White House Dossier's

The idea that our Justice Department can indict someone, especially the sitting president’s main political rival, over speech that’s protected by the First Amendment is simply insane. It puts us firmly into banana republic territory, where tinpot dictators jail their political opponents ahead of election day to ensure their “reelection.” Simply put, this indictment is nothing more than a declaration of war against American voters and their constitutional right to free speech. It’s not about Trump. It’s about criminalizing dissent and punishing the millions who voted for him — and warning them not to do it again. Federalist

You Have Value . . . People do not like it when you treat them like they are not conscious. They react very badly to that. And you do not like it if someone assumes you are not conscious or that you do not have free will, that you are just absolutely determined in your actions and there is nothing that is going to repair you — and you do not need to have any responsibility for your actions. The laws of our culture are predicated on the idea: People are conscious, people have experience, people make decisions and can be held responsible for them if there is a free will element to it.

You can debate all that philosophically, and fine. But the point is, that is how we act and that is the ideal that our legal system is predicated on. And there is something deep about it because you are subject to the law. But the law is also limited by you, which is to say that in a well-functioning, properly-grounded democratic system, you have intrinsic value. Dr. Jordan Peterson

Pence comes out swinging at Trump following Jan 6 indictment: 'Should never be president' . . . Former Vice President Mike Pence did not parse words when reacting to former President Trump's indictment by Special Counsel Jack Smith on Tuesday. In a statement released following Trump's indictment on charges related to the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol and efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, Pence accused Trump of putting himself over the Constitution, and said a Trump candidacy would serve as a distraction from President Biden's "disastrous" record. "Today's indictment serves as an important reminder: anyone who puts himself over the Constitution should never be President of the United States," Pence said. "I will have more to say about the government’s case after reviewing the indictment." Fox News

Snake.

Jack Smith’s Prosecution Of Trump Has A Major First Amendment Problem, Legal Experts Say . . . Legal experts reacted to former President Donald Trump’s third indictment Tuesday, sounding the alarm on how the indictment against his alleged attempt to overturn the 2020 election prosecutes protected speech. Trump was charged Tuesday with one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States, one count of conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, one count of conspiracy against rights and one count of obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding, according to the indictment. Legal experts said the charges are built on speech protected by the First Amendment. George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley said Smith issued “the first criminal indictment of alleged disinformation.” “If you take a red pen to all of the material presumptively protected by the First Amendment, you can reduce much of the indictment to haiku,” he said. “ Daily Caller

Vivek Ramaswamy Wants a Second American Revolution . . . 
The first Republican millennial to run for president proposes abolishing the Department of Education and the FBI. He’s defending Trump—and rising in the polls. Free Press

Excellent interview by Bari Weiss of Vivek R. You can read it or listen on her podcast Honestly. 

Trump’s DC Judge Worked For Law Firm That Employed Hunter Biden, Lobbied For Burisma . . . U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan of Washington, D.C., the judge overseeing former President Donald Trump’s case in the district, previously worked at a law firm that once employed Hunter Biden and worked closely with Ukrainian energy firm Burisma. Chutkan spent 12 years working for Boies, Schiller, & Flexner LLP (BSF) where she specialized in white collar litigation and antitrust defense, before she was nominated to her current position by former President Obama, her official bio states. Daily Caller

Biden family business model confirmed . . . Whether or not President Joe Biden actually changed U.S. policy at the behest of any of Hunter Biden’s foreign clients remains unclear. But what is now indisputable after Hunter Biden’s business partner spoke to Congress on Monday is that Joe Biden actively participated in Hunter Biden’s efforts to cash in on his father’s proximity to power as the vice president of the United States and that Hunter Biden and the Biden family profited handsomely as a result. For years, Joe Biden and the White House have claimed that Joe Biden “never discussed” and had “never spoken to” Hunter Biden about his business dealings. After Monday, those claims have been proved definitively false. Now, the White House has switched to the claim that Joe Biden “was never in business with his son.” And that new White House position is most likely true, sort of. There never was any formal contract binding Joe Biden and Hunter Biden into a business agreement. But one does not have to be in a contractual relationship with another person to help the other's business out, especially when that business is entirely predicated on one person simply having a relationship with another person. Washington Examiner

Donald Trump: The Real Victim of the Russiagate Hoax Wasn't Me. It Was the American People . . . By DONALD J. TRUMP. The report by Special Counsel John Durham makes clear beyond a shred of doubt that the Russia Hoax was the most atrocious weaponization of our government in American history. It was a crime like no other. Seven years ago, I ran for office taking on all the most corrupt forces and entrenched interests in our nation's capital. My agenda was an existential threat to a Washington establishment that got rich and powerful bleeding America dry. I vowed to stop mass illegal immigration, terminate globalist trade deals, end the sellout of our country to Communist China, stand up to the permanent bureaucracy and the corporate media, and break the neocon addiction to endless foreign wars. Newsweek

Think about how many intelligence resources were diverted from tracking the actual Russia/Putin target towards chasing a hoax that the corrupt top echelons in US spy agencies concocted themselves.

