn they were expected to return to working in the office under the new Trump administration: They have another option — a buyout.

The White House will issue a memo Tuesday offering to pay federal workers who don't want to return to the office through Sept. 30, as long as they resign by Feb. 6, an administration official tells Axios. //

We're five years past COVID and just 6 percent of federal employees work full-time in office. That is unacceptable," a senior administration official tells Axios.

• The White House expects 5% to 10% of federal employees to accept the offer, which would potentially mean hundreds of thousands of people.
• The administration projects the buyouts could ultimately save taxpayers up to $100 billion a year.

Zoom out: The offer applies to all full-time federal employees, except for military personnel, the Postal Service, and those working in immigration enforcement or national security. //

Further details of the offer — and the administration's approach — can be found at the Office of Personnel Management website under the heading "Fork in the Road": https://www.opm.gov/fork //

With a federal workforce of two million employees, if between 5 and 10 percent of them accept the offer, that means up to 200,000 may elect to leave federal employment. And, realistically, the ones who do are those most likely to not be in sync with the Trump administration's policies and aims, so...win-win, right?

Bill Melugin @BillMelugin_
·
NEW: Per sources, Border Patrol recorded just 582 illegal crossings at the southern border yesterday, with not a single one of the nine sectors hitting 200.
I’ve never seen anything this low in all of my border coverage. The numbers were already flat/low in Biden’s final week,… The numbers were already flat/low in Biden’s final week, bouncing between 1,200-1,400 illegal crossings daily, but the numbers have been falling off a cliff since Trump took office.
6:03 PM · Jan 27, 2025

Bill Melugin @BillMelugin_
·
Replying to @oldmandierkop
Got to a point where we wouldn't even get the camera out for a group of 500 it was so routine.
11:53 PM · Jan 27, 2025

The wailing and gnashing of teeth happening from the left, even that from people like the weeping Selena Gomez, is all performative. None of these people said a word when women and girls were sold into sex slavery by the criminal element flooding across the border. None of them spoke a word while the fentanyl coming across the border with drug smugglers killed a quarter of a million Americans. They were all silent as women were raped and murdered like Laken Riley, or little girls like Jocelyn Nungary.

But only now that these repatriations have started do they feel the emotional weight of the moment? When their loved ones are sick, do they smile at the infection and curse and scream at the doctor when he administers a treatment to stop it? Our people are literally suffering and dying, and now that we're making the odds of comfort and survivability greater, they're angry?

Who is the cruel one in the room again?

President Trump has fired the acting chairman and the general counsel of the National Labor Relations Board. This action reduces the five-member board to two members and prevents rulemaking and enforcement action until replacements are found.

The dismissal of General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo was expected. When Joe Biden was inaugurated, he demolished decades of tradition by immediately firing Trump-appointed General Counsel Peter Robb. So, #NewRules.

Abruzzo, who served as the NLRB's chief prosecutor, pushed an agenda that encouraged hyper-unionization. Her favorite theory was the "joint employer" rule, which would have, for example, made every McDonald's employee an employee of the parent corporation, not the franchisee, for labor law purposes. Fortunately, that rule was struck down by a federal court. //

Don't be shocked if, at some point, Trump relents and reappoints her. I think this action's purpose was to freeze the NLRB and prevent any of Biden's plans from going forward while giving him time to install his own chairman and majority. //

Once Independent
4 minutes ago
I would like to point out that the Supreme Court has time and time again stated that no LEGISLATIVE boundaries can prevent the President from carrying out EXECUTIVE actions.

President Trump has ordered as many as 60 senior bureaucrats in the US Agency for International Development placed on indefinite leave for taking actions to evade his executive orders. A memo from acting USAID administrator Jason Gray says, "We have identified several actions within USAID that appear to be designed to circumvent the president’s executive orders and the mandate from the American people.“ As a result, we have placed a number of USAID employees on administrative leave with full pay and benefits until further notice while we complete our analysis of these actions.”

This action effectively shuts down most of USAID's $22.6 billion in program support. //

This review will be painful in some places, but that is a small price to pay for stamping out the "I know better" ethos so present in the senior executive and foreign service. //

Locked and Loaded
2 hours ago
“This is a huge morale hit,” said a former senior Trump administration official who was also told of the move. “This is the leadership of the agency. This is like taking out all the generals. I don't know what they hope to accomplish by it.”

