Cross-Examination

• Elder abuse of Biden continues: Joe Biden was in Vietnam over the weekend, where he met with the nation’s communist leader, General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, and then held a press conference where confusion reigned. In his increasingly addled state, Biden stubbled over names, lost focus on topics, admitted he was just “following orders,” and rambled on to a point where his staff suddenly decided to end the presser literally mid-sentence. Regarding the purpose of the trip, which was to address the growing threat posed by China’s regional expansionism, Biden stated, “I don’t wanna contain China.” After that disaster, Biden jetted off to Alaska, where he’ll spend today. This will make the first time a sitting president has not shown up to any of the three 9/11 crash sites to commemorate the victims of America’s worst terror attacks. However, given Biden’s press conference disaster, the reason for his no-show appears obvious. His staff simply doesn’t trust him to be able to meet the moment appropriately.

• Remain in Texas: With complaints increasing from Democrat-run “sanctuary” jurisdictions such as Chicago and New York City over the influx of illegal aliens, the Biden administration is considering what is being dubbed a “Remain in Texas” policy. The proposed plan would restrict migrants who have illegally entered the U.S. to stay in the border states in which they were apprehended to await their court appointments regarding asylum requests. The obvious intent of this policy would be to alleviate the complaining from Democrat leaders in Chicago and New York, while at the same time keeping the de facto open-border policy in place. Texas Governor Greg Abbott responded to the news by pledging to send “even more buses” of illegal aliens to Washington, DC. “Biden considers forcing migrant families to remain in Texas,” Abbott said. “This scam was tried years ago & was shot down by a judge. We will send Biden the same swift justice.”

• Rioter legal lotto: The “mostly peaceful” riots during the summer of 2020 by BLM and antifa mobs following the death of George Floyd resulted in over $2 billion in damages, not to mention dozens of deaths. Of the thousands who participated in this wanton and willful destruction of persons and property, few have been prosecuted and even fewer have been convicted. And to pour even more salt on the wound, the mostly Democrat-run cities that allowed this onslaught of leftist violence are now shelling out millions in taxpayer dollars to some of the very rioters responsible for all the destruction. The cities of New York, Minneapolis, Portland, Philadelphia, Denver, and several others have spent roughly $68 million in civil lawsuit settlements with these leftist criminals. Why is crime such a problem in these leftist cities? Because it literally pays.

• Harvard is last on free speech: A recent rating of American colleges and universities from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) ranked Harvard University as the worst school for free speech in the U.S. FIRE described the state of free speech at Harvard to be “abysmal.” Indeed, Harvard’s anti-free-speech problem has gotten so bad that even some of the school’s academics recognize it and formed the Council on Academic Freedom this past spring. But the school’s root problem is that of culture. The vast majority of the school’s student body and administration come from and conform to the same elitist, leftist worldview. In practice, Harvard has effectively become a business for stamping accreditation onto a wealthy class of elitists. There is no free speech there because there is simply no room for it. The vast majority of students and faculty embrace a leftist dogma and don’t want their ideological worldview challenged but rather reinforced.

• Pool of Siloam unearthed: The Bible is historically accurate. Archeological discoveries have repeatedly proven this reality, underscored by the latest discovery. Archaeologists in Jerusalem recently unearthed the famous Pool of Siloam. Described in the New Testament book of John, the pool was a location in the old City of David used for ritual bathing. John mentions the pool when he describes how Jesus healed a man born blind. After calling himself “the light of the world,” Jesus spat in the dirt and made mud; after putting it on the blind man’s eyes, he told the man to “go, wash in the Pool of Siloam.” Upon washing his eyes in the pool, the man gained his sight. As big as two Olympic-sized swimming pools, the pool was originally constructed over 2,700 years ago during the reign of Judean King Hezekiah. The site of the discovery is just half a mile from the famous Temple Mount.

Headlines

• New Mexico governor issues order “suspending” the right to carry firearms in public across Albuquerque (AP)

• Glenn Youngkin grants “absolute pardon” to Loudoun dad arrested at school board meeting (Daily Wire)

• Biden administration violated First Amendment over COVID-19 content on social media, court of appeals rules (Fox News)

• Liberty Safe issues apology, change in policy after handing backdoor access to the FBI (Not the Bee)

• Eric Adams warns of painful budget cuts to NYC essential services due to migrant crisis (National Review)

• Senate Republicans consider moving away from “pro-life” term as abortion losses mount (National Review)

• Texas power prices soar as grid passes reliability test in heat wave (Reuters)

• Humor: Djokovic says U.S. Open victory a “shot in the arm,” heart is “exploding with gratitude” (Babylon Bee)

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