Democrat News

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Fox’s Jesse Watters with some gag-inducing praise of “handsome” Trump while singing the praises of the billionaire tech-bros lined up to donate to Trump’s inaugural fund this week.

After first having a good laugh over Trump tricking Mark Zuckerberg into standing with his hand over his heart at Mar-a-Lago while the “January 6th Choir” sang their version of the national anthem, Watters proceeded to laud all of the billionaires and tech-bros coming down to kiss Trump’s ring and bribe him by donating to his inaugural fund, while pretending the Trump can’t be bribed.

WATTERS: Trump is so unique. Here’s why. He’s wealthy, so you can’t bribe him. He’s handsome, and so you can’t honey-trap him. You know, he’s been around models his whole life.

And he’s also a celebrity, so you can’t influence him with A-listers. He’s not awestruck, he’s not star struck. So the only way you can really charm him is by investing in America.

And we look back at some of the donations from some of these inaugurations. They give a couple pennies. It’s usually a couple 100 grand, and no one makes a thing out of it.

Now it’s like press release, Amazon’s donating on a mil. This company’s donating a mil. Everybody wants to get on board and you’re right, Dana, he’s so much more commercially viable now because, think about the dark cloud of January 6th, the fine people hoax, Russia.

Now, no one cares! Everybody wants to get in on this.

So now million dollar bribes for Trump’s inaugural is “investing in America.” Sure thing Jesse. These liars will continually twist themselves in knots to make excuses for him, and now they’re just straight up lauding oligarchy.

No mention, of course, of what any of these billionaires want in return for their “investment.”

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Rep. Comer is an actual Chairman of an important House Committee, yet he revels in rumors and conspiracies.

The Newsmax host is seriously revved up by the drones.

SALCEDO: We are more than a month into this security crisis, the national security crisis, and the biggest obstacle to answers is the America-last-infested government.

Look, first off, have you been briefed on these drones, and there are people out there floating the idea that because we’ve had complete incompetent boobs in charge of the United States for the last four years, open borders, that a nuclear device has been allowed to infiltrate the United States, and that’s what these drones are searching for.

They are searching for a rogue nuke or something that could be detonated in an American city to do mass damage, mass casualties. What do you think the likelihood of that is, sir?

COMER: Well, it’s very possible, and that’s the rumor that’s floating around Washington, but no one in Congress knows, and it’s another testament to the incompetence of the Biden administration.

I doubt that Joe Biden’s even heard about the drones yet.

Someone in the government knows exactly what they are, but just like President Trump said, they’re not being transparent with the American people, and all that’s going to do is create more fear and unrest, and I will tell you, if they start flying drones over my district in Kentucky, if people have the ability to reach those drones with their Second Amendment capabilities, those drones are going to be removed from the air.

So, you know, the government needs to be transparent, and that’s something that we’ve gone four years without any transparency.

I’m sure we’re going to go three more weeks without knowing anything more than we do now, which is absolutely nothing.

Yes, and if they are hunting for a nuclear device or some sort of mass casualty device, they would want to hide it until President Trump takes office, and then they can try to blame him for it, sir.

Let’s talk about these pardons.

Transparency is not something traitor Trump embraces. Gomer Comer is a jackass as usual.

Maybe the Martian drone operators will beam him up for a rectal.

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Republicans released a report Tuesday proving that they’re gunning for former Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney for having the audacity to hold Donald accountable for his crimes. As we noted earlier this month, President Biden’s senior aides have been discussing preemptive pardons for those that Donald considers his political enemies. This would be a good time to do that.

A new GOP report claims to have reviewed the “failures and politicization” of the now-disbanded House Jan. 6 committee, which focuses largely on Cheney, recommending a criminal investigation into her for rightfully claiming that the Jan. 6 committee unfairly pinned the blame on Donald, even though we saw with our own eyes that he whipped his supporters into a frenzy just before they attacked the Capitol.

The Hill reports:

“Speaker [Nancy] Pelosi’s multimillion-dollar Select Committee was a political weapon with a singular focus to deceive the public into blaming President Trump for the violence on January 6 and to tarnish the legacy of his first Presidency,” the report states.

The report’s conclusion also calls for an FBI investigation into Cheney, accusing her of witness tampering by being in touch with star witness Cassidy Hutchinson, a former White House aide.

It’s a claim that if pursued would likely face significant roadblocks but that nonetheless comes as Trump has suggested members of the Jan. 6 panel should “go to jail” for their work

Donald is the Republican Baby Jesus, and they would give their lives to protect him at this very special time of year. Liz Cheney responded to the GOP’s latest fuckery.

And there’s this:

Loudermilk, chair of the subcommittee that assembled the report, was previously scrutinized by the disbanded House panel after he gave tours of the Capitol to two men who later participated in the march to the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

The bloviating bastard responded on Truth Social:

Donald said on ‘Meet the Press’ that the Jan 6th committee should be imprisoned. Speaking of multi-million dollar investigations, the two-year-long Benghazi investigation (33 hearings in total!) cost millions, and in the end, they found no wrongdoing on Hillary Clinton’s part. Regardless, Republicans will wrap Donald in swaddling clothes and lay him in a manger because, facts be damned, their very precious cult leader is innocent of what we all saw him do.

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Rep. Nancy Mace is doing her best to enter the MAGA hall of shame.

The anti-trans bathroom lunatic joined Outkick and made these un-astute observations about the newest conspiracy floating in the sky.

MACE: So my concern is if it’s not craft from outer space, because I think that has to be on the table, it has to be an option.

Is it our technology or is it Russia or Iran or China?

Is there someone who’s winning the arms race and are we behind? Because my question is about national security.

And I hope that it’s us.

I hope that it’s not our adversaries or something from outside the universe.

Because I have real concerns that, like if these drones are from Iran or China, like some of the rumors have been, I pray that they’re ours, but we should also know why they’re out there.

Like, are they looking for radiation? Are they looking for a missing nuclear warhead?

Like, we deserve to have some answers here because people are scared.

Martians!
Radiation!
Adversaries outside the universe!
Missing warheads!
Oh, my!

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In case you need any more reasons to never buy a Tesla, Bloomberg and The New York Times have a few.

From Bloomberg:

Elon Musk’s charitable foundation ballooned to $9.5 billion in assets last year while handing out $237 million in gifts, most of which went to other entities controlled by the world’s richest person.

The figures are part of the Musk Foundation’s latest tax filing, obtained Thursday by Bloomberg News. The annual snapshot shows the organization got a boost from the millions of Tesla Inc. shares it holds and sent $137 million to Musk’s other nonprofit, The Foundation, which he set up to establish a STEM-focused primary and secondary school.

Bloomberg lists more Musk-related entities that got his money. But even so, Musk’s charitable foundation is remarkably stingy. Bloomberg euphemistically describes it as “muted.’

Though Musk has widened his lead as the richest person ever, his philanthropy remains muted. Over the past three years, he disclosed giving away roughly $559 million in total, with 2023 being the biggest. By comparison, the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, a donor-advised fund with $13.6 billion in assets in 2023, made $4.7 billion in grants in that year alone.

The New York Times reported that Musk’s foundation fell far, far short of the amounts required to give away. “Private foundations must donate 5 percent of their assets every year. Elon Musk’s enormous charity missed that standard for three consecutive years,” the paper found. “Mr. Musk’s group has fallen further and further behind. In 2021, his foundation was $41 million short, then $234 million the following year. Now, the hole is deeper still.”

If he doesn’t distribute the money that’s required, Musk “will be required to pay a sizable penalty to the Internal Revenue Service,” according to The Times.

So isn’t it convenient for Musk that he gets to whisper into Donald Trump’s ear what should happen to the IRS?

More from The Times:

The I.R.S. appears to be among Mr. Musk’s early targets as a leader of Mr. Trump’s government efficiency initiative. The tax agency serves as the federal government’s charity regulator and thus oversees Mr. Musk’s foundation.

Last month, Mr. Musk used X, his social media platform, to ask users if the I.R.S.’s budget should be increased, kept the same, decreased or “deleted.” His followers chose “deleted.”

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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday signed off on two major California clean air rules designed to reduce pollution from cars and trucks, including a ban on selling new gasoline-powered cars statewide by 2035.

Under the Clean Air Act, California has the ability to adopt more stringent vehicle emission requirements than the federal government. But the state must seek a waiver from the EPA.

The EPA granted two waivers for two regulations approved by the California Air Resources Board:

• The Advanced Clean Cars II rule, adopted in 2022, requires an increasing percentage of new cars sold by California auto dealerships to be zero-emission or plug-in hybrids. The regulation eventually culminates in a ban on selling new, gasoline-powered cars by 2035. It is slated to go into effect in 2026.
• The Heavy-Duty Omnibus rule, adopted in 2020, establishes cleaner engine standards and requires warranties for new heavy-duty vehicles. It had been scheduled to go into effect this year.

The EPA action allows the state to enforce the rules, which are collectively expected to prevent more than 3,700 premature deaths and provide $36 billion in public health benefits, state officials say.

