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Wednesday, May 31, 2023

Kevin McCarthy's Fiscal Responsibility Act Gains Momentum

Kevin McCarthy: House Republicans never gave up. While the president ducked negotiations and Senate Democrats were missing in action, Republicans passed a bill that forced Mr. Biden to the table and changed the paradigm. With the introduction of the Fiscal Responsibility Act, we are changing the direction in Washington through a responsible debt-limit increase that cuts spending, saves taxpayers money and restores economic growth (Wall Street Journal). The measure is advancing in the face of opposition from some in Freedom Caucus: The legislation scaled its first major obstacle on Tuesday night, when the House Rules Committee voted to clear the way for a debate on the plan on Wednesday, after right-wing opponents failed to muster enough allies to block it (New York Times). Hugh Hewitt: Some conservatives are angry that the GOP did not get everything that all of the 222 members of the caucus wanted. Realists know that was never going to happen, not with only one-half of the Congress under very narrow Republican control. But to make progress means winning in November of 2024, and this deal puts the GOP on the road to that crucial next step (Townhall Review).

House Committee Chairman James Comer Threatens Contempt of Congress Against FBI Director Wray

Fox News: House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer is taking steps to hold FBI Director Christopher Wray in contempt of Congress after the Bureau notified the panel it will not comply with its subpoena related to a possible criminal scheme involving then-Vice President Joe Biden. Comer, R-Ky., has subpoenaed the FBI for a document that allegedly describes a criminal scheme involving Biden and a foreign national and relating to the exchange of money for policy decisions. However, the FBI notified the panel it would not provide the document to the committee by the Tuesday afternoon deadline. “Today, the FBI informed the Committee that it will not provide the unclassified documents subpoenaed by the Committee,” Comer said Tuesday. “The FBI’s decision to stiff-arm Congress and hide this information from the American people is obstructionist and unacceptable” (Fox News). New York Post: A contempt vote doesn’t always shake loose documents or result in criminal prosecution (New York Post).

TikTok’s Storage of Americans’ Social Security Numbers in China Intensifies Security Crisis

Daily Caller: TikTok has stored thousands of TikTok creators’ and businesses’ financial data such as Social Security numbers and tax IDs in China, according to records obtained by Forbes. TikTok CEO Shou Chew testified in March that TikTok stores American information in Virginia and Singapore, but Forbes obtained data that shows the platform stored it in China. The creators and businesses gave their data to the company to receive payment from the platform and TikTok stored it on Chinese servers that employees can access, according to Forbes (Daily Caller).

Tensions Escalate as China and India Engage in Tit-for-Tat Journalist Expulsions

Wall Street Journal: India and China have ejected each other’s journalists in recent weeks, virtually wiping out mutual media access and deepening a rift between the world’s two most populous nations. New Delhi denied visa renewals this month to the last two remaining Chinese state media journalists in the country. China has likewise denied credentials for Indian journalists. The reciprocal moves are likely to add to acrimony between the two neighbors, whose relationship has deteriorated since a deadly brawl on the contested Sino-Indian border in June 2020. Since then, a once-warming relationship between the two members of the so-called Brics grouping of emerging powers has grown testy, spilling over into a wide-ranging bilateral dispute. The dispute over journalists reflects the depth of the chill that has been cast over bilateral relations since the border clash in June 2020. India’s Foreign Minister, S. Jaishankar, has said relations can’t return to normal until there is peace along the shared border (Wall Street Journal).

Chinese Fighter Jet Move Toward U.S. Jet “Unnecessarily Aggressive”

Associated Press: The U.S. military said Tuesday that a Chinese fighter jet flew aggressively close to a U.S. reconnaissance aircraft over the South China Sea, forcing the American pilot to fly through the turbulent wake. The Chinese J-16 fighter pilot “flew directly in front of the nose of the RC-135,” which was conducting routine operations in international airspace last Friday, U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said in a statement. It called the Chinese move an “unnecessarily aggressive maneuver.” U.S. defense leaders have complained that China’s military has become significantly more aggressive over the past five years, intercepting U.S. aircraft and ships in the region. And tensions with China have only grown in recent months over Washington’s military support and sales of defensive weapons to self-governing Taiwan, China’s assertions of sovereignty to the contested South China Sea and its flying of a suspected spy balloon over the U.S. In the statement Tuesday, the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said America will continue to “fly, sail, and operate — safely and responsibly — wherever international law allows” and expects all other countries to do the same (Associated Press).

