The Ridgewood Blog Brings a Free Market Laissez-faire Point of View to Local, New Jersey State and National Issues.
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New York NY, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell expressed confidence Wednesday that the central bank will remain independent under the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump. Speaking at the New York Times DealBook Summit, Powell addressed concerns over potential political interference in the Federal Reserve’s decision-making processes.
Continue reading Fed Chair Powell Confident in Central Bank’s Independence Amid Transition
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Ridgewood Nj, President-elect Donald Trump’s nomination of Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R-Ore.) as Labor Secretary has stirred both excitement and skepticism across political and economic sectors. A rare labor-friendly choice for a Republican administration, Chavez-DeRemer’s record suggests potential shifts in the GOP’s traditionally cautious approach to organized labor.
Continue reading Trump’s Labor Secretary Pick Signals Unprecedented Shift in GOP Approach to Unions
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Ridgewood NJ, With President-elect Donald Trump poised to take office in January, Democrats are grappling with tough questions about what went wrong and how to rebuild. Vice President Kamala Harris’s loss in the 2024 election has left the party at a crossroads, with no control over the presidency, Congress, or the Supreme Court.
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Allendale NJ, in a move likely to shake Washington, President-elect Donald Trump announced Kash Patel as his pick for FBI Director, signaling a bold strategy to reshape America’s law enforcement and intelligence agencies. Known as a staunch Trump loyalist, Patel’s nomination underscores Trump’s intention to overhaul the FBI and pursue retribution against what he perceives as “deep state” adversaries.
Continue reading Kash Patel Tapped as FBI Director by President-Elect Trump
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Ridgewood NJ, in a bold move aimed at overhauling government spending and cutting down on federal bureaucracy, President-elect Donald Trump has selected tech innovators Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to lead his new “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE). This advisory group will focus on reducing federal waste and reshaping the structure of government agencies.
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Ridgewood NJ, as President-elect Donald Trump prepares to take office, the stock market may be in for an unprecedented boost, says Jeremy Siegel, finance professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Trump’s pro-business agenda, Siegel believes, could make him the most stock market-friendly president in history.
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Washington DC, in a shocking turn of events, the U.S. Justice Department revealed an alleged Iranian-backed assassination plot aimed at President-elect Donald Trump during his 2024 campaign. Details were unveiled Friday in a newly unsealed criminal complaint against Farhad Shakeri,51, charged with murder-for-hire. Shakeri reportedly admitted to FBI agents that an Iranian official tasked him in September with killing Trump.
Today our nation pauses to honor a legend, an icon, and an American hero. The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. lifted up the conscience of our nation — a towering leader in his day, and a lasting inspiration for all generations to follow.
Our Declaration declares that ‘all men are created equal,’ and Dr. King challenged our nation to live out that sacred truth: to banish the evils of bigotry, segregation and oppression from the institutions of society and the hearts of men.
His legacy of freedom is the true memorial to his life: no testimonial can pay better tribute than the faces of young children living out their dreams.
But his work is not done: all around us today we see communities and schools falling behind and not sharing in the prosperity of American life. Each of us has a solemn obligation to ensure that no American is left behind — and that all Americans are fully included in the American Dream. When young Americans of color are left on the sidelines, our nation is denied a lifetime of contributions to this society — and when any of our American brothers and sisters is forced to live in fear, or poverty, or violence, it is setback for the entire nation.
We rise and fall together, and today we pledge to follow in Dr. King’s footsteps so that all Americans may know the full blessings of this God-blessed land.
President Elect Donald Trump
BY MALLORY SHELBOURNE – 01/16/17 02:53 PM EST
Martin Luther King III said Monday — the federal holiday honoring his father — said he had a “very constructive” meeting with President-elect Donald Trump at Trump Tower in New York.
But he declined to say whether he was offended by Trump’s weekend criticism of civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.).
“Well, first of all I think that in the heat of emotion a lot of things get said on both sides. And I think that at some point — I am, as John Lewis and many others, a bridge builder,” King told reporters in the lobby of Trump Tower.
“The goal is to bring America together and Americans. We are a great nation but we must become a greater nation. And what my father represented, my mother represented through her life, what I hope that I am trying to do is always bring people together.”
