Cut to the News
Cut through the clutter to today's top news
February 25, 2021
Good morning
Welcome to today's top news.
Leading the News . . .
Biden revokes Trump exec orders on immigration, funding for 'anarchist' cities . . . President Biden on Wednesday revoked actions by former President Trump that were aimed at cutting off federal funding to “anarchist” cities, restricting legal immigration during the COVID-19 pandemic, requiring classical architecture for federal buildings, enforcing work requirements for welfare recipients and other moves. Mr. Biden also rescinded a Trump
order allowing the Defense Department to exclude itself from collective bargaining requirements. And he revoked Mr. Trump’s order from 2017 establishing “core principles” for federal regulations, as well as a Trump action requiring federal agencies to waive any regulations that could hurt the economic recovery during the pandemic. Washington Times
US hits game-changing moment in COVID-19 fight . . . The U.S. is on the cusp of a game-changing moment in the fight against COVID-19 after a one-dose shot from Johnson & Johnson passed a key regulatory hurdle on Wednesday, giving it a clear path to emergency-use authorization. A FDA review of a large clinical trial found the company's vaccine completely prevented hospitalizations and death and was also mostly effective against
preventing moderate and severe cases of COVID-19. The vaccine may also provide better protection than expected against new variants of the virus. The positive development gives hope that there will be a third vaccine against COVID-19 on the market as soon as this weekend, just days after the U.S. passed the milestone of half a million Americans killed by the virus. The Hill
Biden's Pentagon chief pushes troops to get COVID-19 vaccine . . . Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Wednesday pushed U.S. troops to accept the COVID-19 vaccine when it’s offered to them, the latest effort by the Pentagon to combat a stubbornly high rate of refusal within the armed forces. Pentagon officials said last week that roughly one-third of troops have refused the shot, frustrating officials who are eager to vaccinate as much
of the fighting force as possible. Mr. Austin‘s blunt message to the troops on Wednesday was designed to push back against fears in the ranks that the vaccines may not be safe, or that they may not have undergone enough testing. He encouraged troops to visit the CDC and read about the vaccines before making a decision. Washington Times
For Covid-19 Vaccines, Latin America Turns to China and Russia . . . Western-made shots are scarce, and Beijing and Moscow are stepping in to fill the vacuum. Across Latin America, governments are desperate for coronavirus vaccines as the only way out of a pandemic that has ravaged economies and left hundreds of thousands of people dead. But instead of looking to the U.S. for help, Latin America is so far relying on Washington’s
global rivals: China and Russia. In Argentina and Bolivia, authorities have begun vaccinating with Russia’s Sputnik V, which will soon arrive in Mexico. Chile began inoculating this month with 4 million doses of China’s Sinovac vaccine. Wall Street Journal
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Biden's picks face peril in 50-50 Senate . . . Two of President Biden’s Cabinet nominees are slamming into confirmation hurdles on Capitol Hill. Biden’s pick for the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Neera Tanden, now appears unlikely to be confirmed. And Republicans are solidifying their opposition to Xavier Becerra, Biden’s pick to lead the HHS. Rep. Deb Haaland (D.N.M.), whose prospects were uncertain heading into
Wednesday, received a significant boost later in the day when Sen. Joe Manchin (W.Va.), a key moderate Democrat, announced his support after previously declining to say whether he would vote for her. The hurdles come despite a Democratic majority in the Senate following a pair of victories in Georgia’s runoff elections last month that created a 50-50 split, with Vice President Harris as the tie-breaking vote when needed. The Hill
Biden NASA Pick Invested in Chinese Telecom Giant Blacklisted by Pentagon . . . President Joe Biden's potential pick to lead NASA has a history of investments tied to a Chinese technology giant and has advocated for cooperating with China in space. Former senator Bill Nelson (D., Fla.) is reportedly jockeying to lead America's space agency under Biden. Sources close to Nelson say that his closed-door campaign for the position is more than
a rumor. As a former career astronaut, Nelson would seem a natural to lead the agency, but Nelson's financial and political ties to China could complicate his potential confirmation. Sen. Rick Scott (R., Fla.) criticized Nelson on the campaign trail for holding between $3,003 and $45,000 in a mutual fund invested in China Mobile, a Chinese state-owned telecommunications company. Washington Free Beacon
Biden orders review of critical foreign supply chains . . . Joe Biden will order a review of critical supply chains to reduce the US’s dependence on China and other rivals for everything from rare earths and drug ingredients to semiconductors. President Biden signed an executive order on Wednesday requiring federal agencies to conduct 100-day reviews of supply chains for semiconductors, pharmaceuticals, electric vehicle batteries and
critical minerals used in manufacturing products such as cars and weapons. Financial Times
Oh, no! Forget about weapons' materials, where are we going to get our Advil and Prozac?!
