Paul began by saying that Republicans are united on keeping tax breaks and expanding drilling.

He added, “The things that [have] potential at dividing us would be raising the debt ceiling with this bill. So, if there’s an attempt to raise the debt ceiling, I won’t vote for the bill. And the reason is, is I haven’t voted for the spending. I’ve voted every time against expanding the spending. I’ve voted for balanced budgets. I’ve introduced balanced budgets. The people who need to be ashamed or need to be participating in a day of shame and voting for the raising of the debt ceiling are the Democrats and the big government Republicans who vote for the spending. It’s the way it’s always been done in the past. Conservatives have never voted to raise the debt ceiling, because we don’t vote for the spending. It’s not our responsibility. It’s the people who vote for the spending and for the debt to vote for it. So, hopefully, they’ll keep that off of the reconciliation bill. If they do, I think we can stay united enough to pass the bill.”

Later in the segment, Paul said that he wants reductions in spending to be part of the package. […]

— Read More: www.breitbart.com

Crowley’s warning was sent out in a memo on Dec. 4, more than a month before a string of large fires threatened Los Angeles County, after what is normally the off-season for wildfires. Fire season in Southern California typically runs from the summer through October.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass approved the changes to the budget last June.

The fire chief claimed that the budget reduction left many administrative jobs unfilled. It also pulled funding from the overtime budget which had been used for training and fire prevention, including the Federal Aviation Administration’s mandated pilot training and helicopter coordination staffing for wildfire suppression.

“The reduction … has severely limited the department’s capacity to prepare for, train for, and respond to large-scale emergencies, including wildfires,” Crowley wrote in the memo. “Without this funding, pilot compliance and readiness are jeopardized, and aerial firefighting capabilities are diminished. […]

— Read More: justthenews.com

Of course, the disclaimer states that this is not financial advice. The twist is that what follows is, in a perhaps unexpected way, spiritual advice.

The most important thing to understand about Bitcoin is that it’s not just another measure or “store” of value.

But, of course, all Americans ought to see that America ceases to be America if it’s not America in cyberspace.

The entrenched financial elite want you to limit your interactions with and ideas about Bitcoin. For them, the ideal is adding Bitcoin to their pre-existing basket of financial assets and instruments — just another set of numbers on a spreadsheet that they can convince people to buy in to. Not only does this approach allow them to control your interactions with Bitcoin and your ideas about it, it also allows them to control YOU with Bitcoin. […]

— Read More: www.theblaze.com

Paddy McCully from Reclaim Finance described the banks’ withdrawal as a calculated move to sidestep challenges from Trump. McCully noted that while climate commitments were previously emphasized, with changing political winds, such priorities seem less central.

The NZBA aims to align financial practices with a goal of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by mid-century. Citigroup, a founding member, and JP Morgan both claim they will continue independently pursuing low-carbon technologies, but from outside the organization. The NZBA’s membership count still stands at 141 banks after the departures, with significant participation from European banks.

The American banks are just the latest companies to abandon leftist policies after President-elect Trump’s victory last November. Over the last year, several other major companies have abandoned woke policies related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and climate change.

In October, Democrats attempted to preserve DEI initiatives, telling corporations not to abandon them despite public and shareholder backlash. […]

— Read More: thenationalpulse.com

Legendary Hollywood actor James Woods, whose home is in danger from the fires, also stated a major insurance company canceled all policies in his neighborhood “about four months ago.”

Speaking with the media, a local woman said her 90-year-old parents “got canceled from their fire insurance,” blaming the state of California for leaving taxpaying citizens without coverage.

COUNTLESS reports of mass fire coverage cancellations by insurance companies just WEEKS before the Los Angeles fires

This woman BLASTED the California government for their mismanagement and explained the fire coverage on her childhood home was just cancelled after DECADES… pic.twitter.com/727iDcXItM

— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) January 8, 2025

“They’ve lived in this house for 75 years and they’ve had the same insurance and these insurance people decided to cancel their fire,” she said. “And we’re going through this and they have no fire insurance, so thank you California insurance companies supporting residents who pay taxes and love California. And they wonder why people leave California.”

