News and Headlines: In The News, Politics, World News, Commentary/Opinion.
In The News:
Court Rules Trump Administration Can Tap $3.5 Billion in Military Funds for Wall
(AP Photo/Daniel Ochoa de Olza)
In a welcome victory for border security advocates, a federal appeals court agreed to lift an injunction that was blocking the Trump administration from tapping military construction funds to build a wall.
The 5th Circuit Court, based in New Orleans, ruled 2-1 that wall construction could proceed while the appeal was heard. And the two Republican judges may have put a nail in the coffin of the groups opposing the issue by questioning whether they even had standing to sue in the first place.
There are challenges in several circuits to Trump’s declaration of a national emergency last year and his subsequent earmarking of $6 billion in military construction funds to build the wall.
The Supreme Court lifted one injunction against the administration’s use of the funds and it’s probable that more are headed its way.
PVA Defends Citizens’ First Amendment Rights for Undercover Recording in Massachusetts Court
(Boston, MA) Project Veritas Action Fund appeared in the US First Circuit Court of Appeals for the First Circuit yesterday to challenge Section 99 of Massachusetts law.
This is a law that broadly restricts any sort of undercover recording.
PVA argues that, as a result of this law, the American public will miss out on newsworthy information derived from such recordings. Further, PVA states that Section 99 infringes on citizens’ First Amendment rights.
There are eleven states that believe it is the legislature’s responsibility to provide some level of privacy protection in conversations, but Massachusetts is the only state to fully apply privacy protections without consideration for the citizen’s right to secretly record.
PVA argued that Massachusetts, like those eleven states, should narrow its law.
EXCLUSIVE: Mexican military rushes to help Border Patrol stop illegal border crossers
Fox Nation captured exclusive new video of the Mexican military rushing to help the U.S. Border Patrol catch a group of suspected illegal border crossers in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley.
It’s something that the Border Patrol said is happening more and more often in recent months, as Customs and Border Protection announced Thursday that border apprehensions continued to drop in December for the seventh straight month.
For her new Fox Nation show, “24 Hours,” Tomi Lahren spent a day with the Border Patrol in that region of Texas, where she did a ride-along in a vehicle, boat and from the air.
Watch how this Australian airport welcomed US firefighters arriving to fight wildfires
(Photo by Brett Hemmings/Getty Images)
In a video posted on Twitter Thursday by Shane Fitzsimmons, the commissioner of the New South Wales Rural Fire Service, Australians burst into applause as American firefighters arrived at the Sydney International Airport.
“Coming through, all gathered gave a spontaneous & lengthy round of applause, reflecting the gratitude & admiration we all have for their generosity,” Fitzsimmons said in the post.
More than 200 American firefighters are set to help with the devastating fires.
At least 100 more American firefighters will join the 159 already in the country, the Associated Press reported Wednesday.
Amazon fired Ring workers for accessing user video
The company provided details on the employees in a letter responding to questions from five Democratic Senators on the company’s security practices. The senators sent the letter in November.
“Over the last four years, Ring has received four complaints or inquiries regarding a team member’s access to Ring video data,” the letter read.
“Although each of the individuals involved in these incidents was authorized to view video data, the attempted access to that data exceeded what was necessary for their job functions.”
The employee concerned in each incident was let go after an investigation determined they violated company policy. Ring also said it has taken “multiple actions” to limit similar data access to a smaller group of employees.
Police: Naugatuck man shoots ex rather than pay her child support
Termane Smith, of Naugatuck, was in court Wednesday to faces charges including first-degree assault.
Police said on Nov. 3, officers were called to the hospital after a woman came in with a gunshot in her left upper arm.
The victim at first said she did not know who shot her, but later said it was the 40-year-old Smith.
Taco Bell is offering a six figure salary for its restaurant managers to overcome stigma of working in fast food and encourage talent in record low unemployment
The Irvine, California-based, Mexican-food themed chain owned by Yum Brands said it was upping the management salary, ‘to invest in our people, enhance morale and boost recruitment and retention,’ Ferril Onyett, Senior Director of Global Training and International HR at Taco Bell told DailyMail.com.
Taco Bell’s offer comes amid a 50-year-low unemployment rate. The US Labor Department reports unemployment is at 3.5 per cent, the same rate it was in 1969.
That means there are ample openings across the country and job candidates can be pickier of where they want to apply.
Since lower-wage workers have traditionally provided the work force for fast-food restaurants, companies like Taco Bell are moving to sweeten their offers to entice more and better candidates.
U-Haul workers find a human body wrapped in plastic and cardboard in the back of an abandoned rental truck
U-Haul employees in California made a gruesome discovery when they found a human body tightly wrapped in plastic and cardboard in the back of a truck that had been rented then abandoned on a street.
