by | Dec 21, 2024 | Fox News
“Rockin’ around the Christmas tree
At the Christmas party hop” – Brenda Lee
It’s a yuletide tradition on Capitol Hill.
An annual custom of rockin’ around a congressional Christmas tree, festooned with hundreds of legislative ornaments, Advent appropriations and mistletoe modifications.
A political Polar Express chugs through the halls of Congress nearly every December. It’s always the last piece of legislation huffing out of the congressional station.
WHAT TO EXPECT AS REPUBLICANS TRY TO SALVAGE SPENDING PACKAGE, AVOID GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN
“All aboard!” hollers the conductor.
Get your Noel needs loaded into the baggage car of this train, or it’s going to be left behind.
So, lawmakers decorated their “Christmas tree” in the only way they know how.
That resulted a few days ago in the colossal 1,547-page interim spending bill to avoid a government shutdown.
The sheer scope of the bill was breathtaking.
You want a hippopotamus for Christmas? You surely would have gotten it with this plan.
It wasn’t long until House Republicans pulverized the legislation.
“It’s another cram down,” fumed Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, the morning after congressional leaders released the bill. “Here’s what you get. ‘Do this or shut the government down.’ So, it’s very disappointing.”
Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Mo., didn’t gift wrap his criticism.
“It’s a total dumpster fire. I think it’s garbage,” decreed Burlison. “It’s shameful that people celebrate DOGE coming, and yet we’re going to vote for another billion dollars to be added to the deficit. It’s ironic.”
Rep. Rich McCormick, R-Ga., mocked his colleagues for talking out of both sides of their mouths when it came to spending.
“We keep on saying we want to take the deficit and the debt seriously. But we keep on voting to increase it. You can’t have it both ways,” he said. “This is irresponsible.”
Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, lamented this was business as usual.
“I mean, the swamp is going to swamp, right?” proffered Roy.
THE HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO WHAT HAPPENED TO THE INTERIM SPENDING BILL
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said the following in the fall:
“We have broken the Christmas omni. I have no intention of going back to that terrible tradition. There won’t be a Christmas omnibus,” Johnson declared Sept. 24. “We won’t do any ‘buses.’”
So, yours truly pressed Johnson about his promise after frustrated Republicans upbraided him during a House GOP Conference meeting.
“You said back in September there would be no more Christmas omnibuses. You were not doing anymore ‘buses,’” I asked. “But how is this not yet another Christmas tree at the holidays?”
“Well, it’s not a Christmas tree. It’s not an omnibus,” responded Johnson.
Johnson is technically right. In appropriations parlance, it’s not a true omnibus — even though outside observers and many lawmakers themselves might colloquially refer to the massive bill as an “omnibus.” An omnibus is where Congress gift wraps all 12 individual spending measures into one package. A “minibus” is where a handful of bills are bundled together.
Even so, I reminded Johnson of the opprobrium directed at this legislation.
“They called this cram down. They said it was garbage. Those are your own members calling it that,” I noted.
“Well, they haven’t even seen it yet,” said Johnson, even though the bill materialized the night before. “I’ve got a couple of friends who will say that about any end-of-year funding measure. This is not an omnibus, OK? This is a small CR (continuing resolution) that we’ve had to add things to that were out of our control.”
The legislation was stocked with a hefty price tag to cover the entire cost of the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore. A radioactive pay raise for lawmakers. Health care provisions. Language about concert ticket prices. Emergency aid for farmers. And $110 billion to help cover devastation from Hurricanes Helene and Milton.
“It was intended to be, and it was until recent days, a very simple, very clean CR stopgap funding measure to get us into next year when we have a unified government,” said Johnson. “But a couple of intervening things have occurred. We had, as we say, acts of God. We had these massive hurricanes.”
But then Elon Musk torched the bill. President-elect Trump demanded an immediate debt ceiling increase. Debt limit deals are one of the most complex and contentious issues in Congress. They require weeks if not months of painstaking negotiations.
