Wednesday, June 26, 2024

June 26, 2024

Good morning,

Welcome to the news for independent thinkers

Leading the News . . .

Letter signers were CIA contractors when they falsely implied Hunter Biden laptop was fake . . . Some of the 51 "Spies Who Lie" were active CIA contractors when they claimed files from first son Hunter Biden's laptop had "the classic earmarks" of Russian disinformation ahead of the 2020 election — a fact that was uneasily noted inside the agency, records acquired by The Post show. Former CIA acting director Michael Morell, who previously told Congress he organized the Oct. 19, 2020, letter to give Joe Biden a "talking point" ahead of a debate against then-President Donald Trump, was under contract with the CIA at the time, the agency told Congress. Ex-agency inspector general David Buckley also was a contractor at the time of the letter, according to an interim report from two House committees investigating the matter, and records suggest that at least two other letter-signers may also have had active contracts at the time. New York Post

This would mean that active intelligence officials were involved in trying to falsely smear Trump and win the 2020 election for Biden.

Politics

DNC sent millions to law firms behind anti-Trump lawfare campaign . . . The Democratic National Committee (DNC) has sent millions of dollars to law firms that are intimately involved in an "unprecedented lawfare" campaign against former President Donald Trump, according to Federal Election Commission (FEC) records reviewed by the Daily Caller. The DNC has paid close to $2 million since August of 2021 to Kaplan Hecker & Fink LLP for "legal services," according to the DNC's FEC filings. Kaplan Hecker & Fink LLP founding partner Roberta A. Kaplan represented E. Jean Carroll in her sexual assault and defamation suits against Trump. Daily Caller

Biden debate prep focused on ways to 'trigger' Trump . . . The vastly different approaches taken by President Biden and former President Trump in prepping for Thursday's presidential debate have continued to diverge, with the former hoping he can "trigger" the latter in the heat of the moment, and the latter relying heavily on his campaign experience, multiple reports show. Trump, who spoke with Fox News over the weekend, has held "policy discussions" with allies to prep for what is expected to be an epic clash on the debate stage in CNN's Atlanta studios. Fox News

Bowman out: Squad' Democrat loses to pro-Israel challenger in New York primary . . . Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) lost his primary on Tuesday in a stinging setback for House progressives after a coalition of establishment Democrats and pro-Israel groups aligned to defeat him. The Associated Press called the race for Westchester County Executive George Latimer at 9:38 p.m., over half an hour after the polls closed. Latimer defeated Bowman in New York's 16th Congressional District 54.8% to 45.2% with 51% of votes counted. Washington Examiner

AOC wins her primary

Boebert wins House primary after switching districts following narrow 2022 win . . . Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., emerged victorious in her congressional re-election primary campaign Tuesday night, following her switching districts to a more Republican-heavy area after narrowly winning in 2022. Boebert advanced past a six-way Republican primary in Colorado's 4th Congressional District in a race to replace outgoing Republican Rep. Ken Buck. The Colorado Republican said she made the switch to CO-04 to ensure another Republican could win her old district, which she nearly lost in 2022 and had blamed outside groups for targeting her. Fox News

Judge amends N.Y. gag order, says Trump can opine on jury and witnesses . . . A New York judge amended former President Donald Trump's gag order Tuesday so that he can comment on witnesses and jurors in the case, which ended in a May 30 guilty verdict against the presumptive GOP presidential nominee. State Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan left intact the part of the order that prohibits Mr. Trump from commenting on court staff, or prosecutorial staff and their families. Washington Times

Carville: Biden Should Agree to a Drug Test if Trump Will Take a 'Rabies Test'

lol

Hillary Clinton pressuring Hollywood to target kids with climate change propaganda . . . Twice failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has her sights set on your children — for more climate change messaging. Hillary Clinton is putting pressure on Hollywood studios to develop movies and TV shows that dramatize how climate change is putting kids in danger. "There's now research on this topic, but most people are not aware at all," Clinton said. "Our hope is that we can help people make the connections between children's mental and physical health and the impact of climate change." Breitbart

GOP eyes policies to rein in the Deep State if Supreme Court overturns Chevron . . . The largest group of House conservatives is preparing policies to respond to a potential Supreme Court decision overturning the "Chevron deference" doctrine, which has given executive agencies wide latitude to interpret how to implement laws Congress has passed. The Republican Study Committee, the largest bloc of House conservatives and a group that wields significant influence over broader GOP policy, is issuing a memo Tuesday compiling ideas on how members can respond if the Supreme Court decides Chevron deference should not longer stand. Washington Times

Left to wage multi-million-dollar campaign to smear the Supreme Court ahead of 2024 election . . . A left-leaning group announced this week the start of a million-dollar campaign to attack the legitimacy of the Supreme Court as the 2024 presidential race between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump heats up. Stand Up America, a group funded primarily by Democratic political action committees, began its campaign on June 24, the same day of the two-year anniversary of the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade and give states broad authority to set gestational limits on abortion procedures. Washington Examiner

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Culture

Mainstream press bias: Washington Post calls Biden drugging claims "baseless" . . . From the WashPost: "In 2016, Donald Trump . . . suggested at a 2020 rally that a "big fat shot in the a--" of some unknown substance would allow Biden to debate "better than ever before." Now, with the first general-election debate of 2024 on Thursday night, Trump has taken the baseless accusation to new heights — accusing the president of being "higher than a kite" during his high-energy State of Union address this year and taking every opportunity to undercut a potentially energetic performance from his opponent . . . There is no evidence that Biden has used or plans to use performance-enhancing drugs."

Just putting this here because it's such a perfect example of MSM bias. Yes, there's evidence Biden was drugged up for his speech: Our own eyes. It's called prima facie evidence. The Washington Post has lost half its readership and tens of millions of dollars in the last year. Maybe stories like this are one reason why

Biden to pardon service members convicted under military law banning gay sex

National Security

China quietly backs cartel drug trade to upend American harmony at home . . . China's ongoing shadow war with the U.S. involves cleaning drug money for Mexican cartels so the gangs can fuel the deadly overdose epidemic and sow discord in American institutions, said an analyst who spoke to The Washington Times. Beijing's silent partnership with the Sinaloa Cartel came into focus last week when federal prosecutors said a California-based money laundering scheme had wealthy Chinese nationals exchanging currency to conceal the Mexican criminal organization's drug profits. Washington Times

Migrants paying record-high $50,000 to $100,000 to be smuggled into U.S.

International

US journalist goes on trial in Russia on espionage charges that he and his employer deny . . . Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich went on trial behind closed doors in Yekaterinburg on Wednesday, 15 months after his arrest in the Russian city on espionage charges that he, his employer and the U.S. government vehemently deny. The 32-year-old journalist appeared in the court in a glass defendants' cage, his head shaved and wearing a black-and-blue plaid shirt. A yellow padlock was attached to the cage. Associated Press

7-foot-3 Chinese women's basketball player dominating opponents: 'WNBA's next Yao Ming'

Uh oh, Monkeypox is back, and it's not monkeying around this time . . . A new strain of the mpox virus spreading quickly along the eastern border of Democratic Republic of Congo is "incredibly worrying", say health officials monitoring its spread. The virus, which can cause lesions across the whole body, is making some people very ill and can be deadly. The current outbreak has been driven by sexual transmission but there is evidence this strain can also be passed on through close skin-to-skin contact. BBC

You should also know

Masks are shifting from being mandated to being criminalized in some states . . . State legislators and law enforcement are reviving long-dormant laws criminalizing mask-wearing. In North Carolina, Republican lawmakers are set to challenge Gov. Roy Cooper's recent veto of a bill criminalizing mask use.

Meanwhile, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has voiced support for banning masks on the subway, referring to an incident in which masked protesters harassed commuters with anti-Zionist slogans. Washington Times

Airplane suddenly drops 25,000 feet midflight, injuring 17 passengers . . . Over a dozen plane passengers were injured after their flight dropped 25,000 feet and flew in circles several times, flight tracker data shows. The flight, Korean Air 189, departed from Seoul, South Korea Saturday. Although the plane was expected in Taichung, Taiwan, around three hours later, the flight quickly diverted back to Seoul after it reached the southern tip of the Korean peninsula. The aircraft was a Boeing 737 MAX 8. Yonhap News Agency reported that the diversion was caused by a problem with the plane's pressurization system. Fox Business

New Parkinson's drug could slow or reverse progression of disease, researchers say . . . The drug is designed to slow or halt the progression of the disease in patients by targeting toxic proteins that build up in the brain, according to the study published in the journal Nature Medicine on June 20. Researchers conducted a phase 1 placebo-controlled trial of an investigational immunotherapy drug called UB-312, testing for safety, tolerability and strength of immune response. The trial results showed that the drug was generally safe and well-tolerated by patients as a disease-modifying treatment for Parkinson's.

Sexually transmitted infections are on the rise among senior citizens

Guilty Pleasures

Denmark to tax cows and pigs for their farts . . . Denmark will tax livestock farmers for the greenhouse gases emitted by their cows, sheep and pigs from 2030, the first country in the world to do so as it targets a major source of methane emissions, one of the most potent gases contributing to global warming. The aim is to reduce Danish greenhouse gas emissions by 70% from 1990 levels by 2030, said Taxation Minister Jeppe Bruus. As of 2030, Danish livestock farmers will be taxed 300 kroner ($43) per ton of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2030. Associated Press

Question: Are they assuming a certain amount of emissions for each pig and cow, or are the animals being taxed on a per-fart-basis?

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