Cross-Examination

• Wastrel son updates: Hunter Biden may end up being the noose that hangs around his father’s reelection bid. Hunter’s federal tax evasion trial date was moved back on Wednesday to now begin on September 5. This means that Joe Biden and Donald Trump’s second scheduled debate will take place in the midst of Hunter’s trial. It has also come to light, thanks to IRS whistleblower Gary Shapely, that back in 2021, the CIA intervened on Hunter’s behalf when it blocked the IRS from contacting and interviewing Hunter’s benefactor in its tax fraud investigation. Meanwhile, Hunter’s other trial over his gun-related offense is scheduled to begin on June 3. Of import in this trial is Hunter’s infamous laptop, which he falsely testified before Congress contained reports that had been “fabricated, hacked, stolen, or manipulated 100%.” Hunter’s attorney tried to get the laptop barred from use as evidence over these claims, but the judge rejected the objection, so Hunter’s laptop will be admitted as evidence in the trial.

• Team Biden makes NINE corrections to Big Guy’s NAACP speech: Sure, everyone makes mistakes, but how hard is it to read a dang teleprompter? That’s the question journalists and their fellow Democrats should be asking Team Biden as word trickled out that they quietly made nine after-the-fact transcript corrections to the president’s NAACP speech on Monday because he made so many gaffes. Here’s a sample from early in his remarks: “When I was vice president, things were kind of bad during the pandemic. And, what happened was, Barack said to me, ‘Go to Detroit, help fix it.’” Huh? Barack told him to fix the pandemic even though he’d been out of office for four years before it hit? Just two sentences later, he told the audience he was “humbled to receive this organization.” That’s “award,” Joe, award. Later on, when Biden was trying to unite the country by harkening back to January 6, 2021, he said of Donald Trump, “Just listen to him. He calls the erectionists who stormed Capitol Hill ‘patriots.’” (In fairness to Biden’s handlers, they tried to spell that hilarious malapropism as “irrectionists,” but we aren’t buying it.)

• The Knights of Columbus sue Biden admin alleging religious discrimination: For more than 60 years, the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic fraternal organization of service and charity, has held its Memorial Day Mass at the Poplar Grove National Cemetery, there to honor those fallen warriors who gave their last full measure of devotion. But not last year. And not this year, either, if that “devout” Catholic president of ours gets his way. Once again, the Biden administration denied the Knights a permit, but this time, the K of C is fighting back with a religious discrimination lawsuit. According to the K of C’s legal counsel, “The policy and the decision blocking the Knights of Columbus from continuing their long-standing religious tradition is a blatant violation of the First Amendment and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). We urge the court to grant our restraining order and allow the Knights to hold their service this Memorial Day.”

• Uvalde lawsuit/settlement: The city of Uvalde, Texas, has agreed to a $2 million settlement with the families of the 19 students who were massacred by an 18-year-old who attacked Robb Elementary School nearly two years ago. Parents sued the city over the failure of the Uvalde police to act quickly and stop the perpetrator as he was carrying out his murder spree. The responding officers waited for more than 77 minutes before finally engaging and killing the armed assailant. A Justice Department investigation into the Uvalde Police Department’s response found that officers “demonstrated no urgency” in dealing with the unfolding situation. One of the parents, Veronica Luevanos, who lost a daughter that day, stated, “For two long years, we have languished in pain and without any accountability from the law enforcement agencies and officers who allowed our families to be destroyed that day. This settlement reflects a first good faith effort, particularly by the City of Uvalde, to begin rebuilding trust in the systems that failed to protect us.” However, Luevanos added, “Nearly 100 officers from the Texas Department of Public Safety have yet to face a shred of accountability for cowering in fear while my daughter and nephew bled to death in their classroom.” The parents have launched a separate lawsuit against the state that targets 92 officials from the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Uvalde School District, the school’s former principal, and Uvalde’s former police chief.

