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The Democratic National Committee (DNC) has been paying President Joe Biden’s legal fees incurred in connection with the investigation by special counsel Robert Hur into Biden’s handling of classified documents. This has been a point of contention, with the Republican National Committee (RNC) criticizing the DNC for using party funds to cover Biden’s personal legal expenses. According to sources and disclosures of expenditures filed by the DNC, the party committee has paid the law firm of Bob Bauer, the lead attorney representing Biden in Hur’s investigation, more than $1 million since last year – roughly $150,000 per month from July 2023 through February 2024. The DNC has also paid approximately $905,000 to Hemenway & Barnes LLP, the law firm of Jennifer Miller, who is named as one of the attorneys representing Biden in the special counsel probe. However, Hemenway & Barnes LLP has long represented the DNC, so it’s unclear how much of that payment was specifically for Biden’s legal fees. In contrast, the RNC has faced criticism from the Democrats for paying the legal fees of former President Donald Trump. The RNC has spent millions of dollars on Trump’s personal legal defense, including fees related to investigations into the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol and his handling of classified documents after leaving office. Democrats have argued that it is inappropriate for the RNC, which is meant to represent the broader Republican Party, to be using party funds to cover the legal expenses of a single individual, especially one who is no longer in office. They have accused the RNC of prioritizing the defense of Trump over the needs of the party as a whole. In contrast, the DNC has argued that it is appropriate for the party to support the legal defense of the sitting president, as the president’s legal issues could have broader implications for the party and the office of the presidency. However, the DNC’s spending on Biden’s legal fees has still drawn criticism from Republicans, who have accused the party of using donor funds to shield the president from the consequences of his actions. Overall, the differing approaches of the DNC and RNC to covering the legal expenses of their party’s leaders have become a point of political contention, with both sides accusing the other of prioritizing individual interests over the broader interests of their respective parties and the American people.

Unbiased headline news for Wednesday April 17, 2024 – Six months into the Israel-Hamas conflict, the conduct and ethics of some Israel Defense Forces members have increasingly come under scrutiny. Numerous images and videos circulated by pro-Palestinian activists, viewed by millions, depict IDF soldiers blowing up buildings in Gaza, waving women’s underwear like flags, and rifling through the possessions of Gazans with gleeful expressions. — United Nations human rights experts have called for a de-escalation of tensions between Israel and Iran. The global experts, part of the U.N.’s Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council, assert that the tit-for-tat attacks, including Israel’s strike on the Iranian consulate in Syria that killed two Iranian generals on April 1 and Iran’s retaliatory rocket and drone strikes on April 13, violate international law. — A divided Supreme Court is grappling with the scope of a federal obstruction statute used to prosecute hundreds of people who breached the Capitol on January 6th 2021. The court case, known as Fischer versus U.S., centers on whether federal prosecutors can apply a law passed after the Enron scandal to the January 6th assault. The measure criminalizes “corruptly” obstructing or impeding an official proceeding, and defense attorneys argue the Justice Department has turned it into a “dragnet.” — Senator Bob Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat, may incriminate his wife when he stands trial next month to fight charges that he traded his political influence for cash, gold bars, and a luxury Mercedes, according to newly unsealed court documents. Menendez’s lawyers stated that the senator may testify about communications with his wife that will demonstrate “the ways in which she withheld information” from him “or otherwise led him to believe that nothing unlawful was taking place.” — Police have made arrests in the theft of a cargo container that included gold and other items worth over 20 million Canadian dollars, stolen from Toronto’s Pearson International airport a year ago, authorities said. The missing goods were reported to police shortly after the container was taken from a holding area facility following its unloading from a plane. Police declined to provide more details at the time. — Dubai was hit with severe flooding on Tuesday after two years’ worth of rain fell in just 24 hours, records show. Over a half foot of rain was recorded in the United Arab Emirates city between 10 p.m. local time Monday and 10 p.m. local time Tuesday, according to the Dubai Meteorological Office. Dubai typically receives 3.12 inches of rain per year on average, according to the World Meteorological Organization. — A man who was caring for a 3-year-old Wisconsin boy when he vanished in late February pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to a charge of chronic child neglect. Jesse Vang, 39, entered the plea during his arraignment in a Manitowoc County court. A judge on April 4 ordered Vang to stand trial on the neglect charge in the disappearance of Elijah Vue. Vang is being held on a $20,000 cash bond. — PepsiCo Inc has initiated a voluntary recall of some sugar-free and caffeine-free Schweppes Ginger Ale products because they contain “full sugar,” according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The FDA said in a report earlier this month that the company voluntarily issued the recall on March 9. The recall impacts 233 cases of 7.5-fluid-ounce cans, which were shipped to Maryland Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.

10+ polls are currently showing that the election is getting tighter and in some key states Biden is taking a slight lead. Trump is taking action! Listen to some of the crazy things he’s saying and how desperate he sounds.

The latest polls show that President Joe Biden is narrowing former President Donald Trump’s lead, and in some key states, Biden is even taking a slim lead. A variety of reputable polling organizations and media outlets have reported these same findings. Trump’s advantage is shrinking, and Biden has managed to overtake him in certain instances. However, it’s important to note that the election is still many months away, and these poll results are likely to change significantly by the time voters head to the polls. The fluctuating poll numbers have prompted a familiar response from Trump. As he did in the 2016 and 2020 elections, the former president is now ramping up his “election propaganda” rhetoric. When the polls showed Trump with a comfortable lead, he remained relatively quiet about the upcoming election, aside from his continued complaints about the 2020 contest. Now that the numbers are shifting in Biden’s favor, Trump has returned to making radical, unsubstantiated claims. Most notably, he has accused the Biden administration of allowing undocumented immigrants to cross the border so they can vote for the Democratic candidate. Trump even held a bizarre press conference with House Speaker Mike Johnson to spread these lies. This is yet another example of Trump’s tendency to escalate his rhetoric and spread disinformation as the electoral landscape changes. His own words encapsulate this pattern: “If I win, the election was the best ever. If I lose, the election was corrupt.” It remains to be seen how the poll numbers will evolve in the coming months and how Trump will continue to respond. Voters will need to be vigilant in separating fact from fiction and relying on authoritative sources as they make their decisions. Here are some links to polls results as of the time of this article (since MAGA doesn’t believe anything against Trump): https://www.newsweek.com/joe-biden-donald-trump-polls-presidential-election-2024-1888914 https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/13/us/politics/trump-biden-times-siena-poll.html https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/13/politics/presidential-race-near-even-split-biden-trump/index.html https://turnto10.com/news/nation-world/2024-presidential-election-republican-party-shifting-voter-demographics-recent-poll-president-joe-biden-donald-trump-decline-black-and-hispanic-voters https://poll.qu.edu/poll-release?releaseid=3895

Unbiased headline news for Tuesday April 16, 2024 – Russia and Ukraine traded blame before the United Nations Security Council for the attacks on Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, which the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency said have put the world “dangerously close to a nuclear accident.” Without attributing blame, IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said his agency has been able to confirm three attacks against the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant since April 7. “These reckless attacks must cease immediately,” he told the Security Council. — The White House carefully avoided weighing in on any possible Israeli response to Iran’s attack over the weekend but also stressed the U.S. didn’t want to see further escalation in the region. “This is an Israeli decision to make — whether and how they’ll respond to what Iran did on Saturday,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters at the daily press briefing. “And we’re going to leave it squarely with them.” — “Rust” armorer Hannah Gutierrez was given the maximum sentence of 18 months in prison for involuntary manslaughter in the 2021 fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. Gutierrez’s attorneys asked for probation in a sentencing memorandum filed last week, citing her “complete lack of prior criminal history” and “relative youth.” Prosecutors meanwhile requested a sentence of 18 months with the designation of serious violent offender due to her “extreme recklessness” while working as an armorer on the “Rust” set in New Mexico. — Rudy Giuliani has lost his bid to dismiss the 148 million dollar defamation judgment against him from late last year. The judgment was won by former Georgia election workers Ruby Freeman and Wandrea “Shaye” Moss. The mother and daughter were accused by Giuliani of committing election fraud while the two were counting ballots in Georgia’s Fulton County on Election Day in 2020. — A divided Supreme Court allowed Idaho to proceed with broad enforcement of a new law aimed at prohibiting gender-affirming care for minors. The decision overrides two lower federal courts that had upheld an injunction against the law as litigation over its constitutionality continues. The decision was backed by all six of the high court’s conservative members. — A couple who owned a Colorado funeral home where authorities last year discovered 190 decaying bodies were indicted on federal charges that they misspent nearly $900,000 in pandemic relief funds on vacations, cosmetic surgery, jewelry and other personal expenses, according to court documents unsealed Monday. The indictment reaffirms accusations from state prosecutors that Jon and Carie Hallford gave families dry concrete instead of cremated ashes and alleges the couple buried the wrong body on two occasions. The couple also collected more than $130,000 from families for cremations and burial services they never provided, the indictment said. — NASA confirmed that a mystery object that crashed through the roof of a Florida home last month was a chunk of space junk from equipment discarded at the International Space Station. The cylindrical object that tore through the home in Naples on March 8 was subsequently taken to the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral for analysis. The space agency said it was a metal support used to mount old batteries on a cargo pallet for disposal. — Billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban has revealed how much he owes in taxes to the IRS. Cuban has to pay a total of $275,900,000, according to a social media post from Monday. Cuban had shared a $288 million estimate on Sunday, after being asked by a writer if he or his “corporations pay more than the required taxes in order to pay your fair share.” Cuban replied that he pays what he owes. “This country has done so much for me, I’m proud to pay my taxes every single year,” Cuban said.

