BIDEN’S WHITE HOUSE SPOKESMAN SAYS THEY SPOKE IN PERSON ONLY TWICE.

A White House spokesperson for President Joe Biden has testified that he only spoke to the then-chief executive in person twice, Republican Rep. James Comer told reporters Thursday.

Ian Sams, who testified in front of a House committee about the MAGA-led conspiracy surrounding an autopen Biden used to sign legislation and pardons, was a spokesman for the White House Counsel’s Office from mid-2022 to August 2024.

Sams was one of Biden’s staunchest defenders last year, combating claims that the former president displayed signs of significant cognitive decline in his final year in power.

Comer, of Kentucky, countered on Thursday that it would be difficult for Sams to know the actual state of Biden given their limited interaction.

“He communicated with Joe Biden two times,” Comer said, citing Sams’ testimony, which has not been made public. “He saw Joe Biden—talked to Joe Biden—two times, the entire stint as White House spokesperson, but yet he would, every day, tweet and issue statements from the podium of the White House.”

The lawmaker clarified in a statement to Fox News that Sams also spoke to Biden once over the phone and on a virtual call in another instance. That raises their total interactions to four — about one every six months.

Biden being unable or unwilling to communicate with his own spokesman is some “MAGA-led conspiracy” about autopen abuse how, exactly?

NOT REALLY FEELING THE SHOCK: We Elect Psychopaths — And Then Act Surprised When They Act Like Psychopaths.

WHERE’S THE WINDOW? Passengers sue United and Delta for selling ‘window’ seats next to blank walls. “The lawsuits allege that United and Delta long have been aware of consumer complaints posted on social media about the windowless seats yet continued charging extra for window seats without windows.”

THE RATES ARE TOO DAMN HIGH: The Housing Market Hurts Americans, and Trump Blames Powell.

2026 PREVIEW: Vance in Georgia: Trump Team Has Your Back, Ossoff Doesn’t.

RUY TEIXEIRA: Two, Three, Many Sister Souljah Moments!

This is the top challenge facing the Democrats today. Yet they are shockingly M.I.A. in dealing with it. Democrats overwhelmingly would rather do anything than do what is needed: two, three many Sister Souljah moments. Consider how Democrats have handled culturally-inflected issues since their 2024 election defeat.

Trans? A few peeps, quickly slapped down by the Groups and party activists.

Immigration? Everything Trump’s doing is wrong. We’ll only cooperate with federal law enforcement when we feel like it.

Crime? Not a problem. Everything’s going great—especially in D.C.! Democratic House leader Hakeem Jeffries: “The crime scene in D.C. most damaging to everyday Americans is at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.” Trump’s turning D.C. into a police state!

Race? DEI is wonderful and we’ll defend it to our dying breath. Same thing with racial preferences. Those who oppose these policies are racists and white supremacists.

The list could go on. Using the traditional 0-10 Sister Souljah scale, where zero is doing nothing at all, 5 is barely adequate, and 10 is what Bill Clinton did, I’d give today’s Democrats a 1 for the occasional grudging admission in interviews and the like that maybe the Democrats have overdone their noble commitments a little bit (though of course their heinous opponents are 100 percent wrong). And the 1 might be generous.

Moments like these are when the Old Guard that pissed everything away is usually forced aside by the Young Turks to build things back up. But in the Democrats’ case today, the next generation seems even more radical, and determined to continues pissing everything away.

I keep saying two things: They can’t stay stupid forever, and that they seem determined to try.

Go long on popcorn.

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Karen Bass Exists to Make Gavin Newsom Look Competent. “Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has been getting all of the wrong kinds of press since fire destroyed Pacific Palisades and other areas of her city. We’ve seen public officials not handle crises well before, but Bass is going to need her own wing in the Mega FAIL Hall of Shame. Bass is the mayor of the second largest city in the country and has performed as if she couldn’t be trusted to keep fake houseplant alive.”

ASKING THE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS: What if A.I. Doesn’t Get Much Better Than This?

Lots of juicy details, but this one stands out:

Continuing to buy into the A.I. hype might bring its own perils. In a recent article, Zitron pointed out that about thirty-five per cent of U.S. stock-market value—and therefore a large share of many retirement portfolios—is currently tied up in the so-called Magnificent Seven technology companies. According to Zitron’s analysis, these firms spent five hundred and sixty billion dollars on A.I.-related capital expenditures in the past eighteen months, while their A.I. revenues were only about thirty-five billion. “When you look at these numbers, you feel insane,” Zitron told me.

Something that can’t go on forever will stop, the wise man once said.

ICYMI, IT’S MY THURSDAY ESSAY FOR VIP SUBSCRIBERS: We’re Losing the Race for the Ultimate High Ground.

SARAH HOYT’S SHOCKED FACE IS STUCK LIKE THAT:

Gavin Newsom is using the gerrymandering to raise money for his own campaign?

Who could possibly have seen this coming?https://t.co/Gx87TqdQPP https://t.co/6QcDQHcMfH

— Will O'Neill (@RealWillONeill) August 21, 2025

As I wrote earlier this week, “California Governor Gavin Newsom believes in nothing aside from furthering the endless ambition of California Governor Gavin Newsom.”

THE COST OF WAR: Parts of Russia face gasoline shortages after Ukraine struck refineries.

Since early August, Ukraine has targeted a number of oil refineries including Novokuibyshevsk, Syzran, Ryazan and Volgograd in response to Moscow’s missile and drone attacks.

In Russia’s far eastern region of Primorye, local media reported lines stretching back kilometres (miles) as motorists queued to fill up with gasoline. Authorities blamed an influx of tourists.

NNK, an oil company, said many of its gasoline carriers in the region were stuck in traffic jams for three to six hours at a time due to repair works on the roads, according to local media.

Yevgeny Balitsky, Moscow-appointed governor of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, which is mostly under Russian control, said on Thursday that gasoline retail sales in several areas were suffering problems because of peak demand and refinery maintenance.

“In the Zaporizhzhia region, the fuel shortage is further complicated by logistics issues and the threat of enemy attacks on fuel trains,” he said.

If you’d like more details than Reuters can provide, there are plenty of them on this X thread.

This seems relevant, too: Trump suggests Ukraine should attack Russia to win war.

“It is very hard, if not impossible, to win a war without attacking an invaders country. It’s like a great team in sports that has a fantastic defence, but is not allowed to play offence. There is no chance of winning! It is like that with Ukraine and Russia,” Mr Trump wrote in his Truth Social website.

“Crooked and grossly incompetent Joe Biden would not let Ukraine FIGHT BACK, only DEFEND. How did that work out?”

I’d rather Trump wrangle an equitable armistice, but since Putin seems determined to slow walk the peace process, I’m very curious to see how Kyiv’s systematic attacks on Russia’s energy oil infrastructure pan out.

PAULA BOLYARD: Rest in Peace, James Dobson, and Thank You.

THEY’RE RIGHT TO BE: Teachers are skeptical of ‘equitable’ grading: ‘Students sink to lower expectations.’

OOF:

I believe you mean $0.00

Thank you for your attention to this matter. https://t.co/RlJ5d2hIQf

— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) August 21, 2025

TEXAS TWO-STEP: Democrat Slams Big Money As He Dances All the Way to the Bank.

LEE WILLIAMS: Judge ATF as They Judge Us: They’re All Guilty and They All Need to Go. “No one makes the case that it’s time to end the ATF better than the ATF itself. Rather than allowing the agency to continue on its own or merging it with the DEA as has been recently discussed, President Donald J. Trump should put the agency out of our misery before its agents kill yet another innocent American or violate someone else’s civil rights.”

IT’S MY THURSDAY ESSAY FOR VIP SUBSCRIBERS: Are We Losing the New Space Race? “The race isn’t to merely plant a flag for prestige and bragging rights. The race is on to establish a permanent and (eventually) self-sustaining presence on the ultimate high ground — and the gateway to the riches of the asteroid belt.”

SUSTAINABILITY: Report warns U.S. national debt predicted to pass $53 trillion by 2035.

By fiscal year 2035, the national debt is set to surpass $53 trillion, or 120% of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product, according to a new estimate by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.

The updated number – which CRFB reached by assuming that all current trade deals and tariffs remain in effect – is $1 trillion more than projected in the Congressional Budget Office’s January 2025 Budget and Economic Outlook.

Yearly interest payments on the national debt will rise as well, climbing from nearly $1 trillion in 2025 to $1.8 trillion in 2035, a total increase of $14 trillion over the next decade.

This story doesn’t end well.

I DUNNO, SHE’S DODGED EVERYTHING ELSE: After Decades of Scandals, Hillary Finally Faces a Ticket She Can’t Dodge.

NOTHING TO SEE HERE, MOVE ALONG: IRS began criminal probe into Clinton Foundation in 2019 but then suddenly stopped, memos show.

“Can’t talk about the CF,” a memo states in recounting how IRS agents suddenly cut off contact with two whistleblowers they had been working with for weeks. One of the whistleblowers was a decorated former federal money laundering analyst who had testified before Congress about issues like terrorism financing.

The documents, released under the Freedom of Information Act, add a new body of evidence about the federal government’s concerns about the former first family’s famous global charity as well as a persistent narrative of federal agents being thwarted in their pursuit of investigations tied to major Democratic Party figures.

John Moynihan, a retired Drug Enforcement Agency financial crimes analyst, and Larry Doyle, a corporate tax compliance expert, had spent years researching the Clinton Foundation, testifying to Congress about it and providing the IRS with evidence of alleged financial wrongdoing by the Clinton Foundation.

Developing…

“DERP” PRETTY MUCH SUMS IT UP:

Biden called Americans domestic terrorists.
Biden pushed for violence against those who disagreed with him, branding us as extremists.
Biden expanded the government and increased its power.
Biden deployed guards and erected a perimeter of barbed wire around the Capitol.

DERP. https://t.co/epPg4QZI0H

— The🐰FOO (@PolitiBunny) August 21, 2025

SCOTT PINSKER: I’ve Changed My Mind: There Really IS Genocide in Gaza. “Buckle up and pack a sandwich: This headline will make sense in, oh, about six minutes. (Times and distances are approximations; your mileage may vary.)”

KRISTI NOEM: President Trump promised to secure the border. And he’s delivered.

History has immortalized Babe Ruth’s “called shot” in the 1932 World Series. The New York Yankees legend extended his arm toward the centerfield bleachers, then crushed a home run to the spot where he pointed. It was an iconic, seemingly impossible moment.

President Donald Trump, like Ruth, called his shot in the 2024 presidential campaign, saying that “you don’t need eight years, you need six months” to turn our nation around.

Seven months into his second term, it’s clear that the president has done what he said he’d do by reestablishing law and order at our southern border and by removing violent illegal immigrants from our nation. Both actions were necessary for Americans’ peace and prosperity.

President Trump called on me as secretary of Homeland Security to deliver on his promises. The best way to do that was to let law enforcement uphold our laws, to get out of their way and to put excellence at the heart of everything we do.

I had been assured by all the very best people that the border was broken, and that the only solution was massive new legislation that included amnesty.

DEMOCRATS DON’T LIKE MEN; THEY NEVER SEEMED TO TAKE INTO ACCOUNT THAT THE FEELING MIGHT BECOME MUTUAL:

No one forced Democrats to make their entire identity about telling normal men they're evil.

That's on them.

I'm just glad I get to see the fallout. It's glorious. https://t.co/f0MrsUmxez

— RBe (@RBPundit) August 21, 2025

COOL. NOW PUT THE BEEF TALLOW BACK IN THE FRYERS: McDonald’s is cutting prices of its combo meals to convince customers it’s affordable again.