PrairiePundit

 Newsmax: President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday blamed the "open border's policy" of outgoing President Joe Biden for "radical Islamic terrorism" in the aftermath of the two deadly New Year's Day incidents, including one at a Trump property in Las Vegas. Trump's post to Truth Social comes a day after police say Shamsud-Din Jabbar, 42, drove a pickup truck into a New Orleans street crowded with revelers in the early hours of New Year's Day, killing 15 and injuring dozens more. Jabbar, born in Texas, was inspired by the terrorist group Islamic State, police said. "With the Biden 'Open Border's Policy' I said, many times during Rallies, and elsewhere, that Radical Islamic Terrorism, and other forms of violent crime, will become so bad in America that it will become hard to even imagine or believe. That time has come, only worse than ever imagined," Trump said in the post. "Joe Biden is the WORST PRESIDENT IN THE HISTORY OF...

 American Action News: Several of America’s biggest brands backpedaled on their diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies and programs in 2024 amid intense public scrutiny and fierce consumer backlash. The Biden-Harris administration has led a massive push for increased DEI initiatives in the government, including President Joe Biden signing an executive order in June 2021 that established “a government-wide initiative to advance diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility” in the federal workforce. Some major companies have begun scaling back on DEI practices this year amid growing backlash, including Walmart, Boeing, Lowe’s and Ford Motors. “American corporations realized that DEI was a loser for them in terms of doing business,” Mike Gonzalez, the Angeles T. Arredondo E Pluribus Unum senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “American people began to register their disapproval with DEI and began to see through it pretty much a...

It would be nice if the media could determine why the perp rented a Cybertruck for his attack. The New Orleans attacker used a Ford F-150 electric truck. That is also an odd choice. See also: Las Vegas Cybertruck Explosion Suspect ID'd and WOW, His Connection to the NOLA Terrorist Is DAMNING

 Fox News: The FBI on Thursday said investigators now believe the New Orleans terror attack suspect acted alone, despite previously considering a possible link to the Tesla Cybertruck explosion outside President-elect Trump's Las Vegas hotel. The FBI made the announcement at a press conference on Thursday. They have identified Shamsud-Din Jabbar as the driver who crashed a rented truck into a crowd of New Year's revelers on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, killing at least 14 people and injuring dozens more. He was killed in a shootout with police afterward. "As you know, there's also an FBI investigation in Las Vegas. We are following up on all potential leads and not ruling anything out. However, at this point, there is no definitive link between the attack here in New Orleans and the one in Las Vegas," FBI Deputy Assistant Director of the Counterterrorism Division Christopher Raia told reporters Thursday. ... It is odd that the two attacks happened near the same...

 Wall Street Journal: Fears Grow of Islamic State’s Re-Emergence in Syria U.S. steps up strikes from desert bases against an enemy it defeated half a decade ago Islamic State militants were already resurgent last year in parts of Syria and Iraq. Then in December, the Assad regime collapsed, furnishing them with fresh supplies of weapons from stocks abandoned by the Syrian army. The group that once terrorized the Middle East and inspired attacks elsewhere in the world is looking to exploit Syria’s uncertain future to rebuild its influence—half a decade after U.S.-led forces broke its hold on swaths of territory and millions of people. In a sign of its persistent appeal, a U.S. Army veteran in a pickup flying an Islamic State flag drove through a crowd of people early on New Year’s Day in New Orleans, killing 15 and injuring 30 in what authorities called a terrorist attack . It wasn’t clear what connections, if any, the assailant might have had to the group, but analysts have warned...

 The Hill: Progressives in Washington are facing an existential crisis like never before as they brace for the incoming Trump administration. Not only are they at odds with their own party, with many Democrats seeking to pin the blame for their November losses on them, but some on the left are also openly fearful that an emboldened GOP will use its influence against their flank. “What is it that we can do that’s effective when they control everything?” said Joseph Geevarghese, who runs the grassroots organizing group Our Revolution. “They’re going to use their state power against us. I think they’re going to target progressives. … It’s a very challenging moment.” Progressives faced their first postelection rebuke last week, when Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) missed out on a key leadership post on the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, a sign to many of their diminished influence. Not only did fellow Democrats reject her policies, but they preferred an older male...

