‘Killed for Sport’: Over 100 Christians Dead in Reported Nigerian Massacre

Luis Cornelio
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‘Killed for Sport’: Over 100 Christians Dead in Reported Nigerian Massacre

(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Christians in Nigeria are reportedly being killed in masse by armed militants in the region segregated between the majority-Muslim north and the predominately south, harrowing reports alleged. 

According to Fox News, over 100 Christians fell victim to a massacre on Dec. 25, worsening a growing number of atrocities in the West African country.

The report highlighted that a staggering 52,000 Christians have been “butchered” or “hacked to death” since 2009, as reported by Intersociety. The turmoil began on Christmas during clashes between the government-backed Fulani Jihadists and Plateau Christians, Christian Today reported. 

It took local Nigerian forces 12 hours to rescue the victims. Fox reported former Nigerian chief of army staff Ty Danjuma accusing the military of ignoring the attack.

“The armed forces are not neutral, they collude with the bandits that kill Nigerians,” he said during a speech. “They [the army] facilitate their movements, they cover them. If you are depending on the armed forces to stop the killings, you will die one by one.”

The State Department declined to label the attack as religiously motivated, highlighting the absence of a formal claim of responsibility from local militant groups. 

“Religious freedom is a key U.S. foreign policy priority and plays a prominent role in our continued engagement with the Nigerian government,” a spokesperson claimed. 

The spokesperson added, “We continue to have concerns about religious freedom in Nigeria, and we will continue to work with the Government of Nigeria to address religious freedom issues and to ensure all human rights are protected, including the freedom of religion or belief.” 

However, Experts warn that attacks against Christians are widespread in Nigeria. 

Rev. Johnnie Moore, a former commissioner for the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, told Fox that western Africa is “the single worst place in the world” to be a Christian. 

“When ISIS was at its height in Iraq and Syria in 2015, terrorists in one single state in Nigeria killed more Christians than all of those killed by the ISIS caliphate in Syria and in Iraq combined,” he said. 

Moore decried the daily terror reportedly faced by Christians in western Africa, saying “Christians are killed for sports, especially Christian children.” 

He continued, “Entire villages are burnt and pillaged. Thousands of churches have been destroyed. Children and women are hunted. Countless Christians have been kidnapped.”

California University Staffers Could Set Record as Dem’s Tax-Funded Cash Cow

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California University Staffers Could Set Record as Dem’s Tax-Funded Cash Cow

(David Mastio, The Center Square) – In 2024, as the possibility of a Donald Trump/Joe Biden presidential rematch looks more and more possible, the University of California system will take on a prominent role in national politics, not for cutting edge political science research, legal theories or technology, but as a cash cow.

Donations from the university system could reach $80 million, on par with top funders of politics like billionaires, super PACs and labor unions. Ninety-seven percent of the donations will go to Democrats.

In the 2016 presidential cycle, according to federal records compiled by OpenSecrets.org, University of California staffers gave nearly $5 million to Democrats, nearly 97% of their total political giving. In the 2020 election cycle, giving to Democrats nearly quadrupled to $19.8 million, this time, more than 97% of total giving.

If University of California donations continue on that trajectory, Democrats could receive an unprecedented – and publicly funded – windfall of nearly $80 million dollars.

Critics say the overwhelming partisanship of the University of California system is a sign that the schools have become a political echo chamber where students are more likely to be indoctrinated than educated.

Jennifer Kabbany, editor of The College Fix, which tracks political correctness at universities nationwide, says the donations mask a deeper problem at universities, “The older, classically liberal (professors) who tended to support free speech, academic freedom and intellectual diversity are retiring. They are being replaced with younger, more radical scholars who use the classroom for activism and indoctrination rather than education. These new scholars tend to be far more politically active.” She argues that this transition has turned schools into one-party “echo chambers.”

In 2020, the institutions within the UC system that gave the most were UC San Francisco with $3.8 million, UC Berkeley with $3.1 million and UCLA with $3 million.

The most Republican part of the UC system was UCLA Medical School where 14% of donations, some $7,000 went to the GOP. Many parts of the UC system had no donations to Republicans , among them the International Computer Science Institute and the Berkeley and Hastings law schools.