Dems will introduce Bill that would strip pension for president convicted of felony . . . Two key House Democrats will roll out legislation Thursday that would revoke a lifetime pension and other taxpayer-funded perks from former presidents who are convicted of felonies during or after office. Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.) and Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) have authored the Restoring and Enforcing Accountability
of Presidents (REAP) Act. It would reform the Former Presidents Act of 1958 by stripping past presidents convicted of a felony of their $219,200 annual pension, office space and a budget to pay for staff. The legislation does not impact lifetime Secret Service protection for convicted presidents. The
Hill
Epitome of the phrase 'beating the dead horse.'
Trump aide, 27, launches GOP primary bid against Adam Kinzinger . . . Just weeks after voting in support of the second impeachment of former President Donald Trump, U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., is already facing a pro-Trump GOP primary challenger. Catalina Lauf, a 27-year-old who previously served in the Trump administration in the U.S. Department of Commerce, launched her bid Tuesday to oust the 42-year-old incumbent in
Illinois' 16th Congressional District. She suggests that the 'Fake Republican' incumbent does not support the "America First" movement, pointing to his "one in three votes" in Congress that have sided with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. Lauf blasts a 'weak-kneed, establishment Republican for "betraying" his constituents for a life in the D.C. swamp." Fox News
You go, girl!
Congressional Republicans Introduce National Right-to-Work Bill . . . Congressional Republicans reintroduced an act Wednesday that would allow employees to opt out of labor union membership. The National Right to Work Act would repeal provisions that mandate that employees pay union dues as a condition of employment. The bill would achieve this goal by amending existing labor law that allows for the deduction of union dues from
paychecks. The reintroduction of the legislation comes as Democratic leaders signal their support for the Protecting the Right to Organize Act, which would drastically overhaul national labor laws. The act weakens right-to-work laws and recategorizes millions of independent contractors as employees. President Joe Biden said he would support the enactment of the PRO Act. Washington Free Beacon
Congressional Republicans Slam Jimmy Carter Center’s China Ties . . . Congressional Republicans are demanding answers from the Carter Center for its collaboration with Chinese government-backed entities as part of a wider effort to crack down on Chinese influence-peddling efforts in the United States. Rep. Jody Hice (R., Ga.) and three other Georgia Republicans criticized the Carter Center for cohosting events with entities backed by
the United Front, the Chinese Communist Party's foreign influence arm, in a Wednesday letter. The Atlanta-based think tank was founded by its namesake, former president Jimmy Carter. "The United Front is an organization which is deeply hostile to any idea contrary to Communism.… We are deeply troubled that the United Front continues to be given a platform to spread its propaganda in the United States," the letter reads. Free Beacon
Once-secret FBI informant reports reveal wider-ranging spy op targeting Trump campaign . . . Declassified reports show the FBI effort to spy on the Trump campaign was far wider than previously disclosed, as agents directed an undercover informant to make secret recordings, pressed for intelligence on numerous GOP figures, and sought to find "anyone in the Trump campaign" with ties to Russia who could acquire dirt "damaging to Hillary
Clinton."
The once-secret operational handling reports for FBI confidential human source Stefan Halper — codenamed "Mitch" — provide an unprecedented window both into the tactics used by the bureau to probe the Trump campaign and the wide dragnet that was cast to target numerous high-level officials inside the GOP campaign just weeks before Americans chose their next president in the November 2016 election. Just the News
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‘Millions of people’s data at risk’ — Amazon insiders sound alarm over security . . . Your order history. Your credit card information. Even your intimate health data.
Amazon is amassing an empire of data as the online retailer ventures into ever more areas of our lives. But the company's efforts to protect the information it collects are inadequate, according to insiders who warn the company's security shortfalls expose users' information to potential breaches, theft and exploitation. The warnings about privacy and compliance failures at Amazon come from three former high-level information security employees — one EU-based and two from the U.S. — who
told POLITICO they had repeatedly tried to alert senior leadership in the company's Seattle HQ, only to be sidelined, dismissed or pushed out of the company in what they saw as professional retaliation. Politico
US central bank suffered a temporary outage . . . ‘Operational error’ disrupts Federal Reserve payment system and its services that enable interbank payments on Wednesday, forcing it to scramble to restore operations in a vital part of the US financial system. Although the problems were resolved within a few hours, the breakdown will raise concerns about the reliability of the processes that ensure the smooth processing of
up to $4tn of financial transactions every day. The Fed issued a statement on the trouble affecting its payments systems on Wednesday afternoon, attributing it to a mistake without offering further explanation. Financial Times
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Iran demands US “compensate” it for leaving 2015 nuclear deal . . . President Biden must “compensate” the regime in Tehran for former President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the 2015 Iran nuclear accord in order to rehabilitate the pact, according to a senior Iranian diplomat.
“The onus is on the offending party to return, restart, and compensate for the damages as well as to reassure that they would not renege again,” Iranian Ambassador Esmaeil Baghaei Hamaneh, Tehran’s top representative to the United Nations in Geneva, told the U.N. Conference on Disarmament on Wednesday. White House Dossier
German man charged with giving Bundestag floor plans to Russian intelligence . . . German federal prosecutors have charged a German citizen with espionage, saying he passed floor plans of the Bundestag parliament building to Russian intelligence.
