Cross-Examination

• Zuckerberg apologizes to his social media victims: In what seems to be a regular feature of Beltway politics, lawmakers hauled certain Big Tech CEOs before a committee, there to harrumph about the grave damage that their social media products are doing to our nation’s children. Perversely, it’s a win-win for the interrogators and the interrogatees: The former get their seven minutes with which to grandstand and ask great “gotcha” questions, while the latter get to showcase the allure of their products while promising to do better. One of the key components of this back-and-forth is Big Tech’s desire to maintain the status quo of Section 230 protections afforded them by the relatively ancient Telecommunications Act of 1996, whereby they can continue to allow their users to post pretty much anything without fear of the legal risk that a publisher would normally assume. Such was the case yesterday, as the CEOs of Meta, TikTok, X, Snap, and Discord testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee about the liability and responsibility that the platforms should bear for hosting content that targets or exploits minors. Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg was the headliner, and he didn’t do himself any favors by opening with this whopper: “The existing body of scientific work has not shown a causal link between using social media and young people having worse mental health outcomes.” Talk about a Big Lie. Zuck went on to endure withering critiques from, among others, Republican Senators Ted Cruz, Marsha Blackburn, and Josh Hawley. Hawley, in fact, challenged him thusly: “So, you didn’t take any action, you didn’t fire anybody, you haven’t compensated a single victim. … Have you apologized to the victims? Would you like to apologize now?” Lo and behold, Zuckerberg stood up, turned and faced the families behind him, and apologized. “I’m sorry for everything you’ve all been through,” he said. “No one should have to go through the things that your families suffered.” It was quite a moment of contrition for a man who began by denying that his product causes any harm.

• Private gun sale ban? In an effort to further infringe on Americans’ Second Amendment rights, the Biden administration plans to soon roll out new ATF regulations that would effectively ban private gun sales. As Tristan Leavitt, president of the whistleblower organization Empower Oversight Whistleblowers & Research, argues, “Such an expansive rule that treats all private citizens the same as federal firearms licensees would circumvent the separation of powers in the Constitution, which grants ‘all legislative powers’ to Congress while requiring that the president ‘take care that the laws be faithfully executed.’” The new regulations wouldn’t merely require a background check for private gun sales; they also would create a new threshold for anyone selling a firearm, effectively requiring them to register as a federally licensed firearms dealer to legally sell a firearm. Of course, the question of what constitutes a firearms dealer is key, as it has previously been defined as the selling of firearms for “the principal objective of livelihood and profit.” That definition of “dealer” would exclude the vast majority of individuals who have sold a firearm. Leavitt noted that the White House directed the ATF to create this regulation and that “whistleblowers say the rule is being drafted by Senior Policy Counsel Eric Epstein, who worked as the Phoenix Field Office’s Division Counsel during Operation Wide Receiver (a precursor of Operation Fast and Furious).” Leavitt says that these ATF regulations would so blatantly infringe upon the Second Amendment that he believes the courts would quickly overturn them. Therefore, Biden’s likely motive is political, making it a disingenuous gun control issue on which to campaign.

• Disney lawsuit tossed: In yet another win for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in his war against wokeness, a federal judge on Wednesday threw out Disney’s lawsuit against the governor over his decision to eliminate the company’s special self-governing district. U.S. District Judge Allen Winsor dismissed the case, noting that Disney had no standing to sue over laws that were constitutionally enacted by the state. Furthermore, an audit of the Reedy Creek Improvement District released last year exposed the fact that Disney had massively abused the self-governing status to enrich itself at the expense of the community around it. DeSantis has bested Disney and has proven all the naysayers, particularly on the Right, wrong. This is a big win for DeSantis, but especially for Florida.

• The price of leftist political lawfare: Donald Trump’s political action committee spent approximately $50 million in legal fees and investigation-related expenses last year, the source of which was donor money that might otherwise have been used in a presumed presidential campaign later this year. That’s just part of the price of the Left’s scummy “lawfare” strategy, which it continues to use against its political enemies with bone-crushing effectiveness. As the notoriously partisan Trump haters at The New York Times report: “It is a staggering sum. [Trump’s] lone remaining rival in the 2024 Republican primary, Nikki Haley, raised roughly the same amount of money across all her committees in the last year as Mr. Trump’s political accounts spent paying the bills stemming from his various legal defenses, including lawyers for witnesses.” Trump’s legal battles are, of course, ongoing on multiple fronts, and they paint a picture “of a former president heading toward the Republican nomination while facing enormous financial strain.”

• Tax bill passes House: By a vote of 357-70, the House on Wednesday passed HR 7024, tax legislation that majorities on both sides of the political aisle supported. Dubbed the Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act, the legislation’s key components include expanding the child tax credit and renewing tax deductions for research and development costs for businesses. Earlier in the week, New York Republicans were threatening to derail the $78 billion bill over the fact that it included no changes to the federal deductions for state and local taxes, or SALT. A compromise was reached in a commitment by House leadership to hold a future vote on a second tax bill to address that. While the bill will face challenges in the Senate, Joe Biden has voiced his support for the legislation.

• Biden finally commits to visiting East Palestine: Better late than never, we suppose, but Scranton Joe Biden has, after having ignored their plight for nearly a year, finally committed to visiting the people of the largely blue-collar Ohio town of East Palestine next month. East Palestine, you’ll recall, was the site of the disastrous derailment of a train carrying toxic materials. As a White House spokesman said, Biden will “meet with residents impacted by the Norfolk Southern train derailment and assess the progress that his Administration has helped deliver in coordination with state and local leaders to protect the community and hold Norfolk Southern accountable.” So, you see, it’s a campaign event for a president who’s desperate to stanch the bleeding of blue-collar Americans from the Democrat Party to the Republican Party. As the New York Post reports, “Donald Trump, who is seeking a rematch against Biden in November, visited and ordered McDonald’s for residents the same month as the accident, while an imposing dark cloud of chemicals wafted over the Rust Belt town.” Biden’s handlers will likely shuttle in and organize a sufficient contingent of “supporters” to cheer his visit next month, but we have a hunch that his reception will be a bit chillier than the one the former president received.

• How about a ceasefire in Chicago? Democrat leaders in Chicago care so much about people being shot to death in the streets that the city council passed a resolution calling for a permanent ceasefire … in Gaza. Introduced weeks ago, Chicago’s official call for a Gaza ceasefire resolution was finally adopted after Mayor Brandon Johnson cast the tiebreaking vote. What got the vote finally over the hump was a walkout threat by the Chicago Teachers Union. Chicago has now become the largest U.S. city to call for a ceasefire in Israel’s war against Hamas. As the resolution’s sponsor, Alderman Daniel La Spata, stated following the vote: “Do I believe that the words that we speak today, how we vote today influences directly international policy? I don’t. I don’t have those illusions. But we vote with hope, we vote with solidarity, we vote to help people feel heard in a world of silence.” In other words, the vote was little other than a political virtue signal. Meanwhile, what about tackling the rampant shootings on the streets of Chicago? The Windy City has led the country in murders for the last 12 years. In 2023 alone, Chicago had 617 homicides. Why no calls for a ceasefire in the city?

• History battle in Concord: One needn’t be a historian to appreciate the significance of Concord, Massachusetts. It was there at the North Bridge on the morning of April 19, 1775, that the “Shot Heard Round the World” was fired and marked the beginning of the Revolutionary War. The skirmish may have lasted only a few seconds, but it forever changed world history. Today, there’s another battle brewing in Concord: the battle for America’s heritage. As the Boston Herald reports: “Historical signs commemorating the founding of the Massachusetts Bay Colony no longer stand in Concord because officials say they harmed Indigenous people and didn’t reflect the town’s people today. The so-called tercentenary markers had a place in town for nearly a century, but they came down this week after some officials fought for months for them to be removed, to create what they say is a more respectful community.” On the contrary, a “more respectful community” is one that respects its past rather than trying to whitewash it. The town’s communications manager said the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Commission, as well as the Historical Commission, found the signs “problematic and antithetical to the inclusive goals of the Town of Concord.” To which we say: The demise of these poisonous and divisive DEI policies can’t come soon enough.

Headlines

• House committee advances two articles of impeachment against Mayorkas (Daily Wire)

• Chinese hackers ready to “wreak havoc” on critical U.S. infrastructure with 50-to-1 cyber personnel advantage, FBI director warns (New York Post)

• Cori Bush and Rashida Tlaib to Hamas: Come on in, guys (Townhall)

• GOP lawmakers slam Biden plan to recognize Palestinian state (Washington Free Beacon)

• Terror groups evacuate their positions after Biden admin tips them off to their plans (Daily Wire)

• Fani Willis axed employee who blew whistle on misuse of federal funds (Washington Free Beacon)

• Dem strategist friendly with China to succeed Kerry as climate envoy (Washington Free Beacon)

• Christian vet who tore down Satanic statue in Iowa charged with hate crime (Not the Bee)

• DOD plans to cover fertility treatments for same-sex and unmarried couples (Daily Caller)

• Humor: Mayorkas says he’s not sure how he can be impeached when he doesn’t even do anything (Babylon Bee)

For more editors’ choice headlines, click here.