The top recipients of UC money in 2020 were Joe Biden ($7 million), the Democratic National Committee ($1.7 million), the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee ($1.0 million) the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee ($1.0 million) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren ($0.7 million).

OpenSecrets.org records show that the University of California was Biden’s 10th largest donor, putting it on par with Wall Street’s Paloma Partners and billionaire Jim Simmons. The UC system was well ahead of the Service Employees International Union, the League of Conservation voters and Google’s employees.

‘Is It Undemocratic?’ Raskin Cites Citizenship Rule in Backing Anti-Trump Ballot Plots

Luis Cornelio
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‘Is It Undemocratic?’ Raskin Cites Citizenship Rule in Backing Anti-Trump Ballot Plots

(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) A Democratic lawmaker drew a comparison between the insurrection clause of the U.S. Constitution and the U.S. citizenship requirement to defend efforts preventing former President Donald Trump from being on multiple state primary ballots. 

House Oversight Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin, D-Md., claimed on Sunday that blocking Republican voters from supporting Trump isn’t undemocratic, strangely citing the ban on non-U.S. citizens running for president.

“Is it undemocratic that [former California gov.] Arnold Schwarzenegger and [Energy Secretary] Jennifer Granholm can’t run for president because they weren’t born in the country?” he questioned during a Sunday interview on CNN’s State of the Union.

Raskin declared that states have control over their “ballot access” but countered widespread assumptions that the Supreme Court would shut down these contentious efforts as undemocratic.

“I think that the urgency is for the Supreme Court to act, but I think it’s going to be tough for some of them if they want to keep Trump on the ballot. If they’re falling for the argument that this is undemocratic,” he added. 

Doubling down on his defense of disqualifying Trump from the ballot, Raskin claimed that such action is actually “the most democratic” part of the Constitution’s presidential requirements. 

“Of all of the forms of disqualification that we have, the one that disqualifies people for engaging in insurrection is the most democratic,” he said. “It’s the one where people choose themselves to be disqualified, in terms of your age or where you were born, that’s not up to. But Donald Trump is in that tiny, tiny number of people who have essentially disqualified themselves.” 

Raskin’s allegations directly contradict the analysis of legal scholars who highlight that Trump has not been convicted or indicted on any insurrection charges. 

His statements come after the Colorado Supreme Court and Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows decided to bar Trump from their respective primary ballots, citing Trump’s role in the Jan. 6 protests as an “insurrection.”

Farmers Concerned About Effects of California’s New Animal Welfare Law

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Farmers Concerned About Effects of California’s New Animal Welfare Law

(Kevin Bessler, The Center Square) – A new animal welfare law going into effect in California Jan. 1 that mandates space requirements for pigs, cows and chickens has some livestock farmers on edge.

Proposition 12 prohibits sales in California of pork, veal and eggs from livestock whose confinement doesn’t meet certain minimum space rules. Those rules mandate hog pens to be large enough for an animal to turn around.

The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the law, ruling 5-4 that “while the Constitution addresses many weighty issues, the type of pork chops California merchants may sell is not on that list.”

“The Supreme Court decision in National Pork Producers Council v. Ross, affirming the constitutionality of Proposition 12, a law setting standards for the sale of certain animal products in California, was the greatest legal victory in animal protection history,” said Bernard Unti, senior principal strategist with the Humane Society of the United States.

The National Pork Producers Council and the American Farm Bureau Federation contend the requirements violate the constitution’s Commerce Clause because California represents less than one-sixth of domestic demand and sources most of its pork from other states.

In the face of Prop 12, producers are finding themselves at a difficult crossroads. They can either comply with a law they say could risk the health and safety of their livestock, or they’ll lose out on market access in California.

Tasha Bunting, Illinois Farm Bureau director of Commodity Programs and Food Systems, said the law would be a big burden on farmers in Illinois and other large pork-producing states such as Iowa, Indiana, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska and North Carolina.

“This is an added cost that will limit the number of sows that they are able to house,” Bunting told The Center Square. “Also, if they are trying to redesign barns, those added costs would definitely be challenging for our producers right now.”

