Politics

• Civil War soldiers to get Medal of Honor for Confederate train raid (Army Times)

• The Binder meets the media: He had a cold. He’s dealt with tragedy. He had a bad night. He knows how to come back. He’s not a young man. He’s a little slower. We acknowledge that. But “with age comes wisdom and experience,” and we’ve been “transparent” about releasing his medical records. And as for a cognitive test, “It is not warranted, it is not necessary.” This was yesterday’s nearly hour-long White House press briefing in a nutshell, as Karine “The Binder” Jean-Pierre gamely tried to hold off a panicky press corps. One question we have, though: If Biden was so darn sick, why was he glad-handing at a Waffle House afterward? As for the press pool: “Does President Biden, at 81 years old, have Alzheimer’s, any form of dementia or degenerative illness that cause these sorts of lapses? And it’s a yes or no question.” That question came from one suddenly frisky journo, and KJP didn’t like it. “Are you ready for it? It’s a no,” she shot back. “And I hope you’re asking the other guy the same exact question.” Thus, Team Biden continues to press on, even announcing yesterday the granting of his first post-debate interview to diehard Democrat George Stephanopoulos.

• Biden says he “almost fell asleep on stage” because he traveled around the world 12 days before the debate (Not the Bee)

• Biden down big in swing states following disastrous debate, leaked poll shows (Washington Free Beacon)

• How ratings for first presidential debate of 2024 compare with past debates (CBS News)

• House Dem calls for Biden’s withdrawal: On Tuesday, Representative Lloyd Doggett, a House Democrat from Texas, officially called for Joe Biden to step down. It’s a sentiment that many Democrats have been privately discussing following Biden’s disastrous debate performance last week. Referencing President Lyndon Johnson, who “made the painful decision to withdraw,” Doggett said, “President Biden should do the same.” While Doggett has become the first Democrat lawmaker to officially call for Biden to step down, it appears that he is merely the tip of the iceberg, as Reuters reports that at least 25 other House Democrats are “preparing to call for Biden to step aside if he seems shaky in coming days.” This is unsurprising given recent polling revealing that one in three Democrats wants Biden to end his reelection bid. According to one Democrat aide, “It looks like the dam has broken.”

• Bookmakers put their money on Kamala Harris as Biden’s odds tank in betting markets (Forbes)

• Merchan delays Trump’s sentencing until September: It’s been a pretty good week for Donald Trump, and not only because of the Supreme Court’s favorable ruling Monday on presidential immunity. “The July 11, 2024, sentencing date is therefore vacated,” wrote Judge Juan Merchan in a letter to Trump’s attorneys and New York prosecutors yesterday. Thus, at Trump’s request, the deeply compromised judge in his show-trial hush-money case has delayed Trump’s sentencing from July 11, just before the start of the Republican National Convention, until September 18, with no opposition from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. In addition to the delayed-sentencing request, Trump also moved to have his criminal conviction in the case overturned due to the substantial immunity he now rightly enjoys for official acts committed while in office. “The verdicts in this case violate the presidential immunity doctrine and create grave risks of ‘an Executive Branch that cannibalizes itself,’” wrote Trump’s attorneys, adding that evidence about official acts can’t be introduced “even on charges that purport to be based only on his unofficial conduct.”

• Former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani disbarred following criminal indictments (NY Post)

• Crossdressing luggage snatcher and ex-Biden official Sam Brinton gets sweetheart plea deal (Washington Free Beacon)

• Hunter’s “revenge porn” lawsuit: Convicted felon Hunter Biden filed a lawsuit against Fox News for, err, uncovering the news from his infamous not Russian disinformation laptop. Hunter alleges that Fox News engaged in “revenge porn” in its 2022 six-part series “The Trial of Hunter Biden.” Hunter asserts that the series is fictional because it uses a mock trial format wherein the news outlet lays out the evidence against the first son. This evidence included images from Hunter’s laptop, some in which he is nude and/or engaged in sex acts. The suit claims that “Fox published and disseminated these intimate images to its vast audience of millions as part of an entertainment program in order to humiliate, harass, annoy, and alarm Mr. Biden and to tarnish his reputation.” Since Hunter is a public figure, and since the evidence on his laptop was used to convict him, it seems his lawsuit rests on rather flimsy grounds. What may be going for Hunter, however, is that the definition of “revenge porn” is rather vague, as the law defines it as the disclosure “of an intimate image of another person with the intent to cause harm.” Given that definition, Hunter might actually have a leg to stand on.

• Humor: Awkward: Biden, Trump bump into each other at same tanning salon (Babylon Bee)

Economy

• Good news: LNG victory: On Monday, Federal Judge James Cain issued a temporary injunction against the Biden administration’s pause on liquefied natural gas (LNG) export permits. The decision comes after a coalition of 16 states challenged the Department of Energy’s action to pause issuing new LNG export permits while it conducts a new carbon emissions impact assessment. Judge Cain observed, “Here, it appears that the DOE has failed to provide a more detailed justification for its halt of the approval process to conduct an update, especially considering that past precedent, which the applicants relied upon, allowed the approval of the applications to proceed when updates were made.” He added that the Biden administration’s decision was “completely without reason or logic and is perhaps the epiphany of ideocracy.” West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey praised the decision, calling it a “big win for the country’s energy industry … against the attacks from the Biden administration to further its radical climate change agenda at the expense of our economy.” He added, “This administration’s Energy Department has no such authority to justify this ban — authority on matters like this lies with Congress and Congress alone.”

• DOJ to criminally charge Boeing, seek guilty plea (Reuters)

• McDonald’s abandons fake meat in U.S. (Daily Mail)

National Security

• Seven million visas with no interviews: The monthly total of illegal border crossings has dropped to the lowest level in three years. June recorded “just” 87,670 illegal crossings. But as the saying goes, the devil is in the details. Thanks to Joe Biden’s controversial CBP One mobile app, which grants migrants legal entry into the U.S., along with Biden’s mass parole program, the actual number of migrants entering the country has not diminished. Meanwhile, the Biden administration has given out more than seven million visas without even conducting interviews of the applicants. In other words, the Biden administration has simply engaged in a game of smoke and mirrors, pretending to work to stop the mass open border migration when all it has done is effectively rubber-stamp illegals as legal. There is almost no data on these individuals. It’s simply a “welcome in” and “here’s your visa.” We can only hope there are no violent criminals in the mix.

• ChiCom spy bases proliferate in Cuba: It’s not a Cuban Missile Crisis redux, but it’s not nothing. And it has everything to do with Joe Biden’s weakness being provocative, especially on the world stage. As The Wall Street Journal reports, “Images captured from space show the growth of Cuba’s electronic eavesdropping stations that are believed to be linked to China, including new construction at a previously unreported site about 70 miles from the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, according to a … study from the Center for Strategic and International Studies.” What a great way to scoop up “sensitive electronic communications from American military bases, space-launch facilities, and military and commercial shipping,” huh? Last year, the Journal reported that the two commie countries “were negotiating closer defense and intelligence ties, including establishing a new joint military training facility on the island and an eavesdropping facility.” Joe Biden might believe that the only real threat in the world is climate change, but those who understand the Red Chinese Menace know better.

• Ukraine to be told it is too corrupt to join NATO (The Telegraph)

Anti-Semitism

• Jew-hating George Gascon: It’d be bad enough if LA’s George Gascon were just an anti-cop, pro-criminal prosecutor. But it appears that the Soros-funded DA also has an anti-Semitic streak. As Fox News reports: “A growing number of deputy district attorneys in Los Angeles says they have concerns about antisemitism in the office after months of silence on the issue from their boss, which culminated in clashes between anti-Israel agitators and counterprotesters outside a synagogue in a heavily Jewish neighborhood in the city.” Responding to a request for comment from Fox News, Gascon trotted out a slew of sophomoric platitudes that would make Merrick Garland blush. “Our approach to prosecuting demonstrations and counterprotests is driven solely by the principles of law and justice, without any bias toward any group. Any suggestion that the DA’s Office is sympathetic to organizations that promote hatred, discrimination, violence, or terrorism is unfounded.” Except, of course, when we examine the evidence that’s right in front of us.

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