01b People Advance

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In a striking turn of events, several senior banking executives have broken their long-standing silence, revealing that political coercion, not just regulatory prudence, steered decisions about whose bank accounts to close and services to deny.

Their admissions come on the heels of President Donald Trump’s executive order, Guaranteeing Fair Banking for All Americans, issued on August 7, 2025, which explicitly outlaws politicized or unlawful debanking and prohibits the nebulous use of “reputational risk” as justification for denying service.

Until now, institutions like JPMorgan, Bank of America, CitiGroup, and PNC have staunchly defended their practices, insisting that account closures rested solely on objective criteria. But in an extraordinary shift, these same banks through unnamed executives quoted by Fox News Digital have now voiced concerns about the “very, very real” pressure they felt from federal regulators under the Obama and Biden administrations.

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Key Takeaways

  • The Federal Trade Commission has dismissed its complaint against Grand Canyon University, ending all legal complaints initiated by the Biden administration.
  • GCU President Brian Mueller argues the accusations were part of a coordinated effort by the Biden administration to undermine the Christian university.
  • The dismissal follows the revocation of a $37.7 million fine by the Department of Education and a victory for GCU in a related court case.

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The Democratic National Committee (DNC) has poured $15 million into paying off debt from the failed presidential candidacy of former Vice President Kamala Harris.

The organization faces a shortfall after the Harris campaign spent $1.5 billion in her doomed 15 weeks as the Democrat hopeful, Breitbart reported.

Harris was crushed in the 2024 presidential election, and now a record-setting debt has forced the DNC to shell out millions in the first half of the year.

This figure comes as the Republican National Committee (RNC) is working with a cash surplus of $80 million after President Donald Trump’s historic win.

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The Cracker Barrel brouhaha has ended the only way it possibly could… with Donald Trump involved. Once the president of the United States says your new logo is stupid, it’s time to bend the knee while waving the white flag of surrender. The restaurant did. Uncle Hershal is back. Now the truth is being told about the decision-making process. Spoiler: The people responsible were told fans would hate it, but they didn’t care.

To recap Tuesday, in the morning, Donald Trump was all like:

Then in the afternoon, Cracker Barrel was all like:

Here’s where the story takes a hilarious turn. When CEO Julie Felss Masino announced her strategic plan to transform the brand, an investor spoke up and warned her that everything she wanted to do was stupid and would be rejected by people who actually like Cracker Barrel, as opposed to the people Masino was attempting to impress.

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You would have thought that the Bud Light, Target, and other woke corporate fiascos would have been lesson enough, but moooooo....

And the CEO Julie Felss Masino and her board knew. They ignored warnings last year from investor Sardar Biglari that her “strategic transformation plan” and rebrand was “obvious folly.”

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“We can still take care of this for you.”

These were the words a young woman heard from her obstetrician as they looked at an ultrasound image of her baby at about seven months’ gestation. The baby already weighed more than five pounds.

The conversation took place in Maryland, where there are no limits on abortion and where Medicaid foots the bill. It’s not possible to know why a doctor would make such a suggestion to a woman so far along in her pregnancy, but the price tag for a third-trimester abortion can be $10,000 or more.

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Most Austrians see Christianity as an important part of the country’s cultural heritage.

According to a recent survey presented by Austrian Family Minister Claudia Plakolm, 69 percent of Austrians favor keeping crosses in public school classrooms even in areas with a non-Christian majority. Moreover, 79 percent said they want Christian (and specifically Catholic) holidays like St. Nicholas’ Day, Easter, and St. Martin’s Day to be celebrated in schools.

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Go after the criminals, and crime goes down. And we are now seeing that in action in Washington, D.C.

Hundreds of arrests have taken place in the nation’s capital since President Donald Trump announced a crackdown in crime, with federal agents and the National Guard assisting law enforcement to clean up the streets.

According to the Washington Post, over 450 arrests have taken place since Aug. 7.

The D.C. Police Union released its numbers on social media platform X, showing how dramatically crime has gone down.

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The Trump administration is imposing sanctions on four members of the International Criminal Court (ICC) for targeting Israelis and Americans for prosecution.

The ICC last year issued warrants for the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other officials. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the sanctions in a post on X in which he explained that the ICC “continues to disregard national sovereignty and facilitate lawfare through efforts to investigate, arrest, detain, and prosecute American and Israeli nationals.”

 

Mexico sends 26 cartel members to U.S. in deal with Trump administration– www.cbsnews.com

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Mexico sent 26 high-ranking cartel figures to the United States Tuesday in the latest major deal with the Trump administration as American authorities ratchet up pressure on criminal networks smuggling drugs across the border.

