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Friday, February 14, 2025

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Confirmed as Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

RFK: “For 20 years, I’ve gotten up every morning on my knees and prayed that God would put me in a position where I could end the childhood chronic disease epidemic in this country (The White House). Townhall: On Thursday, the Senate voted to confirm Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., President Donald Trump’s pick for secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The Senate voted 52-48. Kennedy has surpassed the threshold (Townhall). Just the News: Kennedy’s nomination was controversial on both sides of the aisle. During his committee hearings, Democrats took exception to his past criticisms of vaccines while Republicans questioned him on his pro-choice positions. Kennedy indicated he would defer to President Donald Trump’s policy of leaving abortion to the states, which largely satisfied Republicans (Just the News). RFK’s comments upon being sworn in: (X).

Biden’s HHS Left Taxpayers on the Hook for $22.6 Billion for Giveaways to Illegal Immigrants

New York Post: The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ramped up grants for migrants from 2020 to 2024 — which included cash assistance to buy cars, homes and even build credit for startup businesses, according to a shocking watchdog report that found taxpayers were left on the hook for $22.6 billion. HHS’ Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) — which came under fire last year for having lost track of 32,000 migrant kids in the US — handed out the high sum to a host of nonprofits, effectively acting as a “giant magnet” for those crossing the US border and claiming asylum. Tasked with settling migrants, asylum seekers and other refugees in America, ORR drastically increased the number of noncitizens eligible to receive funding over the bulk of President Joe Biden’s term, with more than $10 billion shelled out to grant-receiving organizations just in fiscal year 2023 (New York Post).

ACLU States Executive Branch Bureaucracy in Place to Check the President

HotAir: Did you know that the Constitutional role of the federal bureaucracy is to prevent the elected President of the United States–the CHIEF Executive–from doing things that he was elected to do? That is the legal opinion of the ACLU, which also argues that the First Amendment requires the censorship of Americans’ speech by the government and that sterilizing and mutilating pre-pubescent children is a human right (HotAir). Host Joe Cunningham: Bro, my favorite part of the checks and balances system that the Framers definitely wrote into the Constitution was bureaucratic branch (X). Reporter Jerry Dunleavy IV: ACLU: “Not only would such mass layoffs violate federal law, but this action would undermine the important and historic check that the career civil service has had on curbing abuses by the executive branch.” When people talk about a “Deep State”, this is part of what they mean (X).

Lee Zeldin Finds $20 Billion of Taxpayer Money Biden’s EPA Sought to Stash Away

They were “tossing gold bars off the Titanic.” Fox News: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator Lee Zeldin said Wednesday that his team has located $20 billion in tax dollars that the Biden administration purposely wasted. “An extremely disturbing video circulated two months ago, featuring a Biden EPA political appointee talking about how they were ‘tossing gold bars off the Titanic,’ rushing to get billions of your tax dollars out the door before Inauguration Day,” Zeldin said in a video posted to X, citing another video from December. “The ‘gold bars’ were tax dollars and ‘tossing them off the Titanic’ meant the Biden administration knew they were wasting it.” Zeldin said the EPA has plans to recover the “gold bars” that were found “parked at an outside financial institution,” which he does not mention by name (Fox News). Lee Zeldin: The Biden EPA tossed $20 billion of “gold bars off the Titanic”. BIG UPDATE! We found the gold bars and they are now being recovered for you, the hardworking American taxpayer (X). Hugh Hewitt: Everyone involved in this —the agency staff that oversaw the transfer, the grantees who or which accepted the money, and even career staff aware of the video and/or of details of Operation Gold Bars need to lawyer up (X).

