Cut to the News
Cut through the clutter to today's top news
March 23, 2021
Good morning
Welcome to today's top news.
Leading the News . . .
White House elevates VP with 'Biden-Harris Administration' directive . . . It’s officially not the Biden administration, but the Biden-Harris administration. According to a report at Outspoken, “a top White House communications team member” has sent an email directing that official usage at all federal agencies include Vice President Kamala D. Harris. “Please be sure to reference the current administration as the ‘Biden-Harris
Administration’ in official public communications,” the directive reads. The phrase “Biden-Harris Administration” is emphasized in bold face. The email was provided to Outspoken by “an employee of a federal government agency.” The source worked for a “bipartisan” federal agency that deals with foreign relations but not affiliated with the State Department, which implies a broadening scope to the “naming Harris” practice. The websites of all 15 Cabinet-level executive departments
already refer to the Biden-Harris administration. Washington Times
Kamala Harris laughs after reporter asks if she plans to visit border: 'Not today!' . . . Vice President Kamala Harris laughed while responding to a question from a reporter who asked Monday if she would be visiting the border amid the growing migrant crisis.
While taking questions from reporters outside of Air Force One, Harris was asked if she had "plans to visit" the southern border as the immigration crisis continues to develop. The vice president responded to the query with a "not today" before laughing. The White House did not immediately respond to Fox News’ question as to whether Harris’ response was appropriate, given the situation at the border that the Biden administration refuses to call a "crisis." Fox News
Study: adults under stay-at-home orders gained nearly two pounds a month . . . American adults gained half a pound on average for every 10 days spent under stay-at-home orders, a new study finds.
In a study posted online by the JAMA Network health journal, researchers from University of California San Francisco found that participants under stay-at-home orders gained on average 0.59 pounds every 10 days spent under lockdown — a finding that could indicate as many as 20 pounds gained over the course of 2020 and early 2021 for some newly-remote workers. The primary causes of the weight gain were "likely reflective of changes in physical activity and patterns of daily living, as
well as concurrent self-reported increases in snacking and overeating." The Hill
U.S. health body questions AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine trial data . . . AstraZeneca may have released outdated information on its latest COVID-19 vaccine trial, giving an “incomplete” picture of its efficacy, a leading U.S. health agency said on Tuesday, casting doubt on the shot’s potential U.S. rollout and plunging its developers, once again, into controversy. The surprise public rebuke from federal health officials comes just one
day after interim data from the drugmaker showed better-than-expected results from the U.S. trial. Reuters
The data shows lockdowns end more lives than they save . . . Now that the 2020 figures have been properly tallied, there is still no convincing evidence that strict lockdowns reduced the death toll from COVID-19. But one effect is clear: more deaths from other causes, especially among the young and middle-aged, minorities and the less affluent. The best gauge of the pandemic’s impact is what statisticians call excess mortality, which
compares the overall number of deaths with the total in previous years. That measure rose among older Americans because of COVID-19, but it rose at an even sharper rate among people aged 15 to 54, and most of those excess deaths weren’t attributed to the virus. Some of those deaths could be undetected COVID-19 cases, and some could be unrelated to the pandemic or the lockdowns. But preliminary reports point to some obvious lockdown-related factors. There was a sharp decline in visits
to emergency rooms and an increase in fatal heart attacks because patients didn’t receive prompt treatment. Many fewer people were screened for cancer. Social isolation contributed to excess deaths from dementia and Alzheimer’s. Analysis/Opinion New York Post
Regeneron and Roche's antibody cocktail shown helping in COVID-19 cases . . . New late-stage trial data show Regeneron and Roche’s antibody cocktail against COVID-19 cut hospitalisation or death by 70% versus a placebo in non-hospitalised patients, the Swiss drugmaker said on Tuesday. The shot, consisting of casirivimab and imdevimab antibodies developed by Regeneron with financial help from the U.S. government, also met all key secondary
endpoints in the phase III trial with 4,567 participants, including reducing symptom duration to 10 days from 14, Roche said. Roche, which is making the drug at its plants in California expects hundreds of millions in sales in 2021 from the drug, including $260 million alone to the U.S. government in the first quarter. Reuters
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'Absolute power grab': Dems' election overhaul extends far beyond ballot box . . . Democrats are championing their massive election overhaul as a voting rights bill, but their proposal reaches far beyond the ballot box, with dictates on how candidates may run for office and restrictions on how states can challenge the sweeping regulations in court. At least six sections in the more than 800-page bill potentially run
afoul of the Constitution, legal scholars say, including requirements that states offer automatic and same-day voter registration, rules on the expansion of mail-in voting and provisions for creating commissions charged with redrawing congressional districts. The bill also calls for an ethics code for the Supreme Court and mandates that presidential candidates disclose their tax returns. The bill, which is titled the For the People Act, takes the unusual step of mandating a singular process
