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Wednesday, February 14, 2024

Republicans Impeach Alejandro Mayorkas in Second Attempt

Wall Street Journal: House Republicans impeached Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on a largely party line vote Tuesday, succeeding on their second try after an embarrassing defeat last week. With the 214-213 vote, Mayorkas became the first sitting cabinet official in history to be impeached. The GOP has been pursuing the impeachment for more than a year, alleging that Mayorkas has willfully refused to enforce the nation’s immigration laws, pointing to the record number of illegal crossings at the southern border in the last few years. Democrats say the impeachment is illegitimate (Wall Street Journal). BBC: A January poll conducted by CBS – the BBC’s US partner – suggests that nearly half of Americans view the situation at the border as a crisis, with 63% saying that the administration should adopt “tougher” policies (BBC).

Senate Passes Foreign Aid Bill Worth $95 Billion

National Review: The Senate passed legislation early Tuesday morning to provide aid to Ukraine and Israel, setting up a showdown in the GOP-controlled House, where more isolationist voices, including Speaker Mike Johnson, have threatened to kill the package. The bill, which passed 70–29, provides $95.34 billion in new foreign aid, including $61 billion in assistance to Ukraine for its war against Russia, $14 billion to Israel for its war against Hamas, and $4.8 billion to aid regional partners in the Indo-Pacific to counter Chinese aggression (National Review). Benny Johnson: The U.S. Senate passed a $95 billion foreign aid package overnight for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan and nothing for our own border security. The vote was 70-29, 22 Republicans voted for it (X).

Poll: Biden Received Special Treatment in Classified Documents Investigation

Reuters: About half of Americans think President Joe Biden got special treatment when federal prosecutors decided last week they would not prosecute him for allegedly mishandling classified documents, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll. Some 53% of respondents, including 29% of Democrats, in the four-day poll which closed on Monday, agree with a statement that “Biden received special treatment because he is the U.S. president” (Reuters).Daily Wire: Trump, who is in the midst of his own classified documents case, said last week that the special counsel’s decision to clear Biden shows “selective persecution.” Trump was hit with 40 charges over his handling of classified documents after he left office, which include charges of obstructing government officials from retrieving the documents (Daily Wire).

Denver Faces Budget Cuts to Support Illegals

PJ Media: As Denver cuts funding for American citizens’ jobs and programs to keep supporting illegal aliens who shouldn’t be in the country at all, the city’s Democrat mayor is whining about Congressional Republicans (PJ Media). Libs of TikTok: Denver Mayor Mike Johnston (D) announces cuts in services at the DMV and Park & Recs to free up more resources for illegals. He warns there will be more cuts coming. He blames Republicans for his decision to cut services to Denver residents. Democrats made Denver a sanctuary city in 2017. Democrats control Colorado and passed progressive immigration policies in 2021 (X). Reporter Marc Sallinger: Denver needs to find $180 million. Every office from the District Attorney to the animal shelter to the health department is looking at budget cuts. So far Denver has cut $5 million from DMV, Parks and Rec. That’s 1/40 of $$$ that needs to be cut (X).

Tony Bobulinski Claims Joe Biden Was Aware of Hunter Biden Business Dealings

National Review: Former Biden business associate Tony Bobulinski claimed that Joe Biden was at the center of the Biden family’s shady overseas business dealings in his testimony before Congress on Tuesday. Testifying behind closed doors before the House Oversight and Judiciary Committees, Bobulinski argued in his opening statement that the president was not only aware of the influence-peddling operation being conducted by his son Hunter and his brother James while he was vice president, but that he actively enabled the lucrative scheme (National Review). Benny Johnson: Opening statement of Hunter Biden’s former business associate Tony Bobulinski says Joe Biden “enabled” his son to sell access to the United States’ “most dangerous adversaries” including the China, Russia and more (X).

