Warlord Watch: Is Putin About To Get Another Chechen Problem?

“IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel said he would resign with nearly three years left in his term, leaving the government Monday rather than waiting for President-elect Donald Trump to remove him,” the Wall Street Journal reports. “Werfel’s decision to quit on Inauguration Day sidesteps a looming confrontation between the tax agency chief and the incoming administration.

New York Magazine: “Free speech as a value has historically been the domain of the American left: In the 1950s, its archenemy was Republican senator Joseph McCarthy; Black civil-rights leaders saw it as essential to the success of their movement; and in 1988, Republican presidential candidate George H. W. Bush tarred his Democratic opponent, Michael Dukakis, as a ‘card-carrying member of the ACLU.'” “But over the past ten years, Donald Trump and other right-wing provocateurs have co-opted free-speech values to advance an agenda often at odds with liberalism and social justice (see Elon Musk’s X), while Democrats, progressives, and, arguably, the ACLU have retreated from the ideal that free speech needs to be protected regardless of the viewpoint being expressed.”

“The national debt will reach 99.9% of gross domestic product later this year and surpass its post-World War II high as a share of the economy by 2029, the Congressional Budget Office said Friday in updated projections,” the Wall Street Journal reports. “Annual deficits will stay above 5% of GDP for the next decade, remaining at levels the U.

“I told Jim Jordan that I despised Jamie Raskin so much I would trade ranking members with him. I would rather smell shit for five straight hours than listen to Jamie Raskin lie like a dog! To properly understand that juxtaposition, you need to ride in an elevator for a few floors with Jordan’s ranking member, Jerry Nadler.” — Rep.

The garbage truck that President-elect Donald Trump rode in as a comeback to remarks by President Joe Biden will make an appearance at Monday’s inauguration, WLUC reports. Back in October, Biden referred to Trump’s supporters as “garbage,” prompting Trump to climb into the passenger seat of a garbage truck.

The Republican National Committee on Friday reelected Michael Whatley as chair, continuing the tenure of President-elect Donald Trump’s second hand-picked leader for the GOP, Politico reports.