KILL THE BILL:
There are two provisions buried in the CR that Congress is trying to slip by.
A pay increase for members of Congress from $174,000 to $243,000 per year.
Also, members of Congress are receiving an opt out from being required to use Obamacare pic.twitter.com/kWvwAgx0GD
— Wall Street Mav (@WallStreetMav) December 18, 2024
However much contempt you have for Congress, it isn’t enough.
I’M SHOCKED THAT COLORADO DIDN’T EVEN MAKE THE TOP FIVE: And the Award for the State With the Worst Drivers in the Nation Goes To…
Last week, the Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) notified America First Legal (AFL) that American Airlines has agreed to abandon the discriminatory employment practices AFL outlined in its federal civil rights complaint against the company. The airline acknowledged that recruiting and hiring based on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) violates federal laws and equal employment opportunities.
On January 17, 2024, AFL filed a complaint against American Airlines with the OFCCP, requesting an immediate investigation into the airline for non-compliance with federal contracting requirements. Despite receiving over $140 million in federal government contracts since 2008 and promising in accordance with Executive Order 11246 that it will not discriminate in hiring, promotion, or employee training because of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin, American Airlines has explicitly engaged in race and sex discrimination in hiring programs, Cadet Academy recruitment, and promotional processes.
On December 13, 2024, the OFCCP held an informal compliance conference with American Airlines in accordance with 41 CFR §60-1.24 (c) (2) to address the allegations detailed in AFL’s complaint. OFCCP’s investigation indicated a violation of the equal opportunity clause, requiring a compliance conference with American Airlines to resolve the matter. Following the compliance conference with OFCCP, American Airlines acknowledged and agreed to end its illegal race and sex-based discrimination in hiring and promotional practices.
The part where it’s illegal seems like kind of a big deal.
WELL, THEY ASKED FOR THEM: You’re Not Going to Believe How Many Illegal Aliens Reside in Sanctuary Cities. “Although there is much imprecision in the data, the bottom line is that close to eight million illegal aliens, equaling 56 percent of the estimated nationwide total, live in sanctuary jurisdictions.”
Ought to make them easier to find.
BILL WHITTLE: Crazy Joe’s Discount Pardon Warehouse.
DISPATCHES FROM WEIMAR AMERICA: 41 percent of young voters find killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO acceptable.
I’VE SEEN THE LOCKDOWNS AND THE DAMAGE DONE:
Really important, deeply researched new @BrookingsInst paper showing that the huge 2020-2022 homicide surge began in April 2020, before the Floyd murder and unrest weeks later, suggesting that pandemic stress and closures played a major role, even before onset of "Floyd effect." pic.twitter.com/ThVLwwQy65
— Alec MacGillis (@AlecMacGillis) December 17, 2024
Full Brookings study here.
YOU DON’T SAY: Economist: Government Spending Spurred Inflation.
WOEING: Boeing’s Failed Plea Deal: What Happens Next. “Months after the Department of Justice (DOJ) offered Boeing a plea deal to avoid criminal fraud charges, a U.S. judge threw a curveball in the case, rejecting the deal after taking issue with a ‘diversity and inclusion’ provision in selecting a monitor to supervise the company’s safety practices, along with how the court would participate in that process.”
More:
O’Connor wrote in a Dec. 5 order that he had concerns about a diversity and inclusion provision in Boeing’s plea deal with the DOJ. He targeted a single sentence in the plea agreement that referenced the DOJ’s diversity policy in selecting an independent monitor to monitor Boeing’s safety compliance practices.
“In a case of this magnitude, it is in the utmost interest of justice that the public is confident this monitor selection is done based solely on competency,” O’Connor wrote. “The parties’ DEI efforts only serve to undermine this confidence in the Government and Boeing’s ethics and anti-fraud efforts.”
Shawn Pruchnicki, aviation safety expert and assistant professor at Ohio State University’s Center for Aviation Studies, said the monitor had an “amazingly important task” of supervising the company’s safety compliance practices.
“I stand fully behind [diversity], but I think many of us in aerospace and certainly in aviation, just like we do on the flight deck … we want someone who is qualified, that can meet the same requirements that we get,” Pruchnicki told The Epoch Times.
You can stand behind DEI or you can stand behind merit but you can’t stand behind both. And if you aren’t standing behind merit, you certainly aren’t promoting safety.
KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Congress Wants Taxpayers to Pick Up More Soap in the Prison Shower. “It would be easy to frame this as solely a post-election revenge play on the part of Schumer and the Dems, but we all know that Republicans are a big part of the problem.”
UNEXPECTEDLY:
Bluesky's activity continues to decline. Down ~5 million total likes and ~2 million posts per day since the beginning of December. Total number of accounts followed per day has decreased by ~500k.
(per Bluesky's API) pic.twitter.com/91HYnHee8z
— Tony Kinnett (@TheTonus) December 17, 2024
X is fun again. BlueSky was taken over by the same kinds of people who ruined Twitter in the first place. The results speak for themselves.
