Scott Presler Continues to Do Laps Around Republican Party – Wins Approval to Register Voters at Gun Shows in MD, VA, PA, and WV in 2024

The Gateway Pundit reached out to conservative activist Scott Presler following this news. We asked Scott about his work in Beaver County and neighboring Butler County, Pennsylvania.

Scott Presler has been working in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, since last year. Scott told us at the beginning of 2023, the Republican Party was down 1,777 voters to the Beaver County Democrats. Today, after several months of voter drives and door knocking and county events, Scott Presler and Beaver County GOP Chair Roman Kozak, and several volunteers were able to flip the county from blue to red.

Scott told TGP that the Republican Party is trying to take credit for the months of work and planning by Scott, Roman and their volunteers. Scott Presler had this to say about the national Republican Party, “They want to take credit so they can use it to fundraise. The local leaders did this.” 

Earlier this month the Republican Party under the absent leadership of Ronna McDaniel announced they had "Flipped" Beaver County Pennsylvania from blue to red.

" Of course, this bothers Scott because he has all of the people and volunteers and accomplishes so much without any resources.

The Republican Party is not funding Scott Presler and it is clear that they should be.

On Saturday Scott Presler announced that he was given permission to register voters at several gun shows in 2024.

This is very big news for Republicans! Isn't it about time the GOP or a wealthy Republican to think about funding Scott and his work?

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/12/scott-presler-continues-do-laps-around-republican-party/

Hidden from Public: Q Shaman Stands Outside Doors of US Capitol and Tells Everyone to Go Home – Reads Trump Tweet to Stay Peaceful and Go Home #Insurrection

The "Q Shaman" Jacob Chansley, reads Trump Tweet at US Capitol calling on protesters to go home.

Chansley was later sentenced to 41 months in prison.

In the video, Jacob Chansley, later dubbed the "Q Shaman," reads a tweet from President Trump to the crowd outside the US Capitol and tells them to go home.

Chansley added, "We are peaceful We are not Antifa." Q Shaman Jacob Chansley: "We're going to throw up the tweet. Donald Trump has asked everybody to go home. Okay? - This is America. You guys want to stay, that's fine. Donald Trump has asked everybody to go home." Fellow Protester: "Wait, read this." Jacob Chansley: "Hold on Donald Trump, quote, I am asking for everyone in the US Capitol to remain peaceful. No violence. Remember, we are the party of law and Order. Respect our law enforcement. There's a video." This video, among others was omitted from Chansley's trial.

The Arizona man was later sentenced to 41 months in prison for walking inside the US Capitol, asking police if he was allowed to be there, was then escorted through the building by police, led a prayer in the US Senate chamber, and then read Trump's tweet to be peaceful before leaving the premises.

The DC Courts sentenced Chansley to 41 months in federal prison for this. 

Watch Video Below:

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/12/new-video-hidden-public-q-shaman-stands-outside/

CO, ME Just The Start Of Trump Ballot-Blocking: These 20 States Have Suits In Progress

As jarring as it's been to witness the anti-democratic, one-two punch in which a court in Colorado and an unelected bureaucrat in Maine decided Donald Trump cannot appear on primary election ballots, there are many more states where litigation is underway to ban the candidate who's currently leading the national race.

Together, the states where Trump's status is under active challenge account for 269 electoral votes - in a game where you need 270 to win.

Colorado and Maine have said Trump cannot appear on ballots; in the other highlighted states, litigation is underway to block him While there's a lot of red on that map, it understates the scope of the phenomenon.

These are only the states where either officials have decided Trump can't appear on a ballot, or where litigation is currently underway.

Some of them are states like Michigan and Minnesota, where challenges to Trump's appearance on primary ballots have been dismissed.

Written to block Confederate officials from US government service, here's the full text of the provision at issue: No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.

The RealClearPolitics polling average has Trump beating Biden, 46.8% to 44.5%. A December Bloomberg/Morning Consult Pro survey found Trump leading Biden in seven surveyed battleground states: North Carolina, Georgia, Wisconsin, Nevada, Michigan, Arizona and Pennsylvania. 

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/co-me-just-start-trump-ballot-blocking-these-20-states-have-suits-progress

The DC Establishment Is Deeply Concerned That Trump May Have Copies of His Declassified Binder

A recent CNN article titled "The mystery of the missing binder: How a collection of raw Russian intelligence disappeared under Trump" discusses, albeit in roundabout fashion, former President Donald Trump's declassified binder.

So when CNN claims, "The binder contained raw intelligence the US and its NATO allies collected on Russians and Russian agents, including sources and methods that informed the US government's assessment that Russian President Vladimir Putin sought to help Trump win the 2016 election," what they are really referring to is the proof that Trump amassed of the FBI's efforts to interfere in the 2016 election.

The DC establishment is very worried that President Trump has proof of that collusion in his possession.

That's what this is all really about-information that President Trump has in his possession that proves the involvement of the FBI, Department of Justice, and other establishment agencies in their effort to tarnish him with their construction of the Russian collusion lie.

According to the motion, "Trump reviewed them and decided that the binder should be declassified to the maximum extent possible."

This was confirmed by Mr. Solomon, who told Mr. Stern that "He believed the records held by the Archives were the very same documents that Trump had declassified and that they were copied from the binder in preparation for release to the news media on the morning of January 20, 2021.".

The DOJ was virtually certain that President Trump had taken a copy of the presidentially declassified binder with him.

Mr. Solomon said President Trump "Ordered the creation of the Crossfire Hurricane binder to conduct his official duties and that the White House intended to retain control over the binder and its records at all relevant times."

In other words, the binder was composed of presidential records that President Trump is legally allowed to have under the Presidential Records Act.

Two days before CNN ran its article, on Dec. 13, President Trump's lawyers made a surprising announcement hidden in the footnote of a court document, one that apparently took prosecutor Jack Smith by surprise, notifying the court of their intention to "Disclose classified information at trial in support of this defense." What classified information do you suppose that President Trump would have at his disposal? 

https://www.theepochtimes.com/opinion/the-dc-establishment-is-deeply-concerned-that-trump-may-have-copies-of-his-declassified-binder-5554651?utm_source=partner&utm_campaign=ZeroHedge

It's Come To This

From the DHS comes confirmation that the Biden administration will issue ID cards to illegal immigrants: is leading the ICE Secure Docket Card project, which offers a uniform, durable card provided to noncitizens upon release, and facilitates reliable access to commonly lost or damaged immigration-related paperwork.

By throwing the southern border open, the Biden administration has illegally and unconstitutionally repealed the nation's immigration laws.

The only remaining authorities that can uphold the rule of law are the states.

Wait! The Biden administration warned Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott on Thursday that legal action will be taken if the state enforces a new law that allows authorities to arrest, jail, prosecute and deport migrants who enter the country illegally.

"SB 4 is preempted and violates the United States Constitution. Accordingly, the United States intends to file suit to enjoin the enforcement of SB 4 unless Texas agrees to refrain from enforcing the law," Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton writes in the missive, obtained by CBS News.

It seems obvious that Joe Biden's deliberate subverting of America's immigration laws, in violation of his oath of office and his most fundamental duty under Article II of the Constitution, to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, is an impeachable offense.

If Republicans talked about nothing but illegal immigration, the "Refugee" scam, and the Biden administration's open borders policy, they would sweep to victory in November. 

https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2023/12/its-come-to-this.php

'Break The Cycle: In 2024, Say No To The Government's Cruelty, Brutality And Abuse'

Folks, it's time to break the cycle of abuses-cruel, brutal, immoral, unconstitutional, and unacceptable-that have been heaped upon us by the government for way too long.

Government contractors made a killing by waging endless wars abroad. The president became more imperial.

A review of critical court rulings over the past decade or so, including some ominous ones by the U.S. Supreme Court, reveals a startling and steady trend towards pro-police state rulings by an institution concerned more with establishing order and protecting the ruling class and government agents than with upholding the rights enshrined in the Constitution.

The Surveillance State rendered Americans vulnerable to threats from government spies, police, hackers and power failures.

Thanks to the government's ongoing efforts to build massive databases using emerging surveillance, DNA and biometrics technologies, Americans became sitting ducks for hackers and government spies alike.

This is no longer a government "Of the people, by the people, for the people." It is fast becoming a government "Of the rich, by the elite, for the corporations," and its rise to power is predicated on shackling the American taxpayer to a debtors' prison guarded by a phalanx of politicians, bureaucrats and militarized police with no hope of parole and no chance for escape.

The American system of representative government was overthrown by the Deep State-a.k.a. the police state a.k.a. the military-industrial complex-a profit-driven, militaristic corporate state bent on total control and global domination through the imposition of martial law here at home and by fomenting wars abroad. When in doubt, follow the money trail. 

https://expose-news.com/2023/12/31/u-s-constitutional-attorney-break-the-cycle-in-2024-say-no-to-the-governments-cruelty-brutality-and-abuse/

"Lockdowns" Didn't Work And They Were Catastrophic

Governments, their chosen advisors and public health bodies imposed these destructive lockdowns and other non-pharmaceutical measures on populations despite knowing that these measures would never work to stop or slow the spread of a virus as they publicly claimed.

Lockdowns did nothing to change the trajectory of this pandemic, anywhere! Indeed, it's highly probable that if lockdowns did anything at all to change the course of the pandemic, they extended our time of suffering.

What are The Effects of Lockdowns on the General Population? On the basis of actuarial and real-time data, we know that there are tremendous harms caused by these unprecedented lockdowns and school closures.

We set the table with this, for the evidence emphatically questions the merits of lockdowns, and shows that lockdowns have been an abject failure, do not work to prevent viral spread and in fact cause great harm.

In Europe, it was shown that in most cases, mortality rates were already 50% lower than peak rates by the time lockdowns were instituted, thus making claims that lockdowns were effective in reducing mortality spurious at best.

Why would we impose more catastrophic restrictive policies when they have not worked? We even have government leaders now enacting harder and even more draconian lockdowns after admitting that the prior ones have failed.

Conclusion In conclusion, given the cogent argument by Dr. Scott Atlas on the failure of lockdowns and school closures globally and the totality of the evidence presented above and AIER's troubling compilation of the crushing harms of lockdowns, it is way past time to end the lockdowns and get life back to normal for everyone but the higher-risk among us. 

https://expose-news.com/2023/12/31/lockdowns-didnt-work-and-they-were-catastrophic/

The Names & Faces Of The 150 Bilderbergers Who Manipulated The COVID-19 Pandemic Response

Over 150 Bilderbergers have played important parts in the COVID-19 event.

Tidjane Thiam - 2019, 2013 - One of the four African Union's COVID-19 Special Envoys Philip Zelikow - 2007, 2006 - Drafter of the 9/11 Commission Report, appointed to lead the University of Virginia's COVID Commission Planning Group Social change The "response" to COVID-19 was a sweeping set of social changes enforced by fiat, having minimal scientific justification, if any.

William Joseph Burns - 2016-2015 - Career diplomat CIA Director from March 2021, ensured that the U.S. intelligence community does not know the origins of COVID-19 Regina Dugan - 2015 - DARPA, Facebook, Google, "The global pandemic is our generation's Sputnik", CEO of Wellcome Trust.

Ivan Krastev - 2019 - Published various articles about COVID-19's social impact from March 2020 onwards and wrote Is It Tomorrow Yet? Paradoxes of the Pandemic Charles Michel - 2018, 2016, 2015 - As President of the European Council, in December 2020 he proposed an international treaty on pandemics.

A promotional article, How the West was lost, concluded "For all its awfulness, the Covid-19 pandemic is an alarm call It's not too late to wake up to the fact that the West is losing its pre-eminence.

José Manuel Barroso - 2019-2015, 2013, 2005, 2003, 1994, made GAVI CEO in 2021 Clément Beaune - 2019 - Emmanuel Macron's "Monsieur Europe", as French European Affairs Minister, outlined France's strategy for the deployment of vaccines Ian Bremmer - 2007 - Founded the Eurasia Group, whose 2020 study on access to COVID jabs "to assess the economic benefits to advanced economies of contributing to the work of the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator" the WHO cited.

Augosto Santos Silva - 2006 - As Portuguese foreign minister pledged to donate 5% of their vaccines to Portuguese ex-colonies, "Supporting international vaccination is essential for the eradication of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Bilderbergers have been both calling for and decreeing mandatory injections in response to COVID-19.

Kristalina Georgieva - 2016 - As IMF managing director organised "Emergency financing on a scale never seen before" - issuing dire economic forecasts Austan Goolsbee - 2012 - Obama advisor, published on the economics of COVID Fan of heavy COVID-19 spending.

Html The digital response to COVID-19 : Exploring the use of digital technology for information collection, dissemination and social control in a global pandemic CommunityFirst solutions for COVID-19: decolonising health crises responses. 

https://expose-news.com/2023/12/31/bilderbergers-covid-pandemic-resonse-manipulation/

It’s Time to Debunk the Marijuana Myth

Political pressure to approve legalization is high, fueled by public polling and lobbying from cannabis growers, distributors, and users.

Not all users of cannabis progress to a Substance Use Disorder, but many with a SUD began with cannabis.

Despite a clear risk to the developing fetus, almost 70 percent of Colorado cannabis stores recommended its use to mothers in their first trimester.

Depression increases among regular cannabis users and is a common side effect of Cannabis Use Disorder.

Cannabis adds significant expense to state and local governments in the form of auto accidents, emergency first responders, drug rehabilitation, remedial education, lost tax revenue from lower employment, medical care in the ER, long-term mental health care, increased health insurance, and more.

Auto accidents following nationwide legalization in Canada rose 475 percent between 2010 and 2021, the seriousness of the accidents increased, and nearly 90 percent required ambulance transport, 50 percent required hospital admission, and 22 percent were admitted to an ICU. Emergency room visits associated with cannabis also grew 233 percent.

U.S. accidents involving cannabis or cannabis with alcohol have doubled, while accidents for alcohol alone have not increased.

While voter popularity may be the driving force behind legalization, elected officials should make sure the full cost is assumed by those who use, purchase, and sell cannabis products, and not pass it on to the rest of the population.

Require warning labels on all products and in stores to inform users of the full medical and psychiatric risks of cannabis use.

States should dedicate sufficient funds to treat schizophrenia, psychosis, and mental illness associated with cannabis use.

States should review tax rates for cannabis that at least match the total cost impact of cannabis use.

https://spectator.org/its-time-to-debunk-the-marijuana-myth/ 

'Dark Money Nightmare': How Qatar Bought The Ivy League

 The hapless testimony by three Ivy League university presidents from Harvard, MIT and the University of Pennsylvania before the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce can be traced to Qatar and its insidious campaign to buy itself influence in US academia.

Qatar is far from the only authoritarian nation that donates to American universities.

Qatar makes it possible for Ivy League universities to claim that they receive no funds from the Qatari state, because the donations are funneled through the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development, a not-for-profit organization established in 1995 by the Emir of Qatar.

"At the time of writing, the State of Qatar contributes more funds to universities in the United States than any other country in the world, and raw donation totals omit critical, concerning details about the nature of Qatar's academic funding.

Qatar concentrates its donations within a contained number of elite U.S. universities to maximize its influence.

Qatar funds US think-tanks, such as the Richardson Center for Global Engagement and the Brookings Institution, and infiltrates US media.

"In recent years, Qatar has significantly bolstered its U.S. investments through its sovereign wealth fund, the Qatar Investment Authority, and its subsidiaries, notably Qatari Diar.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/20265/qatar-bought-ivy-league

US Healthcare Facilities Reinstate Mask Mandates

Health officials will use any excuse to bring back the oppressive and ineffective Covid mandates.

Hospitals are reinstating face mask mandates in California, Illinois, New York, Massachusetts, and other states, citing the mild JN.1 covid variant that is becoming the dominant strain spreading throughout the country.

In Los Angeles the mask mandate for patients, healthcare workers, and visitors started on December 30th. 

The mask mandates apply to healthcare workers and staff but patients are also "Strongly encouraged" to wear masks.

University of Pittsburgh Medical Center reinstated mask mandates across 40 hospitals last Friday.

UMass Memorial Medical Center, the largest healthcare provider in Central Massachusetts, reimplemented mask mandates effective Jan. 2.

Keiser Permanente has also reimposed mask mandates for healthcare staff in Washington. 

https://thepeoplesvoice.tv/us-healthcare-facilities-reinstate-mask-mandates/

The People Are Waking Up! 2023 Was The Year Conspiracy Theories Became Facts

When historians look back on 2023 it will be remembered as the year the people began waking up and the globalist elite began losing their grip on power.

So momentous were the revelations in 2023 that people who have been brainwashed by mainstream media their entire lives are now beginning to wake up and ask questions.

A more obvious example of predictive programming by the occult elite you are never likely to find and yet many people, caught up in their busy lives and completely brainwashed by mainstream media, still fail to grasp what is actually going on.

In 2023 the global elite became increasingly desperate, silencing whistleblowers and journalists like Osegaard who were working against their agenda.

Despite the mainstream media claiming that Pizzagate is nothing but a debunked "Conspiracy theory", numerous mainstream journalists and figures connected to elite pedophiles have been arrested in recent times for the very crime they supposedly "Debunked."

We were told that 15 minute cities was a crazy conspiracy theory and that the elite do not want to hold us all in vast open-air prisons.

Until the elite started rolling them out and the mainstream media was forced to eat their words - yet again.

Given the collapse of the elite's narrative, it is no surprise they are escalating their attacks on so-called "Conspiracy theorists."

The WEF is on the front lines of the war against the so-called "Conspiracy theories" that are derailing the elites' plan for global domination.

The authoritarian policing of the internet, media and social media by the global elite has had disastrous consequences for our freedoms.

2023 is the year the people began to wake up to the evil agenda of the global elite. 

https://thepeoplesvoice.tv/the-people-are-waking-up-2023-was-the-year-conspiracy-theories-became-facts/

Portland Poop Crisis Triggers Bacteria Outbreak Normally Found in Third World

Woke Democrats have caused an absurd amount of problems for law-abiding residents in Portland, including a surge in violent crime, out-of-control open-air drug markets, and widespread homelessness.

A highly contagious bacteria called "Shigella" is spreading across Portland.

This bacteria is common in countries found in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia regions.

Freedom First Beef "Shigella spreads when one person's infected poop gets into another person's mouth through food or water, from objects or surfaces with shigella bacteria on them, or during sex," Multnomah County said, according to local news outlet KOIN 6, adding, "Shigella spreads very easily. Even a very small amount is enough to make someone sick." In December, there have been over 45 infections of the deadly bacteria in Multnomah, Washington, and Clackamas counties, with nine different strains found in Portland since October.

"Local disease patterns suggest that fecal-oral spread through sexual contact may account for between half and more than two thirds of all cases without international travel. The rest are typically attributed to other types of person-to-person spread including outbreaks among populations with lack of hygiene, shelter, and sanitation, and among people who use illicit substances," county officials told KOIN 6 News.

