Authored by Thomas Brooke via Remix News,

The Netherlands has announced it will reintroduce internal border checks starting Dec. 9 in fresh efforts to manage illegal immigration.

The measure, proposed by Asylum and Migration Minister Marjolein Faber of Geert Wilders’ Party for Freedom (PVV), was approved by the Council of Ministers and will be in effect for six months.

“This initiative aims to reduce irregular migration into the Netherlands,” the government stated in a press release.

“Transfer of persons who do not meet the conditions for entering or staying in the Netherlands is done on the basis of European regulations and existing agreements with member states, including Belgium and Germany,” it added.

“For four months, I have been hearing around me: ‘Not allowed, not possible, not going to do it.’ But I will not be discouraged. I am the minister who is taking concrete measures to really get a grip on migration. We must do whatever it takes,” Faber said in an address to the Dutch parliament last week.

Het wordt tijd dat we irreguliere migratie en migrantensmokkel concreet aanpakken. Daarom starten we vanaf begin december met het herinvoeren van grenscontroles in Nederland.https://t.co/o7xzxsjcfZ

— Marjolein Faber (@MinisterAenM) November 11, 2024

The Royal Netherlands Marechaussee, responsible for these checks, will prioritize minimizing disruption to economic and commuter traffic, especially in border regions, and will focus checks at airports on specific flights deemed higher risk for illegal migration or cross-border crime.

EU law mandates the Netherlands to inform the European Commission, fellow EU member states, and the European Parliament of the temporary measure.

🇳🇱🚨 WILDERS: “The strictest asylum policy ever!”

The PVV leader outlines the asylum reforms agreed by the Dutch coalition government:

🟠 Indefinite residency permits abolished
🟠 Syrians from safe areas to be returned
🟠 Priority refugee housing scrapped
🟠 Border controls… pic.twitter.com/SZrfkAbqyS

— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) October 25, 2024

The Netherlands’ action mirrors similar decisions by several EU countries, including Germany, Austria, France, and Denmark, which have all implemented or extended temporary border controls in response to heightened migration flows and security concerns.

Germany began six-month checks on Sept. 16, requiring all individuals entering from neighboring countries to undergo screening. Austria, France, and Denmark have each introduced selective checks, with Denmark specifically citing threats from terrorism and organized crime originating from Germany as driving factors.

The Dutch government emphasized that the reintroduction of checks is an “exceptional and temporary measure,” which will be conducted within the capacity of the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee and in close coordination with neighboring states.

The controls may be gradually expanded based on operational needs and will conclude by mid-2025 unless renewed or extended, it added.

Read more here…

Authored by Matthew Vadum via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

The Supreme Court on Nov. 12 turned away former Trump White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows’s request to transfer his election interference case from a Georgia state court to federal court.

The justices issued the court’s new unsigned order without explaining why, as is its custom when rejecting petitions.

Meadows filed his petition with the Supreme Court on July 26, arguing that the case should be heard in federal court because he was performing his duties as a federal officer when he disputed election results.

Meadows was indicted by a state grand jury in Fulton County, Georgia, in August 2023, over his role in President Donald Trump’s challenge to the 2020 presidential election results in Georgia, a state he ultimately lost in that election.

Meadows was accused of violating the Georgia RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) Act during the period from Nov. 4, 2020, which is the day after that year’s presidential election, to Sept. 15, 2022, for his allegedly illegal efforts to contest the presidential results in the state.

He argued that the case should be heard in federal court because, “for nearly two centuries, Congress has provided a federal forum for federal officers facing criminal charges brought by state and local officials,” according to the petition.

“Over time, Congress has consistently expanded access to federal forums for federal officers invoking federal defenses,” he argued.

A federal district court in Georgia refused to stay the prosecution in September 2023.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit ruled against Meadows in December 2023, allowing the prosecution in Fulton County to proceed.

Authored by The Empowerment Alliance via RealClearPennsylvania,

We wrote a few weeks ago that the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania was ground zero for selecting the next president of the United States. Our rationale was that energy affordability is a key issue to millions of voters there.

Pennsylvania’s energy voters turned out strong, helping Republican Donald Trump form a massive red wave on election night. 

Trump received more Republican votes in the state than any candidate ever. He tallied 3.48 million votes and, as a result, the accompanying 19 electoral votes.

His pro-drilling and anti-regulatory message hit home in rural areas of the state, as well as with working class residents and minorities.

Speaking to voters at a rally in State College last month, Trump vowed to lift the U.S. pause on liquefied natural gas export terminals, embrace fracking and otherwise undo what he described as the “disastrous” energy policies enacted under the Biden administration. 

Flips Senate seat

The turnout enabled a pro-American energy candidate to knock out an incumbent Senator, with Republican challenger Dave McCormick winning the high-profile race by a razor-thin margin over third-term Democrat Sen. Bob Casey, who led the race in most polls throughout the campaign. 

McCormick received more than 3.3 million votes. 

He embraced energy in his campaign, and it certainly resonated with voters from Washington County to Wayne County. McCormick spoke often about preserving the state’s “energy legacy.”

This carried through on several key House races.

Ryan Mackenzie, 7th district, and Rob Bresnahan Jr., 8th district, each flipped Democratic-held seats. Mackenzie employed “America First” messaging and both candidates received the highest grade possible on The Empowerment Alliance’s (TEA) energy scorecard.

Incumbent Republican Scott Perry, 10th district, held his seat by a slim margin.

By the numbers:

•  Data compiled by TEA revealed Pennsylvania with 3.2 million American Energy Patriots, or about 39% of its 8.7 million registered voters.

• Those voters prioritize energy affordability in their voting decisions. They will support candidates who champion cost-effective energy policies.

• Trump received more than 3.4 million votes to edge Vice President Kamala Harris by two percentage points. It’s clear that Affordable, Reliable and Clean energy was a key factor in Trump’s victory in the Keystone State. 

‘Strategic ambiguity’ failed

For those living and working in the Marcellus Shale regions this election was quite personal. And they voted as if their livelihoods were at stake.

Harris was destined to fail here. Her campaign devised a plan of what aides labeled “strategic ambiguity” on energy policy to avoid alienating environmental activists and moderate voters. 

That just wasn’t good enough. Pennsylvania voters are resilient, hard- working people — and are not uninformed. They saw through the smoke-and-mirrors facade and voted for candidates who are pro-energy and pro-economic growth.

Natural gas matters

In the end, Harris’s team and the Democratic Party grossly underestimated Pennsylvania voters, and they discounted the important role that energy in general, and natural gas in particular, plays in your state. Here’s a reminder:

• In 2021, the oil and natural gas industry contributed $75 billion to the state’s economy.

• Pennsylvania is second only to Texas in estimated total proved natural gas reserves. 

• In 2022, about 3.1 million residential and business customers used natural gas in Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvanians, you showed them by your votes what’s important to you.

This was a significant win for Donald Trump and a huge victory for Pennsylvania’s households, businesses, farmers and energy producers. 

Authored by Conrad Black via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Contrary to widely expressed fears in Canada, there is plenty of room for the Canadian government of either major party to work cooperatively with the new American administration on most fronts. A couple of months ago, I had occasion to ask then-candidate Donald Trump whether Canada had anything to fear if he were elected. He said: “Your trade negotiators are better than ours, but all I’m asking is fair trade which is not a big problem with Canada.” He added that he knows the country well, has done lots of business here, and has nothing but liking and goodwill for Canada.

A poll several months ago by The Hub found that 64 percent of Canadian conservatives think Trump will increase oil and gas production if elected, and 59 percent think he will insist that Canada increase its military spending to meet the NATO commitment of 2 percent of GDP, which it has ignored up to now. The percentage of conservatives who think Trump will cut aid to Ukraine is 54 percent, according to the poll, while 52 percent think the Trump administration will impose new tariffs and 51 percent think it will restrict immigration to the United States from Canada. A renegotiation of the Canada-U.S.-Mexico trade deal is expected by 45 percent of Canadian conservatives, and 49 percent expect a decrease in financial support for electric vehicles. More broadly, 38 percent think Trump will have a negative effect on the flow of goods between Canada and the United States, the poll showed, and 37 percent think Trump will have a negative effect on the future of NATO.

I’ll deal with these concerns in the order they were mentioned. First, since Trump has said that on Inauguration Day he will propose to reactivate the Keystone XL pipeline—which is in itself a good thing for Canada and would be welcomed in Alberta and Ottawa—and put in place incentives for the immediate expansion of American production of oil and natural gas, he will certainly increase American oil and gas production. But he has also said that he will put economic pressure on unfriendly oil-exporting countries, particularly Iran and Venezuela, and will invite other friendly countries to join the United States in decreasing the oil revenues of those countries. He specifically includes Canada in this, and the XL pipeline, if it goes ahead, will end at the Gulf of Mexico in direct competition with Venezuela.

It is expected that Trump will reimpose heavy sanctions on Iran and extend those sanctions to any other countries that defy them. It will be the position of the Trump administration that Iran is a terrorism-supporting state conducting aggressive war against a number of other countries and that in international law, the United States is right to impose sanctions upon Iran and has the complete right to enforce its sanctions by any non-violent methods that it wishes. That was the policy of his first administration, and it was very successful in strangling the flow of money and arms to the Hezbollah, Hamas, and Houthi terrorist clients of Iran. There is nothing in any of that to arouse legitimate concern with Canadians. It is the morally correct policy and will be profitable for us.

Trump will undoubtedly urge Canada to raise its defence spending to the level it has already committed to, and which Justin Trudeau has recently pledged to achieve within a few years. There is nothing harmful to Canada in this, and indeed we shouldn’t need any threats from the United States to do it. We have been appalling freeloaders in NATO for many years, and have allowed our military capability to deteriorate to the level of a small and poor country. Defence spending is among the most advantageous for a country’s well-being, with a high multiplier effect on the economy.

President-elect Trump has pledged to end the Ukraine War, but has made it clear that he will not accept Russian President Putin’s peace terms. It is clear that he will require a partial retirement from Ukraine of the Russians, but accept some accretion of Russian territory and leave Putin in no doubt that if Russia does not accept this, the United States will arm Ukraine with weapons that will carry the destruction of Russia’s aggressive war into Russian civilian areas, as the Russians have done to Ukraine almost with impunity for over two-and-a-half years.

At some early point, Putin will accept these terms and Trump, presumably with the backing of NATO, will inform Ukraine that that is the best that can be done, but that Ukraine may join NATO and the European Union as soon as it is ready, that everyone in the former borders of Ukraine will be free to move to Ukraine in its reduced borders, and that the massive military assistance it has been receiving will be replaced by comparable amounts of economic reconstruction assistance. This is the best peace that can be made, and Trump will make it. Then the West can gradually, and at no expense to any country, impress upon Russia that it is better off in alliance with the West than with China. Getting Russia out of the Chinese embrace is the other strategic objective of the West in the Ukraine war, apart from preventing Russia’s reabsorption of Ukraine.

As for tariffs, there could be some increases but they are unlikely to be drastic, and the Canadian custom is to cushion this by fine-tuning the relationship between the U.S. and Canadian dollars. The same reasoning applies to a renegotiation of the Canada-U.S.-Mexico trade agreement. Trump has extensive grievances against the conduct of Mexico but minimal complaints about Canada, and to the extent that the United States requires more equitable conduct for Mexico, Canada will also benefit from that.

There is no reason to believe that Trump will restrict immigration from Canada; in fact he will probably welcome it as he is in favour of legal immigration.

There will certainly be a reduction in financial support for building electric vehicles, but this too should be a welcome development in Canada. Both incumbents in Canada and the United States have plunged into the climate hysteria and severely retarded the economic progress and competitiveness of the two countries. To the extent that Trump provides a counter-pressure, all Canadians should rejoice and even throw their hats (and toques and earmuffs) in the air.