• Illinois plays word games with criminals: Illinois Democrats passed legislation for the state’s Department of Corrections that includes changing the term “offender” to “justice-impacted individual.” State Republicans objected over the cost to taxpayers for the name change — it costs thousands of dollars for agencies to change their documents to reflect the new terminology — but, more importantly, they noted the effect that blurring or watering down terminology has on criminal activity. “There seems to be this rush to take away all accountability for people who commit crimes,” argued Republican State Senator Steve McClure. “If a person is going to get on the right path, they have to know they did something wrong. This apologizing for the criminal, the person who chooses to commit crimes to the detriment of our victims, the people who don’t choose to be victims of crimes, is absolutely incredible.” Democrats defended the name change, arguing that it was technically correct. One wonders if Democrats will eventually change the term “victim” to “injustice-impacted individual.” Democrat Governor J.B. Pritzker has yet to sign the legislation.

• Kill Jews, get a state: Crime pays. Especially kidnapping, rape, and genocidal murder. That’s the clear message being sent by Ireland, Norway, and Spain, whose governments yesterday recognized a “Palestinian state” and thereby lent aid and comfort to the terrorists of Hamas. The Associated Press called it “a historic but largely symbolic move that further deepens Israel’s isolation more than seven months into its grinding war against Hamas in Gaza.” Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store faithfully trotted out the old platitudes: “In the midst of a war, with tens of thousands killed and injured, we must keep alive the only alternative that offers a political solution for Israelis and Palestinians alike: two states, living side by side, in peace and security.” Hamas, unfortunately, has never gotten the “peace and security” memo, nor have the Palestinian people, whom polls show overwhelmingly support their Jew-hating government. All this comes amid the release yesterday of a sickening video showing captured female Israeli soldiers, handcuffed and pressed against a wall, while their Hamas captors can be heard “gloating and announcing their apparent plans to sexually assault the soldiers,” reports the New York Post. But, sure, let’s give these animals a state right next to Israel.

• Biden admin secretly agreed with Iran against Israel: Joe Biden’s senior Middle East advisor, Brett McGurk, reportedly was in secret talks with Iran’s main negotiator to the West, Ali Bagheri Kani. The meeting took place in Muscat, Oman. This was the first meeting between the U.S. and Iran since January. The secret talks reportedly focused on three issues — “a shared desire for a change in government in Israel; ending Israel’s war on Gaza; and preventing the conflict from spreading elsewhere in the region.” Progress was said to have been made up until the sudden death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash. If this report is accurate, then Biden is actively seeking to undermine America’s closest ally in the Middle East with our and Israel’s biggest enemy in the region. This is the stuff that starts wars, not ends them. Is it any wonder that Biden’s foreign policy record has been a disaster?

• Obama blocked FBI from arresting Iranians connected to nuke program: We’ve often maintained that this first-and-only term of Joe Biden’s presidency is, in fact, Barack Obama’s third term, such is the Obama-like ruin that Biden is causing the country. Clear evidence of this can be seen in both administrations’ kowtowing to the Iranian mullahs, more of which came to light from recent whistleblower disclosures. As Fox News reports, “The Obama-Biden State Department ‘actively interfered’ to prevent the FBI from executing arrest warrants on individuals illegally in the United States who were allegedly supporting Iranian financial efforts to develop weapons of mass destruction, whistleblowers told Sens. Chuck Grassley and Ron Johnson.” According to a letter sent from Grassley and Johnson to “The Honorable” [sic] Antony Blinken, “The Obama/Biden administration’s State Department, under the leadership of John Kerry, actively and persistently interfered with FBI operations pertaining to lawful arrests of known terrorists, members of Iranian proliferation networks, and other criminals providing material support for Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs.” And all this took place while Obama was vowing publicly that “broader sanctions” against the rogue Iranian regime “would remain in place,” and that the administration would continue to enforce those sanctions “vigorously.”

Headlines

• Jordanian who tried to breach Marine Corps Base Quantico was in U.S. illegally (Fox News)

• Explosive emails show top NIH adviser deleted records, used “secret” back channels to help Fauci evade COVID transparency (NY Post)

• Nikki Haley says she’ll vote for Trump in November (Axios)

• Nissan pauses plans for EV production in U.S. (Detroit Free Press)

• UPenn student who claimed she was “homeless” after being kicked off campus over anti-Israel camps is the daughter of wealthy Filipino TV star (Daily Mail)

• Germany just decriminalized possession of child porn (Not the Bee)

• Humor: Prosecution offers Michael Cohen $130,000 hush money to stop talking (Babylon Bee)

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