SINCERETALK

National security and political experts are sounding the alarm over several of Donald Trump’s nominations to top Cabinet-level positions, saying they are not only “ totally absurd and appalling ,” but a threat to the nation’s—and the world’s—security. Here’s the current list of all of Trump’s Cabinet-level nominations ( Politico is keeping track): • White House Chief of Staff – Susie Wiles •Secretary of State – Marco Rubio •Secretary of Defense – Pete Hegseth •Attorney General – Matt Gaetz •Secretary of Homeland Security – Kristi Noem •Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency – Lee Zeldin •Director of National Intelligence – Tulsi Gabbard •Ambassador to the United Nations – Elise Stefanik •Director of the CIA – John Ratcliffe READ MORE: Musk and Ramaswamy Heading New ‘DOGE’ Prompts Legal and Ethical Concerns: Experts “Good lord,” remarked Phillips O’Brien, a historian, professor of strategic studies, and author of books on World War II, “an outright Putin a

As Republicans celebrate their wins across all three branches of government, The Atlantic's Russell Berman lays out why a good chuck of Donald Trump's proposed legislation will have a difficult time passing through Congress — even despite the party's "218th House-race victory." In a Wednesday article, Berman notes , "How many more seats the Republicans will win depends on the outcome of a few contests, in California and elsewhere, where ballots are still being counted. But the GOP’s final margin is likely to be similar to the four-seat advantage it held for most of the past two years, when internal division and leadership battles prevented the party from accomplishing much of anything." Furthermore, he points out, "Such a slim majority means that the legislation most prized on the right and feared by the left—a national abortion ban, dramatic cuts to federal spending, the repeal of Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act and Joe Biden’s largest dome

Scientific tests confirm rivers and dams have been poisoned by the raw sewage dumped by the municipality in the Bloubankspruit and Crocodile Rivers, killing aquatic life and destroying businesses and livelihoods. from News24 news24/topstories/rss https://ift.tt/qmTNBtX via sinceretalk

The debate continues over why Donald Trump defeated Kamala Harris. So far, it seems to be centered on two related arguments. One is that Harris didn’t do enough to appeal to white working-class voters and their concerns about the economy. So they voted for Trump. The other is that the Harris campaign had moved “too far to the left,” embracing transgender issues and other forms of “identity politics” that alienated voters, not just the white working class, but also some Latino and Black voters. They didn’t like that. They voted for Trump. These arguments are quickly becoming the conventional wisdom, but that’s not because they are good or accurate or right. It’s because they are easy. It’s easy to blame the loser for the fact of her defeat. It’s much harder to assess the real and more vexing reason for Trump’s victory. The allegation that Harris did not listen to working-class concerns is fantasy. She was explicit in her plan to expand the achievements of the Biden era, in which th

For now, I’m not getting involved in the debate over what Kamala Harris did wrong. For one thing, whatever conclusions are drawn now will almost certainly be forgotten by the time of the next election. For another, the debate takes vital attention away from the choice of the majority of American voters, which is to say, their terrible choice. Why did they break for Donald Trump? Lots of worthy people are going to spend lots of time exploring that question. I won’t, though. What I know is that Trump campaigned on easily proven lies. What I also know is his supporters chose to believe them. What I care about now are the consequences of that choice, and those consequences are going to be bad for all of us, including everyone who voted for him. Yesterday, the president-elect said among the first things he’s going to do is eliminate the US Department of Education. That agency not only sends federal money to local school districts, it makes sure children are treated equally. This is usua

Despite winning the election just a week ago, President-elect Donald Trump and his transition team aren't wasting any time preparing to staff the federal government — and the military in particular – with diehard loyalists. The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that the Trump transition team is currently preparing an executive order that would allow him to pave the way for new military leadership that is squarely in the MAGA camp. The draft order would create a so-called "warrior board" made up of retired senior U.S. military personnel who would recommend the firing of generals and admirals who are "lacking in requisite leadership qualities." The Journal's Vivian Salama, Lara Seligman and Nancy A. Youssef wrote that while the commander in chief can technically already fire any military official, his new warrior board could "create a chilling effect on top military officers, given the president-elect’s past vow to fire 'woke generals,' r

