(breitbart) – The House voted Monday evening to override President Donald Trump’s veto of the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act, in a 322-87 vote, including more than 100 Republicans.
Two-thirds of the House was needed to override Trump’s veto, and the House passed that threshold, with 109 House Republicans joining Democrats voting to override Trump and 20 Republicans not voting.
Trump last week vetoed the annual bill, which authorizes Pentagon activities and $740 billion in spending for 2021, over the absence of a provision to rescind Section 230, which grants big tech companies immunity from lawsuits, as well as provisions including one calling for the renaming of military bases named after Confederate figures.
The bill now goes to the Senate, where it must also obtain two-thirds of the vote to override the president’s veto.
Sixty-six Republicans voted to uphold the president’s veto.
322-87: House votes to override President Trump's veto of 2021 defense programs and policy bill, named for retired Armed Services Top Republican Thornberry, with 2/3rds majority vote needed. 109 Republicans voted Yes. Senate may attempt to override the veto as early as tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/BXKNUEiwlx
Republicans voting to uphold the veto included Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) who said he voted against the NDAA, which has a provision that would slow down a U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Gaetz said during a floor speech:
I oppose the NDAA not because I’m against our troops, but because I love them so much. America’s fighting men and women are so precious that they should not have to die in some failed state, some faraway land that most Americans can’t even point to on a map so defense contractors can extend our involvement in these wars, so that lobbyists can get rich, and so that members of Congress can get reelected.
The NDAA was hijacked by the forever war lobby and their bought and paid for allies in the United States Congress.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) also tweeted that he objected to the override of Trump’s veto. He tweeted:
The NDAA limits the President’s ability to bring troops home from Afghanistan. Congress has Constitutional authority to declare war, but the President has authority to move troops. I previously voted against the NDAA bill and tonight I voted to support @realDonaldTrump’s veto.
The NDAA limits the President’s ability to bring troops home from Afghanistan.
Congress has Constitutional authority to declare war, but the President has authority to move troops.
I previously voted against the NDAA bill and tonight I voted to support @realDonaldTrump’s veto.
House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Biggs (R-AZ) said he voted to defend Trump’s veto.
Today, I voted to defend President @realDonaldTrump‘s veto of the NDAA because it serves foreign interests, not American interests. President Trump has always been a staunch advocate of our troops, and sadly, this bill does not prioritize them or our nation’s future,” he tweeted.
Today, I voted to defend President @realDonaldTrump's veto of the NDAA because it serves foreign interests, not American interests.
President Trump has always been a staunch advocate of our troops, and sadly, this bill does not prioritize them or our nation's future. pic.twitter.com/8M2Ukk3ATn
(breitbart) – Twenty-seven people were shot, seven fatally, over another violent weekend in Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s (D) Chicago.
ABC 7 / Chicago Sun-Times reports the first fatality occurred Christmas Day at 2:30 p.m., when a 57-year-old man was shot multiple times “in Grand Crossing.” He was taken to a hospital where he died.
The weekend’s second fatality came at around 8:35 p.m. Christmas Day when a man was pronounced dead after being found lying “in the 900-block of East 82nd Street” with a gunshot wound.
The third fatality occurred less than an hour later–at 9:20 p.m.–when a 20-year-old man in “the 3300-block of West 52nd Street” was shot multiple times and killed.
A robbery suspect was shot and killed Saturday night in a cellphone store “in the 3200-block of West Chicago Avenue.” Breitbart News noted the suspect was shot by a 29-year-old concealed carry permit holder. The suspect was transported to a hospital where he died.
Over 4,000 people were shot in Democrat Mayor Lori Lightfoot's Chicago beginning January 1, 2020, through to December 16, 2020. https://t.co/b75Cfip3De
At 10 p.m. Saturday night another fatality was discovered when a man with a gunshot wound was found in an alley in Englewood.
A 24-year-old woman was shot about 3:35 a.m. while sitting in a car Sunday “in the 8300-block of South Paxton Avenue.” She was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead.
A male thought to be 17 to 20-years-old was shot and killed about 9 a.m. Sunday while “standing in the 5500-block of South Archer Avenue.”
The weekend violence came days after the Chicago Tribune released data showing some 4,049 people were shot across the city January 1, 2020, through December 22, 2020.
