131 thoughts on “National Squirrel Appreciation Day (sorry Filly)”

    1. Morning, Pat! Squirrels are so cute yet such a royal PITA!!! Saw another one try to get by the slinky yesterday – didn’t take long and he moved on! Got you beat this morning – it was -9 when I got up to pee a couple of hours ago but it’s down to -11 now. Looking forward to what wondrous things will happen today!!! I hear the trash trucks a-coming! Poor guys, having to work outside in this cold!

      Liked by 1 person

        1. Of course you did! Two things I’m now known for: squirrels and stray cats…..speaking of which: haven’t seen him for a couple of days.

          Liked by 1 person

  3. HA – !!!

    Good morning, Pat and Filly – today’s Squirrel post is great!

    Congratulations to us – on getting a new sane President and Administration!

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Morning GA!

      Filly told so many stories of fighting her squirrel(s) and figuring out ways to keep them from decimating her feeder–when i saw Squirrel Appreciation Day on the calendar–I couldn’t resist!

      Liked by 2 people

    1. Wonder how long this “stunned” state is gonna last? Hopefully….a VERY long time! Keep ’em coming, President Trump!!!

      Liked by 1 person

  10. scott467
    scott467(@scott467)Online
    Wolf
    Reply to cthulhu
    January 21, 2025 01:40

    Here is the link (and text) to the Executive Order on SES:

    https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/restoring-accountability-for-career-senior-executives/

    RESTORING ACCOUNTABILITY FOR CAREER SENIOR EXECUTIVES January 20, 2025

    MEMORANDUM FOR THE HEADS OF EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES

    SUBJECT: Restoring Accountability for Career Senior Executives

    Career Senior Executive Service (SES) officials are charged to “ensure that the executive management of the Government of the United States is responsive to the needs, policies, and goals of the Nation and otherwise is of the highest quality,” as required by section 3131 of title 5, United States Code. SES officials have enormous influence over the functioning of the Federal Government, and thus the well-being of hundreds of millions of Americans.

    As the Constitution makes clear, and as the Supreme Court of the United States has reaffirmed, “the ‘executive Power’ — all of it — is ‘vested in a President,’ who must ‘take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed.’” Seila Law LLC v. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, 591 U.S. 197, 203 (2020). “Because no single person could fulfill that responsibility alone, the Framers expected that the President would rely on subordinate officers for assistance.” Id. at 203–04.

    The President’s power to remove subordinates is a core part of the Executive power vested by Article II of the Constitution and is necessary for the President to perform his duty to “take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed.” Because SES officials wield significant governmental authority, they must serve at the pleasure of the President.

    Only that chain of responsibility ensures that SES officials are properly accountable to the President and the American people. If career SES officials fail to faithfully fulfill their duties to advance the needs, policies, and goals of the United States, the President must be able to rectify the situation and ensure that the entire Executive Branch faithfully executes the law.

    For instance, SES officials who engage in unauthorized disclosure of Executive Branch deliberations, violate the constitutional rights of Americans, refuse to implement policy priorities, or perform their duties inefficiently or negligently should be held accountable.

    The President must be able to trust that the Executive Branch will work together in service of the Nation. My Administration will restore a “government of the people, by the people, for the people.” Therefore:

    (a) Within 30 days of the signing of this memorandum, the Director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), in coordination with the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), shall issue SES Performance Plans that agencies must adopt;

    (b) Agency heads, who along with their senior staff manage career SES officials as one of their core functions, shall use all available authorities to reinvigorate the SES system and prioritize accountability;

    (c) Each agency head shall, as necessary and appropriate and consistent with the procedural requirements of section 3395 of title 5, United States Code, reassign agency SES members to ensure their knowledge, skills, abilities, and mission assignments are optimally aligned to implement my agenda;

    (d) Each agency head should terminate its existing Executive Resources Board (ERB), institute a new or interim ERB, and assign senior noncareer officials to chair and serve on the board as a majority alongside career members;

    (e) Each agency head should terminate its existing Performance Review Board membership and re-constitute membership with individuals committed to full enforcement of SES performance evaluations that promote and assure an SES of the highest caliber; and

    (f) Any agency head who becomes aware of an SES official whose performance or continued occupancy of the position is inconsistent with either the principles reaffirmed in this Order or their duties to the Nation under section 3131 of title 5, United States Code, shall immediately take all appropriate actions, up to and including removal of that official, with the support of OPM and OMB.

    Restoring an accountable government workforce is a top priority of my Administration.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Hmmmm….notice the different terminology in (d) and (e): the word “should” is used instead of “shall.” Puts an entirely different meaning on it. “Shall” is a directive; “should” is a suggestion.

      Liked by 1 person

  11. TheseTruths

    TheseTruths(@thesetruths)

    Offline

    Wolf

    January 21, 2025 01:10

    https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/trump-withdraws-us-from-who-on-first-day-in-office-5795858

    Newly-inaugurated President Donald Trump issued an executive order on Monday withdrawing the United States from the World Health Organization (WHO) and halting future U.S. funding to the United Nations organization.

