What Shall We Bake Today?

Food 1 Minute

Today’s offering is a cookie I never heard of before—Hot Chocolate Cookies!

(There are many recipes for this cookie, but this one uses mini marshmallows while other recipes use what looks to be freeze dried marshmallow bits.  Many commenters to those recipes note the inability to find those bits anymore.)

Ingredients  

1/2 cup unsalted butter

3/4 cup chocolate chips

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoon vanilla

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup hot chocolate mix

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup of tiny or mini marshmallows

1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Instructions 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a metal cookie sheet with parchment paper.

In a large microwave-safe bowl, add butter and chocolate chips.

Melt in the microwave for 30 seconds, being careful not to burn the chocolate chips. Add 10 seconds at a time until all of the chocolate is melted. Let cool for 3 minutes.

Add sugar to chocolate and mix until smooth. Add egg one at a time and mix with each one. 

Add vanilla extract and mix. 

In a small bowl, add flour, hot chocolate mix, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and whisk until combined.

Add the flour mixture to the chocolate mixture and mix just until all the flour is incorporated. Let the batter sit for about five minutes to let it absorb the flour. Fold in marshmallows and chocolate chips. 

Scoop batter onto a cookie sheet and bake for 10 minutes. 

Remove from oven and add a few mini marshmallows on top to make the cookies look prettier.

After about 10 minutes, move the cookies over to a wire rack to cool.

ENJOY!

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Published by pat frederick

Published

128 thoughts on “What Shall We Bake Today?”

  1. Morning All!
    I haven’t tried this recipe yet, but I will soon. The temp was still 36* this morning! but hubby says rain is coming today. sigh…can’t catch a break. the rain may help melt some of the hard snow OR just lay on top of it and then freeze overnight making things worse. we’ll just have to wait and see.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Good morning, Pat! Spring will come – I promise! 29 here this morning w/clear skies. Hopefully, the remaining snow will disappear today.

      Liked by 1 person

  3. TheseTruths(@thesetruths)

    Offline

    Wolf

    February 25, 2025 00:50

    Bob Goya (of Goya Foods):

    I recently received news that came as a big surprise: the board at Goya decided I would no longer be a leader of the company. While the decision has left many questions unanswered, one thing is certain—I will not waver in my fight against child trafficking

    Liked by 1 person

  8. Nope, sorry – I do not like or trust Vivek at all!!!

    Just The News: “President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk on Monday endorsed Vivek Ramaswamy’s recent bid for Ohio governor. The coveted endorsements come just hours after the billionaire officially kicked off his bid. Ramaswamy, who ran for the Republican nomination for president in 2024, is a known ally of both men after the president tapped him to serve alongside Musk as the leaders of the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

    Ramaswamy made his announcement at a rally in Cincinnati. He is seeking to replace the term-limited GOP Gov. Mike DeWine. Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost is also running for the Republican nomination.

    “VIVEK RAMASWAMY is running for Governor of the Great State of Ohio. I know him well, competed against him, and he is something SPECIAL,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. “He’s Young, Strong, and Smart! Vivek is also a very good person, who truly loves our Country. He will be a GREAT Governor of Ohio, will never let you down, and has my COMPLETE AND TOTAL ENDORSEMENT!” the president added. 

    Musk endorsed Ramaswamy in a post on his social media platform X, stating that Ramaswamy has his “full endorsement.”

    Ramaswamy promised during his speech to lead Ohio “to be the state of excellence in America.”

    “President Trump is reviving our conviction in America,” Ramaswamy said. “We require a leader here at home who will revive our conviction in Ohio, and that is why today I am honored to announce that I am running to be the next Governor of a great state at the heart of the greatest nation known to mankind.

    “I will lead Ohio to be the top state in the country where patriots across America actually flock to instead of Florida and Texas,” he continued. “I will lead Ohio to be the state of excellence in America.”

    Liked by 1 person

  9. NF: I agree with this article wholeheartedly! Bad move, IMO! ADOPT!!!

    The Federalist: “IVF won’t make America great again. 

    President Trump’s executive order on in vitro fertilization is a relic from Democrats’ attempts to make IVF into a campaign issue during the 2024 election. Republicans panicked, and Trump promised a government IVF mandate. And so his new order demands a plan to “protect IVF access and aggressively reduce out-of-pocket and health plan costs for such treatments.” 

    This is political malpractice. Though most voters approve of IVF, those who oppose it are concentrated in the GOP. This issue divides the Republican coalition without bringing in new voters; swing voters are not going to vote based on IVF.

    An IVF mandate would also be bad policy, establishing expensive new entitlements that will be readily susceptible to waste and fraud. Giving the unregulated fertility industry a blank check that the rest of us will have to pay for is a terrible idea.

    And though IVF is promoted as a means for couples struggling with infertility to have children, a government IVF mandate will encourage and subsidize the creation of many more motherless and fatherless children. It would allow any adult to order up babies on demand via IVF and surrogacy, thereby creating a government mandate and subsidy for de facto human trafficking and — because, unlike adoption, there is no screening of those ordering babies in this way — abuse.

    This dystopian scenario, in which a man with a predatory history could, with government backing and subsidy, order up a baby like any other consumer good, highlights the truth that IVF does not treat infertility. IVF does nothing to heal the underlying conditions causing fertility problems. Rather, it is a technological workaround that turns babies into lab-created products and, when surrogacy is used, women into rented incubators. This unnatural medicalization is everything that Health and Human Services Secretary RFK Jr. and his Make America Healthy Again agenda claim to oppose. 

    Thus, it was jarring when RFK Jr. argued for Trump’s executive order by tweeting, “Some 13% of women are having difficulty getting pregnant or carrying their pregnancy to term.” That is indeed a problem, but IVF does not heal any of these women. If we really want to help those having difficulty conceiving, we should focus on addressing the medical causes of infertility, rather than pushing women into the cash cow of IVF, which does nothing to heal their bodies and which, despite its promises, has a high failure rate, particularly for older women.

    Kennedy also tried to sell the executive order by claiming, “This is an important strategy for addressing the national crisis on plummeting fertility rates.” But IVF does not raise fertility rates, and it may even lower them by instilling a false sense of security that encourages people to put off having children. The declining birthrate is indeed a crisis, but if we want more babies, we need to encourage people to get married younger and stay married. There are pro-family policy changes that would help, such as making family housing more affordable by making it easier to build, but mandating IVF subsidies is not among them. 

    Furthermore, it is not the federal government’s business to mandate coverage or subsidies for IVF. Conservatives who spent years fighting against Obamacare and its unconstitutional and expensive mandates should stand by their principles, and President Trump would be wise to avoid mandates that raise health insurance premiums. 

    Indeed, if government is going to concern itself with IVF, it should start by reining in the industry rather than writing it a blank check. Big Fertility is an underregulated mess, with America having far fewer limits than the rest of the world. Big Fertility isn’t the good guy. There is an abundance of horror stories regarding their mistakes and malfeasance. For example, The Washington Post recently reported on the case of Georgia resident Krystena Murray, who is suing because: 

    In December 2023, Murray delivered a healthy baby boy. But she also knew immediately that it didn’t develop from one of her own lab-fertilized eggs. The baby was Black, while Murray and her sperm donor are both white. She says she later learned doctors had transferred another patient’s embryo instead of her own. Regardless, Murray resolved to raise the child. But after reporting the mix-up to the fertility clinic, she says, its staff tracked down and notified the baby’s biological parents. They demanded custody, Murray said, and she gave up the 5-month-old boy to avoid a legal fight she couldn’t win.

