Highlights of the News

With news that Buffalo Bills defensive back Damar Hamlin is mounting an amazing recovery, already alert and talking only days after suffering a cardiac arrest on the field, many are hailing the power of prayer in helping facilitate Hamlin’s comeback. https://t.co/zMnHpfAKrj

— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) January 8, 2023

NFL players are finally kneeling for the right reason.

ITEM 1: The Guardian reported, "One of the highest-ranking US officials ever proven to have spied for Cuba has been released from prison early after spending more than two decades behind bars.

"Ana Belén Montes pleaded guilty in 2002 to conspiracy to commit espionage after she was accused of using her position as a Defense Intelligence Agency official to leak information, including the identities of some US spies, to Havana. She was sentenced to 25 years in prison at the age of 45.

"Montes, now 65, was released on Friday, the U.S. bureau of prisons said."

I am surprised that Biden did not give her a medal.

ITEM 2: Breitbart reported, "In a world first, an AI system is set to help a defendant contest a parking ticket in a U.S. court of law next month. The company behind the RobotLawyer program, DoNotPay, claims that the AI system will provide a more affordable option for legal representation in cases such as parking and speeding tickets."

Ah, but can they chase ambulances?

ITEM 3: Zero Hedge reported, "India Just Became The World's 3rd Largest Automobile Market."

They're gonna need a whole lotta Robo-Lawyers to handle the deluge of parking tickets this will create.

ITEM 4: The Daily Mail reported, "When President Joe Biden makes his first visit to the border with Mexico on Sunday, he will hear from aid workers helping manage the immigration crisis and from local officials desperate for more support.

"What he won't see are the miserable makeshift camps dotted around El Paso that triggered headlines last month about migrants taking over the streets."

Flashback to June 2, 2020, when the New York Times shrieked, "How Trump’s Idea for a Photo Op Led to Havoc in a Park.

"When the history of the Trump presidency is written, the clash with protesters that preceded President Trump’s walk across Lafayette Square may be remembered as one of its defining moments."

Actually, history shows it never happened.

NYT has not corrected its story. Don't expect it to complain about Biden's actual clearing of people for a photo op.

ITEM 5: The Washington Examiner reported, "House postpones vote on rules package until Monday after McCarthy elected speaker."

Expect some of the people who bitched about all the votes for speaker last week to be the ones who delay the adoption of the rules package because the holdouts got their way.

Don't worry. I won't run out of popcorn. Any week that Congress does nothing is a good week.

ITEM 6: The Center Square reported, "About 30,700 mail-in ballots in Illinois were rejected statewide in last year’s November election, according to preliminary data from the Illinois State Board of Elections. 

"Data shows a total of more than 2.2 million mail-ballots were requested across the state for November's election. More than 657,000 were returned with around 626,300 counted. That’s a difference of about 30,700."

Elections in Illinois are not broken. They are fixed. Boy, are they fixed.

ITEM 7: The New York Post reported, "At least two people were killed in eastern Ukraine overnight as Russia resumed bombing after ending its brief reputed cease-fire, according to reports Sunday."

Saturday was the Orthodox Christmas. Putin suspended his attacks. Zelensky didn't. Neither one wants peace.

ITEM 8: Saturday also marked a cease-fire in the House.

But Just the News reported, "House Speaker fight foreshadows larger debt ceiling battle on the horizon for GOP.

"Although newly elected Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) ultimately prevailed in his bid for the office over a small but determined band of conservatives, his slim majority in the House will be vulnerable if conservatives rebel over debt reduction."

After Clinton and Newt balanced the budget, Congress and four presidents began overspending again. We have added $27 trillion to the national debt in the last 21 years.

ITEM 9: The Fairfax County Times reported, "Area principals admit to withholding National Merit Awards from students."

The story said, "The revelations are emerging after school district principals scrambled to a meeting Wednesday afternoon with the superintendent, after Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares announced a civil rights investigation into the controversy. Just like at TJHSST, the new revelations appear to impact many Asian American students – one focus of the investigation. 

"In an email, obtained by the Fairfax County Times, Langley High School Principal Kim Greer pressed send on a mea culpa at 9:29:30 p.m. on Friday night, confusing, agitating and angering parents and students already on edge during the tumultuous college admissions season. "

These are actual hate crimes because they can ruin the lives of the students. Prison is a good place to send the bigots.

ITEM 10: The Oregonian reported, "A much-hyped but yet-to-be-completed aviation biofuels refinery in southern Oregon appears to be headed for foreclosure after backers failed to make principal and interest payments on some $300 million in debt."

Paragraph 11 said, "Its development was supported by a $75 million funding award from the Department of Defense; fuel purchase commitments from FedEx and Southwest Airlines; more than $2 million in infrastructure improvements funded by the town of Lakeview and Business Oregon; and about $300 million in tax-exempt economic development bonds issued in 2018 through the state of Oregon."

As long as the federal government continues to print money, hustlers don't need to have a sucker born every minute.

