Friday, January 3, 2025

January 3, 2025

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Welcome to the news for independent thinkers

Leading the News . . .

New Orleans officials left Bourbon Street vulnerable to an attack, officials say . . . Five years before a man in a pickup mowed down dozens of New Year's revelers in New Orleans, a confidential security report warned that the iconic Bourbon Street tourist strip was vulnerable to a "vehicular ramming" attack. The assessment, prepared by a security firm in November 2019 for the group that manages the city's French Quarter, warned that the bollards designed to block vehicles from entering Bourbon Street did "not appear to work." The New York security firm recommended fixing the barriers immediately, and said that "the two modes of terror attack likely to be used are vehicular ramming and active shooting." New York Times

FBI: No proven link between two attacks

Soldier shot self in head before Cybertruck exploded outside Trump's Las Vegas hotel, officials say . . . The highly decorated Army soldier inside a Tesla Cybertruck packed with fireworks that exploded outside Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas shot himself in the head just before detonation, authorities said Thursday. The explosion caused minor injuries to seven people but virtually no damage to the hotel. Clark County Sheriff Kevin McMahill said Matthew Livelsberger, a 37-year-old Green Beret, likely planned a more damaging attack but the steel-sided vehicle absorbed much of the force from the crudely built explosive. Associated Press

Cybertruck blast suspect was a 'Rambo type' who loved Trump, family says . . . The active-duty Green Beret who was driving a Tesla Cybertruck that blew up outside the Trump International Hotel Las Vegas on New Year's Day "was a 100 percent patriot," his bewildered uncle said Thursday. Matthew Livelsberger, 37, was "like a Rambo-type, for lack of a better word," Dean Livelsberger told The Independent. Dean, whose older brother is Livelsberger's father, Roger, himself an Air Force veteran who served in Vietnam, said his nephew "loved the Army." The Independent

Harrowing video shows shootout between Shamsud-Din Jabbar, cops after his deadly rampage

Imam at mosque near New Orleans shooter Said Hitler Killed Jews 'They Were in Control of the Economy' . . . Shamsud-Din Jabbar, the Islamic terrorist who killed 14 people in the New Year's Eve attack on New Orleans, lived near a Houston mosque led by a radical imam who once preached that Hitler massacred Jews because "they like to take control of the economy," video footage shows. The Jewish people "have many problems, but that's one of the main problems—they like to take control of the economy." Washington Free Beacon

Politics

Speaker Johnson faces tight vote today to remain at helm of the House . . . Johnson is facing a smaller group of internal doubters, and only one — Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) — is vowing explicitly to oppose Johnson during Friday's floor vote. Yet roughly a dozen other conservatives, most of them representing the far-right House Freedom Caucus, are grumbling over Johnson's approach to leadership — particularly his willingness to partner with Democrats to adopt must-pass legislation like funding the government — and they had yet to commit their support in the final day before Friday's vote. The Hill

Trump throws more weight behind Johnson's speakership bid . . . President-elect Donald Trump is throwing more weight behind Mike Johnson's speakership bid, as a handful of Republicans are weighing whether to block Johnson's attempt to reclaim the gavel in less than 24 hours. Johnson's team and Trump officials have discussed a list of GOP holdouts for the president-elect to call, according to three Republicans who were granted anonymity to speak candidly. Politico

Culture

'We're in trouble': Miami DEI leader says state policies left the industry in freefall . . . Miami Shores resident Roni Bennett launched South Florida People of Color in 2015 to educate businesses and universities about marginalized communities and help them learn why diversity, equity and inclusion — DEI, for short — is important to the foundation of any company or organization. A decade later, Bennett has seen her work limited by Florida legislation affecting DEI that has been supported by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, including the 2022 Stop Woke Act. She estimates that her annual revenue, which once hovered around $300,000, has been cut in half because of the legislation. Miami Herald

They've received enough "education," thank you very much.

Columbia Professor Who Praised Oct. 7 Says Jews Not Descendants of Ancient Hebrews . . . Columbia University professor Joseph Massad, who is slated to teach a course on Zionism, accused Jews of engaging in a "Hitlerian project" for claiming descent from ancient Hebrews during an appearance on a podcast hosted by a professor at Pakistan's University of Lahore. Massad said the idea that Jews are descended from ancient Hebrews is a "bogus claim" and called them a "strange European group" during a March 25 episode of InFocus with Ejaz Haider titled "Busting Zionist Myths." Washington Free Beacon

National Security

Carnage from the sky: Experts warn of new terrorist drone threat to U.S. after New Orleans . . . With New Year's Day attacks in New Orleans and Las Vegas exposing terrorism vulnerabilities anew, top security experts are warning that a lethal capability being perfected in the skies over Ukraine and the Middle East could soon be headed to the United States: explosives-dropping or gun-firing drones."There has not been enough preparation proactively to prevent an incident associated with drone warfare and not even close," retired FBI Executive Assistant Director Christopher Piehota said. Just the News

International

A dawn stand-off, a human wall and a failed arrest: S Korea enters uncharted territory . . . The stand-off started long before dawn. By the time we arrived in the dark, an army of police had pushed back suspended president Yoon Suk Yeol's angry supporters, who'd camped out overnight hoping to stop his arrest. As dawn broke, the first officers ran up to the house, but were instantly thwarted - blocked by a wall of soldiers protecting the compound. Reinforcements came, but could not help. The doors to Yoon's house stayed tightly sealed, his security team refusing the police officers entry. BBC

Money

Era Of Big Tech Censorship Takes Another Blow As Facebook Puts Republican In Key Position . . . Meta will appoint Joel Kaplan, Facebook's most prominent Republican executive, as its new president of global public policy, signaling founder Mark Zuckerberg's further rejection of censorship, Semafor reported Thursday. Kaplan previously served as White House deputy chief of staff under President George W. Bush and joined Facebook in 2011, solidifying himself as one of the company's foremost conservative voices. Daily Caller

Biden decides to block U.S. Steel sale to Japanese buyer . . . President Joe Biden has decided to officially block Nippon Steel's proposed purchase of U.S. Steel, a once-iconic American company whose sale to a foreign buyer he publicly opposed for months, according to two administration officials who were not authorized to speak publicly about the matter. Biden opted to kill the deal despite intense efforts by some of his senior advisers to sway him in recent days, who warned that rejecting a sizable investment from a top Japanese corporation could damage U.S. relations with Japan. Washington Post

You should also know

Surgeon General Calls for Cancer Warnings on Alcohol . . . Alcohol is a leading preventable cause of cancer, and alcoholic beverages should carry a warning label as packs of cigarettes do, the U.S. surgeon general said on Friday. It is the latest salvo in a fierce debate about the risks and benefits of moderate drinking as the influential U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans are about to be updated. For decades, moderate drinking was said to help prevent heart attacks and strokes. New York Times

Forget 10,000 steps. 7 surprising tips for step counters . . . In general, the pooled data showed that for men and women younger than age 60, the greatest relative reductions in the risk of dying prematurely came with step counts of between about 8,000 and 10,000 per day. For people older than age 60, the threshold was a little lower. For them, the sweet spot in terms of reduced mortality risk came at between 6,000 and 8,000 steps a day. Washington Post

Guilty Pleasures

Kathy Griffen says Trump will send her to prison camp . . . Comedian Kathy Griffin has urged fans to catch her latest tour, claiming it might be their last chance before President-elect Donald Trump sends her to "one of those internment camps." "Come see me before I'm in one of those internment camps," she told Chicago's WGN radio station Tuesday. "I'm on the enemies list. That's very obvious," she later added. Breitbart

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