Cross-Examination

• Inflation up 6.4%: The year-over-year inflation rate continued slowly falling over the last few months, dropping one-tenth of a point in January to 6.4%. One leading driver of inflation is the rising cost of housing. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, housing costs account for more than one-third of the index, rising 0.7% in January and 7.9% over last year at this time. The rising cost of energy was also a big factor, as it rose 2% over the prior month and 8.7% over last year. Food prices also contributed, as they are up 0.5% in January, equating to a 10.1% increase over last year. To make matters worse, average hourly wages slipped 0.2% for the month and are down 1.8% from a year ago. Given this stubborn inflation, the Federal Reserve will presumably continue its practice of raising interest rates, likely by another half percent. Of course, this news flies in the face of the rosy economic picture Joe Biden painted in his State of the Union address last week, when he boasted: “Here at home, inflation is coming down. Here at home, gas prices are down $1.50 a gallon since their peak. Food inflation is coming down. Inflation has fallen every month for the last six months while take home pay has gone up.” Instead, many economists continue to express fears of a coming recession, with the only debate being over how severe it will be.

• Latest Medal of Honor recipient: Retired U.S. Army Col. Paris Davis received a call from Joe Biden on Monday informing him “that he will receive the Medal of Honor for his remarkable heroism during the Vietnam War.” Upon receiving the call, the 83-year-old Davis said it “prompted a wave of memories of the men and women I served with in Vietnam.” He added, “I think often of those fateful 19 hours on June 18, 1965, and what our team did to make sure we left no man behind on that battlefield.” Davis is being honored for his distinguished actions in rescuing each member of the team under his command, as he repeatedly sprinted across a rice paddy in the face of enemy fire. Even after being wounded when an enemy grenade shattered his hand, he continued to fire his rifle with his pinky finger and managed to ensure that his entire team survived. While he was awarded the Silver Star Medal for his actions that day, his team has long argued that he deserved the Medal of Honor. The White House has yet to announce the date for Davis’s medal ceremony.

• Michigan State shooting: A 43-year-old man shot eight people at Michigan State University last night, killing three before killing himself. Investigators “have absolutely no idea what the motive was,” though we don’t suppose it can be “white supremacy” given that he was black. Then again, leftists contorted themselves into knots arguing that the five black Memphis police officers who killed Tyre Nichols were “driven by racism.” Officials haven’t released information on the weapon used, though early reports indicate it was a handgun. We also don’t know if he obtained it legally, though he previously faced a gun-related charge. Unless Democrats can use these murders to push gun control, they’ll drop it like a hot potato thanks to the inconvenient race of the assailant.

• Ever-expanding nanny state: Back in 1975, then-Senator Joe Biden famously introduced a bill that called for the sunsetting of all federal programs, including Social Security and Medicare. His argument for ending — or at least revoting on — these government subsidy programs was that they were costing the government too much money and were busting the federal budget. Biden’s proposed bill obviously never passed, though that didn’t stop him from bringing up the issue again in the mid-1980s and again in 1995, when he lamented Congress’s lack of action on his original proposal. Too bad the version of Biden in the White House today has completely and thoroughly rejected his original views on government fiscal responsibility. Now he sees budget-busting subsidies like Medicaid as not only an absolutist federal program where no financial constraints should be considered, but he wants to expand Medicaid. He aims to free funds from the constraints of merely helping to pay medical expenses so the money can be used for groceries too. Under the guise of promoting better overall health, the Biden administration contends that allowing Medicaid recipients to use funds to purchase food will help decrease expensive medical interventions. There is already a federal government food-subsidy program to help those in poverty, and it arguably bears much of the blame for today’s obesity epidemic. Never mind the facts when Democrats want to expand the federal government nanny state.

Headlines

• “It’s time for a new generation of leadership”: Nikki Haley announces presidential campaign (Fox News)

• J.D. Vance calls for answers after Ohio train derailment, notes “alarming” reports he received (Daily Wire)

• After train crash “nuked” Ohio town with toxic chemicals, Buttigieg focuses on bigger threat: white construction workers (Free Beacon)

• Chinese spy balloon reportedly flew near our Middle East bases last fall (Daily Wire)

• At least one dead, eight injured after U-Haul truck driver’s “violent rampage” in New York City (USA Today)

• Biden fires architect of the Capitol amid unethical behavior allegations (National Review)

• Army says “wokeness” not a primary driver of recruitment woes (National Review)

• Hundreds of thousands of kids never returned to school (Hot Air)

• For some electric vehicle owners, recharging now more costly than filling up (CBS News)

• Former MSNBC host says network reprimanded her for criticizing Hillary Clinton (Free Beacon)

• “He Gets Us” ad reactions prove changing the Gospel doesn’t change hearts (The Federalist)

• Satire: Buttigieg promises to investigate Ohio railway chemical spill for signs of racism (Babylon Bee)

For more editors’ choice headlines, click here.