Posts on Thursday, December 19, 2024
House lawmakers from both sides of the aisle joined together to reject Speaker Mike Johnson’s latest stopgap funding package Thursday night, with one day to spare before a partial government shutdown is set to begin.
The House voted 174-235 against the package under suspension of the rules, which requires two-thirds support from those present and voting for passage. Thirty-eight Republicans bucked leadership and President-elect Donald Trump, a staunch proponent of the revised bill.
Going to the Rules Committee to report out a rule for floor debate that could be adopted on a simple majority had been GOP leaders’ next move. But leadership quickly put the kibosh
In a recent House vote, 38 Republican lawmakers opposed a continuing resolution endorsed by President-elect Donald Trump, aimed at preventing a government shutdown and advancing the ‘America First’ agenda.
Earlier on Thursday, President Trump described the new government funding bill as “VITAL to the America First Agenda” and called on all Republicans to vote in favor.
Trump wrote:
SUCCESS in Washington!
Speaker Mike Johnson and the House have come to a very good Deal for the American People. The newly agreed to American Relief Act of 2024 will keep the Government open, fund our Great Farmers and others,
Are leftists mentally ill?
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Do people on the radical left demonstrate a mental disorder? Most people on the right roll their eyes at the hysteria and fears of the left, but what’s to be done?
Given that there were major shifts on the left in the 2024 election, is it possible that somehow sanity is breaking through? With the ongoing polarization that has burdened this country, it’s worthwhile to examine the psychological framework of leftists; both how they see themselves and how they see others. The results may also indicate whether the changes in voting behavior might continue, or whether they were situational.
A phrase that’s been coined is “Left-Wing Authoritarianism” (LWA)
Former CNN political analyst Chris Cillizza expressed remorse Thursday for not investigating concerns about President Joe Biden’s mental and physical health sooner.
Corporate media spent years downplaying voters’ and Republicans’ concerns about Biden’s mental acuity before his June debate against then-former President Donald Trump. Cillizza, on his YouTube channel, acknowledged he was wrong to overlook those concerns during his tenure at CNN. “As a reporter, I have a confession to make: I should have pushed harder earlier for more information about Joe Biden’s mental and physical well-being and any signs of decline. So let me explain.
Los Angeles— Winston Leiva rattles off a long list of things immigrants should do to protect themselves against President-elect Donald Trump’s promise to conduct mass deportations when he returns to the White House.
Make a plan for someone to care for your children if you are arrested. Don’t open the door unless authorities slip a signed judicial warrant under it. And above all, exercise your right to remain silent.
“We already know this administration,” Leiva told participants of a bilingual workshop in Los Angeles for immigrants who want to stay in the United States. “The truth is we don’t know to what extent it will affect us.”
The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights
The loony liberals of ABC News’s The View were in a festive spirit Thursday morning as they kicked off their discussion with a baseless conspiracy theory that billionaire Elon Musk and Vice President J.D. Vance were plotting to have President-elect Trump assassinated and usurp control of the government by pushing him down a flight of stairs. There was an attempt to walk it back my blaming her cat for putting the idea in her head.
On the same day The Wall Street Journal published an article chronicling how President Biden’s advanced decline left his unelected advisors and staff running the government, moderator Whoopi Goldberg seemed intent to distract
Bill and Hillary Clinton were once masters of the “dark arts” of politics – spinning history and enriching themselves while running a global charity that became famous as a grift machine. Their skill even had a name: “The Clinton Blur.” Though long out of office himself, former President Bill Clinton is at it again.
“The news for GAI is that Bill Clinton is back,” says author Peter Schweizer, whose 2015 bestseller Clinton Cash exposed the financial shenanigans behind the Clinton Global Initiative. “Bill’s back, he’s mad, and he’s mad at me!” Two weeks after the election of Donald Trump, Bill Clinton released a new book.
Workers at seven Amazon warehouses nationwide including a facility in New York City walked off the job Thursday less than a week before Christmas – and it may be just enough to disrupt the holidays for a few unlucky customers.
The strikes are taking place at seven Amazon warehouses that serve key, major metropolitan shopping markets, including Southern California; Atlanta, Georgia; Skokie, Illinois; and one major last-mile facility in Maspeth, Queens, according to the Teamsters union.
The strikes could leave the massive e-tailer scrambling to find other third-party shipping contractors just a week before the holidays, Marc Wulfraat, head of MWPVL International, a supply chain consulting firm
House Speaker Mike Johnson has reportedly canceled his speaking slot at Turning Point USA’s annual AmericaFest following the disastrous unveiling of a spending bill, largely viewed as an abject failure of his leadership.
