Friday, July 28, 2023

7/28 WAKE-UP CALL: Economic Growth Accelerates


Gross domestic product, bolstered by stronger business investment, grew at a seasonally- and inflation-adjusted 2.4% annual rate in the second quarter, the Commerce Department said. The economy has expanded at better than a 2% pace over the past year, following a mild contraction in early 2022. Economic growth is roughly in line with the rate recorded in the decade before the pandemic took hold. The new data suggest the U.S. is steering clear of a recession, despite the Fed pushing interest rates to a 22-year high.

➤HERE WE GO AGAIN: Special counsel Jack Smith leveled new charges against Donald Trump on Thursday - including an allegation that he sought to delete surveillance video - and indicted a second Trump aide for obstruction of justice in the hoarding of classified information. Carlos De Oliveira, an employee of Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, is accused of lying about helping indicted aide Walt Nauta hide subpoenaed boxes of classified information around Trump's home, according to a superseding indictment filed in the Florida-based case. The revised indictment said Trump and others sought to erase security video of rooms in which boxes were kept. It said they tried to get another unnamed person to "delete security camera footage at the Mar-a-Lago Club to prevent the footage from being provided to a federal grand jury."

Security barriers were erected outside of the Fulton County courthouse on Thursday, as the third indictment looms for former President Donald Trump in Georgia. Footage shows police placing rows of massive bright orange barricades along the sidewalk outside the main entrance of Fulton County courthouse in Georgia, dividing the street and obstructing the stairs to get in. The barricades continue past the courthouse steps and can be seen along a distant intersection. 'Barricades erected outside the Fulton County courthouse now,' Bethea posted on Twitter. 'Looks like preparation for some big legal news…'

➤KJP INSISTS JOE BIDEN WON'T PARDON HUNTER: White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was forced Thursday to rule out President Biden handing a pardon to his son Hunter. As recently as Monday, the administration’s chief spokesperson had insisted the president was “never in business with his son” and said Wednesday that “nothing has changed.” But scrutiny from the media and Republicans intensified after Hunter’s probation-only plea deal on tax and gun charges collapsed under scrutiny by a federal judge in Delaware, who raised questions about promises of near-blanket immunity extracted from federal prosecutors as part of the agreement. “Is there any possibility that the president would end up pardoning his son?” Fox News reporter Mark Meredith asked Jean-Pierre during her regular briefing. “No,” the press secretary said flatly and firmly. When Meredith attempted to ask a follow-up question, Jean-Pierre added, “I just said no — I just answered” and called on a different journalist.


➤LEFTIST MEDIA NOTES PRESIDENT'S CASE 'HARDER TO MAKE': The mounting evidence that Joe Biden was involved in his son Hunter's overseas business deals is so compelling even The New York Times is questioning the president's constant denials. The Gray Lady's White House Correspondent Peter Baker said Wednesday night the administration's argument that Biden had nothing to do with his son's foreign dealings is becoming 'harder to make.' 

He said Biden could previously frame the scandals as his son overcoming addiction - like he did during the 2020 campaign. But he insisted that's now changed - and the White House can no longer use the 'wayward son' defense with more allegations coming out, and with his son facing further charges after the sensational unraveling of his plea agreement. It comes just days before Hunter's former business partner Devon Archer is set to testify in Congress that Joe was on speakerphone when his son was conducting business. Baker's comments to MSNBC came hours after Hunter Biden's 'sweetheart' agreement dramatically fell apart, leaving him open to charges over the millions in income he received doing business with China and Ukraine.

➤CHEAP DRONES TAKING OUT EXPENSIVE RUSSIAN TANKS: Cheap Ukrainian drones are taking out Russian tanks that cost more than $1 million.The $400 first-person-view drones are executing kamikaze-style attacks on large-scale weapons and troop positions as Kyiv strives to operate efficiently and become less dependent on Western countries in its defense against Moscow. Meanwhile, U.S. officials say Russian attacks on American drones is a concerted effort to pressure the military to pull back from Syria.

➤EXPERTS: WAR WON'T BE WON ON THE BATTLEFIELD: The Ukraine military's intensified push to regain territory seized by Russia could jump-start Kyiv's slow-developing counteroffensive, but some experts say the war won't be won on the battlefield anyway. Western officials said a surge in troops and firepower was underway in the southeastern Zaporizhzhia province, and Russian President Vladimir Putin acknowledged Thursday that “hostilities have intensified significantly.” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby, asked this week about the progress Ukraine has made, stressed that "it's not a stalemate. They're not just frozen. The Ukrainians are moving."

Some experts, however, say a stalemate is the most likely scenario. Steven Myers, an Air Force veteran who served on the State Department's Advisory Committee on International Economic Policy under two secretaries of State, told USA TODAY that one of the West’s narratives is that Putin planned to conquer Ukraine and continue west if not stopped. But Myers argues that Russia's military tactics have been "completely inconsistent with conquest." The agenda was, is and will always be to keep Ukraine out of NATO at all costs, he said.

Daily Mail Composite 7/28/23

➤WOMEN SWIMMER TESTIFIES ABOUT SHOWERING WITH LIA THOMAS: 'My teammates and I were forced to undress in the presence of Lia, a 6-foot-4 tall, biological male, with fully intact male genitalia, 18 times per week,' Paula Scanlan told the House committee on Thursday. 'Some girls opted to change in bathroom stalls and others used the family bathroom to avoid this.' When the women swimmers complained to the athletic department, they were told Thomas' presence was 'non-negotiable' and were offered counselling to 'reeducate us to become comfortable with the idea of undressing in front of a male,' she added. 'To sum up the university's response, we, the women, were the problem, not the victims,' Scanlan said. 'We were expected to conform, to move over and shut up. Our feelings didn't matter. The university was gaslighting and fearmongering women to validate the feelings and identity of a male.'

