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Tuesday, May 16, 2023

Durham’s Report Reveals FBI’s Wrongdoing in Trump Russia Probe

Just the News: Special Counsel John Durham released a damning final report Monday after more than three years investigating the Russia collusion probe, declaring the FBI had no verified intelligence or evidence when it opened the Crossfire Hurricane probe of President Donald Trump’s campaign in the summer of 2016. The prosecutor, however, recommended no new criminal charges (Just the News). Wall Street Journal: He said it was designed to help department leadership determine how the FBI “can do a better, more credible job” responding to politically charged allegations in the future (Wall Street Journal). RNC Research: CNN’S Jake Tapper says the Durham report — which found the Russian collusion probe should’ve never been launched — is “devastating to the FBI” (Twitter).

Consumer Debt Eclipses $17 Trillion for First Time

CNBC: Total consumer debt hit a fresh new high in the first quarter of 2023, pushing past $17 trillion even amid a sharp pullback in home borrowing. The total for borrowing across all categories hit $17.05 trillion, an increase of nearly $150 billion, or 0.9% during the January-to-March period. That took total indebtedness up about $2.9 trillion from the pre-Covid period ended in 2019 (CNBC). Hill: The rise in debt was spurred on by a $121 billion climb in mortgage balances in the U.S., bringing total mortgage debt to just over $12 trillion. It was the most substantial growth in any category (Hill).

Mayor Eric Adams Attempts to Change Sanctuary Status of NYC

Katie Pavlich: As President Joe Biden’s border crisis continues to rage, Democrats in states and cities across the country are grappling with how to handle an unprecedented influx of illegal immigration into their communities. In New York City, Mayor Eric Adams has been complaining about the arrival of 500 illegal immigrants per day and is taking drastic measures to make room where he says there is none. Now, Mayor Adams is lamenting laws that made his jurisdiction a sanctuary city and asking a court to halt the policy (Townhall). Charlie Kirk: Mayor Eric Adams is “now in court, today, asking a judge to revisit” NYC’s sanctuary city law: “No one thought that they would be dealing with a humanitarian crisis of this proportion” (Twitter).

Ron DeSantis Signs Legislation Banning DEI Practices from Universities Funded by State

National Review: Florida governor Ron DeSantis on Monday signed legislation that prohibits state-funded colleges and universities from spending money on diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. In addition to defunding DEI projects, the law also bars public colleges from infusing critical race theory and related grievance politics ideologies into curricula for general education courses. Those classes “may not distort significant historical events or include a curriculum that teaches identity politics” stemming from “theories that systemic racism, sexism, oppression, and privilege are inherent in the institutions of the United States and were created to maintain social, political, and economic inequities,” according to the law (National Review). Chris Rufo: Governor DeSantis has signed legislation abolishing the DEI bureaucracy and restoring colorblind equality in all Florida public universities (Twitter).

California Reparations Council Demands Black People Get Priority in Renting, Buying

Daily Mail: California’s reparations task force has said that black people should be given priority in the renting and buying market – and demanded that a state agency should have the veto power over real estate decisions to ‘lessen racial segregation.’ The task force was created to study the economic effects of slavery and discrimination in the state back in September 2020, making California the first state to embark on studying the possibility of reparations for black Americans — even though slavery was banned in California even before it joined the union (Daily Mail). Washington Examiner: The recommended housing practices are on top of direct monetary payments for black citizens, which could go as high as $1.2 million per person. The cost for the monetary payments alone is estimated to be $800 billion, nearly 2.5 times the entire state budget of California. All this comes as the state faces a $22.5 billion budget deficit for fiscal 2024 (Washington Examiner).

New York’s Covid App Costs $200,000 Monthly with Hardly Any Users

National Review: The essentially obsolete digital vaccine card that New York developed during the pandemic has cost the state government over $64 million since inception, and the number continues to grow as contracted companies are paid to maintain it. The Excelsior Pass app was once touted as a virtual passport for vaccination verification, useful for presenting to New York City restaurants and recreational venues that required vaccination for entry. A couple of years after its launch, the project’s cost has ballooned past the original $2.5 million price tag. Since New York City and other localities around the state dropped the vaccine requirement for patronizing businesses and workplaces, the app is rarely used by most residents. Even now that the app has been rendered nearly useless in the state, with most stores and employers having dropped their vaccine mandates, New York pays IBM $200,000 a month for data storage services surrounding the app. In March, $2.2 million was spent on “application development” for it (National Review).

Border Patrol Chief Delivers Report on Weekend After Title 42 Ended

Fox News: United States Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz on Monday disclosed approximate figures for apprehensions and “gotaways” at the southern border following last week’s expiration of Title 42. Tweeting early Monday morning, Ortiz said that in the past 72 hours, three agents had been assaulted, 14,752 people had been apprehended, and approximately 4,316 “gotaways” had been reported (Fox News). RNC Research: Obama DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson in 2019: “I know that 1,000 (illegal border crossings) overwhelms the system. I cannot begin to imagine what 4,000/day looks like.” Last week, illegal border crossings topped 10,000/day (Twitter). No surprise to see the New York Times doing yeoman’s work to uplift the democrat cause. New York Times: Historically, there is no conclusive evidence that more aggressive enforcement and more punitive sanctions deter mass migration (New York Times).

School Closures Worse on Students Than Originally Thought

HotAir: By now anybody who has paid attention knows that school closures were a disaster for children. Just how much of a disaster, though, is ill-understood by most people. And until recently other factors that harmed children during the COVID panic are only now beginning to be discussed. But the research is clear: the longer schools are closed, regardless of race or income, the worse the outcomes for students and the more persistent the losses. And the more social restrictions put on child social activity outside school the worse off the children were (HotAir). New York Times: Math, reading and history scores from the past three years show that students learned far less during the pandemic than was typical in previous years. By the spring of 2022, according to our calculations, the average student was half a year behind in math and a third of a year behind in reading (New York Times).

Biden Administration Mulls Over Removing Chocolate Milk from School Cafeterias

These are the same people who say children have the agency to undergo gender transition surgery without parental consent. Wall Street Journal: Chocolate milk, long a school-cafeteria mainstay, could be coming off the menu. Concerned about the amount of added sugars children are consuming, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is considering a ban on flavored milk— including chocolate, strawberry and other varieties—in elementary and middle schools when it adopts new standards for school meals (Wall Street Journal).

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Sports Illustrated Features Trans Model on Swimsuit Cover

Apparently not everyone learned a lesson from Bud Light. Daily Wire: Transgender-identified model Kim Petras will be on the cover of Sports Illustrated this year, the outlet announced Monday. The 30-year-old singer and model will be the second trans-identified model to be featured on a cover. The first, Leyna Bloom, modeled for SI in 2021. Petras had another big announcement Monday. The musician’s debut album, “Feed the Beast,” will be out on June 23. Petras caused controversy earlier this year during a Grammy performance with Sam Smith, who identifies as non-binary. The duo took home the award for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for their hit single “Unholy.” But then the overtly satanic-themed and sexualized performance earned the pair a lot of backlash (Daily Wire).