Politics

• Hunter Biden guilty of felony gun charges, faces 25 years in prison (NY Post)

• Pelosi’s “responsibility” on J6: Newly released video shows then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi taking responsibility for inadequate security on January 6, 2021. “You’re gonna ask me in the middle of the thing, when they’ve already breached the inaugural stuff, ‘Should we call the Capitol Police?’ I mean the National Guard. Why weren’t the National Guard there to begin with?” Pelosi says to her chief of staff, Terri McCullough. “They thought that they had sufficient resources,” he replied. “It’s not a question of how they had … they don’t know!” Pelosi interrupted. “They clearly didn’t know, and I take responsibility for not having them just prepare for more.” Alexandra Pelosi recorded the footage as part of her HBO documentary about that day’s events, though this portion of the video was mysteriously left on the cutting room floor until House Republicans released it on Monday. In response to the release, a Pelosi spokesman huffed, “Three years later, House Republicans are still trying to whitewash January 6th. It’s shameful, unpatriotic and pathetic.”

• Jerry Nadler received donation from former domestic terrorist in months following J6 (Washington Examiner)

• AOC frets about going to jail: Did Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez commit a crime? Why else would she worry about Donald Trump sending her to prison? “I mean, it sounds nuts,” she said (naturally — because it’s her saying it), “but I wouldn’t be surprised if this guy threw me in jail. He’s out of his mind. I mean, he did his whole first campaign around ‘lock her up.’ This is his motto. I take him at his word when he says that he’s going to round up people. I take him at his word when he threatens journalists.” That is indeed one overarching problem for leftists — they take Trump literally instead of seriously. No one, by contrast, should take AOC seriously. She claimed to have nearly died in the Capitol riot, for example, when she wasn’t even in the Capitol at the time. She showed up at the border to cry in front of a fence. She’s a hysterical loon. In the meantime, there’s only one political party trying to jail political opponents, and AOC is a card-carrying member.

• FBI suspends employee’s clearance after probing Trump support, COVID-19 views (Daily Signal)

• “Patriotic” deep-staters don’t regret Hunter laptop letter: Hunter Biden’s laptop was real, which many people knew right from the time the New York Post exposed it in October 2020. The Leftmedia and Big Tech, however, worked quickly to suppress that information, likely tilting the election in Joe Biden’s favor. Part of the disinformation push was a letter from 51 former intelligence officials declaring the laptop to be likely “Russian disinformation.” It wasn’t. In fact, it was just entered as evidence last week in Hunter Biden’s trial on three felony gun charges. Nevertheless, at least some of those intel officials are still proud of themselves. Fox News reached out to all 51 to ask them if they regretted the letter. “No,” replied former Obama Director of National Intelligence James Clapper. Mark S. Zaid, an attorney representing several signatories, went much further: “Every patriotic American should have signed that letter.” Another signatory, Greg Treverton, pulled the Clintonesque “old news” canard, reiterating that “it did look like a Russian operation,” though “We didn’t, and couldn’t of course say it was a Russian operation.” Maybe, but Joe Biden called it that, citing the letter, and that influenced the election outcome.

Around the World

• The UN’s Gaza ceasefire resolution: Two days after the dramatic rescue of four hostages by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), the UN Security Council backed Joe Biden’s proposed ceasefire. Hamas finally jumped on board as well, which signals that it’s a lousy deal. “Today we voted for peace,” gushed U.S. ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield. She did add, “The fighting could stop today, if Hamas would do the same.” In other words, this war started because of Hamas, and it continues because of Hamas. The world, unfortunately, continues to look at casualty figures provided by the Gaza Health Ministry as gospel truth. It says nearly 37,000 Palestinians have been killed, with another 83,000 wounded. That makes it seem as if the IDF is the bloodthirsty terrorist organization instead of Hamas, when the opposite is true. Hamas should release the rest of its hostages, including the Americans, and maybe then the sides can talk about a ceasefire.

