Good morning! Here is your news briefing for Wednesday May 5, 2021
1.) THE DAILY SIGNAL
May 5 2021
Good morning from Washington, where the Biden administration tries to explain why it’s OK for the government to fly illegal aliens to U.S. destinations without the restrictions faced by U.S. citizens. Fred Lucas reports. Young Americans can stand up to leftist propaganda at school, Anna Agresti writes. On the podcast, our Rachel del Guidice gets an informed take on the border mess from Chad Wolf, former homeland security director. Plus: defending girls sports; responding to woke businesses; and confronting noncitizens’ power. Sixty years ago today, NASA launches Navy Cmdr. Alan Bartlett Shepard Jr. aboard Freedom 7 for a 15-minute, 116-mile-high suborbital flight that makes him the first U.S. astronaut in space.
“There is no way to verify identities when they show up with no documents and we release [illegal immigrants] within 24 hours,” former border chief Mark Morgan says. “The room for fraud is wide.”
College track and cross-country athlete Madison Kenyon has been forced to compete against a biological male five times. She lost every race. Now she fights for Idaho’s law.
“Border Patrol officers, agents, and officials … can’t believe that all the work that we had accomplished over the last several years has just been undone in a matter of weeks,” says Chad Wolf.
When you stand up to these cultural bullies, they go away. And multiple states are standing up and saying, “We’re pursuing commonsense policy no matter what the mobs do.”
The inclusion of noncitizens, including illegal aliens, in the population used to determine apportionment means that many Americans are being defrauded of their fair share of representation.
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3.) DAYBREAK
Your First Look at Today’s Top Stories – Daybreak Insider
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WSJ: Teachers Union Coerced CDC Into Changing Guidelines to Fit Union Needs
From the story: In early February, new CDC Director Rochelle Walensky told reporters in a press conference that “schools can safely reopen and that safe reopening does not suggest that teachers need to be vaccinated.” Oops. She forgot to consult the expert opinion of Ms. Weingarten, a major supporter of President Biden. After unions howled, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Dr. Walensky was speaking in her “personal capacity,” not providing “official guidance” from the CDC. A couple of weeks later, the CDC rolled out official school reopening guidelines that recommended teachers be given “high priority” for vaccines and curiously echoed other union demands. Now we know why. Emails obtained by the New York Post showed that the AFT union reviewed a CDC draft and made recommendations that union officials said would “strengthen the document.” The CDC adopted two of the union’s suggestions nearly verbatim.
Press Secretary Jen Psaki said the crisis is “something that began during and was something that was exacerbated by the Trump administration” (Twitter). But that doesn’t come close to the reality told by the actual numbers (Customs and Border Protection). More from Psaki: “After four years of an immigration system rooted in destructive and chaotic policies, President Biden is taking the challenge head on and is building a fair, orderly, and human immigration system. That’s our objective” (National Review). In case the blame-Trump doesn’t fly, Kamala Harris tried pinning it on climate change (Twitter).
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3.
ADF: Equality Act Would Strip Americans of Fairness and Freedom
From the story: Because the Equality Act would allow men who identify as female to compete in women’s sports, this would create an unfair playing field for women and girls in sports and education. The bill would also violate women’s privacy by forcing them to share private spaces with men. In Alaska, for example, the city of Anchorage tried to use a SOGI law to force women’s shelters to allow men to sleep in their overnight shelter—next to many women who have experienced rape, trafficking, and abuse. The Equality Act would also place religious freedom and free speech on the line in several ways. These include forcing faith-based adoption and foster care agencies to violate their beliefs and forcing people who willingly serve every customer to create or promote messages that violate their deeply held convictions. We saw this when local and state governments came after Jack Phillips, Barronelle Stutzman, and Blaine Adamson.
From the story: Ex-Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin has filed a motion seeking a new trial in the death of George Floyd, arguing that his constitutional right to a fair trial was violated multiple times throughout the proceedings. Defense attorney Eric Nelson took issue with the judge’s refusal to grant a change of venue and the decision to not sequester jurors during the trial, among other things in a 10-point post-verdict filing. “The cumulative effect of the multiple errors in these proceedings deprived Mr. Chauvin of a fair trial, in violation of his constitutional rights,” the filing reads (Fox News). And of course there’s the revelation that a juror lied about his involvement in a BLM/George Floyd protest in DC (National Review).
5.
Louisville Restaurant Patron Pulls Out Gun as BLM Protesters Harass Diners
Many of the BLM protestors also entered with weapons. Only a matter of time until this turns into a gun fight in a restaurant.
House GOP Could Oust Liz Cheney from Leadership Next Week
From the story: The increasingly embattled Cheney survived a move to oust her earlier this year after she voted to impeach President Donald Trump, but a new round of anti-Trump comments, as well as her foreign and domestic policy positions, have put her further at odds with the GOP conference, Republicans told the Washington Examiner (Washington Examiner). The Wall Street Journal editorial board has taken the side of Cheney (WSJ). But Cheney’s latest tweet was shockingly harsh. From Byron York: What is House Republican Conference Chair Liz Cheney thinking? Is she trying to deliver tough love to the GOP’s most ardent supporters of former President Donald Trump? Is she trying to administer bad-tasting-but-needed medicine to her party? Is she trying to curry favor with media opinion-makers? Is she trying to position herself for some big political move in the next year or so? None of that is really clear at this moment (Washington Examiner).
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Good morning and Happy Cinco de Mayo! Just a friendly reminder that we’re giving $1 to the National Diaper Bank Network for every Brew referral this week. Thanks to everyone who has shared so far…let’s keep it going through Mother’s Day.
Covid: President Biden’s new vaccine goal is to get one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine into 70% of US adults by July 4. Currently, about 56% of US adults have received at least one shot.
Markets: Meme coins > meme stocks. While tech shares dove for the Nasdaq’s worst day since March, dogecoin leapt past 50 cents to a new high.
When investment giant Tiger Global heard that Shakespeare wrote King Lear during quarantine, it said, “That’s it?”
During the pandemic, Tiger went on a dealmaking run for the ages that’s culminating in a new $10 billion fund, the largest ever raised by an independent fund manager for minority tech investments.
What is Tiger? It’s a New York-based “crossover” fund, meaning it invests in both private and public companies. And in the last 12 months, it’s left the venture capital world spinning by unloading dump trucks of cash on tech startups and playing by its own rules:
In Q1, it landed more than four deals per week on average, per Pitchbook data cited by The Information.
It has hunted for targets at a dizzying pace, approaching founders before they even knew they wanted to raise money. In some instances, it’s gone from conversation → term sheet in three days.
Instead of asking which companies Tiger’s invested in, it’s better to ask which companies Tiger’s not invested in. It owned 10% of Roblox before its direct listing this year. It owned ~10% of Coinbase before its public debut. 20% of Peloton pre-IPO. Postmates before its sale to Uber. Credit Karma before its sale to Intuit. Discord. JD.com. Snowflake.
Crazy part is, Tiger thinks it could be doing more. In a letter to investors, it said its opportunity was “very large relative to the amount of capital we manage and evolving at a rate that is often hard to comprehend.”
Remind you of anyone?
Tiger’s aggressive move into tech has been compared to the Japanese conglomerate SoftBank, whose $100 billion Vision Fund similarly shook up the VC world in 2017. But whereas SoftBank went deep in a few moonshot startups, Tiger is going wide, throwing money at founders before other investors swoop in.
Zoom out: Tiger’s become a target of VCs who say it’s inflating valuations beyond historical norms. It says those people are just jealous.
It turns out novelty T-shirts aren’t the only way to make a pandemic profit. Pfizer said its Covid-19 vaccine did $3.5 billion in revenue in Q1, accounting for about a quarter of its total revenue.
Context: Last July, when we were still wiping down grocery bags, AstraZeneca and J&J promised to produce their vaccines at no profit to themselves, while Moderna and Pfizer looked at their phones and pretended not to hear the question.
Pfizer was also the only company that didn’t accept federal funds for vaccine production, saying it wanted to be able to move as quickly as possible with production. At the time, politicians worried that Pfizer’s decision to refuse government funds would lead to price gouging.
Looking ahead…Pfizer is strapping on its JanSport and heading to elementary school. In September, it will ask the FDA for emergency use authorization for kids age 2–11. It’s expected to get authorization for 12-15-year-olds next week.
Jamie Dimon, like most of us, is sick of his little daily walks. The JPMorgan CEO told the WSJ yesterday, “I’m about to cancel all my Zoom meetings. I’m done with it.”
He won’t have to wait much longer. New York is two weeks away from fully reopening, and a wave of top banks are telling staff to iron their slacks and get ready for a return to office.
Goldman Sachs executives revealed a plan to get US staff back at their NYC desks by June 14 and UK staff back at their Hogwarts desks by June 21.
JPMorgan wants 50% of its staff back in the office (at least part-time) by July.
Deutsche Bank is preparing to move its NYC staff into its new headquarters starting in July.
Big picture: While employees want to keep some of their WFH flexibility, a survey of 400 financial services executives found that ~80% want their staff to spend four to five days per week in the office after the pandemic. “You know people don’t like commuting, but so what,” said Dimon.
Today we’re discussing a company you might’ve heard about that helps sell books thermometers pool floaties everything, called Amazon. But let’s be honest, you know what they sell. What you may not know is that they’re no slouches when it comes to offering comprehensive benefits to their employees.
It goes well beyond their starting wage of $15/hour for all US employees (yes, it’s higher in more expensive markets). They also offer hourly employees health insurance, paid leave, and even technical upskilling training programs.
Did your ears perk up at upskilling? Amazon is investing $700 million into upskilling programs by 2025. This means for those interested in taking on more technical roles (at Amazon or wherever their careers take them), Amazon will provide the necessary training.
So, it’s cool to have over a million employees, but what’s even cooler is giving them opportunities to grow through meaningful career changes.
What’s inside Pandora’s box? From here on out, lab-grown diamonds only. The world’s largest jeweler by volume announced yesterday that it’ll only use synthetic diamonds, not mined ones, in its new designs. Though many major jewelers have added lab-made stones to their lineups, Pandora has promised to fully make the switch.
Don’t have an engagement ring Pinterest board? We got you…
Labs vs. Mines
Diamonds grown in a lab are, per the NYT, “physically, chemically, and optically identical” to diamonds found underground. But there are less-visible differences:
Blood Diamond baggage: Though a Human Rights Watch report found diamond sourcing has gotten more ethical over the years, it added that “most [jewelers] cannot assure consumers that their jewellery is untainted by human rights abuses.”
Environmental impact: Lab-made fans say the stones are more sustainable than mined ones. That hasn’t been proven, but Pandora claims it’ll make its diamonds using only renewable energy by next year.
Price: Man-made diamonds are up to 10x cheaper than mined ones.
Zoom out: Featured in only 50,000 of its 85 million products, diamonds aren’t Pandora’s crown jewel. A pivot of this scale would require a much bigger supply chain overhaul for companies like De Beers.
Stat: Of the 259 players selected in the NFL draft last weekend, zero were from historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs), once a fertile pipeline for professional football rosters. That outcome frustrated many coaches, including Deion Sanders of Jackson State.
Quote: “Looking forward to a summer of love.”
The turkey drop’s got nothing on the post-pandemic drop, and Match Group CEO Shar Dubey thinks all our summers will look like the “Watermelon Sugar” music video.
Read: Practical tips for writing better cover letters from Matty Merritt. (Morning Brew)
And he’s more surprising than a 9am push notification for $5.99 cheesy bread. Meet: the Noid. Introduced in the late ’80s, the red-suited dude’s one goal in life is to keep pizzas from being delivered. You’ll soon see him in…
Upcoming Crash Bandicoot games, doubling down on nostalgia
This villain incited some real-life chaos in the past (a hostage situation, seriously), so some wonder why Domino’s has opted to bring him back instead of following the advice of the campaign’s tagline: “Avoid the Noid.”
Fun fact: The name Noid is a nod to “Dominoid,” a nickname for the chain’s employees.
WHAT ELSE IS BREWING
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said interest rates might have to tick up to make sure the economy doesn’t “overheat,” but she’s still not concerned about inflation.
Lyft’s earnings showed a big rebound in ride-hailing last quarter; shares gained 7% after hours.
Instagram made a captions sticker for Stories; one for Reels is coming soon.
BREW’S BETS
This burger robot’s really sizzlin’. Flippy is the burger cookin’ kitchen assistant set to revolutionize the QSR industry, helping businesses increase margins by about 300%. Don’t wait another flippin’ second and invest today.*
Funky rugs, spunky pendant lamps, even chunky candles! Etsy helps you refresh your space like only you can. So whether you’re just looking for design inspiration or you’re hunting for a unique, room-finishing piece, you’ll find what you need to express yourself on Etsy.*
A different kind of Morning Brew: This Starbucks order has been circulating around the internet, and it’s not hard to see why.
Two helpful pods: 1) Seven principles for networking in the post-Covid era by our own executive chairman, Alex Lieberman, and 2) six steps for mapping out a path that aligns your personal values with professional ambitions.
Cinco de Mayo celebrates the Mexican army’s victory over the French at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862. But that’s not the only interesting thing that’s happened on this day in history.
See if you can answer these questions about notable events on May 5.
In 1260, this man became ruler of the Mongol Empire.
In 1821, Napoleon died in exile on this island.
In 1891, Carnegie Hall (then called the Music Hall) opened with this Russian composer as guest conductor.
In 1904, this pitcher threw the first perfect game in the modern era of baseball.
In 1973, this horse won the Kentucky Derby, setting the track record that still stands today.
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6.) THE FACTUAL
5 MAY 2021
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Facts, not fear.
TRENDING TOPICS
Inflation concerns • Trump’s online platform • Best sources on immigration news • Mexico City metro collapses • Principal paddles student
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DC’s moderate Millenials • Incorrect A.I. predictions • Expanding the House
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[On] Tuesday morning, Treasury Secretary Yellen defended the administration’s new spending proposals and said the central bank could handle inflationary pressures with modest interest rate increases. Later Tuesday, Yellen was adamant that she was not concerned about inflation and stressed that she was not recommending an imminent rate increase.
…
Some analysts fear [the surge in cash from federal emergency spending] will lead consumer demand to outstrip supply, bidding up prices. The White House says those programs are accounted for with tax increases. Those increases could in theory reduce the programs’ inflationary impact, because the government would be taking about as much money out of the economy as it was putting in.
…
For now, inflation has primarily spiked only in specific sectors, as suppliers struggle to catch up with a surge in consumer demand. Prices on some commodities have risen sharply, adding to inflation fears, and there is a shortage of the computer chips used in a number of products.
How is former President Trump countering his social media bans?
Mr. Trump was banned by Twitter and suspended by Facebook and YouTube after the Capitol riots in January. The former president has since been releasing s…
Full summaries, images, and headlines for subscribers only.
All votes are anonymous. This poll closes at: 9:00 PST
YESTERDAY’S POLLHow much of a country’s population needs to be vaccinated to reopen fully?
80%+
35%
60%+
37%
40%+
28%
369 votes, 124 comments
Context: Herd immunity threshold of 80%+ seems unlikely given vaccine hesitancy.
HIGHLIGHTED COMMENTS
“80%+ – We must reach herd immunity to beat covid. If we do not, new variants and strains that are resistant to vaccines will arise, and we will be left scrambling to develop new or updated vaccines to combat them. This would be one step forward, two steps back. ”
“60%+ – Seems like Israel has the right idea. If we can get our more vulnerable populations (e.g. 65 a…”
“40%+ – I don’t think reopening has anything to do with number of vaccinated people….”
Why is a Florida school principal under investigation for paddling a student?
A Florida principal is under investigation after a video went viral of her using a paddle to discipline a 6-year-old child in front of the child’s mother. The child…
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Don’t scroll past. Support credible news for everyone.
The Oversight Board – the organization responsible for determining who can be banned from Facebook and Instagram will today announce its decision on whether President Trump will be permitted to post on its platforms. The decision is expected to be released at 9 a.m. EDT; Liberty Nation will keep you informed on the final result.
Surprise! China Military Involved in Wuhan Virus Research
Derek Chauvin’s lawyer has filed a petition for a retrial claiming that his client’s rights were violated through juror misconduct and the court failing in its duty. You can read more on this right here on Liberty Nation.
President Donald Trump has started his own message-sharing platform that allows him to post his thoughts and comments. While other users cannot comment or make their own posts, it seems this is a trial run for things to come.
A number of news outlets report that the DNC is in the process of gathering opposition research on possible opponents to Joe Biden in 2024. Included among the hit list are Mike Lindell and Tucker Carlson.
Was the Unity Promised by Biden Just Sweet Nothings?
Something political to ponder as you enjoy your morning coffee.
On the same day the Oversight Board for Facebook and Instagram is due to decide whether President Trump is too dangerous to appear on its platforms, a prominent Washington newspaper released a report showing hundreds of Instagram accounts engaged in human trafficking and exploitation. The social media giant only shuttered these accounts after the paper approached it. Perhaps it’s time to reconsider whether Silicon Valley giants should really be the moral arbiters of our time.
Karlyn Bowman and Samantha Goldstein | Democracy Fund Voter Study Group
In this deeply polarized age, the vast majority of Republican, Democratic, independent, black, white, and Hispanic Americans did not encounter significant difficulties voting during the election of 2020.
Democrats are discussing several high-profile reforms for possible inclusion in the infrastructure or family support bills that the president has teed up for congressional consideration, but each faces some opposition.
Despite concerns about China’s technological advances, the supposed wizardry of its central planning and industrial policy has been failing in at least one key way: productivity growth.
Brent Orrell and Mason M. Bishop | RealClearPolicy
Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act reform could allow states to function as the laboratories of democracy and try new and innovative solutions to address an ailing public workforce system.
“[Former President Donald] Trump this week lashed out at Cheney in a statement after she said, without naming him, that anyone who claimed the 2020 election had been stolen was ‘poisoning our democratic system.’” Reuters
From the Right
The right is divided about whether Cheney should be removed from her leadership position.
“Liz Cheney is not on the verge of being forced out of leadership because she has convictions. There are plenty of GOP House members who 1) don’t like Trump and 2) have varying views on things like amnesty and foreign policy (Cheney is out of step with most Republicans on those two issues). Those members are not being pushed out of the party or punished…
“The reason Cheney is in trouble is that she’s refusing to let go of her anti-Trumpism and January 6th obsession when those things are simply not relevant to the party anymore. She’s also been directly undermining McCarthy publicly after he went out of his way to give her space to vent. She’s had that space and now is the time to let it go and move forward. Cheney doesn’t have the capacity or will to do that. Thus, she has no place in leadership…
“Republicans need leaders that aren’t going to go on Chuck Todd’s or Jake Tapper’s show and cut the knees out from under their own caucus.” Bonchie, RedState
“Republicans need Donald Trump to help the party take back the House in 2022. For Cheney to go off script and make suggestions totally at odds with the reality of being a Republican politician in this day and age is not helping or being ‘productive’ as McCarthy says. If Cheney was some backbench nobody, she could probably get away with it. But as a member of the party leadership, she has some responsibility to foster unity in the party…
“That said, forming a circular firing squad to deal with her contrariness isn’t helpful either. Republicans cannot afford to be a monochromatic party of one shade of conservatism. Litmus tests are self-defeating. Running someone out of town who disagrees with the majority is not the way to build a winning coalition.” Rick Moran, PJ Media
Others note that “Cheney has attacked President Biden’s decision [to leave Afghanistan], calling it a huge propaganda victory for the Taliban and al-Qaeda. That would have been a near-unanimous opinion among Republicans as recently as 2015, when Islamist terrorism seemed to be the nation’s serious foreign threat. But that is no longer the case. Most Republicans now rightly see China as a more dangerous foe, and many are willing to cede Afghanistan to a minor set of foes to concentrate our efforts on the bigger threat. Cheney’s mind-set seems to be stuck back in 2003…
“She [also] recently criticized a memo from the head of the House Republican Study Committee, Indiana Rep. Jim Banks, who said the GOP should cement itself as a ‘Working-Class Party.’ The memo advocated some pretty mild ideas, such as limiting illegal immigration and maintaining trade restrictions on China as ways to increase jobs and wages for working-class Americans. Cheney, however, reportedly described it as neo-Marxist during a Congressional Institute call… This is an example of George W. Bush-era globalism — precisely the views that majorities of Republicans now reject. How can she lead a party whose views she largely disagrees with?” Henry Olsen, Washington Post
Supporters of Cheney argue that “Even as President Biden proposes the largest expansion of government in decades, Mr. Trump is spending his energy settling scores in his own party… Republicans will look foolish, or worse, to swing voters if they refight 2020 in 2022. They can truthfully say that Democrats used lawsuits to exploit the pandemic to change the election rules in some states. They can also say Democratic judges on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court let Democrats get away with it. Democrats did a better job of exploiting the pandemic election rules than did the GOP…
“But there’s no evidence any of this was decisive, as Mr. Trump lost the popular vote in a rout and the Electoral College by a similar margin to what he won in 2016. Mr. Trump lost even as Republicans gained 12 seats in the House… Republicans should find a way to speak this truth to voters in 2022—and quickly turn to running on an agenda for the future that will check Mr. Biden and his cradle-to-grave entitlement state. Purging Liz Cheney for honesty would diminish the party.” Editorial Board, Wall Street Journal
From the Left
The left is critical of attempts to remove Cheney and condemns the Republican party’s unsubstantiated claims of electoral fraud.
“Cheney’s crime is that, unlike almost every other prominent Republican not named Mitt Romney, she hasn’t budged from the posture she adopted January 6. Rather than accept the facts on the ground — namely, that the party’s base overwhelmingly believes Trump’s lie that Joe Biden stole the election — Cheney has continued to affirm the legitimacy of Biden’s win and denounce Trump’s coup…
“What’s astonishing about Cheney’s dissent is not only that she is such an unlikely figure to mount a doomed and lonely stand. She was born to the party and the conservative movement; she hasn’t got a moderate bone in her body. What’s more unusual still is that she has no obvious rationale other than sheer principle. Elected officials, faced with an unwinnable fight, nearly always yield to realism. Cheney apparently believes that respect for the rule of law is a nonnegotiable principle of conservatism.” Jonathan Chait, New York Magazine
“A CNN poll released last Friday found that roughly one-third of Americans, and 70 percent of all Republicans, think President Joe Biden was not the legitimate winner of the 2020 presidential election. There is no evidence to support that position, of course, but that hasn’t stopped former President Donald Trump and most other Republican officials from either spreading lies…
“If the United States had a slightly different political system, Cheney, Romney, and other apostates from the Trumpian faith could form a new political party that better represents their values. Alas, forming a viable third party is all but impossible in national politics thanks to the first-past-the-post electoral system and the immense infrastructure of the existing parties. It’s one reason why the occasional suggestions that Trump might break away from the GOP and form a ‘MAGA Party’ of his own are so unlikely. That, and his grip on the Republican Party is so strong that there would be no point.” Matt Ford, New Republic
“Congressional Republicans have long walked a tightrope on Trump’s false claims of fraud in the 2020 election. They’ve supported various efforts to question and even overturn the result, but few of them went nearly as far as Trump. He talked about massive fraud and dead people voting, and made baseless claims about voting machines; they talked more broadly about supposed ‘irregularities’ and states allegedly not following their own election laws. It’s clear that most of them knew what Trump was saying was bunk, so they watered it down in the name of at least appearing as though they were on his side. Even Trump’s impeachment lawyers did this…
“The GOP’s watered-down argument about the validity of the election results, although not totally echoing Trump, has led a strong majority of Republicans to falsely believe that the election was indeed stolen. That’s a pretty big deal. It’s harmful to democracy for people to falsely believe such things. But to [Indiana Rep. Jim] Banks and others, it’s neither here nor there; Cheney needs to be on the team and stop dwelling on whether the team may have very recently participated in undermining our system of government, because there are future elections to win…
“There is simply nothing more dangerous for a two-party democracy than to have one party declare that no election where it loses is legitimate, and, therefore, if it loses it will just lie about the results and change the rules. That’s exactly what’s playing out now…
“What I learned covering the struggle for the future of the Arab-Muslim world post-9/11 is that the war of ideas inside is everything. Sure, it is important for outsiders to condemn bad behavior, but their voices have limited impact. Real change happens only when the war of ideas is won by insiders, working from the roots upward… Unless more principled Republicans stand up for the truth about our last election, we’re going to see exactly how a democracy dies.” Thomas L. Friedman, New York Times
A libertarian’s take
“The current fuss over Cheney tells us less about her political ‘growth’ or ‘change’ or ‘courage’ than it does about the press corps’ need for a changing story and the need for politicians to differentiate themselves. Political ambition can be consummated in a number of ways. One can support the leadership and wait to be called on, which is a pretty dull story. Or one can oppose the bosses and attempt to topple them, a story that writes itself and attracts readers…“The impeachment saga presented her with not so much a test of courage but a fork in her career. Go down with Trump or ride his political corpse to glory? Some time ago she decided to saddle the old bull. While Trump might be bucking more than Cheney anticipated, the wild ride is burnishing her image the way John McCain’s defiance of Trump did his. The field is overstocked with Trump clones—Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, Ron DeSantis, Kristi Noem, Mike Pompeo, Nikki Haley, Tom Cotton, et al. Having studied politics for decades under her mother and father, Cheney has surely gamed this out. You can call her courageous all you want and express your astonishment at her opposition to Trump. But there is more calculation on display here than there is valor.” Jack Shafer, Politico
⚖️ Please join Sara Fischer and me for an Axios event tomorrow at 9 a.m. ET: We’ll interview two members of the Facebook Oversight Board about their verdict — out this morning — on whether to restore access for Donald Trump. Sign up here.
🚨 1 big thing: House GOP leaders turn on Liz Cheney
Cheney watches as Scalise speaks at a press conference last month. Photo: Sarah Silbiger/Getty Images
Bulletin … House Republican leaders openly turn on House GOP Conference Chair Liz Cheney: The top two leaders, Kevin McCarthy and Steve Scalise, are working behind the scenes to boost Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York to replace Cheney, Punchbowl News reports.
Scalise, who as whip is the No. 2 leader, this morning released a statement to Axios backing Stefanik for conference chair:
“House Republicans need to be solely focused on taking back the House in 2022 and fighting against Speaker Pelosi and President Biden’s radical socialist agenda, and Elise Stefanik is strongly committed to doing that.”
McCarthy, the House minority leader, was caught on a hot mic yesterday saying he’s “lost confidence” in Cheney and “has had it with” her, as Axios’ Kadia Goba scooped.
Top Republicans told Axios’ Alayna Treene they want to replace Cheney with a woman.
What to watch: Members expect the process to oust Cheney to begin a week from today, when the House GOP conference meets next. (The House is out this week.)
It would take up to a two-thirds vote of the 212 caucus members to replace her — a relatively high bar if a secret ballot is held, and one that Cheney cleared in a previous vote to remove her in February.
The U.S. is the last major power to enter the race for global vaccine diplomacy, but it can still win, Axios World editor Dave Lawler writes.
China has given or sold doses to around 90 countries, and 70 nations expect to receive Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine, the Economist Intelligence Unit reports. That includes nearly every country in Latin America.
But both have struggled to deliver on their promises — as have the other major players, India and the EU.
That leaves the U.S. With its enormous production capacity and dwindling domestic demand, the U.S. could soon pivot to churning out highly effective vaccines for the rest of the world.
3. Poll: Mask use drops after CDC relaxes guidelines
Data: Axios/Ipsos Poll (3.3% margin of error). Chart: Sara Wise/Axios
Vaccinated Americans are easing up on wearing masks — but so are unvaccinated Americans, Axios managing editor David Nather writes from a new Ipsos poll.
Overall, 57% of the respondents said they still wear a mask at all times when leaving the house. 47% of unvaccinated Americans say that.
4. Forgotten anti-slavery history of Cinco de Mayo
Aracely Saucillo (left) and Marylin Castillo perform with Mexica Ballet Folclorico during Cinco de Mayo festivities in downtown L.A. in 2011. Photo: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images
Cinco de Mayo was long marketed in the U.S. as a fun holiday for getting drunk and eating tacos, Axios race and justice reporter Russell Contreras writes. But its origins are linked to California Latinos who saw a battle in Mexico in 1862 as a victory for abolition during the Civil War.
Why it matters: Protests after the death of George Floyd, which brought Latino and Black advocates together over the past year, have prompted a re-examination of this lesser-known piece of U.S. history.
Cinco de Mayo commemorates the Battle of Puebla and the victory of Mexico’s ragtag army, made up largely of Indigenous soldiers, against the better-equipped and trained French forces of Napoleon III.
Don’t forget: Cinco de Mayo isn’t Mexican Independence Day. That’s Sept. 16.
5. How Jeff Bezos outflanked the National Enquirer
Courtesy Bloomberg Businessweek
Jeff Bezos caused a sensation in 2019 when he posted on Medium that he had been having an affair — and that he was writing about it because the National Enquirer had photos and was trying to blackmail him.
But there was far more to the story, as Bloomberg News editor Brad Stone — author of “The Everything Store” — details in a new book, “Amazon Unbound,” out next Tuesday. Ina Fried has this account of an excerpt published today by Bloomberg BusinessWeek:
While the Medium post was a master stroke in setting the narrative, Bezos used a personal appeal to Amazon executives to convince his team that he remained firmly in control. Stone details how Bezos explained the whole affair to Amazon executives during a lengthy Feb. 14, 2019, meeting that ran so long it cut into executives’ Valentine’s Day plans.
Bezos’ Medium post accused the Enquirer of trying to extort him — and linked the tabloid to political figures hostile to him, including Saudi leaders upset with how The Washington Post, which Bezos owns, covered the murder of its reporter Jamal Khashoggi.
“All of this is very distracting, so thank you for being focused on the business,” Bezos told the executives, as he turned from explaining his personal life to managing the corporate headcount.
Social-media interactions about Donald Trump have fallen 91% since January, Axios’ Neal Rothschild writes from exclusive NewsWhip data.
Why it matters: When Trump lost his social media accounts, he lost his once-immense power to make himself the center of attention.
Clicks on Trump stories fell 81% from January to February, another 56% from February to March, and 40% from March to April, according to exclusive data from SocialFlow.
“Trump’s social media superpower was never his ability to tweet — it was his ability to get the media to cover what he tweeted,” SocialFlow CEO Jim Anderson tells Axios.
7. Scoop: Jared Kushner founds Abraham Accords Institute
Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump at President Trump’s departure on Inauguration Day. Photo: Alex Edelman/AFP via Getty Images
Jared Kushner is founding the Abraham Accords Institute for Peace to deepen normalization agreements he helped strike between Israel and Arab countries, Axios from Tel Aviv author Barak Ravid reports.
The Abraham Accords, signed in September, were arguably Trump’s biggest foreign policy achievement — and the biggest breakthrough for relations between Israel and the Arab world for 25 years.
Kushner is founding the institute with former White House aide Avi Berkowitz; Israeli-American businessman and Democratic donor Haim Saban; and three heavy hitters from the region — the Emirati and Bahraini ambassadors to Washington, Yousef Al Otaiba and Abdullah R. Al-Khalifa, and Israeli Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi.
On May 5, 1961, Alan Shepard sits in his capsule at Cape Canaveral. Photo: AP
On May 5, 1961, Alan Shepard’s 15-minute Mercury flight made him the first American in space.
The 37-year-old astronaut and Navy test pilot cut a slick sci-fi figure in his silver spacesuit in the predawn darkness at Cape Canaveral as he looked up at his Redstone rocket, AP’s Marcia Dunn writes.
Impatient with delays, including another hold in the countdown just minutes before launch, he growled into his mic: “Why don’t you fix your little problem and light this candle?”
9. First look: White House launches AI website
Photo: White House Office of Science and Technology Policy
The White House today launched a website, AI.gov, to make artificial intelligence research more accessible, Axios’ Sarah Mucha has learned.
Why it matters: The U.S. once led significantly in the global AI race, but now risks being overtaken by China. So the White House is trying to drum up excitement.
The target audience is the general public — including teachers, and students interested in science.
A bride-to-be views herself in a mirror in Rotterdam. Photo: Robin Utrecht/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
Get on your dancing shoes: 2021 will be a bumper year for weddings.
Why it matters: The pandemic brought the industry to a near standstill. Now it’s bouncing back, providing a much-needed boost to local small businesses as their calendars fill up into 2022, Katie Peralta Soloff writes in Axios Charlotte.
It’s shaping up to be the busiest year ever for Diane and Vinny Esposito, who run a DJ service in Charlotte, Split Second Sound.
In a typical year, Split Second Sound does about 600 weddings. Last year, the firm did 270.
This year, Split Second Sound already has over 600 weddings on the books. It was “like the floodgates opened,” Vinny says.
The treasury chief’s remarks briefly led the stock market to dip and seemed to suggest that White House officials were acknowledging that inflationary pressures were a growing concern.
Global demand for critical minerals is set to spike sharply to support more clean energy, and the United States and other countries must grapple with stabilizing a supply that is currently dominated by China, the International Energy Agency says.
Sen. Bill Hagerty of Tennessee is seeking to force social media giants including Facebook and YouTube to carry content they don’t want, a step the Republican argued is constitutional and necessary to counter unfair online censorship.
U.S. national security officials are increasingly sounding the alarm about the economic challenge and national security threat posed by the Chinese Communist Party, especially as the Chinese government’s Thousand Talents Program exploits the openness of academia in the United States to steal advanced research to increase China’s wealth and enhance its power. In part two of this series, China on Campus, the Washington Examiner investigates the Justice Department’s ramped-up efforts to stem the tide of Chinese economic espionage at American colleges.
At $6 trillion and counting, the scale of the federal government’s COVID-19 spending is truly unprecedented. In exchange for spending that much, an astounding $42,000 per federal taxpayer, politicians promised their programs could save the day. But a new analysis shows that the most expensive federal stimulus, the Paycheck Protection Program, woefully failed to help minority communities and those who needed it most.
On Aug. 23, 2020, a Kenosha police officer shot Jacob Blake as he scuffled with law enforcement officers in one of several incidents that rocked the nation last summer. Riots that occurred in the ensuing days brought violence, destruction, and the national spotlight to the small Wisconsin city. The Washington Examiner recently went back to Kenosha to find out what has happened in the aftermath.
