News From Around the Web
#10 Dr. Paul Releases 2024 ‘Festivus’ Report on Government Waste - Homeland Security Government Affairs, Rand Paul, Christopher Chimogle, Eric Daugherty, Jack Hunter, Brad Polumbo, Steve Gruber, and Next News Network on X
This marks Dr. Paul’s tenth edition of the Festivus Report, and he continues to work to alert the American people to how their federal government uses their hard-earned money. Some of the highlights include the National Endowment for the Arts funding ice-skating drag queens and promoting city park circuses. Additionally, the Department of the Interior (DOI) invested in the construction of a brand new $12 million Las Vegas Pickleball complex. DOI also allocated $720,479 to wetland conservation projects for ducks in Mexico. This year, the Department of State is featured eleven times, with expenditures including $4.8 million on Ukrainian influencers, $32,596 on breakdancing, $2.1 million for Paraguayan Border Security, $3 Million for ‘Girl-Centered Climate Action’ in Brazil, and much more!
#9 Luigi Mangione Pleads Not Guilty to N.Y. State Charges in Killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO - Adam Reiss and David K. Li for NBC News, Good Morning America, Tiffany Fong, Collin Rugg, and AF Post on X
Luigi Mangione pleaded not guilty Monday to New York state charges in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson as his defense complained about police parading him in “perp walks” that are “perfectly choreographed, utterly political.” Mangione wore a white shirt under a maroon sweater and light-colored pants in his arraignment before Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Gregory Carro. Supreme Court is the top trial court in New York. Manhattan prosecutors last week unsealed an 11-count indictment charging Mangione with a host of crimes connected to the Dec. 4 slaying...
#8 Luigi Mangione Judge Married to Former Healthcare Exec - Amethyst Martinez for The Daily Beast, Ken Klippenstein, Unusual Whales, and The Pop Flop (community note) on X
Luigi Mangione’s pre-trial judge is married to a former executive at Pfizer, according to a shocking report. Magistrate Judge Katharine H. Parker, who has handled Mangione’s pre-trial hearings, is married to Bret Parker, who stopped working at Pfizer in 2010. She also has hundreds of thousands in stock, according to reporting by journalist Ken Klippenstein. The judge holds between $50,000 and $100,000 in Pfizer, including stock in other healthcare industry companies like Abbott Laboratories, Viatris, and CRISPR Therapeutics. Her husband still collects a pension from his former employer. Parker also has holdings in Alphabet (Google), Amazon, Microsoft, Tesla, and Apple, amongst others...
#7 Defense Fund Established by Supporters of Suspected CEO Killer Luigi Mangione Nears $200K - Bill Hutchinson for ABC News, Luis Documents, Truckster1, Bob Beasley, and Darth Powell on X
As Luigi Mangione pleaded not guilty Monday to state murder and terrorism charges in the brazen killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, supporters of the suspect continued to donate tens of thousands of dollars for a defense fund established for him, leaving law enforcement officials worried Mangione is being turned into a martyr. Several online defense funds have been created for Mangione by anonymous people, including one on the crowdfunding website GiveSendGo that as of Monday morning had raised over $187,000...
#6 Complete Exchange Between Sen. Rand. Paul and Dr. Anthony Fauci- CSPAN, Rand Paul, Eric Daugherty, Liz Churchill (community note), and Libs of TikTok on X
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) questions Dr. Anthony Fauci during Senate HELP Committee hearing on COVID-19 Response. FAUCI: "It makes me very uncomfortable to have to say something, but he is egregiously incorrect in what he says. Thank you." PAUL: "History will figure that out on its own."
#5 Biden Commutes Death Sentences of Child Killers and Mass Murderers 2 Days Before Christmas - Steven Nelson for The New York Post, President Biden, John Kennedy (community note), Libs of Tik Tok (community note), Steve Friend, and End Wokeness (community note) on X
President Biden on Monday commuted the sentences of 37 of the 40 men on federal death row — a list that includes at least five child killers and several mass murderers — while leaving out three notorious fiends. In the stunning act of clemency just two days before Christmas, Biden, 82, gave the reprieve to some of the nation’s most violent murderers — nine of them found too dangerous to live after butchering fellow inmates — as part of his effort at “ensuring a fair and effective justice system,” the White House said...
#4 Trump’s Big Mike Johnson Decision - Rachael Bade for Politico, Nick Sortor, Gunther Eagleman/Real Ben Garrison Cartoons, Eric Daugherty/Cory Mills/The Gateway Pundit, and Being Libertarian on X
After the House passed a shutdown-averting spending bill Friday, a very relieved Speaker Mike Johnson proclaimed to reporters that President-elect Donald Trump was “certainly happy about this outcome.” Not by a long shot. Amid the chaos in Washington, I was in Palm Beach talking to people close to the past and future president and called up other confidants afterward. This much became clear to me: Not only is Trump unhappy with the funding deal, he’s unhappy with Johnson, too.
#3 Gay Couple Who Showed Off Picture-Perfect Family Get 100 Years in Prison for Horrific Rape of Adopted Sons - Alex Oliveira for The New York Post, AJ Huber, Andy Ngo, and Why Not Afrika on X
A gay Georgia couple convicted of sickening sexually abuse of their two adopted sons will spend the rest of the lives behind bars. William and Zachary Zulock, 34 and 36, were each sentenced last week to 100 years in prison without the possibility of parole, the Walton County District Attorney’s office announced. “These two Defendants truly created a house of horrors and put their extremely dark desires above everything and everyone else,” said District Attorney Randy McGinley, according to WSB-TV...
#2 Kamala Harris Told Teamsters President She'd Win 'With You or Without You' - Adeola Adeosun for Newsweek, Tucker Carlson, Ken Klippenstein, The CREATIVE Mix, and Tevi Troy on X
Teamsters President Sean O'Brien on Monday called out Vice President Kamala Harris on The Tucker Carlson Show, saying that she told union leadership she would "win with you or without you" and left their meeting early during her 2024 presidential campaign. O'Brien told Carlson during the podcast that after President Joe Biden withdrew from the race in July, Harris met with one of the union's executive board members at an event where she reportedly made the remarks. Newsweek contacted a spokesperson for Harris via email on Monday for comment.
#1 Former President Bill Clinton Is in the Hospital After Developing a Fever, Spokesperson Says - Jeff Zeleny for CNN, Salty Goat, DK, Buzz Patterson, and Joey Mannarino on X
Former President Bill Clinton was admitted Monday afternoon to a Washington, DC, hospital, where he is undergoing testing and observation after developing a fever, his spokesman told CNN. “The president is fine,” Angel Urena, deputy chief of staff to Clinton, told CNN in an interview, adding the former president is hopeful to be home by Christmas. “He remains in good spirits and deeply appreciates the excellent care he is receiving.” Clinton, 78, was at his home in Washington when he was taken to MedStar Georgetown University Hospital. He is expected to remain at least overnight in the hospital, an aide said, describing the former president as “awake and alert.”
