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Thursday, February 13, 2025

Trump Holds Phone Calls with Putin, Zelenskyy to Push Toward Peace Talks

ABC: President Donald Trump on Wednesday said he had spoken with Russian President Vladimir Putin about ending the war in Ukraine, which started three years ago when Putin’s forces launched a full-scale invasion. Trump also spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after his call with Putin…Hegseth told foreign leaders and allies during a Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting that a return to Ukraine’s pre-war borders is an “unrealistic objective” in peace talks, as was NATO membership for Ukraine. Zelenskyy has long demanded full territorial liberation and earlier this week signaled a willingness to swap territory with Russia, giving up land Kyiv has held in Russia’s Kursk region — a suggestion Russia resoundingly rejected (ABC). Hill: President Trump said Wednesday he expects to meet in person with Russian President Vladimir Putin multiple times, suggesting they are likely to meet first in Saudi Arabia (Hill).

Belarusian Authorities Agree to Release Detained American Citizen

Trump’s second American hostage freed in as many days. Washington Post: Belarusian authorities on Wednesday released an imprisoned U.S. citizen, a Belarusian journalist for a U.S.-funded media outlet and an opposition supporter in an apparent attempt to repair ruptured ties with Washington. Freeing the American, who wasn’t identified, follows last month’s release of another U.S. citizen, Anastassia Nuhfer. Also freed was Andrey Kuznechyk, a Belarusian journalist for the Belarus service of the U.S. government-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, who had been convicted of being part in an “extremist group” (Washington Post). Breaking 911: President Trump has secured the release of another detained American citizen, who was being held in Belarus. Special Envoy for Hostage Affairs Adam Boehler: “We do what we promised” (X).

Pam Bondi Announces Charges Against New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, AG Letitia James

Townhall: Newly sworn-in Attorney General Pam Bondi held her first U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) press briefing Wednesday where she announced federal charges filed against the state of New York, specifically Gov. Kathy Hochul, the state’s AG Letitia James, and Commissioner Mark Schroeder of the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV). “New York has chosen to prioritize illegal aliens over American citizens. It stops today,” Bondi said (Townhall). Breaking 911: AG BONDI WARNS STATES IGNORING FEDERAL IMMIGRATION LAW: “If you are a state not complying with federal law, you’re next. Get ready.” She’s not playing around (X).

Tulsi Gabbard Confirmed as Director of National Intelligence

Townhall: The Senate has voted to confirm Tulsi Gabbard as Director of National Intelligence. Gabbard was a controversial choice for President Donald Trump, with Democrats and some Republicans questioning her stances on Russia, Syria, and other foreign-policy related matters (Townhall).

Oregon Introduces Bill Allowing Non-Doctors to Perform Assisted Suicides

National Review: Yesterday, I posted about a Vermont bill that would allow nondoctors to prescribe death. I found out today that Oregon has similar legislation pending that would allow “providers” to lethally prescribe. SB 1003 specifies that “provider” can mean a licensed physician, a licensed physician assistant, or a licensed nurse practitioner. I wouldn’t trust a PA or NP to diagnose me with six months to live. That is not a putdown… But they are not physicians. They receive less education and specialized training as compared with physician-certified specialists like cardiologists, oncologists, nephrologists, or neurologists (National Review). Life News: The weak link for the assisted suicide lobby is that very few doctors are willing to be involved with killing their patients. By adding physician assistants and nurse practitioners they will increase the number of providers who are willing to be involved with killing. SB 1003 also reduces the waiting period from 15 days to 48 hours while enabling the “providing prescriber” to waive the waiting period to essentially allow a same day death…SB 1003 also requires hospices and hospitals to publicly disclose their assisted suicide policy (Life News).

