Cut to the News
Cut through the clutter to today's top news
January 26, 2021
Good morning
Welcome to today's top news.
Leading the News . . .
Article of impeachment against Trump sent from House to Senate . . . House Democrats marched the article of impeachment against former President Donald Trump over to the Senate Monday night, officially igniting a new trial that all sides are still struggling to figure out how to conduct. The latest wrinkle came with the revelation that Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. won’t preside over the trial. The Constitution calls for him to
oversee any proceeding involving a president, but with Mr. Trump out of office, Democrats said their senior member, Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, will wield the gavel. That fueled Republicans’ complaints that the Constitution doesn’t envision trying an ex-president in the first place. Washington
Times
Trump, allies raise pressure on Senate GOP ahead of impeachment . . . Allies of former President Trump are waging an intense pressure campaign aimed at convincing GOP senators to vote against his conviction in next month’s impeachment trial. The message to wavering GOP senators is that anyone who votes to convict Trump is guaranteeing a tough primary challenge that could end their political career. The message is directed not
only to red-state GOP senators who might be thinking of moving the party away from Trump, but to GOP leaders who might want to break with the president after a pro-Trump mob ransacked the Capitol on Jan. 6. The Hill
BARR: Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Jurisdiction Should Swiftly End Senate Impeachment Farce . . . If there was perhaps one mistake our Founders made in drafting the Constitution, it was presuming that future members of the Legislative Branch would be sufficiently competent to actually read the document to which they all had sworn an oath. The relevant wording in the Constitution is at the very end of Article II, establishing
that a constitutionally errant “President, . . . shall be removed from Office” if he first has been impeached by the House and convicted by the Senate for “high Crimes and Misdemeanors.” Unlike other sections of the Constitution where clarity may be obscured by arcane wording, this particular provision is clear and concise, and it applies to “the President.” The language pointedly does not provide in any way, shape, or form that a “Former President” or an “Ex-President”
may be similarly punished, only the President. Daily Caller
COVID-19 surge leaves doctors, nurses reeling from burnout . . . The longest and most deadly surge of the pandemic may be approaching a plateau nationally, but the rising, months long flood of new cases and hospitalizations is still cresting in some parts of the U.S. Throughout, the crisis has taxed nurses and doctors to a degree many said they have never experienced. High death tolls and the physical and emotional demands
at work have left them exhausted and sometimes feeling hopeless, they said.
The surge has swept the country since late September. This unprecedented surge has posed risks to quality of care and left medical professionals exhausted. Wall Street Journal
|
|
McConnell Says There Are Now ‘Assurances’ Dems Will Not Abolish The Filibuster . . . Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell put the idea of abolishing the filibuster to rest, for now, mentioning the fact two Democrats confirmed that they would not vote to change the Senate rules. “Today two Democratic Senators publicly confirmed they will not vote to end the legislative filibuster. They agree with President Biden’s and
my view that no Senate majority should destroy the right of future minorities of both parties to help shape legislation,” McConnell said in a statement. Daily Caller
Republicans press constitutional amendment term-limiting members of Congress . . . Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, joined five other Republicans on Monday in moving to restrict the number of times members of Congress can be reelected. The legislation revives Cruz's earlier idea for a constitutional amendment on term limits. If ratified, the measure would prevent senators from serving more than two six-year terms and House members from serving
more than three two-year terms. "Every year, Congress spends billions of dollars on giveaways for the well-connected: Washington insiders get taxpayer money and members of Congress get re-elected, all while the system fails the American people," Cruz said in a press release. Fox News
Senate confirms Janet Yellen as first female Treasury secretary . . . The Senate on Monday confirmed Janet Yellen as the first woman to lead the Treasury Department, where her immediate priority will be addressing the coronavirus recession.
Yellen, a Democrat, was confirmed by the Senate 84-15, with broad bipartisan support. All 15 "no" votes came from Republicans.
