Gas Prices Spike Just in Time for Holiday Travel Season

Eli Pacheco
-
0
Gas Prices Spike Just in Time for Holiday Travel Season

(Eli Pacheco, Headline USA) Just in time for the holidays: Fuel prices are spiking.

Gas prices rose 0.6% on Wednesday, the largest single-day spike in four months.

The American Automotive Association estimated 115 million Americans will take to the roads for holiday travel this season, adding expense to the trip.

The uptick in cost comes after a steady rise in crude oil prices since Houthi terrorists began attacking tankers in the Red Sea.

It was the second-highest AAA estimate for year-end travel since 2020, the first year it tracked holiday travel.

The report predicted a 1.8% increase in auto travel from last year (103.6 million Americans).

The highest traffic volume was expected on Saturday, Dec. 23 and Thursday, Dec. 28, according to calculations from INRIX, a transportation analysis firm.

The INRIX statement said the increase could lead to travel times 20% longer than last season.

“In major metros, especially in Denver, Minneapolis and Washington, D.C., drivers could experience nearly double the typical delays,” the statement read.

INRIX suggested avoiding travel during commuting hours. Other suggestions included:

Some regions reported dropping gas prices until Wednesday when an uptick occurred. The trend had been downward, but trouble in the Red Sea from the Israeli–Hamas war made for uncertain waters on a key transportation route. 

On its website, AAA advised drivers to expect daily gas prices to “move back and forth for the next month or so.”

GasBuddy, a Boston tech company that tracks fuel prices through crowdsourcing, attributed rising costs to Houthi attacks on ships in the Red Sea, and to news that the Federal Reserve might cut interest rates in 2024.

Presidential Hopefuls Have Last-Minute Gift Ideas… and Mug Shot Wrapping Paper

Editor 1
-
0
Presidential Hopefuls Have Last-Minute Gift Ideas… and Mug Shot Wrapping Paper

(Headline USA) The field of 2024 presidential candidates may have some options for shoppers scrambling for a last-minute holiday gift.

As the campaign for the White House kicks into full gear, the contenders are offering an onslaught of holiday-themed merchandise, many of which capture some of the surreal aspects of the 2024 race.

Donald Trump, for instance, is capitalizing on his status as the first former president to face criminal charges by emblazoning his mug shot on Christmas sweaters, gift wrap and stockings.

The outrage over the series of spurious lawfare attacks designed to weaponize the justice system against the former president has only led Trump to gain in public support, and he now maintains a healthy polling lead over incumbent President Joe Biden, as well as his GOP challengers.

Trump and his supporters have embraced the mugshot image of him intensely glaring into a Fulton County Jail camera since he surrendered on charges that he was at the center of a racketeering conspiracy to overturn Georgia’s election.

Trump’s campaign is hardly backing away from his status, offering items emblazoned with the mug shot almost immediately after it was taken in August, with nearly daily emails offering supporters a mug, T-shirt or poster bearing the image, along with the words “Never Surrender.”

Nearly all of the 2024 candidates have online stores and most have tchotchkes that riff on the year’s politics.

You can snag a Nikki Haley tree ornament and wrapping paper emblazoned with the hopeful’s campaign logo, or a litany of more traditional items like hats, shirts, and even “Past my prime?” drink koozies that harken back to the comment that led in part to Don Lemon being bounced from CNN.

Don’t forget Ron DeSantis’s set of golf balls whose box bares the phrase that he “has a pair”—a slight at Trump for not participating in the GOP primary debates.

Or Vivek Ramaswamy’s “Nikki = Corrupt” T-shirt, the phrase the entrepreneur wrote on a notepad after a debate night attack on Haley’s service on the board of aerospace giant Boeing Co.

Democrats are also taking advantage of the chance to pump up their sales—and the associated campaign donations that come with them.

President Joe Biden‘s reelection campaign has a slew of the usual apparel fare. There’s also its line of “Dark Brandon” shirts, signs, mugs and even holiday gift wrap with the president’s red-eyed caricature that embraces the 2021-era “Let’s Go Brandon” phrase intended as an insult (but which Democrats have aimed to operationalize in a tongue-in-cheek battle cry).

