January 17, 2025

Friday, January 17, 2025. Annette’s News Roundup.

Joe is always busy.

President Biden was awarded the Distinguished Public Service Medal during the Department of Defense farewell ceremony.

So was First Lady, Jill Biden.

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Taking some advice from Michelle?

Kind of, and Yes.

February 20, 2025 is Martin Luther King Day.

To honor a great man, there will be no electronic media of any kind -traditional, social - in use by Eve or me that day. It will be a quiet, meditative kind of day.

No idiots on parade.

I wonder what we will miss. Not much, I suspect.

"I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of the President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."

One more thing.

Weather report for D.C. on Monday. Low 10°F. Wind chill 12- 14°F, wind gusts 20-30 mph.

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The World may see Part 2 of Jack Smith’s Report yet.

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Trump is already trying to take control.

Case #1 - Trump lackey Speaker Mike Johnson fired the Republican Head of the chair of the House Intelligence Committee.

Johnson sent shockwaves around Capitol Hill when he decided to oust Rep. Mike Turner, R-Ohio — a staunch NATO supporter who has aggressively pushed for U.S. aid to Ukraine — as chair of the House Intelligence Committee and replace him with Rep. Rick Crawford, R-Ark., a conservative who voted against the most recent Ukraine aid package. (NBC News)

Johnson cited "concerns from Mar a Lago" as justification for the removal.

Representative Turner had this to say. 👇

Then this happened too.

Rep. Mike Turner R-OH is not only not the Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee - but he's NO LONGER a member of the committee. Mike Johnson left him off the list yesterday.

There is still the possibility that Turner will retaliate.

Ousted yesterday by Johnson as Chair of the House Intelligence Committee and now as a member of the Committee, Turner missed all House votes again today.

Will he resign from the House? If he does, the count will be 216-215. One more to go!

Case #2 Trump has nailed down what he wants in exchange for aid to Los Angeles.

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Never forget. We will resist. We will win.

A return of the resistance

A group of former Biden officials assembles to fight Trump’s executive orders in court and rally public opinion.

Just when it seemed that the Dem resistance was tuned out, former Biden-Harris officials will help launch on Inauguration Day a new legal response center to bolster the fight against President-elect Donald Trump’s impending executive orders.

The new effort, funded by the national legal organization Democracy Forward — formed in 2017 during Trump’s first administration — will analyze the incoming president’s executive orders to support legal and political challenges to his agenda, according to plans first shared with POLITICO. The group, which announced the effort Thursday, has already identified more than 200 of what it classifies as emerging threats related to the incoming president’s expected executive orders.

It’s the latest sign of the nascent, albeit much different, resistance to Trump’s second term, as the Democratic Party braces for a better-prepared, organized policy rollout from the new administration. As the president-elect is poised to unleash his sweeping policy agenda, Democrats are preparing for a fight that will play out in the court of public opinion and across the country’s legal system.

“During his first term, Trump’s executive orders made health care less accessible, banned travel based on the predominant religion in certain countries, and made it easier for corporations to pollute our communities,” Democracy Forward President Skye Perryman said in a statement. “This time, the Trump-Vance administration is better organized, has four years of previous experience, and can rely on the policy and staffing infrastructure of Project 2025.”

A slate of recent officials from across the Biden administration are joining Democracy Forward as senior counsel to support the effort: Karianne Jones, former litigation counsel for the Kamala Harris campaign and former OMB assistant general counsel; Mike Martinez, the outgoing deputy general counsel at the Office of Personnel Management and former chief of staff to the assistant attorney general; Dan McGrath, outgoing senior counsel at the Department of Labor, Office of Solicitor; and Kevin Friedl, outgoing senior counsel at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Emily Ross, outgoing executive secretariat at the Department of Justice, will join as deputy chief of staff and senior adviser to the president and CEO.

The response center — which will coordinate with outside groups, litigators, strategists and policy experts — will house its work on the Democracy2025.org website. The team plans to share information about Trump’s actions, catalog them on the site and track legal challenges.

“We’re confident this center will be a critical resource for opposing dangerous policies in Project 2025 and other harmful and unlawful conduct,” Perryman said. (Politico).

To keep informed about and perhaps join and support the activities of Project 2025, go to Democracy Forward and sign up for their newsletter.

Take 💙! Keep the faith!

Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

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