Missing Person – Kanieya Murray – From the 1st District

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Elliott-backed Gardant clinches bad loan venture with Italy’s BPER

by Reuters November 28, 2022

By: Reuters

By Valentina Za

MILAN (Reuters) -Italy’s BPER Banca on Monday said it had agreed a partnership with loan manager Gardant, which will team up with state-owned peer AMCO to help the bank offload up to 2.5 billion euros ($2.6 billion) in bad debts.

BPER was the only major Italian bank to still have full control of its debt recovery operations, which comprise staff dedicated to recouping problem loans and the technology they use.

The accord values the business at 150 million euros. Gardant, controlled by U.S. investment fund Elliott Management Corporation will acquire 70% of the unit, with BPER retaining 30%.

The Gardant-AMCO duo trumped rival bids by Sweden’s Intrum, Davidson Kempner-owned Prelios and Softbank-backed doValue.

Reuters in May was first to report that Gardant had teamed up with AMCO in the hard fought deal for BPER’s division.

Banks normally offload the recovery units at a profit which they use to offset the hit from simultaneous bad loan disposals.

BPER is shedding up to 2.5 billion euros in bad debts as part of the Gardant-AMCO deal.

It said the disposals would have no significant impact on its financial accounts and would cut problem debts to as low as 2.5% of total loans, from 4.2% in September.

By the end of the year, BPER will sell a first 1.5 billion euro bad loan portfolio to AMCO, which is able to bid higher than privately-owned rivals in tenders thanks to lower funding costs.

Under a 10-year management accord, the new Gardant-controlled joint venture will handle part of BPER’s existing bad loans, including some of those which it is selling.

It will also get 90% of all new defaulted loans and 50% of new ‘unlikely-to-pay’ loans – which are not yet in default.

Gardant had struck a similar deal with Banco BPM four years ago.

“Our partnership with Banco BPM has been a great success,” Gardant CEO Mirko Briozzo said.

“This deal brings our assets under management (AUM) to around 42 billion euros, turning us into a leading industry player in terms of volumes and collections,” he added.

Gardant had 19.9 billion euros in AUM at the end of 2021, according to a report by consultancy PwC, compared with market leader doValue’s 75.9 billion euros.

Briozzo said a task force would work in the next few months to get the partnership off the ground and ensure it can soon run at full steam.

Italy became Europe’s biggest market for soured bank loans after its lenders shed almost 200 billion euros in bad debts since a 2015 peak.

KPMG worked with BPER on the deal. Rothschild & Co was Gardant’s financial adviser. ($1 = 0.9538 euros)

(Reporting by Valentina Za and Andrea Mandala; Editing by Agnieszka Flak, Philippa Fletcher and Conor Humphries)

November 28, 2022 0 comments

Police concerned over disappearance of 55-year-old woman in October

by Pamela Rosenthal November 28, 2022

By: Pamela Rosenthal

PHILADELPHIA, PA – The Philadelphia Police Department is seeking the public’s assistance in locating 55-year-old Yvette Preston. The last time she was seen was on Sunday, October 2nd, 2022, at 12:00 p.m., at her residence located in the 100 block of North 63rd St.

She is 5’8″ high, 120 pounds, a medium build, with brown eyes, a dark brown complexion, short black/gray hair, and wears glasses. Yvette may be with her boyfriend “Tony” who lives in the area, but no known address is listed for him.

Anyone with any information on Yvette’s whereabouts is asked to please contact the Southwest Detective Division at 215-686-3183 or 911.

November 28, 2022 0 comments

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China Is Tightening Its Grip In America’s Backyard

by The Daily Caller November 28, 2022

By: The Daily Caller

KIRON SKINNER And MATEO HAYDAR: China Is Tightening Its Grip In America’s Backyard

Kiron Skinner And Mateo Haydar on November 26, 2022

The latest sign that America’s influence in the Western Hemisphere is waning came when Brazilians went to the polls last month and narrowly elected leftist former president Luiz Inacio “Lula” Da Silva over conservative incumbent Jair Bolsonaro by less than 2% of the vote.

For the first time ever, the largest economies in Latin America will now all be governed by progressive politicians who are increasingly hostile to U.S. influence in the hemisphere while embracing economic, political, and military ties to communist China. At least 11 anti-American leaders will now govern countries in the region.

For decades, following the Monroe Doctrine, the United States understood that radical forces backed by the Soviet Union threatened U.S. security and sovereignty in seeking to turn neighbors into client states for a hostile power. Violent Marxist guerrillas like the Sandinistas in Nicaragua or the Shining Path in Peru are cases in point, with both insurgencies now part of ruling coalitions in their countries. But facing a much greater threat with communist China, such concerns appear to be fading in Washington.

Today’s threat is a different one in several ways. China is a well-financed and technologically equipped rival waging economic warfare on the U.S., as an extension of its military and political aggression. In the global south, it is monopolizing access to extractive resources, penetrating public and civil society institutions, and building dual-use facilities like ports and satellite ground stations.

Unlike the Soviets, China is particularly effective in gaining buy-in from autocrats and democrats alike and across ideological variations. For example, the outgoing conservative Bolsonaro government initially tried to curtail Beijing’s “buying [of] Brazil” but was met with an aggressive pro-China lobby that pushed it to make concessions. This included allowing the Chinese state-affiliated telecommunications giant Huawei to bid for sensitive 5G spectrum projects.

To compete in America’s neighborhood, China also counts on the complementary strengths of aggressive allies like Russia and Iran whose presence and threat networks have grown rapidly in Latin America.

Another difference is that the former Soviet-backed political forces of the mid-20th century in Latin America also evolved and adapted. At the tail-end of the Cold War in 1990, Lula and Cuban dictator Fidel Castro founded the São Paulo Forum (SPF), an organizing mechanism to support the radical left’s pursuit of power in the region through elections rather than arms.

Lula and the SPF were key to enabling the leftist “pink tide” at the turn of the century, including the elections of Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez in 1998 and Lula in 2002. The left adapted its tone and its means to become a potent electoral force.

But while much has changed and important differences exist among the latest wave of elected leaders, the notion that the United States’ position and influence in the hemisphere should be revised and countered remains a central tenet to most (if not all) of the newly elected leftist leaders.

The new bloc of leftist leaders will soon elect a new president of the Inter-American Development Bank, one that is now less likely to impede China’s outsized influence in the bank. The U.S. is the bank’s largest donor with over 30% of shares compared to China’s paltry 0.004% contribution. Despite this, China is the bank’s top recipient of co-financing, top non-borrower recipient, and top procurement recipient.

Similarly, the new leaders will likely revive and strengthen regional multilateral bodies that exclude U.S. participation while engaging with China and Russia, like the “Union of South American Nations” (UNASUR) and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC). Both were promoted by Lula and Chavez in the early 2000’s. CELAC has hosted China’s regular ministerial forums in the Western Hemisphere since 2015.

Concerningly, Lula and his regional counterparts have campaigned on promoting a regional currency in an explicit effort to weaken the U.S. dollar as the world’s dominant reserve currency, which communist China is already doing. This is easier said than done, but it’s still a troubling development.

Even as Beijing works to secure partners across ideological corners, the prospect of a new leftist revisionist bloc led by once-reliable U.S. partners and allies like Brazil, Colombia and Mexico is no minor development.

If the Biden administration is serious about countering China’s imperial pursuits, it urgently needs a new grand strategy amid rapidly shifting geopolitics in its own neighborhood.

