Buzz Aldrin: Famed astronaut, second man on the moon, and puncher of smug faces.

Sunday marks the 45th anniversary of the lunar landing — unless, of course, it never happened and the government faked the whole danged thing to make America look super powerful at the height of the Cold War. Is that conspiracy theory likely? Probably not, though there are some who ardently believe in it.

Bart Sibrel is one of those lunar truthers. And back in 2002, he ambushed Aldrin outside a Los Angeles hotel and berated him about his supposed role in the hoax, asking him to swear on a Bible he landed on the moon and calling him a "liar" and a "coward." Offended that someone would question his integrity, and fed up with being pestered for so long, Aldrin finally snapped and socked Sibrel in the face.

Police declined to press charges. Jon Terbush

The House voted 230 to 199 on Thursday to strip Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) of her seats on the education and budget committees, with 11 Republicans joining the Democrats in what is believed to be an unprecedented action. Typically, each party decides which of its members will sit on which committees, and occasionally a party punishes its members by stripping them of committee assignments, as House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) did with former Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) in 2019. McCarthy indicated Wednesday he had no plans to sanction Greene.

But the entire House actually votes to put every member on committees, former Rep. Justin Amash (I-Mich.) explained Thursday, linking to the bill the House approved Jan. 28. And the House can therefore vote to take members off their committees.

A lot of individual House members may not have even known they voted Greene onto the two committees, Amash said, "but congressional leaders certainly know, and the assignments are always voted on by the whole House." The Week Staff

For the first time, the White House on Thursday indicated the Biden administration is looking into using executive action to cancel at least some student debt.

"The president continues to support the canceling of student debt to bring relief to students and families," White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki tweeted. "Our team is reviewing whether there are any steps he can take through executive action, and he would welcome the opportunity to sign a bill sent to him by Congress."

About 43 million Americans owe $1.6 trillion in federal loans, and after he was elected, President Biden said his economic recovery plan would include canceling at least $10,000 in student loan debt. His $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief proposal does not cancel education debt, and Biden has pushed Congress to pass legislation on the matter. While Biden has used executive action to extend the pause on federal student loan interest, he has also questioned if he has the authority to write off loans all together.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) all believe he does, and on Thursday they reintroduced a resolution from December asking Biden to cancel up to $50,000 in debt for all federal student loan borrowers. "There is very little that the president could do with a flick of a pen that would boost our economy more than canceling $50,000 in student debt," Schumer told reporters. "This is one of those things the president can do on his own." Catherine Garcia

Former Vice President Mike Pence has landed a new job.

The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, announced on Thursday that Pence will join the organization as a distinguished visiting fellow. As part of his duties, he will advise policy experts, write a monthly column, deliver policy speeches, and fight back "against a socialist agenda pushed by those on the left," Heritage said.

Pence tweeted that the Heritage Foundation "helped shape my conservative philosophy for decades" and he looks forward to "rolling up my sleeves" and getting to work. Heritage President Kay C. James seems excited to have Pence on board, saying in a statement that knowing Pence is "still in the fight is an adrenaline shot for the entire conservative movement." Catherine Garcia

David Hogg just started a pillow fight with Mike Lindell.

Hogg is a gun control advocate who survived the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Lindell, the founder and CEO of MyPillow, is a vocal supporter of former President Donald Trump who continues to spread false claims about voter fraud. On Thursday, entrepreneur William LeGate tweeted about starting a company with Hogg that could "put MyPillow out of business," and Hogg quickly responded that he was game.

Hogg and LeGate later confirmed that this isn't an elaborate troll, and that their pillows will be "union made in America to create good jobs that support American families." Also, they will "not attempt a white supremacist overthrow of the United States government." Hogg said their website should go up in a few weeks, and the yet-to-be-named company will hire veterans, formerly incarcerated people, and "the workers from MyPillow in the case we put them out of business." Catherine Garcia

Before the House voted to strip Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) of her committee posts, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) explained why Greene's extremist social media posts put their colleagues in danger.

Hoyer brought a poster to the floor that showed one of Greene's old Facebook posts. The image depicted Greene holding a gun, next to photos of progressive Democratic Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.), Ilhan Omar (Minn.), and Rashida Tlaib (Mich.). The women have been dubbed "The Squad," and written at the bottom of the post were the words "Squad's Worst Nightmare."

"I ask my colleagues on the other side of the aisle when they take this vote: Imagine your faces on this poster," Hoyer said. "Imagine it's a Democrat with an AR-15. Imagine what your response would be and would you think that that person ought to be held accountable?"

"They're not 'The Squad,'" he continued. "They're Ilhan. They're Alexandria. They're Rashida. They are people. They are our colleagues." Hoyer asked if the image — which was removed from Facebook for violating its policies — was intended to scare the women so they "would have a nightmare about somebody with a gun, an AR-15. I urge my colleagues to look at that image and tell me what message you think it sends." Eleven Republicans voted with all of the Democrats to eject Greene from her two committees. Catherine Garcia

The House voted on Thursday to strip Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) of her committee posts, over inflammatory and violent remarks she has made and supported.

The vote was 230-199, with 11 Republicans joining Democrats to kick Greene off the Education and Labor and Budget committees. Greene has a history of making racist, anti-Semitic, and anti-Muslim remarks, and has also endorsed the execution of Democratic leaders, said there was no evidence a plane hit the Pentagon on 9/11, pushed the QAnon conspiracy, and harassed school shooting survivors.

Ahead of the vote on Thursday, Greene made excuses for her past comments, saying she conducted research on QAnon and regrets being "allowed to believe things that weren't true." She went on to say "school shootings are absolutely real" and "9/11 absolutely happened," but did not apologize for any of her remarks and claimed she is the victim of "big media companies." Catherine Garcia