Top of the Fold

• COVID child tax credit ending: The COVID stimulus program that allotted upwards of $300 per child per month to families making up to $150,000 annually ended last month. Now the stimulus checks that 30 million American households had been receiving will end. Making permanent the pandemic-initiated expanded child tax credit was one of the government entitlement programs included in Joe Biden’s $3 trillion Build Back Better social spending bill that failed to pass Congress. The Tax Foundation estimated that the program would have cost $1.6 trillion in taxpayer dollars over a decade. This stimulus program may be another explanation as to why so many people have not returned to the workforce.

• Senator “Moron” releases Dr. Fauci’s financial records: Republican Senator Roger Marshall (KS), whom Dr. Anthony Fauci was caught on a hot mic calling a “moron” after his questions regarding the public accessibility of the doctor’s financial records, appears to have gotten the last laugh. Over the weekend, Marshall published Fauci’s unredacted financial records along with his plan to introduce legislation titled the Financial Accountability for Uniquely Compensated Individuals (FAUCI) Act. “At the end of the day, Dr. Fauci must be held accountable to all Americans who have been suing and requesting for this information but don’t have the power of a Senate office to ask for it,” Marshall stated.

• SCOTUS to hear case of HS coach fired for praying: The Supreme Court will take up a First Amendment case that promises to hold important implications for individual religious liberty rights. The case involves the firing of a public high school football coach, Joseph Kennedy, of Bremerton, Washington, who was suspended and eventually fired over his practice of praying on-field after games. No student athletes were ever directed or compelled to join their coach, but many freely did. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against Kennedy, claiming his actions were in violation of the Establishment Clause. Justices Samuel Alito observed, “The Ninth Circuit’s understanding of the free speech rights of public school teachers is troubling and may justify review in the future.”

• Democrat and Republican voters split over fining the unvaccinated: Should individuals who refuse to get the COVID vaccine face harsh government actions such as fines and confinement? A recent Heartland Institute and Rasmussen Reports national survey finds that a majority of Democrats (55%) support fining unvaccinated individuals, whereas a minority of Republicans (19%) and independents (25%) do. The majority of voters (58%) opposes such compulsory and punitive measures. Digging more deeply into the survey data, it becomes increasingly clear that Democrat voters favor authoritarian government over individual liberty and limited government.

• Wisconsin ballot drop boxes were illegal: A Wisconsin circuit court judge has ruled that the Wisconsin Elections Commission’s unilateral decision to green-light ballot drop boxes during the 2020 election was illegal. Judge Michael Bohren ruled that “there is no statutory authority” for the WEC to make such changes to the state’s election laws. Bohren noted that the WEC’s decision to allow for an unlimited number of drop boxes was a “major policy decision that alter(s) how our absentee ballot process operates,” and that such a major policy change could only be made by the state legislature via the passage of legislation. The Wisconsin Institute of Law & Liberty, which raised the lawsuit, praised Bohren’s ruling, stating: “The guidance from the Wisconsin Elections Commission on absentee ballot drop boxes was unlawful. There are just two legal methods to cast an absentee ballot in Wisconsin: through the mail or in-person at a clerk’s office. And voters must return their own ballots. We are pleased the court made this clear, providing Wisconsin voters with certainty for forthcoming elections.” It’s too bad this decisions comes 15 months after this illegality occurred.

More From Your Patriot Post Team

• Douglas Andrews: Glenn Youngkin Goes to Work — Virginia’s new governor and his team wasted no time in undoing the ruinous policies of his Democrat predecessor.

• Mark Alexander: The Real Extremists Biden Ignores — Demos are constantly covering for Islamists, most notably Rep. Ilhan Abdullahi Omar (D-MN).

• Thomas Gallatin: Bidenflation Hitting Americans Hard — Due to Joe Biden’s disastrous policies, Americans find themselves paying more for less.

• Gary Bauer: America at Risk — Weakness invites war. That’s a lesson we have painfully failed to learn time and again.

• Emmy Griffin: Why Does Cardona Still Have a Job? — The infamous NSBA letter may have been solicited by Education Secretary Miguel Cardona.

• Douglas Andrews: The GOP Had Better Wake Up — The 2020 election wasn’t fair, and Beltway Republicans shouldn’t be afraid to say so.

• Willie Richardson: A Content-of-Character Conversation — Let’s change the conversation about the content of character. Listen first, then speak and win over a brother or sister.

• Martin Luther King Jr. Day — “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”

Government & Politics

• House GOPers demand answers from Twitter CEO about censorship, suspension of mRNA vaccine researcher (Washington Times)

• Former DHS acting IG under Obama pleads guilty to attempting to defraud U.S. government (Daily Wire)

• We’re shocked — shocked! Nancy Pelosi’s son has suspicious ties to five companies that were investigated by feds (The Federalist)

Economy

• Union Pacific official blames far-left policies for massive train thefts, considers leaving Los Angeles (Daily Wire)

• U-Haul literally ran out of trucks leaving California (National Review)

• Insurance companies struggle to implement Biden’s COVID test mandate (Free Beacon)

Security

• U.S. claims Russia planning “false flag” operation in Ukraine to provoke invasion (Daily Wire)

• Waukesha Christmas parade suspect Darrell Brooks heading to trial as court commissioner finds probable cause (Fox News)

From the “Non Compos Mentis” Files

• Boston Public Schools are keeping their windows open because of COVID and now students and teachers have to bundle up because of how cold it is inside (Not the Bee)

• Penn State is assigning students to write about why the Taliban is not a terrorist organization (Not the Bee)

Odds & Ends

• Intentional killings of police officers spiked 59% in 2021, most since 1995 (The Blaze) | And Biden still thinks the police need to be reformed (Fox News)

• Alec Baldwin’s phone turned over one month after shooting (Hot Air)

• Eighty-two percent say media fearmongering COVID-19 (Washington Examiner)

• Explosive underwater volcano eruption in Tonga spotted from space in satellite images (Space.com)

Closing Arguments

• Policy: The Democrats’ long-term strategy to pack the Supreme Court (National Review)

• Humor: Biden personally confirms each government-provided mask passes the sniff test (Babylon Bee)

• Related humor: To save time, Biden to ship 500 million free masks directly to landfill (Babylon Bee)

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

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