That’s in addition to the nearly across-the-board pardons of those convicted of offenses related to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol and Trump’s decision to pause enforcement of a prohibition on TikTok operating in the United States.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on X that there were “more than 200 executive actions” from Trump on his first day back in office, and a total of “115 personnel actions.”
Overnight, Trump also announced that he was beginning the process of dismissing holdover political appointees from the Biden administration, as part of a review conducted by the White House personnel office. Here are seven key areas of the first day’s directives:
Birthright citizenship
One of Trump’s actions most likely to face legal challenges is an order that would narrow the accepted constitutional definition of those eligible for U.S. citizenship by birthright. Many children born on U.S. soil to those not lawfully in the United States, or to those on tourist visas or other temporary documents would face the new restrictions. […]
]]>— Read More: rollcall.com
Snyder does a good job of highlighting the problems such as debt and crony capitalism. He does not do a good job of recognizing the direction that this nation could head if we’re reacting emotionally. Marxism thrives on feelings of inequity and must not be seen as an antidote for crony capitalism. With that said, here’s his article…
Right now, a tremendous awakening is happening as people all over the world become educated about the tools that the elite use to enslave us to their system. The number one tool that they use to enslave us is debt. The financial powers of the world use it to enslave individuals, corporations and governments. For thousands of years humanity has been taught the proverb that “the borrower is the servant of the lender”, and yet today billions of people around the globe have willingly made themselves servants of the money powers.
You see, when you borrow money from a financial institution, you not only have to pay that money back, but you also have to pay a significant amount of interest. In fact, often the interest ends up being much more than the principal of the loan. Thus the borrower ends up devoting a great deal of his or her labor to earning money for the lender. Yes, there are times when it is necessary to borrow money. But what we have been doing over the last 30 years goes far beyond “necessary” borrowing. The fact that the U.S. government is now 36 trillion dollars in debt gets a lot of attention, but the truth is that state and local governments, corporations, and U.S. households have piled up enormous mountains of debt as well.
I want to show you a chart from the Federal Reserve that is hard to believe.
In the mid-90s, the total amount of debt in the system was about 20 trillion dollars, but now we have reached the 101 trillion dollar mark…
The word “insanity” does not even begin to describe what we have been doing to ourselves.
It takes a lot of really hard work to add 80 trillion dollars of debt in just 30 years. Every time we pile up more debt, there is a winner and there is a loser.
Debt strips you of your freedom and slowly drains you of your wealth. It puts the fruits of your labor into the pockets of others. That is true for individuals, and it is true for a nation as a whole.
Getting others enslaved by debt is how the most powerful financial institutions in the world became so dominant. It is one of the most profitable ways of making money ever invented. What many people don’t realize is just how much interest they end up paying on some of their debts.
For example, if you go to mortgagecalculator.org, you can calculate the amount of interest that you will pay over the life of your home mortgage. According to that calculator, someone with a $400,000 mortgage at an interest rate of 6.98% over 30 years will end up paying $556,102.18 in interest before the mortgage is finally paid off.
When those 30 years are over, you will have bought a house for yourself and you will also have bought a house for the bankers.
So what should we do? We need to stop feeding the monster. They are getting insanely wealthy by financially enslaving all the rest of us.
Unfortunately, many Americans find themselves deep in debt because the cost of living has been rising faster than our paychecks have.
One of the great joys that men in free societies have long enjoyed is the ability to earn an honest wage for an honest day of work. In particular, the amazing capitalist engine that powered the U.S. economy for decade after decade greatly rewarded the incredible hard work and industriousness of the American people. America was known as the land of opportunity, and we built the largest middle class in the history of the world by working incredibly hard.
Unfortunately, things have changed.
Thanks to globalization and extremely rapid advances in technology, the labor of U.S. workers is rapidly losing value. Automation, robotics and AI have made many jobs obsolete. In addition, American workers now must compete against workers from all over the world. Global corporations often find themselves having to choose whether to build a factory in the United States or in the third world. But in the third world workers often earn less than 10 percent of what American workers earn, corporations are often not required to provide any benefits to those workers, and there are often very few oppressive government regulations to contend with.
How can American workers compete against that?
The truth is that labor is now a global commodity. It is exceedingly difficult for a worker in the United States to effectively compete with a desperate, half-starving worker in the third world that will work like mad for two dollars an hour.
But this is what we get for letting our politicians push “free trade” down our throats. Most American workers had no idea that free trade would mean that they would suddenly be competing for jobs against workers in the Philippines and Malaysia.
This is the cold, hard reality of globalism.
Of course the top executives at the big global corporations are certainly enjoying this new environment, because their salaries have soared.
In 1950, the ratio of the average executive’s paycheck to the average worker’s paycheck was about 30 to 1. Now it is 268 to 1. The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer.
That is what globalism is all about.
The elite make out like bandits as they exploit third world labor pools, while the American middle class finds itself slowly being crushed out of existence.
Our system has been designed to funnel nearly all of the rewards to the very top. Meanwhile, the vast majority of Americans are left wondering why things just don’t ever seem to work out for them.
If you talk to many Americans, they just can’t seem to figure out why they can’t make things work out even though they are working as hard as they can. Millions of Americans have found themselves taking on second or even third jobs in a desperate attempt to provide for their families.
Sadly, things just keep getting worse with each passing year.
As I have discussed in previous articles, demand at food banks is at an all-time high, homelessness in the U.S. is at an all-time high, and homelessness in the U.S. is growing at the fastest pace ever recorded.
But there are elitists out there that are still attempting to claim that the U.S. economy is in great shape. Of course most of us aren’t buying the propaganda anymore, and that is one of the primary reasons why the election turned out the way that it did.
We need to return to an economy where good workers are valued and where hard work is rewarded. We need to return to an economy where having a large middle class is an important national goal.
We need to return to an economy where we build American businesses, where we hire American workers, and where we buy American products.
But unless the American people wake up, American workers are going to continue to be devalued. And if you think that things are bad now, just wait until AI starts taking millions of our jobs.
Are we just going to sit back and let American living standards decline to third world standards, or are we going to do something about it?
Perhaps the greatest victims of the economic nightmare that is unfolding right in front of our eyes are our children.
The overall economic numbers are really bad, but when you examine the impact that this economy is having on children things get really horrifying. Today, 16 percent of U.S. children live in poverty and 14 million U.S. children are on food stamps.
It has been estimated that approximately 50 percent of all U.S. children will be on food stamps at some point before they reach the age of 18.
We were once the most prosperous nation on the entire planet. How could we let this happen?
Meanwhile, the rich have gotten even richer. In 2009, there were 8 million millionaires in the United States. Now there are 22 million.
If everyone was becoming wealthier, that would be great. Unfortunately, the poor have been left with an increasingly smaller slice of the pie to divide among themselves.
At this point, the bottom 50 percent of Americans control just 2.5 percent of the wealth. I have been ranting about all of this for over a decade, and yet conditions have just continued to deteriorate year after year.
We can’t have an economy that works for the top 10 percent but that sucks the life out of the bottom 90 percent. Our debt-based financial system needs to be fundamentally reformed, and it is time for us to demand action.
Michael’s new book entitled “Why” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.
]]>The poll asked specifically about how “society deals with transgender people,” specifying the issue as “someone who does not identify with their sex at birth.”
While 49% agreed with the statement “society has gone too far in accommodating transgender people,” less than half of that number, just 21%, agreed that “society has not gone far enough.”
Another 28% said society had reached a “reasonable balance.”
Republican respondents represented 77% of those who thought things had gone too far and just 5% of those who had thought the movement hadn’t gone far enough. […]
]]>— Read More: www.theblaze.com
In November, Maryland voters passed the “Reproductive Freedom Amendment,” which solidified the state’s already extreme pro-abortion stance. Maryland does not limit abortion by any gestational age, both Medicaid and private health insurance plans are required to cover abortions, and abortions can be committed by non-physicians such as nurse practitioners, nurse midwives, and physician assistants.
