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Trump admin launches ‘Gold Card’ visa website

WASHINGTON (TNS) — The Trump administration on Wednesday launched a Gold Card initiative that would allow foreign nationals to purchase legal status in the United States for $1 million.

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President Donald Trump was among the U.S. officials who made announcements touting the opening of the trumpcard.gov site, which has the Gold Card for individuals and the Corporate Gold Card for businesses.

“THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT’S TRUMP GOLD CARD IS HERE TODAY!” Trump posted on social media. “A direct path to Citizenship for all qualified and vetted people. SO EXCITING! Our Great American Companies can finally keep their invaluable Talent.”

Qualified individuals and corporations, who contribute $1 million and $2 million respectively, will receive expedited EB-1 or EB-2 green cards following rigorous vetting, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said.

The site allows people to apply to “receive U.S. residency in record time” via a $15,000 DHS processing fee, a background approval and a contribution of $1 million.

And it allows businesses to apply to receive U.S. residency “for your employees” via a $15,000 DHS processing fee, a background approval and a contribution of $2 million.

Trump signed the executive order in September establishing the Gold Card after announcing his plan for the initiative during an address to Congress at the start of the year, which has been promoted by Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. Back then, Trump was putting the price at $5 million.

The order for the Gold Card came down at the same time Trump signed the proclamation instituting a $100,000 fee to obtain an H-1B visa, which generated more attention at the time.

Lutnick has estimated the Gold Card initiative combined with the new fee on H-1B visas would amount to $100 billion in federal revenue.

Elon Musk says he is not safe in public after Kirk killing

(New York Daily News) — Billionaire MAGA activist Elon Musk claims that being in public puts him at risk, particularly in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s killing.

The 54-year-old Tesla CEO expressed his concerns on “The Katie Miller Podcast,” which is hosted by the wife of White House adviser Stephen Miller.

In addition to saying his largely unpopular work with the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency was only “somewhat successful” and not something he’d do again, Musk indicated he no longer feels safe in crowds.

“When’s the last time you did something extremely ordinary like go to Target or CVS?” Musk was asked.

“I can’t go to things where there’s the general public because… there’s an immediate ‘Can I have a selfie?’ line that forms,” he replied. “And these days, particularly in light of Charlie Kirk’s murder, there are serious, um, security issues.”

Kirk, a 31-year-old conservative activist, was assassinated in October while speaking on a Utah college campus. Authorities charged 22-year-old Tyler Robinson with his murder. The suspect’s motive remains unclear, though there’s no indication he’s part of a larger plot.

According to Musk, he wouldn’t mind spending more time in public, but the aftermath of Kirk’s death has erased that option.

“It certainly reinforced the severity of the situation where life is on hardcore mode,” Musk claimed. “You make one mistake and you’re dead and it only takes one one mistake.”

Musk told Miller — who also worked with DOGE — that had he focused on his companies and not worked with the Trump administration, protesters probably wouldn’t have begun burning his Tesla automobiles in worldwide protests.

Poll finds 48% of Americans oppose boat strikes

WASHINGTON (Reuters) — A broad swath of Americans oppose the U.S. military’s campaign of deadly strikes on boats suspected of carrying illegal drugs in Caribbean and Pacific waters near Venezuela, including about one fifth of President Donald Trump’s Republicans, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found.

About half of respondents — 48% — said they opposed conducting the strikes that have killed 87 people without first getting authorization from a judge or court, while 34% said they supported them. Eighteen percent were unsure or undecided.

Among Republicans, 67% supported the strikes and 19% opposed them. Among Democrats, 80% opposed the strikes and 9% supported them. The six-day poll, which concluded on Monday, comes amid mounting tensions between the U.S. and Venezuela, as Trump weighs options including land strikes to combat what Washington has portrayed as President Nicolas Maduro’s role in drug trafficking. Maduro has denied having links to the drug trade.

Administration officials say the strikes are stopping “narcoterrorists,” Venezuelan groups designated as foreign terrorist organizations who transport drugs to the United States that could kill Americans.

Experts say the strikes may be illegal, since there has been little or no proof made public that the boats are carrying drugs or that it was necessary to blow them out of the water rather than stop them, seize their cargo and question those on board.

Additionally, the U.S. Constitution gives Congress, not the president, the right to declare war that would allow for such a prolonged campaign of strikes.

Concerns about the strikes increased this month after reports that the commander overseeing the operation ordered a second strike to take out two survivors to comply with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s direction that everyone should be killed.