‘Nancy Pelosi in a Suit’: Tom Emmer Faces Scathing Criticism Amid Speakership Bid

Luis Cornelio
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‘Nancy Pelosi in a Suit’: Tom Emmer Faces Scathing Criticism Amid Speakership Bid

(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) A senior Republican strategist launched a scathing critique on potential House GOP speaker nominee Tom Emmer for his contentious record against the America First movement. 

During a segment of Steve Bannon’s WarRoom podcast on Friday, Caroline Wren, a senior adviser to conservative firebrand Kari Lake, did not mince her words in her criticism of Emmer.  

“Tom Emmer is Nancy Pelosi in a Suit,” a caption of the show read. Echoing the caption, Wren emphatically stated her opposition to Emmer’s anticipated bid for the speakership.

“It is outrageous that they’re putting Tom Emmer,” Wren told Bannon. “Tom Emmer is awful. He’s been the whip behind every single bad deal in Congress for the last two years that Kevin McCarthy negotiated, was Tom Emmer whipping for it.” 

Emmer, currently serving as House majority whip, is slated to declare his candidacy before the looming Monday evening deadline. However, his path to securing the speakership appears increasingly rocky, with detractors pointing to his alleged involvement in recent contentious congressional deals. 

“Whether it was raising the debt ceiling, funding Ukraine, not funding our border, working across with Democrats, Tom Emmer was behind it,” Wren added. “This should not be a shock to us, this is the same Tom Emmer who was the [National Republican Congressional Committee] chair in 2022, told us there was going to be this massive big red rave that turned into barely a red ripple.”

The growing resistance to Emmer’s potential candidacy follows the GOP’s struggle to rally behind a single candidate. The rejection of House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and failed attempts by House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., to secure enough votes have only deepened the division. 

Emmer’s emergence as a prospective candidate gained traction after the removal of former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., through a contentious motion to vacate.  

Despite initial support from some quarters, Emmer has reportedly faced a setback, with former President Donald Trump allegedly expressing his lack of endorsement for Emmer in private discussions. 

“If somebody is so out of step with where the Republican electorate is, where the MAGA movement is, how can they even be in the conversation?” Trump adviser Boris Epshteyn told Bannon.

“We need a MAGA speaker. That’s what it comes down to. Because if you look at the numbers, if you look at the energy, if you look at the heat, this is the Trump party, this is the MAGA party. It is no longer the old-school khaki establishment Republican Party.”

‘Ignore This Crazy Lady’: Omar Lobs Insult at Fox News Reporter

Luis Cornelio
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‘Ignore This Crazy Lady’: Omar Lobs Insult at Fox News Reporter

(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., faced mounting controversy as she dismissed questions about her recent calls for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, following Hamas’ latest attack on Israel.  

The congresswoman’s avoidance of questions came during an encounter with Fox News correspondent Hillary Vaughn outside her office premises, where Omar called Vaugh a “crazy lady.”

“Are you okay with Hamas terrorists continuing to exist?” Vaughn pressed Omar. “Do you think Israel should just lay down their arms and not try to get their hostages out of Gaza? How can Israel have a ceasefire with terrorists whose entire mission is to wipe out their existence?”

Omar broke her silence to insult Vaughn. “Ignore this crazy lady,” she uttered before storming into a nearby elevator, evading further questions.

Omar’s reluctance to engage with the reporters comes amid intense scrutiny of her recent remarks in support of Palestinians and their conflict with Israel. Omar, alongside other members of the so-called “Squad,” has called for an apparent “ceasefire” as Israel defends itself from the Hamas terror group.

“Such senseless violence will only repeat the back and forth cycle we’ve seen, which we cannot allow to continue,” Omar claimed on Oct. 7. “We need to call for deescalation and ceasefire. I will keep advocating for peace and justice throughout the Middle East.” 

The congresswoman faced backlash after prematurely assigning blame to the Israeli Defense Forces for a bombing incident in a Palestinian hospital parking lot, an allegation the IDF swiftly denied.

Reports indicated the involvement of the Islamic Jihad, a militant group seeking the establishment of a caliphate in Israel.

