Posts on Sunday, March 3, 2024

This weekend’s edition of Saturday Night Live opened with a comedy sketch mocking defenders of U.S. President Joe Biden’s age, energy, and acuity. The 5-minute segment showed CNN anchor Dana Bash (played by Heidi Gardner) interviewing California Gov. Gavin Newsom (Michael Longfellow) about polls that suggest many Americans don’t think that Democrat Biden, 81, is sharp enough to lead the country for another four years if he wins re-election in November against presumptive Republican candidate and former president, Donald Trump, 77.

The United States is expected to be grappling with more than 8 million asylum seekers and migrants who will have crossed over the southern border by September. The staggering figure represents a 167 percent surge in five years and underscores the challenges faced by what is both an underfunded and antiquated immigration system. The vast majority of the 8 million are now free to roam US streets, including 2 million 'high-priority' cases of career criminals seeking asylum. The system appears to be struggling to cope with the rapid numbers of migrants flowing across the border, which reached an all-time high of 302,000 monthly crossings in December.

Nikki Haley has won the Republican primary in the District of Columbia, notching her first victory of the 2024 campaign. Her victory Sunday at least temporarily halts Donald Trump’s sweep of the GOP voting contests, although the former president is likely to pick up several hundred more delegates in this week’s Super Tuesday races. Despite her early losses, Haley has said she would remain in the race at least through those contests, although she has declined to name any primary she felt confident she would win. Following last week’s loss in her home state of South Carolina,

Two lawsuits say Brewer High School students should be allowed to petition the school to reverse its transgender bathroom policy. One suit, filed on Wednesday, comes from a Brewer High School student and her father who claim the student’s rights were violated when school officials told her a petition she and a classmate circulated could be considered hate speech. (snip) The complaint also claims the defendants met with the two students and ordered them to stop circulating their petition, which had been signed by “many” students, because it was “hate speech” and “like ‘supporting racial segregation.’”

The six bills Congress needs to pass before Friday to avoid a partial government shutdown include some Republican victories including cutting FBI and EPA funding. Speaker Johnson said Republicans 'secured key conservative policy victories' despite a 'divided government' and rejected 'left-wing proposals' in the deal with Democrats announced Sunday. The bill is over 1,000 pages and includes funding for six federal agencies - including Commerce-Justice-Science, Energy-Water, Interior-Environment, Military Construction-VA and Transportation-HUD.

Vice President Kamala Harris has broken with President Joe Biden to call for 'an immediate ceasefire' in Gaza. Her comments, made during a speech in Selma, Alabama, on Sunday, are the strongest condemnation of Israel's conduct since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack by a senior member of the Biden administration. They came just a day before she is due to meet with a top Israeli official to discuss a potential ceasefire deal and a day after the US began air-dropping aid to the war-torn country, 'Before I begin I must address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza,' Harris said. 'What we are seeing every day in Gaza is devastating.'

Israel boycotted Gaza ceasefire talks in Cairo on Sunday after Hamas rejected its demand for a complete list naming hostages that are still alive, an Israeli newspaper reported. A Hamas delegation arrived in Cairo for the talks, billed as a possible final hurdle before an agreement that would halt the fighting for six weeks. But by early evening there was no sign of the Israelis. 'There is no Israeli delegation in Cairo,' Ynet, the online version of Israel's Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, quoted Israeli officials as saying. 'Hamas refuses to provide clear answers and therefore there is no reason to dispatch the Israeli delegation.'

The U.S. Supreme Court could issue a ruling as early as March 4 regarding a case that seeks to bar former President Donald Trump from appearing on primary and general election ballots for the 2024 presidential election. The Supreme Court, in an unusual Sunday update to its schedule, didn’t specify what ruling it would issue. However, the justices on Feb. 8 heard arguments in the former president’s appeal of a ruling in Colorado and are due to issue their own decision. The March 3 announcement said the opinion would be posted online at 10 a.m. Washington time. “The court will not take the bench,” it only said on its website.

America's $34 trillion debt will disrupt the global economy as early as next year if the next president pursues expensive policies, a finance expert has warned. Wharton Business School Professor Joao Gomes has said the public debt mountain marks a 'moment in history' - and it could 'derail the next administration'. 'Toward the latter part of the decade we will have to deal with this,' he told Fortune. 'It could derail the next administration, frankly. 'If they come up with plans for large tax cuts or another big fiscal stimulus, the markets could rebel, interest rates could just spike right there and we would have a crisis in 2025.

The Supreme Court set an unusual opinion release for Monday morning and signaled that a ruling on Trump’s ballot eligibility is imminent. Per Politico legal reporter Josh Gerstein: SCOTUS sets unusual, short-notice opinion release for Monday morning. Appears to signal that ruling on Trump ballot eligibility is looming. (X) The Supreme Court is set to issue a ruling on Trump’s ballot eligibility after he challenged a decision by the Colorado Supreme Court to bar him from the 2024 primary ballot. In December the Colorado Supreme Court disqualified Trump from the 2024 ballot.

Virginia Republican Senate candidate Hung Cao says former President Donald Trump’s project to domestically produce personal protection equipment (PPE), such as medical gloves, that the Biden administration has dropped the ball on, would have led to thousands of new jobs in southwest Virginia. Cao joined Sirius XM’s Breitbart News Saturday, where host Matthew Boyle highlighted the Biden administration’s failures with the project, which originated amid a shortage of PPE during the coronavirus pandemic. Specifically, he zoned in on the rising number of imported nitrile gloves from China.

A new study bucks recent trends in health research that say people who eat a lot of red or processed meat face an increased risk of heart disease. A research team looked at UK Biobank data from over 1.8 million people: roughly 460,000 who ate processed meat, pork, beef, and mutton, respectively. Anyone with a history of cardiovascular disease was omitted from the study. The team found that eating red or processed meat was not linked to a higher risk of cardiovascular disease. All odds ratios (ORs) of a person developing cardiovascular disease, coronary artery disease, stroke, heart failure, or atrial fibrillation were insignificant.

A potential helium reservoir was discovered in Minnesota last week, when drillers bored deep beneath the forest floor of the state’s Iron Range as supplies of the noble gas dwindle in the U.S. Pulsar Helium Inc., a Canadian-based company, announced in a news release on Thursday that its team encountered gases with concentrations of up to 12.4% helium when its drilling rig reached a total depth of 2,200 at the Topaz Project drill site. Helium concentrations above 0.3% are considered economically viable. Thomas Abraham-James, Pulsar’s president and CEO, said he is "delighted" about the "outstanding result."

From Europe to India, farmers have taken to the streets in recent months to protest agricultural policies. First, demonstrations erupted across Europe, with farmers forming blockades, dumping manure in cities, and egging government buildings. Now, thousands of farmers have marched toward New Delhi in scenes that recall the mass protests of 2020-21. Although the reasons for agricultural workers’ discontent differ from country to country, the ongoing unrest comes as the world’s farmers are “increasingly feeling under political attack,” [snip]. This edition of Flash Points considers the root causes of the farmers’ protests, what unites them, and how climate and trade policy are transforming global agriculture.

Guess what I’m doing on Super Tuesday? I’m registering as a Republican to vote for Donald Trump in the primary in California. They won’t allow me to vote as an independent for President of the United States, so for the first time in my life, I will be one of the people I used to judge and hate. I also plan to vote red straight down the line. Oh, I realize this is like spitting in the Pacific Ocean in my state. Still, if other residents in California are starting to see what anyone driving through Los Angeles or San Francisco can see, there’s a small chance

Republican primary candidate Nikki Haley appeared to row back on her pledge to endorse Donald Trump when her failing campaign eventually comes to an end. “I think I’ll make what decision I want to make,” Haley said in an interview with NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday. “But that’s not something I’m thinking about.” The Republican National Committee (RNC) required all candidates who appeared on the debate stage to sign a pledge indicating they would support the party’s eventual nominee. When asked about whether she would endorse Trump even

DAKAR, Senegal -- Gueva Ba tried to reach Europe by boat 11 times from Morocco, failing each attempt. Then, in 2023, the former welder heard about a new route to the United States by flying to Nicaragua and making the rest of the journey illegally by land to Mexico's northern border. (Snip) They are part of a surge in migration to the United States that is extraordinary for its size and scope, with more people from far-flung countries accounting for crossings at the border. And as with this route used by the Senegalese, more are figuring out plans, making payments, and

A powerful blizzard that has dumped huge amounts of snow in the Sierra Nevada mountains will continue to slam the region through Sunday, bringing more snow and damaging winds as a second “weaker” system is expected to bring additional snow Monday. The dayslong storm that has caused treacherous white-out conditions due to its hefty wind gusts has shuttered national parks, ski resorts and parts of a major California interstate. Up to 10 feet of snow was expected to slam high-elevation areas, creating a “life-threatening concern” for Lake Tahoe residents, National Weather Service meteorologist William Churchill said.

Lithium-ion batteries used in E-bikes and other electronic mobility devices are now a leading cause of fires in New York City following their popularity surged during the pandemic’s delivery boom, FDNY officials say. FDNY Chief Fire Marshal Daniel Flynn tol The Post that fires related to lithium-ion batteries have gone up nearly nine-fold since the pandemic, with more blazes related to the batteries happening in the last two months than in all of 2019. “It’s the prevalence of these e-devices on our streets, there’s way more of them now than ever before,” Flynn said.

The far-left website The Intercept was very excited on Friday about CNN being accused in an internal meeting of having a "pronounced pro-Israel bias." Actual pro-Israel media watchdogs like CAMERA would disagree. The headline? "In internal meeting, Christiane Amanpour Confronts CNN Brass About 'Double Standards' on Israel Coverage Amanpour expressed 'real distress' over Israel stories being changed, while other staffers described a climate that is hostile to Arab journalists." In an hourlong meeting with CNN boss Mark Thompson and other executives in the London bureau on February 13, "staffers took turns questioning a panel of executives about CNN’s protocols for covering the war in Gaza and what they describe as a hostile climate

As jab-peddling continued, the “experts” at the CDC rolled out their latest recommendations regarding COVID and the flu “about 4.5 years late.” When names like Dr. Anthony Fauci, Dr. Deborah Birx and Dr. Robert Redfield were just beginning to become readily recognizable by the public at the beginning of 2020, many may recall how masking was discounted as a mostly futile practice and COVID-19 was being regarded as a “bad flu.” Now, after both of those notions had been cast asunder in favor of panic porn and illogical lockdowns that divided society by “essential” and “non-essential” workers, the CDC released their updated recommendations on dealing with respiratory viruses

On Feb. 12, 50-year-old Angela Chao was found dead in her Tesla that was submerged in a pond on private property in Blanco County, Texas, according to the incident report from fire department EMS personnel. Chao was the sixth and youngest daughter of Chinese-American shipping magnate Dr. James Si-Cheng Chao, who founded the New York-headquartered Foremost Group in 1964. Angela had been CEO(snip) On Feb. 28, 82-year-old Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) announced his intention to step down from his leadership position in November.Angela Chao was the sister-in-law of Mitch McConnell, and speculation has been rife about these two seemingly unrelated events. Is there any connection other than familial?

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) said that former President Donald Trump made many wise decisions as president and can win in 2024 but the Utah Republican insisted he would “absolutely not” vote for him over President Joe Biden due to “character” and differences on foreign policy. In an appearance on CNN’s “The Source” program on Wednesday, Mr. Romney said that, if the election were held today, President Trump “would probably win.” He said there are “a lot” of things President Trump has done better than President Biden, adding that “Joe Biden has made extraordinary mistakes on the immigration front. It’s embarrassing how bad he’s been.”

Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” that Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) was purposefully “trying to wreak havoc in other cities and states across the country.” Anchor Dana Bash said, “I want you to listen to what the Texas Governor Greg Abbott told me on the show about the idea of whether or not legislation is needed. Take a listen.” Abbott said, “The fact that the matter is there are laws on the books passed by Congress of the United States right now that authorize the executive branch to deny illegal entry.

Pope Francis said Sunday that military disarmament is not optional but constitutes a “moral obligation” for all nations. Following his weekly Angelus address in Saint Peter’s Square, the pontiff recalled that March 5 marks the second International Day for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation Awareness. “How many resources are wasted on military expenditure, which, because of the current situation, sadly continues to increase!” he told the estimated 20,000 tourists and pilgrims gathered in the square. (snip) Francis is also the only pope to ever declare that not only the use of nuclear weapons, but also their mere possession “is immoral.”

Just when the White House thought the worst had passed regarding The New York Times' disastrous poll for Joe Biden, Sunday morning brought us the second half of the equation. In the first release, the survey showed Donald Trump leading the current president by five points. That led to a bout of cross-tab "truther-ism" in which liberals showed they have no idea how polling works. Whatever penchant Republicans had for dismissing or trying to "un-skew" polls in past cycles, Democrats have firmly taken up that mantle, and it's hilarious to see. Astonishingly, the second half of the Times' results may be worse than what came out on Saturday. Specifically, Biden

Thus far, 2024 has not been a banner year if you want to be employed as a journalist in the mainstream media. January featured layoffs at the Los Angeles Times, Sports Illustrated, Time, National Geographic, and Business Insider. Downsizing at cable news networks, usually unheard of in an election year, continues, and even National Public Radio has cut staff. Many longtime reporters at places such as the Washington Post have taken buyouts as the newspaper struggles to restructure its business model. Jack Shafer of Politico captured the current mood well: “Journalists across the country burst into flames of panic this week, as bad news for the news business crested

Gun Owners Of America came out swinging against Senator John Cornyn, R-TX, after he entered the race to succeed Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. In a statement to Fox News Digital, Aidan Johnston, Gun Owners Of America’s (GOA) Federal Affairs Director, said Cornyn has failed to stand firm on conservative values and has instead, compromised with Democrats on gun control bills. "Every time gun control gains steam in Congress, Senator John Cornyn is right there working with Democrats on a 'compromise.' That isn't conservative leadership, it's capitulation!," Johnston said.

This week all eyes were on the Willis-Wade fiasco in Fulton County, Georgia, but three less smuttily scintillating cases seem at last to be limiting the overreach of the Department of Justice respecting the J6 defendants and Jack Smith’s persecution of President Donald Trump. In interpreting criminal statutes, it seems to me that Courts should not be creative and expansively read into them things that the legislature which writes the laws did not clearly proscribe as illegal, and it appears that finally, courts higher than the highly partisan D.C. Circuit judges understand that.

Confronted over the president’s cognitive abilities, Dr. Phil McGraw offered a strong statement on those who “have nothing to hide.” Not long after the results of President Joe Biden’s annual physical came back, the gaffetastic commander-in-chief flubbed yet again on the world stage, confusing Gaza with Ukraine. Friday, with less than a week remaining before Biden gives his final State of the Union address, comedian Bill Maher probed his psychologist guest for his thoughts on the president’s mental state. During the overtime segment of HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher,” the host asked the television personality matter-of-factly,

Former President Donald Trump opened a five-point national lead among registered voters over President Joe Biden, a New York Times/Siena College poll found Saturday, surpassing the margin of error. “If the 2024 presidential election were held today, who would you vote for if the candidates were Joe Biden and Donald Trump?” the poll asked. Trump: 48 percent support.. Biden: 43 percent support.. Margin of error: 3.5 percent.. (Snip) The poll revealed additional positive results for Trump.

Triggered Democrats in Virginia took to publicly airing their grief over President Trump’s rally in Richmond, Virginia. Congresswoman Jennifer McClellan (D-VA) and Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney posted video messages, whoring for attention and decrying Trump’s visit to Richmond on their X pages. McClellan and Stoney are both members of the Biden/Harris National Advisory Committee. The Gateway Pundit reported that Trump held a massive rally in Richmond, and supporters lined the streets awaiting entry to the Greater Richmond Convention Center this afternoon.

Donald Trump dominated the Idaho Republican Caucuses Saturday, securing all 32 available delegates in his march to the nomination. The Associated Press called the race for Trump at 5:00 p.m. MST. “Today you’re going to send a big signal to the entire world that this is your country, and its also Trump country,” Trump said earlier Saturday in a video message posted to Truth Social. In addition to Iowa, Trump secured victories Saturday in caucuses in Missouri and Michigan. After spending the day in North Carolina, Trump gave a victory speech Saturday evening in the battleground state of Virginia,

We can bear neither our diseases nor their remedies." So shrugged the ancient historian Livy (59 B.C.-17 A.D.) of the long decline of Roman national character that, in his age, finally ended the Roman Republic. Like a patient whose medicine proves worse than the disease, Livy lamented that the Romans knew that they had become corrupt and lawless. But the very contemplation of the hard medicine needed for restoration -- and the furious reaction that would meet the remedy -- made it impossible to save the patient. America is nearing such an impasse.

There's a scene in the peerless animated comedy Monsters Inc.—a cable-news special report featuring Dr. Frasenberger, who looks like a giant pencil. “It is my professional opinion,” he begins calmly, “that now is the time…TO PANIC!!!!!” If I were a Democrat today, or a Never Trumper, I would be Dr. Frasenberger. Because now is the time TO PANIC!!!! if you don’t want Donald Trump to be president. The release early Sunday morning of a New York Times-Siena poll of the presidential race showing Trump up by 5 points nationally not only confirms the undeniable evidence over the past six months that Trump has pulled into a measurable lead

After all the problems regarding Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and her former paramour, whom she appointed to be a special prosecutor in the Trump election case, you knew that they were going to be in trouble. Now, they have been referred by a watchdog group to the Georgia state bar for misconduct. The American Accountability Foundation (AAF) is alleging that the pair violated the rules of professional conduct in ethics complaints they filed with the bar. The AAF claims Wade lied under oath about the relationship with Willis and that Willis kept campaign money for personal use, and admitted it during her testimony.

President Trump holds a remarkable disposition for providing grace, forgiveness and acceptance. I do not possess such an admirable skillset. [Snip] In the past two years the CfG has spent millions viciously undermining MAGA and President Trump. Their disdain for the middle class is palpable, and they hate the America First Main Street agenda. [Snip] I have been working on an operational system that is intended to directly target anyone in the “Republican” or “conservative” political sphere that tries to stop, impede or block the America First agenda, or target Donald Trump after the successful 2024 election.