• CHINA’S PUNITIVE TARIFFS: “China will raise tariffs on $60 billion in U.S. goods in retaliation for the U.S. decision to hike duties on Chinese goods, the Chinese Finance Ministry said Monday. Beijing will increase tariffs on more than 5,000 products to as high as 25%. Duties on some other goods will increase to 20%. Those rates will rise from either 10% or 5% previously.” (CNBC)

• RUMBLINGS IN THE GULF: “Saudi Arabia said Monday two of its oil tankers were damaged in ‘sabotage attacks’ in the Gulf as tensions soared in a region already shaken by a standoff between the United States and Iran.” (Agence France-Presse)

• BARRIER REINFORCEMENTS: “The Pentagon has approved a plan to spend an additional $1.5 billion to build 80 more miles of wall along the U.S.-Mexico border… Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan approved the re-allocation of funds, which were originally earmarked for support of Afghan security forces and other projects, to help pay for the wall along the southern border.” (Fox News)

• GOOGLE PROPELS LEFTMEDIA: “A new study from the Computational Journalism Lab at Northwestern found that many of Google’s top hits for news searches came from just a handful of left-leaning sources. … Their data showed that 86% of Google’s Top Stories came from only 20 news sources. Just three dominated the coverage, with 23% of all impressions counted — CNN with 10.9%, The New York Times with 6.5% and The Washington Post with 5.6%.” (The Washington Times)

• BROWARD REMAINS DEFIANT: “Broward County, Fla., where 17 people were killed last year in a shooting at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School, will not allow its public schools to arm their teachers despite a law signed by Governor Ron DeSantis this week that allows teachers trained to carry firearms to do so.” (National Review)

• BIOLOGY PREVAILS: “Male-to-female transgender powerlifter Mary Gregory has been stripped of several women’s championship titles after the Powerlifting Federation determined that Gregory was not eligible to compete as a female.” (The Daily Wire)

• USPS RED INK: “The U.S. Postal Service lost more than $2 billion during the second quarter of the fiscal year, putting it on track to finish the current year more than $7 billion in the red — way worse than the nearly $4 billion in losses it posted last year.” (Reason)

• STATES CONTEST BRIGHT DEREGULATORY IDEA: “The Department of Energy has proposed new regulations for lightbulbs that would eliminate efficiency standards for half the bulbs on the market. … Washington and Colorado passed bills this month designed to backstop the Obama-era standards if the Energy Department proceeds to roll them back, and half a dozen other states are considering similar legislation. Vermont passed such a law as soon as President Trump was elected.” (The Hill)

• VA’S ONGOING WATERLOO: “After two years in the White House, the Trump administration has decided to execute a plan to purge 200,000 applications for VA healthcare caused by known administrative errors within VA’s enrollment process and enrollment system — problems that had already been documented by the Office of the Inspector General in 2015 and 2017.” (Washington Examiner)

• PRO-LIFE MOMENTUM: “State governments are on a course to virtually eliminate abortion access in large chunks of the Deep South and Midwest. Ohio and Kentucky also have passed heartbeat laws; Missouri’s Republican-controlled legislature is considering one. Their hope is that a more conservative U.S. Supreme Court will approve, spelling the end of the constitutional right to abortion.” (NBC San Diego)

• HUMOR: Liberals clarify: ‘Alt right’ means everyone to the right of Stalin (The Babylon Bee)

• POLICY: Why aren’t automation and Baby Boomer retirements driving consumer prices down? (Foundation for Economic Education)

• POLICY: How to fix student debt without raiding taxpayers (The Daily Signal)

For more of today’s editors’ choice headlines, visit In Our Sights.

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