    The IVF facility reportedly has no idea where Murray’s own embryos are. Last year, The New York Times covered a similar story, in which an IVF mix-up left two families giving birth to and raising each other’s genetic children. When the mistake was finally realized months later, they had to endure the anguish of swapping them back.

    These are not isolated incidents. Fertility facilities are frequently guilty of errors and even deliberate wrongdoing, and according to The Washington Post, most of these mistakes are never reported. Sometimes, as in the cases above, they use the wrong embryos. Other times they use the wrong sperm or egg; DNA testing has revealed that many fertility doctors have used their own sperm to artificially inseminate patients. And IVF facilities often destroy embryos they are supposed to preserve; the Alabama Supreme Court decision that triggered this whole panic was prompted by a lawsuit against a facility that had negligently allowed a couple’s embryos to be destroyed.

    IVF also frequently destroys human lives intentionally. The fertility industry has created millions of “excess” human embryos, many of which are routinely discarded, with more than a million more indefinitely frozen. The pro-life movement cannot proclaim that human life is valuable from conception onward while also supporting the IVF industry.

    The practice of IVF is also deliberately eugenic. In something out of a science fiction dystopia, facilities have even started using AI to select between embryos, and designer children seem increasingly within technological reach. Sex selection is already normal in the United States. A same-sex couple even sued after the woman whose womb they rented gave birth to a daughter rather than the son they wanted. 

    These evils illustrate why subsidizing the IVF industry is incompatible with making America either great or healthy again. But despite the failures and wrongs of IVF in practice, there is a persistent quest, even among conservative Christian pro-lifers, to establish an ethical form of IVF. The promise of providing children to those who are barren is hard to resist. Infertility can be anguishing because love longs to see itself instantiated through the begetting of new life with the beloved.

    But the good of having children cannot be pursued through evil means, and it is impossible to separate IVF from its intrinsic dehumanization. IVF, by its nature, treats people as objects to be ordered, manufactured, and delivered rather than as persons to be begotten in love.

    It is precisely because children are precious that it matters how we have them. We should not deliberately dehumanize children to have them, for the method requires denying the essence of the good that we seek through it. Christians in particular know we must be willing to suffer and deny ourselves for what is right. We must proclaim and practice a way of life that does not dehumanize children by treating them as objects to be manufactured and acquired. 

    And we should all recognize that a giant government handout to an unaccountable and often evil industry is not the way to make America great again.”

    https://thefederalist.com/2025/02/25/ivf-wont-maga/

    Liked by 1 person

  10. EXCERPTS: “For some years now, I have been tracking globalist initiatives at both ends: at the point where the ideological rounds are chambered and downrange where they affect the lives of millions as public policies. This has taken me from places like Davos, Switzerland, where the World Economic Forum meets annually, to cartel towns in Colombia where illegal aliens board Zodiacs bound for the Darién Gap and thousands of them simply disappear.

    I’ve also been tracking how USAID, the United States Agency for International Development, via a series of NGOs, has been running what amounts to a massive human trafficking operation across South America, through Central America, and straight up through our borders. President Trump is working to hold accountable those responsible, but there is so much more to the global workings of this clandestine government agency.A Visit to the USAID in Egypt

    I recently traveled from Davos to the ancient city on the Nile. With USAID’s nefarious activities dominating the news, I decided to visit its Cairo office to see how it was responding to Trump’s recent order slashing USAID activities.

    To call USAID Egypt an office is misleading. It is a military-style compound.

    USAID Cairo aerial view

    My Egyptian driver, Mohamed, and I approached the boom gate where security guards stood in a small guardhouse of the type you see all over the world. They raised the gate arm and waved us through. (I’ve found that the key to entering government buildings, much like the World Economic Forum, is simply to walk in as if I own the place. More often than you might think, security just steps aside.)

    Mohamed zigzagged the Mercedes van through the suicide bomber barriers, we parked, and I told him to wait while I went inside to chat with USAID personnel. There was no USAID signage I could see. The facility was a fortress with high block walls topped with metal spikes and cameras. I walked the perimeter of the compound looking for the entrance, taking video as I went….”

    “….Where USAID security had used the claim that I was a terrorist to hold me, the NSA men, older and smarter, never indulged this fantasy. They knew I was an author and freelance columnist who possessed no weapons, and not since Stonewall Jackson have Presbyterians made a habit of blowing things up.

    This accusation was quickly dropped in favor of another: espionage. I freely admitted it to the NSA man: “Yes, I am spying. On my government, not yours” — a cheeky reply but one that clearly caused some consternation.

    “Do you have an Egyptian government permit to take photos of Egyptian government buildings?” he asked.

    “No.” He briefly looked triumphant. “But I’m not taking photos of Egyptian government buildings. That,” I pointed in the direction of USAID, “is an American government building, and I am an American.”

    Annoyed, he left again, pacing on the phone. They clearly did not know how to proceed, and while being charged with espionage is a terrifying prospect, I knew it was problematic for them because it would be a tacit admission that there was more than pallets of rice and canned goods behind the high spiked walls of USAID in Egypt…..”

    “….What to Make of This

    Safely out of the country, there are several takeaways from this incident. The first is that this is how an intelligence agency behaves, not a benevolence arm of the United States. USAID security guards had been embarrassed by my previous visit where I had breached their security, not by force but with their assistance. This was, for them, a kind of payback. But neither Cairo police nor the NSA had any interest in that. Indeed, they treated USAID security contemptuously.

    The second is that I was, I think, dealing with three governments: the authentic U.S. government represented by the naïve fellow who took my call at the U.S. Embassy, the Egyptian government represented by Cairo police and the state security apparatus, and the shadow government represented by whoever it was inside USAID that had the NSA on speed dial. President Trump doesn’t yet have all his own people in place, and the deep state, as real as any branch of government, is deeply embedded. Nowhere is that truer than in the corrupt USAID.

    The third is the desperate attempts to get me to enter the USAID compound. One had the feeling they were trying, to quote Fox, to “Jamal Khashoggi” me. Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist, entered a Saudi consulate in Istanbul of his own accord and was there murdered by his own government.

    Finally, this was a monumentally stupid response. Had the USAID office, on my first visit, simply said something like, “Yeah, President Trump is slashing the USAID, and we are in the process of closing shop,” there would be no story here. But the fearful, reactionary response smells of corruption. This was the Streisand effect, initiating calls from high in our government to ask: What the hell is going on at USAID in Egypt?

    I will leave that question unanswered. But with war in Gaza, Trump’s plan to resettle Palestinians, and mounting evidence that USAID has been funding not only the invasion of the United States by illegal aliens but the very demise of our republic and even terrorism, the destruction of this rogue agency cannot come soon enough.”

    https://thefederalist.com/2025/02/25/usaid-in-egypt-had-me-detained-for-walking-in-and-asking-if-its-following-trumps-orders/

    Liked by 1 person

      1. Oh, yeah! YUGE balls on that guy! But he knows the drill very well and was very smart about how he handled it.

        Like

  11. “Trump Gives SCOTUS A Chance To Make ‘Independent’ Agencies Accountable Again”

    The Federalist, By: Ben Weingarten, February 25, 2025

    Trump speaking

    ENTIRE ARTICLE: “The Trump administration is restructuring agencies, axing asinine programs, and deregulating at breakneck pace in a bid to deconstruct an administrative state that has for generations operated as an unaccountable and arguably unconstitutional fourth branch of government. In its effort to jettison bureaucrats likely to resist the Trump agenda, the administration has struck at perhaps the administrative state’s most dubious manifestation — so-called “independent” agencies — with Trump’s firing of the board member who had been serving as acting head of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) poised to bring the confrontation to a head.

    ‘Independent’ Agencies Mean Insubordinate Agencies

    Progressives birthed the administrative state pursuant to their view that government management was a science to be conducted by purportedly apolitical technocrats with specialized knowledge — the Constitution and its separation of powers be damned. Independent agencies can be seen as perhaps their ultimate Frankenstein’s monster.

    Like other agencies, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and NLRB often exert outsize control over Americans’ lives and finances by issuing consequential rules and regulations.

    But unlike their peers, these “independent” bureaucracies often make such decisions without presidential oversight or control. Further, while presidents appoint and senators confirm those who lead these bureaucracies, members or commissioners often serve staggered terms or terms outlasting any one administration. By law, the president’s power to dismiss agency leaders is circumscribed. The commander-in-chief may only fire them for cause — hence their “independence.”

    President Trump has sought to wrangle these agencies by issuing an executive order to “ensure Presidential supervision and control of the entire executive branch.” It mandates that all agencies run their regulatory policies through the White House and subjects them to White House strictures on management, funding, and operations.

    Still, ultimately, personnel is policy, and the courts have ruled that presidents may not fire independent agency leaders at will. Therefore, the president has lacked full control over personnel, and policy, within these institutions.

    The Trump administration says it interprets the law differently and has vowed to overturn relevant Supreme Court precedent. Its firing of the former acting chair of the NLRB, which in turn recently prompted a lawsuit, may soon put that precedent to the test.

    To understand the coming legal clash and its significance, some history is in order.

    The Supreme Court Precedent Insulating the Administrative State

    In 1926, the Supreme Court held in Myers v. U.S.  that the power to remove appointed officers — in that case, a postmaster — is vested in the president and the president alone. Absent that power, a commander-in-chief could not “discharge his … constitutional duty of seeing that the laws be faithfully executed,” Chief Justice William Howard Taft wrote for the majority.

    But a decade later, as the administrative state rapidly expanded during the throes of the New Deal, in Humphrey’s Executor v. U.S., the Supreme Court hemmed in the president’s removal power by upholding congressional restrictions on it.

    The case involved Democrat President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s attempt to replace Republican President Herbert Hoover-nominated FTC member William E. Humphrey with a pick of his own in the middle of the member’s term. FDR asked for Humphrey’s resignation on grounds of political differences. Humphrey resisted, leading the president to fire him. The recalcitrant FTC member perished shortly thereafter, but his executor sued to recover back pay on account of the alleged unlawful dismissal.

    Humphrey’s executor, representing the late commissioner’s estate, argued that FDR could not fire him but for reasons of “inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office,” pursuant to the legislation establishing the FTC. The president, in short, could not fire commissioners at will.

    The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the plaintiff, arguing these constraints on the president’s removal power were lawful by distinguishing between his “illimitable” or “unrestrictable” power to remove “purely executive officers” and his limited power to remove officers serving in “independent agencies” exercising purportedly “quasi-legislative” and/or “quasi-judicial powers.”

    The Supreme Court would recognize only one other exception to the president’s removal power, with respect to tenure protections for “certain inferior officers with narrowly defined duties” in Morrison v. Olson.

    In recent years, the Supreme Court has hacked away at administrative state power, including refusing to extend protections for independent agency officers from removal beyond the 1935 precedent.

    In a 2020 case, Seila v. CFPB, the court ruled that on account of differences in the agency’s structure, partisan makeup, and functions relative to the multi-member, bipartisan FTC, a president could fire the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s director at will.

    “While we do not revisit Humphrey’s Executor or any other precedent today,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the majority, “we decline to elevate it into a freestanding invitation for Congress to impose additional restrictions on the President’s removal authority.”

    In a concurrence, Justice Clarence Thomas, joined by Justice Neil Gorsuch, wrote that the court ought to go further and overturn Humphrey’s Executor — in effect threatening the foundations of “independent” agencies themselves.

    The associate justice wrote that the decision violated Article II’s vesting clause by extending executive powers to those insulated from the executive, infringed upon his removal powers, and undermined the accountability core to the Constitution. In addition, Thomas said:

    The Constitution does not permit the creation of officers exercising “quasi-legislative” and “quasi-judicial powers” in “quasi-legislative” and “quasi-judicial agencies.” No such powers or agencies exist. Congress lacks the authority to delegate its legislative power, and it cannot authorize the use of judicial power by officers acting outside of the bounds of Article III.

    Thomas concluded that “[c]ontinued reliance on Humphrey’s Executor to justify the existence of independent agencies creates a serious, ongoing threat to our Government’s design. … Today, the Court does enough to resolve this case, but in the future, we should reconsider Humphrey’s Executor in toto.”

    The future may now be here.

    Restoring Executive Power Over the Executive Branch

    Acting Solicitor General Sarah Harris recently sent a letter to Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Dick Durbin, D-Ill., indicating that the Trump administration will not defend the constitutionality of “certain for-cause removal provisions that apply to members of multi-member regulatory commissions,” including the FTC, NLRB, and Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). Harris also vowed that the Justice Department would “urge the Supreme Court to overrule” Humphrey’s Executor to the extent it conflicts with its position.

    In a case pending before the Supreme Court regarding the challenged firing of the head of the Office of Special Counsel, the administration reiterated its position, and, as was noted earlier, Trump has fired the former acting chair of the NLRB, who has sued the administration over her firing.

    Humphrey’s Executor appears to be headed on the fast track to the Supreme Court for reevaluation, and Justice Thomas may well get the chance to play Humphrey’s Executor‘s executioner.

    With it, the Supreme Court may challenge the concept of independent agencies themselves.”

    Liked by 1 person

  12. “Media Lie About Dan Bongino’s Law Enforcement Career In Bid To Shield FBI From Oversight”

    The Federalist, By: Brianna Lyman, February 24, 2025

    Dan Bongino

    “By trying to discredit Bongino’s law enforcement career, the press hopes to undermine any legitimate efforts Bongino takes to hold the FBI accountable.

    On Sunday, President Donald Trump tapped Dan Bongino to be the next deputy director of the FBI. Like clockwork, the media began attempting to discredit Bongino’s qualifications by obfuscating his long law enforcement career. But the media aren’t actually concerned about his qualifications — they just want to undermine his credibility as deputy director of the FBI.

    If you read the headline in The New York Times, you’d think Bongino is just a “Right-Wing Commentator” with no relevant experience. While Adam Goldman and Devlin Barrett briefly acknowledged Bongino’s law enforcement background, they quickly pivoted to suggesting his appointment is a radical departure from past FBI leadership and argued that selecting someone without FBI experience “raises startling questions” about his ability to oversee a massive agency with sweeping surveillance powers.

    National Review’s James Lynch wrote, “Trump Taps Right-Wing Commentator Dan Bongino as Deputy FBI Director” and waited until the fourth paragraph to note that Bongino’s career has primarily been that of a law enforcement officer. Lynch peddled the faux outrage of the left that Bongino would, in Lynch’s terms, “corrupt the bureau’s nonpartisan mission.”

    The Washington Post’s Leo Sands headlined his piece with a question: “Who is Dan Bongino, right-wing firebrand tapped to be FBI deputy director?” Sands wrote in his first paragraph that Bongino is a “former Secret Service agent and police officer turned right-wing media personality” whose appointment “marks an abrupt departure from those of the role’s predecessors, who were typically career FBI agents.”