ITEM 11: AP reported, "Supporters of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro who refuse to accept his election defeat stormed Congress, the Supreme Court and presidential palace in the capital on Sunday, a week after the inauguration of his leftist rival, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

"Thousands of demonstrators bypassed security barricades, climbed on roofs, smashed windows and invaded all three buildings, which were believed to be largely vacant and sit on Brasilia’s vast Three Powers Square.

"Some of them called for a military intervention to either restore the far-right Bolsonaro to power, or oust Lula from the presidency."

The United States condemned the protesters because our government believes the right to protest belongs only to lefties.

ITEM 12: Post Millennial reported, "A 27-year-old transsexual has reportedly admitted to burning down a historic Korean church in Portland, Oregon, underscoring how he wanted to "take credit" for this act of apparent anti-Christian hatred.

"The 118-year-old, 3,000-square-foot Portland Korean Church at Southwest 10th and Southwest Clay Street, formerly the First German Evangelical Church, was set ablaze around 5:30 p.m. on January 3."

He or she should now transition into a prison inmate for the next 20 years.

ITEM 13: The Epoch Times reported, "In her first official act as Arizona’s governor, Democrat Katie Hobbs signed an executive order that seeks to prohibit discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation in employment."

Her state is being invaded by drug lords, human traffickers and other illegal aliens and her first act as governor was to make sure guys in drag can use the ladies room.

ITEM 14: The ReMix reported, "Close to 1,000 actively serving members of the Bundeswehr refused military service last year following the outbreak of the Russo-Ukrainian conflict.

"In total, Germany’s Federal Office for Family Affairs and Civil Society Functions received 951 applications for conscientious objection among serving members of the Bundeswehr in 2022.

"'In 2021, we received 201 applications for conscientious objection,' a spokesperson for the federal office told German news outlet RDN on Friday.

"According to a report by the office, many applicants justified their objection to military service on the basis that they simply were not expecting military confrontation in Europe during their given service time."

It's odd that war brings out the pacifist in people. 

ITEM 15: Zero Hedge reported, "Media Blackout Over Terror Incident At Vegas Power Plant."

The story said, "The US power grid is under attack as extremists shoot, sabotage, and vandalize electrical equipment at power stations. One of the highest-profile attacks was when two men used guns to paralyze a substation in Washington state on Christmas Day, leaving thousands without electricity. The incident made national news, but strangely enough, another attack last week on the Las Vegas power grid went unnoticed by the national press.

"Mohammad Mesmarian, 34, rammed his car through the gate of a solar power generation plant outside Las Vegas on Wednesday and set his car on fire, intending to damage a massive transformer, 8 News Now reported."

The media is as silent on the power grid attacks as it is the fires at food processing and storage facilities.

ITEM 16: The New York Post reported, "Dozens in Congress beat stock market in 2022 despite downturn on Wall Street: analysis."

They may not be able to balance our budget or protect our border, but by golly our congressmen are lucky investors.

The story said, "Topping the list of winners was Rep. Patrick Fallon (R-Texas), who made 51.6% on his investments in 2022, according to the data. Right behind him was Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (D-Fla.) with a 50.8% spike, the report showed.

"Fallon’s most lucrative bet was on Twitter. He snatched up as much as $150,000 worth of stock in January 2022 and flipped it after Elon Musk announced plans to acquire the social media company — making as much as $75,000."

Forget an S&P 500 stock index fund. I want to put my money in a House of Representatives 435 index fund.

ITEM 17: AP reported, "The public school district in Seattle has filed a novel lawsuit against the tech giants behind TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and Snapchat, seeking to hold them accountable for the mental health crisis among youth."

The social media companies should countersue the school system for shutting down schools.

ITEM 18: Six days after Damar Hamlin's on-field cardiac arrest, the Buffalo Bills played the New England Patriots. On the opening kickoff, Nyheim Hines of the Bills ran it back 96 yards for a touchdown. He later ran 101 yards in a second kickoff return touchdown.

But the real news is Hamlin is recovering and watched the game.

Prayer works.  

FINALLY, my impromptu experiment into moving HotN to Substack on Saturday was a success as I had twice as many readers as normal. Unfortunately, none of the links worked and once posted, I could not fix the problem. Lesson learned.

The post did produce the Comment of the Day: "If you receive an email titled Melania Trump nudes, don't open it, it contains a virus to steal credit card information.

"If you receive an email titled Kamala Harris nudes, don't open it. It contains nudes of Kamala."

Today, I will post my first subscriber-only column, "Trump proves media wrong again," at 11 AM Eastern. This means there will be but one more post on the blog today at 3 PM Eastern.

https://donsurber.substack.com

Readers may have noticed that Substack columns are longer. This column clocks in at just under 2,000 words. I want to give readers more as I move to subscriptions and away from advertising. I cannot be censored there. Plus, there are no ads.

Free content will still be posted at Substack but paid content is my future. I thank everyone who has subscribed whether paid or unpaid.