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McCarthy Offers Concessions in House Rules Package But Critics Doubt It Will Be Enough

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Photo via Gage Skidmore Flickr

Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) is getting desperate in his attempts to sway Republican detractors back in his favor.

According to The Hill, Rep. McCarthy offered a number of concessions including allowing a move to “vacate the chair” that would force a vote on ousting the Speaker with the approval of five Republican members, rather than a threshold of at least half of the House GOP Conference that Republicans adopted in an internal rule in November. 

The chamber is also scheduled to create a House Judiciary Select Subcommittee on the “Weaponization of the Federal Government,” a recognition of a request to increase scrutiny on the Biden administration and intelligence agencies.

In a letter to GOP colleagues, McCarthy — speaking as “Speaker-Designate” — also addressed a request from conservatives to have more representation on committees.

“I will use my selections on key panels to ensure they more closely reflect the ideological makeup of our conference, and will advocate for the same when it comes to the membership of standing committees. This will facilitate greater scrutiny of bills from the start so they stand a greater chance of passing in the end,” the letter from McCarthy said.

However, despite McCarthy’s best attempts to re-attract hardline Republican lawmakers back to his side, some conservatives said after a Sunday conference call that McCarthy is still coming up short.

According to The Washington Examiner:

During the course of the call, multiple members “said they won’t vote for it [the rules package] if Kevin is not Speaker,” one lawmaker told The Examiner. Another member said moderates expressed grievances with the changes to the motion to vacate despite pro-McCarthy lawmakers attempting to sell the package to defectors in hopes it would shift critics’ support toward the California Republican.

“They started [the call] with this new rules package that we’re all about to see and are obviously saying the rules package – it’s great, everyone worked so hard, we got all these great things and they’re gonna be historic. And then [Gaetz] got on there and said, ‘Well, if everyone wants the rules package, we should accept it no matter who the speaker is because if these are good rules are good rules, right?’” the lawmaker said. “But then the mods piled on and said actually, we hate the rules package.”

Following the call, a group of conservatives released a letter saying the California Republican’s changes had come up short of what was needed to secure support.

“Regrettably, however, despite some progress achieved, Mr. McCarthy’s statement comes almost impossibly late to address continued deficiencies ahead of the opening of the 118th Congress on January 3rd. At this stage, it cannot be a surprise that expressions of vague hopes reflected in far too many of the crucial points still under debate are insufficient,” they wrote.

“This is especially true with respect to Mr. McCarthy’s candidacy for Speaker because the times call for radical departure from the status quo — not a continuation of past, and ongoing, Republican failures. For someone with a 14-year presence in senior House Republican leadership, Mr. McCarthy bears squarely the burden to correct the dysfunction he now explicitly admits across that long tenure.”

House Freedom Caucus chairman Scott Perry told The Hill on Sunday, “I think what he’s trying to do is the bare minimum that he needs to try and get to where he can get the votes. And that’s not indicative of somebody that really wants to embrace new ideas, reject the status quo and unify all members in the conference.”

FBI Now Going After Its Critics as ‘Conspiracy Theorists’ Spreading ‘Misinformation’

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Arrest image via Pixabay

ANALYSIS – Be very afraid. It just keeps getting worse. Under Joe Biden, the FBI is daily being further weaponized against its critics and critics of the administration’s chosen narratives.

Following the disclosures that the FBI was in regular contact with Twitter employees to ensure they censored speech they designated ‘misinformation,’ the Bureau attacked anyone who criticizes them by, you guessed it – calling it ‘misinformation.’

It also called these FBI critics – ‘conspiracy theorists.’

This is a favorite leftwing buzz phrase often used to smear conservatives. 

The most recent outrage came when the FBI made a statement to FOX News this week after journalists posted screenshots of messages showing how FBI agents communicated with top Twitter officials relating to reports and potential posts about Hunter Biden.

In its response statement, rather than addressing the valid concerns, the Bureau slammed its critics as ‘conspiracy theorists’ spreading misinformation.’

