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President-elect Donald Trump's nominee to lead the CIA, John Ratcliffe, has boasted on social media that "There's only one country in the world that can parallel park a 200-foot rocket booster."
And that would not be the Chinese. Or the Russians.
"We do it," he said.
Stunning feat was in video thanks to a test launch, the seventh of the SpaceX Starship series.
RedState reported, "Elon Musk has done some astonishing things with SpaceX, including being able to bring back a booster and catch it, in a pretty incredible feat. He managed that again in a stunning display during the seventh flight test of the Starship unmanned mega-rocket from Starbase in South Texas, showing the first time wasn't a fluke. It had a successful lift-off, then separation of the upper and lower stage, with the lower stage making it back to Starbase to be caught by the tower."
The day wasn't without its mishap, however.
The upper part of the rocket, which was supposed to do a "controlled splashdown in the Indian Ocean," instead became part of a "rapid unscheduled disassembly."
RedState explained, "In non-nerd language, we would say it blew up."
The cause has been reported as a fuel leak.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
President-elect Donald Trump said Wednesday on Truth Social:
"WE HAVE A DEAL FOR THE HOSTAGES IN THE MIDDLE EAST. THEY WILL BE RELEASED SHORTLY. THANK YOU!"
"This EPIC ceasefire agreement could have only happened as a result of our Historic Victory in November, as it signaled to the entire World that my Administration would seek Peace and negotiate deals to ensure the safety of all Americans, and our Allies. I am thrilled American and Israeli hostages will be returning home to be reunited with their families and loved ones.
"With this deal in place, my National Security team, through the efforts of Special Envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, will continue to work closely with Israel and our Allies to make sure Gaza NEVER again becomes a terrorist safe haven. We will continue promoting PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH throughout the region, as we build upon the momentum of this ceasefire to further expand the Historic Abraham Accords. This is only the beginning of great things to come for America, and indeed, the World!
"We have achieved so much without even being in the White House. Just imagine all of the wonderful things that will happen when I return to the White House, and my Administration is fully confirmed, so they can secure more Victories for the United States!"
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The late Jimmy Carter entered the White House with an approval rating from Americans of some 75%. He left with 34% approval, but at his recent funeral, reports noted that had rebounded to about 59%.
But that was after he spent the last 45 years of his life doing charitable and diplomatic work.
Joe Biden, 82, when he leaves next week, will have the approval of only 37% of Americans.
That includes 30% of the members of his own Democrat party who either do not approve or have no opinion on him, according to a Washington Examiner report that cites the results from Emerson College Polling.
"Most people won't think twice when President Joe Biden takes his final Air Force One trip to Delaware on Monday," the report said.
Emerson, following Gallup and Rasmussen Reports polls that showed "the nation considers the 46th president among the worst ever," Emerson confirmed only 37% of voters approve of Biden.
"President Biden closes his term with an approval rating 12 points lower than the first Emerson national poll in 2021 that measured the president's approval, at 49%," explained Spencer Kimball, of Emerson College Polling.
"Biden ends with a 70% approval among his base of Democratic voters, a 16-point drop since the 2021 poll, 33% among independents, a 2-point drop, and 10% among Republican voters, a 10-point decrease."
The drop follows the horrendous inflation of more than 20% that has hit Americans since Biden took office, the illegal aliens, including terrorists, who have entered the U.S. because of Biden's open borders agenda, his nonstop promotion of the transgender ideology and abortion, and more.
The polling also noted that 67% say American is on the wrong track, up from 54% when Biden took office.
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Joe Biden once famously said to terrorists around the world, "Don't." So, just like Joe, I am also saying to my billions of readers, "Don't." That is, when you see Joe, living back in Delaware, with a brand new corvette sitting in his garage next to thousands of boxes of classified documents, don't think that the new 'vette has anything to do with Hillary Clinton getting a Medal of Freedom award.
No way are the Clintons going to cough up a hundred-thou for a new corvette to get a medal. That new car might come from George Soros' wallet, but not from Bill and Hill.
Joe Biden was just walking in the steps of the Nobel Prize guys when he diminished the honor of the Medal of Freedom. Do you remember when Barack Obama was awarded the Peace Prize by the nitwits in Norway after only seven months of being president? That's because you probably had forgotten when the U.S., Russia, China, North Korea and whoever else had nuclear weapons got together one day and dumped all their nukes into the ocean. That was Obama's Day of Peace … that never happened. And that was also the day when Donald Trump hugged Whoopi Goldberg after a lovely lunch together. More fictional peace from the Little O.
Joe Biden still has time to award more freedom medals before he leaves office with his pockets full, along with the silverware and drapes. Look around, Joe, there are some more tempting recipients awaiting medals according to your standards of "freedom."
How about the former emperor of Rome, Nero. He got rid of those pesky Christians by turning them into live human torches. Nero was obviously a believer in environmental purity. So, to save on electricity, he read by the light of human torches. Obviously, the human torches added to their carbon footprints – but Nero didn't know about global warming back then, so give the guy a break.
Though the emperor is long gone, Joe Biden could easily send a Medal of Freedom to Nero's relatives who now operate one of Rome's finest pizza palaces. Joe could claim that Nero was an early environmental crusader saving on the usage of fossil fuels to create light.
According to Biden's standards of freedom, the former leader of China, Mao Zedong, could qualify for a Medal of Freedom. Since freedom is a rather nebulous term, Mao qualifies by freeing a lot of Chinese people from the burdens of poverty, illness and life. He was also a great environmentalist, having reduced the population of the world by about 45 million people in just a few years with the Great Leap Forward. For 45 million Chinese, the great leap ended up in the grave, but hey, the woke are determined to save the earth from the destruction brought on by human beings, and Mao helped lessen that human burden. Take a bow, Mao.
Two more suggestions for medals are Alejandro Mayorkas and Adam Schiff. Mr. Mayorkas constantly displayed freedom from the truth every time he declared that the southern border was secure. Adam Schiff qualifies for his freedom medal by being free from the truth every time he said Donald Trump colluded with the Russians to beat the honorable Hillary Clinton.
And now thousands of homes in Los Angeles have burned because of the wise leadership of Gov. Gavin Newsom. My staff nominates him for displaying freedom from common sense. In order to save the smelt fish from losing some of its watery habitat in Northern California, Newsom has refused the transfer of excess water from there to Southern California.
Along with Newsom, we also nominate the geniuses who in 2022 freed L.A. of firefighting equipment and shipped it to Ukraine … to defend democracy, of course.
Is there any doubt that the Apostle Paul was right when he told us, "we wrestle not with flesh and blood but against principalities, against powers, against rulers of darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places"?
Joe Biden, or whoever his puppet-masters are, has made the truth of that scripture perfectly clear.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
A lawsuit over whether parents are allowed to know about what their schools are telling their children is going to continue.
Officials with the Thomas More Society say that U.S. District Court Judge Roger T. Benitez in California has denied in a court order all Motions to Dismiss in Mirabelli v. Olson.
That lawsuit challenges "Parental Exclusion Policies" adopted by schools that specifically prevent parents from knowing about some of their own children's activities in school.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta and members of the California Department of Education and the Escondido Union School District had demanded the case be thrown out.
They had claimed that their rules limiting what parents are allowed to know was "just a suggestion" so there was nobody really harmed by their agenda.
However, Benitez found that the parents "enjoy standing and have stated plausible claims upon which relief can be granted."
"The Supreme Court has long recognized that parents hold a federal constitutional Due Process right to direct the health care and education of their children," the judge said.
"The Defendants stand on unprecedented and more recently created state law child rights to privacy and to be free from gender discrimination."
Paul Jonna, special counsel with the society, explained, "We are incredibly pleased that the Court has denied all attempts to throw out our landmark challenge to California's parental exclusion and gender secrecy regime. Judge Benitez's order rightly highlights the sacrosanct importance of parents' rights in our constitutional order, and the First Amendment protections afforded to parents and teachers."
The judge said, "By concealing a child's gender health issues from the parents, parents are precluded from exercising their religious obligations to raise and care for their child at a time when it may be highly significant. [T]he teachers make out a plausible claim for relief under the First Amendment's Free Exercise Clause."
