Dems Fast-Track Adam Schiff’s Swearing-In Ceremony Amid Pardon Speculation

(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Democrats in the Senate expedited Monday the swearing-in of former Rep. and Sen.-elect Adam Schiff, an unusual move made weeks ahead of schedule and amid speculation about a potential presidential pardon. 

Schiff’s swearing-in followed his nomination by California Gov. Gavin Newsom to complete the late Senator Dianne Feinstein’s term. Newsom had previously appointed Laphonza Butler to serve temporarily after Feinstein’s passing. 

Butler resigned the seat less than a month before the term’s expiration, paving the way for Schiff to step in. Newsom claimed that appointing Schiff would “ensure Californians have their duly elected representative seated as soon as possible.” 

The timing comes just days after reports revealed that President Joe Biden’s White House had considered a preemptive pardon for Schiff covering offenses committed during his tenure as congressman and chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.

In that role, Schiff played a key role in years of baseless investigations into Trump, including the controversial and discredited Jan. 6 committee.  

“I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to serve all Californians as their next United States Senator,” Schiff wrote in a thread shared on X. 

For his part, Newsom praised both Schiff and his predecessor, Butler, in a press statement: “Thank you, Senator Butler, for your dedication and service and for honoring the life and legacy of the late Dianne Feinstein, a legacy I’m confident Senator-elect Schiff will also carry forward.” 

Meanwhile, Andy Kim, a former congressman who ran to replace Sen. Bob Menendez, was also sworn in Monday. 

Kim succeeded George Helmy, who had been appointed by New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy to finish Menendez’s term after his resignation. Menendez stepped down in disgrace following his conviction on federal fraud and foreign agent charges.

“It’s an honor to get to represent the state that gave my family a chance at the American Dream in the U.S. Senate,” Kim said in a press statement.

Kim and Schiff, elected in November, are expected to serve six-year terms and will be officially sworn in again in January when their full terms begin.

Rosie O’Donnell Blames MAGA for Herpes Infection

(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Rosie O’Donnell has found a new scapegoat in suggesting their taunts have triggered online speculation she may have contracted oral herpes after the breakout of a cold sore. 

In a TikTok video shared Friday, O’Donnell whined that “MAGA people” had mocked her over the obvious blemish on her upper lip. She later revealed she underwent testing, confirming she does have a cold sore, which is caused by herpes. 

“Look what I have on my lip. Everybody’s been saying, ‘You have herpes. You have herpes,’” O’Donnell said on her TikTok page, which boasts of 2.5 million followers. “All this time and I never had a cold sore in my life and now I have a cold sore.” 

@rosie

possible cold sore #herpes #joenmika #trump #salvation #worry #stress #escape

♬ original sound – Rosie ODonnell

She recounted previously noticing a “weird pimple” beneath her nose, which she assumed was a cold sore and sought medical treatment. 

“I talked to my doctor today and I did a video Telehealth and they said that it’s not a cold sore it’s some reaction to the sun,” she claimed. “Now, I did sit in the sun yesterday but I had sunscreen on—so, I don’t know I will let you know tomorrow if I do in fact have herpes as some of the taunting from the MAGA people in the last couple of weeks.” 

O’Donnell turned serious, linking the supposed taunting to the weeks before and after the 2024 presidential election. 

“Hasn’t it been fun ladies and gentlemen? To be standing in direct opposition to everything he is and represents… and always have been and always will be,” she concluded in the brief video. 

On Sunday, O’Donnell confirmed in a nearly 10-minute TikTok video that doctors diagnosed her with herpes. 

“I’d love to say I got it from making out with some really sexy people, but that’s not the case,” she quipped. 

During the lengthy rant, O’Donnell appeared to attribute the cold sore to stress, citing UFO sightings and the assassination of UnitedHealth CEO Brian Thompson as potential stress triggers. 

