Posts on Saturday, April 12, 2025
The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has saved U.S. taxpayers roughly $150 billion, according to the latest update.
DOGE updated its website again this week with the latest figures on massive savings for the American people. According to this update, U.S. taxpayer savings now reach $150 billion — up from $140 billion in the last update. That results in a savings of $931.68 per taxpayer.
(X Video) The DOGE website makes it clear that the $150 billion in savings is a “combination of asset sales, contract/lease cancellations and renegotiations, fraud and improper payment deletion, grant cancellations, interest savings, programmatic changes, regulatory savings, and workforce reductions.”
We've been seeing constant lies from the Democrats claiming President Donald Trump/DOGE/Elon Musk are somehow cutting Social Security. It's despicable, designed to whip up fear in people who rely on Social Security, when Trump and his team have said over and over again that Social Security isn't going to be cut. But Democrats don't care about that, all they care about is power and control. On Friday, Wired magazine ran with a story based on "sources" that the "Social Security Administration (SSA) will be shifting its public communication exclusively to X."
Retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, President Trump’s former National Security Advisor and a central figure in the Obama-era Crossfire Hurricane scandal, is once again turning up the heat on key players in the conservative movement, publicly demanding answers from Trump allies Pam Bondi and Kash Patel about long-promised justice.
In a post on X Thursday, Flynn shared a clip from his must-watch documentary movie FLYNN—Deliver the Truth, Whatever the Cost, calling on the American public to watch the film and understand the depth of corruption he endured at the hands of a “rigged system.”
“Newly declassified Crossfire Hurricane documents reveal the corruption General Flynn faced.
President Trump attended UFC 314 Saturday night and received a hero’s welcome from the Miami MMA crowd who chanted “U-S-A!” as the president entered the arena.
Trump arrived at the Kaseya Center just after 9 p.m. with a coterie of conservative power players including DOGE chief Elon Musk, FBI Director Kash Patel, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr., Texas Senator Ted Cruz, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.
The commander in chief walked in with granddaughter Kai Trump to the song “Taking Care of Business.”
A new photo of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s (D-Mich.) surprise visit to the Oval Office emerged in a Saturday New York Times report showcasing the lawmaker covering her face while President Trump spoke to the press. The Michigan Democrat said she was unexpectedly whisked into the room for the president’s order signing on Wednesday ahead of a scheduled closed door meeting. The two were set to discuss tariffs and opportunities to invest in Michigan’s defense assets, including the Selfridge Air National Guard Base. “The governor was surprised that she was brought into the Oval Office during President Trump’s press conference without any notice of the subject matter,” ...
The First Lady of Bad Ethics
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Christine Grady underwrote Zika ethics rules. Her husband broke them. Together, they cashed the checks. Her silence wasn’t neutrality—it was complicity.
Christine Grady, HHS chief of bioethics (now retired, unless she chooses Alaska), and her husband, Dr. Anthony Fauci at NIAID, were central figures during the Zika virus controversy. Grady helped shape ethical guidelines, underlying those for a potential Zika vaccine, while Fauci disregarded them—most notably a 2017 ethics panel ruling against human challenge trials. Her silence during this breach raises questions about her role as the nation’s chief bioethicist.Under their watch, NIAID willfully ignored a 2017 ethics panel ruling against Zika human challenge trials,
The Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is pointing the finger at three Democrat-controlled states for the bulk of fraudulent unemployment payments.
The agency recently uncovered $382 million in such payments since 2020 and named California, New York, and Massachusetts as the top states to blame for the problem, Fox News reported on Friday. In a social media post on Wednesday, DOGE said, “An initial survey of Unemployment Insurance claims since 2020 revealed the following: – 24.5k people over 115 years old claimed $59M in benefits – 28k people between 1 and 5 years old claimed $254M in benefits – 9.7k people with birth dates
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has announced that effective May 7, 2025, all adult U.S. citizens must present a REAL ID-compliant form of identification or a valid passport to board domestic flights and access federal facilities.
This enforcement marks the culmination of the REAL ID Act, originally passed in 2005 following the 9/11 Commission’s recommendations to enhance the integrity and security of state-issued identification documents.
