January 27, 2025
Dear Patriot,
Week ONE of the new Trump Administration was a whirlwind of action.
For four years we have collectively prayed for relief and solutions, and finally, we are seeing that in real time.
On Friday, Trump flew to Western North Carolina meeting with everyone he could to understand what they needed. Reports are that by Saturday the Corp of Engineers were seen in the affected areas, for the first time, cleaning and removing damage. Trump also had two lengthy question and answers with reporters. He is taking a lot of time to fully explain what he is trying to do.
Then Trump was off to LA where he bluntly stated hard truths to Democrat politicians, to their faces, on live TV. It was fun to watch. He installed Richard Grenell as the overseer of the LA recovery. Then he landed in Las Vegas, took in some gambling, and held a thank you rally for voters in Nevada.
Productive use of time, straight talk to Americans, push back on failed Democrats and fixing large problems is just one day, out of the Oval Office, for President Trump.
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We continue to warn you that while these next years will be filled with great change, they are going to be very difficult and disconcerting. Change is always like that but in this case it will be even harder.
The more we read about the entrenched corruption in the world, the more we see the magnitude of Trump’s challenge.
We may not like everything. We may not see the results we want. We may not like some personalities. We may have to compromise.
But remember: Perfect is the enemy of good.
It does not all have to be perfect. We can achieve good results, keep good momentum and add more converts to the fold by consistently putting people before government.
It is by faith that we will turn the direction of humanity. We ask you to pray without ceasing for our leaders.
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1- Our great DTR friend, Molly McCann Sanders, provides a brief primer on the language and legal issues surrounding President Trump’s Executive Order on Birthright Citizenship. This is a subject that will get a lot of attention and will probably be decided at the Supreme Court. So study up on it now.
Birthright Citizenship: The Argument Against the Modern Interpretation
Why Trump's EO is constitutionally correct.
QUOTE: The news is full of headlines focused on Donald Trump’s Executive Order on the proper interpretation of the Fourteenth Amendment’s Birthright Citizenship clause. Trump is ending the practice of automatically granting citizenship to every U.S.-born child regardless of the legal status of his or her parents. A number of states have already sued, and, today, a federal court issued a temporary nationwide injunction barring enforcement of the Executive Order. Although many people think the Fourteenth Amendment is black and white, many constitutional scholars and lawyers believe that Trump’s Executive Order is lawful and necessary. Dr. John Eastman—a well-respected constitutional law professor and scholar—has articulated many times the clear argument against Birthright Citizenship as it is commonly understood (and practiced). His argument is straight forward, it rests on history and precedent, and it avoids the absurd result we have today.
The Citizenship Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment states: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.” The modern era has interpreted this to mean that anyone born on U.S. soil is automatically a citizen of our great country. But Eastman and many others argue differently.
The first problem is one of basic statutory interpretation—redundancy. If “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” simply means, as common parlance accepts, that everyone present in the United States is subject to that nation’s law/jurisdiction, the clause is rendered redundant, because the immediately preceding fragment—"born in the United States”—covers that base. An interpretation of a legal text that creates a redundancy is always disfavored. The additional constitutional text (“and subject to the jurisdiction thereof”) must mean something more.
Eastman and others argue that “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” should be interpreted to mean one who owes sole allegiance to the United States. This understanding is confirmed by one of the primary drafters of the clause, Sen. Lyman Trumbull, who explained to fellow senators during debates that “subject to the jurisdiction” meant subject to “complete” jurisdiction—“[n]ot owing allegiance to anybody else.”
Initially, the Supreme Court agreed. Although dicta, both the majority and the dissent in theSlaughter House Cases, 83 U.S. (16 Wall.) 36 (1873), agreed that the Fourteenth Amendment’s “subject to the jurisdiction” clause excluded the children of citizens and subjects of foreign states who just happen to be born in the United States.
The Supreme Court confirmed this understanding in Elk v. Wilkins, 112 U.S. 94 (1884), when it denied birthright citizenship to an Indian born on a reservation who claimed citizenship as an adult. The Court held that the claim of birthright required him not to be “subject in some respect or degree to the jurisdiction of the United States, but completely subject to their political jurisdiction, and owing them direct and immediate allegiance.”
