SINCERETALK

Weeks after lawyer Zuko Nonxuba was disbarred over the disappearance of R188 million in medical negligence payouts to his disabled child clients, an East London magistrate has issued a warrant for his arrest on charges of fraud and theft of trust funds. from News24 News24/TopStories/rss https://ift.tt/zjsTQV1 via sinceretalk

One public relations professional in South Carolina is now airing Rep. Nancy Mace's (R-S.C.) dirty laundry on social media, blasting the far-right congresswoman in several viral social media posts. The Daily Beast reported Friday that Wesley Donehue — the founder of the PR firm Push Digital Group — recently unleashed on his former client on his X account. Donehue informed his followers that the two-term congresswoman (who was recently reelected) caused him significant stress, and that he fired her several months ago. "I’m a political consultant and not a babysitter, a sex therapist or a doctor who can prescribe fixes for chemical imbalances," Donehue wrote in one tweet that's been viewed more than 1.5 million times . "I don’t have time for her constant egotistical bull— and drama in my life." READ MORE: 'Media blitz': Nancy Mace spent $165,000 pursuing TV appearances After former Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) — who is now a Fox News host — critic...

Before he left office, President Joe Biden communicated his intent to confirm as many federal judges as possible in order to deny his successor the ability to pack the judiciary with far-right activists. That plan seems to have borne fruit, according to a new report. In a Friday article, Politico's Anthony Adragna wrote that Democrats' " fight to Trump-proof the federal judiciary " has been an overwhelming success. On Friday night, the Democratic-run U.S. Senate confirmed Biden's 235th judicial appointment, officially putting him past President-elect Donald Trump's 234 judges with a month left to go before Biden leaves the White House. According to NBC , among those 235 judges include one Supreme Court justice in Ketanji Brown Jackson (who replaced Justice Stephen Breyer after he retired), along with 45 powerful U.S. Court of Appeals judges, 187 U.S. District Court judges and two judges on the U.S. Court of International Trade. All federal judges serve li...

One of President-elect Donald Trump's longtime confidants is calling on him to inflict "pain" on the wealthiest Americans and corporations in the form of higher taxes during his second term in the White House. In a wide-ranging Friday interview with Semafor reporter David Weigel, Steve Bannon — who was Trump's former chief White House strategist — indicated he wanted the incoming Republican trifecta to be "populist nationalists." Bannon defined populism as an "anti-elite" sentiment along with economic policies "that make the citizen the actual focus of the government," and suggested that partisan labels were quickly becoming outdated. "I don’t think you look at Republicans and Democrats anymore. I think those labels are meaningless," Bannon said. "The Morning Joe mindset is no different, really, than what the Murdochs really think. The elites have had this concept of an empire that has destroyed the country." REA...

Republican Speaker Mike Johnson has crafted a replacement spending bill to prevent a government shutdown at 12:01 AM on Saturday. The proposal, driven by Donald Trump’s demands, is being viewed by some as a test of loyalty to the President-elect. To pass, the bill will require substantial bipartisan support, including a two-thirds majority in Thursday night’s planned vote — a feat that appears unlikely given the opposition within the Democratic caucus. Some on both sides of the aisle are opposed to Trump’s demand that the bill include a provision that would eliminate or extend the debt ceiling. The legislation extends it into 2027, forcing the party that will be in charge after the November 2026 midterms to deal with it once again. “A pretty clean test is coming of Trump’s sway with Republicans,” reports Punchbowl News’ Jake Sherman, referring to how many in the GOP will vote for the bill. “He blew up a deal,” Sherman noted. “They came up with a new deal…And now let’s see if Rep...

Amid House Republicans' fight over a massive government spending bill this week, Speaker Mike Johnson is finding out that "the notion of unified GOP control is a myth," according to Brendan Buck , a former press secretary for ex-House Speakers Paul Ryan (R-OH) and John Boehner (R-OH). In an op-ed published by The Washington Post Thursday, Buck notes that Johnson believes "Republican control of government will begin a new era of productivity," come President-elect Donald Trump's second term. "Now he can only hope he’s around to find out," the ex-Speaker staffer writes, referring to some GOP lawmakers' threats that they won't re-elect Johnson on January 3. READ MORE: 'Disaster': Trump allies said to be mulling 'one of the dumbest ideas anyone could have' "As Johnson has found time and again, like Kevin McCarthy before him," Buck continues, "he cannot consistently rely on 218 Republicans, not even for th...

President-elect Donald Trump and Elon Musk have succeeded in getting House Republicans to kill what was expected to be an easily-passed continuing resolution that would keep the federal government open and avert a costly and confusing shutdown just days before Christmas. Early Wednesday evening, Republicans rejected Speaker of the House Mike Johnson’s bill, according to The Washington Post . “The chances of a shutdown have now increased quite a bit,” CNN’s Manu Raju had reported at 4:35 PM ET, amid the fast-moving developments. “Congress hasn’t even discussed a debt ceiling hike. And Trump is inserting that toxic fight on top of the government funding bill that is already at risk of collapsing amid a revolt on the right.” “And just like that,” observed NBC News’ Garret Haake, “we’re teetering on the edge of a government shutdown, as Trump & Vance come out against Speaker Johnson’s CR.” “Suddenly Trump and Vance now say they want to negotiate on the debt ceiling, as the CR+ ...

One former health insurance industry executive is now confronting his former colleagues over their business practices — both in a New York Times op-ed and on national cable news. In a Wednesday interview with CNN host Jake Tapper, Wendell Potter — who was vice president of corporate communications for health insurance giant Cigna between 1993 and 2008 — discussed his recent op-ed for the Times explaining why he felt compelled to leave the industry and become a universal healthcare advocate. Potter said the case of 17 year-old Nataline Sarkisyan, a Cigna policyholder whose claim for a liver transplant was denied and later died of leukemia, was the tipping point. "She was really quite sick," Potter told Tapper. "But Cigna, at the very last minute, as the surgery was about to take place, decided it wouldn't pay for the transplant. The family raised a big stink, and it became a big PR problem for the company. And Cigna relented. But sadly, so much time passed that ...

Ahead of the deadline for Speaker Mike Johnson's (R-LA) to cut a massive government spending bill by the end of this week, a group of MAGA Republicans against the legislation are threatening to vote against re-electing the GOP leader come January 3. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and former Donald Trump White House adviser Steve Bannon both slammed Johnson's leadership on Wednesday over the bill, which would extend the government funding deadline through March 14. Now, billionaire and X owner Elon Musk — who Trump tapped last month to co-lead the new government cost cutting "Department of Government Efficiency" (DOGE) alongside failed GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy — is publicly denouncing the bill and anyone who supports it. READ MORE: Trump staffer insults 'Pocahontas' when asked about Musk’s 'conflicts of interest' Musk wrote via X : "Any member of the House or Senate who votes for this outrageous spending bill deserves to be vot...

Former Florida AG Pam Bondi is expected to head the Department of Justice under Donald Trump's incoming administration, and former GOP strategist Tara Setmayer warns every American should be very afraid. Speaking with Setmayer, MSNBC's Joy Reid on Tuesday asked the Seneca Project co-founder what could happen if both Bondi and Trump's FBI head nominee, Kash Patel, are confirmed to the positions. "You get a justice department that is no longer independent," Setmayer emphasized. "You have two people who are basically sycophants of Donald Trump, who will do whatever he wants. It is what he said he was going to do. And the combination of the two of them together should really scare the hell out of every American who believes in the rule of law." READ MORE: Busted: Top Trump pick echoed his false claims of election fraud The longtime Republican strategist noted, "I recently spent time with one of the Capitol police officers that testified January 6...

In a report released by House Republicans Tuesday, the conservative lawmakers call for former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) to be investigated over here involvement the January 6 House Oversight Committee, The Hill reports . Per The Hill, the GOP leaders are "accusing her of witness tampering by being in touch with star witness Cassidy Hutchinson, a former White House aide." Cheney — a staunch critic of President-elect Donald Trump — begs to differ. "January 6th showed Donald Trump for who is really is – a cruel and vindictive man who allowed violent attacks to continue against our Capitol and law enforcement officers while he watched television and refused for hours to instruct his supporters to stand down and leave," the former GOP lawmaker said in a statement, according to The Hill. READ MORE: 'Your daddy won’t be able to save you': Trump legal ally threatens Liz Cheney Cheney continued, "Chairman [Barry] Loudermilk’s (R-Ga.) 'Interim Report...

Earlier this week, ABC News announced it was settling a defamation lawsuit filed by President-elect Donald Trump by writing him a $15 million check for his future presidential library (and another $1 million for legal fees). Trump's lawsuit, which was filed earlier this year , accused the network of defamation after anchor George Stephanopoulos said on the air that Trump was found liable for raping writer E. Jean Carroll, rather than for the actual verdict rendered by the jury of sexual abuse. Judge Lewis F. Kaplan maintained that while rape and sexual abuse were different terms, they were essentially the same thing as the public understands them. But following the settlement, Rolling Stone's Asawin Suebsaeng and Nikki McCann Ramirez reported that several unnamed ABC News journalists are angry at their employer for rolling over for Trump without putting up a fight. Several anonymous sources confided to Rolling Stone that they feared the settlement would have a "chill...

