Read it.

Half or more of the roughly $18 billion in federal funds that supported 14 Minnesota-run programs since 2018 may have been stolen, a federal prosecutor said Thursday, describing the massive and multilayered fraud schemes as staggering.

First Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson said the scale of fraud puts services at risk for people who need them, including adults leaving addiction treatment centers who needed help finding a stable place to live and children with autism who were seeking one-on-one therapy.

While prosecutors typically see fraud manifest as providers overbilling, Thompson said during a news conference in Minneapolis that companies have been created to provide zero services while submitting claims to Medicaid and pocketing federal funds for international travel, luxury vehicles and lavish lifestyles.

Read it.

A Minnesota lawmaker alleged on Dec. 17 that a man awaiting trial on federal charges that he laundered $1.1 million in taxpayer dollars and his wife continue to collect payments from other government programs, a state lawmaker said Dec. 17.

That’s concerning, state Rep. Kristin Robbins told the fraud-fighting committee that she chairs.

“This is just one example of how potential fraudulent activity is being allowed to continue in Minnesota,” she said during a hearing at the state Capitol in St. Paul, Minnesota. Later, she alleged on social media that the state government “continued to pay a fraudster who was indicted.”

Read it.

One-Party-Rule Maryland Democrats Ignore Power Bill Crisis, Push Ahead With Slavery Reparations Study
Instead of addressing the state’s mounting crises, from fiscal mess, soaring power bills, and exodus of residents to violent crime and illegal aliens, unhinged Democrats in Annapolis spent their time on Tuesday overriding Gov. Wes Moore’s veto of Senate Bill 587, creating a reparations commission to study how Maryland should address slavery and racial discrimination.

What better way to spend precious time as the year winds down? Many thought the entire reparations and wealth-redistribution grift was over. Apparently, not in Maryland.

Read it.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis erupted on Wednesday while testifying before a special Georgia Senate committee scrutinizing her prosecution of President Donald Trump.

Judge Scott McAfee agreed to toss the racketeering case in November after the prosecutor who inherited Willis’ beleaguered effort pushed him to take it off “life support.” During her testimony, Willis accused members of the Georgia Senate Special Committee on Investigations of “trying to intimidate [her] for five years” and said “threats” against her had made it impossible to live in her own home during that time.

Read it.

Former President Joe Biden’s planned monument to his presidency is becoming a brutal reality check on his legacy.

In September, the Biden camp announced plans to build his presidential library in Delaware – assembling a team of former aides, friends, and political allies to oversee the project, which is supposed to include a museum and archive.

The Foundry.

The Pentagon is plowing ahead in its investigation of Arizona Democrat Sen. Mark Kelly, who told service members they “can refuse illegal orders.”

“The Office of the Secretary of War, in conjunction with the Department of War’s Office of the General Counsel, is escalating the preliminary review of Captain Mark Kelly, USN (Ret.), to an official Command Investigation,” a Department of War official told reporters in a statement Monday.

“Retired Captain Kelly is currently under investigation for serious allegations of misconduct,” it adds.

Kelly retired from the Navy in 2011, having served since the 1980s. He served as a naval aviator during the Gulf War.

Read it.

The fight over California’s new congressional map designed to help Democrats flip congressional House seats will go to court Monday as a panel of federal judges considers whether the district boundaries approved by voters last month can be used in elections.

The hearing in Los Angeles sets the stage for a high-stakes legal and political fight between the Trump administration and Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom, who’s been eyeing a 2028 presidential run.

The lawsuit asks a three-judge panel to grant a temporary restraining order by Dec. 19 — the date candidates can take the first official steps to run in the 2026 election.

“Cacophony of grifters”: MAGA infighting erodes real-world power (Tal Axelrod/Axios)

Donald Trump is losing. (Garrett M. Graff/Doomsday Scenario)  And if we repeat it enough times it might come true.

20 states lodge lawsuit against Trump’s $100,000 H-1B visa fee (Christine Mui/Politico)

Trump Wants to Dominate Venezuela, Not Liberate It (Quico Toro/Persuasion)  Because that’s what Democrats would do.

Advocacy Groups Say Trump’s AI Order Could Be Illega  They hope, they hope,  they hopw….

SCOTUSblog Falls Into the MAGA Orbit (Jonathan Zasloff/Legal Planet)

In Trump’s Justice Dept., Failing in Court Might Be Better Than Bucking the Boss (New York Times)  Because that’s what Democrats would do.

President Trump Is Now Triggering His Very Own MAGApocalypse (David Rothkopf/The Daily Beast)

The Bondi Memo’s Quiet Rewriting of Domestic Terrorism Rules (Thomas E. Brzozowski/Lawfare)

Trump’s Beloved Beauty Queen Prosecutor Set to Suffer Fresh Humiliation (Janna Brancolini/The Daily Beast)

Hooray for Hoosiers, cynical GOP redistricting fails (Mitch Daniels/Washington Post)  Bias? What bias?

Trump was unable to insult his way to victory in Indiana redistricting battle (Associated Press)  Bias? What bias?

Trump Is Already Discussing Preemptive Pardons For His Lawless Administration (Zeteo)

Firm fighting Trump receives bipartisan praise (Politico) “Bipartisan” meaning Democrats + RINOs.

National Trust Sues to Block Trump’s White House Ballroom Construction (Luke Broadwater/New York Times)

Colorado Officials Reject Trump’s ‘Pardon’ of a Convicted Election Denier (Jack Healy/New York Times)

Trump seems to wave the white flag on his US attorneys gambit (Erica Orden/Politico)

Trump attacks on political opponents spur a surge of threats, NBC News review finds (NBC News)

Read it.

Democrat Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz started criticizing white men on Friday in response to whether Somalis will be held accountable for a massive fraud scandal.

Somalis in Minnesota have been involved in several fraudulent schemes, including dozens of Somalis who have been charged for stealing $1 billion in taxpayer money for state and federal social services programs, including those intended to feed children from low-income households.

In response to a question on whether Somalis should hold themselves accountable, Walz stated that there are many white people who have also committed crime.

Read it.

Gov. Gavin Newsom has made reducing the homelessness crisis in California a top priority, saying the scale of the state’s efforts is “unprecedented” and calling for the continued expansion of his signature effort – Project Homekey – that has already cost $3.75 billion.

But in a state with more than 181,000 homeless individuals, or about one-third of the U.S. total, Homekey has been marred by failures and scandals, including a lack of government oversight and accountability as well as a federal investigation into allegations of fraud in Los Angeles.

Newsom, who appears to be preparing for a presidential bid in 2028, could make Homekey, which he calls a “national model,” a talking point in his campaign. The state claims the program has created almost 16,000 permanent housing units that will serve over 175,000 people. But since the state doesn’t track outcomes – whether people placed in housing saw their lives improve or if they returned to the streets – the program’s effectiveness is unclear, according to a critical 2024 state auditor’s report.

Rep. Ramirez Seeks Impeachment Hearing Into Noem

How Many Members Does Antifa Have? Where Is Its Headquarters? The FBI Has No Answers. (Matt Sledge/The Intercept)  One might just as well ask “How many members does communism have? Where is its headquarters?” You don’t need a conconspiracy, and you certainly don’t need a ‘headquarters’, when everybody involved knows what to do.

Why Alaska’s GOP senators broke party lines on Obamacare (Robert King/Politico)  Not hard to tell. Because they’re RINOs. The death of John McCain and the retirement of Mitt Romney left an ecological niche to be filled, and Nature abhors a vacuum (other than Paul Krugman).

Trump Pardons Tina Peters

The Curse of Trump 2.0 — What does it say that the President doesn’t even feel he needs … (Susan B. Glasser/New Yorker)

Top Democrat: Murder Of DC National Guard Just An ‘Unfortunate Accident’

The Trump administration’s authoritarian house of cards is starting to fall down (Chris Geidner/Law Dork)

Federal judge orders FEMA to restore billions in canceled disaster mitigation funding (Gabriela Aoun Angueira/Associated Press)

The Sleeper Issue That Could Destroy the Economy (Catherine Rampell/The Bulwark) Hint: Orange Man Bad.

Court Blocks Release of Immigrants After Chicago Crackdown  Stepping on Democrat District judges one cockroach at a time.

The minority voters who powered Trump to a second term are drifting away (Washington Post)  They hope.

The Shakedown: Trump’s DOJ Pressured Lawyers to “Find” Evidence That UCLA Had Illegally Tolerated Antisemitism (ProPublica)

Donald Trump, Security Threat (Paul Krugman)  The vacuum speaks.

We’re the baddies now. Our new Security Strategy shows it. (Lisa Needham/Public Notice)  Sure, let’s just let proglodytes run our foreign policy.

3 theories that explain Trump’s collapsing support (Christian Paz/Vox)  Supposed collapsing support.

Worst. Senate. Ever. (Jill Lawrence/The Bulwark)

Trump Rages at Cratering Polls as GOP Losses Reveal Surprise Weakness (New Republic)  Not a day goes buy that the Chattering Class doesn’t serve up this brand of wishful thinking. The Little Journo That Could: “I think he’s dead, I think he’s dead, I think he’s dead,  I think he’s dead….”

National Trust sues to stop Trump’s ballroom construction (Washington Post)

FBI: Man, woman drive to police station with Homeland Security agent trapped in vehicle (Matt Sepic/MPR News)

Trump’s approval rating on the economy hits record low 31% (Madison Mills/Axios)  Count me in as one of that 31%. Gas at Walmart was $2.09 yesterday.

Trump ran as a friend of the working class. Now he’s selling $1 million immigration ‘Gold Cards.’ (Philip Bump/MS NOW)  Philip Bump loses his shit.

Trump’s White House ballroom construction draws lawsuit from preservationists (April Rubin/Axios)

BREAKING: Judge Blocks ICE From Re-Detaining Abrego Garcia (David Kurtz/Talking Points Memo)

Trump team email to Epstein: ‘Pedophiles, I want you to know how important you are to me’ (Alexander Willis/Raw Story)

Most say Trump administration covering up Epstein information: Survey (Ashleigh Fields/The Hill) A Narrative Media survey,

The Washington Post’s Sunday Slobber Over Rosie O’Donnel

Top ADL civil rights litigator quits, accusing group of being ‘useful idiot’ for Trump

Read it.

Minnesota is now facing one of the largest documented government service fraud scandals in United States history. Under Gov. Tim Walz’s evidently unwatchful eye, federal prosecutors have estimated that approximately $1 billion in taxpayer funds have been siphoned from multiple state- and federally funded social service programs over the last five years.

As of this writing, 87 individuals have been charged in connection with the scheme, with 61 convictions already secured and more charges continuing to be filed against these fraudsters. The bulk of the fraud scheme centers around two government programs.

The first target was the Minneapolis-based not-for-profit Feeding Our Future, which distributed federal child nutrition funds during the COVID-19 pandemic. Beginning in April 2020, the organization’s founder and executive director allegedly oversaw an elaborate fraud operation that involved over 250 fake meal sites throughout Minnesota, siphoning over $250 million in taxpayer funds.

Read it.

The litany of reasons California is broken is well documented. The highest cost of living and the highest taxes. The highest percentages of homeless people and people living in poverty. Unaffordable homes and unaffordable rent. High crime and failing schools. A hostile business climate and record migration out of state as people and businesses flee.

