DeSantis’s New Answer to Trump VP Role Amid Campaign Turmoil

Luis Cornelio
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DeSantis’s New Answer to Trump VP Role Amid Campaign Turmoil

(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Gov. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., addressed Friday the prospect of teaming up with GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump for a hypothetical DeSantis-Trump ticket in 2024.

Despite previously rejecting the idea, DeSantis reiterated his stance against joining Trump. Instead, he highlighted former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley’s position, noting her alleged lack of explicit refusal to join Trump in 2024.

“She will not answer directly — and she owes you an answer to this — will she accept a vice presidential nomination from Donald Trump? Yes or no?” DeSantis declared at a New Hampshire campaign event.

 “And I can tell you, under any circumstance, I will not accept that because that’s not why I’m running. I’m running for the nomination and to be president. … I’d rather be governor than vice president, no question,” he added. 

DeSantis’s remarks surfaced amid widespread speculation about intern turmoil within his campaign and the Never Back Down super PAC following the departure of Jeff Roe, a chief strategist at the super PAC.

Even Trump reacted to Roe’s exit in a Truth Social post: “Jeff Roe is out—GAME OVER for DeSanctimonious!”

Roe’s sudden exit came after a Washington Post report alleging misconduct and leaks to the media by Roe and his team. Roe vehemently denied such allegations. Roe was the latest in a series of firings and resignations at the DeSantis super PAC. 

Former Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt, previously the board chair of Never Back Down, and Chris Jankowski, the organization’s president, also exited. Erin Perrine, a former Trump spokesperson who joined Never Back Down, has also departed.

The DeSantis campaign disregarded reports of internal turmoil just weeks before the Iowa caucuses. 

“We’re not going to be distracted by more false narratives coming from unknown sources with harmful agendas,” said a DeSantis campaign spokesperson to the Post, which first reported on the Never Back Down chaos.

“We appreciate the independent efforts of our outside partners at NBD as they are building a historic ground game for the fight ahead,” the spokesperson added.

Similarly, DeSantis remained determined that he could still beat Trump despite consistently running in second place and occasionally slipping to third, trailing behind Haley. 

 “I’m the only that beat Trump, let’s just be clear on that. Haley cannot get enough support from core Republicans and conservatives. She’s getting support from people who either aren’t Republicans,” DeSantis claimed in New Hampshire. 

“People that are for Trump, I’m the next choice. If everyone else got out but me and Trump (all these other candidates), I would get that support because they see that,” he added.

‘The Man’s Brother’: James Biden’s Influence Peddling Caught in FBI Tape

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‘The Man’s Brother’: James Biden’s Influence Peddling Caught in FBI Tape

(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) A scathing report alleges that James Biden, the heavily scrutinized brother of President Joe Biden, was “caught” in an FBI bribery investigation dating back to 2007 when the current president was seeking the DNC nomination (he was later tapped by Barack Obama to serve as vice president).

The Washington Post revealed on Sunday that in 1998, James Biden received $100,000 for advising on legislation targeting tobacco companies to pay billions of dollars. The payment, made by disgraced trial attorney Richard “Dickie” Scruggs, sought to compel a divided Congress, including then-U.S. Senator Joe Biden, D-Dela., who had initially opposed the tobacco-related bill.

While the FBI focused on a separate bribery case involving a judge, unrelated to the Biden family, it led to Scruggs’s downfall in 2007. During this period, James Biden wanted to launch a consulting firm with Scruggs’s associates, a plan that never came to fruition because of Scruggs’s legal mishaps.

The details of the $100,000 transaction surfaced only recently when the Post reviewed recordings of the Biden ties archived at the University of Mississippi. These documents were not available in trial documents, the Post claimed.

Scruggs told to the Post that he hired James Biden to persuade Joe Biden to support the bill. Despite Joe Biden’s backing, the legislation failed to pass Congress. 

