Cut to the News
Cut through the clutter to today's top news
January 28, 2021
Good morning
Welcome to today's top news.
Leading the News . . .
Biden’s First Week Was a Race to the Left . . . Much of the praise for Mr. Biden focuses on how he’s different from his predecessor, providing “normalcy” and "healing" the nation. But it looks increasingly as if the new president offers soothing words about bipartisanship and then delivers policy prescriptions favored by the left. Early signs suggest that he will allow Democrats in Congress and regulatory agencies to drive public
policy hard to the left, which could mean the biggest expansion of federal power since the Great Society, and institutional changes that give progressives dominance over American politics. Wall Street Journal
Racial justice, identity politics dominate Biden presidency's first days . . . President Biden on Wednesday said “environmental justice” for people of color will be a central feature of his efforts to combat climate change, again putting skin color and racial justice front and center in his early policy and personnel decisions. Mr. Biden’s early focus on what he calls “systemic racism and white supremacy” in America generated pushback
from critics and scholars who say they don’t need a lecture from the commander-in-chief about the country’s racial history. “It’s like the Great Society for identity politics,” said Mike Gonzalez, a member of former President Trump’s newly disbanded 1776 Commission. “It is very difficult to call your people racist and then turn around and say I want to unify you.” Washington Times
Israel’s Covid-19 Vaccinations Hold Lessons for US . . . Israel has rolled out the fastest Covid-19 vaccination campaign in the world, inoculating more than 30% of its population since late December. The small country—with roughly nine million people, about the same as New York City—now aims to inoculate the majority of its population by March. While Israel’s vaccination campaign is relatively simple compared with the mass
mobilizations needed by countries such as the U.S. that have many more people spread over a greater sweep of geography, the effort offers some clear lessons. Wall Street Journal
How many variants of the coronavirus are there? . . . There are many circulating around the world, but health experts are primarily concerned with the emergence of three. As a virus infects people, it can mutate as it makes copies of itself. Some mutations can be harmful to a virus, causing it to die out. Others can offer an advantage and help it spread. “Not every mutation is created equal,” said Dr. Mary Petrone, who studies
infectious diseases at Yale University. “The virus is going to get lucky now and again.”
Monitoring variants is important because of the possibility that they could make vaccines and treatments less effective, or change the way they infect people. Associated Press
WHO must do a real Wuhan probe . . . Finally, the World Health Organization has sent investigators to Wuhan, China, ground zero for COVID-19, to begin the belated search for the origins of the coronavirus pandemic. Today they will emerge from 14 days of quarantine. They should go straight to the Wuhan Institute of Virology, where high-risk research, funded by US taxpayers, was being conducted into animal-to-human transmission of bat
coronaviruses, a few miles from where the first COVID-19 cases were discovered. Reputable virologists around the world point to the Wuhan lab as the most likely source of the pandemic, probably due to an accidental leak. And yet WHO’s team of crack investigators say they may not ever go to the lab. They may not even meet the scientist who was conducting that risky research, China’s so-called bat woman, Shi Zhengli. New York Post
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Biden Announces Sweeping Policy Changes to Combat ‘Climate Crisis’ . . . President Joe Biden on Wednesday revealed details of a set of broad environmental executive actions aimed at further tackling what he called the “existential threat” of climate change.
