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  • Chimps In New Congress Want To Stop Criminals Who Stole The Election From Weaponizing Government

    Chimps In New Congress Want To Stop Criminals Who Stole The Election From Weaponizing Government

    January 9, 2022 at 08:22PM Communication, discussion and step-by-step outlining is a very time-consuming enterprise.  If you are wondering about the light CTH posting recently, refer to the prior sentence.  I cannot say much; except to say no one is more cynical than I, and yet there is reason to be cautiously optimistic.

    As previously noted, the 118th Congress is expected to authorize a “Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government.”   The subcommittee will fall under the jurisdiction of the House Judiciary Committee led by Chairman Jim Jordan.   Additionally, Thomas Massie (R-KY) is being reported as a representative under consideration for the chairmanship the House subcommittee.

    House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan and potential House subcommittee Chair Thomas Massie should have a grasp of the scale and scope of the opposition they are about to face.  Assuming they have a fully prepared staff to support them – willing to take on a very consequential investigation; then we begin by first anticipating who will oppose their effort to investigate the “weaponization of government“.   Which is to say everyone!

    The defensive apparatus of the DC political system will likely do everything in their power, individually and with collective assistance, to ensure this committee fails.  The stakes are quite high.  As readers here can well attest, DC politics is an institutional system of purposefully created compartmentalized silos.

    The compartmented information silos permit plausible deniability, and this collection of weaponized institutions contains career bureaucrats who view their opposition as the American people.

    via The Last Refuge

  • JUST IN: 210 Democrats Voted Against Providing Immediate Medical Assistance to Babies Who Survive Abortion

    JUST IN: 210 Democrats Voted Against Providing Immediate Medical Assistance to Babies Who Survive Abortion

    January 12, 2023 at 07:11AM JUST IN: 210 Democrats Voted Against Providing Immediate Medical Assistance to Babies Who Survive Abortion

    On Wednesday, 210 Democrat House representatives voted against providing medical assistance to babies who survive an abortion attempt.

    The House passed the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act which stated that a baby born alive is a “legal person for all purposes under the laws of the United States.” Doctors would be forced to give medical attention as a “reasonably diligent and conscientious health care practitioner would render to any other child born alive.”

    Check out what Fox News reported:

    The House passed the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, which says any infant born alive after an attempted abortion is a The bill passed 220-210, and all 210 of the “no” votes came from Democrats.

    Following that level of care, doctors would be required admit those infants to a hospital for further care. Any violation of this standard would result in fines and imprisonment for up to five years, or both.

    Republicans argued on the floor that comments from Virginia’s former Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam are an example of why the law needs to be clarified to protect newborn infants who survive abortions. Northam was talking about third-trimester abortions and appeared to indicate support for delivering babies that might still be alive before taking their life outside the womb.

    “We all know in 2019, then-Gov. Northam of the state of Virginia stated this: ‘The infant would be delivered, the infant would be kept comfortable, the infant would be resuscitated if that’s what the mother and the family desired, and then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother,’” said Republican Rep. Jim Jordan.

    “The cavalier attitude he displayed towards human life is just wrong,” Jordan said. “It is simple. Infants born alive following an abortion are kids, are children. All newborns deserve the same level of care.”

    Democrats’ arguments for why a live baby should not be cared for with immediate medical assistance was because the live baby, “may not be in the best interest of the family.”

    “We all know what this is about. It is not about the protection of newborn children. It’s about control,” said Democrat Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove. “It’s about the nation-wide abortion ban that Republicans have been itching to enact since the overturning of Roe v. Wade.”

    Democrat Rep. Suzanne Bonamici, D-Ore. called the move to keep babies alive “extremist, dangerous and unnecessary.”

    Democrat Rep. Mary Scanlon said not letting babies die was a “grotesque attempt to politicize abortion care and criminalize doctors.”

    via Trending Politics Conservative News and Commentary

  • FEC Commissioner Trainor Sent Three Emails Regarding Millions in Dem Election Crimes and Still No Response

    FEC Commissioner Trainor Sent Three Emails Regarding Millions in Dem Election Crimes and Still No Response

    January 10, 2023 at 07:13AM EXCLUSIVE: FEC Commissioner Trainor Sent Three Emails Regarding Millions in Dem Election Crimes and Still No Response

    The corrupt and criminal Democrat machine committed millions of dollars in fraudulent campaign finance activities that have been identified and provided to the Head of the FEC.  To date, these communications have been ignored. 

    It turns out that millions in donations in the 2022 election were sent to candidates like Raphael Warnock from “money mules” around the country.  Warnock was the top beneficiary of all 2022 Democrat candidates identified in this money distribution scheme. 

    In April 2022, engineer Chris Gleason began working on his first data project involving elections.  The project was tied to the 2022 midterm election.  This was unique for Chris because he had been involved in tech and data for the majority of his adult career although he never used his expertise on a political project.

    What he and a small group of others identified were money mules.

    These “Money Mules” were not wealthy individuals. They also were not employed.  These mules donated millions and millions of dollars to national and statewide races.  

    We documented these findings in the article below.  To date, this has fallen on deaf ears.

    Next, Chris Gleason looked at “campaign finance mules” in Missouri after The Gateway Pundit spoke with Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft who asked us about the number of campaign mules in Missouri.  