And one legal expert, constitutional law professor Jonathan Turley, is sounding the alarm.

He told FOX News that it is a “menacing thing” for the nation’s largest law enforcement agency to declare that “combatting disinformation” is one of its top priorities, and then attack free speech advocates for criticizing them.

The Epoch Times reports:

A spokesperson for the FBI told Fox News, in response to several “Twitter Files” installments, that “conspiracy theorists” are “feeding the American public misinformation” and said they are trying to discredit the bureau and its agents.

That statement, Turley told Fox News, is “disturbing” because the FBI has allegedly “attacked many of us who were raising free speech concerns and called all of us collectively ‘conspiracy theorists spreading disinformation.’

“It was highly inappropriate, because the FBI has said that combatting disinformation is one of its priorities. So, it is a very menacing thing when you have the largest law enforcement agency attacking free speech advocates,” Turley, a professor of law at George Washington University who served as an expert witness during former President Donald Trump’s first impeachment inquiry, told the outlet.

The FBI’s outrageous response comes after journalist Michael Shellenberger wrote about the outrageous FBI-Twitter collusion:

“What I quickly put together is a pattern where it appears that FBI agents, along with former FBI agents within the company [Twitter], were engaged in a disinformation campaign aimed at top Twitter and Facebook executives, as well as at top news organization executives to basically prepare them, prime them, get them set up to dismiss Hunter Biden information when it would be released.”

Turley noted that Twitter’s new owner Elon Musk “has confirmed that the FBI paid social media companies to help them deal with what they called disinformation, which most of us call censorship.”

Turley added to FOX that the FBI “were in continuous communication [with Twitter], as were other agencies, targeting specific citizens and specific posters to be banned or suspended.”

“That really does smack of an agency relationship and that could violate the first amendment,” he warned.

But be very afraid, because things are now getting worse.

Now the FBI may also be coming after anyone who points out this clear and demonstrated FBI-Big Tech collusion for being a “conspiracy theorist” spreading “misinformation.”

Opinions expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of Great America News Desk.

Final Bit of Democrat Insanity at End of 2022

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Pixabay free images

ANALYSIS – As we end yet another crazy year, we have a new report on how Democrats continue to be the crazy party. 

Despite substantial scientific evidence to the contrary, a majority of Democrats still favor masking toddlers to battle the spread of COVID.

A recent I&I/TIPP Poll showed this mass insanity when 56% of Democrats said they believed masking children under the age of 5 is still a good idea.

In contrast, only 24% of Republicans and 31% of independents believed that masking toddlers is a good idea.

When asked if masking toddlers was a bad idea, as much of the scientific evidence now shows, 58% of Republicans and 38% of independents said they think it is a bad idea.

And only 24% of Democrats thought the same way.

But the divide goes deeper, with ideology, race, and ethnicity playing big roles as well.

The Blaze reported:

When respondents were grouped by ideology rather than party, there was a similar divide: 56% of conservatives thought it was a bad idea; 31% of alleged conservatives supported the initiative. Liberals again majoritively (54%) supported covering children’s faces.

Ideology and party were not the only differentiators.

Only 33% of white Americans said it was a good idea, whereas 48% of black and Hispanic respondents supported masking kids. On the other hand, 44% of white respondents and 28% of black and Hispanic respondents were opposed.

When it came to opposing the idea, 39% of women were opposed — two points higher than their male counterparts.

The Blaze continued:

I&I intimated that what might partially account for the significant ideological split between the right and the left on the matter of masking kids is media and activist suppression of legitimate medical studies putting the efficacy of masking children in doubt.

Numerous studies questioned the effectiveness of masking in protecting from serious COVID effects.

As The Blaze explains, these studies highlight the adverse impact masks have on toddlers’ communication skills and the relative unlikelihood of children becoming severely sick from COVID.

The Blaze also notes that neither the World Health Organization (WHO) nor the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control recommends masking little kids.

Opinions expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of Great America News Desk.