The new “whole of government” Biden administration policies seek to put “climate change at the center of our domestic, national security and foreign policy,” and is drawing criticism for its high cost and potential job losses as the United States is already facing huge pandemic related job losses. Biden and his climate team said the package of policy changes seek to create jobs in the clean energy industry, but opponents to the radical changes say it will have the immediate impact of
destroying millions of jobs in the fossil fuel industry and energy independence. Epoch Times
Biden Taps Anti-Israel BDS Activist for Top White House Intel Job . . . The Biden administration is tapping for a top intelligence post a Palestinian-American who spent years at the forefront of efforts to boycott Israel and danced in front of a banner calling Israel an apartheid state. The selection of Maher Bitar to be the senior director for intelligence programs at the National Security Council is already generating concerns that he
will use the post to diminish intelligence sharing between the United States and Israel. Bitar spent years leading anti-Israel organizations that promote the anti-Semitic Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which wages economic warfare on Israel. Bitar, a former Obama White House staffer and general counsel for Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee, will in his new job play a key role in coordinating the various U.S. intelligence agencies and have a window into
America's most sensitive intelligence and covert operations. Washington Free Beacon
Biden’s United Nations Nominee Praised China At CCP-Funded Institute . . . Biden’s United Nations nominee Linda Thomas-Greenfield praised China during a 2019 speech at the CCP-funded Confucius Institute in Savannah, Georgia. In her speech, Thomas-Greenfield praised China’s Belt Road Initiative for the “rollout of critical projects in Africa,” including ports in Djibouti and major railways in Kenya, Nigeria and Ethiopia, the Post
reported. She previously served as the Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs in the United States Department of State’s Bureau of African Affairs under the Obama administration.
She was also keen to point out China’s cultural strategy on the continent in her speech where she described efforts by Beijing to offer scholarships to Africa’s best and brightest. Daily Caller
Biden sued for halting federal oil and gas leasing . . . The Biden administration was hit with an immediate lawsuit Wednesday over its decision to halt oil and gas leasing on federal lands and waters.
The Western Energy Alliance, a group representing fossil fuel producers active on federal lands, sued in the U.S. District Court for the District of Wyoming, alleging President Biden exceeded presidential authority. Kathleen Sgamma, president of the Alliance, described Biden's action as a "ban," despite his administration describing the order as a temporary moratorium on leasing while the administration reviews how to better balance oil and gas with developing renewables on federal
lands and waters. “The law is clear. Presidents don’t have authority to ban leasing on public lands. All Americans own the oil and natural gas beneath public lands, and Congress has directed them to be responsibly developed on their behalf,” Sgamma said. Washington Examiner
Biden begins staffing commission to study Supreme Court reform: report . . . The Biden administration has begun setting up a commission aimed at Supreme Court reform and the federal judiciary. Nine to 15 people are expected to be appointed to the commission that will study court reform. Those who are expected to be on the commission include Yale Law professor and Obama-era Deputy Assistant Attorney General Cristina Rodríguez and former
American Constitution Society President Caroline Fredrickson.
Harvard Law professor and former Bush-era Assistant Attorney General Jack Goldsmith has also reportedly been tapped to join the commission, according to the report. The commission will fall under the scope of the White House counsel’s office, with assistance from Biden campaign lawyer Bob Bauer. The Hill
Six State Attorneys General Warn Biden Over Potential Presidential Overreach . . . A coalition of state attorneys general on Wednesday sent a letter to President Joe Biden reminding him that any potentially unconstitutional executive actions or federal overreach will not go unchallenged. The letter, signed by six attorneys general (AGs), puts the Biden administration on notice that any actions that might exceed their statutory authority,
are inconsistent with constitutional tenets, or place civil liberties at risk could trigger legal action by the states. Epoch Times
Hunter Biden Continues To Hold Stake In Chinese Private Equity Firm . . . Hunter Biden continues to hold a 10% stake in the Chinese private equity firm BHR Partners, Chinese business records show, despite multiple reports from December suggesting he was divesting his position in the company. Despite reports that he was in the process of offloading his stake in BHR, Hunter Biden continues to hold his equity stake in BHR through his
company, Skaneateles LLC, as of Wednesday, according to Qixinbao and Baidu, two independent services that provide business records on Chinese corporations based on China’s National Credit Information Publicity System. Hunter Biden is the sole beneficial owner of Skaneateles LLC, according to Washington D.C. corporate records. Daily
Caller
Frank Biden promotes relationship to big brother president in law firm ad . . . Francis "Frank" Biden is turning to his big brother for help promoting a law firm he advises. President Biden's younger sibling touted his ties to the Biden administration during an Inauguration Day advertisement for the Berman Law Group based in Boca Raton, Florida. Biden is a non-attorney adviser to the firm.