Johnson was originally slated to appear at the event in Phoenix, Arizona, on Friday, joining other major speakers including Donald Trump Jr., Steve Bannon, Tucker Carlson, and President-elect Donald Trump himself. (X) Johnson’s purported withdrawal comes as he faces significant backlash due to the spending deal released on Tuesday evening, boasting well over 1,500 pages. Conservatives have continued to uncover the massive amount of pork
It appears Elon Musk's mandate from Donald Trump to eliminate the government bloat is already well underway.
Speaker Mike Johnson scrambled to craft a last-minute spending bill to avoid a government shutdown after Trump and Musk tanked his initial plan.
Musk, the co-chair of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), openly ridiculed Johnson's original nearly 1,600-page bill on X. And Trump demanded that the bill, which he called a 'nasty trap' set by Democrats, be renegotiated.
He also warned House Republicans against supporting the bloated measure including a pay raise for Congress, additional disaster spending
Disney decided to renew ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos’ contract — despite having to fork over a $16 million legal settlement — because they didn’t want “his blood on their hands,” The Post has learned.
Stephanopoulos, who hosts “This Week” and is a co-anchor on “Good Morning America,” was handed a multi-year deal — though he took a pay cut from his lofty $20 million annual salary, sources said.
“No one wants a talent mess on their hands,” one longtime network executive told The Post. “No one wants an angry George Stephanopoulos loose in the world. No one wants to humiliate George by firing him or
Far-right influencer Nick Fuentes said his home was among those targeted by a man suspected in a triple homicide who was fatally shot by suburban Chicago police late Wednesday night following a home invasion.
The situation started around 9:40 p.m. Wednesday in downstate Illinois, just outside of Champaign, where police said a triple homicide took place.
According to Illinois State Police, three people were killed in the 1100 block of Riverside Drive in Mahomet. All three were shot, with one pronounced dead at the scene and two others dying at area hospitals.
Roughly two hours later,
Fauci Is Back!
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Dr. Anthony Fauci’s reputation has long polarized public opinion. Whereas some view him as a scientific beacon guiding the world through a pandemic, others criticize his perceived inconsistency, advocacy for extreme policies, and support for ethically questionable research.
Fauci’s recent article in Clinical Infectious Diseases, subtitled “Shared Lessons from Two Pandemics,” further deepens the divide. Despite being framed as a “viewpoint” piece, the article raises serious concerns about Fauci’s injection of political bias and selective presentation of facts.
President-elect Donald Trump blasted Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) for “getting in the way” of Trump’s wish to raise the debt ceiling as House Republicans scramble to keep the government open.
“The very unpopular ‘Congressman’ from Texas, Chip Roy, is getting in the way, as usual, of having yet another Great Republican Victory — All for the sake of some cheap publicity for himself. Republican obstructionists have to be done away with,” Trump posted on Truth Social on Thursday.
Radiation levels have spiked in New York City, fueling conspiracy theories that the drones terrorizing the Northeast are searching for a missing nuclear warhead.
The emissions, clocked by GQ Electronics' Geiger Counter World Map, were detected near the Bronx and Upper West Side Wednesday.
The application shows a radiation reading of 1048 counts-per-minute (CPM), i.e. how many particles were detected, in the Bronx: higher than normal background radiation.
The average person is typically exposed to background radiation that measures around five to 60 CPM, though CPM varies with sensor devices, according to NASA.
And, on the the Upper West Side, the app's reading measured a still high 175 CPM.
US discount retailer begins epic 'going
out of business' sales as it prepares
to close all locations replies
out of business' sales as it prepares
to close all locations replies
Big Lots is beginning 'going out of business' sales at all its stores across the US, as it prepares to close its remaining locations.
The discount retail chain filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in September, and has already shut hundreds of stores nationwide.
In a press release Thursday, the company said it would begin the sales at its 963 remaining locations, after a sale to a private equity firm fell through.
More than 400 Big Lots stores have already closed this year, marking a 30 percent decrease in its footprint.
A Tennessee college revealed that racist messages found written on campus were fabricated by a student in an apparent attempt to make Donald Trump supporters look bad.
Rhodes College confirmed to Fox News Digital that a student had admitted to leaving the messages strewn about campus that were found over Thanksgiving break and were being investigated as a hate crime. Instead, it turned out to be yet another race hoax.