    The order cited the WHO’s “mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic that arose out of Wuhan, China, and other global health crises” as reasons behind the U.S. withdrawal. It also stated that the WHO failed to “adopt urgently needed reforms” and was unable to demonstrate independence from “the inappropriate political influence” of member states.

    “In addition, the WHO continues to demand unfairly onerous payments from the United States, far out of proportion with other countries’ assessed payments. China, with a population of 1.4 billion, has 300 percent of the population of the United States, yet contributes nearly 90 percent less to the WHO,” the Trump executive order stated.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. it will take a while to go thru ll the EO’s he signed yesterday! But this one??? SCOTUS has been skirting this ruling for a long time…they need to step up. “under the jurisdiction of” is always overlooked. The simple example–a foreign dignity’s wife gives birth in the US–their baby is NOT under the IS jurisdiction–he is a foreign representative. therefore people sneaking into the country are not under our jurisdiction simply because they are here.

      Liked by 2 people

  15. this sounds promising

    Landslide24

    Landslide24

    January 21, 2025 2:00 am

    Reply to  Charlotte99

    Not all presidential pardons are immutable.

    “Preemptive” presidential pardons that can be shown to obstruct the administration of justice are ILLEGAL and violate the presidential oath to uphold the law. As such, they are null and void.

    Reread this until it sinks in.

    This is the similar to the legal standard that fraud vitiates everything following it.

    Liked by 1 person

  16. Perot Conservative6

    January 21, 2025 12:35 am

    Further Executive Orders include:

    – Hiring Freeze
    – Regulatory Freeze Pending Review
    – Return to In-Person Work
    – Ending Radical And Wasteful Government DEI Programs And Preferencing
    – Unleashing Alaska’s Extraordinary Resource Potential
    – Restoring Accountability for Career Senior Executives [SES – senior govt officials – performance reviews]
    – Holding Former Government Officials Accountable For Election Interference And Improper Disclosure Of Sensitive Governmental Information

    https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/

    Liked by 2 people

  18. sunnydaze

    January 21, 2025 1:58 am

    BREAKING: The Commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard Linda Fagan, has been terminated over her failure to address border security and her excessive focus on DEI – FOX pic.twitter.com/xjcaRv0wij

    — Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) January 21, 2025

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Link

      IN THE LAST FLEETING HOURS OF AN ILLEGITIMATE ADMINISTRATION, BIDEN ISSUED PREEMPTIVE PARDONS FOR MILLEY, FAUCI, CHENEY & J6 COMMITTEE MEMBERS & THEY’RE NOT WORTH THE PAPER UPON WHICH THEY’RE PRINTED.

      COVID-19 produced a stolen 2020 election ergo two sets of RICO crimes chain together. The THROCKMORTON DOCTRINE vitiates & nullifies the products of fraud: “The Throckmorton doctrine [UNITED STATES v. THROCKMORTON] holds that, “There is no question of the general doctrine that fraud vitiates the most solemn contracts, documents, and even judgments.””

      So, if you fake a pandemic to steal an election to occupy the Executive, you can’t enjoy the power & authority of the Executive, like the power to issue preemptive pardons.

      I have been kicking the RICO/Throckmorton dead horse for about 5 years now.

      Most recently explained in these:

      The Inferno of the Forty-Seventh Presidential Inauguration

      Examining the Hunter Biden Pardon Through the Lens of RICO Crimes – The only option, the plan from the beginning

      Who receives pardons?

      Criminals receive pardons.

      Ergo, why would Joe Biden need to issue preemptive pardons if no criminality occurred?

      Rhetorical question.

      The @TheJusticeDept & AG @PamBondi should immediately begin preparations to investigate, indict & prosecute COVID-19 & the 2020 election under RICO statue.

      Post-convictions, Throckmorton should be invoked.

      This will most certainly entail SCOTUS weighing-in.

      Once Throckmorton is invoked, it vitiates & nullifies the past 4 years of the Biden Administration.

      Everything Joe Biden did is rendered null & void: executive orders, policies, authorizations, appointments, etc.

      As the Executive, it would fall to @realDonaldTrump to redo everything undone by Throckmorton vis-a-vis Biden. If this plays-out, it would essentially give Trump three terms: 45, 47 and a complete re-write of 46.

      Liked by 2 people

      1. Link

        Joe Biden pardoned all of his co-conspirators and that’s fine because through the lens of RICO and Throckmorton, those preemptive pardons; those ‘get of of jail free’ cards, aren’t worth the paper upon which they are written.

        It’s time to push the RICO/Throckmorton “easy button” and then parlay those investigations into investigations of high crimes, treason and crimes against humanity so as to exhaust full fidelity to the rule of law, which is now President Trump’s primary role in the Executive as the nation’s chief law enforcement officer and further as the Commander in Chief.

        Let’s begin this golden era as Mr. Trump has proclaimed with RICO prosecutions.
        From there we invoke Throckmorton and erase the darkest four-year period of American history like it never happened.

        After sentencing, on we go as Americans were intended to go; as free and independent souls never looking back except to be reminded that, “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.”

        -End-

        Liked by 2 people

  25. Perhaps by changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America – PDJT means to heighten our jurisdiction, surveillance and security on the entire waters of the Gulf of America!

    Trump has just declared the cartels foreign terrorist organizations.

    He has just replaced the head of the Coast Guard.

    He has just put the military in charge of building the wall (and defending it?)

    I have long wanted the wall to be declared a military installation and the Border Patrol to be placed under the Department of Defense and its financial umbrella.

    For too long, the BP has had to beg Congress for funding – and Democraps have denied it.

    Maybe ICE too should be under the Dept. of Defense.

    It’s the US military’s job to DEFEND AMERICA FIRST!!!!

    Liked by 2 people

  27. EXCERPT: “President Donald Trump wasted no time Monday night delivering the pardons he promised Jan. 6 defendants – 1,500 in all. And in so doing, he upped the pressure on House Speaker Mike Johnson to repudiate the findings of a Democrat-run panel whose findings have been factually challenged and whose conduct required an act of clemency.

    The conduct of the Democrat-run Select House Committee on the Jan. 6 attack garnered new scrutiny Monday when departing President Joe Biden issued sweeping pardons for all lawmakers and staffers on that committee as well as a handful of police officers who testified to the panel.

    It was a stunning act – some lawmakers who served on the committee also called it unwelcomed – that begged a provocative question: What did an official panel of Congress do that was so bad it needed to be absolved by an act of presidential clemency?

    “You don’t forgive somebody of something unless they have potentially done something,” said Rep. Barry Loudermilk, the Georgia Republican who took over the Jan. 6 probe from Democrats two years ago and exposed major factual flaws with the original investigation’s findings.

    “I mean, to me, this is basically, if not an actual admission, it’s truly the perception of admitting that there was wrongdoing done,” Loudermilk told Just the News.

    Loudermilk has pushed for months for Congress to vote on whether the findings of the Jan. 6 committee that Democrats ran should be repudiated for history’s sake. His request is rooted in his own investigative finding showing the committee misled the American public, held exculpatory evidence and possibly colluded with federal prosecutors.

    Thus far he has not found the support from leadership, but he told Just the News that Biden’s sweeping pardon of all committee members and staffers strengthened his case.

    “This pardon was a direct result of the work that our committee has done, exposing the truth, the corruption, the lies, the predetermined narrative, and not letting anything, including the truth or even laws and rules and regulations get in the way of creating the narrative that they wanted to create,” Loudermilk said of the prior Democrat committee during an interview with the John Solomon Reports podcast…..”

    https://justthenews.com/accountability/political-ethics/tuetrump-delivered-his-j6-pardons-now-congress-must-decide-fate

    Liked by 1 person

    1. “…..Some legal experts said the pardons opened a new door for Republicans to pursue accountability through other means because members of the committee or Biden family members could no longer hide behind a claim of self-incrimination and therefore could be compelled to testify before a grand jury or other proceedings, potentially creating new legal peril if they lied.

      “In reality, these pardons will not absolutely protect these individuals from being subpoenaed to give new testimony on prior claims,” George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley wrote on X. “Lying in such interviews or hearings would constitute new criminal acts.”

      Loudermilk said Trump and Johnson each have told him they support a continued investigation of the prior Jan. 6 committee, a vehicle that could create such jeopardy for witnesses like former lawmakers and staffers.

      “I have talked to the President. Yes, he is 100% behind it, and has told me that he’s really proud of the work that we’ve done,” Loudermilk said. “He just wants to get the truth and knows that we have more work to do, and wants a select committee with me leading it to continue to do that work.

      “I had a brief conversation finally with the speaker last week, and there’s still questions, I guess, with how we’re going to set it up,” he also said. “But he has told me we will discuss that this week, and I emphasize to him, we need to do this quickly. The clock is burning.”

      Loudermilk also raised another tantalizing possibility: pursuing committee members or staff under civil fraud statutes because they used taxpayer funds.

      “They didn’t release certain documents that didn’t support their narrative,” he said. “This whole structure of the committee is not within the constraints of what the legislation said, and they totally ignored any security vulnerabilities here at the Capitol. So with that in mind, I think we do have a case that it was misappropriation of funds.”

      Liked by 1 person

  28. Now I want to see ALL of the J6’ers being reimbursed for all the $$$ they had to spend defending themselves, like Brandon Straka!

    Liked by 1 person

  29. In Wide-Ranging Oval Office Interview, Trump Makes Clear His Plans to Shake Things Up

    President Donald Trump took about 45 minutes of a wide range of questions from reporters Monday evening from behind his desk as he signed a slew of executive orders in the Oval Office.

    Trump said he had been “surprised” President Joe Biden issued sweeping preemptive pardons for his family earlier Monday, saying the move “makes him look very guilty.” […]

    The back-and-forth with reporters in the Oval Office was a throwback to Trump’s first term, during which he often engaged in lengthy Q-and-A sessions… He casually spoke as he signed numerous executive orders on subjects ranging from TikTok to immigration to climate and Trump made it clear he intended to shake up the global status quo.

    The president said he would impose 25 percent tariffs on Canada and Mexico — two of the country’s largest trade partners — starting Feb. 1. — Politico

    Our Take: Not even 15 minutes back into the Oval and Trump has already answered more unscripted questions from the press than Biden did throughout his entire “presidency,” all while signing EO’s to fix the country Biden broke.

    Incredible stuff. — Jon Herold

    Another Take: To me, the enduring image from a historic day that could kick off a new American Golden Age didn’t come from rotundas or ballrooms. It came when an American President sat behind the resolute desk, signed papers and answered questions.

    Make the ordinary extraordinary again. — Burning Bright

    And Another Take: Three of the most significant Executive Order’s included exiting the World Health Organization, targeting the Senior Executive Service for termination, and declaring the Latin American cartels “terrorist organizations.”

    The US exiting the WHO makes the organization irrelevant. Without the funding by or the enforcement via sanctions, the WHO loses all of its gravitas. It will not have the necessary power projection to impose its will on nation-states, marking a major milestone in the War of Sovereignty between the Globalist Cabal and the Sovereign Alliance.

    The targeting of the SES for potential termination is a very big deal. The Senior Executive Service is the Deep State. It is the senior-most officials in the State Department, who have effectively earned tenured and are probably considered immune to termination. This is the permanent bureaucratic class that is unelected and therefore unaccountable to its would-be constituents. That dynamic empowers these bureaucrats to cut deals with international organizations and entities that ultimately amount to “selling out” the American People. It is past time to end this practice by laying off most if not all of the SES.

    Declaring the cartels as “terrorist organizations” was probably the most significant announcement Trump made yesterday, during the live event. I’m no JAG lawyer, but I’m pretty sure that according to the Military Commissions Act of 2006, anyone who provides material support to an “unlawful enemy combatant” (terrorist) is also potentially considered an unlawful enemy combatant. So if certain agencies operating around the state of Virginia (among other places) were to be found guilty of providing said support to a “terrorist” organization, then that agency would also be a terrorist organization, as I understand it.

    Things are about to get very interesting. — GhostofBasedPatrickHenry

    Liked by 1 person

  30. https://archive.is/yIhQM – (WAPO article)

    https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/5097337-aclu-sues-trump-order/

    Our Take: The lawfare begins within moments of the inauguration. The immediate legal actions focus on obstructing Trump’s Executive Orders to establish DOGE and secure the border, but there are more coming. For example, President Trump declared that US policy is only two genders; we can expect at least 457 lawsuits from the so-called remaining genders once the sting wears off.

    I have no doubt the administration is prepared for this (and more) obstruction. It’s not Trump’s first rodeo, and lawfare focused lawyers are most effective in settlement situations. Trump fights back, and he’s modeled that behavior to his millions of supporters.

    It won’t be so easy for them this time. Things are different now, and legal action goes both ways. Never give up. Never back down. Never settle. We’re just getting started. — Ashe in America

    Liked by 1 person

  31. https://m.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-838482

    Our Take: President Donald Trump, while signing a slew of executive orders in the Oval Office on Monday night following his inaugural parade event, was asked if he was confident he could keep the ceasefire in Gaza and complete the three phases of the deal.

    “I’m not confident,” Trump replied. “It’s not our war. It’s their war. I’m not confident, but they’re very weakened on the other side.”

    Trump said he looked at a picture of Gaza, and said it’s like a “massive demolition site” and that it’s “really got to be rebuilt in a different way.”

    “You know, everything’s good,” he said. “Some beautiful things could be done with it, but it’s very interesting, but some fantastic things could be done with Gaza.”

    Yesterday, we documented why the hostage deal was unlikely to reach the second phase of the deal: Itamar Ben-Gvir and the Jewish Power party has already left the government, if Bezalel Smotrich and Religious Zionism follow, then the political coalition that makes up the Israeli government collapses and new elections are scheduled.

    We’ll have to see what happens, but you already have escalating violence in the West Bank.

    Israeli youth from the Settler Movement have been escalating this violence against Palestinians for a while now. Biden actually did issue Executive Order 14115, which imposed sanctions on Settlers who engaged in this type of violence. It was revoked by President Trump, along with many other EO’s.

    On the surface, this appears to be in support of Netanyahu’s radical cabinet — and perhaps it is — but ultimately, what the EO did was empower the federal government to control the transfer of property between US citizens, if the government suspected that person of being guilty of specific action. (From what it seems, no conviction or due process required.)

    There are better ways to solve this problem than granting the federal government expanded powers. For starters, you can stop giving a blank check to the Israeli government — as Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff explicitly expressed during his address yesterday. If we are going to provide any form of aid or trade to Israel, then that carrot should come with a caveat. That’s how you negotiate.

    Then there was this little nugget:

    However, Trump said that he thinks Saudi Arabia will end up joining the Abraham Accords, a series of normalization agreements between Israel and Arab nations.

    “I think Saudi Arabia will end up being in the Abraham Accords,” Trump told reporters.

    My instincts tell me that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan played a significant role in piecing together the original Abraham Accords, and keeping Saudi out of the original deal was a strategic play.

    Normalization with Saudi — which represents normalization with the Islamic homeland — is the carrot that gets Israel to accept a Two-State Solution. Self-governance is the carrot that gets Palestine to agree. The Arabs can leverage their position to keep the Palestinians from breaking the peace, and the West can do the same for Israel. This is a deal that is very achievable, if not for some zealots on both sides. But until you pull the IDF out of the West Bank, you can’t expect to build the level of trust necessary to achieve a lasting peace.

    But we know well that this isn’t about keeping the peace; this is about annexing more territory — something that the Arabs and their partners (Sovereign Alliance) are not going to tolerate. Trump, himself, has said in the past that he wouldn’t tolerate it.

    The Settler Movement, and how it is dealt with, will become the centerpiece of this entire conflict. — GhostofBasedPatrickHenry

    Liked by 1 person

  32. Trump Authorizes Military Deployment Plan to Border in Executive Order

    President Trump on Monday night signed an executive order authorizing the U.S. military to draft a plan for sending troops to the southern border.

    The order authorizes U.S. Northern Command (NORTHCOM), one of 11 combat command centers, to repel “forms of invasion, including unlawful mass migration, narcotics trafficking, human smuggling and trafficking, and other criminal activities” at the southern border.

    “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,” Trump’s executive order reads.

    “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.”

    The Pentagon said in a statement that it was “fully committed to carrying out the orders from our Commander-In-Chief, and is doing so immediately under his leadership.” — The Hill

    Our Take: I am anxiously awaiting the dramatic conclusion of Colorado’s migrant madness. The incoming administration has repeatedly referenced Aurora, and Homan said he was willing to put the Denver Mayor in prison a few months back.

    We demand our third act. Our local media, which is all legacy propaganda, is trying to convince everyone that everything is fine.

    They haven’t really even turned on the emotional blackmail yet. The “family separation” and “no human is illegal” deployments will come in hot once the deportations start. Resist the pleas to emotion. MAGA. — Ashe in America

    Liked by 1 person

      1. Exactly! Homan has already put them on notice plenty of times. If they haven’t learned by now, well….sucks to be them!!!

        Like

  33. Oh, my! Shades of the Sword Dance!!! And Melania does the “dance!” She is soooo happy! He and JD use the swords to cut the cake!!! Brilliant!

    Liked by 1 person

  34. “Is It Too Late to Impeach the Pardoned?

    Red State, By Dan Zoernig | 6:00 AM on January 21, 2025    

    Lightspruch/iStock/Getty Images Plus

    “Literally on his way out of the White House door, Biden pardoned Anthony Fauci, Mark Milley, and anybody/everybody on the J6 Committee, not as an admission of wrongdoing on their part, but to throw an aegis over these people so Donald Trump could not prosecute them. 

    This isn’t exactly what pardons are for, but in some cases, it’s how pardons have been used. Preliminary pardons are somewhat rare but not unheard of, and it seems Joe Biden has decided to throw his mantle of protection far and wide. 

    To establish a benchmark, here is what the Constitution says about Presidential Pardons: 

    Article II, Section 2, Clause 1:

    The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States; he may require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments, upon any Subject relating to the Duties of their respective Offices, and he shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.

    Okay, so I’m not any sort of legal scholar, as has been pointed out to me in the past, and this piece is just me positing an idea from a layman’s point of view as I scratch my head and try to find some sort of Kryptonite to break through Biden’s effort to shield his cronies. I may have nothing here, but maybe it will spark a conversation on the matter, and we’ll all find out if I do or don’t.

    Article II notes that a Presidential Pardon covers anything in the past except in cases of impeachment (and violations of state law, as we know). Now, I don’t know if somebody is going to do an Alvin Bragg and torque a federal violation into a state violation like he did with Trump, but I wondered if a civil servant could be impeached after resignation or termination.

    Why would you want to do that, you ask? The only penalty impeachment carries is removal from office, and if you’ve already been removed then what is the point, and does the Senate still have jurisdiction if you are no longer a civil servant?

    Well, it turns out that there is a precedent for this. And it’s an interesting story. In 1876, then Secretary of War William Belknap resigned his post just moments before the Senate was about to file charges of impeachment against him for graft and corruption. 

    I resign, I remove myself from government service, and my reputation does not get sullied because I am now out of reach. Aha!

    As it turned out, the Senate collectively decided that one should not be able to escape repercussions of criminal behavior simply through resignation, so they determined that they indeed maintained jurisdiction and impeached him anyway. He was tried and escaped conviction by narrow margins, but his misdeeds were showcased for all to see.

    So here we have a Milley and a Fauci. Both pardoned, and both already separated from government service. I would suggest that both can still be prosecuted under articles of impeachment, which presidential pardons do not cover, and even though retired from federal service, can still be frog-marched back into the Army to face charges of mutiny in the former case, and the Senate for charges of fraud and perjury in the latter. If convicted, and it might not be that big a deal anymore if they aren’t, but Milley could be court-martialed — suffering from all the fallout from that — while Fauci might get nothing as he is already separated. However, his narcissistic personality will die a thousand deaths when his legacy is circling the drain.