Astoundingly, the Supreme Court completely reversed course in United States v. Wong Kim Ark, 169 U.S. 649 (1898). In that case, a Chinese man born to permanent legal residents of the United States (and who were barred by federal statute from ever obtaining full citizenship) claimed birthright citizenship, and the High Court held Wong Kim Ark qualified under the Fourteenth Amendment’s Citizenship Clause.
Wong Kim Ark marked a reversal in the court’s interpretation of the Citizenship Clause, and it has wreaked havoc on the American immigration system and seriously eroded every American’s status as citizen. As Eastman points out, the gloss placed on Wong Kim Ark is much broader than even its holding, which addressed the child of legal permanent residents. Birthright citizenship should, at the least, be limited to children of parents here legally. The situation we have today is absurd and untenable; it will destroy our country if not reversed.
You can read Dr. Eastman’s full argument here, which includes a more fulsome discussion of the original understanding of the Citizenship Clause.
2- These days you can tell how good a Trump policy is by who is having a hissy fit. So far over 395 bureaucrats working in DEI related fields are on leave. DOGE reported that is around $420 million in DEI contracts that have been cancelled.
Bureaucrats Rage Over Trump’s DEI Abolition.
QUOTE: Numerous current and former federal employees are expressing anger and outrage over the cessation of diversity programs within government agencies, according to posts made in a private Facebook group.
These discussions, primarily among individuals associated with the National Park Service (NPS) and Department of the Interior (DOI), reveal apprehensions about President Donald J. Trump’s recent directive to dismantle federal diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. Some have equated the move to historical periods of intense scrutiny, like McCarthyism.
The Trump administration has warned federal workers of disciplinary actions if they resist the order, issuing memos with instructions to report any non-compliance via a dedicated email tip line. A post from a Department of Agriculture (USDA) employee shared this policy communication sent to agency staff along with the reporting email address in the Facebook group. They compared the executive order to investigations into Communist Party membership in the 1950s.
Reactions within the group include criticism and sarcasm, drawing parallels to past political tactics. One user commented on the invocation of constitutional duty amid changes, while another likened the situation to an era of political witch hunts, suggesting figures like the late Senator Joseph McCarthy (R-WI) would be approving of current actions. Notably, history has largely proven McCarthy correct about the communist threat within the U.S. federal government.
3- Between holes of golf on Sunday, President Trump fixed the problem of the recalcitrant Columbian President.
Colombia’s Petro Backs Down: Sending Personal Plane to Pick Up Migrants After Trump Announced Sanctions
QUOTE: Colombian President Gustavo Petro backed down on his declaration that he would not accept deportation flights from the United States. He now says he will send his presidential plane to personally pick up the deported migrants, a U.S. official with knowledge on the matter told Breitbart News.
The Colombian president’s backpedaling came after President Donald Trump announced he would impose numerous sanctions—including “emergency 25% tariffs”—on Colombia in response to Petro’s reversal of his promise to accept deportation flights.
On Sunday, Petro — who initially said he would accept deportation flights from the U.S. but then refused to receive two flights containing a total of 160 deportable migrants — suggested he changed his mind about accepting the flights because the U.S. treats “Colombian migrants as criminals.”
President Trump responded to the matter in a Sunday Truth Social post, declaring, “I was just informed that two repatriation flights from the United States, with a large number of Illegal Criminals, were not allowed to land in Colombia.”
“This order was given by Colombia’s Socialist President Gustavo Petro, who is already very unpopular amongst his people,” Trump continued. “Petro’s denial of these flights has jeopardized the National Security and Public Safety of the United States.”
President Trump went on to reveal that in response to this, he directed his administration “to immediately take the following urgent and decisive retaliatory measures:”
-Emergency 25% tariffs on all goods coming into the United States. In one week, the 25% tariffs will be raised to 50%.
-A Travel Ban and immediate Visa Revocations on the Colombian Government Officials, and all Allies and Supporters.
-Visa Sanctions on all Party Members, Family Members, and Supporters of the Colombian Government.
-Enhanced Customs and Border Protection Inspections of all Colombian Nationals and Cargo on national security grounds.