Although the slogan has largely faded from the MAGA vernacular, as Biden’s presidency has gone from ridiculous to horrifying, there is still ample merchandise available for those who intend to use it in its original context, as an ironic stand in for the chant “F**k Joe Biden.”

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.‘s store has apparel, stickers and a number of items with “No shirt, no shoes, no Secret Service,” recalling the independent candidate’s ongoing denial of federal protection despite security issues during his campaign.

You’re out of luck, though, if you’re looking for official Chris Christie or Dean Phillips merch—holiday or otherwise—although there are a number of third-party purveyors ready to hook you up with shirts, hats and even beach towels. Both candidates are trailing far enough behind that they wisely are dedicating their resources to more immediate needs.

The Trump mug shot merch has been popping up along the campaign trail as Trump and others have been stumping across Iowa ahead of the Jan. 15 caucuses.

A Christmas version features a red and white Santa hat atop Trump’s head. There’s also a mug shot Christmas stocking and with wrapping paper to match, as well as another version with the candidate pumping his fist in the air.

At a recent Trump campaign event in Cedar Rapids, there was plenty of Trump merchandise in the crowd of at least 700, with the former president’s name, “Make America Great Again” slogan and his mug shot blazoned on hats, T-shirts signs and more.

One couple, who declined to speak to an Associated Press reporter, were wearing matching red and green MAGA Christmas sweaters.

Pat Sand, a 57-year-old from Marcus, Iowa, who was wearing a Trump campaign hat and button, said Trump’s use of his mug shot on merchandise, including on Christmas-themed items, “puts the name and the face out there, good or bad.”

Sand said he has novelty toilet paper that features Trump’s mug shot on it—although he added, with a laugh, that he does not use it.

“My daughter got it for me,” he said. “It was sarcasm.”

Outside the event, Scott Bohac from the Cleveland, Ohio, area was one of a handful of sellers of unofficial merchandise that set up tables and tents outside Trump’s events.

As the crowd was streaming home and a winter storm was starting to roll in, Bohac—who has spent the last three years traveling the country selling shirts outside Trump rallies—was folding the last few T-shirts he made for that day’s event.

“Some of these vendors got like 20 different shirts. I push one shirt,” said Bohac, who said he designs a new one for each event with the date and location of the rally—like a concert—along with a word like “Trump” and some kind of image in the center, which he said is “usually always eagles.”

Saying he has not started selling the designs featuring Trump’s mug shot, Bohac said sales have gone up for him since Trump started facing criminal indictments, and that it’s smart for the campaign to use it.

“I just left that for everybody else,” he said. “I do my thing.”

Campaigns use their merchandising opportunities—from “Dark Brandon” to “Nikki = Corrupt” to the mug shot—to seize on the moment, said J. Mark Powell, a GOP strategist and longtime collector of political memorabilia in South Carolina.

“What we’re seeing in this cycle is making the most of things that are talked about at this very moment, but which will soon turn into trivia questions for political junkies,” he said, adding that the fast fashion way that campaigns utilize third-party vendors to make and sell their wares also brings in donations and user data, as well as visibility and generates pride among supporters.

“Giving someone a Biden coffee mug or a roll of Trump wrapping paper isn’t going to change the mind of a single undecided or independent voter,” said. “It just makes existing supporters feel good about their candidate.”

In the future, Powell said that he imagines a campaign merchandising strategy that might reflect fewer novelty items and more ideology.

“Could liberals one day have the opportunity to buy an electric scooter to show their support for green energy, or conservatives purchase a barrier to be placed on a border wall?” he asked. “It sounds farfetched now, but who would have imagined Trump wrapping paper five years ago?”

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

Federal Prisons Putting Inmates in 3’x3’ Cages

Ken Silva
-
0
Federal Prisons Putting Inmates in 3’x3’ Cages

(Ken Silva, Headline USA) The Bureau of Prisons is apparently throwing inmates in 3-feet-wide by 3-feet-long cages for hours on end, according to a recent report from the Justice Department’s Office of the Inspector General.

