Important Takeaways:
- The hearing lasted barely 15 minutes. Hardly bothering to answer protests of Democratic senators, the Republican majority of the Senate Health Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on Thursday morning recommended Linda McMahon to lead the U.S. Department of Education.
- As head of the agency, the executive intends to dismantle it.
- In shutting its programs, or parceling them out to other agencies, McMahon will complete the assignment that President Donald Trump gave when he nominated her: to “send education back to the states.”
- Acting on Trump’s executive orders, the Education Department has already pulled the plug on its diversity programs. It vowed to punish schools that consider race in any operating decision.
- Once in charge, McMahon will shutter department programs not established by statute, and then draft legislation to close what remains.
- At her confirmation hearing Feb. 13, she said that American public schools were a “system in decline.”
- The vote went quickly, 12 to 11, along party lines. With the committee’s approval, McMahon’s nomination will now go for a vote by the full Senate.
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Important Takeaways:
- EMP is generated when a small nuclear weapon, 40 to 60 kilotons or about three times the size of a Hiroshima bomb, is detonated 200 miles out in space above the United States. It sets up an electrostatic discharge, or compton effect, which cascades to the Earth’s surface, feeds into critical infrastructure and cripples the U.S. electrical grid.
- Military historian and expert on EMPs William Forstchen said it’s a serious issue for the country.
- “This is a very real threat,” said Forstchen. “It’s scary to realize too that almost all of our electricity is pumped on systems that are 30 and 40 years old.”
- Congressional reports from 2002 and 2008 stated that 80%-90% of Americans would be dead a year later from an EMP strike.
- “Estimates are that three small weapons like this in the eastern, central and western United States would short off most of the electrical grid,” Forstchen explained.
- Forstchen suggests that the U.S. – and everyday Americans – prepare for the “existential threat” of such an attack.
- “Second, we need a missile defense system that will protect the United States.”
- Since becoming President, Trump has ordered the construction of an advanced missile defense shield similar to Israel’s Iron Dome.
- “Every American citizen should take this seriously and prepare a little bit with a month or two worth of emergency supplies on hand,” said Forstchen.
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Important Takeaways:
- President Donald Trump signed an immigration executive order late Wednesday designed to target sanctuary cities and ensure undocumented immigrants aren’t receiving federal benefits.
- The order directs federal departments and agencies to identify any federal programs providing financial benefits to undocumented immigrants, while in the same breath acknowledging that under the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, undocumented immigrants are already mostly barred from public programs.
- The executive order is vague, but one of the most significant impacts could come from the president’s call for his administration to impose strengthened requirements for how state and local agencies screen people who receive federal benefits
- The president on Wednesday directed the heads of his agencies to ensure that federal funding is not facilitating illegal immigration or “sanctuary policies that seek to shield illegal aliens from deportation.”
- The order will take additional steps from the White House to implement, but it underscores Trump’s desire to deliver on his top campaign priority.
- Within 30 days, Russ Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget, and Vince Haley, the director of the Domestic Policy Council and the administrator of the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency, are tasked with identifying other sources of federal funding for undocumented immigrants, presenting a plan for strengthening eligibility verification system, and referring any findings of improper use of federal benefits to DHS and the DOJ.
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Important Takeaways:
- These migrants are being held in a hotel, where they are receiving medical attention and food as part of a migration agreement between Panama and the US, per Panama’s Security Minister Frank Abrego. However, they are not allowed to leave the hotel while international authorities arrange for their return to their countries of origin.
- A significant challenge arises as more than 40% of these migrants are unwilling to return to their homelands voluntarily.
- The US has been using Panama as a transit country for deportees due to difficulties in deporting individuals directly to certain countries.
- 171 of the 299 deportees have agreed to return to their respective countries with assistance from the International Organization for Migration and the UN Refugee Agency. However, the remaining 128 migrants are still being processed, and efforts are being made to find alternative destinations for them in third countries.
- The Panamanian government has agreed to serve as a “bridge” for deportees, with the US covering all costs of the operation. This agreement was announced earlier this month, following a visit from US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
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Important Takeaways:
- The order forces major regulators such as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to report new policy priorities to the executive branch for approval, which will also have a say over their budgets.
