Posts on Tuesday, February 13, 2024
Filming has secretly started on a new series of Downton Abbey. The period drama--the last episode of which was aired a little over eight years ago--is making a surprise comeback in a seventh series. Bosses hoped to be able to bring back some of the big name actors such as Hugh Bonneville, Michelle Dockery, Elizabeth McGovern and Joanne Froggatt who appeared in the previous six seasons and two movie spin-offs. While it is not known if all of them have signed up, chiefs are said to be 'thrilled' with their casting.
Drake, 50 Cent, other Recording Artists
are Registered to Vote with Same Houston-Area Address replies
are Registered to Vote with Same Houston-Area Address replies
Here's a story that shows a political prank can turn into a good case for the need for voter identification when registering to vote. It involves five recording artists and a house in Katy, Texas.
Katy is a city west of Houston, in the Houston metro area. Katy's population at the time of the 2020 census was 21,894. The point is that it is a small city, most often thought of as a suburb of Houston. There is a story out today that recording artists Drake, 50 Cent, Chris Brown, Trey Songz, and The Game are all registered to vote with the same address in Katy.
Democratic former Rep. Tom Suozzi will win a high-stakes special election in New York to succeed disgraced Republican George Santos, CNN projects, a result that will further shrink the House GOP’s narrow majority.
While Suozzi’s win over Republican Mazi Pilip won’t affect control of the House, the result nevertheless has major implications for the GOP, which holds a narrow 219-212 majority in the chamber and can afford to lose just three votes on any partisan measure. An even tighter margin could prove critical in upcoming legislative battles over government funding and more.
In March 2023, Robert Kennedy, Jr. announced on Twitter that the Biden Administration had still not provided his campaign with Secret Service protection. Robert says after several requests they had received no response after 88 days!
This was shocking and unconscionable. Robert’s father Bobby Kennedy and uncle John F. Kennedy were both assassinated when he was a child. (X Photos) Since his first request, Robert Kennedy, Jr. has been denied Secret Service protection by the Biden administration at least three times.
Even after an intruder broke into his home, Robert Kennedy, Jr. was denied Secret Service protection.
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), in an exclusive interview with Sirius XM Breitbart News Daily on Tuesday, slammed Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) for the recent border bill “debacle,” saying that the leader did not even put on the negotiating table a provision to tie Ukraine aid to border metrics and that his “top priority” was Ukraine aid, not securing the border.
“My suggestion was to tie funding specifically to border metrics…that [Biden] has to continue to get those numbers down as he gets, let’s say $5 billion dollars a month,” Johnson said.
Trump, NATO, and the media
replies
There’s an odd dynamic that plays out when former President Donald Trump gives a campaign speech. Many news organizations have imposed a virtual blackout on his appearances. As a rule, they don’t broadcast Trump’s speeches live and often never report on them at all, even if a particular speech is newsworthy. When Trump won the Iowa caucuses, for example, Fox News carried his victory speech live, while CNN cut away from the speech when Trump discussed immigration, labeling his remarks “anti-immigrant rhetoric” unfit for CNN viewers. MSNBC did not broadcast the speech at all.
The House on Tuesday voted for a second time to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas after the first vote failed last week. This time, Republicans received the outcome they sought.
“Tonight’s vote was a vote for law and order in our communities, and a vote to restore the rule of law at our southern border,” Rep. John Joyce, R-Penn., told The Daily Signal.
On Tuesday night, 214 House members voted in favor of impeaching the DHS secretary, and 213 voted in opposition.
No Democrats voted in favor. The Senate is unlikely to act to remove Mayorkas given Democrats’ control of the upper chamber.
American Express, Visa, and Mastercard have announced they will comply with a California law that requires the companies to begin using a merchant code specific to firearms and ammunition retailers.Major credit card companies are moving to make a merchant code available for firearm and ammunition retailers in order to comply with a new California law that will allow banks to potentially track suspicious gun purchases and report them to law enforcement, CBS News has learned.
Retailers are assigned merchant codes based on the types of goods they sell, and the codes allow banks and credit card companies to detect purchase patterns.
