White House Dossier's

Hunter Biden's sweetheart plea deal blows up . . . Hunter Biden’s plea deal hit a roadblock during an unexpectedly contentious federal court hearing Wednesday as prosecutors and Biden’s attorneys initially disagreed about the scope of the agreement and the judge then balked at approving the deal. Tensions grew after a prosecutor said the federal investigation into the president’s son is ongoing. After pressing both sides for details about the plea deal, U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika adjourned the hearing so that the two sides could refine and clarify the agreement — under which Biden had planned to plead guilty to two misdemeanor tax offenses and likely avoid punishment on a felony gun charge. Politico

Judge tells Hunter to stop taking drugs . . . U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika laid out some requirements for first son Hunter Biden on Wednesday if he wants to avoid jail time while an investigation surrounding him is ongoing. Noreika instructed the president's son to look for a job actively, lay off of alcohol and drugs, not buy or possess a firearm, and submit to random drug tests in exchange for not being arrested, according to court documents. The younger Biden has a history of drug addiction and has been accused of possessing a firearm while on drugs. If Biden can obey the conditions of his release, the gun charge against him would be dropped. Washington Examiner

Also: Put some clothes on, we're tired of looking at photos of your ass.

MSM finally starts to take a look at Hunter and Joe . . . New York Times White House correspondent Peter Baker said Wednesday the previous statements President Biden has made about his son Hunter would be a "harder narrative to make" in light of the developments in his case. Baker said Joe Biden as a candidate was able to "frame it successfully in 2020" as a story of his son overcoming addiction, but things had changed. "I think that narrative is a little harder to make right now, and so for President Biden, it’s not just about a wayward son, but about whether or not he himself had something to do with his wayward son’s business dealings, and that’s still an open question." Fox News

House GOP considers siting Zuckerburg for contempt . . . The House Judiciary Committee on Thursday will consider recommending Congress hold Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg in contempt for failing to comply with a subpoena seeking internal company documents involving online censorship. Meta said it has complied with congressional requests and turned over tens of thousands of pages of documents, but federal lawmakers believe the Big Tech company has withheld info about its interactions with the Biden administration to coordinate censorship. Washington Times

McCarthy talk of impeachment unites the GOP . . . Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s (R-Calif.) flirtation with impeaching President Biden is pleasing the right wing of his conference while not scaring moderates, keeping his fractious conference together while setting up the real possibility of a third presidential impeachment in less than five years. The increased talk of impeachment comes as the GOP dives further into investigations of Hunter Biden, who on Wednesday saw his plea agreement get placed on hold after a federal judge questioned the scope of the deal. The Hill

Black Florida Republican critical of DeSantis race teaching . . . The only Black Republican member of Florida’s congressional delegation tussled online with the DeSantis administration Wednesday over newly adopted teaching standard that requires middle schoolers learn that some African Americans benefited from slavery. Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.), a sophomore Republican and former state representative who endorsed former President Donald Trump for president, posted on social media early Wednesday morning that “the attempt to feature the personal benefits of slavery is wrong & needs to be adjusted.” Politico

Gaetz introduces bill to end birthright citizenship . . . Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) introduced a bill Tuesday that would end “unqualified” birthright citizenship for children whose parents are not themselves U.S. citizens. The legislation, titled the “End Birthright Citizenship Fraud Act of 2023,” would amend the Immigration and Nationality Act “to reflect the original intent of the 14th Amendment’s ‘subject to the jurisdiction thereof’ clause,” according to a statement on the measure. The 14th Amendment grants citizenship to all “born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof.” The amendment was passed in 1866, shortly after the Civil War, to ensure citizenship and equal rights for formerly enslaved people. The Hill

Mitch McConnell freezes during press conference . . . Mitch McConnell’s sudden freeze during a Wednesday afternoon press conference jolted the Senate Republican Conference, eliciting hopes from allies, detractors that he will fully recover from any health issues. The Senate minority leader abruptly stopped his opening remarks at an afternoon press conference on Wednesday, causing alarm when he left for a few minutes and then returned to answer questions. A McConnell aide said the senator was feeling light-headed. McConnell returned to the press conference and took questions from reporters. Politico

See McConnell's scary moment

Seems like more and more of our leaders need their heads examined.
 

Ramaswamy tied with DeSantis . . . Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s bloated campaign now has him merely tied with Vivek Ramaswamy and shedding staff fast. They’re both still way behind Donald Trump.

According to the New York Post: Months ago, businessman and presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy was a little-known political outsider. Now, he’s rising in several recent polls — putting him neck-and-neck with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis as runner-up in the Republican primaries behind favorite Donald Trump. White House Dossier

Russian attack on US drone spurs fears of escalation . . . While the world’s attention has been focused on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, new Russian attacks against U.S. drones have made Syria a fraught arena for military competition between Moscow and Washington. The risk of confrontation was underscored Wednesday when a Russian jet fighter dropped flares that damaged the wing of a U.S. MQ-9 Reaper drone as it flew over northwest Syria, U.S. officials said. Wednesday’s incident followed one on Sunday when another MQ-9 was damaged in what U.S. officials believe is a concerted Russian effort to pressure the U.S. military to pull back from Syria. Both of the U.S. drones were able to return to base. Wall Street Journal

Secretive group buys $800M worth of farmland new airbase . . . A mysterious company has purchased more than 52,000 acres of farmland, much of it surrounding Travis Air Force Base in Solano County, California. The buyer, Flannery Associates, is registered in Delaware, controlled by U.S. citizens, and receives 97 percent of its capital from U.S. investors and the rest from British and Irish investors. "What is this all about?" asked Rep. John Garamendi, D- Calif. "Why is an unknown, non-communicative secret organization buying up all the land around Travis Air Force Base?" Free Beacon

