Durham Report Blasts FBI

John Durham’s long-awaited report on the FBI is out, and it’s full of harsh criticism for the bureau.

Former Attorney General Bill Barr tasked Durham with creating the report in 2019. Its purpose was to discover why the FBI had initiated Crossfire Hurricane—an investigation into whether Donald Trump’s campaign colluded with the Russians during the 2016 election.

The report found that the FBI failed to use analytical rigor and bias resistance when evaluating supposed evidence against Trump—and that the investigation was initiated without any real evidence of collusion. Conversely, the bureau took little action when presented with credible information regarding foreign interference to Hillary Clinton’s benefit—a clear double standard.

Durham indicted three individuals, and one of them—former FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith—plead guilty to altering an email for a wiretap application. He received one year of probation.

CNN Ratings Plummet

CNN pulled in 3.3 million viewers during its town hall with Donald Trump.

Two days later, it pulled in fewer viewers than three other cable news networks, including Newsmax—a network that was drawing less than 100,000 viewers per night (Editor’s note: that’s less than The Flyover 🙂) before Tucker’s exodus from Fox.

Morale at CNN has sunk along with its ratings; many staffers were upset that Trump got a town hall special and tried every trick possible to avoid working the event. An anonymous on-air personality said the special was “so bad” and that the network would “get crushed” as a result.

World’s Oldest Dog Turns 31

The owners of Bobi, the world’s oldest dog, threw a birthday party with over 100 people to celebrate his birthday.

Bobi is a Rafeiro do Alentejo, a Portuguese dog bread for guarding livestock. Bobi hasn’t done much work in his long life, though—his owners attribute his extraordinary age to a “calm, peaceful environment” and say that he’s never been leashed and is used to roaming the forests surrounding his home in Portugal.

He means quite a lot to his owner:

“Bobi is special because looking at him is like remembering the people who were part of our family and unfortunately are no longer here, like my father, my brother, or my grandparents who have already left this world.”

➤ Homeless veterans are getting the boot from hotels in upstate New York. They’re not being told why they’re being removed, and the move coincides with immigrants arriving from the southern border. (More)

➤ Kid Rock chipped in $5,000 to Daniel Penny's legal defense fundraiser, and he left a note to mark the occasion: “Mr. Penny is a hero. Alvin Bragg is a POS.” (More)

➤ A 49 year-old man walked into Congressman Gerry Connolly’s office with a metal baseball bat and started swinging. He injured two people, including an intern, and is now in custody. (More)

➤ Donald Trump is walloping the competition in Kentucky. He’s polling 56 points ahead of GOP challengers. (More)

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➤ Journeyman QB Carson Wentz may be reduced to a backup position this season. He’s received several offers but hasn’t jumped at them—an indicator that he’s waiting for a better position to open up after a pre-season injury. (More)

➤ The benches cleared for an old-fashioned brawl at a Phillies/Rockies game. Bryce Harper did not appreciate Rockies reliever Jake Bird’s comments toward the Philadelphia bench, and mayhem ensued. (Watch)

➤ Former NFL MVP Matt Ryan is taking his talents to the broadcasting booth. He’ll join CBS for studio work and color commentary during the upcoming season. (More)

Market Report   5/15/23

➤ EU regulators have approved Microsoft’s $69 billion purchase of video game giant Activision. (More)

➤ Digital media company Vice has filed for bankruptcy. The company was valued at over $5 billion in 2016; it will now likely be bought for $250 million. (More)

➤ Family members of those slain in last year’s Buffalo supermarket shooting are suing the parent companies of Reddit, Facebook, Snapchat, and other media companies. The lawsuit is over the companies’ alleged roles in radicalizing the mass murderer who killed 10 people last May. (More)

➤ Scientists have never found a band of radiation surrounding an object outside of our solar system: until now. (More)

➤ Scotland is introducing autonomous buses into its public transit system. Five of the vehicles will begin working a 14-mile route outside of Edinburgh. (More)

➤ Residents of Traverse City, MI, were spellbound on Mother’s Day by a bear that wouldn’t come down from a tree. After some well-placed tranquilizer shots, the bear did come down. (Onto a few mattresses). (More)

➤ Pieces of a surfboard and wetsuit that washed ashore in Sydney, Australia, are likely from a surfer who is missing and was presumably killed by a shark. It would be the first fatal shark attack in Australia since February. (More)

Today’s Trivia

Bobi the Rafeiro do Alentejo has broken the record for the longest-living dog. Which breed held the previous record?