    Chris was taken aback by what he discovered. Chris uncovered the most prolific campaign finance mule he has yet exposed.

    According to Chris, “Steven in Missouri” made 14,111 political donations totaling over $180,000 in the last two years. 

    And Steven is UNEMPLOYED.  Steven from Missouri donated on average 19 times a day to various campaigns.

    “Campaign Finance Mules” Part 2: UNEMPLOYED Missouri Donors Exposed Who Made Thousands of Donations Totaling Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars

    Gleason recently shared this information with the current Head of the FEC, the government organization that was created to promote confidence and participation in the democratic process.

    FEC Commissioner James E. “Trey” Trainor III was nominated by President Donald J. Trump and confirmed by the United States Senate on May 19, 2020. He was appointed to a term ending April 30, 2023.

    To date, there has been no reply!

    To top it off, the majority of these findings were identified from government data.

    Gleason asks what activities government bodies and law enforcement are taking to identify election fraud.

    This is the largest election fraud enterprise ever identified and no government agency has yet to lift a finger and do something. 

    This is a travesty.  Please let your representative and state officials know about these criminal activities going on in your state. 

    via The Gateway Pundit

  • CIA’s Kevin “Tether” McCarthy Elected as Speaker of the House for the 118th Congress

    CIA’s Kevin “Tether” McCarthy Elected as Speaker of the House for the 118th Congress

    January 7, 2023 at 10:02AM Kevin McCarthy Elected as Speaker of the House for the 118th Congress

    It took 15 votes beginning Jan. 3, but Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) finally gained enough votes to be elected the 55th Speaker of the House of Representatives in a nail-bitingly close election that ran past midnight in the lower chamber of the U.S. Capitol.

    McCarthy’s 216 votes total bested Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York, who received the votes of all 212 Democrats present in the chamber in all but one of the 15 votes that began a little after noon Jan. 3 when the 118th Congress convened for the day. Jeffries received 211 on an earlier vote when Rep. David Trone (D-Md.) missed balloting for surgery.

    McCarthy’s victory was made possible when the six remaining populist conservative dissidents who had opposed him from the first vote all voted present. That reduced the number of members voting to 428, which reduced McCarthy’s magic number from 218 to 216.

    When it became clear that McCarthy had finally secured the Speaker’s chair, the Republican side of the House chamber celebrated, with many hugging their new leader, shaking hands, laughing, and slapping one another on the back. McCarthy gave an especially spirited hug to his House Majority Leader, Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.). McCarthy also posed for selfies with a number of his fellow Republicans, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.).

    During a 14th vote about an hour and a half earlier, when everybody in the chamber realized at the end of the roll call that only one more vote was needed to put McCarthy into the Speaker’s seat, highly animated conversations took place as members tried to persuade Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) or Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.)  to switch their vote.

    But then Gaetz changed his mind and agreed to vote for McCarthy, and a motion to adjourn was defeated, and a 15th vote was to then be taken. Gaetz ended up voting present during the 15th round of voting.

    Epoch Times Photo
    Epoch Times Photo

    U.S. Rep.-elect Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) (L) and Rep.-elect Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) (R) talk to Rep.-elect Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) in the House Chamber during the fourth day of elections for Speaker of the House at the U.S. Capitol Building on Jan. 6, 2023. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

    Speaker elections have been one-ballot affairs for the most part in recent years, so McCarthy’s inability to close the deal was a historic departure. Not since before the Civil War has the House required more than 13 ballots to pick a new speaker.

    The last time more than 13 ballots were required to elect a speaker was the 36th Congress, which took between Dec. 5, 1859, and Feb. 1, 1860, to settle on William Pennington, a New Jersey Republican.

    During a quick news conference with journalists outside the House chamber shortly after the 13th ballot, McCarthy expressed confidence in the outcome when the House would reconvene later in the evening, saying, “This is the great part because it took this long, now we learned how to govern. So now we’ll be able to get the job done,” he said.

    McCarthy had succeeded in switching 13 of the 20 earlier in the day when the votes were counted for the 12th time. Members assembled at noon for the fourth day of speaking, debating, negotiating, and voting in the historic effort to name a successor to now-former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

    Epoch Times Photo

    Epoch Times Photo

    U.S. Rep.-elect Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) is restrained by Rep.-elect Richard Hudson (R-N.C.) after getting into an argument with Rep.-elect Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) as House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) walks away, in the House Chamber during the fourth day of elections for Speaker of the House at the U.S. Capitol Building on Jan. 6, 2023. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

    When the 12th ballots were counted, McCarthy had 213 votes, besting for the first time Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), who has received all 212 Democratic votes on every ballot. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), who voted for McCarthy, received four, while Rep. Kevin Hern (R-Okla.), who also voted for McCarthy, got three votes.

    McCarthy had won 200–203 votes on all of the previous ballots taken. By converting 13 of the 20 to his side, McCarthy moved tantalizingly closer to becoming House speaker.

    All of the converts were significant, but especially so on Jan. 6 were House Freedom Caucus (HFC) Chairman Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.), Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.), and Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), the three key leaders of the dissident group.

    Other dissidents coming over on the 12th vote to McCarthy were Rep. Dan Bishop (R-N.C.), Rep. Josh Brecheen (R-Okla.), Rep. Michael Cloud (R-Texas), Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.), Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.), Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.), Rep. Mary Miller (R-Ill.), Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.), and Rep. Keith Self (R-Texas).

    Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.) voted for McCarthy after voting “present” in six previous ballots.

    Epoch Times Photo

    Epoch Times Photo

    The U.S. Capitol Building is seen at night as the House of Representatives continues to work to elect a New Speaker for the 118th Congress on Jan. 6, 2023. (Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)

    The great obstacle to resolving the contest has been the 20 dissidents demanding multiple reforms in House procedures to empower rank-and-file members and decrease the power of the speaker.

    Shortly after the 12th balloting, Perry, whose HFC has been the heart of the dissident movement since last summer, told reporters outside the House chamber that he’s enthusiastic about the concessions from McCarthy and the resulting changes that will follow in how the House conducts its business.

    “I trust the framework of the agreement that we have. Quite honestly, the biggest win is the overall framework of it, there’s not one singular thing. You have accountability for the most powerful person in the building. You have changes in how we’re going to spend and allocate money here that are going to be historic, we’re going to be able to finally stop the Senate from rolling us,” Perry said.

    “We’re going to see more conservative representation on important committees … we’re going to deal with earmarks differently. All those things about the motion to vacate, the motion to vacate is accountability. One person should be able to make the motion, one person, but the whole body has to vote on it,” Perry continued.

    “But it needs to be what Thomas Jefferson envisioned it to be because the most powerful person must be held accountable, not only to the American people, but to the purse, the members of this body,” he said.

    Epoch Times Photo

    Epoch Times Photo

    U.S. House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) (L) embraces Rep.-elect Majorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) in the House Chamber during the fourth day of elections for Speaker of the House at the U.S. Capitol Building on Jan. 6, 2023, in Washington. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

    Perry also insisted that the dissidents were not seeking concessions to benefit themselves personally but rather to change the way the House works.

    “We’re asking for things to change how this institution works because it doesn’t work for the American people. And we just stood firm, demanded it. Now it makes it difficult for sure. Because this place operates on the status quo, the status quo serves this town, we are sick and tired of it,” he explained.

    Before Friday, the dissidents had cast votes for a string of candidates, including Donalds, Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), Rep. Ken Hern (R-Okla.), and Jordan.

    And, while the members voted, McCarthy and his team, including incoming House Republican Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) and Rep. Guy Reschenthaler (R-Pa.), engaged in intensive negotiations with Roy, Perry, Biggs, and Donalds, among the dissident group.

    McCarthy made multiple concessions to the dissidents and a draft written agreement was circulated late on Jan. 5. McCarthy expressed confidence before Jan. 6’s session convened that “good progress” was being made in the negotiations. His confidence was confirmed in the 13th ballot.

    Mark Tapscott

    Congressional Correspondent

    Congressional Correspondent for The Epoch Times.

    Madalina covers the U.S. Congress for The Epoch Times.

    via www.theepochtimes.com

  • How The Court Works: The Justices’ Conference Regarding Treason

    How The Court Works: The Justices’ Conference Regarding Treason

     

    January 6, 2023 at 07:08AM How The Court Works: The Justices’ Conference | Supreme Court Historical Society

    Of the cases remaining, the Justices screen the problems closely—by a process they explain freely in outline. They meet on Wednesdays and Fridays during the term in a conference room as secret as any in government. In a capital full of classified matters, and full of leaks, the Court keeps private matters private. Reporters may speculate; but details of discussion are never disclosed, and the vote is revealed only when a decision is announced. No outsider enters the room during conference. The junior Associate Justice acts as “doorkeeper,” sending for reference material, for instance, and receiving it at the door. “We could not function as a court if our conferences were public,” Justice Blackmun once explained, “There are just the nine of us, no more…[W]e can say what we initially believe, only to be proved wrong by the honing effect of conference and agreement and disagreement.”

    Five minutes before conference time, 9:30 or 10 a.m., the Justices are summoned. They exchange ritual handshakes and settle down at the long table. The Chief sits at the east end; the other Justices sit at places they have chosen in order of their seniority. Before each Justice is a copy of the day’s agenda. Each decides when he or she should refrain from taking any part in a case.

    The Chief Justice opens the discussion, summarizing each case. The senior Associate Justice speaks next, and comment passes down the line. To be accepted for review, a case needs only four votes, fewer than the majority required for a decision on the case itself. Counsel for the litigants are directed to submit their printed briefs so that each Justice has a set several weeks before argument.

    Paradoxically, perhaps—in light of the complete confidentiality of the conference—the Supreme Court is one of the most open of government agencies and one of the most public of courts. It acts only on matters of public record; it hears counsel’s arguments in public; all its orders and opinions are on the record; all materials presented to the Court for reaching its decisions are available to the public.

    All conference decisions are published. The disagreements among the Justices are fully exposed to the public in the written opinions, and on occasion the language of dissent becomes vehement.

    When the vote has been taken on a case, the writing of an opinion is assigned—by the Chief if he voted with the majority, otherwise by the senior Justice of the majority. Dissenters may agree among themselves on who will explain their view. Any Justice, concurring or dissenting, may write an individual opinion to emphasize a special point.

    via Supreme Court Historical Society

  • How American spies used false claims of Russian election interference to bring the tech giant to heel

    How American spies used false claims of Russian election interference to bring the tech giant to heel

    How American spies used false claims of Russian election interference to bring the tech giant to heel — RT World News

    Files reveal how the specter of Moscow’s supposed underhand ways was used to subjugate the platform to the US Democratic Party

    In a pair of blockbuster #TwitterFiles threads, this week, journalist Matt Taibbi has blown open, even wider, the media giant’s concerning collusion with the US national security state. The former Rolling Stone writer exposed how political pressure from the US Democratic Party very effectively forced the company to endorse the lie that its platform was extensively weaponized by Russia, with hugely significant consequences.

    Find the “Russian trace” at any cost

    The first, boldly titled ‘How Twitter Let the Intelligence Community In’, documents how in August 2017, despite dubious allegations that Russian bots and trolls were responsible for the election of Donald Trump in the mainstream media reaching fever pitch, Twitter’s hierarchy knew its platform wasn’t riddled with malign Kremlin-directed actors.

    In internal emails, the company’s senior executives and communications professionals almost mocked the idea that it was overrun with Russian bots. They could neither detect “a big correlation” in account activity related to the November 2016 election, nor any “larger patterns” at all. They forecast potentially taking action against less than 25 users. As such, it was decided to simply ignore approaches from the media on the issue.

    The next month, Twitter informed the Senate it had suspended 22 possible Russian accounts, and 179 others with “possible links” to those accounts. Senator Mark Warner, a ranking Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, immediately held a high-profile press conference to denounce the social network’s response as “frankly inadequate on every level.”

    Such pressure, combined with bitter, twice-failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton declaring, “It’s time for Twitter to stop dragging its heels and live up to the fact that its platform is being used as a tool for cyber-warfare,” forced the social network to set up a dedicated “Russia task force” to investigate the issue. It did – and found nothing. “No evidence of a coordinated approach” between accounts flagged as potentially Kremlin-run was identified, despite an “exhaustive” internal investigation.

    In all, after manually scouring through the posts of thousands of accounts flagged as “suspicious” by external actors, they found that just 32 were questionable, 17 of which were connected with Russia, and only two had spent any money on advertising – one being RT, which was specifically given favorable marketing offers by Twitter before the election.

    Again, senior Democratic party officials were enraged by these results. What followed was a flurry of unhinged, sensationalist news stories, claiming Twitter was either covering up the Kremlin’s dirty work for sinister reasons, either by lying about the issue, or actively deleting reams of incriminating data to cover its own tracks.

    “Were Twitter a contractor for the FSB … they could not have built a more effective disinformation platform,” professor Thomas Rid, an adviser to the Intelligence Committee, remarked to Politico at the time.

    Surrender to politics

    None of this was true. But it provided the Democrats with ammunition to threaten regulations on Twitter’s political advertising, which could’ve been extremely costly to the company’s revenue. This sent senior staffers into a panic, which was only intensified by the timely leak of a database of thousands of alleged Russian bots and trolls to major media outlets by the Intelligence Committee. This resulted in a flood of aggressive queries from journalists.

    Realizing the pressure would only keep mounting – as media outlets and politicians had decided this absolutely was a major scandal, irrespective of the available evidence, and were going to keep pushing until they got what they wanted – Twitter kowtowed, and publicly declared bots and trolls were in fact a massive issue on its platform, and it would be proactive in rooting out such activity in future.

    Internally, Twitter executives settled on an informal, secret policy for dealing with rogue actors on the network. Publicly, they would stick to the line content was removed and users were banned “at our sole discretion,” while privately they would “off-board” anything and everything “identified by the US intelligence community as a state-sponsored entity conducting cyber-operations,” without argument.

    Twitter had actively invited US spies to run its moderation process, without anyone knowing, and on the explicit internal understanding they would not be leaving. That sinister penetration widened substantially when Covid-19 arrived in the US, and again the bogeyman of Kremlin “disinformation” was the battering ram.

    In February 2020, US State Department intelligence wing the Global Engagement Center published a report, “Russian Disinformation Apparatus Taking Advantage of Coronavirus Concerns.” It claimed that a vast network of bots and trolls controlled by Moscow and amplified by China and Iran was pumping endless propaganda “describing the Coronavirus as an engineered bioweapon.”

    The report’s criteria for determining if an account was a bot or troll was, unbelievably, whether the user followed “two or more” Chinese diplomats. The 250,000-strong network included Western government officials, and media outlets, including CNN. Such a weak evidentiary foundation did not deter mainstream journalists publishing countless stories endorsing the report’s findings.

    Twitter staff, likely due to past experience at this point, could see what the Center was up to – namely, attempting to “insert themselves” into the “content moderation club” through which Google, Twitter and Facebook were controlled by the FBI, DHS, and other US government agencies. Executives at these tech giants were unanimously opposed to the Center’s inclusion, not least due to its “mandate for offensive” information operations to “promote American interests.”

    Hell under the heel

    After years of bending over backwards to placate the Democratic establishment, Twitter attempted to push back. Over a series of internal emails, various executives spelled out deep concerns about allowing the Center any influence over the platform, and initially rejected an FBI request for the organization to be included in the moderation club’s regular ‘industry call’. It was felt the Center’s involvement would pose “major risks … especially as the election heats up.”

    Eventually, the FBI offered a compromise – the CIA, NSA, and Global Engagement Center would be able to simply listen to the industry calls, but wouldn’t be active participants. Twitter relented, a decision its higher-ups seem to have quickly come to regret. Before long, the social network was being bombarded with requests to censor content and ban users from every US government body under the sun. 

    This extended to US government officials asking for users to be banned because they didn’t personally like an individual in question. Notorious House Intelligence Committee chief Adam Schiff, a Democrat, once asked Twitter to ban journalist Paul Sperry, due to his critical reporting on the Committee’s work. After initially refusing, Sperry was later suspended. 

    Almost every other request was granted immediately, even those from the Global Engagement Center. This included demands to ban independent media outlets falsely claimed to be “GRU-controlled” and linked “to the Russian government.” In one email, a former CIA staffer remarked that Twitter would soon be unable to deny a single request. “Our window on that is closing,” they said.

    In the weeks before the 2020 Presidential election, Twitter was flooded with demands from so many officials, departments and agencies, they were confused and overworked. If action wasn’t taken promptly, followup emails quickly appeared, asking if action had yet been taken, and if not, why, and when it would be.

    In one request, an FBI official even apologized “in advance for your workload.” Once, a no doubt exhausted senior attorney at the social network complained internally, “my inbox is really f***ed up at this point.”

    Previous #TwitterFiles threads exposed how the FBI paid the social network $3 million to process its requests. Based on the most recent disclosures, it’s clear the company and its staff were significantly underpaid for their efforts. Future releases promise yet further bombshell revelations, but the long-hidden truths divulged so far should prompt every Twitter user to reflect how the site for many years in secret operated as an effective wing of the US intelligence – and may well still do so.

    via RT International https://www.rt.com

    January 5, 2023 at 06:50AM

  • Matt Gaetz Calls McCarthy A “Squatter” For Prematurely Moving Into Speaker’s Office

    Matt Gaetz Calls McCarthy A “Squatter” For Prematurely Moving Into Speaker’s Office

    Matt Gaetz Calls McCarthy A “Squatter” For Prematurely Moving Into Speaker’s Office

    Update (2228ET): In a hilarious cap to today’s chaos surrounding the GOP House Speaker vote, anti-McCarthy Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida wrote to the Architect of the Capitol to ask how long McCarthy – who prematurely moved in to the Speaker’s office – would be able to occupy the room “before he is considered a squatter.”

    *  *  *

    Update (1836ET): The day ended without the election of a House Speaker, as support for Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s (R-CA) waned throughout the day.

    Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), meanwhile, saw his stock rise with each of Tuesday’s three votes.

    As The Epoch Times notes, in the first vote of a tumultuous first day of the 118th Congress, McCarthy, the California Republican who led the party to regain the majority in the November 2022 mid-term election, fell 15 votes short of the 218 he needed to become Speaker of the House.

    McCarthy received 203 votes from Republican colleagues, while 212 Democrats voted for Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), who will serve as House Minority Leader in 2023. Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz), the leader of the anti-McCarthy members, received 10 votes. A handful of Republicans voted for candidates who were not nominated.

    Second Vote

    Incoming House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) cited Saint Paul’s admonition about “finishing the race” as he nominated House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) for Speaker of the House.

    In his floor speech, Jordan said the House must do three basic things in 2023, including getting the U.S. border with Mexico under control and restoring U.S. military strength, stopping profligate spending by Democrats, and conducting a comprehensive oversight effort of President Joe Biden’s administration.

    “We have to do the Oversight and Investigations that needs to be done. This idea that bureaucrats who never put their name on the ballot but think they run the country, who assaulted our constituents’ First Amendment liberties. they need to be held accountable,” Jordan said.

    “That has to happen, we need to do it. We need to do it in a way that’s consistent with the Constitution, but we need to do it vigorously and aggressively. That is part of our duty as members of this body,” Jordan continued.

    Jordan’s nomination of McCarthy followed the California Republican’s failure to marshall a majority of the 434 Members of the Representatives assembled earlier in the day for the first vote on a new Speaker.

    Jeffries was also nominated a second time. Then Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) nominated Jordan, despite the fact the Ohio Republican made clear he continued to support McCarthy. Then the second ballot roll call was called.

    All of the 19 Republicans who opposed McCarthy in the first ballot shifted their votes to Jordan, including Biggs. While McCarthy gained the same 203 votes he received in the first balloting, which again left him short of the needed majority of 218. All 212 Democrats again voted for Jeffries.

    One of those who voted for Jordan was House Freedom Caucus (HFC) Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.), who during the second ballot posted on Twitter his determination to fight McCarthy no matter how many ballots are required.

    “I stand firmly committed to changing the status quo no matter how many ballots this takes. If McCarthy had fought nearly as hard to defeat the failed, toxic policies of the Biden Administration as he has for himself, he would be Speaker of the House right now,” Perry wrote.

    Tension is building on the House floor among Republicans. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) told Fox News that “If all they want is somebody other than Kevin, let’s be candid. Steve Scalise is supporting Kevin, Jim Jordan is supporting Kevin. As a matter of fact, every member of the leadership team, including every ranking member without becoming a chairman, is supporting Kevin. So we are in a situation in which the 19 have to explain what they want.”

