Trump Administration To Deliver More Weapons To Taiwan

In what will be seen by China as an escalation of war, the United States will deliver more weapons to Taiwan under the incoming Trump administration. National Security Advisor Mike Waltz has confirmed that the president-elect intends to give the island, currently at odds with China over its sovereignty, all the defense systems it has paid for. This move highlights the frequent U.S. arms sales to Taiwan.

China’s leaders have repeatedly condemned United States arms sales to Taipei as “destabilizing and provocative.” In response to the weapons agreements, China has conducted frequent naval and aerial drills around the island as a way of showing force against U.S. arms sales to Taiwan.

Speaking at the U.S. Institute of Peace in Washington on Tuesday, Waltz, a Florida Congressman, stated: “We have over a $20 billion backlog of things that they paid for and that we need to work hard to free up and have them get what they paid for as a deterrent measure. The backlog is mainly due to the extensive nature of U.S. arms sales.”

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Schumer Secretly Met with Joe Biden Urging Him to Drop Out of 2024 Race One Hour Before Butler Assassination Attempt Against Trump

Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) secretly met with Joe Biden at his Delaware beach house and urged him to drop out of the 2024 race shortly before Trump was shot in the ear by would-be assassin Thomas Crooks on July 13.

Schumer traveled to Joe Biden’s Rehoboth Beach house on July 13 to bully him into dropping out of the 2024 race.

“When Mr. Schumer arrived at Mr. Biden’s beach house that summer day, he could hear the president shouting,” The New York Times reported.

According to the New York Times, after meeting with other top Democrats days earlier in the week, Schumer met with Biden as Trump would-be assassin Thomas Crooks was climbing a roof and positioning himself to take a kill shot at Trump at a Butler, Pennsylvania, rally.

Schumer told Joe Biden that top Democrats in the House and Senate had lost faith in him and warned if he lost to Trump, Democrats would lose the Senate and wouldn’t take back the House.

“If you run and you lose to Trump, and we lose the Senate, and we don’t get back the House, that 50 years of amazing, beautiful work goes out the window,” Schumer said, according to The Times. “But worse — you go down in American history as one of the darkest figures.”

“If I were you,” Mr. Schumer said to Biden around 5 o’clock in the evening on July 13, “I wouldn’t run, and I’m urging you not to run.”

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The Art of the Deal Comes to Greenland 

It’s a distinct possibility that the U.S. will gain possession of Greenland.  Donald Trump wants it, and even before he is sworn in as the 47th president, his allies in Congress are acting.  As to the ways and means of acquisition, J.D. Vance sketched them on January 12: “We don’t have to use military force,” he began. Nevertheless, the vice president–elect invoked power politics: “We already have troops in Greenland.  Greenland is really important for America strategically.” 

“My friend Donald Trump Jr. was there a couple days ago,” Vance continued.  “And you know what they told him?  They want to be empowered to . . . develop their resources.”  Vance further stipulated, “We also want to make sure that Greenland is properly cared for from an American security perspective,” adding that the Danish government, which manages macro policy for the dependent Greenland, “has not done a good enough job.” 

Lots to unpack here.  

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Biden Backpedals on TikTok Stance, While CEO Shou Zi Chew to Attend Republican Inauguration Amid Rumors of Elon Musk Acquisition

An unexpected turn of events, the 
Biden administration has reversed its position on TikTok , allowing the popular social media app to remain active in the United States despite growing national security concerns.

Additionally, it has been confirmed that 
TikTok CEO, Shou Zi Chew, will attend the inauguration of the Republican leader , in what appears to be a symbolic gesture of détente between the government and the powerful Chinese platform.

According to reports from The New York Times and the Chinese state broadcaster CCTV, Chew will have a prominent seat at the event, a gesture that underscores the platform’s relevance in today’s political and cultural landscape.

Meanwhile, rumors about a possible sale of TikTok have begun to gain traction in business circles.

Sources close to the company have confirmed that tech mogul Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and owner of X (formerly Twitter), is seriously considering acquiring the video platform.

This move would not only mark a significant shift in the ownership of one of the world’s most popular apps but could also introduce a new power dynamic between the tech giants and the Republican administration.

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Energy Department Deploys Helicopters Over D.C. — Scanning for ‘Radiological or Nuclear Irregularities’ Ahead of Trump’s Historic Inauguration

As the nation’s capital braces for President-elect Donald Trump’s historic inauguration, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is ramping up unprecedented security measures.

Helicopters equipped with cutting-edge radiation detection technology are buzzing low over Washington, D.C., scanning for potential “radiological or nuclear irregularities.”

In an exclusive look at the security preparations, CBS’ Nicole Sganga joined Department of Energy senior scientist Jacqueline Brandon aboard one of the agency’s highly specialized helicopters.

Flying in a meticulous grid over the National Mall, the aircraft’s mission is clear: detect and neutralize threats like dirty bombs or other nuclear hazards.

“You’re trying to create a blueprint of what the radiation in Washington, DC, looks like ahead of the inauguration,” Sganga asked during the flight.