"Thanks to the tireless efforts of our Campus Safety officers and the Memphis Police Department, the investigation into the hate crime that occurred recently on our campus has ended with the identification of the perpetrator and the conclusion this incident was fabricated.
MSNBC’s Joy Reid and Stephanie Ruhle will reportedly need to take a pay cut if they want to remain in their anchor chairs as the struggling cable network continues to cut costs.
The left-leaning news channel — which recently gave star anchor Rachel Maddow a $5 million-a-year haircut from her annual $30 million haul — has been negotiating with Reid and Ruhle on new deals at reduced salaries, according to the Ankler newsletter.
The controversial Reid is believed to be earning $3 million a year to host her nightly 8 p.m. show, “The ReidOut,” according to the Washington Free Beacon.
Reid, who has been with the network since 2011 and in primetime
The knives have come out — and so has the truth.
Having been lied to for years by the Democratic Party machine and most of the legacy media — who insisted Joe Biden was not diminished by his age but energized by it — well, it turns out we skeptics were right all along.
And what we're learning is terrifying. Infuriating. An unacceptable abuse of power, a usurpation of the presidency itself by a nameless, faceless cohort.Will we ever know who these conspirators are?
Two bombshell reports out this week, in the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, depict a president thoroughly out to lunch for his entire term:
As societal tensions run high in the wake of the assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson,1 a Florida mother of three found herself behind bars last week for remarks made during a heated phone call with her health insurance agent.
Republicans should not be afraid of a government shutdown, and should reject the controversial 1,547-page spending deal released Tuesday — filled with pork and special giveaways — former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said.
“President Trump and Republicans should not be afraid of a government shutdown. The next election is two years away,” he began. “We had two shutdowns in 1995 and became the first reelected house gop [sic] majority since 1928. It may take shock therapy for schumer [sic] and democrats [sic] to learn President Trump is serious about draining the swamp,” he added. (X)
In the days leading up to December 7th, 1941, plenty of the United States military leadership, especially those in the Pacific, knew that at some point we would find ourselves at war with the Empire of Japan. Japan had already invaded China, made a puppet state out of Manchuria that they called Manchukuo, and were gearing up for naval warfare in the world's largest theater of operations, the Pacific Ocean. That war began with the attack on Pearl Harbor, an attack intended to cripple the U.S. Pacific Fleet and bring the U.S. to the negotiating table - or to force our withdrawal to the West Coast.
Over the weekend, ABC News settled with President-elect Donald Trump, and will thus pay $15 million plus $1 million in attorneys fees, after George Stephanopoulos falsely claimed during an episode of "This Week" that Trump had been found liable for rape. Stephanopoulos will also have to publicly apologize. The mainstream media had quite the response, especially with more actual and potential lawsuits coming. Perhaps no reaction was more absurd than PBS News, though, which Brad Slager also made mention of in his Wednesday edition of "Riffed From the Headlines."
Author J.K. Rowling commemorated the five-year anniversary of her decision to publicly oppose transgender extremism and only regrets she “didn’t speak out sooner.”
Posting on X, Rowling shared a five-year-old post from 2019 in which she publicly spoke out against transgender extremism for the first time – when a British woman lost her job for refusing to use proper pronouns and affirm a biological man in living as a woman. “Dress however you please. Call yourself whatever you like. Sleep with any consenting adult who’ll have you. Live your best life in peace and security. But force women out of their jobs for stating that sex is real?”
Howard Lutnick, CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald and President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for commerce secretary, is nearing a deal to purchase Fox News anchor Bret Baier’s opulent Washington, DC mansion.
The French-style estate, located in the upscale Foxhall neighborhood, was listed for $31.9 million last year and recently reduced to $28.99 million.
While the final sale price has not been disclosed, real estate experts say it could surpass the DC area’s current residential record of $24 million, set by a Georgetown home in 2007, according to the Wall Street Journal, which first reported on the transaction.
They Musk be joking.
Some Republicans are daydreaming over the prospect of billionaire guru and occasional literal flamethrower Elon Musk clinching the speaker’s gavel in the wake of a revolt against House GOP leadership over government funding.
“The Speaker of the House need not be a member of Congress,” Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) underscored on X, becoming the first Republican to publicly muse over the idea in recent days. (Photo) “Nothing would disrupt the swamp more than electing Elon Musk … think about it … nothing’s impossible. (not to mention the joy at seeing the collective establishment, aka ‘uniparty,’ lose their ever-lovin’ minds).”
