Here’s Trump’s Shortlist for Vice President — Some Potential Running Mates May Surprise You

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Former President Donald Trump acknowledged Tuesday that at least five high-profile Republicans and one former Democrat are on his shortlist for potential running mates in the general election – including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and onetime Democratic presidential primary candidate Tulsi Gabbard.

The GOP presidential front-runner confirmed his shortlist after Fox News host Laura Ingraham rattled off a list of names at a town hall event in Greenville, SC, which she said audience members deemed to be good choices for him to tap for the vice presidency.

The names included Gabbard, DeSantis, Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.), biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem.

“Are they all on your shortlist?” Ingraham asked Trump.

To which he responded, “They are.” (Read more from “Here’s Trump’s Shortlist for Vice President — Some Potential Running Mates May Surprise You” HERE)

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr

Hunter Biden’s Attorneys Dispute Cocaine Was Featured in Pic Used for Gun Charge

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Attorneys for Hunter Biden claimed in a Tuesday court filing that federal prosecutors mistook sawdust for cocaine in a photo used to justify a gun charge.

Biden pleaded not guilty to two misdemeanor tax charges and a felony gun charge during a July 26 hearing after a plea bargain announced June 20 collapsed. Attorneys Abbe Lowell, Christopher Man and Bartholomew Dalton claimed that a photo apparently showing three lines of cocaine was not the substance, according to the filing.

“The prosecution is flat out wrong—both that Mr. Biden ‘took’ this photograph and in claiming that it depicts ‘cocaine,’” Biden’s attorneys wrote in the brief. “Multiple sources have pointed out, and a review of discovery confirms, this is actually a photo of sawdust from an expert carpenter and it was sent to Mr. Biden, not vice versa.” (Read more from “Hunter Biden’s Attorneys Dispute Cocaine Was Featured in Pic Used for Gun Charge” HERE)

Tucker Interview Suggests America is No Longer a Democracy and 2024 Will be Stolen Just Like 2020

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If you didn’t see Tucker Carlson’s interview last week with Mike Benz, you need to take an hour and watch the whole thing. In a mind-bending narrative about the emergence of what Benz calls “military rule” through an online censorship industry in the U.S., he lays out in startling detail just how corrupt and tyrannical the U.S. defense and foreign policy establishment has become.

Most importantly, Benz, the executive director of the Foundation For Freedom Online, explains how a constellation of federal agencies and publicly funded institutions, under the pretext of countering “misinformation,” rigged the 2020 election and are right now smothering the First Amendment and rigging the 2024 election through massive state-sponsored censorship online. The 2020 election and the Covid-19 pandemic, says Benz, were the “two most censored events in human history.” And 2024 is shaping up to be the same, thanks to the emergence of a federal censorship-industrial complex.

The problem here is profound, with deep historical roots that go back to the aftermath of World War II and the creation of the CIA along with a host of U.S.-funded international institutions. But for our purposes, it suffices to understand the problem in its two most recent stages: the period from 1991 to 2014, and from 2014 to the present.

At the outset of internet privatization in 1991, free speech online was seen as an instrument of statecraft. At that time, says Benz, internet free speech was championed by the U.S. foreign policy and defense establishments as a way to support dissident groups around the world in their efforts to overthrow authoritarian or disfavored regimes. It allowed the U.S. to conduct what Benz calls “insta-regime change operations,” in service of the State Department’s foreign policy agenda.

The plan worked really well. Among other things, free speech on the internet allowed U.S.-backed groups to assert control over state-run media in foreign countries, making it much easier to overthrow governments. The high-water mark of this way of deploying free speech online, Benz explains, was the Arab Spring in 2011 and 2012, when governments the Obama administration considered problematic — Egypt, Tunisia, Libya — all began falling in so-called Facebook and Twitter revolutions. During that time, the State Department worked closely with these social media companies to keep them up and running in those countries, to be used as tools for protesters and dissident groups that were trying to circumvent state censorship. (Read more from “Government-Backed Censors Who Rigged The 2020 Election Are Now Stealing 2024” HERE)

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr

Experts Warn of Global Economic Challenges, Cautioning Against Potential Recession Threatening the U.S.

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The recessions currently plaguing several major countries around the world could be what drags the U.S. into an economic downturn of its own, experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Germany announced on Monday that it fell into a technical recession in the fourth quarter of 2023, after reporting its second month in a row of negative growth, following several other top nations experiencing economic difficulties. While the U.S. has managed to avoid a recession due to its size and diverse industries, foreign economic malaise may drag the U.S. economy down through changes to trade and global inflation that would lead to a loss for American businesses, experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

“At a time when the U.S. economy is now facing a serious challenge from a commercial property crisis that could lead to a wave of regional bank failures, the rest of the world economy is doing poorly,” Desmond Lachman, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, told the DCNF. “This heightens the chances that the US will experience an economic recession before the end of the year as its export markets shrink.”

