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Friday, June 30, 2023

Supreme Court Overturns Use of Affirmative Action in College Admissions

Wall Street Journal: The Supreme Court ruled that the race-conscious admissions policies of Harvard University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill violate the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. According to Roberts, the policies fail to comply with the twin commands of the 14th Amendment: that race may never be used as a “negative” and that it may not operate as a stereotype. However, universities may still consider an applicant’s discussion of how race affected his or her life, be it through discrimination, inspiration, or otherwise. Roberts clarified that this does not mean universities can simply establish through application essays or other means the regime declared unlawful by the Court (Wall Street Journal). Townhall: SCOTUS: “Many universities have for too long wrongly concluded that the touchstone of an individual’s identity is not challenges bested, skills built, or lessons learned, but the color of their skin. This Nation’s constitutional history does not tolerate that choice” (Twitter). CBS: More than 40% of universities, and 60% of selective schools, consider race to some degree in admissions decisions, according to Harvard’s filings with the court (CBS).

James Comer in Biden’s Business Dealings: “This was organized crime”

Daily Mail: Members of the Biden family may have accepted more than $40million from foreign nationals in return for forming favorable policy decisions, the Chairman of the House Oversight Committee has claimed. ‘This was organized crime – there’s no other way to define it,’ Kentucky Republican James Comer alleged in an interview. He said the committee had identified ‘six specific policy decisions’ where President Joe Biden acted where the committee ‘can’t come to any other conclusion’ other than that the president was ‘compromised’ (Daily Mail). Washington Examiner: Gary Shapley, a current IRS agent and whistleblower, estimated that Hunter Biden received $8.3 million from three foreign firms. However, Comer said that based on “all the money that the Bidens took in” from Burisma, a Ukrainian company that employed Hunter Biden, the amount received by Hunter Biden is likely to “exceed $20 million” (Washington Examiner).

Hunter Biden Addresses His Laptop Scandal While Under Oath

Just the News: Hunter Biden on Thursday morning gave a deposition as part of the civil lawsuit brought by Delaware computer repair shop owner John Paul Mac Isaac. Mac Isaac filed a defamation lawsuit against Biden in October 2022, according to Fox News. In March, Biden, whose father is President Joe Biden, filed a countersuit alleging Mac Isaac, to whom he brought a laptop in 2019 for repairs, illicitly distributed Biden’s data from the computer hard drive. The first son is accusing Mac Issac of invasion of privacy (Just the News). Daily Mail: Republican critics of the president have long seized on those leaks as proof of the Biden family being involved in using their family ties to rake in lucrative business deals abroad. The New York Post first broke the story, which many tech giants – reportedly at the behest of the Biden 2024 campaign – then censored as ‘Russian disinformation’ (Daily Mail).

Supreme Court Issues Ruling Protecting Religious Workers

Wall Street Journal: The Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision expanding the requirements employers must meet in accommodating the religious practices of their workers. In a 9-0 decision on Thursday, the court revived a lawsuit brought by an evangelical Christian postal worker who alleges he was discriminated against for refusing to deliver mail on Sundays. The justices didn’t rule on the merits of the case, instead instructing a lower court that had dismissed it to consider a new legal framework. To deny a request for religious accommodation, Justice Samuel Alito wrote for the court, “an employer must show that the burden of granting an accommodation would result in substantial increased costs in relation to the conduct of its particular business” (Wall Street Journal). Carrie Severino: For decades, the Court’s decision in Trans World Airlines v. Hardison contained language that set an unfortunate standard for review of Title VII employment discrimination claims based on religion. Lower courts would overwhelmingly side with employers whenever a religious accommodation would impose *any* burden on them (Twitter).

Kentucky, Tennessee Judges Temporarily Block Bills Aimed at Protecting Minors from Trans Surgery

Washington Post: Judges in Kentucky and Tennessee on Wednesday temporarily halted some restrictions on gender-affirming care for transgender youths shortly before the provisions were set to go into effect. Both federal courts blocked parts of respective state laws that would have prevented transgender minors from receiving hormone therapy and puberty blockers, which the Kentucky court described as “appropriate and medically necessary” in some cases. In Tennessee, the judge did not go as far as blocking a ban on surgeries for minors; in Kentucky, the case did not directly discuss surgeries. Litigation between the states and plaintiffs is ongoing, and the blocks could ultimately be reversed (Washington Post). Associated Press: Tennessee’s Republican-dominant General Assembly, as well as some Democratic lawmakers, quickly advanced the ban after Nashville’s Vanderbilt University Medical Center was accused of opening its transgender health clinic because it was profitable. Videos surfaced of a doctor at the private hospital touting that gender-affirming procedures are “huge money makers.” Another video showed a staffer saying anyone with a religious objection should quit (Associated Press).

CNN Plans to Include Live News on Max Streaming Platform

Bloomberg: Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. is planning to add live programming from CNN to the Max streaming service later this year, according to people familiar with the matter, betting that news can help attract subscribers. CNN’s owner has already decided to add live news to the service outside the US, said the people. Putting news on Max in the US could be complicated. Pay-TV providers like Comcast Corp. and DirecTV typically pay for the right to offer cable channels to their subscribers and are sensitive about efforts by media companies to offer the same programming online (Bloomberg). New York Post: The Chris Licht-run news channel reeled in 494,000 average total viewers in primetime in May– and just 113,000 viewers in the key 25-54-year-old demographic (New York Post).

France Prepares for Additional Riots

Reuters: Major French cities saw a third night of riots on Thursday as President Emmanuel Macron fought to contain a mounting unrest triggered by the deadly police shooting of a teenager of Algerian and Moroccan descent during a traffic stop. Forty thousand police officers were to deploy across France — nearly four times the numbers mobilized on Wednesday — but there were few signs that government appeals to a de-escalation in the violence would quell the widespread anger (Reuters). GB News: ‘All throughout the Parisian suburbs there were chaotic scenes last night, and cars burnt this morning… The type of riots from the suburbs we haven’t seen since 2005.’ Régis Le Sommier reports from Paris following the unrest sparked by the shooting of a teenager by the police (Twitter). Andy Ngo: Paris: Rioters in the banlieue (suburb) of Nanterre set fires after a 17-year-old driver ignoring police orders was shot dead. Activists are trying to make this a BLM George Floyd-style moment (Twitter).

US Officials Refuse to Share What the Chinese Spy Balloon Found

Wall Street Journal: The Chinese spy balloon that floated over the U.S. early this year was loaded with American-made equipment that helped it collect photos, videos and other information, U.S. officials said, citing preliminary findings from a closely held investigation. Several defense and intelligence agencies, along with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, have analyzed the debris retrieved after the U.S. military detected and shot down the balloon nearly five months ago in an event that added fresh, unexpected volatility to the already fraught U.S.-China relationship. That analysis found the balloon was crammed with commercially available U.S. gear, some of it for sale online, and interspersed with more specialized Chinese sensors and other equipment to collect photos, video and other information to transmit to China, the officials said. Those findings, they said, support a conclusion that the craft was intended for spying, not weather monitoring as Beijing has said (Wall Street Journal). Daily Wire: Republican senators have called out the Biden administration over its refusal to show the public what China was flying over sensitive U.S. military installations (Daily Wire).

Sen. John Fetterman’s Approval Rating Plummets to New Low

Washington Examiner: Sen. John Fetterman’s (D-PA) approval rating in his home state of Pennsylvania has dropped to President Joe Biden’s approval rating in the same state. Fetterman, who has struggled with public appearances since he suffered a stroke on the campaign trail last year, has an approval rating of 39% in the state, matching the president’s. But Biden has a higher “disapproval” rating than Fetterman, with 57% of Pennsylvanians disapproving of Biden’s job performance, compared to half for the senator, according to a poll from Quinnipiac (Washington Examiner). Townhall: The Democrat has often been accused of being incoherent and mentally unfit to hold a senator position. Comparing him to Biden, Fetterman makes the 80-year-old president seem sensible (Townhall).

10.

Four in Ten California Residents Consider Leaving Citing Cost of Living

USA Today: Most Californians love living in California, but many are also considering moving to another state. A new statewide poll found 70% of respondents expressed high levels of happiness with living in California and applaud the state for its diversity. But 4 in 10 Californians are considering moving out of state, with the majority saying it’s too expensive to live there. California has had three consecutive years of population declines (USA Today). Just the News: Another area of discontent was with the condition of the economy, 68% of individuals polled were totally dissatisfied, but it is the cost of everyday living expenses that is of highest concern with 81% of residents expressing dissatisfaction. It’s not surprising then to discover that 61% of residents polled say the cost of living is the number one reason they are considering leaving California. 46% of Californians surveyed say they can get by every month but can’t pay for unexpected expenses and struggle to save, while 18% find it difficult to make ends meet. Only 27% of residents cite the state’s policies as a reason to leave (Just the News).