THE SHOW NOTES: Hunter Biden’s Dad Failed, The Bureaucracy Must Be Defeated, & The Titanic Submarine
Welcome! Joe Manchin won’t rule out the possibility of a presidential run.
HEADLINE: Powell expects more Fed rate hikes ahead as inflation fight ‘has a long way to go’ - CNBC
SURPRISE: CNN's Presidential Fact Checker Hasn't Fact-Checked Biden in Months
OUTRAGE: A Small Business Complained About Crime in Chicago. Then the Feds Came After It. - Free Beacon
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The Submarine
A Canadian airplane assisting in the search for a missing Titanic-bound submarine may have detected signs of life. The sonar-equipped plane detected “banging” every 30 minutes near the last known location of the vessel as search crews from around the world have been dispatched to help. The 23,000-pound submarine owned by OceanGate was last detected at a depth of 12,400 feet and likely has less than 24 hours of oxygen left.
Noted: OceanGate’s CEO refused to have the vessel inspected and certified by independent agencies back in 2018 because he deemed the cost too excessive. This led three dozen industry experts to write the CEO a scathing letter claiming the decision puts the lives of passengers at risk. The CEO is piloting the current voyage.
Ouch: OceanGate’s chief executive is taking heat for a clip just released of him saying he didn’t want to hire any experienced “50-year-old white guys” because they weren’t “inspirational.” Yikes.
Perspective: The $250K trip to visit the remains of The Titanic is part of a booming post-COVID trend of extreme tourism. Whether it is commercial flights to outer space or private excursions to the south pole, luxury trips exceeding $100K are increasingly common.
Sources: NYT, WSJ, NY Post, Bloomberg
Settled: Hunter Biden
Hunter Biden’s child support dispute between himself and the 32-year-old mother of Navy Joan Roberts, his four-year-old child, has been settled outside of court according to inside sources. Biden initially requested an Arkansas court reduce the monthly amount he is required to pay due to “reduced circumstances” but raised eyebrows when he flew into Arkansas last year on a private jet.
Why this matters: Joe and Jill Biden do not recognize Navy Joan Roberts as their seventh grandchild. In fact, Jill Biden dedicated a children’s book she wrote to her six grandchildren notably leaving Navy off of the list.
Related: The Intentionally Provocative Hunter Biden Plea Deal - NR
Sueing Amazon
The FTC announced it is suing Amazon this morning claiming the company is forcing customers to sign up for Prime and complicates the cancellation process.
Details: After a two-year investigation into Amazon subscriptions, FCC Chair Linda Khan said, “Amazon tricked and trapped people into recurring subscriptions without their consent, not only frustrating users but also costing them significant money.” This is the third lawsuit the agency has filed against Amazon in the past month.
ProPublica and Alito
ProPublica dropped a salacious hit piece on Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito’s connection to a billionaire who was later involved with cases before Supreme Court. This is the latest in a long list of attempted hit-job jobs on conservative SCOTUS Justices. Unlike others, Alito wasted no time and published an in-depth response in the pages of The Wall Street Journal.
CliffNotes version: ProPublica claims that Paul Singer, a hedge fund billionaire and GOP megadonor, took Alito on a pricey all-expenses paid fishing trip before asking the court to rule in his favor on a case. Alito claims the situation is not that simple. The fishing trip was a last-minute trip with multiple people that was happening with or without him. Additionally, the aforementioned SCOTUS case had no obvious connection to Singer and therefore left Alito with no reasonable expectation to recuse himself. Go read Alito’s full response at The Wall Street Journal.
IMPORTANT: It should be noted that ProPublica has a long history of running