Tag: donald trump

Trump Reverses Course In Gaza, Now Says He Wants To Move Residents, Egypt Refuses

President Trump stepped on a land mine yesterday when talking with reporters on Air Force One about the situation in Gaza.

The comments come after Hamas humiliated female IDF hostages yesterday by putting them on stage in a public act of vengeance.

Hamas has also refused to provide an accurate list of the remaining hostages in violation of the terms of the ceasefire. The agreement to end the conflict is now in jeapardy.

The President mentioned he has a plan to ask neighboring countries to take in the million and a half residents remaining in the bombed-out territory.

This is a shift from his previous pressure to allow Gazans to return to the northern sector since the ceasefire.

“I’d like Egypt to take people…You’re talking about probably a million and a half people, and we just clean out that whole thing and say, ‘You know, it’s over.”

“I spoke with the King of Jordan about the possibility of transferring Gazans to neighboring countries.”

“I told him to take more people because the Gaza Strip is in a real mess. I want Egypt to take in people too, and I will talk to Al-Sisi tomorrow.”

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Trump Administration Squashes Biden Plan to Ban Menthol Cigarettes

As you may recall, the Nanny State under Joe Biden was planning to ban menthol cigarettes. They first planned to do it early last year, but then decided to postpone the plan to after the election because they were afraid it would cost them votes.

Now that the election is over and Joe Biden lost, the plan was hanging in the wind.

The new Trump administration just ended the plan for good. Isn’t it nice when adults have the freedom to decide these things for themselves?

The Hill reports:

Trump FDA officially withdraws long-delayed menthol cigarette ban

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has withdrawn a rule that would have banned menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars, putting a formal end to a policy that had been indefinitely delayed under the Biden administration.

A regulatory filing showed the rule had been “withdrawn” on Jan. 21, President Trump’s second day in office. The move is a significant blow to public health groups who said banning menthol had the potential to save hundreds of thousands of lives, particularly among Black smokers.

“There is no justifiable reason to withdraw the FDA’s proposed rule to ban menthol,” said Kelsey Romeo-Stuppy, managing attorney at Action on Smoking and Health. “Tobacco industry profits should never be prioritized over American lives, but unfortunately, that’s what has happened with the FDA withdrawing the proposed rule to ban menthol in tobacco products.”

The FDA declined to comment, pointing to a newly-ordered temporary ban on public communication.

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Inspector General Revolt: IG Group Says Trump’s Mass Firing Unlawful

A group representing federal inspectors general released a letter addressed to the White House rejecting as unlawful President Trump’s mass firing of over a dozen IGs Friday night. The letter was signed by one of the IGs fired by Trump, Mike Ware, who lectured the White House to consult with legal counsel.

The letter cited a law of dubious constitutionality passed by a Democrat-led Congress in 2022 mandating IGs can only be fired when Congress is given thirty days notification of the reasons. Inspectors general are appointed by presidents, subject to Senate confirmation, and are executive branch employees.

Politico reported at least one inspector general plans to report to work Monday (excerpt):

…At least one of the fired inspectors general — the State Department’s Cardell Richardson Sr. — has told staff he plans to show up to work on Monday, arguing that the firings are illegal, according to a person familiar with the situation who requested anonymity to reveal the internal discussions…

…One of the two people briefed on the dismissals said the number is at least a dozen and includes inspectors general at the departments of State, Agriculture, Interior, Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, Education, Labor and Defense, as well as the Small Business Administration, the Department of Energy, and the Environmental Protection Agency.

…The inspectors general at the Department of Justice, Office of Personnel Management, the Federal Communications Commission, the Export-Import Bank and the Department of Homeland Security remain in place, according to the person.

…Hannibal Ware, the inspector general of the Small Business Administration and leader of a council that represents inspectors general across government, suggested that the removals may be invalid because they appear to violate federal law requiring a 30-day notification to Congress before any watchdogs can be removed.

“I recommend that you reach out to White House Counsel to discuss your intended course of action,” Ware wrote in a letter obtained by POLITICO to Sergio Gor, the director of the White House Office of Presidential Personnel. “At this point, we do not believe the actions taken are legally sufficient to dismiss Presidentially Appointed, Senate Confirmed Inspectors General.”

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Trump Restores Single-Sex Jails, Transgender Inmates Sent Back to Men’s Prisons

President Donald Trump has restored single-sex prisons, sending male inmates who identify as women back to men’s facilities.

The approximately 1,500 male federal prisoners who identify as women will now be sent to men’s facilities in the wake of President Trump’s executive order establishing single-sex prisons, according to a report by the New York Times.

President Trump’s executive order, titled, “Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government,” also ends transgender-related medical procedures for prison inmates.

The Women’s Liberation Front (WoLF), a feminist organization that advocates for single-sex prisons and raises awareness about incarcerated women becoming victims of male violence, called President Trump’s move “a major victory.”

Currently, WoLF is working to combat California legislation that allows inmates to request facilities that align with their identity, rather than their actual biological sex.

The feminist organization asserts that the law violates incarcerated women’s constitutional rights, citing the Eighth Amendment, which protects people from cruel and unusual punishment.

President Trump’s executive order echoed those sentiments, declaring, “efforts to eradicate the biological reality of sex fundamentally attack women by depriving them of their dignity, safety, and well-being.”

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Trump 2.0 & The “Sanctions Industrial Complex”

As the Washington drawbridge lowers for a second Trump administration, the world attempts to glean any insights that might indicate the direction of his second term. At the top of the list of concerns is the topic of sanctions.

