Cross-Examination

• Catholic Church endorses GOP abortion-limiting bill: “Extreme” is a term Joe Biden loves to apply to Republicans whenever he opposes their policy positions. Inevitably, however, when GOP policy positions are objectively viewed, the “extreme” descriptor quickly fades. One recent example of this dynamic was Biden’s condemnation of Senator Lindsey Graham’s (R-SC) abortion-limiting legislation known as the Protecting Pain-Capable Unborn Children From Late-Term Abortions Act. Biden labeled the bill “extreme” over its provision limiting abortions after 15 weeks only to instances of the mother’s health, rape, or incest. “I happen to be a practicing Roman Catholic, [and] my church doesn’t even make that argument now,” Biden sanctimoniously declared. Republicans have, he insisted, “gotten more extreme in their positions.” Well, Biden might want to check with the Catholic Church before he makes pronouncements regarding its policy positions, as the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops actually endorsed Graham’s bill. Archbishop William E. Lori, who chairs the USCCB Committee on Pro-Life Activities, wrote: “The Catholic Church remains clear an consistent in asserting that true justice demands the right to life, the most basic human and civil right, for every child, from conception onwards. No person or government has the right to take the life of an innocent human being, regardless of its stage of development.” Lori also contended that the USCCB “strongly agree[s] that there is a federal role for protecting unborn human life.”

• Leftist group outlines Biden’s play for federal takeover of elections: When Joe Biden came into office, one of his agenda items was to increase the federal government’s role over national elections. It is a blatantly anti-federalist agenda driven by the Democrats’ desire to control “democratic” electoral outcomes. It is indeed ironic given the fact that Democrats are the ones claiming Republicans are “threatening democracy.” The truth is just the opposite. Last September, Biden signed one of his many executive orders, this one directing federal agencies to push get-out-the-vote efforts. The Biden administration has been largely opaque on how it’s implementing this order but has touted its effort as nonpartisan. Nothing could be further from the truth. The leftist group Demos has effectively written the playbook for a federal takeover of America’s electoral system, a playbook that unsurprisingly the Biden administration appears to be following step by step. One example has been Demos’s history of lobbying both federal and state governments against the passage of what it calls “excessive Voter Identification requirements.” Biden ridiculously and erroneously characterized Georgia’s election integrity law as “Jim Crow 2.0” because it prominently includes updated voter ID requirements for mail-in ballots. This is straight out of Demos’s playbook. Biden’s EO on voting is also following the script from Demos. According to the group, “The Biden-Harris administration can make voting more accessible by directing specified federal agencies, in their administration of federal programs, to act as voter registration agencies, including providing voter registration applications, assisting clients to complete applications, and transmitting completed applications to state authorities.”

• Obama Foundation has classified documents in abandoned furniture warehouse: Why is the Justice Department running an investigation into Donald Trump’s keeping of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida when Barack Obama’s Foundation had been holding onto classified documents for years after the former president left office? According to a letter dated September 11, 2018, the Obama Foundation admitted that it had classified documents in its possession and that those documents had not been stored in a manner that met National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) standards. The letter states, “The Obama Foundation agrees to transfer up to three million three hundred thousand dollars ($3,300,000) to the National Archives Trust Fund (NATF) to support the move of classified and unclassified Obama Presidential records and artifacts from Hoffman Estates to NARA-controlled facilities that conform to the agency’s archival storage standards for such records and artifacts, and for the modification of such spaces.” Furthermore the Obama Foundation agreed to a deal with NARA to continue storing some of the classified documents, even as the FBI was sicced on Trump’s estate for the exact same behavior as that of Obama. Is it okay for Obama to hold onto classified documents but not so for Trump? Furthermore, why is it not a threat to national security when Obama is holding classified documents that don’t meet NARA standards for storage for years after he leaves office, yet it suddenly is a national security issue when Trump is doing the same? Inquiring minds want to know.

• A majority of voters approve of GOP governors busing of illegals to “sanctuary” states: A recent poll conducted by RMG Research found that 60% of voters approve of Republican Governors Greg Abbott (TX), Doug Ducey (AZ), and Ron DeSantis (FL) busing illegal aliens to self-declared “sanctuary” cities and states. Votes called these “sanctuaries” “hypocritical” over their response to busing efforts. The poll concluded that “sending illegal immigrants to sanctuary cities is politically popular.” This polling flies in the face of several Democrat politicians’ claims that the action is “inhumane.” Most hypocritical of all was Joe Biden’s denunciation of busing illegal aliens, which he blasted as “simply wrong,” “un-American,” and “reckless.” Biden further and falsely claimed: “We have a process in place to manage migrants at the border. We’re working to make sure it’s safe and orderly and humane. Republican officials should not interfere with that process by waging these political stunts.” Meanwhile, the Biden administration has flown tens of thousands of illegal aliens all across the U.S. without alerting state or local authorities to these deliveries, often in the dead of night. Thankfully, it appears that the vast majority of voters are seeing Biden’s and Democrats’ objections for what they are — hypocrisy.

Headlines

• Hurricane Ian forms in Caribbean, prompting Hurricane Watch for Florida’s Gulf Coast, including Tampa Bay (Fox Weather)

• Florida petitions Supreme Court in fight with big tech over social media access rules (Washington Times)

• Far-left Justin Trudeau lifts Canada’s border vaccine mandate while Biden keeps America’s (Free Beacon)

• Judge allows Arizona’s near-total ban on abortion to take effect (National Review)

• Air Force Academy holds “transgender visibility” seminar (Free Beacon)

• New Jersey to punish schools that don’t teach 10-year-olds about gender identity (Daily Caller)

• Russia school shooting: At least 13 dead, 21 more injured (Fox News)

• Policy: Nine policy objectives to unleash domestic oil production and help drive down gas prices (Daily Signal)

• Policy: How to fight housing price inflation (Manhattan Institute)

• Humor: Stacey Abrams claims obesity is just numbers manufactured by her bathroom scale (Babylon Bee)

For more editors’ choice headlines, click here.