Senate drops dress code enforcement as John Fetterman continues to work in shorts and sweats

Senate drops dress code enforcement as John Fetterman continues to work in shorts and sweats



Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has ordered that the Senate dress code is to stop being enforced, but the change only applies to senators and not working staff.

As Senator John Fetterman continuously takes criticism for appearing in the U.S. Senate in shorts, T-shirts, and hooded sweatshirts, Schumer directed the Senate's sergeant at arms no longer to enforce a dress code for its members.

“Senators are able to choose what they wear on the Senate floor. I will continue to wear a suit,” Schumer said in a statement to Axios.

“Senators can now [wear] what ever (sic) they want. However, others entering the chamber must comply with the dress code. Coats/ties for men. Business attire for women,” Fox News reporter Chad Pergram said on his X account.

Senators could previously circumvent the rule on a technicality by voting with a thumbs-up or -down from the edge of the Senate floor with one foot still in the cloakroom.

"Generous interpretations of the Senate floor dress code can only stretch so far before you have to square up and make formal changes," a former Senate staffer, Eric Ueland, told Axios.

In May 2023, the Associated Press reported that Fetterman would vote from the doorway of the cloakroom before retreating back to where his attire was acceptable.

"He’s setting a new dress code,” Democrat Senator Peter Welch joked at the time.

Fetterman recently reacted to news of an impeachment inquiry into President Biden by sarcastically saying "Oh my God, really?!"

"Oh my gosh, it's devastating. Oooh, don't do it, please don't do it," the senator continued. "Oh no, oh no!"

John Fetterman\u2019s reaction to the House's Impeachment Inquiry into Joe Biden might be the strangest thing you watch today
— Charlie Kirk (@Charlie Kirk) 1694538760

Fetterman also made headlines after he reportedly drove to Michigan from Pennsylvania to join a protest for the United Auto Workers.

"Drove all the way from Pittsburgh because we're a union town here, too. Well, it's an honor to be here," the senator told protesters.

"I always stand for the union way of life, I live across the street from a steel mill and the steel workers, and I came from Pittsburgh because it's a union town as well. I always stand for union," he added.

Fetterman was pictured driving a Ford Bronco all the way to the picket line.

Would you rather be in a car with Fetterman behind the wheel or me?
— e-beth (@e-beth) 1694878441

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Horowitz: If you don’t want to slash spending, shut up about inflation



In May, Kevin McCarthy determined that the debt ceiling was a bigger problem than the debt. He therefore gave Joe Biden a blank check to issue unlimited debt for the remainder of his presidency, and the president’s secretary of the treasury has utilized the free credit line with alacrity. Nearly $1.5 trillion in additional debt has been issued since June, as Treasuries have flooded the market, inflating the cost of servicing our debt with interest to record levels, now surpassing the cost of the military. It is therefore quite evident as we head into the annual appropriations deadline that anyone who decries inflation but refuses to combat the policies fueling it is a charlatan.

Just how bad is inflation? Despite the Fed raising interest rates quicker than ever, and despite the Biden administration draining the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to 1983 levels (when the country was a third smaller), core inflation is still rising at 4.3% year over year. This is on top of the already crushing baseline change in the cost of living since COVID. Keep in mind that the Fed’s target for annual inflation is 2%. If you annualize the CPI for August, it would reflect a rate of 7.8% ... on top of the existing near-record prices for many critical goods and services.

Although the media will try to frame yesterday’s CPI report as an sign of lower inflation than in 2022, the only measure that matters is today’s prices relative to January 2021 or before the COVID spend-a-thon. Using Biden’s inauguration as a benchmark, the consumer price index for all goods is now 17.4% higher today. That is why families now have to spend an extra $709 a month ($8,500 a year) to live.

Going back farther, here is the rate of increase for some critical living expenses since the COVID lockdowns when our government decided it would spend and print away our future:

Increases over last 3 years...\nCPI Medical Care: +4.3%\nCPI Apparel: +12.7%\nUS Wages: +14.7%\nCPI Shelter: +17.2%\nCPI Food at home: +20.3%\nCPI Food away from home: +20.5%\nCPI New Cars: +21.9%\nActual Rents: +23.4%\nCPI Electricity: +24.2%\nCPI Transportation: +28.5%\nCPI Used Cars:\u2026
— Charlie Bilello (@Charlie Bilello) 1694613041

These are astounding price increases for critical goods and services over the course of three and a half years. Whenever there is an unprecedented shock to the supply chain, one would expect prices to return roughly to previous levels as soon as the issue is resolved. Indeed, this is what happened with the price of eggs after the shocking increase in 2022 during the aftermath of the Ukraine war. However, the price of almost every other item has either stubbornly plateaued at the 2022 highs or has continued to increase.

Here are some critical products and services whose prices have skyrocketed since Biden took office:

  • Flour +34%,
  • Car Insurance +34%
  • Poultry +25%,
  • Baby Formula +25%
  • Dairy +24%,
  • Rent +17%

Based on commodity futures, it’s clear that the August CPI numbers have not yet priced in the full extent of the recent inflation, particularly in energy. This is only going to get worse.

