Nick Sortor

@nicksortor

🚨 #BREAKING: Pam Bondi has ORDERED Kash Patel to investigate why Bondi and Kash’s orders to hand over all Epstein documents are being REFUSED by lower level staffers

GO NUCLEAR on whoever is covering for the p*dos, @FBIDirectorKash

Make an example out of them!

https://x.com/nicksortor/status/1895197783877210393

Sarah Huckabee Sanders

@SarahHuckabee

I was the first Governor in the country to kick Communist China off our farmland and out of our state.

Arkansas is going to continue to lead and put America First!

https://x.com/SarahHuckabee/status/1894857252227686764

Pentagon orders transgender troops to be removed from the military within 60 days

Transgender service members will be removed from the military within 60 days unless they are granted a waiver demonstrating their support of “warfighting capabilities,” according to a policy memo issued late Wednesday by the Pentagon.

The memo specifies how the Defense Department will carry out one of President Trump’s executive orders to prevent transgender troops from serving openly.

Trump’s Jan. 27 order, the subject of two federal lawsuits, claims that allowing transgender people to serve in the armed forces threatens its readiness and undermines unit cohesion. A 2016 RAND Corp. study commissioned by the Pentagon found that allowing trans individuals to serve had no negative impact on unit cohesion, operational effectiveness or readiness.

“Service by these individuals is not in the best interests of the Military Services and is not clearly consistent with the interests of national security,” Wednesday’s policy memo states.

The memo suggests a history of gender dysphoria — severe distress that stems from a mismatch between a person’s gender identity and sex at birth — is incompatible with military service.

It builds on a directive from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth earlier this month to pause integrating new transgender recruits and suspend gender-affirming care for current service members. It states that the department recognizes only two sexes, male and female, in compliance with another Trump executive order and requires all service members to “only serve in accordance with their sex.”

Service members must be addressed using pronouns consistent with their birth sex, according to Wednesday’s memo.

Military personnel diagnosed with gender dysphoria may be retained “on a case-by-case basis,” provided there is a compelling government interest in doing so, the Pentagon said. But service members will have to prove they never took steps to transition genders and demonstrate 36 months of stability living in line with their birth sex “without clinically significant distress.”

Opponents of Trump’s executive order have argued that, even with exceptions, preventing transgender troops from living as transgender is a ban on trans military service full stop.

“Any policy that prevents transgender people from serving as transgender people — whether through an outright ban or through requirements to serve in one’s birth sex — is a ban, plain and simple,” Rep. Gil Cisneros (D-Calif.), a member of the House Armed Services Committee, wrote Wednesday in an op-ed for The Hill.

LGBTQ rights advocates slammed Wednesday’s policy memo as extreme and likely discriminatory. A federal judge this month said Trump’s order amounted to “unadulterated animus” backed up by little evidence.

“The scope and severity of the ban are unprecedented. This is a complete purge of all transgender individuals from military service,” said Shannon Minter, an attorney at the National Center for Lesbian Rights, which is representing the plaintiffs in one of the lawsuits challenging Trump’s order.

“The administration has doubled down on betraying servicemembers who have faithfully followed the rules, met the same standards as others, and put their lives on the line to serve our country,” Minter said.

In a statement, SPARTA Pride, an advocacy group for transgender service members, said active transgender troops “are fully qualified for the positions in which they serve.”

“No policy will ever erase transgender Americans’ contribution to history, warfighting, or military excellence,” the organization — whose president, Emily Shilling, is a plaintiff in one of the lawsuits challenging Trump’s order — said Thursday. “Transgender service members have a unique fighting spirit and will continue to defend the constitution and American Values no matter what lies ahead.”

https://thehill.com/policy/defense/5167356-transgender-military-ban-pentagon/amp/

USAID to eliminate 90 percent of foreign contracts, and $60 billion in global aid

The Trump administration said it is eliminating more than 90% of the U.S. Agency for International Development’s foreign aid contracts and $60 billion in overall U.S. assistance around the world, putting numbers on its plans to eliminate the majority of U.S. development and humanitarian help abroad.