Previously: Allow Me to Enlighten You About Your Social Media Problem, Prole.
NOTHING TO SEE HERE, MOVE ALONG: Biden advisors used insecure pseudonymous email accounts to brief him on sensitive foreign policy.
New email records released by the National Archives show then-Vice President Joe Biden was briefed about sensitive foreign policy matters by then-advisor Antony Blinken on his private email account, including details about a failed North Korean missile launch.
Joe Biden, now president, first faced scrutiny about potential private accounts after emails contained on Hunter Biden’s infamous laptop showed the then-vice president in the Obama administration was using an email address with a pseudonym to communicate about business and official matters with his son, other family members, and senior staff.
One new email, part of several batches released by the National Archives pursuant to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit shows that in the hours following a North Korean missile launch in April 2012, Blinken—who was then Biden’s national security advisor—sent a message to the vice president’s private email account “” with details about the sensitive national security matter.
Google — at the very least — was reading Biden’s emails.
FROM HER ROLE AS EDITH WILSON? Jill Biden Announces She’s Retiring — and the Punchline Writes Itself.
HISTORY: German Archaeological Find Sheds Light on Christianity’s Spread Into Europe. “Incredibly, the text represents the oldest known evidence of Christianity north of the Alps, dating back to between 230 and 270 AD, scientists say.”
FAR OUT: No tripping outside: Denver proposes local psilocybin rules.
Cities can make certain decisions about the psilocybin industry, but they can’t outlaw it completely, according to the new state law.
“We can enact an ordinance, regulations, governing time, place and manner about the operation of natural medicine licenses. But where we are limited with our authority is that we cannot prohibit the establishment or operation of natural medicine licenses. We can’t prohibit the transportation of natural medicine through Denver by licensed persons,” Soisson said.
Erica Rogers, also of the excise and licensing department, said the city wanted to be careful with how it enforced the psilocybin laws.
“We acknowledge that the impacts of criminal enforcement of drug laws has historically had negative impacts on marginalized and specific communities, and so we want to be intentional about how we address risks related to natural medicine in our community,” she said.
The proposal is expected to go to the Denver City Council for approval by February, and license applications will be accepted soon after.
Once again, the Denver-Boulder Axis forces its insanity on the sane parts of the state.
CONSIDERING STEPHANOPOULOS’S UNINTERRUPTED CAREER AS A DEMOCRAT PARTY HACK, THAT’S THE WAY TO BET: The Secrets of ABC News: Did They Pay $15 Million to Hide Something Even Worse?
LAST WEEK: Canada says it will respond robustly if US imposes tariffs. “In the event that the United States were to impose unjustified tariffs on Canada, of course we would respond, and the Canadian response would necessarily be robust. I am confident that it would be effective,” Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said on Friday.
This week: Canada announces new border funding after Trump tariff threat.
Freeland — “Justin Trudeau’s chief lieutenant throughout his tenure as Canada’s prime minister” — resigned yesterday, “citing differences over how to confront President-elect Donald Trump,” and, to be fair, that new border funding might eventually prove to be “robust” and “effective.”
ANALYSIS: TRUE. Very Respectfully, ‘White Privilege’ Is a Steaming Load of Crap.
THIS IS THE DEEP STATE:
The Biden Admin paid Reuters over $300 million in government contracts. 11 different Biden government agencies targeted Elon's businesses. All 11 agencies paid millions to Reuters. Reuters then won the Pulitzer Prize for "their work on Elon Musk and misconduct at his businesses" pic.twitter.com/3IGGtuHv7L
— Mike Benz (@MikeBenzCyber) December 17, 2024
The DOGE boys have their work cut out for them.
LET THE CARDS FALL WHERE THEY MAY: FBI to Investigate Liz Cheney Over J6 Witness Tampering?
IT’S A MILESTONE FOR ARGENTINA, TOO: Argentina’s economy exits recession in milestone for Javier Milei.
GDP expanded 3.9 per cent from July to September in seasonal-adjusted terms compared with the previous quarter, marking Argentina’s first quarter of growth since it entered recession in late 2023, the country’s statistics agency said on Monday.
Compared with the same period in 2023, GDP for the third quarter fell 2.1 per cent.
The rebound comes as Milei marks one year in office, during which time he has unleashed brutal spending cuts and a fierce deregulation drive.
The programme has brought down the country’s triple-digit annual inflation and made the libertarian one of the most prominent leaders of the global right, winning glowing endorsements from the likes of US President-elect Donald Trump and one of his closest advisers, billionaire Elon Musk.
Argentina’s sovereign bonds climbed on Monday, with the premium over US Treasuries that investors demand to hold its debt falling 4.4 per cent to 677 basis points, down from more than 2,000 when Milei took office.
Weird how leaders of the “global left” aren’t giving glowing endorsement to a program that’s working wonders for the people of Argentina.
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