The Illinois Pork Producers Association estimates it will cost $3,500 per sow to upgrade infrastructure to become Prop 12 compliant, a cost they warn would be passed onto the consumer.

Other opponents argue that group housing would result in worse health outcomes for sows because there would be more fighting and biting between the animals.

In addition to Prop 12 in California, 14 states have passed similar legislation addressing farm animal containment.

Some are calling on the U.S. Congress to enact national legislation on farm animal welfare issues within the next five years to pre-empt differing state laws, and set national standards for the well-being of many agricultural animals, including dairy cows, cattle and chickens.

“One area dictating how farmers produce the products that they raise in another part of the country and that can cause a lot of concern over a patchwork of different regulations that our farmers have to adhere to,” Bunting said.

Off-Duty Cop Murdered at a Gas Station

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Off-Duty Cop Murdered at a Gas Station

(Headline USA) An off-duty police officer was shot and killed in North Carolina after witnessing a crime at a gas station and approaching the two suspects, officials said.

The police sergeant, whose name hasn’t been released, was a 22-year veteran of the Greensboro Police Department, Chief John Thompson said during a news conference Saturday night. Thompson didn’t specify what crime the off-duty officer witnessed or provide additional details about the events leading up to the shooting earlier that afternoon.

Police were searching for two men in their 20s and a black Chevrolet Equinox, according a statewide alert sent to the public by the the Greensboro Police Department. The Blue Alert was sent about two hours after the shooting and canceled roughly two hours later. A Blue Alert is used when a law enforcement officer has been seriously injured, killed or gone missing.

Thompson said another off-duty Greensboro officer and a paramedic were on scene when the shooting occurred and immediately rendered aid to their wounded colleague. The sergeant was pronounced dead at a local medical facility.

“He was a loving husband, father, son and brother with 22 years of service to the department,” Thompson said in prepared remarks.

The department didn’t immediately respond to an email Sunday seeking an update on the investigation.

Greensboro Mayor Nancy Vaughan, who also spoke to local media Saturday night, said the department needs time and space to complete its investigation and bring the suspects to justice.

“Words are inadequate right now,” she said. “There’s really nothing I can say that’s going to give the family or the officers any comfort. What happened today was a senseless act of violence.”

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, pledging “all available state resources to catch those who killed a Greensboro police officer.”

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

Consulting Firm Agrees to Pay $78 Million for Peddling Opioids

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Consulting Firm Agrees to Pay $78 Million for Peddling Opioids

(Headline USA) Consulting firm McKinsey and Co. has agreed to pay $78 million to settle claims from insurers and health care funds that its work with drug companies helped fuel an opioid addiction crisis.

The agreement was revealed late Friday in documents filed in federal court in San Francisco. The settlement must still be approved by a judge.

Under the agreement, McKinsey would establish a fund to reimburse insurers, private benefit plans and others for some or all of their prescription opioid costs.

The insurers argued that McKinsey worked with Purdue Pharma – the maker of OxyContin – to create and employ aggressive marketing and sales tactics to overcome doctors’ reservations about the highly addictive drugs.

Insurers said that forced them to pay for prescription opioids rather than safer, non-addictive and lower-cost drugs, including over-the-counter pain medication.

They also had to pay for the opioid addiction treatment that followed.

From 1999 to 2021, nearly 280,000 people in the U.S. died from overdoses of prescription opioids, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. Insurers argued that McKinsey worked with Purdue Pharma even after the extent of the opioid crisis was apparent.

The settlement is the latest in a years-long effort to hold McKinsey accountable for its role in the opioid epidemic. In February 2021, the company agreed to pay nearly $600 million to U.S. states, the District of Columbia and five U.S. territories. In September, the company announced a separate, $230 million settlement agreement with school districts and local governments.

Asked for comment Saturday, McKinsey referred to a statement it released in September.

“As we have stated previously, we continue to believe that our past work was lawful and deny allegations to the contrary,” the company said, adding that it reached a settlement to avoid protracted litigation.

McKinsey said it stopped advising clients on any opioid-related business in 2019.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

WA Lawmaker Wants Drivers to See Sticker Shock from Climate Commitment Act Tax

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WA Lawmaker Wants Drivers to See Sticker Shock from Climate Commitment Act Tax

(Carleen Johnson, The Center Square) – Washington drivers may see new stickers on the fuel pump next year when filling up their gas tanks.

A state lawmaker is backing legislation in the form of House Bill 2050 that would require the Washington Department of Agriculture to amend the gas tax stickers on pumps to include what drivers are now paying in additional costs due to the cap-and-trade portion of the Climate Commitment Act.

“The range is still being calculated, but it’s anywhere from 50 to 60 cents more per gallon of gas due to the CCA,” Rep. Andrew Barkis, R-Olympia, told The Center Square.

The 2nd District lawmaker added, “It’s important that people know the impact of these policies on their everyday lives.”

Gas prices in Washington state were the most expensive in the nation this past July with the average price at just under $5 a gallon, according to AAA. At just over $4.14 per gallon, more than $1 above the national average, Washington currently has the third-highest average gas prices in the nation, behind Hawaii and California.

“When you’re standing there for five minutes pumping gas, it’s pretty easy to look down and see that sticker and realize it’s like a $1.25 or more in taxes,” Barkis observed about the carbon tax.

Gov. Jay Inslee had previously claimed the CCA would raise fuel costs by “pennies” per gallon, at most.

HB 2050 would require the Department of Agriculture, which inspects fuel pumps already, to ensure up-to-date gas tax stickers are displayed on each fuel pump and replace fuel tax stickers at least once a year as tax rates change.

In an emailed response to a request for comment, an Agriculture spokesperson said if the bill became law it would just be a matter of changing what is already on the stickers as part of the work the department already does.

Last month, voter advocacy group Let’s Go Washington turned in nearly 420,000 signatures for Initiative 2117 to the Legislature to repeal Washington’s cap-and-trade law under the CCA.

Per the CCA – which was passed into law in 2021 and went into effect at the beginning of 2023 – emitters are required to obtain “emissions allowances” equal to their covered greenhouse gas emissions at auctions hosted by the Department of Ecology. Those auctions have brought in approximately $2 billion so far.

Ex-Obama Advisor Issues Ominous Warning Against Blocking Trump from Ballots 

Luis Cornelio
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Ex-Obama Advisor Issues Ominous Warning Against Blocking Trump from Ballots 

(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) A former advisor to Barack Obama issued a dire warning against leftist efforts to block former President Donald Trump from appearing on Republican primary ballots. 

David Axelrod, former senior advisor to then-President Obama, warned that blocking Republicans from voting for Trump “would rip the country apart.”

“I have very, very strong reservations about all of this. I do think it would rip the country apart if he were actually prevented from running because tens of millions of people want to vote for him,” Axelrod said Friday on CNN’s Erin Burnett OutFront.

“I think if you are going to beat Donald Trump, you’re going probably have to do it at the poll,” he added. 

Axelrod’s remarks followed the Colorado Supreme Court’s ruling to block Trump from the state’s primary ballot, citing his alleged involvement in a Jan. 6 “insurrection” as disqualifying him from holding public office.  

The judges, all appointed by Democratic governors, cited the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Trump, however, has not been indicted or convicted of such an offense.  

During his interview, Axelrod, a Democrat, stated that current anti-Trump ballot efforts inadvertently validate Trump’s assertion that the left is seeking to obstruct his third presidential bid. 

“He wanted to set up a construct that has worked very well for him, which says that: ‘They are coming after him because he is running for president and they’re trying to prevent him from being president,’” Axelrod added. 

He specifically highlighted the Maine State Secretary Shenna Bellows’s and Colorado’s highest court’s decisions to block Trump from their respective state’s primary ballots as “blatant” examples that will bolster Trump’s already-strong position within the Republican primary. 

“We have run this experiment. He’s only gained since he started getting indicted. What you thought might be kryptonite for him has turned out to be battery packs,” Axelrod concluded, before predicting the Supreme Court shutting down attempts to remove Trump from primary ballots. 