On December 17, 2018, President Trump signed the REAL ID Act Modification for Freely Associated States Act, Public Law 115-323.
NC Supreme Court Makes Way for Election
to Be Overturned, Democrats Scream It's
Being 'Stolen' replies
to Be Overturned, Democrats Scream It's
Being 'Stolen' replies
The North Carolina Supreme Court has ruled that over 5,000 overseas ballots must be cured before they can be counted in a move that is likely to overturn the November 2024 election of Democrat Allison Riggs.
Riggs was initially "elected" to the state's Supreme Court after the ballots in question were counted despite the identifications of the voters never being verified per state law. While another 60,000+ votes that were also disputed due to incomplete registrations were ruled to be eligible, the group of 5,000+ ballots that now must be cured could prove decisive.
I know it seems like the sky is falling regarding air travel. We have naked women all over the place, helicopters falling apart, and planes either catching fire or crashing. Ever since the tragic crash at Reagan National Airport in January, the media have been hyper-aware of any little aviation incident. And, of course, the Left is trying to blame Donald Trump. Yesterday, there was a tragic crash in Boca Raton, Florida (via NBC 6 South Florida):
A small plane crashed in a ball of flames in Boca Raton Friday morning, killing the three people on board
America stands at a pivotal crossroads in energy policy and national security. With oil prices hitting their lowest level in four years and global tensions escalating in the Taiwan Strait, we are staring down a golden opportunity that must not be wasted: refilling our Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR).
Let’s be clear about how we got here. Former President Joe Biden drained our emergency oil reserve at a historic pace, cutting the supply in half. The SPR—meant to be our energy insurance policy in times of true crisis—was treated like a political slush fund to bring gas prices down from their historic highs before the 2022 midterms.
If you grow up in a military family, like I did, you don't just learn the rank structure or how to fold a flag. You grow up with an inherent respect for duty, service, and the rules that govern both. One of the biggest rules? Keep your politics to yourself when you're in uniform.
So when the story broke this week about the 821st Space Base Group commander at Pituffik Space Base in Greenland being relieved of duty after a snarky, partisan email targeting U.S. Vice President JD Vance, I wasn’t surprised. I was disgusted.
Colonel Susan Meyers, in a wildly inappropriate and insubordinate move, decided to flex her self-righteousness
Why did Hillary’s legal team meet with the first instigator of the fake Russia Collusion operation aimed to destroy Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign for president? That previous sentence might be your answer. But let’s look at the possibilities.
The revelation of this meeting—a defensive briefing—was discovered in the document release from the made-up Russia! Russia! Russia! Collusion hoax. As you know by now, the Democrats, mediacrats, and the intelligence community came together and were conducted like a symphony by, we now know, Hillary’s team, President Obama and his intelligence leaders, Hillary’s team of attorneys, and disgraced FBI Director James Comey.
Tulsi Gabbard Said ‘Radical Islamist
Terrorism’ Is the Biggest Threat, and
Then This Happened replies
Terrorism’ Is the Biggest Threat, and
Then This Happened replies
The details that have been revealed thus far are extremely sparse. Fox 5 Atlanta reported Friday that the FBI had revealed that “a Georgia man” had been arrested for making threats against Donald Trump and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. That’s almost all we know at this point, but there is one other salient detail that raises a number of other questions about this case.
Fox 5 Atlanta noted that “Aliakbar Mohammed Amin, 25, of Lilburn, was taken into custody Friday by FBI agents based in Atlanta.” The feds’ Atlanta office posted on X: “Today, #FBI Atlanta arrested 25 year old, Aliakbar Mohammed Amin of Lilburn, GA for threatening communications
The judiciary’s assault on executive power has once again reared its ugly head.
A Bush-appointed federal judge just handed Maine's radical leftist government a major victory in its crusade to destroy women's sports. U.S. District Judge John A. Woodcock ordered the Trump administration to unfreeze federal education funding that was withheld after the state brazenly defied Trump’s executive order protecting women's sports from the radical transgender agenda.
Make no mistake about it, this is a direct challenge to President Trump's efforts to preserve fair competition and protect female athletes. The administration had rightfully frozen funding after Maine refused to comply with basic Title IX protections
Former Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen claimed Friday on CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360” that President Donald Trump’s tariffs are doing “immense damage to our economy.”
