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The elite are the useful idiots of the security state. They enable it and protect it with their divisive antics. The dirty secret of the security state is that it’s not about the security of the state, that is, of the nation known as the USA. Its about the security of the people running the security state, the agency heads and their officers in the Intel Community and all its spinoffs, the State Department, the Justice Department, and the Defense Department and their accomplices in Congress and the federal judiciary.

What does this security state need protection from? From accounting for all its prior cumulative crimes against the nation. These crimes slowly accreted over the decades after the Cold War and then blossomed in 2016 — slowly, and then all at once — when the security state was rocked by the election loss of its avatar, Hillary Clinton. Mrs. Clinton had many crimes of her own to conceal, most of them committed with the help of the security state, such as the Uranium One grift, the Skolkovo transfer of US computer tech to Russia, and the Clinton Foundation’s financial escapades following the 2010 Haiti earthquake, to name a few biggies.

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A new analysis by the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) reveals that almost 60% of all illegal aliens households in the United States are benefiting from at least one form of taxpayer-funded welfare benefits.

Breitbart reports that the study, written by CIS’ Steven Camarota and Karen Zeigler, found that illegal aliens households, as well as legal immigrants, use “significantly more” welfare than actual American citizens. Of illegal aliens currently occupying land in the U.S., 59% are on welfare that is funded by legal American citizens; 52% of legal immigrants are also using welfare. Meanwhile, less than 40% of American citizens use welfare.

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Former Chicago Alderman Ed Burke, one of the state’s longest serving Democrat lawmakers, on Thursday was convicted of racketeering, bribery, and attempted extortion, the New York Post reports.

Burke, indicted for using his power to win private law business from developers, “had his hand out time and again demanding money and benefits from the very people he was supposed to be working on behalf of,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Diane MacArthur said during closing arguments.

…

Burke is the 39th former Chicago alderman charged with crimes since 1972, according to the Chicago Tribune.

My, what a surprise. Aren’t you surprised? I’m sure surprised. As Scott Adams said, ‘It would be a surprise if a Democrat politician in Chicago were NOT corrupt.’

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Just in time for Christmas, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., on Friday released his 2023 “Festivus Report,” with this year’s roundup documenting more than $900 billion in government waste over the past year.

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This week saw a surge in citizen journalist reports on social media platform X, detailing how ‘migrants’ from the southern border are being jetted around the country through US airports.

On Tuesday, a post from X user Ashley St. Clair sparked the first major concern that perhaps the government and or non-government organizations were flying migrants from processing centers to Delta Airline planes at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport and then across the nation.

However, Community Notes responded: “There is absolutely no evidence of the people at the gate being “migrants””.

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A judge this week ruled that the Biden administration must stop removing razor wire from barriers along the Texas-Mexico border, handing a victory to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.

Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Stuart Kyle Duncan wrote in a court order filed on Tuesday that a district court “legally erred” when ruling against the state of Texas, which had attempted to block removal of the razor wire.

Read it.

My, what a surprise.

NewsMax.

Railroad companies and business groups are pressing the U.S. government to reopen trade routes on the Texas-Mexico border, after authorities closed two crossings in response to a rise in migrant crossings in recent days.

U.S. Border Patrol apprehended about 10,800 migrants at the southwest border Monday, according to an internal agency report reviewed by Reuters. About 40% were families or unaccompanied children.

Several current and former U.S. officials said the number of migrants encountered Monday was near or at a single-day record high.

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The Biden administration’s southern border crisis worsens by the day. New figures from Fox News field reporter Bill Melugin show US Customs and Border Protection encounters on the border in the last 24 hours have smashed a new record high.

NewsMax.

The House Committee on Oversight and Accountability uncovered “the first example of evidence” that President Joe Biden directly benefited from peddling influence via his family’s foreign business dealings, said Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., the committee chair.

Comer, speaking on the “Verdict” podcast hosted by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said his committee exposed the evidence during testimony by “the owner” of Americore Health.