The man, identified only as Jens F., obtained PDF files with the floor plans during the course of his work for a company that was hired to maintain electrical equipment in the Bundestag’s buildings, the prosecutor’s office said in a statement. The charges could further strain ties between Russia and Germany, which protested at the arrest of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny shortly after he returned to Russia from months of convalescence in Germany following his poisoning, allegedly by
Russian state security services, last year. Reuters
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Liberal censorship opens door for conservative entrepreneurs, social media star says . . . The social media censorship of conservatives is going to significantly backfire, lawyer and social media influencer Rogan O'Handley who goes by the social media handle @DC_Draino, predicts. By forcing conservatives out of mainstream social media, the left is creating a lucrative business for alternative social
media platforms that are pro-free speech and for entrepreneurs who can provide alternatives that defend American values and allow free speech, O'Handley noted. He pointed out that applications like Telegram, Parler, and Gab are "booming with users and engagement." Just the News
Back in the USSR, we had a big underground publishing business called 'Samizdat' ('self-publishing' in Russian). It wasn't truly a 'business,' in terms of making money - as 'business' was illegal under the totalitarian socialist system - but it provided access for Russian independent thinkers to literature banned by the Soviet government. Of course, you could be imprisoned for running or reading 'Samizdat.'
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Why Are So Many Migrants Rushing To The Southern Border? . . . Changes in Mexican asylum laws and modifications to U.S immigration policy combined with exploitation by smugglers are causing an increase in migrants at the southern U.S. border seeking entry. The Biden administration suspended the ‘remain in Mexico’ program allowing some asylum seekers to enter the U.S. and ended a policy preventing unaccompanied minors
from coming into the U.S. Mexico implemented laws banning migrant families from returning if facilities are full and smugglers in Guatemala are exploiting people saying the administration is taking a softer approach towards asylum seekers. Daily Caller
GOP senators send letter to Bezos asking why Amazon pulled book by conservative author . . . A group of Republican senators is asking Amazon.com Inc. to explain why it recently removed a book about transgender issues that had been on sale on the platform for about three years. In a letter to Amazon Chief Executive Jeff Bezos dated Wednesday, Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida, Mike Lee of Utah, Mike Braun of Indiana and Josh Hawley of Missouri
said a book by conservative scholar Ryan T. Anderson, "When Harry Became Sally: Responding to the Transgender Moment," was no longer available on Amazon or on its Kindle and Audible platforms. Amazon, they wrote, has been "unable to provide a sufficient explanation" as to how the book "supposedly violated a vague, undefined ‘offensive content’ standard." An Amazon spokeswoman didn’t have a comment regarding the letter. Fox News
How ‘Equality Act’ Would Impose Transgender Ideology on Everyone . . . If legislation now before Congress—H.R. 5, dubbed the Equality Act—becomes law, it would add sexual orientation and gender identity as protected classes into the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
Not only a radical and increasingly normalized gender ideology has caused harm, it also soon could become mandated through federal law. “[The Equality Act would create a destructive gender ideology in education, and it would establish a government-favored viewpoint on marriage that would stigmatize children and their parents,” said Emilie Kao, director of the DeVos Center for Religion and Civil Society at The Heritage Foundation. Rep. Vicky Hartzler,
R-Mo. said that the Equality Act would have a wide array of negative consequences. “It is going to lead to potentially harming many of America’s children’s bodies. It’s going to impact what’s taught at the schools. It’s going to discriminate against them,” Hartzler said. Daily Signal
Washington Appeals Court Unanimously Strikes Down Local Gun-Control Law . . . A Washington appeals court struck down an onerous local gun storage ordinance in a victory for Second Amendment activists, who pushed a state law designed to stop strict gun laws from popping up in liberal localities. The Court of Appeals for the State of Washington unanimously ruled Edmonds, Washington, violated state law when it instituted rules for how people
must store firearms inside their own homes. The ordinance conflicts with a law that blocks localities from making their own gun regulations. Second Amendment activists advanced so-called state preemption laws to protect gun owners from having to navigate a patchwork of local regulations. Washington Free Beacon
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78 pounds of wool sheared from sheep found living in the wild . . . A sheep found living in the wild in Australia was given an overdue shearing and instantly lost 78 pounds. The Edgar's Mission Farm Sanctuary said the sheep, now named Baarack, was found living in the wild near Lancefield, Victoria, and rescuers believe he was on his own for several years.
The sanctuary said it appeared that Baarack once had an ear tag, but his overgrown fleece caused the tag to be torn out. Baarack was given a shearing, his first in several years, and the removed wool weighed in at a staggering 78 pounds. Rescuers said the fleece was so badly overgrown that it covered part of the sheep's face and severely limited his ability to see. The sanctuary said Baarack now has a permanent home at the facility. UPI
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Rebekah Koffler
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