Good morning! Here is your news briefing for Monday February 8, 2021
1.) THE DAILY SIGNAL
February 8 2021
Good morning from Washington, where President Biden and congressional liberals look unwilling to compromise on a gargantuan COVID-19 spending bill. Fred Lucas summarizes how things stand. A political response to the left’s agenda could be in the offing, Victor Davis Hanson writes. On the podcast, a freshman congresswoman from New Mexico makes a priority out of enforcing immigration law. Plus: why U.S. taxpayers may help bail out China; a new reality limits religious freedom; and Florida takes a swing at tech giants. On this date in 1924, the nation’s first execution by lethal gas occurs in Nevada as the death sentence is carried out for a man convicted of murdering a rival gang member.
Democrats are pushing to add to the relief package a bailout of union pensions costing at least $60 billion, as well as a new national minimum wage of $15 an hour.
The 1960s counterculture led to Nixon’s victory in 1972, as “carefree hippies” turned into careerist “yuppies.” Cultural, economic, and political extremism prompt reactions—and sometimes counterreactions.
A recent New York Times article suggested the appointment of a cross-agency government task force to deal with disinformation headed by a “reality czar.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis recently announced legislation that would prevent Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Google, Amazon, and Apple from censoring content or selling users’ data.
After some churches announced they would hold worship services on Easter, Gov. Andy Beshear said state police would record license plate numbers of those who attended.
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2.) THE EPOCH TIMES
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3.) DAYBREAK
Your First Look at Today’s Top Stories – Daybreak Insider
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Impeachment Trial of Citizen Trump Begins Tomorrow
The timeline (New York Magazine). This Washington Post article lays out the Democrats’ thinking (Washington Post). From Florida Congressman Bill Posey: Now that President Trump’s term has ended and he is a private citizen, the impeachment articles are irrelevant, and the case is moot. The U.S. Constitution limits impeachment jurisdiction to the current president, vice president and sitting federal civil office holders. Additionally, the Constitution prescribes a punishment that shall not go beyond removal from office with the possibility of being disqualified from holding office in the future. Since President Trump no longer holds office, the penalty if convicted is meaningless. It’s politics at its worst and will only serve to further divide our nation (Townhall).
2.
Story Claims Biden Executive Order Will Block Foreign Religious Leaders Who Don’t Tow Line on LGBTQ+
From the story: Of most concern to human rights advocates around the world is the provision of $10 million in the upcoming fiscal year to fund the “Global Equality Fund” that will allow the U.S. government to blacklist foreign religious leaders who speak out in favor of the natural family and against the LGBT ascendancy. These human rights advocates could be blocked in the same way certain Russian oligarchs are blocked from entering the United States.
Biden Orders Feds to Stop Causing Illegal Immigrants Stress When They Lie
From the story: In a further reversal of Trump policies, the Biden administration has ordered immigration officials to stop warning illegal migrants caught trying to scam the system that they might face deportation because it causes “undue stress” (MSN). Then there’s this, from Breitbart: U.S. President Joe Biden signed an executive order Thursday that denies state and local governments any authority to reject the drop-off of refugees into their towns and communities (Breitbart).
5.
Henninger: Coronavirus Has Parents Losing Faith in Public Schools
The story begins: Among its multiple alterations, the coronavirus pandemic of 2020-21 may be undermining the role of public schools in the United States, in place since the middle of the 19th century. It is a reassessment that is long overdue. A relevant anecdote is Ronald Reagan’s famous explanation that he didn’t leave the Democratic Party, the Democratic Party left him. Across the country the past year, that has been the experience of parents with children in many of the nation’s public systems—abandoned by schools they’ve supported with their tax dollars (WSJ). After months of ignoring the science on this, Biden will apparently finally seek to get schools open (Fox News).
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6.
California Governor Slips from Possible to Likely Recall
With a month to go, they are less than 100,000 shy of the necessary signatures to get it on the ballot.
Brady Leads Team to Yet Another Super Bowl Championship
Tom Brady now has seven (Fox News). From Ryan Spaeder: The #Expos drafted Tom Brady during the 18th round in 1995 – 17 of his #Bucs teammates were not yet born when the catcher was selected 507th overall (Twitter). And in case you care, here are all the ads from the Super Bowl (USA Today). Oh, and people are getting mask shamed for gathering in the streets to celebrate, even before the game began (Washington Examiner).
8.
Canadian Woman Puts Husband on Leash to Get Around Covid Rules
From the story: The new measures prohibit Quebec residents from leaving their homes between 8 p.m. and 5 a.m., but they provide numerous exceptions, including one for dog owners. The order states that “a person who must go out so that his dog can do its business” is allowed to do so within 1 kilometer, or a little more than half a mile, from their home. Unfortunately, Canada does not have much of a sense of humor these days. Each were given a $1,500 fine.
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That’s because, like my father, Peter J. Schorsch, would argue, the day after the Super Bowl should be a national holiday. Better yet, as our friend David Johnson suggests, the Super Bowl should be played on the Sunday of Presidents Day Weekend.
That’s insane, you say?
Not a bit. It’s already a de facto holiday anyway. The Workforce Institute started tracking work absenteeism on Slumber Monday following Super Sunday and, guess what? People already treat it as a holiday.
For this year’s Super Bowl, the Institute estimated more than 16 million Americans plan to take off today. That’s down from 17.5 million in 2020, but with so many people working at home now, it’s still a significant number.
David Johnson floats a pretty good suggestion about the Super Bowl’s timing.
A possible reason for the reduction is COVID-19 and the campaign against large Super Bowl parties. There have been multiple warnings for weeks about such gatherings’ potential consequences, but we also know that many people will ignore those.
About 4.7 million people say they will call in sick, even though they aren’t. More than half the absent workers say they’re taking a preapproved personal day.
The Institute doesn’t break this information down by location, but it’s a safe bet the absenteeism will be higher in the Tampa Bay area and Kansas City.
Employers may be a little more understanding in these locations.
Even those who do go to work might be a little, um, distracted. When your team is in the big game — or you just watched because it’s the Super Bowl — you have to talk about it on Monday.
And why not?
After months of polarizing water-cooler talk about Donald Trump, stolen elections, and mask mandates, people need a new topic.
Football!
Now, if you’ll excuse us, the staff of FloridaPolitics.com took Sunday (mostly) off to enjoy the game.
We’ll back in your inbox tonight with Last Call.
Days until
Daytona 500 — 6; Dr. Aaron Weiner webinar on mental health in the workplace — 10; ‘Nomadland’ with Frances McDormand — 11; The CW’s ‘Superman & Lois’ premieres — 15; the 2021 Conservative Political Action Conference begins — 17; Pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training, with exhibition games starting — 19; 2021 Legislative Session begins — 22; ‘Coming 2 America’ premieres on Amazon Prime — 25; ‘The Many Saints of Newark’ premieres — 32; 2021 Grammys — 34; Zack Snyder’s ‘Justice League’ premieres on HBO Max — 38; ‘Godzilla vs. Kong’ premieres — 46; MLB Opening Day — 52; ‘No Time to Die’ premieres (rescheduled) — 53; Children’s Gasparilla — 61; Seminole Hard Rock Gasparilla Pirate Fest — 68; ‘Black Widow’ rescheduled premiere — 88; ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ rescheduled premiere — 144; Disney’s ‘Shang Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings’ premieres — 153; new start date for 2021 Olympics — 165; ‘Jungle Cruise’ premieres — 172; St. Petersburg Primary Election — 197; ‘A Quiet Place Part II’ rescheduled premiere — 221; ‘Dune’ premieres — 235; St. Petersburg Municipal Elections — 267; Disney’s ‘Eternals’ premieres — 270; Steven Spielberg’s ‘West Side Story’ premieres — 305; ‘Spider-Man Far From Home’ sequel premieres — 312; ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’ premieres — 410; ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ premieres — 452; ‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’ sequel premieres — 606.
Situational awareness
Tweet, tweet:
—@OhNoSheTwint: They should have a Puppy Bowl equivalent for every sport. Puppy World Series. Puppy NBA Finals. Puppy Wimbledon. The Stanley Pup.
—@ChrisTisch1: Judging by photos and videos from last night and early this morning, public health recommendations and orders fell on largely deaf ears the night before the Super Bowl in Tampa.
Tweet, tweet:
Tweet, tweet:
Tweet, tweet:
—@Onikuno: If your Army unit was cool … you got a 9 AM work call Monday after the Super Bowl. No PT!
The survey, conducted by the polling firm SurveyGizmo, found that more than 40% would rather work Presidents Day, Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday, or Columbus Day than the Monday after the NFL championship game.
Many Americans would give up workdays to have the Monday after Super Bowl as a federal holiday. Image via AP.
About one in 10 would even prefer to work Christmas or Thanksgiving; even more would give up the Fourth of July, New Year’s Day or Memorial Day.
The poll also found that 45% are more likely to take Super Bowl Monday off if their preferred team wins the game. About three in 10 agreed with the statement, “I have called in sick on short notice after the Super Bowl in the past.”
“16 million employees nationwide say they plan to miss work on the day after the Super Bowl” via Dan Trujillo of WTSP — About 16.1 million U.S. employees may miss work the Monday after Super Bowl LV, according to the annual Super Bowl absenteeism survey commissioned by The Workforce Instituteat UKG and conducted online by The Harris Poll among more than 1,000 employed U.S. adults. Of that number, about 8.8 million employees will take a preapproved personal day/PTO this year. That survey found more than two-thirds of U.S. employees (69%) say they would feel guilty pretending to be sick to get out of work on the day after the Super Bowl this year when so many people are actually sick. Still, about 4.4 million employees admit they’re planning to call in sick to work even though they aren’t actually sick.
Sick day: Over 16 million Americans are expected to miss work on Monday. Image via AP.
Flashback — “Roger Goodell explains why the Super Bowl won’t be played on a Saturday anytime soon” via John Breech of CBS — “That [idea] has been around for a long time, people have talked about that,” Goodell said of moving the Super Bowl to a Saturday. “The reason we haven’t done it in the past is simply just from an audience standpoint. The audiences on Sunday night are so much larger. Fans want to have the best opportunity to be able to see the game, and we want to give that to them, so Sunday night is a better night.”
David Fincher got his start directing commercials, and now he’s returned to the medium for Anheuser-Busch’s first-ever Super Bowl commercial. As you might expect from Fincher, the commercial looks great. It’s also surprisingly … sweet? I mean, look, we know this is a damn beer commercial, so let’s all try not to get weepy over here. But for Fincher, this is extremely sentimental. The commercial also features music from Atticus Ross, who has co-scored several of Fincher’s movies, along with Trent Reznor.
— Squarespace turned Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5″ into “5 to 9” to promote side-hustle life.
Biden Super Bowl interview
President Joe Biden says China is in for “extreme competition” from the U.S. under his administration, but that the new relationship he wants to forge need not be one of conflict.
In a traditional presidential Super Bowl Sunday interview for CBS, Biden acknowledged he has yet to speak with Chinese President Xi Jinping since taking office but noted that the two leaders had met many times when both men served their countries as Vice President.
“I know him pretty well,” Biden told CBS News anchor Norah O’Donnell. When they do speak, they will have “a whole lot to talk about.”
Joe Biden gives his first network news interview since taking office, in what has become a Super Bowl Sunday tradition. Image via CBS News.
Biden described Xi as “very bright” and “very tough” but without “a democratic, small D, bone in his body.”
As for his economic stimulus proposed, Biden also said he believed his push to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour from $7.25 probably have to be removed to meet Senate rules on budget reconciliation.
Biden and his team argue that a big economic package is needed to avoid the mistakes made in 2009 when the Barack Obama administration was unable to get increased support through Congress, resulting in a long, slow recovery after the 2008 financial crisis.
One Sunburn scoop
Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried is enhancing her team by adding three experienced communications pros.
In the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services Communication Office, Natasha Sutherland will serve as deputy director of Communications, María Carolina “Maca” Casado as director of Hispanic Media and Sarah Solomon will be digital director. All three will report to Communications Director Franco Ripple.
“Communicating all the ways in which our department helps keep Florida growing,” Fried said. “Promoting our $137 billion agriculture community, protecting our consumers from scams, fraud and abuse, advocating for energy efficiency and cleaner water, ensuring our children are fed at school, and touching the lives of Floridians every day — is so important.”
Congrats: Nikki Fried boosts her comms team with three pros — Natasha Sutherland, María Carolina “Maca” Casado and Sarah Solomon.
Before coming to FDACS, Sutherland was deputy director of Communications at the Florida House Democratic Caucus and the Minority Leader Office as a Legislative policy analyst. She began her service in the Legislature as a journal editor in the House.
Casado will lead the department’s outreach to statewide Hispanic media, based in Miami. Most recently, she served as regional press secretary for the Biden-Kamala Harris Florida campaign. Previously, she served as press secretary for former Rep. Donna Shalala’s 2018 campaign, as Hispanic press director for the David Richardson for Congress campaign, and Hispanic press secretary for the Hillary Clinton for America presidential campaign in Florida.
Solomon served as Governance and Media production coordinator at the Greater Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce and was the multimedia point person on digital, video and social media initiatives. Before that, she was lead videographer and editor at Unique Video Creations in Tallahassee and worked in the Panama City office of former Rep. Gwen Graham providing constituent services, in-district media relations and video. Solomon began her career as a general assignment reporter for WMBB-TV, the ABC affiliate in Panama City.
If you have to work
Happening today — House Minority Co-leader Evan Jenne holds a news conference, 11 a.m. Zoom link here.
Happening today — The Florida Alliance of Planned Parenthood Affiliates holds an online event to talk about its opposition to bills attempting to ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, 11 a.m. RSVP here.
On today’s Sunrise
U.S. Attorney Larry Keefe of the Northern District of Florida has charged a Pensacola man with taking part in the coup at The Capitol. Tristan Chandler Stevens, 25, was arrested Friday in Pensacola and his next court hearing takes place Wednesday.
Also, on today’s Sunrise:
— The number of COVID-19 deaths reported Florida Department of Health was down Sunday compared to the rest of the week — but it’s still in triple digits. There were 1,207 fatalities were reported over the past week and only three other weeks during the pandemic had a weekly death toll exceeded 1,200.
— The Tampa Super Bowl is now history, but it gave Agriculture Commissioner Fried a chance to talk about feeding hungry kids in the Sunshine State. Fried was part of a virtual event on game day called “Taste of the NFL.”
— A discussion of Marjorie Taylor Greene and the two South Florida lawmakers who led the drive to strip the Georgia Congresswoman of her committee assignments.
— And finally, a Florida Woman is charged with having a three-year affair with a student that began in middle school, and a 75-year-old Florida Man is charged with exposing himself in New Hampshire.
Economy: Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen hit the Sunday morning talk show circuit touting President Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus plan. Yellen predicted that the US economy would return to full employment by 2022 if the plan were to become law.
Markets: Global stocks were picking up what Yellen was putting down, surging to a record high following her comments.
Starting today, nearly 6,000 employees at an Amazon warehouse in Alabama will vote on whether to form a union. If successful, it would be the first union at an Amazon facility in the US and could lead to other organizing movements at the country’s second-largest employer.
The backstory
Amazon’s warehouses form the backbone of its world-beating logistics operations, and the facility in Bessemer, AL, where workers are deciding whether to unionize, went live in March—just as the pandemic started to slam the US.
At the same time, Amazon also got slammed by the dramatic shift to online shopping, and some workers felt like the company was mistreating them as workloads and stress ramped up. Here are a few specific complaints, as told to the Guardian:
Lack of communication between managers and staff; specifically, how disciplinary action is carried out not by people…but by app.
Woefully inexperienced managers.
Punishments for workers’ failure to maintain six feet of distance, even when there was not enough space for them to do so.
Amazon has seen labor organizing efforts in the US before
And they didn’t go anywhere. In 2014, repair technicians in Delaware tried and failed to get enough votes for a union. An effort at Amazon-owned Whole Foods in 2018 also petered out.
The company is trying to make sure this time is no different. It’s launched a wide-scale campaign to dissuade workers from voting to unionize by holding mandatory meetings, sending texts to workers, and distributing flyers.
An Amazon spokesperson said in a statement, “We respect our employees’ right to join or not join a labor union but we don’t believe this group represents the majority of our employees’ views…we encourage anyone to compare our overall pay, benefits, and workplace environment to any other company with similar jobs.”
Looking ahead…you’ll need to have Nevada-like patience for the outcome of this vote. Workers will be able to cast mail-in ballots through late March.
This chart from Robinhood shows the trading platform’s equities and options trading volumes through last week. Remember all the stories from last summer with headlines like, “Bored Sports Fans Turn to Stock Market”? That was nothing compared to meme stock mania.
Today, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) is launching ether futures, which will provide investors more opportunities to place bets on the digital token…whether they’re bulls or bears.
Zoom out: Ether has always been the Luke Hemsworth to bitcoin’s Chris. It was launched several years after bitcoin burst onto the scene, and it’s the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap and daily volume.
Quick sync up: “Ether” and “Ethereum” are often used interchangeably, but they’re not the same thing. Ethereum refers to a blockchain software network, while ether is the cryptocurrency that powers that network.
The price of ether has gone parabolic recently, hitting an all-time high of $1,700+ last Friday. It’s still unclear what being listed on CME will mean, though. Similar to when bitcoin futures launched on CME three years ago, analysts expect the initial trading volume to be quite low.
+ While we’re here…we have to mention another crypto, dogecoin, which despite being a joke (or maybe because of it?) has gained more than 1,000% this year…with help from Elon Musk constantly tweeting about it.
Ah, the park. Birds singing, the sun on your face, a gentle breeze at your back. Wait, why does that cloud look like a W-2 form?
Yep, tax season is on our minds. And to help make it the best season yet, we’ve to show you just how easy filing can be.
How easy? We’re working to make it feel like .
We’ve designed a virtual that will show you all the ways H&R Block makes handling your taxes easy and breezy.
Whether you drop your docs off at a local H&R Block office, or simply upload it all online, Block’s tax pros will everything you need to know when you file. Or you can do it yourself, and if you get stuck along the way, H&R Block tax pros are available to help.
The internet’s social app du jour, Clubhouse, is seeing an influx of users from a perhaps unlikely part of the world: China.
Why unlikely? Remember, in China, internet communications are heavily censored. Facebook, Twitter, and many other American websites are blocked there.
Some users are discussing topics Chinese Communist Party leaders would really prefer they didn’t, including the Uighur Muslim genocide in the Xinjiang region, protests in Hong Kong, and independence for Taiwan.
But you can’t just hop on www.clubhouse.chn. Only iOS users in China can access the private, audio-only social app, and to do so they have to tweak their locations to a non-local Apple App Store.
Most smartphone users in the country use Android software.
Plus, while membership in Clubhouse is free, you need an invitation to join. E-commerce stores (including over 200 on Alibaba’s Taobao platform) have popped up hawking invites for as much as $77.
Bottom line: This party can’t last much longer—regulators will likely crack down soon—but this has offered a rare moment of free expression in China.
Impeachment: On Tuesday, arguments will begin in the Senate’s impeachment trial against former President Trump over allegations he incited the violent mob that attacked the US Capitol Building. He is unlikely to be convicted.
Earnings: Will any companies reporting financials this week drop a Bezos-like bomb? Some candidates include Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, GM, Uber, Zillow, Disney, and Twitter.
Tennis: The Australian Open has begun, but it’s been quite the journey. Many players and staff have been quarantining at hotels for the past two weeks after they arrived in Australia, where Covid rates are close to zero. The good news is fans will be able to attend in limited numbers.
Everything else:
The Chinese New Year falls on Friday. Bring on the Year of the Ox.
The UAE’s Hope spacecraft will arrive at Mars on Tuesday.
AstraZeneca’s vaccine was shown to offer only “minimal protection” against the South Africa coronavirus variant; the country stopped using it yesterday.
Hyundai and Kia said they’re not in talks with Apple to manufacture its car…sending their shares sliding.
Kroger is paying $100 to workers who get vaccinated.
Tens of thousands of protestors in Myanmar marched against the recent military coup of the government. Internet access, which authorities had blocked, was restored.
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Music pioneers: As we continue our celebration of Black History Month, check out this collection featuring the women who shaped hip-hop.
Dive back into the week:
Shallow dive: A pretty scroll through the flags of the world
Sorry if this grosses you out because you ate too much of it last night, but for the rest of you: Which one of the following ingredients is not typically found in seven-layer dip?
Black beans
Olives
Sour cream
Salsa
ANSWER
Refried beans, not black beans, are typically found in seven-layer dip.
The Chicago Teachers Union and Chicago Public Schools have spent nearly eight months in talks that escalated to a heated public battle in recent weeks over reopening classrooms in the country’s third-largest school district, which serves more than 350,000 students. The union emphasized that the deal is not finalized in a series of Tweets after [Mayor Lightfoot’s] press conference.
…
Officials previously said that teachers who were not approved for medical exceptions who failed to return would be deemed absent without leave and their access to school district systems terminated. Though officials later walked back that assertion, some feared the threat of a lockout could trigger a teachers strike.
…
Students will return to school in a staggered timeline, beginning with Pre-K students and cluster students on Thursday and ending with sixth- through eighth-grade students on March 8. No date was set for high school students, who will continue on remote learning. In addition, an estimated 1,500 public school employees will get access to Covid-19 vaccines per week as part of a new vaccine rollout program.
House impeachment managers will argue that President Trump’s incitement began long before the January 6 Capitol riot. It is being reported that they intend to present court documents showing that the participants were spurred to action by the former president’s rhetoric over a period of time. In Brandenburg v. Ohio, the Supreme Court ruled that incitement of events in the indefinite future was protected under the First Amendment, but encouragement of “imminent” illegal acts was not covered. How do Democrats hope to use the court filings to get a conviction when the law clearly shows that indefinite rhetoric about the future is legal?
George Pratt Shultz – Reflections on an American Statesman
CNN leads with a story pointing out that millions of Trump voters want the man himself banned from running for office in the future. The author notes that” Every single poll over the last month that I could find that meets CNN standards for reporting” shows at least 56% don’t want Trump back. Let’s discuss these “standards.” Rasmussen polling indicates this number to be less than 50%. But of course, Rasmussen was one of the few pollsters who called both the 2016 and 2020 elections correctly… So what precisely are these CNN standards?
As it becomes clear that Donald Trump’s upcoming Senate impeachment trial is now a hugely inconvenient embarrassment, Mark Meadows, the former White House chief of staff, is predicting that a bipartisan agreement to get the trial over with quickly will be reached.
The United States is reportedly poised to rejoin the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), which has become a forum for some of the worst human rights-abusing nations in the world. Former President Trump pulled the U.S. from the council in 2018.
A spokesman for Dominion Voting Systems says that MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, an outspoken supporter of Donald Trump, is “begging to be sued” for his claims that Dominion machines played a role in rigging the 2020 election.
Something political to ponder as you enjoy your morning coffee.
With Trump’s second impeachment trial due to start tomorrow, this is a great week for the Biden administration to bury bad news. Will the Senate events overshadow more job losses creating by the Keystone XL cancellation? Or perhaps draw attention away from not sending Notices to Attend to those due for deportation? Or could this circus be used simply to give Joe Biden the breathing space to sign another swath of Executive Orders that go back on his campaign promises?
M. Anthony Mills | The C. Boyden Gray Center for the Study of the Administrative State
By reflecting a little more deeply on the nature of scientific expertise, we can better understand the relationship between scientific knowledge and public policy.
As new polls have shown, Donald Trump had support beyond just rural, white, older America. Younger, suburban, and Hispanic groups also supported Trump.
Michael Rubin and Danielle Pletka | The Washington Post
Fear is, indeed, what enables Hezbollah to thrive. If President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken wish to succeed where their predecessors have failed, they must recognize that principle must trump their trepidations.
The story of Exodus is worth recalling at this particular moment, as America tries to put itself together after years of polarization, antagonism, fracture, and decay.
“The Senate early Friday passed a budget resolution that kicks off the special reconciliation process Democrats are using to pass a new round of Covid relief. The resolution passed in a 51-50 party-line vote just after 5:30 a.m. ET, with Vice President Kamala Harris casting one of her first two tie-breaking votes to help Democrats approve the measure.” NBC News
From the Right
The right is critical of the stimulus proposal.
