Trump Should Resist Another America-Last War in the Middle East

In his inaugural address, President Donald Trump made clear that he wants history to remember him as a “peacemaker and a unifier.” In his telling, “we will measure our success not only by the battles we win but also by the wars that we end—and perhaps most importantly, the wars we never get into.”

That goal is in jeopardy. Forces inside and outside his administration are trying to drag the president into more wars in the Middle East. One possibility would be an expansion of the low-level war his predecessor Joe Biden lost to the Houthis in Yemen. Another, more consequential possibility would be a full-blown war with Iran. Both wars would be losers that would damage both the country and Trump’s legacy.

Start with Yemen. In that small, impoverished country, the Houthi movement has been attacking shipping in the Red Sea since Israel attacked Gaza after the Hamas terror attack on October 7, 2023. 

The economic damage from the disruption to Red Sea shipping has been consequential, but survivable. A glance at a map makes clear who pays the cost of the disruption, however: Asia-Europe trade. Because of easy U.S. access to both the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans—big, beautiful oceans, as the president might say—trade with either continent mostly doesn’t rely on the Middle East.

Keep reading

White House Greenlit New Israeli Strikes On Gaza, Breaking Of Ceasefire

Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry has said Tuesday that over 400 people were killed overnight and into the morning by Israeli airstrikes following the collapse of the fragile two-month ceasefire.

Local officials say the death toll is expected to climb higher through the day as many are still buried under the rubble. The humanitarian group Doctors Without Borders desribed, “We woke up, at around 2am local time, to 20 minutes of airstrikes and heavy artillery, just like the past 15 months of war.”

The statement further said, “We are appalled and outraged by these new unacceptable massacres of civilians.” But Israel has blamed Hamas for the truce’s collapse, also as dozens of Israeli captives (including bodies of the deceased) still remain in the Gaza Strip.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed that “Israel will act against Hamas with increasing military force.” He blasted group’s “repeated refusal” to release more hostages.

Israel’s military claimed overnight that Hamas’ highest-ranking security official, Mahmoud Abu Wafah, was killed in the strikes. Bombs pummeled the territory every “five, six seconds” according to a Unicef official.

The Trump administration gave the greenlight for the fresh wave of Israeli attacks. “The Trump administration and the White House were consulted by the Israelis on their attacks in Gaza tonight,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a Monday night Fox News interview, just as the bombs were flying. And meanwhile, this somewhat strangely timed headline on Tuesday has hit:

The US reportedly agreed to an Egyptian proposal to rebuild Gaza without Hamas, with a local price tag of $50bn.

Hamas has blamed Israel for what it says was the unilateral overturning of the ceasefire agreement. Trump has for weeks been warning that all “hell” could be visited upon Hamas if it didn’t immediately return all of the remaining hostages.

Leavitt acknowledged this in her commentary to Fox: “As President Trump has made it clear – Hamas, the Houthis, Iran, all those who seek to terrorize not just Israel, but also the United States of America, will see a price to pay. All hell will break loose,” she said.

Keep reading

Trump’s promise to release JFK files sets off all-night scramble by DOJ’s National Security Division

The Justice Department’s National Security Division has been in a scramble trying to meet President Donald Trump’s promise on Monday to release declassified information from the JFK assassination investigation today.

Trump, during a visit Monday to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, announced the government would be releasing all the files on Kennedy’s assassination on Tuesday afternoon.

Less than half an hour after that announcement, the Justice Department’s office that handles foreign surveillance requests and other intelligence-related operations began to shift resources to focus on the task, sources said.

In an email just before 5 p.m. ET Monday, a senior official within DOJ’s Office of Intelligence said that even though the FBI had already conducted “an initial declassification review” of the documents, “all” of the attorneys in the operations section now had to provide “a second set of eyes” to help with this “urgent NSD-wide project.”

Eventually, however, it was other National Security Division attorneys who ended up having to help, sources said.