President-elect Donald Trump has big plans to deliver on his campaign pledge to secure the southern border, pledging to issue a flurry of executive actions on day one of his presidency to stem the massive flow of illegal immigrants into the U.S.
But questions remain about when and how Trump plans to deliver on his fresh pledge to protect the so-called “Dreamers” – a term for immigrants who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children and do not have a path to citizenship.
“The Dreamers are going to come later, and we have to do something about the Dreamers because these are people
As previously reported, the O’Keefe Media Group on Wednesday evening released undercover video of DHS Under Secretary for Policy, Robert Silvers, admitting Biden’s mental decline accelerated 12 to 24 months into his presidency.
Silvers also said Trump’s win was a “traumatic” and “crushing blow.”
“[Biden] has degraded faculties,” Robert P. Silvers, Under Secretary of Policy at the US Department of Homeland Security admitted on hidden camera footage to an undercover OMG journalist, referring to Joe Biden’s accelerated mental decline.
Per OMG:
The White House tried to hide from the public Joe Biden's rapidly diminishing mental condition for his entire presidency, according to a bombshell report.
Biden's team hired a vocal coach, put other officials into roles usually occupied by the president, scrapped meetings on his 'bad days,' and avoided calls with other politicians, according to an explosive report in The Wall Street Journal.
It exposed an extensive, deliberate and years-long cover-up that also saw the administration gaslighting those who dared to claim Biden's abilities had deteriorated since he was Barack Obama's vice president.
House Republicans are currently debating a continuing resolution that would keep the government running through March 14, however many are heavily criticizing leadership for trying to push through unnecessary provisions negotiated behind closed doors.
The over 1,500-page spending measure will receive votes from both Democrats and Republicans and is being pushed by Speaker of the House Mike Johnson. Johnson said in September that he has “no intention of going back” to the “terrible tradition” of a Christmas omnibus.[snip] Here are some of the provisions drawing the biggest blowback from conservatives, many of which were identified on X by users like Small Gov Lizard:
An appellate court removed Fulton County district attorney Fani Willis (D) from the racketeering case against President-elect Donald Trump over her romantic relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade.
Georgia’s court of appeals ruled Thursday that Willis will be removed from the case because of the appearance of misconduct surrounding her relationship with Wade, but did not throw out the case all together.
“While we recognize that an appearance of impropriety is generally not enough to support disqualification, this is the rare case in which disqualification is mandated and no other remedy will suffice to restore public confidence in the integrity of these proceedings,” the three judge panel ruled.
The Idaho Board of Education approved efforts to ban diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in public universities on Wednesday.
After months of debating, the board unanimously agreed on a resolution that Idaho institutions cannot “require specific structures or activities related to DEI.”
In summary, institutions “shall establish and maintain equality of opportunity for all students regardless of personal identity characteristics,” “ensure that no central offices, policies, procedures, or initiatives are dedicated to DEI ideology” and “ensure that no employee or student is required to declare gender identity or preferred pronouns.”
FAA bans drones over parts of New Jersey,
threatens ‘deadly force’ for ‘imminent
security threat’ replies
threatens ‘deadly force’ for ‘imminent
security threat’ replies
The Federal Aviation Administration has temporarily banned drone operations over parts of New Jersey until mid-January and warned that the government may respond with “deadly force” against drones that pose a threat.
Beginning on Wednesday and through Jan. 17, unmanned aircraft are barred from flying within a nautical mile of specified airspace outlined in an FAA Notice to Airmen, or NOTAM.
The government may use “deadly force” against the drones if they present an “imminent security threat,” the NOTAM said. The temporary flight restrictions have been implemented over a large and significantly populated area of New Jersey, including: Jersey City, Bayonne, Elizabeth, Harrison, Kearny, Edison,
Vice President-elect JD Vance revealed that he and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) had a “productive conversation” regarding a recently unveiled government funding bill, according to a report from Punchbowl News.
Melanie Zanona, a senior congressional reporter with Punchbowl News reported that after leaving Johnson’s office, Vance stated the two men had a “productive conversation” and they were “in the middle of negotiations” over the continuing resolution (CR), but he was hopeful about solving some of the problems standing in the way.
“VANCE says they had a ‘productive conversation’ after leaving the speaker’s office,
The only time I ever agreed with MSNBC’s Joy Reid was when she declared the Left victorious in the culture wars following the hyper-woke Grammy Awards on CBS in February 2023.
