White House Dossier's

Colorado nixing Trump 'strikingly undemocratically' unites experts as ex-Scalia clerk declares 'lawfare' . . . Republican figures and top legal analysts expressed united outrage at Colorado's all-Democrat Supreme Court ruling former President Trump must be stricken from the state's 2024 election ballot due to a violation of the 14th Amendment's Insurrection Clause. "The Ingraham Angle" host Laura Ingraham pointed out that from the moment the January 6 riot commenced in 2021, Democrats and Trump opponents urged the use of the term "insurrection" to describe the melee. Trump also has yet to formally be convicted of insurrection or any Confederacy-era statutes the 14th Amendment is alluding to. Fox News

Soviet Playbook. This is what Putin does to his opponents.

‘Very Dangerous’: Turley Breaks Down Why Trump Disqualification Ruling Is A ‘Slippery Slope’ . . . Fox News legal analyst Jonathan Turley discussed why he believes the ruling to remove former President Donald Trump from Colorado’s state ballot is a “slippery slope,” stating the court is “wrong on the law.” Turley appeared Tuesday on “The Ingraham Angle” to discuss the recent ruling from the Colorado Supreme Court to remove Trump from the state’s ballot. The state Supreme Court cited a violation of the 14th Amendment’s “insurrectionist ban.” Fox host Laura Ingraham, however, pointed out to the legal analyst Trump has never been formally charged for the Jan. 6 events, asking Turley if Republicans could do the same to Biden in red states.

Turley stated the Colorado Supreme Court not only “handed partisans on both sides” a tool to “shortcut elections,” but that it was a “very dangerous” move to make. Daily Caller

Trump Holds Rally In Iowa Moments After Colorado Supreme Court Blocks Him From Ballot

Meet the four Dem-picked Colorado justices who kicked Trump off the ballot . . . Four liberal Colorado Supreme Court justices were behind the landmark ruling Monday night that former President Donald Trump would not be allowed to appear on the 2024 presidential ballot in the state. The Democrat-appointed justices who made the decision include three Ivy League graduates — two of whom were wrongfully accused of harassment and discrimination — as well as the first Latina and openly gay woman to serve on Colorado’s highest court. Their ruling marks the first time in history that Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment — which disqualifies insurrectionists from office — has been used to ban a presidential candidate from appearing on the ballot.

Together, Justices Richard L. Gabriel, Melissa Hart, Monica Márquez and William W. Hood III said they had ”little difficulty” in determining that the events of Jan. 6, 2021, constitute an insurrection and that Trump did “engage” in the alleged rebellion. Below, The Post delves into the careers of the four justices who formed the majority opinion. New York Post

Turning USA into USSR 2.0

IT’S A ‘SCANDAL, SHAME’: Dershowitz says election system is in ‘disarray’

Biden is breaking the border on purpose — he wants mass amnesty . . . The backlog of pending cases in the nation’s immigration courts has hit 3 million, as millions of border migrants have been released into the United States to seek asylum in the past three years.

It’s a shocking figure, but just the latest example of President Biden’s efforts to break the immigration enforcement system, likely to force a massive amnesty he has long sought. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas — among others — has accused former President Donald Trump of “gutting” the immigration system, but such claims are little more than projection. Annual southwest border apprehensions exceeded 405,500 just once during the last presidency, in fiscal year 2019, when they hit 860,000. Trump responded with the successful “Remain in Mexico” program, driving illegal migration down again. New York Post

December migrant encounters on track to 'shatter' records

Ex-Proud Boys leader sentenced to 40 months in prison for Capitol riot plot . . . A former leader of the far-right Proud Boys extremist group was sentenced on Tuesday to more than three years behind bars for joining a plot to attack the U.S. Capitol nearly three years ago. Charles Donohoe was the second Proud Boy to plead guilty to conspiring with other group members to obstruct the Jan. 6, 2021, joint session of Congress for certifying President Joe Biden’s electoral victory. His sentence could be a bellwether for other Proud Boys conspirators who agreed to cooperate with federal prosecutors. Politico

New force movements suggest US and UK strikes against Houthis increasingly likely . . . Alongside a U.S.-led naval task force that includes British, French, and Spanish warships, the Washington Examiner can report that the United States and the United Kingdom have moved other sensitive air and naval assets near Yemen. These movements indicate preparation for possible strikes against Houthi forces in that country. Closely aligned with and supported by Iran, the Yemen-based Houthis have in recent weeks launched several attacks on civilian shipping vessels in the Red Sea. These attacks have led numerous shipping and energy companies to divert their vessels around the southern tip of Africa, adding significant time and cost to their operations. Amid mass disruption to international shipping flowing through the Red Sea, London and Washington may have concluded that limited use of military force is required to target Houthi positions. Washington Examiner

Shipping industry in the dark over US-led Red Sea navy force . . . Shipping companies remain in the dark over a new international navy coalition being assembled by the United States to combat attacks in the Red Sea, with many vessels continuing to avoid the area or cancelling contracts, sources said on Wednesday. The sources, who include shipping and maritime security officials, say few practical details are known about the initiative launched on Tuesday by Washington or whether it will directly engage in the event of further armed attacks at sea. Reuters

American Researchers In Bed With Wuhan Lab Misled Pentagon About Civilization-Threatening Virus Research . . . The American researchers who have, for years, been at the center of the COVID-19 origins debate, were revealed this week to have misled the U.S. government about their research partnership with the Wuhan Institute of Virology. The University of North Carolina’s Ralph Baric and EcoHealth Alliance co-founder Peter Daszak drafted a grant proposal a year before the outbreak of COVID-19 that disguised the risky nature of their work to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), which is part of the Pentagon. While DARPA ultimately opted not to fund the project, newly-unearthed communications between Baric and Daszak reveal that the two scientists knew U.S. researchers and government officials would “freak out” if they knew exactly what research the pair was seeking to do, and perhaps more critically, where they wanted to do it. Daily Caller

International

Israel Offers One-Week Cease-Fire in Exchange for More Hostages . . . Israel has offered a one-week cease-fire in exchange for dozens of hostages still being held by Hamas, Egyptian officials said Wednesday, as Israeli forces stepped-up operations in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, believed to be the hiding spot of the group’s military leader. Israel wants Hamas to release 40 of roughly 100 hostages—including all the remaining women and children that the militants abducted from Israel during the Oct. 7 attacks—as well as elderly male hostages who need urgent medical treatment, the Egyptian officials said. In return, the Israeli military would pause its ground and air operations in Gaza for a week and allow further humanitarian aid to enter the enclave, the officials said.  Wall Street Journal

Ukraine’s Front-Line Troops Are Getting Older: ‘Physically, I Can’t Handle This’ . . . During a break from fighting the Russians, an avuncular rifleman recalled how he was going for a haircut one day when he was press-ganged into joining the Ukrainian army. Three recruitment officials accosted the stocky, gray-haired 47-year-old outside the barber shop in his small hometown, ordered him to get in a car and detained him for two days in a dark room at the local draft center until he had signed up. “I got my haircut at the training camp,” he said. Wall Street Journal

Money

Treasury warns budget deficit up 13% compared to this time last year, debt reaching $34 trillion . . . The U.S. government ran a budget deficit of $381 billion so far into the 2024 fiscal year, which represents a 13% increase from this same time period last year. The deficit is $44 billion higher than it was at the end of November 2022, according to the latest data released by the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Congress passed a "laddered" continuing resolution in November with a final expiration date of February 2. Conservative House Republicans have been calling for a reduction in federal spending to reduce the budget deficit. Congress must pass another spending bill to keep the government funded past Feb. 2. Just the News

US economist predicts 2024 will bring 'biggest crash of our lifetime' . . . O'Leary Ventures chairman Kevin O'Leary, from 'Shark Tank,' analyzes the outlook for the economy in 2024 on 'Kudlow.' As the clock ticks closer to 2024, one outspoken economist is making a dire predication about the markets in the new year. "Since 2009, this has been 100% artificial, unprecedented money printing and deficits; $27 trillion over 15 years, to be exact. This is off the charts, 100% artificial, which means we're in a dangerous state," Harry Dent told Fox News Digital. "I think 2024 is going to be the biggest single crash year we'll see in our lifetimes." Fox Business

'WHAT ARE THEY HIDING?': Maria Bartiromo raises questions on Hunter Biden's Marine One trip

Culture

Don't let American Bolsheviks cancel Christmas: A warning from Soviet-Russian immigrant . . . By Rebekah Koffler. As America prepares to celebrate Christmas, some government officials across the country have introduced, in their jurisdictions, guidelines for "inclusive decorating practices" and "neutral language" to mark the holiday season. They instruct their staff to replace the red and green colors with neutral tones, avoid religious ornaments, and use gender-neutral nouns such as "snow people" instead of "snowmen" in order not to offend some members of the community. This has given me flashbacks to Soviet Russia, where I was born and raised. I didn’t know about the existence of Christmas until my 20s when, as a student at the Moscow State Pedagogical Institute, I was sent on an exchange program to London. Rebekah Koffler | Fox News

House Speaker Mike Johnson: The Journey of 'In God We Trust'

Jordan subpoenas AG Garland over DOJ spying on Congress . . . House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, on Tuesday issued a subpoena to Attorney General Merrick Garland demanding that he provide information on the DOJ's spying on congressional employees. In October of this year, Just the News reported that current and former congressional oversight staff were notified that the DOJ had seize their phone and email records in 2017 while investigating leaks. The belated notification came due to the government convincing a federal court to hide the communications seizure for five years. Among those who had their records seized were at least a dozen members of Congress from both parties and/or their staff. Just the News

Michigan city bans gas leaf blowers in unanimous vote . . . A city in Michigan has banned gasoline-powered leaf blowers due to noise and health issues. The decision was made unanimously by Ann Arbor's city council on Monday. The new law, sponsored by council members Jenn Cornell, Dharma Akmon and Jen Eyer was up for debate for weeks.

The 10 council members heard mixed feedback during a public hearing before the vote, including from a lawn care contractor who said transitioning to electric leaf blowers by 2028 would cost his business thousands of dollars.  Fox Business

Lunacy.

Engagement ring lost at rest stop returned by stranger . . .  A woman who left her engagement ring in a rest stop bathroom was reunited with the precious item a little more than a day later thanks to a stranger and a Facebook post. Bailey Davis said she was on her way to work at a car auction in Columbus, Ohio, when she stopped at a Gallia County rest stop a little after noon. Davis said she already was in the Columbus area when she realized she had left her ring at the rest stop and turned around. But when she arrived back where she had left the ring, it was gone.

Coty Warren had visited the rest stop a short time after Davis, and used the single family bathroom because the men's room was being cleaned.

He found the ring on a shelf and attempted to find its owner but ended up taking it with him when he couldn't find any attendants working at the rest stop. Warren said he thought the ring was costume jewelry and it spent the day on the dashboard of his work truck before being stowed in a cabinet at his home later that night. The next day, Warren came upon Davis' Facebook post about her lost ring, which had been shared numerous times. He called the number in the post and gave Davis the good news. Warren declined Davis' offer of a $1,000 reward, saying doing a good deed was enough reward. UPI

What a heartwarming story.