Kathy Hochul has undergone a political transformation as she once fought against high tolls for drivers, as governor, she's the driving force behind regressive and unfair congestion-pricing tax.
"I am very aware that my audience is very split, and I again take that with responsibility; I don't want to alienate people but I did feel like I had a sense of responsibility, so I kind of like didn't care."
The New York Times faced a wave of backlash for a story that referred to biological females as “non-transgender women.”
The story in question, titled “How a Women’s College Volleyball Team Became the Center of the Transgender Athlete Debate,” explored the explosion of protests and forfeitures surrounding San Jose State University and the school’s star player — a trans-identifying male.
When addressing the issue of eligibility for trans-identifying players under the NCAA’s rules, the NYT published the following:
On its website, the N.C.A.A. says trans volleyball players are eligible to play if their testosterone level is less than 10 nanomoles per liter — that’s at least four times more than what many experts say is the top of the range for non-transgender women, and in the typical range for adult men.
As the article itself notes, the normal testosterone level for an adult male — which would then decrease with age — is 10-35 nanomoles per liter. And that alone could be cause for argument that a trans-identifying player still has a biological advantage over female players.
But after being referred to as “cis” women, “birthing persons,” and “menstruators,” it was the NYT’s phrasing that got the attention of their critics.
“Hey @nytimes. Don’t call us ‘non-transgender women.’ Just stop it. Stop all the offensive terms for us: birthing parent; uterus haver; menstruator; vaginal presenting (from the Olympus spa hearing). We are WOMEN!” Women Are Real posted via X.
“WOW — A NEW LOW FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES. Referring to Women now as ‘Non-Transgender Women.’ This othering is typical of a liberal rag like this. Another once proud publication has been completely captured by the woke ideology,” another posted.
WOW 🚨 A NEW LOW FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES
Referring to Women now as "Non-Transgender Women"
– This othering is typical of a liberal rag like this – Another once proud publication has been completely captured by the woke ideology@JulietMacur what were you thinking? pic.twitter.com/jXdSBe9BOQ
Dr. Anthony Fauci recently published a new paper that touched on both HIV/AIDs and the COVID-19 pandemic — and in it, he not only doubled down on his insistence that COVID had a natural origin but also claimed that President-elect Donald Trump had suggested “bleach injection” as a possible treatment.
Jerry Dunleavy shared several excerpts of the paper via X, commenting, “Fauci is out with a new scientific paper on HIV/AIDS & COVID-19 where he falsely claims Trump told people to inject bleach & where he argues COVID-19 has a natural origin (Wuhan lab leak not even mentioned) by citing the same authors who wrote the infamous Proximal Origins paper.”
Fauci is out with a new scientific paper on HIV/AIDS & COVID-19 where he falsely claims Trump told people to inject bleach & where he argues COVID-19 has a natural origin (Wuhan lab leak not even mentioned) by citing the same authors who wrote the infamous Proximal Origins paper. pic.twitter.com/3Cx1NC7Emc
In the highlighted sections, Fauci wrote that “abundant evidence from top evolutionary virologists and leading scientists in other fields strongly suggests that the virus jumped species from an animal reservoir to humans at the Huanan Market in Wuhan, China, and then spread throughout China and the rest of the world.”
The former White House medical advisor added, “Trump gave credence to unproven and potentially dangerous substances for COVID-19 prevention and treatment such as bleach injection.”
What Trump actually asked, during a COVID-related press conference, was whether there was a way to use an injection to introduce the benefits of ultraviolet light or “almost a cleaning” to knock out the virus before it attacked the lungs.
Fauci’s new paper comes just as Trump has named Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, one of Fauci’s leading critics, to head the National Institutes of Health in the incoming administration.
Bhattacharya was one of the authors of the Great Barrington Declaration, published in 2020, and voiced opposition to the widespread lockdowns and closures during the pandemic. He told Fox News in 2023 that both Fauci and then-NIH Director Francis Collins had “created an illusion of scientific consensus around their ideas and marginalized anyone that disagreed with them even though there wasn’t a scientific consensus. It’s a pattern of behavior that reflects an abuse of power by American scientific bureaucrats at the very top of our scientific bureaucracies.”
WATCH:
Dr. Jay Bhattacharya talks about Dr. Anthony Fauci secretly crafting the "Proximal Origin" paper that dismissed the lab leak as a conspiracy theory:
"Tony Fauci and Francis Collins created an illusion of scientific consensus around their ideas and marginalized anyone that… pic.twitter.com/rzuKFQphpW
First Lady Jill Biden took delivery of the official White House Christmas tree just before the Thanksgiving holiday — but her announcement about where the tree had come from raised eyebrows.
Biden explained that the massive Fraser Fir had come from a family-owned Christmas tree farm in North Carolina — and that the family had nicknamed it “Tree-mendous” when it remained standing after thousands of their trees were lost during Hurricane Helene.
WATCH:
“This one remained standing."
First lady Jill Biden received the 2024 White House Christmas tree, a Frasier fir from the Blue Ridge Mountains in North Carolina, a community recently impacted by Hurricane Helene. pic.twitter.com/CPqKq27kh9
“Their farm is nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, a region that was recently devastated by Hurricane Helene,” Biden said of the more-than-60-year-old farm. “The Cartner family lost thousands of trees to the storm. But this one remained standing—and they named it ‘Tremendous’ for the extraordinary hope that it represents.”
But critics were not impressed with Biden’s remarks, arguing that if the tree was a symbol of “extraordinary hope,” maybe the political elites should have left it where it stood.
“This is the sort of tone deafness that cost the Democrats this year. They cut down a tree that survived Helene and want you to know it ‘remained standing’ until the government showed up ready to help,” Erick Erickson posted.
This is the sort of tone deafness that cost the Democrats this year. They cut down a tree that survived Helene and want you to know it “remained standing” until the government showed up ready to help. https://t.co/bBBZNFQEvd
“lol …They really hacked down a tree from a devastated area and shipped it to Washington for the elites to enjoy. It’s poetic,” RedState’s Bonchie added.
lol…They really hacked down a tree from a devastated area and shipped it to Washington for the elites to enjoy.
The Federalist’s Sean Davis asked, “You were able to go to North Carolina to cut down one of their trees for your party, but you couldn’t manage to help the actual people stranded after the floods?”
You were able to go to North Carolina to cut down one of their trees for your party, but you couldn’t manage to help the actual people stranded after the floods? https://t.co/JfLn7n3k5V
“So, let me get this straight. The one tree that remained symbolically standing in an area on the receiving end of the unprecedented destruction, having earned the nickname ‘Treemendous’ for its fortitude in surviving and standing as a symbol of resilience, was cut down and dragged to the White House to be put on temporary display before getting tossed aside as, for lack of a better term, garbage?” another posted. “Who the hell thought that was a good idea? Speaking of symbolism, this move by Team Deep State is very on-brand.”
So, let me get this straight.
The one tree that remained symbolically standing in an area on the receiving end of the unprecedented destruction, having earned the nickname 'Treemendous' for its fortitude in surviving and standing as a symbol of resilience, was cut down and… https://t.co/yDttFwgWHO
The original version of this article ran in The Harvard Crimson on November 25, 2024. Republished with permission.
* * *
That just 5.2 percent of my class at Harvard admits to being Republican is no secret — it was the statistic published in The Crimson’s annual incoming freshman survey for the Class of 2025. But the fact that many of the remaining 94.8 percent actively try to ostracize and dissociate from conservatives on campus — while also not a secret — is vastly more disturbing.
In the wake of President-elect Donald Trump’s resounding victory on November 5, students took to social media platforms like Sidechat, an anonymous social media platform, to lambast their peers who simply voted for Trump.
“No matter who wins tonight, the fact that so many vote for Trump is f*cking terrifying,” read one post, which was upvoted by 407 Harvard students. Other students called conservatives at Harvard “freaks,” “misogynists,” “fascists,” and the “stupidest people on campus.” Some even told them to “unenroll please, it’s frankly embarrassing.” Most damning was a post which read “Accept the consequences of your beliefs. Want lower taxes, take social alienation.”
Notwithstanding these petty efforts to undermine and intimidate campus Republicans into suppressing their viewpoints, as president of the Harvard Republican Club, I can state unequivocally that it has never been a better time to be a Republican on campus.
Since my election as HRC President just one year ago, our student mailing list has grown exponentially from 100 to over 800 — more than 10 percent of Harvard’s student body. We’ve rolled out a career mentorship program and an Alumni Advisory Board, we’ve significantly increased the number of events hosted, and we’ve dramatically increased the average attendees at these events over seven-fold from less than 20 to almost 150.
This rapid success is due, in no small part, to the HRC hosting a wide array of high-profile speakers who espouse views across the conservative ideological spectrum — from businessmen like PayPal co-founder Peter A. Thiel and Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale to former ambassadors like Trevor Traina, think tank leaders like Heritage Foundation President Kevin D. Roberts, former governors like Asa Hutchinson, former Secretary of Homeland Security Chad F. Wolf, and Cabinet nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ’76.
While I may not agree with every mentor or speaker’s opinion, their diverse perspectives and ideas reflect the broad, open-minded, and welcoming organization the HRC has built over the past year.
It was a similarly broad coalition that propelled Trump, whom we proudly endorsed in July, to a spectacularly decisive victory — a group of people with varied ideas about America’s future united behind their Republican identity.
Of course, the success of any political movement hinges on engaging others who may not agree with a cause, convincing them to ultimately view it positively.
This is particularly true at Harvard, where some of my peers have likely never actually engaged with a conservative. From their first year on campus, many often self-isolate into groups that reinforce their opinions. These students’ perceptions of conservatives are borne exclusively from what their media of choice feeds them, and thus our purportedly “educated” student body blindly associates Republicans with every negative “ism” they have been taught to embrace.
Over the past year, the HRC has seen a record number of self-identified Democrats attend our events and use our resources. We’ve facilitated important conversations across party lines (including a debate between Republicans and Democrats at Visitas) and brought a diverse set of perspectives to those who sought them out.
Our success — like the national Republican Party’s success — is contingent on a diverse coalition only possible when we embrace heterogenous opinions and allow for robust conversations. Just look at Trump’s new Cabinet: It includes many former Democrats, including Kennedy and Representative Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii). Those surprised by Trump’s victory earlier this month might assume that Republican life at Harvard is dead. But that couldn’t be further from the truth.
Our events are more than well attended, our speakers top-tier, and our energy through the roof. And perhaps most importantly, many Republicans are willing to openly embrace their values on campus, despite the aforementioned social media posts.
I encourage those interested in stepping out of their comfort zone and challenging their preconceived notions about conservatives to take advantage of the movement we’ve built. Instead of attempts at name-calling, intimidation, and ostracization, seek out Republicans. Listen to what they believe. Heck, even argue with them if you want. But at least engage with their ideas on a meaningful level. You might just learn something.
* * *
Michael Oved ’25, an Economics concentrator in Adams house, is president of the Harvard Republican Club, and chair of the Conservative Coalition at the Institute of Politics.
The original version of this article ran in The Harvard Crimson on November 25, 2024. Republished with permission.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
President-elect Donald Trump bloodied Mexico and Canada with diplomatic buckshot earlier this week by writing that, on his first day in office, he’ll levy devastating 25% trade tariffs on those two U.S. neighbors if they fail to crack down on illegal immigration and drug trafficking.
Much public puzzlement has filled international media coverage over why Trump would single out Canada for punishment equal to that of the far guiltier Mexico.
“To compare us to Mexico is the most insulting thing I’ve ever heard from our friends and closest allies, the United States of America,” Ontario Premier Doug Ford said. “I found his comments unfair. I found them insulting. It’s like a family member stabbing you right in the heart.”
“We shouldn’t confuse the Mexican border with the Canadian border,” Canadian Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said.
But this narrative seems intended to deflect public acknowledgement of what the liberal progressive government of Justin Trudeau did in fact do to draw Trump’s tariff ire. In terms of immigration policy, the Canadian offenses are indeed much different from Mexico’s open super-highway mass migration wave-throughs during the Biden-Harris years. But Canada’s policies have, arguably, damaged U.S. national security and public safety interests in harmful ways that media outlets on both sides rarely report.
Canada’s Massive Legal Immigration Program As A U.S. National Security Threat
Much of the damage arises from an historic Canadian legal immigrant importation program of unprecedented scope. Since the program’s 2021 implementation, the Great White North has imported some 1.5 million foreign national workers (400,000+ per year for a country of 38 million) from dozens of developing nations and hundreds of thousands of foreign students in 2023 alone – making it another record-breaking year.
