Cross-Examination

• This is why unemployment is “low”… The number of prime working-age men, ages 25 through 54, who have effectively dropped out of the workforce has grown over the last several decades and now totals some 7.2 million. Labor force participation for men in 1953 was 98%; fast-forward to today, and that rate has dropped to 89%. Mike Rowe of “Dirty Jobs” fame observes that for several million working-age men, when it comes to employment opportunities, they have chosen the “do nothing” option. Jay Timmons, who heads the National Association of Manufacturers, notes that there are more jobs than people to fill those job openings, which he says is the number one problem for 99% of manufacturing companies. He adds that the average pay for manufacturing jobs is over $31 an hour, which is not small potatoes. So what explains this increasing dropout rate of men from the workforce? There are several factors, including negative stereotypes associated with manufacturing jobs, a lack of skills, and the number of working-age men with criminal records (in turn thanks to fewer fathers at home). Finally, there’s Uncle Sam. An increasing number of men are living off of government handouts and benefits. And what are these nonworking men doing? Well, they have effectively become couch potatoes, as data shows these men are averaging nearly seven hours a day watching TV and playing video games.

• Rainbow Mafia is still after Christian cake baker: On Thursday, baker Jack Phillips lost his appeal case in the Colorado Supreme Court over his refusal to make a cake with a theme celebrating “gender transition.” The court ruled that Phillips had violated Colorado’s anti-discrimination law, but also rejected his claim that the state’s law violated his First Amendment rights to freedom of speech and freedom of religion. Phillips has long been a target of LGBTQ activists, as they seek to penalize anyone who would dare to object to promoting their deviant lifestyle. Phillips’s attorneys, who are from the Alliance Defending Freedom, will appeal the ruling, and it looks like the U.S. Supreme Court will have to once again weigh in on this clear abuse of an American’s First Amendment rights. SCOTUS will have an opportunity to avoid the mistake it made the first time and hopefully set a precedent to prevent this type of ongoing abuse.

• Modern art or pagan idol? The Appellate Division Courthouse in New York City recently had a new six-foot-tall sculpture fixed to its roof that is meant to honor the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The strange work of modern art is entitled “NOW,” a reference to the National Organization of Women, and more specifically to RBG’s legacy of support for abortion. The bronze statue is a figure of a woman with large braids on each side of its head curling in the shape of something resembling a ram’s horn. Protruding from the place of the statue’s arms are octopus-like tentacles twisting in on each other. And at the statue’s base, the figure is rising out of a lotus flower. The artist, Shahzia Sikander, explained that the statue “is a fierce woman and a form of resistance in a space that has historically been dominated by patriarchal representation.” The NOW statue becomes the first “female” representative figure on the courthouse’s roof. Many have responded critically to the strange image and its underlying woke message. Representative Billy Gribbin (R-GA) offered one of the more insightful observations: “They turned abortion into a pagan idol to worship and put it on a courthouse.”

Headlines

• Tyre Nichols case: Five former Memphis police officers charged with second-degree murder (Fox News)

• Brian Kemp declares state of emergency to deal with Atlanta’s domestic terrorists (PJ Media)

• Pfizer director assaults James O'Keefe, Project Veritas journalists after being confronted over comments on “mutating” COVID-19 virus (PM)

• NIH threw EcoHealth Alliance millions of tax dollars to study coronaviruses, then didn’t supervise (The Federalist)

• DOD awards new $3 million grant to EcoHealth Alliance, group that funded Wuhan lab research (Daily Caller)

• “Unconstitutionally vague”: Judge blocks California’s COVID “misinformation” law (Free Beacon)

• Biden judicial nominee fails to explain basics of Constitution during confirmation hearing (Free Beacon)

• Trump stopping in New Hampshire ahead of South Carolina on Saturday (Fox News)

• AP Stylebook recommends getting rid of “the” labels, like “the French, the poor” (TND)

• Policy: Wake-up call for Democrats : UK’s “single-payer” health system is failing (Daily Signal)

• Humor: Schiff, Swalwell demoted to House Party Planning Committee (Babylon Bee)

For more editors’ choice headlines, click here.