Fresh Mark Incorporated, a Northeast Ohio-based company that supplies meat products to all 50 states and more than 20 countries, entered into a non-prosecution agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The company paid a nearly $4 million penalty for a hiring manager’s involvement in an identity theft scheme and subsequent obstruction of justice.

Between 2013 and 2018, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents arrested multiple Fresh Mark employees illegally in the United States who used stolen identities to gain employment with the company.

According to court documents, Yelwin Omar Munoz-Solis, 43, of Salem, Ohio, was a hiring manager at Fresh Mark’s Salem facility. He conspired with others to steal the identities of U.S. citizens and give them to job applicants at Fresh Mark’s meat processing plants. He then certified I-9 documents, which are used to verify identity and employment eligibility in the United States.

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Any objective and competent judge would have thrown this case in the garbage

New York Judge Juan Merchan’s dogmatic refusal on Friday to dismiss the misbegotten case against President-elect Donald Trump and, instead, proceed to sentencing on Jan. 10 is yet another middle finger extended to the law. And to Trump.

At the same time, Merchan unwittingly concedes the folly of the entire prosecution by notifying the defendant that neither the court nor District Attorney Alvin Bragg will seek any meaningful punishment. Trump, the judge disingenuously advises, would receive an “unconditional discharge” with no incarceration, fine, or probation following the guilty verdicts by a Manhattan jury last May.

Never mind that state law does not support a jail sentence under these circumstances. Forget that the district attorney deliberately contorted statutes and mangled evidence to pursue a meritless prosecution that was motivated purely by political vengeance. And ignore the fact that there is little chance that the biased jury’s guilty verdict, compounded by Merchan’s chronic reversible errors, will withstand judicial scrutiny on appeal. Eventually.

It seems obvious that Merchan is desperate to stain Trump with the formal stricture of “convicted felon.” To do it, he must sentence the incoming president. A jury’s verdict alone is insufficient under the law. Hence, the offer of what amounts to a non-sentence if only Trump will, at the very least, appear virtually during a hearing 10 days before he is sworn in.

It is another charade meant to bookend —and cover-up— a sham trial. Show up to be verbally tarred and feathered, but no stocks or pillory will be deployed.

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Officials knew about the coronavirus breakout in the fall of 2019 — sooner than they claim — and the biotechnology used to create the virus developed in the U.S. and was then exported to China, Dr. Andrew Huff, author of The Truth About Wuhan: How I Uncovered the Biggest Lie in History, said on Breitbart News Saturday.

Huff walked through some of the revelations, stating that “when you really boil this down, most of the biotechnology, or the advanced technology that was used to engineer SARS-CoV-2, was developed in the United States – primarily at the University of North Carolina with Dr. Ralph Baric – and illegally exported to the Chinese.”

“So there’s so many different crazy facets of this story … The recent development just two weeks ago, there’s an article published in The Sun which shows that senior intelligence officials had informed senior Pentagon officials that the disease had been spreading in China in early October 2019,” he said, noting that this is not the same timeline the public was offered.

“If you look at what the U.S. government had been told, telling us, what Dr. Anthony Fauci had been telling us, Dr. Birx and all these corrupt individuals, was that this disease started spreading on the planet in December 2019,” he said, explaining that the timeline is simply not true.

Huff said he used to work in the “classified space of developing intelligence tools for infectious diseases, specifically.” If one looks at the proper chain of command and how long it would take that information to work through the proper channels to be validated, “it really looks like the disease started spreading in late August, early September, 2019.”

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First lady Jill Biden collected tens of thousands of dollars in gifts from foreign leaders throughout 2023, according to documents released by the State Department.

Throughout 2023, the president and his wife were presented with thousands of dollars of gifts from foreign leaders, with the first lady receiving the most expensive gift of the year, a $20,000 diamond, according to annual accounting documents released by the State Department. The 7.5 carat diamond was a gift from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Other pricey gifts the first lady received include a $2,000 Eye of Horus necklace, an Egyptian Wood Inlaid Shell Purse, as well as a $14,063 brooch from the Ukrainian ambassador, the documents show.

On another occasion, the first lady received chairs, a brooch, a photograph album and a bracelet from the president and first lady of Egypt, in total valued at $4,510, the documents show. Kishida Yuko, spouse to the prime minister of Japan, gifted the first lady with calligraphy titled,”The Ship in the Sky,” valued at $2,500, according to the annual accounting documents.

The first lady of the Republic of Tunisia gave Biden a scarf, a book titled, “Carthage – Fact and Myth,” a sculpture and some sweets, all totaling $3,015, the annual accounting documents show.

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Joe Biden is ending his weak, lame-duck presidency with disgrace after disgrace after … disgrace.

In fact, Biden’s tenure in the Oval Office has seemed like a slow, steady, rolling train of scandals, bigger scandals and disgraces, left and right. But in the final weeks, the lame-duck president has wracked up even more ahead of the incoming Trump administration.

There are endless hilarious clips of liberal pundits heralding Joe Biden as one of history’s most honorable men for refusing to pardon Hunter.

But if forced to choose, this is the best: to show how liberals think, how they speak, their oozing sanctimony, their utter bullshit: pic.twitter.com/pS1HficJjK

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President Joe Biden will award the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, to 19 individuals on Saturday.

The recipients include former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and billionaire Democratic megadonor George Soros, as well as a bevy of celebrities from the world of entertainment and sports.

The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the highest civilian award in the United States, given to individuals who have made exceptionally meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the nation, world peace, culture, or other significant public or private endeavors.

A ceremony is to be held later today.

The White House, in making the announcement, declared Clinton, Soros, and the other award winners to be “individuals who have made exemplary contributions to the prosperity, values, or security of the United States, world peace, or other significant societal, public or private endeavors.”

“President Biden believes great leaders keep the faith, give everyone a fair shot, and put decency above all else,” a statement reads. “These nineteen Americans are great leaders who have made America a better place. They are great leaders because they are good people who have made extraordinary contributions to their country and the world.”

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NBC’s “Meet the Press” host Kristen Welker called out Democrat Senator Chuck Schumer for lying about Joe Biden’s cognitive decline.

Kristen Welker played a video of Schumer claiming Biden’s “mental acuity is great” and is as “good as it’s been over the years.”

“All this right-wing propaganda this his mental acuity has declined is wrong,” Schumer said in a February 2024 video clip.

“Leader Schumer, what do you say to Americans who say that you and other top Democrats misled them about President Biden’s mental acuity?” Welker asked Schumer.

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Team Pelosi posted a video of their beloved Nancy to social media, which they surely thought would be received as evidence of their warrior princess heading back to Congress to take part in the Trump resistance.

Judging by reactions to the clip, it served more as a reminder that swamp creatures still exist.

“Hi, it’s Nancy,” she revealed. “I’m on my way to Washington to proudly represent the people of San Francisco in Congress. I’m honored to do so to share our San Francisco values.”

“Thank you for giving me that honor.”

Imposing “San Francisco values” on the rest of the nation sounds like both a threat and a promise. One which the 84-year-old no doubt intends to follow through on.