Yellen said, “This is the worst self-inflicted policy wound I’ve ever seen in my career inflicted on our economy. The Trump tariff plans are doing immense damage to our economy. You can see that in the stock market, in the impact of these tariffs are expected to have on American households. And we’re even beginning to see what looks like a flight away from dollar-based assets in the financial markets, which is a really scary development.”
Cooper said, “How long?
A Navy veteran who successfully proved CNN defamed him in a highly publicized lawsuit is now taking legal action against the Associated Press, accusing the media outlet of falsely portraying him as a “smuggler.” The veteran, whose reputation was damaged by misleading reports, claims that the AP's coverage echoed similar defamatory narratives, further tarnishing his name and career. This lawsuit underscores the growing concerns over media outlets spreading false and damaging information without accountability.
Trump walking back the tariffs is no mystery. The original order clearly stated that countries could earn a reprieve if they agreed to better terms for America.
President Trump’s sudden decision to pause the tariffs—first imposed between April 2 and 9, 2025, in the amount of 10% or more—has drawn sharp criticism from the same media outlets that initially opposed the tariffs themselves.
Now that the president has suspended most of them for 90 days, commentators are calling the move everything from “mysterious,” to “weak,” to “nefarious.”
Some have even floated bizarre accusations of insider trading, despite the obvious fact that both the tariff announcement and the corresponding stock dip were public knowledge.
President Donald Trump signed a memorandum authorizing a “military mission for sealing the southern border of the United States and repelling invasions,” giving the U.S. military the ability to occupy public land along the border in order to secure it. [Snip] Invoking a day-one proclamation from Trump declaring a national emergency at the southern border, the memo says the Secretary of the Interior must “provide for” the Defense Department’s “utilization of public lands,” specifically including “portions of the Roosevelt Reservation”--a strip of land that reaches from California to Texas designated for border security in 1907. The directive excludes Federal Indian Reservations.
In a significant move toward transparency and accountability, FBI Director Kash Patel released a massive trove of documents related to the FBI’s discredited Crossfire Hurricane investigation—the probe that fueled the now-debunked Trump-Russia collusion narrative. The long-awaited release, hailed by conservatives as a victory for truth and a blow to the deep state, is expected to expose how partisan operatives inside federal agencies weaponized intelligence tools to undermine President Donald Trump before and during his presidency.
Navy Fires Top Leadership of Virginia
Beach-Based Maritime Expeditionary Security
Squadron 4 replies
Beach-Based Maritime Expeditionary Security
Squadron 4 replies
The U.S. Navy abruptly fired the top leadership of Maritime Expeditionary Security Squadron 4 (MSRON 4), a key security force based in Virginia Beach.
Cmdr. Brett Robblee and Command Master Chief Felix Phillips were both relieved of duty on Friday, a terse Navy news release revealed—citing only the classic bureaucratic catch-all: a “loss of confidence in their ability to perform leadership duties.”
No explanation was offered regarding what, exactly, caused the Navy to suddenly oust two top leaders, both of whom had been in their roles for less than a year.
Greenwich Village had, for decades, a reputation for being one of New York's more interesting areas. Back in the '60s, walking the streets of that district, you might come across Bob Dylan or Jimi Hendrix. At various times, one might have bumped into Buddy Holly, Janice Joplin, or Richie Havens. Louisa May Alcott lived there at one time, as did Mark Twain, Edgar Allen Poe, and Jackson Pollock.
Nowadays, though? Greenwich Village is collapsing. Like so many big-city neighborhoods, it's been taken over by addicts; open-air drug use is rampant, drug-ridden zombies shuffle down the streets and sleep in the parks,
US envoy Steve Witkoff wrapped up his latest talks with Russia’s Vladimir Putin on Friday, after President Donald Trump urged his Russian counterpart to move quicker to end what he said was the country’s “senseless war” with Ukraine.
Trump has been pressing Moscow and Kyiv to agree a ceasefire deal but has failed to extract any major concessions from the Kremlin, despite repeated negotiations between Russian and US officials. The US leader told NBC News last month he was “p***** off” with his Russian counterpart, while top US diplomat Marco Rubio warned last week that Washington would not tolerate “endless negotiations” with Russia over the conflict.
One thing Americans can be sure of: At any given time, somewhere out there, a government decision-maker is finding new and inventive ways of flushing your hard-earned cash.
The latest: Government watchdog OpenTheBooks found that the feds spent an eye-popping $4.6 billion on new furniture and decorations for government buildings since October 2020, even though only half the federal workforce was consistently showing up for work in person as of last year.
In 2023, the Government Accountability Office found that 17 of 24 federal agencies used 25% or less of their headquarters’ buildings.
Senate Continues Dismantling Biden’s
Green Energy Agenda By Voting To Repeal
Gas Water Heater Ban replies
Green Energy Agenda By Voting To Repeal
Gas Water Heater Ban replies
Senate Republicans continued their campaign Thursday to roll back stringent energy regulations that were issued during the final months of President Joe Biden’s term.
The Senate voted 52-42 to repeal a Biden Department of Energy regulation banning some natural gas water heaters by 2029. The resolution now heads to President Donald Trump’s desk for signature.
No Republican Senators voted against the repeal. House Republicans, led by Republican Alabama Rep. Gary Palmer, voted to repeal the gas water heater ban in February.
Back on March 1, President Trump fired a double-barrel shotgun at the long-held preservationist U.S. mantra that for nearly a century has dealt heavy blows to American forests, forest animals, and the humans The first addressed what the White House calls “the threat to national security from imports of timber and lumber.” Even though the U.S. has ample timber resources, the nation has been a net importer of lumber since 2016. Wood products, said the President, play “a vital role in key downstream civilian industries, including construction.” whose homes abut government forest lands.
The Art of the Political Tantrum
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The protests that took place last weekend represent the largest nationwide display of opposition since Trump began his second term. They also represent the mainstreaming of the political tantrum.
Donald Trump was elected president by American voters who believed that he was the best choice for America. They believed that the alternative offered by Democrats was the worst choice. Democrats gave us a corrupt left-wing platform headed by a senile old man followed by a woman who appeared to have the brain of a flea. The majority made its choice. If you happened to disagree, you knew that you would have another chance in four years. That’s how the system works.
How Elon Musk Could Fix Medicare
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Elon Musk’s DOGE has a unique opportunity to standardize Medicare billing and fulfill the promise of nationwide Electronic Medical Records (EMR) health care information–sharing. Better yet, EMRs could become the vehicle Musk needs to root out fraudulent Medicare billing, saving the taxpayers billions and stabilizing Medicare’s future.
But first, a basic primer on how Medicare reimburses health care providers is needed. Here it is.
American society has entrusted physicians and health care workers (now collectively referred to as “providers”) with a sacred trust, and these providers
Woke Former Anheuser-Busch Exec Blamed
for Tanking Brand Has New Role at Saudi
Funded LIV Golf replies
for Tanking Brand Has New Role at Saudi
Funded LIV Golf replies
In 2023, woke Bud Light Vice-President of Marketing Alissa Heinerscheid made a disastrous decision that canned her career and coined a new phrase for destroying a brand. No one wants to be the next “Bud Light.”
Heinerscheid greenlighted a partnership with a transgender influencer, Dylan Mulvaney, that led to massive pushback from the public and a widespread boycott that cost the company, by some estimates, a staggering $1.4 billion.
After a leave of absence, Heinerscheid was out at the company.
Heinerscheid appears to have recently updated her LinkedIn profile, announcing a new role, Team Business Operations, at the Saudi-funded LIV Golf.
Americans Skeptical Of Climate Change
Movement, Support ‘Rolling Back’ Green
Rules: I&I/TIPP Poll replies
Movement, Support ‘Rolling Back’ Green
Rules: I&I/TIPP Poll replies
What looked like the Green Movement’s unstoppable momentum has stalled out recently, as Americans rethink the costs of some of the more draconian proposals to rid the world of industrial carbon dioxide. As skepticism grows, the movement to slash CO2 at all costs also may be nearing an end, the latest I&I/TIPP Poll shows.
