Oops. Pentagon Undercounted Troops in Syria By More Than 100%

Oops. Pentagon Undercounted Troops in Syria By More Than 100% 1

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Oops. Pentagon Undercounted Troops in Syria By More Than 100% 2

The Pentagon is famous for being unable to keep track of things. Money? Not sure where it went. Inventory? “We have stuff, but are not sure how much, where it is, or how much has disappeared.”

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But soldiers in war zones? You would think they would have at least good, rough numbers of how many were stationed where. 

Ah, you sweet summer child. Counting is hard and all those REMFs have other things to do like push DEI and get soldiers the gender-affirming care they need. 

Most Americans are likely unaware that American troops are stationed in Syria–you know, that country that just went through a civil war that lasted more than a decade. But those who have been following the issue “knew” that around 900 troops were there on counter-terror missions because, well, the Pentagon kept saying so. 

Well, you knew wrong because the Pentagon isn’t very good at counting. 

Misplacing 1100 troops is a bit of an oops, and the explanation is that they weren’t on permanent deployment to the region, if there is such a thing. They were rotated in and out as needs changed over time. Of course, the same could be said of the 900 troops the Pentagon had acknowledged. Last I checked, none of these soldiers has put down roots in the war-ravaged country and is planning to live and raise a family there. 

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The Pentagon said on Thursday that 2,000 American troops were in Syria, more than twice the number officials had cited for months.

Why the Defense Department delayed disclosing the number is unclear. Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary, told reporters that he became aware of the additional troops on Thursday morning. They are in Syria on a “temporary” basis, he said, to support what he called the “core official deployed forces” participating in the Pentagon’s mission to keep Islamic State forces from reconstituting.

General Ryder said the increase in the number of troops was unrelated to the fall of President Bashar al-Assad to rebel forces in early December.

This would be forgivable if 50 or 100 extra troops were cycling in and out at any one time, but given that the number provided was off by more than 100% the error is pretty glaring. That isn’t a random fluctuation due to exigent circumstances; that is a genuine undercount. 

Cynic that I am, you would think that my first thought is that the Public Affairs Officers at the Pentagon were lying about the number of soldiers stationed in Syria, but in this case, I am inclined to attribute the “mistake” to simple incompetence and bureaucratic language. I can easily imagine a spokesman asking a flunkie for the number of troops “stationed” in Syria and somebody just looking at a list and spitting out the number listed in a category on a spreadsheet. 

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“Oh, those other 1100? They are in a different category. Oops.” 

Of course, everybody wanted answered: “How many American boots are on the ground or involved in the Syria mission?” This question, likely to a bureaucrat, is a vastly different one. 

Perhaps this is why the Pentagon can’t answer the simplest questions–the bureaucracy is so large and overcomplicated that it is impossible to find out things without wildly complicated formulas to tease out every category that might apply to the simplest question. 

Of course, I could be wrong, and some political figure, either inside or outside the Pentagon, was intentionally downplaying the number. It’s not like things like that don’t happen. After all, the Pentagon apparently misled Trump about how many troops were in Syria, and has a history of opacity when it doesn’t want us to know the answers to tough questions. 

If the day ends in “y,” then SOMEBODY in the government is lying to you. 

Either way, being off by such a large margin is tough to forgive and is yet another example of why you should trust nothing being said to you by the government. 

Posted in Republican News

Thursday’s Final Word

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Closing the tabs …

President-elect Donald Trump, after rejecting House Speaker Mike Johnson’s plan to avoid a government shutdown, worked the phones on Thursday, showing wavering confidence in Johnson and claiming he is aligned with billionaire Elon Musk, who first posted multiple calls to kill the GOP-brokered spending deal. …

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Trump also indicated that he had discussed his views on the bill with social media giant Musk and granted the billionaire permission to trash the government spending bill on his social media platform.

“I told him that if he agrees with me, that he could put out a statement,” Trump said.

Ed: I find the pearl-clutching over Musk’s alliance with Trump absolutely hilarious. The same media didn’t say peep over the last four years about Joe Biden’s alliances with George Soros, Bill Gates, Michael Bloomberg, Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos until very recently, Warren Buffett, the Arabella group, not to mention Hollywood’s studios, Protection Racket Media and Big Tech corporate execs, and so on. Why is Thuh Oligarchy only a problem when it supports lower spending and free speech?

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Ed: These clowns spent the last four years refusing to ask the same question: “Who is in charge?” That seemed like a lot bigger issue in the present administration, especially after June 27. 

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“You have to ask Donald Trump if Elon Musk is the one making decisions,” Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) told HuffPost on Wednesday.

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The Democratic messaging tack represents the party settling on a loose message for the early days of the second Trump administration, with leading senators labeling Trump’s billionaire-stocked Cabinet an oligarchy and preparing to argue the wealthy businessmen around Trump are setting the Republican agenda rather than the purportedly populist president-elect.

