Category: Government

It’s still not enough

White House Repeals Unscientific HHS Advisory On Gun Violence.

Democrats and anti-Second Amendment stooges are up in arms about your right to bear them once again, as the Trump administration has repealed former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy’s anti-gun tract, Firearm Violence: A Public Health Crisis in America, from the official Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) website. The move is part of an avalanche of actions building up in response to the President’s February 7 Executive Order, “Protecting Second Amendment Rights,” claiming to seek the identification and elimination of ongoing infringements upon American gun rights. With weaponization of the federal bureaucracy against law-abiding gun owners being a staple of the former Biden-Harris administration, it is hopeful to see a refocusing of those efforts onto the actual criminals themselves under President Trump.

“Illegal violence of any sort is a crime issue, and as he again made clear during his recent speech at the Department of Justice, President Trump is committed to Making America Safe Again by empowering law enforcement to uphold law and order,” the White House responded to the Guardian’s question about the removal of webpages.

The NRA predicted under heavy scrutiny that the appointment of Murthy as U.S. surgeon general during the second Obama-Biden administration would lead to further politicizing of his anti-gun agenda, a position Murthy lied about under oath to Senators at his first confirmation hearing, saying he would not use his platform as a bully pulpit for gun control, and would instead focus on the obesity epidemic. During his initial term as surgeon general, Murthy’s failure to effectively address that epidemic led to his being reappointed by the Biden administration, where failing upwards is practically in the job description.

With a reinvigorated sense of tenure and those promises under oath in his rearview mirror, the good doctor did what he did best, pretending to have special insight into the causes of firearm-related crime, much like his calls for gun control when he headed the advocacy group Doctors for America. In July 2024, he published his 40-page manifesto, Firearm Violence: A Public Health Crisis in America, even promoting it through media appearances like the perjurous little rock star he is.

“[T]he advisory has nothing to do with treating gunshot wounds, dealing with potential lead exposure from handling firearms or ammunition, hearing loss from exposure to muzzle reports, or any other medical issue pertaining to guns. Instead, it is simply a taxpayer-funded tract that promotes the same tired slate of oppressive gun control laws that Murthy’s fellow firearm prohibitionists have wanted for decades. It also seeks to provide cover for the disastrous crime-control failures of Murthy’s Democrat party by insisting that firearm assaults and homicides are akin to a disease or contagion rather than crimes committed by predators (most with lengthy records) who too often act with impunity,” according to analysis of the document by the NRA Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA).

Of course, the tired effort of anti-Second Amendment groups and grifters has done nothing to reduce firearm-related deaths in the United States, but that has never really been the goal in the first place. Any literate person can pick up a book on the history of governments disarming citizens to find a clear pattern of subjugation and worse following the successful confiscation of the means to defend liberty.

The revocation of this anti-Second Amendment propaganda masquerading as science is part of a series of actions that have taken place in the last week by the Trump administration and the Department of Justice that will hopefully move necessary pieces into place, further defending and more tangibly restoring American gun rights. Yes, I will remain skeptical and cautiously optimistic until something happens that feels less punitive towards the previous administration and more substantive to my life as someone who owns and purchases guns. In the meantime, I will drink from the cup of leftist tears as the meltdowns continue and pray that I’ve been wrong about America’s tipping point and our ability to restore the founding values that made this country great in the first place.

Youngkin Vetos Gun Bills

Gov. Glenn Youngkin isn’t the most outspoken of governors. He just quietly does what he does in Virginia, even with a hostile legislature that seems determined to make the Old Dominion State one of the most anti-gun in the nation.

In fact, they sent a pile of gun control bills to him, which would be bad news for Virginia residents like our dear, old Cam Edwards.

But, well, it seems that he wasn’t interested in playing along.

Northern Virginia legislators are decrying Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s recent veto of a bill to keep firearms from the homes of domestic abusers.

Youngkin vetoed 157 bills on Monday (March 24), including Sen. Barbara Favola’s (D-40) Senate Bill 744 and Del. Elizabeth Bennett-Parker’s House Bill 1960 — identical pieces of legislation that amend existing Virginia law by removing firearms from the hands of convicted domestic abusers.

“Guns and domestic violence are a lethal combination and these deaths are preventable,” Bennett-Parker said in a statement. “These bills were a common-sense fix to ensure that illegal guns stay out of the hands of convicted domestic abusers. I’m incredibly frustrated that the Governor vetoed our ability to protect women who are dying at the hands of their abusers through better enforcement of our existing laws. The Governor has made Virginia less safe for women and families.”

Youngkin has vetoed the measure for the second year in a row, and Bennett-Parker and Favola’s statements mirror their reactions to last year’s veto.

They should get used to disappointment.

However, this wasn’t the only anti-gun bill in and amongst those 157 items. Neary two dozen more got the veto treatment, according to a press release from the NRA:

Yesterday, Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin reaffirmed his support for the rights of law-abiding gun owners by vetoing two dozen bills that would have trampled on the Second Amendment freedoms of the citizens of the Commonwealth. Similar to last session, Governor Youngkin disposed of egregious legislation that would have emboldened criminals and left peaceable Virginians defenseless.

“On behalf of Virginia’s NRA members and Second Amendment supporters, I want to thank Governor Youngkin for standing strong in his support for the Second Amendment by vetoing the litany of gun control bills pushed through the General Assembly this year,” said John Commerford, Executive Director of the NRA Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA). “For the second year in a row, gun control activists tried to enact dozens of radical, California-style laws that would have severely restricted the Second Amendment rights of gun owners in the Commonwealth. The NRA applauds Governor Youngkin for upholding his promise to protect our Constitutional freedoms.”

The bills vetoed by Governor Youngkin came from the long wish list of radical gun control activists. This included attempts to restrict the Constitutional rights of 18- to 20-year-old adults, dramatically expand gun-free zones that would have left law-abiding Virginians defenseless and enact a mandatory waiting period to take possession of a legally purchased firearm. In addition, the vetoed legislation would have banned a wide range of commonly owned firearms used by Virginians to hunt, compete and for self-defense.

That’s the good news.

The bad news is that Virginia has off-year elections. In fact, they go to the polls this fall to elect a new governor and vote on the legislature, among other offices. Youngkin can’t run for re-election because Virginia has a law where governors can’t serve consecutive terms.

And based on the 2024 election, where Kamala Harris took the state by over five points, it doesn’t look like a red wave is likely this year.

But much of the anti-gun lean in the state comes from Northern Virginia, where many federal bureaucracy employees live. Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know what DOGE is doing to the bureaucracy.

That might have some kind of impact on the election outcome, as many now unemployed federal workers may be relocating to less expensive communities throughout the nation.

Or, at a minimum, someplace where they can get a job.

However, gun rights proponents in the state should probably not count on that and mobilize now, back candidate who will support their gun rights, and do everything the can to mitigate the impact anti-gun groups will have on the upcoming election.

Panic Hits Democrats As Trump Goes After Their Money and Infrastructure.

President Trump is tearing out the infrastructure of the Democrat party and setting off panic in progressive circles. According to a report in the New York Times, Trump’s attacks on Democrat funding, fundraising, organizing, and legal organizations are presenting the Democrats with a threat that only Republicans have encountered in the past.

The report highlights Trump imposing what amounts to economic sanctions on three major Democrat-affiliated law firms — Perkins Coie, Covington & Burlington, and Paul Weiss — via executive orders; see Trump Strips Security Clearance From Law Firm That Helped Hillary’s Campaign Fund Debunked Steele Dossier – RedState and Trump’s Executive Order Barring Two Democrat Law Firms From Federal Business Rattles ‘Big Law’ – RedState.

One of those firms, Paul Weiss, has made its peace with Trump (‘Big Law’ Firm Admits Wrongdoing, Abandons DEI, and Pays Reparations to Meet Trump’s Demands), while the others are fighting him in court.

Also of concern is the possibility that Trump may seek to review and revoke the non-profit status of some of the blatantly partisan non-profits operated for the benefit of progressive causes and candidates.

Mr. Trump himself appeared to call into question the charitable tax-exempt status of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, or CREW, a Democratic-aligned watchdog group that has long been among the more aggressive litigants against him and is currently suing to force the release of records related to Mr. Musk’s cost-cutting.

“CREW is a charitable organization, and that’s a political thing,” Mr. Trump said on Friday at the Justice Department, singling out Norm Eisen, a former board member, as a “vicious and violent” person who has “been after me for nine years.” (Mr. Eisen’s new group, State Democracy Defenders Fund, has also fought some of the new administration’s actions in court.)

Jordan Libowitz, a CREW spokesman, declined to comment on Mr. Trump’s mention of the group.

CREW is non-partisan in the same way I’m non-partisan. Not mentioned is the article is the odious “Media Matters for America,” which, while a non-profit, functions as the special needs wing of the Democrat non-profit group.

Most of the article is devoted to the attention devoted to ActBlue and an attempt to frame criticism of ActBlue as some fantasy Elon Musk has dreamed up.

“Something stinks about ActBlue,” Mr. Musk wrote March 7 in one of several social media posts about the platform. A day later, he claimed without evidence that ActBlue was funded by Democratic megadonors including Herb Sandler, who died in 2019.

Any time you see a leftist media outlet refer to something as being “without evidence,” you know that what they are talking about is correct.

