Starmer Rebuffs Trump, Reassures Zelensky It’s ‘Perfectly Reasonable’ to Cancel Elections in Wartime

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British Prime Minister immediately offered Volodymyr Zelensky affirmation over his democratic status after President Trump blasted Ukraine for cancelling its elections and enforcing martial law on its citizens.

Sir Keir Starmer spoke to Ukrainian President Zelensky overnight, with his Downing Street office revealing the Prime Minister had told the Ukrainian he is not a dictator and that it had been “perfectly reasonable” to suspend democracy because of the Russian invasion.

The comments follow Donald Trump airing his views on the state of Ukrainian democracy, saying if Ukraine’s leadership wants a seat at the table, the Ukrainian people should be consulted on who they will send to sit at the table. Later remarks were more strident — perhaps in response to Zelensky’s angry answer to the initial comments, and accusing Trump of repeating Russian “disinformation — and called Zelensky a dictator.

President Trump had said: “A Dictator without Elections, Zelenskyy better move fast or he is not going to have a Country left… I love Ukraine, but Zelenskyy has done a terrible job, his Country is shattered, and MILLIONS have unnecessarily died”.

These remarks likely come as part of a strategy of pre-positioning by the United States ahead of the coming U.S.-Russia peace talks, and the United Kingdom government was fast to counter-signal against them. Downing Street said of Starmer’s call with Zelensky: “The prime minister spoke to President Zelenskyy this evening and stressed the need for everyone to work together. The prime minister expressed his support for President Zelenskyy as Ukraine’s democratically elected leader”. (Read more from “Starmer Rebuffs Trump, Reassures Zelensky It’s ‘Perfectly Reasonable’ to Cancel Elections in Wartime” HERE)

Video: Official Admits Dept. Of Education Is Spending Tax Dollars On Illegals And Dodging DOGE Oversight

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Department of Education staff remove citizenship requirements from legislation, offer programs to illegal immigrants, and are using a messaging app to avoid oversight from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), according to an undercover video published Feb. 20 by Project Veritas.

“If Congress actually knew that we don’t ask that [citizenship status], there would be a lot of, probably, a lot of uproar,” said DOE Branch Chief Travis Combs. “You know how they have like sanctuary cities? We would be a sanctuary program where we’re spending federal dollars on illegal immigrants.” . . .

Combs is a branch chief in the DOE’s office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education, according to LinkedIn. He said in the video he oversees seven staff who “develop professional development projects for teachers and adult education.” He said the programs focus on areas including GED [general educational development], high school diploma, ESL [English as a second language], and citizenship.

“The one nice thing about this program that I work in is we don’t ask [citizenship] status, and we’ve been able to keep that out of our federal statute,” he said. “We don’t ask them when they enroll what their status is.”

Combs said “undocumented” people can take part in these programs “as long as they follow the process.” He said recipients of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) “have to follow the rules for DACA,” but “if they’re illegal, illegal, it’s going to be pretty hard.” (Read more from “Video: Official Admits Dept. Of Education Is Spending Tax Dollars On Illegals And Dodging DOGE Oversight” HERE)

2 Teenage Girls Plotted to Attack High School With Pipe Bombs and Guns, FBI Says

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The Federal Bureau of Investigation said it thwarted a mass casualty plot intended at a Texas high school within 30 minutes of being tipped off about the alleged plan.

The two girls, who have not been publicly identified because of their ages, allegedly planned to attack Memorial High School in the Houston suburb of Hedwig Village with guns and pipe bombs.

The 16-year-old was charged with making a terroristic threat, a third-degree felony, while the 15-year-old was placed into custody on unrelated charges.

“We received troubling information, conducted a rapid investigation, shared findings with LE partners, & ultimately saved lives,” read a statement from the FBI office in Houston.

KPRC-TV reported that the older girl had previously been a student at Memorial High School before she moved to an alternative school, and the younger girl was a student at Willis High School. (Read more from “2 Teenage Girls Plotted to Attack High School With Pipe Bombs and Guns, FBI Says” HERE)

Photo credit: Flickr

Unitarian Universalist Lawmaker Offers Atheist Invocation to ‘God of Many Names’

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A Texas lawmaker whose religious affiliation includes atheists and agnostics suggested all religions pray to the same “God of many names” during an interfaith prayer service at the state capitol.