The great plus factor in the new Trump presidency will be the sharp acceleration of U.S. economic growth and per capita disposable income. As half of Canada’s GDP is connected to the United States, this will be an overwhelmingly positive development for us: The Americans will have more and not less money to spend with us. It is very unlikely the flow of goods between Canada and the United States will decline.

Lastly, the final point about the United States being a negative force in NATO belies the facts. Trump will reinvigorate the alliance and assist it in becoming more selective in where it intervenes by a joint agreed definition of the NATO collective interest, while ensuring that we have the military force to protect that interest.

Canadians have no reason for anything except optimism about the consequences of the second Trump administration, not only for Canada but also for the world.

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times or ZeroHedge.

Dangerous wildfires were ripping through parts of the Northeast US. At least five states in the arid region are now under fire warnings. 

On Tuesday morning, parts of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts had Fire Weather Warnings. 

Per Fox Weather… 

Per AccuWeather… 

Moderate drought conditions plague much of the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast, with some pockets experiencing extreme drought this fall. 

“Northeast fire threat increasing again today as cold front sucks the moisture straight out of the atmosphere. Winds pick up and relative humidity levels drop as 25 million+ people are under red flag alerts,” CNN’s Meteorologist Derek Van Dam wrote on X. 

Northeast fire threat increasing again today as cold front sucks the moisture straight out of the atmosphere. Winds pick up and relative humidity levels drop as 25 million+ people are under red flag alerts. @CNN pic.twitter.com/gHhl2vuv6C

— Derek Van Dam (@VanDamCNN) November 12, 2024

Wildfires rage from northern Alabama to eastern Kentucky, Pennsylvania to New Jersey, and Massachusetts.

The largest wildfire is the Jennings Creek fire, burning along the New York-New Jersey border. Winds have sent smoke into NYC. 

The Jennings Creek fire has grown to 3,000 acres since Saturday, straddling the New York and New Jersey border.

Increased fire weather conditions permeate the Northeast US due to ongoing drought. pic.twitter.com/2Lyi0hYFgI

— CIRA (@CIRA_CSU) November 11, 2024

Day 2 covering the Jennings Creek Wildfire impacting New Jersey and New York. Officials say about 3,000 acres have burned and the fire is 10% contained.

Video credit: NJDEP pic.twitter.com/OapY47QhKj

— Michelle Ross (@MRossNews) November 11, 2024

What would you like to know? Greenwood Lake, NY Jennings Creek fire. pic.twitter.com/S3pLsZwchw

— Udderly “UHT” Fresh 🐄 ♪🎹📺🎗😷😎 (@uht_fresh) November 11, 2024

Fox Weather noted, “The threat of wildfires will continue into Wednesday as northeast winds bring in a very dry airmass.” 

Authored by Debra Heine via American Greatness,

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) supervisor accused of directing workers to skip hurricane-ravaged homes in Florida with Trump signs, claimed in an interview Monday that the policy was widespread and that she was being scapegoated.

Marn’i Washington was fired on Saturday after whistleblowers told the Daily Wire that at least 20 homes with Trump signs or flags were passed over at the end of October into November due to the guidance, depriving them of the opportunity to qualify for FEMA assistance. She had worked for the agency since 2019.

According to internal FEMA messages obtained by the Daily Wire, Washington directed workers to “avoid homes advertising Trump” as they canvassed Lake Placid, Florida looking for residents who could qualify for federal aid.

This happened in Highlands County, “a deep-red area located in south central Florida that backed Trump by 70 percent on Tuesday,” the Daily Wire reported. The area was  ravaged by tornadoes, torrential wind, rain, and flooding after Milton made landfall at Siesta Key on October 9 as a category 3 hurricane.

Washington’s directive was one among multiple “best practices” the agency recommended, along with “practice de-escalation and preventative measures,” “bring a towel with you tomorrow in the field” and take “frequent breaks and drink water.”

During an interview with YouTube podcaster Roland Martin Monday, Washington,39, explained that she had just been following FEMA’s policy of avoiding “politically hostile” homes. She said her supervisor had approved the message, explaining: “FEMA preaches avoidance first, and then de-escalation. This is not isolated. This is a colossal event of avoidance.”

“Not just in the state of Florida. You will find avoidance in the Carolinas,” said Washington, adding that the incident reports would substantiate that FEMA workers were being met with “hostility” at homes with Trump Campaign signs.

“If you look at the record, there is what we call a community trend, and it just so happened that the political hostility that was encountered by my team—and I was on two different teams during this deployment—they just so happened to have the Trump Campaign signage,” Washington asserted.

“Senior leadership will lie to you and tell you that they do not know, but if you ask the crew leads and specialists what they’re experiencing in the field, they will tell you,” she continued. “Demand for FEMA to give you those incident reports, they will substantiate what is happening to us in the field.”

“FEMA’s very well aware of the incidents that take place, not just with my crew, but with all the crews in the states,” Washington added.

The embattled former FEMA worker claimed that she knew of houses in the past had also been marked “politically hostile” when they had Harris-Walz signs or no political signs at all.

“We omitted these homes for safety precautions, not because of political play,” she insisted.

“If you greet any of our team members with hostility or aggression, we will deescalate and disengage and move on,” she said. “We cannot take the risk and deal with that type of behavior.”

Washington told Martin that she was fired from her job with a private real estate firm in the wake of the controversy, and had to move from her home due to threats.

A former FEMA official told the New York Post, however, that the policy of “openly” avoiding Trump-supporting houses had “been practiced by agency workers for years,” and suggested that the practice had noting to do with perceived “hostility.”

The ex-FEMA source said current employees told him that disaster assistance teams skip openly Trump-supporting houses in the name of DEI.

The unofficial policy is to “prioritize the most under resourced, marginalized communities first,” the source said.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has launched an investigation into the practice, calling it  “blatant weaponization of government by partisan activists in the federal bureaucracy is yet another reason why the Biden-Harris administration is in its final days” in a statement Friday.

“At my direction, the Division of Emergency Management is launching an investigation into the federal government’s targeted discrimination of Floridians who support Donald Trump,” DeSantis said. “New leadership is on the way in DC, and I’m optimistic that these partisan bureaucrats will be fired.”

The House Oversight Committee meanwhile launched an investigation into FEMA on Friday and sent a letter to Criswell requesting she testify at a hearing to answer questions about the agency’s response to hurricanes Helene and Milton.

Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) said on X Tuesday that the Senate Homeland Security Committee also needs to investigate the matter.

“The Homeland Security Committee needs to launch an immediate investigation and call this individual to testify. Under oath. In public,” Hawley said.

With Republicans retaking the Senate, Homeland Security Committee Ranking Member Rand Paul (R-Ky.) is line to take the HSGAC gavel early next year.

The last time we looked at the senior loan officer survey (SLOOS) several months ago, we found “tighter standards and weaker demand for commercial and industrial (C&I) loans to firms of all sizes over the third quarter” in addition to tighter standards and less demand for most other loan categories.

So fast forward to today when the latest closely watched SLOOS report for Q3 was published, and which found that there has been little change because regarding loans to businesses during the third quarter, survey respondents reported, “basically unchanged lending standards for commercial and industrial (C&I) loans to large and middle-market firms and tighter standards for loans to small firms. Meanwhile, banks reported weaker demand for C&I loans to firms of all sizes. Furthermore, banks reported tighter standards and weaker demand for all commercial real estate (CRE) loan categories.”

For loans to households, banks “unchanged lending standards and weaker demand across most categories of residential real estate (RRE) loans.”

In addition, banks reported basically unchanged lending standards and demand for home equity lines of credit (HELOCs). Moreover, standards reportedly tightened for credit card loans and remained basically unchanged for auto and other consumer loans, while demand weakened for auto and other consumer loans and remained basically unchanged for credit card loans.

In short, less demand, tighter supply.

Separately, the October SLOOS looked at that demand for credit card loans across borrowers with different credit scores. Banks reported that they were more likely to approve credit card loans to prime or super-prime borrowers and less likely to approve credit cards for near-prime and subprime borrowers, compared with the beginning of the year.