“Culture wars are over, and the Left won, like total defeat,” she declared on her newscast the following evening. “Despite the almost hysterical war the Right is waging to take the culture back to the John Wayne era, they’re not just losing. They literally cannot win. Cultural progression is relentless. Once people get a taste of modernity, they almost never go back willingly.”
And who could blame her for the burst of hubris? After all,
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) has been rather hysterical lately about Elon Musk, who has been tasked to co-lead the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) with Vivek Ramaswamy. On Monday, Warren sent a strongly worded letter to President-elect Donald Trump to request conflict of interest rules about Musk.
As The Washington Post noted about her letter and Trump addressing concerns about Trump:
"The letter sent by email from the Democrat’s Senate office to Trump’s transition team notes that regular members of the Trump Vance 2025 Transition Team operate under an ethics policy that requires them to “avoid both actual and apparent conflicts of interest.”
Cleanup in Terminal 3! A group of travelers and one employee threw punches, grabbed hair and whacked each other with “Wet Floor” signs in a wild, caught-on-camera brawl reminiscent of a WWE match inside Chicago O’Hare International Airport last week. Insane video shared on social media of the Dec. 12 melee shows three men — including an employee in a blue shirt — seemingly teaming up against one man in a white T-shirt inside American Airlines Terminal Three.
Donald Trump’s total humiliation of ABC News over its most recent slander, delivered through the flapping gums of malignant dwarf George Stephanopoulos, was one of those delicious examples of how the New Rules keep coming around to bite the left on its collective fourth point of contact. Even a decade ago, this would not have happened. Defamation cases, particularly against public figures, were almost impossible to win and were less about money than about enraged plaintiffs tormenting those who talked bad about them. But that’s all changed. There’s big money at stake now. The left decided it was going to use legal civil lawfare, as well as criminal lawfare,
The Georgia Court of Appeals has officially disqualified Fulton County DA Fani Willis from prosecuting President-elect Donald Trump and his remaining co-defendants in the crumbling 2020 election interference case.
According to the 31-page decision handed down Thursday, the state's appeals court ruled that there was, in fact, a conflict of interest that arose when Willis hired special prosecutor Nathan Wade and proceeded to have an undisclosed affair with him during the prosecutorial process. (X) Applying the "appearance" standard, the three-judge panel, comprised of all GOP appointees, concluded that the "significant" "appearance of impropriety" was indeed "improper."
"While we recognize that an appearance of impropriety
Exclusive—Sen. Josh Hawley: Speaker
Johnson’s Spending Bill Is ‘Hugely
Harmful to President Trump’ replies
Johnson’s Spending Bill Is ‘Hugely
Harmful to President Trump’ replies
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) told Breitbart Editor-in-Chief Alex Marlow that House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA)’s spending bill will be “hugely harmful” to President-elect Donald Trump if it passes Congress.
Appearing on “The Alex Marlow Show” Wednesday, Hawley said that the continuing resolution (CR) spending bill spearheaded by Speaker Johnson was delayed from being voted on by design so that Congress could rush it through at the last minute before the Friday deadline to fund the government, giving nobody time to properly vet what is in it.
Amazon warehouse workers walked off the job at several facilities nationwide, including one in New York City, early Thursday morning.
In a move that the Teamsters union called the largest strike against the e-commerce giant less than a week before Christmas, workers launched a strike impacting seven warehouses including one in New York City, one in Atlanta, three in Southern California, one in San Francisco and one in Skokie, Ill.
The Teamsters said it also planned to put up primary picket lines at hundreds of Amazon Fulfillment Centers nationwide.
The three most vacuous and misleading personalities of the Biden Team are now mad at the American People for not accepting their explanations of what is going on in the National Airspace System (NAS).
When Jake Sullivan, the National Security Advisor, Alejandro Mayorkas, the Secretary of Homeland Security, and John Kirby, the Spokesman for the National Security Council get together, at best, nothing happens – or worse, nothing good happens.
There are other minions involved in this public affairs fiasco beyond these three, but these three are the poster children for U.S. Government mis, dis, and mal information.
Tis the season for revenge! For President Joe Biden is spending the remaining weeks of his presidency settling scores.
Between organizing this year's White House Christmas decorations, staff holiday parties and a string of final goodbyes, the president and First Lady Jill Biden have been quietly sharpening the metaphorical carving knives, with their sights set firmly on the one-time allies they perceive as having wronged them.