The cuts detailed by the administration would leave few surviving USAID projects for advocates to try to save in what are ongoing court battles with the administration.

The Trump administration outlined its plans in both an internal memo obtained by The Associated Press and filings in one of those federal lawsuits Wednesday.

The Supreme Court intervened in that case late Wednesday and temporarily blocked a court order requiring the administration to release billions of dollars in foreign aid by midnight.

Wednesday's disclosures also give an idea of the scale of the administration's retreat from U.S. aid and development assistance overseas, and from decades of U.S. policy that foreign aid helps U.S. interests by stabilizing other countries and economies and building alliances.

The memo said officials were “clearing significant waste stemming from decades of institutional drift.” More changes are planned in how USAID and the State Department deliver foreign assistance, it said, “to use taxpayer dollars wisely to advance American interests.”

President Donald Trump and ally Elon Musk have hit foreign aid harder and faster than almost any other target in their push to cut the size of the federal government. Both men say USAID projects advance a liberal agenda and are a waste of money.

Trump on Jan. 20 ordered what he said would be a 90-day program-by-program review of which foreign assistance programs deserved to continue, and cut off all foreign assistance funds almost overnight.

The funding freeze has stopped thousands of U.S.-funded programs abroad, and the administration and Musk's Department of Government Efficiency teams have pulled the majority of USAID staff off the job through forced leave and firings.

Widely successful USAID programs credited with containing outbreaks of Ebola and other threats and saving more than 20 million lives in Africa through HIV and AIDS treatment are among those still cut off from agency funds, USAID officials and officials with partner organizations say. Meanwhile, formal notifications of program cancellations are rolling out.

In the federal court filings Wednesday, nonprofits owed money on contracts with USAID describe both Trump political appointees and members of Musk's teams terminating USAID's contracts around the world at breakneck speed, without time for any meaningful review, they say.

"'There are MANY more terminations coming, so please gear up!''' a USAID official wrote staff Monday, in an email quoted by lawyers for the nonprofits in the filings.

The nonprofits, among thousands of contractors, owed billions of dollars in payment since the freeze began, called the en masse contract terminations a maneuver to get around complying with the order to lift the funding freeze temporarily.

So did a Democratic lawmaker.

The administration was attempting to "blow through Congress and the courts by announcing the completion of their sham ‘review’ of foreign aid and the immediate termination of thousands of aid programs all over the world,” said Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

A coalition representing major U.S. and global businesses and nongovernmental organizations and former officials expressed shock at the move. “The American people deserve a transparent accounting of what will be lost — on counterterror, global health, food security, and competition,” the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition said.

The State Department said Secretary of State Marco Rubio had reviewed the terminations.

In all, the Trump administration said it will eliminate 5,800 of 6,200 multiyear USAID contract awards, for a cut of $54 billion. Another 4,100 of 9,100 State Department grants were being eliminated, for a cut of $4.4 billion.

The State Department memo, which was first reported by the Washington Free Beacon, described the administration as spurred by a federal court order that gave officials until the end of the day Wednesday to lift the Trump administration’s monthlong block on foreign aid funding.

“In response, State and USAID moved rapidly,” targeting USAID and State Department foreign aid programs in vast numbers for contract terminations, the memo said.

Trump administration officials — after repeated warnings from the federal judge in the case — also said Wednesday they were finally beginning to send out their first or any payments after more than a month with no known spending. Officials were processing a few million dollars of back payments, officials said, owed to U.S. and international organizations and companies.

But U.S. District Judge Amir H. Ali's order to unfreeze billions of dollars by midnight Wednesday will remain on hold until the Supreme Court has a chance to weigh in more fully, according to the brief order signed by Chief Justice John Roberts.

