Tense exchange at the White House: Zelensky’s belligerent attitude derails peace deal before they began

Trump Zelensky

Important Takeaways:

  • Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky started a blazing row with Vice President J.D. Vance in the Oval Office during a press conference on a pending minerals deal, prompting President Donald J. Trump to intervene strongly against the Ukrainian leader’s “very disrespectful” behavior.
  • Addressing a question from the press, Vance said that engaging in diplomacy may be “the path to peace and the path to prosperity” before Zelensky cut in to recall the beginnings of Ukraine’s conflict with Russia in 2014 and sarcastically ask him, “What kind of ‘diplomacy,’ J.D., are you asking about?”
  • Vance responded in strong terms, saying it was “disrespectful” to attack the Trump administration in front of the media in this way, while Zelensky continued to snipe at him about his understanding of Ukraine’s problems. President Trump lost patience when Zelensky began lecturing Vance on the negative consequences he would feel if the conflict crossed his “nice ocean.”
  • “Don’t tell us what we’re going to feel. You’re in no position to dictate what we’re going to feel,” Trump warned.
  • “You’re not in a good position. You don’t have the cards right now,” the President continued.
  • Zelensky shot back, saying that he was “not playing cards,” with Trump responding, “You’re playing cards. You’re gambling with the lives of millions of people. You’re gambling with World War III. And what you’re doing is very disrespectful to the country, this country, that’s backed you far more than a lot of people said they should have.”
  • “In this entire meeting, have you said ‘thank you’ once?” Vance asked, recalling how Zelensky campaigned for Kamala Harris in Pennsylvania in 2024.
  • President Trump told Zelensky in no uncertain terms he was “not winning” without American support, praising the bravery of Ukraine’s soldiers but stressing their reliance on American equipment. “Your people are dying. You’re running low on soldiers… And then you say, ‘I don’t want a ceasefire, I don’t want a ceasefire,’” he continued.
  • “I’ve empowered you to be a tough guy, and I don’t think you’d be a tough guy without the United States,” Trump added bluntly. “Your people are very brave, but you’re either going to make a deal, or we’re out.”

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Electric Grid unreliable, inadequate: White House issues a National Emergency Executive Order

Important Takeaways:

  • EXECUTIVE ORDER
  • By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America including the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.) (“NEA”), and section 301 of title 3, United States Code, it is hereby ordered:
  • Section 1.   The energy and critical minerals (“energy”) identification, leasing, development, production, transportation, refining, and generation capacity of the United States are all far too inadequate to meet our Nation’s needs.  We need a reliable, diversified, and affordable supply of energy to drive our Nation’s manufacturing, transportation, agriculture, and defense industries, and to sustain the basics of modern life and military preparedness.  Caused by the harmful and shortsighted policies of the previous administration, our Nation’s inadequate energy supply and infrastructure causes and makes worse the high energy prices that devastate Americans, particularly those living on low- and fixed-incomes.
  • This active threat to the American people from high energy prices is exacerbated by our Nation’s diminished capacity to insulate itself from hostile foreign actors. Energy security is an increasingly crucial theater of global competition.  In an effort to harm the American people, hostile state and non-state foreign actors have targeted our domestic energy infrastructure, weaponized our reliance on foreign energy, and abused their ability to cause dramatic swings within international commodity markets.  An affordable and reliable domestic supply of energy is a fundamental requirement for the national and economic security of any nation.
  • The integrity and expansion of our Nation’s energy infrastructure —- from coast to coast -— is an immediate and pressing priority for the protection of the United States’ national and economic security. It is imperative that the Federal government puts the physical and economic wellbeing of the American people first.
  • Moreover, the United States has the potential to use its unrealized energy resources domestically, and to sell to international allies and partners a reliable, diversified, and affordable supply of energy. This would create jobs and economic prosperity for Americans forgotten in the present economy, improve the United States’ trade balance, help our country compete with hostile foreign powers, strengthen relations with allies and partners, and support international peace and security.  Accordingly, our Nation’s dangerous energy situation inflicts unnecessary and perilous constraints on our foreign policy.
  • The policies of the previous administration have driven our Nation into a national emergency, where a precariously inadequate and intermittent energy supply, and an increasingly unreliable grid, require swift and decisive action. Without immediate remedy, this situation will dramatically deteriorate in the near future due to a high demand for energy and natural resources to power the next generation of technology.  The United States’ ability to remain at the forefront of technological innovation depends on a reliable supply of energy and the integrity of our Nation’s electrical grid.  Our Nation’s current inadequate development of domestic energy resources leaves us vulnerable to hostile foreign actors and poses an imminent and growing threat to the United States’ prosperity and national security.
  • These numerous problems are most pronounced in our Nation’s Northeast and West Coast, where dangerous State and local policies jeopardize our Nation’s core national defense and security needs, and devastate the prosperity of not only local residents but the entire United States population. The United States’ insufficient energy production, transportation, refining, and generation constitutes an unusual and extraordinary threat to our Nation’s economy, national security, and foreign policy.  In light of these findings, I hereby declare a national emergency.
  • [Read more on the White House website]

