WORLD NEWS
Russia Says Tucker Carlson Interview of Vladimir Putin Has Taken Place
The interview with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin announced by Tucker Carlson has been confirmed to have taken place by the Kremlin.
Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Russian President had spoken in person to American journalist Tucker Carlson. Per Russian state media, Peskov said “Yes, I can confirm this” and “as soon as it… is ready, it will be released”.
Explaining why Russia had agreed to give Carlson an interview when it had turned down other Western journalists, Peskov said while he didn’t consider Carlson pro-Russian, he wasn’t pro-Ukrainian either, merely pro-American, and consequently “He has a position that differs from the rest [of Western media]… at least it is contrastingly different from the position of traditional Anglo-Saxon media”.
Anglo-Saxon is a common Russian dog whistle referring to what they perceive as a negative impact on global politics by white northern Europeans as represented by Washington D.C., London, and Brussels.
It was revealed that Tucker Carlson had arrived in Moscow over the weekend, and he confirmed his own presence, and his intention to interview the Russian President, in a social media statement on Tuesday evening. Carlson said interviewing Putin was important — although dangerous — because, in his view, one-sided reporting from the establishment media has left many Americans ignorant of much of what was happening with Russia.
The journalist called some reporting of the Ukraine war, which he said blindly parroted Ukraine government information, “government propaganda”.
“We are not here because we love Vladimir Putin”, Carlson said last night, remarking: “We are here because we love the United States. And we want it to remain prosperous and free.”
Tucker Carlson claimed in his clip on Wednesday that other news outlets hadn’t “bothered” to try interviewing Putin at all, a remark that was challenged by some journalists who claimed to have tried but failed in that endeavor. The Kremlin said they did receive interview requests from Western broadcasters but turned them down on the grounds they do not attempt to “at least look impartial in terms of covering what is happening”.
“All of these are media that take a one-sided position… there is no desire to communicate with such media, and there is hardly any point in this, it is unlikely that there can be any benefit from this”, Putin spokesman Peskov said.
Condemnation of Mr Carlson for interviewing President Putin has been swift, with U.S. figures like neoconservative writer Bill Kristol, paraphrasing a meme to write: “Perhaps we need a total and complete shutdown of Tucker Carlson re-entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on” and former Congressman Adam Kinzinger claiming simply: “He is a traitor”.
Arch Eurocrat and would-be scourge of populists everywhere Guy Verhofstadt called Carlson a “mouthpiece” for Putin and “an enemy of everything the US stands for”, while sometimes Ukraine transgender army spokesperson Sarah Ashton-Cirillo said Carlson was the “Kremlin’s favorite court eunuch” and an “enemy of humanity”.
White House Fury Over Tucker Carlson Interviewing Putin
The White House said Wednesday that Vladimir Putin should not be given another mouthpiece to justify his war in Ukraine, after right-wing US talk show host Tucker Carlson interviewed the Russian president.
The former Fox News host, a key ally of 2024 election candidate Donald Trump and a vocal opponent to US military aid for Kyiv, traveled to Moscow for Putin’s first interview with a Western journalist since Russia’s February 2022 invasion.
“It should be very obvious to everybody what Mr Putin has done in Ukraine, and the completely bogus and ridiculous reasons for which he tried to justify it,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters aboard Air Force One.
“I don’t think we need another interview with Vladimir Putin to understand his brutality.”
Carlson has not said when the interview will be broadcast but mentioned it will be free to watch. After being sacked by Fox News last year, he started a show on the Elon Musk-owned social media platform X, formerly Twitter.
Carlson’s visit to Moscow has been covered heavily by Russian state media, which has long highlighted the US celebrity’s anti-Ukraine talking points.
Carlson’s access to Putin is a huge contrast with restraints on other foreign journalists in Russia, where two US citizens — Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and Radio Free Europe’s Alsu Kurmasheva — are currently imprisoned.
The open doors for Carlson also come against the backdrop of the Kremlin’s two-decades-long dismantling of the free press, with prominent Russian journalists murdered and many more forced to live abroad under Putin.
The Kremlin however contradicted Carlson’s own claim that he was the only Western journalist who had “bothered” to request access to Putin since the invasion.
“We receive many requests for interviews with the president,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters when asked whether Carlson was the only person who asked for a sit-down with Putin.
He said Carlson’s more pro-Russian position contrasts with what he called “the traditional Anglo-Saxon media.”
Putin has long been admired by the hard-right in the United States, including by Trump, who has a history of praising the Kremlin leader, for example calling him a “genius” and more credible than US intelligence.
EU Politicians Threaten to Sanction Tucker Carlson for Interviewing Vladimir Putin
European Union lawmakers have called for Brussels to impose sanctions on American
journalist Tucker Carlson for interviewing Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Despite the longstanding tradition of American journalists interviewing dictators of all stripes, including a leader of the Soviet Union during the height of the Cold War, top Eurocrat Guy Verhofstadt has called for Tucker Carlson to face EU sanctions for sitting down with the Russian strongman.
The former Belgian Prime Minister and strong Brexit opponent, who currently serves in the European Parliament, told Newsweek: “As Putin is a war criminal and the EU sanctions all who assist him in that effort, it seems logical that the External Action Service examine his case as well.”
The process for the EU to sanction an individual is typically a lengthy one, with evidence first needing to be presented to its External Action Service — the bloc’s diplomatic arm, run by Spanish
socialist Josep Borrell — before being put to the European Council for a final decision.
However, before the interview with Putin, which the Kremlin confirmed on Wednesday, Verhofstadt also suggested that Carlson could face being banned from entering the EU, which could feasibly be imposed sooner, writing on Monday: “Tucker Carlson is surely on the path to being labelled a propagandist for the Russian regime. If he enables disinformation for Putin, the EU should explore a travel ban!”