Trump criticized Lewis over the weekend, calling the congressman “all talk” and “no action” after Lewis said he did not view Trump as a “legitimate president.”
By Julia Edwards Ainsley | WASHINGTON
In a wide-ranging request for documents and analysis, President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team asked the Department of Homeland Security last month to assess all assets available for border wall and barrier construction.
The team also asked about the department’s capacity for expanding immigrant detention and about an aerial surveillance program that was scaled back by the Obama administration but remains popular with immigration hardliners. And it asked whether federal workers have altered biographic information kept by the department about immigrants out of concern for their civil liberties.
The requests were made in a Dec. 5 meeting between Trump’s transition team and Department of Homeland Security officials, according to an internal agency memo reviewed by Reuters. The document offers a glimpse into the president-elect’s strategy for securing the U.S. borders and reversing polices put in place by the Obama administration.
Trump’s transition team did not comment in response to Reuters inquiries. A spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Customs and Border Protection declined to comment.
In response to the transition team request, U.S. Customs and Border Protection staffers identified more than 400 miles along the U.S.-Mexico border, and about the same distance along the U.S.-Canada border, where new fencing could be erected, according to a document seen by Reuters.
Reuters could not determine whether the Trump team is considering a northern border barrier. During the campaign, Trump pledged to build a wall and expand fencing on parts of the U.S.-Mexico border but said he sees no need to build a wall on the border with Canada.
One program the transition team asked about, according to the email summary, was Operation Phalanx, an aerial surveillance program that authorizes 1,200 Army National Guard airmen to monitor the southern border for drug trafficking and illegal migration.
The program once deployed 6,000 airmen under President George W. Bush but was downsized by Barack Obama, a move blasted by some conservatives who argue the surveillance is vital to border security.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-border-trump-exclusive-idUSKBN14N0TY?il=0
Veteran financial guru Larry Kudlow, who served as the Donald Trump campaign’s senior economic adviser, predicts to Newsmax TV thatPresident-elect Donald Trump is assembling the type of cabinet “to end the White House war against business that we’ve experienced under the Obama administration.”
“There has been a war against business from day one and that is going to end,” Kudlow told Steve Malzberg on “America Talks Live.”
“I think Trump’s Cabinet picks have been very good and very skillful,” said Kudlow, a Newsmax Finance Insider, radio talk-show host and CNBC senior contributor.
Berkeley Lovelace Jr. | @Blovelace_Jr
Meyer: Political uncertainty impacted interest in going out to eat 18 Hours Ago | 05:35
People are coming back to restaurants in “droves,” after a temporary decline in going out to eat ahead of the election, restaurateur Danny Meyer said.
He explained that “restaurants are places that people come to be with people and people didn’t feel great with all the uncertainty” around the election. Meyer said that what happened in restaurants mirrored the uncertainty in the financial markets.
“I think people are coming back in droves. Even if they’re coming back to debate, there’s nothing like sitting around a table with some good food with friends and that seems to really be bringing people out and we couldn’t be happier,” he said on CNBC’s “Power Lunch” on Monday.
The Shake Shack founder made his remarks after activity in the service sector hit a one-year high in November. Food service businesses such as McDonald’s, Darden and Chipotle saw their stocks climb in afternoon trade Monday.
“We don’t even know if Mitt Romney voted for Donald Trump.”
By MATTHEW NUSSBAUM
Updated 11/27/16 01:30 PM EST
Appointing Mitt Romney as secretary of state would be viewed by many supporters of President-elect Donald Trump as a major betrayal, former Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway told CNN on Sunday.
“It’s just breathtaking in scope and intensity,” Conway said of the opposition to Romney among Trump supporters.
“Receiving deluge of social media & private comms re: Romney Some Trump loyalists warn against Romney as sec of state,” Conway wrote on Twitter on Thursday, linking to a POLITICO article about opposition to Romney.
“I felt compelled to come forward on behalf of the people who were weighing in,” Conway said of that tweet.
https://www.politico.com/story/2016/11/conway-unloads-on-romney-231855
The President-elect shares an update on the Presidential Transition, an outline of some of his policy plans for the first 100 days, and his day one executive actions.