Addressing the situation, President Joe Biden, speaking from the Ramstein Air Base during his return to Washington, D.C., commented, “It’s that old thing: Gotta learn how to shoot straight. It’s not the first time that Hamas has launched something that didn’t function very well.”

Despite mounting evidence contrary to her initial statement, Omar stood her ground, stating, “Our office cited an AP report yesterday that the IDF had hit a Baptist hospital in Gaza. Since then, the IDF denied responsibility and the US intelligence assessment is that this was not done by Israel.”

J.K. Rowling Ready to Go to Prison If ‘Misgendering’ Becomes Crime

Dmytro "Henry" Aleksandrov
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J.K. Rowling Ready to Go to Prison If ‘Misgendering’ Becomes Crime

(Dmytro “Henry” Aleksandrov, Headline USA) A famous “Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling mocked compelled pro-“transgender” speech, adding that she would be willing to go to prison instead of denying the biological reality.

Rowling has been frequently opposing compelled speech while defending women’s rights and the encroachment on women’s spaces by men who either genuinely believe or pretend to be women, Blaze reported.

One of Rowling’s recent remarks regarding the topic was her commenting on the news that the U.K.’s opposition party, the Labour Party, would force compelled speech — criminalizing the act of not referring to people by their preferred “gender identities” — if elected into power.

These kinds of laws would make “misgendering” a hate crime and upgrade charges to “aggravated offenses.” The party also added that it would strengthen the sentencing guidelines for what it describes as abuse and violence targeted toward “transgender” people.

Based on that information, it becomes clear that these “transphobic” actions would be equated with assault and harassment hate crimes, which carry a possible sentence of up to two years in prison.

In one of her Twitter posts, Rowling posted a photo from the U.K.’s Ministry of Justice that read “Repeat After Us: Trans Women Are Women.”

“No,” Rowling wrote in the same post.

One of the people on Twitter replied to the image by saying “Vote Labour, get a two year stretch!” Rowling responded by saying that she is willing to go to prison if the alternative is denying the basic biological reality.

“I’ll happily do two years if the alternative is compelled speech and forced denial of the reality and importance of sex. Bring on the court case, I say. It’ll be more fun than I’ve ever had on a red carpet,” she wrote.

Rowling also defended Elon Musk’s decision to classify “cisgender” as a slur on his platform in June 2023.

“‘Cis’ is ideological language, signifying belief in the unfalsifiable concept of gender identity. You have a perfect right to believe in unprovable essences that may or may not match the sexed body, but the rest of us have a right to disagree, and to refuse to adopt your jargon,” she wrote.

Tlaib’s Security Clearance Under Fire Amid Accusations of Pro-Hamas Stance

Luis Cornelio
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Tlaib’s Security Clearance Under Fire Amid Accusations of Pro-Hamas Stance

(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., could be barred from receiving classified briefings on U.S. operations in Israel after being accused by Israel of spreading false claims regarding the recent hospital incident.

Rep. Jonny Jackson, R-Texas, in a letter to House Pro Tempore Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., demanded that her security clearance be revoked, citing her alleged support for Hamas.

“I demand that Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib be prevented from participating in any classified briefing about Israel’s ongoing military operations, Israel’s self-defense efforts, or any American military movements in and around the region,” Jackson wrote.

“We must not allow Hamas sympathizers in this body to serve as the mouthpiece for Palestinian terrorists. Rather than condemn the attacks by Hamas, Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib has chosen to side with Hamas by spreading misinformation,” the Texas lawmaker added. 

“I demand that her security clearance be revoked immediately and that she be prevented from participating in any relevant briefings,” he continued. 

Tlaib, along with other members of the progressive “Squad,” has faced criticism for their stance on the recent Israel-Hamas war.  

Critics argue that Tlaib’s calls for a ceasefire dangerously ignore Hamas’ initiation of the war and their continued terrorist activities against Israeli civilians, with nearly 200 hostages still in the Gaza Strip. Hamas’ terror attack on Oct. 7 has claimed the lives of over 1,400 individuals, including American citizens.

The scrutiny intensified when Tlaib, against U.S. intelligence reports, accused Israel of targeting a Palestinian hospital with a rocket. “We continue to watch people say it’s OK to bomb a hospital,” Tlaib said on Oct. 18. “We are literally watching people commit genocide and killing a vast majority just like this.”

These statements have led to mounting criticism of Tlaib, with Jackson calling that she be blocked from future classified briefings.

“I don’t know what’s more concerning, that we have Members of Congress who are antisemites and support Hamas, or that we let those Members of Congress attend classified briefings on the war in Israel,” Jackson told Fox News on Thursday. 

CNN Reporter Accosted Live on-Air by Angry Palestinians

Dmytro "Henry" Aleksandrov
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CNN Reporter Accosted Live on-Air by Angry Palestinians

(Dmytro “Henry” Aleksandrov, Headline USA) CNN reporter Sara Sidner was accosted live on-air on Friday by an angry crowd of Palestinians as she reported from the West Bank. 

This incident was one of the latest indicators of the region’s bubbling hatred of America, according to the Daily Mail. It is also an indicator of the growing aggression toward the U.S. in the Middle East and around the world, in general.  

Sidner was one of CNN’s reporters who has been in the region since Hamas waged war on Oct. 7, 2023.

The incident happened when she was reporting from a street in the West Bank – one of two territories occupied by Palestinians – when she was approached by a furious man.

“You are a genocide supporter. You are not welcome here!” one man screamed at Sidner, inching closer to her face while other Palestinians surrounded them.

These other people also started to scream at Sidner.

“F*** CNN! F*** CNN!” they screamed while Sidner and her crew started to move away calmly.

The U.S. military in Iraq, Syria and Yemen fended off drone strikes and missiles earlier this week, with the USS Carney shooting down two land missiles and three drones fired by Iran-backed Houthi militants in Yemen.

It wasn’t clear whether the target was Israel or the ship. It was also reported that there were no injuries onboard the ship and none were reported on land among civilians.

Troops at the al-Asad airbase in Iraq intercepted three drones on Tuesday and troops at the the Al-Harir Air Base intercepted another two to the north.

The Mail also reported that there were attacks against troops in Syria, near the al-Tanf airbase that is located near Syria’s border with Iraq and Jordan.

Another drone was reported at the Conoco airfield. The news source reported that Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an Iran-backed group, has claimed credit for the attempted strike against the Conoco base, but American officials have yet to confirm that specific strike.

Soros Org. Closes Offices Around the World, Fires 40% of Staff

Dmytro "Henry" Aleksandrov
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Soros Org. Closes Offices Around the World, Fires 40% of Staff

(Dmytro “Henry” Aleksandrov, Headline USA) George Soros’s Open Society Foundation went through its second restructuring in three years, which resulted in the organization firing nearly half of its employees worldwide.

The decision to cut employees and close offices was made over the summer by the organization’s board of directors, according to the emails that were obtained by Bloomberg.

“With the decision by the board in June to cut the staff by more than 40%, our staffing size and footprint by necessity needs to diminish. We no longer have the bandwidth to operate multiple small offices, and thus the decision to further reduce our locations,” OSF Vice President of Programs Binaifer Nowrojee wrote in one of the emails.

In 2021, OSF employed nearly 1,700 people, but, after the latest cuts, the staff was reduced to fewer than 500 people.

Six OSF offices in Africa were left with no employees that will be let go by the end of the year, adding that “more than a dozen offices across Africa and Asia” had been removed from a list on the organization’s website, Inside Philanthropy reported.

“I’m very sorry that it’s turned out this way… It’s obviously not what any of us expected and I’m also very sorry that I didn’t have the information on this earlier,” Africa Executive Director Muthoni Wanyeki told staff in an email.

Wanyeki added that the cuts ran contrary to what the organization’s leadership had “committed to two years ago,” which happened to be true because the OSF offered grants over $1 billion each year, with roughly 10% of that going to Africa.

According to Bloomberg, offices in Barcelona, Spain, and Baltimore were also closed.

No changes to programs were expected to be made in the United States until after the 2024 presidential election, the decision that could not be described as one of the last attempts of the organization to either steal the election or brainwash Americans to vote for the leftist candidate, Bloomberg reported.