BACKGROUND:

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C-Reason Hana;
IMO … The FBI under the leadership of the Biden Administration was more interested in prosecuting parents at School Board Meetings, arresting people for praying outside of PP centers and classifying Catholics as terrorists … or making up stings to entrap Americans like the one they did with Gov. Whitmer & orchestrating performative raids of Trump supporters & Trump himself.

They wouldn’t arrest violent rioters, people on the most wanted list, nor pedos & traffickers.

We finally have people in office who put America & Americans first, while upholding the law … not making it up as they go.

Trump Signs Executive Order Dismantling Department of Education.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday shuttering the Department of Education, fulfilling a long-standing conservative wish to do away with the agency.

Trump’s order directs Education Secretary Linda McMahon to take the “necessary steps” to close the $268 billion agency and transfer its authority back to the states. The order does not immediately shutter the agency, and it will require programs and services to continue uninterrupted.

“Everybody knows it’s right,” Trump said moments before signing the order, which he said was 45 years in the making. “We have to get our children educated.”

The long-expected executive order will likely face significant legal challenges over whether Trump has the authority to dismantle the agency. Fully closing down the Department of Education will require congressional approval.

Since the days of President Ronald Reagan, Republicans have sought to eliminate the Department of Education, created in 1979 under former President Jimmy Carter, for its role in promoting left-wing ideology and encroaching on state authority. The Education Department’s responsibilities primarily consist of allocating grant money, administering student loans, and enforcing federal civil rights laws

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DOJ Allows Federal Gun Rights Restoration for First Time Since 1992

DOJ Allows Federal Gun Rights Restoration for First Time Since 1992 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

March 19, 2025 

Washington, D.C. – The Department of Justice (DOJ) has issued an Interim Final Rule removing the Attorney General’s delegation of authority to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) to process applications for relief from federal firearms disabilities under 18 U.S.C. 925(c). This action follows more than three decades of Congressional funding restrictions that have rendered ATF unable to process individual applications. 

The rule removes outdated regulations and is part of a broader review of firearm-related policies under Executive Order 14206 (Protecting Second Amendment Rights). Upon the interim final rule’s expected publication tomorrow, the DOJ will begin allowing individuals who are not “dangerous to public safety” to use the statute and petition to have their gun rights restored. 

Key Points of the Rule Change: 

  • Since 1992, Congress has prohibited ATF from using funds to process gun rights restoration applications, making the statute obsolete. 
  • ATF will no longer handle individual firearm disability relief applications under 18 U.S.C. 925(c). DOJ will instead carry out the statute and process petitions for gun rights restoration. 
  • The DOJ rule goes into effect immediately upon publication and will simultaneously accept public comments on the rule before issuing a final version. 

Gun Owners of America remains committed to monitoring this process and ensuring that any future policies respect the constitutional rights of all law-abiding citizens. 

Erich Pratt, Senior Vice President of Gun Owners of America, issued the following statement: 

“For decades, law-abiding Americans who have had their gun rights unfairly restricted have been left in legal limbo—creating an unconstitutional de facto lifetime gun ban. This bureaucratic failure has denied thousands of individuals their lawful opportunity to restore their rights. The DOJ’s decision to finally withdraw ATF’s authority in this matter is an encouraging sign that this administration is serious about protecting the Second Amendment for all Americans.” 

Aidan Johnston, Director of Federal Affairs for Gun Owners of America, issued the following statement: 

“Since its enactment in 1992, Gun Owners of America has fought against the ‘Schumer Amendment’ which defunded the federal gun rights restoration statute. GOA and thousands of would-be gun owners are grateful to President Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi for once again allowing gun owners to petition to have their gun rights restored by the Department of Justice. We hope to see many more infringements repealed as the federal government carries out President Trump’s executive order Protecting Second Amendment Rights.” 

Gun Rights Lawyer Named ATF’s New Chief Legal Counsel

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (“ATF”) unveiled its new Chief Legal Counsel.

Robert Leider will take over duties as the top lawyer of the ATF. The appointment is a sharp change of course from former Chief Counsel Pamela Hicks. Ms. Hicks’s views on guns were in line with groups like Everytown and Brady. Mr. Leider takes a more liberty-based approach to guns. The appointment of Leider to the position saw an outpouring of joy from gun rights activists.

Mr. Leider was an assistant professor at George Mason University, Antonin Scalia Law School, where he taught a class on the Second Amendment. Before becoming a professor, he worked for powerhouse law firm Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer, LLP. He also clerked for Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas. Mr. Leider lists his interests as the right of self-defense and the Second Amendment.

“Underneath this debate over which “arms” the Second Amendment protects is a critical dispute about the contemporary purpose of the Second Amendment,” Leider wrote. “Illinois is essentially arguing that the Second Amendment exclusively protects individual self-defense against crime. The State understands Heller to have divorced entirely the right to keep and bear arms from the Second Amendment.”