Witness at DOGE Hearing: Covid Fraud in Excess of $1 Trillion

National Review: The first hearing of the House Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency was held Wednesday and featured extensive discussion of the domestic and international criminal organizations stealing vast sums of taxpayer dollars from the U.S. government. Haywood Talcove, CEO of Lexis Nexis Risk Solution, described to lawmakers the different kinds of criminals exploiting U.S. government benefits systems, pointing out that Covid relief provided a windfall of over $1 trillion to those criminal elements (National Review). Charlie Kirk: Haywood Talcove, CEO of LexisNexis Special Services, testifying in front of the DOGE Subcommittee, says by implementing robust ID verification could save $1 trillion every single year in entitlements. “Between federal, state, and local government, you can save one trillion dollars a year by simply putting in front-end identity verification, eliminating self-certification, and monitoring the back-end of the programs that are providing the benefits” (X).

Former Obama Aides Admit They Should Have Done Some Things Trump is Currently Doing

Fox News: Former aides to President Barack Obama admitted on an episode of “Pod Save America” they should have done “some of the stuff” President Donald Trump is doing with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). When discussing DOGE’s initiatives to cut federal spending, the “Obama bros” admitted to “lamenting” their situation. Jon Lovett, a former Obama speechwriter, implied he “didn’t know” they could make government so efficient. Honestly, some of this is pretty annoying because it’s some of the stuff we should’ve done. We didn’t know you could do some of this,” Lovett said (Fox News).

Judge Mandates Federal Agencies to Reinstate Webpages Claiming There Are Many Genders

Townhall: A federal judge on Tuesday ordered the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to restore government webpages that were taken down after President Donald Trump issued an executive order barring gender ideology from federal agencies. U.S. District Judge John Bates, appointed by former President George W. Bush, granted a temporary restraining order after a group called Doctors for America (DFA) filed a legal complaint arguing that it prevents its members from using the information on the webpages to treat patients and conduct research. The complaint references Trump’s executive order, which says, “It is the policy of the United States to recognize two sexes, male and female,” and that “Agencies shall remove all statements, policies, regulations, forms, communications, or other internal and external messages that promote or otherwise inculcate gender ideology, and shall cease issuing such statements, policies, regulations, forms, communications, or other messages” (Townhall). George: If one of these rulings doesn’t get ignored, we will spend the next 4 years getting undermined (X).

Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt Defends DOGE’s Fraud Findings

Washington Examiner: The White House is backing Elon Musk, the billionaire entrepreneur and head of the Department of Government Efficiency, with a long list of receipts. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt criticized complaints that Musk and DOGE have lacked transparency as he and his aides seek to reduce the size of the federal government and the amount of money it spends. In his and DOGE’s defense, Leavitt cited DOGE’s X account and website, through which DOGE publishes “the receipts of the contracts that they are reviewing and the payments that they have stopped from going out the door,” during Wednesday’s press briefing (Washington Examiner). Townhall: Karoline Leavitt whips out literal receipts when asked to provide evidence of fraud, waste, and abuse found by DOGE (Townhall).

10.

Elon Musk Shows Process of Retirement for Federal Employees

DOGE: Federal employee retirements are processed using paper, by hand, in an old limestone mine in Pennsylvania. 700+ mine workers operate 230 feet underground to process 10,000 applications per month, which are stored in manila envelopes and cardboard boxes. The retirement process takes multiple months (X). Mediaite: Well, because all that all the retirement paperwork is manual on paper. It’s manually calculated. They’re written down on a piece of paper. Then it goes down a mine and like, what do you mean a mine? Like, yeah, there’s a limestone mine… And this is this mine looks like something out of the 50s because it was started in 1955. So it looks like it’s like a time warp. And then the speed the limiting factor is the speed at which the mine shaft elevator can move determines how many people can retire from the federal government. And the elevator breaks down sometimes and then nobody can retire (Mediaite). Fox News: At the time, the report said the total spending on the retirement system was $55.8 million. Multiple attempts to digitize the system have been made since 1987, according to the report. Each attempt largely failed and was eventually scrapped, with reported costs totaling over $130 million (Fox News).

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