Teachers Will No Longer Need to Pass Basic Reading, Writing and Math Test for Certification in This Blue State

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A New Jersey law that removes a requirement for teachers to pass a reading, writing and mathematics test for certification will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2025.

The law, Act 1669, was passed by Democratic New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy as part of the state’s 2025 budget in June in an effort to address a shortage of teachers in the state, according to the New Jersey Monitor. Individuals seeking an instructional certificate will no longer need to pass a “basic skills” test administered by the state’s Commissioner of Education.

“We need more teachers,” Democratic Sen. Jim Beach, who sponsored the bill, said according to the New Jersey Monitor. “This is the best way to get them.”

New Jersey is especially in need of math and science teachers, according to an annual report from the state’s education department.

Just months earlier, Murphy signed a similar bill into law that created an alternative pathway for teachers to sidestep the testing requirement. A powerful teachers union, the New Jersey Education Association, was a driving force behind the bill, calling the testing requirement “an unnecessary barrier to entering the profession.” Teachers in the state are paid an average of $81,102 annually, according to the National Education Association.

(Read more from “Teachers Will No Longer Need to Pass Basic Reading, Writing and Math Test for Certification in This Blue State” HERE)

Chris Cuomo Says He Felt ‘Satisfaction’ Over Harris Loss After ‘Lefties’ Downplayed Trump Assassination Attempt

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NewsNation host Chris Cuomo disclosed Tuesday that he was satisfied by Vice President Kamala Harris’ November loss because of left-wing individuals minimizing the July 13 assassination attempt against President-elect Donald Trump.

After Trump was shot in the ear while speaking at his rally in Butler Township, Pennsylvania, some on the left downplayed the incident by claiming he was struck by glass fragments from a teleprompter rather than a bullet. Cuomo, on “The Chris Cuomo Project,” expressed disgust and outrage over the reaction, suggesting Harris’ loss was a deserved political consequence.

“What I found completely appalling and outrageous was how unimpressed lefties were by Trump getting shot in the head and how many of you would say, ‘Will you stop saying he got shot in the head? It just nicked his ear.’ Once again, to my earlier point: f**k you. You get nicked in the ear by a bullet and tell me that it’s ‘No big deal. I’m good. I’m good.’ Nah, nah. That’s crazy,” Cuomo said. “If that had happened to Harris, you guys would have talked about it for three days nonstop about how we’re in Helter Skelter mode or whatever it is. And then you go and call me a bigot for saying that. This is why you lost the election. That’s exactly why you lost the election.”

“You are out of touch. You lost the plot about how people feel in the majority. That’s what you did, and that was a perfect example of it, that situation. ‘Oh, I think it was just a teleprompter.’ You would have never assessed it that way if you didn’t wish the guy had died,” he continued. “How fucked up up is that? That you wished he had died? That you play down that he was shot at? It was disgusting. And I, for one, felt a measure of satisfaction that you were punished for it politically because there is no place for that. ‘Oh, he would have.’ He is not the standard of any kind of virtue, okay? And he still beat you.” (Read more from “Chris Cuomo Says He Felt ‘Satisfaction’ Over Harris Loss After ‘Lefties’ Downplayed Trump Assassination Attempt” HERE)

Man in Critical Condition After Being Shoved Onto Subway Tracks, Struck by Train

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A man in New York City is in critical condition after someone shoved him onto the subway tracks, where he was struck by an incoming train.

Police called the incident a random attack at the 18th Street station around 1:30 p.m. eastern on Tuesday when a masked and hooded assailant pushed the unsuspecting 45-year-old man onto the tracks just as an incoming train bulleted through the station. Two bystanders were seen fearfully jumping the turnstile to flee the scene.

According to the New York Post, the victim was immediately rushed to a local hospital, where he was in critical condition but rendered stable. Police said that no evidence suggests the attacker knew the victim or had any personal animus.

Dramatic video footage from the scene shows firefighters working to pull the injured man from between subway cars as bystanders gawk at the scene on the station platform.

The suspect, described as a man with a light complexion wearing a mask, a black jacket over a dark hooded sweatshirt and gray jeans, fled the station in an unknown direction and is still on the loose.

The incident is the latest in a series of transit attacks in the Big Apple, including two slashings on Sunday and the horrific Dec. 22 torching death of a sleeping straphanger on an F train in Brooklyn.

(Read more from “Man in Critical Condition After Being Shoved Onto Subway Tracks, Struck by Train” HERE)

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Trans Athlete Slams NCAA for Lack of Full Scholarships to Compete Against Women

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A transgender NCAA track and field athlete is blasting the college sports organization for not offering more scholarships to men who identify as women to play women’s sports in college.

