• Trump signs EO protecting Christians: “The mission of this task force will be to immediately halt all forms of anti-Christian targeting and discrimination within the federal government, including at the DOJ, which was absolutely terrible. The IRS, the FBI, terrible.” So said Donald Trump yesterday upon signing an executive order aimed at fighting “anti-Christian bias.” It seems sad that such an order would even be necessary, but anti-Christian bias, along with anti-white-male bias, is among the Left’s favorite bigotries. Trump tapped AG Pam Bondi to lead a new task force to this end, and the announcement immediately came under fire from the usual suspects, including Rachel Laser of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. “Rather than protecting religious beliefs,” she said, “this task force will misuse religious freedom to justify bigotry, discrimination and the subversion of our civil rights laws.”

• Federal worker buyout paused: The Thursday deadline for federal workers’ option to decide on a resignation and buyout offered by the Trump administration has been put on hold by U.S. District Judge George O'Toole, who issued a temporary pause of the deadline until he can investigate and determine whether or not to grant a restraining order. The American Federation of Government Employees union sued to stop Donald Trump’s buyout offer, which is intended to shrink the size of the government. The buyout offer gave federal employees their salaries and benefits for eight months. The White House estimates that 5% to 10% of federal workers would take the deal — roughly 60,000 already have — saving the government $100 billion.

• Dems judge-shop to keep DOGE from accessing payment records: Having long ago lost the arguments in favor of Big Government and trillion-dollar deficits, the Democrats are, predictably, resorting to rank obstruction to stop Elon Musk’s cost-cutting Department of Government Efficiency from exposing their profligacy. On Wednesday, three Democrat proxies — the Alliance for Retired Americans, the American Federation of Government Employees, and the Service Employees International Union — found a friendly ear, that of 81-year-old U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, who issued an order temporarily limiting members of DOGE from accessing the Treasury Department’s payment system. Anything to protect the deep state. We’re shocked to report that Kollar-Kotelly is a Clinton appointee, a Trump J6 pardon critic, and the former presiding judge of the FISA Court. Her order says that two DOGE workers can have “read only” access to payment records but can’t amend the payment system or share its data.

• Dems delay Patel FBI vote: Kash Patel, whose sterling credentials for becoming the next director of the FBI have all but assured his Senate confirmation, must now wait while Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee drag their feet, having yesterday executed a procedural move to delay a full floor vote until next week. “This is an unusual nomination, and it’s a 10-year nomination,” said ranking member Dick Durbin, laughably adding that the delay helps to “make sure that we took politics out of the equation.” Of course, this is the same Dick Durbin who also smeared Patel as “part of this lionization of these thugs who took over the Capitol.” While Durbin and his ilk try to paint Patel as an extremist, he’s really a much-needed reformer. Yes, the Democrats can delay, but they can’t deny.

• ICC sanctions: On Thursday, Donald Trump did what Congress failed to do — he signed an executive order raising sanctions against the illegitimate International Criminal Court for its issuing of arrest warrants against Israelis leaders, specifically Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for the dubious charge of “war crimes.” The order raises financial and travel restrictions against ICC officials who target Americans, Israelis, or any other U.S. ally. The U.S. has long rejected the self-appointed global jurisdiction of the ICC, and for good reason: It has repeatedly demonstrated an anti-Israel bias.

• Trump sues Illinois: The Trump administration filed suit against the sanctuary jurisdictions of Chicago and Illinois just a day after Trump Attorney General Pam Bondi was sworn in. Mayor Brandon Johnson and Governor J.B. Pritzker are thus on the receiving end of an injunction that blocks local and state laws, which, according to the suit, attempt to thwart the federal government’s enforcement of immigration laws and are therefore in violation of the Constitution’s supremacy clause. Just for good measure, Bondi put a pause on federal grants from the DOJ to the crime-ridden hellhole of Chicago. “Instead of working with us to support law enforcement, the Trump administration is making it more difficult to protect the public,” whined Pritzker. Border Czar Tom Homan begs to differ. “We’re gonna hold sanctuary cities accountable,” he said. “We’re gonna take ‘em on, and we’ll take 'em to court.”

• Stop building EV chargers Biden wasn’t building The Trump administration has halted the non-construction of Joe Biden’s EV charging stations. On Thursday, the Federal Highway Administration stopped spending on Biden’s $5 billion EV-charging network boondoggle. Only 55 of the 500,000 EV charging stations planned by 2030 have been constructed. The National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program was part of Biden’s efforts to force EVs onto the American public. Several states had already paused their EV charger programs before this order. If EVs were the solution, they would not require billions in taxpayer subsidies to compete in the free market.

• Michigan Dem state rep sterilizes herself over Trump: In what is both laughable and tragic at the same time, a Democrat Michigan state representative just demonstrated the insanity Trump Derangement Syndrome can cause. Representative Laurie Pohutsky announced that she had sterilized herself in response to Donald Trump’s return to the presidency. “I refuse to let my body be treated as currency by an administration that only sees value in my ability to procreate,” the 36-year-old Democrat told a crowd of protesters. “If you know people who are questioning how serious this is, I’m going to repeat myself: A sitting government official opted for voluntary sterilization because she was uncertain she would be able to access contraception in the future.” Well, at least she no longer has the possibility of aborting a preborn baby.

Headlines

• Russell Vought confirmed to head government’s leading budget office after Dems hold 30-hour protest (Fox News)

• U.S. economy added just 143,000 jobs in January but unemployment rate fell to 4% (CNBC)

• Department of Education to investigate Title IX violations in athletics (Ed.gov)

• Justice Department ends investigation into Project Veritas over Ashley Biden diary (Daily Wire)

• Taxpayer funded Chinese research to end under House GOP bill (Washington Examiner)

• Christianity Today reportedly received $1.8M in USAID grants in 2023 (Not the Bee)

• “Satire”: Quiz: Can you guess which of these things USAID actually funded and which ones we made up? (Babylon Bee)

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