The bacteria has been impacting the houseless mainly because of hygiene and sanitation issues: The economy is tanking and a "Digital Dollar" is in the works.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data shows about 450,000 shigella infections annually in the US.. 

https://americafirstreport.com/portland-poop-crisis-triggers-bacteria-outbreak-normally-found-in-third-world/

Republicans Slam DOJ For Dropping Campaign Finance Charges Against Major Democratic Donor Sam Bankman-Fried: 'So We Won't Know Which Politicians He Bribed?'

 Critics are accusing the DOJ of sweeping additional charges against FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried under the rug, after prosecutors said he would not face a second trial for campaign finance violations following his conviction last month.

In his letter to the court, US Attorney Damian Williams noted that prosecutors introduced evidence about all of the dropped charges during Bankman-Fried's monthlong first trial, where he was found guilty on all counts.

Some Republicans cried foul, noting that Bankman-Fried was a major donor to Democrats, including a reported $5.2 million infusion into President Joe Biden's 2020 campaign.

Bankman-Fried had faced six additional charges that had been severed from his first trial, including conspiracy to make unlawful campaign contributions, conspiracy to bribe foreign officials and two other conspiracy counts.

Bankman-Fried was known as a major donor to Democrats, but prosecutors say he also contributed to Republican campaigns as part of the alleged illicit donation scheme.

According to a superseding indictment, Bankman-Fried 'misappropriated and embezzled FTX customer deposits,' including more than $100 million spent 'in campaign contributions to Democrats and Republicans to seek to influence cryptocurrency regulation.

US Attorney Damian Williams noted that prosecutors introduced evidence about all of the dropped charges during Bankman-Fried's first trial, where he was found guilty on all counts.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12913961/SBF-campaign-finance-donations-coverup.html

Biden Tries To Slip New Eco Regs Targeting Fridges, Freezers Past Us On Holiday Weekend

The updated standards will start being implemented between 2029 and 2030, and will follow the lead of similar versions in California.

What these standards do is they force that choice on everyone, whether it makes sense for them or not.

We know from history that, in some cases, these standards raise the upfront cost more than you're likely to earn back in the form of energy savings.

" He warned not only are these standards likely going to make things cost more but that they could also impact performance, pointing to the new standards for dishwashers making them take twice as long to finish.

He believes the standards for gas stoves that were proposed in February would result in an effective ban on half of the gas stoves on the market.

The Biden team proposed or finalized 30 such regulations in 2023 and plans on more in 2024.

In the months after DOE released its proposed stovetop regulations, it proposed regulations in February for clothes washers and refrigerators that it said would reduce emissions by 233 million metric tons; finalized standards for air conditioners in March; proposed regulations cracking down on dishwashers in May; issued a proposal targeting water heaters in July; and proposed standards for furnaces in September. 

https://redstate.com/nick-arama/2023/12/30/biden-tries-to-slip-new-eco-regs-targeting-fridges-freezers-past-us-on-holiday-weekend-n2168110

Experimental Drug That Alters Gut Microbiome Shows Promise For Long COVID Relief

A randomized controlled trial in Hong Kong finds that the synbiotic drug SIM01 relieves multiple symptoms of long COVID, or post-acute COVID-19 syndrome.

At six months, interviewers administered a 14-item symptom questionnaire to participants and collected blood and fecal samples to assess changes in the gut microbiome and blood cytokines.

Fecal metagenomic analyses showed that the gut microbiome was more diverse, including more short-chain acid-producing bacteria and fewer genes related to antibiotic resistance, at six months than at baseline in SIM01 recipients but not the placebo group.

Correlation of microbial changes with symptoms showed that relief of specific symptoms was tied to distinct compositional and functional changes in the microbiome.

Lack of universal long COVID symptom assessment tool.

In a related commentary, Betty Raman, DPhil, and Maheshi Ramasamy, DPhil, both of the University of Oxford, said that emerging evidence points to the importance of the gut microbiome in the development of long COVID, with a disruption in microbial balance, or gut dysbiosis, in some patients.

Study limitations such as the lack of a universally accepted long COVID symptom assessment tool and a reliance on subjective symptom reports complicates interpretation of the findings. 

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-12-experimental-drug-gut-microbiome-covid.html

COVID-19 Vaccines May Trigger Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy

Research has unveiled a potential association between COVID-19 vaccines and Takotsubo cardiomyopathy, with two fatalities among 16 patients.

A Case Study In August, a case report was published in the journal Cureus detailing the experience of a 59-year-old woman who developed Takotsubo cardiomyopathy after receiving a booster dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

The researchers stated that the pathophysiology of COVID-19 vaccine-induced Takotsubo cardiomyopathy is not yet clear, but that "Several theories have been proposed." The immune response triggered by COVID-19 vaccines may, for some individuals, "Result in an exaggerated inflammatory cascade, leading to endothelial dysfunction, microvascular dysfunction, and myocardial injury." Vaccination may also stimulate the release of pro-inflammatory factors such as interleukin-6.

The stress response induced by COVID-19 vaccination could potentially "Dysregulate the autonomic nervous system, contributing to the development of cardiac dysfunction." Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy Poses a Life-Threatening Risk The association between COVID-19 vaccines and Takotsubo cardiomyopathy is not widely known, with only a few reported cases.

Seven patients developed Takotsubo cardiomyopathy after the first dose and seven after the second dose.

The researchers noted that 87.5 percent of patients recovered and were discharged, indicating that Takotsubo cardiomyopathy occurring after vaccination is mostly "Transient and reversible." However, the death of 2 of the patients highlights the "Potentially life-threatening nature of this vaccine-related adverse event."

The paper's authors urge clinicians to consider the possibility of Takotsubo cardiomyopathy, especially among recipients of mRNA vaccines when presented with patients experiencing chest pain or dyspnea symptoms after vaccination. 

https://www.theepochtimes.com/health/research-covid-19-vaccines-may-trigger-takotsubo-cardiomyopathy-5552303?utm_source=morningbriefnoe&src_src=morningbriefnoe&utm_campaign=mb-2023-12-31&src_cmp=mb-2023-12-31&utm_medium=email&est=7zlrAAmOfveM41sH5bhafratiVUb2VXQDQQcaDuU%2Bn4skSAZrPHrVFfUKnfz56QQ6gk%3D

States Banning or Restricting “Zuck Bucks”

Private financing of government election offices under the guise of COVID-19 relief skewed voter turnout in the 2020 election and may have tipped the presidential election to Joe Biden.

HB 11: Would expand scope of existing ban on private funding for election offices to prohibit state employees and officials from accepting private moneys to administer elections.

SB 134: "A political subdivision that conducts or administers an election may not accept private money donations to prepare, administer, or conduct elections or to employ individuals on a temporary basis for preparing, administering, or conducting elections, including registering voters. Requires all state agencies to submit to the budget agency a report of each individual state employee employed by the state agency whose salary is funded in whole or in part from donated money." Passed legislature 03/08/22, awaits Gov. Eric Holcomb's signature.

June 17, 2022: New legislation would stop elections offices from accepting private funding for elections.

S 725: Prohibits the State Board of Elections, county boards of elections, and county commissioners from accepting private funding for election expenses.

"Regardless of the source of additional funding for election administration, election administrators must always run elections according to state and federal law. By prohibiting donations or grants to election agencies, this bill unnecessarily restricts the use of resources that may be needed to ensure elections are administered effectively."

Total CTCL Grants: $0. SF 0142: Prohibits elections officials from accepting private funding for elections.

https://capitalresearch.org/article/states-banning-zuck-bucks/ 

Living Room Pundit’s Updated Guide to Soros District Attorneys

In total, Soros cash has generously supported dozens of left-wing candidates, and at least 30 won their elections and remain in office today.

Soros has spent a combined $6 million on California DA races, much of it wasted on failed candidates, but almost half was spent on the successful campaign of George Gascon for Los Angles DA. Soros was the largest spender in the race, and Gascon won easily.

Probably the most famous Soros-backed DA, Foxx was boosted into office with the help of $2 million in Soros cash.

Another of the newest Soros DAs, Sartoris won office in 2022 after an injection of $300,000 from the Maine Justice and Public Safety PAC helped her defeat a longtime incumbent.

Although his ties to Soros are less well known and his ideas are slightly less radical, Albuquerque's former DA also got his start from $107,000 in Soros cash that boosted his unopposed campaign in 2016.

Among the most famous Soros-backed DAs, Krasner has been supported by more than $2 million from Soros funneled through the Pennsylvania Justice and Public Safety PAC and the Philadelphia Justice and Public Safety PAC. Krasner was reelected in 2021 with the help of a $259,000 contribution from Soros.

Biberaj's campaign in 2019 was boosted by over $650,000 in Soros cash, and she has since been thrown off a robbery case by the judge for "Deliberately misleading the court" and has been caught using government resources to investigate her political opponents and journalists that were critical of her office. 

https://capitalresearch.org/article/best-of-2023-living-room-pundits-updated-guide-to-soros-district-attorneys/

Whistleblowers Release Evidence US Government Trailed Credentialed Reporter Tayler Hansen for 2 Years with 48 Air Marshalls on 16 Different Flights for Reporting at Jan 6 Protests

Tayler Hansen is an exceptional independent journalist who covers violent protests, the open US border, filthy pornographic porn shows open to children, and current events.

Tayler has reported from several violent protests over the years and placed himself in danger to get out the truth.

Tayler helped put out a man on fire after he was hit by a projectile fired by police.

Tayler was also inside the building as a credentialed reporter and was near Ashli Babbitt when Officer Byrd shot her in cold blood without warning.