House Republicans are expected to vote on a historic resolution to finally impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas tonight.
This comes after three RINO lawmakers bailed Mayorkas out last week.
The Gateway Pundit reported last week that Rep. Tom McClintock (R-CA), Rep. Ken Buck (R-CO), and Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI) joined the Democrats, leading to a tie vote in Tuesday’s attempt to impeach Mayorkas.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) said on X that the three RINOs “received TENS OF THOUSANDS of voicemails from furious Americans within the first 24 hours” after they sided with the Democrats.
Dow tumbles more than 500 points as hot
inflation data stokes fears about higher-for-longer rates replies
inflation data stokes fears about higher-for-longer rates replies
New York — Stocks took a dive Tuesday after a key inflation report revealed stubborn price increases, raising concerns on Wall Street that the Federal Reserve will keep rates higher for longer than anticipated.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 525 points, or 1.4%, on Tuesday, its largest single-day drop since March 2023. The blue-chip index nosedived more than 700 points at its session lows. The S&P 500 declined 1.4% and the Nasdaq Composite lost roughly 1.8%.
CNN’s Fear and Greed Index, which tracks seven indicators of market sentiment in the United States, fell to a “greed” reading from “extreme greed” the prior day. Tuesday’s selloff comes after the Dow on Monday
By now, you're aware that on Sunday afternoon, a deranged woman brought her young son and an AR-15 into Joel Osteen's Lakewood megachurch and opened fire. After the smoke cleared, the shooter, Genesse Ivonne Moreno, 36, had been killed by two off-duty officers. A 57-year-old man had taken a round in the leg; he was treated at a medical facility and released. And Moreno's seven-year-old son had been shot in the head. The boy remains in critical condition with a poor prognosis.
It's unclear whether Moreno herself shot her child, but then, there are a lot of confusing details still up in the air about this case. The woman had
Vice President Kamala Harris is facing growing criticism for her handling of the border crisis as the issue continues to weigh down President Joe Biden and his administration.
A former Biden administration senior official described Harris as 'ineffective' on the issue after the president personally appointed her to serve as a point person on the crisis in March 2021.
'She's been at best ineffective, and at worst sporadically engaged and not seeing it was her responsibility. It's an opportunity for her, and she didn't fill the breach,' the official told Axios.
‘Straight-up treason’: McConnell among
22 Republicans torched for helping Dems
pass $95B foreign aid replies
22 Republicans torched for helping Dems
pass $95B foreign aid replies
Nearly two dozen Senate Republicans thumbed their noses at colleges and constituents by joining with Democrats to pass a massive $95 billion foreign aid bill.
Adding insult to injury, a final vote of 70-29 with 22 Republicans in favor pushed through the bill that pours American taxpayer money into aid for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan while doing nothing to secure the U.S. border.
With more than half of Senate Republicans voting against it during the overnight session, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell was clear he placed no value on their arguments. He led the minority of 22 GOP lawmakers to hold hands with Democrats and get the bill passed. even delivering
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden rebuked former President Donald Trump on Tuesday for recently saying that he would encourage Russia to attack NATO nations that he thought had insufficiently spent on defense as part of the mutual protection agreement.
"The former president has sent a dangerous, and shockingly, frankly, un-American signal to the world. Just a few days ago, Trump gave an invitation to Putin to invade some of our NATO allies," Biden said in remarks from the White House. Biden continued: "He said if an ally didn't spend enough money on defense, he would encourage Russia to, 'Do whatever the hell it wants.' Can you imagine?
The Obama Doctrine vs. the West
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The global and domestic landscape is one of turmoil and indecision. Everywhere one looks there is chaos and potential disaster, whether in the financial, economic, political, or military sphere. Since the beginning of the post-World War II era there has been one constant that has been the stabilizing force in the world: the stature, power, and influence of the United States. The twelve years of Barack Obama and his ventriloquist dummy, Joe Biden, have overwhelmingly eroded America and dramatically accelerated the demise of western civilization.
San Diego Border Patrol agents have faced an untenable flood of Chinese migrants sneaking over the border each day, raising fears over the growing influence of the hostile state in the US.