Police officers were summoned to the scene near Orangethorpe Avenue and State College Boulevard in Fullerton on Wednesday afternoon after receiving a report of a possible body found in the trunk of a U-Haul truck.
The vehicle had been rented in Anaheim and never returned.
When workers opened the back of the vehicle to perform an inventory of its contents, they discovered a deceased person wrapped in plastic, cardboard and duct tape, reported CBS Los Angeles.
The body was so tightly packaged that it was impossible to tell the gender, race or age of the deceased, let alone his or her name, according to Sgt. Shane Carringer, of the Anaheim Police Department.
Philadelphia man robs pharmacy because of ‘sick child,’ hands cashier note: ‘You have 15 seconds’
The Philadelphia Police Department released surveillance footage of the robbery taken on Jan. 3 around noon inside a Rite Aid on Ogontz Avenue.
The suspect reaches into his pocket and leans over, prompting the cashier to open the drawer and put the money in a plastic bag.
He walks away briefly before returning for the rest of the cash.
American Dystopia, Part 3: San Francisco residents turn to private police
Commentary/Opinion: ‘Tucker Carlson Tonight’ examines San Francisco in decline.
Who is the FBI’s most wanted American terrorist? Meet Jehad Serwan Mostafa
“Mostafa is believed to be the highest-ranking United States citizen fighting overseas for a terrorist organization,” U.S. Attorney Robert Brewer stated. “Al-Shabab’s reign of terror threatens U.S. national security, our international allies, and innocent civilians.”
According to a recently unsealed federal indictment, the U.S. citizen – who has for years been on the FBI’s Most Wanted Terror list – has been charged with additional crimes related to his alleged involvement with Al Qaeda affiliate Al-Shabab in East Africa.
Mostafa was first indicted in 2010, having fled the U.S. in December 2005. The superseding indictment expands the scope of the previous charges.
It claims that Mostafa, at some point between March 2008 to at least February 2017, “conspired to provide material support, including himself as personnel to terrorists.”
Politics:
Vermont bill would ban cellphone use for anyone under 21
A bill seeking to ban the use of cellphones for anyone under the age of 21 was introduced by a Democratic state senator this week as legislators gathered in Montpelier for the first day of the 2020 legislative session.
The bill, introduced to the judiciary committee by Sen. John Rodgers (Essex-Orleans), would make the possession of a cellphone punishable by up to one year in prison, a $1,000 fine, or both.
Rodgers writes within the proposal that cellphones are a large factor in teenage driving deaths and can lead to bullying and radicalization.
Dem congressman breaks rank on War Powers Resolution: ‘I refuse to play politics with questions of war and peace’
Rep. Max Rose said that “President Trump was justified” in ordering the drone strike that killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani and others as they traveled from Baghdad’s international airport last Friday, and argued that the resolution being debated Thursday “simply restates existing law and sends the message that war is imminent.”
“I know all too well the real costs of war, and sending troops into harm’s way is the most consequential decision I could make,” Rose, who served in the Army during the conflict in Afghanistan, said in a statement.
“Unfortunately, today’s War Powers Resolution is a non-binding resolution that simply restates existing law and sends the message that war is imminent.”
He added: “I refuse to play politics with questions of war and peace and therefore will not support this resolution.”
Ep. 1154 The Deep State is Real, and They’re Not Playing Games – The Dan Bongino Show.
Commentary/Opinion: In this episode, I address the stunning connections between the anti-Trump impeachment players and the Spygate hoaxers.
I also address the imploding impeachment farce and the failure of Pelosi’s latest gamble.
Finally, I address failure of media outlets to understand the significance of Trump’s strike against Soleimani.
More treachery by the Schiffster
Commentary/Opinion: Treachery does not begin to describe the nature of Adam and his partners in crime. Even if people do not like Trump, how can they possibly applaud the Schiff led kangaroo court, er, impeachment hearings and their implication of the forthcoming destruction of the Constitution and the rule of law.
The leftist Dems have become the very Fascists they decry.
The so-called “woke” are useful idiots who literally know nothing about the true nature of what they support. Will enough clear thinkers come to the polls in 2020 and vote for the Constitution?
If House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ever transmits the articles of impeachment to the Republican-controlled Senate, the trial will begin in the upper chamber to determine whether Trump is acquitted or removed from office.
But things took a turn recently when House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff — who has been leading the Democrats impeachment circus — got busted omitting key evidence that was favorable to the president and exonerated him from “quid pro quo” allegations.
McConnell tells Republicans he expects impeachment trial next week
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Thursday told Republican senators that he expects Speaker Nancy Pelosi to transmit the articles of impeachment to the Senate as soon as Friday, setting up an impeachment trial that begins early next week.