The judge added, "This Court concludes that, in a collision of rights as between parents and child, the long-recognized federal constitutional rights of parents must eclipse the state rights of the child.
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Fani Willis, the Fulton County, Georgia, district attorney who hired her paramour, at a cost to taxpayers of some $600,000, to create an organized crime case against now President-elect Donald Trump, has long fought against a request for public records regarding her investigation.
Now, apparently, she's going to have to pay for her deeds.
Some $21,578.00.
Judicial Watch, which brought the public documents fight to Willis over her collusion with special counsel Jack Smith and Nancy Pelosi's partisan House committee investigation of Jan. 6, announced that the Superior Court in Fulton County has ordered Willis to pay that amount for "attorney's fees and costs" in the fight.
The court earlier had ruled that she was in default in the case.
Judicial Watch sued last March "after Willis falsely denied having any records responsive to Judicial Watch's earlier Georgia Open Records Act request for communications with Special Counsel Jack Smith's office and/or the January 6 Committee."
After finding her in default, the court held a hearing and that resulted in the payment order.
Those "shall be paid within two weeks of the entry of this Order," the court said.
Judicial Watch had asked for the records of what could be collusion among the various anti-Trump agendas that had been developed in the Democrats' lawfare against him.
Her office apparently responded that no records existed, although Judicial Watch already had uncovered at least one that "should have been in the district attorney's offices' possession."
Ultimately, Willis simply defaulted on the requirements of the court and law.
The court found "relevant and reasonable attorney's fees and costs of litigation are properly awardable to Plaintiff … Defendant is thus liable to Plaintiff for $21,578 pursuant to O.C.G.A. § 50-18-73(b). That amount shall be paid within two weeks of the entry of this Order."
Judicial Watch explained, "Willis by her own admission conducted at least three searches before finding any responsive records not already supplied by [Judicial Watch]. She did not even bother to conduct a search until the Complaint was filed. Her records custodian says he does not know the Cellebrite [digital investigations] equipment he apparently had a hand in ordering can be used to search cell phone texts and other data…. Moreover, the custodian had no standard practice for conducting searches and keeps no records of the methods used in a given search."
That all gives grounds for "grave suspicion that all responsive records have not been found," Judicial Watch said, in asking for a special master to be appointed to supervise and monitor the records searches.
"Fani Willis flouted the law, and the court is right to slam her and require, at a minimum, the payment of nearly $22,000 to Judicial Watch," said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. "But in the end, Judicial Watch wants the full truth on what she was hiding – her office's political collusion with the Pelosi January 6 committee to 'get Trump.'"
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
A joint session of Congress on Monday adopted the Electoral College landslide victory of President-elect Donald Trump, who is to be inaugurated on Jan. 20, and the pro forma vote recitation lacked any of the conspiratorial theories that Democrats had launched to threaten the action.
The vote was 312 for Trump, to 226 for Kamala Harris, and there wasn't even a whisper of protest from Democrats, who routinely have objected in past years to GOP vote counts.
Even more significant, however, was the complete silence from multiple Democrats who have complained, publicly, that it was up to Congress to stop Trump from being president, as Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Calif., had insisted.
The quick and routine vote adoption was in contrast to the chaos from four years earlier, when some 1,500 people, doubting the integrity of the 2020 vote count, disrupted Congress, forcing the final vote for Joe Biden to be delayed until the late night hours.
Since then, hundreds were charged or jailed, some for counts as serious as trespassing. Trump has promised to pardon "many" of those when he takes office. And critics of the Democrat lawfare agenda against Trump over the past four years have called for investigations of, and criminal charges against, those who led that lawfare.
Significant was the fact that public calls for extremism on the part of Democrats fell flat.
It was the Washington Stand that explained in a column that one scheme was proposed by lawyers Evan Davis and David Schulte, who wanted Democrats to "take a stand" against Trump.
They based their demands on their assumption of Trump's "guilt" of "insurrection."
The commentary explained their plan was based on "their ahistorical claims and flakey reading of the 14th Amendment's Section 3."
