Top of the Fold

• The Great COVID Migration: The pandemic has served to exacerbate a migration trend of Americans moving out of blue states into the greener pastures of red states. While the increasingly onerous taxation in blue states has served as the primary motive for moving over the last decade, the arrival of COVID served to significantly speed up the migration due to the disparate governing responses of blue and red to the pandemic. Republican-run states have largely worked to preserve individual liberty, keeping schools and businesses open, while Democrats have done the opposite. People have responded by fleeing authoritarianism, and the result is that 25 mostly red states have seen a combined population growth of over 800,000 since the spring of 2020.

• San Fran Nan leaving? The Washington Post reports: “After almost 19 years as House Democratic leader, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) is expected to step down at the close of this Congress.” After failing to get Build Back Better across the finish line, combined with nearly two dozen House Democrats throwing in the towel on reelection, Pelosi appears to be acquiescing to the seemingly inevitable Republican takeover in 2022. The big question for Democrats is: Who will replace her? The answer will indicate if the Party of the Donkey continues its shift to the extreme left or seeks to moderate.

• Religious liberty 1, vax mandate 0: Joe Biden’s COVID vaccine mandates suffered another judicial setback in a win for religious liberty, as Federal Judge Reed O'Connor of the Northern District of Texas issued a stay against the vax mandate for U.S. military personnel. Unlike previous judicial stays against Biden’s mandates, this lawsuit was brought by First Liberty Institute on behalf of 35 active-duty Navy SEALs on the basis of seeking religious exemption. “The Navy service members in this case seek to vindicate the very freedoms they have sacrificed so much to protect,” O'Connor stated in his ruling. “The COVID-19 pandemic provides the government no license to abrogate those freedoms. There is no COVID-19 exception to the First Amendment. There is no military exclusion from our Constitution.”

• N95 or bust? Cloth masks are little other than theater when it comes to the Omicron variant of COVID. (Or as even CNN medical analyst Leana Wen recently acknowledged, “Cloth masks are little more than facial decorations.”) “If everyone is just wearing a cloth mask or just a surgical mask, it won’t make any difference,” says University of California infectious disease expert Monica Gandhi. Indeed, cloth masks, arguably the most prevalently worn, have long been known to provide negligible protection against the coronavirus, hence the original recommendation of N95 masks. Now, with the Omicron variant surging even in heavily masked regions of the country, suddenly the CDC and others are rediscovering the science.

• Cuomo off scot-free: The Manhattan DA has closed its investigation into Andrew Cuomo’s COVID nursing home scandal, deciding not to bring charges against the disgraced ex-governor of New York. Cuomo attorney Elkan Abramowitz explained: “I was contacted today by the head of the Elder Care Unit from the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office who informed me they have closed its investigation involving the Executive Chamber and nursing homes. I was told that after a thorough investigation — as we have said all along — there was no evidence to suggest that any laws were broken.” The DA opened the investigation following revelations that Cuomo’s office had cooked the books by underreporting the number of COVID nursing home deaths by as much as 50%.

MORE FROM YOUR PATRIOT POST TEAM

• Douglas Andrews: The Dems’ Never-Ending J6 Trauma — With nothing else to go on, the Left cries “PTSD” over January 6.

• Nate Jackson: Dems Threaten Filibuster, Promise Permanent Election Chaos — Their legislation represents the real threat to voting rights and our Republic.

• Emmy Griffin: Athletes, Vaccines, and Heart Problems — Last year, 400 athletes collapsed unexpectedly with heart problems. The COVID vaccine is the greatest common denominator.

• Thomas Gallatin: Fauci & CDC Suddenly Concerned About Economy? — A new recommendation out of the CDC halves the time for isolation for individuals with positive COVID tests.

• Douglas Andrews: Good Riddance to NYC’s de Blasio — Mayor Eric Adams could hardly do worse than his lazy, woke, incompetent predecessor.

• Charles Paige: Biden Orders End to Combat Role in Iraq — This change is a distinction without a difference.

• Harold Hutchison: The State of the Military — When it comes to winning wars, the issue is in doubt.

• Catherine Mortensen: Black Americans Contributing to Biden’s Tanking Poll Numbers — Their net approval remains 10 points lower than where it stood over the summer.

• In Brief: SCOTUS Should Nix Biden’s Vax Mandates — In two fast-tracked cases, SCOTUS has the chance to restore constitutional limits.

Government & Politics

• Senator Ted Cruz says Republicans will likely impeach Biden over border policy if they win House majority (Mediaite) | No. 3 House Republican Elise Stefanik: “Anything is on the table when we are in the majority” (Just the News)

• “They just want my silence”: Senator Rand Paul quits YouTube, slams Big Tech censorship (Daily Wire)

• Trump media CEO Devin Nunes formally resigns from Congress (The Hill)

• Corporate media’s January 6 anniversary coverage is all about silencing Republicans (The Federalist)

Heartland

• Starbucks institutes vaccine mandate for 220,000 U.S. employees (Washington Examiner)

• “Virginia is for Lovers Driving in a Snowstorm”: I-95 winter storm disaster leaves hundreds stranded (Fox News)

• Apple becomes first U.S. company to reach $3 trillion market cap (CNBC)

Culture

• Prince Andrew’s sweetheart Jeffrey Epstein deal made public (Post Millennial)

• Jury finds Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes guilty on multiple charges in criminal fraud trial (CNBC) | Biden played big role in promoting convicted fraudster Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos (Washington Examiner)

Closing Arguments

• Policy: Six important COVID data points that destroy the prevailing narrative (The Blaze)

• Satire: CNN boasts it hasn’t had an employee sex scandal all year (Babylon Bee)

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

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