“The President’s $1.9 trillion proposal is clearly too large… It is commonly argued that the risk from spending too little is larger than the risk from spending too much. I agree. But this is not the same as arguing that the size of an additional stimulus package should be untethered to estimates of the underlying economic need…
“A bill that provided adequate funding for vaccine distribution, expanded testing capability, helped to reopen schools, strengthened the social safety net, and provided relief to state and local governments would be reasonable and advisable. It would cost under $750 billion, would be focused on current economic and social needs, and would be better scaled to the size of the output gap.” Michael R. Strain, National Review
“Commerce Department data show total employee compensation in the second and third quarters of 2020 was down by $215 billion compared with the first quarter. Yet government personal transfers were up $893 billion—four times the compensation lost… real per capita disposable income in 2020 grew 5.5%—the highest growth rate since 1984, the peak of the Reagan recovery. All of this occurred before the $900 billion December stimulus took effect…
“Despite recent shutdowns, vigor is evident across the economy. Housing sales are at a 14-year high, private business investment is up 25%, the IHS manufacturing index hit a six-year high, and agricultural prices are at an eight-year high…
“Last year the average household in the bottom quintile of earners received more than $45,000 of government transfer payments from any combination of more than 100 programs and credits… Unless members of Congress are willing to spend no matter what the consequence, a new stimulus bill now is probably a risk not worth taking.” Phil Gramm and Mike Solon, Wall Street Journal
“The Biden spending bill is the wrong remedy for an economy that is growing… Democrats compare the current moment to the recession of 2009 and Barack Obama’s $800 billion spending bill. They say this one needs to be larger. But that comparison works in the opposite direction because the current economy is far stronger than it was in February 2009. Then the economy was still in a recession that didn’t end until June 2009. The jobless rate was rising and would peak at 10% in October 2009. Today the economy has been growing for two quarters, including 4% in the fourth quarter…
“Personal savings soared as high as 33.7% in April following the Cares Act and were still a healthy 13.7% in December before Congress passed another $900 billion in Covid aid. This means that, unlike during the 2009 recession, households aren’t weighed down by debt. Personal bankruptcies, home foreclosures and loan delinquencies last fall were the lowest since at least 2003. The mortgage delinquency rate was 0.7% in the third quarter of 2020 compared to 7% in the first quarter of 2009…
“[Furthermore] According to a recent House Budget Committee estimate, $1 trillion from last year’s bills hasn’t been spent—including $59 billion for schools, $239 billion for health care and $452 billion in small business loans. State and local governments added 67,000 jobs in January. They don’t need more federal cash.” Editorial Board, Wall Street Journal
“The most wasteful and unnecessary provision in the proposed budget is the $350 billion provided for state and local governments… Several states that are clamoring for more money have not only failed to use all funds prior to the Dec. 31, 2020 deadline, they are also in excellent financial condition. For example, the West Virginia state auditor’s office reported $668.5 million in unspent CARES Act funds as of Feb. 1, 2021, or 53.5 percent of the initial $1.25 billion. The state had a $28 million budget surplus in fiscal year 2020…
“In Wisconsin, Gov. Tony Evers (D) claimed in November that the state needed more help, even though there was a $1.2 billion positive balance in the general fund at the end of fiscal year 2020 and tax revenue was up by 50 percent in the first quarter of fiscal year 2021… And California, which was clamoring for more help from the federal government after Gov. Gavin Newsom claimed in May there would be a $54 billion deficit in fiscal year 2020, began fiscal year 2021 with a $15 billion surplus.” Tom Schatz, The Hill
“Unity, unity and more unity — that’s what Joe Biden said he wanted and would deliver. Now he gets a great chance to prove it. All he has to do is say yes to the 10 Republican senators who came to the White House bearing gifts… That’s not to suggest Biden has to accept all the GOP’s terms. Rather, he should simply signal to Schumer that he wants to negotiate a package that will get at least 10 GOP votes in the Senate, and also some in the House…
“For Biden, a deal with the GOP would provide enormous benefits to his presidency that transcend the economy. He will have shown he meant what he said during the campaign and his inauguration about working for all Americans, including those who voted for Donald Trump…
“Partnering with the GOP would create a broad sense of national goodwill at a time when most Americans are frightened by the overheated and increasingly violent polarization. Moreover, one deal with the GOP would likely lead to others. The impact could be dramatic. In the early days of his administration, before everyone starts drawing battle lines around the 2022 midterms, Biden would have branded his administration as successful in bridging the left-right chasm.” Michael Goodwin, New York Post
“Broader measures of underemployment — counting workers who’ve lost hours, given up looking for new jobs or have been misclassified due to data collection issues during the pandemic — suggest a rate nearly double the headline unemployment number. All this indicates that continued government help will be necessary to keep households and businesses afloat.” Catherine Rampell, Washington Post
“During the Georgia runoff elections for the Senate in January, both Jon Ossoff and the Rev. Raphael Warnock campaigned on a promise to secure large stimulus checks for Americans… Both men were elected, handing Democrats narrow control of both chambers of Congress, along with a Democratic president. The party promised bold action: $2,000 stimulus checks now to help people survive the pandemic and a $15 minimum wage to raise living standards long afterward…
“About two-thirds of voters support not just a one-time $2,000 stimulus check but also monthly $2,000 installments until the pandemic is over—including, incredibly, half of Republicans…
“Democrats have the narrowest of majorities in the Senate and are at risk of losing their control of the House, too. The best way to convince voters it’s worth keeping Democrats in power is for them to address Americans’ economic needs. It can’t be done in a timid, piecemeal, or overly means-tested way. Voters want substantial relief, and Democrats promised to give it to them. Now they just have to follow through.” Bryce Covert, The Nation
“A party doesn’t get to demand bipartisanship when many of its representatives still won’t acknowledge that Biden won legitimately… Complaints that it would be ‘divisive’ for Democrats to pass a relief bill on a party-line vote, using reconciliation to bypass the filibuster, are also pretty rich coming from a party that did exactly that in 2017, when it enacted a large tax cut — legislation that, unlike pandemic relief, wasn’t a response to any obvious crisis, but was simply part of a conservative wish list. Oh, and that tax cut was rammed through in the face of broad public opposition…
“Only 29 percent of Americans approved of the bill, while 56 percent disapproved. By contrast, the main provisions of the Biden plan are very popular: 79 percent of the public approve of new stimulus checks, and 69 percent approve of both expanded unemployment benefits and aid to state and local governments. So when one party is trying to pursue policies with overwhelming public support while the other offers lock-step opposition, who, exactly, is being divisive?” Paul Krugman, New York Times
Some skeptics argue that “Bold measures need to be accompanied by careful consideration of risks and how they can be mitigated… First, while there are enormous uncertainties, there is a chance that macroeconomic stimulus on a scale closer to World War II levels than normal recession levels will set off inflationary pressures of a kind we have not seen in a generation…
“Second, long before covid-19, the U.S. economy faced fundamental problems of economic injustice, slow growth and inadequate public investment in everything from infrastructure to preschool education to renewable energy. These are at the heart of Biden’s emphasis on building back better. If the stimulus proposal is enacted, Congress will have committed 15 percent of GDP with essentially no increase in public investment to address these challenges. After resolving the coronavirus crisis, how will political and economic space be found for the public investments that should be the nation’s highest priority?” Lawrence H. Summers, Washington Post
Others posit that “Even if Democrats accidentally do go overboard, the consequences just aren’t worth losing sleep over. Worse comes to worst, inflation might jump a bit higher than Americans would like at some point down the line, and the Federal Reserve may have to raise interest rates a bit to nip it at the cost of some growth. (For now, the central bank’s leaders have said they would welcome somewhat higher inflation, which even before the crisis had been too low for years.) There’s no particular reason to think we’d see an out-of-control spiral of rising prices as Summers seems to fret, which is maybe why he barely tries to explain how it would happen…
“Is it conceivable Biden’s plan is a little oversized, compared to what we strictly need from a macroeconomic perspective? Maybe. But as [Federal Reserve Chair Jerome] Powell has argued, the biggest danger to the economy right now is that we might do too little, not too much. The Biden plan doesn’t take that risk; the GOP plan most certainly does.” Jordan Weissmann, Slate
Yet others note that “Moderates in both parties have some good ideas: Limiting the direct payments was one; making future stimulus contingent on objective indicators, such as the unemployment rate, could be another. Giving them a genuine hearing — and exhausting the possibilities for compromise, even if it fails — would enhance the legitimacy of a party-line bill when and if that becomes unavoidable. This is the approach that got Mr. Biden elected, because voters, correctly, bet that it would be the healthiest one for the country.” Editorial Board, Washington Post
A libertarian’s take
“Whatever it is you think of when you hear the words ‘people who are hurting,’ I suspect it does not include two-earner families with stable jobs making $120,000 a year. Yet that’s who Biden’s plan would help… It is certainly possible to be in a precarious financial position, to feel financially strapped and stretched, with six figures in earnings, and COVID-19 has exacerbated some challenges for families, particularly where schooling is concerned. But [a] hypothetical $120,000 family is not struggling to afford enough food…“This is a hospitality recession that has had devastating effects on a class of relatively young, relatively low-income service workers—but not on two-income families currently earning $120,000 a year… Biden has said he might be willing to negotiate the household income thresholds for the checks he plans to send out, though he is not willing to budge on the amount of those checks. But the fact that this is where he started shows the flaw in Democrats’ insistence on going big for the sake of bigness.” Peter Suderman, Reason
☕ Good Monday morning. Today’s Smart Brevity™ count: 1,186 words … 4½ minutes.
⚡ Elon Musk is funding a $100 million innovation contest to find effective, economical ways to remove and store carbon dioxide. Go deeper.
1 big thing: Vaccines shatter expectations
Illustration: Annelise Capossela/Axios
No matter how hard you squint, or what angle you look at it from, the coronavirus vaccines are a triumph, Axios health care editor Sam Baker writes.
Why it matters: They’re saving lives today; they will help end this pandemic eventually; and they will pay scientific dividends for generations.
The big picture: The pandemic isn’t over. There are still big threats, and big problems to solve. But for all the things that have gone wrong over the past year, the vaccines themselves have shattered even the most ambitious expectations.
The vaccines represent a “stunning scientific achievement for the world … unprecedented in the history of vaccinology,” said Dan Barouch, an expert on vaccines at Harvard who worked on the Johnson & Johnson shot.
Developing a vaccine takes an average of 10 years — if it works at all. Despite years of well-funded research, there are still no vaccines for HIV or malaria.
We now have multiple COVID vaccines, all developed in less than a year.
The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are the world’s first successful mRNA vaccines — which, to oversimplify it, teach our bodies to generate an immune response without relying on weakened or inactivated viruses. It’s a milestone that scientists have been working toward for 30 years.
Moderna’s vaccine is the company’s first licensed product of any kind.
Most importantly, all the leading vaccines work extremely well.
All four vaccines or vaccine candidates in the U.S. — from Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson — appear to prevent coronavirus deaths, and to offer total or near-total protection against serious illness.
The catch: South Africa yesterday halted distribution of the AstraZeneca vaccine because it appeared not to work against the dangerous variant discovered there — which is spreading across the world.
But that’s a reason to lean into the existing vaccines. The best defense against widespread variants is to vaccinate as many people as possible.
The bottom line: “Once the history of this is written, they are going to be referred to as some of the greatest achievements of science,” Zeynep Tufekci, a UNC sociologist with a track record of prescience on the coronavirus, told the N.Y. Times’ Ezra Klein (subscription).
On “Axios on HBO,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg told me what it was like to be sworn in as the first openly gay U.S. Cabinet member to be confirmed by the Senate — with the oath administered by Vice President Kamala Harris, and his husband, Chasten, holding the Bible:
Her husband, Doug, and Chasten have become good friends. And just think about that sentence — that the vice president’s husband is friends with the secretary of transportation’s husband. That’s not a sentence you could have said very long ago. And it’s a reminder of the changes that are underway and a reminder that we’ve got some work to do as a country … so that one day that’s unremarkable.
On ways that the pandemic has changed transportation forever, Buttigieg said the department will be thinking more about the “micro”: “We think trains, planes and automobiles. But what about bikes, scooters — wheelchairs, for that matter? And getting around in a way that’s a little closer to home.”
🎞️ Also on last night’s episode … Jonathan Swan interviews AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, who said it was a mistake for President Biden to cancel the Keystone pipeline, and that it will cost U.S. jobs. See a clip.
And former Parler CEO John Matze tells Dan Primack that negotiations last summer to bring President Trump onto the Twitter rival were a lose-lose proposition. See a clip.
3. COVID worsens digital “homework gap”
Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios
An estimated 12 million kids still don’t have the connections they need for distance learning, Axios’ Margaret Harding McGill writes.
Kids in rural areas and Black, Latino and Native American households are hardest hit, according to a study by Common Sense Media.
Texas, California and Florida have the most overall students without adequate internet service. Mississippi, Arkansas and Alabama have the highest proportion of insufficiently connected students.
4. 🎥 “Axios on HBO”: World Bank president on COVID inequality
Photo: “Axios on HBO”
In an interviewwith Dion Rabouin on “Axios on HBO,” World Bank president David Malpass, a nominee of former President Trump, discusses his surprisingly outspoken stances on global warming and economic inequality:
“There’s not much going for people at the bottom end of the scale. The biggest thing that helps them is education and jobs. And those have both been harmed during the COVID crisis.”
Tom Brady, during a regular weekly radio appearance on WEEI sports radio in Boston, in September of 2014 — six years and five Super Bowls ago:
When I suck, I’ll retire. But I don’t plan on sucking for a long time.
6. First look: ACLU to push Southern expansion
ACLU National Conference in Washington in 2018. Photo: Paul Morigi/Getty Images
The ACLU will announce today it’s embarking on an aggressive racial justice agenda that includes support for a reparations bill, expanding resources into Southern states, and pushing for rural post offices to adopt basic banking services, Axios race and justice reporter Russell Contreras writes.
Why it matters: The 101-year-old ACLU is shifting its emphasis from defending free speech to forcefully tackling systemic racism amid a racial awakening in the U.S.
7. New Vandy project: “There’s no vaccine for polarization”
Vanderbilt’s hometown of Nashville was a center of the civil rights movement. Photo via Vanderbilt Project on Unity & American Democracy
Vanderbilt University, in the red state of Tennessee, today launches the Project on Unity & American Democracy, seeking to counter America’s drift from evidence and reason, toward ideological certitude and reflexive partisanship.
The project — led by co-chairs Jon Meacham, former GOP governor Bill Haslam and former Obama White House fellow Samar Ali — will conduct case studies, host conversations, and engage with business leaders, faith leaders, and urban and rural voices to elevate reason in an age of passion.
Meacham tells me this matters because Vanderbilt is devoting a lot of resources to making a case — showing, not telling — that evidence and reason have been essential to create just enough unity in America to give us our finest hours.
8. Remembering George Shultz: A story about telling stories
On Jan. 9, 1985, Secretary of State George Shultz (center) walks with President Reagan and Vice President George H.W. Bush upon arriving at the White House after two days of arms talks with the Soviet Union in Geneva. Photo: Barry Thumma/AP
In December, when he turned 100, former Secretary of State George P. Shultz — who died Saturday at his home on Stanford’s campus — published a WashPost op-ed, “The 10 most important things I’ve learned about trust over my 100 years”:
One day, as secretary of state in the Reagan administration, I brought a draft foreign policy speech to the Oval Office for Reagan to review. He read the speech and said, “That’s fine,” but then began marking it up. In the margin on one page, he wrote “story.” I asked what he meant.
“That’s the most important point,” he said. Adding a relevant story will “engage your readers. That way, you’ll appeal not only to their minds but to their emotions.” … A story builds an emotional bond, and emotional bonds build trust.
Real fans amid cardboard fans. Photo: Patrick Smith/Getty Images
Tom Brady dispelled any question about whether he was merely a product of the Patriots or Bill Belichick — and proved that he’s the greatest quarterback to ever walk the planet, Axios Sports editor Kendall Baker writes:
Brady needed just 11 months to turn the Tampa Bay Buccaneers — the NFL’s worst franchise (.393 winning percentage) — into Super Bowl champions, with their 31-9 pummeling of the Kansas City Chiefs.
Brady, 43, has more Super Bowl wins than any NFL team:
Brady: 7
Patriots: 6
Steelers: 6
Cowboys: 5
49ers: 5
Fun facts: Brady’s 19-year span between championships (2001-2020) is a North American major sports record — not far off Jack Nicklaus’ golf record of 24 years between majors (1962-1986).
Brady’s fifth Super Bowl MVP extends his own record, and breaks a tie with LeBron James for second-most championship-round MVPs in NFL/NBA/MLB/NHL history. He trails only Michael Jordan (6).
Brady is the first NFL player to win championships in three different decades. Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio, Yogi Berra and Jim Palmer did this in baseball, Henri Richard in hockey and Pelé in soccer (World Cups).
President Biden and Dr. Jill Biden, in a taped message before kickoff, led a moment of silence for those lost to COVID. Photo: Chris O’Meara/AP
Sign up for Kendall’s daily newsletter, Axios Sports.
As the House impeachment managers prepare to argue that the former president incited his supporters, evidence in criminal cases shows how many were motivated by his attacks on the election.
By Rosalind S. Helderman, Rachel Weiner and Spencer S. Hsu ● Read more »
More than 40 million doses of either the Pfizer or Moderna COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in the United States, mostly to seniors and healthcare workers, since the rollout began in mid-December.
President Biden said his administration will issue guidance this week on how schools can safely reopen as frustrations boil over between teachers, their unions, parents, and state and local governments on how to educate children amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Former President Barack Obama’s ethics chief, Walter Shaub, ripped President Biden for publicly commenting on son Hunter’s forthcoming memoir, likening it to a “book promotion tour.”
President Biden and first lady Jill Biden opened Super Bowl LV on Sunday with a public service announcement thanking healthcare workers and encouraging people to get vaccinated amid the coronavirus pandemic.
A spokesperson for Dominion Voting Systems suggested MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell will soon get sued for peddling election fraud claims in support of former President Donald Trump, most recently in a documentary that aired last week.
Fired FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe is recalling the day former President Donald Trump fired FBI Director James Comey and delivered a “manic rant” about the events that led to the appointment of a special counsel investigation.
Yahoo! News correspondent Brittany Shepherd said President Biden’s press secretary Jen Psaki is a “refreshing” change of pace from former President Donald Trump’s press secretary Kayleigh McEnany.
Haitian President Jovenel Moise announced Sunday that authorities apprehended more than 20 people, including at least two high-profile government officials, who he accused of plotting to kill him and overthrow his government.
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18.) ASSOCIATED PRESS
Feb 8, 2021
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AP MORNING WIRE
Good morning. In today’s AP Morning Wire:
Trump’s 2nd impeachment trial to open with sense of urgency, speed.
Unwilling to wait, poorer countries actively seek their own vaccines.
165 missing, 18 killed, after glacier breaks in India’s Himalayas.
Analysis: A race war in America evident long before the Capitol siege.
TAMER FAKAHANY DEPUTY DIRECTOR – GLOBAL NEWS COORDINATION, LONDON
The Rundown
AP PHOTO/JACQUELYN MARTIN
Trump’s second impeachment trial to open with sense of urgency, speed; Trial confronts painful memories of Capitol siege
No American president has been impeached twice. Nor has any in 245 years faced two impeachment trials, the second one while no longer in office.
Democrats want to hold the former president accountable for the violent U.S. Capitol insurrection. And Republicans want it over as fast as possible.
It comes just over a month since the deadly Jan. 6 riot. Senate leaders are still working out the details, but it appears there will be few witnesses, and Trump has declined a request to testify.
Holed up at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, the former president has had his social media bullhorn stripped from him by Twitter, without public comments since leaving the White House.
House managers prosecuting the case are expected to rely on the trove of videos from the siege, along with Trump’s incendiary rhetoric refusing to concede the election, to make their case. His new defense team has said it plans to counter with its own cache of videos of Democratic politicians making fiery speeches.
The House impeached Trump Jan. 13 on the charge of inciting insurrection.
Analysis: The outcome of Trump’s second impeachment trial may seem preordained, but the trial itself matters. It is ultimately a test of whether a president, who holds an office that many of the nation’s founders feared could become too powerful in the wrong hands, is above the law. Senators will be forced to sit still, listen to evidence and wrestle with elemental questions about American democracy. The American people will also be sitting in their own form of judgment as they watch. The verdict and the process itself will be scrutinized for generations, Political Editor Steven Sloan writes.
Capitol Breach-What We Know: On Jan. 6, the U.S. Capitol was besieged by supporters of Trump who were angered by the then-president’s election loss. While lawmakers inside the building were voting to affirm Joe Biden’s win, Trump loyalists were marching to Capitol Hill and breaking in. Five people died in the violent melee, including a police officer. The toll of the siege is still being tallied, from the growing number of people charged with crimes to the continued presence of National Guard troops in the nation’s capital, Kevin Freking, Nomaan Merchant and Lolita C. Baldor report.
Insurrection Remembrances: The trial is more than an effort to convict the former president over inciting an insurrection. It’s a chance for a public accounting and remembrance of the worst attack on the U.S. Capitol in 200 years. In the month since the siege, Trump defenders say it’s time to move on. But many lawmakers have started recounting their personal experiences from that day. For many who were witnesses, onlookers and survivors, it’s far from over. Lisa Mascaro has that story.
Trump Prosecutor: Stacey Plaskett couldn’t cast a vote last month when the House impeached Trump, but she can help prosecute him. The non-voting delegate from the Virgin Islands is among the impeachment managers selected by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to argue the case. It’s an extraordinary moment that places Plaskett in the center of just the fourth U.S. impeachment trial in history. But there will also be a familiar dynamic when Plaskett walks into the Senate chamber that she’s experienced before. She’ll be one of the only Black women in the room, Padmananda Rama and Mary Clare Jalonick report.
AP PHOTO/ERANGA JAYAWARDENA
Unwilling to wait anymore, poorer countries seek their own shots; More people choose to die at home in US; Around the globe, virus cancels spring travel for millions
Giving one’s citizens “the peace of mind” offered by the COVID-19 vaccine, as a Honduran business leader succinctly put it, has become a focal effort for some poorer countries who have gotten tired of waiting to get doses through a United Nations program.
Experts are increasingly concerned that these go-it-alone efforts could undermine a U.N.-backed program to get shots to the neediest people worldwide.
In past disease outbreaks, less wealthy countries generally waited for vaccines to be delivered by the U.N. and others. Many are now taking matters into their own hands. Those deals, however, could leave fewer vaccines for the program known as COVAX.
U.K.-EU Vaccinations: The European Union has chosen a careful route in its vaccine campaign to defeat the pandemic. And as a result, it has seen a slow rollout of shots compared with Britain. Across the channel, the United Kingdom has shown speed and agility in its vaccine strategy. It has announced vaccine deals earlier, authorized shots from different companies more quickly, and experimented with stretching out the time between doses to get more people some protection quicker. The result is that the EU is in the U.K.’s rearview mirror in the vaccination drive. Britain has given at least one vaccine shot to about 15% of its population, compared with some 3% in the EU’s 27 nations, Raf Casert and Masha Macpherson report.
South Africa Vaccine:The country has suspended plans to inoculate its front-line health care workers with the AstraZeneca vaccine after a small clinical trial suggested that it isn’t effective in preventing mild to moderate illness from the variant dominant in the country. South Africa received its first 1 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine last week and was expected to begin giving jabs to health care workers in mid-February. The disappointing early results indicate that an inoculation drive using the AstraZeneca vaccine may not be useful, Andrew Meldrum and Sylvia Hui report.
Burkina Faso Hospitals: The West African country, which at first managed to avoid a catastrophic surge of the coronavirus, is now trying to cope with a much deadlier resurgence. Although Burkina Faso’s virus figures are still relatively small, officials worry that a general lack of understanding and adherence to basic safeguards will end up overwhelming the country’s already strained health system. Complicating matters, Burkina Faso is suffering from a conflict involving Islamic militants, the army and local defense groups that has pushed hundreds of thousands to the brink of starvation and forced the closure of more than 130 health centers in the tiny country, Sam Mednick reports.
Dying at Home: More Americans are making the decision to have their terminally ill loved ones die at home rather than in nursing home and hospice settings. For many families, home is a better setting than the terrifying scenario of saying farewell to loved ones behind glass or during video calls amid the pandemic, Heather Hollingsworth reports. National hospice organizations are reporting that facilities are seeing double-digit percentage increases in the number of patients being cared for at home.
Spring Travel: Around the globe, tough new restrictions on travel because of variants of the virus are hitting just when millions of people are normally on the move. That’s more bad news for airlines, restaurants and hotels, which have been struggling mightily for the past year. In late winter and early spring, Chinese factory workers are normally heading home for Lunar New Year, American college students are hitting the beach over spring break, and Germans and Britons are fleeing drab skies for some Mediterranean sun over Easter. But all of that is now canceled or in doubt, Dave McHugh, Casey Smith and Joe McDonald report.
NATURAL DISASTER RESPONSE FORCE VIA AP
Rescuers in India digging for 37 trapped in flood; 165 are missing, and at least 18 killed, after glacier breaks in India’s Himalayas
Rescuers in northern India are working to rescue more than three dozen power plant workers trapped in a tunnel after part of a Himalayan glacier broke off and sent a wall of water and debris rushing down the mountain.
More than 2,000 members of the military, paramilitary groups and police have been taking part in search-and-rescue operations in the northern state of Uttarakhand after the disaster, which has killed at least 18 people, left some 165 others missing and damaged dams and homes downstream, Biswajeet Banerjee and Rishabh R. Jain report.
Officials said the focus is on saving 37 workers who are stuck inside a tunnel at one of the affected hydropower plants. Excavators have been brought in to help with the efforts.
The flood was caused when a portion of Nanda Devi glacier snapped off, releasing water trapped behind it, a disaster experts said could be linked to global warming.
The floodwater rushed down the mountain and into other bodies of water, forcing the evacuation of many villages along the banks of the Alaknanda and Dhauliganga rivers.
Video showed the muddy, concrete-gray floodwaters tumbling through a valley and surging into a dam, breaking it into pieces before roaring on downstream. The flood turned the countryside into what looked like an ash-colored moonscape.
A war rages on in America, and it didn’t begin with Donald Trump or the assault on the Capitol.
It started with slavery and never ended, through lynchings and voter suppression, the snarling attack dogs of staunch segregationist Bull Connor in Alabama and the insidious accounting of redlining.
People like the murderer who fatally shot nine Black parishioners at a church in South Carolina, telling detectives that Black people were taking over the country and raping white women. And the shooter who killed 23 and wounded 23 others at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas — targeting Mexicans, authorities say, because he believed they were invading the country to vote for Democrats.
For a very long time, civil rights leaders, historians and experts on extremism say, many white Americans and elected leaders have failed to acknowledge that this war of white aggression was real, even as the bodies of innocent people piled up.
After taking the oath of office on the very platform that some in the mob scaled to breach the Capitol, President Biden acknowledged the danger of doing nothing about systemic racism and violence born of hate.
“A cry for racial justice some 400 years in the making moves us,” he said. “A cry that can’t be any more desperate or any more clear. And now a rise of political extremism, white supremacy, domestic terrorism that we must confront and we will defeat.”
Tension in the confrontations between the authorities and demonstrators against Myanmar’s coup boiled over, as police fired a water cannon at peaceful protesters in the capital Naypyitaw. Nonviolent protests demanding the release of detained national leader Aung San Suu Kyi and restoration of her government have spread all over the country. There have been no signs that either protesters or the military are backing down over who is the country’s legitimate government: Suu Kyi’s party, which won a landslide victory in last November’s election, or the junta that formed last week and claims the polls were marred by voting fraud.
Israel’s ongoing construction of settlements in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem would likely be more vulnerable to prosecution than its military actions against Palestinians — if the International Criminal Court’s top prosecutor decides to open a war crimes investigation. Such a probe is still a long way off, but the ICC moved a step closer when it cleared the way for a prosecutor to open a war crimes probe against Israel and Palestinian militants. Any investigation would look at Israeli conduct during its 2014 war in Gaza. But its continued construction of settlements appears to be open to even tougher scrutiny.
President Ronald Reagan’s longtime secretary of state, George P. Shultz, has died at age 100 at his home in California. Shultz spent most of the 1980s trying to improve relations with the Soviet Union and forging a course for peace in the Middle East. Shultz held three major Cabinet posts in Republican administrations during a long career of public service. He was labor secretary and treasury secretary under President Richard Nixon before spending more than six years as Reagan’s secretary of state.
Tom Brady made his seventh Super Bowl title look familiar — despite moving south to a new team and conference during a pandemic. Brady threw two touchdown passes to old friend Rob Gronkowski and one to good pal Antonio Brown, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat Patrick Mahomes and Kansas City 31-9 on their home field in Super Bowl 55. The Buccaneers won their second NFL title and first in 18 years while becoming the first team to play the big game at home, capping a challenging season played through the pandemic.
Ageless Tom Brady passed for three touchdowns, and the Tampa Bay defense shut down Patrick Mahomes and the prolific Kansas City offense in the 31-9 win.
Union officials indicated a vote by CTU’s 25,000 memberscould begin late Monday or Tuesday, but only after the House of Delegates decides whether to send the vote to the full membership.
Illinois has struggled more than most states with the rollout of the the coronavirus vaccine. The Tribune spoke to more than a dozen health officials, researchers, doctors and families, and analyzed federal, state and local datasets to try to assess a system that’s considered key to ending the pandemic but, so far, has attracted widespread frustration.