“[The president’s brother, James Biden,] approached them [Americore] because he had heard they were financially distressed and said that because he’s a Biden, and because of his brother’s contacts in the Middle East, that he could help them acquire all the capital that they needed to get back on their feet from the Middle East, but they were going to have to pay Jim Biden first,” Comer told Cruz and co-host Ben Ferguson on Monday.

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This past weekend Washington Post reporter Michael Kranish worked up a detailed Sunday morning special on the Biden family business: “James Biden’s dealmaking caught on FBI tapes in unrelated bribery probe.” Subhead: “While Joe Biden campaigned in Mississippi, his brother planned to build a powerful consulting business — a deal that brought him to the periphery of a federal case.”

Kranish’s story on the Biden family business goes back to President Biden’s long service in the United States Senate. Deep are the roots.

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Next month, the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic will interview Dr. Anthony Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. After two days of behind-closed-doors interviews, the subcommittee will schedule a public hearing to take his sworn testimony.

Fauci’s testimony will doubtless cover a wide variety of topics, ranging from masking to vaccine mandates. But rest assured that congressional investigators will zero in on Fauci’s knowledge of, and response to, crucial information concerning the origins of the pandemic in China.

To secure a fully transparent accounting, House and Senate investigators are also pressing the administration to release key details about what Fauci and his colleagues knew about the origin of the pandemic, and when they knew it. But Biden administration officials continue to stall the release of relevant information, offering transparently lame excuses, to block congressional access and public disclosure of unredacted documents.

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In this environment, it would make sense for the Biden administration to look for ways to reduce deficit spending. However, the administration has instead gone out of its way to bend (or break) the law, use funds in ways Congress didn’t intend, and waste taxpayer dollars on boondoggles.

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On Monday, the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) halted freight train activity on two railway bridges connecting Texas and Mexico. Smuggling organizations have rounded up tens of thousands of migrants, if not more, like cattle and packed them on train cars in Mexico as the best mode of transportation to the US southern border.

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U.S. President Joe Biden faces possible impeachment by the United States Congress, while his son Hunter faces felony counts on several charges. Both cases are linked to Hunter’s business dealings—stretching back almost a decade—to when Biden senior served as vice president.

Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to formalise the impeachment inquiry into President Biden’s involvement in the foreign business dealings of Hunter Biden. One Chinese deal, which involved the company CEFC China Energy, saw the Chinese power conglomorate transfer around $4.8 million in payments to entities controlled by Hunter Biden or Joe’s brother James Biden between 2017 and 2018.

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The Biden administration is poised to funnel millions of dollars in taxpayer cash to aid groups inside the Gaza Strip but is keeping the identities of those organizations a secret, making it difficult for congressional appropriators to determine if the money will enrich Hamas or other terror entities known to steal American aid dollars.

The White House earmarked at least $34 million in U.S. taxpayer funds for “confidential” nonprofits and United Nations agencies operating in the Gaza Strip, according to a review of U.N. funding channels by NGO Monitor, a watchdog group that tracks the international organization.

“This lack of transparency prevents congressional oversight and independent assessment of the ultimate recipients of U.S. government funding,” the watchdog group wrote in a briefing document earlier this week. “The potential for abuse in the Palestinian context is acute and indisputable.”

Newsbusters.

Liberal media are declaring Bidenomics a success – but, hard numbers tell a much different story, regardless of whether the measure is how much Americans are paying, earning or saving.

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A former top FBI official who led the agency’s New York counterintelligence division, and played a key role in the Trump-Russia collusion probe, has been sentenced to 4 years in prison for colluding with Russia – and he may face an even longer sentence under a second indictment for hiding $225,000 in payments from a former Albanian intelligence officer.

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It’s no secret that regulation hits the poorest Americans the hardest. Academic research has long demonstrated that environmental regulations impose a higher cost on low-income Americans than they do on the general population.

The phenomenon is most visible in the automobile sector, where the average price for a new car was $48,008. Even the least expensive new cars available in 2023 averaged over $20,000. With a third of American households earning under $50,000 per year and nearly a quarter earning less than $35,000, a new car is out of reach for too many American families.

The American Mind.

On Tuesday, December 5, more than 12,000 foreigners crossed the U.S. border illegally—the highest daily total of illegal immigrants ever recorded. We are currently witnessing the greatest illegal immigration crisis in American history.

In October, the House Committee on Homeland Security reported that Customs and Border Protection (CBP) encountered a record-breaking 269,735 illegal immigrants in the previous month, “marking another unprecedented milestone under…President Joe Biden’s open border policies.” This represents “an 86% increase” from June 2023. “Since President Biden took office there have been 7.5 million encounters nationwide” with illegal migrants, millions of whom have been “processed” and transported (often at taxpayer expense) across our country.

“[I]n addition,” the House Committee reports, “there are 1.7 million known gotaways” who have snuck into the United States by evading border patrol agents while they are distracted and overwhelmed with paper work. Illegal immigration has increased “more than 100% compared to FY 2019.” According to the New York Times, the illegal migrants come not simply from Latin America but from “more than 160 countries,” including Iran, China, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Chechnya, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Yemen, and Somalia, as well as large parts of Africa and the Middle East.

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The Biden administration touted the opening of its first taxpayer-funded electric vehicle charging station as proof that “Bidenomics is delivering for Americans.” Just days after the opening, the station sat empty.

The inaugural station—which opened on Dec. 8, two years after the administration allocated $7.5 billion to build electric vehicle chargers across the country—is located in London, Ohio, a small town situated just southwest of Columbus. The station features an Arby’s, a Cinnabon, and plenty of merchandise for truckers. It also features few to no users.

“At about 10:30 a.m. on a Tuesday, nobody was using the chargers,” Inside Climate News reported after visiting the station.

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50 years after the oil embargo crisis of 1973, there remain no American policy for crude oil independence. America continues to INCREASE its dependence on China for “green” minerals and metals, and on OPEC, Russia, and other countries for oil. Today, with LESS independence, America is more vulnerable to another embargo than we were 50 years ago!

Over the same period, California Governors have been continually decreasing California’s in-state oil production. The emissions policies of past and current Governors continue to force California, the 4th largest economy in the world, to be the only state in contiguous America that imports most of its crude oil feedstock to in-state refineries from foreign countries. The States Governor leaders over the decades have been:

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The White House on Monday released a “Bidenomics” report that touted the “rapidly growing” electric vehicle market. Just hours later, Ford announced plans to cut the production of its electric truck in half, citing insufficient demand.

The report, which came from White House chief economist Heather Boushey, claimed the “U.S. consumer market for EVs is rapidly growing” and touted President Joe Biden’s efforts to meet that “growing demand by setting ambitious goals for accelerating the EV transition.” Ford threw cold water on those claims hours later, when a leaked memo from the automaker revealed that it plans to produce just 1,600 F-150 Lightnings per week in 2024, a significant reduction from the 3,200 it initially planned to produce. The memo said “changing market demands” motivated the cuts.

“We’ll continue to match production with consumer demand,” a Ford spokeswoman said.

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Over the weekend, border-policy negotiations between Senate Democrats and Republicans fell apart. The talks were meant to firm up Republican support for the president’s massive $105 billion military support proposal ahead of Wednesday’s vote by including additional funds for border security in the spending package. Now, with no imminent approval of further aid to Ukraine, hawks in government and the media are trying to stoke panic about what will happen if Kyiv is cut off from US support.

The American Mind.

The border crisis is a disaster for the rule of law. Approximately five million inadmissible migrants have already entered during Joe Biden’s presidency, and the numbers continue to climb. Far from attempting to block the flow, the Biden Administration is actually facilitating it, inviting migrants without visas to come to the U.S. to receive “parole” or other temporary status. The legal situation has deteriorated to the point where the administration effectively claims the right to wave through any migrants it wants, from whatever countries it wants, at any time it wants.

