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Total consumer debt rose to an all-time high in the first quarter of 2023, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, with increases to mortgage balances, auto loans and student loans putting debt at a record level. Consumer debt rose to over $17 trillion for the first time ever, according to the data released by the New York Fed. The total represented a $148 billion increase from the previous quarter and a $1.2 trillion surge from last year. The rise in debt was spurred on by a $121 billion climb in mortgage balances in the U.S., bringing total...

The House passed a sweeping gun package on Wednesday in response to last month’s mass shootings in Buffalo, N.Y. and Uvalde, Texas, which killed more than 30 people and reignited the push for firearm legislation on Capitol Hill. The package, dubbed the Protecting Our Kids Act, passed in a 223-204 vote. One Republican did not vote. Two Democrats, Reps. Jared Golden (Maine) and Kurt Schrader (Ore.), bucked the party in opposing the measure. Five Republicans — Reps. Adam Kinzinger (Ill.), Anthony Gonzalez (Ohio), Brian Fitzpatrick (Pa.), Chris Jacobs (N.Y.) and Fred Upton (Mich.) — supported it.

The House passed a bill mostly along party lines on Wednesday that seeks to create domestic terrorism offices throughout the U.S. government, just days after a gunman fatally shot 10 people in Buffalo, N.Y., in an incident that President Biden called “domestic terrorism.” The bill, dubbed the Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act, passed in an 222-203 vote, with one Republican bucking party leadership and voting for the legislation.

The United States has surpassed the sobering milestone of 750,000 COVID-19 deaths despite the widespread availability of vaccines. According to Johns Hopkins University’s official count, the U.S. had 750,431 confirmed deaths due to the coronavirus as of Thursday morning. The U.S. has had over 46 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic. The U.S. reached 700,000 COVID-19 deaths - another staggering figure highlighting the severity of the pandemic on Americans - just a month ago.

Some 160,000 people, including far-right activists and members of France’s yellow vest movement, protested Saturday across the country against a bill requiring everyone to have a special virus pass to enter restaurants and mandating COVID-19 vaccinations for all health care workers. Similar protests were held in neighbouring Italy. Police fired water cannons and tear gas on rowdy protesters in Paris, although most gatherings were orderly. Protesters chanting “Liberty! Liberty!” gathered at Bastille plaza and marched through eastern Paris in one of several demonstrations Saturday around France. Thousands also joined a gathering across the Seine River from the Eiffel Tower organized...

A black market for fake COVID vaccine passes has emerged in France, where the government is trying to make them a mandatory condition of entry for venues like bars, restaurants and cafes. Clinics in Paris are offering the passes for around €300 euros ($350 dollars) without the need to take any jabs. “Certain vaccination centres, flagships of the fights against Covid-19 are now plagued by corruption,” reported French newspaper Le Parisien, revealing that low paid French health service workers are making as much as £4,000 a month through selling the fraudulent documents. In doing so, they are risking 3 years...

The Texas state Senate approved a sweeping election reform bill Tuesday night, one day after dozens of House Democrats fled the state to prevent the chamber from taking up the legislation. The state Senate approved the bill on an 18-4 party-line vote. Nine Senate Democrats had joined 51 of their House colleagues in hightailing it to Washington, DC, though this was not enough to deny the upper chamber a quorum. However, the legislation is now stalled due to the absence of a quorum in the House. Republicans say the measures in the bill — which include ending drive-thru and 24-hour...

The Texas Senate passed its version of an election reform bill Tuesday. However, it is stalled until Texas House Democrats return.In an 18 to 4 vote along party lines, Senate Republicans passed SB1, which would add new identification requirements for absentee and mail-in-voting, ban some early voting, and create new criminal penalties for breaking certain election codes, according to CBS News.The bill passed despite Texas Democrats' attempt to deny Republicans a quorum, the number of legislators needed for the state legislature to conduct business. On Monday, 50 House Democrats and nine Senate Democrats fled the state to Washington D.C. to...

The House passed the Democrats’ $1.9 trillion coronavirus bill Wednesday, sending it to President Joe Biden to sign. The House passed H.R. 1319, The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, by a vote of 220-211.