Kiron Skinner is a visiting fellow in The Heritage Foundation’s Davis Center for National Security and Foreign Policy. Mateo Haydar is a researcher for Latin America in Heritage’s Allison Center for Foreign Policy Studies.

The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact Daily Caller News Foundation.

KIRON SKINNER And MATEO HAYDAR: China Is Tightening Its Grip In America’s Backyard

Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact [email protected].

November 28, 2022 0 comments

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Early Voting Has Already Begun In Georgia’s Senate Runoff. Here’s How Dems Pulled It Off

by The Daily Caller November 28, 2022

By: The Daily Caller

JASON SNEAD: Early Voting Has Already Begun In Georgia’s Senate Runoff. Here’s How Dems Pulled It Off

Jason Snead on November 26, 2022

Georgians have many reasons to be grateful this Thanksgiving, but a runoff election free from partisan lawsuits is not one of them. Amid its contentious campaign between Democrat Sen. Raphael Warnock and GOP challenger Herschel Walker, Georgia Democrats called in Marc Elias — the lawyer behind the 2016 Russia collusion hoax — to force Georgia to allow an extra day of early voting on the Saturday following Thanksgiving.

Elias shopped around for an activist judge likely to grant him an easy win, and he found one. The GOP eventually appealed, but the day before Thanksgiving the Georgia Supreme Court refused to block the lower court’s opinion.

That’s a disappointing outcome that sets aside the black-and-white text of the law. As the Honest Elections Project pointed out in our brief, Georgia’s election code clearly states that if the second Saturday before the runoff election follows a Thursday or Friday public holiday, early voting should not take place on that Saturday.

The provision is meant to give election workers an extra day off over Thanksgiving weekend. After working long hours for weeks during the midterms, Georgia’s election workers have surely earned it.

The impact on Georgia voters, meanwhile, was minimal. Voting in Georgia is easy, as the midterm election proved. For the runoffs, the law guarantees Georgians a minimum of five days to vote, and everyone can vote by mail or on Election Day.

With so much riding on the outcome of the Senate runoff, Georgia Democrats are looking for every edge. That’s why Marc Elias’s lawsuit did not seek to compel early voting statewide on Nov. 26, but to simply allow it.

That’s a distinction with a difference. Elias’s bet was that big, metropolitan counties such as Fulton County, which contains Atlanta, would be far more likely to have the resources to pull off last-minute holiday voting. Rural, less-populated counties, on the other hand, would be far less likely to be able to pull off the extra day of voting, especially with little notice.

So far, that bet seems to be paying off. Major counties which heavily favored Warnock in the Nov. 8 Midterm election have overwhelmingly embraced the extra day of runoff voting. Comparatively few conservative counties, representing a far smaller subset of the state’s population, have followed suit.

The bottom line: Elias is grabbing a bonus day of voting that Democratic counties are disproportionately taking advantage of.

Partisan tactics like this one are nothing new for the former top lawyer of Hilary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign.

After 2020, Elias tried to overturn election results in two U.S. House races lost by Democrats, and this year fought mightily to keep North Carolina’s Green Party off the ballot in order to deny progressive Tar Heel voters an alternative to voting Democratic.

Now, Elias has brought his partisan antics to Georgia. Before filing suit he helped concoct an absurd narrative that a defunct holiday that once celebrated Robert E. Lee justified rewriting the state’s laws for partisan gain. And he is touting his case on twitter as a victory for voting access, when in truth his motives appear far more cynical–and desperate.

After all, Georgia Republicans bested Democrats in early voting this year. The midterms saw record early voter turnout, with more than 2.5 million Georgians casting ballots by mail or early in person. Gov. Brian Kemp won the early vote before crushing the Election Day vote and cruising to reelection.

The same occurred in Florida, where early voter turnout heavily favored Republicans and the GOP carried counties that had not gone red in decades.

Early in the runoff, Gov. Kemp reportedly put his team at Walker’s disposal. It is no mystery, then, why Georgia Democrats would fear a fair fight, and instead call in Elias to stack the deck. No amount of smug tweeting to the contrary can make Elias’s strategy any less transparently partisan.

Soon, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear a case that could curb Elias’s partisan electioneering for good. If the Court rules in that case that lawmakers, not judges, write the laws that govern how elections are conducted, Elias’s opportunities for mischief will be significantly curtailed. Until then, every state is vulnerable to the antics now unfolding in Georgia.

For the sake of our democracy, progressives should stop trying to win elections in the courts. After all, voters deserve fair and honest elections with rules that make it easy to vote and hard to cheat.

Jason Snead is the Executive Director of Honest Elections Project Action.

The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.

JASON SNEAD: Early Voting Has Already Begun In Georgia’s Senate Runoff. Here’s How Dems Pulled It Off

November 28, 2022 0 comments

Augusta, Ga USA - 12 14 20: It`s about us street sign, on the reverse is Black voters matter

STAR PARKER: Republicans Should Be Working Double Time To Secure The Black Vote

Republicans Should Be Working Double Time To Secure The Black Vote

by The Daily Caller November 28, 2022

By: The Daily Caller

Star Parker on November 26, 2022

Among the key headlines from the 2022 election were gains by Republicans among minority voters.

According to the AP VoteCast survey, Republican House candidates got 14% of the black vote, almost twice the 8% of the black vote that Republicans captured in 2020 and 2018.

The difference between the percentage of black votes that Democrats got compared to Republicans was 68 points, compared to a difference of 83 points in the 2020 election and 82 points in 2018.

This was even more pronounced among younger black voters, ages 18-44, where the difference between percentage voting Democrat and Republican was 54 points, compared to 76 points in 2020 and 75 in 2018.

The Republican Party is most aggressively taking root among younger black voters.

Per Pew Research, 28% of black Republicans are ages 18-29, compared to 17% of black Democrats and 10% of white Republicans.

My own sense is that younger blacks are less inclined to think of themselves primarily by race and less inclined to think of their future in terms of racial group identity politics.

Pew Research data shows 58% of black Republicans say that their race is an “extremely or very important” aspect of their personal identity. This compared to 82% of black Democrats.

Twenty one percent of black Republicans, compared to 6% of black Democrats, say their race is of little or no importance to their personal identity.

Also worth noting is that 50% of black Republicans live in lower-income households.

So, in general, black Republicans tend to be younger and poorer.

This makes sense. These younger Black Americans are thinking about their future and have a sense of realism that their future is about their own efforts as opposed to racially driven government programs.

Per Pew, 45% of black Republicans, compared to 21% of black Democrats, are more likely to say that the future of black Americans depends on their own efforts. About half as many black Republicans compared to black Democrats — 44% versus 73% — see racial discrimination as the main barrier to black progress and achievement.

So, change is underway, and this is good news. More in the upcoming generation of black Americans see themselves as the civil rights movement wanted all Black Americans to be seen — as unique individuals.

But this change must be greater and faster to slow and stop the leftward movement of the country.

Per analysis from the Brookings Institution, in 2022, among voters 65+, 76.3% were white; ages 45-54, 68.2% were white; ages 30-44, 62.2% were white; and 18-29, 56% were white.

This demographic snapshot shows the future ethnic profile of the country. It is becoming dramatically less white.

In 2022, 72% of voters were white, and 58% of them voted Republican, accounting for 42% of the overall Republican vote. If the overall profile looked like it does among 18-29 voters, 56% white rather than 72%, with no change in the percentage voting

Republican, 58%, white voters would be delivering 32% of Republican votes rather than 42%.

It should be clear that with the percentage of the American population dramatically shifting to non-white Americans, there must be a corresponding dramatic increase in the percentage of non-white Americans voting for Republicans or we can expect the country to continue to transform to big government and moral relativism.

Despite the improvements, 14% of black voters and 39% of Hispanic voters voting Republican in 2022, this is not enough.

Republicans should be taking a closer look at the positive dynamics driving young blacks to the Republican Party and use this message to reach more minority Americans.

That is, don’t bank your future on racial politics. Every American should be considered a unique individual, personally responsible for their own life.

The job of government is to protect life, liberty, property and the pursuit of happiness for everyone.

Star Parker is president of the Center for Urban Renewal and Education and host of the weekly television show “Cure America with Star Parker.” To find out more about Star Parker and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.

November 28, 2022 0 comments

Conservative Times Pets and Animals Politics

China’s COVID protests weigh on European shares; Airbus tumbles

by Reuters November 28, 2022

By: Reuters

By Sruthi Shankar and Devik Jain

(Reuters) -Europe’s STOXX 600 index fell on Monday, in line with a rout in global markets on economic jitters due to rare protests in China against stringent COVID-19 curbs, while shares of Airbus slid 5.7% on a report the planemaker may delay some jet deliveries.

The pan-European index closed 0.7% lower, slipping from last week’s peak which was the highest in more than three months. [MKTS/GLOB]

Police stopped and searched people at the sites of weekend protests in Shanghai and Beijing, after crowds there and in other Chinese cities demonstrated against stringent COVID-19 measures disrupting lives three years into the pandemic.

China posted record-high COVID-19 infections on Monday, raising worries about the management of the country’s zero-COVID policy and its impact on the world’s second-largest economy.

“A widening of infections could add to supply chain interruptions, with China’s problems spilling into global markets,” Mark Haefele, chief investment officer at UBS Global Wealth Management wrote in a note to clients.

“Social discontent related to zero-COVID adds to execution and implementation risks for the government. We do not expect economic or market headwinds in China to abate significantly over the coming months.”

European oil stocks dipped 1.4% as crude prices fell on worries about the outlook for the world’s biggest crude importer, while China-exposed automakers and luxury, also slipped.

The benchmark STOXX 600 notched its sixth consecutive weekly gain on Friday, marking a recovery of about 15% from its September lows on hopes that the Federal Reserve will shift to smaller interest rate hike amid signs of cooling U.S. economy.

U.S. jobs data later this week might shift expectations around the Fed’s policy move in December, with traders currently anticipating a 50-basis-point rate hike.

Preliminary reading of euro zone inflation for November is due on Wednesday, with the numbers expected to show a slight cooling from the record levels hit in October.

European Central Bank chief Christine Lagarde said inflation has not peaked and it risks turning out even higher than currently expected, hinting at a series of interest rate hikes ahead.

Credit Suisse’s shares dropped 4.2% to log a record closing low, while the cost of insuring its debt against default rose as the Swiss bank struggled to win over rattled investors following an exodus of client cash and with more litigation on the horizon.

Brenntag SE tumbled 9.7% after the German chemicals distributor said it held preliminary discussions for a potential acquisition with U.S. rival Univar Solutions Inc.

Airbus slid 5.7% after Reuters reported the planemaker may delay planned delivery dates of some medium-haul aircraft in 2023 even as it races to meet delivery targets for 2022 in the face of supply chain and labour problems.

(Reporting by Sruthi Shankar and Devik Jain in Bengaluru; Editing by Uttaresh.V, Sherry Jacob-Phillips and David Gregori)

November 28, 2022 0 comments

Old man and a little cute dog sitting and resting on bench on October 05,

Climate Alarmists Have Set Their Sights On A New Target —Your Dog

by The Daily Caller November 28, 2022

By: The Daily Caller

RICK WHITBECK: Climate Alarmists Have Set Their Sights On A New Target —Your Dog

Rick Whitbeck on November 25, 2022

Even man’s best friend is not safe from the climate alarmism.

Not if you believe a recent CNN column opining that dogs, cats and other domestic pets are causing irreparable harm to the climate. President Harry Truman famously said that if you want a friend in Washington, you should get a dog. The eco-left feels differently.

My fellow Gen Xers will remember vividly that there were two existential threats growing up that could annihilate mankind: nuclear war and acid rain. Future decades expanded the circle of bogeymen to include ozone layer degradation, bioweapons, African killer bees, SARS, financial market collapse and finally COVID, to accompany the ongoing dire threat that human activities are hurtling the globe to losing large swaths of its population from climate catastrophes.

While the level of urgency to “save the planet” has intensified from the doom-and-gloom crowd, so has the level of craziness about how to deal with their villains. From the early warnings of “don’t shower every day,” to today’s eugenics, the cult of the “church of climate change” has become increasingly rabid. Trying to deface iconic works of art is sadly just the start, they’re also trying to deface our way of life.

Scientists — who write the papers funded by eco-idealogues with findings developed so that they can write the next paper funded by eco-idealogues — use any means necessary to scare people. Decades of the sky not falling means only a minute fraction of the public believes the hype, and therefore support extreme positions regarding population control and now, even animal control.

A few years ago, cow flatulence was going to keep the world from achieving its climate goals, so Bessie was targeted for her carbon hoofprint.

That was child’s play compared to the CNN column, recapping a study that immediate action was necessary to stop the pending climate catastrophe. Their solutions? Don’t bring large-breed animals into your home, and no matter the size, feed Fido or Fluffy only insect-based meals.

According to the CNN column, “Their [pets’] meat-heavy diet is the biggest contributor to their carbon pawprints, which requires an abundance of energy, land and water to produce. And the production of pet food emits huge amounts of planet-warming gases … if our furry friends formed a separate country, it would rank 5th in global meat consumption behind China, the US, Brazil and Russia.”

As a pet owner, the thought of sacrificing any of my six dogs — three small-breed and three whose size exceeds 45 pounds apiece — is both laughable and irritating. My girls’ care, feeding, health and exercise is top-notch, and their importance to my family is beyond anything the world would achieve by eliminating the larger three, or replacing the occasional beef or chicken-based treats with a grub, grasshopper or glowworm.

According to the American Veterinary Medical Association, the U.S. has 80 million families owning over 135 million dogs and cats between them. Animals’ unconditional love to those families is immeasurable, and the lessons children learn while taking care of pets provide a foundation for those who become parents to children later in life.

Larger-breed dogs provide emotional support, protect other animals, and are used for transportation and for extending commerce in my home state of Alaska, including the iconic Iditarod sled-dog race each March.

America should reject the anti-dog agenda of the extreme eco-movement. After all, large-breed dogs need love, too.

Rick Whitbeck is the Alaska State Director for Power The Future, a national nonprofit organization that advocates for American energy jobs. Contact him at Daily Caller News Foundation and follow him on Twitter @PTFAlaska.

The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.

RICK WHITBECK: Climate Alarmists Have Set Their Sights On A New Target —Your Dog

November 28, 2022 0 comments

US and World News

US Foods names Flitman CEO

by Reuters November 28, 2022

By: Reuters

(Reuters) – US Foods Holding Corp on Monday named Dave Flitman as its chief executive officer, months after the food distributor’s top boss stepped down following a settlement with activist investor Sachem Head Capital Management.