HOUSE GOP LEADERS SCRAMBLE FOR PLAN B AFTER TRUMP, MUSK LEAD CONSERVATIVE FURY AGAINST SPENDING BILL
This wasn’t as simple as presenting Santa at the mall a wish list of items for Christmas morning.
The bill began bleeding support just hours before the House planned a vote.
But to paraphrase Charles Dickens’ opening line in “A Christmas Carol” about Jacob Marley, “That bill was dead: to begin with. There is no doubt whatever, about that.”
Democrats were flabbergasted at outside last-minute ultimatums. Especially since Johnson attended the Army-Navy football game last week with Trump. How could they not have discussed the contours of this bill?
“It was blown up by Elon Musk, who apparently has become the fourth branch of government,” Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., scoffed about the bill. “So, who is our leader, (House Minority Leader) Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., supposed to negotiate with? Is it Mike Johnson? Is he the speaker of the House? Or is it Donald Trump? Or is it Elon Musk. Or is it somebody else?”
Johnson and company then prepped a svelte 116-page bill to fund the government. But bipartisan lawmakers roasted that measure faster than chestnuts by an open fire.
Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., mocked Republicans for insisting that they adhere to their internal “three-day rule.” That allows lawmakers to ponder bills for three days before a vote. Yet Republicans were now racing the new bill to the floor faster than shoppers rushing home with their treasures.
“Have you printed it? How many pages is it? What happened to the 72-hour rule?” mocked Moskowitz.
The bill plummeted to an embarrassing defeat on the House floor. It only scored 174 yeas, punctuated by an eye-popping 38 Republican nays.
“The Democrats just voted to shut down the government,” Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, the vice president-elect, claimed. “They’ve asked for a shutdown, and I think that’s exactly what they’re going to get.”
By Friday, there was a third bill. And despite grousing, lawmakers finally passed the legislation. There was no need to go to “Plan Z,” popularized in “The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie.” The House approved the bill in the early evening. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., hit the Senate floor late Friday night.
“Democrats and Republicans have just reached an agreement that will allow us to pass the CR tonight before the midnight deadline,” said Schumer.
Critics of the third bill might characterize the entire process as a “railroad.” But it was an actual railroad that prevented the Senate from passing the bill on time. An unnamed Republican senator placed a hold on nominees to Amtrak’s board. But once senators resolved that problem, the Senate finally aligned with the House to prevent the shutdown around 12:45 a.m. ET Saturday, 45 minutes after the midnight deadline.
The slenderized bill included disaster aid and emergency assistance for farmers. But when it came to appropriations, the legislation simply renewed all current funding at present levels. It was definitely not a “Christmas tree.” It just kept the government running through March 14. So no holiday crisis.
Merry Christmas.
But beware the Ides of March.
Click here to see original article
by | Dec 21, 2024 | Fox News
Former porn star turned pastor Brittni De La Mora is calling on age verification laws to become “mandatory” to “protect children” as Florida is set to effectuate legislation on the matter in January.
Pornhub will soon no longer be available to Florida users after the Sunshine State instituted a new age verification rule for access to adult sites. Taking effect Jan. 1, 2025, the age verification rule is tied to the state’s HB 3, a measure that aims to protect minors online.
Pornhub’s parent company, Aylo, emphasized to Fox News Digital that it favors implementing effective age verification, just not specifically in the way Florida’s law was designed, saying other outlets have incorrectly reported it doesn’t support age verification at all.
“They’re deflecting accountability by saying that they don’t want to follow a simple law, which is age verification for pornography,” De La Mora said on “The Ingraham Angle.” “I don’t know exactly what they’re doing with their money, but I do believe that they are not out to protect young children.”
“Fifty-eight percent of minors that have watched pornography for their very first time — they watched it by stumbling upon it through a pop-up ad and so forth. And they weren’t looking for porn — porn was looking for them,” De La Mora said.
LAURA INGRAHAM: THE PORN INDUSTRY HAS BEEN FREE TO PROFIT OFF SELLING TOXIC MATERIAL TO MINORS
Per the bill, a website or application that “contains a substantial portion of material that is harmful to minors” will be required to verify the age of the user. Through an “anonymous or standard age verification method,” it must confirm the user is 18 or older to proceed with engagement.
In response to the specifications of the measure, Aylo elected to halt access to the adult site in Florida, saying in a statement that collecting “highly sensitive personal information” puts “user safety in jeopardy.”
“First, to be clear, Aylo has publicly supported age verification of users for years, but we believe that any law to this effect must preserve user safety and privacy, and must effectively protect children from accessing content intended for adults. Unfortunately, the way many jurisdictions worldwide, including Florida, have chosen to implement age verification is ineffective, haphazard, and dangerous. Any regulations that require hundreds of thousands of adult sites to collect significant amounts of highly sensitive personal information is putting user safety in jeopardy. Moreover, as experience has demonstrated, unless properly enforced, users will simply access non-compliant sites or find other methods of evading these laws,” Aylo told Fox News Digital in a statement.
The statement later continued: “The best solution to make the internet safer, preserve user privacy, and prevent children from accessing adult content is performing age verification at the source: on the device. The technology to accomplish this exists today. What is required is the political and social will to make it happen. We are eager to be part of this solution and are happy to collaborate with government, civil society and tech partners to arrive at an effective device-based age verification solution. In addition, many devices already offer free and easy-to-use parental control features that can prevent children from accessing adult content without risking the disclosure of sensitive user data.”
Florida residents still using the app ahead of the deadline are met with a countdown pop-up of how many more days they have access to the site.
“Did you know that your government wants you to give your driver’s license before you can access PORNHUB?” the pop-up reads. “As crazy as that sounds, it’s true. You’ll be required to prove you are 18 years or older such as by uploading your government ID for every adult content website you’d like to access.”
ADULT FILMMAKERS IN UTAH SEEK TO DELAY PORN SITE AGE VERIFICATION LAW
The pop-up also addressed how it supports minors not having access to the site, and said that preventing use is a “good thing.” It directed readers to alternative methods of blocking minor access, such as “Device-Based Age Verification.”
De La Mora continued: “I was in the porn industry for seven years, and I would be paid extra money to do aggressive, abusive scenes.”
She expanded on how the “pulling hair, spitting and choking” acts often used in porn clips have become “sexual education” for young people.
After speaking with some young girls, De La Mora said many expressed not wanting to have sex again after their first sexual experience.
“I don’t blame the young boys. They are watching pornography, and this is what’s filling their minds, and this is what’s teaching them how to have sex,” she said.
“Protecting children is not a violation of your First Amendment rights in any way. I believe that our government has an obligation to protect children,” De La Mora said, arguing that adult content is “not created with children in mind.” “It is created for adults, and yet there has been no accountability for porn companies.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ communications office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Click here to see original article
by | Dec 21, 2024 | Fox News
President-elect Trump announced on Saturday that he has tapped the creator of “The Apprentice” to serve a diplomatic role in the United Kingdom.
In a Truth Social post, Trump named Mark Burnett, a British-American TV producer who was born in London, as the next U.S. special envoy to the United Kingdom.
“It is my great honor to appoint Mark Burnett as the Special Envoy to the United Kingdom,” the president-elect said. “With a distinguished career in television production and business, Mark brings a unique blend of diplomatic acumen and international recognition to this important role.”
In addition to creating Trump’s former show “The Apprentice,” Burnett also created “Shark Tank” and led production of other programs such as “Survivor” and “The Martha Stewart Show.” In his Truth Social post, Trump said that the producer had created some of the “biggest shows in Television History,” and touted his achievements.
TRUMP NOMINATES PAIR TO HELP LEAD DOJ, ANNOUNCES FEDERAL RAILROAD ADMINISTRATION PICK
“He is the former Chairman of MGM, and has won 13 Emmy Awards!” the Republican wrote. “Mark will work to enhance diplomatic relations, focusing on areas of mutual interest, including trade, investment opportunities, and cultural exchanges. Congratulations Mark!”
No one is currently serving as a U.S. Special Envoy to the United Kingdom. Special envoy roles are typically temporary in nature and meant to fulfill a specific mission, though Trump did not specify the purpose of the role in his announcement.
GET TO KNOW DONALD TRUMP’S CABINET: WHO HAS THE PRESIDENT-ELECT PICKED SO FAR?
Earlier in December, Trump tapped Warren A. Stephens to serve as the U.S. ambassador to the Court of St. James, also known as the U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom.
“Over the last 38 years, while serving as the president, chairman, and CEO of his company, Stephens Inc., Warren has built a wonderful financial services firm, while selflessly giving back to his community as a philanthropist,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
“Warren has always dreamed of serving the United States full-time. I am thrilled that he will now have that opportunity as the top Diplomat, representing the U.S.A. to one of America’s most cherished and beloved Allies.”
Burnett did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Fox News Digital’s Greg Wehner contributed to this report.
Click here to see original article
by | Dec 21, 2024 | Fox News
Houston Texans wide receiver Tank Dell was taken off the field in a stretcher during Saturday’s game against the Kansas City Chiefs after suffering a gruesome leg injury while scoring a touchdown in the second half.
The heartbreaking scene came just a little over three minutes into the second half when quarterback CJ Stroud connected with Dell in the endzone for a 30-yard touchdown pass.
Almost immediately after making the catch, the second-year receiver remained down in obvious pain. He appeared to have sustained a serious knee injury.
Texans players gathered around Dell and prayed over him, as Stroud was visibly shaken by Dell’s injury.
He was eventually taken off the field in a truck.
This is a breaking news story. Check back for updates.
Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
Click here to see original article
by | Dec 21, 2024 | Fox News
As 2024 winds down and Americans look forward to all that is set to happen in 2025, here’s a look at some wild wedding stories that made people laugh, cry and even cover their mouths in shock over the past year.
Brides, grooms, wedding party members and others shared their personal stories — while etiquette experts and others weighed in with professional opinions and advice.
There were plenty of tales to pick from, but here are five over the past year that stood out.
REDDIT USER WHO REFUSES TO HELP ‘OBESE COUSIN’ AT WEDDING IS NOT WRONG, THERAPIST INSISTS
Which one takes the cake for most surprising of them all?
A couple tied the knot in New York City on June 24, 2023, but their unusual wedding-day choices did not go viral until more than a year later.
Kareem (“Reemo”) and Nova Styles charged guests $333 each to attend the “wedding experience,” which amounted to a full day of activities throughout the city, as they described in their video.
The two pared down their guest list to just 60 people.
“They chose us,” said Nova Styles in a TikTok video. “They ‘hashtag’ trusted the process by purchasing a ticket to attend our wedding.”
WEDDING DAY-DILEMMA HAUNTS BRIDE AS SHE WONDERS ABOUT ‘WEIRD OR NON-PROFESSIONAL’ INVITES
After the wedding ceremony, the guests went to Hudson Yards, a movie theater and One World Trade Center for dancing, food and merriment – with photo shoots occurring along the way, Nova Styles said in the videos.
An anonymous woman in the Bay Area found herself with a nonrefundable wedding reception venue and a called-off wedding – so she did the next best thing.
She donated the venue to Parents Helping Parents (PHP), an organization that provides support to children and adults with special needs, as well as their families.
“The family of the bride shared that our agency, Parents Helping Parents, provided services for the family in support of the bride’s sibling, who has special needs,” said Maria Daane, executive director of PHP.
PHP decided to use the already paid-for space to host “a party for people with disabilities 0 to 100,” Fox News Digital previously reported.
The party, dubbed the “Ball for All,” was complete with food, music, dancing, and a photo booth.
FOOD AND MARRIAGE? NEWLYWEDS SNAP WEDDING PIX IN GROCERY-STORE AISLE
Daane said she got a phone call from the family of the bride two weeks before the scheduled wedding.
PHP moved quickly. Within three days, the event was planned down to the catering, said Daane.
“I imagine weddings are canceled now and then, but never have I heard of one turned into a community party for those with disabilities and their families,” Daane said.
“It makes me feel grateful for the resilience and kindness of people — that this bride could do something so generous and thoughtful in the face of her own sadness is inspiring,” she added.
An amusing story from England showed that mistakes can happen to anyone – even on one of the most important days of someone’s life.
WEDDING GUESTS CAN LEAVE EARLY ON ONE CONDITION, ACCORDING TO AN ETIQUETTE EXPERT
Neil Crossley, dad of daughter Amy Totty, who was married in Yorkshire, England, in 2024, had an embarrassing moment captured on film.
At Totty’s wedding, Crossley started walking down the aisle toward the altar — without his daughter.
He said there was a “miscommunication,” and he thought that he had been instructed to begin walking.
Crossley eventually turned around, fetched his daughter, and proceeded on a much more traditional march down the aisle.
BRIDE FIRES BACK AT BRIDESMAID COMPLAINING ABOUT BACHELORETTE PARTY COSTS, SPARKING DEBATE ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Guests can be heard on video laughing at the awkward moment, which Crossley said he later referenced in his father-of-the-bride speech.
His daughter particularly got a kick out of the whole mix-up.
“I especially appreciated it as I was trying very hard not to cry, and he helped me compose myself,” Totty said.
She added, “It was a special moment none of us will forget.”
A Reddit user who was kicked out of a wedding reception after he drunkenly ordered pizzas to replenish the depleted buffet got the last laugh after he revealed the bride’s father apologized and planned a replacement party.
“AITA for ordering pizza at my friend’s wedding because there was no food?” asked user “Adorable_Distance_15” in a post on the “r/AITAH” subreddit, an advice forum.
In the post, the man said he and his wife recently attended his friend’s wedding, which had about 70 guests, “mostly family.”
The bride’s family, however, ate all the food at the buffet before all the guests could go for their first plates.
“To my surprise, by the time we were called, there was nothing left,” he wrote.
Adorable_Distance_15 and other hungry guests then ordered four large pizzas and some chicken wings to the venue.
As the pizzas ran out, the trouble began. A man, who turned out to be the bride’s father, asked if he could have one of the remaining two slices.
CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR LIFESTYLE NEWSLETTER
“I then took the two slices, I put them on my plate and started to eat them, then looked at him and said something like, ‘No, you and everyone at your tables had way more than your fair share of the buffet and ate all of it. This is the reason we ordered food in the first place. And now you have the nerve to ask us to share,’” he wrote.
These comments got the man kicked out of the reception — but after emotions cooled, the father-of-the-bride apologized.
To make up for the wedding reception issues, the father-in-law planned to throw an “after-wedding shindig” for everyone who was at the original wedding, plus other people, said the Reddit poster
A couple who informed their wedding guests they would be put to work on the special day had their actions described as “tacky, tacky, tacky” by a horrified Reddit user.
Earlier this year, Reddit user “joyousfoodie” posted about her cousin’s upcoming wedding, which she described as a “semi-destination wedding” that would be relatively small.
For more Lifestyle articles, visit www.foxnews.com/lifestyle
While the woman said she was fine with both the location and size of the wedding, several aspects of the upcoming wedding did concern her.
“I just found out that the wedding couple are sending ‘cards’ to people [who] are not invited that they are getting married soon and ‘you are in our hearts on this special day’ before the wedding,” she wrote.
“Their excuse is for the sake of ‘curiosity and thinking of them,'” joyousfoodie wrote, “but what I don’t understand is why send this before the wedding?”
The action that prompted the Reddit post, however, was a text from the couple stating that “everyone has a role to help set up.”
“Once the ceremony is done, the wedding party will leave to take photos while the guests set up the tables for the reception,” said the woman in her text.
The couple never asked guests if they would be willing to help out and “just dictated [to] people what to do,” the Reddit poster said.
The couple claimed they could not afford to hire help to set up at their wedding, but the Reddit poster said the couple “went traveling” instead of saving up for their big day.
Other Reddit users told “joyousfoodie” to skip the affair altogether.
“That’s when you decide you are sick and do not go. They are being horrible hosts, and frankly, it’s gross,” user “byteme747” said.
Another Reddit user was a bit more blunt. “The only reason I’d go to this is morbid curiosity,” wrote “Obrina98.”
Click here to see original article