    But Bongino, aside from being a popular commentator, served as a New York City police officer from 1995 to 1999 before joining the Secret Service from 1999 to 2011, serving both former presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. Bongino “received a Department of Justice award for his many successful investigations while assigned to a financial fraud task force,” according to Southern Arkansas University. Bongino also “joined the elite Presidential Protective Division” in 2006 and “became one of the earliest tenured agents to be given responsibility for an operational section of the presidential detail.”

    This isn’t the first time the press has sought to delegitimize and undermine a Trump pick, however.

    Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, an Army veteran who served in both Iraq and Afghanistan, was billed similarly as a “Fox News host” by left-wing press when his nomination was announced. CBS News reported in November that Trump would “nominate Fox News host Pete Hegseth to be secretary of defense” and made just one mention of his service to this country throughout the entire piece. ABC News’ Kelsey Walsh, Lalee Ibssa, Soo Rin Kim, and Ivan Pereira wrote, “Trump taps Fox News host Pete Hegseth to serve as secretary of defense” and waited till the third paragraph to note Hegseth’s military career. The Associated Press’ Lolita C. Baldor and Tara Copp wrote that Trump selected a “Fox News host … to serve as his defense secretary, tapping someone largely inexperienced and untested on the global stage. …”

    But the propaganda press wasn’t and isn’t concerned about Hegseth’s qualifications or Bongino’s. If the press were truly concerned about the qualifications of appointees and nominees, they’d have made a fuss when Pete Buttigieg, a small-city mayor, was tapped by former President Joe Biden to lead the Transportation Department.

    Despite Buttigieg’s actual lack of experience, The New York Times’ Reid J. Epstein and Coral Davenport, for example, declared in glowing coverage that Buttigieg “would bring a younger voice to the cabinet and add to it its diversity as its first confirmed openly gay member.” The AP touted Buttigieg’s confirmation, emphasizing that Buttigieg was “the first openly gay person to be confirmed to a Cabinet post.”

    Buttigieg’s actual lack of experience was extremely obvious following the East Palestine train derailment — but hey, at least he’s gay!

    The press’s coverage of Bongino’s appointment is nothing more than an attempt to make any oversight of the FBI seem illegitimate by reducing Bongino’s long career down to his most recent position as a well-respected commentator and pretending that Bongino has no relevant experience.

    The left fears that Bongino’s appointment signals a move toward genuine oversight of the corrupt FBI, especially given Bongino’s public questioning of the FBI’s trustworthiness. By trying to discredit Bongino’s law enforcement career, the press hopes to undermine any legitimate efforts Bongino takes to hold the agency — that he rightly has questioned — accountable.”

    Liked by 1 person

  13. “Exclusive: Jordan Subpoenas FBI For Weaponization Docs Hidden By Biden”

    The Federalist, By: Shawn Fleetwood, February 24, 2025

    Jim Jordan giving a speech.

    ENTIRE ARTICLE: “The move is intended to eliminate any legal obstacles used by the bureaucracy to hide evidence of Biden admin weaponization of the FBI.

    The House Judiciary Committee issued a series of subpoenas to the FBI on Monday aimed at obtaining documents related to President Biden’s weaponization of the agency against his political opponents. The move is an apparent attempt to eliminate any legal obstacles used by the bureaucracy to hide evidence of the prior administration’s abuse of the agency.

    “Under the Biden Administration and the tenure of former Director Christopher Wray, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) departed from its core public safety mission, suffered from senior leadership failures, and refused any real transparency or accountability for its actions,” committee chair and Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, wrote in a letter to new FBI Director Kash Patel.

    In the communique obtained by The Federalist, Jordan noted how the Judiciary Committee issued numerous subpoenas during the 118th Congress to the Wray-led FBI regarding information about the latter’s politicized activities and operations. However, Wray, according to the Ohio Republican, “failed to produce many of these materials” before stepping down from his position as FBI director.

    The subpoenas issued on Monday and obtained by The Federalist seek records pertaining to some of the most notable Biden-era FBI scandals showcasing Democrats’ weaponization of the agency to target their political opponents. These include requests for information about the Biden administration’s 2021 targeting of concerned parents at school board meetings.

    On Oct. 4, 2021, then-Attorney General Merrick Garland issued a directive ordering the FBI and U.S. Attorney’s Office to address what he claimed was “an increase in harassment, intimidation and threats of violence against school board members, teachers and workers in our nation’s public schools.” The edict was aimed at targeting parents outraged at public schools indoctrinating their children with radical left-wing ideologies pertaining to race and sex.

    In response to the Judiciary Committee’s request for additional information on the agency’s follow-through on Garland’s order, the Biden FBI, as noted by Jordan, “produced only a limited subset of internal communications” and failed to disclose relevant records sought by House Republicans.

    “The FBI should possess additional responsive documents and communications referring or relating to the EDUOFFICIALS threat tag — including internal documents and communications regarding investigations categorized under the threat tag,” Jordan wrote. “Specifically, the FBI failed to produce complete communications between relevant officials involved in dispatching guidance on the EDUOFFICIALS threat tag to field offices nationwide, as required by the School Boards Subpoena.”

    The Judiciary Committee is also seeking to obtain documents regarding the FBI’s targeting of Catholics as potential white supremacists. As Evita Duffy-Alfonso previously wrote in these pages, the January 2023 memo from the FBI’s Richmond field office said the bureau “may potentially mitigate” the supposed “threat” of “Radical-Traditionalist Catholics” with “‘tripwire and source development,’ which means further infiltration into Catholic communities using various kinds of informants.”

    According to Jordan, the Biden FBI “made several rolling productions to the [Judiciary] Committee in response” to the committee’s request for additional information about the memo, but the agency’s production “was insufficient.” The FBI also declined to provide sought-after materials when responding to a subsequent subpoena issued by the committee in April 2023, the Ohio congressman said.

    For instance, Jordan noted that “[w]histleblower testimony confirms that the FBI distributed the Richmond memorandum to field offices across the country,” but “prior productions received by the Committee included no documents or communications regarding the dissemination of the Richmond memorandum.”

    Additional records subpoenaed by the committee include those related to other Biden-era FBI weaponization scandals, such as the agency’s collusion with Big Tech companies to censor dissenting voices online, “slow-walking” of the Jan. 6, 2021, pipe-bomb investigation, and the use of FBI “confidential human sources” during the Jan. 6, 2021, demonstrations. The committee also subpoenaed FBI records regarding the FBI’s abuse of the FACE Act to arrest pro-lifer Mark Houck and Iran’s 2024 election interference.

    The committee requested that Patel “direct the relevant FBI employees to comply in full” with its subpoenas by March 17.”

    Liked by 1 person

  14. R Green
    February 25, 2025 9:08 am

    Rep. Anna Paulina Luna Calls Out AG Pam Bondi for Allegedly ‘Stonewalling’ Release of Epstein List, JFK Files
    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2025/02/rep-anna-paulina-luna-calls-ag-pam-bondi/

    FTA –

    “On Feb 11 & Feb 19, House Oversight sent a letter to the DOJ asking for status on releasing the Epstein files as well as JFK etc. The DOJ has not responded. Reaching out on X because we can’t seem to get a response from the AG. AG Pam Bondi, what is the status of the documents? These documents were ordered to be declassified.”

    Additionally, on February 11, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) joined Rep. Luna in demanding briefings from various agencies on multiple classified matters, including:

    The JFK, RFK, and MLK assassinations
    COVID-19 origins
    Unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAPs) and unidentified submerged objects (USOs)
    9/11 documents
    The full, unredacted Epstein client list

    Liked by 1 person

    1. At this point, I’m still prepared to be generous and suggest perhaps they have other, legitimate reasons for the timing….at least, I sure hope so….!

      Liked by 1 person

    2. Oldersoul

      February 25, 2025 9:24 am

      Reply to  Oldersoul

      General Flynn beginning to notice, too.

      Rep Luna, thank you very much for responding. I do appreciate it. I am fully aware of declass authorities. The POTUS already signed the order. At this stage, there is no more debating the classification. The files should be fully, 💯 percent released without any redactions. The…

      — General Mike Flynn (@GenFlynn) February 25, 2025

      Like

      1. Apparently not – originated on a satire FB page:

        “Verdict: False

        The claim is false and originally stems from a Feb. 9 post shared by a satirical Facebook page.

        Fact Check:

        Obama did not use her last name for her director’s credit on her short film, “The Heart,” The Hill reported back in October. Obama said she wanted people to watch the film “without any association with her family,” according to the outlet.

        The Instagram image, which has amassed over 40,000 likes as of writing, claims Obama purportedly received $2.2 million in funds from the USAID.

        “Can someone explain why Malia Obama received $2.2 million in funds from USAID?,” text that appears on the image reads. “Enquiring [sic], taxpaying minds want to know,” the text continues.

        The claim is false and originally stems from a Feb. 9 post shared by “America’s Last Line of Defense,” which is a satirical Facebook page. “The flagship of the ALLOD network of trollery and propaganda for cash. Nothing on this page is real,” the page’s “ Intro ” section of its profile reads.”

        https://www.newsbreak.com/news/3818243188768-fact-check-claim-that-malia-obama-received-2-2-million-in-funds-from-usaid-is-satire

        Liked by 1 person

  18. Pompeo is corrupt!!! This is just the icing on that cake!

    “Columbia Hires Trump’s Former Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, To Teach Course on Diplomacy” 

    Mike Pompeo speaks onstage during Fortune’s Global Forum in New York City (Jemal Countess/Getty Images for Fortune Media)

    Free Beacon, Jessica Costescu, February 24, 2025

    ENTIRE ARTICLE: “Columbia University has enlisted former secretary of state Mike Pompeo to teach a course on public diplomacy. Pompeo will join Columbia’s Institute of Global Politics (IGP), housed within the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), as a Carnegie Distinguished Fellow for a one-year appointment, starting on March 1 and lasting through February 2026.

    “I am thrilled to join the Institute and to provide a unique voice defending traditional American values and the Founders’ vision for our great nation, alongside the necessity to support our allies across the world,” Pompeo said in a statement. “I appreciate the commitment of the Institute to a broad spectrum of opinions and look forward to engaging with students and faculty around a central mission of the university: learning through investigation and the exchange of ideas.”

    “I’m uninterested in the name of the institution on their diploma, and deeply interested in what it is they know,” Pompeo told the Wall Street Journal. “The United States’ greatest risk is that we refuse to teach the next generation about the greatness of our nation.”

    The announcement comes as Columbia continues to deal with rampant campus anti-Semitism. Last month, for example, anti-Israel student radicals dumped cement into SIPA’s sewage system. A week earlier, pro-Hamas agitators stormed an Israeli history class and targeted Jewish students with anti-Semitic flyers.

    Columbia, however, has taken increasingly aggressive disciplinary measures, possibly as means of appeasing President Donald Trump, who has promised to target campus anti-Semitism. The university promptly suspended at least one of the student protesters who disrupted the history course and posted a security guard outside at least one of its Jewish studies courses. Two of the other agitators were students at Barnard College, Columbia’s sister school, and were reportedly expelled.

    Columbia also hired a Trump transition alumnus last month to lobby for the institution on “issues related to higher education and appropriations” as Republicans threaten to tax the Ivy League institution’s $15 billion endowment. Trump’s Department of Education on Feb. 3, meanwhile, opened an investigation into “widespread antisemitic harassment” at Columbia in the wake of the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attack.

    “The Institute of Global Politics at Columbia SIPA is honored to welcome former Secretary of State Pompeo to its current cohort of IGP Carnegie Distinguished Fellows,” a university official told the Washington Free Beacon. “During his tenure as a Distinguished Fellow, Secretary Pompeo will meet with students, engage with faculty and university leadership, and contribute to ongoing policy work within IGP.”

    Pompeo will join fellow former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, who became IGP chair in 2023 and teaches a fall semester course, “Inside the Situation Room.” In September, dozens of anti-Israel students gathered outside Clinton’s “sham class,” branding her a “war criminal” and urging attending students to walk out. Clinton “fully endorses IGP’s mission, including its commitment to welcoming experts with a diversity of political perspectives,” a university official told the Free Beacon.”

    Liked by 1 person

  20. sync

    February 25, 2025 9:14 am

    locked up…1000s more to go

    BREAKING: owner of Charleroi, PA staffing agency pleads guilty to harboring illegal aliens and using them to staff companies.

    When I tweeted that illegals were being bussed around to jobs in Charleroi, I was attacked by the local state Rep and the media.

    I won’t hold my breath… https://t.co/3UQXBDkphT pic.twitter.com/376cvb5CfK

    — Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) February 25, 2025

    Liked by 1 person

  21. Russia Ready to Work With US on ‘Rare Earths’

    Moscow is ready to work with Washington in developing rare earth mineral deposits, including in the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, and Kherson and Zaporozhye regions, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said. The ‘rare earths’ deal US President Donald Trump’s administration is pushing for with Ukraine “doesn’t concern” Moscow, Putin said in an interview with Russia 1 TV journalist Pavel Zarubin on Monday.

    The actual value of Ukraine’s rare earth mineral deposits remains to be seen, the Russian leader noted. Moscow will be concentrating on its own development of rare earth minerals, given their importance in multiple sectors of the economy, he said.

    “We would be ready to offer this to our American partners… if they showed interest in working together,” Putin said, stressing that he meant both private and government companies. As one of the global leaders in terms of its rare earth mineral wealth, Russia is willing to work with international investors in developing its deposits, he said. – RT

    Our Take: Back in 2016, President Putin told documentary filmmaker Oliver Stone that he tried very hard when he first entered office to cultivate joint ventures that would naturally foster peace, such as working together to develop missile defense systems. He was told to pound sand by former President George Bush, Sr.

    Yesterday, we covered the story about the DR Congo President offering rare earth minerals to President Trump, in exchange for his powers of diplomacy to resolve the ongoing conflict with Rwanda. Now we have Putin offering Ukraine’s rare earth minerals to Trump, in exchange for world peace.

    I sure hope this is the part where the Sovereign Alliance formally reveals itself to the world. – GhostofBasedPatrickHenry

    Liked by 1 person

      1. I don’t believe the vast majority of what is said about Putin. IMO, he is being maligned unfairly simply for putting his own country’s interests first. And is that NOT what we love about Trump as well? He puts the USA first, as any country’s leader should do!

        Liked by 1 person

          1. Well, I’m sure Russia has it’s own “slums,” so to speak but overall, it looks like a beautiful country!

            Like

  22. EXCERPT: “My grandfather used to say, about some of the less… brainy residents of northern Linn County, Iowa, where he lived and farmed his whole life, that “…the engine’s running, but nobody’s driving.” Some folks make you wonder if the engine itself isn’t firing on all cylinders.