The ad, which focuses on a Berman Law Group lawsuit against the sugar industry for alleged environmental violations, features a photo of the younger Biden, along with quotes discussing his ties to the new presidential administration. Washington Examiner
Cruz blasts Kerry for 'arrogant' statement that solar power job is 'better choice' for workers . . . 'The Democratic elites have decided that blue-collar workers ... they've made the wrong choices,' Texas Republican tells 'Fox News Primetime. Sen. Ted Cruz ripped Biden climate czar and former Secretary of State John Kerry over what Cruz described as degrading comments about blue-collar workers whose jobs were abruptly cut when President
Biden canceled the Keystone XL Pipeline permit. At a White House press conference earlier Wednesday, Kerry claimed that dealing with climate is not coming at the workers' expense, but rather what is happening to blue collar workers is happening because of other market forces are already taking place. Kerry went on to explain that the workers at risk of losing their jobs should have considered more appropriate jobs in areas that are more likely to be helpful to a future green
economy. Fox News
Yeah, well, maybe if the Dems and globalists had not outsourced almost the entire US manufacturing base to Chicoms, the American blue collar workers would still be prospering, or at minimum enjoying a decent middle class lifestyle. Instead, the Harris-Biden admin is now looking to send coal miners to re-education camps, to learn how to build solar panels.
Climate Czar John Kerry still owns a private jet . . . Federal Aviation Administration records indicate that the family of U.S. Special Envoy for Climate John Kerry owns a private jet, despite his position on combatting fossil fuels in the new administration.
The FAA’s registry shows a Gulfstream Aerospace jet owned by Flying Squirrel LLC, the name previously reported for Teresa Heinz-Kerry’s private charter jet company. The company’s listed address matches that of the Heinz Family Foundation. White House Dossier
Because some animals are more equal than others.
Halting Keystone XL Oil Pipeline Is Good for Russia: Nikki Haley . . .Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley said Wednesday that the Biden administration’s axing of the Keystone XL oil pipeline project and what she said were moves to “ban fracking” both play into Russia’s hands. “[Russian President Vladimir] Putin has to be pretty ecstatic right now,” Haley told Fox News on Wednesday. “One of the things that bothered him the most was how
energy independent we had become.” The United States under the Trump administration became the world’s top producer of oil and maintained its position as the top global producer of natural gas. Epoch Times
Indeed, Biden, by imposing measures that reduce US fossil production and undermine our energy independence, had a good first week for Putin. Russia - whose entire defense economics is reliant on the energy sector - wins bigly, if the US loses its status of the world’s top oil producer that we achieved thanks to Trump's policies. Will the FBI be launching a counter-intelligence probe to determine if Biden is Putin's secret agent?
House GOP leader McCarthy to meet with Trump . . . Donald Trump will host House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy in Florida Thursday for a meeting about . . . something. Not sure what yet.
But the session is the latest sign that Republicans in Washington jumped the gun a bit in starting to distance themselves from Trump. Because the rest of the Republican Party that exists outside the Beltway ain’t ready to do that yet. And it is a sign that despite not having access to Twitter – the former president of the United State not having access to Twitter – Trump is not going underground. White House Dossier
Trump censure faces tough odds in Senate . . . Senators are discussing a long-shot bipartisan effort to censure former President Trump over the Jan. 6 Capitol attack. Members of the upper chamber are pitching their colleagues on the idea as it becomes increasingly clear that Trump’s impeachment trial will hand him a second acquittal after 45 GOP senators backed an effort this week to declare it unconstitutional because the former
president is no longer in office. But the idea is facing both political and procedural roadblocks, with the Senate currently locked into holding an impeachment trial and few GOP senators openly interested. The Hill
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US Air Force warns of decaying nuclear triad . . . Pentagon officials worry that all three legs of the classic nuclear triad, whether launched on land, underwater or in the skies, are showing serious signs of wear and tear. The three legs of the triad, including intercontinental ballistic missiles and ballistic-launching nuclear submarines, are operating “decades beyond their design life,” Lt. Gen. James C. Dawkins Jr., the Air Force’s
deputy chief of staff for strategic deterrence and nuclear integration warned. While rivals such as China and Russia press ahead with major modernization plans, 'we'll basically rust our way into obsolescence,' Lt. Gen. James C. Dawkins Jr. said. Washington Times
On top of that, Biden is rushing to sign the New START nuclear arms control deal with Putin, which will further diminish US nuclear deterrence posture because Russia's vast tactical nuke arsenal - among Moscow's other strategic capabilities - is not accountable to New START. That is the art of the Obiden Admininstration's deal.
