Continuing his government-reformation fiesta, President Trump is expected to issue an executive order dissolving the US Postal Service leadership and absorbing the organizaton into the Commerce Department. That bold move may be just a first step toward an even more ambitious and controversial goal: privatizing the perpetual money-loser. 

From leadership to rank-and-file employees, the USPS will most certainly mount intense legal and political efforts against both initiatives. The USPS governing board is already gearing up: On Thursday, the USPS board held an emergency meeting in which it hired outside attorneys and directed them to file legal challenges when Trump makes his first move, the Washington Post reported.   

The Postal Service is politically powerful — starting with its raw headcount: While you may not guess it given the long lines that typify a visit to a post office, USPS has a staggering 650,000 employees, who rise up whenever privatization gains momentum. It’s also popular among Americans — 72% view it favorably, compared just 21% who view it unfavorably, according to a 2024 Pew Research poll. 

In December, the Post reported that Trump had been discussing USPS privatization with Howard Lutnick, who is now Secretary of Commerce, along with other transition officials whom Trump used as a sounding board on the topic. The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) held its own meetings to explore drastic actions with the 250-year-old service. 

In November, USPS disclosed a net loss of $9.5 billion for the 2024 fiscal year — a loss that was 46% worse than the service’s $6.5 billion deficit in 2023. The plunge came alongside a slight uptick in revenue enabled by the latest annual increase in postage rates, pursuant to the 2021 Delivering for America plan. That program was supposed to help the perennially-profitless behemoth “achieve financial sustainability and service excellence.” The service also has a crummy balance sheet, with nearly $80 billion in liabilities. 

In recent years, USPS has increased its headcount despite that fact that mail volumes have steadily declined since a Covid-era spike. Grilling Postmaster General Louis DeJoy at a Senate hearing, Rand Paul asked, “Can you think of a private business — where 80% of what they’re doing to make money is going down in volume — would actually increase their employees?” Here’s a particularly well-framed video of the exchange: 

NEW: Head of the Postal Service, Louis Dejoy is stepping down after losing $9.5 BILLION in 2024. In 2023 he lost $6.5 BILLION

🚨 USPS has seen a 80% DECREASE in volume of mail but ADDED 190,000 employees

Senator Rand Paul “Can you think of a private business where 80% of what… pic.twitter.com/AcAu60XdZN

— Wall Street Apes (@WallStreetApes) February 19, 2025

Since 1970, the USPS has operated as a quasi-governmental agency, led by a board of governors whose members are appointed by presidents subject to Senate confirmation. Earlier this week, DeJoy informed the USPS board that he was ready to step down from his position, and asked the board to begin seeking his successor. His move halfway through his 10-year-term came amid reports that Trump was thinking of replacing him. DeJoy was appointed by Trump in the summer of 2020, and soon became a lightning rod for Democrats who accused him of thwarting the vote-by-mail free-for-all that leftists fostered during that pandemic-stricken election year. In the crucial state of Pennsylvania, 76% of mailed ballots went to Biden.  

Predictably, leftists have started losing their minds over Trump’s pending moves, simultaneously decrying USPS reform as Russian interference, racism and an attack on democracy…

So Trump wants to dissolve the board of governors and take full control of the USPS. I wonder who gave him that idea? pic.twitter.com/brtzz4swQA

— Skunk Factory (@skankyskunk47) February 21, 2025

In going after USPS, Trump is trying to decimate an organization famous for employing hundreds of thousands of Black people throughout its history. pic.twitter.com/C6BXfsZ5cI

— Jeremy Fassler (@J_fassler) February 21, 2025

Trump wants to control the USPS so he can fuck with mail in voting.

TRUMP WANTS CONTROL OF THE USPS SO HE CAN FUCK WITH MAIL IN VOTING.

— Liberal Lisa in Oklahoma (@lisa_liberal) February 21, 2025

Authored by Julie Kelly via Declassified With Julie Kelly,

In what has become the latest trend in #Resistance fashion, another government lawyer made a splashy exit from the Department of Justice this week. Denise Cheung, chief of the criminal division for the U.S. Attorney’s office in Washington, sent a three-page letter to her boss explaining why she would have to quit rather than follow orders to pursue an investigation into potential wrongdoing tied to the Biden administration.

