The exchange between singer and president wasn't perfectly smooth. Continue reading…

2025 Yamaha XMAX in Midnight Black The Yamaha XMAX scooter is revamped for 2025, including new features to improve rider comfort and add convenience. This scooter will begin arriving in dealerships in March.  The XMAX gets a new adjustable windscreen for 2025. New to the XMAX is an electrically adjustable windscreen that offers 4 inches of stepless adjustment. The new screen can be adjusted on-the-fly through a switch on the left side of the handlebar. The front end has been restyled and includes integrated turnsignals.  The redesigned muffler reduces weight. To reduce weight, the XMAX also features a redesigned muffler that Yamaha says improves mass centralization. The swingarm has been reworked to accommodate the new muffler. Additionally, the traction control system has been remapped for “more refined intervention characteristics.”  Providing enhanced convenience, the scooter gets a new instrument panel with both a 4.2-inch TFT screen and a 3.2-inch LCD screen combined into a single interface, with the LCD’s backlighting updated to be brighter than before. Lastly, a new USB-C charging port now comes as a standard feature.  A combined LCD screen (left) and TFT screen (right) shows information like speed, fuel level, odometer, revs, a clock, smartphone info, and more. Everything else remains the same. The XMAX is powered by a liquid-cooled 292cc single-cylinder engine with a CVT transmission. It has a steel frame, 15-inch front and 14-inch rear wheels shod in Dunlop Scoot Smart tires, and 267mm front and 245mm rear disc brakes with ABS. Also included are an adjustable handlebar, lockable underseat storage, and full LED lighting. Its wet weight is a claimed 403 lb, and its seat height is 31.3 inches. Yamaha claims a fuel efficiency of 73 mpg, netting a range of nearly 250 miles out of its 3.4-gallon fuel tank.   The XMAX also comes with Yamaha’s Smart Key system, which allows the rider to start the scooter and access the storage compartments and fuel tank, as well as lock the handlebar, without needing to insert a key.  The 2025 Yamaha XMAX will be available in Midnight Black with an MSRP of $6,299.  Find more details at the Yamaha website.  Check out more new bikes in Rider’s 2025 Motorcycle Buyers Guide  The post 2025 Yamaha XMAX Preview appeared first on Rider Magazine.

President Donald Trump clearly had a busy day ahead of him on Monday as he started his second term in the White House. But Joe Biden had a few things of his own on the agenda, including issuing sweeping pardons that included a number of prominent Trump critics and five of his close relatives that was announced at the bitter end of his administration. Even Far-Left Kaitlan Collins is raising an eyebrow at the move: With literal minutes left in his presidency, Biden just pardoned his brothers, James and Frank, along with his sister Valerie, along with their spouses. An unprecedented and extraordinary move. — Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) January 20, 2025 The family pardon was announced by the White House with just minutes to go before Trump’s inauguration. According to Fox News: The pardon applies to James Biden, Sara Jones Biden, Valerie Biden Owens, John Owens, and Francis Biden, the White House announced. The president argues that his family could be subject to “politically motivated investigations” after he leaves office. “I believe in the rule of law, and I am optimistic that the strength of our legal institutions will ultimately prevail over politics. But baseless and politically motivated investigations wreak havoc on the lives, safety, and financial security of targeted individuals and their families,” Biden said in a statement. “Even when individuals have done nothing wrong and will ultimately be exonerated, the mere fact of being investigated or prosecuted can irreparably damage their reputations and finances,” Biden added. The pardons come after House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer requested that Trump’s Justice Department investigate and prosecute James Biden for allegedly making false statements to Congress. Biden was quickly inundated with critical comments on social media: Biden pardoning siblings hours before departing as POTUS. If this doesn’t sound the corruption alarm, what does? Who in the world would need to pardon their siblings and family members? Only someone guilty of crimes. This is why the American people don’t trust government. — WanyeRemington (@WayneRemington) January 20, 2025 In the final moments of his presidency, Joe Biden granted preemptive pardons to his family members, including his brothers James, Francis, and Frank, and sister Valerie Biden Owens. He just cemented the fact that they’re guilty! pic.twitter.com/8v4MkwdE1v — Bipul Das (@BipulTweets) January 20, 2025 Biden just pardoned his siblings. No one was discussing this. It goes to show you’re they made money illegally during his presidency — Moe Sizlak (@realUncleWoWo) January 20, 2025 Breitbart provided additional details about Biden’s last-minute pardons and some of the scandals related to those who received them: Frank Biden, Joe Biden’s youngest brother, was “hired by the Illinois-based industrial manufacturing firm Federal Signal Corp. to help connect the company with Florida lawmakers,” the Wall Street Journal reported. “During a weekly call, Frank Biden, 69 years old, would frequently interrupt the meeting and say he had to take a call from ‘the Big Guy,’ as he put it.” Breitbart News reported on Valerie Biden Owens involvement in the family business: Valerie Biden Owens, the sister of former vice president Joe Biden (D), who served as the campaign manager for his past presidential campaigns, directed $2.5 million from “Citizens for Biden” and “Biden for President Inc.” to her own consulting firm during her brother’s 2008 presidential bid alone, Breitbart senior contributor and Government Accountability Institute (GAI) President Peter Schweizer’s investigative blockbuster Profiles in Corruption: Abuse of Power by America’s Progressive Elite reveals. And here’s some coverage of the former president’s pardons from earlier in the day: