Lame-duck Biden-Harris Admin Sanctions Israelis, Sends $230M to Palestinians:

The lame-duck Biden-Harris administration is slapping new sanctions on Israelis, while sending nearly a quarter of a billion dollars in additional funding to the Palestinians, adding insult to injury in the closing weeks of its failed policy.

The Washington Free Beacon noted Monday:

The Biden-Harris administration on Monday unveiled sweeping new sanctions on Israeli Jews, just days after it awarded another $230 million in taxpayer funds to the Palestinians. The back-to-back announcements signal that diplomatic relations between Israel and the outgoing White House will continue to sour until President-elect Donald Trump retakes office next year.

The new sanctions are the broadest to date, imposing unprecedented punitive measures on three Israeli organizations the administration accuses of fomenting violence against Palestinians in the West Bank. They were leveled just days after a coalition of nearly 90 congressional Democrats petitioned the Biden administration to ramp up sanctions on Israel before leaving the White House.

The sanctions were announced just three days after the Biden-Harris administration awarded another $230 million in funding for humanitarian projects in the West Bank and the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. The American government has now sent more than $2 billion in taxpayer funds to the Palestinians since Hamas’s Oct. 7 terror spree on Israel—even as critics warn this cash is keeping Hamas on life support.

https://www.breitbart.com/middle-east/2024/11/19/lame-duck-biden-harris-admin-sanctions-israelis-sends-230m-to-palestinians/   

Pollak: Maybe the Media Will Treat Melania Trump Like the First Lady This Time:

Melania Trump will again be the First Lady of the United States — and perhaps, this time, the media will treat her as such.

Not one magazine bothered to feature Mrs. Trump on its cover during President Donald Trump’s entire first term, despite her philanthropic work on the “Be Best” anti-bullying campaign, and despite her long and storied career as a cover model (née Melania Knauss) in high demand before her husband entered the political fray.

Breitbart News was the only outlet to feature the First Lady, frequently noting her fashion choices, which were often inspired and original. In contrast, the media had gushed over First Lady Michelle Obama’s outfits — which, while occasionally interesting, were often perceived by the public as garish.  The media also fêted Obama and First Lady Jill Biden....

https://www.breitbart.com/the-media/2024/11/18/pollak-maybe-the-media-will-treat-melania-trump-like-the-first-lady-this-time/   

DOGE: Examples of federal spending that could be on the chopping block:

(The Center Square) – Billionaires Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy will take over a new effort to make the government more efficient.

President-elect Donald Trump’s new “Department of Government Efficiency,” or DOGE, is a government efficiency effort that has turned a public spotlight onto government waste and duplication in a way not done for years.

While journalists and nonprofits have been writing about examples of government waste during that time, very little of it actually got much attention.

Musk created a Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) account on X where he is asking followers for suggestions.

Aside from lopping off entire agencies, here are some examples of controversial federal spending that... could be in the line of fire for coming cuts:

• Billions to maintain office buildings, many of which are empty as employees work from home.
• $6 million for United States Agency for International Development to boost tourism in Egypt.
• $400 million of taxpayer dollars for presidential campaigns.
• $2.6 million in taxpayer dollars to fund a critical race theory program that trains students to promote CRT.
• Millions to train school teachers in DEI.
• Hundreds of millions of FEMA dollars for migrants.
• Tens of millions per year for DEI at the Pentagon.
• Nearly $32 million in COVID funding for luxury cars.
• $1.2 million in taxpayer dollars to find evidence that racism is to blame for poor sleep in minority communities.
• $426,250 for an app to encourage Latino men to exercise.
• $28 million for camouflage uniforms that you can see.
• Billions in improper payments of COVID funds to businesses.
• $100 million for projects in wealthy Manhattan.
  
• $1 million for the West Harlem “Environmental Justice Center.”
• $50 million via an “Environmental Justice” grant to an anti-Israel group.
• $3 billion overall for “Environmental Justice” grants to groups, many of which are accused of partisanship.
• $200,000 spent by the Department of Defense on Starbucks espresso machines
• Millions to study COVID “misinformation.”

https://alphanews.org/doge-examples-of-federal-spending-that-could-be-on-the-chopping-block/   

After World Bank “Misplaces” Up to $41 Billion in Funds, Biden Pledges Record $4 Billion More in U.S. Taxpayer Dollars:

In just a few weeks, Joe Biden will fade into obscurity and will no longer have access to America’s checkbook. He is making sure that, before that happens, he is spreading American taxpayer’s dollars all over the world.

The announcement comes despite the fact that the DC-based international lender’s “poor recording keeping” has resulted in anywhere between $24 billion and $41 billion in misplaced funds.

During his remarks, Biden said, “It seems to me there are certain key steps.  First, we need to invest at a large scale. Now, we need to make sure the World Bank can continue its work in the most vulnerable countries.”

“I’m proud to announce the United States is pledging $4 billion over the next three years to the World Bank International Development Association."

Up to $41 billion in World Bank climate finance —nearly 40 percent of all climate funds disbursed by the Bank over the past seven years— is unaccounted for due to poor record-keeping practices, reveals a new Oxfam report published today ahead of the World Bank and IMF Annual Meetings in Washington D.C.

An Oxfam audit of the World Bank’s 2017-2023 climate finance portfolio found that between $24 billion and $41 billion in climate finance went unaccounted for between the time projects were approved and when they closed.

There is no clear public record showing where this money went or how it was used, which makes any assessment of its impacts impossible. It also remains unclear whether these funds were even spent on climate-related initiatives intended to help low- and middle-income countries protect people from the impacts of the climate crisis and invest in clean energy.

A World Bank insider, speaking on condition of anonymity, suggested to The New York Post, the figure for the missing money “could be twice or 10 times more.”

“All the figures are routinely made up,” the source said. “Nobody has a clue about who spends what.”

“This is an outrageous waste of US taxpayers money on a useless woke political cause. It is an insult to the American people,” Nile Gardiner, the director of the Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom at the Heritage Foundation, told The Post.

BREAKING: Gaetz Withdraws from Attorney General Consideration:

...The former congressman continued, “While the momentum was strong, it is clear that my confirmation was unfairly becoming a distraction to the critical work of the Trump/Vance Transition. There is no time to waste on a needlessly protracted Washington scuffle, thus I’ll be withdrawing my name from consideration to serve as Attorney General. Trump’s DOJ must be in place and ready on Day 1.”

Gaetz’s withdrawal comes one day after the House Ethics Committee announced it would not release the files from the federal sex trafficking investigation into him—but a document from the Department of Justice’s probe was leaked to The New York Times two hours later.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/11/breaking-gaetz-withdraws-attorney-general-consideration/