Democratic Rep. Donna Howard of Austin delivered the opening invocation for the Feb. 11 meeting of the 89th Legislative Session with a prayer for “Texans of every religion and no religion” in which she gave thanks for living in a nation, she said, that protects the “freedom of and from religion.”

“I’m grateful to live in a country where we have a constitutional right to no law respecting the establishment of religion or prohibiting the full exercise thereof, freedom of and from religion,” said Howard, a former nurse who has represented her district since 2006.

“In that spirit and with respect for all Texans of every religion and no religion,” Howard continued, “we seek guidance for the day before use from the God of our understanding, from that moral compass that calls us to recognize our interconnectedness and our collective work, and to bring to that work the better angels of ourselves on behalf of all Texans whom we have been given the privilege to serve.”

She referred to the “Spirit of Life, God of many names” in her prayer and asked, “Let us know that each from our own tradition comes today to lift our spirit in unity.” (Read more from “Unitarian Universalist Lawmaker Offers Atheist Invocation to ‘God of Many Names'” HERE)

Trump Targets Taxpayers’ Money Used to ‘Incentivize or Support’ Illegals

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A new executive order from President Donald Trump, among the latest in his long list of dozens of actions he’s taken to protect America from illegal aliens and the transgender ideology, and to cut government waste and fraud, puts a bull’s-eye on the taxpayer money being used to “incentivize or support” illegal immigration.

The idea is to make certain “taxpayer resources are used to protect the interests of American citizens, not illegal aliens,” said the order, which also cited statistics from the Federation for American Immigration Reform.

That group said American taxpayers are being forced to pay at least $182 billion a year to cover the expenses of 20 million illegal aliens and their children, including more than $66 billion in federal expenses and $115 billion paid by states and local governments.

Further, the Center for Immigration Studies reported 1 million illegal aliens could cost American taxpayers $3 billion a year through welfare programs to which they are not supposed to have access under the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996.

But illegal aliens who are granted parole become “qualified aliens,” allowing access to various benefits. (Read more from “Trump Targets Taxpayers’ Money Used to ‘Incentivize or Support’ Illegals” HERE)

Social Media Cheers as White House Deputy Chief of Staff ‘Torches’ Press Corps: ‘I Love This’

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Stephen Miller gave the White House press corps a “civics lesson” on presidential powers at Thursday’s press briefing, to the delight of conservatives.

The White House deputy chief of staff for policy responded to a question comparing media concerns about Elon Musk serving as an “unelected bureaucrat” while ignoring former President Joe Biden’s declining mental state.

“You’re tempting me to say very harsh things about some of our media friends,” he began. “It is true that many of the people in this room for four years failed to cover the fact that Joe Biden was mentally incompetent and was not running the country.”

“It is also true that many people in this room who have used this talking point that Elon is not elected fail to understand how government works. So I’m glad for the opportunity for a brief civics lesson,” he continued.

“A president is elected by the whole American people. He’s the only official in the entire government that is elected by the entire nation, right? Judges are appointed. Members of Congress are elected at the district or state level. The Constitution, Article II has a clause known as the Vesting Clause. And it says the executive power shall be vested in a president, singular. The whole will of democracy is imbued into the elected president. That president then appoints staff to then impose that democratic will onto the government.”

(Read more from “Social Media Cheers as White House Deputy Chief of Staff ‘Torches’ Press Corps: ‘I Love This’” HERE)

Inside Trump’s ‘Goal’ to Abolish the IRS, Utilize Tariffs So ‘Whole Economy Explodes’ — And How It’ll Affect Your Wallet

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One of President Trump’s objectives over the next four years is to have US revenues from tariffs become so massive that the Internal Revenue Service is no longer needed, his commerce secretary revealed Wednesday.

“His goal is to abolish the Internal Revenue Service and let all the outsiders pay,” Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said during an appearance on Fox News Channel’s “Jesse Watters Primetime.”

The former CEO of Wall Street firm Cantor Fitzgerald expanded a day later on his belief that Trump’s sweeping tariff plan will be a boon for the US economy.

