Happy Thursday!

It’s the first full day of summer! How many of you are bringing the Durham Report to the beach for your beach reading? No? I knew he should have co-written it with James Patterson.

John Durham Testifies on Durham Report

“The FBI was too willing to accept and use politically funded and uncorroborated opposition research such as the Steele Dossier,” Special Counsel John Durham testified Wednesday.

Durham went before the House Judiciary Committee to testify about his “very sobering” investigation into the originals of the Trump-Russia black op. Durham confirmed the FBI had no basis for opening the Crossfire Hurricane counter-intelligence investigation into Trump. It started with no evidence Trump or anyone connected to him had contact with Russia — and ended with none. Yet, the investigation continued.

Durham recalled the reaction of a lead investigator to discovering that then-FBI Director James Comey didn’t tell him that the heads of the FBI/CIA/DNI/President Obama/Vice President Biden knew that the Trump Russia story was a concoction of the Hillary Clinton campaign. The investigator stormed from the room. Durham says several FBI agents “apologized” to him for what was done in the case.

Shockingly, House Democrats had Adam Schiff — of all people — lead the way in trying to tear down Durham. The man who spent years lying about the Trump collusion, leaking like a water balloon dropped on a porcupine. It’s like letting Hannibal Lecter question the head of the FDA on food safety.

Rep. Steve Cohen also tore into Durham, saying the prosecutor “had” had a good reputation, but his reputation would not be restored unless he recanted his report. The veteran prosecutor’s response is such a lesson in how to deal with hostile people.

“Yeah, My concern about my reputation is with the people who I respect, and my family and my Lord,” Durham replied. “I’m perfectly comfortable with my reputation with them, sir.” The gallery applauded.

COHEN: "Your reputation will be damaged!"

DURHAM: "My concern about my reputation is with the people who I respect, and my family, and my Lord, and I'm perfectly comfortable with my reputation with them, sir!" pic.twitter.com/zughWAoN2l

— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) June 21, 2023

Elon Musk: Cisgender and Cis are Now Considered “Slurs” by Twitter

First transactivists invented the terms “cisgender” and “cis” to describe straight people. More recently, they’ve taken to using it as a slur. James Esses, co-founder of Thoughtful Therapists, has been a target since posting this tweet:

I formally and publicly declare that I reject the label of “cis”.

I don’t believe in gender ideology. I don’t self-identify as “cis”. Using this term makes me feel unsafe and is demonstrative of your hatred towards me. Anyone who uses the term “cis” to describe me is a bigot.

— James Esses (@JamesEsses) June 19, 2023

Note how he uses the tactics of the woke to describe his feelings. (The same tactics that, for example, pressured AMC to drop plans to screen a documentary last night on de-transitioners.) Esses was immediately hit with attacks. Bad move.

Elon Musk caught wind of the story and has now declared “cisgender” and “cis” slurs on Twitter.

Repeated, targeted harassment against any account will cause the harassing accounts to receive, at minimum, temporary suspensions.

The words “cis” or “cisgender” are considered slurs on this platform.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 21, 2023

Obama Judge Strikes Down Arkansas Law Banning Sex Changes for Minors

Remember when Barack Obama said he would “fundamentally transform” America? He must have meant “trans”-form. An Obama-appointed federal judge has struck down Arkansas’ first in the nation ban on sex-change treatments for minors, calling it unconstitutional.

U.S District Judge Jay Moody ruled that the ban on sex-change surgeries, hormones and puberty blockers violated the due process and equal protection rights of transgender youth and families. He said the law also violated the First Amendment rights of medical providers by prohibiting them from referring patients elsewhere.

What “protection”? Chopping off the healthy body parts of children and serving them up on the altar of the transgender cult and almighty dollar is hardly protection. And please, what would you do with a doctor who referred an anorexic child to Jenny Craig? You’d rip up his license.

Curious. Would this ruling apply to doctors who were shut down and had their practices ruined for wanting to treat COVID patients with hydroxychloroquine? Or parents who wanted no part of injecting their child with the Fauci vaccines? How about therapists who helped Christian patients with unwanted same-sex attractions? Cue the crickets … .

What’s Going on at the Border? Nothing Much. Just a Record Number of Terrorists Caught

With so much going on, it’s easy to lose track of the Administration-sponsored invasion of the southern border. So what’s the latest? In May, U.S. Border Patrol broke the record for the number of suspected terrorists encountered: 29. Or nearly three times as many as pulled off 9/11. There’s no way to know how many terrorists got away. As someone who worked for a counter-terrorism expert and has co-authored a book on immigration, I can tell you: The terror threat from the border is real. Beyond the terrorists who slip in, the same pipelines that smuggle drugs so easily into the heartland can smuggle anything.

CBP is hyping in its May operational update that there was a 25% decrease in the overall number of “encounters” over May 2022. However, the number is still a staggering 169,244 illegal immigrants at our ports of entry. The agency also touted the Biden Administration’s CBP One app, which helps ease the way for noncitizens to get into the country.

Yet as DCNF points out, border encounters jumped 25% from April to May.

Update: More Administration Confusion Over China: Biden Calls China’s Xi a “Dictator” Right After Blinken Visits China to Soothe Relations

The other day we mentioned how strange utterances by Biden, like “God save the queen, man,” are not nearly as problematic as his confusing and contradictory statements involving our dangerous rivals, like China. And here we go again. Secretary of State Tony Blinken goes to China for a meeting to soothe over tensions. He even declares the U.S. is not interested in Taiwan independence.

But within 48-hours, Biden is calling China’s Chairman Xi a “dictator,” oblivious to his government’s own actions.

“The reason why Xi Jinping got very upset in terms of when I shot that balloon down with two box cars full of spy equipment in it was he didn’t know it was there,” Biden said. “That’s a great embarrassment for dictators. When they didn’t know what happened. That wasn’t supposed to be going where it was. It was blown off course.” So he insults the Chinese leader, all while insisting the spy balloon that maneuvered across our country was as wayward as the S.S. Minnow.

China was not happy. A foreign ministry spokesman called Biden’s remarks, “extremely absurd and irresponsible.”

Wu Xinbo, director of the Center for American Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai, said “Mutual trust is what China has been stressing, so Biden’s comments are very destructive and damaging.”

We Stand Corrected!

Stream reader Larry wrote us to correct me for yesterday’s Brew. “Hunter did not lie for a gun permit,” he writes, “He lied filling out and signing an ATF 4473 form for a background check and sales registration form, which states on the form that falsifying info is a FELONY.” Thanks for the help, Larry!

And speaking of the gun charge against Hunter: Rapper Kodak Black’s lawyers are aghast at Hunter’s sweetheart plea, protesting how their client got 3+ years hard time while Hunter gets a diversion program for the same offense. Something to remember the next time Biden talks about the nation’s “systemic racism.” Or for that matter opens his mouth about guns.

Meanwhile, Mike Huckabee weighs in on the Hunter plea deal in “Political Privilege: Biden’s Popping Champagne Corks.”

Along The Stream

Our Nancy Flory has a fascinating interview with Jonathan Cahn about his new book The Return of the Gods. “Praying You Could Live in Biblical Times? ‘Congratulations, You’re Here.’”

 

Al Perrotta is the Managing Editor of The Stream, chief barista for The Brew and co-author, with John Zmirak, of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Immigration. You can follow him at @StreamingAl at GETTR, Gab, Parler, and now at TRUTH Social.