In noting her 24-year career at the DOJ—she once worked as former Attorney General Eric Holder’s national security advisor—Cheung, like those before her, claimed the moral high ground as her excuse not to do her job. “I have always worked to enforce the rule of law, to vindicate the rights of victims. and to protect the security of the nation,” Cheung wrote to Ed Martin, the acting D.C. U.S. attorney and President Trump’s pick to permanently run the powerful office, on February 18. “I believe that the values the Department of Justice stands for, and the many people that work every day to fulfill them, are to be promoted and cherished.”

Recent antics by DOJ employees indicate one “value” is the ability to defy superiors with a change of the political winds. In Cheung’s case, she challenged the veracity of evidence presented as the basis for a potential investigation into a Biden-era “climate” initiative with all the markings of a political slush fund ripe for fraud and corruption.

Biden-Style Grift on His Way Out the Door

The so-called Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund first got attention when Lee Zeldin, the new Environmental Protection Agency administrator, laid out details of the jaw-dropping arrangement in a video posted last week. “Roughly twenty billion of your tax dollars were parked at an outside financial institution by the Biden EPA,” Zeldin said on February 12. “This scheme was the first of its kind in EPA history and it was purposefully designed to obligate all the money in a rush job with reduced oversight.”

Zeldin noted that the money, now understood to be “parked” at Citibank, was awarded to eight climate nonprofits who then “doled out your money to NGOs and others at their discretion with far less transparency.” He referred the matter to both the DOJ and EPA inspector general:

🚨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.

Here are more of the details: pic.twitter.com/DM4C0TQcpj

— Lee Zeldin (@epaleezeldin) February 13, 2025

There is no question about the political origins of the fund; the Biden White House touted the program with great fanfare months before the 2024 election. During a campaign stop last April, Kamala Harris announced the eight chosen winners of the $20 billion climate lottery. Harris also noted the unique nature of the arrangement, boasting that “for the first time in history, we are providing tens of billions of dollars directly to community lenders to finance local climate projects. This is a novel approach, it is actually the first time we have taken this approach.” (The list of recipients is here.)

Here is Kamala Harris announcing the $20 billion climate lottery in April 2024.

Lee Zeldin and Trump DOJ want an investigation into abuses of this fund—which is not overseen by Congress but by Citibank. First of its kind arrangement.

I mean—what could go wrong? pic.twitter.com/JIfbLvMRuD

— Julie Kelly 🇺🇸 (@julie_kelly2) February 19, 2025

And far from being a single-minded mission to reduce carbon emissions, the pot primarily is reserved for “communities with environmental justice concerns, communities of color, low-income communities, rural communities, [and] Tribal communities.” Projects could involve something as basic as replacing insulation and installing solar panels to buying a fleet of electric trucks to start a delivery service, Harris said in her speech.

What possibly could go wrong?

A Ripe Target for Investigation—But Not So, Says Cheung

One can only imagine how climate and social justice activists spending billions in free money with apparently no accountability might abuse the system. This is especially true of Joe Biden, who has a long history of leveraging his government power to enrich his family and friends. (Breaking news indicates one grantee is tied to Stacey Abrams. More on this in a follow up piece.)

The unusual nature of the arrangement alone—a major bank rather than Congress handling a big chunk of tax dollars with no known oversight mechanism established just a few months before the election—should raise the Spidey senses of any federal prosecutor, especially one with a stellar DOJ resume that stretches back more than two decades.

But not so with Cheung.

Evidence? What Evidence?

Apparently acting on information described by Zeldin, who is an attorney, and a separate video produced by Project Veritas that showed a Biden political appointee at the EPA admitting the administration was rushing to move the climate money before Trump got into office, acting deputy attorney general Emil Bove sought to initiate an investigation.

“I was asked to review documentation supplied by [Bove] to open a criminal investigation into whether a contract had been unlawfully awarded by an executive agency before the change in Administration and to issue grand jury subpoenas pursuant to this investigation,” Cheung wrote in her resignation letter. “I was told that there was time sensitivity and action had to be taken that day because there was concern that contract awardees could continue to draw down on accounts handled by the bank handling the disbursements.”

Cheung said she then conferred with DOJ employees who have “substantial white collar criminal prosecution experience.” They concluded, however, “the existing documents on their face did not seem to meet this threshold” for an investigation.

Bove additionally sought a letter to Citibank ordering a “freeze” of funds related to the unidentified grant recipient. Cheung then contacted the famously corrupt Washington FBI field office for more guidance; she then concluded that enough evidence supported potential conspiracy and wire fraud charges.

But the letter from the FBI only “recommended” a freeze of the funds.

When confronted by Martin, who wanted to send a follow-up letter demanding, not recommending, the freeze, Cheung refused. “When I explained that the quantum of evidence did not support that action, you stated that you believed that there was sufficient evidence,” she told Martin. “I still do not believe that there is sufficient evidence to issue the letter you described, including sufficient evidence to tell the bank that there is probable cause to seize the particular accounts identified.”

She then resigned per Martin’s request.

Cheung’s sanctimony and sudden devotion to careful prosecutorial scrutiny is hard to swallow given her history. After years of helping the DOJ pursue clearly politically motivated investigations against Republicans, Cheung suddenly suffered an alleged attack of conscience when it came to investigating Democrats?

This is, after all, the same Denise Cheung who was part of the DOJ team that initiated the dubious investigation into Donald Trump over Jan 6; brought federal charges against Trump advisors Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro for defying an illicit congressional committee; and helped manage the largest criminal prosecution in Justice Department history resulting in the arrest of nearly 1,600 Americans for the events of Jan 6.

Cheung’s “moral, ethical, and legal obligations,” as she bragged in her resignation letter, never got in the way of her office’s unlawful use of a post-Enron obstruction statute to turn hundreds of J6 protesters into lifelong felons. Or when her office applied federal misdemeanors such as “parading” in the Capitol for the first time against political protesters. Or when her office added terror enhancements to sentencing recommendations in order to throw nonviolent J6ers in federal prison for years. Or when her office sent women in their 70s to jail for protesting outside of abortion clinics.

The list of abuses by the DOJ tacitly endorsed by Cheung over the past decade or so is long and ignominious. Which is why her preachy indignation in the face of investigating Democrats rather than Republicans rings hollow.

Subscribe to Declassified with Julie Kelly here…

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and China’s Vice-Premier He Lifeng held a video call on Friday, kicking off crucial diplomatic efforts between the President Xi Jinping government and the new Trump administration.

As expected, the Chinese side raised “serious concerns” on the recent imposition of tariffs and other restrictive measures on Chinese goods by the Trump White House, at a moment of growing fears of a renewed trade war.

“Both sides recognized the importance of China-US economic and trade relations and agreed to continue to maintain communication on issues of mutual concern,” a rather guarded and vanilla readout from the Chinese government’s State Council said.

The “in-depth” exchange of views recognized the importance of bilateral economic and trade relations, the Chinese readout said further.

Likely central to the conversation was Beijing’s objections to the Trump-imposed 10% tariffs which came in early February as a punitive response to the explosion of Chinese fentanyl trafficking. Beijing had hit back with targeted tariffs of up to 15% on select US imports, and warned that sanctions – including on Google – could come next.

The readout issued soon after the call from the US Treasury chief highlighted that Bessent and Vice-Premier He discussed counternarcotics efforts, economic imbalances, and unfair policies.

Below is the short US readout in full:

Earlier today, Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent had an introductory call with Vice Premier He Lifeng of the People’s Republic of China to exchange views on the bilateral economic relationship.  Secretary Bessent expressed serious concerns about the PRC’s counternarcotics efforts, economic imbalances, and unfair policies, and stressed the Administration’s commitment to pursue trade and economic policies that protect the American economy, the American worker, and our national security.  Secretary Bessent and Vice Premier He agreed to remain in communication going forward.

The question of a likely visit by Chinese President Xi to Washington looms large in the background. The day prior, Trump while speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One indicated he expects Xi to visit soon, but didn’t reveal a timeline.

Saying that “it’s possible” for for Washington and Beijing to strike a new trade deal, he acknowledged that more direct talks are needed. “We’ll have, ultimately, President Xi, we will have everybody coming (to the US),” Trump said.

The recent response from Chinese state media…

Instead of protecting American economic interests, Washington’s tariffs, as multiple studies have shown, have driven up prices, reduced economic output and employment, and dented the overall economy. https://t.co/irR3Leg8Pi pic.twitter.com/hGY1B3p45T

— China Xinhua News (@XHNews) February 21, 2025

The Republican president has further lately teased the threat reciprocal tariffs for all countries that tax US imports, which would escalate global trade tensions.

