Author: Admin

Washington Examiner   President-elect Donald Trump promised to pursue the death penalty against “violent rapists, murderers, and monsters” once he takes control of the White House. Trump’s vow came hours after President Joe Biden‘s controversial decision to commute the sentences of 37 federal death row prisoners, which the president-elect’s team previously called a “slap in the face to the victims” as some of the prisoners committed horrific crimes against women and children. “As soon as I am inaugurated, I will direct the Justice Department to vigorously pursue the death penalty to protect American families and children from violent rapists, murderers, and monsters,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. “We will be a Nation of Law and Order again!” READ THE FULL STORY             

Axios   The Biden administration on Monday withdrew its proposed plans to reverse a Trump-era policy that made it easier for employers to refuse to offer birth control coverage in company-sponsored health plans. With Democrats’ loss of the White House and Congress in the 2024 elections, Republicans are in a strong position to undermine President Biden’s legacy — including his administration’s work to bolster reproductive rights post-Roe. The Department of Health and Human Services said in a Federal Register notice on Monday that it’s withdrawing the proposed regulations “to focus their time and resources on matters other than finalizing these rules” in the administration’s final weeks. READ THE FULL STORY                 

CNN   Former President Bill Clinton was discharged from a hospital on Tuesday one day after being admitted for the flu, his office said. “President Clinton was discharged earlier today after being treated for the flu. He and his family are deeply grateful for the exceptional care provided by the team at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital and are touched by the kind messages and well wishes he received. He sends his warmest wishes for a happy and healthy holiday season to all,” his office said in a statement. Clinton, 78, was admitted to the hospital on Monday afternoon for testing and observation after developing a fever. READ THE FULL STORY                 

Breitbart   House Speaker Mike Johnson is reportedly not in good graces with President-elect Donald Trump. Johnson needs Trump’s support to keep the gavel on January 3, the day House Republicans will have an option to renew or cancel his speakership. Johnson appears on the outs with Trump due to his decision last week to try to pass a massive continuing resolution, filled with pork and at Democrat-raised spending levels.   READ THE FULL STORY                 

The Hill   Texas, Florida, Arizona and Idaho are likely to gain House seats after the 2030 census, according to consulting firm Election Data Services. A gain of two congressional seats would be seen in Texas and Florida, and one seat each in Arizona and Idaho, if congressional reapportionment were being ”held today,” the firm said in a Friday press release. That is based on population estimates for 2024 from the U.S. Census Bureau.   California would lose two seats, while Illinois, Minnesota, New York and Oregon would see the loss of one seat in the case of apportionment being held right now, according to those population estimates, the firm said. READ THE FULL STORY                      

Reuters   Starbucks, opens new tab workers have expanded their strike to four more U.S. cities, including New York, the union representing over 10,000 baristas said late on Saturday. The five-day strike, which began on Friday and initially closed Starbucks cafes in Los Angeles, Chicago and Seattle, has added locations in New Jersey, New York, Philadelphia and St. Louis, Workers United said in a statement. It did not specify in what New Jersey city the walkout was occurring. Starbucks said the disruptions from the strike have no significant impact on its operations because only a small handful of U.S. stores have been impacted. READ THE FULL STORY           

The Hill The House approved legislation to avert a government shutdown hours before the deadline Friday, sending the bill to the Senate for consideration after a whirlwind week on Capitol Hill. The chamber voted 366-34-1 in support of the legislation, clearing the two-thirds threshold needed for passage since GOP leadership brought the bill to the floor under the fast-track suspension of the rules process. All Democrats except one — Rep. Jasmine Crockett (Texas), who voted present — joined 170 Republicans in voting yes.   Senate Minority Whip John Thune (R-S.D.) told reporters that the upper chamber could move on the continuing resolution Friday. Lawmakers are staring down a midnight deadline. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), after the vote, lauded the legislation as “‘America First’ legislation because it allows us to be set up to deliver for the American people.” READ THE FULL STORY      

