Saturday, December 20, 2025
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A Georgia State Election Board investigation substantiated that Fulton County violated election rules in 2020 by failing to have poll workers sign required tabulation tapes for early votes in 36 out of 37 advanced voting precincts, affecting approximately 315,000 ballots. These unsigned tapes broke the chain-of-custody and certification requirements under Georgia law, which mandates signed tapes as the sole legal proof of authentic vote totals.
During a board meeting on December 9th, Ann Brumbaugh, attorney for the Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections, contends that Fulton County does “not dispute that the tapes were not signed.”
Oof.
The US Treasury wants more states to embrace
Trump’s tax cuts. So far, only a few
have done so replies
Trump’s tax cuts. So far, only a few
have done so replies
To tax tips or not? That is a question that will confront lawmakers in states across the U.S. as they convene for work next year.
President Donald Trump’s administration is urging states to follow its lead by enacting a slew of new tax breaks for individuals and businesses, including deductions for tips and overtime wages, automobile loans and business equipment.
In some states, the new federal tax breaks will automatically apply to state income taxes unless legislatures opt out. But in many other states, where tax laws are written differently, the new tax breaks won’t appear on state tax forms unless legislatures opt in.
The Justice Department has finally begun releasing the long‑awaited trove of Jeffrey Epstein files — and the initial batch of never‑before‑seen photos and documents includes a jaw‑dropping lineup of high‑profile figures who had contacts with the notorious financier and child rapist.
While the images are explosive, the DOJ has said that being photographed with Epstein doesn’t equate to criminal guilt, and many of the appearances in past photos released — including those by President Trump — are social or casual in nature.
Here’s who else appears in the Epstein files: Former President Bill Clinton — New photos depict former President Bill Clinton vacationing with Epstein and his long-term partner and madam,
Brown University has been brushing off security issues for years — ignoring warnings from students, staff and even police, The Post has learned.
The revelation comes after two students were killed and nine others hurt in a mass shooting at the Ivy League school that has seen critics slam the institution for prioritizing image over safety.
The engineering building where the shooting took place didn’t have a swipe-card mechanism and could be accessed by anyone through the public-facing coffee shop, students said. It didn’t have security officer posted at the front either, like some other buildings do, school officials have said.
Iran uses Iraq not just as a military platform but as a financial artery, moving funds through banks, exchanging currencies, and availing itself of corrupt networks to bypass sanctions. Without pressure on Iraq to clean up these financial tributaries, Iran enjoys a back door that keeps it stomping ahead even while under international pressure. It is a door the West has left open for far too long.
Lebanon's weakness has allowed the Iranian regime to turn the country into its most important forward base – felicitously right on the border of Israel.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday directing federal agencies to reclassify marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III under the Controlled Substances Act. This shift acknowledges the drug's potential medical uses while placing it alongside substances like ketamine and codeine-laced Tylenol, which carry moderate risks of dependence. The move builds on a process initiated under the Biden administration but stalled by inaction for years. Trump emphasized that the order facilitates essential research into marijuana's benefits and dangers without legalizing recreational use nationwide. "This reclassification order will make it far easier to conduct marijuana-related medical research,"
And now, readers, we return to the story that won’t go away, the Jeffrey Epstein saga. The deceased pedophile continues to dominate headlines over six years after his death, mostly because there are rumors that high-profile individuals were involved with his exploits, and if their enemies can prove it, they can be ruined.
There are also countless victims who have never received justice.
Already this Friday afternoon/evening, news broke that today was the deadline Congress had established for the DOJ to release the files, and the department was doing just that. As our Ward Clark reported, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche announced that the investigation had
Okay, John Hinderaker went and did it last week! He has abused his stewardship of TWiP and went full Die Hard Christmas Movie Denialist! As the Dude says in The Big Lebowski, this aggression will not stand, man! To restore proper balance in the universe, I am staging a coup d’tat, and am taking over this week’s TWiP. To mix movie references further, John has done a Denethor-level job as Steward of TWiP; time for the Return of the (TWiP) King! Actually, like the Gaza and (prospective) Ukraine ceasefires, we’re going to share power, and alternate TWiP each week. And so as the great John McClain
A Horrible Year for Health?
replies
The Lancet, headquartered in Britain, was once a respected medical journal. Now, it is mostly a left-wing rag. The current issue, just out, leads with an editorial titled “2025: an annus horribilis for health in the USA.” Really? Our health has gone downhill? Has life expectancy declined? Was there an epidemic that I missed?
No. The entire editorial is an anti-Trump screed. 2025 was a horrible year, not for Americans’ health, but for left-wing preferences in health care policy. Thus:
Federal funding cuts had occurred under Joe Biden and mistrust in the nation’s health leaders has been waning over time, but the goal of the Trump administration
Half of $18 billion in federal welfare funds, which supports 14 Minnesota-run programs since 2018, has been lost to fraud, Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Thompson said during a press conference Thursday.
People come from all over the world to steal millions from U.S. government Medicaid, housing, and other programs, he added. “Minnesota has become a magnet for fraud, so much so that we have developed a fraud tourism industry — people coming to our state purely to exploit and defraud its programs,” Thompson said. “This is a deeply unsettling reality that all Minnesotans should understand.”
Trump Administration Releases Part of
Epstein Document Trove Ahead of Congressional Deadline replies
Epstein Document Trove Ahead of Congressional Deadline replies
The Trump administration released some of the federal government’s trove of documents about deceased pedophile Jeffrey Epstein on the deadline set by Congress.
The Justice Department released thousands of Epstein-related documents on Friday in an attempt to comply with the congressionally imposed deadline to publicize all the documents within 30 days. Photos and call logs are among the batch of Epstein files, which feature redactions meant to protect victims’ identities and other sensitive information.
Epstein’s friends, associates, victims, possessions, and estate can be seen in the voluminous trove of photos the Trump administration disclosed Friday
The U.S. military struck more than 70 targets at multiple locations across central Syria against Islamic State on Friday, retaliating a week after two U.S. service members and one civilian were killed by a gunman tied to ISIS in an ambush attack.
U.S. forces, as part of “Operation Hawkeye Strike,” eliminated ISIS fighters, weapons sites and infrastructure in response to the attack on U.S. service members in Palmyra, Syria, on Dec. 13, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Friday.
The U.S. military utilized fighter jets, attack helicopters and artillery against ISIS targets, U.S. Central Command (Centcom) said. Jordan’s Armed Forces supported\
Several of the largest U.S. and European-based drugmakers inked deals with President Donald Trump on Friday to voluntarily sell their medications for less, as his administration pushes to link the nation's drug prices to cheaper ones abroad. (snip) Among the most notable pledges is that Bristol Myers Squibb will offer Eliquis, its blockbuster blood-thinner and top-prescribed product, for free to Medicaid. The companies make up a majority of the 17 drugmakers Trump sent letters to in July, calling on them to lower prices as part of his "most favored nation" policy.
Elon Musk’s 2018 pay package from Tesla, once worth $56 billion, was restored by the Delaware Supreme Court on Friday, two years after a lower court struck down the compensation deal as “unfathomable.”
The ruling overturns a decision that had prompted a furious backlash from Musk and damaged Delaware’s business-friendly reputation.
The pay package was by far the largest ever until Tesla shareholders approved a new, even larger pay plan in November.
The ruling means that Musk can finally get paid for his work since 2018, when he transformed
President Donald Trump announced Friday that he has struck most-favored-nation (MFN) deals with nine more major drug companies to radically lower prescription drug costs, bringing the total to 14 agreements since late September.
Trump announced agreements with Amgen, Bristol Myers Squibb, Boehringer Ingelheim, Genentech, Gilead Sciences, GSK, Merck, Novartis, and Sanofi during a press conference in the Roosevelt Room. The deals follow those he has already reached with Pfizer, Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk, AstraZeneca, and EMD Serono, the first of which came with Pfizer several months ago. “This represents the greatest victory for patient affordability in the history of American health care, by far, and every single American will benefit,”
Writing this in December as I am you might be tempted to think I’m something of a money-grubbing Scrooge, but let me assure you in this first sentence I’m nothing of the sort. In fact, when it comes to tipping good service, I’m renowned for being generous, and was going twenty percent years before it was standard.