US troops in Ukraine now eligible for combat pay . . . U.S. service members deployed to Ukraine can now receive imminent danger pay and hardship duty pay, a defense official has confirmed. Gier Martin, who is performing the duties of the assistant secretary of defense for manpower and reserve affairs, announced the change in a July 13 memo that was posted on the unofficial Air Force Facebook page. U.S. troops in Ukraine can receive up to $225 per month in imminent danger pay and another $100 per month in hardship duty pay-location for a total of $325 per month, according to the memo. Task & Purpose

Thinning the Ranks . . . Using vaccines as a political weapon, U.S. military leaders have wrecked the force’s combat readiness and morale. Under pressure from Republicans in Congress, the Defense Department announced at the start of this year that it would no longer require American service members to be vaccinated against COVID-19. The policy change faced fierce resistance from the military’s top brass, including Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. In a memo sent in January repealing the requirement for soldiers to be vaccinated, Secretary Austin continued to credit the vaccine with “the many lives we saved … and the high level of readiness we have maintained.” But critics of the military’s COVID-19 policy, including active and former service members who spoke with Tablet for this article, tell a different story. They say that the requirement for troops to receive the new vaccines, which included those with natural immunity after recovering from previous COVID-19 infections, was damaging to morale and hurt the military’s combat readiness. 

Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., has repeatedly pointed to medical data which suggests that enforcing mass vaccinations on a generally young and healthy population may have actually caused an increase in non-COVID-19 related health problems in the force. By the time the Pentagon announced it was ending the mandate, 96% of service members across the armed forces had been vaccinated. However, a significant number of troops declined the shots, objecting on religious, scientific, or medical grounds. Of those objectors, 8,339 were kicked out of the military, a loss that was particularly acute coming in the midst of the worst recruitment crisis in 50 years, which saw the Army, Navy, Coast Guard, and Air Force all struggling to attract or retain members. The number of ejected objectors might continue to rise, as more service members who declined to get the jab are penalized for “refusing to obey a lawful order.” Many of those who were forced out, meanwhile, were given a “general” discharge rather than an “honorable” one, putting them at a disadvantage for future employment. Tablet

If He Was Bribed, Biden Must Go, Majority Says: I&I/TIPP Poll . . .  As the Biden corruption probe broadens, and more evidence comes to the fore of possible bribery of the Biden family by foreign powers, a question arises: What do Americans think should be done if the allegations are true? The overwhelming response: Biden should leave or be removed from office and not run again, the latest I&I/TIPP Poll shows. In our online poll of 1,341 adults taken from July 5-7, with a margin of error of +/-2.7 percentage points, we answered that question: Biden is not likely to weather the political storm. A strong majority of 63% in our poll suggested that President Joe Biden should either be impeached (33%) or resign immediately (30%) if the charges prove true. Just 20% said Biden should “Stay in office and run again in 2024, if he wishes.” Another 17% said they weren’t sure. Issues Insights

GOP reps raise alarm bells over Iran’s influence in 'American religious institutions' . . . Republicans in Congress have issued a tough letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland and Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines warning about the influence of Iran's terror ideology in at least four U.S.-based mosques and centers. The GOP letter, exclusively obtained by Fox News Digital, is a highly detailed three-page document that outlines a kind of bill of particulars against alleged Iranian regime-linked mosques and centers in Maryland, Texas, Michigan and Virginia.

According to the letter, the Islamic Education Center (IEC) in Potomac, Maryland, secured funding from what it says is the Iranian regime-controlled Alavi Foundation and Bahram Abolfazi Nahidian, an IEC member… was "acknowledged by all as the most prominent supporter in this country of Khomeini." Fox News

 Russia hands out weapons to civilian defense forces near Ukrainian border . . . Russian local authorities have begun distributing machine guns and drone defense guns, as well as UAZ off-road vehicles, to territorial self-defense forces in the Belgorod region that borders Ukraine, the state news agency Tass reported. This is the first case of weapons being distributed to the civilian forces since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year. “These are necessary measures against the attacks from the Ukrainian territory,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Wednesday. He added that the Kremlin does not fear that the weapons could fall “into the wrong hands”. “All control mechanisms must be carefully implemented. There is no doubt about that,” Peskov said. Financial Times

