pgnewser

Blurb:

Democrat Senator Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) is facing mounting criticism after appearing in a video that encouraged U.S. service members to launch a military coup against President Donald Trump.

The message, which called on troops to ignore “illegal orders,” was widely considered an act of sedition and interpreted as a direct challenge to Trump and War Secretary Pete Hegseth.

Slotkin, a former CIA analyst, joined five Democrat lawmakers with military backgrounds in the video, which strongly implied that unlawful or improper orders either were being issued or soon would be.

The group of Democrats in the video earned the name “Seditious Six” over the controversy.

Blurb:

The Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control holds a hearing on Chinese drug trafficking through Latin America to the United States on Tuesday, December 9.

The hearing seeks to “uncover how the Chinese mafia drives synthetic opioid trafficking to the United States in the context of increased Chinese investment and trade with Latin America and the Caribbean.”

The hearing comes as Democrats continue to claim that the Trump administration is issuing illegal orders in their strikes against narco-terrorist drug boats in the Carribean.

Blurb:

In early November, The Hill reported that Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director Bill Pulte was working on a plan to introduce a 50-year home mortgage to buyers.

This scheme is unwise. It will make housing more expensive, hurt taxpayers, and set the groundwork for a future housing crisis. Sound reasoning indicates that the FHFA should not create the 50-year mortgage.

In fact, right there is the heart of the problem: that it is the Federal Housing Finance Agency that intends to create this mortgage product. The last 90 years of federal intervention in the housing market, from the National Housing Act of 1934 onward, have been a disaster. This was inevitable. It is intrinsic to human nature that central planners cannot allocate resources efficiently for the satisfaction of anyone’s desires save their own.

It is also in the nature of things that men who make their way in the world by seizing the resources of others at the barrel of a gun have little, if any, incentive to work for the good of others. Their access to violence precludes the need to produce anything useful.

Blurb:

“The Charlie Kirk Show” producer Blake Neff lambasted podcaster Candace Owens Wednesday for claiming that Turning Point USA (TPUSA) founder Charlie Kirk was “betrayed” by high-ranking members of the conservative student group, saying TPUSA would deliver a detailed response to her claims via a livestream.

Authorities arrested Tyler Robinson, 22, early in the morning of Sept. 12, accusing him of fatally shooting Kirk during a TPUSA event at Utah Valley University. Owens posted on X Tuesday that she would “be naming names and providing evidence” to support her allegations, which have involved French paratroopers, the Egyptian military and TPUSA leadership. (RELATED: ‘Holy Sh*t!’: Podcaster Aghast As Charlie Kirk’s Security Leader Reads Texts He Allegedly Sent University Police)

“For the past two and a half months, there is a topic that has flooded our freedom inbox, has been non-stop on social media, but which we have almost totally avoided on this show,” Neff said. “You probably already know what I’m talking about, which shows just how ubiquitous it has been. Ever since Charlie’s murder, Candace Owens has leveled a flood of allegations against people at Turning Point USA, people at Turning Point Action and people who work for this show. She’s made them against some of Charlie’s closest friends and against some of his most dedicated employees.”

Blurb:

There’s a meme that floats around the X-Twitters about how so much of being a progressive is pretending that you don’t know what things mean. Exhibit Q is Jasmine Crockett claiming that Democrats don’t call for violence against political opponents and have never called for violence. Jazzy, for someone who barely exists off of social media, also apparently doesn’t know how the internets work. The GOP had no problem answering her challenge with twenty examples.

Or, it depends on how you define “call to violence.” If we are using the “independent” “fact” checker standard, because it’s the GOP and no Democrat said the actual words “I call you to commit violence” verbatim and in that order, an argument could be made that none of these examples are a call to violence.

Even though the people making that argument are the same people who called for Sarah Palin to be held as an accessory to murder for using a commonly used crosshairs graphic to illustrate how congressional seats were being targeted. A graphic so commonly used, Democrats were using the same graphic for the same reason in the same election cycle.

Blurb:

Here we go again: the sun rises, another federal judge kneecaps the Trump agenda. In this latest ruling, issued Monday, a Bill Clinton-appointed jurist decided that Trump hasn’t explained himself enough and “failed to justify” his decision to put a halt to the wind project madness that has swept the country.

Sometimes I wish the president would just say, “I got 77 million votes, you didn’t — that’s my justification. Buzz off.” Of course, he can’t do that:

A federal judge on Monday ruled that President Donald Trump’s administration had failed to justify its decision to suspend issuing leases and permits for new wind projects in keeping with the Republican president’s wishes.

