by Owen | 1914, 19 Dec 2424 | Politics | 0 Comments
Oh shucks. I guess we can shut down for a few weeks. Darn.
WASHINGTON — A House Republican bill to fund the government for three months and suspend the debt ceiling for two years failed Thursday night, as dozens of rank-and-file Republicans voted against the deal endorsed by President-elect Donald Trump.
Without a deal to fund the federal government and legislation that has passed the House and Senate and been signed into law, a partial shutdown is set to begin late Friday night.
A total of 38 Republicans voted against the bill hammered out by their own party’s leaders. The 38 were joined by every Democrat, save for two who voted in favor and one who voted present.
One of the most notable scientific papers that first popularized hydroxychloroquine as a COVID-19 treatment was retracted from its journal due to ethical and methodological issues.
Retractions in scientific journals are rare and typically undergo an extensive investigative process. These retractions have been known to negatively affect the potential future employment, funding and reputation of researchers involved.
The paper, published in 2020 in the International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents, originally claimed that treatments with hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malaria drug, reduced virus levels in COVID patients and was more effective if used alongside an antibiotic, known as azithromycin.
A notice from Elsevier, which publishes the journal, said: “Concerns have been raised regarding this article, the substance of which relate to the articles’ adherence to Elsevier’s publishing ethics policies and the appropriate conduct of research involving human participants, as well as concerns raised by three of the authors themselves regarding the article’s methodology and conclusions.”
The notice was attached to the paper, which remains on the journal’s website with a watermark that says “Retracted.”
Already, the massive 1,500-page bill was on the verge of collapse, as hard right conservatives rejected the increased spending, egged on by Trump’s billionaire ally Elon Musk who rejected the plan almost as soon as it was released late Tuesday night.
Rank-and-file lawmakers complained about the extras, which included their first pay-raises in more than a decade — a shock after one of the most unproductive chaotic sessions in modern times.
The biggest problem isChina’s shift from traditional gasoline-powered cars in recent years to electric vehicles or plug-in hybrids, which now make up a majority of its market. The country had introduced policies and incentives that pushed buyers towards EVs, where they found better cars and better values in the Chinese brands.
“Ten years ago, President Xi Jinping and the Chinese automakers decided: ‘We have been chasing global automakers in internal combustion engine vehicles, and we’re not catching up. We’re going whole hog into electric,’” said Dunne.
Western automakers tried to stay the course with gasoline-powered cars, and for the most part, so did their JV partners. Now those companies — other than Tesla, which has a factory in Shanghai — are trailing far behind in an effort to keep up with lower priced EVs and hybrids from Chinese automakers, such as BYD.
It was a massive miscalculation by Western automakers, said Bill Russo, head of Shanghai-based investment advisory firm Automobility and head of Chrysler’s Northeast Asia operations from 2004 to 2008.
My prayers go out to the families impacted by the school shooting in Madison yesterday. There is always a flood of wrong information and bad “hot takes” after something like this. I’ve followed the news closely and it appears to be yet another troubled child who lashed out. It looks like there were significant warning signs, but hindsight is always 20/20. I thought the police chief’s press conference yesterday was pure Madison where the most animated he got during the entire time was when he was talking about whether or not the shooter was trans. This part of the story struck me as odd too:
It is not yet confirmed if Rupnow’s family – who are cooperating with the investigation – were gun owners.
Police raided her Delaware Boulevard home on Monday night to find anything she may have left behind. A door appeared to have been battered down and left on the ground and CNN reported that officers had thrown stun grenades into the home.
Barnes said they’re currently speaking with the shooter’s father at one of their facilities and that he’s cooperating.
‘The parents are fully cooperating, we have no reason to believe that they have committed a crime at this time,’ Barnes said, before offering empathy for her father.
If the parents are cooperating, why did they smash in the door and throw grenades? Were they worried about another threat inside? Why? This seems like a ridiculous overreaction if the parents were cooperating.
This is the correct ruling and shows how narrowly the Supreme Court ruled giving presidents immunity for official acts.
The New York judge in President-elect Donald Trump’s criminal hush money case ruled Monday that the Supreme Court’s presidential immunity decision does not apply to that case.
Trump had sought to dismiss his criminal indictment and vacate the jury verdict on the grounds that prosecutors, during the trial last May, introduced evidence relating to Trump’s official acts as president, after the Supreme Court later ruled in July that Trump is entitled to presumptive immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts undertaken while in office.
However, Judge Juan Merchan said on Monday that the evidence in Trump’s hush money case related “entirely to unofficial conduct” and “poses no danger of intrusion on the authority and function of the Executive Branch.”
by Owen | 2055, 15 Dec 2424 | Politics | 1 Comment
While establishing Post Offices and Post Roads is a power specifically delegated to the federal government in the U.S. Constitution, it does not mean that the federal government is required to exercise that power. Nor does it mean that the federal couldn’t delegate that power. While I am not convinced that privatizing the postal service is in the best interests of the U.S., I think we all can agree that there has to be a better way. Perhaps privatization would relieve the post office expensive and onerous unions and expenses to allow them to be solvent.
