Thanks to DOGE and four wunderkind coders in Treasury’s basement, Americans learned this week that their government sent millions to fund a “DEI musical” in Ireland, a “transgender comic book” in Peru, electric vehicles in Vietnam, and an Anthony Fauci exhibit at the NIH Museum.
Faster than Ludicrous+ mode on a Tesla, the Trump admin’s new code bros are sifting through the financial ledger of America’s spending. Just 20 days in office and the new administration has saved the American taxpayer billions of dollars — exactly what Trump promised on the campaign trail. And as the president’s third week unfolded, news worsened for Democrats and America’s permanent bureaucratic state.
It seems the permanent bureaucracy borrowed the U.S.S.R.’s media playbook, funneling millions to left-wing news organizations such as The New York Times, Politico and Reuters. Evidently it wasn’t enough that a Republican in the newsrooms of our state-run media outlets, PBS and NPR, is rarer than a cogent sentence from Kamala.
Democrats, meanwhile, have decided that this Deathstar boondoggle of government spending at its worst is the hill they want to die on. Conservatives watched with glee as Rep. Maxine Waters, Sen. Chuck Schumer, et al, led the Charge of the Lightweight Brigade to USAID’s former headquarters. Cue dopey chant: “wE Will wiN!” (2025 update—no, you didn’t).
Before all the spending porn (as the great Louisiana wag, Senator John Kennedy dubbed it), Democrats’ opinion polls were in the gutter, with a disapproval rating of 57%.
Do the Dems think rushing to the barricades to defend out-of-control spending will earn them the respect and admiration of the American public? Expect their approval ratings to continue to sink like the Hindentanic.
USAID is just the beginning.
Wait until DOGE bites into the Department of Defense, which has never passed an audit.
In 2019 while on reserve duty at the Pentagon, I was thrown into yet another meeting chockablock with PowerPoint slides, so beloved by our military. This particular meeting was to cover the results of a service-wide audit. To summarize about 187 slides and 2 hours: we failed.
All the top brass in the room somberly listened to the auditors describe $5 billion worth of missing aircraft engines, leases for buildings and land that did not exist, accounting systems closer in age to the abacus than a modern spreadsheet, and miles of missing debits and credits.
As the most junior officer in the room, I kept quiet but closely studied the faces of my superiors. They too, kept quiet, only murmuring “next slide” as disaster after financial disaster was flashed across the screens.
My inner fiscal hawk prayed that the service chief would flip the table over and channel Col. Nathan “YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUTH” Jessep. But he remained impassive and the meeting dissolved with a whimper and no plans for reform.
That night leaving D.C., I happened to bump into a very senior republican senator at Reagan National Airport and thought it my civic duty to share the (unclassified) events of earlier in the day. I told the venerable appropriator that the audit had revealed billions in waste, fraud, and abuse, and even suggested he should make a request to see the failed audit for himself.
(In the hindsight afforded by three years working in the U.S. Senate, I now know how utterly naive this moment was).
He paused a moment, then said, “Well, you know how these things are. That’s Washington for you.”
I felt sick at the time, which is likely the same feeling many Americans are having this week as they see the grift laid bare in our nation’s capital.
But the good news is that Trump and his DOGE team have restored the hope that government might be right-sized and returned to solid financial footing.
On Friday, when he was asked about the job Elon Musk is doing, the President remarked, “I think we’re going to be very close to balancing budgets for the first time for many years.”
What a tantalizing prospect — a government that spends within its means may truly bring about the golden age of America promised in the president’s inaugural address.
Morgan Murphy is a contributor to The Daily Caller News Foundation, military thought leader, former press secretary to the Secretary of Defense, and national security advisor in the U.S. Senate.
One of Arizona’s most powerful lawmakers was in Washington, D.C., this week to attend a significant event at the White House.
On Wednesday, Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen attended an event at the White House, where President Donald J. Trump signed an executive order to keep men out of women’s sports.
The executive order stated that, “In recent years, many educational institutions and athletic associations have allowed men to compete in women’s sports. This is demeaning, unfair, and dangerous to women and girls, and denies women and girls the equal opportunity to participate and excel in competitive sports.”
President Trump’s order went on to mandate that, “It is the policy of the United States to rescind all funds from educational programs that deprive women and girls of fair athletic opportunities, which results in the endangerment, humiliation, and silencing of women and girls and deprives them of privacy. It shall also be the policy of the United States to oppose male competitive participation in women’s sports more broadly, as a matter of safety, fairness, dignity, and truth.”
Petersen has been instrumental in leading legal efforts to defend Arizona’s Save Women’s Sports Act in 2022. After a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled to sustain an injunction against this law, Petersen and other Arizona officials appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States to request a hearing at the nation’s high court. The state is still awaiting the Supreme Court’s decision on whether to accept cert on the case.