In a report released earlier this month, DOJ IG Michael Horowitz found that in one instance, an inmate was held in the cage for 21 hours.

Horowitz said the inmate was initially put in the cage so that his cell could be searched. The inmate remained in the cage after the search because he refused to be handcuffed.

“For approximately eight hours, the inmate stood in the secure enclosure, which did not contain a chair or any furnishings. The inmate then agreed to be handcuffed in order to receive a chair and be taken to the bathroom,” Horowitz said.

“After the inmate used the bathroom, staff returned the inmate to the secure enclosure, with a chair, rather than his standard cell due to miscommunication or lack of communication among BOP officials. The inmate then remained in the holding cage with a chair for an additional twelve hours,” he said.

“At one point during those twelve hours, the chair was removed. In addition, while the inmate may have been offered the opportunity to be handcuffed to use the bathroom again, he did not use the bathroom during the final twelve hours in the secure enclosure.”

When questioned about the incident, the BOP reportedly told the DOJ IG that the cages are not intended for prolong confinement.

However, prisons officials admitted that they have no official policy on the matter. Horowitz warned that without a policy, officials might throw inmates into cages for as long as they want.

Horowitz recommended that the BOP draft policies on the use of cages for temporary confinement.

“Additionally, BOP policy does not state whether the use of a three feet wide by three feet deep and seven feet tall secure enclosure as a temporary holding facility is considered a restraint given that an inmate who is confined in this way is subjected to extremely limited movement and other potential liberty deprivations,” the IG added.

“If such secure enclosures are not considered a restraint, an inmate so confined would not be protected by any safeguards in BOP regulations regarding the use of restraints, such as periodic examination by Psychology Services or medical staff.”

The BOP agreed with Horowtiz’s recommendations and promised to draft a policy regarding the use of cages. Prisons Director Colette Peters told Horowitz that his report on the inmate confined for 21 hours “galvanized BOP’s efforts to prevent issues in the future.”

However, Peters said the BOP doesn’t consider cages to be a “restraint”—implying that the BOP will not follow the IG’s suggestion to have caged inmates receive medical staff examinations.

In a footnote of the report, Horowitz said the BOP took exception to the term “cage.”

“The BOP preferred to refer to the secure enclosures as ‘temporary holding cells,’” he said.

The use of cages is one of the many horrors of federal prison. In the ongoing Headline USA investigative series, the Fed Files, this publication unearthed a shocking doctor’s report about an inmate that had been subjected to severe torture in solitary confinement.

“In 2014, while Mr. White was incarcerated at the John C. Polk Correctional Facility/Seminole County, FL, he was subjected to a regimen of sleep deprivation,” Dr. Richard Samuels wrote in his report on inmate Bill White.

“As described earlier, he was placed in segregation; alone in a small seven-foot by seven-foot room with constant bright illumination (24/7) over a period that of 105 days, or about three months, during which time he averaged approximately 1.2 hours of sleep per night,” Dr. Samuels wrote.

“During this period, he underwent a period of not eating or drinking and ultimately collapsed in his cell.”

Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.

Follow the Science: Study Finds Biological Sex a Better Predictor of Sports Performance Than Pronouns

Ken Silva
-
0
Follow the Science: Study Finds Biological Sex a Better Predictor of Sports Performance Than Pronouns

(Ken Silva, Headline USA) Crack scientists in the U.S. and UK have discovered what most people already knew: Biological sex matters in sports.

The scientists found that biological sex is a better predictor for sports outcomes than one’s preferred gender identity—in other words, men tend to outperform women, regardless of their preferred pronouns.

To reach this stunning conclusion, Dr. John Armstrong of King’s College London, Dr Alice Sullivan of University College London and independent U.S. researcher George M Perry studied the performance of people who competed in the non-binary category of 21 races in the New York Road Runners database.

“The researchers found a sex gap in race times between athletes who identify as non-binary, and that there is no evidence that the gap between biological males and biological females is less for athletes who identify as non-binary,” a summary of the study said—a convoluted way of saying that biological men were just as much faster than biological women in the non-binary category as they were when separated by sex.

“The results also indicate that non-binary athletes may have slower race times than other athletes once sex and age are controlled for.”

According to the study, the researchers measured 166 race times achieved by non-binary athletes within a data set of 85,173 total race times. Researchers found the non-binary runners’ biological sex by looking up their past races when they competed as a male or female, or by using Social Security Administration data.

Commenting on his results, Dr. Armstrong, said: “Gender identity is clearly important to many people, but nevertheless sex matters.

“Given the lack of empirical evidence supporting gender-identity theory, one should not assume by default that gender-identity is a more powerful explanatory variable than sex. Being an objectively measurable binary variable, sex has considerable explanatory advantages over gender identity,” he added.

Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.

New York Bill Targets Chick-Fil-A Over Sunday Closure Policy

Contributing Author
-
0
New York Bill Targets Chick-Fil-A Over Sunday Closure Policy

(Headline USA) A New York bill introduced this week would target Chick-fil-A’s Sunday policy, which requires every one of its franchise locations to close in observance of the owners’ religious beliefs.

Chick-fil-A has kept its doors closed on Sundays for years. But the New York bill would require all food vendors operating in travel centers and rest stops owned by the New York State Thruway Authority to remain open seven days a week. Chick-fil-A owns nine locations in New York travel centers, and was cited directly in the bill.

“While there is nothing objectionable about a fast food restaurant closing on a particular day of the week, service areas dedicated to travelers is an inappropriate location for such a restaurant,” the bill states.

“Publicly owned service areas should use their space to maximally benefit the public,” it continued. “Allowing for retail space to go unused one seventh of the week or more is a disservice and unnecessary inconvenience to travelers who rely on these service areas.”

A spokesperson for Assemblyman Tony Simone, who introduced the bill, said the lawmaker believes “Chick-Fil-A could easily serve their customers better if their restaurants were open seven days a week.”

The spokesperson added that since “people are often traveling on Sundays,” it “doesn’t make any sense for one of the few restaurants available at these locations to be closed on one of the busiest travel days of the week.”

If the bill passes, Chick-fil-A would be forced to either remain open on Sundays or shut down their locations in New York travel centers.

Chick-fil-A’s Sunday closure policy was started by its founder, Truett Cathy.

“Closing our business on Sunday, the Lord’s Day, is our way of honoring God and showing our loyalty to Him,” he wrote in his book, Eat Mor Chikin: Inspire More People.

Kamala Harris Claims She Supports Both Gun Control and Second Amendment

Contributing Author
-
0
Kamala Harris Claims She Supports Both Gun Control and Second Amendment

(Headline USA) Vice President Kamala Harris claimed this week that she supports both the Second Amendment and an assault weapons ban.

Citing Harris’s past comments on how much she loves Venn diagrams, Florida state Sen. Blaise Ingoglia marked the vice president’s comments, saying, “A venn diagram would say you’re contradicting yourself.”

Another user wrote, “Oxymoron from a total moron.”

This isn’t the first time Harris has tried to argue that gun control is compatible with gun rights. This summer, at a meeting with state legislators, Harris claimed the debate is a “false choice.”

The “very people who refuse to engage in a meaningful debate and discussion on this, who refuse to pass reasonable laws, are the same ones who talk about accountability all the time,” she said, according to Reuters. “The hypocrisy of that.”

The White House has made gun control a top priority, with President Joe Biden signing a number of related executive orders.

Most recently, he directed the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) to expand the definition of a gun “dealer” to anyone who “sells or offers for sale firearms, and also represents to potential buyers or otherwise demonstrates a willingness and ability to purchase and sell additional firearms.”

The National Rifle Association warned the new rule would be used to demonize legal gun owners and to confuse them about which firearm transactions require a federal firearms license.

“The Biden ATF’s proposed rule, ATF2022R-17, is just another attempt to demolish our Second Amendment rights, with the potential to unjustly criminalize everyday Americans for engaging in lawful firearm transactions,” NRA-ILA Executive Director Randy Kozuch said in a statement.

A coalition of 27 state attorneys general, led by Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen, has challenged the ATF rule in court, blasting it as “unconstitutional” and a violation of Americans’ Second Amendment rights.

Hulk Hogan Celebrates Baptism: ‘Greatest Day of My Life’

Luis Cornelio
-
0
Hulk Hogan Celebrates Baptism: ‘Greatest Day of My Life’

(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) American professional wrestler Hulk Hogan said he was baptized at Indian Rocks Baptist Church, entering a new chapter in his life. 

Hogan made the heartfelt announcement in a widely circulated Instagram video on Wednesday. The video and photo showed the moment of his baptism. 

“Total surrender and dedication to Jesus is the greatest day of my life,” Hogan said on Instagram, amassing over 125,000 likes and 6,000 comments. 

Hogan also shared the footage to his 2 million followers on Twitter. “No worries, no hate, no judgment… only love!” the wrestler added.

The photos shared by Hogan also show that his wife, Sky Daily Hogan, was also baptized. Hogan married Daily in September 2023, three months after getting engaged.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Hulk Hogan (@hulkhogan)

The video shows both Hogan and his wife being submerged under water and then embraced by the pastor. 

Hogan’s announcement was celebrated by a plethora of positive comments.

“I am so glad you truly found Jesus,” podcast host Joseph Robert said on Instagram. “We will all bend a knee and answer to our Creator the Lord and savior Jesus Christ. He is the way, the Truth and the life!” 

As reported by Fox News, Hogan previously reflected on his faith journey in an April tweet. 

“I accepted Christ as my savior at 14yrs old and the training, prayers and vitamins kept me in the game,” Hogan added, “but now that I am one with God, the main event theme of surrender, service and love makes me the Real Main Event that can slam any giant of any size through the power of my Lord and Savior and so it is, even now brother, AMEN!” 

The Indian Rocks Baptist Church is located in Florida, where Hogan has long resided. Hogan currently serves as the owner of the Hulk Hogan Wrestling Shop and the Hogan’s Hangout restaurant.

Fetterman Says Far Left ‘Wants Me to Die’ After Breaking w/ Progressive Label

Contributing Author
-
0
Fetterman Says Far Left ‘Wants Me to Die’ After Breaking w/ Progressive Label

(Headline USA) Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., said activists on the far left were hoping that he would die after he distanced himself from the “progressive” label last week.

Fetterman, who suffered a near-fatal stroke in May 2022 while campaigning for the Senate, revealed that he no longer considers himself aligned with the left-wing of the Democratic Party because of several key issues, including support for Israel and the border crisis.

“It’s just a place where I’m not,” he told the New York Times on Wednesday. “I don’t feel like I’ve left the label; it’s just more that it’s left me.”

Now, he said he feels like “the Right, and now the Left, are hoping that I die. There are ones that are rooting for another blood clot,” he said in reference to his stroke. “They have both now been wishing that I die.”

Fetterman has come out strongly against his Democratic colleagues ever since Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel, which he said shouldn’t “surprise” anyone.

“I’m not really sure what part of any of this would be a surprise if anyone’s been paying attention,” Fetterman said of his long-standing support for Israel.

He also added that he doesn’t understand the leftist, pro-Palestinian protesters who hate Israel, which is “really the only progressive nation in the region that embraces the same kind of values I would expect we would want as a society.”

The Democrat also distanced himself from his party on immigration, reiterating that he does not think it’s “unreasonable to have a secured border.”

“I would never put Dreamers in harm’s way, or support any kind of cruelty or mass expulsion of hundreds of thousands of people. But it’s a reasonable conversation to talk about the border,” he said.

Fetterman noted he still supports many goals that would be considered progressive, such as a $15 minimum wage, universal healthcare and abolishing the Senate filibuster. He also admitted that he plans to always be a Democratic vote in the Senate.

Fulton County Attorney Convicted in $7M Covid Relief Fraud

Luis Cornelio
-
0
Fulton County Attorney Convicted in $7M Covid Relief Fraud

(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Shelitha Robertson, a former city prosecutor and failed Fulton County judicial candidate, has been convicted of fraudulently obtaining $7 million in taxpayer funds through the infamous Paycheck Protection Program, the DOJ announced on Wednesday.

Federal prosecutors accused Robertson of using the hefty sum to fund her lavish lifestyle, which notably included the purchase of a Rolls-Royce luxury vehicle, a motorcycle and a $148,000 diamond ring.

Robertson unsuccessfully ran for judge in the Fulton County Judicial Circuit and previously campaigned as a Democrat for the Georgia House of Representatives.

“According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Shelitha Robertson, 62, of Atlanta, conspired to submit PPP loan applications on behalf of four businesses she owned,” the DOJ said in a statement.

Federal prosecutors said that Robertson’s loan applications falsely inflated the total number of employees and the monthly payroll rate for her business in an illegal bid to increase her PPP eligibility. The attorney, previously employed as a city police officer and attorney, also facilitated the submission of falsified tax documents to back her falsehood-laden PPP applications.

Scheduled for sentencing on April 11, 2024, Robertson faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison for each count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and wire fraud. She also faces a potential maximum penalty of 10 years in prison for money laundering, according to federal prosecutors. 

“Robertson is the second defendant to be convicted as part of the Justice Department’s prosecution of an approximately $15 million PPP fraud conspiracy,” prosecutors added. 

The prosecution followed the launch of the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force to uncover potential fraud allegations linked the federal government’s pandemic-related relief programs.

Robertson previously denied all accusations, shifting blame for her former personal attorney, Chandra Norton, who pleaded guilty on a separate charge, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. 

Upon her arrest, Robertson allegedly threatened to kill Norton and issued a separate threat to an individual who filed a police report. 

Robertson was found guilty by a jury of seven men and five women, according to the news outlet.

‘See You Next Year’: Biden Spox Struggles to Name One Border Policy

Luis Cornelio
-
0
‘See You Next Year’: Biden Spox Struggles to Name One Border Policy

(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre refused to identify a single Biden administration policy aimed at securing the southern border amid rampant illegal immigration. 

During Thursday’s press briefing, Jean-Pierre declined to respond to questions about potential immigration policies President Joe Biden is open to discuss with Congressional Republicans amid a standoff on Ukrainian and U.S. border funding.

“Can you tell the American people if there’s any immigration policy that this White House is willing to talk about and is working on with Republicans,” one reporter asked. However, Jean-Pierre replied that she did not want to usurp ongoing negotiations. 

“I want to be really careful as negotiations happen,” Jean-Pierre claimed. “We don’t want to do this in the public, right? It does not help the process. We want to make sure that those negotiations are happening, obviously we’re part of those negotiations with the senators.”

The White House and Republican members of Congress are currently engaged in negotiations for a potentially bipartisan agreement to back funding for both the U.S. southern border and Ukraine.

Initially, Biden aimed to link Ukrainian funding with a House-passed bill for Israel, totaling $14.3 billion. However, House Republicans vehemently opposed such a move, insisting that any future funding for Ukraine’s defense against Russia must be tied to southern border funding. 

Jean-Pierre expressed optimism about the “right direction” of these negotiations. “We want to make sure we get some bipartisan agreement. It’s incredibly important. The president understands… that we have to fix this immigration system. It is been broken for decades now. So we have to do everything we can to fix that system.” The press secretary ended the press conference by saying, “See you next year.”

The Biden administration has faced bipartisan criticism for its policy mishaps at the southern border, prompting Gov. Katie Hobbs, D-Ariz., to deploy the state national guard and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, R-Texas, to empower state law enforcement to detain illegal immigrants intercepted while crossing the border. 

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and New York City Mayor Eric Adams, both Democrats, criticized the federal government’s leniency at the border, saying that their cities are being overwhelmed by the flow of illegal aliens.

Similarly, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., urged Biden to take executive action to address the unprecedented surge of illegal immigration at the southern border. 

Proposed policies include ending “catch-and-release,” limiting parole authority, reinstating the Trump administration-era Remain in Mexico policy, expediting deportations and building a border wall.

1...1,5651,5661,567...3,872Page 1,566 of 3,872