Cross-Examination

• The House border hearing: With Republicans now running the House, they are free to confront Joe Biden’s mismanagement. And no area of mismanagement has been worse than Biden’s handling of the southern border. This week, the House Oversight and Accountability Committee opened a hearing on Biden’s border crisis with a number of Border Patrol agents giving testimony. Democrats deflected from Biden’s border malfeasance with their typical attack, accusing Republicans of being motivated by xenophobia and racism. Democrat committee members posted a social media message that read, “good luck to everyone except @GOPOversight members who are using today’s hearing to amplify white nationalist conspiracy theories instead of a comprehensive solution to protect our borders and strengthen our immigration system.” Republicans responded to the smear in the hearing. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) asked two BP agents if they had come to “promote white nationalism.” They both rejected that claim. Anna Paulina (R-FL) added: “Clearly, we don’t have a white supremacy history in this country. Clearly, it’s an illegal immigration one.” Republicans then pressed witnesses as to whether Biden’s border policy changes have contributed to the surge in illegal migrants. When asked by Byron Donalds (R-FL) if Tucson Chief John Modlin would “agree the policy did change from Trump to Biden,” he answered, “What we’re being told by people that have crossed … they absolutely, unequivocally said they crossed because they felt law and policy had changed.” Democrats sought to focus on the treatment of illegal aliens once apprehended, while Republicans countered by noting the exploding problem of human trafficking and drug smuggling. Finally, both witnesses acknowledged more funding and manpower were needed, as well as erecting more physical barriers like a wall.

• The Dems’ “white supremacy” speech-suppression bill: Democrat Representative Sheila Jackson Lee (TX) recently introduced a bill titled the Leading Against White Supremacy Act, which she asserted would “prevent and prosecute white supremacy inspired hate crime and conspiracy to commit white supremacy inspired hate crime and to amend title 18, United States Code, to expand the scope of hate crimes.” The proposed legislation states, “A person engages in a white supremacy inspired hate crime when white supremacy ideology has motivated the planning, development, preparation, or perpetration of actions that constituted a crime or were undertaken in furtherance of activity that, if effectuated, would have constituted a crime.” It effectively elevates a crime or an attempted crime to a more serious “hate” crime with a harsher penalty if it is determined to be “motivated” by white supremacist ideology. The problem is that Jackson Lee’s bill conspicuously does not define “white supremacy ideology.” Furthermore, it steps all over the First Amendment by making it illegal to “publish” material that supposedly inspires a crime of white supremacy. This would include an individual’s post on social media. What this bill amounts to is a way to silence the speech of those deemed to hold offensive opinions. It’s not difficult to see, given the current woke redefinition of racism and “white supremacy,” that anyone expressing a view contrary to leftist orthodoxy will be labeled as not only offensive but indeed a criminal. While there is no chance of a Republican House passing such a bill, what it does show is the directional goal of the racist Democrat Party.

• Tip the gluttonous Uncle Sam: Republicans warned that Joe Biden’s massive spending boondoggle dubiously named the Inflation Reduction Act would lead to the Internal Revenue Service going harder after middle-class Americans thanks to its allocation of a massive $80 billion windfall for the tax-collecting agency. Democrats and Joe Biden himself dismissed the claims as false, asserting that the addition of some 87,000 IRS employees/agents would be primarily focused on going after wealthy tax cheats. Well, once again, Republicans were right. On Monday, the IRS announced that it will be going after servers’ tips. You know, those oh-so-wealthy restaurant waiters. Via a Service Industry Tip Compliance Agreement (SITCA) program, tips will be “voluntarily” recorded and reported to the IRS and service industry companies. That’s right — the IRS needs to ensure that Uncle Sam collects a percentage from that tip jar at the end of the night. Since wait staff have long earned an hourly pay well below minimum wage, sometimes as low as $2.13 per hour, it has been through tips that they can make the rest of their wage, supposing they are good enough at their jobs. The IRS already takes a percentage of servers’ already low base pay and a percentage of those tips; now it wants want more. This is not a fleecing of the rich; it’s a fleecing of workers barely making it by, often living paycheck to paycheck. Of course, the reason Biden and company have no qualms about doing this is because they see all money as ultimately the government’s.

Headlines

• Biden introduced bill to sunset all federal programs — including Social Security (Fox News)

• Biden calls out Republicans who heckled his State of the Union speech (NBC News)

• State of the Union address draws second-smallest audience in decades (Fox News)

• Lawmakers press Twitter execs on FBI’s role in censoring Hunter Biden story (Washington Times)

• Former Twitter exec admits using disappearing message apps with government officials (Daily Wire)

• Investigative writer Seymour Hersh claims U.S. Navy behind Nord Stream 2 pipeline explosion (NY Post)

• Disney to cut thousands of jobs to save money as DeSantis set to take control of company’s Orlando district under new bill (Daily Wire)

• New Jersey Republican councilman shot dead, one week after councilwoman’s slaying (Fox News)

• John Fetterman hospitalized after “feeling lightheaded” at Senate Democrat retreat (Fox News)

• James O'Keefe on paid leave, board reportedly considering removal (Daily Caller)

• 17,000 now reported dead in Turkey, Syria earthquake (The Hill)

• Satire: In shocking turn of events, Republicans think Biden did terrible job, Democrats think was best speech ever (Babylon Bee)

• Humor: LeBron James breaks NBA all-time flopping record (Babylon Bee)

For more editors’ choice headlines, click here.