Friday, January 12, 2024

So This Week....

What happens next?

On Wednesday, former UN ambassador Nikki Haley and Florida governor Ron DeSantis had a debate while rival former president Donald J. Trump had a town hall. CNN hosted a debate despite the Republican National Committee officially ending its affiliations. It was a race to be second. Fox held a town hall with Trump. As expected, Brett Baier and Martha McCallum did not fact check or asked the former president tough questions. They allowed him to push false and misleading claims.

In the ratings war, Fox ended up winning. With the Iowa Caucus on Saturday, the final debate before the event could be a make or break moment for DeSantis or Haley.

Also noting, Chris Christie dropped out that day. He was in New Hampshire announcing he suspended his bid. He aimed at Trump and slammed the remaining candidates for being willing to allow an unfit man return to the White House.

An Ohio woman escapes the iron college. Brittany Watts, 34, had been charged with abuse of a corpse after she miscarried into a toilet on Sept. 22 at her home in Warren, 60 miles south of Cleveland. Her case has drawn international attention and fears among reproductive rights experts who see it as a dangerous precedent in post-Roe America.

A Trumbull County grand jury decided against indicting Watts on the abuse-of-corpse charge Thursday afternoon, the Trumbull County Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement.

Watts, who is Black, was charged under a section of Ohio law that penalizes treatment of a human corpse in a “way that the person knows would outrage reasonable family sensibilities” or “community sensibilities.”

The charge is a fifth-degree felony, and, had she been convicted, Watts would have faced up to a year in prison and a $2,500 fine.

Trumbull County Prosecutor Dennis Watkins said in a statement Thursday that after a “careful evaluation of both sides’ positions,” the prosecutor’s office believed that Watts did not violate the Ohio criminal statute.

“We respectfully disagree with the lower court’s application of the law,” he said.

The grand jury had been deciding whether there was enough evidence for the felony indictment after Warren Municipal Court Judge Terry Ivanchak ruled there was “probable cause" to find her guilty, Watkins said.

Warren Assistant Prosecutor Lewis Guarnieri said at a preliminary hearing: “The issue isn’t how the child died or when the child died. It’s the fact that the baby was put into a toilet large enough to clog up the toilet, left in that toilet, and she went on her day.”

A statement on a GoFundMe page set up for Watts said "she did the same thing that many women who miscarry at home do. Brittany went into her bathroom, miscarried into her toilet, and flushed."

Watts’ attorney, Traci Timko, had argued that no law in the state requires a woman who has a miscarriage to bury or cremate the remains.

“This miscarriage took place in her home, on the toilet. Ms. Watts learned days before this that a miscarriage was inevitable and that the fetus could not survive outside the womb due to gestational age,” Timko said in a statement in December. “The medical examiner testified at a preliminary hearing that this fetus died in utero and showed no signs of injury.”

"Rather than focusing on healing physically and emotionally, she was arrested and charged with a felony and is fighting for her freedom and reputation,” Timko said in the statement.

Thanks to Ohio's backwards paws where you can legally carry firearms in public and have them without can conceal carry license, you more likely [if you're white] not to get shot by police. The Republicans overridden a veto by Republican governor Mike DeWine when it comes to stripping awayfreedoms. The Republicans passed a ban on transgender women playing sports and using public restrooms. They also passed a ban on gender affirm care which advocates for those who are over 18 to get treatment. Expect Ohio to lose population.

President Joe Biden earned the ire of Democrats on the U.S.-Mexican border, the military strike on Yemen and bypassing Congress to approve funding to Israel. Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) has vowed to not support the president due to his one sided support for the apartheid regime and its illegal war crimes. Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) allegedly dog whistled a white supremacist conspiracy theory when he attacked South Africa for pursuing criminal charges against Israel. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) praised Biden for the strike but warned him about bypassing Congress. Republicans refuse to support any bill to fund the government without any funding for a border wall.

The U.S. and Great Britain launched an attack on the Houthis of Yemen after ignoring their warnings about interfering with the shipping blockade on Israel.

Israel is facing the International Criminal Court of Justice for war crimes. South Africa took it to the court after repeat efforts for a ceasefire failed. Now Israel is calling South Africa allies of Hamas.

Trump's civil trial is wrapping up. He is at the verge of losing his company and operating license. Due to his willingness to showboat, New York Judge Arthur Engoron denied Trump his closing arguments. The former president wanted to complain about Attorney General Letitia James and Biden. He also wanted to deny the allegations that the Trump Organization committed fraud and intentionally lied about its finances.

Bill Belichick is fired from the New England Patriots. After wrapping up the season with the lowest wins in the franchise history, Robert Kraft decided to cut the longtime coach loose.

Nick Saban is also out. After losing to the University of Michigan Wolverines in the College Football Playoffs, the University of Alabama Crimson Tide coach announced his retirement. I am guessing he was fired too. The longtime coach who brought numerous SEC and National Championships has decided that he could do better on the sidelines.

Jim Harbaugh may also retire from the University of Michigan. After the Wolverines went undefeated and won the National College Football Championship against the University of Washington Huskies, the Wolverines earned the place despite rumors of alleged cheating and Harbaugh being sidelined during the first two and their three final games. Their two toughest teams were Penn State University Natti Lions and the Ohio State University Buckeyes.

J. Russell George was an American attorney who served as the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration at the Internal Revenue Service from 2004 until his death in 2024. He passed away on Jan. 1.

Tracy Tormé was an American screenwriter and television producer, known for his work on the science fiction series Sliders and Star Trek: The Next Generation, and the film Fire in the Sky. She was the daughter of famed singer Mel Tormé. She passed away on Jan. 4.

Christian Oliver was a German actor who appeared in numerous American films and television shows. He and his daughters died in a plane crash. Oliver and his two daughters, Madita and Annik, were killed on Jan. 4 after the four-seater private plane they were on crashed off the coast of Bequia. Everyone on board, including the American pilot, Robert Sachs, was killed on impact. The crash is under investigation by the Royal St. Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force.

Thursday, January 11, 2024

U.S. And Great Britain Attack Houthis Because Of Israeli Shipping Ban!

Biden, you old fool! What are you getting the U.S. into?

Question: Do you want your taxpayer money to go towards funding Israel?

The U.S. and Great Britain are getting themselves into a whole heap of trouble. They are doing Israel's dirty work and it could lead us into a conflict which Americans are not willing to sacrifice their lives for.

Israel is going to be held accountable for genocide and the United States is still backing this nightmare. 

The Israeli-backed U.S. and U.K. bombed more than a dozen sites used by the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen on Thursday, in a massive retaliatory strike using warship- and submarine-launched Tomahawk missiles and fighter jets, U.S. officials said. The military targets included air defense and coastal radar sites, drone and missile storage and launching locations, they said.

President Joe Biden said the strikes were meant to demonstrate that the U.S. and its allies “will not tolerate” the militant group’s ceaseless attacks on the Red Sea. And he said they only made the move after attempts at diplomatic negotiations and careful deliberation.

The reason why the Houthis are directing attacks on ships was clear as day. The Houthis said that any ships heading towards Israel will not travel their sovereign waters.

The United States and Biden have decided to aid Israel in their campaign. 

“These strikes are in direct response to unprecedented Houthi attacks against international maritime vessels in the Red Sea — including the use of anti-ship ballistic missiles for the first time in history,” Biden said in a statement. He noted the attacks endangered U.S. personnel and civilian mariners and jeopardized trade, and he added, “I will not hesitate to direct further measures to protect our people and the free flow of international commerce as necessary.”

Associated Press journalists in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, heard four explosions early Friday local time. Two residents of Hodieda, Amin Ali Saleh and Hani Ahmed, said they heard five strong explosions hitting the western port area of the city, which lies on the Red Sea and is the largest port city controlled by the Houthis. Eyewitnesses who spoke with the AP also said they saw strikes in Taiz and Dhamar, cities south of Sanaa.

The strikes marked the first U.S. military response to what has been a persistent campaign of drone and missile attacks on commercial ships since the start of the Israel-Hamas war. And the coordinated military assault comes just a week after the White House and a host of partner nations issued a final warning to the Houthis to cease the attacks or face potential military action. The officials described the strikes on condition of anonymity to discuss military operations. Members of Congress were briefed earlier Thursday on the strike plans.

Blinken can't control Netanyahu and his egomanical behavior.

The warning appeared to have had at least some short-lived impact, as attacks stopped for several days. On Tuesday, however, the Houthi rebels fired their largest-ever barrage of drones and missiles targeting shipping in the Red Sea, with U.S. and British ships and American fighter jets responding by shooting down 18 drones, two cruise missiles and an anti-ship missile. And on Thursday, the Houthis fired an anti-ship ballistic missile into the Gulf of Aden, which was seen by a commercial ship but did not hit the ship.

In a call with reporters, senior administration and military officials said that after the Tuesday attacks, Biden convened his national security team and was presented with military options for a response. He then directed Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who remains hospitalized with complications from prostate cancer surgery, to carry out the retaliatory strikes.

In a separate statement, U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the Royal Air Force carried out targeted strikes against military facilities used by the Houthis. The Defense Ministry said four fighter jets based in Cyprus took part in the strikes.

Noting the militants have carried out a series of dangerous attacks on shipping, he added, “This cannot stand.” He said the U.K. took “limited, necessary and proportionate action in self-defense, alongside the United States with non-operational support from the Netherlands, Canada and Bahrain against targets tied to these attacks, to degrade Houthi military capabilities and protect global shipping.”

The governments of Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Netherlands, New Zealand and South Korea joined the U.S. and U.K. in issuing a statement saying that while the aim is to de-escalate tensions and restore stability in the Red Sea, the allies won’t hesitate to defend lives and protect commerce in the critical waterway.

The rebels, who have carried out 27 attacks involving dozens of drones and missiles just since Nov. 19, had warned that any attack by American forces on its sites in Yemen will spark a fierce military response.

A high-ranking Houthi official, Ali al-Qahoum, vowed there would be retaliation. “The battle will be bigger ... and beyond the imagination and expectation of the Americans and the British,” he said in a post on X.

Al-Masirah, a Houthi-run satellite news channel, described strikes hitting the Al-Dailami Air Base north of Sanaa, the airport in the port city of the Hodeida, a camp east of Saada, the airport in the city of Taiz and an airport near Hajjah.

The Houthis did not immediately offer any damage or casualty information.

A senior administration official said that while the U.S. expects the strikes will degrade the Houthis’ capabilities, “we would not be surprised to see some sort of response,” although they haven’t seen anything yet. Officials said the U.S. used warplanes based on the Navy aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower and Air Force fighter jets, while the Tomahawk missiles were fired from Navy destroyers and a submarine.

The Houthis say their assaults are aimed at stopping Israel’s war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip. But their targets increasingly have little or no connection to Israel and imperil a crucial trade route linking Asia and the Middle East with Europe.

Meanwhile, the U.N. Security Council passed a resolution Wednesday that demanded the Houthis immediately cease the attacks and implicitly condemned their weapons supplier, Iran. It was approved by a vote of 11-0 with four abstentions — by Russia, China, Algeria and Mozambique.

Britain’s participation in the strikes underscored the Biden administration’s effort to use a broad international coalition to battle the Houthis, rather than appear to be going it alone. More than 20 nations are already participating in a U.S.-led maritime mission to increase ship protection in the Red Sea.

