Pre statement declarations of honesty are only made by people who 1) aren't about to say something honest, or 2) are very unsure of what they're saying.
Trump says "to be honest with you" all the time, as an example. People are entitled to believe that a person they're listening to is speaking honestly. A person who repeatedly starts his comments with "to be honest with you" has a different world view. It implied the speaker normally lies, and is probably lying right now.
You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.
Matthew, Chapter 24.
And so we're on to a new year.
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Armenian woman kneeling beside her dead child in Syria during the Battle of Aleppo.
Heading into 2025, the big news remains the Russo Ukrainian War. Other wars are going on, of course, including the Middle Eastern War, as we have termed it here, in which the United States is an occasional belligerent.
As the world is just a few days away from the inauguration of Donald Trump as president, there's good reason to be concerned about the impact this will have on various conflicts, the Russo Ukrainian War in particular. Trump has long been a Putin fan boy for reasons which remain very difficult to discern. Over the past three years Russia has proven that it is, at best, a weak regional power. Putin is bankrupting his country and his armed forces have been reduced to such a level that he's imported North Korean forces to aid his, with North Korean being a Stalinist Clown College.
Ukraine has managed to hold on against its much larger neighbor in no small part due to largescale Western support. Europe has actually, at this point, contributed more to Ukraine than the US has. US leadership and support has been critical, but its often missed that the US has used the war to clear out obsolescent stocks of arms and, in fact, could do much more of this if it wished to, and should. Trump, however, has been generally hostile to Ukraine and lovey dovey to Putin. His relationship to the Russian head of state is so peculiar that it has long raised questions about what's behind it.
Trump, of course, who didn't serve in his nation's war when he was of military age, claims to abhor war and he may in fact have that view. He generally doesn't like military men that much, and he's sufficiently wealth and self centered that he frankly might just not grasp that there are people who are willing to fight and die for their country. Be that as it may, however, like many of the populist camp, quite a few of whom are strongly influenced by a certain strain of Evangelical Protestantism, he has an "Israel can do no wrong" view. There is no reason to believe, therefore, that the incoming administration won't essentially give Israel a free hand in whatever it wants to do in the ongoing struggle in the Middle East.
The US, it might be noted, retains a small number of forces in Iraq and Syria. Trump made sounds about pulling US forces out of Syria when he was first elected, but he didn't. He's made some statements about the US having no role in Syria now, but the US forces in Syria aren't sufficient to impact the outcome of the war there, and are there only to address ISIL in the region. There is, therefore, no real way to know how the change in administrations will impact that.
In terms of prognostications, its notable that Russia's 2024 effort in Ukraine have produced no real results. That Putin isn't trying to commit larger forces to the region and is instead allowing his forces to be bled is telling. He probably can't do more. Ukraine, however, remains unable to push Russia out. The situation therefore depends nearly entirely on what the US and Western Europe does.
The commitment of North Korean troops was always boing to be a failure and will be. North Korea is much more of a paper tiger than many suppose. Mostly, a lot of North Koreans will get killed. Those who return to North Korea will have been exposed to a partially westernized Russia. Stalinist have always feared that as it means there's now a population that knows things could be much better somewhere else. Moreover, those returning will be elite troops. They'll be much like French Algerian troops who returned home to Algeria after fighting in Indochina, and that won't be good for the Communist Hermit Kingdom.
Right now, in regard to Syria, there's really no real reason to hope that the country breaks into a western democracy. At least some period of internecine strife appears likely, absent a massive intervention by Turkey, which we really do not want.
January 1, 2025
Russo Ukrainian War
In a sort of odd even in the ongoing war, a deal between Ukraine and Russia which allowed for the transport of natural gas across Ukraine into Europe, in spite of the war, expired this past week and, as a result, Ukraine shut the pipelines down, which makes perfect sense.
This creates, for the most part a less dire situation than a person might suppose. Europe receives 5% of its natural gas from Russia. Another pipeline that does not go through Ukraine does exist.
Unless you are in Moldova.
This is the only way the breakaway Transnistria region gets gas, and the impact there has been immediate.
January 6, 2025
Russo Ukrainian War
Ukraine has launched a new offensive in Russia's Kursk Oblast.
Last edition:
In this instance, of course, the last edition was, from last year.
January 8, 2025
United States v. Panama
United States v. Denmark
Today's headline in the Tribune:
TRUMP TALKS USING MILITARY IN TAKEOVER
Trump appears to be demented, and the US acting illegally in a war against Panama and NATO Ally Denmark should be taken seriously.
January 13, 2025
Russo Ukrainian War
Donald Trump's special envoy for the Russo Ukrainian War, who of course right now is simply a private citizen and may always be, has declared that Trump will end the war within 100 days of taking office.
Originally it was within 24 hours of taking office.
After that, it was within 24 hours of being elected.
Of course, a person would have had to have drank the KoolAide to believe either of the first two, and not to heavily doubt the third.
A really interesting look at North Korean troops in the war:
January 15, 2025
Middle Eastern War/Hamas Israeli War
Hamas and Israel appear to have agreed to a complicated cease fire.
January 20, 2025
Middle Eastern War/Hamas Israeli War
The first prisoners and hostages were released yesterday.
No more wars?
That was the promise of the Trump campaign, along with the price of groceries going down (they won't) and the war in Ukraine ending within 24 hours after his nomination to the GOP ticket (that didn't happen).
No more wars isn't shaping up to be true either.
Two huge stories broke yesterday on Face the Nation, but with all going on, they aren't getting that much attention.
They are, in the style of this thread:
Israel v. Iran?
Lindsey Graham was on Face the Nation yesterday begging for Israel to hit Iranian nuclear sites. He will be "engaging" Trump on this topic.
United States v. Mexican Cartels?
Incoming National Security Advisor strongly hinted that the US will be listing two Mexican drug cartels as terrorist organizations and implied that the US will be intervening in Mexico to take them on.
I'm frankly amazed this isn't a banner headline.
If this goes in the direction that it seems to be, one of the purposes of having Graham and Waltz on the day before the inauguration on the best of the three weekend news shows is to get the information out, in a sort of early and curve ball fashion, that we're headed into to major military actions. We apparently are going to urge the Netanyahu administration to basically finish the Iranian regime off, or at least decapitate its nuclear potential, and we're going into Mexico with special forces and aircraft, the way we've fought in Syrian and Iraq over the past two decades, but in a much more substantial fashion.
Whatever a person thinks of these proposals, Iran is not going to go gently into the night, although you could argue, as some have, that its down on its knees and needs to be wiped out.
Mexico, no matter what the incoming Trump administration might think, does not want troops on its soil again for the third time. It would likely fight back against an intervention, just like it did in 1916, even when the intervention is against an internal enemy, just like it was in 1916.
At any rate, at least right now, it would appear that the incoming administration isn't really against wars. It's just in favor of different, and bigger, wars.
January 24, 2025
Russo Ukrainian War.
North Korea is sending more cannon fodder to the war.
This won't serve to turn the tide in favor of Russia, and if it continues, it will destroy the core of the North Korean army and leave an embittered veterans class. The real threat to Ukraine now is Donald Trump. So far Trump seems to have assumed that his pal Putin would simply end the war because Donald was elected, or perhaps due to something in the relationship between them (Trump is undeniably a Russian asset, the question is what kind of Russian asset he is, bought and paid for or by personal inclination). Trump's present plans in regard to his first broken campaign promise is to cause the Saudi's to lower the price of oil as that will make Russia's too expensive to buy, apparently.
January 26, 2025
Middle Eastern War
The Trump Interregnum is resuming shipments of 2,000 lbs bombs to Israel on the basis that "they bought and paid for them", reflecting his sad view of the world.
Whether a person supports Israel or not, already leopards are eating the faces of left wing pro Palestinian voters and Arab American voters in the US who didn't support Harris. Trump will make Biden look like a peace protester as far as Israel is concerned, and the far right is packed with the element that feels Israel can do no wrong.
Trump also is proposing to Jordan and Egypt that they take in the Gazans so that Gaza can be "cleaned out". While there is in fact some merit to the Gazans being relocated (we suggested this earlier), both countries have rejected the idea completely and Trump's phone call diplomacy is working no more successfully here than it did with his call to Denmark's leader about his bizarre demand for Greenland.
January 28, 2025
Congo
The Congo River Alliance, backed by Rwanda, entered the country and took a major city this week. Made up of 17 parties, the principal member is the U.S. and UN sanctioned March 23 Movement. I have no idea what they are seeking.
January 31, 2025
Congo
M23 rebels seized control of Goma and are advancing toward the South Kivu provincial capital of Bukavu.
February 1, 2025
US v. ISIL
|
February 6, 2025
Arab Americans For Trump has changed its name to Arab Americans for Peace following Trump's proposal to remove the Palestinians from Gaza and turn it into an American territory.
Basically, they realized they'd been dumbasses, which was plenty obvious to start with.
Israel has of course leaped right on this lunatic suggestion and instructed its military to be prepared to allow Palestinians to leave, although freedom to leave a region is generally regarded as a human right.
It should be worth noting right now that a US presence of this type guarantees death will come to Americans involved in it, and we will now be a direct combatant in a nearly 80 year old guerilla war in the region.
I'd also note that a lot of far right evangelicals have a very peculiar view of Israel, and we now have a Secretary of Defense who is all tatted up with appropriated Crusader symbols, although a Crusader coming back form the dead would regard him as a heretic.
Oh well, what could go wrong? Leopards won't eat our faces.
February 17, 2025
Russo Ukrainian War, Taiwan and World War III.
Donald Trump, who promised to end the Russo Ukrainian War upon being nominated for the Republican ticket, and also within 24 hours of being elected, is belatedly trying to make good upon his promise. . . but on what terms.
This past week the United States has basically told its European allies that its abandoning Europe and at the same time is starting unilateral talks with Russia in Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia?
Hmm. . . .
The Saudi's likely regard Trump as an epic clown, and have no real interest in the war ending, so who knows what's up with that.
Anyhow there are widespread fears, and legitimate ones, that Trump is just out to betray Ukraine Chamberlin style. Trump's life reduces simply to money for Trump, and he's a man with no real values, so he likely genuinely can't grasp what the war is about. At the same time he's trying to extract an economic deal from Ukraine, as that's all he really understands.
Not very well grasped in this is that the US is rocketing towards a world war, with Trump being too dense to grasp it. We've been harrassing Taiwan in recent weeks while we also removed a statement from our embassy website that we don't support its independence from China. Now, we apparently don't object to that. I'm fine with that, but what Trump doesn't grasp is the following:
We'll be in a type of world war.
And I don't mean figuratively, I mean actually.
The reason Trump can't grasp this that Trump can't grasp that not everything is for sale. Indeed, most things aren't for sale, and in much of the world very little is for sale. For China, bypassing taking Taiwan does not have a dollar value. For Taiwan, reuniting with China doesn't have a dollar value.
We're headed towards World War Three.
February 20, 2025
Russo Ukrainian War
There were sharp words between President Zilensky and Donald Trump yesterday in which Zilensky said the quite part out loud saying the would be was "living in a disinformation space". Trump ironically hit back by calling Zalinsky a "dictator", a real irony for a person illegitimately gathering autocratic authority to himself.
Trump's efforts to end the Russo Ukrainian War might actually have begun to sew the seeds of his irrelevancy. Europe is united against Trump and Russia, as Trump tries to revive an late 19th Century view of foreign policy. And Trump's legendary negotiating skills, which are really fairly thuggish, don't appear to be working outside of the world of real estate, with Trump's worldview so limited that he can't really grasp that most people don't dream of being Florida golf course owners. The question in increasingly becoming to what extent will his interregnum damage the United States internally and globally before an actual President returns to office.
March 1, 2025
Russo Ukrainian War
Yesterday made it clear that Donald Trump is really a spoiled, and not very smart, child.
Raised with a sliver spoon up his ass, and a bully by heart, with a career of well funded bulliness, he's come to believe he's a genius, as have his largely ignorant supporters, the latter of whom are seemingly unaware that a person born into Trump's wealth could have the IQ of a houseplant and still make money.
Trump, busy trying to make a deal to extort Ukraine's mineral wealth in exchange for . . . well it's not clear, found that leaders of country's don't respect spoiled children. This lead to a short of shouting match between Trump and President Zelenskiy in the White House.
In the past month Europe as a whole has moved away from the United States, as has Canada, and are well on their way to forming a new second power block as the United States fades into being a regional petulant power. Tariffs next week will finish it. Ukraine will likely turn to Europe, and the US, lead by a spoiled not very smart brat, will turn into an economically hobbled regional bully in which somewhat over half the population dislikes to outright detests its leadership
Sic Transit Gloria Mundi.
Last edition:
well at least he isn't having kids get gender bending surgery.
Oh?
Has Trump done anything on that topic?
Well, no. He hasn't.
He did ban biological men from participating in women's sports, something states were doing anyhow, and which is widely supported. And his Secretary of Defense banned those who had received such surgeries from joining the service (not from staying in).
And on the social issues, somethings to consider.
Has he done anything to widen prohibitions against abortion?
Nope. In fact, to the contrary, he's supporting IVF which results in millions of abortions and which is condemned by the Apostolic Faiths, including the one J. D. Vance claims to adhere to.
Has he done anything to protect the traditional definition of marriage?
Nope. Indeed, his Treasury Secretary is openly homosexual. I'm not saying he shouldn't be Treasury Secretary, but the populist had a four year fit over Biden's Transpiration Secretary being in the exact same domestic situation.
Exact same.
I guess its okay now.
Deportation of illegal aliens?
Well, it's at pretty much the same rate it was under Biden.
So, those who supported Trump as they wanted to advance social issues on the right, well, what did you get?
Anything?
Just men out of women's sports, which was being done anyhow.
Piles of cost saving cuts of wasteful things?
Nope, a few cuts of wasteful things combined with cuts we'll soon have to make up, supported by lies (like 150 year olds getting Social Security, not happening).
Indeed, this one is amusing as the most famous "discoveries" of the week is that Musk's minors in charge aren't familiar with COBAL, which is before their time. They read COBAL entries literally when in fact they're a code, so they thing they think were literally years, weren't.
That's known now, but will they admit it? Nope.
Oh, and the end of DEI, which wasn't really impacting you much anyhow, was it?
And all in exchange for a government dominated by oligarchs, being hated globally, and losing protections long won.
You were duped.
But you won't admit it.
Yep, that's right. In central Wyoming you are limited to one carton as people are trying to stock up to avoid coming price increases.
Yessir, Trump was really successful on that price lowering thing.
In reality, it's likely bird flu. But Trump's insane economic policies aren't helping, and he promised to lower egg prices.
Promised.
Promised.
“Freedom is a fragile thing, and it’s never more than one generation away from extinction.
Ronald Reagan.
January 21, 2025
We don't hope to follow Trump's actions on a continual basis. It's not the purpose of this blog. But we've always considered contemporary events to some extent, and these are extraordinary times.
We might hope, but don't expect, that we'll return to a sense of normalcy any time soon, or any time during the interregnum. Indeed, we likely never will completely. Whether this actually sets a new path for the country, in which case its truly in a period of irreparable decline, or rests the meter for a new era upon Trump's death, removal, or end of term (which we might hope will not be challenged) is a matter that nobody can see at the present time.
1. Vivek Ramaswamy learns he's not white and can't play in the populist pool.
One of the two doggy commissioners, Vivek Ramaswamy, learned from Anne Coulter that he's just a dirty Indian with no place in populist hearts took notice of that and has decided to run for Governor of Ohio.
At the pseudoinauguration, fwiw, some of the populist crowd learned that J. D. Vance's wife is similarly tainted and kept wondering why she was looking at him.
2. First day executive orders.
Trump signed a bunch of executive orders, as expected, but interestingly not as many as actually anticipated.
Some of these are dumb. One, renaming Denali, is dumb, racist and insulting to Native Alaskans. At least one is an illegal violation of Trump's oath of office, that being the birth right citizenship order as all who are "natural born" in the US are citizens by right and he can't order that it be legally ignored. Another ignores the provisions of a treaty were are a party too and is therefore null and void, to the extent that they aren't all null and void due to the ineffectiveness of Trump's accession.
A couple, it should be noted, are downright frightening. Trump's taking over the military, and the signals are he intends to use it.
And he of course pardoned his January 6 confederates.
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered:Section 1. Purpose. (a) As Chief Executive and as Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the United States, I have no more solemn responsibility than protecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the United States along our national borders. The protection of a nation’s territorial integrity and national boundaries is paramount for its security.(b) The Armed Forces of the United States have played a long and well-established role in securing our borders against threats of invasion, against unlawful forays by foreign nationals into the United States, and against other transnational criminal activities that violate our laws and threaten the peace, harmony, and tranquility of the Nation. These threats have taken a variety of forms over our Nation’s history, but the Armed Forces have consistently played an integral role in protecting the sovereignty of the United States.(c) Threats against our Nation’s sovereignty continue today, and it is essential that the Armed Forces staunchly continue to participate in the defense of our territorial integrity and sovereignty. A National Emergency currently exists along the southern border of the United States. Unchecked unlawful mass migration and the unimpeded flow of opiates across our borders continue to endanger the safety and security of the American people and encourage further lawlessness. Accordingly, through this order, I am acting in accordance with my solemn duty to protect and defend the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the United States along our national borders.Sec. 2. Policy. It is the policy of the United States to ensure that the Armed Forces of the United States prioritize the protection of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the United States along our national borders.Sec. 3. Implementation. The Secretary of Defense shall:(a) No later than 10 days from the effective date of this order, deliver to the President a revision to the Unified Command Plan that assigns United States Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) the mission to seal the borders and maintain the sovereignty, territorial integrity, and security of the United States by repelling forms of invasion including unlawful mass migration, narcotics trafficking, human smuggling and trafficking, and other criminal activities.(b) On the effective date of this order, add the following requirements to the Contingency Planning Guidance and Guidance for the Employment of the Force:(i) A Level 3 planning requirement for USNORTHCOM to seal the borders and maintain the sovereignty, territorial integrity, and security of the United States by repelling forms of invasion, including unlawful mass migration, narcotics trafficking, human smuggling and trafficking, and other criminal activities, with a commander’s estimate due to the Secretary of Defense within 30 days of the effective date of this order.(ii) A campaign planning requirement for USNORTHCOM to provide steady-state southern border security, seal the border, and maintain the sovereignty, territorial integrity, and security of the United States by repelling forms of invasion, including unlawful mass migration, narcotics trafficking, human smuggling and trafficking, and other criminal activities.(iii) Continuous assessments of all available options to protect the sovereign territory of the United States from mass unlawful entry and impingement on our national sovereignty and security by foreign nations and transnational criminal organizations.Sec. 4. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.(b) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.(c) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.THE WHITE HOUSE,
No "forever wars"? We're about to be one in Mexico in short order, most likely.
WASHINGTON, Jan 20 (Reuters) - Nearly 1,660 Afghans cleared by the U.S. government to resettle in the U.S., including family members of active-duty U.S. military personnel, are having their flights canceled under President Donald Trump's order suspending U.S. refugee programs, a U.S. official and a leading refugee resettlement advocate said on Monday.
Cont:
U.S. Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Linda Fagan has been relieved of her command. She was under fire for various matters as it was, most specifically sexual abuse at the Coast Guard Academy.
January 22, 2025
Twenty-two states sued the Federal Government over Donald Trump's illegal executive order attempting to wipe out birth right citizenship.
The states will prevail on their suit, after millions of dollars are wasted by the DOGE would be chief executive.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced that the CBP One app would no longer be used to admit migrants after facilitating entry for almost 1 million people since January 2023. It was working in the morning before it shut off.
One of the police unions, the Fraternal Order of Police, that had backed Trump condemned his pardon of January 6 insurrectionist.
Crimes against law enforcement are not just attacks on individuals or public safety —they are attacks on society and undermine the rule of law. Allowing those convicted of these crimes to be released early diminishes accountability and devalues the sacrifices made by courageous law enforcement officers and their families.
When perpetrators of crimes, especially serious crimes, are not held fully accountable, it sends a dangerous message that the consequences for attacking law enforcement are not severe, potentially emboldening others to commit similar acts of violence.
Well, union, it wasn't like leopards were going to eat your face, right?
If you committed violence on that day, obviously you shouldn't be pardoned, and there's a little bit of a gray area there.
J. D. Vance.
Well, J. D., apparently as long as you are an insurrectionist for Trump, there's no gray area.
I'll note, once again, that prospective pardons, for anyone, are meaningless. So charges can in fact be filed against the non convicted insurrectionist after Trump leaves office next year, or when the current interregnum is over.
The Senate Whip posted that the Senate would work all weekend to get Trump's nominees appointed, which is laughable in a country where lots of people work all weekend. Big deal.
The Trump interregnum ordered federal diversity, equity and inclusion employees to be placed on paid leave no later than Wednesday and for DEI offices to be closed down.
January 23, 2025
Trump:
FEMA is gonna be a whole big discussion very shortly, because I'd rather see the states takes care of their own problems.
Okay, Louisiana and Wyoming, you FEMA harlots, guess you'll have to pay your own freight.
Not like Leopards are going to eat your face.
cont:
Since Mr. Hegseth’s nomination last November, I have met with him and carefully reviewed his writings, various reports, and other pertinent materials. I closely followed his hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee and gathered substantial feedback from organizations, veterans, and Alaskans. After thorough evaluation, I must conclude that I cannot in good conscience support his nomination for Secretary of Defense. I did not make this decision lightly; I take my constitutional responsibility to provide advice and consent with the utmost seriousness.
I commend Pete Hegseth’s service to our nation, including leading troops in combat and advocating for our veterans. However, these accomplishments do not alleviate my significant concerns regarding his nomination. Managing the Department of Defense requires vast experience and expertise as the department is one of the most complex and powerful organizations in the world, and Mr. Hegseth’s prior roles in his career do not demonstrate to me that he is prepared for such immense responsibility. His leadership of two veteran organizations was marked with accusations of financial mismanagement and problems with the workplace culture he fostered.
Although he has recently revised his statements on women in combat since being nominated, I remain concerned about the message that confirming Mr. Hegseth sends to women currently serving and those aspiring to join. Women have served our nation with distinction, overcoming immense obstacles to excel in combat and leadership roles, and they deserve to know that their leader honors and values their commitment to our nation.
While the allegations of sexual assault and excessive drinking do nothing to quiet my concerns, the past behaviors Mr. Hegseth has admitted to, including infidelity on multiple occasions, demonstrate a lack of judgment that is unbecoming of someone who would lead our armed forces. These behaviors starkly contrast the values and discipline expected of servicemembers. Men and women in uniform are held accountable for such actions, and they deserve leaders who uphold these same standards.
Above all, I believe that character is the defining trait required of the Secretary of Defense, and must be prioritized without compromise. The leader of the Department of Defense must demonstrate and model the standards of behavior and character we expect of all servicemembers, and Mr. Hegseth’s nomination to the role poses significant concerns that I cannot overlook. Given the global security environment we’re operating in, it is critical that we confirm a Secretary of Defense, however, I regret that I am unable to support Mr. Hegseth.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski
cont:
Judge Coughenour, upon blocking Trump’s birthright citizenship executive order:
I've been on the bench for over 4 decades. I can’t remember another case where the question presented is as clear as this one. This is a blatantly unconstitutional order.
cont:
DECLASSIFICATION OF RECORDS CONCERNING THE ASSASSINATIONS OF PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY, SENATOR ROBERT F. KENNEDY, AND THE REVEREND DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.
EXECUTIVE ORDER
January 23, 2025
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered as follows:
Section 1. Policy and Purpose. More than 50 years after the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, and the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the Federal Government has not released to the public all of its records related to those events. Their families and the American people deserve transparency and truth. It is in the national interest to finally release all records related to these assassinations without delay.
The President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992 required all records related to the assassination of President Kennedy to be publicly disclosed in full by October 26, 2017, unless the President certifies that: (i) continued postponement is made necessary by an identifiable harm to the military defense, intelligence operations, law enforcement, or conduct of foreign relations; and (ii) the identifiable harm is of such gravity that it outweighs the public interest in disclosure. President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992, section 5(g)(2)(D), Public Law 102-526, 106 Stat. 3443, 3448–49, codified at 44 U.S.C. 2107 note.
I previously accepted proposed redactions from executive departments and agencies (agencies) in 2017 and 2018, but ordered the continued re-evaluation of those remaining redactions. See Temporary Certification for Certain Records Related to the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy, 82 Fed. Reg. 50,307–08 (Oct. 31, 2017); Certification for Certain Records Related to the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy, 83 Fed. Reg. 19, 157–58 (Apr. 26, 2018). In the Presidential Memorandum of April 26, 2018, I also ordered agencies to re-review each of those redactions over the next 3 years and disclose information that no longer warrants continued withholding under the standard set forth in section 5(g)(2)(D) of the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992.
President Biden issued subsequent certifications with respect to these records in 2021, 2022, and 2023, which gave agencies additional time to review the records and withhold information from public disclosure. See Temporary Certification Regarding Disclosure of Information in Certain Records Related to the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy, 86 Fed. Reg. 59,599 (Oct. 22, 2021); Certifications Regarding Disclosure of Information in Certain Records Related to the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy, 87 Fed. Reg. 77,967 (Dec. 15, 2022); Certification Regarding Disclosure of Information in Certain Records Related to the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy, 88 Fed. Reg. 43,247 (June 30, 2023).
I have now determined that the continued redaction and withholding of information from records pertaining to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy is not consistent with the public interest and the release of these records is long overdue. And although no Act of Congress directs the release of information pertaining to the assassinations of Senator Robert F. Kennedy and the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., I have determined that the release of all records in the Federal Government’s possession pertaining to each of those assassinations is also in the public interest.
Sec. 2. Declassification and Disclosure. (a) Within 15 days of the date of this order, the Director of National Intelligence and the Attorney General shall, in coordination with the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs and the Counsel to the President, present a plan to the President for the full and complete release of records relating to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
(b) Within 45 days of the date of this order, the Director of National Intelligence and the Attorney General shall, in coordination with the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs and the Counsel to the President, review records related to the assassinations of Senator Robert F. Kennedy and the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and present a plan to the President for the full and complete release of these records.
Sec. 3. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:
(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or
(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.
(b) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.
(c) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.
THE WHITE HOUSE,
January 23, 2025.
January 23, 2025, cont
John Ratcliffe was confirmed as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency on a vote of 74 to 25.
House Republicans are going to form a new January 6 Committee to white wash the insurrection
Some deluded Congressman from drafted a Constitutional Amendment to allow Trump to seek a third term (which actually would be a second term, as he isn't qualified for a second term right now).
What a complete tool.
January 24, 2025
Trump has been removing secret service protection for members of his first administration who failed to stay loyal.
The White House website has been redesigned to look like the introduction to a cheesy game.
January 25, 2025
Hegseth was confirmed by Vice President Vance casting a tie breaker vote.
That's really remarkable.
Where that leaves him is interesting. He's now a Vance captive for the upcoming removal of Trump.
cont:
Trump fired around 15 independent inspector generals last night, by email, which is illegal given that thirty days notice is required.
January 26, 2025
Christy Noem was confirmed as Secretary for Homeland Security. This isn't really a surprise and hit happened a couple of days ago.
Frankly, this is an agency that ought to go. It was a post 9/11 agency given an unfortunate Naziesque name that isn't really needed. The US government never started called the United States the Vaterland, um sorry, the Motherland, oops, the Homeland, until after 9/11.
cont:
Columbia refused to accept U.S. military flights carrying Columbian deportees.
I don't blame it for refusing military flights. Would we accept military flights?
So now we're slapping 25%, going to 50%, tariffs on Columbian goods.
27% of US coffee comes from Columbia.
Double digit inflation, here we come.