Former military officers testify that UFOs exist . . . Objects that can maintain Mach 1 speeds even in the face of gale-force winds. Aircraft with no visible means of lift or propulsion, and no wings or engines. Phenomena that seem to operate outside the “known aerodynamic principles that we expect for objects that fly in our atmosphere.” Witnesses told lawmakers Wednesday that the unexplained phenomena in American skies pose significant national security threats and the federal government must share more information with the public. In a worst-case scenario, they said, an adversary — human or otherwise — could use technology to conduct surgical military missions at a level that is difficult to imagine with today’s understanding of science and aviation. “The technology we faced was far superior than anything we had,” David Fravor, a retired Navy commander, told lawmakers on the House Oversight and Accountability subcommittee on national security, the border and foreign affairs. Washington Post

Money

Fed chair inflation says will stick around for years . . . Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said he believes high inflation will be with us until 2025, even with record high-interest rates, in a Wednesday press conference. Powell does not see the inflation rate returning to the normal level of 2% until 2025, far sooner than when he believes the Fed will start lowering rates again, he said in a press conference concluding the July Federal Open Market Committee meeting. The remarks follow the Wednesday announcement prior to the press conference by the Fed that it would raise its benchmark federal funds rate by 25 basis points to a range of 5.25% and 5.50%, reaching the highest level since 2001, according to the Fed press release. Daily Caller

Culture

Woke Anheuser-Busch shedding employees . . . Things have gotten even worse for Anheuser-Busch. The anti-American beer giant reportedly said Wednesday that it will be laying off employees across their United States corporate staff. An Anheuser-Busch spokesperson said in a statement via CNN that their restructuring “will simplify and reduce layers within its organization.” The nixes in employment will not feature frontline staff including “brewery and warehouse staff, drivers, and field sales, among others.” Daily Caller

Hawaii moves to conceal youth LGBT from parents . . . A presentation offered by employees of the Hawaii Department of Health encourages staff and graduate students at the University of Hawaii Center for Cognitive Behavior Therapy not to document their conversations with LGBTQ+ youth in an effort to keep parents in the dark about their child's sexual identity. The training, titled "Affirming practice with LGBTQ+ youth" and obtained by Fox News Digital through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, was delivered to staff and graduate students at the university on May 5. "Be careful about what you document – parents may be able to access the information," the presentation noted under a slide about confidentiality. Fox News

Commercial airline pilots told not to talk about UFOs . . . Commercial pilots have allegedly had their jobs threatened if they reported UFO sightings and warned not to speak about it. There have been dozens of reports of strange lights in the northern hemisphere across the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, according to the host of Discovery's UFO Witness, Ben Hansen. He claimed in an interview Wednesday with NewsNation that some of the sightings can be explained by a new satellite orbit but a lot of outlier cases started coming forward in which crafts were doing 90 degree turns, hovering and taking off into the atmosphere.  Hansen said a couple of pilots who came forward to him were hauled into the office of their airline's chief pilot and threatened with losing their jobs. Daily Mail

This is your captain speaking. If you look out to the right, you can see a beautiful view of St. Louis. And if you look out to your left, you can see, well, a flying saucer.

Mick Jagger celebrates his 80th birthday . . . Sir Mick Jagger's girls were out in force on Wednesday night to celebrate his 80th birthday in style at unlikely Chelsea nightclub Embargo Republica. Proving that everyone gets along well, the Rolling Stones rocker was joined by his ex-wife Jerry Hall, 67, who was with him for 22 years and his current amour, his ballerina fiancée Melanie Hamrick, 36. Melanie - who has been dating Mick since 2014 and with whom she shares son Deveraux, six, showed off her underwear beneath a lace dress as she hobbled out of the party wearing a moon boot after injuring her toe. Daily Mail

Family that wanted to "live off the grid" found dead . . . Gunnison County Coroner Michael Barnes identified the badly decomposed bodies of three campers found in early July at a remote campsite in Western Colorado, according to several reports.

Christine Vance, 41, Rebecca Vance, 42, and Rebecca’s 14-year-old son, were identified as the campers whose bodies were found July 9 and 10 near the Gold Creek Campground. Their deaths were probably hastened by malnutrition and exposure to the harsh wintry conditions of the mountainous terrain, but the causes of their deaths will be later determined by further analysis, according to Barnes. Daily Caller

See, thing is, there's heat on the grid.

Sinead O'Connor dead at 56 . . . Sinéad O’Connor was one of Ireland’s most famous exports — but her short and tragic life was marred by misery. The controversial Grammy winner hit headlines for her four failed marriages, her battle with bipolar disorder, and the tragic 2022 death of her teenage son Shane. But the “Nothing Compares 2 U” singer’s troubles began long before she shot to fame in the late 1980s, as she endured a childhood filled with abuse at the hands of her mother. “My earliest memory, she’s telling me I shouldn’t have been born. She didn’t want me … She was a person who took delight, would smile in hurting you.” New York Post

Naked woman gets out of car, starts firing a gun . . . A naked woman in California got out of her car on one of the nation’s busiest bridges and began firing a gun Tuesday. The bizarre scene unfolded during rush hour on the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge, according to the California Highway Patrol. A driver called 911 to report that another driver had brandished a gun at them on the I-80 span, which crosses the San Francisco Bay, around 4:40 p.m., police said. The woman then stopped in the middle of her lane, got out of her car with a knife and began yelling at other drivers, according to cops. She then got back in the car and continued driving to Oakland, but stopped again at a toll plaza and exited the car — this time with a gun and sans clothing, officers told the New York Post.