Cut to the News
Cut through the clutter to today's top news
March 31, 2021
Good morning
Welcome to today's top news.
Leading the News . . .
Biden’s $2T infrastructure plan to be funded by corporate tax hike proposal . . . President Biden on Wednesday will detail his proposal to revamp the nation’s infrastructure, alongside a revenue-raising plan that aims to ensure the nation’s largest corporations are paying their fair share in taxes. Dubbed the American Jobs Plan, the White House said the “once-in-a-century capital investment” in U.S. infrastructure will create “millions”
of good-paying jobs and position America to “out-compete” China by spending about 1% of GDP per year over the course of 8 years.Overall, the plan is to spend $2 trillion over the course of the coming decade. Fox Business
Behind Biden’s Big Plans: Belief That Government Can Drive Growth . . . President Biden envisions long-term federal spending claiming its biggest share of the American economy in decades. He wants to pay for that program in part by charging the highest-earning Americans the biggest tax rates they’ve faced in years. The centerpiece of Biden's ambitious program—a multitrillion-dollar proposal seeks to give Washington a new commercial
role in matters ranging from charging stations for electric vehicles to child care, and more responsibility for underwriting education, incomes and higher-paying jobs.
The administration's regulations are aimed at empowering labor unions, restricting big businesses from dominating their markets and prodding banks to lend more to minorities and less for fossil-fuel projects. The gamble underlying Biden's agenda is that government can be a primary driver for growth. It marks a major turning point for economic policy - a complete reversal of Reagan-era assumptions that have shaped economic policy of both parties since the 1980s:
that the public sector is inherently less efficient than the private at managing resources, and bureaucrats should generally defer to markets. Wall Street Journal
This is a major step in what I would call the "Sovietization" of American economy. Biden's economic policies are placing the United States firmly on the path towards USSR 2.0. It is well-known how this story ends.
COVID's fourth wave is hitting the US hard . . .
A fourth wave of coronavirus infections is beginning to mount in states across the nation as health experts and officials beg pandemic-exhausted Americans to stay vigilant. The United States has reported an average of 65,000 new cases in the last seven days, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), up about 10,000 cases per day since the most recent nadir two weeks ago. While millions of Americans are receiving vaccinations, progress toward herd immunity
has not kept pace with the new spike. Cases are rising in about half the states, led by big spikes in New York and especially New York City, Michigan, New Jersey, Connecticut and Pennsylvania. The Hill
Covid-19 Vaccinations of Pregnant Mothers Also Protect Newborns: Studies . . . Pregnant women who get the coronavirus vaccine pass their antibodies on to their newborns, recent studies suggest, a promising sign that babies can acquire from their mothers some protection against Covid-19. At least three studies have found that women who received either the Pfizer Inc. - BioNTech SE vaccine or the Moderna Inc. shots during pregnancy had
coronavirus antibodies in their umbilical-cord blood. That indicates the women’s babies got the antibodies, too. One of the studies also found antibodies in the breast milk of mothers who had received the vaccine during pregnancy. Wall Street Journal
Watch Fully Vaccinated VP Harris Wearing A Mask Alone On Stage . . . VP Laughs About Parents Learning From School Closures. Harris seemed to find parents struggling during school closures absolutely hilarious during a visit to a West Haven childcare center Friday. Daily
Caller
|
|
WH Says Biden-Harris Branding is to Emphasize VP’s Role . . . The White House on Tuesday elaborated on the use of the term “Biden-Harris administration” as a way to emphasize the importance of the vice president’s role. When asked by a reporter about whether there are deeper reasons behind the “rebranding” of the term—from the “Biden administration” to the “Biden-Harris administration” on the White House website, press secretary Jen Psaki
responded that "Vice President Harris is an important partner.” “She’s the first in the room and the last in the room on most occasions, if she’s in town and not traveling around the country. It’s a reflection of the important role that she will play moving forward.” Epoch
Times
Team Biden tuned out Trump's warnings, modeling on migrant surge . . . The Trump administration warned President Biden’s transition team last year to expect a migrant surge if it followed through on his immigration campaign promises, and even presented modeling to show how bad it might get, a senior official told The Washington Times. Mark Morgan, who was acting commissioner at Customs and Border Protection, also said the Biden team had
given indications they were receptive to the warnings, so the new president’s early move to erase key get-tough policies that had worked to solve the 2019 migrant surge came as a surprise. “We were anticipating that there would be a need based on the modeling. Biden's immigration policy changes came without warning. They just did that,” Mr. Morgan said. Washington Times
Twice as many children in Border Patrol custody under Biden than Trump . . . “The number of migrant children being held in Border Patrol facilities is more than double the record that was set in June 2019 during the Trump administration. Somehow, it’s okay that these kids have been separated from their parents, because it is President Biden doing it, and not Donald Trump. The separation occurring under President Biden is different
only in that it is happening on the other side of the border, with parents making the decision to let their children cross alone because they correctly perceive the Biden administration as more welcoming of illegal immigrants. By this point, Biden knows his policies are causing this, but he refuses to change them. So how is that not cruelty? White House Dossier
Pentagon ‘Not Able to Answer’ If Workplace BLM Advocacy Is Partisan . . . Defense Department press secretary John Kirby said Monday that he was unable to answer whether it is considered politically partisan for service members to advocate for Black Lives Matter (BLM) while at work. “What we’re trying to get after here is the kind of ideology that inspires conduct and behavior . . .” Kirby said, referring to an effort by the Pentagon to
combat “extremist ideology and conduct” in the military that Republicans have called a partisan “political purge.” The exchange came as the U.S. Navy reportedly told sailors in its training on extremism that they should not discuss “politically partisan issues,” but greenlighted discussion on BLM, which it described as a “public policy issue.” Epoch Times
A good friend and former colleague of mine, who has recently received this DOD training at a major intelligence agency, told me that the agency informed the employees that those who are caught discussing unapproved topics may lose their security clearances, and, therefore, employment. A conservative, my friend feels that this is a latest attempt by government apparatchiks to eliminate conservatives from government ranks.
High anxiety over Trump in Georgia GOP . . . Georgia Republicans are growing anxious that former President Trump’s continued influence within the GOP and the party’s deepening internal divisions could undermine their standing in critical races in 2022. The GOP is gearing up to try to unseat Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) in next year’s midterm elections while also defending the governor’s mansion. But several GOP strategists and
operatives expressed concerns that Trump’s looming intervention in the midterms — especially his pledge to support a primary challenge to Gov. Brian Kemp (R) — could only serve to deepen their losses in one of the nation’s fastest-growing and most diverse battleground states. The Hill
|
|
Russia suspected of stealing thousands of State Department emails . . . A previously unreported breach reveals new details of Russian access to U.S. government communications. In response to questions about the hack, a State Department spokesperson and Deputy National Security Advisor for Cyber and Emerging Technology Anne Neuberger acknowledged that “Several federal agencies have been hacked in the last year.” “As part of the
Administration’s SolarWinds review, we discovered broad gaps in cybersecurity defenses across federal agencies," she said, but refused to name specific agencies that were hacked, citing security reasons. The theft of the State Department emails indicates that the suspected Russian hackers have been able to access more U.S. government materials than was previously known to the public. The affected bureaus work on issues related to U.S. allies, including NATO, European and Indo-Pacific partners.
Politico
Iranian hackers targeting US, Israeli medical researchers: analysis . . . A hacking group associated with the Iranian government targeted senior medical researchers in the U.S. and Israel over the past few months, new research released Wednesday found. Cybersecurity group Proofpoint found as part of its report that the Iranian hacking group, known as “Phosphorous” or “Charming Kitten,” had begun targeting around 25 medical professionals in the
fields of genetic, neurology and oncology research in both the U.S. and Israel in December. The Iranian hackers went after their targets in an effort to obtain personal account credentials, using malicious phishing emails to lure the targets to a page masquerading as a Microsoft login page. The
Hill
GOP Blasts ‘Outrageous’ Biden Admin Offer to Roll Back Iran Sanctions . . . Congressional Republicans are calling the Biden administration’s reported plan to roll back sanctions on Iran before it commits to renewed diplomatic talks an unacceptable concession that will only embolden the hardline regime and reward its bad behavior. As Iran continues to balk at U.S. proposals for direct negotiations on a deal, the Biden administration
officials are now said to be offering Iran immediate relief from tough economic sanctions in exchange for commitments to scale back portions of its nuclear program and halt enriching uranium to levels needed for a weapon. That proposal breaks multiple promises from Secretary of State Antony Blinken to not lift sanctions until Tehran agrees to sit down with the United States and other world powers. Washington Free Beacon
|
|
Database reveals secrets of China's loans to developing nations: study . . . The terms of China’s loan deals with developing countries are unusually secretive and require borrowers to prioritise repayment of Chinese state-owned banks ahead of other creditors, a study of a cache of such contracts showed on Wednesday. The dataset - compiled over three years by AidData, a U.S. research lab at the College of William & Mary - comprises 100
Chinese loan contracts with 24 low- and middle-income countries. Much focus has turned to the role of China, which is the world’s biggest creditor, accounting for 65% of official bilateral debt worth hundreds of billions of dollars across Africa, Eastern Europe, Latin America and Asia. Reuters
School makes boys apologize for gender and sexual assaults they didn't commit . . . An Australian school made its boys apologize to its girls on behalf of their gender. Male students at Brauer College in Warrnambool, Australia, were told to apologize for sexual assault during a school assembly on March 24. Many parents were reportedly upset that the activity took place. Danielle Shephard said her 12-year-old son felt confused after
he gave the apology. “He said that he was made to stand up and basically apologize. ... It wasn’t explained properly to the male students what they were doing or why they were doing it,” she said, noting that parents were not warned of the exercise ahead of time. “What they've made the boys do, they've labeled and categorized them into the same category as a perpetrator and a rapist when these boys have done nothing wrong,” another parent said. Washington Times
Another case of lunacy, soon coming to a school near you. How do you explain this one to your young son?
|
|
Biden signs law extending PPP for small businesses until May 31 . . . President Biden on Tuesday signed into law a two-month extension of the Paycheck Protection Program one day before the coronavirus relief fund was poised to expire, giving small businesses until May 31 to apply for a forgivable loan.