Why are those programs a U.S. problem? Because a spiking number of foreign nationals are apparently abusing the Canadian programs as a lily pad from which to illegally enter the United States between northern border land ports of entry, among them proven threats to U.S. national security and public safety.
Why this traffic leaking into the United States is a problem – even though the total numbers illegally entering from Canada are small relative to those crossing from Mexico – arises from the fact that many hail from Muslim-majority nations and have, Canadian media reports, fueled a spate of terrorism and anti-Semitic attacks throughout Canada. In addition, far too many of the Mexicans Canada has allowed in turned out to be cartel drug traffickers and killers.
These are the kinds of criminals crossing the U.S. northern border in increasing numbers due to Canadian policies — policies Canada could address if it wanted to.
Consider that U.S. Border Patrol apprehensions in the brush between U.S.-Canada land ports of entry jumped from 2,238 in 2022 to 23,721 in 2024, neatly coinciding with Trudeau’s mass legal immigration programs.
Among those crossing illegally from Canada, for instance, were 15,827 Indian nationals in 2023 and 2024, 8,367 Mexicans, and 3,833 from unspecified countries listed only as “Other” on the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s public statistics website.
Concerns on both sides of the northern border have been simmering for some years as Canadians witness newcomers carrying out terror plots, actual attacks, and perhaps some of the record-breaking nearly 6,000 antisemitic incidents Canada has logged since the Israel-Hamas war broke out.
What’s been happening in Canada was obvious to many.
“Canada has become a hotbed of radicalization, fanaticism, and jihadism,” wrote Casey Babb, Senior Fellow with the Macdonald-Laurier Institute in Newsweek shortly after the arrest. “As un-Canadian as it sounds, Canada has a terrorism crisis on its hands and that should worry the United States for a whole host of reasons.”
Concern would reach an apogee in October 2024, when a joint U.S.-Canadian counterterrorism operation thwarted a plot by a Pakistani student on a Canadian visa to illegally cross the northern border to conduct an October 2024 massacre of Jews in New York.
Muhammad Shahzeb Khan, a 20-year-old Pakistani citizen legally issued a Canadian student visa in June 2023, now stands accused in U.S. federal court of plotting an illegal-smuggler-assisted northern border crossing to carry out a mass shooting of Jews in New York City to celebrate with blood the October 7 anniversary of the Hamas massacre in Israel. Khan hoped it would go down in history as “the largest U.S. attack since 9/11.”
“We are going to nyc (sic) to slaughter them” with AR-style rifles and hunting knives “so we can slit their throats,” Khan told an undercover FBI agent he believed to be a co-conspirator, according to an agent complaint. “Even if we don’t attack an event we could rack up easily a lot of Jews.”
That alarming new terrorism prosecution in New York State should have been enough to renew Trump’s interest in turning diplomatic pressure onto Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau’s mass legal immigration policies and border security on its side.
But terrorists cannot be the only concern.
Mexican Cartel Killers And Traffickers In Canada Crossing Too
The incoming Trump administration will need to force resolution of another issue regarding U.S. public safety concerns dating back to an especially damaging 2016 Trudeau move that did great harm until it was addressed just recently. Trudeau rescinded 2009 visa requirements on Mexican citizens and against the advice of his own government. Mexican criminals would abuse the policy to fly in at will and bedevil both Canadian and northern American cities.
That all began in early 2017. A sustained surge was underway of Mexican nationals who, unable to easily cross the southern border under Trump 1.0, were flying over the United States into Canada. They would claim Canadian asylum and cross southward over the less tended northern U.S. border.
Among them were the predicted Mexican cartel operatives.
Leaked Canada Border Services Agency intelligence reports said Mexican “drug smugglers, human smugglers, recruiters, money launders and foot soldiers” were turning up in greater numbers than ever before. The cartels went to work building human smuggling networks to move other Mexicans south over the American border, just as they did all along the southern border.
In July 2017, Global News quoted the intelligence reports saying the ultra-violent Sinaloa cartel had turned up in Canada to “facilitate travel to Canada by Mexicans with criminal records.” Others identified included La Familia Michoacana, Jalisco New Generation, and Los Zetas.
For instance, whereas the reports said 37 Mexicans linked to organized criminal groups had entered between 2012 and 2015, 65 involved in “serious crimes” were identified midway through just 2017, compared to 28 in 2015. By May 2019, at least 400 Mexican criminals connected to drug trafficking, including sicario hitmen, were plying their trades in Canada, at least half of them in Quebec, according to a May 24, 2019, report in the Toronto Sun and other Canadian media outlets.
All had entered through the Trudeau visa loophole for Mexicans.
By the end of 2019, Canada saw a 1,400% spike in the number of bogus Mexican refugee claims, the vast majority naturally rejected, and of associated detentions.
Canada Finally About To Face The Music
Only in February 2024 did the Americans pressure the Canadians to finally reimpose some visa restrictions on Mexicans — though not all. Now, only Mexicans who already hold a U.S. visa or old Canadian one can travel visa-free, while most other Mexicans with neither will have to apply for a Canadian one.
The damage is already done, but there’s always a chance Trudeau could revert to visa-free once again.
From January to mid-October 2022, for instance, 7,698 Mexican asylum seekers took direct flights from Mexico City to Montreal, according to a November 2022 Canadian Press story.
The paper quoted officials at nonprofit refugee assistance groups attesting that most fly to Canada because they found out Trudeau’s visa-free policy also got them government financial assistance while awaiting their mostly denied asylum applications.
The Zetas are in Canada “involved with temporary migrant workers.”
Asked in 2023 if Canada’s importance to Mexican organized crime had increased “in recent years,” co-author Luis Najera answered: “I would say it has increased since criminal cells moved up north to settle and expand operations here. It is also strategic to have groups operating north of the U.S. border, close to key places such as Chicago and New York, and without the scrutiny of the DEA and rival groups.”
Canada is not Mexico but its policies pose consequences for the United States.
Any normal U.S. administration would put Canada on the hook for adjusting its policies and more robustly guarding its supposedly treasured neighboring ally, the United States, from harm. If punishing trade tariffs finally focus Canada’s attention on those policy-driven harms, let them last until Canada fixes what it recklessly broke.
Heading into President-elect Donald Trump’s second term, there are a lot of unanswered questions about the Biden administration’s weaponization of the federal government, from its censorship of conservative media during COVID to the recently uncovered FEMA scandal.
While congressional Republicans have unearthed a few answers, many questions still remain. With control of the White House, the Trump administration will have a unique opportunity to investigate and potentially uncover the full extent of the weaponization and exactly which federal officials were involved.
While there are numerous departments worthy of scrutiny, here are four the Trump administration could probe.
Targeting Political Opponents
Under Biden’s direction, peaceful pro-life protesters have been jailed, concerned parents have been investigated as “domestic terrorists,” and Trump supporters like Elon Musk have been targeted for prosecution.
In the first year of the Biden administration, Attorney General Merrick Garland issued a memo in October 2021 calling for a crackdown on alleged threats against public school employees. The memo came after the National School Board Association (NSBA) sent a letter in September 2021 to Biden comparing threats against school officials to domestic terrorism and hate crimes.
It was later discovered that the NSBA had corresponded about the letter with the White House before the Garland memo was issued. The House Judiciary Committee later found that federal law enforcement had “no legitimate basis” for the memo.
The memo prompted outrage from Republicans who said the administration was trying to intimidate parents concerned about leftist-infused curriculum.
In another example of weaponization, peaceful pro-life protesters were aggressively prosecuted by the Biden administration under a novel legal strategy. The protesters were charged with “a felony conspiracy against rights and a Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (FACE Act) offense,” punishable by over 10 years in prison. The “conspiracy against rights” statute was first passed during Reconstruction to target violence done by the Klu Klux Klan.
Pro-lifers from Tennessee to Michigan to Washington, D.C., were convicted on these charges and face years in prison. Multiple defendants are already in prison while more are waiting to be sentenced.
The defendants include 89-year-old Eva Edl, a survivor of a communist death camp in Eastern Europe, and Paul Vaughn, a father of 11 whose home was raided by the FBI with guns drawn early morning in October 2022.
Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) has already demanded that the Biden administration preserve all records of its prosecution of the peaceful pro-life protesters to understand how the cases were brought and why.
There are countless other examples of the Biden administration going after its opponents from the DOJ’s cases against Trump to the Federal Trade Commission’s aggressive oversight of Elon Musk. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) said that the FTC made increasing demands of Musk after he purchased Twitter, which he had promised to turn into a haven for free speech.
The incoming Trump administration should make every effort to expose these prosecutions and actions to reveal how Biden used his administration to target conservatives.
FEMA Skipping Homes Of Trump Supporters
The next administration will also have the opportunity to dig for answers about FEMA’s treatment of Trump supporters during relief operations. A recent report broken by The Daily Wire earlier this month showed that FEMA supervisor Marn’i Washington ordered workers in Lake Placid, Florida to “avoid homes advertising Trump.”
FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell stated the guidance was isolated and not indicative of a larger problem, while Washington has claimed that FEMA has a widespread policy of avoiding “politically hostile” homes.
In addition to investigations from congressional lawmakers, the agency itself is looking into it and has asked the Inspector General to conduct an independent investigation as well. During testimony before House lawmakers last week, Criswell deferred many of the lawmakers’ questions, saying that the investigation was ongoing.
There are still questions about why the agency didn’t appear to take any disciplinary action against Washington until over a week after a whistleblower report was filed with the Department of Homeland Security. Washington was only fired one day after The Daily Wire report on the instructions, which led to at least 20 homes being skipped.
Since then, other allegations have been made against FEMA, including a whistleblower telling the House Oversight Committee that an agency employee told a family in Georgia to remove their Trump signs from their yard.
The Trump administration could launch a full inquiry into FEMA and determine the full extent of the political bias.
Censoring Conservative Media
Another area deserving of a thorough evaluation is the Biden administration’s efforts to censor conservative media outlets, including the Daily Wire.
These revelations were made after Chairman of The House Judiciary Committee Jim Jordan (R-OH) released a number of emails showing efforts by the Biden administration to limit the reach of conservative outlets like The Daily Wire on Facebook.
In the emails, Rob Flaherty, Biden’s censorship czar, suggested that Facebook should “change the algorithm so that people were more likely to see [New York Times], [Wall Street Journal], any authoritative news source over The Daily Wire.”
In another email, Flaherty questioned the reach of the New York Post.
“I’m curious – NY Post churning out articles every day… What is supposed to happen to that from Policy perspective. Does that article get a reduction, labels?” Flaherty asked Facebook.
This stemmed from Flaherty telling Facebook that he needed to “explain” to Biden “why there is misinfo on the internet.”
These emails, and others later released, show how closely the White House was working with Big Tech companies, and how concerned the companies were with satisfying demands from administration officials.
Aside from censoring COVID information, Biden’s State Department was sued over its Global Engagement Center and attempts to censor information from domestic media.
The new Trump administration has an opportunity to investigate whether Biden participated in any additional censorship efforts and which government employees were all involved.
Spying On Financial Transactions
Earlier this year, Rep. Jordan revealed how federal officials were ordering banks to comb through customer data in search of terms like “TRUMP” or “MAGA” used in transactions.
This came after the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) asked banks to help federal law enforcement identify transactions of “persons of interest” using specific typologies and Merchant Category Codes after January 6, 2021.
Other transaction keywords identified by the feds included “Cabela’s” and “Dick’s Sporting Goods,” along with the purchase of “religious texts” as potentially problematic.
“Despite these transactions having no apparent criminal nexus — and, in fact, relate to Americans exercising their Second Amendment rights — FinCEN seems to have adopted a characterization of these Americans as potential threat actors,” Jordan wrote in January. “This kind of pervasive financial surveillance, carried out in coordination with and at the request of federal law enforcement, into Americans’ private transactions is alarming and raises serious doubts about FinCEN’s respect for fundamental civil liberties.”
The next administration should probe the full extent of the government’s surveillance of Americans’ financial transactions and see if similar techniques were used in other investigations or prosecutions.
At a time when trust in the government has plummeted, the Biden administration has only added to the distrust. From censoring conservative media outlets to locking up peaceful pro-lifers, Biden’s four year tenure was marked by increased government weaponization.
President-elect Trump has an opportunity to hold federal bureaucrats accountable for their weaponization of the government.
Ohio Republican Sen. JD Vance will leave his Senate seat when he becomes vice president on January 20, giving Republican Gov. Mike DeWine the responsibility to appoint a replacement until a special election is held in 2026.
Ohio went red in the 2024 election, giving Trump an 11-point win over Vice President Kamala Harris. Longtime Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown also lost his re-election bid this year to Republican Bernie Moreno, giving the GOP both Senate seats in the state. Now, with Vance’s seat opening up, numerous Republicans are being floated as potential replacements.
Frank LaRose
Ohio Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose is a favorite among the state’s Republicans to replace Vance. LaRose made headlines in the past year for leading an effort to clean up Ohio’s voter rolls ahead of the 2024 election, including purging hundreds of non-citizens from the rolls. LaRose has served as Ohio’s secretary of state since 2019. Before that, he was a member of the Ohio State Senate. LaRose ran for Senate in 2024 but lost to Moreno in the Republican primary.
Jon Husted
Ohio Lieutenant Gov. Jon Husted has served in that position since 2019. He has long been a major player in Ohio politics, serving as the Ohio secretary of state from 2011 to 2019, and the Speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives from 2005 to 2009.
Husted also pushed hard to secure Ohio’s elections, saying he wanted to make it a state where it is “both easy to vote and hard to cheat.” After taking office as secretary of state, Husted switched voting rules to make early voting hours uniform across the state instead of allowing county boards of elections to set their own hours.
Husted appears more likely to run for governor than for the Senate in 2026, and he has already received DeWine’s endorsement for the position. “Based on my six years working with him, he will be a great governor,” DeWine said earlier this month.
Jim Renacci
A Republican rival of DeWine, former Congressman Jim Renacci would be an unlikely appointment, but he could campaign for the 2026 special election. Renacci challenged DeWine in 2022, regularly criticizing the Ohio governor. He lost to DeWine in the Republican primary by 20 points. Renacci also mounted a U.S. Senate campaign in 2018, winning the Republican primary before losing to Democrat Sherrod Brown in the general election.
Before he was elected to Congress in 2010, Renacci was a successful businessman, owning multiple dealerships in the Columbus area. In Congress, he served on the House Ways and Means Committee and the House Budget Committee.
Ohio Republican state Senator Matt Dolan has thrown his hat into the ring for a U.S. Senate twice in the past three years, falling short in Republican primaries in 2022 and 2024. Dolan is the son of Larry Dolan who owns the Cleveland Guardians (formerly Cleveland Indians) of the MLB. Dolan was given a partial stake in the franchise in 2000.
Dolan is also a partner at the law firm of Thrasher, Dinsmore & Dolan and the vice president of 7th Avenue Properties, managing businesses and real estate properties. Dolan could have an edge over others in seeking DeWine’s appointment. In the 2024 Senate election, he was endorsed by DeWine while Republican Bernie Moreno, who went on to win the election, was endorsed by President-elect Donald Trump.
Dave Joyce
Republican Congressman Dave Joyce is currently serving his sixth term in the U.S. House after first being elected in 2012. Before Congress, Joyce worked as a public defender and was later appointed prosecutor of Geauga County, Ohio, to the east of Cleveland.
Earlier this year, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) appointed Joyce to serve on the task force investigating the July 13 assassination attempt on Trump. Joyce said he would “work diligently to uncover the facts, demand accountability, and ensure these security failures are prevented from happening in the future.”
Warren Davidson
Warren Davidson, another Ohio Republican congressman, has been floated for the Senate seat. Davidson served as a U.S. Army infantryman, where he was stationed in Germany. He later earned an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point and graduated near the top of his class.
Davidson also owned and operated manufacturing companies in Ohio for 15 years before he was elected to the House in 2016.
Jane Timken
Attorney and former Ohio Republican Party Chair Jane Timken is at the top of the list of people DeWine is considering for the appointment to the Senate, according to ohio.news. Timken served as the head of the Ohio GOP from 2017 to 2021 and then ran for Senate in 2022. Despite boasting the endorsement of outgoing Sen. Rob Portman in 2022, Timken finished in fifth place in the Republican primary.
Mike Carey
Rep. Mike Carey (R-OH) has thrown his name in the mix for Vance’s seat, telling Fox News earlier this week that Trump “needs somebody in the Senate that will make sure that we get his agenda through.” Carey has been in Congress since 2021, where he has prioritized fighting for tax relief, housing affordability, and energy independence.
Before his time in Congress, Carey was an executive for a large privately owned energy company.
Mehek Cooke
Republican attorney Mehek Cooke is also being considered by DeWine, according to Fox News. Cooke was a political and legal surrogate for Trump in the 2024 election, appearing on Fox News to boost Trump’s campaign. Cooke served as assistant chief counsel in the Ohio governor’s office from 2012 to 2014. She also worked in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Ohio, focusing on cases involving corruption, terrorism, drug trafficking, asset forfeiture, and money laundering.
According to a WPA Intelligence poll reported on by ohio.news, LaRose (17%) leads among candidates for the seat on favorability and potential to defeat the Democratic candidate in the special election. Husted is in second place at 10%, according to the poll. Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost is in third place, according to the poll, but Yost said earlier this month that he would decline an appointment to the Senate seat as he appears to be a top candidate for governor in 2026.
The WPA Intelligence poll rounds out with Renacci and Dolan at 5%, Joyce and Davidson at 3%, Timken and Carey at 2%, and Cooke at 1%. Whoever is appointed in the coming weeks will have to run in the 2026 special election to hold onto the seat, and the regular election for the Senate seat will take place two years later in 2028.
This Christmas season feels different, doesn’t it?
There’s just something in the air. Feelings of joy, prosperity, even a tinge of hope. It has a lot to do with Donald Trump’s landslide win earlier this month – and the sense of relief we all feel considering the alternative. But that’s not the only reason for celebrating. Conservatives have been on an upswing lately, not just in politics, but in the culture more generally.
Case in point: it’s no longer social suicide to wear a MAGA hat while sipping from a Leftist Tears Tumbler in public. Heck, you might even get a high-five or two.
Maybe it has something to do with the Bud Light boycott that cost one of America’s major beer brands more than $1 billion. Or seeing exposés like “What Is a Woman?” and “Am I Racist?,” which led to the cult of gender ideology collapsing while DEI grifters fled social media in shame. Elon Musk purchased X and allowed free speech to reign once again. Major corporations started ditching their woke initiatives right and left.
It feels good to win for once. But the fight is far from over. To keep this upward trajectory going, conservatives have got to keep supporting companies whose values align with their own. That means shopping for Christmas gifts at companies that still say “Merry Christmas,” for example.
Good news – our merch is better than the competitor’s anyway. And whoever is on the receiving end of your gift will be doubly thankful to know that extra thought was put into where it came from.
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It’s time for a woke-free Christmas. Let’s make it a season to remember for all the right reasons.
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According to a new report, a secretive office created by the Obama administration in the Department of Education and revived by the Biden administration made repeated attempts to shut down non-woke universities and colleges — and roughly 70% of the enforcement efforts were made against Christian colleges and career schools.
In 2023, the Biden administration increased the budget of the Department of Education’s Office of Enforcement — a subsidiary of the department’s Office of Federal Student Aid — by a massive 600% and asked for another 230% increase this year.
“After being ‘deprioritized’ under the Trump-Pence administration, the Student Aid Enforcement Unit was ‘restored’ by the Biden-Harris Department of Education in October 2021 under a new moniker, the Office of Enforcement, still housed under the Office of Student Aid,” the report stated.
“Enrollment at faith-based schools grew 82% between 1980 and 2020, about 44 percent faster than the national average,” the American Principles Project noted in its report.
“At least 12 Christian colleges have been the target of excessive penalties or banned from receiving federal student aid; by comparison, no Ivy League school has been the recipient of punitive action by the Office of Enforcement,” the report asserted.
Vice President Kamala Harris “ambushed Corinthian (Colleges) while she was California Attorney General,” The Wall Street Journal wrote in June 2022. “She began investigating the for-profit in 2013 for allegedly misrepresenting job-placement rates, but she struggled to support her claims. The Education Department rode to her rescue by making exhaustive document demands.”
“Obama Administration officials then complained the college wasn’t producing documents fast enough, and the Education Department cut off federal student aid. This drove Corinthian into bankruptcy and stranded tens of thousands of Corinthian students,” the Journal continued.
APP Policy Director Jon Schweppe wrote, “The Office of Enforcement has been formed into a weapon to single out and penalize schools that the administration disfavors. Once focused primarily on career colleges, the Department of Education has now turned the Office of Enforcement on Christian colleges and universities, which threatens to have the same disastrous effects.”
NEW YORK — Donald Trump’s Federal Communications Commission has signaled massive legal liability for tech firms who censor news content, but at a conference for an entire industry dedicated to doing just that, there was little to no introspection on display.
Hundreds gathered for a “Brand Safety Summit” in New York just before the election last month, where they strategized on how to keep advertising dollars from going to news outlets that promote “misinformation.” The conference was sponsored by major tech firms such as TikTok, Meta, Google, and Snap.
Absent from discussion was any reflection on how they had gotten it horrifically wrong, censoring true stories like the New York Post’s Hunter Biden laptop story before the 2020 election and dismissing as a conspiracy theory the idea that COVID leaked from a Chinese lab. In a Q&A portion of a panel, The Daily Wire asked what lessons had been learned from those examples. But the panelists did not express particular concern, and mostly shrugged off their responsibility onto third parties like NewsGuard. Andrew Serby of “brand suitability” technology company Zefr said, “We do it based on verified fact-checks from third parties, right? So the fact checks for academic institutions or companies that have fact checkers.” He declined to go deeper on the question after the panel.
Susan Zemlyakova of TikTok said virtually the same thing.
“We work with a number of fact-checking organizations to help basically uphold our disinformation policies, or specifically harmful misinformation policies,” Zemlyakova said. “So through these partners.. we’re able to identify, able to identify accurately, and remove.”
Khurrum Malik, chief marketing officer of a “brand safety” firm called Integral Ad Science, boasted on stage that his firm used third-party raters including the Global Disinformation Index (GDI) to determine what news was “safe.” GDI has taken government money and called mainstream outlets like the New York Post, the Washington Examiner, Reason Magazine, and The Daily Wire risky. Like many firms in the space, GDI is based abroad where the First Amendment does not apply.(The Daily Wire is suing the State Department over its relationship with NewsGuard and GDI, alleging that government-backed suppression of media content violates the First Amendment.)
After his speech, Malik struggled to defend the basics of his business to The Daily Wire. He said “it’s actually a really hard problem” to determine if news articles are misinformation, saying that “it’s very early days” in the industry.
He said his company’s solution was to “rely on third parties.” Asked how the third parties could do something that his own company could not reliably do because of the extreme difficulty, he said it relied on multiple firms. He said his company was very transparent, before exchanging nervous glances with a colleague and cutting the conversation short.
The “brand safety” industry officials studiously avoided the elephant in the room: That the Global Alliance for Responsible Media, better known as GARM, the industry’s largest player, spectacularly collapsed this year following lawsuits alleging that they violated antitrust law and facilitated illegal boycotts. A congressional investigation into GARM obtained internal emails in which a “brand safety” executive for advertising firm GroupM, Joe Barone — above an email signature with a rainbow and the phrase “Black Lives Matter” — wrote: “Fyi we have Daily Wire on our Global High Risk exclusion list, categorized as Conspiracy Theories. Another batch of emails showed a GroupM executive say that he “hated” Breitbart’s “ideology and bulls—,” and laid out how his group used misinformation rules as a pretext to target them.
The Brand Safety Summit was run by 614 Group, which quoted from Barone glowingly on its website (614 has since deleted the reference). Rob Rasko, the 614 Group’s leader, refused to talk about GARM with The Daily Wire. When The Daily Wire asked a GroupM official about it, Rasko came over to intervene, earning a wink from the GroupM official.
Rasko also punted on issues like GDI, saying that he didn’t refer people to GDI and just “run[s] a conference” and that “it’s a complicated conversation”–though Rasko organized a conference about best practices that included a speaker extolling GDI, and the two-day conference did not get into the complicated questions that arise from GARM’s legal woes and GDI’s false categorization of major news outlets.
After GARM’s collapse, Rasko’s group worked with Dentsu, a foreign public relations firm that was a founding member of GARM, to set up the “Dentsu Coalition.” A press release quoted Rasko saying it involved “leveraging the collective power of the [ad] industry’s foremost players” to boost “credible news”- — a dynamic that sounded just like what the recently shuttered GARM was doing. Dentsu eventually threw 614 under the bus, saying, “It is clear, with the benefit of hindsight, that some of the language of the press release (drafted by The 614 Group) was hyperbolic.”
Rasko disagreed, saying, “I don’t interpret it that way.” 614 has since deleted the press release.
