At the heart of this issue is the de minimis provision, which originates from Section 321 of the Tariff Act of 1930. This provision was initially designed to prevent the government from incurring excessive costs and hassles for small imports made by individuals in a single day, as long as the fair retail value of those imports did not exceed $1. Over the years, Congress has raised this threshold multiple times, and it currently stands at $800, making it the most generous de minimis exemption in the world. In contrast, Canada’s de minimis exemption is capped at only $15. //

A congressional report revealed that between fiscal year 2018 and 2021, more than two-thirds of de minimis imports came from China (including mainland and Hong Kong). In 2023 de minimis imports comprised an astonishing 1 billion parcels valued at approximately $54.5 billion, with around $18 billion in shipments originating from China.

The Select Committee on the CCP estimated that two Chinese companies accounted for more than 30 percent of the daily de minimis shipments in the U.S. These companies are Shein, a fast fashion online retailer based in Singapore that sources most of its products from China, and Temu, a China-based e-commerce marketplace offering a wide range of items from cosmetics to knock-off iPods. These companies ship their merchandise directly to American consumers at extremely low prices, utilizing small shipments that are exempted under de minimis provisions.

Protesters began unfurling banners and chanting "PEPFAR saves lives. Restore AIDS funding now" and continued to do so as they were being escorted out.

Mast didn't skip a beat, and had just a few short, sweet, simple, and to-the-point words for the protesters:

"I guess these guys don't watch the news. They didn't realize that PEPFAR was one of the many programs that did prove to be life-saving, so the funding was restored. Somebody better give them a link to, I don't know, maybe Fox News or something like that."

PEPFAR, which was started in 2003, stands for "the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief," and DOGE leader Elon Musk indicated on the Twitter/X platform Wednesday that its funding was mostly preserved:

Elon Musk @elonmusk
·
Replying to @iAnonPatriot
Funding for Ebola prevention and the parts of PEPFAR that appeared to be useful were not cut
6:03 AM · Feb 12, 2025

The Biden-Harris administration paid POLITICO for subscriptions, and the outlet performed their propaganda PR work well, proudly announcing this $20 billion Biden-Harris EPA partnership in April 2024.

The Biden administration announced recipients of the climate law’s biggest grant program Thursday, kicking off a $20 billion effort to transform community lending and green the U.S. economy.

EPA will award eight initial grants under the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, ranging in size from $400 million to almost $7 billion. The largest award will go to Climate United, a partnership that includes a nonprofit impact investment firm and two affordable housing lenders.

• Independent cooling performance and system economy of A-CAES systems were studied.

• Three A-CAES systems were proposed for chilled water, cold air, and hybrid supply.

• Improved cooling capacity can reach 20.33, 40.05, and 45.05GJ in cooling season.

• A-CAES hybrid system was the optimum system for cooling supply.

Tim Carney
@TPCarney
·
Follow
1) The ACLU believes there are four branches of the government.
2) It's favorite "branch" is the imaginary one that has zero democratic accountability.
Casey Mattox
@CaseyMattox_
ACLU: "Not only would such mass layoffs violate federal law, but this action would undermine the important and historic check that the career civil service has had on curbing abuses by the executive branch.". //

Judge O'Boyle ruled that [shocked face] none of the plaintiffs had standing to file suit to stop the buyout because they'd suffered no harm. Indeed, virtually every one of the court actions filed to stymie the Trump administration could be settled in five minutes if judges simply took the idea of "standing" seriously. The unions had claimed harm because they were being forced to spend time and money trying to stop the buyout, which could be devoted to other, unnamed, and probably criminal, union activities. Judge O'Boyle said the plaintiffs can't "spend their way into standing, neither can the plaintiffs in this case establish standing by choosing to divert resources towards “respond[ing] to tremendous uncertainty created by OPM’s actions” and away from other union priorities."

The bigger picture was the nature of the complaint itself.

Second, this Court lacks subject matter jurisdiction to consider the plaintiffs’ pleaded claims. While not binding on this Court, the decision in Am. Fed’n of Gov’t Emps., AFL-CIO v. Trump (“AFGE”) is instructive. 929 F.3d 748 (D.C. Cir. 2019). In that case, the court held that the plaintiff-unions’ claims fell within the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute’s (“FSL-MRS”) scheme and therefore the district court lacked jurisdiction to hear the case. Id. at 754.

This means the unions must exhaust appeals through the agency and then through the Federal Labor Relations Authority before heading to federal court.

