Crossroads with Joshua Philipp

An alleged drone attack hit the Chernobyl nuclear reactor site in Ukraine and was able to pierce the shield of the facility that experienced a nuclear disaster during the Cold War. The attack took place as President Donald Trump is trying to negotiate a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine, as well as efforts in Europe that could keep the war going.

It’s possible that Americans could someday get a license to hunt drug cartel members. A U.S. senator has suggested that “letters of marque and reprisal” going back to the early 1800s could again be activated. The program under one of the U.S. Founding Fathers, President James Madison, allowed people to receive government licenses to become privateers to fight pirates, and it allowed them to attack and capture certain enemy vessels. If this is brought back, it could create a type of bounty hunter system, allowing Americans to fight gangs and cartels. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump has announced a plan to launch reciprocal tariffs on other countries.

A battle is taking place in Washington over the actions of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and Elon Musk. Democrats are declaring that the United States is now in a constitutional crisis, as the Department of Government Efficiency moves to halt funding, audit agencies, and fire government employees. In response to this, President Donald Trump has issued another executive action to further establish the legalities of DOGE. In other news, the FBI says it has found an additional 2,400 records on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. And now, a congressional task force is launching a new investigation into the assassination.

Many policies of the Trump administration are now being openly challenged by judges. This includes moves to block several of the administration's key policies—including the actions of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)—as well as freezes on spending cuts, holds on buyouts of federal employees, and many other measures. Meanwhile, the Trump administration is arguing that the court orders undermine presidential authority.

It turns out President Donald Trump wasn’t joking when he suggested Canada could become the 51st U.S. state. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was caught on a hot mic stating that Trump isn’t joking about the suggestion, and Trump also confirmed the intent during a recent press conference. In other news, it appears that Trump was likewise serious about diverting IRS agents to work on border security. The Department of Homeland Security is now seeking to deputize IRS officers to assist in the deportation of illegal immigrants.

The Department of Government Efficiency is facing legal challenges as it attempts to investigate the U.S. Treasury. The case is raising questions over the legalities of the department, which has been uncovering alleged overspending and other issues in the federal government. Yet the program actually isn’t new. It goes back to the Obama administration, which established not only its legality, but also its deep reach into the networks of government agencies.And on this, Musk is alleging that DOGE has already uncovered large-scale abuse of the social security system.

The United States could soon have a very different tax system. The Trump administration has now unveiled its list of tax priorities. This includes campaign promises like no tax on tips, as well as other reforms. While it doesn’t go as far as the near elimination of federal income tax that some have floated, it does appear to be aimed at reducing the amount of taxes for the average American. In other news, a spotlight has been shone on the U.S. Agency for International Development, and now the Trump administration is looking to dramatically slash staff numbers.

The Department of Government Efficiency’s investigations into the U.S. Agency for International Development have now revealed that several news outlets were receiving millions in government funds. This includes government funding that was going to many corporate news outlets like Politico. Not only that, the White House has also released a list showing wasteful spending by the USAID, including for things like $70,000 for the production of a "DEI musical" in Ireland. In other news, President Donald Trump may soon face his first round of impeachment hearings for his second term in office. Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) announced he will bring articles of impeachment against Trump for what he calls “ethnic cleansing in Gaza.” 

The Trump administration has now obtained a list of FBI employees who were involved in cases related to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol breach. Despite early attempts to block the list from being handed over, the FBI has now given the Justice Department a list of all employees who were involved in investigations and criminal cases related to the incident. This allegedly includes the names of 5,000 FBI employees, and it is raising questions over whether they could be fired. In response, a group of FBI agents has brought a class-action lawsuit against the Justice Department, alleging this amounts to an “unlawful and retaliatory” directive from President Donald Trump. And in other news, while speaking to press at the White House whilst he was signing even more executive orders yesterday, Trump also detailed preparations he has in place, were Iran to assassinate him.

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) under Elon Musk has gained access to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). And the investigations of what the USAID has been funding are now sparking a national debate. The agency is now being moved under the State Department and could serve a different mission going forward.

Non-governmental organizations tied to the process of mass migration into the United States have now been defunded. The announcement came from the Department of Homeland Security, and it has brought attention to government grants and funding that were going to NGOs accused of helping facilitate the border crisis.In other news, the United States has placed tariffs on Canada and Mexico, and additional tariffs on China. And now these countries are pushing back in what’s becoming a new tariff war.