 Blaze: Hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of anti-Israel protesters took over Times Square in New York City on Wednesday evening, just hours after an apparent ISIS radical reportedly murdered more than a dozen people in New Orleans. The protesters, many of whom wore keffiyehs and face masks, slammed U.S. support for Israel. They carried Palestinian flags and signs that read, "End all U.S. aid to Israel," "Zionism is cancer," "Lift the siege on Gaza now!" and "No war on Iran." At various times, they also chanted in unison: "Resistance is glorious — we will be victorious," "We will honor all our martyrs," and "There is only one solution — intifada revolution." Intifada, which means "uprising" in Arabic, refers to "the Second Intifada, a period of terror attacks in Israel in the early 2000s marked by suicide bombings," the Times of Israel reported. With an American flag as their backdrop, several ev...

 Ed Morrissey  says the US media engaged in the largest cover-up in US history as it pretended Biden was sharp and in control.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  I doubt Biden could even tie his shoes.  I suspect he was already in decline when he ran in 2020 and won mainly because the media ignored his problems because of their irrational Trump hatred.  They were also then still pushing the Russia, Russia, Russia nonsense which turned out to be one of the biggest political frauds in history. See also: The Top 10 Hoaxes The Propaganda Press Peddled In 2024 Americans who have lived through Donald Trump’s political career are no strangers to legacy media disinformation. From the Russia collusion hoax to the “very fine people” Charlottesville lie , the litany of dishonest info ops from left-wing activists masquerading as journalists is too long to count. And despite Americans’ waning trust in their ability to report news accurately and fairly, these D...

DC Daily Journal: ... Knife-wielding members of the notorious Tren de Aragua gang are storming border crossings in El Paso, Texas, in a desperate bid to enter the U.S. — and have threatened violence against border guards who attempt to stop them. This alarming situation was outlined in a leaked Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) memo obtained by the New York Post. Just last week, 20 gang members from the Venezuelan group, armed with knives, tire irons, and broken liquor bottles, attempted to force their way through a border gate. According to the memo, more attempts are expected, including a potentially larger push planned for New Year’s Day. The Tren de Aragua, a brutal prison gang with an expanding footprint, appears determined to infiltrate the U.S. before President-elect Donald Trump takes office, warned Victor Avila, a retired agent with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). “You’re seeing that violence at the border because they know that it’s going to change in 27 days,” ...

 Newsmax: ... The assassination attempts against President-elect Donald Trump last year reportedly occurred after lawmakers and presidential administrations failed to address weaknesses within the Secret Service during the past decade. Separate 2014 investigations by the White House and Congress found that the Secret Service was in crisis and pushed beyond its capabilities. Leadership also tended to cover up problems rather than address them, The Washington Post reported Wednesday . The result was recommendations that included an increase in agent training and the hiring of fresh leadership. However, the Post reported that instead of being fixed, some Secret Service problems have grown worse. For example, the agency still lacks a sufficient number of agents. That has led to burnout and low morale, with many veteran agents leaving, the outlet said. Besides that, the outlet reported agency recruits with five years or less on the job comprise 40% of the service's workforce. In 2015, t...

 The Federalist Wire: ... The House Oversight Committee on Monday spotlighted whistleblower allegations that FEMA discriminated against Trump supporters during disaster response efforts following this year’s devastating hurricanes. These revelations have raised serious concerns about political bias within the federal agency tasked with aiding Americans during times of crisis. As the 118th Congress concludes, the committee shared its “TOP OVERSIGHT HEARING MOMENTS” on X, highlighting key investigations of the past two years. Among them was a story first reported by The Daily Wire in November, which revealed that a FEMA supervisor in Florida had instructed relief workers to skip homes displaying support for Donald Trump. The committee noted that a whistleblower also informed Oversight Chair James Comer (R-KY) of similar incidents occurring in Georgia. “In October 2024, [The Daily Wire] exposed that a FEMA employee directed workers to bypass pro-Trump homes. During a hearing on that t...