Hamas Says They Will Return to Ceasefire Agreement, Promise to Release Hostages on Time

But not all of the hostages on Saturday by noon. CBS: Hamas said Thursday that it would continue releasing hostages according to the terms of the ceasefire and hostage release deal with Israel, several days after it accused Israel of violating the agreement and said it would delay the next scheduled exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners. Under the terms of the deal between Israel and Hamas, which is a U.S. and Israeli-designated terrorist group, that exchange is set to take place on Saturday, with the release of three more Israeli hostages and dozens more Palestinian prisoners (CBS). Wall Street Journal: Hamas fired a rocket from the Gaza Strip on Thursday evening which landed inside Gaza, the Israeli military said. Israel responded by striking the launcher. Both acts appeared to violate the cease-fire… Israel and Hamas agreed to a phased deal with the first phase consisting of a 42-day cease-fire and Hamas’s release of 33 Israeli hostages in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. The second phase of the deal would see a complete end to the war and the release of the remaining living hostages. Negotiations for the second phase were supposed to begin about two weeks in but haven’t begun. The first phase ends on March 1 (Wall Street Journal).

Hearing Exposes Spending of USAID: A “Betrayal”

Townhall: House Republicans brought the receipts to this week’s “USAID Betrayal” hearing exposing the U.S. international aid agency’s widespread waste and abuse of American tax dollars. Amid intense examination of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)’s spending spree, Rep. Andy Barr (R-KY), a majority member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, listed off more ways USAID has wasted taxpayer money (Townhall). Rep. Anna Paulina Luna: USAID has completely lost the trust of the American people. Mike Benz has exposed their corrupt operations, destabilizing nations and using race wars to do it—all on the taxpayers’ dime. They can’t even condemn their own wrongdoing (X). Townhall: Rep. Barr: The Biden administration “severely punished” Uganda for it’s “anti-homosexuality law,” pushing the country right into the arms of China (X).

AOC Hosts Webinar Teaching Illegal Immigrants How to Evade ICE

National Review: As the Trump administration ramps up its mass-deportation project, Squad leader Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s congressional office held a webinar this week to educate fearful immigrants about their legal rights and how they can protect themselves from deportation. The “Know Your Rights with ICE” webinar, held on Tuesday by Ocasio-Cortez’s office and lawyers with the Immigrant Defense Project, aimed to educate illegal immigrants at risk of deportation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement of their rights and how ICE gathers information and conducts enforcement (National Review). NRCC: AOC now teaches “How to Dodge ICE” classes from her taxpayer-funded office. Your hard-earned dollars at work funding crime and lawlessness (X).

At Least 26 Injured in Terrorist Attack in Munich

I24News: At least 26 people were injured Thursday as a car rammed into a crowd in Munich, Germany, according to local reports. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said the incident was a possible terrorist attack, with the perpetrator identified as an Afghan asylum seeker with a previous record of only non-violent crimes, including drug possession (I24News). Visgrad24: Far-left militant extremists are taking to the streets of Munich to intimidate a small group of friends & family members of the victims of today’s Islamist car-ramming attack. The small group gathered to protest open borders but was attacked by ppl shouting “fascists” (X).

Majority Approve of Elon Musk as Head of DOGE

Rasmussen Reports: Most voters like President Donald Trump’s decision to put Elon Musk in charge of his cost-cutting Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). And they like the new agency’s mission even more than they like Musk – or Trump, for that matter. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 55% of Likely U.S. Voters approve of Musk being in charge of DOGE, which is assigned to find waste, fraud and abuse in the federal government (Rasmussen Reports). Eric Daugherty: 55% of American voters approve of Elon Musk running DOGE, 45% disapprove… a net approval of +10 (X). Rasmussen Reports: A 20 year daily trend ends, this is a big one (X). Mark Mitchell: For the first time in over 20 years of polling, Right Direction EXCEEDS Wrong Track today (X).

10.

In-N-Out Becomes Latest Business Headquarters to Leave California

California’s trademark fast-food burger company is fleeing. USA Today: California fast-food staple In-N-Out announced that it will close its office in Irvine as the company is set to split its corporate workforce between California and Tennessee. In-N-Out said Monday that many of its California corporate employees will move from Irvine in Orange County to an office in the Los Angeles-area city of Baldwin Park, where the company was founded in 1948. The company had been in the Irvine office since 1994… The company said that after the Irvine office’s closure, corporate employees will be stationed either at the Baldwin Park office or at an office in the Nashville area. The Nashville office is on track to open in 2026 (USA Today). Kevin Dalton: Gavin Newsom’s lawless California forced In N Out to close their first location in their company’s history. Now they are building a new corporate headquarters in Tennessee (X).

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