Biden Leverages Border Security to Give Ukraine More Money

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Biden Leverages Border Security to Give Ukraine More Money

(Headline USA) Joe Biden is leveraging border security to get even more money for Ukraine.

The idea came up late last month, after Congress denied the Ukraine yet another stopgap funding measure.

A lot has changed since Sept. 30: The House has lost its speaker and Republicans are in disarray over selecting a new one, and the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel has prompted a much bigger funding request by the White House.

It’s not clear that the $14 billion in border money included as part of the the $106 billion spending package the White House sent to Congress on Friday will placate those who are resisting.

“The border has never been a money issue,” said Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas. “It has always been a policy issue. So we need to get in a room, go to the White House and sort that out.”

The conflict in the Mideast may have pulled some of the spotlight away from the U.S.-Mexico border for now, but the challenges of illegal immigration facing the U.S. are growing increasingly intractable.

Unfortunately, the funding request is not entirely dedicated to borer security, but also providing welfare for illegals and funding for sanctuary cities.

It also suggests $1.4 billion to add 375 immigration judges and their teams in addition to money for 1,300 new border patrol agents.

There is also a $4.4 billion grant for Homeland Security efforts, including increased funding for holding facilities as the administration works to quickly deport those who do not qualify for asylum.

It’s unclear how any spending package can pass. Republicans are already pushing back on using funds to give welfare to illegals already here rather than for limiting those at the border.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

Biden Administration Embeds Homelessness Official in Denver Through 2024

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Biden Administration Embeds Homelessness Official in Denver Through 2024

(Joe Mueller, The Center Square) – The federal government will embed an employee to assist Denver in advancing its work to reduce homelessness.

Denver Mayor Mike Johnston was joined by two members of President Joe Biden’s administration on Wednesday to announce the city was joining Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Seattle and the state of California as “ALL INside” communities. In addition to embedding federal workers in cities, the Biden administration is creating dedicated teams throughout to deal with federal regulatory barriers affecting housing, health care and other areas.

“With this new federal partnership, we can accelerate the quantity of work we can do, the quality and the services we can provide for the folks who need us the most,” Johnston said.

The dedicated federal official will remain in Denver through 2024.

“We recognize there are big structural challenges at play when it comes to addressing homelessness,” said Chad Maisel, White House special assistant to the president for housing and urban policy. “Number one is very simple, it’s a lack of housing that people can afford.”

Maisel emphasized the American Rescue Plan Act’s resources for addressing and preventing homelessness, which included $17 billion for 2,700 projects. He said the administration is working on new federal financing to develop affordable housing and eliminate zoning and land use policies preventing low-cost housing development. He also highlighted the possibility of office-to-residential housing conversion in some cities.

Embedding a federal liaison will help Denver and its nonprofit partners gain federal resources, according to Jeff Olivet, the director of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness.

“The results will be there will be less red tape that makes it difficult for people to access housing, health care and other programs they qualify for,” Olivet said. “There’ll be less top-down planning and more grassroots community shaping of the work that we’re doing together.”

Johnston introduced Brandon Hughes, who said he recently left a homeless encampment in Denver and lived at the Best Western purchased by the city and staffed with services to assist residents. Hughes said he’s transitioning to sober housing and is working on completing his commercial driver’s license.

“I’m telling you I’m living proof,” Hughes said. “The Best Western is awesome. … I really want to say thank you to all you guys. I wish there was something I could do to help with what you’re doing. To see this in action was something different. To see them rally all of us and get us all on the same bus and for us to willingly go, was crazy.”

Olivet praised the closing of the encampment and the successful transition to temporary housing with services.

“Last month, rather than arresting people who have nowhere else to go, Denver offered housing – not handcuffs – to every person living in an encampment,” Olivet said. “Mayor Johnston is now showing the region and the nation that homelessness is an emergent emergency public health crisis that requires collaboration and creativity to combat. The work of ending homelessness is some of the toughest work around.”

