Transferring the tabs to a minimum-security facility ...
The media say Obama's CIA Dir. John Brennan didn't manipulate intelligence to frame Trump. But now, a top CIA analyst who coauthored the Jan. 2017 report on Russian interference reveals, for first time, that a "pathological" Brennan put analysts "under duress" to cook the intel. pic.twitter.com/Kk84RCE6QZ
— Michael Shellenberger (@shellenberger) August 5, 2025
Ed: The grand jury process will give everyone the opportunity to blow whistles without retaliation. That's one good reason to keep grand jury transcripts sealed, by the way. Don't be surprised if an entire parade of whistleblowing professionals from the intel community starts talking about how Brennan and Clapper cooked the intel to undermine Trump. Also note: Tweets are not always displaying properly; that appears to be a problem at X/Twitter rather than just here. Thank you for your patience (and attention to this matter, natch).
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College Fix: Anti-Israel activism is “highly coordinated” through one main group, an Indiana University study concluded. One of the co-authors told The College Fix that campuses which combat hostility can see less of it, but there can also be backlash.
The “central node” is the national Students for Justice in Palestine, “which functions as a strategic and narrative hub,” Professor Günther Jikeli wrote in the 61-page report. Jikeli leads the university’s Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism and is a recipient of the Raoul Wallenberg Prize in Human Rights and Holocaust Studies by the International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation and Tel Aviv University.
The researchers also wrote in their report that criticism of Israel is not always the same as antisemitism. “While political debate and student activism are vital to academic freedom, the rhetoric and actions of some groups now frequently cross the line into antisemitism, creating a hostile climate for many Jewish students and faculty,” the report stated. Many of the posts reflect Hamas messaging, the study alleges.
Ed: I don't think we needed a study to explain this, but I'm glad to have it nonetheless. The report alleges that SJP is the main coordinator of anti-Semitic intimidation, but that other groups coordinate with SJP. Be sure to read it all, but don't expect to be surprised by it.
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Clip of Sydney Sweeney’s expert shooting range run goes viral after Republican registration revealed, American Eagle ad controversy https://t.co/cahFNQ6zKR pic.twitter.com/bBm6mbjn8m
— New York Post (@nypost) August 5, 2025
Ed: I really admire her ... grouping.
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Politico: Andrew Cuomo and Eric Adams refuse to get out of each others’ way in the New York City mayoral race — virtually sealing victory for democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani.
The former governor and the incumbent mayor are pursuing the same big-money donors and blue-collar voters. Up-for-grabs endorsees are fielding phone calls and texts from the candidates desperate for their support. And both men warn that a Mamdani victory would pose an existential crisis for the nation’s largest city.
And then there’s Republican Curtis Sliwa, the eccentric founder of the Guardian Angels, who will attract voters concerned with crime — further drawing away votes. Sliwa has said he would only drop out if he’s deceased.
Ed: Sliwa won't pull votes away from any of the candidates. Sliwa will only attract Sliwa voters. If Cuomo really wants to stop Mamdani, he should pull out and let Adams fight Mamdani, but Cuomo is all about his own power and rehabilitation.
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Lot of people opportunistically obsessed with linking Epstein to Trump seem to have forgotten this guy spoke in primetime at the DNC last year.
— Mark Hemingway (@Heminator) August 5, 2025
Oh and Dem megadonor Reid Epstein? The guy who personally funded the lawsuits against Trump? He's actually been to the island! https://t.co/o8fy9PpkwF
Ed: By the time this story is over, I suspect both parties will regret their promotion of the scandal as something relevant in 2025.
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WSJ: President Trump’s decision to fire the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday ignited a crisis at the U.S.’s top economic-stats agency. But it wasn’t the start of the BLS’s challenges.
In the past few years, the BLS has faced tighter budgets and falling response rates to its surveys. In recent months, it has faced staff shortages brought on by a hiring freeze Trump declared in January.
Those internal pressures made the agency more vulnerable to attack from the president, who seized on routine statistical revisions to claim that the bureau is stacking the numbers against him for political reasons.
Ed: As a long-time user of BLS data, I'm very skeptical that the explanation of data issues is malicious corruption. However, both the Household and Establishment surveys have become a lot less reliable, and their reports along with it. Regardless of how the WSJ and other media outlets spin it, a 258,000-miss on jobs over just two months is very strange. There seems to be major issues with competency at BLS, and one way to address that is by replacing leadership and finding people who can address those issues.
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It turns out, illegal migrants were taking American jobs. And now Americans are getting those jobs back, thanks to Donald Trump. https://t.co/QL2jW14uLQ
— Batya Ungar-Sargon (@bungarsargon) August 5, 2025
Ed: Interesting, if true. I'm not sanguine enough about BLS data to land on that assumption without skepticism. It might explain why wages are still going up as overall job creation has declined, though.
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NY Post: CBS faces a growing dilemma over the future of mega-buck anchor Gayle King as ratings for her “woke” morning show collapse — and the struggling network’s new owners vow to root out left-wing bias, The Post has learned.
The “CBS Mornings” co-host, one of the fading Tiffany Network’s few remaining stars, is part of a culture that has “dug in” against attempts by higher-ups to move away from polarizing coverage, according to sources with knowledge of the situation.
A key problem is that George Cheeks — the co-CEO of CBS parent Paramount who is in line to run the network under new overlords Skydance Media — has for years promoted a diversity, equity and inclusion mandate, the sources said.
Ed: Skydance will find it much harder to dump King than Colbert. But I think they have learned a lesson from the Colbert debacle and will wait to make any announcements on her future until her contract runs out in May. In the meantime, the show will have to limp along with the 20-30% reduction in Nielsen ratings.
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The Ethics Committee buried its rebuke of AOC deep in the footnotes of its July report finding she violated House Rules in her attendance of the 2021 Met Gala:
— Andrew Kerr (@AndrewKerrNC) August 4, 2025
"The Committee also found evidence that Representative Ocasio-Cortez listed Mr. Roberts as her “spouse” on paperwork… pic.twitter.com/M2coiXx939
Ed: Quelle surprise! Scratch a Marxist, find a corruptocrat. The House won't do anything about this except wag a finger in her direction, though. The fact that the Ethics Committee buried this in a footnote tells us that there will be no accountability for AOC's corruption. Plus ça change, plus c'est la meme chose.
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Dallas Morning News: U.S. Sen. John Cornyn is pushing the FBI to help Texas authorities locate or arrest Democratic lawmakers who have left the state to block a redrawing of the state’s congressional lines intended to flip five seats to Republicans.
“Since these state legislators are currently outside of Texas, the Texas Department of Public Safety may need support to arrest the fleeing lawmakers,” Cornyn wrote in a Tuesday letter to FBI director Kash Patel.
Ed: Cornyn and Ken Paxton are squaring off in a primary fight next year. Both men are jockeying to be seen as leading this fight. Paxton has the advantage here, though, since any consequences to Democrat fleebaggers will have to start in his office. And thus ...
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🚨 BREAKING: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton OFFICIALLY seeks judicial orders declaring the Democrat offices *VACANT* who fled the state to Illinois in an effort to block the redistricting vote.
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) August 5, 2025
It's happening. They're entering the "find out" stage.
“Democrats have abandoned… pic.twitter.com/svWtuYXDmB
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