Ali had ordered the federal government to comply with his decision temporarily blocking a freeze on foreign aid, ruling in a lawsuit filed by nonprofit groups and businesses. An appellate panel refused the administration’s request to intervene before the high court weighed in.

The plaintiffs have until noon Friday to respond, Roberts said.

The administration has filed an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court in one other case so far, arguing that a lower court was wrong to reinstate the head of a federal watchdog agency after Trump fired him.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-administration-cutting-90-usaid-232751655.html

Welcome to Colorado, courtesy of the Democrats.

https://x.com/CitizenFreePres/status/1895257603275653375

San Diego Border Control

https://x.com/atensnut/status/1895107856262930707

EU: I was just interrogated for a criminal investigation into a meme that was posted 4 years ago

https://x.com/DVanLangenhove/status/1894798740780986512

Elon Musk

@elonmusk

To be clear here, the Verizon communication system to air traffic control is breaking down very rapidly. The FAA assessment is single digit months to catastrophic failure, putting air traveler safety at serious risk.

The Starlink terminals are being sent at NO COST to the taxpayer on an emergency basis to restore air traffic control connectivity.

The situation is extremely dire.

https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1895129237478162621

Microsoft Urges Trump to Overhaul Curbs on AI Chip Exports

Request highlights the president’s challenging task of trying to boost U.S. businesses and limit China’s advances in artificial intelligence.

Microsoft is pushing the Trump administration to loosen and simplify a new system that would restrict the sales of cutting-edge U.S. artificial-intelligence chips to much of the world.

In a blog post that is scheduled to be released Thursday, Microsoft will call for Trump’s team to ease the limits on chips that can be used in data centers for training AI models so they no longer apply to a group of U.S. allies including India, Switzerland and Israel, company officials said. Those countries are in the second tier of a three-tier system that underpins the export controls.

Microsoft says the unintended consequence of that proposed system would be that allies facing limited U.S. chip supply would turn to China to get the tech infrastructure they need.

China is using the proposed rule to argue to other countries that it would be a better long-term partner for AI infrastructure than the U.S., Microsoft President Brad Smith said in an interview.

“Their message is these countries can’t rely on the U.S., but China is willing to provide what they need,” he said. “That is not good for American business or American foreign policy.”

DeepSeek, the Chinese company that took many U.S. lawmakers and companies by surprise when it recently released an advanced AI model, is one of seven Chinese startups Microsoft views as having strong potential, Smith said.

Microsoft’s giant global business depends on an open flow of products and services. It has data centers and customers around the world.

The previous administration proposed the chip-control rules in the final days of Joe Biden’s presidency to limit China’s AI capabilities. Trump’s team is now reviewing them and considering feedback from industry groups before deciding how to move forward.

The request from Microsoft highlights the challenge Trump faces trying to enact pro-business policies while also looking tough on China. In the previous administration, national-security officials became frustrated that those sympathetic to businesses selling abroad often delayed or watered down their actions.

Trump administration officials are weighing steps to strengthen the restrictions while simplifying the export-control rules, according to people familiar with the matter.

Smith said Microsoft is in favor of some aspects of the rules, such as some of the export-licensing requirements and the system’s third tier of countries that would be fully locked out of AI chips—including China, Iran and North Korea.

Tech companies are increasing their lobbying efforts in the new administration after many executives donated to Trump’s inauguration and visited him at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida. Microsoft has been quieter than many of its peers, though Chief Executive Satya Nadella did visit Trump at Mar-a-Lago.

Another company that has been vocal about export controls is Nvidia. The AI chip giant has called the proposed rules “sweeping overreach.”

https://archive.is/imD0o#selection-5917.0-5933.139

Sen. Ted Cruz publishes database showing National Science Foundation spent $2 billion to promote DEI.

-The grants went towards ‘questionable projects that promoted Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) or advanced neo-Marxist class warfare propaganda.’

