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Friday, June 23, 2023

Testimony Before the House Ways and Means Committee Reveals Attempts to Charge Hunter Biden in 2022 Were Denied

Spencer Brown: Just days after Hunter Biden reached a sweetheart plea deal with his father’s Justice Department to avoid jail time for tax and gun crimes, the House Ways and Means Committee unveiled new testimony from IRS whistleblowers alleging roadblocks were set before them to ensure preferential treatment to President Joe Biden’s son. What’s more, whistleblower testimony claims that the U.S. attorney overseeing the probe of Hunter’s alleged tax crimes had his attempts to charge hunter in 2022 denied. Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (R-MO) confirmed on Thursday that his committee had “credible whistleblower testimony alleging misconduct and government abuse that is resulting in preferential treatment” for the president’s son, Hunter Biden (Townhall). Rep. Nicole Malliotakis; Ways and Means just released the testimony of IRS whistleblowers who investigated Hunter Biden for tax evasion on money received from foreign entities. Despite thousands of pages of evidence, they were stonewalled & retaliated against after recommending prosecution (Twitter).

62 Percent of Americans Believe Case Against Trump is Politically Motivated

Hill: Nearly two-thirds of Americans polled in a Quinnipiac University survey released Wednesday said the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) case against former President Trump over the mishandling of classified documents after he left the White House is mainly motivated by politics. The poll found that 62 percent of respondents said the DOJ’s case against the former president is mainly motivated by politics, while 34 percent of those surveyed think the federal charges against Trump are mainly motivated by law (Hill). Just the News: Opinions of the indictment vary starkly by political affiliation, with 91% of Republicans deeming the case a politically motivated affair, compared to just 28% of Democrats who had the same opinion. 65% of independents saw the case as mainly political (Just the News).

DOJ Convicts First Group of Individuals Involved in Spying, Stalking for the CCP

CNN: A federal jury in New York convicted three men Tuesday of stalking a New Jersey family on behalf of the Chinese government. The defendants – Michael McMahon, 55; Zhu Yong, 66; and Zheng Congying, 27 – were convicted of conspiracy and stalking charges related to the plot following a three-week trial. McMahon, a former sergeant in the New York City Police Department, and Yong were also convicted of illegally acting as an agent of the People’s Republic of China. The guilty verdicts are the first trial victory in the US Department of Justice’s efforts to combat Operation Fox Hunt, the Chinese Communist Party’s international alleged anti-corruption campaign targeting those the Chinese government considers fugitives – often former officials or rich individuals suspected of economic crimes (CNN). Townhall: The verdict that came after the end of the three week trial means McMahon now faces up to 20 years in prison, Zhu could be sentenced up to 25 years, and Zheng may spend as many as 10 years behind bars. The specific sentences to be served by the three will be determined by a federal district court judge (Townhall).

Randi Weingarten Appointed to Federal Government Position

National Review: American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten was appointed Monday to a new Department of Homeland Security school safety advisory council tasked with making recommendations on “emergency management,” “preparedness measures,” and “safety and security” in schools. Weingarten rose to prominence during the Covid pandemic as one of the chief advocates of school closures. The AFT, the nation’s second-largest largest teachers’ union, pushed the CDC to delay opening schools well after most other developed nations has returned children to the classroom, emails obtained by Americans for Public Trust revealed. In the fall of 2020, Weingarten denounced calls to reopen schools as “reckless, callous, cruel” (National Review). Townhall: Weingarten’s appointment was met with criticism from Republican lawmakers who don’t feel she should be rewarded after fighting to keep schools closed during the pandemic, which has had a devastating effect on the emotional, social, and educational well-being of U.S. children (Townhall). Congressman Ben Cline: Randi Weingarten chose appeasing teacher unions over getting students back in the classroom during the pandemic. Now, math and reading scores for the Nation’s 13-year-olds are at the worst decline in decades. Why is DHS rewarding bad policy (Twitter)?

Russian Court Denies Appeal of American Journalist Being Wrongfully Detained

Wall Street Journal: A Russian court upheld the extended detention of Evan Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal reporter deemed by the U.S. to be wrongfully held, ordering that he remain in Moscow’s Lefortovo prison until at least Aug. 30. Gershkovich, smiling briefly and wearing a dark T-shirt and jeans, appeared in the courtroom inside a transparent box. On May 23, a Moscow district court judge granted a request from the Federal Security Service, known as the FSB, to extend Gershkovich’s detention while he awaits trial, a ruling that the reporter’s lawyers appealed. Gershkovich, a 31-year-old American citizen who was accredited by Russia’s Foreign Ministry to work as a journalist, was initially detained by agents from the FSB while on a reporting trip in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg on March 29. He is being held on an allegation of espionage that he, the Journal and the U.S. government vehemently deny (Wall Street Journal).