The Senate Finance Committee unanimously approved Yellen’s nomination last week, with Democrats and even Republicans touting her qualifications despite GOP opposition to much of President Biden’s economic agenda. She is the third of Biden’s Cabinet nominees to be confirmed, following Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. The Hill
Market economy or central planning?
U.S. Senate expected to confirm Blinken as Secretary of State on Tuesday . . . The U.S. Senate is expected to confirm President Joe Biden’s nominee for secretary of state, veteran diplomat Antony Blinken, on Tuesday, after the Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted strongly in favor of his appointment. After the 15-3 vote by the committee, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said the full Senate would vote on Blinken at noon
EST on Tuesday. Although the three committee no votes came from Republicans, Blinken is expected to be confirmed with strong bipartisan support. Many lawmakers, including some Republicans, said they wanted Biden’s national security team to be in place as quickly as possible. Reuters
The "experts" will not be wasting any time getting back to the business of democratizing every nook and cranny of the world, while suppressing the rights and freedoms of Americans here at home.
Biden Admin Considers Allocating COVID Funds to Climate Change Programs . . . The Biden administration reportedly is considering authorizing the Federal Emergency Management Agency to allocate COVID-19 funding for climate change projects. The plan would reallocate part of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) overall disaster budget to projects designed to preemptively address damage from climate disasters, The
Times reported. The agency wants to build seawalls and elevate or relocate homes in flood planes with the reallocated funds. FEMA plans to include funding allocated for COVID-19 response in its restructuring of the budget. Daily Caller
What can be more important than climate change?!
Biden bows to pressure, says he is willing to negotiate $1,400 COVID stimulus checks . . . President Biden said he is open to negotiating the conditions on his proposed $1,400 COVID-19 stimulus checks after Republicans and some Democrats said they should be more targeted to families on lower incomes. Details of a potential package his team must negotiate with both parties on Capitol Hill are a “moving target,” the Democratic
president and Senate veteran said when he answered questions about his $1.9 trillion stimulus plan on Monday. Washington Examiner
President Biden takes questions – but only from pre-selected reporters . . . President Trump took questions from anyone in a press corps that almost uniformly hated him. President Biden needs the reporters, who almost uniformly like him, to be selected for him anyway. Biden held his first formal White House press conference on Monday, but most of the questions asked were from reporters that were pre-selected by his team. White House Dossier
Russian President Putin does the same thing during his press conferences. Those 'unauthorized' who dare to ask a question, get "Novichoked." In America, we get 'cancelled' but at least not physically, yet.
DOJ opens probe over report of Trump plot to overturn election . . . The Justice Department inspector general said Monday that he has opened an investigation into whether top department officials plotted with former President Donald Trump to undo the results of the 2020 election. The probe was announced just days after a report that Justice Department lawyer Jeffrey Clark nearly persuaded Mr. Trump to fire then-acting Attorney General
Jeffrey Rosen and use the department to change Georgia’s election results. Investigators will review “all relevant allegations” that any former or current department official “engaged in an improper attempt to have the DOJ seek to alter the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.” Washington Times
Supreme Court dismisses emoluments lawsuits against Trump as moot . . . The Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a pair of emoluments lawsuits against former President Trump, ruling that the cases are moot now that he has left office.The two lawsuits, filed by the group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) and the attorneys general for Washington, D.C., and Maryland, were part of a novel legal effort that alleged
Trump violated the Constitution's emoluments clauses by continuing to own his business empire while in office. The Hill
Trump sets up 'Office of the Former President' in Florida . . . Former President Trump on Monday established an official post-presidency office in Palm Beach County, Fla., setting up a vehicle for future public appearances and statements. "The Office of the Former President" will manage Trump's correspondence, public statements, appearance and official activities, according to a press release from the office. "President Trump
will always and forever be a champion for the American People," the release said. The Hill
Trump Team Disavows MAGA Patriot Party . . . Former President Donald Trump’s campaign team is disavowing any affiliation with a newly formed political committee called the MAGA Patriot Party.