Attorneys from across the division were up throughout the night, into the early morning hours, each reading through as many as hundreds of pages of documents, sources said. Only prosecutors with an impending arrest or other imminent work did not have to help, sources said.

Keep reading

How Tariffs Will Lower The Cost Of Living

Critics of President Trump’s trade policy – tariffs, tariffs, and more tariffs – cry that tariffs will cause inflation and make Americans poor. This is false.

Although there will be a brief period where the market adjusts to the new normal, tariffs will not cause inflation. In fact, tariffs will lower the cost of living in the long run.

Perhaps the more interesting question to ask is: inflation of what? Consumer goods? Why are these critics not concerned about the inflation of assets like houses or investments that are caused by economic globalism and the trade deficit?  Why are the Democrats and Neocons so preoccupied with keeping the cost of disposable products low, when people cannot afford their rent or mortgages?

Contrary to popular belief, tariffs did not raise the cost of goods during President Trump’s first term, and they are not likely to do so the second time around. 

There are a few reasons for this.

First, a tariff is a tax imposed on imports. For example, a 25% tariff on steel would increase the price of steel coming from Canada or South Korea. However, that same tariff would not apply to steel that was made in America. In this way, tariffs are a completely avoidable tax. If you do not want to pay tariffs, buy American. Simple.

Keep reading

As Trump moves to scrap key climate finding, emails show Obama EPA used it to push ‘progressive’ fix

As the Trump administration nears a decision on whether to reverse the landmark regulatory declaration that launched the “Green New Deal” movement, the legality and political motivations of the Obama-era environmental regulators are getting a fresh, hard look.

Emails reviewed by Just the News show that Environmental Protection Agency regulators who helped craft the 2009 “endangerment finding” — which declared greenhouse gases could be regulated because they risked public health — were preparing to impose the regulatory powers of the endangerment finding even before the science was wrapped up.

The emails also show there was an open discussion inside the Obama EPA about trying to score a win for liberals in what was supposed to be a scientific process. “You are at the forefront of progressive national policy on one of the critical issues of our time. Do you realize that?” Georgetown law professor Lisa Heinzerling wrote then-EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson on Feb. 27, 2009. “You’re a good boss. I do realize that. I pinch myself all the time.”

A day earlier, Heinzerling estimated that the finding would be finalized in August or September 2009, but that imposing regulations like new car emission standards could occur ahead of the science being wrapped up.

Experts told Just the News such communications — which mostly have been relegated to insiders and trade publications — could provide a powerful messaging tool if Trump EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin decides to reverse the endangerment finding.

And there’s also a trove of emails yet to be released but itemized on a log of documents the Obama administration insisted on hiding from the public by declaring them “privileged.” “I believe the privilege logs support that the [Obama] administration came in determined to do what they then went through the public motions of producing,” Chris Horner, an environment and energy policy attorney, told Just the News.  

Keep reading

Trump says JFK files will be released Tuesday without redactions

President Donald Trump announced on Monday at the Kennedy Center that the files regarding former President John F. Kennedy’s assassination will be released on Tuesday without redactions.

“We are tomorrow announcing and giving all of the Kennedy files,” Trump said. “So people have been waiting for decades for this, and I’ve instructed my people that are responsible, lots of different people, put together by Tulsi Gabbard, and that’s going to be released tomorrow.”

The release will happen Tuesday afternoon, The Daily Wire reported.

“We have a tremendous amount of paper. You’ve got a lot of reading. I don’t believe we’re going to redact anything. I said, just don’t redact. You can’t redact,” Trump added. “But we’re going to be releasing the JFK files, and that would be tomorrow.”

“It’s approximately 80,000 pages,” he said. “So it’s a lot of stuff, and you’ll make your own determination.”

Trump said that the documents will be released without summaries so the public and media could drawn their own conclusions.

Keep reading

Putin ‘Unfreezes’ Western Assets Prior To Phone Call

Russian President Vladimir Putin is sweetening the deal with President Trump over peace negotiations regarding ending the Ukraine War.