But not often enough are we reminded of the countless small things that have gone wrong. Small things that add up to a big problem: a state legislature that is out of touch with the people it represents; a state legislature that, for all practical purposes, holds its constituents in contempt; a state legislature that is doing everything in its power to make life difficult.

Just a few days ago, the latest in this long train of abuses arrived. No more plastic bags. Although 2026 is still a few weeks away, this grocery store has already converted to paper only—heavy, fragile paper bags with handles that tear off under the slightest stress. Everything was double-bagged just to lower the probability of catastrophic failure of the handles.

Read it.

On the campaign trail, President Donald Trump promised to end federal taxes on tips and overtime. Democrats dismissed it as an election-year ploy to win votes, but Trump delivered on that promise when he signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act on July 4, which eliminated taxes on tips and overtime for service and hospitality workers.

However, blue-state Democrats like New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, and Colorado Gov. Jared Polis are, in the words of Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, “deliberately blocking their own residents” from accessing the “historic benefits” promised under the law.

“President Trump’s tax cuts bill is the most pro-worker, pro-family legislation in a generation,” Bessent said. “It puts more money directly into the pockets of hardworking Americans through No Tax on Tips for dedicated service industry staff, No Tax on Overtime for linemen and factory workers, and a new tax deduction for seniors who depend on Social Security.”

Democrats are Friends of the Working Class when it comes to passing out free stuff in exchange for votes, but not so much when it means less money for them to pass out or financial independence for ‘working families’.

Read it.

Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., the ranking member of the House Homeland Security Committee, was sharply rebuked Thursday for calling the ambush-style shootings that killed one National Guardsman and critically injured another in Washington, D.C., on the night before Thanksgiving an “unfortunate situation.”

Thompson was questioning Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on worldwide threats to the United States. The hearing aired live on Newsmax and on the Newsmax2 free online streaming platform.

“Madam Secretary, you and the gentleman from NCTC [Joseph Kent, director of the National Counterterrorism Center] referenced the unfortunate accident that occurred with the National Guardsman being killed,” Thompson said when beginning a line of questioning.

The whitest ‘black man’ you’ll ever see.

Read it.

This must make Tucker feel pretty good. I know it would me.

As my dad (WWII Air Corps) used to say, “When you’re getting flak, you know you’re over the target”l

Read it.

Jury selection begins on Thursday in the trial of a Wisconsin state judge charged with helping a migrant appearing in her courtroom evade an immigration arrest in a case stemming from President Donald Trump’s initiative to prosecute individuals accused of resisting his immigration enforcement policies.

Hannah Dugan, an elected judge on the Milwaukee County Circuit Court, is facing federal criminal charges brought by Trump’s Justice Department of concealing a person from arrest and obstructing federal proceedings. Dugan has pleaded not guilty.

Milwaukee-based U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman, overseeing the trial, is set to begin the process of selecting a jury on Thursday, with opening statements due to begin on Monday.

The case reflects tensions surrounding Trump’s immigration enforcement policies, including the presence of federal agents in courthouses. It also reflects the Justice Department’s efforts to criminally prosecute individuals it accuses of unlawfully impeding immigration enforcement.

It’s Hard To Be a Trumpist  In addtion to RINOs, there appear also to be TINOs.

How the Supreme Court is using Trump to grab more power for itself (Ian Millhiser/Vox)

Jared Kushner, the President’s Son-in-Law, Is Part of Paramount’s Bid for Warner Bros. Discovery (Lauren Hirsch/New York Times)  So what?

Boasberg escalates contempt inquiry over Alien Enemies Act deportations (Kyle Cheney/Politico)

Trump Ban on Wind Energy Projects Ruled Illegal by US Judge (Bloomberg)

MAGA Pushes Racist Cinnabon Worker’s Fundraiser Past $100,000 (J.D. Wolf/MeidasTouch News) MAGA is the New Nigger.

Court Reform: Breaking the Corrupt Rule of the Six GOPers Is Everything (Josh Marshall/Talking Points Memo)

Federal judge throws out Trump order blocking development of wind energy (Associated Press)

Trump, 79, Jolts Awake After Nodding Off at Roundtable (Erkki Forster/The Daily Beast)

A Trump Doctrine of Contradictions (Wall Street Journal)

The POLITICO Trump interview (Politico)

Trump’s trade wounds force White House into action (Courtenay Brown/Axios)  Wounds!

‘I Worry People Are Going to Get Hurt in the Short Term’ (Declan Harty/Politico)

We asked activists from authoritarian regimes what they wish they’d known sooner. Here’s what they said (Danielle Renwick/The Guardian)

Looks Like the Supreme Court Will Continue to Overturn the 20th Century (New York Times)  I like that idea.

Fact check: Trump denies saying something he said on camera five days ago (Daniel Dale/CNN)

There is a real chance of a US-Venezuela war — so why does it feel fake? (Joshua Keating/Vox)  Perhaps because it is fake.

Vulnerable Republicans sweat amid GOP divisions on health care (Alexander Bolton/The Hill)  They hope.

In Warner Fight, a Hollywood Plot That Makes Trump the Star (Damian Paletta/Wall Street Journal)

At will? Whose will? — Removing independent agency heads is part of a broader assault on a nonpartisan government (Don Moynihan/Can We Still Govern?)  In the Executive branch, the President’s will. You might read the Constitution. Just a suggestion. (The only ‘nonpartisan government’ is government by the Deep State.)

Democrats Want Probe of Trump Officials and Immigration Deals (Fola Akinnibi/Bloomberg)  Of coufrse they do.

