Come for Morning Wire’s Afternoon Update’s straight news, but stay for the Rapid Reactions The following five stories, and more, can be heard on today’s Morning Wire Afternoon Update podcast. Click here to listen.
1. Dems Try To Censor In Censorship Hearing
Congress hosted a House Weaponization of the Federal Government hearing today featuring testimony from Democratic Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and other public figures. Almost immediately, Democratic members on the committee motioned to effectively censor RFK, Jr. from speaking:
Debbie Wasserman Schultz Has Just Put a Motion Forward to Censor Robert F. Kennedy Jr from Further Testimony
This is wild… pic.twitter.com/buNN8NeKCj
— Chief Nerd (@TheChiefNerd) July 20, 2023
A vote ensued after Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) moved to table the motion, and another Republican, Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA), made a point of order to ask, “Is it the custom of this committee to censor viewpoints that we disagree with from witnesses?”
By a 10-8 vote, the GOP majority’s motion to table succeeded, allowing the hearing to continue as planned. Here’s Rep. Massie:
.@RepThomasMassie denounces censorship attempts, @RobertKennedyJr responds to attacks pic.twitter.com/yDM3D9Ru2i
— Tom Olohan (@tolohan) July 20, 2023
That hearing led by Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) was, according to the Weaponization panel, convened to “examine the federal government’s role in censoring Americans, the Missouri v. Biden case, and Big Tech’s collusion with out-of-control government agencies to silence speech.”
The two other witnesses at the hearing were Breitbart News Politics Editor Emma-Jo Morris and D. John Sauer, special assistant attorney general at the Louisiana Department of Justice. Morris, then with the New York Post, broke the Hunter Biden laptop story, which was censored on social media under suspicion of being “Russian disinformation.” It has since been verified.
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Emma Jo Morris:"I can't even believe this is a conversation. This is not controversial or taboo. We live in the United States of America, and you have the right to say whatever you want, to print whatever you want, and to read whatever you want!"
Robert Kennedy Jr: "A govt that… pic.twitter.com/CtXYWRfOZ7
— The Politics Brief (@NewsBecker) July 20, 2023
Rapid Reaction: They just can’t help themselves. Democrats get in a room for a hearing about Big Tech and Big Government working together to censor President Joe Biden’s opponents, and what happens? They rush right out of the gate to censor Biden’s top political opponent.
RFK, Jr. has been called every name under the sun — including fascist. Yet the Left has a strange definition of “anti-fascist” these days.
To a progressive, if you are anti-fascist, you must express your solidarity with the government and big corporations on the social justice issue du jour — in Kennedy’s case, vaccines.
Anyone who fails to do so — according to the Left’s logic — must be subjected to browbeating, cancelation, and intimidation. Those who don’t fall in line must be doxxed and have their employers contacted, and anybody sponsoring their business or paying for their product is to be skewered as a bigot worthy of societal banishment — all in the name of tolerance, freedom, and justice.
It makes no sense. And unfortunately, that is the point.
Read more here.
2. Bombshell Evidence Of Biden Family Corruption
Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) released a bombshell document on Thursday detailing an alleged bribery scheme involving then-Vice President Joe Biden and a Ukrainian business executive.
According to Grassley, the document shows that a Ukrainian oligarch claimed he was “coerced” into making a payoff to the president and his son. The New York Post reported that the owner of Ukrainian gas company Burisma Holdings, Mykola Zlochevsky, told the FBI informant in 2016 during a meeting that “it cost 5 [million] to pay one Biden, and 5 [million] to another Biden.” House GOP members had previously threatened FBI Director Christopher Wray with contempt of Congress for not sharing this document earlier, forcing Wray and the FBI to release it.
Rapid Reaction: Writer Julie Kelly had a great reaction to this unbelievable news: “I know this is hard to believe, but Joe Biden and the media lied about this (and many other related stories.)”
“VP Biden used US tax dollars to blackmail Ukrainian president into firing the state prosecutor investigating Burisma bc owner was bribing Joe and Hunter Biden to do so,” she said, going off the evidence.