In January 2021 Tayler wrote his first article for The Gateway Pundit on his experience at the January 6 protests.

In the article Tayler laid out what really happened that day - something completely different than the current media narrative at the time.

On Friday Tayler sent us evidence that the government was trailing him for two years and on at least 12 flights with 48 different Air Marshalls. 

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/12/whistleblowers-release-evidence-us-government-trailed-credentialed-reporter/

Professor and Legal Analyst Jonathan Turley Gets Swatted at His DC Area Home

The practice of swatting is extremely dangerous and can easily end with someone being accidentally killed by police, which is precisely why the perpetrators do it.

It's not clear why professor Turley was swatted.

RedState reports: The Freeze Dried Beef Industry Is Exploding - Here's Why Jonathan Turley Spoke Out Against Swatting, and Then He Got Swatted There is a full-scale war of intimidation being waged by the far-left, and it has targeted yet another prominent figure on the right.

Legal analyst Jonathan Turley was swatted on Friday, according to Alan Henney, who reports on various crimes and police responses around Washington, D.C. That follows the swatting of three Republican lawmakers since Christmas.

Jonathan Turley then spoke out against the trend, noting that a lack of prosecutions is leading to an increased number of swatting calls because there is no deterrent.

"Swatting constitutes a false police report that can be criminally charged," Turley said.

"Virginia recently passed a new law making swatting specifically a criminal misdemeanor. It can also be charged as a form of criminal threats." "This is a crime that flourishes because there is insufficient deterrent," Turley continued. 

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/12/professor-legal-analyst-jonathan-turley-gets-swatted-his/

Top 10 COVID Events Of The Year: Revealing The Facts Unspoken And Unknown

FDA and CDC Find More COVID Vaccine Adverse Events, Including Stroke Beginning in January, documents released under the Freedom of Information Act found that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention detected hundreds of safety signals for Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines.

Researchers from Kaiser Permanente also reported in October that people who took the COVID boosters with the influenza vaccine were at a greater risk of stroke.

In a preprint published in April, Mr. McKernan and his team found DNA fragments in both Moderna and Pfizer vaccines that exceeded the European Medicines Agency's 330 nanograms per milligram requirement and the FDA's 10 ng/dose requirements.

COVID Vaccine-Injured People Compensated In April, the U.S. government compensated people injured by the COVID-19 vaccines for the first time.

As of Dec. 1, 10 people have been compensated for their injuries from the COVID-19 mRNA vaccines.

Mask Mandates Return in August, New COVID Vaccines Approved While no federal agencies have reinstated masking mandates, some workplaces, schools, and hospitals started bringing back mask mandates in August due to rising COVID-19 hospitalizations.

Despite the CDC's advisory board recommending the vaccine for children and adults, in a report posted on Sept. 27, it acknowledged that certainty about the vaccine's ability to prevent severe COVID, hospitalization, and death from COVID was "Low" for adults and "Very low" for children and infants.

A month later, the FDA approved the Novavax protein-based COVID vaccine to protect against COVID-19.

Final Batch of Pfizer Vaccine Documents Released by the FDA Under FOIA, the FDA released the final 51,000 pages of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine document.

Pfizer's COVID vaccines may have several manufacturing problems.

Not Messenger RNA but Modified RNA, Vaccines Form Aberrant Proteins While the COVID-19 mRNA vaccines on the market were advertised as messenger RNA, meaning naturally occurring RNA in the body, documents from Pfizer and studies on Moderna vaccines showed that the actual mRNA used is modified RNA, or modRNA. Naturally occurring mRNA is primarily composed of uridine, while the modRNA in vaccines has had most of the uridine switched to pseudouridine to make the vaccines hardier and more resistant to immune degradation. 

https://www.theepochtimes.com/health/top-covid-events-of-the-year-reveal-facts-unspoken-and-unknown-5551693?utm_source=partner&utm_campaign=ZeroHedge&src_src=partner&src_cmp=ZeroHedge

DOJ Loses Another Public Corruption Case, Raising Concerns Of Motive, Prosecutorial Misconduct

Of ten public corruption cases over the past two decades reviewed by Just the News, three resulted in reversed convictions.

"There is a great deal to be looked at involving public corruption cases at the DOJ," former U.S. Attorney Joe diGenova told Just the News on Friday.

UCLA Law professor Stephen Bainbridge was quoted in a 2008 law review journal criticising this prosecutorial approach, referring to the similar convictions of Martha Stewart and businessman Frank Quattrone: "In neither case did the government indict the defendant with respect to the alleged underlying violations. Instead, both were indicted for subsequent acts that allegedly obstructed the investigation. Yet, if that investigation did not result in charges, it seems vindictive to charge obstruction."

An even earlier case bears a resemblance to the reversed conviction against McDonnell, except this time the DOJ was accused of withholding potentially exculpatory evidence from the defendant.

Of the ten public corruption cases over the last two decades reviewed by the Just the News, these three resulted in reversal by the courts.

Though in Rep. Fortenberry's case, the door is still open for new charges, the cases against both Gov. McDonnell and Sen. Stevens were dropped completely by the DOJ. The Department of Justice did not respond to a request for comment on the Public Integrity Division by the time of publication.

After prosecutorial misconduct was proven in the Stevens' case, Jack Smith took over the Public Integrity Division at the DOJ and he dropped several ongoing corruption cases in the aftermath. 

https://justthenews.com/accountability/political-ethics/latest-case-against-elected-official-reversed-shows-dojs-mixed

The Paedo Files: Shocking & Horrendous Truth About Bill Gates, Jeffrey Epstein & Microsoft

A series of disclosures regarding the connection between Bill Gates and Jeffrey Epstein emerged after the announcement of Bill & Melinda Gates's divorce.

In addition to the Evening Standard article, there is evidence from Maria Farmer, an Epstein victim who was employed by Epstein and Maxwell from 1995 to 1996, that she recalled hearing Epstein mention Bill Gates in such a way as to imply they were close friends and which gave her the impression that the Microsoft cofounder might soon be visiting one of Epstein's residences.

Despite tensions arising from the Clinton administration's pursuit of Microsoft's monopoly in the late 1990s, the Gates and Clinton relationship had thawed by April 2000, when Gates attended the White House "Conference on the New Economy." Attendees besides Gates included close Epstein associate Lynn Forester and then secretary of the treasury Larry Summers, who has also come under fire for his Epstein ties.

Recent revelations about Gates and Epstein meetings that took place between 2013 and 2014 have further underscored the importance Epstein apparently held in the world of billionaire "Philanthropy," with Gates reportedly claiming that Epstein was his "Ticket" to winning a Nobel Prize.

From Melinda's perspective, this scandal, combined with Bill Gates's growing association with convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein may have posed a threat to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's reputation, well before Epstein's 2019 arrest.

While the Gates Foundation and the Clinton Foundation intermingled, and the latter had ties to Epstein and Maxwell, it also appears that Epstein had significant influence over two of the most prominent science advisers to Bill Gates over the last fifteen years-Melanie Walker and Boris Nikolic.

The lack of mainstream media concern over the documented ties of the Epstein network to other top Microsoft executives of the past, such as Nathan Myhrvold, Linda Stone, and Steven Sinofsky, makes it clear that, while it may be open season on the relationship between Bill Gates and Epstein, such is not the case for Microsoft and Epstein. 

https://expose-news.com/2023/12/30/the-paedo-files-epstein-gates-microsoft/

Net Zero Is About To Get Even More Painful

In few areas of public policy is this more exhaustive than net zero.

Conscious that the public's patience may begin to wear thin, the Prime Minister earlier this year promised a more "Pragmatic, proportionate and realistic approach" to net zero.

This primarily involved pushing back the deadline for the end of new petrol and diesel cars and the phasing out of gas boilers - but even the new 2035 date will be a stretch.

If the 2050 net zero target - the most consequential economic policy decision for generations, made by a piece of secondary legislation without a proper parliamentary debate - wasn't restrictive enough, the Government is obliged to set binding, five-year carbon budgets which cap the maximum amount of emissions allowed during each period.

In its sixth Carbon Budget Paper, the CCC, which ostensibly provides advice to the Government but often acts more like an eco-activist NGO, advises homeowners to turn on their heating in the afternoon, so that they can turn it off again in the evening when demand for electricity is higher.

There will be huge waste, with the taxpayer footing the bill: when the Government asked the economist Dieter Helm to look into what it was doing to meet the net zero target, he concluded that up to £100bn had been squandered, largely from investment in technologies which hadn't matured to the point where they were cheaper than the alternative.

Responding to the news that the UK had halved its emissions, Energy Secretary Claire Coutinho hailed the country as a "World leader" in tackling climate change. 

https://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2023/12/29/net-zero-is-about-to-get-even-more-painful/

Ohio Governor Vetoes Bill to Protect Women and Children

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine vetoed House Bill 68, which would have barred physicians from performing "Gender reassignment surgery" or prescribing "Cross-sex hormones" to minors.

When asked about the part of the bill dealing with women's sports, Gov. DeWine said, "I focused on the part of the bill that I thought affected the most people and did not even get to the other question." The governor declined to state whether he would have signed a bill dealing only with that issue.

In an interview released Wednesday, fitness expert and nutritionist Jillian Michaels spoke out in favor of protecting biologically based sports.

"Sports is biological. It just is."

Michaels lamented, "I support equal rights for all transgender people but sadly sports is biological, and biological males on hormone blockers or not, are still far stronger, taller, more muscle mass than a biological woman. And women are getting hurt and it's taking opportunities and money away from biological women. That's the truth."