@rosie

sunday #coldsores #ufosighting #ufos #insurrectionists #unitedhealthcare #stress #art #daneldon

♬ original sound – Rosie ODonnell

Since President-elect Donald Trump swept the battleground states in the Nov. 5 presidential election, O’Donnell has ramped up her social media presence with cynical grievances against Trump. 

“This man is a criminal and should be in jail,” O’Donnell wrote in an Instagram caption, accompanying the post with a screenshot of a Daily Mail article about Trump’s imminent plans to pardon Jan. 6 protesters. 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Rosie O’Donnell (@rosie)

Insufferable MSNBC Host Bleeds Half Viewers Since Trump’s Landslide

(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) MSNBC’s ReidOut host, Joy Reid, lost nearly half her viewers in the weeks after President-elect Donald Trump’s landslide election on Nov. 5, according to Nielsen data reported by Fox News. 

Reid is infamously known for her anti-Republican and anti-Trump rants often devolving into on-air meltdowns. 

Reid averaged 759,000 viewers after averaging 1.4 million throughout the 2024 election season, amounting to a 47 percent viewership loss. 

Moreover, Reid lost 52 percent of the hotly advertiser-targeted demographic aged 25-54, drawing only 76,000 viewers. 

The shocking loss comes after MSNBC, and Reid by extension, failed to persuade Americans with false and cynical claims Trump posed an unprecedented threat to democracy. 

Reid herself has shared a dubious report by The Atlantic that conflated Trump with brutal dictator Adolf Hitler. 

“Donald Trump clearly admires Adolf Hitler and despises our troops. Why in the name of God do so many Americans want him to be president again???” Reid questioned on her Instagram page on Oct. 22. 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Joy-Ann Reid (@joyannreid)

Despite these claims, a majority of Americans voted Trump into office for a second term, giving him all battleground states and sending Vice President Kamala Harris packing. 

Reid is the latest leftist personality to suffer from plummeting ratings. As reported by Fox News, MSNBC is facing a ratings crisis within the advertiser-targeted demographic. 

During the week of Nov. 6, MSNBC averaged a mere 38,000 viewers among adults 25-54. MSNBC shows The 11th Hour with Stephanie Ruhle and Jose Diaz Balart Reports saw their smallest overall audience ever. 

Other shows—such as Chris Jansing Reports, Deadline: White House and Katy Tur Reports—faced their worst days ever among the demos. 

The shows that lost over 50 percent of their 25-54 audience include The 11th Hour with Stephanie Ruhle, All In with Chris Hayes, Chris Jansing Reports, Inside with Jen Psaki, The Rachel Maddow Show and ReidOut. 

CNN is also facing low ratings. As reported by OutKick, CNN recorded its lowest ratings week since June 2001 during the week of Nov. 25. 

CNN averaged 268,000 viewers. Fox News, in contrast, averaged 1.4 million viewers.

‘Defund the Police’ Advocate Goes Viral after Getting U-Haul Stolen

(Maire Clayton, Headline USA) A “defund the police” activist had her rented U-Haul truck that was filled with her possessions stolen in San Francisco.

“Hey guys. If you see a 26 foot uhaul truck with the Arizona plate AL50003- would you let me know because it had like everything I own on it,” Darcie Bell shared on social media Saturday.

Bell post quickly went viral and she was called out over her past posts.

“Imagine being this person and then complaining about the company and GPS,” one user wrote, as she was angry U-Haul’s do not have a built in GPS system.

In a follow-up post, Bell tagged three Democrat politicians and told them companies should be required to have GPS installed in vehicles.

Another user called it “poetic justice.”

“Defund The Police advocate is a victim of defunding the police,” the user wrote. “It’s poetic justice at its best.”

Tom Wolf, an addiction recovery advocate, expressed on social media how Bell has frequently posted about defunding police.

“I’m not trying to be mean, but Darcie has spent years railing against the police and public safety, while scolding people like me for supporting accountability,” Wolf wrote. “It’s all good until it happens to you.”

In response to the backlash, Bell started responding to users.

