Cross-Examination

• Biden waited until Saturday to raise debt ceiling: This is an emergency! Joe Biden spent most of the spring warning us on the debt ceiling. When it came time to sign the bill that bipartisan majorities in Congress passed last week, however, Biden went off to bed and signed it the next day. “No one got everything they wanted, but the American people got what they needed,” Biden said of the deal. It’s almost humorous to see the guy who for months refused to even negotiate on this bill suddenly praise “Senator — Speaker [Kevin] McCarthy” as being “completely honest” and operating “in good faith.” What has not happened in good faith is both parties running up the national debt like there’s no tomorrow. “We prevented a catastrophic default that would have decimated our economy and [inflicted] immense pain on families,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer boasted. The truth is, the Democrats’ reckless spending in 2021 has done exactly what he claims he’s preventing.

• A smoking gun of lockdown collusion: We already knew that the nation’s teachers unions strong-armed the CDC to keep schools closed far longer than they ever should have been during the pandemic. We also knew the damage closures did to kids’ education and mental health. Now we have more evidence of the collusion thanks to newly revealed text messages between then-CDC Director Rochelle Walensky and the heads of both of the biggest teachers unions. For example, in February 2021, American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten complained to the CDC about guidelines reported by The New York Times. The next day, the CDC released different guidelines, and Weingarten quickly issued a statement praising the new guidelines. “This gave me the biggest smile of my week,” Walenskey told Weingarten. “Thank YOU, Friend!” We suppose they were just passing notes outside of class.

• “Gender-affirming” care isn’t quite so affirming: People who undergo supposedly “gender-affirming” healthcare including surgery are “lonelier” and do not have an increased “level of life satisfaction.” So say two recent studies published in medical and scientific journals. Mary Beth Waddell, director of federal affairs for family and religious liberty at the Family Research Council, said this comes as no surprise. She pointed to another study showing “that the suicide completion rate for those that had undergone surgery was 19 times higher than the general population.” The BIG Lie is that “affirming” care means taking hormones and lopping off body parts. The truth must be told in love, but it must be told — a person is born in the correct body, designed by a Creator who loves them. In related news, Texas on Friday joined 18 other states banning such procedures on minors.

• Drag ban blocked: U.S. District Judge Thomas Parker, appointed by Donald Trump, overturned Tennessee’s strict new law regulating drag shows. In a ruling late Friday, Parker called it “unconstitutionally vague and substantially overbroad,” and he argued that it would lead to “discriminatory enforcement.” Tennessee legislators intended for the law to protect children from exposure to explicit and obscene material that people falsely billed as “family friendly.” Parker was unpersuaded, writing, “Whether some of us may like it or not, the Supreme Court has interpreted the First Amendment as protecting speech that is indecent but not obscene.”

Headlines

• Biden admin says suspending minority students for skipping school is racist (Free Beacon)

• “CNN staffers are shocked”: Brutal magazine exposé leaves employees angry and frustrated (National Review)

• NBC anchor Chuck Todd to leave "Meet the Press" (National Review)

• Three injunctions now block ATF’s pistol brace ban, protecting members of three gun rights orgs (TTAG)

• Only 250,000 AR-style pistols registered under new ban, ATF says (Not the Bee)

• Oil prices rise after Saudi Arabia pledges more voluntary production cuts (CNBC)

• San Francisco homeowners lose $260 billion in value (Hoover Institution)

• U.S. cities where high earners lose the most to taxes and cost of living (Smart Asset)

• Texas governor says he wants to eliminate property taxes (Just the News)

• State Department pushes LGBTQ “Pride” everywhere except Muslim world (FrontPage Mag)

• Planned Parenthood abortion ad features “transgender” person (Daily Caller)

• Harvard hires failed ex-Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot to teach public health and leadership (Breitbart)

• As fentanyl deaths spike, Los Angeles hands out crack pipes (Free Beacon)

• Most U.S. adults are declining COVID boosters (Fox News)

• World Health Organization grants North Korea spot on executive board (Breitbart)

• Policy: Debunking another misleading green energy study (Daily Signal)

• Satire: Film that just shows liberals talking about their ideas labeled “offensive content” (Babylon Bee)

For more editors’ choice headlines, click here.