(Reuters) -U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has in recent weeks expressed a keen interest in privatizing the U.S. Postal Service, the Washington Post reported on Saturday, citing three people with knowledge of the matter.
The U.S. Postal Service, which has lost more than $100 billion since 2007, reported a net loss of $9.5 billion for its fiscal year ending Sept. 30, $3 billion more than last year, largely due to a year-over-year increase in non-cash workers’ compensation expense.
REP. JAMES COMER, R-KY.: I think that if you look at the current leadership with the oversight committee on the Democrat side, they’ve had Jamie Raskin leading them. So the Democrats have nowhere to go but up. Jamie Raskin has been wrong.
ARTHEL NEVILLE: So then how will AOC make you go up — or make the Democrats go up?
REP. JAMES COMER, R-KY.: Yeah, well, she’s better spoken. Look, I think that, you know, the Democrats are turning on AOC. My endorsement of AOC is probably hurting her, which… I think is amusing. They’re wanting to go back to another boring old guy like Gerry Connolly. But look, AOC is, you know, I think she represents a big segment of the Democratic Party that believes in socialism, that believes in the Green New Deal, that believes in Wokeism. So, if the Democrats want a real Democrat to lead the oversight committee on their side, I think AOC is perfect for them.
These pardons are not grants of clemency for people wrongly punished or an acknowledgement of a life well lived after a grave error. These pardons are for truly vile people, rightfully convicted, who have not paid for their crimes. Is Biden selling these pardons or is he just evil?
Victims of major public corruption cases in Pennsylvania and Illinois are angry that President Joe Biden granted clemency this week to two convicted officials.
The commutations were announced Thursday as part of a historic clemency package for 1,500 convicted criminals who, the White House said, “deserve a second chance.”
The two convicted officials whose cases sparked outrage – a crooked Pennsylvania judge and a notorious Illinois fraudster – both had already been released from prison early and put on house arrest during the Covid-19 pandemic. Biden’s actions now end that punishment.
The president has already faced bipartisan criticism over his highly controversial pardon of his son Hunter Biden, who was convicted earlier this year of 12 tax and gun crimes.
ABC News has agreed to pay $15m (£12m) to US President-elect Donald Trump to settle a defamation lawsuit after its star anchor falsely said he had been found “liable for rape”.
George Stephanopoulos made the statements repeatedly during an interview on 10 March this year while challenging a congresswoman about her support for Trump.
A jury in a civil case last year determined Trump was liable for “sexual abuse”, which has a specific definition under New York law.
As part of Saturday’s settlement, first reported by Fox News Digital, ABC will also publish a statement expressing its “regret” for the statements by Stephanopoulos.
Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz said there were more than two dozen confidential human sources in the crowd on Jan. 6, but only three were assigned by the FBI to present for the event, while stressing that none of the sources were authorized or directed by the bureau to “break the law” or “encourage others to commit illegal acts,” Fox News has learned.
[…]
“Today’s report also details our findings regarding FBI CHSs who were in Washington, D.C., on January 6,” the report states. “Our review determined that none of these FBI CHSs was authorized by the FBI to enter the Capitol or a restricted area or to otherwise break the law on January 6, nor was any CHS directed by the FBI to encourage others to commit illegal acts on January 6.”
The FBI and Department of Homeland Security said Thursday that they had seen “no evidence” that mysterious drone sightings over New Jersey and adjacent areas in recent weeks “pose a national security or public safety threat.”
The agencies also said they had no evidence of a “foreign nexus” to the drones.
“Upon review of available imagery, it appears that many of the reported sightings are actually manned aircraft, operating lawfully,” the agencies said in a statement.
“There are no reported or confirmed drone sightings in any restricted air space,” the agencies said.
As New York City prosecutors worked Thursday to bring murder charges against Luigi Mangione in the brazen killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, supporters of the suspect are donating tens of thousands of dollars for a defense fund established for him, leaving law enforcement officials worried Mangione is being turned into a martyr.
Several online defense funds have been created for Mangione by anonymous people, including one on the crowdfunding website GiveSendGo that as of Thursday afternoon had raised over $50,000.
The GiveSendGo defense fund for the 26-year-old Mangione was established by an anonymous group calling itself “The December 4th Legal Committee,” apparently in reference to the day Mangione allegedly ambushed and gunned down Thompson in Midtown Manhattan as the executive walked to his company’s shareholders conference at the New York Hilton hotel.
Talking to local Minnesota outlet Kstp-tv on Thursday, the Minnesota governor admitted he was “a little surprised” by the election results.
“It felt like at the rallies, at the things I was going to, the shops I was going in, that the momentum was going our way, and it obviously wasn’t at the end,” Walz said.