Axios reported last week that groups such as MoveOn and Indivisible are harassing lawmakers with tens of thousands of phone calls demanding more from their leaders.

The left-leaning outlet revealed that over a dozen Democrat lawmakers had "received historically high call volumes," insisting they "do more" to stop Trump.

Hilariously, those congressmen and women have had to remind these groups that their hands are a bit tied because they got shelled in the elections and currently hold no majorities. They suggested the groups start calling Republicans instead.

"You are literally calling the wrong people," one House Democrat explained. //

Axios has followed up on that report by noting that the calls seem to have continued unabated. MoveOn and Indivisible are making the Democrat Party very ... divisible.

House Democrats had a closed-door meeting in which they lashed out at these liberal groups for siccing their unhinged masses on them and tying up the phone lines.

One source who attended the meeting indicated House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) is "very frustrated" with the progressive groups for taking their anger out on the party that best represents their interests.

Mrs. deWinter
6 hours ago
One thing that struck me reading Trump's statement here in this article is how much information President Trump gives the public about his phone call with Putin. The details, the ideas, the goals, the reasons, the strength. When Biden made calls, we barely knew about them, and there were no details given. The transparency of this new administration is so welcoming and a relief. We know who is in charge and we know what they are doing.

Engelmayer is the first judge ever to grant a temporary restraining order (TRO) against the president of the United States that also forbids a cabinet secretary from accessing his own records without giving these parties an opportunity to respond. He offered zero analysis of his constitutional authority to make such a radical ruling, the federal rule governing injunctions and temporary restraining orders, or why he is enabling fraud and grift by blocking access to records that show who got government money and for what. //

The situation is actually worse than that. Here’s the timeline of the court filings. All these initial documents were filed by New York Special Trial Counsel Colleen Faherty. //

1:04 a.m. — Faherty e-mailed four items — the complaint, the legal memorandum, her prior affirmation, and the order granting the TRO — to two government lawyers, only one of whom had been a recipient of her 7:32 p.m. email.

1:14 a.m. — The complaint was refiled with the deficiency corrected. Note that a properly filed complaint was not filed until more than a half-hour after Judge Engelmayer had already entered his order. //

The accelerated timeline is simply incredible, especially in view of the voluminous materials that any diligent judge would analyze to render a proper opinion. And I mean “incredible” in its literal sense of “not to be believed.”

The last documents filed in support of the request for a TRO were at 10:13 and 10:15 p.m. These included the legal memorandum with its citation to 54 court opinions. Did Engelmayer read these? Not a chance. Did he read any of them? If he did, you can’t tell it from his order, other than one citation from him to a single case that had no resemblance to the case before him. //

Even if Engelmayer had received and began to study these materials immediately after he had them all, he spent less than two-and-one-half hours reviewing and analyzing the materials presented to him before entering his order at 12:39 a.m.

That’s not even counting the time it would have taken Engelmeyer to write his order. If he took only a half-hour to do that, he spent less than two hours to peruse the voluminous record and then begin to write his order. He could not possibly have considered more than a small fraction of the cited cases and other authorities in that time. It raises the question of how much of this order was AI-generated.

From his confirmation hearing, it was clear that RFK Jr. knows his most significant challenge will be bringing Medicare and Medicaid under control and improving the quality of service to consumers. He also understands the nature of the opposition he will face from monied interests who make money off of keeping us on drugs for a lifetime rather than focusing on exercise and nutrition as critical factors in keeping us healthy. Just remember, we don't have a health care system -- we have a sick care system. There is no money to be made off healthy, active people.

Even though RFK Jr. is not in sync with the Trump administration on everything, abortion comes to mind. I have no doubt that he will be a team player and color within the lines because this is the last chance of his lifetime to make a difference, and he is more focused on being a change agent than an ideologue.

The nomination of RFK Jr. to HHS has the possibility of being a brilliant pick that puts the US on track to better health and a much more sane use of health care and medical research dollars, or an utter disaster. But like with Tulsi Gabbard, Trump is the guy who will pay the price if RFK Jr. self-immolates and if he is fine with that risk, he deserves to have his man in place.

