Victor Davis Hanson Commentary: Trump Can Win (or Lose) the Election

President Donald Trump

The good news for the Trump campaign is that the sure Democratic nominee Kamala Harris is a lifelong California hard leftist at a time when the state is emblematic of progressive nihilism. Her extremist advocacies as a San Francisco county and city attorney, state Attorney General, and senator are on record. And they are consistent with what has virtually destroyed the state.

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Oddsmakers Move Walz Behind Shapiro as Kamala Harris’ Pick

Kamala Harris, Josh Shapiro, and Tim Walz in front of The White House (composite image)

As the final hours tick down to an expected announcement, the pick for vice president on the Democrats’ ticket remains shrouded in secrecy and angled toward the governor of Pennsylvania.

Vice President Kamala Harris’ reveal is expected before Tuesday’s launch of a battleground states tour in Philadelphia. While the campaign has cautioned the starting point where she is expected to be alongside her running mate is not an indicator of the choice, a leading candidate since July 21 has been Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Monday morning Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz appeared to be a finalist.

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House Administration Committee Chairman Bryan Steil Expands Probe of Donations Through ActBlue

Bryan Steil

House Administration Committee Chairman Bryan Steil, R-Wis., expanded his investigation into online political donations through ActBlue on Monday.

“Illegal and malicious conduct have no place in our elections. Ensuring all parties are complying with federal election law as we approach a presidential election is of utmost importance. By launching a new phase of our investigation into ActBlue, the Committee on House Administration has begun robust oversight of ActBlue’s lenient donor verification standards,” he said in a statement. “I’m committed to ensuring Americans can have confidence in our elections and to preventing foreign or malicious actors from influencing American elections.”

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‘Nonpartisan’ Climate Group Called ‘Science Moms’ Looks Like a Democrat Dark Money Operation

Science Moms video

by Robert Schmad   An organization spending millions on swing state ads ahead of November’s election brands itself as “non-partisan” despite extensive ties to a major Democrat-aligned dark money network, according to the Washington Examiner. Science Moms, which calls itself a “nonpartisan group of scientists” working to fight climate change,…

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Despite High Costs and Questionable Benefits, Proponents of EV Mandates Continue to Defend Policy

Electric Vehicle plugged into charging station

Though the Biden administration’s emissions standards – often referred to as an electric vehicle mandate – don’t kick into 2032, the policy is already running into problems with charging station availability, declining consumer interest and automakers losing billions of dollars on their EV sales. 

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Analysis: June Unemployment 352,000 Under Biden-Harris, 1.47 Million Unemployed Since 2023

The U.S. unemployment rate once again ticked up in the month of June to 4.3 percent as another 352,000 Americans said they were unemployed, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Markets are crashing in response.

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VP Harris’ Tie-Breaking Vote Approved Appointment of Federal Judge Tied to Earlier Trump-Carroll Defamation Lawsuit

Vice President Kamala Harris’s tie-breaking vote confirmed Judge Loren AliKhan to the federal bench for life after AliKhan helped along a defamation lawsuit against former President Donald Trump. Ironically, according to Politico, Harris has expressed support for President Biden’s plans to impose term limits on Supreme Court justices who at the moment, like AliKahn, enjoy lifetime tenure.

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Apple Files to Dismiss DOJ Antitrust Case Against Its Smartphone Business

Person holding an iPhone

Apple has filed a motion to dismiss a case from the United States Department of Justice claiming that it monopolizes the smartphone market using anticompetitive practices making it harder to switch to another phone. Antitrust experts say this case, if won by the DOJ, could set dangerous precedent by granting the government power to more easily define companies as monopolies and practices as monopolistic, and determine what companies must do or cannot do to avoid the label. 

The United States Department of Justice and 16 Attorneys General — including California and the District of Columbia — filed a lawsuit in March alleging Apple illegally monopolizes the smartphone market, such as green boxes with “social stigma” for non-Apple text messages and Apple smartwatch incompatibility with other operating systems. 

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LGBT Nonprofit Director Reportedly Used Donor Money to Fund Lavish Lifestyle

Sarah Kate Ellis

The executive director of a large LGBT nonprofit allegedly spent the organization’s money on a lavish personal lifestyle, The New York Times reported on Thursday.

