Thursday, August 8, 2024

August 8, 2024

Good morning,

Welcome to the news for independent thinkers

Leading the News . . .

Harris VP pick Tim Walz may not appeal to Middle America in the way her campaign hopes . . . "If you look at Walz and the media around him, he's working on his car, he's working on his farm, he's holding a rifle with his bird dog with him," Jon McHenry, GOP polling analyst and vice president at North Star Opinion Research, told the DCNF. "That imagery looks like it appeals to Midwestern, non-college working class voters. But when you look at his votes on the southern border and him being very accepting of illegal immigrants in Minnesota, those kinds of issues are going to be a hard sell for working class voters in the Midwest." Daily Caller

He looks the part. But he's not playing the part.

Politics

Walz knew his battalion was being eyed for Iran when he left it . . . Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz knew his National Guard battalion was being eyed for a likely deployment to Iraq when he decided to retire. Walz said he had a "responsibility" to "serve if called on," shortly before he dropped out of the Guard, an archived campaign statement shows. That statement eliminates any doubt over whether Walz knew an Iraq deployment was on the table when he decided to leave the service. A source who served in the Minnesota National Guard at the time previously told the Free Beacon that the timing of Walz's retirement "left a bad taste in a lot of peoples' mouths." Washington Free Beacon

Walz falsely suggested he was a veteran of war in Afghanistan . . . Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D), who is facing accusations of stolen valor, allegedly falsely claimed in a previous press release that he was a veteran of Afghanistan. In a 2006 press release issued by his campaign, Walz was described as being a "veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom." The war in Afghanistan, which began on October 7, 2001, was called Operation Enduring Freedom, according to the Naval History and Heritage Command website. The operation's start came after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Bretibart

Cori Bush threatens pro-Israel AIPAC in primary loss meltdown . . . Less than two days after the American Israel Public Affairs Committee's headquarters was vandalized, Rep. Cori Bush (D., Mo.) promised to tear down the Jewish group—a remark that caps off a failed primary campaign that began with an accusation she was "fanning the flames of antisemitism." Bush blamed the Jewish group for her loss to her AIPAC-funded primary challenger, St. Louis prosecuting attorney Wesley Bell. "All they did was radicalize me, and so now they should be afraid. See, now they about to see this other Cori, this other side," Bush said during her concession speech. "AIPAC, I'm coming to tear your kingdom down." Washington Free Beacon

Vance trolls Harris, sizes up Air Force Two . . . Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) approached Air Force Two "to check out" the plane after both he and Vice President Harris landed at the same airport in Wisconsin. When he told gathered press what he was doing, Vance also attacked Harris for not answering questions from the media. "I figured that I would come by and get a good look at the plane because hopefully it's going to be my plane in a few months," Vance said in front of Air Force Two. Harris's campaign responded to Vance approaching Air Force Two by calling it "weird." The Hill

Harris forced to confront anti-Israel protestors . . . Vice President Harris on Wednesday was interrupted at a campaign rally by individuals protesting the war in Gaza for the first time since she launched her presidential campaign. Demonstrators in the crowd at Harris's Detroit rally repeatedly shouted out as the vice president spoke to an airplane hangar packed with supporters, "Kamala, Kamala you can't Hide, we won't vote for genocide." "You know what, if you want Donald Trump to win then say that. Otherwise I'm speaking," she said. The Hill

Pelosi on Biden: 'We did not have a campaign that was on the path to victory'

Biden 'not confident at all' in a peaceful transfer of power if Trump loses election . . . President Biden said he's "not confident at all" that there will be a peaceful transfer of power if former President Trump loses the upcoming election. In his first interview since exiting the 2024 race, Biden was asked by CBS News whether he was confident in a peaceful transition following the Capitol Hill riots that erupted on Jan. 6 in 2020. "If Trump loses, I'm not confident at all," Biden told CBS' Robert Costa in the preview clip, after mistakenly saying he wouldn't be confident "if Trump wins." Fox News

