Category: Opinion

The Senate late Wednesday rejected a Democratic effort to alter the filibuster in order to pass their voting bills over unanimous Republican opposition, ending one of the most consequential days in the history of the chamber.

The vote failed 48-52 after Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema voted as they had vowed for months, joining a unanimous Republican caucus in opposition and denying their party the necessary support for the change to take effect. If the change had been adopted, it would have established a “talking filibuster” pertaining to the voting bills only, allowing any senator to speak for or against them for as long as they wanted but lowering the 60-vote threshold for passage to a simple majority.

“What we have now … is not a filibuster,” Maine Sen. Angus King, and independent who caucuses with Democrats said ahead of the vote. “It doesn’t require any effort. It doesn’t require any speeches. It doesn’t require to hold the floor.”

“Strom Thurmond would have loved this filibuster,” King added, invoking the late segregationist senator who set the record for the longest filibuster speech ever while speaking against the 1957 Civil Rights Act.

Democrats’ attempt to change Senate rules ended a long day of debating that saw nearly half of the body speak either for the John Lewis Voting Rights Reauthorization Act or the Freedom to Vote Act.

The voting bills failed to garner 60 Senate votes earlier Wednesday night even though Manchin and Sinema voted in favor, prompting Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s motion to change Senate rules to allow them to pass without GOP support.

“For those who believe bipartisanship is possible, we have proven them wrong,” Manchin said ahead of the vote. “Ending the filibuster would be the easy way out. I cannot support such a perilous course for this nation when elected leaders are sent to Washington to unite our country by putting politics and party aside.”

Democrats have said the bills are necessary to counter election reform laws that Republican state legislatures across the country have passed in the wake of the 2020 election that allegedly suppresses people’s ability to vote. Nearly all have endorsed altering the filibuster to ensure their passage even if done on a partisan basis.

“I share with many of you … a vision of the Senate that collaborates and negotiates the most important issue of our time,” Georgia Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock said. “I believe in bipartisanship. But at what cost? Who is being asked to foot the bill for this bipartisanship and is liberty itself the cost?

Republicans, however, have countered, saying that the federal legislation, which sets uniform voting standards and outlaws partisan gerrymandering, will entertain voter fraud and infringe on states’ rights to oversee their own elections.

“The president and his party will try to use fear and panic to smash the Senate, silence millions of Americans, and size control of our democracy,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Wednesday.

McConnell said later that while the day was one of the most consequential in the history of the Senate, it really boiled down to a simple question: “Will it take 60 votes to pass massive changes or a simple majority to ram them through? That’s what’s at stake here.”

Though senators engaged in genuine debate throughout the day, most expressed disrespect for how deliberation seemed to have faded from the world’s greatest deliberative body. Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, the only Republican who backed the John Lewis voting bill, said Wednesday that the rhetoric surrounding voting has become troubling.

“I was part of a very troubling conversation last evening,” she said. “It was shared depending on which side you’re on in this body today on this issue, you’re either a racist or a hypocrite. Really, is that where we are?”

Manchin echoed her hours later in his speech, criticizing the lack of bipartisanship as he has time and time again throughout his filibuster defenses.

“I don’t know what happened to the good old days,” he said, “but I can’t tell you they aren’t here now.”

There was an increase in the number of migrant encounters at the southern border in December up from November, according to data provided to a federal court by the Biden administration — the latest indication that the crisis at the border is likely to continue into 2022.

According to the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data provided in the Jan 14 filing, there were 178,840 migrant encounters in December, up from 173,620 in November which was an increase from the 164,753 apprehensions in October.

Those numbers are shocking in comparison to the previous year when there were 72,113 encounters in November and 73,994 in December.

CBP has not officially released its monthly operational update and said that it does not provide preliminary data or comment before the update posts, though a spokesperson did say that the official data should be published in the coming days.

Of the 178,840 apprehensions, 78,589 were expelled via Title 42 — the Trump era public health order that has been kept in a limited capacity and can be used to expel migrants quickly at the southern border.

The documents also show that 55,626 migrants were released into the U.S. Of those, 36,652 were released with a Notice to Appear at a future court hearing. Nearly 19,000 were given humanitarian parole which is determined on a “case by case basis” for urgent humanitarian or public benefit reasons.

The Biden administration has been struggling with the ongoing crisis at the southern border, which saw a tremendous increase in apprehensions following President Biden’s inauguration. The number surged to over 213,000 encounters in July, and has dropped slightly since then but has stayed above the 150,000 mark.

The administration also ended the Migrant Protection Protocols — a key policy of the Trump administration which called for migrants to return to Mexico until their hearing. It was seen as key to ending the practice of “catch and release.”

However, the Supreme Court upheld a federal court ruling that the Biden administration ended the program unlawfully, and ordered it restored.