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Trump signed executive order making independent regulatory agencies established by Congress now accountable to the White House

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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Security clearance removed: John Bolton’s tell-all book ‘rife with sensitive information’ damaged national security

Important Takeaways:

  • Trump on Monday evening signed an executive order that read:
    • National security is also damaged by the publication of classified information. Former National Security Advisor John R. Bolton published a memoir for monetary gain after he was terminated from his White House position in 2019. The book was rife with sensitive information drawn from his time in government. The memoir’s reckless treatment of sensitive information undermined the ability of future presidents to request and obtain candid advice on matters of national security from their staff. Publication also created a grave risk that classified material was publicly exposed.
    • To remedy these abuses of the public trust, this Order directs the revocation of any active or current security clearances held by: (i) the former intelligence officials who engaged in misleading and inappropriate political coordination with the 2020 Biden presidential campaign; and (ii) John R. Bolton.
  • Trump also revoked the security clearances of the 51 former intelligence officials who signed a letter calling the Hunter Biden laptop Russian disinformation — which was used as justification to suppress reports about it just days before the 2020 presidential election.
  • Bolton served as Trump’s third national security adviser, after Gen. (Ret.) Mike Flynn and Lt. Gen. (Ret.) H.R. McMaster.

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From the White House: Laying out Trump’s top priorities

Important Takeaways:

  • MAKE AMERICA SAFE AGAIN
    • President Trump will take bold action to secure our border and protect American communities.
    • This includes ending Biden’s catch-and-release policies, reinstating Remain in Mexico, building the wall, ending asylum for illegal border crossers, cracking down on criminal sanctuaries, and enhancing vetting and screening of aliens.
    • President Trump’s deportation operation will address the record border crossings of criminal aliens under the prior administration.
    • The President is suspending refugee resettlement, after communities were forced to house large and unsustainable populations of migrants, straining community safety and resources.
    • The Armed Forces, including the National Guard, will engage in border security, which is national security, and will be deployed to the border to assist existing law enforcement personnel.
    • President Trump will begin the process of designating cartels, including the dangerous Tren de Aragua, as foreign terrorist organizations and use the Alien Enemies Act to remove them.
    • The Department of Justice will seek the death penalty as the appropriate punishment for heinous crimes against humanity, including those who kill law enforcement officers and illegal migrants who maim and murder Americans.
  • MAKE AMERICA AFFORDABLE AND ENERGY DOMINANT AGAIN
    • The President will unleash American energy by ending Biden’s policies of climate extremism, streamlining permitting, and reviewing for rescission all regulations that impose undue burdens on energy production and use, including mining and processing of non-fuel minerals.
    • President Trump’s energy actions empower consumer choice in vehicles, showerheads, toilets, washing machines, lightbulbs and dishwashers.
    • President Trump will declare an energy emergency and use all necessary resources to build critical infrastructure.
    • President Trump’s energy policies will end leasing to massive wind farms that degrade our natural landscapes and fail to serve American energy consumers.
    • President Trump will withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord.
    • All agencies will take emergency measures to reduce the cost of living.
    • President Trump will announce the America First Trade Policy.
    • America will no longer be beholden to foreign organizations for our national tax policy, which punishes American businesses.
  • DRAIN THE SWAMP
    • The President will usher a Golden Age for America by reforming and improving the government bureaucracy to work for the American people. He will freeze bureaucrat hiring except in essential areas to end the onslaught of useless and overpaid DEI activists buried into the federal workforce. He will pause burdensome and radical regulations not yet in effect that Biden announced.
    • President Trump is announcing an unprecedented slate of executive orders for rescission.
    • President Trump is planning for improved accountability of government bureaucrats. The American people deserve the highest-quality service from people who love our country. The President will also return federal workers to work, as only 6% of employees currently work in person.
    • President Trump is taking swift action to end the weaponization of government against political rivals and ordering all document retention as required by law. President Trump is also ending the unconstitutional censorship by the federal government. No longer will government employees pick and require the erasure of entirely true speech.
    • On the President’s direction, the State Department will have an America-First foreign policy.
  • BRING BACK AMERICAN VALUES
    • The President will establish male and female as biological reality and protect women from radical gender ideology.
    • American landmarks will be named to appropriately honor our Nation’s history.

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Vice President Harris certifies Trump’s victory in joint session of Congress

Harris certifies Trump

Important Takeaways:

  • Vice President Kamala Harris gaveled in Monday’s joint session of Congress as she presided over the certification of Donald Trump’s victory…
  • The 40 electoral votes announced by Texas officially gave him the White House just before 1 p.m. ET, joined by House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and loud applause.
  • When Harris first announced Trump as the next president starting Jan. 20, applause paused her pre-written remarks and forced her to continue after gaveling for attention, certifying her own election loss to Trump.
  • “The votes for president of the United States are as follows: Donald J. Trump of the state of Florida has received 312 votes,” Harris said.
  • “Kamala D. Harris,”… “has received 226 votes,”
  • The official count “shall be deemed a sufficient declaration,” she concluded, for Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance to take their oaths of office Jan. 20
  • Harris ended it with the words, “The chair declares this joint session dissolved.”

