The Patriot Post® · Monday: Below the Fold

Cross-Examination

• Ronna wins reelection: On Friday, Ronna McDaniel won an unprecedented fourth term as the head of the Republican National Committee. She won 111 of 168 voting members, beating out two challengers, Harmeet Dhillon and Mike Lindell, who received 51 and four votes, respectively. All three candidates had strong connections to Donald Trump. McDaniel boasts being handpicked by the former president to lead the RNC back in 2016, while Dhillon has served as a legal advisor to Trump. Meanwhile, Lindell, the CEO of MyPillow, has faithfully trumpeted Trump’s claims about the 2020 election. McDaniel’s leadership came under much criticism following the 2022 midterms, as a much-anticipated red wave failed to materialize. Dhillon warned the committee that the RNC was in danger of losing touch with its grassroots base: “If we go back to our homes and ignore this message, I think it’s at our peril. It’s at our peril personally, as party leaders, and it’s at our peril for our party in general.” McDaniel responded by inviting Dhillon to come with her on a planned grassroots tour. While McDaniel may boast of maintaining a steady hand of consistent leadership over the RNC during her terms, the reality of Republican losses can’t be ignored.

• Dems want to raise federal workers’ pay: In a move to further insulate federal workers from the negative economic consequences of the Democrats’ budget-busting and inflationary spending sprees, House Democrats propose — wait for it — spending even more of American taxpayers’ dollars to give federal employees an 8.7% pay raise. Dubbed the Federal Adjustment of Income Rates Act (FAIR Act), House Democrats assert that this wage increase for federal workers is “needed” to help them recover from both the COVID pandemic and the four traumatic years working under the Trump administration. Democrat Representative Gerry Connolly (VA) introduced the legislation and argued that federal workers “were subjected to the Trump administration’s cruel personal attacks, unsafe work environments, pay freezes, government shutdowns, sequestration cuts, furloughs and mindless across-the-board hiring freezes.” (Sequestration happened under Barack Obama, but why bother getting the facts right?) This pay increase would be in addition to the 4.6% wage increase that Joe Biden implemented last week via an executive order. Worried that the government might be losing employees to the private sector, the National Actives and Retired Federal Employees Association President William Shackelford contended that pay hikes are needed to “counteract a tightening labor market and increasing private-sector pay, rising costs of living and an impending federal retirement wave.” Or maybe this will serve as a great opportunity to downsize a bloated government bureaucracy that wastefully spends taxpayers’ hard-earned dollars.

• California surpasses one million driver’s licenses for illegal aliens: California first effectively declared itself a “sanctuary” state back in 2015 with the enactment of a law giving illegal aliens the right to obtain a driver’s license. According to CalMatters, almost four out of 10 illegal aliens now living in the Golden State have acquired a state driver’s license, totaling over one million. Of course, what starts in California never stays in California, as several other Democrat-run states including Massachusetts have passed similar laws. This scheme to give legal driver’s licenses to those illegally living in the U.S. has served to draw millions more illegal aliens to America, as it affords them the ability to more easily gain employment and movement across the country. It has also resulted in an increasing number of drunk driving incidents. Last year alone, more than 17,500 illegal aliens with DUI convictions were arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Irrespective of the damage these lawless policies are having on American citizens, the Democrats’ ultimate goal, of course, is to eventually turn all these illegals into voters, thereby growing their political power. Driver’s licenses one day, voter registration the next.

Headlines

• Video shows Memphis police violently beating Tyre Nichols in the traffic stop that led to his death (USA Today)

• CNN’s Van Jones says Nichols’ death might have been “driven by racism” despite black cops being charged (Fox News)

• Paul Pelosi video shows hammer attack after police arrive (Fox News)

• Doctor who tried to save Ashli Babbitt on January 6 charged with four misdemeanors for time at the U.S. Capitol (Epoch Times)

• Charges dropped against Ashli Babbitt’s mother, Micki Witthoeft (RedState)

• Radical activists illegally protest outside Amy Coney Barrett’s home (Daily Signal)

• Swalwell claims his relationship with suspected Chinese spy didn’t compromise U.S. security (Daily Wire)

• Biden says U.S. will compete with China on strategic minerals. He just kneecapped our ability to do so. (Free Beacon)

• Nobody’s watching: CNN ratings plunge even further (Daily Wire)

• Minnesota legislature passes barbaric bill to legalize abortions up until birth (PJ Media)

• Utah governor signs bill banning gender-transition treatment for minors (National Review)

• Florida school board changes policy, now requires students to use bathrooms based on biological sex (Breitbart)

• At least seven Israelis killed in shooting attack at Jerusalem synagogue (Axios)

• Humor: AOC accuses this ChatGPT fellow of wanting to date her (Babylon Bee)

For more editors’ choice headlines, click here.