Kevin McCarthy Makes Key Concession in House Speaker Battle

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House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy delivers remarks at the 2021 Capitol Christmas Tree lighting ceremony in Washington DC, December 1, 2021. USDA Forest Service photo by Tanya E. Flores.

Current House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy just made a key concession in what has become an uphill battle to become Speaker of the House once the GOP takes control of Congress on Jan. 3rd.

Six Republican sources familiar with internal discussions told CNN that McCarthy conceded to reducing the threshold that is required to force a floor vote on ousting the sitting speaker in an effort to win over holdouts.

One of the numbers that has come up in recent conversations between McCarthy and GOP lawmakers – and which has not been previously reported – is a five-person threshold, according to two of the Republican sources.

Currently, the majority of the House GOP is required to call for the so-called motion to vacate the speaker’s chair. However, some conservatives such as Reps. Matt Gaetz (FL) and Ralph Norman (S.C.) are pushing for a single member to be able to call for such a vote, which they see as an important mechanism to hold the speaker accountable.

A five-person threshold, however, may be too low for the moderate wing of the party, some of whom have privately suggested they would be willing to agree on a 50-person threshold.

The compromise which McCarthy previously said he would not budge on could be key to unlocking the votes he needs to secure the speakership. But his willingness to negotiate on the issue also shows how desperate McCarthy is to seal the deal, even if it means giving away some of his power.

“The ‘devil is in the details’ as far as threshold & other rule concessions,” Norman said. “Until the details are spelled out, in writing and sealed with social media posts, people will not move on votes.”

Former Trump Official A Slams Ex-White House Press Sec. Kayleigh McEnany

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    Kayleigh McEnany via Gage Skidmore Flickr

    The claws are out.

    In a scathing attack former White House communications director Alyssah Farah Griffin called former White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany a “liar and an opportunist” during her interview with the House Jan. 6th committee.

    “The View” co-host’s shocking view of her former colleague, was included in a batch of interview transcripts released by the House panel on Thursday. According to The Hill, Farah Griffin criticized McEnany for helping perpetuate the notion that the 2020 election was stolen throughout the interview.

    “I am a Christian woman, so I will say this. Kayleigh is a liar and an opportunist,” Farah Griffin said in her April interview with the committee. “She’s a smart woman. She’s a Harvard law grad. She knew we lost the election, but she made a calculation that she wanted to have a certain life post-Trump that required staying in his good graces.”  

    “She got her FOX News gig. It worked out precisely how she’d always planned for it to, but she knew better.” 

    She said McEnany wasn’t a “true believer” in the idea that former President Trump actually won the 2020 election. 

    Farah Griffin resigned from her position in the White House as then-President Trump continued his legal battles to overturn the 2020 election results.

    “The View” co-host has also faced accusations of being an opportunist and of shifting her political values to line up with her priorities at the moment.

    Amanda Head: ‘Clueless’ Star Bares All for Magic Mushrooms

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    “Clueless” star Alicia Silverstone stripped all the way down for another campaign for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).

    Watch Amanda explain the latest controversy below.

    House Releases Trump Tax Records

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    Donald Trump via Gage Skidmore Flickr

    The House Ways and Means Committee released a partially redacted version of former President Donald Trump’s taxes on Friday.

    The committee voted 24 to 16 along party lines to release Trump’s tax returns late Tuesday evening. 

    The House Ways and Means Committee released six years’ worth of Trump’s tax returns totaling 46 individual documents with hundreds of pages and more than a gigabyte’s worth of data.

    According to Fox News, the financial documents cover six years of Trump’s individual returns filed jointly with his wife, Melania, including his time in the White House. The document dump also includes tax forms for several of Trump’s business entities that were investigated by Ways and Means Democrats, a report from the Democratic majority, and a response by Republicans on the committee. 

    Ways and Means Committee Democrats released a report on Trump’s taxes last week that showed the former president paid little to no federal income taxes on his multimillion-dollar income from 2015 to 2022, as he claimed millions in business losses.

