• Senate Republicans signal strength amid Schumer Shutdown: Senate Republicans had lunch with the president yesterday at the White House. Majority Leader John Thune said after the lunch that the “Republican team in the Senate is unified.” It’s not just the Senate, either; the speaker of the House, the Senate majority leader, and the president of the United States are steadfast in their insistence that negotiations over Democrat pet projects can occur only after Minority Leader Chuck Schumer relents and passes the clean continuing resolution. Trump took the opportunity to praise his newly renovated Rose Garden, even as construction on the new, privately funded ballroom is beginning. Trump pointed out that just one Republican senator was missing — Rand Paul, the lone Republican to vote “No” on the CR. The Senate is expected to vote on the CR again today, but there is no indication that Democrats are backing down.

• Putin and Trump not meeting after all: “I don’t want to have a wasted meeting,” Donald Trump stated on Tuesday in response to a reporter’s question as to why a planned second meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin has been canceled. The decision came on Monday, following Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s phone conversation with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, during which it became clear that Putin has no intention of seeking a peace deal to end his war in Ukraine. Following last week’s phone call with Putin, Trump pulled back on giving long-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine, apparently hoping the gesture would encourage the Russian strongman to engage in serious peace negotiations. However, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky observed, “As soon as the pressure eased a little, the Russians began to try to drop diplomacy, postpone the dialogue.” Clearly, Putin is unwilling to end his diplomatic game of cat-and-mouse.

• House refers Brennan for prosecution: House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan has referred former CIA Director John Brennan to Attorney General Pam Bondi and the Department of Justice for possible charges. The Judiciary Committee says that on May 11, 2023, Brennan knowingly and willfully made false statements in his testimony to the House. Brennan’s primary lie surrounds his claim that “the CIA was not involved at all with the [Steele] dossier.” This statement is contradicted by recently declassified documents, corroborated by a senior FBI analyst, which state that the decision to include Steele dossier information in the Intelligence Community Assessment that propagated the Russia-collusion hoax was “jointly made by the Directors of CIA and FBI.” The House referral also indicated that Brennan had given false testimony to Congress in 2017, although that was now beyond the five-year statute of limitations.

• Hillary Clinton rages at East Wing renovation: There’s petty, and then there’s shamelessly petty, and Hillary Clinton’s recent social media outburst can only be categorized as the second. As construction crews began clearing ground on the East Wing of the White House this week, commencing Donald Trump’s building of a ballroom, Clinton posted on X, “It’s not his house. It’s your house. And he’s destroying it.” Her post included a picture of the East Wing facade being demolished in preparation for the ballroom attachment. Maybe Hillary has never watched HGTV; otherwise, she would know that demolition is part and parcel to any renovation project. Of course, her objection is actually an expression of TDS, as there is little genuine reason to object to a ballroom addition entirely financed by private donors. Furthermore, if anyone knows how to build things, it’s Trump.

• Anti-ICE activist honored by Los Angeles assaults ICE with a deadly weapon: “Your tireless efforts to safeguard our neighborhoods from illegal raids and abductions reflect a profound dedication to justice.” That’s how the city of Los Angeles honored a TikToker who films ICE arrests in August. Yesterday, Carlitos Ricardo Parias, a.k.a. “Richard LA,” resisted arrest and rammed his car into ICE vehicles, spinning the tires and causing the vehicle to fishtail, creating a life-threatening situation. In response to Parias’s assault, an ICE officer opened fire, wounding Parias and leading to his arrest. A fellow ICE officer was struck and wounded by a ricochet. Both Parias and the officer are expected to recover. Acting U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli reminded the public that vehicles are deadly weapons, and anyone using them to attack law enforcement “risks arrest, imprisonment, and life-threatening injuries.”

• Pardoned J6 rioter arrested for death threat against Hakeem Jeffries: In the wake of Joe “Autopen” Biden’s disgraceful pardons for anyone in or near his administration, many Republicans, including Donald Trump, thought a blanket pardon for most January 6 rioters was appropriate. As it turns out, blanket pardons are foolish. Christopher Moynihan, who was apparently one of the more violent of the Capitol rioters, has been arrested for threatening to kill House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. A text message sent by Moynihan said in relation to an expected speech from Jeffries in NYC, “I cannot allow this terrorist to live” and “he must be eliminated, I will kill him for the future.” The FBI referred Moynihan to the New York State Police, who arrested him. Moynihan has already been arraigned and did not make bail. His next court appearance is on Thursday.

• Hegseth tightens reins on Pentagon’s communication with Congress: Secretary of War Pete Hegseth is overhauling the Pentagon’s communication with the outside world. He has limited press access to certain areas of the Pentagon and required journalists to sign a pledge of conduct that was almost universally rejected, leading most journalists to walk out of the building. Now Hegseth has ordered Pentagon officials speaking in their official capacities to get permission from the legislative affairs office before speaking to Congress. Individual agencies and branches of the military have heretofore been able to communicate with Congress at their own discretion. The memo informing the Pentagon of the change said that unauthorized engagements with Congress may undermine the Department’s legislative priorities.

• Mamdani’s plan: tax whitey: New York City socialist mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani has run his campaign on a platform of promising a lot of free stuff, such as day care, bus rides, and government-run grocery stores. Of course, none of this stuff is free, so how does Mamdani plan to pay for it? Well, he plans to “shift the burden” by raising taxes on “richer” and “whiter” neighborhoods. When questioned as to why he highlighted racial demographics, Mamdani explained, “That is just a description of what we see right now. It’s not driven by race. It’s more of an assessment of what neighborhoods are being undertaxed versus overtaxed.” He added, “We’ve seen time and again that this is a property tax system that is inequitable. The focus here is to actually ensure a fair property tax system.” Apparently, “fair” is a relative term that justifies discrimination against people with white skin.

• AZ AG files lawsuit against House GOP: Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes filed a lawsuit against House Republicans on Tuesday, alleging that Speaker Mike Johnson’s refusal to officially swear in Democrat Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva was disenfranchising voters. Grijalva, who will replace her deceased father in the congressional seat, won Arizona’s special election on September 23, four days after the House entered a recess. Johnson responded by calling Mayes’s lawsuit “patently absurd,” noting, “We run the House. She has no jurisdiction. We’re following the precedent.” The House precedent is that specially elected representatives are sworn in when the House is in session, which it has not been for weeks now due to the Democrat-initiated government shutdown. And Johnson has stated explicitly that he will not call the House back into session until the Senate votes to reopen the government.

• Jen Psaki’s white-savior complex: Democrats have begun the smear campaign on JD Vance early, with MSNBC host Jen Psaki already labeling him “worse than Hitler.” But she didn’t stop there, as she went even lower by attacking Vance’s marriage. She made the contemptible comments on the “I’ve Had It” podcast, suggesting that JD’s wife, Usha, was scared of him and needed saving. “I think the little Manchurian candidate, JD Vance, wants to be president more than anything else,” Psaki said. “I always wonder what’s going on in the mind of his wife. Like, are you OK? Please blink four times. We’ll come over here. We’ll save you.” Many took to X, calling Psaki out for her disgusting and unwarranted comments. One of them, Townhall writer Amy Curtis, pointed out, “Usha Vance is happily married. … She made a vow to JD, and those words mean something.” Liberals, in their misery, hate seeing others who are happy.

Headlines

• Trump receives Architect of Peace Award from Nixon Foundation (CBS News)

• Jeanine Pirro charges two of Edward “Big Balls” Coristine’s attackers (PJ Media)

• RFK Jr. to unveil new guidance encouraging more saturated fats (NewsNation)

• Cracker Barrel CEO claims disastrous logo change was “not ideological” (NY Post)

• Oxford Union votes to oust woke president-elect who called conservatives “cancer,” celebrated Charlie Kirk’s assassination (Not the Bee)

• Britain’s Metropolitan Police force says it’ll finally stop investigating thought crimes (Daily Caller)

• Humor: White House construction crew finds 1,357 more cocaine stashes (Babylon Bee)

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