Huh? DOJ Claims Trump Immunity Could Exonerate Murder and Bribery

Luis Cornelio
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Huh? DOJ Claims Trump Immunity Could Exonerate Murder and Bribery

(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Federal prosecutors invoked extreme hypothetical scenarios to convince an appeals court to reject former President Donald Trump’s defense in the criminal case linked to the 2020 presidential election. 

In a dramatic 82-page court filing, first reported by ABC News, Special Counsel Jack Smith told the Appeals Court for the D.C. Circuit that granting Trump “presidential immunity” might lead to significant lawlessness within the White House, allowing acts like issuing murder orders and accepting bribes to run rampant.

“That approach would grant immunity from criminal prosecution to a President who accepts a bribe in exchange for directing a lucrative government contract to the payer; a President who instructs the FBI Director to plant incriminating evidence on a political enemy; a President who orders the National Guard to murder his most prominent critics,” Smith wrote. 

Smith also cited other potential scenarios, such as a president potentially selling “nuclear secrets to a foreign adversary” under the pretext of foreign diplomacy or instructing supporters to “kill” lawmakers. 

Specifically, Smith argued: “Under the defendant’s framework, the Nation would have no recourse to deter a President from inciting his supporters during a State of the Union address to kill opposing lawmakers—thereby hamstringing any impeachment proceeding—to ensure that he remains in office unlawfully.” 

Smith made these alarming claims after unsuccessfully urging the Supreme Court to bypass the appeals court’s consideration of Trump’s defense, which maintains that his efforts to question the 2020 election results were part of his official duties as president. 

In response, the Court rejected Smith’s request, allowing the appeals court to proceed with the case. Trump praised the highest court’s decision, rebuking Smith for attempting to maintain the trail for March 4, a day before Super Tuesday, when multiple states choose their presidential candidates. 

Trump has long argued that Smith, appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland, is part of a broader effort to undermine his presidential bid.

In the Saturday filing, Smith further claimed, “Immunity from criminal prosecution would be particularly dangerous where, as here, the former President is alleged to have engaged in criminal conduct aimed at overturning the results of a presidential election.”

‘Yo, ABC!’: AOC Heckled as ‘Loser’ Over Border, Hamas Remarks

Luis Cornelio
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‘Yo, ABC!’: AOC Heckled as ‘Loser’ Over Border, Hamas Remarks

(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., faced a heckling incident in New York City where a man referred to her as “stupid” and “such a loser” while she took a stroll in the city, Shores News Network reported on Saturday. 

The altercation, recorded by an unidentified man, occurred as Ocasio-Cortez walked on the sidewalk with her husband and another person.

The man could be heard saying, “Yoo, ABC!” to which an unsuspecting Ocasio-Cortez cheerfully responded, “Heey!”

He then asked, “You gonna condemn Hamas and the terrorist attack or what?” 

Referring to a viral video where Ocasio-Cortez struggled to name the branches of government, he questioned, “You know the three branches of government yet?”

The date of the video isn’t immediately clear. However, it likely occurred around Christmas, as the man shouted, “Enjoy your Christmas shopping while we care.” 

Despite Ocasio-Cortez seemingly dismissing the remarks and walking away while laughing, the man continued voicing his sentiments. 

“You are such a loser. You’re so stupid. You’re the worst. You suck. You are the absolute worst,” he continued. “Condemn the Hamas attacks. Go bring some more COVID back from Florida. It’s executive, judicial and legislative branches.” 

The man also brought up Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., a close friend and ally of Ocasio-Cortez. “You’re horrible. Keep laughing, keep laughing. You and Ilham Omar: Two peas in a pod! Two peas in a pod!”

Another man chimed in, shouting, “Close the border. Close the border!” 

This wouldn’t be the first time Ocasio-Cortez has been confronted by her constituents. In September 2023, during an attempted press conference on the immigration chaos in New York City, she was overshadowed by protests.

“Send them back!” one man shouted, while others held signs that read, “Americans First: Vetted & legal migrants only.” 

Another added, “Close the border! Close the border! Respect the Constitution, AOC. I am your constituent.” 

Months earlier, at a curse-ridden town hall meeting, fired-up constituents expressed anger with the lawmaker. “Where are you on the migrant issue? You’re a piece of s—t!”

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