The survey also found that banks reported that the level of demand for credit card loans was stronger in the third quarter of 2024 than before the pandemic (end of 2019) across most credit score categories and all dimensions of credit card demand (that is, demand for new cards, requests for increased credit limits, and utilization of existing credit).

Banks forecast further strengthening in demand over the next six months, with an expected increase in borrower spending, as the most cited reason for their outlook. Which makes sense now that virtually all consumer savings have been wiped out.

And yes, for those wondering, loan tightness is almost entirely a function of financial conditions: as the next chart shows, financial conditions have become far less tight in the past two quarter, tracking the sharp easing in financial conditions.

Putting it all together, banks anticipate further tightening lending standards across most categories, even as consumer fight with each other for what little loan availability exists while scrambling to load up their credit cards with as much debt as possible before the next bust.

Source: Fed

President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday nominated veteran, author, and Fox News host Pete Hegseth as the Secretary of Defense for his second administration.

Hegseth, who has spent the past eight years as a host on Fox News’ “FOX & Friends Weekend,” has been a major advocate for veterans and the military.

“I am honored to announce that I have nominated Pete Hegseth to serve in my Cabinet as The Secretary of Defense,” President-Elect Trump wrote in a statement on X. (emphasis ours)

“Pete has spent his entire life as a Warrior for the Troops, and for the Country.

Pete is tough, smart and a true believer in America First. With Pete at the helm, America’s enemies are on notice – Our Military will be Great Again, and America will Never Back Down.

Pete is a graduate of Princeton University, and has a Graduate Degree from Harvard University.

He is an Army Combat Veteran who did tours in Guantanamo Bay, Iraq, and Afghanistan.

For his actions on the battlefield, he was decorated with two Bronze Stars, as well as a Combat Infantryman’s Badge.

Pete has been a host at FOX News for eight years, where he used that platform to fight for our Military and Veterans.”

Trump also commented in his statement on Hegseth’s best-selling book, which advocated for veterans:

Pete’s recent book, “The War on Warriors,” spent nine weeks on the New York Times best-sellers list, including two weeks at NUMBER ONE.

The book reveals the leftwing betrayal of our Warriors, and how we must return our Military to meritocracy, lethality, accountability, and excellence.

Pete has also led two Veterans Advocacy organizations, leading the fight for our Warriors, and our great Veterans.

Nobody fights harder for the Troops, and Pete will be a courageous and patriotic champion of our “Peace through Strength” policy.”

The Hill reports that Fox News confirmed Hegseth’s deal with the network ended on Tuesday and he will not host its popular morning program “Fox and Friends Weekend,” a program he had presided over since 2017.

“Pete Hegseth has been an exceptional host on FOX & Friends and FOX Nation and a best-selling author for FOX News Books for nearly a decade,” a spokesperson for the cable channel said.

“His insights and analysis especially about the military resonated deeply with our viewers and made the program the major success that it is today. We are extremely proud of his work at FOX News and wish him the best of luck in Washington.”

Trump’s pick of Hegseth was somewhat unexpected, as his name had not been circulated among those likely to be considered for the job, but his resumé speaks for itself.

Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy have been selected by President-elect Donald Trump to head the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), where they will “slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies,” according to an official release from the Trump-Vance transition team, which called this “potentially, the “Manhattan Project” of our time.”

According to the statement, “Their work will conclude no later than July 4, 2026” – the nation’s 250th anniversary.

Musk previously predicted he could cut at least $2 trillion from the US federal budget, while Ramaswamy suggested firing federal workers based on their social security numbers.

“Here’s how: if your [Social Security number] ends in an odd number, you’re fired,” he wrote on X.

On Day 1, *instantly* fire 50% of federal bureaucrats.

Here’s how: if your SSN ends in an odd number, you’re fired.

That downsizes government by half. Absolutely *nothing* will break as a result.

It doesn’t violate civil service rules because mass layoffs are exempt.

SHUT IT…

— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) November 12, 2023

In September, Ramaswamy told podcaster Lex Fridman: “Get in there on day one, say that anybody in the federal bureaucracy who is not elected, elected representatives obviously were elected by the people, but the people who are not elected, if your social security number ends in an odd number, you’re out, if it ends in an even number, you’re in. There’s a 50% cut right there. Of those who remain, if your social security number starts in an even number, you’re in and if it starts with an odd number, you’re out. Boom. That’s a 75% reduction done. Literally, stochastically, okay, one of the virtues of that, it’s a thought experiment, not a policy prescription, but one of the virtues of that thought experiment is that you don’t have a bunch of lawsuits you’re dealing with about gender discrimination or racial discrimination or political viewpoint discrimination.”

More:

Vivek sat down with Lex Fridman, and he compared the federal government to former Japanese corporate culture. If you can’t fire an employee, the boss is actually the servant to the employee. Smart framing. The people through POTUS serve the bureaucrats when they should serve us. pic.twitter.com/vVdKeaRByN

— FischerKing (@FischerKing64) September 25, 2024

He also said:

So the way I would do it, 75% headcount reduction across the board in the federal bureaucracy, send them home packing, shut down agencies that shouldn’t exist, rescind every unconstitutional regulation that Congress never passed. In a true self-governing democracy, it should be our elected representatives that make the laws and the rules not unelected bureaucrats. And that is the single greatest form of economic stimulus we could have in this country, but it is also the single most effective way to restore self-governance in our country as well. And it is the blueprint for, I think, how we save this country.

…

…most people who have run a company, especially larger companies know this, it’s 25% of the people who do 80 to 90% of the useful work, these government agencies are no different.

And how many government workers do we have?

Watch the entire interview here:

“This will send shockwaves through the system, and anyone involved in Government waste, which is a lot of people,” Musk said on Tuesday in a statement provided by the Trump transition team.

BREAKING: Donald Trump announces that Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy will lead the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) together.

“Together, these two wonderful Americans will pave the way for my Administration…”

“To dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess… pic.twitter.com/xNpQdd1qAv

— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) November 13, 2024

Earlier in the day, Trump said the new government efficiency effort would develop a plan to eliminate “fraud and improper payments,” conducting a “complete financial and performance audit” of the federal government. Trump also said that the panel would partner with the White House’s Office of Management and Budget.

In the last fiscal year, the federal government spent more than $6.75 trillion – of which more than $5.3 trillion was spent on Social Security, health care, defense and veterans’ benefits.

Related:

SHUT IT DOWN.

— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) November 13, 2024

Read the full press release below:

Here we go?

Department of Government Efficiency

The merch will be 🔥🔥🔥

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 13, 2024

We will not go gently, @elonmusk. 🇺🇸 https://t.co/sbVka2vTiW

— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) November 13, 2024

Earlier in the day Tuesday Biden’s special envoy to the Middle East Amos Hochstein told reporters that he is working diligently on achieving a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah. He expressed that this could be achieved soon and that the White House believes that “there is a shot” to secure a peace deal.

However, within hours after, President Biden contradicted him – in so many words – by shooting back angrily at a journalist who asked whether a deal related to Gaza or Lebanon is realistically achievable by the end of his term. The moment, which apparently Biden thought was not being filmed ‘live’ while sitting in the Oval Office is illustrative of just how “serious” Biden is about Middle East peace (…not very serious, considering his answer below).

Israeli White House correspondent for Israel’s Channel 13 news Neria Kraus asked simply, “Do you think you can get a hostage deal by the end of your term?” His “joking” response was to essentially threaten her with bodily harm. This tells us everything we need to know about what Biden hopes to achieve during the rest of his lame-duck session. America’s hostile and senile Commander-in-Chief is on full display here in this somewhat disturbing clip captured Tuesday…

Reporter: “Do you think you can get a hostage deal by the end of your term?”

Biden: “Do you think that you can get hit in the head by the camera behind you?”pic.twitter.com/rxhrQ8LQTK

— TheBlaze (@theblaze) November 12, 2024

The answer to the below is: Umm No…