Trump doesn’t rule out troops in Venezuela, says President Nicolás Maduro’s ‘days are numbered’ (Megan Lebowitz/NBC News)

After NIH grant cuts, breast cancer research at Harvard slowed, and lab workers left (Martha Bebinger/NPR)  Because, as we all know,  breast cancer research is TOTALLY the responsibility of the Federal government—and the Federal taxpayer.

Trump Reversing “Humphrey’s Executor” Is NOT Priced In

Supreme Court Struggles With How to Insulate the Federal Reserve From Politics (Adam Liptak/New York Times)

7 takeaways from POLITICO’s interview with President Trump (Megan Messerly/Politico)  Getcher Narrative right here.

The Movement: Warning signs emerge for MAGA populism over ObamaCare (Emily Brooks/The Hill)  MAGA is the New Nigger.

As Pope Leo’s MAGA criticism builds, Trump suggests he’d meet Catholic leader (Seb Starcevic/Politico)

Capitol agenda: What Trump told POLITICO about health care (Calen Razor/Politico)

How Jared Kushner became Trump’s indispensable second peace envoy (Washington Post)

Cheryl Hines ‘Surprised’ Friends Dropped Her Over RFK’s MAGA Conversion (Tom Latchem/The Daily Beast)  Trump Cooties.

‘Dishonors the decades-long bipartisan commitment’: Democrats slam Trump for his European takedown (Gregory Svirnovskiy/Politico)  I.e. Republicans are no longer rolling over.

America Has Become a Digital Narco-State (Paul Krugman)  Krugman has become a clone of Keith Olbermann.

Supreme Court Poised to Vastly Expand Presidential Power, Again (Kim Wehle/The Bulwark)

US civic health rating downgraded after year of ‘restrictive’ Trump actions (Maya Yang/The Guardian)

Justice Department faces call for internal probe into legal opinion on Venezuelan boat strikes (Scott MacFarlane/CBS News)

Advocacy groups sue Trump administration seeking release of legal memo justifying boat strikes (Courtney Kube/NBC News)

GOP lawmakers wary of Trump escalating beyond boat strikes in Venezuela (Washington Post)

Defense Bill Requires Trump Spy Agencies To Declassify COVID-19 Origins Intel, Chinese Obstruction Just the Trump Spy Agencies, mind you.

Trump Accidentally Sabotages Case for Bombings in New Interview Fiasco (Greg Sargent/New Republic)  Greg Sargent loses his shit.

New Illinois Law Limits Courthouse ICE Arrests God forbid ICE should get hold of an illegal immigrant with a criminal record—that would kill the whole Narrative.

DHS Nabs N.J. Twins in Plot to Shoot ICE Agents ‘on Sight’

Senate Democrats introduce bill to block Trump from putting face on dollar coin (Alexander Bolton/The Hill)

Life Inside the Undocumented Underground (Hunter Walker/Talking Points Memo)

Greene: ‘I feel very sorry’ for Trump (Sarah Fortinsky/The Hill)

The Inevitable, Trumpian Betrayal of Ukraine (The Contrarian)

Clinton-Appointed Federal Judge Tosses Trump’s Order Halting Wind Energy Projects

Trump will again test ‘blame Democrats’ message on the economy — this time at a casino (Alex Gangitano/Politico)

Read it.

Highlighting exactly why Barack Obama, Joe Biden and James Clyburn needed to deploy a 2021 Machiavellian strategy to get her moved onto the Supreme Court, Justice Kentanji Brown Jackson (KBJ) argues for the supreme power of the DC bureaucracy that must not be challenged by the President of the United States (Executive Branch).

In the case of Trump v Slaughter, the removal of the FTC Chair, Justice KBJ argues that presidential authority must be kept in check by the unelected “professionals and experts” who make up the bureaucracy underneath him. The “No Kings” argument is entirely ridiculous given the plenary power of the executive and the constitutional authority of the office.

Read it.

Illinois sanctuary policies have allowed more than 1,700 criminal illegal aliens to slip back onto the streets since President Trump took office on January 20, and the Department of Homeland Security is now calling out state officials for putting politics ahead of public safety. Among those released are individuals charged with or convicted of homicide, sexual assault, and kidnapping—crimes that should have kept them locked up and handed over to federal immigration authorities.

Read it.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy is using his last months in office to release dozens of inmates convicted of homicide — and says many more are coming, according to NJ 101.5.

Since December 2024, Murphy has granted clemency to 283 offenders, including 31 people convicted of murder, felony murder, or aggravated manslaughter, according to NJ 101.5. Some had been serving life sentences or faced decades before being eligible for parole. All will now walk free with five years of supervision.

The governor fast-tracked the releases after creating a new Clemency Advisory Board. In November alone, he freed 23 convicted killers. Murphy has defended the move by highlighting a few cases involving women he says were victims of abuse and “received excessive sentences.”

Read it.

Western Civ is choking itself to death with lawfare in the name of “democracy.” If you think just a little bit past the sale, you will realize that few will say what they mean by “democracy,” including the most ardent “democracy” cultists. What it supposedly means is legal outcomes that the political left wants, not what the law, or the truth, or justice requires.

On the surface, the left pretends to want outcomes that favor their roster of designated victim groups: women, dark-skinned people, and sexual outliers, the familiar cast of characters with its tiresome scripts.

Read it.

Georgia State Rep. Sharon Henderson, D-Covington, was arrested Monday after a federal grand jury indicted her on charges alleging she stole more than $17,000 in pandemic unemployment benefits by falsely claiming she had lost work due to COVID-19.

“It is shocking that a public official would allegedly lie to profit from an emergency program designed to help suffering community members,” U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg said in a statement. “Politicians who violate the public trust and steal from the needy to enrich themselves will be held accountable.”

Prosecutors say Henderson, who joined the Georgia House in 2021, applied for federal unemployment programs in mid-2020 while running for office, asserting she had recently worked for Henry County Schools.

