Top of the Fold

• The “gutsy” UN follows Putin’s censorship lead: The United Nations was caught directing its staff in an email sent Monday not to refer to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as either a “war” or an “invasion” but instead to call it a “conflict” or “military offensive.” This UN instruction, which it claims was not intended to establish “official policy to the staff,” conveniently came after Vladimir Putin’s strikingly similar crackdown on free speech. Putin is banning any press in Russia from referring to his “war” or “invasion,” which he wants them to call a “special military operation.” The UN’s stated rationale for its directive was concern over “repetitional risk” and wanting to appear “impartial.” The great irony here is that it was during a UN Security Council meeting to prevent a Russian invasion of Ukraine that Putin launched his invasion. After little more than a week since the war started, a feckless UN is caught balking at calling a spade a spade. As Ukraine Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba observed, “It’s hard to believe that the UN could essentially impose the same kind of censorship that the Kremlin imposes inside Russia.” He added that the UN’s “reputation [is] at stake.” Assuming it had a good one…

• First January 6 Capitol rioter convicted in court: Guy Reffitt became the first individual involved in the January 6 Capitol riot to be convicted in court after a jury found him guilty on all counts. Reffitt, a native of Texas, was found guilty of obstruction charges, a gun charge, and charges related to riling up the mob. While over 200 of the more than 750 charged J6 rioters have already pleaded guilty to various charges, Reffitt’s was the first case to go to trial and the result may encourage more to seek plea deals. While Reffitt never entered the Capitol — he was pepper-sprayed by police before he could do so — his being found guilty of obstructing an official proceeding, which holds the heftiest sentencing penalty, has been dismissed by other judges regarding the rioters. This will likely set up an issue for the Supreme Court to weigh in on.

• Biden sends “20th hijacker of 9/11” back home: Mohammad Mani Ahmad al-Qahtani, the Saudi national dubbed the “20th hijacker of 9/11,” has been released from Guantanamo Bay, where he has been detained for nearly two decades. He has been handed over to Saudi Arabia. Now 46, al-Qahtani, who was captured in August 2001 as he sought to enter the U.S. to join the 9/11 plotters, is said to be suffering from mental illness. Joe Biden’s Defense Department released a statement explaining the decision: “On June 9, 2021, the Periodic Review Board process determined that law of war detention of Mohammad Mani Ahmad al-Qahtani was no longer necessary to protect against a continuing significant threat to the national security of the United States … [and] the PRB recommended that al-Qahtani be repatriated to his native country of Saudi Arabia, subject to security and humane treatment assurances.” It is reported that he “will receive treatment at a psychiatric facility” in Saudi Arabia, while his lawyers claim “that he has displayed symptoms of schizophrenia since a young age.”

• Chicago teachers unions engaged in shameless COVID alarmism: A Chicago teachers union that worked to successfully stymie efforts to reopen schools throughout the pandemic shamelessly used the death of a parent to justify its COVID alarmism. It now turns out the parent, 32-year-old Denisha Henry, whom the union claimed in a staged rally had died from COVID, did not die from the novel virus but from alcoholism. Henry’s toxicology report established that she died from “chronic ethanolism,” not COVID. Despite the actual reason for Henry’s death, the union claimed: “One mother complained bitterly on social media that she was never contacted by a contact tracer. Within a week she was dead.” It used Henry’s death to defend its opposition to the push to reopen schools. As early as January of last year, the American Academy of Pediatrics observed in a study that in-school transmission of COVID was “extremely rare” and advised that “schools can stay open safely in communities with widespread community transmission.”

Headlines

• Lawmakers reach deal on $1.5 trillion spending bill to avoid shutdown and aid Ukraine (Washington Examiner)

• The hit to your pocketbook from higher gasoline prices: $2,000 a year (CBS News)

• Saudi, UAE leaders ignore Biden when he calls to talk gas prices (New York Post)

• Two Democrat senators join Republicans in calling for U.S. to increase domestic oil production (Daily Wire)

• Biden: “I can’t do much right now. Russia's responsible.” (Daily Wire)

• Pentagon shoots down Polish plan to provide MiGs to Ukraine (Washington Examiner)

• Leftmedia blasts “hypocrisy” of sanctioning Russia but not Israel (Free Beacon)

• U.S. trade deficit hit a record high in January (Daily Caller)

• Hunter Biden still listed as part owner of Chinese firm despite divestment claim (Washington Examiner)

• Policy: Tear up the National Defense Strategy and start again, recognizing reality (Breaking Defense)

• Satire: Pete Buttigieg says everyone worried about gas prices should just get six-figure government job with free car service and unlimited parental leave (Babylon Bee)

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

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