Every Republican would agree with each word I’ve written so far. However, 90% of Senate Republicans and half the House Republicans will continuously push for endless Pentagon spending, more funding for Ukraine, more pork for the biomedical security state, and no meaningful cuts to anything else in the federal budget. In fact, nearly every one of them supported the very COVID legislation that placed us in this perilous and degenerative debt crisis. Yet despite living through the hyper-inflationary fallout from those disastrous spending policies, only 32% of House Republicans voted against handing Biden a blank credit card for the remainder of his presidency. Aside from the Freedom Caucus, Republicans aren’t interested in returning to pre-COVID spending levels, which weren’t exactly low.

The reason we have such stubborn and unprecedented inflation despite the interest rate hikes is because we’ve never had to print this much money to service debt. Now we are incurring the liabilities of higher interest rates without the benefits, possibly for the first time in history if this trend holds. Housing affordability is at an all-time low. The debt-to-income ratio for all homebuyers in the U.S. just hit 40% for the first time. At the same time, total household debt has reached $17.1 trillion and credit card debt has topped $1 trillion, both records.

The debt-to-income ratio for all homebuyers in the US just hit 40% for the first time in history.\n\nEven in the 2008 financial crisis, this ratio peaked at ~39%.\n\nThis comes as total household debt just hit a record $17.1 trillion and credit card debt crossed $1 trillion for the\u2026
— The Kobeissi Letter (@The Kobeissi Letter) 1694275781

Cars are just as unaffordable as houses, with the amalgamation of price inflation and interest rates turning low-frills new and used cars into luxuries. Consumers are plum out of cash. After getting an infusion of printed money in 2020, household savings is down 90% and will be completely depleted by the end of this quarter, according to the San Francisco Fed. So all of the benefits of the money printing have been expended, and now we have to pay the piper until the end of times.

We now face endless $2 trillion annual deficits that we must pay for at four times the interest rate of just two years ago. In the past five years, the gross federal debt has increased by 53%, from $21.4 trillion to nearly $33 trillion. More disturbing, a lot of old debt is maturing too. According to Apollo’s chief economist, $7.6 trillion in existing debt is set to mature within a year at much higher rates than those at which the debt was originally serviced. There is simply no amount of rate hiking that could head off the inflationary effects of such a debt tsunami, unless it leads to a massive recession, which is indeed predicted by next year.

Thus, any Republican who emotes about a temporary government shutdown in order to solve this problem is exemplifying shortsightedness. We are out of time, out of money, and facing the ultimate long-term and systemic government shutdown. There is no painless way through the COVID debt and inflation bomb.
'We Faked It?!' Apollo Legend DEBUNKS Moon Landing Theories | The Glenn Beck Podcast | Ep 190

'We Faked It?!' Apollo Legend DEBUNKS Moon Landing Theories | The Glenn Beck Podcast | Ep 190

Horowitz: The proper messaging on the debt ceiling



For some, $31.4 trillion in debt is not enough. They want to pile up $2 trillion in annual deficits (and growing) every year until interest payments alone will crush us in the near future. That is the debt default we face. Forcing a balanced budget or a modest step toward it by refusing to run up more debt without reform is the way to fix it. Now it’s time for Republicans to get on message.

The long-term problem is default regardless of debt limit

Not only are we facing national bankruptcy if we fail to trim government largesse, but we will face default on the debt unless we lower the debt, regardless of the debt ceiling. The COVID destruction of the economy and biblical deluge of spending and debt those policies unleashed finally broke the government’s Ponzi scheme. Interest rates on treasuries will have to remain elevated and likely rise even more for years to come. This means that the Federal Reserve can no longer service massive amounts of debt on the cheap. At 5% interest and climbing, our annual interest on the debt will rise above $700 billion a year and very soon surpass the cost of military spending.

The projected deficits will rise from an unfathomable $1.5 trillion to well over $2.2 trillion at the end of the 10-year budget window. According to the CBO, the projected cumulative deficit over the 2024–2033 period will be $20.2 trillion, and we know these numbers always have to be revised upward every year. So this is no longer about the solvency of Social Security. We won’t even make it to the point of a Social Security crisis, because the interest on the debt alone, in conjunction with the vicious cycle of inflation, stagflation, and accelerated interest rate payments will make us insolvent within a few years. As the CBO reports, during the first seven months of this fiscal year, “the largest single increase was in net outlays for interest on the public debt, which rose by $107 billion (or 40 percent).”

It's not just a problem of public debt, but of personal debt as well. With the endless stagflation – with the cost of living rising much quicker than wage increases – the average family can no longer afford food, fuel, housing, and health care. What happens when interest rates skyrocket concurrent with the rising cost of living? Take housing for example. The average mortgage on a median-cost house today is more than double what it was just three years ago. Home prices are up 56% at the same time mortgage rates have doubled. That’s a recipe for pricing out an entire generation of first-time home buyers from the market.

\u201cThe mortgage payment needed to buy the median priced home for sale in the US has moved up to $2,566, a new all-time high.\u201d
— Charlie Bilello (@Charlie Bilello) 1683981000

Thus, the overarching message the GOP needs to convey is that the problem here is the debt, not the debt ceiling, much like you don’t blame traffic on stop signs or red lights, which are needed to keep people alive. We could permanently abolish the debt limit tomorrow, but it won’t matter because the music on this Ponzi scheme of musical chairs has ended.

There is no short-term threat of default unless Biden defaults on purpose

It’s abundantly clear that inaction on the debt is not an option. We need to do surgery now. But forcing brinksmanship over the debt ceiling will force immediate default, right? Nope! Only if Biden purposely defaults. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen wrongly asserted that if Congress fails to issue more debt authority immediately this month, “We have to default on some obligation, whether it’s Treasuries or payments to Social Security recipients.” That is simply a false statement, because we have enough revenue to cover three-quarters of what the feds what to fund.

Here's the back-of-the-envelope math: The Treasury takes in enough revenue to account for about three-quarters of the$6.8 trillion budget Congress passed last year. In that sense the debt limit is an instant balanced budget, which some are estimating will begin to come due on June 15. We take in $4.8 trillion in revenue. Net interest on the debt is $663 billion. So as long as the government pays that interest, there is simply no default on the debt. Period. What about other payments? Here are some of the important ones:

  • Social Security: $1.3 trillion;
  • Medicare (net, minus offsets): $820 billion;
  • Defense: $800 billion;
  • Veterans’ programs: $173 billion.

The simple fact is that there is enough money to pay for these programs and interest on the debt, with roughly $1 trillion left to spare to focus on the core discretionary agencies and elements of Medicaid. Obviously, the more meaningful terms are the monthly and weekly revenues and outlays, but this is a rough sketch showing that the money exists to pay the top obligations while we have a national debate over how to prioritize the remaining funds and under what conditions we should issue more debt to fund other spending. There is no default under this scenario, just an eventual government shutdown, which wouldn’t be a bad thing, given the behavior of our government agencies. It’s those agencies that would shut down.

For example, according to the CBO, the outlays for the Department of Education this year were 56% higher than last year. There is no reason for that. Outlays for the FDIC increased by $39 billion over the same period because of the bank bailouts that weren’t supposed to be bailouts. It’s worth shutting down these agencies until we get agreement to fund them at a more modest level.

We either do this now from a position of strength or do it later when the debt and inflation are even more crushing. We will be forced to balance the budget once stagflation dries up the ability to service debt while also drying up tax revenue. If we wait much longer, revenue will plummet even more. While government outlays are up 12% from last year, total receipts are down 10% from last year. April’s revenue haul from Tax Day was extremely disappointing. The inflation bubble, created by the very debt we are debating, is crushing the economy and therefore dampening tax revenues. In that sense, the crushing debt actually affects both revenue and outlays.

\u201cUS retail sales increased 0.5% over the last year, the lowest growth rate since May 2020 & well below the historical average of 4.8%. After adjusting for inflation, though, the story is far worse. Real retail sales fell 4.2% over the last year, the 6th consecutive YoY decline.\u201d
— Charlie Bilello (@Charlie Bilello) 1684241042

To that end, rather than accentuating the talking about avoiding default and blaming Biden for not negotiating, Republicans should pass a bill forcing the Treasury to prioritize payments beginning with interest on the debt, then Social Security, and go down the totem pole of priorities from there. This will take the talking point of default off the table and will allow us to focus on the actual long-term problem, which isn’t even so long-term.

Just consider the words of Barack Obama in March 2006 in explaining his vote against a debt ceiling increase eventually signed by President George W. Bush:

Increasing America’s debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that “the buck stops here.” Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better. I therefore intend to oppose the effort to increase America’s debt limit.

That was when our debt stood at $8.6 trillion, a little more than a quarter of where it is today. When and where will the buck ever stop?

Mayor Eric Adams pleads with judge to 'revisit' NYC's sanctuary city law amid illegal immigration surge: 'We have reached our limit'



New York City Mayor Eric Adams evidently no longer wants to be handcuffed to the Democrats' open-borders policies of yesteryear, especially not when the suburbs are pushing back.

Adams indicated that he was in court Thursday "asking the judge to revisit this law to deal with this humanitarian crisis."

The New York mayor pre-empted possible claims of hypocrisy, stressing that the "law of sanctuary city was in place" long before he took office; that "when they decided to put in place that law, no one thought that they would be dealing with a humanitarian crisis of this proportion."

\u201cMayor Eric Adams is \u201cnow in court, today, asking a judge to revisit\u201d NYC\u2019s sanctuary city law: \n\n\u201cNo one thought that they would be dealing with a humanitarian crisis of this proportion.\u201d\u201d
— Charlie Kirk (@Charlie Kirk) 1684159465

Former Mayor Ed Koch signed an executive order in 1989, declaring New York a sanctuary city.

Former Mayor Michael Bloomberg went much farther than Koch, signing executive orders forbidding city employers, including members of the NYPD, from asking residents about their immigration status.

As mayor, Bill de Blasio passed a sanctuary city law in October 2014 ensuring New York would remain a sanctuary for illegal aliens even if they were violent felons or on the terrorist watch list, reported the New York Post.

While Adams' assertion that the law precedes him is correct, legislators and city councilmen were long warned of the potential fallout — warnings he chose to ignore.

Adams vowed to hinder federal efforts to deport criminal noncitizens when running for office and indicated he would maintain NYC's "sanctuary city status." Adams went so far as to support legislation that would allow foreign nationals to vote in local elections.

Now, amid what Republicans recognize as an invasion, Adams is singing a different tune.

According to Adams' office, New York city has "cared for" over 61,000 migrants over the past year and is seeing roughly 500 illegal aliens pour in every day," reported CBS News. Adams reckons that number might spike to thousands of migrants entering daily.

"With over 130 emergency sites and eight humanitarian relief centers already opened, we have reached our limit," said a spokesman for the mayor.

Whereas before, Adams figured he could displace his problem, rerouting illegal aliens he previously welcomed to the suburbs, various New York counties have declared states of emergency to prevent the sanctuary city from offloading its "humanitarian crisis."

TheBlaze previously reported that Orange County and Rockland County have declared states of emergency in advance of migrants' arrival in the respective communities.

"To have 300 people dropped on us at one time is ridiculous. There's just no way we can handle that; ... 300 people is five times what the homeless count is [currently] in Rockland County," said Rockland County Executive Ed Day (R).

Day said it was "maddening" for New York to deluge his county with illegal aliens, especially when Rockland "isn't even a sanctuary county."

Since the city can no longer bus illegal aliens into neighboring counties or even into Canada — a tactic Adams criticized Republican governors for — New York is taking over hotels and schools on the newcomers' behalf.

TheBlaze noted Monday that New York City has committed to opening its first asylum-seeker arrival center, since other hotels have been overwhelmed. The historic Roosevelt Hotel, shuttered during the COVID-19 lockdowns, will apparently do the trick.

KRCR-TV reported that the city is also preparing to shelter illegal aliens in school gymnasiums.

Adams' office released a statement, saying, "We received more than 4,200 asylum seekers last week alone and continue to receive hundreds of asylum seekers every day. We are opening emergency shelters and respite centers daily, but we are out of space. As the mayor has said, nothing is off the table as we work to fill our moral mandate, but we should all expect this crisis to affect every city service. We will continue to communicate with local elected officials as we open more emergency sites."

While critical of the influx of illegal aliens into his city, the New York mayor has previously been silent on the matter of well over 5 million illegal aliens stealing into the country since President Joe Biden took office.

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AOC ridiculed for celebrating Carlson's ousting and saying 'deplatforming works'



Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) took to social media Monday to celebrate Fox News' ousting of Tucker Carlson, just days after she suggested that the government should clamp down on the news network.
Critics online have roundly ridiculed the Democratic lawmaker over her comments, highlighting her apparent affinity for shutting down opposing views, this time by corporate means and possibly with the help of statist pressure.

"Tucker Carlson is out at Fox News," the democratic socialist said gleefully in the video. "Couldn't have happened to a better guy."

Ocasio-Cortez indicated she was "very glad" that Fox News gave Carlson the boot, repeating the claim that he was "arguably responsible" for "driving some of the most, uh, amounts of death threats and violent threats, not just to my office but to plenty of people across the country."

While delighted by this turn of events, Ocasio-Cortez acknowledged that Carlson's days of calling her out are likely far from over.

"Um, I also kind of feel like I'm like waiting for the cut scene at the end of a Marvel movie, after all the credits have rolled, and then you see like the villain's like hand re-emerge out to grip over like the end of a building or something," she said.

The democratic socialist held off on her more controversial statement until the end of the video, where she stated, "Deplatforming works and it is important and um, there you go. Good things can happen."

\u201c.@AOC on @TuckerCarlson: \u201cDeplatforming works and it is important.\u201d\u201d
— Donna, Independent \ud83c\udf3a\ud83d\uddfd\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8\u23f3 (@Donna, Independent \ud83c\udf3a\ud83d\uddfd\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8\u23f3) 1682381765

Independent journalist Kyle Becker responded to the video, tweeting, "This is the only way the radical left can defeat its political opposition. Terrorism, censorship, guerilla warfare, purging its ideological opposition."

Alex Lorusso, an executive producer at Newsmax, wrote, "The Democratic Party is the Party of Censorship."

One Twitter user branded Ocasio-Cortez "The Bronx Bolshevik."

Another argued, "Deplatforming does work in most cases (it won't in Carlson's case) but it is also the tool of people whose ideas either can't stand scrutiny or debate and/or those with totalitarian impulses."