-‘DEI initiatives have poisoned research efforts, eroded confidence in the scientific community, and fueled division among Americans,’ Sen. Cruz said.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, recently released a database uncovering $2 billion spent by the National Science Foundation (NSF) on “questionable projects.”

The database lists more than 3,400 grants “totaling more than $2.05 billion in federal funding awarded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) during the Biden-Harris administration.” This funding that supported “questionable projects that promoted Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) or advanced neo-Marxist class warfare propaganda.”

Cruz praised President Donald Trump’s recent actions and spoke out against the harmful effects of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs.

“Over the past few weeks, the Trump administration has been taking a sledgehammer to the radical left’s woke nonsense. DEI initiatives have poisoned research efforts, eroded confidence in the scientific community, and fueled division among Americans. I am proud to release our investigation’s database, which exposes how the Biden administration weaponized federal agencies to push a far-left ideology,” he said.

The database is available through the Senate Commerce Committee’s press release announcing its publication.

The NSF found itself in controversy several times in 2024 when it was discovered, on multiple occasions, that it poured millions of dollars into initiatives that seemed to deal more with controversial ideologies than they did with actual scientific research.

The NSF, for example, gave $2 million to the Pratt Institute to “fund community programming that increases climate literacy and promotes climate justice.”

In August, the Foundation awarded $3.2 million to a Yale University professor to create “My Mom, The Scientist,” a documentary covering “the seldom told story of the challenges and untapped potential around African Americans’ participation in the sciences.”

Also in August, the NSF gave $4.5 million to Louisiana State University to establish a “Center for Equity in Faculty Advancement.”

The NSF also handed out $50,000 to Boise State University scholars who want to study “white supremacist extremism.”

Campus Reform has reached out to Sen. Ted Cruz for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.

https://www.campusreform.org/article/sen-ted-cruz-publishes-database-showing-nsf-spent-2-billion-promote-dei-neo-marxist-class-warfare-propaganda/27517

Biological male wins Maine state championship for Girls pole vault

A Maine legislature voted to silence a Republican state lawmaker after she exposed a transgender high school athlete who won first place in a girls' competition.

Laurel Libby, 43, of Auburn, posted on Facebook last week about a trans student winning a state championship pole vaulting competition.

It came just two years after she made fifth place in the boys' event, according to the state representative.

Libby shared unblurred images of the student, named them and circled them - sparking outrage among some across the state.

'Another day, another instance of an unremarkable biological male athlete (who couldn't win against other males) dominating girls' sports,' she wrote.

The first image showed the athlete when they identified as a male and the second showed them now, identifying as a female.

According to the Republican, the student previously went by the name John, but now goes by the name Katie.

Libby was called to a censure meeting Tuesday, where Maine House's Democratic majority passed a resolution finding her in 'clear violation' of the code of ethics.

'Sharing images of kids online without their consent is a clear violation of the bond of trust and respect between citizens and their Legislators.

'There is a time and place for policy debates. That time and place will never be a social media post attacking a Maine student. Maine kids, and all Maine people, deserve better,' Fecteau said.

Because of the decision, Libby will no longer be allowed to speak on the house floor or vote until she issues an apology - something she has refused to do.

'I will not be silenced and I will not allow the voices of Maine girls to be silenced,' Libby said on X following the vote.

During the censure hearing, Libby took time to try and defend her controversial post, but Fecteau kept having to redirect her back to the issue at hand as several house representatives interjected.

'The chair will remind the member again, the resolution that's before us is related to whether or not the posting of the photo of a minor is appropriate conduct for a member of his body,' Fecteau said, adding that Libby was starting to 'skate on thin ice.'

'Since I don't know how many more sentences I'll be allowed to speak… Boys participating in girls sports is not fair,' Libby said.

She went on to add that the competition in question was a 'public event' and that the athlete 'determined of his own free will to participate.'

Libby also defended where she got the images from, stating that they were 'posted publicly on multiple websites.'

