Politics

• ChiCom “business opportunities”: Somewhat lost in recent months amid the cascading failures of his father’s presidency and his own legal troubles involving guns and taxes are the many damning data points of Hunter Biden’s international influence-peddling on behalf of the Biden Crime Family. Yet another example was uncovered recently. As Fox News reports, sonny boy told his business associates back in 2013, while the Big Guy was serving his second term as Barack Obama’s veep, “that a top Chinese Communist Party leader allegedly asked him to travel to China to talk about future ‘business opportunities.’” Hunter accompanied his dad on a six-day Asia trip that included China, South Korea, and Japan, during which the junior Biden introduced his dad to a couple of those business associates in a hotel lobby. The unelected and unappointed son of the sitting vice president “attended multiple events with his dad, including a lunch that featured some of the most powerful CCP leaders in China.” Later, according to an email exchange with Hunter, one of his business associates offered to accompany him on a trip to Hong Kong “to discuss business opportunities” with “C.H. Tung, a former governor of Hong Kong and billionaire who served as the vice chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference between 2005 and 2023.” No influence-peddling to see here, though. Move along.

• Trump’s appeal of gag order in “hush money” case dismissed by New York’s highest court (CBS News)

• All 18 Trump allies charged in Arizona “fake electors” case plead not guilty (Washington Examiner)

• Joy Behar, Rachel Maddow predict Trump will take them off the air if he wins (Daily Wire) | Humor: Trump polling at 100% after hosts warn he would cancel “The View” (Babylon Bee)

• Top six takeaways from primaries in Virginia, Oklahoma, and Georgia (Washington Examiner)

Crime

• Secret Service agent robbed in LA: Joe Biden was in Los Angeles on Saturday hobnobbing with Hollywood celebrities at a campaign fundraiser. Outside the venue that evening, a Secret Service agent was robbed at gunpoint, with the suspect making off with a handbag. The agent reportedly fired a firearm during the incident, but the perpetrator got away. Police have been unable to locate the suspect. The incident demonstrates the problem of growing crime in many Democrat-run states and cities. For Los Angeles in particular, the homicide rate rose 30% between 2023 and 2024, with the overall violent crime rate rising by 3% and robberies up 10%. Much of the crime rate increases can be blamed on the city’s Democrat leaders’ soft-on-crime policies. Prosecutions of criminals have decreased thanks to political leaders committed to promoting woke ideology as opposed to blindly upholding the law.

• Migrant crime: While not all illegal migrants are violent criminals, by definition, all illegal migrants are lawbreakers because they have unlawfully entered the country. The distinction between “legal” and “illegal” matters, but Democrats and the Leftmedia intentionally ignore and conflate the two so as to bolster their spurious claim that Republicans are anti-immigrant and to justify Joe Biden’s border malfeasance. Well, sadly, thanks to Biden, Americans are seeing more violent crimes being committed by illegal migrants that would otherwise not be happening if Biden actually did his job and enforced our nation’s borders. For example, in New York City, a 25-year-old illegal alien from Ecuador was arrested after sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl at a park in broad daylight. The illegal alien entered the U.S. in June 2021. In February 2022, an immigration judge ordered him deported, but that clearly did not occur. Americans are increasingly frustrated by the growing number of violent crimes being committed by illegal aliens, primarily because these crimes would not be happening if our border laws were being enforced.

• ICE non-detained docket is now over seven million (PJ Media)

Doublespeak

• Sanctuary state Maryland governor wants immigration reform: One sure sign that a presidency is in dire straits is when one politically ambitious party member after another begins to stake out positions in clear opposition to their incumbent president. An El Salvadoran illegal immigrant was arrested for murdering Rachel Morin, a Maryland mother of five, last August while she was out hiking. In response, promising young Maryland Democrat Governor Wes Moore scurried off the Bad Ship Biden. “My heart is broken for the Morin family, as is our entire state,” Moore said. “She should still be here.” Moore, who perhaps has forgotten that the state he governs offers sanctuary status to illegal immigrants, is now calling for something to be done. “We have an immigration policy that needed to be dealt with and was not. The consequences then fall on us as the leaders of our individualized jurisdictions.” Sadly, though, for Rachel Morin and her five children, the governor’s words can only ring hollow. Morin’s blood, as well as the blood of Laken Riley, is on the hands of every Democrat who failed to denounce Joe Biden’s disastrous border policies from the outset.