Dahleen Glanton column: Separate and unequal: Lagging COVID-19 vaccine rates among Blacks and Latinos are a symptom of America’s chronic health problem
Women have endured the brunt of the job losses during the pandemic as industries where they make up the bulk of the workforce, such as hospitality, struggle to recover, and continued school and day care closures make it difficult to juggle familywith work. It has set back efforts by women, and particularly women of color, to work their way into higher-paying jobs.
When Cammi Granato hosted her first hockey camp for girls at Seven Bridges Ice Arena in Woodridge in summer 1998, little did the future Hockey Hall of Famer know who those girls would become.
Kendall Coyne Schofield, 7 years old at the time, would follow in Granato’s footsteps as an Olympic gold medalist and “the fastest woman in hockey.” Hilary Knight would join Coyne Schofield on the 2018 Olympic team and currently spearheads efforts to develop a new, better paying women’s hockey league with the Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association.
It’s always hard to stand out in the Super Bowl advertising derby. Companies want to impress viewers and make a splash, but they also don’t want to flat out blow several million dollars. That’s why the great majority of the commercials end up being, you know, fine. But each year, for better and worse, a couple of handfuls leave more than a fleeting impression. These are the five best and five worst Super Bowl ads from the game’s 2021 edition.
Britt Julious review: The Weeknd’s Super Bowl halftime performance was an expensive nothing
The latest proposal for reopening Chicago Public Schools received mixed responses among members of the Chicago Teachers Union, including a sharp rebuke from some who believe agreeing to this proposal could put their lives and jobs in jeopardy.
CTU is currently reviewing the proposal, revealed Sunday, that accommodates many of the union’s requests. Under the plan, CPS would start letting students back into the classrooms as early as this week, and teachers and staff workers will have the opportunity to be “fully vaccinated” before returning. Tom Schuba and Madeline Kenney have the story…
Quarterback Brady won his seventh Super Bowl championship on Sunday night with help from a nasty Buccaneers defense, a bruising running game and terribly timed Chiefs gaffes.
While some consider it “very reasonable,” other Chicago Teacher Union members believe agreeing to this proposal could put their lives and jobs in jeopardy.
Temperatures will struggle to climb past 20 degrees this week, with wind chills below zero common at night and dipping to as low as minus 20 degrees, according to the National Weather Service.
Welcome to The Hill’s Morning Report. It is Monday! 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 reported as of this morning: Monday, 463,477.
Former President Trump is back.
Defeated by voters in November, impeached twice in one term, silenced by social media platforms and now in residence as a private citizen in Florida, Trump returns to the national conversation this week as the Senate weighs whether the 45th president willfully incited an insurrection.
Trump’s defenders will argue that a Senate impeachment trial for a former president is unconstitutional, and that Trump’s encouragement to supporters on Jan. 6 to swarm the Capitol to “fight” was his exercise of free speech.
The Hill: A slim majority in a new poll say Trump should be convicted and barred from any future federal office.
U.S News & World Report: READ Trump’s Jan. 6 remarks. “I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard. … You will have an illegitimate president. That’s what you’ll have. And we can’t let that happen. … And we fight. We fight like hell. And if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore. … We’re going to walk down Pennsylvania Avenue. … And we’re going to the Capitol, and … we’re going to try and give our Republicans, the weak ones because the strong ones don’t need any of our help, we’re going to try and give them the kind of pride and boldness that they need to take back our country.”
The upcoming trial, Trump’s second in little more than a year, is expected to be relatively brief, reports The Hill’s Jordain Carney, and House prosecutors face an uphill climb to find two-thirds of the Senate willing to convict Trump and bar him from holding any future federal office. Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) are ironing out the organization of proceedings, and it’s clear both parties are keen for speed. They envision presentation of evidence tied to the impeachment article, Trump’s defense and a vote by the Senate jury, perhaps within two weeks.
CNN and The New York Times: What will the trial look like? “A fast-paced, cinematic case.”
Republican senators won’t agree to take up any simultaneous consideration of President Biden’s nominees or legislation during Trump’s trial, which will pause on Friday evening through Saturday evening in observance of the Jewish Sabbath (Reuters). The Senate is scheduled to be in recess for a President’s Day work period beginning Feb. 15.
The trial will interrupt the momentum of the new presidency while replaying bitter divisions during the Trump era. The Senate will explore the former president’s grip on his conservative base and his repeated and inaccurate refrain that he won the 2020 election, but was the victim of a vast left-wing heist. Proceedings will play up rifts between the Trump wing of the Republican Party and mainstream members who yearn for the GOP to evolve beyond Trump, The Hill’s Jonathan Easley writes. Republican senators facing reelection next year and in 2024 worry that Trump’s vow to back primary challengers could be their political undoing if they are tempted to convict him.
The Hill: Five ways Trump’s impeachment differs from a court trial.
The Hill: READ: Democrats in their impeachment brief write that Trump incited the Capitol riot and bears direct responsibility for the violence and five deaths that followed.
The New York Times: 144 constitutional lawyers call Trump’s First Amendment defense “legally frivolous.”
Reuters: The impeachment defense will attack the process, Trump lawyer Bruce Castor says.
Politico: Castor says he plans to use video of Democrats’ remarks to defend Trump at trial, referring to their past responses to protests by antifa and Black Lives Matter demonstrators. “There’s a lot of tape of cities burning and courthouses being attacked and federal agents being assaulted by rioters in the streets, cheered on by Democrats throughout the country,” he told Fox News.
The Hill: Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.): Trump does not “have a role as a leader of our party going forward.”
Meanwhile, the Biden administration tried to keep a spotlight on the president’s coronavirus relief measure amid events competing for public attention. The president gave his first TV interview to CBS News, the network that broadcast the Super Bowl, and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen used her Sunday appearance on CNN to dangle a potential economic Shangri-La — a return to full employment by 2022 — if Congress passes Biden’s $1.9 trillion blueprint (The Hill).
“There’s absolutely no reason we should suffer through a slow recovery,” Yellen said on “State of the Union.” “I would expect if this package is passed that we would get back to full employment next year.”
During his CBS interview, Biden (pictured below on Friday) conceded what most analysts in Washington suspected: A proposed $15 federal minimum wage (especially using budget reconciliation as a complicated, rules-laden tool with lawmakers) was likely headed for the cutting-room floor.
“I put it in, but I don’t think it’s going to survive,” Biden told CBS (The Hill).
But Senate Budget Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who has championed a phased-in, $15 an hour wage floor, is not giving up (CNN).
CBS News and The Washington Post: Biden discusses the American Rescue Plan, vaccinations, school reopenings and foreign policy in his first network interview as president.
The Hill: Some Senate Republicans hold out hope that Biden may still carve out space to negotiate with them on his relief bill.
The Hill: Congress mulls tightening income eligibility tied to proposed $1,400 stimulus checks.
The Hill: Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief measure does not extend an expiring $25 billion program that assisted U.S. air carriers. Airlines and unions are lobbying for federal help beyond March.
The Hill’s Naomi Jagoda and Jessie Hellmann turn their attention this morning to Sen. Ron Wyden, a progressive Democrat from Oregon who was elected to the Senate in 1996 and is now the chairman of the powerful Senate Finance Committee. Some of the senator’s priorities include tying unemployment benefits to economic conditions, increasing taxes on the wealthy and addressing rising health care and prescription drug costs.
CORONAVIRUS: The United States is making progress to inoculate the masses against the coronavirus, but for all the advancements, the ongoing scramble for doses across the world could prolong the future life of the virus.
As The Hill’s Nathanial Weixel writes, wealthy nations have snagged the lion’s share of shots, having secured roughly 60 percent of the global vaccine supply. With the rise of new, more contagious variants that are starting to ravage parts of the world, “vaccine nationalism” means the U.S. will not be able to get back to normal until the rest of the world is also vaccinated.
Biden is also facing calls from Democrats and a number of aid groups to boost the U.S.’s commitment to assisting pandemic efforts on the world scale.
Domestically, 42 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered across the country. However, as Marty Johnson writes, it is becoming increasingly clear that vaccinations have not been doled out properly for communities of color that have been hardest hit by the pandemic.
Several members of Congress have taken notice of the disparity in the past week, with three sets of lawmakers urging the Biden administration to address the situation.
The Hill: Clergy step up to lead COVID-19 vaccination effort within Black communities.
Axios: The coronavirus vaccines have shattered expectations.
> International: The worldwide distribution of vaccines hit a snag on Sunday as South Africa stopped the distribution of AstraZeneca’s shot after a small clinical trial showed that the vaccine is minimally effective in protecting individuals against mild and moderate illness from the variant that has emerged from the country.
Health Minister Zweli Mkhize made the announcement on Sunday following disappointing results from a trial conducted by the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. Instead, recipients will receive doses of Pfizer’s and Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine (The Hill).
The Wall Street Journal: As COVID-19 vaccines raise hope, cold reality dawns that illness is likely here to stay.
The Associated Press: United Kingdom vaccine gambles paid off, while European Union caution slowed it down.
The Hill: The U.K. coronavirus strain is doubling every 10 days in the United States, according to one study.
Reuters: The United Kingdom says a COVID-19 booster shot and annual vaccinations for the coronavirus are probable.
CBS News: Former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb says approved vaccines are likely to offer “reasonable protection” against coronavirus variants that emerge as inevitable mutations.
A MESSAGE FROM TIKTOK
Empowering Parents on Safer Internet Day
TikTok is a place for everyone, from Gen Z to grandparents. This Safer Internet Day, we’re focusing on our tools to support parents.
That includes our Family Pairing features, which let parents and guardians manage their family’s content and privacy settings, and create the experience that’s right for them.
POLITICS: A week after debating the future for prominent House Republicans, the GOP is coalescing around an issue it hopes can propel its ranks during the midterm elections: school reopenings.
As The Hill’s Jonathan Easley writes, Republicans and outside groups are hammering Democrats over the issue and believe it could be the avenue for the party to win back suburban voters who have fled in droves during the rise of Trump. Republicans are picking on divisions between elected Democratic officials and unions as explosive battles play out across the country over how quickly public schools should reopen amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Some Democratic governors and mayors are eager to reopen as new studies show a low transmission rate at schools, particularly for students in minority communities who have fallen behind academically after almost a full year of virtual learning. However, their hopes have run into teachers unions that want all educators vaccinated before returning to in-person teaching — breaking with recent guidance by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the process.
According to an Axios poll conducted in late January, parents are growing less uneasy about sending their children back into classrooms. Fifty-nine percent of parents say they have some level of concern, down from 74 percent of parents who were asked the same question in August.
CBS News: Biden says women dropping out of workforce, closed schools are “national emergency.”
The push by Republicans comes as concerns rise that Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and the dog-and-pony show that follows her around could define the party in the 2022 midterms, as The Hill’s Julia Manchester and Max Greenwood write.
Democrats have wasted no time making the connection between the GOP and QAnon. The House Democratic campaign arm launched a six-figure ad campaign last week tying Republicans to the conspiracy theory.
“I don’t think someone is going to vote against [Georgia Gov.] Brian Kemp because of what this woman said in the past, but will it be used to try and paint a picture that is negative? Yeah,” said Chuck Clay, a former chairman of the Georgia Republican Party. Georgia will be ground zero for the 2022 midterms as Kemp is expected to run for a second term and Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) will stand for reelection to win a full six-year term.
ADMINISTRATION: In the modern era, every U.S. president has been forced to deal with unexpected challenges abroad. As determined as they were to focus on domestic problems in year one, they found that the world intruded. From China to Afghanistan and from Russia to Iran, Biden has been touting his foreign policy experience while assuring Americans he has not lost sight of tripwires beyond U.S. borders.
During his “60 Minutes” interview with CBS, the president told anchor Norah O’Donnell that he has plenty to talk about with President Xi Jinping of China, although he said they had not yet spoken, adding there was no reason why he couldn’t call Xi, with whom he’s had previous dealings. “I’ve said to him all along that we need not have a conflict. But there’s going to be extreme competition. … We’re going to focus on international rules of the road,” Biden said.
Asked if the Biden administration will lift sanctions placed on Tehran as a way to get Iran back to the nuclear negotiating table, Biden answered “no” and indicated with a nod that Iran must first stop enriching uranium, a violation of the 2015 agreement concluded by the Obama administration and five other countries and then abandoned by Trump three years later.
The Hill’s Rebecca Kheel reports that Biden will soon have to decide whether U.S. troops will remain in Afghanistan. The Trump administration handed his successor a May deadline to pull U.S. troops out of America’s longest war. But that plan is one of many under “review” inside the new administration. During his campaign, Biden promised to end so-called forever wars but also said he would leave a small number of special forces in countries such as Afghanistan to conduct counterterrorism missions.
> Immigration: When it comes to much-criticized migrant family separations and dealings with Mexico and Central American countries, Biden is eager to use his executive clout to rescind Trump’s policies and be bolder than the Obama administration. Biden’s sweeping review of the asylum and naturalization process — along with a pledge to try to address the root causes of Latin American migration — has pleased immigration advocates, reports The Hill’s Rebecca Beitsch. Nevertheless, The Associated Press reports that immigrants and activists worry that Biden won’t end the Trump administration barriers. A federal court in Texas has suspended Biden’s 100-day moratorium on deportations and the immigration bill is likely to be scaled back.
More administration: “Normal” is one word observers use to describe the first weeks of the executive branch under the 46th president (The Hill). … Weary postal workers hope Biden will bring a new tone and change to the U.S. Postal Service (The Associated Press). … AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, who supported Biden for president, criticized the new administration for canceling the Keystone XL pipeline on Biden’s first day. Organized labor believes the pipeline created good-paying jobs (Axios).
OPINION
The internet rewired our brains. This man, Michael Goldhaber, predicted it would, by Charlie Warzel, opinion writer at large, The New York Times. https://nyti.ms/2N8uwu0
My column on the stimulus sparked a lot of questions. Here are my answers, by Lawrence H. Summers, opinion contributor, The Washington Post. https://wapo.st/3jrEX7S
WHERE AND WHEN
The House meets at 2 p.m.
TheSenate convenes at 3 p.m. and will resume consideration of Denis McDonough’s nomination to serve as secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs.
The president departs Delaware this morning, where he spent the weekend, and arrives at the White House at 9:30 a.m. He and Vice President Harris will receive the President’s Daily Brief at 10:15 a.m. in the Oval Office. At 2:30 p.m., they will gather in the South Court Auditorium in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building to take a virtual tour of a COVID-19 vaccination site in Glendale, Ariz., at State Farm Auditorium. The remarks will be live streamed.
The White House daily press briefing is scheduled at noon. The administration’s coronavirus response team will answer reporters’ questions at 11 a.m.
👉 INVITATIONS to The Hill’s Virtually Live events:
✓ Tuesday at 1 p.m., “Complex Generics & the Prescription Drug Landscape.” Reps. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) and Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.) and the Food and Drug Administration’s Sally Choe talk with The Hill’s Steve Clemons about how complex generic medical alternatives can impact and potentially enhance the American health care system. RSVP HERE.
✓ Thursday at 1 p.m., “COVID-19 & the Opioid Epidemic.” Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and Rob Portman (R-Ohio), Rep. David McKinley (R-W.Va.) and a panel of experts will discuss how the coronavirus pandemic has exacerbated the opioid epidemic and the path to saving lives. RSVP HERE.
TikTok is a place for everyone, from Gen Z to grandparents. This Safer Internet Day, we’re focusing on our tools to support parents.
That includes our Family Pairing features, which let parents and guardians manage their family’s content and privacy settings, and create the experience that’s right for them.
➔ TECH: Facebook has a decision to make: whether to let Trump back on the platform or maintain its current ban. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg left it in the hands of Facebook’s fairly new independent oversight body. The verdict could impact worldwide figures far beyond Trump because the company’s direction was broad while seeking the board’s “observations or recommendations on suspensions when the user is a political leader.” (The Hill).
➔ RIP: George Shultz, the longtime American economist and statesman who served as secretary of State, Treasury and Labor over two decades, died at age 100, the Hoover Institution announced. Shultz, who died on Saturday, “knew the value of one’s word, that ‘trust was the coin of the realm,’ and stuck unwaveringly to a set of principles,” the think tank said. Shultz is one of only two Americans to serve in four Cabinet positions during his lengthy career (The Hill).
➔🏈 SUPER BOWL LV: Tom Brady has done it again. The greatest quarterback in NFL history set the bar even higher in Super Bowl LV as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers defeated the Kansas City Chiefs, 31-9, in a dominating performance, handing him his seventh championship ring. The total eclipses the team record six won by the New England Patriots, his former club, and the Pittsburgh Steelers. Brady, 43, won Super Bowl MVP to boot, tossing three touchdowns and zero interceptions (ESPN).
And finally … We had a few Morning Report Quiz winners from last week whose responses got away from us in email. We offer belated kudos this morning to Ki Harvey, Lou Tisler, Nicola Dawkins-Lyn and Fran Tankersley. Thanks for playing!
And to wind up the newsletter, The Hill’s Judy Kurtz reports that left-leaning Hollywood celebrities may be returning to the nation’s capital after largely avoiding the city during the previous administration. “When Lady Gaga and Jennifer Lopez are singing at the inauguration, you can say D.C. is open for business,” said Mark Harvey, the author of “Celebrity Influence: Politics, Persuasion, and Issue-based Advocacy.”
Kurtz notes that celebrity sightings and actual political influence among the paparazzi set are different things. “I think in some ways celebrities were more influential than they have been during other administrations,” Harvey added, because “Donald Trump was unusual and unorthodox in the way he went about things.”
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Via The Hill’s Brett Samuels, “Attorneys for former President Trump on Monday argued in a new brief that the Senate should quickly dismiss the impeachment article filed against him when his trial begins this week.” https://bit.ly/3aDAlHC
The gist of Trump’s defense, according to his lawyers: “Trump’s post-presidency trial is unconstitutional, and that even if senators disagreed, Trump’s speech ahead of the Jan. 6 riots at the Capitol was protected by the First Amendment and did not meet the threshold of an impeachable offense.”
Excerpt from the brief: “The Article of Impeachment presented by the House is unconstitutional for a variety of reasons, any of which alone would be grounds for immediate dismissal. Taken together, they demonstrate conclusively that indulging House Democrats hunger for this political theater is a danger to our Republic democracy and the rights that we hold dear.”
Rest in peace, congressman:
Via The Dallas Morning News’s Gromer Jeffers Jr., Texas Republican Rep. Ron Wright died last night from COVID-19 at the age of 67. http://bit.ly/36VRxqV
Wright’s office wrote in a statement: “Congressman Wright will be remembered as a constitutional conservative. He was a statesman, not an ideologue. Ron and Susan dedicated their lives to fighting for individual freedom, Texas values, and above all, the lives of the unborn. As friends, family, and many of his constituents will know, Ron maintained his quick wit and optimism until the very end. Despite years of painful, sometimes debilitating treatment for cancer, Ron never lacked the desire to get up and go to work, to motivate those around him, or to offer fatherly advice.”
Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) announced that he will not seek reelection in 2022. https://bit.ly/2Nb8iao
Shelby said in a statement: “Today I announce that I will not seek a seventh term in the United State Senate in 2022. For everything, there is a season … Although I plan to retire, I am not leaving today. I have two good years remaining to continue my work in Washington. I have the vision and the energy to give it my all.”
Did this news come as a surprise? Not really…: “Shelby’s announcement follows months of speculation that he was eyeing retirement, including the Associated Press reporting on Friday that he had indicated that he would not run again.”
It’s Monday — welcome back. 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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STARTING TOMORROW
Remember how everyone wondered what an impeachment trial would look like last time?Well, at least we don’t have those questions this time…?:
Former President Trump’s second impeachment trial of his presidency is starting tomorrow over whether to convict Trump over his role in the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection.
Will Trump testify?: No. The impeachment managers invited him to testify, but Trump’s lawyers declined.
How long will it last?: Trump’s first trial lasted 21 days, but this trial is expected to be even shorter. It could wrap up in just a few days. https://bit.ly/3aIvm8F
The chances that Trump will be convicted: Very little considering that 17 Republican senators would need to vote to convict.
Trump’s defense: “Mr. Trump’s lawyers have indicated that they once again intend to mount a largely technical defense, contending that the Senate “lacks jurisdiction” to judge a former president at all after he has left office because the Constitution does not explicitly say it can. Though many legal scholars and a majority of the Senate disagree, Republicans have flocked to the argument in droves as a justification for dismissing the case without weighing in on Mr. Trump’s conduct.” Full explanation from The New York Times’s Nicholas Fandos: https://nyti.ms/3oTJUre
HOW THE TRIAL WILL PUT GOP DIVISIONS ON FULL DISPLAY:
Interesting read — ‘Where Democrats and Republicans agree on Trump’:
Via Politico’s Andrew Desiderio, “Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial in as many years has Democrats and Republicans in rare agreement: Most senators want to get it over with, and they want the former president to go away.” https://politi.co/2YZqdUp
What Democrats think is the best strategy: “Democrats see the best way to achieve that goal as voting to convict Trump for inciting the Jan. 6 insurrection and barring him from ever holding office again.”
What Republicans think is the best strategy: “And Republicans, particularly those nervous about Trump’s continued stranglehold on the GOP, just don’t want to poke the bear.”
Meanwhile, there are still reminders at the Capitol:
Via The Hill’s Morgan Chalfant, “The Biden administration has announced plans to reengage with the United Nations Human Rights Council after the Trump administration withdrew the United States from the body in 2018.” https://bit.ly/2MIRqYM
Why: “Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a statement on Monday described the council as a mechanism to ‘promote fundamental freedoms around the globe.’ He acknowledged that the body is ‘flawed’ and in need of reform but said the decision by the previous administration to withdraw from it in June 2018 ‘created a vacuum of U.S. leadership, which countries with authoritarian agendas have used to their advantage.’ ”
Also from Biden’s Delaware trip this weekend — this is so relaxing to watch: Here’s a slow-mo video of the snow falling on President Biden’s home church. (Via The Washington Post’s Seung Min Kim) Watch: https://bit.ly/3a4w3u9
LATEST WITH THE CORONAVIRUS
I am ALL FOR sharing any good news on the COVID front:
For the first time in 2021, the number of new daily coronavirus cases has dropped below 100,000, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. https://bit.ly/3cVI6LU
How many new cases were recorded yesterday: Just less than 87,000
The last time the number of new daily cases was below 100,000: On Nov. 2
Deaths are also wayyy down: “Deaths are also down, according to data kept by The New York Times. It recorded 1,301 deaths on Sunday, compared to 4,101 deaths on Jan. 27 and 4,406 on Jan. 12.”
Via The Hill’s Jordain Carney, “Democrats are moving quickly to craft a $1.9 trillion coronavirus package as they prepare to hold a vote in the House later this month.” https://bit.ly/2NaZKjR
Isn’t the House out this week?: Yes, but “the committees are expected to spend the week drafting legislation in line with President Biden’s $1.9 trillion proposal.”
What Democrats are working out: “Democrats will need to work out several internal divisions about the details of the bill as they prepare to move forward.” Including: Income eligibility for the next round of stimulus checks.
Where Republicans come in: Democrats are hoping to have GOP support in the final bill, but it’s possible they won’t. “If Democrats try to pass a bill on their own they face a slim margin in the House and no room for error in the Senate, where they would need all of the 50-member Democratic caucus.”
WHERE JANET YELLEN STANDS ON THE INCOME THRESHOLD FOR STIMULUS CHECKS:
In an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said that she thinks a $60,000 income threshold would be fair. https://bit.ly/36Q1yWA
HAPPENING TODAY — A VOTE TO LEAD THE VA:
The Senate is voting later today on the nomination of Denis McDonough’s to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs. https://bit.ly/2NaZKjR
The Senate is in. The House is out. President Biden returned to the White House from his weekend in Delaware. Vice President Harris is in Washington, D.C.
8:25 a.m. EST: President Biden leaves Wilmington, Del., and flies back to the White House.
10:15 a.m. EST: President Biden and Vice President Harris received the President’s Daily Brief.
5:30 p.m. EST: The Senate votes on the confirmation of Denis McDonough to be Secretary of Veterans Affairs.
Tuesday: The Hill is hosting a virtual event on “Complex Generics & The Prescription Drug Landscape.” Details and how to RSVP:https://bit.ly/2YIZyLh
Thursday: The Hill is hosting an event, “COVID-19 & The Opioid Epidemic.” Details and how to RSVP: https://bit.ly/2N2tlfs
WHAT TO WATCH:
11 a.m. EST: The White House’s COVID-19 response team held a press briefing. Livestream: https://bit.ly/39XuUEm
Noon: White House press secretary Jen Psaki is holding a press briefing. Livestream: https://bit.ly/3jFLGvf
2:30 p.m. EST: President Biden and Vice President Harris virtually tour the State Farm Stadium vaccination site in Glendale, Ariz. Livestream: https://bit.ly/2LuK76u
NOW FOR THE FUN STUFF…:
Today is National Molasses Bar Day.
Feel like you missed the best commercials? Because SAME HERE.:
CNN’s Leah Asmelash pulled together a few of the best Super Bowl commercials. The list (with videos!)https://cnn.it/2YTkL5v
Rob Gronkowski apparently dented the Super Bowl LIII trophy while warming up to throw the first pitch at Fenway Park. More of that story from Mass Live: https://bit.ly/3tDPSQv
HERE ARE A FEW PHOTOS OF THE BUCS CELEBRATING THEIR VICTORY:
Democrats who’ve struggled for years to hold DONALD TRUMP accountable are at a crossroads again: Do they go all out to convict Trump by calling a parade of witnesses to testify to his misdeeds? Or do they concede it’s a lost cause, finish the trial ASAP — and get on with President JOE BIDEN’S agenda?
Several of the House impeachment managers wanted firsthand testimony to help prove their case that Trump incited the Jan. 6 riot, our sources tell us. But Senate Majority Leader CHUCK SCHUMER, Speaker NANCY PELOSI and Biden administration officials have been eager for the process to move quickly, we’re told.
It’s been a source of frustration for some Democrats privately. Trump, these people have noticed, is already on the rebound politically, at least among Republicans. The GOP base has rallied to his defense, and many Republican lawmakers who witnessed the terror of the Capitol invasion are back in Trump’s corner.
That’s why there had been talk among the managers about calling individuals who could change minds — if not the minds of 17 GOP senators needed to convict, then perhaps a slice of the GOP electorate that still supports Trump. Some of the ideas floated: having Capitol Police officers tell their stories about fighting the mob, or inviting Republican officials in Georgia who were pressured by Trump to overturn the state’s election tally.
There’s also been chatter about bringing in formerWhite House officials who observed Trump on the day of the riots.
Schumer and other Senate Democrats argue, however, that they don’t necessarily need witnesses since Trump’s crimes were in plain sight and documented in videos and tweets. Privately, senior Democrats also note that 45 Senate Republicans have already decided they think the trial is unconstitutional because Trump is no longer president, so why bother dragging this out?
Marianne LeVine wroteabout how the move toward skipping witnesses is a drastic change from the last impeachment, when Schumer insisted that real trials have witnesses.
So where does this leave things? Over the weekend, many Democratic sources were speculating that Schumer and Senate Minority Leader MITCH MCCONNELL would announce a deal about the trial process at any moment. Few expect witnesses to be called, but expect the format to leave that option open. Meanwhile, the NYT’s Nicholas Fandosreported hints of where this is all going Sunday, writing: “The prosecutors managing his second are prepared to complete the proceeding in as little as a week, forgo distracting fights over witnesses and rely more heavily on video.”
Looks like the managers may have lost this private battle.
PAGING MCCONNELL — CHUCK COOPER, who represented former national security adviser JOHN BOLTON during Trump’s first impeachment trial, has a message for Senate Republicans in the WSJ: “The Constitution Doesn’t Bar Trump’s Impeachment Trial.” “Forty-five Republican senators voted in favor of Sen. Rand Paul’s motion challenging the Senate’s jurisdiction to try Trump. But scholarship on this question has matured substantially since that vote, and it has exposed the serious weakness of Mr. Paul’s analysis.”
SCHUMER HEARTS THE LEFT — The NYT’s Alex Burns has an interesting story about how, in his words, “a glad-handing, graduation-speaking, fund-raising, suburb-adoring establishment tactician is embracing the wealth-transferring, rent-canceling, Green New Deal-endorsing, incumbent-toppling wing of his party.” The piece hits on the change we’re seeing in Schumer as he tries to repel a primary challenge from the left in 2022.
Schumer has been in close touch with activists who could cause him a headache should they turn against him. He’s attended so many press conferences with liberal lawmakers that some New York Democrats have privately chuckled and shaken their heads at how overt the gestures are. As Burns notes, “Over the last week, Mr. Schumer has backed a new push to decriminalize cannabis; signed on to Senator Cory Booker’s Baby Bonds proposal, a plan to address the racial wealth gap; and appeared with Senator Elizabeth Warren and other progressives to call on Mr. Biden to cancel student debt.”
Another interesting nugget from the piece: Rep. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D-N.Y.) “has told associates that she has not decided whether to run but that she believes the possibility of a challenge serves as a constructive form of pressure on Mr. Schumer.” In the meantime, expect progressives to take their wish lists to Schumer, hoping he could be their man at the negotiating table.
We would add that Schumer’s shift left has been an end-of-term ritual as he approached reelection — and concerns about a primary challenge — in 2004, 2010 and 2016.
BIDEN’S MONDAY — The president will leave New Castle Air National Guard Base at 8:25 a.m. and arrive at the White House at 9:30 a.m., via Joint Base Andrews. Biden and VP KAMALA HARRIS will receive the President’s Daily Brief at 10:15 a.m. and take a virtual tour of a Glendale, Ariz., vaccination site at 2:30 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 noon.
PLAYBOOK READS
CONGRESS
COVID RELIEF LATEST — “Senior Democrats to unveil $3,000-per-child benefit as Biden stimulus gains steam,”WaPo: “Senior Democrats on Monday will unveil legislation to provide $3,000 per child to tens of millions of American families, aiming to make a major dent in child poverty as part of President Biden’s $1.9 trillion economic relief package. …
“Under the proposal, the Internal Revenue Service would provide $3,600 over the course of the year per child under the age of 6, as well as $3,000 per child of ages 6 to 17. The size of the benefit would diminish for Americans earning more than $75,000 per year, as well as for couples jointly earning more than $150,000 per year. The payments would be sent monthly beginning in July, a delay intended to give the IRS time to prepare for the massive new initiative.”
LIZ DOUBLES DOWN — AND SOME TRUMP ALLIES UNHAPPILY EYE MCCARTHY: Just days after House Minority Leader KEVIN MCCARTHY gave a full-throated endorsement for Rep. LIZ CHENEY (R-Wyo.) to keep her job, the House’s No. 3 Republican doubled down on her anti-Trump rhetoric. Now, some Trump allies are unhappy and privately griping about McCarthy’s move to protect her.
CNN reported over the weekend that “a stir-crazy Trump has spent the last two days livid and fuming to aides and allies about what he views as a betrayal by McCarthy for standing by Cheney and not punishing her for her vote to impeach.” This was before her appearance on “Fox News Sunday.”
After her Sunday interview,DONALD TRUMP JR. told Playbook he’s gearing up for a trip to Wyoming to take on Cheney.
“I hear it’s lovely during primary season,” he said.
Expect to hear more on this front in the coming days. Rep. MATT GAETZ (R-Fla.), notably, redirected his fire from Cheney to McCarthy, retweeting a message Sunday that read: “Kevin McCarthy vouched for Liz Cheney. Everything she says is on him.” Gaetz added: “Kevin put it all on the line for Liz. Every House Republican knows it.”
“Already, there’s talk about midterm attack ads portraying Republicans as willing to slash taxes for the wealthy but too stingy to cut checks for people struggling during the deadly pandemic. And President Joe Biden’s aides and allies are vowing not to make the same mistakes as previous administrations going into the midterms elections. They are pulling together plans to ensure Americans know about every dollar delivered and job kept because of the bill they’re crafting. Andthere is confidence that the Covid-relief package will ultimately emerge not as a liability for Democrats but as an election-year battering ram.”
— “U.S. moves to rejoin U.N. rights council, reversing Trump anew,” AP: “The Biden administration is set to announce this week that it will reengage with the much-maligned U.N. Human Rights Council that former President Donald Trump withdrew from almost three years ago, U.S. officials said Sunday. The decision reverses another Trump-era move away from multilateral organizations and agreements.
“U.S. officials say Secretary of State Antony Blinken and a senior U.S. diplomat in Geneva will announce on Monday that Washington will return to the Geneva-based body as an observer with an eye toward seeking election as a full member. The decision is likely to draw criticism from conservative lawmakers and many in the pro-Israel community.”
PANDEMIC
TRACKER: The U.S. reported 1,471 Covid-19 deaths and 96,000 new coronavirus cases Sunday.
THE COMING STORM — “U.K. coronavirus variant spreading rapidly through United States, study finds,”WaPo: “The coronavirus variant that shut down much of the United Kingdom is spreading rapidly across the United States, outcompeting other strains and doubling its prevalence among confirmed infections every week and a half … Florida stands out in the study as the state with the highest estimated prevalence of the variant.”
“Agents will no longer seek to deport immigrants for crimes such as driving under the influence and assault, and will focus instead on national security threats, recent border crossers and people completing prison and jail terms for aggravated felony convictions. … Agents seeking to arrest fugitives outside of jails and prisons will need prior approval from the agency’s director in Washington justifying the decision.”
“Recently, government lawyers have withdrawn their requests for immediate possession in some of the cases. However, the cases remain pending, with several hearings set for March.”
MISCELLANY
MEDIAWATCH — “Big Publishing Pushes Out Trump’s Last Fan,” by NYT’s BEN SMITH: “If you were a certain kind of distinctly Trumpy public figure — say Donald Trump Jr. or Corey Lewandowski — looking to sell a book over the last four years, there were surprisingly few options. The Big Five publishing companies in New York, and even their dedicated conservative imprints, had become squeamish about the genre known as MAGA books, with its divisive politics and relaxed approach to facts. And small conservative publishers probably couldn’t afford you.”
TOP-ED — “The martyrdom of Mike Pence,”by Sidney Blumenthal in The Guardian: “No evangelical leader has stepped forward to defend his honor. No Republican leader has vouched for his virtue, obligations and higher loyalty. Abandoned and alone, the object of hatred, the target of threats. Pence had taught his flock to worship its lord and cast out heretics. He delivered everything to Trump, and Trump delivered Pence to the mob as a scapegoat. Pence had shown them the way to follow Trump as a true servant. And they did.”
NRA WATCH — “Disgruntled NRA Donors Push to Oust LaPierre,”The Washington Free Beacon: “Disgruntled NRA donors will petition a bankruptcy court to purge the group’s leadership. David Dell’Aquila, who is leading a class-action suit over accusations of financial impropriety, told the Washington Free Beacon he will request a court-appointed trustee to temporarily oversee operations.”
DESSERT — “Meghan Markle and Prince Harry had a ‘secret’ meeting with Gavin Newsom in the run-up to the election,” The Sun: “The meeting came as reports in America claimed Governor Newsom was being urged to find a black woman to replace Harris as her departure left no women of colour in the Senate. He eventually chose Mexican immigrants’ son Alex Padilla as the state’s first Hispanic senator. It has long been rumoured Meghan wants a career in politics, with some suggesting she has even set her sights on being President.”
MORE DESSERT (literally) —“Vanilla Gets its Day in Court,”WSJ A-hed: “A battle over vanilla flavoring is raging in federal courts, where plaintiffs’ attorneys say items from ice cream to cake mix actually have no real vanilla at all; the Rocky Road, Tutti-frutti argument.”
EXTREMELY ONLINE — White House chief of staff RON KLAIN, who previously worked for tech mogul STEVE CASE at Case’s venture capital firm, Revolution LLC, is emerging as the most active social media persona in the Biden White House. A heavy Twitter user, Klain over the weekend raised eyebrows when he retweeted WaPo’s Jennifer Rubin speculating about a 2028 Harris-PETE BUTTIGIEG ticket. (Was that a subtle hint to Kamala world that Biden will indeed be standing for reelection in 2024, when he’ll turn 82 years old?)
But even more interesting: Klain on Saturday joined the invite-only audio chat room app Clubhouse. New users need to be nominated by current Clubhouse members, and Klain was recommended by Case, the former CEO of AOL. We noticed Clubhouse has seen a flood of political journalists, operatives, and celebrities join over the last week, including Maggie Haberman, Dave Weigel, David Plouffe, Roger Stone, Tom Arnold and Mindy Kaling.
We reached out to Klain about how he plans to use the buzzy new app that is growing exponentially and is known for its more civil conversations and Ted Talk-like discussions, but no word back yet.
Klain follows only 51 people so far, but he has participated in something of a Clubhouse rite of passage by making two of his first follows Gayle King and M.C. Hammer, two early adopters and prominent users of the app.
“Mr. Shultz, who had served Republican presidents since Dwight D. Eisenhower, moved to California after leaving Washington in January 1989. He continued writing and speaking on issues ranging from nuclear weapons to climate change into his late 90s, expressing concern about America’s direction.”
SPOTTED AT TRUMP INTERNATIONAL HOTEL FOR THE SUPER BOWL: no one of note. (h/t Eugene, who tried)
FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is partnering with Compass Coffee to launch a new virtual event series, titled “Common Grounds,” bringing together one Republican and one Democrat to “explore critical issues or challenges facing the business community and the nation.” The first event will feature Reps. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.) and Rodney Davis (R-Ill.) talking infrastructure with Chamber EVP and Chief Policy Officer Neil Bradley on Feb. 23. Details
— Sarah Matthews is now comms director for the House Climate Crisis Select Committee GOP. She most recently was deputy White House press secretary in the Trump administration.
— Ashley Lantz is joining Brady PAC as political director. She previously was chief of staff for Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.), and is a Jay Rockefeller, Alan Mollohan and Chris Pappas alum.
— Andrew Mamo is now comms director for Rep. Josh Harder (D-Calif.). He most recently was comms director for Rep. Andy Kim’s (D-N.J.) reelect, and is a Pete for America alum.
TRANSITIONS — Lauren Passalacqua is joining Magnus Pearson Media as SVP. She most recently was comms director at the DSCC. … Mark McDevitt is rejoining Rep. Lori Trahan’s (D-Mass.) office as chief of staff. He previously was comms director for political intelligence at Morning Consult. …
… Reed Howard is now director of comms at the Georgetown Institute of Politics and Public Service. He was previously with the Lincoln Project. … Rachel Levitan is now comms director for the Senate Environment and Public Works Dems. She most recently was deputy director of comms and a senior adviser for the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
ENGAGED — Cory Feldman, administrative director of Medstar Medical Group Pathology, proposed to Ali Javery, a principal comms consultant at Fireside Campaigns and Sheldon Whitehouse alum, at Stowe Town Winery on Saturday, in the presence of friends and family and in front of a heart-shaped lake. They met four years ago on Bumble and had their first date at the Brixton rooftop. Pic… Another pic
WEEKEND WEDDING — Lauren Valainis, manager of government affairs at SoftBank, and Jared Sawyer, principal at Rich Feuer Anderson, got married Saturday in Spartanburg, S.C. They met at Orangetheory Navy Yard in 2018. Pic
HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Reps. Gus Bilirakis (R-Fla.) and John Joyce (R-Pa.) … Will Levi … AWS’ Matthew Haskins … Amos Snead … Ted Koppel … Lisa Jackson … Salesforce’s Matt Jaffe … Mark Corallo … Heather Zichal … Scott Bennett … Greg Brower … Stephanie Cherry … Walmart’s Brian Besanceney … Elliot Schwartz … L.A. Times’ Melissa Etehad … Sarah-Anne Voyles … POLITICO Europe’s Arnau Busquets Guàrdia … Anthony Paranzino … Morning Consult’s Samantha Smith … BBC’s Sarah Montague … Alexandra Brodsky … USAID’s Adam Kaplan … Hudson Institute’s John Walters, Michael Pillsbury and Sarah May Stern … John Kartch … Justin Kramer, press assistant to Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) … Scott Nelson … John Williams
President Joe Biden will return to the White House Monday morning where he will receive his daily briefing and take a virtual tour of a vaccination site in Arizona. Keep an Eye on the President at Our President’s Schedule Page. President Biden’s Itinerary for 2/8/21 – note: this page will be updated during the day …
There is hardly a shortage of issues to talk about on the radio these days but what makes it complicated is that they’re all related. The plethora of new policies and executive orders all lead to the same ugly place. Whether it’s to create gender confusion, de-fund the police or impose drastic measures they claim …
The most direct answer to the question posed in the title of this piece is that Democrats behave the way they do simply because they are Democrats, but there’s a further and deeper answer to the question. The best way to understand the reason Democrats will take any opportunity to make citizens fearful and will …
I normally write peer-reviewed scientific research or more approachable works on free-market based health policy issues rooted in principle and reason. I feel frustrated and obligated to step out of that lane. Jen Hatmaker, the progressive Christian author and influencer, offered the national prayer during Joe Biden’s inauguration. She began her portion of the prayer …
British pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca is developing a modified coronavirus vaccine that will combat a variant of the virus that originated from South Africa. AstraZeneca, which has already made one coronavirus vaccine with help from Oxford University, plans to have the new version ready by the fall, the company’s lead researcher Sarah Gilbert told BBC on …
Between hyperinflation, stalled oil operations, and deepening tensions with the United States, it is safe to say that Venezuela is in crisis and it is ordinary Venezuelans who are hurting the most. Hyperinflation means that many Venezuelans are forced to use black-market dollars in order to purchase goods. However, there is hope on the horizon. …
Arrangements made between the U.S. and three Central American countries to curb the number of asylum claims at the U.S. border were suspended Saturday, the Biden administration announced. The Asylum Cooperative Agreements that limited some asylum seekers from making claims in the U.S. and required them to instead seek asylum in El Salvador, Guatemala, and …
Happy post-Super Bowl Monday, dear Kruiser Morning Briefing friends. We’ve got to keep meeting like this.
So much for the good game that I’d hoped for. Whenever two teams that I don’t have any real interest in meet for a Super Bowl, all I want is to see a good football game. Ugh, that was a drunken Appalachian goat show last night. It was compounded by the fact that I didn’t partake of any adult beverages whilst watching.
Cannot recommend.
Oh, I know there are plenty of people who are annoyed that I still enjoy watching football. Oh well.
It’s no big secret that I have been writing and talking a lot about the Republicans and the 2022 midterm elections. Yeah, the party is kinda hosed right now, and its quickest way out of this cesspool of exile is via a victory in the 2022 midterms.
I’ve occasionally compared the position of the GOP this year to the straits the party was in back in 2009 when the Tea Party movement was launched and helped propel it to a resounding victory in the 2010 congressional midterms. Several people have hilariously offered that I have my facts wrong about what went on then. I co-founded the Los Angeles Tea Party and spent the next three years traveling around the country speaking at Tea Party events.
My frame of reference about what went on then is pretty solid, thank you, armchair pundits.
I don’t think that we’re about to launch into Tea Party 3.0 but I do believe that there is enough emotion to carry the Republican Party to victory on the House side of things in 2022 if it doesn’t get distracted.
Liz Cheney is a distraction.
There are over seventy-four million Republican voters who feel that the future of the party must have Donald Trump as its centerpiece — either in person or in spirit. That is far and away the largest faction in the GOP.
The other faction is comprised of Liz Cheney, Mitt Romney, and a few others who believe that the party would be more comfortable returning to its Bush-era days of being little more than a lapdog for the Democrats and their flying monkeys in the MSM. As I have stated on more than one occasion, that’s the path to permanent oblivion of Republicans.
I felt for a while that the Republican resolve would be fueled by the Trump spirit going forward but then House Republicans voted to leave Cheney in a leadership position. That, of course, has just emboldened her. Cheney’s own constituents in Wyoming just expressed their displeasure with her via censure, and her response was rather dismissive:
Liz Cheney is defiant after the Wyoming State Republican Party voted to censure her and called for her resignation from Congress for her vote to impeach Donald Trump.
“I’m not,” Cheney told “Fox News Sunday” host Chris Wallace in response to a question about her resignation.
“Look I think people all across Wyoming understand and recognize that our most important duty is to the Constitution. And as I’ve explained and will continue to explain to supporters all across the state, voters all across the state, the oath that I took to the Constitution compelled me to vote for impeachment, and it doesn’t bend to partisanship, it doesn’t bend to political pressure, it’s the most important oath that we take.”
Cheney easily survived a vote to strip her of her leadership position last week 145-61. But those 61 opponents could still make life miserable for her in the House. The old-fashioned tradition of “shunning” will be employed which means working with her colleagues may become very difficult.
The fact that she was left in a leadership role gives her relevance she shouldn’t have right now. It will also give her a lot more face time with the advocacy media because everything she’s been saying for a month is a regurgitation of the Dem party line. Her position is virtually indistinguishable from that of Nancy Pelosi’s.
To the many Republicans who have been losing faith in the system and the party since November, Cheney could be the thing that makes them abandon the GOP forever. Again, the numbers are on the side of the pro-Trump people. If the idiot upper echelon Beltway Republicans really believe that backsliding into Bushism is what the party needs then they are going to find themselves in a super minority for decades to come, if not permanently.
I don’t think Cheney is an incurable problem yet, but she could be very soon.
The Republicans outside of Washington, D.C., need to make it very clear to those inside that the Cheney/Romney wing that playing organ grinder monkey for the Democrats won’t be tolerated.
Brady leads Buccaneers to Super Bowl win on home field . . .
Tom Brady threw three touchdowns as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers thumped the Kansas City Chiefs 31-9 to win the Super Bowl on Sunday, giving the evergreen 43-year-old quarterback a record-extending seventh championship ring. Brady’s age-defying performance, which earned him the Most Valuable Player award, brought the curtain down on what was perhaps the most challenging season the NFL has had to navigate because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Reuters
Referee Sarah Thomas becomes first woman to officiate Super Bowl . . . Sarah Thomas became the first woman to officiate a Super Bowl on Sunday. “History made,” the NFL tweeted ahead of the Super Bowl LV. Thomas previously made history in 2015 after becoming the league’s first full-time female official. She also became the first woman to officiate an NFL playoff game in 2019 when the Los Angeles Chargers faced off against the New England Patriots. The Hill
Fans Party on Tampa streets after Buccaneers’ Super Bowl 55 win . . . Fans of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers flouted COVID-19 restrictions and flooded city streets Sunday night in a raucous celebration of the team’s Super Bowl LV victory. The crowd blocked traffic, turning at least one intersection into a dance floor after the hometown Buccaneers’ 31-9 win over the Kansas City Chiefs, according to footage posted to Twitter by Fox 13 reporter Gloria Gomez. Other rowdy fans hopped atop cars and even a public bus amid the impromptu victory party, according to a photo tweeted by another Fox 13 reporter, Jennifer Holton. The revelers mainly avoided social distancing and face masks, according to numerous videos posted online. New York Post
Coronavirus
CVS, Walgreens step up ‘bot’ defense ahead of COVID vaccine appointment rush . . . As the nation gears up for expanded access to COVID-19 vaccines, pharmacies such as CVS and Walgreens are stepping up security efforts against so-called “scalper bots” eagerly waiting to stockpile vaccine appointment slots. Following the Biden administration’s recent announcement that it will soon begin distributing about 1 million vaccine doses each week to some 6,500 pharmacies across the nation, security companies have warned retailers such as CVS and Walgreens, which are assisting in these distribution efforts, to be wary that these scalper bots could hoard vaccine appointments as soon as they are made available. Security companies urged retailers to step up their defenses to ward off such scalper attacks. Fox Business
China reports no new local COVID infection in nearly two months . . . China reported no new locally transmitted mainland COVID-19 case for the first time in nearly two months, official data showed on Monday, adding to signs that it has managed to stamp out the latest wave of the disease. The total number of COVID-19 cases rose slightly to 14 on Feb. 7 from 12 a day earlier, the National Health Commission said in a statement, but all were imported infections from overseas. Seven of the cases were in Shanghai, the rest in the southeastern Guangdong province. Reuters
South Africa halts rollout of AstraZeneca vaccine . . . South Africa has moved to halt its rollout of the Oxford/ AstraZeneca vaccine after preliminary and limited evidence showed it failed to protect against mild and moderate forms of disease caused by a coronavirus variant first detected in the country. Distribution of the AstraZeneca jab, scheduled to begin this month, would be put on hold to study its effects including on severe cases in more detail “until the scientists give us clear indications as to what we need to do”, Zweli Mkhize, South Africa’s health minister, said on Sunday. Financial Times
Politics
Senate eyes speedy second impeachment trial for Trump . . . Senators say a historic second impeachment trial for former President Trump could last just a matter of days in what is shaping up to be a speedy process. Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) are still trying to get a deal on the organization of the trial, which is scheduled to start on Tuesday. But senators are signaling they want to get it over with quickly, suggesting it could last roughly a week. Democrats, while arguing Trump’s trial is necessary, are also focusing their political energy on passing coronavirus relief. The Hill
Dems and GOP agree on Trump – both parties want to be rid of him . . . Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial in has Democrats and Republicans in rare agreement: Most senators want the former president to go away. Democrats see the best way to achieve that goal as voting to convict Trump for inciting the Jan. 6 insurrection and barring him from ever holding office again. Republicans don’t want to hold a trial for a former president in the first place, arguing it’s not a constitutional exercise of the Senate’s authority. But they see the outcome of the trial, which begins on Tuesday, as a reflection of Trump’s viability and influence in the GOP moving forward. And they believe a conviction, which would require the support of at least 17 Republican senators, would simply embolden Trump and enrage his base in a way that hurts the party in 2022 and 2024. Politico
RNC Strategy for Handling Trump’s Impeachment Trial . . . The Republican National Committee (RNC) has a list of plans for pushing back on former President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial when it begins Tuesday, according to information obtained by the Daily Caller. The RNC will use social media, their media affairs team, and their communications team to reach out to voters to explain why they believe trying to impeach Trump is unconstitutional. The RNC’s rapid response team will focus on sending out fact checks throughout the impeachment trial. The RNC’s media affairs team will book legal experts and members of Congress for TV appearances to put pressure on Democrats in battleground states. The social media team will share their message through Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Daily Caller
Maxine Waters tries walking back violent rhetoric against Trump . . . Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., has publicly denied encouraging supporters to confront and harass members of the Trump administration. The California Democrat was asked whether she ever “glorified or encouraged” violence against Republicans in a Sunday interview with MSNBC’s Ali Velshi. “As a matter of fact, if you look at the words that I used, the strongest thing I said was tell them they’re not welcome,” Watters claimed. “. . . I didn’t say anybody was going to have any violence.” Watters came under fire in 2018 for telling the same network that she had “no sympathy” for administration officials who defended Trump’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy, and urged her supporters to “absolutely harass them” when appearing in public. Fox News
Trump Impeachment Trial Has ‘Zero’ Chance of Conviction: Rand Paul . . . Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said that the looming impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump has virtually no chance of success. “If we’re going to criminalize speech, and somehow impeach everybody who says, ‘Go fight to hear your voices heard,’ I mean really we ought to impeach Chuck Schumer then,” Paul told Fox News on Sunday. Forty-five Republican senators voted against holding the trial, strongly suggesting the former president will not be convicted. The Senate requires at least 67 votes to convict a president during an impeachment trial, while the House only needs a simple majority. Meanwhile, any GOP senator who joins Democrats in voting to convict will likely face intense blowback from their constituents and local Republican Party chapters. Epoch Times
Trump Won Two-Thirds of Election Lawsuits Where Merits Considered . . . The claim often repeated by the mainstream media, social-media content moderators, and fact-checkers that lawsuits filed by President Donald Trump’s campaign and Republicans were universally dismissed by the courts is untrue, according to a new analysis. The findings do not necessarily suggest that if the lawsuits had all been decided before Joe Biden was certified as the official winner of the presidential election by Congress on Jan. 7 that former President Trump would have won the hotly contested election. Nor would they necessarily have affected many of the Electoral College votes won by Biden in the disputed battleground states. Epoch Times
Trump ‘Stop the Steal’ election claims rebutted point by point by state officials . . . Republican and Democratic state elections officials are rebutting former President Donald Trump’s fraud claims in his Jan. 6 rally speech, which is now the centerpiece of his Senate impeachment trial beginning Tuesday. Mr. Trump pumped up the crowd by saying he was robbed of the presidency by nearly 40 instances of fraud among thousands of ballots in six battleground states. He told the “Stop the Steal” rally that 66,000 underage voters cast ballots in Georgia. The state asserted to Congress that a subsequent audit showed not a single underage vote. Washington Times
Facebook weighs pivotal decision on Trump ban . . . Facebook finds itself confronted with one of its most consequential content moderation decisions — whether to let former President Trump back on the platform or keep him permanently banned.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has left the decision in the hands of Facebook’s fairly new independent oversight body, and the 20-member board’s impending verdict may have effects beyond the fate of Trump’s potential return. The Oversight Board, which functionally launched in the fall, has the power to recommend that Facebook overturn content moderation decisions, as well as to make related policy recommendations. The Hill
Trump could soon make return to social media and even create his own platform: senior adviser . . . An adviser to former President Donald Trump said the 45th president would be back on social media soon and could have a plan in the works to launch his own social media platform. “I would expect that we will see the president reemerge on social media,” senior adviser Jason Miller said during a Saturday radio interview. “Whether that’s joining an existing platform or creating his new platform, there are a number of different options and a number of different meetings that they’ve been having on that front. Nothing is imminent on that.” Washington Times
Biden DOJ Pick Opposed Enforcing Civil Rights Laws Against Blacks . . . The incoming Justice Department civil rights chief has a history of opposing civil rights prosecutions of black defendants, arguing against bringing a complaint against an African-American Democratic leader who discriminated against white voters.
As an NAACP lawyer, Kristen Clarke lambasted the Justice Department for bringing a complaint against an African-American party boss in Mississippi who worked to suppress white votes, according to a federal probe. On a separate occasion, a federal oversight commission investigated claims that Clarke worked with allies at the Justice Department to quash the prosecution of the Black Panthers who menaced voters outside a Philadelphia precinct in 2008. Washington Free Beacon
Obama ethics chief torches Biden over Hunter memoir in disappearing tweets . . . Former President Barack Obama’s ethics chief, Walter Shaub, ripped President Biden for publicly commenting on son Hunter’s forthcoming memoir, likening it to a “book promotion tour.” “It is not acceptable for the President of the United States to be part of the book promotion tour. No,” tweeted Shaub, a U.S. Office of Government Ethics former director under Obama. The tweet that was issued Sunday afternoon was deleted but not before the Washington Examiner viewed its contents. Washington Times
Biden’s DHS to cancel agreements made under Trump, memo shows . . . The Biden Homeland Security Department has concluded that at least eight agreements signed by the Trump administration giving states a stake in federal immigration enforcement are “void, not binding and unenforceable,” and is moving to cancel them as quickly as possible, according to a memo seen by The Washington Times. The Jan. 29 document from Joseph B. Maher, acting general counsel at the department, also said the cancellations could help fight a lawsuit that has halted President Biden’s deportation pause. “Signing and sending letters to the countersigning jurisdictions prior to the deadline for DHS’s brief [in the court case] will allow DHS to refer to those letters in its briefing should DOJ wish to rely on them in connection with its defense strategy,” Mr. Maher wrote. Washington Times
Newly Introduced ‘OMAR Act’ Would Block Lawmakers from Paying Spouses . . . Newly introduced Republican legislation would prevent lawmakers from using campaign funds to enrich their spouses. The Oversight for Members And Relatives, or OMAR, Act was introduced Friday by Wisconsin Reps. Mike Gallagher (R.) and Tom Tiffany (R.), and specifically references the millions of dollars Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar (D.) has sent from her campaign to her husband’s consulting firm. In the most recent cycle Omar’s campaign sent $2.9 million to the firm, accounting for nearly 80 percent of its political business. “Loopholes that allow members of Congress to funnel campaign funds to their spouses are despicable and erode trust in our government,” Gallagher said. Washington Free Beacon
President Biden commends son Hunter’s ‘honesty’ about substance abuse in memoir . . . An emotional President Biden praised the “honesty” shown by son Hunter Biden in discussing his struggles with drug addiction as detailed in an upcoming memoir.
“The honesty with which he stepped forward and talked about the problem and the hope that — it gave me hope reading it,” Mr. Biden told CBS’ “60 Minutes” in an interview slated to air Sunday ahead of the Super Bowl. Washington Times
Iran, US at diplomatic stalemate over resurrection of nuclear deal . . . : U.S., Iran demand each other to make first move toward rejoining a landmark 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and six world powers, including the U.S. President Biden and Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei said in no uncertain terms Sunday that their respective nation will not make the first formal overture, dashing hopes among Democratic lawmakers, pro-diplomacy advocates and some U.S. allies that the Biden administration would bring with it a rapid thawing of relations with Tehran and a permanent cooling of tensions that led the two countries to the brink of all-out war last year. Washington Times
Iran U.N. Inspectors Find Radioactive Traces, Raising Fresh Concerns . . . United Nations inspectors have found new evidence of undeclared nuclear activities in Iran, according to three diplomats briefed on the discovery, raising new questions about the scope of the country’s atomic ambitions. Samples taken from two sites during inspections in the fall by the U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency contained traces of radioactive material, the diplomats said, that could indicate Iran has undertaken work on nuclear weapons, based on where it was found. The diplomats said they didn’t know the exact nature of what was found. Wall Street Journal
UC Berkeley Advised Chinese Government on Critical Economic Decisions, Industry Sectors . . . U.C. Berkeley received millions of dollars from China to operate a big data research center that advised the Chinese government, as well as fund cutting-edge research into automated cars. The Guizhou Berkeley Big Data Innovation Research Center (GBIC)—which was jointly operated by Berkeley, the Chinese province of Guizhou’s local government, and the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology—helped “Guizhou’s government in making economic decisions and improving public services,” according to a 2016 Chinese government press release. Meanwhile, the taxpayer-funded California school also enlisted help from Chinese tech companies Baidu and Huawei to bolster its Berkeley DeepDrive automated car program. Berkeley’s overseas ties have allowed China to access U.S. expertise in two critical sectors: big data and automated cars. Washington Free Beacon
International
Australian Journalist Cheng Lei Formally Arrested in China . . . Australian journalist Cheng Lei was formally arrested in China on Feb. 5 on suspicion of illegally supplying state secrets overseas, after being detained for six months without charge. Cheng, 49, was a news anchor for CGTN, the international arm of the Chinese regime’s state broadcaster, CCTV, before being detained in Beijing in August 2020 amid testy relations between Canberra and Beijing. Epoch Times
Money
Dems set to introduce bill that provides $3,600 per child for some families . . . Top Democrats are poised to introduce legislation that aims to provide $3,600 per year for millions of families that have children under the age of six as part of President Biden’s nearly $2 trillion coronavirus relief package, according to a report Sunday. The Washington Post reported that it obtained the 22-page bill set to be introduced on Monday. The paper said that under the plan, families with children under six would receive $3,600 per child from the Internal Revenue Service; families with older children could receive $3,000. The amount depends on last year’s earnings. Fox News
Calls for Bank of America boycott grow after data of innocent people given to FBI . . . Customers are calling for a boycott of Bank of America, after a report that the bank handed over the account information of hundreds of innocent people in connection with the Jan. 6 deadly riots at the Capitol. At the request of the FBI, the country’s second-largest bank allegedly snooped through information of anyone making certain purchases in and around Washington before and after the riots, and handed over the information of 211 people, according to Fox News’ Tucker Carlson.
Only one of those 211 people was brought in for questioning, and none of them were arrested, according to Fox’s report. New York Post
You should also know
January was busiest gun background check month in U.S. history . . . Gun background checks in the United States shattered monthly records in January, blowing past the four million mark for the first time in U.S. history. Americans underwent nearly 4,318,000 checks for firearm purchases last month, handily defeating December’s then-record of nearly 3,940,000 checks and recording over four million checks in one month for the first time in the 23-year history of the National Instant Criminal Background Check System. The four-million-plus checks performed in January total nearly 11% of the roughly 39,700,000 checks performed in the entirety of 2020. Just the News
Relationships, related businesses blooming and booming amid pandemic . . . Romance is in the air, but with first dates and ceremonies stalled, many in the wedding business have struggled to stay afloat. On the flip side, those who work in the relationship-support niche have found the need for their services skyrocket. Here’s how biz-savvy folks in the heart-and-soul sector are flourishing. Since launching at the end of October, personalized online florist Floracracy has seen its business explode. New York Post
Sen. Hawley’s Wife Files Criminal Complaint Over Protest Outside Their Home . . . The wife of Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) has filed a criminal complaint against the alleged organizer of a protest outside their Fairfax County, Virginia, home. Erin Hawley filed a complaint against Patrick Young, an activist who is part of the Black Lives Matter-affiliated group ShutDownDC. A police spokesperson told ABC News that “probable cause” was found to issue a summons for Young. According to video footage, at least 20 people gathered at the Hawley home on Jan. 4—two days before the joint session of Congress—while Hawley’s wife and their newborn daughter were at home. The protest was ostensibly organized due to Hawley’s public statements that he would challenge the electoral votes for Pennsylvania. Epoch Times
Antifa, BLM march through DC disturbing diners, skirmishing with police, chanting ‘burn it down’ . . . Black Lives Matter protesters and antifa protesters marched through Washington, DC, on Saturday night threatening to burn down the city and intimidating people while they ate dinner. “Burn it down,” the protesters could be heard yelling as they marched through D.C. following an afternoon rally labeled the “DC Queer and Trans Black History Month March and Rally.” At one point, Antifa members could be seen skirmishing with the police, who were attempting to keep them away from people eating outdoors at various restaurants. One video from the scene showed protesters shining bright lights at the police while verbally accosting them. Washington Times
Guilty Pleasures
Mischievous Pup Keeps Ruining Fur Family Photos With Hilarious Pose . . . To many a parent’s dismay, not every kid takes family photographs as seriously as they should, while some more mischievous ones go out of their way to make silly faces whenever a camera goes off. But one dog in New Zealand has taken silly photographs to a whole new level. Kiko, a ginger Finnish spitz, has caught the internet’s attention with a ridiculous pose from ‘The Exorcist’ that she seemingly insists on making whenever her owner takes a picture. Epoch Times
You have to see the pictures of this puppy.
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Happy Monday! If you didn’t catch Friday’s episode of The Dispatch Podcast, you missed an exciting announcement. Chris Stirewalt, the former political director of Fox News, is joining The Dispatch as a contributing editor, making his debut today on the site. If you’d like to know more about Chris, he wrote about his departure from Fox News and his concerns about the current media landscape in thisLos Angeles Times op-ed. It sounds many of the same themes that we hit in our founding manifesto.
We think you’ll enjoy reading his work, and we hope you’ll consider joining us as a paying member. We want to continue bringing you great original reporting and informed analysis—and from more new voices like Chris. Your support enables us to do that. As always, thanks for reading.
The U.S. economy added 49,000 jobs in January, according to a Bureau of Labor Statistics report published Friday. The unemployment rate dropped from 6.7 percent to 6.3 percent, in part due to a small decline in the labor force participation rate month over month.
Both chambers of Congress voted along near-party lines Friday to pass a budget resolution that will be used as a vehicle to enact President Biden’s $1.9 trillion relief package through the reconciliation process.
Claudia Tenney won the last undecided congressional race in the country on Friday after a judge ruled the New York Republican defeated incumbent Rep. Anthony Brindisi by a mere 109 votes in a race marred by months of legal challenges. Democrats’ advantage in the House is now 221 to 212.
President Biden told CBS News over the weekend that his administration will not lift sanctions on Iran until Tehran ceases efforts to enrich uranium in excess of the limits established in the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken is revoking his predecessor’s last-minute decision to label Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels a foreign terrorist organization, citing the need for humanitarian aid in the region.
Fox Business announced Friday it had cancelled Lou Dobbs’ show on the network, one day after election systems company Smartmatic filed a $2.7 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News and several of its personalities, including the pro-Trump commentator. Dobbs’ show was a regular source of false claims during the Trump era that Smartmatic conspired to steal the 2020 presidential election.
Actor Christopher Plummer died on Friday at the age of 91. George Schulz—who held four different Cabinet-level posts under Presidents Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan—died Sunday at the age of 100.
The United States confirmed 90,159 new cases of COVID-19 yesterday per the Johns Hopkins University COVID-19 Dashboard, with 6.3 percent of the 1,439,085 tests reported coming back positive. An additional 1,295 deaths were attributed to the virus on Sunday, bringing the pandemic’s American death toll to 463,433. According to the COVID Tracking Project, 81,439 Americans are currently hospitalized with COVID-19. According to the Centers for Disease Control, 2,172,973 COVID-19 vaccine doses were administered yesterday, bringing the nationwide total to 41,210,937.
The Emperor Has No Clothes
If you talked to them privately over the past four or five years, most Republican leaders—both in Washington and in state houses across the country—would have told you they had grave concerns about the direction of the GOP and the man leading it. But very few made the case publicly. The political fates of former colleagues Jeff Flake and Bob Corker haunted Senate Republicans like the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come: Cross President Trump at your own peril.
Some officials would express disappointment with a particular Trump administration policy position or the most incendiary of rhetoric, but very rarely would anyone make a broader case against Trump’s presidency.
But now Trump is in Palm Beach, not the Oval Office. His signature is no longer required to transform legislative priorities into law, and he can’t nominate anyone to the federal judiciary. Perhaps most importantly, there is no longer a risk of ending up on the receiving end of a dreaded Trump Tweet. In fact, we haven’t really heard from Trump since he left office three weeks ago (except, fittingly, for a statement he put out lamenting the end of Lou Dobbs’ show on Fox News, who once thanked Trump for allowing Americans to enjoy their weekends.)
And after the events of January 6—with many elected Republicans holding Trump responsible for the lies that led to the riot, incitement of the assault itself and the failure to do anything to quell it while it was unfolding—more Republicans came to see Trump as a liability, even if many still are unwilling to hold him directly accountable through the impeachment and conviction process.
The result? Four years of unquestioned deference to Trump is over and new, post-Trump leadership is emerging.
Rep. Liz Cheney, the third ranking Republican in the House, released a forceful statement calling for the impeachment of Trump and then received an overwhelming vote of confidence from her colleagues last week after standing by her vote as one she cast on principle. Yesterday, in an interview with Fox News’s Chris Wallace, she went further. Trump “does not have a role as the leader of our party going forward,” she asserted, making a public case—to viewers of Trump’s onetime favorite network—that expanded on the one she delivered in the House GOP Conference meeting on Wednesday.
Planned regional demonstrations across Myanmar swelled into a nationwide call to end military rule over the weekend, as tens of thousands of pro-democracy advocates took to the streets chanting “Our Vote Matters.” The mass protests follow last week’s military coup that forcibly ousted Aung San Suu Kyi, President Win Myint, and other leaders from their positions.
The gatherings were impeded Saturday, when mobile internet service in the country’s major metro areas went dark: The armed forces were attempting to stifle the spread of information and dissent, earning condemnation from Amnesty International and the United Nations Human Rights Office, among others.
Internet and 4G services were partially restored Sunday, reinvigorating protesters who took to the streets in droves. In Yangon, the country’s largest city, thousands of demonstrators marched roughly 10 miles from Hledan Center to the Sule Pagoda traffic circle downtown. Large groups of people also congregated outside of Yangon University and the Yangon University of Economics, holding posters saying “Respect Our Votes” and “We Against Military Coup.”
Demonstrations popped up in other parts of the country as well—including Mandalay, Myanmar’s second largest city. Hundreds of motorcyclists rode through the metro area, honking their horns in solidarity with pro-democracy protesters. In Naypyidaw—the country’s administrative capital and home to the military headquarters—similar scenes of resistance emerged.
We’ve been writing and talking a lot in recent weeks about the future of the Republican Party—because it’s a hugely important story. We’re not the only ones. Check out this FiveThirtyEight podcast with Kristen Soltis Anderson, Ramesh Ponnuru, and Henry Olsen, and then check out Yuval Levin’s appearance on the Ezra Klein show. In a piece for the Daily Beast, Matt Lewis argues that the last few weeks have proven that Republicans can “stand up to MAGA and live to tell the tale,” and Noah Rothman made a similar argument last week in Commentary. “It isn’t just the substance of Cheney and Sasse’s message which threatens the core premise of Trumpism; it is their defiant posture,” Rothman argues. “These are combatants spoiling for a fight, brimming with the confidence that comes with the knowledge that their ranks are fuller than their opponents think.”
The bulk of Friday’s TMDwas devoted to Sen. Mitt Romney’s new plan to combat child poverty. Conservative New York Times opinion writer Ross Douthat covered it in his Sunday column as well. “The Romney plan offers something to left and right alike,” Douthat writes. “It would significantly reduce child poverty, a core left-wing ambition. At the same time it reduces the current system’s penalties for marriage and its tacit bias against stay-at-home parents, both social-conservative goals, and raises the current subsidy for middle-class families, usually a Republican-leaning constituency. Finally, it’s both deficit neutral and softly pro-life, with a benefit that starts while the child is still in utero.”
In his Sunday French Press, David argues that while a Biden administration will be a setback for pro-life policy, the pro-life movement shouldn’t despair: The personal cultural work that has helped push the abortion rate trending steadily downward, from supporting crisis pregnancy centers to foster parenting, is as pressing as ever. He also has some praise for Mitt Romney’s child allowance proposal.
On Friday, Mike Lindell—the Trump ally and martial law enthusiast who moonlights as the CEO of MyPillow—capped off four months of election rabble-rousing with the release of a 3-hour film which he claimed would provide undeniable proof the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump. Jonah uses this as a jumping-off point to discuss the entertainmentification of our politics, and how “the blood-brain barrier between fantasy and reality has been eroded,” in his Friday G-File.
In Friday’s Uphill, Haley dove into a thicket of allegation and misinformation to untangle a question that bedeviled much of the media last week: What actually happened to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez during the January 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol? Haley walks through the original account from Ocasio-Cortez, which was initially unclear and was then severely distorted in its retelling. Haley pulls out some lessons for the press to avoid similar situations in the future.
In a new fact check, Alec looks at a claim from Joe Biden’s Super Bowl interview that “all the economics show” a raise in the minimum wage will boost the economy. That claim is false.
New Dispatch slugger Chris Stirewalt dropped by the Dispatch Podcaston Friday, and things went a little off the rails—with almost equal parts discussion and laughter. Before that, though, the team discussed the current intra-GOP fight, Joe Biden’s foreign policy agenda, and why “the way America is getting its news is not working for America.”
Kemberlee Kaye:“Looking forward to a historic week as our national representative brain trust will conduct an impeachment trial for a man they claim is no longer president. My gut says this is not going to go the way they think it’s going to go.”
Mary Chastain: “I am so happy for Tom Brady. No one can stop the man. I hope he plays forever. Also beyond thrilled tennis is back! We have the Australian Open going on now.”
Leslie Eastman: “Super Bowl Sunday: I’m rooting for the Tampa Pay Buccaneers, praying that the halftime show isn’t a social justice freakshow, and not wearing a mask.”
David Gerstman: “The other day, Time magazine published an article by its political correspondent, Molly Ball, boasting about “conspiracy to save the 2020 election.” Which is odd because several times throughout the article ball derisively refers to Donald Trump’s “conspiracy theories,” even as she literally acknowledged, “In a way, Trump was right. There was a conspiracy unfolding behind the scenes…” I don’t know how Ball wants it both ways, but can you imagine if the article had been published in the Federalist or The Daily Wire? Every single platform would attempt to shut it down! But a liberal “journalist” spiking the ball? That’s okay.Fuzzy Slippers (at LI) and Neo Neo (at her own website) both offered excellent critiques of the Time article. Fuzzy observed, “The Time article is a victory lap for these malignant forces that treated the American people and every facet of our society—up to and including federal, state, and local government—like pawns in their own personal ‘get Trump’ game.” Neo noted, “Some people writing about the article indicate that it’s an admission that the participants gamed the election in various ways to enable Biden’s win. But the article does not admit that. It does something far more devious – it claims that everything this group did was non-partisan, had absolutely nothing to do with wanting Biden elected, and was merely for the noble purpose of guaranteeing a fair election…” This of course is evidence by Ball dismissing Trump conspiracy claims while boasting that it was a conspiracy (and, elsewhere, “cabal”) working to defeat him. Whoops, I mean to ensure the integrity of the election.That artificial and dishonest good vs. bad conspiracy distinction is what is most notable about the article and a further discredits the media as an honest player in our political discourse.”
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“For four years, we were informed by our establishment media that President Donald Trump’s behavior was ‘not normal.’ The abnormality of Trump’s behavior became…”
The Kids Aren’t Alright
The Biden Administration said they would “listen to the science” when it comes to reopening schools. CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said at a White House press briefing with Dr. Anthony Fauci (emphasis added):“…I want to be very clear about schools, which is: Yes, ACIP has put teachers in the 1b category, the category of essential workers. But I also want to be clear that there is increasing data to suggest that schools can safely reopen and that that safe reopening does not suggest that teachers need to be vaccinated in order to reopen safely.
So while we are implementing the criteria of the Advisory Committee and of the state and local guidances to get vaccination across these eligible communities, I would also say that safe reopening of schools is not — that vaccination of teachers is not a prerequisite for safe reopening of schools.”
However, following the briefing, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said that Dr. Walensky was “speaking in a personal capacity.” Um, ok. The reason for the distance from their hand-picked CDC Director is that Democrats have always relied on the teachers unions for big-time campaign money and this Democratic Administration is no different.
Political reporter and author Salena Zito wrote a great article over the weekend about the effects of in-person learning being canceled for nearly a year now in some counties. Zito talked to Lena Carson, a Pittsburgh high school student, and her father, Dr. Paul Carson. It’s heartbreaking to read what students are experiencing in isolation. From Zito’s “The Kids Aren’t Alright“:
“The roller coaster of openingss and closures is also the most challenging part for her parents, said her father, Dr. Paul Carson, a hospitalist who spends his days and nights in the COVID-19 ward at the local city hospital.
The front-line worker said he knows it is not just his 14-year-old daughter and 11-year-old son who are flailing during this isolation, “Kids need to be in school, and parents need to speak up about this for no other reason than the sake of their education and mental health.”
… “This isn’t a Left-Right problem. It’s a unilateral problem. This is our children. They need to go back to school. We need to follow the science. That’s my main point, and I am unwilling to have my children’s education held hostage any longer,” he said.
Lena says online school is not challenging in the same way, “It’s not pushing me at all the same way that regular school does.”
Her voice drops when asked how much she wants to go back to school, “Very badly. That’s the main thing I want. I think it would make things a lot better. I think I would just be happier in general, probably.”
Winners and Losers in January 2021 Job Numbers
Last week the Labor Department reported employment rose by 49,000 jobs in January, following a decline in December, making January “a lackluster start to the new year as COVID-19 and restrictions implemented to curb its spread continued to weigh on businesses.” More from Fox Business:
“The bulk of the job growth took place in professional and business services, which rose by 97,000. Temporary help service accounting, which added 81,000 jobs last month, accounted for the biggest gains.
The government also contributed to job growth, adding 43,000 new positions in January. State government rose by 31,000 and local government increased by 36,000, the Labor Department said. Employment in the federal government dropped by 24,000
But the economy still saw losses in other pockets more closely affected by the pandemic: Hospitality and leisure, the sector hit hardest by lockdown measures, shed 61,000 jobs in January, with 19,400 stemming from restaurants and bars. The gambling and recreation industry shed 26,900 jobs, while hotels, resorts and other accommodation services lost 18,300.”
Government grows while the private sector continues to feel the losses from the pandemic.
More Weekend News
Democrats’ Hypocrisy on Political Violence Runs Deep (American Greatness)
Democrats Must Pay For Kicking Marjorie Taylor Greene Off Her Congressional Committees (The Political Insider)
Paris court finds France guilty of failing to meet its own Paris climate accord commitments (CBS News)
Trump Allies Look to Grenell for Potential California Governor Bid as Newsom Recall Gains Momentum (Breitbart)
“France, 1714: in a moment of desperation, a young woman makes a Faustian bargain to live forever―and is cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets.
Thus begins the extraordinary life of Addie LaRue, and a dazzling adventure that will play out across centuries and continents, across history and art, as a young woman learns how far she will go to leave her mark on the world.
But everything changes when, after nearly 300 years, Addie stumbles across a young man in a hidden bookstore and he remembers her name.”
A Case of the Mondays
The Puppy Bowl 2021 Line-up (New York Post)
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Feb 08, 2021 01:00 am
The Biden Administration is willfully and permanently undermining the economy and the future well-being of the citizenry as well as trampling on the Constitution Read More…
Feb 08, 2021 01:00 am
As Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial begins today, not enough attention has been paid to the fact that Chief Justice Roberts will not be presiding. Read More…
Feb 08, 2021 01:00 am
It is no longer a surprise why so many American students have come to despise their own country. Read More…
Recent Blog Posts
Liz Cheney, emboldened
Feb 08, 2021 01:00 am
Cheney spews the leftist narratives on President Trump, ignoring voter fraud, and ultimately expressing contempt for GOP voters. She’s in a power grab which, to win, she must destroy Trump. Read more…
How to create a surveillance state
Feb 08, 2021 01:00 am
When we first got cameras on our smartphones or signed up for social media, none of us realized that they would come to control our lives. Read more…
Profiles in cowardice
Feb 08, 2021 01:00 am
If we have truly devolved from JFK’s governance by “Profiles in Courage” to an era of “Profiles in Cowardice,” then we may indeed be doomed Read more…
‘LearnToCode’ alternatives
Feb 08, 2021 01:00 am
It seems as though whenever some group experiences job loss, politicians and journalists toss off a flip, “learn to code” admonition. Read more…
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Simon & Schuster announced this week that one of its imprints will publish a forthcoming memoir from Hunter Biden, the son of President Joe Biden.The announcement came just weeks after the publishing house backed out of moving forward with the publication of a book from Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.).What are the details?Simon & … Read more
It’s almost as though the Democrats and their sycophantic allies in the media don’t know what to do if they can’t keep tap, tap, Tappering away at the bad orange man.
How could a major corporation not see how propagandistic it comes off to suggest that when Republicans win a national election, that’s divisive, but when Democrats win one, that’s unifying?
It’s reasonable to defer to executive branch officials during an emergency. But that deference cannot last forever, and it should depend on the nature of the government’s actions.
‘[I]f Hollywood may host a studio audience or film a singing competition while not a single soul may enter California’s churches, synagogues, and mosques, something has gone seriously awry.’
Joe Biden has faced nearly no public scrutiny over the fact that the U.S. president’s son has raked in millions of dollars from U.S. adversaries who use business deals to push goals against the U.S. interest.
A learning focus popular in public schools has been converted into a vehicle for teaching critical race theory to elevate favored students based primarily on race.
Millions of pregnant women and their babies have been treated as guinea pigs for long-term mask use, without health officials even having the decency to be honest about this grand experiment.
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South Africa has halted a planned rollout of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 shot after data showed it gave minimal protection against mild infection from one variant, stoking fears of a much longer cat-and-mouse battle with the virus.
The AstraZeneca vaccine was the big hope for Africa as it is cheap and easier to store and transport than the Pfizer shot, making South Africa’s move a major blow.
Myanmar police have warned protesters to disperse or face force after tens of thousands of people joined a third day of street demonstrations across the country to denounce the military for its seizure of power last Monday.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pleaded not guilty to corruption charges at the resumption of his trial, six weeks before voters again head to the polls. We take a look at what’s at stake for Israel’s longest-serving leader.
↑ French Health Minister Olivier Veran receives a dose of the AstraZeneca-Oxford COVID-19 vaccine in Melun, on the outskirts of Paris, February 8, 2021
U.S.
↑ Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady (12) and tight end Rob Gronkowski (87) celebrate after beating the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LV
Tom Brady threw three touchdowns as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers thumped the Kansas City Chiefs 31-9 to win the Super Bowl, giving the evergreen 43-year-old quarterback a record-extending seventh championship ring. Attendance was limited to 25,000 spectators, sprinkled among 30,000 happy-faced cardboard cutouts.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen says American workers who earn $60,000 per year should receive stimulus checks as part of the White House’s proposed $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package.
Chicago schools could gradually start to reopen for in-person learning this week under a tentative agreement with the teachers union on a COVID-19 safety plan, a major milestone that will put an end to a bitter labor dispute and avert a possible strike.
Across the U.S., scores of landlords and eviction judges are confronting energized tenants unions looking to slow evictions of renters. Housing experts are likening their combative tactics to the rent strikes that swept the United States during the Great Depression.
BUSINESS
Hedge funds are turning bullish on oil once again after the pandemic hobbled producers. They’re betting that limitations on supply will push prices to multi-year highs and keep them there for two years or more.
Americans are taking to ‘buy now, pay later’ shopping, but can they afford it? Nearly 40% of U.S. consumers have missed more than one payment, worrying regulators.
Hyundai and Kia have seen $8.5 billion wiped off their market value on news that their deal with Apple is off. The companies had been in talks to develop self-driving electric vehicles but some Hyundai executives raised concerns about becoming a contract manufacturer for the U.S. tech giant.
Tesla Inc. has invested $1.5 billion in Bitcoin and expects to start accepting the cryptocurrency as payment, Bloomberg News reports. Prices for the digital asset surged to a record above $43,000 after the news.
Meanwhile, owners of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are scrambling to check their own prices. The cryptocurrency markets have been in a constant state of flux in recent weeks. Between Reddit pushing Dogecoin and Tesla’s Elon Musk pushing it along, even the “meme” based crypto has seen sharp jumps. Meanwhile, other cryptocurrencies have crashed, only to rebound the next day.
This move by Musk and Tesla could be an bellwether of discontent with fiat currencies as millions are jumping into the blockchain phenomenon. It could also be a tell that Tesla is leading the charge into a currency shift in hopes that they’ll be able to lead the way as an automotive company pioneer.
As Zero Hedge noted, we should have seen it coming:
In retrospect it was so obvious.
Back on January 9, when discussing the recent surge of institutional and corporate purchases of bitcoin and conversion of cash into the cryptocurrency, we said that it was just a matter of time before Elon Musk joined MicorStrategy and bought “several billion” in bitcoin. Specifically, in “How Bitcoin Hits $100,000 Next: Morgan Stanley Boosts Stake In Microstrategy, Opening The Floodgates” we said…
One such company which we are convinced will announce it is converting billions of its existing cash into bitcoin, is none other than Tesla, whose CEO Elon Musk was urged by MSTR CEO Saylor to make a similar move with Tesla’s money. And since Musk, already the world’s richest man thanks to the most aggressive financial engineering on the planet, has never been one to shy away from a challenge, we are absolutely confident that it is only a matter of time before Tesla announces that it has purchased a few billion bitcoin.
Could car-buyers be bringing their cryptowallets to dealerships instead of relying on bank loans in the near future? Tesla seems to think so.
COVID-19 lockdowns are taking down an independent news outlet
Nobody said running a media site would be easy. We could use some help keeping this site afloat.
Colleagues have called me the worst fundraiser ever. My skills are squarely rooted on the journalistic side of running a news outlet. Paying the bills has never been my forte, but we’ve survived. We have ads on the site that help, but since the site’s inception this has been a labor of love that otherwise doesn’t bring in the level of revenue necessary to justify it.
When I left a nice, corporate career in 2017, I did so knowing I wouldn’t make nearly as much money. But what we do at NOQ Report to deliver the truth and fight the progressive mainstream media narrative that has plagued this nation is too important for me to sacrifice it for the sake of wealth. We know we’ll never make a ton of money this way, and we’re okay with that.
Things have become harder with the coronavirus lockdowns. Both ad money and donations that have kept us afloat for a while have dropped dramatically. We thought we could weather the storm, but the resurgence of lockdowns that mainstream media and Democrats are pushing has put our prospects in jeopardy. In short, we are now in desperate need of financial assistance.
The best way NOQ Report readers can help is to donate. Our Giving Fuel page makes it easy to donate one-time or monthly. Alternatively, you can donate through PayPal as well. We need approximately $17,300 to stay afloat through March when we hope the economy will be more open, but more would be wonderful and any amount that brings us closer to our goal is greatly appreciated.
The second way to help is to become a partner. We’ve strongly considered seeking angel investors in the past but because we were paying the bills, it didn’t seem necessary. Now, we’re struggling to pay the bills. This shouldn’t be the case as our traffic the last year has been going up dramatically. June, 2018, we had 11,678 visitors. A year later in June, 2019, we were up to 116,194. In June, 2020, we had 614,192. In November, 2020, we hit 1.2 million visitors.
We’re heading in the right direction and we believe we’re ready talk to patriotic investors who want to not only “get in on the action” but more importantly who want to help America hear the truth. Interested investors should contact me directly with the contact button above.
As the world spirals towards radical progressivism, the need for truthful journalism has never been greater. But in these times, we need as many conservative media voices as possible. Please help keep NOQ Report going.
Join fellow patriots as we form a grassroots movement to advance the cause of conservatism. The coronavirus crisis has prompted many, even some conservatives, to promote authoritarianism. It’s understandable to some extent now, but it must not be allowed to embed itself in American life. We currently have 11,000+ patriots with us in a very short time. If you are interested, please join us to receive updates.
When politicians are cast into a negative spotlight, they usually recoil to their respective corners and wait out the storm. The last thing they’ll do is chime in on a popular event because doing so will only draw more attacks. But Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene is not a regular politician. During last night’s Super Bowl, she didn’t just chime in. She did so with a Tweet that is already sending progressives into the unhinged depths of insanity.
An ad by Toyota and Team USA Olympics highlighted the miraculous path by which world-record paralympic swimmer Jessica Long came to become a champion. The tear-jerking story told of her adoptive parents learning a baby girl from Russia was up for adoption, but she had a condition that would require both of her legs to be amputated. Despite knowing these challenges would make raising the baby girl very difficult, they were overcome with joy at the prospects. They were going to raise a daughter.
Greene, a staunch conservative and mother, latched onto the sentiment that was apparent in the subtext. Adoption is an option that allows those with challenges to live their lives. It can be very difficult for the birth parents, the adoptive parents, and the child, but if it can prevent a pre-born baby from being aborted, the sacrifices are necessary.
While Tom Brady and his Tampa Bay Buccaneers made history with their Super Bowl win, his seventh, the Republican Congresswoman from Georgia thought this commercial was the only thing worth watching all night.
The only reason to watch the #SuperBowl was to see this ad.
Let us as women choose life and choose adoption just like @JessicaLong’s Mom.
“The only reason to watch the #SuperBowl was to see this ad. Let us as women choose life and choose adoption just like @JessicaLong’s Mom. The greatest accomplishment we can ever achieve is being a mother. #EndAbortion”
Reactions on social media from the left were hideous and not worth publishing. Needless to say, pro-abortion Democrats and radical progressives were quite triggered by their favorite new political target’s gall in highlighting a pro-life message in the commercial.
In a Super Bowl that had nothing but “woke” messaging sprinkled throughout, from the ceremonies themselves to the commercials, it’s refreshing that one reaffirming message stood out to Marjorie Taylor Greene and many others.
COVID-19 lockdowns are taking down an independent news outlet
Nobody said running a media site would be easy. We could use some help keeping this site afloat.
Colleagues have called me the worst fundraiser ever. My skills are squarely rooted on the journalistic side of running a news outlet. Paying the bills has never been my forte, but we’ve survived. We have ads on the site that help, but since the site’s inception this has been a labor of love that otherwise doesn’t bring in the level of revenue necessary to justify it.
When I left a nice, corporate career in 2017, I did so knowing I wouldn’t make nearly as much money. But what we do at NOQ Report to deliver the truth and fight the progressive mainstream media narrative that has plagued this nation is too important for me to sacrifice it for the sake of wealth. We know we’ll never make a ton of money this way, and we’re okay with that.
Things have become harder with the coronavirus lockdowns. Both ad money and donations that have kept us afloat for a while have dropped dramatically. We thought we could weather the storm, but the resurgence of lockdowns that mainstream media and Democrats are pushing has put our prospects in jeopardy. In short, we are now in desperate need of financial assistance.
The best way NOQ Report readers can help is to donate. Our Giving Fuel page makes it easy to donate one-time or monthly. Alternatively, you can donate through PayPal as well. We need approximately $17,300 to stay afloat through March when we hope the economy will be more open, but more would be wonderful and any amount that brings us closer to our goal is greatly appreciated.
The second way to help is to become a partner. We’ve strongly considered seeking angel investors in the past but because we were paying the bills, it didn’t seem necessary. Now, we’re struggling to pay the bills. This shouldn’t be the case as our traffic the last year has been going up dramatically. June, 2018, we had 11,678 visitors. A year later in June, 2019, we were up to 116,194. In June, 2020, we had 614,192. In November, 2020, we hit 1.2 million visitors.
We’re heading in the right direction and we believe we’re ready talk to patriotic investors who want to not only “get in on the action” but more importantly who want to help America hear the truth. Interested investors should contact me directly with the contact button above.
As the world spirals towards radical progressivism, the need for truthful journalism has never been greater. But in these times, we need as many conservative media voices as possible. Please help keep NOQ Report going.
Join fellow patriots as we form a grassroots movement to advance the cause of conservatism. The coronavirus crisis has prompted many, even some conservatives, to promote authoritarianism. It’s understandable to some extent now, but it must not be allowed to embed itself in American life. We currently have 11,000+ patriots with us in a very short time. If you are interested, please join us to receive updates.
What is “systemic racism”? Does it even really exist in a wide scale in the United States? If it does exist, how does a quarter billion dollars go towards solving the problem? And most importantly, why would the NFL choose to fund a hypothetical boogeyman when there are millions of Americans with tangible financial challenges suffering right now?
These questions and many more popped up tonight as the National Football League did their best virtue signaling of the season during the Super Bowl when they announced their pledge of $250,000,000 to fight systemic racism. It was a minor distraction in a during a relatively boring game filled with mediocre commercials. The only high point was that Tom Brady secured his place as the greatest of all time.
The @NFL says it will donate 250M to end “systemic racism”. That ended a while ago. How about donate money to cure child cancer, save a small business crushed by the left or fund a women’s shelter. Stop pandering to the “woke crowd” and do something to really help America!
Newsmax host Grant Stinchfield is correct. There are many other worthy charities that could use some of the huge cash reserves the NFL has accumulated over the decades. But they’re not pushing for real change. This was a very expensive public relations stunt. The league has been bouncing back and forth between being “woke” and just being a good business. This move was heading to the left and will not be seen fondly by those who are struggling just to put food on the table regardless of race.
What makes this funnier is that the “woke” crowd wasn’t celebrating the move. Their biggest complaint was that former NFL player and current social justice profiteer Colin Kaepernick was not in the commercial they used to promote their generosity.
In that Inspire Change commercial, the NFL forgot to show the part where they blackballed Colin Kaepernick, have only 3 black NFL head coaches and no majority black ownership.
But missing from the commercial was Kaepernick, who started his activism during the 2016 season when he protested during the national anthem to bring awareness to social injustice and police brutality.
“The NFL is committing $250 million to help end systemic racism,” the commercial said.
But those watching the Super Bowl said Kaepernick should have been included in some way.
Winners tonight: Tom Brady and the Bucs. Losers tonight: The NFL for thinking they can buy their way into the hearts of the social justice woke crowd by stroking a check for $250 million in an effort to fight something that no longer exists.
COVID-19 lockdowns are taking down an independent news outlet
Nobody said running a media site would be easy. We could use some help keeping this site afloat.
Colleagues have called me the worst fundraiser ever. My skills are squarely rooted on the journalistic side of running a news outlet. Paying the bills has never been my forte, but we’ve survived. We have ads on the site that help, but since the site’s inception this has been a labor of love that otherwise doesn’t bring in the level of revenue necessary to justify it.
When I left a nice, corporate career in 2017, I did so knowing I wouldn’t make nearly as much money. But what we do at NOQ Report to deliver the truth and fight the progressive mainstream media narrative that has plagued this nation is too important for me to sacrifice it for the sake of wealth. We know we’ll never make a ton of money this way, and we’re okay with that.
Things have become harder with the coronavirus lockdowns. Both ad money and donations that have kept us afloat for a while have dropped dramatically. We thought we could weather the storm, but the resurgence of lockdowns that mainstream media and Democrats are pushing has put our prospects in jeopardy. In short, we are now in desperate need of financial assistance.
The best way NOQ Report readers can help is to donate. Our Giving Fuel page makes it easy to donate one-time or monthly. Alternatively, you can donate through PayPal as well. We need approximately $17,300 to stay afloat through March when we hope the economy will be more open, but more would be wonderful and any amount that brings us closer to our goal is greatly appreciated.
The second way to help is to become a partner. We’ve strongly considered seeking angel investors in the past but because we were paying the bills, it didn’t seem necessary. Now, we’re struggling to pay the bills. This shouldn’t be the case as our traffic the last year has been going up dramatically. June, 2018, we had 11,678 visitors. A year later in June, 2019, we were up to 116,194. In June, 2020, we had 614,192. In November, 2020, we hit 1.2 million visitors.
We’re heading in the right direction and we believe we’re ready talk to patriotic investors who want to not only “get in on the action” but more importantly who want to help America hear the truth. Interested investors should contact me directly with the contact button above.
As the world spirals towards radical progressivism, the need for truthful journalism has never been greater. But in these times, we need as many conservative media voices as possible. Please help keep NOQ Report going.
Join fellow patriots as we form a grassroots movement to advance the cause of conservatism. The coronavirus crisis has prompted many, even some conservatives, to promote authoritarianism. It’s understandable to some extent now, but it must not be allowed to embed itself in American life. We currently have 11,000+ patriots with us in a very short time. If you are interested, please join us to receive updates.
Constitutional law professor Jonathan Turley argued that the idea that former President Donald Trump not testifying in front of the House can be used against him in his trial “contradicts not just our constitutional principles but centuries of legal writing.”
Article by Jack Phillips originally published at The Epoch Times.
“Presidents have historically not testified at impeachment trials. One reason is that, until now, only sitting presidents have been impeached and presidents balked at the prospect of being examined as head of the executive branch by the legislative branch,” he wrote for Fox News on Feb. 7.
“Moreover, it was likely viewed as undignified and frankly too risky. Indeed, most defense attorneys routinely discourage their clients from testifying in actual criminal cases because the risks outweigh any benefits. Finally, Trump is arguing that this trial is unconstitutional and thus he would be even less likely to depart from tradition and appear as a witness.”
Last week, House impeachment manager Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) wrote to Trump and his lawyers that the former president should testify under oath next week during the Senate trial. The Democrat then said that if Trump doesn’t show up to testify, it could be used against him. A similar tactic was used during the former president’s first impeachment trial.
“Despite the historical precedent for presidents not testifying, Raskin made an extraordinary and chilling declaration on behalf of the House of Representatives,” Turley said. “He wrote in a letter to Trump that ‘if you decline this invitation, we reserve any and all rights, including the right to establish at trial that your refusal to testify supports a strong adverse inference regarding your actions (and inaction) on Jan. 6, 2021.’”
All House Democrats and 10 Republicans voted to impeach Trump for allegedly inciting an insurrection over his speech to supporters on Jan. 6 in the midst of the Capitol breach. Trump explicitly said during the rally that demonstrators should peacefully make their voices heard.
According to Turley, Raskin’s statement also implied that “Trump needed to testify or his silence is evidence of guilt” and that “under this theory, any response other than conceding the allegations would trigger this response and allow the House to use the silence of the accused as an inference of guilt.”
Turley wrote, “The statement conflicts with one of the most precious and revered principles in American law that a refusal to testify should not be used against an accused party.”
The scholar, who offered testimony during the first impeachment inquiry in 2019, noted that the Constitution’s Fifth Amendment declares that “no person … shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself.”
“It is true that this is not a criminal trial. It is a constitutional trial. As such, the Senate should try an accused according to our highest traditions and values. That includes respecting the right to remain silent and not to have ‘inferences’ drawn from the fact that (like prior presidents) Trump will not be present at the trial or give testimony,” he said.
Raskin’s office didn’t respond to a request for comment by press time.
COVID-19 lockdowns are taking down an independent news outlet
Nobody said running a media site would be easy. We could use some help keeping this site afloat.
Colleagues have called me the worst fundraiser ever. My skills are squarely rooted on the journalistic side of running a news outlet. Paying the bills has never been my forte, but we’ve survived. We have ads on the site that help, but since the site’s inception this has been a labor of love that otherwise doesn’t bring in the level of revenue necessary to justify it.
When I left a nice, corporate career in 2017, I did so knowing I wouldn’t make nearly as much money. But what we do at NOQ Report to deliver the truth and fight the progressive mainstream media narrative that has plagued this nation is too important for me to sacrifice it for the sake of wealth. We know we’ll never make a ton of money this way, and we’re okay with that.
Things have become harder with the coronavirus lockdowns. Both ad money and donations that have kept us afloat for a while have dropped dramatically. We thought we could weather the storm, but the resurgence of lockdowns that mainstream media and Democrats are pushing has put our prospects in jeopardy. In short, we are now in desperate need of financial assistance.
The best way NOQ Report readers can help is to donate. Our Giving Fuel page makes it easy to donate one-time or monthly. Alternatively, you can donate through PayPal as well. We need approximately $17,300 to stay afloat through March when we hope the economy will be more open, but more would be wonderful and any amount that brings us closer to our goal is greatly appreciated.
The second way to help is to become a partner. We’ve strongly considered seeking angel investors in the past but because we were paying the bills, it didn’t seem necessary. Now, we’re struggling to pay the bills. This shouldn’t be the case as our traffic the last year has been going up dramatically. June, 2018, we had 11,678 visitors. A year later in June, 2019, we were up to 116,194. In June, 2020, we had 614,192. In November, 2020, we hit 1.2 million visitors.
We’re heading in the right direction and we believe we’re ready talk to patriotic investors who want to not only “get in on the action” but more importantly who want to help America hear the truth. Interested investors should contact me directly with the contact button above.
As the world spirals towards radical progressivism, the need for truthful journalism has never been greater. But in these times, we need as many conservative media voices as possible. Please help keep NOQ Report going.
Join fellow patriots as we form a grassroots movement to advance the cause of conservatism. The coronavirus crisis has prompted many, even some conservatives, to promote authoritarianism. It’s understandable to some extent now, but it must not be allowed to embed itself in American life. We currently have 11,000+ patriots with us in a very short time. If you are interested, please join us to receive updates.
Religious freedoms have been under attack for decades. We’re used to it. But things are different now. It’s not just because Democrats have control of the House, Senate, and White House. We’ve been in this situation before. What makes it different now is knowing the radical, Neo-Marxist agenda that’s driving the new Democratic Party is already manifesting in the early days of a Biden administration.
To fight it, we have to understand their end goals. Most conservative political commentators will tell you they’re shooting for the standard leftist goals including wealth redistribution, authoritarian control, open borders, and full-blown globalism. These are all steps the Neo-Marxists want to achieve, but they’re not the end goal. As I detailed in a conference yesterday, “Infiltrated: Church and State,” the true end goal is to tear down the fabric of society so they can rebuild it in their image. The biggest roadblock in their way is the Judeo-Christian faith that binds tens of millions of Americans.
The left and right each have skills in two arenas. The right is good at winning political arguments and focusing on faith. The left is good at manipulating political arguments and activism. Their brand of “activism” has turned towards anarcho-communist tactics in recent years, and to some extent it’s working. This is why so many major players in the United States, from corporations to celebrities to sports organizations, have embraced “activists” like Black Lives Matter while bailing out domestic terrorists, often also called “activists,” such as Antifa.
We’re not in a situation where we can survive by waiting it out. They’re coming after religious freedoms with everything they have because they know it’s the binding force that holds the nation together. They demonstrated with the 2020 election that their political manipulation was stronger than our political efficacy. Now, they just need to take down the faith.
There is only one way we can bring this nation back from the brink and secure our future in this life. We must put on the full Armor of God. This isn’t a new need. We’ve been called to wear our armor at all times throughout history. But today more than ever, faithful Americans must break down the divisions we’ve built up between our faith and the secular world and make all our decisions based on the Biblical worldview.
Ephesians 6:10-18
10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;
15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:
18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;
Nobody but God knows what the future holds. But we do have our instruction manual with the Bible. It can and must guide us through these perilous times. If we are to continue to have a nation, we must fight for our faith.
COVID-19 lockdowns are taking down an independent news outlet
Nobody said running a media site would be easy. We could use some help keeping this site afloat.
Colleagues have called me the worst fundraiser ever. My skills are squarely rooted on the journalistic side of running a news outlet. Paying the bills has never been my forte, but we’ve survived. We have ads on the site that help, but since the site’s inception this has been a labor of love that otherwise doesn’t bring in the level of revenue necessary to justify it.
When I left a nice, corporate career in 2017, I did so knowing I wouldn’t make nearly as much money. But what we do at NOQ Report to deliver the truth and fight the progressive mainstream media narrative that has plagued this nation is too important for me to sacrifice it for the sake of wealth. We know we’ll never make a ton of money this way, and we’re okay with that.
Things have become harder with the coronavirus lockdowns. Both ad money and donations that have kept us afloat for a while have dropped dramatically. We thought we could weather the storm, but the resurgence of lockdowns that mainstream media and Democrats are pushing has put our prospects in jeopardy. In short, we are now in desperate need of financial assistance.
The best way NOQ Report readers can help is to donate. Our Giving Fuel page makes it easy to donate one-time or monthly. Alternatively, you can donate through PayPal as well. We need approximately $17,300 to stay afloat through March when we hope the economy will be more open, but more would be wonderful and any amount that brings us closer to our goal is greatly appreciated.
The second way to help is to become a partner. We’ve strongly considered seeking angel investors in the past but because we were paying the bills, it didn’t seem necessary. Now, we’re struggling to pay the bills. This shouldn’t be the case as our traffic the last year has been going up dramatically. June, 2018, we had 11,678 visitors. A year later in June, 2019, we were up to 116,194. In June, 2020, we had 614,192. In November, 2020, we hit 1.2 million visitors.
We’re heading in the right direction and we believe we’re ready talk to patriotic investors who want to not only “get in on the action” but more importantly who want to help America hear the truth. Interested investors should contact me directly with the contact button above.
As the world spirals towards radical progressivism, the need for truthful journalism has never been greater. But in these times, we need as many conservative media voices as possible. Please help keep NOQ Report going.
Join fellow patriots as we form a grassroots movement to advance the cause of conservatism. The coronavirus crisis has prompted many, even some conservatives, to promote authoritarianism. It’s understandable to some extent now, but it must not be allowed to embed itself in American life. We currently have 11,000+ patriots with us in a very short time. If you are interested, please join us to receive updates.
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47.) ABC
February 8, 2021 – Having trouble viewing this email? Open it in your browser.
Morning Rundown
Majority of Americans say Trump should be convicted in impeachment trial: With former President Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial set to begin this week, a narrow majority of Americans say they support the Senate convicting him and barring him from holding federal office again. In a new ABC News/Washington Post poll, 56% of Americans say Trump should be convicted and barred from holding office again, and 43% say he should not be — a slight contrast from when he faced an impeachment trial the first time, when 47% of Americans in 2019 said he should be removed from office. But a key difference between this trial and the first is that Trump — who is charged with “incitement of insurrection” for his alleged role in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol — is no longer president and therefore cannot be removed from office. Because of this, all but five Republican senators have gone on the record saying they think the trial is unconstitutional. Still, Democrats have argued that failing to hold Trump accountable would signal to future presidents that they can evade punishment for actions that come at the end of their term in office. It would take 67 senators to convict Trump, meaning 17 Republicans would need to be on board, assuming every member of the Democratic caucus votes to convict. If there are enough votes, the chamber could hold a second vote on whether to bar him from holding federal office again.
Winter storm shuts down vaccination sites in New York, New Jersey: As the World Health Organization on Friday reported that the number of COVID-19 vaccinations around the world surpassed the number of infections, the winter storm on the East Coast here in the U.S. forced vaccination sites in New York and New Jersey to shut down and reschedule. As of Saturday, 9% of Americans — 28.9 million people — have received one or more vaccine doses, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. And of that total, 2% of Americans — or 7.5 million people — have received two doses. But while deaths are down 4% since the peak on Jan. 13, and hospital admissions have decreased 37% since Jan. 9, health care workers are hard at work to vaccinate more Americans as cases of the more contagious U.K. COVID-19 variant is rapidly spreading through the U.S. It’s still unknown whether the U.K. variant is more virulent of deadly, but it is more transmissible. Last month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned that the U.K. variant could become predominant in the U.S. by March if it spreads the way it did in the U.K.
The Weeknd performs string of smash hits at Super Bowl LV halftime show: After weeks of top-secret pre-production for his highly anticipated Super Bowl halftime show, The Weeknd delivered a string of his smash hits that kept everyone dancing on their feet. The singer, who previously mentioned using the entire stadium leading up to his performance, opened the show singing “Starboy” from the stands — which were designed to look like a city skyline — of Raymond James Stadium. He then surprised fans for his performance of “Can’t Feel My Face,” when he moved inside the stands into a mirrored set filled with bright lights. The singer wrapped the halftime show with an electrifying number of his hit “Blinding Lights.” But The Weeknd wasn’t the only star to steal the spotlight. National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman also delivered a moving poem honoring three front-line workers who have served during the pandemic. Read more about her poem, “Chorus of the Captains,” here. And don’t miss “Good Morning America” at 7 a.m. for more on last night’s halftime show.
Kindergarten class shouts uplifting affirmations inspired by Will.i.am song: If you need to put some good into your mornings, consider MoNique Waters’ positive daily mantras she recites with her kindergarten class. Before each day’s lessons, the Twinsburg, Ohio, teacher kicks mornings off with her class by shouting encouraging words to set the tone for the day ahead. “We say it as a reminder of all the things they are,” said Waters, who was inspired by Will.i.am’s song, “What I Am” from Sesame Street’s 41st season. Some of Waters’ affirmations include an enthusiastic chant: “I am strong. I am talented. I am smart. I am so, so special. I can achieve anything.” Then, she asks the class to kiss their “smart, smart brain.” “It’s important, because adults are really stressed during the pandemic, but we forget that it’s stressful on our kids, on our students, too,” Waters said. “I am really doing my best to make sure they’re [doing] well.”
GMA Must-Watch
This morning on “GMA,” our Kid Correspondent, Amaya Brannon, brings us highlights from the big game live from Tampa, Florida! And Janai Norman is bringing us a closer look at the Super Bowl advertisements that have everyone talking. Michael B. Jordan will then join us live to talk about his own Super Bowl ad. Plus, the judges of “American Idol” — Luke Bryan, Lionel Richie and Katy Perry — join us live to talk about the new season that begins Sunday, Feb. 14 on ABC. All this and more only on “GMA.”
What is Tom Brady going to do with all those Super Bowl rings? We’ve got highlights from the big game and a look ahead to the political showdown in Washington this week: Former President Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial.
Here is what we’re watching this Monday morning.