Border sources claim that 269 Chinese migrants were apprehended by CBP officials in a single day this week, according to Fox News' Bill Melugin - with the number not including those who manage to cross undetected.
Chinese nationals now make up the largest growing demographic of migrants crossing the porous US-Mexico border. And 2024 is already well on-track to easily exceed the staggering 37,000 Chinese migrants who were apprehended by the CBP in the 2023 fiscal year.
In his excellent podcast series, “Cold War: Prelude to the Present,” Bill Whittle opens the series by describing the Berlin Wall as “not only a wall between East and West Berlin.” He continues:
It was the division of humanity into two different camps…
On one side of the wall, the Eastern side, were the collectivists, who believed that society takes precedent over the person. This collectivism was advertised as new and scientific, but the fact is that collectivism has been the default position of humanity since humanity began.
No, the actual newcomer to this clash of visions were
China's Communist Party is at this moment putting in place the infrastructure in America to attack America.
[I]n Reedley, California, near Fresno, authorities found a secret Chinese biological weapons lab with at least 20 pathogens, including the one for Ebola, and almost a thousand mice that had been genetically engineered to spread disease.
Chinese agents, in addition to hobbling Americans with disease and gunning them down, could bomb power stations, attack military bases, start wildfires, poison reservoirs, or create terror in dozens of ways.
These tactics come straight out of Unrestricted Warfare, a 1999 book written by two Chinese air force colonels
Democratic lawmakers in Colorado have introduced legislation that would allow non-residents to access medically assisted suicide. (snip) The bill's sponsor in the state Senate, Democratic Sen. Joann Ginal, has objected to the use of the term "suicide" in association with the bill, however. (snip) In addition to allowing out-of-state access, the bill would allow advanced practice registered nurses to prescribe medication for assisted suicide, rather than just physicians. In its current form, the bill also reduces the mandatory waiting period for administering assisted suicide from 15 days to just 48 hours. (snip) The Colorado Catholic Conference condemned the bill for promoting a "culture of death"
Stocks extended earlier losses on Tuesday, with the major indexes on track for their worst Consumer Price Index reaction since 2022.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 697 points, or 1.8%. The S&P 500 was down 1.7%. The Nasdaq Composite was down 2%.
All three were on track for their worst post-CPI reactions since Sept. 13, 2022, when consumer prices jumped at an 8.3% annual pace in August 2022.
Bond yields were rallying, with the 10-year yield up to 4.289%, its highest levels since 2023.
In the aftermath of the release of the Hur Report last Wednesday, it's been all downhill for Joe Biden. On Tuesday, it got even worse — but let's first back up to Super Bowl Sunday for a minute. While Biden refused for the second year in a row to sit for a traditional Super Bowl interview, he did find time to sit for a ridiculous, fact-challenged lecture about how "big consumer brands" are ripping off shoppers. As RedState's Jennifer Van Laar reported, Biden's shtick was hilarious in its dishonesty from the outset.
America, here's Joe— babbling about "shrinkflation."
Last week, The Gateway Pundit reported on Craig Callaway’s recent indictment in Atlantic City, NJ for “procuring, casting, and tabulating fraudulent ballots.” The former Atlantic City council president was caught allegedly paying New Jersey residents $30 to $50 to “act as authorized messengers and request mail-in ballots for voters whom they’d never met.”
The alleged crime took place during the 2022 mid-term election when Callaway was paid $65,500 by Rep. Jeff Van Drew’s (R-02) campaign for “strategic consulting”. Rep. Van Drew had paid Callaway’s firm $110,000 for services in the 2020 campaign as well.
President Joe Biden maintained “plausible deniability” while his family business raked in millions from several foreign entities, including CEFC China Energy Co., which compromised the president, former Biden family business partner Tony Bobulinski told the House impeachment inquiry on Tuesday.
Bobulinski’s testimony is significant because he met Joe Biden in the lobby of the Beverly Hilton Hotel in May 2017 to discuss business with CEFC, an entity closely linked to the Chinese Communist Party.
