With All Eyes On Trump, Biden's Bubble Gathered For One Last Swanky, Insulated Sendoff

The sergeant alleged that she refused to comply with orders

'This was a deliberate and calculated act'

Universities have suffered a cataclysmic decline in public approval and support. A Gallup poll taken this year found that only 36 percent of Americans polled either expressed “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in higher education — once the agreed-on touchstone to upward mobility. Gifting to most universities has been down for […]

Joe Biden pardoned two Thanksgiving turkeys

'It was bad enough that Biden took that action'

Thanksgiving is upon us and, three weeks after Election Day, America STILL does not know the makeup of the incoming U.S. House. Pathetic! As of Tuesday at 11:22 p.m., The Associated Press reports Republicans have won 219 seats to the Democrats’ 213. At this writing, three seats remain uncalled:  Democrat Adam Gray inched past Republican Rep. John Duarte by 182 votes in California’s 13th District, with 99% of ballots tallied. (For goodness’ sake, after 22 days, where the hell are those other votes?) Duarte led Gray by 207 votes as late as Tuesday afternoon, with 98% of ballots counted. Another 1% of votes turned up, and—Bang! Zoom!—the Democrat suddenly is on top. Here we go again. In California’s 45th District, Democrat Derek Tran is 613 votes ahead of GOP Rep. Michelle Steel. Iowa’s 1st District finds Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks edging Democrat Christina Bohannan by 800 votes. If these margins hold, the new House should include 215 Democrats, 220 Republicans—a slim three-seat GOP majority. But wait! Florida Republican Matt Gaetz just ditched his seat after abandoning his nomination for U.S. attorney general. And Republican Mike Waltz of Florida will depart Jan. 20 to become President Donald J. Trump’s national security adviser. These resignations have triggered Jan. 28 primaries and April 1 general elections. These vacancies shrink the expected Republican conference to 218 seats. It gets worse: Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., is Trump’s choice for United Nations ambassador. Assuming a quick Senate confirmation, she would leave the House and commence diplomacy on Jan. 21. Remaining GOP seats: 217. Kathy “The Hack” Hochul—New York’s hapless, colorless Democrat governor—is in no rush to comfort Republicans. She likely will maximize GOP anxiety by scheduling the latest possible special election, 90 days hence: Tuesday, April 22.  If everything goes smoothly, the Republican House must govern between Inauguration Day and April Fools’ Day with 217 seats and three vacancies. If all 215 Democrats stay united, Republicans must vote unanimously, lest they drop beneath the 217 votes needed to pass anything. This will turn every decision—from adopting budgets to approving each day’s Congressional Record—into a Hitchcockian thriller. If just one Republican oversleeps, gets sick, or endures flight delays, major legislation could crash and burn. Any single Republican also could hijack the entire House until securing whatever ransom buys his or her cooperation. Republicans also could squander “safe” special elections to fill these vacancies. For a cautionary tale, recall how then-Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., left in 2017 to become Trump’s first attorney general. His seat, in a stalwart-Republican state, was a lock. And then hints and allegations emerged about GOP nominee Roy Moore’s unusual habit of courting females as young as 14. “I don’t remember ever dating any girl without the permission of her mother,” Moore assured Fox News host Sean Hannity. Suitably appalled voters sent liberal Democrat Doug Jones to the Senate—from Alabama! History could repeat itself in any of these normally reliable GOP seats. And yet another hazard light flashes: House Speaker Mike Johnson’s surprisingly weak leadership has earned the scorn of GOP representatives Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia. Add one vote to their Nays and Gaetz’s absence, and the Louisiana Republican could lack the votes to regain the speakership. If so, the House would drift like a ghost ship for days or even weeks until a new captain arises. Meanwhile, Trump’s “America First” legislative agenda would bob aimlessly among the waves. This tiny sliver of hope might help: Gaetz should change his mind and take back the seat that he defended on Nov. 5, 66% to 34%, over Democrat Gay Valimont. Gaetz then should chair a new Select Committee on Federal Injustice. It would detail the Justice Department’s violations of the U.S. Constitution, federal law, and its own regulations. These would include, but not be limited to, the FBI spying on Trump’s 2016 campaign, the FBI’s lies to the FISA court, the three-year Russia hoax, the Hunter Biden laptop cover-up, the FBI’s alleged inducement of Jan. 6 violence, the federal arm-twisting of Big Tech to censor and deplatform citizens, the surveillance of conservative Catholics, the designation of parents’ rights activists as domestic terrorists, and more. While Gaetz no longer will cleanse DOJ’s Augean stable internally, he could present Attorney General nominee Pam Bondi the facts, dates, and—most important—names of the perpetrators behind these abuses. Bondi should dismiss and, where appropriate, prosecute these tyrants. This Florida Republican pincer movement would reinvigorate the constitutional and civil rights that DOJ and the FBI have battered since Trump descended his golden escalator in June 2015. Thus, Gaetz could mitigate, by one seat, this entire fine mess left by Rep. Richard Hudson, R-N.C., and the National Republican Congressional Committee, or NRCC. They should have secured a victory commensurate with Trump’s sweeping triumph and Senate Republicans’ 100% reelection of incumbents and conquest of four Democrat seats. Hudson and the NRCC failed Trump and Republicans nationwide by botching an excellent opportunity to win a robust working House majority. Trump and Senate Republicans romped. Hudson and the NRCC barely survived.  Forthcoming details of their incompetence and pettiness will expose them as this Thanksgiving’s biggest turkeys. The post GOP House Majority: Thinner Than Saran Wrap Around Leftover Turkey appeared first on The Daily Signal.

If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. German journalist David Bendels is in danger of ending up in prison and has already been ordered to pay a heavy fine for sharing satirical memes – including that featuring Interior Minister Nancy Faeser “holding up” a sign reading, “I hate freedom of expression.” The offending image. Faeser, who is considered by opponents as a pro-censorship official, wasted little time in proving the meme’s point: she filed a criminal complaint against Bendels, who is the editor-in-chief of the Deutschland-Kurier website. Faeser previously “distinguished” herself by attempting to shut down Compact magazine, which leans right, and is therefore an ideological “enemy” of Germany’s ruling class. Now, Bendels was accused of “defamation” because of several memes posted on X. A court agreed with Faeser and decided to fine Bendels, while if the prosecution decides to further pursue the case, he could also find himself behind bars. Bendels reacted by saying that Faeser’s move was yet another attack on the free press and free speech, that the memes were obviously just that – memes, using satire to criticize a government official. The journalist also announced he would fight back in court, and said the judges acted politically, taking the government’s side against the media. Even though one of the reactions to all this came from X owner Elon Musk, who commented, “This is crazy” – there appears to be a “method to the madness.” Namely, Deutschland-Kurier is aligned with the opposition conservative AfD party, whose rise in popularity has been accompanied by the government’s explicit or tacit pressure against its members, but also supporters. And, according to reports, the courts are not as efficient as they have been in Bendels’ case when it comes to violent attacks against AfD politicians, said to be frequent and perpetrated by assailants espousing left-wing views. One of those attacks targeted Andreas Jurca, a member of the Bavarian State Parliament from the ranks of AfD. And one of the memes Bendels was prosecuted for shows the brutally assaulted Jurca, “surrounded” by President Steinmeier, Germany’s internal spy agency chief Haldenwang, and, Faeser – the former two “wielding” baseball bats obviously photo-edited into their hands, implying their political responsibility. But Faeser decided to take this literally and sue. If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. The post German Journalist Faces Prison Over Memes Mocking Interior Minister appeared first on Reclaim The Net.