Senators voted 92 to 7 to pass the PPP Extension Act of 2021 last week, extending the program's deadline from March 31 and giving the Small Business Administration (SBA) an additional 30 days after that to process pending applications. The House of Representatives also passed the measure on a bipartisan basis. Fox Business
|
|
Suspected hate crime attacker who beat Asian woman in NYC arrested . . . He allegedly beat a 65-year-old woman after hurling anti-Asian statements at her on West 43 Street near Ninth Avenue on Monday morning, cops said. Several witnesses from a nearby residential building — including workers employed there — did nothing to stop the beating, video of the assault shows. Staff members were suspended by the building management after the
attack — and the lack of response — drew national outrage. New York Post
Sickening. Ying Ma, a Chinese American and a good friend of ours writes candidly in her book about the racism she had faced, growing up in a ghetto in Oakland, California. During her recent appearance on Tucker Carlson's show and in her book, Ying bravely described who mostly commits violence against Asians. Check out Ying Ma's website and her book
Chinese Girl in the Ghetto.
"Clear and intentional conspiracy" to portray Papa John's founder as "racist" . . . Newly unsealed recordings of a phone call between Papa John's executives and consultants in 2018 capture discussions of ensnaring John Schnatter, the iconic pizza company's founder, in a discussion that might portray him as being "racist." "I hope he gets fu***ng sent out to the pasture on this sh*t," a voice is heard saying about
Schnatter on the recordings released Tuesday night in litigation between the Papa John's founder and one of his former vendors. Schnatter left Papa John's in 2018 amid controversy over his use of a racial slur during a conference call. Just the News
Major Biden bites again . . . Major is President Biden’s three-year-old German Shepherd. Monday, for the second time, it bit a White House employee. Last time it was the Secret Service. This time it got smarter and bit a gardener, armed with only a hose instead of a Glock 47. Biden has said the dog is getting used to its surroundings. There’s another possible explanation, though: The dog bites. White House Dossier
Give that doggy some professional obedience training!
Fox News guest calls Tucker Carlson a 'conspiracy theorist' during fiery segment . . . A guest on Fox News called prime-time host Tucker Carlson a "conspiracy theorist" and ripped into other conservative thought leaders for questioning coronavirus vaccines and proposed systems that would track who has been vaccinated in the country. Chris Hahn, a liberal firebrand who often appears on the network and spars with more conservative guests,
said that leading voices in the conservative movement should "stop spreading lies about what's going on in this country." Mercedes Schlapp, a conservative activist who was appearing on Tuesday's episode of "The Faulkner Focus" with Hahn, shot back: "You are not going to call me a liar. You are not going to call me a conspiracy theorist. You are not going to call Tucker Carlson a conspiracy theorist." "He is," Hahn shouted back. "He is and you are." The Hill
Having abandoned logic and common sense, leftist radicals are no longer capable of debating issues on merit. They simply resort to screaming and name calling instead.
NRA blasts President Biden over Hunter's 'irresponsible use of firearms' . . . The National Rifle Association was quick to chide President Biden over his son Hunter’s reported firearms misadventures, saying that the Democrat should clean up his own house before cracking down on responsible gun owners. The NRA Institute for Legislative Action raised concerns about the Secret Service’s alleged involvement in the search for Hunter Biden’s
discarded .38-caliber revolver in October 2018, as well as whether the president’s son lied on his background check by denying illegal drug use. ". . . Joe Biden should concern himself with his own family’s irresponsible use of firearms before restricting the rights of responsible law-abiding Americans.” The NRA cited last week’s Politico report saying that the Secret Service sought Hunter Biden’s background check form from a gun dealer in Wilmington, Delaware, who refused to turn over
the Firearms Transaction Record. Washington Times
|
|
19-pound cat, missing for 28 days, found in neighbor's chimney . . . Washington state woman said her 19-pound cat was missing for 28 days before being found in a place she never considered the portly feline could fit -- her neighbor's chimney. Caitlyn Wertenberger said the house next door to her Union Gap home was vacant and under construction when Piper, her 19-pound tuxedo cat, went missing from her house. Wertenberger said she put
up flyers and searched the area, but there was no sign of Piper. 28 days later, after her new neighbors had moved into the home, one of them told her they had been hearing meowing inside their home for about five days. The neighbors invited Wertenberger to come search their home, and she found the feline stuck in the fireplace damper. Wertenberger took Piper to a veterinarian, who said the cat was dehydrated and had lost about 7 pounds during the time she was missing. UPI
So glad that the chubby kitty is okay.
|
|
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.
|
|
|
