It’s time once again to stop for a sip and to savor some goodies … along with some leftovers from this morning’s Brew.

Fetterman Throws Down Against Squatters

Senator John Fetterman (D-PA) continues to recover from his stroke stunningly well. In fact, the former progressive’s recent positions make one wish his doctors and therapists could treat entire blue states to get similar results. (Perhaps they should toss his medications into New York’s drinking water?)

Fetterman’s latest? Standing strong against squatters, while declaring, “I am not woke.”

“Squatters have no rights,” he told The New York Post last week. “How can you even pretend that this is anything other than you’re just breaking the law?”

That sounds obvious, but unfortunately it’s not to many in his party.

Fetterman’s recovery and awakening are among the most pleasant surprises of 2024. On matters pertaining to Israel, the border, and now squatters, his hoodie seems to have transformed into a cloak of common sense.

Lessons in Dictatorship: Biden Blows Off Supreme Court Ruling in Bid to Buy Youth Vote

If Donald Trump plans to be a dictator, as the media and Democrats claim, he’d better start studying up on how to do it. Jailing your political opponents is one thing. Using the power of your office to protect your adult children (and yourself) is another. But how about tossing aside the Constitution and ignoring the Supreme Court? In fact, you might even go so far as to boast about how a SCOTUS decision “did not stop me,” as Joe Biden did Monday in announcing another plan to relieve student debt for some 30 million Americans.

This comes well after the Supreme Court ruling his previous effort to do so unconstitutional. The new plan would take effect this fall (in other words, before the election, allowing Biden to try to “buy” the support of younger voters who are currently abandoning him in droves). As with his similar effort to forgive student loan debts before the midterms, the U.S. Supreme Court will likely shoot down this “unfair ploy,” but not until long after the votes are tallied. Will voters fall for it again? Will those who didn’t rack up student-loan debt tolerate it?

Random thought: Was the total eclipse the only thing in the last three years the White House hasn’t managed to mess up?

Washington monument yesterday

Signs and portents pic.twitter.com/toypdaV0RF

— Jack Poso 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) April 9, 2024

DOJ Won’t Hand Over Audio of Biden’s Special Counsel Deposition

As mentioned above, one of the tools in the dictator’s tool belt is using the power of the state to protect one’s own fanny. Yesterday offered us a textbook case of this: Biden’s Justice Department told Congress it won’t hand over the audio recording of Biden’s interview with Special Counsel Robert Hur. (That’s the interview that led Hur to conclude Biden is so mentally incapacitated that no jury would convict him of mishandling highly classified documents.)

Hur expressly noted in his congressional testimony that the audio played a factor in his decision: “Chairman, what I can tell you is that my assessment that went into my conclusions that I described, my report was based not solely on the transcript, it was based on all of the evidence, including the audio recordings.”

Assistant Attorney General Carlos Uriate made it clear that this was a political decision. “Committees’ interests may not be in receiving information in service of legitimate oversight or investigatory functions, but to serve political purposes that should have no role in the treatment of law enforcement files.”

Translation: “We know the audio of Biden fumbling, mumbling, and forgetting things hurts The Big Guy.”

Unfortunately, that’s not the DOJ’s call. Besides, the White House insists that Biden is as fit as a fiddle and Hur is the one who’s highly sus. “Gratuitous, inaccurate, and inappropriate,” is how Vice President Kamala Harris described his report. 

House Republicans blasted the DOJ for stonewalling.

“The Biden administration does not get to determine what Congress needs and does not need for its oversight of the executive branch,” Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer said. “The American people deserve to hear the actual audio of President Biden’s answers to Special Counsel Hur.”

Comer has been threatening to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt if he doesn’t fork over the audio. Shades of Watergate?

Muslim Protesters Chant “Death to America” on the Streets of Dearborn

Ramadan came to an end with Muslims chanting, “Death to America” and “Death to Israel.” What’s new about that? Only the fact that this time, these calls for our extermination were not coming from Tehran or Gaza. They were coming from within the United States: Dearborn, Michigan to be precise. That happened Friday at an International Al-Quds Day rally, at the urging of Michigan-based activist Tarek Bazzi.

“It’s not just Genocide Joe that has to go,” Bazzi said, referring to Joe Biden. “It is the entire system that has to go. Any system that would allow such atrocities and such devilry to happen and would support it – such a system does not deserve to exist on God’s Earth.”

https://twitter.com/RealJamesWoods/status/1777124607750983874?s=20

The “atrocity” to which he refers is supporting Israel’s right to defend itself — which most Americans do, but the White House does only in a very limited way.

New Study Shows Extent of Muslim Support for Hamas in Britain

We’re not talking about a small percentage of the Muslim population that is hostile to the West to the point of violence. A new study published Monday by the Henry Jackson Society shows that 46% of British Muslims support Hamas. The research also shows only one in four British Muslims believe Hamas committed rape and murder in Israel on October 7.

Iran Taking Aim at Israel … and the U.S.?

Meanwhile, two Iranian officials quoted by The New York Times Friday said Iran is looking to attack Israel directly in response to an Israeli airstrike in Syria that killed a top Iranian commander and several members of the Revolutionary Guard. Why does that matter to us? Because the U.S. military is now on high alert, fearing a “significant” attack on American interests (as well as Israeli interests) in the region. Senior U.S. officials told CNN they believe the attack could come as soon as this week. Plus, a direct attack by Iran on Israel would quickly blow the war in Gaza into a much wider conflict.

What will those people in Dearborn and other pro-Hamas protesters shouting “Death to America” do then? And just how many Iranian terrorist operatives from Hezbollah and other aligned groups have crossed our open border in preparation for exactly this?

Israel says it is prepared for anything Iran maythrow its way. Are we?

Vanderbilt Expels Three Students for Anti-Israel Activities

In one bit of good news (and don’t we like good news with Al’s Afternoon Tea?), Vanderbilt University has expelled three students for antisemitic activities. One is Jack Petocz, who has been a darling of the White House, New York Times, and other media outlets for his support of gay literature for children.

The three were charged with assaulting a security guard during an anti-Israel demonstration inside a campus administration building. Here’s what Petocz calls “peacefully protesting.”

Thanks for spending a couple minutes with us, and we’ll meet again tomorrow morning for The Brew.

 

Al Perrotta is managing editor of The Stream, coauthor with John Zmirak of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Immigration and coauthor of the counterterrorism memoir Hostile Intent: Protecting Yourself Against Terrorism.