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From a certain perspective, the Aegis combat system was one of the worst developments in the history of the Navy. It directly led to the [literal] sinking of an entire class of the best ASW destroyer ever built and has resulted in expensive ships with permanently degraded radar systems. Worse, there was an alternative to Aegis which was the New Threat Upgrade (NTU) program which would have modernized the existing conventional radars and combat systems, providing much the same capabilities.

The ‘Affordable Care Act’ made health care substantially less affordable.

Washington Free Beacon.

Sen. John Barrasso (Wyo.) and Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (Wash.), the top Republicans on the Senate and House energy committees, have asked the Department of Energy to turn over records regarding the loan to Sunnova Energy by Dec. 21.

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Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian has issued some surprising remarks claiming that Lebanon-based Hezbollah and Gaza-based Hamas can procure more weapons anytime they want utilizing the thriving arms black market in Ukraine. He suggested this is already happening while addressing a conference in Doha Monday.

He went so far as to say these groups, which the US has listed as terror organizations, can “easily” and “without much effort” get whatever they need in Ukraine.

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Research firm TechInsights reports Huawei Technologies Co.’s Mate 60 Pro smartphone continues to “bypass technological embargos” by Washington. Further examination of the smartphone has shown considerable progress in Chinese design and engineering of radio-frequency chips.

The new analysis of the Mate 60 Pro shows China is quickly progressing in developing high-tech chips despite technological embargos by the Biden administration.

“This progress isn’t just in the application processor system-on-chip (SoC) but also in the 5G BaseBand processor and mobile RF technologies,” the report stated.

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A major case pending before the U.S. Supreme Court (Moore v. United States) is calling into question one of those provisions. Depending on how the court rules, large portions of the U.S. tax base could quickly become legally uncertain, putting significant revenue at stake.

Statist pocket-pickers love the idea of ‘taxing’ (stealing) part (or all) of the increase in value of an asset–your stocks went up in price? Well, that means you’re richer, so we get to wet out beaks. Your stocks went down in price? Sorry, dude, that’s your problem, not ours; you shoulda picked better stocks. Unfortunately (from their point of view) current law doesn’t let them do that, and that’s what this case is all about.

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We could write about illegal immigration every day, and we probably should. Our open southern border is one of the greatest long-term threats to our country’s survival in any recognizable form.

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Europe is in turmoil over the mass migration policies of the EU elites. Migration has become a dominant, divisive issue across the European Union from eastern Germany to southern Italy—and in the UK.

Geert Wilders’ populist PVV party shocked the Brussels ‘bubble’ by finishing first in November’s Dutch elections, after pledging to cut “the asylum and immigration flood to the Netherlands” and ban mosques and Islamic schools. In the same month Dublin was convulsed by riots, sparked by the stabbing of three Irish schoolchildren and a woman by an Algerian-born knifeman. Meanwhile, nervous European cities have witnessed angry pro-Hamas protests by Islamist migrants, aided and abetted by their useful idiots on the Islamoleft.

The response of the panicking European authorities has been to brand anybody who speaks out about the problems connected to mass migration as ‘far right’ extremists who should be cancelled, censored, banned, or even arrested. But they cannot silence the growing disquiet.

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A new systematic review has been published in Archives of Disease in Childhood, one of the journals of the British Medical Journal, by Sandlund et al. titled ‘Child mask mandates for COVID-19: a systematic review‘.

Washington Poop.

Here is the best-kept secret about U.S. military aid to Ukraine: Most of the money is being spent here in the United States. That’s right: Funds that lawmakers approve to arm Ukraine are not going directly to Ukraine but are being used stateside to build new weapons or to replace weapons sent to Kyiv from U.S. stockpiles. Of the $68 billion in military and related assistance Congress has approved since Russia invaded Ukraine, almost 90 percent is going to Americans, one analysis found.

The military-industrial complex at it’s finest.