President Joe Biden is delivering on his campaign promise to govern without Donald Trump’s freewheeling antics, opting for scripted remarks over the former president’s off-the-cuff tweets and frequent sparring sessions with reporters.
In an interview that has resurfaced in light of Bill and Melinda Gates announcing their divorce, the Microsoft founder said that he and his ex-girlfriend would take yearly weekend trips to the beach in North Carolina even while married.
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18.) ASSOCIATED PRESS
March 19, 2021
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AP Morning Wire
Good morning. Here are today’s selection of top stories from The Associated Press at this hour to begin the U.S. day.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden set a new vaccination goal to deliver at least one shot to 70% of adult Americans by July Fourth as he tackles the vexing problem of winning over the “doubters” and those unmotivated to get inoculated……Read More
Since the day after the deadly Jan. 6 riots on the U.S. Capitol, former President Donald Trump’s social media accounts have been silent — muzzled for inciting violence using the platforms as online megaphones… …Read More
NEW DELHI (AP) — India’s hospitals were packed with coronavirus patients, relatives of the sick scrambled to find supplies of oxygen, and crematoriums were running near full capacity to handle the dead… …Read More
MISSION, Kan. (AP) — After more than a year of fretting over her 13-year son with a rare liver disease, Heather Ousley broke into tears when she learned that he and millions of other youngsters could soon be eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine…Read More
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Myanmar’s security forces moved in and the street lamps went black. In house after house, people shut off their lights… …Read More
NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. birth rate fell 4% last year, the largest single-year decrease in nearly 50 years, according to a government report being released Wednesday… …Read More
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy wants his party to stand firmly with Donald Trump, despite the former president’s false claims about the election…Read More
BABB, Mont. (AP) — On a cloudy spring day, hundreds lined up in their cars on the Canadian side of the border crossing that separates Alberta and Montana… …Read More
COLUMBIA, Md. (AP) — Sifting through a shovel load of dirt in a suburban backyard, Michael Raupp and Paula Shrewsbury find their quarry: a cicada nymph… …Read More
“There are only two forces that can carry light to all the corners of the globe … the sun in the heavens and The Associated Press down here.”
Mark Twain
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Good morning, Chicago. Illinois public health officials on Tuesday reported 2,211 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 and 19 additional deaths. The state also saw its lowest positivity rate since the end of March, down to 3.3% on Monday. Additionally, officials reported there were 40,361 doses of the vaccine administered on Monday.
Also on Tuesday, Chicago officials added Indiana back to the city’s emergency travel order, which will go into effect Friday. Here’s what that will mean.
Meanwhile, Pfizer said on Tuesday that it expects to apply to the FDA in September for emergency authorization to administer its coronavirus vaccine to children between the ages of 2 and 11.
And speaking of vaccines, if you’ve yet to receive yours, three major retail pharmacy chains — Walgreens, Walmart and Sam’s Club — are now offering shots to people who walk into their stores without appointments.
Here’s more coronavirus news and other top stories you need to know to start your day.
After more than a year of living under coronavirus pandemic restrictions, Chicago is on the verge of fully reopening by the Fourth of July and potentially opening the door to bigger events and festivals throughout the city this summer, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Tuesday.
The departing leader of Chicago Public Schools anticipates that full-time in-person school will be the norm in the fall except for individual students with “extenuating circumstances.”
While announcing Monday that she’ll step down in June, CPS CEO Janice Jackson said she wished she’d succeeded in reopening schools sooner after the coronavirus shutdown that began in March 2020.
It took two years, three complaints to city, state and federal officials, countless phone calls and hours aiding investigators.
In the end, one former employee of Tank Noodle spurred a federal investigation resulting in nearly $700,000 in back wages paid to 60 employees. The ex-employee was left with a check for back wages totaling $2,644.81 — and plenty of lingering questions.
“I’m just trying to get some answers,” said the former employee. “Why didn’t the city work with us?”
Researchers at Harvard University found that a shift away from coal during the past decade saved thousands of lives and dramatically reduced health impacts from breathing particulate matter, commonly known as soot. In Illinois, burning natural gas is now more dangerous than coal, highlighting another fossil fuel that is contributing to climate change.
The Banksy rumors are true, an exhibit of Banksy works is coming to Chicago in July with tickets on sale Thursday morning.
“The Art of Banksy” will open July 1 in a yet-undisclosed location in the West Loop, according to an announcement Tuesday from presenter Starvox Entertainment, the same folks behind the current and popular “Immersive Van Gogh” in Old Town.
Two high school seniors, both bound for Division I college basketball, were wounded in a drive-by shooting Monday night in Englewood.
TY Johnson, a DePaul Prep star and Loyola University recruit, and TaKiya “TK” Howard, a De La Salle Institute student expected to play at Murray State University in Kentucky next season, were shot outside Johnson’s South Side home, according to school officials and family. Michael O’Brien, Madeline Kenney and Sam Kelly have the story…
Getting “fully open” by July 4 could mean the return of Lollapalooza, Taste of Chicago and the Air & Water Show, the city’s most popular and iconic summer events.
In federal suits filed this week, Chicago’s Mars Wrigley is asking for millions of dollars in damages and the shutdown of shady websites allegedly peddling counterfeit products.
TY Johnson, a DePaul Prep star and Loyola recruit, and TaKiya “TK” Howard, a De La Salle Institute student who’s expected to play at Murray State University in Kentucky next season, were injured in the South Side shooting.
Rush, a co-founder of the Illinois Black Panther Party, filed a bill mandating disclosure of secret FBI files. He also asked AG Merrick Garland to release unredacted documents.
The One Summer Chicago program will run from July 5 to Aug. 13 and include both remote and socially-distanced, in-person jobs and life skills training for 21,000 young people. The deadline to apply is June 11.
Welcome to The Hill’s Morning Report. Today is Wednesday, and Happy Cinco de Mayo! We get you up to speed on the most important developments in politics and policy, plus trends to watch. Alexis Simendinger and Al Weaver are the co-creators. Readers can find us on Twitter @asimendinger and @alweaver22. Please recommend the Morning Report to friends and let us know what you think. CLICK HERE to subscribe!
Total U.S. coronavirus deaths as of each morning this week: Monday, 577,045; Tuesday, 577,523; Wednesday, 578,500.
President Biden on Tuesday updated his months-long effort to encourage Americans to treat July 4 as a kind of COVID-19 liberation opportunity among those who long for baseball and barbecues, parades and patriotism, and something approaching normal life.
The key to celebrating independence from the virus is a dose of vaccine by July, Biden said. He wants the United States to move closer to one-dose inoculation of at least 70 percent of adults, or about 160 million people (The Hill and The New York Times).
As of Tuesday, at least 56 percent of all U.S. adults had received at least one COVID-19 shot, according to available data.
“We’re going to keep at it,” the president said with a nod to Americans who remain hesitant. “At the end of the day, most people will be convinced by the fact that their failure to get a vaccine may cause other people to be sick and die.”
The administration also announced it is shifting its distribution of vaccine doses to reallocate supplies not ordered by some states to send to other states where demand is higher (The Washington Post and The Hill).
Biden is stepping gingerly to drive up the vaccination rate using carrots and inducements, aware that the range of fears, obstinacy, misinformation, mistrust and political leanings are tough to overcome between now and Independence Day as virus variants spread but infection and hospitalization rates drop. Many hundreds of Americans are still dying from the coronavirus each day — new daily reported deaths in the United States rose 4.2 percent in the last week — but millions of unvaccinated adults insist the risks of severe sickness or death are low.
“Two of our vaccines were authorized under a prior administration, Republican administration,” the president said without mentioning former President Trump by name. “If we can continue to drive vaccinations up, and caseloads down, we’ll need our masks even less and less,” Biden added, emphasizing one plus that many fed-up mask-wearers take to heart.
The next stage of the COVID-19 vaccination program will be tougher, the president conceded, because each state’s early adopters with the easiest access to appointments and mass vaccination sites have likely already received one or more doses (The Hill).
The Associated Press: Pennsylvania will lift all COVID-19 restrictions on Memorial Day while retaining the state’s mask mandate. Capacity restrictions on bars, restaurants and other businesses as well as gathering limits for indoor and outdoor events will be lifted on May 31, meaning concert halls, sports stadiums and wedding venues could soon be packed for the first time since early 2020.
NBC News: Chicago sets its sights on fully reopening by July 4.
Niall Stanage: The Memo: Biden moves into new phase of COVID-19 fight.
The Wall Street Journal: CVS Health Corp., a partner in the government’s vaccination program, says its rate of administering shots has fallen by 30 percent as the rollout slows because of persistent hesitancy. Like its rivals, CVS has begun offering walk-in and same-day appointments for injections in a bid to improve uptake.
“We have kind of passed the wave of people who really wanted to get it and who signed up,” CVS Health CEO Karen Lynch said. “There is a part of the population that says, ‘I’m only going to get it if it’s easy and convenient and if I happen to be in a place where I can get it.’ There are other populations where people are just afraid.”
Stepped-up education on the safety and efficacy of the vaccine and improved access are needed to address both issues, she said.
Paying for persuasion: Millions of Americans lined up for COVID-19 vaccinations early this year believing that being virus-free and alive was inducement enough to scramble for doses. They waited their turns, put up with inconvenience and frustration and said they were thrilled to get jabbed. Now some states are experimenting with offering $100 as an inducement to those who waited because of skepticism or have been delayed because of where they live or other impediments. Do monetary or other perks work? Apparently so, reports The New York Times.
The Hill: Washington, D.C., is offering free beer to residents who get a coronavirus vaccine. Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) announced Tuesday that individuals can get Johnson & Johnson’s single-shot coronavirus vaccine and a beer from Solace Brewing Co., a craft brewery, on Thursday.
The Washington Post: Officials grapple with vaccine hesitancy among Latino evangelicals. Among that demographic’s worries: Will the technology allow authorities to keep tabs on immigrants? Religion also plays a significant role in vaccine hesitancy.
Pfizer says it will apply to the Food and Drug Administration in September to clear use of its vaccine in children ages 2 to 11. The company said it also plans to apply this month for full approval of the vaccine for use in people from ages 16 to 85. And it said it expected to have clinical trial data on the safety of its vaccine in pregnant women by early August (The New York Times).
The Associated Press: U.S. parents say they are excited about the prospect of virus shots for children. With school reopenings in mind, educators have already embraced vaccines for students 16 and up, with some scheduling vaccine clinics during school hours and dangling prize drawings and other incentives.
Big bet, big payoff for Pfizer: On Tuesday, Pfizer announced its COVID-19 vaccine produced $3.5 billion in revenue in the first three months of this year, nearly a quarter of the company’s total. The company did not disclose its coronavirus vaccine profits, but it reiterated its previous prediction that its profit margins on the vaccine would be in the high 20 percent range. That would translate into roughly $900 million in pretax vaccine profits in the first quarter. Pfizer has been widely credited with developing an unproven technology that has saved lives. Other vaccine developers pledged to forgo profits from their breakthroughs during the pandemic (The New York Times).
International: Rising rates of coronavirus infections in Brazil and elsewhere in Latin America pose a risk to the United States. The Biden administration has provided an initial down payment of $2 billion to the global COVID-19 vaccine alliance, shipped emergency materials to India to help stock up its vaccine-development, and “loaned” vaccines to Mexico and Canada. But shipping from the U.S. stockpile of vaccines to hard-hit countries such as Brazil and India has not occurred (The Hill).
Singapore tightens its COVID-19 curbs as overseas virus variants are detected (Reuters).
A MESSAGE FROM EMERGENT BIOSOLUTIONS
At Emergent, we make things you never thought you’d need. A treatment to counteract an opioid overdose. Protection from anthrax, smallpox and botulism. And now, we’re in the fight against COVID-19. Learn more.
LEADING THE DAY
CONGRESS: The feud between House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and House Republican Conference Chairwoman Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) escalated further on Tuesday as McCarthy said that he has “lost confidence” in Cheney as part of leadership.
McCarthy’s comments came as part of an off-camera conversation with “Fox & Friends” host Steve Doocy and subsequently leaked to Axios.
“I think she’s got real problems,” McCarthy told the host off-air before an appearance on the show. “I’ve had it with her. You know, I’ve lost confidence. … Well, someone just has to bring a motion, but I assume that will probably take place.”
During the on-camera interview, McCarthy told Doocy that members of his caucus are “concerned” about the Wyoming Republican’s ability to carry out her job as chairwoman of the House GOP as the party becomes increasingly impatient with her anti-Trump stance. When asked about reports that Republicans are unhappy with Cheney in leadership because of her vote to impeach Trump, McCarthy said the concern is not her vote on impeachment but rather her ability to carry out the party’s message.”
“There’s no concern about how she voted on impeachment. That decision has been made. I have heard from members concerned about her ability to carry out the job as conference chair — to carry out the message,” McCarthy said (The Hill).
With a vote on Cheney’s future likely to come up next week when the House returns to Washington from recess, The Hill’s Scott Wong reports that the GOP has a gender problem on its hands as the conference prepares to potentially oust the lone woman in leadership. Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) is considered the favorite for the position, with Punchbowl News reporting this morning that House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) is backing her bid for the spot. Reps. Jackie Walorski (R-Ind.) and Ann Wagner (R-Mo.) also viewed as options for the spot.
Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.), chairman of the Republican Study Committee, removed his name from consideration on Tuesday, perhaps seeing the writing on the wall.
Politico: Republicans jockey to replace Cheney as McCarthy moves to boot her.
The Associated Press: Cheney could be “toast” in fight with Trump over GOP future.
The Hill: Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) defends Cheney: she “refuses to lie.”
> Senate strategy: Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) has done his best impersonation of the Flying Wallendas, keeping the liberal wing of the Senate Democratic Conference in line, while placating centrists en route to legislative action.
As The Hill’s Alexander Bolton writes, Schumer has promised progress on liberal priorities such as gun control but has kept time on the Senate floor focused on bipartisan matters, including the Water Resources Development Act and China competitiveness.
The Senate Democratic leader has also encouraged colleagues to find GOP partners to move centrist legislation. However, he has directed most of his media efforts toward the liberal wing of the party, having appeared on MSNBC and with left-wing anchors to focus messaging efforts in that direction, especially amid talks on a gargantuan infrastructure spending bill.
The Hill: GOP sees opportunity to knock Biden amid rising gas prices.
> Taxes: According to a new study, Biden’s plan to increase capital gains taxes from wealthy Americans will only hit a small number of taxpayers. Robert McClellan, senior fellow at the Tax Policy Center, told The Wall Street Journal that the Biden plan, which would raise the top capital gains rate from 23.8 percent to to 43.4 percent for those earning over $1 million, would only affect 2.7 percent of those who filed capital gains or losses. That group, however, accounted for 62 percent of capital gains, according to the report.
The Hill: Business groups target moderate Democrats on Biden tax plans.
IN FOCUS/SHARP TAKES
POLITICS:Facebook’s independent advisory board at approximately 9 a.m. is expected to announce its ruling on the future of Trump’s banned account, potentially handing the former president a boost as he prepares for a possible third bid for the White House.
Trump was banned from Facebook and Instagram (which Facebook owns) following the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol and months of his false and disproved assertions that he lost to Biden because of voter fraud.
“We believe the risks of allowing the President to continue to use our service during this period are simply too great,” Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerbergwrote of Trump’s indefinite suspension.
As The Hill’s Rebecca Klar and Chris Mills Rodrigo explain, the decision will have far-reaching implications for Trump, who launched his own blog on Tuesday that will allow his followers and supporters to share his messages on social media platforms.
The decision could open the door for other social media platforms to reinstate him, including YouTube, TikTok and Twitch, all of which suspended the former president while leaving open the possibility of his return. If Facebook’s ban continues, it could push other platforms to follow suit.
The ruling could also launch a new push on Capitol Hill to deal with social media companies. If the ban remains, Republicans could renew efforts to deal with Section 230, a segment of a 1996 law that provides tech companies legal liability protections for content posted by third parties, amid complaints that the platforms are censoring conservatives. If it’s taken down, Democrats could accuse the social media giant of not taking enough action against hate speech and misinformation.
>Florida man: Rep. Charlie Crist (D-Fla.) on Tuesday announced his bid for the Florida governorship, a position he once held as a Republican. Crist released videos critical of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), adding, “That’s why I’m running for governor.” The primary is scheduled for Aug. 23, 2022 (Tampa Bay Times).
The Hill: DeSantis schedules special election to replace late Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-Fla.) for January.
The Washington Post: Democrats prepare for all-in Florida fight against rising GOP star DeSantis.
The Hill: Virginia GOP candidates for governor gear up for convention.
*****
ADMINISTRATION: Biden said on Tuesday he hopes to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in June when he travels to attend a Group of Seven summit in Cornwall, England, set for June 11-13, and then flies to Brussels to meet European Union leaders and attend a June 14 NATO summit. Biden proposed a summit to Putin in a phone call a few weeks ago and said Tuesday that the proposal is still under discussion (Reuters).
> Pardons and commutations: Biden is preparing to use his clemency powers soon, according to sources familiar with talks underway between the president’s advisers and advocates who want to see Biden exercise mercy. The president faces a backlog of thousands of requests moving through a review process, The Hill’s Morgan Chalfant reports. Officials indicate Biden will not hold off until later in his term to issue pardons.
OPINIONS
American health depends on exporting COVID-19 vaccines, by Ezekiel J. Emanuel and Joseph S. Nye, opinion contributors, The Wall Street Journal. https://on.wsj.com/3nLPEEq
Liz Cheney’s biggest problem has nothing to do with Trump, by Henry Olsen, columnist, The Washington Post. https://wapo.st/3vEZGtM
A MESSAGE FROM EMERGENT BIOSOLUTIONS
At Emergent, we make things you never thought you’d need. A treatment to counteract an opioid overdose. Protection from anthrax, smallpox and botulism. And now, we’re in the fight against COVID-19. Learn more.
WHERE AND WHEN
The House meets on Friday at 10:30 a.m. for a pro forma session. Members return to legislative work on May 11.
TheSenate will hold a pro forma session on Thursday at 4 p.m.
The president will receive the President’s Daily Brief at 9:50 a.m. Biden will deliver remarks about his administration’s implementation of the COVID-19 relief law at 2 p.m.
Vice President Harris will travel to Providence, R.I., for a 1 p.m. small business event. She will participate at 2:05 p.m. in a roundtable discussion with women business owners, accompanied by Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo. Harris will return to Washington this evening.
First lady Jill Biden travels to Salt Lake City and visits Glendale Middle School to promote her husband’s policy plans aimed at bolstering schools. Following her remarks, she will visit a vaccination clinic at Jordan Park in the city. Later today, the first lady will travel to Las Vegas and remain overnight.
Second gentleman Doug Emhoff will travel to Allentown, Pa., for events today.
The White House press briefing will take place at 12:30 p.m. The White House coronavirus response team will brief reporters at 11 a.m.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in London for the conclusion of the Group of Seven foreign and development ministers’ meeting. He then departs for meetings in Ukraine through Thursday (The Associated Press).
👉 INVITATION: Join The Hill’s Virtually Live eventTODAYduring sessions that begin at 12:30 p.m. for “Future of Healthcare: Bold Bets in Health.” Some of the experts featured: U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy; Anthony Fauci, director, National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases; Katrina Armstrong, Massachusetts General Hospital department of medicine; Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), chairwoman of the Senate Finance Subcommittee on Health; and Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.), ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health. Information is HERE.
The Georgetown Institute of Politics and Public Service and the White House Correspondents’ Association today host a virtual event beginning at 11:30 a.m. about “The Press, The Presidency, and Trust.” It features three panels of standout speakers, including former White House press secretaries. Join with registration HERE.
The Smithsonian Institution today launches a phased reopening of seven museums and the National Zoo. Opening its doors to visitors today will be the National Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Va. On Friday, watch for reopenings at the National Museum of African American History and Culture, the National Portrait Gallery, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum and its Renwick Gallery. On May 21, visitors are welcome again at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., along with the National Museum of American History and the Washington location of the National Museum of the American Indian (CNN).
➔ INTERNATIONAL: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu‘s deadline for forming a new Israeli government expired early today, with the country’s longest-serving prime minister having failed to break more than two years of political deadlock (Reuters). Netanyahu must decide which other political leader could succeed where he did not (CNN). … The U.S. policy coordinator for the Indo-Pacific on Tuesday appeared to reject calls for the United States to make a clear statement of its willingness to defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese attack, saying there were “significant downsides” to such an approach (Reuters).
➔ POLICING & COURTS: Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin on Tuesday filed an appeal for a new trial following his conviction on all charges last month of murdering George Floyd. Chauvin’s attorney Eric Nelson filed the request alleging that Chauvin’s ability to have a fair trial was affected by pretrial publicity. The motion alleges that the court abused its discretion by denying the requests for a change in venue and a new trial. A jury found Chauvin guilty of second- and third-degree murder as well as second-degree manslaughter in Floyd’s May 2020 death (NBC News). … Judge Amy Berman Jackson of the United States District Court of Appeals in Washington said in a filing on Monday that former Attorney General William Barr misled Congress and misled her in a dispute about advice he had received from top department officials about whether Trump should have been charged with obstructing the Russia investigation. She asserted Barr’s obfuscation was part of a pattern (The New York Times).
➔ TRANSPORTATION: Hyundai and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) recalled several car models on Tuesday due to a risk of engine fires, urging individuals with affected vehicles to park outside. According to the NHTSA, certain Santa Fe Sport SUVs ranging from 2013-2015 are part of the recall, with some cars having issues including with the anti-lock brake system and brake fluid leaking into the engine, which can possibly cause a fire due to an electrical short (The Hill).
THE CLOSER
And finally … 🍷 The wine was out of this world. The price defies gravity. Christie’s said Tuesday it is selling a bottle of French wine that spent more than a year in orbit aboard the International Space Station, reports The Associated Press.
The auction house thinks a wine connoisseur might pay as much as $1 million to own it.
The Château Pétrus 2000, normally described by expert reviewers as “magical” and “perfect,” is one of 12 bottles sent into space in November 2019 by researchers exploring the potential for extraterrestrial agriculture. It returned 14 months later subtly altered, according to wine experts who sampled it at a tasting in France. Tim Tiptree, international director of Christie’s wine and spirits department, said the space-aged wine was “matured in a unique environment” of near zero gravity some 254 miles above Earth.
The Shreveport Times: What you should know about wine that ages underwater and in space.
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^ Side note: I learned today that the Keith Urban lyrics are not ‘take your CAT and leave my sweater.’ Here’s the song if you don’t know what I’m talking about:https://bit.ly/3f169bY
Facebook’s Oversight Board ruled this morning that former President Trump’s ban on Facebook and Instagram will continue. https://bit.ly/3ehPZvo
The board wrote in a statement: “The Board found that, in maintaining an unfounded narrative of electoral fraud and persistent calls to action, Mr. Trump created an environment where a serious risk of violence was possible.” Read the full ruling from Facebook: https://bit.ly/3ultKdJ
Yes, but: The board found that an indefinite suspension was not an appropriate response.
So, now what?: “Within six months of this decision, Facebook must reexamine the arbitrary penalty it imposed on January 7 and decide the appropriate penalty,” the panel said.
THE WASHINGTON POST HAS A HELPFUL EXPLAINER ON THE CASE AND BACK STORY:
INTERESTING READ — ‘WHY TRUMP’S NEW BLOG COULD LEAD TO MORE SOCIAL MEDIA TAKEDOWNS’:
Via Politico’s Cristiano Lima and Nick Niedzwiadek, “Trump’s message may still not find its way back to Facebook and Twitter.” https://politi.co/3eQLuHk
The gist: “Most major platforms prohibit users from circumventing their suspensions by turning to alternative accounts to put up posts.”
Via Axios’s Jonathan Swan, “Sources close to Donald Trump believe he’s increasingly likely to run in 2024 — and that was even before the Facebook Oversight Board inflamed conservatives by upholding the ban on the former president.” https://bit.ly/3xOsySh
It’s Wednesday! I’m Cate Martel with a quick recap of the morning and what’s coming up. Send comments, story ideas and events for our radar to cmartel@thehill.com — and follow along on Twitter @CateMartel and Facebook.
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A MESSAGE FROM EXXONMOBIL
An idea to help decarbonize heavy industrial areas
ExxonMobil is introducing an idea for carbon capture and storage that has the potential to effectively decarbonize the Houston Ship Channel. That’s big – like taking 20 million cars off the road. Learn more at EnergyFactor.com
Via CNBC’s Lauren Thomas, Peloton just announced the recall of all its treadmills after reports of injuries and one death. https://cnb.cx/33hiVNT
Did we see this coming?: Sorta. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission warned customers last month of reports of injuries. The commission has been looking into the issue and Peloton decided to voluntarily recall the products.
What should you do if you have one?: “The company is advising customers who already have either the Tread or Tread+ products to immediately stop using the equipment and contact Peloton for a full refund or other qualified remedy. It added it is working on a repair to be offered to treadmill owners in the coming weeks.”
Via The Hill’s John Kruzel, “A federal judge on Wednesday vacated a nationwide freeze on evictions that was put in place by federal health officials to help cash-strapped renters remain in their homes during the pandemic.” https://bit.ly/3b7eFES
What that means: “The ruling was a win for a coalition of property owners and realtors, who brought one of several challenges against the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) eviction moratorium, which was put in place under former President Trump and later extended through June.”
House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) announced his support of ousting Rep. LizCheney (R-Wyo.) from her leadership position as House Republican Conference chair and replacing her with Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) https://bit.ly/33hASMj
Why this is newsy: “Cheney is in hot water with her colleagues for repeatedly criticizing former President Trump. She survived an effort to oust her from the third-ranking House GOP position earlier this year, but with Scalise and his boss, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), now backing the effort, she seems assured of leaving her position.”
“Top allies of McCarthy have already vowed to remove Cheney from the top leadership spot, arguing that the No. 3 Republican has repeatedly undermined GOP messaging and efforts to take back control of the House in the 2022 midterm elections.” https://bit.ly/33hASMj
TIDBIT — TELL US WHAT YOU REALLY THINK, KEVIN:
Via Axios’s Kadia Goba, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) was caught on a hot mic before his “Fox & Friends” interview on Tuesday. https://bit.ly/3xN23ws
What McCarthy told host Steve Doocy about Cheney: “I think she’s got real problems. I’ve had it with … I’ve had it with her. You know, I’ve lost confidence. … Well, someone just has to bring a motion, but I assume that will probably take place.”
Keep in mind: “To date, McCarthy has left some of his more pointed criticisms to his lieutenants, but this firmly puts him on the record — even if it was accidental.”
FROM THE DEMOCRATIC PERSPECTIVE:
“House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said Wednesday that it is a ‘shame’ that Republicans are on the verge of ousting Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) as a member of House leadership because she rejects former President Trump’s false claims about election fraud.” https://bit.ly/33iYlNe
Hoyer told The Washington Post during a live event with columnist Karen Tumulty: “I think Liz Cheney’s greatest offense apparently is she is principled and she believes in the truth.”
Via The Hill’s Brett Samuels and Scott Wong, Former President Trump spoke with Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) this morning and then offered his support. https://bit.ly/2QOCkmU
Trump released this statement: “Liz Cheney is a warmongering fool who has no business in Republican Party Leadership. We want leaders who believe in the Make America Great Again movement, and prioritize the values of America First. Elise Stefanik is a far superior choice, and she has my COMPLETE and TOTAL Endorsement for GOP Conference Chair. Elise is a tough and smart communicator!”
JUST NOW FROM STEFANIK— THANK YOU! THANK YOU!:
She tweeted, “Thank you PresidentTrump for your 100% support for House GOP Conference Chair. We are unified and focused on FIRING PELOSI & WINNING in 2022!” https://bit.ly/3h4jXEY
A MESSAGE FROM EXXONMOBIL
An idea to help decarbonize heavy industrial areas
ExxonMobil is introducing an idea for carbon capture and storage that has the potential to effectively decarbonize the Houston Ship Channel. That’s big – like taking 20 million cars off the road. Learn more at EnergyFactor.com
LATEST WITH THE CORONAVIRUS
Canada is groovy on teens getting the Pfizer vaccine:
Via The Washington Post’s Miriam Berger, “Canada on Wednesday morning authorized use of Pfizer-BionTech’s coronavirus vaccine for children ages 12 to 15, marking the first time the country has greenlighted a coronavirus vaccine for adolescents.” https://wapo.st/3eWZUFL
What about the U.S.?: Authorization in the U.S. could happen as early as next week.
POLITICO Playbook: House GOP set to dump Cheney for Stefanik
Presented by
DRIVING THE DAY
Lots of action on the McCarthy-Cheney front, but first …
WILL TWITTER TAKE TRUMP BACK? — Facebook’s oversight board is deciding todaywhether to allow former President DONALD TRUMP back on. If it does, will Twitter be pressured to follow suit? Twitter CFO NED SEGALsmacked down that possibility in an interview with Yahoo Finance on Tuesday. “There [have] been no changes to anything we have shared in the past around the former president’s account,” he said. FWIW, Twitter upheld the permanent suspension of a Republican candidate during a congressional campaign after she made threatening comments against Rep. ILHAN OMAR (D-Minn.). When it will get really tricky for Twitter is if Trump runs for president again.
— Read Meridith McGraw and Sam Stein’s take on the significance of Facebook’s decision for Trump: “[I]t’s not the megaphone the platform offers him — it’s the money.” And Michael Kruse, reporting from Northeast Ohio, goes deep for POLITICO Mag on how the Facebook ban has hurt Trump.
TRUMP LAUNCHES A NEW ‘PLATFORM’ — We’ve been waiting with bated breath for the Twitter-less Trump to announce his new social media platform. On Tuesday, he launched something that is decidedly not that. Fox News: “The space allows Trump to post, and allows followers to share the former president’s posts to Twitter and Facebook, however, the new platform does not have a feature to allow users to ‘reply’ or engage with Trump’s posts. ‘This is just a one-way communication,’ one source familiar with the space told Fox News. ‘This system allows Trump to communicate with his followers.’”
Sounds a lot like … a website? Indeed, Trump adviser JASON MILLER told Fox that “this is not a new social media platform,” and, “We’ll have additional information coming on that front in the very near future.”
While we’re on the topic of social media …
SUING FOR A BLUE CHECKMARK— That’s what Republican ANNA PAULINA LUNA, who ran against Rep. CHARLIE CRIST (D-Fla.) in 2020 and is trying for a House seat again in 2022, is doing after Twitter denied her privileged verified status. “Twitter, Inc. continues to selectively verify accounts, providing something of value to certain candidates while denying the same to Plaintiff—likely based on Twitter’s political views (though the reason for Twitter’s discrimination is irrelevant to this proceeding),” her lawsuit states, according to Fox News’ writeup.
MCCARTHY MOVES QUICKLY TO OUST CHENEY — House Minority Leader KEVIN MCCARTHY made it all but official Tuesday, going on Fox News to declare that House Republicans have lost confidence in Rep. LIZ CHENEY, before getting caught on a hot mic moment saying, “I’ve had it with her.” As our Mel Zanona and Olivia Beavers write, McCarthy allies are already making calls on behalf of Rep. ELISE STEFANIK, seeking to lock down a replacement quickly to push Cheney out the door. (More on this in a minute.)
In their last-ditch effort to save Cheney, the Wyoming Republican’s allies have been framing her potential ouster as a litmus test for Republicans: Do they stand for truth or for lies?
McCarthy would push back on this narrative, of course, but at least one major conservative media outlet agrees: The WSJ editorial page writes that “purging Liz Cheney for honesty would diminish the party.” The newspaper also called out McCarthy for coordinating her takedown when he “knows Ms. Cheney is right. The election wasn’t stolen.”
“Republicans will look foolish, or worse, to swing voters if they refight 2020 in 2022 … Republicans should find a way to speak this truth to voters in 2022 — and quickly turn to running on an agenda for the future that will check [President JOE] BIDEN and his cradle-to-grave entitlement state.”
McCarthy has been arguing that Cheney’s rebukes of Trump are distracting from that very mission of taking back the House. But the reality is that her position in leadership means that he and other Republicans keep having to answer questions about Trump and Jan. 6 — the last topic they want to discuss.
KNOWING STEFANIK — The New York Republican known for her adamant defense of Trump during his first impeachment has quickly emerged as the frontrunner to replace Cheney — and is making calls to gauge support. The 36-year-old lawmaker has a relatively moderate voting record, scoring a mere 48% — an F, in case it wasn’t clear — on the conservative Heritage Action scorecard. But Stefanik somehow balanced voting with the center and still being among Trump’s most fervent House defenders, a rarity for moderates.
As Mel and Olivia report, Stefanik is known for her prolific fundraising ability. She is also almost singlehandedly responsible for recruiting the record number of women who now make up the GOP freshman class. She’s well liked in the conference, from members of the centrist Tuesday Group to Freedom Caucus leader JIM JORDAN, who had nice things to say about her on Fox on Tuesday.
MEANWHILE … The Hill’s Scott Wong and Mike Lillishave a fun story about how the move to oust Cheney has surfaced tensions over gender in the GOP Conference, as some Republican men grumble about being told to stand down. This quote made us laugh: “Many in the conference are offended being told that we are ineligible because we are men. There are several very capable members who are interested in having conversations and reject the notion that it has to be a woman.”
FULL DISCLOSURE — TUCKER CARLSON ripped into both pollster FRANK LUNTZ and McCarthy on consecutive nights, even breaking some news that they share a pad together. While tearing into them for their lack of disclosure, Carlson failed to mention that his brother, BUCKLEY CARLSON, worked as “vice president of message development” in the early 2000s for Luntz, who is a notoriously hard-charging boss. We’re told they had an acrimonious split. Tucker Carlson and Luntz didn’t get back to us with a comment.
TRUMP-GIULIANI INTRIGUE — “Giuliani’s Legal Bills Are Growing. His Allies Want Trump to Pay Them,” by NYT’s Maggie Haberman and Ben Protess. Key sentence in paragraph 22 of the story: “Although there are many differences between the two situations, for some of Mr. Trump’s advisers, the standoff with Mr. Giuliani has raised uncomfortable echoes of a similar dispute with another of Mr. Trump’s former personal lawyers, Michael D. Cohen.”
EARMARKS, BY THE NUMBERS —Check out this Twitter thread from PBS’ Lisa Desjardins breaking down earmark requests from members of the House. The toplines: Just under half of Republicans requested earmarks. Only one Democrat did not: California’s KATIE PORTER.
VOTERS BACK BIDEN’S NEXT PRIORITY — In our latest POLITICO/Morning Consult poll, Biden’s latest big piece of proposed legislation, the American Families Plan, clocks 58% support among registered voters, including 54% of independents and 25% of Republicans. The most popular individual component is free universal preschool, which commands 63% support.
The most fascinating finding in the poll: Support for Biden’s infrastructure plan was 1 point higherwhen the price tag was mentioned (57%) than when it wasn’t (56%). When was the last time you saw that for a massive chunk of government spending? … Taking a step back, voters listed reducing health care costs as their top priority for Congress — ahead of even recovering from the pandemic.
BIDEN’S WEDNESDAY — The president will receive the President’s Daily Brief at 9:50 a.m. He’ll deliver remarks about American Rescue Plan implementation at 2 p.m. in the State Dining Room.
— VP KAMALA HARRIS will head to Providence, R.I., at 10:05 a.m. She’ll take part in an event at 1 p.m. about small businesses that emphasize social impact, and then a roundtable of woman-led small businesses at 2:05 p.m. with Commerce Secretary GINA RAIMONDO. Harris will leave Rhode Island for D.C. at 4:55 p.m.
— The White House Covid-19 response team and public health officials will brief at 11 a.m. Press secretary JEN PSAKI will brief at 12:30 p.m. with Agriculture Secretary TOM VILSACK.
THE HOUSE is out. Education Secretary MIGUEL CARDONA will testify before an Appropriations subcommittee at 10 a.m.
THE SENATE is out.
PLAYBOOK READS
THE WHITE HOUSE
YES, NO, MAYBE SO — “Yellen Says She Isn’t Predicting Higher Interest Rates,” WSJ: “[Treasury Secretary JANET] YELLEN said Tuesday she is neither predicting nor recommending that the Federal Reserve raise interest rates as a result of President Biden’s spending plans, walking back her comments earlier in the day that rates might need to rise to keep the economy from overheating.
“Ms. Yellen suggested earlier Tuesday that the central bank might have to raise rates to keep the economy from overheating, if the Biden administration’s roughly $4 trillion spending plans are enacted. Ms. Yellen’s remarks come as lawmakers debate the merits of the administration’s spending proposals, which many Republicans have said are too costly and risk stoking inflation.”
CONGRESS
FLOUTING THE RULES — “Earmark intrigue splits Senate Republicans,”by Jennifer Scholtes and Caitlin Emma: “At least six GOP senators plan to violate their conference’s toothless earmark ban and more than a dozen others won’t commit either way, citing fears that they’re relinquishing power to Democrats if they don’t participate, according to a POLITICO survey of all 50 upper-chamber Republicans.
“Less than 30 Senate Republicans have definitively sworn off earmarks as Democrats revive the practice of congressionally directed spending this year. Ten said they were still chewing on the issue, while several didn’t comment or refused to say whether they will honor the earmark prohibition that remains in place — although technically unenforceable — for the entire Senate GOP. The fact that half a dozen Republicans are willing to openly flout the ban suggests that Washington is returning to its traditional horse-trading ways after President Donald Trump’s free-spending dismissal of the nation’s $3 trillion deficit wiped away much of the tea party’s influence on the GOP.”
JAN. 6 AND ITS AFTERMATH
FASCINATING — “Proud Boys saw wave of contributions from Chinese diaspora before Capitol attack,”USA Today: “The donations, which are included in a trove of hacked GiveSendGo data provided to USA TODAY and posted on the whistleblower site Distributed Denial of Secrets, raise several questions. Chiefly: Why would people from China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, and members of the Chinese American community, donate to an organization with deep ties to white supremacists, whose members flash white power signals and post racist memes on social media?
“The surprising answer to this question is that the Proud Boys enjoy significant support from a slice of the Chinese American community and the broader Chinese diaspora.”
PANDEMIC
TALKER — “The Liberals Who Can’t Quit Lockdown,”The Atlantic: “For this subset, diligence against COVID-19 remains an expression of political identity — even when that means overestimating the disease’s risks or setting limits far more strict than what public-health guidelines permit. … Public figures and policy makers who try to dictate others’ behavior without any scientific justification for doing so erode trust in public health and make people less willing to take useful precautions. The marginal gains of staying shut down might not justify the potential backlash.”
LOWERING EXPECTATIONS — “Biden aims to vaccinate 70% of American adults by July 4,”AP: “Demand for vaccines has dropped off markedly nationwide, with some states leaving more than half their available doses unordered. Aiming to make it easier to get shots, Biden called for states to make vaccines available on a walk-in basis and he will direct many pharmacies to do likewise. … Biden’s goal equates to delivering at least the first shot to 181 million adults and fully vaccinating 160 million. It’s a tacit acknowledgment of the declining interest in shots.”
POLITICS ROUNDUP
THE DEMS’ CHALLENGE — “Retirements, redistricting and Texas surprise squeeze House Democratic majority,” by Ally Mutnick and Sarah Ferris: “Democratic lawmakers and party officials say it is extremely early in the election cycle, with plenty of chances remaining to ramp up fundraising, lure strong recruits and defy the historical headwinds that would suggest their party is in for losses next November. They note that many of the most endangered Democrats already have strong flush campaign accounts.
“Still, the early fallout from the Texas special election reveals some of the risks of the first post-Trump campaign cycle, underscoring the pressure on the DCCC to successfully defend their 5-seat majority with virtually no room for error.
“There’s the historical challenge: The president’s party loses an average of 26 House seats in a first-term midterm election. And some of Democrats’ most-tested warriors are walking out before the battle.”
ANOTHER TRUMP GROUP — “Trump attorney, other allies launch voter fraud organization,” by Alex Isenstadt:“American Greatness Fund, which was founded by former Trump campaign manager BRAD PARSCALE, is part of an ever-expanding web of Trump-aligned advocacy groups that have popped up since the 2020 election. Former Trump senior advisers BROOKE ROLLINS and LARRY KUDLOW have started the America First Policy Institute; BEN CARSON, who served as secretary of Housing and Urban Development in the Trump administration, has launched the American Cornerstone Institute; RUSS VOUGHT, who oversaw Trump’s Office of Management and Budget, has unveiled the Center for American Restoration.”
BEYOND THE BELTWAY
WHAT MCCONNELL IS HATE-READING — “American Airlines, Unilever, Others Oppose Texas Voting Access Laws,”WSJ: “Nearly 50 companies, including Microsoft Corp., Unilever PLC and American Airlines Group Inc., signed a letter opposing ‘any changes that would restrict eligible voters’ access to the ballot’ in Texas, days ahead of an expected vote in the state legislature on a voting bill.
“As state legislatures consider new voting access bills, companies in Texas and elsewhere have grappled with how much to weigh in, amid pressure from employees and civil-rights organizations and pushback from Republicans lawmakers. After Georgia legislators added vote-by-mail identification requirements and limited drop boxes, companies including Delta Air Lines Inc. and Coca-Cola Co. lodged public opposition.”
BEHIND THE PUSH— “How two Black CEOs got corporate America to pay attention to voting rights,”WaPo: “In taking on voting legislation in Georgia and elsewhere, [former American Express CEO KEN] CHENAULT, [KENNETH] FRAZIER and a small group of Black business leaders were able to win the support of a wide array of chief executives and companies, including boldface brands such as Delta Air Lines, Microsoft and Target.
“But so far, most corporations haven’t gone beyond supportive statements and applied sustained pressure on lawmakers. And the effort led by Black business executives also has earned the ire of conservative lawmakers, who have derisively accused them of ‘woke capitalism.’ Georgia’s bill was signed into law. A bill in Florida is expected to be signed soon. And other states, such as Texas, are marching forward with their own restrictive voting rules.”
AMERICA AND THE WORLD
GROUNDHOG DAY IN ISRAEL —“Netanyahu misses deadline, political future in question,” AP: “Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday failed to meet a midnight deadline to put together a new governing coalition, raising the possibility that his Likud party could be pushed into the opposition for the first time in 12 years.
“The deadline closed a four-week window granted to Netanyahu by Israel’s figurehead president. The matter now bounces back to President Reuven Rivlin, who announced just after midnight that he would contact on Wednesday the 13 parties with seats in parliament to discuss ‘the continuation of the process of forming a government.’”
PLAYBOOKERS
SPOTTED …
A PLAYBOOK TRANSITION — Some in-house news: Zack Stanton has joined the Playbook team as deputy editor. Zack is a Detroit booster and devotee of all things Midwestern with a tendency to steer any conversation about politics into something to do with Macomb County. He also had a very interesting role in taking down Mark Foley, a story that we recently turned into a podcast. Zack most recently has been digital editor at POLITICO Magazine, for which he’ll continue writing.
FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Comms veteran Don Baer will be the inaugural Frank A. Daniels Jr. executive-in-residence at the University of North Carolina Hussman School of Journalism and Media this fall. He’ll also host a capstone discussion in September with Thomas Friedman.
— Cole Leiter is joining Purple Strategies as a director. He previously was DCCC comms director in the 2020 cycle and on the DCCC team that flipped the House in 2018.
TRANSITIONS — Nina Palmer is joining the Center for American Progress’ national security and international policy team as a senior fellow, leading work on U.S.-China policy. She most recently was at Stonebridge Albright, and is a DOE alum. … Adrienne Kimmell has been named acting president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, leading the organization after Ilyse Hogue departs this month until a permanent replacement is chosen. … Ralph Jones Jr. is now director of comms for Rep. David Scott (D-Ga.). He most recently was director of comms for Rep. Donald McEachin (D-Va.) and is a Raphael Warnock campaign alum.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY: WaPo’s Dan Balz … POLITICO’s Ryan Heath and Alex Guillén … Mark McKinnon of Showtime’s “The Circus” … the White House’s Dan Hornung … Whitney Robertson of America Rising … Mike Dorning of Bloomberg News … Dustin Walker of Anduril Industries … ABC’s Rachel Scott … Sacha Haworth of Siegel Strategies … Jenna Valle-Riestra of the Senate Judiciary Dems … Swing Left’s Neisha Blandin … MSNBC’s Brian Williams … former Rep. Charlie Gonzalez (D-Texas) … Michael Bars … Danielle Varallo Stewart … Francesca Barber … Rachel Wein … AP’s David Sharp … Amanda Zamora … Ann Saybolt … Mike Dennehy … Nathaniel Haas … Sonum Nerurkar of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights … Christine Pelosi … Morgan Pehme … Lulu Cheng Meservey
Send Playbookers tips to playbook@politico.com. Playbook couldn’t happen without our editor Mike Zapler and producers Allie Bice, Eli Okun and Garrett Ross.
“He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken,” (Isaiah 25:8, ESV).
By Kelvey Vander Hart on May 05, 2021 12:30 am
Kelvey Vander Hart: Biden’s virtue signaling isn’t helping get people vaccinated. You can’t pretend to return to normal while refusing to do so. Read in browser »
Launched in 2006, Caffeinated Thoughts reports news and shares commentary about culture, current events, faith and state and national politics from a Christian and conservative point of view.
Attorney General Merrick Garland asked Congress for additional funding, which would be used to combat domestic terrorism, gender violence and systemic racism. The Department of Justice’s more than $35 billion budget request for 2022 reflects the agency’s mission, Attorney General Merrick Garland said during his opening remarks before a House …
Officers have a tough job. Here are the top instances where police officers saved the day. WATCH: Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org
Republican Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson allowed legislation to become law without his signature Monday that ends the use of Critical Race Theory education for state agencies. Hutchinson effectively approved SB 627 Monday, “an act to prohibit the propagation of divisive concepts” and “to review state entity training materials.” The legislation …
Dozens of House Republicans urged the Senate to oppose President Joe Biden’s nominee to lead the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms (ATF) in a letter Monday. Republican Indiana Rep. Jim Banks, along with 68 other House Republicans, wrote a letter addressed to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New …
The American family is in a state of crisis. Nobody in Washington really disagrees with this, Republican or Democrat. Marriage rates are cratering. Birth rates are in a total tailspin, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic. This is unsustainable. America can’t function if the most basic building block of our society …
U.S. operations targeting drug cartel activity in Mexico have fallen flat since the country’s law enforcement and military agencies have been reluctant to collaborate, NPR reported Monday. A Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) official said the situation is a threat to national health and security because the cartels operate without fear …
Last summer, NBC News reported that New York state health officials were stunned by the number of hospitalized patients who said they had contracted COVID-19 while staying at home. The data, collected from 113 hospitals who surveyed patients over a three-day span, suggested more than two-thirds had contracted the virus …
As the mainstream media continues to distribute its propaganda pieces on behalf of the Democratic Party, The New York Times ran a piece that is sure to delight the Biden regime in the White House. The article on Monday was titled “Reaching ‘Herd Immunity’ Is Unlikely in the U.S., Experts …
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki holds a briefing today. The briefing is scheduled to start at 12:30 p.m. EDT. Content created by Conservative Daily News is available for re-publication without charge under the Creative Commons license. Visit our syndication page for details.
Ben Franklin famously said, “You’ve got a republic, if you can keep it.” That warning is particularly haunting now, because we seem on the verge of losing it — not from foreign invasion, not from revolution, but because we stopped caring about it. America was founded on the principles of individual …
Feliz Cinco de Mayo, dear Kruiser Morning Briefing friends. You don’t want to know what I’m doing with this sombrero.
I am going to be awash in a sea of margarita specials today that I’m probably going to avoid. Check this space tomorrow to see how well my disciplined, monk-like approach worked.
This was about to be another Anthony Fauci rant leading off this morning. It’s been about two weeks since I featured America’s Worst Bureaucrat, after all. Irritation with Fauci is evergreen though, so I know I’ll be getting around to some more righteous indignation regarding him soon enough.
There was one story that had been sticking in my head for a couple of days already, I opted to go with that instead.
Larry and I are both former Californians — conservative Californians — who still need Advil from all of the time we spent beating our heads against the wall trying to help the Republicans accomplish anything while we lived there. Larry lives back east now but still hosts a weekday radio show in Los Angeles. We are both aware of the unique and rare opportunity for Republican Caitlyn Jenner’s foray into the looming recall election provides.
The GOP in California has been a miserable failure when it comes to winning state offices. The party still does OK in a lot of municipal and county elections, but tends to get its butt kicked when it comes to things like the governor’s mansion.
Democrats so dominate at the state level that they don’t really have to campaign on anything substantive. They merely have to repeat a bunch of shopworn leftist platitudes to a numb, well-trained Democratic electorate and they’re in.
Here is the campaign ad that Jenner released:
Larry’s remarks were perfect:
This is a powerful message. In fact, it’s the winning message. I’ll go so far as to say that whoever emerges as the clear replacement for Newsom (could be San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer, could be erstwhile candidate John Cox, could be yet-undeclared Richard Grenell) if they want to convince Californians that it’s time to stop the hemorrhaging, get rid of Newsom, and start to renew the Golden State to its former glory, this is the only message that will truly get the job done.
The fact that the message is delivered by a former gold medal olympian with an enormous social media following, huge name recognition, and access to a broad spectrum of media outlets and venues, especially those that would never care to talk to or feature a politician but will line up and beg for a Jenner interview makes Jenner a candidate that would appear to be absolutely formidable.
Larry goes deeper into the pros and cons of the messenger too, but that’s not my concern here. I want to emphasize that the California Republican Party doesn’t get many opportunities to accomplish anything at the state level because it’s incompetent and can’t create them for itself. The California GOP’s usual M.O. is to find a sacrificial lamb to run in two or three gubernatorial elections in a row. They’re living the high life over there if a Republican becomes Insurance Commissioner.
Yeah, this is a strange situation, but these are strange times, my friends. Like I wrote in my post:
Because God has a much, much better sense of humor than most people realize, California Republicans have been gifted with the candidacy of the most famous transgender Republican in the universe, and it’s happening in a state that lives, eats, and breathes identity politics. Trust me, Kamala Harris didn’t rise through the ranks there because people actually liked her.
We have to take our potential wins where we can get them here in Joe Biden’s America.
Allow Me To Introduce…
My good friend and fellow comedian Kevin Downey Jr. Kevin is our newest contributor and you can read his first column here. Kevin and I first met when we were touring the South Pacific while entertaining U.S. troops in 2010. We’d love to tell you some stories about that but neither one of us remember much of it. You gotta commit when you’re hanging out in bars with the United States Navy every night.
PJ Media senior columnist and associate editor Stephen Kruiser is a professional stand-up comic, writer, and recovering political activist who edits and writes PJ’s Morning Briefing, aka The Greatest Political Newsletter in America. His latest book, Straight Outta Feelings, is a humorous exploration of how the 2016 election made him enjoy politics more than he ever had before. When not being a reclusive writer, Kruiser has had the honor of entertaining U.S. troops all over the world. Follow on: Gab, Parler, MeWe
Births in US Drop to Levels Not Seen Since 1979 . . . Because the Covid-19 pandemic emerged in March, the figures capture just a short period at year’s end when the unfolding health and economic crisis could be reflected in women’s decisions about getting pregnant. Women typically have fewer babies when the economy weakens. Fears of getting sick, making medical appointments and delivering a baby as a deadly virus spread also dissuaded some women from pregnancy. Demographers say the data suggests that more fundamental social and economic shifts are driving down fertility. Births peaked in 2007 before plunging during the recession that began that year. Although fertility usually rebounds alongside an improving economy, U.S. births fell in all but one year as the economy grew from 2009 until early 2020. Millennials fuel continued downward trend in fertility rates. Wall Street Journal
Hmm. Might shoving puberty blockers down the kids’ throats and confusing them about their gender have anything to do with the millennials’ low fertility rates? Just wondering.
Politics
Trump makes strongest suggestion yet that he will run in 2024 . . . Donald Trump hinted strongly Tuesday night that he will be a candidate for president in 2024. “I think people are going to be very, very happy when I make a certain announcement,” Trump said during an appearance by phone on Candace Owen’s Daily Wire show “Candace.” Trump said it is very early in the cycle to reveal his intentions, and that campaign finance laws were causing a delay. “Otherwise I’d give you an answer that I think you’d be very happy with,” Trump told Owens. “All I say is, ‘Stay tuned.’” White House Dossier
Trump circumvents Twitter, Facebook bans by launching own blog . . . Donald Trump has started what appears to be a new blog called “From the Desk of Donald Trump.” It’s unclear if this is the beginning of the long-rumored social media platform. At this point, it’s just a new page on his website. But it allows Trump to post, and allows followers to share the former president’s posts to Twitter and Facebook. However, the new platform does not have a feature to allow users to “reply” or engage with Trump’s posts. “President Trump’s website is a great resource to find his latest statements and highlights from his first term in office, but this is not a new social media platform,” senior advisor Jason Miller told Fox News. “We’ll have additional information coming on that front in the very near future.” Facebooks is expected to announce today whether it will permanently ban Trump from Facebook and Instagram. White House Dossier
How Apportionment Defrauds American Citizens . . . The inclusion of non-citizens, including illegal aliens, in the population used to determine apportionment means that many Americans—and states—are being defrauded of their fair share of representation in Congress. The new census data show that Texas, because of the addition of 4 million new residents, will get two more members of the House. Colorado, Florida, North Carolina, Oregon, and Montana will each have one new representative. This will be Oregon’s first new representative in 40 years, and Montana will go from having just one member of the House to two. The big losers are California, Illinois, New York, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia, each of which will be losing a seat. When one state gains representation, another state loses it. This mobility is being driven, in addition to other issues, by a growing alien population that is unfairly and unjustly altering political representation in the House, cheating citizens and devaluing their votes. Daily Signal
Dems fret over Biden spending . . . A number of Democrats are beginning to fret over President Biden’s big spending proposals, worrying the steep price tag could cost the party in the 2022 midterm elections. While liberal Democrats are cheering Biden on, moderates say the $4.1 trillion in infrastructure and social spending, coming after the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief measure, could hurt their efforts to hold the House next year. “I can see the ads now. ‘Joe Biden the $6 trillion dollar man,’ ” said one Democratic strategist. “Democrats are like kids being given the keys to the candy store right now,” said another Democratic strategist. “We have all this candy, and we’ll worry about the stomach ache later.” The Hill
Move over Marine Corps, AOC’s pushing for 1.5M-strong ‘Climate Corps’ . . . Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other progressive lawmakers are calling for the creation of a 1.5 million-strong group of civilians to work on federally funded projects addressing climate change as part of their sweeping Green New Deal legislation. Members of the Civilian Climate Corps would receive on-the-job training and work with community groups on initiatives to “reduce carbon emissions, enable a transition to renewable energy, build healthier and more resilient communities, implement conservation projects with proven climate benefits, and help communities recover from climate disasters.” Fox News
Progressive Caucus chair hails Biden agenda . . . It’s “full of progressive priorities,” said Rep. Pramila Jayapal, a Democrat from Washington state, of President Biden’s program. She’s beaming with pride. The leftist agenda has taken full control of the Democratic Party. And how come such people are never referred to as “extreme left wing,” in the way that conservatives are often call right-wing extremists? White House Dossier
Elise Stefanik moves to quickly consolidate GOP support as Liz Cheney replacement . . . New York Rep. Elise Stefanik, a staunch defender of former President Donald Trump, is working behind the scenes to lock down enough support to replace Rep. Liz Cheney as the No. 3 in GOP leadership, multiple Republican sources said, moving swiftly to clear the field to ascend to the powerful position. No GOP challenger to Stefanik has emerged. Members of the House GOP leadership are quietly backing Stefanik’s ascent to the post, a rapid turn of events amid Cheney’s bitter feud with Trump, which has left her increasingly isolated in the House GOP conference. Stefanik has been working the phones throughout the day on Tuesday. A vote on Cheney’s future and replacement is expected as soon as May 12. “The field is clear for her at the moment,” said another House GOP source who asked to talk anonymously to discuss sensitive internal politics. CNN
Republicans move to sink Biden ATF nominee: “Enemy of the 2nd amendment” . . . David Chipman favors banning the AR-15, the most popular in a America. Dozens of House Republicans are urging the Senate to oppose President Biden’s nomination of David Chipman as director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), calling him an “enemy of the 2nd Amendment” and saying his confirmation would “jeopardize” the constitutional rights of gun owners. Biden last month nominated Chipman, a former federal agent and adviser at the gun control group Giffords, to be director of ATF. White House Dossier
National Security
New Bill to Crack Down on Chinese Business Operating Near Air Force Base . . . Texas lawmakers are attempting to root out a China-backed business creeping into territory near a U.S. Air Force base. Legislation that passed unanimously through the state senate in April would ban businesses backed by hostile countries such as Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea from acquiring critical infrastructure contracts or companies within the state. The bill’s sponsors hope to make a stand against the incursion of Chinese business into the Texas power grid.”The federal government is not stepping up to the plate to make sure that our country is secure,” State senator Donna Campbell (R., Texas), a cosponsor of the act told the Washington Free Beacon. “This was happening right under our nose.” Washington Free Beacon
This is Russia’s MO as well. “Hold your friends close and enemies even closer” mentality. Why does it take the feds decades to wise up? Or never, in some cases.
Plans for a new Space National Guard close to liftoff, top general says . . . Pentagon officials are finalizing recommendations to establish a separate Space National Guard, the nation’s top National Guard officer told lawmakers, potentially setting up a new cadre of part-time space professionals for the military. Gen. Daniel Hokanson on Tuesday called establishing a Space National Guard “among my most pressing concerns.” Hokanson told members that the Space Force’s top officer, Gen. Jay Raymond, and acting Air Force Secretary John Roth support “a two component construct” of an active-duty and Reserve Space Force along with a Space National Guard. The trio, he testified, have met with Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks and are set to speak again Wednesday ahead of a briefing with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on the plan. Politico
Our highly sophisticated space assets give US military strategic advantage by providing intelligence, missile warning, command and control, and other critical functions. By standing up this new Space entity, the feds seek to mitigate the shortages of qualified space cadre in this national security area that is targeted by Russia and China who view it as a vulnerability. Space warfare, along with cyber warfare, are the new doctrinal developments in both Russia’s and China’s warfigthing strategies.The question is: will another layer of US government bureaucracy solve the problem?
China on campus: How the DOJ has battled ‘nontraditional espionage’ . . . U.S. national security officials are increasingly sounding the alarm about the economic challenge and national security threat posed by the Chinese Communist Party, especially as the Chinese government’s Thousand Talents Program exploits the openness of academia in the United States to steal advanced research to increase China’s wealth and enhance its power. The Justice Department’s China Initiative is shining the spotlight on the Chinese Communist Party’s coordinated and multifaceted efforts to steal research and technology from academic institutions across the country, with prosecutors mounting aggressive efforts over the past few years to crack down on Chinese malign influence at U.S. universities. Washington Examiner
‘Alarming rate’: Demoralized cops flee police departments in record numbers . . .Police officers nationwide are turning in their badges at record rates amid budget cuts, policy changes and anti-brutality protests. An estimated 5,300 officers quit or retired from the New York Police Department last year, 200 or more cops have left the Seattle force, and in the nation’s capital, the union reports that the 3,700-strong Metropolitan Police Department is down 300 badges since the D.C. Council enacted sweeping police reforms last summer. “Officers are leaving at an alarming rate, and crime is spiking in a lot of different areas,” police union chairman Gregg Pemberton told The Washington Times on Tuesday.
Gunman ambushed and shot police officer, then killed himself . . . A Nashville, Tenn., police officer was shot Tuesday evening in an ambush-style attack while responding to a home where a gunman had lured officers before opening fire and eventually killing himself, police said. Officer Brian Sherman was shot in the upper left arm as he and other officers responded to a “setup call” amid reports of a woman shot inside a home just after 6:10 p.m. A man called 911 saying his brother shot his mother and was firing inside, police spokesman Don Aaron said. When officers arrived at the home and knocked on the door, they were met with gunfire, Aaron said. Fox News
Coronavirus
Pfizer to ask for FDA authorization of vaccine for children age 2-11 . . . Pfizer will seek federal authorization to use its coronavirus vaccine in children age 2 to 11 in September, the company announced Tuesday. Safety and efficacy trials in children as young as six months are continuing. While young children have shown to be less likely to experience severe cases of COVID-19, inoculating them is thought to be key to stamping out transmission of the coronavirus. Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said in a Tuesday earnings call that the company plans to submit a request for expanded use authorization from the FDA to use the two-dose vaccine in children six months to 2 years old before the end of the year. Washington Examiner
International
Washington shies away from open declaration to defend Taiwan . . . The top White House Asia official has warned that any declaration that the US would defend Taiwan from a Chinese attack would carry “significant downsides”. Washington has for decades maintained a policy of “strategic ambiguity” regarding Taiwan, designed to discourage Taipei from declaring independence and China from taking military action to seize the country. Beijing claims democratic Taiwan as part of its sovereign territory. Some experts have called for a shift to “strategic clarity” to make clear to Beijing that the US would defend Taiwan. China’s aggressive military activity and growing defense capabilities warrant a stronger message from Washington, some analysts have argued. But others have contended that the response could trigger an undesired outcome. China has warned the US about crossing a “red line” over Taiwan. Financial Times
US military in Europe begins major exercises in Russia’s backyard . . . U.S. military forces in Europe started an exercise Tuesday that will put 28,000 troops from 26 countries near Russian territory for over six weeks, with a focus on the Balkans and Black Sea region. European Command’s largest multinational exercise comes on the heels of a Russian military exercise involving some 100,000 troops massed on the eastern border of Ukraine and in occupied Crimea. The long-planned American exercise will test infrastructure and interoperability in NATO’s southeastern flank. The Pentagon said a major difference between Russia’s exercises and the U.S. exercises is that “it’s a defensive exercise.” Washington Examiner
Money
Yellen clarifies inflation comments after roiling Wall Street . . .Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Tuesday she wasn’t expecting an inflation problem as the U.S. economy rebounds, walking back comments that unsettled markets hours earlier. Yellen had said earlier in the day that interest rates may need to be hiked in order to stave off inflation. “So let me be clear: That’s not something I’m predicting or recommending,” Yellen said during a Wall Street Journal CEO Council Summit. The Federal Reserve would make the decision on rate hikes. “It may be that interest rates will have to rise somewhat to make sure that our economy doesn’t overheat,” Yellen said. New York Post
Unemployment benefits undercut businesses as Demts’ ‘automatic stabilizers’ keep people at home . . . President Biden’s push to extend supercharged unemployment benefits based on the jobless rate or other economic indicators is frustrating small-business owners who are struggling to lure employees back to the workforce. In Mr. Biden $1.8 trillion “American Families Plan,” the White House says the president wants to work with Congress “to automatically adjust the length and amount of [jobless] benefits unemployed workers receive depending on economic conditions.”
Mr. Biden has expressed support for the long democrats’ pushed idea of “automatic stabilizers” for the jobless benefits. Small-business owners, though, say indefinite federal assistance would give people further reason to stay out of the labor market. Washington Times
Biden Wants Higher Taxes Than China’s . . . The concept driving President Biden’s tax proposals for individuals is that the long-term capital gains and dividends of wealthy investors should be taxed as ordinary income. If the concept becomes law, the US will have hamstrung itself economically by impairing a key engine of growth—the individual risk-taking needed to start companies and create jobs. The current top rate on long-term capital gains is 23.8%. Mr. Biden proposes to push the top rate to 43.4%. The most critical comparison is between the U.S. and China, which has adopted key Western investment policies and made no secret of its desire to become the world’s leading economy. Mr. Biden has acknowledged this, calling Beijing’s intentions to displace U.S. global leadership “deadly earnest.” The top capital-gains tax rate for Chinese investors is 20%. The Chinese model, a political dictatorship, a market economy, and low taxes for investors, continues to generate rapid economic gains. Wall Street Journal
You should also know
Private school parents pressured to become BLM activists, NYC dad says . . . A New York City father who went viral after pulling his daughter out of The Brearley School after seven years shared new details about the elite school’s left-wing culture in a new video interview with Fox News. Andrew Gutmann said that Left-wing activism was the norm at the the school and that families were pressured to “advocate for Black Lives Matter.”Gutmann described the pressure to conform as so intense that “if you just stay silent, you’re racist. You have to be an activist for that. If you’re not an activist for an antiracism initiative, for Black Lives Matter, for example, you are racist, you are a bad person, you are an oppressor, you are not doing the right thing.” Fox News
BLM is Marxist/Communist organization whose leadership misuses your donations to enrich themselves. Messrs. and Mmes. Suburbanites, don’t be duped or afraid – please tear down these BLM yard signs on your lawns.
PragerU Sets Out to ‘Inoculate’ Children Against Critical Theory . . . Online education nonprofit PragerU has started to produce content specifically for children. Named PREP (PragerU Resources for Educators and Parents), the materials are designed to be not only entertaining, but also teach traditional American values in counter to what they see as damaging political indoctrination in schools. “There are shows and resources . . . that celebrate our American values, what American was built on: equality of opportunity, honesty, respect, hard work. Those are all values that are quite frankly pro-American values, which a lot of our kids are not getting at school now because of the injection of far-left directives—such as DEI [Diversity, Equity, Inclusion], Critical Race Theory—we’re seeing all of these directives being injected in our public or private schools,” said Jill Simonian, former television host and current PREP outreach director. Epoch Times
No Praying or Parking in the Capital . . . Biden administration is wrecking DC traditions with its security theater. “Deeply troubling.” That was the Reverend Patrick Mahoney’s response when he was denied a permit to hold a prayer service at the U.S. Capitol on the National Day of Prayer tomorrow. “For 70 years, there has been a public witness on the National Day of Prayer at the U.S. Capitol Building. Until today! Our request to have prayer service was denied,” read a statement by Mahoney. He further observed, “The ‘People’s House,’ as the U.S. Capitol Building is so rightly called, must be a place where all Americans are afforded the right to come and peacefully celebrate and express their First Amendment rights. Tragically, those rights and freedoms are being denied and prohibited.” Patriot Post
Guilty Pleasures
Nature at its craziest: Trillions of cicadas about to emerge . . . Within days, a couple weeks at most, the cicadas of Brood X (ten) will emerge after 17 years underground. This brood is one of the largest and most noticeable. They’ll be in 15 states from Indiana to Georgia to New York; they’re coming out now in mass numbers in Tennessee and North Carolina. When the entire brood emerges, backyards can look like undulating waves, and the bug chorus is lawnmower loud.
The cicadas will mostly come out at dusk to try to avoid everything that wants to eat them, squiggling out of holes in the ground. They’ll try to climb up trees or anything vertical, including Raupp and Shrewsbury. Once off the ground, they shed their skins and try to survive that vulnerable stage before they become dinner to a host of critters including ants, birds, dogs, cats and Raupp.
It’s one of nature’s weirdest events, featuring sex, a race against death, evolution and what can sound like a bad science fiction movie soundtrack. Some people may be repulsed. Psychiatrists are calling entomologists worrying about their patients, Shrewsbury said. But scientists say the arrival of Brood X is a sign that despite pollution, climate change and dramatic biodiversity loss, something is still right with nature. And it’s quite a show. Associated Press
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Happy Wednesday! First, this crucial news bulletin: Here’s why that picture of the Bidens and the Carters looked so strange. Now, on to the rest of the news.
Quick Hits: Today’s Top Stories
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu failed to form a new government prior to his mandate expiring last night. President Reuven Rivlin will now grant the mandate to one of Netanyahu’s political rivals, who may be able to form a government without him.
The legal team for former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin filed a motion yesterday asking for a new trial, alleging the state “committed pervasive, prejudicial prosecutorial misconduct, which deprived [Chauvin] of his constitutional rights to due process and a fair trial.”
Rep. Charlie Crist on Tuesday became the first Democrat to formally launch a bid to unseat Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in 2022. Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried and Rep. Val Demings are also expected to jump in the race.
The United States confirmed 40,927 new cases of COVID-19 yesterday per the Johns Hopkins University COVID-19 Dashboard, with 3.5 percent of the 1,180,193 tests reported coming back positive. An additional 929 deaths were attributed to the virus on Tuesday, bringing the pandemic’s American death toll to 578,421. According to the Centers for Disease Control, 34,827 Americans are currently hospitalized with COVID-19. Meanwhile, 988,846 COVID-19 vaccine doses were administered yesterday, with 147,894,671 Americans having now received at least one dose.
