Flotsam and Jetsam - On The Hunt for Hunter

James Lynch at Da Caller has been very busy following up on Hunter Biden's "business," IRS Whistleblowers Unable To ‘Verify’ Loans White House Claims Joe Biden Sent To Family Members, Testimony Shows, IRS Investigators On Hunter Biden Case Were Denied Opportunity To Interview Key Business Associate, Testimony Shows and  Hunter Biden’s Business Relationship With Chinese Firm Began During Joe Biden’s Vice Presidency, Docs Show. Speaking of the Chinese, TNP notices Hunter Biden’s Newest Ally is Congressman Who Slept With Chinese Spy, Eric Swalwell. Shawn Fleetwood at Da Fed wonders Did Joe Biden Know Hunter Would Violate Republicans’ Congressional Subpoena? White House Says Yes. Does than make them indictable co-conspirators? Joe Klein at Front Page says Hunter’s Defiance is "More trouble for the Big Guy." From Breitbart, a Report Says Hunter Is Loose Speedball on Joe’s Sinking USS: Reelection and White House: Evolving Rhetoric on Joe’s Involvement with Hunter Is Just ‘Semantic’ Game, But ‘Nothing Has Changed.’ Also from James Lynch, DOJ Prosecutor Accused Of Protecting Joe And Hunter Biden Departs Her Post. "IRS whistleblowers Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler have accused Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Delaware Lesley Wolf of preventing a search of Joe Biden’s guest residence and stonewalling a planned search of Hunter Biden’s storage locker. Wolf is no longer with the DOJ and left her post weeks ago, Fox News first reported." Matt Margolis at PJM, Here’s What Happened to the DOJ Official Who Tried to Protect Hunter Biden. Tristan Justice at Da Fed thinks its Awkward: Hunter Biden’s Defense Invokes Gun Rights Ruling 19 Times After Joe Called It Unconstitutional. Jeff Norman at Am Spec, If Biden Loves His Son, He Should Resign "Albert Hunt is urging the president not to run for reelection."At the Free Bacon. Succession 2024: Harris Sharpens The Knife. "Watch your back, Joe." Capt. Ed at Hat Hair comments "Interesting, especially in light of yesterday’s Politico piece on how Kamala Harris is driving Biden’s foreign-policy choices on Israel and the Palestinians. I argued yesterday that this looked like a PR attempt to push back against Gavin Newsom. Perhaps this is Fallon’s idea to push Biden off the ticket altogether."

At Breitbart, Jake Sullivan Tells Israel to End ‘Intense’ War in Time for Presidential Election. Matt Vespa at TownHall, It Was Only a Matter of Time Before These Leaks Occurred Under Joe Biden "This leak was meant to place pressure on the administration to curb its military aid packages to the Jewish state, which is also the only democracy in the Middle East." From the Wombat's In The Mailbox: 12.15.23 Am Great, Biden Turns on Netanyahu Ahead of 2024.

Matt Taibbi at Racket, Orf vs. the Memory Hole: "Extreme MAGA Republicans," "When the president goes to a campaign fundraiser, stock lines ensue. Plus, the "Vermin Switcheroo"" 

From the Wombat's In The Mailbox: 12.15.23 at Am Con, The U.S. Debt Is Getting Uglier—And That’s the Plan. Insty, OH: Fed Official Says Central Bank Isn’t ‘Really Talking About Rate Cuts.’

A senior Federal Reserve official said Friday that central-bank policy makers weren’t actively debating when to cut interest rates, an apparent effort to temper markets’ exuberant interpretation of comments Chair Jerome Powell made two days earlier.

“We aren’t really talking about rate cuts right now,” New York Fed President John Williams said on CNBC. “We’re very focused on the question in front of us, which as Chair Powell said…is, have you gotten monetary policy to a sufficiently restrictive stance?”

Williams serves as the vice chair of the Fed’s rate-setting committee and is part of Powell’s inner circle of monetary policy advisers.

Stocks surged and bond yields tumbled Wednesday after the Fed held interest rates steady and officials projected three rate cuts next year.

End-of-the-year rallies always feel nice but it looks like this one is built on false hope.

Breitbart touts a Poll: Donald Trump Trounces Joe Biden in 7 Swing States Heading into Election Year. Sundance at CTH thinks it's GREAT NEWS – Senate Majority Predicts Donald J. Trump Will Win 2024 Election – Constructs Bill To Prevent Trump Exiting NATO Alliance, Includes in Recent NDAA. Duane Patterson at Hat Hair says It's the End of Democracy As We Know It, and I Feel Fine...ish. NRO editors insist Chris Christie Needs to Stand Down. Capt. Ed, "Meh. I doubt Christie will even be a factor. Assuming Trump wins Iowa, I’d eat my hat if Christie’s caucus total came to even half of the gap between Trump and the runner up, presumably DeSantis. He might be a bigger factor in New Hampshire, but even then only marginally. Still, that’s a good reason to hang it up, too … irrelevance."

From the Wombat's In The Mailbox: 12.15.23, Joe Fried at Am Think has A State-by-State Look at Noncitizen Voting also, GOP Betrays Voters…Again. We're used to it; not happy though. At Breitbart, Latino Democrats Tout Migrants as Their Constituents. 

 ABC, Giuliani defamation trial live updates: Jury awards election workers nearly $150 million "The amount is three times as much as plaintiffs were seeking." The use of rabidly anti-Trump juries has to stop. Capt. Ed. "Giuliani has pledged to appeal. An appellate court will almost certainly cut down the award, but Giuliani isn’t going to get entirely off the hook." From the Wombat's In The Mailbox: 12.15.23,  EBL, MAGA: Rudy Giuliani Gets Raped in Georgia Defamation Trial and Nice Deb at Am Great reports Elise Stefanik Files Ethics Complaint Against Judge Beryl Howell Alleging ‘Highly Inappropriate Political Speech’ "Howell is an Obama-appointed federal judge who has been ruthless in her rulings against the January 6 rioters. She is currently overseeing Rudy Giuliani’s defamation trial and has previously overseen grand jury probes into former President Trump." Mary Chastain at LI reports New York Appeals Court Denies Trump’s Request to Overturn Gag Order in Civil Trial  “Here, the gravity of potential harm is small, given that the Gag Order is narrow, limited to prohibiting solely statements regarding the court’s staff.” KT at Hat Hair hears Apology Letters Surface in Georgia Trump Case and It's Weird. Sorry, not sorry. 

Sundance at CTH is revved up about the Deep State (again), with FBI Investigator of Trump-Russia Collusion Sentenced to 4 Years in Prison for Colluding with Russia, Too Funny – CNN Begins Apoplexy Narrative Around “Missing” 10 Inch Declassified Dossier That Details Trump-Russia Conspiracy, and Lara Logan Interviews Representative Clay Higgins About J6 Targeting and Government Weaponization, with the latter being worthy of embedding:

From the College Fix, Jewish students face swastika, ‘intifada’ calls amid Hanukkah celebrations. Insty, has a FLASHBACK: A New Class problem. “A common thread among anti-semitism, anti-capitalism, and anti-Americanism is the fear of being outdone by people willing to work harder. It’s not surprising that such a fear exists among a disproportionate number of those who take state-supported jobs. It’s thus not surprising, then, that New Class sensibilities are so often anti-American and anti-capitalist, and increasingly (or perhaps I should say, once again) anti-Semitic, too.” Plus: “I can’t help but notice that anti-Americanism, and the various manifestations of what some have called Transnational Progressivism, are most common among people who, well, have state-supported managerial or intellectual jobs. Martin Hackworth, The Claudine Gay problem goes way beyond Harvard "Do you really think that people like Claudine Gay are found only at Ivy League universities? We should all be so lucky." From Da Wire, ‘Harvard Does Not Have Our Back’: Rabbi Slams University At Hanukkah Event Attended By Claudine Gay, '26 years I've given my life to this community. I've never felt so alone.'  Insty  cites DANIEL HENNINGER: University Presidents Flunk Out.   Hat Hair's Dave Strom hears a 2022 Nobel Prize Winner Blasts Claudine Gay and DEI and John Sexton hears an Oakland City Councilmember Disinvited from Speaking to Berkeley Class Over Support for Israel. From Twitchy  Can We Have Mayim Bialik Back As Jeopardy Host for 1000 Please Alex. She appears to have been pushed out over her pro-Israel stance. At Breitbart, Dem Rep. Krishnamoorthi: Congress Shouldn’t Call for Harvard, MIT Presidents to Be Fired over ‘Abhorrent’ Testimony. At Campus Reform, Walls close in on Jew-haters as government starts investigations of campus anti-Semitism, "The Department of Education has added six more universities to a growing list of institutions under civil rights investigations for Title VI violations."

At Da Caller, University System Accepts $800 Million Deal In Exchange For Slashing Diversity Efforts in Wisconsin. So, do you want the money or not. Corrine Murdock at Da Wire is astonished when the  First Satanic Temple Kids Club Comes To Memphis Elementary School. mrc-TV reports Virginia School Board Member Sworn In On a Stack of Porn.  "The books, which Frisch brought with him for his swearing-in, included “The Perks Of Being A Wallflower,” “Lawn Boy,” “All Boys Aren’t Blue,” “Gender Queer” and “Flamer.” To be clear, parents have actually had their mics cut at school board meetings while trying to read excerpts from these books, which include images of and references to oral sex between males, orgies, masturbation, and pedophilia. Leftists have fought to keep this garbage in school libraries for kids as young as sixth grade, dubbing them “banned books” in an effort to accuse conservatives of targeting LGBTQ material simply because they don't want how-to guides on sex handed out to their K-12 children by tax-funded educators." Tom Jackson at Hat Hair VIP, hears the LGBTQ Lobby: We Don't Need No Stinking Definitions.

Stacy McCain, Fact Check: Jesus Was NOT an ‘Undocumented Immigrant’ (and Also, Joseph and Mary Weren’t Homeless)

Linked at  the weekly Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup up at Pirate's Cove. The Wombat had FMJRA 2.0: Our Annual Rogers Hornsby Moment up at The Other McCain in time for St. Nick.