Top of the Fold

• Biden orders U.S. embassy staff out of Ukraine: On Saturday, the U.S. State Department ordered the evacuation of U.S. staff out of its embassy in Kyiv, Ukraine, as the Biden administration continues to warn of an imminent Russian invasion. This follows last Thursday’s warning in which the State Department advised Americans still in Ukraine to leave immediately because the U.S. “will not be able to evacuate U.S. citizens in the event of Russian military action anywhere in Ukraine.” Joe Biden stated Thursday that he would not send in the U.S. military to rescue Americans fleeing Ukraine should Russia invade, arguing that to do so would start a “world war.”

• Celebs go maskless at Super Bowl: A gaggle of celebrities were on hand to watch the Super Bowl last night in Los Angeles, and not one of them was seen wearing a mask. Now, if the game had been held in Texas or Florida, this display of unmasked faces would have been no big deal. Yet in California, Governor Gavin Newsom has been a fan of draconian mask mandates — they’re still required apparel until February 15, and will remain so after that for kids in school. LA County COVID rules require that masks be worn for anyone two years of age and older when entering “indoor-outdoor” stadiums, regardless of vaccination status. But while celebs and fans were hobnobbing maskless inside LA’s SoFi Stadium, just outside the venue the Los Angeles Youth Orchestra gave a performance while wearing their masks. Just another instance of rules for thee, but not for me.

• Pelosi’s “Defund the Police” damage control: “Defund the police” is “not the position of the Democratic Party,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi declared over the weekend. Democrats have been protesting a little too much about this, doing a hard about-face after polling shows that Americans largely attribute rising crime to the Left’s assault on police. Well, some Democrats are pivoting. Representative Cori Bush of St. Louis — a hypocrite on the subject — endorsed the slogan, leaving Pelosi to clean up the messaging. Don’t be fooled: Democrats own rising crime, regardless of their convenient pivot.

Clown News Network

• CNN pummeled for turning to Joe Rogan “researcher” to explain why he’s so popular (Fox News)

• CNN changes headline after comparing Rogan’s naughty language to January 6 and Rwandan genocide (Daily Wire)

• Racist Jemele Hill signs with CNN streaming service (OutKick)

• Meanwhile, only 8% of Americans watch CNN every day as network’s decline continues (Post Millennial)

Culture

• Nine Phoenix police officers injured in shooting involving baby girl; suspect, female victim dead (Fox News)

• Eminem takes a knee during Super Bowl halftime show (Fox News)

World

• Ottawa mayor strikes deal with truckers: Move out of residential areas and he will meet with them (Washington Examiner)

• Russian skater/doper Kamila Valieva cleared to compete at Olympics (Fox News)

Odds & Ends

• Senator Ben Ray Luján will return to Senate in time to vote for Biden SCOTUS pick (Daily Wire)

• A Russia-Ukraine war would mean global energy shock (Fox Business)

Closing Arguments

• Policy: Combating Big Tech’s totalitarianism: A road map (Heritage Foundation)

• Satire: NBC pulls Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg from halftime show after finding recordings of them using the N-word (Babylon Bee)

• Related satire: Eminem takes a knee in heartfelt tribute to Tim Tebow (Babylon Bee)

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

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