In a nearly party line vote, Tulsi Gabbard was confirmed as President Trump’s Director of National Intelligence. The vote, which was originally scheduled for last night, was 52-48. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky was the lone Republican to vote no on her confirmation.
Gabbard, who is a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserves, was a congressman from Hawaii from 2013 to 2021 when she ran for president.
According to Oklahoma Senator Markwayne Mullin, Robert Kennedy Jr is up next, with a vote scheduled for Thursday. Kash Patel’s final vote is expected some time next week.
A week ago, ICE raided several locations in and around Aurora Colorado to mixed success. Several of the apartments and homes raided wound up being empty. It was suspected that the occupants – including several Tren de Aragua members – were tipped off by an insider.
A similar thing happened on Friday during ICE raids in the Los Angeles area. Someone from either the FBI or ATF leaked parts of the operations plan to LA media outlets.
Now, border and immigration Czar Tom Homan is on the hunt for the moles. Yesterday, he went on Fox and said those leaks are being investigated by an Inspector General and the person or people responsible will be fired and likely charged criminally. In the interview on Hannity, he said:
“They [the DOJ] have opened up a criminal investigation and they have promised that not only this person lose their job and lose their pension, they’re going to go to jail, they’re going to criminally prosecute. So we’re all over it.”
He went on to say the initial leads are pointing to the FBI as the source of the leak, and added that whoever it is will lose their job, pension, and will go to jail.
These leaks go beyond mere criminality. They endanger everyone involved. I truly hope the first one identified gets hammered in court pour encourager les autres.
A Palestinian walks past destroyed residential buildings damaged by the Israeli air and ground offensive in Bureij, central Gaza Strip, January 22, 2025.
It’s been a hot minute since I’ve written about the goings-on in Israel and that region. So, I figure it’s time for an update of sorts.
I’m reasonably sure that you have heard about what Trump said about the US taking over Gaza as part of the rebuilding process there. As part of that same press availability, alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he also said Egypt and Jordan would have to take some of the Gaza Arabs*. What’s more, in comments released today, he said that any displaced Gaza Arabs would not have the right of return.
The first comments caused some serious soul searching across the Sahel, particularly in Egypt and the Hashemite Kingdom of Transjordan. Keep in mind, the Gaza Strip was Egyptian prior to the 1967 Six Day war and Judea and Samaria (the West Bank*) were the ‘Trans’ part of Transjordan until the same war.
Both Egypt and Jordan have had serious issues with refugees from both Gaza and Judea and Samaria. The previous King of Jordan, Hussein, was almost toppled by them. Neither can truly afford to take many Gazan refugees but neither can they afford not to do as the US wants.
The hostages that were released by Hamas on Saturday, Eli Sharabi, Ohad Ben Ami, and Or Levy, were in the worst condition of any so far. They looked not dissimilar to photos of German concentration camp victims, exceedingly thin, gaunt and pale. Hamas forced the men to thank them before they were released. Eli Sharabi said he was thankful to go home to his wife and daughters. The captor asking the questions laughed knowing, unlike Eli, that the wife and daughters had been murdered on 10/7.
President Trump weighed in on the condition of the hostages, “Hamas has been a disaster… I watched the hostages come back today. And they looked like Holocaust survivors, they were in horrible condition. They were emaciated… I don’t know how much longer we can take that.” I don’t think he is going to take it.
It gets worse though. After the nearly universal backlash about the condition of the released hostages, Hamas said today that it was suspending the hostage release program indefinitely. They are – falsely – claiming Israeli violations of the hostage deal. Among the claims are that the IDF has fired on Gazans who have returned north of the Netzarim corridor and that Israel has prevented food and other necessities from entering Gaza.
My take is they need time to fatten up the remaining hostages. Hamas and their enablers clearly did not realize the effect the shockingly bad condition of the released hostages would have on public opinion outside the Strip.
I also tend to think they underestimated Trump after dealing with Biden and his band of mid-and-half-wits for the last four years. They are about to find out there is a new sheriff in town, and he isn’t afraid of using his power to get what he wants. I think Qatar the one holding most of the purse strings for Hamas and the PA in Judea and Samaria – has underestimated him as well, at least up until Friday that is. The comments about the US taking control of Gaza opened some eyes in that region, including those of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the day-to-day ruler of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Author’s note: I am no longer calling the Arab residents of the Gaza strip, Judea and Samaria Palestinians. I will only call them what they are; Arabs. They didn’t even call themselves that prior to the rise of Arafat when it became politically expedient to have a separate nationality to fall back on. Nor will I call Judea and Samaria the West Bank.
