Cross-Examination

• Bankman-Fried arrested: On Monday evening, the Royal Bahamas Police Force announced the arrest of the founder and former CEO of failed cryptocurrency company FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried. Founded in 2019, FTX was heralded as the face of the burgeoning cryptocurrency industry with a reported value of $32 billion before its sudden collapse. “The Bahamas and the United States have a shared interest in holding accountable all individuals associated with FTX who may have betrayed the public trust and broken the law,” stated Bahamian Prime Minister Philip Davis following the arrest. The U.S. has charged Bankman-Fried with operating “a scheme to defraud equity investors in FTX Trading Ltd.” Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler explained, “Sam Bankman-Fried built a house of cards on a foundation of deception while telling investors that it was one of the safest buildings in crypto.” He also warned: “The alleged fraud committed by Mr. Bankman-Fried is a clarion call to crypto platforms that they need to come into compliance with our laws. … To those platforms that don’t comply with our securities laws, the SEC’s Enforcement Division is ready to take action.” As a result of Bankman-Fried’s arrest, he won’t be appearing before a scheduled House Financial Services Committee hearing.

• Yes, the DOJ targeted pro-lifers: Justice Department Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta admitted recently that the DOJ worked to urgently enforce the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act against pro-life activists following the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade. Gupta asserted that the Court dealt a “devastating blow to women throughout the country” and had taken away “the constitutional right to abortion.” Pro-life organizations and clinics have been attacked by abortion activists, with at least 98 Catholic churches and 77 pregnancy centers targeted this past year. Yet the DOJ has yet to charge one individual. Meanwhile, 26 pro-life activists have been charged by the DOJ for violating the FACE Act. It’s clear that Joe Biden’s DOJ has an anti-pro-life bias and has intentionally turned a blind eye toward the myriad of abuses and crimes that have been perpetrated against pro-life organizations and clinics.

• Cambridge Dictionary goes woke on “woman”: Those academic “enlightened” ones are at it again, this time updating the millennia-old definition of the term “woman” to include the self-identified “transgendered.” Cambridge Dictionary, which until recently had defined the term “woman” as simply “an adult female human being,” has now added a secondary definition: “An adult who lives and identifies as female though they may have been said to have a different sex at birth.” Of course, any observant individual will immediately note that the two definitions contradict one another. The natural binary distinction inherent in sex is not eliminated based upon the declared identity of an individual. Definitionally, something cannot both be and not be in the same instance. Unfortunately, Cambridge Dictionary has capitulated to the irrational demands of leftist wokescolds rather than stand on the side of scientific reality, logic, linguistic consistency, and truth.

Headlines

• Consumer prices rose less than expected in November, up 7.1% from a year ago (CNBC)

• Twitter Files Part 5 reveals staffers who didn’t believe Trump violated “incitement” policy (Fox News) | World leaders who incited violence stayed while Trump got the boot (NY Post)

• Twitter disbands its Trust and Safety advisory group (AP)

• Biden official Sam Brinton out of a job after multiple alleged luggage thefts at airports (Daily Wire)

• White House invites drag performers to same-sex marriage bill-signing celebration (National Review)

• El Paso official says illegal border crossing numbers “are unsustainable” days before Title 42 expires (Fox News)

• Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass declares homelessness an emergency (ABC News)

• Lauren Boebert officially wins reelection bid (Daily Wire)

• CVS and Walgreens to pay a combined $10.7 billion settlement for alleged opioid prescription lapses (NBC News)

• Study finds more screen time associated with future OCD in preteens (Daily Wire)

• Universal’s animation films out-gross the woke groomers at Walt Disney (Breitbart)

• Humor: Christmas canceled after Sam Brinton steals Santa’s sack (Babylon Bee)

• Humor: Kamala Harris visits Brittney Griner to lock her up on marijuana charges (Babylon Bee)

For more editors’ choice headlines, click here.