While senators and aides cautioned that McConnell does not have inside intelligence, the remarks serve as key scheduling advice for senators.
Most Republicans are now gearing up for the relentless pace of the impeachment trial to start on Monday or Tuesday.
“At lunch, we all heard that. And he says: ‘That’s my best guess,’” said Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.). “Which means that we’d get started next week.”
Judicial Watch: New Strzok-Page Emails Reveal DOJ Special Treatment to Clinton Lawyers
(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today it received 211 pages of emails between former FBI officials Peter Strzok and Lisa Page that detail special accommodations given to the lawyers of Hillary Clinton and her aides during the FBI investigation of the Clinton email controversy.
The new emails include a discussion about negotiations with Beth Wilkinson, a lawyer for the Clinton lawyers who gathered and then deleted 33,000 emails for Hillary Clinton, over the destruction of laptops provided to the FBI.
The FBI is only processing the records at a rate of 500 pages per month and have refused to process text messages.
At this rate, the production of these communications won’t be completed for almost another two more years – in late 2021.
President Trump Announces Proposed National Environmental Policy Act Regulations
The White House:
Ex CIA Exposes The Reality Of The Deep State (Pt. 2) | Bryan Dean Wright | POLITICS | Rubin Report
Commentary/Opinion: Dave Rubin of The Rubin Report talks to Bryan Dean Wright (former CIA ops officer) about the Deep State. Bryan has a unique perspective being a former CIA agent and a lifelong Democrat.
Bryan gives an insider’s take on what exactly the “deep state” is and how they use information to steer the narratives in a direction more favorable to their interests.
He shares how the FBI, CIA, and NSA have access to so much information that it is not uncommon for people within these organizations to feel that know what is best for US foreign policy, instead of just sharing their information with elected officials.
Bryan also gives his feelings on the abuses of power of John Brennan, James Clapper, and James Comey and how he thinks William Barr will deal with them.
He tells how the Trump dossier was known to be baseless, but was used by people like James Comey, John Brennan and James Clapper to justify the spying on candidate and later President Trump.
He claims that the dossier was intentionally used to create the Russiagate hysteria that painted Trump as a Russian asset.
John Kerry: It Is an ‘Outright Lie’ by Trump That Iran Was Given $150 Billion
He continued, “We are not safer because this president has been willing to personally invoke his anti-Obamaism to such a degree that he’s run the risk of war.
That response by Iran could have been significantly different. and it is not right for the president of the united states to put the united states in a position where we are dependent on a regime that we don’t like to somehow behave in a way that saves this president from himself.”
Democratic Committee Chairman Breaks With Pelosi On Impeachment Strategy — Then Says He ‘Misspoke’
Washington Democratic Rep. Adam Smith, the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, has retracted comments made Thursday morning that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi should deliver the Articles of Impeachment to the Senate.
But just hours early, when asked by the host of CNN’s “New Day” whether it was time to move on. Smith said it was.
“But at the end of the day just like we control it in the House, Mitch McConnell controls it in the Senate.
I think it was perfectly advisable for them to leverage that, get a better deal. At this point it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen.
And yes, I think it is time to send the impeachment to the Senate and let Mitch McConnell be responsible for the fairness of the trial. He ultimately is.”
Omar claim of PTSD ‘offensive’ to US veterans, Indiana congressman says; Squad member responds
An Indiana congressman who served in Afghanistan as a member of the Navy Reserve spoke out on behalf of America’s military veterans Wednesday after U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., claimed she suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder.
U.S. Rep. Jim Banks, a Republican, said Omar’s comments were a “disgrace,” calling the remarks “offensive to our nation’s veterans who really do have PTSD after putting their life on the line to keep America safe.”
Omar had made her remarks during a news conference with other Democrats on Wednesday, at which she said she “felt ill” because of “everything that is taking place” in the Middle East —
World News:
China says Liu He going to Washington to sign trade deal
BEIJING (AP) — China’s economy czar will visit Washington next week for the signing of an interim trade deal, the government said Thursday.
Vice Premier Liu He, Beijing’s chief envoy in talks with Washington over their tariff war, had been expected to attend the signing but the Commerce Ministry’s statement was the first official confirmation.
Washington postponed planned tariff increases following the announcement of the “Phase 1” deal in October. But earlier punitive duties imposed by both sides on billions of dollars of each other’s goods stayed in place, dampening global trade and threatening to chill economic growth.
Mexico officials find 26 bags of body parts in ravine
Mexican forensic officials from the state of Jalisco announced the discovery of 26 plastic bags full of severed body parts on Thursday and said they are still trying to sort out how many victims there could be.
Authorities said they found the bags in a ravine but have no clues yet as to the origin of the remains.
The state prosecutor’s office in Jalisco released a statement about the discovery, saying it began collecting the bags on Tuesday in Tonala, near the outskirts of Guadalajara, according to The Associated Press.