“I probably wouldn’t have hired him if he wasn’t the senator’s brother,” Scruggs said. “Jim was never untoward about his influence… He didn’t brag about it or talk about it. He didn’t have to. He was the man’s brother.”

While it remains unclear if James Biden discussed the bill with his brother, Scruggs expressed hope that he did. 

Lion Hall, the company that received the $100,000, is now a focal point in the impeachment inquiry. House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., mentioned the company in a subpoena issued to James and Sara Biden, as reported by the Post. 

In response to the Post’s report, Paul Fishman, an attorney representing James Biden, refuted claims of impropriety. He said, “Jim Biden’s consulting work has never involved speaking with or providing access to his brother for this or any other client.” 

When asked about the 2008 bribery investigation, Fishman added, “More than 15 years ago, Jim and Sara Biden had serious discussions about starting a firm that would provide legal and consulting services. That venture never got off the ground. Jim and Sara were not aware of or involved in any unethical or illegal behavior.” 

Despite Scruggs’s own legal troubles, he expressed “empathy” for the Biden family amid congressional scrutiny over potential influence peddling.

“It’s really difficult for the close relative or particularly the sons of prominent men to make it on their own. Anything they do on their own, people say, ‘Well, it’s because their daddy helped them,’” he claimed, according to the Post. “So I’m a little empathetic with the sons and daughters of prominent people. They have a cross to bear that nobody else has.”

 

Voters to Decide on a Mandate to Hand-Count Ballots

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Voters to Decide on a Mandate to Hand-Count Ballots

(Headline USA) All election ballots would be counted by hand under a proposal that could go to North Dakota voters, potentially achieving a goal of activists across the country who seek to ensure the integrity of elections.

If the plan makes the June 2024 ballot and voters pass it, North Dakota would replace ballot scanners, that are susceptible to tampering, with hundreds of workers across the state who would carefully count and recount ballots.

“We’ve always done hand counting before we got these machines,” said Lydia Gessele, a farmer who is leading the effort to get the measure on the ballot. “They can find the people to do the job, because there are people that are willing to come in and do the hand counting.”

Gessele said supporters were motivated by issues that occurred in 2022, including inaccurate ballot scanners and an electrical outage that prevented people in Bismarck from voting.

The North Dakota effort is aligned with a movement among Trump allies who since 2020 have railed against voting machines.

The measure also bans breaks in counting ballots.

The North Dakota ballot measure proposes all voting “shall be done by paper ballots and counted by hand starting on the day of the election and continuing uninterrupted until hand counting is completed.”

The move would make North Dakota the first state to mandate hand counts, shifting from the paper ballots and scanners used for most elections, according to Voting Rights Lab, a nonpartisan organization that tracks states’ voting legislation.

The measure would allow any U.S. citizen to verify or audit North Dakota elections. The initiative also would mandate that “all voting will be completed only on Election Day,” with allowance for absentee ballots mailed only for voters “who request one for a specific election in writing within a reasonable time period prior to Election Day.” Mail-in ballots would be “otherwise prohibited.”

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

Federal Figures Show Surge in Homelessness

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Federal Figures Show Surge in Homelessness

(Brett Rowland, The Center Square) – The number of homeless people in the U.S. jumped 12% to more than 653,000 people as pandemic spending expired, the highest level on record since the counts started in 2007.

Figures released Friday provide a snapshot of the number of people in shelters, temporary housing and in unsheltered settings. The report found 653,100 people were experiencing homelessness on a single night in January 2023, a 12% increase from 2022. That figure of 653,100 people is equivalent to about 20 of every 10,000 people in the U.S.

The 12% increase is about 70,650 more people, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s 2023 Annual Homeless Assessment Report: Part 1: Point-in-Time Estimates.

It’s the highest number of homeless people since HUD’s count started in 2007.

The overall increase reflects the increases in all homeless populations. Homelessness among people in families with children experiencing homelessness increased by 16%. Individuals experiencing homelessness increased by 11%.

