Friday, December 27, 2024

December 27, 2024

Good morning,

Welcome to the news for independent thinkers

Leading the News . . .

Trump threats to strike cartels prompts Mexico to crack down . . . The once-unthinkable prospect of U.S. military action on Mexican soil is dominating the political conversation in Mexico as the country braces for President-elect Donald Trump's second term. In response, Sheinbaum has rushed to show her administration isn't soft on drugs and migrants. Her government has gone after fentanyl smugglers in Mexico's powerful Sinaloa cartel, seizing 1.3 tons of the drug in a record bust. She has sent her security minister to Sinaloa to oversee the efforts to take back control of a state where organized crime dominates the political establishment and two factions are in a turf war. Wall Street Journal

Already getting results here that Biden couldn't, and he hasn't even taken office.

Politics

Ramaswamy claims American culture has championed 'mediocrity over excellence' . . . The former Republican presidential candidate warned on Thursday that "our American culture has venerated mediocrity over excellence for way too long." In a lengthy post to X, Ramaswamy blamed decadeslong cultural trends as the reason "top tech companies often hire foreign-born & first-generation engineers over 'native' Americans." He argued that the decline of U.S. citizens choosing to pursue engineering stemmed from kids growing up in a lazy, culture that has long promoted "the prom queen over the math olympiad champ" and "the jock over the valedictorian." Washington Examiner

He's trying to justify keeping H1B visas, which Silicon Valley needs, while otherwise curbing immigration. There are arguments for and against that, but let's not pretend that putting two tech execs in charge of overseeing federal spending isn't going to affect policy.

Nikki Haley rips Ramaswamy: 'Nothing wrong' with American culture . . . Former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley slammed her onetime GOP presidential primary opponent Vivek Ramaswamy on Thursday for arguing American culture is to blame for a lack of U.S.-born engineers. "There is nothing wrong with American workers or American culture," Haley wrote in a post on the social platform X. "All you have to do is look at the border and see how many want what we have. We should be investing and prioritizing in Americans, not foreign workers." The Hill

Late-night TV, SNL's boring anti-Trump scold routines go failed to stop Trump . . . Despite focusing their sharpest political jokes on President-elect Donald Trump for years, especially in the lead up to Election Day 2024, prominent network comedy shows did not derail Trump's victory. Late-night hosts Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers and others, along with the usual anti-Trump suspects at NBC's "Saturday Night Live," were unsuccessful in using their platforms to sway voters away from boosting Trump to a decisive victory in November. Fox News

Schumer to use judiciary to block Trump . . . Chuck Schumer has revealed how he has been working in the shadows to pack America's federal courts with liberal judges in a bid to block Donald Trump's policies. Schumer, who will remain Senate Minority Leader, offered a reason for optimism: the 235 federal judges Biden appointed during his term, one more than Trump. 'I don't know exactly what he'll do. But I can tell you this: The judiciary will be one of our strongest - if not our strongest - barrier against what he does,' Schumer told Politico last night. Daily Mail

Congress' Democrats urged to use Jan. 6 vote count to block Trump from White House . . . A pair of high-profile lawyers who also happen to be supporters of Vice President Kamala Harris floated the idea of House and Senate Democrats blocking Mr. Trump from being sworn in using the 1887 Electoral Count Act. The act requires 20% of the members of each chamber to sign a petition objecting to the electoral vote, according to New York lawyer Evan A. Davis and Chicago investment banker David M. Schulte. Washington Times

Culture

California's Soros-backed progressive experiment starts to unravel . . . The Golden State's residents rejected another term for progressive Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón, backed by billionaire George Soros. They also overwhelmingly voted — at more than 70% — in favor of Proposition 36, the Homelessness, Drug Addiction and Theft Reduction Act, which seeks to undo portions of Proposition 47 from 2014 by increasing penalties for some crimes. Fox News

National Security

Homan: Trump will immediately bring back workplace raids, Remain in Mexico policy . . . Incoming Border Czar Thomas Homan says President-elect Donald Trump will restore Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) authority to protect American workers by conducting worksite enforcement raids and reinstating the "Remain in Mexico" border policy. "We haven't really worked out the plan for worksite enforcement," Homan told the Washington Post about allowing ICE agents to conduct such immigration enforcement. "We know that employers are going to be upset." Breitbart