Ed: Again … why aren’t they more interested in who’s running the White House now?

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Ed: Great. Now let’s do George Soros, Bill Gates, Michael Bloomberg, Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos until very recently, Warren Buffett … need I go on?

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In an interview with Fox, Trump seemed to dismiss the idea of the need for an immediate change, indicating Johnson will retain his speakership easily, just so long as he acts “decisively and tough.” But how decisive can you really be in that unrelenting job with Trump breathing down your neck and nothing but bad options in front of you? 

What this incident really indicates is that unlike his first rodeo with Paul Ryan, Trump is going to have no qualms pushing Johnson around whenever these types of negotiations crop up. The total party takeover translates to full power over the Congress, at least for the next two years. And if Trump is displeased, there’s no question he’s quick to make a change.

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Ed: I think Trump would much prefer not to have that fight. Johnson is already reacting to Trump’s signals, and a leadership fight would likely paralyze Trump’s big legislative agenda for a big chunk of time when he has some momentum. But Johnson had better learn lessons quickly, too. 

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The latest continuing resolution would maintain current funding levels for government agencies until March 14, adhering to the same timeline as the previous proposal. However, the revised version would omit certain provisions from the original package that conservatives, including President-elect Donald Trump, rejected, such as pharmacy benefit managers reforms, and language that would increase the cost of a higher blend of ethanol, called E15. 

The new package would also keep the $110 billion in additional spending to go toward disaster aid and farmers’ assistance after a number of Republicans in the House and Senate threatened to withhold support if those were not included. 

Additionally, the package includes language that would push the debt limit fight off for another two years, suspending the ceiling until January 2027 and relieving Trump of having to deal with it at the start of his term.

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Posted in Republican News

Trudeau Makes Another Effort to Change the Subject as Liberals Call for Him to Step Down

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It hasn’t been a good week for Justin Trudeau. It started Monday with the surprise resignation of his Finance Minister just as she was supposed to roll out the government’s next budget. Since then there have been a series of calls for his resignation, including from Jagmeet Singh, leader of the NDP.  

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It’s one thing when members of rival parties are calling for your ouster. It’s something else when members of your own party are doing the same.

As rising numbers of Liberal lawmakers called Tuesday for Trudeau to resign, the country’s minister of natural resources, Jonathan Wilkinson, said “we all need to give him a little time to reflect.”…

“My guess is that if another minister or two goes, he’s toast, he will be forced to resign,” said Canadian historian Robert Bothwell.

But while Trudeau is reflecting, about a third of his own party is ready for him to throw in the towel and give someone else a chance.

Jenica Atwin, a Liberal who serves as parliamentary secretary to a cabinet minister, told a newspaper in her home province of New Brunswick that Trudeau should leave and that she won’t run for reelection if he stays.

Chad Collins, an Ontario member of parliament, said that around 50 elected Liberals — perhaps more — are part of a growing group that wants the prime minister’s resignation. Other Liberals in the anti-Trudeau camp have given similar numbers. That would be about a third of the 153-person Liberal contingent in the House of Commons…

“In terms of who the successor is, I don’t know at this point whether or not we could do much worse,” he said.

Trudeau still thinks he can massage this situation enough to survive. He has announced plans for a cabinet shakeup which will be announced tomorrow.

Embattled Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will shuffle his Cabinet Friday, two senior officials familiar with the matter said Thursday.

The officials confirmed the shuffle and spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.

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This sounds to me like an anonymous leak authorized by Trudeau himself. The goal here is to change the subject. Instead of another news cycle about calls for his resignation he’ll have a day focused on his new cabinet.

For now it looks like Trudeau is safe because while members of his party can complain to the press, they can’t actually force him out unless he loses a vote of no confidence.

Unlike the Conservatives, who installed an ejector seat in the leader’s chair a decade ago, Trudeau’s caucus has no power to remove a leader. (Unless they just lost an election.) Parliament will have a chance to express a vote of no confidence in Trudeau’s government early next year, though it is far from clear that such a vote will succeed—the center-left New Democratic Party and the separatist Bloc Québécois have continued to prop up his unpopular government.

Trudeau could decide to leave on his own but he’s obviously not going to do that so long as he thinks he can hold on until the next election which is still 10 months away.

Posted in Republican News

‘Ma! I Shrunk…Um…SUNK My CR!’

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What a difference a day…and a buttload of trouble make.

Ozempic should work so good.

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If only Donald Trump could bottle that magic.

Now, they’ve just managed to get this out so folks can go through it (it’s looking like it’s also $100B lighter), but so far, reviews are cautiously optimistic.

And the ChatGPT scrutiny has yet to cough up any freedom restrictive laws tucked away inside either.

