Let's hope 2025 continues as it started

President-elect Donald Trump responded to President Joe Biden’s claim that he would’ve beaten him if they squared off in the past election.

Reports are making the rounds that Tesla replaced laid off American workers with foreign workers. Musk used the H-1b visa program which is attractive to employers. Electrek reports that according to some current and former Tesla employees, as well as data from the U.S. Department of Labor, the company has significantly increased its use of […] The post Tesla Replaced Laid Off Americans with Foreign Workers appeared first on www.independentsentinel.com.

On Tuesday, his last day in office, North Carolina Democrat Governor Roy Cooper, emulating President Joe Biden, commuted the sentences of 15 men on death row to life imprisonment. Cooper was succeeded by Democrat Josh Stein on Wednesday. Last week, President Joe Biden commuted the death sentences of 37 of 40 inmates on federal death row. “These reviews are among the most difficult decisions a Governor can make and the death penalty is the most severe sentence that the state can impose,” Cooper said in a statement. “After thorough review, reflection, and prayer, I concluded that the death sentence imposed on these 15 people should be commuted, while ensuring they will spend the rest of their lives in prison.” “Before today’s commutations, North Carolina had 136 offenders on death row and the Governor’s Clemency Office received petitions for clemency from 89 of them. The Governor’s Office carefully reviewed, researched, and considered these 89 petitions for commutations, which included the 15 that were granted today,” the statement concluded. Cooper listed factors that influenced his decision, including: Facts and circumstances of the crime Whether a murder was particularly heinous and cruel Input from prosecutors in the county of conviction Input from family members of victims Defendant’s criminal history Defendant’s conduct and activity in prison Mental and intellectual capacity of the defendant at the time of the crime Credible claims of innocence The potential influence of race, such as the race of the defendant and victim, composition of the jury pool and the final jury, and evidence and testimony offered at trial Sentences received by co-defendants Whether plea agreements for a lesser sentence were offered prior to trial Age of defendant at the time of the crime Current age, health, and mental capacity of the defendant Adequacy of legal representation at trial and on appeal Laws governing capital punishment at the time of conviction Juror actions and statements “State Department of Adult Correction records list 13 of the 15 receiving clemency as Black,” NPR noted.

The truck that was used to commit a terrorist attack in New Orleans’ French Quarter early on Wednesday morning reportedly came through the U.S. southern border two days ago. “Federal law enforcement sources tell FOX, the NOLA truck came through Eagle Pass, Texas two days ago,” Fox News correspondent Aishah Hasnie reported. “The suspect’s citizenship status is not yet confirmed.” The suspect plowed into people while driving a white pickup truck that had Texas license plates. The suspect then got out and allegedly started shooting at police before he was immediately killed by law enforcement. At least 10 people were killed in the attack and 35 more people were injured. New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell addressed the incident by calling it a “terrorist attack.” Moments later a local FBI spokesperson at the press conference said it was “not a terrorist event.” However, the FBI released a subsequent statement clarifying that the incident was being investigated as a terrorist attack. “This morning, an individual drove a car into a crowd of people on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, killing a number of people and injuring dozens of others,” the FBI said. “The subject then engaged with local law enforcement and is now deceased. The FBI is the lead investigative agency, and we are working with our partners to investigate this as an act of terrorism.” New Orleans Police Department chief Anne Kirkpatrick said the driver was “trying to run over as many people as he possibly could.” Kirkpatrick said the driver drove past barricades to get to the crowds. The security barriers, installed in 2017 to prevent terrorist attacks in the area, were reportedly “in the midst of being replaced.” FBI New Orleans special agent-in-charge Alethea Duncan said at least one improvised explosive device (IED) was found at the scene but authorities had not confirmed if it was “a viable device.” RELATED: Man Plows Truck Into Crowd In New Orleans’ French Quarter, Mayor Calls It A ‘Terrorist Attack’

'It was a very intentional behavior'

