Prince Andrew, the younger brother of King Charles III, is facing more calls to move out of his royal residence on the grounds of Windsor Castle after he hosted the Chinese Ambassador to the UK in December.
Ambassador Zheng Zeguang met with Middle East investment firm Waterberg-Stirling CEO Oleg Firer at Prince Andrew's royal residence on December 9, the Sun reported.
The meeting happened three days before the UK press highlighted the close relationship between Prince Andrew and business adviser Yang Tengbo, who has been accused of being a Chinese spy.
It's the latest in a number of scandals involving Andrew, including his close relationship with late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and allegations he assaulted a then-underage girl at Epstein's compound.
“Andrew goes from one disaster to another, and shows a complete lack of judgment,” former Home Office Minister Norman Baker told the Sun. “He also shows he’s interested in pursuing things for himself rather than on behalf of this country."
Baker called Andrew's involvement in yet another scandal "extraordinary."
Andrew has lived in the royal residence since 2004, but more are calling for him to be removed from it amid the numerous scandals.
“It seems that every single time he [Charles] is leaving him [Andrew] to sort out his own affairs, another matter of concern is raised,” a royal insider said.
Andrew stepped down as a working royal in 2019, and the crown does not fund him or his security anymore.
In 2022, Queen Elizabeth stripped him of his royal titles after he settled a sexual assault lawsuit with Virginia Guiffre for an undisclosed amount.
He cannot be called "His Royal Highness" or any honorary military titles since his mother did so.
Andrew and King Charles are not on speaking terms due to the many scandals and the way they have damaged the royal family's reputation, according to reports.
Because of the latest scandal with Tengbo, Andrew skipped Christmas at the family estate in Sandringham and didn't go to the pre-Christmas lunch at Buckingham Palace.
Instead, he remained at Royal Lodge with ex-wife Sarah Ferguson.
The Justice Department has fired multiple immigration judges in a decision on Friday that came as a shock to many observers considering the Trump administration's ambitious deportation goals.
The firing announcement was confirmed on Friday by insiders who confirmed that the decision was made by the acting director of the Executive Office for Immigration Review at the Justice Department.
The decision ignited outrage from a judge's union which criticized the decision to conduct layoffs while the Trump administration is in the middle of deporting thousands of illegal immigrants.
Matt Biggs, the president of the IFPTE representing immigration judges wrote, "You have a president now who campaigned on immigration and removing people from the country on the one hand. And on the other hand, he’s actually firing the very judges that have to hear these cases and make those decisions. So, it makes no sense. It’s a head scratcher."
Clearly, the Trump administration has already determined that these judges are no longer necessary or are unfit to serve in their positions due to ideological reasons considering the new immigration policy that Trump will be implementing.
The Trump administration is leaving no stone unturned and is overhauling the federal workforce at every level both to purge leftist ideologues and to cut down on the size of the federal government to reduce spending.
The Executive Office of Immigration Review has been especially hard hit by cuts as five significant executives have been let go since Trump was sworn into office last month.
In the case of the immigration judges who have been let go, it appears that the reason for their firing comes down to ideological reasons.
Judge Kerry Doyle, who was one of those judges fired by the Trump administration, posted to her LinkedIn that all of the judges who had been fired were appointed by former President Joe Biden.
Clearly, the Trump administration does not trust individuals appointed by the previous administration to appropriately review immigration litigation and asylum applications.
Judges appointed by the past regime are more likely to be lenient with illegal immigrants as reflected by the open borders policy of the past administration. The Trump administration likely viewed these judges as a liability, but there has been no confirmation of these allegations.
For years, economic immigrants have gained access "legally" to the United States by applying for asylum and disappearing into the country while their case awaited a review that would take years.
The Biden administration was more than happy to facilitate this "legal" exploit of our broken immigration system as there are literally millions of immigration cases in a backlog.
An overwhelming number of these applicants do not fit the conventional definition of asylum seeker as many of them are economic migrants coming from a variety of countries few of which are war-torn or even notably unstable.
With Trump in charge, this abuse of our immigration system will not be tolerated and many of those economic migrants awaiting a hearing will likely find their applications rejected and subject to immediate deportation in the coming months.