- In a fact sheet, the White House described the move as, “ensuring that all federal agencies are accountable to the American people, as required by the Constitution”.
- “The Order notes that Article II of the US Constitution vests all executive power in the President, meaning that all executive branch officials and employees are subject to his supervision,” the fact sheet said. The order will also apply to the Federal Reserve but will exempt the central bank’s authority over monetary policy.
- The Trump order aligns with campaign promises to make independent agencies accountable to the president and a pledge Vought made in 2023: “What we’re trying to do is identify the pockets of independence and seize them.”
- The move comes as the White House has attempted to fundamentally reshape the US government, including by seizing Congress’s “power of the purse”.
- The administration has argued it can refuse to spend funds allocated by Congress, in defiance of the Impoundment Act of 1974, which explicitly bars the practice.
- The president has also summarily fired the independent watchdogs of government agencies; attempted to end birthright citizenship; dismantled the foreign aid agency USAid; ordered severe cuts to biomedical research funding; and imposed a funding freeze, among the many executive orders made in Trump’s first few weeks in office which contravene congressional authority, and are now being litigated.
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Important Takeaways:
- President Trump wants to create a defensive iron dome over America, similar to the one used by Israel to defend itself against Hamas and Hezbollah rocket attacks.
- Under a new executive order from the president, the Pentagon was given 60 days to come up with an initial plan for defending the country against a wide range of missile attacks.
- “We protect other countries, but we don’t protect ourselves. When Ronald Reagan wanted to do it many years ago we didn’t have the technology, but now we have phenomenal technology,” Trump said in January during a speech at the House Republican Retreat in Florida.
- The order focuses on potential threats, including ballistic, hypersonic, and advanced cruise missiles plus other next-generation aerial attacks. Trump also specified the need for deploying new space-based sensors that would identify, track, and intercept missiles.
- Deterrence is one of the primary goals of the new system – missile defenses that would make enemies question whether their first strike could hit its mark.
- While cost would likely be one of the biggest roadblocks, several Republican lawmakers are already working on a funding package, and Coates points out that freeing up money for projects like this is a big benefit of the work being done by Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
- President Trump is calling for all components of this defense shield to be American-made.
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Important Takeaways:
- “Hamas has just released three Hostages from GAZA, including an American Citizen. They seem to be in good shape!” he wrote. “This differs from their statement last week that they would not release any Hostages.”
- The hostages are all dual citizens of Israel and differing nations. Sagui Dekel-Chen is also an American, Iair Horn is also an Argentinian citizen, and Alexandre Troufanov is also a Russian citizen, CNN reported. They were abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7, 2023, NBC News noted.
- Saturday also reportedly saw Israel release 369 Palestinian prisoners, per NBC News.
- The move meets Israel’s demands for three live hostages to be released on Saturday to prevent an end to the ceasefire.
- Trump said Saturday that he supports whatever decision Israel makes regarding his own ultimatum.
- “Israel will now have to decide what they will do about the 12:00 O’CLOCK, TODAY, DEADLINE imposed on the release of ALL HOSTAGES. The United States will back the decision they make!” Trump added.
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Important Takeaways:
- U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Brooke Rollins told Breitbart News late last week that President Donald Trump and his administration are keenly focused on lowering the price of eggs in the United States and prepared to take any and all actions needed to do so.
- Food prices have continued to rise—the recent economic numbers released earlier this month showed that the inflation that soared under former President Joe Biden was much worse than anyone in Washington realized—including most particularly the price of eggs. The egg industry has been rocked not just by inflation but also avian flu infecting hens nationwide, leading to shortages so bad that some stores are even implementing limits on how many eggs customers can buy.
- I think it’s real important for your audience to understand these egg prices are at an almost 40-year high and that this has been an upward trajectory for a little while. Now, under the four years of Trump, they came back down in ’17, ’18, ’19, and ’20. At least in recent history, those years we had some of the lowest prices on record.”