U.S. District Judge Patti Saris in Boston sided with a group of 17 Democrat-led states and the District of Columbia in finding that agencies had failed to sufficiently explain why they had indefinitely paused all federal approvals of wind-energy projects.

Blurb:

President Donald Trump hosted a Cabinet meeting at the White House Tuesday, where Secretary of War Pete Hegseth gave a spirited defense of the much debated military strikes on a drug-trafficking vessel in the Caribbean on September 2.

The Washington Post reported on Friday that Hegseth gave an order to “kill everybody” before the strikes on the “suspected drug boats.” After two men allegedly survived the initial strike, according to the Post’s sources, the mission commander ordered a second strike to take them out to comply with Hegseth’s directive. “The two men were blown apart in the water, the Post reported.

Democrats contend that the second strike to take out the survivors could have been a violation of the laws of war.

Amid talk of potential war crimes, the New York Times on Monday reported additional details refuting the Washington Post’s version of events, clarifying that Hegseth had ordered the attack, but not the killing of survivors.

Blurb:

In a rush to cast a pall on one element of President Trump’s announced farm relief, ABC’s Rachel Scott omitted another. Thus was the prophecy fulfilled when President Trump earlier referred to Scott’s employer as “ABC Fake News.”

Watch as Scott mischaracterized the aid received by farmers as “taxpayer money”, although it isn’t:

Blurb:

Massive federal programs, particularly those farmed out to the states, have always been ripe for fraud. Now it appears Minnesota has added a new dimension to the amount and kind of fraud possible, certainly in its maladministration of Medicaid. So serious and blatant is the fraud Health and Human Services—HHS—Director Dr. Mehmet Oz is threatening to shut off the federal money spigot.

At City Journal, Chris Rufo wrote:

 

Our investigation shows what happens when a tribal mindset meets a bleeding-heart bureaucracy, when imported clan loyalties collide with a political class too timid to offend, and when accusations of racism are cynically deployed to shield criminal behavior. The predictable result is graft, with taxpayers left to foot the bill.

Blurb:

President Donald Trump was caught complaining about repeated blocks of his appointments after acting U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Alina Habba resigned.

In footage posted on social media, Trump could be heard venting about his judicial appointments being blocked as the press was shepherded out of the room.

“You know I can’t appoint anybody,” Trump said. “Everybody I’ve appointed, their time has expired. Then they’re in default, then we’re losing.”

Trump’s disdain for the “blue slip” practice for judicial nominees is well known, and he’s repeatedly called for Congress to abolish it. Republicans have so far given rare resistance to Trump’s wishes, with Senate Republicans siding with Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA), who has been a strong defender of the century-old unofficial rule.

The Senate Judiciary Committee typically doesn’t advance judicial nominees unless both senators from the state of the appointment return a blue slip in favor of the nominee. With Democrats steadfastly against Trump’s nominees, he has been forced to appoint his picks to short terms that quickly expire. Attempts to stay past their deadline have been dealt a critical blow in the courts, most recently resulting in the resignation of a major Trump ally, Habba.

Blurb:

The president spoke with reporters on the red carpet at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., where he is due to host an honors ceremony. Asked for an update on the Ukraine peace talks, which have accelerated in the last week, Trump aired out his dissatisfaction with Zelensky.

“I have to say that I’m a little bit disappointed that President Zelensky hasn’t yet read the proposal. That was as of a few hours ago,” he said. “His people love it, but he hasn’t [read it].”

Trump also said he believes Russia’s “fine” with the plan, though added they would “rather have the whole country” of Ukraine.

“But I’m not sure that Zelensky’s fine with it. His people love it, but he hasn’t read it. So, someday you’ll explain that one to me,” the president added.

Trump’s comments are surprising given that negotiations between U.S. and Ukrainian delegations in Florida last week were described positively by both sides.

Blurb:

Wednesday on Fox News Channel’s “Outnumbered,” Erika Kirk, the Turning Point USA CEO and widow of assassinated conservative activist Charlie Kirk, addressed online conspiracies around her husband’s murder.

Kirk said, “It reminds me so much of Chapter Six in the book of Nehemiah. He is building a wall, and the townspeople are at the base of that hill saying, ‘Nehemiah,’ calling him all these names, saying all these things, ‘Come on down,’ Every single time, he had the same message four times in a row: ‘I cannot come down. I am busy building.’ That is how I feel.

She continued, “I do not have time to address the noise. My silence does not mean that I am complacent. My silence does not mean that somehow Turning Point USA and all of the handpicked staff that loved my husband and my husband loved them is somehow in on it. We are busy building. And you know what I thought? I thought these people are human. We are all grieving in our own way. And they are trying to find the answer to something that happened that was so evil. They are trying so hard. And I get that. We’re doing the same. Anytime we hear a lead or anytime we hear anything, we send it to the authorities. Please dig into this. No rock will be unturned. I want justice for my husband, for myself, for my family more than anyone else out there.”