Rochester Institute of Technology Sadie Schreiner recently decried the lack of sports opportunities for transgender athletes, according to Fox News.

“Among all the hurdles transfers usually have, there is an extra layer because it is trans, 50% of the country banned me from participating, and that meant I couldn’t attend any of those colleges even if they reached out to me with a full ride,” Schreiner exclaimed.

Schreiner also insisted that the state’s rules cannot prevent him from attending those schools if he wants to.

“It also became clear that states that did, no matter how adamant the coaches were to have me on their teams, the college administrations would usually stop them from allowing me to participate.”

(Read more from “Trans Athlete Slams NCAA for Lack of Full Scholarships to Compete Against Women” HERE)

Jimmy Carter, Former U.S. President, Dies Aged 100; How Trump Reacted to Carter’s Passing

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By Townhall. Jimmy Carter passed away on Sunday at the age of 100. It was the longest post-presidencies in American history. Carter was also the oldest former president to ever live in American history. A few lived into their 90s; Carter’s predecessor, Gerald R. Ford, died at 93 in 2006. While not a successful presidency, Carter’s philanthropic activities and other forms of civil engagement is his real legacy. He lived a remarkable life (via NYT):

Jimmy Carter, who rose from Georgia farmland to become the 39th president of the United States on a promise of national healing after the wounds of Watergate and Vietnam, then lost the White House in a cauldron of economic turmoil at home and crisis in Iran, died on Sunday at his home in Plains, Ga. He was 100.

The Carter Center in Atlanta announced his death, which came nearly three months after Mr. Carter, already the longest-living president in American history, became the first former commander in chief to reach the century mark. Mr. Carter went into hospice care 22 months ago, but held on longer than even his family expected.

Tributes poured in from presidents, world leaders and many everyday people from around the world who admired not only Mr. Carter’s service during four years in the White House but his four decades of efforts since leaving office to fight disease, broker peace and provide for the poor. President Biden ordered a state funeral to be held and was expected to deliver a eulogy.

“To all of the young people in this nation and for anyone in search of what it means to live a life of purpose and meaning — the good life — study Jimmy Carter, a man of principle, faith and humility,” Mr. Biden, the first Democratic senator to endorse Mr. Carter’s long-shot 1976 bid for the presidency, said in a statement. “He showed that we are great nation because we are a good people.”

(Read more from “How Trump Reacted to Jimmy Carter’s Passing” HERE)

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Jimmy Carter, Former U.S. President, Dies Aged 100

By BBC. Former US President Jimmy Carter has died aged 100, the centre he founded has confirmed.

The former peanut farmer lived longer than any president in history and celebrated his 100th birthday in October.

The Carter Center, which advocates for democracy and human rights around the world, said he died on Sunday afternoon at his home in Plains, Georgia.

The Democrat served as president from 1977 to 1981, a period beset by economic and diplomatic crises. (Read more from “Jimmy Carter, Former U.S. President, Dies Aged 100” HERE)

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Trump Endorses Speaker Johnson Amid Fight for His Gavel; Gaetz Declares ‘Resistance Is Now Futile’ After Trump Endorses Johnson for Speaker — But Massie, Others Remain Unmoved

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By Breitbart. President-elect Donald Trump endorsed Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) Monday morning after leaving Johnson twisting in the wind for 11 days.

Trump posted a 232-word soliloquy on Truth Social touting his electoral romp and attacking Democrats for weaponizing the government against him.

At the very end, he endorsed Johnson for speaker, using his boilerplate endorsement language:

LETS NOT BLOW THIS GREAT OPPORTUNITY WHICH WE HAVE BEEN GIVEN. The American people need IMMEDIATE relief from all of the destructive policies of the last Administration. Speaker Mike Johnson is a good, hard working, religious man. He will do the right thing, and we will continue to WIN. Mike has my Complete & Total Endorsement. MAGA!!!

Trump left Johnson twisting in the wind after December 19, when Johnson failed to deliver on Trump’s desire to lift the debt ceiling as part of a government spending deal. Reports that Trump fumed from Mar-a-Lago, coupled with Trump’s silence as criticism against Johnson rose, cast doubts on Trump’s commitment to Johnson.

(Read more from “Trump Endorses Speaker Johnson Amid Fight for His Gavel” HERE)

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Gaetz Declares ‘Resistance Is Now Futile’ After Donald Trump Endorses Mike Johnson for Speaker — But Massie, Others Remain Unmoved

By New York Post. Former firebrand Rep. Matt Gaetz, who instigated the House GOP toppling of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy last year, declared that resistance to House Speaker Mike Johnson “is now futile” in the wake of President-elect Donald Trump’s endorsement.

But that and Trump’s endorsement did nothing to pacify Johnson’s most outspoken House critic, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), who had come out in opposition to his speakership bid.

“I respect and support President Trump, but his endorsement of Mike Johnson is going to work out about as well as his endorsement of Speaker Paul Ryan,” Massie replied on X, posting an image of an article detailing Trump’s past support for former House GOP leader Ryan.

“We’ve seen Johnson partner with the democrats to send money to Ukraine, authorize spying on Americans, and blow the budget.”

Massie, 53, who endorsed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in the 2024 GOP primary and feuded with Trump in the past, has been peeved at Johnson’s handling of spending fights and last week promised to vote for another speaker. (Read more from “Gaetz Declares ‘Resistance Is Now Futile’ After Donald Trump Endorses Mike Johnson for Speaker — But Massie, Others Remain Unmoved” HERE)

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr

Biden Confronts Idea He Could Have Won

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President Joe Biden and his close aides are evaluating his legacy in the waning weeks of his administration, including whether the 2024 election will define it.

Biden and several aides have reportedly told people recently that he could have beaten President-elect Donald Trump in spite of his poor presidential debate performance, low approval ratings, and growing concerns about his cognitive functions.

Biden ended his presidential campaign on July 21 following at least a month of mounting pressure from members of the Democratic Party, both publicly and privately. He initially stood strongly against calls that he end his campaign and even said only the “Lord Almighty” could convince him to leave. However, by July 21, Biden announced he would step down, and shortly after, he endorsed his vice president, Kamala Harris.

Months later, after the Democrats’ bruising election defeat, Biden is standing by his belief that he could have won reelection, according to aides speaking with the Washington Post. While the president acknowledged that he “screwed up” during his June debate against Trump, he has suggested he still thought his focus on America’s long-term success would carry more weight with voters than fluctuating issues such as inflation.

He also recognized the changing media landscape as a factor in his campaign’s downfall. (Read more from “Biden Confronts Idea He Could Have Won” HERE)

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Federal Prosecutors’ Top Jan. 6 Target Prepares to Turn the Tables on Justice Department

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Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes is spending his time in federal prison planning legal action against the Justice Department.

Rhodes, one of the most prominent Jan. 6 defendants, is serving an 18-year sentence for seditious conspiracy, obstruction of an official proceeding and destruction of evidence.

President-elect Donald Trump, however, has changed the outlook for Rhodes and others in similar circumstances, having promised pardons for Jan. 6 defendants.

Rhodes told The Washington Times he is approaching his legal options “one step at a time.”

“If President Trump pardons me, I would love to sue [the Justice Department] for a 1983 claim. That’s a potential violation of civil rights. That’s a false imprisonment,” said Rhodes, a Yale Law School graduate. “They did the same kind of lawfare against President Trump and at us.” (Read more from “Federal Prosecutors’ Top Jan. 6 Target Prepares to Turn the Tables on Justice Department” HERE)

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Alaska Airlines Crew, Passenger Injured During Severe Turbulence

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An Alaska Airlines flight encountered severe turbulence during a flight into Phoenix during the busy holiday travel week, leaving multiple crew members and a passenger injured, according to an airline spokesperson.

Flight 700 had left Seattle just before noon PT Thursday and was about an hour and 45 minutes into its 2.5-hour flight when the severe turbulence hit. Flight tracking data from FlightAware.com showed the Boeing 737 MAX 9 recorded a drop of just over 200 feet in 30 seconds.

The plane landed safely in Phoenix at 3:10 p.m. MT (2:10 p.m. PT) and “several crew members and one guest received medical attention,” according to the Alaska spokesperson. The airline did not provide any additional information on the injuries, citing patient privacy.

The airline didn’t provide any details about what might have triggered the turbulence. FlightAware.com reports the incident occurred as the plane was at around 33,000 feet just passing near Las Vegas, which was reporting cloud ceilings at 16,000 and 25,000 feet but otherwise calm weather. (Read more from “Alaska Airlines Crew, Passenger Injured During Severe Turbulence” HERE)

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‘Treacherous’: Trump Slams ‘Dumbest’ Political Decision Made in Years

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President-elect Donald Trump is demanding Democrats take a vote on the U.S. debt ceiling immediately, saying the extension of the ceiling is “one of the dumbest political decisions made in years.”

In a statement Sunday evening on Truth Social, Trump indicated:

“The extension of the Debt Ceiling by a previous Speaker of the House, a good man and a friend of mine, from this past September of the Biden Administration, to June of the Trump Administration, will go down as one of the dumbest political decisions made in years.

“There was no reason to do it – NOTHING WAS GAINED, and we got nothing for it – A major reason why that Speakership was lost. (Read more from “‘Treacherous’: Trump Slams ‘Dumbest’ Political Decision Made in Years” HERE)

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr