Posts on Wednesday, November 12, 2025

This is a topic that keeps being brought up by various members of the Trump administration: The notion that tariff income from President Trump's tariffs has been robust enough to support a $2,000 rebate check for all Americans under a certain, unnamed income level. (I've seen a household income of under $100k kicked around as the top end.) Most recently, on Wednesday, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, in a reply to a question from a reporter, assured the White House Press Corps that something like this was in the works. Watch: Here's the exchange: Question: (President) Trump has talked about sending a $2,000 check to U.S. citizens. Earlier

What kind of US president demolishes a cherished piece of American history in order to build a shrine to himself? That’s what many Chicagoans are asking — and they aren’t talking about President Trump’s East Wing demolition to make way for a White House ballroom. Locals are still trying to make sense of the $850 million Obama Presidential Center, dubbed “The Obamalisk,” which broke ground in Chicago’s historic Jackson Park in 2021 and will be finished next Spring. “Obama, of all people, should not be building a palace for himself, a fortress in the middle of a public park. It’s just contrary to what I thought he believed in,”

A key Atlantic current could be pushed to the brink of collapse within decades, supposedly ushering in a new ice age and dramatically raising sea levels, climate scientists have claimed in a controversial new study published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment. The apocalyptic predictions came as a result of a collaboration between researchers at the Institute of Oceanology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (IOCAS) and the University of California, San Diego — weeks after one-time climate alarmist Bill Gates publicly downplayed the impact of temperature fluctuations on the planet.

To its everlasting shame and (one hopes) the abiding disapproval of historians for generations to come, the Biden regime weaponized the justice system against President Donald Trump, and much of the damage has yet to be undone. On Monday, Trump asked the Supreme Court to undo one of the most egregious miscarriages of justice he suffered for the crime of being the leader of the opposition against Old Joe Biden and his leftist henchmen: the civil judgment that he sexually abused the partisan fantasist E. Jean Carroll in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room sometime in the 1990s, and subsequently defamed her in speaking about the case.

On Wednesday night, the House voted on the continuing resolution that would reopen the federal government after 43 days. The vote passed/failed by a margin of 222-209. Six Democrats voted in favor of the continuing resolutions, and two Republicans voted no. [Tweet] This vote came after the Senate voted to end the shutdown on Monday. Before the continuing resolution vote, the House swore in Rep.-Elect Adelita Grijalva (D-Ariz.), who won a special election in September. It was the first House vote since September 19. Democratic senators dug their heels in over healthcare for illegals and Obamacare subsidies. It led to furloughs, military members serving without pay,

A woman who was once one of California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s most trusted lieutenants has found herself in the crosshairs of the FBI. And it’s not looking great for her. On Wednesday, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of California dropped a bombshell news release stating that Dana Williamson, Newsom’s chief of staff from 2022 to 2024, had been indicted on a litany of charges. The 53-year-old Williamson has been charged by a federal grand jury with “conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud, bank fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to defraud the United States and obstruct justice, subscribing to false tax returns, and making false statements,”

California Representative Eric Swalwell has faced a barrage of controversy in recent years, from his alleged ties to the Chinese spy “Fang Fang,” to his removal from the House Intelligence Committee over national security concerns, to his infamous on-air mishap during a 2019 interview on Hardball with Chris Matthews. Now, a new revelation raises even more serious questions about Swalwell’s integrity and eligibility to serve in Congress. Despite serving as a Congressman from California’s 15th District and claiming Hometown: Livermore on his official House profile, Swalwell has declared his Washington, DC property as his “principal residence.”

Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene clapped back hard at President Donald Trump on Monday after he publicly declared that his once-fierce ally had “lost her way.” CNN’s Kaitlan Collins zeroed in on Greene’s recent barbs—particularly her complaint that the White House has become a “revolving door” for foreign leaders while Americans grapple with stubborn grocery bills and health insurance premiums. Here's what Marjorie had to say.

People visiting Benjamin Franklin's grave, just across from the United States Mint, often drop pennies on the marble marking the final resting place of the Founding Father who wrote, "A penny saved is two pence clear." But soon, visitors may have to pay a little more to pay their respects to Franklin. The U.S. Mint says it has stopped producing pennies, a historic shift in currency two centuries after the one-cent coin entered circulation. The last penny was stamped with the aid of Treasurer Brandon Beach at the Philadelphia U.S. Mint during an event on Wednesday, Nov. 12, part of an effort to retire the coin that now costs more to produce

The plot thickens regarding the corruption scandal in Ukraine: Justice Minister German Galushchenko and Energy Minister Svitlana Grynchuk announced they will step down at the request of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Their resignations are among the fallout of revelations by Ukraine's National Anti-Corruption Bureau(NABU) about a large-scale money laundering scheme in the energy and defense sectors. Both politicians have rejected the allegations against them. NABU launched its investigation in the summer of 2024.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations teased a "major" expansion to its lobbying and political operations in the wake of Oct. 7 to give Muslims "a voice in the halls of Congress and on the campaign trails." Nearly two years later, the pro-Hamas group's allies and officials say their efforts helped elect New York City mayor-to-be Zohran Mamdani, with plans to "make even more history" in next year's midterm elections. At CAIR events this summer, anti-Semitic activist Linda Sarsour bragged that she got CAIR's political arm, CAIR Action, and a CAIR-endorsed super PAC, Unity & Justice Fund, to back Mamdani's campaign. "You need to move that PAC [to support Mamdani]," Sarsour said

The Department of Homeland Security said Wednesday that a staffer of Illinois Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth allegedly posed as a lawyer to attempt to release an illegal immigrant from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody. ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons said in a letter to Duckworth on Wednesday that the staffer, Edward York, told federal agents he was the attorney of Jose Ismeal Ayuzo Sandoval, who is a 40-year-old illegal immigrant previously deported four times to Mexico and had a DUI conviction, Fox News reported. According to the letter, York entered an ICE facility in St. Louis, Illinois, on Oct. 29.

Jack Schlossberg, the grandson of John F. Kennedy, kicked off the first day of his campaign for the House of Representatives Wednesday by ranting against his “rabid dog” cousin, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “RFK Jr. is a dangerous person who is making life and death decisions as secretary of Health and Human Services,” Schlossberg, 32, told MSNBC in an interview. “And you don’t have to take my word for it. Now we have an actual record to go on. He has cut a quarter of the people who work in his agency. He fired all the vaccine experts on

Climate change does its damage in a lot of ways—birthing hurricanes, heat waves, floods, droughts, and wildfires. Now add to that list earthquakes, continental rifting—or breakup—and magma production. That’s the conclusion of a new paper in Scientific Reports, which adds to a growing agreement among scientists that the Earth’s atmospheric processes can affect its geological processes in surprising ways. “Ultimately, plate tectonic forces play the dominant role in driving continental rifting,” says geologist James Muirhead, senior lecturer at the University of Auckland in New Zealand and lead author of the paper. “However, our study shows that climate plays a key role in modulating the rate

A British businessman who threatened to “gang-rape” and set fire to a flight attendant has had his jail sentence tripled after an appeals court ruled it was far too lenient. Salman Iftikhar, 37, was traveling first class from London Heathrow to Lahore with his three children and one of his wives in February 2023 when he turned violent midair. After downing champagne and helping himself to ice from the on-board bar, crew members told him to return to his seat. When told to stop, the defendant became irate, and started to film cabin crew with his phone, telling them, ‘Do not tell me what to do, you b—h,’” a court heard.

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has elected Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City as its new president, signaling conservative continuity with a pastoral approach. However, Coakley criticizes Trump-era mass deportations, urging humane immigration policies and pathways to citizenship. With millions of Catholic immigrants potentially in the crosshairs and the Church’s teachings on human dignity clashing with hardline policies, Coakley’s past statements are already drawing scrutiny – and offering clues about what’s ahead.

Ukraine suspended its justice minister on Wednesday after an investigation linked him to an alleged $100 million energy kickback scheme, a case that’s shaking trust in President Volodymyr Zelensky’s wartime government. Justice Minister German Galushchenko, who had previously served as energy minister, was suspended after one of his advisors had been named a suspect in the alleged scheme to control procurement at the Energoatom nuclear agency and other state enterprises. Five suspects were charged this week in connection with the case, including long-time Zelensky ally Timur Mindich, the co-owner of the Kvartal-95 TV studio that brought the president national fame before his foray into politics.

More than 150 illegal migrant sexual predators have been nabbed in Florida as part of a massive sweep dubbed “Operation Dirtbag,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem revealed on Wednesday. The sex offenders were among more than 230 illegals rounded up in the Sunshine State after being wanted for crimes including drug offenses and even murder. Others who were arrested had prior convictions for child molestation and sexual assault, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

US President Donald J. Trump announced the latest addition to his remarkable Abraham Accords last week: China's and Russia's neighbor, Kazakhstan. One hopes that at some point, Azerbaijan, too, might join the Abraham Accords. Although Azerbaijan has enjoyed close relations with Turkey, relations between Turkey and Israel have now reached an all-time low. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan – after accusing Israel of genocide and crimes against humanity, and issuing arrest warrants for 37 Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu -- reportedly took Trump's assurance of a Turkish role in the future of Gaza, without consulting Israel, as a green light to assemble 2,000 special forces troops to occupy Gaza.

A Minneapolis lawmaker who praised the speedy response he got from officials after he was carjacked has sparked a backlash from disgruntled locals who claim their own complaints are falling on deaf ears. Jamal Osman, a Democrat city councilman in the Minnesota city, was accused of receiving preferential treatment after he posted about the crime on X on Tuesday. (Snip) However the post immediately drew criticism from Crime Watch Minneapolis, an account that tracks offenses in the city, which highlighted a report from another car jacking victim who claimed police did not even bother to come out to take the

The collapse of Chuck Schumer’s shutdown gambit, when seven fellow Democrats and one independent broke ranks with him, serves as a humiliating bookend to the longest government closure ever. It also simultaneously highlights one of President Trump’s most sweeping and crucial Washington victories over his most toxic opponents. Ever since his first election in 2016, Trump has been thwarted, tormented, impeached and mocked by Schumer and Democratic former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. And now he has turned the tables on them in devastating fashion, with Schumer likely to be dethroned as Senate minority leader and Pelosi packing her money bags to leave Washington for good.

Kamala Harris is back once again with an extremely interesting new angle on her 2024 election failure. Her memoir "107 Days" was released a couple of months ago, and she is about to wrap up her book tour (one that Democrats aren't too wild about, by the way) with a final stop on November 20. Not too terribly long ago, Harris told Stephen Colbert she was stepping away from politics because the "system is broken" — only to tease a 2028 run at the end of October.

On March 3rd through March 6th 2016, the Republican presidential primary was at the precipice of a key inflection point (Super Tuesday) when a large group of political leadership, tech titans, bankers and political influence agents assembled at the AEI summit in Sea Island, Georgia. Citation Here – Citation Here and Citation HERE (w/itinerary details) In the decade that passed, you have seen me reference this Sea Island group frequently, because the origin of where we are today can only be understood if you followed the outcome of that 2016 Sea Island meeting and the decade of activity therein.

The chair of the BBC, Samir Shah, struck a defensive tone in his interview to explain the mess the broadcaster has found itself in. The impression was of an organisation under siege rather than one confidently self-correcting. Mr Shah will be busy. He must find a new director general after Tim Davie resigned. Gone too is the CEO of news, Deborah Turness. Both resigned after an exhausting rightwing campaign which cried bias at every turn and was energised by an absurd transatlantic attempt to paint the BBC as part of a global liberal conspiracy. A giant like the BBC will make mistakes. The failure is not owning them fast

Voters have little confidence that anything significant will emerge from this month’s global climate talks that begin in Brazil this week, but they are also split on what the best course forward would be, the latest I&I/TIPP Poll shows. The latest I&I/TIPP Poll, taken from Oct. 28 to Oct. 31, asked 1,418 adults the following question: “How confident are you that the upcoming United Nations climate talks (COP30) in Brazil, with a goal of raising $1.3 trillion in climate finance, will succeed in curbing global warming?” Overall, just 34% said they were either “very confident” (11%) or “somewhat confident” (23%),

Federal agents in Chicago are facing a nightmare most of us can’t imagine: a violent street gang has literally issued a “shoot-on-sight” order against them. According to Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the Latin Kings have targeted immigration enforcement officers working in the city, leading the agency to warn its teams to use “extreme caution.” Shots were fired. Agents’ vehicles were rammed. Bricks and paint cans were thrown at Border Patrol trucks in the Little Village neighborhood during ongoing immigration operations. This isn’t happening in some failed foreign state. It’s happening on American streets.

Democrat strategist James Carville is apparently not above running a criminal in a political campaign just to see if that person could win against a Republican candidate. Carville made his statement during a recent podcast episode of Politics War Room when he responded to a statement about Virginia. “By the way, if we won the attorney general’s race, I’m personally going to find a convicted pedophile and run him in a race just to see if he could beat a Republican. I’m not sure. I’m not going to say they’re convicted, a convicted pedophile. And by the way, the guy that was running against him ran a pretty good campaign,” Carville said:

In today’s Washington Free Beacon newsletter, my daughter Eliana links to the video below with the tag “I’ll have what she’s smoking.” I think “I’ll have what she’s drinking” may be slightly more accurate. In any case, the former vice president actually says she was “aware” of Donald Trump’s “strategy” but “wasn’t about to fall prey, or fall into those traps.” No, with her comic accent, she declares that she “understood the game that was being played, and I made the decision that I wasn’t gonna get played,” she said. “Three-dimensional chess, I’m telling you.” Well done, Madam Vice President. Ms. Harris credited herself with adhering to her own campaign

Tuesday on ABC’s “The View,” Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) said he didn’t need a lecture from “extreme” Democrats on the government shutdown. Co-host Sunny Hostin said, “Bernie Sanders said the vote was a horrific mistake. Governor Gavin Newsom called it pathetic and a surrender. Poll after poll found more Americans on both sides of the aisle blaming Republicans. Even Marjorie Taylor Greene blamed the GOP. As you mentioned, Democrats had big wins last week, so you had momentum. Why give in now? Why bring a butter knife to a gun fight? Are you willing to gamble that the GOP will negotiate on healthcare in good faith

Executives at Ford Motor Company are praising President Donald Trump’s expanded auto tariffs, saying such duties will ensure that manufacturing in the United States is no longer a disadvantage for American companies. Last month, Trump announced a 25% tariff on imports of medium and heavy-duty trucks and truck parts, such as large pick-up trucks, moving trucks, cargo trucks, dump trucks, and tractors for eighteen-wheelers. In a recent earnings call, Ford CEO Jim Farley thanked Trump for the newly announced tariffs on foreign cars and car parts.

Welcome to the fourth installment of my "Tracking China in the Americas" series, in which I cover some underreported stories on China's footprint in the Western Hemisphere. I actually had something different planned for this week — a deep dive into how China is reaching out to young people in the Western Hemisphere — but when I saw this bridge fall, I knew I had to switch gears. Anything to point out what China does wrong should spread far and wide. So, check back in next week for the young people stuff. Let's get to the Hongqi Bridge. You may have seen it on social media, but a portion

So a Chinese fraudster connected to Communist intelligence services wandered in from Canada and bought a trailer park next door to a stealth bomber base in Missouri. This is not the opening line of a surreal joke. Whiteman Air Force Base is home to our tiny fleet of B-2 bombers, and yet an RV park just a mile away "is one of several properties near U.S. military interests acquired by a web of shell companies, which are ultimately owned by a couple who live in Canada and belong to organizations controlled by disgraced Chinese tycoon and self-described former CCP intelligence 'affiliate,' Miles Guo," according to a bombshell Daily Caller report.