"Real Time" host Bill Maher called out fellow Hollywood liberals for their previous vow to leave the country under President Trump but are "still here." (snip)
He then listed "liberal celebrities" like Lena Dunham, Cher, Snoop Dogg, Bryan Cranston, Susan Sarandon, Al Sharpton, Whoopi Goldberg, Chelsea Handler and Barbra Streisand among others who "swear they'll go if a Republican is elected and no one ever does."
"Miley Cyrus once said 'I am moving if Trump is my president. I don't say things I don't mean.' "
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday gave Special Counsel Jack Smith a one-week deadline to respond to former President Trump's request to delay his 2020 election interference trial.
Trump's attorneys on Monday filed an emergency appeal with the Supreme Court contesting a decision by the DC Court of Appeals that found the former president and 2024 GOP frontrunner is not immune from prosecution in Smith's case. The request is for temporary relief, to stay, or block, the appeals court mandate from taking effect.
If granted, the Trump legal team would have more time to file an appeal to the Supreme Court on the merits of whether a former president deserves immunity
Grassley, Johnson press DOJ on apparent
'significant factual omission' in special
counsel report replies
'significant factual omission' in special
counsel report replies
Iowa GOP Sen. Chuck Grassley and Wisconsin GOP Sen. Ron Johnson on Monday asked that Attorney General Merrick Garland account for special counsel Robert Hur's report on President Joe Biden's handling of classified materials making no mention of a batch of materials the National Archives recovered from the president's attorney's office in Boston. (snip)
"Oddly, Special Counsel Hur’s report did not mention NARA's retrieval of the nine boxes from Mr. Moore's office," the pair wrote. (snip) The Republicans set a deadline of Feb. 23 for the DOJ to answer whether Hur reviewed the nine boxes in question and to document their contents.
New study finds that CO2 is increasing
the rate by which the globe is greening,
even under drought replies
the rate by which the globe is greening,
even under drought replies
A new study finds that human-caused carbon dioxide emissions are driving increased plant growth that’s greening the Earth, even in areas experiencing drought.
The peer-reviewed study, which was published in the scientific journal Global Ecology and Conservation, finds that the phenomenon known as “global greening” is an indisputable fact. The rate of global greening has increased slightly, and drought has only slowed, but not stopped, the process.
The study, which was done by Chinese and Australian researchers, attributes the greening to carbon dioxide fertilization as well as land management, such as irrigation.
A few weeks ago, a “Morning Joe” panel concluded that if Donald Trump were to become the Republican nominee (spoiler alert: he will), Republicans will lose in the fall. This is by no means a unique sentiment – former House Speaker Paul Ryan expressing this idea here, journalist Bernard Goldberg wondering if Trump is trying to lose here, and so forth.
As I read these analyses, I wonder if I’ve somehow been transported back to 2016, when such takes were de rigueur. Here in 2024, we know that Donald Trump won in 2016 and came close to winning in 2020. He carried Republican senators across the finish line in both years
In 2008, the United States Supreme Court decided in the Heller case that the Second Amendment right to bear arms applies not just to militias, but also to individual people. While militias are mentioned in the Amendment, the noun to which the right is granted is the “people.”
Individuals are “people.”
After Heller, much teeth-gnashing and garment-rending ensued from the left. They had hoped that the second Amendment applied only to militias. There being essentially no legal militias in the country anymore, that would mean the Second Amendment would apply to nobody.
WASHINGTON — A former Biden family business partner scorched President Biden in an explosive opening statement at a House impeachment inquiry deposition Tuesday, saying the commander-in-chief is corrupt — and that his testimony will help prove it.
Are the wheels really beginning to come off the Democrat’s chances of keeping the Presidency in 2024, or is it a ruse? It appears they are behind the eight-ball as to having a winning presidential candidate, but are they really? Do Not Be Fooled.
For this discussion, I’m leaving out the possibility of voting irregularities and assuming the race will be fair. (I know, I know…)
It became apparent three years ago that Biden would not be able to run in 2024 due to age-related issues. It was even doubtful that he would finish his one term. The not-so-funny joke is that his protective ace card in the hole was Kamala Harris,
The White House says President Biden will not take a cognitive test — even after a damning report from his own Department of Justice highlighting his “poor memory” and voters expressing major concerns about his mental acuity.
