Cross-Examination

• That missing F-35: An F-35 jet that crashed and went missing following the pilot ejecting has been found. The incident occurred after an undefined “mishap” during the flight led to the pilot’s ejecting while the jet was in autopilot. The pilot parachuted to safety, though the jet, known for its stealth technology, was temporarily lost. Due to the failure to quickly locate the craft and identify the cause of the incident, the Marine Corps enacted a two-day stand down for all aviation units both in and outside of the U.S. The wreckage of the jet was found in Williamsburg County, South Carolina, about two hours northeast of Joint Base Charleston.

• The military gender-benders: It turns out that using woke gender-bending messaging doesn’t work well for boosting the U.S. military’s recruitment efforts. The U.S. Navy has ended its “Digital Ambassador Pilot Program,” the online recruiting effort that featured a drag queen, Yeoman 2nd Class Joshua Kelley, who went by the stage name Harpy Daniels. When the drag queen enlistment initiative was brought to Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville’s attention, he demanded the identity of the officers tasked with funding drag queen shows on ships. This combined with a backlash from many military veterans and missed recruitment goals led to the Navy scrapping the program. Meanwhile, a “clarification” offered over the Pentagon’s gender pronoun policy has only served to underscore the DOD’s commitment to woke ideology, even if Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley doesn’t know what that word means.

• California sues Big Oil: Did oil companies cause climate change? Well, that is the assertion behind a lawsuit California raised against the oil industry. “The companies that have polluted our air, choked our skies with smoke, wreaked havoc on our water cycle, and contaminated our lands must be made to mitigate the harms they have brought upon the State,” the suit claims. The lawsuit bases those claims on the work of a scientist — James Black, who, working for Exxon back in 1977, warned of climate change caused by the burning of fossil fuels. Of course, Black’s alarmism never came to fruition, even though his claims have now gained widespread acceptance. What this lawsuit amounts to is a shakedown of an industry that not only the U.S. but all world economies depend upon to function. Talk about biting the hand that feeds.

• ‘Body positivity’ is killing people: Fat shaming is bad because it’s rude and hurts people’s feelings, but it doesn’t kill people like “body positivity” is doing. The number of people dying from heart disease due to obesity in 2020 was three times higher than it was in 1999. And this despite the fact that, over the last two decades, overall heart-related deaths have decreased by 20%. Unfortunately, the obesity problem is only getting worse, as roughly 115 million Americans are obese, including 42% of adults and 20% of children. But fear over “fat shaming” has resulted in the false claims that obesity is not only “beautiful,” but that it “is healthy,” as the magazine Cosmopolitan has claimed. Journalist Glenn Greenwald argues, “Those who glorify obesity, or denounce efforts to reduce it, are dangerous … [and] have blood on their hands.”

• Dems’ wrong ‘24 predictions: Democrat strategies for retaining the White House are not panning out as expected. The indictments of Donald Trump have served to elevate his profile more than anticipated — and not as a criminal villain, but as a popular folk hero standing against Washington’s two-tiered system of injustice. Likewise, scuttling the Hunter Biden laptop story only served to elevate it, exposing the scope of the Bidens’ corrupt operation. The DNC believed that Trump scares people so badly no one will dare defect from the Democrats’ camp. Yet leftist radical Cornel West is mounting a presidential run, and RFK Jr. is hinting about going third party, and both are causing some panic within the party. Biden’s base is crumbling, and the vast majority of Americans believe he is in no condition to seek a second term.

• Good news: Lottery for fostering: A British couple, Mark and Kathleen Reece, who have long desired to take in foster kids but lacked the room to do so, now will be expanding their little house. The couple won over £100,000 from a lottery ticket that the husband bought on a whim while shopping for groceries. “My three kids will be leaving home soon and I have too much love to give,” Kathleen explained. “I’ve always wanted to foster, however having enough space has always been an issue. Thanks to the win, it’ll no longer be a problem. I’m so happy we can finally fulfill our dream.”

Headlines

• U.S. national debt surpasses $33T for first time (Daily Wire)

• Trump plans to give speech to auto workers in Detroit, skipping second GOP debate (CNBC)

• Biden admin unleashes 50-year mining, oil drilling ban across thousands of acres in New Mexico (Fox News)

• Gas prices hit 2023 highs as oil chugs higher (Yahoo)

• Biden worries he might be dead before Hunter’s legal troubles end (Washington Free Beacon)

• “Prejudiced against old people”: DNC official slams voters worried about Biden’s age (Washington Free Beacon)

• CDC trying to convince healthcare workers that surgical masks are just as good as N95s (Not the Bee)

• Officials find debris from F-35 fighter jet that crashed in South Carolina (Associated Press)

• Humor: Military personnel seen wandering forest pressing button on F-35 key fob (Babylon Bee)

For more editors’ choice headlines, click here.