In a January Hannity interview just days after being sworn in to his second term, Trump displayed a reluctance to escalate the trade war, stating that he would “rather not” impose tariffs on China. He has emphasized  his willingness to negotiate with President Xi and has sought to avert a clash between the world’s two largest economies. 

Authored by Sean Nelson via RealClearPolitics,

President Donald Trump is well known for his America First agenda. Some have interpreted this as an isolationist stance of retreat from the world stage. If anything, the first few weeks have shown an energetic engagement on foreign policy. America First hasn’t meant disengagement with the world. Rather, it has meant taking seriously American foundational principles and believing those are core values that other nations will look up to when demonstrated proudly.

One of those fundamental American principles is free speech, and the Trump administration is making sure that the world sees America vigorously fighting for it.

This new posture of strongly proclaiming the American value of free speech on the global stage had its biggest demonstration yet for the new administration last week. On Friday, Vice President J.D. Vance spoke at the Munich Security Conference. Rather than focusing on external global threats from Russia and China – as important and real as they are – Vance turned his attention to a major worrisome trend in Europe: the rise of aggressive censorship.

Vance lamented the “retreat of Europe from some of its most fundamental values, values shared with the United States of America.” For Americans, censorship is itself an attack on democracy. As the Vice President stated, “Dismissing people, dismissing their concerns, or worse yet, shutting down media, shutting down elections, or shutting people out of the political process protects nothing. In fact, it is the most surefire way to destroy democracy.” Free speech is not supposed to just be an American value but a universally shared fundamental right, protected in international treaties and charters enthusiastically signed onto by European allies.

Vance highlighted one example in particular of the attack on freedom of expression, that of British Army veteran and ADF International client Adam Smith-Connor. Smith-Connor was charged in November 2022 for violating a “buffer zone” outside an abortion clinic in the UK when he had silently prayed outside of it. This past October, Smith-Connor was criminally convicted for his three minutes of silent prayer. Smith-Connor’s appeal will be heard in July.

But that is just one example of what has become increasingly systematic attempts in Europe at ever larger scales to censor and control public discourse to exclude “wrong” opinions.

Other cases abound, like that of Päivi Räsänen, the Finnish member of Parliament who has been hounded on “hate speech” criminal charges now for almost four years and investigations for even longer because she posted a picture of a Bible verse on then-Twitter.

But on a broader level, Europe’s Digital Services Act (DSA) would make every European social media user subject to the censorship regime and potentially export that censorship throughout the world, including America. The DSA imposes enormous penalties on large social media companies that do not comply with orders to censor so-called “illegal content,” broadly defined as anything that is illegal under EU or national law. Notably, this can include vague and subjective terms like “hate speech,” “misinformation,” and “disinformation,” which are readily weaponized against disfavored religious views, as the stories above show.

Because large social media companies are often American companies, that means that the DSA could harm not just American business but lead to the censorship of Americans. Nearly every major digital service provider in the United States, from Adobe to Zoom, and most social media platforms, maintains these kinds of harmful policies prohibiting “hate speech” or “misinformation,” as reported by ADF’s Viewpoint Diversity Index. If you oppose the government’s position and voice that opinion on social media, there’s a very real chance that a European bureaucrat will try to silence your voice as “misinformation.” Just look at Smith-Connor’s and Räsänen’s cases.

The concern that Europe’s mania for expanding and exporting censorship – as bad as that is by itself – will be felt on American shores was the animating principle for Vance’s push for free speech in his European trip last week and has become a major theme. Earlier in the week, during his speech on AI, Vance directly criticized the Digital Services Act and “the massive regulations it created about taking down content and policing so-called misinformation.” “America cannot and will not accept that,” he said.

Vance is not pursuing this free speech posture toward Europe alone. Congressman Jim Jordan, Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, sent the European Commission a letter at the end of last month “express[ing] our serious concerns with how the DSA’s censorship provisions affect free speech in the United States.” Last week, the Judiciary Committee held a hearing on the “Censorship-Industrial Complex,” highlighting censorship efforts abroad.

One of President Trump’s first actions was an executive order preventing any federal efforts to facilitate censorship against Americans, especially under the guise of combatting “misinformation,” “disinformation,” and “malinformation.” This was a sharp turnabout from the Biden-Harris administration’s pressuring of social media companies to censor posts skeptical of government policies. Secretary of State Marco Rubio followed this up by announcing that he would terminate “any programs that in any way lead to censoring the American people.”

Vance and the Trump administration’s critics have tried over the weekend to make Vance’s position sound extreme, but instead have only confirmed how right he was to make a strong defense of free speech. No reaction was more egregious than CBS’s on Sunday, when Margaret Brennan absurdly blamed free speech for the Holocaust, while 60 Minutes promoted the German system of prosecuting thousands of cases of online “hate speech” and insults. Now that the weaponization of terms like “misinformation” and “disinformation” has been exposed, the rhetoric from opponents of free speech has become more direct.

Vance’s speech has been a clarifying moment, laying down clearly the choice between free speech and censorship. When it comes to opposing global censorship, and especially when that censorship can affect Americans, the Trump administration is fulfilling its promises early on. Vance’s Munich speech is the clearest demonstration yet that America will take the lead again in ensuring the protection of free speech for Americans and worldwide.

Sean Nelson is an international human rights lawyer who serves as legal counsel for global religious freedom at ADF International.

President Donald Trump sparred with Main Gov. Janet Mills (D) on Friday during a National Governors Association meeting at the White House, after Trump told Mills he would withhold federal funding from the state over the state’s refusal to comply with an executive order barring male transgender athletes from women’s sports.

During his speech, Trump asked Mills whether she would follow the order, to which Mills replied “I’m complying with state and federal law.”

Trump shot back, “We are the federal law. You better do it because you’re not going to get federal funding – and by the way your population, even though it’s somewhat liberal – I did very well there, your population doesn’t want men playing in women’s sports.“

To which Mills replied “See you in court.“

“Good, I’ll see you in court,” Trump replied, adding “I look forward to it. That should be a real easy one.”

Watch:

🔥 President Trump calls Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D) out to her face over her refusal to comply with the executive order keeping men out of women’s sports:

“You better do it — because you’re not going to get any federal funding at all if you don’t.” pic.twitter.com/uMUZsy1j6t

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) February 21, 2025

On Thursday, Trump announced that Maine wouldn’t receive federal funding unless they comply with the executive order.

“Anyone here from Maine?” Trump asked a crowd. “They are still saying they want men to play in women’s sports and I cannot believe that they are doing that…so we’re not gonna give them any federal funding until they clean that up.”

🚨 President Trump announces Maine will not receive federal funding until they comply with the executive order keeping men out of women’s sports pic.twitter.com/OZqBHyW1QB

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) February 21, 2025

The executive order, signed Feb. 5 as part of the administration’s agenda to protect women’s sports, pulls funds from “educational programs” that fail to adhere to the ban. 

In a Friday statement, Mills said “the State of Maine will not be intimidated by the president’s threats.”

“If the president attempts to unilaterally deprive Maine school children of the benefit of federal funding, my administration and the attorney general will take all appropriate and necessary legal action to restore that funding and the academic opportunity it provides.”

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has fired LA Fire Department Chief Kristen Crowley over her handling of the January Palisades fire.

“Acting in the best interests of Los Angeles’ public safety, and for the operations of the Los Angeles Fire Department, I have removed Kristin Crowley as Fire Chief,” said Bass in a Friday statement. “We know that 1,000 firefighters that could have been on duty on the morning the fires broke out were instead sent home on Chief Crowley’s watch.“

“Furthermore, a necessary step to an investigation was the President of the Fire Commission telling Chief Crowley to do an after action report on the fires. The Chief refused. These require her removal,” Bass continued. “The heroism of our firefighters — during the Palisades fire and every single day — is without question. Bringing new leadership to the Fire Department is what our city needs.”

Of course, the woman in charge of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, Janisse Quiñones, wasn’t fired for failing to ensure the main reservoir wasn’t empty!

According to an investigation by the LA Times, LAFD elected not to assign roughly 1,000 available firefighters to the fire along with dozens of water-carrying engines in advance of the fire.

Fire officials also chose not to order firefighters to remain on duty for a second shift as the winds were building, which would have effectively doubled the personnel on hand. What’s more, just five of more than 40 engines were staffed at the time.

According to Bass’ office, Ronnie Villanueva – who retired seven months ago as chief deputy of emergency operations after 41 years with the department – will serve as interim chief.