Blurb:

A homeless illegal alien who had previously been deported from the United States on two separate occasions was arrested after stabbing a man on a light rail line in Charlotte, North Carolina. The vicious assault comes as the city is still reeling from the brutal murder of Iryna Zarutska, a Ukrainian refugee who was fatally stabbed by a homeless man with an extensive criminal history.

Oscar Solarzano was arrested on charges of first-degree attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon causing serious injury, breaking and entering, carrying a concealed weapon and being intoxicated and disruptive, according to a report from the New York Post. He is currently being held without bond.

Solarzano, 33, allegedly charged onto  the Charlotte light rail on Friday evening before viscously stabbing the victim with a large knife, police said. The Honduran illegal alien allegedly broke onto the train, while intoxicated, before starting a fight with the victim and ultimately stabbing him, causing serious injuries,

The victim was hospitalized with serious injuries at Novant Health Presbyterian Hospital in stable condition, ABC News reported. His address on court records matches that of a homeless shelter in Charlotte.

Blurb:

WITNESS “is a global organization that helps people everywhere harness the power of video and audiovisual technology to tell their stories, document the truth, and defend human rights – today and in a future increasingly shaped by AI.” And in whatever pursuit that even is, they have published a video recommending people record ICE agents engaged in lawful arrests of illegal aliens. Unclear where they got the idea that humans have a “right” to break the law, but I digress.

According to the video, people have “the right to film interactions” between illegals and ICE agents. This recommendation comes after there have been record numbers of doxxing incidents targeting agents and their families. And when you see videos like this, it’s not even remotely surprising.

The video even goes as far as to recommend people get any and all information, such as badge numbers and uniforms. It’s unclear exactly why people would need this information, but you can do the math.

Blurb:

President Trump has had enough of the Senate’s “blue slip” tradition that allows senators to put the kibosh on certain presidential nominees for positions in their home states, and he’s demanding Senate Republicans to due away with the “scam.”

In a Truth Social message posted Thursday morning, the president called on Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) to terminate blue slips so that several of the White House’s picks for U.S. Attorney vacancies can make their way through the confirmation process. Trump also had pointed words for Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, saying it’s “shocking” Grassley allows the tradition to continue.

Blurb:

 

Federal prosecutors say Oklahoma City BLM leader Tashella Sheri Amore Dickerson spent five years looting more than $3 million meant for bail assistance and social-justice programs — secretly routing returned bail checks into her own accounts to bankroll luxury vacations, shopping sprees, groceries, a car, and six properties. Dickerson, who led the chapter since 2016, allegedly diverted $3.15 million in grant money funneled through the Alliance for Global Justice, filing fraudulent reports while using BLM’s bank, PayPal, and CashApp accounts as her personal ATM. She now faces 20 counts of wire fraud and five counts of money laundering — charges carrying decades in federal prison — even as she bizarrely claims the indictment simply proves she was “doing the work.”

And every woke American company donated millions to this racist grift.

Blurb:

A Utah courtroom erupted into controversy after the judge overseeing the Tyler Robinson murder case ordered the defendant’s parents and brother to leave the room during a closed session, rejecting a direct plea from the accused Charlie Kirk-killer’s attorney and intensifying scrutiny on how the high-profile proceedings are being handled.

The Thursday hearing marked Robinson’s first in-person appearance since being charged with assassinating conservative activist Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University earlier this year.

The brutal killing that shocked the nation is now moving toward a possible death penalty trial.

Robinson entered the Provo courtroom in civilian clothing but remained shackled.

He appeared calm, even smirking at times, as cameras captured his demeanor.

Blurb:

 

Detroit is synonymous with autos, Los Angeles with motion pictures, and Texas with oil. Pittsburgh still conjures steel. When a product or service anchors a region’s economy, that sector has power. Politicians court industry. Industry demands representation and, ideally, protection.

What’s true regionally is just as true nationally. That’s why K Street exists and lobbyists make big bucks. Fortunes rise and fall, but if our GDP slips even 3%, the usual talking heads sprint to the cameras to declare the American economy on the verge of collapse — and always under whichever Republican is in office. When a Democrat presides over a faltering economy, the political media prefers to drive the getaway car.

Harassing users did nothing to stop the poison. Blowing up supply at sea does. Every sunken shipment dents the cartels’ profits. Every explosion represents a tangible loss.

