Top of the Fold

• Utah legislature overrides governor’s veto of “transgender” sports ban: On Friday, the Utah legislature’s Republican supermajority overturned Governor Spencer Cox’s veto of HB11, a bill that banned biological males from competing in female sports. Cox, who is a Republican, argued that banning “transgender” guys from competing in girls’ sports is discriminatory and could contribute to their higher-than-average suicide rate. It was a dubious rationale that completely ignored the legitimate and expanding threat to female sports. Individuals struggling with gender dysphoria need true compassion, not affirmation of their false identity claims. Truth matters. Meanwhile, Indiana’s Republican-controlled legislature is expected to also override Governor Eric Holcomb’s veto.

• Seventh Russian general killed in Ukraine: It’s fair to say that Vladimir Putin’s invasion has not gone as easily or smoothly as he likely anticipated. Now over a month into his “special operation,” the Russian army is struggling to make headway, and on Friday it was learned that the Ukrainians have killed a seventh general who also was the highest-ranking officer yet to be killed in the war. Lt. General Yakov Rezantsev “was killed at the Chornobaivka airbase near Kherson, which Russia is using as a command post,” a report stated. Kherson was the first city the Russians were able to occupy, but they have had to deal with daily protests from Ukrainian residents. There were also reports that troops in a Russian unit killed their own brigade commander after they had suffered severe losses.

• Biden to unveil new “Billionaire Minimum Income Tax”: As part of his proposed budget for 2023, Joe Biden will unveil a plan for a new tax on the super wealthy. Targeting the richest 700 Americans, the tax dubbed the “Billionaire Minimum Income Tax” would raise a 20% minimum tax rate on all American households worth more than $100 million. Due to the fact that the super wealthy largely live off income generated from their investments, which are taxed at a lower rate, they effectively pay on average 8% of their income in taxes. Of course, Biden ignores the fact that investment income generates great wealth that spurs the U.S. economy more effectively than the federal government, which continues to spend more money running up the national debt. The question remains whether this proposed tax will motivate Democrat Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema to finally jump onboard Biden’s Build Back Better socialist spending plan.

• Elon Musk muses about starting his own social media company: Having conquered the electric vehicle market and space flight, Elon Musk may now be eyeing social media. As the culture war rages and Big Tech is increasingly committed to steering and censoring speech according to its own leftist agenda, Musk has begun expressing his frustration with the thought police. In a series of Twitter posts to his 79.1 million followers, Musk stated: “Given that Twitter serves as the de facto public town square, failing to adhere to free speech principles fundamentally undermines democracy. What should be done?” He followed that up by asking, “Is a new platform needed?” His second question brought a host of individuals calling on him to build a new one. When asked if he was being serious, Musk affirmed that he is “giving serious thought to this.” Should Musk follow through on this idea, his challenge would be attempting to do what several other social media startups have so far failed to accomplish — get a massive number of people to ditch the speech-squelching platforms of Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.

Headlines

• Oscars hosts taunt Florida: “Gay, gay, gay, gay, gay” (Daily Wire)

• U.S., EU announce new partnership to undercut Russian energy (Washington Times)

• Zelensky sets ground rules for peace agreement; Russia censors him (Fox News)

• Houthis launch attack against Saudi oil facilities. Biden removed them from terrorist list. (Daily Wire)

• Hunter Biden helped secure funds for biolab contractor in Ukraine (NY Post)

• IRS still paying pandemic benefits to dead people (Washington Times)

• Steven Crowder infiltrates “fat studies” conference, absurd academic paper gets accepted (Daily Wire)

• Policy: Why are so many kids rejecting Christianity? Look at their parents. (The Federalist)

• Humor: Adam confused by new creature God put in Garden as he is not a biologist (Babylon Bee)

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

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