A new report by the American Principles Project (APP) showed that nearly 70% of fines and enforcement by President Joe Biden's Education Department (ED) targeted Christian and career schools even though less than 10% of students attend these schools.
The report termed enforcement efforts as a "weaponization" of the ED, similar to how other agencies have targeted conservatives and other right-leaning groups.
"While major assaults from agencies like the Department of Justice have taken most of the headlines, we should not ignore similarly corrupt efforts in other agencies as well," APP Policy Director Jon Schweppe said.
"As our report details, the Biden-Harris Department of Education has been engaged in a long-running scheme to punish Christian colleges that are ideologically opposed to the left’s agenda. The unfair targeting of these institutions has been egregious, and it needs to stop immediately," he added.
Two of the largest and most prominent Christian universities, Liberty University and Grand Canyon University faced "larger fines than all of the past seven years combined."
This includes the $2.4 million imposed on Penn State for the Jerry Sandusky sex crimes against students and the $4.5 million imposed on Michigan University for Larry Nassau's crimes against gymnasts, including some Olympic contenders.
GCU is appealing a $37.7 million fine for supposedly misleading students about the cost of its doctoral programs.
Department of Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said in April that he would shut down GCU and called it a "predatory" school that took advantage of first-generation college students.
According to the report, at "least 12 Christian colleges have been the target of excessive penalties or banned from receiving federal student aid; by comparison, no Ivy League school has been the recipient of punitive action by the Office of Enforcement."
"The average fine against a Christian school for a Clery Act violation was $815,000, compared to $228,571 against public and private institutions," it said.
Of course, the Biden administration knows that Christian and career schools are less likely to be on board with its woke agenda, so it's doing everything it can to put those schools out of commission.
GCU recently had to defend its non-profit status in court and was able to successfully do so.
The court ruled unanimously that the ED applied an incorrect standard when denying the school non-profit status. The Arizona Board for Private Postsecondary Education, the Internal Revenue Service, the State of Arizona and the Higher Learning Commission all approved GCU's non-profit status before the ED ruled against it.
On Monday, the federal prosecutor who oversaw the convictions of Sen. Robert Menendez, Jeffrey Epstein's accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, and disgraced cryptocurrency billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried announced his resignation as SDNY's U.S. attorney.
The prosecutor of New York City Mayor Eric Adams and rap superstar Sean “Diddy” Combs, Damian Williams, said, "It has been an honor to serve the American people." He will resign at 11:59 p.m. on Dec. 13, according to a report by CBS News.
The first Black man to fill the prestigious and influential position, Williams, was nominated by President Joe Biden in 2021. Trump has already spoken to his intention to replace the attorney.
The Manhattan U.S. attorney's office, once led by Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani, handles high-profile public corruption, securities fraud, and terrorism crimes.
Williams was instrumental in getting New Jersey's longstanding Democratic senator Robert Menendez convicted of bribery, FTX CEO Bankman-Fried convicted of fraud, and Maxwell convicted of sex trafficking while he was in office.
Adams is facing allegations of bribery and wire fraud, while Combs is facing a variety of counts, including sex trafficking and racketeering. Both individuals are currently awaiting trial. They have both entered not-guilty pleas.
An Iranian man was also under Williams' supervision earlier this year on charges related to a plan to kill then-candidate Trump.
As he announced his resignation, Williams used the term "bittersweet" to describe his time in the office.
“It is bitter in the sense that I am leaving my dream job, leading an institution I love that is filled with the finest public servants in the world," he said.
"It is sweet in that I am confident I am leaving at a time when the Office is functioning at an incredibly high level — upholding and exceeding its already high standard of excellence, integrity, and independence."
Edward Y. Kim, who was Williams' deputy, will take over as acting U.S. attorney once he leaves.
Earlier this month, Trump made public his intention to nominate Jay Clayton, his former head of the Securities and Exchange Commission, to lead the office.
The 2020 candidacy of Trump's nominee Clayton was ultimately withdrawn due to resistance from Democratic senators from New York, Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, as well as the circumstances surrounding the resignation of then-US Attorney Geoffrey Berman.
As he announced Clayton's possible nomination, Trump praised him as "a highly respected business leader, counsel, and public servant."