If any of us invented a product that added 3% to national GDP, we’d enjoy the influence over policy and legislation that naturally comes with living in a representative republic with a market economy. Innovation and competition fuel prosperity.

Blurb:

The U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) over a collective bargaining agreement giving preferential treatment to non-white teachers and shelling out other benefits based on race.

After settling a three-week strike of the Minnesota Federation of Teachers in 2022, MPS included a provision in new teacher contracts that let teachers who were not white bypass the normal system of layoffs and involuntary assignments (which are typically based on seniority), indicating the school system now has a policy of retaining racially “underrepresented” teachers over white teachers who have been there longer.

“Employers may not provide more favorable terms and conditions of employment based on an employee’s race and sex,” Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon said in a Wednesday announcement. “The Department of Justice will vigorously pursue employers who deny their employees equal opportunities and benefits by classifying and limiting them based on their race, color, national origin, or sex.”

Blurb:

Without oversight from elected federal MPs, Canada’s Department of Immigration had research done to investigate a national ID system using digital passports for domestic use and how such a system would be enforced.

According to Access to Information documents, a senior analyst wrote in a staff email, “One of the things that came up in our discussions with Canadian Digital Services is the assumption the passport would be used within Canada as an identity document.”

“This warrants a policy discussion,” the staff email added.

MPs have soundly rejected any national ID system as both dangerous and costly.

Blurb:

It’s not often you see the left’s worldview hits them right in the face, but when it does, it’s incredibly satisfying.

YouTuber Nick Shirley posted footage of one of his videos to social media platform X, where he had an exchange that went pretty poorly for the mask-clad 120-pound activist trying to berate him.

Shirley was speaking to a group of people when he noticed the man off camera. He approached and asked him, “You got a problem with us live streaming, or what? Is there a problem with me being here?”

The leftist, who wore a black T-shirt, black shorts, and a white paper face mask, looked Shirley up and down and said in an accusing tone, “You’re a white person! Y’all don’t pay the stolen land tax!”

“You’re white as well, dude,” Shirley pointed out. “I don’t know what you’re trying to say.”

Blurb:

“I find that excluding the cameras from the courtroom would be disproportionate for this hearing.”

The judge overseeing the Utah case against Tyler Robinson, who has been charged with assassinating Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, ruled against the defense on Thursday, who requested that cameras be blocked from the hearing over multiple violations of a court order on filming. A date of February 3 was set for arguments on the matter of cameras in the courtroom during the trial.

The judge allowed cameras in court for the hearing, but whether or not cameras will be permitted during the trial is still open for discussion. Parties will argue about that February 3, after which Graf will make his ruling.

The defense said that January 30 “might be the one we want to save to argue our anticipated motion that’s coming about keeping cameras out of the courtroom and we will, I imagine the media will.” The judge said that there were complications surrounding the date, and the date of February 3 was agreed upon by the parties.

Blurb:

Explosive new court documents unsealed Tuesday detail the alleged judicial misconduct of the Wisconsin judge presiding over a politically-driven criminal case targeting the attorneys who represented the 2020 Trump campaign in the battleground Badger State. Dane County Circuit Court Judge John Hyland had outside help from a former judge with a “grudge,” according to the court filings.

Hyland, in so many words, told defendants to go pound sand. He will not remove himself from the case and the march to a perfectly-timed election-year trial will go on. To the people who feel more than ever that it will be impossible to get a fair trial in far-left Dane County, the judge effectively said, Trust me.

Earlier this week, attorneys for Jim Troupis, President Donald Trump’s Wisconsin recount counselor following the rigged 2020 presidential election, filed several motions not only asking Hyland and his staff to step aside, but to vacate the judge’s August order rejecting the defendants’ motion to dismiss the case. The omnibus motion and an appendix spelling out the allegations were sealed  — that is until Hyland opened them Tuesday afternoon.

Blurb:

Former Special Counsel Jack Smith is teaming up with other anti-Trump prosecutors to launch a new law firm. The hordes of Mordor might be forming again. Smith tried to ensnare President Trump in two investigations, one on the January 6 riot and the other concerning Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified documents, all of which were dismissed. The latter was part of the federal raid on Mar-a-Lago in August of 2022, which, in hindsight, sealed the Democrats’ fate regarding the 2024 election (via Yahoo! News):

Jack Smith, the former U.S. Justice Department special counsel who prosecuted Republican President Donald Trump following his first term in the White House, is teaming up with three other ex-prosecutors ‌to launch a new law firm.

Smith is starting the firm with Tim Heaphy, David Harbach and Thomas Windom, each ‌a former federal prosecutor with decades of public service.