The Daily Mail UK This is the moment a Saudi doctor who drove through a massive crowd at a German Christmas market, killing at least two and injuring nearly 70 people, was arrested. The driver of the car, reported to be a dark BMW, was arrested following the crash which took place at 7:04pm today in the city of Magdeburg, according to unidentified government officials in the state of Saxony-Anhalt who spoke to the dpa news agency.  Video footage of the moment appears to show armed police crowding around a dark car and forcing a bearded man to slowly exit.  READ THE FULL STORY      

The Hill   TikTok filed an emergency appeal at the Supreme Court on Monday seeking to delay a law that would ban the video-sharing platform nationwide if TikTok doesn’t divest from its Chinese parent company. The company’s application asks the court to put the Jan. 19 divest-or-ban deadline on hold until the justices resolve TikTok’s First Amendment claims on their normal docket.    “The Act will shutter one of America’s most popular speech platforms the day before a presidential inauguration. This, in turn, will silence the speech of Applicants and the many Americans who use the platform to communicate about politics, commerce, arts, and other matters of public concern,” TikTok’s lawyers wrote in the application.  READ THE FULL STORY                 

Axios   A new report out from the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP), led by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), accuses Amazon of manipulating data on worker injuries and ignoring safety concerns. The online retail giant has faced intense scrutiny in recent years over allegations of unsafe or grueling work conditions. Amazon warehouses recorded over 30% more injuries than the warehousing industry average in 2023, per an analysis of company data highlighted in the report. READ THE FULL STORY                         

Breitbart   President-elect Donald Trump is reportedly considering privatizing the United States Postal Service (USPS), according to a report from the Washington Post. Three people with knowledge of the matter told the outlet that Trump had been talking with Howard Lutnick, who Trump picked to serve as the Commerce Secretary, about carrying out an “overhaul” of the U.S. Postal Service. While Trump’s plans regarding how he plans to overhaul the Postal Service were not “immediately clear,” one of the sources told the outlet that Trump had met with “a group of transition officials” and had requested their input on “privatizing the agency.” READ THE FULL STORY                 

Fox News ABC News and their top anchor George Stephanopoulos have reached a settlement with Donald Trump in his defamation suit, which will result in the news network paying the president-elect $15 million. The settlement was publicly filed on Saturday, revealing that the two parties have come to an agreement and avoided a costly trial. According to the settlement, ABC News will pay $15 million as a charitable contribution to a “Presidential foundation and museum to be established by or for Plaintiff, as Presidents of the United States of America have established in the past.” Additionally, the network will pay $1 million in Trump’s attorney fees. Stephanopoulos and ABC News will issue statements of “regret” as an editor’s note at the bottom of a March 10, 2024, online article, about comments made earlier this year that prompted Trump to file a defamation lawsuit. READ THE FULL STORY    

Axios   House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi sustained an unspecified injury and was hospitalized during a congressional visit to Luxembourg, her office said Friday. The 84-year-old former speaker is cancelling the rest of her CODEL engagements but “continues to work,” spokesperson Ian Krager said in a statement. Pelosi sustained the injury from a fall, two sources familiar with the matter told Axios. READ THE FULL STORY                 

Washington Examiner   Popular support for President-elect Donald Trump has never been higher, according to a polling group that awarded him a net positive personal rating for the first time.  RealClearPolling gave Trump a net approval score of plus-2 percentage points as of Dec. 11, a steep increase from the president-elect’s negative 12.8 rating at the end of June.  The polling group has been tracking Trump’s approval ratings for nearly a decade, beginning shortly after he announced he would run for president in 2015. READ THE FULL STORY                 

Fox News   A Florida woman is behind bars after she allegedly threatened a Blue Cross Blue Shield agent during a phone call about a recently denied insurance claim. Polk County jail records show Briana Boston, 42, was charged with threats to conduct a mass shooting or an act of terrorism after she was recorded saying, “Delay, deny, depose. You people are next,” FOX 13 Tampa Bay reported. Boston was upset about medical claims that had been denied recently and that she used the recent murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson as an attempt to threaten the company, the Lakeland Police Department told the outlet. READ THE FULL STORY                   