"Jay is going to be a strong Fighter for the Truth as we Make America Great Again," Trump wrote.
A top aide to Kamala Harris said that internal surveys revealed the VP was never ahead of Trump in the swing states, and that the campaign was relying on hope leading up to the election.
Harris was "surprised" to see herself in the lead according to public polls, according to David Plouffe, who had previously stated that she began the race trailing Trump, as Breitbart News reported.
When asked about the surprise, he attributed it to the release of public surveys in late September and early October that revealed leads that had previously been invisible.
Plouffe, who advised President Barack Obama's successful campaigns in 2008 and 2012 spoke about the race on the Pod Save America podcast on Tuesday.
Internal analytics, Plouffe said, showed Harris tied with Trump in Wisconsin 47-47 and Trump leading in Pennsylvania 48-47.
"I think we were, you know, we were hopeful. I don't know how optimistic we were, but we thought, okay, this is tied," he said.
Also, Plouffe conceded that Harris's debate performance, which they deemed excellent, did not have the desired impact on the margins.
"I think even after the debate, we might have gained what, 0.51. It wasn't a race that moved a lot," he said.
He conceded that turnout was lower than anticipated in some areas but said the campaign had hoped that undecided voters would switch to Harris.
"You know, you've got to have undecided break your way more than your opponents, and you've got to get a little benefit from turnout, which we weren't able to do," he said.
Plouffe conceded there was no progress in the race after spending more than $1 billion on the campaign.
There was a discussion on the reliability of polls after Plouffe made his remarks, considering that the reporting on the polls was so wildly different in a number of outlets and from a number of pollsters leading up to the 2024 presidential election.
Despite repeated criticism from Democrats who felt the polls were too optimistic for Trump, pollster Rasmussen Reports used the news to bolster their claims that their polls were the most accurate.
"Plouffe said the campaign’s internal polling NEVER HAD HER AHEAD OF TRUMP," the poll company wrote on X, highlighting results. "You mean, internally, it looked something like - this?"
"Plouffe said the campaign’s internal polling NEVER HAD HER AHEAD OF TRUMP."
You mean, internally, it looked something like - this? https://t.co/iGKub3d6iE pic.twitter.com/2dbmP92Es1
— Rasmussen Reports (@Rasmussen_Poll) November 27, 2024
A video from 2019 gave details of soon-t0-be First Lady Melania Trump's diet, including her habit of eating seven pieces of fruit per day.
The video from Inside Edition said that Trump drinks a smoothie for breakfast as part of her "healthy and simple" diet.
The smoothie is a combination of spinach, carrots, blueberries, apple juice and fat-free yogurt.
Other than the smoothie, her favorite fruits are apples and peaches.
The video said she sometimes eats dark chocolate and ice cream, but pays attention to "portion sizes."
She also likes to eat at the Trump International Hotel when in New York, and her favorite meal was Chicken Parmesan, which is no longer on the current menu there.
When her husband was in office, she kept up the garden started by Michelle Obama and children often visited it.
She told them about healthy eating and encouraged them to eat their fruits and vegetables.
Trump is reportedly trying to get her husband to eat healthier and reform his bad eating habits that include McDonald's and Kentucky Fried Chicken.
She and incoming Health and Human Services Secretary nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr. have been telling him to eat more lean proteins, salads and veggies, some sources told Page Six.
They even say she has been cooking healthy meals for him and their son Barron at Trump Tower where Barron lives while attending New York University.
But others say that Trump still eats whatever he wants, including fancy favorites like steak, crab, shrimp, and cobb salad.
"Melania famously watches every bite she takes" and has "guided their son's eating habits since he was a toddler," the source said.
She also gets spa treatments and works out regularly, according to reports.
Se. Eric Schmitt (R-MO) called on Sunday for all the DOJ employees who worked on Trump indictments to be fired in the interest of accountability for using government resources to try to keep President-elect Donald Trump off the ballot.
“You saw all these cases resurrected. They all fell apart under the weight of the law,” Shmitt said on NBC's "Meet the Press." “And so I do think there needs to be accountability. I think that getting it back to crime fighting is important, but there has to be accountability for these kinds of abuses.”
Schmitt was then asked whether he was referring to the removal of special prosecutor Jack Smith or something more.
“I think accountability means, first and foremost, the people involved with this should be fired immediately,” he said. “And anybody a part of this, this effort to keep President Trump off the ballot, and to throw him in jail for the rest of his life because they didn’t like his politics, and to continue to cast him as a ‘threat to democracy,’ was wrong, and so we’ll see where that goes.”
“But I just don’t think in this country, unless we want to be a banana republic, I don’t want to see that happen. You can’t have the Justice Department abused in this way,” Schmitt added.
As everyone should know at this point, Trump was indicted four separate times, and two of those prosecutions were by the DOJ under President Joe Biden.
All of the indictments against him have either been suspended or dismissed since he won the 2024 election.
The New York case that found him guilty of 34 counts of falsifying financial documents was scheduled for sentencing on November 18, but DA Alvin Bragg asked last week for sentencing to be postponed indefinitely.
Schmitt also praised Attorney General nominee Pam Bondi, who replaced Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) after he withdrew from contention following allegations that he had solicited sex from a minor (which he adamantly denies).
Bondi will end the "weaponization" of the DOJ, Schmitt said.
Trump has vowed to gut the unelected "deep state," and House Republicans have been working toward this goal with their select committee on the weaponization of government since gaining the majority two years ago.
Ending the ability of the deep state or any administration to use lawfare against an opponent would be a big step back from what many feel is the edge of banana republic status for the U.S.
Bondi was one of Trump's lawyers during his first impeachment trial and served as Florida attorney general until 2019.
She vowed last year to prosecute the prosecutors that indicted Trump.
Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte has threatened to assassinate the President and the House of Representatives speaker if she is killed.
The shocking statement from Duterte came as she and Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. have had a bitter fallout over the last two years over major policy differences and now Duterte is escalating tensions exponentially.
Duterte's threat has been referred to the elite presidential guards force “for immediate proper action," but it remains to be seen if actions will be taken against Duterte.
President Marcos’ security has been beefed up and the government is considering the vice president's “brazenly" and "public” threat a national security issue.
Presidential security reportedly is “coordinating with law enforcement agencies to detect, deter, and defend against any and all threats to the president and the first family," to ensure that all parties threatened by the Vice President are safe.
Relations between Duterte and Marcos have been on the decline since the pair won a decisive electoral victory in 2022, ironically on a platform promoting national unity.
The pair quickly fell into infighting over how to handle China’s aggressive actions in the disputed South China Sea and Duterte ended up resigning as Marcos's education secretary and head of an anti-insurgency body in June.
Since then, Duterte has been ramping up attacks on Marcos and his allies accusing them of corruption, incompetence and politically persecuting the Duterte family.
Sara Duterte is the daughter of former President Rodrigo Duterte, an infamous figure who became internationally recognized for his brutal crackdown on drug users and traffickers.
Marcos and his allies in the House of Representatives recently ordered the arrest of Duterte's chief of staff for allegedly hampering a congressional inquiry into the possible misuse of Duterte's budget as vice president and education secretary.
By all accounts, it appears that each side is engaged in political lawfare, much like what President-elect Donald Trump has been dealing with for years. With how bad things have gotten, Duterte is fearing for her life which has led to her threats against her enemies.
Following the arrest of her chief of staff, Duterte held a press conference where she stated, "Don’t worry about my security because I’ve talked with somebody. I said ‘if I’m killed, you’ll kill BBM, Liza Araneta and Martin Romualdez. No joke, no joke.'"
Filipino legal code contains provisions that make such statements like Duterte's possibly criminal but that remains to be seen if charges will be brought against her.
As for the international community, the situation in the Philippines remains closely watched. Some fear civil war could break out as Duterte and Marcos continue to splinter and amplify threats against each other.
Military Chief General Romeo Brawner issued a statement saying that the 160,000-member Armed Forces of the Philippines will remain uninvolved and respect democratic institutions, but there is reason to be concerned that that could change.
Melania Trump, the wife of President-elect Donald Trump, has announced that she is appointing her longtime aide Hayley Harrison as her Chief of Staff.
Melania will begin her second stint as First Lady of the United States in January when Donald Trump is sworn into his 2nd term as the 47th President of the United States.
