This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
The echoes of President Donald Trump's inauguration speech still were reverberating in the Capitol Rotunda when he released a list of priorities, of which the first is to "Make America Safe Again."
The extent of his plans is unlikely to miss very many portions of American life.
"President Trump will take bold action to secure our border and protect American communities. This includes ending Biden's catch-and-release policies, reinstating Remain in Mexico, building the wall, ending asylum for illegal border crossers, cracking down on criminal sanctuaries, and enhancing vetting and screening of aliens," the White House said.
"President Trump's deportation operation will address the record border crossings of criminal aliens under the prior administration," the strategy explained. "The president is suspending refugee resettlement, after communities were forced to house large and unsustainable populations of migrants, straining community safety and resources."
Further, "The Armed Forces, including the National Guard, will engage in border security, which is national security, and will be deployed to the border to assist existing law enforcement personnel."
Mexico drug cartels also were put on notice, as they, including the "dangerous Tren de Aragua" criminals from Venezuela, are being designated "foreign terrorist organizations." Trump is to use the Alien Enemies Act to remove them.
And the Department of Justice now will be seeking "the death penalty as the appropriate punishment for heinous crimes against humanity, including those who kill law enforcement officers and illegal migrants who maim and murder Americans."
Trump's second point is to "Make American affordable and energy dominant again."
Many of these agenda points likely will be addressed by executive orders first, with congressional action to follow if needed in some situations.
"The president will unleash American energy by ending Biden's policies of climate extremism, streamlining permitting, and reviewing for rescission all regulations that impose undue burdens on energy production and use, including mining and processing of non-fuel minerals," the White House announced. "President Trump's energy actions empower consumer choice in vehicles, showerheads, toilets, washing machines, lightbulbs and dishwashers."
The Joe Biden-Kamala Harris administration had, in fact, pursue a wild disarray of limits on ordinary appliances, such as gas stoves, in pursuit of their green ideology.
"President Trump will declare an energy emergency and use all necessary resources to build critical infrastructure. President Trump's energy policies will end leasing to massive wind farms that degrade our natural landscapes and fail to serve American energy consumers. President Trump will withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord," the outline said. "All agencies will take emergency measures to reduce the cost of living. President Trump will announce the America First Trade Policy. America will no longer be beholden to foreign organizations for our national tax policy, which punishes American businesses."
Third is to "Drain the swamp."
"The president will usher a Golden Age for America by reforming and improving the government bureaucracy to work for the American people. He will freeze bureaucrat hiring except in essential areas to end the onslaught of useless and overpaid DEI activists buried into the federal workforce. He will pause burdensome and radical regulations not yet in effect that Biden announced," the plan confirmed.
"President Trump is announcing an unprecedented slate of executive orders for rescission. President Trump is planning for improved accountability of government bureaucrats. The American people deserve the highest-quality service from people who love our country. The president will also return federal workers to work, as only 6% of employees currently work in person. President Trump is taking swift action to end the weaponization of government against political rivals and ordering all document retention as required by law. President Trump is also ending the unconstitutional censorship by the federal government. No longer will government employees pick and require the erasure of entirely true speech. On the president's direction, the State Department will have an America-First foreign policy."
Further, the statement addressed "American values."
"The president will establish male and female as biological reality and protect women from radical gender ideology."
And, "American landmarks will be named to appropriately honor our nation's history."
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
Supplicants are defined as a "person making a humble or earnest plea to someone in power or authority."
Or, according to Steve Bannon, a former strategist for President Trump, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos.
They are the leaders of SpaceX and Twitter, Facebook's empire, and Amazon – all billionaires a hundred times over or more.
They have been given seats at today's presidential inauguration for Trump, to his second term in office, and they are now, in Bannon's description, seeking favor from the new president.
"As soon as [Mark] Zuckerberg said, 'I've been invited. I'm going,' the floodgates opened up and they were all there knocking, trying to be supplicants. So I look at this and I think most people in our movement look at this as President Trump broke the oligarchs, he broke them and they surrendered."
It was noted that, for a time, the social media companies banned Trump from being on their sites. He ended up creating the competing Truth Social at that time.
Bannon, who was targeted, and actually went behind bars for a time as part of the Democrats' lawfare against Trump, said the billionaires' appearance at Trump's inauguration is an "official surrender" to Trump.