As the Biden administration winds to a close, the time has come to examine President Joe Biden’s record. Certain policy decisions stand out as colossal mistakes, while others are noteworthy for their extremism. The following are three policy areas where Biden administration extremism caused American voters who believed he would restore normalcy after the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic to say “no thank you” to a continuation of his policies in 2024. 1. Abortion Biden began by implementing abortion policies that have become standard for Democratic administrations. He rescinded the Trump administration’s strengthened version of the Mexico City Policy, which prevents U.S. tax dollars from funding abortion organizations overseas. He also overturned the Trump administration’s Protect Life Rule that restricted Title X family-planning dollars from funding abortion facilities. The Biden administration Department of Justice challenged state laws that protected unborn babies in the womb. However, the Biden administration took its pro-abortion agenda much further, especially after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022. Biden’s Food and Drug Administration removed the basic safety requirement for chemical abortion pills to be dispensed in person. Biden’s Department of Defense unilaterally changed its policy to begin paying for service members and their family members to travel across state lines to obtain an abortion. When Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., held up military promotions over the illegal policy—something senators do routinely—the Defense Department did without promotions for months rather than back away from its abortion policy. 2. LGBT Agenda Earlier in his term, Biden directed all executive agencies to pursue a “whole of government” approach to advancing the LGBT agenda, which means deeply integrating the issue throughout the entire federal government. This played out across the administration in a variety of small ways. For instance, the State Department added preferred pronouns to all email bylines, many of which were wrong. Also, on Easter Sunday 2024, Biden issued a public proclamation recognizing a Transgender Day of Visibility, but not one recognizing Easter. A much bigger issue was the Department of Education’s attempt to rewrite Title IX, which was written to protect women’s rights and women’s spaces in schools. The Biden administration’s rule would have allowed biological males to compete in women’s sports, it would have punished school officials for using incorrect pronouns, and it would have let biological males into women’s locker rooms and restrooms. However, while the rule’s extremism was clear, its legal justification was not. By summer’s end, courts had temporarily blocked the rule from taking effect in more than half of American states. [Editor’s note: On Dec. 26, the Education Department withdrew a sports-related Title IX rule while the broader reinterpretation of Title IX continues amid court proceedings.] Then there was the Biden administration’s unnecessary meddling in efforts to protect minors from gender-transition procedures. It started with officials in Biden’s Department of Health and Human Services pressuring transgender activists to modify their treatment guidelines based on political considerations—although those emails only became public in 2024. Biden’s Department of Justice also intervened in a lawsuit against a state law protecting minors from gender-transition procedures, arguing before the Supreme Court in early December that minors have a constitutional right to access these dangerous, experimental treatments. 3. Weaponization Speaking of the Biden DOJ, that department has engaged in weaponized lawfare against the president’s political opponents. In mid-2022, the FBI conducted an unprecedented raid on former President Donald Trump’s home. This raid kicked off a whirlwind of political prosecutions of the former president, who was widely expected to be Biden’s chief challenger in the next presidential election. The DOJ prosecuted Trump on federal criminal charges in both Washington, D.C., and Florida, but the charges were ultimately dropped after Trump won the 2024 election. Meanwhile, Biden’s DOJ sat on serious federal charges against the president’s son, Hunter, until the statute of limitations ran out on the most serious charges. It then tried to offer Hunter Biden a sweetheart plea deal, derailed by a judge asking too many questions. The younger Biden eventually pleaded guilty to charges, but then received a pardon that father Joe had previously promised not to grant. The Biden administration’s weaponization of justice was not only directed against Trump. The DOJ colluded with school boards to investigate (using counterterrorism resources) parents who confronted the school boards at public meetings over their woke policies. The FBI spied on traditional Catholics on the absurd notion that they were domestic terrorists. The DOJ also aggressively prosecuted pro-lifers for protesting at abortion facilities years earlier, while doing nearly nothing to investigate scores of acts of vandalism against pro-life pregnancy resource centers committed in 2022. It arrested Mark Houck, father of seven, in an early-morning SWAT raid on his home, only for a jury to later acquit him for the trumped-up charges the DOJ brought against him. The Biden administration carried out this campaign of terror under a veil of secrecy. When a doctor blew the whistle on a hospital secretly providing gender-transition drugs to minors, in violation of state law, the DOJ investigated the doctor (not the hospital), charged him with serious criminal penalties, and tried to obtain a gag order against him. The DOJ retaliated against government whistleblowers and subtly threatened more punishment if any DOJ staff informed congressional committees tasked with oversight. The weaponization of government stretches all the way back to the COVID-19 era, where the Biden administration fired military service members and others who refused to take an untested vaccine. The Biden administration tried to implement a similar mandate for private businesses, but federal courts quickly struck that down. Additionally, files released after Elon Musk’s 2022 purchase of Twitter showed intense collusion between the government and Big Tech entities to censor the legitimate opinions of American citizens who questioned the official government narratives about COVID-19 or other issues. Conclusion It doesn’t take a right-wing extremist, or even a conservative, to find such brazen radicalism distasteful. These extreme policies were out of step with what even the average American swing voter wanted, and they collectively spewed these policies out by returning Trump to the White House with a convincing victory in November. For now, conservatives have retaken control of power in Washington simply by standing for commonsense principles like, don’t force taxpayers to pay for abortions, don’t allow men in women’s sports, and don’t use the force of law to persecute political opponents. True conservatives believe the government should do far more to promote human flourishing, and they must do a better job persuading the American people of their very good reasons for the convictions they hold. In the meantime, however, if radical progressives want to stand against everything that is “normal,” conservatives are quite willing to stand for normalcy, too. Originally published by The Washington Stand We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal. The post 3 Extreme Policies of the Biden Administration appeared first on The Daily Signal.