- “…and why more wasn’t done to address it three years ago, two years ago, one year ago? I’m still trying to figure out. But we’re on it. We’re on it. And we’re going to do everything we can to address it.”
- Asked for more specifics on what USDA might consider in combatting these issues with the dueling threats of inflation and avian flu, Rollins suggested possible biosecurity measures as well as efforts to repopulate farmers’ flocks.
- “…There is a good chance we begin to cool this down over the coming weeks, more likely the coming months, and we’re already in talks with other food producers across the country, but I think it’s important everyone realize there is not a magic wand to be waved here. But there are some things we can do to begin tackling it not just for the next quarter of this year but for the next 10 years and 50 years to ensure this doesn’t happen again.”
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Important Takeaways:
- Rubio and other top U.S. officials arrive in Saudi Arabia ahead of discussions with Russian envoys on how to end the war in Ukraine
- The talks would be “devoted primarily to restoring the entire complex of Russian-American relations,” the Kremlin said, but would also involve preparations for negotiations on the Ukrainian settlement, Russian state news agency TASS said.
- “We’re moving along,” President Trump told reporters in Florida on Sunday of the coming talks. “We’re trying to get peace with Russia, Ukraine, and we’re working very hard on it.”
- Rubio, who was in Jerusalem over the weekend, is also expected to meet with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Monday for discussions on the Middle East. The trip comes as Arab leaders have pushed back against Trump’s plan to move Palestinians out of Gaza, and the prospects for extending the cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas remain in the balance.
- The arrangements for the U.S.-Russia meeting were firmed up following a Friday call between Rubio and Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, which Moscow said was at the initiative of the Americans. The State Department said the two diplomats had discussed “the opportunity to potentially work together on a number of other bilateral issues.”
- Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Lavrov and Yuri Ushakov, a foreign-policy adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin, were heading to Riyadh for the talks.
- The rapid push to convene U.S.-Russian talks followed a call last week between Trump and Putin.
- Trump said the conversation led him to believe Putin wants a settlement. “We spoke long and hard,” Trump said. “Steve Witkoff was with him for a very extended period, like about three hours. I think [Putin] wants to stop fighting.”
- Zelensky said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that Ukraine must be at the table and that it was important that European nations be represented as well.
- The Trump administration’s Ukraine envoy, retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, said at a security conference in Munich on Saturday that he didn’t foresee a direct role for European nations in the talks but that Ukraine would be at the negotiating table when formal peace talks are held.
- Those comments alarmed European officials, who say that the outcome of the Ukraine war is a paramount concern for security on the continent.
- French President Emmanuel Macron is set to host a meeting of European leaders on Monday to discuss the situation in Ukraine and European security. The meeting will include the leaders of Germany, Britain, Italy, Poland, Spain, the Netherlands and Denmark, as well as the secretary-general of NATO, among others.
- In an article for a British daily newspaper Monday, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said for the first time that Britain was ready to put its own troops on the ground in Ukraine should it be necessary to guarantee that country’s security.
- Trump on Sunday said Zelensky would be involved in the talks, though he didn’t say at what stage, and insisted that both the Ukrainian and Russian leaders wanted to end the war.
- “They want to end it fast, both of them, and Zelensky wants to end it too,” he said.
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Important Takeaways:
- President Donald Trump said Thursday that he wants to restart nuclear arms control talks with Russia and China and that eventually he hopes all three countries could agree to cut their massive defense budgets in half.
- Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump lamented the hundreds of billions of dollars being invested in rebuilding the nation’s nuclear deterrent and said he hopes to gain commitments from the U.S. adversaries to cut their own spending.
- “There’s no reason for us to be building brand new nuclear weapons, we already have so many,” Trump said. “You could destroy the world 50 times over, 100 times over. And here we are building new nuclear weapons, and they’re building nuclear weapons.”
- “We’re all spending a lot of money that we could be spending on other things that are actually, hopefully much more productive,” Trump said.
- While the U.S. and Russia hold massive stockpiles of weapons since the Cold War, Trump predicted that China would catch up in their capability to exact nuclear devastation “within five or six years.”
- He said if the weapons were ever called to use, “that’s going to be probably oblivion.”
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