Politics

• Trump candidates win multiple GOP primaries: Donald Trump’s endorsement still carries plenty of weight among GOP primary voters, as evidenced by a string of victories last night in House, Senate, and gubernatorial primaries in South Carolina, Nevada, Maine, and North Dakota. The ultimate test of the power of Trump’s endorsement, though, will take place during the general election on November 5. That’s when we’ll learn whether these candidates can appeal to a broader electorate. As the Washington Examiner reports: “Almost all of [Trump’s] picks saw outright success, with a notable exception of Pastor Mark Burns in South Carolina’s 3rd district GOP primary, who is heading for a runoff against nurse Sheri Biggs after failing to reach a majority of the vote. On a night where Trump’s picks saw favorable outcomes, the runoff stands as a notable mark on his almost perfect record.” The GOP’s House margin is razor-thin, and so is the Democrats’ margin in the Senate. But with the Democrat standard-bearer, Joe Biden, polling at historically unpopular levels, Republicans have a great opportunity to solidify their House majority and retake the Senate.

• Attorney General Merrick Garland rejects “false” claims DOJ trying to influence election in op-ed (Fox News), demands an end to “attacks” on the DOJ (PJ Media) | House GOP tees up vote on contempt of Congress for Garland (Roll Call)

• UAW president under investigation by federal monitor (CNBC)

• Biden student loan handouts get approval from just 3 in 10 Americans (Fox News)

National Security

• A timely terrorism sting: Much has been made of our wide-open southern border, but talk of a specific terrorist threat has remained relatively muted, mostly because we don’t know what we don’t know. Until now. As ABC News reports: “Eight individuals from Tajikistan with suspected ties to ISIS, who crossed into the United States from the southern border last year and this year, have been detained in Los Angeles, Philadelphia and New York City. … The suspects were initially allowed to enter the U.S. after being vetted and no national security issues were uncovered.” The arrests were made by ICE agents “in close coordination with the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Forces.” So there it is. Joe Biden’s negligence is no longer limited to an occasional blip on some nebulous watchlist. We now have a confirmed ISIS connection to eight illegal crossers. And terrorists being similar to cockroaches, we can be confident that there are plenty more where these eight came from. In a remarkable coincidence, FBI Director Chris Wray appeared before the Senate just last week to lobby for a $661 million increase in the bureau’s budget while warning of “the potential for a coordinated attack here in the homeland, not unlike the ISIS-K attack we saw at the Russian concert hall back in March.” What are the odds?

Economy

• Inflation persists: The Labor Department reported this morning that its consumer price index showed inflation easing slightly — down to 3.3% annually from 3.4% last month. ABC News celebrated it “outperforming economists’ expectations.” ABC says, “Price increases have slowed significantly from a peak of about 9%, but inflation still stands more than a percentage point higher than the Federal Reserve’s target rate of 2%.” In other words, prices are still rising 50% faster than the Fed’s target after years of even worse numbers. There is a bit of good news, namely with (some) food and gas prices. The latter averages $3.45 today, which is better than $3.61 a month ago and $3.59 a year ago but still a far cry from $2.39 when Biden took office. Prices for rice, milk, and white bread have fallen over the last year, but beef, tomatoes, and other things have surpassed the overall inflation rate. In any case, the big numbers to remember come voting time is this: Cumulative inflation under Joe Biden is roughly 20% while real wages are down nearly 4%.

• Price tag of Biden’s war on oil: $250 billion: The Democrat Party has increasingly become the Party of War, and its warfare knows no bounds. A key case in point is Joe Biden’s war on fossil fuels — specifically, the oil and gas industry, where a new study by the Committee to Unleash Prosperity has calculated the cost to the U.S. in lost economic activity to be a quarter of a trillion dollars. As the study notes: “Coincident with Biden’s new anti-energy policies, vigorous ‘Environmental, Social and Governance’ (ESG) investing, and rising business tax rates, U.S. oil production has fallen 1-5 million daily barrels short of previous trends. From 2021 through the end of 2023, that is at least a cumulative 2.4 billion barrels missing from oil markets, not to mention the lost natural gas output. Increased costs of oil and gas extraction are reducing cumulative GDP by about $250 billion over that same period.” On June 27, at their first presidential debate, Donald Trump should hang this largely hidden tax of lost opportunity around Biden’s neck.

