White House Dossier's

Henry Kissinger dead at 100 . . . Henry A. Kissinger, the scholar-turned-diplomat who engineered the United States’ opening to China, negotiated its exit from Vietnam, and used cunning, ambition and intellect to remake American power relationships with the Soviet Union at the height of the Cold War, sometimes trampling on democratic values to do so, died on Wednesday at his home in Kent, Conn. He was 100. Few diplomats have been both celebrated and reviled with such passion as Mr. Kissinger. Considered the most powerful secretary of state in the post-World War II era, he was by turns hailed as an ultrarealist who reshaped diplomacy to reflect American interests and denounced as having abandoned American values, particularly in the arena of human rights, if he thought it served the nation’s purposes. New York Times

Henry Kissinger, swinging ladies man . . . Henry Kissinger was about to get lucky with Zsa Zsa Gabor. And it was due, in part, to Richard M. Nixon’s setting them up. Seriously. The diplomat and the Hungarian American socialite were an unlikely couple, but they had hit it off after sitting next to each other during a state dinner at the White House, with the actress raving about Kissinger’s big brain. Kissinger drove her home after dinner in Beverly Hills in 1970 and asked whether he could come inside for a drink, “with Henry showing signs of making an amorous approach to me,” Gabor recalled in “One Lifetime Is Not Enough,” her 1991 autobiography. Washington Post

It appears he negotiated his way into quite a few women's bed . . . 
 

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White House worked with YouTube to censor Covid, vaccine information . . . The Biden administration worked together with employees of Google-owned YouTube in 2021 to target alleged "misinformation" relating to the COVID-19 virus and its vaccinations, according to documents obtained by FOX Business.  The documents, acquired through a source close to the House Judiciary Committee, reveal a level of correspondence previously unknown to the American public, as President Biden and his aides sought to promote coronavirus vaccinations in efforts to quell the raging pandemic.  The campaign was led by former White House Director of Digital Strategy Rob Flaherty, who has since left the administration to help run Biden’s 2024 re-election campaign as a Deputy Campaign Manager. Fox Business

Hunter Biden request for open hearing divides GOP . . . House Oversight Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) swiftly blasted the request — contradicting earlier comments saying they would “drop everything” if the president’s son wanted to testify “in front of the committee.”

“Hunter Biden is trying to play by his own rules instead of following the rules required of everyone else. That won’t stand with House Republicans,” Comer said in a statement, adding that he also “agree[s] that Hunter Biden should have the opportunity to testify in a public setting at a future date.” But a few GOP voices wonder what the harm is in going straight to a public format. The Hill

China payments to Hunter raised red flags with banks . . . Bank investigators flagged $3 million in payments from a Chinese company to Hunter Biden‘s law firm as “erratic” and “unusual” and potentially evidence of an influence-peddling scheme. House lawmakers believe some of the questionable funds ended up in President Biden‘s bank account. On Wednesday, the House Oversight and Accountability Committee disclosed a 2018 email from an investigator at an unidentified bank. Washington Times

Schumer says liberals aiding antisemitism . . . Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) said Wednesday that liberals are unwittingly pushing anti-Semitism in the wake of Hamas's Oct. 7 attacks. "Anti-Semites are taking advantage of the pro-Palestinian movement to espouse hatred and bigotry towards Jewish people," Schumer said in a speech on the Senate floor. "But rather than call out this dangerous behavior for what it is, we see so many of our friends and fellow citizens, particularly young people who yearn for justice, unknowingly aiding and abetting their cause." Free Beacon

DeSantis and Newsom to face off in Fox News debate

China building its own AI network . . . This fall, the Western world has galvanized around a blitz of AI initiatives, statements and multilateral deals — not least the Biden administration’s executive order and the U.K.’s Bletchley declaration — all geared to setting global rules for a fast-moving, competitive and possibly dangerous new technology. Rather than competing with the West to write the rules of the road for AI, Beijing is instead building the road itself, working with allies and client nations to construct Chinese-built AI ecosystems that could pose global risks if they take root and expand. Politico

Immigrant population at highest level ever . . . Immigrants now make up 15% of the U.S. population, the highest share in history, breaking records established more than a century ago, according to a report. The Center for Immigration Studies, citing Census Bureau statistics, says 49.5 million immigrants — both legal and illegal — are residing in the country. The number is rapidly rising, with a net of 4.5 million immigrants settling since January 2021, when President Biden took office. That is equivalent to the entire population of Oregon or Oklahoma in just 34 months. Washington Times

Gaza hostages recount hunger, violence, and fear . . . An aunt of Avigail Idan, a dual American Israeli citizen who was taken hostage after her parents were brutally killed, and who turned 4 a few days before being released, said her niece shared one piece of pita bread per day with four other captives and did not have a shower or bath during her 50 days in captivity. According to the aunt, Tal Idan, the five hostages were kept in aboveground apartments, changing locations at least once. They were given a piece of pita with za’atar, a Middle Eastern spice mix, each day to share. While Avigail was in captivity, her hair was shorn because she had developed a significant case of lice, Ms. Idan said. “She was covered in it. It took quite an effort to help her get rid of some of it the first night.” New York Times

Israel may try to exile Hamas from Gaza . . . As Israeli forces prepare for a renewed offensive targeting Hamas’s top leaders in the Gaza Strip, Israeli military and political leaders are confronting the challenge of what to do about the thousands of fighters that represent the group’s power base. To address that challenge, some Israeli and U.S. officials are discussing the idea of expelling thousands of lower-level militants from the Palestinian enclave as a way to shorten the war. The idea is reminiscent of the U.S.-brokered deal that allowed Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and thousands of fighters to flee Beirut during Israel’s 1982 siege of the Lebanese capital. Wall Street Journal

Money

Biden to require removal of lead pipes . . . The Biden administration is proposing new restrictions that would require the removal of virtually all lead water pipes across the country in an effort to prevent another public health catastrophe like the one that came to define Flint, Mich. The proposal on Thursday from the Environmental Protection Agency would impose the strictest limits on lead in drinking water since federal standards were first set 30 years ago. It would affect about nine million pipes that snake throughout communities across the country. “This is the strongest lead rule that the nation has ever seen,” Radhika Fox, the E.P.A.’s assistant administrator for water, said in an interview. New York Times

Apparently Biden took it literally when everyone told him to "get the lead out."

Elon Musk's advice for woke advertisers who boycott X . . . I'll let him speak for himself.

Americans raiding retirement accounts as inflation soars . . . A growing number of Americans are making emergency withdrawals from their 401(k) retirement plans to pay for everyday necessities amid chronically high inflation, according to new data from Fidelity. 

About 2.3% of workers with employer-sponsored 401(k) plans made a "hardship" withdrawal during the three-month period from July to September 2023, according to the Fidelity report. That marks an increase from just 1.8% workers who pulled money out of their retirement savings during the same time period last year. Fox Business

Culture

DHS video asked people to rat our family members . . . The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) quietly removed a video instructing people to report family members for spreading “disinformation” online, according to a report by the Foundation for Freedom Online (FFO). Earlier this year, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), a DHS subdivision, deleted a video from June 2021 tutoring viewers on “countering disinformation” related to the Covid-19 pandemic and reporting their relatives to social media platforms, according to a report by the FFO, a free speech advocacy group. FFO archived the video before CISA deleted it. Daily Caller

For me, its, Back in the US, back in the US, back in the USSR!

New Covid variant making its way around . . . Cases of the COVID-19 variant Omicron BA.2.86, also known as Pirola, have tripled in two weeks, comprising between 5% and 15% of all infections, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The COVID-19 variant Omicron BA.2.86 — as well as its offshoots, including JN.1 — has been reclassified as a "variant of interest" by the World Health Organization (WHO). Despite its prevalence, BA.2.86 "does not appear to be driving increases in infections or hospitalizations in the United States," the CDC stated in its report. Fox News

Seven ways drinking harms your gut health

FBI agent carjacked in DC . . . An FBI agent was carjacked Wednesday in Washington, D.C., a theft that comes amid a sharp increase in the number of carjackings in the nation’s capital. Two people carried out the midafternoon armed carjacking, police said. The car was found about 30 minutes later about a mile away, Metropolitan Police said. New York Post

Palestinian protestors try to derail Xmas tree lighting . . . Hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters swarmed the streets surrounding Rockefeller Center on Wednesday, clashing with NYPD cops and chanting “River to the sea,” long seen as an antisemitic slogan, in an effort to support Gaza by derailing the annual tree lighting. Waving Palestinian flags and signs calling for the “end to genocide,” the ralliers gathered along Sixth Avenue alongside hordes of tourists waiting in line to see the iconic ceremony. Unable to get to the NYC Christmas tree, the enormous crowd instead swarmed around the tree outside the News Corp building, which houses The Post and Fox News. New York Post

AI-generated Jesus, Satan available for a chat . . . A software program dubbed Text With Jesus allows users to chat with an AI-generated Jesus Christ. Unlike the sometimes spurious and outlandish responses of some chatbots, the answers provided by AI Jesus are all based on Scripture. Its creator, Stephane Peter, said the inspiration for his project was a friend’s idea for a Text From Jesus that would deliver a daily Bible verse via text message. Washington Times

Grinch stands outside school with "Santa is fake" sign . . . A killjoy Texas “pastor” stood outside an elementary school dressed as the Grinch holding up a sign stating “Santa is Fake. Jesus is Real,” in an attempt to steal the holiday joy from the kids inside. David Harold Grisham posed as the beloved Dr. Seuss character in front of Sleepy Hollow Elementary School in Amarillo, Texas earlier this week professing his belief towards the children and the parents he views as telling a lie. New York Post