If Donald Trump appoints Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) to the role of secretary of state, one of his fellow Republican senators thinks the president-elect's daughter-in-law would be "a tremendous" replacement, Axios reported Tuesday. Senator Katie Britt (R-AL) — who offered the GOP State of the Union rebuttal in February — told Axios the Republican National Committee co-chair "just got off a historic win." The Alabama lawmaker added, "She understands the America First agenda. For me, I think she would be a tremendous pick, a voice for hard working families and another mom of school aged kids that understands what we're up against, and that's to fight to protect the American dream." The Daily Beast noted , "Lara has not officially spoken about the public support. Yet as these things typically go, no one who wants it says that they want it." TIME reported in July : The upshot is that Lara Trump is potentially going places in MAGA W

New York Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan is expected to hand down a decision on Tuesday that could ultimately put the president-elect of the United States in jail. Donald Trump, who has yet to be sentenced for his 34-count criminal felony conviction in his New York election subversion case, commonly known as his “hush money” case, will learn if the judge will sentence him or set aside the verdict now that he has been elected President. “Back on September 6th, Judge Juan Merchan (in Trump’s NY election interference case) ruled that he would issue a decision by tomorrow, November 12th, on Trump’s Motion to Set Aside the jury’s verdict and to Dismiss the indictment, based on SCOTUS’ immunity ruling,” MSNBC legal contributor and commentator Katie Phang reported Monday afternoon. Judge Merchan on Sept. 6 had written that Trump was attempting “to bolster his application [for adjournment, or dismissal] by repeating a litany of perceived and unsubstantiated grievances from previous fili

Longtime CNN anchor Chris Wallace announced on Monday that he's stepping away from his role to pursue "an independent platform such as streaming or podcasting," according to an exclusive report published by the Daily Beast. Per the report , the 77-year-old "is considering what streaming or podcast format would work for him, and added, 'Not knowing is part of the challenge. I‘m waiting to see what comes over the transom. It might be something that I haven’t thought of at all.'" In a "watershed moment for cable TV," the Beast notes that Wallace will depart from the "seven-figure contract" at the end of the year. READ MORE: Trump hopes the last line of defense will cower in the face of his threats Wallace cited one of his reasons for pursuing a streaming or podcasting platform is because that is "where the action seems to be," emphasizing that notable podcasters "like Joe Rogan and Charlamagne tha God had set the

As Donald Trump already considers his strategy to re-stack the US Supreme Court over the course of his second term, Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor "is said to be pushing back against calls for her to step down so President Biden can replace her with another liberal justice before leaving office," CNN's Brianna Keilar noted Monday. CNN's Boris Sanchez weighed in, noting that there are "concerns she may not be able to serve through the end of" the president-elect's term." She's 70 years old and has Type 1 diabetes. "But the process of trying to confirm a supreme court justice is wrought and complicated on its own, never mind in a truncated window with an incoming administration," he added. CNN chief legal affairs correspondent Paula Reid emphasized, "That's exactly right. Even with a qualified nominee, this is something that takes months and unlikely they'd be able to get someone confirmed by sources say she is no

The controversial National Health Insurance, which promises the biggest shake-up of the country's healthcare sector, will get nearly R3 billion over the medium term to prepare for the full implementation of the scheme. from News24 News24/TopStories/rss https://ift.tt/XazVvCE via sinceretalk