Sarah Kate Ellis, chief executive of GLAAD, an LGBT advocacy group, spent large sums of donor’s money on expenses such as remodeling her home office with a chandelier, renting a Cape Cod property, first class flights and luxury hotels, according to the NYT’s review of expense reports from January 2022 to June 2023. The expenses may be in violation of both the organization’s guidelines and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) rules, legal experts told the NYT.

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Federal Judge Rules That New Jersey’s AR-15 Ban Is Unconstitutional

AR-15

On Tuesday, a federal judge ruled that the state of New Jersey’s ban on AR-15 rifles is unconstitutional.

ABC News reports that U.S. District Judge Peter Sheridan’s ruling was directly influenced by the precedent set by the Supreme Court in its landmark ruling in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen in 2022. In that case, the Supreme Court determined that Americans do not have to show “proper cause” when seeking to obtain a concealed-carry permit, overturning a 100-year-old state law in New York.

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Biden Admin Title IX Rule Blocked in Four More States, Bringing Total to 26

A federal appeals court has ruled that the Biden administration can’t implement its Title IX rules in an additional four states, bringing the total number of statewide injunctions to 26.

With a recent block awarded in Oklahoma on Wednesday and then an emergency appeal granted by the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, over half of the United States will be exempt from the Thursday deadline.

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Shoplifting Rose Twenty-Four Percent This Year, No End in Sight

Macy's department store entrance

Shoplifting has soared in the U.S. in 2024, forcing many stores to leave cities and continuing a trend in recent years.

Shoplifting has risen 24 percent in the first half of 2024 alone, according to newly released data from the Council on Criminal Justice.

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House Judiciary Requests Evidence from over 40 Advertisers Accused of ‘Collusive’ Activities

Jim Jordan leading House Judiciary Committee GARM hearing

The House Judiciary Committee has sent letters to over 40 American and foreign companies asking for documents related to what it claims are “collusive” activities as part of the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM). 

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Half of Americans View Large-Scale Migration to Be a ‘Critical Threat,’ Majority Want More Wall: Poll

Border Wall

Half of Americans believe a large number of migrants entering the country poses a “critical threat” to the interests of the United States, and a majority favor expanding the U.S.-Mexico border wall, a Chicago Council survey found.

Fifty percent of Americans view large numbers of migrants and refugees entering the U.S. to be a “critical threat” to the nation, a survey released Friday by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs found. The poll additionally found wide support for a border wall and the use of U.S. troops to stem illegal immigration.

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Commentary: Kamala Harris and the Masque of Magical Thinking

Kamala Harris

Although the last few weeks have had their alarming aspects — chief among which was the attempted assassination of Donald Trump on July 13, the odds-on favorite candidate for president — they have also had their amusing moments.

In the latter category, I place the sudden queen-for-a-day-like coronation of Kamala Harris.

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Pennsylvania Gov. Shapiro on Defensive After College Paper Skeptical of Mid East Peace Resurfaces

Josh Shapiro

Pennsylvania Gov. and Democratic vice president short-lister Josh Shapiro is defending his record on the Israel-Palestine conflict after an op-ed he wrote in college resurfaced. Shapiro says the op-ed no longer represents his beliefs.

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Trump Campaign Raked in Nearly $140 Million in July

Donald Trump Rally

Former President Donald Trump announced Thursday his campaign has raised nearly $140 million for July.

Within an fundraising update for the month of July, Trump’s campaign stated they’ve pulled in a total of $138.7 million, thus providing a cash on hand total of $327 million. The new numbers come after Trump was confirmed as the GOP’s presidential nominee at the Republican National Committee in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and notably after the failed assassination attempt against him in Butler, Pennsylvania.

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University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Suspends Groups After Saying Israel Supporters ‘Not Welcome’ and to ‘Stay Tuned’

Pro-Palestinian protesters at UWM

Five pro-Palestinian groups at the University of Milwaukee are currently suspended and under investigation following an Instagram story.

The chancellor’s office wrote it was “alerted to an Instagram story on the uwm4palicoalition account that included intimidating language aimed at Jewish community members and organizations on campus that support Israel.”

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Biden EPA Cuts Big Check for Pro-Defund the Police Activists to Pursue ‘Climate Justice’ for Convicts

Climate Protest

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is sending up to $3 million to an activist group that advocates for slashing police budgets and prison closures to pursue “climate justice” for convicts and “reentry communities.”