“California has longstanding authority to request waivers from EPA to protect its residents from dangerous air pollution coming from mobile sources like cars and trucks,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan said in a statement. “Today’s actions follow through on EPA’s commitment to partner with states to reduce emissions and act on the threat of climate change.”

Environmental groups lauded the EPA decision, which will help California tackle its largest source of pollution and greenhouse gases — the transportation sector. Every day, tens of millions of gas-fueled automobiles release copious amounts of smog-forming nitrogen oxides and heat-trapping carbon dioxide. But California drivers are increasingly buying zero-emission or plug-in hybrid vehicles, which made up more than 25% of all light-duty vehicle sales statewide in 2024.

The new regulation is intended to accelerate electric vehicle adoption and drastically improve air quality over the coming decades. Under the new rule, 35% of new cars must be zero emission by 2026, 68% by 2030 and 100% by 2035.

Drivers will still have the option to buy a used car with an internal combustion engine.

“This might read like checking a bureaucratic box, but EPA’s approval is a critical step forward in protecting our lungs from pollution and our wallets from the expenses of combustion fuels,” said Paul Cort, director of Earthjustice’s Right to Zero campaign. “The gradual shift in car sales to zero-emissions models will cut smog and household costs while growing California’s clean energy workforce. EPA must now approve the remaining authorization requests from California to allow the state to clean its air and protect its residents.”

California will join the 27 countries of the European Union, the United Kingdom and Canada, which have adopted policies that ban new gasoline car sales by 2035 or sooner.

At least 11 other states, including Washington and New York, have adopted California’s zero-emission mandate. If they follow through, the rule would be in effect for about 133 million people, or nearly 40% of the country’s population.

Industry groups denounced the move by the EPA, with some expressing their desire for President-elect Donald Trump to attempt to revoke the waiver and topple the rule.

“Contrary to claims on the campaign trail that they would never tell Americans what kinds of cars we have to drive, the Biden-Harris EPA just did exactly that by greenlighting California’s ban on sales of all new gas and traditional hybrid vehicles,” American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers president Chet Thompson said in a statement. “These policies will harm consumers — millions of whom don’t even live in California — by taking away their ability to buy new gas cars in their home states and raising vehicle and transportation costs.

“They will also undermine U.S. energy and national security. Americans want nothing to do with gas car bans, EV mandates or California radicalism, which they just made abundantly clear at the polls. I suspect this is why EPA waited until after the election to issue this decision.”

But the EPA action could be the first of several before the Biden administration leaves office.

The California Air Resources Board is still waiting for the EPA to take action on six other major clean air rules, including regulations that would phase out fossil fuel-powered cargo trucks and locomotives.

Authorizing the rules ahead of Trump’s arrival to the White House makes it more difficult for the incoming administration and other opponents to attack them, according to Joe Lyou, president of the Coalition for Clean Air.

“It’s harder to unring the bell than if they don’t get issued,” Lyou said. “The new administration can sit on them for more years, or they can decline them.”

One challenge to the zero-emission vehicle mandate is already underway. Recently, the Supreme Court announced it would decide whether red-state fuel producers have legal standing to sue the EPA for alleged financial losses caused by California’s stringent fuel economy standards and electric vehicle mandate.

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There’s a difference between making government more effective and making it disappear, and according to financial reporter Catherine Rampell, El Cheato seems to be aiming for the latter. Via the Washington Post:

How do we know? Financial deregulation was one of his major priorities during his first term. He rolled back parts of the Dodd-Frank Act, a law created in response to the 2008 financial crisis. The big banks also took on more leverage while he was in office, suggesting his appointees tolerated more risk-taking.

Since then, President Joe Biden’s appointees have proposed a series of regulations to reduce risk and make the financial system more resilient, including by requiring large banks to have a bigger capital cushion. Wall Street has fought these efforts ferociously, even running ads about them during “Sunday Night Football.”

The banks might soon get their way. Shortly after the November election, financial regulators announced they were pausing any major rulemaking, including on capital requirements, until Trump takes office. Wall Street firms and lobbyists have drafted wish lists of (de)regulatory changes they want the transition team to commit to, Reuters has reported. And more of Dodd-Frank appears to be in the crosshairs, especially if Project 2025 is implemented.

What do you want to bet that if there’s a rerun of the 2008 crash, We The People will be expected to pick up the tab?