Although the European Union, the United States and NATO are not officially at war with Russia, some, including former U.S. Congressmen Adam Kinzinger have accused Carlson of being a “traitor” for interviewing Putin. Verhofstadt, for his part, branded Carlson “an enemy of everything the US stands for” and a “mouthpiece” for the Kremlin.
Hungary Vows to Block EU Sanctions Against Tucker Carlson over Putin Interview
Hungary has vowed to block censorious attempts from globalist Eurocrats such as Guy Verhofstadt to impose sanctions on Tucker Carlson for interviewing Russia’s Vladimir Putin.
Amid the left-wing establishment furore over Carlson’s decision to interview the Russian head of state, former Belgian prime minister and current member of the European Parliament, Guy Verhofstadt called for an EU travel ban to be imposed on the American journalist and for the bloc to begin the process to levy sanctions External Action Service, the EU’s diplomatic controlled by Spanish socialist Josep Borrell.
However, the body does not have unilateral authority to sanction individuals but rather can merely present evidence to the European Council, the executive arm of the EU composed of the heads of state or government of the EU member states, any of whom has the power to veto a decision.
Therefore, socially conservative Hungary has the ability to block the EU from sanctioning Carlson and on Tuesday confirmed that it would do so if the measure was put before the Council.
Responding to a news story about the potential of EU sanctions on the American journalist, Balázs Orbán, the political director of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán wrote on social media: “Don’t bother trying – we won’t let it happen!”
The instant shutdown from Budapest will likely further rile Verhofstadt, who has been at the forefront of calling for the elimination of veto power for EU member states over Hungary’s opposition to funding for the war in Ukraine.
The principle of unanimity and the enforcement mechanism of national veto powers, in a similar fashion to the allocation of senators or electoral college votes in the United States, was an essential component of the formation of the European Union as it guaranteed that smaller member states could not be entirely overpowered by larger nations such as France or Germany.
However, as the power of Brussels has grown, there has been a growing disdain for conservative countries such as Hungary and Poland defending their ideals and interests.
Hillary Clinton: Tucker Carlson Is Putin’s ‘Useful Idiot’ — ‘He’s Like a Puppy Dog’
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Wednesday on MSNBC’s “Alex Wagner Tonight” that Tucker Carlson was a “useful idiot” to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Wagner said, “Tucker Carlson is in Moscow right now interviewing Vladimir Putin. The first American – I’ll say – journalist to interview Putin since the war in Ukraine began. What does not tell you about Tucker Carlson and right-wing media and also Vladimir Putin?”
Clinton said, “Well, it shows me what I think we’ve all known. He’s what is called a useful idiot. I mean, if you actually read translations of what’s being said on Russian media, they make fun of him. I mean, he’s like a puppy dog. You know, somehow, after having been fired from so many outlets and the United States, he– I would not be surprised if he emerges with a contract with a Russian outlet because he is a useful idiot.”
Netanyahu, in English, Rejects Hamas Demands: ‘Peace and Security Require Total Victory’
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered an English version of his earlier remarks to the Israeli media in Hebrew on Wednesday evening, rejecting the idea that Hamas would be allowed to use hostage negotiations to survive the war it started.
Netanyahu’s response came after details of a Hamas counter-offer emerged in ongoing negotiations over a deal to release the Israeli hostages — roughly 136, at least 32 of whom are believed to be dead — in exchange for a pause in the fighting in Gaza.
Hamas wants Israel to withdraw its military completely from Gaza and to stop the fighting — conditions that Israel will not accept. It is also demanding the release of thousands of convicted Palestinian terrorists serving long sentences, among other conditions.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, on a diplomatic mission to Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Qatar, Israel, and the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank had already met with Netanyahu earlier Wednesday by the time Netanyahu delivered his address.
Later, in his own press briefing, Blinken made an accusation, without evidence, that Israel is trying to “dehumanize” Palestinians.
Popular TikTok transvestite outed as a pedophile who stalked a mother and molested her children
A cross-dressing TikTok star has been exposed in court as a pedophile who molested children and stalked a family into homelessness.
The mother of the victims told the pedophile in court Tuesday, “You can wear any mask you like, but the truth is out and everybody knows who you really are, finally.”
The Adelaide Advertiser reported that the middle-aged man who calls himself Rachel Queen Burton was arrested in October 2022 by the elite Joint Anti Child Exploitation team over crimes that took place in rural and regional South Australia in 2019.
Burton, a self-described “proud Trans Woman living [his] best life with no regrets,” initially denied the allegations; however, he has since pleaded guilty to aggravated counts of producing and possessing child porn, gross indecency, and indecent assault.
Judge Rauf Soulio of the South Australia District Court heard that Burton repeatedly molested two children prior to his rise as a local LGBT icon on TikTok, where he netted over 36,000 followers and frequently appeared with the transgender flag.
The victims’ mother told the court that she fled with the kids upon discovering the abuse, but that they were pursued by Burton.
The mother indicated she managed to take the children to a police-issued safe house, but even there, safety proved illusory as Burton “showed up at the window, peering in,” prompting them to flee again, reported the Advertiser.
“No food, scared children, too scared to go anywhere, never knowing if you could find us,” said the mother. “When the children did sleep, nightmares haunted them.”
Burton appeared in court via video link from a men’s prison during the hearing, affording the mother an opportunity to address him.
U.S. NEWS, POLITICS & GOVERNMENT
Can the 14th amendment take Trump off the ballot? Supreme Court to hear case Thursday
The U.S. Supreme Court today will consider whether former President Donald Trump’s role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol disqualifies him from the presidency.
