Immigration

• Homan issues a new warning to sanctuary city mayors: Until now, Donald Trump’s nominee for border czar, Tom Homan, has been warning the mayors of so-called sanctuary cities to stay out of his way as he endeavors to deport the criminal illegals in our midst. But this weekend, instead of threatening to lock up meddlesome mayors, he appealed to the safety of their citizenry, telling Fox News’s Maria Bartiromo, “I want to send them a clear message: If you let us in the jail, we can arrest the bad guy in the jail, in the safety and security of a jail. One officer could do that. But when you release a public safety threat back in the community, you put that community at risk. You put my officers at risk. You put the alien at risk. Because here’s what’s going to happen: You’re going to release that guy into the community; I’m going to send an entire team to go look for the guy in your community.” Homan went on to note that where there’s one illegal, there are likely to be others, and low-priority targets will likely be swept up and deported with the high-priority criminal targets if these mayors try to protect the criminal illegals. “So let us in the jail,” he added. “It’s safer for everybody.”

• Federal judge temporarily blocks Dreamers from accessing ObamaCare (Just the News)

Government & Politics

• Senator Ernst says she supports Hegseth “through this process” of being confirmed (Daily Wire)

• Taylor Lorenz is too toxic for Vox: Leftist “journalist” Taylor Lorenz is apparently a bridge too far for Leftmedia outlet Vox as the two will be parting ways. This move continues Lorenz’s fall from being a “respected” journalist since she was dumped by The Washington Post after labeling Joe Biden a war criminal and then lying about it. Her latest antics, which appear to be what motivated Vox’s decision to cut ties with Lorenz, was an X post in which she expressed sympathy for the assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Her post linked to a news report of Blue Cross Blue Shield’s (soon reversed) announcement that it would no longer pay for anesthesia for the full length of surgery. “And people wonder why we want these [healthcare] executives dead,” she wrote. For its part, Vox Media claimed that its agreement with Lorenz had only been on a short-term basis. Clearly, even Vox wants nothing to do with her toxic takes.

• Current Congress to end as least productive in the modern era: With just a few weeks left, the 118th Congress is likely to go down as one of the least productive in the modern era. Out of the more than 19,000 bills that have been introduced over the last two years, just 137 have been passed, a passage rate of less than 1%. In all of 2023, Congress passed just 34 bills. The factors that played into this lack of productivity are the House Republicans’ protracted fight over the speakership as well as the divided Congress, with the Senate being held by Democrats and the House in GOP hands. Passing bills isn’t always good, but with the 119th Congress in Republican control and Donald Trump entering the Oval Office, Americans can expect much more positive productivity from the legislative branch.

• Musk supports KOSA; CA wants social media warning: One piece of legislation that may make it to the finish line before the 118th Congress ends its run is the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA). Lawmakers have sparred over the legislation that aims to protect children from online predators, social media manipulation, and access to porn sites. Free speech concerns have hampered the effort. However, Elon Musk, the owner of X and a leading free speech advocate, recently threw his support behind KOSA: “Protecting kids should always be priority #1. We can protect free speech and our kids at the same time from Big Tech. It’s time for House Republicans to pass the Kids Online Safety Act ASAP." Meanwhile, California looks to become the first state to require a mental health warning message on all social media platforms. Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan, who coauthored the bill, explained, "The promise of social media, although real, has turned into a situation where they’re turning our children’s attention into a commodity. The attention economy is using our children and their well-being to make money for these California companies.”

• More Americans say healthcare is government responsibility (The Hill)

Culture

• Black Lives Matter activist threatens Daniel Penny, calls for violence after acquittal (Washington Free Beacon)

• Satire: Nation’s violent psychos protest Penny acquittal by refusing to ride NYC subway (Babylon Bee)

• Team Biden-Harris is focused on the important things: In case you missed it, Sunday was [checks notes] Pansexual and Panromantic Pride Day, and in a nation beset by obesity and chronic illness, the activists within the Biden administration’s Health and Human Services Department wanted the American people to know precisely where their priorities were. “Today on Pansexual and Panromantic Pride Day,” they posted, “everyone deserves to feel seen, respected and supported — no matter who they love. Create a world where everyone feels proud to be themselves!” (For the uninitiated, pansexuality is the state of being sexually attracted to everyone.) Pansexuality is a condition that “most people hadn’t heard of until recently,” as one average Joe put it. “Now it’s plastered everywhere, with federal agencies pushing the narrative. Why? This isn’t about ‘love’ or ‘respect.’ It’s about control.” Celebrate us our else! they explained.

• NJ Dem governor signs law banning “book bans”: On Monday, New Jersey Democrat Governor Phil Murphy signed a bill dubiously dubbed the Freedom to Read Act, touting it as “the antithesis of all these book-banning states that you see.” The law bars public school libraries from “banning” books based on the authors’ origin, background, or views. Tellingly, none of those were the reason for states like Florida keeping sexually explicit and age-inappropriate books and materials out of school libraries and classrooms. Furthermore, the Freedom to Read Act also includes restrictions against “developmentally inappropriate material.” However, the legislation protects librarians and library staff from criminal and civil charges filed by individuals who may object to books that they make available. In the end, this bill attempts to reinforce the false narrative that red states are on a book-banning crusade based solely on ideological grounds. It’s a leftist virtue signal that will expose kids to a lot of vices.

• Golden Globes nominates a tranny for best actress: Like we always say here in our humble shop, Anything a woman can do, a man masquerading as a woman can do better. But that tongue-in-cheek axiom, which until now had been mainly limited to athletic endeavors, now applies to the performing arts. Hollywood’s Golden Globe awards made history yesterday by nominating the first man who identifies as a woman for best, er, actress. As The Washington Times reports, “Karla Sofia Gascon was nominated Monday for Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy, for playing a Mexican drug lord who undergoes a gender transition in the 2024 film ‘Emilia Perez.’” The Golden Globes had last year gone a step further in the television category by honoring a man named Michaela Jae Rodriguez with its award for Best Performance by an Actress [sic] in a Television Series. “It’s a problem any time an honor or award meant for a woman goes to a man,” said Kara Dansky, author of the 2023 book The Reckoning: How the Democrats and the Left Betrayed Women and Girls. “This is yet another example of erasing the female sex.”

• Female boxer wins title after Olympics gender controversy (Daily Wire)

Education

• College enrollment is down 5%: Ya hate to see young Americans beginning to question the wisdom of taking on six figures of debt to subsidize a nationwide archipelago of leftist indoctrination camps. But here we are. “Fewer 18-Year-Olds Enrolled in College This Fall,” reads the grim headline from Inside Higher Ed. Perhaps more telling, though, is the subhead: “Some higher ed experts say last year’s botched FAFSA rollout is at least partly to blame.” Yes, of course, the ivory tower types must be saying. It must be FAFSA because it couldn’t possibly be our overpriced and underperforming product. FAFSA refers to the Department of Education’s Free Application for Federal Student Aid program, and this seems an odd place to affix the blame. As Inside Higher Ed reports: “This year’s steep drop in 18-year-old freshman enrollment contrasts sharply with the 3 percent enrollment bump the group experienced from 2022 to 2023. Enrollment fell for this demographic in 46 states this fall, with an average drop of 7.1 percent.” It’s hard to know whether this is an anomaly or the start of a more serious correction, but it’s nice to know that the academy isn’t impervious to Adam Smith’s Invisible Hand.

Security

• Days after Trump’s victory, Biden-Harris admin granted Iran $10 billion in sanctions relief (Washington Free Beacon)

• Putin’s closest ally says more than a dozen nuclear weapons in Belarus (Newsweek)

For the Executive Summary archive, click here.