    Democrats were quick to seize on the GOP confusion, with Rep. Mike Quigley (D-Ill.) issuing a statement following the first vote observing that “Hunter Thompson was right: ‘When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.’ This is what a Republican majority gets us: chaos.”

    “Democrats are here and ready to do our jobs for the country. Republican disarray is standing in the way.”

    Third Vote

    House Republicans remained deadlocked after voting for the third time Tuesday without giving enough votes to make McCarthy the new Speaker of the House.

    McCarthy lost one vote—Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.)—on the third vote of the day for a total of 202 votes. Democrat Hakeem Jeffries of New York had the highest total with 212, with all of his Democratic colleagues but no Republicans voting for him.

    Incoming House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) drew 20 votes, but his own ballot went to McCarthy for the third time. Jordan received 19 votes on the second ballot.

    The conservative rebels who have held firm against McCarthy and coalesced around Jordan on the third ballot remained steadfastly determined to keep their California colleague from succeeding Democrat Nancy Pelosi, also of California, as the new Speaker.

    In an impassioned speech nominating Jordan on the third ballot, Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) put the issue between McCarthy and the dissidents as one of how best to stand up to President Joe Biden and the Senate Democratic majority.

    “How many times have we been down here giving speeches, and there’s not a soul in the chamber? Yet this is what it takes to get 435 People in the chamber and have an actual debate,” Roy told the chamber.

    “The American people are watching, and that’s a good thing. What we’re doing is exercising our rights to vote and have a debate and have a discussion about the future of this country through the decision of choosing a speaker.

    “This is not personal. It’s not. This is about the future of the country. This is about the direction of the country.”

    Republican Infighting

    That vote capped a frenzied two days of back-room bargaining and media posturing by McCarthy and his supporters and a small group of dissident populist conservatives who demanded and got a host of reform concessions, but still voted no on the first ballot.

    The bottom line for the dissidents was they just don’t trust McCarthy to be the agent of change they believe must lead the House in what they are determined to make the last two years of President Joe Biden’s tenure in the White House.

    “I came to a broken and dysfunctional Congress to change it. Advancing the long-standing pecking order one notch has no prospect of doing that. Many don’t want to change it,” Rep. Dan Bishop (R-N.C.) posted on Twitter just before the first vote.

    “Kevin McCarthy is not the right candidate to be Speaker. He has perpetuated the Washington status quo that makes this body one of the most unsuccessful and unpopular institutions in the country. This is not about personality or who has ‘earned’ the position, it is about serving the American people. I will not support the status quo,” Bishop continued.

    In the final minutes before the new House assembled for the speaker contest, a clearly exasperated and frustrated McCarthy told reporters: “I have the record for the longest speech ever on the floor. I don’t have a problem getting a record for the most votes for Speaker, too.”

    He was referring to his more than 90-minute December address to the House in opposition to Biden’s $1.8 trillion omnibus spending bill.

    Read the rest here…

    *  *  *

    Update (1455ET): Kevin McCarthy has lost the second tally for Speaker of the House.

    Of note, when this happened in 1923, it went to nine ballots.

    And look who’s gaining steam…

    *  *  *

    Update (1310ET): Not even a quarter of the way through roll call, and Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) has failed to secure enough votes to become Speaker of the House – which will push the contest into a multiple-ballot vote.

    According to the Washington Post‘s Paul Kane, the last time this happened was 1923.

    What’s next? As Politico reports:

    After McCarthy fails to get 218 votes on the first ballot, the Freedom Caucus antagonists have signaled that they will start backing another yet-unnamed candidate on the second ballot. The Daily Beast reported Monday night that that person is Ohio Rep. JIM JORDAN, the longtime McCarthy critic-turned-ally.

    The Ohio Republican, however, has no shot at being speaker — something that his adoring conservative colleagues know very well. But, per the Daily Beast story, that’s not the point: They’re hoping to peel off more Republicans to back Jordan, aiming to have McCarthy’s vote count decrease from the first ballot to the second.

    It’s an open question how long today will go until someone nominates a viable candidate for the gavel — someone like STEVE SCALISE (R-La.) or PATRICK McHENRY (R-N.C.). And there’s a fear that if one of these member’s names is called too early in the process, the conference will turn on them.

    Buckle up. It’s going to be a long day. 

    *  *  *

    Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) gave a Tuesday morning speech imploring fellow Republicans to elect him as Speaker of the House, as several notable members of the GOP have openly opposed McCarthy.

    According to Axios, McCarthy has given hardliners nearly everything they’ve asked for, however he still hasn’t secured enough votes for the position, meaning that for the first time in 100 years, the House will likely hold multiple ballots for the speaker.

    In his Tuesday speech, McCarthy listed all the concessions he’s made to the right, and pointed out that Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) praised elements of his rules package. Gaetz, notably, has spearheaded the anti-McCarthy movement within the chamber.

    “I’ve earned this job,” said McCarthy, after running through everything he’s done to become speaker – to which Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) reportedly shook his head, according to Punchbowl News’ Jake Sherman.

    “This is bullshit,” said Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) in response to McCarthy’s speech.

