Cross-Examination

• Former Pope Benedict dies: On Saturday, on the last day of 2022, former Pope Benedict died in the Vatican. He was 95 years old. Benedict served as the head of the Roman Catholic Church from 2005 to 2013, when he became the first pope in 600 years to resign the office, shocking the church and much of the world at the time. During his short-lived papacy, Benedict sought to deal with the child sexual abuse scandal that rocked the church, which included the defrocking of several predator priests. However, seeking to deal with the scandal likely led to his decision to resign, as he stated that he was a weak administrator who lacked “resolve in governing and decision taking.” Benedict also pointed to his “advanced age.” Benedict was generally viewed as a conservative pope, especially when compared with the current Pope Francis. Benedict believed that the church had strayed from its doctrinal roots and sought to redirect it back toward a more liturgical-centered focus in the Mass. Prior to becoming pope, Benedict called for a “new liturgical movement,” writing in one of his memoirs: “When the community of faith, the worldwide unity of the Church and her history, and the mystery of the living Christ are no longer visible in the liturgy, where else, then, is the Church to become visible in her spiritual essence? Then the community is celebrating only itself, an activity that is utterly fruitless.”

• Trump blames pro-lifers for midterm disappointment: Donald Trump, the “most pro-life president in American history,” threw his pro-life supporters under the bus over the weekend when he posted on his social media account that the Republicans’ disappointing midterm result “wasn’t my fault.” He continued by essentially regurgitating the Democrats’ false political talking points: “It was the ‘abortion issue,’ poorly handled by many Republicans, especially those that firmly insisted on No Exceptions, even in the case of Rape, Incest, or Life of the Mother, that lost large numbers of Voters.” At the very least, this was Trump deflecting blame for the Republicans’ anticipated red wave failing to materialize when his hand-picked candidates were the ones who lost the Senate. Since Trump has already thrown his hat into the ring for the 2024 presidential election, he’s clearly seeking to set himself up as a winner, not a loser. The trouble is, when it comes to abortion, Trump has been all over the map. He went from being pro-abortion prior to his presidential run to suggesting back in 2016 that women who get abortions should perhaps face criminal liability, a position that pro-life advocates have consistently and staunchly rejected. While he was president, Trump had an admirable record for nominating pro-life judges, including the three Supreme Court justices who ensured the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Finally, while Trump’s rather poorly worded message was obviously designed to be self-serving, he made a correct observation regarding abortion messaging. Politics is more often a ground game of hard-fought incremental advances rather than big fell-swoop victories. Republicans have the difficult task of governing a country that doesn’t often agree with their principled policy agenda, and therefore requires careful and strategic efforts to both get out the proper messaging as well as confront the continually false narratives espoused against them by the Left. Unfortunately, Trump did just the opposite.

• Transgender-promoting mom wins right to chemically castrate her son: A father who has been fighting to prevent his ex-wife from “transitioning” his young son lost that fight in the Texas Supreme Court over the weekend. Jeff Younger had petitioned the court to have his son brought back to Texas from California, where his ex-wife and the child’s mother, Anne Georgulas, has moved with the boy. Georgulas erroneously claims that their son is a “transgender” girl who needs “gender-affirming” care. Younger argued that since California has enacted a recent law that will “prohibit the enforcement of an order based on another state’s law authorizing a child to be removed from their parent or guardian based on that parent or guardian allowing their child to receive gender-affirming health care or gender-affirming mental health care,” his son is in danger of being subject to “transition” procedures that could include puberty-blocking drugs. The Texas Supreme Court rejected Younger’s petition, noting that since Georgulas had been given full custody of the child, she was free to move to California. Furthermore, the court noted that Georgulas was still required to get consent from Younger for any decisions related to puberty blocks or gender reassignment for the boy. However, given California’s new law, Younger is rightly worried that the child’s mother will move forward in transitioning their son without gaining his consent.

Headlines

• McCarthy short of votes as House speaker contest enters final hours (Fox News)

• Twitter Files expose government influence on suppressing COVID messages that contradicted WH (Fox Business)

• Elon Musk teases Fauci Files will be released this week on Twitter (Fox Business)

• Six years of Trump tax documents released by House Ways and Means Committee (ABC News)

• January 6 Committee withdraws Trump subpoena (National Review)

• Worst November at the border on record (GOP.com)

• New Year’s Eve attack near Times Square likely motivated by Islamic extremism, police say (ABC News)

• Suspect in Idaho slayings not expected to fight extradition (AP)

• Sam Bankman-Fried set to plead not guilty (Daily Wire)

• Ringleader in Whitmer kidnapping plot sentenced to 16 years in prison (Axios)

• Federal appeals court upholds Florida transgender bathroom policy (National Review)

• Rachel Levine targets transgender heresy for Big Tech suppression (Daily Signal)

• Civil rights discrimination complaints more than doubled for the Education Department in 2022 (National Review)

• “60 Minutes” uses failed doomsday biologist to predict “mass extinction” of humanity (Fox News)

• Policy: If we’re punishing politicians for lying about their past, start with Joe Biden (Washington Examiner)

• Satire: Eight most shocking revelations from Trump’s tax returns (Babylon Bee)

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