And that's why you are a former Trump administration official. //

SC Patriot EzraTank
2 hours ago
Administrative Leave is the first step in firing for cause. If the investigation confirms willful disobedience of lawful directives from the President they'll be terminated for cause, meaning they can't be rehired elsewhere in the Federal Government and it isn't going to look good on their resume. Diligently following the administrative process steps for termination will ensure they cannot later file a wrongful termination lawsuit or claim an EEOC action, protecting the American taxpayer further.

In a Sunday night missive, the White House Office of Communications shared big news: the South American country of Colombia has succumbed to America’s demands and will not be subject to crippling sanctions unless it “fails to honor this agreement.”

Sometimes, you have to cry uncle, and it appears that Colombian President Gustavo Petro did just that after acting defiant earlier Sunday by saying his country would refuse to take back its citizens who were in America illegally.

The current president of the United States, however, is not named Joe Biden.

After realizing who he was dealing with, Petro apparently even retweeted the White House’s statement:

Yashar Ali 🐘 @yashar
·
The president of Colombia has retweeted White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt’s post.
Yashar Ali 🐘 @yashar
NEW

Statement from the White House on the situation in Colombia.

I do not believe we have heard from the Colombian side yet on this announcement.
10:37 PM · Jan 26, 2025

Leavitt said tariffs and financial sanctions will be paused, but visa sanctions against Colombian officials and stricter customs inspections of Colombian nationals and cargo ships ordered by Trump earlier Sunday will remain in effect “until the first planeload of Colombian deportees is successfully returned.” //

Cynical Publius @CynicalPublius
·
To fully understand just how remarkable today’s exchange with Colombia was, you need to understand how Washington DC has traditionally worked through these sorts of issues, and the different way it works now under Trump.

I’ll illustrate.

Traditional Approach:

1. Colombia announces it will not take our repatriation flights.
2. On Monday, the State Department convenes an interagency task force with DoD, NSC, DEA, INS, ICE, Commerce, Treasury and Homeland Security.
3. The task force meets for four days and develops a position paper.
4. The position paper is rejected by the Secretary of State, who is unhappy that insufficient equity considerations are built into the process.
5. The task force reconvenes a week later to redevelop three new, equity-centric courses of action and create a new position paper.
6. The process is delayed a week because Washington DC gets three inches of snow.
7. SecState approves the new position paper for interagency circulation, and considerable input is received from the heads of other departments so the task force must reconvene.
8. The original three proposed responsive courses of action are scrapped in favor of a new, fourth course of action that achieves the worst aspects of the three prior courses of action but satisfies the interagency.
9. Someone in State who disagrees leaks to the Washington Post, who writes a story about how ineffective the Presidential administration is.
10. The White House Chief of Staff sets up a session three days later to brief the President, who approves the new fourth course of action.
11. Over a month after the issue is first raised, the State Department Public Affairs Officer holds a press conference announcing that Colombia has agreed to try to send fewer criminals into the US and everyone declares victory.

Trump Approach:

1. Colombia announces it will not take our repatriation flights.
2. After a par-5 third hole where he goes one under par, Trump uses his iPhone to post on social media as to how the USA will destroy Colombia’s economy if they do not do what the USA demands.
3. By the time Trump gets to the par-4 sixth hole, Colombia’s President has agreed to repatriate all the illegal Colombians in his own plane, which he will pay for.
4. Trump finishes three under par and goes to the clubhouse for a Diet Coke where he posts a gangsta AI image of himself and the new FAFO Doctrine.
5. Winning.

See the difference? It’s called LEADERSHIP.
6:09 PM · Jan 26, 2025

anon-d9in
19 hours ago
The President of Columbia did not think through his resistance. Trump wrote The Art Of The Deal. He already planned in advance what he would if countries deny entry of their own criminals. The Columbian President's knee jerk reaction only proved he is no match for Trump and he is not a true leader. Doing his chest-pounding on X proved to be oh so embarassing. //

Foreign Minister Wang Yi conveyed the message in a phone call Friday, their first conversation since Marco Rubio’s confirmation as President Donald Trump’s top diplomat four days earlier.

“I hope you will act accordingly,” Wang told Rubio, according to a Foreign Ministry statement, employing a Chinese phrase typically used by a teacher or a boss warning a student or employee to behave and be responsible for their actions.

The short phrase seemed aimed at Rubio’s vocal criticism of China and its human rights record when he was a U.S. senator, which prompted the Chinese government to put sanctions on him twice in 2020. //

This may be a tempest in a teapot. Chairman Xi has met and engaged with President Trump before; the two men know each other, and while Xi may be a Communist, he's not stupid. He knows what to expect from President Trump, and the same applies in return.

But no official, minor or otherwise, in China speaks out of turn without reason. We can assume that Wang Yi delivered this veiled warning at Chairman Xi and the CCP's direction; it's a statement of policy. And, we might note, China has slapped sanctions on U.S. government officials in the past, including Texas' Senator Ted Cruz (R) - and then-Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL).

China knows they have a new American president to deal with. They know what to expect. But it's important to note that China has, through its long history, considered itself the Middle Kingdom, placed between heaven and earth, and despite the strictures of communism, that's still a common way of thinking in China. And while China is, as I'm continually pointing out, a land of great momentum rather than a land of great ideas, they are also a land and a people that take the long view. We think of our history in terms of hundreds of years; China thinks in terms of thousands; they know that sooner or later America will again have a weak leader. We have, after all, had two weak presidents in the last quarter-century. //

OrneryCoot
14 hours ago
We need to take China very seriously. We need to seriously bring them to heel regarding spy balloons, forced technology transfer, election interference, hacking of private and public domains, fentanyl, and unfair trade practices. My hope is that we curb stomp those a$$h0!e$ over that and all of their other aggressive actions. Take them seriously. Seriously enough to fully and purposefully respond to all of their belligerent and dangerous actions, in a way that leaves no room for misunderstanding. Screw China. We saved their butts from the Japanese in WWII, and they have repaid us for the last 80 years with nothing but antagonism, up and to the point of sending troops to fight our soldiers in combat. Give them what they so richly deserve.

Prime Minister Frederiksen may not have left the call motivated to divest herself of Greenland, but she wasn't laughing about the seriousness of the situation.

Many European officials had hoped Trump's comments about seeking control of Greenland for national security reasons were a negotiating ploy to gain more control over an increasingly vital area as nuclear-powered ice breakers are making the fabled Northwest viable and Russia and China are both also jostling for position there. Greenland is sparsely populated and would be an ideal target for China's "elite capture" strategy, which they have aggressively pursued in suborning island nations in the Pacific. Quite honestly, Denmark is only a little less vulnerable than Greenland to China buying it outright. //

The Euros and the New York Times have concluded that Trump is deadly serious.

I think Trump is largely right in his assessment. //

Quite honestly, I don't see how Greenland could sustain independence in the face of a concerted Chinese effort to establish control (Vitkor Orban's Hungary allows uniformed Chinese police in Budapest). Our free association model is also showing weakness as China exerts influence there. The best arrangement would seem to be declaring Greenland to be a commonwealth (like Puerto Rico) or a territory (like Guam and the Virgin Islands). But no matter how it arrives, I think Greenland's internal politics, which has had the right to declare independence since 2009 and that option is favored by 64 percent of the population, and the geopolitics of our competition with China indicate that Greenland becoming US territory is inevitable. //

j. o. lantern
4 hours ago
I think one of Trump's least appreciated abilities is his awareness of strategic considerations in our national interest. Even here in Red State forums, he was being roundly derided for being distracted and off course when he began speaking about Greenland and the Panama Canal. I maintained then and still do that he was seeing the Big Picture, that hardly anyone else did.

anon-tk7z j. o. lantern
2 hours ago
he IS the Big Picture. We each think a piece of what he is thinking. He pulls them all together into the American Flag. He is helping us to weave the New Glory. //

surfcat50
4 hours ago
“The Guardian cites former Obama administration climate adviser Alice Hill, who observes: “It’s ironic that we are getting a president who famously called climate change a hoax but is now expressing interest in taking over areas gaining greater importance because of climate change.””

What’s ironic is a “climate advisor” who thinks America’s strategic interest in Greenland is because of climate change when we occupied the place in WWII to keep the NAZIs from controlling it, protected it during the Cold War to keep the Soviets from controlling it, and now want to keep the ChiComs from controlling it!

j. o. lantern
4 hours ago
The guy is a billionaire and still relates to average Americans as one normal human being talking with another. There isn't a Democrat in the whole country, that I am aware of at least, who can even come close to doing that. And even more damning, I don't see any Democrats who are even aware of their inability to relate to the guy and gal on the street. And better yet, from what I am seeing, Melania Trump seems to have the same ability, and is going to use it far more than she did the first term.