Americans have become increasingly wary of the “net zero” and other modern-day green movements after so many of their doom-filled prophecies of imminent environmental disaster failed to come true.
A range of very consequential exemptions were made to President Donald Trump's 125 percent tariff on China late Friday night, and it's providing some clarity about where things are heading. Specifically, the Customs and Border Patrol released a bulletin excluding smartphones, computers, computer parts, processors, and other electronics from the reciprocal tariffs. (X)
President Donald Trump’s administration exempted smartphones, computers and other electronics from its so-called reciprocal tariffs, potentially cushioning consumers from sticker shock
Breanna Morello reported on Friday that the US government is set to return nearly $63,000 to infamous J6er John Sullivan, who also goes by Jayden X. Sullivan reportedly made the money from his filming of the protests and rioting that day.
The DOJ released this document today. (Document) Via Brianna Morello. (X) As was reported earlier at The Gateway Pundit
Antifa-BLM organizer John Sullivan was sentenced in April 2024 to six years in prison for his actions on January 6, 2021, at the US Capitol.
A video shared by a White House staffer captures press secretary Karoline Leavitt praying to Jesus for guidance before she heads out to another press briefing to take on the reporters in the room.
Leavitt has often cited her Catholic education for instilling discipline and making her the confident woman she is today.
“Lord Jesus, please give us the strength, the knowledge, the ability to articulate our words, have fun and be confident. In Jesus’s name. Amen," she says while waiting behind the entrance to the briefing room.
The moment then-candidate Donald Trump came down that escalator ten years ago to announce his presidential campaign and launch the America First movement, elites and Washington insiders foolishly underestimated him.
But working people all over the country—like my dad, a factory worker from Columbia City, Indiana—understood what those elites didn't. They knew, for the first time in decades, they had a candidate who was going to genuinely fight for them.
President Trump knew that the American working class had been abandoned, and the issues they care about tossed aside, in favor of pursuing forever wars and globalist trade policy.
While the elites were busy tripping over themselves to dismiss his campaign,
On Friday’s broadcast of HBO’s “Real Time,” host Bill Maher discussed his meeting with President Donald Trump and said that Trump was very receptive to criticism and said, “I voted for Clinton and Obama, but I would never feel comfortable talking to them the way I was able to talk with Donald Trump.” But “it doesn’t matter who he is at a private dinner with a comedian, it matters who he is on the world stage.”
Maher began by saying that Trump was much different than the person who had tweeted negatively about him the day before the meeting and Trump wants respect, like everyone does.
After finding $382 million in fraudulent unemployment payments since 2020, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) identified California, New York and Massachusetts as the primary culprits. The three Democrat-led states accounted for $305 million in improper claim payments, DOGE said Thursday.
The group added that California also accounted for 68% of the benefits that were dispensed under former President Joe Biden to parolees identified by federal authorities as being on the government's terrorist watchlist, or who had criminal records. California, New York and Massachusetts all have a Democratic trifecta — meaning Democrats control the state House, Senate and the governor's office.
Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) has quickly positioned herself as the face of the Democratic Party. If she's not code-switching into being "street" in front of a left-wing audience, she's on cable news or in front of a podium at the Capitol Building trying to make news.
But now, she's got a new audience to contend with: The Federal Election Commission.
According to a new report, the FEC has opened a probe into a donation made to Crockett through the Democratic Party fundraising apparatus ActBlue.
The Federal Election Commission opened an investigation into firebrand Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, regarding donations to her 2024 campaign made through ActBlue,
Comedian Bill Maher revealed what surprised him most about his much-hullabalooed dinner with President Trump — as he joked that his takeaways may cause “liberal sphincters” to tighten.
At the outset of HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher” on Friday, the eponymous host delivered a lengthy monologue about his meeting with the commander in chief that left him unexpectedly charmed.
“Everything I’ve not liked about him was, I swear to God, absent. At least on this night, with this guy,” Maher, 69, said, appearing somewhat shocked by his own conclusions.
Bill Maher has dinner in the White House with President Donald Trump, Kid Rock and Dana White on March 31, 2025.
Greenwich Village isn’t so freewheelin’ anymore.