Conservative Washington Post columnist George Will has been a scathing critic of President-Elect Donald Trump and the MAGA movement's influence on the Republican Party. In his November 6 column , Will argues that Trump's victory over Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 election continues the "eight years of self-degradation" the GOP has suffered thanks to Trump. "Conducting a thorough autopsy on the cadaver of Kamala Harris' campaign will require the scalpel of voting data not yet sharpened," Will argues . "Two things, however, are obvious. Democrats should have remembered the ancient axiom 'be careful what you wish for.' And they should have remembered the warning attributed to their hero Franklin D. Roosevelt regarding Gen. Douglas MacArthur: 'Never underestimate a man who overestimates himself.'" READ MORE: Challenging Fascism: Why traditional methods aren't working — and what might Will is not only critical o

It is rather sad that, in the future, when we hear and see the sacred name of Umkhonto weSizwe, we will not think of the valour of Molokoane, Masango, Mini and this man called Naph Manana. from News24 News24/TopStories/rss https://ift.tt/IaGgxHW via sinceretalk

President-elect Donald Trump ran on deporting millions of undocumented immigrants if he won a second term. And now that he prepares to enter the White House in January, his incoming administration has promised that mass deportations will be at the top of his mind from day one . Reuters reported earlier this week that Trump's plan to deport a significant portion of the 13 million undocumented immigrants currently living in the United States would cost roughly $968 billion over a 10-year period. This includes the cost of hiring untold thousands of additional Department of Homeland Security personnel to round up, detain and process targets of Trump's mass deportations, in addition to the construction cost of detention camps, immigration judges and other related costs. However, as Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist David Cay Johnston told MSNBC host Joy Ann-Reid on Friday, there is another layer of cost to Trump's deportations that has yet to be fully considered. This isn&

An emerging consensus about the 2024 election is that Vice President Kamala Harris lost working class voters to President-elect Donald Trump because he had better messaging about economic issues. But one columnist is arguing that consensus is wrong. In a recent op-ed for MSNBC , columnist Michael A. Cohen (not Trump's former lawyer) wrote that Democrats actually had the wind at their backs when it came to the economy. He noted that President Joe Biden added 16 million jobs during his tenure, oversaw a significant increase in real (inflation-adjusted) wages, got inflation back down to 2018 levels, and cancelled more than $175 billion in federal student debt. Additionally, the Biden-Harris administration passed several historic bills into law that were immensely beneficial to the economy, like the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (which spent more than $1 trillion on improving roads, bridges, airports and expanding rural broadband internet access), the CHIPS and Science Act (whic

Elon Musk joined Donald Trump’s call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, when the billionaire and President-elect were at Mar-a-Lago. The move is raising concerns about Musk’s potential role in the upcoming Republican administration, given his status as a federal contractor with access to U.S. defense secrets and relationships with foreign adversaries, including Russia, and its illegal war against Ukraine, as well as his personal socio-political statements about America. Axios , in an exclusive on Friday, reported Musk’s presence on Trump’s call with President Zelenskyy, details of which “underscore how influential Musk could be in the second Trump administration,” and offer “uncertainty over how exactly Trump will approach Ukraine.” “Trump’s public messages throughout the election campaign — promising a quick resolution to the war, declining to say which side he wanted to win and criticizing the massive aid packages flowing from Washington — raised alarm bells in Kyiv an

CNN presidential historian Tim Naftali offered takeaways from President Joe Biden's Thursday address following Donald Trump's win over Vice President Kamala Harris. "President Biden really had two audiences," Naftali began. "In part, this is a pep talk. A pep talk to the members of the administration — apparently, who were sitting right front of him — and to Democrats across the country. But this was also a way for the president to ensure stability. To make clear to every American that their vote not only counted, but it counted for him, and that he would assure the country, and did assure the country of a peaceful transition. He didn't have to say — unlike in 2020, 2021 — but the point was, he wanted to make clear that he is not seeking revenge." The presidential historian emphasized, "So it was a very successful speech, directed at two audiences. But he said one thing that I think had a double meaning. And he said 'setbacks are unavoidable