'The reason that folks are upset about this post is that it exposed the truth, and now people are mad that, indeed, after being told that this is not happening and it doesn't matter, that there are boys participating in girls' sports. Boys taking the place of girls,' she continued.

Fecteau, again, attempted to get Libby back on track to defend herself about posting a child on social media.

By the end of the meeting, the speaker determined that Libby will be censured until she issues an apology.

Libby then took to Facebook and shared her response to the decision, stating the 'majority' or the Democrats, 'have silenced me for speaking out for Maine girls.'

In the post, captioned 'Maine Girls are Being Cancelled,' Libby noted that she 'was not even given the respect' to defend herself while in the house chamber.

She then proceeded to reach the speech she had prepared, stating: 'Last Monday, at the Maine state track championship, a young man took first place in the girls' pole vault.

'Last year, he took fifth place in a regional meet, competing as a young man. And then 10th place at the state championship, again, competing as a young man. He last competed as a young man in June of last year.

'And yet, this year, he won the girls' state championship in Maine,' she said, adding that the athlete 'got fame' while the 'rightful winner of the girls' pole vault lost out on her moment of fame.'

'And you know what? I can just only picture that every feminist who worked so hard to get women to where we are today is rolling over in their grave to see this.'

The transgender debate in the US has been at the forefront, especially since President Donald Trump returned to the White House in January.

He signed an executive order on February 5 titled 'Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports' barring transgender athletes from women's sports.

The order uses Title IX, a law against sex discrimination in taxpayer-funded education programs, to ban transgender girls and women from participating in female school sports activities.

It authorizes the Education Department to penalize schools that allow transgender athletes to compete, citing noncompliance with Title IX, which prohibits sexual discrimination in schools. Any school found in violation could potentially be ineligible for federal funding.

The Trump Administration has issued sweeping executive orders to limit transgender rights throughout the country - an issue he campaigned heavily on.

On his first day back in office, Trump signed an executive order asserting the federal government recognizes only two sexes — male and female.

He also issued an executive order barring transgender people from serving in the military, saying they do not meet the high standards demanded of servicemembers.

This is also not the first time the state of Maine has voiced its opinion on the social issue, as Trump engaged in a furious row with the Governor of Maine over transgender athletes during a fractious meeting at the White house on Friday.

Democrat Janet Mills came face to face with the president at a session of the National Governors Association in the State Dining Room.

While delivering a speech Trump mentioned his recent executive order banning transgender athletes from participating in girls and women's sports, and that he understood Maine was not complying.

He said 'Is the Governor of Maine here?' and when Mills stood up from behind a table, Trump asked: 'Are you not going to comply with that?'

Mills responded: 'I'm complying with state and federal laws.'

Trump said: 'Well, we are the federal law. You better do it because you're not going to get any federal funding at all if you don't.

'And, by the way, your population, even though it's somewhat liberal I did very well there. Your population, it doesn't want men playing in women's sports. So you better comply, otherwise you're not getting any federal funding.'

Mills countered: 'We're going to follow the law sir. We'll see you in court.'

Trump hit back: 'Good, I'll see you in court, I look forward to it. That should be a real easy one.'

He then indicated that it would be the end of her career.

'And enjoy your life after governor because I don't think you'll be in elected politics,' the president said.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14438737/maine-state-legislature-gop-lawmaker-trans-athlete-laurel-libby.html

WA State: Female HS basketball player refuses to play against boy; gets investigated for ‘harassment’

For ‘misgendering’ opposing trans-female player

A 15-year-old girl at a Washington State high school is under investigation for “bullying” and “harassment” for allegedly “misgendering” a male player on an opposing girls basketball team.

According to a complaint from the Foundation Against Intolerance & Racism, earlier this month Tumwater High School player Frances Staudt noticed during pre-game warm-ups that her team’s opponent had a biological male on its roster.

Tumwater Principal Zach Suderman and Athletic Director Jordan Magrath confirmed this was the case as Washington Interscholastic Activities Association policy allows students to “play on the team that aligns with their ‘gender identity.'”