    Impeachment may bring their crimes or acts of malfeasance or whatever into the spotlight. And even if they don’t get convicted, you still may get a trial and you still may see them pay a price for their actions.

    It might not be much, but it also might be the best we can hope for.”

    Liked by 1 person

  35. “First Wave of the Trump Purges Claims ‘Scores’ of State Department Bureaucrats”

    Red State, By streiff | 7:23 PM on January 20, 2025

    CREDIT: Official State Department photo by Chuck Kennedy

    “President Trump’s State Department transition team has asked scores of bureaucrats to resign from their positions no later than noon on Monday. The focus of the changes seems aimed at gutting the notoriously recalcitrant, hidebound, and, yes, leftist State Department staff and preventing any centers of resistance from forming as Marco Rubio builds his team.

    The forced departures, aimed at establishing a decisive break from the Biden administration, will result in an exodus of decorated veterans of the Foreign Service, including John Bass, the undersecretary for management and acting undersecretary for political affairs, and Geoff Pyatt, the assistant secretary for energy resources, said the officials, who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss personnel decisions ahead of Monday’s inauguration.

    Requesting the resignations, the prerogative of any incoming administration, indicates a desire to quickly shift the tone and makeup of the State Department as Trump seeks to upend the global diplomatic chessboard after four years of President Joe Biden. Key priorities for Trump include imposing sweeping tariffs on allies and adversaries, ending the war in Ukraine, solidifying the wobbly ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and deporting millions of undocumented immigrants.

    Rubio’s team is forcing out basically all of State’s second tier leadership and replacing them with handpicked personnel, including people called out of retirement.

    Some incoming presidents choose to keep a larger stable of career diplomats in senior roles until handpicked political appointees receive Senate confirmation. Instead, Trump has authorized the selection of more than 20 “senior bureau officials” to take over various divisions where leadership posts are being vacated this week. A number of those officials served in key roles in the State Department and the National Security Council during Trump’s first term, and some have been pulled out of retirement, officials familiar with the matter said.

    Those told to vacate their positions are still employed if they haven’t elected to retire or be separated from the civil or foreign service. But that may be a formality. They will have to compete for open jobs inside State and there is no guarantee that they will be successful. There is a time window after which they will be separated.

    Other officials expressed frustration that the request to resign, on the Friday before the inauguration, came with little warning and that they have no indication whether they may apply for other jobs within the department.

    This approach not only prevents the widespread sabotage of Trump’s agenda by burrowed-in progressives during his last administration, but it also sends a loud and resounding message that there is a new sheriff in town.”

    Liked by 1 person

  39. Winston

    Winston

    January 21, 2025 8:11 am

    Only 26 listed here:

    List of executive orders in the second presidency of Donald Trump

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_executive_orders_in_the_second_presidency_of_Donald_Trump

       Declaring a national emergency at the border with Mexico.
       Designating human trafficking cartels as Foreign Terrorist Organisations.
       Reinstating the Remain in Mexico policy.
       Ending birthright citizenship for illegal migrants and children of parents on work, study and other temporary visas.
       Declaring that only two sexes (male and female) are recognized by the US government.
       Removal of diversity, equity and inclusion polices in federal government.
       Leaving the Paris Climate Accord.
       Declaring a “national energy emergency” allowing him to speed up the acquisition of oil permits.
       Ending federal regulations encouraging the sale of electric vehicles.
       Implementing “Schedule F” to reduce job protections for potentially thousands of federal employees.
       Moving US Space Command headquarters back to Alabama.
     Leaving the World Health Organization. [yay!]
       Renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America and Mount Denali to Mount McKinley.
       Re-add Cuba to the State Sponsors of Terrorism list.
       Remove sanctions on Israeli settlements in the West bank, which are illegal under international law.

    Full list:

    https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-executive-orders-list-president-signed-2016864

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Hmmmm…..was one of those pardons for himself? It’s never been done before and current consensus says a President cannot pardon him/herself.

      “Article II, Section 2, Clause 1:

      The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States; he may require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments, upon any Subject relating to the Duties of their respective Offices, and he shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.

      Whether Presidents may pardon themselves is an unresolved legal question for which there is no judicial precedent. Some federal officials discussed the prospect of a self-pardon during the Nixon, Clinton, and first Trump Administrations; however, no President has issued a self-pardon, and no federal court has directly addressed the matter. Legal scholars and commentators have debated the question and reached differing conclusions. Proponents of the view that the President may pardon himself often emphasize the lack of limitation in the constitutional language, as well as certain historical views and pronouncements of the Supreme Court as to the breadth of the President’s pardon power in general.

