Top of the Fold

• Texas DPS chief blasts Uvalde law enforcement response to school attack: The police response to the Uvalde school massacre reveals a degree of ineptitude and confusion that is, put simply, unacceptable and deplorable. Earlier this week, Col. Steve McCraw — the director of the state’s Department of Public Safety — gave testimony before the Texas Senate regarding his investigation into the police response to the school attack. He called it an “abject failure,” adding, “I don’t care if you have on flip-flops and Bermuda shorts, you go in.” McCraw further observed: “I have great reasons to believe [the door to the class the attacker entered] was never secured. How about trying the door and seeing if it’s locked?” McCraw placed the lion’s share of the blame squarely upon Uvalde’s district police chief, Pete Arredondo, contending: “The only thing stopping a hallway of dedicated officers from entering Room 111 and 112 was the obscene commander who decided to place the lives of officers before the lives of children. … Obviously, not enough training was done in this situation, plain and simple. Because terrible decisions were made by the on-site commander.” McCraw also explained that in an active school shooter situation, “You don’t wait for a SWAT team. You have one officer, that’s enough.” The decision to wait some 70 minutes before engaging “in an active shooter environment [is] intolerable,” he noted. “This set our profession back a decade. That’s what it did.” McCraw’s most damning observation was that within the first three minutes of the attacker infiltrating the school, three officers, two with rifles, entered and could have immediately engaged the assailant.

• Upcoming SCOTUS rulings: This morning, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its landmark ruling on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, effectively overturning Roe v. Wade. Following an unprecedented leak of the Court’s likely decision weeks ago, pro-abortion activists launched a harassment campaign against the conservative jurists, which resulted in a failed assassination attempt against Justice Brett Kavanaugh. It had many wondering if the leak intimidated members of the Court into changing their initial ruling. Thankfully, it did not. Other Court decisions soon to be delivered include Biden v. Texas (whether Biden’s Department of Homeland Security can end Donald Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” asylum policy); Kennedy v. Bremerton School District (whether a public high school violated a football coach’s rights after it restricted him from praying on the field after games); and West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency (whether a state has the legal right to challenge the EPA’s regulatory authority).

• Biden’s student loan forgiveness end-run: The Biden administration recently reached a settlement with 200,000 students who claimed they were defrauded by for-profit colleges. The settlement amounts to a de facto student loan cancellation, as the administration has agreed to cancel some $6 billion in student loans. This settlement follows a similar one earlier this month in which the Biden administration forgave $5.8 billion in outstanding loans for some 560,000 students who had attended the for-profit Corinthian Colleges. Essentially, the Biden administration is engaged in an end-run method for student loan “forgiveness” — i.e., students file lawsuits, and Biden’s secretary of education settles. For-profit colleges have become an easy target for the administration to demonize in its efforts to move forward on the Left’s bigger agenda — promoting collective student loan forgiveness ahead of the midterm elections.

Headlines

• DHS tells churches, pregnancy centers to brace for violent pro-abortion “Night of Rage” (Townhall)

• Senate passes gun control bill with 15 Republicans joining Democrats (Daily Wire)

• By inserting gender identity, Team Biden muddies Title IX protections for women and girls (Daily Signal)

• Nancy Pelosi’s husband charged in DUI case (Washington Examiner)

• Investigators: Pelosi responsible for J6 security breakdown at U.S. Capitol (The Federalist)

• Liz Cheney is begging Democrats to save her career in upcoming Wyoming primary (The Federalist)

• “YOU take YOUR seat”: Very specific cheat sheet reminds Biden how to act (NY Post)

• Yes, Biden is hiding his plan to rig the 2022 midterm elections (The Federalist)

• Former Obama economist warns stagflation threat level is “highest in a long time” (Fox Business)

• Policy: Look at Biden’s eyes — where’s his energy plan? (AEI)

• Satire: Empire confiscates Luke Skywalker’s lightsaber under new red flag law (Babylon Bee)

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