Teddy Swims - Guilty

Trump Press Secretary Caught in Bizarre Lie About Condoms

New Trump press secretary Karoline Leavitt opened her first press briefing by committing to “telling the truth from this podium every single day.” But then, of course, she went on to lie. 

Leavitt attempted to justify the widely decried and possibly illegal federal spending freeze ordered by President Donald Trump via the Office of Management and Budget. “DOGE and OMB also found that there was about to be $50 million taxpayer dollars that went out the door to fund condoms in Gaza,” she claimed.  Trump donor and "DOGE Chair" Elon Musk amplified the made-up story on his X account. “Tip of iceberg,” Musk wrote, later adding, “My guess is that a lot of that money ended up in the pockets [of] Hamas, not actually condoms.”

The attempted attack on the Biden administration is a complete lie. In September, the U.S. Agency for International Development released a report on government spending on contraception and condom shipments made over the last year. Absolutely none of the $60.8 million was sent to Gaza or anywhere else in the Middle East.

Leavitt was also completely unable to inform the public about how vital services like Medicaid would be affected by the spending freeze-- another utterly embarrassing moment in Leavitt's debut presser. Considering the track record of Trump’s former press secretaries—Sean Spicer, Sarah Sanders, and Kayleigh McEnany—there will surely be many more lies to come.

Will This Be the Year For Lamar and Beyonce at the Grammy's?

Next weekend are the Grammy awards-- a cultural institution that continues to be plagued with accusations of racism and exclusion.  Ella Fitzgerald became the first black artist to win a Grammy (at it's inaugural ceremony in 1959) but in recent years, landmark artists such as Kendrick Lamar and Beyoncé have failed to win the big prizes for albums that will surely go down in music history as some of the best in their careers.

FarOut Magazine, Lauren Hunter said this:

To this day, the main means of musical recognition of the highest order is through the Grammy's, but with the awards body having frequently been subject to discriminatory racial biases over its nearly 70-year history, it has been made appallingly more difficult for Black artists to receive the same level of plaudits as their white musical counterparts over time. With only 11 Black artists having ever won its most coveted ‘Album of the Year’ prize, it is plain to see that the Grammys still has a long road to travel in terms of its recognition and reverence of the Black musical landscape and the monumental role it indeed plays across the modern sonic realm as a whole. 

Last year, Marie Claire’s Quinci LeGardye wrote:

The Grammys have faced accusations of racial discrimination since its first ceremony in 1959, and several notable snubs and upsets have continued raising eyebrows well into the 21st century. In March 2021, a study by the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative found that Black performers represented approximately 38 percent of all artists on the Billboard Hot 100 from 2012 to 2020, but they only received 26.7 percent of top Grammy nominations during that same period. That was the same year that the Weeknd boycotted the ceremony, after receiving zero nominations for his After Hours album, including his hit song “Blinding Lights.” That year, the Grammys’ nomination process, including the use of "special committees" to decide the final set of nominees, came under heavy scrutiny, with fans wondering whether the lack of racial diversity in the upper echelons of the Recording Academy was the reason why Black albums—which ultimately shake culture and have proven to change the entire record industry (even earning Pulitzers)—still couldn’t break into the “Big 4” categories (Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best New Artist, and Album of the Year).

In 2020, Princess Weekes at The Mary Sue explored the Grammy Awards’ snub of Beyoncé’s album, Lemonade: 

Lemonade was her sixth solo studio album and the second “visual album” she’d done after the release of the self-titled Beyoncé album in 2013. With this album, the Houston chanteuse got some of the best critical praise of her career. It was ranked the number one album of 2016 by many, including Rolling Stone. Yet when the time came for the Grammy’s she lost Record of the Year and Song of the Year, to Adele’s 25.

Later on, Adele  made a statement that reflected a lot of what people were saying. “I thought it was her year,” she said of Beyoncé. “What the fuck does she have to do to win album of the year?”

[Beyoncé's] eighth album, the queer-pop masterpiece "Renaissance," was the obvious choice for album of the year in 2023.  To make matters worse, the Recording Academy spent a large chunk of the ceremony exalting Beyoncé for becoming the most-decorated person in Grammys history — and patting themselves on the back for allowing it to happen — just to end the night by handing the top award to Harry Styles. And to be clear, "Harry's House" is good, but it's no "Renaissance." It's not even close.

At this year's ceremony, Kendrick Lamar is up for Record and Song of the Year for "Not Like Us"-- a critical and chart smash that ought to land him long-overdue Grammy gold.  This year’s nominees for Album of the Year are: André 3000's  “New Blue Sun”,  Beyoncé's “Cowboy Carter”, Billie Eilish's  “Hit Me Hard and Soft”, Chappell Roan's “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess”, Charli XCX's “Brat”, Jacob Collier's “Djesse Vol. 4”, Sabrina Carpenter's “Short n’ Sweet”, and Taylor Swift's “The Tortured Poets Department.”   The critical consensus is that this will finally be Beyoncé’s year-- but who knows if backlash from the MAGA world will affect the vote. Tune in next week to find out.

Central Cee & 21 Savage - GBP

A Degree of Sanity Among the Chaos

One of the people who served jail time for taking part in the US Capitol riot four years ago has refused a pardon from convicted felon Donald Trump, saying: "We were wrong that day."  Pamela Hemphill, who pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 60 days in prison, said that there should be no pardons for the January 6 riot.

"Accepting a pardon would only insult the Capitol police officers, rule of law and, of course, our nation," she said.  "I pleaded guilty because I was guilty, and accepting a pardon also would serve to contribute to their gaslighting and false narrative." Hemphill, (who was nicknamed the "Maga granny" by social media users) said she saw the Trump administration as trying to "rewrite history and I don't want to be part of that".  "We were wrong that day, we broke the law - there should be no pardons," she told the BBC.

The move has drawn an uneasy reaction from only a very few some Republican politicians.  Senator Thom Tillis, from North Carolina, said he "just can't agree" with the move, adding that it "raises legitimate safety issues on Capitol Hill".  Another Republican US senator, James Lankford from Oklahoma, told CNN: "I think we need to continue to say we are a party of law and order." He added: "I think if you attack a police officer, that's a very serious issue and they should pay a price for that."

In a joint statement with the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) said it was “deeply discouraged” by recent pardons and commutations given by Trump to those who have been convicted of killing or assaulting police.

It reads, “Allowing those convicted of these crimes to be released early diminishes accountability and devalues the sacrifices made by courageous law enforcement officers and their families.”

“When perpetrators of crimes, especially serious crimes, are not held fully accountable, it sends a dangerous message that the consequences for attacking law enforcement are not severe, potentially emboldening others to commit similar acts of violence,” the statement continued.

 

Day One of Calling Trump on his Bullshit

It was sunny and 25 degrees in Washington, DC yesterday-- hardly one of the coldest days, but enough for convicted felon Trump to get away with moving the inauguration indoors.  It's widely believed that his advisors were glad for the excuse to avoid pictures showing (what was certainly going to be) below-average attendance on the national mall. Trump even ordered that the Jumbotrons on the mall be turned off-- which is strange, since they were already installed and ready to go, so there was no extra cost to just letting the screens broadcast the (inside) ceremony.  

There were reports of numerous groups of Trump supporters (mostly men) wandering the streets and subways stations looking for places to go or watch the ceremony.  There wasn't enough room in the Capitol rotunda for all the VIP's-- even members of Congress were forced to leave their spouses behind to make room for the tech titans and foreign leaders (which have traditionally never been invited to inauguration).  The downtown arena only held 20,000-- so supporters were forced to watch in bars and or their hotel rooms or standing in the cold outside the arena. Late today, the inauguaral's ratings are downright underwhelming compared to both his own 2017 inauguration and Joe Biden’s in 2021. Trump’s inauguration ratings dipped 27% from Biden’s 2021 viewership and 20% from his first inauguration in 2017. That means that more people watched Beyonce’s Christmas halftime show than the 47th president’s inauguration.

Trump's leaving his supporters in the lurch days before the inauguration is a perfect metaphor for what he has done (repeatedly) in the past (remember the infamous border wall?) and what he will (likely) do this time around.

Another Four Years Ahead

The Next Four Years

TikTok Apokalypse

 

 

 

 

Ringo Starr - Time on My Hands

Musk Gets Schooled on His Moronic Posts on the LA Wildfires

Over the weekend, Tech-billionaire Elon Musk arrived "on-scene" to the comfort of a Los Angeles conference room to insert himself into the frenzy and get schooled on basic physics from County Fire officials whose time could have certainly been put to better use elsewhere.