Mr. Leider has also argued against the “Gun Free Zone Act.” The “Gun Free Zone Act” would have made any property within 1000 feet of a school a “sensitive area.” He argued that the law would strip Americans of their Second Amendment rights just because they live near a school. He claims such a law would fail a Bruen test and be unconstitutional.

Mr. Leider also has penned articles that advocated the stripping of qualified immunity from those state officers who resist the Supreme Court’s Bruen ruling. If qualified immunity was removed from these state officers, it could open people like New York State Governor Kathy Hochul to legal action. States have passed laws inconsistent with Bruen since SCOTUS ruled on the case.

“In former may issue states, gun owners will face substantial legal risks when exercising their rights,” Leider wrote. “But the legal risk may not only be on private citizens.

Despite strengthening qualified immunity in recent years, the Supreme Court has not shielded government agents who willfully seek to violate the Constitution.

New York, New Jersey, Maryland, and California may find that, in bringing down the heavy hand of the State against individuals who exercise their Second Amendment rights, their own police officers will get hit by the blow. “

Mr. Leider also believes bans on the open carrying of firearms violate the Second Amendment. He states that everyone should have the right to open carry. Out of all the changes made to gun control since Trump took office, the appointment of Leider to the Chief Counsel position might be the biggest.

What did I say about the OODA Loop?
I’m not the only one who understand that this is getting inside the demoncrap’s abilities to handle scandal after scandal

Here’s the Brilliance Behind Trump’s Move Declaring Biden’s Pardons ‘Void’.

President Donald Trump dropped a bombshell Sunday evening. As my PJ Media colleague Catherine Salgado reported, Trump declared Joe Biden’s pardons void due to the suspicious use of an autopen and serious questions about whether Sleepy Joe even knew what he was rubber-stamping.

“The ‘Pardons’ that Sleepy Joe Biden gave to the Unselect Committee of Political Thugs, and many others, are hereby declared VOID, VACANT, AND NO FURTHER FORCE OR EFFECT,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.

But here’s what’s really fascinating — and telling. Biden’s social media team remains suspiciously silent. Not a peep from his X account disputing the autopen accusations. These are serious allegations that merit a response, yet we got nothing. Really makes you think, doesn’t it?

Trump’s second Truth Social post cuts right to the heart of the matter: “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.” This isn’t just about pardons; it’s about who was really running our government.

How is this going to play out? Proving that Biden wasn’t aware of these pardons might be an uphill battle. But something tells me that’s not the point. While I suspect that it will be virtually impossible to prove that Biden didn’t authorize those pardons, I still think this may have been a brilliant move by Trump.

Here’s why. Every legal challenge, every court filing, every public statement will keep this scandal front and center. Even if the pardons ultimately stand, the damage to Biden’s legacy and the Democratic Party will be done.

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“Oopsie, Too Late” El Salvador President Mocks Judge Boasberg After Flights Land With Several Hundred Venezuelan Gang Members Deported by President Trump

President of El Salvador Nayib Bukele mocked U.S. District Judge James Boasberg after two flights from the U.S. carrying nearly between 250 and 300 Venezuelan and other gang members landed in El Salvador despite Boasberg’s emergency order issued Saturday evening in a case brought by the ACLU to turn the planes around and return the gang members to the U.S.

According to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a few MS-13 gang members and most wanted fugitives were among the over 250 Tren de Aragua Venezuelan gang members deported after President Trump invoked the 1798 Alien Enemies Act.

El Salvador receives members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua who were deported by President Trump, screen image via President Nayib Bukele, posted March 16, 2025
El Salvador receives members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua who were deported by President Trump, screen image via President Nayib Bukele, posted March 16, 2025

Bukele posted, “Oopsie…Too late ” over a New York Post headline that reads, “Fed judge orders deportation flights carrying alleged Venezuelan gangbangers to return to US after Trump invokes Alien Enemies Act”

 

Bukele also posted video of the nighttime arrival of the deportees, showing the gang members being removed from the planes in shackles and then being taken to El Salvador’s supermax security prison, CECOT, the Terrorism Confinement Center, in a massive security operation.

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Lawmakers Pushing Commerce Secretary To Dump Biden Admin’s Gun Export Restriction.

A group of 88 members of the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate are pushing to have the Biden Administration rule restricting firearm exports by law-abiding American manufacturers reversed, and they want it done now.

On March 7, the lawmakers, led by Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green, R-Tennessee, sent a letter to Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick requesting reversal of the policy, which was part of the Biden Administration’s weaponized attack on gun owners, gun sellers and gun makers.