Shoplifting Epidemic Plagues Downtown San Francisco: Old Navy Store Hit 22 Times in Two Days

Old Navy is leaving. CBS: Repeating an all too familiar story in downtown San Francisco, another major retailer has become the victim of rampant shoplifting. In an exclusive interview, an Old Navy worker, who does not want to be identified, described the scope of the problem. “They’re (shoplifters) there every day. When I’m on the floor walking around, I would say at least 12, 14 during the day,” the worker said. “It’s really bad because it’s downtown San Francisco and it’s really out of control.” The worker said the flagship store, which is set to close on July 1st, was hit 22 times by thieves in the last two days. And in the last year, the problem has worsened. “I recognize a lot of them, and they’re just super comfortable, sometimes, they’ll take two or three mesh bags at a time, and that sometimes is $2,000 worth of stuff,” they said (CBS). Post Millennial: In recent months, Nordstrom, Whole Foods, T-Mobile, Walgreens, and Saks OFF 5th, all have announced their departures, citing rampant retail theft, violence from homeless vagrants, and loss of foot traffic as residents refuse to shop in the once-beloved city (Post Millennial).

The Vanishing Act: How Unflattering Vaccine Research Is Being Erased

PJ Media: More than 300 COVID-19-related articles have been retracted — long after they’d done their damage — due to a lack of scientific truthfulness and ethical guidelines, according to Retraction Watch, a website that monitors retractions of science-related articles. According to Gunnveig Grødeland, a senior researcher at the Institute of Immunology at the University of Oslo, many researchers took ethical shortcuts when writing their essays. Grødeland states that there were other reasons articles were pulled, including researchers using too small sample size and new media outlets being deceptive about what the papers actually concluded. Sometimes the data changed, and articles were later retracted (PJ Media). Hot Air: So all of that unpleasantness is simply disappearing from medical journals and research archives. And the media would like us all to pretend that it never happened. But it did happen. And if we don’t learn anything from all of this, it will happen again when the next pandemic inevitably comes along. The need for speed must be moderated by adhering to proven practices from the past (Hot Air).

Nevada Dems Slam Schools with $5K Daily Fines for Rejecting Trans Athletes

In what they’re calling the “The Bud Light Amendment.” Fox News: Democrats in the Nevada legislature swiftly passed an amendment to penalize school boards that prevent biological males who identify as transgender from using women’s locker rooms and competing on girls sports teams. The amendment, passed Friday without a hearing, placed an administrative penalty of $5,000 per day on school boards in the state that do not allow students to participate in “school activities” based on their “gender identity or expression.” The Democrat-introduced amendment then warns that any school that violates the amendment and does not allow students to use facilities based on their “gender identity” will be penalized. The bill now heads to Gov. Joe Lombardo’s, R-Nev., desk for a final signature, but the Republican has opposed similar proposals, previously voicing his belief that individuals should compete in sports based on their biological sex, rather than gender identity (Fox News)

Alabama Governor Kay Ivey Champions Equality and Fairness with Expanded Protections for Women’s Sports

NBC News: Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey on Tuesday signed legislation that will ban transgender women from playing on female sports teams in college, becoming the latest state to place restrictions on transgender athletes. The legislation expands the state’s existing 2021 ban on transgender athletes on K-12 sports teams to include college teams. Students assigned one sex at birth would be prohibited from playing under a different gender identity, even after undergoing hormone treatment. “Look, if you are a biological male, you are not going to be competing in women’s and girls’ sports in Alabama. It’s about fairness, plain and simple,” Ivey said in a statement (NBC News).

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ESPN’s Sam Ponder Accused of “Bigotry” While Advocating for Fairness in Women's Sports

Daily Caller: ESPN commentator Samantha Ponder has been accused of “bigotry” after posting a tweet opposing biological male participation in women’s athletics, Sports Illustrated reports. Ponder, who has worked at ESPN for over a decade, quote tweeted former University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines, a vociferous opponent of biological male participation. Gaines had posted concerns from California student-athletes and parents regarding fairness in track and field competitions. On Sunday, USA Today columnist Nancy Armour took issue with Ponder’s tweet in an opinion article headlined “What ESPN’s Sam Ponder calls ‘fairness’ is plain old bigotry.” “Don’t be fooled by the people who screech about ‘fairness’ to cloak their bigotry toward transgender girls and women,” she wrote. “This is, and always was, about hate, fear, and ignorance” (Daily Caller). Sam Ponder: Call me whatever names you want, but it doesn’t change the fact that it is inherently unfair for biological males to compete in female sports. It’s literally the reason they were separate in the first place + the reason we needed Title IX (Twitter).