In a bizarre press-conference-for-one, a member of the LA County Fire Command Team gave a lesson to Musk in the basic principles of water pressure — and shut down his racist assertion that municipal diversity efforts are somehow to blame for the fires raging in California.  In a strangely-shot livestream, LA County Fire Battalion Chief Christian Litz breaks the water system down for a fisheye-lensed Musk.

"If we have one building burning, we could flow 1000 gallons a minute... you can imagine 1,000 gallons per house, we couldn't do [it]," he said. "There really is no water system that's going to keep that pace."  Chief Litz dumbed it down further, explaining that in order to maintain water pressure, an equal amount of water must be going into the system as goes out. As demand for water has understandably skyrocketed in recent days, LA County Fire is compensating with dozens of tanker trucks.  "We were flowing an amount of water that the system couldn't hold," he added, "just because of the amount of water these firefighters were utilizing."

The video is most notable for directly refuting the harmful assertions Musk has made regarding the wildfires — chiefly the "powerful minorities" myth that ineffective DEI hires are to blame for "water shortages" exacerbating the wildfires.   Never one to waste a major crisis, Musk used the occasion to hawk his pet projects.  "We are going to position Cybertrucks with Starlinks and free Wi-Fi in a grid pattern in the areas that most need it in the greater LA/Malibu area," the CEO posted before the presser.  At the moment, it's unclear how many Cybertrucks Musk has requisitioned for the effort, or what else the billionaire will be offering to those who've lost everything — or who even asked him to begin with.

Musk also shamelessly shared a video on X  that used an AI-generated voiceover to claim that the 43-year-old billionaire's "astonishing decision" to "generously donate" Starlink internet terminals to LA allowed people in the "disaster zone" to see coverage of the fires.  And that as a result, "thousands of lives" were saved, the anonymously-created video claimed. "Many rescue requests and on-site firefighting operations were successfully carried out," the AI voiceover intoned, "thanks to the support of Starlink."

Musk has no sense of shame or modesty-- if you'll recall, he was the one who resorted to calling someone childish names after his half-baked cave rescue mission in Thailand didn't work, so his credibility is in the tank nowadays.

 

Grumpy Old Man Needs His Sleep!

 Convicted felon Donald Trump spent the wee hours of the night complaining about late night host Seth Meyers.  “How bad is Seth Meyers on NBC, a ‘network’ run by a truly bad group of people,” Trump wrote on his social media account shortly before 1:30 a.m. ET. “I got stuck watching Marble Mouth Meyers the other night, the first time in months, and every time I watch this moron I feel an obligation to say how dumb and untalented he is, merely a slot filler for the Scum that runs Comcast.”

As he has before, Trump complained that late night talk shows are “contributions” to the Democratic party. He also appeared to threaten Comcast, the parent company of NBC, which airs Meyers’ show. “These are not shows or entertainment, they are simply political hits, 100% of the time, to me and the Republican party,” Trump griped. “Comcast should pay a BIG price for this!” 

The president-elect has long complained about late night shows for making fun of him. He has called Jimmy Kimmel (whose joke at the Oscars really seemed to get under Trump’s skin) “one of the dumbest human beings ever.” Trump has also slammed Jimmy Fallon as “weak and pathetic,” attacked Stephen Colbert as a “total loser,” and dismissed all of the late night hosts as “the talentless, low rated CREEPS of Late Night Television.” Trump seems to especially dislike Kimmel, whom he attacks more frequently than others. During his previous term in office, Trump tried to have Kimmel censored.  There have been no reactions from Kimmel, Fallon, Colbert or Meyers-- apparently no one seems to care.  I do, however, have some advice for the orange jesus: Get some sleep, old man-- you look terrible!

 

Don't Ya Know It?

A Life of Hate Has Come to an End

Anita Bryant, the former singer and much-reviled bigot, has died of cancer and will finally (according to her beliefs) face her maker and be held accountable for her lifetime of hate. She was 84.

Bryant leveraged her pageant title of Miss Oklahoma 1958 (and second runner up to Miss America a year later) to launch a career as a singer.   Bryant released several albums on the Carlton and Columbia labels, which generated a handful of top 20 hits in the early 60's.  Faced with uncertain prospects in the music business, she pivoted to making multiple appearances with Bob Hope on his USO tours and on television.  Later in that decade, she attempted a transition to gospel music, which resulted in little success. 

