Happy Thursday!

Today’s Brew comes with some interesting stirrings in the presidential race.

Tonight is Kamala Harris’s big night at the Democratic National Convention after running mate Tim Walz capped off last night’s activities. More on that in Al’s Afternoon Tea.

Interestingly, 50 former service members now serving in the U.S. House and Senate sent a letter to Walz yesterday demanding he make amends for his “egregious misrepresentations” about his military service and stolen valor.

Unfortunately, fibbing fits in with the Democratic ticket. Take the job numbers the Biden-Harris administration has been touting.

Oops! Economy Created 818,000 Fewer Jobs than DoL Reported

Nearly a million fewer jobs were created between March 2023 and April 2024 than the administration previously stated. Specifically, 818,000 fewer, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, or an average of 68,000 fewer each month. This is the largest downward revision in 15 years. The biggest losses were sustained in the professional and business services, which dropped 358,000 jobs.

So what do you think? Was this just a massive clerical error? Incompetence? Or a deliberate padding of the numbers by the administration with the hopes of getting past the election before anyone noticed?

The govt people that makes these wildly wrong economic estimates will tell the grocer what they can charge for cereal. https://t.co/KiXav92oCd

— Sharyl Attkisson 🕵️‍♂️💼🥋 (@SharylAttkisson) August 21, 2024

DNC and the Illusion of Moderation

At the DNC’s recent Black Caucus meeting, a speaker said aloud what we’ve suspected: The party’s efforts to sound moderate are just a mirage, a show. “We got 70 days to act right, y’all,” the speaker said. “After 70 days we can go back to acting crazy.”

DNC says the quiet part out loud: “We got 70 days to act right, yall. After 70 days we can go back to acting crazy.” pic.twitter.com/9NI8xA2Z7F

— TheBlaze (@theblaze) August 21, 2024

Meanwhile, we’re still waiting for someone at the DNC to condemn the flag-burning and antisemitism outside the convention.

American flag set on fire as protesters gather outside the Consulate General of Israel in Chicago pic.twitter.com/D9jwJogsZz

— Brendan Gutenschwager (@BGOnTheScene) August 21, 2024

“No Mercy for Jews”

The antisemitism isn’t limited to the DNC crowds and liberal campuses, though. It’s also coming to your local schools.

Four schools in Montgomery County, Maryland, were vandalized with antisemitic graffiti Monday. The attack came two days after an elementary school and synagogue were similarly vandalized in the county.

Horrifying: Last night, four Maryland schools were vandalized with threats and swastikas.

“No mercy for Jews.”

This is the reality for Jews in 21st Century America. pic.twitter.com/2krSNrqWPS

— Eyal Yakoby (@EYakoby) August 21, 2024

School starts next week.

Bulletproof Glass for Donald Trump’s First Outdoor Rally Since Assassination Attempt

Former President Donald Trump held his first outdoor rally since the July 13 attempt on his life Wednesday in North Carolina. In a nod to the dangers still present, Trump agreed to have bulletproof glass surround the podium. (Well, we assume it’s bulletproof. Given the job the Secret Service did in Butler, Pennsylvania, it may well have been made of cellophane.)

It also doesn’t help the former president when he leaves the stage to hug a woman who passed out in the heat.

WHOLESOME: President Trump leaves the podium to hug a member of the crowd in North Carolina who had a medical emergency.

This is the President Trump the media will never show you. pic.twitter.com/6lgDJyMb0I

— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) August 21, 2024

On Friday, Trump will hold a campaign rally just outside Phoenix. Why does that matter? Because …

RFK Jr, Reportedly to Drop Out Friday and Endorse Trump

Look who else will be in Phoenix: Independent presidential candidate Robert. F. Kennedy will be in town addressing “the present historical moment” and his “path forward” — which is usually politician-speak for “I’m dropping out of the race.”

Indeed, ABC News reported Wednesday that not only will Kennedy drop out, he’ll endorse Trump.

It figures. With Trump also planning to be in Phoenix area that day, you gotta know something’s cooking in the Arizona heat, and not just eggs on the sidewalk when it’s 101. I mean, why would anyone go to Phoenix in the middle of summer just to say “I quit”?

Rumors grew thick Wednesday morning when Kennedy’s running mate, entrepreneur Nicole Shanahan, doubled down on the possibility that he was thinking about teaming with Trump. During an appearance late Tuesday on Fox News@Night, Shanahan shredded the Democratic Party for obstructing a fair election. “They’ve done everything they can, including creating PACs to prevent us from being able to have ballot access,” she said.

She suggested she and Kennedy could team with Trump, specifically on the issue of children’s health.

“We have the worst chronic health problem in the world right now,” she said. “Over 50 percent of children are diagnosed with some kind of chronic disease. This is unconscionable, and we are willing to work with anyone who is sincere in their endeavor to fix and address this issue.”

For Trump’s part, he said Tuesday he “probably would” consider Kennedy for a job in his administration. “He’s a brilliant guy. He’s a very smart guy. I’ve known him for a very long time,” he told CNN’s Kristen Holmes. “I didn’t know he was thinking about getting out, but if he is thinking about getting out, certainly I’d be open to it.”

Friday would be the perfect moment for Kennedy and Trump to join forces and obliterate the potential for any Democratic National Convention bounce.

(If we are correct about this, do you realize Trump’s two main opponents will be out the race by Labor Day?)

Whoa! Scientific Tests Conclude the Shroud of Turin May Well Be Authentic

Man, does this put any political talk into perspective: Though more research needs to be done, the Shroud of Turin does date back to the time of Christ, a team of Italian researchers has concluded. According to a study published in the journal Heritage, researchers from the Institute of Crystallolography used a new technology called Wide Angle X-ray on a piece of fabric from the shroud and determined it is close to 2,000 years old.

The findings contradict a study from the 1980s using radiocarbon-dating that concluded the shroud came from the Middle Ages.

As we know, the shroud contains the image of a crucified man who suffered wounds precisely matching the biblical description of those suffered by Jesus, and is believed to be the Lord’s burial cloth.

Then Joseph (of Arimathea) took the body and wrapped it in a new linen cloth. He put Jesus’ body in a new tomb that he had dug in a wall of rock. Then he closed the tomb by rolling a very large stone to cover the entrance. After he did this, he went away. (Matthew 27:59-60)

The first known report of the Shroud of Turin dates back to the 1350s. Although Newsweek persists in saying the evidence leans towards the image being a forgery, nobody — not even with all our modern technology — has been able to replicate it. It appears to have been imprinted on the cloth as if by an unusual burst of energy.

Read the full scientific report here.

Along the Stream

Yesterday’s serving of Al’s Afternoon Tea is a somber one: “Nuclear Security Advisor Dreams of ‘Queering Nuclear Weapons” as Three Powers Contemplate Coordinated Strike.”

The new episode of Conversations With Christians Engaged is up. This one features “Journalist Billy Hallowell on How to Dig for the Truth in News.”

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