In a rather remarkable message via Truth Social, President Trump proposes the reopening of Alcatraz prison.
PRESIDENT TRUMP – “REBUILD, AND OPEN ALCATRAZ! For too long, America has been plagued by vicious, violent, and repeat Criminal Offenders, the dregs of society, who will never contribute anything other than Misery and Suffering. When we were a more serious Nation, in times past, we did not hesitate to lock up the most dangerous criminals, and keep them far away from anyone they could harm. That’s the way it’s supposed to be. No longer will we tolerate these Serial Offenders who spread filth, bloodshed, and mayhem on our streets.”
“That is why, today, I am directing the Bureau of Prisons, together with the Department of Justice, FBI, and Homeland Security, to reopen a substantially enlarged and rebuilt ALCATRAZ, to house America’s most ruthless and violent Offenders. We will no longer be held hostage to criminals, thugs, and Judges that are afraid to do their job and allow us to remove criminals, who came into our Country illegally. The reopening of ALCATRAZ will serve as a symbol of Law, Order, and JUSTICE. We will, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” (link)
At the behest of President Donald Trump, House Speaker Mike Johnson previously removed House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) Chairman Mike Turner from his position. Representative Mike Turner is no longer Chairman of HPSCI. This was a big loss for the Deep State.
The removal timing was not coincidental as it followed President Trump announcing an intelligence advisory board headed by Devin Nunes {SEE HERE}. In addition to his manipulative support for Ukraine, in December of 2023 Chairman Turner lied about his FISA-702 renewal having support from Devin Nunes and John Ratcliffe {LINK}. Mike Turner was identified as a big fibber; he lied about Nunes; Turner was removed from the HPSCI chair.
After a few months of general invisibility, Mike Turner appears on CBS today to discuss the tariffs in addition to the removal of his good friend Mike Waltz from the position of National Security Advisor to President Trump. Video and Transcript below.
[Transcript] – MARGARET BRENNAN: Good morning and welcome to Face the Nation. We have a lot to get to, so let’s begin today with Ohio Republican Congressman Mike Turner. Good to see you here in person.
REP. MIKE TURNER: Thanks for having me, Margaret.
MARGARET BRENNAN: So, I have a lot of national security topics to get to you, but at the heart of so much is America’s economic strength, and so I want to ask you about what President Trump said this week about the cost, the impact of his China tariffs on the supply of goods in the United States. Take a listen.
President Trump sat down for an extensive interview on NBC Meet the Press with Kirsten Welker. The topics covered a multitude of professional narratives organized by the leftist media apparatus, focusing on general corporate opposition to Trump’s tariffs and the America-First economic policy.
There is a big difference between an item increasing in price, and inflation. If a stroller costs $5 to $10 dollars more, but gasoline prices ($2/gal), energy prices, electricity prices and food prices drop by massive amounts, the impact to the family of MAGAnomic policy is positive.
The media narrative is based on fraud and lies. Inflation is not the rise in price of a product or group of products; inflation is the overall rise in total aggregate costs to the consumer household. President Trump reduces the cost of living overall by focusing on lowering prices of essential (unavoidable) consumption items. In the short term, specific products may cost more (goods from China), but the immediate money saved more than covers it.
[Transcript] – KRISTEN WELKER: President Trump, welcome back to Meet the Press.
PRES. DONALD TRUMP: Thank you very much.
KRISTEN WELKER: Thank you so much for being here to mark your first 100 days in office. It has been an incredibly busy 100 days. You’ve signed more than 140 executive orders. You’ve been focused on the border, the economy, foreign policy. What is your biggest goal in the next 100 days?
PRES. DONALD TRUMP: Well, I think we’re going to see a lot of results. We’ve already seen them. On the border, we have the best border in the history of our country. It was 99.999, and nobody ever thought that was possible. In fact, Biden, if you remember, said he has to get legislation. And I said, “No, you just need a new president.” And I guess I was right. We have the best border we’ve ever had. We’re doing great on illegal immigration. We are being hit hard by judges that I think they’re trying to take away the power of the presidency. I was elected in a massive landslide and a big, you know, big vote. We won the swing states. We won the popular vote. We won the district votes by tremendous numbers. We won everything. And one of the reasons — one of the primary reasons I was elected was to get people out of our country that were allowed. We have prisoners. We have murderers. We have terrorists in our country. We have people from mental institutions that are seriously insane. They all came in through Biden’s open border policy. And I was elected to get them out and to seal the border, but to get them out. And we’ll have judges, they’re activist judges. They’re saying, “Well, you know, you don’t have the right to take out murderers and — and people that you don’t even want to talk about.” These are really some really bad criminal people. And they’re here illegally. So, you know they talk about — your next question will be due process. But they talk about due process, but do you get due process when you’re here illegally?
In this interview, British pundit Neil Oliver and Canadian David Krayden discuss how in the wake of the recent election Alberta separatism is gaining momentum. Elected Prime Minister Mark Carney’s net zero energy policies could push Canada towards economic crisis, with fears of higher taxes and a loss of national identity.