Flitman, 58, who will also join the board at US Foods, was most recently the CEO at U.S. building products supplier Builders FirstSource Inc. He has also headed Performance Food Group Co’s food service division from 2015 to 2018.

Former US Foods CEO Pietro Satriano exited in May the same day the company settled one of the most high-profile corporate fights this year by appointing three new independent directors to its board as agreed with Sachem Head.

The activist investor had been pushing for changes at Rosemont, Illinois-based US Foods, which has struggled to boost profit margins amid inflation and supply chain disruptions, saying the company’s performance was unsatisfactory.

Sachem Head did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

(Reporting by Deborah Sophia in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)

November 28, 2022 0 comments

MADISON, WISCONSIN USA - JUNE 6: A lesbian couple getting married on the steps of the City County Building after a judge struck down Wisconsin s gay marriage ban on Friday June 6, 2014 in Madison, WI

Same-Sex Marriage Bill Unpopular Among Voters In Predominantly Red States: POLL

Same-Sex Marriage Bill Unpopular Among Voters In Predominantly Red States: POLL

by The Daily Caller November 28, 2022

By: The Daily Caller

Same-Sex Marriage Bill Unpopular Among Voters In Predominantly Red States: POLL

Laurel Duggan on November 25, 2022

Editor’s note: This article has been updated.

American voters in five states, which are predominantly red, are more likely to oppose than support the Respect for Marriage Act that’s under consideration in the Senate, a recent poll found.

The Respect for Marriage Act passed in the House of Representatives in July and is under consideration in the Senate, where it recently passed a procedural hurdle when senators invoked cloture on Nov. 16, bringing it one step closer to a final vote.

The five-state poll surveyed 2,000 likely voters in Indiana, Iowa, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming with a 4.9% margin of error.

Only 41% of voters support the legislation, compared to 47% who oppose it, according to a Heritage Foundation/On Mission poll released Friday.

The legislation would strike down any statutes in the law that define marriage as between a man and a woman as well as provisions that do not require states to recognize same-sex marriages from other states. Opponents of the legislation have warned that it could encourage lawsuits against religious organizations that don’t participate in same-sex marriages and penalize religious organizations.

The bill garnered increased support from Republican senators after it was amended to include a provision protecting religious freedom for faith-based organizations that oppose same-sex marriage.

“These poll results show what most of us, except some lawmakers on Capitol Hill, know intrinsically—the American people do not support weaponizing the power of the state against people of faith,” Kevin Roberts, president of the Heritage Foundation, said in a statement. “These results show that Americans across the board have strong concerns about this unnecessary legislation that the Senate is trying to shove through during a lame-duck session, with the help of several Republican senators on their way out the door.”

Voters’ support for the bill dropped even lower when pollsters said the bill would encourage lawsuits against religious organizations for not participating in gay marriages, would punish faith-based organizations for their religious beliefs through loss of non-profit status and would weaponize the IRS against nonprofits and faith-based organizations, according to the survey.

About half of respondents said they were less likely to support the bill when told of each of these risks.

November 28, 2022 0 comments

Biden Admin Allows Chevron To Pump Oil In Communist Venezuela

Biden Admin Allows Chevron To Pump Oil In Communist Venezuela

by The Daily Caller November 28, 2022

By: The Daily Caller

Biden Admin Allows Chevron To Pump Oil In Communist Venezuela

Jack McEvoy on November 27, 2022

The Treasury Department on Saturday issued Chevron a new license that would allow the massive oil company to pump oil in Venezuela, easing sanctions on the communist country as the price of gas remains elevated.

The license, issued by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), will allow the company to produce oil in Venezuela by taking part in joint ventures with the state-owned oil company Petróleos de Venezuela, according to a Treasury Department press release. The department issued the license after Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and the Unitary Platform, a coalition of opposition parties, agreed to carry out a humanitarian program and pursue talks to hold “free and fair elections.”

“What they’re really trying to do is drive more and more of the U.S. oil industry offshore, into the arms of other countries,” Institute for Energy Research Senior Vice President Dan Kish told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “I don’t blame Chevron … it’s already hard for them to pump oil in the U.S.”

The announcement comes as the Biden administration has taken steps to curtail domestic oil production, attempting to impose a moratorium on new drilling leases, which is currently being contested in federal court.

Kish said that Venezuelan crude oil is “heavier” than the light-sweet shale oil produced in the U.S. and also far less environmentally friendly as it has a high sulfur content; moreover, U.S. refineries are more suited to process heavier crude than oil that is produced in the U.S., making Venezuelan oil valuable to domestic refiners.

“The Venezuelans have the largest proven oil reserves in the world, but it’s very carbon intensive … it’s some of the most carbon-intensive oil,” Kish stated.

The Biden administration’s move to allow Chevron to operate in Venezuela could signal other major oil companies to begin pumping oil in Venezuela once more, according to The Wall Street Journal. The administration proposed easing sanctions on the nation and allowing Chevron to produce oil there after the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries decided to cut oil production by 2 million barrels per day in October.

“The issuance of General License No. 41 means Chevron can now commercialize the oil that is currently being produced from the company’s Joint Venture assets,” the company said in a statement provided to the DCNF. “We are determined to remain a constructive presence in the country and to continue supporting social investment programs aimed at providing humanitarian relief.”

The Treasury Department did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.

November 28, 2022 0 comments

FORMER REP. JASON LEWIS: How The Census Saved The Democrats

How The Census Saved The Democrats

by The Daily Caller November 28, 2022

By: The Daily Caller

Former Rep. Jason Lewis (R-Minn.) on November 27, 2022

If you think the government only has trouble counting ballots, you ought to see what happens when bureaucrats try counting people. Just as self-government depends on honesty at the ballot box, our Republic’s safety valve of “voting with your feet” depends on an honest Census count.

But did we get one in 2020?

I raised the alarm in my new book, “Party Animal, The Truth About President Trump, Power Politics & the Partisan Press,” when I wrote:

Census numbers forecasted that Minnesota was scheduled to lose a congressional seat, right up until “blue state” numbers miraculously shot up in contrast to the usually reliable December estimates.

The Bureau has admitted it “overcounted” Minnesota, which helps explains why DFL Chair Ken Martin giddily touted “the state with both the highest census response rate in the nation at 75.1% and the highest voter turnout in the nation.”

Imagine that.

Understand, had Minnesota and a few other states lost the House seats they were supposed to, representation in the next Congress might have looked entirely different. After all, Republicans easily won the nationwide popular vote in the midterms but underperformed in seats gained.

A blue-state exodus left Democrats in control to elect, state by state, the same number of House members respectively.

Mr. Martin’s Democrat-Farm-Labor party has turned Minnesota into a cold California, with state taxes and crime competing for the top spot. Indeed, while the Twin Cities were setting homicide records, Minnesota was still taxing pensions, Social Security and capital gains with the fourth highest top income tax rate. The state ranks 45th in business climate, according to the Tax Foundation.

Good thing we’ve got great weather.

The result is small business flees while Minnesota’s woke corporate elite becomes more entrenched with the DFL. But workers are leaving too. By the time George Soros’ Open Society Center was funding a “defund the police” ballot initiative in Minneapolis, 15,000 more people had already left the metro.

Statewide, almost 40,000 taxpayers and dependents fled since 2011 with another 13,000 leaving in 2021 alone. Were it not for foreign immigrants, legal and illegal, Minnesota’s population would be in an even greater free fall. Census numbers confirm that the state’s net domestic migration has turned negative.

Ironically, the state’s lower unemployment figures confirm it as well. Minnesota had slightly fewer people employed in 2022 than it did pre-pandemic. There’s nothing “progressive” about a shrinking workforce — or folks dropping out altogether due to an infamously generous welfare state.

Which, by the way, is about to receive even more in federal funds due to errant census numbers that will divvy up a disproportionate share of $1.5 trillion going to overcounted “blue” states over the next 10 years.

Amazingly, none of it made a difference in Minnesota’s calamitous midterm where radical Democrats gained control of every statewide constitutional office along with both legislative chambers. But the wayward Census count might have.

As Hans Von Spakovsky, former Justice Department lawyer and FEC commissioner, notes, the Census Bureau:

Overcounted the population of eight states, all but one of which is a blue state … Minnesota, according to the original census report, would have lost a congressional seat during reapportionment if it had 26 fewer residents; the survey shows the state was overcounted by 216,971 individuals. Similarly, Rhode Island would have lost a seat if the Census Bureau had counted 19,000 fewer residents. It turns out that the state was overcounted by more than 55,000 individuals … Texas and Florida should each have received an additional seat in the House. Rhode Island and Minnesota should each have lost a congressional seat — but didn’t. Colorado was given an additional seat it didn’t deserve.

Indeed, had Minnesota gone from eight House districts to seven, not only would that have affected the electoral college vote, but also the make-up of the state’s congressional delegation. Urban districts might have been combined and suburban ones redrawn in a meaningful fashion.

As it stands, I might be the last Republican elected to Minnesota’s 2nd district.

It is — as I mentioned in a previous newsletter — becoming very difficult to reconcile how voters somehow decided not to throw out the party in power in the 2022 midterm when they’ve consistently done it in past under far more favorable economic circumstances.

Maybe that’s just Minnesota Nice, a misleading euphemism for an upper Midwest “Stockholm syndrome” that has taught enough residents to heartily embrace policies that aren’t in their own interests.

Then again, maybe it’s the “swamp” all over again.

This article was originally published on the author’s Substack page, which can be found here.

Former Congressman Jason Lewis was Minnesota’s Republican nominee for the US Senate in 2020 and is the author of Party Animal, The Truth About President Trump, Power Politics & the Partisan Press.

The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.

November 28, 2022 0 comments

COREY LEWANDOWSKI: Money Isn’t The Only Key To Winning Elections

Money Isn’t The Only Key To Winning Elections

by The Daily Caller November 28, 2022

By: The Daily Caller

Corey Lewandowski on November 27, 2022

As we review the outcomes of the 2022 election season there are many factors to consider. Money raised surely has an impact on electoral success but, candidate recruitment, the economy, that national dialogue and the general disdain from the mainstream media against Republicans all factor into election outcomes as well.

With most of the races finalized we must take this opportunity to look back and try and ascertain what happened and, moving forward, what can be done differently if the GOP wants to grow their slim majority in the House and get to a majority in the U.S. Senate.

That said, who is to blame for the lackluster Republican performance in the midterm elections? It’s easy, and lazy to blame former President Donald Trump. He’s the media’s easy target. They blame him for endorsing the “wrong” candidates, not spending enough of his money to help get them across the finish line, for not campaigning hard enough, etc., etc., etc.

Truth is, the problem is much bigger and deeper than one person. The Democrats have mastered how to harvest votes during what is now election week, month or in some cases multiple months.

The GOP and its leadership has been slow to react to mail in balloting, the lengthy voting schedule that many states have adopted and continue to think that if they “win” on election day it will be enough to propel them to victory … Those days are over.

What is the Republican National Committee’s plan to start winning again? Where was the Red Wave that they predicted. All I heard about was how many doors they knocked on, how many phone calls they made. I don’t care about those arbitrary numbers; I care about winning.

Going back to the “good ol days” of 2016, the GOP had control of the White House, the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives. Since that time, they have lost all three and only in 2022 have they gained (barely) enough seats to take back the House.

It’s time to reevaluate how things have been done from the top down. Not just in a post-mortem autopsy but from the chairman to the lowest level staff. How were the decisions made, who made them and how was donor money spent.

Sure, RNC officials can point to the record amount of money they raised in 2022 — but it’s not all about the money.

It’s about messaging and reminding the American people of what the Republican party stands for — lower taxes, less regulation and personal freedom. The GOP governors around the country who outlined their forward-facing vision for their states won by record margins.

And, in the state of New York where Congressman Lee Zeldin was the Republican candidate, he outlined his vision for the state, and came much closer to winning than most predicted.

While Congressman Zeldin didn’t win, without his efforts in New York, the GOP would not have picked up four congressional seats — enough to give them the majority.

Maybe GOP leaders should be talking to those candidates around the country that won or helped propel others to victory — as opposed to the same political consultants that get rewarded whether they win or lose.

Time to rethink the way it’s always been done — from the top down and start winning again.

Corey Lewandowski is a former Trump 2016 campaign manager and 2020 senior adviser.

The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.

November 28, 2022 0 comments

DEROY MURDOCK: Election Deniers Won Big In The Midterms, But There’s A Catch

Election Deniers Won Big In The Midterms, But There’s A Catch

by The Daily Caller November 28, 2022

By: The Daily Caller

DEROY MURDOCK: Election Deniers Won Big In The Midterms, But There’s A Catch

Deroy Murdock on November 27, 2022

“Election deniers overwhelmingly failed in 2022,” The Independent declared. “The most prominent election-deniers lost their races,” according to Business Insider. The Los Angeles Times crowed: “Liars lose and deniers are denied.”

Don’t believe the hype.

Election deniers scored huge victories on Tuesday, Nov. 8.

True, one of America’s biggest election deniers received the drubbing that President Joe Biden prescribed for those who practice “semi-fascism” and “refuse to accept the results of a free election.”

Georgia Republican Brian Kemp defeated Democrat Stacey Abrams 50.2% to 48.8% in their 2018 governor’s race. She notoriously refused to concede, despite losing by 54,723 votes. “It was not a free and fair election,” Abrams whined. Her semi-fascism may explain Gov. Kemp’s re-match victory: 53.4% to 45.8% or a 299,583-vote margin.

But other election deniers romped. Indeed, some won landslides rivaling those in North Korea.

•“The more we learn about 2016 election [sic] the more ILLEGITIMATE it becomes,” Democratic New York Rep. Hakeem Jeffries wrote Feb. 16, 2018, via Twitter. “America deserves to know whether we have a FAKE President in the Oval Office #RussianInterference.”

Despite peddling repeatedly debunked false claims about President Donald J. Trump’s triumph being made in Moscow, Jeffries beat Republican Yuri Dashevsky on Nov. 8: 72.3% to 27.5%. Jeffries will become House Democrat leader and, perhaps someday, House speaker.

•Current House Speaker Nancy Pelosi also is an election denier. On Jan. 6, 2005, the San Francisco Democrat spoke as Congress certified 2004’s Electoral College votes for president. While Pelosi accepted G.W. Bush’s win, she complained that, “constantly shifting vote tallies in Ohio and malfunctioning electronic machines which may not have paper receipts have led to additional loss of confidence by the public.”

“I say to my colleagues, please do not talk about this as a ‘conspiracy theory,’” Pelosi added. “It is not about that. It is not about conspiracy; it is about the Constitution of the United States.”

Pelosi trounced Republican John Dennis on Nov. 8: 81.4% to 18.6%.

•Democratic California Rep. Maxine Waters opposed Wyoming’s electors on Jan. 6, 2017. So what if Trump entombed Hillary Clinton there: 68.2% to 21.9%? “Is there one United States Senator who will join me in this letter of objection?” Waters pleaded in vain.

During 2005’s certification ceremony, Waters racialized 2004’s Buckeye State vote. “Ohio’s partisan Secretary of State, Mr. Kenneth Blackwell, I am ashamed to say an African American man, has failed to follow even Ohio’s election procedures,” Waters said. “Our ancestors who died for the right to vote certainly must be turning over in their graves.”

Notwithstanding Waters’ race-drenched election denial, she beat Republican Omar Navarro this month: 73.9% to 26.1%.

•“I have an objection because 10 of the 29 Electoral votes cast by Florida were cast by electors not lawfully certified because they violated Florida’s prohibition against dual office holding,” Democratic Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin said on Jan. 6, 2017. Despite his election denial, he crushed Republican Gregory Coll: 76.5% to 21.8%.

•“I object because people are horrified by the overwhelming evidence of Russian interference in our elections,” said Democratic California Rep. Barbara Lee on Jan. 6, 2017 regarding Trump’s Michigan electors.

Lee also opposed Bush’s Ohio’s electors. “The democratic process was thwarted,” Lee complained on Jan. 6, 2005. She also decried what she called, “intimidation and misinformation in violation of the Voting Rights Act” and “widespread efforts to disenfranchise and suppress Ohio voters.”

Election denier Barbara Lee walloped Republican Stephen Slauson: 87.1% to 12.9%.

•“Mr. Speaker, the right to vote has been stolen from qualified voters. Stolen through corruption, through political cynicism, through incompetence, through technical malfunction,” Democratic New York Rep. Jerrold Nadler railed on Jan. 6, 2005. Regarding Ohio, Nadler alleged “a partisan coverup.” Never mind Nadler’s election denial. He shellacked Republican Mike Zumbluskas: 81.7% to 18.1%.

This should surprise no one. The party that invented election denial enjoys herd immunity against its lethality at the ballot box.

Deroy Murdock is a Fox News contributor. Aaron Cichon contributed research to this opinion piece.

The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.

November 28, 2022 0 comments

Breaking News Conservative Times Politics

Carlyle raises more than $3 billion to invest in European tech

by Reuters November 28, 2022

By: Reuters

By Emma-Victoria Farr

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – U.S. buyout firm Carlyle Group has raised more than three billion euros ($3.12 billion) for a pan-European technology fund that is taking advantage of “pockets of life” in the economy, the co-heads of Carlyle Europe Technology Partners told Reuters.

Focused on lower mid-market and growth technology companies across Europe, the fund, called CETP V, has exceeded its 2.5 billion euro target in less than a year of fundraising, more than doubling the size of the previous fund CETP IV.

With an average investment horizon of five years, it is targeting areas such as cybersecurity, digital transformation and cleantech, as well as software applications for financial services, healthcare and infrastructure, Michael Wand and Vladimir Lasocki said.

Lasocki said there were opportunities in less impacted private markets, despite the plunge in tech valuations and a broad tech selloff in public markets following the pandemic and crisis caused by the Ukraine war.

Carlyle aims to invest in approximately 20-30 companies through the new fund and in most cases will buy a majority stake.

It will, however, reserve about 15% of the fund for growth equity transactions, Wand and Lasocki said.

The fund will write equity cheques of up to 250 million euros, resulting in deals from between 100 million euros and 500 million euros in enterprise value, they said.

Targeting B2B technology businesses in Europe, Carlyle will support portfolio firms with plans to become more international, for example breaking into the U.S. market.

It will also work with the companies to upgrade management teams and accelerate growth via M&A transactions, the co-heads said.

The fund already has two investments – Euro Techno Com Group (ETC) a value-added distributor of telecoms equipment which it sold to Cinven in June, rolling on a minority stake into its new fund, and digital marketing agency Incubeta, which it acquired earlier this month.

(This story has been refiled to remove the repeated word in the final paragraph)

($1 = 0.9625 euros)

(Reporting by Emma-Victoria Farr, editing by Barbara Lewis)

November 28, 2022 0 comments

Goldman Sachs Issues Stock Market Warning

by The Daily Caller November 28, 2022

By: The Daily Caller

John Hugh DeMastri on November 28, 2022

NEW YORK, NY – U.S. investors are significantly underestimating the risk of a recession, potentially increasing the impact of a recession next year, economists at Goldman Sachs warned in a Monday research note, according to Bloomberg.

Researchers at Goldman estimate a 39% chance of a slowdown in U.S. growth, but risk assets only account for an 11% chance, Bloomberg reported. By underestimating the chance of a recession, investors are increasing their exposure to the effects of “recession scares” in 2023, the analysts warned.

While Goldman still considers the risk of a recession to be relatively low, the researchers noted that a variety of measures pointed to increased stress in asset classes marketwide, Bloomberg reported. Despite an increasing number of economistsand financial executives predicting a recession within the next year, Goldman Sachs has previously pushed back on this narrative, MarketWatch reported in late October.

Deutsche Bank’s chief U.S. equity and global strategist, Bankim Chadha, predicted the S&P 500 stock index would drop 19% from current levels to 3,250, before rebounding to 4,500 points in the fourth quarter, a roughly 12.5% gain, according to Bloomberg. Goldman’s team anticipates a rebound to occur, but only back to the current level, around 4,000 points.

If a downturn is more severe than Goldman predicts, and a recession takes hold, equity prices could decline an additional 10% for six to nine months following their peak, the firm’s analysts predict, according to Bloomberg.

The relatively pessimistic outlook from the two financial titans follows a two-month rally in equity markets as investors bet that central banks, including the U.S. Federal Reserve, would slow the rate of interest rate hikes, according to Bloomberg.

“Equity risk premia appear low considering elevated recession risk and uncertainty on the growth/inflation mix,” the Goldman note reads, according to Bloomberg. The firm recommended that investors take a “relatively defensive” stance, focusing on the near future and high-yield assets.

Goldman Sachs Issues Stock Market Warning

November 28, 2022 0 comments

Migrants Engage In Violent Clash With Mexican Authorities While Waiting To Cross Border

Migrants Engage In Violent Clash With Mexican Authorities While Waiting To Cross Border

by Op-ed Contributor November 28, 2022

By: Op-ed Contributor

Jennie Taer on November 28, 2022

Migrants in Mexico hoping to illegally cross the border into the U.S. retaliated against Mexican authorities who disbanded their tent encampment Sunday, according to multiple reports.

The migrants, who are from Venezuela, have been awaiting the end of Title 42, the Trump-era policy used to expel certain illegal migrants during the COVID-19 pandemic. Police with riot gear and migrants fought over the closure of the camp, where tents were burned in protest, according to the El Paso Times.

The clash resulted in the injury of a Juarez police officer, who was hit with a rock, according to KTSM 9 News. The migrants, who are from Venezuela, have been awaiting the end of Title 42, the Trump-era policy used to expel certain illegal migrants.

Mexican authorities disbanded the tent encampment along the Rio Grande river due to increasing cases of hypothermia and pneumonia, according to KTSM 9 News. The city of Juarez said they would transport the migrants to nearby shelters, according to the El Paso Times.

The Biden administration began expelling Venezuelans under the public health order in October. However, a federal judge ruled on Nov. 15 that the entire policy must end on Dec. 21.

Mexican authorities used brutal force sunday morning to take down “little Venezuela” camp on banks of Rio Grande between ElPaso and #Juarez . Video via ⁦@luistorreslutor⁩ #venezuela . Follow coverage on ⁦@dallasnews⁩ watch: pic.twitter.com/ffbtmpnvob

— Alfredo Corchado (@ajcorchado) November 27, 2022

“I’ve only been here for three days,” Roxana Cruz, a migrant from Venezuela, said, according to KTSM 9 News. “Yesterday, I bought a tent so we would all be OK, especially my children, but look what happened.”

Nearly 500 migrants chose to abandon the encampment for nearby areas where they could still await Title 42’s end, according to KTSM 9 News.

“It does get very cold, my daughter’s lips would turn purple. We had never dealt with such cold weather like we did here. It’s horrible, but I will say something to the president to the United States. I advise him to be aware because we’re parents and we have gone through a lot for our children. We have been through a lot just to get here and they to do this to us,” Cruz added.

“There are places to wait and take shelter and the intention of the Municipal Government and the other authorities is to avoid a tragedy and protect them, so we will continue to urge them to stay safe,” Hector Rafael Ortiz Opinel, a Juárez city management official, said, according to the El Paso Times.

U.S. federal border authorities have seen an uptick in illegal migration at the southern border in the last year, with a record of more than 2.3 million migrant encounters. El Paso has quickly become a hub for many of those migrants and the attention was on the area Tuesday when a Republican Congressional delegation traveled down for a tour and threatened U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas with impeachment if he chooses not to resign.

DHS didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

November 28, 2022 0 comments

China Eases Lockdowns As Massive Protests Erupt Across The Country

China Eases Lockdowns As Massive Protests Erupt Across The Country

by The Daily Caller November 28, 2022

By: The Daily Caller

China Eases Lockdowns As Massive Protests Erupt Across The Country

Micaela Burrow on November 28, 2022

Chinese authorities eased on some COVID-19 restrictions, including one that barred tenants in apartment complexes where infections break out from leaving their compound, on Monday after a weekend of protests, according to media reports.

Chinese General Secretary Xi Jinping affirmed the “Zero Covid” policy that has sparked nationwide protests, a rare instance of coherent outburst against the authoritarian Chinese regime, The Associated Press reported. City authorities have arrested and detained an unknown number of protesters, but their decision to roll back some of China’s expansive lockdown policies appeared aimed at quelling the unrest.

The Chinese government has not commented publicly on the protests, or of a disastrous fire in Urumqi, a city in Xinjiang, that killed at least ten people after quarantine barriers and locked doors allegedly prevented tenants and firefighters from escaping, according to the AP. Analysts believe the fire ignited protests, which began on Friday and appeared to quickly diffuse to cities across the country, including Shanghai, China’s financial center, and the capital city of Beijing.

“Passages must remain clear for medical transportation, emergency escapes and rescues,” Wang Daguang, a city official in charge of epidemic control, said, according to the state-controlled China News Service.

The fire in Urumqi, Xinjiang, the last screams of the residents who were burned to death, other residents could only stand by the window to watch, because everyone was locked at home.#TheGreatTranslationMovement pic.twitter.com/Fr1gyrpPsa

— The Great Translation Movement 大翻译运动官方推号 (@TGTM_Official) November 25, 2022

Guangzhou, a manufacturing and trade powerhouse and a center of the latest COVID-19 outbreak, also announced some populations would no longer be required to undergo mass testing, citing a need for economizing on resources, the AP reported. Businesses and markets considered in low-risk areas of Urumqi will also be allowed to open, and city authorities also said public transportation service would resume.

At the same time, police in Beijing and Shanghai escalated detentions and searches of people at protest cites, according to Reuters. Officers would apprehend people on the streets and request access to their phones, checking the devices for illegal Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) or the Telegram messaging app groups have used to coordinate protests.

On Monday, the cities were quiet, showing no signs of protest as dozens of law enforcement officers patrolled the areas hosting recent protests, Reuters reported.

China 🇨🇳

Protests are erupting across China as people have had enough of the draconian zero Covid lockdowns. This is what eventually happens when people power mobilises against oppressive governments that take away freedoms and human dignity. pic.twitter.com/NsZgZTxEYT

— James Melville (@JamesMelville) November 27, 2022

“What you mentioned does not reflect what actually happened,” foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said when asked whether anger over the Zero-Covid policy motivated demonstrations, according to Reuters. “We believe that with the leadership of the Communist Party of China, and cooperation and support of the Chinese people, our fight against COVID-19 will be successful.”

Jinping has championed “Zero Covid” contact tracing and lockdown policy superior to the “chaos of the West.” Shanghai’s city-wide lockdown in April, confining thousands into their apartments, caused food shortages and led to protests, public outrage and looting in some cases.

The Chinese foreign ministry did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

November 28, 2022 0 comments

Conservative Times Featured News Politics Tech and Gaming Trending News

Republicans Are Gaining Twitter Followers All Of A Sudden — And It’s Not Exactly Clear Why

by The Daily Caller November 28, 2022

By: The Daily Caller

Republicans Are Gaining Twitter Followers All Of A Sudden — And It’s Not Exactly Clear Why

Laurel Duggan on November 28, 2022

Republican politicians have gained Twitter followers in the hundreds of thousands while Democrats saw plummeting followers after billionaire and Tesla founder Elon Musk took over the social media platform, according to The Washington Post.

Republicans gained 8,000 followers on average while Democrats lost 4,000 in the weeks after the takeover, according to the Post’s analysis of ProPublica data. The shift began abruptly the week of Musk’s Oct. 27 Twitter takeover; accounts analyzed by the Post had been fairly stagnant from Sept. 30 to Oct. 24.

Republican Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Republican Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan both gained more than 300,000 followers in the three weeks after the Musk takeover, while Democratic Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Democratic California Rep. Adam Schiff and Democratic Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders all lost about 100,000, according to the Post.

The mass deletion of bot accounts could account for the trend, as could a possible exodus of left-leaning Twitter users from the platform or the entry of new conservatives, according to the Post, although not all followers of politicians are supporters.

“Clearly something was going on at Twitter,” Greene’s spokesman told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “It’s the only explanation for the massive growth of her account. Who knows what her follower account would be if conservatives had been treated fairly.”

Greene’s personal Twitter account was permanently suspended in January for repeated violations of the platform’s COVID-19 misinformation policy and was reinstated under Musk’s leadership. She has requested that Musk share internal communications about the company’s past decisions to make permanent bans of prominent accounts.

Republican accounts also saw a large surge in followers in April amid rumors that Musk’s purchase of the site was being finalized; the platform claimed the sudden change was organic, while some conservative users said the platform had been throttling their accounts but stopped ahead of Musk’s takeover.

Twitter, Jordan, Schiff, Warren and Sanders did not respond to the DCNF’s requests for comment.

Republicans Are Gaining Twitter Followers All Of A Sudden — And It’s Not Exactly Clear Why

November 28, 2022 0 comments

Newark Public Safety Director Fritz G. Fragé requests the public’s help with locating an armed suspect who carjacked a taxi cab driver and took the vehicle at gunpoint on November 27, 2022.

Breaking News New Jersey News North Jersey News Police Blotter

Cab driver carjacked at gunpoint in Newark

by Charlie Dwyer November 28, 2022

By: Charlie Dwyer

NEWARK, NJ – A Newark cab driver was carjacked at gunpoint Sunday night. The Newark Police Department is now investigating the incident that took place at around 8:30 pm in the area of the 1000 block of South Orange Avenue.

According to Newark Public Safety Director Fritz G. Fragé, a Classic Cab taxi was stolen when a suspect approached the driver and pointed a gun at him, forcing him out of the cab.

“Police responded to a report about a carjacking that occurred at approximately 8:30 p.m. in the 1000 block of South Orange Avenue,” Frage said today. “The Classic Cab driver was sitting in the vehicle when the suspect approached him brandishing a weapon. The suspect ordered the driver to get out of the vehicle, and he drove away eastbound on South Orange Avenue and southbound on Sanford Avenue.”

According to Frage, the vehicle is a silver-colored 2015 Ford Taurus with a Classic Cab logo and has the New Jersey license plate OT978A.

The suspect, a Black male, wore a blue sweatshirt with a hood.

November 28, 2022 0 comments

Breaking News D.C. News Police Blotter

Yahoo to buy minority stake in Taboola in digital ad push

by Reuters November 28, 2022

By: Reuters

(Reuters) – Yahoo Inc will buy nearly 25% of Taboola.com Ltd and become its largest shareholder in a deal allowing the online advertising company to exhibit paid content on the web portal’s many sites.

The 30-year contract, announced on Monday, marks a big bet by internet pioneer Yahoo on digital advertising at a time when industry giants from Alphabet-owned Google to Meta Platforms Inc are struggling with an inflation-driven downturn in ad spending.

The Yahoo-Taboola partnership is expected to generate $1 billion in annual revenue, but the companies did not provide any other financial details. Yahoo will also get a seat on Taboola’s board.

Yahoo, owned by private equity firm Apollo Global Management since a $5 billion buyout last year, has over the years been overtaken by Google and Facebook, but it still has nearly 900 million monthly active users thanks to a collection of sites such as Yahoo Finance, Yahoo Sports and TechCrunch.

Taboola, whose shares rose 60% on the news, pushes links to articles paid by advertisers – known as native advertising – on many websites such as CNBC and NBC News.

The deal will hand Taboola exclusive rights to sell native ads on Yahoo’s sites.

The advertising firm said it expects the agreement to add to its revenue, operating earnings and free cash flow. In its latest earnings, Taboola posted a drop in quarterly revenue and also lowered its annual forecast because of a weak ad market.

The deal, which has been approved by the companies’ boards, is expected to close in the first quarter of 2023. Taboola plans to host a meeting on Dec. 30 to seek shareholders’ approval.

Taboola, which went public through an about $2.6 billion blank-check merger in 2021, has lost 75% of its market value this year, as of last close.

(Reporting by Yuvraj Malik in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips and Devika Syamnath)

November 28, 2022 0 comments

15-Year-Old Shot During D.C. Turkey Bowl football game

by Kristen Harrison-Oneal November 28, 2022

By: Kristen Harrison-Oneal

WASHINGTON, D.C. – During a high school football game, a 15-year-old boy was shot in the leg in Northeast D.C. The annual Turkey Bowl took place at a local high school on Thanksgiving.

The Washington, D.C. Metro Police responded to the 1600 Block of East Capitol Street, near the Eastern Senior High School, after a call of multiple gunshots came in shortly before 1:30 pm. They were hosting the District of Columbia Public Schools’ annual Turkey Bowl. Officers were already working on location at the game.

According to investigators, the vehicle they are looking for is an older gray Toyota Camry with a D.C. tag FP3600. There were an unknown amount of people in the car, and the driver may have been a woman.

Police also believe the shooting was targeted. The identity of the victim is unknown at this time.

If you have any information about this shooting, please call the police at 202-727-9099 or TEXT TIP LINE by sending a text message to 50411. This case remains under investigation.

November 28, 2022 0 comments

US and World News

Leading media outlets urge U.S. to end prosecution of Julian Assange

by Reuters November 28, 2022

By: Reuters

By Kanishka Singh

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States should end its prosecution of Julian Assange, leading media outlets from the United States and Europe that had collaborated with the WikiLeaks founder said on Monday, citing press freedom concerns.

“This indictment sets a dangerous precedent, and threatens to undermine America’s First Amendment and the freedom of the press,” editors and publishers of the Guardian, the New York Times, Le Monde, Der Spiegel, and El País said in an open letter.

Assange is wanted by U.S. authorities on 18 counts, including a spying charge, related to WikiLeaks’ release of confidential U.S. military records and diplomatic cables. His supporters say he is an anti-establishment hero who has been victimized because he exposed U.S. wrongdoing, including in conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Monday marked twelve years since those media outlets collaborated to release excerpts from over 250,000 documents obtained by Assange in the so-called “Cablegate” leak.

The material was leaked to WikiLeaks by the then American soldier Chelsea Manning and revealed the inner workings of U.S. diplomacy around the globe. The documents exposed “corruption, diplomatic scandals and spy affairs on an international scale,” the letter said.

In August, a group of journalists and lawyers sued the CIA and its former director Mike Pompeo over allegations the intelligence agency spied on them when they visited Assange during his stay in Ecuador’s embassy in London.

Assange spent seven years in the embassy before being dragged out and jailed in 2019 for breaching bail conditions. He has remained in prison in London while his extradition case is decided. If extradited to the United States, he faces a sentence of up to 175 years in an American maximum security prison.

His legal team has appealed to the High Court in London to block his extradition in a legal battle that has dragged on for more than a decade.

“Publishing is not a crime,” the media outlets said in their letter on Monday.

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington, Editing by Rosalba O’Brien)

November 28, 2022 0 comments

Breaking News Good News New York City News New York News Police Blotter

NYPD makes arrest after man assaults traffic enforcement officer

by Charlie Dwyer November 28, 2022

By: Charlie Dwyer

NEW YORK, NY – Detectives with the New York City Police Department credited the hard work of its officers and the community to bring a man who assaulted an NYPD traffic enforcement officer because he was issued a ticket.

On Sunday, the NYPD announced the arrest of Aaron Beller. Beller was charged with assaulting a police officer and menacing.

Beller became upset over getting a parking ticket in Brooklyn on November 14th. He then attacked the NYPD parking enforcement officer who issued the ticket.

Detectives with the NYPD reported the incident happened after the officer issued a parking ticket on a vehicle in the area of Avenue Z and 16th Street in Sheepshead Bay.

The NYPD released surveillance video of the incident that shows the man approaching the officer and knocking his hat off his head. He then shoved the officer to the ground and began punching him.

He fled in the yellow Volkswagen GTI that was ticketed moments earlier.

NYC: An on-duty NYPD Traffic Enforcement Agent was assaulted while issuing a summons to a vehicle in front of 1602 Avenue Z in Brooklyn. The suspect pushed him to the ground & punched him in the head & body. If you have any info, contact @NYPDTips at 800-577-TIPS. pic.twitter.com/bqzmahnWwl
— NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) November 18, 2022

November 28, 2022 0 comments