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• Highland Park shooting: A wealthy suburb of Chicago was attacked during an Independence Day parade celebration. The 22-year-old assailant opened fire on parade attendees, killing at least six people and injuring nearly two dozen others. The victims range in age from eight to 85. The suspect was arrested last night thanks to a “significant amount of digital evidence.” The attacker obtained his firearms legally, which prompted Mayor Nancy Rotering to blame access to firearms rather than the criminal: “I think at some point the nation needs to have a conversation about these weekly events involving the murder of dozens of people with legally obtained guns. If that is what our laws stand for, then I think we need to reexamine the laws.” The irony of blaming the Second Amendment is that it is thanks to Americans owning and using firearms that our nation exists to celebrate Independence Day. In the coming days, more will be learned of what motivated the attacker. However, the sad reality remains: Evil people do evil things.

• Attacks on police skyrocket: As the nation is seeing violent crime soaring across many of America’s largest (Democrat-run) cities, those the Left has demonized — law enforcement — are personally experiencing an increase in violence. So far this year, 178 police officers have been shot in the line of duty, an increase of 19% over last year. Of the officers attacked, nearly one-third of them were ambushed; 57 officers were shot, resulting in 12 deaths. National Fraternal Order of Police President Patrick Yoes observed: “Make no mistake — we are experiencing a real crisis with the level of violence directed at law enforcement officers. It is unlike anything I’ve seen in my 36 years of law enforcement.” Some 346 officers were shot in 2021, 63 of them mortally. Last year was bad enough, but this year is looking worse. Just how much of this spike in violence against police can be laid at the feet of Democrat politicians who have repeatedly promoted the radical Left’s anti-police “defund the police” rhetoric may not be quantifiable, but there is no question it has significantly contributed to it. Morale among law enforcement has also been negatively impacted — suicides have hit epidemic levels among officers, becoming the leading cause of death this year. Despite his claims to support the police, Joe Biden has remained mum in the face of this staggering problem, even as he has spoken about the need to fund and provide mental health services for former criminals reentering society.

• Team Biden blames the unvaccinated for inflation: Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell recently deflected responsibility for the Biden administration’s policy-induced 40-year-high inflation onto unvaccinated Americans. “What did we get wrong?” Powell asked. “Looking at these supply side issues and believing that they would be resolved relatively quickly. By that I mean there were gonna be vaccinations — everyone would get vaccinated — so the millions of people who dropped out of the labor force would come right back in, so wages wouldn’t be under such pressure. That didn’t happen.” Who ordered the lockdowns again? And who further exacerbated the predictably negative economic impact of millions not being able to work by mandating a controversial vaccine that put yet another needless roadblock in people’s employment paths? Biden’s “one size fits all” solutions that ignored sound science and data for the sake of pushing his own agenda are a major culprit. He issued several vax mandates even after he admitted doing so was likely unconstitutional. Combine the needless lockdowns, vaccine mandates, and a COVID relief spending spree, and we can clearly see the causes of the economy’s sky-high inflation. The Biden administration, not unvaccinated Americans, is to blame, no matter Powell’s attempts to claim otherwise.

Headlines

• Over 60 shot, 15 fatally, in violent July Fourth weekend in Chicago (WGNTV)

• “July 4th canceled”: Woke Hollywood elites rally social media protests against Independence Day (Fox News)

• City of Orlando apologizes for message critical of Independence Day (NR)

• Biden proposes to block offshore drilling in Atlantic, Pacific oceans, allow some in Gulf of Mexico (UPI) | Biden mocked for ordering gas stations to bring down prices (PJ Media)

• Seventy-one percent don’t want Biden to run for reelection (The Hill)

• Elizabeth Warren calls for federal crackdown on pro-life pregnancy centers (Washington Times)

• Defunding Wuhan: Congress quietly bans federal funds from labs in China, Russia, and Iran (Just the News)

• Republicans say Google spam filter cost them $2 billion from donors (Washington Times)

• The stock market just had its worst first half of the year since 1970 (Not the Bee)

• Forty-six states saw GDP decline in first quarter of 2022 (Just the News)

• U.S. Army announces unvaccinated National Guard, Reserve troops won’t train or get paid (AMN)

• New York limits concealed carry after Supreme Court ruling (Epoch Times)

• TikTok bans The Babylon Bee with no way to appeal (PM)

• Policy: Yes, you can blame Biden for crazy gas prices — here’s why (NY Post)

• Satire: Screaming leftists run in terror as pride flags replaced with American flags (Babylon Bee)

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