In a move reminiscent of the baptism scene in the Godfather, where Michael Corleone knocks off all of his enemies, President Trump has revoked the security clearances for a number of his foes today. This order also bans the named individuals from any federally owned or leased building or property. This comes after he revoked the clearance of Joe Biden recently.
Federal officials on the list are former SecState Antony Blinken, Former NSA and Hillary advisor Jake Sullivan, former #2 DOJ official Lisa Monaco, former federal prosecutor and lead on the Russiagate hoax Andrew Weissman.
What effect this will have on any of them is up in the air for now. They are barred from entering any federal facility as well as having their clearances revoked, so it is not going to be good for their careers.
But wait, there’s more. Trump also yanked the clearances of NY Attorney General Leticia James, Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg and lawyer Mark Zaid. The clearance revocation isn’t going to affect James or Bragg all that much. They don’t need a clearance for most of their work, the bar to entry may be a bigger deal, at least for Bragg. Zaid on the other hand is likely screwed. He purports to be a national security lawyer and works almost exclusively on federal cases. The lack of clearance and the lack of ability to even enter a federal courthouse is going to devastate his business.
Featured image: President Trump and Cyril Ramaphosa
In the wake of some newly passed legislation in South Africa, President Trump has imposed a set of sanctions on that country. The legislation in question, The Expropriation Act, makes it easier for the government to expropriate land in the public interest. The African National Congress, the country’s biggest political party, proposed these changes that make it easier for the state to take land without paying for it and address racially skewed land-ownership patterns dating back to the initial settlement of South Africa.
Before we go any further a bit of history is in order. When the first white settlers – who happened to be the Dutch – created a colony in the southern part of Africa there were only scattered settlements of bushmen and Hottentots. The bantu people that now comprise the majority of South Africa’s population did not arrive until the late 1800’s, having moved south from the area that is now Kenya and Tanzania during the Zulu wars. Many, if not most, of the Afrikaner (white) families of South Africa have lived in the region far longer than the black Africans. What’s more, the Afrikaner farmers produce most of the food in South Africa.
The sanctions regime ends all US support to the ANC led government of South Africa. It also ends any US foreign aid regardless of source to South Africa.
Sec. 3. Assistance. (a) All executive departments and agencies (agencies), including the United States Agency for International Development, shall, to the maximum extent allowed by law, halt foreign aid or assistance delivered or provided to South Africa, and shall promptly exercise all available authorities and discretion to halt such aid or assistance.
The Sanctions also include a provision expediting resettlement of any Afrikaners who have their land stolen by the SA government.
Sec. 4. Refugee Resettlement and Other Humanitarian Considerations. The Secretary of State and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall take appropriate steps, consistent with law, to prioritize humanitarian relief, including admission and resettlement through the United States Refugee Admissions Program, for Afrikaners in South Africa who are victims of unjust racial discrimination. Such plan shall be submitted to the President through the Assistant to the President and Homeland Security Advisor.
It’s important to remember that South Africa is a nearly failed state already. They can’t keep the electricity on as it stands, the civil infrastructure is crumbling, roads and bridges are third world quality where they exist at all. And if it weren’t for white farmers, they wouldn’t be able to feed themselves either.
Joseph Mathunjwa, a mining union official spelled it out in a speech at a commemoration of a massacre of miners by SA police. The miners were demanding their pay for work done in a platinum mine. “Love or hate white people who were in power before 1994, they gave us a functional country. In as much as the Nationalist Party was cruel, they left us with a functioning state, and then the ANC, the corrupt ANC, took over,” said Mathunjwa
Cyril Ramaphosa, the SA president and head of the ANC is one small step from turning into Robert Mugabe and Zimbabwe, or as I prefer to remember it, Rhodesia.
Prior to Mugabe stealing the farms from all the white Rhodesians, Zimbabwe was the breadbasket of southern Africa. The annual maize production went from 40m bushels in 2001, the year land expropriations started to less than 10m bushels a year later. Wheat production suffered similar declines in that time frame, going from 10m bushels to slightly less than 3m bushels.
In a post on Truth Social, President Trump announced he was revoking Joe Biden’s security clearances.
This move is somewhat out of the norm, as previous presidents have been afforded the courtesy of keeping their clearances. That ended with Biden’s administration when they yanked Trump’s clearances in 2021.