I am on my way to the White House. Trump is about to make girls sports great again. No more stolen titles. Girls can again pursue their dreams. 70 percent of Americans agree on this issue. And Republicans are delivering on multiple fronts and from all three branches. We have…
In a statement previewing his appearance at the White House, Petersen said, “The war against women and girls is now taking a dramatic turn for the better, and sanity is being reinstated. This is exactly the common sense that Arizona and America voted for. Thanks to President Trump, American girls can once again pursue their dreams. No longer will athletic titles be stolen from them by males. An overwhelming 70% of Americans agree on this issue, which is a key reason why approval ratings of Democrat elected officials are at an all time low.”
🚨FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Senate President @votewarren Joins President @realDonaldTrump at White House for Executive Order Signing to Ban Men from Women's Sports
Petersen added, “I’m proud to join President Trump today in Washington D.C. for this historic moment. He is going to make girls’ sports great again, and I know that he will never stop fighting for us.”
According to a recent poll from Gallup, 69 percent of Americans believe that transgender athletes “should only be allowed to play on sports teams that match their birth gender.” This number was a seven percent increase in public perception over two years.
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
Exactly a century ago this year, the Supreme Court, in its decision in Pierce v. Society of Sisters, recognized the right of parents to direct the education of their children, writing that “[t]he fundamental theory of liberty upon which all governments in this Union repose excludes any general power of the State to standardize its children . . . The child is not the mere creature of the state.” Today, just as they did a century ago, parents rely on the courts to serve as a backstop against abusive government policy.
Sadly, some courts in America are shutting the door of justice in the face of parents seeking to vindicate their rights and the rights of their children. In a case out of Wisconsin called Parents Protecting Our Children v. Eau Claire Area School District in the Seventh Circuit, the federal court of appeals with jurisdiction over cases arising in Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana, parents challenged the school district’s policy directing school officials to hide a child’s “social gender transition” from their parents. As the school told its employees, “parents are not entitled to know their kids’ identities.That knowledge must be earned.”
Incredibly, the Seventh Circuit found that the parents’ harm in that case was merely speculative. Apparently, since plaintiffs must show harm to have standing to sue, parents must wait until they find out that their son’s school has been helping him dress as a girl and use the girls’ restroom for six months before they can challenge the policy.
The Supreme Court chose not to review the Seventh Circuit’s decision in that case. Justice Samuel Alito wrote a short dissent, joined by Justice Clarence Thomas, explaining that the parents’ harm is not speculative and that “some federal courts are succumbing to the temptation to use the doctrine of Article III standing as a way of avoiding some particularly contentious constitutional questions.”
Nor is this an isolated incident of judges dodging the controversy of gender ideology. The Fourth Circuit, the appeals court with jurisdiction over Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina, came to the same conclusion in John and Jane Parents 1 v. Montgomery County Board of Education. A district court in Ohio did the same in Doe v. Pine-Richland School District.
Parents’ fundamental rights to direct the upbringing of their children, and the right of children to be free from ideological indoctrination by school officials, depends on courts that are willing to protect those rights. That is why Advancing American Freedom is filing an amicus brief asking the Supreme Court to take up Blake Warner’s challenge to an Eleventh Circuit rule which effectively requires parents to hire a lawyer before they can represent their children’s interests in court. Specifically, while people can bring their own claims in court without a lawyer, and parents can sue on behalf of their children, the Eleventh and some other courts have found that parents cannot sue on behalf of their children without hiring a lawyer. While Mr. Warner’s claim is not related to gender ideology, his challenge to this rule is essential because his success would ensure that parents who are unable to afford an attorney can still seek judicial protection for the rights of their children.
On Jan. 29, President Trump issued an executive order that, among other things, ordered the removal of federal funding from schools that engage in “social transitions of a minor student” and directed the attorney general to work with state and local officials “to enforce the law and file appropriate actions” against school officials who “facilitate the social transition of a minor student.” Trump’s order is important but know that gender ideologues will undoubtedly stage massive resistance. Parents must remain vigilant, and courts must begin to take their claims seriously. The Supreme Court should entrench parents’ rights by taking Mr. Warner’s case and striking down the counsel mandate.
The National Education Association (NEA), a teachers’ union and the nation’s largest labor union, has continued its promotion of gender transitions for children.
NEA posted the guide by Advocates for Youth on Transgender Day of Remembrance last week. The guide was published last year.
The guide claims that humans are “assigned” their sex at birth based on reproductive traits (genitalia, chromosomes, and hormones), and that while everyone has a gender identity, only some align with their reproductive traits. The guide claims that children inherently know their gender identity as young as 18 months to three years.
Parents, per the guide, shouldn’t be the sole decision-makers about their children. Those parents that rely on information conflicting with or opposing transgender ideology are relying on “misinformation and falsehoods.” Instead, parents should accept information which affirms transgender, non-binary, and gender-expansive youth (TNGE).
“Parents have everything they need to begin the journey of supporting their TNGE children,” said the guide. “When making decisions for their children, many parents search for information and resources to support their efforts, but some of what is readily available is misinformation and falsehoods. Parents who are interested in seeking out additional help to support their TNGE children are encouraged to do so.”
As for the role of educators, the guide says that they should “proactively teach the entire school community about gender identity, gender expansiveness, and celebrate LGBTQ history and culture.”
