Rosie O’Donnell’s call for 25th Amendment ‘laughable’ after Biden

 Sarah Bedford  

"Washington Examiner investigations editor Sarah Bedford largely dismissed comedian Rosie O’Donnell’s concerns about President Donald Trump, citing how this strongly contrasts with the lack of concern the last president received."

"Rosie O’Donnell may have traded the United States for Ireland, but her preoccupation with President Donald Trump has followed her every step of the way — and, by her own admission, shows no signs of loosening its grip.

"According to Fox News, the 63-year-old comedian has spoken openly about her decision to relocate after Trump’s re-election last November. Friends, family, and O’Donnell herself described the move in a recent interview with The Washington Post, and one theme emerged repeatedly: she can’t stop talking about him.

"The report states that O’Donnell made a holiday-week promise to her therapist that she would avoid posting about Trump for two days. The pledge collapsed almost immediately.

"Jennifer Kopetic, a longtime friend, didn’t hide her frustration. “Roseann, you’ve got to detach. You’ve got to disconnect,” she told O’Donnell during a visit, calling her fixation draining.

"O’Donnell tried again — this time publicly — telling her 1.2 million Instagram followers she was “gonna try again to not give him a minute of me.” The streak didn’t last.

"Her political anxiety dates back to Trump’s first election. “I felt on the verge of crying … when he got elected,” she told an Irish TV audience earlier this year. The fear intensified over time, she said, fueled by concerns about LGBTQ protections and federal support programs. 

"O’Donnell, a lesbian mother of five, has spoken particularly about worrying for her youngest child, Clay, who is 12, identifies as nonbinary, and has been diagnosed with autism.

"During Trump’s first term, O’Donnell poured her anger into hundreds of digital portraits, each one skewering him with labels like “Moron,” “Loser,” and “Liar.” She later concluded that the emotional toll of the political climate — and her response to it — left her with one option: leave." . . .

Rosie O’Donnell’s Struggle With Trump Obsession Follows Her Across the Atlantic – IJR

Protests Erupt Across Iran As Angry People Flood Streets

 RedState

"The mullahs have ruled in Iran since 1979. 

"That's a long time. 

"But there are still people who remember what it was like in the country before. They remember what it was like to have more freedom then. There have been resistance movements ever since, inside and outside Iran, trying to bring change. 

"They've had moments in the past where things seemed to come close, such as with the Green Movement that started in 2009, and had hundreds of thousands in the streets. But Barack Obama was in office in 2009, so their hopes of any support were dashed. Then, too, in 2016, he secretly flew $400 million to Iran.

The money was owed as part of a failed arms deal prior to the 1979 Islamic Revolution, but payment coincided with the release of four Americans held in Tehran. Hari Sreenivasan speaks with Jay Solomon, the Wall Street Journal reporter who broke the story.

"So you had millions that went to helping to prop up the terrorist state. 

"But the Iranians are a persistent people, it would appear, especially when you hurt them in their wallets and make it challenging to survive. We're at another one of those moments in history where hope has sparked again in the country, and people are in the streets, calling for change.

Nationwide strikes and protests by merchants continued across Iran, with shops shuttered in major commercial hubs including Tehran’s Grand Bazaar, Lalehzar Street, Naser Khosrow and Istanbul Square. Demonstrators chanted anti-government slogans calling for the downfall of the ruling clerics and demanding the leadership step aside.

Video circulating online showed protesters inside a major shopping complex in Tehran’s Grand Bazaar chanting, "Have no fear, we are all together," while hurling insults at security forces and calling them shameless.

Additional footage from Tehran’s bazaar districts showed crowds chanting "Death to the dictator," calling on merchants to shut down their shops and demanding President Masoud Pezeshkian step aside, as voices in the video said businesses had closed in protest. . . .  More...

The World Must Stop Ignoring What Iranians Already Know: The Regime Is on the Brink

 

What Nick Shirley’s Minnesota Fraud Story Says About Legacy Media

What Nick Shirley’s Minnesota Fraud Story Says About Legacy Media "The Minnesota Star Tribune, Bevan points out, had nothing on this expose after it aired. But it did manage to run a front-page story – one that could have been written by Tim Walz’s PR shop – about how the governor was tapping “influencers to spread political messages.”

This form of journalist malpractice isn’t limited to Minnesota. It’s rampant. And it’s the direct result of the legacy media’s decision to put the interests of the Democratic Party ahead of the public. . . .

