Cross-Examination

• 1,100 criminals freed by Homeland “Security”: Clearly, for Joe Biden and company, maintaining his de facto open-border policy is more important than protecting the American public. This past December, in anticipation of Title 42 being ended, an action that never came following the U.S. Supreme Court ruling to keep the rule in place until it considered the arguments, the Department of Homeland Security ordered deportation officers to stop making arrests and make space for the anticipated border surge. In response, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement released 515 illegals who had criminal records and an additional 641 who had pending criminal charges. R.J. Hauman of the Federation for American Immigration Reform contends that what the Biden administration did “was yet another act of enforcement theater that jeopardizes public safety and the integrity of our system.” Detaining illegal aliens, especially those who are criminals, in order to deport them is how the system is supposed to work. Rather than extradite the deportation process, Team Biden chose to simply release these individuals into the American interior. Meanwhile, the ICE detention facilities never came near capacity. An average of 20,000 beds were used in January despite facilities funded for upwards of 34,000 beds a day. In other words, the Biden administration is effectively limiting the number of possible deportations by limiting the number of criminal alien detentions. Former ICE Director Tom Homan argued that the reason these beds aren’t being filled is that the Biden administration has made deals with nongovernmental organizations to settle released immigrants who are then “in the wind waiting for the next amnesty deal.”

• Time’s Up for Hollywood’s Democrat offender defenders: In 2018, in the midst of the #MeToo movement launched after the Harvey Weinstein scandal, Hollywood celebrities eager to show their commitment to the cause donated millions to a new organization called Time’s Up. The organization raked in $22 million. However, it didn’t take long for Time’s Up to be exposed as little other than a partisan outfit that attacked conservatives such as Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh over outrageously fabricated sexual assault allegations, while later running cover for prominent Democrats such as Joe Biden and former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, both of whom were more credibly accused of sexual assault. In Biden’s case, a former Senate staffer named Tara Reade accused him of sexually assaulting her in 1993. Rather than jump to her cause, Time’s Up offered up some half-hearted boilerplate that Reade’s allegations should not “go ignored” before effectively ignoring her. Indeed, it was later revealed that Time’s Up’s public relations firm, SKDKnickerbocker, was led by Anita Dunn, who was one of Biden’s campaign strategists. Furthermore, Dunn had actually worked on providing “damage control advice” to Weinstein. Well, now time is up for Time’s Up, as the organization notified its board members, many of whom are woke Hollywood celebs, that it “will formally cease its operations by the end of January.” As with so many of the Left’s “philanthropic” causes, in the end it always seems to boil down to little other than a scheme to advance political power.

• About that Jim Crow 2.0 canard: Recent polling of black voters in Georgia found that 0% of them claimed to have encountered “voter suppression” during the 2022 midterm election cycle. According to a poll conducted by the University of Georgia School of Public and International Affairs, 94.3% of black voters were “very confident” or “somewhat confident” that their vote was properly counted. This data flies in the face of Joe Biden’s ridiculous claim that the Peach State’s election integrity laws, which included ID requirements for absentee ballots and ballot box restrictions, equated to a new “Jim Crow in the 21st Century.” The poll also undercuts two-time failed Democrat gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, who accused Republican Governor Brian Kemp of voter suppression. The poll also found that 99.4% of black voters felt safe while voting, with 84.1% saying it was easy to cast their ballot. Kemp responded to the poll by observing: “Yet again, the myth of voter suppression in Georgia fails to be supported by a shred of evidence. Democrats have juiced this lie for every cent it was worth, disparaging our state and undermining faith in our elections. But the facts are clear: Georgia’s Election Integrity Act made it easy to vote and hard to cheat.”

Headlines

• Meta to allow Trump back on Facebook (PJ Media)

• Five officers fired after Tyre Nichols’ death were “directly responsible” for his “physical abuse,” police chief says (NBC News) | Police chief warns Memphis not to react violently after body cam footage release (Fox News)

• Paul Pelosi attack footage to be released after court order (Daily Wire)

• Convenient timing: Pelosi sold $3 million of Google stock weeks before DOJ launched antitrust probe (Free Beacon)

• Adam Schiff vows revenge after McCarthy kicks him off committee (Townhall)

• Former CIA Director Mike Pompeo accuses Schiff of leaking classified information (Daily Wire)

• Schiff announces Senate run (National Review)

• U.S. GDP rose 2.9% in the fourth quarter, more than expected even as recession fears loom (CNBC)

• California bill would create new “worldwide wealth” tax, even for people who flee the state (Daily Wire)

• Great news for Raphael Warnock’s tenants: The White House is creating new “rules” to give “grace periods” for late rent and provide tenants with legal counsel if they are evicted (Not the Bee)

• U.S. Merchant Marine Academy covers up massive Jesus painting with white curtain after complaints (Christian Post)

• Top track and field body proposal would allow males to compete against females (National Review)

• Fans bid farewell to Disney World’s Splash Mountain as it closed after 30 years due to racism assertions (Daily Wire)

• Policy: Our classified system is a joke (The Federalist)

• Humor: Hillary Clinton boasts of having no classified documents from her time as president (Babylon Bee)

For more editors’ choice headlines, click here.