Cross-Examination

• How is Fetterman filing legislation? On February 16, Democrat Senator John Fetterman checked himself into Walter Reed National Military Medical Center to address clinical depression likely related to the stroke he suffered during his senatorial campaign. He has remained at Walter Reed receiving treatment ever since. So how has he been able to cosponsor a bipartisan railway safety bill that senators introduced this week? Rather than answer this obvious and basic question, Fetterman Chief of Staff Adam Jentleson stonewalled and in turn accused inquirers as manifesting “ugliness from the right.” We’re guessing this is a ploy by Democrats to keep up the appearance that Fetterman is still engaged in Senate business despite his mental and physical health.

• Dems fight over DC crime bill: Some Democrat lawmakers are fit to be tied following Joe Biden’s apparent about-face yesterday when he told Senate Democrats that he would not veto a Republican-led bipartisan resolution that nixes Washington, DC’s recently passed lax-on-crime law. Thanks to Democrat Senators Joe Manchin and Bob Casey siding with Republicans, the resolution is expected to pass. “The White House f***ed this up royally,” groused an unnamed House Democrat. For Democrats, the issue at play is Biden’s support for DC “home rule,” the whole statehood argument. Now, Biden’s concern over looking soft on crime has likely led him to back off, especially given the fact that crime is becoming a major election issue.

• Biden wants more money for COVID fraud: To tackle the massive amount of fraud thanks to the federal government’s COVID relief spending binge, Joe Biden says the solution is to spend gobs more of taxpayers’ hard-earned dollars. That’s right: Biden wants Congress to send him $1.6 billion to investigate and combat the estimated billions in COVID relief fraud. Biden wants to spend money in order to … wait for it … expand the size of government in order to track down those responsible for all this theft. According to Reuters, “The money would help triple the size of the COVID Strike Force teams created by the Justice Department.” The federal government threw around trillions of dollars in a panic following its own overreaction to the pandemic. That spending served only to damage the economy, sending inflation to a 40-year high — and now Biden wants to waste even more money to make up for that ill-conceived and poorly executed relief response. Who in their right mind would trust this administration with even one more red cent?

• WaPo admits Biden’s student loan gambit is illegal but doesn’t care: In what amounts to a “yes, Republicans are technically correct, but…” assessment, the editorial board of The Washington Post begrudgingly admitted that Joe Biden’s student loan cancellation gambit is indeed illegal. The Post even notes why it is illegal — because “Biden failed to get congressional approval for the $400 billion initiative.” However, instead of then observing that the U.S. Supreme Court should strike down the admittedly illegally enacted program, the Post contends that doing so “would be an overreach for the justices” because (and this is rich) “there are limits that restrict when and how the court can exercise its authority … and this is one of the instances.” The issue at hand is the limit of the executive branch, which the judicial branch exists to check. But for the Post, seeing the Left’s agenda advance is more important than upholding the Rule of Law.

• Discover will track your gun purchases: In an obvious politically calculated move, Discover will begin doing the bidding of the anti-gun lobby, as the credit card company will track all of its customers’ firearms purchases. The Independent Journal Review reports, “Anyone using a Discover card to make a purchase in a gun store will have that purchase tracked, beginning in April.” The company dubiously claimed it would be “continuing to protect and support lawful purchases on our network while protecting the privacy of cardholders.” If that’s the case, then why track the gun sales at all? Like Big Tech has done with infringing on Americans’ First Amendment rights, Discover is hiding behind its status as a private company while creating a de facto gun registry.

• House GOP demanding answers of 51 ex-intel officers for Hunter laptop dismissal: When the New York Post broke the Hunter Biden laptop story in October 2020, the mainstream media spiked the story and labeled it “disinformation” thanks in large part to a public statement signed by 51 now ex-intelligence officials who falsely claimed the laptop was “Russian disinformation.” Over the last two years, Republicans have requested documents from these intelligence officials related to their statement but have been stonewalled. Now, the House Judiciary and Intelligence committee chairs, Representatives Jim Jordan (OH) and Michael Turner (OH), have reissued their request for these documents, stating: “You have been on notice about our oversight requests — and aware the requests are outstanding — for months. Accordingly, we reiterate our requests and ask that you comply promptly.” So far, crickets.

Headlines

• DOJ says Trump can be sued over January 6 (Daily Wire)

• FBI officials were skeptical of Trump raid; DOJ prosecutors pushed it forward (Daily Wire)

• Tennessee governor signs first-of-its-kind bill restricting drag shows (NBC News)

• Hershey’s under fire for using “transgender” woman in International Women’s Day promo (Washington Examiner)

• Big Businesses like KitchenAid display hatred for women by hiring men in costumes for ads (The Federalist)

• Canadian teacher with size-Z prosthetic breasts placed on paid leave (NY Post)

• Democrat mayor arrested on 56 counts of child pornography has ties to Pete Buttigieg (RedState)

• Columbia becomes first Ivy League school to ditch standardized-test requirement (National Review)

• The House Ethics Committee is investigating George Santos (NPR)

• Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez might have violated House rules with Met Gala gifts, watchdog says (USA Today)

• Worldwide carbon emissions reached highest level in history even as Western countries spent billions on green policies (Daily Wire)

• Permanent daylight saving time bill gets renewed push in Congress (NBC News)

• Jussie Smollett appeals conviction in hate-crime hoax (Washington Times)

For more editors’ choice headlines, click here.