While comments were turned off for the video both on Instagram and X, those who shared the clip had some thoughts. If you’re wondering, a solid percentage of the remarks involved some mention of her tipping back on grandma’s cold medicine.

“This is why we need term limits,” Turning Point USA contributor Graham Allen observed.

“There’s something clinical about being as old and frail as this woman and still refusing to retire,” added RedState reporter Bonchie. “She just had to have emergency surgery in Germany because she can’t be trusted to walk safely.”

Sadly, that is true. As chronicled on these pages, Pelosi reportedly got into a brawl with a pair of black stilettos and lost. The former House Speaker fractured her hip in a “hard fall” while attempting to navigate a marble staircase, eventually leading to a hip replacement surgery.

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Joe Biden lost it on reporters on Sunday evening after he delivered remarks at a reception for new Democrat members of Congress in the State Dining Room.

As usual, Biden’s speech was full of lies and embarrassing gaffes. He rambled on about eating lunch with segregationist Jim Eastland.

After his remarks 82-year-old Biden snapped at the press and said because of his old age, he knows more leaders than they everyone else.

“I might be the oldest president – I know more world leaders than any one of you ever met in your whole goddamn life,” Biden said.

So busy has the FBI been these past four years rounding up the “terrorists” who “stormed” the Capitol on January 6, 2021 — nearly 1600 and counting — that they have not had time to track guys like New Orleans lifetaker Shamsud-Din Jabbar.

Make no mistake: From the Feds’ perspective, the J6ers were terrorists. Reading the charging documents of those arrested shows just how much high-level time was frivolously spent identifying these citizens, charging them, arresting them, and making sure they were convicted. In the zero-sum game of law and order, the only ones who benefitted from the feds’ January 6 obsession were lethal clowns like Jabbar.

The seriousness of the fed J6 pursuit borders on self-parody. The person responsible for tracking great-grandmother Rebecca Lavrenz, for example, was a “U.S. Army Counterintelligence Special Agent and FBI Task Force Officer assigned to the FBI’s Colorado Springs Resident Agency (CSRA), National Security Squad 2, which is part of the Joint Terrorism Task Force.” Specifically, the agent was “tasked with investigating terrorism activity, both foreign and domestic, in the CSRA area of responsibility.”

Tracking a terrorist like Lavrenz took countless man-hours. Once “multiple tipsters” alerted the FBI that Lavrenz had entered the Capitol, Agent X (I’m presuming a female) swung into action. She and her colleagues searched cellular telephone tower records and traced Lavrenz’s phone to the Capitol during the January 6 brouhaha. Bingo!

FBI agents descended on Lavrenz’s home on April 19, 2021. Lavrenz does not think the choice of days was a coincidence. April 19 is Patriots  Day, the day set aside to remember the citizens who resisted the British world order in 1775 Massachusetts. Hearing a knock at the door of her semi-rural Colorado home, she opened it to find a man and a woman who had come to investigate.

“I’m sorry,” said Lavrenz, “I’m in the middle of baking a cake for my son’s birthday.” She asked if they could reschedule their visit. To her surprise, they agreed. They apparently had plenty of time on their hands.

On April 26, 2021, the agents came back for an alleged “consensual interview.” Lavrenz had nothing to hide. She had driven by herself from Colorado Springs “to pray for the nation.” In her “Statement of Facts”, Agent X claimed that Lavrenz had gone to D.C. to attend the “Stop the Steal” rally. In fact, Lavrenz did not attend the “Rally to Save America,” as it was rightly called, and had had no intention of doing so.

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A Christian middle school teacher from Ohio will receive a sizable payout from her government school employer after administrators tried compelling her to call two self-described transgender students by their preferred names and pronouns.

Jackson Local School District settled with the teacher, Vivian Geraghty, Dec. 18 for $450,000 in damages and attorney fees following a lawsuit in which she argued that her First Amendment rights were violated, according to the Alliance Defending Freedom, which represented her.

She had been forced to resign from her position as English teacher for refusing to comply with a demand to enable the “social transition” of two students who did not want to be called by their names and pronouns as listed on the school roster.

Geraghty could not fulfill that request because it violated her Christian convictions.

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U.S. credit card defaults have surged to their highest levels since 2008. Lenders have written off $46 billion in delinquent balances in the first nine months of 2024—a 50% increase from last year.

“What makes our economy grow? Consumer spending fueled by unsustainable debt,” warns Taylor Kenney in her latest video. “The cracks in this system are widening, and when the spending stops, the illusion of growth will collapse.”

Kenney highlights how the so-called “economic recovery” has left one-third of Americans drowning in debt, with zero savings and rising defaults on everything from auto loans to mortgages. Meanwhile, the Fed’s rate hikes and inflated costs of living have turned a fragile economy into a ticking time bomb.

“This isn’t real growth—it’s a carefully crafted illusion,” she cautions. As household debt hits record highs and store closures accelerate, the ripple effects of this debt-fueled collapse could lead to mass layoffs, rising unemployment, and stock market chaos.

Watch the full video below:

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A rendering of what an array of wind turbines off the Atlantic Coast might look like in the late afternoon as seen from Ocean City.

image courtesy bureau of ocean energy management

Catherine Austin Fitts (CAF), Publisher of The Solari Report, says the real work for the Trump Administration is happening now.  CAF is a financial expert and former Assistant Secretary of Housing (Bush 41 Admin.) who managed hundreds of billions of dollars in her career.

CAF says this is a fight within the Trump Administration that is summed up by those who will fight for freedom and sovereignty and those who want America under Deep State control.  CAF explains,

“You had a lot of people who voted for Trump that wanted to see him protect freedoms.  You also have a lot of people voting and donating for Trump because they think he can get them the control grid.  The centralization and decentralization are both hoping Trump will give them what they want. . . . Trump has to do something that works economically.  The first day, Trump will be asked to fill the top 10 or 20 positions.  Ultimately, after you fill the cabinet and the other top positions, then there are another 10,000 positions to be filled.  The President does 1,000 positions, and those thousand do the rest of about 10,000 positions. 

The guys who want the control grid are trying to get their people in place.  The guys who want freedom are trying to get their people in place. . . . After you get the people in place, it’s going to have to be battled out one policy at a time. . . .

So, this is trench warfare, and it’s not going to be decided by the election.  It’s going to be decided by the staffing and the policy debate that happens day after day.

The corruption that has to be cleaned up is huge. 

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Following Governor Wes Moore’s declaration of a state of emergency, all Wicomico County Government buildings will be closed today, Monday, January 6, 2025.

• Nonessential employees are not required to report to work.

• Essential employees should follow their departmental protocols and are expected to report as scheduled.

Please stay safe and continue to monitor official updates for any changes. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.

Why do they always lie?

Law enforcement held a press conference after a terrorist plowed through a group of New Year’s Eve revelers in New Orleans early Wednesday morning.

At least 15 people were killed, 35 injured after a terrorist identified as 42-year-old Shamsud Din Jabbar plowed through a crowd in New Orleans during the New Year’s Eve celebration.

According to law enforcement, Jabbar did not work alone and was part of a larger network of terrorists.

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America woke to horror this New Year’s Day as two apparent acts of terrorism unfolded hours apart.

A deadly truck attack on New Orleans’ iconic Bourbon Street left at least 12 dead and 35 injured, while a Cybertruck explosion outside the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas injured seven and claimed the life of the suspect.

Preliminary investigations reveal that both vehicles involved in the New Orleans and Las Vegas attacks had been rented via the Turo platform.

The Gateway Pundit previously reported that a driver in a white pickup truck deliberately drove into a crowd of New Year’s revelers before exiting the vehicle and opening fire. Among the injured were two New Orleans police officers who bravely engaged the suspect in a shootout.

In response, Trump issued a statement condemning the attack and offering unflinching support to the victims and law enforcement:

“When I said that the criminals coming in are far worse than the criminals we have in our country, that statement was constantly refuted by Democrats and the Fake News Media, but it turned out to be true.

The crime rate in our country is at a level that nobody has ever seen before. Our hearts are with all of the innocent victims and their loved ones, including the brave officers of the New Orleans Police Department.

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U.S. failure in Afghanistan was driven by a system that rewarded generals, diplomats, contractors, and policymakers who reported successes on the ground rather than the grim reality of a bloody insurgency, according to the watchdog who spent 12 years observing the war unravel.

The result, said one U.S. military adviser, was that the system ‘became a self-licking ice cream cone’ as more money was committed to justify the billions already spent.

John Sopko, the U.S. special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction, will deliver his final report later this year.

It will reveal that experts and government officials now believe that decisions made as far back as 2002 meant the war was doomed to fail.

And it will highlight how American ignorance of Afghan culture, the impact of local corruption, plus weak cooperation between U.S. agencies all contributed to a war effort that left the country back in Taliban hands at a cost of more than 2,400 American lives and $2 trillion.

Yet, writes Sopko in a New York Times opinion piece published Thursday, you wouldn’t know it from the optimistic reports coming from the officers and officials in charge at the time.

‘But a perverse incentive drove our system,’ he writes.

‘To win promotions and bigger salaries, military and civilian leaders felt they had to sell their tours of duty, deployments, programs and projects as successes — even when they were not.

‘Leaders tended to report and highlight favorable information while obscuring that which pointed to failure. After all, failures do not lead to an ambassadorship or an elevation to general.’

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The minimum wage has been and always will be zero. As many states and locales that have passed ever-higher minimum wage hikes are learning to their sorrow, the cost of an employee must be less than the value added to the business by that employee, and minimum wage hikes can negate that added value.

Food service establishments are particularly vulnerable. My father-in-law ran cafeterias in several places for almost 60 years before finally retiring at age 80, and he has repeatedly maintained that not only are food service establishments the most failure-prone of small business models, but they also operate on small margins. Now, with the advent of the new year, the city of Seattle’s minimum wage law has gone into effect, and one small restauranteur has already closed her doors.

The owner of a popular waffle shop in West Seattle said she had no choice but to shut down her business after the city’s new minimum wage law went into effect on New Year’s Day — hiking hourly pay to $20.76.

Bebop Waffle Shop, which was founded by a former New York City resident more than a decade ago, closed its doors for good on Monday.

“I’ve cried every day,” Corina Luckenbach, the waffle shop owner, told Fox 13 TV.

What’s heartbreaking about this is the way it hits small, independent businesses – like the Bebop Waffle Shop. The big chains have resources; they can adopt technologies, like self-ordering kiosks and burger-bots to attenuate the fiscal damage done by mandated minimum wage hikes. Small businesses cannot, and while it’s tempting to point out that the people of Seattle voted for this city government and likely will continue to support blue-city policies, this doesn’t help Corina Luckenbach’s former employees any.

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House Republicans’ investigations into President Joe Biden and his family won’t stop when he leaves office under new rules legislation up for a vote this week in the House.

Anybody remember the 25th Amendment?

It got invoked numerous times during Donald Trump’s first term, despite no actual evidence that he wasn’t in compos mentis. We have actual evidence that Joe Biden’s faculties left him long before the June 27 debate disaster and his departure from the campaign less than a month later.

Yet, nobody demands that we have a commander in chief who’s mentally with us. And, as the calendar flipped over to 2025, it became clear why we need an active and present president — even if it’s, yes, Kamala Harris.

In the first hours of Jan. 1, a suspected Islamic State group-affiliated terrorist ran a rented pickup truck into the crowd of revelers on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, killing at least 15 and putting over 30 in the hospital, according to Reuters.

The suspect, identified as Shamsud-Din Jabbar, was 42 years old. He was a U.S.-born American citizen who lived in Texas and had served in the military. He was killed after he allegedly exchanged gunfire with police.

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For his first act of 2025 in his final acts as president, Joe Biden has announced he will award compulsive Trump-hater Liz Cheney one of the nation’s highest civilian honors.

According to The Hill:

President Biden will award the Presidential Citizens Medal to 20 individuals at the White House on Thursday, including former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), who has been an outspoken critic of President-elect Trump and some of his allies.

The medal is awarded to U.S. citizens who have “performed exemplary deeds of service for their country or their fellow citizens,” the White House said in announcing the recipients.

Cheney will be honored for her service in Congress and on the special House committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, and for speaking out about the importance of democracy. Cheney campaigned with Vice President Harris ahead of November’s election.

Biden will also give the medal to Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), who served as chair of the Jan. 6 committee, former Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), and former Sen. Ted Kaufman (D-Del.).

Seems the pre-emptive pardon idea didn’t work out as well as he’d hoped, so he wants to give this flaming partisan hack, known for lying and witness-tampering this laurel, quite possibly as a magic shield from prosecution. No one could arrest someone with one of the nation’s highest honors, now could he?

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The latest forecast model guidance shows a possible winter storm or wintery mix late Sunday night into Monday for the Mid-Atlantic region.

“Quick morning update to my snow potential map for the Jan 5-6 storm – this is still subject to some changes, but confidence is gradually increasing on the following corridor,” meteorologist Tomer Burg wrote on X.

Mike’s Weather Page wrote in a separate X post, “Things stay stable through the weekend for the SE. A Monday AM cold front line incoming here. Cold air behind for next week with the next round towards the following weekend. That’s the south and/or east snow maker question mark.”

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Concerns over terrorism are intensifying in the wake of the Bourbon Street massacre and the Las Vegas Cybertruck bombing. Adding to the anxiety, police are now investigating a potential bomb in a tractor-trailer on a major highway in South Carolina.

Local media WSPA reports all lanes of Interstate 85 are blocked in both directions between exits 42 and 44 near White Horse Road in Greenville County.

South Carolina Law Enforcement Division confirmed to WSPA that bomb squad personnel are responding to a potential bomb inside a tractor-trailer. Details are limited.

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If Republicans cannot elect a Speaker, Senator Chuck Grassley could be the next President.

