Democratic senator takes aim at Kamala Harris’ ‘unfamiliar,’ ‘weird’ language after loss
Hawaii Democratic Sen. Brian Schatz said during a recent interview that Vice President Kamala Harris’ use of certain words was very unfamiliar to Americans, and said the party should avoid them going forward.
“The point is we have a whole language that’s maybe not offensive, or irritating. But definitely unfamiliar to regular people,” Schatz told Politico in an interview.
Schatz referenced the term “LatinX,” but noted he doesn’t think many lawmakers use the term, which has been largely rejected by Latinos, according to a poll.
“I think Kamala did a really good job on focusing on middle-class concerns. But I remember her saying, ‘I’m going to center the needs of the working class.’ And I thought to myself, I don’t know anyone in the world who says center. I know people in politics who say center. I know people in academia. I know people in advocacy who say center. But centering the needs, or making space for, or all of that, is a clear indication that you are not normal,” he added.
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“And it goes to not just being careful not to say things that are egregiously weird sounding, but it’s also the way we interact with advocacy groups,” Schatz continued.
He cited more examples he’s used himself and said, “I remember saying I was for a cessation of hostilities in Israel and Palestine.”
Schatz added, “And people said why don’t you say ceasefire? I’m thinking, that’s literally the same thing.”
“And this idea that there are magic words that we must be forced to say defines progressivism and political courage by essentially saying whatever a bunch of activists want us to say, as opposed to doing the thing. And I think that there are a bunch of people who see what we’re doing as performative, for that exact reason. But it’s also just alienating. This magic words thing has to go away,” he continued.
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While discussing a political comeback for Democrats following Harris’ loss to President-elect Donald Trump, he said Democrats should be unapologetic about using language that is “maximally popular” with voters.
“There’s nothing untoward or chickens— about saying things and phrasing things in ways that are appealing to people. That’s half of the business that we’re in,” he said.
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Schatz said that ultimately, Harris’ campaign was well executed, and it ultimately came down to the fact that it was a “change election.”
“And the sitting vice president didn’t look like the change president because that’s impossible,” he said.
Communists order largest military build-up since 1930s as expert issues stark warning
China is conducting the largest military build-up seen since that of Nazi Germany during the 1930s, one expert warns, after a new Department of Defense report detailed Beijing’s operations including bolstering weapons and psychological warfare.
In a piece for The Federalist, Chuck DeVore, chief national initiatives officer at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, referenced the Pentagon’s annual report to Congress and warned that the United States has spent $5.4 trillion on its war on terror and futile nation building while the Chinese threat has grown. He urged that Congress get on board with the incoming Trump administration to reallocate resources within the Pentagon to better prioritize naval strength, nuclear deterrence, missile defense, and logistics.
“China is engaging in an unprecedented military build-up that the world frankly hasn’t seen since Adolf Hitler in the 1930s,” DeVore, a retired Army lieutenant colonel, told “Fox & Friends Weekend.”
“Now the big difference there, is that he really focused on land power, which frankly is pretty easy to build up pretty quickly,” he added. “Navies are much more difficult to build up. And we are way behind. And not only do we need to catch up, but we also need to modernize our nuclear weapons, and we need to put a lot of effort into missile defense.”
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DeVore further detailed the Department of Defense’s findings in its report, which summarized “military and security developments involving the People’s Republic of China” in 2024.
“They’re massively building up their nuclear arsenal. We expect it to expand to at least 1,000 warheads by 2030, only five years from now. Probably going to be bigger than that,” DeVore said Sunday. “The Chinese Navy, not by tonnage, but by numbers is now larger than the U.S. Navy. China has something like 250 times the ship building capacity that America does.”
The report cites how China has bolstered its People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force (PLARF) arsenal to include 50 new intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), which can strike the continental U.S., raising its total to 400. As far as the report discloses, the DoD says China has added 300 medium-range ballistic missiles and 100 long-range cruise missiles. Their arsenal also now includes more than 600 operational nuclear warheads and is expected to have more than 1,000 by 2030.