“So yeah, I was a little surprised. I thought we had a positive message and I thought the country was ready for that,” he added.
and…
According to one senior adviser for the Harris campaign, internal polling never actually saw Harris defeating Trump.
Presumably the campaign’s internal polling was being shared with Walz, no? If it was, then why was he surprised? They never had a lead. Why would it be surprising that they lost.
Alternatively, if Walz was surprised, does that indicate that the bad internal polling was being held so closely that even the VP candidate was not told? Or did the campaign lie to Walz so that he thought they were going to win? Or did Walz see the internal polls and not believe him because of his anecdotal experiences and contrived campaign events?
Someone should try to dig a bit deeper on exactly how deep the fraud of the Harris campaign ran. Were they just lying to big donors and supporters or where they lying to themselves too?
No wonder Trump is preparing to hit the ground running.
If Joe Biden were a decent fellow and a patriot, he would be using his remaining weeks as president to fix some of the disasters he has created. Instead, he is doing just the opposite.
A one-year deal to extend the expiring ACA subsidies would avoid what was expected to be a bruising battle for both parties. Democrats, who crafted the subsidies and have fought to defend them, are set to lose control of the Senate and the White House next year, complicating their ability to make policy. Republicans, who are set to gain control of Washington, are wary of being punished by voters for any perception that they are rolling back health-care coverage, with the backlash to their ACA repeal efforts still fresh in many lawmakers’ minds.
GOP leaders have repeatedly said they are skeptical of the subsidies, which expanded long-standing ACA tax credits to millions of Americans, and the influential House Republican Study Committee has called to end the nearly four-year-old initiative.
It is not yet clear whether Republican leaders, who control the House, will agree to any of the proposals. Spokespeople for Republicans on the House Ways and Means and the Senate Finance committees declined to comment.
If House Republicans really worried about “being punished by voters for any perception that they are rolling back health-care coverage, then they are worried about the wrong thing. The American People just elected a change agent in Trump and Republican majorities to help him do it. We are sick and tired of all of this massive spending just being continued and expanded to no perceivable end to the utter ruin of our nation. Obamacare is a disaster and the federal government is squandering the wealth of our nation. If they can’t start saying “no” to something, then House Republicans should fear being cast from office at the earliest opportunity.
A judge granted a motion from Manhattan prosecutors to dismiss the more serious charge of second-degree manslaughter against Daniel Penny on Friday in his trial over the chokehold death of Jordan Neely on a New York City subway last year.
The ruling clears the way for the jury to consider a remaining lesser charge of criminally negligent homicide. It came after a Manhattan jury said they were deadlocked twice on the manslaughter charge and Penny’s defense attorneys renewed their motion for a mistrial.
Over defense objections, Judge Maxwell Wiley agreed with prosecutors, who argued that dismissing the first count of second-degree manslaughter eliminates the defense’s concern about a compromise verdict.
Awesome. I’m envisioning a bunch of chubby Wisconsinites making weight loss drugs and it brings me joy.
Eli Lilly said on Thursday it will invest $3 billion to expand the manufacturing plant it bought in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin earlier this year, as it scrambles to meet soaring demand for its weight-loss and diabetes drugs.
The new investment in the factory, which it acquired from Nexus Pharmaceuticals, will help boost production of Lilly’s powerful weight-loss drug Zepbound as well as its diabetes treatments and other medicines, the company said.
“Today’s announcement represents our single largest U.S. manufacturing investment outside our home state of Indiana and will add to our ability to expand capacity to make both our existing and future pipeline of medicines,” said Edgardo Hernandez, Lilly’s president of global manufacturing.
[…]
Lilly, which has become the world’s most valuable healthcare company worth over $790 billion, said it plans to start construction on the expansion next year, and previously said it expects production at the facility to begin at the end of 2025.
The company said it expects to add 750 jobs to the Wisconsin plant, which already has more than 100, including operators, technicians, engineers and scientists.
Remember that this is the man who rammed through his destructive signature achievement, Obamacare, at Christmas without a single Republican vote. He does not believe in pluralism.
In a speech at a “Democracy Forum” sponsored by his foundation, the former president said he was convinced that a renewed commitment to pluralist principles was essential to ensure the survival of democracy.
“The alternative is what we’ve seen here in the United States and in many democracies around the globe – not just more gridlock, not just public cynicism, but an increased willingness on the part of politicians and their followers to violate democratic norms, to do anything they can to get their way.”
Obama discussed the “power of pluralism” with thousands of live and online attendees at a deeply divided time in U.S. history and an unsettling one for Democrats as Republican Donald Trump returns to the White House.
Building lasting majorities that supported justice required “framing our issues, our causes, what we believe in, in terms of ‘we’ and not just ‘us and them,'” he said.
But that did not mean rolling over when opponents abused power, he said. “That’s a problem. And when that happens, we fight for what we believe in.”