It’s now being determined whether the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) agenda will become a reality. On Wednesday, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. sat before the Senate for the first day of his confirmation hearing. If he gets confirmed, he’ll become the new head of Health and Human Services, and with that, bring his stated plans to get harmful chemicals out of American food products, and to begin reforms within the pharmaceutical industry. Also, Trump signed a memorandum to prepare Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba to house illegal immigrants, according to the White House.

Federal income tax could be coming to an end in the United States. President Donald Trump first floated the idea when he was on the campaign trail, and it now seems he was serious. At a recent event, Trump discussed how the United States could replace income tax by using tariffs instead.

The 2024 elections were telling. Not only did President Donald Trump win the popular vote, and win every swing state, but he also came close to winning many states that are otherwise thought of as solid Democrat. It’s possible we could even see states like New Jersey become swing states in the next election. And now, it’s possible that even some solid blue states, like California and New York, could shift on the political spectrum due to issues of people leaving the states. As this happens, California could see a secession vote on the ballot in 2028.

The U.S. program to send money to countries around the world as foreign aid has been placed on hold and will be reviewed. This is part of a broader trend to end U.S. trade deficits, make NATO allies pay more, cut United Nations programs not in American interests, and many others. On Friday, the Trump administration froze nearly all foreign aid. The only exceptions to this are military assistance to Israel and Egypt and emergency food aid.

In just the first week of President Donald Trump’s second term in office, legal challenges are now emerging against his incoming policies. Among the 200 executive actions he came prepared with was an order to restrict birthright citizenship. That order was met with lawsuits from 22 states, and now a federal judge has temporarily blocked Trump’s order.

President Donald Trump issued an executive order to end affirmative action for federal contractors. He also directed all federal staff working on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs to be put on leave. And it doesn’t end there. Trump also put an end to the orders and policies of the Biden administration that focused on race politics. This is all a part of Trump's sweeping moves to purge DEI from the federal government.

President Donald Trump is now the 47th president of the United States. He has given some previews of his ambitious plans for office, including his 200 Day 1 executive actions. Yet this plan could soon meet with resistance. While the lead-up to the inauguration had been comparably smoother than the 2016 elections, when the nation saw large-scale anti-Trump protests, there’s now talk of how new challenges to Trump’s policies could begin.

Overnight, the United States has changed. Immediately following his inauguration and speech, President Donald Trump signed a series of executive actions in front of a live audience at the Capital One Arena.With cheers from the crowd, he ended a long list of policies from the former administration and issued new orders, before heading to the White House where he continued issuing executive actions while speaking with the press.

President Donald Trump is being sworn in as the 47th president of the United States today. With this, the political landscape could change globally, and we already have a general idea of what’s going to happen, given that Trump has detailed what he has in store for his first days in office. He reportedly has 100 executive actions ready to go starting on day one of his new administration. 

Hollywood hasn’t been doing so well. Many of the major planned blockbusters have fallen flat, and some have blamed this on things like social justice and other issues that have steered Hollywood more toward policies than toward creating good movies. President-elect Donald Trump is now saying he hopes to create a new “Golden Age of Hollywood,” and to do this, he announced the appointment of actors Jon Voight, Mel Gibson, and Sylvester Stallone to become special ambassadors to Hollywood.

TikTok may soon be banned in the United States due to its China ties, but some users are now migrating to a platform even more strongly linked to China’s communist regime. The case with TikTok is now in the hands of the Supreme Court, which is weighing the constitutionality of banning the video app unless its China-based owner, ByteDance, sells it off. It appears the ban is likely to be upheld, and some TikTok users have been jumping to another platform that’s even more Chinese—RedNote. Technically, the name is Xiaohongshu, which is Mandarin for “Little Red Book”—as in the teachings of former CCP leader Mao Zedong.In other news, TikTok may be just the first of many such companies that could be forced to either sell or get banned in the United States. The U.S. Department of Defense recently listed Tencent as a Chinese military company, and this could also have broad implications for tech and entertainment. Tencent owns the messaging app WeChat and has also been buying up large swaths of companies in the video game market—including many of the most popular games currently available. With the new designation, and with the passage of some recent U.S. laws, Tencent could soon go the way of TikTok.