“Look at these good, Christian ‘victim advocates’ celebrating my kids losing their belongings at Christmas,” she wrote in response.

Bell spoke with the New York Post and stated she has to find her things.

“I haven’t found my s**t! The cops didn’t do s**t! U-Haul made me file a f***ing police report!” she said.

Bell expletive rant continued as she claimed no one has helped.

“There’s cameras all over this city,” she added. “They haven’t done s**t! … I just want my stuff back!”

Bell later claimed on social media she “literally never called the cops.”

N.J. Is 3rd Blue State to Block Bans on Porn in Schools, Public Libraries

(Headline USA) New Jersey Democrat Gov. Phil Murphy signed a law Monday to prohibit public schools and libraries from imposing restrictions on pornography and other inappropriate content in the state, while indemnifying librarians against civil and criminal charges for granting access to children, regardless of parental approval.

New Jersey becomes the latest Democrat-led state to enact a ban on parent-driven restrictions, joining Illinois and Minnesota.

“It’s the antithesis of all these book banning states that you see,” Murphy said during a bill-signing cermony at Princeton’s public library, a short walk from Princeton University’s ivy-draped campus.

“I’m incredibly proud to have signed it, but also acknowledge that America—and this is yet another good example—is becoming a patchwork quilt country,” Murphy continued. “It really matters where you live.”

Despite Murphy’s eagerness to celebrate the widening divide of idealogical polarization and division in America, the 2024 election saw Republican Donald Trump gain more than 5 percentage points, narrowing the gap to just six percentage points from what has historically been a double-digit margin.

Some believe the divisiveness of Murphy’s leadership, along with the recent scandal surrounding longtime Sen. Robert Menendez, a Democrat, could continue to shift voters to the right.

While grassroots voter-registration movements such as that organized by activist Scott Presler could have a significant impact, backlash from concerned soccer moms in the Garden State’s suburbs can’t be discounted.

The new law permits restriction in the case of “developmentally inappropriate material” for certain age groups. The measure also requires local school boards and the governing bodies of public libraries to set up policies for book curation and the removal of library materials, including a way to address concerns over certain items.

It comes as a growing number of schools embrace controversial agendas including child-grooming via transgender or LGBT activism, and overtly racial messaging via critical race theory.

According to the American Library Association, which has ties to the Marxist movement in America, over 4,200 works in school and public libraries were deemed objectionable in 2023, a jump from the old record of nearly 2,600 books in 2022. Many challenged books 2023 had LGBT and racial themes.

Restrictions in some states have increased so much that librarians and administrators worry about lawsuits, hefty fines and even imprisonment if they provide books that others regard as inappropriate. Lawmakers in more than 15 states have introduced bills to impose harsh penalties on libraries or librarians in 2024.

Conservative parents and activists argue that the books are too sexually explicit or otherwise controversial, and are inappropriate, especially for younger readers. National groups such as Moms for Liberty say parents are entitled to more control over books available to their children.

Librarians hailed the New Jersey measure’s enactment. Karen Grant, president of the New Jersey Association of School Librarians, said the bill recognizes librarians’ professionalism and promotes libraries as a source of information.

“The bill will protect the intellectual freedom of students as well as acknowledge that school libraries are centers for voluntary inquiry, fostering students’ growth and development,” Grant claimed.

Martha Hickson, a retired librarian, spoke Monday alongside Murphy about how parents first suggested her book collections contained pedophilia and pornography during a school board meeting in 2021.

She watched the livestream in horror as they objected that the novel Lawn Boy and illustrated memoir Gender Queer were available to students and suggested she could be criminally liable.

She said shortly before receiving a pen Murphy used to sign the bill that it was time to celebrate after three years of harassment.

“I’m thrilled,” she said. “After more than three years of harassment, this legislation is a relief to readers and librarians.”

