2024: The End of the Beginning for Gold

Money Metals News Service
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2024: The End of the Beginning for Gold

(Brien Lundin, Money Metals News Service) Gold is closing out an extraordinary year, one which marked the start of a new bull market.

More importantly, this bull market seems likely to go on much longer and much higher, thanks to a few fundamental forces and irreversible trends.

It’s been a helluva year for gold.

In the early days of this bull market…way, way back in March…I reported in these pages how fortunate we were to have an unprecedented mix of buyers for gold.

The mix included central banks, with furious buying from the People’s Bank of China in particular, along with strong demand from Chinese citizens as their equity and real estate markets tanked.

It was something we’d never seen before in the history of gold as an investible asset. Not only were these buyers acquiring gold aggressively, they also didn’t seem to care much about the price. If anything, they were buying more as the price rose.

The one thing we didn’t have in the market were the Western investors.

“Be Careful What You Wish For…”

The saying “Be careful what you ask for — you might just get it, good and hard!” is often attributed to legendary journalist and curmudgeon H.L. Mencken, but the underlying sentiment actually predates the pundit by a couple of millennia, having originated with Aesop’s fables circa 250 BC.

No matter where it came from, it rings true — as gold bugs learned this year.

As the gold price rose relentlessly in March and well into April, I was among those predicting that Western buyers would turbocharge the gold rally once they got onboard.

I also warned, however, that we had become spoiled by the price-insensitive central banks and that the trading-oriented Western investors would bring a lot more volatility to the uptrend when they arrived.

Well, as you can see from the accompanying one-year chart of the gold price, we got the turbocharged gold market we wished for… and then got all the volatility we feared, good and hard.

Gold Chart (Jan 2024 - Nov 2024)

Much of this year was spent in anticipation of the Fed’s pivot to rate cuts. In fact, last December the market was expecting as many as seven rate cuts in 2024, with the first coming early in the year.

As the year progressed, though, those hopes were repeatedly dashed as Powell & Co. kept postponing the pivot. It wasn’t until mid-summer that they began signaling that the long-awaited rate cuts were near, and not until their September meeting that they actually pulled the trigger.

As part of their pricing of markets in anticipation, those infamous Western traders started buying gold in earnest in July, as evidenced by the year’s first inflows into the GLD gold ETF in that month.

That gold-price surge from July to October that you can see above reflects the impact of the Western traders as they eagerly built long gold positions and started dipping their collective toes into mining equities.

We enjoyed that run higher, but then came the volatility.

It actually started in late October, as traders played with the market as the month-end options expiry approached. It accelerated, however, immediately after Trump’s election victory, with the manipulators using the Bitcoin-bullish result as a perceived threat against gold.

That strange bit of logic was used as a fulcrum for leveraged short positions, forcing the gold price lower and taking out sell-stop after sell-stop.

The result: Instead of bursting through the $2,800 level, gold was shoved down to the $2,600s.

As you can also see from the chart above, the metal has been recovering from that take down in halting fashion.

Even as the price rebounded, the attacks continued, with the paper gold speculators sometimes using signs of peace breaking out in the Middle East as flimsy rationales for selling gold.

I thought we might have finally broken out for good in the last bounce to the $2,750 range, even telling my Alert readers that this had all the earmarks of the typical year-end to new year rally…although also warning that we’d been bitten before over the years by early-December surges that quickly faded away.

It looks like this was one of those false moves, with a couple of bear attacks late last week — including the market-wide sell-off predicted in our year-end issue of Gold Newsletter — providing yet another setback.

So where does this leave us?

Frankly, I still expect an imminent rebound and rally in gold, whether that begins in the few remaining days of this year or in the early days of the next.

My optimism is based partly on seasonality patterns as well as the return of central banks to the gold market…but primarily upon the intractable debt trap that the Fed is now in.

I explained a bit about this in our issue last week, and have been covering it in detail for years. The bottom line is that the Federal Reserve is facing increasing pressure to cut rates because neither Uncle Sam nor corporate America can afford to service their massive debt loads at current interest levels.

Yet this growing financing risk is being sensed by investors, who are driving rates higher in response. And this in turn makes the Fed even more desperate to lower rates.

The end result will be the Fed losing control…or a recession that forces them to impose emergency cuts…or both. And gold will be the big winner.

Obviously, there’s a lot more to this than I can relate here. The good news, as I told you last week, is that my full insights, as well as those of many of the world’s top experts, are available to you now:

The Single Best Value in Investing

Last Tuesday, we delivered the single best value in investment publishing to our readers of Gold Newsletter.