Read it.

And rightly so.  Beyond that: The thieves need to go to jail.

Read it.

scandal, “I’m here to help.” He also said of state officials, “Let’s just go fight these people,” according to a 2021 audio recording now receiving renewed scrutiny after more than 50 guilty pleas in the scandal.

The audio, which Ellison has not denied, reveals fraudsters complaining that Minnesota agencies refused to reimburse them for money they claimed to have spent feeding children—claims found false in court. The fraudsters accused agencies of racism, and Ellison seemed to take these claims seriously, saying he would forward them to his staff.

Ellison’s press secretary, Brian Evans, flatly denied that the AG took any action to fulfill the implied promise to “fight” state agencies.

“During the meeting, Attorney General Ellison very clearly asked attendees to share examples of the discriminatory or unfair conduct they claim to have faced,” Evans told The Daily Signal. “They did not do so, and no action was taken in support of them.”

After the meeting, during which fraudsters suggested they would support Ellison’s reelection campaign, donors connected to the fraud ponied up cash.

Pipe bomb suspect confesses and has expressed support for Trump, sources say (Ken Dilanian/MS NOW)  Sources say! That proves it!

NPR Touts ‘Skeptical Judge’ Who Could Nullify Trump’s Defunding Order

The Supreme Court takes up the most unconstitutional thing Trump has done (Ian Millhiser/Vox)

Cowardly Pete Hegseth Is This Week’s Proof of the GOP’s Moral Rot (Michael Tomasky/New Republic)

Trump’s impossibly terrible “affordability” messaging (Aaron Rupar/Public Notice)

Trump administration moves to deny visas to factcheckers and content moderators (Richard Luscombe/The Guardian)

The War On Pete Hegseth

Newsom accuses Trump of wildfire aid snub (Politico)

Judge Skeptical of Trump’s Control of California Guard

Amnesty Intl: Alligator Alcatraz ‘Box’ May Amount to Torture

Trump’s Boat Strikes Corrode America’s Soul (Phil Klay/New York Times)

Trump wants to be known as a peacemaker while frequently threatening war (Dan Diamond/Washington Post)

Trump’s Security Strategy Focuses on Profit, Not Spreading Democracy (Anton Troianovski/New York Times)

Judge Rules Trump Exceeded Authority by Holding Deportees at Guantánamo (Carol Rosenberg/New York Times)

Pete Hegseth Is Seriously Testing Trump’s ‘No Scalps’ Rule (The Atlantic)

Scoop: Democrats call Trump’s bluff on releasing boat strike video (Andrew Solender/Axios)

Trump struggles to persuade Americans to ignore affordability issues (Naftali Bendavid/Washington Post)

Trump follows through on an especially ugly campaign promise (Justin Glawe/Public Notice)

Capehart Falsely Claims There Is No Evidence For Drug Boat Strikes

How Trump flipped America’s race conversation (Axios)

Pressure grows on ‘reckless’ Hegseth as twin scandals engulf Pentagon chief (Joseph Gedeon/The Guardian)

Impeachment Mania Returns In Time For The Midterm Elections

The Supreme Court weighs another step in favor of broad presidential power sought by Trump (Mark Sherman/Associated Press)

Hey, Does Anyone Want to Talk About Donald Trump’s Infirmities? (Jason Linkins/New Republic)

Trump’s Top 10 Worst Criminal Prosecutions (The Contrarian)

Trump wants to recreate a white America that never existed (Rebecca Solnit/The Guardian)

Immigration courts thrown into chaos as Trump administration purges dozens of judges (Emily Ngo/Politico)

Read it.

A former Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) official appointed as deputy chief of the Office of Financial Operations during the Obama administration – and who still holds a security clearance – was indicted on Friday on charges of agreeing to launder $12 million for the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) – which was designated a Foreign Terrorist Organization in February of this year.

Democrats tee off on possible Treasury corporate tax move (Jacob Fulton/Roll Call)

Prosecutor who subpoenaed Letitia James could be disqualified, judge suggests (Politico)

Politico Finally Publishes Trump-Free Epstein Story

CNN’s Cornish: Trump Admin ‘SOL’ On Confirming Possible Hegseth Replacement

N.Y. AG Disputes Acting US Attorney’s Power to Probe Trump Suits

“Impermissible”: Congress fumes over Hegseth’s Venezuela strike secrecy (Josephine Walker/Axios)

DOJ orders prison inspectors to stop considering LGBTQ safety standards (Jaclyn Diaz/NPR)

Appeals court allows Trump National Guard deployment in DC to continue (Reuters)

Judge Mulls Removing Trump-Appointed Prosecutor in James Probe

Boston Judge (Again) Intervenes To Force Payments To Planned Parenthood

Trump Set to Win FIFA Peace Prize at World Cup Draw

Somali Americans Aren’t Afraid of Trump’s Bigotry (Ilhan Omar/New York Times)  And Trump isn’t afraid of their bigotry, either.

DOJ claims it has the power to decide who gets Trump’s sweeping 2020 pardon (Kyle Cheney/Politico)

Alleged Pipe Bomber’s Family Sued Trump DHS Over Illegal Immigration, Asked Biden DOJ To Address Racism (Luke Rosiak/The Daily Wire)

New York Times Mangles It: ‘Trump Calls Affordability a Con Job,’ He’s Slipping!