President-elect Donald Trump has announced his plan to create a new agency called the External Revenue Service. This is an inversion of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and, as the new agency’s name suggests, its focus will be on collecting money from outside the United States—including through the use of tariffs.In other news, special counsel Jack Smith has officially left his position. The federal investigation and charges against Trump have now come to an end. But before leaving, part of Smith’s report on one case has been released to the public. In it, Smith alleges that had Trump not won the 2024 election, there would have been enough evidence for a criminal conviction. Trump, meanwhile, has strongly criticized the report and Smith, arguing it was part of a politicized campaign to target him.

With the presidential inauguration now less than a week away, the Senate is holding hearings on the appointments of President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet nominees. The hearings could display the level of support, or lack of enthusiasm, that Republicans will show for the incoming administration. And there are also questions about how this will go for Cabinet selections who’ve been the focus of media attacks. Among these is Defense Secretary nominee Pete Hegseth, and already veterans are rallying on the streets of Washington D.C. in his support.

Censorship programs were forced onto Facebook and Instagram through outside pressure, said Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who provided the details during an interview with Joe Rogan. Zuckerberg explained how programs for content moderation transformed into large-scale censorship systems after the COVID-19 outbreak. This ties in with his recent announcement that Meta will be ending these censorship practices, and working with the incoming Trump administration to push for freedom of expression globally.

A persecution of between 70 million and 100 million people has largely been hidden from the world, and western news outlets have played a role in concealing it from the public. The Chinese Communist Party launched a campaign of torture, killing, and live organ harvesting against the Falun Gong religious group in 1999. And while many news outlets even won awards in the early years for exposing the truth of the Chinese regime’s brutal actions, many mysteriously stopped covering it around 2003, and some have even flipped to parroting the communist party’s propaganda. To learn more about this, and what has actually been taking place, we speak with Levi Browde, executive director of the Falun Dafa Information Center, a human rights organization that has been researching and exposing the persecution.

The fires in Los Angeles are not just a natural disaster. They’re also turning into a political disaster, as blame falls on California’s policies on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and environmental regulation. Many are now raising concerns over regulations that allegedly led to water shortages, policies on forestry management, and money for the Fire Department being diverted to programs for DEI.

Individuals who risk prosecution under the incoming Trump administration could receive preemptive pardons. President Joe Biden said he was considering issuing pardons like this in order to shield key figures from prosecution. Biden demonstrated a novel use of pardons like this when he granted his son, Hunter Biden, a pardon for any potential crimes committed between January 2014 and December 2024. The president has been pressed to give similar pardons to others, although he has not fully committed to doing so.

Meta is ending its third-party fact-checking system on platforms like Facebook and Instagram, and looking to adopt a community notes system following in the footsteps of X. This push for more freedom of expression was announced in a video from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, where he noted the problems that were caused by an increase in censorship in recent years, and he also explained how he plans to work with the incoming Trump administration to push back against censorship pressure coming to the United States from Europe.

President-elect Donald Trump is hoping to jumpstart his administration with one massive bill, covering everything from border policies to taxes to energy. With less than two weeks before the inauguration, he has held closed-door meetings to win support among key figures in Congress. The goal is to fast-track the agenda through Congress and get the package of legislation on Trump’s desk by the end of April.Read 'China’s Massive Hacking Campaign Targeting the US': https://www.theepochtimes.com/article/ch­inas-massive-hacking-campaign-targeting-­the-us-5785939

It’s Jan. 6 yet again, and this time, it will be the electoral college votes for President-elect Donald Trump getting certified at the U.S. Capitol building.Over the course of the last four years, and even after the election results were declared for 2024, Trump has faced legal actions that raised questions over whether he could be rendered ineligible for reelection. Despite the pressure, and some recent doubts that were cast over the election certification, Republicans and Democrats in Congress appear to remain in support of a peaceful transition of power.

A suspected terrorist attack killed at least 14 people in New Orleans on New Year’s Day. The suspect, Shamsud-Din Jabbar, was killed in a shootout with police after driving a truck through a crowd of people celebrating the new year, and an ISIS flag was discovered inside the vehicle. The FBI is now investigating whether the attack has any ties to another incident the same day, where a Tesla Cybertruck loaded with gas tanks and fireworks exploded outside the Las Vegas Trump International Hotel. Yet these incidents are also raising an additional concern. Just prior to this, a former CIA agent warned in an interview on the Shawn Ryan Show that the terrorist groups ISIS and al-Qaeda were planning a resurgence of attacks within the United States for 2025.