Melania Trump issued a statement praising Harrison stating that she "has maintained an integral role and exceptional leadership on the First Lady’s team over the past seven years.”
The statement continued saying, "She has a strong understanding of White House operations, and as Chief of Staff, Mrs. Harrison will oversee and manage the East Wing’s team while strategically liaising with other parts of government."
Melania Trump is set for a big role in the White House as she is no longer primarily concerned with raising her son, Barron Trump, who has now graduated high school and is going to college. Harrison will play a key role in aiding Melania in her plans.
Now that she has more time for herself and her plans, Melania Trump is set to have an impactful time as she is once again America's First Lady.
Insiders have confirmed reports that Melania Trump will likely not be living full-time in Washington D.C. at the White House. She still plans on being very active but will likely be splitting time between D.C. and Mar-a-Lago in Florida.
Melania Trump has done things differently than her predecessors as she has kept a smaller staff and taken up less space in the White House.
During an appearance on Fox News, Melania stated that she is "not anxious because this time is different. I have much more experience and much more knowledge."
No amount of experience could have prepared Melania Trump for what she would experience in her first term as First Lady in her husband's historic first term.
It was open season for the Trump family after the 2016 presidential election and Melania Trump was torn between her duties as First Lady and protecting her family, especially her young teenage son. Now Melania is ready to take on the nastiness that will only intensify in the coming years.
Melania Trump was busy pushing initiatives to combat cyberbullying during her first term as First Lady especially after Barron Trump was attacked by leftists who speculated that he was autistic because of his quiet nature.
She will likely continue those efforts with an added emphasis on combatting political violence thanks to the attacks on her family from the left.
Melania Trump has already sent strong messages on these issues as she turned down a transition meeting invitation from First Lady Jill Biden and directly called out the Biden family for their attacks on the Trump family.
Melania is going to be doing things differently and will be throwing punches just like her husband will be for the next four years. She will need a dedicated and strong team around her and that will begin with Harrison.
The Biden administration acted like it was cracking down on illegal immigration before the election, but now, it seems to be quietly loosening all of the restrictions and trying to get as many migrants into the country as possible.
In New York City, Biden plans to start using an ICE Portal app that will allow illegal immigrants to skip in-person meetings and just check in online.
Sources at the DHS say the software is not reliable and often glitches, allowing migrants to escape authorities.
In addition, the app does not check for previous arrests or outstanding warrants, which is part of the in-person check-in process.
Another initiative from the administration allows migrants to contest orders to be tracked electronically while they wait for their asylum hearings.
In reality, most of the migrants that have been let in by the Biden administration don't qualify for asylum and could quickly have been evaluated and turned away at the border.
But that wouldn't accomplish the administration's goals to bring in millions of new potential Democrat voters--if they could have gained enough power to give them amnesty and make them citizens as they hoped to do.
Trump's election has thrown a monkey wrench into their plans and they are scrambling to make it as hard as possible for him to deport all the illegal immigrants they let in over the last four years.
“A lot of lawsuits get filed, maybe frivolously, but it just kind of stalls what the administration wants to do,” one DHS source said.
“This is an obstructionist transition,” former acting Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Mark Morgan said.
“What they’re trying to do in the last final day, they’re going to try to put up as many roadblocks and obstacles and throw as many grenades as they can on their way out.”
In New York, the ICE office is already "fully booked through October 2032" for appointments to process migrants, and many of them are now roaming the streets freely with no supervision.
A source familiar with the administration's plans said, "What it is doing is creating a lot of burdensome administrative paperwork justifying what they’re doing now. I can tell you a lot of employees would just look at this is this is too much work. Most cases, they’ll just terminate them from the program and not have to go through the appeal process."
Trump is adamant about fixing the crisis, despite these challenges. We will see what the next four years bring.
The news that Vince and Linda McMahon are no longer together was recently disclosed in a Washington Post article that was published this morning.
The article was a profile of Linda McMahon. In a statement, Laura Brevetti, who represents Mrs. McMahon, confirmed the news of the couple's separation, as The Daily Mail reported.
The news that President-elect Trump had declared that he had selected Ms. McMahon as his choice for Secretary of Education in his upcoming cabinet came just a few hours after the announcement was made public.
Neither of the McMahons has ever made a public announcement regarding their marriage or their divorce before.
According to a report that appeared in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter in 2022, Vince and Linda had separated but had not ended their marriage. Neither of the McMahons made any comments regarding the report at that time.
With the exception of the initial confirmation, no other information was provided concerning the separation, nor was it specified how long the McMahons have been apart together.
From 1980 to 2009, Linda McMahon served as the Chief Executive Officer of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). Prior to that, she was the administrator of the Small Business Administration during the first Clinton administration, starting in 2017. She resigned from her position in 2019 to take the helm of America First Action, a super PAC that supports Trump.
McMahon is also the chairperson of the America First Policy Institute, which is a think organization that supports Trump.
TKO Group Holdings was formerly led by Vince McMahon, who also served as the company's Executive Chairman. In January, after a lawsuit that had been filed by Janel Grant became public, he resigned from his position at the corporation.
Grant, who worked for WWE between the years of 2019 and 2022, has filed a lawsuit against Mr. McMahon, John Laurinaitis, and the entertainment business as a whole.
All of the charges have been refuted by Mr. McMahon. In addition, Mr. Laurinaitis has indicated that he was a victim and has denied any misconduct that may have occurred.
McMahon was nominated by President-elect Donald Trump for the position of Secretary of Education in a statement issued just days ago.
“It is my great honor to announce that Linda McMahon, former Administrator of the Small Business Administration, will be the United States Secretary of Education," the President-elect wrote in a statement, posted to his Truth Social account.
"For the past four years, as the Chair of the Board at the America First Policy Institute (AFPI), Linda has been a fierce advocate for Parents’ Rights, working hard at both AFPI and America First Works (AFW) to achieve Universal School Choice in 12 States, giving children the opportunity to receive an excellent Education, regardless of zip code or income. As Secretary of Education, Linda will fight tirelessly to expand ‘Choice’ to every State in America, and empower parents to make the best Education decisions for their families.”
On Monday, during his last Group of 20 summit, the departing American president showed up for a family photo with other world leaders—only to discover that someone else had taken the shot.
A number of world leaders, including Xi Jinping of China, Narendra Modi of India, and Keir Starmer of the United Kingdom, were present and took part in the customary summit set piece, which included smiling and linking hands, as Breitbart News reported.
The blunder in Rio de Janeiro, according to a high-ranking American official, was due to problems with logistics.
“Due to logistical issues, they took the family photo early before all the leaders had arrived. So a number of leaders weren’t actually there when they took the photo,” said the senior official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Before the shot was taken, Biden was nowhere to be seen. Reporters and photographers started scrambling to find him.
Along with Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, he was caught by one cameraman hiding behind a palm tree close by. Meloni and Trudeau were also absent from the picture.
The insider said, "It was just simply logistical issues" when asked if Biden purposefully avoided posing next to Sergei Lavrov, Russia's foreign minister, for the photo.
During Sunday's opening session of the summit, Biden discussed his upcoming resignation as president.
“As you know, this is my last G20 summit. We’ve made progress together, but I urge you to keep going -- and I’m sure you will, regardless of my urging or not,” he told fellow leaders.
On Monday, a senior aide said many nations were expecting President-elect Donald Trump's different global leadership, but Biden remains in charge.
“We have a system, fundamentally, that’s predicated on one president at a time,” said Jon Finer, deputy national security adviser. “President Biden is that president; he will be handing off power in January, and it will be up to a new administration to decide what to do with it.”
In his own words, Biden acknowledged the limited time he has left in office on Sunday.
“It’s no secret that I’m leaving office in January,” he said. “I will leave my successor and my country a strong foundation to build on, if they choose to do so.”
Attendees at the G20 conference include the top officials from 19 member nations and two regional organizations: the EU and the African Union.
The member nations comprise over two-thirds of the global population, about 85% of the global GDP, and over 75% of global trade, as stated by the forum.
In the wake of the Asian financial crisis in 1999, the G20 was formed to provide a platform for central bank officials and ministers of finance to deliberate on ways to stabilize the global economy.
Over time, it transformed into a summit of world leaders.