Thursday, January 23, 2025

January 23, 2025

Good morning,

Welcome to the news for independent thinkers

Leading the News . . .

Blitz on illegal immigration underway with troops to border, DOJ investigating sanctuary cities . . . Congress delivered on a major part of President Trump's immigration agenda Wednesday by giving final approval to a bill that requires the Homeland Security Department to detain and try to deport illegal immigrants accused of minor crimes such as shoplifting. Meantime, the Pentagon said Wednesday that it had ordered 1,500 more troops to the border and would provide airlift support to expedite deportations of illegal immigrants. The Coast Guard was recruited to play a deeper role in the battle against illegal immigration, and federal prosecutors were ordered to pursue charges against sanctuary cities. Washington Times

The number of changes Trump is making to federal policy on so many different issues is startling. It's as if the whole world changed back to the way it once was in three days.

Politics

Trump suggests Biden and those he pardoned should be investigated . . . President Donald Trump appeared to suggest Wednesday that former President Joe Biden should be investigated and should even have pardoned himself on the way out of the White House. Trump did not specify what offenses the former president may have committed, only that his predecessor should endure the kind of legal scrutiny he endured before he was reelected. "The funny thing, maybe the sad thing, is he didn't give himself a pardon," Trump said. Politico

Democrats wage confirmation wars as Trump turns up pressure on Senate . . . Senate Democrats are returning to the confirmation wars of 2017 as they attempt to find their footing in a new Republican majority. Democrats are dragging out the confirmation process for several of President Donald Trump's Cabinet nominees, even those with broad support. Washington Examiner

House Passes Revamped Laken Riley Act, Sends Bill To Trump

Trump Order Seeks to Stop Virus Research That Critics Have Linked to Covid . . . The Trump administration is preparing an executive order that would halt federal funding, at least temporarily, for a risky and controversial kind of research into viruses that makes the pathogens more dangerous or contagious. The goal of the order would be to stop scientists with U.S. funding from conducting "gain-of-function" research on viruses that could endanger human health, people familiar with the plans said. Wall Street Journal

Inside the Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy DOGE Divorce . . . People familiar with the situation said Trump's inner circle of aides had become annoyed with Ramaswamy's outspokenness on virtually any topic, a tendency that had also aggravated the Tesla and SpaceX chief executive. The split was also predicated in part by DOGE's increasing attention on achieving spending cuts, which Musk has championed, and less of a focus on cutting regulations and bureaucracy, which had been helmed by Ramaswamy, according to another person familiar with the discussions. Wall Street Journal

Trump taps agent who rushed on stage during Butler assassination attempt, to lead Secret Service . . . President Trump announced Wednesday that he selected Sean Curran, one of the agents who rushed on stage during the Butler, Pa., assassination attempt, to serve as director of the Secret Service in his second term. Trump, 78, touted Curran's 23 years of experience at the Secret Service and his work as assistant special agent in charge of the Presidential Protective Division during his first term. New York Post

Trump: California Shouldn't Get Disaster Money Until They Change Water Policies

House Republicans to Launch Panel Probing Partisan January 6 Committee . . . House Republicans announced they will create a new panel to investigate the actions of partisan January 6 Committee's members, even though President Joe Biden pardoned them Monday. The panel's intention will be to uncover the truth of what occurred at the United States Capitol. The panel will establish a select subcommittee to be chaired by Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-GA) under the House Judiciary Committee, House Speaker Mike Johnson said. Breitbart

Now the hunters are the hunted.

Exhausted and angry, police attacked on Jan. 6 watch pardons and worry . . . Over the last four years, officers such as Dunn and Gonell had testified at trials and before congressional committees, at times facing the very people who made them fear for their lives on Jan. 6, 2021. They endured attacks with hammers, knives, bear spray and law enforcement's own shields as supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol. The officers believed it had become their duty to defend the truth of what they witnessed as politicians sought to dismiss or minimize the attack, which left more than 140 officers wounded. Washington Post

Culture

Mike Lee to Introduce Bill to Repeal Law Weaponized Against Pro-Lifers . . . Sen. Mike Lee will reintroduce a bill Thursday to repeal the FACE Act, which has been weaponized against at least 50 pro-life advocates. Since 2021, the Biden-Harris administration's Justice Department brought criminal or civil cases under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances, or FACE, Act, against pro-lifers who prayed outside abortion clinics and urged women in unplanned pregnancies to choose life. Daily Signal

Senate Dems Block Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act . . . Senate Democrats blocked on Wednesday legislation that aims to protect babies born alive in botched abortions. By a 52-47 vote along party lines, the Republican-led upper chamber failed to invoke cloture on the "Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act." Sixty votes were needed for consideration of the legislation to commence. Daily Wire

National Security

Trump Gives Gun, Drug Agents Deportation Power . . . The Trump administration is attempting to amass a larger force of law-enforcement officials to help carry out deportations by granting agents across the federal government the same powers as an immigration officer, according to an internal memo seen by The Wall Street Journal. The memo, sent by acting Homeland Security Secretary Benjamine Huffman, says DHS is granting immigration-enforcement authority to several agencies at the Justice Department, including the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the U.S. Marshals Service. Wall Street Journal

ICE To Resume Use Of Term 'Alien' And Drop 'Noncitizen' For Foreign Nationals

Money

Economists' forecasts for the Trump Economy . . . Business and academic economists surveyed earlier this month by The Wall Street Journal have lifted their forecasts for inflation and interest rates over the coming years. President Trump won a second term in November promising to crack down on illegal immigration, extend and deepen tax cuts, and raise tariffs on some of the U.S.'s main trading partners. Wall Street Journal

You should also know

Firefighters battle to maintain the upper hand on a huge fire north of Los Angeles . . . Firefighters fought to maintain the upper hand on a huge and rapidly moving wildfire that swept through rugged mountains north of Los Angeles and resulted in more than 50,000 people being put under evacuation orders or warnings. The Hughes Fire broke out late Wednesday morning and in less than a day had charred nearly 16 square miles of trees and brush near Castaic Lake, a popular recreation area about 40 miles from the devastating Eaton and Palisades fires that are burning for a third week. Associated Press

Trump guts Biden's climate agenda in no-holds-barred deluge of pro-fossil fuel executive orders . . . Trump's "energy emergency" includes support for the mining of critical minerals for national security, emergency approvals for energy resources on public lands and facilitating the building of energy infrastructure. In a separate executive order, Trump set forth rules for developing energy resources in Alaska. Another order encourages exploration and production on offshore drilling, a revocation of one of Biden's final anti-fossil fuel actions. Just the News

Trump saves the whales in 'green energy' showdown

Guilty Pleasures

'Drug-addicted rats' destroying evidence in Houston police lockers . . . Police and city officials in Houston said evidence in storage lockers is being destroyed by "drug-addicted rats." Mayor John Whitmire said at a news conference that drugs being stored in evidence lockers are attracting rats that feast on the illicit narcotics and cause damage to other evidence in the process. "We got 400,000 pounds of marijuana in storage that the rats are the only ones enjoying," Whitmire said. UPI

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