News and Headlines: In The News, Politics, World News, Commentary/Opinion.
In The News:
30 Years of Research Rebut Biden’s Minimum-Wage Agenda
The analysis, published Monday by the National Bureau of Economic Research, combed through academic literature on the minimum wage and determined that nearly 80 percent of studies conducted since 1992 have found that an increased minimum wage leads to a decrease in the level of employment.
The results of Neumark and Shirley’s survey are not rosy for minimum-wage advocates.
They find that some 80 percent of results are negative, with roughly half being both negative and statistically significant.
Most of the studies that find large, positive effects of the minimum wage on unemployment are from the early part of the period surveyed, suggesting that they may be using less accurate data or less effective methodology.
Judge bars Biden from enforcing 100-day deportation ban
U.S. District Judge Drew Tipton issued a temporary restraining order sought by Texas, which sued on Friday against a Department of Homeland Security memo that instructed immigration agencies to pause most deportations.
Tipton said the Biden administration had failed “to provide any concrete, reasonable justification for a 100-day pause on deportations.”
Tipton’s order is an early blow to the Biden administration, which has proposed far-reaching changes sought by immigration advocates, including a plan to legalize an estimated 11 million immigrants living in the U.S. illegally. Biden promised during his campaign to issue the moratorium.
Chick-Fil-A Took Over A Vaccine Line After A Glitch, And Saved The Day
According to KULV, a local radio station, Mount Pleasant Mayor Will Haynie reached out to nearby Chick-fil-A Manager Jerry Walkowiak, who came to the rescue when the line grew to about an hour’s wait.
“When you need help, you call the pros,” Haynie wrote in a tweet.
South Carolina ranks 43rd among all states and territories in vaccination progress, with 5 percent of its population having received at least one shot, according to The New York Times, although the margins between states remain razor-thin.
Georgia and Pennsylvania share the same progress in the early stages of the rollout with 5 percent of the state populations each having received at least one dose.
Ex-WH Press Secretary McEnany Heads to Fox News
The watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington cited her White House termination financial disclosure report showing that she’d reached a deal with the network in January to jump aboard this month. Her role wasn’t specified.
McEnany is following a path of other ex-White House workers, The Hill noted.
Black diversity vice chancellor rebukes white people for Capitol riot, demands they ‘fix’ their ‘freaking families’
In a lengthy Facebook video, Spaulding — who is a pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Colorado Springs and a former U.S. congressional candidate — said that it was up to “white people” to fix their families, thus repairing democracy, which is “failing because of racism.”
“Black justice workers are not OK,” she began the video and later said that black justice workers will not be OK until “every doggone white person out here recognizes that this is the result of white supremacy, this is your fault, this is on your watch for sitting by silently.”
“I don’t need a hug, I need you [white people] to fix your freaking families, I need you to fix yourselves, I need you to fix this!” she demanded and insisted that democracy is a failure in the United States because of racism.
Pregnant Women Should Not Use Moderna’s COVID-19 Vaccine, Says WHO
The WHO’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization — called SAGE — announced several recommendations on Moderna weeks after issuing previous guidance on Moderna’s rival vaccine, from Pfizer and BioNTech.
However, research explaining this recommendation has yet to be seen — for either Moderna’s or Pfizer’s vaccines.
“While pregnancy puts women at a higher risk of severe COVID-19, the use of [the Moderna] vaccine is currently not recommended, unless they are at high risk of high exposure (e.g. health workers),” read a statement on WHO’s blog post.
Duke Energy customers in North Carolina could save more than $1.1B from coal ash settlement
The settlement between the company, state officials and environmental group Sierra Club holds Duke Energy accountable for a share of the cost to clean up coal ash across the state, Attorney General Josh Stein announced Monday.
It is unclear how much the savings breaks down for each of Duke’s 3.4 million customers in North Carolina.
The settlement, which must be approved by the Utilities Commission, only splits the ash management expenses from 2015 through 2030.
Still, Duke said customers would see instant savings if the agreement is approved, and it would reduce coal ash costs included in the pending rate requests by 60%, Duke Energy said.
Utility to pay $2B settlement in deadly 2018 California fire
Edison, which acknowledged no wrongdoing, said the agreement covers all claims in pending lawsuits from insurance companies related to the Woolsey fire, which blackened 151 square miles (391 square kilometers) of Los Angeles and Ventura counties.
Three people died in the November 2018 fire, and more than 1,600 homes and other buildings were destroyed.
In addition, Edison said it has finalized settlements from the December 2017 Thomas fire and mudslides a month later on land that burned.
MyPillow’s Mike Lindell permanently banned from Twitter
Twitter made its decision Monday night based on a policy it enacted after the Capitol insurrection whereby people who repeatedly share election misinformation can be permanently banned.
“The account you referenced has been permanently suspended due to repeated violations of our Civic Integrity Policy,” the spokesperson told CNN.
It is not immediately clear which tweets lead to Lindell’s ban. Under the policy, it takes five or more infractions to draw a permanent suspension.
Politics:
Sen. Ted Cruz reintroduces amendment imposing term limits on congressional members
“The rise of political careerism in today’s Congress is a sharp departure from what the Founders intended for our federal governing bodies,” Cruz said.
“I have long called for this solution for the brokenness of Washington, D.C., and I will continue fighting to hold career politicians accountable.
As I have done in the past, I urge my colleagues to submit this constitutional amendment to the states for speedy ratification.”
Report: 81 Election Fraud Cases Brought To Courts, 30 Active Cases
The Alliance for Wise Energy Decisions has put together a comprehensive list of all of the court cases on election fraud brought forward in recent months.
Many of those that are still active were filed in the battleground states, where county totals were decided by just a handful of votes.
While a majority of the lawsuits were brought forth by the President and his team, pockets of voters from across the country became their own advocates, filing lawsuits against election officials and state leaders all on their own.
One such group of voters in Georgia, many of whom doubled as poll tabulators and electors, filed suit detailing numerous instances of voting irregularities. A hearing was held in early January where the petitioners had the chance to bring their concerns forward.
Biden Names Anti-Israel Activist, Adam Schiff Aide Maher Bitar to Senior Intel Role
“I am thrilled to see him in his new post, though we will certainly miss him on the committee,” House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff told Politico.
“I can’t think of anyone more suited to the role than Maher.”As Schiff’s top legal adviser, Bitar, who is Palestinian-American, helped steward the impeachment process against Trump.
Maher also served in the National Security Council under former President Barack Obama, as director for Israeli and Palestinian affairs.
Bitar is also one of the executive board members of Students for Justice in Palestine, a radical anti-Israel campus group.
GOP largely votes against holding Trump impeachment trial
WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republicans voted overwhelmingly Tuesday against moving forward with Donald Trump’s historic second impeachment trial, making clear a conviction of the former president for “incitement of insurrection” is unlikely.
In a 55-45 procedural vote, the Senate set aside an objection from Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul that would have declared the impeachment proceedings unconstitutional.
That means the trial on Trump’s impeachment, the first ever of a former president, will begin as scheduled the week of Feb. 8.
Yet the support of 45 Republicans for declaring the trial invalid indicates that there are long odds for Trump’s conviction, which would require the support of all Democrats and 17 Republicans, or two-thirds of the Senate.
New Bill Cements Pandemic Immigration Restrictions Until Lockdowns Are Lifted
“We’ve been in lockdown for nine months for naught if we’re going to allow people with coronavirus into our nation,” Herrell told The Federalist, emphasizing if the floodgates to migration were opened to nations with high rates of Wuhan virus cases, it would erase painful viral mitigation efforts in the form of draconian lockdowns to slow the spread.
“What was the purpose of closing our businesses, conforming to masks, not educating our children?”
Pro-immigration advocates had already set their sights on Title 42 since before Biden took office on Inauguration Day, as the Democratic president engineers a reversal of his predecessor’s hard-line policies on immigration.
CBP reports it has already used the Title 42 rule to deport more than 180,000 migrants along the southern border and 118 at the northern border.
SIX DAYS: Biden Signs A Whopping 28 Executive Orders, Dwarfing His Predecessors
Through Monday, January 25, the sixth day of his tenure in office, President Joe Biden issued a whopping 28 executive orders, dwarfing the number of executive orders issued by former presidents in the initial days of their tenure.
Former President Trump signed only four executive orders in the first week of his tenure, with a total of 220 executive orders signed in his total time as president.
Former President Obama signed five in the first week and 276 executive orders in his eight-year tenure as president.
Former President George W. Bush signed exactly zero in his first week and 291 executive orders in his eight years, while Former President Bill Clinton signed one in his first week and 364 in eight years.
Rand Paul: Trump impeachment push is ‘most divisive thing’ Dems could do
Senator Rand Paul recently called the Democrats’ efforts to continue with President Trump’s impeachment trial a ‘sham,’ and he tells Glenn it’s the ‘most divisive’ thing Democrats could do right now.
‘This is an illegitimate process from top to bottom,’ he says, adding that his point will be further proven if Chief Justice John Roberts skips the trial.
Plus, Sen. Paul explains why the Dems’ argument that former President Trump ‘incited violence’ is hugely hypocritical:
They used similar language in 2017, he says, and it nearly cost the life of Rep. Steve Scalise.
Tulsi Gabbard slams Schiff, Brennan, Big Tech as more ‘dangerous’ than Capitol rioters
“The mob who stormed the Capitol on January 6 to try to stop Congress from carrying out its constitutional responsibilities were behaving like domestic enemies of our country,” Gabbard said.
“But let’s be clear, the John Brennans, Adam Schiffs and the oligarchs in Big Tech who are trying to undermine our constitutionally protected rights and turn our country into a police state with KGB-style surveillance are also domestic enemies — and much more powerful, and therefore dangerous, than the mob that stormed the Capitol.”
Gabbard then showed a clip of Brennan telling MSNBC that Biden’s nominees and appointees “are now moving in laser-like fashion to try to uncover as much as they can” regarding activities that he said were reminiscent of “insurgency movements” that have risen up in other countries.
Marjorie Taylor Greene: Articles of Impeachment Against Biden Prompted by ‘Pattern of Abuse of Power’
Greene introduced articles of impeachment on Jan. 21, the day after Biden’s inauguration, with her office announcing in a statement that the articles concern the president’s alleged actions involving abuse of power “by allowing his son, Hunter Biden, to siphon off cash from America’s greatest enemies Russia and China.”
In the interview with NTD, Greene elaborated on this, saying, “we cannot have a president of the United States who is compromised, and has shown a clear pattern of behavior, which is his using his position of power to help his son, Hunter Biden, also his brother and himself, to make a lot of extra money through corrupt business deals with foreign countries.”
While she did not elaborate on her claim that the president personally benefited financially from his son’s business dealings, nor did she offer evidence in support of this allegation, Greene referred to statements made by Hunter Biden’s former business partner, Tony Bobulinski, who suggested Joe Biden was involved in some of the deals.
McConnell ends stalemate over filibuster
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is relenting on his demand that Democrats promise they won’t ditch the filibuster in a power-sharing agreement in a 50-50 Senate.
McConnell is willing to deal now because he knows Democrats – and Republicans, for that matter – lack the votes to eliminate the filibuster.
Border Wall Contractors Told to Stop Construction by Tuesday Night: Congressman
After Biden’s executive orders were issued, former Trump administration officials said that the border wall is necessary to reduce immigration numbers.
That includes former Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Mark Morgan, who said the Biden administration has made the United States less safe with the president’s executive blitz last week after taking office.
“With the stroke of a pen, President Biden made this country less safe,” Morgan told Breitbart News on Jan. 23. “It’s pure politics over public safety.”
WATCH: Eric Holder Urges Democrats to Pack the Supreme Court
Packing the Court would involve passing legislation to add seats to the nation’s highest judicial body, then using a simple Senate majority to fill the vacancies with liberals.
Holder was addressing a virtual seminar hosted by the Brookings Institution, “Is There a Path Forward for Court Reform?”
The recent appointments by the Trump administration, Holder claimed, had “sowed doubt” about judicial independence.
(He did not mention the fact that the federal courts, including Trump’s own appointees, rejected his election challenges.)
Tucker fights back as Biden plans to change the country at record pace
Commentary/Opinion:
Tucker Carlson warns of H.R.1.’s danger to democracy.
Democrats will control the federal government for decades or more if a sweeping new proposal touted as comprehensive government reform becomes law, Tucker Carlson said on Monday.
Carlson warned of the many dangers of “H.R. 1.,” the “For The People Act,” a nearly 800-page bill sponsored by Maryland Democrat John Sarbanes of Baltimore.
Ingraham: Democrats using national guardsmen for ‘political theater’
Commentary/Opinion:
Laura Ingraham says the left’s current stance on preventing unrest makes their Trump criticisms hypocritical.
World News:
Covid vaccine supply issues could see Dutch violence repeated in rest of EU
In recent nights, rioters have poured on to the streets of 10 Dutch cities in what has been the closest Europe has come to open revolt against the coronavirus restrictions imposed across the continent.
The violence, the worst in four decades, might be put down to the liberty-loving culture of the country but, perhaps not coincidentally, the Netherlands is also the very last EU member state to start vaccinating the public and offer some hope that there is light at the end of the tunnel.
The reality is, however, that the Dutch are not standout stragglers among the pack of 27 member states. The EU as a whole has been lethargic in getting the vaccines they have purchased into the arms of the citizens whose taxes who have paid for it.
Greek-Turkish ‘exploratory talks’ amid arms-race; Terror plagues West Bank- TV7 Israel News 26.01.21
1) Greek and Turkish delegations concluded an “exploratory meeting,” the first in five-years, aimed at narrowing wide-ranging gaps and diminishing mistrust.
2) EU Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell urges Turkey to keep calm for the sake of maintaining a positive atmosphere in the Eastern Mediterranean.
3) Thousands of supporters of the Houthi militia flooded the streets of Sanaa in response to the former U.S. Administration’s designation of the Iranian-backed group as a foreign terrorist organization.
Israeli military chief warns of new plans to strike Iran
The comments by Lt. Gen. Aviv Kohavi came as Israel and Iran both seek to put pressure on President Joe Biden ahead of his expected announcement on his approach for dealing with the Iranian nuclear program. In Iran, leaders said they would not wait indefinitely for Biden to act.
In his address to the Institute for National Security Studies, Kohavi said a return to the deal, even with some improvements, “is bad operationally and it is bad strategically.”
He said allowing Iran to proceed with a nuclear program would be “an unacceptable threat and will lead to nuclear proliferation across the region.” Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only.
Kohavi said that given the threat posed by Iran, Israel’s military would be prepared to attack on its own if needed.
Video: COVID Police Enter Home to Break Up Baby Shower Party
The clip shows officers entering a property in Hornchurch in east London to find 20 people sat round a table which is full of food. There is an archway of pink balloons at one end of the room.
“We’ve had a call because you’re all here. Obviously, you’re breaking Covid rules,” states one of the officers after asking who lives at the address.
“We can fine every adult here, every single one of you. £200 each it is. Because you’re breaking the rules,” the female cop adds.
Deplatforming and censorship pushes people to extremism
While the push for censorship is sweeping across western democratic countries, one facet of the debate is constantly overlooked: this deplatforming and removal of ideas from the public discourse is going to push people to extremism.
On a recent Rebel News DAILY Livestream, host Ezra Levant used the United Kingdom’s Tommy Robinson as an example for this subject.
Tommy didn’t encourage or condone violence, he pushed for reform through journalism and legal means. Some of Tommy’s followers happened to be more extreme in their viewpoints, and “the system’s” marginalizing of Tommy pushes these type of people to lose all faith they had in the system.
The takeaway? Do not deplatform people trying to change the system. Engage, debate, disagree, refute or ignore them.
Iran executes another wrestler despite US, international outcry, reports say
Iran has executed another decorated wrestler this week despite international outcry and condemnation from the U.S. State Department, according to reports.
Mehdi Ali Hosseini was put to death at a prison in the city of Dezful on Monday, Al Arabiya reported, citing a local news outlet. A judiciary official there also confirmed the execution to the state-run ISNA News Agency.
“The Iranian regime must be held to account for their vile human rights abuses and their attempt to cling to power through execution,” Ellie Cohanim, the State Department’s deputy special envoy to monitor and combat anti-Semitism, had told Fox News.
Lockdown may have played part in rise of domestic child killings, says Met
The pressures of lockdown may have played a part in a rise in children killed in domestic homicides, Britain’s biggest police force today said.
A total of 12 children were killed in 2020, in London, up from 7 the previous year.
The Metropolitan police said all domestic child killings were being reviewed and a decline in mental health caused by restrictions to combat the pandemic, may have been a factor.
Mexico horror: Many of 19 bodies found shot, burned may have been Guatemalan migrants, relatives say
Bodies were discovered late Friday along a dirt road outside Camargo, a town that sits across the Rio Grande from Texas, after residents reported a vehicle on fire, the Tamaulipas state prosecutor’s office said. Four bodies were found in the cab and near the vehicle, and the other 15 were piled in the bed of the truck.
All had been shot, but shells were not found at the site, leading investigators to believe they were killed somewhere else. The bodies were so badly burned that they could not immediately be identified.
While Mexican officials have not confirmed whether any Guatemalan migrants were among the bodies found, the country’s Foreign Ministry said it was collecting DNA samples from a dozen relatives to see if there was a match.
EU Urges US to Draft Joint Rule Book to Rein in Tech Giants
“The business model of online platforms has an impact and not only on free and fair competition, but also on our democracies, our security, and on the quality of our information,” von der Leyen said.
“That is why we need to contain this immense power of the big digital companies.”
The head of the EU’s executive body called on the White House to join the 27-nation bloc’s efforts, saying that “together, we could create a digital economy rule book that is valid worldwide,” and would encompass data protection, privacy rules, and the security of critical infrastructure.
In December, the Commission proposed two new pieces of EU legislation to better protect consumers and their rights online, make tech platforms more accountable, and improve digital competition, building on the bloc’s data protection rules, which are among the most stringent in the world.
Russian company tests flying taxi
Rumble / Tech Reviews — Russia’s Hoversurf company presented a newly-developed model of a flying taxi meant to go into mass production in 2021.
Merkel sides with Xi on avoiding Cold War blocs
While the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden is looking to group together democracies to contain China, Merkel was pointedly wary about the formation of factions.
“I would very much wish to avoid the building of blocs,” Merkel told the Davos World Economic Forum. “I don’t think it would do justice to many societies if we were to say this is the United States and over there is China and we are grouping around either the one or the other. This is not my understanding of how things ought to be.”
Referring to Xi’s speech at the same forum, Merkel said: “The Chinese president spoke yesterday, and he and I agree on that. We see a need for multilateralism.”
Commentary/Opinion:
STAKEHOLDER CAPITALISM EXPLAINED: World Economic Forum’s RADICAL plan is happening NOW
In a video played at the 2021 Davos Agenda yesterday, Marc Benioff, CEO of SaleForce.com, said that capitalism as we know it is “dead.”
Glenn explains WHY elites pushing for The Great Reset are so desperate to enact a new kind of economic AND government system: stakeholder capitalism.
And, HINT, it’s not because giant corporations suddenly care so much about the environment, climate change, OR you.