The Patriot Post® · Friday: Below the Fold
Cross-Examination
Judge orders Willis or Wade off Trump case: Judge Scott McAfee has ruled that either Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis or Nathan Wade, the prosecutor with whom she had an affair and chose to help prosecute the case against Donald Trump for alleged election interference, must remove her or himself from the case. In his 23-page ruling, McAfee wrote: “The established record now highlights a significant appearance of impropriety that infects the current structure of the prosecution team — an appearance that must be removed through the State’s selection of one of two options. The Defendants’ motions are therefore granted in part.” This is not the outcome many had expected following the damning testimony and evidence Trump’s defense team brought before the judge. McAfee is giving Willis little more than a slap on the wrist. If both Willis and Wade had both been ejected from the case, that would have likely ended the case entirely. However, now that Willis will be able to remain on the case, Wade will step aside as she picks another prosecutor. While this outcome is a win for Willis, it may be a hollow one, as it has exposed her personal corruption and significantly damages the case against Trump.
Inflation is sticking around: “There’s nobody suggesting there’s unchecked inflation on the way — no serious economist.” That was Joe Biden on July 19, 2021. And, granted, he’s no serious economist, nor even a serious shoe salesman. Yet here we are, nearly three years later, still suffering from a stubborn case of the economic malady that bears his name. True love may come and go, and mountains may tumble to the sea, but Bidenflation, like herpes, seems to last forever. As CNBC reports: “Wholesale prices accelerated at a faster-than-expected pace in February, another reminder that inflation remains a troublesome issue for the U.S. economy. The producer price index, which measures pipeline costs for raw, intermediate and finished goods, jumped 0.6% on the month, [which] was higher than the 0.3% forecast from Dow Jones and comes after a 0.3% increase in January.” Team Biden, though, is feeling our pain — or at least its political equivalent. Around the same time Biden was touting those serious economists, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen was reassuring us that Bidenflation was “transitory.” That statement, of course, didn’t age well, and on Monday she admitted as much. “I regret saying it was transitory,” the smartly coiffed Yellen said Monday. “It has come down. But I think transitory means a few weeks or months to most people.” By “most people,” she must mean everyone but herself and her boss.
Trump’s former treasury secretary wants to buy TikTok: Following the House passage of the bipartisan Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Act, legislation that would force the Chinese-owned ByteDance to divest TikTok or see the app banned in the U.S., former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin announced his intention to buy the social media platform. “I’m going to put together a group to try and buy TikTok,” Mnuchin said on Thursday. “It should be owned by U.S. businesses.” Mnuchin’s statement comes days after Canadian businessman and “Shark Tank” host Kevin O'Leary made a similar pitch to buy TikTok. Of course, the big question is whether the Senate will pass the legislation. However, the prospect of two high-profile suitors already throwing their hats in the ring to acquire the social media company might be enough to push the Senate to pass the bill, which Joe Biden has promised to sign. Should that occur, the ball would then be in China’s court, and what Beijing decides to do will be telling.
Trump’s docs vs. Biden’s docs: Trump-deranged Democrats have been dealt a series of legal blows lately, so it must come as solace to them that yesterday, a Trump judicial appointee, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, denied one of the former president’s two motions to dismiss his Mar-a-Lago classified documents case. As the Washington Examiner reports: “His attorneys contended that the criminal charges under the Espionage Act were unconstitutionally vague. Trump’s lawyers said the statute that criminalizes unauthorized retention of national defense information, which supports 32 of the 40 felony counts against the former president in the case, is overly vague.” Cannon, though, was skeptical of their arguments to dismiss, which asserted that the Presidential Records Act, which became law in 1978, bars a president from being prosecuted on such charges. Thus, Joe Biden, that “sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory” who lied about having shared classified information with his ghostwriter, and whom special counsel Robert Hur showed to be in clear violation of 18 U.S. Code Section 1924 regarding the handling of classified materials, gets off scot-free, while the case against Donald Trump, ostensibly because he is of sound mind, goes forward. Apparently, two-tiered justice isn’t just for the rest of us schlubs.
Kamala visits an abortion clinic: In an infamous first, Kamala Harris will become the first sitting vice president or president to visit an abortion clinic. As part of her dubiously named “Fight for Reproductive Freedoms” tour, Harris plans to visit a Minnesota Planned Parenthood abortion facility. The Biden administration and Democrats see abortion as a leading campaign issue to stump on since Roe v. Wade was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court in June 2022. Labeling those opposed to the murder of pre-born children as “extremists,” the White House in December announced that Harris would be holding them “accountable for proposing a national abortion ban.” The true extremists on the issue are actually Democrats, who not only want to establish abortion as a constitutional right but also insist on there being no limits to abortion, all the way up until the point of birth. As we have previously observed, this extreme position on abortion is in line with only a few other countries like North Korea and China. Politicians have always been famous for kissing babies, but for the Biden/Harris ticket, it’s killing babies.