The historic case could have huge consequences for this year’s election if the justices decide that Trump, the front-runner for the GOP nomination, is barred by the Constitution from returning to the White House.
It’s the biggest presidential election case since the Supreme Court decided Bush v. Gore in 2000, effectively confirming the election of George W. Bush.
It’s also a major test for the Supreme Court, which has been rocked by ethics scandals, criticism over its 2022 decision to overturn Roe v. Wade and low public approval ratings.
And it’s not the only case about Trump the justices will be deciding. Trump is expected to appeal a lower court’s ruling that he is not immune to criminal charges he tried to overturn the 2020 election.The Supreme Court is deciding whether Colorado’s highest court was wrong to exclude Trump from Colorado’s primary ballot. The state court said Trump is disqualified under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, an anti-insurrection provision added after the Civil War to keep government officials who sided with the Confederacy from returning to power.It’s the first time the nation’s highest court will hear a case on Section 3.
The provision bars people who took an oath to support the Constitution from holding office again if they engaged in insurrection. The clause says:
“No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.”Of the dozens of challenges to Trump filed around the country, the Colorado case is the only one that has succeeded in court so far. Maine’s secretary of state, a Democrat, ruled in December that Trump is ineligible for that state’s ballot. That decision, which Trump is appealing, is on hold until the Supreme Court rules in the Colorado case.
Court Says Maine Must Disclose Voter Rolls to Election Integrity Group
A federal appeals court has ruled in favor of a conservative-backed group, concluding that Maine’s restrictions on the release of voter lists violated the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA).
The Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) filed a lawsuit in February 2020 after the Maine Secretary of State’s office denied the foundation’s request for a copy of the state’s voter registration file and voting histories in 2019.
In a ruling on Feb. 2, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit said that disseminating voter file information to the public is “necessary” if members of the public or organizations are “ever to identify, address, and fix irregularities in states’ voter rolls by exercising their private right of action under the NVRA.”
The court said the evaluation of voter registration rolls “would be impossible if the results of Maine’s voter list registration and maintenance activities were not subject to public disclosure.”
In addition, the court ruled that Maine’s fines and restrictions on the use of voter roll data are “real obstacles” to achieving Congress’ intent for transparency and oversight under the NVRA.
Organization spokesperson Lauren Bowman said the group sued to ensure its researchers can compare voter rolls in one state against those in another and that it had no intention of publishing the rolls.
PILF President J. Christian Adams called the decision a “monumental victory for transparency in elections.”
Mr. Adams said in a statement that Maine’s restrictions “would have prohibited basic voter roll research and limited PILF’s ability to share its findings with the public,“ and that ”PILF was prohibited from comparing Maine’s and New York’s voter rolls” to identify duplicate registrations.
“Other states should think twice before passing laws that restrict the public from accessing the voter file and speaking about any errors,” he added.
Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows said she remains “deeply concerned” because voter information has been previously shared online, something state officials had argued could subject voters to harassment.
“No Mainers should be afraid that by registering to vote that their information will be published online and that they’ll face threat, harassment and other harms,” Ms. Bellows, a Democrat, said in a statement.
NJ Political Organizer Charged Over 2022 Ballot Fraud Scheme
A New Jersey political organizer and operative who has worked with both major parties has been arrested and charged with election fraud, federal prosecutors announced.
Craig Callaway, 64, a former Atlantic City council president, was arrested on Feb. 7 and charged with one count of depriving, defrauding, and attempting to deprive and defraud New Jersey residents of a fair and impartially conducted election process by the fraudulent procurement, casting, and tabulation of ballots.
According to federal prosecutors, Mr. Callaway and people working for him approached people in Atlantic City in the fall of 2022 and offered $30 to $50 for one day of work at the Atlantic County Clerk’s Office.
People who accepted the offer were transported to the office by Mr. Callaway and his workers. Once there, they handed over their identification, which Mr. Callaway and his subordinates used to fill out a part of mail-in ballot applications identifying themselves as authorized messengers for others, according to authorities.
The people took the forms into the office and received mail-in ballots for people they did not know, prosecutors said. The people gave the ballots to Mr. Callaway and his workers. The ballots were later cast under the names of other people and many were counted in the official election tally.
New Jersey law requires voters to apply for mail-in ballots at least seven days before an election. A voter can designate an individual as a “messenger” who is then authorized to acquire their mail-in ballot and take the ballot to that person.
Once filled out, the ballots can be delivered by “bearers” on behalf of the voters.
If convicted, the law brings a penalty of up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 or twice the gain or loss from the offense.
“Holding free and fair elections is a bedrock principle of our democracy. As alleged in the complaint, the defendant attempted to deprive New Jersey residents of a fair election by fraudulently procuring and casting ballots,” U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey Philip Sellinger, an appointee of President Joe Biden, said in a statement.
Poll: Black and Hispanic Voters Fleeing Democratic Party in Growing Numbers
The Democratic party is shedding support from black and Hispanic voters in growing numbers that will challenge President Joe Biden’s re-election effort, a poll released Wednesday shows.
Among black Americans expressing a party preference, the Democratic lead over Republicans has dropped by almost 20 percent in barely three years, according to the Gallup survey.
The Democratic lead among Hispanic adults and adults aged 18 to 29 also slid by almost the same degree, leaving the party with only a modest advantage as it readies for the challenges of a 2024 campaign.
Gallup found the loss is only partially offset by modest gains among college-educated Americans, both with or without college degrees, outlining in detail:
The Democratic Party’s wide lead over Republicans in Black Americans’ party preferences has shrunk by nearly 20 points over the past three years.
Democrats’ leads among Hispanic adults and adults aged 18 to 29 have slid nearly as much, resulting in Democrats’ holding only a modest edge among both groups.
Whereas Democrats were at parity with Republicans among men as recently as 2009, and among non-college-educated adults as recently as 2019, they are now in the red with both groups.
“These shifts in the party affiliation of key subgroups provide the demographic backstory for how Democrats went from enjoying significant leads over Republicans between 2012 and 2021, to slight deficits in 2022 and 2023,” the research company said in a statement accompanying the survey.
“The 27% of US adults identifying as Democrats and the 43% identifying as or leaning Democratic are both new lows in Gallup’s trend.”
The Gallup data comes from combined surveys in 2023 among 12,145 adults. As a whole, there is a margin of error of one percentage point.
For the smaller groups, however, the margins of error are larger, between two percentage points and four percentage points.
Trump Wins 2024 Endorsement From International Union of Police Associations
The International Union of Police Associations (IUPA) announced on Tuesday that it’s endorsing former President Donald Trump for president in the 2024 election.
In announcing its endorsement, the group called President Trump’s support for law enforcement unparalleled while labeling Democrats and their policies as soft on crime.
“President Trump’s history of support for the men and women of Law Enforcement is unmatched,” IUPA President Sam Cabral said in a Feb. 6 statement. “His policies and actions were directed at improving safety in our communities and the men and women who provide that shield. He has earned and deserves our wholehearted support.”
By contrast, the association’s chief put Democrats and their policies on notice for making the country less safe.Much of the Democrat doctrine “supports defunding the police; favors sanctuary cities, open border, and reduced accountability for criminal behavior,” Mr. Cabral wrote.
“The tragic result is apparent in those cities who have embraced these policies,” he continued, pointing to forced business closures and the “plight that followed.”
“Roving gangs are terrorizing retail businesses, raiding them with absolute impunity, akin to a thousand year past – regressive rather than their own progressive ideology,” he wrote.
“They have not dealt with the consequences of their own failed strategies, while we have all suffered. President Trump has reminded the world of the greatness of this country; he is the right person to continue to make America even greater,” he added.
Rescuers Searching for 5 Marines After Missing Helicopter Found
Rescuers are searching for five U.S. Marines after a missing helicopter on which they were flying was located on Feb. 7, but snowy conditions were impairing the search.
The helicopter was found by searchers in Pine Valley, California, at 9:08 a.m. PT, according to a spokesperson for the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing. Pine Valley is about 45 miles from San Diego.
The Marines have still not been located.
“The 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing is managing search and rescue efforts through the Wing Operations Command Center and using ground and aviation assets to locate the aircrew in coordination with the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department and multiple federal, state and local agencies,” the spokesperson said in an email to The Epoch Times.
The helicopter was last seen near the Cleveland National Forest. Snow fell Wednesday in the sparsely populated mountains.
The snow was making it hard to access the area, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire), which was assisting with the search, said in a statement.
Trump Civil Fraud Trial Judge Demands Answers on Rumors of Perjury Plea Deal
New York Justice Arthur Engoron pressed former President Donald Trump’s legal team on Tuesday for clarification amid a report that the former finance chief of the Trump Organization may be negotiating a plea deal for perjury in his civil fraud case.
Alan Weisselberg, a co-defendant in the civil case, is reportedly in talks with Manhattan prosecutors regarding a potential plea deal, according to an article published in The New York Times on Feb. 1. The deal, according to unnamed sources with knowledge of the matter, would purportedly require him to admit guilt to perjury charges related to his testimony in the trial before Justice Engoron.
The justice expressed concern over the potential implications of perjury in an email to counsels Kevin Wallace, Clifford Robert, Alina Habba, Chris Kise, Andrew Amer, Colleen Faherty, and Louis Solomon.
The article reports that Mr. Weisselberg “would have to admit that he lied on the witness stand” and during a pre-trial interview in the case Justice Engoron presides over.
“As the presiding magistrate, the trier of fact, and the judge of credibility, I, of course, want to know whether Mr. Weisselberg is now changing his tune and whether he is admitting he lied under oath in my courtroom at this trial,” Justice Engoron wrote. A copy of the email was sent to Allison Greenfield, the judge’s chief law clerk.
The reported perjury deal relates to allegations that Mr. Weisselberg lied about the size of President Trump’s Manhattan penthouse. However, if the reported perjury deal is true, Justice Engoron noted that he’d consider dismissing Mr. Weisselberg’s testimony on other matters.
“Although the Times article focuses on the size of the Trump Tower Penthouse, his testimony on other topics could also be called into question. I may also use this as a basis to invoke falsus in uno,” the justice wrote. This means that if he lied about one thing, he could be lying about everything.
The trial centers on allegations that the former president and his company, The Trump Organization, defrauded banks, insurers, and others by allegedly overvaluing his assets and exaggerating his net worth in documents used in deals and to secure loans.
Justice Engoron, who concluded the 10-week bench trial late last year, is expected to issue a ruling as early as this week after delaying the verdict, which was originally due by Jan. 31.
Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell’s days leading the Republican minority could be numbered following the collapse of Senate leadership’s bipartisan national security supplemental aid bill this week. Several prominent Republican senators expressed that the border bill debacle could push the GOP conference over the edge to remove McConnell from leadership, they told the Daily Caller in exclusive conversations Wednesday.“Mitch McConnell, in effect, gave the largest in-kind campaign contribution to the Democrats’ Senate campaign committee in history,” Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz told the Caller.
Conservatives both inside the official Republican Party apparatus and out have long criticized McConnell, an institution in the Senate with a reputation for shrewd negotiation and savvy maneuvering, for not taking sufficiently hardline stances on key issues to the party’s base. McConnell has continued to keep a stranglehold on power in the Republican conference for nearly two decades, but momentum to remove him has reached a fevered pitch after a tidal wave of backlash to the border policy proposal unveiled this week.
“I think this is our opportunity to take him out, and we’re sort of working to figure out if that’s possible. I think that there’s a bit of a chicken and egg problem where I think you probably have the votes, but you need somebody to step forward and that person’s that unwilling to step forward unless you have the votes, it can’t just be a Mike and Ted and a sort of everybody who hates Mitch thing,” one Republican senator, who was granted anonymity to speak freely without worry of retaliation from leadership, told the Caller. “You obviously have to get kind of the middle of the conference. So that’s all being worked on behind the scenes. And I think, frankly, how this vote works out will help determine whether the conference, broadly speaking, is willing to go in that direction.”
McConnell put Oklahoma Republican Sen. James Lankford in charge of border deal negotiations with Democrats and the Biden administration. Every Senate Republican the Caller spoke with laid the blame on McConnell, however, saying he was the one truly crafting the deal behind the scenes and used Lankford, who is not running for reelection, as a pawn to take the fall for what the lawmakers said is a gift to their opponents.
“Every single Democrat candidate in the country running for Senate, running for House will use the identical talking points — they will all say: We wanted to secure the border. We tried to secure the border, but the Republicans wouldn’t let us,” Cruz continued. “Now, that is a wild-eyed lie. It is completely false. This bill would have made the border crisis worse.”
“As long as I’ve been serving in the Senate, there’s never been an issue where the American public is so overwhelmingly in support of our position, which is to secure the border. So how can you take as leader, how do you take an issue where the American people support us and lead us into a box, where now, when a bill is produced, it is worse than doing nothing,” Republican Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson said. “When that’s rejected, we get blamed. I mean, you got to work overtime to screw that up.”
“I’ve even heard privately, Democratic colleagues, tell me ‘your leadership was desperate to make a deal, that it made us less willing to negotiate’. So this is an open secret that these guys were not driving a hard bargain and you see the results in the border package that came out,” Republican Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance told the Daily Caller. “And now we’re seeing the second step of the process, which is kill the border package. Jam through the Ukraine package. It doesn’t make any sense.”
Illegal Alien Freed into U.S. by Biden’s DHS Charged with Killing Young Mother, Toddler
An illegal alien, released into the United States from the southern border via President Joe Biden’s parole pipeline, is now charged with killing a young mother and her three-year-old daughter in the sanctuary county of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.
Brayan Alejandro Gonzalez-Paez, a 22-year-old illegal alien from Venezuela, has been charged with two counts of vehicular homicide, accidents involving death while driving without a license, and more charges for the deaths of 20-year-old Anjelica Guadalupe Amaya Briceno and her three-year-old daughter.
According to the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office, Briceno and her daughter were in the vehicle with Gonzalez-Paez — driving without a license at the time — when he struck a tree, which killed both of them.
Gonzalez-Paez was driving 70 to 80 miles per hour (mph) where the speed limit was 35 mph. Police noted that it was raining heavily when the fatal crash occurred. The toddler was not in a child’s car seat.
FOX 29 Philadelphia’s Steve Keeley reports that Gonzalez-Paez had crossed the southern border in May of last year, was given parole, and released into the U.S. interior thanks to Biden’s expansive catch and release network.
In 2023, alone, Biden’s parole pipeline freed more than 745,000 border crossers and illegal aliens into American communities — a foreign population that exceeds two months of U.S. births.
New York vigilantes take down ‘migrant’ on live TV – but he was from the US
As Sean Hannity was interviewing the founder of the Guardian Angels, a New York City-based vigilante group known for targeting immigrants, an off-screen disturbance took place and the camera panned to show group members confronting an unidentified man, pushing him to the sidewalk and placing him in a headlock.
The bizarre incident played out Tuesday night during the primetime segment on Fox News meant to highlight alleged disorder and crime Hannity claimed was caused by asylum seekers arriving in New York City.
Curtis Sliwa, the Guardian Angels founder, proclaimed: “In fact, our guys have just taken down one of the migrant guys on the corner of 42nd and 7th where all of this has taken place.” Throwing his hands in the air, he added: “They’ve taken over!”
The man is not a “migrant” but rather a New Yorker from the Bronx, police said Wednesday afternoon. Though Sliwa claimed the man had been caught shoplifting, police provided no evidence to support the allegation.
While the disturbing altercation played out on national television, Hannity blasted Democrats “for the surge of Joe Biden’s unvetted illegals in New York. And that could be because the so-called border czar is a little distracted right now,” alluding to vice-president Kamala Harris.
According to a New York police department spokesperson, officers arrived to find a man “detained by bystanders” after he allegedly tried to disrupt a live interview. Police said the man had been issued a disorderly conduct summons because he had been acting in a loud and threatening manner on a public sidewalk.
The spokesperson did not respond to questions about whether any members of the Guardian Angels were under investigation for their role in the altercation.
The incident came after a brawl in Times Square between police and a group of people generated waves of backlash against the city’s asylum seekers. Some advocates for immigrants have blamed local officials and the police department for stoking fears of a “migrant crime wave”, even as the city’s crime rate remains largely unchanged since the arrival of tens of thousands of asylum seekers.
In an interview with the Associated Press, Sliwa said he had believed the man was a migrant because he had been “speaking Spanish” and because other Guardian Angels had encountered him with other Spanish speakers on previous patrols.
