• Helene continues deadly onslaught across Southeast (Fox Weather)

Politics

• Kamala Harris heads to Arizona to counter border criticism (Arizona Republic)

• Trump’s “troubling” civil case judgment: The book on the 2024 presidential campaign should include a chapter on a catastrophic strategic blunder by the Democrats: their lawfare campaign against Donald Trump. In the court of public opinion, it’s already clear that this weaponization of political differences has blown up in their faces. And now it appears to be doing so in the court of judicial opinion, where the civil lawsuit brought by Trump-hating Attorney General Letitia James is finally undergoing some much-needed scrutiny. As the New York Post reports, “A panel of New York appeals court judges appeared skeptical about the gargantuan $454 million civil fraud judgment Donald Trump was dealt after he was found liable for business fraud — with one jurist calling it ‘troubling.’” They don’t say. Trump is trying to reverse or reduce this ridiculous February judgment by cartoonish Judge Arthur Engeron, which his lawyers rightly called “draconian, unlawful, and unconstitutional” when they made their case before a five-judge panel of a Manhattan appeals court yesterday. Three of those five must side with Trump, who has vowed to take the case “all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary.”

• Rudy Giuliani disbarred in Washington: It has been quite the fall from grace for former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who was officially disbarred from Washington, DC’s Bar Association on Thursday. This is Giuliani’s second disbarment after New York State removed his law license this past July. Both disbarments are tied to Giuliani’s support and legal defense of Donald Trump’s 2020 election fraud claims. This decision wasn’t surprising given the conclusion of the June report by the DC Bar’s Board on Professional Responsibility: There was “clear and convincing evidence” that Giuliani “violated Pennsylvania Rules of Professional Conduct” and “should be disbarred.” The DC Bar Association also contended, “Giuliani’s effort to undermine the integrity of the 2020 presidential election has helped destabilize our democracy.” That, of course, sounds more like a Democrat political narrative than an actual legal claim. Regardless, Giuliani faces charges of election interference in Georgia and was ordered to pay a ridiculous $148 million fine to two election workers in the Peach State for defamation. This is yet another example of the lawfare that Democrats have waged against Trump supporters.

• Newsmax, Smartmatic settle defamation lawsuit (Axios)

• If you’re losing The New York Times… Kamala Harris continues to dodge real journalists, avoid unscripted events, and spew economic nonsense, but these decisions finally seem to be catching up to her. For example, The New York Times’s Reid Epstein wasn’t at all impressed with Harris’s Wednesday interview with MSNBC’s friendly Stephanie Ruhle. Indeed, Epstein’s frustration bubbled up in the following assessment: “Ms. Harris responded to the fairly basic and predictable questions with roundabout responses that did not provide a substantive answer. Instead of offering any explanation for why Mr. Trump polls better on the economy — a matter that has vexed Democrats as President Biden has overseen a steadily improving economy — Ms. Harris instead blasted Mr. Trump’s record. … She said nothing about why voters think Mr. Trump and Republicans would be better on the economy.” Kamala Harris wants to run out the clock, but recent polling indicates that she may have already hit her high-water mark.

• Good news: Another one dumps Dems: A recent Fox News poll shows Kamala Harris’s margin among Hispanics has shrunk since August from 18 points to 11, and her disappearing margin among black men is equally alarming. A New Yorker named Sammy Ravelo embodies this trend. Ravelo, a native of the Dominican Republic, is a father, Gulf War vet, 9/11 first responder, and retired NYPD lieutenant, and he recently announced that he’s done with the Democrat Party. “I left the Democrat Party, and the sky didn’t fall. The sky is still blue today,” he posted. “To my friends and their families … it’s time to start re-registering as Republicans. It’s time to leave the party that favors criminals over law-abiding citizens. If you are a Dominican cop, firefighter, correction officer, or sanitation worker, you should be a Republican. The Democrat Party is no longer a viable party for us.” Ravelo’s defection didn’t go over too well with those on the Left, but he took it in stride: “The funny thing,” he said, “is that the attacks are coming from the same people who preach ‘Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.’”