The measure is set to take effect in a year, but the state education commissioner and state librarian are authorized to begin taking steps to implement the law.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

The Onion’s Bid to Buy Infowars Goes Before Judge

(Headline USA) A bid by The Onion satirical news outlet to buy Alex Jones’s conspiracy theory platform Infowars is scheduled to return Monday to a Texas courtroom, where a judge will be deciding whether a bankruptcy auction was properly run as Jones alleges collusion and fraud.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez in Houston is set to hear testimony about the November auction and how a trustee chose The Onion over the only other bidder—a company affiliated with Jones that offered twice as much money as The Onion.

The sale of Infowars is part of Jones’s personal bankruptcy case, which he filed in late 2022 after he was ordered to pay nearly $1.5 billion in defamation lawsuits in Connecticut and Texas filed by relatives of victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Connecticut.

Most of the proceeds from the sale of Infowars, as well as many of Jones’s personal assets, will go to the Sandy Hook families to help satisfy judgments issued by juries and judges in state courts in Connecticut and Texas. Some proceeds will go to Jones’s other creditors.

The Onion, which wants to turn Infowars’s website and social media accounts into parodies, offered $1.75 million for Infowars’s assets in the auction, while First United American Companies—which runs a website in Jones’ name that sells nutritional supplements—bid $3.5 million.

The Onion’s bid also included a pledge by many of the Sandy Hook families to forgo some or all of the auction proceeds due to them to give other creditors a total of $100,000 more than they would receive under other bids.

The trustee, Christopher Murray, chose The Onion, saying its proposal was better for creditors because they would receive more money.

In court filings, Jones and First United American Companies accused Murray, The Onion and the Sandy Hook families of illegally colluding on the bidding, committing fraud and violating the judge’s rules for the auction.

Murray, The Onion and the families deny the allegations. In his own court filing, Murray called the allegations “a disappointed bidder’s improper attempt to influence an otherwise fair and open auction process.”

Up for sale at the auction were all the equipment and other assets in the Infowars studio in Austin, Texas, as well as its social media accounts, websites, video archive and product trademarks.

Jones uses the studio to broadcast his far-right, conspiracy theory-filled shows on the Infowars website, his account on the social platform X and radio stations.

Jones has set up another studio, websites and social media accounts in case The Onion wins approval to buy Infowars and kicks him out. Jones has said he could continue using the Infowars platforms if the auction winner is friendly to him.

Jones is appealing the $1.5 billion in judgments citing free speech rights but has acknowledged that the school shooting happened.

On Friday, a Connecticut appeals court reduced by $150 million the original $1.44 billion judgment against Jones in the lawsuit against him in that state, but upheld the rest of the award.

Jones’s lawyer said he will ask Connecticut’s highest court to review the appellate ruling. Jones is also appealing a $50 million judgment in a similar Texas defamation lawsuit.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

Lara Trump Stepping Down as RNC Co-Chair amid Speculation about Fla. Senate Seat

(Headline USA) Lara Trump will step down as co-chair of the Republican National Committee as she considers a number of potential options with her father-in-law, President-elect Donald Trump, set to return to the White House.

Among those possibilities is replacing Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, whom Trump tapped to be the next secretary of state.

If Rubio is confirmed, his replacement—who would be chosen by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis—would serve for two years until the next regularly scheduled election in 2026, at which point the seat would be up for election again.

“It is something I would seriously consider,” Lara Trump told The Associated Press in an interview. “If I’m being completely transparent, I don’t know exactly what that would look like. And I certainly want to get all of the information possible if that is something that’s real for me. But yeah, I would 100% consider it.”

Elected as RNC co-chair in March, Lara Trump was a key player in the Republicans retaking the White House and control of the Senate while maintaining a narrow House majority.

What she does next could shape Republican politics, given her elevated political profile and her ties to the incoming president.

The idea of placing a Trump family member in the Senate has been lauded in some Republican circles. Among the people pushing for her to replace Rubio is Maye Musk, mother of Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.

“The Senate is an old man’s club. We desperately need a smart, young, outspoken woman who will reveal their secrets,” she posted on X. Lara Trump is 42.