My formula for a tip is this. When I enter an establishment, the wait staff is at twenty percent, perhaps even a little more. The tip is built into my tipping psyche. At that point, it’s up to the wait staff to begin working their way down.
GOP Rep. Elise Stefanik unexpectedly dropped her bid to become New York’s next governor Friday.
“While spending precious time with my family this Christmas season, I have made the decision to suspend my campaign for Governor and will not seek re-election to Congress. I did not come to this decision lightly for our family,” she posted on X.
“While we would have overwhelmingly won this primary, it is not an effective use of our time or your generous resources to spend the first half of next year in an unnecessary and protracted Republican primary, especially in a challenging state like New York.”
Kamala Harris appeared on Jimmy Kimmel’s alleged comedy show and waxed moronic about how “abnormal” Trump and his administration and followers are. She sneered, curled her lips around her disdain, and told the hyper fancritters in the live audience that “Nothing about this is normal and should not be normalized.” (Pick it up at 04:33.)
“Wrong, corrupt, and cowardly” were some words she used to describe the Trump administration and its leader, Donald J. Trump.
Public Press Release – HERE / Affidavit Available – HERE
Rhode Island – […] “On December 18, 2025, a Rhode Island state court, based on an affidavit from a Providence Police Detective, issued a state arrest warrant for Neves Valente charging him with two counts of murder and 23 felony counts of assault and felony firearms offenses.
Earlier this evening, law enforcement tracked Neves Valente to a Salem, New Hampshire storage unit. After obtaining a federal search warrant for the unit, authorities entered and found Neves Valente deceased from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Minnesota has "developed a fraud tourism industry" that entices scammers to travel to the North Star State to exploit "easy money" taxpayer-funded programs, Joe Thompson, the federal prosecutor behind the Somali fraud convictions, said Thursday. He unveiled charges against six new defendants, including two who were based in Philadelphia.
Federal prosecutors accused Anthony Waddell Jefferson and Lester Brown of traveling to Minneapolis to enroll sham companies in Minnesota’s federally funded Housing Stabilization Services program after hearing it was "a good opportunity to make money." The pair then returned to Philadelphia where they allegedly submitted up to $3.5 million in "fake and inflated"
EU Effort to Use Russian Funds to Support
Ukraine Collapses – EU Takes Out Loan
to Support Zelenskyy replies
Ukraine Collapses – EU Takes Out Loan
to Support Zelenskyy replies
The grand plans of the EU Leadership failed to generate their desired result. Initially, Ursula von der Leyen, Frederich Merz, Emmanuel Macron and Keir Starmer intended to permanently confiscate the Russian sovereign wealth fund and use it to fund their interests in Ukraine. However, the EU coalition didn’t agree.
The U.S. Senate on Thursday evening approved a tranche of 97 of President Donald Trump’s nominees for the executive branch as hundreds more await confirmation.
In a 53–43 vote, the Senate gave the green light to the resolution authorizing the confirmation of these nominees together as a group, marking the third slate of nominees approved through such a measure.
The vote was party line, with Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) not voting.
Investigators have revealed that the gunman responsible for killing two students at Brown University also killed a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor two days later.
The motives of 48-year-old Claudio Manuel Neves Valente for both attacks remains unclear, but federal prosecutors on Thursday disclosed an interesting detail about the relationship of the killer to one of his victims.
Nuno F.G. Loureiro, the 47-year-old MIT professor, was fatally shot at his home in the Boston suburb of Brookline by his former classmate.
The U.S. Department of Justice is suing Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger for access to the state's voter rolls. The Justice Department said information provided by Raffensperger's office did not include all of the information requested, including the voter's full name, date of birth, residential address, state driver's license number or the last four digits of their Social Security number.