“The president proves every day [in] how he operates and how he thinks — by dealing with world leaders, by making difficult decisions on behalf of the American people — whether it’s domestic or national security,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre claimed to reporters Monday, quoting from Biden’s physician Dr. Kevin O’Connor.
Why did the so-called climate change experts predict a continued drought in California, instead of predicting the record snow and rain the state actually received? Precipitation that has caused the reservoirs to be well above the historical average?
See the article below, shared by Yahoo News:
California’s Lake Shasta rising from severe-drought levels in stunning before and after images
Lake Shasta, the largest reservoir in California, is on an unexpected—though welcomed—rise in water levels. Heavy storms in the state have saturated the area, with nearly 37 inches of rain falling in the Shasta Dam
News out today that Joe Biden will not take a cognitive test at his upcoming annual physical exam. That will surely reassure everyone.
A number of observers suggested last week that Biden’s petulant declaration that “My memory is fine” appears set to take its place beside “I am not a crook,” “There is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe,” and “I did not have sexual relations with that woman” in the annals of regrettable and possibly fatal presidential statements. But there’s one other Watergate parallel that has been less remarked: the non-denial denial. Gerard Baker observes in the Wall Street Journal this morning:
"The surest testimony
The Senate passed legislation early Tuesday morning to provide aid to Ukraine and Israel, setting up a showdown in the GOP-controlled House, where more isolationist voices, including Speaker Mike Johnson, have threatened to kill the package.
The bill, which passed 70–29, provides $95.34 billion in new foreign aid, including $61 billion in assistance to Ukraine for its war against Russia, $14 billion to Israel for its war against Hamas, and $4.8 billion to aid regional partners in the Indo-Pacific to counter Chinese aggression.
“Now that the Senate has passed a comprehensive national security supplemental with an overwhelming bipartisan majority, it’s time for the Speaker to schedule
Anybody who is firmly in the "Yeah, the Democrats have to dump Biden before the election" camp might want to pay attention to the number of stories in the mainstream media that are devoted to running interference for our clearly demented president. The Democrats' flying monkeys in the mainstream media have been operating in a truth-free environment for so long that they have no problem telling you that it's your eyes that are lying and not them. The leftist radicals who are running Biden's allegedly A-OK brain have their perfect puppet in place and have no plans whatsoever to usher him off of the political stage.
Inflation ran hotter in January than had been forecast by economists, signaling that higher prices remain sticky and complicating the Federal Reserve's decision about when to begin cutting its benchmark rate. As with inflation last month, higher housing and food prices were the big drivers. Consumer prices rose 3.1% in January from a year earlier, the government said on Tuesday. Economists had expected January prices to rise at a 2.9% pace from a year ago, according to FactSet. Even so, the pace reflected an improvement from December, when inflation rose at an annual rate of 3.4%. The January inflation data
Biden's rage and crapulence, staff's cowardice
and ignorance, all worsened border crisis --Axios replies
and ignorance, all worsened border crisis --Axios replies
Is embattled Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas leaking to Axios now?
That's my opinion, but more about that in a minute.
Axios reports that Joe Biden's White House was a complete clown show on the matter of the border crisis, with Joe himself blowing up at staff over impossible things, staff oozily doing all they could to cravenly pass the problem onto some other guy, and some of them with decision-making power flamingly ignorant and incompetent.
The idiocy worsened the border crisis, Axios argued. The title of their piece is "How Biden Botched the Border."
It's an exclusive scoop, and it starts like this:
"Aboard Air Force One en route to tour the southern border
If there ever were a sign that Canada has gone cuckoo, it has to be a bill introduced in Parliament that would censor speech about fossil fuel. No, we’re not joking, though we hope the bill’s author is. We fear, however, he isn’t.
One Charlie Angus, a New Democratic Party member of the House of Commons from Timmins–James Bay in Ontario, has brought before that chamber Bill C-372. It clearly states that “it is prohibited for a person to promote a fossil fuel, a fossil fuel-related brand element or the production of a fossil fuel except as authorized by the provisions of this Act or of the regulations.”
