Category: Opinion

Former United States Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin gave full credit to the COVID relief bills passed by former President Donald Trump’s administration for saving the economy from a “great recession” as he called for more during an interview on FOX Business’ Larry Kudlow.

In his first televised interview since leaving the White House Mnuchin claimed that traditional ways of thinking about spending money and the economy are irrelevant because the current recession isn’t “economically driven.”

“I think traditional economic models don’t really work here and that’s why we’ve done this [relief] in stages,” Mnuchin explained. “So I’ve felt all along we need to spend what we need to spend.”

Mnuchin did caution, however, that at “some point” ballooning government debt does become problematic, so his preference would be to see a fifth bill and a sixth bill, if necessary, in addition to the four passed during his tenure.

The former treasury secretary noted that two of the bills passed under his watch sailed through the Senate with nearly unanimous support, whereas Democrats and the Biden administration are considering bypassing Republican resistance by using the reconciliation process.

“My preference would be that the president continues to do something on a bipartisan basis as opposed to using reconciliation,” Mnuchin said on Tuesday.

He also warned against using reconciliation, which is intended to address certain budgetary measures, as a general spending tool.

Lawmakers have been attempting to iron out details for another substantive package, though they remain caught up on several critical issues, including overall cost and aid to state and local governments.

Democrats have legally paved the way to use the reconciliation process to potentially pass their coveted relief measures, which would require a simple majority.

Democrats are aiming to have a bill to present to the president by next month but it is unclear whether they will move forward at that time with reconciliation or whether all Democrats would be on board with that process at all.

The former senator of Kansas Bob Dole announced he would begin treatment this week for his stage 4 lung cancer.

“While I certainly have some hurdles ahead, I also know that I join millions of Americans who face significant health challenges of their own,” Dole said.

The 97-year-old World War II veteran was a former Senate Majority Leader the Republican party’s presidential nominee in 1996. His entire political career spanned nearly five decades.

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Stage 4 cancer is the most advanced stage of cancer and is the least likely for the individual to be cured or end up in remission.

The former senator’s announcement came just one day after the death of conservative talk show pioneer Rush Limbaugh who died following his year-long battle with stage 4 lung cancer.

A man in Texas froze to death while sitting in his recliner on Wednesday. The man was found sitting next to his “nearly dead” wife after their home in Abilene lost power during the winter storm that has wreaked havoc on the state.

The man’s wife is “still in peril” but is receiving medical care at a local hospital.

From Fox News:

“You guys read that? A man FROZE TO DEATH under our collective noses. In Abilene! I don’t even know what to do with this information. Except to check on my immediate neighbors,” he wrote on Facebook Thursday.

“I don’t know any solution for anything really right now,” Casey wrote. “Except people freezing to death near me is not ok. Not ok. Not ok.”

Power was restored Thursday to some homes and businesses in Texas — but not before more than three dozen people died while trying to keep warm. 

At least three people also died in Abilene this week due to the extreme cold, including a man who froze to death in his home, Abilene’s KTXS-TV reported. It wasn’t immediately clear if that man was the person who reportedly died in his recliner.

Just under 500,000 homes and businesses remained without power Thursday, down from about 3 million Wednesday. Meanwhile, nearly half the state’s approximately 29 million residents — were under an advisory to boil drinking water, reports said.

The remaining power outages were largely weather-related, rather than forced blackouts that began Monday to stabilize the power grid, the state’s grid manager, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) said.

Dan Woodfin, ERCOT’s senior director of system operations, warned that limited rolling blackouts could return if electricity demand rises as people get power and heating back.

Photographs of Senator Ted Cruz are circulating on social media showing the Texas lawmaker with his family in Cancun while his home state is suffering from the effects of a winter storm.

Critics slammed the senator for leaving Texas during a major crisis that still has 500,000 people without power.

Cruz addressed the trip in a statement on Thursday afternoon.

“With school canceled for the week, our girls asked to take a trip with friends,” he said. “Wanting to be a good dad, I flew down with them last night and am flying back this afternoon. My staff and I are in constant communication with state and local leaders to get to the bottom of what happened in Texas. We want our power back, our water on, and our homes warm. My team and I will continue using all our resources to keep Texans informed and safe.”

Cruz added: “This has been an infuriating week for Texans. The greatest state in the greatest country in the world has been without power. We have food lines, gas lines, and people sleeping at the neighbors’ houses. Our homes are freezing and our lights are out. Like millions of Texans, our family lost heat and power too.”

Earlier, a Republican source told Fox News that the social media posts showing Cruz traveling to the Mexican city were true. “The photos speak for themselves,” the source said.

Temperatures this week have plunged to dangerous record lows in the Lone Star State and overwhelmed power grids, leaving millions without power. At least 30 people have died across the U.S. as a result of the extreme winter weather, according to the Associated Press.

Cruz acknowledged how serious the crisis is in a tweet Tuesday, saying, “A blizzard strikes Texas & our state shuts down. Not good.” Cruz also Thursday lauded a furniture store owner who, according to FOX 26 in Houston, allowed 1,000 people in his store amid the power outages.

Before Cruz issued his statement, Punchbowl News reported that a person appearing to be Cruz is ticketed for a flight from Cancun to Houston later Thursday. The first three letters of that passenger’ss last name are “CRU,” and the first letter of the person’s first name is “R.” Rafael is the senator’s given first name.

Nearly 500,000 homes and businesses in Texas are still without power, down from about 3 million earlier this week. According to the state’s grid manager, Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), the remaining outages are mostly weather-related not forced outages that were intentionally made to stabilize the power grid.

The former governor of Texas, Rick Perry, said that Texans would choose to go longer without power during freezing temperatures if that meant keeping federal regulators out of their state.

“Texans would be without electricity for longer than three days to keep the federal government out of their business,” Perry said in a blog post on the website of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. “Try not to let whatever the crisis of the day is take your eye off of having a resilient grid that keeps America safe personally, economically and strategically.”

Perry and other Republicans, including Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, have criticized the operations of the state’s power grid and pushed back on suggestions by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., that the Green New Deal could have prevented outages. Abbott on Tuesday called for an investigation into ERCOT in order to determine what caused the problem and find long-term solutions.

Perry, a Republican who also served as the U.S. secretary of energy from 2017 to 2019, argued that the federal government and its national labs could help states to model potential catastrophes and decide where to invest in weatherization, transmission and energy storage technology to make their grid more resilient in the future, stressing that the answer is more “technology – not regulation.”

“This shows how the Green New Deal would be a deadly deal for the United States of America,” Abbott told Fox News anchor Sean Hannity on Tuesday. “Our wind and our solar got shut down, and they were collectively more than 10% of our power grid, and that thrust Texas into a situation where it was lacking power on a statewide basis … It just shows that fossil fuel is necessary.”

“I was asked a question on one TV show about renewable, and I responded to that question,” Abbott said. “Every source of power that the state of Texas has has been compromised, whether it be renewable power such as wind or solar, but also, as I mentioned today, access to coal-generated power, access to gas-generated power, also have been compromised.”

ERCOT does not cross state lines and is therefore not subjected to oversight by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). Federal regulators opened an investigation into the company that manages the state’s grid system.

FERC, along with the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, will be investigating every area that has experienced severe impacts caused by the winter weather including ERCOT, the Southwest Power Pool, and Midcontinent Independent System Operator.

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez stated she will not be apologizing for a tweet she posted last week in which she accused Senator Ted Cruz of almost having her killed during the Capitol riots on January 6.

When asked on Monday at an event in Queens whether she planned to apologize for accusing Cruz of almost having her “murdered” and calling for his resignation, Ocasio-Cortez defended her remarks.

“That’s not the quote and I will not apologize for what I said,” Ocasio-Cortez, also known as AOC, said at the Queens event, as reported by The New York Post.

The harsh tweet was penned after Cruz agreed with a post Ocasio-Cortez had written about trading app Robinhood’s move to restrict certain transactions, and the need for a congressional hearing.

I am happy to work with Republicans on this issue where there’s common ground, but you almost had me murdered 3 weeks ago so you can sit this one out.

Happy to work w/ almost any other GOP that aren’t trying to get me killed.

In the meantime if you want to help, you can resign. https://t.co/4mVREbaqqm

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) January 28, 2021

Ocasio-Cortez has gone after Cruz and Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., for following President Donald Trump’s lead and echoing baseless rhetoric about the validity of the 2020 presidential election, which incited the deadly riot last month in D.C.

During an Instagram video where she detailed her experience on Jan. 6, she said the pair and Rep, Mo Brooks, R-Ala., remain a “present danger” because they have not taken responsibility for the impact of their words and actions.

“What that tells me is that when given another window of political opportunity for themselves, even if they know that it means that it will endanger their colleagues, they will do it again,” Ocasio-Cortez said.

At least one Republican, Representative Chip Roy, has called out AOC to issue an apology.

Chip wrote a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi calling Ocasio-Cortez’s social media post “completely unacceptable.”

This week the White House reiterated President Biden’s controversial plan to create a pathway to citizenship for at least 11 million illegal immigrants.

Congressional Democrats are expected to formally present a sweeping immigration bill later this week.

“There certainly is part of the proposal that the president outlined and proposed on Day One that is an earned pathway to citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the country,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said.

A pathway to citizenship for all illegal immigrants in the country has long been a top item on liberal wishlists, and Biden promised such a plan if elected. Estimates generally put the illegal immigrant population at about 11 million, although others suggest that could be higher.

The proposal, sketched out by the administration on Inauguration Day, would include an 8-year path to citizenship for illegal immigrants — a path that includes a five year path to a green card and a three-year path to citizenship after background checks and other steps.

“He also is somebody who believes in the rights of the DACA recipients to be in the country,” Psaki said of Biden, noting that the DACA executive order occurred when he was vice president.

The bill, which also includes provisions to stem the flow of migration by addressing root causes of migration from south of the border, as well as some border security measures, faces an uncertain path to becoming law — particularly in the Senate, where it would need 10 Republican votes.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., has suggested a more limited bill that focuses on DACA recipients, proposing it with Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and describing it as “a starting point for us to find bipartisan breakthroughs providing relief to the Dreamers and also repairing a broken immigration system.

According to Psaki, the comprehensive bill would be presented soon “but Congress will have to work through what it looks like moving forward, and what components will be included here and what components could be dealt with separately.”

Rush Limbaugh, who died Wednesday morning at age 70 following a long battle with lung cancer, was remembered by former President Donald Trump on Fox News.

The former president told hosts Harris Faulkner and Bill Hemmer, “There aren’t too many legends around, but he is a legend.”

“He had tremendous insight,” Trump added. ” He got it, he really got it.”

From Fox News:

Trump awarded Limbaugh the Presidential Medal of Freedom in February 2020 during the State of the Union Address. Trump said Limbaugh called the experience “the greatest honor of his life.”

“Rush was very sick at the time. He was at a hospital in Boston … It was a very difficult thing for him to come into Washington from where he was, and he did it,” Trump said.

Limbaugh was respected by those who attended the ceremony, Trump said. “A hundred percent of that room respected Rush,” Trump said.

Trump said Limbaugh was hopeful to remain on the air until after the 2020 presidential election.

“His ambition was to hold out until after the election,” Trump said. “And he worked so hard and he missed very few shows … he worked so hard to get through the election, and he was just great. He made it.”

Trump also commented on Limbaugh’s love for America.

“He loved this country so much,” Trump said. “He loved the people of this country so much.”

Trump also made a statement on Limbaugh’s death Wednesday afternoon.

“The great Rush Limbaugh has passed away to a better place, free from physical pain and hostility,” he said.

“His honor, courage, strength, and loyalty will never be replaced. Rush was a patriot, a defender of Liberty, and someone who believed in all of the greatness our Country stands for. Rush was a friend to myself and millions of Americans—a guiding light with the ability to see the truth and paint vivid pictures over the airwaves. Melania and I express our deepest condolences to his wonderful wife, Kathryn, his family, and all of his dedicated fans. He will be missed greatly.”

Two legislative proposals unveiled by a Republican state lawmaker in California are designed as a counterattack against “cancel culture.”

But Democrats thrive on canceling anything that goes against what they believe in so they are not happy about the proposals, one of them even accused the Republican of trying to promote “racist, pro-domestic terrorism, xenophobic, misogynistic views.”

State Sen. Melissa Melendez, R-Lake Elsinore, claims a “climate of intolerance has been established” in the Golden State – so she says she political affiliation should be a protected class under state law so residents can’t face discrimination over their political beliefs.

She says her “Diversity of Thought Act” would protect people from discrimination over politics when seeking housing, bank loans or employment by amending the Fair Employment and Housing Act.

Her second bill would help protect students from facing bullying over their political views.

“Cancel culture and the efforts to silence differing opinions and voices should be a growing concern for all of us,” Melendez — a U.S. Navy veteran, small business owner, and mother of five children — said in a statement, according to the Los Angeles Times.

But Democratic state Assemblymember Lorena Gonzalez of San Diego – who drew attention last May for her “F— Elon Musk” tweet in reaction to the Tesla CEO threatening to pull jobs out of California – fired back at Melendez.

“Your choice to hate & actively pursue hate does not make you part of a protected class,” Gonzalez wrote on Twitter.

I don’t know who needs to hear this today, but: Your racist, pro-domestic terrorism, xenophobic, misogynistic views do not warrant protection “from discrimination.” Your choice to hate & actively pursue hate does not make you part of a protected class.

— Lorena Gonzalez (@LorenaSGonzalez) February 16, 2021

Just three months before her anti-Musk tweet, Gonzalez was caught on video shouting “F— Donald Trump!” at a campaign event for then-presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.

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Under Melendez’s proposed bills, political affiliation would be considered a “protected class” and would be shielded from discrimination just as residents are protected legally because of race, gender, or sexual orientation.

For the first time in months, the United States has recorded fewer than 100,000 new cases of COVID-19.

On Sunday, just over 96,000 new cases were identified, a major decrease from the 113,927 cases reported less than a week ago. This marks the first time since November 2 that less than 100,000 new COVID cases were reported.

This new data didn’t show updates from several states because some do not regularly report on the weekend, while others were said to be having “technical difficulties.”

This is the first day since Nov 2 that states reported fewer than 100,000 new COVID-19 cases.

Today’s data is missing updates from a handful of states, some of which regularly do not report on the weekend, some having technical difficulties. pic.twitter.com/dHyQD4TJIJ

— The COVID Tracking Project (@COVID19Tracking) February 8, 2021

However, these recent numbers still reflect a positive trend as data from the COVID Tracking Project show that new cases, hospitalizations, and total deaths decreased last week.

According to the project, “For the seven-day period running January 28 to February 3, weekly new cases were down more than 16 percent over the previous week and dropped below one million for the first time since the week of November 5. This is still an astonishing number of new cases a week, but far better than the nearly 1.8 million cases reported the week of January 14.”

Currently, the 81,439 people hospitalized by the virus is 40,000 less than what it was in early January, but still much higher than it was before the winter holidays triggered a case surge.

“We are still far above the peak hospitalization numbers, around 60k, during the April and July surges,” the CTP posted on Twitter.

There were still over 1,400 new deaths reported on Sunday, which some think may have been caused by Super Bowl LV acting as a ‘superspreader event.’