Video Shows Ukrainian Plane Being Hit Over Iran
Video verified by The New York Times appears to show an Iranian missile hitting a plane above Parand, near Tehran’s airport, the area where a Ukrainian airliner stopped transmitting its signal before it crashed on Wednesday.
A small explosion occurred when a missile hit the plane, but the plane did not explode, the video showed.
The jet continued flying for several minutes and turned back toward the airport,
British lawmakers approve Johnson’s Brexit bill, clearing path for Jan. 31 EU departure
Lawmakers voted by 330-231 to pass the Withdrawal Agreement Bill, which sets the terms of Britain’s departure from the 28-nation bloc.
The comfortable majority won by Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservatives in last month’s election secured the bill’s passage despite the opposition of minority parties.
After passing through Parliament’s House of Lords, the bill should become law in time for the U.K. to leave the EU on the scheduled date of Jan. 31 and become the first nation ever to quit the bloc.
Thursday’s vote was a major victory for Johnson, who has made delivering Brexit the key aim of his premiership.
Terrifying moment gunman opens fire on customers as he begins shopping mall bloodbath that left three dead, including boy, two, and five wounded in Thailand
The shooting took place during a botched gold store robbery at a shopping mall in Lopburi, Thailand on Thursday.
The masked man shot dead a security guard followed by a young woman working at the gold store before turning his gun on the little boy as he walked hand-in-hand with his mother.
At least five others – including one tourist – were seriously injured and rushed to hospital after the bloodbath at the Robinson’s store, about 100 miles north of Bangkok at around 9pm local time (2pm UK time).
CCTV footage shows people buying jewelry at the store before a gunman opened fire.
U.S. sanctions Iran in response to ballistic missiles fire – TV7 Israel News 09.01.20
1) The United States steps-up its crippling pressure against Iran by means of additional economic sanctions – while emphasizing that it will evaluate options in response to Iran’s aggression.
2) Top European officials voice their anger with Iran over its withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear agreement – vowing not to stand idly by, while Iran abandons its nuclear-related commitments.
3) China announces that it stands ready to further deepen its cooperation with Russia in all that relates to so-called “stability and peace” in the Middle East.
Ilhan Omar voted 2019’s antisemite of the year
The poll, which started at the end of 2019, included Omar as one of the top three nominees, alongside Louis Farrakhan and Richard Spencer.
The votes are in and the counting has been completed: US Rep. Ilhan Omar is 2019’s biggest antisemite, according to stopantisemitism.org.
The NGO announced that Omar would be awarded the title of biggest antisemite of the year on Monday, including a video listing her achievements in the field of Jew-hatred, accompanied sarcastically by congratulatory music and confetti.
This list included:
A Victory for Trump
Commentary/Opinion: Anne Marie Waters: Leader, For Britain.
Brazil Court Order: Netflix Must Remove Film with Gay Jesus
The ruling Thursday by Rio de Janeiro judge Benedicto Abicair followed a petition by a Brazilian Catholic organization that argued the “honor of millions of Catholics” was hurt by the airing of The First Temptation of Christ.
The Rio-based film company had its headquarters targeted by protests in a Christmas Eve demonstration.
Upwards of two million people signed the petition calling for the production to be axed, as Breitbart News reported.
In the ruling against Netflix, the judge said: “The right to freedom of expression… is not absolute” however the ban is only temporary while a final decision is made.
Pentagon officials believe Iran shot down Ukrainian plane by mistake
The Ukrainian plane that crashed shortly after taking off from Tehran’s international airport was shot down by mistake by an Iranian anti-aircraft missile, Pentagon officials told Fox News.
Russia’s Putin attends Black Sea drills by the Russian navy
The Kremlin said that Putin watched the maneuvers from the Marshal Ustinov missile cruiser.
The navy said the drills involved warships from Russia’s Black Sea Fleet along with several ships from its Northern Fleet.
As part of the Black Sea drills, MiG-31 fighter jets launched Kinzhal hypersonic missiles at practice land targets.
Navy ships performed several launches of Kalibr cruise missiles and other weapons.
More than 30 warships and 39 aircraft, including several Tu-95 strategic bombers, took part in the exercise.
Commentary/Opinion:
Shen Yun Shatters Communist Party Narratives, Prompting Attacks by China’s Regime—Leeshai Lemish
What is Shen Yun, and why does the Chinese Communist Party try so hard to stop its performances?
How is this related to other attempts by the Chinese regime to influence American companies?
And, how is this part of the Communist Party’s broader effort to control the narrative about China abroad and suppress dissenting voices?
In this episode, we’ll sit down with Leeshai Lemish, who has been an MC with Shen Yun Performing Arts since its inception in late 2006.