• The two-faced Pentagon: “Bodily autonomy is not the only argument against Covid vaccine mandates. They are also unscientific and unethical.” So said former Harvard professor Martin Kulldorff, one of three bold epidemiological experts who drafted “The Great Barrington Declaration” during the height of our nation’s COVID-19 hysteria. Sadly, though, our Department of Defense wasn’t paying attention. But it’s even worse than that. As Reuters reports, at the same time the Pentagon was mandating vaccines for all service personnel — or else be discharged — it was also running a secret anti-vaccination campaign to undermine China during the pandemic. The clandestine op “aimed to sow doubt about the safety and efficacy of vaccines and other life-saving aid that was being supplied by China,” said Reuters. “Through phony internet accounts meant to impersonate Filipinos, the military’s propaganda efforts morphed into an anti-vax campaign. Social media posts decried the quality of face masks, test kits and the first vaccine that would become available in the Philippines — China’s Sinovac inoculation.” Talk about doublespeak. None of the tens of thousands of American warriors who were kicked out of the service for refusing to take the experimental stick were asked for comment.

Economy

• The wrong kind of jobs report: At a time when Joe Biden is desperate for good news, a new survey of 2,000 retirees delivers just the opposite: A growing number of retired Americans are thinking about going back to work due to chronic Bidenflation. As the Motley Fool reports, “More than 66 million retirees saw their Social Security benefits increase 3.2% in 2024 due to the annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA), which is determined by the rate of inflation. But most aren’t satisfied with the bump, and many are considering going back to work to generate extra income.” The Fool adds, “44% of respondents are considering looking for work because Social Security does not provide enough income to support their lifestyle. That points to dissatisfaction among Social Security beneficiaries with the 2024 COLA.” And, we’d add, it points to still more electoral trouble for Joe Biden.

• Budget-busting: On Tuesday, the Congressional Budget Office updated its government deficit forecast for Fiscal Year 2024. The CBO added $400 billion to the previous estimate, now calculating that the total deficit will hit $1.9 trillion. The reasons for the change have everything to do with more massive government spending. The CBO pointed to Joe Biden’s college loan debt cancellation order, foreign aide spending, growing Medicaid spending, and increasing FDIC costs for the forecast change. Over the next decade, the CBO projects that the deficit will be $2.1 trillion higher than initially forecast. Furthermore, annual interest payments on the debt alone will surpass $1 trillion next year, which is more than is spent on our national defense, and by 2034 the annual debt interest payment is forecast to hit $1.7 trillion. By that same year, the overall national debt is projected to hit $50.7 trillion.

• EV startup Fisker’s U.S. units file for bankruptcy (Reuters)

• New Boeing whistleblower says company is using defective parts on planes (Washington Examiner)

World

• Russia gets NoKo backing: In an unsurprising move, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a new mutual defense deal with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un. The deal provides mutual defense should either of the nations be attacked and includes new trade, investment, and cultural ties. The occasion was also Putin’s first visit to the communist nation in over two decades, as the two repressive regimes seek to strengthen ties amid Putin’s ongoing war in Ukraine. Under the deal, North Korea will provide Russia with “significant munitions” and weapons, and according to U.S. intelligence, Russia will share its nuclear submarine and ballistic missile technology. The concern is that it will help North Korea complete its first nuclear-armed submarine. Furthermore, Putin’s visit will help raise Kim’s domestic profile as a world leader, strengthening his grip on power.

• Houthi terrorists sink another major commercial shipping vessel as Biden fails to establish deterrence (Daily Wire)

• Brazil’s left-wing Supreme Court imprisons prominent conservative based on U.S. Border Patrol error (Daily Wire)

Misc.

• Biden admin sends two FBI agents to the door of nurse who helped expose illegal gender program at Texas Children’s Hospital (Not the Bee)

• Oregon doctors could soon lose their licenses for “microaggressions” under proposed Medical Board rule (Washington Free Beacon)

• Climate activists vandalize Stonehenge with spray paint (National Review)

• There is apparently a “National Gay Flag Football League” and the Buffalo Bills are sponsoring it (Not the Bee)

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