The mainstream media reported that two Capitol “rioters” told the FBI that an officer told them, “It’s your house now,” as rioters stormed the Capitol building on January 6. According to a complaint by the DOJ filed Thursday, Bobby Bauer and Jenny Bauer were identified after an unknown caller tipped the FBI’s National Threat Operations Center. The anonymous caller knew that Bauer had posted photographs of the event to a Facebook account called “BobtheBauer,” the complaint said. According to the caller, one image showed Bauer “inside the U.S. Capitol building giving the middle finger to the camera.” On January 8,...

The former leader of the Labour Party and ex-prime minister, Tony Blair, has reportedly been advising UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock on the country’s vaccination response. Thirteen years after leaving government, Mr Blair has made a “comeback” of sorts on the back of the Chinese coronavirus crisis.

The Virginia House of Delegates passed a package of gun control proposals Tuesday on a near party line vote.The proposal passed the House 51-48, with all Republicans, and several Democrats voting against the bill. The legislation includes a ban on the sale of several firearms defined as “assault weapons,” including the popular AR-15. (RELATED: The Virginia Legislature Is Pondering Confiscation. These Sanctuary Counties Are Ready To Fight Back)  Virginia residents who currently own these types of firearms will not be forced to participate in a mandatory buyback program as had initially been considered by state Democrats. However, the bill gives the state government the authority to...

Students at Winston Churchill High School in Potomac, Md., were caught by staff trading “N-word passes” during their lunch hour on Friday. The papers gave the pass holders “permission” to use the N-word, WJLA reports. Following the discovery of the passes, principal Brandice Heckert released an impassioned email, stating, “I am deeply disappointed and appalled that any student in our school would [choose] to engage in such a racist, hateful act. This behavior is disgraceful and does not reflect the values expected of Winston Churchill students. Not only is this behavior hurtful to our community, but it also undermines all...

Two Russian warplanes with no visible weaponry flew simulated attack passes near a U.S. guided missile destroyer in the Baltic Sea on Tuesday, a U.S. official said, describing it as one of the most aggressive interactions in recent memory. The repeated flights by the Sukhoi SU-24 warplanes, which also flew near the ship a day earlier, were so close they created wake in the water, with 11 passes, the official said. A Russian KA-27 Helix helicopter also made seven passes around the USS Donald Cook, taking pictures. The nearest Russian territory was about 70 nautical miles away in its enclave...

President Barack Obama held a press conference today to announce signing into law a bill that prevents U.S. media outlets from naming the shooting suspect in any of their news coverage. This is is tyranny. His illegally seized power cannot usurp our first amendment and the rights of the freedom of the press. For years Islamic supremacists like Ground Zero mosque imam Feisal Rauf and others demanded that the media stop reporting on jihad terror because it might cause “islamophobia” (euphemism for opposition to jihad terror). It was unthinkable before Obama. Now that they have their stooge in the White...

The House on Thursday approved a resolution aimed at laying the legal groundwork to prevent President Obama from lifting U.S. sanctions on Iran until lawmakers get to see the full text of the "roadmap" that governs how Tehran accounts for its past nuclear work. In a party-line 245-186 vote, members passed the resolution by Mike Pompeo, R-Kansas, and Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y. The non-binding measure declares that Obama has not met the requirements of a law enacted in May giving Congress the opportunity to review any nuclear deal with Iran. Lack of access to the roadmap "makes it impossible for a

The National Security Agency lost its authority to collect the phone records of millions of Americans, thanks to a new reform measure Congress passed on Tuesday. President Barack Obama signed the bill into law on Tuesday evening. It is the first piece of legislation to reform post 9/11 surveillance measures. "It's historical," said Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, one of the leading architects of the reform efforts. "It's the first major overhaul of government surveillance in decades." The weeks-long buildup to the final vote was full of drama. Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul assailed the NSA in a 10-hour speech that roused...

Emmy-winning actress and singer Polly Bergen, who in a long career played the terrorized wife in the original “Cape Fear” and the first woman president in “Kisses for My President,” died Saturday, according to her publicist. She was 84.

The US Senate has passed a bill to reopen the government and raise the federal debt limit, with hours to spare before the nation risks default. The Democratic-controlled Senate's bipartisan compromise won swift approval by 81 votes to 18. It will now be sent to the House of Representatives, whose Republican leadership has begrudgingly said it will support the measure. It comes hours before the deadline to raise the $16.7tn (£10.5tn) limit. President Barack Obama is set to speak shortly at the White House. The deal would extend the federal borrowing limit until 7 February and fund the government to...