Now he does. //

anon-j4cj
4 hours ago
This guy Kennedy is supposedly a Democrat, and how many Democrats voted for him ? ZERO! Don't ever buy that "reaching across the aisle" BS again! It doesn't exist. This is our triangulation of the Democrats with RFK, Jr. and Tulsi. WE are the ones with the coalition; Americans are throwing off the chains of Marxist slavery. //

epaddon
4 hours ago
The irony for all those Dems and liberals who have spent decades with their silly Camelot nostalgia and pining for a restoration that the first Kennedy to serve in a Cabinet since 1964 is in a Republican Administration. :). //

GBenton ECoolidge19
3 hours ago
The political spectrum is changed. It's the elite vs the people more than right or left, at least with most Americans who are not hardcore partisans. I've come to believe that the Uniparty divided us into R vs D and then played pretend like there was an actual difference. Reality was the RINOs made sure the limited government Christian conservatives never won. Government only ever grew. We were told that was inevitable. Real reformers like Reagan were impeded by establishment RINOs like the Bushes who support bigger government in perhaps only marginally different ways than establishment Dems. Thus, the progressive Commies are mad they never got their full Communism and conservatives are mad we keep losing to the left. Now, Trump has taken populist ideas and shown that we can agree on more than we disagree on the core stuff like health and liberty. We'll have to agree to disagree on some things and let voters decide at the state level, but that's Federalism. Either way, the Uniparty can no longer divide us into fake party lines.

Doubtless, you've seen the random moments where Elon Musk is in an important place, saying important things, and talking to important people. It's pretty much his day-to-day, however from time to time, you'll see his little son, X Æ A-Xii, more commonly known as "X," right alongside him. Not only is Musk keeping him around during these important moments, he sometimes allows X to take part at the moment, giving him the microphone to be cute.

X can be seen being carried around on Musk's shoulders, or playing nearby as Musk speaks. The last clip of this happening took place in the Oval Office itself.

As Bonchie noted in an article, X stole the show as Musk was discussing battle plans with the press while Donald Trump sat at the Resolute Desk. It was a highly official moment, but X playing quietly right next to Musk as he spoke was the thing people were most impacted by. //

Libs of TikTok @libsoftiktok
·
Children are a blessing. The most powerful people in the world are normalizing children in public.

Love this ❤️🇺🇸
3:05 AM · Feb 12, 2025. //

I try to take my son where I can. I don't just do this because I want to introduce him to various environments where he can watch me do things and learn, I do it because I think he belongs there. He's not taking up space, he's a person, and while he's just a toddler who will do toddler things, his little-kid mannerisms shouldn't be something we feel embarrassed about.

I believe there's a stigma about children in public, and that when they act like children in front of others, we feel apologetic or that we've done wrong by disturbing the peace with childlike antics. I think that's wrong.

While I don't think parents should let kids run wild and be nuisances, I think children being in public is a beautiful thing. I don't think we should ever feel guilty about the noise and disturbances they make to the extent we do. I don't think the public should see it as a negative event, either.

Being alive is a family affair, and healthy families oftentimes have little ones. We should consider them a blessing, not a burden. They should be brought out into the open and included in society, and not just in the everyday moments, but the important ones too, just like Musk is doing. This should be normalized, and have the message sent to everyone that children aren't just welcome, they're also fun little inclusions.

But it's not just about the kid, it's about the parent. We're normalizing, and elevating parenting in public. These moments where Musk has X nearby or on his shoulders sends a clear message that I think is often absent from the public consciousness.

He's a very powerful, influential, man... but he's a dad first. //

We have this idea in our head that we can't be a parent and a career-based individual, but Musk is disproving that consistently. He's worth more than anyone on the planet, and he has the ear of the most powerful man on the planet, but his son is his real priority. He conducts the business of the world, his decisions having national and global impact... and X is playing nearby while he does it.

We're not just normalizing children in public, we're normalizing parenting during critical moments and big decisions. Trump seems to have also had this strategy going, as his children are all successful business-minded people like him. Being included, even from a young age, helped pave the way for their own successes. //

Mike Ford
8 hours ago
Her Majesty [wife] shared something with me one day in church, when a little kid was being...well...a little kid.

She said, "The best sign of a healthy, growing church, is crying babies."

Abortion discourse focuses too often on the existence or limits of a so-called right to “bodily autonomy.” It is seldom framed as it should be: in terms of duty. For any parent, mother or father, in whatever circumstances, the proper response to a pregnancy is the willingness to take any risk, make any sacrifice to protect that little poppy seed-sized life. Those who feel otherwise should seek not to eliminate the unwanted child but to correct the deficiency in their own souls.

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The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ramped up grants for migrants from 2020 to 2024 — which included cash assistance to buy cars, homes and even build credit for startup businesses, according to a shocking watchdog report that found taxpayers were left on the hook for $22.6 billion. //

Non-governmental groups bilked taxpayers for up to $1.7 billion in services including dollar-for-dollar matching savings plans for cars, homes, college educations or startups; small-business loans of up to $15,000; loans to repair credit history of up to $1,500; “cultural orientation,” “emergency housing support,” legal assistance and Medicaid care. //

Dieter Schultz NavyVet
15 minutes ago edited
We have an audit trail. This is theft from American taxpayers.

Follow the audit trail. Confiscate the cars, homes, or businesses purchased with our dollars. Deport the thieves - they are compact in theft. Auction off confiscated items to American citizens.
For the big items that might work, I'm not sure I'd put money on it but... I watched the press event with Musk in the WH and one of the things that struck me from his audit was that he mentioned the lack of standard accountability, traceability, fields in treasury's payment system. Things like requirements to enter information in the 'notes' field, or forcing the data entry person to reference a payment authorization number, and more... were all things Musk noted was common to private/public companies were all not required or not used.

Musk noted that the system as it was being used was designed to minimize challenges to a payment, and therefore minimize the work associated with the authorizing/managing payment the payment process, were all, by design, making it nearly impossible to audit and/or account for the money that was being spent.

"In other words, as the President asserts, ‘[t]he Russia Collusion Hoax was dead, at least until Defendants [as members of the Pulitzer Prize board] attempted to resurrect it’ by conspiring to publish a defamatory statement falsely implying that the President colluded with the Russians."

In their motion to dismiss, the Board had asserted that their statement defending the awards was purely opinion and not actionable. Artau, however, points out that they injected claims of fact.

"The board members vouched for the truth of reporting that had been debunked by all credible sources charged with investigating the false claim that the President colluded with the Russians to win the 2016 presidential election," he wrote.

Artau states that President Trump met the burden of establishing jurisdiction for the trial court and can therefore "proceed with his asserted claims that the non-resident defendants acted with actual malice or reckless disregard for the truth." //

Trump's lawsuit countered that assertion, noting explicitly how the Washington Post had “retracted statements from several articles from 2017 relating to the Steele Dossier and other alleged connections between the Trump campaign and Russia.”

Indeed, the Post quietly edited two major articles that relied on the discredited Steele dossier and added editor’s notes to at least 14 other reports.

Bill Gates’ nuclear innovation firm TerraPower has broken ground on the non-nuclear portion of Kemmerer Unit 1, a 345-MW Natrium sodium-cooled fast reactor (SFR) power plant. The groundbreaking on June 10 makes the federal demonstration project the first advanced nuclear reactor project to move from design into construction in the Western Hemisphere, the company noted.

The project is taking shape in Lincoln County, Wyoming, about 3 miles from PacifiCorp’s three-unit 604-MW coal and gas–fired Naughton Power Plant, furnished with up to $2 billion in authorized funding under the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program (ARDP).

American Deplorable ™
9 hours ago
"Who's gonna pick our cotton?"

Dems 1860.

"Who's gonna pick our vegetables?"

Dems 2025

"We need more gardeners and maids"

Also. Dems 2025

"Hey where did everybody go?"

AKERMAN: That stuff [government bureaucracy] is sacrosanct, and you've got people going in there who don't know anything about...(crosstalk)...Elon Musk doing this, he knows nothing about it.

JENNINGS: What you just said is so profound. You said these people don't know anything and they don't know what they're doing.

AKERMAN: That's right. I'm talking about Elon Musk.

JENNINGS: I understand, but they are appointees of the duly elected president so your view, you're here as our legal expert, but your view is because you don't personally believe they know enough, that the duly-elected president who appointed a treasury secretary and who appoints special appointees like Elon Musk shouldn't be able to act as the president because you don't personally believe they know enough? Is that how it works? Do elections mean anything to you?

AKERMAN: It's got nothing to do with elections. //

What they believe in is an unaccountable bureaucratic system that allows them to thumb their noses at American voters. It's a "heads I win, tails you lose" setup, and it has been the basis of Democratic Party power stretching back to the Woodrow Wilson era.

I'm beginning to regret wading into the topic of best TV theme songs, you all, but once more unto the breach. Picking up where I left off last week, today's list covers roughly 1985 through 1990. Which brings up that age-old question -- is 1990 the end of the '80s or the beginning of the '90s? (The only reason I ask is that my Irish grandfather, who was born in the early 1900s, used to blow my mind by insisting that the year 1900 was not the beginning of the 20th century but the end of the 19th. 🤯.)