Heaphy in a statement said the firm will launch in January and provide full-service legal work, including investigations and litigation. He said the team will design a legal practice focused on “integrity, commitment, and zealous advocacy” for public and private clients.

Blurb:

By handing out CDLs to ineligible drivers, the state “sent unsafe foreign drivers onto highways across America and put countless families in danger.”

Washington state says it accidentally issued nearly 700 commercial driver’s licenses over the past seven years to non-US citizens who did not qualify to have them. Washington is a so-called “sanctuary state” for illegal immigrants.

The revelation comes as the Evergreen State sits in the crosshairs of the Trump administration’s CDL crackdown following the case of Harjinder Singh, an illegal alien who allegedly made an illegal U-turn in a semi-truck and killed three people in Florida in August. Singh, who crossed the border illegally in 2018, failed the required tests and allegedly did not speak English.

Washington still issued him a commercial driver’s license, which he then used to obtain a California CDL. After the fatal crash, Florida’s attorney general asked the US Supreme Court to permanently bar Washington and California from issuing commercial licenses to noncitizens. Washington has until Jan. 27 to respond.

Blurb:

House Speaker Mike Johnson suggested Thursday that Republicans are preparing a broad healthcare package aimed at lowering premiums nationwide.

Senate Democrats and Republicans each rejected the other’s healthcare plan Thursday, as dueling votes on extending enhanced ACA subsidies and expanding Health Savings Accounts both failed amid leaders declaring the opposing plans “dead on arrival.” Johnson spoke briefly to reporters in the Capitol, saying that he and his conference are crafting a plan that goes beyond the Democrats’ push to extend enhanced Obamacare subsidies.

“I‘ve spoken to all my colleagues. We‘ve all worked around the clock to try to come up with a solution that satisfies the needs of all of our constituents,” Johnson said.

When CNN’s Manu Raju pressed Johnson on whether he would allow a vote on the Democrats’ subsidy-extension bill, he pointed to a forthcoming Republican plan.

Blurb:

CNN political commentator Scott Jennings had a stern warning for Republican lawmakers after the Republican-dominated Indiana State Senate overwhelmingly voted against a congressional map redraw that would have netted the party two seats in next year’s midterm elections, a move that significantly increases the odds of a Democrat-controlled U.S. House of Representatives in 2026.

The proposed maps would have split the Democratic Party stronghold of Indianapolis four ways, effectively eliminating the districts currently controlled by Democrats to give the GOP a 9-0 sweep when it comes to U.S. House seats. After the Indiana House advanced the motion last week, the proposed map went to the Senate, where it was soundly defeated on Thursday.

The vote was not particularly close, as 21 Republicans voted against the measure while just 19 voted in favor.  President Donald Trump and a number of key allies were furious over the move, leading organizations like Turning Point USA and the president himself to vow primary challenges.

Blurb:

On Thursday, a suspected cartel smuggler was killed during an officer-involved shooting with Border Patrol.

Allegedly, the suspect crossed the river and attacked a Border Patrol, who then opened fire.

The shooting happened in Starr County, Texas — near the border.

Thankfully, no agents were injured during the shootout.

Bill Melugin of Fox News has the details:

Blurb:

California Gov. Gavin Newsom posted an AI-generated video depicting President Donald Trump, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller in handcuffs.

“It’s CUFFING Season,” reads the text that appears at the beginning of the video.

It shows Trump, Hegseth, and Miller sitting on a sidewalk with their hands behind their backs.

In the next scene, they are sitting in the back of a car with handcuffs on, and they raise their hands to their faces and begin to cry.

Finally, they are shown walking in front of a courthouse, still handcuffed.

Blurb:

While the Indiana legislature’s congressional redistricting efforts generate massive national attention, a weaker immigration enforcement bill is quietly moving faster than a stronger, “gold-standard” bill supported by Gov. Mike Braun and border czar Tom Homan.

The two immigration bills, Senate Bill 76 and House Bill 1039, include a lot of identical language. But SB 76 weakens and drops a number of HB 1039’s provisions.

SB 76 is sponsored by Sen. Liz Brown, R-Fort Wayne, who faces primary challenger Darren Vogt after she single-handedly blocked an immigration enforcement bill similar to HB 1039 earlier this year. SB 76 passed the judiciary committee Brown chairs Tuesday afternoon 6-2. In response to a Federalist query about whether she’d give HB 1039’s Senate companion sponsored by ranking member Sen. Eric Koch, R-Bedford, an equal hearing, Brown’s spokeswoman told The Federalist, “Sen. Brown is focused first on getting her bill through Committee and then she’ll see what the House does.”