The Department of Justice has requested that a federal district court drop its corruption charges with prejudice against New York City Mayor Eric Adams.
Attorney General Pam Bondi, who was recently confirmed by the Senate, said on Friday that the September corruption charges against Adams were going to be dismissed later in the day.
In the official request, DOJ lawyers wrote, "The United States respectfully submits this motion seeking dismissal without prejudice of the charges in this case, with leave of the Court."
This would effectively end the corruption case against Adams which was pushed aggressively by the previous Biden administration after Adams began complaining about the impacts of Biden's open border policies on New York City.
Adams quickly claimed that the corruption investigation was a political hitjob designed to punish him for speaking out against Biden and the Trump administration seems to agree.
Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove explained that the Trump administration has an interest in shutting down the political indictment against Adams in order to accomplish greater objectives as well as create a useful ally.
Ending the questionable investigation into Adams gives the Trump administration a friend in an otherwise extremely unfriendly Democrat state.
Bove explained on Friday "that continuing these proceedings would interfere with the defendant’s ability to govern in New York City, which poses unacceptable threats to public safety, national security, and related federal immigration initiatives and policies."
Bove also noted that the indictment against Adams "improperly interfered” with his reelection campaign as well as the aforementioned issues with tackling “illegal immigration and violent crime."
Adams is essentially going to ensure that the Trump administration's agenda will not be opposed in New York City and in return the DOJ is shutting the indictment down.
This has spawned a flurry of outraged responses from Democrats who want to see Trump's immigration agenda opposed. There has also been a flurry of resignations at the District Court for the Southern District of New York.
President Trump himself likely won't shed tears over the resignations at the SDNY as New York's court system has already proven its corruption in the indictments that Trump himself had to defeat prior to the 2024 presidential election.
So the news that interim attorney Danielle Sassoon and many others had resigned in protest to the DOJ's decision to request charges against Adams be dismissed is another win for Trump.
Democrats who weaponized the DOJ for years are now complaining that the Trump administration is killing a blatantly political indictment that was designed to silence a critic of the Biden administration
This is a new era for America under Trump and the rules of the game have changed after four years of chaos and kangaroo courts.
The New York Times reported on Wednesday that 53 Venezuelan illegal immigrants were sent to Guantanamo Bay, a U.S. military detention facility in Cuba that houses terrorists and other serious criminals, mostly from other countries.
The Times thinks the story is a scoop because the prisoners are being guarded by members of the U.S. military, while the government under President Donald Trump has said that civilian ICE agents and other personnel are doing that job.
"The civilian law enforcement role of immigration detention is being essentially militarized," the Times claimed.
“This is the first time we’ve seen the government send people from U.S. soil to an overseas camp, and it’s been unclear exactly what role the military is playing,” Lee Gelernt, an American Civil Liberties Union immigrant rights lawyer, said. “All of this potentially raises legal issues we’ve never seen before.”
No doubt the ACLU is salivating at the idea of challenging the administration's actions in court.
The administration confirmed that the Venezuelans--"violent gang members and other high-threat illegal aliens"--are being held at Guantanamo.
That's all it's saying for now.
As far as what the American people see, it's an administration that is doing what it said it would do--getting criminal illegal immigrants off the streets and out of the country.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem posted photos of some detainees as they boarded planes for Guantanamo.
"President @realdonaldtrump has been very clear: Guantanamo Bay will hold the worst of the worst. That starts today," she wrote.
President @realdonaldtrump has been very clear: Guantanamo Bay will hold the worst of the worst. That starts today. pic.twitter.com/Iqxt5rCfWa
— Secretary Kristi Noem (@Sec_Noem) February 4, 2025
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) posted back on February 4 that flights to Guantanamo had begun.
"Flights to Guantanamo Bay have begun. The worst of the worst have no place in our homeland," it captioned a video showing shackled detainees boarding planes.
Other than the photos, the administration is being tight-lipped about who was sent there, at least for now. But it's clear that Trump has gotten serious about criminal migrants and getting them away from any Americans they could potentially harm.
Some officials considering the idea of a plan that would "delete entire agencies," as the government transitions to a new administration.