The U.S. economy has so far avoided a recession, despite predictions by top banks and investors that one will materialize. Gross domestic product (GDP) grew 3.3% year-over-year in the fourth quarter of 2023 and 4.9% in the second quarter, well above typical growth rates.

The U.S. commercial real estate sector currently holds around $2.81 trillion in loans that are set to expire through 2028 and faces increases in interest rate costs and declines in office space demand that have eaten profits, creating obstacles to repayment. Small and regional banks are particularly in danger due to their outsized exposure to commercial real estate debt, which could contribute to another banking crisis if developers were to fail to pay their debts.

(Read more from “Experts Warn of Global Economic Challenges, Cautioning Against Potential Recession Threatening the U.S.” HERE)

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Don’t Be Fooled: This Bill Is Mostly Ukraine Aid

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The U.S. military needs to husband its resources so that it has the ability to protect America’s core national security interests. Because of the unparalleled extent of the challenge posed by China, U.S. defense spending must be focused on the Indo-Pacific.

The National Defense Strategy identifies China as the primary threat to U.S. national security interests. This makes sense, given that China boasts an economy second only to our own, has engaged in a massive military buildup, and is laser-focused on displacing the United States as the preeminent power in the Indo-Pacific.

And yet, President Joe Biden’s latest supplemental budget request to Congress contains $60.6 billion in aid to Ukraine and only $5 billion in American shipbuilding and security assistance to allies in the Indo-Pacific. . .

But this bill isn’t primarily intended to strengthen the U.S. military. Quite the contrary, over the short term, it would deplete U.S. military stores. Fundamentally, this bill is intended to give more military and financial aid to Ukraine in its war with Russia.

The bill contains a $7.8 billion increase in Presidential Drawdown Authority, which enables the president to pull equipment and munitions out of existing U.S. military warehouses and units and send them abroad. As of December, the Biden administration has used this authority 44 times to take defense materiel out of U.S. stockpiles and transfer them to the government of Ukraine. Most of the military equipment already provided to Ukraine has been through Presidential Drawdown Authority. (Read more from “Don’t Be Fooled: This Bill Is Mostly Ukraine Aid” HERE)

Alabama Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Embryonic Human Life

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In a landmark decision, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled Friday in favor of protecting embryonic human life from wrongful death.

Embryos are created routinely through in vitro fertilization, a process by which ova are fertilized with sperm in a laboratory rather than in a woman’s body.

The process of creating and cryopreserving embryos can be dangerous for embryonic children, who often are destroyed intentionally or through neglect.

In the case heard by the Alabama Supreme Court, three sets of parents suffered an unimaginable loss: the death of their embryonic children due to a fertility clinic’s negligence.

A hospital patient wandered into the unsecured embryo storage facility and removed a container of embryos from a sub-zero freezer. The intruder dropped the embryos in pain, resulting in the deaths of the embryonic children within. (Read more from “Alabama Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Embryonic Human Life” HERE)

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Biden’s Federal Judges: 76% Female, 34% Black Appointments Based on Identity Politics

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President Joe Biden’s approach to judicial appointments has come under scrutiny as he continues to prioritize diversity, particularly gender and skin color, over what should be a primary consideration: competency. This trend has gained attention since Biden publicly announced his commitment to nominating only Black women for key positions, echoing a similar approach he took with his vice-presidential pick.

However, recent revelations suggest that the commitment to diversity may be overshadowing considerations of competence. For instance, when Biden made his pledge to nominate a Black woman for the Supreme Court, questions arose about the accuracy of his previous commitment, considering Vice President Kamala Harris’s ethnicity – being 25% Black, 50% Central Asian, and 25% White.

This trend extends beyond high-profile appointments, as federal judges play a crucial role in shaping a president’s lasting legacy. Biden’s nominees for judgeships have faced criticism for seemingly prioritizing gender and ethnicity over qualifications. The Senate has confirmed one hundred of Biden’s nominees for judgeships, with three individuals confirmed twice and three women elevated to a higher bench.

What stands out is the disproportionate representation among Biden’s judicial appointees. A staggering 76% of the 97 confirmed individuals are female, raising questions about whether merit-based considerations are being overshadowed by identity-based criteria.

White appointees, who still constitute a significant majority of the American population, only make up 37% of Biden’s nominees. Additionally, a notable number of these appointees are Jewish, further reducing the representation of White Christians with European ancestry.

Black individuals, on the other hand, are overrepresented at 34%, a sharp contrast to the 5% representation of Black lawyers in the broader legal community, according to the US Bar Association.

Moreover, Biden’s choices include 25.5% Black women, reinforcing his commitment to “diversity.”

Living on $100K? Not Enough in These 15 Cities Considered ‘Lower Middle Class,’ Study Finds

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Earning $100,000 annually may seem substantial, but for residents in 15 major cities across the United States, it falls short of elevating them beyond the lower middle class, according to a recent study by GOBankingRates.

Arlington, Virginia, emerged as the city with the highest income threshold to escape the lower middle class, requiring individuals to earn between $91,591 and $152,652. San Francisco and San Jose in California secured the second and third spots, with income caps for the lower middle class set at $151,877 and $151,122, respectively.

Financial advisers highlight the impact of high living costs in these cities, attributing the challenge to factors such as housing, transportation, healthcare, education, and overall lifestyle. Northwestern Mutual financial adviser Rodney Griffin noted that while $150,000 may be considered a comfortable salary in certain areas, increased demand and competition can drive up the cost of living.

Jersey City, New Jersey, emerged as the U.S. city where a $100,000 annual income would come closest to lifting individuals out of the lower middle class, requiring $101,279. Chesapeake, Virginia, followed closely behind with a lower middle class cap at $103,003.

Other cities where a $100,000 income would not surpass the lower middle class include Irvine, San Diego, and Oakland in California, Seattle in Washington state, Gilbert, Chandler, and Scottsdale in Arizona, Plano in Texas, Washington, D.C., and Anchorage, Arkansas. Notably, six of these major cities are in California, while two are in Virginia.

The study sheds light on the financial challenges faced by residents in these metropolitan areas, where the cost of living continues to outpace income levels. As economic factors, such as increasing mortgage rates, impact housing affordability, individuals in these cities find themselves grappling with the constraints of the lower middle class despite earning a six-figure income.

Biden’s Precautions Boarding Air Force One Raising Eyebrows in Wake of Special Counsel Report

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President Joe Biden’s frequent use of the shorter ladder while boarding Air Force One has raised eyebrows, and a Secret Service agent’s position at the base of the stairs has prompted additional speculation.

Air Force One has two different ladders the president uses to board before flights. One is longer and allows the president to board to a higher point on the plane, while the other, with fewer steps, allows boarding to a lower point.

Biden began using the shorter stairs after various trips and falls last year. And recently, a Secret Service agent has remained posted at the bottom of the staircase, the New York Times reported, ostensibly to keep him from getting hurt.

Former President Donald Trump also used the shorter ladder during inclement weather. Trump was 70 years old when he was elected in 2016.

The added precautions for Biden come in the wake of special counsel Robert Hur‘s report that called Biden’s competence into question. Hur referred to the president as “an elderly man” with a “poor memory.” Hur’s office interviewed Biden last year but found he did not have a “mental state of willfulness” and, therefore, was not worth indicting over his handling of classified documents because “it would be difficult to convince a jury that they should convict him.” (Read more from “Biden’s Precautions Boarding Air Force One Raising Eyebrows in Wake of Special Counsel Report” HERE)

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Police: Judge Shoots Ex-Boyfriend in Head, Shot Ex-Husband 5 Years Earlier

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A Pennsylvania judge is accused of shooting her ex-boyfriend in the head while he slept — just a few years after being cleared of criminal intent for shooting her ex-husband.

Michael McCoy, 54, is now blind in one eye after being shot in his Harrisburg-area home on February 9, reports the New York Post.

Dauphin County Magisterial District Judge Sonya M. McKnight, 57, was arrested Thursday and has been charged with first-degree attempted murder and aggravated assault, court records show.

A Susquehanna Township Police arrest affidavit obtained by the outlet stated that McCoy had made “numerous” attempts to end the year-long relationship with his live-in girlfriend when she allegedly tried to kill him.

“McCoy had returned home from a tavern to find McKnight relaxing on his couch in her pajamas and again told her she needed to leave, saying he would enlist the help of her mother to get her out of his home if he had to,” the Post reported of that Friday’s events. “She allegedly agreed to go.” (Read more from “Police: Judge Shoots Ex-Boyfriend in Head, Shot Ex-Husband 5 Years Earlier” HERE)