The Next Speaker

If no one quickly wins the gavel, certification of President-elect Trump’s victory could be delayed. Rules then would make Senator Chuck Grassley the president.

That is possible, but highly unlikely in practice, explained below.

However, at least one Republican is a confirmed no for Johnson. A second no would do Johnson in.

How Mike Johnson Could Lose the House Speaker Vote

The Wall Street Journal reports How Mike Johnson Could Lose the House Speaker Vote.

What happens on Jan. 3, and how does the speaker vote work?

Under the Constitution, newly elected and returning House members gather in the Capitol. First they have to elect a speaker, which requires a majority of those who vote for a particular person—abstaining or voting “present” doesn’t count in the calculations. The declared candidate for Republicans, who will hold a narrow majority in the new session, is incumbent Johnson. Democrats back Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D., N.Y.).

If no one receives a majority of votes cast for a named candidate, more ballots will be held until someone wins a majority. When Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.) ran for speaker in January 2023, he wasn’t able to secure the gavel until the early hours of the morning on Jan. 7, after four grueling days of voting and 15 ballots.

One Republican—Rep. Thomas Massie (R., Ky.)—has said he would oppose Johnson, and several others have said they are undecided. All it would take to cost Johnson the speakership is for one more House Republican to vote for a different person, assuming all Democrats oppose him. But it is unclear whether any other candidate could win a majority.

It took three weeks of failed votes for other candidates before House Republicans elected Johnson in the fall of 2023.

What happens if no speaker is quickly elected?

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A new report released by the Committee on House Administration Subcommittee on Oversight into the January 6 pipe bomber shows the FBI stopped looking for the suspect in 2021 and covered up evidence.

The FBI is now refusing to cooperate with Congressional investigators.

In September, former Secret Service agent Dan Bongino said according to a whistleblower, after the pipe bombs were found at the RNC and DNC headquarters, “assets on the ground, including a whistleblower, was briefed about the pipe bombs the next day and show a picture of a guy in a hoodie.”

However, according to the whistleblower, the law enforcement agents were told to stand down two days later.

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There were multiple indicators, including the ISIS flag on Shamsud Din Jabbar’s truck after he drove through crowds in New Orleans early New Year’s Day and killed 15, injuring dozens more, of his political and theological persuasions.

For one, authorities report he had wanted to hurt his family but was concerned those actions to distract the media from what he considered more important: the battle between “believers & disbelievers,” a phrase adherents to Islam use to differentiate themselves from others.

But the suspect’s brother now has confirmed that while Shamsud Din Jabbar was “Christian” early in life, he had converted to Islam a long time ago.

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A federal appeals court dealt a huge blow to the Biden Regime’s effort to revive Orwellian net neutrality rules.

A three-judge panel of the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday permanently blocked Biden’s effort to restore net neutrality rules.

In 2021, Joe Biden signed an executive order to revive the Obama-era’s war on independent media.

The federal appeals court cited the US Supreme Court’s case dubbed Loper Bright in its ruling.

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Is she drunk? Heavily medicated?

Fresh off of a hip transplant, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi posted a bizarre video to X on Thursday claiming she was on her way to DC to represent her constituents and share “San Francisco values.”

San Francisco values = Needles in the street, homelessness and rampant retail theft.

84-year-old Pelosi could barely open her eyes as she heavily slurred her words.

“Hi, it’s Nancy. I’m on my way to Washington to proudly represent the people of San Francisco in Congress. I’m honored to do so to share our San Francisco values,” Pelosi said.

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President Joe Biden praised the resilience of New Orleans after the ISIS-inspired terrorist attack on Bourbon Street – and cracked a joke about the rescheduled Sugar Bowl on Thursday afternoon.

The 81-year-old gave an update on the investigation into the rampage that killed 14 people on New Year’s Eve at the start of remarks about confirming 235 judges to the bench during his tenure.

‘New Orleans is a city of tremendous spirit. You can’t keep it down. You really can’t,’ Biden said in the State Dining Room of the White House.

‘And we’re seeing that today, the Sugar Bowl is back on. Kickoff is going to take off very shortly,’ he noted. ‘If I don’t get this damned thing done we’re going to be in real trouble,’ he quipped.

‘People of New Orleans are sending an unmistakable message. They will not let this attack, the attacks, or the attackers’ deluded ideology overcome us,’ Biden said, minutes before the game began following a spontaneous chant following the National Anthem. He joined city leaders who also called for people to carry on with public activities, in a city that depends heavily on tourism including at large scale events like the upcoming Super Bowl and annual Mardi Gras festivities.

Biden said the government would ‘continue to relentlessly pursue ISIS and other terrorist organizations where they are,’ and said they would find no ‘safe harbor.’ Authorities say the attacker had an ISIS flag inside his electric Ford F-150 truck.

His remarks came after the FBI announced that contrary to some earlier information, investigators believe the attacker acted alone.

‘They have no information that anyone else is involved in the attack,’ Biden said.

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ANNAPOLIS, MD – Governor Wes Moore today released the following statement regarding the tentative labor agreements reached between the State of Maryland and State government’s seven major employee labor unions before the December 31, 2024 deadline:

“I’m pleased to announce that the State of Maryland has reached tentative labor agreements in partnership with Maryland’s seven major employee labor unions. I would like to thank representatives from the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees; the Maryland Professional Employees Council; the American Federation of Teachers; the State Law Enforcement Officers Labor Alliance; the International Association of Fire Fighters; and the Fraternal Order of Police for their partnership during negotiations. While members must ratify final memoranda of understanding, we are again encouraged by our progress.

The Moore-Miller Administration is committed to growing our economy and restoring faith in our public institutions—and our State employees are a critical part of our strategy. We are grateful for their many contributions, and together, we will continue to uplift the dignity of their service.”

From the right: Carter the Terrible

Jimmy Carter “was a terrible president but an even worse former president,” thunders National Review’s Philip A. Klein. His “true legacy is one of economic misery at home and embarrassment on the world stage.” “He left the country in its weakest position of the post-World War II era” and “spent the rest of his life meddling in U.S. foreign policy” in a “manner that could fairly be described as treasonous.” And that’s to say nothing about his “obsessive hatred of Israel.” We’ll see “an effort to rewrite history and claim that the 39th president was underappreciated and that people have been too harsh on him. But the truth is that historians have not been harsh enough.”

Conservative: Good Riddance to GEC Censorship

By denying it funding, Congress has forced “the Global Engagement Center, an office housed within the State Department . . . to close up shop,” cheers the Washington Examiner’s Gabe Kaminsky. “The taxpayer-backed GEC,” created in the name of thwarting misinformation, “violated its mandate to work only overseas and devolved into a partisan enabler of speech suppression in the United States” by granting funds “to the British Global Disinformation Index, which created a blacklist of” right-leaning US-based websites (including The Post) that reported on such stories as “the Hunter Biden laptop story and COVID-19 lab leak hypothesis.” The GEC “even circulated internal guidance with the aim of discrediting” critical reporters such as Kaminsky and Matt Taibbi. Its defunding “is a further vindication of our reporting on its seemingly unlawful activities.”

Media watch: Distorting Reality in Gaza

“Nothing is as it seems” in Gaza, fumes Commentary’s Seth Mandel. Take the Kamal Adwan Hospital and its medical director, Hussam Abu Safyia. The New York Times mentioned “dismissively” that Israel “claims” Hamas was using the hospital, and Safyia penned an opinion column griping about conditions. But a recent IDF raid on the site revealed it was in fact hosting 240 suspected terrorists, “including Safyia.” Many tried to flee. “It’s easy to see through the mainstream press’s smokescreen” around “medical staff and patients who aren’t medical staff or patients, trying to flee the hospital that isn’t a hospital.” “Journalists who aren’t journalists,” “teachers who aren’t teachers” and “aid workers who aren’t aid workers — who are these folks even trying to fool?”

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In a recent discussion on the Shawn Ryan Show, former CIA targeting officer Sarah Adams warned of a potentially devastating attack planned by Al-Qaeda terrorists on American soil.

The interview offers significant insights into what may be unfolding, as Al-Qaeda sleeper cells could be activating in the wake of the New Orleans terrorist attack and a possible vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED) in the rear of a rented Tesla Cybertruck that exploded outside Trump’s hotel in Las Vegas just hours later.

Ryan asked Adams: “I just want to clarify. You are 100% certain that there are 1,000 plus Al-Qaeda-trained fighters within the US borders?”

Adams, currently a global threat advisor with extensive experience in Middle Eastern affairs, responded: “Well, Al-Qaeda says they trained and deployed a thousand for this attack. First off, I think there are more than a thousand Al-Qaeda members in the United States, but for the Homeland Attack, that number is based on what Al-Qaeda is saying, so they could exaggerate it; however, they did have about 1,400 in the Hamas Attack so the number is not off from what they did in the first round of attacks.” 

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As President-elect Donald Trump prepares to take office, leading economist Peter Schiff warned Tuesday on Newsmax of the impending economic challenges he will inherit.

During an appearance on “Newsmax New Year’s Eve With Shaun Kraisman,” Schiff said the problems within the U.S. economy have been largely overlooked by investors, which contributed to Trump’s electoral win. The economist suggested drastic measures as Trump faces these turmoils, including substantial cuts to government spending, entitlements, and defense.

“I think it’s better that Trump was elected over Harris,” Schiff said. “The reason that Donald Trump won is because the economy is a mess and, unfortunately, it’s going to be a bigger mess once Trump takes the helm. They’re going to get worse, and I think the markets could head lower.”

Schiff proposed drastic cuts in government spending.

“They didn’t start with Biden. They got a lot worse under Biden, but we need some substantial cuts in government spending, not just waste, fraud, and abuse, but we need to really make some cuts to entitlements, to defense spending,” Schiff said. “We need much higher interest rates, unfortunately, and that means we need a much lower stock market. We need a severe recession in order to correct these imbalances. We’re not going to get to where we need to go without a lot of short-term pain, and, unfortunately, nobody is prepared for that, and Donald Trump didn’t campaign on that.”

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Update (1941ET):

“The evil knuckleheads picked the wrong vehicle for a terrorist attack. Cybertruck actually contained the explosion and directed the blast upwards. Not even the glass doors of the lobby were broken,” Elon Muks wrote on X.

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Update (1901ET):

*   *   *

Update (1723ET):

“We have now confirmed that the explosion was caused by very large fireworks and/or a bomb carried in the bed of the rented Cybertruck and is unrelated to the vehicle itself,” Tesla’s Elon Musk wrote on X, “All vehicle telemetry was positive at the time of the explosion.”

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Media scream, “Too many people have guns!”

Second Amendment activist Maj Toure says more people should carry guns.

“Everybody should be walking around,” he says in my new video, “like, ‘Oh man, I left my gun in the house. Let me go back and get it.’ It should be as normal as a cellphone.”

Activists and some politicians want gun control.

Toure says, “All gun control is racist!”

All?

“It was literally started to stop Black people from having the means to defend themselves.”

He’s right. In the 1600s, American colonies had rules against Blacks owning guns.

“It’s a good thing we don’t like being told what human rights we have,” says Toure. “I’m an American. I go by the Constitution.”

Few Americans know that anti-slavery hero Harriet Tubman carried a gun most of the time.

“She needed to,” says Toure. “If it wasn’t for strong women like Harriet Tubman, liberty-minded people saying, nah, (slavery) is not cool, not OK, a contradiction of the Founding Fathers, what they wrote down (not what they all did, but what they wrote down). She wouldn’t have had the bravery to oppose that during a time when opposition meant death. More people should think about that right.”

What about today? I ask, “Is gun control still racist?”

“Absolutely!” he says. “Look at the outcome. Take California … (you have to get) a state-issued license to carry. If you live in Oakland, Compton, in Los Angeles County, the chances of you getting a license, even though the Second Amendment is clear, it’s very little. But if you live in Brentwood, Orange County, Beverly Hills, the issue rate for that license to carry goes up. Which one of those areas is more predominantly Black and brown people?”

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The Armed Forces continue to have trouble meeting their recruiting goals, and reasons include not only a lack of qualified volunteers but also a general lack of interest. Lack of interest is the result of (1) “woke” policies and (2) the manner in which we have used our Armed Forces since the conclusion of the Second World War.

How can I explain this? Maybe through the use of an imaginary story like this:

Alternate History: How England Won the War of Independence with the Aid of Social Media.

Assume that YouTube and similar platforms had been around circa 1775, and our side put out this recruiting video.

The video goes into the soldier’s background, which includes having “two moms” and having marched for equality. In the past, the Armed Forces have used the unifying and indeed inclusive approach of not caring about anybody’s background. Everybody wears the same clothing, has roughly the same haircut, eats the same food (with choices now available for religious or dietary reasons), and is treated the same.

It would have been more to the point to omit the soldier’s background completely and point out instead that, despite being just a few years (if that) out of high school, she is partly responsible for operating a Patriot Missile battery whose total cost is $1.1 billion. That’s a lot of responsibility for an enlisted person, and it is the kind of experience for which intelligent employers will pay good money once she completes her enlistment.

The British, meanwhile, posted this recruiting video.

The entire Continental Army, including George Washington, resigned immediately, drank King George’s health, took his shilling, and put on red coats, and the war was over.

Note also that the British video does not talk about adventure, but rather peace at home.

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Billionaire Tesla owner Elon Musk has revealed ‘a bomb or very large fireworks’ caused the explosion outside the front doors of Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas.

Wednesday’s Cybertruck explosion is ‘likely an act of terrorism’, Musk said, occurring just hours after a terror attack in New Orleans which left 15 people dead.

According to Fox5, several agencies are now investigating whether there is a link between the two attacks.

The $80,000 car – made by Trump ally Musk‘s company Tesla – was seen in a fiery blaze outside the front revolving doors of the hotel, killing one and injuring seven at around 9am, according to Las Vegas police.