GOV.UK Existing emergency measures banning the sale and supply of puberty-suppressing hormones will be made indefinite, following official advice from medical experts. The Commission on Human Medicines (CHM) has provided independent expert advice that there is currently an unacceptable safety risk in the continued prescription of puberty blockers to children. It recommends indefinite restrictions while work is done to ensure the safety of children and young people. The NHS stopped the routine prescription of puberty blocker treatments to under 18s in March 2024, following the Cass Review into gender identity services. READ THE FULL STORY

Politico   Donald Trump is expected to be named Time magazine’s “Person of the Year” — and to celebrate the unveiling of the cover, the president-elect will ring the opening bell of the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday morning, according to three people familiar with the plans granted anonymity because they were not authorized to divulge the plans. Last year, pop superstar Taylor Swift was recognized. To mark the magazine cover reveal, Time CEO Jessica Sibley rang the opening bell. Trump was also named Time Person of the Year in 2016 after he won the presidential election. He joins 13 other U.S. presidents who have received the recognition, including President Joe Biden. READ THE FULL STORY                 

Breitbart   A report published by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) this week revealed previously unconfirmed information on four eavesdropping facilities in Cuba that China may be utilizing to conduct espionage on the United States. CSIS, a Washington-based think tank, detailed in the report that satellite imagery and open-source analysis “offer an unprecedented look into these facilities and provide clues as to how they could be used to spy on sensitive communications and activities in the region.” In a previous report released in July, CSIS detailed that the communist regime maintains four active bases located in Bejucal, El Salao, Wajay, and Calabazar — four locations that stand out as the most likely facilities to be supporting China’s efforts to collect signals intelligence (SIGINT) on the region and spy on the United States. READ THE FULL STORY                 

Washington Examiner   Federal bankruptcy judge Christopher M. Lopez rejected the Onion‘s bid to buy Infowars, the website of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, citing that the auction of the website and the bid lacked transparency and created an uneven playing field. Chicago-based satirical publication, won the auction for the website while backed by the families of the victims of the Sandy Hook shooting. For years, Jones claimed that the 2012 school shooting was fake and the victims’ families were just actors convincing the world of the tragedy. The families sued Jones in 2018 for defamation. After Jones refused to participate in the trial, judges in Connecticut and Texas found him liable by default, and a jury awarded the families $1.4 billion in damages in 2022. Jones is still appealing the ruling and he has since declared bankruptcy and sold his company, Free Speech Systems, in order to pay some of what he owes the families. READ THE FULL STORY               

Washington Examiner   Police arrested a suspect in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in Altoona, Pennsylvania, on Monday. Luigi Mangione, 26, was described as a “person of interest” by New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch at a news conference Monday afternoon. She added that Mangione had multiple items on him, including a firearm with a suppressor, a fake ID, and a “handwritten document that speaks to both his motivation and mindset,” when he was arrested by local police in Pennsylvania on local firearms charges. Mangione was discovered at a McDonald’s and was recognized by an employee, according to officials. She said that NYPD detectives were on their way to Pennsylvania to question him. READ THE FULL STORY                 

Breitbart   Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday that he’s open to the potential deployment of Western troops in Ukraine to guarantee the country´s security as part of a broad effort to end the almost three-year war with Russia. The deployment would be a step toward Ukraine joining NATO, Zelenskyy said in a post on his Telegram channel. “But before that, we must have a clear understanding of when Ukraine will be in the European Union and when Ukraine will be in NATO,” Zelenskyy said. READ THE FULL STORY         

Axios   China is launching an antitrust investigation into AI giant Nvidia, triggering fears of an escalating international dispute entangling one of America’s most vital tech companies. The move may be seen as a retaliation over the U.S. imposing restrictions on the sale of advanced AI chips and technology to China. China’s State Administration for Market Regulation — which investigates monopolies — is probing Nvidia’s acquisition of Mellanox Technologies, according to multiple reports. READ THE FULL STORY           