Dr. Fauci Claims He is Worried for Future of Country Because of “Untruths”

Hill: Former White House chief medical adviser Anthony Fauci said he is worried about the future of the U.S. due to what he described as the “normalization of untruths.” While appearing at The Hill’s Future of Health Care Summit on Thursday, Fauci was asked if he was worried about the country as it heads into the 2024 election season. “I worry about the country a lot because what we’re seeing — and I think anybody who just takes a deep breath and looks at what’s going on — that we are in an arena, an era, of what I call the normalization of untruths,” Fauci said (Hill). National Review: But Fauci, who left government work at the end of last year, was a noted distributor of untruths throughout the pandemic. Former CDC director Robert Redfield testified in March that Fauci’s suppression of the Covid-19 lab-leak theory was “antithetical to science.” The House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic revealed days earlier that Fauci “prompted” a scientific study in February 2020 that purported to debunk the lab-leak theory. Fauci has also been criticized for repeated flip-flopping on his support for vaccine mandates and the effectiveness of masks (National Review).

Median Age in the United States Hits All-Time High of 38.9

New York Times: The median age in the United States reached a record high of 38.9 in 2022, according to data released Thursday by the Census Bureau. It’s a rapid rise. In 2000, the median age was 35, and in 1980, the median was 30. While many 38-year-old millennials may still feel young, that age is an unusually high median for the country. Low birthrates are the main driver of the nation’s rising median age, experts said. Birthrates fell steeply in the first year or so of the coronavirus pandemic. Since then, they have ticked up. Still, since the beginning of the Great Recession, in 2007, fertility has remained very low compared with previous generations (New York Times). Daily Wire: Many American families are delaying having children if they choose to have any at all. The CDC report charted a continued rise in births from women in their early 40s and late 30s as well as a continued decline in teen births, which have dropped a staggering 80% since 1991. Births among women aged 40-44 have not decreased since 1981, with 2020 being an exception (Daily Wire).

College Professor in Texas Fired After Explaining a Person’s Sex is Determined by Their Chromosomes

Christian Post: A Texas college has been accused of firing a biology professor because some students took issue with his teaching that the sex of a human being is determined by their chromosomes. St. Philip’s College, which is part of the Alamo Colleges District, reportedly fired professor Johnson Varkey in January after teaching at the academic institution for around 20 years. The First Liberty Institute, a law firm based in Plano, Texas, that often handles religious freedom issues, sent a complaint letter on Tuesday to officials with St. Philip’s and Alamo Colleges. According to the complaint letter, Varkey was fired after students walked out of his class when he spoke about how human sex was determined by chromosomes, as opposed to a chosen gender identity. Varkey was terminated in late January under the accusation of having engaged in “religious preaching, discriminatory comments about homosexuals and transgender individuals, anti-abortion rhetoric, and misogynistic banter” (Christian Post). Daily Wire: St. Philip’s College has faced complaints from conservative-leaning professors in the past, with political science professor Will Moravits saying last month that his contract was terminated because of his beliefs after student complaints. A lawyer for Moravits said that he had only attempted to get students “to engage all sides of controversial issues, such as police brutality and gender ideology. Many of his engagements with students in class discussion came in direct response to their questions” (Daily Wire).

Detransitioned UK Girl: “I kind of feel a little bit mutilated and like an experiment gone wrong”

Fox News: A girl from the United Kingdom, who had both of her breast removed during a medical gender transition, is calling out the gender clinic that was involved in some of her care. Jasmine, a former patient at the Travistock gender clinic, says she regrets medical interventions to change her gender. The girl reported that transitioning made her feel worse at every stage. Jasmine said she was relying on medical professionals. “I don’t really know what it’s like to have the body of an adult,” she said. “I kind of feel a little bit mutilated and like an experiment gone wrong walking through society sometimes. I feel, like, sometimes jealous of other people, women, who are biologically female. That they still have their natural voice, their natural characteristics. And I don’t anymore,” she continued (Fox News). Chris Rufo: This is haunting: A doctor at a major children’s hospital explains how puberty blockers shut down a child’s hypothalamus, which controls emotions, sexuality, and the aesthetic sense. “To shut down that system is to shut down what makes us human” (Twitter).

10.

US Coast Guard Says Passengers, Crew of Submarine Visiting Titanic Wreck Have Deceased

Just the News: U.S. Coast Coast Rear Admiral Johh Mauger said Thursday the crew and passengers on the Titanic submersible are dead. Officials said attributed their deaths to a “catastrophic event” or “implosion.” The submersible had been missing since Monday. It went missing off the coast of Newfoundland (Just the News). CNBC: The Titan was estimated to have about a four-day supply of breathable air when it launched Sunday morning in the North Atlantic — but experts have emphasized that was an imprecise approximation to begin with and could be extended if passengers have taken measures to conserve breathable air. And it’s not known if they survived since the sub’s disappearance (CNBC).