“As soon as is practically possible, we respectfully request that you rescind the Department of Commerce Bureau of Industry and Security’s (BIS) recent interim final rule (IFR) ‘Revision of Firearms License Requirements,” the letter stated. “This misguided and destructive IFR is costing the American firearms industry nearly $500 million annually while doing nothing to advance U.S. interests or regional stability. Despite numerous attempts to rein in these actions through letters, legislation, hearings, markups and oversight, the Biden BIS ignored Congress and used the IFR to advance the Biden administration’s anti-firearms agenda.”

The letter also referenced President Donald Trump’s recent executive order instructing new Attorney General Pam Bondi to review all orders, regulations, guidance, plans, international agreements and other actions of executive departments and agencies that violate the Second Amendment or furthered the Biden administration’s anti-firearms agenda.

“Section (2)(b)(vii) of the executive order specifically requires the review and remediation of any agency action regarding the ‘processing of applications, to make, manufacture, transfer or export firearms.’ Because this IFR stops the commercial export of firearms, ammunition and related components to over 36 countries and severely limits the ability of American businesses to obtain export licenses, we believe this IFR ought to be addressed immediately.”

For his part, Sen. Lee said now is the time to act to get this onerous restriction off the books.

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And speaking of….

Big Win for Trump: Appeals Court Admits Truth About DEI Purge Before Giving Administration the Green Light

An appeals court ruled Friday that, contrary to what a previous judge had ruled, there was no constitutional right to bear DEI.

According to Reuters, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals based in Richmond, Virginia sided with President Donald Trump and his administration, positing that a ban on diversity, equity, and inclusion programs ordered by the White House was likely constitutional.

While the ruling from the court was a mixed blessing — two of the three judges also wrote a separate opinion that DEI policies aren’t unconstitutional — the move means that the administration can move forward with a suite of programs that would end programs at federal agencies and entities which receive federal funds.

“This is a difficult case that will benefit from more sustained attention than we can give it in the present posture,” wrote Judge Pamela Harris, who was appointed to the bench by former President Barack Obama, according to The Wall Street Journal.

“But for now, I believe the government has shown a sufficient likelihood of success to warrant a stay until we can hear and decide its appeal.”

She was joined in that opinion by Judge Albert Diaz, who also felt that the final decision might depend on implementation and not the basics.

“Despite the vitriol now being heaped on DEI, people of good faith who work to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion deserve praise, not opprobrium,” Diaz wrote.

The third judge, Trump appointee Allison Jones Rushing, said in a separate opinion that the government was likely to succeed in making its constitutional arguments about DEI.

The case was initially filed by the city council of Baltimore, with three other co-plaintiffs. All four receive federal funding and have DEI-promoting initiatives.

Trump, the Baltimore city council said in its lawsuit, “cannot usurp Congress’s exclusive power of the purse, nor can he silence those who disagree with him by threatening them with the loss of federal funds and other enforcement actions.”

Biden appointee Judge Adam Abelson of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland agreed in February, writing that the orders may violate the First Amendment.

“As Plaintiffs put it, ‘efforts to foster inclusion have been widespread and uncontroversially legal for decades,'” Abelson wrote in his decision, according to Reuters. “Plaintiffs’ irreparable harms include widespread chilling of unquestionably protected speech.”

Deputy White House chief of staff Stephen Miller argued that DEI programs violate the Civil Rights Act by illegally discriminating against individuals to promote women and minorities.

“A judge cannot nullify the Civil Rights Act and order the government to award federal taxpayer dollars to organizations that discriminate based on race,” Miller said at the time.

The 4th Circuit’s findings seemed to indicate that court didn’t buy the First Amendment defense.

In addition, Rushing’s opinion said that policy preferences on the court have little to do with the lawfulness or constitutionality of the executive orders.

“A judge’s opinion that DEI programs ‘deserve praise, not opprobrium’ should play absolutely no part in deciding this case,” Rushing wrote.

However, the decision would only allow the administration to temporarily implement its ban on the programs; the lower court’s decision “will remain in place pending the outcome of the Trump administration’s appeal, which could take months,” Reuters noted.

Nevertheless, it’s a big win for the Trump administration: three judges, two appointed by Obama, admitting the truth about the legality of the DEI purge while the left argues that discrimination somehow equals free speech. The battle might not be over, but it’s one heck of a W to notch for the new president.

Trump is deworming Washington — now to keep the parasites out for good.

Washington, DC, is riddled with parasites sucking the life out of our nation.
Time for a thorough deworming.

Jonathan Rauch, in a book by the same name, called it “demosclerosis.”
Mancur Olson, in his classic “The Rise and Decline of Nations,” called it a “web of special interests.”

I call it the “parasite class.”

All refer to a collection of bureaucrats, lobbyists, contractors, nonprofits, non-governmental organizations and connected unions and corporations that have increasingly run our federal government for their own benefit, fattening themselves with the help of diverted taxpayer dollars.

