Vladimir Putin’s plan to outlast Joe Biden and an exhausted West has run into an unpleasant surprise – Donald Trump is surrounding himself with pro-Ukrainian hardliners.

Trump appears more willing than Biden ever was to throttle the Russian economy, if that is what it takes to force the Kremlin to accept peace on “America First” terms.

A new mood of relief – not yet optimism – is taking hold among Volodymyr Zelensky’s advisers in Kyiv. Europe’s diplomats are starting to wonder whether a Trump 2.0 presidency might not be such a bad outcome after all, at least when it comes to dealing with Russia.

“It is now absolutely clear that Trump is not going to throw Ukraine under a bus,” said Prof Alan Riley, a regional expert at the Atlantic Council.

Trump’s advisers have persuaded him, by the odd “Socratic method” that shapes policy at Mar-a-Lago, that a shabby American retreat from Ukraine would be orders of magnitude worse than Biden’s humiliation in Afghanistan, and also that the first line of defense against China lies in the Donbas.

Senate Democrats who are considering holding up the confirmations of President Donald Trump’s cabinet appointments might want to rethink that course of action.

The president recently threatened to adjourn Congress so he can make recess appointments for some of his nominees.

This move would be unprecedented and would likely meet with a chorus of wailing and gnashing of teeth from the left. However, it appears Trump is willing to make this gambit, according to CBS News.

The president has been eager to get the members of his cabinet confirmed. So far, Secretary of State Marco Rubio has been the only official confirmed. The Senate is still set to vote on Pete Hegseth for Defense Secretary, Kristi Noem for Homeland Security, and John Ratcliffe for CIA Director.

Democrats have been slow-walking the process for Ratcliffe and could do the same for the other two nominees, according to CBS News.

There are questions as to whether Trump has the authority to adjourn Congress.

President Donald Trump was so busy on his first day in office that it’s been a challenge to cover everything that he did.

The best way to know which are the best ones to discuss is to look at the way Democrats are reacting to them. His pardon of J6 prisoners was a big one; they’re really up in arms about that.

Another one was his executive order ending birthright citizenship for children born to illegal immigrants in the United States. Now, Democrat attorneys general from 22 states are suing over the executive order.

The Democrat attorneys general and immigrant rights advocates say the question of birthright citizenship is settled law and that while presidents have broad authority, they are not kings.

“The president cannot, with a stroke of a pen, write the 14th Amendment out of existence, period,” New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin said.

These challenges are doomed to fail.

Firebombing on the Pacific

Over 25,000 acres are ablaze in Los Angeles in the Pacific Palisades fire, a veritable living hell.

Some 12,000-plus structures were incinerated. More than 250,000 souls have been evacuated and are in need of shelter.

No one has really taken charge yet. And now even the woke culprits for the catastrophe are blame-gaming each other to determine who was the more incompetent, which in this case translates to the most woke.

No one knows how many have died; all know the number will escalate in the next few days. The eventual price tag of the ruin will exceed $200-300 billion. And there are still some fires that are completely uncontained.

The Los Angeles apocalypse was a multisystem, green-woke collapse—and a disastrous reminder that when Soviet-style, anti-meritocratic ideology permeates all aspects of modern life in California, disaster is inevitable.

First, note that the culprit of the catastrophe is not climate change; it is not Donald Trump. Those are excuses for arrogant incompetency and disdain for the public. And it is not racism or homophobia to fault those who paraded and virtue signaled their tribal identities so extraneous to their actual responsibilities for public safety.

One Democratic senator resorted to “toxic masculinity”—a cardinal sin on the left—by repeatedly talking over Bondi and mansplaining his partisan talking points.

But Bondi wasn’t having it. She clapped back at Senator Alex Padilla (D-California), leaving him looking like a… pic.twitter.com/apkOiQ7wKU

— The Vigilant Fox ? (@VigilantFox) January 15, 2025

Now that is how a BOSS treats unruly children.  Pam Bondi deftly handled all the Dem nincompoops as she did Senator Alex Padilla (D-CA).

Several of Donald Trump’s most important cabinet nominees have now undergone confirmation hearings. I have watched them live in bits and pieces as I have been able, and have seen many clips posted here and elsewhere. Some obvious common threads emerge.

First, Trump’s nominees have uniformly done well. Pete Hegseth, Pam Bondi, Marco Rubio, Chris Wright, Scott Bessent, and Doug Bergum have all come across as competent and likable, in contrast to most of their Democrat interlocutors, who have been shrill at best, and often dim-witted.  Very often.

My favorite moment so far might be when the bizarre Mazie Hirono asked Pam Bondi whether she had ever made any unwanted sexual advances. Bondi’s puzzlement was understandable.

America’s Independence Day, observed annually on July 4, is a national holiday that honors the ratification of the Declaration of Independence. This pivotal document marked the founding of the United States of America and its liberation from British tyranny and oppression.

In the mid-1990s, a song with the same title was awarded Country Music Song of the Year. Performed by Martina McBride, it celebrates a woman’s liberation from her abusive husband.

What are the commonalities? Oppression and abuse. Is anyone else sensing a strong stench of these in America, what used to be a shining city on a hill?

Could January 20, which is less than a week away, become Independence Day II for Americans who strive for freedom against a tyrannical federal government?  The answer is Yes.

What would an Independence Day II in America look like? Eight years ago, the appetizer was served, but the main course begins next week.

Thank you Chairman Wicker, Ranking Member Reed, and all members of this Committee for the opportunity today. I am grateful for, and learned a great deal from, this "advise and consent" process. Should I be confirmed, I look forward to working with this Committee — Senators from both parties — to secure our nation…

It is an honor to come before this Committee as President Donald Trump's nominee for the office of Secretary of Defense. Two months ago, 77 million Americans gave President Trump a powerful mandate for change. To put America First — at home and abroad.

I want to thank President Trump for his faith in me, and his selfless leadership of our great Republic. The troops could have no better Commander-in-Chief than Donald Trump.

As I've said to many of you in our private meetings, when President Trump chose me for this position, the primary charge he gave me was — to bring the warrior culture back to the Department of Defense. He, like me, wants a Pentagon laser-focused on warfighting, lethality, meritocracy, standards, and readiness. That's it. That is my job.

To that end, if confirmed, I'm going to work with President Trump — and this committee — to: