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Thursday, July 28, 2022

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Senators Manchin and Schumer Reach Agreement on Reconciliation

Wall Street Journal: Sen. Joe Manchin (D., W.Va.) reached an agreement with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to vote on a package designed to lower energy and healthcare costs while narrowing the federal deficit, in a sudden apparent revival of President Biden’s tax and climate agenda that Mr. Manchin had seemingly killed just weeks ago. The deal would raise roughly $739 billion, with much of the revenue coming from a 15% corporate minimum tax and enhanced tax enforcement efforts at the Internal Revenue Service, as well as projected savings from allowing Medicare to negotiate some prescription-drug prices. Of that new revenue, roughly $369 billion would be spent on climate and energy programs, with another $64 billion dedicated to extending healthcare subsidies for three years for some Affordable Care Act users. The bill would dedicate the rest of the new revenue toward reducing the deficit, according to a summary provided by Messrs. Schumer and Manchin. Mr. Manchin’s comments Wednesday, made in a statement issued while the West Virginia senator isolates with Covid-19, marked a turnabout in his position. Mr. Manchin had weeks earlier said he wouldn’t soon support legislation dealing with climate policies and raising taxes, citing inflation concerns. His stance was seen as torpedoing his party’s goal of passing a bill before the midterms (Wall Street Journal). Jake Sherman: MANCHIN says he’s reached agreement with Schumer on a reconciliation deal that deals with climate, energy, tax and health care (Twitter). CNBC: The full Senate will consider the bill next week, Schumer and Manchin said. They hope that the legislation will meet the Senate Parliamentarian’s budget reconciliation rules, allowing Democrats to pass it without needing GOP votes. The Democrats’ razor-thin majority in the Senate includes Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who caucuses with the Democrats, and Vice President Kamala Harris’ ability to cast the tie-breaking vote. With a single defection, Democrats’ hopes to pass any legislation strictly along party lines fall apart (CNBC).

FDA Adds Warning: Puberty Blockers Can Cause Brain Swelling and Vision Loss

ABC: Earlier this month, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration added a warning to gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonists, commonly known as “puberty blockers,” indicating there were serious risks for youth who take them. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) identified six cases in females between the ages of 5 and 12, who were taking GnRH agonists, which presented “a plausible association between GnRH agonist use and pseudotumor cerebri.” Pseudotumor cerebri, also known as idiopathic intracranial hypertension, occurs when the pressure inside your skull spontaneously increases, which can cause brain swelling, severe headaches, nausea, double vision, and even permanent vision loss. The warning seems to conflict with U.S. Assistant Secretary of Health Rachel Levine’s claim that “there is no argument among medical professionals” that youth access to “gender-affirming care,” such as puberty blockers, is valuable and important (ABC). Daily Wire: Puberty blockers and hormones have come under fire again after President Joe Biden’s U.S. Assistant Secretary of Health Rachel Levine asserted that the U.S. should not limit youth access to so-called “gender-affirming care.” However, Florida’s Department of Health has argued the opposite of Levine’s claims, saying that due to the lack of conclusive evidence, and the potential for long-term and irreversible effects, doctors should not prescribe children 18 years old and younger puberty blockers or hormone therapy (Daily Wire).

Ukraine Strikes Strategic Bridge Vital for Russian Resupply Efforts

Fox News: Ukrainian forces took out a key bridge in Kherson, defense officials said Wednesday, “destroying” Russia’s plans as it looks to advance its troops in the south. Head of the joint coordination press center for the Ukrainian Defense Forces, Natalia Humeniuk, said that high precision strikes had hit the Antonovsky Bridge in an attempt to control Russian logistical and transportation routes, Ukrainian news outlets first reported. When pressed about the implications of Kyiv targeting its own infrastructure, Humeniuk told reporters, “We are not destroying infrastructure, we are destroying the enemy’s plans.” The bridge, which crosses the Dnieper River, has become a major strategic target for Ukrainian defense forces in recent weeks as they look sever access between the Russian army in Kherson to occupied areas off of the Crimean Peninsula (Fox News). Senior Fellow at Foreign Policy Research Institute Rob Lee: Footage of the damage on the Antonovskiy bridge after last night’s strikes. Regional officials have closed traffic on the bridge (Twitter).

Federal Reserve Raises Rates by 0.75 to Mitigate Inflation

Associated Press: The Federal Reserve on Wednesday raised its benchmark interest rate by a hefty three-quarters of a point for a second straight time in its most aggressive drive in three decades to tame high inflation. The Fed’s move will raise its key rate, which affects many consumer and business loans, to a range of 2.25% to 2.5%, its highest level since 2018. The central bank’s decision follows a jump in inflation to 9.1%, the fastest annual rate in 41 years, and reflects its strenuous efforts to slow price gains across the economy. By raising borrowing rates, the Fed makes it costlier to take out a mortgage or an auto or business loan. Consumers and businesses then presumably borrow and spend less, cooling the economy and slowing inflation. The Fed is tightening credit even while the economy has begun to slow, thereby heightening the risk that its rate hikes will cause a recession later this year or next. The surge in inflation and fear of a recession have eroded consumer confidence and stirred public anxiety about the economy, which is sending frustratingly mixed signals (Associated Press). Wall Street Journal: Officials at their June meeting agreed they likely needed to raise rates to at least 3% this year and to levels high enough to slow economic growth, which could send the unemployment rate up (Wall Street Journal).

Democrats Postpone Vote on Assault Weapons Ban, Police Reform

Politico: House Democrats have abandoned plans to pass an ambitious package of public safety bills, including legislation to ban so-called assault weapons, after days of tumult within their caucus. Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her leadership team made the decision to punt the vote in a closed-door meeting Wednesday, with several key groups of Democrats still raising concerns with some of the bills, such as a lack of police accountability measures. With only four votes to spare, party leaders lacked the necessary support to pass the package this week. But senior lawmakers will still work to resolve the remaining problems so legislation can be ready when the House returns to vote sometime in August on other measures, according to a Democrat familiar with the negotiations (Politico). HotAir: Why not pass the pieces that can get the votes? House Democrats actually had that teed up, but progressives demanded an everything-or-nothing-at-all approach of the kind that sunk the Build Back Better proposal as well as the election-federalizing bill, HR1. The policing bill was on life support not so much due to GOP opposition but because of House moderates fearing a midterm backlash to the progressive demands (HotAir).

Justice Clarence Thomas Will No Longer Teach at George Washington University Law School

Insider: Associate Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas will not be teaching at George Washington University Law School this fall, the school’s student newspaper reported Wednesday. The news, which comes weeks after circulation of a student-led petition to fire Thomas as a lecturer over his June 24 vote to overturn Roe v. Wade, was announced in an email from Gregory Maggs, a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, who has been co-teaching a constitutional law seminar with Thomas since 2011 (Insider). Brigitte Gabriel: Justice Clarence Thomas will no longer be teaching his class at George Washington University Law School after snowflake students complained. The esteemed Supreme Court Justice has been lecturing at GWU for over a decade (Twitter). Townhall: In reacting to the news, Professor Jonathan Turley, who also teaches at the law school, shared the article from The GW Hatchet, referring to it as a “huge loss.” His tweet suggests that Thomas’ old age and the Court’s full docket may have something to do with it (Townhall).

Biden Proposes Trading WNBA Player Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan for Russian Terrorist, “Merchant of Death”

Daily Wire: Democrat President Joe Biden has reportedly offered to exchange notorious Russian weapons trafficker Viktor Bout in exchange for the release of WBNA player Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan. CNN reported that several sources inside the administration said that the proposal received Biden’s “backing” after he was briefed on the matter. “We communicated a substantial offer that we believe could be successful based on a history of conversations with the Russians,” a senior administration official told CNN. “We communicated that a number of weeks ago, in June.” Bout, who is often referred to as the “Merchant of Death,” is a notorious arms trafficker who inspired the 2005 Nicolas Cage movie “Lord of War.” Bout was convicted on terrorism charges back in 2011 for trying to sell tens of millions of dollars worth of missiles to shoot down U.S. Military helicopters (Daily Wire). Fox News: Russian officials see Bout as a “high-value asset” and are likely pushing hard for the exchange, according to former Defense Intelligence Agency officer Rebekah Koffler. “Moscow wants him back because he possesses critical insights that he can share with the GRU, his former agency. Having been in a U.S. prison and interrogated by U.S. officials, he knows what our intelligence requirements are and other information that is valuable for the Russians,” Koffler, the author of “Putin’s Playbook: Russia’s Secret Plan to Defeat America,” told Fox News. “It would be a big mistake for the U.S. to give up Viktor Bout, as much as one feels compassion for Ms. Griner and Mr. Whelan” (Fox News).

Donald Trump Notifies CNN of Intent to Sue For Defamation

New York Post: Former President Donald Trump is threatening to sue CNN over what he called “defamatory statements” about his repeated insistence that massive election fraud was responsible for his defeat in the 2020 presidential election – a claim rejected in the courts and by his own Department of Justice. “I have notified CNN of my intent to file a lawsuit over their repeated defamatory statements against me,” Trump said in a statement released by his Save America PAC on Wednesday. “I will also be commencing actions against other media outlets who have defamed me and defrauded the public regarding the overwhelming evidence of fraud throughout the 2020 Election,” the 45th president added. “I will never stop fighting for the truth and for the future of our Country!” The 282-page notice dated July 21 accuses the cable news giant of publishing “false statements” about Trump in “numerous articles and televised transmissions.” Trump attorney James Trusty estimated CNN has aired “defamatory comments” about his client roughly 7,700 times and called on the outlet to “publish a full and fair correction, apology, or retraction” in all mentioned articles, transcripts or broadcasts within 10 days of the notice (New York Post). Daily Mail: The letter also cited examples dating back to the 2016 election, where it accused CNN of allowing claims that Trump was ‘illegitimately elected’ to go unchecked and ‘fed a narrative’ that repeatedly defamed Trump’s character before and after the 2020 presidential election. Dozens of lawsuits filed after the 2020 election alleging widespread fraud that tipped the election in favor of President Biden were summarily dismissed, suggesting Trump’s defamation suit may not get far (Daily Mail).

Portland Public Schools Teach Students Queer Theory As Young as Kindergarten

City Journal: Portland Public Schools has launched a war against the “gender binary” and adopted a radical new curriculum teaching students to subvert the sexuality of “white colonizers” and begin exploring “the infinite gender spectrum.” I have obtained a cache of documents from a source inside Portland Public Schools that exposes the nature of this curriculum. The lessons seek to turn the principles of academic queer theory into an identity-formation program for elementary school students; it has been adopted in many of the district’s K-5 classrooms. The premise is simple: privileged white heterosexuals have created an oppressive gender system in order to dominate racial and sexual minorities. As the curriculum explains, “gender is colonized,” and Western societies have used language to erase alternative sexualities. “When white European people colonized different places, they brought their own ideas about gender and sexuality,” the curriculum reads. “When the United States was colonized by white settlers, their views around gender were forced upon the people already living here. Hundreds of years later, how we think and talk about gender are still impacted by this shift.” (When reached for comment, Portland Public Schools wrote: “We make certain that our curriculum is LGBTQ+ inclusive for students who identify as transgender, gender non-conforming, gender-queer, and queer to create a safe and inclusive environment for all of our students.”) The curriculum begins in kindergarten with an anatomy lesson featuring graphic drawings of children’s genitalia. The lesson avoids the terms “boy” and “girl” in favor of the gender-neutral variants “person with a penis” and “person with a vulva,” because, according to the curriculum, some girls can have penises and some boys can have vulvas. “Any gender and kid can have any type of body,” a related presentation reads (City Journal). Christopher Rufo: Portland Public Schools is now teaching elementary school students to subvert the sexuality of “white colonizers,” acknowledge that girls can have penises, and begin experimenting with “ze/zir” pronouns and exploring “the infinite gender spectrum” (Twitter).

10.

Mega Millions Lottery Reaches $1 Billion For 3rd Time in History

Wall Street Journal: More than $1 billion is on the line for the next Mega Millions lottery drawing on Friday, which is the third-highest Mega Millions jackpot ever, lottery officials said. No ticket matched all six winning numbers after Tuesday night’s drawing, pushing the jackpot from $830 million to $1.025 billion, Mega Millions said Wednesday. The odds of winning the jackpot are around 1 in 302 million, according to Mega Millions. To take home the jackpot, a person’s winning ticket must have all six numbers that are drawn from the Mega Millions machines. The next drawing was set for Friday at 11 p.m. ET, lottery officials said. Each ticket costs $2. The Mega Millions jackpot has only been bigger two other times: in 2018, when it reached more than $1.5 billion, and last year, when the prize money was $1.05 billion, according to Mega Millions (Wall Street Journal).

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