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Living up to the meaning of "efficiency," as in the federal Department of Government Efficiency, the agency's chief, Elon Musk, posted on X today that every federal employee from now on is to send in weekly reports addressing "what they got done last week."

And those employees not in the mood to write such a report are at risk of losing their jobs. Says Musk, "Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation."

That certainly could quickly reduce the number of federal employees on the taxpayer-supported payroll.

Musk's demand falls in line with similar attempts for the Trump administration to hold federal employees accountable – not only for what they do but for where they work and how they spend billions of government dollars.

The billionaire DOGE boss made a splash yesterday at the the annual CPAC event outside Washington, D.C., hoisting a chainsaw given him by visiting President Javier Milei, the popular libertarian leader who has slashed spending in Argentina.

Also today, Trump wrote on Truth Social that though Musk is "doing a great job," but should be "more aggressive."

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

A federal judge has given President Donald Trump permission to proceed with a plan to remove thousands of workers in what used to be known as the U.S. Agency for International Development from their posts.

USAID was one of Trump's first targets in his fulfillment of his campaign promise to attack waste, fraud and corruption in federal spending.

The agency had thousands of employees who essentially handed out U.S. tax money for foreign projects, including some that have been revealed to be egregious wastes, such as DEI theatrical productions and LGBT comic books.

Lawsuits followed Trump's order that a few select responsibilities and a few selected employees be transferred to the State Department, with the rest of the duties and workers to be dismissed.

Now, a report in Newsweek reveals, U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols has lifted a temporary block and is permitting the administration to "significantly downsize" the agency staff.

"The decision includes ordering those stationed abroad to return to the U.S. within 30 days at government expense, leaving only a small fraction of staff in place," the report said.

Unions, facing the loss of hundreds or thousands of members and the dues they would have been paying sued, claiming the quick dismantling over the agency left workers without emergency communications.

Nichols said, however, the unions' legal challenge must be addressed under federal employment laws rather than through district court litigation.

A report at CBS explained the decision clears the way "for the president to resume his efforts to overhaul the agency as part of his plans to slash the size of the federal government."

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

President Donald Trump has listed foreign criminal gangs for designation as terrorist organizations, as he promised he would do in his campaign to crack down on illegal drug smuggling and human trafficking through America's borders.

And Department of Government Efficiency Elon Musk made a pointed observation: "That means they're eligible for drone strikes."

The government announcement specifically listed "Tren de Aragua, MS-13, Sinaloa Cartel, Jalisco New Generation Cartel, United Cartels, Northeast Cartel, Gulf Cartel, Michoacán Family."

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

An investigation is being launched into those responsible for America's disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan under Joe Biden's watch.

It cost the lives of 13 American soldiers. It involved the abandonment of hundreds of Americans and thousands of U.S. supporting nationals at the time. It involved the abandonment by Biden of billions of dollars of American war machinery that was taken over by the Taliban.

And it handed Afghanistan, only days later, back to the terror-linked Taliban.

It is Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth who said accountability to coming for those responsible.

A report at Breitbart explained Hegseth already has picked investigators.

"We've already identified folks that'll be in charge of that full investigation inside the Pentagon. … I don't have a timeframe on it. Sadly, we've already waited two-and-a-half years, three years since what occurred. I don't want to wait longer, but I always want to get it right."

When Biden ordered with abrupt withdrawal, a suicide bombing in response at Kabul's airport killed 13 American service members.

"In addition, hundreds of Americans were left behind, despite the administration touting the withdrawal as successful and bragging about conducing the largest withdrawal in history. On its way out, the U.S. military conducted a strike meant to target the suicide bomber, but ended up killing an aid worker and his family instead. Then-Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley touted it as a 'righteous strike,'" the report explained.

Hegseth said his goal is to reveal the "chains of events, information, what happened. Why did it happen? Who made the decision? What was the reason they made that decision? Why did they give advice or not give advice? Why did they execute an order a certain way? Did they speak up when they were supposed to or not? I don't think there's anybody that feels like there's been an honest accounting of what happened in Afghanistan."

A commentary at Twitchy pointed out that at that time, "Biden decided he needed a big win. In July, he began a chaotic, unorganized, and rushed withdrawal from Afghanistan to be able to celebrate 'ending the war' before the anniversary."

The result, it explained, "Thirteen American soldiers killed at Abbey Gate. Hundreds of Americans stranded in Afghanistan, abandoned by the Biden administration. Even more Afghanis who were American allies during the war left to the tender mercies of the Taliban. And almost $100 billion in cash and U.S. military hardware left behind for the Taliban to pick up and parade around for the world to see."

It pointed out that Biden's approval rating plunged, and "never recovered."

Infamously, Biden, when the American soldiers were brought home in caskets, stared at his watch.

