Renowned Trumpet Player Walks off Stage After Pop Star Mocks Christmas Carol

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A classical musician walked off the stage after a pop singer mocked a Christmas carol and criticized Republicans in the U.S. Congress.

Manny Laureano, Principal Trumpet for the Minnesota Orchestra, made the silent protest during a Rufus Wainwright concert in Minneapolis’ Orchestra Hall on the evening of December 2. Wainwright, who is in a same-sex “marriage” and is known for voicing his left-wing political opinions at shows, was complaining about the Republicans’ tax plan, which had passed in Congress the night before.

The speech was part of Wainwright’s introduction to his famous protest song “Going to a Town.” The song contains the refrain “I’m so tired of America”, and refers to Christian teachings concerning sexual sin:

Tell me, do you really think you go to hell for having loved?
Tell me, and not for thinking everything that you’ve done is good.
I really need to know, after soaking the body of Jesus Christ in blood.
I’m so tired of America…

According to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Wainwright told the audience that passage of the tax plan was “a call to arms”, and that he and they had “to fight for this country.” (Read more from “Renowned Trumpet Player Walks off Stage After Pop Star Mocks Christmas Carol” HERE)

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Half Baked: What the Left Thinks of Muslim Christmas Cakes

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Are ANYONE’S First Amendment rights allowed in the workplace anymore? Apparently not.

Anti-free speech protesters rallied outside the Supreme Court this week to kick off the oral arguments for one of the most important free speech cases in a generation, in which the court will decide whether individuals can be forced by states to violate their consciences.

At the heart of this case is Jack Philips — a Christian baker and the owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop — who was forced by his state government to serve a gay wedding.

But what if the situation were different?

The “Capitol Hill Brief” team went to ask protestors what should happen if a Muslim baker were put in a similar situation. Some of the answers we got may surprise you.

(For more from the author of “Half Baked: What the Left Thinks of Muslim Christmas Cakes” please click HERE)

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Bernie Sanders’ Wife’s Land Deal Still Under FBI Probe; Witness Recently Questioned

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A federal investigation launched in 2016 into possible bank fraud by Jane Sanders, wife of U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, is still underway — with “a potential” grand jury review possible.

The probe could thwart Sanders’ 2020 presidential ambitions — as well as the Vermont political plans of Jane Sanders’ daughter, Carina Driscoll.

Individuals questioned by the FBI confirmed to Fox News that the investigation was still open, with FBI agents interviewing at least one witness within the last six weeks.

Jane Sanders is under investigation following a land deal she clinched when she was president of Burlington College in Vermont in 2010.

In order to expand the college, Sanders sought to obtain a tract of land from a Roman Catholic parish. She secured a $6.7 million loan from a bank and a $3.6 million loan from the parish from which she planned to purchase the property. (Read more from “Bernie Sanders’ Wife’s Land Deal Still Under FBI Probe; Witness Recently Questioned” HERE)

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Supreme Court to Decide If Boy’s Legal ‘Biological’ Parents Are Two Lesbians

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The Mississippi Supreme Court heard arguments last week about whether a boy born to a lesbian couple should be legally considered the biological son of his mother’s female partner.

Because of the nature of the child’s conception and the relationship of the adults in his life, the story is complicated.

The two women who were “married” chose to have a child that would be conceived in one of them via anonymous sperm donation.

The boy is now six years old. His mother’s “ex-spouse,” who helped raise the child from birth, sought to be recognized as a biological parent when the two women divorced.

“Kimberly Strickland Day, was impregnated through assisted reproduction technology whereby donor sperm was combined with her harvested egg and the embryo surgically implanted,” reports the Jackson, Mississippi Clarion Ledger. “The couple separated in 2013, and their divorce was finalized last year. A Mississippi court granted the first same-sex divorce in 2015.” (Read more from “Supreme Court to Decide If Boy’s Legal ‘Biological’ Parents Are Two Lesbians” HERE)

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Trump, Mattis Turn Military Loose on ISIS, Leaving Terror Caliphate in Tatters

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Hundreds of ISIS fighters had just been chased out of a northern Syrian city and were fleeing through the desert in long convoys, presenting an easy target to U.S. A-10 “warthogs.”

But the orders to bomb the black-clad jihadists never came, and the terrorists melted into their caliphate — living to fight another day. The events came in August 2016, even as then-Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump was vowing on the campaign trail to let generals in his administration crush the organization that, under President Obama, had grown from the “jayvee team” to the world’s most feared terrorist organization.

“I will…quickly and decisively bomb the hell out of ISIS,” Trump, who would name legendary Marine Corps Gen. James Mattis as secretary of defense, promised. “We will not have to listen to the politicians who are losing the war on terrorism.”

Just over a year later, ISIS has been routed from Iraq and Syria with an ease and speed that’s surprised even the men and women who carried out the mission. Experts say it’s a prime example of a campaign promise kept. President Trump scrapped his predecessor’s rules of engagement, which critics say hamstrung the military, and let battlefield decisions be made by the generals in the theater, and not bureaucrats in Washington.

At its peak, ISIS held land in Iraq and Syria that equaled the size of West Virginia, ruled over as many as 8 million people, controlled oilfields and refineries, agriculture, smuggling routes and vast arsenals. It ran a brutal, oppressive government, even printing its own currency. (Read more from “Trump, Mattis Turn Military Loose on ISIS, Leaving Terror Caliphate in Tatters” HERE)

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Scientists Capture Mysterious Hum From Deep Inside the Earth – but No One Knows What It Is

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Scientists have captured a mysterious hum coming from deep inside the Earth, but they are still no closer to working out what it is.

It has long been known that the Earth constantly generates a low-frequency vibrational signal.

The first attempt to detect this hum was made in 1959, but it wasn’t until 1998 that scientists finally proved its existence.

Since then, there have been hundreds of attempts to record the Earth’s hum, but they have all been made using seismometers on land.

Now researchers have captured the hum for the first time using seismic instruments at the bottom of the sea. (Read more from “Scientists Capture Mysterious Hum From Deep Inside the Earth – but No One Knows What It Is” HERE)

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David Brock May Be Illegally Funding an Effort to Impeach Trump

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David Brock’s Media Matters for America appears to be granting hundreds of thousands of dollars in charitable funds to political groups that are trying to impeach the president and unseat Republicans across the nation.

Brock’s Media Matters for America is a registered 501(c)3 non-profit organization that has tax-exempt status. That tax-exempt status comes with an important caveat: the non-profit is barred from participating in political activity–funding or otherwise–that is in support or opposition to a candidate for office.

Media Matters for America granted $200,000 in 2016 to a Brock organization, though it is unclear if it was American Bridge 21st Century Foundation or a super PAC sharing its name, American Bridge 21st Century PAC, according to the non-profit’s 2016 financial statements and filings with the IRS obtained by The Daily Caller News Foundation.

Both organizations have a history of engaging in political behavior, as TheDCNF exclusively reported in October. Brock’s organizations face a Federal Election Commission complaint detailing an alleged scheme to hide donor identities involving both the foundation and super PAC that allowed for the funneling of untraceable millions that can not be publicly traced to their donors toward initiatives against conservative and GOP causes around the nation.

Under the IRS code, all 501(c)3 non-profit organizations “are absolutely prohibited from directly or indirectly participating in, or intervening in, any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for elective public office.” (Read more from “David Brock May Be Illegally Funding an Effort to Impeach Trump” HERE)

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Spread the Swamp? Trump Administration Wants to Move Government Offices out of Washington

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Amid the talk of draining swamps, restoring political might to blue-collar America and turning off the spigot of taxpayer cash that showers Washington, a familiar battle cry is ricocheting through this city: Move the bureaucrats out.

It has the ring of a Trumpian fantasy. Dislodge arms of the federal government from Washington and reattach them in faraway places, spreading the wealth generated by these well-paid agency workforces and forcing senior bureaucrats to face the people they affect.

But the idea has established populist roots that spread across party lines, and they are reemerging at this unique political moment.

The swaggering Interior secretary from Montana is putting the finishing touches on his plan to move the headquarters of three large public lands agencies to the West. The Stanford economist representing Silicon Valley in Congress sees opportunity to strategically seed regions of the country with pieces of the federal bureaucracy that can benefit them — and that they can benefit. The unlikely prospect of locating the Department of Transportation in Los Angeles is dangled by Republicans eager to show this crusade has bipartisan cred. (Read more from “Spread the Swamp? Trump Administration Wants to Move Government Offices out of Washington” HERE)

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Franks Abruptly Resigns – Lawyer Says ‘Nothing Sexual About It’

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Eight-term lawmaker Rep. Trent Franks, R.-Ariz., is resigning from Congress effectively immediately, after being pressured to step down by House Speaker Paul Ryan.

Franks was informed Thursday that the House Ethics Committee had opened an investigation into allegations of “sexual harassment” against him from two female former staffers.

However, unlike in the cases of Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., and Sen. John Conyers, D.-Mich., or for that matter former President Bill Clinton, Franks’ “sexual harassment” and “inappropriate behavior” did not consist of exposing himself, fondling, groping, molesting, threatening, assaulting or raping his staffers.

Rather, Franks is accused of – and has apologized for – asking two female staffers if they would be willing to serve as paid surrogates for the purpose of gestating children for Franks and his wife, who have fertility problems and have successfully employed a surrogate in the past. One of the two former staffers says Franks offered her $5 million to act as a surrogate.

Few people seem familiar with surrogacy, which became one of the top online search terms Friday. (Read more from “Franks Abruptly Resigns – Lawyer Says ‘Nothing Sexual About It'” HERE)

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Pentagon Announces First-Ever Audit of the Department of Defense

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“The Defense Department is starting the first agency-wide financial audit in its history,” the Pentagon’s news service says, announcing that it’s undertaking an immense task that has been sought, promised and delayed for years.

Of the tally that is starting this week, chief Pentagon spokesperson Dana W. White said, “It demonstrates our commitment to fiscal responsibility and maximizing the value of every taxpayer dollar that is entrusted to us.”

“Beginning in 2018, our audits will occur annually, with reports issued Nov. 15,” the Defense Department’s comptroller, David L. Norquist, said.

The Defense Department has famously never been audited, despite receiving hundreds of billions of dollars annually and having more than $2.2 trillion in assets.

For the Pentagon to get to this point, it has been, as they say, a process. The U.S. government established requirements for each agency to present financial statements back in the 1990s. But for more than 20 years, the Department of Defense has lagged other agencies that were following modern accounting standards, reporting what they received and spent. (Read more from “Pentagon Announces First-Ever Audit of the Department of Defense” HERE)

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