"They contend that Trump needs a two-thirds vote of Congress to overcome his 'disability' regardless of receiving 312 electoral votes to 226 electoral votes for Kamala Harris and 77,270,000 popular votes to 74,984,000 for Harris! Sorry counselors. As Jimmy Stewart said in 'Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,' 'Forget it, fellas … [that] … is a lot of hooey,'" the column said.
"Democrats decided on the 14th Amendment Trump disqualification fantasy ploy after losing six state and federal court efforts with the misreporting 'talents' of the leftist disinformation media to kick Trump off 2024 election ballots or to prevent him from getting on," it continued, "Davis and Schulte cite the Trump impeachment trial for 'incitement of insurrection' in which the attorneys bizarrely claim that the senators did 'provide a majority for conviction but failed to reach the two-thirds vote required for removal from office.' Huh?"
It added, "What is a Senate 'vote of a majority' for conviction? The official U.S. Senate record has a different view on the case outcome found at Congress.gov which reports that: 'The Senate adjudges that Donald John Trump, former President of the United States, is not guilty as charged in the Article of Impeachment by Yea-Nay Vote. 57-43. Record Vote Number: 59.' For the benefit of these elite law school attorneys, when the U.S. Senate says Trump is not guilty it means he is cleared of the charges, i.e., Trump is not guilty."
But that wasn't the only ideology that was created against Trump.
"The second insurrection clause effort these hope-beyond-hope attorneys cling to in order to disqualify Donald Trump from the presidency occurred in a state challenge to the placement of Trump's name on the Colorado ballot for president where the Colorado Supreme Court had ruled against Trump even being allowed to have his name on the presidential ballot. The U.S. Supreme Court in Trump v. Anderson (No. 23–719, 3/4/2024) unanimously 'reversed the decision of the Colorado Supreme Court that had held Trump to be ineligible for the office of president under Section 3 on the grounds that he had engaged in insurrection and, therefore, could not be listed on the Colorado presidential primary ballot.'"
The Stand explained the two lawyers "want newly-elected Democratic members of Congress" to convert the joint session of Congress "into an ad hoc legal circus hard to distinguish from sedition to disqualify a sufficient number of state electoral votes because of their tortured misunderstanding of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment so that by default, Kamala Harris would be the president!"
They had wanted that to happen through Democrat petitions to "challenge" votes from GOP states.
The commentary explained there were other problems with the scheme, including also that educated readings of the 14th Amendment mean that the president and vice president are excluded from coverage.
Raskin's comment:
And one from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez:
A survey even purported to show many Americans had adopted the ideology:
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A top Republican in the U.S. Senate is warning the congressional push for tax cuts could be endangering U.S. border security, and therefore the lives of American citizens.
"I'm very worried," said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, on "Sunday Morning Futures" with Maria Bartiromo on the Fox News Channel.
"I'm very worried that if we don't put border first and get it done, it's going to be to a nightmare for our national security. We've got millions of illegal immigrants that President Trump has promised to deport, and he should. Why are we doing mass deportation? Because we had mass illegal immigration," he continued.
"Laken Riley's murderer was released because there was no bed space to hold him, and he was paroled, and he raped and killed the girl. Right now, we have 41,000 beds. Under the Trump plan, we're going to go to 150,000 beds.
"We're going to double the number of ICE agents to find people and kick 'em out. We're gonna finish the wall, and put technology on the border to shut it down. That costs $100 billion. I'm willing to offset the $100 billion with cuts in other places, but there's no way in hell Democrats are going to give us $100 billion for mass deportation.
"Every day we delay is a dangerous day for America. 3,000 Americans died from fentanyl poisoning every two weeks. I've never seen so many threats to our nation as I do now.
"It started with Afghanistan. ISIS is on the move. They're coming here. Last year we found eight people from Tajikistan that were affiliated with ISIS. I wrote a letter to [Sen. Chuck] Schumer saying let's have a hearing about ISIS-K in Afghanistan. He blew me off for an entire year. Now he wants a hearing about New Orleans.