Bannon was sentenced for declining to give to ex-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's January 6 committee details that were covered by executive privilege, a standard that the committee refused to allow.
The PostMillennial explained Bannon's comments came during an interview on ABC.
The report explained, "Tech leaders have shown signs of softening controversial policies in the wake of Trump's victory. Zuckerberg recently announced that Facebook would eliminate its fact-checking services, adopting a community notes system similar to X. He also appeared on The Joe Rogan Experience, where he criticized the Biden administration and admitted that under his leadership, the federal government pressured Facebook to censor certain posts."
Bannon also warned against trusting Zuckerberg too much. He cited the $400 million plus that Zuckerberg handed out to elections officials during the 2020 race who used it mostly for recruiting voters in Democrat districts. Bannon called that criminal.
It was one of two undue influences documented on the 2020 results, the other being the FBI's decision to interfere in the results by describing the Biden family scandals documented in Hunter Biden's abandoned laptop computer as Russians disinformation, when in fact it all was true.
"Zuckerberg's, you know, road to Damascus came a little late. It was after the Fifth of November," Bannon explained. "It's very, you know, now wants to be a bro. He Kung Fu fights. He's going to UFC. He's got his hair done differently. He's, he's cut. That doesn't hack it with me. That guy will flip on President Trump and he'll flip on us in the second. When it's convenient for him. He will flip."
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
President Trump, whose inauguration audience was limited in size because of the decision to move it indoors in inclement weather in Washington, met shortly after his speech with a rally of his fans, to deliver another speech.
In this one, he repeatedly said there were things he "shouldn't" be saying.
But he did.
"You're a younger, far more beautiful audience than what I just spoke to," he said. "More powerful than them, look better than them."
That, he said, we want to keep "off the record."
He noted that during his inauguration speech he didn't address the issue of all of those prosecuted by the government over the Jan. 6, 2021, protest of the suspect results of the 2020 election.
"It's action, not words, that count," he said. "You're going to see a lot of action.
He cited the pardons issued by Joe Biden to J6 committee members, including former Rep. Liz Cheney, whose Wyoming voters fired her as soon as they could.
"Why are we helping Liz Cheney?" he said. "She's a crying lunatic."
He pointed out it appears the committee actually destroyed evidence in his favor during that investigation, and those actions now are under congressional review.
He also pointed out the support he's had, with thousands of fans showing up for rallies wherever he travels. Ordinarily, he said, "200-300 people" appear for political rallies, or may thousands just before the election.
He cited the election agenda in California, where they are making it a crime to ask someone for voter ID during an election.
The law, he said, was "if you work in an election bureau, if you so much as ask for voter ID, they'll put you in jail, you're a criminal. … Only one reason, they want to cheat."
He then spent time discussing the Biden administration's agenda to have open borders, and he explained the wall material that he left behind from his first administration, which was scheduled to be sold and removed.
He credited Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and others for unraveling the scheme.
He noted that the border was a major factor in the 2016 election, his first victory, and probably is even bigger now.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
The end of the green new deal and the end of the electric vehicle mandate came Monday when President Donald Trump was inaugurated. "You will be able to buy the car you want," said President Donald Trump.
Announcing "The Golden Age of America begins right now," he said no longer will American taxes enrich other countries, but the new "External Revenue Service" will collect tariffs from foreign sources to enrich Americans.
He said the new Department of Government Efficiency, already proposed, soon will be official, to eliminate the overspending imposed on America by Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, who encouraged spending trillions of dollars, hitting consumers with massive inflation.
Engineering gender ideology in government is about to end, and he will restore "fair, equal and impartial justice," by ending the past administration's weaponization of the government against political enemies, "something I know something about," he said.
Starting now, the government recognizes "only two genders, male and female," he said.
The military now has only one mission: "defeating America's enemies."
The southern border now is an "emergency," he said, and foreign drug cartels are terrorists.
Government censorship now is over, he said.
His comments came just moments after he took the oath of office and became the nation's 47th president with Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts administering the oath.
"I return to the presidency, confident and optimistic that we are at the start of a thrilling new era of national success, a tide of change is sweeping the country. We must be honest about the challenges we face while they are plentiful, they will be annihilated by this great momentum that the world is now witnessing in the United States of America.:
He pointed out the problems he's been handed by a Democrat administration: "We now have a government that cannot manage even a simple crisis at home, while at the same time stumbling into a continuing catalog of catastrophic events abroad. It fails to protect our magnificent law abiding American citizens, but provides sanctuary and protection for dangerous criminals, many from prisons and mental institutions that have illegally entered our country from all over the world."
"All of this will change starting today," he declared.
Alaska's mountain now is Mt. McKinley and it's the Gulf of America, not Gulf of Mexico, he announced.
He recognized that God saved his life from an assassin's bullet in Pennsylvania in order to "Make America Great Again."
He said he's using the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to use police authorities to attack foreign gangs.
Ivanka Trump is now in her 40s, but she is keeping fit with a combination of different fitness practices, the details of which she shared on "The Skinny Confidential Him & Her" podcast.
Trump said she recently added jiu-jitsu to her repertoire in response to a request from her daughter Arabelle to learn self-defense.
The whole family started practicing the martial art form after moving to Miami when Arabelle asked her to join, and then her brothers and dad wanted to join in too.
"There’s like a real spiritualism to it … the grounding in sort of samurai tradition and culture and wisdom," she said.
Trump said she was "never a gym person," but always loved sports.
She likes the aspect of jiu-jitsu that makes practitioners less likely to fight.
"Having these skills makes you less likely to get into a fight, not more likely to," Trump went on. "Once you have the confidence that you can sort of move out of a situation, there's a real focus on elevating awareness."
Trump said on Instagram that she had started incorporating weight training and resistance exercises into her fitness routine for the first time, having previously just done yoga, cardio, and Pilates.
This new regimen has been "transformative in helping me build muscle and shift my body composition in ways I hadn’t imagined," she wrote.
She focuses on exercises like squats, deadlifts, pushes and pulls that mimic how the body normally functions.
She also adds "mobility work" to maintain her range of motion.
Trump works with a personal trainer twice a week to get the most out of her workout time and make sure she's doing the exercises correctly.
She said she is now eating 30 to 50 grams of protein per meal, which also helps build and maintain muscle and aids in recovery after weight training.
"It works … I’ve never been stronger!" she gushed.
It's done: Joe Biden is now the former President of the United States, and the second non-consecutive term of Donald Trump has begun.
At a rally on Sunday ahead of his inauguration as the nation's 47th president, Trump said he would end his presecessor's "diversity, equity and inclusion" mandates and put back in place a merit-based system as well as repealing many other of Biden's executive orders.
“Every radical and foolish Executive Order of the Biden administration will be repealed within hours of when I take the oath of office. Oh, you’re gonna have a lot of fun watching television tomorrow,” Trump said.
He then focused on DEI specifically.
“But we’re going to stop the destructive and divisive Diversity Equity and Inclusion mandates all across government and private sector and return our country to the merit system,” Trump declared.
“You know, the Supreme Court ruled that the United States is allowed to go by the merit system, which is what made us great in the first place,” he added. “That was a big, big ruling that a lot of people don’t even know about, but that was a big, tremendous ruling.”
In 2023, the high court struck down the use of affirmative action in college admissions, reacting to policies that kept many deserving Asian students out of top colleges.
“And you’re focusing on character, competence, qualifications in all hiring decisions,” Trump said. “Now, you’re allowed to go by competence, ability, and genius. You don’t have to hire somebody to send up one of his rocket ships that doesn’t know anything about what’s happening.”
He definitely has a point: some aspects of DEI have resulted in less competent workers in roles where competence is essential.
We all hope that the U.S. has reached the point where no one is discriminated against because of their race, sex, or any other part of who they are.
When Trump was elected after vowing to get rid of DEI, it caused some companies to purge their DEI policies.
Amazon, Boeing, Lowe's, Meta, McDonald's, and several major car manufacturers are among those getting rid of DEI policies.
Several have cited the Supreme Court ruling in 2023 as justification for doing so.
Sources have said that the Pentagon is in "absolute disarray" as they expect Trump to fire military leaders who have pursued DEI over merit.
The agency has been deleting DEI pages from its website and some officials are reportedly in "panic mode" as they try to figure out if they are on a list to be cut.
President-elect Donald Trump officially took office on Jan. 20, and in the weeks leading up to that glorious day, he nominated some of the finest, America-first people to lead his administration and help get America back on the right track.
While the liberal, mainstream media and their congressional allies worked overtime to prevent some of Trump's picks from landing the job, Senate confirmations are already underway, and according to a Breitbart exclusive, Sen. Ron Johnson believes that Trump will ultimately get most of his picks confirmed in the GOP-controlled upper chamber.
The Wisconsin Republican said with confidence that he believes "most, if not all" of Trump's picks will receive the required 50+ votes to land their respective positions in Trump's government.
Johnson even said that Pete Hegseth, Trump's Defense Secretary nominee, will ultimately be confirmed, despite the left's best efforts to derail his confirmation.
Johnson was specifically asked about Hegseth and whether or not he believes he'll make it through the Senate confirmation process, referencing his rocky road thus far. His answer was clear.
"Oh, yeah, I think most, if not all, Trump nominees will," Johnson said,.
He added, "The default position of Republican senators is this is a convincing election," adding that at the end of the day, a president who wins in the way Trump won doesn't have to worry about his people not making it through the process.
Johnson's message was clear in that he believes Republican senators will play ball and back what Trump wants. To do otherwise would be far too risky -- if anything, for the reelection campaigns, given Trump's massive base of support.
"Our role is to respect the results of the election and confirm that the people that President Trump wants to surround himself in his administration," the Wisconsin senator said. "He’s ultimately responsible."
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s choice for Health and Human Services Secretary, is one of the few Cabinet picks that faces extreme opposition from the left, and even from some of the right. Johnson was asked about his thoughts.
Johnson explained that he was responsible for the whip count on Kennedy Jr., adding that while there is some opposition, it's nothing that can't be overcome.
"Well, what’s interesting is I did sort of the unofficial whip count for Bobby Kennedy early on, and I talked to, I think 41 of my Republican colleagues and 15 Democrats. I think that was my account almost. The conversation was almost identical with everyone. It was started off with, ‘Boy, there’s a lot that I really love that Bobby’s trying to do,’ but they have concerns," Johnson said.
He added, "Well, what’s interesting is I did sort of the unofficial whip count for Bobby Kennedy early on, and I talked to, I think 41 of my Republican colleagues and 15 Democrats. I think that was my account almost. The conversation was almost identical with everyone. It was started off with, ‘Boy, there’s a lot that I really love that Bobby’s trying to do,’ but they have concerns."
Only time will tell if Trump bowls a 300 in his nominee selection.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
President-elect Donald Trump on Sunday said he'll issue an executive order once he's inaugurated Monday to help keep TikTok's operations alive in the U.S.
"I'm asking companies not to let TikTok stay dark!" Trump posted on Truth Social.
"I will issue an executive order on Monday to extend the period of time before the law's prohibitions take effect, so that we can make a deal to protect our national security. The order will also confirm that there will be no liability for any company that helped keep TikTok from going dark before my order.
"Americans deserve to see our exciting Inauguration on Monday, as well as other events and conversations.
"I would like the United States to have a 50% ownership position in a joint venture. By doing this, we save TikTok, keep it in good hands and allow it to say up. Without U.S. approval, there is no Tik Tok. With our approval, it is worth hundreds of billions of dollars – maybe trillions.
"Therefore, my initial thought is a joint venture between the current owners and/or new owners whereby the U.S. gets a 50% ownership in a joint venture set up between the U.S. and whichever purchase we so choose."
While TikTok is a popular app especially among America's younger populace, concerns about the company's ties to Communist China have pushed U.S. lamwakers to suspend its service in America unless the company divests its ownership.
Mere hours after Trump's post, the app started coming back online for American users.
The company said, "In agreement with our service providers, TikTok is in the process of restoring service. We thank President Trump for providing the necessary clarity and assurance to our service providers that they will face no penalties for providing TikTok to over 170 million Americans and allowing over 7 million small businesses to thrive."
It added, "We will work with President Trump on a long-term solution that keeps TikTok in the United States."
TikTok want offline earlier Sunday morning, posting a message indicating: "A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the U.S. Unfortunately, that means you can't use TikTok for now.
"We are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office. Please stay tuned!
"In the meantime, you can still log in to download your data."
The Nov. 5, 2024, election of Donald Trump sent shockwaves through official Washington, with many officials contemplating -- and even threatening -- to resign in protest or refusal to assist the incoming president in carrying out his agenda.