By Wednesday afternoon, Musk revealed the explosion was caused by ‘a bomb carried in the bed of the rented Cybertruck’ or ‘very large fireworks.’

He said the explosion was not caused by or related to the vehicle itself, and it’s understood the unnamed driver had rented the truck using Turo.

‘Law enforcement currently believes it was most likely intentional,’ he added.

‘Both this Cybertruck and the F-150 suicide bomb in New Orleans were rented from Turo. Perhaps they are linked in some way.’

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Things got more interesting concerning the Tesla Cybertruck that exploded outside of the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada, and not in a good way: Was this another attack? There’s already solid evidence that the New Year’s Eve shooting in New Orleans was a terrorist attack, as Shamsud Din Jabbar, 42, plowed into a crowd with his truck, opened fire, and killed 15 people. He had ISIS paraphernalia on the vehicle, and new video evidence caught four people, three men and one woman, planting bombs in the French Quarter.

As authorities investigate that potential act of terrorism, this explosion at the Trump Hotel has also caught the attention of the FBI. At the outset, it looked like a freak car explosion, but new angles show firework-style mortars exploding in and around the vehicle. The driver was killed, with several others injured (via NBC News):

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The sleeping subway passenger who was burned to death on a Brooklyn F train had aspirations to be a flight attendant and was known for her “million dollar smile,” according to her high school yearbook biography.

Debrina Kawam, known to her classmates as “Debbie” or “Deb,” graduated from Passaic Valley Regional HS in Little Falls, New Jersey, in 1985, The New York Times reported.

Kawam, 57, later fell on hard times: Sources said she was living in New York City homeless shelters from September until Dec. 2.

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Her horrific death shocked the city — and the nation.

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Suspicions that the Bourbon Street attacker did not act alone appear to have been confirmed after an intelligence bulletin was leaked to the Associated Press.

As RedState reported, Shamsud Din Jabbar drove a truck through a crowd of people celebrating New Year’s Eve in New Orleans, leaving at least 15 people dead and many more injured. The assailant had an ISIS flag in the truck.

While law enforcement, including the FBI, indicated at a second press conference on Wednesday that they felt Jabbar hadn’t acted alone, they didn’t offer any details. Shortly after, though, a leaked intelligence bulletin provided something more concrete.

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The Legendary “W” Games

Over the last 250 years of American political gamesmanship, both parties have played year-end games into the arms of a new incoming administration. In early 2000, the incoming George Walker Bush team discovered that every keyboard in the White House and other administrative offices was missing the “W” key.

The outgoing Clinton staff had removed all the “W” keys to annoy the new administration after an extremely contentious election.

The damage was small, estimated at $15,000.

But the bigger message here was that when the party that runs the White House changes, the outgoing administration will leave some proverbial “time bombs” for their successors.

While the damaged keyboards were more like a bad joke, what Biden is doing to Trump now is serious business. The outgoing administration has opened the spigots table max to get every penny out the door while they can under the existing budget.

It’s almost like they are looting the Treasury before they leave town.

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Incoming Trump White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt strongly suggested press credentials to the president’s Briefing Room could be handed out to podcasters and social media influencers, effectively bodying out some legacy media journalists as the new administration seeks to drag media access out of the 1980s and into the New Year.

Leavitt gave an indication of how they plan to reshape the media landscape in an interview Monday with FOX News host Kellyanne Conway.

Conway introduced the topic by noting President-elect Donald Trump effectively leveraged various alternative media platforms such as TikTok, not to mention his appearances with major podcasters such as Joe Rogan and Theo Von during his campaign.

Are such people consequential enough to cover the news going forward? Leavitt thinks so.

“As for the press briefing room,” she replied to Conway, “we are certainly exploring ways on how to make sure that room reflects the media habits of the American people in 2024, not in the 1980s.”

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Numerous mainstream media outlets are deliberately lying to American parents about the law regarding COVID-19 vaccines. In August, Vermont’s Supreme Court that ruled a six-year-old boy administered a COVID-19 vaccine against his parents’ specific instructions that he not be jabbed has no state tort remedies and that the family’s sole recourse is a federal claim requiring proof of serious bodily harm or death to proceed. All other traditional causes of action for violating these parents’ rights and fundamental constitutional informed consent protections for patients are extinguished completely. And yet, numerous media outlets reported the precise opposite. This is blatant misinformation.

The Associated Press launched an utter deception titled falsely: Fact Focus: Vermont ruling does not say schools can vaccinate children without parental consent. This is the opposite of the truth: Politella v Windham Southeast School District, et al. held exactly that:

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The man who carried out the terrorist attack on Bourbon Street in New Orleans has been identified as Shamsud Din Jabbar, and he is being investigated for having ties to ISIS.

As RedState reported previously, the truck used to mow down dozens of people went through a border crossing at Eagle Pass, TX in November. It is not clear whether that fact is connected to the attacker because the truck was a rental. Regardless, the assailant exited the vehicle after ramming through the crowd and started shooting. He was eventually killed by police after a firefight. CPR failed to revive him.

Notably and inexcusably, the FBI initially proclaimed this was not a terrorist attack, with the FBI Special Agent in Charge making that statement after New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell had already confirmed it was one.

FBI ASSISTANT SPECIAL AGENT: This is not a terrorist event. What it is right now is there improvised explosive devices that was found, and we are working on confirming if this is a viable device or not.

It wasn’t immediately clear if the spokeswoman (that was the role she was operating in for the moment) didn’t realize the mayor had already let the cat out of the bag or if the FBI simply wanted to keep things under wraps for the time being, but it was another example of why the bureau has lost so much trust among the American public.

The fact that it has become expected for the FBI to mislead the public about any attack that might not be politically convenient for a certain political party is inexcusable. We’ve seen that play out so many times, from the Nashville “transgender” attack to the Waukesha massacre.

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Conspiracy theorists are asking questions about the terrorist attacks on New Year’s Day. There are connections between the two alleged terrorists with both stationed at the same military base. They used the same app to rent the vehicles used in their attacks.

But there are distinct differences as well, especially as it pertains to early indications of motives. Matt Livelsberger, suspect in Las Vegas, appears to have been aligned with Ukraine while Shamsud Din Jabbar. suspect in New Orleans, was aligned with ISIS and said online he was wanting to send a message to “non-believers” of Allah.

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Happy New Year! One of the happiest parts is that in 19 days, we will have actual leadership in the White House, and not a moment too soon. As RedState reported, New Orleans suffered a horrendous overnight terrorist attack on Wednesday. A man in a white truck barreled down the famous Bourbon Street in New Orleans French Quarter and fired a weapon into the crowd, killing 10 people and injuring many more. The New Orleans Police Department and the FBI are sorting through the wreckage and identifying the suspect, as well as the victims. RedState will continue to report on the details as they unfold.

Since winning the election on November 5, President-elect Trump has pretty much taken on the mantle of Acting President through his commentary on Truth Social, as well as the actions he has been taking in forming his cabinet and setting national policy. After the NOLA attack, Trump issued a statement on Truth Social at 9:48 a.m. ET.