Citing President Trump's executive order Ending The Weaponization Of The Federal Government, Donald Trump's Department of Justice ordered all federal prosecution under the Free Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act be dropped immediately. "[F]uture abortion-related FACE Act prosecutions and civil actions will be permitted only in extraordinary circumstances, or in cases presenting significant aggravating factors, such as death, serious bodily harm, or serious property damage." In addition to invoking a new set of rules, the memo titled "FACE ACT CHARGING POLICY" orders a moratorium on any future FACE Act prosecutions without the permission of the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights.

This is an incredible volte-face by a Justice Department that only a month ago was happily slamming pro-life activists with felony convictions and prison time for minor infractions of the FACE Act. According to reports, the Biden Department of Justice (DOJ) has charged approximately 60 individuals with FACE Act violations, a sharp rise compared to fewer than 100 cases in the law's first 26 years. Only five of these prosecutions were directed against pro-abortion terrorists and groups. As the memo states: "This is not the even-handed administration of justice." //

This follows up on President Trump's pardon of 23 pro-life activists Thursday;

President Trump summarily dismissed 17 agency inspectors general Friday night in a move that caught official Washington by surprise.

The inspectors general were dismissed via emails from the White House Presidential Personnel Office, with no notice sent to lawmakers on Capitol Hill, who have pledged bipartisan support for the watchdogs, in advance of the firings, the person said. The emails gave no substantive explanation for the dismissals, with at least one citing “changing priorities” for the move, the person added. //

I'm sure this is heading to court, and it is a good bet that the Supreme Court will eventually decide that Congress can't put that kind of leash on the president's ability to fire a presidential appointee.

This move is curious. If it isn't simply an impulsive act, the Trump White House may be using this court case to audition arguments that can be used on another Congressional "permission" case, like a challenge to the Impoundment Control Act of 1974. //

NavyVet
7 hours ago
If IGs "are supposed to root out fraud, waste, abuse, and lawbreaking" they were an abysmal failure during Biden's term. Fraud, waste, abuse, and lawbreaking were rampant and they did nothing of note to stop it.

Senator Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts, said in a statement. “President Trump is dismantling checks on his power and paving the way for widespread corruption.”
Oh, that's rich. After four years of the brazen fraud, waste, abuse, and lawbreaking of the Biden Crime Family, and his entire "administration", she wants to claim it's Trump? Classic!

It wasnt me NavyVet
6 hours ago
IG's need to be their own Department.
An IG can't start a prosecution. They have to go to the DOJ. The DOJ requires the FBI to also investigate.

So no real prosecutions can happen to the DOJ or the FBI.

They need their own prosecutors and able to empanel their own Grand Juries.

It's already difficult enough with Qualified Immunity and the Thin Blue Line.

Musicman
6 hours ago
The whole idea of an inspector general is constitutionally suspect. Whose job is it to investigate malfeasance by the executive branch? Congress! The reason IG’s have been created is a combination of the failure of Congress and the refusal by executive offices to provide evidence requested, sometimes even subpoenaed, by Congress. And the refusal of the DOJ to enforce Congressional subpoenas, and punish those who disobey them.

We don’t need IG’s, we need Congress to do it’s job and have the power to appoint investigators who have unfettered access to Executive Branch materials, computer systems and documents so that no Administration of either Party can stonewall investigations.

The Department of Education announced Friday that it had eliminated the Biden-created office of "book ban coordinator" and the supporting office. This office was created in June 2023 in response to many school districts removing age-inappropriate and sexually explicit books from school libraries. //

The director of the "book ban coordinator" office, a gay progressive activist, solicited complaints from activists and threatened school districts with lawsuits by the Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights. That all ended on Friday.

The decision to move troops to the border is superb, both in adding resources to an overstretched Border Patrol and in the symbolic message it sends. To make this deployment truly effective, it must work under a headquarters equipped to carry out the mission. Dumping yet another mission on a headquarters with a vast area of operations and a law enforcement focus doesn't seem like the best way to go. //

Laocoön of Troy
13 hours ago edited
"... Former RedStater Colonel (ret.) Mike Ford has an excellent solution to the problem. The US Army already has a logistics headquarters that is battle-tested, structured, and staffed for precisely this mission.

A Theater Sustainment Command (TSC) is an Army logistics headquarters commanded by a 2-Star General. When augmented with the appropriate subordinate commands, it is capable of providing logistical support to over 300,000 personnel. ..."

You sold me. Col Ford is on his game as always. TSC it is.