Cheney Back in the Crosshairs
After House Republicans voted overwhelmingly in February to keep Rep. Liz Cheney in her leadership position as the third-ranking Republican in the House despite her support for impeaching former President Donald Trump in the aftermath of January 6, GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy boasted about the results. “This Republican Party’s a very big tent,” he told reporters. “Everyone’s invited in.”
It turns out the tent is smaller than he suggested.
Now, three months after the vote, members are gearing up to push her out of the role, this time at the urging of top leaders.
McCarthy has grown increasingly frustrated with Cheney in recent weeks. On Fox News yesterday, he insisted the source of this frustration isn’t the Wyoming Republican’s impeachment vote, but her actions and statements in the months since. “That decision has been made,” he said, in reference to impeachment. “I have heard from members concerned about her ability to carry out the job as conference chair, to carry out the message. We all need to be working as one if we’re able to win the majority.”
McCarthy’s comments were the clearest indication yet that he no longer sees Cheney as the right fit for his leadership team. And if those comments didn’t get his point across, others he made off-air certainly did. “I think she’s got real problems,” McCarthy said in a conversation with Steve Doocy first leaked to Axios. “I’ve had it with her. You know, I’ve lost confidence.”
McCarthy has not appeared publicly with Cheney since March, a departure from the press conferences they used to hold with the GOP leadership team on a regular basis. During last week’s House Republican conference retreat in Orlando, he dodged questions about Cheney’s role in leadership and said she was distracting from the party’s priorities.
It’s quite a heel turn from the top House Republican. McCarthy came to Cheney’s defense earlier this year during the private GOP conference meeting where members debated her role in the party. Why are things different now? Cheney didn’t stop talking.
McCarthy seems to have been under the impression that, following February’s meeting, Cheney would avoid answering honestly when asked about Trump, or focus her efforts solely on criticizing President Joe Biden and campaigning for Republicans in their effort to take back the House. But Cheney called her vote to impeach Trump a vote of principle and said of Trump’s role in instigating the January 6 attack on the Capitol that “there has never been a greater betrayal by a president of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution.”
Even as GOP frustration mounts, it’s evident Cheney is simply not willing to be silent about something she thinks is of paramount importance just to keep her position in leadership.
“This is about whether the Republican Party is going to perpetuate lies about the 2020 election and attempt to whitewash what happened on Jan 6,” Jeremy Adler, Cheney’s spokesman, said Tuesday. “Liz will not do that. That is the issue.”
When Trump issued yet another false statement Monday claiming the election was fraudulent, Cheney herself shot back on Twitter. “The 2020 presidential election was not stolen,” she said. “Anyone who claims it was is spreading THE BIG LIE, turning their back on the rule of law, and poisoning our democratic system.”
Cheney made a slew of headlines last week as well, much to the chagrin of her colleagues. She endorsed a narrower investigative scope for a potential commission probe into the attack on the Capitol, dissenting from Republicans (like McCarthy) who have said the commission should also look into largely unrelated violence around the country following the murder of George Floyd last year. She also argued that prominent lawmakers who amplified Trump’s election conspiracy theories should be disqualified from the 2024 presidential race.
“I do think that some of our candidates who led the charge—particularly the senators who led the unconstitutional charge, not to certify the election—you know, in my view, that’s disqualifying,” she told the New York Post last week. The comment was primarily seen as a shot at Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, but it also applied to the nearly two-thirds of her own conference who voted to reject Electoral College results from Arizona and Pennsylvania.
As conference chair, Cheney’s role is to lead House GOP messaging. Even if her statements about the election are true (they are) and even if her case to move on from Trumpism after January 6 has merit (it does), the cold reality is that many of her colleagues—including the 147 who voted against certifying the election results—want Trump at the center of their party.
Texas Republican Lance Gooden, an outspoken critic of Cheney, said Tuesday that she is “totally unaligned with the majority of our party.”
“We cannot fight for the America First agenda with her in a leadership position,” he said. Gooden predicted over the weekend that Cheney will be out of the conference chair role by the end of the month.
The public criticism of Cheney, led and encouraged by McCarthy, was widely seen as an attempt to pressure Cheney into resigning. Sources familiar with Cheney’s thinking say there’s no chance she’ll do that.
House Republicans are next scheduled to meet on Wednesday, May 12. It’s likely the party will consider another motion to push Cheney out of leadership at that point. This time, if McCarthy’s public remarks are any indication, Cheney’s opponents will have support from the top of the conference. The vote will likely be conducted via secret ballot once again; Cheney prevailed 145-61 last time, but virtually no one thinks she’ll survive this vote.
Republicans are already coalescing around Cheney’s potential successor, with New York Rep. Elise Stefanik campaigning for the role behind the scenes. According to House Republicans familiar with the discussions, she previously spoke to colleagues about challenging Cheney before the first attempt to oust her, but opted against mounting the effort.
Stefanik, first elected in 2014, actually broke from Trump on policy far more than Cheney ever did; her career FiveThirtyEight Trump score is just 77.7 percent, compared to Cheney’s 92.9 percent. But Stefanik aligned herself with the former president where it mattered most: Objecting to the 2020 election results in multiple states, and fiercely defending Trump during both impeachment trials.
As such, Stefanik is well-liked by MAGA world, and has an impressive fundraising record: Her E-PAC has played a significant role in boosting the number of GOP women in Congress to record highs. Brendan Buck, previously a senior adviser to former House speakers Paul Ryan and John Boehner, said Tuesday that if she wants the job, it’s hers to take.
But a lot can happen in a week. Other names have popped up in the discussions, including Reps. Ann Wagner of Missouri and Jackie Walorski of Indiana.
One thing is certain—whoever ascends to the job if Cheney is kicked out will have to be willing to maintain strategic silence about something that shouldn’t be controversial, but is for House Republicans: The election wasn’t stolen.
What’s Going on in Maricopa County?
Depending on where you get your political news, you’ve likely heard either a lot about Arizona’s Maricopa County in recent weeks, or nothing at all. Despite President Biden recently surpassing his 100th day in office, Republicans in the Arizona State Senate are charging full steam ahead on yet another audit of the 2020 election results in Maricopa—the county that contains Phoenix—after a judge ruled the recount could proceed.
In an explainer on the site, Ryan lays out all you need to know about the audit: Why it’s happening, what its proponents are hoping to find, and the potential repercussions.
In late February, the GOP-controlled Arizona State Senate issued subpoenas to get access to and review 2.1 million Maricopa County ballots and 400 voting machines. The Republican-controlled Maricopa County Board of Supervisors pushed back against this demand, saying it was a breach of Arizona voters’ privacy rights, and voted 4-1 to file a court complaint to seek clarification on whether or not they had to follow the subpoena from the Senate.
The audit officially started on April 23, after a judge ruled that the Senate had a right to the ballots and machines, and the county board said it would cooperate with the audit. There is no deadline for when it will wrap, according to Ken Bennett, the Senate liaison to the audit and former Arizona secretary of state.
Worth Your Time
After more than a year of doom and gloom, there really is a lot to be optimistic about on the pandemic front—even if some people aren’t ready to come to terms with that yet. In a piece for The Atlantic, Emma Green takes a look at the Americans—mostly progressives—who have subsumed COVID-19 caution into their political identity, and are now struggling to let go. “Last year, when the pandemic was raging and scientists and public-health officials were still trying to understand how the virus spread, extreme care was warranted,” she writes. “People all over the country made enormous sacrifices—rescheduling weddings, missing funerals, canceling graduations, avoiding the family members they love—to protect others. Some conservatives refused to wear masks or stay home, because of skepticism about the severity of the disease or a refusal to give up their freedoms. But this is a different story, about progressives who stressed the scientific evidence, and then veered away from it.”
There are too many amazing nuggets in this Elaina Plott New York Times Magazine piece about the Texas GOP for us to pick just one, so here’s a teaser: “The Republican Party trounced the Democrats at every level in Texas in November, only to see its politicians turn on one another over the pandemic and voter-fraud conspiracy theories.”
In yesterday’s edition of The Sweep, Sarah breaks down the TX-06 special election results from over the weekend and points out some ways in which the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (McCain-Feingold) ruined our politics. Plus, Chris Stirewalt explores Mike Pence’s 2024 maneuvering.
David’s Tuesday French Press (🔒) argues that the biggest obstacle standing in the way of Democrats’ “demography is destiny” wishcasting is the party’s deep divide on religion. “There exists a giant demographic ‘God gap’ in Democratic politics,” he writes. “The present Democratic coalition … contains disproportionately large numbers of one of the most religious communities (black Americans) and one of the least religious (white progressives) in our nation.”
Jonah’s flying solo on the first Remnantof the week. He tackles the strawman and frequent leftist punching bag called social Darwinism, and whether or not such an ideology ever even existed in the first place. Do any conservatives actually believe this stuff?
If you haven’t yet had your fill of House GOP leadership news, Steve has a piece up on the site today digging into Kevin McCarthy’s actions the past few months. “McCarthy is moving to push Cheney out of her leadership position for saying in May what he’d said repeatedly earlier this year,” Steve writes. “McCarthy knows that Trump is lying about the election. He knows that Cheney is telling the truth. And he’s choosing Trump anyway.”
Let Us Know
Is Liz Cheney right that, in order to move forward, the GOP needs to confront the lies about the 2020 election that led to January 6? Is Kevin McCarthy right that Republicans need to be united and “working as one” in order to win back the House in 2022? Is it possible they’re both right?
William A. Jacobson: “LET ME TELL YOU A SECRET — We haven’t announced it yet, but we are holding an online event on May 23 that may be our best yet. We’re helping the Barrington (RI) United Veterans push back against the surge of critical race activism, including in schools. We have organized a panel to discuss Unity Not Division: A Non-Racist Approach to Community & Education. Sign up at the link.”
Kemberlee Kaye: “China keeps doubling down to win the award for Worst Possible Country Ever award.”
Leslie Eastman: “Legal Insurrection readers will remember that I was persuaded early on in the pandemic (i.e., Feb. 16, 2020) that the coronavirus at the heart of the COVID-19 pandemic likely came from the Chinese research laboratory in Wuhan. A classified study that has just been released pairs with a superb analysis by Science Write Nicholas Wade to support that theory. So, the new consensus: Anyone who asserts that a lab release of coronavirus isn’t a reasonable possibility is ignoring the real science. Classified Study: COVID-19 Could Have Originated in Chinese Lab“
Stacey Matthews: “So apparently we are back to the ‘Prince Charming is a sexual predator’ thing, because everything is stupid.”
David Gerstman: “Mike LaChance blogged about New York Times correspondent, Nikole Hannah-Jones, complaining about efforts to stop critical race theory from being taught in schools. The first amendment is the first refuge of political scoundrels. Hannah-Jones insisted that it is her right to have critical race theory taught in school. But is it? As Mike pointed out, “If I write a book claiming that Germany and Japan won World War II, my free speech rights are not being infringed if schools decline to rewrite history on my behalf.” Despite the presence of the word “theory,” critical race theory isn’t history, it’s ideology wrapped up in academic jargon. There’s no right to indoctrinate students.”
Samantha Mandeles: “ A devastating article published last month in YNet summarizes a treasure trove of newly uncovered documents that reveal how the British wantonly murdered Jews (including children and civilians) in pre-state Israel, especially during the last 10 years of the Palestine Mandate. Even more sinister, the archives show that the British expended incredible effort to cover up these murders, keeping supporting documents classified until very recently. Coupled with the British policy of limiting Jewish immigration to the Mandate before and during World War II (thereby knowingly condemning thousands of Jews to death in Hitler’s ovens), and frequent capitulation to bigoted and genocial Arab leaders, the behavior revealed in these new papers make it even more shocking (to me, at least) that any British government official since Israel’s founding has ever felt entitled to issue comment on what Israel should or shouldn’t do in relation to her neighbors. The definition of chutzpah, folks.”
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Liz Cheney May Be Out of GOP Leadership
In yet another sign that the times are a-changin’ in the Grand Old Party, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy openly criticized Conference Chair Liz Cheney’s performance in Republican leadership.
“House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said on Fox News Tuesday morning the GOP is ‘concerned’ about Rep. Liz Cheney’s, R-Wyo., ability to be the House Republican Conference Chair…
‘There’s no concern about how she voted on impeachment. That decision has been made. I have heard from members concerned about her ability to carry out the job as conference chair — to carry out the message,’ McCarthy said. ‘We all need to be working as one if we’re able to win the majority. Remember, majorities are not given; they are earned.’…
Axios reported Monday that Republicans are eyeing options to replace Cheney as Chair. Congressional aides allegedly told Axios that Reps. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., Ann Wagner, R-Mo., and Jackie Walorski, R-Ind., are being considered. Aides also reportedly mentioned Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., who served from 2012 to 2018 as chairwoman of the House GOP Conference…
The Hill also reported Monday that GOP ‘allies’ of McCarthy are seeking to remove Cheney from leadership. ‘There is no way that Liz will be conference chair by month’s end,’ one of the sources said. ‘When there is a vote, it won’t be a long conference; it will be fast. Everyone knows the outcome.’”
Gen Z Grapples with Coming of Age in a Bizarre Sexual Culture
Emily Jashinsky writes in The Federalist:
“Every generation since the Boomers suffers from postmodern malaise, the incoherent muck that sucks us into sand traps as the foundational rock of a society crumbles. For Generation Z, this is a very different experience. Their lives were forcibly built on the sands of postmodernism, then tossed into the funhouse mirror maze of the social media age. It’s confusing as hell, and it’s painful. The digital air they breathe is polluted by Big Tech…
In our conversation on Federalist Radio Hour last summer, Abigail Shrier said something that stuck with me. For so many of the girls seeking gender dysphoria diagnoses, rapidly inflating the rate of occurrence, Shrier argued they’re ultimately “looking to escape womanhood.”…
Eilish was always a refreshing departure from the “asexual” aesthetic of a millennial libertine like Lady Gaga. But it’s possible this progression could mature into something refreshing as well.
In this sense, Eilish’s new look represents Gen Z’s deep struggle with sex, brought about by the combination of social media, postmodernism, and feminist fear-mongering. The most poignant quote that supplements her Vogue cover came when Eilish said, ‘I feel more like a woman, somehow.’”
Pod Updates
You’ll have to put up with a bit of self-promotion in the next few BRIGHTs, because I’m super excited to release the first couple episodes of High Noon with Inez Stepman. You can find my conversation with Dr. Debra Soh on the biology of sex differences and “woke”-infected science here, or wherever you get your podcasts.
The second episode, with Melissa Chen about how to handle the geopolitical rise of China, and our own domestic insecurities and critiques of our open society will drop today at noon, and can be found here when it does. Up next week: CRT warrior Christopher Rufo.
There will also be a shorter pop-up episode in the next couple days with the great John McWhorter on the power of words, the woke elect, and other spicy topics.
Please subscribe, rate, and review if you enjoy these, it makes a huge difference! You can also email me any comments or questions about the show here at BRIGHT.
Fashion Moment of the Week
The Chanel cruise collection for 2022 is a throwback to the 90s and 2000s punk-ish vibe I can tell you in confidence that I definitely fell victim to in high school, except all grown up. The fashion house’s offerings included fishnets, chain belts, chokers (!), and lots of their signature tweed sets reimagined as a backdrop for those punk details. More at Refinery 29.
Wednesday Links
Bedford: how government agencies use bought-in reporters to discredit political opponents. (The Federalist)
The always-funny Rich Cromwell: “It’s time for businesses to cut out the middleman and go straight to the source. Replace all your CEOs with Twitter.” (The Federalist)
Is Big Hallucinogen next? One writer says it’ll be like 60s, but worse, because the drug revolution will happen under the “guidance” of our ruling class. (The Federalist)
Michael Tracey: homicides surge in the year after 2020 summer riots. (Substack)
Inez Feltscher Stepman is a senior policy analyst at the Independent Women’s Forum and a senior contributor to The Federalist. She is a San Francisco Bay Area native with a BA in Philosophy from UCSD and a JD from the University of Virginia. She lives in Washington, D.C. with her husband, Jarrett Stepman, her puggle Thor, and her cat Thaddeus Kosciuszko. You can follow her on Twitter at @inezfeltscher and on Instagram (for #ootd, obvi) under the same handle. Opinions expressed on this website are her own and not those of her employers. Or her husband.
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May 05, 2021 01:00 am
His latest lies are more sophisticated and subtle than usual, showing that they’re not his usual self-aggrandizing puffery but are, instead, malevolent in design. Read More…
May 05, 2021 01:00 am
There is an obvious double standard in deciding if a police officer should be charged with violating a use-of-force policy Read More…
May 05, 2021 01:00 am
When limited government is abandoned and liberty is deemed “selfish,” then America’s institutions have become a threat to America’s existence. Read More…
May 05, 2021 01:00 am
A renewed commitment to our basic rights and freedoms and rededicating the nation to thorough decentralization are antidotes to ruin, tyranny, or permanent rupture. Read More…
Trump is ba-a-a-ck! Online!
May 05, 2021 01:00 am
Facebook, Instagram and Twitter thought banning former president Donald J. Trump (R) from their platforms would silence him. vFacebook will decide this morning whether to allow Trump back on their site. Ah, but does Trump want to return to them? Read more…
Bill Nye ain’t no science guy
May 05, 2021 01:00 am
“The Science Guy” took to MSNBC to launch his latest pseudo-science screed, this time against anti-vaxxers, Tucker Carlson, and rascally conservatives. Read more…
Target celebrating its own destruction
May 05, 2021 01:00 am
A company exulting in massive damage to one of its own outlets is, as far as I know, unprecedented. Target has, ironically and literally, made itself a target. Read more…
Islam’s temper tantrums
May 05, 2021 01:00 am
Islam — particularly in the guise of its doctrine of jihad — has always attracted the immature and criminal-prone. Read more…
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An Iowa State University professor raised eyebrows after revealing that she limits “interactions” with white people “as much as possible.” She also complained that white men “with dirty hair and wrinkled clothes” will always be “liked and higher ranked.” The professor’s tweets are … Read more
On the latest episode of “The Rubin Report,” BlazeTV host Dave Rubin talks about Jimmy Kimmel’s racist and uninformed remarks after Republican Sen. Tim Scott (S.C.) said America is not a racist country during his rebuttal to President Joe Biden’s address to a joint session of Congress. Kimmel attempted to smear Sen. Scott and conserva … Read more
The passing of Apollo 11’s Michael Collins along with the 60th anniversary of Alan Shepard’s historic flight reminds us how inspiring exploration can be.
With the Biden administration a lost cause and Indiana passing only limited vaccine protection measures, St. Joseph County citizens were wise to take matters into their own hands.
Vaccine virtue-signaling — three words you probably did not know could exist in connection with one another until a pandemic swept the globe — is so very tiresome.
The Transom is a daily email newsletter written by publisher of The Federalist Ben Domenech for political and media insiders, which arrives in your inbox each morning, collecting news, notes, and thoughts from around the web.
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40.) REUTERS
The Reuters Daily Briefing
Wednesday, May 5, 2021
by Linda Noakes
Hello
Here’s what you need to know.
Trump won’t be back on Facebook for now, rivals move to unseat Netanyahu, and Krispy Kreme eyes new dough
Today’s biggest stories
U.S.
Facebook’s oversight board upheld the suspension of former U.S. President Donald Trump but said the indefinite suspension was wrong, in a much-awaited verdict that may signal how the company will treat rule-breaking world leaders in the future.
The board said Facebook should determine a “proportionate response” that is consistent with rules applied to other users of the platform, and that the company must complete its review within six months.
Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin has asked a judge for a new trial, two weeks after he was found guilty of murder and manslaughter in the killing of George Floyd.
Eli Lilly employees have accused a factory executive of altering documents required by government regulators in an effort to downplay serious quality control problems at the U.S. plant producing the drugmaker’s COVID-19 treatment.
A woman wearing an oxygen mask sits inside an ambulance as she waits to enter a COVID-19 hospital for treatment in Ahmedabad, India, May 5, 2021. REUTERS/Amit Dave
Mexico will punish those responsible for an overpass collapse that killed at least 24 people when a train on Mexico City’s newest metro line plunged onto a busy road below, the government says. As families spoke to us of their desperate searches for relatives, many of them blamed shoddy construction and political corruption for the collapse.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s two main political rivals have each asked the president for the chance to try to form a government, after Netanyahu failed to meet an overnight deadline to assemble a coalition. Israel’s longest serving leader has been fighting to hold onto office through four inconclusive elections since 2019.
Turkey and Egypt will try to improve strained ties at talks starting in Cairo after an eight-year rift which led them to back rival factions in Libya’s war and put them at odds in a dispute over east Mediterranean waters.
BUSINESS
Some critical industries could suffer if the U.S. government uses a national security law to redirect scarce computer chips to the auto industry. The analysis suggests the White House could opt to reject calls to invoke the Defense Production Act by automakers and a bipartisan set of lawmakers.
As retail investors pump less money into blank-check companies, returns on those stocks are badly underperforming versus the S&P 500. We found that over 100 special-purpose acquisition companies, or SPACs, that announced mergers this year on average have gained under 2% from the price they traded at when they first listed on the stock exchange.
SpaceX has received more than 500,000 preorders for its Starlink satellite internet service, founder Elon Musk says. Meanwhile, Musk rival Jeff Bezos’ rocket company Blue Origin is poised to open up ticket sales for suborbital sightseeing trips today.
Krispy Kreme has confidentially filed with U.S. regulators for an initial public offering, a move that would result in the doughnut chain’s return to the stock market five years after it was taken private. The company first went public in 2000, but it had to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Quote of the day
“Who to be saved, who not to be saved should be decided by God. We are not made for that – we are just humans”
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by Gary Bauer: CIA Goes SNL
The Central Intelligence Agency recently released a recruitment video that could easily be mistaken for a Saturday Night Live parody. The ad, featuring a young Hispanic woman, presumably is trying to appeal to Millennials. But let me share with you a few of the actual lines from the ad:
“I am a woman of color.”
“I am a cisgender Millennial.”
“I have been diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder.”
“I am intersectional.”This is what a woke CIA looks like. Sadly, this trend has been going on for a long time now, at least since John Brennan was running the agency during the Obama years.There are so many problems with this ad, I couldn’t possibly list them all here. One problem is that it won’t reach its target audience. Many Millennials wouldn’t want to serve in the CIA.As I have repeatedly warned, we have been teaching our children “anti-American history” for many years now. Thanks to the 1619 Project and critical race theory, we’re teaching them that the country of their birth is evil.
As a result, America’s youth are among the least patriotic generation ever. Why would they want to devote their lives to defending a country that they have been taught was founded on genocide and slavery?
But here’s the biggest problem: The enemies the CIA is supposed to defend us from aren’t woke. Communist China isn’t woke. Vladimir Putin isn’t woke. North Korea isn’t woke. The radical Islamists aren’t woke.
They will look at this woke ad, which reeks of weakness, and wet their pants laughing at us!
Speaking Of Weakness. . .
Secretary of State Antony Blinken was interviewed on “60 Minutes” this weekend about the Biden Administration’s approach to communist China. It would have been better if the interview had never aired. Here’s what Blinken said:
“[Communist China] is the one country in the world that has the military, economic and diplomatic capacity to undermine or challenge the rules-based order that we care so much about and are determined to defend.
“But I want to be very clear about something, and this is important. Our purpose is not to contain China, to hold it back, to keep it down. It is to uphold this rules-based order that China is posing a challenge to. . . I think that over time, China believes that it can be and should be and will be the dominant country in the world.”
Well, Mr. Secretary, if communist China is a threat to American interests, and it is. . .
If communist China is a threat to international law, and it is. . .
If communist China intends to dominate the world, and it does. . .
Then I suggest we’d better have a plan to contain communist China ASAP!
Instead, it seems that the Biden Administration just signaled that we don’t have any such plans, and that we are returning to “business as usual” where terrible trade deals are the most important item on the U.S./China agenda.
The Left’s War Against Cops
There’s a war going on against the police in America. And you’re being lied to. Let me explain.
Radical left groups and progressive politicians have accelerated their smearing of law enforcement. Some have called for defunding the police. The Black Lives Matter organization recently issued a list of seven demands. Number five on the list was defund the police. Has there ever been a dumber idea?
But this isn’t just a weird idea on the fringe left. There are members of Congress who want to defund the police. And serious contenders for the Democrat presidential nomination flirted with this radical idea. (Here and here.) Even Joe Biden said he “absolutely” wanted to “redirect funding” away from the police.
Well, the American people absolutely reject this insane idea. So, Biden and others now say, “No, we don’t want to defund the police.” But here’s what you need to know: They are in fact defunding the police by demoralizing the police.
As we have previously reported, cities across the country are reporting massive police resignations and retirements. Meanwhile, recruitment of new officers is nearly impossible. Why?
Because many of our elites, including the president, constantly claim that American law enforcement is racist. Hollywood celebrities compare our police to Nazis. Millionaire athletes call our police pigs. Now the Biden Justice Department is launching investigations of entire police departments. (Here and here.)
Would you stay in a job where you risked your life every day only to be called a racist, a Nazi and a pig?
Make no mistake about it: There is a war against cops in America. Some on the left are open about it. They demand we get rid of the police. Others claim they disagree. But they use rhetoric and push policies that will result in only one logical outcome – more crime and fewer police to protect you.
Biden’s Border Crisis
Joe Biden raised eyebrows recently for suggesting that his administration has “gotten control” of the border crisis. The American people clearly disagree. A new Harvard/Harris poll finds that 80% of Americans believe the situation at the border is a crisis that demands immediate attention.
And they’re right. Just consider these headlines:
“Rio Grande Sector Remains Nation’s Busiest, Over 2,200 Illegal Busts A Day”
“Border Patrol In California Sees 51 Percent Rise In Illegal Immigrants In April”
“Migrant ‘Got-Away’ Total Exceeds 185K This Year”
“12 Texas Counties Declare Emergencies As Border Crisis Worsens”
“Del Rio Border Sector Chief: Sex Offender Arrests Up Over 2,000%”
Does any of that sound like “control” to you?
Here’s what many still don’t understand: Joe Biden’s idea of “control” isn’t your idea of control.
He’s not talking about border security or controlling illegal immigration, which is expected to hit a record two million crossings this year. He’s talking about faster processing of children and illegal migrants at the border.
The “crisis” Biden is concerned about is that there’s a record number of illegal aliens in border detention facilities. The “control” he’s talking about means getting them out of the detention facilities as quickly as possible, giving them access to medical care and teachers, getting them into hotels or your community even faster.
Joe Biden and the Democrats have no intention of “controlling” who crosses the border and enters our country. Their goal is to make it easier for them.
———————– Gary Bauer (@GaryLBauer) is a conservative family values advocate and serves as president of American Values and chairman of the Campaign for Working Families
Tags:Gary Bauer, Campaign for Working Families, CIA Goes SNL, Speaking of Weakness, Biden’s Border CrisisTo share or post to your site, click on “Post Link”. Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and “Like” Facebook Page – Thanks!
by Tony Perkins: Quoting the Bible can’t land you in American prison (yet), but in Helsinki, it’s a different story.
In a case that’s stunned the West, Finland’s former interior minister and leader of the Christian Democrats has been criminally charged for posting a picture of the Bible, opened to Romans 1:24-27. She was disturbed by the Evangelical Lutheran Church joining a gay pride event and decided to remind it what God says about homosexuality. Now, after a two-year investigation, the tweet could put her behind bars.
The saga, which has involved three police interrogations since 2019, rose to a fever pitch last month when the former MP was officially charged with “hate speech.” Finland’s prosecutor, according to reports, called the actions derogatory and discriminatory.
Päivi Räsänen fired back, insisting, “I do not see I would have in any way defamed homosexuals whose human dignity and human rights I have constantly said to respect and defend.” As a former government minister, she says she’s “shocked” the situation has elevated the way it has.
“I will go to the court with a peaceful and brave mind, trusting that Finland is a constitutional state where the freedoms of speech and religion, both of which are guaranteed in international agreements and in our constitution, are respected,” Räsänen has said. “A conviction based on the Christian faith is more than a surficial opinion. The early Christians did not renounce their faith in lions’ caves, why should I then renounce my faith in a court room?”
As for anything she’s said about the Bible’s teachings, she insists, “I will not step back from my conviction nor from my writings. I do not apologize for the writings of the Apostle Paul either. I am ready to defend freedom speech and religion as far as is necessary.”
In her blunt response, she also pointed out, “The Apostle Paul’s teaching is not only about defending marriage between man and woman, but about how a human being is saved into eternal life. If the teachings of God’s word about sin are rejected, also the whole core of Christian faith is made empty—the precious sacrifice of Jesus on the cross for the sake of everyone’s sins and the way He opened into eternity.”
Four thousand miles away, in Washington, D.C., this kind of persecution may sound far-fetched. But Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., knows from personal experience how much closer America is inching to this climate of open hostility. When he stood on the House floor in late February and read from Deuteronomy about the difference between males and females, he was blasted by Democratic colleagues.
“What any religious tradition describes as God’s will is no concern of this Congress,” Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., fired back.
To some people, it was a shock to hear a Democrat say those words out loud. But to others, it only confirmed what we’ve known all along: God has been of “no concern” to top Democrats for years. And if Americans don’t continue to push back and demand respect for our First Freedom, it won’t be long until the climate of hostility in Helsinki comes here.
————————- Tony Perkins (@tperkins) is President of the Family Research Council . Article was shared on The Daily Signal.
Tags:Tony Perkins, Family Research Council, The Daily Signal, Finnish Lawmaker, Faces Jail, for Sharing Bible Quote, About HomosexualityTo share or post to your site, click on “Post Link”. Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and “Like” Facebook Page – Thanks!
by Patrick J. Buchanan: Can you lead a country about whose history you profess shame? And how long will Americans follow leaders who appear to agree with those who hate what America was and, yes, what America is?
“Hear me clearly: America is not a racist country.”
So declared Sen. Tim Scott, a Black Republican, in his televised rebuttal to Joe Biden’s address to Congress.
Asked the next day what he thought of Scott’s statement, Biden said he agrees. “No, I don’t think the American people are racist.”
Vice President Kamala Harris also agreed with Scott, “No, I don’t think America is a racist country.”
What makes these rejections of the charge of racism against America significant is that Biden and Harris both seemed to say the opposite after Derek Chauvin was convicted.
Biden had called George Floyd’s death “a murder (that) ripped the blinders off for the whole world to see the systemic racism… that is a stain on our nation’s soul.”
Harris had said much the same: “America has a long history of systemic racism. Black Americans — and Black men, in particular — have been treated throughout the course of our history as less than human.”
But which is the predominant view of Biden and Harris about the moral character of the country they were elected to lead?
Is it a vicious slander, as Scott implied, to call America a “racist country”? Or is America’s soul, as Biden and Harris said, so stained by “systemic racism” that this country has treated Black Americans “as less than human” for the 400 years of her existence.
Has America been a curse for the 40 million Black people whose numbers have multiplied 10-fold since the abolition of slavery in 1865, and whose freedoms and material prosperity have grown accordingly?
Or has America been a blessing to Black people?
This is not just a gotcha question.
For the clashing commentaries of Biden and Harris reflect an ideological divide within their own coalition over a most basic issue: Is America a good country?
We have been on this terrain before.
Between LBJ’s landslide in 1964 and the breaking of his presidency in 1968, the Democratic Party had split into three factions, all at war with one another.
There was the Lyndon Johnson-Hubert Humphrey establishment that controlled the presidency and the party machinery. There was the Robert Kennedy-Gene McCarthy-George McGovern anti-establishment and anti-war left.
And there was the populist-right George Wallace bloc, containing millions of flag-waving blue-collar Democrats in northern industrial states and Southern Dixiecrats who detested the leftist radicals on cultural and patriotic grounds.
That Democratic Party disintegrated in the convention hall and the streets of Chicago in August of 1968, opening the door to the GOP era of Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan.
Today’s Democratic Party encompasses three similar blocs.
There is the Biden liberal establishment that controls the media, the academy, the Congress, the administration. There is the Bernie Sanders-Elizabeth Warren-AOC progressive-socialist wing. And there is, today, a new militant and radical third force.
Included in its ranks are Black Lives Matter, antifa and protesters who burn Old Glory, tear down statues, monuments and memorials, assault cops, smash and loot stores and riot at will.
This is the “Abolish Ice!” and “Defund the Police!” faction of the party that detests the old America and favors open borders to alter it forever. This anarchic element is rendered moral sanction by journalists and politicians who share its malignant view of American history.
The Biden-Harris statements on the conviction of Chauvin were tailored to pander to this crowd.
Yet, in his address to Congress, Biden also made a statement that sounded like a Biden plagiarism of Trumpian nationalism:
“All the investments in the American Jobs Plan will be guided by one principle: ‘Buy American.’ American tax dollars are going to be used to buy American products made in America that create American jobs.”
Biden is scrambling to keep one foot in every camp in his coalition by appearing to agree, at times, with them all.
The problem: While one part of his party believes America is a good and great country deserving of loyalty and love, another believes America is racist in its soul — a land whose character is defined, as it has ever been, by white supremacy, white privilege and white rule of people of color.
This leftist rage, however, is partly rooted in urban myth.
Consider. Last year, in D.C., our nation’s capital, there were 200 homicides and 980 people shot, mostly Blacks.
How many were the victims of rogue cops or Proud Boys?
Can you lead a country about whose history you profess shame?
And how long will Americans follow leaders who appear to agree with those who hate what America was and, yes, what America is?
In 2020, Trump united the Democrats. But with Trump gone, Biden must do the uniting of his disparate party himself.
And his need to behave, at times, like a believer in the racial indictment of the America he grew up in is probably not something Joe Biden can credibly and indefinitely pull off.
——————————- Patrick Buchanan (@PatrickBuchanan) is currently a blogger, conservative columnist, political analyst, chairman of The American Cause foundation and an editor of The American Conservative. He has been a senior adviser to three Presidents, a two-time candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, and was the presidential nominee of the Reform Party in 2000.