(dailyconservative) – President Donald Trump added his agreement to White House historian Jennifer Pickens’ contention that the mainstream media didn’t give any credit to First Lady Melania Trump because they didn’t like her husband.
Pickens co-wrote a Fox News op-ed detailing unique characteristics of Melania that deserve recognition and accused print mainstream titles of excluding her from their covers for four years in a way that had never happened to any other first lady before.
“Melania Trump has excelled in this role, despite her lack of experience in wading through the political world,” Pickens wrote, noting that she was only the second first lady to be born outside the U.S. and could speak six languages fluently.
“The greatest of all time,” the president tweeted about his first lady. “Fake news!”
“There’s no doubt that her many achievements as an outstanding first lady will be more appreciated in the years ahead,” Pickens wrote. Hopefully she is right, but the way liberals are working overtime to rewrite history, I am not holding my breath.
(breitbart) – Authorities have a person or persons of interest in connection to the Christmas Day explosion that rocked the city, CBS News reported on Saturday.
“CBS News has learned that police have a person of interest or persons of interest in connection with the explosion that rocked Nashville on Christmas Day, @jeffpeguescbs reports,” the outlet reported in a Saturday afternoon update, with CBS’s Jeff Pegues reporting Nashville area resident Anthony Quinn Warner, who reportedly “had a similar make and model RV,” as the person of interest:
JUST IN: CBS News has learned that police have a person of interest or persons of interest in connection with the explosion that rocked Nashville on Christmas Day, @jeffpeguescbs reports.
Six officers have been recognized by the Metro Police after swiftly evacuating residents prior to an RV exploding on an empty street in downtown Nashville early Christmas morning. According to Nashville Police Chief John Drake, police were originally responding to a call of shots fired in the area before hearing a warning from a loudspeaker, urging people to evacuate the area because of a potential bomb.
“This morning, around 5:30 a.m., officers responded to a call for shots fired in the downtown area, specifically 2nd and near Commerce. As officers responded, they encountered an RV that had a recording saying that a potential bomb would detonate within 15 minutes,” Drake said in a Friday update, noting that officers knocked on doors, made announcements, and evacuated nearby buildings.
“Shortly after that, the RV exploded,” he said. “We had one officer that was knocked to the ground. Another officer is fine.”
The explosion appeared to be intentional but “meant to limit casualties,” as Breitbart News reported. According to the Associated Press, authorities found human remains in the area of the explosion, which damaged dozens of businesses.
Nashville Mayor John Cooper signed an executive order Friday, issuing a state of civil emergency for the area “bounded by James Robertson Parkway, 4th Ave north, Broadway and the Cumberland River.”
“A curfew will start at 4:30pm, Friday Dec 25. and be lifted Sunday, December 27 at 4:30pm,” he announced:
I have signed Executive Order 12 to issue a state of civil emergency proclaimed within the area bounded by James Robertson Parkway, 4th Ave north, Broadway and the Cumberland River. A curfew will start at 4:30pm, Friday Dec 25. and be lifted Sunday, December 27 at 4:30pm. pic.twitter.com/jZ484LrHZ7
Update: Law enforcement sources told CBS News that the suspect “may have been killed in the explosion.” Human remains found at the scene are being tested to determine if they belong to the suspect.
Law enforcement sources tell CBS News the leading theory is that the suspect may have been killed in the explosion in Nashville. DNA tests on human remains found at the scene are being conducted to determine if they belong to the suspect or to someone else https://t.co/FCZdy13a6b
(informationliberation) – Leaked video obtained by The Intercept shows Joe Biden warning Black civil rights leaders that America is “doomed” with Whites on track to become a minority “by 2040” if Blacks don’t “start working more with Hispanics, who make up a larger portion of the population than y’all do.”
“If we cannot make significant progress on racial equity, this country is doomed,” Biden said. “It is doomed.”
“Not just because of African-Americans, but because by 2040 this country is going to be minority White European,” Biden continued. “You hear me? Minority White European. And you guys are going to have to start working more with Hispanics, who make up a larger portion of the population than y’all do.”
The Zoom meeting took place on Dec 8th.
[Embed starts at 1:14:10]
The entire audio is well worth listening to after the 1:14:10 mark as it gives an idea of what Biden is planning for his presidency.
For one, Biden said he’s planning to undo all of Trump’s executive orders but will not consider signing any executive orders to ban assault weapons.