“As the president said, reciprocal tariffs, either you bring yours down or we’re going to bring ours up. If we go to their level, it will earn us $700 billion a year to be equal to everybody else,” Lutnick said Thursday, during an appearance on FNC’s “America’s Newsroom.”

“And there goes our deficit. And interest rates come smashing down, and the whole economy explodes higher.” (Read more from “Inside Trump’s ‘Goal’ to Abolish the IRS, Utilize Tariffs So ‘Whole Economy Explodes’ — And How It’ll Affect Your Wallet” HERE)

Report: Mitch McConnell to Announce Senate Retirement

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Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) will announce Thursday he will not seek reelection in 2026, Politico reported.

McConnell, who turned 83 Thursday, has been expected to retire following his resignation under pressure as Senate Republican Leader in early 2024.

(Read more from “Report: Mitch McConnell to Announce Senate Retirement” HERE)

‘Good Riddance’: Trump Fires ‘Biden Era’ Prosecutors

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In his effort to purge the federal government of political corruption, President Donald Trump is firing all prosecutors hired by his predecessor. On Tuesday evening, Trump announced via Truth Social that he is dismissing U.S. attorneys appointed by former President Joe Biden.

“Over the past four years, the Department of Justice has been politicized like never before,” Trump began. He continued, “Therefore, I have instructed the termination of ALL remaining ‘Biden Era’ U.S. Attorneys. We must ‘clean house’ IMMEDIATELY, and restore confidence.” The president added, “America’s Golden Age must have a fair Justice System—THAT BEGINS TODAY!”

According to a report from Reuters, U.S. attorneys were informed last week that they were being dismissed. Trent Morse, Trump’s deputy director for the Office of Presidential Personnel, sent an email Thursday to Biden administration prosecutors, saying, “At the direction of President Donald J. Trump, I am writing to inform you that your position as U.S. Attorney is terminated, effective immediately.”

In comments to The Washington Stand, Article III Project Founder and Trump legal ally Mike Davis explained, “President Trump had to fire every remaining Biden-era U.S. attorney to remove partisan political actors from the justice system.” He added, “For too long, the DOJ was weaponized against half of the country. That changed yesterday. Good riddance.”

Already, Trump has begun staffing U.S. attorneys’ offices across the country with his own nominees. For example, Edward R. Martin, Jr. has been appointed as Trump’s U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia. Martin’s predecessor in the role, Matthew M. Graves, enacted a host of prosecutions against Jan. 6 protestors but largely refused to prosecute rising crimes in D.C. During his tenure, Graves declined to prosecute 67% of crimes in the nation’s capital, including 72% of misdemeanor crimes and 53% of felony arrests. Martin, meanwhile, served as a defense attorney for many of the Jan. 6 protestors targeted by Graves. Upon taking office, Martin fired over two dozen federal prosecutors involved in Jan. 6 cases and implemented a hiring and promotions freeze on the office. (Read more from “‘Good Riddance’: Trump Fires ‘Biden Era’ Prosecutors” HERE)

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr

Major Publication Says It’s Really Sorry For Featuring Terrorist’s Son In Documentary, Swears It Was Accident

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The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) issued an apology on Wednesday for featuring the son of a Hamas official in its Gaza documentary, “Gaza: How To Survive A War Zone.”

Hamas’ deputy minister of agriculture’s 13-year-old son Abdullah was the focus of the documentary, which he narrated, according to the outlet. The BBC asserted the production company Hoyo Films did not disclose the family link, with the outlet only learning about it after the documentary’s release.

“We’ve promised our audiences the highest standards of transparency, so it is only right that as a result of this new information, we add some more detail to the film before its retransmission,” the BBC stated. “We apologise for the omission of that detail from the original film.”

“We followed all of our usual compliance procedures in the making of this film, but we had not been informed of this information by the independent producers when we complied and then broadcast the finished film,” the outlet added.

Despite the apology, the BBC maintained that the documentary’s value remains intact. (Read more from “Major Publication Says It’s Really Sorry For Featuring Terrorist’s Son In Documentary, Swears It Was Accident” HERE)