In that vein, Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Commissioner Danny Werfel announced last week that he planned to resign ahead of Trump's return to office, as USA Today reports, a move that prevented what was almost certain to be his firing by the new commander in chief.
Staffers at the IRS received word of the impending departure in a letter penned by Werfel explaining the rationale behind his decision to leave with three years remaining in his term.
“After significant introspection and consultation with others, I've determined the best way to support a successful transition is to depart the IRS on January 20, 2025,” Werfel said, according to Politico.
Werfel indicated his belief that because Trump has already nominated a replacement commissioner, remaining in office would have been untenable because it would be “hard to predict what type of distractions this unprecedented scenario would create.”
Boasting of his accomplishments in the role, Werfel said, “We have delivered two of the best filing seasons in decades, with significantly improved phone, online and in-person service. We answered nearly nine in 10 calls the last two filing seasons, up from fewer than two in 10 calls, while cutting call wait times from 30 minutes to under five minutes.”
As the outlet noted, it is commonplace for incoming presidents to retain the IRS commissioner upon taking office, but Trump clearly has other ideas.
As The Hill reported last month, Trump indicated his plans to nominate former Rep. Billy Long (R-MO) to assume the role of IRS commissioner, a decision that set the stage for Werfel's resignation.
Trump said at the time, “I am pleased to announce that former Congressman Billy Long, of the Great State of Missouri, will be appointed to serve as the Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).”
The president-elect added, “Billy brings 32 years of experience running his own businesses in Real Estate and, as one of the premier Auctioneers in the Country,” noting also that Long is “well respected on both sides of the aisle.”
Politico noted that Long's confirmation process could pose some hurdles, with Democrats reportedly expressing concerns about his career after leaving Congress, a period in which he aided businesses claiming a “scandal-plagued tax break” meant to stave off pandemic job losses.
Long's confirmation process will be overseen by the Senate Finance Committee, which also has responsibility over proceedings for Trump nominees Scott Bessent -- tapped for Treasury -- and Robert Kennedy, Jr. -- picked to head the Department of Health and Human Services.
Former IRS Commissioner John Koskinen has expressed concern about Trump's move to replace Werfel ahead of his term's expiration, suggesting that the role should not be viewed as a political one.
“It's unfortunate that we're now setting this precedent that somehow this is really a political job and you need your guy running it,” Koskinen opined, but given the resistance Trump faced from countless arms of the federal government during his first term, the president-elect's actions seem to many little more than an acknowledgment of a regrettable reality.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
The federal government quietly has discontinued an "interdiction" program that demanded travelers allow agents to rummage through their luggage.
The extent of the program's reach was revealed in a video posted online by the Institute for Justice a few months ago.
The video has gotten millions of views and that organization now is suing over the activity.
It also confirmed in a new announcement that the Drug Enforcement Administration quietly, last week, confirmed it was shutting down the program, called the Transportation Interdiction Program.
"The program's 'consensual encounters' with travelers were suspended by the Department of Justice in November after the release of a critical Office of Inspector General (OIG) report. That report was in response to a video showing a traveler's confrontation with DEA agents released by the Institute for Justice (IJ) in July," the organization explained.
"We welcome this much-needed policy change, which will help protect the rights of travelers from the abuses so many have suffered while flying. TIP encouraged DEA agents to prey on people who were flying with cash, even though doing so is perfectly legal," said IJ lawyer Dan Alban.
"But agency policies can be changed at any time, by any administration. We once again call on Congress to pass the FAIR Act to permanently reform federal civil forfeiture laws that encourage and enable this bad behavior.
"FAIR would end the profit incentive, close the equitable sharing loophole, and guarantee every property owner receives their day in court by ending so-called administrative forfeitures," he said.
It was DEA chief Anne Milgram who issued the memo, explaining the DEA considered the effectiveness of the program and found it resulted in few arrests or drug cases.
"The 'consensual encounters' used by the DEA agents at airports and other transportation hubs were often based only on a flyer's purchase of a last-minute ticket, hardly a sign that someone is engaged in criminal conduct," the IJ explained.
The IJ's video featured David C., who recorded the agent taking his baggage without permission and searching it.
The IJ said its legal action is against the DEA and Transportation Security Administration over the government's airport seizure and forfeiture practices.