FROM YOUR PATRIOT POST TEAM

• Thomas Gallatin: Another Federal Judge Stymies Biden’s Vax Mandate — This time a district judge issues a nationwide injunction granting relief to federal contractors.

• Michael Swartz: Is Nuclear Power in Our Future? — Limitations plaguing other sources of energy mean nuclear is becoming more attractive.

• Nate Jackson: Soviet Banking Nominee Too Radical Even for Dems — Saule Omarova didn’t exactly bring the “unity” and moderation Joe Biden promised.

• Douglas Andrews: Columbia University’s Catch-22 — Another stabbing, another murder, and the Manhattan-based Ivy League school is left to wrestle with what’s gone wrong.

• Emmy Griffin: California Schools of Witchcraft and Anti-White Supremacy — From chants invoking Aztec human sacrifice to hexing anti-CRT people, California is offering a baleful “education.”

• Douglas Andrews: Jussie Smollett’s Comic Relief — The bad-acting narcissist’s fingerprints are all over this hate crime hoax, and his lies have become even more preposterous.

• Thomas Gallatin: Biden Gives Putin a Toothless Warning — As Russian troops mass on the border with Ukraine, Biden threatens economic pain.

• Roger Helle: Who’s Ramping Up All the Hate? — Just a brief 20 years ago, we were not seeing this level of hatred and anger.

• In Brief: The Media Stonewalls on the Steele Dossier — News companies are even more reluctant than other businesses to come clean about their misbehavior.

Top of the Fold

• The women’s draft was ditched by congressional leaders this week. A few months ago, our Emmy Griffin described why drafting women is a terrible idea: “Women and men have an equal amount of value, but their functions are different. … If we ignore the fact that women are generally weaker physically than men — and this is a biological fact — then drafting our girls is akin to a death sentence.” Senator Josh Hawley also observed, “Volunteering for military service is not the same as being forced into it, and no women should be compelled to do so.” Thankfully, they won’t be under the current National Defense Authorization Act. We must remain vigilant, however. In future years, “progressives” will surely try again.

• Regarding Joe Biden’s laughable diplomatic boycott of the upcoming ChiCom-hosted Winter Olympics, his spokeswoman Jen Psaki claims, “Not sending a U.S. delegation sends a clear message that we cannot conduct ourselves with business as usual, that we are not in a state where business as usual is appropriate.” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi insists: “[We] cannot give our official imprimatur to these games or proceed as if there is nothing wrong with holding the Olympics in a country perpetrating genocide and mass human rights violations. Allowing a country notorious for its appalling human rights record to host the Olympics makes a mockery of the Olympic Charter, which states that the Games should seek to foster ‘respect for universal and fundamental ethical principles.’” So, remind us again how this justifies participating at any level? Senator Tom Cotton observed: “This is the status quo. China was going to have very strict travel controls anyway on diplomats and corporate officials because of their Draconian coronavirus lock-downs.”

Politics

• House passes defense bill, moves to lift debt ceiling after bipartisan agreement (Daily Caller)

• “Can’t continue to flood the market”: Joe Manchin pushes back on Biden’s $2 trillion boondoggle (New York Post)

• Supreme Court to decide whether states can refuse to pay for religious education (NBC News)

• Jen Psaki — who herself ridiculously blames COVID and guns — takes a shot at AOC for doubting that organized retail thefts are happening (Daily Wire)

Security

• Joe Biden-Vladimir Putin square off for two hours as Ukraine tensions mount (AP) | We’re shocked — shocked! Talks yield no breakthrough (AP)

• Was George W. Bush a 2007 victim of Russia-induced “Havana Syndrome”? (Washington Examiner)

Economy

• Major companies raise wages to keep up with inflation (Daily Wire)

• Merry Christmas! Economists see year-end surge in inflation (Breitbart)

• Americans’ pandemic-era “excess savings” are dwindling (New York Times)

Heartland

• Dying Columbia student cried for help after being stabbed by reputed gangbanger (New York Post) | After another student is murdered, Columbia University’s leadership decides that the best position is no position (City Journal)

• Former college coach sues Illinois State University for “All Lives Matter” termination (MRCTV)

Notables

• “We have grifters in our midst”: Dan Crenshaw blasts GOP Freedom Caucus (National Review)

• Olaf Scholz replaces Angela Merkel as German chancellor (AP)

• Ironic: Quasi-police state Australia won’t send officials to China for Winter Olympics vis-à-vis human rights (Sydney Morning Herald)

Closing Arguments

• Policy: Social Security: The fierce urgency of not yet (AEI)

• Satire: To save time, Ghislaine Maxwell just lists the Hollywood celebs and politicians who didn’t visit Epstein Island (Babylon Bee)

For more of today’s editors’ choice headlines, visit Headline Report.

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