Biden infuriated many senior members of the Democratic Party with his shocking U-turn and pardon of his son Hunter a fortnight ago, after months of publicly vowing he wouldn't make such a move.
A U.S. senator told Breitbart News on Wednesday evening that President-elect Donald Trump’s push to have the debt ceiling increased as part of a government funding deal this week “makes sense” from Trump’s perspective but warned it is unlikely Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer would agree to such a push.
The senator, who asked for anonymity to discuss the very fluid situation on Capitol Hill just days before a government funding deadline on Friday, said Schumer only has one real piece of “leverage” over Trump next year, and that leverage is the debt ceiling deadline.
“It makes sense that Trump wants to get the debt limit off of his plate before he
As we reported, the 1,500-page continuing resolution to fund the government that had been negotiated in the House saw a fiery demise Wednesday afternoon/evening after numerous Republicans and Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and Vivek Ramaswamy savaged the measure for attempting to soak the people with bloated spending and J6 Committee-friendly provisions. It didn’t take long for Democrats to start whining, and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) was at the forefront: Trump ally and X owner Elon Musk—co-chair along with Ramaswamy of the newly-established Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)—has become increasingly known for his pithy, devastating tweets that sum up situations in just a few words. He did not disappoint:
The 1,547 page “continuing resolution bill” is available for review HERE. They are calling this a “CR” (continuing resolution) bill to fund government. However, only approximately 10 pages (15 to 25) are the funding mechanism; the rest is a regulatory construct, an attempt to circumvent the Trump administration, and position the federal government to defend against structural changes President Trump is intending to initiate.
Within THE BILL, in an effort to force Republicans to support it, there is a section approximately 500 pages, that spends and directs $100 billion for disaster relief in Florida, Georgia, Tennessee and North Carolina following the devasting late season hurricanes.
Gov. Hochul boasts about her social-justice record but she is presiding over the alleged rip-off of a safety-net hospital in Nassau County that serves the poorest of the poor.
The Nassau University Medical Center is suing New York for $1.06 billion it claims the state has defrauded from its coffers over the past two decades.
As the only public hospital in the county, 80% of its 275,000 patients are low income, uninsured, as well as on Medicare and Medicaid.
It includes a nursing home and jail infirmary, Long Island’s only burn unit and its largest inpatient psychiatric treatment center.
On Nov. 5, Americans spoke loud and clear: They wanted an end to the bloated bureaucracy and a halt to the reckless, unchecked spending that’s drained the coffers of our republic. And what did they get? A Republican victory. Now it’s time for House Republicans to start acting like they won.
Late Tuesday evening, congressional leaders released their 1,547-page monstrosity of a spending bill — a so-called “continuing resolution” that purports to fund the government through March of 2025. It’s business as usual in Washington despite the November mandate.
The NYPD’s highest-paid employee — who shoveled in more than $400,000 last year — filed for retirement this week and then was suspended amid an internal affairs probe into her astronomical overtime, The Post has learned.
Lt. Quathisha Epps will retire just shy of 20 years with the department, sources said — an early exit that will impact her pension and cost her a $12,000-a-year supplement for cops who reach the two-decade mark.
Leaving money on the table is seemingly uncharacteristic for Epps, who raised eyebrows by pulling in roughly $204,000 in overtime last year for her administrative job in NYPD Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey’s office, payroll records show.
Congress’s latest spending scam is not receiving the glowing reviews weak-kneed Speaker Mike Johnson was hoping for.
On Tuesday evening, congressional leaders released the text of a 1,547-page omnibus package designed to fund the federal government through March 2025. Like those that have come before it, the bill is stacked with pork provisions championed by the D.C. establishment and loathed by everyday Americans. Among the worst included in the end-of-year spending spree are provisions extending the State Department’s censorship-loving Global Engagement Center, opening the door for congressional members to receive a pay raise, and allowing members of Congress to opt out of Obamacare.
Mayor Eric Adams blamed out-of-touch Democrats for President-elect Donald Trump’s victory — saying they were too busy comparing him to Hitler to discuss real issues affecting American people.
Hizzoner was asked about Trump’s sweep over Vice President Harris in the five boroughs and the message he thought constituents were sending.
“Oh, wholeheartedly, that we stopped speaking to people. We started speaking at people,” Adams told Fox News anchor Martha MacCallum on Wednesday.
“Not hearing the people and you engaging in dialogue while individuals are fearful of affordability, losing their home, the future of their children, and you’re having these intellectual conversations, and people are, like, saying, what the hell are you talking about?
