Cross-Examination

• Democrats’ shameful J6 demagoguery: For Democrats from coast to coast, it is abundantly clear that the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot has become their favorite political bludgeon to use against “anti-democratic insurrectionist” Republicans. In doing so, Democrats continuously assert false claims about the event, as Joe Biden did when he officially recognized the second anniversary of the riot. Biden, in a ceremony wherein he bestowed Presidential Citizens Medals on several Capitol Police officers, falsely claimed that Capitol Police Officer Billy Evans, who was murdered months after the J6 riot by a crazed member of the Nation of Islam, was a January 6 hero. Evidently for Biden, any crazy person who attacks the Capitol is directly tied to the J6 rioters. Furthermore, Biden erroneously claimed that J6 was the only time in U.S. history the Capitol has been attacked. The truth is that the U.S. Capitol has been attacked at least four times in history, including by the left-wing domestic terror group Weather Underground back in 1971. The only death directly attributable to violence on J6 was that of Ashli Babbitt, an unarmed woman who was shot and killed by a Capitol Police officer. Biden made no mention of her death, even as her mother was arrested outside the Capitol for protesting without a permit and blocking traffic. Meanwhile, on the other side of the country, California Governor Gavin Newsom, who is eying a presidential run, took the opportunity of his inaugural address to blame Republicans for the J6 riot. “The ugliness that overflowed on January 6, 2021,” he ridiculously claimed, “was in fact decades in the making.”

• Dems fear a Republican will shoot up Congress: With the Republican takeover of the House, several of Nancy Pelosi’s politically theatrical moves, such as the placement of metal detectors inside the House of Representatives, have been removed. Pelosi’s intent was clear: to use the presence of unneeded metal detectors as a constant reminder of the J6 Capitol riot and the blame she foisted upon Republicans. So, it comes as little surprise that after the removal of the metal detectors, Democrat lawmakers are crying foul. “A lot of my Republican colleagues glorify violence and proudly display the firearms they have in their offices,” huffed Representative Eric Swalwell, “so it just makes me nervous that we could have a workplace violent event. They’re not the most stable people.” News flash to Swalwell: The last time lawmakers were attacked by a gun-toting individual, it was Republicans practicing for the annual congressional baseball game, and the attacker was a crazed leftist Bernie Sanders supporter. But Swalwell wasn’t the only Democrat to object. Representative Pramila Jayapal called it “scary” that several Republican lawmakers possibly carry firearms. Congressman Adam Schiff also said it was “concerning” and hoped the lack of metal detectors wouldn’t lead to “tragedy.” Interestingly, the Capitol Police are armed, and Democrat lawmakers don’t seem to have any problem with that. Furthermore, the decision to remove the metal detectors came prior to Kevin McCarthy becoming speaker. So while the blame is being spun onto Republicans, who is actually the real culprit?

• UM spends $18 million on DEI: For the current 2022-23 academic school year, the University of Michigan will spend a total of $18 million on its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) staff of 142 individuals. That sum of money would pay for the cost of in-state tuition for 1,075 students, but ensuring that the Marxist-based ideology/religion of DEI is progressively pushed throughout the school is of greater concern for the administration. And that $18 million sum will only increase over time given the number of DEI staff UM has added in recent years. In 2018, the number of DEI staff UM employed was 82, at a cost of $10.6 million; last year, the cost rose to $15.6 million as the DEI staff grew to 126. Economics professor Mark Perry called the school’s DEI efforts “wasteful,” as they “directly contradict the core mission of a university — to educate students, teach critical thinking and expose them to intellectual diversity.” Perry observed that “those misguided and expensive DIE resources could be better spent by reducing tuition instead of feeding new layers of costly administrative bloat that end up getting passed along to students in the form of higher tuition and fees.”

Headlines

• GOP leader McCarthy elected House Speaker on 15th vote in historic run (CNBC)

• Abbott has some choice words for Biden as the president finally makes his way to the border (Daily Signal)

• Colorado agrees to stop busing migrants to Chicago, New York City (Daily Wire)

• DeSantis announces plan to squash “equity” at New College of Florida and restore merit (Daily Caller)

• Appeals court strikes down Trump-era ban on bump stocks (National Review)

• Facebook hit with more than $400 million in fines for privacy violations (Just the News)

• Pro-Bolsonaro rioters storm Brazil’s top government offices (AP)

• Prince Harry gloats about outranking William in military, says he killed 25 Taliban fighters (NY Post)

• Policy: If states followed the science, they’d emulate Europe to protect kids with gender dysphoria (The Federalist)

• Humor: Coal miner feels really sorry for congressmen having to do all this hard work lately (Babylon Bee)

For more editors’ choice headlines, click here.