You may soon be seeing new engagement on Facebook, but this may not be from human users. Instead, it may be from AI bots, and you may be unable to tell whether or not you’re engaging with a real person. Meta, the company behind Facebook and Instagram, has announced it will bring AI-generated characters to the social media platforms in a move to increase engagement on the platform, and users will be able to engage with these bots. This is raising some concerns over what’s been referred to as the “dead internet theory.” This used to be a conspiracy that much of today’s internet is bots and AI-created content, while human users have been disengaging. And there are also concerns that the bot content could be used to drive different narratives or agendas.

A heated debate has erupted over H-1B visas, and now President-elect Donald Trump has chimed in. The debate was triggered by comments from Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, who will head the incoming Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Both came out in support of the visas, while many influencers with pro-Trump leanings came out strongly against the visa policies. The topic could become a key factor in the policies of the next Trump administration on immigration, domestic manufacturing, and American innovation.

A new Pentagon report says the Chinese regime is planning to launch a cognitive war against the United States. The Department of Defense released its 2024 report to Congress on the military and security developments of the CCP, and it notes that the CCP is planning to launch sophisticated information warfare operations against the United States. These will allegedly include the use of deepfake AI content and other forms of psychological warfare.

Could Donald Trump’s inauguration as the 47th president of the United States be blocked? A roadmap for this roadblock was laid out in a recent op-ed in The Hill.In other news, the State Department’s Global Engagement Center lost its funding in the recent spending bill. House Republicans pushed to have the center’s funding pulled over concerns that it was engaging in unconstitutional censorship.Also, a former Chinese official has revealed the existence of human organ markets being run by the Chinese communist regime.

Limited authority to shoot down the mystery drones was given to police in Long Island. This is now raising debates in other parts of the United States where the lack of clear answers is deepening concerns over exactly what the drones are, and who may be behind them. And the debates are also raising new questions over military laws on shooting down drones, and why they’re not being used.

Children in the United States could start learning about the dangers of communism. A bill was just passed in the House of Representatives that would create a class in U.S. schools to educate kids about what communism really is, and about the harm it has caused the world. The bill was passed in an overwhelming majority vote of 327–62, and received support from both Republicans and Democrats.Watch our special report revealing the Chinese Communist Party's plot to use disinformation and warfare to target people in the United States: https://ept.ms/CCPPlotUncoveredCR

A recent study found that programs for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) may actually create the problems they claim to address. The study conducted by the Network Contagion Research Institute and Rutgers University found that DEI training resulted in people seeing discrimination and abuse in areas where no such cases existed. It also found that people who underwent DEI training became more hostile and authoritarian.Watch our special report on how the Chinese Communist Party is targeting Americans using disinformation and lawfare here: https://ept.ms/CCPPlotUncoveredCR

Description: The shares of major healthcare insurance companies took a fall after President-elect Donald Trump announced he intends to reform the industry and “knock out the middleman.” Among the companies that saw drops in their shares were UnitedHealth Group Inc., CVS Health Corp., and others. Trump’s comments come at an important time, following the recent shooting death of the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, which is an operating division of UnitedHealth Group, the largest single health carrier in the United States.Watch our special report 'CCP Targets Americans Using Disinformation and Lawfare' here: https://ept.ms/CCPPlotUncoveredCR 

A large campaign is underway to bring manufacturing and investment back to the United States. The incoming Trump administration is working on incentives for foreign investors and will be using tariffs and low taxes as methods to revive domestic manufacturing. Already it seems to be having an effect. Major investment projects are already being announced, and business leaders are traveling to President-elect Donald Trump’s home at Mar-a-Lago for meetings ahead of the Jan. 20, 2025, presidential inauguration.

The Supreme Court just made a unanimous ruling on a case that will be pivotal in President-elect Donald Trump’s plans for deportations of illegal immigrants. The 9–0 ruling has determined that federal courts cannot review a federal government decision to revoke an immigration visa. This means that if illegal immigrants are up for deportation, they will have a much more difficult time bringing their challenges to U.S. courts.In other news, Daylight Savings Time could soon be over. Trump is saying he plans to bring an end to Daylight Savings Time.We’ll discuss these topics and more, in this episode of “Crossroads."