In 1969, Bryant reinvented herself as a television spokesperson, most famously appearing in commercials and at live events for the Florida Citrus Commission. Her career prospered for a number of years until 1977-- when Dade County, Florida passed an ordinance that prohibited discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Bryant led a successful campaign to repeal the ordinance, saying, “If gays are granted rights, next we’ll have to give rights to prostitutes and to people who sleep with St. Bernards and to nail biters.”  The campaign marked the beginning of an organized opposition to gay rights that spread across the nation. Later the same year, Florida legislators approved a measure prohibiting gay adoption (which was overturned more than 30 years later when it was declared unconstitutional).

However, the success of Bryant's campaign galvanized her opponents, who organized a boycott of orange juice which gained traction with many celebrities.  Bryant's outrageous comments and unabashed bigotry made her a regular target of ridicule by comics and on late-night talk shows.  During a live TV appearance in 1977, she was hit in the face with a pie by a gay activist-- after which she cruelly ad-libbed, "at least it was a fruit pie."  By the next year, her efforts led to the Briggs ballot initiative in California, which would have made pro-gay statements regarding homosexual people or homosexuality by any public school employee cause for dismissal. Grassroots organizations, buoyed by public statements against the measure by Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, Gerald Ford and Jerry Brown led to a massive defeat at the polls.

The fallout from Bryant's political activism devastated her business and entertainment career.  The Singer Corporation rescinded their offer for Bryant to sponsor a variety show because of the "extensive national publicity arising from [Bryant's] controversial political activities." In 1978, she lost her bid to become vice president of the Southern Baptist Convention, and divorced her husband a few years later.  Bryant lost a major source of income after Christian fundamentalist audiences and venues shunned her due to the divorce.  The Florida Citrus Commission quietly allowed her contract to lapse, stating that Bryant had "worn out" as a spokesperson.

Bryant rapidly became an object of ridicule, as her image shifted from being a model Christian spokeswoman to that of a self-righteous bigot. This led to many of her endorsements being cancelled and sponsors abandoning her, as she was seen as a major liability.  Bryant tried to revive her music career in a series of small venues.  Her investment in a theater in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee was a complete failure, leaving behind a series of unpaid employees and creditors.   A venture in Branson, Missouri ended with the state and federal governments both filing liens claiming more than $116,000 in unpaid taxes. Bryant also filed for bankruptcy in Arkansas, after piling up bills from a failed venture in Eureka Springs-- among the debts were nearly $200K in unpaid state and federal taxes.

The sort of public discrimination Bryant fostered has long caused LGBTQ+ people to suffer from higher rates of financial hardship, suicidal ideation, and drug addiction.  To the very end, Bryant was an unrepentant bigot. In the years afterward, she continued to call homosexuals “human garbage” and members of a “deviant lifestyle” who groomed children through sexual abuse.  In 2011, Bryant told an Oklahoma newspaper, “I’ve never regretted what I did.”   Near the end of her life, she even condemned her own granddaughter for being gay.  Good riddance to a truly horrible woman.

 

Continuing Tragedy in Los Angeles

All this week, we have been reading about the unfolding disaster in Los Angeles.  Brave responders have been going above and beyond to protect lives and structures and stop the fires wherever they are.  The Los Angeles County medical examiner has updated the death toll from the fires to 11, attributing five to the Palisades fire and six to the Eaton fire.  Contrary to social media, LA is not out of water.  Part of the problem is trying to fight widespread fires using an urban water system that was only designed to provide fire-fighting services for urban fires that occur on a sporadic basis-- not continuous, widespread water needs.   Nevertheless, their are likely other factors contributing to lack of water pressure at hydrants, and Governor Newsom has ordered an investigation of that issue. 

Earlier in the week, LA Mayor Karen Bass said budget cuts at the department did not affect the city’s response to the wildfires. Yesterday, Los Angeles City Fire Chief Kristin Crowley contradicted that narrative, drawing a connection between $17 million in reductions to her department’s operations and the struggle to beat back the wildfires.  Crowley stunned many observers with an extraordinary television interview with the local Fox affiliate where she said the city (and by implication, Mayor Bass) had failed her and her department. She went on to describe the Fire Department as understaffed and underfunded, saying the situation is “no longer sustainable.”  As of this morning:

• The Palisades Fire, which has burned 22,628 acres, is 11% contained.
• The Eaton Fire, which has burned 14,117 acres, is 15% contained.
• The Kenneth Fire, which has destroyed  1,052 acres, is 80% contained.
• The Hurst Fire, which has burned 779 acres is 76% contained.
• The Lidia Fire, which has burned 395 acres is 98% contained.
  
• The Archer Fire, which burned 31 acres is 100% contained (no structures or homes affected)
  
• The Woodley Fire, which burned 30 acres is 100% contained.
• The Olivas Fire, which burned 11 acres, is 100% contained.
• The Sunset Fire, which burned 42 acres, is 100% contained.
  

With high winds fueling the infernos, planes are being used to drop water and fire retardants from the sky.  But now there is an emerging problem on that front.

Just Sayin'

Bad Bunny - Pitorro de Coco

A Preview of the Next Four Years

Trump held a press conference yesterday-- a humdinger for the ages.  He rambled on and on-- ranting and raving about getting "the itch" from electric heaters, low-flow washing machines, gas stoves, retaking the Panama Canal, changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico, windmills and whales, how Hezbollah was involved in January 6 (it wasn't), invading Greenland and Canada, and so much (meaningless) more.  But Trump employed his usual crazy bluster and ridiculous blather to obscure another tirade of lies, which I will try to document (and refute) for you:

Honestly, I Can Sympathize

Remembering the Day of Insurrection

Congress certified Donald Trump's 2024 Electoral College victory in a quick, uneventful ceremony today—without a single objection from members of Congress or riots from supporters of the losing candidate.  It was a far cry from the scene on Capitol Hill four years ago, when Trump sought to carry out his plan to block Joe Biden's win and remain in power—actions for which he was indicted but will likely never face consequences.

On Jan. 6, 2021, 147 Congress Republicans objected to Biden's Electoral College
win during the joint session over which then-Vice President Mike Pence was presiding. Their objections were based on lies that the 2020 election was rife with fraud—allegations Republicans have never provided evidence to support. At the same time Republicans were objecting to the Electoral College results, a mob of Trump supporters was violently breaking into the U.S. Capitol to demand Pence not to accept Biden's victory, killing five people and injuring more than 140 law enforcement officers in the process.  One officer died on Jan. 7, 2021, a day after he was attacked while defending the Capitol. Four other officers who responded on Jan. 6 subsequently died by suicide. 

Trump and Republican lawmakers' behavior was so abhorrent and dangerous that the Democratic-controlled Congress changed the law in 2022 to prevent similar situations from unfolding in the future. The law officially made the vice president's role in the Electoral College certification ceremonial and raised the threshold to object to a state's Electoral College vote.

This year, not a single Democratic lawmaker objected to Trump's win. And Vice President Kamala Harris presided with grace and poise over the joint session of Congress to certify her own defeat.

 

Butt-Kissing Bezos Continues to Lose Talent From Wash Post

Another high-profile member of the Washington Post editorial staff has left the paper--cartoonist Ann Telnaes, who had been at the outlet for 16 years.  She quit after WAPO brass killed her cartoon featuring president-elect Donald Trump.

“The cartoon that was killed criticizes the billionaire tech and media chief executives who have been doing their best to curry favor with incoming President-elect Trump,” the Pulitzer-Prize winning cartoonist wrote on Substack under the title “Why I Quit The Washington Post.”

“There have been multiple articles recently about these men with lucrative government contracts and an interest in eliminating regulations making their way to Mar-a-lago,” she wrote. “The group in the cartoon included Mark Zuckerberg/Facebook & Meta founder and CEO, Sam Altman/AI CEO, Patrick Soon-Shiong/LA Times publisher, the Walt Disney Company/ABC News, and Jeff Bezos/Washington Post owner.” 

Maga Musk Fights Against Reality

Billionaire conservative donor Elon Musk called on the public to stop donating to the Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit that runs Wikipedia, due to the organization’s support for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). “Stop donating to Wokepedia until they restore balance to their editing authority,” Musk wrote on X, responding to a post from the anti-trans account Libs of TikTok noting that the foundation spent $50 million of its $177 million budget on DEI.

A spokesperson for Wikipedia explained that its investment in diversity is meant to make the digital encyclopedia more accurate. “Wikipedia is built on the premise that it becomes better when more people of different backgrounds—including political persuasions—source, edit, curate, and research content. Our equity goal advances that,” they said.

For years now, particularly in the wake of protests following the murder of George Floyd, conservatives have attacked DEI efforts. The right’s complaints against Wikipedia are also reflective of the longstanding conservative desire to control information.

Musk has been a part of this conservative crusade since spending billions to acquire Twitter, now known as X. Musk removed many of the societal guardrails that had been put in place by Twitter’s previous management, and the site has become arguably the biggest spreader of political misinformation in the world. The lies and false information spread across X contributed to an election win for Musk’s favored candidate, Donald Trump.

