Politics

• Barack and Michelle endorse bounceless Kamala: It took ‘em long enough. After almost a week of foot-dragging, the Obamas have been dragged kicking and screaming into the fold, having released this morning a video of their endorsement phone call to Kamala Harris. Said Michelle, “I can’t have this phone call without saying to my girl Kamala: I am proud of you. This is going to be historic.” The former first lady then handed the phone to her husband, who’d once called Kamala “by far, the best-looking attorney general” in the nation but who reportedly didn’t think the deeply flawed and woefully unpopular Harris could beat Donald Trump in a general election. Indeed, three recent polls indicate that Harris has failed to overtake Trump, with the latest Rasmussen survey putting her seven points behind Trump, 50-43. “We called to say Michelle and I couldn’t be prouder to endorse you and do everything we can to get you through this election and into the Oval Office,” said Barack. Right. He couldn’t be prouder. Which is why he was so slow to endorse her.

• Harris’s drag-queen kickoff: For her first official glitterati appearance, Candidate Harris chose the drag-queen TV show “RuPaul’s Drag Race.” In her cringe-worthy pandering for votes, Harris trotted out the radical Left’s bogus narrative that “our rights and freedoms [are] under attack.” It’s another version of the Democrats’ “threat to democracy” tagline. The irony is that Harris’s rise to the position of likely Democrat presidential nominee was entirely undemocratic. She did not earn a vote, yet there she sits, warning about rights and freedoms being attacked. In espousing such blatant dishonesty, it’s no wonder she chose to surround herself with individuals who lie about their gender for a living.

National Security

• Son of “El Chapo” and Sinaloa Cartel cofounder “El Mayo” arrested in Texas (NBC News)

• Condemning the “border czar”: While the Leftmedia is busy memory-holing the fact that Joe Biden named Kamala Harris as his “border czar,” House Republicans on Thursday passed a resolution, 220-196, officially condemning Harris’s handling of the U.S. southern border. So bad is her record on supposedly getting at the “root causes” of illegal immigration that even six Democrats crossed the aisle to vote with Republicans. “The mainstream media can try to rewrite history all they want,” observed Tom Emmer (R-MN), “but the American people know the truth and our House Republican majority will remind them. Kamala Harris is Biden’s border czar, and the unprecedented invasion at our borders is hers to own.”

• Border Patrol catches 15,000 “migrants” crossing into Vermont sector in 10 months … more than the previous 13 YEARS combined (Not the Bee)

• Chris Wray’s magic-shrapnel bullet theory : “I think with respect to former President Trump, there’s some question about whether or not it’s a bullet or shrapnel that, you know, hit his ear.” So said FBI Director Chris Wray during his testimony Wednesday before the House Judiciary Committee. As far as we know, Wray isn’t privy to the president’s medical records, nor has he discussed the injury with the doctors who treated the former president. And perhaps he hasn’t seen the remarkable image of a bullet streaking past Trump’s head. And yet the FBI director nonetheless saw fit to give succor to Trump-hating Democrats and leftists by advancing a meritless magic-shrapnel theory that somehow the assassin’s first bullet was so far off target that it struck some other object directly beneath Trump, which launched a piece of shrapnel straight upward before it then made a sharp right-angle turn to carve out only the very top of Trump’s right ear. Sure, Chris. Sure. Said Trump in response: “FBI Director Christopher Wray told Congress yesterday that he wasn’t sure if I was hit by shrapnel, glass, or a bullet (the FBI never even checked!), but he was sure that Crooked Joe Biden was physically and cognitively ‘uneventful’ — Wrong!”

• Video captures immediate aftermath following Trump assassination attempt (Daily Caller)

• House votes to establish task force on Trump assassination attempt (Daily Wire)

• Disgraced Secret Service to Trump: No more big outdoor rallies: That’s a nice, big outdoor rally ya got there. It’d be a shame if something happened to it. This seems to be the message being sent by Secret Service leadership to Donald Trump, as the agency reels from its catastrophic failure to protect the former president. As the dying democracy doomsayers at The Washington Post report, “Secret Service officials encouraged Donald Trump’s campaign to stop scheduling large outdoor rallies and other outdoor events with big crowds after the assassination attempt on the former president … In the aftermath of the shooting, agents from the Secret Service communicated their concerns about large outdoor rallies going forward to Trump campaign advisers.” The public suggestion — or is it a veiled threat? — that Trump continues to hold his wildly popular campaign rallies at his own peril seems deeply inappropriate, bordering on election interference. Instead, why not vow to do better? As Utah Senator Mike Lee observed, “If I saw this in The Babylon Bee it’d make far more sense. The idea that they’d tell Trump to stop holding rallies is embarrassing — for the Secret Service.”

Culture

• Newsom’s homeless encampment sweep: On Thursday, California Democrat Governor Gavin Newsom issued an executive order advising city and local officials to rid their communities of homeless encampments. “The state has been hard at work to address this crisis on our streets. There are simply no more excuses,” Newsom stated, adding, “It’s time for everyone to do their part.” Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision last month, which rejected the notion that homelessness is a right, Newsom responded that the ruling “provides state and local officials the definitive authority to implement and enforce policies to clear unsafe encampments from our streets.” He further contended, “This decision removes the legal ambiguities that have tied the hands of local officials for years and limited their ability to deliver on common-sense measures to protect the safety and well-being of our communities.” California leads the nation in homelessness, with an estimated 180,000 homeless last year. Newsom campaigned for years on dealing with the problem only to see it worsen under his leadership.

• Male cyclists dominate females in women’s competition: Gender-bending male cyclists took home the gold, silver, and bronze medals at the Marymoor Grand Prix last week. The competition features two competitor relay teams, and in the elite women’s division, the teams that finished first, second, and third happened to include a male athlete. These gender-bending males, identified as “Jenna Lingwood,” “Jordan Lothrop,” and “Eva Lin,” had all previously competed in the men’s division. Indeed, just last year, Lothrop competed as a man. The two other males competed in men’s cycling within the last five years. The problem of gender-bending men taking over women’s sports is only getting worse.

• “He basically walked out of this scarless”: Virginia’s skirt-wearing rapist was released on his 18th birthday (Daily Wire)

• “I am disgusted”: MrBeast addresses grooming allegations against trans-identifying sidekick (Daily Wire)

Good News

• Navy SEALs score legal win over Biden’s 2021 vax mandate: It was justice delayed, but not denied. A legal settlement between thousands of Navy SEALs and service members whose careers were wrecked by Joe Biden’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate marks a major win for the plaintiffs after a years-long legal battle. As The Daily Mail reports, “The mandate enacted in August 2021 led to the forced firing of over 8,000 service members who refused the shot on religious or medical grounds. Navy SEALs and other special operators suffered professional setbacks for refusing the vaccine … in some cases, even forced by the military to repay their initial signing bonuses between $4,000 and $7,000.” The settlement calls for a correcting of records and the payment of $1.5 million in legal fees. In addition, the Navy has “agreed to post a statement affirming the Navy’s respect for religious service members” and will provide “more training” for its personnel who review and decide on religious accommodations. “This has been a long and difficult journey,” said Danielle Runyan of First Liberty Institute, “but the Navy SEALs never gave up.”

Misc.

• Joe Biden meets Netanyahu in Oval Office (Daily Wire)

• Trump’s defamation lawsuit against ABC, George Stephanopoulos can move forward, judge rules (Fox News)

• U.S. to phase out single-use plastic from federal operations (Reuters)

• U.S. economy grew at a 2.8% pace in the second quarter, much more than expected (CNBC)

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