In addition, state officials have voiced objections to President Trump’s executive order barring biological men from competing on women’s sports teams.

The attorney general’s office said “we are repulsed by the president’s dehumanization of the trans community,” and Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal called the EO “discrimination against trans female athletes.”

As such, the two Tumwater officials refused Staudt’s request “to either remove the male or stop the game entirely,” with Suderman claiming to do either would amount to “gender-identity-based discrimination.”

Staudt retorted not removing a male from a female competition actually is what constitutes “discrimination.”

After refusing to play in the game, Staudt “became increasingly distraught by the threat she perceived to her teammates’ safety” and thus continued to request that officials not let the boy — identified by “[un]Divided” podcaster Brandi Kruse as Shelton High School senior Andi Rooks — play or stop the game altogether.

This led to the Tumwater School District beginning an investigation into Staudt for “harassing” the male player.

The Staudt family alleged Principal Suderman had asked Frances’ mother “Are you telling me that your daughter will never get knocked down or potentially injured by someone bigger, stronger and faster than she is while playing sports?”

They also claim a school employee intimidated Frances’ brother for taking video of the game: “You better think twice about what you’re doing right now,” he (allegedly) said.

Staudt subsequently wrote on Instagram “This is far from over, as it has fueled a passion for me to speak out against the wrongdoing that is STILL happening to FEMALE athletes in this great country.”

She also accused Rooks of “brutalizing” her teammates (pictured, upper left; see segment in first video at 8:15).

According to “[un]Divided,” school officials demanded Staudt take down her post, and Rooks’ father sent numerous text messages” to Staudt’s mother threatening to “come to her house” if she did not respond.

Host Brandi Kruse further noted the Tumwater Education Association, the local teachers union, came out in support of Rooks, posting on Facebook “Dear trans kids, the world is better with you in it and you are worth fighting for.”

It also wrote (among other things) “Hate cannot drive out hate,” “We are recognizing our students as they already exist in the world,” and “Hatred wrapped in the cloak of euphemisms is still hatred.” (Both posts apparently have since been deleted.)

To their credit, Rooks and his father appeared on Kruse’s show shortly after the controversy to give their side of the story. The father’s main motivation was setting the record straight regarding Staudt’s “brutalizing” social media comment.

Rooks said the idea of “transitioning” came from his mother around second grade; his father said he “wasn’t in a position to question anything” about his son’s decision(s).

Notably, unlike others in similar situations, Rooks and his dad were remarkably understanding and reasonable during the discussion.

Highlights from the back-and-forth:

— Rooks is vehemently opposed to minors going through physical gender transitioning (despite Washington State allowing procedures like hormone therapy for minors), and is against the forced use of gender pronouns.

— Rooks said he would have gladly sat out the game against Tumwater if Staudt or someone else had come to him expressing concerns about his participation. He was disappointed Principal Suderman and other Tumwater HS officials didn’t make him aware of Staudt’s concerns: “My goal was never to make anybody uncomfortable in any way […] I didn’t even realize Frances had an issue until I got yelled at at the game.”

— Rooks is opposed to biological males playing against biological females. Why, then, does he play on girls’ teams? “It’s just something that I’ve always done,” he said. He noted his participation hadn’t been an issue until now, and that he’s “never been that good at basketball.”

Kruse pointed out that laws and rules cannot be made based on whether or not a biological male “sucks” at a particular sport.

In addition, Rooks and his dad (a Trump supporter, by the way) did not seem to grasp Kruse’s question about why the onus should be put on concerned students like Staudt (and her parents) to raise the issue of a trans-female’s participation in a (girls) sport, especially given the political environment.

They seemed equally befuddled when Kruse asked about Rooks using girls’ locker rooms (which he does).

https://www.thecollegefix.com/female-hs-basketball-player-refuses-to-play-against-boy-gets-investigated-for-harassment/