The Ella Baker Center for Human Rights (Baker Center) and the Insight Garden Program were selected for receipt of between $1 million and $3 million to pursue “Environmental and Climate Justice in Prison and Reentry Communities.” The Baker Center has previously endorsed or advocated for left-wing activist positions like defunding the police, effectively decriminalizing shoplifting, closing prisons and more.

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Commentary: Let’s Leave the Marxism on the Capitol Steps

Elizabeth Warren

The United States has become the largest market in the world, and at the same time it delivers the highest standard of living to its citizens compared to the world’s other major economies. Contrast this success with other large economies such as China, where despite being the world’s second-largest economy, its citizens have a standard of living that has more in common with the developing world than a global powerhouse. Now China is facing demographic challenges that raise the prospect that as a nation, it may get old before it gets rich. Layer its long-standing repression and authoritarianism on to its economic challenges, and one is hard-pressed to see a domestic policy regime worthy of emulation.

Likewise looking to America’s south, and one is struck by the generations of squandered opportunities for prosperity in South America. As a region, South America has been buffeted by financial collapses, runaway inflation, and geopolitical instability. For nations digging out from a legacy of ruinous fiscal and economic policies, there is no easy route forward, only difficult tradeoffs. Argentina has certainly charted a new course and there is hope that near-term pain may pave a path forward to stability and long-term growth. But the present pain is very real.

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Commentary: America’s Eroding Deterrent in the Face of China Aggression

U.S. Navy Seventh Fleet

In March 2015, the former Commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, Admiral Harry Harris, while giving a speech in Australia, dismissed the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) building of seven artificial islands in the South China Sea (SCS) as nothing more than a “Great Wall of Sand” that would not alter the U.S. Navy’s freedom of navigation operations or American deterrence capabilities in the region.

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Julie Kelly Commentary: A Lifeline for Jack Smith in the J6 Case Against Donald Trump

U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan

Following humiliating losses at the Supreme Court and the shocking dismissal of the so-called classified documents case in Florida, Special Counsel Jack Smith appeared down for the count in his floundering attempt to ever get Donald Trump behind bars, let alone before Election Day.

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Election Red Flag: Postal Service Watchdog Warns Some Mailed Ballots May Be Delayed, Not Counted

Ballot

The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) failed to deliver political and election mail on time between 2% and 3% of the time during the 2024 primaries and the mail service’s chief watchdog warns in a new audit that some mailed ballots might be delayed or not counted in the November election because workers aren’t following required procedures.

“We found that Postal Service personnel did not always comply with policy and procedures regarding all clear certifications, Election and Political Mail logs, and audit checklists,” the Postal Service Inspector General warned in a report made public this week. “In addition, we identified processes and policies that could pose a risk of delays in the processing and delivery of Election and Political Mail.

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Study: After COVID Pandemic, Only 40 Percent of Americans Now Say They Trust Doctors

A stunning 50-state survey of U.S. adults has found that trust in physicians and hospitals collapsed during the COVID-19 pandemic, going from from 71.5 percent in April 2020 to 40.1 percent in January 2024.

Roy H. Perlis, MD, MS, Katherine Ognyanova PhD, and Ata Uslu, MS, researchers from the Center for Quantitative Health, Massachusetts General Hospital, Rutgers University, and Northeastern University, surveyed 443 455 individuals in every sociodemographic group aged 18 years or older residing in the US.

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Catholic Group Urges DOJ to Investigate Pro-Abortion Attacks on Churches, Pregnancy Centers

A Catholic organization that tracks attacks on pro-life pregnancy centers and churches is urging the Justice Department to investigate over 400 known attacks since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022.

The organization, CatholicVote, requested a meeting to discuss probes of pro-abortion violations of the FACE Act in a letter to Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke that it shared with The Daily Signal.

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FDA Knew ‘Gender Affirming’ Puberty Blockers Increase ‘Suicidality’ in 2017, Promotes Them Today

Five months before the Food and Drug Administration issued a health warning on puberty blockers widely used off-label to treat minors with gender confusion, undermining a Department of Health and Human Services office that claimed “early gender affirming care is crucial to overall health and well-being,” an FDA leader acknowledged other health concerns.

Pediatric patients exposed to “gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonists,” most with central precocious puberty (CPP) and “a handful … transgender kids using the drugs off-label,” had an “increased risk of depression and suicidality, as well as increased seizure risk,” Division of General Endocrinology clinical team leader Shannon Sullivan told colleagues.

