Here is the Heritage Take on the top issues today.Please reply to this email to arrange an interview.

 
 


 
Feds weigh charges against Hunter Biden <[link removed]> – Lying on a “Firearms Transaction Record,” which every purchaser of a gun like Hunter Biden has to fill out, is a very serious felony, punishable by up to 10 years in prison. Criminal tax evasion, which is another possible charge that Hunter Biden faces, is also a serious felony and a conviction could lead to up to 5 years in prison, a $100,000 fine, as well as a requirement to pay back the evaded tax with a 75% penalty. In the same year that Hunter Biden purchased a gun, the Justice Department prosecuted 60% of the criminal referrals it received for lying on a gun purchase form. There should never have been a two-year delay in this investigation. That delay, according to FBI whistleblowers, was the result of partisan interference by FBI insiders. Heritage Experts: Hans von Spakovsky <[link removed]> and Zack Smith <[link removed]> 
 
For All Intents and
Purposes, America Now Has No Southern Border <[link removed]> – After spending three days on the southern border talking with local leaders, citizens, and illegal aliens themselves, I was surprised by how much of a well-oiled machine illegal immigration has become. Because of the sheer
number of illegal migrants coming across the border into the U.S.—the Border Patrol reports <[link removed]> over 2 million encounters in fiscal year 2022, which ended Sept. 30—the Biden administration has created a well-functioning system to handle the influx. Illegal aliens know that under the policies of the Biden administration they likely can enter America and be released into the interior of the country. Illegal aliens who intentionally evade the Border Patrol—maybe because they are smuggling drugs or people, or because they have a
criminal record—threaten the safety not only of those living in border towns, but Americans across the country. Heritage Expert: Virginia Allen <[link removed]> 
 
Biden’s marijuana pardon is convenient and cheap
politics <[link removed]> – Today’s amnesty will obscure two serious contemporary problems that cannabis causes the public. One is that 21st century cannabis is far more powerful than before. We need to investigate the effects of that more powerful cannabis. Increased cannabis use will inevitably lead to an increased number of roadway crashes, maimings, and deaths. If the president is serious about saving lives, he needs to undertake a “whole of government” effort to address that problem. Biden hands out billions of dollars to graduate students in debt for obtaining PhDs in useless fields—now pardons people convicted of drug offenses—and he will be called a humanitarian, rather than someone who is pandering to his political base. This amnesty—18 months into Biden’s presidency and less than a month before a midterm election—is an example of convenient and cheap politics, not honest statesmanship. 90+% of convictions in federal court are the result of plea bargains. The overwhelming majority of people in federal prison for marijuana possession actually committed more serious offenses but were able to negotiate away more serious charges. Large-scale marijuana distributors who struck a sweet deal to avoid more serious consequences do not deserve an additional break by having their records wiped clean. Heritage Expert: Paul Larkin <[link removed]> 
 
Elon Musk Agrees to
Complete Twitter Deal at Original $44 Billion Price <[link removed]> – Musk needs to make numerous changes to ensure that free speech—not arbitrary, inconsistent, and censorious decision makers—guides Twitter’s future. He should also empower users, establish unprecedented transparency, open-source Twitter’s algorithms, and reinforce data privacy. Americans shouldn’t have to rely on billionaires to protect our sacred right to free speech and expression. Hopefully, however, Musk’s takeover serves as the catalyst for reforms that hold all Big Tech platforms accountable for their abusive practices and constrain Big Tech’s ability to harm society. Heritage Expert: Jake Denton <[link removed]> 
 
Judicial independence is an
obstacle to power, necessary for liberty <[link removed]> – “Those who cannot remember the past,” wrote philosopher George Santayana, “are condemned to repeat it.” Ignorance of the
past is bad enough, but current attempts to politicize our courts are a deliberate attempt to compromise the judicial independence that America’s founders said is “peculiarly essential” for the liberty we have enjoyed. The “injuries and usurpations” by the British king cited in the Declaration of Independence included making judges “dependent on his Will.” The U.S. Constitution took steps to address this by letting federal judges serve for life and blocking Congress from cutting judicial pay. That kind of structural protection, as well as the more general separation of powers into three branches, safeguards judges’ independence in making their decisions. Heritage Expert: Thomas Jipping <[link removed]> 
 
Government Micromanagement Running
Economy Into Ground <[link removed]> – Businesses will lose the ability to deduct research and development and capital expenses in the year they bear those costs. Businesses are losing expensing for research and
development <[link removed]> in 2022, and they are set to gradually lose capital expensing <[link removed]> between 2023 and 2027. That adds insult to injury for businesses that aren’t in favored industries, as the cost of investing is already skyrocketing amid soaring interest rates. The federal government took a socialist turn in the summer of 2022. Federal lawmakers chose a handful of industries that they deemed worthy of investment (and some that they deemed unworthy), and they used the tax code and other policies to effectively change the prices of those investments. In a free economy, many thousands of interactions between ordinary buyers and sellers of goods and services determine prices. Prices reflect the reality of production costs and tradeoffs, and they reflect the accumulated knowledge and preferences of everyone in the market. Heritage Expert: Preston Brashers <[link removed]> 
 
Supreme Court Examines Whether Alabama’s Congressional Districts Violate Voting Rights Act <[link removed]> – The Supreme Court has previously held that using race as the predominate factor in redistricting violates the one-person, one-vote standard of the equal protection
clause of the 14th Amendment. Of course, some of the justices—including the newly appointed Ketanji Brown Jackson—seemed more interested in making long soliloquies <[link removed]> instead of truly questioning the advocates. While not explicitly addressed, it’s important to note that Alabama’s congressional maps have remained essentially unchanged since 1992 when they were drawn up and approved by a federal court. Both the Bush Justice Department and the Obama Justice Department approved very similar maps drawn up after the 2000 and 2010 census when Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act was still in
place. Regardless of what happens with this case, it’s clear that the outcome will have major ramifications when states next redraw their congressional maps. Hopefully the court will establish clear rules that will not leave legislators guessing whether they will be hauled into federal court and accused of drawing discriminatory districts. Heritage Experts: Zack Smith <[link removed]> and
Hans von Spakovsky <[link removed]>  
 
Ukraine’s Post-War Reconstruction Strategy: Breaking Free of the Soviet Economic
Legacy <[link removed]> - The United States has a strategic national interest in seeing Ukraine transform itself into a strong economic barrier to future Russian imperialist threats to Europe and efforts by Communist China to exploit Ukraine’s current situation. The wealth generated from transition would help to finance Ukraine’s defense. Its westward integration, anchored by its Eastern European neighbors, would align with U.S. demands that Europe spend more on its defense; deter future Russian belligerence; and, most importantly, help Europe to become a more robust strategic partner against Beijing’s machinations. Heritage Expert: Max Primorac <[link removed]>  
 
Woke Ideology Has Metastasized
in US Military. It Will Take Time to Remove Its Divisive Influence <[link removed]> – Efforts to uncover the prevalence of woke, divisive critical race theory-based equity training and policies in the military are bringing to light an extensive problem. The latest revelation is the Air Force Academy promoting gender-based
“inclusivity” indoctrination <[link removed]> while advertising for a fellowship that excludes <[link removed]> cadets based on sexual orientation. Those are only the latest tips of the critical race theory and gender ideology icebergs.The divisiveness of critical race theory’s and gender ideology’s influence on the military is pervasive, infecting military academies, operational units, and—incredibly—even military medical care. Heritage Expert:
Brent Sadler <[link removed]>

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