Government & Politics

• Obama snubs Harris/campaign money conundrum: Following his Sunday announcement that he is dropping out of the presidential race (which our Douglas Andrews covers in today’s featured analysis), Joe Biden endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as his replacement. While that wasn’t unexpected, not all Democrat movers and shakers have jumped on board the Harris bandwagon. Indeed, Barack Obama held off offering any endorsement, simply saying, “I have extraordinary confidence that the leaders of our party will be able to create a process from which an outstanding nominee emerges.” The problem is that if the Democrat Party doesn’t nominate Harris, the FEC has warned that nearly $100 million in campaign donations for the Biden-Harris ticket will have to be refunded. That’s a sizable amount of cash. However, given Harris’s consistently poor polling, Democrat leadership may consider it the price to pay for getting a stronger candidate.

• Democrats gush over Biden’s single-term presidency (Washington Free Beacon)

• Humor: Aides struggling to figure out how to break the news to Biden that he dropped out (Babylon Bee)

• Manchin wants in/RFK’s challenge: West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin left the Democrat Party earlier this year out of frustration with the party’s increasingly hard-left direction. Since he decided not to run for a third term, the move was little other than a virtue-signaling protest that had no real political impact. However, it now appears that Manchin wants back into the party, as sources close to him say he’s interested in challenging Kamala Harris for the Democrat nomination. For Harris, however, the bigger hurdle to her presidential aspirations is Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is in a position to do to Harris what Ross Perot did to George H. W. Bush. And Kennedy made it clear on Sunday that he is even more committed to his campaign, as he called on “the Democratic Party to return to its traditional commitment to democracy and exemplify it with an open process… If they had done this to begin with, I would not have had to leave the Democratic Party.”

• Court upholds Arizona voter ID law: Proponents of free and fair elections got a big win recently when the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Arizona residents must provide proof of citizenship before they can register to vote. The lawsuit was filed by the state Republican Party against a pro-illegal alien pressure group, Mi Familia Vota, and Arizona’s Democrat secretary of state, Adrian Fontes. All this seems like common sense, but remember: Arizona has a Democrat governor who herself was elected by the narrowest of margins. “This is a victory for election integrity in Arizona,” said State Senate President Warren Petersen. “Only U.S. citizens should be allowed to vote in our elections. … We are grateful the court is upholding this provision in our law, and it’s time for Congress to take action to ensure only lawful U.S. citizens are voting in federal races.”

• D.C. Circuit Court refuses to halt EPA’s onerous power rule: On Friday, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals denied a request from 25 Republican-led states to stop the EPA from moving forward with its new onerous power plant carbon emissions rule. The court reasoned that while the litigation was pending, there was no immediate need to stop the rule from moving forward since the deadline for power plants to comply with the new emissions standards isn’t until 2030. Furthermore, the court questioned whether the suit had merit, stating, “To the extent petitioners claim harm due to the need for long-term planning, a stay will not help because the risk remains that the distant deadlines in EPA's rule will come back into force at the end of the case.” The trouble, contends National Rural Electric Cooperative Association CEO Jim Matheson, is that the “EPA's power plant rule is unlawful, unrealistic and unachievable. It undermines electric reliability and poses immediate and grave consequences for an already stressed electric grid.”

• Deadbeat California: Has anyone seen Gavin Newsom lately? A year ago, the California governor was riding high, hosting commie dictators and conducting a shadow presidential campaign as a potential replacement for Joe Biden. But his star has faded and he’s all but disappeared in the months since Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis mopped the floor with him in a debate. Perhaps he’s hiding from his state’s creditors. We suggest this because, as National Review reports, a state auditor says the state’s economic situation is so precarious that he doesn’t know when it can repay a $20 billion COVID unemployment insurance loan to the federal government. “California went into 2020 with a healthy fund balance,” reports NR. “As in other states, all confronted by pandemic shutdowns and spiking benefits claims, California’s unemployment account drained quickly. President Donald Trump sent billions in loans to backstop the wobbly state unemployment offices.” California thus joins fellow deadbeat New York as the only states that have yet to make good on their debts.

• Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee dies after battle with cancer (NBC News)

Security

• Trump shooter flew drone over venue hours before attempted assassination (NBC News)

• Florida man charged over alleged written threats to kill Donald Trump and J.D. Vance (NBC News)

• Mayorkas’s idiotic statement on Trump assassination attempt: There’s still much we don’t know about the catastrophic failure of the Secret Service to protect Donald Trump from an amateurish assassination attempt, but one thing we do know: Alejandro Mayorkas stands four-square behind women. “In the days following the attempted assassination,” he said in a statement, “some people have made public statements questioning the presence of women in law enforcement, including in the United States Secret Service. These assertions are baseless and insulting. Every single day, in communities big and small across our great country, women are serving in federal, state, local, tribal, territorial, and campus law enforcement. They are highly trained and skilled professionals, who risk their lives on the front lines for the safety and security of others. They are brave and selfless patriots who deserve our gratitude and respect.” Got that? They might be a foot too short to adequately protect a 6’ 3" former president, and they might need a little practice holstering their weapon, and they might look a bit dazed and confused during an actual assassination attempt, but they’re “highly trained and skilled professionals.” This includes Director Kim “Sloped Roof” Cheatle.

• Dem joins Republicans in calling for Cheatle’s resignation: A House Democrat joined Republicans over the weekend in calling for Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle’s resignation following the failed assassination attempt against Donald Trump. “The evidence coming to light has shown unacceptable operational failures. I have no confidence in the leadership of the United States Secret Service if Director Cheatle chooses to remain in her position,” stated Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-PA). Boyle’s statement comes amid a Washington Post report that the Secret Service “repeatedly denied requests” from Trump’s security detail for “additional resources and personnel.” Cheatle, who was subpoenaed by House Republicans last Wednesday, is testifying before the House Oversight and Accountability Committee today.

• Unaccompanied migrant children were raped by federal contractors, DOJ says (Daily Wire)

• Israel strikes Houthi targets in Yemen a day after drone attack on Tel Aviv (NPR)

Culture

• NH bans biological males from girls’ sports: The hits keep a-coming for the hard-Left, as New Hampshire Republican Governor Chris Sununu has signed a bill banning biological boys from invading girls’ sports in grades 5-12. Thus, the purplish-blue state joins nearly half of the other 50 in coming to its senses. The bill takes effect in 30 days. Sununu signed the bill into law Friday, saying in a statement that it “ensures fairness and safety in women’s sports by maintaining integrity and competitive balance in athletic competitions.” Still, Sununu wasn’t without his detractors. “Public schools should be safe, welcoming environments for all students, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity,” said Megan Tuttle, president of NEA-New Hampshire in a statement. “Shame on Governor Sununu.” Yes, precisely that: Shame on Governor Sununu for doing the right thing and defending our girls and women from those who would wreck their sports.

• Judge rules Louisiana classrooms must hold off on posting Ten Commandments while lawsuit continues (Washington Examiner)

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