The Patriot Post® · Thursday Top News Executive Summary

Above the Fold

ASYLUM RESTRICTIONS GIVEN THE GO-AHEAD: “In a major win for the Trump administration, the Supreme Court issued an order late Wednesday ending all injunctions that had blocked the White House’s ban on asylum for anyone trying to enter the U.S. by traveling through a third country, such as Mexico, without seeking protection there. … The Supreme Court’s order was not a final ruling on the policy’s merits but does allow the policy to take effect nationwide, including in the 9th Circuit, while the case makes its way through the lower courts.” (Fox News)

HISTORIC MILESTONE: “The U.S. Senate confirmed President Trump’s 150th judicial nominee Wednesday, helping to fulfill the president’s campaign promise to remake the federal bench with a conservative bent. Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham called the number of confirmations a ‘historic milestone.’ ‘These conservative judicial appointments will impact our nation for years to come,’ the South Carolina Republican said.” (The Washington Times)

GESTURE OF GOOD WILL: “President Trump offered an olive branch to Beijing in the U.S.-China trade war. Less than a month after his administration committed to a hike in tariffs on Chinese goods on Oct. 1, the president announced a ‘gesture of good will’ Wednesday by saying he would delay the extra taxes by two weeks. … Prior to Trump’s tweets Thursday evening, China made a gesture of its own by waiving some tariffs on U.S. goods.” (Washington Examiner)

Government & Politics

CLEAN WATER RULE REFORM: “The Trump administration is officially rolling back an Obama-era environmental rule that threatened farmers and other landowners with significant fines or jail time if they failed to comply with onerous regulations on waterways. The Clean Water Rule, more commonly referred to as the ‘Waters of the US’ rule or WOTUS, was finalized by the Obama administration in 2015. The rule attempted to clarify which waters were subject to the regulations of the Clean Water Act, but in many cases ended up confusing landowners even further.” (The Daily Caller)

TAKING AIM AT NATIONWIDE INJUNCTIONS: “Sen. Tom Cotton (R., Ark.) and Rep. Mark Meadows (R., N.C.) introduced legislation Wednesday to end nationwide injunctions after a California judge took action to stop a change in the Trump administration’s asylum policy from going into effect. The legislation, titled the ‘Nationwide Injunction Abuse Prevention Act,’ would prevent individual district court judges from issuing nationwide halts to new policies.” (The Washington Free Beacon)

E-CIGARETTE BAN: Time magazine reports: “President Donald Trump called vaping a ‘problem’ and his health secretary said the government would force companies to remove flavored vaping products from the market after reports of hundreds of U.S. cases of a mysterious illness related to e-cigarette devices. … More than 450 cases of the respiratory condition were reported as of Sept. 6, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The severity of the cases vary, but six people have died.” The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh observes, “The few deaths from vaping are almost all tied to unlicensed, blackmarket products. A ban on vaping will only drive more people towards precisely the kind of vaping that’s causing the problem in the first place. The government is once again solving a problem by creating one.”

DEM DEBATE: Seven questions heading into tonight’s 10-candidate Democrat debate (Associated Press)

Business & Economy

VIRTUE SIGNALING: One hundred forty-five CEOs implore Senate leaders to act on “gun violence,” saying doing nothing is “simply unacceptable” (The Washington Post)

OPIOID SETTLEMENT: “Purdue Pharma, maker of the painkiller OxyContin, has reached a tentative comprehensive settlement with 22 state attorneys general and thousands of local governments and tribes that had sued the drug manufacturer, charging that it catalyzed the opioid crisis. The $10 billion to $12 billion settlement reportedly requires the dissolution of the Stamford, Conn. company, which is accused of helping jumpstart the opioid epidemic and is expected to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy soon. A new company will be created, which will still sell OxyContin but also contribute funds to combat the opioid epidemic. The company’s owners, the Sackler family, will pay $3 billion of the settlement out of their personal $13 billion fortune over the next seven years and give up control of Purdue Pharma.” (National Review)

FED CRITIQUE: “U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday called on the ‘boneheads’ at the Federal Reserve to push interest rates down into negative territory, a move reluctantly used by other world central banks to battle weak economic growth that risks punishing savers and banks’ earnings in the process.” (Reuters)

Closing Arguments

POLICY: Why did the deficit just top $1 trillion? (Issues & Insights)

POLICY: The deeply destructive climate-change litigation game (RealClearMarkets)

HUMOR: New NRA survey: Average American has more guns than “The Matrix” lobby scene (IMAO)

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

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