Up in the air. Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s the Biden administration’s final bit of credibility on fire in the form of giant mysterious drones over New Jersey.
As President Joe Biden limps away from one of the worst presidencies in American history, these unidentified flying objects, whatever they are, serve as a reminder that the general attitude of this White House towards the American people has been, “you don’t need to know that.”
We didn’t need to know that the president of the United States was suffering severe mental decline, we didn’t need to know that he was actually open to pardoning his son Hunter while swearing he never would.
NJ DRONE SIGHTINGS COULD BE A ‘CLASSIFIED EXERCISE,’ SAYS FORMER CIA OFFICER
Even back in 2021, when breakthrough COVID cases among the vaccinated that weren’t supposed to exist were popping up all over Washington DC, Fox News’ Peter Doocy asked then Press Secretary Jen Psaki how many had been detected at the White House.
“Why do you need that information?” was her incredible reply.
In other words, you don’t need to know.
For four years now, it has been the Biden administration and the Biden administration alone that has deigned to decide what Americans do and do not need to know, and even in the case of the former, half the time these people just seem to be lying.
Let’s consider, just for a moment, how absurdly ludicrous it is that aerial objects the size of a minivan are hovering over the Garden State and the White House claims it has no idea what these things are, nor do they seem particularly curious about it.
Knowing the identity of giant stuff up in the sky seems like a low bar for a president, but this Joe Biden we are talking about.
So, White House Spokesman Admiral John Kirby is sent out to face the cameras and basically say, we don’t have the slightest idea what the hell these things are, but we’re pretty sure there is no danger associated with them.
That doesn’t even make sense, if you don’t know what they are, how can you possibly know if they pose any threat?
And note that it is Kirby telling us this, not Press Secretary Karine Jean Pierre. And yes, Kirby is a defense expert, but can you imagine KJP, after being caught telling a Pinocchio trilogy’s worth of lies to the American people, addressing this issue?
What could she possibly say? “I know I lied about the Hunter pardon and Biden’s mental capacity and whether he would drop out of the election, but this time you should totally trust me, everything is fine, I triple pinky swear?”
The Biden administration loves calling itself the most transparent in history, but I don’t think they actually know what that word means, although I guess, in fairness, it has become rather easy to see through their lies.
At this point, we have no idea what these drones are. They could be a teenage prank, or they could be a sophisticated Iranian operation involving a ship parked off the east coast. It would be nice to know which.
But honestly, even if the White House did come out with an explanation, why would anyone believe it? Why would we assume it was anything but a lie meant to keep information from us that we do not need to know?
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In just over a month, Trump will take over the White House, and he has already said, if this mystery isn’t solved by then, that he’s open to shooting one of these drones down to see what it is.
Any human being whose brains have not been scrambled by Washington DC interagency regulations knows we should have brought one of these things down days ago. It is just, as Trump would put it, common sense.
But almost more importantly, if and when such an event occurs, incoming White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has the chance to address it with a clean slate, and so long as she never abuses it, that trust between White House and the citizenry can be restored.
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The question is not, what the American people need to know, the question is what we deserve to know, and with very few exceptions, the answer to that question should always be, “any damn thing we want to.”
Joe Biden couldn’t meet that commitment, and it is a big part of the reason that voters politely showed him the door.
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Biden admin’s statements reveal the truth about drones, former CIA officer alleges
Former CIA Operations officer Laura Ballman says the mysterious drone sightings are ‘extremely unsettling’ as the public seeks answers on ‘Fox News Live.’
Drones sightings across New Jersey have unsettled residents for weeks with no official explanations being offered. Ballman argued that circumstances around the drone sightings suggest it may be a U.S. operation.
“Deducing the statements from [National Security spokesman] John Kirby that these drones are not operating illegally, coupled with several op-eds that have been out there in the last 24 hours about the need to look at our detection systems, makes me think perhaps this is actually a classified exercise to test either evasion technology or detection technology in urban areas,” Ballman said.
Ballman went on to say she would be “shocked” if the drones were related to the CIA, saying it is “not their mandate to operate in the United States.” She added that she is “troubled” by why the U.S. government has not been forthcoming with information regarding the drones.
