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Friday, March 25, 2022

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President Biden Says the U.S. "Would Respond" If Putin Uses Chemical Weapons

From the story: President Joe Biden said the United States “would respond” if Russia deployed chemical weapons in Ukraine, though he declined to explain what that response could include (The Daily Wire). Shelby Talcott, Senior White House Correspondent for the Daily Caller: “We would respond. We would respond if he uses it. The nature of the response would depend on the nature of the use,” Biden says when asked whether the US or NATO would respond with military action if Russia uses chemical weapons (Twitter).

Putin Demands “Unfriendly” Countries Pay for Gas with Russian Rubles

From the story: Russian leader Vladimir Putin has issued a demand that “unfriendly” countries purchase natural gas in rubles rather than dollars or euros in an apparent attack against America’s global hegemony through the petrodollar and the international sanctions levied against Russia’s central bank. Speaking before a cabinet meeting in Moscow on Wednesday, [Putin] said that his government will no longer accept “compromised” currencies, such as the dollar or the euro, from countries that have levied sanctions in response to his invasion of Ukraine (Breitbart). European leaders say it’s a breach of contract. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz: “What we have learned so far is that there are fixed contracts everywhere, which include the currency in which payments are made … And most of the time, it says euro or dollar … and that’s what counts then” (Examiner).

Time to Take Off the Masks on Planes: Airline CEO’s Press Biden

From the story: A group of airline CEOs sent a letter to President Biden calling on him to end the federal mask mandate on public transportation, arguing mandatory masking is “no longer aligned with the realities of the current epidemiological environment” (Fox Business). Spencer Brown: What’s more, the airline executives highlight that even the World Health Organization noted that “the failure of travel restrictions introduced after the detection and reporting of Omicron variant to limit international spread of Omicron demonstrates the ineffectiveness of such measures over time” (Townhall).

Leaving New York and California: All 10 “Most Fled” Counties Are in Two Most Populous Blue States

From the story: New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago and other large cities lost the most residents during the pandemic city exodus last year as about 75 percent of U.S. counties experienced a loss in population, according to a new report from the U.S. Census Bureau. The agency revealed on Thursday that American’s fled metropolitan areas between April 2020 to July 2021 in favor of the South West, with Dallas, Houston, Austin and Phoenix among those to see the largest growth last year (Daily Mail). From ABC 13: The exodus from the biggest U.S. metropolitan areas was led by New York, which lost almost 328,000 residents. Metropolitan Los Angeles lost almost 176,000 residents, the San Francisco area saw a loss of more than 116,000 residents and greater Chicago lost more than 91,000 people from 2020 to 2021. On the flip side, the Dallas area grew by more than 97,000 residents, Phoenix jumped by more 78,000 people and greater Houston added 69,000 residents (ABC 13).

Bribing Californians to Stay? Gavin Newsom Proposes $400 Gas Cards to Ease the Sting of Nation’s Highest Gas Prices

From the story: California Gov. Gavin Newsom unveiled a new proposal on Wednesday to provide California car owners with $400 debit cards as gas prices have hit record highs in the Golden state. According to AAA, the average price of gas per gallon in California is $5.875 while the national average is $4.237. The proposed payments are not based on income but car registration status. In the package, Newsom also proposed funding to make transit and rail agencies free for Californians for three months (Business Insider). From Politico: The Democratic leaders have agreed California just address gas prices but differed with Newsom on the details. Their plan would only extend to California households earning less than $250,000 per year in an effort to target Californians most in need (Politico).

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Called a Dictator by Croatian MEP Mislav Kolakusic

From the story: A Member of European Parliament has accused Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of conducting “a dictatorship of the worst kind” over his handling of this year’s Freedom Convoy protests in Ottawa. Croatia MEP Mislav Kolakusic made the strident comments while Prime Minister Trudeau was on a two-day trip to Belgium (Skynews). Mislav Kolakusic: PM Trudeau, in recent months, under your quasi-liberal boot, Canada has become a symbol of civil rights violations. The methods we have witnessed may be liberal to you, but to many citizens around the [world] it seemed like a dictatorship of the worst kind (Twitter).

Feminist Group Condemns NCAA For Ignoring Pleas of Female Swimmers

Daily Wire reports: A feminist organization is condemning the NCAA for staying silent amid a national controversy over the inclusion of a biologically male athlete in the recent NCAA Women’s Swimming Championships. “We are deeply disappointed by the NCAA’s promotion and celebration of a male athlete over the wellbeing of female athletes during the past few months,” Mahri Irvine, the executive director of the Women’s Liberation Front (WoLF)… WoLF is disappointed not just by the NCAA’s “silent treatment toward female athletes,” Irvine said. The organization is also “gravely concerned that the NCAA has chosen to engage in gaslighting of our entire country” (The Daily Wire).

Intel CEO Says the U.S. “Must Act Now” to Boost Semiconductor Chip Manufacturing

From the story: Intel CEO Patrick Gelsinger warned Wednesday that Congress “must act now” to boost semiconductor chip manufacturing amid a global shortage before it’s too late. Intel, the world’s largest chip-maker by revenue, is among the American businesses trying to reduce their dependence on foreign chip-making dominated by China and other regions of Asia (Fox Business). From CNBC: Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger on Wednesday likened semiconductors to oil, suggesting that computer chips will play a central role in international relations in the decades ahead. “Oil reserves have defined geopolitics for the last five decades. Where the fabs [factories] are for a digital future is more important,” Gelsinger said. “Let’s build them where we want them, and define the world that we want to be part of in the U.S. and Europe” (CNBC).

Republican Governors Block Efforts to Protect Women’s Sports

Daily Signal: Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb spiked a bill passed by the state Legislature that would have banned biological males from competing in girls school sports…. Utah Gov. Spencer Cox vetoed a similar bill Tuesday that would have prohibited “student[s] of the male sex” from competing in girls sports (Daily Signal).

10.

Fitness Is Now a “Far Right” Activity?

That’s the MSNBC columnist’s argument: Physical fitness has always been central to the far right…. The intersection of extremism and fitness leans into a shared obsession with the male body, training, masculinity, testosterone, strength and competition (MSNBC). Matt Vespa: We’ve stretched the boundaries of reality here to its greatest extent. I mean, exercise is now Nazism. Working out is … problematic. Is there anything other than whining … that isn’t considered a far-right activity? (Townhall).