Tags:Patrick Buchanan, conservative, commentary, Biden vs. Biden, Is America a Racist CountryTo share or post to your site, click on “Post Link”. Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and “Like” Facebook Page – Thanks!
by Bill Donohue: Two years ago, a jury awarded $58 million in damages to ten plaintiffs after finding that the Phoenix-based Biological Resource Center had deceived families into donating the body of a deceased family member. The families thought the body would be used for medical research. Instead, the bodies were dismembered and sold for profit.
FBI agents raided the facility in 2014 and found chopped up bodies in buckets, including feet, shoulders, legs, and spines. Freezers were packed with penises. They even found a torso with a different head sewn on, reminiscent of “Frankenstein.” The owner of the human chop shop, Stephen Gore, was convicted of deceiving the families who donated the body; he also broke the law by deceiving the buyers who were sold body parts with infectious diseases.
How could something like this happen? It’s actually not hard to understand. When we objectify human beings, treating them as inanimate objects, such practices logically follow.
The Catholic Church has a long and proud record of opposing attempts to dehumanize men, women, and children, ranging from denouncing pagan practices such as infanticide to Nazi eugenics. Its latest salvo is a shot at the Biden administration for lifting limits on human fetal research that were placed by the Trump administration.
Archbishop Joseph Naumann, chairman of the bishops’ conference on Pro-Life Activities, released a statement on April 21 that was superb. “The bodies of children killed by abortion deserve the same respect as that of any other person. Our government has no right to treat innocent abortion victims as a commodity that can be scavenged for body parts to be used for research. It is unethical to promote and subsidize research that can lead to legitimizing the violence of abortion.”
White House press secretary Jen Psaki was asked about this statement on April 27. She said the White House “respectfully disagrees,” explaining that “it’s important to invest in science and look for opportunities to cure diseases.”
As expected, Psaki never acknowledged the humanity of the unborn child. She can’t. If she did, the Biden administration’s extreme pro-abortion agenda would implode.
It’s easy to ignore the humanity of the unborn if we call fetal tissue “material.” That was the choice of words selected by Planned Parenthood in the 1970s. In the 1980s, Newsweek described the dismembered body of an unborn baby extracted in a D&E abortion as “fetal material being pulled from a woman’s vagina.” In the same decade, Rachel Conrad Wahlberg, an abortion-rights advocate, contended that the unborn do not have an independent existence. Referring to the pregnant woman, she said, “It is hers. It is her possession (italic in the original).”
The same mindset marked the Dred Scott decision that legalized slavery. In the Supreme Court decision of 1857, the court affirmed public opinion by noting that black people were “articles of property and merchandise.” Nearly 400 blacks were used as guinea pigs in the infamous Tuskegee experiment that began in 1932. For 40 years, rural sharecroppers who took part in the experiment never knew they had syphilis, nor were treated for it. They were not seen as human beings with rights equal to that of others.
After World War I, prisoners in San Quentin received transplanted sex organs from rams, goats, and boors. Tuberculosis treatments were tested on other prisoners. Inmates of Stateville Correctional Center in Illinois were exposed to malaria in the hope that a cure could be found. The drug companies had a field day experimenting on the incarcerated, and did so without controversy right up until the 1970s.
Not only were prisoners seen as subhuman, so were mentally retarded children. From the mid-1950s to 1970, those housed at Willowbrook State School in Staten Island, New York were infected with hepatitis so that doctors could track the spread of the viral infection. More than 700 children were infected to see how they responded to a drug treatment.
After what Jews went through at the hands of Nazi physician Josef Mengele—he performed painful and often deadly experiments on twins—it led to the establishment of the Nuremberg Code, a guideline for conducting research on humans. The first stricture insists that the subject must provide consent before the research can begin.
A child in his mother’s womb can never give consent.
Archbishop Naumann got it right when he said “it is deeply offensive to millions of Americans for our tax dollars to be used for research that collaborates with an industry built on the taking of innocent lives.” Worse, this morally indefensible decision was rendered by our “devout Catholic” president.
——————————– Bill Donohue (@CatholicLeague) is a sociologist and president of the Catholic League.
Tags:Bill Donohue, Catholic League, Ethics Of Fetal Research, Under BidenTo share or post to your site, click on “Post Link”. Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and “Like” Facebook Page – Thanks!
by Paul Jacob, Contributing Author: “Mr. Biden is making a six-trillion dollar bet that promoting popular programs will be popular,” offered NBC Meet the Press host Chuck Todd on Sunday, “and that he’ll be rewarded for getting things done, long before the actual bill comes due.”
That “Six trillion dollars”? New splurging “on social spending, infrastructure, climate change, health care and more.” The host intoned that this constitutes the “return of big government.”
“We have to prove democracy still works, that our government still works,” Joe Biden, the 47th president, implored Congress last week, “and we can deliver for our people.”
So goes a federal “democracy” wherein voters never get a straight, democratic choice on how much government should spend and tax.* Instead, politicians opt for their beloved “deficits forever” method. Purchase votes today — “People like it when you give them money” — and leave for future generations of voters the tax burden needed to pay that bill. No pain, all gain.
“Democratic strategists are betting that the infighting in the Republican Party, the extremism on display during the Jan. 6 attack . . . and the sheer scale of the trillion dollar programs Democrats have pushed through this year,” reportsThe Washington Post, “leads to a reorienting of partisan divisions that can overcome historical patterns.” Meaning Democrats avoid the traditional loss of congressional seats for a president’s party.
“Will voters care about the scope of Mr. Biden’s plans?” Todd inquired. “. . . care about the price tag?”
Likely to the degree they notice paying that price.
“President Trump and the Republicans may have made it a bit easier for Mr. Biden by spending big themselves,” reminded Todd.
He’s not wrong there.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
——————————- * Colorado voters have such a choice: a vote on any tax increase and on government spending increases. It’s called the Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) and was passed by citizen initiative back in 1992. The politicians and lobbyists just hate it, as I detail here.
——————————- Paul Jacob (@Common_Sense_PJ) is author of Common Sense which provides daily commentary about the issues impacting America and about the citizens who are doing something about them. He is also President of the Liberty Initiative Fund (LIFe) as well as Citizens in Charge Foundation. Jacob is a contributing author on the ARRA News Service.
Tags:Paul Jacob, Common Sense, The Six-Trillion Dollar ManTo share or post to your site, click on “Post Link”. Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and “Like” Facebook Page – Thanks!
Tags:AF Branco, editorial cartoon, Children At RiskTo share or post to your site, click on “Post Link”. Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and “Like” Facebook Page – Thanks!
IP, its creation and its protection are all incredibly important. Even more so every day as we evolve further into the modern Information Economy – as ever more things transition from tangible to digital.
In the next half century, trillions of dollars of investment and hundreds of trillions of dollars of economic activity are at stake.
China knows the value of IP creation. Which is why in addition to stealing it from everyone – they have worked to make it ever more attractive for IP creators to create in China. About which we have warned for years….
Just as with manufacturing before, China is offering you all sorts of crony protections, subsidies and benefits – if you move your IP creation to China.
Meanwhile, what is the US doing?
The US has for decades done very little about thieves stealing its IP. Especially thieving China – because the US is awash in Chinese yuan. China liberally distributes bribes throughout our political, educational and cultural systems – to ensure their criminality can continue unopposed and unobstructed.
Every time China steals US IP and the US does nothing about it? The US becomes a less attractive place to create IP.
Every time Congress passes laws that undermine IP? The US becomes a less attractive place to create IP.
“‘The (2013) America Invents Act (AIA) was the single worst disaster in the 226 year history of the U.S. patent system. The AIA did very real damage – enough to put many inventors out of business and discourage many others….
“‘The real damage was hidden in the AIA’s creation of the Patent Trial and Appeals Board (PTAB) and three new procedures to invalidate issued patents – Inter Partes Review (IPR), Post Grant Review (PGR) and Covered Business Method Review (CBM).’
“What is PTAB, you ask?
“PTAB: DCs Latest Unaccountable, Power Grabbing Government Board:
“‘DC has reverse-engineered the government entity responsible for issuing patents – to now destroy patents. Patents that government entity its own self had issued – are now destroyed by that same government entity.’Every time our courts issue anti-Reality, anti-IP rulings? The US becomes a less attractive place to create IP.
“And then Google parachutes in and steals it from you.
“And then the Supreme Court authorizes Google’s theft.
“How likely are you to ever again spend thousands of hours and billions of dollars designing and developing software? You absolutely will not. Because human nature.
“And everyone else who spends thousands of hours and billions of dollars developing software?
“They will have watched quite closely Google’s IP theft from you – and the horrendous Supreme Court fate you subsequently suffered.
“And they too will stop spending thousands of hours and billions of dollars designing and developing software. Because human nature.
“Which leaves the US with no one spending thousands of hours and billions of dollars developing software.
“Which in this increasingly digital economy – undermines the entirety of the US’s economic efficacy for generations to come.”And while we actively drive everyone who ever invented anything out the US? China is warmly welcoming them in.
“China has promised to improve IPR protection for foreign companies with campaigns against violations and stepping up judicial and administrative protection, according to a guideline on ensuring foreign investment growth released last month by the State Council.
“‘China has attached great importance to IPR protection and seen visible results,’ deputy minister of commerce Wang Shouwen told a news conference last month.”We are actively attacking IP and its creators. China is wisely making it as facile as possible for IP and its creators.
Do we want a second Rust Belt? With wastelands in digital places like San Francisco and Austin – to match the wastelands in once-industrial places like Pittsburgh and Cleveland?
Just about everything we are doing – says we do.
——————————- Seton Motley is the President of Less Government and he contributes articles to ARRA News Service.
Tags:Seton Motley, Less Government, China, Makes Itself More Attractive, for IP Creation, The US Makes Itself, Much Less SoTo share or post to your site, click on “Post Link”. Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and “Like” Facebook Page – Thanks!
“If fascism ever comes to America, it will come in the name of liberalism.” – Ronald Reagan by Catherine Mortensen: The Biden administration is considering using outside firms to track Americans online, according to a new report from CNN. Because it is a clear violation of the Constitution for the government to spy on citizens without a warrant, the Biden administration is attempting to skirt the law by having contractors spy on us.According to CNN:
The Department of Homeland Security is limited in how it can monitor citizens online without justification and is banned from activities like assuming false identities to gain access to private messaging apps used by extremist groups such as the Proud Boys or Oath Keepers.Instead, federal authorities can only browse through unprotected information on social media sites like Twitter and Facebook and other open online platforms.The plan being discussed inside DHS, according to multiple sources, would, in effect, allow the department to circumvent those limits. A source familiar with the effort said it is not about decrypting data but rather using outside entities who can legally access these private groups to gather large amounts of information that could help DHS identify key narratives as they emerge.By partnering with research firms who have more visibility in this space, the DHS could produce information that would likely be beneficial to both it and the FBI, which can’t monitor US citizens in this way without first getting a warrant or having the pretext of an ongoing investigation. The CIA and NSA are also limited on collecting intelligence domestically.
Tom Warrick, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council who served as DHS Deputy Assistant Secretary for Counterterrorism Policy from 2008 until 2019, told CNN, he would expect DHS to “explore whether contractors could help them understand plots and trends” emerging online.
“Whatever gets approved and implemented has to comply with established laws,” he said, noting that DHS can only use overt methods to gather information from social media or collect information that is publicly available.
Researchers who already monitor such activity online could act as middlemen to obtain the information. DHS officials maintain the materials provided would only consist of broad summaries or analysis of narratives that are emerging on these sites and would not be used to target specific individuals.
But some of the research firms and non-profit groups under consideration by the DHS periodically use covert identities to access private social media groups like Telegram, and others used by domestic extremist groups. That thrusts DHS into a potential legal gray area even as it plugs an intelligence gap that critics say contributed to the failure to predict the assault on the Capitol.
As you might imagine, right-thinking Americans on social media are justifiably outraged and are calling it what it is, fascism and communism.This is COMMUNISM! They are spying on people who do not agree with their socialist/communist agenda. Other countries can see what’s happening to us. Wake up folks! — Landa (@demplantation) May 3, 2021Biden’s America: target free speech from those that oppose your radical agenda. Right out of Nazi training 101. — JJ Freedom (@JJFreedom7) May 3, 2021Still, many liberals online appear ignorant of our constitutional rights and say they are comfortable being spied on by government contractors.Why would surveillance to catch criminals be so bad? If you don’t have something to hide why are you complaining? — Grant Riley (@grantresists) May 3, 2021
The root cause of this seems to be an American population that increasingly embraces and trusts big government and rejects individual liberties and freedom. This shift may be the result of two generations of public school and higher education curricula that failed to teach students the basics of our Constitution and liberties. Instead, more time was focused on denigrating our Founding Fathers and celebrating anarchists such as Malcolm X.As Ronald Reagan predicted back in 1975, the totalitarian impulse to deny freedom of through and expression is coming from the left. We must send a clear message to our leaders in Washington that government spying on citizens without due cause will not be tolerated.
————————– Catherine Mortensen is Vice President of Americans for Limited Government.
Tags:Catherine Mortensen, Americans for Limited Government, Biden Administration, Wants to Hire, Private Contractors, to Spy on You, OnlineTo share or post to your site, click on “Post Link”. Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and “Like” Facebook Page – Thanks!
California Gov. Gavin Newsom appears with Kamala Harris.
by Fred Lucas: Dr. Marilyn Singleton of Redondo Beach, California, says she plans to stick around her home state despite seeing so many others leave amid what she considers a tough climate for business, including fellow medical doctors.
“It would be terrible for California—or as they call it here, Taxifornia—went national,” Singleton told The Daily Signal. “You have the same group of people paying for everything.”
California is losing a congressional seat, according to new data from the U.S. Census Bureau. Although still the largest state in the union, it has been losing employers to other states such as Texas and Florida.
“They are never going to drive me out,” Singleton said in a phone interview. “California has things that other states do not have. The geography is unparalleled. You can drive an hour and a half and go from the sunny beaches to skiing in the mountains.”
Despite the state’s economic and population problems, President Joe Biden used his address to a joint session of Congress to propose policies similar to those enacted in California. Among them: a law to ban “gig” or freelance workers, a hike in the federal minimum wage, measures to curb climate change, and promises of “free” pre-K and college.
In the neighboring state of Arizona, Carlos Ruiz, founder of HT Metals in Tucson, has seen how his state has benefited from businesses that have fled California.
“With the licensing and regulation laws, I don’t think I could have started my business in California,” Ruiz told The Daily Signal. “Arizona has always been a great place to start a business. If you eliminate competition among the states for business and make everyone like California, it’s going to stifle business creation. It creates a barrier to entry and stifles growth.”
Neither the White House nor the office of California Gov. Gavin Newsom responded to requests for comment.
Here are seven key areas where Biden’s agenda largely would mirror policies enacted in California.
1. American Families Plan
Newsom, a Democrat, took notice of Biden’s “American Families Plan.”
“Right here in California, our stimulus programs have provided tax relief for small businesses and money in pockets for struggling families, and we’ve expanded child care and made community college free,” Newsom said Wednesday in a public statement. “These strategic investments, which are complemented by President Biden’s American Families Plan, will bolster California’s equitable economic recovery and bring us roaring back.”
California, which already had covered the cost of one year of community college, expanded that to two years in 2019.
During his remarks to a joint session of Congress, Biden touted similar proposals.
“My American Families Plan guarantees four additional years of public education for every person in America, starting as early as we can,” Biden said.
“The research shows when a young child goes to school—not day care—they are far more likely to graduate from high school and go to college or something after high school. When you add two years of free community college on top of that, you begin to change the dynamic.”
2. PRO Act
During his remarks to Congress, Biden asked the lawmakers “to pass the Protect the Right to Organize Act—the PRO Act—and send it to my desk so we can support the right to unionize.”
The legislation dubbed the PRO Act essentially would take a California law known as AB 5 national. However, the California measure wasn’t very popular after the Legislature passed it and the governor signed it into law.
Previously, drivers for ride-hailing services such as Uber and Lyft; freelance writers, musicians, and others, and various independent contractors could work for companies without being considered full-time or part-time employees.
The new law required workers in California to be considered employees, narrowing opportunities for workers that wanted to set their own hours.
In November, voters opted to significantly weaken the law, though not discard it entirely, by passing a ballot question called Prop 22 after the law was seen as harming opportunities for freelancers and independent contractors.
The ballot initiative carved out Uber and Lyft drivers, but the law still affects most other part-time or freelance workers in California.
“If a policy is too liberal for California voters, you would think it’s definitely not something for the rest of the country,” Alfredo Ortiz, president of the Job Creators Network, a small business advocacy group, told The Daily Signal.
“That law has had a horrible impact on freelancers and independent contractors,” Ortiz said. “Even people in the movie industry that used to get contract jobs are losing opportunities. If you are a sole proprietor, you are a small business.”
The PRO Act touted by Biden would prohibit contract or freelance work. Organized labor strongly backs the legislation as a means of increasing union membership.
The Freelancers Union estimates that 1 in 3 workers in the United States participates in independent work such as contracting, freelancing, and consulting. About 10% of workers perform independent work as their primary job.
Fewer than 1 in 10 independent contractors would prefer a traditional work arrangement, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Specifically, the federal legislation would broaden the definition of “employee” under the National Labor Relations Act. Under the new definition, an individual who performs any service—with some exceptions—would be an employee rather than an independent contractor.
The proposal also raises concerns about invading workers’ privacy, doing away with the right to secret ballots in union elections, and invalidating 27 state right-to-work laws against compulsory union membership.
“California has been a policy disaster, yet President Biden seems to view it as a success,” Ortiz said.
3. $15 Minimum WageAn increase in the federal minimum wage would have real consequences for employers, said Ruiz, who currently has five full-time employees.
“Amazon can pay high wages, but not every business is scaled to Amazon,” Ruiz said in a phone interview.
$15 minimum wage statewide. The full wage doesn’t take effect until next year.
“While you’re thinking about sending things to my desk, let’s raise the minimum wage to $15,” Biden told Congress. “No one … working 40 hours a week should live below the poverty line.”
The current federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour, meaning an employer cannot pay an employee less than that. More than half the states, 29, impose a higher minimum wage than the federal one, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
A 2019 study by the University of California, Riverside predicted problems for full-service restaurants and the industry’s employees.
“The model suggests that there would be 30,000 fewer jobs in the industry from 2017 to 2022 as a result of the higher minimum wage,” the study says. “Over the period 2013-2022, therefore, the number of new jobs in the full-service industry will grow by 120,000, but would have grown by 160,000.”
The Congressional Budget Office estimated in 2019 that raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour nationally would result in up to 3.7 million Americans losing their jobs:
According to CBO’s median estimate, under the $15 option, 1.3 million workers who would otherwise be employed would be jobless in an average week in 2025. (That would equal a 0.8 percent reduction in the number of employed workers). CBO estimates that there is about a two-thirds chance that the change in employment would lie between about zero and a reduction of 3.7 million workers.4. Climate Change
During his remarks to Congress, Biden also talked about green jobs as a domestic policy while also working with other countries to curb emissions as part of his foreign policy.
“For too long, we’ve failed to use the most important word when it comes to meeting the climate crisis: jobs, jobs, jobs,” Biden said. “For me, when I think climate change, I think jobs.”
Last year, Newsom signed an executive order to ban the sale of new gas-powered cars in California by 2035. Several municipalities there also enacted bans on natural gas-powered products such as grills and even home-heating systems. That would mean, in theory, zero carbon dioxide emissions from cars and trucks.
During his virtual climate summit April 22 and 23, Biden said the United States has a “moral imperative” to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 50% from 2005 levels by 2030 and by 100% as of 2050.
5. Health Care and ‘Public Option’
During his campaign for president, Biden talked about a government-run health insurance entity that would compete with private markets. The president didn’t raise the point during his remarks to Congress, however.
Newsom has boasted that California has such a so-called public option, though the assertion is questionable.
Biden used a government option to rebut other Democratic primary candidates who called for a “Medicare for All” plan.
Biden did talk about expanding Obamacare, officially known as the Affordable Care Act, in his remarks to Congress.
“The Affordable Care Act has been a lifeline for millions of Americans, protecting people with preexisting conditions, protecting women’s health,” Biden said. “And the pandemic has demonstrated how badly, how badly it’s needed. Let’s lower deductibles for working families … in the Affordable Care Act.”
During the Democratic primary debate, Newsom said his state already has a public option in its version of the Obamacare insurance exchange.
“We have a public option, just so folks know,” Newsom said in January 2020 while announcing the state budget proposal. “It’s called Covered California.”
California Healthline, a publication that covers the state’s health care industry, challenged this assessment. It contended that Covered California is a collection of competing private companies on the exchange.
Peter Lee, executive director of California Covered, wrote an article defending the “public option” characterization by the governor.
“Among those plans are statewide [insurance] carriers that are both nonprofit and for-profit; we have public plans such as L.A. Care and Valley Health Plan which are locally accountable to their communities; and regional carriers such as SHARP Health Plan, Western Health Advantage, and Chinese Community Health Plan, which serve a growing number of people in their areas,” Lee wrote on LinkedIn.
Singleton said this is not exactly the case, but the doctor pointed to L.A. Care, which is run by Los Angeles County and competes with other plans on the state’s insurance exchange.
The state’s Medicaid program—known as Medi-Cal—has about 12 million enrollees, according to the California Department of Health Care Services.
“We don’t really have a state public option, but there are so many on HMOs and 21 covered plans,” Singleton, the Redondo Beach physician, said. “Los Angeles County has L.A. Care, which is close to a public option. It’s operated by the county and competes with private plans. It’s very easy for Newsom to say we’ve got a public option, since so many people are on Medi-Cal.”
The large presence of Medi-Cal and HMOs is not good for either doctors or patient choice, Singleton said:
There are many, many, many folks in the California Medicaid system. Medicaid payments are very low. There is a lot of bureaucracy. … The largest enrollment is in HMOs, about 60% in California. It’s about 30% in the rest of the nation. It’s restrictive for patients.6. Big Labor’s Power
Union power is also a major problem in California because of unions’ sway over government policies, Singleton said.
“Probably the biggest problem is, unions run the state,” the physician said. “Now [Vice President] Kamala Harris is running a task force to promote more unions.”
Biden announced this week he was naming Harris, a former U.S. senator and attorney general for California, as head of the White House Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment. The goal of the task force, he said, is to reverse the decline in union membership across the United States.
“The middle class built the country, and unions built the middle class,” Biden said in his speech to Congress.
7. Personnel and Policy
Harris may be the most prominent Californian in the Biden administration but is far from the only one.
The state’s last attorney general, Xavier Becerra, is now Biden’s secretary of health and human services.
Becerra was known for being an advocate of the Medicare for All plan. He also tried to force pro-life organizations to post advertisements for abortion services and prosecuted activists who investigated the practices of Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is a former U.S. attorney in the Central District of California, named to that post by President Bill Clinton, a Democrat, in 1998.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., suggested the Mayorkas nomination to Clinton. He began working in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District as an assistant U.S. attorney in 1989.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen was a professor at the Haas School of Business at University of California, Berkeley from 1985 to 2006. Yellen did a previous stint as an assistant professor there from 1980 to 1982.
Before serving as chairwoman of the U.S. Federal Reserve from 2014 to 2018, Yellen was CEO of Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco from 2004 to 2010.
Biden named Julie Su as deputy secretary of labor. Su served as secretary of California’s Labor and Workforce Development Agency since 2019 when Newsom appointed her.
During her tenure in California, Su oversaw the Employment Development Department that paid out at least $11 billion and as much as $31 billion in unemployment benefits to fraudsters—including organized crime rings from Russia, Nigeria, and China—during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The traditionally left-leaning editorial board of the Los Angeles Timesnoted in an editorial that Su’s nomination to serve as Biden’s deputy labor secretary “comes with heavy baggage that is sure to weigh her down during the confirmation hearings.”
During her confirmation hearing, the California newspaper added, “Senators must demand that she answer for her role in the EDD fiasco before she can be trusted to play a key role in the nation’s economic recovery.”
———————————- Fred Lucas writes for The Daily Signal.
Tags:Fred Lucas, The Daily Signal, 7 Ways, Biden Wants, to Make America, More Like CaliforniaTo share or post to your site, click on “Post Link”. Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and “Like” Facebook Page – Thanks!
by Gary Bauer: Resisting Critical Race Theory
Even in a deeply divided America, there some things that all decent people can agree on. One point of agreement is that Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., was correct when he said that we shouldn’t judge people by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
When King said that, he was obviously speaking on behalf of black Americans, but he was making a universal point. He was stating the obvious: That a person’s moral core is far more important than their skin color.
As a pastor, he knew that good people and bad people come in all colors. But if King were alive today, he would be heartbroken over what’s happening in America now.
Exploiting the decency of the American people, the left has devised a perverted program called critical race theory. It’s being introduced into businesses, schools and even our military. Its goal is to promote racism against white Americans.
It promotes a Marxist philosophy. The founders of the Black Lives Matters organization are self-described “trained Marxists.” In the past, Marxism tried to stoke revolution by dividing people based on economic class. Today’s Marxists are dividing us based on race.
They are encouraging our children to believe that whites are guilty of racism simply because of their DNA and the color of their skin. Thankfully, it is being exposed. Parents and teachers are pushing back at school board meetings and the ballot box. (See below.)
It is imperative for you as a parent, grandparent or a concerned citizen to resist this radical ideology. By doing so you will be saving the legacy of Martin Luther King and our country.
I have fought racism all my life. And I am committed to fighting this Marxist left-wing racism. I hope you will stand with me as we work for racial reconciliation, and strive to unite us around our traditional American values.
Rudy’s Raid
As you know, the home of Rudy Giuliani, President Trump’s personal attorney, was raided by the FBI last week. Leaks to the media claim the raid is related to an investigation of whether Giuliani represented the Ukrainian government and failed to register as a foreign lobbyist.
Those claims are in dispute. What is not in dispute is that Hunter Biden represented Ukrainian interests and was paid millions for it. How’s that investigation going?
Multiple media outlets using another leak tried to smear Giuliani even more by suggesting he received a defensive FBI briefing warning that the Russians were trying to compromise him. Here we go again – another version of the Russia collusion story.
But over the weekend, the New York Times, the Washington Post and NBC News all had to issue retractions. Giuliani never received the alleged FBI briefings.
These media smears happened repeatedly throughout the Trump presidency. There was damaging story after damaging story, especially in the beginning, so Donald Trump never had the traditional “honeymoon” that president’s usually get. But then months later we would be told, “Oh, well, that wasn’t actually true.”
By the way, Giuliani is the third Trump attorney the federal government has investigated. Last week, the FBI also raided the home of Victoria Toensing and her husband Joseph diGenova.
I suspect the purpose of these raids has little to do with Ukraine. I suspect they are fishing expeditions meant to find information on Donald Trump. Powerful forces in Washington lay awake at night fearing Trump may return to power someday.
Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz said that what happened to Giuliani is what happens in banana republics when the government sets out to destroy opposition figures.
Of course, the big question is how do we depoliticize our federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies, which are conspiring with the cultural and political left?
Censoring Celebrations
The Biden Administration has warned that unless we behave ourselves, there will be no July 4th celebrations. I have news for the president: The American people will decide for themselves how they will celebrate Independence Day.
But I have noticed some disturbing things in the last few days. It appears as if the Biden Administration has declared war on love of country if it in anyway involves conservatives.
For the second year in a row, there will be no parade in Washington, D.C., on July 4th.
Over the weekend, word broke that the Pentagon denied a permit to AMVETS to use the Pentagon parking lot for their annual Memorial Day “Rolling To Remember” event. That’s the first time in more than 30 years that the group has been denied a permit. Of course, being mostly veterans, they were enthusiastic supporters of Donald Trump.
Then news broke that the Interior department refused Gov. Kristi Noem’s request to host a Fourth of July patriotic event at Mt. Rushmore. You’ll recall that Donald Trump held a wonderful event there last year. Of course, the left hated it.
But Mt. Rushmore itself was also attacked because the giants of our history, carved into the mountain, are seen by the woke left as examples of white supremacy and the evil of America.
There are no coincidences in Washington, D.C.
Centers For Declining Credibility
For much of the past year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has been busy slapping down small businesses and restaurants that were going under. Whenever entrepreneurs or pastors, who resisted church closings, complained about overly restrictive rules, the CDC huffed and puffed and said, “You’re not scientists. You’re not doctors.”
Well, we now have proof that the CDC altered its advice to schools after getting a memo from the American Federation of Teachers, one of the big teachers’ unions and a huge donor to the Democrat Party. Predictably, the changes provided more excuses for keeping schools closed and union teachers out of the classroom.
By the way, the Biden Administration still won’t commit to having schools fully open in the fall. Then again, if they’re going to push critical race theory in our classrooms, maybe that’s not such a bad thing!
Alive & Well
Some special elections in Texas this weekend proved that the MAGA movement is alive and well!
Democrats thought they had a chance to win the 23-way race for the Sixth Congressional District. At a minimum, they hoped to secure a place in the runoff. Instead, they were locked out as two Republicans emerged as the top voter-getters for the upcoming runoff election.
It’s worth noting that Michael Wood, a vocal anti-Trump Republican, finished ninth, behind four Republicans and four Democrats. Wood’s campaign was based on the idea of taking the GOP back, and he was heavily supported by other Never Trumpers like Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger and Bill Kristol.
That gives us a pretty good idea of what Wood meant when he said he wanted to take the GOP back. Back to when it promoted endless unwinnable wars, back to when it ignored the interests of Main Street Americans and back to being a party more interested in style than actually winning the fight.
We don’t know who the GOP nominee will be in 2024. But we know that there is no future for a Republican Party that disavows the America First agenda.
In addition, conservative candidates overwhelmingly won two open school board races in the Dallas suburb of Southlake. What makes their victories so important is that critical race theory was the critical issue in this campaign. Both candidates, Cameron Bryan and Hannah Smith, have vowed to purge critical race theory from Southlake’s schools.
I am pleased to report that Smith is a former clerk for Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito. While her work for Justices Thomas and Alito was undoubtedly important, what she is doing now at the grass roots may well be even more important!
——————————– Gary Bauer (@GaryLBauer) is a conservative family values advocate and serves as president of American Values and chairman of the Campaign for Working Families
Tags:Gary Bauer, Campaign for Working Families, Resisting Critical Race Theory, Rudy’s Raid, Censoring CelebrationsTo share or post to your site, click on “Post Link”. Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and “Like” Facebook Page – Thanks!
by Tony Perkins: “We’re going to work with Republicans. We’re going to find common ground.” If Americans had a dollar for every time someone from the Biden administration said that, we could almost pay for the president’s infrastructure plan! Of course, with the president on a multi-city “Getting America Back on Track” tour, it would probably be poor form to say what the White House is really thinking — which is all of the ways they might pass this $2.3 trillion dollar monstrosity without the GOP’s support. Because, as Senator Tim Scott (R-S.C.) pointed out: if the first 100 days have taught us anything, it’s that these Democrats “won’t even build bridges to build bridges!”
While Biden and his team fan out through Atlanta, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New Orleans, and other stops, his top strategists are back in Washington, trying to spin their next move. Republicans say they’re willing to work with the president on his infrastructure plan — if Biden is willing to focus on actual infrastructure and leave his party’s wacky redefinitions of the concept (everything from court-packing to elder care) behind. So far, there’s no indication that he would. Anita Dunn, one of the president’s advisors, lowered everyone’s expectations on CNN Sunday when she said, “he wants to move this package forward in a bipartisan way — if that’s possible.”
The last time the president “negotiated,” it cost taxpayers $1.9 trillion dollars — most of which had nothing to do with the pandemic! White House officials rammed through their leftist wish list of so-called “COVID relief” without a single Republican vote. Now, less than two months later, Democrats may be teeing up an encore of that stunt. “If lawmakers can’t reach a bipartisan agreement, Democrats have indicated they may be willing to advance one large package through a process tied to the budget known as reconciliation,” the Wall Street Journal warns. “That would enable Democrats to pass legislation without GOP support — but they couldn’t afford to lose even a single member of the Democratic caucus in the evenly split Senate, where Vice President Kamala Harris can cast a tiebreaking vote.”
But that prospect might be thornier than the Left expects. Already, more reasonable Democrats like Senator Joe Manchin (D-W. Va.) are starting to count the costs — especially in swing states where voters aren’t exactly clamoring for more debt. Senator John Barrasso (R-Wy.) and other conservatives are trying to peel off moderates from Biden’s plan to their own smaller, $500 billion dollar proposal. “I’ve been working regularly with the other Joe,” Barrasso said, “… Joe Manchin.” Like other Republicans, he thinks there’s “a deal to be had if we leave things out like the Green New Deal, and recyclable cafeteria trays and climate justice, because $500 billion to $600 billion of infrastructure is [still] a massive amount of infrastructure.”
Like the rest of his caucus, Barrasso points out that it isn’t the Republicans’ fault there’s no cooperation on this bill. “With coronavirus relief, we did five bipartisan bills, each of which got over 90 votes. And when President Biden came into office, gave the speech about unity on Inauguration Day. Ten Republicans went to the White House to meet with him on another coronavirus package, and we made really good faith efforts. He ignored all of it. They did this with budget reconciliation by the slimmest margin of votes. Ignored Republicans. We want to work together with this administration on true infrastructure,” but ultimately, that’s up to Mr. Uniter-in-Chief.
The GOP counter-offer is steep at a half-trillion dollars, but at least it goes to roads, bridges, public transit, rail, and broadband expansion. “At this point,” liberal Republican Susan Collins (R-Maine) said, “Republicans have put forth a reasonable offer, it’s up to the president to do a counteroffer to us.” In the meantime, the warning signs are flashing as it relates to the economy. Even Biden’s own economic advisors admit that America is on the verge of inflation. “These are very serious concerns,” Cecilia Rouse, chair of the Council of Economic Advisors, conceded when asked. “We expect that there is going to be supply chain disruptions. That will cause some transitory increases in prices… We expect, at the most, transitory inflation.”
But, as usual, Rep. Mike Kelly (R-Pa.) shook his head, the president will insist that none of this will affect you. “‘We’re going to be taxing the wealthy,’ Biden says. ‘We’re not going to put that burden on your shoulders.’ I would just say that story has been told so long and so often in the past that we know now — that’s a fairy tale…He always lays the burden on [Americans].”