“He was put down so he wouldn’t hurt himself or anyone else,” said Sliwa, who has admitted in the past that he has fabricated stories of criminal behavior to sensationalize the issue of immigration.
The Guardian Angels have been a fixture in New York City since 1979 when Sliwa founded them to patrol the streets and subways during the city’s high-crime days. They have drawn criticism, including allegations of targeting people of color.
City councilmember Erik Bottcher, who represents the area around Times Square, said the group should not be detaining people without legal authority.
“Vigilantism is not the answer,” Bottcher said. “When civilians take justice into their own hands, it can escalate conflicts and lead to even more dangerous situations, putting everyone at risk.”
Yet …
Three Florida sheriffs have gone on national news and told Floridians to get a gun, a concealed carry license and be ready to use it… They know what’s coming… They don’t say what’s coming, but we all have a pretty good guess….
VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHuzjU9dqR0
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
Tesla sells only one car in South Korea during January
Amid multiple issues plaguing electric vehicle (EV) sales in South Korea, Tesla has managed to sell only one of its vehicles in this country during January in what has been its worst month since July 2022, when it failed to sell a single EV in this market, data shows.
Specifically, safety concerns, high prices, rising interest rates, a lack of charging infrastructure, and the public waiting for the South Korean government to announce subsidies for buying EVs have all affected the sales of Tesla’s cars, according to a report published on February 7.
Indeed, the perfect storm of the above factors has led to Tesla selling only one EV – its Model Y SUV – in the entire East Asian country that, according to the 2023 estimates by the United States Central Intelligence Agency’s World Factbook, had close to 52 million citizens.
On top of that, it has contributed to a slowdown in enthusiasm and the massive decline of 80% in the number of new EVs registered in South Korea across all carmakers in January compared to December, as per data assembled by Seoul-based researcher Carisyou and the country’s trade ministry.
‘Consumers Are Weary’: McDonald’s Shares Tumble After Executives Acknowledge Price Inflation
McDonald’s executives have finally acknowledged that their $18 Big Mac meals and other
inflated prices are putting off lower-income customers.
“We certainly know consumers are more wary or weary of pricing,” Chief Financial Officer Ian Borden told investors during a Monday earnings call.
The transcript of the conversation, which Business Insider obtained, also revealed that CEO Chris Kempczinski said that McDonald’s customers — especially those making less money — are placing smaller orders than in previous years.
During an October earnings call, company executives told investors that the price increases “largely hadn’t put customers off,” according to the Insider analysis.
According to Borden, menu prices increased by around ten percent in 2022 and again in 2023.
A Big Mac burger, a medium beverage, and a medium fry meal now costs $18 in some locations, up $10 from 2018 when former President Donald Trump was in office, Breitbart News reported in November 2023.
“Where you see the pressure with the U.S. consumer is that low-income consumer,” Kempczinski said during the recent call. “Call it $45,000 and under. That consumer is pressured.”
“From an industry standpoint, we actually saw that cohort decrease in the most recent quarter, particularly, I think, as eating at home has become more affordable.”
Echoing comments he made during the October investor call, the CEO said that McDonald’s was not seeing “any real change in behavior” among middle and upper-class customers.
As for the low-income demographic, the fast-food giant plans to focus on more cheap menu items in the $1-3 range.
“The battleground is certainly with that low-income consumer,” Kempczinski added, saying that increased attention on “affordability” is needed.
After the executives’ comments were made public, McDonald’s shares tumbled by nearly four percent, ABC News reported.
Consumer Borrowing Screeches To A Halt
Americans largely stopped piling debt onto household balance sheets in December, data
from the Federal Reserve showed Wednesday.
Total consumer credit inched up just $1.5 billion in December, on a seasonally adjusted basis. Economists had expected ten times as much growth in consumer debt.
In November, consumer credit climbed by $23.4 billion.
That’s the lowest increase since last August, when consumer credit levels actually declined. But that decrease was driven by the Biden administration’s student loan forgiveness plans that courts declared illegal. If not the the student loan scheme, consumer credit would have risen in August as credit card debt jumped the most since the prior November.
Revolving credit, which is mostly credit cards, inched up at a seasonally adjusted one percent rate of growth in December. A month earlier, it registered a 16.6 percent rate of growth.
Before seasonal adjustment, revolving credit rose by $16.2 billion, down from the $39.8 billion month- to-month increase in November.
HEALTH
Ohio Health Department backpedals on proposed adult gender-affirming care restrictions
Ohio’s Health Department on Wednesday said it was striking a number of provisions that would have limited access to gender-affirming medical care for transgender adults in the state from a set of proposed administrative rules, citing a deluge of public comments opposing the restrictions.
Ohio’s Republican Gov. Mike DeWine in January said he had directed the state Department of Health and Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services to file rules for public comment that would have made Ohio one of the most restrictive states in the nation for adults seeking access to gender-affirming care.
One day earlier, DeWine vetoed legislation to ban gender-affirming care for minors and prevent transgender student-athletes from competing on sports teams consistent with their gender identity. Ohio’s GOP-dominated Legislature voted to override the governor’s veto of the bill, House Bill 68, on Jan. 24.
The new law is set to take effect in April, though an impending legal challenge from the ACLU could halt its enforcement before then.
Draft rules filed by Ohio’s health departments shortly after DeWine’s Jan. 5 announcement drew almost immediate backlash from LGBTQ advocates and medical professionals for restrictions that would have limited access to care for transgender minors and adults.
Former Alabama gov, nonprofit partner to abolish medical debt in Black Belt region
The medical debt nonprofit RIP Medical Debt will be abolishing medical debt for thousands in Alabama’s Black Belt region thanks to a partnership made possible by former Gov. Don Siegelman (D).
The partnership will relieve a total of $4,193,799.11 for 5,411 residents in Alabama, according to Siegelman. This debt was bought out by RIP Medical Debt through a donation of roughly $24,000 from local entrepreneur Bart McCorquodale, an acquaintance of Siegelman’s, who runs a moving and decorating company out of Birmingham.
Foreign suppliers add pressure to US pharmaceutical supply shortages: Lawmakers
Recent prescription medication shortages have left U.S. patients fearing they won’t be able to access necessary medicines, but lawmakers raised concerns over how to fight shortages at a Tuesday hearing of the House Ways and Means Committee.
Americans “should not have to rely on adversarial nations to stock their medicine cabinets,” panel Chair Jason Smith (R-Mo.) said, referring to China.
In a hearing called to examine U.S. chronic drug shortages, lawmakers expressed concern over a recent report that found more than 80 percent of pharmaceutical active ingredients are imported into the U.S. from foreign manufacturers, primarily China and India.
China dominates the global pharmaceutical market because it “has developed policies as a government about sectors of the pharmaceutical market they want to enter and in fact dominate,” said Stephen Schondelmeyer, director of the PRIME Institute at the University of Minnesota.
“They subsidized the companies involved, they developed the infrastructure hubs — they have whole areas larger than the D.C. area that are manufacturing products. Then they at times engage in predatory pricing, or even dumping of product in the market to drive other players out of the market,” Schondelmeyer said.
“We’ve got to stop kidding ourselves, and figure out how we’re gonna be in this game in a bigger way,” Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.) said.
If the U.S. wants to become less reliant on China, it could take years to assemble the capabilities, Schondelmeyer said.
This Popular Diet Leads to Plaque in Your Arteries
One of the biggest factors for developing heart disease is plaque buildup in the arteries. Experts say that diet plays a critical role in this risk factor. Since heart disease is still the number one cause of death in the U.S., it’s important to pay attention to the foods you eat along with other risk factors that contribute to the accumulation of dangerous plaque, such as Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, smoking cigarettes and other poor lifestyle habits.
But according to heart experts, following the very popular ketogenic diet is one of the biggest mistakes you can make if you want to prevent plaque buildup that can ultimately lead to a heart attack.
“Recently, there are a lot of people pushing a high-fat, low-carb keto diet,” says Dr. Ali Haider, an interventional cardiologist at New York-Presbyterian Queens in Parade . “Despite what folks might hear out there, a high saturated fat diet is one of the worst diets when it comes to plaque buildup.”
Haider recommends the tried-and-true Mediterranean diet. This diet plan has been scientifically shown to benefit heart health, says Haider, and is low in saturated fat.
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
Multiple viral videos of Tesla drivers wearing an Apple Vision Pro headset while letting the car drive itself has people sounding the alarm about Elon Musk’s notoriously dangerous assisted driving technology.
Mashable reports that multiple videos of Tesla drivers wearing the new Apple Vision Pro headset while driving using the vehicles “Full Self-Driving” feature has caused worries about potential safety issues. In one video, a 23-second clip shows a Tesla driver taking his hands off the steering wheel and concentrates on controlling the headset’s virtual reality display. The video was posted on February 2, the day the new Apple headset went on sale. It has amassed over 24 million views.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) opened an investigationinto Tesla last year after fatal crashes involving Autopilot. The probe found the system’s driver monitoring features to be inadequate. Tesla even acknowledged to regulators that Autopilot’s controls “may not be sufficient to prevent driver misuse.”
Autopilot can steer, accelerate and brake automatically but cannot drive without human oversight. Apple specifically warns against using the Vision Pro headset while operating any vehicle.
ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT
Bugs on the Menu? Biden’s Climate and ESG Policies Threaten Food Supply, Think-Tank Warns
A new report from the right-leaning think-tank The Buckeye Institute sounded the alarm on the Biden administration’s net-zero climate-control policies and that agenda items threaten U.S. food production.
The report, released on Feb.7, found that the climate policies and mandates guided by the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) agenda that is being pushed by the Biden administration carries a hefty price tag for American farmers and consumers.
“To better appreciate the true costs that American farms and households will likely pay for the Biden administration’s net-zero policies and objectives, The Buckeye Institute’s Economic Research Center developed a model corn farm that must play by the government’s new carbon emission rules,” wrote report authors Trevor W. Lewis and M. Ankith Reddy, who are both economic research analysts at the think-tank.
“The farm’s operational costs, as expected, all rose significantly,” they added.
Crunching the numbers, the researchers found that U.S. farmers will see their operational costs rise by an estimated 34 percent as a result of the Biden administration’s net-zero emissions policies.
Not only did the model predict that the government’s carbon pricing policies would raise farm operating costs, consumers also face a hit to their wallets.
“Carbon pricing will increase the average U.S. grocery bill by $110 per month, $1,330 annually, or 15 percent,” the researchers estimated.The government’s net-zero policies that the Buckeye report took into account in its analysis include the implications of rejoining the Paris Climate Accords, which targets greenhouse gas emissions.
In order to achieve the climate pact’s objectives, the Biden administration committed to cutting America’s greenhouse gas emissions by 50–52 percent by 2030 and to reach economy-wide net-zero emissions by 2050.
“Achieving the administration’s desired decarbonized economy will require aggressive climate-emission reduction policies that drain and replace fossil fuels from every sector of the U.S. economy,” the report’s authors wrote.
The Biden administration has already started implementing stringent regulatory policies meant to cut carbon emissions from America’s energy industry, while a looming final rule on ESG reporting, due to enter into force in April 2024, threatens to push carbon compliance onto other industries.
GARDENING, FARMING & HOMESTEADING
Video: When to Stop Turning Chicken Eggs and Other Incubation Troubleshooting
15 Veg Seeds you’d be Foolish Not to start in February (Don’t Miss Out!)
You heard that right, February is the perfect month to start and grow your seeds into seedlings. For some, it may be a bit early. It may be cold, there is loads you can start sowing already! Contrary to popular belief that it’s better to wait, I believe February is the perfect time to starting various vegetables and herbs seeds. You can begin with cold-hardy veggies for your spring garden and also get ahead with warm-season crops for summer.
This gives you the opportunity to enjoy the gardening process early on and to grow annual vegetables even in the colder part of winter. Plus, starting your seeds now means you’ll be rewarded with an early harvest come spring and summer! The trick is to use the best germination method for the type while factoring in the potential swings in February’s weather.
Some of the crops need to be started from seed indoors and transplanted outdoors when the weather is right. Others thrive best by direct sowing outdoors.
In this guide, I’ve put together a handy list of seeds perfect for sowing in February, complete with tips on how to sow them and nurture those early seedlings. Let’s dive into making your garden thrive together!
2ND AMENDMENT
A rifle-toting intruder forced his way into a home in Midland, Texas, early Saturday morning — but the homeowner put the intruder in a chokehold, and police said they found the intruder dead.
Midland police said George Samuel Butler, 37, entered a home in the 1400 block of Daventry Place “by force with a rifle,” MRT.com reported, after which the homeowner placed the suspect in a chokehold “in an apparent case of self-defense.”
Police said they responded to the scene just after 4 a.m. after a report of a disturbance with weapons and found Butler dead, the outlet added.
The Midland Police Department’s Crimes Against Persons Unit and Crime Scene Unit also responded to the scene, next of kin were notified, and the investigation into the fatality continued.
MRT.com added that Butler was previously arrested for burglarizing a home in Midland.
COVID RELATED NEWS
CDC Appears at Odds With Own Expert Advisory Committee Over Masks for Health Care Workers
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has asked its expert advisers to include more recommendations on mask-wearing in guidance for health care workers despite their research suggesting they need only be worn under certain circumstances to protect against coronavirus and common seasonal viral respiratory infections.
Two years ago, the health agency selected a group of science experts—known as the CDC’s Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee—and asked them to update its hospital infection control guidelines, which had not been updated since 2007.
The experts have significant knowledge across an array of subjects including infectious diseases, infection prevention and control, health care epidemiology, nursing, clinical and environmental microbiology, health policy, health services research, public health, and more, according to the CDC’s website.
In June 2023, the group sent the health agency a draft document (pdf) detailing their updated advice for controlling infections.
In it, they noted that studies and scientific evidence had shown that there was “no difference among HCP (health care personnel) wearing N95 respirators and those wearing surgical masks,” effectively stating there was no difference in infection rates among health care providers who wore N95 masks versus those who wore surgical masks in the clinic.
The group did, however, note flaws in the data, and “strong concerns with the strength of this evidence,” including that over half of the studies they analyzed were retrospective in nature, which raised the concern of recall bias, or memory, potentially affecting the results. Many of the studies also did not report on compliance and respirator fit was not assessed in a majority of the pandemic, they said.
Despite those flaws, the committee still concluded that health care workers need only wear surgical masks when treating patients infected by common or endemic viruses such as regularly occurring respiratory infections.
The committee did, however, recommend the use of N95s in cases where patients are infected with new or emerging respiratory pathogens for which vaccines, immunity, and effective therapies are not available.
In another set of updated draft guidance (pdf) submitted to the CDC in November, the expert panel noted evidence suggests that masks only work for “source control;“ effectively infected people wearing a mask to help prevent them from infecting others.
CANCEL CULTURE
Canceled: Disney+ Loses 1.3 Million Subscribers After Hiking Prices More Than 25 Percent
Disney fans battered by inflation are hitting the “Cancel” button in droves.
The Disney+ streaming service lost 1.3 million subscribers worldwide during the last three months of 2023 as a steep price hike took a toll on fans’ wallets. In the U.S. and Canada alone, the streamer bid goodbye to 400,000 customers — Disney+’s largest-ever reported domestic decline.
The drop represents a major hit for Disney, which has been pouring billions of dollars into its streaming services without yet reaching profitability. Domestic Disney+ subscriptions have stagnated at around 46 million for the past year, an ominous sign for a streaming service that is only four years old.
The left-wing studio recently hiked Disney+’s monthly subscription price to $13.99 from $10.99 — a 27 percent increase. In 2022, the price rose to $10.99 from $7.99, which means Disney+ subscribers saw their monthly bill climb a total of 75 percent in less than two years.
The latest price increase took effect in October.
Like other streamers, Disney is trying to force subscribers to its ad-supported option, which costs $7.99 a month — the old price for Disney+ without commercials. Studios make more money from ad- supported streaming options due to the revenues from commercials on top of the monthly subscription fees.
Disney+ subscribers worldwide currently stand at 111.3 million, which doesn’t include HotStar customers in India. That’s still a long way off from Netflix, which boasts around 260 million customers around the world.
On Wednesday, Disney announced that its streaming services — which also include Hulu — lost $216 million for the final three months of 2023. That represents an improvement over more recent quarters, when the company was losing more than $1 billion on streaming.
Disney is coming off a disastrous 2023.
From an unprecedented string of box-office flops to continued streaming woes, the woke company failed to mount a comeback after an even more disastrous 2022.
Disney also spent 2023 doubling down on gay and transgender messaging to children. As Breitbart News reported, GLAAD recently announced that Disney (and Netflix) produced more LGBTQ content than any other major Hollywood studio.
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