MEANWHILE, OVER AT VODKAPUNDIT: Trump Delivers Hope to Western North Carolina. “Five days of Donald Trump gets more done than four months of the cabal that illegally acted in Joe Biden’s name — if the Army Corps of Engineers’ sudden appearance in devastated western North Carolina is anything to go by.”

CHANGE:

DECOUPLING: White House in talks to have Oracle and U.S. investors take over TikTok.

Under the deal now being negotiated by the White House, TikTok’s China-based owner ByteDance would retain a minority stake in the company, but the app’s algorithm, data collection and software updates will be overseen by Oracle, which already provides the foundation of TikTok’s web infrastructure.

That would effectively mean American investors would own a majority stake in TikTok, but the terms of the deal could change and are still being hammered out.

“The goal is for Oracle to effectively monitor and provide oversight with what is going on with TikTok,” said the person directly involved in the talks, who was not authorized to speak publicly about the deliberations. “ByteDance wouldn’t completely go away, but it would minimize Chinese ownership.”

Developing…

‘MURICA:

Sure, it’s a private jet, and, sure, it’s staged. But the vibe is real — and that kind of energy does tend to go viral.

Let’s see if Gulf of America catches on.

A BILLION HERE AND A BILLION THERE…: U.S. made $161.8 billion in improper payments in 2024, enough to buy almost 2,000 military choppers.

Improper payments have been a significant issue for the federal government, with executive branches reporting an estimated $2.8 trillion worth since 2003, according to a report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

The report found a total of $161.8 billion in improper payments in 2024 alone. That figure is likely an undercount because not all federal agencies follow reporting guidelines.

Under the Payment Integrity Information Act, agencies are required to manage payments by identifying risks, taking corrective measures, and reporting on their efforts. However, the GAO found that some agencies are not fully following the required guidelines for reporting data annually.

Clearly.

The cost of last year’s improper payments alone would have gone a long way over a few years toward correcting our naval and air force deficiencies.

YES: Prosecute The Architects Of Trump Lawfare For Election Interference.

In his second inaugural address, President Donald Trump declared that the “weaponization of our Justice Department and our government will end” and that he would “re-balance” the scales of justice. He now faces an important decision: whether to investigate the founders of the lawfare campaigns against him — beginning with New York Attorney General Letitia James and New York City District Attorney Alvin Bragg. He would have at his disposal the same legal theory that the Biden Justice Department constructed just for him: interfering with the presidential election deprived Americans of their constitutional rights to run for office and vote.

Special Counsel Jack Smith announced this unprecedented theory by charging Trump with depriving all Americans of their voting rights by challenging the outcome of the 2020 election.

The demise of independent counsels, which had a very low threshold to trigger appointment, illustrates how Democrats respond when feeling the sting of onerous investigations. Democrats loved the 1978 Independent Counsel Act, which was used five times against the Reagan administration and twice against George H.W. Bush. It was “good government” until it wasn’t. When the Clinton administration got hit with seven independent counsels, enough was enough. Democrats cheered its expiration in 1999, having discovered it was too costly.

Turning lawfare on its creators is not about revenge. It will serve as a deterrent to prevent future abuse and will restore public confidence that justice is even-handed. Individuals who have carried out lawfare have not only destroyed faith in our legal system but also may have violated the law. A federal statute, 18 U.S.C. 241, prohibits conspiring to “injure, oppress, threaten, or intimidate” a person exercising constitutional rights or privileges. Clearly President Donald J. Trump had constitutional rights and privileges to run for office and govern, not to be imprisoned for contrived crimes, and not to be deprived of property based on abuse of federal and state justice systems. According to the Biden administration’s own theory, preventing a candidate from running and assuming office also deprives supporters of their rights to vote.

Read the whole thing and, remember, this is the only way they’ll learn.

SOMETIMES THE PILGRIMS AND PIONEERS WERE BRUTAL REPLACERS OF A NATIVE POPULATION; OTHER TIMES THEY’RE ROLE MODELS:

Related: “Margaret Brennan seemed keyed up from the start. Her desire to get Vance was ludicrously obvious. Meanwhile, Vance was perfectly even-tempered and articulate, prepared for everything she had hoped to flummox him with. Brennan’s style of constant interruption failed to throw him off. It backfired, making him look steady and rational and her look afraid of what he might have to say.”

FAIL, BRITANNIA: Asylum seekers loitering outside school is ‘cultural’ issue, say police.

Migrants have been staying in a hotel outside the village for around three years and are among thousands living in temporary accommodation across the country.

However, in recent months there has been increasing concern over young men loitering near Deanshanger Primary School, including claims of filming.

Following concerns, Sgt Lorna Clarke from the neighbourhood policing team issued an update to residents in which she confirmed the force had received “several calls” from people “concerned about males hanging around the primary school at drop-off and pick-up”.

She said that there had been several posts on social media and WhatsApp and that she had personally spoken to those concerned and the school.

Sgt Clarke said that after speaking to people directly and having her officers “attend the hotel”, they had not identified a risk to anyone and “there is no evidence to support that any offences had taken place”.

She added: “While I fully appreciate the community’s concerns, I ask that people don’t take this matter into their own hands, but continue to speak to the police about any incidents they witness or any concerns they have. We are well linked in with the hotel and can deliver some work there around appropriate behaviours and different cultural expectations.”

In a letter to parents last month, the school said it had been made aware of “some men hanging around outside the school during drop-off and pick-up times” and it was “taking this matter seriously”.

Asking migrants nicely to follow “cultural expectations” about children that they clearly have no intention of following does not amount to “taking this matter seriously.”

WELL, FOR ONE THING BIDEN’S FEMA OPENLY DISCRIMINATED AGAINST REPUBLICANS:

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Trump 47, Week One — The Democrats Don’t Know What Hit Them. “The Democrats and their flying monkeys in the mainstream media have so wrapped themselves in delusion that they have not at all grasped that things have changed and are still changing rapidly in this country. They’re clinging to their old ‘Everybody Hates Trump’ playbook, which only worked for them when they coupled it with a global pandemic and questionable ballot-counting practices in swing states.”

METAPHOR ALERT:

This one’s so on point that if anyone used it in a book or a movie, critics would complain that it was just too obvious.

CDR SALAMANDER: Condition of the Navy’s Amphibious Fleet And Its Impacts on Marines: the View from GAO. “Amphibious warfare ships are critical for Marine Corps missions, but the Navy has struggled to ensure they are available for operations and training. In some cases, ships in the amphibious fleet have not been available for years at a time. The Navy and Marine Corps are working to agree on a ship availability goal but have yet to complete a metrics-based analysis to support such a goal. Until the Navy completes this analysis, it risks jeopardizing its ability to align amphibious ship schedules with the Marine Corps units that deploy on them.”

WELL, IF “EDUCATED” PEOPLE THINK IT’S OKAY, CAN IT REALLY BE ILLEGAL?

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