Top of the Fold

• Germany sees the light on energy, Shell and BP exit Russia, and the IPCC fearmongers over climate change: With Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, Germany’s reliance on Russian oil and natural gas has exposed the nation’s significant energy vulnerability and has served as a wakeup call to the impracticality of the goal of 100% renewable power sources by 2045. Germany’s government is now actively engaging in an about-face by extending operations of its coal-fired power plants as well as its three remaining nuclear power plants that were slated for shuttering by the end of this year. Speaking of seeing the light, oil companies Shell and BP announced they will entirely exit operations in Russia, moves that could cost the companies $3 billion and $25 billion, respectively. BP stated: “There was only one decision we could make. The exit was the only viable way.” Meanwhile, not everyone understands that sound energy policy trumps vague climate worries. The UN’s International Panel on Climate Change released its latest report, essentially concluding that catastrophic climate-related events may soon overwhelm humanity and the globe. As UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres put it, “With fact upon fact, this report reveals how people and the planet are getting clobbered by climate change.” Well, people are getting clobbered in places like Ukraine, and the culprit is not climate change but power-hungry individuals. Fearmongering over climate change does nothing to stop the climate from changing, but it does play into the hands of those lusting for greater power.

• SCOTUS hears case against EPA overreach: Speaking of using climate change as an excuse to impose greater government control over peoples’ lives, the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday heard arguments raised against the Biden administration’s efforts to use the Environmental Protection Agency to enact Biden’s “green” agenda. At issue for SCOTUS was the question of the separations of powers. Justice Samuel Alito observed the EPA is claiming “authority to set industry policy and energy policy and balance such things as jobs, economic impact, the potentially catastrophic effects of climate change, as well as costs.” In West Virginia v. EPA, the state’s solicitor general noted: “The EPA can regulate in ways that cost billions of dollars, affect thousands of businesses and are designed to address an issue with worldwide effect. This is major policymaking power under any definition.” Furthermore, the lawyer representing the state’s coal industry argued that the EPA wants to “effectively dictate not only the technical details of how a coal plant operates but also the big-picture policy of how the nation generates its electricity.”

• Senate blocks anti-pro-life law: On Monday, Republicans prevented the Senate from voting on a bill sponsored by Democrats Richard Blumenthal (CT) and Tammy Baldwin (WI) that would have essentially codified abortion rights into federal law via the Interstate Commerce Act. The disingenuously named Women’s Health Protection Act would have prevented states from passing abortion-related regulations. The bill was clearly aimed at several Republican-controlled states that have recently passed abortion limiting legislation like Texas’s Heartbeat Act. The Senate bill failed to reach the 60 votes needed for cloture, and West Virginia’s Joe Manchin (D) sided with Republicans in opposing the bill. Several Democrat lawmakers lamented the bill’s failure, while Republicans celebrated. Senator Roger Wicker (MS) declared: “I am glad to stand alongside so many of my colleagues in opposition to this attack on the most vulnerable members of our society. We will continue to fight for life.”

Headlines

• Twelve Russian diplomats ordered to leave U.S. for “engaging in espionage” (Daily Wire)

• Satellite images show 40-mile Russian military convoy near Kyiv (Washington Examiner)

• Russia suspected of using devastating cluster bombs and thermobaric rockets (Washington Examiner)

• FIFA suspends Russia from World Cup, UEFA throws teams out of European competition (ESPN)

• Ukrainian president signs EU membership application (The Hill)

• Congressman Ted Deutch won’t seek reelection, 31st House Democrat to retire (Daily Wire)

• California, Oregon, Washington, and New York to drop school mask mandates (AP)

• Friend of Hunter Biden sent to jail for fraud (Washington Examiner)

• Policy: A budget blueprint for freedom, opportunity, and prosperity (Daily Signal)

• Satire: State of the Union will just be 90-minute broadcast of dumpster engulfed in flames (Babylon Bee)

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

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