Yemen Houthis vow retaliation.

U.S. officials for weeks had declined to signal when international patience would run out and they would strike back at the Houthis, even as multiple commercial vessels were struck by missiles and drones, prompting companies to look at rerouting their ships.

On Wednesday, however, U.S. officials again warned of consequences.

“I’m not going to telegraph or preview anything that might happen,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters during a stop in Bahrain. He said the U.S. had made clear “that if this continues as it did yesterday, there will be consequences. And I’m going to leave it at that.”

The Biden administration’s reluctance over the past several months to retaliate reflected political sensitivities and stemmed largely from broader worries about upending the shaky truce in Yemen and triggering a wider conflict in the region. The White House wants to preserve the truce and has been wary of taking action in Yemen that could open up another war front.

The impact on international shipping and the escalating attacks, however, triggered the coalition warning, which was signed by the United States, Australia, Bahrain, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Singapore and the United Kingdom.

Transit through the Red Sea, from the Suez Canal to the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, is a crucial shipping lane for global commerce. About 12% of the world’s trade typically passes through the waterway that separates Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, including oil, natural gas, grain and everything from toys to electronics.

In response to the attacks, the U.S. created a new maritime security mission, dubbed Operation Prosperity Guardian, to increase security in the Red Sea, Bab el-Mandeb Strait and the Gulf of Aden, with about 22 countries participating. U.S. warships, and those from other nations, have been routinely sailing back and forth through the narrow strait to provide protection for ships and to deter attacks. The coalition has also ramped up airborne surveillance.

The decision to set up the expanded patrol operation came after three commercial vessels were struck by missiles fired by Houthis in Yemen on Dec. 3.

The Pentagon increased its military presence in the region after the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks in Israel to deter Iran from widening the war into a regional conflict, including by the Houthis and Iran-backed militias in Iraq and Syria.

Hunter Biden Comes To The Party!

Republicans wanted Hunter Biden. He came.

Robert Hunter Biden, the last surviving son of President Joe Biden was held in contempt of Congress. He was not phased by the noise of the Republican Party because he showed up to listen to the theatrics of insufferable members Rep. James Comer (R-KY), Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC), Rep. Mark Green (R-TN), Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ), Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) and the one any only laziest, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA).

Biden appeared at the House Oversight Committee to troll Republicans who voted on Wednesday to hold him in contempt. Biden said he wanted to testify in public which Republicans agreed to at first. They ended up wanting him to testify in closed door meeting but Biden didn't attend.

The move sparked outrage from Republicans, who've issued a congressional subpoena for him to sit for a closed-door deposition in their ongoing impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden. The president's son has said he would testify only in a public forum, and previously castigated the probe as "illegitimate."

His arrival plunged the proceeding into chaos.

Comer and Republicans members voted to hold him accountable.

This farce continues as Biden had to listen to shrieking white women yelling to him about his laptop, white privilege and corruption.

Biden has no formal role in the U.S. government nor he works with his father.

All of these antics were click bait for Fox and especially Sean "Softball" Hannity.

The so called smart one, Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC).

Greene, Mace, Jordan and Comer got their click-bait.

Hunter Biden made his way into the hearing amid opening statements and took a seat in the front row. He was accompanied by his lawyer Abbe Lowell and Kevin Morris, a confidant and friend who helped Hunter Biden pay back taxes and penalties to the IRS.

Hunter Biden left a short time after, when the chairman called on Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene to speak.
"Excuse me, Hunter, apparently you're afraid of my words," Greene said.

Lowell spoke to the press outside the hearing room, though Hunter Biden ignored shouted questions.

"Hunter Biden was and is a private citizen. Despite this, Republicans have sought to use him as a surrogate to attack his father," Lowell said.

Lowell accused Republicans of caring "little about the truth" and trying to "hold someone in contempt who has offered to publicly answer all their proper questions."

Ahead of Wednesday's hearing, the Oversight Committee released a 19-page report recommending he be held in contempt of Congress, as well as the text of the proposed resolution.

Insufferable Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA).

Biden has acknowledged he used drugs and had a tumultuous relationship with his family. He had hit rock bottom. He said his father and mother helped him get through this. Republicans see it as a weakness.

“You’re the epitome of white privilege, coming into the Oversight Committee, spitting in our face, ignoring a congressional subpoena to be deposed,” Mace said to Biden. “What are you afraid of?”

A heated back and forth between Mace and Florida Democratic Rep. Jared Moskowitz ensued, with Arizona Republican Rep. Andy Biggs stepping into the fray to criticize his fellow committee members.

"Are we going to continue on with this blatant interruption? This is absurd and inappropriate ... I think you should have decorum and courtesy and don't act like a bunch of nimrods," Biggs said.

Mace argued that Hunter Biden should be arrested on the spot and sent straight to jail. In response, Moskowitz suggested the committee “hold a vote” immediately to hear Biden speak and asked for a show of hands from the room. 

Reportedly, only Democrats raised their hands.

Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX), Rep. Jared Moskovitz (D-FL) and Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) got their share of click-bait.

Hunter Biden was subpoenaed to sit for the closed-door interview on Dec. 13 but instead held a defiant news conference just outside the U.S. Capitol.

Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) and Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA).

"I am here to testify at a public hearing, today, to answer any of the committees' legitimate questions," he said. "Republicans do not want an open process where Americans can see their tactics, expose their baseless inquiry, or hear what I have to say. What are they afraid of? I am here."

Committee Republicans have countered that they are open to public testimony at an unspecified "future date" but "need not and will not accede to Mr. Biden's demand for special treatment with respect to how he provides testimony."

Chairman James Comer, in his opening statement, said Hunter Biden's refusal to comply with their subpoena is a "criminal act."

Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin, the panel's top Democrat, responded that they believe "everyone subpoenaed by Congress whether it's Hunter Biden or Jim Jordan or Andy Biggs or Steve Bannon or Scott Perry should engage in good-faith compliance with the committee's requests." Jordan, Biggs and Perry previously defied subpoenas from the House Jan. 6 Committee to provide testimony.

He also criticized Comer directly for not allowing Hunter Biden to testify in a public forum after extending such invitations for him to do so in various news interviews. Raskin read quotes from the interviews Comer did throughout the fall on the subject.

"The chairman refused to take yes for an answer from Hunter Biden," Raskin said in his opening statement.

The Biden impeachment inquiry, launched unilaterally by ousted Speaker Kevin McCarthy and then formalized months later by the House in a party-line vote, has yet to yield any concrete evidence to support GOP claims that Biden participated in and profited from his son and family's foreign business dealings.

The House Oversight Committee report recommending a contempt charge stated Hunter Biden's testimony is "necessary" to determine whether there are "sufficient grounds" for impeachment.

The committee has also subpoenaed President Biden's brother, James Biden, and former Hunter Biden business associate Rob Walker. It also requested transcribed interviews with other members of the Biden family and Tony Bobulinski, a former business associate of Hunter Biden.

Wednesday, January 10, 2024

Chris Christie Out!

Christie bows out.

Former New Jersey governor Chris Christie has suspended his presidential bid. He had made it clear that he will not rest. He vows to keep former president Donald J. Trump from winning the election.

Under pressure, Republicans urged Christie to get out so former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley can take on Trump. Christie on a hot mic said that Haley will "get smoked" by Trump.

Christie on Wednesday suspended his Republican presidential bid just days before Iowa’s leadoff caucuses, ceding to growing pressure to drop out of the race from those desperate to deny Donald Trump a glidepath to the nomination.

Addressing supporters at a New Hampshire town hall, Christie said he had come to the conclusion that he had no pathway to victory.

“Campaigns are run to win. That’s why we do them,” he said. “It’s clear to me tonight that there isn’t a path for me to win the nomination.”

“My goal has never been to be just a voice against the hate and division and the selfishness of what our party has become under Donald Trump,” he added, casting his decision as part of his effort to prevent Trump’s reelection.

“I am going to make sure that in no way do I enable Donald Trump to ever be president of the United States again. And that’s more important than my own personal ambition,” he said.

Christie did not immediately endorse any of rivals, whom he has criticized throughout the campaign for failing to directly target Trump for fear of alienating the front-runner’s loyal supporters. Underscoring his deep frustrations, he was overheard on a hot mic before the event began criticizing Haley. Haley is also a former governor from South Carolina.

“She’s going to get smoked,” he said in an audio broadcast on the campaign’s livestream feed. “She’s not up to this.” He was also overheard saying Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis had called him, petrified he was about to endorse Haley, but the audio was cut before he finished the thought.

Haley responded in a statement calling Christie “a friend for many years,” and commending him “on a hard-fought campaign.” DeSantis posted on X, formerly Twitter, that he agreed with Christie that Haley would “get smoked.”

Christie’s dropout comes as a surprise, given the former governor had staked his campaign on New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primary, which is less than two weeks away. He had insisted as recently as Tuesday night that he had no plans to leave the race, continuing to cast himself as the only candidate willing to tell the truth and directly take on the former president.

“I would be happy to get out of the way for someone who is actually running against Donald Trump,” he said at a town hall in Rochester, New Hampshire, while arguing that none of his rivals had stepped up to the plate.

“I’m famous enough. ... I’ve got plenty of titles. ... The only reason to do this is to win,” he added. “So I’d be happy to get out of the way for somebody if they actually were going against Donald Trump.”

The dummies.

But Christie faced a stark reality: While recent polls showed him reaching the double digits in New Hampshire, Haley shows signs of momentum. A CNN/UNH poll conducted in the state this week found Trump’s lead down to the single digits, with 4 in 10 likely Republican primary voters choosing Trump and about one-third now choosing Haley.

Allies of Haley, including New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu and other anti-Trump Republicans, had been urging Christie to exit. They are hoping a large portion of his supporters will flock to Haley, who is seen as the most moderate candidate remaining, giving her a chance to turn the race into a two-candidate contest with Trump, the overwhelming favorite for the nomination.

The New Hampshire poll — which showed Christie at 12% — found about two-thirds of his supporters would select Haley as their second choice.

Christie had run as the race’s fiercest critic of the former president-turned-GOP front-runner. He warned voters against nominating a candidate who has been criminally indicted four times and could very well be a convicted felon by the November general election. And he argued Trump will lose in a rematch with President Joe Biden, the likely Democratic nominee.

While his anti-Trump message attracted much media attention and helped bring in waves of small-dollar donations that kept him in the race — and on the debate stage — far longer than many expected, Christie was plagued by high unfavorability ratings in a party that remains deeply loyal to Trump.

Nonetheless, Christie managed to outlast far better-known and better-funded candidates, including former Vice President Mike Pence and Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, in part because he ran a frugal campaign. Instead of flying by private jet and hiring a litany of expensive consultants, he relied on a tight-knit staff of just over a dozen people and had a far lower “burn rate” than rivals like DeSantis, spending far less per day.

And just as he did when he ran in 2016, Christie banked his campaign on New Hampshire, believing his brash “tell it like it is” style would resonate with the state’s more independent-leaning voters, including those who are unaffiliated with a party and can vote in the Republican primary.

He also campaigned in South Carolina and hoped to emerge as the last man standing against Trump after the early state contests.

Christie had long insisted that he had no plans to leave the race before New Hampshire’s primary on Jan. 23 and appeared on track to perform better than he had in 2016, when he finished in sixth with just 7% of the vote.