 DC Daily Journal: ... A Chinese state-backed cyber actor breached U.S. Treasury Department systems earlier this month, gaining access to “unclassified” documents through a cloud service intrusion, officials revealed to a Senate committee. The hackers exploited a vulnerability in a third-party security system, BeyondTrust, which detected the breach on Dec. 8 and alerted the Treasury Department. In response, the Treasury took the compromised service offline. “There is no evidence indicating the threat actor has continued access to Treasury systems or information,” a Treasury spokesperson told the New York Post. “Treasury takes very seriously all threats against our systems, and the data it holds.” The spokesperson emphasized that the Treasury has “significantly bolstered its cyber defense” over the past four years and vowed to continue collaborating with private and public partners to safeguard the nation’s financial systems from cyber threats. ... The US needs to be more vigilant i...

 Town Hall: The vehicle used to plow through a crowd of people in New Orleans early Wednesday morning crossed the U.S.-Mexico border two days ago, Fox News is reporting.  Whether the suspect is the person who crossed the border with the vehicle is not confirmed but law enforcement sources tell Fox News the license plate was picked up by a reader at Eagle Pass, Texas.  At least 10 people died and more than 30 others were injured in what’s being investigated by the FBI as an act of terrorism. The attack took place around 3:15 a.m. on Canal and Bourbon Street. After exiting the vehicle, the suspect exchanged gunfire with police and was killed. ...  Trump has been consistently supporting a strong borders policy while Biden has taken an open borders policy.  Trump and Homan will work to control the border with Mexico and Canada.  It looks like terrorists are looking to exploit the open borders policy before Trump takes office. See also: After FBI agent confident...

 DC Daily Journal: ... A recent Gallup poll highlights a nation hopeful for progress in critical areas like employment, inflation control, and global dominance, even as concerns linger over international tensions and political discord. The survey, released on Dec. 30, reveals a sharp turnaround from the gloomier outlook of 2023. It shows that Americans are overwhelmingly optimistic about the future under President-elect Donald Trump, whose agenda has already sparked renewed confidence across party lines — particularly among Republicans and independents. A majority of Americans (54 percent) predict job opportunities will grow in 2025, a clear sign of faith in Trump’s ability to reignite the labor market. Similarly, 52 percent expect inflation to stabilize at manageable levels, reflecting hope that Trump’s economic strategies will bring relief after years of rising prices. The stock market stands out as a key area of confidence, with 66 percent anticipating a bullish year under poli...

Newsmax: Rep. Beth Van Duyne, R-Texas, told Newsmax on Wednesday that the FBI has "been ignoring these radicalized Islamists in our country, and we have no idea how many cells are there." Earlier Wednesday, Shamsud-Din Jabbar, 42, rammed a pickup truck into a crowd on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, killing at least 15 people and injuring dozens of others before being shot to death by police, according to authorities. An Islamic State flag was found on the vehicle's trailer hitch, and FBI is investigating the evidence as a potential link to an act of terrorism. Van Duyne said as the facts come out the attack "sounds like it's more than just a lone wolf." "They were saying that you have people who are looking at not only who had rented the truck, but there were three men and a woman who they've got video of putting on explosive devices in the truck that this looks like it was a cell," Van Duyne said during an appearance on "The Chris Salced...

