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 My son has narrated the last book I wrote. Please consider listening to it and encouraging others to do so too. (Click HERE) World & Nation Judge Chutkan rejects call from Democratic AGs for temporary restraining order blocking DOGE’s access to federal data  A federal judge declined on Tuesday to temporarily block Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency from accessing federal data systems at a slew of executive branch agencies. The decision by US District Judge Tanya Chutkan is an early blow to efforts by a group of Democratic state attorneys general to hamstring Musk and DOGE as they undertake efforts to upend the federal workforce. But the judge also indicated she was skeptical about the Trump administration’s statements about Musk and his powers in DOGE. Musk and DOGE’s access to closely guarded government data – including sensitive information it has collected about and from the American public – has become a battleground in the legal fight against the Trump administration’s efforts to reshape the federal bureaucracy. Trump calls Ukraine's Zelenskyy a 'dictator without elections' as rift widens Trump slams Zelenskyy over lack of elections in Ukraine since Russian invasion  Trump designed a 'win-win' situation for the US and Ukraine, says Treasury Secretary Bessent President Donald Trump blasted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as a "dictator without elections" on Wednesday, after the U.S. left Ukraine out of initial peace talks with Russia this week. "A Dictator without Elections, Zelenskyy better move fast or he is not going to have a Country left," Trump wrote on TRUTH Social. "In the meantime, we are successfully negotiating an end to the War with Russia, something all admit only ‘TRUMP,’ and the Trump Administration, can do. Biden never tried, Europe has failed to bring Peace, and Zelenskyy probably wants to keep the ‘gravy train’ going." Trump added, "I love Ukraine, but Zelenskyy has done a terrible job, his Country is shattered, and MILLIONS have unnecessarily died – And so it continues….." Trump Still Wants 'One, Big, Beautiful' Budget Bill  President Donald Trump on Wednesday urged the Senate to follow the House's lead and deliver "one big beautiful" budget bill. House GOP leaders last week announced that a budget resolution had advanced out of the Budget Committee. Senate Republicans plan to vote this week on a budget blueprint, which addresses border, energy, and defense spending while leaving changes to the tax code for a separate bill later, Politico reported.
NYC congestion pricing axed as Trump pulls approval of hated toll  Congestion pricing, we hardly knew ye. New York City’s spectacularly unpopular congestion pricing scheme is on death row as the Trump administration will announce Wednesday it is pulling its approval of the toll — slamming it as “backwards and unfair” — in a major blow to Gov. Kathy Hochul, The Post has learned. The congestion pricing program took effect Jan. 5, and slapped drivers entering Manhattan below 60th street with a hefty $9 surcharge — with the funds going to fund the transportation network’s $15 billion 2020-2024 capital improvement plan. The US Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration will terminate the approval of the controversial program, according to a letter Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy is set to send to Hochul Wednesday afternoon. “New York State’s congestion pricing plan is a slap in the face to working class Americans and small business owners,” said Duffy, noting that commuters entering NYC have already financed the construction and improvement of city roadways through their taxes. Trump admin lays out who exactly was cut at HHS in face of 'Democrat hysteria' 'Cuts we made at HHS over the weekend did not compromise health and safety of Americans,' official says  The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) still employs more people than it did in 2019, despite "Democrat hysteria" over recent cuts within the department's agencies, Fox News Digital exclusively learned. A senior Trump administration official told Fox News Digital that there have been 6,000 departures from HHS since Jan. 20, Inauguration Day. The agency, however, still employs nearly 6,000 more people than it did in 2019, including more than 2,000 employees at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) relative to 2019 numbers, and 1,200 employees at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Hiring at HHS ballooned between fiscal year 2019 and 2024, the senior Trump administration official said, with 17% more full-time employees by 2024. Fifty percent of overall jobs in the U.S. that were created in 2024 were indirect or direct government jobs, the official added. VP Vance's Munich speech praised as 'Churchillian' moment as CBS host faces criticism for response Jonathan Turley applauds Vance's 'historic' address, expresses dismay at CBS anchor's response  Constitutional scholar Jonathan Turley praised Vice President JD Vance for criticizing German censorship laws during his speech to the Munich Security Conference, where the vice president called out organizers for banning both far-left and far-right wing parties. Turley also reacted on "America's Newsroom," Tuesday to a CBS host blaming the Holocaust on free-speech. JONATHAN TURLEY: It was a historic speech by Vice President Vance. In 1963, John F. Kennedy went to Berlin to say, I'm a Berliner, to say that he was going to stand with the rights of free speech and other rights of those behind the Iron Curtain. Vance went, in this case, to Munich and said, I am an American, and as an American, I will fight for free speech. He confronted our allies and saying, you can't claim to be defending democracy when you are eviscerating the very right that defines us. I wrote a book called ‘The Indispensable Right’ and it talks about Germany, the United Kingdom and our other allies where free speech is in free fall, and so this was a very welcome speech for the free speech community, not just the United States, but in Europe. And I'm hearing from a lot of my colleagues in Europe saying that this was a true Churchillian moment for the free speech community. Fox News Heir Vows to Radically Change Network  Media mogul Rupert Murdoch's desired plan for succession would have left oldest son Lachlan in control of Fox News and News Corp. But a recent court ruling and family in-fighting will likely leave his news empire in control of his left-leaning children who have vowed to radically change the network, according to press reports out last week. Last year a Nevada court ruled the 93-year-old billionaire could not change his family trust after Murdoch sought to give his elder son, Lachlan, 52, control over his public companies. Lachlan is a Republican who is said to hold his father's conservative views. Pope Able to Sleep Peacefully Amid Double Pneumonia  Pope Francis spent a peaceful fifth night in hospital and ate breakfast Wednesday, the Vatican said in its latest update on the pontiff's fragile health. Francis has the onset of double pneumonia, the Vatican said Tuesday, complicating treatment for the 88-year-old pope who was admitted to Rome's Gemelli hospital Feb. 14. Double pneumonia is a serious infection that can inflame and scar both lungs and makes breathing more difficult.
Trump Fights Partisan Bias of Federal Civil Service Here's a dirty secret about the federal government many Americans are just learning: It's run by Democrats, even when voters elect Republicans. Presidents come and go, but the permanent federal bureaucracy remains the same, and it has a distinct partisan tilt. When Americans send a Republican to the Oval Office, they get a government still administered mostly by the other party. Trump is making Europe squirm — to force a lasting peace in Ukraine Secretary of State Marco Rubio and a team of negotiators met Tuesday with their Russian counterparts in Riyadh, unthawing US-Russian relations in a dramatic diplomatic turnabout and kicking off talks on the war in Ukraine. Conspicuously absent were representatives from Europe. That meeting capped off a dizzying week of transatlantic diplomacy by the United States, punctuated by Vice President JD Vance’s remarks at the Munich Security Conference that mentioned Ukraine only twice, and only in passing. Vance said he avoided publicly outlining a Ukraine peace strategy to “preserve the president’s negotiating leverage,” and to set no red lines ahead of the meetings in Saudi Arabia. |
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