Brady seals 7th Super Bowl, leading Tampa Bay past Kansas City
Tampa Bay defeated the reigning champion Kansas City Chiefs, 31-9, in Super Bowl LV at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, the first modern title game ever played on the home field of one of the two finalists.
The game was supposed to be an epic battle of the ages, pitting the all-time great Brady and Patrick Mahomes, 25, widely regarded as the best young quarterback in the game.
But the Buccaneers stormed to a 21-6 halftime lead and were never seriously challenged.
Brady, 43, was named Super Bowl MVPfor an unprecedented fifth time and will now be fitted for his seventh championship ring.
The game’s much-anticipated commercials and halftime performance by singer The Weeknd launched plenty of memes on social media. Check out our round up of the funniest ones.
And while most advertisers aimed for lighthearted humorto connect with the estimated 100 million viewers who watch the Super Bowl each year, some hit the mark, while others didn’t.
As in his first impeachment trial a year ago, it will be difficult for Democrats to muster the two-thirds Senate majority required to convict him. But the trial is still expected to absorb the nation’s attention.
The case rests on a single charge approved by the Democratic-led House: that Trump incited the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
As of Sunday evening, the structure of the trial and possible witnesses hadn’t yet been announced. Here are five things to watch when it begins.
While many Senate Republicans have expressed doubt that the Senate will convict Trump, Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wy., called on the GOP to stop “embracing” Trump ahead of the trial.
Cheney, the third-ranking House Republican, wasone of 10 House Republicanswho voted to impeach Trump last month for his role in the Capitol riot. She has faced backlash from fellow Republicans for the move, but easily won a vote of confidence last week to maintain her leadership position.
George P. Shultz, the longest-serving secretary of state since World War II and the oldest surviving former Cabinet member of any administration, has died. He was 100.
THINK about it
Trump’s impeachment trial is a constitutional referendum. But this time it’s personal, Steve Vladeck, professor at the University of Texas School of Law, writes in an opinion piece.
Live BETTER
Americans are more stressed than ever. Here’s how to cope a year into the pandemic.
Shopping
This Valentine’s Dayshow your furry friends how much you love them with toys, treats and other gifts.
Quote of the day
“Oh yeah, we’re coming back.”
— Super Bowl MVP and Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady said after the game, putting to bed any thoughts that he might rest on his laurels and retire.
One fun thing
Ahead of the Super Bowl, Saturday Night Livereimagined the million-dollar ads that are usually a feature of the big game in the age of Covid-19 and QAnon.
The show opened with a spoof of the “Super Bowl LV Pregame Show,” featuring expert NFL commentators looking at the game’s multimillion-dollar advertisements.
Images of civil rights marches, Rosa Parks and Black Lives Matter protests appeared as voice said, “We’ve learned once again that freedom isn’t free. But we must always strive for equality. And we must always reach for … Cheez-Its.”
The voice concluded, “Cheez-Its — historically delicious.”
In the sketch, the online real estate fantasy is shattered when cast member Mikey Day decides to contact an all-biz, no pleasure broker played to a tee by Cecily Strong.
From NBC’s Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Carrie Dann and Melissa Holzberg
FIRST READ: The Trump impeachment trial isn’t just about what happened on Jan. 6
The build-up to Donald Trump’s Senate impeachment trial, which begins Tuesday, has focused on the former president’s words on Jan. 6, as well as whether it’s constitutional to impeach and try a former officeholder.
But those discussions so far have overshadowed a more central question to the trial: Did Trump use his platform – and powers – as president to try to overturn an election he clearly lost?
AP Photo/John Minchillo
Consider these Trump actions in the days and weeks after news organizations declared Joe Biden the winner:
He praised – and even called – the GOP members of Michigan’s Wayne County Canvassing Board who refused to certify the county’s election results; they later reversed course.
He phoned into a Pennsylvania state Senate meeting trying to overturn the results in that state: “We have to turn the election over, because there’s no doubt we have all the evidence, we have all the affidavits, we have everything,” Trump said.
His allies were behind the Texas lawsuit to the U.S. Supreme Court challenging the results in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin; the court rejected the lawsuit.
He beggedGeorgia’s secretary of state to find him additional votes to overturn the election result there: “I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have. Because we won the state,” Trump said.
And then finally, on Jan. 6, he exhorted his assembled supporters as Congress was set to certify the Electoral College results.
“We’re going to walk down to the Capitol, and we’re going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women, and we’re probably not going to be cheering so much for some of them,” Trump said.
“Because you’ll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength and you have to be strong. We have come to demand that Congress do the right thing and only count the electors who have been lawfully slated, lawfully slated.”
Much of the story of the two months after the election was about state officials and the courts NOT following through with want Trump WANTED.
What turned out to be different about Jan. 6 was that some people finally FOLLOWED THROUGH.
Data Download: The numbers you need to know today
56 percent: The share of Americans who say former president Trump should be convicted in the Senate, per a new ABC-Ipsos poll.
27,115,843: The number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in the United States, per the most recent data from NBC News and health officials. (That’s 328,572 more than Friday morning.)
465,576: The number of deaths in the United States from the virus so far, per the most recent data from NBC News. (That’s 7,849 more than Friday morning.)
81,439: The number of people currently hospitalized with coronavirus in the United States.
323.8 million: The number of coronavirus tests that have been administered in the United States so far, according to researchers at The COVID Tracking Project.
80: The number of days left for Biden to reach his 100-day vaccination goal.
100: The age of former secretary of state George Shultz, who died over the weekend.
TWEET OF THE DAY: Brady’s Super Bowl wins stretch through four different presidents
Talking policy with Benjy: Superbowl ad edition
You’ve probably heard a lot about the Green New Deal. But if one of its prime goals — a rapid transition to electric vehicles — comes to pass, it won’t be AOC who’s the face of it, but billions of dollars in corporate marketing.
Auto companies are betting they’re near a tipping point in price, driving range, and charging technology after which EVs will become both cheaper and more convenient than their gas-powered rivals.
So where does policy come in if the private sector is already doing the heavy lifting? Pushing up the timeline. President Biden’s infrastructure plan from his 2020 campaign includes building 500,000 charging stations and his tax plan called for expanded credits for EVs to make them more competitive pricewise with the average consumer. And some states have taken a more blunt approach: California is mandating all new car sales be EV’s by 2035.
All of this explains how Norway ended up in a Super Bowl ad. They’ve also provided tax advantages to EV manufacturers and early seed money for public charging stations with a goal of moving to all-electric sales even faster, by 2025.
Multi-tasking watch
This week could be a crucial test of the Senate’s ability to walk and chew gum at the same time.
The Senate will begin impeachment hearings against former President Trump on Tuesday. But at the same time the Senate will be able to consider two more of President Biden’s Cabinet nominees who cleared their committee votes last week.
U.N. ambassador nominee Linda Thomas-Greenfield was voted out of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee by an 18-4 vote last week, and HUD nominee Marcia Fudge passed through the Senate Banking Committee by a 17-7 vote. Plus, Biden’s pick to lead the Office of Management and Budget, Neera Tanden, will receive her Senate confirmation hearing on Tuesday morning.
BIDEN CABINET WATCH
State: Tony Blinken (confirmed)
Treasury: Janet Yellen (confirmed)
Defense: Ret. Gen. Lloyd Austin (confirmed)
Attorney General: Merrick Garland
Homeland Security: Alejandro Mayorkas (confirmed)
HHS: Xavier Becerra
Agriculture: Tom Vilsack
Transportation: Pete Buttigieg (confirmed)
Energy: Jennifer Granholm
Interior: Deb Haaland
Education: Miguel Cardona
Commerce: Gina Raimondo
Labor: Marty Walsh
HUD: Marcia Fudge
Veterans Affairs: Denis McDonough
UN Ambassador: Linda Thomas-Greenfield
Director of National Intelligence: Avril Haines (confirmed)
EPA: Michael Regan
SBA: Isabel Guzman
OMB Director: Neera Tanden
US Trade Representative: Katherine Tai
ICYMI: What ELSE is happening in the world?
Trump’s Senate impeachment trial begins this week. Here’s what you need to know.
Plus: Replacing cops with health care workers saves lives, tech-policy advice for President Biden, and more…
Nevada aims to bring innovative entrepreneurs to the state without forcing the public to foot the bill. An unusual proposal from Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak may help attract to his state some tech companies fleeing from Silicon Valley—while also making Nevada a positive model for experimental government.
Sisolak wants to allow “innovative technology” companies to run their own “alternative form of local government,” operating schools and courts, imposing taxes, and doing other things expected of and allowed by municipal and county authorities.
Under Sisolak’s draft plan, the Governor’s Office of Economic Development will consider “Innovation Zone” proposals from tech companies that own at least 50,000 acres of undeveloped land in an area of the state that doesn’t already belong to a city or town. If chosen, a company must invest at least $250 million into the area upfront plus another $1 billion over the next ten years.
The new tech-backed towns and cities would initially be governed by existing authorities in the county they’re located in, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, which first reported on the plan. But the goal is for the new innovation zones to be run by a three-member board of supervisors and other mechanisms of an independent local government.
“During his speech last month, Sisolak specifically named Blockchains, LLC as a company that had committed to developing a ‘smart city’ in the area east of Reno that would run entirely on blockchain technology, once the legislation passes,” the Review-Journal reports.
Sisolak said his goal was to attract new and innovative tech businesses without the usual offering of all sorts of publicly-funded perks and special tax abatements.
The current model for local governance in Nevada is “inadequate alone to provide the flexibility and resources conducive to making the State a leader in attracting and retaining new forms and types of businesses and fostering economic development in emerging technologies and innovative industries,” says Sisolak’s draft proposal.
FREE MINDS
An open letter to Biden about Section 230. A January paper from First Amendment expert and Santa Clara University School of Law professor Eric Goldman, explains why President Joe Biden should “save, not revoke, Section 230.”
Biden said during his campaign for president that he favors “repealing Section 230, the law that says websites aren’t liable for third-party content,” points out Goldman. But if Biden really wants to honor reality, rule of law, evidence-based policy-making and the First Amendment, he should leave Section 230 alone. And if he wants to “restore the U.S. as the world’s free speech leader,” he should leave Section 230 alone.
“It would be disingenuous for the United States to tout its global free speech leadership if we are simultaneously reducing Section 230’s protections,” writes Goldman.
The world is watching our moves on speech regulation, especially in light of how our moral leadership on the topic eroded in the Trump era. Our moves should promote free speech online, not seek to circumscribe it. Your presidency is a time to rebuild our country. It would be a tragic misstep if your presidency instead tore down one of Congress’ most significant technology policy.
Replacing cops with health care professionals saves lives. “A program that replaces police officers with health care workers on mental health and substance abuse calls in Denver, Colorado, is showing signs of success, reports CBS News. “Despite responding to hundreds of calls, the workers made no arrests, the report said — and the city’s police chief told CBS News on Friday that he believes the program ‘saves lives.'” Read the city’s six-month progress report on the program here.
QUICK HITS
Some businesses that advertised during Tom Brady’s first Super Bowl:⁰⁰AOL
Blockbuster⁰Radio Shack
Circuit City
CompUSA
Sears
HotJobs
Yahoo
VoiceStream Wireless
Gateway Computers
• Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry is suing a reporter to stop her from requesting records about a state official’s discipline for sexual harassment.
• The mutant COVID-19 variant that’s more highly transmissible (and has ravaged the United Kingdom) is now running rampant in the United States, according to a new study. The mutated strain—called B.1.1.7—was circulating in the U.S. “as early as late November 2020” and in “at least 30 states as of January 2021,” write researchers. “Our study shows that the U.S. is on a similar trajectory as other countries where B.1.1.7 rapidly became the dominant SARS-CoV-2 variant.”
• Stealing Snapchat’s shtick was no problem for Instagram. But beating TikTok at its game is proving to be much harder.
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.
The past year has produced a cross-class coalition for educational choice that reaches deep into the suburbs.
By Reihan Salam The Atlantic
February 8, 2021
“Joe Biden’s inaugural speech on Jan. 20 stressed ‘unity’ or a variant of the term 11 times. This unity evidently doesn’t include the broad swath of Americans, including some traditional Democratic constituencies, who support school choice.”
By Larry Sand New York Post
February 6, 2021
Adapted from City Journal
For decades, universities have taken advantage of graduates with humanities Ph.D.s and dim prospects.
By James Piereson and Naomi Schaefer Riley The Wall Street Journal
February 5, 2021
As murders mount and public pressure grows, city officials continue to look for answers in the wrong places.
By Thom Nickels
City Journal Online
February 5, 2021
District attorneys who refuse to enforce the criminal law are violating their oath to support and defend the Constitution—and could be challenged on those grounds.
By Craig Trainor
City Journal Online
February 7, 2021
President Biden on Jan. 29 signed an executive order directing federal agencies to re-examine policies “that undermine protections for people with pre-existing conditions.” But ditching Short-Term Limited Duration Insurance (STLDI) will have the opposite of the desired effect.
By Chris Pope The Hill
February 5, 2021
Bruno Maçães’s fascinating book takes a highly original view of the country’s current dislocations.
By Milton Ezrati
City Journal Online
February 5, 2021
“Last week, the Golden Globes and the Screen Actors Guild announced their award nominations, to be followed by Oscar contenders in March. For a whole year now, I haven’t seen any of the listed films.”
By Nicole Gelinas New York Post
February 7, 2021
“The war to redefine reality has spread from politics to finance.”
By Bruno Maçães The Philadelphia Inquirer
February 4, 2021
Adapted from City Journal
On Wednesday, February 17 at 3:00 p.m. EST, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney will join Manhattan Institute Senior Fellow Mark Mills to discuss the geopolitical implications of President Biden’s executive order, as well as reflect on the future for energy economies in North America’s democracies as the U.S. looks ahead to an era of increased reliance on mining and foreign energy sourcing.
Manhattan Institute is a think tank whose mission is to develop and disseminate new ideas that foster greater economic choice and individual responsibility.
52 Vanderbilt Ave. New York, NY 10017
(212) 599-7000
Dolly Parton is one of the most successful businesswomen in the history of America. She once refused to let ELVIS PRESLEY record a song of hers because giving him publishing rights was a bad busi … MORE
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55.) REALCLEARPOLITICS MORNING NOTE
02/08/2021
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Carl Cannon’s Morning Note
2024 Intros; Meet the Moment; Reunited States
By Carl M. Cannon on Feb 08, 2021 08:39 am
Good morning, it’s Monday, Feb. 8, 2021. Another Super Bowl, the 55th such championship, is in the books. The National Football League thinks so much of its annual showcase that it uses Roman numerals to denote each one. Cynics among us (or non-football fans) might feel the way Dallas Cowboys running back Duane Thomas did when he was asked before Super Bowl VI what it felt like to play in “the ultimate game.”
“If it’s the ultimate game,” Thomas responded drily, “how come they’re playing it again next year?”
Super Bowl LV, which I believe our country needed as a distraction, if nothing else, raised another philosophical question, this one pertaining to age: Was is even physically possible for a 43-year-old quarterback (albeit one with six previous Super Bowl rings) to prevail against a 25-year-old phenom who is doing things at the QB position that have never been seen before?
The answer proved to be yes. Although it seems highly likely Patrick Mahomes will play in future Super Bowls, for three-and-a-half glorious hours Sunday, Tom Brady was the player who, as Vin Scully intoned in the 1999 movie “For the Love of the Game,” was competing not just against his opponent but “against time, against the future, against age … to use that aching old arm one more time to push the sun back up in the sky.”
Or, as my sister texted me yesterday, “Geezers Rule!”
Speaking of grizzled veterans, for decades the nation’s great advertising agencies have also competed on Super Bowl Sunday, constantly trying to outdo each other with creative genius. They’ve often succeeded. Yesterday’s Jeep commercial featuring 71-year-old Bruce Springsteen speaking wistfully and lyrically about reuniting the United States of America was not only the top ad of the day, in my view it may have been the best in the history of the Super Bowl.
And now, sports fans, back to the less-uplifting topic of presidential impeachment, the subject of much coverage on RCP’s front page, which presents our poll averages, videos, breaking news stories, and aggregated opinion pieces spanning the political spectrum. We also offer original material from our own reporters, columnists, and contributors this morning, including the following:
* * *
Congressional Group Getting to Know 2024 Hopefuls Early. Phil Wegmann examines the relationships being forged with the influential Republican Study Committee.
To Ignore the Trial Is to Ignore the Insurrection. We Can’t. A.B. Stoddard explains why Americans sick of politics, violence, and Donald Trump should pay close attention to the impeachment trial beginning in the Senate tomorrow.
Impeachment Impossibility. James Sieja points to Supreme Court pronouncements on the concepts of legal standing and justiciability, which are key to determining the constitutionality of the trial.
The Common Good Would Benefit From More Self-Interest. Geoffrey M. Vaughan writes that polarized Americans need to better understand Alexis de Tocqueville’s view of what makes our democracy work.
Lawmakers Should Avoid Impulse to Tax All Stock Trades. Kevin Chambliss responds to Rep. Ilhan Omar’s proposal in light of the GameStop/hedge fund episode.
Romney’s Proposal Would Undo Anti-Poverty Progress. At RealClearPolicy, Angela Rachidi labels the senator’s child allowance tax plan a misguided effort to reform the social safety net.
Amazon’s Good Deed Doesn’t Go Unpunished. Also at RCPolicy, Edward Longe spotlights the acrimony that followed the company’s opening of a “fulfillment center” in an economically depressed Alabama town.
Vaccines & PPE: Where Is It? Who Has It? Who Needs It? At RealClearHealth, Byron Dorgan outlines lessons the new administration needs to learn from its predecessor’s failings.
In the 1980s, when I was a correspondent working for Dan Rather on the CBS Evening News in New York, I noticed something that I thought was worthy of a story: Drivers in Manhattan were going through red lights with abandon. Nothing seemed to be happening to them; they weren’t stopped,… CONTINUE Read More »
Bernard Goldberg, the television news reporter and author of Bias, a New York Times number one bestseller about how the media distort the news, is widely seen as one of the most original writers and thinkers in broadcast journalism. He has covered stories all over the world for CBS News and has won 13 Emmy awards for excellence in journalism. He won six Emmys at CBS, and seven at HBO, where he now reports for the widely acclaimed broadcast Real Sports. [Read More…]
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62.) 1440 DAILY DIGEST
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Good morning. It’s Monday, Feb. 8, and we’re covering Super Bowl LV, coronavirus variants, and a natural disaster in India. Have feedback? Let us know at hello@join1440.com.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers hoisted the Lombardi Trophy last night, dominating the Kansas City Chiefs 31-9 in Super Bowl LV.
While the victory further cemented quarterback Tom Brady’s Hall of Fame credentials, the story of the night was Tampa Bay’s tenacious defense, which held the dynamic Chiefs offense to just three field goals. For Kansas City’s star quarterback Patrick Mahomes, it was the first time since high school that a team he led failed to score a touchdown.
Brady threw for just over 200 yards and three touchdowns, en route to his record-breaking fifth Super Bowl MVP. The win marks Brady’s seventh title and his first in Tampa, after leaving the New England Patriots last year. Before acquiring Brady, the Buccaneers went 7-9 last season, while the Patriots fell to 7-9 this season after his departure. For Tampa Bay, it’s their second title in franchise history and the first since 2002.
The city of Tampa has had an exceptional sports year—the Devil Rays made the World Series in October while the Lightning won the Stanley Cup in September.
B.1.1.7
COVID-19 cases in the US continue to fall, with the seven-day rolling average for new cases dropping to around 120,000 (see data), down more than 50% from the country’s mid-January peak. Experts largely attribute the drop to post-holiday behavior, with inoculation rates too low to make a significant impact at this point.
Separately, preliminary—but inconclusive—data suggest the variant B.1.1.7 may have a higher mortality rate than other strains. Researchers caution it is unclear whether the variant, first seen in the United Kingdom, is more deadly or whether it is spreading more quickly to vulnerable populations.
To date, current vaccines have shown a drop in efficacy against the new strain, but remain effective. As of last week, just over 600 cases involving the variant had been reported in the US—but the vast majority of tests do not involve genetic sequencing and the reported cases span 33 states, suggesting significant community transmission. Take an in-depth look at B.1.1.7 here.
In related news, South Africa suspended its rollout of a vaccine from AstraZeneca and Oxford University after a small-scale study showed it was less effective in preventing mild and moderate cases involving a separate variant (B.1.351).
The US has reported 463,477 COVID-19 deaths as of this morning. More than 41 million vaccine doses have been administered, with 9.1 million people receiving their second shots.
Editor’s note: In Friday’s edition, we incorrectly implied both currently available vaccines must be stored at ultracold temperatures. While the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine must be held near minus 100 degrees (requiring dry ice), the Moderna vaccine only requires standard freezer temperatures.
Glacial Lake Outburst
At least 18 people were killed and more than 165 others left missing after a part of a glacier broke off in northern India, causing rapid flooding and sending an avalanche of debris into nearby hydropower plants.
The disaster occurred in Uttarakhand, one of the country’s northernmost states, situated on the southern slope of the Himalayan mountains. Early reports suggest the event is what is known as a glacial lake outburst—essentially when a wall of ice, holding back a large body of water and debris, fails. The break came from a glacier on Nanda Devi, the second-highest peak in India and one of the 25 highest mountains in the world.
The region is prone to flash floods and landslides; almost 6,000 people were killed after torrential rainfall in 2013, an event dubbed the “Himalayan tsunami.” See video of water and debris careening through a canyon here.
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What do Netflix and an internet company 1/50th the size of Google have in common? Well, for starters, they’re both smaller than Google (ha!). But they also both have a special connection with our pals, Tom and David Gardner.
The Gardner brothers founded The Motley Fool back in 1993, and every month since then, Tom and David have searched far and wide with their independent teams to release their most promising stock picks. Because these teams work entirely independently of each other, their picks are—more often than not—very different. But every once in a while, they’ll arrive at the same recommendation. Which brings us back to Netflix. Back in 2007, both Tom and David recommended the little-known DVD-subscription site, and returns have been a whopping 19,059%. In fact, their teams have only arrived at the same pick 27 times in the entire history of The Motley Fool, with average returns of 1,532%.
>Christopher Plummer, Oscar-, Emmy-, and Tony-winning acting legend known for “The Sound of Music,” dies at 91 (More) | Former heavyweight boxing champion and Olympic gold medal winner Leon Spinks dies at 67 of cancer (More)
>Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers wins NFL MVP for third time(More) | Peyton Manning, Charles Woodson among eight selected to 2021 class of the Pro Football Hall of Fame(More) | San Antonio to host entire women’s NCAA basketball tournament(More)
>Fox Business cancels “Lou Dobbs Tonight,” its highest-rated show, a day after Dobbs and Fox News were named in $2.7B defamation lawsuit by voting software company Smartmatic(More)
Science & Technology
>United Arab Emirates’ Martian orbiter set to arrive tomorrow, beginning the busiest two-week period in the human exploration of Mars; Chinese mission arrives Wednesday, while a NASA rover lands next week (More)
>Google to shift from third-party cookies, used to record browsing behavior and sell advertising, to a machine learning-based targeting system (More) | What is federated learning of cohorts (More)?
>Gut fungi help develop innate immune system response against more dangerous relatives, new study shows; research adds to the understanding of the complex relationship of the gut with overall health (More)
>US economy adds 49,000 jobs in January, unemployment rate falls to 6.3% (More)
>Cuba to allow small private businesses to operate in more than 2,000 fields, a significant increase from the 127 fields previously allowed (More) | Reports say Thomas Donohue to step down as CEO of US Chamber of Commerce, one of America’s largest and most influential lobbying groups (More)
> Kuaishou, Chinese social media platform similar to TikTok, soars 161% in first-day trading after pricing the world’s largest IPO since 2019 (More) | Luckin Coffee—known as the “Starbucks of China”—files for bankruptcy in US after admitting to fabricating sales figures last year (More)
From our partners: Save $2,255 in interest charges alone with this impressive credit card. Earn 0% APR on balance transfers and purchases for a market-leading 18 months, so you can spend the next year and a half with less stress. Learn more today.
Politics & World Affairs
>Senate impeachment trial of former President Trump set to begin in earnest tomorrow; Democrats allege Trump incited Jan. 6 Capitol riot, Trump lawyers expected to argue the process is unconstitutional (More)
>House passes budget resolution paving way for Biden administration’s $1.9T stimulus proposal; details still being negotiated (More) | Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers says package may drive inflation; see argument and counterpoints here (More)
>George Shultz, influential diplomat and secretary of state under former President Ronald Reagan, dies at 100; Shultz also led the Treasury Department under former President Richard Nixon (More)
Historybook: Author Jules Verne born (1828); Boy Scouts of America is founded (1910); Hollywood legend Lana Turner born (1921); Actor James Dean born (1931); NASDAQ stock market index opens (1971).
“Gratification comes in the doing, not in the results.”
– James Dean
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63.) AMERICAN INSTITUTE FOR ECONOMIC RESEARCH
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February 8, 2021
I Can’t Stop Wondering About Covid-19
By Donald J. Boudreaux | “Why on all matters Covid do so many otherwise sensible, appropriately skeptical, and numerate people – people who understand the necessity of trade-offs, the reality of unintended consequences, and the dangers of…
The Uyghurs as Victims of Chinese National Socialism
By Richard M. Ebeling | “The Uyghurs and Tibetans are alien and subversive bodies in the Chinese nation that must be absorbed or eliminated. Beginning with Mao and now with terrifying single-mindedness by Xi Jinping, the irradiation of these…
By Sandy Szwarc | “It’s undeniably evident that the CARES Act was focused on the progressive tenet of redistribution of wealth and growing the numbers of Americans dependent upon the government. Money is taken from working taxpayers, given to…
By Ethan Yang | “Chinese economic prosperity does directly contribute to its authoritarian goals, but trade wars and isolation have not done anything to remedy the situation. Rather a strategy of economic integration will likely lead to not only…
By Jeffrey A. Tucker | “Outside of a major war, it is hard to recall a time when government policies have so seriously roiled business practices, economic structures, and personal lives as much as lockdowns have, not only in the US but all over…
Monetary Policy is Pushing Americans, Kicking and…
By Peter C. Earle | The last few weeks in financial markets, particularly in equities, have been some for the books. The colossal short squeeze in GameStop (GME) followed by headhunting for shorts in a handful of other stucks was soon upstaged by…
“The 1619 Project, it seemed, could serve as both an enduring long-term curriculum for high school and college classrooms and an activist manual for the 2020 campaign season. Unfortunately the blending of these two competing aims usually results in the sacrifice of scholarly standards in the service of the ideological objective.”
On the menu today: Ten emerging — or are they lingering? — problems with the vaccine rollout, a farewell to George Schultz, and 31 NFL teams are looking at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and trying to figure out how they just accomplished what once seemed extremely improbable.
Ten Emerging Problems in the Vaccination Race
You can almost hear the sigh of frustration from the Oval Office: “But I thought we had a plan.”
You may recall the old saying, “no plan survives contact with the enemy.” This is the 57th day of vaccinations in the United States — eight weeks, close to two months. The Biden team has been on the job for 20 days.
The good news is the effort to vaccinate Americans is gathering a bit of momentum. According to Bloomberg’s chart, the average is up to 1.46 million shots per day, meaning the “100 million shots in 100 days” threshold set by the Biden administration should be easily cleared.
The bad news is . . . well just about everything else: The pace is still slow, the … READ MORE
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“Under heavy security and after several delays due to the coronavirus lockdown, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived Monday morning at the Jerusalem District Court for a much-anticipated hearing in his corruption trial, focusing on his and other defendants’ response to the indictments and kicking off the intensified evidentiary phase of the trial,” the Times of Israel reports.
John Matze, fired last month as CEO of social media app Parler, told Axios that he feels “betrayed” by investor Rebekah Mercer, the heiress daughter of hedge fund billionaire Robert Mercer.
Said Matze: “I thought I knew her. She invited my family on trips with them and everything. I thought that she was, generally speaking, I thought she was being real. And then she just abruptly has her people fire me and doesn’t even talk to me about it.”
He added: “I feel like it was a stab in the back by somebody that I thought I knew. And so for me, you know, I would never do business with her again.”
Treasury secretary Janet Yellen said the United States could reach full employment next year if Congress passes President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus package, the Financial Times reports.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell are closing in on rules for Donald Trump’s impeachment trial, which is set to begin tomorrow, the New York Times reports.
Up to 4 hours of debate and vote on the constitutionality of the trial on Tuesday.
Up to 16 hours per side for presentations starting Wednesday at 12 p.m. ET.
At some point, impeachment managers can request a debate and vote on whether to allow witnesses.
Working on a Sunday session.
CNN: Trump’s second impeachment trial starts tomorrow.
Wall Street Journal: “Republicans are for the first time in four years living without fear of presidential tweets inviting primary election challenges, or having to comment on his often controversial pronouncements. “Members definitely don’t miss it,” said one GOP Senate aide. Some Republican lawmakers and strategists are privately hoping that Mr. Trump’s exile from Twitter might make it easier for the party to move on from him to focus on the policy issues at hand—and on countering Mr. Biden.”
“But the start of Mr. Trump’s trial this week not only has kept the former president at the forefront of the Washington agenda but also means Senate Republicans face another public test of their loyalty to him, with their base voters watching closely.”
“The elaborate national security network set up after the 9/11 terrorist attacks to identify and thwart threats failed ahead of last month’s Capitol riot, as law enforcement didn’t act on intelligence about potential violence and prevent the assault,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“While the information was shared, this multipoint warning system broke down, failing to generate sufficient follow-up, as officials spotted and dismissed these signals while missing others entirely.”
“This is one of those rare instances — maybe not exceedingly rare, but it doesn’t happen often — where the best policy perfectly aligns with the politics.”
— Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA), quoted by Politico, on the benefits to Democrats of passing the Covid-19 relief bill.
“No matter how hard you squint, or what angle you look at it from, the coronavirus vaccines are a triumph. They are saving lives today; they will help end this pandemic eventually; and they will pay scientific dividends for generations,” Axios reports.
“The pandemic isn’t over. There are still big threats ahead of us and big problems to solve. But for all the things that have gone wrong over the past year, the vaccines themselves have shattered even the most ambitious expectations.”
Key takeaway: “Developing a vaccine takes an average of 10 years — if it works at all. Despite years of well-funded research, there are still no vaccines for HIV or malaria, for example. We now have multiple COVID-19 vaccines, all developed in less than a year.”
Jonathan Chait: “Joe Biden assumed the presidency confronting an economic crisis reminiscent of the one that faced him when he and Barack Obama took office 12 years earlier. But it is already apparent that the political atmosphere surrounding Biden is unrecognizable. He enjoys freedom of action and a presumptive legitimacy in tackling the crisis that had been denied the last Democratic presidency. Every actor around him — the Republican opposition, business, the mainstream media, and Democrats in Congress — are behaving differently. It’s as if he’s the president of a completely different country than the one that existed in 2009.”
“This is not because the present crisis is more severe. Just the opposite: The deepest and darkest moment of the contraction has passed, and the question before the economy now is how rapidly it can return to health. A dozen years ago, the economy was plunging so rapidly nobody could even measure the speed of the collapse, let alone discern a bottom.”
President Joe Biden told CBS News that he “always thought about presidents in terms of Abraham Lincoln up there or, you know, Franklin Roosevelt or George Washington.”
Said Biden: “And I thought to myself, ‘How in God’s name could I compare myself to them?’ But then I realized I know eight presidents… I know them. They’re all really fine men and you know their strengths and their weaknesses. And it gave a little more of, well, you know, no, I — don’t get me wrong, I think it’s an incredibly challenging job. And I’m extremely flattered to have a chance to do it. And I hope to God I live up to it. But it seemed to make it more life size.”
A new HuffPost/YouGov survey finds a 74% majority of Republican and Republican leaning-independent voters say Republican officials should follow Donald Trump going forward, compared to 26% who want to see them go in a different direction.
“President Biden is strongly signaling he won’t compromise on the basic planks of his giant coronavirus relief package,” the Washington Post reports.
“With millions of Americans set to be cut off from unemployment benefits in March, top White House officials are eyeing the first week of March to push through and enact Biden’s $1.9 trillion package. And the president himself drew his clearest red line yet, saying Friday he couldn’t ‘in good conscience’ shrink and delay the package.”
As former President Donald Trump’s second Senate impeachment trial is about to begin, a new Gallup poll finds a slim majority of Americans (52%) saying they would like their senators to vote to convict him.
Americans tilted against conviction in his first impeachment trial a little over a year ago.
More Americans are pessimistic about the future of the U.S. economy, and a majority don’t think today’s children will be better off than their parents.
Thirty-five percent (35%) of Likely U.S. Voters think the country is heading in the right direction, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey for the week ending February 4, 2021.
Authored by Paul Joseph Watson via Summit News, Leftists on Twitter had a complete meltdown over the fact that Tom Brady didn’t wear a mask at any point before or after the Super Bowl. Brady led the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to an easy 31-9…
In retrospect, it was not only inevitable but clearly obvious… at least to those who read us. Back on January 9, when discussing the recent surge of institutional and corporate purchases of bitcoin and conversion of cash into the cryptocurrency…
On January 29, Tony Pasquariello, global head of Goldman Hedge Fund Coverage (whose observations we have frequently profiled on these pages) spoke to investing legend Stanley Druckenmiller, head of the Duquesne Family Office, about his…
Anti-police, BLM activists marched through the streets of Washington DC Saturday night, where they yelled at police and harassed outdoor diners while chanting various slogans such as ” Black lives, they matter here, ” and ” if we don’t…
Authored by Michael Snyder via The Economic Collapse blog, You don’t have to be a cog in the system. For most of us, the only option that was presented while we were growing up was to get on the hamster wheel and run as fast as we could.
At the end of January, when the Reddit revolt was wrecking havoc among hedge funds and forcing even market neutral quants to degross and delever, we pointed out something unexpected: according to the latest HSBC Hedge Fund performance…
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This is the face of a modern-day leftist. Hateful, humorless and intolerant. Los Angeles Times columnist wrote a screed this week for the paper trashing… Read more…
On Wednesday morning, November 3rd President Trump was ahead of Joe Biden in the swing state of Michigan by over 100,000 votes. This appeared to… Read more…
Nice work, GOP! On Wednesday night Republican lawmakers rallied around Liz Cheney and voted 145-61 to keep Cheney in a House leadership position. This was… Read more…
On Wednesday morning, November 4th President Trump was ahead of Joe Biden in the swing state of Michigan by over 100,000 votes. This appeared to… Read more…
On January 6th hundreds of Trump supporters and others stormed the US Capitol to urge Republican lawmakers and Vice President Pence to investigate the abnormalities… Read more…
Rep. Liz Cheney is refusing to step down after being censured by the Wyoming Republican Party on Saturday. The party overwhelmingly voted in favor of… Read more…
This is CNN. CNN’s “State of the Union” anchor Jake Tapper labeled Trump supporters ‘terrorists’ and said people who question the 2020 election results must… Read more…
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George P. Shultz, Hoover Institution distinguished fellow, beloved colleague, accomplished diplomat and policy maker, and one of only two people in US history to serve four different presidential cabinet posts died February 6, 2021. He was 100. In his career of more than thirty years at the Hoover Institution, Shultz was a prolific author of influential books about a wide breadth of public policy issues. His colleagues at Hoover called him the “great convener,” because he would assemble extraordinary minds to tackle the most difficult and vexing problems. He never shied away from trying to find answers to challenges.
“It is the best job in government.” I had just called to tell George Shultz that I had been nominated to be secretary of state. I wanted to hear from my mentor, friend and soon to be predecessor. But then he quickly corrected himself. “Except for when I was a captain in the Marine Corps.”
A major figure in American politics who served three presidents and played a pivotal role in shaping U.S. foreign policy, former secretary of state George Shultz, is being remembered after his death at age 100.
George Shultz, who oversaw the decoupling of the U.S. dollar from the gold standard in the early 1970s and kept the gears of diplomacy running under the din of Cold War rhetoric as Ronald Reagan’s secretary of state a decade later, has died at 100.
Developed countries are spending enormous amounts of money in an attempt to recover from the pandemic, and should not waste it on old and tired schemes that have rarely worked. Instead, national or state governments should fund innovative local projects with high levels of community involvement and engagement.
The 2020 U.S. elections produced a close, but clear, victory for Democratic nominee Joe Biden in the presidential contest, a surprisingly slim majority for the Democratic party in the House of Representatives, and an even 50-50 split between Republicans and Democrats in the Senate.1 Newly elected Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris holds the deciding vote for party control in the Senate.
Lamorna Ash talks about her book Dark, Salt, Clear with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. Ash leaves London and moves to the small fishing village of Newlyn, near where her mother grew up on the Cornish coast. In Newlyn, everything revolves around fishing. Ash gets herself a bunk on a trawler and quickly learns how to gut fish with sharp knives on a rocking boat in the middle of the night. And so much more.
The President and CEO of EdChoice, Robert Enlow, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss how the majority of public schools are holding classes online only, more than 60 percent of private schools are serving students in person, and the implications of that stark difference.
Deciding whether the path towards containing China is best served through improved relations with Russia correctly implies that the United States will ultimately need help to do so. The idea of aligning with any country for security is rooted in the principles of realism and balance-of-power designed to create a stabilizing equilibrium among great powers.
interview with Condoleezza Rice via Straight Talk with Hank Paulson
Hoover Institution Condoleezza Rice talks about growing up in Alabama, her love of piano, what’s missing from the national conversation on race, charting a better course toward less divisive politics, and the country’s most pressing foreign policy priorities.
Can Congress impeach an ex-president? Did Trump commit incitement to riot? Panelists discussing these issues include Berkeley Law professor John Yoo; National Review contributing editor and former federal prosecutor Andrew C. McCarthy; and NYU and University of Chicago professor of law Richard A. Epstein. This Berkeley Law School event will be a live taping for Uncommon Knowledge with Peter Robinson, and we invite you to join us for this rare recording that is open to the public.
One of the most consequential policymakers of all time, having served three American presidents, George P. Shultz died Feb. 6 at age 100. Remembered as one of the most influential secretaries of state in our history, Shultz was a key player, alongside President Ronald Reagan, in changing the direction of history by using the tools of diplomacy to bring the Cold War to an end. He knew the value of one’s word, that “trust was the coin of the realm,” and stuck unwaveringly to a set of principles. This, combined with a keen intelligence, enabled him to not only imagine things thought impossible but also to bring them to fruition and forever change the course of human events.
featuring George P. Shultz via Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR)
Former U.S. Secretary of State George P. Shultz, the Thomas W. and Susan B. Ford Distinguished Fellow at the Hoover Institution and professor emeritus at Stanford Graduate School of Business who served three American presidents and played a pivotal role in shaping economic and foreign policy in the late 20th century, died Feb. 6 at his home on the Stanford campus. He was 100 years old.
[Subscription Required] George Shultz, a pillar of the Republican foreign-policy establishment whose diplomacy helped seal the end of the Cold War, has died, according to a family statement. He was 100 years old.
[Subscription Required] George P. Shultz, who served as secretary of labor, Treasury and state, died Saturday at 100. A related editorial appears nearby. These are excerpts of his contributions to the Journal editorial pages.
I sit down to write these columns on the Sunday that precedes their publication. That gives me plenty of time to realize where I went wrong, then correct my mistakes before hitting the send button a few days before the weekend. Sometimes Sunday arrives and I have no idea what to write about. Other times it’s crystal clear.
For Thomas Sowell, economics, politics, and life are all questions of trade-offs. So too is photography, the lifelong hobby he developed while serving in a U.S. Marine Corps Combat Camera Division.
For the foreseeable future, the fundamental fact of American domestic politics will be division—deep-seated divisions running along incredibly fraught lines of partisanship, race, religion, geography, worldview, and culture.
The pandemic’s disruption of in-person school is causing headaches for students, parents and teachers. But it’ll also trigger long-term economic consequences to the tune of trillions of dollars.
Russia’s jails are overflowing with supporters of Alexei Navalny. Recent demonstrations demanding the Kremlin critic’s release saw a large number of people detained, as President Joe Biden has issued a warning to Vladimir Putin along with a call for Navalny’s release.
As Americans grapple with how to tackle some of the country’s most pressing problems, coming together to address those challenges is critical. But in an atmosphere where partisan tensions run deep, is that even possible? Under the right conditions, Stanford scholars James Fishkin and Larry Diamond think so.
Perhaps they are thinking about the next election or their political legacies, but Democrats and some Republicans intent on impeaching and convicting former President Donald Trump are not reading the Constitution correctly.
California may become the next testing ground for the nation’s roiled, unpredictable politics as an effort to give voters a chance to fire Gov. Gavin Newsom moves closer to reality.
In a poll conducted in December 2020 as part of Oxford University’s Europe Stories research project, 74% of participants said the European Union would ‘not be worth having’ without freedom of movement.
In a recent editorial, The New York Times’ David Leonhardt opined that the economy performs better under Democratic presidents than under Republicans. Leonhart misses a lot of economic history, choosing instead to criticize Republican presidents, who, he writes, “often clung to theories that they want to believe — like the supposedly magical power of tax cuts and deregulation.”
The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Hoover Institution or Stanford University.
On February 2, 2021, President Joe Biden tweeted, “It’s long past time we raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour. The American Rescue Plan will get it done.”
As multiple cities across the United States already have a $15 an hour minimum wage, DIB analysts reviewed the results of the wage increase in those areas. Analysts also asked business owners how a $15 an hour would impact their businesses.
Seattle, Washington, was the first city to pass a $15 an hour minimum wage increase. The city’s minimum wage ordinance led to mixed results, with some businesses having to cut hours and overtime, and others having to shut down with increased rent and living costs in the Seattle area.
A study from the University of Washington concluded that low-income workers logged more hours and saw a pay increase, while those just entering the labor market with less experience saw fewer work opportunities.
San Francisco, California, has a minimum wage of $15.59 an hour. San Francisco has some of the highest living costs in the United States, with a family earning $117,000 qualifying as low-income.
A study from the Public Policy Institute of California discovered that, “Besides providing little help to low-income families, a minimum wage increase might even make their financial condition worse. The study finds that raising the minimum wage could cause poor Californians to pay proportionately more for basic purchases such as groceries, because as the minimum wage increases, so do labor costs. Employers respond to increasing wages in one of three ways: They increase prices, reduce employment, or reduce profits. In their analysis, the researchers assume the increased labor costs would be passed on in the form of higher consumer prices and not in job losses or lower profits.”
Small business owners in the U.S. also have significant concerns about a $15 an hour minimum wage increase. To protect their privacy, DIB analysts have not included their names or businesses.
A small business owner who owns a craft and manufacturing company said, “I will likely just do all the work myself, until the demand becomes too great, as the prices already don’t reflect the hours put into the product, but I believe are high enough, (it’s hard to compete with Chinese made product prices). I can’t afford to pay someone $15/hour to help make my craft products, especially if they don’t already have the skills.”
Another small business owner relayed similar concerns, saying, “Yes, I will have to reduce my staff, cut hours and pivot towards services that are more technology-driven.”
A third small business owner said, “We would have to raise prices because even though we pay more than that now, it would be ‘minimum’ wage. Since we require people to be skilled in specific areas, they will demand more than minimum wage. We cannot cut hours because a job takes certain amount of hours. Our material prices will go up as well. It will be devastating to small businesses.”
A July 2019 minimum wage study from the Congressional Budget Office also found that a federal minimum wage increase could lift people out of poverty and lead to more jobless low-income workers. “The federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour has not changed since 2009, though many states and localities have set their minimum wage above that level. Increasing the federal minimum wage would have two principal effects on low-wage workers. For most low-wage workers, earnings and family income would increase, which would lift some families out of poverty. But other low-wage workers would become jobless, and their family income would fall—in some cases, below the poverty threshold.”
WHAT THIS MEANS FOR US AS AMERICANS
Based on DIB research, a $15 an hour minimum wage would negatively impact small businesses nationwide. There are an estimated 30.2 million small businesses in the United States, most of whom cannot afford to pay their low-income workers a $15 an hour wage. Amazon, Target, and Walmart all pay their employees $15 an hour. However, Amazon, Target, and Walmart also generate billions in revenue a year and continued economic growth, making the minimum pay at each of those companies easily sustainable.
If the Biden Administration successfully raises the minimum wage to $15 an hour, small cities in the U.S. and more rural areas are likely to feel the policy’s impact. Major cities with big corporations will feel less impact, as the companies can sustain higher wages for their employees.
Americans could also see further outsourcing of jobs to countries like China and India, in addition to business owners relying more on technology than manpower to cut labor costs. And while the CBO says the policy could lower poverty levels, an increased minimum wage could also lead to more jobless low-income workers. And low-income workers are the individuals who initially lobbied and pushed for a $15 an hour minimum wage.
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.
This team has more than 68 years of combined experience in the intelligence community, 35 years of combined experience in combat and high-risk areas, and have visited more than 65 countries. We have more than 22 years of investigative reporting and marketing experience. Daily, we scour and verify more than 600 social media sites using more than 200 analytic tools in the process. Leveraging the tools and methods available to us, we uncover facts and provide analysis that would take an average person years of networking and research to uncover. We are doing it for you every 24 hours.
From All Things Possible, the Victor Marx Group and Echo Analytics 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.
Thank you for joining us today. Be safe, be healthy and
may God bless you and your family.
Daily Intelligence Brief:
Rumors Edition
Good morning. It’s Friday, February 5, 2021. On this day in history in 1922 The Reader’s Digest launched and New York adopts three color traffic lights (1952).
TODAY’S RUMORS:
Is There an Increased Demand for Firearms Right Now?
TRUE or FALSE: TRUE
Background checks for gun sales in the U.S. were at an all-time high for January 2021. According to reports, the FBI conducted 4.3 million background checks for firearm sales, which is the most ever for a single month. Also, January 2021 saw an eighty percent increase in gun sales compared to December 2020.
For 2020, some gun store owners had their best sales yet. Bristlecone, a gun store in Colorado, had a 65% increase in sales during 2020. Also, for other firearms stores, the demand for weapons has led to a significant decrease in inventory, with stores reporting having barely any weapons in stock.
Across the U.S., there are also ammo shortages, resulting in a significant price in the rise of ammunition. In Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas, 9mm ammo is reportedly $30.00 a box.
With the Biden Administration’s gun control agenda, firearm sales are likely to remain high. Also, with Democrats controlling the Legislative Branch and their gun control proposals, gun stores will likely continue to have a decrease in inventory.
Are Multiple European Countries About to Introduce a Vaccine Passport?
TRUE or FALSE: TRUE
According to reports, Denmark is going to introduce an app-based passport, which shows the holder has received a COVID-19 vaccine. Euronews reports, “In a bid to reopen the country, the government in Denmark has announced plans to introduce a digital coronavirus passport for citizens to provide evidence they have been vaccinated.”
Also, Sweden plans on issuing a similar passport for vaccinated Swedes.
Additionally, the Biden Administration is reviewing how to link coronavirus vaccine documents with digital versions. However, it is unclear at this time if the Biden Administration is considering an actual digital COVID-19 passport like Denmark and Sweden.
Did Myanmar Use Dominion Voting Machines in its 2020 General Elections?
TRUE or FALSE: FALSE
A popular rumor circulating online is that Myanmar used Dominion Voting Machines in its 2020 elections. Based on DIB research, Myanmar used paper ballots in its most recent general election, held in 2020. Reports indicate all votes were hand-counted. DIB analysts also reviewed all open-source images from Myanmar’s elections and did not identify any electronic machines.
Also, Myanmar’s election resource website reports on how the voting process works in the country.
“At the polling booth, you will be presented with a ballot paper for each seat that is being contested.”
“For example, in the 2020 general elections, as there will be voting for the Amyotha Hluttaw, the Pyithu Hluttaw and state and regional hluttaws, each voter will receive three ballot papers. The voter will be able to mark the box next to their preferred candidate’s name on each paper. Ballot papers that are unclear will be deemed invalid. This includes ballot papers with markings next to more than one candidate and ballot papers with no candidate marked.”
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.
This team has more than 68 years of combined experience in the intelligence community, 35 years of combined experience in combat and high-risk areas, and have visited more than 65 countries. We have more than 22 years of investigative reporting and marketing experience. Daily, we scour and verify more than 600 social media sites using more than 200 analytic tools in the process. Leveraging the tools and methods available to us, we uncover facts and provide analysis that would take an average person years of networking and research to uncover. We are doing it for you every 24 hours.
From All Things Possible, the Victor Marx Group and Echo Analytics 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.
Thank you for joining us today. Be safe, be healthy and
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Welcome to the FEE Daily, your go-to newsletter for free-market news and analysis, authored by FEE.org Opinion Editor Brad Polumbo. If you’re reading this online, click here to make sure you’re subscribed to the email list.
Fact-Checking Biden’s Super Bowl Interview Flub on Economics
In a Sunday interview with CBS News ahead of the Super Bowl, President Biden touched on a host of topics—but one claim he made about the $15 minimum wage and economics sent fact-checkers’ alarm bells ringing.
“I do think that we should have a minimum wage, stand by itself, $15 an hour” Biden said, after acknowledging it probably won’t make it into his final COVID-19 stimulus legislation. “And all the economics show, if you do that, the whole economy rises.” (Emphasis mine).
It is true that economists disagree on this subject, and that a sizable contingent of progressive-leaning economists do argue in favor of a $15 minimum wage. But it is by no stretch of the imagination true that “all of the economics” show that doubling the federal minimum wage would be a net positive for the economy.
As FEE’s Jon Miltimore recently explained, even a new survey that showed somewhat more conflicted opinion among economists still revealed that “of the economists who responded unequivocally on the matter, an overwhelming percentage of them (76 percent) agreed increasing the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour would have adverse effects on employment.” Moreover, new research surveying the breadth of available data still finds a “clear preponderance” of findings that show minimum wage hikes have a job-killing impact.
So, no, the economics don’t support Biden’s push for a $15 minimum wage. The president’s claim otherwise is sheer political spin.
Retail giant Amazon has made headwaves for its lobbying in favor of progressive policies such as a federal $15 minimum wage. Perhaps their view will change soon, now that the road was just paved for the first Amazon union in Alabama.
“Amazon employees have never formed or belonged to a union in the U.S., and labor experts say unionizing in [Alabama] could lead to similar efforts at other Amazon facilities,” the Wall Street Journalreports.
“Amazon, which has long opposed unions, launched a website to encourage employees to vote against unionizing and has posted signs around the warehouse with that message,” the report continues. “Employees say the company also has been holding frequent meetings inside the facility to counter the union’s effort. Amazon has said that it provides workers with ample benefits and doesn’t believe the union represents most employees’ views.”
The short story: An Amazon union could be coming soon.
Data of the Day: This chart, from Morning Brew, shows a massive rise in Robinhood trading, the amateur app for newbie stock traders where the “Gamestop” drama largely played out.
P.S. For this weekend’s podcast, I interviewed freshman congresswoman Nancy Mace on her inspiring personal journey from rape survivor and highschool dropout to representing South Carolina as a pro-liberty Republican in Congress. Listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
You don’t always have time to read a full in-depth article. Thankfully, FEE Fellow Patrick Carroll is here to give you the key takeaways from one highlighted article each day.
Venezuela is a country in crisis. For years now it has seen dramatic poverty, shortages, and hyperinflation. Yet while many blame these problems on mismanagement or sanctions, the reality is that most of their economic woes stem from their futile attempts to centrally plan the economy.
Hyperinflation is particularly problematic, because it means the value of their currency is depleting rapidly. This makes it difficult to save money for food and other necessities, and it has encouraged Venezuelans to explore alternatives for storing value.
One such alternative that is gaining traction is cryptocurrency, as Toni Allen explains in his debut article for FEE.org. Bitcoin in particular has seen rapid adoption throughout the country as a means of making exchanges for day-to-day goods. Not only does it hold its value better than other currencies, but it’s also incredibly secure and nearly impossible for the government to trace.
The government, of course, isn’t fond of this move, and they have tried to undermine it in various ways. For one, they created a nationalized cryptocurrency called the Petro in 2018, which was tied to Venezeualan oil. They made it mandatory to pay for government services using the Petro in an effort to encourage adoption. But the Petro quickly fell flat, largely because people didn’t trust the Venezeualan oil that was backing it.
In an interesting twist, the Venezuaean government itself is also starting to hold Bitcoin and other currencies, since they see it as an opportunity to facilitate domestic and international trade. This could be a positive sign, and could lead to more widespread adoption in the future.
In any case, it will be interesting to see if the widespread adoption of cryptocurrency can instigate the economic liberalization that their economy desperately needs.
Google Is Burying Alternative Health Sites to Protect People from “Dangerous” Medical Advice
by Barry Brownstein
There are good reasons to be concerned that we are losing access to information with which to evaluate opposing sides of health issues. Google’s search engine algorithm has essentially ended traffic to many websites that question the medical orthodoxy.
I Grew Up in a Communist System. Here’s What Americans Don’t Understand About Freedom
by Carmen Alexe
Individual freedom can only exist in the context of free-market capitalism. Personal freedom thrives in capitalism, declines in government-regulated economies, and vanishes in communism. Aside from better economic and legislative policies, what America needs is a more intense appreciation for individual freedom and capitalism.
The FEE Store has the books, magazines, and merchandise you’re looking for to begin or deepen your knowledge of the economic, ethical, and legal principles of a free society. 100% of the proceeds go to advance FEE’s mission. Support by shopping now!
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February 08 2021
Episode 338: The Power… 
Rand Paul Presses Biden… 
19 West 44th Street, Suite 1701, New York, NY, 10036, USA