Mayor Bass has walked out for post Crowley firing press conference with the interim fire chief Villanueva and backed by council members Soto Martinez, Price and Council President Harris-Dawson pic.twitter.com/pOE1oKe2t6

— Julia Wick (@sherlyholmes) February 21, 2025

During an interview with Fox 11, Crowley suggested that Bass had failed her department, telling the network that her agencies were understaffed and underfunded, calling the situation “no longer sustainable.”

🚨BREAKING: LA Mayor Karen Bass FIRES Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley – per Fox News’ Bill Melugin

Bass: “We know that 1,000 firefighters that could have been on duty on the morning the fires broke out were instead sent home on Chief Crowley’s watch.” pic.twitter.com/SBurCciMaj

— Unlimited L’s (@unlimited_ls) February 21, 2025

Later that day, Crowley told CNN‘s Jake Tapper that the fire department lacks enough mechanics to repair broken-down emergency vehicles.

As most people know, in recent months, Donald Trump has repeatedly suggested Canada should become the U.S.’s 51st state.

During a December 2024 meeting with Justin Trudeau at Mar-a-Lago, he proposed annexation to address trade and border issues. Trump has since called Trudeau the “Governor of the Great State of Canada” and claimed many Canadians back statehood, citing potential tax cuts and improved security.

What fewer people know is that Canada’s Justin Trudeau seemed to understand that Trump was serious, according to the New York Post. Trudeau said at a meeting with business leaders earlier this month: “I suggest that not only does the Trump administration know how many critical minerals we have, but that may be even why they keep talking about absorbing us and making us the 51st state.” 

“They’re very aware of our resources, of what we have, and they very much want to be able to benefit from those. But Mr. Trump has it in mind that one of the easiest ways of doing that is absorbing our country. And it is a real thing,” he said. 

And now yesterday, Trudeau used Team Canada’s victory over Team U.S.A. at the 4 Nations hockey championship as an opportunity to publicly screech fire back at Trump. 

“You can’t take our country — and you can’t take our game,” Trudeau wrote on X. 

The New York Post writes that before Thursday’s championship game, Trump, who has referred to the Canadian leader as “Governor Trudeau,” called Team USA to rally them.

“You guys are really talented. I have great respect for hockey players, I’m a hockey fan. I love hockey. The talent, the skill that you have is crazy,” he told the team in a Truth Social clip. “Just go out and have a good time tonight. I just want to wish you a lot of luck.”

According to Team USA GM Bill Guerin, Trump also briefly mentioned making Canada the 51st state during the call.

The intense USA-Canada rivalry escalated this year as politics seeped into the tournament. Canadian fans booed “The Star-Spangled Banner” during Saturday’s game in Montreal, while American fans responded by booing Chantal Kreviazuk’s rendition of “O Canada” in Thursday’s final in Boston.

Kreviazuk even changed the anthem’s lyrics from “in all of us command” to “that only us command” in protest, her rep told CBC.

The 4 Nations Face-Off, which replaced this season’s NHL All-Star Game, featured top players from the USA, Canada, Finland, and Sweden in a high-energy competition.

Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news,

During comments at the CPAC conference Thursday, Elon Musk detailed just how extreme the Biden administration was when it came to the opening the border and flooding the country with illegal aliens.

“It’s important for people to understand the Biden Administration sent any possible money they could send to amplify illegal immigration,” Musk urged.

He explained, “They took money from FEMA meant for helping Americans in distress and sent it to luxury hotels for illegal immigrants in NY. That is an outrage. They actually did that.”

“Not only that, even after The President (Trump) signed an EO saying it has to stop, the deep state bureaucrats still pressed send on $80M last week to send money to The Roosevelt Hotel and other places. Now they’re mad and they’re trying to sue to have it restored. The gumption of these people,” Musk told the crowd.

Newsmax host, Rob Schmitt then asked Elon “Do you think they were trying to create a new voter class?”

Musk responded “Yes. Look at basic incentives. If the probability that an illegal is going to vote Democrat is 80-90% then the incentive is to maximized the umber of illegals in the country.”

“That is why the Biden administration was pushing to get in as many illegals as possible. because every one of them is a customer. Every one of them is voter. The entire thing is a giant voter import scam,” Musk asserted.

“Then they created this CBP1 app to literally fly people in. When people are being flown in at your expense that is crazy. Then we found out some guy in London was paid $100M to make this app,” Elon added.

“When they’re flying illegals into the swing states, it’s not going to be a swing state for long,” he further contended.