• Rescued Israeli hostages were starved, beaten “almost every day” in Hamas captivity (NY Post)

• Canada’s Parliament rocked by allegations of treason; foreign interference probe exposes links to “witting” lawmakers in Ottawa (Politico)

Around the Nation

• Sick hate crime, sick person: Some crimes are so heinous and some criminals so far gone that it seems there’s little to do but plug in the electric chair. Such seems to be the case for one 32-year-old black woman, Bionca Ellis, who was arraigned yesterday on charges of brutally murdering a three-year-old white boy named Julian Wood. Totally unprovoked, Ellis allegedly approached Julian and his mother in a grocery store parking lot in Cleveland, Ohio, last week and proceeded to stab him numerous times while he rode in a shopping cart. Ellis then turned her knife on the mother, who is recovering from her wounds. Ellis, by the way, had a job with the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services. That was bad enough, but seeing Ellis smirk and gloat, looking straight into the camera to do it, yesterday in court should make anyone sick. It’s as if something demonic is at work, and we can only offer our prayers for Julian’s family and hope that justice is done. As his father said, “She took everything from us.”

• Bizarre and awful two-tiered justice: Last week in Washington, DC, a female carjacker killed an elderly woman when she stole the latter’s car at a hospital and proceeded to crash it with her as a hostage in the front seat. The victim was pronounced dead at the scene, which, by the way, was just outside the U.S. attorney’s office. Three days later, the suspect was charged by U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves. The rub? He dropped murder and kidnapping charges. Instead, the suspect faces only a charge of unarmed carjacking. Is Graves always this soft on crime? No. Not when the “criminal” is blocking an abortion clinic. Two years ago, when he threw the entire weight of the law at a grandmother praying at a clinic, he opined, “Our Constitution and laws protect many rights — to protest, to debate, to advocate for different laws. But no one is entitled to deprive other people of their civil rights. That’s a crime.” The carjacking victim was deprived of her right to life, as were the children inside that abortion clinic.

• Chicago homelessness spikes: The Windy City wonderland continues to spiral out of control under Democrat “leadership.” As the city’s black residents routinely kill each other, the other major problem harming the city is the influx of migrants over Joe Biden’s open border. You see, Chicago is a sanctuary city, but that bleeding-heart policy comes with major consequences and costs. According to the left-wing NBC News, “An annual city survey released Friday — a snapshot of estimated homelessness in Chicago on a single night — found that 18,836 people were without permanent housing on Jan. 25, up from 6,139 the year before.” One city official said it “reflects an increased need for housing and homeless services.” No, it reflects an increased need for the Rule of Law, both at the border itself to stop illegal crossers and in Chicago, which does next to nothing to help locate much less deport people who aren’t here legally. Democrats have done everything possible to turn the border into a lawless crisis, and it affects even far-away places like Chicago, which is roughly 1,400 miles from the southern border.

• Nearly two-thirds of registered voters support deporting all illegal immigrants (Daily Wire)

American Spirit

• NASA astronaut lauds “God, family, and country”: In case you missed it, last Wednesday, astronaut and decorated Naval aviator Barry “Butch” Wilmore and former Navy officer Suni Williams became the first crew to launch on Boeing’s Starliner for the International Space Station. Moments before launch, Butch offered a few All-American words for a wide audience: “Suni and I, as we were traveling to the pad, we saw many American flags and many of you were waving flags at us. As we reached the pad, we looked up, and, of course, there’s that American flag on the side of the white room, also one on the side of the rocket itself, and we know that that represents unity and resilience and unified efforts for the common good. Each of you displaying what this nation’s forefathers envisioned: a people committed to God, family, and country. A people who use their gifts and talents for the common good and are passionate and tough.”

Misc.

• Jill Biden costs taxpayers $345K to fly to Hunter’s trial (PJ Media)

• Alito and Roberts secretly recorded in latest attempt to undermine Supreme Court (Washington Examiner)

• Republicans prepare to fast-track tax cuts in reconciliation (The Hill)

• Delray Beach held a ceremony to unveil their freshly repainted LGBT mural on the road. It had fresh tire marks the next day. (Not the Bee)

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