Biden also said he wants to appeal to Trump’s 75 million voters but not by “giving them anything.”
He spent a lot of time drawing parallels between White Trump supporters and the Ku Klux Klan and suggested he was planning to use the bully pulpit to harass White Trump supporters for their “racism” as though they’re KKK members.
Biden also said he got a call from the Pope to congratulate him on his victory and the Pope told him that “the most important thing you have to do is deal with racism.”
He talked about the deluge of biracial couples in commercials as a sign of progress and an indicator of where society is heading.
“Fifteen years ago could you turn on the television and see three or four out of seven commercials be biracial commercials?”
“You want to know where society’s going?” Biden said. “Watch entertainment, watch the profit motive.”
“Why are these commercials, so many of them biracial? The young generation is changing, they’re demanding more, they don’t come with the baggage — maybe 10, 20, 25 percent of them are pure racists, who knows — but the vast majority, the vast majority, are not at all where when I was coming up.”
It was interesting to hear Biden talking so forthright. Unlike Trump, he’s coming with a plan. Unfortunately, his plan is terrible and as he said, “this country is doomed.”
(breitbart) – Wednesday on Fox News Channel’s “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” host Tucker Carlson warned the same leadership that has brought woes to California is coming to Washington, D.C. in the form of Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.
According to Carlson, California officials were using race tensions as a way to distract from the shortcomings of that governance.
Transcript as follows:
CARLSON: We make a lot of fun of the State of California on this show, you may have noticed, but we’re not really joking. California matters and not just because it’s our biggest state. What happens there is at some point almost certain to happen where you live.
Find a national trend that didn’t begin in California. There may be some, but there aren’t many. So if you want to know the future, or if you want to prevent it, look west. California is a roadmap for the rest of us and very often warning.
With that in mind, here is the bottom line on California. It’s falling apart.
Over the course of just the last several decades, California has gone from one of the richest places in the world to the poorest state in our country. More than a third of California’s population now hovers around the poverty line.
Even before COVID, over four million Californians were collecting food stamps. More than 150,000 people in California are homeless. They are everywhere. They’re living on the streets, in parks, under overpasses, in tents on the sidewalk.
Here’s Los Angeles just last month.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): The homeless crisis in Los Angeles is getting worse local say with some encampments so big residents call them McMansion Tents. They’re driving away businesses, too; many of which are already struggling financially because of the pandemic.
This comes as the city sees a spike in violence with a 32% increase in shootings since last year. While police say financial stress from the pandemic is largely to blame, some criticize the leaders for once again being unable to control the issue.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: California didn’t always look this way, even recently. This is a human tragedy. It wasn’t caused by God or nature. It was caused by the selfishness and the stupidity of bad leaders and their bad policies.
If these leaders were judged by their performance, what they do, no big city politician in the State of California would have a job tonight. They know that, so they are working hard to make certain they’re not judged by those standards — rational standards.
Instead, they inflame racial wounds to try to keep the population distracted and divided, to keep the attention away from them and their failures.
Here, for example, is the shamefully incompetent mayor of Los Angeles, Eric Garcetti, just this summer.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR ERIC GARCETTI (D), LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: When I talked about killers, I said, our collective — our collective burden here in this society is that we let black men and women die. I pointed at myself, we collectively have a choice of whether we will be those who heal or whether we will continue being the killers.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: Yes. Whenever they start talking about collective responsibility, you know what they are really saying is, take the gaze away from me. It’s not my fault.
Garcetti wasn’t more specific when he talked about, we, the killers. It turns out there are killers in his city. They’re not collective. They’re individuals. They’re criminals. And there are a lot of them.
Under Eric Garcetti, crime in Los Angeles has skyrocketed and many innocent people have died as the result of that. But he is not mourning that. He is not giving speeches in their memory or apologizing for the policies he supported that led to their deaths, and neither by the way, is the city’s new head prosecutor, a man called George Gascon.
Gascon was elected with the backing of George Soros. Soros was the single largest donor to his campaign. He wouldn’t be the District Attorney without George Soros. And so George Gascon has, from his very first day in office done the bidding of his backer, Soros.
He has now announced he will be using the pretext of COVID to release still more criminals into the City of Los Angeles. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AL SHARPTON, MSNBC HOST: Do you have a plan of giving priority in terms of vaccinations in the LA County correctional facilities?
GEORGE GASCON, DISTRICT ATTORNEY, LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: I don’t control the vaccination. But the point that we do have is we’re working to you know, expeditiously release as many people as we can, especially those who have been proven to be at high risk, vulnerable people and obviously people that are not a threat to society.
So we are going to try to remove as many people from that confinement. Justice is really about public health and keeping our community safe.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: Oh, OK. So there’s the Soros puppet giving us a lecture on what justice means. Justice is not punishing the guilty, keeping the dangerous away from your children, it is not about enforcing laws. No, justice is making certain that criminals get critical government services before you do, before your parents do.
And that right there, that piece of tape and the attitude behind it distills the emerging politics of California, politics that you should be deeply afraid of, because when they come to your town, they’ll wreck your life.
And if we were to put it in one sentence, it’s this: those who contribute the least get the most. Got it? But don’t you dare complain about it, shut up and hate yourself in silence. That’s an order.
Meanwhile, California’s elected leaders divide the spoils. That’s their job: taking what other people built, giving it to themselves and to their supporters. And they divide the spoils, as is now official policy in the State of California in the most divisive, immoral possible way, along lines of color.
Here is Congresswoman Maxine Waters explaining what kind of person Governor Gavin Newsom should pick to replace Kamala Harris in the United States Senate.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. MAXINE WATERS (D-CA): He has a decision that he has to make, and I think that it will be a black woman. I think he understands that, you know, when Kamala Harris leaves, you know, the Senate, that’s only one black woman who was serving, and certainly it would be, you know, kind of, you know, unfair not to have at least another black woman replace her.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: This really is the high point of stupidity in this country’s history. Who cares what color your senators are, who cares what gender they are, you want good government, you want wise competent people in charge of the country, but that’s not what you’re getting because those aren’t the criteria.
In the end, you should know the Governor of California, Gavin Newsom appointed a man called Alex Padilla to replace Kamala Harris in the Senate. And when he did, no one debated whether Padilla might be a good senator, whether he might improve the schools or lower the cost of housing or brings bring jobs back. Instead, they argued about his race. That was the only thing they cared about.
Here’s the mayor of San Francisco, London Breed, who by the way is an utter buffoon, most famous not for improving San Francisco, but for defying her own lockdown orders in order to dine at the French Laundry in Napa.
Here’s that person explain that Padilla is a bad choice, because he is the wrong color.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR LONDON BREED (D), SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA: When you think about the history of this country, and the challenges that exist for African-Americans, especially African-American women in the Senate, definitely, this is a real, you know, blow to the African-American community, to African-American women, to women in general. It was definitely a surprise.
And it’s an unfortunate situation as we are trying to move this country forward and making sure that black lives truly matter.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: OK, so you have been a terrible mayor, you have hurt the city, which again, you did not build, you didn’t make San Francisco an impressive place that people wanted to move to. You made it worse. So you’ve disqualified yourself from any comment on government ever for the rest of your life. That’s the first thing.
The second thing is, the rest of us who sit by and let people say things like this on television without thinking and saying, whoa, wait a second, color and gender are irrelevant to good government. Thinking that way is poison. We’re not putting up with this garbage anymore.
We’re implicated in the destruction of the country if we sit back and let decisions get made along those lines. It’s such a destructive sideshow.
Meanwhile, the physical reality, the State of California, which is an actual place with tens of millions of actual people, 40 million, our most beautiful state, our most economically important state falls apart. No one is paying any attention because they are debating the color of the new senator.
But the electrical grid is failing. The power flickers on and off like a third world country. The state’s forests are so mismanaged, they keep catching fire and burning uncontrollably.
Climate change isn’t doing that, bad management is doing that.
Women — we care about women, really? Because women can’t jog in public parks for fear of being attacked by the mentally ill homeless. Does anyone care about them? No.
And for the privilege of all of this, for living in a state that’s literally collapsing around them, the residents of California pay the highest and the most burdensome taxes in the country. So guess what people who can are doing? You know the answer, they are leaving.
California’s largest export used to be advanced aerospace products. That was the economy of Southern California, that and the movies. They’re all gone now. Now, the state’s main export is population.
