Friday, December 20, 2024

December 20, 2024

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Leading the News . . .

Trump-backed spending bill goes down in flames as shutdown looms . . . A bill to avert a partial government shutdown that was backed by President-elect Trump failed to pass the House of Representatives on Thursday night. Congress is inching closer to the possibility of a partial shutdown, with the deadline coming at the end of Friday. The bill needed two-thirds of the House chamber to pass, but failed to even net a majority. Two Democrats voted with the majority of Republicans to pass the bill, while 38 GOP lawmakers bucked Trump to oppose it. The bill fell 174 to 235. Fox News

Here's a list of the 38 Republicans who defied Trump by voting 'no' on the failed spending bill

Johnson on shaky ground with Trump after spending bill fiasco . . . Multiple House conservatives, as well as Trump advisers and other people close to the incoming president, indicate Johnson's hold on the speakership is far from stable just as Republicans are about to take control of the House, Senate and White House. One Trump adviser, granted anonymity to speak candidly, said Johnson could salvage the relationship by "doing what Trump wants." But another said that Trump wasn't "protecting him" and not to be fooled by the president-elect's publicly kind remarks. "If somebody challenges Johnson, you're not going to get any pushback," said a Trump adviser. Politico

Rand Paul floats Elon Musk for Speaker

Politics

Georgia appeals court disqualifies Fani Willis from Trump election case . . . A Georgia appellate court said Thursday that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and her team should be removed from the election subversion prosecution of President-elect Donald Trump, likely dealing a knockout blow to the case. The bombshell decision by the Georgia Court of Appeals upends one of the few remaining cases against Mr. Trump, who will be inaugurated on Jan. 20. The panel concluded that Ms. Willis' romantic relationship with Nathan Wade, a paid investigator on the case, was an impermissible financial conflict. Washington Times

Biden cancels $4.28 billion in student debt for 55,000 public service workers . . . President Joe Biden canceled $4.28 billion in federal student loan debt of another 55,000 public service workers amid complaints from Democrats that he is squandering the last month of his administration. Biden's action, through more reforms to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, means he has canceled almost $180 billion for 4.9 million federal borrowers since the start of his presidency in 2021. Washington Examiner

He's going to write as many checks as he can on his way out the door.

Where's Biden? Lame-duck president slammed for 'quiet quitting' amid funding battle . . . President Biden was blasted for "quiet quitting" and failing to lead his fellow Democrats amid the ongoing fiscal battle in Congress that could lead to a government shutdown just days before Christmas. It's getting 'easier and easier to forget' Trump isn't in the White House, former Democratic aides say. Fox News

No one care where he stand on the bill.

Culture

Public Support Shifts From Defund Police to Pro-Police Policies Nationwide . . . The election results last month were a knockout blow to the "defund" movement. Kamala Harris was one of the movement's earliest and strongest supporters. She wanted to "reimagine" policing. In June of 2020, she said, "For too long, the status quo thinking has been: You get more safety by putting more cops on the street—well that's wrong."There were many other notable pro-police and anticrime election results on Nov. 5. Twelve out of 25 George Soros-linked progressive, soft-on-crime local district attorneys across the U.S. were either defeated or recalled. Daily Signal

National Security

FBI arrests George Mason student for plotting mass casualty attack on Israeli consulate . . . The FBI has arrested a suspect for a planned mass casualty terror attack against the Israeli consulate in New York City, the consulate said on Thursday. The suspect, Abdullah Ezzeldin Taha Mohamed Hassan, an 18-year-old Egyptian national living in Falls Church, Virginia, instructed an FBI informant to carry out the attack, according to a criminal complaint filed on Monday. Hassan ran several social media accounts that supported ISIS, al-Qaeda and Hamas, and advocated for violence against Jews, the FBI said in the complaint filed in a federal court in Virginia. Times of Israel

7.6 million known illegal immigrants at large in U.S.; number doubled under Biden . . . Homeland Security is supposed to be tracking more than 7.6 million illegal immigrants who have been caught and released into the country over the years, according to the latest numbers that show a department struggling to monitor them all, much less make new arrests inside the country. In late 2020, before President Biden took over, the figure stood at just 3.3 million, meaning that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement added 4.3 million new names to its at-large docket over the last four years. Washington Times