Whereas Ocasio-Cortez had been more suggestive, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer was explicit last week when he called on Fox News CEO Rupert Murdoch to deplatform Carlson:

\u201cJust weeks ago, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called on Rupert Murdoch to take Tucker Carlson off the air.\u201d
— Charlie Kirk (@Charlie Kirk) 1682355857

Like Schumer, this was not the first time Ocasio-Cortez took aim at independent-minded journalists.

The New York Post reported that in 2021, Ocasio-Cortez had mulled over ways to help "rein in" the free press and combat undesirable information.

"It’s one thing to have differentiating opinions, but it’s another thing entirely to just say things that are false," she said. "So that’s something that we’re looking into."

Whereas Ocasio-Cortez is "very glad" to see her critics deplatformed, she has spoken out in the past when those who share her views have lost their jobs at corporate news outlets.

In 2018, Temple Hill professor Marc Lamont Hill got fired from CNN, where he was a contributor, for making statements widely interpreted to be a call for the ruination of Israel.

The National Council of Young Israel said, "With his racist views and unabashed denigration of Israel, Dr. Hill does not deserve to be given any sort of platform that facilitates the dissemination of his bigotry, whether it be on Cable TV or in a classroom," reported The Hill.

In an interview with the New Yorker, Ocasio-Cortez bemoaned Hill's termination by CNN, saying, "There was no discussion about it, no engagement, no thoughtful discourse over it, just pure accusation."

Ocasio-Cortez later attempted to define cancel culture in 2020, noting that "the term 'cancel culture' comes from entitlement - as though the person complaining has the right to a large, captive audience,& one is a victim if people choose to tune them out. Odds are you're not actually cancelled, you're just being challenged, held accountable, or unliked."

According to the Democratic lawmaker, the people who are actually canceled include Palestinian human rights advocates, abolitionists, anti-capitalists, and anti-imperialists, "not spicy 'contrarians' who want to play devils advocate w/ your basic rights."

\u201cMany of the people actually \u201ccancelled\u201d are those long denied a fair hearing of their ideas to begin w/:\n\nPalestinian human rights advocates\nAbolitionists\nAnticapitalists\nAnti-imperialists\n\nNot spicy \u201ccontrarians\u201d who want to play devils advocate w/ your basic rights in the NYT\u201d
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) 1594341837
While Ocasio-Cortez is evidently sensitive to the possibility that the same tactics she now celebrates could be wielded against her, on Twitter for instance, Elon Musk intimated Monday night that it is a bad road to take.
Musk tweeted, "If we lose freedom of speech, it's never coming back."

The Twitter CEO was responding to a video wherein South African venture capitalist David Sacks discussed an "illiberal agenda" that "involves censorship, and de-platforming, including economic de-platforming, and this collusion between state power and the security state and these tech monopolies and the media. This idea that we have all the right answers. This is fundamentally an illiberal agenda."

\u201c.@DavidSacks: "Well, on @elonmusk criticizing the woke mind virus, what he's really criticizing is this intolerant agenda that involves censorship, and de-platforming, including economic de-platforming, and this collusion between state power and the security state and these tech\u2026\u201d
— KanekoaTheGreat (@KanekoaTheGreat) 1682375681

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DeSantis says 'new blood' needed at Republican National Committee



Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said that he believes that the Republican National Committee needs "change" and "new blood" and that he supports Harmeet Dhillon's position on pulling the RNC out of the nation's capital.

"I like what Harmeet Dhillon has said about getting the RNC out of D.C. Why would you want to have your headquarters in the most Democrat city in America? It's more Democrat than San Francisco is," DeSantis told Turning Point USA founder and president Charlie Kirk.

"But I do think we need some fresh thinking," DeSantis said, adding that he believes it will be tough to motivate the grassroots to donate money and volunteer with the RNC if people do not witness a shift in direction.

Dhillon is challenging current RNC chair Ronna McDaniel. MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell is also vying for the position. The vote is slated for Friday.

DeSantis described the 2018, 2020, and 2022 election cycles as "substandard." McDaniel was at the helm of the RNC during all three of those election cycles.

\u201c\ud83d\udea8BREAKING: Gov. DeSantis calls for Change at the RNC\ud83d\udea8\n\n"We've had 3 substandard election cycles in a row, '18, '20, and '22, and I'd say '22 was the worst...I think we need a change. I think we need to get some new blood in the RNC. I like what Harmeet Dhillon has said..."\u201d
— Charlie Kirk (@Charlie Kirk) 1674756913


"We need to decentralize the RNC out of DC and away from the lobbyists, the consultants, and frankly the beholden politicians who dictate the party's direction at the expense of what our voters want," Dhillon's website for her RNC chair run notes. "I'd like to see RNC move important operations – fundraising, legal, political, and strategic – out of DC."

DeSantis won reelection last year during the Sunshine State's 2022 gubernatorial election, and while he has not announced plans to pursue the presidency, he is widely viewed as someone who could potentially mount a White House bid.