for challenging the proposed laws. Washington Times
Biden Obama In ‘Regular Touch’ . . . President Joe Biden and his policy teams have been in “regular touch” with President Barack Obama on “a range of issues,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters Monday. A reporter questioned Psaki on if and how frequently Biden has consulted with Obama since gaining office. Psaki said Biden and Obama are close friends and have spoken over the phone several times. She also said Biden
expects to continue consulting with Obama on healthcare issues as he works to improve upon the Affordable Care Act. Daily Caller
Conservative group says polling shows Dems' voting rights bill 'out of sync with American voters' . . . The Honest Elections Project, a conservative group that advocates for more restrictive voting laws, is releasing polling on Tuesday arguing that H.R. 1, Democrats' sweeping election reform and voting rights bill passed by the House earlier this month, is “out of sync with American voters.” The group's memo, which will be sent to members
of Congress and state legislators on Tuesday ahead of a critical Senate hearing on the bill, cites polling it commissioned in which a majority of respondents support voter identification laws and agree that “strong safeguards and ballot protections inspire confidence by making it harder to hide fraud.” “H.R. 1 is out of sync with American voters. Few embrace its particular provisions, or its guiding principle . . . " Honest Elections Project executive director Jason Snead writes in the
memo, a copy of which was obtained by The Hill
Trump ramps up activities, asserts power within GOP . . . Former President Trump is reemerging on the political scene after a months-long hiatus, and Trump World insiders expect him to ramp up his activity even more as the midterm elections get closer.
Trump on Monday called into Fox News and a new podcast hosted by conservative commentator Lisa Boothe for the kind of freewheeling interviews that were commonplace over the past five years. The ex-president blasted President Biden for the border surge and railed against Republicans who have criticized him. Trump also reiterated his claims about election fraud — a topic that many Republicans are eager to move on from. The Hill
Trump reveals who he thinks is future of ‘stacked’ Republican Party . . . Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Sens. Josh Hawley, Ted Cruz and Rand Paul, as well as South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem and Arkansas gubernatorial hopeful Sarah Huckabee Sanders. These are the people Donald Trump views as the future of the Republican Party, he revealed in a new interview Monday. Speaking on the debut episode of “The Lisa Boothe Show,” the 45th
commander-in-chief made the remarks after being asked who he believed were the ones to watch in the next era of the Grand Old Party. “Well, I think we have a lot of people, we have a lot of young good people,” Trump said. New York Post
Do You Miss Me Yet? A Tell-All with President Trump . . . The 45th president gives Lisa Booth his most in-depth interview since leaving the White House. They discuss everything from the crisis at the border to who President Trump would endorse in 2024 if he doesn’t run. Plus, President Trump shares his message for his supporters at a time when they are under attack from the radical left. Gingrich 360
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Iran threatens to kill US Army general, attack DC base: report . . . Iran has reportedly threatened to attack an Army base in Washington, DC — and kill Gen. Joseph M. Martin in a USS Cole-style attack. The National Security Agency intercepted communications in January indicating that Iran’s Revolutionary Guard discussed carrying out an assault against Fort McNair to kill Martin, the Army’s vice chief of staff, according to
senior intelligence officials. The NSA picked up the chatter among members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard’s elite Quds Force discussing how to avenge the killing of Gen. Quassem Soleimani, Iran’s top military leader, by the US in January 2020. Business & Politics Review
Palestinians Funneled Hundreds of Millions to Terrorists, State Dept Report Reveals . . . The Biden administration privately confirmed to Congress last week that the Palestinian Authority has continued to use international aid money to reward terrorists but said the finding won't impact its plans to restart funding. In a non-public State Department report obtained by the Washington Free Beacon, the administration said the Palestinians
spent at least $151 million in 2019 on its "pay-to-slay" program, in which international aid dollars are spent to support imprisoned terrorists and their families. Financial statements further indicate that at least $191 million was spent on "deceased Palestinians referred to as ‘martyrs.’" Despite this practice, which violates U.S. law and prompted the Trump administration to freeze aid to the Palestinians, the "Biden-Harris Administration has made clear its intent to restart assistance to the
Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza," according to the report. Washington Free Beacon
Cyber attacks multiply on wealthy investors . . . While the internet’s instant global reach has brought rich families many new investment opportunities, it has also increased exposure to cyber crime. The Covid-19 pandemic, which has forced many rich people and their family office managers to work at home, has further increased the opportunities for fraudsters to exploit communications links. The approaches to individual investors and