I know this is hard to believe but Joe Biden and the media lied about this (and many other related stories.)
VP Biden used US tax dollars to blackmail Ukrainian president into firing the state prosecutor investigating Burisma bc owner was bribing Joe and Hunter Biden to do so: https://t.co/UxXiGp3hbJ
— Julie Kelly 🇺🇸 (@julie_kelly2) July 20, 2023
This evidence also calls into question just why exactly former President Donald Trump was impeached for inquiring about Biden family corruption in Ukraine.
Conservative communications professional Greg Price laid out the timeline as follows, based on the whistleblower’s claims:
2015: Burisma pays a $10,000,000 bribe to VP Joe Biden and Hunter Biden to have prosecutor Viktor Shokin fired.
2018: Biden brags publicly about getting Shokin fired.
2019: Trump gets impeached over a phone call with Zelenskyy asking him what happened to the prosecutor.
2015: Burisma pays a $10,000,000 bribe to VP Joe Biden and Hunter Biden to have prosecutor Viktor Shokin fired
2018: Biden brags publicly about getting Shokin fired.
2019: Trump gets impeached over a phone call with Zelenskyy asking him what happened to the prosecutor. pic.twitter.com/3LCMffERk0
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) July 20, 2023
Here’s the video referenced by Price:
Here’s Joe Biden bragging about getting a Ukrainian prosecutor fired when he was VP. The FBI doc alleges that Burisma paid Biden & Hunter millions to get this prosecutor fired, among other things. This feels like a smoking gun admission. pic.twitter.com/28bIvlHSw2
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) July 20, 2023
3. ICE Released 80% Of “Paroled” Illegal Aliens Into U.S. Without Immigration Summonses
Homeland Security admitted in a court filing that prior to the expiration of Title 42, 80% of illegal aliens apprehended and released into the U.S. under the Biden administration’s “parole” program were not given immigration hearing summonses by ICE. These illegal immigrants were told to check in with ICE within 60 days but were never actually given a legal notice. Data show that of those given a summons, roughly 40% of illegal immigrants actually go back to check in with ICE.
Rapid Reaction: As this author wrote yesterday, once illegal immigrants are in the country, they’re hard to track down — even if they are given a free smartphone and told to pinky-promise they’ll come back for their court date.
In April of 2023, it was reported that the immigration system is so overwhelmed, there is a 10-year waiting list for illegal aliens to appear in court. By that time, it’s likely that the D.C. Establishment will have passed an amnesty for the millions of illegal aliens in the country already.
Millions have flooded the country in the past two and a half years alone. Deportations have been at record lows for much of the Biden presidency.
In fact, the Biden administration has made it a priority to only deport “criminal” illegal aliens. So, rather than be proactive and deport all illegal aliens, authorities are advised to wait for illegal aliens to commit crimes before nabbing them. If those illegal aliens don’t get busted for committing crimes, then they’re virtually able to stay forever.
Read more here.
4. Parental Rights Victory In Virginia
A big win for parental rights in Virginia this week: The Virginia Department of Education is moving to prohibit school staff from using a different name or pronoun for students without parental permission. The new policies revealed on Tuesday also mandate that students must be on athletic teams and use bathrooms that correspond with their biological sex. GOP Governor Glenn Youngkin has made parental rights a cornerstone of his administration:
.@GovernorVA Glenn Youngkin:
“My message to parents: You have a fundamental right, enshrined in law by this General Assembly, to make decisions with regard to your child’s upbringing, education and care. And we will protect and reassert that right”pic.twitter.com/xsxsQHNtao
— American Principles 🇺🇸 (@approject) January 17, 2022
Rapid Reaction: Youngkin, of course, made battling the Left’s disastrous policies that degrade Virginia’s quality of education a core part of his 2021 campaign late into the game. That pivot helped him win the gubernatorial office. So far, he has delivered as promised. He has also taken a chainsaw to DEI initiatives in his state.
Read more here.
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The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