Watch:

🚨NEW: Elon Musk shares that the Biden Administration was importing illegals to flip swing states and did everything possible to amplify illegal immigration on taxpayer dime.

ELON: “It’s important for people to understand the Biden Administration sent any possible money they… pic.twitter.com/Iy1fRYXNMj

— Autism Capital 🧩 (@AutismCapital) February 21, 2025

As we all suspected it is now confirmed. They were pulling money from USAID, religious “charities”, FEMA, EPA, Dept of Education, HUD, Social Security, Medicare. I don’t doubt we will find funding for illegals in HHS, DoD, and DOT.

— Free To Speak (@FreeToSpeak71) February 21, 2025

🎯 The CBP1 app saga is wild – $100M to a London dev while we’ve got Silicon Valley talent right here? 🤔 When government “efficiency” means spending taxpayer millions on sketchy contracts, you know something’s not adding up. Maybe @DOGE needs to look into this tech spending…

— John 📊📈🧑‍💻 (@DataWhisker) February 21, 2025

Pretty sure Election Interference is a serious crime, on top of a plethora of other crimes they’ve committed, like treason. Who’s getting arrested?

— Dubs The Creator (@thedubscreator) February 21, 2025

Meanwhile, Trump’s Deputy Chief of Staff and former immigration czar Stephen Miller outlined how there has been a 95 percent reduction in the monthly flow of illegal migrants at the border.

“President Trump, within days of taking office, cut border crossings 95 percent and those few who have dared to cross are being either prosecuted or deported,’ MIller told the leftist media in the briefing.

Miller declared “The criminals are going home. The border is sealed shut. America is safe, sovereign, proud, and free. We are a nation that everyone in the world understands — all across this planet — [where] you do not come here illegally, you will not get in, you will go to jail, you will go home, you will not succeed. This is the biggest and most successful change in any area of law enforcement that this nation has ever seen, and he did it in under one month. Thank you.”

White House Deputy Chief of Staff @StephenM: Border crossings, since the day he [President Trump] took office, are down 95%. I think it’s almost impossible to even describe the scale and scope of that achievement. pic.twitter.com/1iqUdTQnN1

— NumbersUSA (@NumbersUSA) February 20, 2025

Border crossings have dropped to such all time lows in the past month, that some migrant shelters previously at capacity have completely closed their doors.

.@BillMelugin_: In San Diego, a “NGO says its shelter has had not a single migrant walk through its doors since President Trump took office. They’re now closing that shelter down.” pic.twitter.com/Vi139SPYcx

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) February 17, 2025

*  *  *

Your support is crucial in helping us defeat mass censorship. Please consider donating via Locals or check out our unique merch. Follow us on X @ModernityNews.

Hong Kong stocks surged overnight after Alibaba reported a staggering 239% year-over-year jump in net profit for the final quarter of 2024. CEO Eddie Wu credited the strong performance to explosive growth in the company’s cloud business and a surge in artificial intelligence investments over the last six quarters.

Goldman’s Fred Yin and Shubham Ghosh provided clients this morning with further insights on Alibaba and the apparent fading of US exceptionalism as attention shifts to tech stocks in China and Hong Kong:

HK shares exploded higher today after Alibaba results boosted tech optimism further, HSI +4% had its best one-day return since Oct 2024 while HSTECH +6.5% managed to close out its 6th weekly gain in a row, the longest such run in 5 years. Alibaba +14.6% surged on a clean beat with strong showings from both e-comm and cloud segments, and CEO says AGI is now the company’s “primary objective”...the stock is now up over 60% YTD.

US exceptionalism fading appears more evident while looking at the massive outperformance of the Hang Seng Index on the year, bps from entering a bull market, while the S&P500 is up 4.5% YTD. 

Shedding more color on this theme is Goldman’s Peter Sheren: 

US Exceptionalism Over? In January, the Desk hosted a dinner with 8 global long only and sovereign wealth funds in attendance.This dinner was shortly after the DeepSeek news.  When asked whether any of the attendees were considering shifting money from the US to either Europe or the Asia, the group emphatically said now as their stakeholders expected that they get the US right and they must outperform in the US as US exceptionalism remained in the mind of investors.  Fast forward to today and the US is dramatically underperforming, up only 4% year-to-date versus Europe up 13% and HSI up 12%.  The HSTECH is up 23%.  This outperform looks to have accelerated overnight with Alibaba earnings showing a clean beat with strong domestic retail numbers (opposite of Walmart guidance) and strong Cloud results.  GIR hikes BABA’s Cloud SOTP contribution by 63% to US$31 from US$19.  New Price Target US$160/HK$156 from US$117/HK$114. As I have been writing all week, the valuation gap between the US and China Internet must narrow as the regulator risk discount needs to be removed.  

