Cross-Examination

• CBS finally validates Hunter Biden’s laptop: It only took the mainstream news media outlet two years and two elections — including the last one putting Republicans on the cusp of taking over control of the House and launching investigations into the Bidens — before CBS News finally decided to do some investigative journalism on Hunter Biden’s infamous laptop. And to the surprise of no one who paid attention to the scandal when it broke back in fall of 2020, CBS has determined the contents of the laptop are indeed 100% authentic. In other words, that’s contrary to Joe Biden’s false claim that the information on the laptop was Russian disinformation. It was telling for the network that had long documented Biden’s history of lying — lying that cost him prior presidential aspirations — to simply take Biden at his word. Everyone knows Biden was the mainstream media’s preferred candidate, and the MSM did not want to report on anything that could damage his election chances. Now, with the 80-year-old Biden on his way to becoming a lame-duck president, CBS sees the coast is clear to admit inconvenient truths. Is it any wonder Americans’ trust in the media industry has sunk to its lowest levels in generations?

• Another assault with a vehicle: One person was killed and 19 other injured when a black SUV smashed into an Apple store in Hingham, Massachusetts, on Monday. The driver of the SUV was taken into custody by police. A construction worker who was working on the store was killed. Apple expressed shock and offered condolences over the loss of life and to those injured. Police are investigating the incident as a criminal act and have charged the 53-year-old driver with “reckless homicide by motor vehicle.” Video footage of the incident suggests that it was an “intentional” attack. This latest vehicular attack comes just days after sheriff’s recruits in Los Angeles were intentionally hit by a vehicle while they were training. Furthermore, this comes nearly one year after another murderous individual plowed his vehicle into a Christmas parade in Waukesha, Wisconsin, killing six people. Is this type of vehicular homicide becoming a growing trend?

• Afghanistan postmortem: The Office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) recently released its latest audit of the U.S. war in Afghanistan, which Joe Biden brought to a disastrous and humiliating end in August 2021. SIGAR observed that America’s $145 billion effort to build a stable democratic government was a failure. The SIGAR report includes a quote from U.S. Army War College associate professor Chris Mason: “U.S. efforts to build and sustain Afghanistan’s governing institutions were a total, epic, predestined failure on par with the same efforts and outcome in the Vietnam war, and for the same reasons.” The report further observed the primary reason for the collapse of the Afghan government following the 20-year war: “The Afghan government failed to recognize that the United States would actually leave. Over nearly 20 years and three U.S. presidencies, the United States had vacillated on the issue of military withdrawal. The result was that the Afghan government was fundamentally unprepared to manage the fight against the Taliban as the United States military and its contractors withdrew.” The SIGAR report serves as a stinging rebuke of U.S. policy that wasted billions of dollars and thousands of lives on a nation-building effort that was essentially doomed from the start. The report concludes: “If there is one overarching lesson to be learned from the totality of this tragedy, it is that any future U.S. reconstruction mission similar in scale and ambition to that in Afghanistan is likely to be difficult, costly, and defined by the real possibility of an unfavorable governance outcome.”

Headlines

• U.S. determines Saudi Crown Prince is immune in case brought by Jamal Khashoggi’s fiancée (CNN)

• “I have to kill this guy before he kills us”: Army vet says “combat mode” kicked in during nightclub shooting (Daily Wire)

• Legal lotto: Atlanta City Council to pay $1 million to family of man shot by police after firing Taser at officers (National Review)

• Georgia Democrats cry “voter suppression” over a law that will restrict ballot harvesting plans (The Federalist)

• World Cup teams back down on rainbow armbands after FIFA threats (Daily Wire) | Raw courage: As Iranian government murders protesters, Iran’s soccer team refuses to sing anthem at World Cup (Daily Wire)

• Biden admin tells people they are approved for student loan cancellation even as court battles rage (Daily Wire)

• Judge rules Jen Psaki must be deposed in lawsuit over alleged collusion with Big Tech to censor speech (Fox News)

• Reeling Disney fires CEO as woke culture blamed for stock plunge (Daily Wire)

• AP fires reporter responsible for fake story alleging Russian missiles hit Poland (PM)

• Policy: The naïve case against nuclear power (National Review)

• Humor: Soccer team apologizes for running up the score in 2-0 blowout (Babylon Bee)

For more editors’ choice headlines, click here.