International

Malaysia approves new search for missing flight MH370 . . . The Malaysian government says it has agreed in principle to resume the search for a passenger jet that vanished 10 years ago in one of aviation's greatest mysteries. Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 disappeared in March 2014 while on its way to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur with 239 people on board. Efforts to locate the wreckage of the Boeing 777 have sputtered over the years and hundreds of families of those on board remain haunted by the tragedy. BBC

Zelenskyy calls Putin a 'dumbass'

Money

Starbucks workers plan strikes that could spread to hundreds of US stores by Christmas Eve . . . Workers at Starbucks stores plan to go on a five-day strike starting Friday to protest lack of progress in contract negotiations with the company. The strikes are scheduled to begin in Los Angeles, Chicago and Seattle and could spread to hundreds of stores across the country by Christmas Eve. Starbucks Workers United, the union that has organized workers at 535 company-owned U.S. stores since 2021, said Starbucks has failed to honor a commitment made in February to reach a labor agreement this year. Associated Press

More Men Are Addicted to the 'Crack Cocaine' of the Stock Market . . . At Gamblers Anonymous in the Murray Hill neighborhood of Manhattan, one man called options "the crack cocaine" of the stock market. Another said he faced hundreds of thousands of dollars in trading losses after borrowing from a loan shark to double down on stocks. And one young man brought his mom and girlfriend to celebrate one year since his last bet. They were among a group of about 60 people, almost all men, who sat in rows of metal folding chairs in a crowded church basement that evening. Wall Street Journal

Downfall of Sears hits new low . . . Sears has closed its final store in Washington, leaving it operating in only four states across the US. The department store, which was once the largest in the country, closed an outlet in the Southcenter Mall in Tukwila, Washington, on December 15. In the weeks leading up to its closure, the store, which had been there for three decades, hosted discount sales for shoppers. Its closure means that Sears only has eight stores remaining across California, Florida, Massachusetts and Texas. Daily Mail

You should also know

Stephanopoulos signs new deal with ABC News after costing network $16 million . . . ABC News host George Stephanopoulos has received a new contract just after costing the network millions of dollars in a lawsuit settlement with President-elect Donald Trump. The network agreed last week to pay $15 million to Mr. Trump's presidential library to settle the defamation lawsuit last week. Another $1 million will go towards the president-elect's legal fees. An editor's note was also posted on the website expressing regret over Mr. Stephanopoulos' false statement that Mr. Trump was a rapist. Washington Times

Mangione hit with federal charges, making him eligible for death penalty . . . Accused killer Luigi Mangione arrived back in New York and was hit with new federal murder and stalking charges Thursday in connection with the brazen public execution of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, which could place the 26-year-old murder suspect in line for the death penalty. Federal authorities unsealed the complaint Thursday in the high-profile case, which will proceed in parallel with the New York case in which he's facing 11-counts at the state level – including an "exceedingly rare" first-degree murder charge. New York Post

Couple in 'Luigi' hats among dozens of twisted fans showing up outside courthouses

Chargers utilize obscure NFL rule to hit league's first fair-catch kick field goal since 1976 . . . With eight seconds left to play in the first half, the Broncos were facing a fourth-and-12 from their own 16-yard line, which was an obvious punting situation for Denver. Chargers returner Derius Davis called for a fair catch on the play, and that's where the rarely used fair-catch kick came in. If a team fair catches a punt, they're allowed to attempt a free kick on the next play. The "free kick" is more like a kickoff, except the kicker has to attempt the field goal off the ground and there's also a holder. CBS Sports

Woman receives pig kidney transplant, walks out of hospital days later . . . An Alabama woman has successfully received a gene-edited pig kidney transplant at NYU Langone Health. This was the seventh pig organ transplant completed by NYU Langone surgeons. Towana Looney, 53, miraculously walked out of the hospital just a few days following the procedure. Fox News

She was later spotted in Central Park digging for truffles, but everything is fine.

Guilty Pleasures

'King Conker' clear of charges he cheated at world championships by using steel chestnut . . . A British chestnut-whacking champion was cleared Monday of cheating after an investigation into alleged malfeasance at the World Conker Championships. Organizers of the nutty annual event said that Dave Jakins, a veteran competitor nicknamed "King Conker," did not use a steel chestnut to conquer his rival. The traditional game, played by generations of British schoolchildren, involves players using conkers — the glossy brown seeds of the horse chestnut tree — threaded onto a string to try and smash their opponent's chestnut. Huffington Post

Thank God there are still some honest conkers around.

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