When I said that the criminals coming in are far worse than the criminals we have in our country, that statement was constantly refuted by Democrats and the Fake News Media, but it turned out to be true. The crime rate in our country is at a level that nobody has ever seen before. Our hearts are with all of the innocent victims and their loved ones, including the brave officers of the New Orleans Police Department. The Trump Administration will fully support the City of New Orleans as they investigate and recover from this act of pure evil!

After the FBI bumbled their response when their special agent denied it was a terrorist attack, right after New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell announced that it was, it seemed some face needed to be saved. So, when President Joe Biden sent out this statement at 10:05 a.m. ET, he took great pains to mention his national security team and to ensure the nation that his administration is still in charge and they have everything under control.

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Recent events have ignited alarm about the presence of sleeper cells in the United States and their ease of activation. Congressman Cory Mills has shed light on this pressing issue, linking it to current national security vulnerabilities. From the resurgence of extremist groups to open-border policies, the discussion reveals how deeply intertwined these factors are.

The Decline of ISIS but Lingering Threats

ISIS is a shadow of its former self, with reports estimating only 1,700 to 1,900 fighters remaining. The group is taking heavy hits from Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) in Syria and Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). Meanwhile, in Iraq, Counter-Terrorism Services, alongside American special forces, have significantly weakened their operations. Recruitment efforts have collapsed, leaving the group scrambling to survive.

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The presidency of our nation should be the pinnacle of elective service to our country — not the reward for a lifetime of corruption and mercenary venality (“The Biden files,” Dec. 28).

The release of photos showing President Biden facilitating his son Hunter Biden’s meeting with business associates linked to China’s government reveals the deceitful nature of his denials of these interactions.

While his and the family’s associations with numerous Chinese officials are bad, the president’s lying appears to be even worse.

This could explain his soft-on-Beijing policies, such as failing to shoot down Chinese spy balloons in a timely manner, among other things.

There ought to be a judicial reckoning that establishes accountability and disgorges the vast sums the Biden family took in at the expense of this country.

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Biden Awards Second Highest Civilian Honor to Jan. 6 Panel Leaders

President Joe Biden is bestowing the second highest civilian medal on Liz Cheney and Bennie Thompson — the lawmakers who led the congressional investigation into the violent Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol attack — who President-elect Donald Trump has said should be jailed.

Biden will award the Presidential Citizens Medal to 20 people in a ceremony Thursday at the White House, including Americans who fought for marriage equality, a pioneer in treating wounded soldiers, and two of the president’s longtime friends, former Sens. Ted Kaufman, D-Del., and Chris Dodd, D-Conn.

“President Biden believes these Americans are bonded by their common decency and commitment to serving others,” the White House said in a statement. “The country is better because of their dedication and sacrifice.”

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President-elect Donald Trump is forcing the Democratic politicians who spent years lying about President Biden’s senility to take their bitter medicine, but we’re more concerned about the toady media who played along.

Trump on Monday posted a video showing clip after cringe-worthy clip of Democratic leaders from Rep. Nancy Pelosi to Homeland Security chief Alejandro Mayorkas denying again and again that Biden was mentally and physically deteriorating, claiming he was “sharp,” “on his game,” “focused” and that “his age is an asset.”

Every last one deserves scorn, but so do the journalists who not only let these fantastical fibs go unchallenged, but even parroted the lies: Biden was showing no signs of mental decline, they insisted — and it was offensive, ignorant and borderline bigoted to even suggest otherwise.

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(BERLIN, MD) – Maryland State Police arrested a Delaware woman early this morning after uncovering suspected cocaine and heroin during a traffic stop in Worcester County.

The accused is identified as Maria Milagros Garcia, 39, of Greenwood, Delaware. Garcia is charged with six counts of possession of a controlled dangerous substance, concealment of a dangerous weapon, and other traffic-related offenses.

Shortly before 12:30 a.m., a trooper from the Maryland State Police Berlin Barrack conducted a traffic stop on a Kia passenger vehicle traveling south on U.S. Route 113 at Maryland Route 90 for speeding. While conducting the traffic stop, police learned Garcia had an outstanding warrant through Delaware. She was subsequently arrested.  Additionally, troopers located suspected cocaine and heroin as well as a taser. Following her arrest, Garcia was transported to the Berlin Barrack for processing and was later seen by a district court commissioner.

The Maryland Department of State Police continue to work in close coordination with local, state, and federal partners to disrupt any criminal enterprises that threaten the citizens of Maryland. The investigation remains active and ongoing.

A former U.S. Postal Service supervisor in Missouri has been charged with stealing nearly 100 checks from the mail, further eroding public trust in an institution long plagued by inefficiency and corruption.

Federal authorities revealed the shocking allegations in a Dec. 26 news release.

Benita D. Randle, 42, has been charged with stealing nearly 100 checks from the mail while employed at a St. Louis processing and distribution center.

According to a Dec. 26 release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri, Randle was indicted earlier this month and pleaded not guilty to the charge.

Prosecutors allege that on October 31, 2023, Randle, then a postal supervisor, stole approximately 90 checks entrusted to the Postal Service for delivery.

While the exact value and nature of the stolen checks remain unclear, the case underscores the growing mistrust in an agency plagued by inefficiency and systemic issues.

This case is far from an isolated incident. The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) has long been plagued by inefficiency, financial losses, and scandals, including the 2020 elections.

As what’s left of the Biden administration winds down, I’d like to offer an end-of-days reminder: Joe Biden wasn’t just a terrible president.

His Attorney General Merrick Garland was an equally terrible leader of the Department of Justice.

Garland, you may recall, was nominated for the Supreme Court by President Barack Obama to replace Justice Antonin Scalia, who died suddenly a few months before the 2016 election.

Republicans sat on Garland’s nomination, maintaining that the seat should be filled by a new president.

We were told that this was hideously unfair and partisan, especially because, as the Obama administration and its friendly media repeatedly assured us, Garland was a moderate, a nonpartisan straight shooter, a person with a first-rate judicial temperament: honest, just, fair and wise.

What a crock that was.

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It’s every New Yorker’s worst nightmare.

A Big Apple straphanger was shoved onto Manhattan subway tracks and struck by an incoming 1 train in a cowardly attack Tuesday — miraculously surviving the horrifying caught-on-video ordeal.

In what cops are calling a random attack, an unidentified 45-year-old man was at the 18th Street station shortly after 1:30 p.m. Tuesday when the hooded thug pushed him onto the tracks.

Incredibly, the victim survived the harrowing assault with just a head injury —  while cops are now grilling a person of interest in the cowardly afternoon attack.

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The Department of Education (DOE) is part of the late President Jimmy Carter’s legacy. Its mission is supposedly “to promote student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness by fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access.”

Instead, the DOE’s decades-long effects have resulted in excessive student loan debt, failing schools, and, more pointedly, failing students. One education-focused publication laments this failure but still misses the point, concluding that with more money, these issues could be fixed.