-IEEPA Treasury, Banking and Financial Sanctions to be fully imposed.
4- Of course, those paying attention knew that this was happening. Often we know things that the Fake News try to tell us are not true. Eventually they make us think that we are the crazy ones. We were not crazy. There was a concerted push to hide the truth about Biden and his son Hunter by the very people whose sole mission is supposed to hold government accountable.
Ex-Politico reporters reveal ‘cowardly editors’ buried bombshell Hunter Biden laptop stories – fueled ‘misinformation’ narrative involving ex-prez
QUOTE: A pair of former reporters at venerable DC-focused outlet Politico slammed “cowardly editors” at their ex-outlet for burying stories about Hunter Biden’s laptop — as well as other major stories — contributing to a false narrative that “misinformation” was being spread about Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden before the 2020 election.
Puck News scribe Tara Palmeri hosted Axios senior politics reporter Marc Caputo on her “Somebody’s Gotta Win” podcast for Inauguration Day to discuss their mutual frustration with what they saw as Politico’s mishandling of Biden family coverage.
“Politico did that terrible, ill-fated headline: 51 intelligence agents, or former intelligence agents, say that the Hunter Biden laptop was disinformation, or bore the hallmarks of disinformation,” Caputo carped. “Turns out that story was closer to disinformation because the Hunter Biden laptop appeared to be true.”
“But then Facebook also pulled all stories down about the Hunter Biden laptop, and I think Twitter did at the same time, too,” added Palmeri.
“Correct, they punished The New York Post, that didn’t help,” Caputo went on, referring to The Post being locked out of its Twitter account due to what was later revealed as back-channel pressure from the FBI.
“I was covering Biden at the time,” he added. “And I was told this came from on high at Politico: Don’t write about the laptop, don’t talk about the laptop, don’t tweet about the laptop.” Caputo, however, noted that he’d also had a story which broached the topic of Hunter Biden’s work for the Ukrainian natural gas company Burisma Holdings “killed” by an editor as Joe Biden was fighting for support in the lead-up to the 2020 Democratic presidential primary.
It was scrapped without explanation, the veteran reporter vented, saying readers “don’t understand the dumb decisions of cowardly editors that are made above us.”
5- It would make us just a little sad not to have any pennies, but that is just our two cents.
Trump's DOGE wants to get rid of the penny in the biggest change to money in generations... that could save $179 million
QUOTE: President Donald Trump's Department of Government Efficiency is looking into stopping production of the penny to save taxpayers money.
In a post on X Tuesday night, the Elon Musk-run group pointed out that a penny now costs three cents to make - triple its value.
That cost taxpayers a whopping $179 million in fiscal year 2023, the post said.
DOGE has been tasked with coming up with recommendations on how to cut federal spending.
It's unclear if it would advise permanently killing off the penny, or just halting or trimming the penny's production.
The U.S. Mint already decreased the production of the penny between 2023 and 2024 by nearly 29 percent.
U.S. Mint data from 2024 showed a fourth straight year of declining coin production, according to CoinNews.net.
Other countries have started killing off their one cent coins, including the U.S.'s neighbor to the north Canada. Canada stopped producing 1 cent coins in 2012. However a 2018 analysis from the Atlantic Economic Journal found that because most grocery store prices end in 9, Canadians spent about $3.27 million more in Canadian dollars at grocery stores with prices being rounded up to the nearest nickel.
While Trump has pledged to save taxpayers money with initiatives like DOGE, his No. 1 mandate from voters was for him to get food and gas prices lowered.
6- Here is an interview and podcast we listened to recently.
-Here is a good interview about the reality of rebuilding the Palisades neighborhood that burned.
- If you listen to the "All In” podcast (highly recommend) you will know Chamath. This interview with Tucker Carlson is full of good things to know.
Chamath Palihapitiya on the emptiness of Silicon Valley, the future of technology and the promise of the new Trump Administration.
PRAY for divine intervention in all matters.
PRAY for President Trump’s continued protection and that of all his appointees. Demand your Senators speed up and confirm his nominees.
PRAY for the revival of a faithful, strong and prosperous America.
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