Cross-Examination

• Biden bans transporting fossil fuel by rail: Killing the Keystone XL pipeline wasn’t enough, so now the Biden administration has taken its war against fossil fuels up another level, and before winter at that. Over the holiday weekend, the Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) quietly announced the suspension of a 2020 authorization that had permitted the use of trains to transport liquefied natural gas (LNG). The new rule, which takes effect immediately, will not become permanent until it goes through a finalization process that takes several months. The excuse for this rule change is concern over safety and, of course, Climate Change™. This decision bows to the demands made by a number of ecofascist groups including the Sierra Club, Earthjustice, and Food & Water Watch, which are opposed to all fossil fuels, including the cleanest burning and the one most responsible for curbing America’s CO₂ emissions: natural gas. Targeting rail transportation over claims of LNG posing explosion threats is disingenuous. What this new rule will do is make LNG that much more expensive, all the worse because everyone is struggling to make ends meet thanks to Bidenflation. But that’s the point. The Biden administration has embraced the radical climate cult and is trying to force Americans off of fossil fuels. In so doing, Team Biden is threatening not only our energy sector but our national security.

• Philly’s police commish is out: After three years at the post, Philadelphia’s delightfully named police commissioner, Danielle Outlaw, is resigning. During her short tenure, the City of Brotherly Love has endured a spike in homicides and violent crime. Prior to her taking office, from 2007 through 2019, Philadelphia averaged between 246 and 391 homicides annually. However, since Outlaw took the reins, homicides have nearly doubled. In 2020, the total rose to 499, and by 2022 it hit 516. On the announcement of her resignation, Mayor Jim Kenney spun the blame on the homicide rate on “gun violence,” even as he thanked Outlaw for pulling a “record number of guns” off the street. However, the real culprit for Outlaw’s failure to curb the city’s spiking homicide rate is likely the city council. In response to BLM’s defund-the-police movement, the council cut the police department’s budget by $14 million and instead invested $25 million in anti-poverty programs.

• Rolling Stone is still a hot mess: This is what happens when a media outlet exists primarily to push propaganda under the guise of practicing “journalism.” Leftmedia outlet Rolling Stone magazine recently ran a hit piece against Florida Republican Governor and presidential candidate Ron DeSantis wherein it falsely claimed that a gathering of neo-Nazi protesters marching outside Disney World in Florida this past weekend were DeSantis supporters. The article included a quote from one of these protesters, who said, “We’re all DeSantis supporters!” However, on Monday, after receiving backlash for deliberately shading the truth, Rolling Stone was forced to issue an update in which the magazine admitted that the full quote was: “We’re all DeSantis supporters! F*** Ron DeSantis! Ron DeSantis is a joke. Ron DeSantis is a joke.” To make matters worse, the man leading the neo-Nazi protesters was Christopher Pohlhaus, who happens to be a Joe Biden supporter. The truth simply didn’t fit Rolling Stone’s preferred false narrative of conservatives being a bunch of white supremacists.

• Good news: Coach Kennedy back on the field: After fighting a seven-year legal battle that went all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court, high school football coach Joe Kennedy was back on the field this past weekend, where he kneeled at the 50 yard line to offer a silent prayer. It was a practice that he had engaged in for years with no problem until the school district decided kneeling amounted to proselytizing and fired him. Kennedy thanked everyone for their prayers and support, saying, “I used to run marathons quite a bit and you never think you’re going to get to the end, and when you finally see that finish line … that’s what tonight was.” Standing with his wife, he said, “We finished the race and we did it together and there’s nothing better than keeping the faith throughout that.” He added, “There is nothing better than America and the Constitution.”

Headlines

• Biden awards Medal of Honor to pilot who rescued soldiers during Vietnam War (DOD)

• Former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio sentenced to 22 years for January 6 attack (Fox News)

• Then-VP Biden signed off on Hunter business partner’s Burisma talking points, email reveals (National Review)

• Comer subpoenas Mayorkas, Secret Service over tip-off of 2020 Hunter Biden tax probe interview (Fox News)

• U.S. deficit explodes from $1 trillion to $2 trillion despite economic growth (PJ Media)

• Sheldon Whitehouse files ethics complaint over Justice Samuel Alito interview (NBC News)

• McConnell showed “no evidence” of a seizure disorder or stroke, Capitol doctor says (NBC News)

• “Tennessee Three” Democrat announces run for Marsha Blackburn Senate seat (Washington Examiner)

• Zelensky ousts defense chief as ministry grapples with corruption claims (Washington Post)

• Policy: Democrat deficits could doom U.S. economy (Washington Examiner)

• Satire: “Yep, I’ve got COVID,” says Dr. Jill Biden hitting self on forehead with knee hammer thing (Babylon Bee)

For more editors’ choice headlines, click here.