Trump administration plans to end prison rape protections for trans and intersex people, memo says (Adam Rhodes/Prism)

Trump Is Trying to Legalize Corruption by Abusing His Pardon Power (John Avlon/Rolling Stone)

Victim Mentality: Walz Whines About Driveby “Retard” Shoutings As Omar Suggests Trump Inciting Violence Against Her

Broadview conspiracy defendants want to see if White House played a role in their case (Jon Seidel/Chicago Sun Times)

Senate Dems Warn McMahon: Education Program Shifts Illegal

Senate Dems to McMahon: Efforts to shift Education Department responsibilities illegal (Ryan Mancini/The Hill)

FDA officials said without evidence that COVID-19 vaccines have killed children. Here’s what you should know (Madison Czopek/PBS NewsHour)  They have to stick that ‘without evidence’ in there so you’ll know what the Narrative is.

War Is Peace, the Dozing Don Edition (Susan B. Glasser/New Yorker) Propaganda is journalism, the New Yorker edition.

Trump’s Pardons Cover Every Conceivable Form of Corruption (Robert Tracinski/The UnPopulist)  Except the Democrat kind.

Second Strike Scrutiny Obscures Larger Question About Trump’s Boat Attacks (New York Times)

National parks change prioritizes Trump birthday over days honoring Black people (Kylie Mohr/SFGATE)

‘DISTURBING IMAGES’: ABC Spins Resisting the Border Patrol as Victimhood

Trump reveals what he wants for the world (Nahal Toosi/Politico)  More mind-reading in the Narrative Media.

Trump’s Affordability “Con Job” (Catherine Rampell/The Bulwark)

Trump’s Approval Rating Dips as Views of His Handling of the Economy Sour (New York Times)  With the NYT anyway.

Scoop: New fundraising platform ignites MAGA cash clash (Alex Isenstadt/Axios)

MAGA’s Affordability Crisis Will Soon Get Worse (Paul Krugman)

Mike Johnson scrambles to pass Pentagon bill as GOP ranks seethe (Meredith Lee Hill/Politico) Seethe!

A war criminal without a war (Lisa Needham/Public Notice

For international soccer, the way to keep Trump onside is clear: Flattery (Washington Post)

Trump’s Immigration Crackdown Could Be Illegal (Amanda Frost/New York Times)  Could!

Trump’s closure of Voice of America is coming back to bite him  George WIll in full TDS mode.

‘Really?!?’: Prince Harry Royally Roasts Donald Trump In Surprise Cameo With Colbert (Lee Moran/HuffPost)

Trump, 79, Is Fuming Over Coverage of His Deteriorating Health (Isabel Van Brugen/The Daily Beast)  Fuming!

Judges lash out at Justice Department for still listing Lindsey Halligan on court documents (CNN)

Trump Keeps Squeezing the Next Fed Chair (Victoria Guida/Politico)

Trump’s “Monroe Doctrine” bashes immigration and globalization (Andrew Childers/Axios)

Around the world, refugees are shut out of the US by Trump’s new policies (Associated Press)  Because, as everybody knows, the welfare of refugees it TOTALLY the responsibility of the U.S. govenemnrt—and the U.S. taxpayers.

The Trump-Epstein Emergency Isn’t in the Files (Todd Zwillich/Off Message)  But in the fever dreams of the proglodyte left.

‘Why are we letting this guy go?’ Donald Trump’s pardons upend US justice system (Financial Times)

‘Cultivate resistance’: policy paper lays bare Trump support for Europe’s far right (Jon Henley/The Guardian)  To the Guazrdian, there is no ‘riht’ but ‘far-right’.

Post-Trump, What Happens to His War Chest? Utah Offers One Clue. (New York Times)

Heckler Calls Border Czar Homan ‘Racist’ at TPUSA Event

The Supreme Court Is Doing Everything in Its Power to Save Trump in the Midterms (Slate)

Trump touts over $20 trillion in new U.S. investments, but the numbers don’t add up (Laura Doan/CBS News)

Democrats Need to Treat the Supreme Court Like the Villain It Is (Paul Waldman/The Cross Section)

Court blocks Trump administration effort to halt school mental health worker grants (Lexi Lonas Cochran/The Hill)

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The Trump administration could have a tough time making all of former President Joe Biden’s autopen actions “null and void,” which likely means he will face litigation, legal experts warn.

On Tuesday, President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social, “Any and all Documents, Proclamations, Executive Orders, Memorandums, or Contracts, signed by Order of the now infamous and unauthorized ‘AUTOPEN,’ within the Administration of Joseph R. Biden Jr., are hereby null, void, and of no further force or effect. Anyone receiving “Pardons,” “Commutations,” or any other Legal Document so signed, please be advised that said Document has been fully and completely terminated, and is of no Legal effect.”

Clemency may be the only question, since Trump can overturn any Biden executive order whether the president signed it personally or by autopen.

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Two of the federal judges facing impeachment threats refused to attend a Wednesday Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing on “rogue judges.”

James Boasberg and Deborah Boardman, district judges in Washington and Maryland, respectively, told the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts that they would not appear over concerns about the separation of powers and judicial ethicsJames Boasberg and Deborah Boardman, district judges in Washington and Maryland, respectively, told the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts that they would not appear over concerns about the separation of powers and judicial ethics.

Their refusal was delivered through a Nov. 12 letter sent by U.S. Judge Robert Conrad, the director of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, to Sen. Ted Cruz, who chairs the subcommittee.

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The race is on. Not just the race for California governor, but the race to be the first (or perhaps last) gubernatorial candidate to be raided by the FBI, arrested and sent to jail.

California is the most corrupt state in the country. 576 California officials were convicted of federal crimes in just the last decade. Its future governor could be the 577th criminal.

The current front runner is Attorney General Rob Bonta, Gov. Newsom’s handpicked successor, whose political prospects hit a slight bump in the road when he was forced to disclose spending

Newsbusters.

What will it take to get crime under control in our subways and public transit systems?

On Monday, news broke of another passenger set on fire in New York City’s subway — though this story wasn’t all it seemed.

The homeless man who at first said he was the victim of an attack turned tight-lipped when police pressed him about what happened.

Had he set his own clothes ablaze to attract attention?

In the wild environment our subways have become, a malicious attack or a madman’s self-inflicted injury are both all too believable.

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Leftist Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota should be investigating the claims of a sprawling welfare-fraud network tied to the state’s Somali community – schemes that reportedly funneled taxpayer dollars overseas, including at least one terrorist group. Instead, her office’s social media team attempted, one day before Thanksgiving, to launch a propaganda campaign on affordability on X that backfired spectacularly, culminating in a humiliating Community Note that exposed her sheer cluelessness. 

Klobuchar’s X post attempted to blame the entire power bill crisis on President Trump, with a graphic showing a parabolic line rising to the right that would alarm anyone.

“Under President Trump, electricity prices are surging — up 11%! — leaving millions behind on their utility bills, with past-due balances at an all-time high,” Klobuchar wrote on X, adding, “American families deserve better.”

The Community Note read, “Joe Biden was President from January 20, 2021 – January 20, 2025. Also, this chart is not representing the cost of electricity. It is showing the average past-due balances of Americans, which soared since 2022 under Joe Biden’s presidency.”

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Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and the Writers Guild of America said they were against the proposed merger between Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery, warning that it would consolidate control of major news and entertainment outlets under a single corporate entity.

“If Paramount Skydance merges with Warner Bros., one giant media conglomerate would control…” Warren wrote on social media earlier this month, before listing more than a dozen networks that would fall under the merged company’s control.

“It’s a terrible deal,” she added.

Unexplained is why we ought to care what Professor Umbrage likes and doesn’t like.

Victor Davis Hanson.

I’d like to talk about insurrection chic. By that I mean this phenomenon of the Democrats in particular, and maybe the Left in general, it’s talking about ways of undermining the jurisdiction of our own federal government.

I don’t know what their model is. Is it Jefferson Davis, who ordered South Carolina State Troops to fire on the federal fort at Fort Sumter in 1861 that ushered in the Civil War? Or maybe it’s George Wallace, huh? Standing in the doorstep of the University of Alabama, saying, “We’re not going to, here in Alabama, obey state law on segregation and racial discrimination.”

Or maybe, did you ever see the movie “Seven Days in May” (1964) about an officer, General Scott? I think he was played by Burt Lancaster. And he said, basically, we’re going to nullify the presidential directives and not abide by a treaty of the federal government—try to, essentially, overthrow the government.

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In August, a jury took only four hours to review copious evidence to find Abdifatah Yusuf guilty of fraud. He owned and operated a number of non-existent medical care providers operating out of a single mailbox to steal $7.2 million from public finds. Even AG Keith Ellison praised this conviction.

However, this month, Hennepin county trial judge Sarah West has ruled that the conviction cannot stand because it was really just circumstantial evidence. The state failed to rule out “other reasonable inferences.” The mind boggles. What other, innocent explanation is possible from these facts?

Our new Somali friends (Remember: Diversity Is Our Strength!!) have probably looted a billion dollars from Minnesota welfare and health programs, even diverting funds to Somali terrorist groups along with conspicuous instances of exorbitant personal spending (as in the case of Abdifatah Yusuf) but the important thing is that we don’t judge and keep searching for a positive interpretation of the facts.

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Nearly a year after LA’s worst wildfires, we’re closer than ever to knowing what happened. And the answers were DEI, a small weed and fish. And an obsessive hatred for Ronald Reagan.

The roots of the environmentalist insanity that killed a dozen people and destroyed over 5,000 buildings actually go back a generation to the construction of the Reagan Library in Simi Valley. While RDS or Reagan Derangement Syndrome has become a distant memory, it was burning fiercely back then and the construction of the library seemed to be adding insult to injury..

Leftists looking for some way to block the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library seized on the presence of any plants in the area that they could brand as endangered including Lyon’s pentachaeta, a tiny daisy, and a weed, and a variety of milk vetch, an otherwise unremarkable plant that has a short life and tends to sprout after wildfires. The Reagan library was forced to agree to transplant the weeds, which didn’t work, but ate up time and money at the library.

The construction of the Reagan library went on in spite of the environmental obstructionism, but the campaign succeeded in listing the tiny daisy as an endangered species and began listing some milk vetches as endangered, crippling future developments and fire clearing projects.

Jonathan Turley.

For months, District Court Chief Judge James Boasberg has been very much in the news.

This spring, he issued a 46-page decision finding that the Trump administration may be in contempt of court for violating his order to return flights of deportees being sent to El Salvador.

In that ruling, Boasberg insisted that it was essential for him to know the facts on whether “officials of a coordinate branch” had undermined judicial integrity.

After all, nothing short of the separation of powers was at stake. This week, Boasberg announced that he was moving forward without further delay to ferret out who was responsible for the alleged violation.

That message, however, has now been undermined by another Judge James Boasberg, who is in the news this week as part of the controversy over the Justice Department’s acquisition of telephone records of leading Republican members of Congress.

Boasberg had imposed a gag order on telephone companies to prevent them from informing Congress that the executive branch was snooping on who had been in contact with them.

These two James Boasbergs seem as different as the two Jeffrey Epsteins referenced this week by Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) — one a presumably respectable medical doctor, the other a deceased sex offender. However, to use Crockett’s formulation, it was indeed “that James Boasberg” in both cases.

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Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) launched his bid for governor of California this week, and he wasted no time floating a plan that could reshape elections far beyond the state’s borders. He told CNN’s Elex Michaelson on Saturday that he wants Californians to vote by phone, a proposal that fits neatly with the left’s push to loosen every guardrail that keeps our elections secure.