    The analysis within the reports conclude that any lack of proper taxation on Trump’s earnings appears to have been ultimately a failing of the IRS and not the result of pressure or obfuscation from the White House.

    Trump’s family of enterprises used reported losses, foreign tax credits, deductions, charitable donations and many other financial maneuvers to great effect in offsetting taxation on profits.

    These business tactics frequently shrank his otherwise sizable tax requirements down to miniscule amounts — sometimes under $1,000, according to the committee.

    This story is breaking. Stay with Great America News Desk for the latest updates.

    Arizona Attorney General Recount Results in Disappointing Loss for GOP Candidate

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    Missvain, CC BY 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

    The highly anticipated recount results are in for Arizona’s attorney general race.

    Republican nominee Abraham Hamadeh has lost to Democrat Kris Mayes in one of the tightest races in Arizona history.

    The initial tally had Mayes leading Hamadeh by 511 votes, though that margin tightened considerably during the recount. Mayes was certified the winner by 280 voters.

    The Arizona Republic has more on Arizona’s other recounts:

    Wins by state schools superintendent-elect Tom Horne, a Republican, over incumbent Democrat Kathy Hoffman and Liz Harris over fellow Republican Julie Willoughby in Legislative District 13 in the Southeast Valley also were affirmed in the recount.

    Results were announced in a hearing before Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Timothy Thomason.

    The race for state attorney general had the narrowest margin heading into the recount, with Democrat Mayes winning by a 511-vote margin, or 0.03 percentage points, over Trump-endorsed Republican Hamadeh in the initial tally.

    The other two races were nowhere near as close but fell within the 0.5% percent margin that a new state law requires for an automatic recount.

    Hamadeh’s attorneys are reportedly weighing their legal options.

    Wednesday morning Hamadeh tweeted, “My team is filing a Motion for Stay to delay inauguration for the Office of Attorney General next week until we resolve all matters regarding the potential discrepancies in the recount and litigation.”

    “We request [Attorney General Mark Brnovich] remain in office until all issues are resolved.”

    Hamadeh further explained:

    In November, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Randall Warner dismissed an election lawsuit brought by state attorney general candidate Abraham Hamadeh and the Republican National Committee (RNC) that sought to challenge the state’s election results.

    Texas Begins Construction of Makeshift Border Barrier

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    CBP Photography, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

    Don’t mess with Texas.

    The Lone Star state is taking matters into its own hands and creating its own defense against illegal immigration. According to Gov. Greg Abbott, the state is using shipping containers in addition to other measures along the El Paso border to build a border wall.

    The move comes as El Paso saw an average of 2,400 migrants per day entering over one seven-day period, leading the city to declare an emergency. 

    “Texas is adding shipping containers to the US-Mexico border in El Paso,” Abbott tweeted on Wednesday. “This is in addition to the razor wire and National Guard. Together, the strategies are causing illegal immigration at that location to plummet.”

    Abbott’s announcement also came shortly after he provided an update to announce that Texas has bused 15,900 migrants to sanctuary cities in 2022.

    Abbott shared the update in a Twitter post with details on the number of migrants sent to each of the four included cities. The totals included over 8,900 migrants bused to Washington, D.C., over 4,900 to New York City, over 1,500 to Chicago, and over 690 to Philadelphia.

    Gov. Abbott linked to a San Antonio Fox 29 report on the barrier:

    Shipping containers were placed next to the Rio Grande in El Paso in hopes of diverting people crossing.

    In El Paso, the state of Texas lined up new shipping containers.

    The Lone Star state seems to be following the lead of Arizona which also used shipping containers to form a makeshift border wall to fill gaps left unresolved by the Biden administration.

    The Biden administration eventually sued the state of Arizona to remove the containers, claiming the state trespassed into federal lands.

    Amanda Head: Hugh Jackman Goes Insanely Woke

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    Another Hollywood hero has gone woke!

    “X-Men” Actor and Broadway performer Hugh Jackman says that gender-specific awards are a thing of the past!

    Watch Amanda explain the newest controversy below: