Happy Tuesday!

Seems like the world wants to pack in a month of news before shutting down for Christmas. Better get a move on!

SCOTUS Issues Stay of Lower Court Decision to End Title 42

The Supreme Court has issued a temporary stay blocking a lower court decision that would have brought the end of Title 42 in a matter of days. Title 42 is a Trump-era illegal immigration policy, using the COVID health emergency as a way to help keep illegals out of the country. Its elimination is guaranteed to unleash an unimaginable flood of illegal immigrants into the country. Arizona’s Attorney General Mark Brovich, puts a surge as “from 7,000 per day to as high as 18,000 a day.”

The temporary stay came after 19 Red states filed an emergency request Monday with the Court to keep the Title 42 policy in place. Will the stay hold? Or will the border completely collapse? Stay tuned. 

As Predicted, J6 Committee Makes Criminal Referral of Former President Trump

Like the inspector in Les Mis … or the gay cowboy in Brokeback Mountain … or more accurately the stalker in Fatal Attraction, Liz Cheney and her fellow inquisitors can’t quit Donald Trump. On Monday, as predicted, the J6 committee made a criminal referral to the Justice Dept., accusing Trump of “inciting” an “insurrection” on January 6 among other things.

“Insurrection” is the key word. The Democrats must pin “insurrection” on Trump in order to ban him from running under the 14th Amendment. Did he actually incite an insurrection? No, but that’s not really the point, is it? They had a whole year of hearings and an eager media breathlessly playing along and zero opportunity for a defense and by the time they were done, fewer Americans believed Trump had anything to do with January 6th violence.

Rep. Troy Nehls said it best. “The decision to recommend criminal charges against Trump was made before the hearings began.”

What happens now? As sure as Santa likes cookies, the DOJ will bring charges. After all, Trump’s political opponent Joe Biden has promised that his administration would prosecute Trump. Remember his comment on November 9:

We just have to demonstrate that he will not take power if he does run, making sure he — under legitimate efforts of our Constitution — does not become the next president again.

Joe Biden is saying he will use the full power of the federal government to prevent Donald Trump from ever taking office again. The American voter be hanged. 

Twitter Files #7: FBI and IC Laid the Groundwork for Months to Have the Hunter Laptop Story Dismissed as Misinformation

The 7th installment of the Twitter Files dropped Monday. It lays out the massive effort by the FBI and Intelligence community for months in advance to set the stage for the Hunter Laptop story to be deemed misinformation.

In Twitter Files #7, we present evidence pointing to an organized effort by representatives of the intelligence community (IC), aimed at senior executives at news and social media companies, to discredit leaked information about Hunter Biden before and after it was published.

— Michael Shellenberger (@ShellenbergerMD) December 19, 2022

And they paid Twitter over $3.4 million between October 2019 and early 2021 to help in the election interference effort.

46. The FBI’s influence campaign may have been helped by the fact that it was paying Twitter millions of dollars for its staff time.

“I am happy to report we have collected $3,415,323 since October 2019!” reports an associate of Jim Baker in early 2021. pic.twitter.com/SmNse97QxK

— Michael Shellenberger (@ShellenbergerMD) December 19, 2022

This doesn’t count us taxpayers paying for 80 FBI agents to scour social media looking for “disinformation.”

But Trump’s the insurrectionist for saying the election was rigged. It was rigged … and we paid for it!

Huh? Elon Musk Polls Twitter Users on Whether He Should Step Down as Twitter Chief

Elon Musk dropped another bombshell. Asking Sunday if he should step down as Twitter boss.

Should I step down as head of Twitter? I will abide by the results of this poll.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 18, 2022

The surprise poll came after Twitter announced a roundly denounced new policy forbidding Twitter users from using their Twitter accounts to plug other social media.

The poll results were 57.5% to step down, 42.5% to stay. Except, Elon, this poll can’t include those who were banned by previous regime and have not yet been reinstated.  

New York Times Puzzle Raises Eyebrows at Start of Hanukkah

With The New York Times’s history of dismissing reports of the Holocaust and its extra focus these days on rising anti-Semitism, you’d think the NYT would not kick off Hanukkah with a puzzle shaped like this:

Today’s New York Times crossword is um…making me nervous. pic.twitter.com/73CafLiy3Z

— Blake Flayton (@blakeflayton) December 18, 2022

The swastika caught the eye and ire of several Jewish members of the New York City Council, and has led to widespread conversation and condemnation on social media. Was it deliberate or just one of those odd things?

The Times on Monday defended the puzzle, telling the Daily Mail it’s “a common crossword design: Many open grids in crosswords have a similar spiral pattern because of the rules around rotational symmetry and black squares.” 

Well … the puzzle came one day after the Times issued a scathing editorial ripping Israeli Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu.

Along The Stream

The JFK Assassination is back in the news, thanks to Tucker Carlson’s stunning report last week on potential CIA involvement. I dig into the latest news and some old memories with “Revisiting the JFK Assassination.”