The Patriot Post® · Thursday: Below the Fold

Cross-Examination

• Secret Service to brief House on Cocainegate today: The Secret Service has moved up a previously planned briefing to the House Oversight and Accountability Committee originally scheduled for July 24 to today. The briefing, in which the Secret Service will update committee members on its investigation into the cocaine found in the White House on July 2, will be held in a sensitive compartment facility with only lawmakers with appropriate clearances allowed to attend. The Secret Service reportedly has no fingerprints and no leads and closed its investigation … without identifying a suspect. We guess the Hunter, er, hunt proved too difficult. (Updated)

• California Dems block child-trafficking bill: On Wednesday, the California Assembly Public Safety Committee killed bipartisan state Senate bill SB14 that would have made child trafficking a “serious felony.” With the sex trafficking of minors becoming an increasing problem across the nation and specifically in California, why would Democrats kill this bill? Maybe they don’t see the trafficking of minors as a problem. Well, not all Democrats are in favor of child trafficking, as Governor Gavin Newsom took the unusual step of inserting himself into the debate, even siding with Republicans in calling for the bill’s passage. Newsom is a shrewd politician who is eying a presidential run, and he knows he cannot be seen as indifferent on the issue of child trafficking. But hopefully his stance is more than mere political grandstanding and he is genuinely committed to protecting children from predators.

• Montana cuts ties with ALA: On Tuesday, the Montana State Library Commission voted to cut ties with the American Library Association due to the ALA’s current president being an avowed Marxist. The commission voted five to one to disassociate from the ALA, sending a letter announcing the state’s “immediate separation.” The commission explained, “Our oath of office and resulting duty to the Constitution forbids association with an organization led by a Marxist.” Last April, Marxist lesbian Emily Drabinski became president of the ALA, and, wouldn’t you know, “Drag Queen Story Hour” became a growing issue in public libraries across the country. Montana now becomes the first state to officially cut all ties with the ALA. Expect more to follow.

• Drop in the population of young kids: So much for a predicted COVID baby boom. Indeed, not only did it not happen, but data is showing that the opposite occurred. As if to make the cause more obvious, blue states that were under lockdowns for the longest period of time are showing the biggest decrease in the population of children under the age of five. Only five states have seen an increase in the number of children under five, and unsurprisingly they are all red states. Overall, this decrease in the number of young children does not bode well for our nation’s future. Children are our future, but too few of them means a more challenging and costly one.

• CNN apologizes for using correct pronouns: The Leftmedia cable outfit CNN has once again beclowned itself, this time with a grave apology for accidentally “misgendering” “transgender” activist Dylan Mulvaney — he of Bud Light infamy. CNN issued the groveling on-air apology after receiving blowback from Rainbow Mafia goons like Media Matters’ Ari Drennen. CNN’s Kate Bolduan issued the apology: “CNN aims to honor individuals’ ways of identifying themselves, and we apologize for that error.” Prior to the apology, Drennen shared a clip of CNN correspondent Ryan Young doing a segment on the “culture war” highlighting Bud Light wherein he referred to Mulvaney accurately but accidentally using male pronouns. Drennen called it an “unbelievably bad CNN segment.” No wonder Americans are rejecting mainstream media — clearly upholding a blatantly bogus narrative matters more than speaking truth.

• Spanish leader’s fake bike ride: Spain’s top ecology minister, Teresa Ribera, pulled a Pete Buttigieg this week when she showed up to the EU 2023 climate summit on a bike. The truth is she merely hopped on the bike for the last hundred yards after traveling to the conference in a limo. Ribera has taken deserved criticism for her PR stunt, with one Twitter user observing, “Teresa Ribera’s thing about making you arrive by bicycle at a climate summit, traveling just a hundred meters, escorted by two armored gasoline cars is another of the images that perfectly define this government.” As Rush Limbaugh famously characterized the Left, “symbolism over substance.”

Headlines

• Six big highlights as FBI Director Chris Wray defends his agency amid scandals (Daily Signal)

• IRS whistleblowers to testify on alleged Biden family influence-peddling schemes (Daily Wire)

• Chinese hackers spied on the State and Commerce Departments (National Review)

• Fentanyl production has shifted from China to Mexico, House panel is told (Daily Signal)

• Ray Epps to be criminally charged for events on January 6, his attorney says (Daily Wire)

• Epps sues Fox News for promoting January 6 conspiracy theory (National Review)

• Unsold electric cars are piling up on dealer lots (Axios)

• FDA approves first over-the-counter birth control pill (National Review)

• Washington public school health clinics offer gender transition treatment for students (National Review)

• Naked climate change activists allow child to join protest (Fox News)

• Black Lives Matter movement marks 10 years of activism and renews its call to defund the police (AP)

• Japanese take classes to relearn how to smile after years of masking (Free Beacon)

• Satire: Joe Biden has been using Common Core this entire time to calculate how many grandchildren he has (Genesius Times)

For more editors’ choice headlines, click here.