• DOJ probes DC crime data: Crime in the nation’s capital is harder to pin down than it should be. On August 11, President Donald Trump announced DC’s “Liberation Day” in response to that city’s out-of-control crime. The Leftmedia quickly jumped in to report that crime was down — from record highs in 2023. But even the statistics showing a drop in crime are suspect, according to the head of the DC Police Union. The Justice Department has launched a probe into crime reporting in DC, responding to allegations of falsified crime data dating as far back as 2020. At the same time, statistics on the current federal crime crackdown in The Swamp are coming in from the DC Police Union, and they show that carjackings are down 83%, robberies are down 46%, and crime in total is down 8%. Naturally, the same media outfits that blithely accepted previous statistics are subjecting the new numbers to rigorous scrutiny.

• Hoaxers lose security clearance: Some 37 current and former intelligence officers have had their security clearances revoked over their role in promulgating the Russia collusion hoax. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard explained that these individuals “abused the public trust by politicizing and manipulating intelligence, leaking classified intelligence without authorization, and/or committing intentional egregious violations of tradecraft standards.” The list included former Principal Deputy DNI Stephanie O'Sullivan and Vinh Nguyen, both of whom served as aides to former DNI Director James Clapper. O'Sullivan and Nguyen helped assemble the intel report, which claimed that “the Russian Government aspired to help President-elect Trump’s election chances when possible by discrediting Secretary Clinton and publicly contrasting her unfavorably to him.” This action follows Gabbard’s release of a trove of documents showing the Obama administration’s effort to further the Russia hoax with the aim of undermining Donald Trump’s presidency.

• So apparently we’re not ever banning TikTok: During Donald Trump’s first term, he called for banning the China-backed social media platform TikTok due to its spyware. Now, he has not only repeatedly pushed off enforcing a congressional mandate that TikTok be either sold to a non-China-connected entity or shut down, but his administration has joined the platform. On Tuesday, the White House launched its own TikTok account. As White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt explained, “The Trump administration is committed to communicating the historic successes President Trump has delivered to the American people with as many audiences and platforms as possible.” Leavitt also credited TikTok with helping Trump get his message out during his presidential campaign, saying, “we’re excited to build upon those successes and communicate in a way no other administration has before.”

• Obama Presidential Center eyesore nears $1B: Obama’s windowless, brutalist Presidential Center in Chicago is distressing locals as its cost soars $500 million over what was expected. The 225-foot-tall center secured a 99-year lease for $10 in 2018, promising revitalization for the local area. Now, the still-under-construction project looms over residents who fear displacement, says Alderwoman Jeanette Taylor. Taylor fought for affordable housing around the site, in line with the area’s past, and won some concessions. However, the broader Community Benefits Agreement that would have protected long-term residents was rejected. In May, Donald Trump offered to use his real estate expertise to help the project along, as its original estimate of $330 million has ballooned to $830 million.

• DHS increases scrutiny on citizenship and visa applications: The Department of Homeland Security has updated guidance for Customs and Immigration Services (USCIS). Effective immediately, anti-Americanism, anti-Semitism, or expressing common cause with terrorist organizations is a dealbreaker for an applicant. The guidance goes further, instructing USCIS to enforce immigration laws, including the maximum use of discretion, and to account for applicants’ positive actions to assimilate, such as seeking education, community involvement, employment, and paying taxes. Evaluators are instructed to review an applicant’s history with the Biden-era parole program, focusing on whether they adhered to all relevant rules and laws. All in all, the new guidance represents another stark shift from the previous administration’s permissive policies by focusing on the balance between an applicant’s needs and the nation’s best interests.

• “America First” = hate? The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), which was originally created to expose and fight against anti-Semitism, has unfortunately drunk the leftist Kool-Aid of progressive globalism. It was recently discovered that the ADL classifies “America First” as hate speech, which it claims promotes anti-Semitism, racism, and xenophobia. ADL further notes that while Donald Trump has embraced the phrase, it promotes “nationalism, nonintervention, and anti-immigrant and anti-globalism beliefs.” In other words, the ADL apparently sees patriotism, avoiding engaging in foreign wars, enforcing national sovereignty rights, and opposing the inherent ills of globalism as bad things. The irony is that Trump and his administration have done more to fight against the rise of anti-Semitism than any administration this century. The ADL is seriously out of touch.

• WEF enlists BlackRock’s Larry Fink as interim co-chair: Those who follow the globalist movement won’t be surprised that the World Economic Forum has enlisted the CEO of BlackRock, Larry Fink, as its new co-chair after Klaus Schwab stepped down in April. Allegations of misconduct by Schwab have been dismissed after an investigation. Fink and the other co-chair, Swiss billionaire André Hoffmann, represent a continuation of Schwab’s legacy rather than the change of course that some might have hoped for. Fink is well known for his support of “Environmental, Social, and Governance” policies that attempted to blackmail corporations around the world into supporting climate hysteria and Marxism. While Fink and the WEF have mostly abandoned the “ESG” moniker, they have not abandoned the principles behind it, now using phrases like “stakeholder capitalism” and “transition investing” to accomplish the same ends.

• NY AG Letitia James pressured to resign: The Trump administration is calling on New York Attorney General Letitia James to resign in the wake of her mortgage fraud scandal. The director of the Justice Department’s Weaponization Working Group, Ed Martin, called on James to resign for the “good of the state and nation.” Martin sent her office a letter in which he counseled, “Her resignation from office would give the people of New York and America more peace than proceeding. I would take this as an act of good faith.” James’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, responded to Martin, claiming he was involved in seeking “political revenge against a public official in the opposite party.” Lowell added, “Let me be clear: that will not happen here.” The Justice Department is alleging that James “falsified bank documents and property records.”

Headlines

• White House announces Putin agreed to bilateral meeting with Zelensky (Fox News)

• Trump deploys three missile destroyers near Venezuela (Newsweek)

• Bank executives blow the whistle on how Obama, Biden admins pressured them to debank conservatives (Fox Business)

• National Park Service fires biologist who helped raise trans flag at Yosemite (National Review)

• Google announces first nuclear site to power its data centers (Engadget)

• Tesla drivers can pursue class action over self-driving claims, judge rules (Daily Wire)

• Milwaukee hires convicted murderer to lead violence prevention office (Not the Bee)

• Canada opposition leader Pierre Poilievre secures return to Parliament (Daily Wire)

• Humor: Eight possible names for MSNBC’s exciting new rebrand (Babylon Bee)

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