X’s role as a disinformation amplifier echoes another, older conservative project: Fox News. The network was created by former Republican operative Roger Ailes and conservative media tycoon Rupert Murdoch to change the narrative and amplify the right’s myths, lies, and political attacks. Fox was at the forefront of misinforming millions of Americans about the outcome of the 2020 election—resulting in a nearly $800 million settlement—as well as the January 6 insurrection in the U.S. Capitol.

Musk's animus to Wikipedia most likely reflects his personal bias as well. On the site, the public can learn about public figures like Musk, including his history of promoting conspiracy theories, racism, and anti-transgender bigotry.

The right has tried to counteract Wikipedia’s influence before. The site Conservapedia was launched in 2006 as a right-wing alternative. The entries on the site are extremely biased and riddled with factual inaccuracies. 

Conservatives believe that sources of information must reflect a conservative worldview rather than objective reality, which is why Trump has gone after news outlets like ABC News and The New York Times for not repeating right-wing propaganda. Even though many of these outlets have promoted conservative narratives and buckled under right-wing criticism and legal threats, it still isn’t enough for Trump.  Now Wikipedia is under fire for promoting facts instead of right-wing talking points, further proving that conservatives believe everything must bend to their will—even the encyclopedia.

Brett Eldredge – Season of Lights and Wonder

Blessings For the New Year

 

Terror Attack in New Orleans

People woke up this morning to horrific news that an individual drove a white Ford F-150 drove onto Bourbon Street (from Canal Street) intentionally running down pedestrians and shooting a firearm out the window after he crashed his vehicle to a stop.  At this time, ten people are reported dead with over 30 others injured (including two police officers).  Multiple officers opened fire on the suspect after he exited his vehicle in full body armor.  Officers were forced to shoot the suspect in the head to stop the attack, and he is believed to have died on the scene.  Explosive devices that did not detonate were later found at the crash site by investigators. There are still dead bodies laying on Bourbon street waiting to be removed, as authorities are treating that block of Bourbon Street as an active crime scene. The French Quarter remains incredibly sombre, in stark contrast to the New Year's celebrations and the expected activities scheduled to take place at the Sugar Bowl later tonight. Victims have been taken to the University Medical Center, Touro Hospital, Ochsner Medical Center (in Jefferson), Ochsner Baptist, East Jefferson General Hospital, and the LCMC Health Center for treatment.

The incident occurred at approximately 3:15 am Central time.  Witnesses say that metal barriers meant to prevent cars from driving down that particular section of road were not in place. According to city's website, bollards on Bourbon Street had been removed (reportedly in November) and were expected to be replaced within a three to four-week window, leading up the Super Bowl next February.  The F-150 truck that was used in the attack was a vehicle rented through the Turo app.  The truck's owner told ABC News that he rented the truck to an individual through Turo and that he is currently talking to the FBI.  The Associated Press reported that authorities found guns and pipe bombs in the vehicle, according to a Louisiana State Police bulletin the outlet obtained. The bulletin also described devices that were concealed inside coolers and wired for remote detonation. A remote control was also discovered in the vehicle.

MSNBC just identified the suspect on air as 42-year-old Shamsud Din Jabbar, (date of birth: October 26, 1982).  The vehicle had a flagpole mounted on its trailer hitch, and there have been extensive crowd-sourced efforts to identify the nature of the flag in order to provide some kind of motive or rationale for the attack.  The FBI has been designated the lead agency on the investigation, and have officially designated it as a "terrorist attack."   A press conference was held at 8 am eastern time, but authorities did not take questions.  A press conference scheduled for 12 noon eastern time was unexpectedly delayed two hours.  

In a statement on the tragedy, President-elect Trump said, :"When I said that the criminals coming in are far worse than the criminals we have in our country, that statement was constantly refuted by Democrats and the fake news media, but it turned out to be true."   President Biden released a statement saying, "My heart goes out to the victims and their families who were simply trying to celebrate the holiday. There is no justification for violence of any kind, and we will not tolerate any attack on any of our nation’s communities."  Biden added that he is "grateful for the brave and swift response of local law enforcement in preventing even greater death and injury".

Families of the victims seeking reunification with loved ones are instructed to go to the  Conference Center of the University Medical Center (UMC) on the first floor, across from Tower Two, which is the midpoint of the hospital.

 

Happy New Year!