The Patriot Post® · Thursday: Below the Fold
Politics
Yes, Hunter Biden peddled his influence to Burisma: Next to Kamala Harris, the biggest benefactor of Joe Biden’s “decision” to drop out of the presidential race has been none other than his son Hunter, whose influence-peddling activities have mostly dropped off the media’s radar screen. But that doesn’t mean those unlawful activities never happened. As the New York Post reports, “First son Hunter Biden, acting on behalf of a Ukrainian energy company, requested help from the US Embassy in Rome to land a lucrative business deal, while his father, Joe Biden, was vice president… Hunter’s big ask and apparent attempt to use his father’s position of power to land the deal for Burisma — the Ukrainian gas giant on whose board he sat — came to light only after State Department records were released to the New York Times after Joe Biden ended his 2024 re-election bid last month.” How convenient, too, that these records were only coughed up after the Big Guy became a lame duck. The timing is even more interesting, as Junior prepares to stand trial next month for tax evasion based on — yep — the millions he raked in from Burisma and other overseas dealings.
DOJ suddenly located Biden biographer transcripts created by Robert Hur (Fox News)
Trump may be sentenced to prison on September 18: Deeply conflicted Manhattan Judge Juan Merchan has repeatedly refused to recuse himself from the 34-count felony case against Donald Trump. At the same time, he’s repeatedly vowed to sentence Trump on a date certain: September 18. Legal analyst Andrew McCarthy suggests that the objective might be one of allowing the Democrats and the mainstream media to label Trump “a convicted felon sentenced to prison.” As McCarthy points out, early voting in the critical swing state of Pennsylvania begins two days later, on September 20. McCarthy also makes clear that the ultimate driver of Trump’s Manhattan prosecution “was politics, not justice,” adding: “That’s why we call it ‘lawfare.’ The prosecutors and judge are not concerned about whether convictions ultimately get thrown out on appeal. And it’s not like Merchan is actually going to put Trump in prison; it is virtually certain that Trump will get bail pending appeal, so Merchan can appear to impose a stiff incarceration sentence without any real incarceration — at least for now, and probably ever.”
Comer seeks information from Google and Meta on potential censorship of Trump assassination attempt (House Oversight and Accountability Committee)
Kamala’s campaign says she will not push Medicare for All. She fully supported it five years ago. (Daily Wire)
Tim Walz plays the victim after stolen valor exposed (Breitbart)
Murphy to appoint George Helmy to replace Menendez in Senate (Roll Call)
Thousands of noncitizen registered voters in AL: In another reminder of the importance of election integrity, Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen recently announced that his office had discovered over 3,000 noncitizens who were registered to vote in the state. “I will not tolerate the participation of noncitizens in our elections,” Allen stated. “We have examined the current voter file in an attempt to identify anyone who appears on that list that has been issued a noncitizen identification number.” Some 3,251 noncitizens were registered to vote who held noncitizen ID numbers issued by the Department of Homeland Security, though it’s possible some have since become citizens, which Allen’s office is looking into. Tellingly, however, DHS has refused to help with the investigation. Laney Rawls, Allen’s director of communications, noted that this issue has been sent to the state attorney general for further investigation and potential criminal prosecution.
Culture
J.K. Rowling and Elon Musk targets of a harassment lawsuit by Algerian boxer Imane Khelif (PJ Media)
Injunction against anti-Semitic UCLA: The University of California, Los Angeles, was blasted by a federal judge when he issued a preliminary injunction against the school over its failure to protect Jewish students from discrimination and exclusion on campus. U.S. District Judge Mark Scarsi wrote, “Jewish students were excluded from portions of the UCLA campus because they refused to denounce their faith. This fact is so unimaginable and abhorrent to our constitutional guarantee of religious freedom that it bears repeating.” This ruling is regarding a complaint filed against UCLA by three Jewish students who were prevented access to certain parts of the campus by anti-Israel activists who had set up and enforced a “Jew Exclusion Zone.” UCLA attempted to absolve itself of any responsibility by noting the exclusion zones were orchestrated by a third party. Scarsi rejected that excuse. A spokeswoman for UCLA claimed the ruling “would improperly hamstring our ability to respond to events on the ground and to meet the needs of the Bruin community.” She then ridiculously added, “UCLA is committed to fostering a campus culture where everyone feels welcome and free from intimidation, discrimination, and harassment.” Well, except if you’re Jewish.
