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Monday, December 16, 2024

President Biden: "We've run a campaign that's basically scandal free”

End Wokeness: Biden just said with a straight face that he ran a SCANDAL-FREE campaign (X). RNC Research: Have we left the country in better shape than we found it? The answer to that question is a resounding yes! Who wants to tell him (X)?

Biden’s Department of Education Spend $1 Billion on DEI Initiatives

Townhall: A study conducted by parental rights organization Parents Defending Education (PDE) found that President Joe Biden’s Department of Education spent at least $1 billion on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives since 2021. Researchers found that $490 million was spent on DEI hiring efforts, $343 million on DEI programming and $170 million on DEI-related mental health resources. Key takeaways from the study include the fact that multiple Education Department grants “feature programming that advances race-based teacher recruiting, hiring, and training, including the use of race-based affinity groups.” In addition, many grants were issued for youth activism programming used in far-left ethnic studies courses (Townhall).

ABC, George Stephanopoulos Agree to Settlement of $15 Million in Defamation Suit Brought By Donald Trump

Fox News: ABC News and its top anchor George Stephanopoulos have reached a settlement with Donald Trump in his defamation suit, which will result in the news network paying the president-elect $15 million. The settlement was publicly filed on Saturday, revealing that the two parties have come to an agreement and avoided a costly trial. According to the settlement, ABC News will pay $15 million as a charitable contribution to a “Presidential foundation and museum to be established by or for Plaintiff, as Presidents of the United States of America have established in the past.” Additionally, the network will pay $1 million in Trump’s attorney fees. Stephanopoulos and ABC News also had to issue statements of “regret” as an editor’s note at the bottom of a March 10, 2024, online article, about comments made earlier this year that prompted Trump to file the defamation lawsuit (Fox News). Charlie Kirk: Trump filed a defamation suit against Stephanopoulos after the anchor and former Democrat operative asserted that Trump was found “liable for rape” during an interview with Rep. Nancy Mace in March. Stephanopoulos was alluding to accuser E. Jean Carroll, a case in which she couldn’t remember the year the alleged “assault” took place, and for which New York State passed a one-year law extending the statute of limitations so the case could proceed during an election year (X). End Wokeness: MSNBC host just repeated the same lie that forced ABC to pay $15m to Trump (X).

Bernie Sanders (I-VT) States President Biden Set a Dangerous Precedent in Pardoning Hunter

Daily Wire: Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) said during an interview over the weekend that President Joe Biden set a “dangerous” precedent by pardoning his son. Sanders made the remarks during a Sunday interview on NBC News’ “Meet The Press” with Kristen Welker when asked about whether the administration should give blanket pardons to current officials so that they are immune from prosecution under the incoming Trump administration. “Well, I’m a little bit nervous about it,” he said, adding that the White House “might want to consider” preemptive pardons “very seriously” (Daily Wire). Post Millennial: Bernie Sanders on Joe Biden pardoning Hunter: “I think the precedent being set is kind of a dangerous one” (X).

Elon Musk’s X Platform Has Even Split Between Republican, Democrat Users

Stat Shepherd: X stands out as the most politically balanced social media platform. Unlike many other platforms, X has an almost equal split between Democrat (48%) and Republican (47%) news consumers. As you would expect, the data don’t align with the “right-wing dominance” narrative projected by traditional media (X). Elon Musk: That is the goal. This platform only seems too ”right-wing” to the left (X).

Russia Prepares to Withdraw From Syria

Wall Street Journal: Russian troops were preparing to load cargo at Moscow’s main air base in Syria, Maxar satellite imaging showed, potentially signaling the early stages of a military withdrawal from the country following the fall of President Bashar al-Assad. Two An-124 heavy transport aircraft were at the air base with their nose cones lifted and prepared to load cargo, the images showed. Nearby, a Ka-52 attack helicopter and an S-400 air-defense system were being dismantled, likely for transport. “The Russian withdrawal is picking up steam,” Dara Massicot, senior fellow in the Russia and Eurasia program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, posted on X. “Whether it will be full or partial is unclear so far” (Wall Street Journal). Ed Morrissey: Earlier in the week, Russia’s foreign ministry had expressed hope of working out a deal with the rebels to allow continued operations at all of their current facilities. That seemed unusually optimistic at the time, since Russia’s main use of those facilities over the last decade has been to keep Assad in power by launching attacks on the same rebels who just deposed Assad. Now that the Russians are sheltering Assad, the rebels may have even less enthusiasm for Russian forces in their territory. Khmeimim may not be the biggest loss to Moscow in the collapse of Assad. The Russians also want to keep their warm-water port in Tartus, which they have used for decades to project naval strength into the Mediterranean (HotAir).

Biden Administration Insists the Drones Flying in New Jersey Airspace Pose No Threat

National Review: Mysterious drones flying across New Jersey present no “threat” and are not “nefarious,” as far as the Department of Homeland Security knows, secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said on Friday. Multiple unidentified drones have been spotted across the state since mid-November, raising concerns from local law enforcement that the drones could be operated by foreign agents. Federal authorities have repeatedly stressed that the drones do not pose “a national security  or public safety  threat or have a foreign nexus,” DHS and the FBI said in a joint statement on Thursday… Residents have threatened to shoot down the drones as federal agents do their best to assuage public fears (National Review). Libs of TikTok: Alejandro Mayorkas confirms the drone sightings are real and claims it’s because the FAA changed their rules and allows drones to be flown at night (X).

Boise State University Closes DEI Offices

National Review: Boise State University is the latest college to dismantle its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) offices, the university announced this week. The Student Equity Center and Gender Equity Center were shut down during the school’s Thanksgiving break, and the decision to nix the DEI offices came in advance of an Idaho State Board of Education resolution restricting DEI initiatives on campus, which may pass soon… BSU will open a Student Connections and Support Center in DEI’s place, which will handle crisis interventions and offer students other resources and services (National Review). Libs of TikTok: Boise State

Biden’s Clemency Order Includes Woman Who Stole $4 Million From Program Feeding Poor Families

Free Beacon: A former judge who sent juveniles to prison in the “Kids for Cash” kickback scandal. A former city official in Illinois who orchestrated the largest municipal embezzlement in state history. A journalist who manufactured a fentanyl-like drug dubbed “the most potent” in the United States. Those are just a few of the nearly 1,500 federal convicts whom President Joe Biden granted clemency on Thursday in what the White House touted as “the largest single-day grant of clemency in modern history…” Biden also granted clemency to Jacqueline Mills, who in 2017 was sentenced to 12.5 years in prison for stealing nearly $4 million from a USDA program to feed poor children in eastern Arkansas, a case that prosecutors called “one of the most egregious examples of fraud” they had prosecuted (Free Beacon). Libs of TikTok: Jacqueline Mills stole millions of dollars from a taxpayer funded USDA program to feed poor children in Arkansas. Joe Biden just granted her clemency (X).

10.

South Korean President Impeached by Parliament

CNN: South Korea’s parliament voted to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol on Saturday in an extraordinary rebuke that came about after his own ruling party turned on him following his refusal to resign over his short-lived martial law attempt. It is the second time in less than a decade that a South Korean leader has faced impeachment proceedings in office and means Yoon is suspended from exercising his powers until the decision is finally adjudicated by the country’s Constitutional Court (CNN). Reuters: South Korea’s opposition-led parliament impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol, suspending him from official duties over his short-lived attempt to impose martial law. Under the constitution, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo becomes acting president (X).