Security

• China’s newest nuke-powered sub sinks: In an embarrassing report that exposes the state of China’s navy, Beijing’s first Zhou-class nuclear-powered submarine sank while docked at port. The incident likely occurred sometime between May and June, and the Chinese navy sought to keep it quiet. “It’s not surprising that the PLA Navy would try to conceal the fact that their new first-in-class nuclear-powered attack submarine sank pierside,” stated a senior U.S. defense official. “In addition to the obvious questions about training standards and equipment quality, the incident raises deeper questions about the PLA’s internal accountability and oversight of China’s defense industry, which has long been plagued by corruption.” China currently has a fleet of six nuclear-capable submarines, and according to the Pentagon, Beijing’s policy is to keep one of those subs at sea at all times.

• U.S. icebreaker fleet falling further behind Russia, China (Washington Times)

• Netanyahu threatens Iran in fiery UN speech (NY Post)

Around the Nation

• Cheating Dems sent out 2,200 duplicate ballots in Madison: Wisconsin and its 10 electoral votes went into Joe Biden’s column by a razor-thin 11,000 votes in 2020. So it stands to reason that the Democrats are worried about the Dairy State’s status this cycle. We say this because the polling in the state is essentially tied now, and because an infamous ABC News-Washington Post poll just two weeks prior to the 2020 presidential election showed Donald Trump trailing Biden there by a ridiculous 17 points. Evidence of the Democrats’ desperation appeared this week in the liberal college city of Madison, the state’s second-largest city, where we learned) that more than 2,200 voters there were sent duplicate absentee ballots. Not to worry, though. The city clerk is “rectifying a data processing error” and working to ensure “safeguards” prevent double voting. Color us less than convinced. Democrats value nothing above political power, and Madison has had its share of electoral “problems” in recent years.

• North Carolina pulls 747,000 people off of voter registration rolls (Washington Examiner)

• Lefty Nantucket gets mugged by illegal immigrant reality: Four illegal aliens residing in Nantucket, Massachusetts, were arrested in the last 48 hours and charged with sex crimes against children. These arrests raise to at least six the number of illegal aliens arrested for crimes on the islands of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket this month. “I think many people are concerned about the violent illegal population,” observed Toby Brown, chair of the Nantucket GOP. “The biggest thing is obviously not knowing anybody’s history if they’re here illegally.” He added, “The legal immigrants will even discuss that.” Brown noted that while most of the recent migrants have been fine, “It’s such a small island that I find that things have gotten a little worse here on Nantucket.” Maybe this will help these leftist enclaves face the inherent problem of unchecked mass migration.

• Michigan legislature creates tip line for students to turn in parents for “improperly stored guns” (Woke Spy)

• Cuomo ramps up mayoral plans after Adams’s indictment (Politico)

Culture

• Black-market abortion pills are flooding the country: A new report released by the American Life League (ALL) found that the Food and Drug Administration’s dubious decision last year to green-light the mail delivery of abortion pills has opened the door for black-market drug dealers. The report states, “The abortion pill drug cartel is alive and well, especially in so-called ‘abortion-free’ states.” ALL found that “cartel-style networks” selling black-market abortion pills have spread to all 50 states. “Anyone can buy these unregulated, non-prescribed abortion drugs," ALL observes. "They are marketed over the internet to unverified customers from unauthorized, unvalidated suppliers, with no oversight as to drug quality, purity, or suitability of recipient.” This represents a serious threat to women’s health, as illustrated by a woman’s recent death in Georgia connected to abortion pills. The FDA’s decision to lift restrictions on the abortion pill was politically motivated, and its consequences were worse than many may have initially realized.

• New York barred from censoring pro-life groups’ abortion pill reversal promotion (Christian Post)

Misc.

• U.S. could be inches away from another economic crisis as massive port strike looms (Daily Caller)

• Bill Gates and other leftist mega-donors fund plan to inject climate hysteria into newsrooms (Daily Wire)

• Stem cells reverse woman’s diabetes — a world first (Nature)

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