National Security

Border agency warns agents that Iran, proxies may try to cross border to attack US . . . In a stark warning, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency is alerting all field offices that Iran or its proxies may try to transport "operatives, money or materials" across the southern or northern U.S. borders to conduct a terrorism attack against Americans, according to an agency memo. The memo from the CBP's Office of Field Operations urged agency personnel to take a "heightened posture due to ongoing security threats" and suggested that recent, coordinated attack from Iran-backed Hezbollah on Israeli children playing in Golan Heights soccer fields raised the distinct threat of similar attacks against the West. Just the News

Cost rising for US as it fights off Houthi drones . . . The length and uncertain endgame for the Red Sea mission, which has pulled in so many high-end American assets including multiple aircraft carriers, destroyers, cruisers and air wings stationed in the region, has frustrated members of Congress. "We are burning readiness to the tune of tens of billions of dollars for what really amounts to a ragtag bunch of terrorists that are Iran proxies," said Rep. Mike Waltz (R-Fla.), who chairs the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Readiness. "Iran is the core of the issue." Politico

China seeks to run strategic influence operations through TikTok . . . The Chinese Communist Party and People's Liberation Army view TikTok as one of several strategic tools for political influence operations and military support actions, according to an open-source intelligence report recently made public. The report, written by two former military and intelligence experts, warns that Beijing will use the wildly popular short-video sharing app to target young people in the United States and "shift American narratives subtly to favor a more China-centric worldview." Washington Times

International

Suspects hoped to 'kill as many people as possible' in foiled plot at Taylor Swift shows in Vienna . . . Austrian security officials said Thursday that the main suspect of the two arrested in a foiled plot to attack now-canceled Taylor Swift shows in Vienna fully confessed to his plans to "kill as many people as possible outside the concert venue." Officials found ties to the Islamic State group, and when the 19-year-old began working on his attack plans in July, he quit his regular job and "conspicuously changed his appearance and adapted to IS propaganda." They said the 19-year-old wanted to use knives or self-made explosives outside the Ernst Happel Stadium to kill as many people as possible. Associated Press

You should also know

Popular sugar substitute linked to increased risk of heart attack, stroke . . . Consuming foods that contain erythritol, a popular artificial sweetener and common ingredient in keto diet products, increases the risk of heart attack and stroke, a new Cleveland Clinic study warns. Erythritol makes platelets in the blood more active, which may lead to blood clots, researchers explained Thursday in the journal Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology. "This research raises some concerns that a standard serving of an erythritol-sweetened food or beverage may acutely stimulate a direct clot-forming effect," said study co-author Dr. W. H. Wilson Tang. New York Post

Doctors can now save very premature babies, but most hospitals don't try . . . Medical advances over the past several decades have given hospitals the ability to save younger and younger premature newborns. Yet most hospitals don't try—and parents often aren't aware of what's possible or that other hospitals, even just a few miles away, might offer their newborns a fighting chance. Doctors are now capable of saving the lives of babies born at 22 weeks and, in rare cases, a week earlier, with improved techniques to help tiny lungs develop and protect fragile skin and organs. Wall Street Journal

Harvard must face antisemitism lawsuit . . . Harvard University must face a lawsuit after it "failed its Jewish students" and neglected to address anti-Semitism on campus, a federal judge ruled Tuesday in Boston. U.S. District Judge Richard Stearns wrote in the 25-page ruling that the Ivy League school repeatedly failed to address "an eruption of antisemitism" on campus and said anti-Israel protesters engaged in repetitive harassment. Washington Free Beacon

British croc expert jailed for sexual abuse of dogs . . . A renowned British crocodile expert has been jailed for 10 years and five months in Australia, after admitting to sexually abusing dozens of dogs, in a case which horrified the nation. Adam Britton, a leading zoologist who has worked on BBC and National Geographic productions, pleaded guilty to 56 charges relating to bestiality and animal cruelty. He also admitted to four counts of accessing child abuse material. BBC

Guilty Pleasures

Parrot identifies 12 objects in three minutes . . . A TikTok-famous parrot from Florida earned a Guinness World Record by successfully identifying 12 objects in three minutes. Apollo, a 4-year-old African gray parrot belonging to Dalton and Victoria "Tori" Mason, identified objects including a bug, a book and socks by name. The Masons said Apollo's training is inspired by the methods outlined by Irene Pepperberg, an animal psychologist who spent 30 years working with a parrot named Alex. UPI

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