American recovery begins with religion, Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., said Monday evening in a speech at the National Conservatism conference in the nation’s capital. The theme of Hawley’s speech: that the West’s Christian legacy has been hollowed out in the past half-century, that the economy has been distorted to fit the interests of a globalist elite, and that if Americans want to conserve what’s best about our country, then we must reestablish a God-centered worldview in our society and institutions. Hawley began by referring his Capital Hilton audience to the year 410 A.D., when Rome—once thought of as the eternal city—was sacked by Alaric and the Visigoths. In that moment, a “fading empire, the ancient world of antiquity, came to a close,” the Missouri Republican said. At the same time, old, pagan Rome was falling into ruin, the Christian theologian Augustine of Hippo was writing and setting the stage for a new, Christian era, Hawley said, and this marked the beginning of the “West” as it became known. Augustine defended Christian virtues such as humility and service, which pagan critics said had weakened the empire. “Augustine knew that just the opposite was true,” Hawley said. “The Christian religion was the only vital force left in Rome at the time of its collapse and now Augustine imagined that religion rising from the ruins of the ancient world to forge a new and better civilization.” Rome began by loving glory and self-sacrifice, the Missouri senator said, but ended by loving pleasure and self-indulgence. With the collapse of old Rome, this past worship of glory was replaced by the “sturdier” virtues of the Bible, Hawley said, specifically the love of “life and children, the love of labor and neighbor and home, the love of God.” This change created the basis of a new kind of nationalism, Hawley said, a “Christian nationalism organized around Christian ideals.” The new ethos would be animated by common purpose rather than conquest and by common love rather than fear, he said. This Augustinian dream became “our reality” in America, Hawley said, and provided the moral center of American society for centuries. We must reclaim our Christian principles now, he urged, for the “sake of our future.” “Christian nationalism founded American democracy,” Hawley said, to applause. “The Christian political tradition is our political tradition.” Hawley argued that Republicans of past years argued too much for free markets and tax cuts without considering the needs of working Americans and families. He said that working Americans now struggle to provide for their families, or to create families in the first place, because the economy and politicians aren’t really working for them. “The free market is valuable exactly to the degree that it sustains the things we love together; otherwise, it’s just called profit. And somewhere along the line Republicans just found the love of profit at any price,” Hawley said. This came at the expense of the base of the Republican Party, which is mostly religious Americans, he lamented, saying that the Left at least knows that “people make politics.” Hawley noted how the Left puts trans flags on buildings and gives federal taxpayers’ money to various left-wing cultural projects. He accused his fellow Republicans of offering no resistance to the social liberalism of the Left and said the GOP of the future must “put people before money and prioritize the interests of the working person.” Most importantly, Americans must revive the idea that religion—not just religious liberty—unites Americans. This shared set of religious beliefs, he said, were embedded in America’s founding documents and the national motto on our currency: “In God We Trust.” Hawley called the long-term attempt to erase religion from the public square just “class warfare by other means.” The effort isn’t simply about eliminating religion, he said, “it’s about replacing one religion with another.” In the end, the Left wants a new kind of religion, he said. “They want the religion of the Pride flag. We want the religion of the Bible,” Hawley said. “So, I have a suggestion: Why don’t we take down the trans flag from all the federal buildings from which it’s flying, and instead, inscribe on every building owned and operated by the federal government our national motto: In God We Trust?” “Symbols matter,” Hawley concluded, and it’s up to conservatives to defend America’s national religion and its role in public life. The post Time to Take Down the Pride Flags and Put ‘In God We Trust’ on Every Federal Building, Sen. Josh Hawley Says appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Nintendo is one of the oldest and most beloved companies in the entire world. They've managed to appeal to multiple generations and are constantly reinventing themselves. Nintendo also brought the world one of the most iconic video game characters of all time: Mario. Whether you grew up playing video games or watching your kids be glued to the screen, you know who the plumber in the red overalls... Source

Benjamin Franklin is one of the most prominent figures of American history. There was little that Franklin couldn't do. The polymath was born into a modest family in 1706 and despite only two years of formal education, he would later gain acclaim as an author, printer, politician, scientist, inventor, statesman, and freemason, among other things. But did you also know that he was a serial... Source

During the mid-'90s, young kids across America were glued to their TV screens for the same reason. Jason (red), Trini (yellow), Zack (black), Kimberly (pink), Billy (blue), and Tommy (white) morphed into action fighting off evil antagonists. The original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers were and still are some of the most iconic crime-fighting characters to ever surface. In 2017... Source

WSJ: Inside the White House Cover-Up of Biden's Decline

From white and brown to pinkish and blue, chicken eggs come in all kinds of colors, especially if you shop at the overpriced organic food store. Despite what you’ve heard, it’s not directly associated with the color of the hen (when was the last time you saw a blue chicken?). The main factor behind eggshell coloration is genetics, although a few environmental elements play a role too.Scientists have discovered at least seven genes that are involved in chicken eggshell color: CPOX, FECH, BCRP, HRG1, FLVCR, SLCO1A2, and SLCO1C1. When it comes to brown and white eggs, their pigments are primarily influenced by the production of an organic pigment called protoporphyrin. The pigment is derived from heme, an iron-containing compound in the blood's hemoglobin. Two other pigments, biliverdin and biliverdin-zinc chelate, can also sway a chicken’s egg color, but protoporphyrin is typically deemed to be the most influential.Generally speaking, white eggs have very little protoporphyrin, while brown eggs are abundant in it. A high expression of the CPOX gene results in more protoporphyrinogen and, therefore, a brown shell color. On the other hand, high expression of the FECH gene results in lower protoporphyrinogen levels and a lighter eggshell color.However, genetics is rarely this straightforward forward and the other five genes – BCRP, HRG1, FLVCR, SLCO1A2, and SLCO1C1 – also impact the coloration by influencing the heme transporters, which deliver heme to the various parts of a biological cell.Different breeds of chickens can be associated with specific eggshell colors because they harbor a particular collection of genes. Leghorn chickens, for example, lay white eggs, while Rhode Island Reds lay brown eggs due to the genetic variation within the population. Marans chickens, a fancy French breed revered for their exceptionally dark brown eggs, are the product of selective breeding that has optimized the expression of genes that pump out protoporphyrin. Along with genetics, egg color can be shaped by numerous environmental factors, including the hen's age, stress levels, disease, and diet. Iron levels in their food are particularly important for chickens that lay brown eggs, as are certain probiotics, specifically Bacillus subtilis.Stress, old age, and illness can also result in less pigmentation in eggs, although white eggs don’t necessarily mean that a hen was “unhappy” or sick. Likewise, shell color doesn't explicitly affect an egg's flavor. If you are mindful of taste, then you're better off focusing on the farm's quality, rather than the color of eggs they produce.Blue eggs are a bit of an exception to all the genetic rules mentioned above. Just a few breeds – including the Araucana chicken from Chile, plus the Dongxiang and Lushi chickens from China – lay blue eggs and it’s all thanks to a gene called oocyan. Remarkably, the gene’s expression results from a historic infection by EAV-HP, a retrovirus that managed to integrate into the genome of the chicken breed and became passed down through generations via their DNA. The infection most likely occurred hundreds of years ago and was spotted by keen-eyed farmers who selectively bred the chickens to keep the phenotype rolling. Rest assured, the virus is harmless and blue eggs are perfectly safe to eat (if cooked correctly). Just like chickens, the human genome is filled with examples of endogenous retroviruses from historic infections; up to 8 percent of the human genome is made from sequences of viral origin. Unfortunately, none of them make us produce blue eggs, at least to our knowledge. 

A first-of-its-kind study has revealed that tampons contain toxic metals, including arsenic and lead. The “concerning” finding could mean that potentially millions of people are at risk of adverse health effects.According to the study, between 52 and 86 percent of people in the US who menstruate use tampons, generally for hours at a time. In addition to this, the skin of the vagina is highly absorptive, which means that if tampons did contain metals, there would be a very real risk of exposure for a large number of people. And yet, the study authors believe, their research is the first ever to measure metals in tampons.“Despite this large potential for public health concern, very little research has been done to measure chemicals in tampons,” said lead author Jenni A. Shearston in a statement. To remedy this, Shearston and colleagues analyzed the concentrations of 16 metal(loid)s in 30 tampons from 14 tampon brands. The metals studied were: arsenic, barium, calcium, cadmium, cobalt, chromium, copper, iron, manganese, mercury, nickel, lead, selenium, strontium, vanadium, and zinc. “Concerningly, we found concentrations of all metals we tested for, including toxic metals like arsenic and lead,” Shearston added.Although concentrations differed by region of tampon purchase (US vs European Union/UK), by organic vs non-organic material, and for store- vs name-brand tampons, metals were found to be present in all tampon types. No category had consistently lower concentrations of all or most metals. For example, lead concentrations were higher in non-organic tampons but arsenic was higher in organic tampons.Several toxic metals were detectable in all tampon samples, including arsenic, cadmium, chromium, lead, and vanadium. Among these, lead had the highest concentration with a geometric mean of 120 nanograms per gram.Overall, the highest concentration was found for zinc (geometric mean = 52,000 ng/g).“Tampon use is a potential source of metal exposure,” the study authors conclude. Metals have previously been found to increase the risk of dementia, cancer, infertility, and diabetes – and are known to damage the liver, kidneys, and brain, as well as the cardiovascular, nervous, and endocrine systems. However, what, if any, impact their presence in tampons has on the health of the people who use them is as yet unclear. “Future research is needed to replicate our findings and determine whether metals can leach out of tampons and cross the vaginal epithelium into systemic circulation,” the authors explain.The researchers call for more stringent regulations that require tampon manufacturers to test their products for metals. “It would be exciting to see the public call for this, or to ask for better labeling on tampons and other menstrual products,” said Shearston.For now, the US Food and Drug Administration recommends only wearing a tampon when on your period and advises they be changed every four to eight hours and never worn for more than eight hours at a time.The study is published in the journal Environment International.

After a weeklong hiatus The View is back, and has plenty to say to make up for lost time. Following a Democratic wave of panic which finally acknowledged the mental and physical state of President Biden, all five co-hosts took to the air to lay out their liberal opinions. Like many other Trump-loathing commentators in the media, it was clear that these hosts didn’t know how to react to the debate, and ended up regurgitating many of the same diatribes of distress and blame the mainstream had already suffered from. But they landed on both sides of the internal Democrat squabble. Whoopi Goldberg, in an attempt to lift the harsh criticism of the press stated, “I don't care if he's pooped his pants. I don't care if he can't put a sentence together...I have poopy days all the time, all the time. I step in so much poo you can't even imagine. Now I'm not running the world, but I don't know anybody who doesn't step in stuff at some point.” An opinion not shared by many of the co-hosts, Goldberg’s attempt of consolation did very little.     Ana Navarro embodied such stress complaining, “I'm worried and I'm pissed. Frankly I'm livid because for the last eight days it feels to me, I have seen nothing but breathless reporting. It almost feels like media malpractice with them trying to score the winning goal against Biden.” That’s an incredibly weird statement to make following the remarks this show and many others under the progressive media have made about the Republican Presidential nominee and his party. In all of these opinions, hypocrisy seems to be the main theme. Each issue which has now become too obvious to ignore in the President has been pointed out by many, was previously ignored by the mainstream media. Sara Haines rebutted Ana Navarro’s media critique, blaming the Hidin’ Biden team at the White House: HAINES: I have been more happy than not with the administration, but I blame those closest to him -- not the media, Ana. I blame those closest to him because by this time, President Obama had given 570 news conferences and interviews. Trump had given 468. Biden has given 164. If they put him out there earlier, we could have either discovered this problem with time on our hands, or squelched it immediately, and that's on their hands. Hypocrisy as a coping mechanism, each host claiming the end goal of beating Donald Trump merited voting for the obviously aged current one. Sunny Hostin championed this opinion citing the "accomplishments" of Vice President Harris, and spewing, once again the overcited and completely misinformed dissent in the recent Supreme Court decision on presidential immunity: HOSTIN: What we do know is that in terms of the Supreme Court which the media is not talking enough about, the Supreme Court said that Donald Trump, if elected, becomes a king. They give him total immunity. Sotomayor said, “orders the Navy S.E.A.L. team six to assassinate a political rival, immune. Organizes a military descending coup to hold onto power ,immune. Takes a bribe in exchange for an immunity, immune. Immune, immune, immune. Also then went to say, the President is now a king above the law. So guess what, folks? I am uncomfortable with the state of where Joe Biden is, but I am comfortable with Joe Biden and Kamala Harris versus a convicted felon. Once again a ridiculous display of misinformation, old news, and exasperated progressive bias pervading the mass media.   The transcript is below, click “expand” to read: ABC The View   7/8/2024 11:04:47 AM EST   WHOOPI GOLDBERG: So I mean, listen I'm just going to add my two cents because I wasn't here on the day that y'all talked about it. I don't care if he's pooped his pants. I don't care if he can't put a sentence together. Show me he can't do the job, and then I'll say, okay. Maybe it's time to go. Now he had a bad night the first time that he went out and debated with Kamala Harris and everybody wanted him to quit then and said, you can't talk to women like this. You're doing this wrong, you're doing that wrong. He came back and said, you know what? I got it, and gave it four years. So yeah. I have poopy days all the time, all the time. I step in so much poo you can't even imagine.  [ Laughter ]  Now I'm not running the world, but I don't know anybody who doesn't step in stuff at some point. So I'm just simply saying, yeah. There are two debates, and if he can't do what he needs to do for the second debate, I'll join any crew that says, get rid of him, but loyalty to me, if you are doing the job -- I might not like everything you're doing. I don't like it all, but I'm going to stand behind you like those guys stand behind the guy who should have been the person people were talking about saying, yeah, Biden had a bad day, but this guy couldn't tell the truth if it split his lip, but nobody said that. But Ana said that, I believe, or something. She's not quite as colorful as I am, but the question -- ANA NAVARRO: Give me a chance. GOLDBERG: The question now is because lots of Democrats are coming out saying, you know, oh, find somebody else, but when we tried to do that with D.T. -- that's my new way of describing him. When we said, listen. He shouldn't be on the ballot, everybody said, no, no, no. He was -- the people chose him. We can't take him off the ballot. Well, I don't understand why anybody thinks it's going to be any easier to take Biden off the ballot, but I want -- say something. ANA NAVARRO: Well, I'm going to tell you I'm just -- I'm -- I'm worried and I'm pissed. Frankly I'm livid because for the last eight days it feels to me, I have seen nothing but breathless reporting. It almost feels like media malpractice with them trying to score the winning goal against Biden. Who can have the gotcha moment? They have been splicing, dicing, cubing everything he says, putting it on a microscope slide, and looking at it under all sorts of magnifying glass. Look, Joe Biden is the nominee. He is the human standing between us and Donald Trump. I think Democrats need to stop making the case against Joe Biden and start making the case against Donald Trump.  [Cheers and applause ]  I think the media needs to give some clarity to the coverage that they're doing because in their seal to fact check Joe Biden, they too are making mistakes. Yesterday I saw The Washington Post reporting that Ted Lieu asked in that conference call for Biden to step down. Except for a couple of minutes later, Ted Lieu went on social media and said, "I never opened my mouth.” Then there was the entire thing with Mark Warner. Look, I saw Joe Ben the day after the debate. I saw him that night at an LGBTQ gala. I hugged him so tight I almost broke a rib. I thought the secret service was gonna come. GOLDBERG: His or yours. NAVARRO: Girl you got to go really deep to get my ribs. He's got less body fat than I do. But I saw Joe Biden. I'm not an anonymous source. I'm not somebody pretending to have spoken to him. No. I actually did speak to him, and he was just fine. He had a bad night, and until Joe Biden tells me he is out, I am riding with Biden/Harris.  [Applause ]  And the second part of that I think is very important because they are a team, and Kamala Harris has come out so strong this last week as part of that team, and part of the reason I have no qualms about supporting Joe Biden, zero, zilch, zero, is because I know that if something happens to him, like every other Vice President, she will step She is prepared. She is experienced. She is decent. She is compassionate. She is smart. She is far from the caricature Republicans have tried to build for her. So you know what I am with Biden/Harris till the damn end. ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN: The problem is this. The problem is this. Most Americans are never going to get a chance to dine with the president or to be at fund-raisers with him. They -- 50 million people tuned into that debate, and it's going to be undecided voters and swing voters who determine this election. I believe that Trump is a threat to democracy. I am horrified that my party nominated an aspiring fascist, and there is one way to stop it. It is in the ballot box. The courts are not stopping Donald Trump. So it is who is running against him, and I'm starting to question if Biden recognizes how big of a threat Donald Trump actually is because as George Stephanopoulos rightly pointed out, there's no example in modern history of somebody having Biden's approval rating, having nearly 50% of his own party saying, they don't want him to be the nominee, they want someone else, and 70% of voters saying they're worried about his age and going on four months later to win. I don't think we're just risking the White House to Donald Trump. I think you are risking a sweep in the House and the Senate. And I actually would argue, unpopular take, I think Kamala Harris would perform better because I think voters felt gaslit being told Biden is as sharp as a tack. I think a young, energetic Democrat running and saying that they're the top of the ticket actually will perform better head to head. SARA HAINES: I will be voting for president Biden if he is on the ballot come November for all the reasons you guys so adequately spelled out. I don't think he can win up against Donald Trump as it stands right now. I just don't, and his age and frailty were always apparent to me and he didn't concern me. Probably because of who he's up against and also because I have been more happy than not with the administration, but I blame those closest to him -- not the media, Ana. I blame those closest to him because by this time, President Obama had given 570 news conferences and interviews. Trump had given 468. Biden has given 164. If they put him out there earlier, we could have either discovered this problem with time on our hands, or squelched it immediately, and that's on their hands. (...)   11:18:18 AM EST SUNNY HOSTIN: I didn't say anything in the first segment because I have been so conflicted all morning as most of you know. You know, I think it would be naive, and I think it would be dishonest for us to say that this President that we are looking at is the same person that we looked at in 2020. I think it would be dishonest for us to look at him and his performance now and his performance across the board really, not in terms of policy and what he's got done, but when he speaks and his appearances, that this is the same man that was Barack Obama's Vice President for eight years, and it would be dishonest for us to look at his record as a Senator which is a darn good record and say that that is the same man that we are looking at today, and that concerns me, okay? But what I will say is they say behind every great man is a great woman. Kamala Harris, as Ana said, is prepared. She's ready. She's presidential. She spoke at the essence festival this weekend. I think we have a clip. I want to show it very quickly. KAMALA HARRIS: You have the former President who is running to become President again who has openly talked about his admiration of dictators and his intention to be a dictator on day one, who has openly talked about his intention to weaponize the Department of Justice against his political enemies, who has talked about being proud of taking from the women of America, a most fundamental right to make decisions about your own body. HOSTIN: Okay? She's presidential. She's ready. She can assume it, so if he cannot complete a four-year term, we know that we are protected. I will say this. I am uncomfortable with him stepping down because I don't know that this country will vote for a black woman. If this country could not vote for Hillary Clinton, one of the most decorated and successful politicians and people in the world, I don't know that Kamala Harris can meet - can beat a convicted felon. One more thing that I will say is that Republicans are clearly scared about Kamala Harris. They know that as a senator, she presented 1 in 8 Americans. They know as attorney general of California, she ran one of the largest law departments in the country. They know she was the first African American woman to be the District Attorney of San Francisco. That is a hard thing to do. She's a three-peat win. What we do know is that in terms of the Supreme Court which the media is not talking enough about, the Supreme Court said that Donald Trump, if elected, becomes a king. They give him total immunity. Sotomayor said, “orders the Navy S.E.A.L. team  six to assassinate a political rival, immune. Organizes a military descending coup to hold onto power ,immune. Takes a bribe in exchange for an immunity, immune. Immune, immune, immune. Also then went to say, the President is now a king above the law. So guess what, folks? I am uncomfortable with the state of where Joe Biden is, but I am comfortable with Joe Biden and Kamala Harris versus a convicted felon.

Monday’s White House press briefing descended into chaos amid the third briefing where the ever-inept Karine Jean-Pierre refused to even acknowledge President Biden’s obvious cognitive decline and declined to answer why a neurologist had visited the White House nearly a dozen times, including once to the residence. Hours later, a letter was released from Biden’s stooge doctor insisting there was nothing to worry about. Jean-Pierre never called on Fox’s Peter Doocy, so it was left to CBS’s Ed O’Keefe to grill the press secretary and, before her Q&A, national security spokesman John Kirby. In the latter case, Kirby insisted he’s never seen Biden like he was on debate night and said the National Security Council has never kept important information from Biden that arose past his bedtime. O’Keefe uncorked his righteous outburst after Jean-Pierre dodged repeated questions from the AP’s Zeke Miller about how she wasn’t straight with reporters and the American people last week when asked whether Biden had been checked by doctors: AP’s @ZekeJMiller: “My first few is on the credibility of this White House when it comes to talking about the president's health.” KJP: “Yeah.” Miller: “When you were here last Tuesday, you were asked if the President had any medical examinations since —” KJP: “Yeah.” Miller:… pic.twitter.com/wMVod1xhDx — Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) July 8, 2024 Jean-Pierre moments later she did know Biden was checked by a doctor, but thought reporters were asking if Biden had recently been subject to a more formal “medical exam”. In other words, it was a disagreement over what the definition of is is. When Miller asked about the Parkinson’s Disease expert and Jean-Pierre refused to even acknowledge Dr. Kevin Cannard (even though his name appeared in White House visitor logs) out of some (false) concern over military personnel being doxxed, O’Keefe unloaded: ?I transcribed the full back-and-forth with KJP and CBS’s @EdOKeefe. It was WILD. You're welcome, America.... O’Keefe: “But, Karine, you’re not answering the — the very basic, direct question!” Miller: “[Inaudible]” O’Keefe: “Has the Parkinson’s [inaudible] —” KJP: “Wait,… pic.twitter.com/Z3gGVDa5bl — Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) July 8, 2024 Ooof. Well, things got worse when Jean-Pierre declared she was “answering that question” and O’Keefe clapped back that she’s “not” and lambasted her for the hypocrisy of casually revealing guests at the White House to see the President, but not this one because of its sensitive nature. Watch the video below to see more of the back-and-forth (and see the transcript here and here), including the part when O’Keefe and NBC’s Kelly O’Donnell both pointed out Cannard’s name is already out in the ether, so there’s nothing to, in fact, dox.     At one point the above video, O’Keefe shouted in disgust: “And you’re going to allow this to fester longer, Karine unless the White House answers the question.” Jean-Pierre grew almost emotional as she hit back that “[t]here’s no reason to get back and — go back and forth and be this aggressive”, but O’Keefe countered “we’re miffed around here about how information’s been shared with the press corps around here.” Eventually, O’Keefe ceded space to NPR’s Asma Khalid asking more gently to no avail and also whether Biden has been treated for “fluid buildup in the brain”. ABC’s Mary Bruce, as the chief Biden apple polisher, was more gingerly in her questions by merely wanting to know “what...was that meeting” between Cannard and O’Connor about and if “can...tell us.” Jean-Pierre couldn’t let O’Keefe going full Peter Doocy on her, so she used time during a back-and-forth with Reuters’s Andrea Shalal to slam his behavior as “not okay” to the point that, by the end, she sounded like she was about to cry (click “expand”):     I do want to — I just want to take a step back for a second because I do take offense to what Ed alluded to. You know, come out here every day there’s a press briefing. And we do our best to give you the information that we have at the time. That’s what we do and we understand that freedom of the press — we respect the freedom of the press. You heard me talk about this last week. We — I appreciate the back and forth that we all have. It is — I try to respect you and I hope you try to respect me and we literally do everything that we can — my team does everything that we can to make sure we get the answers to you. That’s what we do. And sometimes, we disagree. Sometimes, we are not in agreement. But you know what? That’s democracy. That is what is important — to have that healthy back-and-forth and so, to say that I’m holding information or allude to anything else is not unfair — is really, really unfair. I think people who are watching and have been watching this briefing for this past week could say that we are doing our best in this briefing to provide by the information that we have. And I will admit — I will be the first one to admit sometimes, I get it wrong. I at least I admit that. At least I admit that. And sometimes I don’t have the information and I will always, always admit that, but I do take offense to what was just happening at the beginning of this briefing. It’s not okay. O’Donnell — who can charitably be placed on the friendlier side of the ledger in the room for the regime — tried to turn the temperature down: ?NBC’s Kelly O’Donnell, outgoing WHCA president and someone friendlier than others to Team Biden in the Briefing Room, tried to patch things up after KJP’s blow-up with CBS’s Ed O’Keefe. O’Donnell: “We are seeking clarity.” KJP: “I understand that.” O’Donnell: “And I think… pic.twitter.com/lhSvUlNvkt — Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) July 8, 2024 Jean-Pierre wasn’t having it and still blasted O’Keefe: “But the personal attacks is not okay. Just want to be very, very clear here.” Of course, O’Donnell did nothing to defend him. Needless to say, her attempts to calm tensions didn’t work:     The Wall Street Journal’s Catherine Lucey brought up Biden’s softball phone interview on Morning Joe and whether he read from a script: WSJ’s Catherine Lucey: “[D]uring the call today to MSNBC —” KJP: “Yeah, sure.” Lucey: “— was the President reading off of a script?” KJP: “So I was in the room when the President called in to Morning Joe. The President spoke from his heart. The President was very clear there… pic.twitter.com/gzwNLioslq — Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) July 8, 2024 Another interesting exchange was CNN’s Kayla Tausche wondering if the White House is pressuring Democrats into reading their talking points (seemingly against their will) that Biden is mentally all there (click “expand”): TAUSCHE: [T]here was an article a month ago in The Wall Street Journal that the White House universally panned because the on the record quotes criticizing the president’s age and acuity largely from Republicans. JEAN-PIERRE: Yeah. TAUSCHE: But I want to ask about the graphs in that story about Democrats. It said that the White House — JEAN-PIERRE: From the same story? TAUSCHE: — from that same story. JEAN-PIERRE: Okay. TAUSCHE: It said that the White House kept close tabs on The Journal’s interviews with Democratic lawmakers and after the offices of several Democrats shared with the White House either a reporting of an interview or details about what was asked, some of those lawmakers spoke to The Journal a second time and once again emphasized Biden’s strength. They quote Congressman Gregory Meeks, a New York Democrat, saying, “they just, you know, said that I should give you a call back.” I’m wondering if you could characterize what the White House told Democrats to tell reporters about the President’s age and acuity? JEAN-PIERRE: I think the Democrats spoke for themselves, uh, I think, you know, you know, how stories work. It — it — it — there is a there’s a lot of back and forth — uh — when you all come with a story from us and we want to make sure you hear from other voices, we — we make that available to you all and it is up to — to the reporters. They’re going to reach out or not to that particular person, but we expect and we anticipate and we understand that it doesn’t matter who — if it’s a congressperson or a governor or any elected official, they’re going to speak for themselves. They’re going to speak for themselves and I would say that Representative Greg Meeks has also been very supportive. If you fast forward to where we are today — uh — Representative Meeks has been very supportive of this President continuing moving forward, and we’ve heard from many others, many others, the CBC more — more broadly has been very supportive. We heard from the chair — Chairman Hoss — Horsford from the CBC, and so that is the type of support that we continue to see. TAUSCHE: So, there hasn’t been outreach by the White House to Democrats who might have misgivings about the President’s age or acuity to have them say positive things about the President publicly? JEAN-PIERRE: I’m not really — I don’t quite understand where you’re going with the question. I — I think I explained it. Sometimes when you all are working on stories and we want to hear, you want, we, and we were trying to provide supporters from the president. That is not unusual, and it is up to the reporter to reach out or not. Uh, and so that is something that we certainly do. That is something that — you know, that is not uncommon, and but what I would say more broadly, there are, there are congressional members, as we’re talking about what’s happening in Congress, as we’re talking about the President’s outreach, as we’re talking about, you know, how we move forward, there are congressional members out there who have been incredibly supportive. We have to remember there are hundreds of House members and — and so, you know, there are folks out there. Others had mop-up duty with additional bites of the apple on questions Jean-Pierre wouldn’t answer (see those in the linked transcript. Credit should be doled out to usual partisan hack April Ryan of theGrio, who reminded the Briefing Room (and those watching) that Biden has had two brain aneurysms and thus wanted to know if his cognitive slippage was due to increased side affects: April Ryan: “Karine, as you’re talking, as everyone’s talking —” KJP: “Yeah?” Ryan: “— about neurological issues. Um, this is different but kind of on that same page. The president has had two aneurysms, okay? And there are complications from aneurysms to include impaired short… pic.twitter.com/ap9m2VM7to — Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) July 8, 2024 Don’t worry, though! Ryan went back to her tool status with a softball about “how do you, as this White House, who stands behind this President, how do you work to do an image change or an image change to revamp him, to make them shinier and brighter” when Republicans will “be attacking him” during next week’s Republican National Committee. To see the relevant transcript from the July 8 briefing (including even more questions to both Jean-Pierre and Kirby), click here.