“Since day one of my administration, I have made clear my support for a woman’s right to choose,” Moore said in a statement. “In November, Marylanders voted overwhelmingly in favor of aligning Maryland’s constitution with our values. This amendment ensures that future generations of Marylanders will have the same reproductive rights Marylanders have today—no matter who is in office.”
During his tenure as governor, Moore has done much to advance abortion, including securing $15 million in abortion funding, stockpiling the abortion pill, and signing a “shield law” that protects law-breaking abortionists. He has also actively promoted the state as a “safe haven” for abortion.
The Maryland Catholic Conference released a statement following the amendment’s passage in November. […]
]]>— Read More: www.liveaction.org
(DCNF)—Political analyst Mark Halperin explained Monday how former President Joe Biden’s pardons of his family members could harm them.
Biden pardoned his brothers Frank and James, James’ wife Sara Biden, his sister Valerie Owens and her husband, John Owens in one of his final acts as president. Halperin, on his “2WAY Presidential Inauguration Special,” noted that Biden’s sister Valerie has largely escaped “scrutiny” in the past but suggested the pardon may now put her under the spotlight.
“I’ll tell you an irony. The Clintons were worried that Donald Trump would prosecute them, and they didn’t. I don’t know that [President] Donald Trump would have. My guess is he wouldn’t have. He would not have asked his Justice Department to do it, and [Attorney General nominee] Pam Bondi wouldn’t have done it,” Halperin said. “And what this will do is revive interest in figuring out, particularly I think for Val, who has gotten favorable — she’s very nice, she’s great with reporters, she’s gotten almost no scrutiny.”
“Now there’s, I think, going to be reason to say, ‘Well, why’d Val get that?’ And so he may bring more damage to his family having done this, not because the courts [will] overturn it, but because questions will now be asked, at least by some,” he added.
The former president also pardoned his son Hunter in December after a Delaware jury convicted him on federal gun and tax charges. The pardons for Hunter and the former president’s five other family members all span back to 2014.
James was linked to Hunter’s overseas business operation, while Frank leveraged his brother’s inauguration in January 2021 to promote his law firm in Florida.
The former president said that his family members were victims of “the worst kind of partisan politics” in his statement announcing the pardon. He also issued preemptive pardons to former White House health adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci, General Mark Milley and Jan. 6 Committee members during the last hours of his presidency, stating they do not deserve to be “targets of unjustified and politically motivated prosecutions.”
All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact [email protected].
]]>Don’t underestimate lawfare. A barrage of lawsuits helped slow the Trump agenda to a crawl in his first term so it was always going to be a rush out of the gate. And the ACLU got in first with a lawsuit challenging an end to birthright citizenship for children born to illegal aliens.
The ACLU knew this was coming and its lawsuit is underwhelming and depends heavily on the 14th Amendment, which did not create birthright citizenship, but protected the rights of freed slaves.
Everyone knows this, but the Left likes to pretend otherwise.
And the ACLU doesn’t have much of anything in this lawsuit except a battle over the meaning of the 14th Amendment. That and the Administrative Procedures Act which is the laziest and most unconstitutional attack on any law, but it has worked before. […]
]]>— Read More: www.frontpagemag.com
Irrespective of what investigators might have concluded, and irrespective of what prosecutors might have decided, it’s now on record what Biden thought, according to a new
December, 2020. Joy Reid: Have you ever heard of somebody getting a preemptive pardon who is an innocent person?
Adam Schiff: No.
Today Adam Schiff got a preemptive pardon. pic.twitter.com/s83ghqk0rs
— MAZE (@mazemoore) January 20, 2025
Schiff, who now has gotten a pardon, was caught condemning such actions when it was Trump who was pardoning some of his supporters four years ago.
He was asked in an interview: “Have you ever heard of somebody getting a preemptive pardon who is an innocent person? ”
“No,” Schiff said.
Content created by the WND News Center is available for re-publication without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact [email protected].
This article was originally published by the WND News Center.
]]>Will Scharf, who was one of Trump’s personal attorneys in his court battles last year and was appointed by Trump to be White House staff secretary, handed Trump the binders with executive orders and pardons, explaining to Trump and the reporters about each one.
Reaction from reporters:
The Washington Post’s Matt Viser, “President Trump sits and takes question after question from reporters in the Oval Office, something that almost never happened with President Biden.”
President Trump sits and takes question after question from reporters in the Oval Office, something that almost never happened with President Biden.
— Matt Viser (@mviser) January 21, 2025
Washington Times reporter Mike Glenn, “To see President Trump just sitting there chatting with reporters while signing a stack of Executive Orders is pretty striking when compared to how Biden operated over the last four years.” […]
]]>— Read More: www.thegatewaypundit.com
Abbate, a longtime deputy director for the FBI, was expected to temporarily step in as acting FBI director during the transition under the new Trump administration. However, he unexpectedly announced his retirement. He made the surprise revelation in an internal email to senior officials on Monday, just ahead of Trump’s inauguration.
“When the director asked me to stay on past my mandatory date for a brief time, I did so to help ensure continuity and the best transition for the F.B.I. Now, with new leadership inbound, after nearly four years in the deputy role, I am departing the F.B.I.,” Abbate wrote in the email. “I have complete confidence in you and in your ability as a team to continue to carry out our mission of protecting the American people and upholding the Constitution.”
Abbate, who was with the FBI for 28 years, had only been in charge of the agency for one day after former FBI Director Christopher Wray announced that he would resign on December 11. His resignation went into effect Sunday. It is not clear who will replace Abbate as acting FBI Director. However, the White House issued a list of potential leaders, saying that Brian Driscoll would serve as head of the FBI until the position was filled. […]
]]>— Read More: townhall.com
(DCNF)—Former CNN political analyst Chris Cillizza on Monday harshly criticized former President Joe Biden’s preemptive pardons of President Donald Trump’s political opponents.
Biden on Monday preemptively pardoned Dr. Anthony Fauci, Gen. Mark Milley and Jan. 6 committee members, stating that they do not deserve to be “targets of unjustified and politically motivated prosecutions.” Cillizza, during an inauguration livestream on his YouTube channel, said Biden’s move was idiotic because of the harmful “precedent” it establishes and the hypocrisy it displays.
“I think it is disastrously bad. I think it is incredibly stupid. I think it sets a really dangerous precedent. I mean, look, Biden said he wouldn’t preemptively pardon people, and he said he was worried about Trump preemptively pardoning people at the end of 2020,” Cillizza said. “Like, you know, it just — it’s so hypocritical. I think it makes people look guilty too. Like, I actually don’t think it’s good. I think it makes Anthony Fauci or Mark Milley — like, why do they need to be pardoned if they’ve done nothing wrong?”
“But so I think it is really, really dumb. I can’t believe he did it. I think it’s really — whoever was advising him — really bad advice. I think the end of Biden’s presidency has been a total disaster,” he added. “From pardoning Hunter Biden until now, whether it’s the … pretending that the 28th Amendment was ratified, the ERA Amendment — like, it’s just been all over the place … And I just think it’s a disaster.”
Biden pardoned his son Hunter in December after a Delaware jury convicted him on federal gun charges and he pled guilty to federal tax charges in California. After the former president pardoned Trump’s rivals on Monday, he issued preemptive pardons for his brothers Frank and James, James’ wife Sara Biden, his sister Valerie Owens and her husband, John Owens shortly before Trump’s swearing-in ceremony.
Biden’s pardons for Hunter and his five additional family members all reach back to 2014. The former president asserted that his family members were victims of “the worst kind of partisan politics” in his statement announcing the pardon.
Trump considered preemptively pardoning his children during his last term, but opted not to.
“It concerns me, in terms of what kind of precedent it sets and how the rest of the world looks at us as a nation of laws and justice,” Biden said during a December 2020 CNN interview.