Trump has been vocally supportive of the Russian view on ending the war and Putin is likely returning the favor to make Ukrainian concessions easier for POTUS.

Russia has a 10 to 1 population advantage in this attrition war and regaining territory under now Russian control is simply not likely.

On the eve of a phone call with Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin unveiled his latest overture to the United States. For the first time in three years of war, he signed an order on Monday allowing major US investment funds to sell their holdings of frozen Russian securities. The move comes as US media report the White House is looking at what carrots it can offer Moscow, with the potential recognition of Crimea as Russian territory on the table, reported independent Russian news outlet The Bell.

Keep reading

Trump ENDS Secret Service protection for Biden children after learning of ‘ridiculous’ cost to taxpayers

President Donald Trump removed Hunter and Ashley Biden’s Secret Service detail, citing Hunter’s recent trip to South Africa as the reason. 

Joe Biden gave his children six months of Secret Service protection after he left office. It’s not an unusual move by a president. Trump gave his children six months of protection after his first term.

But Trump blasted Biden’s son for going to South Africa and taking his detail, citing the high cost to the U.S. taxpayer. Hunter’s wife Melissa Cohen is originally from South Africa. 

The president’s announcement came hours after a reporter asked Trump about Hunter’s detail. The president said he had not been aware of it but would look into it. 

‘Hunter Biden has had Secret Service protection for an extended period of time, all paid for by the United States Taxpayer. There are as many as 18 people on this Detail, which is ridiculous! He is currently vacationing in, of all places, South Africa, where the Human Rights of people has been strenuously questioned,’ Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Keep reading

Trump says ALL JFK assassination files totaling over 80,000 pages will be released tomorrow

President Donald Trump told reporters that his administration will release 80,000 pages of unredacted JFK assassination files, terming the trove ‘interesting’ but giving little hint of what if anything it may add.

‘We are tomorrow announcing and giving all of the Kennedy files… So people have been waiting for decades for this,’ Trump told reporters during a two-hour visit to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

‘That’s going to be released tomorrow. We have a tremendous amount of paper. You’ve got a lot of reading.

‘I don’t believe we are are going to redact anything. I said just don’t redact. You can’t redact. But we’re going to be releasing the JFK files,’ Trump said. 

Trump spoke about releasing JFK files during his first campaign and term in office but thousands remained under seal. Then, he signed an executive order in January to declassify remaining files. 

He said they would come out ‘tomorrow afternoon.’

Asked if he had reviewed the document or would provide an executive summary, Trump allowed: ‘I’ve heard about them. It’s going to be very interesting.’ He said about 80,000 pages of material would come out. 

‘It’s a lot of stuff, and you’ll make your own determination,’ he said inside the Kennedy Center.

Keep reading

HERE WE GO: Trump Declares Biden’s ‘Autopen’ Pardons “VOID, VACANT, AND OF NO FURTHER FORCE OR EFFECT”

The political reckoning has begun.

President Donald Trump has delivered a devastating blow to the radical left’s anti-Trump crusade, declaring the shady “pardons” issued by Sleepy Joe Biden to be “VOID, VACANT, AND OF NO FURTHER FORCE OR EFFECT.”

In a late-night announcement on Truth Social, Trump announced:

“The “Pardons” that Sleepy Joe Biden gave to the Unselect Committee of Political Thugs, and many others, are hereby declared VOID, VACANT, AND OF NO FURTHER FORCE OR EFFECT, because of the fact that they were done by Autopen.

In other words, Joe Biden did not sign them but, more importantly, he did not know anything about them! The necessary Pardoning Documents were not explained to, or approved by, Biden.

He knew nothing about them, and the people that did may have committed a crime. Therefore, those on the Unselect Committee, who destroyed and deleted ALL evidence obtained during their two year Witch Hunt of me, and many other innocent people, should fully understand that they are subject to investigation at the highest level.

The fact is, they were probably responsible for the Documents that were signed on their behalf without the knowledge or consent of the Worst President in the History of our Country, Crooked Joe Biden!”

Keep reading