His refusal to address issues facing female athletes is a sad reminder that women's sports are still under attack.

The governor's choice should be a simple one: recognize the biological differences between men and women, and protect children from all destructive attempts to damage their healthy bodies. 

https://spectator.org/ohio-governor-vetoes-bill-to-protect-women-and-children/

Mexico's President Rolls Biden, Gives US Worse Than Nothing On Border

The resulting "Joint Communique" from that parley reveals Mexico City has no interest in assisting an administration that won't secure US borders.

President Biden is confronted with polling that shows his immigration and border policies are wildly unpopular with a solid majority of voters - while he's also attempting to appease the progressive wing of his own party, which refuses to budge in Senate talks on border fixes.

The president's only hope was for AMLO to bail out his failing policies by agreeing to control the flow of migrants passing through Mexico to the United States.

In October, the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas concluded the average monthly remittance to Mexico from the 11 million "Mexican migrants" living here was $390 per month.

At a Thursday morning press conference, AMLO crowed that "Rail crossings and the border bridges" between the two countries, which had been closed so officers could assist Border Patrol agents with migrant processing, "Are already being opened." According to the US trade representative, the United States had a $131.1 billion trade deficit with Mexico in 2022, and the Dallas Fed has reported Mexico became our largest trading partner in 2023.

Unlike his successor, President Donald Trump was willing to wield our economic power to force border concessions out of Mexico.

Until Biden follows Trump's lead and adopts at least some of his effective migrant policies, the border crisis will continue, and the White House will be forced to issue more even more pusillanimous "Joint communiqués."

https://nypost.com/2023/12/28/opinion/mexicos-president-rolls-biden-gives-us-worse-than-nothing-on-border/

Banks Are Closing Thousands Of Branches And Retailers Are Shutting Down Thousands Of Stores

 If the U.S. economy really is in "Good shape", then why are so many prominent businesses rushing to permanently shut down locations that were once profitable? As you will see below, U.S. banks are closing thousands of branches and U.S. retailers are closing thousands of stores.

During the first 10 months of this year, banks in the United States closed a total of 2,118 branches.

U.S. banks closed 2,118 branch locations between January and the end of October, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence.

It is being reported that Bank of America has decided to permanently shut down "Nearly two dozen Bay Area branches or ATMs".

Bank of America has shuttered or plans to shutter nearly two dozen Bay Area branches or ATMs, according to recent filings.

A new report from the Financial Times shows twenty of the world's largest banks slashed 61,905 jobs in 2023, a move to protect profit margins in a period of high interest rates amid a slump in dealmaking and equity and debt sales.

"There is no stability, no investment, no growth in most banks - and there are likely to be more job cuts," said Lee Thacker, owner of financial services headhunting firm Silvermine Partners.

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/banks-are-closing-thousands-of-branches-and-retailers-are-shutting-down-thousands-of-stores/

Study Calling For Unvaccinated People To Be Barred From Public Venues Was Authored By Pfizer Adviser

Study calling for unvaccinated people to be barred from public venues was authored by Pfizer adviser.

A 2022 study out of Canada that was used as justification to impose harsh restrictions on unvaccinated people accessing public venues has been exposed as a propaganda manuscript.

Researchers Joseph Hickey, Ph.D., and Denis Rancourt, Ph.D., published their own peer-reviewed study looking at the aforementioned fraudulent one, which was authored by epidemiologist Dr. David Fisman from the University of Toronto.

According to Fisman, unvaccinated people pose a disproportionate risk to vaccinated people, even though the latter are supposed to be protected against disease because of their vaccines.

The Defender reported that Fisman has worked as an adviser to vaccine makers like Pfizer, Seqirus, AstraZeneca, and Sanofi-Pasteur.

In speaking to reporters about his flawed study, Fisman explained that the unvaccinated should not have a choice to remain as such because they are "Creating risk for those around you."

"When they adjusted that parameter to account for real-world data, the model produced a variety of contradictory outcomes, including one showing that segregating unvaccinated people can increase the epidemic severity among the vaccinated - the exact opposite of what Fisman et al. purported to show," writes The Defender's Brenda Baletti, Ph.D. "Hickey and Rancourt, researchers at Canada's Correlation: Research in the Public Interest, concluded that without reliable empirical data to inform such SIR models, the models are 'intrinsically limited' and should not be used as a basis for policy." 

https://www.naturalnews.com/2023-12-29-study-unvaccinated-barred-public-venues-pfizer-adviser.html

Fauci's COVID Boss, NIH Chief Francis Collins, Confesses Lockdown Damage Was 'Another Mistake We Made'.

“If you’re a public health person, and you’re trying to make a decision, you have this very narrow view of what the right decision is, and that is something that will save a life,” former National Institutes of Health (NIH) chief Francis Collins recently told an audience. The Obama appointee, who left office in late 2022 after 13 years in his position, admitted further: “Doesn’t matter what else happens. You attach infinite value to stopping the disease and saving a life. You attach zero value to whether this actually totally disrupts people’s lives, ruins the economy, and has many kids kept out of school in a way that they never might quite recover from. Collateral damage. This is a public health mindset. And I think a lot of us involved in trying to make those recommendations had that mindset – and that was really unfortunate. It’s another mistake we made.”

 The admission is stunning given the warnings from anti-lockdown advocates during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the claims from NIH officials and others that they were simply “following the science,” and that those worried about knock-on effects were conspiracy theorists or deathmongers.

WATCH:

https://thenationalpulse.com/2023/12/29/watch-faucis-covid-boss-nih-chief-francis-collins-confesses-lockdown-damage-was-another-mistake-we-made/ 

Xfinity-Comcast Security Breach Compromises 36 Million Customers’ Contact Info, Passwords, Birthdates, Social Security Numbers

For some people, that included their names, contact information, account usernames and passwords, birthdates, parts of their Social Security numbers and answers to their security questions.

Xfinity sent the following email to customers: Xfinity Data Security Incident Notice of Data Security Incident We are notifying you of a recent data security incident involving your personal information.

What Information Was Involved? On December 6, 2023, we concluded that the information included usernames and hashed passwords; for some customers, other information was also included, such as names, contact information, last four digits of social security numbers, dates of birth and/or secret questions and answers.

While we advise customers not to re-use passwords across multiple accounts, if you do use the same information elsewhere, we recommend that you change the information on those other accounts, as well.

You can review the "Additional Information" section below for information on how you can further protect your personal information.

You can obtain information from the Federal Trade Commission and the three major credit bureaus about additional steps you can take to protect yourself against identity theft and fraud, as well as information on placing security freezes and fraud alerts on your credit report.

A security freeze prohibits a credit reporting agency from releasing any information from a consumer's credit report without written authorization. 

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/12/just-xfinity-comcast-security-breach-compromises-36-million/

Biden's Migrant Crisis Overflows Tax-Funded Shelters In Detroit

 Joe Biden's border crisis has sent so many illegal border crossers to Detroit that activists are calling on members of their community to step up to house them in their private homes.

The group's founder, Senegalese native Seydi Starr, told the Detroit News that Detroit has been working since last year to implement a support network for illegals.

Chief of housing solutions and support services at Detroit's Housing and Revitalization Department, says the city is handling the border crisis influx.

"Despite occasional dire predictions, these efforts have continued to successfully prevent Detroit from experiencing tent cities popping up as has been seen in other communities."

Johnston is one of a trio of mayors who recently joined to demand Biden hand over more money to help them deal with the onslaught of Biden's wave of illegals.

According to the Detroit News, Starr and other Detroit activists want to "Fuel population growth" and push the illegals into the "Working class."

Joe Biden is demanding that the federal government hand him $14 billion more tax dollars to spend to house illegals in hotels in towns all across the nation.

https://www.breitbart.com/immigration/2023/12/29/bidens-migrant-crisis-overflows-tax-funded-shelters-in-detroit-sends-migrants-to-private-homes/

Biden Administration Misled About The Chinese Spy Balloon Not Transmitting Data

According to a new report, the claim that the infamous Chinese spy balloon was blocked from transmitting data as it flew across the mainland United States was false.

Astonishingly, the balloon was allowed to connect to a domestic telecommunications service.

The balloon connected to a U.S.-based company, according to the assessment, to send and receive communications from China, primarily related to its navigation.

Officials familiar with the assessment said it found that the connection allowed the balloon to send burst transmissions, or high-bandwidth collections of data over short periods of time.

Gen. Mark Milley, who himself has a long history of defending China, was serving as Biden's Joint Chiefs of Staff at the time.

Milley's claim, which was repeated by other White House officials, came after an attempt to hide the existence of the spy balloon from the public failed.

Defense and intelligence officials have said the U.S. assessment is that the balloon was not able to transmit intelligence back to China while it was over the U.S. Of course, none of this would have been an issue had Biden had the guts to shoot the spy balloon down when it was still over the Pacific Ocean. 

https://redstate.com/bonchie/2023/12/29/busted-biden-administration-fibbed-about-chinese-spy-balloon-not-transmitting-data-n2168072

Trump Stays On Colorado Ballot As State GOP Appeals To Supreme Court

With the Colorado Republican Party's appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court to keep former president and current GOP front-runner Donald Trump on the state's primary ballot, President Trump is near certain to stay on the ballot.

The Colorado Secretary of State's office, which oversees elections in the state, said that "Donald Trump will be included as a candidate on Colorado's 2024 Presidential Primary Ballot when certification occurs on January 5, 2024, unless the U.S. Supreme Court declines to take the case or otherwise affirms the Colorado Supreme Court ruling."

"Donald Trump engaged in insurrection and was disqualified under the Constitution from the Colorado Ballot. The Colorado Supreme Court got it right," she stated.

Once an appeal is filed, the secretary is ordered to follow any U.S. Supreme Court decision instead. If the U.S. Supreme Court decides to reject the case by Jan. 4, Colorado will remove President Trump from the primary ballot.

The high court may yet decide to reject the case; it could do so after Jan. 4, and President Trump would still appear on the Colorado primary ballot.

The Supreme Court already declined to hear one such 14th Amendment appeal in October, although the situation has changed with Colorado explicitly finding President Trump ineligible.

Having already determined President Trump ineligible, Colorado may be poised to remove President Trump from the general election ballot.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/colorado-secretary-confirms-trump-stays-on-the-ballot-5554709?autoemail=samueleburns%40yahoo.com&utm_source=deployer&utm_medium=email&utm_content=&utm_campaign=new&utm_term=

Schumer, McConnell And What's To Come In 2024

Schumer's toughest test will come in 2024, when he will face the daunting task of defending an array of vulnerable Senate Democrats in a presidential election year with an unpopular 81-year-old incumbent at the top of the ticket.

Schumer has been emphasizing what he sees as the steady hand of the Democratic-controlled Senate in contrast with the chaos of the GOP-run House.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell: The longest-serving party leader in Senate history had one of his most difficult years and could face an even more turbulent 2024.

At the start of this session, McConnell was fresh off the most significant challenge to his leadership role in his 16 years atop the GOP Conference.

Earlier in the year, McConnell missed six weeks after suffering a concussion and broken ribs stemming from a fall.

Trump, of course, detests McConnell for acknowledging that the former president lost in 2020.

McConnell has worked hard to ensure that Trump's worldview doesn't win out within the party, often breaking with the former president without uttering his name.

With Trump on track to secure the GOP nomination, it'll become much harder for McConnell to avoid questions about the former president and his latest incendiary or racist comment.

McConnell has embraced demands from his conference that any Ukraine aid bill be paired with GOP-approved border security and immigration policy changes.

McConnell has held the line on this, to the pleasant surprise of Senate conservatives.

McConnell won't be able to sign off on any agreement that Speaker Mike Johnson refuses to bring up in the House. 

https://punchbowl.news/article/looking-back-on-the-year-for-schumer-mcconnell/

Narcissism And Nihilism Behind Progressive Affirmation Of Psychiatric Disorders

 It's been Democrats in the US, Liberals in Canada, and Left-wing parties in Europe that have advocated for greater compassion, humanity, and nuance in the treatment of people with both serious mental illnesses like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder and more curable psychiatric disorders such as ADHD, OCD, and depression.

Yet nobody is inflicting more cruelty, barbarism, and inhumanity upon people with mental illness and psychiatric disorders than liberals, progressives, and the political Left.

It's not the case that progressives always worsen psychiatric disorders or are the sole cause of them.

Nor are libertarians and conservatives reliable advocates of proven solutions to psychiatric disorders.

In my 2021 book, San Fransicko, I point to the success of the Netherlands in dealing with addiction and other psychiatric disorders, and most Americans would consider the Netherlands, with its acceptance of same-sex relationships, its decriminalization of marijuana, and its universal health care system, to be liberal or progressive.

The progressive mistreatment of well-established psychiatric disorders is widespread across the Western world and more common than conservative and libertarian mistreatment of the same disorders.

There is a growing body of research showing that progressive youth and adults suffer higher rates of psychiatric disorders and that one of the leading causes is what Jonathan Haidt and Gregory Lukianoff call "Reverse CBT."

https://public.substack.com/p/narcissism-and-nihilism-behind-progressive

Congress Has Not Looted Social Security

 Every year, the trustees who govern Social Security's operations issue a Trustees' Report.

In 69 of the 86 years since Social Security was created, the system has enjoyed a positive cash flow.

Some critics go so far as to suggest that the bonds that Social Security holds are worthless and will never be repaid.

While many, including your correspondent, worry about the long-term fiscal trajectory of the federal government, the risk of it defaulting on bonds held by Social Security is nil.

Some have raised a fair question as to whether investing all of Social Security's reserves in U.S. bonds is the best investment strategy.

According to Social Security Administration data, the average return for 2022 was 2.35%. In contrast, the S&P 500 index has returned 10.15% since 1960.

The real problem with the promotion of narratives like "Congress looted Social Security" is that they divert attention away from the real demographic problem that will continue to plague the system in the coming decades.

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2023/12/29/congress_has_not_looted_social_security_150257.html

Consent Of The Governed, Where Art Thou?

The suppression of information, discussion, and outright censorship concerning these current COVID vaccines which are based on gene therapy technologies cast a bad light on the entire vaccine enterprise.

Now some national authorities are calling on the deployment of EUA vaccines to adolescents and the young, which by definition are not able to directly provide informed consent to participate in clinical research - written or otherwise.

If an outsider raises questions about contamination of COVID-19 vaccines or how closely the Food and Drug Administration monitors for severe adverse events, the agency considers it a boon to misinformation that lowers vaccine uptake and hence kills people.

Mr. Piper went on to summarize a range of recent freedom of information act and court-ordered document disclosures which clearly demonstrate a systematic and intentional failure by the US Government to properly inform the public of the risks associated with accepting gene therapy-based COVID "Vaccine" products.

Sentinel's data sources at full approval of Comirnaty did not have "Sufficient power to assess the magnitude of risk in patients 12-30 years of age" and hence cannot assess the "Serious risks of myocarditis and pericarditis, and subclinical myocarditis" associated with the vaccine.

"In another May 18, 2021, memo reviewing Pfizer's proposed pharmacovigilance plan for its vaccine, Analytic Epidemiology Branch Medical Officer Deborah Thompson evaluated the company's claim that "Vaccine-associated enhanced disease" is just a "Theoretical risk." She cited Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System reports of deaths in "Fully vaccinated" patients at that early stage of vaccination.

The essence of the statement is essentially the governments' assertions that "If the public knew about the risks that we know about, then they would choose not to accept those risks based on their assessment of the effectiveness of the product and the clinical risks of infection with the virus. Therefore there would be much more avoidable disease, disability, and death from COVID-19 than would be saved from vaccine products not administered." 

https://brownstone.org/articles/consent-of-the-governed-where-art-thou/

Rogue Agencies Flout Constitution And Undermine Our Institutions

 Students learn in civics class-or at least they used to-that under the U.S. Constitution, Congress passes the laws, and the president and the rest of the executive branch have the duty to "Take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed."

Many federal agencies have stretched, twisted, or outright ignored the law instead of executing it faithfully.

If the laws as executed are some Frankenstein version of legislation passed by Congress and rules and regulations concocted by political appointees and agency bureaucrats, then it's much harder for the people to hold anyone accountable for laws they dislike.

In the brilliant system devised by the Founders, courts can and must step in when federal agencies go rogue.

Of course, some courts are more predisposed than others to stopping rogue federal agencies.

The general public can help push back against rogue federal agencies that issue unlawful regulations by submitting public comments in matters that concern them as citizens or taxpayers.

Ultimately, the people can elect politicians who they trust to appoint judges and Cabinet officials who respect the Constitution and the rule of law.

https://www.dailysignal.com/2023/12/28/rogue-agencies-flout-constitution-and-undermine-our-republics-institutions/

Democracy Dies In Daylight

A month ago in the Washington Post, not long before the Colorado mess, neoconservative icon Robert Kagan wrote, "A Trump dictatorship is increasingly inevitable. We should stop pretending." We may accuse Kagan - husband of Victoria Nuland, co-founder of the Project for a New American Century, and co-author of the "Benevolent hegemony" theory of world conquest that was the real reason for America's Iraq invasion - of much.

The graphic was a bust of Caesar, perfect for a six thousand word opus on stopping Donald Trump at all costs, whose sniper-scope subtext was as subtle as the Bullwinkle float at the Thanksgiving Day parade.

Kagan kept trying to suggest a biological solution to the Trump problem without actually saying it.

Indicting Trump for trying to overthrow the government will prove akin to indicting Caesar for crossing the Rubicon, and just as effective What limits [his] powers? The most obvious answer is the institutions of justice - all of which Trump, by his very election, will have defied and revealed as impotent.

Democrats and anti-Trump Republicans threw every legitimate weapon against Trump and still failed.

Will they turn instead to illegitimate, extralegal action?

What's the irony level of a clarion call for a Caesarian "Intervention" appearing in the "Democracy Dies in Darkness" Washington Post? Can that level of hypocrisy be quantified? 

https://www.racket.news/p/democracy-dies-in-daylight

Lindsey Graham Demands US Escalate Israel-Hamas War And 'Blow Iran Off The Map'

Sen. Lindsey Graham is urging the Biden administration to "Hit Iran" and "Blow it off the map" while escalating the Israel-Hamas conflict.

"Without Iran there are no Houthis," Graham told Fox News on Wednesday.

"The Houthis are completely backed by Iran. I have been saying for six months nowhit Iran. They have oil fields out in the open, they have the Revolutionary Guard headquarters you can see from space. Blow it off the map."

Graham continued: "If you really want to protect American soldiers, make it real to the ayatollah [that if] you attack a solider through a proxy, we're coming after you."

In October the South Carolina senator demanded the US must escalate the Israel-Hamas war by launching an urgent attack on various enemies in the Middle-East including Hamas and Iran and drawing Russia and China into the war.

Graham explained that peace in the world will not be achieved unless the US approaches the conflict as another world war.