And runs on coffee? Yep. I'm buying some coffee tomorrow, I'm sure I'm not the only one.
Oh, on that, the price of coffee went up today.
| Coffee | 346.67 | 1.53 | 0.44% | 5.19% | 85.44% | Jan/24 |
January 27, 2028
Columbian amazingly backed down and the tariffs are off.
This episode is being pointed out as proof of the genius of Trump's bullying strategy, and it did work here. It's also likely to be his Rhineland moment that way, the thing that silences critics, convinces the doubting, and sets the state for a later diaster.
FWIW, apparently repatriation flights actually aren't new, and ICE isn't actually arresting more people than before. What's new is the use of military flights, apparently, and the publicizing of what ICE is doing.
On the weekend shows the GOP guest repeated emphasized that ICE lacks funding to carry out Trump's immigration promises, which must really be the case given the repeated emphasis on it. They clearly want Congress to appropriate more money for ICE or they'll end up blaming Congress for the immigration promise failing.
Honduras gave notice that if its migrants in the US are mistreated, it may reverse its long policy of hosting US military forces gratis.
January 28, 2028
Trump signed a series of military related executive orders yesterday.
The first was to built a US "Iron Dome" missile protection system.
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including my authority as Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the United States, it is hereby ordered:
Section 1. Purpose. The threat of attack by ballistic, hypersonic, and cruise missiles, and other advanced aerial attacks, remains the most catastrophic threat facing the United States.
President Ronald Reagan endeavored to build an effective defense against nuclear attacks, and while this program resulted in many technological advances, it was canceled before its goal could be realized. And since the United States withdrew from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in 2002 and initiated development of limited homeland missile defense, official United States homeland missile defense policy has remained only to stay ahead of rogue-nation threats and accidental or unauthorized missile launches.
Over the past 40 years, rather than lessening, the threat from next-generation strategic weapons has become more intense and complex with the development by peer and near-peer adversaries of next-generation delivery systems and their own homeland integrated air and missile defense capabilities.
Sec. 2. Policy. To further the goal of peace through strength, it is the policy of the United States that:
(a) The United States will provide for the common defense of its citizens and the Nation by deploying and maintaining a next-generation missile defense shield;
(b) The United States will deter — and defend its citizens and critical infrastructure against — any foreign aerial attack on the Homeland; and
(c) The United States will guarantee its secure second-strike capability.
Sec. 3. Implementation. Within 60 days of the date of this order, the Secretary of Defense shall:
(a) Submit to the President a reference architecture, capabilities-based requirements, and an implementation plan for the next-generation missile defense shield. The architecture shall include, at a minimum, plans for:
(i) Defense of the United States against ballistic, hypersonic, advanced cruise missiles, and other next-generation aerial attacks from peer, near-peer, and rogue adversaries;
(ii) Acceleration of the deployment of the Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor layer;
(iii) Development and deployment of proliferated space-based interceptors capable of boost-phase intercept;
(iv) Deployment of underlayer and terminal-phase intercept capabilities postured to defeat a countervalue attack;
(v) Development and deployment of a custody layer of the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture;
(vi) Development and deployment of capabilities to defeat missile attacks prior to launch and in the boost phase;
(vii) Development and deployment of a secure supply chain for all components with next-generation security and resilience features; and
(viii) Development and deployment of non-kinetic capabilities to augment the kinetic defeat of ballistic, hypersonic, advanced cruise missiles, and other next-generation aerial attacks;
(b) Review relevant authorities and organization of the Department of Defense to develop and deploy capabilities at the necessary speed to implement this directive;
(c) Jointly with the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, submit to the President a plan to fund this directive, allowing sufficient time for consideration by the President before finalization of the Fiscal Year 2026 Budget; and
(d) In cooperation with United States Strategic Command and United States Northern Command, submit to the President:
(i) An updated assessment of the strategic missile threat to the Homeland; and
(ii) A prioritized set of locations to progressively defend against a countervalue attack by nuclear adversaries.
Sec. 4. Allied and Theater Missile Defense Review. The United States continues to cooperate on missile defense with its allies and partners to aid in the defense of ally populations and troops and of forward-deployed United States troops. Following the submission to the President of the next-generation missile defense reference architecture under section 3(a) of this order, the Secretary of Defense shall direct a review of theater missile defense posture and initiatives to identify ways in which the United States and its allies and partners can:
(a) Increase bilateral and multilateral cooperation on missile defense technology development, capabilities, and operations;
(b) Improve theater missile defenses of forward-deployed United States troops and allied territories, troops, and populations; and
(c) Increase and accelerate the provision of United States missile defense capabilities to allies and partners.
Sec. 5. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:
the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or
the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.
(b) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.
(c) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.
THE WHITE HOUSE,
January 27, 2028
A couple of things.
"Iron Dome" is actually an Israeli variant of the Patriot missile defense system, so this doesn't really make sense.
I know what is being suggested, but the terminology shows a lack of grasp on where we are at on this. What this really aims for is something Ronald Reagan proposed and Congress shut down in the early 1980s. This will require Congressional funding, so as it an order, it expresses a policy direction, and not much else.
Here's the next one.
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, and as Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the United States, and to ensure the readiness and effectiveness of our Armed Forces, it is hereby ordered:
Section 1. Purpose. The United States military has a clear mission: to protect the American people and our homeland as the world’s most lethal and effective fighting force. Success in this existential mission requires a singular focus on developing the requisite warrior ethos, and the pursuit of military excellence cannot be diluted to accommodate political agendas or other ideologies harmful to unit cohesion.
Recently, however, the Armed Forces have been afflicted with radical gender ideology to appease activists unconcerned with the requirements of military service like physical and mental health, selflessness, and unit cohesion. Longstanding Department of Defense (DoD) policy (DoD Instruction (DoDI) 6130.03) provides that it is the policy of the DoD to ensure that service members are “[f]ree of medical conditions or physical defects that may reasonably be expected to require excessive time lost from duty for necessary treatment or hospitalization.” As a result, many mental and physical health conditions are incompatible with active duty, from conditions that require substantial medication or medical treatment to bipolar and related disorders, eating disorders, suicidality, and prior psychiatric hospitalization.
Consistent with the military mission and longstanding DoD policy, expressing a false “gender identity” divergent from an individual’s sex cannot satisfy the rigorous standards necessary for military service. Beyond the hormonal and surgical medical interventions involved, adoption of a gender identity inconsistent with an individual’s sex conflicts with a soldier’s commitment to an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle, even in one’s personal life. A man’s assertion that he is a woman, and his requirement that others honor this falsehood, is not consistent with the humility and selflessness required of a service member.
For the sake of our Nation and the patriotic Americans who volunteer to serve it, military service must be reserved for those mentally and physically fit for duty. The Armed Forces must adhere to high mental and physical health standards to ensure our military can deploy, fight, and win, including in austere conditions and without the benefit of routine medical treatment or special provisions.
Sec. 2. Policy. It is the policy of the United States Government to establish high standards for troop readiness, lethality, cohesion, honesty, humility, uniformity, and integrity. This policy is inconsistent with the medical, surgical, and mental health constraints on individuals with gender dysphoria. This policy is also inconsistent with shifting pronoun usage or use of pronouns that inaccurately reflect an individual’s sex.
Sec. 3. Definitions. The definitions in the Executive Order of January 20, 2025 (Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government) shall apply to this order.
Sec. 4. Implementation. (a) Within 60 days of the date of this order, the Secretary of Defense (Secretary) shall update DoDI 6130.03 Volume 1 (Medical Standards for Military Service: Appointment, Enlistment, or Induction (May 6, 2018), Incorporating Change 5 of May 28, 2024) and DoDI 6130.03 Volume 2 (Medical Standards for Military Service: Retention (September 4, 2020), Incorporating Change 1 of June 6, 2022) to reflect the purpose and policy of this Order.
(b) The Secretary shall promptly issue directives for DoD to end invented and identification-based pronoun usage to best achieve the policy outlined in section 2 of this order.
(c) Within 30 days of the date of this order, the Secretary shall:
(i) identify all additional steps and issue guidance necessary to fully implement this order; and
(ii) submit to the President through the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs a report that summarizes these steps.
(d) Absent extraordinary operational necessity, the Armed Forces shall neither allow males to use or share sleeping, changing, or bathing facilities designated for females, nor allow females to use or share sleeping, changing, or bathing facilities designated for males.
(e) Within 30 days of the issuance of the respective updates, directives, and guidance under subsections (a), (b), and (c) of this section, the Secretary of Homeland Security shall, with respect to the Coast Guard, issue updates, directives, and guidance consistent with the updates, directives, and guidance issued under subsections (a), (b), and (c) of this section.
Sec. 5. Implementing the Revocation of Executive Order 14004. (a) Pursuant to the Executive Order of January 20, 2025 (Initial Rescissions of Harmful Executive Orders and Actions), Executive Order 14004 of January 25, 2021 (Enabling All Qualified Americans To Serve Their Country in Uniform), has been revoked. Accordingly, all policies, directives, and guidance issued pursuant to Executive Order 14004 shall be rescinded to the extent inconsistent with the provisions of this order.
(b) The Secretary and, with respect to the Coast Guard, the Secretary of Homeland Security, shall take all necessary steps to implement the revocations described in subsection (a) of this section and ensure that all military departments and services fully comply with the provisions of this order.
Sec. 6. Severability. If any provision of this order, or the application of any provision to any person or circumstance, is held to be invalid, the remainder of this order and the application of its provisions to any other persons or circumstances shall not be affected thereby.