The Daily Wire A doctor celebrated as “America’s best-known practitioner of youth gender medicine” is being sued for medical negligence by a former patient — a young girl who underwent a gender transition and now feels she was deeply betrayed.  Twenty-year-old Kaya Clementine Breen accuses Dr. Johanna Olson-Kennedy of fast-tracking her attempted gender transition, including puberty blockers, hormones, and a double mastectomy, when she was a young teenager.  Her lawyers argue that Olson-Kennedy, the therapist she referred Breen to, the surgeon who removed Breen’s breasts, and other medical professionals are all guilty of medical negligence for rushing Breen through procedures that have deeply and negatively impacted her future.  READ THE FULL STORY

The Washington Examiner   Republicans killed two measures that would have compelled the House Ethics Committee to release its report on former Rep. Matt Gaetz, but some would be willing to reverse their stance if the former Florida congressman is nominated for another position. “Many of us voted to support the precedent but will feel differently if he’s nominated for a high-level position or runs for office. I’m not the only one. There’s many,” Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) told the Washington Examiner. Gaetz had been the subject of an investigation by the committee over allegations of sex trafficking and sex with a minor, accusations he has denied. The Florida Republican resigned from his House seat last month after being named President-elect Donald Trump‘s pick for attorney general, but he later withdrew himself from the nomination after it appeared doomed. READ THE FULL STORY                 

Breitbart   Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) on Thursday, after a groundswell of support for Defense Secretary nominee Pete Hegseth, denied she is behind a campaign on Capitol Hill to tank his nomination and seek the job herself. “I don’t have a campaign against Pete,” she told RealClearPolitics’s White House correspondent Philip Wegmann, adding that he deserved to have a Senate confirmation hearing. “I just want to make sure the process is able to play out and that we’re thoroughly vetting him. I do believe that Pete deserves to have a hearing. All the rumblings out there are absolutely false. My role as a senator is to make sure that we are putting to bed any rumors, any anonymous whatever,” she claimed. READ THE FULL STORY                 

Axios   The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Friday announced a federal order that the country’s milk supply be tested for bird flu. The sluggish federal response to the H5N1 bird flu outbreak has alarmed researchers, especially with new findings that the virus is one mutation away from being able to more efficiently affect humans. “This new guidance from USDA, which was developed with significant input from state, veterinary and public health stakeholders, will facilitate comprehensive H5N1 surveillance of the nation’s milk supply and dairy herds,” the department said. READ THE FULL STORY                 

The Economist   JOHANNA OLSON-KENNEDY is among the most celebrated youth gender medicine clinicians in the world. She has been the Medical Director of the Center for Transyouth Health and Development at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA), one of the first high-profile American youth gender clinics and presently the largest, since 2012. A frequent expert witness in court cases who is often quoted in the media, Dr Olson-Kennedy also leads a $10m initiative funded by the National Institutes of Health to study youth gender medicine—by far the largest such project in America. In addition, she is the president-elect of the United States Professional Association for Transgender Health.   As state-level bans on youth gender medicine have accumulated, and are being tested at the Supreme Court, this controversial field has been seized by a fierce debate over the proper role of mental-health assessments. The Dutch clinicians who published the seminal youth gender medicine protocol in 2012 emphasised the importance of conducting a careful, in-depth assessment prior to starting a young person on puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones. But Dr Olson-Kennedy has emerged as a critic of what she views as undue and unnecessary “gatekeeping”. “I don’t send someone to a therapist when…

C-SPAN The Supreme Court heard oral argument in United States v. Skrmetti, a case on whether Tennessee’s ban on transgender medical treatments for minors violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. Tennessee enacted its law in March of 2023, which stated that there was a “compelling interest” to protect minors from physical and emotional harm by banning health care providers from administering hormone/puberty blockers and surgery to minors for transgender purposes. Transgender minors and their families sued the state, and the Justice Department intervened on their behalf, arguing the law discriminated on the basis of sex. A district court then stopped the ban on hormone and puberty blockers, but the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed that decision. The Justice Department then appealed to the Supreme Court. Chase Strangio, who argued on behalf of trans minors and their parents, was the first openly transgender lawyer to argue before the Court. LISTEN TO THE FULL AUDIO      

