{"id":9902,"date":"2025-12-29T15:55:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-29T20:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/localtalkweekly.com\/?p=9902"},"modified":"2025-12-29T15:55:04","modified_gmt":"2025-12-29T20:55:04","slug":"merry-christmas-and-happy-new-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/localtalkweekly.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/29\/merry-christmas-and-happy-new-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Merry Christmas and Happy New Year"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><em>EDITORIAL<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"294\" height=\"450\" src=\"http:\/\/localtalkweekly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Dhiren-Shah-2023-294x450.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6721\" style=\"width:147px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/localtalkweekly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Dhiren-Shah-2023-294x450.jpg 294w, https:\/\/localtalkweekly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Dhiren-Shah-2023-98x150.jpg 98w, https:\/\/localtalkweekly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Dhiren-Shah-2023-768x1175.jpg 768w, https:\/\/localtalkweekly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Dhiren-Shah-2023-1004x1536.jpg 1004w, https:\/\/localtalkweekly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Dhiren-Shah-2023-1338x2048.jpg 1338w, https:\/\/localtalkweekly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Dhiren-Shah-2023-600x918.jpg 600w, https:\/\/localtalkweekly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Dhiren-Shah-2023-scaled.jpg 1673w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 294px) 100vw, 294px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><em>BY DHIREN SHAH<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><em>Hello Readers,<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of our readers. Thanks for supporting the truth and local news.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Our goal after 25 years has not been completed to improve the quality of life of people in the Local Talk area. However, we have not given up and will continue to work to our goal. The politicians who have been elected by you have not worked hard enough in my opinion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The biggest story right now is slow release of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein\u2019s files by the Justice Department. Even after the jury verdict, court judgments, vote in Congress and a signature from President Trump to make it all public, the DOJ has still not released all the documents yet, stating that they have to protect all of the victims and make sure that their information does not get out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Due to the partial and not complete release, some lawmakers may look to sue AG Pam Bondi, includes Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, California Democratic Representative and outspoken critic Ro Khanna, and Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Many or most of the photos of the victims have been redacted. Going through thousands of files will take time, but none of the photos have Trump doping anything criminal with Epstein.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Trump says that he did not do anything wrong. The Democrats are eager to look and try to tie Trump to something. So far, there have been more photos of former President Bill Clinton being associated with Epstein.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Government ignored Maria Farmer\u2019s complaint in 1996 about the child porn activities. For all that time, the victims who came forward were ignored. I hope the Justice Department works honestly and releases all the documents and photos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Trump administration has paused five large projects in New York, New England and Virginia. The reasoning is that due to National Security risks, they have to put the projects on hold. This is done by President Trump via Executive Order. The large scale projects are near East Coast population areas. However, they have not given any detailed security risk information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Locally, former Newark West Ward Councilman Joseph McCallum, Jr. has been sentenced to 18 months for taking bribes for about $25,000 and kickbacks from developers and filing false tax returns. He was councilman for about 3 years from 2017 to 2020. He was involved with his consultant Malik Frederick, who also was sentenced in the bribery scheme with the councilman. McCallum pleaded guilty in 2020 and the sentence came five years later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><em>Have a wonderful week. I\u2019ll talk to you next week.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>EDITORIAL BY DHIREN SHAH Hello Readers, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of our readers. Thanks for supporting the truth and local news. Our goal after 25 years has not been completed to improve the quality of life of people in the Local Talk area. However, we have not given up and will [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9902","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-editorial"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Merry Christmas and Happy New Year -<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/localtalkweekly.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/29\/merry-christmas-and-happy-new-year\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Merry Christmas and Happy New Year -\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"EDITORIAL BY DHIREN SHAH Hello Readers, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of our readers. Thanks for supporting the truth and local news. Our goal after 25 years has not been completed to improve the quality of life of people in the Local Talk area. However, we have not given up and will [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/localtalkweekly.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/29\/merry-christmas-and-happy-new-year\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-12-29T20:55:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-12-29T20:55:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/localtalkweekly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Dhiren-Shah-2023-294x450.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dhiren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dhiren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" 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