To be fair, Biden is such a cognitive mess he wouldn’t know what he was reading anyway. This move prevents Joe from leaving any classified documents he might get next to the Corvette in the garage of his Delaware home.
FCC commish Brendan Carr has announced that the FCC is investigating San Francisco radio station KCBS 740AM. The investigation is focussing on the fact that the radio station revealed locations and vehicle information of undercover ICE officials.
The station is a part of the Audacy group, a radio conglomerate that George Soros controls. Soros bought a majority stake in the company last year after a politicized fast-track waver. The waiver war required because the Soros purchase would create a more than 20% foreign ownership stake.
On the Jan. 26 edition of KCBS Radio Weekend News, the host revealed specific information about undercover ICE agents who were “carrying out an operation on the east side of town.”
“The Santa Clara County Rapid Response Network, which is a community defense projecting system for immigrant communities against deportation threats, first reported the activity on its platforms,” the host told listeners. The host then revealed the specific make, color and model of several unmarked vehicles used in the operation. The station also revealed the exact locations of several ICE agents working in the area.
The FCC Enforcement Bureau is looking into whether the radio station — which is licensed to operate by the FCC — is violating the terms of its FCC license. The licence requires that it operates in the “public interest.”
Not long after President Trump signed the “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” executive order, the National Collegiate Athletics Association changed their rules and banned men from competing in women’s sports.
The Board of Governors made the announcement on the NCAA website this afternoon. The changes mostly affect women’s sports, where all males are banned. The changes also affect female-to-male transitioners. If a FTM athlete is taking any testosterone, they are banned from women’s athletics.
NCAA women’s sports:
A student-athlete assigned male at birth may not compete for an NCAA women’s team.
A student-athlete assigned male at birth may practice on an NCAA women’s team and receive all other benefits applicable to student-athletes. Division I leadership is planning to adopt roster limits in place of scholarship limits and new practice squad policies are still in development.
A student-athlete assigned female at birth who has begun hormone therapy (e.g., testosterone) may not compete on a women’s team. If such competition occurs, the team will be subject to NCAA mixed-team legislation, and the team will no longer be eligible for NCAA women’s championships.
A student-athlete assigned female at birth who has begun hormone therapy (e.g., testosterone) may continue practicing with a women’s team and receive all other benefits applicable to student-athletes.
Individual schools have the autonomy to determine athletics participation on their campuses.
NCAA schools are subject to local, state and federal legislation and such policy supersedes the rules of the NCAA.
Sports with mixed men’s and women’s NCAA championships are exempt from this policy (e.g., rifle).
FTM athletes and anyone else can participate in Men’s athletics after completing a hormone treatment waiver.
NCAA men’s sports:
Regardless of sex assigned at birth or gender identity, a student-athlete may participate (practice and competition) in NCAA men’s sports, assuming they meet all other NCAA eligibility requirements.
*Student-athletes taking a banned substance (e.g., testosterone) must complete the medical exception process.
I have some issues with allowing male student-athletes to continue to practice with females. One can only assume they would use the same locker and shower facilities as the females after practice.
Regardless, this is a good start. It is also another indicator that we are rolling back all the leftist nonsense of the past 10-15 years, and doing so effectively. Now if we can just get the finishing places, medals and trophies to their rightful places . . .
President Trump signed an executive order reinstating sanctions on certain members and entities within the International Criminal Courts today. This movie is in reaction to the ICC’s investigations into U.S. personnel and those of allied countries, particularly Israel. The sanctions regime includes asset freezing and visa restrictions for anyone involved in sanctionable conduct.
The sanctions will be applied to ICC officials, employees, and any person or entity materially assisting in these investigations, including providing financial, material, or technological support. The EO does not only target individuals directly involved but also those aiding, sponsoring, or providing services in support of these activities.
This movie is part of a larger Trump effort to reclaim US sovereignty from various international organizations. Besides this EO, Trump has withdrawn the US from the WHO, UNESCO, UNRWA and the Paris Climate accords.
It should be noted that of all the signatory countries to the Paris accords, only the US had met the goals set out in the agreement.
Former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi Has been sworn in as US Attorney General.
She was confirmed by a 54-46 vote last night. Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman was the lone Democrat to cross the aisle and vote for Bondi,
Bondi’s nomination earned praise both from Republicans and some Democrats in the chamber for her composure and her ability to deftly navigate thorny and politically tricky topics and lines of questioning from some would-be detractors.