World battles to loosen China's grip on vital rare earths for clean energy transition . . .  Refining rare earths for the green energy transition is hard. Just ask MP Materials and Lynas. The world's two biggest rare earths companies outside of China are facing challenges turning rock from their mines into the building blocks for magnets used across the global economy, from Apple's (AAPL.O) iPhone to Tesla's (TSLA.O) Model 3 to Lockheed Martin's (LMT.N) F-35 fighter jet. The West's push to develop independent supplies of critical minerals took on greater urgency after Beijing imposed export controls last month on the strategic metals gallium and germanium, raising global fears that China could block exports of rare earths or processing technology next. Reuters

Iranian hornet's nest of terror groups surround Israel amid calls for new US sanctions . . . Amid President Biden’s pledge to Israel President Isaac Herzog on Tuesday that America’s commitment to the security of the Jewish state is "ironclad," a new think tank report reveals the U.S. has declined to designate a number of Iranian-backed entities as terrorist organizations. Just weeks ago, Israel deployed nearly 2,000 troops to root out Palestinian terrorists who are backed by the Islamic Republic of Iran, according to Brig. Gen. (res.) Amir Avivi, a former deputy commander of the Israel Defense Forces’ Gaza Division. Fox News

India moves to crack down on sectarian violence in New Delhi’s business hub . . . Indian authorities moved to reimpose order after deadly sectarian violence this week reached the outskirts of New Delhi’s premier business hub, forcing businesses to put staff on alert and raising fears of further unrest ahead of national elections next year. Gurugram, located west of Delhi in India’s Haryana state, is one of the capital’s biggest satellite cities and houses offices for leading domestic and foreign companies including Google, Meta, and Hyundai. Nicknamed “Millennium City”, the area, previously named Gurgaon, is also home to some of the country’s priciest apartments and villas. Financial Times
 

Russia Strikes Ukrainian Port That’s Been Lifeline for Shipping . . . Russia struck the Danube River port of Izmail in southern Ukraine early Wednesday, Ukrainian officials said, in an attack that targeted a crucial alternative route for grain shipments amid Russia’s blockage of Ukrainian ports on the Black Sea.

The drone attack sparked a fire, but there were no immediate injuries, according to Oleg Kiper, the military administrator for the Odesa region, which includes Izmail. Izmail is one of a handful of small ports up the river from the Danube Delta that has emerged as a lifeline for circumventing Russia’s de facto naval blockade of major ports along the Black Sea coast. New York Times

Money

Fitch Downgrades U.S. Credit Rating . . .  The ratings agency said that the downgrade reflects an ‘erosion of governance’. Fitch Ratings downgraded the U.S. government’s credit rating weeks after President Biden and congressional Republicans came to the brink of a historic default, warning about the growing debt burden and political dysfunction in Washington. The downgrade, the first by a major ratings firm in more than a decade, is evidence that increasingly frequent political skirmishes over the U.S. government’s finances are clouding the outlook for the $25 trillion global market for Treasurys. Fitch’s rating on the U.S. now stands at “AA+”, or one notch below the top “AAA” grade. Wall Street Journal

CVS to lay off 5,000 employees as it seeks to cut costs . . . CVS Health is laying off 5,000 corporate workers as the company seeks to cut costs. The Rhode Island-based pharmacy giant told FOX Business in a statement that it is eliminating "a number of non-customer facing positions" throughout the company. CVS said it doesn't expect the cuts to impact any of its customer-facing employees who work within its stores, pharmacies, clinics or customer service centers. "Our industry is evolving to adapt to new consumer health needs and expectations," a CVS spokesperson said. "As part of an enterprise initiative to re-prioritize our investments around care delivery and technology, we must take difficult steps to reduce expenses." CVS employs more than 30,000 workers. Fox Business

Culture

Popular coffee brand outrages consumers with image of post-op trans man: 'Glorification of breast mutilation' . . . Backlash has begun against the popular British coffee brand Costa after consumers spotted the company using a graphic of a transgender man bearing scars from a "top surgery." Several online users and coffee drinkers were surprised to see a photo of a Costa Express Van showcasing a colorful image of a transgender person with scars from a double mastectomy. The hashtag #BoycottCostaCoffee began trending on Monday and Tuesday with many people attacking the company for appearing to glorify the "mutilation of girls." Fox Business

‘How Do I Do That?’ The New Hires of 2023 Are Unprepared for Work . . . Roman Devengenzo was consulting for a robotics company in Silicon Valley last fall when he asked a newly minted mechanical engineer to design a small aluminum part that could be fabricated on a lathe—a skill normally mastered in the first or second year of college. “How do I do that?” asked the young man. So Devengenzo, an engineer who has built technology for NASA and Google, and who charges consulting clients a minimum of $300 an hour, spent the next three hours teaching Lathework 101. “You learn by doing,” he said. “These kids in school during the pandemic, all they’ve done is work on computers.” The knock-on effect of years of remote learning during the pandemic is gumming up workplaces around the country. It is one reason professional service jobs are going unfilled and goods aren’t making it to market. It also helps explain why national productivity has fallen for the past five quarters, the longest contraction since at least 1948, according to the U.S. Labor Department. Wall Street Journal

