Cross-Examination

• Surgeon general discovers loneliness: Surgeon General Vivek Murthy issued an advisory this week warning Americans about the growing problem of social isolation. The negative health consequences associated with prolonged loneliness are so bad that Murthy equated it to smoking and obesity. He even acknowledged that the pandemic played a significant role in worsening the problem, asserting, “What COVID did is really pour fuel on a fire that was already burning.” Mind you, this is the same surgeon general who advocated for prolonging lockdowns, mask wearing outside, and social distancing throughout the duration of the pandemic, even as many conservatives and healthcare professionals were warning of the dire consequences such unnecessary and over-the-top policies would have on people’s health and mental well-being. Now, here’s Murthy effectively ignoring his own role in escalating the problem. With “experts” like this, is it any wonder the vast majority of the American public doesn’t trust government institutions?

• NY’s gas pains: Once again, Leftmedia pundits were proved wrong in their dismissal of Republicans’ warnings that Democrats were seeking to ban gas stoves. On Tuesday, the New York legislature passed the nation’s first statewide ban on gas stoves and gas heating in new construction. As The Washington Post reports, “The law effectively requires all-electric heating and cooking in new buildings shorter than seven stories by 2026, and in 2029 for taller buildings.” We’re sure this is entirely unrelated, but since 2020 the states of California and New York lost over $90 billion in tax revenue thanks to all the folks fleeing these high-tax, regulation-heavy, crime-ridden, liberty-infringing states. Who knew that John Carpenter’s films “Escape From New York” and its sequel “Escape From L.A.” would become so eerily prophetic?

• The IRS builds an arsenal: Joe Biden preaches often and loudly about his desire to ban “assault weapons,” asserting that Americans have no need of these “weapons of war.” Yet when it comes to the federal government, he’s mum. Over the last three years, the IRS has been arming up at an alarming rate. According to a recent report from the government watchdog group Open the Books, the federal tax agency has spent over $10 million on firearms, ammunition, and tactical gear since Biden took office. In a report titled “The Militarization of Federal Bureaucracy — Updated Statistics Through March 31, 2023,” Open the Books notes that from 2006 to 2020, the agency compiled over $30 million in weapons, ammo, and gear. Combine this news with Biden expanding the IRS by some 80,000 agents/employees, and the obvious question is: Just what kind of tax “collection” is the IRS preparing for?

• Biden goes after hunting and fishing rights: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will soon be releasing new regulations that have hunting and fishing organizations raising serious objections. According to Luke Hilgemann, executive director of International Order of T. Roosevelt (IOTR), a hunting and fishing rights conservationist organization, the Biden administration is using a new regulation to ban “the most common forms of hunting cartridges that most people buy off the shelf and requiring that no lead cartridges be used on any federal lands.” The new regulation in question would ban the use of lead ammunition and lead fishing weights on federal public lands. The Biden administration is bowing to extreme animal rights activist groups like PETA and using the guise of preventing lead contamination, a scientifically dubious claim, to effectively implement an anti-hunting and anti-fishing agenda. Ironically, the biggest losers from this policy will be America’s wildlife, as well-regulated hunting and fishing have been the most effective means for managing and conserving our nation’s rich and abundant wildlife.

• Release of Nashville manifesto put on hold: Last week, the Nashville Police Department announced that it would release the manifesto from the “transgender”-identifying woman who murdered six people, including three children, at The Covenant School just over a month ago. Now that release has been put on hold, and the reason likely stems from objections from the Rainbow Mafia and Leftmedia talkingheads. They fear that the manifesto would expose the murderer’s motives as being borne out of hatred against conservative Christians for rejecting “transgender” ideology. In other words, the manifesto could confirm the suspicion that the Covenant School attack was indeed an instance of a hate crime. It will be telling how long it takes for the manifesto to be finally made public, if it ever is.

• Soros DA neglected her duties: Janae Edmondson, a teenager who lost both of her legs, is one of many who have needlessly suffered due to George Soros-funded St. Louis District Attorney Kim Gardner’s failure to uphold her oath of office and prosecute criminals who commit crimes. Edmondson’s legs were crushed when a 21-year-old criminal who was on the streets thanks to Gardner’s negligence hit her with a car he was speeding in. The incident prompted Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey to call for Gardner’s resignation and issue a lawsuit. On Tuesday, a judge ruled that the case will go to trial, which is bad news for Gardner, who has yet to turn over a single document since the suit was raised two months ago. Hopefully, this results in Gardner’s well-deserved ouster.

Headlines

• House subpoenas FBI file on Biden role in “criminal scheme” as new whistleblower emerges (NY Post)

• Fed raises interest rates to 16-year high (Free Beacon)

• Out with a whimper: House Democrat plot to kill debt ceiling measure flops (Free Beacon)

• Jean-Pierre shredded for claiming reopening schools was a “priority” for Biden (Fox News)

• Fox News’s prime-time ratings slump in days following Tucker Carlson’s firing (Forbes)

• History and civics scores drop for U.S. eighth-graders on national test (NPR)

• Students blast California school administrators for turning blind eye after assault by trans-identifying male (National Review)

• Cycling governing body doubles down on policy after biological male defeats women (Fox Sports)

• Bud Light now offering free beer to wholesalers amid plummeting sales (National Review)

• Policy: Are labor markets really improving? Pulling back curtain on “magic of government statistics” (Daily Signal)

• Humor: Putin retaliates for assassination attempt by misgendering Admiral Levine (Babylon Bee)

For more editors’ choice headlines, click here.