    In December, Gaetz said he wouldn’t vote for McCarthy because he’s “just a shill of the establishment.”

    McCarthy also got into an argument with Rep. Perry, who accused McCarthy of having no track record on spending bills.

    McCarthy’s supporters chime in:

    In addition to Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), McCarthy has the support of neocon Dan Crenshaw (R-TX), who has called McCarthy’s detractors “enemies” and “narcissists.”

    “They are enemies now. They have made it clear that they prefer a Democrat agenda than a Republican,” Crenshaw told CNN‘s Manu Raju.

    “This handful of members is very clearly looking for notoriety over principle. That’s what it is. And anyone who suggests differently is in some kind of make believe fantasy reality. It’s not, it’s not true,” he continued, adding “They lost those debates.”

    “That should have been the end of it because that’s how a team works, right? But if you’re a narcissist, … then you’ll keep going. And you’ll threaten to tear down the team for the benefit of the Democrats just because of your own sense of self importance.”

    Another McCarthy supporter, Mike Rogers (R-AL), said the GOP should bar McCarthy dissenters from getting committee slots – an idea Chip Roy didn’t like.

    Here’s Roy in December explaining the situation;

    According to Axios, this could become a war of attrition in which “[a] good number of pro-McCarthy House Republicans are hoping some of the holdouts are bluffing and looking for a show — and will ultimately get worn down enough during the process to cave for McCarthy.”

    The likely candidate to replace McCarthy, in the unlikely event he pulls out, is Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA), who said he won’t run against McCarthy but has been quietly preparing for this scenario.

    It doesn’t look like McCarthy is too worried…

    via www.zerohedge.com https://ift.tt/t2oI53J

    January 4, 2023 at 07:22AM

  • Tainted Jury Pool In The ‘Trial Of The Century’: Two Jurors Have Been Selected In Proud Boys Trial So Far, One Is A Black Lives Matter Organizer

    Tainted Jury Pool In The ‘Trial Of The Century’: Two Jurors Have Been Selected In Proud Boys Trial So Far, One Is A Black Lives Matter Organizer

    January 3, 2023 at 07:09AM Tainted Jury Pool In The ‘Trial Of The Century’: Two Jurors Have Been Selected In Proud Boys Trial So Far, One Is A Black Lives Matter Organizer

    GUEST POST BY: Randy L. Ireland, founder of Americans for Justice

    The J6 Proud Boy Leadership trial, where jurors will decide whether leaders of the Proud Boys are guilty of sedition and serve up to 20 years in prison,  began jury selection on December 19 with US District Judge Timothy E. Kelly presiding.

    Judge Kelly initially predicted the litigation of the case patriot groups are calling “The Trial of The Century” would require only  2 to 3 days to complete the Jury Selection process. But after a full week in the courtroom, just 21 of 46 jurors have been selected, less than half of the potential jurors needed have been qualified to serve.

    Throughout the jury selection process so far, there has been increasingly evident that finding an unbiased jury pool within Washington DC – ESPECIALLY in a trial with Proud Boy defendants – will prove to be a very arduous and tumultuous task on several levels.  Contention between the government prosecutors and the attorneys representing the 5 defendants has flared up nearly each of the 5 days thus far.

    On Dec. 19, there was a dispute between attorneys over a potential jury member who testified to the court under oath that she had never been arrested or convicted of a crime. Multiple defense attorneys objected, indicating they had information that she had indeed been both arrested and convicted of a DUI. Judge Kelly immediately intervened, decided to keep this potential juror within the pool “for now” pending verification and asked that the Prosecution and Defense get together to “work something out.” The following day the same issue arose. The judge again determined the best approach was to keep her within the pool of potential jurors, which the prosecution supported while the attorneys for each of the defendants vehemently objected.

    On Dec. 23, there was a half-day before the court would break for more than a week over the Christmas and New Years’ Holidays. On that day, only a single potential juror was qualified, and even THAT juror – to any objective observer – should not have happened!  The qualification of this potential juror led to what has been described by eyewitnesses in the courtroom as an “explosive and fiery” exchange between the lead prosecutor, AUSA Erik Kenerson and one of the defense attorneys, Nicholas Smith.  In this exchange, the prosecutor warned Smith is a “racist” for his line of questioning of the potential juror  – which made the entire courtroom break out into a frenzy, prompting Judge Kelly to gavel the courtroom back into order.

    That potential juror who was “qualified” that Friday by Judge Timothy J. Kelly admitted to being a top organizer for the Washington DC BLM organization!  The BLM organization is founded by admittedly “Marxist-trained” individuals that espouse socialism, communism, and globalism.  This is the very reason why this trial will prove to be so important to the present national discourse – it pits traditional Conservatism and Patriotism against the progressive ideals of Marxism, Communism, and Globalism.  This is essentially Constitutional Conservatism (Small Government, Individual Rights & Accountability) vs. Constitutional Progressivism (Large Government, Mob Rule, and the broad-stroking of Cancel Culture)

    To have a major BLM organizer on the potential jury of a Proud Boy trial is preposterous to anyone with a sense of objectivity, fairness, and impartiality.  Why in the world would Judge Timothy Kelly even entertain this kind of tainted jury pool is incredulous at every level. When you add in the lead prosecutor baselessly calling a reputable defense attorney like Nicholas Smith a “racist” it only adds more fuel to the already blistering fire.

