Cross-Examination

• Hunter associate to testify: Hunter Biden’s longtime friend and business associate Devon Archer will finally be testifying before the House Oversight Committee today after he was subpoenaed last month by Committee Chair James Comer. Archer’s testimony will reportedly expose Joe Biden’s claim that he was “never in business with his son” as a lie. The very elder Biden, according to Archer, was present both in person and over the phone when Hunter introduced him to prospective foreign business partners. Archer was on the board of the Ukrainian natural gas company Burisma at the same time Hunter was. Oh, and by the way, Biden’s DOJ over the weekend requested that a judge set a date for Archer to report to prison. Maybe Hunter can be his cellmate.

• Biden FINALLY acknowledges seventh grandchild: On Friday, after years of denying reality, Joe Biden finally acknowledged that he does indeed have a seventh grandchild. In a short statement, Biden said that he and Jill “only want what is best for all of our grandchildren, including Navy.” He then sought to revise recent history by adding, “Our son Hunter and Navy’s mother, [Lunden Alexis Roberts], are working together to foster a relationship that is in the best interests of their daughter, preserving her privacy as much as possible going forward.” By “working together,” Biden means Roberts had to drag Hunter into court for a paternity test to force him to acknowledge his daughter. “This is not a political issue, it’s a family matter,” Biden said. Yet the truth is this was PR and damage control, which could have been avoided years ago if the deadbeat granddad had simply acknowledged his granddaughter Navy in the first place.

• Carbon and climate: We’re always told that manmade carbon emissions cause climate change. And the only way to combat climate change is to curb and cut our carbon emissions by using the heavy hand of government. The “science is settled.” So, if excess carbon is the “problem,” then wouldn’t it make sense to invest in new technology that captures and removes “excess” carbon from the atmosphere? Well, according to a new study conducted by Korean scientists, the removal of large amounts of carbon from the atmosphere would not have any immediate desired effect for reducing global temperatures, at least for upwards of 220 years. “It’s related to ocean circulation,” says lead study author Seo-Yeon Kim. “The response of the ocean is always slower than the removal of the carbon dioxide, and how fast the ocean responds then determines the recovery of the Hadley Cell.” So, reasoning from this study’s findings, the notion that dramatically cutting carbon emissions now will have any measurable impact on slowing or reversing the current trajectory of climate change is flawed.

• Democrat wealth tax: Obnoxiously dubbed the Oppose Limitless Inequality Growth and Reverse Community Harms (OLIGARCH) Act, socialist Democrat lawmakers want to impose a wealth tax of 2% up to 8% on Americans making 1,000 to one million times the median household income. One of the bill’s authors, Representative Barbara Lee (D-CA), says, “The OLIGARCH Act is the solution we need to close the exorbitant wealth gap in America and create a tax system where everyone pays their fair share.” Really? If a fair tax is the goal, there’s a national sales tax by that name. Or we could have a flat tax where everyone pays an equal percentage of their income no matter how much or how little they may earn. Get government out of attempting to artificially rig the tax system ostensibly in favor of lower-income Americans. History shows that when government comes up with new “wealth” tax programs, everyone ends up paying, and it’s never fair.

• Good news: Christian student wins against censors: In a win for free speech, Maggie DeJong, a Christian art student who attended Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE), has prevailed in a lawsuit she brought against the school for violating her right to free speech. SIUE agreed to an $80,000 settlement, which also includes having three of the school’s professors undergo mandatory free speech training. DeJong, who was represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom, was subjected by the school to “no-contact orders” that prevented her from communicating with three students who took offense at her conservative political and religious views. Furthermore, the school requested that her peers report her for “harmful rhetoric” and denied DeJong the opportunity to defend herself. “Public universities can’t punish students for expressing their political and religious viewpoints,” explained Mathew Hoffman, her ADF legal counsel. “Maggie, like every other student, is protected under the First Amendment to respectfully share her personal beliefs, and university officials were wrong to issue gag orders and silence her speech.”

• Social media hate: That social media is largely responsible for the growing political and cultural divide in America today is a widely accepted view. However, four recently released studies are calling that view into question. Using Facebook and Instagram, researchers were given freedom to change the algorithmic feed of tens of thousands of users, giving them a feed that was not curated based upon their likes. The researchers found that during the four months over which the study was conducted, there was no discernible impact on users’ political polarization. The researchers concluded, “These findings challenge popular narratives blaming social media echo chambers for the problems of contemporary American democracy.”

Headlines

• Judge dismisses Trump’s defamation lawsuit against CNN (National Review)

• Nikki Haley pushes “mental competency tests” for politicians older than 75 (Daily Wire)

• Biden administration proposes new fuel-economy standards in continuing EV push (National Review)

• Oakland NAACP blames “defund the police” for rampant crime in city (Newsweek)

• Federal judge blocks Arkansas ban on librarians giving children “harmful" books (Daily Wire)

• California’s Orwellian invasion of privacy could soon go national. It hinges on one church’s lawsuit. (Daily Caller)

• Satire: Family torn between placing grandpa in hospice and having him run for Senate (Babylon Bee)

• Policy: The dangerous "Equality Act” is back before Congress. Can it be stopped again? (The Stream)

For more editors’ choice headlines, click here.