The Show Notes: Biden Doubles Down, The Hillsong Collapse, & Hunter Who?
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Clip of the day:
Biden Doubles Down
Let’s recap: Biden made three gaffes over the weekend:
1) Biden tells U.S. troops they’re going to Ukraine.
2) Biden implies the U.S. would use a chemical weapon in response to Russia.
3) Biden calls for a regime change in Russia.
Biden denied all of these gaffes and doubled down with prescripted answers that be seen on a cheat sheet here. To make matters worse, Biden made a fourth gaffe by letting slip the United States military is training Ukrainian forces in Poland.
Poisoned
Roman Abramovich and a Ukrainian delegation were poised earlier this month during peace talks between Russia and Ukraine. Abramovich, a Russian oligarch, helped broker talks between the two countries. Russia has a long history of poisoning those they dislike. Here’s more from The Wall Street Journal:
Mr. Abramovich, Ukrainian lawmaker Rustem Umerov and another negotiator developed symptoms following the March 3 meeting in Kyiv that included red eyes, constant and painful tearing, and peeling skin on their faces and hands, the people said. Mr. Abramovich has shuttled between Moscow, Belarus and other negotiating venues since Russia invaded Ukraine.
Mr. Abramovich was blinded for a few hours and later had trouble eating, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Here are more headlines from Ukraine:
Russia claims it will scale back fighting near Kyiv during peace talks. - Axios
Signs of progress in Russia-Ukrain talks. - NYT
The war is reshaping how Europe spends money. - Yahoo
Russian commander committed suicide. - NY Post
Ukrainian refugee count tops 3.9 million. - WSJ
They tried to reveal what life was like under Russian occupation. Then they disappeared. - CNN
The secret world of pro-Russia hacking was exposed in a data leak. - WSJ
Taiwan sees a lesson in Ukraine. - Axios
Hunter Who?
Hunter Biden has completely disappeared from the coverage of mainstream media outlets. Despite being in the middle of a formal investigation, the President’s son has not been mentioned by NBC, CBS, or ABC in morning or evening news broadcasts in 259 days. Go deeper with Fox News.
Biden’s Monster Budget
Joe Biden is requesting $5.8 trillion from congress for the fiscal year of 2023. Here’s what’s initially included:
Raising the corporate tax rate from 21% to 28%.
Raising the individual top tax rate to 39.6%.
20% minimum tax rate on households worth more than $100 million.
Taxes on unrealized gains for the ultra-wealthy.
The Wall Street Journal has the best summary:
So much for President Biden’s pivot to the political middle. The fiscal 2023 budget he unveiled Monday re-proposes most of the bad ideas that haven’t passed Congress and adds a new one—a tax on wealth that he refused to endorse as a candidate in 2020. On the economy, he’s pivoting further left—presumably to fire up sullen progressives in November.
The rest of the news: