Tuesday, January 7, 2025

January 7, 2025

Good morning,

Welcome to the news for independent thinkers

Leading the News . . .

Scores dead in Tibet as earthquake strikes holy city . . . At least 95 people have been confirmed dead and 130 are injured after a major earthquake struck a remote region of mountainous Tibet near Mount Everest, Chinese state media say. The earthquake, which hit Tibet's holy Shigatse city around 09:00 local time (01:00 GMT) on Tuesday morning, had a magnitude of 7.1 and a depth of six miles, according to data from the US Geological Survey, which also showed a series of aftershocks in the area. Tremors were also felt in Nepal and parts of India, which neighbor Tibet. BBC

The numbers usually get much worse as more information comes in.

Politics

Democrats under fire for not sounding alarm earlier on Biden . . . Democratic leaders and lawmakers are coming under growing scrutiny for not blowing the whistle sooner on what is widely perceived to be President Biden's decline during the final two years of his presidency. Some Democrats fear there is going to be a lot more talk as members of their party wrestle over what went wrong in the 2024 election and how to chart a course going forward. The Hill

Once the administration is done and its people feel more free to talk, we could be in for some startling revelations.

Trump vows to 'un-ban' Biden's ban on offshore oil drilling, but that may prove hard . . . With only two weeks left in his presidency, President Joe Biden on Monday enacted a ban on oil and gas drilling for 670 million acres of America's coastline. President-elect Donald Trump immediately vowed to overturn the measure. "It's ridiculous. I'll un-ban it immediately," Trump said. Unlike many of Biden's anti-fossil fuel actions, the permanent ban on offshore drilling isn't by way of an executive order, and this may make it more difficult for Trump to simply overturn Biden's ban. Just the News

Congress certifies Trump's win with no objections from Democrats . . . Lawmakers certified President-elect Donald Trump's electoral victory on Monday in a largely quiet affair that marked the second U.S. president to serve nonconsecutive terms. The proceeding that made Mr. Trump's victory official took a little over half an hour. It placed him alongside Grover Cleveland, the first commander-in-chief to serve nonconsecutive terms in 1885 and 1893. Washington Times

Trump lawyers seek to block release of Jack Smith's final reports . . . President-elect Donald Trump and two of his former co-defendants are seeking to block the release of special counsel Jack Smith's final reports on the Washington, D.C., election interference case and the Florida classified documents case. Lawyers for Mr. Trump, wrote to Attorney General Merrick Garland on Monday and said that releasing the final reports would violate the Presidential Transition Act and Presidential Immunity Doctrine. Washington Times

Judge Merchan denies Trump's request to delay Jan. 10 sentencing

Biden puts to sleep 7 woke rules he had sought . . . The Biden administration withdrew seven far-left proposed rules at the end of December, potentially due to receiving hundreds of thousands of critical public comments. The withdrawals are being hailed as wins by conservatives, who have submitted comments against the rules, which would have compelled allowing male participation in girls sports, prohibited religious exemptions for birth control coverage, taken federal funding away from pregnancy resource centers, and more. Daily Signal

Republicans tee up fast votes on Laken Riley Act to deport illegal immigrants who steal, shoplift . . . Congressional Republicans are speeding their first immigration crackdown bill through Congress with an initial vote scheduled later this week on the Laken Riley Act, which would pressure Homeland Security to detain and deport illegal immigrants who shoplift or steal. Sen. Katie Britt, Alabama Republican, announced a Senate version of the bill on Tuesday and Rep. Mike Collins, Georgia Republican, announced the House version. House GOP leaders have already slated it for a floor vote on Tuesday. Washington Times

National debt to increase $196 billion after Social Security Fairness Act signed . . . President Joe Biden signed the bipartisan Social Security Fairness Act, which increases payouts to retired public sector workers and raise the national debt by at least $196 billion. The act rescinds the Windfall Elimination Provision and the Government Pension Offset, which adjusted the retirement benefits for public sector workers and their families, including police officers, firefighters, public health workers and public school teachers. Just the News

Culture

McDonald's abandons major 'woke' policies . . . McDonald's said it will retire specific goals for achieving diversity at senior leadership levels. It also intends to end a program that encourages its suppliers to develop diversity training and to increase the number of minority group members represented within their own leadership ranks. McDonald's said it will also pause 'external surveys.' The burger giant didn't elaborate, but several other companies, including Lowe's and Ford suspended their participation in an annual that measures workplace inclusion for LGBTQ+ employees. Daily Mail

Costco board member defends DEI practices, rebukes companies scrapping policies

Yale Students Would Rather Divest From Israel Than Russia, Iran, and China . . . Yale University students support divesting from Israel over the oppressive and authoritarian regimes of Russia, Iran, and China, according to a survey the Ivy League school's Buckley Institute released Monday. The largest share of students (36 percent) opposed divestment from any nation. But among those who favored divestment, Israel—a democracy and America's greatest ally in the Middle East—topped the list with 31 percent support, surpassing Russia (27 percent), Iran (20 percent), and China (12 percent). Washington Free Beacon

Even though China is viciously oppressing the Uyghurs, not to mention its own people. Apparently they are not teaching that. And divesting there would dangerously increase the prices of the students' electronics.

National Security

Biden secretly transfers 11 al Qaeda-linked prisoners from Guantanamo . . . The Biden administration has quietly shipped 11 prisoners linked to al Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden to Oman from Guantanamo Bay. The Yemeni men had been held at the infamous facility at the southeastern end of Cuba for more than two decades without charge. Two of the men were once bodyguards for Osama Bin Laden, and all of the men were captured in the wake of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks. Daily Mail

International

Donald Trump Jr takes personal trip to Greenland after president-elect floats purchasing country . . . Donald Trump Jr. is expected to travel to Greenland Tuesday after his father, President-elect Trump, signaled an interest in U.S. "ownership and control" of the country, Fox News Digital has learned. A source familiar with Trump Jr.'s plans told Fox News Digital that the president-elect's son, who is traveling in a personal capacity, is set to arrive in Nuuk, Greenland, midday Tuesday for meetings with locals, to visit cultural sites and more. Fox News

Trump may be more serious about this than people think.

Elon Musk Is Roiling European Politics . . . Elon Musk is throwing grenades into Europe's political mainstream over issues ranging from immigration to free speech, creating a dilemma for governments as they try to respond to the tech billionaire and key adviser to the incoming Trump administration. In recent days and weeks, Musk has weighed in with a series of incendiary social-media posts on European politics, including supporting a far-right party ahead of an election in Germany, accusing the British prime minister of being complicit in rape, denouncing judges in Italy and slamming the European Commission. Wall Street Journal

Inside Bashar Assad's detention centers, where 'death was the least bad thing' . . . Handcuffed and squatting on the floor, Abdullah Zahra saw smoke rising from his cellmate's flesh as his torturers gave him electric shocks. Then it was Zahra's turn. They hanged the 20-year-old university student from his wrists until his toes barely touched the floor and electrocuted and beat him for two hours. They made his father watch and taunted him about his son's torment. That was 2012, and the entire security apparatus of Syria's then-President Bashar Assad was deployed to crush the protests that had arisen against his rule. Associated Press

Let's not get to, "Thank God that's all over." There's no sign the incoming regime will be any better, and the history of the region, except for Israel, suggests it won't be.

Money

Zuckerberg Chooses Dana White For Board Of Meta . . . Donald Trump fan Dana White, the CEO of UFC, has been named to the board of Meta. Meta recently announced that Republican Joel Kaplan would be replacing leftist Nick Clegg as president of global affairs; Kaplan had been the company's vice president of global public policy since 2011. He had also served as White House Deputy Chief of Staff under former President George W. Bush. Daily Wire

Harris announces ruling removing billions in medical debt from credit reports . . . Vice President Kamala Harris announced Tuesday that Americans will no longer be penalized for medical debt on credit reports. The final ruling by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will remove $49 billion in unpaid medical bills from the credit reports of 15 million Americans. Harris also said a handful of states and localities have leveraged American Rescue Plan (ARP) funds to support the elimination of over $1 billion in medical debt for more than 700,000 Americans. Fox Business

You should also know

What you need to know about the HMPV outbreak . . . In recent weeks, scenes of hospitals in China overrun with masked people have made their rounds on social media, sparking worries of another pandemic. Beijing has since acknowledged a surge in cases of the flu-like human metapneumovirus (HMPV), especially among children, and it attributed this to a seasonal spike. But HMPV is not like Covid-19, public health experts have said, noting that the virus has been around for decades, with almost every child being infected by their fifth birthday. BBC

Perhaps it's not another deadly pandemic, but still, we don't know what China isn't telling us.

CNN's High-Profile Defamation Trial Is Underway—and Jurors Appear Open to 10-Figure Payout . . . Plaintiff Zachary Young is suing CNN in a Florida court for $1 billion in damages, accusing the network and anchor Jake Tapper of falsely portraying him as an "illegal profiteer" during America's chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan. Young, a Navy veteran, says CNN damaged his reputation and destroyed his contracting company, Nemex Enterprises, in November 2021 by airing false and defamatory claims about his efforts to get Afghans out of the country as the Taliban took control. Washington Free Beacon

Washington Post Expected To Lay Off Dozens as Liberal Paper Bleeds Talent and Subscribers

Two federal death row inmates refuse Biden commutation in fight to prove their innocence . . . Two of the 37 inmates on federal death row whose sentences were commuted to life without parole last month by President Biden are rejecting clemency. Shannon Agofsky, 53, and Len Davis, 60, who are both in the U.S. Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana, are refusing to sign the paperwork to accept the president's clemency action due to the legal avenues they are afforded on death row, according to court documents. Fox News

Funeral directors to pass on $9 NYC congestion toll to grieving families — as hearse drivers not exempt . . . The new $9 congestion fee is a real killer — even for the dead. Funeral home directors in Manhattan are already considering passing on the surcharge to those burying the dead, they told The Post Monday. Funeral homes that transport the deceased in hearses and other vehicles are not exempt and have to pay the toll if they enter Manhattan below 60th Street, just like other motorists. New York Post

Guilty Pleasures

Trump pitches 'merged' US, Canada after Trudeau resignation announcement . . . President-elect Trump pitched the idea of a "merged" United States and Canada after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced his resignation, noting there would be no tariffs if the two countries were one. "If Canada merged with the U.S., there would no Tariffs, taxes would go way down, and they would be TOTALLY SECURE from the threat of the Russian and Chinese Ships that are constantly surrounding them," Trump posted to his Truth Social site. "Together, what a great Nation it would be!!!"

Trump is stealing a page from South Park by taunting Canada. But there's probably a grain of seriousness in the real estate magnate's ambition to merge the countries. What property it would be!

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