As of 2024, the US is actively sanctioning a third of all nations on earth. As the American populace grew more wary of military entanglements and forever wars, consecutive administrations have exponentially escalated the use of the economic weapon. The Obama administration averaged a total of 500 new sanctions a year, while the first Trump administration doubled it to 1,000 a year, and the Biden administration sextupled the figure—imposing more than 12,000 sanctions in 4 years. Now, many wonder whether a second Trump admin will continue or curb this trend.

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Trump: Zelensky Passed on Deal, ‘Decided To Fight’ & Is ‘No Angel’

President Donald Trump appeared on Hannity at the end this week and offered a blunt, critical assessment of Zelensky’s decision-making in the Russia-Ukraine war.

He strongly suggested that Ukrainian President Zelensky’s policies have only prolonged the war. This includes the unspoken truth that prior Biden administration policies have only served to continue the killing, as billions in arms were pumped to Ukraine’s military, despite there long being acknowledgement that the Russian military machine was superior, and Russian forces have continued making significant gains.

“Look, Zelensky was fighting a much bigger entity, much bigger, much more powerful. He shouldn’t have done that because we could have made a deal and it would have been a deal that would have been — it would have been a nothing deal,” Trump told Sean Hannity on Thursday. Trump also at one point said Zelensky is “no angel”.

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Federal DEI Officials Try To Disguise To Keep Their Jobs, But There’s Nowhere To Hide

The hunt begins.  On day one of his second term Donald Trump put the federal government’s weight behind the national push to end DEI programs by signing an executive order that would effectively dismantle them from all aspects of the federal government.

The executive action calls for the termination of DEI programs, mandates, policies, preferences and activities in the federal government along with the review and revision of existing federal employment practices, union contracts and training policies or programs. 

Agency, department and commission heads have 60 days to terminate to the maximum extent allowed by law all DEI, DEIA and “environmental justice” offices and positions, action plans, equity-related grants or contracts as well as end all DEI or DEIA performance requirements 

Perhaps not believing that this action would come so quickly or so aggressively, diversity offices seem to have been caught completely off guard and employees are now scrambling to figure out how they can still keep their government paycheck.  Federal DEI employees are reportedly “unclear” as to their status and do not know if they are being fired, or if they are being moved to a new position.

In all likelihood, they will be fired.

Some officials have decided to preempt their impending pink slip, choosing to rehire themselves under a new label in an attempt to hide the fact that they are DEI.  Others are trying to rename their entire department as something more innocuous, hoping to float under Trump’s radar.  However, these efforts are all in vain. 

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Trump Vows To Deliver ‘No Tax On Tips’ Campaign Promise

President Donald Trump has stressed a “no tax on tips” policy during his Las Vegas visit. 

On Saturday, Trump spoke at the Circa Resort and Casino and discussed his agenda for American workers, stressing a “no tax on tips” policy. 

“Any worker who relies on tips [as] income, your tips will be 100% yours,” Trump said.

Trump went on to address Nevada Governor Joe Lombardo (R-Nev.) . 

“You think that had an impact on the election?” Trump asked. “What, a half a point? It’s pretty big….nationwide over four million workers depend on tip income, including an estimated 700,000 single moms.”

“And here in Nevada…think of it, a quarter of the typical restaurant workers’ pay comes from tips. I didn’t know that,” Trump continued. “Impacted workers are some of the very citizens who were hit hard and very hard by the ravages of the Biden economy, which was inflation.”

“When I think of Biden, I think of incompetence and inflation,” Trump said

Given that Nevada tends to vote blue, Trump earlier this week said that he would travel there to “thank” people for choosing him in the November election.

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Trump Halts Ukraine Aid As State Dept “Totally Went Nuclear” On Foreign Assistance

The Trump State Department on Friday halted spending on almost all foreign aid grants for 90 days, which also appears to apply to funding for military assistance to Ukraine, Politico reports.

The guidance, issued by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, was sent to all diplomatic and consular posts, and orders all department staffers to issue “stop-work orders” on nearly all “existing foreign assistance awards.”

It appears to go further than President Donald Trump’s recent executive order, which instructed the department to pause foreign aid grants for 90 days pending review by the secretary. It had not been clear from the president’s order if it would affect already appropriated funds or Ukraine aid.

The new guidance means no further actions will be taken to disperse aid funding to programs already approved by the U.S. government, according to three current and two former officials familiar with the new guidance. -Politico

Rubio also outlined the Trump administration’s stance on spending, saying “Every dollar we spend, every program we fund, and every policy we pursue must be justified with the answer to three simple questions,” Rubio wrote. The questions: Does the action make America safer, stronger, and more prosperous?

The new order reportedly shocked State Department officials.

“State just totally went nuclear on foreign assistance,” a State Department official told Politico.

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Disinformation Experts Hate Trump’s Free Speech Executive Order

Newly inaugurated President Donald Trump signed a bevy of executive orders earlier this week, including one that seeks to end the federal government’s pressure campaign on social media companies.

The “Restoring Freedom of Speech and Ending Federal Censorship” executive order reaffirms the free speech rights of social media users and prohibits government agents from engaging in unconstitutional censorship.

“Under the guise of combatting ‘misinformation,’ ‘disinformation,’ and ‘malinformation,’ the Federal Government infringed on the constitutionally protected speech rights of American citizens across the United States in a manner that advanced the Government’s preferred narrative about significant matters of public debate,” states the order. “Government censorship of speech is intolerable in a free society.”

This order is, as the Abundance Institute’s Neil Chilson recognized, “good and appropriate.” Much of the censorship on social media sites that rightly irked libertarians, conservatives, and dissidents of all stripes was not enforced by the platforms of their own free will; on the contrary, they were browbeaten by various federal agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the White House.

It’s right and proper for Trump to tell the bureaucrats who work at these agencies: that’s enough of that. The First Amendment protects misinformation and hate speech, and the feds have no business policing these categories of speech on social media.

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