House GOP Targets FISA Reform

Washington Examiner: House conservatives are pushing against the reauthorization of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act unless “significant reforms” are made to rein in the capabilities of the federal government to collect data from U.S. citizens inadvertently. The House is set to consider a bill that would reauthorize Section 702 of FISA, a surveillance law that allows the government to collect communications from foreigners who are abroad as a way to investigate possible threats to national security. The federal statute has come under scrutiny because of its ability to sweep in communications from Americans who are in contact with foreigners, prompting some lawmakers to push for a complete overhaul (Washington Examiner). Rep. Andy Biggs: The FBI, DEA, DHS, Secret Service, DoD, and the IRS have all reportedly bought access to Fourth Amendment-protected data. They are weaponizing a spying authority on the American people (X). Rep. Barry Moore: In 2021 alone, the FBI used FISA, the “Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act,” nearly 300,000 times to spy on AMERICAN CITIZENS, including President Trump, without a warrant. We must reform FISA and require the FBI to get a warrant to protect Americans (X).

California Democrat Suggests $50 Minimum Wage During Debate

Daily Wire: Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) said during a debate this week for one of California’s U.S. Senate seats that it makes sense to raise the minimum wage to $50 an hour. Lee, whose proposal means that minimum wage workers would make more than $100,000 per year, made the remarks while on stage Monday night facing off against Reps. Adam Schiff (D-CA), Katie Porter (D-CA), and Republican Steve Garvey (Daily Wire). End Wokeness: Senate candidate Rep. Barbara Lee has a solution to inflation and high prices: Raise the minimum wage to $50 an hour (X).

Russia Targets Estonia’s PM Kaja Kallas for Removing Soviet-Era Monuments in Region

Washington Examiner: Russia wants to arrest Estonia’s prime minister, Kaja Kallas, and dozens of other Baltic officials for the removal of monuments to the Soviet Union‘s soldiers in their respective countries. “These people are responsible for decisions that are actually tantamount to desecration of historical memory,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday. Kallas announced last year that Estonian officials would have “Soviet monuments … removed from public spaces,” as the Baltic states — her country, as well as Latvia and Lithuania. All three countries were occupied by the Soviet Union after World War II. Russia’s Interior Ministry unveiled the indictments on the same day that Estonia’s foreign intelligence service released an annual report that forecast Moscow’s aspiration to “achieve military dominance in the Baltic Sea region” through a military buildup designed to prepare for a potential war with NATO (Washington Examiner). Associated Press: Kallas dismissed it as Moscow’s “familiar scare tactic” (Associated Press). USA Today: Western officials have been sounding the alarm over Russia’s military intentions in recent months, saying Putin’s veiled threats to attack NATO countries could turn out to be real. Under NATO’s Article 5, an attack on one NATO member is considered an attack on all (USA Today).

Inflation Report Indicates Higher CPI Than Predicted

Spencer Brown: Despite President Biden’s fantasyland insistence that inflation is “down” and his administration’s claims that prices are “falling,” the Consumer Price Index (CPI) print for January 2024 showed that not only is inflation still moving up, it’s accelerating faster than economists predicted. Again… The main driver of January’s “hotter than expected” inflation was a common culprit: the cost of shelter. That metric alone accounted for more than two-thirds of January’s inflation (Townhall). CNBC: The consumer price index, a broad-based measure of the prices shoppers face for goods and services across the economy, increased 0.3% for the month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. On a 12-month basis, that came out to 3.1%, down from 3.4% in December (CNBC). Maga War Room: CNBC: “If you look at the headline actual index for CPI, it’s 308.417, which means that if you go back to 1913, we’ve never had this index higher than it is right there” (X).

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NYC Democrats Look to Ban Laundry Detergent Pods

New York Post: New York City could soon ban Tide PODS and other laundry-detergent packs under the latest “green” push from lawmakers. The “Pods are Plastic Bill,” introduced by City Councilman James Gennaro last week, would make it illegal to sell any pods and laundry sheets if they’re made with polyvinyl alcohol. Fines for selling the pods would start at $400, double for a second violation and top off at $1,200 for flouting the rules more than twice, if the bill becomes law. The bill would also require education and outreach to businesses on the ban for the first year. The law wouldn’t take effect until Jan. 1, 2026, if passed (New York Post).