The DoD says the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has the world’s leading arsenal of hypersonic missiles, including the DF-27, which as DeVore notes, “are capable of evading U.S. missile defenses and targeting Guam, Hawaii, and Alaska.”
China already has the largest navy in the world but is expected to expand from its current 370 ships and submarines to 435 by 2030.
The 182-page DoD report also details how the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), the military arm of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), seeks “to expand the reach of its influence operations around the world and seize information dominance on the battlefield,” by researching and developing what it “believes to be the next evolution of psychological warfare,” known as cognitive domain operations (CDO).
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The DoD assesses that CDO “blends previous PRC concepts, such as public opinion guidance and psychological warfare, with modern internet technologies and communication platforms and is designed to achieve strategic national security goals by affecting a target’s cognition to change the target’s behavior and decision-making.” CDO incorporates emerging technologies, such as AI, big data, brain science, and neuroscience, the report says.
“The goal of CDO is to achieve what the PLA refers to as ‘mind dominance,’ which the PLA defines as the use of information to influence public opinion to affect change in a nation’s social system, likely to create an environment favorable to the PRC and reduce civilian and military resistance to PLA actions,” the report says. “The PLA probably intends to use CDO as an asymmetric capability to deter U.S. or third-party entry into a potential conflict, or as an offensive capability to shape perceptions or polarize a society.”
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The report says the PLA seeks to bring psychological pressure and fear on an opponent, assessing that using CDO to subdue the enemy without fighting “is the highest realm of warfare.”
Jay Leno addresses rumors his facial injuries were because of the mob
Jay Leno paid his dues by appearing on fellow comedian Bill Maher’s “Club Random” podcast.
The former “Tonight Show” host clarified a floating rumor that injuries to his face were from a beating by the mob due to owed gambling debts.
In November, Leno revealed that he broke his wrist and sustained significant bruising on his face and body after falling down a 60-foot hill outside his hotel.
Hours after the fall, the acclaimed stand-up comedian took the stage for a show wearing an eye patch.
JAY LENO SUFFERED BROKEN WRIST, FACE BRUISING IN NASTY FALL BUT PERFORMED LIVE SHOW BEFORE GOING TO HOSPITAL
Maher asked Leno about the rumors, to which Jay responded, “Well, I like the idea that they wouldn’t just take one of my cars for the gambling debt.”
Leno, a long-time automobile enthusiast, is known to have hundreds of collectible cars in his personal garage worth millions of dollars.
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He did, however, remember an encounter with the mafia when he was a young comedian.
“I was pretty smart,” he said. “I remember years ago I was at Catch a Rising Star, and I was onstage, and this guy – a mob guy – comes up to me afterwards, and he goes, ‘Hey, you’re a funny kid. You’re a funny kid.’
“He takes $100, and he puts it in my pocket. I say, ‘Oh, thank you.’ I say, ‘Look, I don’t mean any disrespect but, you know, give it to the church or something… I’m OK, but thank you.’ And he says to me, ‘You know, you’re a smart kid. You don’t take money from people like me. That’s smart.’ And nobody ever bothered me again.”
While Leno admitted he never had any trouble, he witnessed the mob “kick the crap out of comics left and right” for being “wise a——s” onstage.
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He also didn’t understand the rumors simply because he doesn’t like losing money.
“I don’t gamble,” Leno confessed. “Losing 100 bucks makes me feel stupider than winning one thousand makes me feel good. Because I go, ‘I could have taken my wife to dinner.'”
Last month, the comedian told “Inside Edition” that he broke his wrist, sustained significant bruising on his face and body and lost a fingernail after falling down a rocky 60-foot hill.
His hotel fall was just the latest in a string of traumatic incidents for Leno, who was also “knocked off” his motorcycle in January 2023.
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Leno sustained two broken ribs, broke his kneecaps and a collarbone after being clotheslined while riding his motorcycle through a parking lot.
“I turned down a side street and cut through a parking lot, and unbeknownst to me, some guy had a wire strung across the parking lot but with no flag hanging from it,” Leno told the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
“I didn’t see it until it was too late. It just clotheslined me and, boom, knocked me off the bike. The bike kept going, and you know how that works out.”
