Cross-Examination

• Two missing SEALs now listed as deceased: In a grim update to a story we covered last week, the search for two Navy SEALs who went missing off the coast of Somalia 11 days ago has been called off and they are now presumed lost at sea. The two warriors were on a mission to seize Iranian weapons aboard ships supplying weaponry to terrorist Houthis in Yemen. One SEAL had attempted to board a small boat and fell into rough seas. As is their protocol, a second SEAL jumped into the sea to rescue him. As USNI News reports: “We regret to announce that after a 10-day exhaustive search, our two missing U.S. Navy SEALs have not been located and their status has been changed to deceased. … The two special operators are the first two deaths of U.S. forces since the American naval build-up in the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Southern Israel. U.S., Spanish and Japanese naval forces searched more than 21,000 square miles for the missing sailors.”

• Cold weather is deadly: As winter weather hit much of the nation this past week, sending temperatures plunging, it served as a sobering reminder that cold can be deadly. Some 95 deaths were tied to the cold weather last week, 25 in Tennessee alone. Oregon reported 16 deaths, including three people killed by a tree falling on their car. Snowy and icy conditions worsened by strong winds served to create dangerous traveling conditions and power outages. The bitterly cold weather is expected to lessen by midweek. This isn’t to say global warming isn’t real or doesn’t pose its own risks, but cold generally kills far more people than heat.

• Another unfortunate Biden photo-op: A Thursday campaign stop in North Carolina for Joe Biden backfired when it inadvertently revealed the impact that his inflationary policies had caused. Biden spoke at Abbotts Creek Community Center in Raleigh to drum up support for his economic policies. But after his speech, he visited a branch of the fast-food chain Cook Out, where he was photographed with a large menu board behind him. As Newsweek reports: “One photo showed Biden in front of a menu, which listed the price of a Cook Out tray as $7.69.” Unfortunately for Biden, North Carolina Senator Phil Berger posted an image of the president visiting the same restaurant chain when the same meal was a lot less expensive. Newsweek continues: “On 18 October, 2020, Biden went to Durham, North Carolina, ahead of the 2020 presidential election. The cost of a Cook Out tray then was $5.99, according to the photo of Biden in front of a similar menu.” That’s some serious Bidenflation — about 28%.

• Some good political news for conservatives: Radicalism and extremism do not serve political parties seeking to grow their voter base. That appears to be what has been transpiring, especially with the Democrat Party, thanks to its embracing of hard-left woke policies. A recent Gallup poll found that the Democrat Party has dropped to a 35-year low, with just 27% of voters identifying as Democrats. Similarly, just 27% of voters currently identify as Republican, though the GOP’s voter identity decline has not been as pronounced. The political identity that has grown is the number of voters now identifying as independent, which has risen to 43%, matching a record high set in 2014. The trouble for Democrats and Joe Biden is that independent voters over the last few years are leaning more Republican. The survey found that 45% of all voters identify as Republican or GOP-leaning, while 43% of voters identify or lean Democrat. This percentage marks just the third time in the last 35 years that Republicans hold a slight voter edge over Democrats. “Democrats are clearly in a weaker position than they have been in any recent election year,” Gallup observed. “In what is expected to be a close election contest, it is critical for each party, but especially Democrats, to nominate a candidate who can appeal to independent voters.”

• Soros aims to turn Texas blue: For many years now, the Democrats have dreamed of flipping Texas and its largely Hispanic population from the Republican column to the Democrat column. Were that to happen, it’d be disastrous for future GOP presidential election prospects. Now, America-hating leftist billionaire George Soros is getting involved. As the Washington Examiner reports: “The move by left-wing billionaire George Soros to pour major cash into turning Texas blue in 2024 shows Democrats are afraid of the GOP’s momentum in the state, Republican candidate and ex-Rep. Mayra Flores told the Washington Examiner in an interview. Soros personally has transferred at least $100,000 since August 2023 to the Democratic Party Executive Committee in Cameron County, which is part of the Lone Star State’s 34th Congressional District, where Flores is seeking to unseat Rep. Vicente Gonzalez.” According to financial disclosures, Soros has also made donations to other Texas counties, as well as funneling huge sums to the liberal Texas Majority PAC.

• FBI pipe bombs: Did the FBI plant those two pipe bombs at the RNC and DNC headquarters just prior to January 6? As Hot Air’s Jazz Shaw writes, “This story has been making the rounds again in the wake of the third anniversary of the Capitol Hill riot, so we may as well take a look at it. It’s either one of the craziest conspiracy theories of the modern era or a scandalous indictment of our federal law enforcement system.” As we noted earlier this month while Joe Biden was demagoguing the anniversary of January 6, it’s almost as if the five mysterious guys who erected that cheesy gallows, ostensibly for hanging Vice President Mike Pence, were somehow in cahoots with the guy who planted those pipe bombs in front of the DNC and RNC headquarters. Somehow, none of these people has been identified. What are the odds? PJ Media’s Matt Margolis echoes these thoughts: “They have surveillance footage of a suspect. And yet, three years later, the FBI has managed to track down every nonviolent observer and elderly grandmother who was in town that day, but not this suspect. The FBI’s handling of this particular aspect of their J6 investigation has been suspicious, to say the least, and the agency has failed to comply with requests from Congress for more information about it.”

• Alec Baldwin indicted: Following an “extensive investigation over the past several months,” special prosecutors Kari Morrisey and Jason Lewis stated last month that “additional facts have come to light that we believe show Mr. [Alec] Baldwin has criminal culpability in the death of Halyna Hutchins and the shooting of Joel Souza.” On Friday, a New Mexico grand jury agreed with the special prosecutors’ assessment. Now Baldwin is once again facing an indictment for involuntary manslaughter in the shooting death of cinematographer Hutchins on the set of “Rust” back in 2021. Baldwin claimed that he never pulled the gun’s trigger, insisting that the single-action Colt .45 Peacemaker revolver just went off. That explanation doesn’t comport with the findings of an FBI investigation into the shooting, which concluded in part that the revolver could not have fired without the trigger being pulled. Video footage appears to indicate that Baldwin both expressed concern for people not being in the revolver’s line of fire as well as his intention to fire the weapon. He says: “Now wait a second. I’m going to shoot right. Do you mind going to the other side of the camera? I don’t want to shoot toward you.”

• Good news: Conceal carry holder prevents robbery: In a story of a good guy with a gun stopping bad guys with guns, a concealed carry permit holder engaged his Second Amendment rights. Responding to a vehicle-for-sale ad on Facebook Marketplace in Peoria, Illinois, a holder of a concealed carry permit and his friend met several men who were armed fake sellers seeking to rob the two. The pair were able to foil the robbery attempt when the CC permit holder drew his firearm and a firefight ensued. One of the criminals was hit during the exchange and died at the scene. Responding authorities from the Peoria Police Department investigated the incident and released the CC permit holder without any charges. People should “remain vigilant during Marketplace-type transactions,” advised a spokesperson for the department. “Use good judgment when it comes to selecting meetup locations that are highly visible and preferably under video surveillance. The parking lot and lobby of the police department are also available to conduct such transactions.”

Headlines

• DeSantis suspends 2024 presidential campaign, endorses Trump (Daily Wire)

• Biden threatens to use military jets on law-abiding American citizens (Townhall)

• “I’m a bit starstruck”: Jamaal Bowman lauds anti-Israel speaker who praised 10/7 attacks (National Review)

• House Jan. 6 Committee deleted more than 100 encrypted files days before GOP took majority (New York Post)

• Sports Illustrated’s entire staff told they are getting laid off (New York Post)

• Los Angeles Times plans “significant” layoffs, guild says (Reuters)

• Has Biden’s border crisis driven Chicago’s mayor to the hospital for panic attacks? (American Greatness)

• Two-thirds of elites say there’s too much freedom in America (The Federalist)

• Tim Scott gets engaged to girlfriend (Washington Examiner)

• In-N-Out forced to shutter Oakland location because of crime, burger company’s first-ever store closing (National Review)

• Democrats in Washington change name “sex offender” to protect rapists’ feelings (Jason Rantz)

• Lover sues Geico after getting STD in insured car and other wild cases clogging courts (New York Post)

• Humor: “I just don’t know where we went wrong,” contemplates Sports Illustrated executive in front of framed covers of obese, trans swimsuit models (Babylon Bee)

For more editors’ choice headlines, click here.