Responding to a post questioning whether or not insurance companies will treat victims better than the people who lost homes in last year’s Appalachia floods, James Woods wrote, “Actually one of the major insurances companies canceled all the policies in our neighborhood about four months ago.” […]

Actually one of the major insurances companies canceled all the policies in our neighborhood about four months ago. https://t.co/JS03dsV9rF

— James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) January 8, 2025

— Read More: www.infowars.com

TikTok, the popular social media platform celebrated for its frothy mix of dance videos, cat antics, news clips and recipes, will wage a substantial First Amendment battle at the Supreme Court on Friday…

TikTok is appealing a formidable lower court ruling that highlighted security threats, specifically the US government’s concern that Beijing will amass data on American users and covertly manipulate TikTok’s content for espionage and other damaging purposes…

The company and the content creators challenging the impending ban have strategically ramped up their arguments on the dangers of suppressing speech, even if propaganda from a foreign adversary. TikTok has also switched up its legal team for Friday’s arguments. It will be represented at the courtroom lectern by Noel Francisco, a former US solicitor general from Donald Trump’s first term.

The problem TikTok is facing now, besides running out of time, is that the lower court decision they are appealing was unanimous and was written by a Reagan appointee who focused on the potential for Chinese abuse of the platform.

In the opinion by Judge Douglas Ginsburg, a 1986 appointee of Ronald Reagan, the DC Circuit found the government had “compelling” interests in countering China’s efforts to collect data about American users and in countering the risk of covert manipulation of TikTok content. Ginsburg was joined by Judge Neomi Rao, a Trump appointee and former law clerk to Justice Clarence Thomas.

The third judge, an Obama appointee named Sri Srinivasan, also agreed. He wrote, “It is a modus operandi of the PRC to surreptitiously access data through its control over companies like ByteDance. … Even if the PRC has yet to discernibly act on its potential control over ByteDance’s access to data on American users in particular, Congress did not need to wait for the risk to become realized and the damage to be done before taking action to avert it.”

In other words, we know China wants to steal US data and we know it has access to anything ByteDance gathers. Just because we can’t prove they’ve abused this power so far doesn’t mean they haven’t already or won’t in the future.

We are still trying to get Chinese hackers connected to the government out of our telecom systems. The idea that China wouldn’t abuse it’s position of control over ByteDance is laughable. Hopefully the Supreme Court will uphold the ban. […]

— Read More: hotair.com

Pelosi’s portfolio grew 70.9% between Dec. 29, 2023, and Dec. 30, 2024, compared to the S&P 500’s 24.9% return for the period, according to financial data platform Unusual Whales’ 2024 Congress Trading Report. The former speaker’s 2024 investment results exceeded her stellar 2023 performance, when she secured a return of 65.5% — outperforming that year’s S&P 500 return of 24.8% by approximately 164%. (RELATED: Meet The 9 Lawmakers Who Out-Traded Nancy Pelosi In The Stock Market Last Year)

Pelosi outdid many of the world’s oldest and largest hedge funds in 2024, including Citadel, which had $66 billion in assets under management as of December, and Discovery Capital, which has been around for over 25 years and had $15 billion in assets under management at its peak. She also outperformed legendary investor Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway, more than doubling its 27.1% 2024 return.

Another day, another all-time high for Pelosi's portfolio.

She has made $2.7M in the stock market so far today, per our estimates.

We estimate that she is now worth $274M: pic.twitter.com/oL8zCxoKPU

— Quiver Quantitative (@QuiverQuant) December 11, 2024

BREAKING

I have just released the full report on politicians trading in 2023.

Like every year since 2020, US politicians beat the market.

And many in Congress made unusually timed trades resulting in huge gains.

Here are the top performers of 2023. pic.twitter.com/ykf9VICsBw

— unusual_whales (@unusual_whales) January 2, 2024

Pelosi’s trades are executed on her behalf by her husband, Paul, an investment banker whose strategy largely consists of buying call options — financial contracts that provide buyers with the right to purchase an asset at a predetermined price — in large technology companies after they experience price drops, according to Unusual Whales. The strategy appeared successful in 2024, with Pelosi’s contracts to purchase chipmaker Nvidia finishing the year up 273% and her contracts to purchase cybersecurity company Palo Alto Networks up 93% as of Jan. 7.

“Speaker Pelosi does not own any stocks, and she has no prior knowledge or subsequent involvement in any transactions,” a spokesman for Pelosi’s office told the Daily Caller News Foundation. […]

— Read More: dailycaller.com

Despite voters’ strong desire to reduce the federal bureaucracy and size of government in Washington, D.C., nearly half—49 percent—are unconvinced Congress will achieve cuts. A smaller 44 percent say they think a reduction in the federal government is likely to happen with the Republican-controlled Congress.

Among ideological groups, conservatives were most likely to desire Congress to cut the size of the federal government, with 86 percent saying they approve. Fifty-four percent of political moderates also back government cuts. However, among liberals, just 28 percent said they approved reducing the government’s size.

Conservative voters were also the most likely to believe this Congress will follow through on federal spending cuts, with 56 percent saying it is likely to happen. Moderates and liberals are far less confident cuts to the federal government will happen, with just 36 percent and 34 percent, respectively, saying they believe cuts are likely.

Eliminating federal government waste, fraud, and abuse is one of several top priorities of President-elect Donald J. Trump. Aiding the effort is the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), spearheaded by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. The two men intend to end unnecessary, duplicative programs that needlessly siphon taxpayer dollars. […]

— Read More: thenationalpulse.com

Trump’s Tuesday morning press conference from Mar-a-Lago gave us a bunch of information and much to analyze and comment upon. We saw Trump at rest but on point and rarin’ to go. However, the talking points Trump gives up front are never the best part. The best part is when he takes reporters’ questions and answers extemporaneously, off the cuff, and gives the most detailed information and insight into his thinking. You want to really know his agenda or what he is mulling over? It is always articulated there.

Reporters, you’re talking to the president (to be). If he starts talking in the middle of your question, stop and let him talk. That’s when you get the good stuff. Stop interrupting him so you can get in your dumb protest statements disguised as journalism.

— Kira (@RealKiraDavis) January 7, 2025

After Trump had already spoken for just over an hour, he took questions. For 22 minutes, he waxed eloquently. He had a few minutes of help from Businessman Steve Witkoff, who Trump called his “negotiator” in the Middle East. The rest of the time was all him. Trump discussed J6 and potential pardons, the Panama Canal, Greenland, Russia and Ukraine, and Elon Musk. After all that wealth of information, one reporter decided to challenge Trump about whether he would use military might against Canada.

REPORTER: Are you serious about making Canada the 51st state of the United States[..]. The leader of the Conservative Party of Canada said, ‘Under no circumstances will Canada ever be the 51st state.’ He stated that there is no way it would happen.

TRUMP: It’s all right. Maybe he won’t win, but maybe he will.

This reporter could have taken Kira Davis’ sound advice above and allowed Trump to finish, but he wanted to prove a point, so he inserted another question.

REPORTER: You are considering military force to acquire Panama and Greenland, are you also considering military force to annex and acquire Canada? […]

— Read More: redstate.com

William Pope “is authorized to travel to Washington, D.C. from January 19, 2025, through January 21, 2025, for the Presidential Inauguration,” U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras said in a one-page order.

Pope, under a 2021 order, had been barred from traveling to Washington except for court hearings, although he had previously received exceptions to view video footage from Jan. 6 that was made available by Congress for in-person viewing, and for an evidentiary tour of the U.S. Capitol.

Pope is facing charges including disorderly conduct in a Capitol building.

In a recent motion for permission to attend Trump’s inauguration, Pope—who is representing himself—said he had been invited to attend the event on Jan. 20 and that he would be “entirely peaceful” if he were allowed to go.

Federal prosecutors in response said that Pope “presents a danger to the D.C. community, including the very law enforcement officers who defended the Capitol on January 6, 2021 and continue to serve the citizens of the District.”

They added later: “Allowing William Pope to return to Washington, D.C., specifically the Capitol building, could put him face to face with the officers that he resisted four years ago and place him in the same circumstance in which he already demonstrated a disregard for the law.”

Pope in a reply to the response noted that he was not charged with assault and that in his two visits to Washington since being charged, he had “nothing but positive interactions with Capitol Police.”

Contreras in his order said that he was granting Pope’s motion in part because Pope had not been charged with assault or vandalism-related charges.

At least one other defendant has been granted permission to attend Trump’s swearing-in. U.S. District Judge previously approved a request from defendant Eric Lee Peterson.