A Manhattan judge on Wednesday issued an order for Rudy Giuliani to appear before him to face claims that he should be held in contempt after months of failing to turn over his assets to two Georgia poll workers who won a $146 million defamation lawsuit.
Judge Lewis J. Liman in Manhattan signed the order calling Giuliani to appear before him on Jan. 3, according to the Associated Press. He will also face trial on Jan. 16 before Liman over the disposition of his Florida residence and World Series rings.
Musk Mobilizes the Masses
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Elon Musk isn’t messing around, and he just got a massive scalp to prove it.
The billionaire owner of X started his day by posting a photo of the 1,500-page spending bill in Congress with this question: “Ever seen a bigger piece of pork?” Scores of Musk posts and reposts followed Wednesday, sending members of Congress scrambling to quickly declare their opposition as calls and emails began flooding the Capitol.
By the afternoon, President-elect Donald Trump declared his opposition. And within hours, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., pulled the bill he had unveiled just a day earlier.
“Elon just became the most powerful person in Washington, D.C., today,”
Happy Thursday, dear Kruiser Morning Briefing friends. Zoerbrück had become fond of composing harpsichord accompaniments for compilations of WebMD diagnoses. It was just a couple of weeks ago that I first wrote that President-elect Donald Trump needed to make squish Republicans understand what the "New Trump Order" is. The gist of it was that the "go along to get along" Republicans needed to have it made clear that their behavior would no longer be tolerated. When we were discussing the latest insane continuing resolution in yesterday's Briefing,
"Border Patrol zones across Texas, Arizona and California had no agent presence for weeks and months at a time. Those who did not want to be caught could simply walk in. We have no idea who and what entered our country over this time." — Aaron Heitke, retired chief patrol agent for the San Diego Sector of the U.S. Border Patrol, testimony before the U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security, September 18, 2024.
"Simultaneously, in San Diego we had an exponential increase in [Special] Interest Aliens (SIAs). These are aliens with significant ties to terrorism....
Ingrid Lewis-Martin, the formidable consigliere of Mayor Eric Adams, will surrender Thursday to face accusations she helped two businessmen who gave her DJ son a $100,000 loan to buy a Porsche, The Post has learned.
The accusations form the backbone of bribery charges expected to be leveled against Lewis-Martin, her son Glenn Martin II and at least one of the businessmen, hotelier Mayank Dwivedi, sources confirmed.
Lewis-Martin has been ordered to surrender to authorities Thursday afternoon, sources familiar with the case said.
On one hand, it doesn’t make any sense: Of all the social media platforms, TikTok skews younger and to the left. (Much younger and more left-leaning than Facebook or X. According to one poll, just 6% of its audience identifies as “mostly conservative.”) It’s emerged as one of the key communicative tools and networking devices for liberal activists, including Antifa. Additionally, it’s a China company. And on January 10, the U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether or not there should be a federal ban.
So why is Trump defending TikTok?
He didn’t always feel this way. In 2020, he threatened a federal ban of TikTok, but never acted on it.
Where’s Our $300 Million?
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We find it hard to believe, but according to Mike Benz, a former State Department official, the Biden White House lavished a multinational media syndicate with hundreds of millions of dollars. For its “investment,” the administration apparently received hit pieces against a political enemy.
If that’s the price for supporting a corrupt regime, what could we get for trying to hold government accountable for its abuses and malpractice and misfeasance?
Benz, deputy assistant secretary of State under President Donald Trump, tweeted earlier this week that “The Biden Admin paid Reuters over $300 million in government contracts. 11 different Biden government agencies targeted Elon’s businesses. All 11 agencies paid millions to Reuters.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos was seen sauntering into Mar-a-Lago late Wednesday night to have dinner with President-elect Donald Trump.
Bezos walked in with his fiancée Lauren Sanchez for their first dinner with Trump since the soon-to-be 47th president won re-election.
Trump had said last week that Bezos would visit him at his Florida mansion.
The billionaire is just one of the tech executives hoping to get in Trump’s good graces before inauguration. Bezos had informed Trump’s team that he would donate $1 million to his inaugural fund, according to the Wall Street Journal.
It’s another day that ends in “-y,” which means House Speaker Mike Johnson is busy stabbing conservative voters in the back.
Following days of backdoor scheming, congressional leaders released the text of their 1,547-page spending measure to fund the federal government through March 2025. Deceptively marketed as a “continuing resolution” or CR, the bill bears all the hallmarks of the bloated omnibus packages Johnson recently promised voters wouldn’t happen under his watch. “We have broken the Christmas omni and I have no intention of going back to that terrible tradition,” Johnson told reporters in September. “So, there won’t be a Christmas omnibus.”
A 139-year-old Massachusetts paper was slated to publish its last editition Wednesday, after it agreed to a $1.1 million settlement in a defamation case filed by the mayor of the city of Everett. [SNIP] “What the Everett Leader Herald, its owner, and its publisher and editor did to my family and me — publishing article after article, accusation after accusation about me that they knew were false, that they knew they had no basis for, for the avowed purpose of destroying my reputation to serve their own personal financial interest — wasn’t just dishonest. It was corrupt,” Everett Mayor Carlo DeMaria said.
A poll conducted by McLaughlin & Associates and released by the Second Amendment Foundation shows three-quarters of American voters believe it is “important” to see pro-2A judges nominated and confirmed at the federal level.
The poll asked, “How important is it to you to get judges confirmed and nominated to the federal courts who make it a priority to try their best to strictly follow the 2nd Amendment of the U.S. Constitution?” Seventy-six percent of respondents said it is “important.” Another question asked, “How important is it to you that our political leaders in Washington, D.C. protect and defend the 2nd Amendment Rights in the U.S. Constitution of law-abiding gun owners?”
Ryan Routh, the man who tried to assassinate President-elect Donald J. Trump in September, has been slapped with more charges. As Mr. Routh fled the scene of his attempt on Mr. Trump’s life, he crashed his vehicle, causing severe injuries to a six-year-old girl. After reviewing the evidence, the state of Florida has decided to file attempted murder charges (via WTSP Tampa Bay): (X) Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody announced new charges Wednesday for the man accused of attempting to kill President Donald Trump at his West Palm Beach golf course in September.
Moody said Ryan Routh faces attempted murder after he caused
The truth can now be told.
A month after the 2024 election, the left wing New York Times is finally admitting that there’s no way that Joe Biden could have handled the job of being president for another four years.
Of course, this is the same paper that just six months ago was accusing people of using ‘cheap fakes’ to make Biden look older and more feeble than he actually is.
This is something that the New York Times wrote in June of this year: President Biden has many adversaries in this year’s election. There are his Republican opponent, former President Donald J. Trump, and the independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom has loudly announced his intention to "Trump proof" the state ahead of Donald Trump's inauguration in January 2025. Some of the things he wants to do will be extremely unpopular with the state's residents, and legislators who watched their districts vote for Trump (or saw big leaps in that direction) will be wary of publicly signing on to his radical agenda. He's in a bit of a conundrum. He's probably been longing for the unchecked power he had from March 2020 through February 28, 2023, when Californians lived under a State of Emergency for the COVID pandemic.
Enter Avian influenza A (H5N1), commonly known as "Bird Flu."
The Democrats Haven’t Learned
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Democrats have engaged in many election post mortems, but they are either unable or unwilling to come go grips with the real reasons why they lost the 2024 election. One of many cases in point is this op-ed by Rahm Emanuel in The Washington Post. Emanuel’s theme is that the Democrats are too nice, and too joyful, for their own good. The Post’s subhed for the piece is “Campaigns of joy in an era of rage don’t win elections.” Which means that the Post can’t tell the difference between joy and gaslighting.
Emanuel writes:
When Donald Trump declared, “I am your warrior.
We’ve been told for four years that inflation will soon stabilize and disappear thanks to Joe Biden’s awesome stewardship of the economy, and yet…
“Wholesale prices for chicken eggs soared by nearly 55% last month, and wholesale food prices rose by 3.1% (their highest monthly increase in two years),” reports far-left CNN.
Ahh, and because a Democrat is in office, we are then immediately told…
Economists say not to panic. The “egg-flation” and sudden price hikes in some major food categories are reflections of isolated incidents rather than something systemic and indicative of a reacceleration of inflation.
Economists always tell us not to worry when a Democrat is president.
Writing for the Free Press, Ruy Teixeira makes the case that despite the dismal results of the 2024 election, democrats are in deep denial about what went wrong and what they need to do to fix it. As is usually true, he makes a very convincing case.
In the wake of the Democrats’ drubbing at the hands of Donald Trump and the GOP, you’d assume the party would be all-in on a fundamental rethink, starting with some serious soul-searching on how the party came to be so out of sync with the majority of America on key cultural questions...
Well, if the six weeks since the election