Appearing on CNN Tuesday, Graham claimed that the threat Hamas poses will require an exhaustive approach from the US that he likened to how Hitler was defeated to end World War II. ccording to Graham, the US is responsible for leading this military action. 

https://thepeoplesvoice.tv/lindsey-graham-demands-us-escalate-israel-hamas-war-and-blow-iran-off-the-map/

Under Biden Logic, The Next Administration Can Simply Send Every Illegal Immigrant Packing

Under the Biden administration's logic - not simply the obvious implications of its actions, but it's actual written legal justifications - the next administration doesn't need to place any removable alien who isn't already before an immigration judge into removal proceedings to deport them.

If that's true, why wouldn't Congress reference section 240? If that were Congress's intent, it could simply have added the words "In removal proceedings under section 240 of the Immigration and Nationality Act" after "Pending a decision".

Exclusive procedures- Unless otherwise specified in this chapter, a proceeding under this section shall be the sole and exclusive procedure for determining whether an alien may be admitted to the United States or, if the alien has been so admitted, removed from the United States.

If section 240 proceedings are the "Sole and exclusive procedure for determining whether an alien may be admitted to the United States or, if the alien has been so admitted, removed from the United States", there's no way that, say, President Nikki Haley could simply decide ICE can make the final decision on removals of aliens apprehended and detained under section 236 of the INA. Right?

By statute, if an alien subject to expedited removal asks for asylum, CBP must send that alien to a USCIS asylum officer to determine whether that alien has a "Credible fear of removal", that is, whether the alien may be eligible to be granted asylum.

President Haley's DHS could simply apply this logic to allow ICE officers to decide whether the aliens they apprehend and detain should be removed.

If you want proof, look no further than section 242(f)(1) of the INA, which bars federal courts - except for the Supreme Court - from enjoining any action under part 4 of subchapter II, except with respect to the application of those provisions an individual alien who is in removal proceedings. 

https://cis.org/Arthur/Under-Biden-Logic-Next-Administration-Can-Simply-Send-Every-Illegal-Immigrant-Packing

Maine secretary of state disqualifies Trump from 2024 ballot

 Maine's Democratic Secretary of State Shenna Bellows on Thursday disqualified former President Donald Trump from the state's 2024 ballot, citing the 14th Amendment's insurrection clause.

Lawyers for Trump unsuccessfully sought to disqualify Bellows from ruling on the challenges to Trump's ballot eligibility, pointing to her past social media posts as proof she "Has already concluded that President Trump engaged in insurrection." For instance, on Feb. 13, 2021, Bellows posted on Twitter that the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot was an "Insurrection" and "An unlawful attempt to overthrow the results of a free and fair election." "One year after the violent insurrection, it's important to do all we can to safeguard our elections," she wrote on Jan. 6, 2022.

" AP "Democrats in blue states are recklessly and un-Constitutionally suspending the civil rights of the American voters by attempting to summarily remove President Trump's name from the ballot.

The Trump campaign spokesman argued that myriad 14th Amendment challenges to Trump's candidacy are "bad-faith" and "bogus," pointing to court rulings in Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Arizona, Florida, Rhode Island and West Virginia.

" Two of Trump's GOP primary rivals immediately came out and criticized the ruling by Maine's secretary of state.

"Can you have a Republican secretary of state disqualify Biden from the ballot because he's let in 8 million people illegally?" DeSantis added that he doesn't believe the Maine ruling and other challenges to Trump's ballot access will hold up in the Supreme Court.

" "The Far Left Democrat Maine Secretary of State just unilaterally removed President Trump off the ballot," Stefanik said in a statement.

https://nypost.com/2023/12/28/news/maine-secretary-of-state-removes-trump-from-2024-ballot/

Biden Justice Dept. Threatens To Sue If Texas Won't Back Down From Enforcing US Law At Border

The Justice Department said it would file a lawsuit against SB4 if Texas did not assure federal officials by Jan. 3 that the state would refrain from enforcing the law as planned in March, according to a letter sent to Gov. Greg Abbott on Dec. 28 and obtained by CBS News.

In addition to creating illegal entry crimes at the state level, the law would allow Texas judges to issue de facto deportation orders.

In its letter, the Justice Department said SB4 would effectively criminalize actions that are already illegal at the federal level, undermine relations with Mexico and prevent officials from enforcing federal immigration laws, including those designed to grant refuge to migrants fleeing persecution.

"If Texas does not heed the Biden administration's demand,"the United States intends to file suit to enjoin the enforcement of SB 4.

"The Mexican government has already said it would not accept returns of migrants from Texas state officials, denouncing SB4 as an 'anti-immigrant' law."

Not only refuses to enforce current U.S. immigration laws, they now want to stop Texas from enforcing laws against illegal immigration.

If the federal government would do its job, Texas wouldn't be forced to pass a state law to defend Americans' lives and secure the border in the first place.

https://redstate.com/beccalower/2023/12/28/biden-justice-dept-threatens-to-sue-if-texas-wont-back-down-from-enforcing-us-law-at-border-n2168053 

Jack Smith Wants to Prevent Jury From Learning About Undercover Agents at Capitol in January 6 Case Against Trump

 Special Counsel Jack Smith wants to prevent President Trump from blaming provocateurs and undercover agents for the January 6 Capitol riot.

Trump's trial date for Jack Smith's January 6 case is currently scheduled for March 4, 2024.

Oral arguments for Trump's immunity claims will begin in the DC Circuit Court of Appeals on January 9.

Trump's attorneys recently filed a motion for discovery in Special Counsel Jack Smith's case demanding documents regarding informants and undercover agents related to January 6.

"Please provide all documents regarding informants, cooperators, undercover agents, representatives, or anyone acting in a similar capacity on behalf of or at the behest of the Department of Justice or any law enforcement agency who was present at or within five miles of the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021," Trump's lawyers wrote in the 9-page discovery letter.

Trump supporters were blamed for all of the violence and chaos at the Capitol on January 6, but according to a former FBI agent, Antifa terrorists infiltrated the Trump rally.

Via investigative reporter Paul Sperry: Former FBI agent on the ground at the U.S. Capitol just texted me and confirmed that at least 1 "Busload" of Antifa thugs infiltrated peaceful Trump demonstrators as part of a false Trump flag ops Over the summer Tucker Carlson said he interviewed the Chief of Police who was at the Capitol on January 6 and in charge of security that day.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/12/jack-smith-wants-prevent-jury-learning-about-undercover/

"This Might Be The Biggest Lie Of The Year From Biden Regime"

Had the Biden administration prioritized southern border security, significant efforts to resolve the crisis would likely have been completed by now instead of peddling blatant lies and half-truths to deflect the blame for their disastrous open border policies that have flooded the nation with millions of illegals ahead the 2024 presidential election cycle.

A large chunk of corporate progressive media outlets have been spoonfed propaganda from the White House this year to distract Americans with southern border misinformation.

The clearest misinformation campaign from the White House was in May, when Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorka declared: "I want to be very clear, our borders are not open." "This might be the biggest lie of the year from the Biden regime," X user Libs of TikTok wrote in a post.

Responding to Libs of TikTok's post, X user RedWave Press said: "This is a massive lie. The southern border is wide open and the Biden administration is funding the whole thing. Our country is going to be run into the ground by illegal immigrants if something doesn't change." But the border lies don't stop with Mayorka.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has been on the frontlines of spreading misinformation, saying President Biden has done "Everything that he can" to secure the border.

Endless border misinformation injected into corporate media by the White House has been on full display in recent days when the US Customs and Border Protection released data indicating a quarter of a million migrant encounters at the southern border in November - the busiest November on record.

The new website Muckraker revealed a treasure trove of "Mass migration blueprints," handed out by NGOs, or non-governmental organizations, across South and Central America to illegals with details about their route to the US. "A lot of NGOs are helping Biden open the border to unlimited illegal crossing. But none of this could happen without the president's approval," Byron York, the chief political correspondent at the Washington Examiner, said last week. 

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/might-be-biggest-lie-year-biden-regime

Despite Backlog Of Veterans' Claims, VA Using Resources To Help Illegal Immigrants

 With hundreds of thousands of veterans' healthcare claims on backlog at the Department of Veterans Affairs, top Republicans in the House and Senate are hoping to prevent VA resources from being used to process claims for medical care of illegal immigrants.

At a hearing of the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs in November, Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., chair of the committee, questioned the panel of Biden administration officials about what role the VA was taking in healthcare provided to illegal immigrants.

The CPB does have a program designed to assist its agents who are veterans, called the "Veteran Support Program," but that assistance is exclusively for vets who also served with CPB. Tuberville introduced legislation this month to stop VA resources from being used to provide taxpayer-funded healthcare to illegal immigrants.

"Joe Biden is putting illegal immigrants over America's veterans. It is outrageous. Our veterans should not be forced to wait in long lines at VA medical centers and clinics to get the care they earned while illegal immigrants waltz across our open border and get taxpayer-funded healthcare they never earned," Tuberville said in a statement.

The Concerned Veterans of America criticized the use of VA resources to process the claims at a time veterans are having trouble getting the care they need.

According to the group, documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, VA staff are misleading and discouraging veterans from using community care options when the VA can't meet standards for wait times.

"Veterans have a hard enough time getting the care that they need and now they have to compete with illegal immigrants? This will not fix the border crisis. Biden's border crisis puts illegal immigrants first, it puts our veterans last," Daines said.

https://justthenews.com/government/federal-agencies/gop-bills-aim-stop-resources-veterans-health-care-going-toward-illegal

Chutzpah From Jack Smith

POSTED ON DECEMBER 27, 2023 BY JOHN HINDERAKER IN BIDEN JUSTICE DEPARTMENT, DONALD TRUMP, LAW, TRUMP PROSECUTIONS CHUTZPAH FROM JACK SMITH Special Counsel Democratic Party activist Jack Smith has filed a motion in limine in his Washington, D.C. prosecution of Donald Trump for trying to reverse the apparent result of the 2020 election.

Smith is desperate to get it tried in time to imprison Trump, or at least convict him, before the election.

What is Smith asking the court to do? He wants to bar several categories of evidence that he thinks Trump and his lawyers may try to introduce, including any suggestion that Smith's prosecution is politically motivated.

Smith invokes the danger of "Disinformation": The Court should not permit the defendant to turn the courtroom into a forum in which he propagates irrelevant disinformation, and should reject his attempt to inject politics into this proceeding.

Smith's motion includes references to Trump's "Ceaseless, knowingly false claims of election fraud." But Trump's claim that election fraud took place is not false at all, it is obviously true.

Smith's motion is embedded below, and you can peruse it at your leisure.

Can a guilty verdict possibly be in doubt? Smith apparently thinks so. 

https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2023/12/chutzpah-from-jack-smith.php

Health Benefits Of The Sun: Vitamin D Can Reduce The Risk Of Cancer By As Much As 67%

Most recently, researchers found vitamin D and calcium supplementation lowered participants' overall cancer risk by 30%. Having a serum vitamin D level of at least 40 ng/ml reduces your risk for cancer by 67% compared to having a level of 20 ng/ml or less; most cancers occur in people with a vitamin D level between 10 and 40 ng/ml.

Research Again Concludes Vitamin D Lowers Cancer Risk A large number of studies have shown raising your vitamin D level can significantly reduce your risk of cancer.

The study provides evidence that higher concentrations of 25(OH)D in the blood, in the context of vitamin D3 and calcium supplementation, decrease risk of cancer While people can make their own vitamin D3 when they are in the Sun near mid-day, sunscreen blocks most vitamin D production.

Vitamin D Status Is Strongly Correlated with Cancer Risk Previous research has shown that once you reach a serum vitamin D level of 40 ng/ml, your risk for cancer diminishes by 67%, compared to having a level of 20 ng/ml or less.

Even earlier research, 17 published in 2005, showed women with vitamin D levels above 60 ng/ml had an 83% lower risk of breast cancer than those with levels below 20 ng/ml! The Health and Medicine Division of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine has also reported an association between vitamin D and overall mortality risk from all causes, including cancer.

Access Sun Exposure as Much as Possible and Get Your Vitamin D Level Checked The UVB in sunlight is what triggers your body to produce vitamin D. I firmly believe getting regular, sensible Sun exposure is the ideal way to not only optimise your vitamin D level but maximise your health as well because sunlight also has many other important health functions.

Vitamin D Influences Your Health in Many Ways The benefits of vitamin D are not restricted to cancer prevention. 

https://expose-news.com/2023/12/28/health-benefits-of-the-sun/

LOCKDOWNS COMING: New York's Erie County Announces Travel Bans During "Catastrophes"

New York's Erie County announces travel bans during "Catastrophes" - only "Essential workers" with "Movement passes" will be allowed.

The next time another Wuhan coronavirus-like "Emergency" occurs, Erie County, N.Y., is ready to go with the recent passage of new travel ban legislation.

In the event of a "Catastrophe," as defined by the government of the Empire State, Erie County will have the ability to force all residents into lockdown mode, the only exception being "Essential workers" who can apply for a special "Movement pass" that allows them to travel without interference from the state.

In other words, while their constituents are stuck at home until the "Emergency" ends, politicians in Erie County will be free to travel as they please because they have deemed themselves as "Essential" and thus exempt from the new rule.

Erie County imposed its first travel ban back in 2022 when a winter storm, a common occurrence in New York, hit the area.

Numerous motorists became stranded in the snow and some died, which the government of Erie County has determined warrants the removal of the right to travel during similar future snow storms.

"Under the New York Public Officers Law, no one may travel except personnel deemed essential during the emergency," declared Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz on X. Poloncarz is threatening to punish any citizen who defies his county's impending travel bans, which he clarified will be imposed not just for a "Major weather event," but also for "Some other type of catastrophe." 

https://www.naturalnews.com/2023-12-27-erie-county-ny-travel-bans-movement-passes.html

Lawsuit Against Texas Immigration Law What Nobody Is Saying

Civil rights groups sued Texas on Tuesday over a controversial new law that would allow state and local police to arrest and deport migrants suspected of being in the country illegally, a power that until now has rested solely with the federal government.

The lawsuit filed against Texas sets up a potential showdown between the state and the federal government over who has ultimate authority to protect borders and enforce immigration law.

Entering the United States, other than through an approved crossing, is already illegal under federal law and is policed by federal authorities.

It's a giant loophole: "We, the federal government, declare illegal immigration is illegal. But we don't enforce that law. However, only we can make immigration law."

They'll whine about fentanyl, but they'll never admit it comes into the US through permitting illegal immigration to expand without limit.

With a lethal dose of fentanyl pegged at 2 milligrams, we're talking about enough fentanyl to kill 6 billion people.

Again, that's only fentanyl seized along the southern border during one year. 

https://jonrappoport.substack.com/p/lawsuit-against-texas-illegal-alien-law

Who Supports Hamas?

To be sure, Israel's legitimate military efforts to destroy Hamas terrorists and the weapons that they have hidden among civilians, and the resulting civilian deaths, have allowed the anti-Israel organizers to recruit more useful idiots who believe they are protesting only against Israeli actions with the chant "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free." Many of these undereducated and over-propagandized students have no idea what bodies of water they are referring to, or that this chant demands the end of Israel and any Jewish presence in the Middle East.

Many of the useful idiots join the protests to support a ceasefire, without realizing that a unilateral ceasefire now would constitute an invitation to Hamas to repeat their barbarism over and over again, as their leaders have promised they would do.

Recall again that the protests against Israel began before there was any fire to cease - that is before Israel responded militarily to the Hamas barbarism.

They want to see the destruction of Israel and the victory of Hamas.

A recent poll suggested that a majority of young Americans would like to see the end of Israel and its replacement by Hamas.

Most importantly, what if the useful idiots who now march for Hamas in favor of Israel's destruction become a fifth column in America and willingly join Hamas terrorists in targeting Jewish and other institutions in our nation.

Alan M. Dershowitz is the Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law, Emeritus at Harvard Law School, and the author most recently of War Against the Jews: How to End Hamas Barbarism.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/20261/who-supports-hamas 

Blinken & Mayorkas Meet With Mexican President On Border Issues

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas are meeting with Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador in Mexico City this week for what the Wall Street Journal describes as "Urgent talks to slow the record pace of illegal crossings at the U.S. southern border".

I certainly appreciate the sense of urgency, but Blinken and Mayorkas are a couple of years late in this effort, suggesting that politics, not border security, is what's really motivating the Biden administration.

Mexico will take unprecedented steps to increase enforcement to curb irregular migration, to include the deployment of its National Guard throughout Mexico, giving priority to its southern border.

The number of illegal entrants apprehended by Border Patrol at the Southwest border who were OTMs-and also not from the Northern Triangle countries of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras-increased nearly twelvefold, from just over 85,000 in FY 2019 to 1.019 million in FY 2023.

In January 2023, President Biden went to Mexico City for trilateral talks with AMLO and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and AMLO praised Biden for being "The first president of the United States in a very long time that has not built even one meter of wall".

In Washington, the border crisis has become a major obstacle for continued U.S. military support for Ukraine, a priority of President Biden.

If you're wondering why the U.S. secretary of State and DHS secretary are in Mexico City two days after Christmas, begging the Mexican president for assistance, look no further than the ongoing border negotiations in the Senate, the latest immigration polling, and the internecine Democratic battles playing out on the pages of the New York Times. 

https://cis.org/Arthur/Blinken-Mayorkas-Meet-Mexican-President-Border-Issues

Community Banks Are Getting Crushed By Inflation-Fueled Rate Hikes

Small community banks are feeling the brunt of the Federal Reserve's interest rate hikes that were put in place to counter sky-high inflation under President Joe Biden, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Following slow loan growth during the COVID-19 pandemic, community banks increasingly parked their assets in Treasury bonds, mortgage-backed securities and municipal bonds, which then lost value due to higher interest rates, leaving those banks with billions in unrealized losses, according to the WSJ. Interest rates rose due to the Federal Reserve hiking the federal funds rate to a range of 5.25% and 5.50%, the highest level in 22 years, in an effort to tame inflation that peaked under Biden at 9.1% in June 2022.

In the third quarter, more than 300 banks had 50% of their assets in securities, and 100 of those had more than 75%, according to the WSJ. In contrast, only 19% of all assets invested by American banks were held in securities in the middle of the year, indicating that the top banks that hold the majority of assets have less in securities.

Depositors have become increasingly cautious about where they place their money following a string of regional bank failures earlier this year, starting with Silicon Valley Bank, resulting in federal regulators seizing the bank's assets.

As a consequence, depositors have increasingly brought their money to bigger banks that they see as a safer bet, believing they are presumably immune from the same kind of bank runs that SVB and others saw.

The dwindling depositors and the effect of unrealized losses have led to net income at community banks falling 20% in the third quarter, according to the WSJ. Community banks are often the key lenders in local economies, and without them, a crucial line of credit would disappear.

While that would still leave the rate relatively high, it could provide relief for some of the unrealized security losses that are weighing down many banks. 

https://dailycallernewsfoundation.org/2023/12/27/community-banks-are-getting-crushed-by-inflation-fueled-rate-hikes/