Top of the Fold

• Cleanup on Aisle 46: White House walks back Biden’s 9mm comment: Following his visit to Uvalde, Texas, Joe Biden erroneously labeled 9mm handguns as “high-caliber” weapons. “They say a .22-caliber bullet will lodge in the lung. … A 9mm bullet blows the lung out of the body,” Biden bloviated. “So, the idea of these high-caliber weapons is, uh, there’s simply no rational basis for it in terms of self-protection, hunting.” He then added: “Remember, the Constitution was never absolute. You couldn’t buy a cannon when the Second Amendment was passed. You couldn’t go out and purchase a lot of weaponry.” That claim is patently false, but Biden continues to repeat it anyway. However, Biden’s absurd comments regarding 9mm handguns prompted yet another walk-back from his White House handlers. Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre assured the American people that “he does not support a ban on the sale of all handguns.” Well, at least not yet.

• Sixty percent of student loan borrowers have taken advantage of pandemic freeze: The “temporary” student loan repayment freeze initiated in March 2020 in response to the COVID pandemic has been subsequently extended by the Biden administration ever since, predictably resulting in a crop of freeloaders. Since its implementation, 60% of all school loan borrowers, approximately 11.5 million people, have not made any repayments on their loans. The Federal Reserve Board of Governors calculates that “these borrowers hold almost $400 billion in outstanding student loan debt and, prior to the pandemic, were required to pay about $2.8 billion a month toward their student loan debt.” Making matters worse, of the 40% of borrowers who have made payments during the freeze, 30% of them made a maximum of just three monthly payments over the last 12 months. Meanwhile, Biden is seeking to permanently cancel at least $10,000 in student loan debt for borrowers earning up to $150,000 annually and for married couples earning $300,000.

• A historic first for Israel and an Arab country: Israel and the United Arab Emirates inked the first-ever free trade agreement between Israel and an Arab-majority country. In 2020, the UAE became one of four Arab countries to officially normalize relational status with Israel after Donald Trump brokered the Abraham Accords. Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett called the free trade agreement “the fastest FTA to be signed in Israel’s history.” UAE ambassador to Israel Mohamed Al Khaja said that it was an “unprecedented achievement” that will benefit “businesses in both countries … create jobs, promote new skills and deepen cooperation.” Dorian Barak, president of the UAE-Israel Business Council, observed that “Dubia is fast becoming a hub for Israeli companies” as “nearly 1,000 Israeli companies will be working in and through the UAE by year’s end.”

Headlines

• Michael Sussmann acquitted by a jury of Hillary Clinton’s peers (Fox News)

• Supreme Court blocks Texas law limiting content moderation by social media companies (Texas Tribune)

• Biden proclaims June as “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Intersex Pride Month” (Daily Wire)

• New Lancet study destroys CDC’s justification for school mask mandates (Townhall)

• DOJ asks court to reverse rule lifting requirement for COVID masks on public transportation (Fox News)

• White House sees exodus of black staffers and some frustration among those who remain (Politico)

• Biden says U.S. won’t try to oust Putin, months after saying he “cannot remain in power” (Fox News)

• Biden reverses course, says U.S. will send rockets to Ukraine (NY Post)

• Uvalde police, school district no longer cooperating with Texas probe of shooting (ABC News)

• Crazy California votes to end mandatory reporting on students who threaten schools (Daily Caller)

• “Saved several lives”: West Virginia woman with pistol shoots, kills man firing at graduation party (Fox News)

• BBC changes victim’s statement to avoid “misgendering” her rapist (Daily Wire)

• Youth vaping reversed declines in tobacco use (Axios)

• Policy: What might actually help stop mass shootings (National Review)

• Satire: “Trans women do not have an advantage in women’s sports,” says Lia Thomas standing in front of case filled with trophies (Babylon Bee)

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