The increase is likely the result of multiple factors, including growing housing costs, limited affordable housing, the end of pandemic protections that kept people in housing and a surge of migrants in shelters in places like New York City and Chicago, among others, federal officials said.

The states with the highest rate of homelessness were California, Oregon, Hawaii, Arizona and Nevada. The lowest rates were in Vermont, New York, Maine, Massachusetts and Wisconsin, according to the report.

More than half of all people experiencing homelessness were in four states: California (28% of all people experiencing homelessness in the U.S, or 181,399 people); New York (16% or 103,200 people); Florida (5% or 30,756 people); and Washington (4% or 28,036 people), according to the report.

“Homelessness is solvable and should not exist in the United States,” HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge said in a statement. “We’ve made positive strides, but there is still more work to be done. This data underscores the urgent need for support for proven solutions and strategies that help people quickly exit homelessness and that prevent homelessness in the first place.”

Judge Throws the Book at Mother of School Shooter

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Judge Throws the Book at Mother of School Shooter

(Headline USA) The mother of a 6-year-old boy who shot his teacher in a Virginia classroom was sentenced Friday to two years in prison for felony child neglect by a judge.

Deja Taylor, the mother in question, received a sentence that was much harsher than the maximum six months prosecutors had agreed to recommend as part of a plea deal and also surpassed the high end of advisory state sentencing guidelines.

Taylor, 26, pleaded guilty to a single count of felony neglect in August. As part of the plea agreement, prosecutors agreed to drop a misdemeanor count of recklessly storing a firearm.

Circuit Court Judge Christopher Papile said the sentencing guidelines did not take into account the shooting’s physical and psychological toll on first-grade teacher Abigail Zwerner or the emotional trauma it has wrought on other students and staff at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News.

Zwerner was critically injured when the boy fired a single shot at her, striking her hand and chest, breaking bones and puncturing a lung. She spent weeks in the hospital, had five surgeries, and says she is so mentally scarred by the shooting that she does not plan to return to teaching.

Papile noted that “we are lucky” someone wasn’t killed at the elementary school. In admonishing Taylor, the judge said a parent’s ultimately responsibility is to “protect the child, to keep them from bad influences, to keep them from dangerous situations, to keep them healthy and nurtured. Ms. Taylor has abdicated most, if not all, of those responsibilities.”

Taylor was sentenced in November to 21 months in federal prison for using marijuana while owning a gun, which is illegal under U.S. law. Her state sentence will be served consecutively, making a combined state and federal sentence of nearly four years behind bars.

Taylor’s son told authorities he got his mother’s 9 mm handgun by climbing onto a drawer to reach the top of a dresser, where the firearm was in his mom’s purse. He concealed the weapon in his backpack and then his pocket before shooting Zwerner in front of her first-grade class.

Moments later, the boy told a reading specialist who restrained him, “I shot that (expletive) dead,” and “I got my mom’s gun last night,” according to search warrants.

Taylor initially told police she had secured her gun with a trigger lock, but investigators said they never found one.

Following the shooting, the boy was removed from his mother’s custody and spent 227 days in inpatient treatment, during which he was attended to by a team of physicians, psychiatrists and other clinicians, prosecutor Travis White told the judge. The boy, now 7, had problems with “basic socialization” and suffered from post-traumatic stress syndrome and insomnia, among other disorders.

“That is the depths of neglect that Deja Taylor inflicted on her child,” the prosecutor said, calling the shooting “a consequence and manifestation of that neglect.”

The boy now lives with his great-grandfather, Calvin Taylor. He said Deja Taylor tried to get help for her son before the shooting but child protective services did not follow through on her request.

The elder Taylor said the boy is now doing well in a structured environment.

Deja Taylor did not speak during Friday’s hearing. Her attorney, James Ellenson, said Taylor struggled with addiction and domestic violence. He said Taylor, 26, smoked marijuana “all day, every day” since age 15.

“Who knows what the effects were on that teenage brain?” he said.