“We are not supportive of this effort, have nothing to do with it, and only know about it through public reporting,” campaign adviser Jason Miller told The Epoch Times. The MAGA Patriot Party National Committee filed a notice of organization with the commission earlier on Jan. 25. While the filing claimed that Trump’s team was linked to the new committee, Trump’s team said it didn’t authorize the filing of a form claiming it as a participant in joint fundraising activities, hasn’t entered
into any joint fundraising agreement with the new committee, and has no knowledge of the Patriot Party’s activities. Epoch Times
Dominion Voting Systems files $1.3B defamation suit against Giuliani . . . Dominion Voting Systems on Monday filed a lawsuit against Rudy Giuliani alleging that the former New York City mayor spread numerous defamatory statements about the voting machine company while he helped lead former President Trump’s failed post-election legal campaign. The company is seeking $1.3 billion in damages over what it called a “viral disinformation
campaign,” alleging that Giuliani made malicious false accusations against Dominion, including that the company had engaged in voter fraud and election fixing. The Hill
|
|
China to conduct military drills in South China Sea amid tensions with US . . . China said on Tuesday it will conduct military exercises in the South China Sea this week, just days after Beijing bristled at a U.S. aircraft carrier group’s entry into the disputed waters. A U.S. carrier group led by the USS Theodore Roosevelt entered the South China Sea on Saturday to promote “freedom of the seas,” the U.S. military said. Reuters
Huawei Ghostwrote Op-Ed for MIT Scholar . . . As one American university after another suspended research ties with Huawei for its alleged ties to Chinese espionage, MIT Media Lab founder Nicholas Negroponte offered a full-throttle defense of the company.
"Don't ban Huawei," read a May 2019 column published under Negroponte's name. "The U.S. should collaborate with leading technology companies and their research labs, rather than banning them." Negroponte, however, did not write the column, at least according to Huawei employee Winter Wright, who noted on his LinkedIn profile that he ghostwrote the article on behalf of the MIT scholar, whose research center has received millions of dollars in research funding from the Chinese tech company.
Washington Free Beacon
Yet another covert influence op by the Chicoms.
North Korea hackers use social media to target security researchers . . . Google has warned it has uncovered an “ongoing” state-backed hacking campaign run by North Korea targeting cyber security researchers. The Silicon Valley group said its threat analysis team found that cyber attackers posing as researchers had created numerous fake social media profiles on platforms such as Twitter and LinkedIn. To gain credibility, they also had set
up a fake blog for which they would get unwitting targets to write guest posts about actual software bugs. After establishing communication with an actual researcher, the attackers would ask the target to work together on cyber vulnerability research and then share collaboration tools containing malicious code to install malware on the researcher’s systems. Financial Times
|
|
China's Xi calls for greater role for G20 in economic governance . . . China’s President Xi Jinping on Monday called on the world to strengthen macroeconomic policy coordination and bolster the role of the G20 in global economic governance as he pointed to a “rather shaky” recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. Speaking at a virtual meeting of the World Economic Forum - a gathering usually held in a Swiss ski resort - Xi said the global
economic outlook remained uncertain and public health emergencies “may very well recur” in future. Reuters
Russia's Putin to address World Economic Forum on Wednesday . . . Russian President Vladimir Putin will address the World Economic Forum (WEF) by video conference on Wednesday, Russian news agencies cited his spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying on Monday. The event, which gathers business chiefs, political thinkers and state leaders, is being held online due to COVID-19. Reuters
|
|
Facebook, Amazon were biggest lobbying spenders last year . . . Facebook and Amazon spent more money lobbying Washington than any other American company last year as the feds sought to rein in their expansive power, a new report says. With the Federal Trade Commission looking to break up its business and Congress eager to grill CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook increased its lobbying budget by almost 18 percent to nearly $20 million in
2020. Amazon, meanwhile, shelled out about $18 million — a roughly 11 percent increase from 2019’s levels — as chief executive Jeff Bezos made his first appearance before Congress while the company unsuccessfully fought for a $10 billion Pentagon contract. New York Post
UPS to Sell Freight Trucking Business to TFI for $800 Million . . . UPS agreed to sell its freight business to rival TFI International for $800 million, saying it is pulling out of the domestic trucking market to focus on the soaring small-package-delivery business. The sale is one of the biggest strategic shifts by new Chief Executive Carol Tomé since she took the position last June. UPS and rival FedEx have faced huge increases in
shipping volume during the coronavirus pandemic, as consumers have ordered everything from their essential goods like toothpaste and toilet paper to bulky items to outfit home offices and outdoor play sets. The carriers have raised shipping rates and added new surcharges to offset the higher costs, but it has had little effect in slowing demand for online buying. Wall Street Journal
Dr. Fauci is the highest paid employee in the federal government . . . Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top disease expert in the U.S., is the highest-paid federal government employee in the U.S.—surpassing even the president—according to a Freedom of Information Act request by OpenTheBooks.com. Fauci pulled in $417,608.00 in 2019—his largest haul ever—and in the previous two years earned $384,625.00. Forbes reported that from 2010 to 2019,
Fauci, the head of the National Institute for Health, earned $3.6 million. Fox Business
Now I understand how Fauci's sidekick Deborah Birx was able to wear a different Hermès scarf every day to a televised COVID briefing.
