The Patriot Post® · Wednesday: Below the Fold

Cross-Examination

• Biden family WH cocaine? According to reporting¹ from Susan Katz Keating, three unnamed “security sources” with direct knowledge of the investigation into the cocaine² found in the White House early last month know the name of the individual responsible. Furthermore, these sources claim that Joe Biden was personally informed by the Secret Service who this individual is. Keating attempted to contact members of the Biden family and Kamala Harris for comment but thus far has received no response. One of the sources claimed that the person responsible for the cocaine is not Hunter Biden, though “it was someone within the Biden family orbit.”

• EV company touted by Biden admin goes belly-up: Electric bus company Proterra filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy³ on Monday, citing “various market and macroeconomic headwinds” for the company’s failure. Just last year while touting his Build Back Better infrastructure boondoggle, Joe Biden pointed to Proterra as an example of the growing domestic electric vehicle manufacturing industry — that he is forcing onto the American public. “Since 2021, companies have announced investments totaling more than $200 billion in domestic manufacturing here in America,” Biden said. “Innovative younger companies like … Proterra, building electric buses, which I saw at a virtual tour last year when I met with the CEO virtually. And they really impressed me.” Well, it’s not so impressive now.

• “The swamp” is racist? Washington, DC, has long had the moniker “the swamp” for two pertinent reasons. The city was literally built on swamp land, and it is the home of the nation’s political class, which is known all over the world as being notorious for trafficking in varying degrees of corruption — the figurative dirt, muck, and mud. In other words, the term “swamp” is entirely fitting, which is why when Republican candidates such as Donald Trump or Ron DeSantis reference DC and talk of wanting to “drain the swamp,” they are speaking of tackling the problem of Washington’s corrupt bureaucracy. But leave it to The Washington Post⁴ to assert an entirely false meaning behind the term. Following Trump’s most recent indictment, DeSantis argued that the trial should be moved outside of DC: “It is unfair to have to stand trial before a jury that is reflective of the ‘swamp mentality.’” Following that statement, the Post ran to its fainting couch to cry “racism.” Noting DC’s once majority black population, the Post ridiculously claimed that DeSantis was effectively disparaging black people. No, DeSantis was observing how the political corruption of the federal government has deeply impacted the mindset of the entire city. It has absolutely zero to do with the racial demographics of Washington.

• SCOTUS resurrects ghost gun ban: On Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court lifted⁵ the block that had been placed on the Biden administration’s new so-called “ghost guns” rule by U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor last month. The decision was made in response to a request brought by the Biden administration. The new rule issued by Biden’s ATF bans the purchasing of “buy build shoot” kits that then can be assembled into a functioning firearm. Prior to the rule, individuals could purchase parts and kits without needing a background check. It looks like the Court will eventually take up the case.

• Hunter’s suspicious Ukraine connections: Joe Biden infamously boasted about how he got a “corrupt” Ukrainian prosecutor fired. That individual was Viktor Shokin, who was Ukraine’s prosecutor general at the time. After Shokin was fired, Yuri Lutsenko⁶ took over the post. Well, it has now been revealed that Lutsenko used the same lobbyists who represented Burisma, the energy company for which Hunter Biden was a board member when the senior Biden demanded Shokin’s firing. It just so happened that after Shokin was fired and Lutsenko took over, the investigation into Burisma Chief Executive Mykola Zlochevsky conveniently ended. Nothing to see here…

• Bidenomics is going swimmingly: For the first time in U.S. history, the amount of collective credit card debt held by Americans has surpassed $1 trillion⁷. From April through June, credit card debt rose by $45 billion, an increase of 4%. NerdWallet data analyst Elizabeth Renter observes, “Credit card delinquencies continue an upward trend, a growing sign that consumers are feeling the pinch of high prices and lower savings balances than they had just a few years ago.” This is what sustained high inflation gets you, and thanks to Joe Biden, it ain’t going away anytime soon.

Headlines

• Foreign oligarchs moved millions to Biden-tied firms before meeting Joe Biden, investigators say (Just the News⁸)

• Images show men armed with rifles, body armor coming across southern border (Fox News⁹)

• Massachusetts governor declares emergency over immigrants (Washington Examiner¹⁰)

• DeSantis launches major shakeup, replaces presidential campaign manager (Just the News¹¹)

• DeSantis throws another woke Soros prosecutor out of office (Daily Wire¹²)

• Biden declares national monument in Arizona, cuts off uranium mining on one million acres (National Review¹³)

• Anheuser-Busch to sell off eight beer, beverage brands amid falling Bud Light sales (National Review¹⁴)

• S&P drops ESG scale from its debt ratings (Washington Examiner¹⁵)

• Ohio rejects Issue 1, possibly paving the way for pro-abortion victory in November (Washington Stand¹⁶)

• Couple banned from fostering children because of their beliefs about transgenderism and marriage (RedState¹⁷)

• Kremlin critic Navalny convicted of extremism and sentenced to 19 years in prison (AP¹⁸)

• Policy: Harvard’s cynical move to get around the affirmative action decision (National Review¹⁹)

• Humor: Weather Channel invites Biden for interview after hearing how much he loves to discuss the weather (Babylon Bee²⁰)

For more editors’ choice headlines, click here²¹.