It was our blockbuster year-end issue packed with 87-pages of invaluable investing intelligence. It presented not only my latest market outlook, but also coverage of dozens of today’s top junior resource stocks (including three red-hot new recommendations) and comprehensive highlights from our recent New Orleans Investment Conference.

My comments above were taken from my opening article in that year-end Gold Newsletter. But I went much deeper into the issues, risks and opportunities now facing us.

For example, consider what I wrote in my opening article on Tuesday — notably, the day before the big sell off in the markets on Wednesday:

“…that valuations of equities and other assets are getting stretched to the point where a very significant correction, if not a full-blown crash, seems both inevitable and imminent. When that happens, we need to understand that gold will get hit hard along with everything else…but gold is also positioned as no other asset to benefit from the inevitable flood of liquidity from central banks.”

Bottom line, between my market comments and the insights of dozens of today’s top experts featured in this issue, our year-end edition of Gold Newsletter is the single best guide for the uncertain days ahead.

Once again, you have a special opportunity to purchase this single issue — jam packed with value — at the special low price of just $29.95.

Just click on the link here and get this special single issue right now.

And if you wish to subscribe for a year — or access our special alert service — just click here.

The Best of the Season to You and Yours!

Finally, as we close out this remarkable year, please accept my sincerest wishes for the best of the season.

It’s been a good start for gold, and while we’re hopeful that the mining sector will finally respond in the months ahead, we most importantly wish that the new year brings you and your loved ones happiness and health.

All the best,

Brien Lundin Signature

Brien Lundin
Publisher, Gold Newsletter
CEO, the New Orleans Investment Conference

To get Brien Lundin’s ongoing commentary on the markets at no charge, click here to subscribe to his free Golden Opportunities newsletter.

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Newsom Considers Creating ‘Immigrant Support Network’

Maire Clayton
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Newsom Considers Creating ‘Immigrant Support Network’

(Maire Clayton, Headline USA) California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s team is reportedly crafting a plan to aid illegal aliens, according to POLITICO.

The outlet obtained a draft titled “Immigrant Support Network Concept” which aims for the “creation of an Immigrant Support Network comprised of regional ‘hubs’ to connect at-risk individuals, their families, and communities with community systems—such as legal services, schools, labor unions, local governments, etc.”

Newsom’s office told Fox News the California Department of Social Services prepared the unreviewed draft.

Scott Murray, a deputy director for the Public Affairs and Outreach Programs for the Department of Social Services, said the draft was not a finalized.

“This document is an internal and deliberative draft document meant for internal discussions as part of a number of possible considerations given the incoming federal administration’s public remarks,” he said.

President-elect Donald Trump election campaign focused on securing the borders and stopping illegal immigration.

Trump’s incoming border czar Tom Homan already warned Democrats who claim they will not comply with Trump’s immigration plans.

“It is a felony to knowingly harbor or conceal an illegal immigrant from immigration authorities. Don’t test us,” Homan said.

He added he would have no problem arresting anyone who attempts to defy the administration.

“But, look, me and the Denver mayor, we agree on one thing,” he said. “He’s willing to go to jail, I’m willing to put him in jail.”

The Denver mayor suggested he would resist Trump’s deportation efforts, which he later backtracked on.

In addition, other Democrats suggested they would defy the upcoming orders.

The far-left American Civil Liberties Union told cities and states it devised a plan on how to help illegals avoid deportation.

Democrats New York City Mayor Eric Adams took a different approach and already had a meeting with Homan on how they can work together.

“We’re not going to be a safe haven for those who commit repeated violent crimes against innocent migrants, immigrants and longstanding New Yorkers,” Adams said in a press conference following the meeting.

Top Obama Adviser Makes Surprising Admission About Trump’s Appeal

Luis Cornelio
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Top Obama Adviser Makes Surprising Admission About Trump’s Appeal

(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) A former economic adviser to President Barack Obama has acknowledged that President-elect Donald Trump’s economic agenda resonated with many Americans during the 2024 election. 

Robert Wolf, who served as a senior adviser under Obama and is currently a board member of the Obama Foundation, made this admission during a segment on Fox News’s The Story, where he discussed the current challenges facing the Democratic Party. 

“The nation spoke: incoming President Trump won all the swing states, so from a national perspective, there is no question that his message on the economy and on immigration resonated,” Wolf said. 

His comments come as Democrats find themselves without power in Washington, D.C., for the first time in several years.  

In addition to securing the White House, Trump played a major role in helping Republicans retain control of the House and regain control of the Senate. 

Moreover, Trump became the first Republican president in 20 years to win the popular vote and the first president to serve two non-consecutive terms since Grover Cleveland.  

In the 2024 cycle, Trump expanded the GOP’s appeal among various demographic groups, including Hispanics and Muslims. 

While Wolf acknowledged the significant defeat for Democrats, he praised their retention of control in the Senate in states like Wisconsin, Nevada, Arizona and Michigan, saying that there is room to work with the incoming administration. 

“All these strategists and everyone yelling and screaming before the inauguration begins… I think everyone should take a chill pill,” Wolf commented, responding to the anxiety among Democratic officials before the Trump administration begins. 

“I think there are things we can work on with President Trump. Immediately, immigration comes to mind. Maybe there is a way to keep Dreamers and also do border security, physical and cyber. I think this idea that ‘woe is me’—I don’t think it’s holding fact,” he added. 

Wolf was appointed by President Joe Biden to the Pentagon’s Defense Business Board, having previously held three roles in the Obama-Biden administration: as a member of the Economic Recovery Advisory Board, the Council on Jobs and Competitiveness and the Export Council. 

Lawsuit Filed against Minn. for Barring Christian Schools from Using Program

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Lawsuit Filed against Minn. for Barring Christian Schools from Using Program

(Tate Miller, The Center Square) A religious liberty group, Christian schools, and families from the schools are battling the state of Minnesota for banning certain Christian colleges and universities from using a free college credit program, a ruling a senior counsel called “disgraceful.”

The University of Northwestern, St. Paul and Crown College as well as families from the schools are “challenging a Minnesota law” that excludes universities requiring “students to sign a statement of faith from the state’s Post Secondary Enrollment Options (PSEO) program,” according to a news release from the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty.

Becket is a nonprofit that seeks to defend religious liberty, as explained on its website.

Becket is helping the affected schools and families in their fight, including filing a federal lawsuit against Minnesota in 2023, according to the Loe v. Jett case details on Becket’s website.

When reached for comment, Becket provided the news release.

“We raise our children to put their faith at the center of everything they do,” Minnesota parents Mark and Melinda Loe said in the Becket news release.

“Unfortunately, Minnesota is depriving kids like ours of the opportunity to get a head start on college at schools that embrace their faith,” the Loes said. “We hope the court will strike this law down and protect all religious students and the schools they want to attend.”

Created nearly 40 years ago, Minnesota’s PSEO program enables “high school juniors and seniors to earn college credit for free,” as stated by Becket’s news release.

Through the PSEO program, “students have been able to attend any eligible public or private school of their choice,” according to the release.

However, in 2023, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz “signed a bill into law that amends the PSEO to exclude religious schools like Crown and Northwestern from participating because of the faith statement requirement from on-campus students,” Becket’s case details state.

According to the case details, the statements of faith simply ask if students “will embrace the schools’ religious beliefs for the purpose of upholding a strong Christian community on campus.”

When reached twice each for comment, neither Walz, Commisioner of Education Willie Jett, nor Jett’s assistant Marquetta Stokes responded.

However, “Minnesota promised not to enforce the law while the case is ongoing,” according to the case details.

Northwestern President Corbin Hoornbeek said in Becket’s news release that “Minnesota wants to single out” the university because of its “unique campus culture which integrates faith and learning.”

“We pray the court will recognize that and continue to allow us to help on-campus PSEO students flourish in their faith and education,” Hoornbeek said.

President Andrew Denton of Crown College said in the news release that Crown College has been “grateful to extend” its opportunity for biblically-integrated education “to young students who seek to join [Crown’s] Christian community through the PSEO program.”

“We pray that the court will continue to allow every student in Minnesota to use PSEO funds at the school that best meets their needs and matches their values,” Denton said.

The Center Square reached out to Northwestern’s senior vice president for media Jason Sharp and senior director of marketing Jennifer Clemens, as well as Crown College. None responded.

Becket’s vice president and senior counsel Eric Baxter said that “politicians in St. Paul are slamming the door on thousands of high schoolers who want to get a head start on college simply because they’re religious.”

“That’s disgraceful: the state should be helping educate its students, not cutting them off from opportunities that will allow them to grow,” Baxter said.

“We’re confident the court will strike down Minnesota’s ban for good,” Baxter said.

Becket said in the case details that “religious schools should be able to participate in publicly available programs without discrimination, and religious school students should be able to participate in these programs on equal footing as students who attend non-religious schools.”

‘Nonsense’: NYTimes Questions Jesus Christ’s Divinity in Disturbing Interview

Luis Cornelio
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‘Nonsense’: NYTimes Questions Jesus Christ’s Divinity in Disturbing Interview

(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) The New York Times faced backlash on Christmas for publishing a blasphemous interview with self-described religion professor Elaine Pagels. Promoting her new book Miracles and Wonder, Pagels entertained the idea that Jesus Christ may have been fathered by a Roman soldier. 

Pagels made these claims in a transcribed interview with Nicholas Kristof, a columnist for The Times, just three days before Christians celebrated the birth of Jesus, the Son of God. She repeated these assertions in her new book.

These assertions drew sharp criticism from Catholic leaders, including Father Gerald Murray, who dismissed Pagels’s statements as “propaganda masquerading as history” during an appearance on Fox News’s The Ingraham Angle. 

“This is all nonsense and garbage. This is retread stuff. She’s been doing this for many years,” Father Murray stated. 

Critics pointed out that mainstream media would never dare run similar pieces against other faiths, including Islam.

“You have to accept this kind of thing in a pluralistic open society. Excited to see @nytimes’ pre-Ramadan feature on Muhammad raping his 6yo ‘wife,'” journalist Steve Robinson quipped.

When Kristof asked Pagels about baseless claims suggesting Jesus “might have been fathered by a Roman soldier, possibly by rape,” Pagels replied, “I love these stories from the Gospels.” 

In her book, Pagels referenced dubious assertions that Jesus may have been fathered by a Roman soldier named Panthera. 

“Yes, these stories circulated after Jesus’ death among members of the Jewish community who regarded him as a false messiah, saying that Jesus’ father was a Roman soldier,” Pagels said. 

While she admitted to previously dismissing such claims as “ancient slander,” she argued that there are “too many points of circumstantial evidence to simply ignore them.” 

 

Pagels also dismissed the birth of Jesus as a miracle. When pressed about other miracles, she claimed, “Calling something a miracle is a way of interpreting an event. A friend of mine was hit by a car and thrown about 20 feet and was unharmed. She told me that this was a miracle. Someone else might have said, ‘I was lucky.’” 

She added, “Calling it a miracle interprets an event that others might see differently. This often happens with remissions of illness: Some people see many miracles, and some never see any.” 

Pagels’s claims and The Times‘s decision to publish them drew widespread backlash on X.

 

‘Yellowstone’ Creator Slams Bud Light in New Show

Maire Clayton
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‘Yellowstone’ Creator Slams Bud Light in New Show

(Maire Clayton, Headline USA) Yellowstone creator Tyler Sheridan ripped into Bud Light on his new Paramount+ show called the Landman Sunday. 

Actor Billy Bob Thornton’s character Tommy Norris visited a bar in the show, causing the waitress to state there was a special on Bud Light.

“I bet you are,” he told the waitress. 

Another character questioned how the special was going. 

To which the waitress bluntly stated, “Like a popcorn fart in church.”

Reporter David Hookstead posted the audio of the viral clip on X.

“Taylor Sheridan’s new show Landman nuked Bud Light in the latest episode,” Hookstead wrote. “Nothing unites people like mocking Bud Light for being a woke disaster.”

Other X users were quick to take to the platform to giver their opinion on the dig.

One user praised Sheridan for calling out Bud Light.

“Kudos to Taylor Sheridan!” the user stated. “Bud Light once was my go to beer but I haven’t had one since the tragic event.”

In March 2023, the Anheuser-Busch product partnered with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney.

The company sent Mulvaney a few Bud Light cans featuring the influencer’s face, which quickly sparked backlash. 

The move saw the company lose over $1 billion in sales as customers started to boycott the product. In addition, it lost its previously held No. 1 spot with being the most popular beer.

As Bud Light continues to try to rebrand its image, it released a commercial in November with controversial comedian Shane Gillis that attempted to mock wokeness.

“It’s too late,” one X user wrote. “They need to continue to be made an example of as a lesson to other companies that are contemplating going woke.”

Other companies have attempted to go woke, with luxury car company Jaguar releasing an ad with androgynous models that featured no cars.

Big Tech company Google also dipped its toes in the woke water in November by having a holiday ad which featured a non-binary influencer.

DOJ Admits ‘Error’ in Menendez Trial, Conveniently Paving Way for Verdict Reversal

Luis Cornelio
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DOJ Admits ‘Error’ in Menendez Trial, Conveniently Paving Way for Verdict Reversal

(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Color me shocked—the Biden DOJ has admitted to several errors in its prosecution of disgraced former Sen. Bob Menendez, potentially paving the way for his guilty verdict to be overturned. 

Prosecutors in the Southern District of New York acknowledged they inadvertently allowed the jury access to evidence that a judge had previously ruled inadmissible.

U.S. District Court Judge Sidney Stein had barred the documents, citing immunity protections granted to members of Congress, Politico reported on Tuesday.

The so-called errors could raise eyebrows, with critics potentially questioning whether they were deliberate.

Many argue Menendez’s prosecution was calculated to give the DOJ the appearance of impartiality while pursuing criminal investigations against President-elect Donald Trump. 

The blunder occurred when restricted evidence was uploaded to a laptop used by jurors during deliberations. Biden’s prosecutors claimed it was “vanishingly unlikely” the jury reviewed the files. 

Menendez is now seeking a new trial, with his attorneys filing motions on Nov. 27.

“How can the DOJ still — after all of the constitutional misconduct they have admitted to committing with this jury — seriously defend this verdict?” Menendez said in a statement, according to Politico. 

His defense team argued that, at a minimum, the judge should order discovery and an evidentiary hearing to determine “the scope of the government’s propriety and the prejudice caused to Senator Menendez.” 

This request followed a Nov. 13 letter from prosecutors informing Stein of the mistake. 

“The Government respectfully writes in the above-captioned matter to notify the Court that, due to an error recently discovered by the Government, incorrect versions of nine Government Exhibits were loaded on the laptop the parties jointly provided to the jury for use in its deliberations,” prosecutors claimed. 

Legal experts say the “error” is a significant boon for Menendez, with former federal prosecutor Jonathan Kravis stating, “The prosecution gift-wrapped them one here.” 

Stan Brand, a former congressional counsel, noted that lawmakers enjoy broad immunity from prosecution for their official duties. “If you breach it, the only remedy is to dismiss the indictment or give this guy a new trial,” Brand said. 

Menendez was convicted on all 16 criminal counts, including conspiracy to commit bribery and obstruction of justice. Prosecutors claimed that the senator took bribes from foreign governments to advance policies favorable to those countries. 

“This wasn’t politics as usual; this was politics for profit,” U.S. District Attorney Damian Williams said in a press statement.  

He added, “Because Senator Menendez has now been found guilty, his years of selling his office to the highest bidder have finally come to an end.  Corruption isn’t costless: it erodes public trust, and it undermines the rule of law.  That’s why we’re so committed to fighting it, regardless of political party.” 

After his conviction, Menendez, once the influential chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, resigned from the Senate on Aug. 20, 2024. 

Trump Vows to Pursue Executions after Biden Commutes Most of Federal Death Row

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Trump Vows to Pursue Executions after Biden Commutes Most of Federal Death Row

(Headline USA) President-elect Donald Trump promised on Tuesday to “vigorously pursue” capital punishment after President Joe Biden commuted the sentences of most people on federal death row partly to stop Trump from pushing forward their executions.

Trump criticized Biden’s decision on Monday to change the sentences of 37 of the 40 condemned people to life in prison without parole, arguing that it was senseless and insulted the families of their victims.

Biden said converting their punishments to life imprisonment was consistent with the moratorium imposed on federal executions in cases other than terrorism and hate-motivated mass murder.

“Joe Biden just commuted the Death Sentence on 37 of the worst killers in our Country,” he wrote on his social media site. “When you hear the acts of each, you won’t believe that he did this. Makes no sense. Relatives and friends are further devastated. They can’t believe this is happening!”

The president-elect wrote that he would direct the department to pursue the death penalty “as soon as I am inaugurated,” but was vague on what specific actions he may take and said they would be in cases of “violent rapists, murderers, and monsters.”

He highlighted the cases of two men who were on federal death row for slaying a woman and a girl, had admitted to killing more and had their sentences commuted by Biden.

On the campaign trail, Trump often called for expanding the federal death penalty—including for those who kill police officers, those convicted of drug and human trafficking, and migrants who kill U.S. citizens.

“Trump has been fairly consistent in wanting to sort of say that he thinks the death penalty is an important tool and he wants to use it,” said Douglas Berman, an expert on sentencing at Ohio State University’s law school. “But whether practically any of that can happen, either under existing law or other laws, is a heavy lift.”

Most Americans have historically supported the death penalty for people convicted of murder, according to decades of annual polling by Gallup, but support has declined over the past few decades.

About half of Americans were in favor in an October poll, while roughly 7 in 10 Americans backed capital punishment for murderers in 2007.

Some families of victims expressed anger with Biden’s decision.

Conference of Catholic Bishops were some of the groups that applauded the decision.

Biden left three federal inmates to face execution. They are Dylann Roof, who carried out the 2015 racist slayings of nine Black members of Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina; 2013 Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev; and Robert Bowers, who fatally shot 11 congregants at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life Synagogue in 2018, the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S history.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

The End of the ‘Rust’ Criminal Case against Alec Baldwin May Unlock a Civil Lawsuit

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The End of the ‘Rust’ Criminal Case against Alec Baldwin May Unlock a Civil Lawsuit

(Headline USA) The conclusion of a criminal case against Alec Baldwin in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer clears the way for a related civil lawsuit by relatives of the deceased woman and efforts to depose the actor under oath, attorneys for plaintiffs in the civil suit said Tuesday.

At a news conference in Los Angeles, victims’ rights attorney Gloria Allred said that the parents and younger sister of deceased cinematographer Halyna Hutchins were disappointed that prosecutors won’t appeal the dismissal of an involuntary manslaughter charge against Baldwin.

The criminal charge against Baldwin was dismissed halfway through trial in July on allegations that police and prosecutors withheld evidence from the defense.

Hutchins died shortly after being wounded during a rehearsal in the movie Rust in October 2021 at a film-set ranch on the outskirts of Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Baldwin, the lead actor and coproducer, was pointing a pistol at Hutchins when it discharged, killing Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza. Baldwin has said he pulled back the hammer—but not the trigger—and the revolver fired.

Allred said Hutchins’ relatives are determined to pursue damages and compensation from Baldwin and “Rust producers in New Mexico civil court, and want Baldwin to answer questions under oath in the proceedings. Hutchins’ widower and son previously reached a separate legal settlement.

“With the withdrawal that was made public yesterday, we are now able to proceed with our civil case,” Allred said. “Clearly, the rights of Alec Baldwin were protected, but the due process rights of the victims—Halyna Hutchins and her parents and her sister—were violated.”

Allred said she’s ready to prove that Hutchins had a close relationship with her parents and sister — a prerequisite for seeking civil damages.

In November court filings in the civil lawsuit, Baldwin denied allegations that he was negligent or at fault in the shooting of Hutchins and sought to suspend the case. Attorneys for Baldwin could not immediately be reached Tuesday.

Allred read a statement from Hutchins’ sister, Svetlana Zemko, that said, “Mr. Baldwin must be held accountable.”

In April, a judge sentenced movie weapons supervisor Hannah Gutierrez-Reed to the maximum of 1 1/2 years at a state penitentiary on an involuntary manslaughter conviction in Hutchins’ death.

Allred condemned New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez for declining to appeal the dismissal of the criminal charge against Baldwin, calling him “the Grinch who stole Christmas” at the Christmas Eve news conference.

Torrez spokesperson Lauren Rodriguez defended the decision in an email, citing “significant procedural irregularities” identified by the judge in the criminal case.

“Attorney General Torrez will not prolong the grief and anguish of Ms. Hutchins’ family in the vain attempt to salvage the compromised criminal case against Mr. Baldwin,” Rodriguez said. “There are other victims’ families in Santa Fe County and across New Mexico who are awaiting justice, and our energy needs to be devoted to supporting those cases on appeal.”

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Pres

Biden Signs a Bill Officially Making the Bald Eagle the National Bird of the U.S.

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Biden Signs a Bill Officially Making the Bald Eagle the National Bird of the U.S.

(Headline USA) The bald eagle, a symbol of the power and strength of the United States for more than 240 years, earned an overdue honor on Tuesday: It officially became the country’s national bird.

President Joe Biden signed into law legislation sent to him by Congress that amends the United States Code to correct what had long gone unnoticed and designate the bald eagle—familiar to many because of its white head, yellow beak and brown body—as the national bird.

The bald eagle has appeared on the Great Seal of the United States, which is used in official documents, since 1782, when the design was finalized.

The seal is made up of the eagle, an olive branch, arrows, a flag-like shield, the motto “E Pluribus Unum” and a constellation of stars.

Congress that same year designated the bald eagle as the the national emblem, and its image appears in a host of places, ranging from documents and the presidential flag to military insignia and U.S. currency, according to USA.gov.

But it had never been officially designated to be what many had just assumed it was—the national bird.

The bald eagle is indigenous to North America.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

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