Wednesday, December 17, 2025

Lawrence: ‘Immoral’ is Donald Trump’s brand, and his chief of staff just proved it

‘Every word is on tape’: Vanity Fair reporter says ‘everybody was on board’ for Wiles interviews

New York Stands at a Crossroads: The Fight Over Legalized Killing

 https://vinnews.com/2025/12/15/new-york-stands-at-a-crossroads-the-fight-over-legalized-killing/

The bill is called the “Medical Aid in Dying” act. The name itself is a masterpiece of political dishonesty. “Aid” suggests help. “Dying” suggests something inevitable. But strip away the euphemisms and you find the truth: this is a law that would put poison in the hands of vulnerable people, with almost no way to take it back, and call the killing “medicine.”

Hochul agrees to sign Medical Aid in Dying bill

 https://www.cityandstateny.com/policy/2025/12/hochul-agrees-sign-medical-aid-dying-bill/410219/

After months of negotiations over a controversial measure that would permit doctors to help some terminally ill patients end their lives, sources told City & State that Gov. Kathy Hochul is expected to announce a deal to sign it on Wednesday. 

‘Extremely demoralizing’: Republicans respond to the bombastic Wiles interview

 https://www.politico.com/news/2025/12/16/why-vanity-fair-aides-and-allies-wonder-what-wiles-west-wing-were-thinking-extremely-demoralizing-republicans-respond-to-the-bombastic-wiles-interview-00693821

White House aides and allies on Tuesday rushed to publicly defend Susie Wiles after a jaw-dropping interview in Vanity Fair had her pointedly criticizing the president and many in the Cabinet.

Susie Wiles, JD Vance, and the “Junkyard Dogs”: The White House Chief of Staff on Trump’s Second Term (Part 1 of 2)

 https://www.vanityfair.com/news/story/trump-susie-wiles-interview-exclusive-part-1?srsltid=AfmBOoqsamWkMVL2lyRQ8ePSEEQsEKeju1FYBOE59tkrlSkR4FPKw7Oj

Throughout the first year of Donald Trump’s second administration, Vanity Fair writer Chris Whipple has interviewed Wiles amid each moment of crisis. This insider’s account joins a portfolio of portraits for an unflinching, up-close look at power—and peril.

Sen. Chris Murphy after boat strike briefing: There’s ‘no fentanyl’ and ‘no legal justification’

 https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5651822-trump-administration-strikes-questioned/

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said Tuesday’s classified briefing with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth confirms the Trump administration has no legal or national security justification for the strikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific. 

A member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Murphy said in a video on the social platform X that the two Cabinet officials admitted to lawmakers that the accused drug-trafficking vessels are believed to be smuggling cocaine, not fentanyl. He also said Rubio and Hegseth said intelligence suggested the boats were going to Europe, not the U.S., contradicting the administration’s public justification for the strikes. 

6 takeaways from Trump chief of staff Susie Wiles’ unvarnished interviews

 https://edition.cnn.com/2025/12/16/politics/takeaways-susie-wiles-interview

The money quote from the interview might be Wiles saying that Trump – a known teetotaler – has an “alcoholic’s personality.”

(Wiles denied those quotes to The New York Times, but the Times says Vanity Fair played its tape of Wiles saying these things.)

Tuesday, December 16, 2025

Rav Yitzchok Abadi zt”l – A Light That Illuminated Generations

 https://vinnews.com/2025/12/16/rav-yitzchok-abadi-ztl-a-light-that-illuminated-generations/

Rav Yitzchok Abadi zt”l was not simply a rav—he was an embodiment of what Torah greatness looks like when combined with brilliance, courage, humility and unwavering dedication to truth.

MAGA leaders warn Trump the base is checking out. Will he listen?

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/12/15/trump-base-maga-midterm-voters/

Savanah Hernandez, a conservative commentator who serves as a Turning Point USA contributor, described the second Trump term so far as “underwhelming,” while crediting Trump with making positive, lasting changes to the conservative movement.

“All we’ve really seen is punchy tweets, cool video edits, but really no follow-through on any of the promises,” she said of the messaging coming from the White House.

“And if he listened to his base and he was connected to us, even just through social media, you would see that the average person is still struggling to buy groceries, that the housing crisis is still on the mind of everybody, that inflation is still a really big issue, and when Americans see billions of dollars going overseas to any country, it really feels like a betrayal when we’re struggling here at home,” Hernandez said.

Monday, December 15, 2025

Trump says looking into whether Israel violated ceasefire by killing Hamas leader

 https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/defense-news/article-880379

US President Donald Trump on Monday said his administration was looking into whether Israel violated the Gaza ceasefire by killing a Hamas leader on Saturday.

The White House sent a scolding message to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday, expressing

Washington’s anger over the assassination of senior Hamas official Sa’ad Ra’ad, which it described as an Israeli violation of the Gaza ceasefire agreement, two American sources told Axios.

Donald Trump's Son Uses Presidential Power in Court

Donald Trump’s Response to Rob Reiner’s Death Sparks MAGA Backlash

 https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trumps-response-to-rob-reiners-death-sparks-maga-backlash-11214421

"A very sad thing happened last night in Hollywood," Trump wrote in a Monday morning post on Truth Social, his preferred method for communicating directly with the American public."Rob Reiner, a tortured and struggling, but once very talented movie director and comedy star, has passed away, together with his wife, Michele, reportedly due to the anger he caused others through his massive, unyielding, and incurable affliction with a mind crippling disease known as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME, sometimes referred to as TDS," the president continued.Trump's Monday post about Reiner concluded: "He was known to have driven people CRAZY by his raging obsession of President Donald J. Trump, with his obvious paranoia reaching new heights as the Trump Administration surpassed all goals and expectations of greatness, and with the Golden Age of America upon us, perhaps like never before. May Rob and Michele rest in peace!"

Listen to the people, President Trump — they really DO feel economic pain

 https://nypost.com/2025/12/08/opinion/listen-to-the-people-president-trump-they-really-do-feel-economic-pain/

President Trump is stepping out of his White House bubble to address economic gloom; we expect he’ll make time to listen as well as speechify.

He needs to be careful: Slamming Democrats’ talk of “affordability” as a “con job” is readily twisted to make it seem like he doesn’t think people are suffering.

We realize that he means that Dems are responsible for the nation’s current woes; they can’t credibly claim to be the party of strong economic growth, which is the only way out of this box.

The prez can and should offer genuine assurances, but must admit the frustration is painfully real: Three-quarters of Americans view the economy negatively, a Fox News survey found last month.