The Department of Education’s 2024 Budget was in the billions. However, the agency had the unmitigated gall to request four percent more (3.1 billion) be added to that for 2025.

Overall, the fiscal year 2025 Budget requests $82.4 billion in discretionary funding for the Department of Education, including a change in mandatory program (CHIMP) and rescissions. This Request reflects a $3.1 billion or 4.0 percent increase from the fiscal year 2024 annualized CR level.  

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Teenagers who smoke weed, drink alcohol or vape before their 15th birthday have a different brain structure from those who do not, a study has found.

Researchers at Indiana University tracked nearly 10,000 adolescents for two years, of which 35 percent self-reported consuming any alcohol, marijuana and/or nicotine before age 15.

All participants also underwent brain scans that revealed those who had used any of the substances before 15 had a thinner prefrontal cortex — an area of the brain linked to regulating emotions — compared to those who said they had not used drugs or alcohol at a young age.

Those who said they had used substances young also tended to have larger brains overall and a greater subcortical volume, the area of the brain linked to memory, emotion, pleasure and hormone production.

Scientists said it was not clear whether the substances altered the teenager’s brains or if teens with certain brain characteristics were predisposed to try substances.

The researchers concluded that varying brain structures may reflect a predisposition teens have for engaging in substance use earlier in life, which could have ‘potential cascading implications for development of later problems.’

Dr Nora Volkow, director of the National Institutes of Drug Abuse (NIDA), said: ‘This adds to some emerging evidence that an individual’s brain structure, alongside their unique genetics, environmental exposures and interactions among these factors, may impact their level of risk and resilience for substance use and addiction.

‘Understanding the complex interplay between the factors that contribute and that protect against drug use is crucial for informing effective prevention interventions and providing support for those who may be most vulnerable.’

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Joe Biden headed back from his umpteenth vacation on Tuesday.

Biden was coming back from yet another luxury vacation in St. Croix, where he’s been since Thursday. He was staying at the beachfront resort home of billionaire supporters Bill and Connie Neville. He’s come under fire before for not declaring the free stays on his ethical forms. Yet you barely see any mainstream media attention to this.

He was questioned by reporters once when he ventured out for church on Saturday. It looked like the Secret Service agent who was with him helped him understand what was being asked of him, and his son Hunter, who was also there, pulled him away from the reporters. Even with the help, there were problems with what he said.

Biden had been in St. Croix with his wife Jill, his daughter Ashley, and his son Hunter as well as Hunter’s son, Beau.

But even after the vacation there, guess what he’s doing when he comes back? He’s going to his home in Wilmington, Delaware, for New Year’s Eve, and then he’s going to Camp David. Oh, hey, even more vacation! Does this guy ever work? Or is he even capable of it?

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The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said on Tuesday that Ford Motor would recall 20,484 hybrid crossover SUVs over battery concerns.

The recall includes certain Ford Escape and luxury Lincoln Corsair vehicles from model years 2020 to 2024.

“A manufacturing defect in one or more of the high voltage battery cells may result in an internal short circuit and battery failure,” the NHTSA said.

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The people of Western North Carolina have had a stable Christmas and will definitely have a happier New Year thanks to a number of organizations, from Samaritan’s Purse to United Cajun Navy to individuals like Shawn Hendrix, Chris Hall, and so many others. They have worked (and are still working) to provide food, shelter, and resources to the families affected by September’s Hurricane Helene disaster, and they also brought Christmas to everyone in the region who experienced the devastation of their homes and their lives.

But the Amish of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, have risen like cream to the top. This is not even their region of the country, but a group of them with “Cabins for Christ” came down in October, created campsites for themselves away from the wreckage so that they would not disrupt the cleanup and assessment, and set themselves to build homes for the people who had lost theirs.

But to no one’s surprise, the resurrection of Western North Carolina will have little to do with the governmental agency that is supposed to be boots on the ground in the midst of disaster: The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). They claim, “Our mission is helping people before, during and after disasters. Our core values and goals help us achieve it.” Tragically, despite billions being poured into their coffers, they haven’t achieved much for the citizens of Western North Carolina who had their homes destroyed by Helene. And winter is already here, and more storms are coming.

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President-elect Donald Trump has shared a ruthless highlight reel of Democrats repeatedly praising President Biden’s mental sharpness, releasing it soon after a veteran reporter blasted those who helped hide his “obvious cognitive decline.”

Trump shared the brutal supercut Monday, hours after CBS News reporter Jan Crawford ripped the media for helping to cover up the oldest-ever president’s decline until it was too obvious to ignore at the debate.

The nearly three-minute video — set to the goofy Wii theme music — started with White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre appearing baffled that someone would even dare question Biden’s mental acuity.

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In a bombshell revelation, three senior officials at Biden’s Department of Justice (DOJ) were found to have violated internal policies by leaking sensitive, non-public investigative details to the media just days before an election, according to a report released by the DOJ’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) on Monday.

The OIG launched its investigation after receiving complaints alleging politically motivated disclosures.

The leaked information, pertaining to ongoing DOJ matters, was shared with select reporters, resulting in two news articles containing confidential details.

The Inspector General’s investigative summary paints a damning picture of the senior officials’ actions. The report reads:

Findings of Misconduct by Three then Senior DOJ Officials for Violating the Department’s Confidentiality and Media Contacts Policy; and by one of these Senior Officials for Violating the Department’s Social Media Policy

The Department of Justice (DOJ) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) initiated an investigation after receiving allegations that actions by a litigating division were politically motivated and violated DOJ policies regarding disclosing information about ongoing matters.

The OIG investigation found that three then Senior DOJ Officials violated DOJ’s Confidentiality and Media Contacts Policy by leaking to select reporters, days before an election, non-public DOJ investigative information regarding ongoing DOJ investigative matters, resulting in the publication of two news articles that included the non-public DOJ investigative information. The OIG investigation also found that one of these three then Senior DOJ Officials violated the Confidentiality and Media Contacts Policy and DOJ’s Social Media Policy by reposting through a DOJ social media account links to the news articles.

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January is shaping up to be the coldest in a decade as the polar vortex dips south across the eastern half of the United States — shocking a nation that has enjoyed an unusually balmy end of the year.

“It’s going to get cold, and then very cold,” a Fox Weather meteorologist told The Post Monday.

“Based on the latest long-range data, this January has the potential to be the coldest since 2014,” they added.

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This has been an up and down year for America. We ended with some amazing high notes with the Trump victory, the diminishing of legacy media, and the downfall of DEI to name a few. But there were many stories that didn’t get the attention they deserved for whatever reason.

On today’s episode of The JD Rucker Show, we covered some of the stories that fell into the memory hole.

• – Was Trump Hit With a Directed Energy Weapon at a September Rally
• – The ABC News Debate Whistleblower Story Disappeared Faster Than Joe Biden’s Voters
• – Was Hurricane Helene a Weather Modification Attack
• – The Firing of Catherine Herridge Sent a Message to Journalists and Their Informants
• – Why Is the Injustice Against Rudy Giuliani Being Ignored
• – Thomas Crooks Visited DC

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