Russia’s Putin warns of worsening global instability . . . Russian President Vladimir Putin warned Wednesday that the world risks sliding deeper into instability, speaking by video link during a virtual meeting of the World Economic Forum. Putin pointed at growing inequality and unemployment and a rise of populism as potential triggers for new conflicts that he said could plunge the world into a “dark anti-Utopia.” Putin hailed the
decision by Russia and the United States to extend their last nuclear arms control pact as a positive move, but he added that spiraling tensions have come to resemble the situation before World War II. “I strongly hope that such ‘hot’ global conflict is impossible now. It would mean the end of civilization,” he said. Associated Press
The "former" KGB operative is running a psyop (i.e. psychological covert influence operation) on Biden, pressuring Uncle Joe to extend the New START nuclear deal, which favors Russia and disadvantages the U.S. The main target of Russia's sophisticated nuclear doctrine and modernized atomic capabilities is the United States, which Moscow views as its principal adversary.
China’s Xi Warns Against Confrontation in Veiled Message to Biden . . . Chinese President Xi Jinping issued a veiled warning against the new Biden administration’s preparations to rally allies to challenge Beijing on a range of issues, urging multilateral coordination to tackle global challenges such as the pandemic.
“To build small circles or start a new Cold War, to reject, threaten or intimidate others, to willfully impose decoupling, supply disruption or sanctions, to create isolation or estrangement, will only push the world into division and even confrontation,” Mr. Xi told the World Economic Forum, which this year is convening online instead of in the ski town of Davos, Switzerland. Wall Street Journal
DHS Issues Its First National Terrorism Bulletin for Domestic Extremists . . . The Department of Homeland Security issued its first-ever national terrorism bulletin about violent domestic extremists, warning they could attack in the coming weeks, emboldened by the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol. DHS, in an advisory Wednesday, said violent extremists opposed to the government and the presidential transition “could continue to mobilize to
incite or commit violence,” though the department said it doesn’t have evidence of a specific plot. The bulletin said that violent extremists have been “motivated by a range of issues, including anger over Covid-19 restrictions, the 2020 election results, and police use of force” as well as “long-standing racial and ethnic tension, including opposition to immigration.” Wall Street Journal
The Harris-Biden DHS is "healing and uniting" Americans with more racial rhetoric.
Biden's Pentagon declares climate change a 'national security issue' . . . The Pentagon will now consider climate change when planning war games and will incorporate the issue into its future National Defense Strategy. “There is little about what the [Defense] Department does to defend the American people that is not affected by climate change. It is a national security issue, and we must treat it as such,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said
in a statement. Austin announced the change after President Biden earlier on Wednesday signed a series of executive orders aimed at addressing the climate crisis. The Hill
Good call, General. While Russia and China are sharpening their nuclear capabilities and cyber weapons, Harris-Biden's Pentagon will be swapping swords into ploughshares. Excuse me, into solar panels that is.