their advisers is similar to the attacks on family offices. Hackers monitor the victims' the email correspondence, learning to impersonate the tone and language used — even gleaning private family news and the names of partners and children. Typically the scenario is that a client is contacted by a fraudster pretending to be from the authorities. Then they make up a plausible excuse why the client should withdraw their investments from the current investment firm and move it to another
account, which ends up being the fraudsters. Financial Times
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Russia says US refused Biden-Putin live debate amid tensions . . . The Russian Foreign Ministry is blaming the United States for hurting relations by refusing a proposal to hold a live-broadcast discussion between President Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin. “We regret to note that the American side has not supported the proposal made by President of Russia Vladimir Putin to US President Joe Biden to hold a live-broadcast
discussion on March 19 or 22, 2021, on the problems that have accumulated in bilateral relations, as well as on the subject of strategic stability,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Biden on Friday had given the proposal the cold shoulder, saying in response to a question about the offer: “I’m sure we’ll talk at some point.” The Hill
Darn. That would have been entertaining.
US and EU to revive joint effort to handle more assertive China . . . The US and EU are poised to reboot a joint effort on how to handle an increasingly assertive China, days after working with the UK and Canada to impose sanctions on officials over human rights abuses in Xinjiang. Antony Blinken, US secretary of state, will relaunch the US-EU China dialogue with Josep Borrell, EU foreign policy chief, on Wednesday in Brussels. The
dialogue will focus on human rights and security. In addition to imposing sanctions over the treatment of Uyghurs in Xinjiang on Monday, the US last week announced tough measures against Chinese and Hong Kong officials for undermining the autonomy of the financial centre. Financial Times
Russia, China push for U.N. Security Council summit, lash out at West . . . Russia and China said on Tuesday they wanted a summit of permanent members of the U.N. Security Council amid what they called heightened political turbulence, with Moscow saying they both believed the United States was acting in a destructive way. The two allies, whose relations with the West are under increasing strain, made the call for a summit in a joint
statement after talks between their foreign ministers in the city of Guilin. “At a time of increasing global political turbulence, a summit of the permanent members of the U.N. Security Council is particularly necessary to establish direct dialogue about ways to resolve humankind’s common problems in the interests of maintaining global stability,” they said in a statement. Reuters
Russia urges China to ditch US dollar to bust sanctions . . . Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov wants China “to move away” from relying on the U.S. dollar for international trade in order to undermine the power of U.S. sanctions. “We must consolidate our independence,” Lavrov told Chinese state media. “So, we must reduce our exposure to sanctions by strengthening our technological independence and switching to settlements in
national and international currencies other than the dollar. We need to move away from using Western-controlled international payment systems." Treasury Department sanctions authorities have proven a powerful financial weapon in the hands of U.S. policymakers, who can ban anyone who does business with pariah governments from the U.S. financial system. Lavrov’s proposal to blunt that tool punctuated a trip to China that allowed Moscow and Beijing to signal a united front against Washington
after officials in both capitals clashed with President Biden and his national security team. Washington Examiner
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Biden Admin Officials Put Together $3 Trillion Economic Plan . . . Administration officials are crafting a plan for a multipart infrastructure and economic package that could cost as much as $3 trillion and fulfill key elements of President Biden’s campaign agenda. The first proposal would center on roads, bridges and other infrastructure projects and include many of the climate-change initiatives Mr. Biden
outlined in the “Build Back Better” plan he released during the 2020 campaign. That package would be followed by measures focusing on education and other priorities, including extending the newly expanded child tax credit scheduled to expire at the end of the year and providing for universal prekindergarten and tuition-free community college, the people said. Wall Street Journal
Biden wants to raise taxes on wealthy Americans who got richer during pandemic . . . President Biden is committed to fulfilling a key campaign promise and raising taxes on high-income earners amid growing evidence that many wealthy Americans benefited financially from the coronavirus pandemic. The wealthiest 1% of U.S. households saw their collective fortune grow by more than $4 trillion last year, buoyed by record-high stock prices and an
increase in property values. The bottom 50% saw their fortunes increase by just $470 billion, according to Federal Reserve data. The bill is widely expected to serve as a vehicle for a slew of tax hikes. Fox Business
Insurance Companies Reaping Benefits from Protests, Get in Line with Black Lives Matter . . . Following the death of George Floyd, the world's largest insurance companies spoke up in favor of Black Lives Matter. Even as they were paying out unprecedented claims due to the destruction caused by Black Lives Matter protesters and those seizing their mantle, the companies issued statements and coughed up donations to support the movement.
This summer's unrest cost the industry more than a billion dollars in riot damage, the largest such loss in U.S. history. Those losses are now in danger of affecting employees' pay, industry insiders said, but not their employers' stance: As of February 18, Chubb was planning a panel with Black Lives Matter whose promotional materials included a pro-Black Panther documentary and an enjoinder to "stay woke," according to emails reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon
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Adam Schiff 'took the bait' with FISA memo, ex-House Intel investigator says . . . House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff "took the bait" with the Democratic rebuttal to a Republican memo on alleged surveillance abuses by the Justice Department and FBI, according to a former investigator on the panel. Kash Patel, an attorney who went on to take top national security roles in the Trump administration, told the Epoch Times in an
interview last week about his strategy for writing the GOP memo, released in early 2018 over Democratic claims of politicization, that accused officials of misusing the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to spy on ex-Trump foreign policy adviser Carter Page as part of the investigation into former President Donald Trump's potential ties to Russia that started during the 2016 campaign. Washington Examiner
FBI had doubts about Russia informant's allegation that helped prompt Mike Flynn probe . . . Five days before the FBI formally opened the Michael Flynn probe in summer 2016, a confidential informant alleged to agents that Donald Trump's national security adviser had left a 2014 foreign meeting alone with a Russian woman. Agents ultimately deemed the account "not plausible" and "not accurate" but proceeded to investigate Flynn anyway, newly
declassified documents show. FBI confidential human source (CHS) reports show Stefan Halper, an academic who long worked for the bureau as a trusted informant, was the original source of a story that Flynn had left a 2014 event in Cambridge, England, with the Russian scholar Svetlana Lokhova while he was still the head of the Defense Intelligence Agency. The story was later leaked to the news media and became the focal point of a defamation lawsuit by Lokhova that is now on
appeal. It also was listed in FBI documents as part of the reason the bureau opened a counterintelligence probe of Flynn. Just the News
Lawyer Linked To Steele Dossier Works For Dems To Overturn Results Of Iowa Election . . . Attorney Marc Elias is spearheading the recount effort to keep Floridian Bill Nelson in the U.S. Senate. House Democrats have hired Marc Elias, the elections lawyer linked to the infamous Steele dossier, to help in their bid to overturn the results of an Iowa House race won by a Republican incumbent.
Tthe Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) is paying Elias to represent the campaign of Rita Hart, a Democrat who lost by six votes to Rep. Mariannette Miller-Marks. House Democrats will have significant control over the appeals process, raising concerns among Republicans that the process will be rigged against them. Daily Caller
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Ohio man calls police after raccoon ‘ransacked’ kitchen, hid in dishwasher, police say . . . Police in Ohio were surprised to discover a "masked bandit" in a local home on Monday, but it wasn’t a burglar – at least, not a human one. A North Ridgeville resident phoned authorities after discovering a raccoon hiding in his dishwasher.
Police sent their "resident absurd animal call officer," Patrolman John Metzo, to investigate. Sure enough, Metzo found a raccoon sleeping in the dishwasher when he arrived. The animal had broken in through a bathroom light and "ransacked the kitchen" before settling in for a nap under some dirty dishes, according to police. Metzo is known locally in the city west of Cleveland for responding to other odd calls involving animals like when a kangaroo got loose from its pen in 2015
and the time a cow fell off a trailer and wandered away in 2019. Photos from the latest call show the critter crouched inside the dishwasher, and then led away on a leash by the officer. It took about 17 minutes to coax the raccoon out from his impromptu bed, news agency South West News Service (SWNS) reported. "All in a day’s work… for John," police wrote, adding that "No raccoons were harmed in the making of this Facebook post." Fox News
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