Sec. 7. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:
(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or
(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.
(b) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.
(c) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.
THE WHITE HOUSE,
January 27, 2025.
This one actually only prevents males from using female facilities, and vice versa. In this sense, it appears to be more limited in what's claimed, which is a prohibition on "transgendered" servicemen from military service, but it would seem to effectively require them to acknowledge their actual gender.
I don't believe that transgenderism is a real thing, and as mentioned here before, I'm not in favor of women in combat either (which this doesn't address). So, here's a rare example of a Trump order that I support, but it doesn't actually do all that much. Just no using the lady's loo and no hot racking with members of the opposite sex.
It might be noted, that the last thing might actually be a step towards limiting women's roles in the military.
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered:
Section 1. Purpose. As Chief Executive and as Commander in Chief, I am committed to meritocracy and to the elimination of race-based and sex-based discrimination within the Armed Forces of the United States. No individual or group within our Armed Forces should be preferred or disadvantaged on the basis of sex, race, ethnicity, color, or creed.
Unfortunately, in recent years civilian and uniformed leadership alike have implemented Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs and their attendant race and sex preferences within the Armed Forces. These actions undermine leadership, merit, and unit cohesion, thereby eroding lethality and force readiness. They also violate Americans’ consciences by engaging in invidious race and sex discrimination.
Sec. 2. Policy. It is the policy of my Administration that the Department of Defense, the Department of Homeland Security with regard to the United States Coast Guard (USCG), and every element of the Armed Forces should operate free from any preference based on race or sex.
Sec. 3. Definitions. (a) A “DEI office” means an office, division, job, or other unit of an institution established for the purpose of:
(i) influencing hiring or employment practices at the institution with respect to race, sex, color, or ethnicity, other than through the use of color-blind and sex-neutral hiring processes; or
(ii) promoting differential treatment of or providing special benefits to individuals on the basis of race, sex, color, or ethnicity.
(b) The term “gender ideology” has the meaning given to that term in section 2(f) of the Executive Order of January 20, 2025, (Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government).
(c) The term “divisive concepts” has the meaning given to that term in section 2(a) of Executive Order 13950 of September 22, 2020 (Combating Race and Sex Stereotyping).
Sec. 4. Abolishing the DEI Bureaucracy. The Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall abolish every DEI office within the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security with regard to the USCG, respectively, including any vestiges of DEI offices, such as sub-offices, programs, elements, or initiatives established to promote a race-based preferences system that subverts meritocracy, perpetuates unconstitutional discrimination, and promotes divisive concepts or gender ideology.
Sec. 5. Department of Defense Internal Review. The Secretary of Defense shall conduct an internal review that documents actions taken in pursuit of DEI initiatives, including all instances of race and sex discrimination and activities designed to promote a race- or sex-based preferences system. The report shall be delivered to the Secretary of Defense within 90 days of the date of this order.
Sec. 6. Protecting American Values. (a) The Department of Defense and the Armed Forces, including any educational institution operated or controlled thereby, are prohibited from promoting, advancing, or otherwise inculcating the following un-American, divisive, discriminatory, radical, extremist, and irrational theories:
(i) “divisive concepts,” as defined in section 3(c) of this order, and “race or sex stereotyping,” or “race or sex scapegoating” as both terms are defined in section 2 of Executive Order 13950, as amended;
(ii) that America’s founding documents are racist or sexist; and
(iii) “gender ideology,” as defined in section 3(b) of this order.
(b) The Department of Defense and the Armed Forces shall not hire employees, contractors, or consultants to teach the theories set forth in subsection (a) of this section.
(c) The Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall carefully review the leadership, curriculum, and instructors of the United States Service Academies and other defense academic institutions associated with their respective Departments to ensure alignment with this order. In addition, these institutions shall be required to teach that America and its founding documents remain the most powerful force for good in human history.
Sec. 7. Implementation. (a) The Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall issue detailed guidance for the implementation of this order to their respective departments within 30 days of the date of this order.
(b) Within 180 days of the date of this order, the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall submit a report through the Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy documenting the progress of their respective Departments in implementing this order, and any recommendations for action to fulfill the objectives of this order.
Sec. 8. Severability. If any provision of this order, or the application of any provision to any person or circumstance, is held to be invalid, the remainder of this order and the application of its provisions to any other persons or circumstances shall not be affected thereby.
Sec. 9. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:
(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department, agency, or the head thereof; or
(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.
(b) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.
(c) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.
THE WHITE HOUSE,
January 27, 2025.
This is an anti DEI provision, but worth noting, it's text could be required to prohibit banning women from combat, which I think should be done, and which the new Secretary of Defense, whom I don't support, at one time suggested he thought should be done.
And finally:
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered:
Section 1. Purpose and Policy. On August 24, 2021, the Secretary of Defense mandated that all service members receive the COVID-19 vaccine. The Secretary of Defense later rescinded the mandate on January 10, 2023. The vaccine mandate was an unfair, overbroad, and completely unnecessary burden on our service members. Further, the military unjustly discharged those who refused the vaccine, regardless of the years of service given to our Nation, after failing to grant many of them an exemption that they should have received. Federal Government redress of any wrongful dismissals is overdue.
Sec. 2. Redress. Consistent with the policies announced in section 1 of this order, the Secretary of Defense or the Secretary of Homeland Security, as appropriate, shall take all necessary action permitted by law to:
(a) make reinstatement available to all members of the military (active and reserve) who were discharged solely for refusal to receive the COVID-19 vaccine and who request to be reinstated;
(b) enable those service members reinstated under this section to revert to their former rank and receive full back pay, benefits, bonus payments, or compensation; and
(c) allow any service members who provide a written and sworn attestation that they voluntarily left the service or allowed their service to lapse according to appropriate procedures, rather than be vaccinated under the vaccine mandate, to return to service with no impact on their service status, rank, or pay.
Sec. 3. Additional Agency Responsibilities. (a) Nothing in this order precludes disciplinary or administrative action for conduct that is proscribed by chapter 47 of title 10, United States Code (Uniform Code of Military Justice, 10 U.S.C. 801-946a).
(b) Within 60 days of the date of this order, the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall report to the President through the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs on their progress in implementing this order.
Sec. 4. Severability. If any provision of this order, or the application of any provision to any person or circumstance, is held to be invalid, the remainder of this order and the application of its provisions to any other persons or circumstances shall not be affected thereby.
Sec. 5. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:
(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department, agency, or the head thereof; or
(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.
(b) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.
(c) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.
THE WHITE HOUSE,
January 27, 2025.
More populist anti scientism.
Vaccinating soldiers by order goes back to George Washington ordering the same for the Continental Army. Servicemembers who refused to get vaccines were duped by anti scientific propaganda and myth and should have been court martialed for refusing a lawful order.
January 29, 2025
Trump's integrum offered buy outs of Federal employees' positions save for the military and the Post Office.
Trump is clearly attempting to destroy the Federal workforce. Mass firings will follow. This comports with a belief in the far right (our Congressman expressed it) that the Federal workforce needs mass replacement and to be made all highly temporary.
It also comports with the insane view that there's a secret "Deep State" that operates the United States. By firing everyone, he'll get the deep state.
I frankly doubt that this is Trump's views. He's not a deep enough thinker to come up with any of this. Rather, the Project 2025 folks are driving the bus.
Hegseth removed Milley's personal protection, proving right away that he was just a toady after all.
A Federal Court blocked Trump's funding freeze.
The U.S. Space Farce base in Aurora, Colorado, the Buckley Space Farce Base has given permission to ICE to detain immigrants there.
Senate Democrats blocked attempted sanctions against the International Criminal Court.
cont:
Governor Gordon Updates Fire-impacted Communities on Status of Funding for Wildfire Recovery and Restoration
“I have grave concerns about loans.” - Governor Mark Gordon
CHEYENNE, WYO – Governor Mark Gordon visited with hundreds of affected landowners, local elected officials, emergency responders, and the public in Sheridan, Gillette, and Wheatland on Monday to outline his $130 million supplemental budget request for wildfire restoration and recovery efforts. During his visits, the Governor heard loud and clear from the 200+ attendees – landowners need grants, not loans, to help rebuild from the historic impacts of the 2024 fire season.
The Governor’s original $130 million budget recommendation, currently before the Wyoming Legislature, is to assist in restoring landscapes and serves as a backstop to the current federal, state, and insurance programs. It would be administered by the Wyoming Wildlife and Natural Resources Trust Fund (WWNRT).
The Governor’s proposal was put forward to the Joint Appropriations Committee, where the Committee slashed funding to $100 million and transformed it to a loan program, administered through the Office of State Lands and Investments (OSLI) with 2% interest. That proposal heads to the Wyoming House of Representatives and the Senate for debate and amendments.
“I have grave concerns about a loan program for fire restoration and recovery. I understand the Legislature’s intent with the proposal, but there is a lack of understanding of the circumstances on the ground,” Governor Gordon said. “We need a program that is flexible and responsive to your needs. A loan program does not do that.”
The Governor identified several issues with a loan program, the first of which is when borrowing money from the State of Wyoming, the state must have first mortgage rights, and banks must subordinate other loans.
“No one should want to complicate existing loans, compromise operating loans or take banks out of the scenario,” Governor Gordon told attendees. “A loan program is impractical, could take landowners out of other loans, and overextend you. That would be just as bad as the fire the first time.”
