Thursday, January 2, 2025

January 2, 2025

Good morning,

Welcome to the news for independent thinkers

Leading the News . . .

Attacker with ISIS flag drives truck into New Orleans crowd, killing 15 . . . A man plowed a pickup truck bearing an Islamic State flag into revelers on Bourbon Street in New Orleans early Wednesday morning, killing at least 15 people and injuring many others in a grisly terrorist attack, officials said. The FBI identified the driver as Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a 42-year-old American citizen and Army veteran born in Texas. After ramming through crowds of people who had been celebrating New Year's Eve just hours earlier, he crashed the truck and got into a shootout with responding officers, authorities said. He was pronounced dead soon after, and authorities warned that they believed others had a hand in the attack. Washington Post

Inside Jabbar's squalid home, where sheep and goats roam his yard — after his financial ruin . . . Jabbar was an American-born military veteran who was living in a run-down trailer park where he kept sheep and goats in the yard — just blocks from the local mosque. Shamsud-Din Jabbar went from success to a squalid Houston trailer park where sheep roamed his yard. He served in the Army for more than a decade and deployed to Afghanistan before he carried out his ISIS-inspired attack on Wednesday, according to his service record. New York Post

Officials investigating New Year terror attack say multiple people are involved

New Orleans terrorist Shamsud-Din Jabbar's brother blames 'radicalization' for attack that left 15 dead

Tesla Cybertruck explodes outside Trump Las Vegas hotel, killing driver . . . A Tesla Cybertruck exploded in flames outside the Trump International Hotel Las Vegas on Wednesday, killing the driver and injuring seven others, and the FBI was investigating whether the blast was an act of terrorism, officials said. Videos taken by witnesses inside and outside the hotel showed the vehicle exploding and flames pouring out of it, as it sat outside the hotel. The incident occurred just hours after a man drove a truck into crowds of New Year's Day revelers in New Orleans, killing 15. Reuters

Cops say he served at the same military base as New Orleans mass killer Jabbar . . . The bomber who blew up a Tesla Cybertruck outside the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas has been identified as Army veteran Matthew Livelsberger. Although officers have not publicly named Livelsberger, 37, as the bomber, senior law enforcement sources confirmed his identity to KOAA and KTNV. Livelsberger served over 19 years in the Army - 18 of which were spent with Special Forces, according to his LinkedIn profile. Daily Mail

Firework mortars, gas canisters stuffed inside Tesla that exploded outside Trump's Las Vegas hotel

Cybertruck design helped 'limit damage' from explosion

Politics

Biden to give medal to Liz Cheney . . . President Joe Biden is bestowing the second highest civilian medal on Liz Cheney and Bennie Thompson, leaders of the congressional investigation into the Capitol riot who Donald Trump has said should be jailed for their roles in the inquiry. Biden will award the Presidential Citizens Medal to 20 people in a ceremony Thursday at the White House, including Americans who fought for marriage equality, a pioneer in treating wounded soldiers, and two of the president's longtime friends, former Sens. Ted Kaufman, D-Del., and Chris Dodd, D-Conn. Associated Press

Trump to hold DC rally day before inauguration

The Levi Strauss Heir Elected to Save San Francisco . . . A year ago, Daniel Lurie could move anonymously through the streets of his home city. But on a recent walking tour here, the newly elected mayor was greeted as a celebrity. A mayor-elect with ties to the tech sector but no political experience plans to take a heavy-handed approach to turning the city around. Revitalizing downtown San Francisco hinges on making the public feel safe, says the incoming mayor's pick to be chief of housing and economic development. Wall Street Journal

Carter Funeral Jan. 9 in Washington after he lies in state at the Capitol

Shock as huge Hollywood icon named as MAGA-patriot . . . Hollywood icon Joan Collins was named as a pro-MAGA patriot as she attended a 'pre-inauguration celebration' with right-wing friends. The Dynasty actress, 91, was seen having a 'lovely dinner with friends' in a picture shared by conservative actor James Woods to his X account. 'It evolved from a post-Christmas dinner to a pre-Inauguration celebration,' Woods captioned the image. Daily Mail

Culture

Transgender runner peeved after being spurned by Division I women's teams . . . Even blue-state colleges are becoming wary of signing transgender athletes to play on women's teams, based on Sadie Schreiner's experience. Schreiner, a biological male who competes as a sprinter in women's NCAA Division III collegiate track, sought to transfer this year to a Division I program, but was rejected or ignored despite winning two-time All-American honors while competing at the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York. Washington Times

We're beginning to see a mass outbreak of sanity.

National Security

NYC anti-Israel protesters call for 'intifada revolution' . . . Hundreds of anti-Israel protestors gathered in Times Square on New Year's Day — waving Palestinian flags and calling for "intifada revolution" on the same day a terrorist carried out a deadly car attack in the French Quarter of New Orleans. The protest — organized by the Palestinian Youth Movement, the Party for Socialism and Liberation and the People's Forum — was led in a chant of "There is only one solution: Intifada revolution." New York Post

Feds warned a year ago that U.S. ill-prepared for attacks on 'soft targets and crowded places' . . . the Department of Homeland Security commissioned a study that warned America was facing a new era of terrorism and was ill-prepared to protect its citizens from that threat. "Attacks on soft targets and crowded places represent a significant challenge in the 2023 security environment," Rand Corp's Homeland Security Operational Analysis Center reported to the agency, urging a significant change in posture for a security apparatus. Just the News

How the Biden Admin Allowed Iran To Rake in Illicit Oil Cash Amid Tehran's Terror Spree . . . Earlier this year, officials from across the Biden-Harris administration reviewed intelligence detailing Iraq's central role in a billion-dollar Iranian oil smuggling scheme. But they largely ignored that intelligence, according to those briefed on the matter, giving Tehran what one former U.S. official described as a "free pass" to evade American sanctions and rake in illicit cash. Washington Free Beacon

International

Palestinian Authority Takes on Hamas Militants in West Bank Power Struggle . . . Palestinian Authority security forces are battling militants from Hamas and its allies in the occupied West Bank, in a fight that has the potential to shape the long-running struggle for the leadership of the Palestinian cause. The struggle between Palestinian factions gained new urgency as the Israeli military battered Hamas in Gaza over the past 15 months, leaving a leadership vacuum in the territory. The PA has support in the West, while the militant groups are backed by Iran and deeply rooted in Palestinian society. Wall Street Journal

Montenegro mourns after gunman kills at least 12 people before shooting himself . . . Shock and dismay prevailed in Montenegro on Thursday after a gunman fatally shot 12 people, including two children, in a western town before killing himself. At least four others were wounded in the shooting rampage in Cetinje on Wednesday that followed a bar brawl, officials said. This was the second such incident in the town in the past three years. Associated Press

Zimbabwe boy of eight survives five days in lion-inhabited game park . . . An eight-year-old boy has been found alive after surviving five days in a game park inhabited by lions and elephants in northern Zimbabwe, according to a member of parliament. The ordeal began when Tinotenda Pudu wandered 14 miles from home into the "perilous" Matusadona Game Park, said Mashonaland West MP Mutsa Murombedzi on X. He spent five days "sleeping on a rocky perch, amidst roaring lions, passing elephants, eating wild fruits", she said.

Money

U.S. Companies Vouched for China During Trump's First Term. Not Anymore . . . During Donald Trump's first term, U.S. companies argued that a trade war with China was bad for Americans. Businesses including Apple, Nike and small retailers said raising tariffs on imports from China would raise prices for consumers. Now, as Trump prepares for his second administration, American companies have largely gone silent about the importance of the U.S.-China relationship. That is because American businesses no longer see China as the land of opportunity. Wall Street Journal

The myth that Chinese Communists intend to become capitalists is finally debunked even for the Chamber of Commerce.

You should also know

An aspiring nurse, a football star, a single mother and a father of 2 killed in New Orleans attack . . . An 18-year-old girl dreaming of becoming a nurse, a single mother, a father of two and a former Princeton football star suffered fatal injuries when the driver of a white pickup truck sped down Bourbon Street, packed with holiday revelers early Wednesday morning. Zion Parsons of Gulfport, Mississippi, had been celebrating New Year's Eve at his first night on Bourbon Street when a vehicle appeared and plowed into his friend, 18-year-old Nikyra Dedeaux, who he said had dreamed of becoming a nurse. Associated Press

Victim in Subway Shoving Suffered a Broken Skull and Other Injuries . . . A man who was shoved off a Manhattan subway platform and into the path of a fast-moving train not only survived, but was able to speak to his family from his hospital bed. The man, Joseph Lynskey, 45, suffered serious injuries: a ruptured spleen, four broken ribs and a fractured skull, according to court records filed on Wednesday. New York Times

Guilty Pleasures

Comedian Whitney Cummings Roasts CNN, Kamala On CNN's Own New Year's Eve Celebration . . . "I'm now playing, you know, like 3,000-seat theatres, which is about the viewership of CNN these days," she said. "We just all broke mentally this year," she repeated. "Things got so bleak, we started watching the WNBA . . . The Democrats couldn't hold a primary cause they were too busy holding a body upright . . . It was amazing that the pro-choice party didn't give their voters one when it came to the presidential candidate." Daily Wire

Anderson Cooper didn't find any of it funny.