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Wednesday, January 11, 2023

Wake-Up Call: Biden's Doc Situation Called "Different"


President Joe Biden said Tuesday he was surprised when informed that government records were found by his attorneys at his former office space in Washington. He was asked about the issue after the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee requested that the U.S. intelligence conduct a “damage assessment” of potentially classified documents. Speaking to reporters in Mexico City, Biden said his attorneys “did what they should have done” when they immediately called the National Archives about the discovery at the offices of the Penn Biden Center. He kept an office there after he left the vice presidency in 2017 until shortly before he launched his presidential campaign in 2019.The White House confirmed that the Department of Justice was reviewing “a small number of documents with classified markings” found at the office.

➤HOUSE CREATES COMMITTEE TO INVESTIGATE INVESTIGATORS: Republicans in the House of Representatives yesterday approved creation of a new committee that will investigate what they describe as the “weaponization” of federal law enforcement and national security agencies against conservative Americans. The subcommittee has been given authority to scrutinize any issue related to how the federal government collects, analyses and uses information on Americans. House Republicans also voted to repeal funding that was approved last year to upgrade technology at the Internal Revenue Service and increase its staffing. The measure was intended to help the IRS to go after wealthier Americans who use complex tax avoidance schemes. The IRS has been so understaffed in recent years that it can’t take on those high earners. Yesterday’s vote has little chance of passage in the U.S. Senate.


➤TOP TRUMP EXECUTIVE GETS JAIL TIME: Allen Weisselberg, long-time chief financial officer of the Trump Organization, has been sentenced to five months in jail for his part in a tax fraud scheme. Weisselberg and other Trump executives received tax-free compensation in the form of apartments, car leases and private school tuition while their taxable salaries were lowered.

➤‘BAKED ALASKA’ IN THE COOLER: The far-right social media personality known as Baked Alaska has been sentenced to two months in prison for participating in the attack on the U.S. Capitol and live-streaming it on January 6th, 2020. His attorney argued that he didn’t actively participate in the riot but was “sort of a guerrilla journalist.” Baked Alaska’s real name is Anthime Gionet.

➤WHAT A 'PRINCE OF A GUY': Prince Harry has sensationally accused the Monarchy of trying to 'undermine' his explosive memoir Spare because its controversial contents have 'perhaps made them feel uncomfortable and scared' as he launched another furious attack on the royal family in the latest in a line of TV interviews to promote his book. The 38-year-old held nothing back as he took aim at his family during an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on Tuesday, when he wavered between hurling barbs at his family and making light-hearted jokes about his 'frost-nipped' genitals and his love of tequila. One of the more serious moments during the lengthy sit-down saw Harry rounding on his relatives over the backlash to his memoir, with Colbert questioning whether he believes the royals have an 'active campaign to undermine this book'.

However, the bit was taped without an audience. Furious audience members of The Late Show have slammed Prince Harry for failing to appear in front of the usual scheduled audience. Disappointed fans of the CBS talk show visibly bristled when they were told by the host that the Duke of Sussex was not going to appear in front of them. One loudly said 'are you serious' after Stephen Colbert apologized to the audience for not telling them Harry was not going to be in attendance before claiming it was for security reasons. Many of the audience had traveled to the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York City from all over the state to see the royal, with one woman telling DailyMail.com that it 'wasn't worth' waiting out in the cold.


➤SUSPECT TELLS COPS STUDENT'S DEATH ARE 'SAD': The man accused of brutally stabbing four University of Idaho students to death reportedly told cops it was “really sad what happened to” the victims. Bryan Kohberger, 28, made the comment to officers as he was being extradited from Pennsylvania to Idaho last week, according to a police source who spoke to People. The source who was involved in the extradition process told the outlet that the murder suspect didn’t speak directly about the students’ murders, but did comment on their tragic fates.

“He did say, ‘It’s really sad what happened to them,’ but he didn’t say anything more,” the source said. “He’s smarter than that.”

Kohberger was arrested on Dec. 30 and charged with four counts of murder and one count of felony burglary for the Nov. 13 stabbing deaths of Ethan Chapin, 20; Xana Kernodle, 20; Madison Mogen, 21; and Kaylee Goncalves, 21. Two other students who lived in the house and were home at the time were unharmed, although one had a bone-chilling moment with the masked murderer that left her frozen in fear.

➤TINDER DATE WAS BIZARRE: A woman who claims she went on a Tinder date with Bryan Kohberger said the 28-year-old accused of brutally slaying four University of Idaho students invited himself into her apartment, then “kept trying to touch” her. The woman allegedly matched with Kohberger, who asked her out to the movies, about seven years ago according to her TikTok video about the bizarre encounter. 

The woman behind the video, Hayley (right), allegedly matched with Kohberger on Tinder about seven years ago while she was a psychology student at Penn State Hazelton. Kohberger was also studying psychology at another school nearby, which was a bonding point for the two, Hayley said. “My interactions with Bryan were very brief. I don’t know much about him,” the woman said in her TikTok video posted Monday. “We matched on Tinder, we talked for a couple of hours and then he was like, ‘Hey, you want to go to the movies with me tonight?’ I was like, sure. So we went to the movies,” she said. 

While the pair only went out once, Hayley told The Post: “He like, completely changed once we were in my dorm so I’m glad I was able to get away.”  “I thought he was just going to drop me off, but that was not the case. He kind of invited himself inside,” she said. Once inside Hayley’s room, Kohberger wanted to watch another movie on Netflix — and that’s when things took a creepy turn.

🎥THE 2023 GOLDEN GLOBE AWARDS:  The Golden Globes were back on NBC Tuesday night, after being taken off the air in 2022 due to a lack of diversity in the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. This year’s show, which could also be streamed live on Peacock, was hosted by Jerrod Carmichael. Addressing the issue head-on, Carmichael said of the HFPA: “I’m not saying it’s a racist organization, but it didn’t have a single Black member until George Floyd died.” He also commented on the moment he was asked to host the show, joking, “One minute you’re at home making mint tea, the next you’re invited to be the Black face of an embattled white organization.” Carmichael ended his monologue saying he was happy to be in the presence of “talented people, people I admire,” adding, “this is an evening where we get to celebrate, and I think the industry deserves evenings like this.”

The big winners of the evening included Everything Everywhere All at Once, The Fabelmans, and The Banshees of Inisherin for film and Abbott Elementary and The White Lotus for television.


🥚WHAT’S UP WITH EGG PRICES? Egg prices have more than doubled in a year, with shoppers paying a nationwide average of $3.58 for a dozen compared with $1.71 a year ago. The cause is simple supply and demand. The supply of eggs has dropped sharply because an outbreak of avian flu has forced the slaughter of millions of birds. And people are buying more eggs as other sources of protein get more expensive. According to CBS News, prices will go down eventually, as a new generation of flu-free birds is hatched.

✞LAST KING OF GREECE DIES: Constantine, the last king of Greece, has died at the age of 82. He took the throne in 1964 but his political machinations led to his ouster in 1967. By 1973, the restoration of democracy in Greece eliminated any chance of his restoration.


🛫SOUTHWEST CUSTOMERS IN A RAGE: The Department of Transportation has received thousands of complaints from customers of Southwest Airlines about the meltdown of its service over the holidays. Among other things, the customers are saying Southwest isn’t making good on promised refunds for canceled flights. The complaints have been sent to Southwest with a demand for answers within 60 days, according to CNN. The airline canceled more than 16,000 flights between December 21 and December 31 due to bad weather. It says it’s refunding people’s money as fast as it can.

🍪IT'S GIRL SCOUT COOKIE SEASON: Girl Scout cookie season has started but you probably won’t get a visit in person from a Scout salesperson. The Girl Scout organization is focusing on online sales so that their members can hone their e-commerce skills. In fact, a new cookie is available only online. The Raspberry Rally has a chocolate coating and a crunchy raspberry center.

➤ARE GAS STOVES ABOUT TO BE BANNED?: The United States Consumer Product Safety Commission has a target in its sights: The gas stove.  CPSC commissioner Richard Trumka Jr. has said a nationwide ban on gas stoves was "on the table." This comes after a recent study linking childhood asthma cases to the use of gas stoves.b“Products that can’t be made safe can be banned,” Trumka said.

Some states, like California, prohibit gas stoves in new construction. However, such bans don't apply to stoves in existing buildings. Other options include setting standards on emissions from these appliances.

⚾CORREA GETS YET ANOTHER DEAL: After a couple of false starts, Carlos Correa has reportedly agreed to return to the Minnesota Twins for a six-year, $200 million contract. Tentative agreements with the San Francisco Giants and the New York Mets fell through over a that turned up in his physical. The latest deal is contingent on a physical, too. The issue is said to be related to Correa’s surgically repaired leg, which needed work after an injury last fall.

🏈ROQUAN SMITH EXTENDS CONTRACT WITH RAVENS: Pro Bowl linebacker Roquan Smith has agreed to a five-year extension on his contract with the Baltimore Ravens. The five-year, $100 million contract makes him the highest paid linebacker in the league, according to the NFL Network. Baltimore acquired Smith from the Chicago Bears just a couple of months ago.

⚾TREVOR STORY IS OUT FOR THE LONG TERM: Trevor Story of the Boston Red Sox just had surgery on his throwing elbow and is expected to be out for most of this season if not all of it. That puts the kibosh on the team’s plan to shift Story to shortstop as a replacement for Xander Bogaerts, at least for now.

🏈WASHINGTON COMMANDERS FIRE OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR: The Washington Commanders have expressed their disappointment with the team’s performance this season by firing offensive coordinator Scott Turner. Turner had been with coach Ron Rivera for seven years, including three in Washington.


🏈OH, TO BE A COLLEGE FOOTBALL COACH: College football head coaches at Bowl Subdivision public schools hit performance benchmarks that should be worth a total $12.2 million in bonuses for the year, according to USA TODAY Sports. A year ago, the total was about $13.6 million.

 

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