Category: Opinion

It seems like most of the world’s elite have decided to head to space in the upcoming years. Jeff Bezos has made his intentions clear on Monday after he stepped down as CEO of Amazon. And Bezo is heading to space very soon.

Next month, Bezos, 57, will join the first crewed flight of the New Shepard, the rocket ship made by his space company Blue Origin, which he founded in 2000. The flight will take off on July 20, the anniversary of the 1969 Apollo 11 moon landing.

“Ever since I was five years old, I’ve dreamed of traveling to space,” Bezos said in an Instagram post on Monday. “On July 20th, I will take that journey with my brother. The greatest adventure, with my best friend.”

Bezos is going on a space flight with his younger brother, Mark Bezos.

“If you see the earth from space, it changes you. It changes your relationship with this planet, with humanity. It’s one earth,” Bezos said in a video accompanying the post. “I wanted to go on this flight because it’s a thing I’ve wanted to do all my life. It’s an adventure. It’s a big deal for me.”

Bezos ended his post with Blue Origin’s motto of “Gradatim Ferociter.” Which when translated from Latin means “to step with ferocity.”

The 59-foot rocket capsule will bring Bezo and 5 others into the sub orbit where they will float for about 11 minutes then make the ascension to 60 miles above the earth.

Vice President Kamala Harris is backing the Minnesota Freedom Fund, which is a bail fund used to help get people out of jail during the environmental protests against the Line 3 pipeline.

Several conservation groups have become involved in organizing protests against the pipeline project in northern Minnesota and have informed individuals of the MFF giving more aggressive protesters no reason to fear getting arrested because they know our Vice President will bail them out.

Last summer, Vice President Kamala Harris begged Twitter followers to give money to the MFF to help Black Lives Matter protesters post bail during the violent riots.

The Pipeline Legal Action Network, a group vowing to arrange the legal needs of these protesters, announced on its website that “The Minnesota Freedom Fund has committed to supporting the movement for all bail needs.”

Not only that but several other local organizations are directing people who couldn’t make it to the protest to donate money to the MFF.

The number of people who did make it up to join the protests have ranged in the thousands over the past couple of days. Their main complaint being the pipeline infringing on Native American land and the harm it causes to the environment.

There has been nearly 200 arrests since Monday but only 68 of them were issued citations in relation to the Line 3 protests. A group made up of several Minnesota police departments, known as the Northern Lights Task Force, has assembled to establish and enforce the law during protests.

Line 3 pipeline, controlled by a Canadian oil company, has only completed about half of the $4 billion replacement construction. The pipeline’s purpose is to transport tar sands oil from Canada to the United States, which it has done for over half a century.

Americans appear to have a deep distrust for the COVID-19 vaccine as many states are offering multiple programs and incentives for citizens to get vaccinated. Washington state just announced that it will allow certain shops to give away free marijuana joints alongside COVID-19 vaccinations.

“The Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board [LCB] is offering pot shops the opportunity to host COVID-19 vaccination clinics at their stores and give a free joint to customers who get vaccinated, according to a news release from the agency.”

This is not including other incentives for people to get vaccinated including the possibility of winning $1 million dollars.

“Only those who receive a shot at an on-site clinic will be able to get a free pre-roll, Brian Smith, a spokesperson for the LCB, told McClatchy News. The offer is only for people 21 and older,” the outlet noted.

Retail licensees of marijuana had reportedly requested to carry out a promotion with the state in order to motivate people to get vaccinated, according to the LCB press release. The release stated that from Monday to July 12, the LCB is “providing a limited allowance for retail cannabis licensed businesses” to provide COVID-19 vaccination clinics at the store and give out “one joint at no cost to customers who receive a COVID-19 vaccination at the promotional clinic.” The stores can also advertise the promotion “so long as licensees maintain compliance with all other advertising regulations.”

States recently took action to incentivize people to get vaccinated against COVID-19 as interest in the vaccines started to dwindle.

