BUT ENOUGH ABOUT ME: President Trump delivered a two-hour advertisement for himself last night before a joint session of Congress opening up with “America is back!” 

  Trump recapped his many opening moves and executive orders, from freezing foreign aid, to shrinking the federal government, ending the green new deal, killing environmental regulations, and federal diversity-equity initiatives while declaring himself the greatest president in his first weeks, “And you know who number two is, George Washington.”

  He described a world of threats and problems from which only he can save America.

  While Democrats sat silent, Republicans chanted “USA!, USA!” Within minutes the Democrats broke into heckling, Speaker Johnson demanded order, and commanded the removal of Texas Democratic Rep. Al Green, who shouted that Trump has “no mandate” and refused to sit down. 

  Trump claimed to have accomplished more in the opening weeks of his administration than other presidents have in four or eight years “and we are just getting started.”

  This morning, The Washington Post analyzed a list of 26 outright false and misleading statements by the President.

  He repeat campaign promises from lowering egg prices to increasing the oil supply with “Drill baby, drill.” He railed about transgender women in women’s sports, threatening to cut off federal funding for schools that allow it. His delivered his usual superlatives, “the likes of which the world has never seen.” 

  At times the camera cut to Democrats holding up circular black signs that said “Elon Steals,” and “False.”

  As Speaker Johnson and Vice President JD Vance laughed behind him, Trump read through a list of grants and programs cancelled by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency: “ He recited statistics about tens of millions of superannuated people in the Social Security database, suggesting … but not saying … that they still receive benefits.

  Trump extolled the virtues of tariffs on imports, “what a beautiful word.” 

  And praising his crackdown on illegal immigration, he declared that we are achieving the “great liberation of America.”

  And the president who is a convicted felon declared that “we must bring back law and order to our cities and towns.”

THE WAR ROOM: Shortly after the Trump administration announced a cutoff of military aid to Ukraine putting pressure on the victim of Russia’s invasion, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said he has plans for ending the war

  Zelensky said he would release Russian prisoners of war, stop long-range drone and missile attacks on Russian targets, and declare a truce at sea immediately, but only “if Russia will do the same.” 

  With the White House following last Friday’s disastrous Oval Office confrontation claiming that Zelensky is the obstacle to peace, his plan puts the onus on Russia. “Our meeting in Washington, at the White House on Friday, did not go the way it was supposed to be,” Zelensky on Twitter/X. “It is regrettable that it happened this way. It is time to make things right.”

  Zelensky notably thanked the US after being accused of not doing so last week. “We do really value how much America has done to help Ukraine maintain its sovereignty and independence,” he wrote. “And we remember the moment when things changed when President Trump provided Ukraine with Javelins. We are grateful for this.”

  Flattery of Donald Trump will get you everywhere.

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE:

— Anti-vaccine Health and Human Service Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. recommended anti-biotics and cod liver oil for treating patients in the Texas measles outbreak, but did not recommend that people get vaccinated.

   Kennedy said, “We’re going to be honest with the American people for the first time in history about what actually — about all of the tests and all of the studies, about what we know, what we don’t know,” and that, “We’re going to tell them, and that’s going to anger some people who want an ideological approach to public health.”

— US Stock Markets fell dramatically for the second day following President Trump’s imposition of tariffs on good from Canada, Mexico and China. Investors fear the tariffs will result in a wider trade war and hurt the economy.

— New York Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul sent out a welcome to fired federal workers to apply for state jobs, calling it her “You’re Hired” initiative.

POLITICAL ENVIRONMENT: While Donald Trump seeks to cripple the Environmental Protection Agency, the Supreme Court dealt another blow yesterday to EPA regulations on how urban wastewater is released back into the wild.

  In this case it was liberal San Francisco that sued the EPA questioning whether the Clean Water Act of 1972 allows the EPA to impose standards for wastewater released into the Pacific Ocean and to penalize the city for violating them.

  Justice Samuel Alito Jr. wrote for the majority that the E.P.A. has the power to impose specific requirements to prevent pollution but not to make polluters responsible whenever water quality falls below the agency’s standards. 

SPORTING NEWS: Los Angeles lakers star LeBron James at age 40 has become the first NBA player to score 50,000 points .

THE SPIN RACK: Federal authorities say they have detained a senior Islamic State official responsible for the notorious bombing during the  2021 evacuation of Afghanistan in which 13 US soldiers and about 170 Afghans were killed — Texas Gov. Dan Patrick, whose state borders the Gulf of America, proposed renaming the standard New York strip steak in his state the Texas Strip. Patrick said re-naming the steak would be a boon to cattle ranchers in his state and “Liberal New York shouldn’t get the credit for our hard-working ranchers.”

BELOW THE FOLD:  Burglars broke into the home of an internet influencer known as “The Money Queen” and made off with piles of fake cash used for a photo shoot in which bills were spilling out of her car.

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