Elon Musk, who was with Lara Trump on election night at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, responded to his mother’s post: “Lara Trump is genuinely great.”

Led by chairman Michael Whatley and Lara Trump, the RNC invested heavily in recruiting roughly 230,000 volunteers and an army of lawyers for what it called its “election integrity” effort, four years after Donald Trump lost his reelection bid to Democrat Joe Biden.

While Whatley will remain RNC chairman, Lara Trump said she felt she had accomplished her goals in the co-chair role.

“With that big win, I kind of feel like my time is up,” she said. “What I intended to do has been done.”

Lara Trump praised Musk’s new endeavor, the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, a nongovernmental task force headed by Musk and and fellow entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.

They’ve been tapped to fire federal workers, cut programs and slash federal regulations as part of Trump’s “Save America” agenda for his second term.

“I really don’t think we’ve seen movement like this in our federal government since our country’s founding in many ways,” she said. “And I think if they are successful in what they plan to do, I think it is going to be transformative to America in a great way.”

She said she expects a different presidency this time, beginning with the structure of the administration: While Trump’s daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner served as White House advisers in his last administration, Lara Trump said she doesn’t see any family member taking any position in the White House this time around with her father-in-law.

“He really wants to get in there and do a good job for the four years, and that’s all he wants to serve,” she said. “Four years, and he’s out.”

Lara Trump also said she expects the Republican Party to be more unified than it has ever been. When she became co-chair in May, the Trump campaign and the RNC merged, with staffers fired and positions restructured.

She said the result could spell trouble for GOP lawmakers who do not agree with Trump’s agenda.

“The whole party has totally shifted and totally changed,” she said. “I think people are feeling a little more bold in coming out with their political views.”

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

WATCH: Rep. Nancy Mace Swaps Spit w/ Spiky-Haired Apparent Lesbian

(Ken Silva, Headline USA) Rep. Nancy Mace, R-SC, has been in the media spotlight over her push to ban biological males from using the women’s restroom on Capitol Hill.

But on Monday, she was in the spotlight for a different reason: The Daily Mail published a video of her seemingly swapping spit with another woman during a drinking game.

“The lurid clip shows Mace, 47, downing a shot of liquor before locking lips with a spiky-haired female friend and dribbling it into her mouth,” the Daily Mail wrote, adding that the drinking game occurred while the twice-divorced Mace was campaigning for Donald Trump’s 2016 Presidential campaign.

According to the Daily Mail, the video leaked to social media when Mace ran for the South Carolina State House in 2017—prompting Democrat opponent Cindy Boatwright to brand her immature and ‘totally unfit’ for public office at the time.

Mace reportedly didn’t dispute the authenticity of the video, but said it was taken nearly a decade ago.

The resurfaced video of Mace is the latest lurid viral moment for the sitting congresswoman.

In February, she told a roomful of Christians that she was late for that morning’s meeting because she was having premarital sex with her boyfriend.

In May, on the heels of at least nine of her staffers quitting, Mace accused them of trying to sabotage her. She reportedly fired her chief of staff in December, after which her deputy chief of staff and legislative director resigned.

“Mace, 46, says the departed staffers mismanaged $1 million, hacked her phone, spied on medical records, and even submerged electronic devices in water and deleted files to cover their tracks,” the Daily Mail reported at the time.

“The mother-of-two claims they even went as far snooping on her childrens’ calendars and would monitor doctor appointments.”

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

SCOTUS Rejects Appeal Challenging Hawaii Gun-Licensing Requirements under 2nd Amendment

(Headline USA) The Supreme Court rejected a challenge to Hawaii’s gun-licensing law on Monday, though three justices expressed a willingness to hear arguments over the issue later.

The majority did not explain their reasoning in a brief order declining to take the case. But Justice Clarence Thomas, joined by Justice Samuel Alito, wrote that he would vote to hear a case to “reaffirm that the Second Amendment warrants the same respect as any other constitutional right.”

In a separate statement, Justice Neil Gorsuch said the court could later revisit the case of Christopher L. Wilson, who argues his Second Amendment rights were violated when he was charged for carrying a gun without a license.

The statements come as many conservative-leaning states drop requirements for people to get licenses to carry guns in public.

Wilson’s attorney, Benjamin Lowenthal, indicated the issue may not be over. “The constitutional problem persists in our state. And as long as the constitution problem remains, there will be constitutional challenges.”

Wilson was charged in Hawaii, whose licensing laws at the time were among the country’s strictest. Prosecutors say he was found hiking on private property at night with a handgun tucked into his waistband in 2017.

Wilson fought the charges, citing the Supreme Court’s landmark 2022 decision that expanded gun rights and led to upheaval in the nation’s firearms law landscape. A state court judge agreed and threw out the case.

But Hawaii’s highest court revived the case in a defiant opinion, calling the 2022 Supreme Court decision “fuzzy” and “backward looking” over its requirement for modern gun laws to be rooted in the country’s historical regulations.

Wilson appealed to the nation’s highest court. He asked the justices to toss out the Hawaii Supreme Court decision, arguing those justices flouted the high court’s opinions in favor of state handgun licensing rules that were, he said, too strict at the time.

Prosecutors argued that the case came under state law, so the Hawaii Supreme Court had jurisdiction. They also pointed to Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s concurrence to the U.S. Supreme Court decision expanding gun rights. Joined by Chief Justice John Roberts, Kavanaugh wrote that the opinion didn’t prevent states from having licensing requirements.

Hawaii has since changed its gun licensing system to remove an approval requirement for firearm licenses.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

Murder Suspect of UnitedHealthcare CEO Followed AOC, RFK Jr. on Social Media

(Julianna Frieman, Headline USA) The alleged murderer of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson followed progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on social media, screenshots from his apparent @PepMangione account on X showed.

Police identified Luigi Mangione as a person of interest in the shooting death of Thompson Monday afternoon. He was arrested at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania on firearm charges after being recognized by an employee, NBC 4 New York reported.

Mangione made his final post on X in June, and he joined the social media platform in 2016. He often made posts about science, artificial intelligence and occasionally physical fitness.

Mangione graduated Gilman School, an all-boys high school in Baltimore in 2016 as class valedictorian, NBC 4 New York reported.

He went on to graduate from the University of Pennsylvania with a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in computer science.

Mangione’s X banner was composed of the following three images: (1) the Pokémon character Breloom, (2) an X-ray photo of a spine with four screws in it and (3) a photo of what appeared to be himself shirtless, revealing a muscular physique.

The pinned post on his X account from 2022 reflected on his high school senior speech, in which he described the next century as “unlike anything humanity has ever seen before.”

“7 years ago, I gave my hs senior speech on this topic: ‘Today, I will be talking to you about the future, about topics ranging from conscious artificial intelligence to human immortality. Likely, you’ll dismiss all this pretty quickly as interesting, but just science fiction…’” he wrote.

Aside from Kennedy and Ocasio-Cortez, Mangione also followed about 70 other users, including podcaster Joe Rogan, computer programmer and businessman John McAfee, comedian Trevor Noah and New York Times columnist Ezra Klein.

He frequently reposted from writer Tim Urban’s @waitbutwhy account, among other writers.

“I believe this book will go down in history as the most important philosophical text of the early 21st century,” Mangione wrote of Urban’s book, What’s Our Problem?

Mangione allegedly assassinated Thompson as he walked out of the Hilton hotel in Midtown Manhattan around 6:46 a.m. on Wednesday.

Before identifying Mangione as the suspect following a five-day manhunt, police found shell castings with the words “deny,” “depose” and “defend” and a backpack full of money from the board game Monopoly.

Julianna Frieman is a freelance writer published by the Daily Caller, Headline USA, The Federalist, and the American Spectator. Follow her on Twitter at @JuliannaFrieman.