Those handed over to U.S. custody include Abigael González Valencia, a leader of “Los Cuinis,” a group closely aligned with notorious cartel Jalisco New Generation, or CJNG. Another defendant, Roberto Salazar, is wanted in connection to the 2008 killing of a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy. Other prominent figures have ties to the Sinaloa Cartel and other violent drug trafficking groups.

Mexican officials said Wednesday the latest transfer was not part of wider negotiations as Mexico seeks to avoid higher tariffs threatened by President Trump

“These transfers are not only a strategic measure to ensure public safety, but also reflect a firm determination to prevent these criminals from continuing to operate from within prisons and to break up their networks of influence,” Mexican Security Minister Omar García Harfuch said in a news conference on Wednesday.

Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum also said earlier Wednesday that the transfers were “sovereign decisions,” but the move comes as the Mexican leader faces mounting pressure by the Trump administration to crack down on cartels and fentanyl production.

Late last month, Mr. Trump spoke with Sheinbaum and agreed to put off threatened 30% tariffs for another 90 days to allow for negotiations.  

The transfers are a milestone for the Trump administration, which has made dismantling dangerous drug cartels a key Justice Department priority. It’s the second time in months that Mexico has expelled cartel figures accused of narcotics smuggling, murder and other crimes amid mounting pressure from the Trump administration to curb the flow of drugs onto American streets.

“These 26 men have all played a role in bringing violence and drugs to American shores — under this Department of Justice, they will face severe consequences for their crimes against this country,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement. “We are grateful to Mexico’s National Security team for their collaboration in this matter.”

In February, Mr. Trump signed an executive order designating CJNG, Sinaloa and six other cartels — Tren de Aragua, Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), Cártel del Noreste (formerly Los Zetas), La Nueva Familia Michoacana, Cártel de Golfo (Gulf Cartel), and Cárteles Unidos — as foreign terrorist organizations.

The cartel figures were put on planes to the U.S. after the Justice Department agreed not to seek the death penalty against any of the defendants or against any cartel leaders and members sent to the U.S. in February. That transfer was of 29 cartel figures, including drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero, who was behind the killing of a U.S. DEA agent in 1985.

“This transfer is yet another example of what is possible when two governments stand united against violence and impunity,” U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ronald Johnson said in a statement. “These fugitives will now face justice in U.S. courts, and the citizens of both of our nations will be safer from these common enemies.”

Sheinbaum has shown a willingness to cooperate more on security than her predecessor, specifically being more aggressive in pursuit of Mexico’s cartels. But she has drawn a clear line when it comes to Mexico’s sovereignty, rejecting suggestions by Mr. Trump and others of intervention by the U.S. military.

Last week, a source familiar with the matter confirmed to CBS News that Mr. Trump directed the military to target drug cartels in Latin America. Sheinbaum responded Friday by saying there would be “no invasion of Mexico.”

Also included in the group expelled Tuesday was Servando Gómez Martinez, also known as “La Tuta,” a former school teacher who became one of Mexico’s most-wanted drug lords as head of the Knights Templar cartel. He was captured in 2015 and sentenced to 55 years in a Mexican prison in June 2019.

Mexican federal police escort who they identify as Servando “La Tuta” Gómez, leader of the Knights Templar cartel, as he sits inside a helicopter at a Federal hanger in Mexico City, Feb. 27, 2015. 

Eduardo Verdugo / AP


Gomez led the quasi-religious criminal group that once exercised absolute control over Michoacan and he liked to appear in interviews and videos. The cartel orchestrated politics, controlled commerce, dictated rules and preached a code of ethics around devotion to God and family, even as it murdered and plundered.

Abigael González Valencia is the brother-in-law of CJNG leader Nemesio Rubén “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes, a top target of the U.S. government. Abigael González Valencia was arrested in February 2015 in Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco and had been fighting extradition to the United States since then. The U.S. government has offered a reward of up to $15 million for information leading to “El Mencho’s” arrest or conviction.

Alongside his two brothers, Abigael González Valencia led “Los Cuinis,” which financed the founding and growth of the CJNG, one of the most powerful and dangerous cartels in Mexico. CJNG traffics hundreds of tons of cocaine, methamphetamine, and fentanyl into the United States and other countries and is known for extreme violence, murders, torture, and corruption.

One of his brothers, José González Valencia, was sentenced in Washington’s federal court in June to 30 years in a U.S. prison after pleading guilty to international cocaine trafficking. Jose González Valencia was arrested in 2017 under the first Trump administration at a beach resort in Brazil while vacationing with his family under a fake name.