Ellenson said earlier this year there were “mitigating circumstances,” including Taylor’s miscarriages and postpartum depression. She also has been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, a condition sharing symptoms with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, according to court documents.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

Biden’s White House Will Force Fed. Workers to Travel ‘Green’

Dmytro "Henry" Aleksandrov
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Biden’s White House Will Force Fed. Workers to Travel ‘Green’

(Dmytro “Henry” Aleksandrov, Headline USA) Under Joe Biden’s administration, federal workers will be forced to use electric vehicles [EV], trains and other “green” public transportation options when conducting official business.

The White House that issued new guidance said the actions fulfill Biden’s promise to “lead by example” on tackling climate change, according to Slay News.

The news source added that the new “green” rules seek to take advantage of the federal government’s annual business travel purchasing power of $2.8 billion and status as the nation’s largest employer.

It was also revealed that last year, government employees on official business took more than 2.8 million flights, made 2.3 million vehicle rentals and took 33,000 rail trips.

“These operational changes will accelerate the clean transportation transformation, increase good-paying union jobs, and create healthier communities. President Biden’s Federal Sustainability Plan aims to reach net-zero emissions from overall Federal operations by 2050, including a 65 percent emissions reduction by 2030,” the White House said in its Dec. 14, 2023, statement.

The White House said that the rules would also apply to the international trips.

“Through new Federal employee travel guidelines issued today, the Biden-Harris Administration is advancing this goal by directing Federal agencies to prioritize the use of sustainable transportation for official and local travel, both domestically and internationally,” the administration said.

Government employees will be expected to rent an EV on official travel when the cost of the vehicle is less than or equal to the most affordable comparable gas-powered vehicle available.

In addition to that, the employees must opt for EVs when using taxis and ride-share platforms when they are cost-competitive and only use rail on trips that require less than 250 miles of travel instead of driving or flying.

The employees will be required to use public transportation for local travel, which also includes travel upon arriving at an offsite location.

“This will save taxpayer money and reduce pollution that jeopardizes people’s health and fuels the climate crisis,” the White House said.

Young Americans Want Israel to Be ‘Ended,’ ‘Given to Hamas,’ Harvard Says

Dmytro "Henry" Aleksandrov
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Young Americans Want Israel to Be ‘Ended,’ ‘Given to Hamas,’ Harvard Says

(Dmytro “Henry” Aleksandrov, Headline USA) A recent poll from Harvard University revealed that a majority of young Americans who were polled think that Israel should “be ended and given to Hamas.”

The Harvard-Harris poll that was conducted between Dec. 13, 2023, and Dec. 14, 2023, among 2,034 registered voters found that 51% of those Americans between the ages of 18 and 24 said they believed the long-term answer to the Israel-Palestinian war was for “Israel to be ended and given to Hamas and the Palestinians.”

It was also revealed that only 32% of those who were polled said that they believed in a two-state solution, with 17% of the people saying that Arab states should be asked to absorb Palestinian populations.

The poll discovered that people of other age groups believed that there should be a two-state solution, with just 4% of Americans 65 and over thinking that Israel should not exist as a state.

“These individuals siding with evil over democracy should be a wake-up call. Ideological rot among young Americans, driven by woke values and victim culture, has gotten so bad they’ve convinced themselves to sympathize with actual terrorists who hate America,” Sen. Roger Marshall, R–Kans., told the New York Post.

The brainwashing of the students proved to be successful since 60% of young people also said that Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack could be “justified by the grievance of Palestinians.” Only 27% of Americans who were polled had the same position.

The poll also indicated that 60% of young Americans thought that Israel was committing genocide against Palestinians. Only 37% of Americans from other age groups had the same perspective. Ironically, the same young people — 53% of them — thought that students should be able to call for the “genocide of Jews” without consequences.

Sixty-seven percent of young people also said that Jews “should be treated as oppressors.” Americans from other age groups — 73% — on the other hand, said that this is a “false ideology.”