The bohemian Mecca made famous for its anything-goes attitude, counterculture musical scene and clashes with police is begging for law enforcement, a shocking new survey found.
The Sixth Precinct Community Council polled 600 neighborhood residents and found 487 of them — 83% — want more cops on the streets. And 74% of Villagers said the Empire State needed stronger prosecution for drug dealing, while 80% thought New York needed stricter bail laws, according to the first-of-its-kind survey, conducted in February and March. “The village is frequently criticized for being liberal — but clearly the numbers here indicate we’re not happy,” said precinct council member Steve Zammarchi.
The Bodycam Presidency
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Michigan governor and would-be 2028 presidential hopeful Gretchen Whitmer angered fellow Democrats on April 9th when she travelled to the White House as scheduled to meet privately with President Trump. The presumptive purpose for the meeting was to discuss tariffs and other Michigan-related matters.
That’s not how it turned out, however. It wasn’t a private meeting at all. Instead, Whitmer was forced to the periphery of the Oval Office as the president signed executive orders and presided over one of his now routine media scrums. (Snip) In his first term, President Trump might have invited someone like Whitmer to his office and actually had that private meeting,
President Donald Trump said he has had enough of Mexico leaving Texas farmers high and dry.
“Mexico OWES Texas 1.3 million acre-feet of water under the 1944 Water Treaty, but Mexico is unfortunately violating their Treaty obligation. This is very unfair, and it is hurting South Texas Farmers very badly,” Trump wrote Thursday on Truth Social.
“Last year, the only Sugar Mill in Texas CLOSED, because Mexico has been stealing the water from Texas Farmers. Ted Cruz has been leading the fight to get South Texas the water it is owed, but Sleepy Joe refused to lift a finger to help the Farmers.
Are Democrats this inflexible? I’ve never seen talking points wither and die in such a small timeframe. What are they thinking? Does liberal America believe that if they say whatever wrong idea for the millionth time, it’ll catch on with voters? That’s the definition of insanity. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) doesn’t seem to understand many issues after what he said about the southern border this week. Is he that dense, or is he too slow to cover what the Trump administration has done? The New York liberal seems to think that the southern border isn’t secure.
Tehran has played this game before: Agree to talks. Make vague promises. Extract sanctions relief. Then quietly continue nuclear development under the radar. This formula has worked for more than two decades. Right now, the only reason Iran is talking is to stall, to promise just enough to prevent America from striking it -- "We are almost there!" -- to keep its regime and avoid seeing its uranium centrifuges and enrichment sites blasted to rubble. The regime does not want war -- but it also cannot accept total nuclear disarmament.
A Butler, Pennsylvania man was charged with making threats of murder and assault against President Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, among others.
Shawn Monper, 32, was charged “with making threats to assault and murder” Trump, “other U.S. officials,” and ICE agents in comments posted to YouTube through an account called, “Mr Satan,” according to a press release from the Department of Justice (DOJ). Monper was arrested on April 9 by agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) “with the assistance of the Butler Township Police Department.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement:
CNN data analyst Harry Enten did a report this week in which he was stunned to reveal that the Republican party is replacing the Democrats as the party of the working class and the party that cares more about average Americans.
This shift has been building for years but became especially apparent during the 2024 election, as Donald Trump made huge gains among average Americans of every color and ethnicity.
The Democrats have made their problem worse by defending the radicals that Trump is trying to deport. Democrats have also become fierce defenders of Wall Street in recent weeks as the debate about tariffs has unfolded.
Left Has a Meltdown After White House
Moves Pic of Obama, Replaces It With Much
More Powerful One replies
Moves Pic of Obama, Replaces It With Much
More Powerful One replies
What would the left do if they weren't screaming about something?
They could be celebrating the rescue of an American Ksenia Karelina, who had been wrongfully detained by the Russians -- until the Trump team got her out. Or inflation dropping to its lowest point in four years.
But instead, Friday's meltdown involved portraits at the White House.
The White House announced the addition of this powerful moment when President Donald Trump -- after being shot in the ear -- stood up amid the Secret Service agents and shouted, "Fight, fight, fight!"
Ten Tariff Questions Never Asked
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1. President Donald Trump's so-called "trade war."
