Top of the Fold

• Judge strikes down Governor Hochul’s mask mandate: New York Supreme Court Justice Thomas Rademaker on Monday ruled against Governor Kathy Hochul’s mask mandate that she ordered last December. Hochul’s mandate targeted all businesses that did not require their employees to get the COVID vaccines. In his ruling, Rademaker noted that Hochul’s order was essentially “a law that was promulgated and enacted unlawfully by an Executive branch state agency, and therefore void and unenforceable as a matter of law.” He added, “While the intentions of Commissioner Bassett and Governor Hochul appear to be well aimed squarely at doing what they believe is right to protect the citizens of New York State, they must take their case to the State Legislature.” Is it just us, or is power-grabbing the most contagious thing about this pandemic?

• Nike’s dubious vaccination firing: In an apparent HIPPA violation, longtime Nike employee Dex Briggs was handed his walking papers after he refused to upload his COVID vaccination records onto a third-party verification platform. “I have my vaccination card,” Briggs explained. “I’m quite willing to show you that. But I’m not willing to give my personal information to this [outside] company, and any other company they want to share it with, without even telling me who they are.” Last September, Nike introduced a “just do it” COVID vaccine requirement for all employees, a decision Briggs had no problem with, as he had already received the vaccine at that point. Yet Nike’s requirement that employees share their vaccination status with a third party was a bridge too far.

• U.S. importing more oil from Russia: Thanks to Joe Biden’s killing of the Keystone XL Pipeline, along with other aggressive policy actions against America’s oil and gas industry, the U.S. is now having to import more foreign oil. Increasingly, this oil is coming from Saudi Arabia and Russia. Under Donald Trump, the U.S. had become a net exporter of oil and was well on its way to becoming energy independent. Americans were enjoying lower gas prices and a roaring economy, but Biden has turned it all around, ensuring that the U.S. becomes ever more dependent on foreign oil and hamstringing our ability to challenge dangerous foes like Vladimir Putin.

• Biden paid Iran’s UN dues: Joe Biden’s foreign policy strategy appears to be to make the U.S. as weak and feckless as possible. Recently, the Biden administration essentially paid Iran’s United Nations dues in order to keep the world’s foremost sponsor of terrorism across the globe in the UN. Journalist Claudia Rosett, who regularly covers the UN, described the move as “a staggering act of appeasement.” The apparent motivation is to keep Iran at the negotiating table as Biden seeks to revive Barack Obama’s disastrous Iran nuke deal, a deal that Donald Trump wisely pulled out of.

More From Your Patriot Post Team

• Douglas Andrews: Biden Finally Releases December’s Awful Immigration Numbers — We knew they’d be bad, but we didn’t know they’d be THIS bad.

• Nate Jackson: Mean Joe Biden Forgets Presidential Norms — Calling a Fox reporter a “stupid son of a b**ch” doesn’t exactly restore dignity and decorum.

• Emmy Griffin: Putin’s War Games — As tensions get serious with Ukraine and Russia, the kin of embassy personnel are called home.

• Douglas Andrews: GOP Pushes a Parents’ Bill of Rights — As part of their midterm agenda, congressional Republicans highlight five key areas of parental concern over their children’s education.

• Thomas Gallatin: The Price-Jabbing International Trucking Vax Mandate — Team Biden’s latest diktat will only make the current supply chain crisis worse.

• Harold Hutchison: Tackling FBI Corruption — Are we attacking the symptoms and not the disease?

• In Brief: What the Senate Filibuster Assault Means — Wednesday’s narrow vote changed Senate races, starting in 2022.

Government & Politics

• Influence peddling: Biden family scored $31 million from deals with individuals with direct ties to the highest levels of Chinese intelligence (Breitbart)

• “Tantamount to defunding the police”: Senate Republicans preemptively blast Biden police reform order (Washington Examiner), which even blacks oppose (Just the News)

• Associated Propaganda Press scolds conservatives for opposing racial discrimination in COVID care (National Review)

Security

• 8,500 U.S. forces put on “heightened preparedness” amid Russia-Ukraine tension (Fox News)

• Déjà vu: Biden has no plans for using military to evacuate U.S. citizens out of Ukraine if Russia invades (Daily Wire)

• Fourteen illegal immigrants on terror watchlist stopped at border in 2021 (Washington Examiner)

• Top Taliban officials in Moscow for secret talks (Washington Examiner)

Around the Nation

• Florida closes COVID treatment sites after FDA revokes monoclonal antibody authorization (National Review)

• Police groups slam Black Lives Matter chapter for complaining shot police officers treated as “heroes” (Fox News)

• Federal court rules California counties’ lockdown of gun stores was unconstitutional (Daily Wire)

Odds & Ends

• Jussie Smollett gets March 10 sentencing date in hate crime hoax case (Fox News)

• Georgia prosecutor granted special grand jury to investigate Trump’s alleged efforts to overturn election (National Review)

• Sarah Palin’s COVID-positive tests delay libel trial against New York Times (AP)

• Finnish government puts Christianity on trial, calls the Bible “hate speech” (The Federalist)

Closing Arguments

• Policy: Echoes of Obama-era wishful thinking on Russia (National Review)

• Satire: Biden administration mounts daring mission to evacuate Hunter’s remaining cash from Ukraine (Babylon Bee)

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

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