Breitbart   Several top Veterans Affairs officials in Tennessee resigned as an internal investigation and a broader congressional probe into alleged sexual misconduct intensified, Breitbart News has learned. Congressional investigators discovered that one man who resigned, whose name they would not tell Breitbart News but sources familiar say was a bargaining unit biomedical employee, had dozens of sexual relationships with women who worked at the Mountain Home VA medical center in Tennessee. In fact, the congressional investigators told Breitbart News this one man slept with no fewer than 32 different women who worked there—and the man and several of the women bragged about their exploits on an online group forum on a government communication portal that VA officials use to communicate about veteran healthcare and facility operations. What’s more, sources familiar with the congressional investigation told Breitbart News they uncovered that an orgy of at least 12 officials who work at the facility took place. It’s unclear at this time whether the orgy happened on government property at the VA facility or off-site—but the mere fact that a dozen of the government workers employed there did this is astounding. READ THE FULL STORY       

The Hill   The Biden administration issued new restrictions Monday on exports of certain semiconductor chips and equipment to China, marking the Biden administration’s latest crackdown to curb the country’s competitive advancements in chipmaking. The new export controls place more than 100 Chinese chipmaking tool manufacturers on a restricted trade list, prohibiting U.S. companies from sending them equipment without specific permission, the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security said Monday.   Leading chip equipment company Naura Technology Group is among the dozens of Chinese companies facing new restrictions. READ THE FULL STORY                 

Politico   A House staffer was arrested Monday morning for entering the Cannon House Office Building with ammunition, according to a statement from the US Capitol Police. Capitol Police said the staffer is Michael Hopkins, who is the communications director for Rep. Joe Morelle (D-N.Y.). “USCP officers noticed what appeared to be ammunition on the x-ray screen. After a hand search of the bag, officers found four ammunition magazines and eleven rounds of ammunition,” the police statement read. “The staffer told the officers that he forgot the ammunition was in the bag. 38-year-old Michael Hopkins was arrested, and he is facing charges for unlawful possession of ammunition, including one charge for possession of a high-capacity magazine.” READ THE FULL STORY                 

Axios   President Biden is facing a steady trickle of condemnation from members of his own party for issuing a pardon of his son Hunter over the weekend. The pardon is already having downstream political ramifications for Democrats as Republicans try to tie them to it. Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.), an incoming senator, wrote on X: “The Democrat party OWNS the Hunter Biden pardon!” READ THE FULL STORY                   

Washington Examiner   In a landmark decision for the United Kingdom, British lawmakers have voted in favor of a bill that will allow terminally ill adults to end their lives with assistance in England and Wales. Friday’s decision came after an emotionally and impassioned debate that resulted in the bill passing by a vote of 330 to 275 in the House of Commons. Hundreds of people gathered outside Parliament during the debate. The legislation, which is still to face further scrutiny in Parliament and possible amendments, would allow doctors to assist patients who have less than six months to live to end their lives. READ THE FULL STORY                 

Breitbart   The small rural Canadian township of Emo (population 1,333) is being ordered by the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal to pay damages after failing to proclaim Pride Month as instructed back in 2020. CBC News reports Borderland Pride tasked Emo with the job of declaring June as Pride Month and ordered municipal authorities to fly an “LGBTQ2 rainbow flag for a week of your choosing” despite the fact they lack an official flagpole. Borderland Pride also asked Emo to “email us a copy of your proclamation or resolution once adopted and signed.” READ THE FULL STORY                 

Yahoo   Coffee futures extended their rampant rally to the highest in more than four decades in New York on global supply worries, threatening to further raise costs for consumers. Arabica beans — the variety favored for specialty brews — climbed as much as 3.9%, hitting the highest since 1977. They’ve jumped almost 70% this year. A severe drought earlier this year in Brazil has fueled worries about the country’s output. That comes on top of concerns about another bean variety produced in Vietnam, after a key coffee belt was hit by dryness during the growing period and heavy rains arrived at the start of harvest. READ THE FULL STORY                   