Many call the American effort to obtain either tariff parity or a reduction in the roughly $1 trillion trade deficit and 50 years of consecutive trade deficits a "trade war." But then what do they call the policies of the past half-century by Europe, Asia, China, and others to ensure asymmetrical tariffs, pseudo-health and security trade restrictions, and large surpluses?
A trade peace? Trade fairness?
2. Do nations prefer surpluses or deficits? Why do most nations prefer trade surpluses and protective tariffs?
Are Europe, Asia, China, and others stupid? Are they suicidal in continuing their trade surpluses and protective or asymmetrical tariffs?
It was a rare event during the four years that President Joe Biden spent in office, when he would deign to make himself available to the Fourth Estate. Readers will likely recall that the handlers who filled the Biden White House would sometimes go months without scheduling any press conferences for the media to directly ask him questions.
Pres. Trump is the polar opposite of that, practically jumping at opportunities to welcome the media and the American people into the Oval Office during his second term.
As we wrote earlier on Friday, listed among the run-of-the-mill items on his official schedule, he was set to get his annual physical
A Massachusetts Democrat state lawmaker was indicted on five counts of wire fraud and one count of falsification of records, the Justice Department announced on Thursday.
Christopher Flanagan, a state rep for the First Barnstable District, was arrested for using stolen funds for personal and political expenses.
“Massachusetts State Representative for the First Barnstable District has been indicted by a federal grand jury in Boston for allegedly orchestrating a multi-faceted scheme that defrauded a local trade association of tens of thousands of dollars, used to fund personal and political expenses and falsifying records to conceal his alleged conduct,” the DOJ said.
President Donald Trump took a jab at former President Joe Biden when revealing that he took a cognitive test during his physical examination and claimed he “got every answer right.”
While speaking to reporters on Air Force One, Trump said he thought he “did well” on his physical examination. When asked by a reporter if he received “suggestions or advice” on anything he should change, Trump said he received a “little bit,” but that “overall” he felt he is “in very good shape.” “Little bit, but overall I think I’m in very — I felt I was in very good shape,” Trump said. “Good heart,
Former socialite and convicted sex offender, Ghislaine Maxwell is now asking the US Supreme Court to hear her appeal against a 2021 conviction on five counts of aiding convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein in his sexual abuse of young girls.
Daily Mail reported:
“Maxwell’s lawyers filed a 159-page Petition to the highest court in the country on Thursday asking the Supreme Court Justices to throw out her 20-year sentence for sex trafficking.”
CNN data analyst Harry Enten had a segment this morning which hammered home a message Democrats have been struggling with for months. They have completely lost their historic advantage on the question of which party cares most about average Americans.
During "CNN News Central," Enten pulled up new aggregate poll numbers showing that Americans currently believe that Republicans care about U.S. citizens as much as Democratic Party figures do, a poll that has historically favored the Democrats.
"This, to me, is one of the most shocking pieces of poll data that I truly, truthfully have seen this year, or maybe in any prior year," he said,
U.S. stocks bounced back in early afternoon, helped by some dip-buying after a brief decline earlier on a weaker-than-expected consumer sentiment reading in the University of Michigan's preliminary April survey.
The mid-month reading on sentiment fell to 50.8 from 57.0 in March and below the Dow Jones consensus estimate for 54.6. Inflation is becoming a major concern, according to the report, with expectation for inflation a year from now jumping to 6.7%, the highest level since November 1981 and up from 5% in March. Expectations for economic conditions also dropped 10.3% to 47.2, the lowest since May 1980.
The drop in consumer sentiment
Prince Harry’s security woes appear to be taking an emotional toll on the royal. As the legal battle over his right to police protection in the U.K. intensifies, Harry’s concerns about his safety have been brought to the forefront. [Snip] While Harry fought for security to protect his family in the U.K., his wife enjoyed a night out in New York City. The Duchess of Sussex arrived in the Big Apple in a four-vehicle motorcade. An unmarked NYPD car accompanied Markle on her 1.5-mile journey, as she grabbed dinner at the Polo Bar in Midtown Manhattan with friends before heading to the Broadway production of "Gypsy"...