More than 40% of Bay Area residents tell pollsters they want to leave. Really? And that’s one of the happiest places in the state. And it’s no wonder the average rent price in a one-bedroom apartment in San Francisco fell 20% in the last year. Why is that? Because no one wants to live there.
The most recent estimates show that California lost more than 135,000 people in the last year. Among those people, by the way, is Kamala Harris. She’s in Washington now, your capital, and she is bringing California-style governance to the rest of us. You should pay attention to that.
(breitbart) – Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse (R) released a short statement bashing President Donald Trump for exercising his constitutional right as president to grant pardons and commute sentences to 29 individuals.
The entire statement from his office said:
U.S. Senator Ben Sasse released the following statement after President Trump exercised his constitutional power to issue pardons to another tranche of felons like Manafort and Stone who flagrantly and repeatedly violated the law and harmed Americans.
‘This is rotten to the core.’
Trump on Wednesday pardoned 26 individuals, including 2016 campaign advisers Paul Manafort, Roger Stone, and George Papadopoulos, who were investigated by the FBI as part of its probe into the Russian collusion hoax but convicted on charges completely unrelated to collusion. Trump also commuted part or all of the sentences for three additional Americans.
One of the individuals Trump pardoned was Topeka Sam. Sam served three years of a 130-month sentence she received in 2012 after pleading guilty to a conspiracy to process and distribute cocaine, but has since dedicated her life to helping other women towards a path of redemption and founding Ladies of Hope Ministries.
Sasse’s statement refers to those pardoned as a “tranche of felons.”
In October, Sasse reportedly held a call with his Nebraska constituents and slammed Trump, saying he “mishandled the coronavirus response, ‘kisses dictators’ butts,’ ‘sells out our allies,’ spends ‘like a drunken sailor,’ mistreats women, and trash-talks evangelicals behind their backs,” according to the Washington Examiner. According to the Examiner, he is a potential 2024 presidential hopeful.
Sasse also incorrectly predicted a “blue tsunami” on Election Day — despite historic turnout for a Republican president as well as big gains in the House for Republicans.
Trump criticized Sasse as a “RINO” in August, after Sasse bashed him for issuing executive orders to halt the government’s collection of payroll tax and provide $400 federal unemployment checks to Americans.
As Breitbart News reported, Sasse said in a statement: “The pen-and-phone theory of executive lawmaking is unconstitutional slop…President Trump does not have the power to unilaterally rewrite the payroll tax law.”
Trump tweeted:
RINO Ben Sasse, who needed my support and endorsement in order to get the Republican nomination for Senate from the GREAT State of Nebraska, has, now that he’s got it (Thank you President T), gone rogue, again. This foolishness plays right into the hands of the Radical Left Dems!
(breitbart) – The Pentagon lost track of nearly $1 billion in military hardware in the fiscal year 2020, including equipment for Syrians fighting the remnants of the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) and over 100 drones in Afghanistan, home to one of the largest concentrations of terrorist groups in the world, an annual government waste report Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) released on Wednesday revealed.
Paul’s assessment came after President Donald Trump blasted the $900 billion coronavirus relief bill as a “disgrace,” urging lawmakers to change the size of the stimulus payments to Americans from $600 per-individual payments to $2,000 and $4,000 per couple.
Citing appropriations for foreign governments when Americans are facing money troubles due to the relentless Chinese coronavirus, Trump criticized the relief bill as filled with unrelated provisions and “wasteful” spending.
The relief bill is attached to a $1.4 trillion omnibus spending bill to keep the federal government operating until next October.
Paul’s report, which focuses on the fiscal year 2020 (September 1, 2019, through October 30, 2020), noted the U.S. government wasted tens of billions in taxpayer funds while Americans suffered from the economic downfall from the pandemic.
I’ll throw in a new wrinkle this year because SO MANY people are joining in with my grievances that I want to highlight how the word is spreading — your government is out of control, and a LOT of us have grievances.
Overall, Paul found the feds wasted over $54 billion on spraying alcoholic rats with bobcat urine ($4.5 million) and walking lizards on a treadmill (more than $1.5 million) as Americans reeled from the economic downturn fueled by the pandemic.
The assessment from Paul, a member of the Senate Committees on Foreign Relations and the Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs, indicated that some of the wasteful spending might threaten the United States’ security.
Pentagon officials “potentially lost up to $715,800,000 in equipment designated for Syrians fighting ISIS,” Paul wrote,
Among the lost equipment were “4,144 Category II weapons (sensitive weapons), such as machine guns and grenade launchers,” the report noted,
It suggested the military equipment likely ended in the hands of the enemy in Syria, where both ISIS and its rival, al-Qaeda, maintain a presence.
“The United States has a bad habit of giving materiel to people unwilling or unable to keep hold of it and worse, it often falls into the hands of bad actors,” Paul added in the report.
Jihadis in Syria are not the only ones who may have benefitted from Pentagon negligence regarding military equipment accounting.
The Afghan Taliban has been able to get their hands on high-tech weapons like night vision goggles and lasers stolen from the U.S.-led coalition and local forces or purchased on the black market.
Paul’s report noted that Pentagon carelessness has made it easier for the Afghan narco-terrorist group to get their hands on powerful weapons.
The Taliban is not the only player in Afghanistan. According to the Pentagon, the region is home to one of the largest concentrations of terrorist and extremist groups globally, including ISIS and al-Qaeda.
In the report, Rand wrote:
Most recently, the Department of Defense (DOD) hit another speed bump, when it spent $174,000,000 on contracts to provide drones to the ANA [Afghan National Army], drones which the ANA couldn’t, and didn’t, use enough to make the acquisition cost-effective before DOD and its contractor literally lost track of the drones.
Corrupt U.S.-backed Afghan forces are known to sell American taxpayer-funded weapons to the Taliban.
An unnamed senior American official warned the U.S. Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), a watchdog organization, “U.S. officials have had concerns about a ScanEagle [drone] system [in question] falling into the wrong hands and potentially becoming weaponized,” the government waste report said,
As of late July 2020, “it appears neither DOD nor the ANA can say with certainty where each [drone] vehicle is currently located.”
U.S. enemy Iran is known to work with the Taliban.
Although the U.S. military annihilated ISIS’s territorial caliphate, the group maintains a menacing presence in Syria, where its rival al-Qaeda also operates.
Iran’s terrorist proxy group, the mainly Shiite Popular Mobilization Forces/Units (PMF/U) fighting ISIS, obtained the U.S.-provided M1 Abrams tanks the Iraqi army abandoned. PMF fighters have been targeting U.S. troops and assets in Iraq. They may be behind Sunday’s attack on the U.S. embassy in Baghdad.
(breitbart) – Both Democrat Senate hopefuls Rev. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff are leading the Republican incumbents in Georgia’s upcoming runoff, a SurveyUSA election poll released this week found.
This week’s survey showed Ossoff increasing his lead over Sen. David Perdue from an identical survey taken three weeks ago, jumping from a two-point lead to a five-point lead, or 51 percent to 46 percent.
Warnock, on the other hand, leads Sen. Kelly Loeffler by seven percentage points, with the results remaining the same as they did in the same poll released three weeks ago.
Three percent remain decided in each race.
The survey, taken December 16-20 among 600 likely runoff voters, has a margin of error of +/- 5.1 percent, bringing Ossoff’s lead within the margin.
The survey coincides with an RMG Research survey, which pointed to tight races in Georgia, with the GOP incumbents and their Democrat challengers statistically tied:
Vice President-elect Kamala Harris traveled to the Peach State on Monday to stump for the Democrat challengers as the direction of the U.S. Senate hangs in the balance, hinging on the outcome of the runoff. Duel victories for Democrats would result in a split Senate, giving the power to the party in control of the Oval Office.
“You know 2020’s been a difficult year. 2020’s been rough. You know people keep making jokes about 2020, like we want this thing to be over. But you know what? As far as I’m concerned Georgia, Columbus, 2020 ain’t over until January 5th,” Harris told the crowd on Monday, adding that “everything is at stake” and expressing confidence that Democrats will show up to the polls and deliver another victory to the Democrats on January 5:
(informationliberation) – President Trump made good on his threats on Wednesday and vetoed the “America Last” National Defense Authorization Act which gives $38 billion from struggling US taxpayers to Israel, blocks the president from bringing troops home from the Middle East and erases our nation’s history.
The horrendous bill was passed with veto-proof, bipartisan majorities in the House and Senate and Mitch McConnell is already planning to bring the Senate back on Dec 29 to try and ensure it passes anyway, as The Hill reports :
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) announced early Tuesday morning that the Senate will return to Washington on Dec. 29 to respond to a potential veto from President Trump of a mammoth defense bill.
[…] Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who has aligned closely with Trump and tried to slow-walk the defense bill earlier this month, indicated Monday he could similarly delay an override vote.
“I very much am opposed to the Afghan war, and I’ve told them I’ll come back to try to prevent them from easily overriding the president’s veto,” Paul told reporters.
Congress has until noon on Jan. 3 to override the veto. If Congress fails to override the veto by then, lawmakers would need to start from scratch on the bill, and it would be the first time in 60 years the bill does not become law.
McConnell is absolutely desperate to cram in a bunch of last “F-yous” to the American people ahead of Georgia’s two Senate runoff elections (if the GOP loses, they’ll probably blame Trump rather than their own despicable actions).
Trump released the following statement announcing his veto on WhiteHouse.gov:
TO THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES:
I am returning, without my approval, H.R. 6395, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 (the “Act”). My Administration recognizes the importance of the Act to our national security. Unfortunately, the Act fails to include critical national security measures, includes provisions that fail to respect our veterans and our military’s history, and contradicts efforts by my Administration to put America first in our national security and foreign policy actions. It is a “gift” to China and Russia.
No one has worked harder, or approved more money for the military, than I have — over $2 trillion. During my 4 years, with the support of many others, we have almost entirely rebuilt the United States military, which was totally depleted when I took office. Your failure to terminate the very dangerous national security risk of Section 230 will make our intelligence virtually impossible to conduct without everyone knowing what we are doing at every step.
The Act fails even to make any meaningful changes to Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, despite bipartisan calls for repealing that provision. Section 230 facilitates the spread of foreign disinformation online, which is a serious threat to our national security and election integrity. It must be repealed.
Additionally, the Act includes language that would require the renaming of certain military installations. Over the course of United States history, these locations have taken on significance to the American story and those who have helped write it that far transcends their namesakes. My Administration respects the legacy of the millions of American servicemen and women who have served with honor at these military bases, and who, from these locations, have fought, bled, and died for their country. From these facilities, we have won two World Wars. I have been clear in my opposition to politically motivated attempts like this to wash away history and to dishonor the immense progress our country has fought for in realizing our founding principles.
The Act also restricts the President’s ability to preserve our Nation’s security by arbitrarily limiting the amount of military construction funds that can be used to respond to a national emergency. In a time when adversaries have the means to directly attack the homeland, the President must be able to safeguard the American people without having to wait for congressional authorization. The Act also contains an amendment that would slow down the rollout of nationwide 5G, especially in rural areas.
Numerous provisions of the Act directly contradict my Administration’s foreign policy, particularly my efforts to bring our troops home. I oppose endless wars, as does the American public. Over bipartisan objections, however, this Act purports to restrict the President’s ability to withdraw troops from Afghanistan, Germany, and South Korea. Not only is this bad policy, but it is unconstitutional. Article II of the Constitution makes the President the Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States and vests in him the executive power. Therefore, the decision regarding how many troops to deploy and where, including in Afghanistan, Germany, and South Korea, rests with him. The Congress may not arrogate this authority to itself directly or indirectly as purported spending restrictions.
For all of these reasons, I cannot support this bill. My Administration has taken strong actions to help keep our Nation safe and support our service members. I will not approve this bill, which would put the interests of the Washington, D.C. establishment over those of the American people. It is my duty to return H.R. 6395 to the House of Representatives without my approval.
DONALD J. TRUMP
THE WHITE HOUSE,
December 23, 2020.
I wish he started vetoing these bills three years ago but it’s better late than never.
As I noted Monday, the consolidated appropriations package/copyright extortion/COVID bailout screwjob that congress rammed through to mass outrage from the American people also contains an additional $500,000,000 for Israel.
— Walker Bragman moved to Threads and BlueSky (@WalkerBragman) December 21, 2020
Israel currently holds $53.3 billion in US treasuries which they purchased with our money and now lend back to us with interest.
Many Americans don’t realize the billions in foreign aid we’re sending to countries like Egypt and Sudan are payoffs to those countries for normalizing relations with Israel.
Hopefully, Trump will veto all these bills and force the traitors occupying our congress to go on record a second time f***ing us all over!
