Wed: Someone is Taking Action Over the Debt Ceiling

Dark Brandon is Trying to Overthrow His Own Government

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) accused President Joe Biden's government of running an "active coup."

Greene told War Room host Steve Bannon that she suspected a "coup" because the FBI had not charged the president's son, Hunter.

"It's a coup," she asserted. I'm telling you. It's like an active coup, Steve. For people to deny that [is] existing and happening today is pure — just pure idiocy."

These Particulars aren't Peculiar

For weeks, a mystery has surrounded Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's business fraud charges against former President Donald Trump. To enhance the charges from misdemeanors to felonies, Bragg has to establish that the fraud was done to conceal another, underlying crime.

But he hasn't revealed what that crime actually is, and has declined to provide a "bill of particulars" on request of Trump's legal team — something that Trump's allies have been quick to claim is proof the whole case is illegitimate.

But now, as several legal experts including Paula Junghans, Norm Eisen, Siven Watt, Joshua Stanton, and Fred Wertheimer write for Just Security, there are clear hints of what Bragg's legal basis is — and they say it's strong.

"The main facts of the case have been known for some time," they wrote. "DA Bragg alleges that, in October 2016, Trump had attorney Michael Cohen pay adult film actress Stormy Daniels (whose real name is Stephanie Clifford) a $130,000 payment to prevent her from publicizing an alleged sexual encounter she had with Trump.

"To conceal the hush money payment, it was agreed that Cohen would make the payment to Daniels via a shell company (Essential Consultants), on the agreement that Trump would later reimburse Cohen."

What ties this all together, they wrote – and what likely allows for the felony enhancement – is violations of tax law. And there are not just state statutes that apply here, but federal ones.

"Because Bragg’s response to the request for a bill of particulars leaves open the door that other offenses than those listed might also serve as the 'bump-up' predicates to the falsifying business records charges, in addition to New York state tax statutes, we also consider the possibility that prosecutors will attempt to leverage federal tax offenses for this purpose," they wrote.

He's Walkin', Yes Indeed

A 40-year-old man whose legs are paralyzed is able to climb stairs, move over ramps and switch from standing to walking, thanks to implants in his brain and spinal cord that pair with external devices to translate his thoughts into movement.

The experiment was part of a proof-of-concept study published Wednesday in the journal Nature.

The patient, Gert-Jan Oskam, suffered a spinal cord injury from a motor bike accident 12 years ago.

"When we met him, he was completely paralyzed, unable to take a step by himself without assistance," said Grégoire Courtine, the study’s author and a neuroscientist at EPFL, a research university in Switzerland.

Busy Bigots

The majority of the 1,000-plus book challenges analyzed by The Post were filed by just 11 people.

Each of these people brought 10 or more challenges against books in their school district; one man filed 92 challenges. Together, these serial filers constituted 6 percent of all book challengers — but were responsible for 60 percent of all filings.

60% of challenges came from individuals who challenged at least 10 books.

Most filers only made a single challenge …but most challenges came from serial filers

One of them, Michelle Teague in North Carolina’s Catawba County schools, submitted 24 challenges against books in her district’s library last year, targeting titles from Vladimir Nabokov’s “Lolita” to Khaled Hosseini’s “The Kite Runner” to Toni Morrison’s “The Bluest Eye.” She found the books through research online, she said, then checked them out from her public library and read each one cover to cover.

The Power of a Single Bigot

A Miami-Dade County, Florida, K-8 school has banned three books and one poem from its elementary school. Here is the Miami Herald’s report:

“In March, Daily Salinas, a parent of two students at Bob Graham Education Center in Miami Lakes, challenged The ABCs of Black History, Cuban Kids, Countries in the News Cuba, the poem The Hills We Climb, which was recited by poet Amanda Gorman at the inauguration of President Joe Biden, and Love to Langston for what she said included references of critical race theory, “indirect hate messages,” gender ideology and indoctrination, according to records obtained by the Florida Freedom to Read Project and shared with the Miami Herald.

"In an interview with the Herald on Monday, Salinas said she “is not for eliminating or censoring any books.” Instead, she wants materials to be appropriate and for students “to know the truth” about Cuba, she said in Spanish.

Words fail. Salinas is a champion of doublethink. How does she rationalize her belief in intellectual freedom with her need for the school to get rid of books she does not like? Further, if her passion is that schools teach Cuban history according to her opinion, what the hell do The ABCs of Black History and Amanda Gorman’s Biden Inaugural poem The Hills We Climb have to do with it?

Despite Salinas being the only parent to complain, the school obliged her by banning four of her five suggestions. A school review committee determined one book, Countries in the News Cuba, was “balanced and age-appropriate in its wording and presentation” and therefore spared it the ax.

The ABCs of Black History, which the review board did admit was appropriate for ages five and up, was not. It was joined in banishment by Cuban Kids, Love to Langston, and The Hills We Climb.

These Singing Shows Are Not All Sunshine and Lollipops

'American Idol' Winner Just Sam, aka Samantha Diaz, Returns To Subway Singing To Make Ends Meet

“I didn’t want people to know that I legit needed the money," wrote Just Sam, who won the 2020 singing competition amid the pandemic.

“American Idol” winner Just Sam wrote Tuesday that they wanted to explain further but could not after outlets reported the performer had returned to singing in the subways to earn money.

“There’s so much that I want to say, but there’s not much that I am allowed to say,” the singer, whose offstage name is Samantha Diaz, wrote cryptically in an Instagram story. “But I promise that I will say more very soon.”

Diaz won the remote 2020 competition amid the pandemic, but fame and fortune failed to materialize, forcing them to busk in New York City’s subways as they had done before.

“Back in 2021, I was super embarrassed to be going back to the trains,” Diaz wrote earlier this month in a since-deleted caption that accompanied a subway performance of Ariana Grande’s “Almost Is Never Enough.”

“I didn’t want people to know that I legit needed the money & I didn’t want people to know that it wasn’t optional.”

The Sun tabloid in Britain reported on Just Sam’s plight weeks ago but many outlets stateside picked up on the “Idol” alum’s status on Tuesday.

“I was disappointed in myself for allowing myself to fall so low after winning ‘Idol,’ but then I had to take it easy on me and remember that I started my journey with ‘Idol’ at 20 years old,” Diaz wrote, per The Sun. “Not even knowing anything about Hollywood or the music industry.”

Diaz, who won a recording contract, previously split from Hollywood Records without finishing an album.

“I am making music,” the singer said, per Just Jared. “I just cannot afford to release music, because mixing and mastering music costs a lot of money. And I invested in myself and ended up broke. That’s the truth. Not broke, broke ― like I’m living. I have my own place.”

In August 2022, Diaz reported being hospitalized while seemingly noting dangerous weight loss. “I seriously need help,” Diaz wrote.