The Congressional pay raises have been removed – fancy that.

This is a pretty good visual of how much was in it that didn’t need to be.

Someone on X ran it through Grok, too, and here’s what they got:

Below is a summary of the key points from the document titled “American Relief Act, 2025” as outlined in the provided legislative text: 

General Overview: Title: American Relief Act, 2025 

Introduced By: Mr. Cole in the House of Representatives 

Purpose: To provide further continuing appropriations for fiscal year 2025, disaster relief, health extenders, agricultural program extensions, and other related matters. 

Division A – Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2025: 

Extension: Extends funding for various government operations until March 14, 2025. 

Specific Allocations: 

District of Columbia: $90 million for emergency planning and security, with $50 million specifically for the 2025 Presidential Inauguration. 

NOAA: $625 million for Geostationary Earth Orbit acquisition. 

Department of Justice: Funds for vulnerability detection and FBI security systems. 

Department of Defense: Significant funds for shipbuilding, particularly for Columbia and Virginia Class Submarines, and for maintenance and security enhancements. 

Department of Energy: Funds for security activities and environmental defense. 

Department of Veterans Affairs: Temporary waivers on certain budget restrictions.

 Division B – Disaster Relief 

Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2025: 

Agriculture: $30.78 billion for agricultural losses due to various natural disasters in 2023 and 2024, with specific allocations for livestock and crop support. Additional funds for emergency food assistance and rural development disaster aid. 

Commerce: $1.51 billion for economic development assistance for disaster recovery. 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA): Funds for repairing and acquiring new hurricane hunter aircraft and other disaster-related equipment. 

Department of Justice and NASA: Funds for disaster-related damages and repairs. 

Department of Defense: Funding for operational and maintenance costs associated with natural disasters affecting military facilities. 

Corps of Engineers: Funds for studying, constructing, and repairing flood and storm damage reduction projects. 

FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency): $29 billion for disaster relief, including funds for oversight and specific disaster assistance like the Hermit’s Peak/Calf Canyon Fire. 

Division C – Health: Extends funding and provisions for community health centers, the National Health Service Corps, diabetes programs, and various health security measures until March 31, 2025. 

Division D – Extension of Agricultural Programs: Extends various agricultural programs from the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 until September 30, 2025, or later where specified. 

Division E – Other Matters: Extends whistleblower programs, cybersecurity authorizations, and temporary orders on fentanyl-related substances. Also includes a temporary extension of the public debt limit until January 30, 2027. 

This act addresses immediate needs for funding continuity, disaster response, health, agriculture, and various other national priorities to ensure operational stability and emergency preparedness.

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So far, it’s pretty clean there, too.

And this is great news – Democrats WERE NOT INVOLVED.

Well, alrighty then.

But…there’s still too much money flowing out the door for the GOP hardliners, and the debt ceiling waiver has them digging their heels in, which has already torqued off the big guy.

This could be a real slog because you know damn well Democrats aren’t voting for any of it.

Roy, and maybe some others, will only get more stubborn if phones start ringing off the hook.

As if on cue…

HERE’S HAKEEM!

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It sure sounds like he’s a ‘no.’

Johnson better wrangle his cats. I mean, this is the test of a speaker right here, not rolling over to let Democrats write something ‘we can all agree on.’

Pelosi is gonna be mad she’s missing it. If a minor miracle occurs and Johnson shoves this through, it still faces Schumer and his den of thieves. 

That should be fun…again, if it gets that far.

Meanwhile, they’re all still moaning and blaming Elon, which has caused the funniest about-face.

If this contretemps about Musk and X has done anything besides save us a buttload of money…

…at least it’s made Democrats interested in who is actually the president again

 Go figure.

And…?

PFFFT

The Republican defections tanked it.

Shutdown, here we come.

Posted in Republican News

We Have a Chinese Spying Problem

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Yesterday, Chen Jinping admitted in federal court that he ran a secret Chinese police station in New York City on behalf of the People’s Republic of China.

“I knowingly agreed to act as a foreign agent, for a foreign government,” he told Judge Nina Morrison, speaking through an interpreter.

But he acted cagey when the judge asked him which government he was working for.

Chen briefly tried in vain to sidestep the question by repeating “the government” — and only admitted that he’d been representing China after he was pressed again by the judge.

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Chen will be sentenced next May and is facing up to five years in prison. His partner in crime “Harry” Lu Jianwang has his own trial coming up soon.

Today we’re learning about another Chinese spy, this one was operating in Southern California.

Yaoning “Mike” Sun, 64, was charged with acting as an illegal agent of a foreign power and conspiring with another man — John Chen — who had been plotting to target U.S.-based practitioners of Falun Gong, a spiritual practice banned in China. Chen was sentenced last month to 20 months in prison for acting as an unregistered agent of the People’s Republic of China and bribing an Internal Revenue Service agent.