Woke-busting app reveals brands' political views, helps shoppers 'match your values': Veebs CEO . . . If you want to make sure your money goes towards a brand that aligns with your values, it might be worth downloading Veebs. "You just got to know where to look for it… There's actually plenty left to buy if you have a tool that allows you to look at what the companies are really doing," Veebs app co-founder and CEO Chris Rhodes said on "Varney & Co." Tuesday. The shopping app – which launched in July – lets grocery shoppers scan a product’s barcode to reveal the production company’s "V Score," which is a rating from 0 to 100 calculated on political alignment and "America-first" initiatives. "The rating is based on whatever values pack you choose, or you can choose several," Rhodes explained. "And you go into the store, you scan the product and a rating comes back to you for whatever your values happen to be." Fox Business

Love it.

Air traffic controllers shortage dents airlines’ post-lockdown recovery . . . Staffing shortages at air traffic control have delayed passengers in Europe this summer and forced US airlines to cut flights, sparking an industry blame game on both sides of the Atlantic. The shortages, combined with airspace closures in Europe, have fuelled a 37 per cent increase in delayed flights on the continent over the past year. Air traffic control staffing and capacity issues were responsible for about half the delays in July, during the peak travel period. Across the Atlantic, the US Federal Aviation Administration asked airlines in March to cut back flying in New York’s crowded airspace due to air traffic control staffing shortages, while United Airlines chief executive Scott Kirby criticised air traffic control for disruption at the airline’s New York hub. Financial Times

AI improves breast cancer detection rate by 20 percent . . . Artificial intelligence is able to accurately detect 20 percent more breast cancers from mammograms than traditional screening by radiologists, according to early results from a Swedish trial published overnight. The study is the first randomized controlled trial to look at using AI in breast cancer screening and comes amid a dramatically shifting landscape for the technology and how it’s regulated. The interim results, published in the Lancet Oncology late Tuesday, found that using AI-supported analysis of mammograms, alongside either one or two radiologists, was as good as using two radiologists without AI and led to 20 percent more cancers being detected. PoliticoEU

Cases of leprosy, 'historically uncommon' in US, surge in central Florida, CDC says . . . Cases of leprosy are surging in central Florida, according to a recent research letter shared by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The authors said that the Sunshine State has "witnessed an increased incidence of leprosy cases lacking traditional risk factors," with trends contributing to "rising evidence that leprosy has become endemic in the southeastern United States." "Travel to Florida should be considered when conducting leprosy contact tracing in any state," they wrote. The letter said that the number of reported leprosy cases in southeastern states has more than doubled in the last decade. Fox News

Secure the damn border.

Someone tell Biden global warming is not setting the earth on fire . . . President Biden wants to stop forest fires by reducing global warming. Bad idea. If he slows global warming, he might make the problem worse. On June 28, Deputy Press Secretary Olivia Dalton informed the press: The President recently directed additional personnel and resources to — and equipment to help combat the wildfires in Canada, and also directed the DOD to expand the National Guard’s FireGuard program, which is the technology that we use to zero in on wildfires in rural places and get a — get a handle on them quickly, to Canada so that that technology is available there and could contain other isolated outbreaks in rural areas. White House Dossier

Rep. Ronny Jackson cuffed, ‘briefly detained’ at rodeo while helping with medical emergency . . . Texas Rep. Ronny Jackson was “briefly detained” by police while attempting to help a teenage girl who was suffering a medical episode at a rodeo over the weekend, his office confirmed. Jackson, a doctor who previously served as the White House physician for Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump, was reportedly placed in handcuffs at the White Deer Rodeo on Saturday while trying to assist the 15-year-old. Jackson’s office said there were no EMTs in the area at the time, and while trying to help the girl “in a very loud and chaotic environment,” there was confusion among responding police officers and the congressman was “briefly detained and was actually prevented from further assisting the patient.” New York Post

Discover your purpose and slay the dragons in your way . . . This series focuses on the pursuit of greatness. Dragons, Monsters, and Men by Dr. Jordan Peterson

Japanese man suctions 11 cans to his head to break world record . . . A Japanese man put his unusual skill to the test and reclaimed the Guinness World Record for most drink cans placed on the head using air suction. Shunichi Kanno, 31, initially broke the record in 2009, when he managed to suction nine drink cans to his head, and his record was later broken by Jamie "Canhead" Keeton, who replicated the feat with 10 cans. Kanno reclaimed the record by upping the ante to 11 cans. He said the trick to increasing his can total was learning to create air suction on his temples. "You make a wrinkle [on your skin], then place a can there. Push the can firmly towards your head and ease your wrinkle. This reduces the air pressure between the can and the skin, and the can should stick like a suction cup," Kanno told Guinness World Records. UPI