Axios   With votes still being counted in the 2024 election, at least two dozen ambitious House members are already sizing up runs for higher office in 2026, Axios has learned. This extraordinarily large cohort could cause all kinds of headaches for House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) as they navigate a razor-thin House majority. Both sides are trying to maximize attendance and minimize early retirements in one of the most closely divided Houses in history. READ THE FULL STORY               

Washington Examiner   Half of voters aged 18-29 have a positive view of the Republican Party compared to 35% who have an unfavorable view, a massive shift from previous years. The youth vote has long been considered a bastion of Democratic support, with Democratic strategists frequently theorizing before this past election that it would be decided by youth turnout — ostensibly guaranteed to vote Democrat. Instead, the youth vote saw a massive shift toward President-elect Donald Trump and Republicans, with an Economist-YouGov poll taken after the election finding the largest support for Republicans in years. The results were a major change from just before the election, when the 18-29 demographic’s favorability rating was 35%-49%, making the latest results a massive swing over just one month. READ THE FULL STORY               

Breitbart   Construction bosses based primarily in Texas are complaining that President-Elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance will stop them from hiring and continuing to employ hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens in industry jobs. Trump and Vance have vowed to carry out the nation’s largest deportation program in American history, spearheaded by former Acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director Thomas Homan, whom Trump has named “border czar.” “We’re going to go do the job. President Trump has a mandate from the American people,” Homan said recently. “We’ve got to secure this country. We’ve got to save American lives.” READ THE FULL STORY                 

Axios   President-elect Trump is expected to appoint ultra loyalist Kash Patel to a high-profile position at either the FBI or the Justice Department, top transition sources tell Axios. Patel would be a deeply controversial pick for any leadership role, especially FBI director. Given the hurdles Patel might face winning Senate confirmation, Trump is considering naming him deputy director or to an appointed investigative role within DOJ, the sources said. A final decision hasn’t been made. Trump still could change his mind, including by elevating Patel all the way to FBI director — a move that would send Gaetz-like shockwaves throughout Washington. READ THE FULL STORY                 

New York Post   Manhattan’s top federal prosecutor announced Monday he plans to resign from his post next month to make way for President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the powerful office. Damian Williams said he would step down as US attorney for the Southern District of New York on Dec. 13 – about a month before Trump’s inauguration. “Today is a bittersweet day for me,” Williams said in a statement. READ THE FULL STORY                

CBS News    Service workers at Charlotte Douglas International Airport have gone on strike during a busy week of Thanksgiving travel to protest what they say are unlivable wages. Employees of ABM and Prospect Airport Services cast ballots Friday to authorize the work stoppage in North Carolina, which a spokesperson said began Monday morning. Officials with Service Employees International Union announced the impending strike in a statement early Monday, saying the workers would demand “an end to poverty wages and respect on the job during the holiday travel season.” READ THE FULL STORY                 

Washington Examiner   President-elect Donald Trump is backing Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis to replace former Rep. Matt Gaetz in the next Congress. Trump shared his endorsement of Patronis on Truth Social, calling him a “wonderful friend” to him and MAGA. “As your next congressman, Jimmy would work tirelessly alongside of me to Grow our Economy, Secure our Border, Stop Migrant Crime, Strengthen our Incredible Military/Vets, Restore American Energy DOMINANCE, and Defend our always under siege Second Amendment,” Trump wrote. “Should he decide to enter this Race, Jimmy Patronis has my Complete and Total Endorsement. RUN, JIMMY, RUN!” READ THE FULL STORY       

Washington Examiner   The California Legislative Analyst’s Office projected a dismal fiscal outlook for the Golden State as Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) is anticipated to pour millions of dollars into fighting the Trump administration.  The non-partisan budget watchdog released an analysis this week showing that while the state has managed to reduce its budget deficit by a massive amount since last year, the deficit is estimated to climb back up to a staggering $20 billion by 2026.  “We anticipate the Legislature likely will need to address deficits in the future, for example by reducing spending or increasing taxes. In our view, this year’s budget does not have capacity for new commitments, ongoing ones,” the LAO’s report reads.  READ THE FULL STORY