At the town hall Tuesday, he delivered a sharply worded rebuttal to those calling on him to drop out to clear the path for Haley, arguing that she wasn’t even trying to beat the front-runner.

“I have no interest in being a spoiler for someone who wants to beat Donald Trump,” he said. “But if you’d be willing to be his vice president, if you’d pardon him if you became president, if you’d vote for him even if he’s a convicted felon ... I mean, geez, really?”

Christie asked the crowd to imagine what would happen if he dropped out to support Haley and then she agreed to serve as Trump’s running mate.

“What will I look like? What will all the people who supported her at my behest look like?” he asked. “You know, I made that mistake once, eight years ago. I made an endorsement decision based on politics eight years ago when I supported Trump. I’m not going to make the same mistake again. Can’t do it.”

The campaign, in many ways, felt like a mission of redemption for the former governor, who arguably did more than any other Republican to help Trump win the presidency when they faced each other in 2016.

During that contest, Christie delivered a fatal blow to Marco Rubio, another 2016 presidential rival, during a debate that came just as the GOP establishment appeared to be coalescing around the senator from Florida as a Trump alternative. No other candidate ever emerged in his place.

Then, after Christie dropped out, he became the first major GOP figure to endorse Trump during a surprise press conference. He went on to lead Trump’s White House transition operation — before he was unceremoniously fired — and to serve as an on-again-off-again adviser, including preparing Trump for the debates.

It was during one of their 2020 debate prep sessions that Christie believes Trump gave him COVID-19, putting Christie in the hospital in intensive care.

But it wasn’t until the night of the 2020 election that Christie, who had been friends with Trump and his wife for 20 years, broke with the then-president after Trump falsely claimed victory long before all the votes had been counted. Christie later penned a book that was deeply critical of the former president.

Republicans Fume Over Lloyd Austin Not Telling!

The Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has prostate cancer.

This week is another "scandal" for President Joe Biden. This scandal involves the Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin not disclosing his health status to the junk food media.

Republicans fume over the revelation of Austin being diagnosed with prostate cancer.

Austin's recent secretive hospitalization was for surgery and later to treat a urinary tract infection related to that operation, his doctors said Tuesday.

The cancer revelation answers the main question about Austin’s hospitalization, which has now lasted eight days. But it may only add to questions of accountability, since President Joe Biden only learned about the cancer diagnosis on Tuesday, even though it was made about a month ago.

“Nobody at the White House knew that Secretary Austin had prostate cancer until this morning,” said John Kirby, the National Security Council spokesman. “And the president was informed immediately after.”

The 70-year-old Austin was admitted to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Dec. 22 and underwent surgery to treat the cancer. He developed the infection a week later. Biden and other senior administration officials were not told for days about his hospitalization or his cancer.

According to the doctors, the cancer was detected when Austin had a regular screening in early December. They said he “underwent a minimally invasive surgical procedure” and went home the next day. But on Jan. 1 he reported nausea and severe abdominal, hip and leg pain due to the infection.

They said his prostate cancer was detected early, and his prognosis is excellent.

The cancer revelation comes after days of persistent questions about Austin’s hospitalization and the delays in notifying key leaders. And it raises more questions about the transparency and truthfulness of the Defense Department, which for the past four days said he was initially at Walter Reed for an “elective medical procedure,” and not prostate surgery.

Asked about that choice of wording, Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, Pentagon press secretary, said in a briefing on Tuesday that it was developed in consultation with Austin’s doctors.

When pressed on the delays in public notification, Ryder said, “Despite the frequency of prostate cancer, discussions about screening, treatment and support are often deeply personal and private ones.” It was still not clear Tuesday how this will affect Austin’s job, travel or other public engagements going forward. Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks is expected to take on some of his day-to-day duties as he recovers.

The lack of transparency about Austin’s hospitalization —- including the failure to tell Biden and other top officials about it or the reason for it for days — has triggered sharp criticism.

Austin spoke with Biden on Saturday, the same day he issued a public statement saying he recognized he could have done a better job insuring the public was informed about his hospitalization, and said “I commit to doing better.” He did not, however, tell the president in that phone call that he had cancer.

Several Republican lawmakers even said Austin should be ousted. Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL), the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, launched a formal inquiry into the situation. And, earlier Tuesday, the White House chief of staff ordered Cabinet members to notify his office if they ever can’t perform their duties.

Dr. John Maddox, trauma medical director, and Dr. Gregory Chesnut, director of the Center for Prostate Disease at Walter Reed, provided the first details of Austin’s prognosis in a statement put out by the Pentagon. They said he was under anesthesia during the initial surgery, and when he went to intensive care on Jan. 2 the infection had triggered an intestinal backup and his stomach had to be drained with a tube in his nose.

Medical experts said it’s likely Austin had urine leak into his abdomen, a rare complication of prostate surgery, and that led to a bowel problem.

“All of this is temporary and reverses relatively quickly,” said Dr. Benjamin Davies, a professor of urology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

“We anticipate a full recovery, although this can be a slow process,” Maddox said. They noted that prostate cancer is the most common cancer among American men, and it affects 1 in every 8 men — and 1 in every 6 African American men — during their lifetime.

The doctors said Austin underwent a surgical procedure called a prostatectomy. That is a common procedure to remove all or part of the prostate gland and is often used to treat prostate cancer, but is not the only option. Some men and their doctors choose radiation treatment or actively monitoring the disease, which involves watching it closely but no immediate treatment.

Prostate surgery can be done with small incisions and the aid of a tiny camera. It’s not minor surgery, experts said, but “it’s not as big a deal as it once was,” said Dr. David Penson, who chairs Vanderbilt University’s urology department. “It’s not all that different than, say, having your gallbladder removed with a laparoscope.”

Meanwhile, the Biden administration, reeling from learning of Austin’s surprise, is mounting a policy review. And the Pentagon has also begun its own review.

Biden is standing by Austin.

Chief of staff Jeff Zients sent a memo to Cabinet secretaries directing them to send to the White House by Friday any existing procedures for delegating authority in the event of incapacitation or loss of communication.

Biden and other top officials weren’t informed for days that Austin had been hospitalized and had turned over power to his deputy. A Pentagon spokesman blamed the lapse on a key staffer being out sick with the flu.

“Agencies should ensure that delegations are issued when a Cabinet Member is traveling to areas with limited or no access to communication, undergoing hospitalization or a medical procedure requiring general anesthesia, or otherwise in a circumstance when he or she may be unreachable,” Zients said in the memo. He also directed agencies to document when any such transfer of authority occurs and that the person serving in the acting role promptly establish contact with relevant White House staff.

A copy of the memo was obtained by The Associated Press.

During Austin’s two hospitalizations, he transferred some of his authorities to Hicks, but she was not told why. The White House was not informed Austin was in the hospital until Jan. 4, and the public and Congress didn’t learn of it until a day later.

The Pentagon issued a memo Monday on its internal review, and broadened the circle of leaders who would be informed of any delegation of authorities by the defense secretary to ensure that, in the future, “proper and timely notification has been made to the President and White House and, as appropriate, the United States Congress and the American public.”

Going forward, any time authority is transferred, a wider swath of officials will also be notified, to include the Pentagon’s general counsel, the chair and vice chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the combatant commanders, service secretaries, the service chiefs of staff, the White House Situation Room, and the senior staff of the secretary and deputy secretary of defense.

Ohio's Infamous Peeping Tom Arrested Again!

This predator's voyeurism won't stop.

Loser of 2024.

A sexual offender from Dayton, Ohio who has been arrested over 30 times for being a serial Peeping Tom. 

Does this predator even have a woman or children?

Harold Rimblert III, 40 is arrested again for voyeurism. It is upgrade to a felony because he was filming a 15-year old inside a restroom.

He allegedly sought his victim after noticing her inside a Kroger. He exited a family restroom and soon followed her into a women's restroom.

As the victim was on the toilet, the predator would try to record her on the stall.

The victim let out a scream and the suspect fled. The law ended up finding him shortly and saw that he had images of the victim on the phone.

Now he will appear in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court. He will also have to show up in Greene County Common Pleas Court for violating terms of his probation.

The suspect is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

Rimblert's bond has been set by a judge at $15,000. He is banned from having any contact with the victim and will be placed on house arrest with a GPS monitor if he posts bond.


Tuesday, January 09, 2024

Amalija Knavs Passed Away!

Melania Trump announced her mother Amalija passed away.

The Trump Presidential Campaign announced the passing of former first lady Melania Trump's mother. The former president is the age of her mother. Donald J. Trump is 78.

Ironic.

Amalija Knavs, the mother of the former first lady was 78. She leaves behind husband Viktor, daughters Ines Knavs and Melania Trump (husband Donald J. Trump); grandson Baron.

"It is with deep sadness that I announce the passing of my beloved mother, Amalija," Trump, 53, wrote on X, describing her as "a strong woman who always carried herself with grace, warmth, and dignity."

"She was entirely devoted to her husband, daughters, grandson, and son-in-law," Trump added. "We will miss her beyond measure and continue to honor and love her legacy."

A cause of death was not given, and a spokesperson for the former first lady did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday night.

Newsweek reported last week that former President Donald Trump shared with guests at a recent New Year's Eve celebration that his wife was absent from the festivities because she was at a Miami hospital with her mother, whom he described as "very ill."


Knavs, a Slovenian immigrant and former textile factory worker, and her husband, Viktor, raised Melania Knavs in a rural Slovenian town before she began modeling and moved in 1996 to New York, where she would meet and then marry Donald Trump.

Her parents later settled in the U.S. as permanent residents until they became citizens in 2018. Their immigration lawyer told The New York Times after the swearing-in ceremony that Melania Trump had been a sponsor.

They were sworn in through a family-based immigration system that the former president often condemned when he was in office.

19 Months And That's Not All....

Nutjob earned 19 months with an additional coming.

Loser of 2024.

The man who attacked a Clark County, Nevada Superior Court Judge last week is now being served for his probation violation before his attack. That trial will happen and it will add an additional amount of time on this asshole's time in the iron college.

Mary Kay Holthus, the proceeding judge who overseen the court case against Deobra Delone Redden was not playing when she saw him again.

Last week, Redden jumped over the bench and leaped into the judge and attacked her.

He managed to injure her, two court bailiffs and a prosecutor. The incident is graphic.

It became an international television moment.

Holthus falling back from her seat against a wall as the defendant flung himself over the judge’s bench and grabbed her hair, toppling an American flag onto them. The judge suffered some injuries but was not hospitalized, courthouse officials said.

On Monday, the suspect shackled and with a face shield was escorted by a handful of armed deputies and bailiffs. He did not look directly at the judge but heard his sentence read.

His lawyer, Caesar Almase, declined to comment outside the courtroom. In the attack last week, Redden had to be wrestled off the judge by several court and jail officers and courtroom staff members - including some who were seen throwing punches.

Judge Mary Kay Holthus wanted to make sure that idiot saw her.

One courtroom marshal was hospitalized for treatment of a bleeding gash on his forehead and a dislocated shoulder.

Redden launched himself at the judge just after asking for leniency and describing himself as "a person who never stops trying to do the right thing no matter how hard it is."

As the judge made it clear she intended to put him behind bars, and the court marshal moved to handcuff him and take him into custody, Redden yelled expletives and charged forward — amid screams from people who had been sitting with him in the courtroom audience, including his foster mother.

