• Cheney’s award and a pipe bomber update: Among Joe Biden’s final acts as president was to bestow unearned awards on people who helped create a false narrative about January 6. Chief among them was Republican turncoat Liz Cheney, whose supposedly high-minded dedication to the “truth” led her to lie about January 6, tamper with a witness, and subsequently get clobbered in Wyoming’s GOP primary the following year. But hey, at least she now has a participation award. Biden awkwardly handed her the Presidential Citizens Medal in a ceremony yesterday, along with other charlatans like Mississippi Democrat Bennie Thompson. Speaking of January 6, the FBI has — four years later — just dribbled out some information, including new video, about the still unidentified perpetrator who placed pipe bombs near the headquarters of both the Republican and Democratic National Committees on the night of January 5. We now know the FBI believes the person is “approximately 5 feet 7 inches tall” and wore Nike Air Max Speed Turf shoes. That ought to narrow it down.

• Speakership vote today: On day one of the 119th Congress, the House will hold a speakership vote, and current Speaker Mike Johnson’s future in the position hangs in the balance. Johnson got a needed boost with an endorsement from Donald Trump, but it remains to be seen if that will be enough to get him the needed votes, as he can afford to lose only one Republican vote. And that single vote Johnson has already lost is from Kentucky Republican Thomas Massie, who has made it clear he will not support Johnson. Thus far, no other Republicans have joined Massie in his opposition, though Chip Roy of Texas has stated that he is “still undecided.” He explained, “We cannot allow what happened right before Christmas, where a 1500+ page bill was attempted to be jammed through over our objections … all of which could have been avoided with any serious planning & communication.” For his part, Johnson, who has been meeting with several potential Republican holdouts, expressed confidence that he will be reelected.

• Roberts’s warning: This week, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts released his annual report in which he observed a growing trend of violence against the American judicial system. “It is not in the nature of judicial work to make everyone happy,” Roberts noted. “Most cases have a winner and a loser. Every Administration suffers defeats in the court system — sometimes in cases with major ramifications for executive or legislative power or other consequential topics. Nevertheless, for the past several decades, the decisions of the courts, popular or not, have been followed, and the Nation has avoided the standoffs that plagued the 1950s and 1960s.” Roberts is clearly concerned over what he sees as a growing willingness to respond to judicial decisions with violence. He quoted former Chief Justice William Howard Taft’s warning that “violence, intimidation, and defiance directed at judges because of their work undermine our Republic, and are wholly unacceptable.”

• In “truck” news: Leftmedia coverage of the New Year’s Day slaughter in New Orleans by an ISIS-inspired terrorist drew this headline from The Washington Post: “Truck Rams New Orleans crowd.” Actually, no, Islamist Shamsud-Din Bahar Jabbar rammed the New Orleans crowd. The Post blamed it on the truck. Similarly, in the case of the truck detonated in Las Vegas, MSM outlets like NBC parroted this headline: “Tesla Cybertruck bursts into flames outside Trump hotel in Las Vegas, killing one.” No, it was not some malfunction with the Cybertruck; the explosion was an intentional detonation by Matthew Livelsberger. Is it any wonder trust in legacy media is at historic lows?

• NYC intifada rally: A crowd of anti-Semitic, pro-Palestinian protesters rallied in Times Square on New Year’s Day just hours after an ISIS-inspired American perpetrated an act of terrorism on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, killing 14. “We will honor all our martyrs,” the crowd chanted, with protesters holding signs that read “End All US aid to Israel” and “No War on Iran.” Protesters organized by the Palestinian Youth Movement, the Party for Socialism and Liberation, and the People’s Forum also chanted, “There is only one solution: intifada revolution,” and “Globalize the intifada!” Jewish Community Relations Council CEO Mark Treyger observed, “They’re not interested in peace, humanity or facts. This is the same group of people who marched across Times Square the day after the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel.” Dov Hikind, founder of Americans Against Antisemitism, noted, “These people are supporting the terrorists and the enemies of America — plain and simple.” He added, “The authorities haven’t addressed this spewing of hate. I’m waiting for Donald Trump to get into office and take antisemitism seriously.”

• Biden’s DOJ spent $100M on DEI grants to schools: Under Joe Biden, the Justice Department increasingly sought to morph itself into the Department of Social Justice. The DOJ embraced the woke tenets of DEI. In fact, Thursday’s report from Parents Defending Education (PDE) revealed that the DOJ gave more than $100 million in federal grants to schools to promote DEI-based “restorative justice” and “social-emotional learning” concepts. PDE Director of Outreach Erika Sanzi noted that the organization turned its attention to the DOJ after discovering that the Biden Department of Education had allocated over $1 billion in funding for DEI-related hires and programs. “We looked into the Department of Justice too & found that even they spent over $100 million pushing garbage initiatives that made schools less safe,” she explained. Taxpayer dollars are funding the promulgation of a radical leftist and fundamentally anti-American ideology in America’s schools, and it was all done under the guise of an anti-violence initiative.

• Biden blocks sale of U.S. Steel to Japan: A deal that originated over a year ago for Japanese-owned Nippon Steel to buy U.S. Steel, the third-largest American steel manufacturer, has been nixed by Joe Biden. “We need major U.S. companies representing the major share of U.S. steelmaking capacity to keep leading the fight on behalf of America’s national interests,” Biden explained. Nippon was seeking to purchase U.S. Steel for $14.1 billion, but due to union objections and growing protectionist concerns from both Republicans and Democrats, the deal stalled as the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. deadlocked over green-lighting it. That effectively left the decision to Biden, who announced his objection months ago. Donald Trump also opposed the sale. The trouble is that the future of the 124-year-old company — and the thousands of Americans who work for it — is now up in the air.

Headlines

• Man who detonated Cybertruck died from self-inflicted gunshot wound (Daily Wire)

• FBI says no additional suspects in New Orleans terror attack (Daily Wire)

• Appeals court overturns Biden net-neutrality rules in blow to Democrats (National Review)

• Meta appoints Republican to lead global policy team (National Review)

• Biden will award the Medal of Honor and Medal of Valor to military heroes and first responders (AP)

• South Korean investigators attempt to detain impeached president (AP)

• Satire: FBI asks X users to please stop solving crimes before they do (Babylon Bee)

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