    This brings us to a TikTok user, @sarahcroberts, who admits, on camera, that she has been dodging paying her taxes for eight years and, in the same rant, calls for the assassination of DOGE chief Elon Musk. As is so often the case, Libs of TikTok brings us the evidence; as the saying goes, let’s go to the videotape!

    https://x.com/libsoftiktok/status/1894071534068601032

    U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Ed Martin swooped in with a chuckle-inducing comment.

    “Duly noted. Thx for letting us know. We’ll put you in the system. Talk soon, M’am. #NoOneIsAboveTheLaw”

    https://x.com/USAEdMartin/status/1894113722827690318

    Mr. Martin is, of course, doing his job, and one doesn’t have to be a big fan of the IRS (honestly, who is?) to appreciate that, in this case, he will be initiating legal proceedings against someone who richly deserves it — and that threat may win her a little visit from the Secret Service, and possibly other charges.

    And here you thought some leftist politicians were… challenged. There were a few other choice replies:….”

    https://redstate.com/wardclark/2025/02/24/idiots-gonna-idiot-tiktokker-self-incriminates-draws-attention-of-us-attorney-n2185973

    Liked by 1 person

      1. I tend to stash containers of mashed bananas in the freezer that are close to going bad to use for banana bread later. last week i cleaned out the freezer and found 2 containers I forgot about…lol. the bananas had frostbite.

        so when i had 2 more going bad, I decided i would just make the bread and stash THAT in the freezer. sadly, this one won’t make it that far. hubby was just out in the kitchen saying i can’t wait to have some–smells delicious.

        maybe the next bad bananas…LOL

        Liked by 1 person

  26. “The Morning Briefing: The Dems’ America Is a Dark, Awful Place, and I Hope They Stay There”

    PJ Media, Stephen Kruiser | 3:34 AM on February 25, 2025

    AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana

    “Top O’ the Briefing

    Happy Tuesday, dear Kruiser Morning Briefing friends. Lerzweinel was never comfortable with the clogging demands made on him during the annual “Pomegranates and Fedoras” festival. There are a lot of recurring themes here in the early, whirlwind days of President Trump’s second term. One of them is that the Democrats are more pathetic than most people after an election loss. 

    American presidential politics don’t see a lot of one-party winning streaks. Franklin D. Roosevelt was an anomaly, and we’ve shored up the rules since then. Anyway, a regular voter will get used to not having his or her candidate win. It’s a regular part of the life of an average American citizen. We learn to live with it and move on.

    Well, some of us do. 

    The Democrats invested so much hate and tomfoolery (I’m being kind; it probably won’t last) in attempting to prevent the Trump 47 era from ever happening that the loss they suffered last November has broken them just a smidge. The condition is of course compounded by the fact that they weren’t mentally well before Trump kicked them to the curb.

    They’ve decided to consign themselves to an emotional and intellectual gulag where they can pass around the sharing stick and vent their spleens about the man who’s been the monster under their beds for almost a decade. They don’t need to be there; they choose to. The more they lie about President Trump, the darker their world gets. 

    The stories that they are telling themselves about President Trump are designed to be both attacks and comforts, and they end up being neither. I’m reading some absolutely wild stuff on my daily jaunts through the opinion sections of the New York Times and the Washington Post, none of which bears any resemblance to the world in which we live. 

    Dispirited Democrats are also lashing out via lawfare because that worked out so well for them last year. That’s a dark road that they don’t need to go down, but they’re committed to it. They may feel brief moments of excitement when a lawsuit is filed or a stay is issued on an executive order, but it will eventually lead to disappointment. 

    Over at Townhall, my friend Matt Vespa wrote about the Associate Press losing the first round of its legal battle with Trump. And at HotAir, Ed Morrissey has a post about MSNBC’s legal analyst delivering some tough news to his colleagues. There’s a lot of high-fiving on the Left whenever a judge issues a temporary stay to one of Trump’s executive orders. That’s not really the cause for celebration that they think it is:

    This is why the idea that the Trump administration will collapse is absurd. First, Trump isn’t even losing on the stays consistently. The first few forays threw up some roadblocks, but judges have relented on some of those now too. As MSNBC’s legal analyst Danny Cevallo points out, none of these stays addresses the merits of the dispute, and Trump is likely to win most of those, with the likely exception being the challenge to birthright citizenship. 

    The Dems are setting themselves up for disappointment, but they seem to be enjoying that these days. Because they won’t be honest about anything when it comes to Trump, they’re continually banging their heads against even his most wildly popular policies. They’re not picking their fights wisely, and that’s not going to work out well for them. 

    I’m on board with Democrats keeping themselves unhappy. OK, mostly on board. Their ravings about the alt-universe America that Dark Lord Trump is trampling over are getting wearisome. Their misery is only going to get worse when they start realizing that not that many people are experiencing it. Sarah wrote a post for us yesterday that covers some polling numbers that would send any Trump hater to a fainting couch. 

    All I know is that I’m glad that I don’t live in the America that the 2025 Democrats do. The sun shines a lot in this one, and we like what our president is up to. We’re not keeping anyone out, either. Not anyone who’s law-abiding, anyway. The Democrats are voluntarily staying in their ever-shrinking, sad little corner. 

    As long as they keep the noise down at night, they can stay there as long as they want to.” 

    Liked by 1 person

  30. “SO MANY MOVEMENTS OF GOD

    Thousands of young people made a decision to follow Jesus Christ last night at Schottenstein Arena.

    You have probably heard of the Buckeye revival breaking through the Ohio State football team and campus and now Unite US gathered 6,500 students on campus.

    At many of these campus events, spontaneous baptisms have broken out from those who’ve responded to the gospel. Last night the temps were cold but that didn’t stop students from getting baptized in the back of U-Haul trucks!”

    https://x.com/evangelistmatt/status/1892219261512282561

    NF: Weird! At M’s, the link to embed a Tweet is gone under the +!!! I sure wish they’d get this shit figured out!!!!

    https://notthebee.com/article/in-one-night-so-many-ohio-state-students-responded-to-the-gospel-they-were-baptizing-them-in-the-backs-of-uhauls

    Liked by 1 person

  31. “DeSantis vs Donalds: the race is on for Florida’s next governor—The opening bell unofficially rings for the 2026 FL GOP gubernatorial campaign.”

    Jordan Schachtel, Feb 25, 2025

    Share

    ENTIRE ARTICLE: “Last week, President Trump endorsed Rep Byron Donalds (R-FL) as the next governor of Florida, some 20 months before the 2026 gubernatorial election. The president made the endorsement via a Truth Social post:

    “Byron Donalds would be a truly Great and Powerful Governor for Florida and, should he decide to run, will have my Complete and Total Endorsement. RUN, BYRON, RUN!”

    The timing of the endorsement is rather peculiar, but it offers insight into how the White House intends to support Rep Donalds and his run in Tallahassee. The president’s chief of staff, Susie Wiles, is a longtime lobbyist and Republican political operative who once worked for Florida governor Ron DeSantis. Several years ago, She was banished from the DeSantis orbit after being accused of various misdeeds and misconduct orbit before making her way to Team Trump.

    In Florida and D.C. politics world, the Donalds endorsement is largely perceived as a Wiles-driven initiative, given that the president and Florida governor have largely buried the hatchet after a heated Republican primary race. The Dossier understands that DeSantis and Trump are in regular direct contact over various national and statewide topics, particularly immigration, the economy, border security, and national security issues.

    On Monday, the Florida governor made it clear that he was not enthusiastic about Rep. Donalds’s expected gubernatorial run.

    “He just hasn’t been a part of any of the victories that we’ve had here over these last years,” said DeSantis, likely alluding to the congressman’s lack of public interest in the hotly-contested amendments that the governor successfully defeated in the 2024 elections. “He’s just not been a part of it. He’s been in other states campaigning, doing that, and that’s fine. But okay, well then, deliver results up there.”

    Governor DeSantis, who cannot run again due to term limits, was asked about First Lady Casey DeSantis potentially entering the race. “She’s somebody that has, I think, the intestinal fortitude and the dedication to conservative principles,” DeSantis said of his wife. “Anything we’ve accomplished, she’d be able to take to the next level.”

    While nothing is official yet, it’s clear that the race is on. There’s just no way the governor would speak enthusiastically about the first lady entering the arena without her, at the very least, seriously considering running to be his successor.

    On Friday, Mrs. DeSantis delivered a very well-received, fiery address that touted Florida’s achievements. “The sanity and freedom we enjoy in Florida are not guaranteed in perpetuity,” she told the audience, warning that “Florida can easily revert back” to the ways of the old guard and lobbyists corrupting the state. There now seems to be no doubt that she intends to run for office.

    Donalds scored a significant victory in securing the president’s endorsement. This helped clear the field from potential influential competitors like former Rep. Matt Gaetz and other local names considering running for the post.

    But that does not mean he is a shoo-in by any means. The DeSantis namesake is an enormously popular brand in the “Free State of Florida.” The governor won his last election by 20 points and rallied the state to defeat a Trump-endorsed amendment in November.

    Moreover, a recent survey found that Casey DeSantis polls very favorably among Floridians. Her favorables should have considerable staying power, as she has long been a public-facing figure in Florida (through her long career in media and, most recently, in politics as First Lady) with a proven clean track record. The same can’t be said about Donalds, who has a much more checkered past.

    While Floridian GOP voters are also enthusiastic Trump supporters, the statewide race will go down as DeSantis versus Donalds, not DeSantis versus Trump. The president has a country to run, and it’s doubtful he would spend much time campaigning in a GOP primary race.

    Expect to see some official announcements in the coming weeks. Nonetheless, the race for the GOP nomination is officially on, and our two major competitors have already emerged.”

    Liked by 1 person

  32. “The Coinage Act of 1792 was a law that established the United States Mint, the U.S. dollar, and the nation’s first decimal-based coinage system. The act was passed by Congress on April 2, 1792. It also Established the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia. established the U.S. dollar as the country’s standard currency, set the U.S. dollar to the Spanish milled dollar and its fractional parts, established decimal coinage in parts of 100, specified the metals and denominations of coins.

    Why was the Coinage Act of 1792 passed? The act was passed in response to a growing need for coins and a shortage of silver. The act reduced the nation’s dependence on silver for making coins.”

    Liked by 1 person

  33. [Elon Musk is a U.S. citizen, having obtained citizenship through naturalization in 2002. He also holds Canadian citizenship through his mother and retains his South African citizenship as well.]

    Liked by 1 person

  34. “According to market reports, Starbucks will lay off 1,100 corporate employees as Brian Niccol, the new CEO of the Seattle-based coffee chain, plans to streamline operations. The announcement, which the company made Monday in a press release, comes after senior leaders in January began “evaluating the role, structure and size of” its global corporate divisions. Those whose positions are being eliminated will be notified by Tuesday, Niccol said in a statement.

    The move, which also involves the decision to not fill “several hundred” open positions, does not apply to baristas and others who work in Starbucks stores themselves, the release stated. Those laid off will be offered comprehensive severance packages that could include pay, healthcare and career transition services, Niccol added.

    Who could ever imagine that a company that serves grossly over-priced bitter espresso could have that many employees they could get rid of? Maybe they are just following Musk’s Twitter theory…“

    Liked by 1 person

  37. “Could MAHA Be Stifled from Within? Concerns abound regarding Trump’s nomination of Jim O’Neill, a Thiel-linked biotech investor, as deputy secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS)”

    Ryan DeLarme, Feb 25, 2025

    Share

    ENTIRE ARTICLE: “Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was sworn in as U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services on February 13, 2025, to the delight of crunchy moms and alternative health enthusiasts across the nation.

    Immediately after his swearing-in by Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch in the Oval Office, President Donald Trump signed an executive order establishing the “Make America Healthy Again” (MAHA) Commission, which Kennedy will chair. This commission aims to investigate the root causes of chronic diseases, with a particular focus on childhood conditions like autism, cancer, and obesity. Kennedy has emphasized “radical transparency” and “gold-standard science” as guiding principles, promising to address what he calls “corporate capture” of agencies like the FDA, NIH, and CDC by removing conflicts of interest among staff.

    During the ceremony, he told reporters his first priorities include ending corruption within these agencies and ensuring unimpeded scientific inquiry, though no specific actions—like staff firings or policy changes—have been publicly detailed yet.

    There’s undeniably a lot of excitement and anticipation regarding RFK jr.’s vision, however, concerns that he could be undermined or “reined-in” by his own department have begun to proliferate online in the alternative media space.

    Back in November, President Donald Trump announced that biotech investor Jim O’Neill would be his nominee for deputy secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS).

    Assuming his confirmation goes through, O’Neill would work under Kennedy overseeing the day-to-day operations of HHS, a sprawling agency that includes the FDA, NIH, CDC, Medicare, Medicaid, and more. The Deputy Secretary acts as the chief operating officer, managing internal processes, coordinating across sub-agencies, and ensuring the department’s policies align with the administration’s goals—here, Trump’s “Make America Healthy Again” agenda alongside HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

    There are concerns that O’Neill might undermine or work against Kennedy’s agenda. These fears stem from differences in their backgrounds, priorities, and approaches to health policy, as well as O’Neill’s ties to certain ideological and industry circles. While nothing’s set in stone—O’Neill’s confirmation is still pending as of February 25, 2025—here’s what’s fueling the speculation.

    Kennedy built his platform on skepticism of mainstream medicine, vaccine safety reviews, and rooting out corporate influence in agencies like the FDA and CDC. His “MAHA” vision emphasizes transparency, chronic disease prevention, and challenging Big Pharma. O’Neill, however, comes from a Silicon Valley biotech world, with deep ties to Peter Thiel (Bilderberg Steering Committee, Israel/CIA ties, alleged Epstein associate, Opus Dei connections) and a track record of pushing experimental technologies like regenerative medicine and anti-aging therapies. Counter to what RFK has proposed, O’Neill has previously advocated for lighter FDA regulation—approving drugs based on safety alone, not efficacy—which could clash with Kennedy’s focus on rigorous science and public trust.

    Kennedy sets the vision, but as Deputy Secretary, O’Neill would run daily operations, oversee a $2 trillion budget, and manage sub-agencies. If their goals diverge, O’Neill could slow-roll Kennedy’s plans or prioritize biotech innovation over, say, Kennedy’s fluoride removal or vaccine studies. During the Bush era, O’Neill resisted FDA oversight of algorithm-driven diagnostics like 23andMe, hinting at a comfort with less control that might irk Kennedy’s base, who want tighter scrutiny of corporate health tools.

    Author and independent journalist Whitney Webb has been vocal about her distrust of O’Neill on X and her publication Unlimited Hangout.

    That said, there’s no hard proof of hostility. Trump paired them to “fight in unison,” and Kennedy called O’Neill “the perfect partner” in November 2024, praising his experience. O’Neill’s operational know-how—streamlining FDA rules and launching the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response—could complement Kennedy’s big-picture goals if they align on execution.

    The rub lies in their overlap and divergence. Both want HHS reform, but Kennedy’s about dismantling corruption, while O’Neill’s history leans toward unleashing innovation—sometimes at safety’s expense. If O’Neill’s confirmed, the fear is he could quietly pivot HHS toward Thiel-esque priorities, diluting Kennedy’s mission. No one’s seen them clash yet—Kennedy’s only 12 days in—but the chatter reflects real unease about their chemistry. Time will tell if it’s paranoia or prophecy.

    Another general area of concern for those who remain partially skeptical that Donald Trump’s administration is truly populist and not concealed globalism is how much overlap there is between Palantir, “Thiel-world” and “Trump world.”

    Peter Thiel is currently a member of the Bilderberg Steering Committee, which many take as an indication that he is embedded in the international elite or “globalist” milieu. He has been actively involved with the Bilderberg Meetings for years, attending his first meeting in 2007 and joining the Steering Committee by at least 2010.

    As of the most recent updates, including the 2024 Bilderberg Meeting participant lists, Thiel remains listed as a Steering Committee member, serving as President of Thiel Capital LLC. His consistent participation—attending every meeting since 2007—underscores his longstanding role in shaping the group’s agenda and guest list, a key function of the committee. There’s no indication he’s stepped down as of February 25, 2025.

    Whether or not the Bilderberg Meetings of today are as consequential as they were in the 20th century is something we can only speculate on.

    Despite all of these concerns, there’s nothing concrete indicating that things will not go as planned. For my part, I’m still quite optimistic about where this administration is heading, but that doesn’t mean we should turn a blind eye to all criticisms and worries.”

    Liked by 1 person

  38. Conservative-Daily Newsletter

    “Patel & Bongino Must Fix the FBI”

    “With Dan Bongino now stepping into the role of Deputy Director of the FBI under Director Kash Patel, alongside Attorney General Pam Bondi, a historic opportunity has emerged to restore trust in America’s premier law enforcement agency. Bongino, a former Secret Service agent with over a decade of experience protecting presidents—including Barack Obama—brings firsthand knowledge of Washington’s underbelly. Congress, Patel, Bondi, and the American people must urge him to prioritize three critical missions: exposing what he witnessed during Obama’s administration, investigating the FBI agents behind the Mar-a-Lago raid, and aiding Patel in probing corrupt politicians like Adam Schiff.

    First, Bongino’s tenure in the Secret Service gave him a front-row seat to the Obama years. He’s hinted at troubling truths—scandals he claims are “worse than you think.” Now, in a position of power, he must deliver specifics. Did he see abuses of power, surveillance overreach, or worse? The public deserves transparency, not vague allusions. Congress should press him to testify, ensuring his insights reshape how we view that era and prevent future misconduct.

    Second, the 2022 Mar-a-Lago raid remains a lightning rod. FBI agents stormed President Trump’s home, seizing documents in a move many see as politically motivated. Bongino, once a vocal critic of the FBI’s actions, must now identify who authorized it, who executed it, and whether it crossed legal lines. This isn’t about revenge—it’s about accountability. Bondi, as AG, should back this probe to ensure the Justice Department never again becomes a weapon against political foes.

    Finally, Bongino must support Patel in targeting crooked politicians like Schiff. The California congressman’s role in pushing the Russia collusion narrative, despite shaky evidence, reeks of corruption. With Patel aiming to dismantle the “deep state,” Bongino’s insider perspective can pinpoint where investigations should strike—exposing liars who’ve eroded public faith.

    Congress must demand action, Patel must steer the ship, and Bondi must prosecute. Bongino’s unique experience makes him the linchpin. The FBI’s credibility hangs in the balance—let’s see truth prevail.”

    Liked by 1 person

  46. Libs of TikTok

    @libsoftiktok

    BOMBSHELL: Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) backed legislation that funneled millions to his wife’s environmental nonprofit, Ocean Conservancy. She’s been paid nearly $2.7M while the group raked in $14.2M+ in federal grants—funded by bills Whitehouse voted for! Now, an ethics watchdog is calling for an investigation into this blatant corruption.

    Liked by 1 person

  47. Just The News: “The House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday shared a letter from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) that confirmed that information about over 400,000 American taxpayers was improperly accessed during the Biden administration.

    House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan launched the investigation into the alleged leak last year. The culprit behind the leak was former IRS contractor Charles Littlejohn, who was sentenced to five years in prison last year for leaking President Donald Trump’s tax returns. 

    The committee posted an excerpt from the letter on X, which confirmed that the Biden administration downplayed the leak and that 405,427 taxpayers were actually impacted by Littlejohn’s crimes.

    “New disclosure reveals that the Biden IRS leaked taxpayer information of over 405,000 Americans — including President Trump’s,” the committee wrote. “The IRS’s admission confirms the Committee’s suspicion and recent reports that show the scope of the leak was much broader than what the Biden Administration’s IRS initially led the public to believe.

    “In May 2024, an IRS spokesman stated that ‘[m]ore than 70,000’ taxpayers were affected,” the post continued. “We found out that it’s actually over 405,000 taxpayers! This is a MASSIVE scandal.”

    The letter, which was dated Feb. 14, said that all people who have been impacted by the leak have been notified, and that 89% of the impacted taxpayers were “business entities.”  It is not clear what details were leaked.

    Littlejohn is currently serving his sentence at the Marion Federal Correctional Institution in Illinois with a scheduled release date of July 13, 2028.”

    Liked by 1 person

  48. Collin Rugg
    @CollinRugg

    BREAKING: The FBI has launched an investigation into former FBI Director James Comey for his “honeypot” operation targeting Trump in 2016, according to the Washington Times.

    The announcement comes just days after Kash Patel was sworn in as the new FBI director.

    As reported by the Washington Times, the FBI is looking into an off-the-books operation launched in 2015 by Comey.

    According to a whistleblower, two undercover female FBI employees infiltrated Trump’s 2016 campaign to act as “honeypots.”

    “In the intelligence community, a honeypot commonly refers to an undercover operative, usually a woman, who feigns sexual or romantic interest to obtain information from a target,” the Washington Times reported.

    The whistleblower claimed Comey ordered the investigation and “personally directed it” despite not having a specific crime.

    Cont reading…

    BREAKING: The FBI has launched an investigation into former FBI Director James Comey for his “honeypot” operation targeting Trump in 2016, according to the Washington Times.

    The announcement comes just days after Kash Patel was sworn in as the new FBI director.

    As reported by… pic.twitter.com/6K0tkJ13fw

    — Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) February 25, 2025

    Liked by 1 person

  49. “Another Step Closer to Peace!”

    Clandestine, Feb 25, 2025

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    “Ukraine have agreed to the terms of Trump’s mineral deal! We are one step closer to peace! Zelensky is reportedly coming to the US friday to finalize the deal, in which Ukraine will have to give up 50% of their rare earth minerals to pay back the US.

    This means that a deal with Russia is right around the corner, and WW3 has been cancelled.

    Important to note this deal reportedly does NOT include security guarantees for Ukraine, which Ukraine were pushing for.

    It’s also important to note Trump was initially asking for 2X what we paid. He was demanding over $500 billion in repayment, and pulled that out of the deal to reach an agreement. The highball/lowball technique is a staple of Trump negotiation tactics. He will come in with wild and seemingly unrealistic demands, and then backs off to a more reasonable agreement to make it seem like he is being fair and balanced, but he gets what he was truly after, creating the illusion of compromising.

    Keep this tactic in mind when analyzing other Trump negotiations like Canada, Greenland, Panama, etc. There is method to the madness.”

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