Cross-Examination

• FEMA disaster training irony: While the wildfire on the island of Maui was beginning to spread, Maui’s top emergency management officials were on another Hawaiian island, Oahu, at an annual FEMA disaster training meeting. Furthermore, after these officials were alerted to the wildfire, they waited five hours before finally responding to the situation. Among those officials was Herman Andaya, who infamously decided against sounding emergency sirens on Maui, defending the decision by claiming that doing so would not have saved anyone. Survivors dispute Andaya’s claim, contending that if people had just 10 or 15 minutes more warning, then more of them would have gotten to safety. With at least 115 people dead and almost 400 still missing, Andaya’s excuse appears dubious. Andaya has since resigned, but questions have been raised as to why he was hired to the position of emergency management administrator in the first place. Andaya had no background in emergency response, and 40 other people with greater qualification and experience were passed over for the position when he was appointed back in 2017.

• Biden and exploited migrant minors: Joe Biden’s Department of Labor is under investigation by the department’s Office of Inspector General over reports of a potential illegal child labor scandal. The IG is probing whether thousands of unaccompanied minors the Biden administration has released into the country are being used for forced labor. Back in June, Senator Josh Hawley highlighted Biden’s failure to secure the southern border: “This administration has let tens of thousands of children be sold into slavery. They are doing nothing about it.” According to Bloomberg: “Agency officials said in July that over the past 10 months alone, the DOL’s wage division has concluded 765 cases involving 4,474 children employed in violation of federal child labor laws. Overall, the department reported that it’s seen a 69% increase child labor violations from 2018 and 2022.” This is just one of the many devastating consequences of Biden’s border malfeasance.

• Biden is losing non-white males: Folks across the country aren’t happy living in Joe Biden’s America. Bidenflation has made everyone poorer, and his administration’s attempt to gaslight the public with “Bidenomics” — the claim that the economy is do well and getting better — isn’t working. Evidence of this is seen in the number of Americans who are pessimistic about the future. In fact, Politico recently reported that this pessimism toward Biden is growing fast among a usually strong Democrat constituency: men of color. Non-white men have soured on Biden, which is bad news for his 2024 reelection bid. While the majority of this constituency hasn’t jumped ship and joined the GOP, they are not interested in casting a vote for Biden.

• Over half of imprisoned “transgenders” are there for sex crimes: A recent investigation conducted by The Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project into the state of Wisconsin’s corrections records found that over half of male prisoners who self-identify as “transgender” women were convicted for sexual assault or sexual abuse crimes. At issue is whether Wisconsin is obliging transfer requests from these male prisoners, which as of April 2022 numbered 161, to be moved into female prison facilities. “Men belong with men and men only in prison," stated Oversight Project Director Mike Howell. "Putting sex offender men claiming to be women in cells with women is another reason the world laughs at America’s moral decline. Prison is for punishment, not degenerate sexual behavior.” Exactly.

• Disney fleeced FL taxpayers: Disney’s decision to cross swords with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and the state’s Republican-led legislature has not only cost the company its sweetheart self-governance deal, the Reedy Creek Improvement District (RCID), but it has also served to expose the Magic Kingdom for being more full of ugly step sisters than Cinderellas. According to a recent report from the Central Florida Tourism District (CFTOD) that replaced the RCID: “For decades, the former Disney-run RCID used taxpayer funds to provide season passes and amusement experiences to its employees and their family members, cover the cost of discounts on hotels, merchandise, food, and beverages, and give its own board members VIP Main Entrance passes. In 2022 alone, it cost taxpayers over $2.5 million.” Upon discovering this scheme, the CFTOD board immediately “set in motion plans to eliminate it.” No more special perks on the taxpayers’ dime.

Headlines

• Trump becomes first U.S. president in history to receive mug shot (NY Post)

• House GOP investigating whether Fulton County district attorney coordinated with DOJ in Trump indictment (National Review)

• Trump makes first post on X in over two years after being booked into jail (Fox News)

• “46 Democrat senators voted for it”: Jen Psaki faces fact-check tidal wave over abortion claim (Daily Wire)

• Here’s where Republican presidential candidates stand on pro-life policies after the GOP debate (The Federalist)

• DOJ files lawsuit accusing SpaceX of hiring discrimination against refugees, asylum seekers (Fox Business)

• U.S. national debt continues to soar amid excessive spending and surging deficits (Forbes)

• Federal court in Maryland says parents don’t have “a fundamental right” to opt kids out of radical gender theory curriculum (Daily Wire)

• Kremlin denies taking down plane allegedly carrying Wagner warlord who crossed Putin (Fox News)

• Policy: How China’s crumbling real-estate market puts the world economy at risk (The Federalist)

• Humor: Trump pays $12 extra to get the cool laser background mug shot (Babylon Bee)

For more editors’ choice headlines, click here.