The Patriot Post® · Wednesday Top Headline Summary
“North Korea is restoring a rocket launch site it had dismantled as part of its disarmament pledge last year — just a week after a nuclear summit between Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump ended without an agreement, reports said Wednesday. New satellite images show that efforts to rebuild some structures at the Tongchang-ri launch site started between Feb. 16 and March 2. … Dismantling the site was one of several steps the North had begun last year after it entered talks with the U.S. and South Korea. But as the talks stalled, so did the site’s demolition.” (Fox News)
“Christian cake artist Jack Phillips has scored a major victory after facing years of continuous persecution for his religious beliefs from LGBT activists and the Colorado Civil Rights Commission. … The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) … announced Tuesday that the Colorado Civil Rights Commission ‘will dismiss its most recent charges against cake artist Jack Phillips in the wake of newly discovered evidence of the state’s ongoing hostility toward religious freedom.’” (The Daily Wire)
“Food and Drug Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, who used his post to tackle difficult public health issues from youth vaping to opioid addiction … resigned Tuesday, effective in about a month. Gottlieb, who has been commuting weekly to Washington from his home in Connecticut, said he wants to spend more time with his family. … The resignation was not sought by the White House.” (The Washington Post)
Another win for King Corn: “The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said on Monday it had sent a draft of its proposed rule allowing year-round sales of higher ethanol blends of gasoline to the White House Office of Budget for review. … E15 gasoline contains 15 percent ethanol, versus the 10 percent found in most U.S. gasoline. … Trump said in October he was directing the EPA to allow year-round sales of E15, a victory for the corn industry.” (Reuters)
Deflecting: “A vote on a resolution condemning anti-Semitism in response to controversial comments by Rep. Ilhan Omar is set to slip past Wednesday amid intensifying pressure from the left both inside and outside the House Democratic Caucus. … Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said in a closed-door meeting Tuesday that the vote would likely happen Thursday. They also said a draft resolution would be updated to include additional language rejecting anti-Muslim bias, although some Democratic sources believe that an entirely new document might be crafted.” (Politico)
“President Donald Trump’s former lawyer is returning to Capitol Hill for a fourth day of testimony as Democrats pursue a flurry of investigations into Trump’s White House, businesses and presidential campaign. … Though [Michael] Cohen told Congress last week that he had never asked for nor would accept a pardon from Trump, a lawyer for Cohen expressed interest to the Trump legal team in a possible pardon for his client in the aftermath of a raid last April on Cohen’s hotel room, home and office.” (Associated Press)
“The Senate voted Tuesday to confirm a 37-year-old Washington lawyer whose nomination for a lifetime appointment on a federal appeals court drew vociferous opposition from LGBTQ and civil rights groups. Allison Rushing … was confirmed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit by a vote that split down party lines. All 53 Republicans voted for her, while the rest of the Senate voted against her, with the exception of three abstentions.” (The Washington Post)
“The federal government recorded a budget surplus in January. But so far this budget year, the total deficit is 77 percent higher than the same period a year ago. … The higher deficit reflected greater spending in areas such as Social Security, defense and interest payments on the national debt. … Individual income taxes withheld from paychecks total $818 billion for the October-January period, down 3 percent from the same period last year. Corporate income taxes total $73 billion over the four-month period, down 23 percent. Revenue, however, is up is in tariffs — border taxes collected on imports — which totaled $25 billion in the October-January period, up 91 percent from the same period a year ago.” (NBC News)
“Russian prime minister Dmitry Medvedev said Tuesday that the Kremlin wants U.S. nuclear weapons and missile systems completely removed from Europe, a day after Russia said that it was suspending its obligations under a Cold War-era nuclear-arms deal. … The U.S. has about 150 nuclear weapons stationed in five European NATO countries, which only add ‘unnecessary stress, mostly for NATO countries themselves,’ Medvedev said.” (National Review)
Humor: Socialists criticized as “math deniers” (The Babylon Bee)
Policy: The Heritage Foundation’s Ana Quintana explains why “Trump’s Cuba Sanctions Are a Solid Step in Cracking Down on Maduro Regime’s Enablers.”
Policy: “Reports surfaced last week that advisers to the administration are calling for the U.S. to embrace China-style nationalization as our path to 5G,” the Federal Communications Commission’s Brendan Carr writes in National Review. “That’s like looking to Cuba as inspiration for reforming the U.S. health-care system.” Read more about why “Nationalizing 5G Is Not the Way to Beat China.”
For more of today’s editors’ choice headlines, visit In Our Sights.