Video from the first meeting between President Donald Trump and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
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The centuries-old Paris landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral reopens today, five-and-a-half years after a devastating fire destroyed its spire and roof and brought the entire Gothic masterpiece within minutes of collapsing.
The 860-year-old medieval building has been meticulously restored, with a new spire and rib vaulting, its flying buttresses and carved stone gargoyles returned to their past glory and the white stone and gold decorations shining brighter than ever. The state hands over the building to the Catholic church, the archbishop opens the door, and a liturgical celebration is held with singing and a blessing.
President Trump and various foreign dignitaries are in attendance. UPDATE: Video Added
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President Trump arrives to meet French President Emmanuel Macron in advance of the reopening celebration for Notre Dame Cathedral.
French media are now openly reporting on a sideline meeting between President Trump and Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The meeting with Zelenskyy was predictable given the nature of how Macron had structured the events.
President Trump’s arrival video:
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President Trump and Emmanuel Macron delivered short remarks to the assembled press pool. Video Below:
“This was no small thing, to restore a republic after it had fallen into corruption. I have studied history for years and I cannot recall it ever happening. It may have been that our task was impossible. Yet, if we did not try then how would we know it could not be done? And if we did not try, it most certainly would not be done. The Founders’ Republic, and the larger war for western civilization, would have been lost.”
“But I tell you this: We did not go gently into that bloody collectivist good night. Indeed, we made with our defiance such a sound as ALL history from this day forward will be forced to note, even if they despise us in the writing of it.”
~ Mike Vanderboegh (adapted)
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. THY WILL BE DONE, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but DELIVER US FROM EVIL.
For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen †
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There it is. The background for the first meeting between President Trump and President Zelenskyy is buried in the story of Emmanual Macron holding two bilateral meetings before the Notre Dame reopening ceremony. [Now, where’s Tucker?]
If you carefully read this Politico Story you can see how President Trump and President Zelenskyy would be in the same place at the same time, courtesy of French President Emmanuel Macron. This explains Trump’s willingness to go to the Notre Dame ceremony and simultaneously reconciles the absence of Joe Biden.
It’s a simple application of geopolitical Occam’s Razor. There’s no other background that reconciles all the variables. Trump is going to speak with Zelenskyy. All of it makes sense.
POLITICO – PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron will hold separate bilateral meetings with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy and U.S. President-elect Donald Trump ahead of the reopening ceremony of the Notre Dame cathedral on Saturday, the French presidency announced.
This will be Trump’s first visit abroad since his victory in the Nov. 5 election. Macron is among those leaders currently in power to have known the soon-to-be 47th president during his first term in office — a position he will look to leverage in order to assert himself as a key European partner to the U.S.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum is very concerned that President Trump will return the illegal migrants to Mexico. Perhaps Mexico should have thought about this before allowing millions of illegal migrants to travel through their country on the way to the U.S. southern border.
President Sheinbaum is now telling people she wants an agreement with President Trump so that her country does not suffer from millions of illegal aliens swarming Mexico. The irony is too thick.
ASSOCIATED PRESS – MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s president said Thursday she will ask President-elect Donald Trump to deport non-Mexican migrants directly to their home countries, rather than dumping them at the Mexican border.
President Claudia Sheinbaum said she hopes to reach an agreement with Trump so that “they send people who come from other countries to their countries of origin.”
Mexico, like any other country, is not obligated to accept non-Mexican migrants, but it has agreed to do so in the recent past, especially from countries like Cuba and Venezuela, which often refuse deportation flights from the United States, but may accept them from Mexico.
As the kids like to say with a wink and a nod, “if you know, you know.”
In the first White House briefing since the Hunter Biden Pardon, White House Spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre worked her way through a tangled mess of justifications for why Joe Biden changed his mind and gave a pardon to his son, Hunter. However, within the remarks she relied heavily on a name that apparently has leaned-in to the issue of Preemptive Pardons by the outgoing administration. WATCH (prompted):
It is transparently obvious why Jim Clyburn would be seeking a preemptive pardon from Joe Biden. Clyburn is singularly the most exposed political figure if anyone starts looking at how the election system ballot operation was used in 2020, 2022 and 2024. Clyburn knows his risk exposure.
At the end of all the ballot and election fraud, you find one operation above all others. Watch what happens.
The last Federal Budget that passed through “regular order” was for Fiscal Year 2008, signed by President George W Bush in September of 2007. Every budget since has been outside regular order; a series of continuing resolutions, omnibus spending packages and short-term funding mechanisms. {CITATION}
That is correct. In the past 17 years, all federal spending has been ‘short-term’ or ‘stop-gap’ spending measures, generally known as “Continuing Resolutions,” where the govt (House and Senate) continue to perpetually resolve to fund the government. The CRs as they are known, punt the spending debate by accepting a baseline of prior spending and tweaking around the edges.
The key takeaway to begin thinking about DOGE is to understand that REGULAR ORDER has not been used since Fiscal Year 2008.
Title III of the Congressional Budget Act outlines a legal timeline that each President and Congress must follow {SEE HERE}. Prior to 2007, Continuing Resolutions were only used to resolve short term arguments about spending priorities.
♦ BACKGROUND – The President is required by law to submit his budget by the first Monday in February. Yes, even when an election takes place and a President doesn’t assume office until January 20th, the first Monday in February is still the legal requirement for the new White House budget proposal.
The Presidents’ budget is then submitted to The House of Representatives, where two weeks later the Congressional Budget Office, reviews the budget and issues an opinion as to the cost of the budget. No later than six weeks after the President submits his budget all House committees send the House Appropriations Committee their spending proposals [April 15].
Through May and June, each budgetary appropriations bill from the House is sent to the Senate. The Senate receives the House appropriations bills, then reviews through the Senate Appropriations Committee (Thune just picked Susan Collins as Chair). The Senate proposes their spending priorities based on the House bill because the House has constitutional authority to originate all spending [June 15]. The House and Senate budgets are “reconciled” using parliamentary procedures [June 30] and then sent to the President for signature.
The fiscal year begins October 1st.
That’s the regular order process.
First Lady Melania Trump appears on Fox and Friends morning show to discuss her outlook on returning to the White House.
Melania Trump notes this time is very different as they know what to expect this time and the baseline for knowing who, what, when and how is entirely different than the first term. WATCH:
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