Pro-Hamas activists storm Democrat event in NYC, clashing with police and setting off smoke bombs (Townhall)
Gascon punished prosecutor for “misgendering” sex offender: A Los Angeles prosecutor has blown the whistle on George Soros-funded District Attorney George Gascon, alleging that he was directed by Gascon to hide evidence against a convicted sex offender who claimed to be “transgender” after his conviction in order to get sent to a women’s prison. Last week, Deputy District Attorney Shea Sanna filed a lawsuit against Gascon, asserting the leftist DA retaliated against him in an effort to silence him. Sanna also says he was demoted, transferred, and suspended. Sanna was accused of “misgendering” the perpetrator and given a five-day suspension without pay. His attorney, Anthony Fusaro, claims, “When Mr. Sanna informed his supervisors and the public of Gascon’s suppression efforts, Gascon responded with a relentless retaliation campaign against Mr. Sanna that persists to this day.”
MLB’s heterophobic Red Sox swing and miss: Is the “F”-word the new “N”-word? It sure seems so if we’re to judge by the Boston Red Sox’s treatment of one of their players. That player, Jarren Duran, was in the batter’s box during a recent game with the Houston Astros when a heckler can be heard telling him that he’ll need “a tennis racket” to hit the ball. Duran’s spur-of-the-moment response? “Shut up, you f***ing fa**ot.” On Monday, the Red Sox announced that they’d suspended Duran, who later apologized for the remark. That apology likely wasn’t good enough for the Rainbow Mafia, though, nor was it good enough for the Red Sox. As The Federalist reports, “In addition to being suspended for the team’s Monday and Tuesday games against the Texas Rangers, Duran’s salary for those two games was stripped by the Red Sox and given to the pro-LGBT organization known as PFLAG.” PFLAG, though, isn’t just any gay rights group. Instead, as The Federalist adds, it’s “an extreme LGBT advocacy group that supports the ‘transing’ of children.”
Left-wing nonprofits discuss strategy to stay “under the radar” and “tweak language” to dodge discrimination lawsuits (Washington Free Beacon)
Security
Russia sentences Russian-American ballerina Ksenia Karelina to 12 years in jail for donating to Ukraine charity (NY Post)
Google confirms Iranian-backed hacking group targeted Trump, Biden, Harris campaigns (National Review)
Palestinian whose name appears on terror watchlist captured at southern border (NY Post)
Illegal alien charged with sexual assault, murder of child was released into U.S. by Biden-Harris admin (Daily Wire)
Army intelligence officer pleads guilty to selling defense information to China (Daily Wire)
The cost of “privacy” just went up: Every once in a while, we get word that a security breach somewhere has allowed hackers to access the personal records of millions of Americans. And we naturally wonder whether our own information is now in the hands of some Chinese or Russian crime ring. Well, wonder no more. A recent hacking effort may have compromised the Social Security numbers of every single American citizen. As the Los Angeles Times reports, “About four months after a notorious hacking group claimed to have stolen an extraordinary amount of sensitive personal information from a major data broker, a member of the group has reportedly released most of it for free on an online marketplace for stolen personal data. The breach, which includes Social Security numbers and other sensitive data, could power a raft of identity theft, fraud and other crimes.” The Times adds that the breach may amount to 2.9 billion records.
Taliban’s swanky military parade: In a frustrating reminder of Joe Biden’s disastrous surrender and retreat from Afghanistan, the Taliban on Wednesday celebrated the third anniversary of the U.S.‘s withdrawal by having a parade featuring billions of dollars in U.S. military equipment that was left behind in the haphazard withdrawal. The equipment left behind — valued at a total of $7.12 billion, according to a Defense Department Inspector General report — consisted of “military aircraft, ground vehicles, weapons, and other military equipment.” So the Taliban is now armed with U.S. military equipment, not to mention it’s making money by selling American technology to Western enemies. Furthermore, had the Biden-Harris administration not given away Afghanistan to the Taliban, Vladimir Putin might not have invaded Ukraine — a conflict that has cost the U.S. billions more in aid and military equipment.
World
Hamas to stay out of Gaza truce talks (Reuters)
Thailand’s Constitutional Court removes prime minister from office (RedState)
WHO declares mpox outbreaks in Africa a global health emergency as a new form of the virus spreads (AP)
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