Tuesday, December 24, 2024

December 24, 2024

Good morning,

Welcome to the news for independent thinkers

Leading the News . . .

Biden's death row commutations spared child killers, a rapist, and a drug kingpin from execution . . . Child killers, rapists, and a drug kingpin were among the group of death row inmates whose sentences were commuted by President Joe Biden in a Christmastime clemency spree motivated by his belief America must stop using the death penalty. The White House announced on Monday, two days before Christmas, that the president would commute the death sentences of 37 of 40 total federal inmates currently on death row, except for a terrorist and two notorious mass shooters. Just the News

'Squad' Rep. Ayanna Pressley praises Biden for commutations: 'Death penalty is racist' . . . Pressley, 50, described Biden's decision to spare dozens of convicted murderers and rapists from death as a "historic and groundbreaking act of compassion that will save lives, address the deep racial disparities in our criminal legal system, and send a powerful message about redemption, decency, and humanity." "The death penalty is a racist, flawed, and fundamentally unjust punishment," the congresswoman argued. "For far too long, it has been disproportionately weaponized against Black and brown communities." New York Post

Politics

Guatemalan migrant charged in woman's fiery subway killing was deported under Trump . . . The illegal immigrant accused of lighting a sleeping woman on fire and casually watching her burn to death in a New York subway car was deported under the Trump administration but had been back in the United States since at least 2023. Guatemalan national Sebastian Zapeta, 33, was charged with first- and second-degree murder and arson Monday, a day after police said he set the woman ablaze in a Coney Island station and took a seat nearby as the flames consumed her. Washington Times

Drag shows, Arabic Sesame Street, lonely rats: Rand Paul details $1T in 'government waste' . . . The 2024 Festivus Waste Report by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., found that the Biden-Harris administration spent over $1 trillion this year, including giving a $10,000 grant to "Beards on Ice" — an ice skating drag show on climate change put on by the Bearded Ladies Cabaret, a self-described "queer cabaret arts organization." Additionally, the Agency for International Development (USAID) spent $20 million on a Sesame Street spin-off show in Iraq, titled "Ahlan Simsim," in an effort to promote "inclusion" and "mutual respect." Fox News

Judge delays trial for suspect in Trump assassination attempt to September

Greenland to Trump: We're not for sale . . . Greenland's prime minister said Monday the autonomous island is not for sale after President-elect Trump said owning Greenland "is an absolute necessity" for the U.S. "Greenland is ours. We are not for sale and will never be for sale," Prime Minister Múte Egede said in a statement. The statement came after Trump issued a statement Sunday announcing Ken Howery as his pick for ambassador to Denmark and floating the idea of owning Greenland. The Hill

Maybe we can rent the place.

Culture

Is DEI dangerous? Study finds diversity training materials stoke hostility, not goodwill . . . It turns out that accusing people of being racists and oppressors may not be a recipe for interpersonal harmony. A groundbreaking study by the Network Contagion Research Institute, a nonprofit that examines ideologically motivated pronouncements on social media, found that the rhetoric and ideas commonly found in DEI training materials in corporate and education settings increased hostility instead of reducing it. Washington Times

Identity politics measures such as these Balkanize the country along racial and ethnic lines and promote division. They have the opposite effect of what's intended, assuming what's intended is meant to heal divisions and not to angrily scrape at old wounds and assign blame.

National Security

Human involvement in AI essential to 'safeguard' rights and civil liberties, report says . . . Human involvement in artificial intelligence is essential to "safeguard" constitutional rights and civil liberties, according to a new report from the bipartisan House Task Force on Artificial Intelligence released on Tuesday. One of the key recommendations in the 250-page report is ensuring humans are "in the loop to actively identify and remedy potential flaws when AI is used in highly consequential decision-making." Just the News

International

Iran's Energy Crisis Hits 'Dire' Point as Industries Are Forced to Shut Down . . . Government offices in Iran are closed or operating at reduced hours. Schools and colleges have moved to online only. Highways and shopping malls have descended into darkness, and industrial plants have been denied power, bringing manufacturing to a near halt. Although Iran has one of the biggest supplies of natural gas and crude oil in the world, it is in a full-blown energy crisis that can be attributed to years of sanctions, mismanagement, aging infrastructure, wasteful consumption — and targeted attacks by Israel. New York Times

Trump will turn the screws. Things could get unpleasant for the totalitarian ayatollahs.

Legendary drug lord Fabio Ochoa is deported to Colombia and walks free after 20 years in US prisons . . . One of Colombia's legendary drug lords and a key operator of the Medellin cartel has been deported back to the South American country, after serving 25 years of a 30-year prison sentence in the United States. Ochoa arrived in Bogota on a deportation flight on Monday afternoon, wearing a modest grey sweatshirt and carrying his personal belongings in a plastic bag. After stepping out of the plane, Ochoa was met by immigration officials in bullet proof vests. There were no police on site to detain him. Associated Press

He promises to be good from now on.

Dozens not thousands killed on Mayotte by Cyclone Chido - French PM

Protests erupt in Syria over Christmas tree burning . . . Protests have broken out in Syria over the burning of a Christmas tree, prompting calls for the new Islamist authorities to take steps to protect minorities. A video posted on social media showed the tree on fire in the main square of the Suqaylabiyah, a Christian-majority town in central Syria, with masked men around. BBC

Money

Panel's deadlock on U.S. Steel sale leaves final decision to Biden . . . A high-level government review board has told the White House it is unable to reach a consensus on the national security risks involved in Nippon Steel's proposed acquisition of U.S. Steel, likely setting the stage for President Joe Biden to kill the deal. The president has opposed the deal for months and is widely expected to block it. Washington Post

Nordstroms goes private in $6.25 billion deal . . . Executives at Nordstrom announced Monday that Erik, Pete and Jamie Nordstrom, as well as Mexican department store chain El Puerto de Liverpool, will acquire all of the remaining shares they do not own - giving the family a majority ownership, CNN reports. Shareholders will be reimbursed $24.25 for each share, which is about a 42 percent premium on the stock based on the price as of March 18, 2024, when speculation about the company being taken private first began. Daily Mail

Half of Americans still paying off credit card debt from last Christmas

Santa Claus is coming to town, and he's paying 32% interest.

You should also know

Gay couple who showed off picture-perfect family get 100 years in prison for raping adopted sons . . . A gay Georgia couple convicted of sickening sexually abuse of their two adopted sons will spend the rest of their lives behind bars. William and Zachary Zulock, 34 and 36, were each sentenced last week to 100 years in prison without the possibility of parole. "These two Defendants truly created a house of horrors and put their extremely dark desires above everything and everyone else," said District Attorney Randy McGinley. New York Post

The US town where it's the law to own a gun . . . Kennesaw. Georgia's gun law plainly states: "In order to provide for and protect the safety, security and general welfare of the city and its inhabitants, every head of household residing in city limits is required to maintain a firearm, together with ammunition." There were no murders in 2023, but there were two gun-involved suicides. It's the attitude behind the guns here in Kennesaw that keep the gun crimes down, not the guns," said one resident, Blake Weatherby. "We protect ourselves and our neighbors." BBC

Grinning Luigi Mangione yuks it up in court as he enters plea . . . A grinning Luigi Mangione appeared to yuk it up in a Manhattan courtroom Monday as he pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Mangione, 26, walked into Manhattan Supreme Court at 9:26 a.m. with his feet chained. At least two dozen women packed the courtroom for the twisted heartthrob, with just six men watching on. New York Post

Florida's population has grown by 8.25% since 2020

President-elect Trump wants to again rename North America's tallest peak . . . President-elect Donald Trump has once again suggested he wants to revert the name of North America's tallest mountain — Alaska's Denali — to Mount McKinley, wading into a sensitive and decades-old conflict about what the peak should be called. "Denali" is an Athabascan word meaning "the high one" or "the great one." A prospector in 1896 dubbed the peak "Mount McKinley" after President William McKinley. Associated Press

Guilty Pleasures

AOC Denies Rumors She Is Pregnant, says she's just stuffed with stuffing . . . Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) responded to pregnancy rumors, stating that she is "not pregnant" and had just eaten "a lot of food at Thanksgiving." "Everyone keeps asking me if I'm pregnant," Ocasio-Cortez said in an Instagram story in response to a question asking if she was pregnant. "Actually, a member, a Republican, came to me on the floor this week and asked me if I was pregnant. I'm not pregnant guys, I had a lot of food at Thanksgiving. Okay? It happens." Breitbart

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