The guide also says that schools should affirm students in their gender identity by using their chosen name and preferred pronouns, regardless of their legal name; ensure students have unencumbered access to their preferred gender-specific facilities such as bathrooms and locker rooms; and ensure students may participate in their preferred gender-specific extracurricular activities and athletics.
Per the guide, those who oppose transgender ideology, especially in children, qualify as “extremists” who put out disinformation.
The guide puts out a number of other contested claims, such as: puberty blockers are lifesaving, not harmful; LGBTQ ideologies contribute to healthy diversity; transgenderism isn’t a mental illness;
The NEA affiliate in Arizona — the Arizona Education Association (AEA) — has over 22,000 school employees as members (in addition to teachers, their members include librarians, custodians, cafeteria workers, and counselors).
Like the NEA, AEA has actively worked to foster transgenderism and advance other LGBTQ+ ideologies in minors.
AEA successfully advocated for the repeal of the 28-year-old “no promo homo” law prohibiting the discussion of homosexuality during HIV/AIDS instruction in schools. The law prohibited discussion that “promotes a homosexual lifestyle,” “portrays homosexuality as a positive alternative lifestyle,” and “suggests that some methods of sex are safe methods of homosexual sex.”
School should be a place where everyone is able to be their full self. Thank you to everyone who joined the rally in Peoria tonight in solidarity with trans educators and community members! pic.twitter.com/xYqKKfZtQS
AEA also fought against legislative efforts to require the use of bathrooms based on biological sex, and prohibiting access based on gender identity.
Some great news today — #SCR1013, the bill attacking trans youth and educators, is DEAD! Shout-out to all the educators who contacted their legislators to stop this awful discriminatory legislation, and to everyone who shared their story so courageously! https://t.co/M8fH5qrvB5
The union also supported gender transitions for children as young as preschoolers, promoting a parent in 2017 who transitioned his four-year-old son into his “daughter.”
A Chandler High School alum and co-captain of Utah State University women’s volleyball team, Kaylie Ray, has reportedly joined a lawsuit with others players from the University of Wyoming, San Jose State University (SJSU), the University of Nevada, and Boise State University.
The group is suing the Mountain West Conference (MWC) and its commissioner, claiming that the conference compelled them to compete with a biological male ‘transgender’ athlete, “stealth-edited its rules to stifle their free speech,” and violated the federal Title IX law.
According to Cowboy State Daily, the lawsuit comes after a San Jose University student, Blaire Fleming, was added to the team as an outside hitter. Fleming, a biological male, is now ranked as the top hitter on the team.
The outlet reported that four schools, in addition to the University of Wyoming, have canceled matches against the SJSU team after outcry from players and university community members expressing concerns over fairness and safety of the female players.
In the text of the lawsuit, the plaintiffs allege that the conference drafted a new rule “hastily,” to mark the cancellations as forfeited losses.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs wrote, “The burgeoning controversy, which Commissioner Nevarez apparently believed could lead women’s volleyball players and teams to exercise their constitutional rights to protest and boycott, caused the commissioner and her staff to hastily draft and post on the MWC website a policy designed to penalize First Amendment protests supporting the rights of women’s volleyball players in the MWC.”
They add, “This new MWC policy was clearly intended to chill and suppress the free speech rights of women athletes in the MWC.”
The players are represented by Attorney Bill Bock and the Independent Council on Women’s Sports (ICONS), who filed the suit in the U.S. District Court for Colorado. Bock told reporters in a statement, “The NCAA, Mountain West Conference, university presidents and college athletic directors around the country are failing women. Because the administrators don’t have the courage to do their jobs, we must ask the federal courts to do their jobs for them.”
Teammates of the ‘transgender’ player are also claiming SJSU defrauded them because they joined the school and the team without prior knowledge that they would be playing with, boarding at times, and competing for scholarships against a biological male. The plaintiffs also argue that their rights under the First 14th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution were violated, the right to bodily privacy, discrimination, retaliation, and viewpoint discrimination among others.
Fleming became the subject of national attention in October when he spiked the ball during a match, striking SDSU junior Keira Herron in the face with brutal force and knocking the player to the floor. “Keira Herron has some pink in her hair and her face is starting to look like she’s matching that as obviously she took the contact,” a broadcast announcer said in the now viral video.
In the complaint, a player named Brooke Slusser “estimates that Fleming’s spikes were traveling upward of 80 mph, which was faster than she had ever seen a woman hit a volleyball.” The complaint goes on to explain that, “The girls were doing everything they could to dodge Fleming’s spikes but still could not fully protect themselves.”
Male player from San Jose State @SanJoseStateVB, Blaire Fleming, leads his team to victory against Iowa @IowaVolleyball.
Look how high he jumps. Look at the speed of the ball.
Women’s sports activist and college swimmer Riley Gaines shared video of Fleming’s spike in a post to X, writing, “Male player from San Jose State @SanJoseStateVB, Blaire Fleming, leads his team to victory against Iowa @IowaVolleyball. Look how high he jumps. Look at the speed of the ball. Not only is this unfair, it’s dangerous.”
