The really, really, really, really expensive banana at #ArtBasel was eaten this afternoon by a New York artist (Vid: David_Datuna) pic.twitter.com/90mUhktyqd
A performance artist on Saturday ate a banana duct-taped to a wall — the most talked-about artwork at Miami’s Art Basel — that sold earlier this week for $120,000. New York-based performance artist David Datuna ate the banana around 1:45 p.m. on Saturday in front of a convention full of art lovers, the gallery told the Miami Herald.
Perrotin Gallery spokesman Lucien Terras told the Herald that Datuna did not “destroy” the artwork because “the banana is the idea.”
The controversial piece, called “The Comedian,” was created by Maurizio Cattelan, an Italian artist who had also entertained art lovers from around the globe in 2017 with his “America” 18-carat-gold toilet. The $6-million throne was stolen from England’s Blenheim Palace over the summer.
For years, Democrats have been warning Americans about the dangers of law enforcement metadata collections. They cautioned that communication giants were working in cahoots with law enforcement to undermine our privacy. They said that metadata snooping might one day be used to smear other politicians.
That was then. Today, House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff not only employs the power of the surveillance state to smear his colleagues and press his political agenda, he has set a number of dangerous precedents by “unmasking” his political rivals in an effort to smear them with innuendo.
With the release of the House Intelligence Committee’s impeachment report this week, we learned that Rudolph Giuliani and his corrupt Ukrainian pal Lev Parnas, whose metadata Schiff had legally subpoenaed, were also exchanging calls with former The Hill columnist John Solomon, ranking Intelligence Republican Devin Nunes and the president’s personal attorney Jay Sekulow.
Setting aside legal concerns over client-attorney privilege, and norms of congressional behavior, the fact that a congressman leading an impeachment investigation would use his power in this way is a stark abuse of his authority. After all, none of those unmasked by Schiff were the target of the inquiry. As far as we know, in fact, none of their conversations were illegal. Most importantly, none of these calls were relevant to the case for impeachment.
“This is a historic day” is something there’s a very good chance you’ll hear when tuning into CNN these days.
Ever since Nancy Pelosi announced the start of an official “impeachment inquiry,” CNN — a news network that’s effectively declared its opposition to the current administration — has pronounced virtually every “historic.”
Since Sept. 24th, when Pelosi announced the launch of the impeachment probe, CNN’s used the word “historic” to describe the proceedings 805 times, according to a review of Grabien’s NewsBase.
When the first public hearings were held Nov. 13th, CNN described the day as historic “47 times.”
Thomas Bowen, a former campaign aide for Barack Obama, said he believed the Republican Party is “full of shit” after Sen. Lisa Murkowski said she was not impressed with the Democratic case for impeachment.
“She should spend 15 minutes with Jim Jordan, Matt Gaetz, and Devin Nunes and then come back to us with how to make it work for Republicans,” Bowen said about Murkowski on Saturday. “This Party is so full of shit. It needs to be burnt to the ground.”
A lot of people on Capitol Hill were surprised to find when Rep. Adam Schiff released the House Intelligence Committee’s report on the impeachment inquiry that Schiff had obtained the phone records of his colleague Rep. Devin Nunes and published them in the report, along with the call records of other people, such as one of Nunes’ staff members and a former staff member.
Nunes told “Fox and Friends” that he finally had time to go through his call records, and he says they don’t match what Schiff and the Democrats put in their report. That’s not that hard to believe, seeing how Schiff has used an iron first to determine what information goes public and what stays in his bunker, but here’s Nunes:
On Friday, far-left activist Greta Thunberg struck a somber, defeatist tone while speaking to fellow climate activists gathered at the United Nations climate talks in Madrid, Spain.
The Swedish teen complained that school climate strikes have “achieved nothing” and claimed that opponents of her radical agenda are trying to “silence” her and her supporters. Thunberg also claimed people are currently “suffering and dying” due to effects of supposed man-made climate change.
“The global wave of school strikes for the climate over the past year has ‘achieved nothing’ because greenhouse gas emissions have continued to rise,” Thunberg reportedly told fellow activists, according to The Guardian.
“I’m just an activist and we need more activists,” the 16-year-old said. “Some people are afraid to change – they try so desperately to silence us.”
“We can’t go on like this; it is not sustainable that children skip school and we don’t want to continue – we would love some action from the people in power. People are suffering and dying today. We can’t wait any longer,” Thunberg warned.
The House Judiciary Committee on Saturday released a report laying out what they believe are the impeachable offenses against President Donald Trump before the committee’s hearing on Monday.
“The Framers worst nightmare is what we are facing in this very moment. President Trump abused his power, betrayed our national security, and corrupted our elections, all for personal gain. The Constitution details only one remedy for this misconduct: impeachment,” House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler said in a statement as the report was released.
Sophia still reigns as queen, but Jackson has lost his crown as king.
The parenting website BabyCenter released its annual list of 100 most popular baby names for girls and boys in the United States, and for the 10th year in a row, Sophia is at the top. Liam knocked Jackson out of the No. 1 spot that he had held onto for six years straight.
The online parenting and pregnancy destination compiled the names of babies born to some 600,000 registered U.S. users in 2019 and combined those that sound the same but have different spellings (such as Sophia and Sofia) to create a true measure of popularity. The Social Security Administration also generates a list, pulling from the names of all babies born in the U.S., but the agency treats each unique spelling as a separate name.
Almost all of last year’s top-10 darlings are still favorites this year, with a few exceptions. Revealing a rise in Arabic names, Muhammad and Aaliyah made the top 10 for the first time, replacing Mason and Layla.
Muhammad is considered the most popular name in the world, and UK news site Independent says it is “given to an estimated 150 million men and boys.”
The first of yesterday’s shooting victims has been id’d by family as 23yo Joshua Kaleb Watson: “Heavily wounded, he made his way out to flag down first responders and gave an accurate description of the shooter…He died serving his country.” https://t.co/qXm64fOEcw
Family members have identified Joshua Kaleb Watson, 23, a recent graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, as one of the victims of Friday’s shooting at Naval Air Station Pensacola.
“Joshua Kaleb Watson saved countless lives today with his own,” wrote his brother, Adam Watson, late Friday. “After being shot multiple times he made it outside and told the first response team where the shooter was and those details were invaluable.
“He died a hero and we are beyond proud but there is a hole in our hearts that can never be filled.”
Warren gets a question in NH town hall from a voter asking what she shud tell relatives about the past claims of Native American ancestry. “I shouldn’t have done it. I am not a person of color, I am not a citizen of a tribe. And I have apologized for confusion I have caused” pic.twitter.com/ASUWovTK5c
A while back you might remember Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez bragging about having helped block Amazon from opening a new headquarters in New York. Since then Amazon has announced that the company would be opening an office in New York City, albeit one that is projected to create several thousand fewer jobs than the original project. AOC spiked the ball over that news, and believes she’s owed an apology:
Democratic presidential hopeful Elizabeth Warren brushed off a question on how she planned to pay for expensive education proposals, saying “there’s always money.”
In a November interview with National Education Association president Lily Eskelsen García, the Massachusetts senator said “The way I see it, there’s always, c’mon, there’s always money. It’s there. Are we going to spend the money on defense or are we going to spend the money on our children?”
García asked whether Warren would commit to more funding for Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act. “If the answer is yes, how do you pay for that?” García asked.
“So the answer is yes,” Warren responded. “And pay for it? This is about our priorities, what matters most to us. A budget is about priorities.”
Beginning to look coordinated and multiple people.
PENSACOLA, Fla. (AP) — The Saudi student who fatally shot three people at a U.S. naval base in Florida hosted a dinner party earlier in the week where he and three others watched videos of mass shootings, a U.S. official told The Associated Press on Saturday.
One of the three students who attended the dinner party videotaped outside the building while the shooting was taking place at Naval Air Station Pensacola on Friday, said the U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity after being briefed by federal authorities. Two other Saudi students watched from a car, the official said.
The official said 10 Saudi students were being held on the base Saturday while several others were unaccounted for.
U.S. officials had previously told the AP they were investigating possible links to terrorism.
House Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Devin Nunes, R-Calif., said Saturday that he would be pursuing legal action after his phone records were exposed in the release of the Committee’s impeachment inquiry report.
On Tuesday, the Committee voted to adopt and issue the 300-page report on the findings from the panel’s impeachment inquiry, accusing President Trump of misusing his office to seek foreign help in the 2020 presidential race. The report included records of calls from Nunes, presidential lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Jay Sekulow, journalist John Solomon, Fox News host Sean Hannity, Giuliani connection Lev Parnas, and other White House associates.
Appearing on “Fox & Friends: Weekend” with hosts Pete Hegseth, Lisa Boothe, and Ed Henry, Nunes said he’s been under fire for three years because Republicans “continue to expose corruption,” citing Democrats “unmasking Trump transition officials” and “funding the dossier” to obtain a FISA warrant on Carter Page.
“And then, of course, over the two weeks before Thanksgiving, I think they were embarrassed by their lack of evidence they were able to present through the hearings,” he said. “So, what happened is, the Friday before Thanksgiving, this fake news story drops about me supposedly being in Vienna. And then we get back from Thanksgiving and then — lo and behold — my name along with one of my current staff people…and a former staff person, all of a sudden our civil liberties are violated because our phone records show up in this report.”
Democrat Jeff Van Drew says he plans to vote against all the articles of impeachment "unless there's something that I haven't seen, haven't heard before." pic.twitter.com/swsGl9k7Bz
House Democratic Whip Jim Clyburn admits there are likely to be more.
Democrat Majority Whip Clyburn: • Not Whipping Votes for Impeachment. • Expects to lose more votes on top of Jeff Van Drew who announced yesterday that he will likely Vote against Impeachment. pic.twitter.com/dpUaJw9oKk
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), high Chancellor of the Trump impeachment effort, might be getting away with murder. The impeachment circus that has engulfed D.C. has overshadowed the House Intelligence Committee chair’s egregious abuse of power. He executed a secret subpoenas adventure of phone records of prominent Republicans. He got their phone records and published them in the committee’s 300-page impeachment report. Now, the report is a work of fiction. Schiff is a liar, and nothing from House Democrats on this whole fiasco should be believed. This isn’t about the Constitution, or the framers, or the rule of law. It’s not about upholding the integrity of our institutions; Democrats have already perverted those with their deep state antics against this administration. It’s about the Democratic Party’s inability to grasp that it lost the 2016 election. Democrats wanted to boot Trump since day one of his presidency. The ironic twist is that their impeachment fetish could very well be what secures him a second term. This is not popular in swing states. No one cares. And the liberal media has been so wrong, so stupid, and so corrupt in their coverage of this White House, even Democrats in these states cannot believe what they hear. But let’s get back to that pencil head, Schiff.