The sole introspection at the Brand Safety Summit came from its opening speaker, Gary Vaynerchuk, who has a reputation for speaking plainly — perhaps to Rasko’s chagrin. Vaynerchuk profanely rejected many of the industry’s foundational precepts and made reference to his parents growing up in the Soviet Union.
On a panel, Rasko asked him what he would do if he was in charge of brand safety. Vaynerchuk suggested it wasn’t platforms’ role to ensure that everyone felt safe.
“All I hear is people complain about what they’re scared of. If you’re so scared of your child being on TikTok, you should delete TikTok off the f**king phone, because you’re their parent. And so I think we need to be very careful and take a step back on all this safety stuff.”
“The institutions of society have done a very good job of making people feel helpless and feel like somebody else is going to do it for us,” he said.
“I think it’s crazy to be a human being and have the audacity to think that every other human being in our country should see the world exactly how we see it, like we’ve gotten to this place of entitlement…. you have to understand that humility is the great balance to it… I think we’re struggling with that collectively, as an industry,” he added.
“I think accountability is a very attractive word heading into 2025.”
An Australian influencer and TikTok sensation, known for sharing candid behind-the-scenes moments of parenting her three children, has shared her rather unique “fetish.”
Amazon workers in more than 20 countries, including the U.S., plan to strike during the busy pre-Christmas shopping days between Black Friday and Cyber Monday to "make Amazon pay."
Plastic surgeons across the country have said that in 2024, they’ve noticed a trend by Americans to have a more athletic look by skipping the fillers in their lips, deflating their breasts, and shrinking their butts in an effort to de-Kardashian their bodies.
The Hollywood Reporter spoke to doctors on both coasts who said they’ve seen a desire to skip the exaggerated hourglass shapes with huge backsides due to Brazilian butt lifts and big chests made popular by the likes of reality stars such as Kim Kardashian and her sisters.
Kim literally looks like a cartoon character. Your body is not supposed to be shaped like this. It’s such a dangerous and weird af standard she’s setting for herself and it looks absolutely ridiculous. pic.twitter.com/nxSin27fdx
“Lifts and even breast reductions are on the rise, along with tummy tucks to make the midsection look more fit,” New York plastic surgeon Darren Smith told THR.
“I see a 20 percent increase in women coming in for lifts this year over last,” Lyle Leipziger, chief of plastic and reconstructive surgery at both North Shore University Hospital and Long Island Jewish Medical Center, said. “And those that want implants only want to go up one bra size.”
And doctors said instead of seeing these kinds of requests from those in their 20’s and 40’s, they are now seeing it much later in life.
“I now have women in their 60s, 70s and even 80s coming in to get their breasts and tummies done,” Leipziger said.
Sean Alemi, a New York facial plastic surgeon, calls it the “tweakmovement,” suggesting instead of getting a ton of work done, people are getting less invasive procedures.
“People in their 40s don’t want to wait until aging affects their entire face, so they are getting lower eyelid skin pinches and upper lid lifts to get rid of hooding, using just local anesthesia,” Alemi said. “It freshens without changing the shape of the face.”
A southern California cosmetic dermatologist, Dr. Annie Chiu, said that because of social media, she’s also seen what she called “an injectable backlash,” adding that the “the filler market has been down in ’24.”
“At first, everyone was encouraged to get that very contoured, overfilled Instagram face, but now there is a real fear of looking weird,” Chiu said. “My colleagues think that L.A. is more overdone, but there is bad work everywhere, especially Miami and Dallas, and the Housewives of New York don’t exactly have that subtle look.”
However, it apparently depends on which coast you reside on, as New York dermatologist Howard Sobel said his patients from LA still want that full round face look, compared to his New York clients.
“They want an exaggerated feminine look because that gets you noticed, but that look has never been New York,” Sobel said. “They bring in pictures of celebrities they want to look like, but they don’t even have similar facial structures.”
When American families celebrate Thanksgiving, many hearken back to the Pilgrims — who braved a brutal first year at Plymouth Bay Colony and then, after a bountiful harvest, stopped everything to give thanks to God.
For years after that, many remembered those first difficult days in a new land and the years of plenty that followed — and also thanked God for rewarding their labor. But it was not until 1789, when that new land had a name and a new leader, that Thanksgiving officially became an American holiday.
Daily Wire editor Emeritus Ben Shapiro shared the decree, issued by President George Washington, in a post on X along with his own caption: “Happy Thanksgiving — and, of course, thanks to God for His blessings on the greatest nation in the history of the planet.”
Happy Thanksgiving — and, of course, thanks to God for His blessings on the greatest nation in the history of the planet.
"Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to…
“Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor — and whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness,” Washington wrote.
The first part of Washington’s decree focused on the things for which his young nation should be thankful — beginning with the successful conclusion of the Revolutionary War and the peaceful implementation of a new form of government under the U.S. Constitution, which would complete the ratification process the following year.
“Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be,” he continued. “That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks — for his kind care and protection of the People of this Country previous to their becoming a Nation — for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of his Providence which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war — for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed — for the peaceable and rational manner, in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national One now lately instituted — for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed; and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and in general for all the great and various favors which he hath been pleased to confer upon us.”
Washington went on to lay out that which he believed the American people should be praying for, beginning with forgiveness for “our national and other transgressions” and extending to continued safety and prosperity, not only for the newly-formed United States, but for “all Sovereigns and Nations.”
“And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions — to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually — to render our national government a blessing to all the people, by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed — to protect and guide all Sovereigns and Nations (especially such as have shewn kindness unto us) and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord — To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the encrease of science among them and us — and generally to grant unto all Mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best.”
The official date for the Thanksgiving holiday changed from year to year until President Abraham Lincoln, in 1863, designated the last Thursday in November to be the permanent day of celebration. Only one president since — Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1939 — has deviated from that schedule, opting to move the holiday from November 30 to November 23 in order to extend the Christmas shopping season.
Multiple Democratic members of the U.S. House of Representatives from Connecticut were targeted with bomb threats on Thanksgiving.
The threats come a day after the Trump transition team announced that several of President-elect Donald Trump’s nominees received bomb threats.
Reps. Joe Courtney (D-CT), Jahana Hayes (D-CT), Jim Himes (D-CT), and John Larson (D-CT) all said in statements that their homes were targeted.
The lawmakers released the following statements:
Courtney: “Early this morning, Mr. Courtney’s home was targeted with a bomb threat while he and his family were at home to celebrate Thanksgiving. Thanks to the swift and professional response of Vernon Police Chief Marc Petruzzi and Lieutenant Robert Mara, the United States Capitol Police, and the bomb squad, the Courtneys are safe, and there was no evidence found of a bomb on their property. Joe and Audrey extend their utmost gratitude to the law enforcement officers, whose response should signal to perpetrators that these types of threats will not be tolerated.”
Hayes: “At 7:47am I was notified by Chief Edward Stephens of the Wolcott Police Department that they received a threatening email stating a pipe bomb had been placed in the mailbox at my home. State police, U.S. Capitol Police, and the Sergeant at Arms were immediately notified. The Wolcott Police Department and State Police responded and no bomb or explosive materials were discovered and the scene was cleared. At this time the investigation is ongoing. I thank law enforcement for their swift attention to this matter, their actions demonstrate there is no place in our country for political violence. On this Thanksgiving, I am grateful for my family and loved ones. I plan to spend the day with them and hope you all do the same. May you have a safe and happy Thanksgiving.”
Himes: “This morning, I was notified of a bomb threat targeting my home where I was celebrating Thanksgiving with my family. Thankfully, after a swift and thorough response from the United States Capitol Police, the Greenwich Police Department, and the Stamford Police Department, no evidence of a bomb was found. Mary, Emma, Linley, and I extend our utmost gratitude to our local law enforcement officers for their immediate action to ensure our safety. There is no place for political violence in this country, and I hope that we may all continue through the holiday season with peace and civility.”
Larson: “Early this morning, East Hartford Police came to my home in response to a bomb threat. The police determined no bomb was present at the property and the Larson family is safe. I would like to thank the East Hartford Police Department for their swift and professional response in ensuring the safety of my family. I am grateful that my colleagues in the Connecticut Congressional Delegation, who received similar threats, are also safe. Thanks again to law enforcement at every level, from local, to state, to federal.”
The threats came after the Trump transition team revealed on Wednesday that several Trump nominees and appointees were targeted “in violent, unAmerican threats to their lives and those who live with them,” according to the transition team.
“These attacks ranged from bomb threats to ‘swatting,’” the statement said. “In response, law enforcement and other authorities acted quickly to ensure the safety of those who were targeted. President Trump and the entire Transition team are grateful for their swift action.”
The Trump team said that the “dangerous acts of intimidation and violence will not deter us.”
Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), Trump’s pick to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said she and her family were targeted by a bomb threat.
“This morning, Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, her husband, and their three year old son were driving home to Saratoga County from Washington for Thanksgiving when they were informed of a bomb threat to their residence. New York State, County law enforcement, and U.S. Capitol Police responded immediately with the highest levels of professionalism,” Stefanik’s congressional office said in a statement.
“We are incredibly appreciative of the extraordinary dedication of law enforcement officers who keep our communities safe 24/7,” Stefanik’s office added. “We want to share our best wishes to the Upstate NY community for a happy and safe Thanksgiving. We are especially grateful to our law enforcement officers and military families who are on duty over the holiday season.”
Others followed with announcements that they, too, had been targeted.
Former Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY), Trump’s nominee for EPA administrator, said a “pipe bomb threat targeting me and my family at our home today was sent in with a pro-Palestinian themed message.” He added that his family was not at home at the time and said they are working with law enforcement.
Trump’s pick to lead the Agriculture Department, Brooke Rollins, said on X that on Wednesday morning, “we learned that a threat was issued against our home and family.” She also thanked the Fort Worth Police Department for their “swift efforts” and noted that she and her family were safe.
Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R-OR), Trump’s selection to be the next secretary of Labor, said she and her family were targeted by a pipe bomb threat at their Oregon home. The congresswoman also thanked the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office for its “quick response” and said they were safe.
Trump’s nominee to head the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Scott Turner, said his home was targeted by a bomb threat on the eve of Thanksgiving and expressed gratitude to law enforcement for their “swift and professional” response.
Punchbowl News reported former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Trump’s nominee to be U.S. Attorney General until Gaetz withdrew from consideration last week, received a pipe bomb threat that prompted a bomb squad response in Florida. Fox News reported defense secretary nominee Pete Hegseth and CIA director nominee John Ratcliffe also received threats while Bloomberg reported commerce secretary nominee Howard Lutnick’s home in Manhattan received a bomb threat.
President Joe Biden complained about the media reporting “bad news” while he spoke to reporters during his final Thanksgiving as commander in chief.
Biden made the comment while in Nantucket, Massachusetts, after being asked to share his message to Americans who are worried about the future this holiday season. Though he insisted reporters have a “really tough job” and claimed that he was not criticizing them, Biden indicated that pollsshowing most Americans believe the country is heading in the wrong direction could be pinned on the press.
"You turn on the television you don't see a lot of good news. Even if something is good news it doesn't seem to to sell very well. If you turn on TV everything looks bad. Exceedingly small number of people watching mainstream television & reading newspapers"
“You turn on the television, you don’t see a lot of good news,” Biden said. “Even if something is good news it doesn’t seem to sell very well. And so — if you turn on the TV, everything looks bad. Everything looks bad. And now you have … an exceedingly small number of people watching mainstream television and reading the newspapers … So, where do you get your news and how do you know what you’re getting is not just [what] you’re looking for as opposed to what’s happening.”
The 82-year-old Biden is wrapping up his time in the White House after his vice president, Kamala Harris, lost to President-elect Donald Trump in the 2024 election earlier this month. Biden had been running for a second term but, after a fumbling debate performance, dropped out in July under pressure from allies raising concerns about his age, mental acuity, and electability.
Biden said on Thursday that he wants to “make sure” that the transition of power in the White House “goes smoothly.” Reportersnoted the outgoing president also said he hopes Trump “rethinks” his “counterproductive” threat to impose tariffs on Canada and Mexico until they crack down on drugs and illegal immigration into the United States.
In a Thanksgiving post to X, Trump said: “Happy Thanksgiving to all, including to the Radical Left Lunatics who have worked so hard to destroy our Country, but who have miserably failed, and will always fail, because their ideas and policies are so hopelessly bad that the great people of our Nation just gave a landslide victory to those who want to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! Don’t worry, our Country will soon be respected, productive, fair, and strong, and you will be, more than ever before, proud to be an American!”
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