Bob Budd, director of the WWNRT, joined the Governor to discuss the need for grants for thoughtfully treating terrestrial invasive species, like cheatgrass, Medusahead and ventenata.
“You can’t go to a Weed and Pest District and ask them to treat invasive grasses on a loan,” Director Budd said. “There is a public benefit to restoring native rangeland – for wildlife, for agriculture, and for future fire prevention.”
Jennifer Doering, OSLI Assistant Director of Administrative Services, added to the discussion with information regarding Wyoming’s Mineral Royalty Grant (MRG) Program. This funding is available to local governments to alleviate emergency situations and support essential public services. The Governor has requested $20 million in additional funds to this account, distributed through the State Loan and Investment Board (SLIB).
The Governor discussed the possibility of the Legislature moving toward a split program, with a portion of dollars going toward grants and another portion for loans.
“We could see the Legislature move toward a loan program for infrastructure on a case-by-case basis where appropriate, and grants for invasive treatments which demonstrate broad public benefit,” Governor Gordon said. “Loans are just not likely to be practical for wide-scale projects like those we have in front of us.”
The Wyoming Grants Management Office has resources available to landowners who are navigating federal assistance and other programs for wildfire recovery. A step-by-step guide can help point affected landowners to a place to start and how to work through available options. The Governor's grant program proposal is intended to provide a backstop once landowners have exhausted federal resources first.
The Supplemental Budget is projected to proceed to the House and Senate as early as Friday for beginning debate.
-END-
So now we have Republicans noting that we didn't expect leopards to eat our face, after voting for the Leopards Won't Eat My Face Party.
It does not appear that we intend to embrace the suck.
cont:
The interregnum rescinded its freeze on grants.
January 31, 2025
This one is shameful beyond all measure:
This is, frankly, shameful in the extreme:
MEMORANDUM FOR THE SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION THE ADMINISTRATOR OF THE FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION
SUBJECT: Immediate Assessment of Aviation Safety
On January 29, 2025, a commercial aircraft and a military helicopter horrifically collided near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. American families today woke up without their loved ones after what should have been a routine trip, and the entire Nation mourns the loss of the victims.
This shocking event follows problematic and likely illegal decisions during the Obama and Biden Administrations that minimized merit and competence in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The Obama Administration implemented a biographical questionnaire at the FAA to shift the hiring focus away from objective aptitude. During my first term, my Administration raised standards to achieve the highest standards of safety and excellence. But the Biden Administration egregiously rejected merit-based hiring, requiring all executive departments and agencies to implement dangerous “diversity equity and inclusion” tactics, and specifically recruiting individuals with “severe intellectual” disabilities in the FAA.
On my second day in office, I ordered an immediate return to merit-based recruitment, hiring, and promotion, elevating safety and ability as the paramount standard. Yesterday’s devastating accident tragically underscores the need to elevate safety and competence as the priority of the FAA.
Consistent with the Presidential Memorandum of January 21, 2025 (Keeping Americans Safe in Aviation), I am further ordering the Secretary of Transportation (Secretary) and the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration (Administrator) to review all hiring decisions and changes to safety protocols made during the prior 4 years, and to take such corrective action as necessary to achieve uncompromised aviation safety, including the replacement of any individuals who do not meet qualification standards. This review shall include a systematic assessment of any deterioration in hiring standards and aviation safety standards and protocols during the Biden Administration.
Consistent with the Presidential Memorandum of January 21, 2025, the Secretary and the Administrator shall take all actions necessary to reverse concerning safety and personnel trends during the prior 4 years, instill an unwavering commitment to aviation safety, and ensure that all Americans fly with peace of mind.
Shameful.
Trump is pitting people against each other on racist grounds. He's an embarrassment to the country.
This one is grandstanding:
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered:
Section 1. Purpose. My Administration has fought and will continue to fight anti-Semitism in the United States and around the world. On December 11, 2019, I issued Executive Order 13899, my first Executive Order on Combating Anti-Semitism, finding that students, in particular, faced anti-Semitic harassment in schools and on university and college campuses. Executive Order 13899 provided interpretive assistance on the enforcement of the Nation’s civil rights laws to ensure that they would protect American Jews to the same extent to which all other American citizens are protected. The prior administration effectively nullified Executive Order 13899 by failing to give the terms of the order full force and effect throughout the Government. This order reaffirms Executive Order 13899 and directs additional measures to advance the policy thereof in the wake of the Hamas terrorist attacks of October 7, 2023, against the people of Israel. These attacks unleashed an unprecedented wave of vile anti-Semitic discrimination, vandalism, and violence against our citizens, especially in our schools and on our campuses. Jewish students have faced an unrelenting barrage of discrimination; denial of access to campus common areas and facilities, including libraries and classrooms; and intimidation, harassment, and physical threats and assault. A joint report by the House Committees on Education and the Workforce, Energy and Commerce, Judiciary, Oversight and Accountability, Veterans’ Affairs, and Ways and Means calls the Federal Government’s failure to fight anti-Semitism and protect Jewish students “astounding.” This failure is unacceptable and ends today.
Sec. 2. Policy. It shall be the policy of the United States to combat anti-Semitism vigorously, using all available and appropriate legal tools, to prosecute, remove, or otherwise hold to account the perpetrators of unlawful anti-Semitic harassment and violence.
Sec. 3. Additional Measures to Combat Campus Anti-Semitism. (a) Within 60 days of the date of this order, the head of each executive department or agency (agency) shall submit a report to the President, through the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy, identifying all civil and criminal authorities or actions within the jurisdiction of that agency, beyond those already implemented under Executive Order 13899, that might be used to curb or combat anti-Semitism, and containing an inventory and analysis of all pending administrative complaints, as of the date of the report, against or involving institutions of higher education alleging civil-rights violations related to or arising from post-October 7, 2023, campus anti-Semitism.
(b) The report submitted by the Attorney General under this section shall additionally include an inventory and an analysis of all court cases, as of the date of the report, against or involving institutions of higher education alleging civil-rights violations related to or arising from post-October 7, 2023, campus anti-Semitism and indicate whether the Attorney General intends to or has taken any action with respect to such matters, including filing statements of interest or intervention.
(c) The Attorney General is encouraged to employ appropriate civil-rights enforcement authorities, such as 18 U.S.C. 241, to combat anti-Semitism.
(d) The report submitted by the Secretary of Education under this section shall additionally include an inventory and an analysis of all Title VI complaints and administrative actions, including in K-12 education, related to anti-Semitism — pending or resolved after October 7, 2023 — within the Department’s Office for Civil Rights.
(e) In addition to identifying relevant authorities to curb or combat anti-Semitism generally required by this section, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Education, and the Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with each other, shall include in their reports recommendations for familiarizing institutions of higher education with the grounds for inadmissibility under 8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(3) so that such institutions may monitor for and report activities by alien students and staff relevant to those grounds and for ensuring that such reports about aliens lead, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law, to investigations and, if warranted, actions to remove such aliens.
Sec. 4. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect
(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or
(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.
(b) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.
(c) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.
This one established a concentration camp:
MEMORANDUM FOR THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE THE SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY
SUBJECT: Expanding Migrant Operations Center at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay to Full Capacity
I hereby direct the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Homeland Security to take all appropriate actions to expand the Migrant Operations Center at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay to full capacity to provide additional detention space for high-priority criminal aliens unlawfully present in the United States, and to address attendant immigration enforcement needs identified by the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security.
This memorandum is issued in order to halt the border invasion, dismantle criminal cartels, and restore national sovereignty.
This memorandum is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.
Culture wars:
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered:
Section 1. Purpose and Policy. Parents trust America’s schools to provide their children with a rigorous education and to instill a patriotic admiration for our incredible Nation and the values for which we stand.
In recent years, however, parents have witnessed schools indoctrinate their children in radical, anti-American ideologies while deliberately blocking parental oversight. Such an environment operates as an echo chamber, in which students are forced to accept these ideologies without question or critical examination. In many cases, innocent children are compelled to adopt identities as either victims or oppressors solely based on their skin color and other immutable characteristics. In other instances, young men and women are made to question whether they were born in the wrong body and whether to view their parents and their reality as enemies to be blamed. These practices not only erode critical thinking but also sow division, confusion, and distrust, which undermine the very foundations of personal identity and family unity.
Imprinting anti-American, subversive, harmful, and false ideologies on our Nation’s children not only violates longstanding anti-discrimination civil rights law in many cases, but usurps basic parental authority. For example, steering students toward surgical and chemical mutilation without parental consent or involvement or allowing males access to private spaces designated for females may contravene Federal laws that protect parental rights, including the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment (PPRA), and sex-based equality and opportunity, including Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (Title IX). Similarly, demanding acquiescence to “White Privilege” or “unconscious bias,” actually promotes racial discrimination and undermines national unity.
My Administration will enforce the law to ensure that recipients of Federal funds providing K-12 education comply with all applicable laws prohibiting discrimination in various contexts and protecting parental rights, including Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VI), 42 U.S.C. 2000d et seq.; Title IX, 20 U.S.C. 1681 et seq.; FERPA, 20 U.S.C. 1232g; and the PPRA, 20 U.S.C. 1232h.
Sec. 2. Definitions. As used herein:
(a) The definitions in the Executive Order “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government” (January 20, 2025) shall apply to this order.
(b) “Discriminatory equity ideology” means an ideology that treats individuals as members of preferred or disfavored groups, rather than as individuals, and minimizes agency, merit, and capability in favor of immoral generalizations, including that:
(i) Members of one race, color, sex, or national origin are morally or inherently superior to members of another race, color, sex, or national origin;
(ii) An individual, by virtue of the individual’s race, color, sex, or national origin, is inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive, whether consciously or unconsciously;
(iii) An individual’s moral character or status as privileged, oppressing, or oppressed is primarily determined by the individual’s race, color, sex, or national origin;
(iv) Members of one race, color, sex, or national origin cannot and should not attempt to treat others without respect to their race, color, sex, or national origin;
(v) An individual, by virtue of the individual’s race, color, sex, or national origin, bears responsibility for, should feel guilt, anguish, or other forms of psychological distress because of, should be discriminated against, blamed, or stereotyped for, or should receive adverse treatment because of actions committed in the past by other members of the same race, color, sex, or national origin, in which the individual played no part;
(vi) An individual, by virtue of the individual’s race, color, sex, or national origin, should be discriminated against or receive adverse treatment to achieve diversity, equity, or inclusion;
(vii) Virtues such as merit, excellence, hard work, fairness, neutrality, objectivity, and racial colorblindness are racist or sexist or were created by members of a particular race, color, sex, or national origin to oppress members of another race, color, sex, or national origin; or
(viii) the United States is fundamentally racist, sexist, or otherwise discriminatory.
(c) “Educational service agency” (ESA) has the meaning given in 20 U.S.C. 1401(5), and the terms “elementary school,” “local educational agency” (LEA), “secondary school,” and “state educational agency” (SEA) have the meanings given in 34 C.F.R. 77.1(c).
(d) “Patriotic education” means a presentation of the history of America grounded in:
(i) an accurate, honest, unifying, inspiring, and ennobling characterization of America’s founding and foundational principles;
(ii) a clear examination of how the United States has admirably grown closer to its noble principles throughout its history;
(iii) the concept that commitment to America’s aspirations is beneficial and justified; and
(iv) the concept that celebration of America’s greatness and history is proper.
(e) “Social transition” means the process of adopting a “gender identity” or “gender marker” that differs from a person’s sex. This process can include psychological or psychiatric counseling or treatment by a school counselor or other provider; modifying a person’s name (e.g., “Jane” to “James”) or pronouns (e.g., “him” to “her”); calling a child “nonbinary”; use of intimate facilities and accommodations such as bathrooms or locker rooms specifically designated for persons of the opposite sex; and participating in school athletic competitions or other extracurricular activities specifically designated for persons of the opposite sex. “Social transition” does not include chemical or surgical mutilation.
Sec. 3. Ending Indoctrination Strategy. (a) Within 90 days of the date of this order, to advise the President in formulating future policy, the Secretary of Education, the Secretary of Defense, and the Secretary of Health and Human Services, in consultation with the Attorney General, shall provide an Ending Indoctrination Strategy to the President, through the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy, containing recommendations and a plan for:
(i) eliminating Federal funding or support for illegal and discriminatory treatment and indoctrination in K-12 schools, including based on gender ideology and discriminatory equity ideology; and
(ii) protecting parental rights, pursuant to FERPA, 20 U.S.C. 1232g, and the PPRA, 20 U.S.C. 1232h, with respect to any K-12 policies or conduct implicated by the purpose and policy of this order.
(b) The Ending Indoctrination Strategy submitted under subsection (a) of this section shall contain a summary and analysis of the following:
(i) All Federal funding sources and streams, including grants or contracts, that directly or indirectly support or subsidize the instruction, advancement, or promotion of gender ideology or discriminatory equity ideology:
(A) in K-12 curriculum, instruction, programs, or activities; or
(B) in K-12 teacher education, certification, licensing, employment, or training;
(ii) Each agency’s process to prevent or rescind Federal funds, to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law, from being used by an ESA, SEA, LEA, elementary school, or secondary school to directly or indirectly support or subsidize the instruction, advancement, or promotion of gender ideology or discriminatory equity ideology in:
(A) K-12 curriculum, instruction, programs, or activities; or
(B) K-12 teacher certification, licensing, employment, or training;
(iii) Each agency’s process to prevent or rescind Federal funds, to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law, from being used by an ESA, SEA, LEA, elementary school, or secondary school to directly or indirectly support or subsidize the social transition of a minor student, including through school staff or teachers or through deliberately concealing the minor’s social transition from the minor’s parents.
(iv) Each agency’s process to prevent or rescind Federal funds, to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law, from being used by an ESA, SEA, LEA, elementary school, or secondary school to directly or indirectly support or subsidize:
(A) interference with a parent’s Federal statutory right to information regarding school curriculum, records, physical examinations, surveys, and other matters under the PPRA or FERPA; or
(B) a violation of Title VI or Title IX; and
(v) A summary and analysis of all relevant agency enforcement tools to advance the policies of this order.
(c) The Attorney General shall coordinate with State attorneys general and local district attorneys in their efforts to enforce the law and file appropriate actions against K-12 teachers and school officials who violate the law by:
(i) sexually exploiting minors;
(ii) unlawfully practicing medicine by offering diagnoses and treatment without the requisite license; or
(iii) otherwise unlawfully facilitating the social transition of a minor student.
(d) The Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy shall regularly convene the heads of the agencies tasked with submitting the Ending Indoctrination Strategy under subsection (a) of this section to confer regarding their findings, areas for additional investigation, the modification or implementation of their respective recommendations, and such other policy initiatives or matters as the President may direct.
Sec. 4. Reestablishing the President’s Advisory 1776 Commission and Promoting Patriotic Education. (a) The President’s Advisory 1776 Commission (“1776 Commission”), which was created by Executive Order 13958 of November 2, 2020, to promote patriotic education, but was terminated by President Biden in Executive Order 13985 of January 20, 2021, is hereby reestablished. The purpose of the 1776 Commission is to promote patriotic education and advance the purposes stated in section 1 of Executive Order 13958, as well as to advise and promote the work of the White House Task Force on Celebrating America’s 250th Birthday (“Task Force 250”) and the United States Semiquincentennial Commission in their efforts to provide a grand celebration worthy of the momentous occasion of the 250th anniversary of American Independence on July 4, 2026.
(b) Within 120 days of the date of this order, the Secretary of Education shall establish the 1776 Commission in the Department of Education.
(c) The 1776 Commission shall be composed of not more than 20 members, who shall be appointed by the President for a term of 2 years. The 1776 Commission shall be made up of individuals from outside the Federal Government with relevant experience or subject-matter expertise.
(d) The 1776 Commission shall have a Chair or Co-Chairs, at the President’s discretion, and a Vice Chair, who shall be designated by the President from among the Commission’s members. An Executive Director, designated by the Secretary of Education in consultation with the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy, shall coordinate the work of the 1776 Commission. The Chair (or Co-Chairs) and Vice Chair shall work with the Executive Director to convene regular meetings of the 1776 Commission, determine its agenda, and direct its work, consistent with this order.
(e) The 1776 Commission shall:
(i) facilitate the development and implementation of a “Presidential 1776 Award” to recognize student knowledge of the American founding, including knowledge about the Founders, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitutional Convention, and the great soldiers and battles of the American Revolutionary War;
(ii) in coordination with the White House Office of Public Liaison, coordinate bi-weekly lectures regarding the 250th anniversary of American Independence that are grounded in patriotic education principles, which shall be broadcast to the Nation throughout calendar year 2026;
(iii) upon request, advise executive departments and agencies regarding their efforts to ensure patriotic education is appropriately provided to the public at national parks, battlefields, monuments, museums, installations, landmarks, cemeteries, and other places important to the American founding and American history, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law;
(iv) upon request, offer advice and recommendations to, and support the work of Task Force 250 and the United States Semiquincentennial Commission regarding their plans to celebrate the 250th anniversary of American Independence; and
(v) facilitate, advise upon, and promote private and civic activities nationwide to increase public knowledge of and support patriotic education surrounding the 250th anniversary of American Independence, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law.
(f) The Department of Education shall provide funding and administrative support for the 1776 Commission, to the extent permitted by law and subject to the availability of appropriations.
(g) Members of the 1776 Commission shall serve without compensation but, as approved by the Department of Education, shall be reimbursed for travel expenses, including per diem in lieu of subsistence, as authorized by law for persons serving intermittently in the Government service (5 U.S.C. 5701-5707).
(h) Insofar as chapter 10 of title 5, United States Code (commonly known as the Federal Advisory Committee Act), may apply to the 1776 Commission, any functions of the President under that Act, except that of reporting to the Congress, shall be performed by the Secretary of Education, in accordance with the guidelines issued by the Administrator of General Services.
(i) The 1776 Commission shall terminate 2 years from the date of this order, unless extended by the President.
Sec. 5. Additional Patriotic Education Measures. (a) All relevant agencies shall monitor compliance with section 111(b) of title I of Division J of Public Law 108-447, which provides that “[e]ach educational institution that receives Federal funds for a fiscal year shall hold an educational program on the United States Constitution on September 17 of such year for the students served by the educational institution,” including by verifying compliance with each educational institution that receives Federal funds. All relevant agencies shall take action, as appropriate, to enhance compliance with that law.
(b) All relevant agencies shall prioritize Federal resources, consistent with applicable law, to promote patriotic education, including through the following programs:
(i) the Department of Education’s American History and Civics Academies and American History and Civics Education-National Activities programs;
(ii) the Department of Defense’s National Defense Education Program and Pilot Program on Enhanced Civics Education; and
(iii) the Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and Fulbright, U.S. Speaker, and International Visitor Leadership programs, as well as the American Spaces network.
Sec. 6. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:
(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or
(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.
(b) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.
(c) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.
And;
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, and to improve the education, well-being, and future success of America’s most prized resource, her young citizens, it is hereby ordered:
Section 1. Purpose. Parents want and deserve the best education for their children. But too many children do not thrive in their assigned, government-run K-12 school. According to this year’s National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 70 percent of 8th graders were below proficient in reading, and 72 percent were below proficient in math. Moreover, geographically based school assignments exacerbate the cost of housing in districts with preferred schools, straining the finances of millions of American families sacrificing for their children’s futures.
When our public education system fails such a large segment of society, it hinders our national competitiveness and devastates families and communities. For this reason, more than a dozen States have enacted universal K-12 scholarship programs, allowing families — rather than the government — to choose the best educational setting for their children. These States have highlighted the most promising avenue for education reform: educational choice for families and competition for residentially assigned, government-run public schools. The growing body of rigorous research demonstrates that well-designed education-freedom programs improve student achievement and cause nearby public schools to improve their performance.
Sec. 2. Policy. It is the policy of my Administration to support parents in choosing and directing the upbringing and education of their children.
Sec. 3. Guidance on Supporting State-based K-12 Educational Choice. Within 60 days of the date of this order, the Secretary of Education shall issue guidance regarding how States can use Federal formula funds to support K-12 educational choice initiatives.
Sec. 4. Encouraging Education Freedom through Discretionary Grant Programs. (a) The Secretary of Education shall include education freedom as a priority in discretionary grant programs, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law.
(b) Within 90 days of the date of this order, the Secretary of Labor and the Secretary of Education shall review their respective discretionary grant programs and each submit a plan to the President, through the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy, that identifies, evaluates, and makes recommendations regarding using relevant discretionary grant programs to expand education freedom for America’s families and teachers.
Sec. 5. Expanding Opportunities for Low-Income, Working Families. Within 90 days of the date of this order, the Secretary of Health and Human Services shall issue guidance regarding whether and how States receiving block grants for families and children from the Department, including the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDGB), can use them to expand educational choice and support families who choose educational alternatives to governmental entities, including private and faith-based options.
Sec. 6. Helping Military Families. Within 90 days of the date of this order, the Secretary of Defense shall review any available mechanisms under which military-connected families may use funds from the Department of Defense to attend schools of their choice, including private, faith-based, or public charter schools, and submit a plan to the President describing such mechanisms and the steps that would be necessary to implement them beginning in the 2025-26 school year.
Sec. 7. Helping Children Eligible for Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) Schools. Within 90 days of the date of this order, the Secretary of the Interior shall review any available mechanisms under which families of students eligible to attend BIE schools may use their Federal funding for educational options of their choice, including private, faith-based, or public charter schools, and submit a plan to the President describing such mechanisms and the steps that would be necessary to implement them for the 2025-26 school year. The Secretary shall report on the current performance of BIE schools and identify educational options in nearby areas.
Sec. 8. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:
(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or
(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.
(b) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.
(c) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.
The only one of these that was worthwhile:
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered:
Section 1. Policy and Purpose. Across the country today, medical professionals are maiming and sterilizing a growing number of impressionable children under the radical and false claim that adults can change a child’s sex through a series of irreversible medical interventions. This dangerous trend will be a stain on our Nation’s history, and it must end.
Countless children soon regret that they have been mutilated and begin to grasp the horrifying tragedy that they will never be able to conceive children of their own or nurture their children through breastfeeding. Moreover, these vulnerable youths’ medical bills may rise throughout their lifetimes, as they are often trapped with lifelong medical complications, a losing war with their own bodies, and, tragically, sterilization.
Accordingly, it is the policy of the United States that it will not fund, sponsor, promote, assist, or support the so-called “transition” of a child from one sex to another, and it will rigorously enforce all laws that prohibit or limit these destructive and life-altering procedures.
Sec. 2. Definitions. For the purposes of this order:
(a) The term “child” or “children” means an individual or individuals under 19 years of age.
(b) The term “pediatric” means relating to the medical care of a child.
(c) The phrase “chemical and surgical mutilation” means the use of puberty blockers, including GnRH agonists and other interventions, to delay the onset or progression of normally timed puberty in an individual who does not identify as his or her sex; the use of sex hormones, such as androgen blockers, estrogen, progesterone, or testosterone, to align an individual’s physical appearance with an identity that differs from his or her sex; and surgical procedures that attempt to transform an individual’s physical appearance to align with an identity that differs from his or her sex or that attempt to alter or remove an individual’s sexual organs to minimize or destroy their natural biological functions. This phrase sometimes is referred to as “gender affirming care.”
Sec. 3. Ending Reliance on Junk Science. (a) The blatant harm done to children by chemical and surgical mutilation cloaks itself in medical necessity, spurred by guidance from the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), which lacks scientific integrity. In light of the scientific concerns with the WPATH guidance:
(i) agencies shall rescind or amend all policies that rely on WPATH guidance, including WPATH’s “Standards of Care Version 8”; and
(ii) within 90 days of the date of this order, the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) shall publish a review of the existing literature on best practices for promoting the health of children who assert gender dysphoria, rapid-onset gender dysphoria, or other identity-based confusion.
(b) The Secretary of HHS, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law, shall use all available methods to increase the quality of data to guide practices for improving the health of minors with gender dysphoria, rapid-onset gender dysphoria, or other identity-based confusion, or who otherwise seek chemical or surgical mutilation.
Sec. 4. Defunding Chemical and Surgical Mutilation. The head of each executive department or agency (agency) that provides research or education grants to medical institutions, including medical schools and hospitals, shall, consistent with applicable law and in coordination with the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, immediately take appropriate steps to ensure that institutions receiving Federal research or education grants end the chemical and surgical mutilation of children.
Sec. 5. Additional Directives to the Secretary of HHS. (a) The Secretary of HHS shall, consistent with applicable law, take all appropriate actions to end the chemical and surgical mutilation of children, including regulatory and sub-regulatory actions, which may involve the following laws, programs, issues, or documents:
(i) Medicare or Medicaid conditions of participation or conditions for coverage;
(ii) clinical-abuse or inappropriate-use assessments relevant to State Medicaid programs;
(iii) mandatory drug use reviews;
(iv) section 1557 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act;
(v) quality, safety, and oversight memoranda;
(vi) essential health benefits requirements; and
(vii) the Eleventh Revision of the International Classification of Diseases and other federally funded manuals, including the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition.
(b) The Secretary of HHS shall promptly withdraw HHS’s March 2, 2022, guidance document titled “HHS Notice and Guidance on Gender Affirming Care, Civil Rights and Patient Privacy” and, in consultation with the Attorney General, issue new guidance protecting whistleblowers who take action related to ensuring compliance with this order.
Sec. 6. TRICARE. The Department of Defense provides health insurance, through TRICARE, to nearly 2 million individuals under the age of 18. As appropriate and consistent with applicable law, the Secretary of Defense shall commence a rulemaking or sub-regulatory action to exclude chemical and surgical mutilation of children from TRICARE coverage and amend the TRICARE provider handbook to exclude chemical and surgical mutilation of children.
Sec. 7. Requirements for Insurance Carriers. The Director of the Office of Personnel Management, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law, shall:
(a) include provisions in the Federal Employee Health Benefits (FEHB) and Postal Service Health Benefits (PSHB) programs call letter for the 2026 Plan Year specifying that eligible carriers, including the Foreign Service Benefit Plan, will exclude coverage for pediatric transgender surgeries or hormone treatments; and
(b) negotiate to obtain appropriate corresponding reductions in FEHB and PSHB premiums.
Sec. 8. Directives to the Department of Justice. The Attorney General shall:
(a) review Department of Justice enforcement of section 116 of title 18, United States Code, and prioritize enforcement of protections against female genital mutilation;
(b) convene States’ Attorneys General and other law enforcement officers to coordinate the enforcement of laws against female genital mutilation across all American States and Territories;
(c) prioritize investigations and take appropriate action to end deception of consumers, fraud, and violations of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act by any entity that may be misleading the public about long-term side effects of chemical and surgical mutilation;
(d) in consultation with the Congress, work to draft, propose, and promote legislation to enact a private right of action for children and the parents of children whose healthy body parts have been damaged by medical professionals practicing chemical and surgical mutilation, which should include a lengthy statute of limitations; and
(e) prioritize investigations and take appropriate action to end child-abusive practices by so-called sanctuary States that facilitate stripping custody from parents who support the healthy development of their own children, including by considering the application of the Parental Kidnapping Prevention Act and recognized constitutional rights.
Sec. 9. Enforcing Adequate Progress. Within 60 days of the date of this order, the heads of agencies with responsibilities under this order shall submit a single, combined report to the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy, detailing progress in implementing this order and a timeline for future action. The Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy shall regularly convene the heads of agencies with responsibilities under this order (or their designees) to coordinate and prepare for this submission.
Sec. 10. Severability. If any provision of this order, or the application of any provision to any person or circumstances, is held to be invalid, the remainder of this order and the application of any of its other provisions to any other persons or circumstances shall not be affected thereby.
Sec. 11. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:
(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or
(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.
(b) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.
(c) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.
