Thursday, June 13, 2024

June 13, 2024

Good morning,

Welcome to the news for independent thinkers

Leading the News . . .

Republicans hold Merrick Garland in contempt . . . The House held Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress on Wednesday for his refusal to turn over the audio recording of President Joe Biden's classified documents interview with special counsel Robert Hur. All Republicans but one voted for the resolution that holds Garland in contempt for refusing to comply with a subpoena. House GOP leaders have been persistent in their requests for the audio recording, while Garland and House Democrats have claimed the recording is unnecessary because the transcript is already public. Rep. Dave Joyce (R-OH) was the sole GOP "no" vote on the resolution. Washington Examiner

The administration will claim executive privilege to try to keep Garland from being arrested.

Politics

House subpoenas 15 Biden Cabinet secretaries for docs on voter mobilization 'scheme' . . . A House committee is issuing subpoenas to 15 executive agencies in the Biden administration related to constitutional concerns with one of Biden's executive orders. In March 2021, Biden signed Promoting Access to Voting, which states that "executive departments and agencies should partner with State, local, Tribal, and territorial election officials to protect and promote the exercise of the right to vote, eliminate discrimination and other barriers to voting, and expand access to voter registration." The plan has already come under scrutiny from Senate Republicans, who have called it a federal "voter mobilization" effort with "potentially partisan impacts." Fox News

It's an attempt to prevent Biden's Cabinet from becoming an arm of the DNC.

Karine Jean-Pierre refuses to rule out Hunter pardon . . . White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Wednesday would not rule out the possibility of President Joe Biden commuting his son Hunter Biden's sentence after he was convicted this week on three felony charges in a federal gun trial. Jean-Pierre declined to definitively answer questions from reporters about whether Joe Biden would commute the sentence. "I haven't spoken to the president about this since the verdict came out and as we all know, the sentencing hasn't even been scheduled yet," Jean-Pierre said. Washington Free Beacon

Trump, McConnell set for tricky GOP unity moment . . . Former President Trump is headed to Capitol Hill to strike a unified tone ahead of November with congressional Republicans — including a number of senators he doesn't always see eye to eye with. At the top of the list is Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who Trump has repeatedly feuded with since leaving office. The two are set to be in the same room together for the first time since 2020 and their infamous fallout, which has been semi-repaired in recent months as the GOP leader officially endorsed Trump's campaign. The Hill

WATCH: Climate change activists rush field at Congressional Baseball Game

Fetterman 'at fault' for recent car accident, police report reveals . . . Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., was speeding and "at fault" for the car accident that landed him, his wife and another driver in the hospital on Sunday, according to a Maryland State Police report. Fetterman, driving a Chevrolet Traverse, passed a witness on I-70 in northwest Maryland "at a high rate of speed, well over the posted speed limit" before rear ending a Chevrolet Impala around 7:45 a.m. near the exit to I-68, the six-page report said. The speed limit was 70 miles per hour. Fetterman and the other driver were not tested for alcohol or substance use, the report said. USA Today

So he must have been going at least 90 mph.

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National Security

New Chinese megaport in South America rattling US . . . In this serene town on South America's Pacific coast, China is building a megaport that could challenge U.S. influence in a resource-rich region that Washington has long considered its backyard. The Chancay, Peru deep-water port, rising here among pelicans and fishermen in small wooden boats, is important enough to Beijing that Chinese leader Xi Jinping is expected to inaugurate it at the end of the year in his first trip to the continent since the pandemic. Wall Street Journal

Houthis tie down US Navy in Red Sea . . . It was just after 9 p.m. when radar operators aboard this U.S. Navy destroyer in the Red Sea spotted a tiny arrow on their screens: a missile hurtling toward them at five times the speed of sound. The Jan. 9 attack was one of the largest maritime battles the U.S. has faced since World War II. Houthi rebels in Yemen that day launched 18 drones and cruise missiles along with the ballistic missile at the Laboon and three other American destroyers, a U.S. aircraft carrier and a British warship in an attack that unfolded over a dozen hours. Yemen's Houthis have launched hundreds of attacks, and American military officials see no end in sight. Wall Street Journal

International

Wild horses return to Kazakh plain after centuries . . . Endangered wild horses have returned to the Golden Steppe of Kazakhstan for the first time in at least 200 years after decades-long efforts. Zoo officials say it's a triumph of generations of conservation work. "This is an endangered species returning to their ancestral lands, a species which went extinct in the wild in the 1960s, last seen in Mongolia...so it's just marvelous... a miracle," said Filip Mašek, a spokesman for Prague Zoo. BBC

Money

Americans not taking advantage of high interest rates . . . Americans are still losing a lot of money on their money. As the Federal Reserve moved to tame inflation and raised interest rates over the past two years, the returns on bonds and other savings vehicles surged. Many people took advantage of the rising rates, but many others didn't. About $17.5 trillion sits in commercial banks, for example, and the average savings account earns 0.45% in interest a year, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Wall Street Journal

Culture

Air Force celebrates Pride Month with CEO of group backing child gender transitions . . . The Department of the Air Force hosted a two-day pride month celebration that featured the CEO of an organization that advocates for children to undergo irreversible medical sex change procedures and pushes sexually explicit LGBT books onto children. A promotional Air Force poster advertising the "DAF Pride Celebration" reveals how the military branch celebrated pride month, showing that the CEO of the pro-transgender organization PFLAG, Brian Bond, was a keynote speaker at the event. Daily Wire

New Mexico school district used grant money to buy 'chest binders' . . .A school district in New Mexico was given a $10,000 grant to spend on a "transgender closet" but instead spent the vast majority on "chest binders," according to a public records request. Las Cruces Public Schools was given the check by the nonprofit group It Gets Better, an LGBT organization with a focus on children, to build a closet in Centennial High School meant to fashion students with cross-dressing opportunities at school. Instead, the district spent $8,370 of the money on over 200 chest binders, which are tight fabrics used to compress breasts to "masculinize" a female's chest. Washington Examiner

A closet meant to fashion students with cross-dressing opportunities at school?

San Francisco one of first major cities to declare 'sanctuary' status for transgenders . . . San Francisco recognized Pride Month differently this year — by declaring itself a sanctuary for transgender and gender non-conforming people. The city's Board of Supervisors unanimously voted Tuesday in favor of the sanctuary status, making San Francisco one of the first major cities in the nation to do so. The resolution symbolically indicates those identifying as transgender, gender non-conforming, intersex are safe to seek transitioning health care. Fox News

Lia Thomas effort to overturn rule against men competing in women's events fails . . . Former University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas' challenge to a rule that prevents the biological male from competing against women in "elite events" was shot down Wednesday. The Court of Arbitration for Sport denied the legal effort of Thomas, a biological male, to overturn rules issued in March 2023 by World Aquatics, the international governing body for competitive swimming and several other Olympic events, according to The Guardian. Thomas had sought to compete against women in the 2024 Summer Olympic games in Paris. Daily Signal

You should also know

Watch: Nathan Wade advisor interrupts CNN interview as he is grilled on Fani Willis fling . . . Nathan Wade was in the middle of an interview with CNN when the disgraced Donald Trump prosecutor was suddenly interrupted by his media consultant in bizarre scenes. Wade was being questioned by CNN's Kaitlan Collins about the timeline of his relationship with Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. Collins asked Wade when his romantic relationship with Willis began, but just as he was about to answer, he was interrupted by a man who told him to stop and remove his microphone. Daily Mail

Hunter Biden brought to lovers to Joe Biden home at one time . . . Hunter Biden was so strung out on crack cocaine a few years ago that he brought both his girlfriend and his brother's widow — both of whom he was sleeping with — to President Biden's Virginia home. There, the first son kept his drug paraphernalia "locked up" in his own wing of the house, according to the now ex-girlfriend. Lunden Roberts, whose bombshell memoir, "Out of the Shadows: My Life Inside the Wild World of Hunter Biden," is out August 20, told The Post that Hallie Biden did not appear "very street smart" when the two spent time with an often-high Hunter at Joe Biden's rented house in McLean, Va. New York Post

Guilty Pleasures

Tipsy teacher with BAC over twice the legal limit not facing charges: 'Not illegal to teach drunk . . . A second-grade teacher who was arrested in California for being drunk in class is no longer facing charges — because prosecutors concluded "it is not illegal to teach drunk." Wendy Munson's blood-alcohol level was more than twice the legal limit when she was nabbed midway through teaching students at Nuestro Elementary School, north of Sacramento, last October. But after months of probing the incident, the Sutter County District Attorney's Office finally revealed Monday that it hasn't found any charges that'll stick. New York Post

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