This idea comes from tech billionaire and Tesla co-founder and CEO Elon Musk, who made the recent comments as part of his overarching mission to push toward government that is cost and efficiency-driven, as The Associated Press reported.
The technology tycoon reportedly wants to leave a legacy that will last beyond the term of the current president.
"I think we do need to delete entire agencies, as opposed to leave part of them behind. ... It's kind of like leaving a weed," Musk said.
The new head of the Department on Government Efficiency went on to say that there has to be systemic change if this is to be more than just a passing phase in government.
"If you don't remove the roots of the weed, then it's easy for the weed to grow back," Musk said.
"But if you remove the roots of the weed — it doesn't stop weeds from ever going back, but it makes it harder."
While participating in a discussion moderated by Omar Sultan Al Olama, the UAE’s minister of artificial intelligence, Musk—who also created SpaceX and owns the social media platform X—made the remarks while speaking to an audience at Dubai’s annual World Governments Summit via video link.
"So we have to really delete entire agencies, many of them," Musk said.
"And that's not to say there won't be an increase over time of bureaucracy in some new administration, but it will be from a much lower baseline. So certainly it's a step in the right direction."
"Nothing's forever," he added, "but I think we can strengthen the foundations of the United States substantially."
Trump named the South African-born engineer and internet entrepreneur a "special government employee" and head of the Department of Federal Efficiency.
Musk stated on Thursday that his efforts to streamline government and cut red tape may cut the federal budget by $1 trillion by 2026, which would significantly decrease the national debt.
Musk attacked the budget line by line for the U.S. Agency for International Development and in the process moved his agenda forward by furloughing most workers and withholding financing internationally.
In early February, the Trump administration announced that the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) would be disbanding as an independent agency and relocating to the State Department, a move that would necessitate the approval of Congress.
A bill that would give Greenland a new name has been filed to the House of Representatives by a Republican congressman from Georgia.
This comes at a time when President Donald Trump is continuing his efforts to acquire the island, Fox News reported.
The measure, which has been given the name "Red, White, and Blueland Act of 2025," was proposed by Representative Earl "Buddy" Carter. The purpose of the bill is to rename the island from Greenland to a more colorful name, red, white, and blueland.
Under the act, the newly appointed Interior Secretary, Doug Burgum, would be given the responsibility of overseeing the transition and ensuring that it is reflected on official papers and maps so that Greenland is referred to by its new name.
“America is back and will soon be bigger than ever with the addition of Red, White, and Blueland,” Carter said in a press release.
“President Trump has correctly identified the purchase of what is now Greenland as a national security priority, and we will proudly welcome its people to join the freest nation to ever exist when our Negotiator-in-Chief inks this monumental deal.”
Despite Greenland Prime Minister Mute Egede's repeated statements that the island is not for sale, Trump is pushing for the acquisition of Greenland from Denmark, which is why the bill is being proposed.
Trump has maintained an interest in purchasing the island for what he claims are "national security purposes" since his win in November.
Trump has also questioned whether Denmark, which has controlled Greenland since 1814, has a "legal right" to the territory and predicted that Greenland's people will vote to join the U.S. He warned that if Denmark does not give up Greenland, the U.S. will "tariff Denmark at a very high level."
Additionally, Trump has not explicitly said that acquiring Greenland and the Panama Canal via military means is not an option.
"No, I can't assure you of either of those two. But I can say this: We need them for economic security. The Panama Canal was built for our military,” Trump said during a press conference at Mar-a-Lago home.
A majority of Greenlanders, as much as 85%, do not want their Arctic island, which is a semi-autonomous Danish colony, to join the United States. Almost half of those Greenlanders consider Trump's interest in the island as a danger.
According to a poll conducted by pollster Verian and funded by the Danish newspaper Berlingske and the Greenlandic daily Sermitsiaq, just 6% of Greenlanders are in favor of their island becoming a U.S. territory, while 9% are still uncertain.
According to the results, 45% of respondents saw Trump's interest in Greenland negatively, 43% positively, and 13% were unsure.
Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) showed up to vote in the Senate on Monday in a wheelchair and wearing a leg brace after he fell down the steps outside the Senate chamber on Wednesday.
Aides had to help McConnell from the wheelchair into his SUV after the vote, according to video footage posted on X.
Sen McConnell in a boot and a wheelchair tonight for votes https://t.co/ZZhaUIFjjj pic.twitter.com/olSObElKd3
— haleytalbotcnn (@haleytalbotcnn) February 10, 2025
McConnell is 82, the same age as former President Joe Biden. His birthday is next week.
He has had a series of falls and accidents over the past two years, including several while he was the Senate Minority Leader.
After he fell on Wednesday, he was helped up by Sens. Steve Daines (R-MT) and Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) and tried to walk it off, but must have sought medical attention later.
As Minority Leader, McConnell kept a tight grip on the campaign dollars the party gave to Senate candidates, giving him much leverage when seeking support for or opposition to legislation.
He stepped down as Republican leader at the end of the 2024 session, but has said he wants to serve out the rest of his Senate term, which will end in 2027.
McConnell is still the chairman of the Rules and Administration Committee and also sits on the Appropriations Committee and the Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee.
Which is to say, he still has some considerable power in the Senate even without being leader.
He's not the oldest senator in the chamber right now, either. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) is 91 and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is 83.
Sens. Jim Risch (R-ID), Ben Cardin (D-MD), Angus King (I-ME), and Dick Durbin (D-IL) are all 80 or older, but younger than McConnell.
More than half of the chamber is over 60, but that makes sense when you consider that Senate seats are statewide offices and many senators spend years in local or House seats.
The average age in the previous Senate was 64.
President Donald Trump ordered U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to halt the minting of new pennies on Sunday because they cost almost four times their worth to make.
“For far too long the United States has minted pennies which literally cost us more than 2 cents. This is so wasteful!” Trump posted Sunday night on Truth Social. “I have instructed my Secretary of the US Treasury to stop producing new pennies.”
According to The U.S. Mint, in 2024 each penny actually cost taxpayers 3.7 cents to mint.
The Mint said it lost $85.3 million in the 2024 fiscal year on the minting of almost 3.2 billion pennies.
The order came out of ongoing investigations by the Department of Government Efficency (DOGE) about ways the government can cut waste, fraud and abuse.
DOGE posted about the cost of making pennies January 21 on X, and Trump picked up on it as an area to cut.
The penny costs over 3 cents to make and cost US taxpayers over $179 million in FY2023.
The Mint produced over 4.5 billion pennies in FY2023, around 40% of the 11.4 billion coins for circulation produced.
Penny (or 3 cents!) for your thoughts.
Sources:https://t.co/Y5LlrpyA62…
— Department of Government Efficiency (@DOGE) January 22, 2025
The cost of minting pennies has been a subject of debate for years.
Originally made from copper, the Mint switched to zinc with a copper overlay when pennies began to cost more than one cent to make.
In recent years, however, the cost of zinc has doubled, making it cost ineffective to produce them that way.
It doesn't really make sense to spend almost four cents to make a penny that is worth one cent. If a cheaper way to make pennies can't be found, it makes sense to use what's already in circulation, then start rounding up or down to five cents.
A commenter on the X post by DOGE pointed out that on overseas military bases, the commissary already rounds up or down to the nearest five cents.
Canada stopped minting pennies in 2012, according to the Associated Press.
But the AP also questioned whether Trump could order the Treasury to stop producing U.S. pennies without an act of Congress.
While it may be a little iffy to do so, the Mint could plausibly just stop minting pennies if it decided to do so.
It certainly seems like the $179 million spent to make them could be better spent elsewhere.
A senior Iranian lawmaker who sits on the Iranian Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee has publicly called for the assassination of President Donald Trump.
Following news that Trump ordered the total destruction of Iran if he is ever assassinated, Iranian MP Mojtaba Zarei stated that he would “not hesitate” to kill Trump even if it ended in Iran's total and complete annihilation.
Iran has been gunning for Trump ever since the assassination of Haj Qassem Soleimani who was an Iranian commander and terrorist mastermind who was responsible for attacks that claimed the lives of hundreds of Americans.
