Cross-Examination

• This just in: China’s balloon was for surveillance: According to Beijing, the spy balloon that floated over the continental U.S. and was eventually shot down by the U.S. military off the coast of South Carolina wasn’t a spy balloon. No, it was merely a weather research balloon that drifted off course. Well, a recent report on China’s surveillance notes that the People’s Liberation Army has been engaging in a “massive effort” to spy on the military capabilities of a number of different countries using “unbelievably old technology” outfitted with “modern communications and observation capabilities.” Since 2018, the Chinese have been using high-altitude balloons for their long-range surveillance over various countries, including India, Japan, the Philippines, Taiwan, Vietnam, and the U.S. These balloons are usually equipped with technology for capturing high-definition imagery with digital cameras, and the information is then transmitted to satellites. With a spy balloon hovering over an area for hours, the amount of detailed imagery captured over a target is significantly more than what a passing satellite can gather. Furthermore, recent reports indicate that four balloons that were spotted over Hawaii, Florida, Texas, and Guam dating back to the Trump administration have now been determined to have been Chinese spy balloons. Meanwhile, on America’s southern border, U.S. Border Patrol reported that it detected over 10,000 cartel-operated drones last year alone.

• A Trans Lives Matter insurrection: On Monday, a bunch of “transgender” activists, a.k.a. groomers, calling themselves “Trans Lives Matter” descended on and occupied Oklahoma’s Capitol building in protest over legislation that would ban medical gender transitions of minors and young adults. The bill, which has the fervent support of Republican Governor Kevin Stitt, would “prohibit Oklahoma doctors from providing gender transition procedures or referral services relating to such procedures to anyone under the age of 26,” says its sponsor, state Republican Senator David Bullard. Dubbed the Millstone Act, Bullard says, “The bill would further authorize the state’s attorney general to enforce the act and those found guilty of violating it would be guilty of a felony and subject to license revocation.” During his recent State of the State Address, Governor Stitt promised to protect minors from the medical damage of the “transgender” ideology: “Send me a bill that bans all gender transition surgeries and hormone therapies on minors in the state of Oklahoma.” It is telling that the “transgender” activists protest a law that would prevent permanently damaging a minor’s natural physiological body development. Protecting children from those who would prey on their emotional vulnerabilities and insecurities is what these “transgender” activists are fundamentally opposed to.

• Climate crisis averted: The latest climate change virtue signal will be done by the U.S. ski team when it competes at the world championship in France this month. The team will wear blue and white uniform suits emblazoned with satellite imagery depicting icebergs floating in the ocean. According to the climate activist group Protect Our Winters (POW), which helped design the team’s outfits, the uniforms will help “educate and mobilize our snowsports community to push for the clean energy technologies and policies that will most swiftly reduce emissions and protect the places we live and the lifestyles we love.” POW claims to be nonpartisan, but statements on the group’s website reveal otherwise, as its strategic plan calls for federal polices to “reduce emissions, add renewable energy to the grid and create clean jobs for the workforce transition.” Funny how that sounds eerily similar to the Democrats’ Green New Deal talking points. The plan goes on to claim: “2020 will go down in history as a turning point. Political turmoil, the resurgence of overt racism, and COVID-19 coalesced into a perfect storm that left us all shaken. But some of the best things to come are already apparent. Others are less flashy but will have a significant impact on our emissions trajectory and our lifestyles in the decades to come.” The question is, are these new uniforms doing anything to actually “save” the climate? Just a guess, but one would think that an athlete’s primary concern regarding a team uniform, especially in a sport where speed is at a premium, would be its capacity to either help or hinder their performance.

Headlines

• Fact-checking seven claims in Biden’s State of the Union Address (Daily Signal)

• Sarah Huckabee Sanders rips Biden’s “woke fantasies” in GOP State of the Union rebuttal (NY Post)

• Congressional Black Caucus members wear “1870” pins to honor slain black people (Bloomberg)

• ABC, CBS, NBC continue to skip unflattering Hunter Biden news as hearing looms (Fox News)

• Fed Chair Powell says “long way to go” in inflation fight, calls U.S. debt “unsustainable” (Epoch Times)

• U.S. credit card debt jumps 18.5% and hits a record $930.6 billion (CNBC)

• Nearly two-thirds say they’re worse off than two years ago (I&I)

• New York City lifts vaccine mandate for city workers but won’t reinstate fired holdouts (National Review)

• 368 arrested in Southern California task force’s human trafficking sweep (Orange County Register)

• Seattle defunds cops, records highest crime rate in 15 years (Daily Caller)

• Ten woke offenders: These companies push radical left agenda, fire conservative staff (Daily Signal)

• Policy: Democrat’s extremist “white supremacy” bill would silence political speech (The Federalist)

• Policy: Five reasons Biden’s electric vehicles are a boondoggle (The Federalist)

• Humor: Silver Alert: Lost old man seen yelling on Capitol grounds (Babylon Bee)

For more editors’ choice headlines, click here.