Washington
White House Report Card: Inflation, Bidenomics choking the nation – Washington Examiner
This week’s White House Report Card finds President Joe Biden being hobbled by a new surge of consumer inflation, threatening his reelection chances and delaying an interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve.
Instead of reversing his high-spending ways, however, the president unveiled plans for more to be dumped into deadbeat student loans, an election-year move aimed at winning back younger voters who have been nonplussed by his presidency.
He did get a boost politically when abortion surged back into the top issues after Arizona’s highest court cited a Civil War-era law to ban most of the procedures in the state.
But his continued scolding of Israel and Iran’s threat to attack the Jewish state again has the world on edge.
There was some humor during the week thanks to the State Visit of Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and his funny references to current culture.
Conservative grader Jed Babbin gave the week a “D-minus,” and cited high inflation and the administration’s weak support for Israel. “For shame,” he wrote of Biden’s approach to Israel.
Democratic pollster John Zogby graded the week a “C,” and highlighted the problems the Republicans and former President Donald Trump are having and how that’s helping keep Biden tied in his reelection bid. Yet, he added, “he’s not running away with the election.”
Jed Babbin
Grade: D-
There’s not a lot to be said for this week and certainly nothing good.
Bidenomics has continued to cause inflation which is reflected in the prices of groceries, gasoline and pretty much everything else. Gasoline has gone up to $3.59 per gallon in the town I live in, about 20 cents higher than it was a month ago.
The interest on the federal debt was $1.06 trillion in the first six months of FY 2024. That’s higher than the entire defense budget for the year of $825 billion. We’re going broke fast and President Joe Biden is doing everything he can to accelerate it.
And, of course, Old Joe wants to keep spending recklessly. His new student loan “forgiveness” will cost hundreds of billions. And that, of course, is happening after the Supreme Court told Biden he didn’t have any authority to “forgive” student loans. He’s doing it in defiance of the law, but that’s Joe. (BTW, “loan forgiveness” is only possible when it’s your money that you tell someone he doesn’t have to pay back.) Ain’t Bidenomics great?
And, of course, Biden is still trying to prevent Israel from attacking the last Hamas stronghold in Rafah City. Biden — really, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, national security adviser Jake Sullivan, and whoever else is pulling his strings — want Israel to lose the war Hamas started on October 7. For shame.
John Zogby
Grade: C
The rate of inflation turned in the wrong direction this week, higher than the previous month and postponing a Fed decision to lower interest rates.
The specter of war in the Middle East is also causing a lot of anxiety in D.C., and President Joe Biden, while still critical of Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu, is embracing Israel a little more closely than his base feels he needs to.
While his approval ratings are static and low, there are more polls showing him leading former President Donald Trump nationwide in the 2024 presidential race. Still, Biden continues to close the gap with Trump in the battleground states.
Meanwhile, his opposition party is a mess. Another dumped speaker coming soon? An 1864 abortion ban in Arizona. Really? A former president on trial for paying hush money to a porn star? Say it ain’t so, Joe. But it is so. But he’s not running away with the election.
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Jed Babbin is a Washington Examiner contributor and former deputy undersecretary of defense in the administration of former President George H.W. Bush. Follow him on Twitter @jedbabbin.
John Zogby is the founder of the Zogby Survey and senior partner at John Zogby Strategies. His podcast with son and managing partner and pollster Jeremy Zogby can be heard here. Their firm polls for independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Follow him on Twitter @ZogbyStrategies.
SEATTLE — A bill aimed at tightening Washington’s laws on child sex abuse material is headed to Gov. Bob Ferguson’s desk after clearing the Legislature unanimously.
King County Prosecuting Attorney Leesa Manion said 2ESSB 5105 passed the House unanimously Tuesday night after the Senate unanimously approved it on Jan. 28, 2026.
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Manion called the measure one of her public safety legislative priorities.
“People who peddle in the misery of sexually abused children must be held accountable,” Manion said. “I am grateful for the work of Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Laura Harmon – both in prosecuting these cases and advocating for these legal fixes – and Senators Tina Orwall and Manka Dhingra for championing this legislation.”
Manion’s office said the current state law has gaps that can prevent prosecutors from holding offenders accountable in some cases.
Under current law, prosecutors cannot charge defendants for creating images of child sex abuse unless the child victim was conscious or knew they were being recorded.
The office also said that possessing sexually explicit fabricated (AI) images of non-identifiable minors is not considered child sex abuse material under Washington law.
The bill would update RCW 9.68A.040 to remove the requirement that a child be aware of an abusive recording. It would also update the definition of child sex abuse material to include fabricated (AI) images of non-identifiable minors.
The legislation would also increase the statute of limitations to 10 years for depiction crimes. Manion’s office said the current statute of limitations is three years, and argued that because the images can remain online indefinitely, victims can be re-traumatized for decades.
Both of Utah’s power play units scored in the win. Sergachev scored his 10th goal of the season on the power play 13 and a half minutes into the first period. Peterka scored his 21st of the season, on the man-advantage, in the final two minutes of the middle frame.
Peterka has three power play goals in the 2025-26 campaign while Sergachev has matched a career-high with five power play goals this season. Overall, Utah’s power play has scored six goals in the last six games. That output matches the Mammoth’s total from their previous 18 games (per Mammoth PR). Tourigny discussed what’s changed with the team’s performance in recent games.
“(The) puck gets in,” Tourigny laughed. “But, no, I think there’s a number of things. The most important thing is we’re aggressive. We’re attacking.
“…If you look at our goal, the first one, it’s a direct play to the net and then on the loose puck recovery we take a shot with traffic and we score,” Tourigny continued. “On the second one, it’s a slot pass, a great shot by (Peterka). I think we had that attack mindset.”
Guenther, who is on the Mammoth’s top power play unit, agreed with Tourigny’s assessment of attacking more.
“I think just attacking, less predictable,” Guenther explained. “Shooting it more, I think (it is) just work really. Trying to play like a 5-on-5 mindset but on the (power play).”
The Mammoth made several line changes for tonight’s game and the new lines started to find chemistry, despite it being the first game with these changes.
“I like them,” Tourigny said of the changes. “Obviously (Guenther) got a goal, but Cooley’s line was really good. I was looking at the expected goals at the end, I think they were above 90%. So that’s pretty, pretty awesome. Then I think (Barrett Hayton’s) line worked really hard. They’re heavy on pucks and they play well defensively. I did like (Michael Carcone’s) line in (the) previous three games, and I did like them again tonight.”
When Washington pushed back with a power play goal and multiple close chances in the third period, Utah fought hard against the momentum swing to secure the win.
“I thought we did a pretty good job,” Keller explained. “Weathering the storm as much as we could. They’re a great veteran team. They made it hard on us. They pressured us all over the ice, but I was proud of the way we fought there towards the end.”
Utah’s bench was positive and calm throughout the game, especially late in the third. This helped the Mammoth through the momentum swings. Keller, who had two assists in the win, was one of the key voices for the Mammoth.
“He’s one of the guys who was really positive on the bench,” Tourigny explained. “(All the players) were but (Keller) was really vocal. He was really good energy on the bench. So that was really good.”
Additional Notes from Tonight (per Mammoth PR)
- Guenther had two points in the win (1G, 1A) and the forward has earned a team-high nine points (5G, 4A) through six road games in 2026. He has become the third Mammoth skater to reach the 50-point mark this season (28G, 23A) and established a new career-high in goals.
- Sergachev has 18 power play points this season (5G, 13A) and is tied with Keller for the team lead this season.
- Keller has recorded multiple primary assists in a game for the seventh time this season and the 27th time in his NHL career. He has now tallied multiple points in four of his last six contests (2G, 8A), with three multi-assist outings over that span.
The Mammoth continue their five-game road trip in Philadelphia on Thursday night. Game time is 5 p.m. MT and available to watch on Mammoth+ and Utah16.
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