• Federalizing crime-ridden DC: President Donald Trump floated the idea of federalizing Washington, DC, on Tuesday after former DOGE staffer Edward “Big Balls” Coristine was injured and left with a concussion while defending a woman from a gang of carjackers. The incident adds to the list of high-profile crime incidents in the nation’s capital after Eric Tarpinian-Jachym, a 21-year-old congressional intern, was killed in a crossfire in June. Trump insists that federalizing is on the table, as the capital must be “safe, clean, and beautiful for all Americans and, importantly, for the World to see.” The DC police union pointed the finger at the DC council “radicals” for the threat of federalization, citing reform legislation they championed in 2020 that hinders law enforcement.

• Dems plan to gerrymander even harder: Democrat states like California promise to gerrymander away any gains from a proposed Texas redistricting map if it’s passed. It could result in a net pickup of five GOP seats. New York also promises to increase gerrymandering, but unlike California’s proposal that could be voted on this November, New York’s rules mean a new map couldn’t come into effect until 2028 or later. Democrats are raising such a ruckus over the proposed Texas map that Americans might be fooled into believing gerrymandering is a GOP issue. In fact, the five most gerrymandered states are Illinois, California, New Jersey, North Carolina, and New York; only one favors the GOP. Texas Rep. Pat Fallon highlighted the difference between red and blue strongholds: In red states, the GOP holds 69% of the House seats, while Democrats control 79% of the seats in blue states.

• House Democrat spurns U.S. allegiance: Squad member Delia Ramirez of Illinois said the quiet part out loud at a gathering known as the Panamerican Congress: “I’m a proud Guatemalan before I’m an American,” she told the group of America haters. Genuine Americans might justly wonder what a foreign asset is doing in Congress. Ramirez doubled down, arguing that her primary allegiance to a foreign power somehow makes her … a better American. Conservative commentators immediately and appropriately called for her denaturalization and deportation. The fact is, any American citizen who proclaims a primary allegiance to a foreign nation should rapidly lose U.S. citizenship.

• Trump takes on political debanking: A new executive order is expected from President Trump as soon as this week to take on political debanking, a growing issue conservatives have complained about for years. The order will eliminate Obama-era guidelines that encourage banks to examine the “reputational risk” of their clients, which critics have pointed out is an inherently subjective measure that introduces bias. Barack Obama used those guidelines to launch Operation Choke Point, an initiative that pressured banks to cut off firearms dealers and other legal businesses. Trump ended Operation Choke Point in 2017, but Joe Biden revived it under a new name in 2021. Banking and access to your own money are protected rights under the “pursuit of happiness.” Americans should reject debanking lest we go the way of the Canadian tyrants.

• Visa overstays crackdown and ICE recruitment campaign: Travelers from countries with high visa overstay rates will soon need to post a bond of $5,000-15,000 as the State Department launches a 12-month trial run of the program later in August. The bond applies to nations with a high overstay rate rather than a high number of overstays in total. Nations with numerous visas issued, such as Western European nations, nonetheless have a low overstay rate, so the new regulations will apply to nations with fewer total visas, such as countries in Africa and Southeast Asia. Meanwhile, ICE launched a recruitment drive last week that has garnered more than 78,000 applications. The drive includes tempting benefits like a $50,000 signing bonus and student loan repayment. ICE agents who retired due to age restrictions are also being welcomed back as “reemployed annuitants.”

• No visas for trans athletes: In a win for women’s sports and common sense, the Department of Homeland Security has implemented visa restrictions on biological men who are attempting to enter the country to compete against women. In compliance with President Trump’s executive order banning men from women’s sports, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services called the move “a matter of safety, fairness, respect, and truth.” There shouldn’t be division over whether a man can compete against a woman. Though these DHS restrictions and rules are a win for women, the bigger win would be not having to do any of this at all. Everyone should recognize the truth that has been known for millennia up until five seconds ago: Men cannot become women and vice versa.

• Abortions at VA re-outlawed: In another win in the ongoing fight to protect the vulnerable, President Trump has reversed a Biden-era policy allowing abortions to be performed at taxpayer-funded veterans’ hospitals. After the Supreme Court released the 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson decision, many states were able to issue near-total abortion bans. The Biden-era rule allowed VA hospitals in those states to continue performing abortions. The proposal reversing Biden’s rule notes that it was legally questionable and that the law authorizing the VA to provide “general reproductive health care” does not include abortions and infertility services. National Right to Life President Carol Tobias expressed gratitude for the “welcome correction to the overreach by the pro-abortion Biden administration that bypassed Congress and ignored the clear will of the American people.”

• Texas voter ID upheld: Judge James Ho began his unanimous majority opinion by stating the obvious: “Mail-in ballots are not secure.” Ho is one of a three-judge panel that granted a victory to Texas on Monday by reversing a district court’s decision that the state’s law requiring voter ID violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The court upheld the requirement that those who use mail-in ballots provide either a state ID number or a partial Social Security Number, citing the case of Veasey v. Perry, whose findings confirmed mail-in ballot fraud to be a significant threat to election integrity. “The ID number requirement is obviously designed to confirm that each mail-in ballot voter is precisely who he claims he is,” Judge Ho noted. “And that is plainly ‘material’ to ‘determining whether such individual is qualified under State law to vote.”

• Hiroshima at 80: On this day 80 years ago, America used the atomic bomb to bring a decisive end to the death and destruction wrought by WWII. Sadly, it took a second one to prompt the Japanese to surrender. Even after 80 years, this sparks intense debate. A recent Pew poll revealed that only 35% of Americans believe the atomic bombing of Japan was justified. The simple fact is that America attaining the atomic weapon first saved countless lives. Not only did it prevent a deadly Allied invasion of Japan, but using it played an essential part in deterring a third, even more catastrophic world war. Paul Tibbets, the pilot and commander of the B-29 Superfortress that dropped the bomb, rightly asserted, “I viewed my mission as one to save lives. I didn’t bomb Pearl Harbor. I didn’t start the war. But I was going to finish it.”

Headlines

• Texas Republicans ask courts to remove Democrat lawmakers who fled state (National Review)

• HHS cancels nearly $500 million in federal funding for mRNA vaccines (Just the News)

• Trump administration to formally axe Elon Musk’s “five things” email (CNBC)

• Trump slaps additional 25% tariff on India over Russian oil purchases, bringing total rate to 50% (NY Post)

• Putin considers stopping Ukraine air attacks to placate Trump (NY Post)

• U.S. trade deficit hits a nearly two-year low in June (CNBC)

• Tesla grants Musk massive pay deal to keep CEO on board (Fox Business)

• U.S. to build nuclear reactor on the moon (Not the Bee)

• NYC Department of Education spent $745K at single Caribbean restaurant under the guise of supporting minority businesses (Not the Bee)

• Marsha Blackburn launches Tennessee gubernatorial bid (Daily Wire)

• Satire: Secret Service in awe as Trump walks on moderately sloped roof (Babylon Bee)

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