During an appearance on MSNBC on Sunday morning, former U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade raised red flags over Donald Trump's appointment of Truth Social exec Devin Nunes as chairman of the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board. Speaking with MSNBC fill-in host Melissa Murray, the former prosecutor claimed that, with all of the president-elect's p roblematic nominations , allowing Nunes access to sensitive intel secrets may be the worst of all. McQuade got right to the point, calling the appointment, "A shocking, astonishing, disturbing, and fill in your descriptor, conflict of interests." ALSO READ: The reckoning: Plenty of hurts coming for the people who didn't care about their country "As chairman, Devin Nunes will have access to all of the intelligence that is gathered by the intelligence community," she explained. "The idea is that he is supposed to be the president's eyes and ears over the intelligence community. With that inform...

Federal authorities arrived in New Jersey Friday to investigate if the nighttime lights reported across the state since mid-November are drones on mysterious, malevolent missions or just aircraft mistaken by a panicked public as drones, Gov. Phil Murphy said Monday. The governor, talking to reporters at the Statehouse in Trenton, said he pressed the Biden administration to send drone experts to investigate — and so far, they have found nothing alarming. Authorities do not believe public safety is at risk, he added. “First of all, I’d say, calm down. There’s no evidence of anything nefarious here,” he said. He added: “We never say never, but … take a breath.” Murphy declined to detail exactly what the feds were doing to investigate, saying only there now are three “very sophisticated systems” that “come with really sophisticated individuals” scrutinizing the skies to determine what’s happening. The systems have a range of up to 15 miles and will hopscotch around the state until i...

Supporters of Donald Trump have been calling on Ron DeSantis to appoint Lara Trump, the president-elect’s daughter-in-law, to succeed Marco Rubio in the U.S. Senate. But at a press conference on Monday, Donald Trump said he didn’t think DeSantis would do so. “No, I don’t,” Trump said at Mar-a-Lago. “I probably don’t, but I don’t know. Ron’s doing a good job and that’s his choice. Nothing to do with me.” Trump announced last month that he was nominating Rubio to serve as secretary of state in his administration, giving DeSantis the opportunity to select a successor before a special election is held for the seat in November 2026. The seat then comes up for a vote again in November 2028. Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody, Lt. Gov. Jeanette Núñez, and James Uthmeier, DeSantis’ chief of staff, have been among the names posted in media reports as potential appointees for the seat. Lara Trump served as co-chair of the Republican National Committee with Michael Whatley from March of...

Robert F. Kennedy Jr's daughter-in-law and ex-undercover Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operative Amaryllis Fox Kennedy, was top of Donald Trump's list to become the agency's next director — until Monday. The Washington Post 's John Hudson reported via X that Donald Trump dropped his "consideration of RFK Jr.'s daughter-in-law for No. 2 job at CIA following campaign by Sen. Tom Cotton who lobbied Susie Wiles and others to oppose her." Hudson noted that while "Cotton, one of the most hawkish senators, opposed her over counterterrorism issues," the ex-Trump pick has a "different" story. READ MORE: Trump being sent signals it's 'going to be ugly' if some nominees don't drop out: NBC The national security reporter posted a screenshot from his own Post report, which reads: 'A person close to Cotton said the senator's concerns pertained to comments Fox Kennedy made years ago to Al Jazeera noting the import...

When he isn't fighting the good fight on behalf of SA's biggest property owners, Neil Gopal, CEO of the South African Property Owners' Association, also likes to dabble in a bit of physics and some good rocking tunes. He spoke to Nick Wilson. from News24 news24/topstories/rss https://ift.tt/aCSFxlX via sinceretalk

Boxer’s discount stores, which serve consumers in LSM groups 1 to 4 under the Pick n Pay banner, were recently listed on the stock exchange. from News24 news24/TopStories/rss https://ift.tt/Hv7OW3B via sinceretalk

Workers at a Amazon warehouse and delivery center in New York announced approval of strike authorizations on Friday, giving the retail giant—who have refused to negotiate for months—until Sunday to come to the bargaining table or risk a major work stoppage at the height of the holiday shopping season. The unions representing Amazon workers at two New York City facilities—the JFK8 warehouse on Staten Island and the DBK4 delivery center in Queens—cited the company's "illegal refusal to recognize their union and negotiate a contract" to address low wages and dangerous working conditions as the reason for the strike authorization. "We just want what everyone else in America wants—to do our jobs and get paid enough to take care of ourselves and our families. And Amazon isn't letting us do that." "Amazon is pushing its workers closer to the picket line by failing to show them the respect they have earned," said Teamsters General President Sean M. O’...

One Senate Republican who has had a tepid response to several of President-elect Donald Trump's Cabinet nominees is now in the crosshairs of some of Trump's top allies — including one from her own state. On Friday, NBC News reported that all eyes are on Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) during next year's confirmation hearings for some of the president-elect's most controversial picks. Ernst, who is a military veteran and sexual assault survivor, has not yet stated whether Defense Secretary-designate Pete Hegseth would get her vote when his confirmation comes to the Senate floor. Her vote could be one of the few that sink him, as Republicans have just 53 seats and four Republican defections would tank a nominee's chances. While she remains noncommittal, Ernst has warmed to Hegseth in recent days despite a looming sexual assault allegation from 2017 (which resulted in him paying the accuser an undisclosed sum of money in a 2020 settlement). NBC also spoke with several o...

The publication last week of a new and innovative report on the causes of colorectal cancer could not be more timely, coming as it does when Americans are debating whether what we eat is killing us prematurely -- and whether Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s "Make America Healthy Again" slogan should qualify him to serve as secretary of Health and Human Services, with control over the government's critical scientific and medical research. At first glance that study -- published Dec. 10 by a team of doctors and scientists affiliated with the University of South Florida and the Tampa General Hospital Cancer Institute -- appeared to confirm Kennedy's charge that seed oils such as those derived from corn, canola (rapeseed) and sunflowers are causing an epidemic of chronic illness, from heart disease and cancer to obesity. Its findings showed excessive amounts of those oils in tumor samples from dozens of patients -- and indicated that gut inflammation by those substances enc...

Robert f. Kennedy Jr.'s fight to be confirmed as the next secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) may have hit a major snag in the form of a top Republican senator. On Friday, the New York Times reported that attorney Aaron Siri — who is helping anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist RFK Jr. select potential appointees to serve throughout HHS — once asked for the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) to revoke its approval of the polio vaccine for infants, which has been in place for decades. Siri is also seeking to undo approval of over a dozen other childhood vaccines, and has challenged vaccine mandates in multiple states, with mixed results. While RFK Jr. has said he wouldn't restrict any access to childhood vaccines if confirmed to lead HHS, Siri's position on the polio vaccine has ruffled the feathers of outgoing Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who suffered from polio as a child. Politico reported Friday evening that the Kentucky...

President-elect Donald Trump will have to interrupt his own presidential transition process next week in order to comply with a federal judge's order. Politico reported Friday that U.S. Magistrate Judge Lisette Reid (of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida) is ordering both Trump and ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos to sit for depositions lasting four hours, as part of Trump's ongoing libel lawsuit against the network. In her order Reid specifically noted that Trump being president-elect of the United States won't let him off the hook in complying with the court's orders. "The parties are reminded that the Court ‘has already granted a lengthy discovery period... and, with Election Day now behind us, there is no reason for any further delay," Reid wrote, adding that the deposition would be in-person. READ MORE: Trump: 'I should sue' ABC debate moderator for fact-checking but 'I'm too busy winning' The law...

In his first term, then-President Donald Trump constantly battled against leaks from within the executive branch. But according to a new report, the president-elect is making it clear that leakers — and the journalists they leak to — will be aggressively pursued. Rolling Stone's Asawin Suebsaeng and Andrew Perez reported Thursday that Trump is prioritizing a crackdown on leakers in his second term. They began their article by referencing a December 2020 subpoena the lame duck Trump administration's Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) sent to BuzzFeed News demanding that the outlet reveal its sources. "Failure to comply with this summons will render you liable to proceedings in a U.S. District Court to enforce compliance with this summons as well as other sanctions," the subpoena read. “You are requested not to disclose the existence of this summons for an indefinite period of time. Any such disclosure will impede this investigation and thereby interfere wit...

It’s time I explained what I mean when I say rightwing media apparatus . I don’t mean Fox. I don’t mean Breitbart or Twitter. I don’t mean Joe Rogan or Steve Bannon or TikTok. None of these in isolation would have the power to move just enough people in just enough places in this country to believe just enough of Donald Trump’s lies. I mean all of them , altogether, plus hundreds, maybe thousands, of other sources, big and small, that work in tandem, 24-7, to advance the Republican Party’s agenda, to defend it when things go sideways and generally to set the “rules of the road” that everyone else follows. It is huge. It is everywhere. And the Democrats have no counter. According to Matthew Sheffield, who at one point in his life developed much of information infrastructure that underscored Trump’s victory, the rightwing media apparatus (my term, not his) does the following: It educates voters “to maintain negative partisanship, meaning that people who dislike the leaders [n...