The Morning Dispatch: Newsom Leads as Recall Voting Comes to a Close

Happy Tuesday! Unfortunately, we’re not going to spend much time on Met Gala fashion in today’s newsletter. For that, you’ll have to wait for Scott Lincicome’s Wednesday Capitolism.
Quick Hits: Today’s Top Stories
Apple is urging all its customers to update the software on their devices after cybersecurity researchers at Citizen Lab discovered a loophole in Apple’s operating system—present since at least March—that allowed advanced spyware called Pegasus from Israel’s NSO Group to silently infiltrate machines and turn on a user’s camera and microphone or record their screen.
The Treasury Department said Monday that U.S. outlays through the first 11 months of the fiscal year grew 4 percent year-over-year to a record $6.3 trillion in 2021. The U.S. budget deficit, however, ultimately narrowed from $3 trillion last year to $2.7 trillion this year as federal revenue increased 18 percent year-over-year due to increased tax collection.
The Pentagon on Monday defended its August 29 drone strike in Kabul as necessary to “prevent an imminent attack on the airport,” contradicting a recent New York Times report that claimed the driver targeted in the strike—which killed 10, including seven children—was a longtime worker for a U.S. aid group transporting canisters of water, not an ISIS member with explosives.