International

Israel strikes Houthi rebels in Yemen's capital while the WHO chief says he was meters away . . . A new round of Israeli airstrikes in Yemen on Thursday targeted the Houthi rebel-held capital and multiple ports, while the World Health Organization's director-general said the bombardment occurred nearby as he prepared to board a flight in Sanaa, with a crew member injured. "The air traffic control tower, the departure lounge — just a few meters from where we were — and the runway were damaged," Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on the social media platform X. Associated Press

Ukraine Slows Firing of Missiles Into Russia as Trump Prepares to Take Office . . . With much fanfare, Ukraine was granted permission to fire Western long-range missiles at Russian military targets more than a month ago. But after initially firing a flurry of them, Ukraine has already slowed their use. Kyiv is running out of missiles. It also might be running out of time: President-elect Donald J. Trump has said publicly that allowing U.S.-made long-range missiles inside Russia was a big mistake. New York Times

Germany Opened Its Doors to Migrants. Now It's Struggling to Cope . . .Ten years ago, this town in central Germany was aging, rapidly depopulating and almost universally white. Today, its population has stabilized, is younger and includes people from 92 countries. In May, conservative Mayor André Knapp was re-elected with more than 82% of the votes after a campaign critical of immigration, which he blamed for a rise in local crime. "Of course we need immigration, we need foreign workers, but we can't have a situation where our town is getting completely overwhelmed," said Knapp. Wall Street Journal

South Korea votes to impeach acting president Han Duck-soo . . . South Korea has voted to impeach its acting president Han Duck-soo, two weeks after parliament voted to impeach its President Yoon Suk Yeol. A total of 192 lawmakers voted for his impeachment, more than the 151 votes needed for it to succeed. Prime minister Han took over the role after President Yoon was impeached by parliament following his failed attempt to impose martial law on 3 December. BBC

Money

Hochul signs bill charging oil and gas firms $75B, but critics say customers will foot the tab . . . New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed into law the Climate Change Superfund Act, which will charge oil and gas firms an estimated $75 billion over the next 25 years. While environmental groups heralded the legislation, business groups argued that it will increase the cost of doing business in the state and that consumers will ultimately bear the brunt in terms of higher energy prices. Fox News

This will make politicians like Hochul feel good about themselves, but it actually amounts to a regressive tax on everyone, including low-income workers. Businesses don't pay taxes. Customers pay taxes. At least a good portion of them.

The Epic Mess at TGI Fridays . . . This fall, the TGI Fridays chief financial officer, operations chief, general counsel and head of procurement quit. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in November. It vacated its longtime Dallas headquarters and is storing over 200 boxes of documents and computer equipment at the homes of some employees, according to bankruptcy court documents.

You should also know

What Your 'Face Age' tells Doctors About Your Health . . . The FaceAge test is an artificial intelligence model trained on tens of thousands of photos from patients and public-image databases to look for signs of aging in the face. Mak and his team ran a study that found that the algorithm did a better job than doctors at predicting how long cancer patients would live. They hope that one day, the tool could be a standard part of assessing health. Already, separate versions of face-age tests exist online where anybody can upload a selfie and get an estimate of their biological age. Wall Street Journal

'Shark Tank' star Kevin O'Leary says half of Canadians favor Trump's proposal for Canada to join the US . . . Canadian investor and "Shark Tank" star Kevin O'Leary said Thursday that he wants to help broker a deal with President-elect Donald Trump that would create some sort of "economic union" between the US and Canada – declaring that at least half of his countrymen would support such a merger. Trump, 78, has repeatedly suggested in recent weeks that Canada should become "our 51st State." "Canadians over the holidays – the last two days – have been talking about this," O'Leary said of Trump's proposal. New York Post

The Founders didn't rule out making Americans out of Canadians. British colonies in Canada were invited to attend the Continental Congress of May 1775. It was not foreordained that there be only 13 original states. Just think, they could have avoided the Trudeaus - both of them.

Guilty Pleasures

Trump to restore White House Diet Coke . . . When Donald and Melania Trump enter the White House next year on Inauguration Day, they'll find it looks just like it did when they left it four years ago – even down to the Diet Coke button on the desk in the Oval Office. Trump merely needs to press the Diet Coke button, and a butler brings him a Diet Coke. Daily Mail

Don't worry, the White House staff loves the Trumps. They are kind, and Trump is known to hand out $50 bills as tips.

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