|
|
Google workers to form global union alliance . . . Google employees from across the globe are forming a union alliance, weeks after workers at the search engine giant and other units of parent company Alphabet Inc formed a labor union for U.S. and Canadian offices. UNI Global Union, that represents about 20 million workers globally, said on Monday it helped form Alpha Global, Google's union alliance that includes multiple countries
such as the United States, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden and the UK. Reuters
Oh, no. Proletariats of the world are uniting again! I have escaped from the communist USSR only to find out that totalitarian socialism is rearing its ugly head here, in America. What the heck . . . ?!
MyPillow guy files a lawsuit against Daily Mail for Jane Krakowski romance report . . . MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell sued the Daily Mail for reporting he had a secret romance with actress Jane Krakowski, a claim they both deny. "I started a lawsuit against [the Daily Mail]," Lindell announced during an interview with former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon on his War Room show Monday. The lawsuit was filed in the United
States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Washington Examiner
No special pillow for Jane, it turns out.
Afternoon nap could keep you mentally sharp . . . Taking a regular afternoon nap could be one way to stay mentally agile, according to a new study. The research, published in the journal General Psychiatry, looked at the sleep patterns of 2,214 healthy people aged 60 and over in several large Chinese cities.
Some 1,534 took regular afternoon naps of between five minutes and two hours, while 680 did not. The researchers found a dementia screening test taken by participants showed that sleeping in the afternoon was associated with better locational awareness, verbal fluency and working memory. The study revealed that in addition to reducing sleepiness, mid-day naps can offer a variety of benefits such as memory consolidation, preparation for subsequent learning, executive functioning
enhancement and a boost to emotional stability. Sky News
Who could have guessed?
|
|
Skier chased by bear at Romanian resort . . . A man riding the chairlift at a Romanian skiing resort captured video of the tense moment a fellow skier was chased by a bear. David Creta posted a video to YouTube showing the bear chasing a skier on a slope at the Predeal ski resort on Saturday. Chairlift riders alerted the skier to the pursuit, and the skier threw his backpack on the ground, which succeeded in
distracting the bear for long enough to allow the man to escape.
Police spokesman Ion Zaharia said the skier did the right thing by distracting the bear. He said three emergency calls came in about the bear being spotted in various locations at the resort Saturday.
Zaharia said the bear fled into the woods when police arrived in all-terrain vehicles, but authorities are considering having the bear relocated to avoid future confrontations on the slopes. UPI
|
|
Do you love Cut to the News? Let your family and friends know about it! They'll thank you for it. Spread the word . . .
By Email - use the message that pops up or write your own. On Facebook - On FB, write your own message
Thank you for doing it.
Have a great day.
Rebekah
Rebekah Koffler
Got this from a friend? Subscribe here and get Cut to the News sent to your Inbox every morning.
|
|
|