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US presumed to be pressuring Israel with a ceasefire deal: Here’s what that would look like

Important Takeaways:

  • Israel’s high-level Security Cabinet is expected to meet Tuesday night to discuss a ceasefire with the terror group Hezbollah. Some analysts believe the White House pressured Israel to accept the deal.
  • Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon announced some of the ceasefire terms.
  • He stated, “So, first, I expect that it will have stages. You know, it’s not going to happen overnight. There will be a few stages, (a) few requirements. You know, the most important condition for us is the withdrawal of Hezbollah, North of the Litani (River). We said it from the beginning, that that will be our goal in this war.”
  • Other terms of the deal include: Israeli forces to pull out of southern Lebanon within 60 days; Hezbollah forces to retreat north of Litani River; the Lebanese Army and the U.N. force known as UNIFIL will ensure Hezbollah withdraws and does not reestablish its presence; a U.S. led enforcement committee will oversee the ceasefire.
  • Israeli leaders suggest there may be a cessation of hostilities with Hezbollah but not the end of the war.
  • According to the agreement, a U.S. letter will guarantee Israel has the freedom to act in Lebanon if Hezbollah attempts to rebuild its military.
  • “But we’re not done yet. Nothing is final until everything is final,” said State Department Spokesman Matthew Miller. “We continue to work to try and get an agreement over the line and we’re hopeful we can get one. But we need both of the parties to get to yes.”

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Whoa! White House green lights gain-of-function research on US soil

Biohazard-Briefcase-Sample-Microscope

Important Takeaways:

  • …formerly illegal gain-of-function research is now fully legal, meaning the bioweapons industry is free to start churning out more plagues like the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19).
  • Entitled “United States Government Policy for Oversight of Dual Use Research of Concern and Pathogens with Enhanced Pandemic Potential,” a new White House document explains how “certain types of federally funded life sciences research on biological agents and toxins” is now legal, including the kind of biological agents and toxins that “when enhanced, have the potential to pose risks to public health, agriculture, food security, economic security, or national security.”
  • The new rules are to replace those established in 2012 and 2014, which at that time did not allow for gain-of-function research to take place on United States soil – back then, gain-of-function was only supposed to take place in China, Ukraine, or elsewhere.
  • Part of the new plan is to have the appropriate federal agencies complete “an interagency review” of the situation in order to “strengthen responsible conduct for biological research” moving forward.
  • “This Policy has also been issued pursuant to Section 2315 of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 (42 U.S.C. § 6627) to achieve consistent review and oversight of life sciences research proposed for federal funding that may be reasonably anticipated to involve the creation, transfer, or use of pathogens with enhanced pandemic potential (PEPPs),” reads the “Purpose” section of the new rules.
  • Everything laid out in the White House document makes gain-of-function research sound important and essential to both the well-being and perpetuity of humanity itself. We know, however, from what happened with COVID that tampering with disease is a recipe for disaster.

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In attempt to push US to lift restrictions on use of American weapons against Moscow, Ukrainian officials will present Biden administration with list of targets

Rescuers-work-at-Russian-missile-strike-REUTERS-Stringer-Reuters

Important Takeaways:

  • Andriy Yermak, the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, and Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, will meet with US officials “to try to concretely convince the White House to lift restrictions on long-range weapons strikes on Russian territory,” the lawmaker said.
  • “They will provide a list of priority targets, without which it will be difficult to change the course of the war in Ukraine’s favor.”
  • Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky once again called for allowing Ukraine to carry out strikes deeper inside Russia and “lifting the restrictions on long-range strikes for Ukraine now,” arguing it would end the war sooner “for Ukraine and the world as a whole.”
  • “We consider strikes deep into Russian territory with American weapons no more provocative than strikes with American weapons on Russian territory near the border,” the Ukrainian lawmaker told CNN. “Both are Russian territory and it makes no difference how deep the targets are.”
  • The Ukrainian seizure of Russian land in Kursk earlier this month injected a fresh wrinkle of uncertainty in what had become a grinding war of attrition with only small incremental gains apparently possible for either side.

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Years later the truth finally comes out: Zuckerberg admits to censorship and pressure to do so from the White House

Zuckerberg-hearing

Important Takeaways:

  • Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg made weighty promises to Congress on Monday ahead of the 2024 election, saying he planned to fight any pressure from the White House to censor content on his social media platform and that he would not donate his controversial “Zuckerbucks” in this year’s election.
  • Zuckerberg said in his most explicit criticisms yet of the Biden White House that senior officials “repeatedly pressured” the tech billionaire’s company to suppress content related to COVID-19 on its Facebook platform in 2021.

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