Records show Redden, who lives in Las Vegas, was evaluated and found competent to stand trial in the battery case before pleading guilty to the reduced charge. He previously served prison time in Nevada on a domestic battery conviction, records show.

Clark County, Nevada courts will reevaluate how to deal with potentially violent offenders.

Holthus was a career prosecutor with more than 27 years of courthouse experience when she was elected to the state court bench in 2018.

Redden "supermanned over the judicial bench," Jerry Wiese, the court's chief judge, said in describing the event.

Holthus suffered some injuries but was back to work the next day.

Wiese credited court clerk Michael Lasso for acting quickly to protect the judge, saying he was the "primary person" who pulled Redden off "and probably kept her from having more severe injuries."

That attack will put the suspect in the iron college for at least 10 years. 

The suspect is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

Tanya Chutkan Got Swatted!

Federal judge Tanya Chutkan was swatted.

The Republican Party wants to ban
  1. Abortions
  2. Gay marriage 
  3. Critical race theory
  4. Gender affirming treatment 
  5. Honing
  6. Texting while driving
  7. Laws removing Confederate memorials
  8. Swatting calls
The Republican Party want to push for
  1. Mandatory ID requirements to vote
  2. Work requirements to get food and home assistance 
  3. Drug screening to get food and home assistance 
  4. Jailing doctors and aids who assist in abortion
  5. Requirements to certify election results if they believe there's fraud
  6. Removing President Joe Biden and Democrats from ballots
  7. Partisan gerrymandering 
  8. Religious freedom [Christian and Jewish supremacy]
  9. Jailing anti-Israeli protesters and any boycotts of Israel
  10. Ending birthright citizenship to children of immigrants
  11. Expanding the Supreme Court through elimination of the filibuster
  12. Outlawing pornography
  13. Bans on transgender women playing women's sports
  14. Building of a border wall on the U.S.-Mexican sovereignties
  15. Designate Antifa, Black Lives Matter and Greenpeace as terrorists
  16. More schools to have armed teachers and security
  17. More charter and private schools to shrink public schools 
  18. Mass deportation of immigrants
  19. Repealing of the Affordable Care Act 
  20. Unitary presidential powers giving the president ultimate rule
  21. Pulling out of the United Nations and World Health Organization
  22. Ending requirements to purchase firearms
Not anything on the agenda deals with stopping the No. 1 problem in the United States.

Gun violence.

The Republicans will not be worried about a federal judge overseeing former president Donald J. Trump's criminal trial being swatted. They're more concerned impeaching President Joe Biden, giving taxpayer money to fund Israel's  genocide Qand a border wall, their monument to white supremacy.

Police get frustration when prank calls happen.

Republicans are proposing a federal law that makes it a Class III felony if anyone engaged in "swatting".

Rep. Brandon William's (R-NY) and the insufferable Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) were swatted in December.

Maine's Secretary of State Sheena Bellows was doxxed and swatted after she officially removed Trump from the ballot. She is a Democrat.

Ohio's Secretary of State Frank Larose was swatted. He was swatted during his protest over swatting and Ohioans voting to codify Roe v. Wade. He is a Republican.

Special Counsel prosecutor Jack Smith who is dealing with both the election interference and stolen documents cases against Trump was swatted.

Now federal judge Tanya Chutkan is the latest victim of this.

Chutkan, who is overseeing former President Donald Trump’s criminal election interference case in Washington, D.C., appears to have been targeted by a “swatting” call, in which police were falsely led to believe there was a shooting at her home.

At about 10 p.m. Sunday, the Metropolitan Police Department responded to a report of an active shooting at a house in Washington. Officers quickly “determined no shooting took place,” according to a police report obtained by HuffPost.

NBC News revealed on Monday that the home belongs to Chutkan. The judge was at home alone when officers arrived but “was not injured” during the police response, according to the MPD report.

It remains unclear who made the emergency call. The incident appears to be an act of “swatting,” or falsely reporting a crime to prompt a heavy and tactical police response (such as by a SWAT team) to a specific location, putting everyone involved at risk.

Although police didn’t identify a motive for the call, it came not long after Chutkan denied Trump’s request for immunity in the election interference case that’s set to begin March 4 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

“Former Presidents enjoy no special conditions on their federal criminal liability,” she wrote in her ruling last month.

Trump has repeatedly taken public jabs at Chutkan in front of more than 6 million followers on Truth Social, his own social media platform. He called her a “true Trump hater,” in all capital letters, in October and claimed that she would not be able to preside over a fair trial against him, according to ABC News.

Judges across the nation have faced a deluge of threats since the 2020 election, when Trump began spreading baseless claims that the presidency was stolen from him, even though Democrat Joe Biden won more than 81 million votes to about 74 million for Trump and the Electoral College count went to Biden, 306-232. Multiple lawsuits and attempts to overturn the vote, including the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, ultimately failed.

Special Counsel Jack Smith was swatted as well.

In 2021, more than 4,500 threats were made against U.S. judges as political tensions grew, Reuters reported. In 2022, a man was charged with attempting to kill Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, CNN reported. Recently, authorities have been looking into threats against the Colorado Supreme Court judges who ruled that Trump’s name could not be included on the state’s primary ballot.

As such, Chutkan, like many other judges, is no stranger to threats in the current political climate. A Texas woman was arrested in August 2023 in connection with a racist voicemail threat to kill Chutkan over the election interference case brought by special counsel Jack Smith.

Chutkan, who was nominated by Barack Obama, has developed a reputation for handing down sentences against Jan. 6 defendants that are more severe than what prosecutors had sought, according to The Associated Press.

We Will Hold Biden Accountable!

If you're upset over this, wait until Nov. 2024 when a close election could be decided by these folks.

Question, are you more upset over Americans interrupting the President of the United States or the fact that 23,000 Palestinians being killed by Israeli forces?

If you upset that protesters heckled the president inside a Black church instead of 10,000 children being killed, 1.9 million people being displaced and tensions sparked by Israel, then you seriously have some issues. 

I rather stay upset over the countless deaths and the U.S. giving a green light to it.

To honor the victims of the Mother Emmanuel AME church massacre where a white terrorist named Dylann Roof massacred Black church goers, President Joe Biden along with Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) were greeted with the sounds of protest.

Several people interrupted the president and called him out on his decision to stand with Israel despite the country openly committing a genocide on Palestinians.

His defenders on social media are calling the protesters disrespectful, racist, anti-semitic, insufferable and plants. Several of them I follow on X.

I might have to drop them.

Anyway, for those who still support President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, here's why I am going to possibly avoid voting for them this go around.

They do not fucking listen.

They want to keep the status quo when it comes to Israel, insider trading, gotcha politics and scaremongering. I get enough of this bullshit from Donald J. Trump, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Fox.

They are insufferable.

But the base that put the Democratic Party is fractured. I mean it is bad because they are going after the very people who backed Biden.

These Biden supporters are totally clueless as Trump supporters. Again, I am just as guilty. I am dehumanizing these people as well.

Biden on Monday denounced white supremacy and political violence in a direct message to Black voters during a visit to South Carolina aimed at shoring up a critical constituency whose support has waned since he took office.

The Democratic president continued to sharpen his attacks on former President Donald Trump, the frontrunner for the Republican Party's 2024 nomination, while hailing his administration's efforts to reduce inflation, drive Black unemployment down and combat housing discrimination.

Describing the 2015 attack at the church, Biden said: "The word of God was pierced by bullets of hate and rage propelled by not just gunpowder, but by a poison. Poison that has for too long haunted this nation. And what is that poison? White supremacy ... This has no place in America — not today, tomorrow or ever."

Biden described Trump as a threat to democracy, citing the deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters in 2021 hoping to overturn the Republican's election loss.

"That violent mob was whipped up by lies from a defeated former president," Biden said. "His actions were among the worst dereliction of duty of any president in American history."

Trump failed to concede the 2020 election or acknowledge the votes of millions, Biden said, despite dozens of court cases affirming Biden's victory.

"He's a loser," Biden said, drawing applause from hundreds attending the speech.

Biden trying to win back Black voters,

Recent polling has shown Trump beating Biden in swing states that will determine who wins the White House this year, and a Reuters/Ipsos poll in December showed a rematch would be close.

Biden's campaign said he would return to South Carolina before its Feb. 3 Democratic presidential primary. The president thanked Black voters in the South for helping him win the presidency.

Biden, who lauded the congregation for their forgiveness of the 2015 shooter, later met privately with families and survivors.

Biden's remarks were interrupted by protesters chanting "ceasefire now," referring to Israel's assault on Gaza that has killed more than 23,000 people. Biden said he has been working with the Israeli government to "get them to reduce and significantly get out of Gaza."

Some audience members chanted "four more years" when Biden took to the pulpit and again as those protesters were led away.

Biden's trip to the Southern state comes as some Democrats have raised questions about his reelection strategy. Some donors have been eager to hear Biden be more candid or more aggressively target Trump rather than focus on the economy.

Representative James Clyburn, a Democrat whose endorsement helped Biden win South Carolina in the 2020 primary, said on Sunday he was concerned about Biden's standing with Black voters and frustrated that the president's record had not resonated.

Clyburn, who gave Biden a rousing introduction, said he told Biden he worried that Democrats had "not been able to break through that MAGA wall in order to get to people exactly what this president has done."

MAGA refers to Trump's "Make America Great Again" slogan. Polls show support for Biden by Black voters has softened.

Former President Barack Obama, also concerned about Trump's potential to win in 2024, discussed the campaign with Biden over lunch before Christmas, according to a source familiar with the meeting.

The Washington Post reported on Saturday that Obama has told allies that Biden's campaign needs to have the power to make decisions without White House clearance.

Biden's campaign on Monday said Mitch Landrieu, who helped implement Biden's $1 trillion law to build new bridges, roads and spread high-speed internet, will leave his White House job to help lead the re-election effort.

Monday, January 08, 2024

Mother Moses Coin!

Harriet Tubman to appear on U.S. coins.

Abolitionist and journey woman Harriet Tubman will appear on $20 bill come 2030. It was delayed after Donald J. Trump pushed back the bill reversing Barack Obama's proposal for its arrival in 2025.

U.S. Mint will feature the Maryland native on three commemorative coins this year.
The coins recognize the bicentennial of Tubman’s birth and her life work as an abolitionist. Tubman was born into slavery in Dorchester County on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. She liberated herself in 1849 by following the North Star out of the state. Tubman faced incredible risk when she returned later to guide more African Americans to freedom.

President Joe Biden has assured Tubmzn will replace Andrew Jackson, a controversial 19th Century Democratic president who caused the Trail of Tears genocide and supported pro slavery laws.

When Republicans and conservative agitators bring up Democrats being the party of slavery, the Klan and Jim Crow, remind them the conservative views of the old Democratic Party allowed that to happen. Now the Democrats are slowly transitioning into progressivism, diversity, acceptance, science, facts and apologizing for past sins.

Republicans refuse to accept these agendas because they claim it shows weakness or whatever they pull out their asses.

Reminder, Democrats elected Barack Obama and Kamala Harris. 

Obama is the first African American president. He is biracial because his mother is white but identifies as Black.

Harris is the first African American woman to be Vice President of the United States. She identifies as Black but is Black and Asian decent.

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