  Middle East Forum: The white pickup truck with an ISIS flag attached to its trailer hitch that tore through Bourbon Street in New Orleans during the first few hours of New Year’s Day of 2025 symbolizes an inflection point for the American people and their leaders. Revelry, music and laughter gave way to terror as fifteen people lost their lives and dozens of others were left with crippling, life-altering injuries from yet another jihadist attack on U.S. soil. The suspected attacker, Samshud-Din Jabbar, a 42-year-old U.S. citizen and former member of the U.S. Army Reserve from Texas, died in a firefight with local police, but given reports of ISIS-affiliated terrorists crossing America’s southern border, the threat of more attacks did not die with him. According to the FBI, the Bourbon Street massacre appears to be part of a larger coordinated attack involving accomplices. Hours after yet another example of “vehicular jihad” in New Orleans, a rented Tesla Cybertruck exploded ou...

 Blaze: A36-year-old male allegedly grabbed a 3-year-old boy by the arm in a broad-daylight kidnapping attempt in Florida over the weekend — but a dog put a stop to it. Ron Lee Klein Jr. entered a family’s fenced-in back yard through a gate at the back of their home around noon Saturday, WFLA-TV reported , citing a St. Petersburg Police Department affidavit. When Klein allegedly grabbed the 3-year-old by the arm and tried to pick him up, a barking dog confronted Klein, the station said, citing the affidavit. The barking alerted someone near the child, who began running after Klein and yelling at him, WFLA reported, citing the affidavit. Klein let go of the toddler and fled the area, the station said, citing investigators — and St. Petersburg police in the area located and arrested Klein. Klein is facing charges of attempted kidnapping and trespassing to an enclosed area of a dwelling, WFLA said, citing the affidavit. The station said he's being held without bond. ... Give that dog ...

@TheKevinDalton In March of 2023 Gavin Newsom promised to deliver 1200 tiny homes at a cost of 625,000 taxpayer dollars apiece. To date, not a single tiny home has been delivered. By comparison, the Amish just built 12 tiny homes in less than 48 hours at a cost of $25,000 apiece. Newsom should have hired the Amish.  They know how to get things done and do so in a timely manner.  I find it remarkable that tiny homes cost $625,000 in California.  No wonder that state is losing population.  I suspect that the Amish houses' cost is just materials and does not include labor but I also doubt that the labor cost on tiny homes is $600,000 even in California.

 Independent Sentinel: According to Tom Fitton, General Milley met with Merrick Garland and pressured him to target domestic threats and alleged far-right militia groups. They discussed Donald Trump. Milley wanted Donald Trump and his supporters, his fellow Americans, targeted. This is an entirely unprecedented meeting and request. What he calls far-right militia ended up being parents, Christians, and Trump supporters in general. Milley and Garland had no concern about communist-anarchist groups of Antifa and Soros-funded Black Lives Matter. We have the military conspiring with the DoJ. They flouted FOIA to hide information about the meeting. Additionally, Biden regrets appointing Merrick Garland as attorney general. According to a report in The Washington Post, Biden believes Garland was slow to prosecute Donald Trump for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot and allowed for an aggressive prosecution of his son Hunter. He would have liked to have appointed someone who prosec...

 The Standard: Dozens of Russian drones are being “lost” over Ukraine which is spoofing some of them to fly back towards Russia or Belarus, according to military experts. Ukraine’s air defence downed 21 drones out of 43 launched by Russia in an overnight attack on Monday targeting six regions across the country, the Ukrainian air force said. Drone debris damaged residential houses in the eastern Kharkiv region and in the Odesa region in the south, regional officials said. Kyiv ’s air force said that 22 other drones were “lost”. Military analysts said Ukraine was increasingly using electronic warfare to redirect or spoof “kamikaze” Russian drones, some supplied by Iran. This involves interfering with, and confusing, their navigation systems so they start targeting a different location. The tactic is believed to enable Ukraine to instruct the drones to instead head towards sites in Russia or Belarus. But the electronic warfare can also affect other devices, including civilians’ m...

 Business Insider: To Westerners, the solution was inhuman. To compensate for the dismal performance of its troops in the early months of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia formed assault units of convicts and other "expendables" in 2023. But for Vladimir Putin's government — to whom only victory mattered — sending waves of troops meant to absorb bullets has enabled more valued Russian regulars to seize more ground from Ukraine. The laboratory for this ruthless approach came at the Battle of Bakhmut in late 2022 and early 2023, when the Wagner Group — a mercenary outfit — employed assault units consisting mostly of imprisoned people who were pardoned in return for fighting in Ukraine. This approach, combined with area battering of glide-bombing , has outlasted Wagner Group's involvement, allowing Russian forces to seize more land without triggering the unrest back home that could threaten Putin's rule. "Wagner — and the battle for Bakhmut, to some ex...

 Daily Mail: A terrorist who killed at least 10 people and injured 35 others after plowing a vehicle into a crowd celebrating New Year on New Orleans' Bourbon Street has been killed, sources say. The driver rammed into the large group at high speed, then got out and started firing a weapon, witnesses said. Investigators later added that they found what appeared to be improvised explosives at the crash site that did not detonate. A shootout between police and the suspect ensued, and two officers were shot by the suspect and are in stable condition. ... Police sources later told the New York Times that the suspect was deceased following the shootout. No information about the suspect's identity has been released. Witnesses claim the suspect was 'wearing full body armor' and 'armed with an assault rifle', and officials said he was 'trying to run over as many people as he possibly could'. Videos circulating on social media showed a chaotic scene at the tou...

 Federalist: ... From 2015 to 2022, per capita deportation costs in 2024 dollars averaged $12,124. They range from $9,767 under Obama, $11,637 for Trump, and $15,499 for Biden. The higher numbers for Biden occurred as the budget rose, but the number of deportations excluding Title 42 fell significantly. AIC claims that the legal processing costs are $2,570. If we just assume that their estimate is correct, it raises the total per capita cost of deportation to $14,705. But even this is too high for several reasons, including the fact that 1.46 million illegals have already had their deportations approved by U.S. Department of Justice immigration judges . Even if we include the entire Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) budget, which involves many other customs activities, the per-deportee costs from 2002 to 2022 average $13,706 in 2024 dollars. The year with the most deportations, 2004, saw 1.4 million deportees with a total ICE budget in 2024 dollars of $6.1 billion, or $4,35...

 Daily Signal: ... Yet is Hurricane Helene really proof that man-made climate change is making life more dangerous in the U.S.? The Heritage Foundation special report “ Keeping an Eye on the Storms : An Analysis of Trends in Hurricanes Over Time” answers definitively in the negative. In the report, Joe D’Aleo, visiting fellow in Heritage’s Center for Energy, Climate, and Environment, and Kevin Dayaratna, chief statistician in Heritage’s Center for Data Analysis, break down the data. Hurricanes have long plagued the continental United States, tracing back as far as the Great Colonial Hurricane of 1635, which hit the Jamestown Settlement and the Massachusetts Bay Colony only 15 years after the founding of Plymouth Plantation. From 1900 to 1960, no fewer than 112 hurricanes hit the continental U.S., long before the burning of fossil fuels on a mass scale. The deadliest natural disaster in U.S. history did not take place after the burning of fossil fuels, but before. The Galveston Hur...

 Twitchy: Here's a rather lengthy post from Greg Gutfeld, but it truly nails conservatism today and is especially relevant considering the liberal media finding a mirror and realizing that they were all complicit in covering up President Joe Biden's cognitive decline. Some people are trying to make "woke Right" happen, but we're not falling for it. Gutfeld says that wokeism wasn't the most destructive movement of the last decade; rather, it was the media's anti-Trumpism. Before the election, we were warned that if Trump were elected we'd have tanks in the streets and he'd declare himself a dictator on Day One, but Day One looks like the start of mass deportation, which the majority of Americans support. Again, hang on, because it's long: ... ... And: Democrat Party is on life support thanks to this sobering report