Here is the Heritage Take on the top issues today.Please reply to this email to arrange an interview.
Why Biden’s Student Loan ‘Forgiveness’ Will Make Inflation, Labor Shortage Worse <[link removed]> – Since the pandemic started, the federal government has erased over $100 billion of student loan debt through a moratorium on loan repayments. President Joe Biden just extended that pause yet again—and added $10,000 to $20,000 per borrower in student loan cancellation <[link removed]> along with limits on monthly repayments. This comes at a time when out-of-control inflation <[link removed]> is eroding the paychecks and bank accounts of all Americans, and as employers also are struggling with inflation as well as supply chain issues and an unprecedented labor shortage. This half-a-trillion-dollar <[link removed]> plan, which is both morally and economically derelict, will make both inflation and the labor
shortage worse. Heritage Expert: EJ Antoni <[link removed]> and Rachel Greszler <[link removed]>
Rogue Progressive Prosecutors Promote Lawlessness Not Reform <[link removed]>
– The rogue prosecutor movement operates under two principles: (1) that the entire criminal justice system is racist and (2) that the only way to address this supposed racism is to reverse, engineer, and dismantle the current system by electing pro-criminal, anti-victim
zealots into office. Flush with cash or support from George Soros and his like-minded wealthy friends, candidates like George Gascon (Los Angeles), Larry Krasner (Philadelphia), Kim Foxx (Chicago), Kim Gardner (St. Louis), and others have been elevated into office and have imposed their pro-criminal agendas on an unsuspecting electorate. The consequences have been predictable and deadly. Prosecutors are the gatekeepers to the criminal justice system. Our nation’s 2,300 or so elected district attorneys have a solemn duty to enforce the law and to do so fairly, compassionately, and without favor. This shouldn’t be a Left or Right, blue or red, Democrat or Republican issue. Either you support law and order and equality under the law, or you back a radical social experiment that, so far, has led to utter chaos and misery. Heritage Expert: Zack Smith <[link removed]>
Homeland Security’s ‘Equity Action Plan’ Doubles Down on Discrimination <[link removed]> – The DHS is clearly targeting those it labels as “white supremacist threats” and ignoring the most obvious, disastrous threats to the homeland, such as the open-border crisis <[link removed]>. Despite being intentionally out of touch with reality, the DHS has no problem touting its equity plan. In fact, the department is proud of it. It tracks “DHS Equity
Accomplishments <[link removed]>,” has a DHS Equity Task Force, and holds public feedback and stakeholder engagement listening sessions, during which it prides itself on the “progress” it has
made and excitedly brags about how much more it plans to do to drive stakes of division deeper into our institutions. Heritage Expert: Erin Dwinell <[link removed]>
Why Biden’s Student Loan Bailout Is Unfair <[link removed]> – The administration has stuck its thumb in the eye of the millions of working Americans who don’t hold college degrees but who will bear the cost of this federal largesse <[link removed]>. The administration is also rubbing salt in the wounds of those responsible borrowers who worked their way through college to avoid debt or who worked hard to pay off their college debt after graduating. The millions of Americans who graduated from college, lived modestly, and did without fancy dinners and vacations so they could diligently repay the debt they agreed to pay back are surely wondering why they will get no such rebate. Those responsible Americans are left standing there, holding the bill like chumps. They have good reason to feel insulted. So should the Americans who eschewed college altogether because they thought it was a bad value proposition—which the Biden administration has tacitly admitted through the very move to cancel debt. The plan is an unfair <[link removed]>handout to Big Education,
which will gladly keep raising tuition, and a politically favorable constituency of relatively wealthy, more highly educated voters. Heritage Experts: Lindsey
Burke <[link removed]> and Adam Kissel <[link removed]>
Federal Judge Strikes Blow to Biden’s Abortion Coercion Efforts in Texas <[link removed]> – A federal district court in Texas issued an order <[link removed]> Wednesday blocking the Biden administration’s attempt to force the state’s emergency room doctors to perform abortions—regardless of whether doing so violates their religious beliefs. Judge James Wesley Hendrix determined that the state of Texas and two groups of pro-life physicians were likely to prevail in their case against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The outcome is a welcome victory for states such as Texas that pass pro-life laws but find themselves in a game of whack-a-mole with an administration desperate to protect “reproductive rights” in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization <[link removed]>. Heritage Expert: Sarah Parshall Perry <[link removed]>
DC Mayor Says No Virtual Learning, Giving Unvaccinated Black Teens Zero Alternative Options <[link removed]> – The District of Columbia does not appear to have a contingency plan for unvaccinated students, who are banned from attending schools in person this fall after the first 20 days, according to comments made by Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser Thursday. During a press conference, Bowser, <[link removed]> a Democrat, admitted there are no alternative options, including virtual learning, for students who cannot attend school due to the District’s vaccine mandate, meaning unvaccinated children will effectively be left without an education. Over 40% of blacks ages 12-17 are not vaccinated, according to city data. The Daily Signal asked Bowser what the plan was for unvaccinated students. Washington, D.C., public schools start Monday. Bowser responded, “They can go to school on Monday. But they need to get their vaccinations … and their families will be alerted as to the dates.” Heritage Expert: Douglas Blair <[link removed]>
The State of Play in Ukraine 6 Months After Russia Invaded <[link removed]>
– Wednesday, Aug. 24, marks six months since the start of the Russian-Ukraine war. It is also, by a strange twist, Ukraine’s Independence Day, when Ukrainians celebrate their independence from the former Soviet Union. The ultimate outcome is still obscure. But what is unfortunately quite clear is that this tragedy still has several acts to play out and that thousands more will die, including innocent Ukrainian civilians. A stable Europe helps give America access to other parts of the world, denies critical strategic space for the malicious actions of Russia and China, and delivers strategic partners that contribute to common defense and security. For those reasons, it is in the national interest <[link removed]> of the U.S. that Russia fail in its illegal war. Heritage Expert: Thomas Spoehr <[link removed]>
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