While the administration has complied with the order, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has indicated that the agency will end the policy — which critics have said is cruel– in a manner that complies with the court ruling.

Hong Kong authorities announced they would kill 2,000 small animals after several hamsters caught COVID-19 in a pet store.

An employee at the pet store tested positive for the Delta coronavirus variant on Monday in addition to several hamsters that were imported from the Netherlands. “We cannot exclude the possibility that the shopkeeper was in fact actually infected from the hamsters,” Edwin Tsui, a controller at the Centre for Health Protection, said.

“All pet owners should observe good personal hygiene, and after you have been in contact with animals and their food, you should wash your hands,” Leung Siu-fai, director of the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department, said during a news conference. “Do not kiss your pets,” he said.

Everyone who purchased a hamster at the store since Jan. 7 will be traced and subjected to a mandatory quarantine in addition to handing over their hamsters to be killed. Mandatory testing will be given to those who purchased hamsters after late December 2021, and they must quarantine if their pets test positive.

Hong Kong’s Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said it was “shocked and concerned” authorities had decided to slaughter the animals and urged the government not to take “any drastic action before reviewing its approach.”

While many scientists believe the virus started in animals, minks are the only animals thus far proven to have caught the virus from people and spread it back, according to Dr. Scott Weese at the Ontario Veterinary College.

Officials in Beijing called for an end to overseas deliveries after traces of COVID-19 were found in the package of an infected woman. Beijing’s Centre for Disease Control said it could not rule out the package infecting the woman, and it suggested that people open parcels outside while wearing gloves.

With Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona still refusing to end the filibuster and pass two election reform bills, Democratic politicians are claiming Republicans will prevent fair midterm elections in November.

The two bills, the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, would nationalize elections by stopping states and locales from setting limits on absentee ballots, banning ballot harvesting, and changing polling locations without federal approval, as well as other changes. Democrats say that these changes are needed to stop local Republicans from being involved in voter suppression and throwing out validly cast ballots.

President Joe Biden said opponents of the bills were the heirs of segregationists, and laws requiring voter ID and banning line-warming as “Jim Crow 2.0.” He also said that individuals who support the stricter ID standards “plan to subvert the election.”

“History has never been kind to those who’ve sided with voter suppression over voters’ rights, and it will be even less kind for those who side with election subversion,” Biden said. “Do you want to be on the side of Dr. King or George Wallace? The side of John Lewis or Bull Connor? The side of Abraham Lincoln or Jefferson Davis?” he asked.

House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn of South Carolina defended Biden’s remarks saying that Biden’s critics lack the personal experience necessary to understand his comments.

“This is Jim Crow 2.0. That was one of the strongest points of the president’s speech that I agree with. So, this whole notion, when you walk around and no one has ever discriminated against you because of your skin color or you have never had to worry about having your vote counted, you can have those kinds of statements,” he said.

During her Martin Luther King Jr. Day address, Vice President Kamala Harris said that opponents of the legislation wish “to interfere with our elections, to get the outcomes they want and to discredit those they do not.”

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said that Republicans want to “rig the game and rig the count,” so a compromise position such as reforming the Electoral Count Act would be unacceptable to his caucus.

“If you’re going to rig the game and then say, ‘count the rigged game accurately,’ what good is that?” he asked.

The top Democrat’s claims come as polls and analysts indicate that Republicans will potentially take back the House and Senate by wide margins in the November midterms.

Republicans need to gain only five House seats and one Senate seat to win back both chambers, while the president’s party has on average lost 26 seats in the midterm elections conducted since the end of World War II. The only midterm elections that the president’s party did not lose seats were in 1998, as Republicans impeached former President Bill Clinton, and 2002, in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

A government watchdog group has been demanding key information on Dr. Anthony Fauci’s financial and professional history, but the public may only get Fauci’s disclosures a little at a time, the group’s head says.

Adam Andrzejewski, CEO of OpenTheBooks.com commented on his ongoing legal battles attempting to open Fauci’s financial and professional records to the public.

“During the pandemic, Dr. Fauci has handsomely profited from his federal employment, royalties, travel perks, and investment gains,” Andrzejewski asserted.

OpenTheBooks.com filed its first Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request on Jan. 28, 2021. The National Institute for Health acknowledged the request but stayed silent for months. When they finally heard back in May, they received a meager 51 pages of information with redactions.

“Not included was Dr. Fauci’s current employment agreement including all addendums and modifications; current job description; and confidentiality and conflict of interest documents,” OpenTheBooks.com said.

While Fauci’s disclosures are theoretically open to any member of the public who requests them, they aren’t listed in the same searchable database as other federal officials and it can take months for a request to be finished.

Openthebooks.com continued asking for more documents from the National Institute of Health and its related agencies. Correspondence from the government became even more dismissive, pushing Andrzejewski to threaten a lawsuit.

Eventually, the watchdog group partnered with the legal activist group Judicial Watch.

Andrzejewski said that the group had filed suit on Oct. 25, 2021, and “that suit moved fast in federal court.”

“And the agency admitted they were holding 1,200 pages subject to our request,” he recalled. “So think about this, we got 51 pages – there were redactions – and there’s 1,200 pages.”

“So they admitted to holding 1,200 pages that were subject to the request and 3,000 pages of line-by-line royalty payments,” Andrzejewski said. “Every line is a potential conflict of interest and there’s up to 1,000 NIH scientists receiving royalty payments. It’s legal, but it should be disclosed.”

The original FOIA request demanded “all calendars or calendar entries for Dr. Anthony Fauci, including calendars maintained on Dr. Fauci’s behalf. For calendars or calendar entries created electronically, the records should include the names of invitees, notes, and other attachments for a given entry.”

The NIH has, at last, agreed to make the requested documents public – but not right away.

The agency has stated that it has 768 pending FOIA requests, with 633 backlogged. The NIH has also had 33 lawsuits related to the backup of requests.

Because of this backup, the NIH said that it will only be able to distribute the thousands of pages 300 at a time, monthly.

Republican Sen. Roger Marshall of Kansas has started his own battle to open the NIH’s records.

Marshall said that he and his office had been trying to get Fauci’s financial information and other information but had gotten nowhere. At the hearing, Fauci claimed that he had submitted a disclosure and that it was publicly available.

“I don’t know why you’re asking me that question,” Fauci said. “My financial disclosure is public knowledge and has been for the last 37 years or so, 35 years that I’ve been director.”

Marshall asked where he could find it, and Fauci replied, “All you have to do is ask for it. You’re so misinformed it’s extraordinary.”

Marshall spoke about what happened when he tried to get the information he wanted.

“And it takes the NIH, it takes this White House months to respond to any type of request for information, and then it’s redacted. It’s quite a game they’re playing. So I was shocked, I was shocked by his response, that he would lie to Congress again after he had already lied about the viral gain-of-function question that I asked him earlier,” Marshall said.

OpenTheBooks.com gained momentum in January 2021 when they released a report showing that Fauci was the highest-paid federal employee in the nation.

Fauci’s salary has been listed at $417,608 – higher than the salary for the president. Fauci has also netted the most valuable federal retirement package in U.S. history – when he retires he will receive approximately $350,000 per year.

A 24-year-old graduate student was stabbed to death Thursday while working at a high-end furniture store in Los Angeles, California, authorities say they believe it was a “random” attack.

Brianna Kupfer, a UCLA graduate student studying architectural design, was found dead on the floor of Croft House by a customer, who walked into the store about 2o minutes after the murder and contacted police.

Police officers responded to the call at around 1:50 p.m. Los Angeles Police Department’s (LAPD) detectives described the killing as a “random walk-in” attack, after determining that the suspect and the victim did not know each other, according to the LAPD press release.

The suspect, described only as a “male Black, unknown age, tall, thin, wearing a dark hoody, sunglasses, a white N-95 mask, dark skinny jeans, dark shoes and carrying a dark backpack,” killed the victim with a knife then fled the store through the back door.

“Based on evidence discovered by detectives, the suspect is believed to be homeless,” LAPD wrote, asking anyone with information on the suspect to contact West Bureau Homicide investigators at (213) 382-9470.

Kupfer’s father said that his daughter had been a gifted artist and listener who he said was “loved by all”.

A recent poll conducted by Rasmussen Reports and the Heartland Institute showed that Democrats are more than twice as likely as other voters to endorse severe government restrictions on unvaccinated people, that range from fines to losing custody of their children.

Forty-eight percent of Democratic voters said the government should be allowed to fine or imprison individuals who openly question the COVID-19 vaccine’s efficacy, while only 27% of all voters were in support of the proposal, according to the poll results.

Fines for those individuals who refuse to take the vaccine were considered acceptable by 55% of Democratic voters while only 19% of Republicans approved. The poll also showed 59% of Democrats were in favor of a policy requiring unvaccinated people to be quarantined in their homes except for emergencies, while 79% of Republicans are opposed to a home quarantine policy for unvaccinated people.

In addition, 45% of Democratic respondents were in favor of the government forcing people into “designated facilities” until they get the vaccine, while 71% of all voters were opposed.

A government program that would use digital devices to track unvaccinated people and ensure that they are quarantined or socially distancing was opposed by two-thirds of total respondents, however, 47% of Democratic respondents supported the program.

Twenty-nine percent of Democratic voters agreed the government should take people’s children away from them if they refuse to get the COVID-19 vaccine, a measure viewed favorably by only 7% of Republicans and 11% of unaffiliated voters.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki was slammed Sunday on Twitter for encouraging schools that plan to ignore Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s executive order that allows parents to decide whether or not their children wear masks in schools.

Psaki shared a video on Twitter of Youngkin responding to a question about the executive order after the Arlington Public School district said it would continue a mask requirement for students and staff. Psaki reacted to the video, saying in part, “Thank you to @APSVirginia for standing up for our kids, teachers, and administrators and their safety in the midst of a transmissible variant.”

Her comments drew anger from many political commentators on Twitter.

Mollie Hemingway, the senior editor at The Federalist, tweeted, “Jen if for some reason you want to mask your children, you are still free to do so. This isn’t a ban on masks, this is a ban on *forced masking* of children against other parents’ wishes.”

“Even Psaki knows better than to move to DC under her party,” Jack Posobiec said.

Former National Republican Senatorial Committee adviser Matt Whitlock said, “Everyone who wants to wear masks is free to.”

“Concerned parent, who does press briefing daily without a mask on, breathing heavily transmissible virus into the open-air wants forced masking on kids? Weird,” musician Five Times August said. “I should NEVER see you without a mask. EVER.”

In addition, radio show host Tony Bruno tweeted the now-famous photo of Psaki wearing a Russian hat with a hammer and sickle.

Youngkin was sworn in Saturday as the governor of Virginia and issued 11 executive orders within hours of taking office. Those executive orders included one that allows parents to decide whether or not their children wear masks in schools and one that bans Critical Race Theory (CRT) in schools, according to a press release posted on the governor’s website.

Democratic activists are pressing Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema over her refusal to budge on the filibuster. Sinema delivered a speech on the Senate floor Thursday reiterating her decision not to support getting rid of the filibuster so Senate Democrats can pass federal election reforms. The reforms would take power from states and expand access to voting. Activists are now accusing the senator of protecting a Jim Crow relic and erasing the legacies of iconic black leaders.

The day before her speech, Sinema met privately with black leaders, including Rev. Al Sharpton and NAACP President Derrick Johnson. Though she listened to what they had to say she respectfully told them she still did not support bypassing the filibuster for electoral reform legislation.

Those in the meeting were angry, one attendee said Sinema may have just wanted to “tick off the box” of speaking to civil rights leaders before her decision, and Sharpton said she showed “insensitivity, at best, and contempt, at worst, of our efforts and the efforts of the president.”

Democratic South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn, a former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, called Sinema’s arguments “foolishness” adding “if we do not protect the vote with everything that we’ve got, we will not have a country to protect going forward.”

Sinema’s case for protecting the filibuster has been that it fosters bipartisanship by requiring 60 votes to pass legislation; if Democrats take away certain parts of the rule or eliminate it entirely, Republicans will simply overturn any accomplishments the Biden administration makes once they regain power in Washington.

In her home state of Arizona, Sinema’s fellow Democrats do not agree, Rep. Reginald Bolding, the top Democrat in the state House, said Sinema was upholding “the antiquated Jim Crow-era filibuster.”

The Arizona Democratic Party said it was disappointed that Sinema was choosing to “protect an antiquated rule over her constituents.”

Democratic political consultant Tom Watson said Sinema chose the side of “white supremacy,” and Democratic New York Rep. Jamaal Bowman called her a “traitor” to the legacy of iconic civil rights leader and Congressman John Lewis.

Meanwhile, Martin Luther King III blasted Sinema and Democratic West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, saying “history will not remember them kindly.”

Political consultant James Carville said Sunday “Democrats whine too much,” on Meet The Press.

“You’ve got a situation right now, the Biden coalition, nobody’s happy. Progressives aren’t happy right now, with how Build Back Better has gone, African American activists are not happy how voting rights has gone, and if you look at the polling, honestly the thing that’s cratering the most are Independents. You know, the folks that just wanted the temperature turned down,” host Chuck Todd said. “You’re the president, what do you fix first?”

“I think a lot of the Democratic base has not been told or informed of the things that President Biden and this Congress has accomplished,” Carville said.

“But to me, those are things that if I’m a Democrat, I would much more care about that than some word in a dictionary – that children are going to bed with a full stomach and a warm house. I care that somebody, an hourly worker, isn’t sitting there working away at $7.25 an hour. And I see these signs all over Louisiana and south Mississippi, $700 signing bonus. Those are real accomplishments. And it’s something you can run on. ”

“Again, you don’t talk about what you didn’t get. Democrats whine too much, Chuck. Quit being a whiny party and get out there and fight and tell people what you did and tell people the exact truth. The Republican Party stands for nothing other than let’s relitigate the 2020 election.”

A recent Gallup poll found party preferences changed from a 9-point Democrat advantage to a 5-point Republican advantage during 2021 as President Joe Biden’s approval ratings continue to fall. A recent Quinnipiac University poll found just 33% of those polled approved of Biden’s job as president with 53% saying they disapproved. The rating is down 3% since November when Biden scored a 36% approval rating.