I confess that until recently, I assumed nothing could be done about these problems until an unmistakable financial collapse took place, forcing massive slashes in spending and regulation of the sort that we’ve seen in Argentina under Javier Milei.

The situation was desperate, but no one was serious about dealing with it.
That has all changed now.
The Trump administration and the Department of Government Efficiency are making some of the cuts that it would be forced to make in the event of a financial collapse — ahead of the collapse.

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Mike [Colonel U.S. Army, Retired] was an XO and later Deputy Director of my last unit.
He once discovered, to his chagrin, that older guys who work on guns just may know how to shoot them faster and just as accurate as he could.

Anduril Exec Nominated for Army’s No. 2 Civilian Spot
Obadal picked to be undersecretary of the Army

Michael Obadal, a senior director at Anduril Industries, has been nominated by President Trump to become the No. 2 civilian official in the U.S. Army.

The White House said today that Obadal’s nomination to be the Under Secretary of the Army was sent to the Senate for confirmation.

Obadal, an Army veteran, has served as senior director at Costa Mesa-based Anduril since January 2023.

 

WINNING: Ontario Caves to Trump on Tariffs.

Let me tell you what winning looks like. While the liberal media was busy predicting economic catastrophe from President Trump’s latest tariff moves, Canada just blinked — and blinked hard.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford, who thought he could play hardball with America by slapping a 25% surcharge on electricity exports to Michigan, New York, and Minnesota, just got a swift lesson in real negotiation.

“Canada is a Tariff abuser, and always has been, but the United States is not going to be subsidizing Canada any longer,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social Monday evening. “We don’t need your Cars, we don’t need your Lumber, we don’t [need] your Energy, and very soon, you will find that out. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!”

And then, Ontario responded by placing a 25% tariff on electricity coming into the United States, but Trump didn’t blink:

I have instructed my Secretary of Commerce to add an ADDITIONAL 25% Tariff, to 50%, on all STEEL and ALUMINUM COMING INTO THE UNITED STATES FROM CANADA, ONE OF THE HIGHEST TARIFFING NATIONS ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD. This will go into effect TOMORROW MORNING, March 12th. Also, Canada must immediately drop their Anti-American Farmer Tariff of 250% to 390% on various U.S. dairy products, which has long been considered outrageous. I will shortly be declaring a National Emergency on Electricity within the threatened area. This will allow the U.S to quickly do what has to be done to alleviate this abusive threat from Canada. If other egregious, long time Tariffs are not likewise dropped by Canada, I will substantially increase, on April 2nd, the Tariffs on Cars coming into the U.S. which will, essentially, permanently shut down the automobile manufacturing business in Canada.

After Trump threatened to double existing tariffs on Canadian goods and announced a new 25% tariff on Canadian steel and aluminum, Ford’s tough-guy act fell faster than Joe Biden on the steps to Air Force One.

“Today, United States Secretary of Commerce [Howard Lutnick] and Premier of Ontario Doug Ford had a productive conversation about the economic relationship between the United States and Canada,” the pair said in a joint statement Ford shared on X.

Secretary Lutnick agreed to officially meet with Premier Ford in Washington on Thursday, March 13 alongside the United States Trade Representative to discuss a renewed USMCA ahead of the April 2 reciprocal tariff deadline. In response, Ontario agreed to suspend its 25 per cent surcharge on exports of electricity to Michigan, New York and Minnesota.

The lesson here is simple: America First works. While Biden spent years letting everyone walk all over us, Trump is back to showing the world what real leadership looks like. Canada’s quick surrender proves what conservatives have always known — strength gets respect, and respect gets results.

Whether Canada will budge on tariffs remains to be seen, but Trump showed who has the upper hand in these negotiations because Ontario quickly caved. The economic relationship between the U.S. and Canada might be facing a test, but with Trump at the helm, there’s no doubt who’s going to come out on top. That’s what making America great again looks like in real time, folks.

Still too many.

Rubio cancels 83% of USAID contracts after six-week review

Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that his agency had canceled 83% of the U.S. Agency for International Development‘s contracts following a multiple-week review.

USAID was one of the first agencies targeted by the Department of Government Efficiency and Elon Musk for cuts under the Trump administration, with all foreign aid out of the agency paused initially. The Trump administration fired thousands of employees and contractors at USAID and put Rubio as the agency’s acting administrator during the reforms.

Rubio announced early on Monday that 5,200 contracts would be canceled because the programs did not serve U.S. interests, claiming the move would save “tens of billions of dollars” in a post on X.

“After a 6 week review we are officially cancelling 83% of the programs at USAID.”

Trump Kills an Intrusive Housing Rule, Again

This past week, Scott Turner, President Trump’s new secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), announced that HUD would be terminating the notoriously intrusive Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) rule. By attaching strings to billions of dollars in community development block grants from HUD, AFFH gives the feds the ability to control zoning regulations and many other aspects of local government.

