TRUMPFANIK:  New York Rep. Elise Stefanik, who’s been mentioned as a possible running mate for Donald Trump, is following the former president’s lead in referring to the people jailed over the January 6^th insurrection as “hostages.”

  Appearing on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” the opportunistic Stefanik said, “I have concerns about the treatment of January 6 hostages” and “I believe we’re seeing the weaponization of the federal government against not just President Trump, but we’re seeing it against conservatives.” 

  Half the 1,200 people charged in the insurrection have pleaded guilty.

  Candidate Trump continues on the magical mystery tour in which he still claims the 2020 election was stolen and the people convicted for taking part in the January 6^th insurrection are “hostages.” He said, “If you’re with us, they put you in jail.”

  Former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney said on CBS, “These are people who were involved in violence against police officers in the assault on the Capitol, and … it’s disgraceful for Donald Trump to be saying what he’s saying.”

  A CBS News poll found that Republican support is growing for the people who broke into the Capitol that day, 21 percent in 2021, and 30 percent favorable today.

  Sixty-six percent of Republicans told CBS that the people jailed should be pardoned, and 90 percent say Trump should be on the presidential ballot.

AT WAR: Israel says its army has “completed the dismantling” of Hamas’s command structure in the northern Gaza Strip. Israel had always said the goal of its war was to dismantle and destroy the militant organization that rules Gaza.

  The army claims to have killed 8,000 militants and overall, the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry says 22,000 people have been killed. Much of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million has been displaced while their homes and businesses have been destroyed.

  Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday that Israel would continue its campaign to “eliminate Hamas, return our hostages and ensure that Gaza will no longer be a threat to Israel”.

SICK DAYS: Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin spent four days in the hospital last week and few people knew, including President Biden. Austin, 70, had been in the hospital since last Monday with what were described as complications from elective surgery, but the Pentagon did not tell the President until Thursday and did not announce it to the press until Friday. 

  They claim Austin has returned to full duties but have not said what the problem was.

EYES OPEN: Friends and fans of Taylor Swift are in a spin over an opinion piece in The NY Times that speculated on whether the international pop star is “queer,” meaning she she’s into women.

  In a 5,000 word essay, NY Times opinion editor Anna Marks followed a trail of artistic cookie crumbs in Swift’s work to arrive at the conclusion that the singer is closeted queer. Marks writes about swift singing of “self-love and self-acceptance” and appearing in a video “dancing at a pride parade, dripping in rainbow paint.” Marks cites Swift singing the lyric, “Why are you mad, when you could be GLAAD?”

  Marks speculates as to whether Swift was merely trying to be an ally of the gay-lesbian community, or actually coming out without saying so. She says Swift has been “dropping hairpins,” hints that she’s queer.

  Although Swift in one interview said she’s not gay, Marks further speculates that, “It does not illuminate whether that is because she was a straight, cis ally or because she was stuck in the shadowy, solitary recesses of the closet.” That could be said of anyone who says they are not gay.

  Marks even questions Swift’s current romance with football player Travis Kelce — “Romance for the ages? strategic brand partnership? performance art for entertainment’s sake?”

  In the essay, written like a Harvard doctoral thesis, Marks identifies herself as gay and argues that if Swift is closeted she owes it to lesser closeted artists to come out.  Marks may or may not be right about Swift, but a part of what’s happening in the world of gender identity is that you don’t owe explanation or apology to anyone. And missing in the whole thing is the most fundamental act of journalism, sitting down with Taylor Swift and asking her, “Are you, or aren’t you?”  

STATUARY: The three hour biopic of J. Robert Oppenheimer, father of the atomic bomb, won six major awards at the Golden Globes last night, beating out its chief rival, “Barbie.” But the Globes give out so many awards in sub-categories that almost everyone wins. Who would have been your favorite for “Best Television Limited Series, Anthology Series or Motion Picture Made for Television”?

 Margot Robbie, star of “Barbie,” wore pink.

THE SPIN RACK: The door that blew out of an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 at 12,000 feet last week has been found. The National Transportation Safety Board said yesterday that prior to the incident the plane was not being used in long flights over water because a pressurization warning light had gone off during three recent flights. — The Federal Elections Commission fined Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene $12,000 for improper fundraising on behalf of Stop Socialism Now political action committee. 

BELOW THE FOLD: The Navajo Nation is trying to stop the first commercial burial of human remains on the moon, claiming that will turn a place sacred to native religions into a waste site. “The moon holds a sacred place in Navajo cosmology,” said Navajo president Buu Nygren.

  A rocket was set for launch today to send up the human remains of 333 people, including “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry, and hair samples from presidents Washington, Kennedy, and Eisenhower, according to Celestis, a privately owned space burial company.

  Humans turn anything they touch into a junkyard, but Celestis CEO Charles Chafer said, “Our memorial on the moon is handled with care and reverence … No one, and no religion, owns the moon.”

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