Several private prison stocks have been skyrocketing since Donald Trump won the 2024 presidential election. Trump has vowed mass deportations, and his campaign spokesperson on Wednesday said “millions” would be deported on day one . “One HUGE winner from Trump’s win: Private prison companies GEO Group Inc. and CoreCivic Inc.,” observed Bloomberg News reporter Steven Dennis on Wednesday. “Their stocks, which could benefit from Trump’s plans for rounding up millions of immigrants, rocketed higher today 41% and 29% respectively.” Thomson Reuters Foundation journalist Avi Asher-Schapiro also on Wednesday, posted the stock’s performance over the past five days, which shows it jumped over 26%. He writes: “Private prison giant Geo Group —which already has over a billion dollars in ICE contracts to manage immigration detention facilities—sees its stock soar on Trump’s win.” — (@) Pointing to an earnings call transcript from August , he notes the company “also administers the ‘Inten

A longtime GOP insider’s on-air plea for “a couple years of peace” for President-elect Donald Trump and the Republican Party stirred up a CNN panel Wednesday evening and left an anti-Trump Republican infuriated. The moment unfolded during the network’s continued post-election analysis when Republican strategist and CNN commentator Scott Jennings made an impassioned appeal to Trump’s political opponents. “The American people want this president and his administration and his party to make progress on the things they promised to do,” Jennings told the panel, which included anti-Trump Republican strategist Ana Navarro . “This is exactly what happened last time. They were plotting to impeach him before he ever took office back in 2016 – let us not have a replay of this. Can we just have a couple of years of peace for the Republicans and President Trump to do what they promised to do because the American people clearly are asking for it.” Navarro immediately pounced on the brazen

Donald Trump and his presidential campaign have repeatedly denied any connection to Project 2025, a radical blueprint created by the far-right Heritage Foundation to entirely rebuild the executive branch of the federal government on a Christian nationalist foundation. But now that the election is over and Trump has won the White House, several far-right influencers allege that Project 2025 is Trump’s agenda. Project 2025 is so toxic its creator, Paul Dans, was eliminated from the project. Public opinion gives Project 2025 a single-digit approval rating, according to NBC News : “It was the least popular of all the subjects tested in the September NBC News poll — a battery that included socialism, capitalism, both presidential and vice presidential candidates, the Republican and Democratic parties, Taylor Swift and Elon Musk.” The Project 2025 blueprint, a 900-page “manifesto,” according to The Guardian , “describes an America poisoned by ‘wokeness’ and overtaken by lawlessness and

President Joe Biden is getting some encouragement from legendary gymnast Simone Biles to use his last days in the White House wisely. In a tweet posted on Wednesday afternoon , the seven-time Olympic gold medalist asked Biden to make the most of his lame-duck period, though she notably didn't give him any specific instructions. "Mr. Biden, I need you to stand up, straighten your back and make some things shake before your departure," Biles tweeted, before concluding with: "xoxo the women in America," with a blue heart emoji. READ MORE: JD Vance: Simone Biles shouldn't be praised for 'weakest moment' after she quit 2021 Olympics As the lame-duck president, Biden still controls the executive branch of the federal government for the next 75 days until January 20, 2025, when President-elect Donald Trump will be inaugurated as the 47th president of the United States. And as the outgoing president, all cabinet secretaries of all federal agencies sti

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — a conspiracy theorist and failed 2024 Independent presidential candidate — could be granted a role in Donald Trump's administration. According to a Wednesday New York Times report, "Now that Republicans will control the Senate, Mr. Kennedy could theoretically win confirmation for any one of a number of top health jobs: secretary of Health and Human Services, commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration or director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention." The Times reports that last week, Dr. Jerome Adams — who was surgeon general under Trump's first administration — warned during the American Public Health Association's annual conference, "If R.F.K. has a significant influence on the next administration, that could further erode people’s willingness to get up to date with recommended vaccines." READ MORE: Veteran journalist blames Harris’ failure on 'corporate puppets' who 'stand for nothing'