AFFH severely undermines our federalist system, not only by expanding central control but by turning suburban municipalities into helpless satellites of neighboring urban centers. Over and above engineering residential patterns by race, ethnicity, English proficiency, country of origin, and more, AFFH is designed to urbanize suburbs — forcing dense development to cluster around public transit hubs with the goal of coercing suburbanites out of their cars.

Supposedly, AFFH carries out provisions of the Fair Housing Act of 1968. In reality, the rule is classic regulatory activism. It reads contemporary policy goals back into a law that mandated no such thing. AFFH, for example, slyly imposes a principle of “economic integration” on the suburbs, although nowhere does U.S. law recognize or demand economic integration.

In sum, AFFH is a systematic attack on America’s suburbs, an attempt to undercut their economic and political independence, urbanize them, and ultimately to absorb them into their greater metropolitan regions as if they never existed to begin with. The rule was the brainchild and longtime dream of President Obama’s Alinskyite community organizing mentors, who hated the suburbs, dismissed them as products of racism and greed, and blamed them for urban decay. AFFH is federal overreach on stilts, very arguably the most radical policy initiative of Obama’s presidency. Truly, the rule was designed to fundamentally transform the United States of America.

Thanks to President Trump, AFFH failed to do so. Trump, in fact, has uprooted AFFH twice. He killed off the Obama version in 2020, while running for reelection. Now Trump has moved to terminate the only very slightly revised Biden version of AFFH.

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Senators Send Letter Urging Repeal of Biden-era Rule Damaging the Firearms Industry

On March 5th U.S. Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) and U.S. Representative Mark Green (R-TN-07) sent a letter to Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick urging him to rescind an interim final rule (IFR) that the Biden Administration promulgated in an effort to hamstring the domestic firearms industry.

In October 2023, President Biden ordered a 90 day “pause” on firearm exports licenses issued by the Department of Commerce.

This order was in lock-step with other actions taken by the Biden Administration to hinder the U.S. domestic firearms industry in any way possible. And unsurprisingly, at the end of this “pause” the Department of Commerce Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) issued an IFR in April 2024. This IFR placed much tighter restrictions on semi-automatic firearms exports, listed dozens of countries as “high risk” countries which would be subject to a “presumption of denial” for export permits, removed a “presumption of approval” for licenses to many countries that had helped to expedite the process previously, and a number of other restrictions. The National Shooting Sports Foundation, an organization that represents firearms manufacturers, stated that this decision would cost the industry nearly $500 million annually.

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Trump Is Right to Deport Hamas Supporters:

Federal law authorizes denying or revoking the visa of anyone who supports terrorist activity.

Six weeks into the second Trump administration, and days after President Trump vowed to push back on “illegal protests” on college campuses, the State Department has pulled the first visa of a foreign student who engaged in pro-Hamas disruptions. That’s the right thing to do if we want to fix campus cultures. And contrary to disingenuous critics, such a move poses no First Amendment problems.

Indeed, it’s a basic application of U.S. immigration law, which says that people here on a visa (tourist, student, employment, or otherwise) who reveal themselves to be ineligible for that visa—“inadmissible,” in the parlance of the Immigration and Naturalization Act (INA)—can have their visa revoked. As I wrote in a broader analysis of campus-related civil rights issues after the October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel, “The Immigration and Nationality Act allows the denial or revocation of a visa of ‘any alien who . . . endorses or espouses terrorist activity or persuades others to endorse or espouse terrorist activity or support a terrorist organization.’” Biden’s State Department also told then-Senator Marco Rubio that it could revoke the visas of Hamas supporters.

But that’s not all Trump can do. The INA’s inadmissibility provision also empowers the president to “suspend the entry of all aliens or any class of aliens” whom he determines to be “detrimental to the interests of the United States” or to impose on them “any restrictions he may deem to be appropriate.” During Trump’s first term, the Supreme Court upheld that broad grant of presidential discretion to vet, restrict, and even ban immigrants—and thus to direct executive-agency action in that regard—at the culmination of the high-profile “travel ban” litigation. In Trump v. Hawaii, the Court okayed an executive order restricting travel from various countries, with Chief Justice John Roberts affirming that the only statutory requirement is that the president “find” the entry of the affected aliens to be “detrimental to the national interest.”

That’s exactly what’s happening now. In one of the first executive orders Trump signed, he directed federal agencies to strengthen vetting and screening of those seeking admission and those already in the country, because “the United States must ensure that admitted aliens and aliens otherwise already present in the United States do not bear hostile attitudes toward its citizens, culture, government, institutions, or founding principles, and do not advocate for, aid, or support designated foreign terrorists and other threats to our national security.” Then, as part of the “Additional Measures to Combat Anti-Semitism,” he ordered the use of “all available and appropriate legal tools, to prosecute, remove, or otherwise hold to account the perpetrators of unlawful anti-Semitic harassment and violence.”