"Republican leaders from all wings of the party are hearing what voters are saying & objectively calling out our need to improve — which means a change in leadership & while am not seeking endorsements from any presidential candidate — I appreciate ALL Rep. feedback/support," Dhillon tweeted.

\u201cRepublican leaders from all wings of the party are hearing what voters are saying & objectively calling out our need to improve \u2014 which means a change in leadership & while am not seeking endorsements from any presidential candidate \u2014 I appreciate ALL Rep. feedback/support.\u201d
— Harmeet K. Dhillon (@Harmeet K. Dhillon) 1674765652

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Virginia Republican wants unborn babies to count as passengers for carpooling



A Republican member of the Virginia House of Delegates wants the state to consider pregnant women as two people, for the purposes of using carpool lanes.

Delegate Nicholas J. Freitas introduced House Bill 1894, "High-occupancy vehicle lanes; pregnant women" which provides that "pregnant woman shall be considered two people for the purposes of determining occupancy in HOV and HOT lanes."

High-occupancy vehicle lanes and high-occupancy toll lanes would be available for use by pregnant women if they have "proof of pregnancy" or have certified their pregnancy with the Department of Transportation if they wish to travel in a lane monitored by a photo-enforcement system.

The bill would require the state to create a process in which a woman can "certify that she is pregnant" in order to link the information to a toll collection device. Virginians use a system called E-ZPass for electronic transponders.

The bill, which includes the term "pregnant person" once, requires pregnant women to provide proof of pregnancy to a police officer if they are pulled over for the possible infraction of driving in an HOV or HOT lane despite being ineligible to do so.

In terms of data collection, the bill states that the data shall not be open to the public, nor shall it be sold or used for sales/marketing/solicitation.

Any information collected would be "purged one year after certification of pregnancy is made."

Upon a woman notifying the Department of Transportation that she is no longer pregnant, the state would be required to delete the data related to the mother within 24 hours.

Similar legislation has been introduced in other states as well.

Texas Bill 521 was tabled in November 2022 and sought to make high-occupancy lanes free for pregnant women to drive in while alone.

Democrats in Virginia control the state Senate, however, which means it is unlikely that the legislation would be signed into law.

According to NBC News, abortion activists see such proposals as attempts to advance "personhood laws that seek to protect the rights of the unborn through unconventional avenues."

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\u201cVirginia bill would count pregnant women as two people for purposes of driving in the HOV lane, PROVIDED:\n\n\u201c[S]he . . . has certified the pregnancy with the Department of Transportation.\u201d\n\nhttps://t.co/SwbmGWFW9E\u201d
— Patrick Jaicomo (@Patrick Jaicomo) 1673447966
\u201c@charliekirk11 You could hint at the idea that men can't get pregnant...\u201d
— Charlie Kirk (@Charlie Kirk) 1651162960

'Look, I've had a bad month': Democrat megadonor Sam Bankman-Fried says he didn't 'try to commit fraud' and isn't losing too much sleep over FTX collapse



Disgraced Democrat megadonor Sam Bankman-Fried, the former FTX CEO who ran his company into the ground and has been accused of substantial wrongdoing, testified on Wednesday night — not before a jury of his peers in court, but in a paid appearance at the New York Times' DealBook Summit.

The event — where Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy shot down a peace proposal, script-reader Ben Affleck humble-bragged about his fame, and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg defended his company's forays into the so-called metaverse — provided Bankman-Fried with an opportunity to complain about his recent misfortune and to displace blame about the role he played in the scandalous collapse of his crypto exchange, FTX.

What are the details?

Bankman-Fried telecommuted from the Bahamas, where he, his parents, and other FTX executives reportedly own at least $121 million in real estate, to field questions posed by New York Times columnist Andrew Sorkin.

Throughout the interview, SBF alternated between assuming and shunting responsibility for FTX's downfall.

In one instance, SBF indicated that FTX's implosion was resultant of "a massive failure of oversight on my part."

"Whatever happened, why it happened, I had a duty to our stakeholders, our customers, our investors, the regulators of the world, to do right by them," said SBF. "Clearly I didn’t do a good job of that."

Despite this admission, SBF went onto distance himself from his trading firm, Alameda Research, linked to FTX and its demise.

SBF said regarding the relationship between FTX and Alameda Research that he "wasn't running Alameda, I don't know exactly what was going on."

“I didn’t knowingly commingle funds,” SBF added.

Some, including Alex Berenson, find that hard to believe, particularly since SBF owned the lion's share of Alameda.

\u201cYou are crazy.\n\nThe bankruptcy filing shows @sbf owned 90 percent of Alameda. It had lent Sam Bankman-Fried - not a corporate entity he controlled, HIM - $1 billion.\n\nThe idea he is now trying out - that he didn't control it and he didn't know what it was doing - is bizarre.\u201d
— Alex Berenson (@Alex Berenson) 1669902506

Decrypt reported that the blockchain data suggests the funds were commingled. Billions of dollars' worth of customer funds had reportedly been loaned out to Alameda to pay down the firm's trading losses while SBF was running the show.

SBF also claimed that he "didn’t ever try to commit fraud on anyone."

Bloomberg noted that, notwithstanding SBF's claims on Wednesday, there are outstanding questions about how FTX ended up with an $8 billion gap in its balance sheets.

When Sorkin asked about criminal liability, SBF squirmed uncontrollably and said, "There’s a time and a place for me to think about myself and my own future. ... I don't think this is it."

Without admitting to a crime, SBF did however underscore that he "screwed up."

The New York Times suggested that throughout the discussion, SBF sought to characterize the situation as an unintentional mistake, "perhaps hoping to set up lack of intent for (criminal) liability purposes."

Tough luck and good sleep for the 'next Warren Buffett'

In an apparent effort to drum up sympathy, SBF — who managed to lose approximately 94% of his estimated $15.6 billion on Election Day — told Sorkin, "Look, I've had a bad month."

SBF, once touted as the "next Warren Buffett," told Sorkin that he now has "close to nothing" and had been reduced to only having one working credit card.

Despite his bad month, SBF said, "You would’ve thought that I’d be getting no sleep right now, and instead I’m getting some."

An alleged FTX user who likely isn't getting much sleep had his message relayed to SBF by Sorkin.

In an email with "Sam Bankman-Fried stole $2 million from me" in the subject line, the user wrote, "Andrew, can you please ask SBF why he decided to steal my life savings and the $10 billion more from customers to give to his hedge fund, Alameda?"

Noting that several other letters like this had been sent in, Sorkin asked SBF, "What do you tell this man?"

SBF, down to only one credit card, said that he was "deeply sorry about what happened."

The New York Times reported that among the demonstrators gathered outside the event to protest SBF's appearance was a man who identified himself as Anthony Canelo of New York, who claimed to have lost over $10,000 investing in FTX's token, FTT.

While the bankruptcy filing drawn up by FTX indicated that the company has over 100,000 creditors, CNBC reported that there could be more than one million creditors.

Backlash

Although some critical of SBF's appearance appeared to protest outside the venue, many instead took to social media to express their disdain.

American Fox Business Network financial journalist Charles Payne found it troubling that SBF should be applauded in and out of a high-profile paid speaking gig after his company's collapse left creditors facing losses exceeding billions of dollars. Payne tweeted, "The 'elites' protect their own even under a microscope."

\u201cCancel Culture has wiped out a lot of people yet the @WSJ and @nytimes still trying to rehab and protect the imagine of Sam Bankman-Fried. So many young people looking to make their way in life have been wiped out. \n\nThe "elites" protect their own even under a microscope.\u201d
— Charles V Payne (@Charles V Payne) 1669305523

Republican Rep. Lance Gooden (Texas) suggested that the left appears more outraged by Elon Musk spending billions to restore free speech on Twitter than by SBF's erasure of billions.

\u201cElon Musk: Spent $44 billion to bring back free speech\n\nSam Bankman-Fried: Scammed people of billions\n\nGuess which one Democrats are more outraged by?\u201d
— Lance Gooden (@Lance Gooden) 1669173746

Turning Point USA President Charlie Kirk noted that had SBF been "the 2nd biggest donor to conservative candidates in the midterms he would be indicted by now."

\u201cIf Sam Bankman-Fried was the 2nd biggest donor to conservative candidates in the midterms he would be indicted by now.\u201d
— Charlie Kirk (@Charlie Kirk) 1669878771

The whole New York Times interview with the Democrat megadonor can be seen here:

Sam Bankman-Fried Interviewed Live About the Collapse of FTX youtu.be

Arizona attorney general's office wants answers about 'myriad problems' faced by Maricopa County voters before results are certified



Before the results are certified, the Arizona attorney general's office wants answers about the bungled administration of the 2022 general election in Maricopa County. On Saturday, the AGO wrote to the Maricopa County attorney's affice, raising problems voters faced in ballot tabulators and ballot-on-demand printers, along with potential election law violations.

The AGO's demand for transparency came a day after Arizona's Cochise County board delayed certifying the election results and amid Kari Lake's continued insistence that she might still win.

What are the details?

In a Nov. 19 letter addressed to the Maricopa County attorney's office, Arizona Assistant Attorney General Jennifer Wright noted that the AGO's Election Integrity Unit has received "hundreds of complaints ... pertaining to issues related to the administration of the 2022 General Election in Maricopa County."

"These complaints go beyond pure speculation, but include first-hand witness accounts that raise concerns regarding Maricopa's lawful compliance with Arizona election law," wrote Wright.

On the basis of these complaints and the problematic administration of the election, Wright underscored how Arizonans "deserve a full report and accounting of the myriad problems" that occurred in Maricopa County on Election Day.

In addition to voters' complaints, Wright indicated there was additional cause for concern, given that "statements made by both Chairman Gates and Recorder Richer, along with information Maricopa County released through official modes of communication appear to confirm potential statutory violations of [Arizona election law]."