At the start of the week, we told readers that Alibaba founder Jack Ma’s reemergence—who had disappeared from public view after criticizing Beijing several years ago—now seen shaking hands with President Xi signaled one thing: “CCP Renews Confidence in China Tech.”

“Highly Symbolic” Moment: Alibaba’s Jack Ma Reemerges, Shakes Xi’s Hand As CCP Renews Confidence In China Tech https://t.co/qArO3DHf1o

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) February 17, 2025

The very handshake excited Goldman’s Philip Sun, who told clients to consider “getting more exposure to China A-Shares” by using their “GS A500 inclusion basket (GSTDA500).” 

Two weeks ago, Goldman’s Hailey He told clients her stance on Chinese tech stocks was “cautiously optimistic,” noting that “AI enthusiasm sparked by Deepseek pushed Chinese tech shares into a bull market. 

The AI boom has now reached Alibaba and other Chinese tech stocks, suggesting that earnings results will be boosted in the coming quarters. This will provide tailwinds for high stocks and potentially continue outperformance versus US tech. This poses a challenge for President Trump, who views the stock market as a barometer of success. However, it’s important to remember that Trump only needs to deepen the trade war with China to derail this newfound AI enthusiasm in HK tech stocks.

Authored by Zoltan Vardai via CoinTelegraph.com,

Rug pulls and insider schemes involving Solana-based memecoins are driving investor outflows and a decline in capital inflows, as confidence in the sector deteriorates.

The rate of monthly capital inflow into Solana and Solana’s MEME index turned to a monthly negative of -5.9%, according to a Glassnode chart shared with Cointelegraph.

Market: top asset realized cap percent change, 30-days. Source: Glassnode

This decline marks a significant drop from December 2024’s peak, largely due to reduced memecoin investment, according to CryptoVizArt, a senior analyst at Glassnode.

The analyst told Cointelegraph:

“The rate of monthly capital inflow into Solana has declined from December 2024 high to 2.5% per month, mostly due to the negative capital flow in MEME sector. However, Solana still has some positive momentum but it’s declining faster than Bitcoin.”

BTC, ETH, SOL, 1-month chart. Source: Cointelegraph

Solana’s price fell over 29% during the past month, while Ether’s price fell over 15% and Bitcoin fell 7%, Cointelegraph Markets Pro data shows.

Solana user activity is also in decline. The number of active addresses on the network fell to a weekly average of 9.5 million in February, down nearly 40% from the 15.6 million active addresses in November 2024.

This marks a significant cooldown for the blockchain, according to Glassnode’s analyst, who added:

“A significant cool down in Solana activity is evident, however, we are relatively higher than pre pre-bull market baseline of

Solana active addresses. Source: Glassnode

The decline in investor activity has been linked to disappointment in recent Solana-based memecoin launches, particularly the Libra token, which was endorsed by Argentine President Javier Milei. The project’s insiders allegedly siphoned over $107 million worth of liquidity in a rug pull, triggering a 94% price collapse within hours and wiping out $4 billion in investor capital.

Solana capital, user exodus may be net positive for the network

As confidence in Solana weakens, millions of dollars worth of crypto is being transferred from Solana to other blockchains, signaling a potential capital exodus that may turn into a net positive for the blockchain’s long-term growth.

Over $7.7 million worth of funds were transferred from Solana to Arbitrum and over $6.9 million to Ethereum, Debridge data shows.

Total transferred amount between chains on deBridge. Source: Debridge 

Solana’s advanced technology has attracted its fair share of bad actors and cases of insider corruption, despite the technology being neutral in itself. However, these issues may turn into a net positive for Solana’s growth in the long term, according to a Feb. 18 X post from blockchain researcher Aylo:

“This washout will end up being a very good thing long term. Standards need to go up. Bad actors need to be removed.”

“If the SOL price and other L1 token prices are solely held up by gambling activity then the space will stay quite small and the larger valuations won’t be justified,” he added.