MORE THAN 20 DAYS INTO PHENOMENON, PENTAGON STILL HAS NO ANSWERS ABOUT ORIGINS OF MYSTERIOUS NJ DRONES
DRONE MYSTERY: NEW JERSEY HOMEOWNERS THREATEN TO TAKE MATTERS INTO THEIR OWN HANDS IF GOVERNMENT DOESN’T ACT
U.S. national security officials sought to dispel concerns about the mysterious drones flying over the Northeast in a recent call with reporters, one going as far as describing nationwide uneasiness as “a slight overreaction.”
The call, attended by Fox News Digital Saturday, was hosted by senior Biden administration officials, including representatives from the FBI, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the National Security Council (NSC), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Defense (DOD).
The senior officials remained tight-lipped about the origins of the drones, which are still being investigated. The mysterious aircraft were first spotted flying above northern New Jersey in mid-November and have been repeatedly seen by thousands of residents over the past few weeks.
MORE THAN 20 DAYS INTO PHENOMENON, PENTAGON STILL HAS NO ANSWERS ABOUT ORIGINS OF MYSTERIOUS NJ DRONES
During the call with reporters, an FBI official said his agency has received 5,000 tips since the first mysterious drone was seen flying above the Garden State in November. Of those 5,000 tips, fewer than 100 warranted further investigation, the official said.
The FBI official added that investigators have found no evidence of large-scale unmanned drone activity despite the recent uptick in drone activity in recent weeks.
“We’re doing our best to find the origin of that specific … those drone activities,” the official said. “But I think there has been a slight overreaction.”
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Echoing comments from the FBI representative, a DHS official noted that, while his agency is not dismissing all tips about the drones as non-credible, “the amount of actual drone activity is likely less than what’s being reported.”
Pollster whose dead-wrong Iowa survey shook up election finally speaks up
Iowa pollster Ann Selzer addressed criticisms and what might have gone wrong with the results of her infamous poll during an interview on Friday, which found Vice President Kamala Harris leading President-elect Donald Trump in Iowa, a historically red state, by three points.
“I’m not here to break any news. If you were hoping that I had landed on exactly why things went wrong, I have not. It does sort of awaken me in the middle of the night and I think, well maybe I should check this, this is something that would be very odd if it were to happen. But we’ve explored everything. The Des Moines Register in an unprecedented move for transparency has put online our cross tabs, our waiting system and my analysis and that I’ve not needed to update because it was pretty complete. We don’t know. Do I wish I knew? Yes, I wish I knew,” Selzer said during a discussion at the Iowa Press alongside moderator Kay Henderson, The Gazette’s Des Moines Bureau chief Erin Murphy, and Iowa Public Radio’s Katarina Sostaric.
Trump ended up beating Harris in Iowa by over 10 percentage points. Selzer’s poll was hyped up by the media ahead of the election, as her polling predictions in previous elections have been historically accurate.
Murphy asked Selzer to address some of the backlash she had received about the results of the poll.
IOWA POLLSTER ANN SELZER SUGGESTS HER DATA COULD HAVE GALVANIZED REPUBLICAN VOTERS INTO PROVING IT WRONG
“Let’s deal with the allegations because I am mystified about what the motivation anybody thinks I had and would act on in such a public poll. I don’t understand it. And the allegations I take very seriously. They’re saying that this was election interference, which is a crime. So, the idea that I intentionally set up to deliver this response, when I’ve never done that before, I’ve had plenty of opportunities to do it, it’s not my ethic,” Selzer said.
“But to suggest without a single shred of evidence that I was in cahoots with somebody, I was being paid by somebody, it’s all just kind of, it’s hard to pay too much attention to it except that they are accusing me of a crime,” she added.
Selzer wrote in an op-ed for the Des Moines Register about how she had been getting bombarded with criticism and questions. In response, she mused whether her poll itself may have shifted the state for Trump.
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“In response to a critique that I ‘manipulated’ the data, or had been paid (by some anonymous source, presumably on the Democratic side), or that I was exercising psyops or some sort of voter suppression: I told more than one news outlet that the findings from this last poll could actually energize and activate Republican voters who thought they would likely coast to victory. Maybe that’s what happened.”
She also announced that she would be moving on to “other ventures” after the election.
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Accused Ivy League killer stuns court with game-changing legal defense move
Luigi Mangione, the suspect in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, has retained a high-powered New York attorney and former CNN legal analyst to represent him, Fox News Digital has learned.
