This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

President Donald Trump was famous for his reality television show line, in days gone by, "You're fired!"

It seems that's what he wants now to do with FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, that cadre of bureaucrats who admitted skipping over homes that displayed Trump signs in the aftermath of a hurricane disaster in North Carolina.

The opinion also comes on the heels of the firing of four FEMA employees who went against orders and siphoned off $59 million in federal tax money to give to New York City for housing illegals.

Trump wrote, on social media, "FEMA spent tens of millions of dollars in Democrat areas, disobeying orders, but left the people of North Carolina high and dry. It is now under review and investigation. THE BIDEN RUN FEMA HAS BEEN A DISASTER. FEMA SHOULD BE TERMINATED! IT HAS BEEN SLOW AND TOTALLY INEFFECTIVE. INDIVIDUAL STATES SHOULD HANDLE STORMS, ETC., AS THEY COME. BIG SAVINGS, FAR MORE EFFICIENT!!!'

A report at Bloomberg said the comment was a widening of Trump's fight against the federal bureaucracy. He campaigned on, and was elected to, impose transparency, responsible spending, and elimination of fraud, on government.

And the report noted such a change would transform how the U.S. addresses disaster assistance.

It was Elon Musk, Trump's chief of the Department of Government Efficiency, who had complained that the agency, against orders, had sent payments to New York City for housing for illegals.

A report at ABC pointed out that Kristi Noem, Trump's newly appointed secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, already has endorsed the idea of eliminating FEMA, as least "the way it exists today."

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

PALM BEACH, Florida – Mike Huckabee, the incoming U.S. ambassador to Israel, is optimistic about the future of the Mideast, believing "something of biblical proportion" will happen in the region under the leadership of President Donald Trump.

"I'm personally optimistic that we're going to see something bold," Huckabee said on "Sunday Morning Futures" with Maria Bartiromo.

"I will use this term, Maria. I think we will see something of biblical proportion happen with his leadership in the Middle East."

His remarks come in the wake of last week's announcement by Trump that the U.S. will take over the troubled Gaza Strip to help transform it from a "demolition site" to a Riviera-style region.

"President Trump did something bold," Huckabee said." He looked into the future and said kind of a what if. We don't know exactly what might happen in Gaza, but here's what could have happened in Gaza.

"Gaza could have been Singapore. Instead, Hamas turned it into Haiti and, in fact, maybe worse, far worse than that.

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., has unleashed on the spending by the American government … for what she believes is abuse of animals.

Right now, the government's spending in a bull's-eye because of President Donald Trump's Department of Government Efficiency, which has already singled out money lavishly spent by USAID in wildly inappropriate projects, such as promoting transgenderism worldwide. Spending by other departments also are being reviewed.

Mace, in a hearing for the Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Information Technology, and Government Innovation, cited government spending on animal experimentation.

The hearing was titled, "Transgender Lab Rats and Poisoned Puppies: Oversight of Taxpayer Funded Animal Cruelty."

She called out the White Coat Waste Project that last year exposed more than $10 million in tax dollars spent "creating transgender mice, rats, and monkeys."

"These DEI grants funded painful and deadly transgender experiments that forced lab animals to undergo invasive surgeries and hormone therapies at universities across the country," she charged.

"For example, the Biden-Harris Administration spent $2.5 million taxpayer dollars to study the fertility of transgender mice. $1.1 million dollars were spent to find out if female rats receiving testosterone therapies to mimic transgender men were more likely to overdose on a party drug commonly used in the LGBTQ community to induce drug-fueled 'chemsex.'
Federal funds were also used to forcibly transition male monkeys to see if hormone therapy made them more susceptible to HIV," she said.

She said the work emanated from the Biden-Harris insistence on spreading their transgender ideology "across all facets of American society," so that they ignored the fact such experiments not only were cruel, but unneeded.

"It is well known that because of the differences between animal and human biology, animal testing frequently does not produce results relevant for humans. In fact, 90 percent of novel drugs that are successful in animal tests fail in human clinical trials," she said.

And she said now there are tech tools that "can more accurately model human biology and identify solutions that are more useful for human patients."

She said experiments on animals now are done by 27 NIH branches as well as the Food and Drug Administration, Department of Agriculture, Veterans Affairs, Defense and more.

Those actions cost Americans $20 billion a year, she said.

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

The chief of one of the nation's biggest teachers' unions, Randi Weingarten of the American Federation of Teachers, has "endorsed" the idea of shutting down the federal Department of Education.

That's one of the goals President Donald Trump has expressed, because of the department's agenda that has included spending hundreds of millions of dollars to inculcate discriminatory gender and race ideologies in children amid its failure to improve the test scores of American children.

Trump has appointed a secretary of education with instructions to see how much of the federal agency's responsibilities can be given back to states and local communities. In Congress, there's already a plan to shut down the bureaucracy.

Now, in an interview, Weingarten "accidentally endorses ABOLISHING the Department of Education," according to a report.

"States and localities run education… they should run it. The federal government should not run it," she said.

Her quote was, "States and localities run education. It's basically. That's where 90% of the funding for education goes. They already run it. They should run it. The federal government should not run it."

Under Trump's administration, already dozens of Education Department bureaucrats have been put on leave because they were promoting the ideological diversity and equity campaigns to students.

The moves are part of the shakeup of federal government that is being implemented under Trump, who appointed Elon Musk to his administration's Department of Government Efficiency to look for ways to cut the size and expense of government.

Twitchy commented, "Yesterday, Twitchy covered Weingarten's appearance on MSNBC to rail against President Trump's call to end the Department of Education. It wasn't so much an interview that Ana Cabrera conducted with Weingarten; it was more like a mutual admiration society, with both participants spending their time agreeing with each other and patting each other on the back for their brilliant insights. But even in that softball environment, Weingarten still couldn't help but step on a massive rake as she accidentally agreed with Trump that the DOE shouldn't even exist."

Other social media responses:

"Finally she has a good idea."

And, "Ma'am we literally been saying this for decades."

They also noted Weingarten "makes over $560,000 per year, 9 times average teacher."

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

Just as President Donald Trump's cost-cutting campaign is reaching its stride, members of Congress are developing their own suggestions for saving taxpayers' money, including from the tax-supported Public Broadcasting System and National Public Radio, which benefit by hundreds of millions of dollars.

In fact, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., the chair of the new Delivering on Government Efficiency subcommittee, has summoned NPR chief Katherine Maher and PBS chief Paula Kerger to answer questions.

Reports call the strategy a "direct challenge to what conservatives have long criticized as taxpayer-funded propaganda for the left."

For instance, NPR refused to cover the Hunter Biden laptop scandal in 2020.

Officials there explained, "We don't want to waste our time on stories that are not really stories, and we don't want to waste the listeners' and readers' time on stories that are just pure distractions."

Actually, the laptop evidence revealed much about scandals involving the Biden family, including information about its years-long influence peddling operations that appeared to involve Joe Biden himself. The family, according to a later report from Congress, took in tens of millions of dollars – in return essentially for giving people access to Joe Biden as vice president, then president.

Joe Biden himself once openly bragged about threatening Ukraine with the loss of American support if they didn't fire a prosecutor looking into a company that was paying Hunter Biden a million dollars a year to be on its board.

The publicly funded operations more recently claimed that Elon Musk, a key adviser to Trump and tasked with cutting government waste, fraud and abuse, gave a "fascist salute" at a rally.

Greene said, "PBS and NPR receive the tax dollars of hard-working Americans to stay on the air. Their coverage should serve every single American, not just a narrow slice of like-minded individuals and ideological interest groups. Notably, NPR refused to cover the Hunter Biden laptop story in an attempt to protect then-candidate Joe Biden leading up to the 2020 presidential election. Just hours after President Trump was sworn in for the second time, PBS falsely implied that @elonmusk made a fascist salute at the President's inaugural rally.

"This kind of one-sided reporting, which attacks over half the country to protect and promote its own political interests, doesn't deserve a single cent of American taxpayers' money. I look forward to bringing the president of each of these so-called 'media' outlets before my brand-new DOGE Subcommittee to explain to me—and to the American people—why they deserve to continue receiving public funding. To me, it looks like a great place for @DOGE to save some extra $."

Musk said it was an excellent idea.

NPR gets about one-quarter of its budget from taxes; PBS about 40%, amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars.

The decision by NPR, too, to essentially cast aside "truth" in its priorities also has earned criticism.

Constitutional expert Jonathan Turley pointed out that even "respected editor, Uri Berliner," wrote a scathing condemnation of political bias at NPR, but the outlet still "doubled down on its one-sided coverage."

And, he noted, "What is striking is how NPR's shrinking audience righteously opposes any effort to withdraw public subsidies. While dismissing the values or views of half the country, they expect those citizens to support its programming. What would the reaction be if Congress ordered the same subsidy for more popular competitors like Fox Radio?"

He explained outlets "have every right to offer their own slanted viewpoints or coverage. They do not have a right to a federal subsidy to insulate them from the response of consumers."

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Officials in Panama abruptly changed course on Sunday regarding China's influence over and control of the Panama Canal, built and paid for by the United States, after Secretary of State Marco Rubio shared with them President Donald Trump's concerns over that influence, and his intent that it should not continue.

A report from Fox News explained Jose Raul Mulina, the president of Panama, confirmed he would not renew a 2017 memorandum of understanding in which his nation joined China's Belt and Road initiative.

Under that program, China funds the construction and development of infrastructure, such as ports, and then takes control of them for its own profit and empire building.

In the case of the canal, it has worked on ports at both ends, creating the possibility that it could shut down the canal if it seemed in the best interests of the Chinese Communist Party. It also has been building bridges over the canal, which would offer the same option.

Trump has publicly warned that Panama actually has ceded control of the canal to China, which would be in violation of the original treaty that turned operations over to Panama, and that America would no longer allow its interests and security to be compromised like that.

Mulino claimed Panamanian control would remain, but the dealing with China is ending.

"I think this visit opens the door to build new relations … and try to increase as much as possible U.S. investments in Panama," Mulino said after meeting with Rubio.

Rubio had explained "the United States cannot, and will not, allow the Chinese Communist Party to continue with its effective and growing control over the Panama Canal area."

The canal was built over decades by the U.S. and finished in 1914. It was President Jimmy Carter who handed it over to Panama.

In Congress, there's already a bill in the House for the U.S. to repurchase the canal.

Trump, in fact, has said he would not rule out the use of the military to regain control of the canal, an option he explained the original treaty includes.

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

President Donald Trump recently signed a series of executive orders for the military, addressing transgenderism, diversity, COVID-19 and more.

One of them offers to reinstate service members forced out of the military as a result of Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin's now-rescinded August 2021 vaccine mandate.

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem will be tasked with ensuring both active and reserve components of the military who request reinstatement will be restored to their prior rank and provided back pay and benefits.

Fox News recently reported that, according to a White House fact sheet, "After the vaccine mandate was repealed in 2023, only 43 of the more than the 8,000 troops dismissed elected to return to service under the Biden Administration and Secretary Austin."

According to Trump's EO, "Federal Government redress of any wrongful dismissals is overdue." For many, it's a big step in the right direction, but is it enough to persuade former members of the military to return to service? This writer has personally spoken to hundreds of service members over the past three years who desire accountability for the military's unlawful enforcement of the shot mandate.

Specifically, 10 USC §1107a codifies that servicemembers must have the right to informed consent, which was not provided to them during the Biden administration. Each should have had the option to accept or refuse the shot, but rather, most were either coerced or booted from service.

Additionally, 21 USC § 360bbb requires that products with Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) can be used only when there is no other approved drug available. Yet prior to the FDA pulling the trigger on a vaccine authorized for "emergency use only," effective drugs including ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine were available.

Yet for many service members, the experimental injection was the their only option to remain in the military. Those who objected were uniformly denied. Many others attempting to avoid the shot were coerced. In fact, in a survey conducted by this writer in 2022 and published by the Epoch Times, "More than 72 percent of individuals serving in the U.S. military who responded to a survey said they felt 'coerced' into receiving a COVID-19 vaccine and/or booster after the Pentagon's 2021 vaccine mandate."

So, while many are thankful for Trump's order, some former and current members of the U.S. military are also seeking accountability for the wrongs they've endured.

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

The U.S. Department of Education has flip-flopped, and announced it now will enforce Title IX on the basis of its historic understanding, that "sex" actually means "sex," that is male or female, and not some politically correct idea of "gender."

And while that's good, the fight actually isn't all over.

Kristen Waggoner, head of the ADF, which has fought the White House campaign under both Barack Obama and Joe Biden to redefine English words to take on a political twist, said, "President Trump has spent his first days in office undoing some of the most harmful policies of his predecessor.

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, is two for two in recent claims, getting publicly corrected on one topic and "community noted" on another.

The Post Millennial documented her insistence that all of those extreme crimes, or at least almost all, are done by "white supremacists."

Commenting on President Donald Trump's agenda to find and arrest – and deport – illegal alien criminals, she said, "And honestly, I don't know how else to describe this, other than evil. It's evil that is literally sitting in the highest seat in the world."

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

Five major American universities are being called on to release information about their part in Joe Biden's "censorship regime."

The Alliance Defending Freedom said it has sent public records requests to the University of Michigan, University of Wisconsin, Indiana University, the University of North Carolina and the University of California-Los Angeles.

Those institutions have created "misinformation" centers, or tools intended to single out and target speech that the federal government disfavors.

While President Donald Trump has signed executive orders halting federal government censorship efforts, those campaigns were in full force during the administration of Joe Biden, who actually embedded censorship offices in multiple federal bureaucracies.

"Free speech is essential to a free society," explained ADF lawyer Phil Sechler.

"The American people have a right to know if their tax dollars were used to suppress certain voices and how involved state actors were—and are—in social media censorship," he said.

The Biden administration often pressured private organizations, especially social media corporations, to censor ideas Biden disliked. In fact, Mark Zuckerberg of Meta, parent of Facebook, testified to Congress about the pressure Biden appointees put on his company, including that White House employees shouted and screamed at his employees to enforce their censorship demands.

The ADF is asking for records and communications with federal government officials, social media companies, and foundations responsible for granting funds to censorship schemes.

Sechler said the government should be defending First Amendment speech rights, not be "its greatest threat."

He said, "The American people have a right to know if their tax dollars were used to suppress certain voices and how involved state actors were—and are—in social media censorship."

Some of the university targets already have been linked to Biden's campaigns, as a report by the U.S. House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government found that University of Michigan officials pitched the idea of an artificial intelligence tool called WiseDex to the National Science Foundation for "externalizing the difficult responsibility of censorship.'"

Fox News explained the censorship was operated under the guise of "'combating 'misinformation,' 'disinformation,' and 'malinformation.'"

The report said the goal of the requests is to identify "certain censorship red flags," like the words "cancel," "First Amendment" or "throttle" that could make pursuing details about the schemes faster.