📺EMMYS TO BE POSTPONED:  Fox is expected to announce soon that television's Emmys will be rescheduled to air in January next year due to strikes by writers and actors in the United States. The ceremony was originally slated to be telecast on September 18, with the January date contingent on a resolution to disputes between the studios and guilds before then. Hollywood actors went on strike earlier this month after talks with studios broke down, joining film and television writers who have been on picket lines since May and deepening the disruption of scores of shows and movies.

🍺BUD LIGHT MAKER LAYS OFF HUNDREDS OF WORKERS: Anheuser-Busch is laying off hundreds of workers as it copes with the fallout of a conservative boycott against its formerly top-selling Bud Light brand. The company said the layoffs add up to about two percent of its U.S. workforce. Sales dropped sharply after a transgender personality was seen promoting the brand on Instagram.

➤RETENTION A CHALLENGE FOR THREADS: Meta Platforms executives are heavily focused on boosting retention on their new Twitter rival Threads, after the app lost more than half of its users in the weeks following its buzzy launch, CEO Mark Zuckerberg told employees on Thursday. Retention of users on the text-based app was better than executives had expected, though it was "not perfect," said Zuckerberg, speaking at an internal company town hall, the audio of which was heard by Reuters. "Obviously, if you have more than 100 million people sign up, ideally it would be awesome if all of them or even half of them stuck around. We're not there yet," he said. Zuckerberg said he considered the drop-off "normal" and expected retention to grow as the company adds more features to the app, including a desktop version and search functionality. Meta is looking at adding more "retention-driving hooks" to entice users to return to the app, like "making sure people who are on the Instagram app can see important Threads," said Chief Product Officer Chris Cox.

➤MAN TRACKS HIS STOLEN CAR, KILLS PERP: A man whose car was stolen tracked down his vehicle to a Texas shopping center lot - before shooting dead one of the alleged thieves and wounding the other. Gunfire erupted in the parking lot outside South Park Mall, San Antonio, just before 1pm Thursday after the man figured out where his stolen car was located. The owner of the stolen car had ordered the driver and his female companion out of the vehicle - and sat them down by the tire at gunpoint while they waited for police. But he was hit with a bullet when one of the suspected thieves, a male, opened fire. The owner then returned fire - which then killed the suspected robber.

⚾MLB OHTANI PITCHES SHUTOUT: Shohei Ohtani threw his first shutout in Major League Baseball in the first game of a doubleheader and hit two homers in the next, helping the Los Angeles Angels beat the Detroit Tigers twice on Thursday to sweep a three-game series. Ohtani, though, gave the Angels a scare when he left the second game due to cramps that led to him grimacing after hitting his 38th homer in the fourth inning. 'He´ll get some fluids in him and he´ll be fine,' manager Phil Nevin said. He pitched a one-hitter and struck out eight as the Angels beat Detroit 6-0 in the first game and then cleared the fences twice in an 11-4 victory for the surging team's ninth win in 11 games. Ohtani became the first major league player to throw a shutout in one game of a doubleheader and hit a homer - much less two - in the other.

⚾MLB METS 2, NATIONALS 1: Mark Canha had a sacrifice fly immediately after a 97-minute rain delay in the bottom of the eighth inning to lift New York over Washington. The Mets strung together three straight one-out singles - the last an RBI hit into right field by Daniel Vogelbach - against Mason Thompson (3-4). DJ Stewart was then plunked by a pitch to load the bases and Thompson was removed for Kyle Finnegan moments before umpires motioned the teams off the field. After play resumed, Canha hit Finnegan´s fifth pitch to deep right field and Pete Alonso beat the throw home.

⚾MLB SCORES: 

  • Cubs 10 Cardinals 3
  • Guardians 6 White Sox 3
🏀BRONNY JAMES DISCHARGED: Bronny James has been discharged from hospital after his cardiac arrest on Monday. A statement from the Cedars-Sinai Los Angeles hospital that treated James, 18, said: 'Thanks to the swift and effective response by the USC athletics' medical staff, Bronny James was successfully treated for a sudden cardiac arrest.  'He arrived at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center fully conscious, neurologically intact and stable.  'Mr. James was cared for promptly by highly-trained staff and has been discharged home, where he is resting.  'Although his workup will be ongoing, we are hopeful for his continued progress and are encouraged by his response, resilience, and his family and community support.'


➤NO HEAT RELIEF: Tens of millions of Americans were under heat notices Thursday − and major metropolitan areas were set to hit temperatures not seen in years − as the crushing heat felt in the West and South began to engulf parts of the Midwest and Northeast. A "dangerous" heat wave will settle over cities including Washington, D.C., Philadelphia and Boston from Thursday through at least Saturday, the National Weather Service said. Temperatures could creep up toward triple digits, and the "oppressive humidity" will make it feel more like 105 degrees. Nighttime lows will be 10 to 15 degrees hotter than usual. 
The situation was bleak in Phoenix, where the Maricopa County medical examiner's office was over capacity Thursday amid a growing number of heat-related deaths, forcing officials to bring in coolers for the first time since an early pandemic wave.



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