    Moreover, at least one of the defendants in Dominic Pezzola has been unable to view any of his discovery in the case to date. The jails have denied him his constitutionally-protected right of being able to participate in his own defense.  Pezzola has allegedly been denied protected Legal Calls, Legal Communication, and even Legal Visits – across multiple institutions. He has also been prohibited from access to the necessary laptop/tablet on which to view his discovery.

    Meanwhile, the prosecution has yet again dumped a large amount of “NEW DISCOVERY” on the Defense within the last 72 hours, making the Proud Boys January 6 case the “Trial of the Century,” igniting controversy among law enforcement officials and justice professionals across the United States.

    This latest discovery dump comes after Judge Kelly has said on multiple occasions in the lead-up to the trial, “We’re not going to have a trial by ambush here!”  In the bigger picture, it is hard to tell which is more egregious to the sense of Justice:  the seeming deliberateness of the prosecution to stall discovery dumps, or US District Judge Timothy Kelly pushing and rushing such a notorious and complex case rather than allowing fair and proper time for the defense teams an opportunity to review all important discovery with their clients.

    What seems to be ongoing deliberate, strategic, and orchestrated “last-minute Discovery Dumps” across many of the J6 trials to date (including the Oath Keeper trials presided over by District Judge Amit P. Meta) by the DOJ is quickly adding up to be severe Brady violations on the part of the US Government. These violations are consistently being rubber-stamped and allowed by the presiding US District Judges. In addition,, Add in the clear bias of the jury pool in Washington DC where over 93% of the jury pool members vote DEMOCRAT each election cycle.  Then add on top of this the unanimous rejection of any “Change of Venue” motions by these US District Judges and it all points to this trial being far more about Politics, rather than the very purpose for establishing the Washington DC District Court in the first place – JUSTICE!

    When the Proud Boy trial resumes on Tuesday, January 3rd there is expected to be a flurry of motions filed by the defense teams of Joseph Biggs, Dominic Pezzola, Ethan Nordean, Enrique Tarrio, and Zachary Rehl.  Keep in mind that the vast majority of these defendants are not charged with Violence of any kind, vandalism of property, or weapons charges!  One of the defendants was not even in Washington DC on January 6th!  Yet this trial is all about the US Government’s baseless claim that the Proud Boys fraternity engaged in “Seditious Conspiracy” – something that The Gateway Pundit’s own Cara Castronuova already debunked through the exclusive release of a Proud Boy video conference in the days before January 6th.

    Please stay tuned here for the latest updates and information coming out of the Proud Boys’ “Trial of the Century” – direct from the US Federal Courthouse in Washington DC.

    ABOUT RANDY L. IRELAND

    Randy Ireland is a USAF Veteran, a Christian, an Entrepreneur, co-Founder of CAPP (Citizens Against Political Persecution) and the Founder of A4Justice (Americans for Justice).  He is also a leading organizer for the 4Ashli.com Vigil held in Washington DC at the DC Jail every night from 7pm to 9:30pm.  You can follow his work by visiting www.A4Justice.org, or follow/subscribe @A4Justice on Twitter, Truth Social, Gettr, and YouTube.  You can also contact him directly with any J6-related Information or tips at Randy@A4Justice.org.

    via The Gateway Pundit https://ift.tt/xVIeMnw

  • EXCLUSIVE: RAY EPPS CAUGHT LYING TO JAN 6TH COMMITTEE

    The January 6th Committee has released the transcript from Ray Epps’s testimony whereby Epps commits perjury regarding his testimony of what he said to Ryan Samsel, and his account of what took place at the initial “breech” at the police line on January 6th.

    Also see “SECRET AGENTS” documentation on StopHate.com: [CLICK HERE]

  • Protests Erupt Outside Drag Queen Story Hour in NYC After AOC Encourages Comrades to ‘Protect’ Event

    Protests Erupt Outside Drag Queen Story Hour in NYC After AOC Encourages Comrades to ‘Protect’ Event

    December 30, 2022 at 06:45AM Protests Erupt Outside Drag Queen Story Hour in NYC After AOC Encourages Comrades to ‘Protect’ Event 

    Protests erupted outside of a drag queen story hour event in Queens, New York on Thursday evening.

    Earlier this week Democrat Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez riled up the comrades and told them to show up to the library to protect the drag queens.

    “Let’s have some joyful fun! Join Queens Public Library for a Drag Story Hour (DSH), featuring an amazing drag artist reading picture books, singing songs, and leading children in a craft activity. This delightful program is a celebration of gender diversity, offering kids unabashedly queer role models and the confidence to express themselves however they feel comfortable,” the library said in a post.

    Violent left-wing protesters showed up to the event on AOC’s orders.

    NYPD tried to keep the protesters and counter-protesters apart.

    Cristina began writing for The Gateway Pundit in 2016 and she is currently the Associate Editor.

    The Gateway Pundit is moving back to Disqus! All of your account information and comment history has been saved and will be uploaded as quickly as possible to Disqus. If you do not already have a Disqus account, you will need to create one. Please use the same email address that you used for Insticator for your comment history to be carried over. We greatly appreciate your patience and continued support!

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    via The Gateway Pundit