Cross-Examination

• Fed increases interest rates for third straight month: With the inflation rate stubbornly remaining at a 40-year high, the Federal Reserve on Wednesday raised interest rates another three-quarters of a percentage point. So much for Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, which has accomplished exactly nothing to reduce inflation, though that was never really the purpose behind the falsely named legislation. This move by the Fed marks the third consecutive month of interest rate hikes by 0.75%. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell noted that the Fed would continue to raise interest rates until inflation is reduced by at least 2%. The Fed’s increases this year are the most aggressive since 1990, as rates have been raised from approximately zero in March up to 3.25% today. That has real-world consequences: The rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage has more than doubled from 2.86% in September 2021 to 6.02% now. Furthermore, the Fed is expected to raise rates an additional 1.25% over the remainder of the year. Addressing the possibility that these hikes will lead the nation into a recession, Powell stated, “No one knows whether this process will lead to a recession or, if so, how significant that recession will be.” So, it’s just a guessing game. One thing that would help is for the government to stop spending money hand over fist.

• Now Dems claim pro-life Republicans are a threat to democracy: The charge is becoming a political cliché at this point, and it would be laughable but for the fact that those making the charge are the ones hell-bent on limiting Americans’ constitutional rights. House Democrats are not only declaring MAGA Republicans a “threat to democracy,” they are also effectively categorizing anyone opposed to their hard-left policy agenda as a “threat to democracy.” House Democratic Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries recently applied the “threat to democracy” label to pro-life conservatives such as Senator Lindsey Graham, claiming that “if your top agenda is a nationwide ban on abortion,” you deserve the label. Of course, this is all politics; in the same breath, Democrats blast Republicans for standing against abortion while they then seek to eliminate Americans’ Second Amendment rights. Democrat Pete Aguilar demonstrated this when he stated, “A lot of these members support these radical, extreme policies that are out of step with where the American public is on women’s reproductive health, women’s access to abortion, on gun safety.” Just to remind Aguilar, while the Constitution specifically delineates Americans’ right to bear arms, it nowhere delineates the right to abortion. In fact, a careful reading of the Constitution would oppose such a practice, as it ends the life of the innocent without any due process. The extremists and radicals on the issue of abortion are not the pro-life Republicans but the Democrats. “If Democrats want to argue that painful, late-term abortions up until birth, like those taking place in Maryland, California, New York, Illinois and Oregon, make America a better place, they are free to do so,” a spokesman for Graham responded. “The vast majority of Americans reject their position.”

• Fauci admits he knew draconian lockdowns would harm schoolchildren: At the Atlantic Festival, a media convention featuring speeches by media and political figures, Dr. Anthony Fauci admitted that he knew his push for “draconian” lockdowns would have “collateral” damage on both the “economy” and “schoolchildren.” In remarks regarding the polarization of the country that he blamed primarily on social media, Fauci said: “When you make recommendations, if the primary goal when you’re dealing with a situation where the hospitals were being overrun in New York, intensive care units were being put in the hallways, you have to do something that’s rather draconian. And sometimes when you do draconian things, it has collateral negative consequences, just like when you shut things down, even temporarily, it does have deleterious consequences on the economy, on the school children. You know that.” The problem was that Fauci failed to give equal weight to considering that collateral damage. Even now, he continues to argue that shutting down everything was the right decision, although he did concede, “If you shut things down just for the sake of it, that’s bad.” Ah, but since he had a “good reason,” then stomping all over Americans’ civil rights was fine. It’s know-it-alls like Fauci who show themselves to be some of the most dangerous folks if given the power because they don’t care about protecting the fundamental rights of others. Enacting their agenda is all that matters.

Headlines

• New York attorney general sues Trump, adult children for fraud (Free Beacon) | Trump, sons rip New York attorney general over fraud lawsuit (The Hill)

• Appeals court restores FBI’s access to seized Trump docs from Mar-a-Lago raid (Townhall)

• House passes bill to prevent efforts to subvert presidential election results (WaPo)

• Biden in UN speech accuses Russia of “extremely significant” violation of international charter (Fox News)

• North Dakota man free after reportedly admitting he killed teen for being Republican (Fox News)

• Las Vegas Dem accused of murdering journalist faces removal from job (Fox News)

• Governor Bill Lee calls for investigation of Vanderbilt’s Pediatric Transgender Clinic (Daily Wire)

• Rashida Tlaib faces backlash from top Democrats over “outrageous” anti-Semitic test; critics skeptical of Democrats' outrage (Daily Wire)

• McConnell quietly optimistic Republicans will recapture Senate (Washington Examiner)

• U.S. home sales decline for seventh straight month (Free Beacon)

• Air Force Academy diversity training tells cadets to use words that “include all genders,” drop “mom and dad” (Fox News)

• “Stop talking about pregnant men”: Bill Maher says “woke baggage” is Democrats’ biggest problem (Variety)

• Germany to nationalize ailing Uniper after Russian natural gas cuts (WSJ)

• Iranians see widespread internet blackout amid mass protests (AP)

• Policy: Biden administration must clarify U.S. commitments to Taiwan before things get ugly (The Federalist)

• Satire: Martha’s Vineyard erects statue commemorating when it hosted illegal immigrants for 24 hours (Genesius Times)

• Humor: Embarrassed Chick-fil-A execs discover their cows have been making tons of spelling errors (Babylon Bee)

For more editors’ choice headlines, click here.