https://edition.cnn.com/2024/11/20/politics/trump-musk-relationship-analysis/index.html
Conflicts of interest weren’t exactly taken seriously in the first Trump administration. But Musk’s ubiquity in Trump 2.0 as the standout ally in an emerging inner circle of billionaires, millionaires and Fox News anchors means they have officially become a joke.
Flynn – a retired Army lieutenant general who once led the Defense Intelligence Agency, and someone Trump has indicated he would include in a second administration – has been one of the biggest promoters of the same baseless voter fraud allegations that have spawned criminal investigations, a congressional inquiry and, in the case of Dominion, a $787 million defamation settlement from Fox News.
https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-taps-dr-oz-top-health-position-1988555
Oz has also faced controversies surrounding his medical career. During a 2014 Senate hearing on consumer protection, former Senator Claire McCaskill said that the "scientific community is almost monolithic against you" for his weight loss product advertisements.
https://www.newsweek.com/linda-mcmahon-donald-trump-secretary-education-nomination-attacked-1988707
Critics see the nomination as the latest instance of Trump selecting a loyalist to serve in his incoming administration over someone with more relevant experience.
"By selecting Linda McMahon, Donald Trump is showing that he could not care less about our students' futures," Becky Pringle, the president of the National Education Association, said in a statement. She added, "McMahon's only mission is to eliminate the Department of Education and take away taxpayer dollars from public schools."
https://www.bhol.co.il/news/1678908
מזה כחודשיים וחצי מעוכב בארץ רב קהילת טאהש במונסי המעורב בתיק גירושין סבוך בארה"ב. לרגל חתונת נכדתו חגג מרחוק את השמחה. צפו בתיעוד
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/11/19/trump-cabinet-outsider-heterodox-reagan/
If Trump’s underlying goal is to shrink the federal workforce, which so many other Republican presidents have talked about, then he might have stumbled on a brilliant tactic. Firing civil servants is notoriously difficult. But if Trump manages to install Gaetz at Justice or Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at Health and Human Services, I imagine you will see a voluntary exodus of expertise like we’ve never seen before. There’s not a lawyer in the Justice Department who couldn’t be making more money for fewer headaches in private practice.
https://time.com/7176696/gabbard-russia-connection-trump-intelligence/
Weeks after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, Gabbard posted a video espousing a disproven conspiracy theory that alleged pathogens could leak from biolabs in Ukraine, a theory advanced by Russia as part of its propaganda attempt to press for a ceasefire. Then-Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., said Gabbard had embraced “actual Russian propaganda” and called it “traitorous.” Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, said Gabbard was “parroting fake Russian propaganda.”
Greene suggested there’s no reason that completed reports and settlements involving lawmakers—including Gaetz’ probe—shouldn’t be made public. While she wrote that she’d even filed an ethics report herself, she didn’t specify what, or who, it involved.
The Georgia firebrand ended with a commitment to make public as many purported claims as possible: “If we’re going to dance, let’s all dance in the sunlight. I’ll make sure we do.”
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/399472
The two companies plan to lease European aircraft and operate ten weekly flights using foreign crews in order to lower prices for consumers.
There’s a real fear that Gabbard won’t provide President Trump with the intelligence he needs, but rather downplay threats with the intention of isolationism.
Gaetz may provide the disruption, but he has neither the ethics nor the discipline to rebuild a proper system that will pursue fair prosecutions.
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4998359-trump-demands-senate-stop-confirming-judges/?tbref=hp
The White House called out Trump and Republicans for trying to slow down confirmations at the end of the year, arguing that Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), who was elected Senate GOP leader, considered it a priority to confirm Trump’s judicial nominees before the end of his last administration.
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/399411
A full 60-70% of weapons found in southern Lebanon at the start of the IDF's ground invasion were Russian-made; experts unsure of whether they were taken from Syria or signal increased cooperation between Russia and Hezbollah, report says.
The weapons Israel is finding now are newer, more advanced, and present in larger numbers than expected by military analysts. The arms have significantly bolstered Hezbollah’s ability to fight back after Israeli airstrikes decimated its top leadership, they say. Antitank weapons such as the Kornet have been among the most effective weapons in Hezbollah’s arsenal, and have been used to kill numerous Israeli soldiers.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/dont-overlook-how-bad-this-lesser-known-trump-nominee-is/
“This is a guy who is a strong ally of Elon Musk, another fake free speech champion,” he added. “This is a guy who thinks that, oh, for example, advertisers that refuse to advertise on Twitter are part of an illegal cartel that have to be broken up because they don’t want their ads running next to @HitlerLover69 tweets. So this guy is not a friend of free speech—he wants to go after broadcast networks that don’t bend the knee enough to Donald Trump, or that air reports that might be critical of Donald Trump, or that air shows like Saturday Night Live.”
