Happy Wednesday!

Today’s Brew is a hard slog of stories. Kinda like the tough tasks you have to get done before you can sing carols and drink hot cocoa. But we do end with some holiday cheer.

FINALLY! Judge Orders Unsealing of 177 Epstein Clients and Enablers

2024 is looking to start off with a bang. The names of 177 Jeffrey Epstein clients, enablers and associates (and victims willing to be named) is set to be released right after the start of the year. Federal District Judge Loretta Preska on Monday ordered the records unsealed in two weeks. January 1 is a court holiday, so let’s look for those documents Tuesday the 2nd.

The hundreds of records are part of a defamation case brought by Epstein victim Virginia Roberts Giuffre against Epstein right-hand Ghislaine Maxwell. Giuffre and Maxwell settled the suit, but outlets have been clamoring for the documents.

Still, over four years after Epstein’s (ahem) suicide, no clients have been charged with having sex with the underage girls provided by Epstein and Maxwell. And Senate Republicans can’t even get Epstein’s flight logs without Sen. Dick Durbin blocking the request.

Sex Crimes Against Children by the Powerful, Part Two: Prominent Philly Trans Activist Busted for Raping Minors

A prominent LGBTQ+ activist in Philadelphia has been arrested for allegedly raping two minors, ages 14 and 8. Specifically, Kendall Stephens — who identifies as a woman — is charged with

rape, involuntary deviant sexual intercourse, unlawful contact with minors, corruption of minors, unlawful contact with minors, indecent assault against people less than 13 years of age, obscenity to minors and endangering the welfare of children.

According to court documents obtained by NBC10 in Philadelphia, “Stephens also allegedly told one of the victims that he would be locked up if he told anyone about the abuse.”

As Libs of Tik Tok notes, Stephens is tight with the Democratic power players in Pennsylvania. Though the accused has just been dropped from the Philly D.A.’s LGBTQ Advisory Council.

One other curious thing: The initial stories about Stephens’ arrest spend as much, if not more time, talking about how Stephens became politically active after being assaulted. No one wants to see anyone assaulted, but to give it more than passing mention seems designed to deflect from or minimize the horrific allegations.

Clients of “High-End Brothel” Catering to Elected Officials & Military Officers Finally Set to Be Charged

Next week, The Stream will be running a three-day review of 2023 called “Favorites, Forgottens and Unfathomables.” I had just finished my “Forgotten” story, grousing how the media has ignored the November bust of a high-end prostitution ring catering to elected politicians, military officials, government contractors and other powerful figures near Washington, D.C., and in Massachusetts.

I mean, look at all the attention given to one Congressional aide for having sex in a hearing room. This is far more serious. Which politicians? How badly have they and our national security been compromised? What about the military officers? Defense contractors? What critical secrets have been shared between the sheets? This should be huge. Or at least juicy. And the media just yawned.

I bemoaned how it looked like — just as with the Jeffrey Epstein client list— the perps were going to escape punishment. Well, perhaps not. News broke Monday that a federal task force is seeking to charge 28 of the brothel’s clients. According to the Daily Mail, all 28 will be summoned to Cambridge District Court for hearings. Let’s see if the mainstream media shows up.

Unbelievable Numbers of Illegals Pouring Across the Borders

You simply can’t do what Biden is doing at the border and survive as a country. But perhaps that’s the point. According to numbers from Border Patrol, over 14,509 illegal immigrants came across in just a single day. And the actual total may be higher since not all who crossed over were able to be processed the same day. A vast majority of those entering were military-aged single men.

-14,000 illegal immigrants per day.

-400,000 a month.

-4.8 million per year.

Our schools, hospitals, and infrastructure cannot handle this. pic.twitter.com/tvJWsbL9G7

— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) December 19, 2023

Even Fox News’ Bill Melugin, who’s seen it all the past couple years at the border, can’t believe what he’s seeing.