On Monday morning, Trump-supporting Senator J.D. Vance (R-OH) posted a shocking report at The American Conservative and on X about the Senate RINOs’ plot to take out Trump and destroy the MAGA movement.
According to Senator Vance, the Senate funding package that was passed on Super Bowl Sunday thanks to 18 RINO Senators, included language that makes it impossible for President Trump to terminate the Ukraine War funding into his second term.
Once again – Here are the 18 Senate RINOs who voted on this Ukraine funding package that is designed to destroy Trump and the MAGA movement.
Despite a few particularly rough few weeks in a row for President Joe Biden, he keeps presenting himself for events. This included on Monday, when the president met with King Abdullah II of Jordan. It was problematic from the start. The White House transcript's been released, and from his first introductions, the president was fumbling over his lines. We're not talking about his stutter, but rather how the transcript had to correct Biden when he referred to Queen Rania as "Qree--Queen Riana." This is despite how he said he's known her and her husband "for many years." But, he also called for "the Crown Prince Hussein,
New York City could soon ban Tide PODS and other laundry-detergent packs under the latest “green” push from lawmakers.
The “Pods are Plastic Bill,” introduced by City Councilman James Gennaro last week, would make it illegal to sell any pods and laundry sheets if they’re made with polyvinyl alcohol.
Fines for selling the pods would start at $400, double for a second violation and top off at $1,200 for flouting the rules more than twice, if the bill becomes law. The bill would also require education and outreach to businesses on the ban for the first year.
The law wouldn’t take effect until Jan. 1, 2026, if passed.
As voters head to the special election for New York’s 3rd Congressional District, remember: A vote for Mazi Pilip is a vote for sanity.
And the nation needs sanity right now, so voters in Queens and Nassau must show up at the polls for her despite weather that’s predicted to be awful.
The GOP aspirant to George Santos’ old seat is running neck and neck with its former holder, Democrat Tom Suozzi.
She closed out last week with a major array of endorsement from key unions — including three big NYPD outfits and the Border Patrol agents’ union.
Special counsel Robert Hur did a great service to America last week in two ways that fundamentally and irreversibly transform the Presidential race. As a result, just like in Hillary Clinton’s ‘3 a.m. phone call’ television ad in the 2008 contest, the iPhone is buzzing in Barack Obama’s Martha’s Vineyard compound, and he had better answer it. Number one, by declining to charge President Biden for “willfully retain[ing]” classified materials, Hur blew up any pretense of fairness when it comes to how Biden’s Department of Justice treats its own boss, while it throws the book at President Trump.
On Monday’s broadcast of CNN’s “Ac360,” Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) criticized Special Counsel Robert Hur’s remarks on President Joe Biden’s mental sharpness and stated that people say they don’t know things in depositions and also stated that while Biden’s age “is an objective fact,” it’s also “all relative. He’s younger than I am. So, what do I have to say about his age?”
After saying that Biden is “very sharp” mentally, Pelosi said, “I think that people do make mistakes. I think his age is one thing that’s an objective fact. His making a mistake from time to time, we all do that.
For months, people have been openly wondering who is the real power behind the throne in the Biden administration? Who is really running the country?
We now know who is calling the shots when it comes to their policy on the border. Word is that former Obama security adviser Susan Rice is calling the tune on border issues.
Additionally, members of Biden’s team must have been looking at polling on immigration and the border, because they have formed a circular firing squad over the issues.
The Senate cleared a critical hurdle on Monday evening to advance a $95.3 billion foreign aid bill with assistance for Ukraine and Israel, setting the legislation on a glide path to final passage in the chamber this week, though it faces an uncertain future in the House.
But in a sign of the grim odds facing the bill in the House, Speaker Mike Johnson has harshly criticized the package – and many House Republicans are opposed to further aid to Ukraine.
The Senate has continued to move forward on the bill as Trump has argued the US should not grant foreign aid unless it is a loan, signaling opposition to the legislation.