“Correct,” confirmed Brandon. With only two helicopters of this kind in the Department of Energy’s arsenal, every second of airtime counts. “If we find a radiological irregularity, we’ll investigate it even further,” she added.

Equipped with highly sensitive technology capable of detecting minute variations in radiation levels, these helicopters serve as an airborne watchdog.

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Authorities Preparing For “Worst Case Scenarios” Ahead of Trump Inauguration

Authorities in Washington DC are scanning for “nuclear irregularities” while the Secret Service preps for “worst case scenarios” as security preparations kick into high gear ahead of the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump.

Trump will be sworn in for his second term in office on Monday, January 20th.

A report by CBS News reveals how Department of Energy helicopters are flying in grid patterns around the city from only 150 feet in the air in order to “scan for radiological or nuclear irregularities.”

Officials are attempting to map a “blueprint” of normal radiation readings over Washington in order to detect anything unusual like potential dirty bombs.

Any slight variation in readings sets off an alarm which is then investigated by the pilots.

The U.S. Secret Service, which has faced criticism for its previous lax security measures around Trump, is also roleplaying “worst case scenarios” that could interrupt the inauguration process.

According to Assistant Special Agent in Charge Michael Thomas, security measures for Trump’s inauguration will eclipse anything previously seen.

This includes the presence of 25,000 law enforcement officers and military personnel, including 7,800 National Guard soldiers.

30 miles of ‘anti-scale’ fencing around the site of the inauguration will also provide a “ring of steel” to protect the event and its 250,000 attendees.

More than 25 Coast Guard vessels are also in position to patrol the area.

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Stealing Credit for the Gaza Ceasefire

Shortly after the ceasefire in Gaza was announced on Wednesday, President Joe Biden issued a statement taking credit for the deal, never mentioning who is really responsible for it.  Biden said: 

“I laid out the precise contours of this plan on May 31, 2024, after which it was endorsed unanimously by the UN Security Council. It is the result not only of the extreme pressure that Hamas has been under and the changed regional equation after a ceasefire in Lebanon and weakening of Iran — but also of dogged and painstaking American diplomacy. My diplomacy never ceased in their efforts to get this done.”

In an eight-minute address Wednesday night from the White House, Biden again never mentioned Trump, giving all the credit to himself and his team.  When a reporter asked him who the history books would credit, Biden replied, “Is that a joke?”

“This plan was developed and negotiated by my team and will be largely implemented by the incoming administration. That’s why I told my team to keep the incoming administration fully informed,” Biden said.

Actually, it wasn’t Biden’s ceasefire plan at all, according to Israel journalist Ben Caspit:

“In fact, the deal being finalized now could have been achieved last May, and was actually formulated by Netanyahu. It was Biden who unveiled Netanyahu’s plan at the time. … ‘Trump forced Netanyahu to finally accept Netanyahu’s plan,’ an Israeli diplomatic source familiar with the events told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity.”

Biden at no time seriously sought any ceasefire. Instead he unceasingly facilitated Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in Gaza in a 15-month crime spree, punctuated by pro forma attempts at “ceasefires,” which Biden allowed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to sabotage every time. 

Biden’s “attempts” at “ceasefires” were actually electoral stunts to try to con voters, who were opposed to his genocidal policy, into thinking he was really concerned about thousands of innocent lives being systematically snuffed out with American bombs.

He was also trying to make Americans believe he was earnestly attempting to stop the daily massacres. But a majority of voters knew all along that he, and his replacement Kamala Harris, had no intentions whatsoever of forcing a ceasefire.

Biden had all the leverage over Netanyahu. But instead of using it to force him to accept a hostage exchange at anytime over 15 months to stop the killing, he instead pushed the lie that Israel was merely defending itself. 

This war was never about the hostages, defeating Hamas or defending Israel. It was about ethnically cleansing Gaza in a genocide to further the 1948 project to establish Greater Israel on all of historic Palestine, and the Biden administration was on board with it. 

If Biden had really wanted a ceasefire, like the one he’s now trying to take credit for, all he had to do was telephone Netanyahu and tell him no more guns, no more ammo, no more diplomatic cover and Israel would have been forced to cease its fire.

But Biden never did that.

In his dwindling days in office he fraudulently wants to be remembered as a peacemaker and a statesman, just like he waited until the very end in another stunt to take Cuba off the terrorism list but never restored relations with Havana the way Barack Obama did. 

That Trump is the one instead who forced Israel to accept this ceasefire is beyond doubt, based on credible sources. 

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Animal Farm Politics: The Deep State Wins Again

“No question, now, what had happened to the faces of the pigs. The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.”—George Orwell, Animal Farm

It cost the American taxpayer $24 million to find out what we knew all along: politics is corrupt.

After four years of being subjected to special prosecutor Jack Smith’s dogged investigation into alleged election interference by Donald Trump, the Justice Department has concluded that Trump would have been convicted of breaking the law if only he hadn’t gotten re-elected.

In other words, the Deep State wins again.

The revelation here is not that Trump broke the law but the extent to which sitting presidents get a free pass when it comes to misconduct.

None of this is news.

The Deep State has been operating from this exact same playbook for decades, regardless of which party has occupied the White House.

Indeed, Richard Nixon let the cat out of the bag when he explained that the very act of being president places one beyond the rule of law (“when the president does it … that means that it is not illegal”).

This is how we ended up with an imperial president—empowered to act as a dictator, above the law and beyond any real accountability—and why “we the people” keep finding ourselves mired in a political swamp of lies, graft, cronyism and corruption.

George Orwell, who died 75 years ago on Jan. 21, 1950, must be rolling in his grave.

In the 75 years since George Orwell died, his works of dystopian fiction—which warn against rampant abuse of power, mind control and mass manipulation coupled with the rise of ubiquitous technology, fascism and totalitarianism—have become operation manuals for power-hungry political regimes wedded to the corporate state.

While Orwell’s novel 1984 foreshadowed the rise of an omnipresent, modern-day surveillance state, his novel Animal Farm aptly sums up the state of politics today, propped up by a two-party system designed to maintain the illusion that voting matters.

Orwell understood what many Americans, caught up in their partisan flag-waving, are still struggling to come to terms with: that there is no such thing as a government organized for the good of the people—even the best intentions among those in government inevitably give way to the desire to maintain power and control at all costs.

As Orwell explains:

“The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power, pure power. What pure power means you will understand presently. We are different from the oligarchies of the past in that we know what we are doing. All the others, even those who resembled ourselves, were cowards and hypocrites. The German Nazis and the Russian Communists came very close to us in their methods, but they never had the courage to recognize their own motives. They pretended, perhaps they even believed, that they had seized power unwillingly and for a limited time, and that just around the corner there lay a paradise where human beings would be free and equal. We are not like that. We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. Power is not a means; it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship.”

No doubt about it: the revolution was successful.

That January 6, 2021 attempt by President Trump and his followers to overturn the election results was not the revolution, however.

Those who answered President Trump’s call to march on the Capitol were merely the fall guys, manipulated into creating the perfect crisis for the Deep State—a.k.a. the Police State a.k.a. the Military Industrial Complex a.k.a. the Techno-Corporate State a.k.a. the Surveillance State—to amass even greater powers.

It took no time at all for the switch to be thrown and the nation’s capital to be placed under a military lockdown, online speech forums restricted, and individuals with subversive or controversial viewpoints ferreted out, investigated, shamed and/or shunned.

It was a set-up, folks.

The Justice Department’s policy of not prosecuting a sitting president was the tell.

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Arab Officials Say Trump’s Team Did More for Hostage Deal in a Single Meeting Than Biden Admin Did in a Year

An official appointed by President-elect Donald Trump for his next administration was the deciding factor in securing a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, but President Joe Biden nevertheless took a victory lap over the breakthrough on Tuesday.

Steve Witkoff, who Trump appointed as his Middle East envoy for his second administration, emerged successful from a critical meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday, according to The Times of Israel.

Witkoff apparently did more to move Netanyahu toward a ceasefire in a single meeting than Biden did in the past year, according to two Arab officials who spoke with the outlet, which is based in Jerusalem.

Witkoff, a real estate attorney and investor, was in Doha, Qatar, last week to take part in the talks, capping the trip with the stop in Jerusalem to meet with Netanyahu.

Two days later, negotiators from Israel and Hamas confirmed that they accepted the ceasefire agreement in principle.

“A deal could have been reached much earlier, but both sides led to talks falling apart at various times,” one Arab official told the Times.

But the Biden administration was swift to take credit for the ceasefire, overlooking the fact that the approaching Trump administration seems to have been the catalyst for the deal.

Vice President Kamala Harris said in a statement from the White House that the ceasefire was reached “thanks to the leadership of President Joe Biden.”

“President Biden and I have no higher priority than the safety of Americans, and are determined that all the American hostages be returned home as part of this deal,” she insisted.

Harris also appeared to pat herself on the back for the deal.

“In my many conversations with leaders in the region, my unwavering focus has been to end this war such that Israel is secure, the hostages are released, the suffering in Gaza ends, and the Palestinian people can realize their right to dignity, security, freedom, and self-determination,” Harris said.

“I will never stop working to achieve a future of greater peace, dignity, and security for all people in the region,” she continued.

The play here from Biden and Harris is rather obvious.

Biden is concluding a dismal four years in the Oval Office.

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Trump announces creation of External Revenue Service — here’s what new agency will collect

President-elect Donald Trump announced Tuesday he will create an external revenue office upon his return to the White House that will collect all foreign-sourced revenue, such as tariffs.

“For far too long, we have relied on taxing our Great People using the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Through soft and pathetically weak Trade agreements, the American Economy has delivered growth and prosperity to the World, while taxing ourselves,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

“I am today announcing that I will create the EXTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE [ERS] to collect our Tariffs, Duties, and all Revenue that come from Foreign sources.”

Trump, 78, has already threatened to raise tariffs on foreign countries that do not comply with his hardline immigration policies. The president-elect has singled out Mexico and Canada with threats of a 25% tariff, and has also said he will stop “business” with countries that refuse to take back illegal migrants who have been deported.

The Republican has also said he will levy a 10% to 20% tariff on all foreign goods and up to a 60% tariff on Chinese imports.

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