“I want to modernize the state,” Swalwell told him. “And, you know, [Newsom] wrote a book called Citizenville, which I read when I was up and coming. He laid out a lot of, you know, great ideas then, and he implemented some of them. And he, you know, was a modernizing force. He’s leaving. And so there is going to be a void. I want us to be able to vote by phone.”

“Vote by phone?” Michaelson asked, clearly surprised by the idea.

“Vote by phone, yeah,” Swalwell confirmed. “If we can do our taxes, do our, you know, our — make our health care appointments, you know, make, essentially, your — do your banking online. You should be able to vote by phone. Make it safe, make it secure. But it’s actually already happening all over the United States.”

Not in any Red state, it’s not.

“Make it safe, Make it secure”? Democrats are fighting against making even voting in person safe and secure.

You’ll go to Hell for lyin’, boy.

Edward Luttwak:

You know, we told the Iranians: “Jimmy Carter is going to go, and the moment he goes and you still have the hostages, you’re also going to have B-52s bombing and flattening the town of Qom,” which was the headquarters of the Ayatollah Khomeini.

Remember, Jimmy Carter is a catastrophic, catastrophic president because he was a pacifist. He didn’t have the sincerity to admit it, and therefore, the moment the United States was challenged, the United States could not respond because he was a pacifist. Even when he authorized the foolish and misbegotten rescue mission, his big assurances, his big emphasis talking to Colonel Beckwith, head of Delta Force, was, “Don’t kill Iranians. Whatever you do, don’t kill people.” So what the f*** are you going to do? But Carter was emphatic. Jimmy Carter, much celebrated on sentimental grounds, caused the half-century catastrophe of Iran all by itself because of his personal attitude.

Jimmy Carter—Worst. President. Ever.

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House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) warned Bill and Hillary Clinton Friday that if they continue to ignore deposition subpoenas regarding their history with Jeffrey Epstein, he will initiate contempt proceedings.

Good luck with that.

The New Neo.

Well, the wheels of justice grind slow:

Grammy-winning rapper Prakazrel “Pras” Michel of the Fugees was sentenced on Thursday to 14 years in prison for a case in which he was convicted of illegally funneling millions of dollars in foreign contributions to former President Barack Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign.

Michel, 52, declined to address the court before U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly sentenced him.

In April 2023, a federal jury convicted Michel of 10 counts, including conspiracy and acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government. The trial in Washington, D.C., included testimony from actor Leonardo DiCaprio and former Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

Justice Department prosecutors said federal sentencing guidelines recommended a life sentence for Michel, whom they said “betrayed his country for money” and “lied unapologetically and unrelentingly to carry out his schemes.”

Note he was charged prior to Trump becoming president.

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Iowa Republican Senator Joni Ernst came out swinging at Democrat-led states for allowing hundreds of millions of government food aid to be spent at fast-food establishments.

“The ‘N’ in SNAP stands for nutrition — not nuggets with a side of fries,” said Ernst. “I wish I was McRibbing you, but $250 million per year at the drive-through is no joke and a serious waste of tax dollars. I hate to be the one to say McSCUSE ME, but something needs to be done because taxpayers are not lovin’ it.”

Ernst said her review of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program found $524 million in allowed purchases “almost exclusively” at fast-food restaurants under program regulations approved by Democrats administering the program in nine states.

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New, disturbing revelations show just how far Joe Biden was willing to go to target his political enemies. In 2022, his Justice Department secretly seized more than two years of House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan’s personal phone records. Fox News Digital obtained a subpoena that exposes the depth of Biden’s weaponization of the government against his enemies.

The subpoena shows a federal prosecutor — who later joined Jack Smith’s January 6 team — ordered Verizon to cough up Jordan’s records dating back to Jan. 1, 2020.

“The request appears to be the most expansive yet of the publicly known subpoenas targeting senators and current and former House members during Arctic Frost, the investigation that led to Smith bringing election-related charges against President Donald Trump,” Fox News Digital reports.

The Foundry.

A vote to condemn the “horrors of socialism” passed on a mostly party-line vote Friday, with 98 Democrats voting against it and 199 Republicans voting for it.

The bill passed 285-to-98. No Republicans voted against the bill, although 20 Republicans did not vote.

On the Democrat side, it was far from unanimous, with 86 members voting in favor, and 98 against. Two Democrats voted “present” and 27 did not vote.

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The House Democrats on the Oversight Committee, whose header is a picture of Trump and Jeffrey Epstein, released a cache of emails that they claimed indicted Trump. Instead the emails again confirm that Trump had broken ties with Epstein and wanted nothing more to do with him.

The Democrat members of the committee showed no interest in why members of their party in three states, New York, Florida and New Mexico, covered up for Epstein and kept him off the sex offender registry. That’s not something Trump, who didn’t even hold public office until six years later, could have done. If the House Dems on the Oversight Committee really wanted to know, they could have asked one of their own members: Rep. Melanie Stansbury.

At the recent ‘No Kings’ rally, Rep. Stansbury claimed that “America has no kings.” America may have no kings, but New Mexico had two influential ones.

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Chicago homeowners are demanding answers as property taxes rise without visible improvements, according to Fox News. In Lawndale on Chicago’s West Side, residents told ABC7 Chicago they’re paying more but seeing little change. Community leaders and the Lawndale Christian Development Corporation held a “property tax bonfire” to voice frustrations.

Resident Milton Clayton said, “There’s been a divestment in this community for the most part, but it seems like now that people have found an interest in reclaiming the neighborhood, now it’s like we’re being taxed for prosperity.”

Fox News writes that another resident, Thomas Worthy, said his bill rose by $977 and added, “The tax increase is tied to a TIF that I have no idea why… It’s collecting money from our neighbors and our streets, but we’re not being notified for why it’s in the bill.”