Right now seems like a peculiar time for any pre-FDIC-era nostalgia. After all, last year was the biggest year for bank failures in modern history, thanks to a crisis that took down Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank and First Republic. Runs on these regional banks threatened contagion across the rest of the financial system — at least until federal regulators (including the FDIC) stepped in to stem the panic and protect depositors.

MAGA World appears unchastened by either this experience or that of the early 1930s. Or maybe they take it as a challenge: You’ve heard of the Great Depression? Just wait until Trump delivers the greatest one of all.

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Paul Krugman kicks off his new Substack with a look at crypto, the favored tool of tech bro billionaires. Take a look:

The tech bros who helped put Trump back in power expect many favors in return; one of the more interesting is their demand that the government intervene to guarantee crypto players the right to a checking account, stopping the “debanking” they claim has hit many of their friends.

The hypocrisy here is thick enough to cut with a knife. If you go back to the 2008 white paper by the pseudonymous Satoshi Nakamoto that gave rise to Bitcoin, its main argument was that we needed to replace checking accounts with blockchain-based payments because you can’t trust banks; crypto promoters also tend to preach libertarianism, touting crypto as a way to escape government tyranny. Now we have crypto boosters demanding that the evil government force the evil banks to let them have conventional checking accounts.

What’s going on here? Elon Musk, Marc Andreesen and others claim that there’s a deep state conspiracy to undermine crypto, because of course they do. But the real reason banks don’t want to be financially connected to crypto is that they believe, with good reason, that to the extent that cryptocurrencies are used for anything besides speculation, much of that activity is criminal — and they don’t want to be accused of acting as accessories.

Well, Paul, like everything else, we’re rewriting the definitions these days. Crypto currency is noble and pure, used mostly by nuns and priests to send money to orphans. Or so I’m told!

But there’s a third possible explanation of crypto’s rise. Maybe asking “what are the legitimate use cases for this stuff” is the wrong question. What about the illegitimate uses, ranging from tax evasion to blackmail to money laundering? Maybe crypto isn’t digital gold, but digital Benjamins — the $100 bills that play a huge role in illegal activity around the world.

The old adage says that crime doesn’t pay, but of course it does in many cases. And it needs a means of payment, preferably one that isn’t too easily tracked by law enforcement. Traditionally, and to a large extent even today, that has mostly meant large-denomination banknotes.

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In 2020, the Orange Felon led the choir in an endless cycle of The Big Lie, even though they couldn’t prove a stitch of it. In fact, as we’ve recently been reminded, the only irregularities in the 2020 election came from the Republicans themselves and their fake electors scheme.

Fast forward to 2024, and we’re reminded again that the problem is the Republicans, not the electoral system. Federal law requires that state electors convene on the first Tuesday after the second Wednesday in December. However, Wisconsin state law says that the elector should meet on the first Monday after the second Wednesday. Therefore, Wisconsin Republicans had to sue to get a federal judge to tell them to follow the law:

The Wisconsin Republican Party sued last week seeking an order to resolve which of the two dates it should meet. The state Department of Justice and the Wisconsin Elections Commission agreed that the votes should be cast Tuesday in accordance with federal law. The Justice Department asked that the case be dismissed.

U.S. District Judge James Pederson dismissed the case Thursday because everyone agreed that federal law should be followed, essentially making the lawsuit moot.

[…]

The Republican-controlled Wisconsin Legislature, recognizing the conflict, attempted to bring the state into compliance with federal law last session. The Senate passed the bill 31-1, but it never got a vote in the Assembly.

Just as a reminder, the Wisconsin Speaker of the Assembly is Robin Vos, who has bumped heads with The Orange Felon in the past. One must wonder if the failure of the Assembly to bring the state into compliance is an act of passive aggressiveness from Vos or if he simply that incompetent.

Miraculously, the Republicans did manage to meet on Tuesday and do their jobs, legally this time.

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FAFO is a word Trump voters should really learn the meaning of. It stands for F*k Around & Find Out.

In this video I talk about my–and many other’s–complete lack of sympathy for white union voters, Muslim voters & Latino/a voters who didn’t act like adults & vote against human iron lung Donald Trump. No, not the majorities of these groups who used common sense and voted for Kamala Harris. But, the larger numbers of each group than in 2020 that voted for Trump this time. Even though he spent his one term attacking unions, passing a Muslim ban & deporting Latin American immigrants.

Trump promised to do the exact same thing this time, but somehow these morons thought it didn’t apply to them. Well, they’re now at the “find out” phase. I will have sympathy for all members of these groups who voted in their interests. And have not one ounce of sympathy for those who didn’t, and saddled the rest of us with the 5-star dolt and human waste can for the next four years. I’m all out.

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