Biden’s Green-Energy Spending Under Fire Over Potential for Fraud

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Biden’s Green-Energy Spending Under Fire Over Potential for Fraud

(Casey Harper, The Center Square) House Republicans are raising concerns about a new federal green energy program that critics say is wide open for potential fraud and abuse.

The Inflation Reduction Act included $27 billion for the EPA to dole out via competitive grants for clean energy investments in low-income communities by September 2024. Watchdogs and lawmakers say that deadline for the money to be spent by next year could lead to significant waste and abuse.

“With billions of dollars on the line, an unusually accelerated timeline for disbursement, and a new and complex funding structure, this program warrants close scrutiny and rigorous oversight,” House Republicans said in a letter sent to Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan this week.

Historically, when federal agencies spend large sums of money on a deadline, later watchdog investigations have revealed questionable use of those funds. Recent reviews of COVID-era relief funds, for example, showed that billions of dollars went to purposes later derided by lawmakers.

“This program is a completely new undertaking for the EPA,” the letter said. “The IRA’s [Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund] language includes provisions associated with entities often referred to as ‘green banks.'” According to the EPA, the program will “leverage public investment with private capital” to finance clean energy projects.

“The EPA has no experience administering such a funding vehicle, referring to it is as ‘a first-of-its-kind” program,’” the letter adds.

This concern is not simply partisan. EPA Inspector General Sean O’Donnell testified before the Committee’s Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations about this problem earlier this year, saying the IRA carries “more risk of fraud, waste, and abuse than the [Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act]…”

O’Donnell said the IRA creates more new programs, which are more “prone to inefficiencies and errors.” In addition to the $27 billion that must be spent by next year, nearly $8 billion more must be spent by fiscal year 2026.

“The pace of this spending, when conducted by newly created programs and received by new recipients, significantly increases the vulnerability of all parties to fraud and creates the potential for errors or inefficiencies in execution,” O’Donnell said in his testimony.

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Chair Morgan Griffith, R-Va., and Subcommittee on Environment, Manufacturing, and Critical Materials Chair Bill Johnson, R-Ohio, led the letter.

The lawmakers said the letter is meant “to ensure responsible stewardship of taxpayer dollars.” The letter also raises concerns about the involvement of China, which dominates the green energy market.

The EPA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Alaska Sues Biden Administration Over Arctic Lease Cancellations

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Alaska Sues Biden Administration Over Arctic Lease Cancellations

(Kim Jarett, The Center Square) – The Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority is asking a federal judge to reverse a decision by the Biden administration to cancel oil and drilling leases in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge area.

The leases were approved by the Trump administration in January 2021 and canceled by the Biden administration last month.

The AIDEA said in its lawsuit the cancellation of the seven leases is unlawful for several reasons. The leases are legal and Congressionally mandated, the agency said. The lawsuit said the Department of Interior did not allow AIDEA to correct any issues to keep the leases.

“DOI’s unilateral decision to cancel the leases violates AIDEA’s constitutional and statutory due process rights, because DOI failed to provide AIDEA with an administrative process in which it could defend the validity of its leases, before DOI terminated them,” AIDEA said in the lawsuit. “Sixth, because the leased lands are known to contain valuable deposits of oil, a fact recognized by the U.S. Geological Survey, DOI’s procedural rules required that DOI obtain a court order authorizing termination of the leases, and DOI failed to obtain any such court order.”

Gov. Mike Dunleavy supports the lawsuit.

“The federal government is determined to strip away Alaska’s ability to support itself, and we have got to stop it,” Dunleavy said in a statement. “Alaska does responsible oil and gas development in the Arctic under stricter environmental standards than anywhere else in the world. Yet the federal government is focused on trying to stop our ability to produce oil and gas.”

In addition to reversing the DOI’s decision, the AIDEA is also asking the court to order the Biden administration to proceed with the leasing and development of the area.

U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, said the lease cancellation furthers the Biden administration’s “insane energy policies” that outsource oil and gas development to other countries.

“By outsourcing energy development, President Biden is empowering and funding America’s adversaries, harming the global environment with lower standards and higher emissions, taking good-paying jobs away from hard-working Americans, and disregarding the voices of the indigenous people of the Arctic region who strongly support responsible resource development,” Sullivan said.

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