Cross-Examination

• Biden keeps robbing our Strategic Petroleum Reserve: In yet another blatantly political move, Joe Biden is releasing an additional 15 million barrels of oil from the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve. In what amounts to a desperate attempt to project the appearance that he’s pulling out all the stops to combat rising gas prices, now averaging $3.85 per gallon, Biden hopes to lessen the growing political headwinds Democrats face with the midterm elections less than a month away. Meanwhile, Biden’s draining of the SPR that began in March will have decreased the reserve by 180 million barrels (with this latest 15 million included), bringing the total reserve down to 400 million barrels, the lowest it’s been since 1984. Now that Biden’s anti-fossil fuel policies are promising negative political impact to his party, his administration is spinning the blame for high fuel costs onto Saudi Arabia, Russia, and U.S. oil producers’ alleged greed. Nevertheless, even as Biden attacks America’s fossil fuel producers by denying permits and ending the Keystone XL pipeline, he calls on them to ramp up their production to help offset higher fuel prices. As American Petroleum Institute senior vice president Frank Macchiarola observes, “If [Biden administration officials] continue to offer the same old so-called solutions, they’ll continue to get the same old results.” And those results are Americans having to pay more at the pump and to heat their homes. Hopefully the coming red wave grows into a tsunami.

• IRS expands deductions for inflation: The Internal Revenue Service has increased the standard deduction parameters in the 2023 tax code in reaction to the persistently sky-high inflation rate. The standard deduction will increase by 7%, representing the largest jump in inflation adjustment since the tax code began indexing for inflation back in 1985. Other inflation-adjusted changes to income tax brackets were announced as well, which include raising the estate tax exclusion from $12.06 million to $12.92 million per person and increasing the annual lifetime gift tax exclusion from $16,000 to $17,000. There are some tax credits, however, that will not be adjusted for inflation, including the $2,000 child tax credit and the limit on local tax deductions, which stays at $10,000. This is yet more evidence of how much Americans’ overall economic health has diminished under Joe Biden’s leadership.

• Election interference in El Paso: The Biden administration has pressed the mayor of El Paso, Texas, not to declare a state of emergency regarding the migrant crisis plaguing residents of the city. Members of El Paso’s city council have called on Democrat Mayor Oscar Leeser to declare an emergency, as homeless shelters in the city have been overrun with thousands of illegal aliens. Thus far, Leeser has resisted doing so, and he recently revealed the reason why. As councilmember Claudia Rodriguez explained, “He told me the White House asked him not to.” Texas Republican Representative Tony Gonzales responded, “It is a sleight of hand what the administration is doing — pressuring the local government to not issue a declaration of emergency, to say as if everything is going OK.” He observed “the same thing in other parts of my district.” Leeser dismissed any claim that he was taking orders from the White House, stating, “I make decisions based on current circumstances and in the best interest of the citizens of El Paso.” Yet last month during a council meeting, Leeser appeared to validate Rodriguez’s assertion when he argued against declaring a state of emergency: “The White House has asked, at this point, for us not to do that and they’ll continue to work with us and continue to give us … money through [the] Federal Emergency Management Agency.” Once again, the Biden administration is peddling a false narrative regarding the border crisis that it created. The underhanded effort to control the narrative is aimed at deceiving the American public with midterm elections looming.

Headlines

• FBI has “voluminous evidence” of Hunter Biden’s “potential criminal conduct” (Washington Examiner)

• Igor Danchenko acquitted of lying to FBI about Trump-Russia dossier (WSJ)

• Biden announces codifying Roe will be his top legislative priority if Democrats sweep midterms (National Review)

• Eric Swalwell’s pro-abortion ad presents lurid leftist fantasy that’s really happening to pro-lifers (PJ Media)

• Disturbing new report reveals depths of Shover-in-Chief Jill Biden’s control over Joe, his handlers (RedState)

• Moderna CEO says most people don’t need COVID booster — and young people should consider not getting the shot (Hot Air)

• NASCAR suspends Bubba Wallace for crashing into driver and then attacking him (Daily Wire)

• Georgia breaks record for first-day midterm turnout after Stacey Abrams alleges voter suppression (National Review)

• California judge blocks sharing gun owners’ information, citing “massive” privacy breach (Washington Examiner)

• Missouri is the latest state to divest from BlackRock, pulls $500 million in pension funds (Daily Wire)

• Ulta Beauty turns off comments, stands by offensive transgender video that triggered boycott calls (Daily Wire)

• Vladimir Putin declares martial law in four annexed Ukrainian regions (Fox News)

• Policy: It’s time for Congress to defund Biden’s broken border policies (Washington Times)

• Satire: Kanye West made honorary member of “The Squad” after anti-Semitic comments (Babylon Bee)

• Humor: Dallas Cowboys just glad crowd is booing someone else for once (Babylon Bee)

For more editors’ choice headlines, click here.