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Ultra-Orthodox unrest threatens Netanyahu re-election hopes . . . As he seeks reelection, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has turned to a straightforward strategy: Count on the rock-solid support of his ultra-Orthodox political allies and stamp out the coronavirus pandemic with one of the world’s most aggressive vaccination campaigns. But with ultra-Orthodox communities openly flouting safety guidelines and violently clashing
with police trying to enforce them, this marriage of convenience is turning into a burden. Netanyahu has watched his political partners undermine the country’s war against the virus and spark a public backlash that threatens him at the ballot box. The election will take place on March 23. Associated Press
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Hamptons real estate booming amid COVID-19 pandemic . . . The pandemic may be raging, but Hamptons real estate couldn’t be healthier. In just three months, from October to December, people snapped up an eye-popping $2.159 billion worth of property on the East End, with the sale of just 844 homes. That’s up 133% from the last quarter of 2019, when folks spent $924.82 million on 503 homes, according to a new market report from
Corcoran. Experts said the surge in Hamptons home sales can be directly tied to the pandemic, as people left the city to find more space to live in during lockdown, if they could afford it, and then they left over security concerns following a rise in crime over the summer. New York Post
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Apple urges users to update OS immediately citing security flaws . . . Apple issued a new warning on Tuesday urging iPhone and iPad users to immediately update their device software to the newly released iOS and iPadOS 14.4. The update comes in an effort to fix three security flaws that "may have been actively exploited". Apple credited "an anonymous researcher" for finding the bugs, according to its support webpage. The security flaws
impact the iPhone 6s and later, the iPad Air 2 and later, the iPad mini 4 and later, and the iPod touch (7th generation). Fox Business
I hope the 'anonymous researcher' was not from the KGB-owned Kaspersky Labs.
‘This Is an Emergency,’ Feminist Says About Future of Women’s Sports . . . On his first day in office, President Joe Biden signed a divisive executive order that could ultimately lead to the end of women’s sports as we know them. The “Executive Order on Preventing and Combating Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity or Sexual Orientation” gives biological males who identify as women a pathway to compete in female sports and
enter women’s-only spaces, such as bathrooms. Natasha Chart, the executive director of Women’s Liberation Front, joins “Problematic Women” to explain the implications of Biden’s executive action and why we now face an emergency in the battle to protect women’s athletic opportunities from men. Daily
Signal
Where are all the other feminist loud mouths on this one? Are they willing to stand up for their daughters?
March for Life adjusts to political U-turn on abortion at White House . . . March for Life this year will not be marked by an enormous crowd gathered to celebrate a series of pro-life policy wins at the federal level and the first-ever in-person appearance of a sitting U.S. president. In deference to the COVID pandemic, the 48th annual rally scheduled for Friday will be almost completely virtual, with just a small cluster of pro-life
leaders holding a socially distanced march in Washington. President Trump’s defeat in November triggered the replacement of what has been described as the most pro-life White House in modern history with a staunchly pro-choice administration. Biden-Harris administration has promised to be the most pro-abortion administration in history,” said Jeanne Mancini, president of the March for Life. Biden and Harris commemorated the anniversary of the Supreme Court’s 1973 decision
legalizing abortion by reiterating their commitment to “codifying Roe v. Wade and appointing judges that respect foundational precedents like Roe.” Washington Times
Pakistan court frees Islamist convicted of beheading US journalist Daniel Pearl . . . Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Thursday ordered the release of an Islamist convicted of beheading U.S. journalist Daniel Pearl, a decision that has left his family in “complete shock”, lawyers said. Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, who was the main suspect in the 2002 kidnapping and murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Pearl, was acquitted by a panel of
three judges. “By a majority of two to one, they have acquitted all the accused persons and ordered their release,” a provincial advocate general, Salman Talibuddin, told Reuters. Pearl, 38, was investigating Islamist militants in Karachi after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States when he was kidnapped. Reuters
Barbarians.
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Firefighters attempting goose rescue in Michigan find hunting decoy . . . Firefighters in Michigan said an attempted goose rescue on a frozen river turned out to be the proverbial wild goose chase when the suspected injured bird turned out to be a hunting decoy. Firefighters responded Tuesday to a report of an injured goose on the River Raisin, near Waterloo Park. Photos posted to Facebook by firefighter Austin Schmitt
shows firefighters in rescue gear venturing out on the ice to reach what they believed to be a bird in distress. The firefighters reached the bird-shaped object and discovered it was a decoy water fowl for hunting use.
"It ended up being a good training session, actually," Monroe Township Fire Department Chief Mark Cherney said. "In the end, we can sleep well at night. A bird is not suffering. UPI
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