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Commentary: The DEI Trap

Kamala Harris and KBJ

Kamala Harris’s sudden ascendancy within the Democrat Party, with nary a peep from other ambitious Democrats, spotlights the uncomfortable contradictions of identity politics and the diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) movement. 

Americans universally believe that everyone should have a fair shot at opportunities regardless of sex or race, which is why the kind of racism and sexism that was once so prevalent is so rare today.

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National Debt Reaches $35 Trillion for First Time in U.S. History

National Debt

The national debt surpassed $35 trillion on Monday for the first time in U.S. history as exorbitant federal spending continues under President Joe Biden.

Since Biden was inaugurated, the national debt has increased by over $7 trillion, from $27.7 trillion on January 20, 2021 to now over $35 trillion as of July 29, 2024. If the debt were to be divided among the roughly 258.3 million adults in the U.S., each adult would have roughly $135,500.

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Commentary: Kamala Harris Is a Threat to Entry-Level Jobs

Waiter

The American job market has significantly downshifted as consumers, who drive the economy, are tapped out from the ongoing cost-of-living crisis under the Biden-Harris administration.

According to Friday’s employment report, only 115,000 jobs were created in July (67,000 using the more accurate household survey).

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Commentary: Bias Lurks in Study Linking Bronchitis in Children with Poor Air Quality

People wearing masks

A new study by a team of University of Southern California researchers claims that children exposed to poor air quality are at greater risk of (self-reported) bronchitis symptoms than are adults. But this health claim is tenuous.

Published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, the study uses data sets from a 30-year-old Southern California Children’s Health Study cohort—with a long length of time between exposure and presumed response of self-reported bronchitis.

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Prosecution’s Key Witness in Trial Against Former Mesa County Clerk Repeatedly Claims He Doesn’t Remember Much

The trial against former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters wrapped up its first week on Friday, featuring testimony by witnesses for the prosecution including IT professional Gerald Wood.

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U.S. Job Growth Slows to a Crawl as Unemployment Rises

Business Meeting

The U.S. added 114,000 nonfarm payroll jobs in July as the unemployment rate ticked up to 4.3%, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data released Friday.

Economists anticipated that the country would add 175,000 jobs in July compared to the 206,000 added in initial estimates for June, and that the unemployment rate would remain stable at 4.1%, according to U.S. News and World Report. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell noted in a press conference on Wednesday that a continued slowdown in the labor market could be a sign of further softening in the economy and contribute to a possible cut to the federal funds rate and an easing in harsh credit conditions that have weighed on Americans.

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Diabolical 9/11 Plotter with Plea Deal from Pentagon Planned Even More Carnage for United States

As the passage of 23 years fades the nation’s memory, the terrorist who has now received a plea deal from the Biden administration was a diabolical plotter who planned even more insidious carnage than what the terrorists achieved in the September 11 attacks on the United States.

The U.S. Department of Defense announced Wednesday that it had reached a plea deal with notorious 9/11 plotter Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and two of his accomplices after more than 16 years after they were first prosecuted.

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Radical Anti-Fracking Activists Endorse Kamala Harris’ Campaign

Kamala Harris

Vice President Kamala Harris has racked up endorsements from several hardline climate groups that oppose fracking, even after her campaign disavowed her previous support of a fracking ban.

The political arms of 350.org, Friends of the Earth, the Center for Biological Diversity, Food and Water Watch, Climate Hawks Vote, Clean Water Action and the Green New Deal Network have all endorsed Harris, even after her campaign told The Hill last Friday that she no longer would ban fracking. The groups — all of which oppose fracking — had not endorsed President Joe Biden before he quit the 2024 presidential race, and they join a growing list of major environmental groups backing Harris as Election Day approaches.

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Secret Service Whistleblowers: Acting Chief Cut Security Assets

Secret Service

Just days after Secret Service Acting Director Ronald Rowe denied playing a direct role in rejecting repeated requests for added security measures and assets for former President Trump, whistleblowers have come forward refuting those claims and blaming Rowe for some of the agency’s security failures that led to the July 13 assassination attempt that nearly killed Trump and left rallygoer Corey Comperatore dead and two others wounded.

Other whistleblowers are coming forward citing more systemic problems with the Secret Service, the vaunted agency whose primary job is to protect presidents, vice presidents and former presidents and their families.

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