Unbiased headline news for Monday April 15, 2024 – The Israeli Defense Force has eased homefront command guidelines after closing schools and limiting gatherings ahead of Iran’s missile strike Saturday. “It was decided to restore educational activities across Israel,” the IDF said in a statement early Monday, local time. The changes went into effect at midnight, according to Israel’s Home Front Command. Communities near the northern border and the Gaza Strip can also resume educational activities “in subject with restrictions.” — Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said that during a Sunday call between President Joe Biden and congressional leaders there was “consensus” that Congress needs to act quickly to send aid to both Israel and Ukraine. Schumer said at a news conference in New York that “hopefully” something can be accomplished this coming week to aid both countries. Earlier Sunday, Biden spoke to Senate Majority Leader Schumer, House Speaker Mike Johnson, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. — In the aftermath of the unprecedented airstrikes by Iran against Israel, President Biden told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the U.S. will not participate in a reprisal strike on Iran. Mr. Biden, who spoke with Netanyahu on Saturday, condemned the Iranian assault while making clear that the U.S. had “helped Israel take down nearly all of the incoming drones and missiles,” according to a White House House statement. Mr. Biden said he reaffirmed to Netanyahu the U.S.’s “ironclad commitment” to Israel’s security. — Four people are dead after the vehicle they were traveling in was struck by a train in rural Idaho Saturday, authorities said. Idaho State Police said the pickup was carrying a 38-year-old man, 36-year-old woman and two children, who were all from Nampa. The vehicle was traveling on a private road that intersected a railroad crossing, but the driver failed to yield and the pickup was struck by a train, state police said. — One child was killed, and ten other people, including three other children, were injured in a shooting in Chicago’s Back of the Yards neighborhood Saturday evening, police said. The shooting happened around 9:20 p.m. near West 52nd Street and South Damen Avenue, Chicago police said. The victims were at a family gathering when the shooting happened. Officers responded to a ShotSpotter alert of 18 rounds fired and found multiple people shot on the block, police said. — Four people were arrested and charged with murder and kidnapping over the weekend in connection with the disappearances of two Oklahoma women. Veronica Butler, 27; and Jilian Kelley, 39, of Hugoton, Kansas, went to pick up Butler’s children for a birthday party in Kansas but never showed up. On Saturday, Oklahoma authorities said they arrested and charged four people. They were charged with two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of kidnapping and one count of conspiracy to commit murder in the first degree. — Authorities are searching for a missing crew member who went overboard Friday from a Holland America cruise ship. Deputies with the Broward County Sheriff’s Office Port Everglades District responded around 11:18 a.m. Saturday to a report of a missing crew member on the Rotterdam cruise ship. The ship was sailing eastward along the Florida Keys at the tail end of a six-night Caribbean cruise when the incident happened. — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed two controversial bills that he says will buffer law enforcement from “anti-police activists.” SB 184 sets a 25-foot “no-go” zone around police and first responders who are “engaged in the lawful performance of a legal duty.” People in violation of the rule will receive a verbal warning. Failure to comply will result in a second-degree misdemeanor.