Trump ordered the killing of Soleimani in an airstrike in 2020 and Iran has vowed revenge ever since which necessitated significant security measures for Trump after he left the White House in 2021.
Not only is Trump being targeted by insane lunatics incited by Democrat rhetoric, he is also the target of a rogue nation that is willing to risk total annihilation to kill him.
Iran's continuous threats to assassinate Trump are a diplomatic roadblock that will prevent Iran from making any progress on the international scene.
Trump has already vowed to crush Iran over its nuclear ambitions and their continuous threats on his life aren't going to help Iran get out of crippling economic sanctions.
In fact, the escalating rhetoric has likely made it an even higher priority for the White House to crush Iran and it's radical Islamist leadership.
Zarei stated that, "If an opportunity arises, I will punish you personally! For my part, I’d say that whenever I get the opportunity, I will not hesitate for a moment to kill you, and mind you, I am a political official who speaks this diplomatically. The masses of Iranians are waiting for an opportunity to send the murderer and the mastermind of the assassination of the world’s greatest anti-terrorist figure, Haj Qassem, to hell in a glorious manner and worthy of his legacy, God willing!”
The irony of calling Soleimani an "anti-terrorist figure" demonstrates just how diametrically opposed Iran is to western nations.
Zarei continued by saying, "As a member of the Parliament’s National Security Committee and based on rational, patriotic, religious, political, and security realities, I say that the case of Haj Qassem Soleimani’s retribution will never go under the table and is still on the agenda and on the table. Of course, this is the State’s general policy.”
Unlike previous Democrat administrations, the Trump administration will not be making life easy for Iran, especially as they consider the assassination of a sitting U.S. president "general policy."
When Trump signed an executive order against Iran, he stated clearly that in the event of his assassination at Iran's hands, "They would be obliterated. That would be the end. I’ve left instructions. If they do it, they get obliterated; there won’t be anything left."
Whether Iran's hypothetical destruction would be nuclear in nature wasn't made clear but considering Trump's use of the word "obliterated," it's safe to assume that Trump's plans include leaving Iran as an irradiated hellscape.
A federal judge has issued an order to temporarily block the Trump administration’s plan to place thousands of U.S. Agency for International Development employees on leave at midnight.
The decision came after a union of government employees sued the Trump administration to restart operations at USAID and resume the flow of foreign aid frozen by President Trump.
Trump froze USAID's operations after massive fraud and corruption were discovered with the agency distributing billions of taxpayer dollars to obviously fraudulent programs.
Judge Carl Nichols, who was appointed by Trump during his first term, put a hold on the government from placing over 2,000 USAID employees on administrative leave before February 14th.
This sets up a contentious battle between the Trump administration and government unions over purging thousands of workers who have overseen the robbery of the American people for decades.
The lawsuit was brought by the American Foreign Service Association and American Federation of Government Employees who argued that the Trump administration was engaged in an “ongoing, illegal scheme to gut" USAID.
The lawsuit is correct in claiming that Trump's intention is to "gut" USAID but where the lawsuit is incorrect is its assertion that Trump's actions are illegal.
As Trump is the head of the executive branch, he has sweeping powers to make changes to federal agencies and how they are run.
The effort to destroy USAID is being led by the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, which struck without warning by shutting employees out of internal systems and email and recalling thousands of workers to the United States.
Trump himself stated, "When you look at USAID, the whole thing is a fraud. Very little put to good use. Every single line that I look at is either corrupt or ridiculous.
USAID was established in 1961 via executive order by President John F. Kennedy which is part of Trump's defense of shuttering the agency unilaterally. Elon Musk pointed this out in a post to X saying, "Live by executive order, die by executive order."
Countering Musk's point on executive orders is the fact that USAID was codified by Congress in 1998 which sets up a potential battle between Congress and the White House.
However, both the Senate and the House are controlled by the GOP which means that Trump will have their backing in dismantling USAID. Many congressional Republicans have already indicated that they support what Trump is doing to clean up corruption.
Congressional Democrats have vowed to fight for USAID with everything they have. Democrats are so hysterical about the dismantling of USAID that it's worth wondering how many prominent Democrats have been enriched by taxpayer dollars funneled through USAID.