THE SHOW NOTES: Hunter's Visit, Houthis Attack, & Tonight's Debate
Welcome! Hunter Biden just stormed out of a congressional hearing.
IMPORTANT: Hunter Biden Knew Art Buyers Despite White House Claims to the Contrary - National Review
TONIGHT: Nikki Haley debates Ron DeSantis at 9 PM on CNN
NEW: Republicans add new threats to impeach Austin and Garland, along with Biden and Mayorkas - NBC
HEADLINE: California lawmakers to consider ban on tackle football - NY Post
DATA: Antisemitic incidents in U.S. have tripled since Oct. 7 - JI
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2024
Democrats are panicked over a fresh new poll out of Michigan that claims only 17% of likely general election voters believe Joe Biden deserves another term as president. This number marked a historic low for a “major public officeholder in modern Michigan political history” according to The Detroit News. The poll went on to claim that Biden trailed Trump by 8 points after winning the state by two points in the 2020 election.
Why this matters: Michigan’s sizeable Muslim population has turned heavily against Biden following the Hamas’s terror attacks on October 7th. The concerning data for Democrats was mirrored in the fellow swing state of Nevada where an Emerson College poll showed Trump ahead of Biden by two points after Biden won the state by 2.5 points in 2020.
Related: Biden to head to Michigan and Nevada to ramp up outreach to key base voters - NBC
Old Dems vs New Dems
Former Democratic White House staffers are blasting the current staff of the Biden administration for participating in anonymous protests since the attacks on Israel on October 7th. Here’s the quote that matters from Politico.
The notion that junior staffers in such coveted jobs would dare cross the principal — even anonymously — would have been inconceivable not long ago, they say.
“There’s this whole, ‘You’re not the boss of me’ attitude now. ‘I might work for you but I have my own views,’” said longtime Democratic strategist James Carville, who worked for former President Bill Clinton as a top campaign strategist. “If you said you didn’t like some of President Clinton’s policies, the idea that you would go public with that would be insane. Just wouldn’t do that. It wouldn’t even cross your mind.”
Ecuador
Armed gunmen took over an Ecuadorian TV studio during a live broadcast as the country delves into further chaos.
What happened: The wave of violence gripping Ecuador seemingly reached new heights when Los Choneros gang leader Adolfo Macias escaped from prison over the weekend. The move prompted President Daniel Noboa to label 22 gangs as terrorists and declare a 60-day state of emergency. In response, gangs have kidnaped multiple police officers and prison guards over the past few days with regular gunshots and explosions heard around Quito.
History: In what once was deemed one of the safest countries for Americans to travel to, Ecuador has experienced increased levels of violence since 2018 resulting in a 600% increase in the country’s homicide rate. President Daniel Noboa was elected in November to help crack down on crime and gang violence that was allowed to fester under previous administrations.
White House Orders Cabinet Secretaries to Notify if Unable to Perform Duties Amid Lloyd Austin Scandal
White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients ordered cabinet officials to notify his office if they are unable to perform their duties amid the ongoing scandal with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
In a memo released Tuesday, Zients said the White House is conducting a “review of agency protocols for a delegation of authority from Cabinet Members.”
He said while the review is ongoing, cabinet members and secretaries would be required to submit “existing protocols for a delegation of authority to the White House Office of Cabinet Affairs and to ensure an updated process for such delegations in the interim.”
Full story at The Messenger.
Government Incompetence
The Twitter account for the Securities and Exchange Commission was hacked yesterday and the blame was initially placed on Twitter. However, an internal investigation suggests that Twitter’s system was not breached. Instead, the agency’s account was hacked because it did not have basic two-factor authentication turned on (a big no-no).
Houthis Launch Fresh Red Sea Barrage as Blinken Tries to Contain Gaza War
Yemen’s Houthi rebels launched their largest barrage so far of missiles and drones into the crucial Red Sea shipping lane while U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken continued his efforts to prevent the conflict in Gaza from escalating into a broader regional war.
Blinken sat down with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank as part of a tour through the region, which also includes half a dozen Arab states as well as Turkey.
Full story at The Wall Street Journal (paywall)
Trending news:
Actor Adan Canto dies at 42 from appendiceal cancer - Today
'I still can't believe it': Trail camera enthusiast captures rare jaguar on video - CNN
How Justin Trudeau lost his grip - Politico
Colorado Congresswoman Lauren Boebert's ex-husband arrested, facing charges - CBS
Amalija Knavs, mother of Melania Trump, dies at 78 - Politico
Why Haley Won’t Break Through - Politico
Hypocrisy? Don Lemon Gets New Show on X, Criticized Musk While at CNN - Newsbusters
Trump plans to deliver a closing argument at his civil fraud trial, AP sources say - AP
A Wave of Violence Terrorizes Mexico as Criminals Kill With Impunity - NYT (paywall)
Emerging market debt issuance hits record as borrowing costs fall - FT (paywall)
When Washington Calls for Firings, Biden Usually Says No - WSJ (paywall)
Market snapshot:
"California lawmakers to consider ban on tackle football" Slightly misleading. Its not a ban on all tackle football which sounds like it would mean banning ALL tackle football including the pro teams. Which is ridiculous, but see below... because I believe this is actually their ultimate goal.
The new law proposes bans on 12-under from tackle football. looks great on the surface and maybe that should be. Yet I content this needs to be a parental choice not a state regulation and Coaches need to coach better and teach players to tackle properly. Look at Rugby, they play with no helmets at all and learn how to tackle with the body not the head.
HOWEVER, the point of this law is NOT for safety or concussion protocols. Just in the same way Gun laws are not to protect the populace. What's that saying about lobsters in water. If you have boiling water they jump out but if you start with cold water and slowly turn up the heat they will just sit there and die.
Its not about child safety. Its about control. They want to start with youth football, eventually it will be all youth football 18-under. Then 21 - under then all contact sports and only allowed in college and pro - then eventually those will be banned to.
When I was growing up there was a high school in our area that had one of the best tackle football programs in the state, multiple state crowns. A new principle was hired. He banned all forms of contact sports in the school because he felt it was too violent and that the student body was more interested in sports than academics. To a point he was right, the school had one of the lowest SAT scores in the district. However, when you looked close you realized what was really going on. The principles son got cut from the Varsity team.
so when bureaucrats come up with ridiculous laws like this, it always comes with an agenda attached to it.
Read a little more into the article and you see it says "Flag football" has gained prominence among girls. And that is very true, but with males playing in female sports how long before that gets corrupted?
Not sure what the point was there.
overall point: never trust a new law that seems "helpful" on the surface. There's always the devil in the details, literally.
Hypocrisy? Don Lemon Gets New Show on X, Criticized Musk While at CNN -
Just shows that Elon Musk meant what he said about free speech.