Cross-Examination

• Deficit rising by a trillion: Joe Biden’s big spending is coming home to roost, belying his administration’s boastful claims back in March that “because of the strength of the recovery and responsible winding down of emergency programs, the deficit fell by $1.7 trillion in the first two years of the Biden-Harris Administration.” Well, now that all the data is in, the inevitable result of Biden’s massive spending crusade has been revealed. According to a recent report from the Congressional Budget Office, “The deficit is on track to double from $1.0 trillion in 2022 to $2.0 trillion in 2023.” To put things in perspective, the Biden administration in 2022 spent 41% more than did the Trump administration in 2019, though the government also pulled in 41.4% more revenue in 2022 than it did in 2019. Fiscal irresponsibility is the only term that accurately captures government spending under Biden.

• Just don’t let Biden fall: Due to Joe Biden’s geriatric state, members of Biden’s staff have the increasingly daunting task of ensuring that he doesn’t trip and fall. In fact, according to a recent report from Axios, the White House has created a program focused on this one issue as he heads into the 2024 campaign. This includes him working with a physical therapist on better balance, wearing tennis shoes more often to avoid slips, and using the short stairs when entering Air Force One. Biden’s advanced age has been a major factor in the growing sentiment among voters from both political parties that he is too old — a recent AP-NORC poll found that three-quarters of Americans believe he’s too old for office.

• Migrants flow, goods clog: An estimated $1 billion in goods bound for the U.S. and Canada have been stuck in Mexico at border checkpoints, as the U.S. has shut down several crossing points in an effort to confront the massive migrant surge. According to Canadian snowmobile manufacture BRP, “Due to the waiting times on the international bridges in Ciudad Juarez, we have had a significant reduction in the volume of units that we can export daily.” In El Paso, due to the massive number of migrants, U.S. border authorities have shut down international bridges over which 500 northbound trucks normally pass each day. Joe Biden’s border crisis is now negatively impacting trade, costing the American economy hundreds of millions in lost revenue.

• Canadian idiot resigns: As pressure mounted from a growing number of public calls for him to step down, Canadian House Speaker Anthony Rota, who had honored a Nazi as a war “hero” on the floor of Parliament last week, finally tendered his resignation on Tuesday. Rota invited 98-year-old Yaroslav Hunka, a naturalized Canadian originally from Ukraine, and called him a war hero who fought for Ukrainian independence from the Soviet Union during World War II. What Rota failed to mention was the fact that Hunka had not only fought for the Nazis but was a member of the infamous Waffen-SS. The episode was especially embarrassing for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as Rota is a member of his Liberal Party.

• JPMorgan attacks Second Amendment: The financial software company Intuit, which produces the popular products QuickBooks and TurboTax, had until recently adopted an acceptable use policy that prohibited “guns and firearm manufacturing” businesses from using its payroll services. This prohibition included businesses that engaged in “firearms and weapons sales.” When this policy was brought to the attention of Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) by Texas-based firearms manufacturer Dawson Precision, he went digging into why Intuit enacted this anti-Second Amendment policy. What he discovered was that Intuit was effectively bullied into adopting it by Big Banking — specifically JPMorgan Chase. “Woke big banks are increasingly weaponizing their power to cut off law-abiding businesses from accessing banking services,” Cruz warned Monday. “The American people and small businesses must be protected from this discriminatory overreach. We cannot allow giant corporations to get away with punishing customers who do not fall in line with the Left’s political whims and leanings.” Intuit has since dropped its anti-gun policy.

• LEGO ditches using recycled plastic: In 2020, the Danish toymaker LEGO pledged to do its part to “save the planet” by reducing its carbon emissions by 37% by 2032. To do so, LEGO would make its famous toy building bricks using only sustainable materials. Currently, LEGO uses the oil-based plastic acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) for its toys, but it had been researching using recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET) instead. PET is the plastic most commonly used for water and soft drink bottles. What LEGO discovered after three years of testing is that not only is PET not a durable enough material to meet quality control standards, but also using recycled PET “didn’t reduce carbon emissions.” Despite this “setback,” LEGO said that it was “not abandoning [its] effort to make oil-free bricks.” Then everything will be awesome.

Headlines

• House and Senate take different paths to avoid shutdown, but neither path is clear (Washington Examiner)

• Biden joins UAW picket line in Michigan: “Stick with it” (Washington Examiner) | After 12 minutes on the picket line, Biden jets off to fundraiser with “abolish policing” billionaires (Free Beacon)

• Hunter Biden received $250K wires originating in Beijing with beneficiary address listed as Joe Biden’s home (Fox News)

• From secretaries to secretary of state, Biden documents probe casts wide net (ABC News)

• New York judge rules Trump committed fraud and lied about his net worth for years (NBC News)

• Hollywood writers can return to work after union and studios reach agreement to end strike (NBC News)

• “Taxpayer-funded publicity stunt”: House Oversight opens probe into energy secretary’s EV road trip (National Review)

• Travis King, American soldier who crossed into North Korea, in U.S. custody (Politico)

• San Francisco prepares to clear homeless camps after court clarifies definition of “involuntarily homeless” (National Review)

• Looters ransack Philadelphia stores after police officer’s charges dismissed in fatal shooting (Daily Wire)

• Target says it will close nine stores in major cities, citing violence and theft (CNBC)

• Tennessee to consider cutting off federal government funding for education (Daily Wire)

• Biden’s dog Commander bites Secret Service member — again (Daily Wire)

• Humor: Trudeau attempts to distract from Nazi controversy by growing cool new mustache (Babylon Bee)

• Humor: Taylor Swift releases new song “I Knew You Were Trouble When You Hauled in 7 Receptions for 69 Yards and a TD Against the Bears” (Babylon Bee)

For more editors’ choice headlines, click here.