The report said, "Justice is coming. Answers are coming. Coming for so many people, but mostly for Sgt. Johanny Rosario Pichardo, Sgt. Nicole L. Gee, Staff Sgt. Darin T. Hoover, Cpl. Hunter Lopez, Cpl. Daegan W. Page, Cpl. Humberto A. Sanchez, Lance Cpl. David L. Espinoza, Lance Cpl. Jared M. Schmitz, Lance Cpl. Rylee J. McCollum, Lance Cpl. Dylan R. Merola, Lance Cpl. Kareem M. Nikoui, Navy Corpsman Maxton W. Soviak, and Staff Sgt. Ryan C. Knauss."

Afghanistan was one of the Democrat failures mentioned by Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., during an interview. And he advised his Democrat colleagues on how to fix things:

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

It's true that Joe Biden created a border crisis for America, with impacts that will ripple for years as millions of illegal aliens now are in the country, while in office.

He turned health care on its head by demanding absolute pursuit of abortion and transgender ideologies.

The economy: Inflation was as high as 9.1% under his leadership.

Besides the damage inflicted on America as a whole, he left his own Democrat party in a shambles.

But one member of Congress is liking the idea that he took 40% of his presidency as vacation, wondering just what damage would have happened had he worked those days.

It is the New York Post that reported, "Joe Biden's time as president was truly a sleeper."

The report notes Biden, 82, "took more time off than any other U.S. president in modern history, spending 577 of his 1,463 days in office – or 39% of his presidency — on vacation."

The numbers for Biden, and other presidents, were from the Republican National Committee.

"The average American — who gets 11 paid vacation days a year — would have to work 52 years to rack up as much down time as Biden scored in his four years," the report said.

George H.W. Bush took off 543 days for 37% of his presidency, and George W. Bush took off 1,020 days during two terms, for 35% of his presidency. Donald Trump took off 381 days during his first term, for 26%. Bill Clinton took 345 days for 12% and Barack Obama and Ronald Reagan each took 11%. Jimmy Carter took 5%.

"Considering how awful his misguided policies were and the various crises they created, from the border to inflation, imagine the damage he would have done if he worked every day?" charged Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., "I'm not sure if we should be mad or thankful he worked so little."

While Biden took a jaw-dropping 23 straight days off, Aug. 8, to Sept. 2, he was busy during the last few weeks of his presidency, issuing pardons to thousands, including convicted murderers and rapists and a long list of his own family members.

RNC spokesman Zach Parkinson pointed out that now, Biden is "on a permanent vacation."

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Tom Homan, the border czar for President Donald Trump, gave an ominous warning to drug cartels in America and other nations Sunday, saying the U.S. would "wipe them off the a face of the Earth."

"We'll bring the weight of the world on them," Homan said on "Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo" on the Fox News Channel.

"President Trump will wipe them off the face of the Earth by the time he's done."

"Look, the drug cartels are like a a Fortune 500 company. Some of these drug cartels, they're operating in 43 nations, 43 different countries around the globe.

"They used to be back in my day when I was an agent, they were responsible for smuggling drugs into the United States, into our major cities and just distributed by local gangs. Now they have the footprint in every major city in this nation. They have taken over the distribution channels within the United States.

"They have a strong foothold here, and that's why we're concentrating on drug cartels, we're concentrating on TDA, Tren de Aragua. I'm not going to be happy until every single one of Tren de Aragua is out of this country. They need to be eradicated along with MS-13.

"This is why President Trump, again, he proves every day why he's the greatest president in my lifetime. He designated them terrorist organizations. Why did he do that? Because they've killed more American than every terrorist organization in the world combined. They're killed thousands of journalists and law enforcement in Mexico, they're killed thousands of citizens.

"They're acting like a terrorist organization. They've killed more Americans than any terrorist organization, so President Trump did the right thing. Designate them terrorists organizations. We'll bring the weight of the world on them. President Trump will wipe them off the face of the Earth by the time he's done.

Bartiromo asked if that designation of "terrorist organizations" is a key factor in getting tougher on the cartels. Homan replied: "Absolutely."

"Look what the president's done in just the first month of him being in office. Illegal crossings on the border are down 90%. 90% in just a matter of a couple weeks. And what does that that mean?"

"It means … less people are dying crossing the border. Less Americans are dying from fentanyl overdoses. Less women and children are being sex-trafficked across that border, less terrorists are getting in.

"President Trump has taken incredible action on the border. We're already at a high state of security at the southern border. We're arresting twice as many illegal alien criminals that Biden did.

"We're on lightning speed to doing what the president promised the American people he would do."

Bartiromo asked Homan about U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., conducting webinars to explain to illegal immigrants how to evade arrests by federal officials.

AOC had said of Homan: "Maybe he can learn to to read. The Constitution would be a good place to start."

Homan responded: "I had to educate her during congressional testimony that entering the country illegally is a crime. So, whatever. What she needs to do is read the statutes enacted by Congress. Title VIII United States code 1324, United States — title VIII United States code 1324 and 25, that's what she needs to read. Because it's illegal to enter this country. It's a crime to enter this country illegally. Not only that, when you harbor and conceal and impede law enforcement, that's a felony. So what she's doing, she says she's educating people of their constitutional rights. …

"What she's really doing, you and I and the rest of the country know, she's trying to teach them how to evade law enforcement. Now I just said right out of the gate we're concentrating on public safety threats, national security threats. So she's educating those in the country illegally with a significant criminal conviction, public safety threat, don't open your door, don't talk to ICE, here's how you evade law enforcement.

"Let's hope she's not educating the next person who gets out and murders a young college student in Georgia. I mean these are bad people we're looking for. So she can call it education all she wants, but we all know it's about evading law enforcement.

"These people have been ordered removed, the people we're looking for now have final orders. They're criminals. They're in the country illegally. A judge has ordered them removed. They've become a fugitive and these are the folks she's helping? So I've asked the Department of Justice to look at this. "

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

WASHINGTON — President Trump on Thursday ordered his team to research and investigate new tariffs.

"Whatever countries charge the United States of America, we will charge them," the president declared.

The newly assigned task force will take into account the taxes other nations charge on imports, and myriad factors that the president claims are not fair toward the United States.

Trump's directive to his advisers formally begins an investigation into what tariffs will be the most fair to the United States on a by-country basis. This process, expected to last until April, will ignite global negotiations as foreign nations seek to avoid unfavorable trade terms. The president signaled he's open to using these reciprocal tariffs as a starting point toward trade negotiations.

One such tariff negotiation has already proven effective. Reports over the last few days indicate that the European Union will lower taxes on U.S. auto imports to be even with its charges on exports.

"They were approximately five times higher, and they lowered them down to what we're paying," said Trump.

The White House estimated the tariffs could produce about $1 trillion in new revenue each year.

As dealmaker-in-chief, Trump is delivering on a campaign promise to correct areas where he says foreign nations have taken advantage of the U.S. economy. In the process, the president hopes that high tariffs will encourage companies to bring back manufacturing jobs to the United States. One of the manufacturing industries that the administration aims to bring back with these tariffs is the making of semiconductor chips, a key component in automobiles.

"Taiwan took our chip business away. And we want that business back," Trump said. "[Reciprocal tariffs are] going to bring chips back to our country."

One area where the president will likely need to negotiate is China. With the U.S. eyeing a purchase of TikTok, China may use economic leverage to get a favorable deal for the ByteDance-owned app and its proprietary algorithm. Trump indicated he's open to giving China and the U.S. companies interested in TikTok more time to come to a deal.

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

The war on ordinary American appliances, dishwashers, toilets, washing machines, even light bulbs, is over.

So explains President Donald Trump.

"I am hereby instructing Secretary Lee Zeldin to immediately go back to my Environmental Orders, which were terminated by Crooked Joe Biden, on Water Standards and Flow pertaining to SINKS, SHOWERS, TOILETS, WASHING MACHINES, DISHWASHERS, etc., and to likewise go back to the common sense standards on LIGHT BULBS, that were put in place by the Trump Administration, but terminated by Crooked Joe. I look forward to signing these Orders. THANK YOU!"

Leftists have, in recent years, insisted on imposing drastic new standards for a variety of common household helps, critics say, to the point that washing machines no longer cleaned clothes with one cycle, toilets had to be flushed several times, and dishwashers had to run for hours to complete that chore.

Lee Zeldin is the chief of the Environmental Protection Agency and now is in a position to erase extreme demands that had been imposed under the Joe Biden regime.

Biden's vast repertoire of green energy demands also included efficiency demands for gas stoves and water heaters that effectively banned many products.

The move is the latest by Trump, since he returned to the White House, to clean up the mess created by the regulations.

He's also moved to scrap Biden's fuel economy standards for vehicles and stopped funding for Biden's electric car agenda, including a charging station network that was given billions and left behind only a handful of units.

Trump also, by signing an executive order, sought to "unleash" the "affordable and reliable energy and natural resources" in America, to make in an energy powerhouse, and even exporter.

"In recent years, burdensome and ideologically motivated regulations have impeded the development of these resources, limited the generation of reliable and affordable electricity, reduced job creation, and inflicted high energy costs upon our citizens," Trump stated in that decision.

"These high energy costs devastate American consumers by driving up the cost of transportation, heating, utilities, farming, and manufacturing, while weakening our national security."

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

The White House has announced that it is giving the AP "space" in the Oval Office and on Air Force One to others because the legacy wire service has refused to go along with President Donald Trump's legal name change of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.

And the fact that the White House under President Donald Trump said it would call out and oppose lies pushed by the media, a promise it has already kept several times.

The wire service has fought back, claiming the move violates the First Amendment, but actually, it can continue, under the First Amendment, to report what it wants, and the First Amendment does not bestow a special "right" to access to the Oval Office or Air Force One for a specific group or person.

Ordinary citizens, in fact, are not allowed in White House press briefings, nor in Oval Office news events.

A statement from the press office said, "The Associated Press continues to ignore the lawful geographic name change of the Gulf of America. This decision is not just divisive, but it also exposes the Associated Press' commitment to misinformation.

"While their right to irresponsible and dishonest reporting is protected by the First Amendment, it does not ensure their privilege of unfettered access to limited spaces, like the Oval Office and Air Force One. Going forward, that space will now be opened up to the many thousands of reporters who have been barred from covering these intimate areas of the administration. Associate Press journalists and photographers will retain their credentials to the White House complex.:"

The statement was from Taylor Budowich, White House deputy chief of staff.

It was the Daily Caller News Foundation that earlier reported when CNN senior political commentator Scott Jennings poked fun at AP for "not dealing in reality" over the issue.

"We have a lawful process in this country for changing the name of it, the president went through it with the Secretary of Interior [Doug Burgum] by the way … We also have the ability to change this body of water," Jennings said. "I think, look, this smacks to me of a news organization looking for a way to pick a fight with Donald Trump over something that they don't need to pick a fight over. He is the president and there is a lawful process that he went through to do it, so why won't they just respect that?"

He continued, ""Why would I respect a news organization that doesn't live in reality?"

The AP complained about the White House's decision to bar them from the Oval Office, saying it "severely impedes the public's access to independent journalism."

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said during a Wednesday press briefing that reporting on-the-ground in the Oval Office is a "privilege," and any outlets telling lies will "be held accountable."

The report noted, "The AP is among several corporate media outlets that raked in millions of dollars from the federal government, including a $19,502,333 contract from the U.S. Agency for Global Media (AGM), stretching from 2017 to 2022.

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

Congress has begun working on a plan that would ban flying flags other than Old Glory on public buildings.

A proposal has been made by Rep. Diana Harshbarger, R-Tenn., called the One Flag For All Act, after the now-gone administration of Joe Biden prominently featured the leftist ideology-advancing LGBT emblem on the White House in a place where the Stars and Stripes normally reigns.

A report in the Washington Examiner said the congressional action comes on the heels of President Donald Trump's "One Flag Policy" that instructs the State Department to ban flags representing Black Lives Matter, LGBT pride, or any other emblems of leftist ideologies from flying over U.S. government buildings anywhere in the world.

That is an executive order that could be reversed by a future leftist occupant of the Oval Office. The congressional action would embed the standard into the federal law, which is more difficult to change.

The report explained, "Harshbarger's bill, also supported by Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., in the Senate, has a higher probability of becoming law now that Trump is in the White House. The bill was not taken up for a vote during the 118th Congress, but the policy was tucked into appropriations legislation in March 2024 for State Department facilities."

The report Harshbarger's legislation is broader, and covers all federal buildings, banning most flags with exceptions for the National League of Families POW/MIA flag, member of Congress's state flags, flags representing a branch of the armed forces, and flags representing a visiting diplomat's or representative's nation.

Trump, during his first term, had declined requests from various embassies to prioritize the LGBT flag over the American flag, but Joe Biden promptly allowed those promotions to be done at taxpayer expense.

"The Left is never going to stop at anything to do what they think is right," Harshbarger said. "So if you get this codified into legislation, this bill will keep — the only thing you can fly on things like federal public buildings will be the American flag."

She continued, "This flag represents our great nation's core values of liberty, freedom, and patriotism, and it's a symbol that everyone understands and they're proud — if you're an American, you should be proud when you see that flag."

Nearly two dozen other representatives already have co-sponsored the plan.

Biden had started promoting the LGBT flag over Old Glory almost as soon as he got into the White House. He boasted how "transgender Americans make our Nation more prosperous, vibrant, and strong."

Kamala Harris joined in:

Biden, in fact, tried multiple times to simply redefine the word "sex" in existing non-discrimination laws to make it mean "gender identity" or "gender preference" to impose his pro-transgender beliefs. His claim was that lawmakers back in the 1960s and 1979s when many nondiscrimination requirements were created, specifically intended to include transgender protections under their idea of equal treatment for the sexes.

According to the science, being male or female is embedded in the human body down to the DNA level, and does not change.

Trump, on taking office, recognized that, stating that the federal government's recognition now will be of two sexes, male and female.