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Immigrants who illegally cross the border into Arizona are being handed $5,000 in good-as-cash gift cards, along with cell phones and costly plane tickets, all of which are being paid for by the American taxpayer, according to Arizona Sheriff Mark Lamb.

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Founded in 2020 in the aftermath of the George Floyd protests, the Black Legacy Project describes itself as “a musical celebration of black history to advance racial solidarity, equity and belonging.” It brings together artists of all backgrounds “to record present day interpretations of songs central to the Black American experience and compose originals relevant to the pressing calls for change of our time.”

A similar arts group, Nu Art Education Inc., an offshoot of the NorCal School for the Arts, says it is “following the theory of change that utilizing theater arts” can be “a tool to teach and practice conflict resolution in the classroom.”

While both outfits share a mission of using the arts to inspire social change, they have something else in common: counterterrorism. Or rather, both have received taxpayer grants through the Department of Homeland Security’s “Targeted Violence and Terrorism Prevention” (TVTP) program. Together, the two groups have received more than $1.4 million since the Biden administration doubled the program’s annual budget, to some $20 million per year.

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As corporate progressive media diverts the public’s attention with Time Magazine’s naming of Taylor Swift as Person of the Year this week, the Biden administration’s southern border crisis continues to spiral out of control.

Sources within the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) told Fox News that Tuesday was the largest single-day illegal migrant encounter ever on the US-Mexico border. They said over 12,000 migrant encounters were reported, with 10,200 of them between ports of entry.

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China is working to enhance its submarine force amid ongoing U.S. struggles with its fragile industrial base – a potentially perilous mix that could see the Chinese military outproduce and overstretch the U.S.’s underfunded and undermanned Navy at a time of increased tensions between the superpowers.

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American students scored an all-time low in math on a major international exam, which provided the first comparison of global achievement since the pandemic radically changed education around the world.

My, what a surprise. Aren’t you surprised? I’m sure surprised.

Read it.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday will hear arguments in a case that hinges on whether, as a legal matter, Congress can blend powers the Framers of the Constitution carefully kept separated.

In Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) v. Jarkesy, the justices will determine the constitutionality of the agency’s system of in-house administrative law judges (ALJs), bureaucrats who often act as judge and jury in the agency’s enforcement actions. Since many federal agencies—including the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Postal Service—utilize ALJs, the case’s outcome will reverberate across the administrative state.

George Jarkesy, whom the SEC accuses of securities fraud, argues that the ALJ system violates the Seventh Amendment, which guarantees the right to a jury trial. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit ruled for Jarkesy in 2022. Should the Supreme Court do likewise, countless Americans would regain access to a foundational constitutional protection.

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Detectives from the Metropolitan Police Department’s Carjacking Task Force the FBI Washington Field Office Violent Crimes Task Force announce a juvenile has been arrested in connection to an armed carjacking of a federal agent in the 100 block of 12th Street, Northeast.

…

On Monday, December 5, 2023, 17-year-old Devonta Lynch, of Southeast, DC, was arrested and charged, as an adult under Title 16, with Armed Carjacking (Gun).

Federal agents cannot feel secure against crime even in our nation’s capital.

What does it say about our government when our capital city is becoming famous as a behavioral sink?

Washington Poop.

The fate of an obscure provision of President Donald Trump’s 2017 tax package, which will be reviewed by the Supreme Court next week, has many experts panicked over the potential to destabilize the nation’s tax system. In addition, some say the outcome could preemptively block Congress from creating a wealth tax.

As you might expect, anything that gets in the way of the government taking any money it wants from anybody it wants scares minions of the Narrative media out of their socks.

UPDATE: Supreme Court Case Has Democrats Salivating at Possibility of Green Light for Wealth Taxes

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Education Secretary Miguel Cardona hosted a meeting this month with an anti-Israel activist who has praised Hamas and Hezbollah and called for violence against Israel.

Cardona on Nov. 15 met with 13 activists—including Palestine Legal advocacy manager Lina Assi—to address the “extremely disturbing pattern of hate and threats of violence in schools and college campuses” following Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel. Assi has called Iran and its terrorist proxy, Hezbollah, “crucial and important” in “resisting imperialism” in the Middle East. As a student activist, she led a crowd in a chant of “Viva, viva Intifada,” a call for violent uprising against the Jewish state.

Assi’s organization represents Students for Justice in Palestine, an anti-Israel student group that projected the pro-Hamas statement “Glory to our martyrs” on buildings at George Washington University. Palestine Legal is representing the Students for Justice in Palestine chapter at the University of Florida, which was kicked off campus for expressing solidarity with Hamas in its “Day of Resistance Toolkit.”

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It truly is a foreign country.

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The CIA was created after World War II to prevent another Pearl Harbor attack, writes Charles S. Faddis, a former CIA operations officer and Middle East station chief. Faddis believes the agency “no longer works,” an easy case to make but not exactly news.

Al Qaeda was well known but “we had not a single source inside that organization capable of warning us of the 9/11 attacks that would kill almost 3,000 Americans.” It took a decade to take out bin Laden, and one doubts it went down as portrayed in Zero Dark Thirty.

As with 9/11 “we received no warning prior to the outbreak of the pandemic,” and the CIA could “apparently provide no useful information regarding the origins of the disease,” still true years later. The CIA has “no sources inside China’s top bio lab,” which is probably true of most, if not all, of China. Faddis blames bureaucratization and politicization but may underestimate the problem in both cases.

Outside APEC, Complaints Of Intimidation & Assaults

Should Biden Redesignate Houthi Rebels as a Terror Group?

Meet the Panic! Kornacki Shows ‘Stunning’ New NBC Poll Finding Trump Leading Biden

Biden turns 81 as questions about age continue to dominate 2024 race (ABC News) The question is not age, the question is competence.

Michigan Poll: Trump Leads Biden in Key Battleground State

Forget Our NBC Poll! Scarborough Yawns Past Biden’s Bad Polling Graveyard

Terror Threat Is “Real” While Border Remains Open, Says Former CBP Chief

Harvard/Harris Poll: Trump Tops GOP by 58, Biden by 6

Biden FCC Moves to Put New DEI Controls Over Internet

Angry Over Israel Policy, Young Voters Break Sharply From Biden – Trump Leads NBC Poll For First Time

ExxonMobil Vs. Google: Profits, Taxes, & Perceptions Explained

Report: Biden Sends Screening, Deportation Team to Panama

EXCLUSIVE: FCC Commissioner Paints Harrowing Picture of Biden’s New Power Grab

Cardi B declines to endorse Biden, pointing to spending on wars (The Hill) OH NOES! (What’s she going to do–vote for Trump?)

The Real Reason Why Biden Shouldn’t Drop Out (The New Republic) Winning is the only thing.

Sleepy Joe Turns 81: America’s Oldest President Just Got Even Older

Federal Indictment Unsealed After U.S. Postal Employee And Two Co-Conspirators Are Arrested For $24 Million Stolen Check Scheme (DoJ) Scott Adams loves to tell the story of how he came to stop mailing his cartoons in to his syndicate, because the local post office employees would invariably steal them.

Biden campaign works to ease Democratic anxiety over reelection chances (Washington Poop) Good luck with that.

Biden Poised To Sanction West Bank Settlers Attacking, Displacing Palestinians

Poll: Biden’s standing hits new lows amid Israel-Hamas war

Biden campaign facing heat over plans to deal with his age (Politico)

‘BEYOND INSANE’: Trump Veteran Condemns Biden’s Gift to Tehran as Iran-Backed Forces Attack US After Oct. 7

NBC Poll: Trump Leads Biden for First Time Ever

Slow Joe turns 81

“He’s Going To Lose”: Bill Maher And Donna Brazile Slam Biden As Democrats Recoil Over Age, Handling Of Israel War

Axelrod: Biden’s Chances in ’24 ‘No Better’ Than 50-50