Top of the Fold

• U.S. sending Soviet air defense systems to Ukraine: There may be nothing more frustrating for a military than getting hit by its own weaponry, but that is just what the Russians may soon experience in Ukraine. Decades ago, the U.S. secretly acquired Soviet missile and air defense tech in order to study and understand its capabilities. Two Soviet air defense systems in particular tabbed by the U.S. as the SA-10, designed for long-range protection capabilities, and the SA-8, designed for short-range, tactical air defense, were acquired over several decades. The Biden administration is now sending some of this equipment to Ukraine. This is interesting not just because of Russia’s apparent air defense issues but because it also sends a strong message about what the U.S. has to supply Ukraine. Worse than getting shot down is getting shot down by your own system. This is bad for Russian morale.

• Economists predict weak economy and continued inflation: Say hello to 1970s stagflation. According to a recent survey conducted by the National Association for Business Economics, a majority of economists see a coming economic slowdown and no immediate end to the 40-year-high inflation rate. “More than three out of four (78%) panelists expect inflation to stay above 3% through the end of 2023,” the survey reported. The Federal Reserve recently downgraded its projection of GDP from 4% to 2.8%. Most of the economists also believe that Russia’s war with Ukraine and the major sanctions leveled against Russia will have a negative impact on global GDP, with 78% seeing it leading to a worsening of “supply-chain bottlenecks.” However, the energy sector will likely enjoy growth, and that’s for both renewables and fossil fuels.

• California is now the destination for “crime tourism”: Thanks to the Golden State’s radical leftist policies, California has become the favored place for criminals from South America to come ply their trade. It’s known as “criminal tourism.” South American burglary crews easily obtain tourist visas and fly into California to specifically target quiet, seemingly secure wealthy neighborhoods that they hit in a quick crime spree and then are gone. And these are not merely smash-and-grab affairs, but appear to be sophisticated burglary crews. Why is this happening? Much of it can be laid at the feet of California’s adoption of policies such as Proposition 47 that essentially refuse to hold criminals accountable for their crimes. When law enforcement officials know that prosecutors won’t file charges for low-level crimes, what motivation do officers have to pursue and make arrests? South American criminal gangs are now among those taking advantage of these poorly conceived laws, and law-abiding Californians suffer for it.

• Yet another top staffer is leaving Harris: Nancy McEldowney, who served as Kamala Harris’s top security aide, is leaving her position, adding to the high turnover rate of top-level staff that have left the vice president’s apparently toxic work environment. McEldowney explained that she was stepping down to “focus on some pressing personal matters,” but she also sought to dispel any notion that she’s not fully supportive of Team Biden. McEldowney’s deputy, Philip Gordon, who will be replacing her, has been involved in helping to develop Harris’s foreign policy strategy. Who knew Harris actually had a foreign policy strategy? She’s had nothing but repeated poor, embarrassing, and gaffe-filled appearances with global leaders.

Headlines

• Disney announces plans to oppose Texas order criminalizing sex-change surgeries on children (Daily Wire)

• Texas elementary school has kids participate in pride parade complete with rainbow flags (Not the Bee)

• Southern Baptists nominate Tom Ascol and Voddie Baucham to leadership to combat woke drift in largest protestant denomination (Daily Wire)

• Russia’s Ukraine war threatens to blow U.S. food prices sky-high (Fox Business)

• Fertilizer prices just hit a record high (Fortune)

• “It’s coming”: Biden warns of possible cyberattack from Russia on critical infrastructure (Blaze Media)

• Russian court bans Facebook and Instagram, calls Meta "extremist" (Daily Wire)

• Fifty-one years ago, climate scientists predicted a new ice age was coming (Washington Examiner)

• Policy: Why science reporters don’t report fairly on the origins of COVID-19 (City Journal)

• Humor: Fact-checkers censoring crazy conspiracy theory that Hunter Biden is related to Joe Biden (Genesius Times)

For more of today’s editors’ choice headlines, visit Headline Report.

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