Issues & Insights  "Nick Shirley’s 42-minute YouTube video on daycare fraud in Minnesota is shocking not just because of the scale of abuse he uncovered in a day. It’s shocking because it took a young kid to expose this years-long scheme. Where was the mainstream media all this time?

"In the must-see video, Shirley teams up with a citizen investigator and goes door-to-door visiting various “daycare” facilities in Minneapolis that pocketed millions in taxpayer money through a Child Care Assistance Program.

"Another was the “Quality Learing Center” – which misspelled “learning” in its sign. Like the others, it was closed, but outside of it was a woman who kept shouting “don’t open up!” and “go away!” and “shame on you!” and “ICE!”

"None of the places the pair visited showed any signs of having any children under its care. They went to an autism center with the same result, and two buildings that supposedly housed dozens of health care companies, all of which looked like obvious fronts.

"Yet somehow, these blatantly fraudulent businesses were able to collect more than $100 million in a few short years." . . .

Owler Reports - CNN: CNN and MS NOW Ignore $9 Billion 'Industrial-Scale' Minnesota Fraud Claims   . . . "Federal prosecutors claim a wide-ranging Minnesota fraud scheme ripped off more than $9 billion in taxpayer dough - but loyal MS NOW and CNN viewers haven't heard a thing about it. A review of MS NOW and CNN's broadcasts since December 18 - when prosecutors claimed the fraud operation was much larger than previously reported - shows it has not been mentioned a single time by either outlet. Both outlets do not have stories on the fraud scheme on their respective websites, either. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement For comparison, Fox News has covered the topic dozens of times since then, and NewsNation also covered it a handful of times. But there is an argument to be made that this is the biggest domestic story of the past month - and MS NOW and CNN have failed their viewers by ignoring it." . . .

Room for parody in all this? Babylon Bee: Walz Announces $8 Billion Grant To Somali Company To Investigate Fraud

. . . "To date, approximately $18 billion has been lost to fraud in Minnesota through fake social service programs run by Somalis, some of whom may be in the country illegally. Walz hopes to get to the bottom of the scandal with a lucrative grant to the newly formed Osman Farah Private Eye Detective Agency for Finding Welfare Fraud

" 'Look at me. Look at me. I am the detective now," said Detective Osman Farah.

"Democrats praised Walz for rising above politics to get to the bottom of the fraud case. "Well, I'm convinced," said Minnesota Congressional Representative Ilhan Omar. "Nothing to see here. As usual, America is the real villain."

"Previously, Republicans questioned Walz's leadership throughout the Somali daycare fraud scandal, even going so far as to suggest he's involved. Now, however, they're certain he's just mentally handicapped and unable to run an elaborate money laundering scheme himself." . . .

Somali Tim Walz voters: follow the money

 "Another was the “Quality Learing Center” – which misspelled “learning” in its sign. Like the others, it was closed, but outside of it was a woman who kept shouting “don’t open up!” and “go away!” and “shame on you!” and “ICE!' ”

Rich Terrell

What Nick Shirley’s Minnesota Fraud Story Says About Legacy Media   "Nick Shirley’s 42-minute YouTube video on daycare fraud in Minnesota is shocking not just because of the scale of abuse he uncovered in a day. It’s shocking because it took a young kid to expose this years-long scheme. Where was the mainstream media all this time?

"In the must-see video, Shirley teams up with a citizen investigator and goes door-to-door visiting various “daycare” facilities in Minneapolis that pocketed millions in taxpayer money through a Child Care Assistance Program." . . .  

If someone made a movie of the Walz-Somali fraud, young Mr. Shirley could be played by someone like this child actor, Jeremy Maguire:: (Right)

The dominoes are beginning to fall in the Democratic-run stronghold of Minneapolis, where federal investigators were on the ground earlier today as part of expanded investigations into childcare centers and other widespread alleged fraud schemes by Somali-linked operators.

"By evening, Nick Shirley, the citizen journalist who brought the "empty" childcare companies into the national spotlight with a video that has received 121 million views in just three days, revealed that one of the Somali-linked childcare centers had been shut down by the Minnesota Department of Children." . . .

"Tim Waltz calls fraud investigation” white supremacy' ” "When Elon made a hand gesture in passion, they wrote hundreds of articles calling him racist When Somalis steal billions of dollars, they call the people who are upset racist It appears that the best way to loot the country is to call everyone racist." . . .

. . . "We assess that as the dominant narrative of the widening Somali-linked fraud scandal in Minneapolis continues to go viral on X through "America First"-linked accounts, Democrats and their PR machine will move to advance a counter-narrative, given how optically damaging these revelations are ahead of the midterm cycle.

"The days of Democrats defaulting to labeling opponents as "racists" or "fascists" appear to be over. They will likely need to develop new pejoratives to target those investigating allegations of welfare fraud on a scale larger than Somalia's GDP."

Uh-Oh: Perhaps a paperwork error of some kind is involved. Perhaps our children is learing after all.   

However, Lou reports that his team paid a visit to QLC on Monday and found it open for business with children being dropped off. A New York Post story is to the same effect. The Post story reports: “Ibrahim Ali, the son of the owner who said he was the manager, claimed to The Post on Monday that Shirley’s visit came before they opened for the day.”

The Reaction to the Nick Shirley Video is Telling Us a Bunch of Things  

"First, as predictably as the sunrise, Nick Shirley is literally invading Poland. He’s a TERRIFYING WHITE SUPREMACIST and an EVIL ZIONIST NAZI who is ATTACKING INNOCENT MUSLIMS with his cleverly concocted lies."

Douglas Murray: Zohran Mamdani appointing radical transition team has NYC in for a rude awakening

Douglas Murray  

"Well, New York — we’re going to be in for quite a ride.

"But then, I suppose many voters knew that when they voted in Zohran Mamdani as mayor last month.

"Even so, the number of radicals he has already appointed should still make New Yorkers gulp.The Post this week revealed the inept, badly spelled list of appointees to Zo’s transition team." . . .

. . . "But personally, I wouldn’t be surprised if Mamdani headquarters deliberately got the names of their appointees wrong." . . .

"And that side is the wrong one.

"Traditionally, experts in criminal justice, policing and safety are people who are opposed to criminals.

"Not people whose experience is of supporting criminals or actually being criminals.

"Take the appointment of Lumumba Bandele to serve on the soon-to-be mayor’s “Committee on Community Organizing.”

" 'As well as being a black nationalist, Bandele has spent his career supporting people who have killed cops in New York and New Jersey.

"That’s nice news for all the NYPD officers who put their lives on the line every day in this city.

Advocates for bad guys

"Then there’s the appointment of Sarita Daftary from a group called “Freedom Agenda.”

"This group describes itself as being “dedicated to organizing people and communities directly impacted by incarceration to achieve decarceration and system transformation.”" . . .

Wrong predictions? Never mind

Cal Thomas  

"The line Democrats and the media are now promoting is that people aren't "feeling" the improved economy. When they start to feel it, likely by next spring, what will their line be then?" 

  "End of the year predictions about the future have been around at least since the days of Nostradamus, but what about past predictions? There were plenty of predictions that electing Donald Trump the first time and then reelecting him, would cause economic Armageddon.                "Democrats and their media mouthpieces have consistently predicted monetary collapse from President Trump's policies. This year alone, editorials in The New York Times, The Washington Post and most "reporting" by mainstream networks have claimed with absolute certainty that the president's tariffs would tank the economy. 

    "Now comes a column in The Washington Post by author and investor Zachary Karabell, who writes "The Edgy Optimistic" on Substack. He says that after Trump's tariff announcement last April 2, "Most observers predicted sharply higher inflation, domestic and global economic contraction, and widespread spikes in unemployment. None of that happened." In fact, inflation is way down from what it was during the Biden administration, the stock market is setting new records, gas prices have dropped way below what they were during the Biden years, and prices for groceries are starting to fall, though less quickly. Karabell writes: "2025 ends on a positive note for the economy, in terms of the numbers and relative to expectations in April. That should be celebrated."

"When confronted by Chevy Chase that her editorial response was wrong, she responded "never mind." Being a liberal means never having to say you were wrong, much less apologize. Consider what New York Times economics columnist Paul Krugman wrote after Donald Trump was first elected president in 2016:"Now comes the mother of all adverse effects — and what it brings with it is a regime that will be ignorant of economic policy and hostile to any effort to make it work. So we are very probably looking at a global recession, with no end in sight." Krugman doubled down on his prediction of economic disaster if Trump was re-elected in 2024. Wrong again. Never mind." . . . More...

Cal Thomas, America's most-syndicated columnist, is the author of 10 books.