Youngkin signs same-sex marriage bill: Virginia Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin signed a Democrat-sponsored bill establishing same-sex marriage protection in the state. It’s largely symbolic, but it has many conservatives shaking their heads in disbelief. Indeed, Youngkin’s surprising decision represents a complete reversal from just last year, when he rejected any need for a same-sex marriage bill by wisely observing that it was a moot issue after the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2015 Obergefell ruling that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide. Youngkin’s office sought to justify the governor’s decision, claiming that “the bill adds First Amendment protections to the code of Virginia” and ensures that members of the clergy “have the authority to decline to officiate marriage ceremonies that violate their conscience.” But they already have such protections thanks to the First Amendment. Signing this needless bill may become a problem for his political future, though roughly two-thirds of Americans now support same-sex marriage.
Real women sue over fake woman swimmer: “It’s official!” posted Riley Gaines on X. “I’m suing the NCAA along with 15 other collegiate athletes who have lost out on titles, records, and roster spots to men posing as women. The NCAA continues to explicitly violate the federal civil rights law of Title IX. About time someone did something about it.” Gaines, of course, is the indefatigable hero of the movement to protect girls’ and women’s sports from boys and men, and her lawsuit is being led by the Independent Council on Women’s Sports. As National Review reports: “The lawsuit accuses the NCAA and Georgia Tech — the site of the 2022 NCAA Swimming Championships, where male University Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas won the 500 meter freestyle — of knowingly violating Title IX. That federal statute prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in educational institutions that receive federal funding, serving as the basis for sex-segregated school athletics.” The substance of the lawsuit seems simple enough: “The sole justification of the Association for its discriminatory Transgender Eligibility Policies, which are imposed by the NCAA upon all member colleges and universities in NCAA Divisions I, II and III, is that biological differences between males and females can allegedly be overcome by a program of testosterone suppression in males who identify as transgender.” Anyone who’s watched “transgender” men competing against real women knows this testosterone suppression stuff is rubbish, and we look forward to seeing the NCAA’s politically correct feet being held to the biological fire.
The death of free speech in Britain and Canada? It’s a sad sign of the times when the pillars of Western civilization begin to crumble. Take free speech, for example. In Great Britain, Muslim extremists are trying to outlaw blasphemy, either legally or illegally, either through legislation or through mob violence. As the London Times reports: “Britain faces an alarming rise in intimidation and threats of violence against those perceived to have insulted Islam, a new report will warn. Protests condemning acts of apparent blasphemy have become more frequent and radicalised, according to independent research commissioned by the government’s counterextremism chief.” Ours is a religion of peace! these Muslim thugs seem to be saying. And if you don’t believe us, we’ll cut off your lousy infidel heads! Things aren’t any better north of the border, though, where once “glorious and free” Canada continues to disappoint. There, Justin “Castro” Trudeau, or Queen Justine, as Not the Bee calls him, is pondering a new hate speech law, billed as protection of children, that “would criminalize speech in Canada to an even greater degree and allow judges to imprison people for life.” For life! Get a grip, Canada. Before it’s too late.
Headlines
Top Democrat Schumer calls for new elections in Israel, saying Netanyahu is an obstacle to peace (AP) | McConnell rebukes Schumer over Israel remarks: “Grotesque and hypocritical” (Daily Wire)
Biden hides public records showing how much taxpayers are paying unions (Daily Wire)
Kamala Harris and Doug Emhoff are caught up in scandal over their elite Hillcrest Country Club that’s been labeled a “racist aristocracy” (Daily Mail)
Biden comes out against pending U.S. steel purchase by Japanese company (National Review)
EV euphoria is dead: Automakers are scaling back or delaying their electric vehicle plans (CNBC)
Little-known international NGO finalizing building code forcing U.S. homes to be green (Fox News)
Bidenomics after 37 months: Six charts the media don’t want you to see (MRCTV)
Michigan school shooter’s father found guilty of manslaughter for role in son’s mass shooting (Washington Examiner)
Colombian drug lord arrested in Texas (Fox News)
Documents show Planned Parenthood agreed to swap baby parts for intellectual property rights (The Blaze)
Game developer has no white people on her team “to create a safe environment” (Twitchy)
This teacher created a LGBTQ club for third graders, and while other clubs required permission slips, this one did not (Not the Bee)
California study finds suicide risk doubles after male-to-female surgeries (Just the News)
Pornhub disables site in Texas to comply with age-verification law after AG Paxton sues (Not the Bee)
Good news: Top OnlyFans creator making $300,000 a month turns back to Christ, walks away from porn industry (Not the Bee)
Humor: Nation reassured as special counsel transcript reveals Biden still able to make car noises with his mouth (Babylon Bee)
For more editors’ choice headlines, click here.