In 2022, Leno underwent multiple surgeries after suffering third-degree burns in a gasoline fire. Leno reportedly suffered significant burns to his face and hands as well as his chest while working underneath a car in his Burbank-area garage.
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Surprising 2024 home market shift stuns as one area skyrockets to the top
With the holidays winding down, it’s never too early to start thinking about a vacation.
There were some shifts in the rankings for America’s hottest real estate markets for higher-end vacation homes this year compared to last, and the top spot this year saw a meteoric rise in popularity.
A fresh analysis from second-home co-ownership marketplace Pacaso revealed which U.S. counties were the hottest markets for luxury vacation homes in 2024, based on increases in second-home activity, the proportion of second homes to primary homes and demand for properties priced above $700,000.
Here were the most sought-after places for second homes in 2024, according to the findings:
1) Cape May County, New Jersey
The report showed Cape May County off the Jersey Shore catapulted from outside the top 20 last year to the title of No. 1 second home destination in 2024, and it wasn’t even close.
BOZEMAN, MONTANA HOME TO A BOOMING REAL ESTATE MARKET
Cape May leads this year’s list with a staggering ratio of second homes to primary residences exceeding 150%, thanks to its iconic beach towns like Ocean City and Avalon, according to the analysis.
Pacaso attributed the area’s rise to its mix of family-friendly activities, nightlife, cultural experiences and wide beaches, coupled with its close proximity to urban hubs like New York City and Philadelphia.
2) Gulf County, Florida
3) Walton County, Florida
“In Florida, Gulf and Walton counties – home to the Panhandle towns along 30A and Naples – are emerging as top luxury home destinations, offering prime oceanfront properties that are scarce in hotspots like Miami and Palm Beach,” Pacaso CEO Austin Allison told FOX Business.
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While Florida’s East Coast counties like Palm Beach (#13 on the list) are known for vibrant nightlife and cultural attractions, buyers continue to be drawn to the exclusivity of oceanfront living that the West Coast of the state offers families, Pacaso said.
4) Barnstable County, Massachusetts
Pacaso said Barnstable County, Massachusetts, home to iconic Cape Cod, continued to see growth in vacation home purchases in 2024.
“This legacy destination has been a popular vacation home market for decades,” he said, “renowned for its charming beachside communities and historic ties to the Kennedy family, who vacationed there and own the famous Kennedy Compound.”
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5) Collier County, Florida
During the COVID-19 pandemic, many people flocked to Florida counties that are known for their vacation homes due to the state’s favorable tax environment and yearning for more living space. Collier County on Florida’s West Coast, with an already strong market for second homes, became a popular destination for snowbirds. Naples and Marco Island are the more notable cities located within the county, where the average second home costs more than $896,000.
Billionaires cozy up to Trump with seven-figure inaugural donations despite past feuds
Companies that previously feuded with President-elect Trump are now making seven-figure donations to his 2025 inauguration.
Trump has butted heads with several Fortune 500 company executives over the years, but following his presidential election victory in November, some of those same big-business leaders are dropping major cash on the incoming president’s exclusive inaugural festivities.
“In the first term, everyone was fighting me. This time, everyone wants to be my friend,” Trump recently said at Mar-a-Lago, according to The Washington Post.
Meta, the world’s largest social media network headed by Mark Zuckerberg, suspended Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts in 2021 after the events of Jan. 6 — which Trump called an “insult” to his voters. In his new book, titled “Save America,” Trump accused Zuckerberg of “plotting” against him in 2020.
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“He told me there was nobody like Trump on Facebook. But at the same time, and for whatever reason, steered it against me,” Trump wrote. “We are watching him closely, and if he does anything illegal this time he will spend the rest of his life in prison — as will others who cheat in the 2024 Presidential Election.”
Trump, in his book, also accused Zuckerberg of “always plotting to install shameful Lock Boxes in a true PLOT AGAINST THE PRESIDENT.”
However, the relationship appeared to change course as the election drew nearer. After Trump’s Butler, Pennsylvania, assassination attempt in July, Zuckerberg said Trump’s fist pump in the air after suffering a bullet wound to the ear was “one of the most bada– things I’ve ever seen in my life.”
Shortly after Trump won the election in November, Zuckerberg met with the incoming president at Mar-a-Lago. Just weeks later, Meta donated $1 million to Trump’s inauguration fund.
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“Mark Zuckerberg has been very clear about his desire to be a supporter of and a participant in this change that we’re seeing all around America, all around the world with this reform movement that Donald Trump is leading,” Trump adviser Stephen Miller said during an appearance on “The Ingraham Angle.”
Despite a yearlong clash between Amazon’s billionaire founder, Jeff Bezos — who also owns The Washington Post — and the incoming president, the e-commerce company recently pledged to donate $1 million to Trump’s inauguration fund.
After Trump told Fox News’ Sean Hannity in 2016 that Amazon was “getting away with murder, tax-wise,” Bezos fired back at the then-presidential candidate.
Bezos, appearing at a technology conference, said that Trump’s comments were “not an appropriate way for a presidential candidate to behave.”
“Washington Post employees want to go on strike because Bezos isn’t paying them enough. I think a really long strike would be a great idea,” Trump wrote in another hit at the billionaire on X, then Twitter, in June 2018. “Employees would get more money and we would get rid of Fake News for an extended period of time! Is @WaPo a registered lobbyist?”
The mood appeared to have shifted following the 2024 election, when Bezos said he was “very optimistic” about Trump’s regulatory agenda.
“I’m very hopeful — he seems to have a lot of energy around reducing regulation,” Bezos said at the New York Times DealBook Summit. “My point of view is, if I can help him do that, I’m going to help him.”
When Ford agreed to make a deal to meet California’s efficiency standards, the company defied then-President Trump’s plans to push back on the state setting its own green energy standards for automakers.
Trump voiced his opposition to the auto giant’s decision, saying that Henry Ford, the company’s founder, would be “very disappointed if he saw his modern-day descendants wanting to build a much more expensive car that is far less safe and doesn’t work as well, because execs don’t want to fight California regulators.”
Ford, one of the world’s largest automakers, recently announced it will be making a seven-figure donation to Trump’s inauguration in January.
Other major automakers, such as GM and Toyota, will also make individual donations of $1 million to Trump.
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Trump will also receive a $1 million inauguration donation from Intuit, whose stock recently dropped in November after it was reported that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) was considering creating a free tax-filing app.
Gal Gadot underwent emergency surgery while 8 months pregnant
Gal Gadot was diagnosed with a “massive blood clot” on her brain while eight months pregnant with her daughter.
The “Wonder Woman” star shared an emotional post on social media detailing the “profound challenges and deep reflections” of her year with a hospital photo from shortly after her baby girl was born.
Gadot, 39, kept her fourth pregnancy with husband Yaron Varsano a secret and announced she gave birth to their daughter in a post shared online in March.
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“In February, during my eighth month of pregnancy, I was diagnosed with a massive blood clot in my brain,” Gadot wrote. “For weeks, I had endured excruciating headaches that confined me to bed, until I finally underwent an MRI that revealed the terrifying truth.
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“In one moment, my family and I were faced with how fragile life can be. It was a stark reminder of how quickly everything can change, and in the midst of a difficult year, all I wanted was to hold on and live.”
She continued, “We rushed to the hospital, and within hours, I underwent emergency surgery. My daughter, Ori, was born during that moment of uncertainty and fear. Her name, meaning ‘my light,’ wasn’t chosen by chance. Before the surgery, I told Jaron that when our daughter arrived, she would be the light waiting for me at the end of this tunnel.”
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Gadot thanked her team of doctors at Cedars Sinai in Los Angeles for “weeks of dedicated care.”
“I made it through and began the road to recovery. Today, I am fully healed and filled with gratitude for the life I’ve been given back,” she wrote.
Gadot and Varsano married in 2008 and also share daughters Alma, Maya, and Daniella.
This isn’t the first time the actress was able to keep her pregnancy quiet. In 2017, Gadot told Marie Claire that she kept her second pregnancy a secret while filming “Wonder Woman” because she didn’t want to be treated any differently on set.
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“I gutted it out,” she told the magazine. “I started to come to set with sunglasses. I had this jug of water with huge pieces of ginger. One of the producers kept on asking, ‘Why are you drinking that potato water?’ They thought I’d gone Hollywood.”
In 2022, Gadot, who served in the Israel Defense Forces when she was younger, told InStyle, “Shooting a movie while being pregnant, or when you have a baby” is the most “bad—” thing she’s done.
“I started young,” she added. “I was 25 when I was pregnant with Alma. I always wanted to be a young mother. Yeah, three kids. No joke, woman. God bless them, but it’s so much work.”
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Gadot explained, “I love giving birth. I would do it once a week if I could. It’s so magical. And I always take epidurals, to be fair, so it’s not so painful. Just the moment you feel like you’re creating life, it’s incredible.”
Girlfriend of UGA’s star quarterback speaks out as he declares for NFL Draft
As Georgia Bulldogs quarterback Carson Beck declared for the 2025 NFL Draft, his social media star girlfriend couldn’t be prouder.
Hanna Cavinder, the Miami Hurricanes basketball star, celebrated Beck’s announcement on Instagram underneath his post on the matter.
“Proud of you,” the 23-year-old simply wrote in the comments.
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Cavinder has been spotted at numerous Georgia games this season supporting her boyfriend, the two-time national champion who is hoping to make it three titles by the end of the College Football Playoff.
However, Beck’s announcement comes before Georgia’s fate in the playoff is known due to surgery needed to repair an injury that ends his 2024 campaign. Beck suffered an elbow injury in Georgia’s SEC Championship win over Texas on the final play of the first half as he tried to heave a Hail Mary.
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Gunner Stockton, Beck’s backup who helped lead the Bulldogs to that SEC title win over the Longhorns, will be starting the rest of the way for Kirby Smart’s group.
“First off I want to thank God, for blessing me with the opportunity to play the game I love,” Beck wrote in his Instagram post. “Through the ups and downs, the highs and lows, everything that this game produces and provides I’m eternally grateful for. Football has taught me lessons that will last a lifetime and has grown me into the person I am today.”
Beck, 22, finishes his Georgia career with 3,485 yards and 28 passing touchdowns against 12 interceptions in 2024.
It will be interesting to see how Beck’s draft stock comes out after interviews and the NFL Scouting Combine, as his production dipped in a season in which some believed he could cement himself as a top pick if he continued to improve upon his 2023 season, when he was full-time starter for the first time.
Beck’s play, especially toward the end of the season, brought about many questions about how his game would translate to the NFL.
Meanwhile, Cavinder, whose twin sister, Haley, already dates an NFL star in Dallas Cowboys tight end Jake Ferguson, continues to play her women’s basketball season with the Hurricanes. They both star for Miami after helping them reach the Elite Eight in last season’s NCAA Tournament.
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Cavinder and Beck’s relationship was confirmed this past summer.
NFL fans mock Eagles player for ‘worst play of all time’: ‘We’ll never forget’
Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Kenny Pickett gave NFL fans a good laugh during the team’s game against the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday.
With the game tied at 7 apiece and about 12 minutes left in the first half, Pickett dropped back to throw the ball but didn’t release it. He stepped forward as if he was going to throw, but he held onto the football. He followed through as if he were passing, but the ball never left his hand.
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Pickett fell to the ground without being touched, and the ball came out of his hand. Luckily, Eagles running back Saquon Barkley was there to recover the ball.
NFL fans immediately called it the worst play they have ever seen.
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Pickett got the last laugh at the end of the first half. He threw a 22-yard touchdown pass to DeVonta Smith with 6:38 left in the half and then ran the ball into the end zone from the goal line as time expired in the half.
The backup had 133 passing yards in the first half. The Eagles led the Cowboys 24-7 at halftime.
Pickett was thrust into the starting role just before the Eagles’ penultimate game of the 2024 season against the Cowboys. Jalen Hurts suffered a concussion in the first quarter of last week’s loss to the Washington Commanders and wasn’t fully healthy in time.
Philadelphia hopes to wrap up the NFC East with a win over the Cowboys. The Washington Commanders are right on their tail at 10-5.
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The Eagles are 12-3 this season.