      By contrast, those asserting that the President lacks the power to pardon himself raise competing textual arguments and suggest that self-pardons could be inconsistent with other constitutional provisions, such as the Article I provision stating that officials convicted in an impeachment trial shall . . . be liable and subject to Indictment, Trial, Judgment, and Punishment, according to law. A Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel opinion issued shortly before President Nixon’s resignation concluded that the President cannot pardon himself [u]nder the fundamental rule that no one may be a judge in his own case, and some scholars subsequently have supported this opinion. Even if a President were to pardon himself, there is some debate as to whether a court would issue a definitive ruling on the pardon’s lawfulness given practical considerations and separation-of-powers concerns. Some Members of Congress have introduced constitutional amendments that would preclude self-pardons, but no proposals have been adopted.”

      https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/essay/artII-S2-C1-3-9/ALDE_00013947/

      Like

  43. Pegon Zellschmidt

    Pegon Zellschmidt

    January 21, 2025 11:20 am

    Trump allows federal death penalty

    US President Donald Trump has voided a moratorium on federal executions imposed by his predecessor, Joe Biden, in 2021. Trump specifically instructed his acting Attorney General James McHenry to seek federal jurisdiction and capital punishment for those found guilty of murdering a law-enforcement officer as well as illegal immigrants convicted of a capital crime.

    During the Republican’s first term in office, his administration conducted 13 federal executions – more than under any president in modern history. While on the campaign trail, Trump repeatedly advocated the death penalty for drug dealers.

    In the order, the US president mandated that the attorney general “pursue the death penalty for all crimes of a severity demanding its use.” The federal government will also “ensure that each state that allows capital punishment has a sufficient supply of drugs needed to carry out lethal injection.” On top of that, the Trump administration will seek the “overruling of Supreme Court precedents that limit the authority of State and Federal governments to impose capital punishment.”

    He also lambasted the Democrat for commuting late last month the “sentences of 37 of the 40 most vile and sadistic rapists, child molesters, and murderers on Federal death row” to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

    Trump instructed the attorney general to ensure that the pardoned convicts are “imprisoned in conditions consistent with the monstrosity of their crimes” as well as to evaluate whether these individuals can be charged with state capital crimes.👍🇺🇸

    Liked by 1 person

  44. The Federalist: “President Donald Trump ordered an end to “federal censorship” on his first day in office — potentially closing the door on the government-censorship complex.

    “Under the guise of combatting ‘misinformation,’ ‘disinformation,’ and ‘malinformation,’ the Federal Government infringed on the constitutionally protected speech rights of American citizens,” the order reads. “Government censorship of speech is intolerable in a free society.”

    Trump signed the order, Restoring Freedom Of Speech And Ending Federal Censorship, Monday night in front of a crowd at Capital One Arena. This was one of his first actions after returning to office.

    “The previous administration trampled free speech rights by censoring Americans’ speech on online platforms, often by exerting substantial coercive pressure on third parties, such as social media companies, to moderate, deplatform, or otherwise suppress speech that the Federal Government did not approve,” the order reads. 

    The Problem

    The federal government has a censorship hub — the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). CISA worked with “Zuckbucks” groups in 2020 and targeted election speech it deemed “mis-, dis-, and malinformation.” 

    Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s nominee for secretary of Health and Human Services, blasted the agency for targeting himself and other dissenters. “President Biden and his White House opened up a portal, and then invited the CIA, the FBI, CISA — which is a censorship agency, the center of the censorship-industrial complex — DHS, IRS, and other agencies, to censor me and other political dissidents on social media,” Kennedy said while suspending his own presidential campaign.

    The State Department also backed the Global Engagement Center, which pushed to deplatform conservative publications including The Federalist. So The Federalist, the Daily Wire, and the State of Texas sued the State Department for First Amendment violations. The GEC was defunded in the latest House appropriations bill, but it may soon be resurrected under a new name.

    Trump himself faced Big Tech censorship when Twitter suspended his account following the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot — even as he was sitting president. It was later found in the Twitter Files that federal agents had pressured the company to silence politically inconvenient information, including the Hunter Biden Laptop story. Former President Joe Biden’s White House worked with Facebook — now Meta — in a similar way to censor Covid information. 

    A Solution?

    Trump’s executive order — just one in a slough of Inauguration Day measures — seeks to enforce the First Amendment, “essential to the success of our Republic.” 

    It sets forth a federal government policy to secure the right to “constitutionally protected speech,” ban “any conduct that would unconstitutionally abridge the free speech of any American citizen,” and “take appropriate action to correct past misconduct by the Federal Government related to censorship of protected speech.”

    The order also bans any “[f]ederal department, agency, entity, officer, employee, or agent” from using “any Federal resources in a manner contrary” to the above provisions.

    It mandates the attorney general — “in consultation with the heads of executive departments and agencies” — to investigate federal activities from the last four years “inconsistent with the purposes and policies of this order.” The AG must then “prepare a report” for the president recommending “appropriate remedial actions.”

    It is unclear what steps the Trump administration will take, pursuant to this order, to investigate or shut down agencies or partnerships that constitute the government-censorship complex.”

    Liked by 1 person

  45. EXCERPT: “Wind chills hovered in the teens on Monday morning in the nation’s capital as President-elect Donald J. Trump prepared to take the presidential oath of office inside the more comfortable U.S. Capitol Rotunda. It was fitting it was so frigid in Washington, D.C., on this Inauguration Day. Democrats had long thought it would be a cold day in hell before Republican Trump would be elected president again. 

    But here he was, the man the left loves to hate, being sworn in as the 47th president of the United States.

    ‘I Was Saved by God’

    Let’s face it, a lot of Trump Derangement Syndrome sufferers believed the 45th president would be in prison by Jan. 20, 2025, a day Trump in his inaugural address — for so many reasons — declared as “Liberation Day.” Plenty of MAGA conservatives rightly worried, too, that this great drainer of the swamp, the disrupter of the deep state, wouldn’t make it to this moment.

    But by the grace of God and a fragment of an inch, Donald Trump stood before his fellow Americans and raised his right hand to once again “solemnly swear to faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States.” Political redemption and the sweet, sweet revenge of success? Sure. The hand of providence? Trump absolutely believes so, and so do many of his supporters.  

    “I was saved by God to make America Great Again,” he said to a standing ovation from his family and friends. Cameras panned to the president’s wife, First Lady Melania Trump, and their son, Barron, who fervently nodded. His political opponents, who have spent the better part of the past decade trying to destroy him, kept their seats, their eyes filled with a mix of disdain and loss.

    “That is why each day under our administration of American patriots we will be working to meet every crisis with dignity and power and strength,” Trump continued. “We will move with purpose and speed to bring back hope, posterity, safety, and peace for citizens of every race, religion, color, and creed.”

    “For American citizens, Jan. 20, 2025, is Liberation Day,” the president triumphantly proclaimed to applause from the liberated and stunned expressions from his predecessors, President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democrats’ DEI-promoted replacement candidate Trump vanquished in November’s election. 

    Look at all this man — and this country — survived to get to this moment. 

    ‘They Call It Lawfare’

    Trump faced multiple criminal prosecutions through Democrats’ weaponization of the criminal justice system, particularly Biden’s corrupt Department of Justice. He was convicted in a kangaroo court in Manhattan on trumped-up charges, even as the conflicted leftist judge presiding over the show trial ultimately sentenced Trump to no penalty…..”

    https://thefederalist.com/2025/01/21/guiding-hand-look-at-all-trump-survived-to-get-here/

    Liked by 1 person

  49. “Vivek And Elon Ask Trump If They Can Make A Blanket Fort In The Lincoln Bedroom”

    U.S. · Jan 20, 2025 · BabylonBee.com

    Article Image

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The incoming Trump administration fielded an odd request today after Vivek Ramaswamy and Elon Musk called President Donald Trump to ask if they could make a blanket fort in the Lincoln Bedroom tonight.

    According to reports, the two men heading up the new Department of Government Efficiency proposed building the fort using the presidential linens because it would be “so fire” and “absolutely radical.”

    “I made them a deal,” Trump said when asked to comment on the request. “I told them that if they get all their work done and clean up the government like I asked, they can make a fort. I said, ‘All right, go ahead, but you need to get your homework done first.’ Let me tell you, folks, that’s a great deal right there. I even said that I’d help them make the fort. It’ll be big. The biggest blanket fort in White House history. I make the best forts — big, beautiful forts. Everybody loves my blanket forts.”

    Ramaswamy and Musk’s request had reportedly been initially blocked by several other members of Trump’s cabinet, especially Marco Rubio, who said that he wouldn’t help them ask Trump unless they let him help make the fort and play in it too, a condition Musk and Ramaswamy denied.

    At publishing time, Ramaswamy and Musk had also asked permission to have a pizza party and Diablo IV tournament in the White House Situation Room.

    Liked by 1 person

  50. “Journalists Horrified As Village People Perform Double Hitler Salute”

    Politics · Jan 21, 2025 · BabylonBee.com

    Article Image

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Village People stirred up controversy with their performance at the inauguration of Donald Trump yesterday, with many media sources accusing the group of doing a double Hitler salute during their performance.

    According to journalists from sources like the Washington Post, CNN, Huffington Post, and ABC, the band’s gestures during the performance could be ominous indications of latent fascist support for Trump.

    “It’s not just one Hitler salute, either,” warned CNN’s Jake Tapper. “We’re seeing these people literally double Trump’s Nazism with two whole Hitler salutes. This could be the most dangerous threat to democracy we have ever seen in human history, besides Trump.”

    While some commentators have pointed out that the gesture seems to have been meant to depict the letter “Y” as part of the group’s famous song “YMCA,” the suggestion has been taken as an even more foreboding indication of potential fascism from Trump.

    “Y? You mean like, Y, as in the second-to-last letter of the alphabet? Which is right next to the third-to-last letter of the alphabet? Just like the Third Reich was the third and last German Reich? Don’t you guys see where this is going?” Tapper added. “This is a dark omen of things to come.”

    At publishing time, several media sources had begun reporting that the acronym YMCA is actually a secret fascist dogwhistle.

    Liked by 1 person

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