"The threats to our nation are large. I want the tax cuts. $4.7 trillion, they will ruin the economy if they expire at the the end of the year. I will try to be a team player here, but I want to tell the American people from my point of view, the number one job is to secure the nation for the federal government.
"Our border is broken. I wanted it fixed by February the 17th. To the tax-cut wing of the party, I am with you, but if you hold border security hostage to get tax cuts, you're playing Russian roulette with our national security."
"So count me in for cutting taxes, but my purpose on this show today so the warn Americans that that this broken border is a national security nightmare. Donald Trump has a plan to fix it. It costs $100 billion. If we can get him the money, that's all he needs to fix it for four years. No Democrat is going to help us, folks. If you think they're going to help us, you shouldn't be allowed to drive."
Graham also is pushing to approve President-elect Trump's Cabinet picks "sooner rather than later."
"When President Trump left office, we had the most secure border in American history. The caliphate was destroyed, ISIS was destroyed and Iran was in a box, we killed Soleimani, the Iranian revolutionary guard leader. The last four years have been a freakin' disaster. They rolled back every policy that worked on the border. They went back into the Iran nuclear agreement giving the ayatollah hundreds of millions of dollars that's used for terrorism.
"The confirmations, do 'em now, do 'em quick. Get 'em all done in January, February. We need our team on the field. We need an FBI director, we need an attorney general, we need 'em all. Get hit done. We gotta get it done. We're under attack here. We're at war. … We're under siege here!"
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President-elect Donald Trump unleashed on what he considers the failed Democrat leadership in America under Joe Biden, following two terror attacks on America on New Year's Day.
In the first, a man drove a truck through the Bourbon Street crowd in New Orleans, killing 15 and injuring dozens more. The second was an exploding truck outside a Trump building in Las Vegas, in which the perpetrator died and other people were injured.
On Truth Social, Trump wrote, "Our Country is a disaster, a laughing stock all over the World! This is what happens when you have OPEN BORDERS, with weak, ineffective, and virtually nonexistent leadership.
"The DOJ, FBI, and Democrat state and local prosecutors have not done their job. They are incompetent and corrupt, having spent all of their waking hours unlawfully attacking their political opponent, ME, rather than focusing on protecting Americans from the outside and inside violent SCUM that has infiltrated all aspects of our government, and our Nation itself.
"Democrats should be ashamed of themselves for allowing this to happen to our Country. The CIA must get involved, NOW, before it is too late. The USA is breaking down – A violent erosion of Safety, National Security, and Democracy is taking place all across our Nation."
He said, "'Only strength and powerful leadership will stop it. See you on January 20th. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!"
The New York Post described his comments as "a fiery social media post."
Police are investigating the two terror attacks for possible links, as both trucks were rented through Turo, and both were EVs.
Las Vegas Sheriff Kevin McMahill said, "Do I think it's a coincidence? I don't know. We're absolutely looking into any connections to New Orleans."
The Daily Mail explained Turo issued a statement expressing the company's "heartbreak" at the violence and a promise to work with law enforcement to investigate.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
A terror attack on New Orleans revelers early on New Year's Day cost at least 15 lives and injured dozens more, when the now-dead suspect, Shamsud-Din Jabbar, 42, an Army veteran, drove a pickup truck into a crowd on Bourbon Street, then jumped out and started shooting.
But there are concerns that the terrorism was more than an attack from a single violent criminal.
The Tampa Free Press reported an investigation was launched into whether Jabbar acted alone, because "improvised explosive devices (IEDs) have been found near the scene in the French Quarter."
That's in addition to similar explosives found in Jabbar's truck.
"This remains an active investigation, and we are committed to uncovering the full details of this tragic incident," an official from the FBI said.
Bureau investigators already are confirming the attack as "an act of terrorism," but many of the details of the threats remain unconfirmed, including Jabbar's motives and whether he had a terror cell to help him.
.
According to the Washington Examiner, investigators are looking into reports of "multiple suspects" in the attack.
FBI spokeswoman Aletha Duncan said that the Jabbar vehicle weas rented from a car-sharing service, and an Islamic State flag was attached to it.
And Duncan confirmed two IEDs were found and "neutralized."