Jenna Ellis Slammed after Comparing ‘Christian Nationalists’ to BLM Rioters

Luis Cornelio
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Jenna Ellis Slammed after Comparing ‘Christian Nationalists’ to BLM Rioters

(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Jenna Ellis, the embattled former Trump attorney facing scrutiny, received backlash on social media for likening what she termed as “Christian Nationalists” to Black Lives Matter, a group Ellis previously described as a “Marxist” group.

“The Christian Nationalist crowd is the new BLM. Both cheer tearing down statues and destroying property they don’t like in the name of their cause. Both are wrong,” Ellis said on Friday.

Her comments were prompted by a veteran who dismantled a satanic statue at the Iowa State Capitol on Tuesday. The man, identified as Michael Cassidy, has been hailed as a hero by some who argue that he is within his right to tear down the statue of Baphomet.

As reported by the Des Moines Register, the Satanic Temple of Iowa placed the statue in the Capitol and decried Cassidy’s action on Facebook. “This morning, we were informed by authorities that the Baphomet statue in our holiday display was destroyed beyond repair,” the group claimed.

Critics, including Cassidy, swiftly criticized Ellis for drawing parallels between Christian Nationalists and BLM.

“If you’re someone who thinks tearing down statues of our Founders is the same thing as decapitating a satanic icon – you’re probably part of the reason we’re in an era where Satanists put their icons up in government buildings,” he said on Twitter.

“I did nothing to any Satanist (flesh and blood), @JennaEllisEsq. I pray that they will, as billions of pagans have before, repent of their spiritual wickedness and accept Christ as their Savior,” he declared earlier.

The criticism aimed at Ellis did not stop there.

“BLM’s purpose is to tear down what built America & our traditions. CN wants to preserve & reinvigorate what built America & our traditions,” said Lizzie Marbach, a conservative political operative in Ohio. “BLM is inherently anti-Christian, anti-family, and anti-Gospel. CN is pro-Christian, pro-family, and pro-gospel.”

Attorney Joseph D. McBride chimed in, calling Ellis a “MORON” on Twitter. “Christmas is about celebrating Jesus Christ’s birth. NOT displaying His mortal enemy as a co-equal. I applaud Cassidy’s actions,” he said.

Others responded mockingly, like News Founding CEO Nate Firscher, who remarked, “‘There is no difference between George Washington and Satan.’”

One Twitter user shared a photoshopped photo of Ellis’s face on the satanic statue.

This would not mark the first time Ellis comes under scrutiny from conservatives on social media.  

After her plea deal with Fulton County’s District Attorney Fani Willis, Laura Loomer accused Ellis of misleading Trump supporters during a fundraiser aimed at contesting the 2020 election results in Georgia.

Ellis has since taken a plea in exchange for her anti-Trump testimony. She was ordered to pay a modest $5,000. In contrast, she raised over $200,000 from social media followers. 

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Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to reflect that Ellis previously described Black Lives Matter as a “Marxist” organization.

‘I Told You’: Cawthorn ‘Vindicated’ after Predicting Senate Gay Sex Scandal

Luis Cornelio
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‘I Told You’: Cawthorn ‘Vindicated’ after Predicting Senate Gay Sex Scandal

(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Social media influencers flooded Twitter to hail former Rep. Madison Cawthorn, R-N.C., for seemingly exposing depraved sex acts involving members of Congress and congressional staffers. 

Cawthorn lost a primary challenge in 2022 following scandals showing him dressed in women’s clothing and reportedly dry-humping a male friend. However, in the run-up to his primary challenge, Cawthorn rebuked reportedly being invited to an “orgy” party by a lawmaker who he “looked up” to.

“The sexual perversion that goes on in Washington, I mean, being kind of a young guy in Washington, average age is probably 60 or 70,” Cawthorn said at the time. “I look at a lot of these people, a lot of them that I’ve looked up to through my life—I’ve always paid attention to politics—then all of a sudden you get invited to, ‘Oh hey we’re going to have a sexual get together at one of our homes, you should come.'”

Critics are now using that video to draw attention to the emergence of a sex tape involving a now-fired legislative aide to Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md. The aide, reportedly identified as Aidan Maese-Czeropski, was busted having gay anal sex in a Senate hearing room. 

The video, first shared by Daily Caller, was widely shared on social media, igniting widespread criticism and disgust at the lack of respect for the Senate. The video shows who reportedly appeared to be Czeropski on all fours while being anally penetrated by another male. Czeropski seems to be wearing a jockstrap.

Cartin has since fired Czeropski but cautioned that his office would not issue further comments on the reported video or the gay porn. “Aidan Maese-Czeropski is no longer employed by the U.S. Senate,” Cardin’s office said. “We will have no further comment on this personnel matter.”

As reported by Newsweek, social media users celebrated Cawthorn as a “prophet” for hinting at disturbing acts taking place in the Senate.

“Madison Cawthorn was a prophet and you all laughed and laughed at him,” said Stephen L. Miller, a contributing editor for the Spectator World.

Disgraced former Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., chimed in with reaction, saying that Cawthorn was vindicated. 

“I bet tonight @CawthornforNC is somewhere laughing at all the people who said he was crazy,” Santos said. “Seems pretty real that DC is filled with Sex and cocaine… Hey y’all when all is bad and work is hard, you can always record a cute armature porno in the office. LOL.”

Cawthorn took to Twitter to say, “I told you.”

Amid the release of the video, Czeropski falsely claimed he was being attacked for being gay.

“This has been a difficult time for me, as I have been attacked for who I love to pursue a political agenda,” he claimed in a post on LinkedIn, as reported by Newsweek.

“While some of my actions in the past have shown poor judgement, I love my job and would never disrespect my workplace. Any attempts to characterize my actions otherwise are fabricated and I will be exploring what legal options are available to me in these matters,” he added. 

McCarthy’s Handpicked Successor Ousted from Congressional Bid

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McCarthy’s Handpicked Successor Ousted from Congressional Bid

(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Kevin McCarthy, the former House speaker set to leave Congress, has endured a turbulent couple of weeks after his chosen successor was removed from the California race to replace him.

State Rep. Vince Fong’s last-minute entry into the congressional race violated California state law. Specifically, the secretary of state halted Fong’s bid due to his existing filing for re-election to the California Assembly, Politico reported on Friday.

Initially, Fong decided against running for the open seat because State Sen. Shannon Grove, the presumed favorite candidate, was in the running. However, Grove later announced that she wouldn’t seek to replace McCarthy, paving the way for Fong to announce his candidacy.

Soon after, McCarthy endorsed Fong, referring to him as a “friend” and a reliable candidate. “There is no one that I trust more to continue the fight for common-sense and conservative values in Washington DC. I am proud to endorse my friend Vince Fong for Congress,” McCarthy said, according to the Sacramento Bee. 

According to Politico, state law forbids candidates from withdrawing after the last Friday’s filing deadline. The chaos stemmed from McCarthy’s sudden announcement that he wouldn’t seek re-election and would step down by the end of 2023, instead. 

“The Secretary of State’s office has determined that Mr. Fong’s filed nomination papers for Congressional District 20 were improperly submitted,” the California Department of State claimed on Friday.  

“Mr. Fong will not appear on the list of certified candidates for Congressional District 20 that our office will transmit to county election officials on candidates on December 28,” it added 

Fong pledged to challenge the decision through a lawsuit, alleging interference by California State Secretary Shirley Weber, a Democrat. 

“Voters in the 20th Congressional District have a right to choose the candidate of their choice to represent them in Congress,” Fong said in a statement posted on Twitter.  

“I will fight the Secretary of State’s misguided decision and do whatever it takes to give voters in our community a real choice in this election because the voters choose our elected officials, not Sacramento,” he added.

Tulare County Sheriff Michael Boudreaux and casino magnate Kyle Kirkland are among the notable contenders seeking the open seat.

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