Please, Kelly said on “Washington Watch,” “Somebody put up a stop sign for this man. It’s time to look at who is responsible for all this spending. And it’s hard-working American taxpayers. There’s no other source of revenue.” They talk about taxing the “rich” and the corporations, Kelly explained, but “understand that any time a politician says they’re going to spend money, what they mean is they’re going into your wallet, Mr. Taxpayer… And it’s in their best interest of getting reelected. There’s an old saying… ‘You can’t beat Santa Claus.’ And too many of my friends actually believe that some of these things… are wonderful. And all I say to them is, it’s your money that they’re giving you… So if you think that’s a gift, it’s not. You’re going to get the bill. People have to wake up.”
Tags:Tony Perkins, Family Research Council, Preident Biden, My Way, Repaved HighwayTo share or post to your site, click on “Post Link”. Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and “Like” Facebook Page – Thanks!
What is the Biden way? To surveil, monitor, root out, raid, jail, confine and smear all impediments to fundamental transformation.
Victor Davis Hanson
by Victor Davis Hanson: After a hundred days of President Biden, I think most Americans are now on to what will follow in the next few years.
Joyless Joe
Biden frowns. He grimaces. He occasionally barks and yells as he delivers a gloomy view of America and its people, past and present. Admit it: We are all racists, then and now, captives of Jim Crow still.
Biden needs as many fabricated enemies as he can find; otherwise, his speeches, his demeanor, his agenda are little more than absurdities.
They cannot stand or fall on their own merits because they have none.
So grumpy Biden, in his latest and final incarnation, is always anti-something, usually anti-Trump, anti-racism, and anti-everything traditional America is for.
Lots of bad white people still need to be rooted out—outside of the beltway. These are the ones never woken by Wall Street, Silicon Valley, the media, academia, the corporate boardroom, professional sports, and the foundations. These retrograde deplorables apparently won’t give up their “privilege” without a fight.
Bidenism demands these environmental desecrators must stop boiling the planet. We are a xenophobic nation that won’t let pioneering migrants enter the United States. We are a Neanderthal America full of people who won’t wear their masks when vaccinated and outdoors.
We are a battered America still reeling from the Trump disasters on the border, the failed Trump coup on January 6, the Trump racism that led to peaceful equity marches all last summer.
So America needs a booster shot, a new way of electing presidents, a rebooted Supreme Court, new Senate rules, more states, and so much more—with so little time. The downer message makes Jimmy Carter’s old cardigan sweater sermons look inspiring, as the grey and sullen Joe himself makes Carter in retrospect seem sunny.
The emerging Bidenism is what some of us warned we’d see last summer when the deceptive Left and naïve NeverTrump mantra preened that old Joe from Scranton would usher in post-Trump “healing.” His therapeutic candidacy was promised to be a “return to normalcy,” as he was a “moderate” eager to “unify” us.
This illusory reboot from Trump absolutism was to be sort of reminiscent of George H.W. Bush’s “thousand points of light” and “kinder and gentler nation” promises, as the implied corrective to purported heartless eight years of Reaganism.
Yet all this mush ignores Biden’s innate mean-spiritedness that we’ve witnessed for 50 years dating back to his Robert Bork/Clarence Thomas hearing days, his handsy indifference to the private space of dozens of women, and his more recent “lying dog-faced pony soldier,” “fat” and “you ain’t black” incoherent venom.
Instead, from time to time, Joe Biden will be wheeled out to give a teleprompted address or a rare scripted press conference. The media will gush: if he loses his way, he is “conflicted” by the sheer weight of the office. If his voice lowers in elderly fashion, he has “mastered” the technique of quiet voice emphases. If he raises it, and almost shouts, Biden is lauded as “animated,” “fired-up,” and “robust.” If his characteristic slurring of words, chopped-up syntax, and repetitions lose the audience, it is only because our modern Longinus is a master of every sort of sublime rhetorical trope.
In between those infrequent moments, scores of left-wing functionaries in the West Wing will draft and then engage in infighting over the queuing of progressive or socialist executive orders for Biden to issue. The aim for the former understudy is to out-Obama his former progressive godhead and mentor. Biden’s Napoleonic 100 days will be remembered in the left-wing halls of Versailles as a golden moment of defiant activism. More mundanely, it is far easier for Joe to earn the wrath of Republicans than to take on the take-no-prisoners fanatics of his own woke base.
The Razor’s Edge
For a variety of reasons, there is a constant frenzy to these near-daily fiats and appointments. Joe is not a robust 78. He is not up to an 18-hour presidential day. His ability to rule by reclining-chair edict is about all that he has in the next 24 months—politically, physically, practically.
So Biden’s strategy is simple: nominations and executive orders.
Republicans in Congress prefer losing nobly to winning ugly and so will never emulate the “just say no” nihilism of Democrats. Not long ago Democrats voted nearly unanimously to oppose every Trump appointee. Not now—the Senate will approve almost all of his hard-core leftist nominees, and with lots of Republican votes.
Similarly, conservative judges do not virtue signal the availability of their courts as go-to-places for conservative activist groups to expect easy court orders to delay, freeze or overturn presidential directives.
So time is of the essence to ram through the hardest left-wing agenda in nearly 90 years, to call it bipartisanship, and to demonize any who object as infrastructure racists, climate racists, immigration racists, voting racists, and stimulus racists.
Joe does not have a mandate. He suffers from an unsympathetic Supreme Court, a deadlocked and fickle 50/50 Senate, and has only a razor-thin majority in the House. He has not yet managed to junk the filibuster. So he can’t quite yet pack the court, trash the Electoral College, lasso in two states, or ram through an unconstitutional national voter law that overrides all the work of the state legislatures.
These structural changes are necessary to ensure his pen-and-phone ephemeral governance is not erased away by a conservative successor.
Public relations-wise, Joe will continue to talk of unity and “us” while he calls half the country Jim-Crow racists, insurrectionists, unhinged gun nuts, and all the vocabulary the woke movement mastered over the last four years. Joe will grimace as he lies that he inherited a chaotic border that, in fact, went from quiet to quite crazy under his watch.
He will look pained to confess that Trump was culpable for the entire COVID pandemic that needlessly killed Americans as if any head of state is solely responsible under his tenure for all those who die from an unpredictable and insidious virus.
Parasitism
Even in his own convoluted logic of presidential culpability, Biden won’t confess that in the roughly 10 and a half months that the pandemic took off and spread, from mid-March 2020 to January 20, 2021, under Trump, fewer died on average per day (around 392,000 in total, or about 1,200 per day) than during Biden’s first three months (roughly 178,000 in total or about 1,780 a day). In truth, those are probably meaningless data points. But they become meaningful when Biden employs them asymmetrically in order to fault his predecessor.
Biden never notes that plenty of European nations suffered nearly as many deaths per million of their populations as did the United States—or more: the United Kingdom, and many countries in Western Europe (Belgium, France, Italy, Portugal, Spain) and Eastern Europe (Czechia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, etc.). And nations that once were touted as doing “better” than the United States, such as Russia and China, could never be trusted to present accurate data.
Those who were said once to have “escaped” the pandemic far more adroitly than the United States are now mired in it, like India and Brazil.
There is no need to mention that the states with some of the highest COVID-19 fatalities per million in their populations, New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, and Connecticut, were near-religious in their adherence to shutdowns and mask-wearing. Indeed they followed almost every CDC and later Biden gyration—and freelanced too by sending active COVID-19 patients into pristine long-term care facilities. Their executives like Andrew Cuomo were deified by the press, the more so as the fatalities mounted.
Joe Biden will go into agonizing contortions as he is forced to remind us of the “vaccination mess” he also inherited. Indeed, he has claimed (“inadvertently” or “in jest”?) there were no vaccinations at all being given when he entered office (despite doing his own photo-op vaccination a full month before he was inaugurated).
What Biden will not or apparently cannot say is that when he was sworn in he inherited from Operation Warp Speed a vaccination rate of about a million Americans per day. Indeed, when we compare the unimpressive protection and potential dangers of the Chinese, Russian, and European AstraZeneca vaccinations to their three U.S.-sponsored counterparts, it explains why the United States, after only tiny Israel, has the best record in obtaining effective, plentiful, and safe vaccinations and protecting millions of its population as quickly as possible.
The effort to leverage the free market, to pay early on top dollar for vaccinations, to spread risks among three and more companies, to over-order supplies, and to offer logistic help and liability exemptions reified Trump’s earlier vow, widely ridiculed by “experts,” to start to deliver to Americans some initial vaccination relief from COVID-19 within 10 months of the outbreak.
Indeed, it is lamentable how an ungracious Biden — so reminiscent of both his earlier denunciation of the travel ban and then revisionist praise of it — appropriates or ignores Trump’s achievement, one that saved thousands of American lives.
Divide et Impera
Biden told the nation that the January 6 Capitol riot was the greatest attack on American democracy since the Civil War. He knows that is untrue and an egregious insult to the more than 5,000 Americans who perished on December 7, 1941 and on September 11, 2001.
Biden knows also that the mob of frenzies who entered the Capitol was mostly leaderless since his own Justice Department has not found any insurrectionary or conspiratorial leaders. There were no rioters armed with guns, much less any using them. And no one other than those in the mob suffered fatalities, of which only one death was attributed to the deliberate use of violence: Ashli Babbitt, the unarmed 14-year decorated Air Force veteran, who was fatally shot entering a window in the capital, by an officer, whose name, age, race, and sex were mysteriously never disclosed—as is the now American norm in such lethal police shootings of the unarmed. For such a supposedly riotous group, there were no riots over the police shooting of an unarmed suspect.
The Biden vaccination then follows from the Biden travel ban that allowed the Biden reopening of the Trump lockdown, thus ending the Trump pandemic and Trump recession, which in turn ensured the Biden recovery and indeed Biden boom.
In truth, a year of pent-up demand, of $6 trillion in promiscuously spread funny money, of the public exuberance of a vaccination-fueled waning of the epidemic and of not yet tampering with the Trump pre-virus tax cuts, deregulation, and energy expansion, are all creating a boom.
But what will Biden say in a year when his tax hikes, new regulations, and hard-core leftist bureaucratic appointees, stifle supply as demand soars, inflation roars, and the economy slows? The ghost of Trump did it? Russian collusion? Racism?
Abroad, would that Biden follow his 100 days of characteristic plagiarism by claiming the achievement of others as his own, while fobbing his own failures onto others. That way, had he just left the Middle East be, or Trump China’s containment policy alone, then perhaps there would be a peaceful continuance.
But the “Biden plan” of resurrecting the Iran deal, of pumping up the deflated theocracy in Iran, of restoring to the Palestinians veto power over the wishes of 600 million Arabs in the Middle East, of alienating our allies in Egypt, Jordan, and the Gulf, and gratuitously ostracizing the Israelis will not end well. But then again, when it does not end well, Biden will call for ecumenicalism abroad and to reverse the “Trump Middle East” disaster that he inherited.
So Biden will grimace and contort, as he calls for unity, to rally the virtuous against the legions of Russian colluders, racists, insurrectionists, and Jim Crow revivalists under every American bed.
All these impediments to fundamental transformation, Joe Biden must, unfortunately, reluctantly, and with real remorse surveil, monitor, root out, raid, jail, confine, and smear.
All that is the Biden Way.
————————- Victor Davis Hanson (@VDHanson) is a senior fellow, classicist and historian and Illie Anderson Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution where many of his articles are found; his focus is classics and military history. He has been a visiting professor at Hillsdale College since 2004. Hanson was awarded the National Humanities Medal in 2007 by President George W. Bush. H/T American Greatness.
Tags:Victor Davis Hanson, The Bleak Biden Way, American GreatnessTo share or post to your site, click on “Post Link”. Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and “Like” Facebook Page – Thanks!
Communism, socialism, and fascism are all statism, and American capitalism is more like corporatism. by Robin Smith: In the public arena, significant terms are often misused or misunderstood. In the last few years, the rise of socialism in the Democrat Party has brought the very word “socialism” into the daily lexicon, as Democrats are promising free stuff for everyone without explaining how all of it will be funded other than vague promises and/or threats to tax the rich. So, what is the difference between socialism and communism?The Left criticizes the Right for being “fascist,” but in reality, most on the Right are working to establish capitalism or free markets that emphasize private property and personal opportunity via policies that cut regulations and honor work. There is obvious confusion about these terms, because fascism is a leftist ideology.There’s a useful parable dating back to 1944 published in The Modern Language Journal:
Socialism: You have two cows. The government takes one and gives it to your neighbor.
Communism: You have two cows. You give them to the government, and the government then gives you some milk.
Fascism: You have two cows. You give them to the government, and the government then sells you some milk.
Capitalism: You have two cows. You sell one and buy a bull.
Nazism: You have two cows. The government takes both and shoots you.
When looking at the cow parable, we see clearly that in the systems of socialism, communism, and fascism, the government controls decisions regarding wealth, work, (re)distribution, and property rights. As Harry Binswanger explained almost a decade ago, these three are best categorized as statism, where individual rights and freedoms are minimized and even ignored.
Ayn Rand, the Russian-American philosopher and author of Atlas Shrugged, observed that statism means that one’s “life and work belong to the state — to society, to the group, the gang, the race, the nation — and that the state may dispose of him in any way it pleases for the sake of whatever it deems to be its own, tribal, collective good.”
Statism appears in the policies and politics of the Left, which promises healthcare, education, universal incomes, and other goods and services paid for and provided by the government. Moreover, despite the loud cries of the Democrats that Republicans and those on the political Right are “fascists,” Democrats are instead the ones implementing a fascist tool when they use censorship, a critical element to feed the American people the current leftist party line.
While fascism technically leaves private property in the hands of individuals, the oppressive government controls, regulates, and dictates wealth, production, and (re)distribution with no freedom of speech or right of dissent. The Cancel Culture of today’s social media and tactics on the Left to censor, silence, and control have more in common with the practices of the National Socialist German Workers Party than a constitutional republic “instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed” to secure certain unalienable rights endowed by our Creator. Remember, in its day, National Socialism sought a replacement to free-market capitalism with the collectivism and good of the ruling elite of the select political class.
By definition and practice, socialism, communism, and fascism are statist economies.
Is the economy of the United States, even when led by policies on the Center-Right, a free-market economy defined as capitalism? Do we see businesses and sectors of the economy with minimal control consistently and fairly regulated? The answer is, unfortunately, no. It’s actually corporatism that’s becoming the accepted way of life and commerce in America. Big corporations and special interest groups petition and influence government, requesting special regulations, subsidies, reduced taxes, and preferences. Government permits and protects representational monopolies and gives preferential protections for the biggest businesses and interests.
How would a government characteristic of corporatism deal with your cows? You have two cows. The government licenses, regulates, and taxes them while subsidizing Big Cows-R-Us to mass-produce milk. You’re free/forced to compete with Big Cow, which touts its woke policies and practices in response to social media pressure to garner more favor with politicians who dole out favorable carve-outs, grants, and tax breaks. You’re forced to work at another job and sell your two cows and buy milk from the company whose policies you don’t support but your taxes subsidize.
Plainly, the only -ism that Americans should permit is capitalism. All others have failed throughout history, and that’s no bovine scatology.
————————- Robin Smith has always had a hunger for learning about history and good government dating back to her childhood interests, when she decided her favorite color was “red-white-and-blue.” She writes for Patriot Post.
Tags:Robin Smith, Patriot Post, Do You Know Your -isms?To share or post to your site, click on “Post Link”. Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and “Like” Facebook Page – Thanks!
by Ron Paul: Even if “won,” endless wars like our 20 year assault on Afghanistan would not benefit our actual national interest in the slightest. So why do these wars continue endlessly? Because they are so profitable to powerful and well-connected special interests. In fact, the worst news possible for the Beltway military contractor/think tank complex would be that the United States actually won a war. That would signal the end of the welfare-for-the-rich gravy train.
In contrast to the end of declared wars, like World War II when the entire country rejoiced at the return home of soldiers where they belonged, an end to any of Washington’s global military deployments would result in wailing and gnashing of the teeth among the military-industrial complex which gets rich from other people’s misery and sacrifice.
Would a single American feel less safe if we brought home our thousands of troops currently bombing and shooting at Africans?
As Orwell famously said, “the war is not meant to be won, it is meant to be continuous.” Nowhere is this more true than among those whose living depends on the US military machine constantly bombing people overseas.
How many Americans, if asked, could answer the question, “why have we been bombing Afghanistan for an entire generation?” The Taliban never attacked the United States and Osama bin Laden, who temporarily called Afghanistan his home, is long dead and gone. The longest war in US history has dragged on because…it has just dragged on.
So why did we stay? As neocons like Max Boot tell it, we are still bombing and killing Afghans so that Afghan girls can go to school. It’s a pretty flimsy and cynical explanation. My guess is that if asked, most Afghan girls would prefer to not have their country bombed.
Indeed, war has made the Beltway bomb factories and think tanks rich. As Brown University’s Cost of War Project has detailed, the US has wasted $2.26 trillion dollars on a generation of war on Afghanistan. Much of this money has been spent, according to the US government’s own Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, on useless “nation-building” exercises that have built nothing at all. Gold-plated roads to nowhere. Aircraft that cannot perform their intended functions but that have enriched contractors and lobbyists.
President Biden has announced that the US military would be out of Afghanistan by the 20th anniversary of the attacks of 9/11. But as always, the devil is in the details. It appears that US special forces, CIA paramilitaries, and the private contractors who have taken an increasing role in fighting Washington’s wars, will remain in-country. Bombing Afghans so that Max Boot and his neocons can pat themselves on the back.
But the fact is this: Afghanistan was a disaster for the United States. Only the corrupt benefitted from this 20 year highway robbery. Will we learn a lesson from wasting trillions and killing hundreds of thousands? It is not likely. But there will be an accounting. The piper will be paid. Printing mountains of money to pay the corrupt war profiteers will soon leave the working and middle classes in dire straits. It is up to non-interventionists like us to explain to them exactly who has robbed them of their future.
—————————– Dr. Ron Paul (@ronpaul), Chairman of the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity, is a former U.S.Congressman (R-TX). He twice sought the Republican nomination for President. As a MD, he was an Air Force flight surgeon and has delivered over 4000 babies. Paul writes on numerous topics but focuses on monetary policies, the military-industrial complex, the Federal Reserve, and compliance with the U.S. Constitution.
Tags:Dr. Ron Paul, Will Special Interests, Allow America’s, ‘Longest War,’ to Finally EndTo share or post to your site, click on “Post Link”. Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and “Like” Facebook Page – Thanks!
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‘I think folks that are saying that they need to be policing people at this point, if you’re saying that, you really are saying you don’t believe in the vaccines, you don’t believe in the data, you don’t believe in the science.’ Read more…
‘If they’re successful here in terms of continuing to undermine voters’ confidence, they’re going to take this on the road to other states,’ Hobbs said. Read more…
Americans took out $1.7 trillion in government loans for college tuition. Now, some don’t want to pay it back. President Joe Biden says they shouldn’t have to. He wants to… Read more…
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Morning Rundown
Biden sets new vaccination goals for Americans: President Joe Biden on Tuesday set a new goal for vaccinations for Americans, calling for 70% of the U.S. adult population to have had at least one shot and 160 million Americans to be fully vaccinated by July 4. In remarks addressing his administration’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Biden said “the pace of the vaccination is slowing” and in order to inoculate more people, he hopes to focus on three key demographics: children between the ages of 12 and 15, adults who have struggled with access to the vaccine and Americans who are “less eager” to get vaccinated. So far, no vaccines have been authorized for emergency use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for children, but once a vaccine is available, Biden urged parents to get their kids vaccinated. As of Tuesday, 105 million American are fully vaccinated, while 147 million have had at least one dose. Meanwhile, some states are beginning to reopen, including New York, Connecticut and New Jersey lifting most restrictions May 19. And in Nevada, several Las Vegas casinos have been approved to run at 100% capacity. But in Florida, where Gov. Ron DeSantis suspended local COVID-19 emergency orders Monday, local Florida officials denounced his decision due to the low number of people who received the COVID-19 vaccine and the large number of hospitalizations. Click here to see how Washington state is reeling from a fourth wave of infections and a surge in hospitalizations.
Derek Chauvin’s legal team requests new trial, alleging jury misconduct: The legal team for former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who was convicted of murdering George Floyd last month, has filed a motion in a Minneapolis court requesting a new trial on multiple grounds, including jury misconduct. In the filing, Chauvin’s attorney Eric Nelson claims that the jury “committed misconduct” and “failed to adhere to instructions during deliberations, in violation of Mr. Chauvin’s constitutional rights to due process and a fair trial.” Among the nearly dozen bases for the motion cited in the filing, Nelson also claims the court “abused its discretion and violated Mr. Chauvin’s rights under the Confrontation Clause” when it “failed to order” Morries Hall, who was in a car with Floyd the day he died, to testify or admit into evidence his statements to police. “The cumulative effect of the multiple errors in these proceedings deprived Mr. Chauvin of a fair trial, in violation of his constitutional rights,” added Nelson. Two weeks ago, Chauvin was found guilty of second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in the death of Floyd. He is scheduled to be sentenced on June 25 and faces up to 40 years in prison.
Duchess Meghan announces new children’s book based on Father’s Day poem to Prince Harry: Duchess Meghan is adding the role of children’s book author to her resume in her post-royal life. In a press statement released Tuesday, it was announced that Meghan will be publishing her first children’s book in June called, “The Bench.” The book, described by its publisher, Random House Children’s Books, as being about “the special bond between father and son — as seen through a mother’s eyes,” is based on a Father’s Day poem that Meghan wrote for Harry. “‘The Bench’ started as a poem I wrote for my husband on Father’s Day, the month after Archie was born,” Meghan said in a statement. “My hope is that ‘The Bench’ resonates with every family, no matter the makeup, as much as it does with me.” Meghan’s new children’s book marks the first project she has announced since she and Harry sat down with Oprah Winfrey for a tell-all interview that aired in March.
3rd grader shows off powerful voice while singing the national anthem: A third grader in Louisville, Kentucky, showed off his powerful pipes while singing “The Star-Spangled Banner” in a now-viral video. Last month, 9-year-old D’Corey Johnson stunned fellow students and faculty members at Bates Elementary when he sang the national anthem during his school’s morning announcements. “I couldn’t finish the announcements,” said Principal Alecia Dunn, who told “GMA” she was at a loss for words after Johnson’s performance. “You could hear outside the office all the cheers.” Dunn said she filmed Johnson singing and posted the video to the school’s social media accounts, where it has been seen at least 114,000 times on Facebook alone. “He’s so authentic and genuine,” said Dunn. “There’s no stage child, it is just him. It’s almost like he’s this old soul.” Johnson’s video resonated with many on social media and he has even been tapped to sing the national anthem at a future Tennessee Titans game. “I want to be a singer known as a triple threat,” the 9-year-old told “GMA.” “That means that I can do everything — sing, act, tap.”
GMA Must-Watch
This morning on “GMA,” Chef Jason Goldstein joins us with a 30-minute meal: Sheet Pan Greek Pita. Plus, we’re breaking down Dogecoin and why it’s a different type of cryptocurrency that might be worth investing in. And Lori Bergamotto is walking us through the Good Housekeeping 2021 Storage Awards, featuring choices for best cookware, fridge storage, food storage and more — all under $40. All this and more only on “GMA.”
This morning we are looking at hopes for herd immunity in at least one American city and how this summer could look different for kids and parents alike. Plus Facebook is expected to make a decision on former President Donald Trump’s social media future.
Here’s what we’re watching this Wednesday morning.
With more than 55 percent of adults in San Francisco vaccinated with at least one dose, there are signs that the vaccines are having a measurable effect on the city.
“It’s profoundly hopeful,” said Dr. Monica Gandhi, an infectious disease physician and professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. “The vaccines have made it so that we’re in an entirely new world.”
Meantime, President Joe Biden on Tuesday announced a new phase in his push to vaccinate Americans that includes children as young as 12.
Although no vaccine is currently authorized in the U.S. for people under 16, the Food and Drug Administration is expected to approve Pfizer’s request to amend its emergency use authorization to include young people between the ages of 12 to 15 as early as next week, according to a senior administration official.
Camp directors say they are able to offer clear-cut plans for keeping campers safe — at a time when cooped-up kids, and their burned-out parents, are more eager than ever for a change in routine.
The social network’s quasi-independent Oversight Board says it will announce its decision on whether or not former President Donald Trump can return to the platform at 9 a.m. ET Wednesday. His account was suspended for inciting violence that led to the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol riots.
While officials in Washington sound the alarm about a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, officials and residents on the island say that fails to understand the true dynamics in the region.
“Things are going really badly”: After receiving desperate calls, the Indian diaspora in the U.S. and around the world are springing into action to raise millions in Covid-19 relief funds.
While May is Skin Cancer Awareness Month, Alexander Gupman’s experience is a good reminder to everyone. “If someone says something looks funny on your skin, you really should get it checked out,” says the 47-year-old dad of three.
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The Japanese coastal town of Noto has caused a stir by spending part of a grant for business recovery after the coronavirus pandemic on a squid statue to promote tourism.
From NBC’s Chuck Todd, Mark Murray and Carrie Dann
FIRST READ: Here’s the common thread linking the Liz Cheney and Facebook stories
Has one political party decided to move on from the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol? And what about one giant social media company?
Those questions are the common thread linking today’s two big political stories: 1) House Republicans looking to oustRep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., from leadership after her continued criticism of Donald Trump’s actions on that day; and 2) Facebook’s oversight board deciding whether Trump should be reinstated after being banned following the Jan. 6 riot.
Photo by OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP via Getty Images
It appears we already have an answer when it comes to the Republican Party and Jan. 6.
In less than four months, we’ve gone from House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy arguing that Trump bore responsibility for the attack and that he should be censured (though not impeached) – to McCarthy being caught on a hot mic saying: “I’ve had it with [Cheney],” regarding her criticism of the former president.
The more uncertain answer is the Facebook decision, which will have ramifications for 2024, as well as on the daily news cycle.
But back to the Republican Party and Liz Cheney: Kicking her out of leadership carries risk for the GOP.
For one thing, do the Cheneys and Romneys – names that have been on GOP tickets in 2000, 2004 and 2012 – have no place in today’s Republican Party and its leadership?
That would be one message expelling Cheney from leadership would send.
A second message it would send is that the party doesn’t tolerate dissent and critical comments about Trump and his behavior leading up to Jan. 6 – that it’s not a big-tent party.
And the third (and maybe biggest) message removing Cheney from leadership would send is that the GOP remains inextricably linked to Trump, despite the former president no longer holding power and despite his declining poll numbers.
“Republicans should find a way to speak this truth to voters in 2022 — and quickly turn to running on an agenda for the future that will check Mr. Biden and his cradle-to-grave entitlement state. Purging Liz Cheney for honesty would diminish the party,” the Wall Street Journal’s editorial page writes.
The GOP has spent so much time and energy trying to portray Biden’s presidency and the Democratic Party as being radical.
But it’s hard to think of a more radical move than ousting someone from power because she disagrees – and continues to disagree – with how the former president conducted himself leading up to Jan. 6.
32,667,954: The number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in the United States, per the most recent data from NBC News and health officials. (That’s 43,009 more than yesterday morning.)
582,709: The number of deaths in the United States from the virus so far, per the most recent data from NBC News. (That’s 947 more than yesterday morning.)
247,769,049: The number of vaccine doses administered in the U.S.
29.5 percent: The share of Americans who are fully vaccinated
ICYMI: What ELSE is happening in the world?
Here’s all you need to know about the continuing fight between Liz Cheney and the MAGA center of gravity in the House GOP.
A large group of businesses have signed on to twin letters rallying against new proposed voting restrictions in Texas.
L.A. mayor Eric Garcetti may be the next U.S. ambassador to India.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has set a special election date to replace the late Democratic Rep. Alcee Hastings. But Democrats aren’t happy about the delay.
Republicans are optimistic about a recent slate of Democratic House retirements.
From the AP: “A federal judge has ordered the release of a legal memorandum the Trump-era Justice Department prepared for then-Attorney General William Barr before he announced his conclusion that former President Donald Trump had not obstructed justice during the Russia investigation.”
The Washington Post reports on the Pentagon’s efforts to take a harder line on domestic extremism.
Plus: The challenges of free speech on Twitter, the case against baseball bailouts, and more…
Judge says Section 230 doesn’t apply. It’s a time-honored tradition for folks to blame new entertainment and communications mediums—rock music, rap music, video games, etc.—for the follies of the youth using them, and social media has been no exception. For years, parents, media, and authorities have been trying to hold popular apps accountable for a range of ills visited on young people using them.
For the most part, courts have rejected claims that the mere existence of these new mediums is responsible for people using them in ways that prove dangerous. In part, this is common sense; in part, it relies on Section 230, the federal communications law protecting digital services from some liability for the speech and action of their users. But now, a federal appeals court is taking a worrying step in the opposite direction.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ruled that the parents of three young people killed in a 2017 car crash could sue Snapchat because their kids had been using the app at the time of the crash.
The car carrying 17-year-olds Jason Davis and Hunter Morby and 20-year-old Landen Brown had hit a tree while going approximately 113 miles per hour, then burst into flames. Before the fatal accident, Brown had opened Snapchat and pulled up the app’s speed filter, which shoots video while broadcasting how fast those using it are going.
Snapchat responded to their parents’ lawsuit “by asserting that the company was protected by Section 230 because the Speed Filter is nothing more than a content creation tool within the platform that requires actual publishing to come from third-party users,” notes Law & Crime:
In short, the company argued that holding it liable for creating the filter would in effect be making it liable for third-party content in violation of the law.
U.S. District Judge Michael Fitzgerald of the Central District of California agreed, dismissing the case in March by reasoning that it sought to treat the company “as the publisher or speaker” of “information provided by another information content provider.”
But a three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Tuesday reversed Fitzgerald’s decision, reasoning that the central issue in the case concerned Snapchat’s product design, not whether it was responsible for content created and posted by users on the app.
According to the 9th Circuit’s summary, “the duty that Snap, Inc. allegedly violated sprung from its distinct capacity as a product designer.” The court called the crash one of the “predictable consequences of designing Snapchat in such a way that it allegedly encouraged dangerous behavior” and wrote that, as such, Snapchat does “not enjoy immunity from this suit under § 230.”
The product design versus content creation debate has come up in Section 230 cases before, as plaintiffs attempt to overcome Section 230’s protections. For instance, this was the tack in a 2019 case concerning harassment on Grindr, in which the person suing Grindr argued that it wasn’t trying to hold Grindr responsible for harassing third-party content but for designing its product in such a way that allowed it. Another federal appeals court—the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit—rejected this claim.
Why this is notable: For years, lawyers have argued that if the design of a website or app contributes to harm, the site shouldn’t be shielded from a suit under Section 230. Judges scoffed at the argument over and over again.
Sarah McLaughlin of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education talks to Techdirt about “Twitter, free speech, and the challenge mob behavior presents to online discourse”:
Against baseball bailouts. “Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D–Conn.) picked the perfect place to pitch a taxpayer-funded bailout for minor league baseball: A stadium that taxpayers already paid $66 million to build,” writesReason‘s Eric Boehm. Now Blumenthal wants more money for minor league baseball:
During a Monday press conference at Dunkin’ Donuts Park in Hartford, Connecticut, Blumenthal said he would push for Congress to send $500 million to minor league clubs that are “on the verge of bankruptcy.”
“Minor league baseball is in peril,” Blumenthal said, according to theHartford Courant.
“We need to come to their aide,” he said. “We did it for restaurants, theater, live music. Baseball deserves it as much.”
Blumenthal’s not wrong about the financial problems that plague some minor league teams, but that’s hardly a compelling reason for taxpayers to pick up the cost—especially when Blumenthal and others in Congress have opposed efforts by the baseball industry to address those issues privately.
QUICK HITS
They each face a maximum 16-year sentence…. am I crazy for assuming this happened at every school and also thinking it really doesn’t matter at all? Is homecoming even valuable on a resume? https://t.co/0bNMqbypqx
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments Tuesday in a case involving sentencing disparities between people found guilty of possessing crack cocaine and those possessing powdered forms, and whether recent changes in federal law should apply retroactively to those given long prison terms for small amounts of crack.
• President Joe Biden still “has not caught up with most Americans on marijuana policy.
Everyone’s dunking on Trump’s new “blog,” but I think it’s kinda cool in that it shows that everyone can speak on their own websites and don’t *need* social media to speak. (Also, the terms of service on his site are fun). https://t.co/SDDWHT31dN
Elizabeth Nolan Brown is a senior editor at Reason, where she writes regularly on the intersections of sex, speech, tech, crime, politics, panic, and civil liberties. She is also co-founder of the libertarian feminist group Feminists for Liberty.
Since starting at Reason in 2014, Brown has won multiple awards for her writing on the U.S. government’s war on sex. Brown’s writing has also appeared in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The Daily Beast, Buzzfeed, Playboy, Fox News, Politico, The Week, and numerous other publications. You can follow her on Twitter @ENBrown.
Reason is the magazine of “free minds and free markets,” offering a refreshing alternative to the left-wing and right-wing echo chambers for independent-minded readers who love liberty.
This may or may not contain spoilers from the Disney+ show WandaVision. If you haven’t seen it yet, that’s on you. Originally, the show was perceived to set up the next Doctor Strange movi … MORE
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55.) REALCLEARPOLITICS MORNING NOTE
05/05/2021
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Carl Cannon’s Morning Note
PA Primaries; Hostages in Iran; Hybrid Celebration
By Carl M. Cannon on May 05, 2021 08:52 am
Good morning, it’s Wednesday, May 5, 2021. It’s Cinco de Mayo, a celebration that really got its start in California, not Mexico. I like to spotlight this event each year, and will reprise my account in a moment. First, I’d point you to RCP’s front page, which presents our poll averages, videos, breaking news stories, and aggregated opinion pieces spanning the political spectrum. Today’s front page includes Sarah Longwell arguing that President Biden is delivering on the central promise of his campaign; (NBC News); Grace Daniel writing about critical race theory (The American Mind); Chris Cillizza on Democrats’ tenuous hold on Congress (CNN); and Josh Hawley on his new book about Big Tech (The Federalist). We also offer original material from our own reporters, columnists, and contributors:
* * *
Referendum on Progressivism in Pennsylvania’s Two Big Cities. Charles F. McElwee examines key primary races in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia ahead of the May 18 elections.
Advocates: No Iran Nuclear Talks Until Hostages Are Freed. Susan Crabtree reports on new developments as the Biden administration pushes for a return to the 2015 agreement.
Author Q&A: “The Kennedys in the World.” I discuss the foreign policy education and focus of Jack, Bobby and Ted Kennedy with Lawrence J. Haas.
Biden Migration “Fix” Would Throw Good Billions After Bad. At RealClearInvestigations, Vince Bielski explains why prospects aren’t encouraging for the administration’s Central American plan, which mirrors ones that have failed in the past.
A Full Plate for the U.S. Trade Representative. At RealClearPolicy, Rodney Emery outlines the challenges facing Katherine Tai.
Open the Books and FreedomWorks on Biden’s First 100 Days. Also at RCPolicy, John Hirschauer recaps a discussion by leaders of the two organizations, which advocate transparency in government spending and limiting the size of government, respectively.
Why We Must Invest More in GPS. At RealClearScience, Diana Furchtgott-Roth previews a webinar today on the need to provide a ground-based backup to GPS in case the system’s satellites malfunction.
* * *
Cinco de Mayo is typically assumed by Anglos (and many Hispanics) to be a Mexican version of July 4. That’s not really accurate. Moreover, although it ostensibly celebrates a temporal military victory by the Mexican Army over a French expeditionary force in the city of Puebla on May 5, 1862, the date first took hold among Mexicans living north of the border. Cinco de Mayo was really a way of commemorating the Civil War — ours, not Mexico’s. News traveled slowly in the mid-19th century, so Mexican miners in California’s gold fields didn’t hear of the Puebla defenders’ victory over French troops dispatched by Napoleon III until three weeks later.
Fireworks were set off in the Gold Rush country of Northern California; rifles were fired into the air at Nevada mining camps; spontaneous fiestas broke out among work crews as far north as Oregon. The most organized celebrations among the Mexican diaspora in the West were in Los Angeles, where Mexican American politicians hosted rallies and delivered patriotic speeches.
At the time, many people in the United States believed that the French intention was to arm the Confederacy of Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis. This was an overblown worry, but Cinco de Mayo was a chance for Mexican Americans living in California to revel in their loyalty to the Union.
“Cinco de Mayo is not a Mexican holiday,” UCLA professor David E. Hayes-Bautista told me a number of years ago. “It is an American Civil War holiday, created spontaneously by Mexicans and Latinos living in California who supported the fragile cause of defending freedom and democracy during the first years of that bloody War Between the States.”
To Mexican Americans in the 1860s, most of whom loathed slavery, the Battle of Puebla became their version of the Battle of Shiloh: a victory for the Union. Mexico native Jose Alamillo, a professor of Chicano studies at California State University, Channel Islands, first heard of Cinco de Mayo in elementary school — after moving to the U.S. with his family when he was 8 years old.
“It’s not a Mexican holiday, not an American holiday, but an American-Mexican holiday,” Alamillo told Time magazine. “They had to kind of make the case for fighting for freedom and democracy, and they were able to link the struggle of Mexico to the struggle of the Civil War, so there were simultaneous fights for democracy.”
Over the years, it has evolved into a broader, and equally noble cause: celebrating the ethnic pluralism that makes this free country a vibrant cultural cauldron. And it’s hardly “cultural appropriation” for non-Hispanics to observe it — it’s the very essence of the day.
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60.) TWITCHY
61.) HOT AIR
62.) 1440 DAILY DIGEST
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Good morning. It’s Wednesday, May 5, and we’re covering a missed deadline in Israel, a transit disaster in Mexico, and much more. Have feedback? Let us know at hello@join1440.com.
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu failed to form a coalition government by a midnight deadline yesterday, lurching the country toward a possible fifth election in less than two-and-a-half years. Netanyahu, the country’s longest-serving prime minister and leader of the center-right Likud Party, blamed rival Naftali Bennett for refusing to agree to a power-sharing agreement or to partner with a small Islamist party.
Israel has been gripped by political paralysis for about two years, with Netanyahu’s Likud Party the largest in the country but unable to achieve a 61-seat majority in Israel’s Knesset (the legislative body).President Reuven Rivlin gave Netanyahu a chance to strike a deal following a March election—the fourth since 2019.
Rivlin appears likely to give Yair Lapid, leader of a center-left bloc of opposition parties, a chance to form a majority. Rumors suggest Lapid may seek a deal with Bennett’s right-wing coalition, along with a number of other smaller parties. If no deal can be reached, a fifth national election will be held sometime this summer.
Death Toll Rises in Mexico
At least 23 people are dead, and 79 others injured, after a subway overpass in Mexico City collapsed overnight Monday, plunging a train full of riders onto a busy road below. It was the deadliest incident involving the metro system since a multi-train crash in 1975 that killed three dozen people.
The city’s metro system is the second largest in North America behind New York City, carrying an estimated 4 million passengers per day. It has also been plagued by a number of high-profile issues in recent years, including separate train crashes in 2015 and 2020. The area of tracks where the collapse occurred has been the target of concerns since its opening in 2012, with reports of structural cracks appearing after a 2017 earthquake.
Belgium was hit with a sweeping cyberattack yesterday, leaving its parliament, government agencies, universities, and other organizations without internet service for hours. The effort knocked out both websites and internal systems, including the country’s coronavirus vaccine registration portal.
Hackers targeted the government’s service provider with a distributed denial-of-service, or DDoS, attack—a strategy that overwhelms networks with massive amounts of artificial internet traffic (see overview). Experts say such attacks are often meant to knock systems offline rather than steal information. It was unclear who was behind the attack.
The incident highlights the growing ability of cybercriminals, either independent or state-affiliated, to strike unprepared governments and companies—some estimate cyberattacks will cost the global economy $6T in losses in 2021. See the long list of significant incidents in recent years here.
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What’s your go-to daily ritual? Skincare, multivitamins, and meditation can go a long way—but so can hydration. In fact, an estimated 75% of Americans are chronically dehydrated: an issue that Beam’s former pro athlete cofounders knew all too well. Which is why they created their Elevate Hydration Starter Pack, to help you go from dawn to dusk while staying hydrated and healthy.
Start with Elevate Balance in the morning. It’s full of prebiotics and probiotics to support a healthy microbiome, along with clean hydration. Then, around lunchtime, take your Elevate Energy. It tastes like refreshing watermelon and it’s the perfect midday caffeine pick-me-up to replace your coffee. Before sleep, it’s time for Elevate Recovery. This hydrating electrolyte powder is like a two-for-one product: It’s got enough collagen and BCAAs to replace your typical supplement, plus all the value of a clean hydration product.
>Conan O’Brien announces last episode of “Conan” to air June 24, ending an 11-year run on TBS and O’Brien’s 28 years as a late-night talk show host (More)
>Meghan Markle’s “The Bench,” a children’s book on father-son relationships, to be published June 8(More) | Red Hot Chili Peppers sell full song catalog for $140M (More)
>Michael Jackson’s estate wins yearslong battle in tax court, drastically reducing the tax bill owed by Jackson’s heirs (More)
>The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency releases updated average temperature and precipitation measurements covering 1991 to 2020; most of the contiguous US saw average temperatures rise by 0.25 to 1.0 degrees over the past decade (More) | Explore data for US cities here (More)
>Key brain circuitry identified that acts as a gate determining which sensory inputs get processed consciously versus unconsciously (More)
>Researchers develop new technique to sequence genetic mutations in blood while reducing the error rates seen in common techniques by hundredfold (More)
Business & Markets
>US stock markets slide (S&P 500 -0.7%, Dow +0.06%, Nasdaq -1.9%) after Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen hints rates may increase as result of Biden infrastructure plan (More)
>Big Pharma giant Pfizer beats expectations on strong vaccine revenues; expects $26B in vaccine sales in 2021 (More)
>Honest Company—consumer goods company founded by actress Jessica Alba—prices IPO valuing company at $1.4B, to start trading today on Nasdaq (More) | Doughnut maker Krispy Kreme files for initial public offering five years after being taken private (More)
Politics & World Affairs
>Former President Donald Trump launches website to post messages directly for followers; move comes ahead of Facebook decision on whether to reinstate his accounts this morning at 9am ET (More)
>Rift between GOP House leadership and Rep. Liz Cheney (R, WY-At large) grows; Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R, CA-23) refers to Cheney’s criticism of Trump as a distraction (More) | McCarthy caught on hot mic criticizing Cheney (More)
>Attorney for Derek Chauvin requests new trial, asks judge to overturn guilty verdict; lawyer argues the former Minneapolis officer convicted of killing George Floyd was prevented a fair trial (More)
What better way to hydrate than with Beam Elevate? Start your day with Elevate Balance for clean peak hydration and a prebiotic and probiotic bump to support your microbiome. Then, when you feel your energy dwindling midday, grab some Elevate Energy for a natural watermelon-flavored energy boost. When it’s time for bed, recover with Elevate Recovery, a rejuvenating mix full of collagen and BCAAs.
We’re giving away $1,440: For the next 72 hours only, share 1440 with a friend and you’ll be entered to win $1,440 in cash—no strings attached! The more people you refer, the more chances you have to win.
Historybook: Napoleon Bonaparte dies while in exile (1821); Cinco de Mayo commemorates Mexican victory in the Battle of Puebla (1862); Alan Shepard becomes first American in outer space (1961); HBD singer-songwriter Adele (1988).
“I realized up there that our planet is not infinite. It’s fragile.”
– Alan Shepard
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Why 1440? The printing press was invented in the year 1440, spreading knowledge to the masses and changing the course of history. Guess what else? There are 1,440 minutes in a day and every one is precious. That’s why we scour hundreds of sources every day to provide a concise, comprehensive, and objective view of what’s happening in the world. Reader feedback is a gift—shoot us a note at hello@join1440.com.
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On the menu today: contemplating the uncomfortable question of whether the most lasting legacy of the Trump presidency will be a culturally dominant progressive left; a closer look at the early outlook for the 2022 House elections; the CIA offers a “duh” report; and an absolutely bonkers attempt to demonize Pfizer.
Were Woke Progressives the Real Winners from the Trump Presidency?
If you’re a Republican officeholder, it is a fact of life that most of the media will be against you, and look for opportunities to make you look stupid, reckless, ill-informed, malevolent, and hopelessly out of date. You will have your own media that will be friendlier — Fox News Channel, talk radio, etc. — but by and large, you’re going to have the wind in your face every day you’re running for office and in office. While this could change someday, it does not appear likely to change anytime soon, and is arguably getting worse, as more and more media prioritize dramatic and partisan narratives over the facts in pursuit of clicks and television ratings.
It’s also worth keeping in mind that the bias of the media is a hurdle that can … READ MORE
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Why Facebook supports updated internet regulations
2021 is the 25th anniversary of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, the last major update to internet regulation. It’s time for an update to set clear rules for addressing today’s toughest challenges.
A President Joe Biden’s $2 trillion infrastructure plan has support from a majority of voters, but an even larger majority want Biden and Democrats to compromise with congressional Republicans infrastructure spending.
More than half of Americans say they know someone who is looking for a job, and their views on the current job market are worse than they’ve been in several years.
Good morning, it’s May 5, 2021. On this day in history, Napoleon Bonaparte died in exile on the island of St. Helena (1821); Jesse Owens set the world long jump record of 26 feet 8 inches (1935) and it stood for 25 years; and Alan Shepard Jr. made a 15-minute suborbital flight in the Freedom 7 spacecraft, becoming the first U.S. astronaut to travel in space (1961).
TOP STORIES
Where Do Many Migrants Go After They Reach the U.S.?
TheWashington Examiner is reporting that the Biden administration expects the number of migrant families who are released into the U.S. to increase dramatically over the coming months. The administration has indicated that by mid-June, the U.S. will see an increase in the number of migrants allowed to scatter throughout the country from 50 to 400 per day.
The program called “ICE Alternatives to Detention,” went from 50 per day to 200 per day in March.
According to an ICE document, “Within 90 days, the enrollment is projected to double to 400 per day. It is because of this unusual and compelling urgency that the government requires the (emergency family reception sites) to meet the critical mission requirements of housing, feeding, transporting and providing medical attention to these thousands of asylum-seeking families along the southwest border.”
It’s important to note that in the ICE programs, just the head of the family is enrolled. So tracking statistics are limited. The total migrants who are actually released into the U.S. is at least twice the projected 400-person figure, as every family has a minimum of two people.
The numbers are staggering.
At the end of 2020, border interceptions were in the 75,000 per month range. By February this year, that number increased to more than 100,000. In March, it increased yet again, this time to over 172,000.
In general, migrant families tend to end up in areas where their relatives or friends are living. One of the frequent choices for migrants are sanctuary cities or zones. These are places where the police are not obligated to coordinate with federal immigration authorities. Sanctuary cities also forbid ICE from holding families more than 20 days. This creates a legal loophole. Since 20 days is not adequate time for a judge to decide a claim, the families are released and given a court date. This allows time for the immigrants to seek asylum in order to avoid deportation.
Reports show more than 70 percent of the cases do not reach the legal requirements to be considered valid asylum requests.
Our ATP Team witnessed this firsthand during our last border visit. Once released from ICE, migrants are given a plane ticket or other transportation to travel wherever they want to go in the U.S. We personally bumped into several people in this situation at the airport. We may or may not agree with this policy, but this is the current solution to the massive flow of migrants making it across our border.
All Things Possible Ministries Receives Request for More Lions and Lambs Comfort Toys for Migrant Children
A few weeks ago, ATP visited the U.S.-Mexico border to survey the crisis for ourselves. Our mission was not only to collect information, but to ensure we could get our Lions and Lambs Comfort Toys into the hands of scared young children who, through no fault of their own, made a difficult and dangerous journey to the U.S.
We are happy to report that we personally distributed hundreds of our toys into the hands of children and left additional toys for distribution, as needed.
The program has become so successful we have been asked to send an additional shipment of 500 toys to our contact working in the area.
We ask followers of our ministry to pray for these vulnerable children and for continued success in reaching more of these kids. Along the way, many kids have been subjected to abuse, exploitation, trafficking and other forms of trauma. ATP wants them to know God loves them.
Whether America likes it or not, we have a massive influx of migrants currently making it across our border. And once they are here, we cannot legally send them back into Mexico. So we have a moral and humanitarian obligation, not only as Americans, but also as people of faith, to offer them kindness, love and compassion.
This is particularly important when it comes to the children. ATP has risen to the occasion with something we are really good at: Loving and protecting kids. We appreciate the outpouring of support we have received so far. Thank you.
Our Southern Border Wall: No Trojan Horse Required, All People Need is a Cheap Ladder
In the U.S. border crisis, boards of wood for quick, makeshift ladders are a cheap, but popular, commodity. During previous administrations, the U.S. built sections of the border wall at about $27 million per mile. People on the Mexico side built inexpensive $5 ladders and breached the walls anyway.
TheTexas Monthly is reporting that an artist named Scott Nicol headed out from his home in McAllen in search of ladders used to climb up and over the border wall. He decided to focus on an 8-mile stretch between Hidalgo and Granjeno. This is notable as it’s a location where the Obama wall meets the Trump wall.
Nicol first discovered a six-rung, makeshift wooden ladder only extending about 12 feet up. This was designed for a single use. It was made from scrap wood that looks like it came off a pallet.
In addition to creating art, Nicol is an activist in opposition to the border wall. He attempts to make his point by demonstrating how easy it is for migrants to scale the wall with cheap, hardware store items. Ropes, PVC ladders, metal hooks, scrap lumber — these are the simple tools needed to facilitate a crossing.
No matter where one sits on the border crisis and the wall, the fact remains: The existing wall, with its massive gaping holes and understaffed guard posts, cannot possibly do the job for which it was intended. And now President Biden has cut Trump-era wall building contracts, effectively ending any further construction.
The whole situation is untenable.
Border agents are overwhelmed. Migrants are being exploited. The cartels are laughing.
The Daily Intelligence Brief, The DIB as we call it, is curated by a hard working team with a diverse background of experience including government intelligence, investigative journalism, high-risk missionary work and marketing.
From All Things Possible and the Victor Marx Group we aim to provide you with a daily intelligence brief collected from trusted sources and analysts.
Sources for the DIB include local and national media outlets, state and government websites, proprietary sources, in addition to social media networks. State reporting of COVID-19 deaths includes probable cases and probable deaths from COVID-19, in accordance with each state’s guidelines.
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Never in history have we been so close to losing this country and everything we have fought for. We must keep fighting, or we’ll be known as the generations who lost it.
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New details about Jean Kim’s role on Stringer’s 2001 campaign and her relationship to the candidate paint a very different portrait of the power dynamic at play.
The senior Biden strategist has worked with a host of corporate clients at the influential firm SKDK, but a loophole is keeping possible conflicts of interest out of the public eye.
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Joe Biden last month quietly signed a ridiculously broad executive order to allow the government to “deprive American citizens and organizations of their rights and property by arbitrarily linking those persons to real, imagined, or vaguely defined activities of the Russian government,” the American Thinker reports.
Congressman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), the Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, is so drunk on power that he is now ordering news outlets to stop reporting things he and ADL head Jonathan Greenblatt don’t like.
The emergence of the internet was met with hope and enthusiasm by people who understood that the plutocrat-controlled mainstream media were manipulating public opinion to manufacture consent for the status quo. The democratization of information-sharing was going to give rise to a public consciousness that is emancipated from the domination of plutocratic narrative control, thereby opening up the possibility of revolutionary change to our society’s corrupt systems.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that vaccination certifications were a part of international travel before Covid-19 and are “naturally to be expected when it comes to this pandemic and the coronavirus.”
Cuomo killed thousands of elderly residents in nursing homes with his edict forcing Covid infected individuals back into the elderly care facilities. Not only did Cuomo kill thousands of elderly, he covered up the data and hid it from the feds.
In a Highwire exclusive, Del sits down with three healthcare workers who were on the frontline of Covid vaccine rollouts in America. In a candid and emotional interview, the three women go back to the day they received their vaccine, the severe reactions they endured starting just days after, and the complete denial the medical community has towards the groundswell of injured people looking for help.
Many investors were surprised Tuesday morning when Microsoft shares exhibited little reaction to the news that the company’s founder, Bill Gates, and his wife of 27 years, Melinda French Gates, had agreed to divorce.
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Hello! Every Wednesday, our internet culture staff discusses the world of streaming entertainment. In today’s Insider:
Ziwe debuts and Shrill finishes up
How Netflix’s Shadow and Bone handles race
Should you watch Star Wars: The Bad Batch?
COMING SOON
2 iconic comedies to stream this week
It’s the first week of May, and it’s time for the celebs to be interrogated.
Ziwe, the new Showtime series from comedian (and former Daily Dot regular) Ziwe Fumudoh, debuts on May 9 and according to the trailer she will be grilling Fran Lebowitz.
The show grew out of her Instagram Live interview series Baited, in which she famously questioned Caroline Calloway and Rose McGowan on race and privilege. (A standard question was: How many Black friends do you have?)
Ziwe will still have that component, filled out with sketch and musical numbers, and it arrives at just the right moment in the cyclical “wokeness” debate. Fumudoh told the New York Times her guests are “open to looking silly for a greater discourse beyond both of us.”
The other notable debut this week is the final season of Hulu’s Shrillon May 7. The Aidy Bryant-led comedy has consistently interrogated fatphobia, body image, and sexuality, and this last run of episodes gives the show a heartfelt—if somewhat disjointed—sendoff.
Ever go to the grocery store and notice people wearing masks that fit loosely on their faces? While it’s admirable to consistently wear them in public, you may not be aware that those gaps on the sides could put you in major danger.
The CDC recommends that your mask creates a tight seal around your nose and mouth for this very reason.
If it drives you nuts to see this everywhere you go, put your energy to a good purpose by joining the #MaskUp project. It’s a nonprofit organization with two major goals: Get the word out about how to wear a mask safely, and get masks to people in need of them.
The inconsistent depiction of racism in Netflix’s ‘Shadow and Bone’
Netflix’s Shadow and Bone includes all the classic touchpoints of a new juggernaut fantasy series: a coming-of-age narrator, an ominous place full of darkness and monsters, period costumes, and British accents.
But the series also added a new ingredient it wants to make sure we’re aware of from the jump: racism!
“I live in East Ravka, but I’ve never been welcome here,” Alina (Jessie Mei Li) narrates barely 30 seconds into the first episode, “because I look like my mother, and she looked like the enemy.”
In the original Grishaverse books, set in the Russia-inspired nation of Ravka, Alina (along with most of the main cast), is assumed to be white.
So when Netflix announced the cast for the adaption in 2019, many fans were as thrilled to see the diversity of newcomers such as Kit Young (Jesper) and Amita Suman (Inej) as they were for the coming Ben Barnaissance.
But Netflix’s decision to cast half-Chinese actor Jessie Mei Li as protagonist Alina was easily one of the most significant and exciting in terms of added representation.
Cherry-picking racial history to bolster casting choices without actually having to follow through on the implications of each character’s race is a classic in the Netflix series playbook.
Shadow and Bone follows in this tradition by making the race of Alina’s actor plot-relevant in much the same way Regé-Jean Page’s was as the Duke of Hastings in Bridgerton—all while completely ignoring the ethnicities of anyone else on the show.
‘Star Wars: The Bad Batch’ kicks off with a compelling story—and distracting cameos
For a more casual fan, Star Wars: The Bad Batch is a hard sell. It’s an animated spin-off of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, a show that many might feel too impenetrable to access.
The titular Bad Batch—a.k.a. Clone Force 99, “defective” and enhanced clone troopers who are part of the Republic’s clone army—were first introduced in The Clone Wars’ final season, but their origins go back several years to an unfinished Clone Wars arc.
That supposed entry level for a show like The Bad Batch might seem steep, but you could also just go in with knowledge of Revenge of the Sith.
The Bad Batch’s super-sized premiere introduces a ton of intrigue as it explores an aspect of a Galactic Empire we haven’t seen before.
Set amid the emerging Galactic Empire and a world that discourages any kind of individualism or thinking outside of the box, it quickly becomes clear that Clone Force 99 won’t fit into the cogs of the Empire’s machine.
But for all the new ground it covers, it’s also caught in some of the same trappings that many of the more recent Star Wars stories have fallen into.
It can’t help but make several connections to what else is happening in the galaxy far, far away, but what can be emotionally satisfying can also be distracting.
The first episode of The Bad Batch is streaming now on Disney+.
According to leading industry sources, grocery stores across the United States are worried about food shortages.
Experts say more grocery hoarding is coming as disruptions have now pushed America’s food supply “near its breaking point”.
As a result of this crisis, survival food is more important than ever.
If you don’t take action or if you stockpile the wrong foods, you could be setting your family up to go hungry in a time of crisis.
It sounds harsh, but the truth is too many people with good intentions are making critical mistakes with their survival food.
Mistakes like…
Getting MREs with a 5-year shelf life – depending on where you purchase them from they could be near expired…
Getting gross survival foods that are tough to stomach and so high in salt, MSG and preservatives you could clog your arteries and get yourself sick…
Or simply getting the wrong foods and leaving a critical hole in your meal plan, which means your family can become malnourished…
Well, I decided not to worry anymore.
Obviously, waiting for the government to give me a handout in a crisis just isn’t an option for me. And I was completely turned off by the crazy high cost of survival food sold by most other stores.
Currently 4Patriots survival food kits are literally flying off the shelves because:
4Patriots Survival Food Kits are a tremendous value. This is not ordinary food. This is delicious, nutritious, good-for-25-years super survival food that protects you from going hungry in a crisis. This is high quality survival food without any fillers or poor-quality “frankenfood” that the other guys use to pad their survival meals. They are made right in the U.S.A. and you won’t believe how inexpensive these kits are – just a fraction of what some other brands charge.
There’s no fancy packaging, it’s military-grade sturdy stuff and can stand up to the crazy things that happen in a crisis. This food has a shelf life of up to 25 years, so you have complete peace of mind for the long term. And they’re using the most compact kits so you can store them anywhere in your house without any extra hassle. They’re sturdy, waterproof and stack easily. And extremely covert too.
You can make these meals in less than 20 minutes. Just add boiling water, simmer, and serve. I tried ’em and I think they taste as good or better than any other survival food I’ve ever had. And you get a whole slew of choices for breakfast, lunch and dinner so you don’t get stuck eating the same thing day-in and day-out.
I was surprised to find that the densely packed packages were easy to prepare and were tasty as well. I definitely recommend having survival food on hand for the times when ‘life’ happens while we are planning other things.
Billy H.
Received my food kit in the mail and I was able to make the potato soup on my cookstove. Just needed boiling water. Gave it a good stir and let it simmered. When I opened up the pot, it smelled so good. You can see the chunks of potatoes and carrots in each bite you take. It’s a good soup.
Michael C.
You know, I see a lot of ads on Social Media for stuff to just try to pry money our of your hands, but I’m gonna shoot straight here. As a prepper, this is one of my top 3 sites to get my stuff. I can honestly say that the quality of what I have purchased here as well as the customer service they provide simply shows the integrity of the company. My orders are filled promptly and I am charged what I would consider reasonable prices, based on like items pricing elsewhere. I know buying online can be scary and I get that. So I am here to tell you that this is a solid company and you can be assured they will do everything they can to make your experience a great one.
Carol B.
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Ken K.
I am not a full blown survivalist. I am not an idiot, either. I have been through enough in my life and have seen friends who have been through an emergency situation. Sure, sometimes it is for a few days and I pray that it is not longer than that for you or me or anyone we know. Save up if you have to, but get at least a month’s supply. It tastes good although if it is that dire of an emergency, you will be happy to eat anything. IF you have something to eat for your family. Get some water, too, and something to heat it with. We made some of this product and had family and friends over for them to taste and they all agreed they didn’t think anything would be this good and they will be ordering. Just do something. You can’t miss out on this deal.
Justin A.
My wife and I tried the food and we were both surprised about how good it tasted and how satisfied it made us feel afterwards. It feels good knowing that I can provide for my family if a crisis arose and I intend to get more in the future. Also the shipping and customer service has been top notch. This probably the cheapest survival food I have found and the company is great.
Gary M.
I actually had lost my job and was homeless for a while. I dug into my food supply, and I cannot fully describe how delicious and easy to prepare everything is. I felt like I was eating like a king. I am going to stock up again as soon as I settle into my new job. Everyone should participate with this company. You will not be disappointed.
John H.
We’re in Florida and have made many preparations for the aftermath of a possible hurricane. While we are thankful that Florida has not been hit in several years, it gives us great peace of mind to know we have our 4Patriots survival food kit stashed away, knowing it’s not a case of “if” but “when”.
The information presented here is for general educational purposes only. You should always consult with your personal physician regarding any personal health problem, and you should always consult with your financial adviser regarding investment decisions. FDA DISCLOSURE: The statements, articles, and products featured in Headline USA emails and at HeadlineUSA.com have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. No information or products appearing in emails or the website are intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. MATERIAL CONNECTION DISCLOSURE: Headline USA may have an affiliate relationship and/or another material connection to any persons or businesses mentioned in or linked to from emails or the website and may receive commissions from purchases you make on subsequent web sites. You should not rely solely on information published by Headline USA to evaluate the product or service being offered. Always exercise your own due diligence before purchasing any product or service.
What you’ve missed: Fed-up woman interrupts a school board meeting and declares that mask mandates are “child abuse,” and Jordan Peterson hammers home the importance of telling the truth.
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The Washington Post picked up a story from conservative press that a juror in the Derek Chauvin trial likely had a previous bias toward ruling in the state’s favor, and triggered liberals couldn’t hold back their horror.
Author David Steele was among those who didn’t think Mitchell’s lack of impartiality was a concern.
The account of a self-described life-long Democrat had words for WaPo that they basically shouldn’t have published the story at all, stating: “Here’s how the media enables right wing bulls***. So now people aren’t able to express their viewpoints. F*** WaPo.”
Hundreds of comments flooded in saying that Mitchell’s apparent bias was “truth.” Others seemed to think that a fair trial is not as important as other concerns, such as saying that calling out a juror’s bias is actually white supremacist.
Some seemed to think that the very notion that a person could be impartial was just silly anyway, so it hardly matters if a juror says they are impartial or not. Still, others seemed to believe that the evidence was so damning that a fair trial wasn’t in order in the first place.
Jury selection in the trial of Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd saw both defense attorneys and prosecutors weeding out those potential jurors who may have held biases against either the former officer or been unduly partial to the state’s case.
But after the guilty verdict was disclosed, it was revealed that one of the jurors who served had been photographed in August 2020 wearing a shirt that read “Get your knee off our necks” and “BLM.” In the wake of the trial, he said that he saw jury duty as a means to “spark some change.”
The juror, Brandon Mitchell, told Judge Cahill during jury selection on March 15 that he had no prior knowledge of the case prior to being summoned for jury duty.
Speaking on a show called Get Up! Mornings with Erica Campbell on April 27, Mitchell said that people should say yes to jury duty as a means to promote societal change.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sounded committed to the idea of a vaccine passport for incoming travellers, but added that implementing the idea would require cooperation from like-minded countries.
“We’re still very much in a third wave, we still need to get more and more people vaccinated across this country and get those numbers down. However, we also know that as people start to travel again – perhaps this summer if everything goes well – it would make sense for us to align with partners around the world on some sort of proof of vaccination or vaccine certification,” said Trudeau.
“We are now working with allies, particularly in Europe on that. But, ultimately, it is up to every country to determine what requirements they expect from incoming travellers.”
Trudeau said that while work was being done with partners globally, he could not speak on behalf of the US.
At least 15 people are believed to be dead and dozens more injured after a Mexico City metro train overpass collapsed Monday night, according to authorities.
Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum said that “A support beam gave way.”
The accident occurred at approximately 10:30 PM local time.
Civil protection officials tweeted that 34 people were taken to hospitals and at least 15 people were dead.
According toThe Wall Street Journal, the accident occurred on the Metro’s Line 12 and the construction of the project has been dogged by “complaints and accusations of irregularities.”
Communism is the idea that refuses to go away, no matter how many times it is attempted only to end in horrific levels of death and violence.
It appeals to resentment, to a demand for the benefits of productive activity without engaging in that activity ourselves.
In many ways, it is similar to race-based fascism, in that it often targets a specific group (Kulaks), notes that they are successful, and then – rather than encourage people to learn from the success of that group – demonizes them, calls them “parasites” or “leeches,” and mobilizes resentment, jealousy, hate, and ultimately death and destruction.
Yet, as the threat of Communism rises, our culture is dangerously unable to see it.
As Jordan Peterson once noted, our society is hyper-vigilant when it comes to seeing the threat of approaching fascism, but lacks that same discernment when it comes to Communism.
We are “over-attuned” to seeing fascism everywhere, particularly since the biggest fascist regimes of the 20th century in Germany and Italy were largely unique to the specific post-war situation in those two nations, with many aspects that simply aren’t applicable to our country or much of the modern world.
Not to mention that the Western world the communists so desperately want to overthrow mobilized to fight and defeat fascism.
By contrast, communism, as an ideology that purports to be trans-national in nature, is a far more insidious and likely threat.
Where we are hyper-vigilant to fascism, we are blissfully ignorant to the threat of communism and the warning signs of its approach.
Many have long forgotten this, but in 2007 when J.K. Rowling announced Albus Dumbledore was gay, that was a groundbreaking revelation. The press ate it up at the time.
People are routinely furious at the Harry Potter series author nowadays. But in retrospect what value was there in Rowling parading a black Hermoine casting for the play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child?
It should’ve solidified her as a champion of progressive values. But given this new cancellation announcement, it shows that Rowling’s record has fallen by the wayside.
According toStuff in New Zealand, the organizers of the Featherston Booktown Karukatea event in the Wairarapa region have cancelled the annual Harry Potter book quiz event.
Ironically, the event is also slated to have a discussion panel exploring the impact of cancel culture on the literary arts.
This quote from festival board chairman Peter Biggs about how they reached the decision makes J.K. Rowling sound like Rush Limbaugh:
“The overwhelming response was there was a risk around causing distress to particular members of the community and that was the last thing we wanted to do. We always thought Booktown should be an inclusive, welcoming place for everyone, so we took the decision not to go with Harry Potter.”
This isn’t the first case of a Rowling cancellation happening. Last month, The Daily Wire reported Stanford University discontinued a Harry Potter-themed dormitory floor on similar charges of transphobia.
🔵 ‘From the desk of Donald J. Trump.‘ It’s the new website the former president has launched just as the potential Facebook ban looms. Here’s more on that.
🗳 A Florida high school student accused of rigging her school’s homecoming queen election will be charged as an adult and faces up to a 16-year sentence.
👀 Mark Wahlberg has put on 20 pounds for a new film role (and plans to gain even more!!). See his transformation.
🔵Authorities arrested a man suspected of stabbing two Asian women in San Francisco, one of a number of unprovoked attacks on Asian Americans in recent months.
🎧 And, on today’s 5 Things podcast, Supreme Court correspondent John Fritze breaks down a court argument on low-level drug sentences. You can listen to the podcast every day on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on your smart speaker.
More news you need to know:
Will the Facebook, Instagram bans on Donald Trump stick?
Facebook’s Oversight Board is due to rule at 9 am ET whether former President Donald Trump’s suspension on the platform should remain permanent . In January, the tech giant suspended Trump’s accounts on Facebook and Instagram after a group of his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol. The decision at the time had the support of most Americans, according a survey from the Harris Poll. But Trump supporters and free speech advocates warned it set a dangerous precedent.
If it’s still dark where you are this morning, try to step outside and catch one of spring’s top skygazing events: the Eta Aquarid meteor shower , which comes from the debris trail of the famed Halley’s comet. The Aquarids will peak before dawn Wednesday but should also be impressive Thursday, according to EarthSky.org. Watchers can expect about 10 meteors an hour at its peak. Pro tip: If you’re a meteor shower newbie, give yourself at least an hour of viewing time, says EarthSky.
Other things to read this morning:
🔵 The Proud Boys saw a wave of contributions from Chinese diaspora before the Capitol attack. More on that here.
💉The U.S. and the World Trade Organization will discuss ways to overcome issues that are preventing COVID-19 vaccines from reaching more people. Read the latest coronavirus news here.
🔵Mexico’s president promised a thorough probe after at least 24 people were killed when an overpass in Mexico City collapsed, sending subway cars plunging.
🟢 Want to retire some day? (Yep, I do, too.) Here is the estimated costs of a comfortable retirement in every state in the US.Check it out here.
Contrary to popular belief, Cinco de Mayo – which is today – doesn’t commemorate Mexico’s Independence Day, which is celebrated on Sept. 16. It actually marks the Mexican army’s victory over France at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862. But the day has become popular for Americans to enjoy Mexican food, drinks and culture, and many fast-food chains are offering deals to help them celebrate.
Former “19 Kids and Counting” star Josh Duggar is expected to appear in federal court on Wednesday following his arrest on charges of receiving and possessing child pornography. The court appearance will determine if the former reality star, who has been in jail since being arrested by the United States Marshals Service last week, will be eligible to be released on bail. A federal grand jury in the Western District of Arkansas indicted Duggar, alleging that in 2019 he “knowingly” received images of children under the age of 12. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
FDA working to approve COVID-19 vaccines for adolescents
The Food and Drug Administration is likely to authorize the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for adolescents within the next week, allowing 12- to 15-year-olds to get the shots, according to The New York Times and CNN. Vaccines so far have been authorized for use only in adults and older teens. The CDC will need to give its blessing. But first, an advisory committee will meet to consider whether the vaccine is safe and effective enough to use in younger adolescents.
ICYMI yesterday:
💍 Tallulah Willis, the youngest daughter of Bruce Willis and Demi Moore, is engaged! See how her family shared their excitement for Willis and her film director beau Dillon Buss.
📚Duchess Meghan is about to add another credit to her expanding portfolio – this time, children’s book author.
💰Americans who got a stimulus check during the third round of direct payments this spring can also expect a letter – from none other than President Biden.
📷 And, to wrap it up, this picture below was one of my favorite images from our Day in Pictures gallery. Check out more here.
May 3, 2021: Heavy smoke haze and fog blankets Maroubra Beach in Sydney, Australia.
The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) has written an open letter to colleges and universities asking them to allow students who have not been vaccinated for Covid-19 to return to campus. The letter says that requiring students to get vaccinated in order to return to school forces them to bear unnecessary and unknown […]
A Pennsylvania man has been sentenced to five years’ probation after admitting to casting an illegal ballot during the November 3 presidential election. That’s according to Epoch Times. Bruce Bartman, 70, reportedly said he made a “stupid mistake” when he illegally cast a mail-in ballot for President Trump in his deceased mother’s name. Bartman pled […]
Police body cam video in Los Angeles County shows a shocking encounter between the officer and the driver, an African-American woman, who was ticketed for using her phone while driving. The woman repeatedly calls the officer a “murderer” and, although he isn’t making any threatening moves and remains calm, she claims that she is scared […]
My last batch of signed books is now available. The timing couldn’t be better. Give to somebody you care about in these uncertain times. Information is power. Find out what’s behind the death of the news, and who’s behind big tech censorship. There’s hope.
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95.) RIGHTWING.ORG
96.) NOT THE BEE
Not the Bee Daily Newsletter
May 5, 2021
Cops show up to Nova Scotia restaurant to investigate reported lockdown violation, but it turns out it was just a mannequin sitting at a table lol
Covid lockdowns in Canada are getting pretty strict lately. And apparently, so are the Karens.
This criminal brutally assaulted two Korean women with a cinder block. Is this more of that anti-Asian white supremacy I keep hearing about?
On Sunday night, a random man took a cinder block to the faces of two Korean women who own a liquor store. I will warn you that this video is quite graphic:
Check out this mind-boggling portrait of a modern George Washington
Some guy on Reddit decided to make a photorealistic portrait of George Washington as a modern politician:
Oklahoma and Texas make childhood legal again: Parents no longer subject to being arrested for letting their kids play by themselves on their own street.
You wouldn’t think you’d need legislation protecting parents from criminal prosecution for allowing their kids to play outside absent the kind of supervision once reserved for prisoners on suicide watch, but that’s probably because you’re one of those neglectful parents who neglectfully permitted your child to grow up and become an emotionally well-adjusted adult.
This conversation between Jordan Peterson and Ben Shapiro is the most based thing you’ll watch this week
If you simply want to enjoy the goodness of this entire 85-minute conversation, there it is above. You’re welcome.
The Bidens took a picture with Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter and people had serious questions about their sizes
This is one wild picture:
Ron DeSantis is ending all Rona restrictions in Florida: “That’s the evidence-based thing to do.” 🔥
I really need to move to Florida:
An ABSOLUTE HERO good Samaritan leaped off a bridge to save a toddler who had been ejected into the water below during a terrible car crash!
BE LIKE THIS MAN!
Gun sales smashed records for the 16th straight month and I can only imagine why
In April 2021, at least 1.8 million new guns were sold – the 16th consecutive month that Americans have bought blasters at record levels en masse.
Looks like Caitlyn Jenner is no longer transgender enough for George Takei. Sad!
Shot:
A camera caught the moment a Mexico City train fell through a raised track into a line of cars. At least 27 are reported dead.
A raised subway track in Mexico City collapsed Monday evening, sending a train hurtling into cars on a road below.
Our queen is back with another one…
Can we just make this lady president, please?
Woman who didn’t know she was pregnant gave birth on flight to Hawaii
Lavinia Mounga was on her way to a family vacation in Hawaii … when she unexpectedly brought another family member with her. Mounga was around 29 weeks pregnant when she went into labor on the trip from Salt Lake City to Hawaii. Miraculously there was a doctor and three neonatal nurses aboard the flight!
Unbelievable: Watch this racist woke teacher degrade a cop by repeatedly calling him a murderer and insulting his ethnicity
Do you know why people say wokeism is a poisonous, racist ideology?
This journalist’s humiliation is a sign of a massive problem for America
It’s one of the most unimpeachable maxims about human relationships: trust is everything. Once it’s betrayed, it takes an act of God – literally – to ever fully restore it.
This king caught a 100-mph foul ball one-handed and didn’t even drop his ice cream
This catch was so smooth even Thanos couldn’t wish it away:
Check out the literal commie neckbeards that marched in Austin over the weekend
Move over Antifa, the overt commies have come to town!
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99.) MARK LEVIN
May 4, 2021
Posted on
On Tuesday’s Mark Levin Show, What is the biggest crisis facing the US right now? Iran and the US are close to reaching a deal and the Biden administration is paying Iran to come to the table. The border is still not secure, there is still sexual assault and Texas is turning purple right before our eyes. Significant inflation is kicking in due to the profligate spending and confiscatory taxes. This prevents the most successful people from succeeding and will hurt many. Also, the Biden administration added 2.5 million residents to the 2020 census data. This determines how many Congressional seats are assigned to each state. There are currently only five vacant seats so three or four seats make a big difference on whether Democrats stay in power in 2022. Marxists have secreted themselves into every level of our culture and it’s hurting our country. Then, American patriots cannot leave it to others to tell us how to live and whether our children will memorize America-hating curriculums. Silence, capitulation, or acquiescence to the Marxists will only embolden and strengthen them. We have allowed them to lie and indoctrinate children for 120 years and we can’t allow a loud Marxist political minority to take over this country! Patriots like Jack Levin and Rush Limbaugh would say “Bravo!, Keep Fighting!” Later, why isn’t there a poll that showed whether more Democrat voters or more Republican voters are on welfare? The Democrats would want to shut down welfare.
Facebook Twitter Google+ The Washington Post said they won’t fact check Joe Biden. He routinely says things that aren’t true, and someone has to do it. Therefore, The Geller Report will fact check false statements President Biden makes …
Under the Democrat-Nazi regime, Jews are no lounger safe in America. Democrats have all but declared that it’s open season the Jew. Where else have you read this story? But if it had been a Muslim or other protected supremacist ethnicity, we’d be …
Facebook Twitter Google+ For 30 days, I will report daily the terrorist attacks, the crimes, the butcheries of Ramadan Bombathon 2021. I have followed and report Ramadan Bombathon for 8 years. It has always amazed me to see that no mainstream …
In Fort Worth, Texas on Tuesday, a 32-year-old Muslim named Islam Said was sentenced to ten years in prison for spending the last thirteen years helping his father, Yaser Said, one of the FBI’s Most Wanted criminals, evade capture. Yaser Said was …
Palestine is Israel. Israel is Palestine. Always has been, always will be. But the idea of Jewish state is deeply offensive and humiliating to any devout Muslim. That’s what this “war” – the jihad against the Jews – is all about. Islamic Jew hatred …
The First take: New Jersey’s governor will buy you a beer, while Texas is looking at handing out gift cards to everyone who every gets the jab. With vaccinations leveling off and states ordering fewer doses, leadership is looking for new ways to convince people to take the shot. Some of us are wondering if the already-vaccinated will be offered the same reward? After all, didn’t we do the “patriotic thing?”
The First take: We were stunned at the video captured by an LA County Sheriff’s deputy’s camera last week. Before the officer even got to the car, the driver had launched into a racist rant which also included calling the officer a “murderer” more than a half dozen times in under three minutes. The woman has reportedly filed a harassment charge against the deputy. Did she not see the body cam? Also, the deputy purchased his own body camera…just in case. Good move, deputy!
The First take: We were surprised by the news of the impending divorce of Bill and Melinda Gates after 27 years of marriage. But… no pre-nup? There is a report of a signed “separation contract.” With an estimated fortune of $150 billion dollars in assets on the line, this could get interesting. One thing for certain, a bunch of lawyers are going to get paid.
The First take: This may be our favorite Biden policy! The clean up crew is already explaining Joe’s Monday gaffe. “What the President meant to say…” will be repeated over and over today.
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Providing Article V / Federalism News and Scholarly Resources Since 2013
This Month…
Oklahoma Senate Calls for National Federalism Task Force
Other Federalism News
Report: ‘True National Debt Exceeds $123 Trillion’
CRFB Position Statement on Infrastructure-Related Debt
Happenings on the Article V Front
Accurate Quotes Counter Dishonest Article V Attackers
Warning: Foreigners Seek to Influence Article V Efforts
Readers Salute 100th Edition of this Newsletter
Oklahoma Senate Calls for National Federalism Task Force –
On March 29 the Oklahoma Senate reportedly adopted SCR6, a resolution that seeks to clarify the roles of both the state and federal governments. The bill was authored by Senator Michael Bergstrom.
According to blog site MuskogeeNOW, ”the resolution renews the state Legislature’s commitment to preserving and reasserting its powers and authority over the responsibilities granted to states under the United States Constitution as specifically protected by the 10th Amendment.”
The resolution calls for the creation of a National Federalism Task Force that would convene a series of federalism summits aimed at development of plans for restoring and maintaining divisions in the powers, roles and responsibilities of the general government and the states.
Bergstrom was quoted as saying, “SCR 6 is a first step toward pushing back against the federal government’s overreach,” and “The Oklahoma State Legislature is calling upon all other states whose leaders desire to protect their state’s powers, citizens’ rights and governing voice to participate in a task force to develop plans for restoring appropriate divisions of powers and roles between the states and federal government.” Read the resolution HERE.
Other Federalism News –
Under the headline Three cheers for federalism, on April 8 The Spectator carried a piece by Karol Markowski.
She observes, “America did a lot wrong during the pandemic but maintaining our federalist system was exactly right. Post-pandemic, let’s remember that that’s what worked and defer to state governments to solve more of our problems. We’ve moved toward looking at the president and Congress to lead us. We shouldn’t.” Read her piece HERE.
Deseret News (Arizona) on April 11 carried a piece by Frank Pignanelli and LaVarr Webb with somewhat different perspectives on federal involvement in the pandemic. It is entitled Is massive federal spending destroying the concept of federalism?
The article involves the two authors discussing such questions as “When the pandemic crisis is over, and after the expenditure of trillions of federal dollars, some of it given to states and local governments, will the federal/state relationship have been forever altered?” Read the article HERE.
On April 5 The Hill carried an opinion piece by David Dana and Claire Priest with a headline that asked Will the Supreme Court abandon federalism to defeat pro-labor regulation?
The article deals with recent arguments before the US Supreme Court in the CedarPoint v. Hassid case wherein the Pacific Legal Foundation asserted that a California law allowing union organizers entry onto private agricultural property for up to 120 days constitutes a “taking” under the US Constitution.
The writers contend that “[t]he justices’ own questions at oral argument – as well as public commentary to date – have largely ignored the federalism dimension of the Cedar Point case. That is a mistake.” and “If states are not allowed to define substantive property law, it will be shaped by the preferences and ideology of the justices who happen to serve on the United States Supreme Court.” Read the detailed piece HERE.
Ohio is fighting the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 recently adopted by Congress. It has filed a lawsuit that could set an important precedent for federalism. Writer Erin Clark provides a good review of the reasoning behind the action HERE.
Clark says, “Ohio’s argument with the federal government is not about cutting taxes; it is about whether the federal government may use its disbursal of funds to dictate state policy — about this or any other subject that is not the province of the federal government under the Constitution.”
He concluded that “Ohio’s lawsuit will set a marker on the limits of federal power and protect the safe space in which states may operate. Attorneys general of both parties should support this effort. We’re making the argument to protect red and blue states alike.”
On April 9 the UtahPolicy blog published a review of the just-completed 3-day Functional Federalism conference hosted by Utah Valley University and its Center for Constitutional Studies. The commentary was written by LaVarr Webb. Read it HERE.
Videos of the April 6-8 Functional Federalism sessions can be found HERE.
Report: ‘True National Debt Exceeds $123 Trillion’ –
The startling number comes from the latest edition of The Financial State of the Union 2021 report, compiled and published annually by Chicago-based nonprofit Truth in Accounting (TIA), published April 15.
This is the fifth year TIA has produced its Fiscal State of the Union report. The analysis is based on the latest available audited financial reports. They found the federal government’s overall financial condition worsened by $9.84 trillion in 2020.
The report constitutes a measure of the government’s financial condition including reported federal assets and liabilities, as well as promised, but not funded, Social Security and Medicare benefits. The report says, “Elected and non-elected officials have made repeated financial decisions that have left the federal government with a debt burden of $123.11 trillion, including unfunded Social Security and Medicare promises. That equates to a $796,000 burden for every federal taxpayer. Because the federal government would need such a vast amount of money from taxpayers to cover this debt, it received an ’F’ grade for its financial condition.”
Numbers for the TIA report were based primarily on the Financial Report of the United States Government, a publication of the Bureau of the Fiscal Service, US Department of the Treasury. TIA notes that “The federal government has $5.95 trillion in assets compared to $129.06 trillion worth of bills. The outcome is a $123.11 trillion shortfall.” The 3-page report can be found HERE.
Truth in Accounting is led by Sheila A. Weinberg. TIA is “committed to educating and empowering citizens with understandable, reliable and transparent government financial information.” Their web site is HERE. They have their own Debt Clock that can be seen HERE. That clock displays both “The US Published National Debt,” and “The Truth.” Before the end of April “The Truth” number had surpassed $132.5 trillion.
CRFB Issues Position Statement on Infrastructure-Related Debt –
Shortly after President Biden announced plans for a massive new infrastructure undertaking, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB) issued a news release that said “at this time there is no further justification for additional borrowing.”
Maya MacGuineas, president of CRFB said, “Congress should heed the President’s call to fully offset all new spending and tax cuts. If they do not like the specific proposals included in President Biden’s plan, they should offer alternative tax increases and/or spending cuts, or reduce the size of the package to what they are willing to pay for.”
Ms. MacGuineas went on to say, “In light of a record high, growing, and unsustainable debt, this infrastructure spending package should be paid for over a shorter time period than the 15 years they propose. It is critical that new spending in the plan be credibly temporary, especially considering the unusually long window for offsets, and that dollars be spent effectively on true and worthwhile one-time investments.
“Finally, the price tag on this plan is high. While the country is clearly in need of infrastructure investment, it is not at all clear that $2 trillion of spending is needed or justified. Congress should do the important work to build a package [that has] a reasonable cost, [is] well targeted, economically justified, and free of political favoritism.” More information about CRFB is available HERE.
Happenings on the Article V Front –
On March 30 Newsweek carried an interview-based article on Mark Meckler, co-founder of Convention of States Action (CoS).
When asked about the goals of CoS, the article reports Meckler’s response as: “Meckler isn’t pushing for any specific amendment, but he has a prediction on what might be popular should his group succeed. At the top of the list is term limits, which he says is supported by about 80 percent of the population. Also, an amendment abolishing the Department of Education could pass, as could one that mandates single-subject bills because ‘Americans are frustrated with 5,000-word bills that nobody understands’.” Read the Newsweek article HERE.
According to NetNebraska (Nebraska’s PBS and NPR stations) and Omaha World-Herald, Nebraska’s unicameral legislature fell two votes short of adopting the Convention of States Project’s (CoSP) application for an Article V convention.
State Senator Steve Halloran, with the help of State Senators Tom Briese, Tom Brewer and Steve Erdman, sought to get the legislature as a whole to pull the bill out of a so-called “kill committee” and onto the legislative floor for debate. Twenty-five votes were needed to succeed. They got 23 votes.
Senator Briese was quoted as saying “Adoption of this (legislative resolution) sends a message that we’re serious about these issues,” and added that he believes the federal debt poses one of the biggest threats to democracy.
Also during April the Colorado legislature reportedly approved HJR1006 which rescinded all Article V applications previously adopted by that state.
In South Carolina, Senators Shane Massey and Rex Rice are aggressively pushing for adoption of SCR141, a resolution applying for a BBA-focused Article V convention. The bill was reportedly approved by a Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on April 16.
A number of Article V scholars believe that should this resolution pass, it would be the 34th application for an Article V convention, thus requiring Congress to call such a convention (setting the location and date to convene). The current version of SCR141 can be found HERE. Rep. Rice hopes to amend the resolution before adoption by adding wording that lists the other 33 states with which the SC application is intended to aggregate with and which would stipulate a 60-day window for Congress to take action on calling the convention.
The Convention of States Project (CoSP) resolution also appears to be gaining favorable support in both houses of the South Carolina legislature.
During late March Associated Press outlets carried stories about Alabama’s US Senator Richard Shelby’s 18th filing of a bill seeking a balanced budget amendment to the US constitution.
As a federal office-holder (terms in the House and Senate) since 1987, the 87-year-old Shelby announced this will be his last term. Meanwhile California US House member Jay Obernolte introduced his version of a BBA as HJR32. Such congressional bills are considered eye-wash with leadership exhibiting no interest in moving them forward.
Last month US Term Limits (USTL) saw West Virginia adopt its application for an Article V convention… the fourth for this movement (to term limit members of Congress), and the first new Article V application this legislative year.
Meanwhile USTL continues to be especially active in North Carolina and Tennessee. On April 6 Knox News (Knoxville, TN) published a guest editorial by Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs that says, “Term limits would remind members of Congress that they work for the people, not the other way around.”
Mayor Jacobs says, “[I]t is time to adopt congressional term limits. The idea is woven into the American experiment; Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams all supported it. Today, it is the most popular and bipartisan issue in our country, with 82% support from the public. That includes support from 89% of Republicans, 76% of Democrats and 83% of independent voters.”
He went on to say, “I am under no illusions that Congress will propose term limits on itself. That would be like children agreeing to set their own bedtime. It’ll never happen. But thankfully, the framers of our great Constitution gave us another path forward.” Read that editorial HERE.
Two days later Tennessee’s Congressman Tim Burchett penned another guest editorial for Knox News in which he said, “If my brief time in the US House of Representatives has taught me anything, it’s that Congress will never be fixed without term limits. That’s why I’m hoping the Tennessee General Assembly will support a term-limits convention and pass House Joint Resolution 8 (HJR 8).” Read that piece HERE. On April 8 the Tennessee House approved HJR8 by a vote of 53 to 34 before sending it to their Senate.
In North Carolina the USTL resolution was approved by the House on March 17 on a vote of 61 to 52. As the bill was passed to the Senate, NC House Speaker Tim Moore suggested that the effort represents the nation’s only chance to impose term limits on members of Congress. He stressed, “Congress will not do it itself.”
The Beaufort County (NC) Commissioners on April 5 voted 5-2 in favor of a resolution to “raise the collective voice” of the Board in support of HJR172.
Accurate Quotes Counter Dishonest Article V Attackers –
Article V opponents often quote former Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, making it sound like he was strongly opposed to an Article V convention. Last month this newsletter included a lengthy string of quotes of Scalia’s actual words and a link to a video of him saying them.
Samuel Fieldman of Wolf-PAC (the “Fair & Free Elections” Article V movement) has since pointed out that his group has produced a series of single-page fliers that reflect the actual words of several American leaders whose views on Article V are often mischaracterized.
Find the flyer reflecting Scalia’s views at Wolf-pac.com/Scalia. The words of founders James Madison can be found at Wolf-pac.com/Madison, John Jay at Wolf-pac.com/Jay, and Alexander Hamilton at Wolf-pac.com/Hamilton. They even have one for modern day legal scholar Laurence Tribe at Wolf-pac.com/Tribe, who does often speak out against Article V conventions, but has offered qualified support for some limited kinds of Article V conventions.
Warning: Foreign Web Sites Seek to Influence Article V Efforts –
About a year ago this newsletter reported that Google Searches for Article V and Convention of States topics were bringing up a lot of questionable results, often with misleading information. That continues to be true.
Just during the month of April at least 10 such search results highlighted headings such as “What Happened At the Constitutional Convention,” “The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787,” and “What was discussed at the constitutional convention.” Each of those search results came from Internet addresses that were clearly based in Russia and Italy. Would those postings be motivated by something other than influencing Americans during efforts to enact an Article V convention of states? Be aware!
A Good Related Read –
In late March the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) issued a thought-provoking paper written by former Utah legislator Ken Ivory entitled Live by the King, Die by the King! Read it HERE.
Readers Salute 100th Edition of this Newsletter – From Gary Banz, Former State Representative, Oklahoma:
Even though there are plenty of ways to remain active with Article V issues, it is just not the same after you leave the legislative body due to term limits. I look forward to each new release from the Article V Caucus to keep me informed about the latest developments using Article V of the Constitution to make needed adjustments in our self-governing republic. It also equips me with the latest data when talking to my contacts in the Oklahoma legislature.
From Mark Guyer, Article V Activist:
I find the newsletter very useful. It helps keep our reform movement together and informed.
From David Biddulph, Co-Founder of Let Us Vote for BBA and the BBA Task Force:
The article V Caucus newsletter has been an invaluable resource to the campaign for a US balanced budget amendment. We agree with Ronald Reagan’s statement about the need for a us balance budget Amendment: “If not us who? If not now when”?
From Paul S. Gardiner, Article V Activist:
The monthly newsletter of the State Legislators’ Article V Caucus has been an invaluable source of information about developments and events in the ongoing movement for state legislatures to convene a convention of states to propose critically needed constitutional amendments. I have found each newsletter to be a thorough summary of important actions being taken by different groups and legislators throughout the nation; there is truly no other realistic way to stay up to speed with all the many different Article V happenings in different states, etc.
Please keep the newsletter coming as I believe it will be needed more and more as time goes by and the federal government continues to dramatically increase its overreach into the lives of American citizens.
From Barry W Poulson, Economist, former Colo. University Professor:
The State Legislators’ Article V Caucus newsletter provides unique insights into alternative approaches to constitutional reform. I appreciate the opportunity to share some of my ideas as well as read cutting edge ideas from other scholars and policy makers. The newsletter reaches a broad audience and is having an important impact in the current debates regarding fiscal rules and fiscal policies.
From Justin Haskins, Research Fellow at The Heartland Institute:
[The Caucus newsletter is] the one newsletter that I stop everything I’m doing to read. The future of the nation hinges on the Article V movement, and nothing summarizes Article V news better than the State Legislators’ Article V Caucus newsletter.
From Samuel Fieldman, National Counsel, Wolf-PAC: (The Fair & Free Elections movement)
The State Legislators’ Article V Caucus Newsletter is the only publication that consistently reports accurately and reliably on the progress of organizations seeking to use this important tool created by our founders. Each group has its own goals and doesn’t always see eye to eye on policy, but anyone can trust Stu MacPhail’s reporting and the information provided to better understand the process.
From Mae James, Executive Director Let Us Vote for a BBA Citizen’s Campaign:
Thank you very much for this excellent continuing coverage of the Article V movement. I always learn from it. I always appreciate it.
From Bruce Lee, Executive Director,
Phoenix Correspondence Commission
On behalf of the Phoenix Correspondence Commission, let me heartily congratulate you and the entire team of the State Legislators Article V Caucus for your 100th edition of the monthly newsletter!
With the complexity of the world around us, the newsletter has been a valuable source of consistent, quality information regarding Federalism and the diverse Article V efforts within our nation – particularly in the area of a balanced budget amendment (BBA). Frequently the newsletter has provided information which would be difficult to find elsewhere.
As you recall, the Phoenix Correspondence Commission (PCC) was created during the September 2017 historic convention of states called by the State of Arizona. This was the first convention of states called by a state legislature to which all states were invited since 1861. The Phoenix Convention was called as a step toward an Article V convention to propose a Constitutional amendment aimed at restoring federal fiscal restraint. As the PCC’s primary purpose includes being a single point of contact in tracking applications for a BBA convention; monitoring Article V efforts; and coordinating with Congress; you can see how valuable the unique contribution of the newsletter is to the mission of the PCC.
Therefore, let me warmly thank you for all of your effort, time, and sacrifice for the cause of good governance! Please keep up the good work. We are very grateful!
From Frank Keeney, Founder, Act 2 Reform:
Every generation needs a Paul Revere to sound the alarm. And The State Legislators’ Article V Caucus does precisely that. The monthly newsletter tells us how to resist the growing trend of a bloated and unconstitutional national government by embracing federalism and championing the authority of We the People and our state representatives. What a valuable source of education for us all!
Wendy Reeves, Secretary/Treasurer, Path To Reform
The future of America is up for grabs. And we need our locally elected State Legislatures to collaborate and lead the charge. This is the only path that leads to fixing our national problems. Our team at Path To Reform finds this monthly newsletter to be a source of enlightenment and encouragement. We are grateful for the State Legislators’ Article V Caucus.
From John Cogswell, President, Campaign Constitution:
There is no better voice championing the role of the States, under the US Constitution, than the State Legislators Article V Caucus. The monthly newsletter is a great resource that teaches us about federalism and how the States can use Article V to fix the government. I also appreciate the monthly updates on how States across the Union are succeeding in resisting the federal government’s overreach.
Who Said It?
“We are a nation of free enterprise, with a limited government, with an independent Court, one built on respect for the Constitution. If we allow politicians to violate these principles, we will not survive. By law we must follow the Constitution. It’s time politicians do this. If they violate the Constitution, they must be replaced.” And “Governments exist upon confidence,
and confidence in the courts is fundamental.”
Former US Senator Josh Bailey, a North Carolina Democrat – circa 1936
He was the primary author of the “Conservative Manifesto” and the
principal voice opposing FDR’s failed effort to add 6 members to SCOTUS.
__________________
This Newsletter is produced by the State Legislators’ Article V Caucus
The Caucus Steering Committee is Co-chaired by:
Former Colorado State Senator Kevin Lundberg (senatorlundberg@gmail.com)
and New Mexico Congresswoman Yvette Herrell (yvette@yvetteherrell.com)
And Includes:
Arizona State Senator Kelly Townsend (kellyjtownsend@yahoo.com)
North Dakota State Representative Kim Koppelman (kkoppelman@nd.gov)
Utah State Representative Ken Ivory, Retired (voteivory@gmail.com)
Iowa State Senator Neal Schuerer, Retired (nschuerer@outlook.com)
What you’ve missed: Fed-up woman interrupts a school board meeting and declares that mask mandates are “child abuse,” and Jordan Peterson hammers home the importance of telling the truth.
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The Washington Post picked up a story from conservative press that a juror in the Derek Chauvin trial likely had a previous bias toward ruling in the state’s favor, and triggered liberals couldn’t hold back their horror.
Author David Steele was among those who didn’t think Mitchell’s lack of impartiality was a concern.
The account of a self-described life-long Democrat had words for WaPo that they basically shouldn’t have published the story at all, stating: “Here’s how the media enables right wing bulls***. So now people aren’t able to express their viewpoints. F*** WaPo.”
Hundreds of comments flooded in saying that Mitchell’s apparent bias was “truth.” Others seemed to think that a fair trial is not as important as other concerns, such as saying that calling out a juror’s bias is actually white supremacist.
Some seemed to think that the very notion that a person could be impartial was just silly anyway, so it hardly matters if a juror says they are impartial or not. Still, others seemed to believe that the evidence was so damning that a fair trial wasn’t in order in the first place.
Jury selection in the trial of Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd saw both defense attorneys and prosecutors weeding out those potential jurors who may have held biases against either the former officer or been unduly partial to the state’s case.
But after the guilty verdict was disclosed, it was revealed that one of the jurors who served had been photographed in August 2020 wearing a shirt that read “Get your knee off our necks” and “BLM.” In the wake of the trial, he said that he saw jury duty as a means to “spark some change.”
The juror, Brandon Mitchell, told Judge Cahill during jury selection on March 15 that he had no prior knowledge of the case prior to being summoned for jury duty.
Speaking on a show called Get Up! Mornings with Erica Campbell on April 27, Mitchell said that people should say yes to jury duty as a means to promote societal change.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sounded committed to the idea of a vaccine passport for incoming travellers, but added that implementing the idea would require cooperation from like-minded countries.
“We’re still very much in a third wave, we still need to get more and more people vaccinated across this country and get those numbers down. However, we also know that as people start to travel again – perhaps this summer if everything goes well – it would make sense for us to align with partners around the world on some sort of proof of vaccination or vaccine certification,” said Trudeau.
“We are now working with allies, particularly in Europe on that. But, ultimately, it is up to every country to determine what requirements they expect from incoming travellers.”
Trudeau said that while work was being done with partners globally, he could not speak on behalf of the US.
At least 15 people are believed to be dead and dozens more injured after a Mexico City metro train overpass collapsed Monday night, according to authorities.
Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum said that “A support beam gave way.”
The accident occurred at approximately 10:30 PM local time.
Civil protection officials tweeted that 34 people were taken to hospitals and at least 15 people were dead.
According toThe Wall Street Journal, the accident occurred on the Metro’s Line 12 and the construction of the project has been dogged by “complaints and accusations of irregularities.”
Communism is the idea that refuses to go away, no matter how many times it is attempted only to end in horrific levels of death and violence.
It appeals to resentment, to a demand for the benefits of productive activity without engaging in that activity ourselves.
In many ways, it is similar to race-based fascism, in that it often targets a specific group (Kulaks), notes that they are successful, and then – rather than encourage people to learn from the success of that group – demonizes them, calls them “parasites” or “leeches,” and mobilizes resentment, jealousy, hate, and ultimately death and destruction.
Yet, as the threat of Communism rises, our culture is dangerously unable to see it.
As Jordan Peterson once noted, our society is hyper-vigilant when it comes to seeing the threat of approaching fascism, but lacks that same discernment when it comes to Communism.
We are “over-attuned” to seeing fascism everywhere, particularly since the biggest fascist regimes of the 20th century in Germany and Italy were largely unique to the specific post-war situation in those two nations, with many aspects that simply aren’t applicable to our country or much of the modern world.
Not to mention that the Western world the communists so desperately want to overthrow mobilized to fight and defeat fascism.
By contrast, communism, as an ideology that purports to be trans-national in nature, is a far more insidious and likely threat.
Where we are hyper-vigilant to fascism, we are blissfully ignorant to the threat of communism and the warning signs of its approach.
Many have long forgotten this, but in 2007 when J.K. Rowling announced Albus Dumbledore was gay, that was a groundbreaking revelation. The press ate it up at the time.
People are routinely furious at the Harry Potter series author nowadays. But in retrospect what value was there in Rowling parading a black Hermoine casting for the play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child?
It should’ve solidified her as a champion of progressive values. But given this new cancellation announcement, it shows that Rowling’s record has fallen by the wayside.
According toStuff in New Zealand, the organizers of the Featherston Booktown Karukatea event in the Wairarapa region have cancelled the annual Harry Potter book quiz event.
Ironically, the event is also slated to have a discussion panel exploring the impact of cancel culture on the literary arts.
This quote from festival board chairman Peter Biggs about how they reached the decision makes J.K. Rowling sound like Rush Limbaugh:
“The overwhelming response was there was a risk around causing distress to particular members of the community and that was the last thing we wanted to do. We always thought Booktown should be an inclusive, welcoming place for everyone, so we took the decision not to go with Harry Potter.”
This isn’t the first case of a Rowling cancellation happening. Last month, The Daily Wire reported Stanford University discontinued a Harry Potter-themed dormitory floor on similar charges of transphobia.
@DaybreakInsider
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A woman wearing an oxygen mask sits inside an ambulance as she waits to enter a COVID-19 hospital for treatment in Ahmedabad, India, May 5, 2021. REUTERS/Amit Dave
by Catherine Mortensen: The Biden administration is considering using outside firms to track Americans online, according to a new report from CNN. Because it is a clear violation of the Constitution for the government to spy on citizens without a warrant, the Biden administration is attempting to skirt the law by having contractors spy on us.
by Robin Smith: In the public arena, significant terms are often misused or misunderstood. In the last few years, the rise of socialism in the Democrat Party has brought the very word “socialism” into the daily lexicon, as Democrats are promising free stuff for everyone without explaining how all of it will be funded other than vague promises and/or threats to tax the rich. So, what is the difference between socialism and communism?The Left criticizes the Right for being “fascist,” but in reality, most on the Right are working to establish capitalism or free markets that emphasize private property and personal opportunity via policies that cut regulations and honor work. There is obvious confusion about these terms, because fascism is a leftist ideology.There’s a useful parable dating back to 1944 published in The Modern Language Journal:
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May 05 2021
Episode 324: Liz Cheney in the Hot… 
Kevin McCarthy: GOP Reps… 
19 West 44th Street, Suite 1701, New York, NY, 10036, USA