Sun, a Chinese national, served as the campaign manager and business partner for a Southern California politician, described in court records only as Individual 1. The politician was running for local elected office in 2022…

While he was in custody, prosecutors allege Chen told his cellmate that he was a Chinese spy working for an agency that’s “100 times better than the FBI,” according to the complaint.

Chinese spies certainly are arrogant. Maybe because they seem to get away with so much. Also this week we’re learning about another potential threat involving Chinese internet routers.

US officials are concerned that cheap and ubiquitous routers made by TP-Link could offer a foothold for China-backed hackers into US infrastructure, the sources said.

The Commerce Department has opened a probe into the company that is in its nascent stages. One possible outcome of the probe is a ban on the sale of TP-Link routers in the US, two of the sources, said…

Founded in China in 1996, TP-Link has grown into a dominant player in the global market for wireless internet routers. Its exact market share in the US is unclear (a TP-Link spokesperson did not respond to a question on market share), but the gear’s wide use in the US is one reason for the investigation.

TP-Link this year announced a corporate restructuring, establishing a headquarters in California, TP-Link Systems, that it says is separate from its China operations.

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This is exactly what TikTok tried to do. It also established a US subsidiary and then claimed all US data would be maintained on servers inside the US. But that didn’t prove that the Chinese company in charge, ByteDance, couldn’t look into this data at any time or wouldn’t be required to do so by the Chinese government. TP-Link is apparently a top brand in the US.

The Justice, Defense and Commerce Departments have all been scrutinizing TP-Link, the most widely used home router in the United States, with Commerce considering a potential ban of the devices, two people familiar with the matter said Wednesday, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the matter’s sensitivity, and confirming an earlier report by the Wall Street Journal.

Congress is also trying to fund an effort to replace Chinese telecommunications equipment.

As part of the annual defense budget green-lit on Wednesday, Congress approved $3 billion to complete the “Rip and Replace” program to remove equipment made by the Chinese telecommunications manufacturing giants Huawei Technologies and ZTE from rural U.S. phone networks. The initiative was begun in 2020 by the Trump administration, but FCC officials soon realized they needed more than double the original funding to finish the job, largely stalling the program.

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All of this follows the hacking which I wrote about here and here which may have allowed the Chinese government to listen in on Donald Trump’s calls (and JD Vance’s) during the campaign. The government run Chinese hackers behind that effort still haven’t been pushed out of US telecom networks.

Officials have said they do not believe that the Chinese hackers have been ousted from the networks of at least eight telecommunications firms, including the nation’s two largest, Verizon and AT&T. That suggests that China’s hackers retain the capability to escalate.

Since Microsoft first alerted the telecommunications firms over the summer that they had found evidence of hackers deep in their systems, the Biden administration has struggled to come up with a response. It created a task force inside the White House, and the issue is considered so serious that the group meets almost daily. Chief executives of the affected firms have been summoned to the Situation Room to come up with a joint plan of action.

In short, the Chinese have been acting with impunity on US soil and in US networks. At some point we may need to make it clear to them we don’t like the intrusions.

Posted in Republican News

The ‘Shutdown’ Propaganda Is Ridiculous

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Americans used to be afraid of government shutdowns, and a few still are. 

Ever worried about catching flak, it’s almost a given that they bend the knee to Democrats and give them what they want. This is a hangover from the Clinton years when Bill Clinton could look into the camera with his scolding eyes and blame Republicans for every bad thing, and people bought the spin because the Pravda Media kept repeating it. 

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Republicans learned a lesson, but the wrong one. What they should have figured out is that the Democrats and the media would attack them no matter what, so they should just go ahead and do what is right. 

The Democrats and the media are pulling this trick again, and Congressional Republicans–or at least the establishment ones–are still afraid of looking bad in the eyes of the media, so when the Democrats demanded stupid and harmful measures to be put into the CR, Republican leadership caved. 

Republican voters were assured that Congress wouldn’t pass an omnibus bill before Trump took power, but they produced a 1500-page monstrosity that was an omnibus bill in all but name. 

The bill was killed, and now we are supposed to believe this is a crisis that could destroy Trump’s honeymoon. Don’t believe it. 

Everything was going relatively smoothly for Donald Trump.

Coming off a decisive electoral victory last month, he had appeared to corral his party behind even his most controversial Cabinet picks and was enjoying decent public approval. He promised to create a strong economy. Tech titans and foreign leaders are clamoring to meet with him or fund his inauguration.

Then Wednesday happened.

Two shocks to the system this week have cast Washington into chaos as Republicans scramble to avoid a self-created looming government shutdown and weather a market slide at the peak of the holiday season.

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The Fed’s worries about the economy indeed signal a problem for Trump for sure, but given that Biden is still president and he will walk into office with a bunch of proposals to jump-start the economy any improvement in 2025 will be seen as a victory for him. Right now Biden owns the economy. 

As for a government shutdown–that is more a media phenomenon than a serious problem for Trump. Again, Biden is president, and the Republicans can do something about shifting the little blame that will be apportioned to where it belongs. 

Pass a disaster relief bill and a clean CR and go home. Disaster relief is a real issue, although a creative president who wanted to do something about hurting people could easily find the money to get to work right now. The CR could be under 25 pages, and if Democrats refuse to pass it, then it is on them. 

The last thing we need is to hamper Trump on Day 1, and this CR would have. Any fear that Americans will side with Biden and Hakeem Jeffries is a fantasy inspired by nightmares based on the 1990s. 

Republicans are weenies, and their current problem isn’t that moderate voters are worried about a government shutdown; it’s that Republican voters will revolt if they stab us in the back. 

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Still, I expect that Trump has the juice to get the Republicans in line. And once the ball is in the Democrats’ court, Trump has the ammo to either force them to pass the bills or to make them take the blame for the consequences. 

Trump is not in trouble. The Democrats and RINOs are. 

Posted in Republican News

Kamala’s Conundrum: Cash Out or Carry On

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I ask you to remember the context in which this exists. It’s an attempt to consider whether Kamala Harris will ever be unburdened by what has been over the last few months, to become what she thinks she can be. Does Harris really believe her future includes electoral success — or does she need to roll down her sleeves and get a golden parachute?

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According to the Daily Mail, the gold for that parachute is ripe for the taking:

Kamala Harris, who bizarrely blew through a record $1.5 billion on her failed presidential campaign, may soon earn some big-bucks payback.

Top publishers, DailyMail.com has learned exclusively, are willing to pay the soon-to-be former vice president and twice-failed Democratic presidential hopeful a whopping advance of as much as $20 million for an inside look at President Joe Biden’s, 82, White House and presidential campaign tell-all.

That kind of gold comes at a price, however. Book publishers don’t want Harris’ idea of inspirational word salads, nor a campaign biography that might be titled That Little Girl Was Me, even though it wasn’t. Harris has already told those biographical stories ad nauseam especially in the context of painting herself as someone who “grew up in a middle-class family.”

The only way that Harris will get to the big money is to burn bridges she would need to run for any future run for office. Or, to put it another way — does Harris want to be unburdened of what might be?

A prominent executive at one of New York’s top liberal-leaning publishing houses told DailyMail.com: ‘More than anyone in the Biden White House, Kamala as the number two, and then as Joe Biden‘s campaign successor after he dropped out of the race, knows all the secrets, knows where all the skeletons are buried.[“] …

Still, publishers investing a small fortune in a Kamala Harris tell-all expect her to ‘tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth,’ according to a top Washington D.C. literary agent who has represented and sold bestselling books by prominent political figures to leading publishers.

‘Kamala needs to forget all the campaign bulls**t that was spewed on her side, and honestly tell everything about the true nature of her relationship with Biden, and what role, if any, she played in forcing him to drop out of the race,’ the agent told DailyMail.com.

He continued: ‘She has to be honest about what went on between her and Biden regarding the controversial withdrawal from Afghanistan and was she aware that he was lying to the American public and the mainstream media when he said numerous times he wouldn’t pardon his son, Hunter, and then shockingly did so.

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So that’s the choice Harris faces. Does she really believe that she can win any future election, or even a Democrat primary, for significant office? If she does, then Harris can’t afford to burn her party with the truth about Biden — and especially about his cognitive decline in office:

‘And most importantly,’ said the source, ‘she needs to explain who were the real puppet masters during the past four years of the Biden-Harris administration – who was really making the important decisions. Was it the far Left, and why, and she’d be expected to name names.

Book publishers aren’t likely to part with retirement-level cash just to have Harris regurgitate the “sharp as a tack” propaganda, either. We have a glut of that product already from the last three years, all of which have been discredited by the June 27 debate and which now even Democrats refuse to buy. 

Why would that disqualify Kamala? Because telling the truth about Biden in an “inside story” fashion would necessarily implicate all of the Democrats who covered up the truth and defrauded Americans. And more than that, it would also require Harris to identify the people who really made the decisions during Biden’s presidency. To tell that story would be to indict the party’s leadership and likely no small number of its donors and consultants — and, of course, Harris herself most of all. After all, Harris was the only other constitutional officeholder in the administration and the one person who could have and should have acted when Biden’s incapacity became known. 

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And on that note too, Harris kept the cover-up going even after the June 27 debate became known. She insisted that Biden was still sharp as a tack and completely in charge all the way through the election. To say otherwise now would be to expose herself as an abject liar in defense of the indefensible. That would end any hope she might have for elective office, even if she had any hope to lose at this point.

So … the gold would come at a cost. Plus, there’s another issue here too, which is that Harris will have to decide very quickly which path to choose. After all, Harris isn’t the only one in the Biden White House who knows the answers to the questions that book publishers want to exclusively reveal to the public. Some others might have an axe to grind with Democrat Party leadership too, including Harris herself. They also know that the first one past the finish line will get the big money. Harris would be the most important voice among that crowd, but that doesn’t make her the only person who can profit off of the disaster of the last four years. 

What will Harris choose? She probably considers herself the heir apparent for 2028, even if no one else takes that seriously, but even that is not the real conundrum. Someone will start ratting out the malefactors at some point and likely sooner than later, given the stakes involved. Harris can either get ahead of that by seizing the narrative or end up getting painted as a conspirator in a Constitution-defying power play  … or the idiot who allowed it to happen. If Harris has the slightest self-awareness, she’d take the money and attempt to spin the blame onto others as soon as possible, rather than maintain the illusion that she has any chance at high office in the future. That’s a mighty big if, however. 

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With Viewership Down, MSNBC Offers Joy Reid a Pay Cut

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The post-election landscape has been tough on left-leaning news networks. MSNBC has lost more than half of its primetime viewers.

Fox’s primetime viewership has grown 7% since the election compared with its October average, according to Nielsen data earlier cited by the Hollywood Reporter…

MSNBC took second place for average total day viewers but fell behind CNN in the 25-54 demo amid its own post-election turmoil. Since Nov. 5, MSNBC’s ratings have tanked more than 60% in primetime, dropping to only 57,000 average viewers, according to Nielsen. 

The Comcast-owned channel has also seen viewers abandon its weekend shows. Last Saturday, the network’s talk show hosted by Jonathan Capehart managed just 12,000 viewers in the 25-54 demo.

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Among this generally dismal news, Joy Reid’s show is not doing much better.

“The ReidOut” has shed 47% of its total audience, averaging just 759,000 viewers after averaging 1.4 million viewers throughout 2024 leading up to Election Day, according to Nielsen Media Research.

Reid lost even more viewers among the advertiser-coveted demographic ages 25-54, losing a whopping 52% of them, now averaging only 76,000 key demo viewers.

Rachel Maddow, who only works one day a week, was offered a $5 million pay cut on her $30 million salary. She is also reportedly having to step up her work commitment to hold onto the remaining $25 million. Now Joy Reid and others are getting the same treatment.

MSNBC’s Joy Reid and Stephanie Ruhle will reportedly need to take a pay cut if they want to remain in their anchor chairs as the struggling cable network continues to cut costs…

Reid, who has been with the network since 2011 and in primetime since 2020, recently raised hackles again with a pre-Thanksgiving rant in which she accused Republicans of worshiping Donald Trump “instead of Jesus.”

There’s no word on what the new offer will be or whether Reid is planning to accept it. Given her views on Republicans, she may be more put off by changes that MSNBC’s new corporate boss reportedly wants to make at the network.

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Mark Lazarus would like MSNBC to be on better terms with Republicans.

The SpinCo boss, who will mark one month into his new job on Friday, has indicated to people in private conversations over the past month that he would like the Rashida Jones-led cable news network to work to incorporate more GOP voices on its air, according to people familiar with the matter.

MSNBC had to hold onto Maddow because, for better or worse, she’s the face of the network. But Joy Reid? I wonder if they aren’t lowballing her and hoping she quits at this point. 

Posted in Republican News

Chicago Mayor’s Handpicked School Board Schedules Friday Night ‘Christmas Massacre’

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Gracious goodness, the tattered and filthy floating wreckage that is Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s term just keeps adding more detritus to the growing noxious pile.

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He has been having himself a time, and most of it has to do with his…how to pu tit politely…craptastic socialist money management skills and his undying fealty – read that as ‘tool of’ – the Chicago Teachers’ Union (CTU).

Fed-up residents have been beating on him unmercifully over both the illegal immigrants swamping the city thanks to Hizzoner’s sanctuary policies. They’re mad about the cost of feeding, housing, and clothing guests invited by the mayor to mooch off of already thin city resources. They are furious at the presence of more criminals – something they definitely didn’t need – who seem to be working their trade at will, And they are snorting fire at the cost of supporting Johnson’s illegal friendly policies as they are confronted with massive deficit spending and insane CYA plans like $68.5M real estate tax hikes and the city taking out short term $300M payday loans. 

The entire Chicago Board of Education resigned en masse in protest over the mayor’s insistence they fire the CEO of Chicago Public Schools, a fellow named Pedro Martinez, because he refused to go along with Johnson’s plan to put the school district on the hook for that $300M payday loan. This all happened just as the board was approaching a shift to a hybrid make-up of appointees and elected members.