BREAKING: Video from a contact on the ground in Eagle Pass, TX right now shows a mass of thousands of migrants waiting to be processed by Border Patrol after they crossed illegally today. I’ve spent hundreds of days there over the last 2+ years and I’ve never seen it like this. pic.twitter.com/JPNYY7sPxI

— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) December 19, 2023

It gets worse. To help “process” this invasion … I mean, why stop the people from coming in in the first place like a sane country … the administration has suspended rail traffic through Eagle Pass and El Paso between Mexico and the United States. According to CBP, officials are moving personnel from the rail crossings to assist Border Patrol with illegal immigrants.

Union Pacific and BNSF are urging CBP to reopen the crossings. The two crossings represent 45% of cross-border Union Pacific business and are critical to the U.S. economy, the railroad said in a statement, adding there “isn’t enough capacity at our other four gateways to reroute them.” Strike another blow for the “illegal immigration is good for the economy” mantra.

And what about a Senate deal to tighten border security? You can forget about it this year. A deal won’t happen until Senate returns in January, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced Tuesday. The White House wants more money for Ukraine, and Republicans are insisting any more aid to Zelensky be tied to protecting our own country.

In a way, I am irritated our book Politically Incorrect Guide to Immigration is still timely and isn’t as obsolete as a guide to VCRs. But it is still timely, still valuable, still a great read (if I do say so myself) … and, yeah, makes a nice Christmas gift.

(Seriously, if you like John’s writing or my writing, it’s rather wild to see what happens when you put them together. Like peppermint bark. Guess who’s the bark?)

Kamala Harris Embarking on Pro-Abortion Tour in 2024

“Border Czar” Kamala Harris apparently thinks the border crisis is solved, because she’s moving on to something else. The Vice President is hitting the road in 2024 for the “Gotta Keep Killing Babies Tour.” Of course, that’s not what she’s calling it. It’s called the “Reproductive Freedoms” tour. Harris will barnstorm the nation scaring people into thinking conservatives want to stop women from getting health care. Well, women and pregnant men, who, of course, are women too. But, Harris, a long-time abortion radical, will really be in the business of trying to assure that women … and little girls … can kill their offspring up to birth.

The tour kicks off January 21 in Wisconsin, on the 51st anniversary of Roe v. Wade.

The one saving grace is Harris has shown little ability the past three years to do anything well beyond celebrating the joys of Venn Diagrams. So chances are her efforts to boost abortions may well backfire.

Pennsylvania School District Backtracks From Ban on Christmas Decorations on School Buses

Friday’s edict to the Wallingford Swarthmore School District bus drivers couldn’t be more clear. After alleged complaints from some parents, the drivers were ordered to take down any Christmas decorations they had on their bus. And Christmas-themed clothing. In fact, the ban on decorations, Christmas clothing or Christmas music applied to all school district employees.

“Disappointing” “Bah humbug”
We heard from school
bus drivers in the Wallingford Swarthmore School District who got this warning about putting up Christmas decorations or wearing holiday themed clothing on busses. @FOX29philly pic.twitter.com/GHbMF7igIu

— Chris O'Connell (@CoconnellFox29) December 15, 2023

When their humbugging when national, suddenly the district changed its tune quicker than you can say “Silent Night.” Later Friday, Dr. Wagner Marseilles of Wallingford-Swarthmore Schools wrote a second memo, claiming his message in the first memo “was not clear.” In fact, Christmas and holiday displays are permitted by school policy. In a letter to parents, Marseilles also apologized to parents for any “frustration and confusion” the initial ban had caused.

“We are a district that prides itself on being culturally inclusive, and I felt it was important to ask our drivers to simply be mindful that not every child celebrates Christmas,” he explained. “However, I did not intend – in any way – for drivers to feel they needed to turn off the holiday music, take down all the decorations, or not wear any holiday clothing.”

Along The Stream

Dennis Prager explains how the left is now coming after Christmas gifts in “Christmas Gifts: The Newest Target of Climate Change Activists.”

 

Al Perrotta is the Managing Editor of The Stream, co-author, with John Zmirak, of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Immigration and co-author of the counter-terrorism memoir Hostile Intent: Protecting Yourself Against Terrorism.