Having invoked Arizona Revised Statutes Section 16-1021, which allows the attorney general to "enforce the provisions of this title through civil and criminal actions" in any election for state office, the AGO demanded answers about:

  • Election Day ballot-on-demand printer configuration settings;
  • Election Day "check-out" procedures; and the
  • apparent contravention of statutory guidelines and failure to segregate, count, tabulate, tally, and transport ballots that voters were otherwise unable to have tabulated using on-site tabulators.
Wright requested that a response be given on or before Nov. 28.
\u201cBREAKING: The Elections Integrity Unit of the Arizona Attorney General\u2019s Office has officially demanded a response from Maricopa County "pertaining to issues related to the administration of the 2022 General Election in Maricopa County."\u201d
— Charlie Kirk (@Charlie Kirk) 1668907097

Printer problems

Wright stated that at least 60 voting locations had problems with their ballot-on-demand printers, "which appeared to have resulted in ballots that were unable to be read by on-site ballot tabulators."

According to Votebeat Arizona, vote-counting machines had trouble tabulating ballots on Election Day "because the timing marks on the ballot — the black lines on the sides that tell the machine where the contests are located so the machine can tally the votes — were not printing correctly. As a result, the machines were rejecting the ballots."

Nearly 27% of the voting centers (60 of the 223) were affected, generating longer wait times and confusion.

Nearly 17,000 Maricopa County voters (7% of all in-person voters) were reportedly "unable to watch machines tabulate their ballots on-site" because of printing malfunctions.

Sworn complaints submitted by election workers employed by Maricopa County indicated the printers had been tested on Nov. 7 "without any apparent problems," Wright noted.

Notwithstanding successful tests the night before, the printers started to malfunction within the first 30 minutes of voting on Election Day.

County Supervisor Chairman Bill Gates said at the time, "There is no question this is frustrating. ... We don’t believe anyone has been disenfranchised."

Gates claimed over the weekend that the printer problems did not disproportionately affect "Republican-leaning areas."

\u201cWe continue to answer your election-related questions this weekend. Here, Chairman @billgatesaz speaks about whether Election Day printer problems impacted certain areas more than others.\u201d
— Maricopa County (@Maricopa County) 1668958420

The AGO's election integrity unit expects a report detailing:

  • the voting centers that experienced these problems;
  • the specific problems at each location; any other printer issues that may have contributed to the problem;
  • a "comprehensive log of all changes to the [ballot-on-demand] printer configuration settings (to include the identity of individuals making changes)";
  • the county's standards for the printer configuration settings "as specified in internal technical specifications and/or manufacturer technical specifications"; and
  • other concerns.

Although the AGO made no claims of fraud or guilt regarding the printer errors, the questions asked appear open to the possibility of malfeasance and meddling.

'Check-out' problems

Wright referenced sworn complaints received by the election integrity unit, which indicated that voters had trouble checking out of voting locations to cast their votes at functional centers.

"Not only have have poll workers reported that they were not trained and/or not provided with information on how to execute 'check out' procedures, but many voters have reported the second voting location required the voter to cast a provisional ballot as the [virtual pollbook] maintained the voter had cast a ballot in the original voting location," Wright wrote in her letter.

This is troubling, suggested Wright, given "Arizona law specifically prohibits provisional ballots to be counted when a voter has signed multiple pollbooks."

The AGO requested a report detailing whether poll workers were properly trained on how to "check out" voters so that they could "lawfully vote in another location" and all those voters who were provided a provisional ballot "due to having already signed an e-pollbook at another Election Day voting location.

'Door 3'

Wright's letter also presses the Maricopa County attorney's office to report on the fate of ballots deposited at "Door 3."

Since tabulators were malfunctioning at multiple locations, affected voters were told to deposit their ballots into a slot on a secure box at each location. According to Votebeat Arizona, the boxes were labeled with a "3" sticker, hence the name "Door 3."

From there, Wright suggested that "non-tabulated ballots were commingled with tabulated ballots at the voting location" prior to being taken to the central elections center.

One sworn complaint suggested that thousands of non-tabulated ballots received at "Door 3" had been put in black duffle bags "intended to be used for tabulated ballots."

Liddy, Lake respond

Thomas Liddy, the civil division chief at the Maricopa County attorney's office addressed in Wright's letter, told Fox News Digital that he will convene with his clients "and begin the process of gathering the materials necessary to respond. As you are undoubtedly aware, Ms. Wright is still working on the AG’s Final Report of the 2020 election. I am looking forward to receiving that as well."

After the AGO's letter went out, Kari Lake told the Daily Mail that the "way they run elections in Maricopa County is worse than in banana republics around this world."

The Associated Press called the race for Hobbs on Nov. 14. Lake trailed Democratic candidate Katie Hobbs by fewer than 18,000 votes and has yet to concede defeat.

"I'll tell you what, I believe at the end of the day that this will be turned around, and I don't know what the solution will be, but I still believe I will become governor, and we are going to restore honesty to our elections," said Lake.