The Patriot Post® · Friday: Below the Fold

By Douglas Andrews & Jordan Candler ·
https://patriotpost.us/articles/106692-friday-below-the-fold-2024-05-10

Cross-Examination

  • Robert F(ull Term Abortion) Kennedy: We thought the worst news to hit the RFK Jr. campaign this week would be the candidate’s own admission, right out of Pink Floyd’s “Hey You,” that a worm ate into his brain. But no. As RFK Jr. continues to gain traction among blank-slate voters who ascribe to him only noble qualities while ignoring his very real and, frankly, very awful policy positions — from carbon taxes to reparations — we also learned this week, again through his own admission, that Kennedy supports abortion right up to the moment of birth, “even if it’s full term.” Kennedy said so during an interview with podcaster and former ESPN host Sage Steele in response to the question, “Should there be a limit or are you saying all the way up to full term, a woman has a right to have an abortion?” Kennedy thinks that “we need to leave it to the woman, her pastor, and to, um, you know, her spiritual advisors or if, I, her physician, whatever, to make those decisions.” When Steele pressed him, “Even if it’s full term?” he responded after a lengthy pause, “Even if it’s full term.” Weirdly, Kennedy added: “I don’t think it’s ever OK. … I think we should do everything in our power to make sure that never happens.” Which just makes his position even more odd and more monstrous. But like Bill Maher, at least he’s honest.

  • Hillary’s lack of self-awareness: “Propaganda is not education,” said Hillary Clinton during an interview this week with the friendlies at MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “Propaganda, on, whether it’s TikTok or in the classroom, is actually the opposite of education. Anybody who is teaching in a university or anyone who is putting content on social media should be held responsible for what they include and what they exclude.” That’s quite a tone-deaf, utterly self-unaware observation — especially coming from the failed presidential candidate whose campaign funded the infamous Steele dossier. Recall that the dossier was Clinton’s deep state attempt to smear Donald Trump as a Russian stooge. It was an opposition research document bought and paid for by Clinton and the Democratic National Committee, vouched for by the FBI, and used with devastating effect to secure FISA warrants for spying on Trump. And it was pure garbage. How effective was this Clintonian propaganda? It ultimately launched an equally infamous FBI investigation called Crossfire Hurricane, whose sole purpose was to destroy the Trump presidency. So spare us the lectures on propaganda, Hillary. Wethinks you doth protest too much.

  • Hunter Biden’s June trial will proceed as scheduled: Hunter Biden — remember him? — got some bad news yesterday, as the Philadelphia-based Third Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed his bid to have a three-count felony firearm case thrown out. “This appeal is DISMISSED because the defendant has not shown the District Court’s orders are appealable before final judgment,” stated Judges Patty Shwartz, Cindy Chung, and D. Brooks Smith. But, hey, we can’t blame a drug-addled, hooker-addicted, influence-peddling “artist” for trying. After all, if he’s convicted (we’ll believe it when we see it), the felonies carry a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison. As the New York Post reports, Biden “has pleaded not guilty to all charges, which include two counts of making false statements and one count of firearm possession by an unlawful substance abuser.” The president’s wastrel son has enjoyed a measure of anonymity lately as the mainstream media focuses its limited attention span elsewhere, but he’s running out of time to avoid accountability. His original sweetheart deal went kaboom last year, and his subsequent publicity stunts haven’t won him any converts. When it finally comes around, this will be a great test case for our two-tiered justice system.

  • Trump courts Big Oil: The Democrats are inarguably the party of Big Business, but there’s one industry that might still be holding out hope for Donald Trump’s return to the White House: Big Oil. And why not? Joe Biden’s all-out war on fossil fuels has left them no choice. Trump appears to be aware of this, and his outreach to the petroleum industry has the Left all up in arms. As the Washington Examiner reports, “Several prominent Democrats slammed former President Donald Trump for reportedly asking top oil executives for $1 billion for his campaign in exchange for a rollback of environmental standards that he said hurt the industry.” Hey, they seem to be saying, we’re the shakedown artists here! Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey, the coauthor (with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) of the original Green New Deal, is beside himself. “Trump’s backroom dealmaking with Big Oil is a pledge to fan the flames of the climate crisis,” he caterwauled. “It’s unacceptable. We can’t let Trump bargain away our planet and our future.” But if Markey is miffed, then California Governor Gavin Newsom is about to blow his oily-haired stack: “Big Oil is literally writing up Executive Orders for Trump to sign on Day 1,” he says, “with the promise of $1 billion in return. He’s giving away our planet in return for cash. Have we just accepted this as the new norm??” Abundant and inexpensive energy is essential to American well-being. And windmills and solar panels won’t cut it. If Trump can attract fossil-fuel funding to wage war against the Democrats, more power to him.

  • Biden floats a tougher asylum policy: If the American people fall for this, then we definitely deserve Democrat governance in perpetuity. Joe Biden, having been sufficiently buffeted by voter backlash against his open border, is finally planning to get tough at our southern border. Translation: He’s planning to shut the border door now that 10 million illegals have made their way across. As ABC News reports: “The Department of Homeland Security announced Thursday a proposed change to the process for those seeking asylum in the United States that would streamline security assessments. The new proposal would allow asylum officers to determine earlier in the process whether an asylum-seeker is a national security risk and therefore ineligible to stay in the United States, the agency said.” But as Hot Air’s Jazz Shaw sees it, “These are cosmetic changes at best, designed to drive a couple of headlines and hopefully salvage a few points in his approval ratings.” To be fair, one policy change could allow immigration officials to make on-the-spot asylum assessments and thereby send illegals back to Mexico to wait for a ruling. However, this would only apply to those illegals “with known or knowable criminal backgrounds.” On top of this, officials say it’ll take months for these policies to be implemented. They must think we’re chumps.

Headlines

  • GOP floats Biden impeachment for withholding Israel aid, comparing to Trump’s first trial (Washington Examiner)

  • Netanyahu vows to defeat Hamas in Rafah despite U.S. arms threat (BBC)

  • UN to vote on resolution that would grant “Palestine” new rights and revive its UN membership bid (AP)

  • Police dismantle pro-Palestinian encampment at MIT and move to clear Penn and Arizona protests (AP)

  • Another one bites the dust: Cornell University president resigns in surprise email (RedState)

  • Taxpayer-funded ID program for illegal immigrants expected to begin this summer (Fox News)

  • Trans activists sabotage hotline for girls to report creepy men in their bathrooms (The Federalist)

  • Teens kicked out of elite Catholic school for “blackface” are awarded $1 million by jury after proving it was just acne mask (NY Post)

  • Missouri governor signs bill banning abortion providers from Medicaid reimbursements (FOX 2 News)

  • Virginia school board votes to restore names of Confederate leaders to schools (NBC News)

  • Policy: Biden’s climate policies playing into hands of China’s energy schemes (Daily Signal)

  • Humor: Stormy Daniels offers hush money to courtroom sketch artist to please stop drawing her (Babylon Bee)

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