Ohio created a lottery system for vaccinated residents with other states like New York, Oregon, Colorado, and Maryland following soon after and announcing that they would provide residents with the ability to receive prizes if they got vaccinated against COVID-19.

Several months ago, President Joe Biden put Vice President Kamala Harris in charge of the administration’s efforts to find a solution to the ongoing crisis at the southern border. Until earlier this week, Harris worked hard to avoid her responsibilities, instead insisting that her job is to determine the “root causes” of the surge in immigration, such as poverty and extremely high crime rates in Central and South America.

But since she returned from her trip, officials of the White House are left “perplexed” by the Vice President’s performance at her very first foreign policy trip under the Biden administration.

Harris returned from her trip to Guatemala and Mexico on Wednesday. The trip was intended to address the “root causes” of illegal immigration, but the tour ultimately drew criticism from both sides of the aisle in Washington. NBC News also released an interview with Harris in the middle of her trip in which she fumbled an answer on why she has yet to visit the U.S.-Mexico border.

CNN: White House is “perplexed” by Kamala Harris’ inability to answer simple questions pic.twitter.com/TrbNEScnx6

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) June 9, 2021

Harris met with Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei and Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, both of whom have blamed the Biden administration’s policies for the surge in migration.

Harris has announced various efforts aimed at stemming the flow of migrants, such as training local law enforcement to investigate transnational crimes and offering hundreds of thousands of COVID-19 vaccine doses.

The Vice President did promise to visit the border “soon” during a Tuesday press briefing.

“Yes, I will,” Harris replied to a question from reporters. “And I have before. Listen, anybody, especially if you’re from California you know, I’ve spent a lot of time on the border – both going there physically and aware of the issues. But the reality of it is that we need to prioritize what’s happening at the border and we have to prioritize why people are going to the border.”

The Biden administration has reportedly requested $861 million in aid dor Central and South American countries. However, in the past, no amount of money has ever been enough to decrease border crossings.

Hunter Biden, son of President Joe Biden, has been caught throwing the n-word around multiple times in a text message exchange with his attorney.

The Daily Mail reports:

The president’s son joked in a January 2019 text to corporate attorney George Mesires about a ‘big penis’, and said to the lawyer: ‘I only love you because you’re black’ and ‘true dat n***a’.

In another text a month earlier he wrote to the Chicago lawyer saying: ‘how much money do I owe you. Becaause (sic) n***a you better not be charging me Hennessy rates.’

Mesires replied: ‘That made me snarf my coffee.’

Hunter added: ‘That’s what im saying ni…’, cutting off the racial slur mid-word, then texted a picture to Mesires.

Not only are there damning text messages, but Hunter’s laptop is also said to contain a meme with what appears to be his father and former President Barack Obama and included that same racist slur.

‘Obama: Gonna miss you, man

‘Joe: Can I say it? Just this once?

‘Obama: *sigh* go ahead

‘Joe: You my n***a, Barack’

Hunter’s laptop, which he reportedly left abandoned at a computer repair shop in Deleware, created a domino effect of controversy for his father during the 2020 election campaign. Emails on the laptop’s hard drive suggest that then-Vice President Biden met with a high-ranking official at Burisma, the Ukrainian energy company which Hunter Biden had served as a board member.

The president has continued to deny any involvement in his son’s business dealings, despite the clear evidence pointing to the contrary.

President Biden made a phone call to his buddy Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to tell him that the U.S. would be delivering 900,000 doses of the coronavirus vaccine to Ukraine and promised to support the country’s sovereignty opposing Russian aggression.

Not only that but the United States is also preparing to send 80 million doses of the coronavirus to help aide counties all over the world. Biden’s chat with Zelensky happen to take place just one week before he is scheduled to meet face-to-face with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“President Biden affirmed the United States’ unwavering commitment to Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity in the face of ongoing Russian aggression in Donbas and Crimea,” the statement read.

Putin ordered a military buildup on Ukraine’s eastern border in April, alarming both Ukrainian and U.S. military officials. Putin had annexed parts of Crimea in a 2014 conflict during President Barack Obama’s presidency. Putin backed off and deescalated the buildup by the end of April, however.

Putin has also begun posturing ahead of the June 16 meeting, attacking the U.S. as hypocritical on human rights due to its treatment of pro-Trump rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6th.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is setting a tough tone for his upcoming summit with President Joe Biden. Putin said that Russia-U.S. relations "are at an extremely low level now." He also accused Washington of trying to contain Russia's development. https://t.co/4dTi8rc5wp

— The Associated Press (@AP) June 4, 2021

Zelensky told Axios on Friday that he was “surprised” and “disappointed” by Biden’s decision to waive sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline that runs from Russia to Germany.

“When President Biden meets with President Putin in Geneva, he will stand up for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, as he has done in both of his earlier calls to President Putin,” a White House spokesperson told Axios, according to the report.

Biden plans to put pressure on Putin for Ukraine as well as address recent cyber attacks against the U.S. that have been traced back to Russia-based hacking groups.

Vice President Kamala Harris and Democratic Senator Joe Manchin are getting hit with heavy criticism from progressives for their stances on Dems’ voting rights bill and the crisis at the southern border, revealing some major faults within the party.

Manchin is an easy target for his party’s more progressive faction and has once again found himself in their sights after announcing his oppositions to S.1, also known as the “For the People Act.”

His opposition means that just 49 senators support the bill, effectively ending its chances of becoming law even if Democrats had enough votes to scrap the 60-vote threshold.

In an opinion piece in West Virginia’s Charleston Gazette-Mail, Manchin asserted that the debate over voting rights has become “overtly politicized,” with each party trying to secure a “partisan advantage” instead of actually protecting the right to cast a ballot.

“The truth, I would argue, is that voting and election reform that is done in a partisan manner will all but ensure partisan divisions continue to deepen,” Manchin said, explaining his opposition to his party’s bill and criticizing Republican bills in states that “needlessly restrict voting.”

The intraparty criticism was swift and harsh.

“Manchin’s op-ed might as well be titled, ‘Why I’ll vote to preserve Jim Crow,’” New York Rep. Mondaire Jones said on Twitter.

“Joe Manchin is the new [Senate Minority Leader] Mitch McConnell,” New York Rep. Jamaal Bowman said. “And now [he] is doing everything in his power to stop democracy and stop our work for the people.”

Missouri Rep. Cori Bush echoed both of them, accusing Manchin and like-minded Democrats of “actively sabotaging” the party’s agenda and “blocking our progress.”

“Join us in saving lives or get out of the way,” she added.

Even President Joe Biden denounced Manchin and Arizona Democratic Senator Kyrsten Sinema last week, saying that his agenda has hit a wall, slightly due to their voting “more with my Republican friends.”

Young Americans have lost their respect for the older generation that made the world into what it is for them. Investigators released a shocking video of a San Francisco Muni Bus surveillance video that showed a brazen daytime assault of a female passenger whose hair was set ablaze.

The footage, released by San Francisco police, shows the teen — decked out all in red — strolling over to sit beside the woman who was facing forward, seemingly with no idea what was happening. He then appeared to hold up a lighter behind the back of the woman’s head before engulfing her hair into flames.

The stranger’s hair was then “set on fire” and she was helped by other passengers. Police said the suspect and two acquaintances then exited the bus and were last seen fleeing the scene.

“You want us to help you yet blur out the thug’s face!” one person complained to the force on Twitter. “The attacker would probably have been caught by now if his face had been shown before now!”

Police spokesperson Adam Lobsinger later explained to SFGate that their initial focus is on finding the victim so that they can get a witness statement to build a case.

“Without the victim, when we catch the suspects, it’s harder to do anything,” Lobsinger said.

SFPD also tweeted a photo of the victim with the press release requesting the public’s help.

San Francisco Police Seeking Public’s Assistance in Identifying Victim in Muni Aggravated Assault Investigation

Please visit the attached link to read the full synopsis regarding this incident ➡️ https://t.co/Kqd2fDeVhd pic.twitter.com/KrsfOVwXJL

— San Francisco Police (@SFPD) May 5, 2021

Amanda Cheng is apprehensive about taking public transportation.

“You just don’t feel safe in San Francisco as a pedestrian, as somebody who lives here,” she said. “This just can’t be happening, day in and day out, my parents are worried and I carry pepper spray.”

This case is being investigated as a possible hate crime.

Investigators are trying to locate and identify the victim so she might come forward and provide a statement. Anyone with information regarding the incident is asked to call the SFPD 24-hour Tip Line at 1-415-575-4444 or Text a Tip to TIP411 and begin the text message with SFPD. Tipsters may remain anonymous.

The Biden administration has once again stopped America from being able to stop relying on other countries for oil and gas. Biden has taken the first step by suspending oil and gas drilling leases within Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge pending the outcome of an environmental impact review.

The decision marked just the beginning to remove all of the Trump administration’s efforts to expand drilling in the region. This wouldn’t be the first time that Biden had placed a hold on oil and gas activities within the refuge.

Earlier this year, President Biden placed a temporary hold on all activities citing potential “legal deficiencies” in the Trump-backed leasing program. He paused oil and gas leases on federal land by executive order in January. The president called for an end to drilling in the Alaskan refuge during his presidential campaign.

White House National Climate Advisor Gina McCarthy said the suspension of drilling “marks an important step forward fulfilling President Biden’s promise to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

“President Biden believes America’s national treasures are cultural and economic cornerstones of our country and he is grateful for the prompt action by the Department of the Interior to suspend all leasing pending a review of decisions made in the last administration’s final days that could have changes to the character of this special place forever,” McCarthy added.

The Interior Department said a review ordered by Biden had confirmed “defects” with the leasing program.

“After conducting the required review, the Department identified defects in the underlying Record of Decision supporting the leases, including the lack of analysis of a reasonable range of alternatives in the EIS conducted under NEPA,” the department said.

Republican Senator Rand Paul gave just two words in response to news of recently unearthed emails from Dr. Anthony Fauci.

Thousands of emails were collected by Buzzfeed News and hundreds more were reviewed by The Washington Post through the Freedom of Information Act. The emails show Fauci’s responses to critiques as he worked to inform the U.S. of the dangers of COVID-19 as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Along with the hashtag #firefauci, Paul wrote, “Told you” in a tweet.

He later added in another tweet: “Can’t wait to see the media try to spin the Fauci FOIA emails.”

Told you 👀

#firefauci

— Rand Paul (@RandPaul) June 2, 2021

The senator has openly criticized Fauci on social media and in interviews for his stance on herd immunity, wearing masks even after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine, as well as his dismissal of a theory suggesting COVID-19 may have originated from the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China which has gained more credibility in recent weeks despite snubbing the idea early in the pandemic.

Paul has also condemned Fauci’s comments made during a May 25 congressional hearing that a $600,000 federal grant from NIAID did not fund the lab’s gain of function research, which includes research that involves modifying a virus to make it more infectious among humans beings.

The grant was given to a group called EcoHealth Alliance, which then paid the Wuhan Institute of Virology to investigate the risks that bat coronaviruses could infect humans.

In the released emails, Fauci also said that store-bought masks would not be completely effective in protecting the user from COVID-19.

In a response to an emailed query from February about wearing masks while traveling via plane, Fauci said, “Masks are really for infected people to prevent them from spreading infection to people who are not infected rather than protecting uninfected people from acquiring infection.”

He added that the “typical mask you buy in the drug store is not really effective in keeping out virus, which is small enough to pass through material.”