• Biden administration to ban medical debt from credit reports (ABC News)

Culture

• DeSantis loses trans-ban case: America’s Best Governor™ has been on a roll of late, but he was bound to run into a leftist judge at some point. And sure enough, The Hill reports, “A Florida law banning gender-affirming health care for transgender minors and restricting access to care for certain adults is unconstitutional, a federal judge ruled Tuesday. The decision by U.S. District Court Judge Robert Hinkle permanently blocks [a 2022 law that prevents] minors from accessing treatments like puberty blockers and hormones.” To our non-surprise, Hinkle was appointed to the bench nearly 30 years ago by Bill Clinton. Said a DeSantis spokesman: “Through their elected representatives, the people of Florida acted to protect children in this state, and the Court was wrong to override their wishes. We disagree with the Court’s erroneous rulings on the law, on the facts, and on the science. As we’ve seen here in Florida, the United Kingdom, and across Europe, there is no quality evidence to support the chemical and physical mutilation of children. These procedures do permanent, life-altering damage to children, and history will look back on this fad in horror.”

• Biden’s Title IX transgender guidelines for public schools blocked by Texas judge (Daily Wire)

• One-third of the MLB teams have not mentioned LGBT Pride Month on X (Christian Post)

• Poll: Only 19% of Biden voters say society benefits from marriage, having children (Breitbart)

Around the Nation

• Cuomo testifies about COVID nursing home policy: The House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic invited disgraced former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, to be deposed regarding his role in the response to COVID. Specifically, they wanted to know about Cuomo’s nursing home order that resulted in thousands of COVID deaths. Undeterred by reality, Cuomo called it “an opportunity to actually get the truth and the facts out,” adding that he was “proud” of how his state handled the pandemic. He could start with addressing not just the order but the misleading reports given by the state to cover up its effects. His deposition occurred behind closed doors, so we’re left with a few leaks of what was said, awaiting the transcript at some point. But New York Republican Representative Nicole Malliotakis said, “He’s trying to blame an unknown staffer at the Department of Health.” That’s on brand. When it came to COVID, just about anything that could be done wrong was done wrong by Democrats, and it’s high time for accountability.

• A dope shortage on Martha’s Vineyard? The leftists who inhabit tony Martha’s Vineyard clearly don’t like brown-skinned immigrants, but take away their dope and all hell breaks loose. The shelves of one of the island’s two pot dispensaries are already bare, and, as the Associated Press reports, “Unless something changes, the island’s only other cannabis dispensary will sell all its remaining supplies by September at the latest, and Martha’s Vineyard will run out of pot entirely, affecting more than 230 registered medical users and thousands more recreational ones. The problem boils down to location. Although Massachusetts voters opted to legalize marijuana more than seven years ago, the state’s Cannabis Control Commission has taken the position that transporting pot across the ocean — whether by boat or plane — risks running afoul of federal laws.” Apparently, folks are now taking ferries off the island to get their fix. A shortage of dope, but no shortage of dopes.

Crime & Two-Tiered Justice

• Maniac hijacks Georgia commuter bus with 17 on board, fatally shoots hostage during wild police chase (NY Post)

• Off-duty Atlanta police officer shoots convicted felon who opened fire in food court, injuring three people (Fox News)

• FBI says crime is down big (just don’t pay attention to all the cities that stopped reporting crime stats) (Not the Bee)

• White House protesters vandalized property and clashed with law enforcement, but police say no arrests were made (Washington Free Beacon) | Here’s where people have been charged for vandalizing Pride flag displays with tire marks (Daily Wire)

World

• Treason in Canada? As if the country to our north wasn’t already beset by problems, now the Canadians are dealing with traitors in their midst. As Politico reports: “The capital of one of the world’s most stable democracies is gripped by growing panic about foreign agents working in elected office. A bombshell report by Canadian lawmakers has unnerved Parliament Hill, alleging that unnamed politicians have been covertly working with foreign governments. The revelation in heavily redacted findings released this week by an all-party national security committee adds intrigue to a separate and ongoing inquiry into foreign interference in Canada’s 2019 and 2021 elections.” No one much cares about Canada — at least not from a geopolitical standpoint. But leftist Prime Minister Justin “Castro” Trudeau has been on the defensive, and Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is demanding that he start naming names.

• IDF eliminates senior Hezbollah official, highest-ranking officer neutralized since October 7 (RedState)

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