Krayden outlines why some Canadians believe Alberta could become the 51st US state and how Donald Trump’s surprising support for Carney is fueling debate in Candian conservative circles. Was there a plan behind Trump’s approach? WATCH:
Kevin O’Leary appears on Fox Business to support President Trump’s tariff proposal against China that is targeted to confront the dragon behind the Beijing panda mask. WATCH:
The Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS) has released the jobs and employment data for April [SEE HERE]. Within the data we see 177,000 jobs were gained, beating expectations of 133,000. The unemployment rate remains unchanged at 4.2%.
Federal government employment declined by 9,000 in April [BLS, Table B-1] Health care added 51,000 jobs: consisting of hospitals (+22,000) and ambulatory health care services (+21,000). Transportation and warehousing increased by 29,000 jobs in April: with warehousing and storage (+10,000), couriers and messengers (+8,000), and air transportation (+3,000).
.@StephenMoore reacts to the jobs report: “436,000 increase in the number of people who are employed. So, this is an amazing report… The labor force participation rate rose. So, this is a very strong number.” pic.twitter.com/CuAPwD52Yn
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) May 2, 2025
(Via Wall Street Journal) – The U.S. economy continued to add jobs at a steady clip in April, although the pace of gains slowed slightly during a month that saw changing tariff announcements and market turmoil.
The U.S. added 177,000 jobs in April, the Labor Department reported Friday, above the gain of 133,000 jobs economists polled by The Wall Street Journal had expected to see.
Apparently, each week the Dept of Govt Efficiency (DOGE) team gets together for a weekly debriefing and recap session of what is happening in the various agencies under review. Fox News host Jesse Watters accompanied Elon Musk to this week’s meeting.
Fox News has shared the discussion to help people understand a little bit more about what is happening behind the scenes with the DOGE review team. It is an interesting discussion. WATCH:
The move and shift in National Security Advisor responsibility makes sense on a couple of different levels. First the U.N position carries “prestige” softening the ouster of Waltz; second, with the foreign policy run from the White House, a dual Secretary of State/NSA role works under currently assigned responsibilities.
The combined nature of the SoS and NSA position makes good interim sense; both would have essentially been traveling the same itinerary. However, putting the former head of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence into place as National Security Advisor, well, that’s a level of trust that has never before been witnessed.
CTH said in November 2024, I doubt he could succeed. I said in December 2024, he would be the first to get fired. I have said over the past several weeks it was obvious Mike Waltz was no longer in a position of National Security influence, and that President Trump had an NSA “in name only.”
Today, Trump fired National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, and his deputy, Alex Wong….
VIA CBS – National security adviser Mike Waltz and his deputy, Alex Wong, will be leaving their posts in the Trump White House, according to multiple sources familiar with their departure.
[…] One source familiar with the situation at the National Security Council said the president thinks sufficient time has passed since the Signal incident that Waltz and Wong’s departures can be framed as part of a reorganization. The president has been hesitant to oust Waltz over the perception that doing so could be seen as bending to outside pressure.
Wong served in the first Trump administration as deputy special representative for North Korea and also as deputy assistant secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs at the State Department. In announcing his appointment, Mr. Trump said that Wong helped negotiate his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. (more)
I’m not going to repeat all the issues that made this outcome transparently predictable from the first day of then President-elect Trump’s announcement. You can read the background HERE and HERE and HERE.
Will U.S. taxpayers ever see a dime repaid? Probably not, because the proceeds will likely end up in the pockets of the professional political class; however, the concept is a good idea in principle. It is more than likely Zelenskyy has sold his “minerals” to several countries in his perpetual tin cup tour. The ‘investment fund’ aspect is just another way to transfer proceeds into the bank accounts of U.S. Senators.
The previously called “minerals deal” is now essentially a fund created between the USA and Ukraine where proceeds from exploiting Ukraine natural resources will be used to rebuild the country and repay the USA for prior financial support. According to ABC News, “Both sides were ready to sign the agreement on critical minerals and other resources earlier, but the U.S. said it wanted the main minerals resources agreement signed and the creation of an investment fund document signed at the same time, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal and a source in the Ukrainian president’s office said.”
Thanks to @POTUS@realDonaldTrump’s tireless efforts to secure a lasting peace, I am glad to announce the signing of today’s historic economic partnership agreement between the United States and Ukraine establishing the United States-Ukraine Reconstruction Investment Fund to help… pic.twitter.com/N1jPa35DYh
— Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent (@SecScottBessent) April 30, 2025
WASHINGTON — On April 30, the United States and Ukraine signed an agreement to establish the United States-Ukraine Reconstruction Investment Fund. In recognition of the significant financial and material support that the people of the United States have provided to the defense of Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion, this economic partnership positions our two countries to work collaboratively and invest together to ensure that our mutual assets, talents, and capabilities can accelerate Ukraine’s economic recovery.