Karen Friedman Agnifilo will represent Mangione as he faces a second-degree murder charge in New York for the Dec. 4 shooting in Manhattan, a spokesperson for Friedman Agnifilo has confirmed.
Friedman Agnifilo previously worked as the chief assistant district attorney in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office for seven years and has experience in New York City’s criminal justice system. She has worked in private practice for the past three years with Agnifilo Intrater LLP.
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“Karen Friedman Agnifilo of Agnifilo Intrater LLP has been officially retained to represent Luigi Mangione in New York,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
“Ms. Friedman Agnifilo is a longtime veteran of the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and served as the second-in-command for seven years under DA Cyrus Vance, in addition to serving for four years as the Chief of the Office’s Trial Division.”
Friedman Agnifilo has three decades of experience in criminal justice, litigation and trials, according to Agnifilo Intrater.
Her practice focuses on criminal defense in state and federal courts and prosecuting serious violent crimes, including complex homicide cases.
She also represents plaintiffs in civil and employment matters and individuals in Title IX matters, a statute that protects persons from sex-based discrimination. She also specializes in internal investigations relating to misconduct, discrimination and sexual assault.
“While serving in the Manhattan DA’s office, Ms. Friedman Agnifilo was also integral to creating the office’s Human Trafficking Unit, Hate Crimes Unit, Antiquities Trafficking Unit, Terrorism Unit, its Cybercrimes and Identity Theft Bureau, as well as working on the creation of Manhattan’s first Mental Health Court,” her bio states.
The news of Friedman Agnifilo representing Mangione comes as investigators have uncovered new evidence in recent days, including law enforcement determining that the 3D-printed gun Mangione had in his possession when he was arrested matches the three shell casings found at the crime scene in Midtown Manhattan. His fingerprints also matched the fingerprints found on items near the scene of the shooting.
Mangione remains in custody in Pennsylvania, where he was apprehended on gun-related charges, as he fights extradition to New York. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said there were indications Mangione may waive his extradition next week.
A Pennsylvania judge denied Mangione bail on Tuesday, leaving him behind bars at the Huntingdon State Correctional Institution.
The suspect is also facing charges in Pennsylvania of carrying a gun without a license, forgery, falsely identifying himself to the authorities and possessing “instruments of crime.” New York prosecutors additionally hit him with three counts of illegal weapons possession and forgery, on top of the murder charge.
Blair County District Attorney Peter Weeks in Pennsylvania said his office is prepared “to do what’s necessary” to move Mangione to New York.
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Mangione’s attorney in Pennsylvania, Thomas Dickey, has denied that his client is responsible for the killing in New York and believes he will plead not guilty in the Big Apple to the murder charge and other charges. Mangione also plans to plead not guilty to charges in Pennsylvania related to possession of a gun and fake ID authorities say was found on him when they arrested him, according to Dickey.
The suspect appeared to be driven by frustration with the health insurance industry and alleged “corporate greed,” police have said, although he was not an insured member of UnitedHealthcare.
‘Disparity’ between Rotten Tomatoes and audience score blows the lid off ‘liberal’ bias
EXCLUSIVE – Author Paul Kengor said the “disparity” between the Rotten Tomatoes critics’ score and audience score for the movie “Reagan” was comparable to President Reagan’s landslide presidential win in 1980 as he recalled his books’ whirlwind ride to the theaters.
The year’s best reviewed films have been assembled, and the film, “Reagan,” has one of the biggest disparities in recent years — currently sitting at a 98% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. That’s starkly different from the dismal critics’ score of 18%.
A writer for The Boston Globe called it an “interminable hagiography” and “a wretched 2½ -hour bore that’s uncurious about its subject.” A Washington Post critic called it “worthless” as a piece of history, while the Daily Beast called it the worst movie of the year.
Kengor said the disparity between the audience and critics’ reviews reminded him of the 1980 presidential election, which Reagan won in a landslide against Democratic incumbent President Jimmy Carter.
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“Yeah, the disparity is really profound,” Kengor said of the reviews. “In fact, it reminds me of what happened in 1984 when Ronald Reagan won 49 out of 50 states, which is probably about 98% of the states. If you do the math on this, 49 of 50 states won about 60% of the vote, won the Electoral College 525 to 13. But you had these liberal critics who didn’t like him, and they were very much in the minority. And I tell my students today, I tell other people, when you meet some liberal professor who is slamming Ronald Reagan in the classroom, just say, ‘You know, professor, but how did the guy win 49 out of 50 states?’ Right? I mean, he was liked, he was always liked.”
‘REAGAN’ MOVIE BEATS BOX OFFICE EXPECTATIONS ON OPENING WEEKEND
Kengor further argued that many of those critics didn’t have the right perspective because they were born after Reagan’s presidency.
“A lot of those 18% – now some are fair-minded critics who didn’t like this or that about the film artistically … But a lot of them, when you read the reviews, they’re clearly partisan. They’re clearly ideological. And it struck me that – I looked up some of the reviewers,” he said. “They were born after the Reagan years. And I think they just find it hard to imagine that there was a time in America when everybody liked the president. Even liberals who didn’t vote for him liked him. They liked him as a person.”
The journey of “Reagan” to theaters began when filmmaker Mark Joseph called Kengor one day from Rock River, Illinois, where Reagan saved 77 lives when he served as a lifeguard, saying he was interested in turning “God and Ronald Reagan” into a movie. Kengor was interested in the idea, but suggested his book “The Crusader: Ronald Reagan and the Fall of Communism,” would make a more compelling film.
But it wasn’t until 20 years later that it would finally hit theaters.
A key factor in finally getting the movie off the ground, Kengor explained, was securing Dennis Quaid as the lead.
“You know, we had three or four really big names promising at different points – and any of which would have been quite good,” he said. “And then at one point, Dennis Quaid was available, interested. Mark Joseph reached out to him. They took him to the Reagan Ranch in Santa Barbara. And there they put him in the cowboy hat and then the denim kind of jacket, Reagan Ranch jacket.”
DENNIS QUAID THRILLS LOCALS IN DIXON, ILL., FOR ‘REAGAN’ PREMIERE, SAYS HOLLYWOOD ‘FORGOT’ ABOUT SMALL TOWNS
Kengor said a friend who had been previously critical of their movie process called him to say congratulations, and it was a “done deal.” That’s when Kengor said he realized how the industry worked. But the author said he was blown away by Quaid’s performance.
“I can’t imagine that any of them would have been better than Dennis Quaid,” he said. “I really just marvel at how he nailed Reagan – the voice, the face, even the passion, the enthusiasm. All along, the trickiest thing was going to be to get someone to play Reagan who didn’t look like he was doing a parody of Reagan.”
Many moviegoers agreed with Kengor’s assessment, according to the high audience score.
Kengor said he couldn’t wrap his head around how many liberals call for “unity,” yet when a movie comes along that does just that, they don’t want it.
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“So we give them this really positive movie about unity, which is what they claim they want,” he said.
“And they hate it, they hate it. They call it a hagiography, a movie about a saint. Well, it has a happy ending. We won the Cold War. We didn’t have nuclear war,” he said. “So a lot of the critics in those very low Rotten Tomatoes reviews, they just seem incredulous at the very idea that there was a time in America like this.”
Mob wreaks havoc, terrorizing drivers with road fire and wild donuts
A sheriff’s office in central Florida is searching for 30 people they say were a part of an “intersection takeover” that terrorized drivers and damaged cars.
The mob shut down the intersection of South John Young Parkway and Central Florida Parkway on Nov. 30, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office (OCSO) said on Facebook.
The large group “set a fire in the roadway, and used the space for cars to do donuts around the flames,” prior to harassing innocent drivers, blocking them from passing.
“There’s a baby in the car,” someone can be heard shouting in the scene footage shared by the sheriff’s office.
FLORIDA SHERIFF BREAKS UP ALLEGED MASSIVE GANG CHECK FRAUD CONSPIRACY
The suspects “in some cases, climbed on and damaged vehicles,” OCSO said. The law enforcement agency said the “reckless and violent behavior poses a serious danger” to the community, and it is committed to “holding those responsible accountable.”
A Tesla driver said damage to his car was estimated at $60,000 after “dozens of people jumped on top of his vehicle and began to kick his vehicle windshield, causing it to break,” according to an affidavit obtained by the Miami Herald.
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Some of the suspects appeared to try to conceal their identities, while others had their cell phones out recording the action.
“I feel so really bad for the people that were just there trying to go about their daily lives and got caught up in that mess,” Dave Nutting, a law enforcement specialist and retired deputy with the sheriff’s office, told FOX 35 Orlando.
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No arrests or injuries have been reported as a result of the incident.
The sheriff’s office said that If anyone recognizes any of the 30 people whose faces were shared in their video, they should contact Crimeline at 800-423-8477. People who share information with the hotline may remain anonymous.
Server boasted about refusing Trump officials — then the restaurant stepped in
A Washington, D.C.-area restaurant server has been fired after she spoke out about possibly refusing service to incoming Trump administration officials.
“I personally would refuse to serve any person in office who I know of as being a sex trafficker or trying to deport millions of people,” Suzannah Van Rooy, a server at Beuchert’s Saloon on Capitol Hill, told the Washingtonian this week. “It’s not, ‘Oh, we hate Republicans.’ It’s that this person has moral convictions that are strongly opposed to mine, and I don’t feel comfortable serving them.”
Her remarks were part of a report about whether there would be local “resistance” to certain Trump figures when they were in public settings again after several high-profile incidents during his first term. They included then-aide Sarah Huckabee Sanders being ejected from a restaurant in Lexington, Va., and protesters swarming then-Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen at a D.C. Mexican establishment.
“People were a lot more motivated the first time around to do those kinds of shows of passion. This time around, there is kind of a sense of defeat and acceptance,” Van Rooy said, according to the Washingtonian. “But I hope that people still do stand up to this administration and tell them their thoughts on their misbehavior.”
DC FOOD WORKERS VOW TRUMP OFFICIALS WON’T FEEL WELCOMED WHEN DINING OUT IN NATION’S CAPITAL
According to a review of her LinkedIn page on Friday, which has since been taken down, Van Rooy listed her duties as doing daily operations, messaging strategies for the restaurant, developing relationships with influencers, and managing in-house events for political figures and VIPs.
Her page also said she worked as an organizer for Texas Democrat Beto O’Rourke’s failed run for governor in 2022.
Beuchert’s Saloon told Fox News Digital that Van Rooy’s remarks were “reprehensible” and she had been fired for violating their “zero-tolerance policy on discrimination.”
Beuchert’s said the former employee was a part-time server and not a manager. It put out statements on social media condemning her remarks after being made aware of them on Thursday.
“Recent comments made by a member of staff who had no authority to speak on behalf of our entire restaurant have been, quite rightly, flagged as inappropriate, hostile, intolerant, and unacceptable. This staff member does NOT speak for us as a restaurant,” Beuchert’s initial statement on Thursday said.
“After the inauguration in January, we will begin serving our fourth administration as a neighborhood restaurant on Capitol Hill open to all and welcoming to all. We have always been a safe space for all. Everyone, especially anyone who feels prejudged or misunderstood, will always find friendly service and a sympathetic ear at Beuchert’s Saloon. Again, we deeply apologize for the comments made by a member of staff. They are NOT representative of our restaurant and do not reflect how we operate as a business, and how proud we are to be a gathering place on Capitol Hill.”
WASHINGTON, D.C., POLITICAL BAR TAKES DOWN REPUBLICAN SYMBOL AFTER FIERCE BACKLASH
By Friday, the restaurant said it had decided to dismiss the server because of this incident, calling her comments and subsequent behavior, “unforgivable.” It also said she had signed on to the restaurant’s social media accounts to speak on behalf of the restaurant without authorization.
“Not only do Ms. Van Rooy’s comments clearly violate our zero-tolerance policy on discrimination, but her decision to sign into our social media accounts in the middle of the night to post her own rhetoric in wildly offensive responses to comments is a further breach of conduct and protocol. She has no authority to speak on our behalf, and her comments do not reflect the positions of over twenty other people who make up our staff,” the Friday statement read.
“For these reasons as well as the sheer dismay and disgust we feel at her unforgivable behavior, Ms. Van Rooy has been dismissed immediately. Our staff and families (many of whom are personally offended by Ms. Van Rooy’s comments about them) are still reeling from what Ms. Van Rooy said and did, and we as a restaurant are simply horrified to be associated with base prejudice.”
The comment went on to urge the entire restaurant not to be blamed for her rogue actions.
“We are still the same restaurant known for its warm service and friendly staff, and hope you will all visit us soon. We look forward to serving you. All of you,” it wrote.
Fox News Digital reached out to Van Rooy for comment.
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