Trump’s Second-Term Nominees: Competence
Under Fire Amid Partisan Hearings
Posted By: Dreadnought, 1/20/2025 5:56:45 AM
Here we are, more or less midway through the confirmation hearings for Donald Trump’s key nominations. Among those we’ve heard from are Pete Hegseth (nominated to be Secretary of Defense), Pamela Bondi (Attorney General), Marco Rubio (State), Scott Bessent (Treasury), Doug Burgum (Interior), Lee Zeldin (EPA), John Ratcliffe (CIA), and Kristi Noem (Homeland Security). Among the most notable still to come are Kash Patel (FBI), RFK Jr. (Health Human Services), and Tulsi Gabbard (National Intelligence). I have listened to longish bits of several of the hearings. I think there are two main takeaways from the festivities. One is the coordinated, ideologically fired attack-dog tactics of the Democrats.
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The 55th annual World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, has long been seen as a major globalist event, but this year the leaders of the world’s most powerful nations are skipping the meeting.
President Donald Trump is scheduled to address the forum by video link on Thursday, but Chinese dictator Xi Jinping, Indian President Narendra Modi, French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer are among the no-shows. The only G7 leader to attend in person is German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
“True, the prime minister of Spain is going to be there,
Over the weekend, as part of the current ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, Hamas released three Israeli hostages who had been in captivity since October 7, 2023. Among them was 28-year-old British-Israeli national Emily Damari.
While pictures of Damari and the other two young women who were released flooded social media on Sunday, none of them has spoken out until now. Damari took to her own Instagram account and told her followers that "I came back to life," before thanking God, her family, and her friends, according to the BBC. She added that she saw some of the world's reaction to her release and "that affected my heart."
Marco Takes Charge
1 reply
This morning was a good morning, especially for this country. Besides having someone in the White House who's all about this country, his team is rock solid and moving into place.
The first one officially onboard is someone I've known for a long time and always thought was meant to do great things serving this nation. I couldn't be prouder or feel better about a cabinet officer. He'll be one helluva Secretary of State. Rubio didn't waste time shaking hands and introducing himself to staffers at the State Department headquarters while chitchatting about pronouns around the coffee machine in the breakroom, either.
Oh, no.
Culture Warriors Can Rejoice Today
0 replies
Ten years ago I never expected that I would become a fervent culture warrior.
Sure, I cared about cultural issues, but as a libertarianish conservative, I cared more about taxes, spending, and regulation. I would, with exceptions, accept the idea that culture-war issues were best left to the extremists on both sides because the real ideological war was between socialists and free marketeers.
Sometime over the past decade, I realized that without winning the culture war all else would be lost. The neo-Marxists were on a mission to destroy Western culture, and if we didn't save it the world would enter a new totalitarian age
COVENTRY, Vt. —
The FBI is releasing new information in their investgation in connection with the fatal shooting of a U.S Border Patrol agent.
A spokesperson with U.S. Customs and Border Protection has confirmed to NBC5 that a Border Patrol agent and another person were killed Monday afternoon during a traffic stop in Coventry, Vermont. During the traffic stop, federal investigators say Agent David “Chris” Maland exchanged gunfire with one of the subjects. Maland was fatally shot. A third person was injured and is now in custody. They are being treated at an area hospital for their injuries.
The FBI said that the deceased person is a German national
There’s no proof that Sigmund Freud ever acknowledged that “sometimes a cigar is just a cigar,” but whoever coined the phrase was certainly onto something. Not everything is chockfull of hidden meanings.
Including a hat.
With its ratings in freefall, MSNBC returned to its old-school journalistic roots, publishing today an introspective, hard-hitting, no-holds-barred psychoanalysis of the incoming first lady’s headwear: “The Message Behind Melania Trump’s Hat.”
(Well! If that doesn’t jumpstart its ratings, nothing will.)
Hannah Holland, an MSNBC producer and writer, penned this Pulitzer-worthy article. In her opinion:
Topline Oracle stock was the most notable winner from the stock market’s first day of trading during President Donald Trump’s second term as Trump unveiled a $500 billion artificial intelligence infrastructure partnership between the cloud computing and data storage giant and other AI heavyweights including OpenAI and Nvidia. Key Facts
The AI infrastructure deal, dubbed “Stargate,” involves Oracle, OpenAI (the Microsoft-backed parent of the generative AI ChatGPT program), top AI tech designer Nvidia and Tokyo-headquartered conglomerate SoftBank, matching reports earlier Tuesday.
Trump announced the project at a White House press conference flanked by Oracle’s billionaire chairman Larry Ellison, OpenAI’s billionaire CEO Sam Altman and SoftBank’s billionaire CEO Masayoshi Son.
Three major business leaders — SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Oracle Corp. Chairman Larry Ellison — joined President Donald Trump on Tuesday afternoon at the White House to announce the creation of a new company called Stargate.
Texas-based Stargate would invest up to $500 billion over the next four years in AI infrastructure. The initial investment is expected to be $100 billion and could reach five times that sum, according to The Associated Press.
Son, a billionaire based in Japan, had already pledged in December to invest $100 billion in U.S. projects over the next four years. The head of SoftBank had previously committed to $50 billion
DAVOS, Switzerland - German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Tuesday he does not support freedom of speech when it is used for extreme-right views, a day after a hand gesture by U.S. billionaire Elon Musk caused uproar during Donald Trump's inauguration festivities.
"We have the freedom of speech in Europe and in Germany. Everyone can say what he wants, even if he is a billionaire. And what we do not accept is if this is supporting extreme-right positions," Scholz said in Davos when asked about the incident.
Musk's hand gesture during a celebration of President Trump's inauguration drew online comparisons to a Nazi salute.
Musk dismissed the criticism as a "tired" attack.
As Republicans and Trump supporters recover from the massive adrenalin rush that was Inauguration Day, Democrats are in for a four-year-long, rough road of facing the consequences of losing the 2024 presidential election. They are now living with the fact that the American people soundly rejected their policies for a man they repeatedly smeared as "Hitler" and a fascist during the last few weeks of the campaign. As Donald Trump's cabinet picks wind their way through the Senate confirmation process, Democrats just can't quit their childish, petty behavior and are now engaging in new tactics.
The inaugural festivities continued for President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance on Tuesday, with both men finding themselves sitting in the National Cathedral for an "interfaith" prayer service. But while most of the speakers acquitted themselves well, a female Episcopalian "bishop" decided to fulfill the far-left's wildest dreams by directing a woke tangent at the president. During Mariann Budde's "sermon," she ranted about "transgender children" and asked Trump to have "mercy" on those who are "scared" of his administration, including those who "pick our crops." Here's the final few minutes of what she said. BUDDE: Let me make one
The Lava Ridge Wind project in Idaho has been a thorn in Idaho's sides locally for quite some time. Last June, I told you all about how the Bureau of Land Management had, once the developer's plans were approved, closed the required 90-day public comment period with a 'thank you all for your input.' The BLM pinkie swore to seriously consider every single one of the 11,000 or so comments submitted.
...As these things go, there were quite a few reasonable objections to Lava Ridge's construction besides its being big, ugly, and a waste.
For one thing, the proposal snugged behemoth wind turbines damn near right up against
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Recall Mark Milley to Service And Humiliate
Him; UPDATE: Milley Portrait Gone From Pentagon 27 replies
Him; UPDATE: Milley Portrait Gone From Pentagon 27 replies
All of Joe Biden's preemptive pardons for the worst political malefactors in recent years are an insult to the rule of law, but one in particular sticks in my craw: Mark Milley.
Why?
I expect bureaucrats like Anthony Fauci to be ass-covering snakes with a lust for power and disdain for accountability, and I am confident that he will burn in hell and be remembered as the mass murderer that he is.
I expect politicians like Liz Cheney, Adam Schiff, and the sc*mbags of the January 6th Committee to be liars who would sacrifice their souls for an extra minute on TV and an additional campaign dollar.
Former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) slammed freshly sworn-in President Donald Trump’s remarks from his inauguration ceremony, calling him a “liar” for calling out the House Select Committee on January 6 and former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D), right after she received a preemptive pardon from outgoing President Joe Biden.
During his speech in front of dignitaries and family members in the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol, Trump lamented how he offered Pelosi “10,000 soldiers” to mitigate the risk of unrest on January 6, 2021, “but she rebuffed them”:
(X Video)
President Donald Trump was left in disbelief as he was forced to listen to a woke bishop deliver a stunningly negative sermon calling for him to show 'mercy' to illegal immigrants and transgender children. On the first full day of Trump's presidency Marianne Budde, the left-wing Episcopal Bishop of Washington, unleashed a wild lecture claiming trans kids were 'fearing for their lives' due to him being in the Oval Office.
Trump sat stony-faced in the front row, next to First Lady Melania Trump, as the prelate told him illegal immigrants were not criminals and he shouldn't deport those with children.
One of Donald Trump’s first acts as president was to commute the sentences of or pardon nearly every single Jan. 6 prisoner, setting them all free. But multiple prisons and halfway houses have resisted complying, with the D.C. gulag holding multiple prisoners hostage and refusing to release them.
Trump’s historic order commuted the sentences of about a dozen individuals and pardoned “all individuals convicted of offenses related to event that occurred at or near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021.” It ordered that those “currently held in prison are released immediately.” But the thugs who have so abused and trampled the rights of the J6ers
Lip reader suggests Obama asked Bush how
they could ‘stop what’s happening’
at Trump’s inauguration 20 replies
they could ‘stop what’s happening’
at Trump’s inauguration 20 replies
Barack Obama asked George W. Bush how they could “stop what’s happening” during President Trump’s inauguration on Monday, according to a lip reader.
Jackie Gonzalez, a deaf woman who shares her interpretations of celebrities’ and politicians’ private conversations on social media, made a now-viral video revealing what she believed the two former presidents were discussing during a candid moment at Trump’s inauguration.
Footage of Obama and Bush sharing a laugh during Trump’s swearing-in ceremony took off online Monday, with many internet sleuths wondering what the 43rd and 44th presidents were joking about.
The Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington gave an insultingly political speech that excoriated President Trump for...being President Trump, basically.
Episcopal Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde took the opportunity to slam President Trump at the National Prayer Service, where he sat among many of the nation's leaders. The idea of the Prayer Service is to unify the attendees and remind them that we are all one nation under God.
It was appalling in every way, no doubt coming from a leftist who speaks endlessly about love, compassion, and unity. She implied that Trump was an enemy of gay and lesbian people, criticized him for wanting to deport
Let them eat word salad!
Newly unemployed Kamala Harris and second gentleman Doug Emhoff are slinking back to Los Angeles Monday — where they will pass out food to wildfire victims after all but ignoring their plight for two weeks.
The former vice president has formally left the White House and is returning to her mansion in the wildfire ravaged city after losing the election to President Trump in the November.
Harris is expected to fly to her home state with an all-female US Air Force crew, the first of which to ever operate a C-33, MSNBC reported.
In a surprising move, just minutes before President Donald Trump was officially sworn in for his second term, FBI Director Paul Abbate announced his retirement. The timing of his departure, coinciding with the beginning of a new administration, raised eyebrows, particularly given the ongoing scrutiny surrounding the FBI’s actions during the last eight years. Abbate, who had served as deputy director before taking the helm, left behind a bureau at the center of political controversy, leaving many to wonder about the potential implications for the agency under the incoming administration.
The inaugural festivities continued for President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance on Tuesday, with both men finding themselves sitting in the National Cathedral for an "interfaith" prayer service. But while most of the speakers acquitted themselves well, a female Episcopalian "bishop" decided to fulfill the far-left's wildest dreams by directing a woke tangent at the president. During Mariann Budde's "sermon," she ranted about "transgender children" and asked Trump to have "mercy" on those who are "scared" of his administration, including those who "pick our crops." Here's the final few minutes of what she said. BUDDE: Let me make one
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) late Monday launched a suit challenging an executive order from President Trump seeking to end birthright citizenship for children born in the U.S. to parents who are not lawfully present.
It’s an order that contradicts the Constitution, which bestows citizenship on anyone born in the United State regardless of the status of their parents. “Denying citizenship to U.S.-born children is not only unconstitutional — it’s also a reckless and ruthless repudiation of American values. Birthright citizenship is part of what makes the United States the strong and dynamic nation that it is.
MSNBC’s Rev. Al Sharpton called on all Americans to boycott companies eliminating diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, claiming they are trying to send Black people to the “back of the bus.”
Sharpton made the announcement at Metropolitan AME Church in Washington, D.C., during a rally in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day on Monday. He said this call to action would be done in the spirit of King’s legacy as a civil rights activist.
“Why do we have DEI? We have DEI because you denied us diversity, you denied us equity, you denied us inclusion.
DAVOS, Switzerland - German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Tuesday he does not support freedom of speech when it is used for extreme-right views, a day after a hand gesture by U.S. billionaire Elon Musk caused uproar during Donald Trump's inauguration festivities.
"We have the freedom of speech in Europe and in Germany. Everyone can say what he wants, even if he is a billionaire. And what we do not accept is if this is supporting extreme-right positions," Scholz said in Davos when asked about the incident.
Musk's hand gesture during a celebration of President Trump's inauguration drew online comparisons to a Nazi salute.
Musk dismissed the criticism as a "tired" attack.