All of this makes eminent sense: it’s the government’s duty to screen out visitors and migrants who would be harmful to our country, including those who reject our values or are hostile to our way of life, such as Communists, Nazis, or Islamists. When I got my green card, and again when I naturalized, I had to affirm that I wasn’t affiliated with these groups “or any other totalitarian party.” To give another example in a different context, in 2020, 1,000 Chinese nationals had their visas revoked for being national security risks—and the Biden administration successfully defended that Trump action in court.

These core government functions are supported by law. As the INA says, “The admission to the United States of any alien as a nonimmigrant shall be for such time and under such conditions as the Attorney General may by regulations prescribe.” Other provisions of the law cover “travel controls of citizens and aliens,” “issuance of visas,” and “deportable aliens.”

While the government can’t send foreigners to jail for saying things it doesn’t like, it can and should deny or pull visas for those who advocate for causes inimical to the United States. There’s nothing objectional or controversial about removing those who harass, intimidate, vandalize, and otherwise interfere with an educational institution’s core mission. More, please.

EPA’s $20B ‘Slush Fund’ Zeldin and DOGE Discovered Looking Really Dodgy

Well, well, well,’ as the old-time movie detectives always say when they surprise the culprits with their hands in the cookie jars.

WHAT HAVE WE HERE?

Three short weeks ago, a newly confirmed Lee Zeldin got to his office at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and hit the broom closet to start sweeping.

Thanks to the previous braggadocious occupants and their already well-documented pre-exit shoveling of cash and grants out the door, he had an inkling there might be plenty of questionable transactions to uncover that hadn’t exactly been notated ‘on the books’ or done ‘by the book’ either.

I mean, what were the odds?

It didn’t take long for Zeldin to find himself a whopper of a honeypot hidden away that made quite a splash when he announced it, particularly as it was tied to an infamous Project Veritas video from December boasting about its very surreptitious creation.

David covered the reveal.

Project Veritas dropped a shocker of a video back in December, in which an EPA manager was bragging that the Biden administration was metaphorically ‘dropping gold bars off the Titanic.’ They were shoving every dime they could out to their NGO buddies so they could harass the Trump administration and continue to suck off the taxpayers’ teat for years to come. 

We all know such things happen, but to have it so vividly described was revealing. 
Well, Lee Zeldin is retrieving those gold bars, and it turns out to be a lot of them. $20 billion, all sitting in the equivalent of a bank vault. 

The massive scale of this scam–which as with so many things is SOP at government agencies–blows your mind. Pushing $20 billion out the door to friends of the administration with little to no financial controls, zero accountability, and lots of malice aforethought is only different in scale and not in kind.

…Zeldin has referred the matter to the Inspector General & Attorney General Pam Bondi.

“Shockingly, roughly 20 billion of your tax dollars were parked at an outside financial institution by the Biden EPA. This scheme was the first of its kind in EPA history and it was purposefully designed to obligate all of the money in a rushed job with reduced oversight.

Even further. This pot of $20 billion was awarded to just eight entities that were then responsible for doling out your money to NGOs and others at their discretion, with far less transparency. Just under $7 billion was sent to one entity called the Climate United Fund.”

As if $20B squirreled away in a Citibank account wasn’t insult enough, when the dollar sleuths started digging into who the money was earmarked for – because surely someone had a bead on those bucks – one of the names that popped up for a two billion dollar payday was an organization associated with none other than the cranky claimant to the governorship of Georgia and President of Earth, Stacey Abrams.

Her organization – Power Forward Communities – was only a few months old and had a whopping $100 in the bank at the time of the $2B with a “B” award.

But they sure had good deeds planned – oh, you betcha. That’s what they needed the money for.

…How did Biden’s EPA even know who they were, less mind that they were worthy of a couple of billion of federal largesse aka Green grift?

One can only assume it was because the President of Earth was connected to the enterprise.

…Power Forward Communities was established in October 2023 as a coalition of groupsled by Rewiring America, a left-wing group that advocates for electrification policies and a transition away from fossil fuel dependence. Abrams, who serves as Rewiring America’s senior counsel, said at the time that she was “thrilled” to be part of the Power Forward Communities coalition. “This is how we expand access to clean energy—by prioritizing housing, equity and resilience,” she wrotein an X post.

…In itsonly press releaseto date, Power Forward Communities said that, in addition to induction stoves, it would use the $2 billion received from the EPA to help install heat pumps, heat pump water heaters, solar panels, home battery systems, EV chargers, and weatherization upgrades.

Not suspicious at all.

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