Companies are being accused of hiding the dangers of forever chemicals while selling them to the public. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced a new lawsuit on Dec. 11 targeting brands including Teflon, Stainmaster, and Scotchgard. The lawsuit alleges that companies engaged in deceptive trade practices while failing to disclose the dangers of the products. We’ll discuss this topic and others, in this episode of “Crossroads.” Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and guests and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. ⭕️ 🇺🇸Josh's Special Offer👉 https://ept.ms/JoshSpeicalOffer ⭕️ Support our fight for the truth👉 https://donorbox.org/crossroads

Mystery drones have been spotted over key U.S. military facilities, as well as other sensitive locations including President-elect Donald Trump’s Bedminster golf course. Reports say the drones are big, loud, and brightly lit, but often go dark as soon as they’re seen. Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) also relayed reports that swarms of the drones have been coming off the ocean, and he detailed communications with U.S. defense officials who said they don’t have the authority to attack or bring down the drones. We’ll discuss this topic and others, in this episode of Crossroads. Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and guests and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. ⭕️ 🇺🇸Josh's Special Offer👉 https://ept.ms/JoshSpeicalOffer ⭕️ Support our fight for the truth👉 https://donorbox.org/crossroads

President-elect Donald Trump is alleging that other countries have been exploiting the United States, and that this exploitation will soon come to an end. Trump has raised concerns over U.S. trade deficits with Mexico and Canada. He has pointed to European nations refusing the sale of U.S. goods, while American taxpayers cover a large portion of Europe’s defense costs. And Trump is also floating the use of tariffs and pressure to even the global playing field, while also revamping American production to bring wealth back to the country. The plan is causing controversy among foreign leaders as well as some economists. We’ll discuss this topic and others, in this episode of Crossroads. Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and guests and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. ⭕️ 🇺🇸Josh's Special Offer👉 https://ept.ms/JoshSpeicalOffer ⭕️ Support our fight for the truth👉 https://donorbox.org/crossroads

Human traffickers have found ways to create forced labor systems to profit from illegal immigrants. A new case is bringing attention to a new form of crime that is finding its way into the United States, in what has been referred to as “new age slavery.” We’ll discuss this topic and others in this episode of “Crossroads.” Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and guests and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. ⭕️ 🇺🇸Josh's Special Offer👉 https://ept.ms/JoshSpeicalOffer ⭕️ Support our fight for the truth👉 https://donorbox.org/crossroads

The Arab Spring may be making a return. A rebel uprising in Syria has now officially toppled the Assad regime. The country became a key focus of the uprisings in 2011 where people were overthrowing dictators in the region, but ended in Syria mainly through Russian intervention. And now, with a power vacuum taking place, as Russian and Iranian forces are pulled into their own conflicts, it appears those revolts are back. Despite this, President-elect Donald Trump is also issuing a warning to the United States to not intervene, suggesting this is not America’s conflict. We’ll discuss this topic, and others, in this episode of Crossroads. Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and guests and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. ⭕️ 🇺🇸Josh's Special Offer👉 https://ept.ms/JoshSpeicalOffer ⭕️ Support our fight for the truth👉 https://donorbox.org/crossroads

A new warning is being sent out to Americans to stop sending text messages amid a large-scale breach of U.S. networks by Chinese hackers. The FBI, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, and U.S. Cyber Defense Agency are now telling people to use encrypted apps for chats and phone calls amid the current breach. We’ll discuss this topic and others, in this episode of Crossroads. Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and guests and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. ⭕️ 🇺🇸Josh's Special Offer👉 https://ept.ms/JoshSpeicalOffer ⭕️ Support our fight for the truth👉 https://donorbox.org/crossroads

Democrats are considering making a call for broad pardons before President Joe Biden leaves office. This follows Biden’s recent pardon of his son Hunter Biden for all possible crimes, going back more than a decade. And with the incoming Trump administration promising large-scale criminal investigations, many are now wondering whether similar pardons should be granted to others—although there are still debates over whether this could be helpful, or whether it could cause more harm than good. We’ll discuss this topic and others, in this episode of Crossroads. Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and guests and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. ⭕️ 🇺🇸Josh's Special Offer👉 https://ept.ms/JoshSpeicalOffer ⭕️ Support our fight for the truth👉 https://donorbox.org/crossroads

Martial law was declared, and then quickly lifted, in South Korea. The declaration was allegedly clearing the way to root out North Korean subversion throughout the country. It was made by South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on Dec. 3. The country’s parliament voted to end martial law, which was lifted not long after. But the issue still stands over whether the country has been subverted by North Korea, and what may still be done to tackle the issue. We’ll discuss this topic and others in this episode of Crossroads. Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and guests and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. ⭕️ 🇺🇸Josh's Special Offer👉 https://ept.ms/JoshSpeicalOffer ⭕️ Support our fight for the truth👉 https://donorbox.org/crossroads