Cross-Examination

• Is abortion the next public health emergency? Who knew that pregnancy was a medical emergency? For generations upon generations, since mankind has been walking the face of the earth, pregnancy has been viewed as a normal and necessary facet of human existence. Without it, none of us would be here, and yet thanks to politics the Biden administration wants to effectively classify pregnancy as a “medical emergency.” On Monday, Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra stated that the agency is looking to use certain criteria “to be able to declare a public-health emergency.” While Becerra acknowledged that declaring public health emergencies is “typically done by scientists and those that are professionals in those fields,” an HHS spokesman explained that the administration is “exploring additional actions we can take to protect and expand access to reproductive health care, including abortion care.” The truth is there is no medical emergency. The real issue, of course, is the Democrats’ insistence that abortion is a fundamental human right, which is why the Biden administration is declaring a “full-scale reproductive health crisis” in the wake of the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Since several Republican-controlled states have acted to severely limit and in some cases effectively ban abortion, Biden and company are looking for ways to counter. Declaring abortion a healthcare emergency would be a way to get women medication or out-of-state travel for an abortion, and all on the taxpayers’ dime. Expanding government funding of the abortion industry is likely the bigger underlying objective.

• California’s a stubborn holdout in water deal: With California suffering under a nearly two-decade drought, water access and water rights are no insignificant issue. Recently, six of the seven states that depend on water from the Colorado River signed a new water allocation proposal meant to update water use in the region. Some 40 million people and a $5 billion agricultural industry rely on water from the Colorado River, so it’s imperative that a deal is worked out. A consensus deadline between all seven states in the region was needed by January after an August deadline was missed last year. Yet California remains the lone holdout. Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming have agreed to a proposal to cut water usage and conserve two million acre feet. California, meanwhile, has proposed cuts of 400,000 acre feet. The region is split into the Upper Basin states and the Lower Basin states, of which California is the biggest water user. The contention from the Upper Basin states is that the Lower Basin has never factored in evaporation and water loss in dams into its water consumption numbers, which equates to as much as 10%. California, the big fish as it were, appears to want to throw its weight around in order to get its deal.

• CNN ratings collapse; Maher to the rescue? The week of January 16-22, the Leftmedia cable outfit CNN experienced its worst ratings week in nearly a decade. According to TheWrap, data from Nielsen showed “just 444,000 viewers in primetime, 93,000 in the all-important age 25-54 news demographic and 417,000 in viewers and 80,000 in the demo for total day.” CNN hasn’t seen ratings this bad since May 2014. To put it succinctly, CNN is failing, falling far behind both Fox News and fellow Leftmedia outfit MSNBC. Sinking viewership, which has been a consistent problem for the outlet ever since Donald Trump left office, likely has much to do with CNN’s announcement Monday evening that it will be adding comedian Bill Maher to its Friday night show lineup. Broadcasting a prime time politically based comedy show certainly represents a significant change for the news outfit, but in reality CNN is simply following its biggest competitor’s model. Fox News’s “Gutfeld!” is now the highest-rated late-night talk show in the U.S. The addition of Maher, who is unapologetically liberal but is also quite antagonistic toward the woke Left, likely won’t negatively impact CNN. However, will it negatively impact Maher?

• Utah’s anti-groomer bill is more bark than bite: Yesterday, we noted that Utah Governor Spencer Cox signed legislation that was touted as protecting children from being subjected to “gender-affirming care,” as it banned the giving of puberty-blocker hormones and transition surgeries to children. There is a big caveat in that legislation, however, as the bill forbids the “gender-affirming care” only to those children who have not been diagnosed with gender dysphoria. So, if a child — or, more accurately, his or her parents — gets a pro-transgender doctor to diagnose “gender dysphoria,” then the law does not apply. That’s a gaping loophole.

Headlines

• FBI searches Biden’s Rehoboth Beach home amid classified docs probe (ABC News)

• FBI searched the Penn Biden Center in mid-November (CBS News)

• Biden says climate change is bigger threat to humanity than nuclear war (Fox News)

• Biden, McCarthy to meet at White House amid debt ceiling fight (Fox News)

• Republican Rep. George Santos to recuse himself from committee assignments (Fox News)

• Nikki Haley to formally announce that she is running for president (Daily Wire)

• All GOP senators, Manchin challenge Biden’s ESG climate investment rule “politicizing” Americans’ 401(k)s (Fox News)

• Iranian illegal immigrant on terror watch list caught near southern border (Fox News)

• Al Sharpton to give eulogy at Tyre Nichols’ funeral in Memphis (USA Today)

• IRS three times more likely to audit blacks; amid racism claims, Biden plans to spend billions to hire 87,000 new employees (Free Beacon)

• Illinois loses appeal over gun control law, leaving restraining order in effect (Fox News)

• Nebraska Dem’s amendment would ban kids from vacation Bible schools, church youth groups (Fox News)

• “Top surgery scar” offered for new “Sims 4” avatars (PM)

• University removes slave-owning benefactor’s name; his family demands their $51 million back (RedState)

• “Little to no difference”: Massive mask meta-study undermines remaining COVID mandates (Just the News)

• Satire: Miracle: Biden ends same COVID pandemic for the third time (Babylon Bee)

For more editors’ choice headlines, click here.