Martinez said, “Hell, no, we’re broke enough,” Johnson put the pressure on, and the board walked.

They might be different, but they’re not crazy, and they are not convinced that the mayor isn’t.

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In various town halls around Chicago, residents have been vocal, excoriating Johnson and, with many in red hats and t-shirts, threatening that the coming Trump administration will mean his mayoral doom. 

Johnson reflexively blusters and bloviates – he recently started an ill-advised pissing contest with incoming Border Czar Tom Homan, for one example. It’s academic who wins that one, so what’s the point of antagonizing someone?

He’s a tiny-brained posturing poltroon.

It doesn’t help his case that, fragile flower that he is, the mayor cracks every now and then. He did so two weeks ago.

And dang, if he didn’t throw a public fit again on Monday. Although, granted it was after those frickin’ red shirt, red hat people came back and threw fits at him.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson on Monday ordered the removal of people from a city council meeting after protests over his actions on issues involving migrants.

The instruction followed the public comment period, during which some people wearing shirts reading “Chicago flips red.”

“Sergeant at arms, please remove these individuals from the chambers,” Mayor Johnson said.

Footage of the meeting does not show what any attendees were doing when the mayor ordered their removal.

One person wearing a “Chicago flips red” shirt, identified as Jessica Jackson, told Mayor Johnson he was going to be “held accountable” for directing money toward migrants, citing an executive order from last year establishing a deputy mayor for “immigrant, migrant and refugee rights.”

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Spazzing, the mayor did his best Heidi Klum Project Runway impression. 

YOU ARE OUT

All this time, Pedro Martinez still had his job, irritating the crap out of the mayor and foiling his – and the CTU’s – big money plans. Additionally, the elections came and went, and new school board members were elected who are due to take their seats on the new hybrid board in January.

Johnson had carefully shielded his hand-selected flock from inadvertently tanking his plans.

Johnson couldn’t leave well enough alone. He wants Martinez gone, like yesterday.

So he laid the hammer down to his appointees on the board while he had them – get rid of Martinez.

So they are.

 The Chicago Board of Education plans to vote on the future of Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez at a special meeting on Friday, multiple sources told ABC7.

The meeting’s agenda includes two items: “Approve Settlement with Chief Officer” and “Approve Termination of Chief Officer.” Sources have confirmed to ABC7 that the chief officer in question is Martinez.

The meeting is scheduled for the first night of CPS winter break, on a Friday evening before a long holiday weekend, and it comes less than four weeks before newly-elected board members are scheduled to be sworn in.

The mayor recently appointed a brand new school board that would seemingly have the power to vote to fire Martinez.

“This is the Christmas massacre,” 36th Ward Ald. Gilbert Villegas said. “This is about firing Pedro and threatening him whether or not he takes the buyout or termination.“

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The newly elected but unseated board members are not happy.

…Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates and Vice President Jackson Potter have been lobbying Johnson for months to pressure the board to fire Martinez, who has refused to support the issuance of a $300M high-interest payday loan to fund CTU’s contract demands.  

This pressure led to the ousting of the entire seven-member school board in October. Johnson then appointed an entirely new board, with no oversight. The new board president then resigned when 40 aldermen called for him to step down after social media posts came to light wherein he supported 9/11 conspiracy theories and anti-semitism. 

Johnson and the CTU are hoping for all of this to rushed through before newly elected members of the school board take office on Jan. 15.

Austin Berg has a great little three-point primer on his X page about Johnson that is very informative as far as Chicago and who is running things. The most important is the first because it’s totally relevant to this potential ‘massacre’ and financial catastrophe and which I will share with you here:

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A national political reporter visiting Chicago to cover preparations for the Democratic National Convention asked me a great question today.  

“What do you think people outside Chicago don’t understand about Brandon Johnson’s administration?” 

Thought I’d share my answer here.  

There are three dynamics that explain why City Hall is such a mess. And why Johnson is the least popular first-term mayor in Chicago history  

1. The Chicago Teachers Union dictates the mayor’s priorities and allocation of political capital. They are by far the most powerful political actor in city government right now, which means the administration fixates on the demands of a small base of far-left activists. This explains things like the cancellation of ShotSpotter despite community support, the mayor casting the tie-breaking vote on a ceasefire resolution, attacking selective enrollment schools, defending the most radical members of city council despite their horrific behavior, hostility toward ethics reform, and banning schools from hiring cops as security officers. Watch the @illinoispolicy documentary “Local 1: The Rise of America’s Most Powerful Teachers Union” at http://chicagoteachersunion.com for the best account of this.

That’s it.

If Johnson thought he got yelled at before by angry people in red hats and t-shirts, just wait ’til his hitmen get rid of the one guy with the guts standing between the CTU and sticking it to city residents for another $300M courtesy of a high-interest loan.

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He’d better wear a pith helmet.

Posted in Republican News

Israel Takes Aim At Last Iranian Proxy Standing

Israel Takes Aim At Last Iranian Proxy Standing 19

This post was originally published on this site

Israel Takes Aim At Last Iranian Proxy Standing 20

Hezbollah — or what’s left of it — sued for peace. Hamas — or what’s left of it — will shortly blink out of existence if it doesn’t do the same. Bsshar al-Assad has fled the region, and with it Iran’s last connections to two of its three proxy terror groups in the region. 

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That leaves the Houthis in Yemen, who have the same sense of impeccable timing as their fellow terrorists. Just as Israel began consolidating its positions on their borders with Syria and Lebanon and considered what to do about the Houthis, the Yemen group lobbed two ballistic missiles at Tel Aviv. And that prompted the kind of response from Israel that they wanted to deliver all along:

Israel Air Force (IAF) fighter jets struck Houthi terror targets in the capital of Sana’a in Yemen during the early hours of Thursday morning, as 14 aircraft were already in the air as Yemen fired a ballistic missile towards Israel, the military announced. 

The IDF added that the targets Israel struck were used by the Houthis for military purposes, which included smuggling Iranian weapons into the country. The IDF also confirmed that ports and energy infrastructure in Sana’a were hit during the strikes. 

This time, the Israelis had more ambitions than just a demonstration of capabilities. They targeted all three ports used by the Houthis for weapons transfers as well as commercial traffic, and began hitting command locations in the captured capital for the first time:

Israeli military sources said the strikes in Yemen were aimed at paralyzing all three ports used by the Iran-backed Houthis on the coast of the country. 

All of the tugboats used to bring ships into ports were struck in the Israeli attack, as were power stations.

In Israel’s previous attack on the Hodeida port, the cranes used to unload shipments were struck.

Israel now believes that all activity at the ports controlled by the Houthis is paralyzed, sources said.

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Iran has apparently not gotten the message that they have lost their wider war, not even after Israel’s defeat of Hezbollah cost them their Assad puppet in Damascus. The IDF made that explicitly clear after the strikes in Sana’a and in Hodeidah:

Benjamin Netanyahu followed up by warning the Houthis and everyone else that the Israelis are done with symmetric responses. He also emphasized that the Israelis are not the only target of Iranian proxy terror attacks, but that Israel will be happy to deliver enough of an asymmetric response on behalf of all:

Hours after the Israel Defense Forces carried out intense airstrikes against Houthi targets in Yemen, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that Israel’s operations are protecting not just itself from the Iran-backed rebel group but the entire world.

“They are not only attacking us,” Netanyahu said in a video statement. “They are attacking the entire world. They are attacking international shipping and trade routes.” …

“When Israel acts against the Houthis, it acts for the entire international community,” Netanyahu said, adding that the US and many others “understand this well.”

He suggested that the rebel group was among the last Iranian proxies still active “after Hamas, Hezbollah and the Assad regime in Syria.”

The Houthis, he said, “are learning and they will learn the hard way that anyone who attacks Israel pays a very heavy price.”

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The Houthis responded today by declaring that they will continue attacking Israel while hostilities continue in Gaza. If they believe that their long-range attacks will deflect Israel from their determination to destroy Hamas, they really should look at the massive changes in the region over the last four months. Hezbollah had the exact same ambition, and they were both better prepared and much better positioned to take on Israel in service to a “unified battleground” on behalf of their Iranian masters. Instead, Israel utterly destroyed them and with them the last remaining strut holding up Assad. 

However, the conflict in Gaza may come to an end soon anyway, or at least pause for a significant period of time. Netanyahu called a security cabinet meeting to discuss developments in negotiations with Hamas, which might signal a deal is getting closer to fruition:

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was set to hold a high-level meeting on Thursday with top security officials as efforts to reach a hostage-ceasefire deal with Hamas appeared to gather momentum, Israeli televion reported Wednesday.

Netanyahu’s planned assessment, which will include Defense Minister Israel Katz and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, comes as CIA chief William Burns reportedly arrived in Qatar Wednesday night to try and hammer out the outstanding issues. Channel 12 news said that if there was progress, senior Israeli officials would join the talks.

And in a sign of the approaching endgame, Netanyahu has reduced the number of people involved in the negotiating efforts and instructed them not to share any details about the talks, the network said, noting the insistence was out of concern that far-right members of his coalition could step up pressure to torpedo the deal as it nears.

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If so, then perhaps what’s left of Hamas has more sense than the Houthis. Or maybe this will give the Houthis a face-saving way to back down and preserve at least one Iranian proxy for a little while longer. 

Posted in Republican News