Becker Brief: Morning Report for 2-28-23
Fauci defends China, Ukraine promised more Zelensky bucks, Hunter Biden whistleblower detained, Jon Stewart gloats about Wuhan lab leak report & more!
FAUCI UNDER FIRE
Fauci Blames Attacks On China – Not China – For COVID Origins Impasse
“The only way we’ll know is if China opens up and we get American scientists, Canadian scientists, Australian scientists to go there and do the kind of surveillance in the wild,” Fauci told Boston Globe Magazine editor-at-large Neil Swidey.
“The problem is that they’ve attacked the Chinese so badly,” he added. “The Chinese authorities act suspicious, even when they have nothing to hide.”
KJP Defends Fauci, Says He Saved Lives in the Face of Lab Leak Conclusion from the Dept. of Energy
WUHAN’S CLAN-DESTINE PROGRAM
Ukraine War Created As A Distraction From The Biggest Scandal In Human History (Covid)?
KJP Defends Fauci, Says He Saved Lives in the Face of Lab Leak Conclusion from the Dept. of Energy
Flashback: Chinese virologist whistleblower Dr. Li-Meng Yan tells Tucker Carlson that COVID-19 was created and deliberately unleashed by the Chinese government
TOXIC POLITICS
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officials announced Monday that they’ve lined up facilities in Grafton, Ohio, and Roachdale, Indiana, to accept liquid and solid waste from East Palestine’s rail derailment, on top of previously announced disposal centers in Vickery and East Liverpool, Ohio.
Inspector general investigating Pete Buttigieg's extensive private jet travel
Watchdog director slams Buttigieg for taking government-managed jets 'even when commercial options were readily available'
The Department of Transportation's (DOT) internal watchdog is opening an audit into Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg over his extensive use of private jets.
Climate activist Dems dropped more than $1.4 million on private jets during midterms
UKRAINE IN THE MEMBRANE
NATO chief: "Allies have agreed that Ukraine will become a member of our alliance" in the long term.
Yellen in surprise visit to Kyiv to reaffirm U.S. economic aid to Ukraine
"America will stand with Ukraine as long as it takes," Yellen, flanked by sandbags at the cabinet ministers' office, told Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, in a trip also aimed at shoring up support at home for continued aid.
Flashback NYT: Urging talks with Russia, top US general challenges DC's proxy war
A series of leaks, including a call for diplomacy from Gen. Mark Milley, show that some US officials are ready for a settlement in Ukraine.
“A disagreement has emerged at the highest levels of the United States government over whether to press Ukraine to seek a diplomatic end to its war with Russia,” the New York Times reports. Leading the call for talks with Moscow is Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. According to US officials, Milley “has made the case in internal meetings that the Ukrainians have achieved about as much as they could reasonably expect on the battlefield before winter sets in and so they should try to cement their gains at the bargaining table.”
BIDEN COVER-UP
Whistleblower Says He Gave DOJ Damning Information on Biden Family Foreign Business Deals
Gal Luft is threatening to 'name names' after being detained on what he claims are 'politically motivated' charges
An Israeli think tank executive who served alongside Hunter Biden as an adviser to a Chinese energy conglomerate widely suspected of serving as a front for the Chinese Communist Party now says he provided the FBI with damning information about the Biden family’s foreign business dealings.
Gal Luft, the co-director of the Washington-based Institute for the Analysis of Global Security, says he provided information about Hunter Biden, his father, and his uncle, Jim Biden, to the Justice Department in March 2019. Luft served as an adviser to CEFC China Energy…
House Oversight Committee James Comer (R-KY) accused the Biden administration of “operating in bad faith” and obstructing his committee’s investigation into the Biden family’s finances.
Comer said in a letter to the Treasury Department revealed on Monday that the department has been suspiciously slow to respond to committee requests for Suspicious Activity Reports filed over deals members of President Joe Biden’s family made with foreign businessmen.
BRAIN DEAD RUMORS
Fetterman "remains on a path to recovery" amid depression treatment, office says
Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman is "doing well" and "remains on a path to recovery" as he continues to receive treatment for clinical depression, his office said Monday.
“Washington County PA Republican Party released a statement demanding John Fetterman appear on camera to prove he’s alive and well.” (@USA_Anne711)
John Fetterman’s Wife Abruptly Leaves the Country After His Hospitalization
After her husband’s latest hospitalization for clinical depression at a hospital in the Washington, D.C. area, Gisele Barreto Fetterman, the wife of Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman, departed the country due to an overwhelming amount of media attention.
SCOTUS
Supreme Court weighs Biden student loan plan worth billions
The high court, with its 6-3 conservative majority, is hearing arguments Tuesday in two challenges to the plan, which has so far been blocked by Republican-appointed judges on lower courts.
CHICAGO MACHINE
Chicago inmates claim jail guards are pressuring them to illegally vote in the mayoral election
The inmates, some who are accused of murder, argued guards at Cook County Jail were pushing them to vote - despite some being registered in a different jurisdiction.
They claimed the guards were receiving orders from higher up and were 'just doing what I'm told' when confronted over the move.
BAD NEWS FOR PELOSI
Dems Join GOP on Legislation To Stop Lawmakers Spouses From Stock Trading
Virginia Democrat Rep. Abigail Spanberger is joining Texas GOP Rep. Chip Roy to push legislation to ban members of Congress from trading stocks while in office.
“At the heart of the issue: Senators and representatives regularly get classified briefings about subjects that impact the markets and they’re able to use that information, which the rest of the public doesn’t have, to buy, sell, trade, and profit. Spanberger and Republican Rep. Chip Roy, of Texas, a co-sponsor of the bill, both said it’s fundamentally unfair and should be criminalized,” News Nation reported. “The legislation would require members of Congress, their spouses, and their dependent children to put certain investment assets into a qualified blind trust while the member is in office.”
WOKE WATCH
San Francisco debates reparations: $5 million each for Black residents?
To compensate for that and other instances of racial discrimination, the city’s African American Reparations Advisory Committee recently recommended that qualifying Black residents receive $5 million each in reparations.
“There wasn’t a math formula,” said Eric McDonnell.
Florida Governor DeSantis ends 'corporate kingdom' of Walt Disney World
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on Monday signed a bill that takes control of a special tax district surrounding Walt Disney World that for half a century allowed Walt Disney Co (DIS.N) to operate with a high degree of autonomy.
“The corporate kingdom finally comes to an end,” DeSantis said during a press event at Lake Buena Vista near Orlando.
Bryan Cranston: Trump’s ‘Make America Great Again’ slogan could be considered ‘racist’
“Just ask yourself, from an African American experience, when was it ever great in America for the African American?” Cranston asked Wallace.
Jon Stewart recounts angry backlash for pushing lab leak theory on Colbert: 'F--- you, I'm done'
Flashback: Jon Stewart pushes lab leak theory to skeptical Stephen Colbert: 'The disease is the same name as the lab!'
JAN. 6 FOOTAGE FREAKOUT
MSNBC Guest Claims Americans Shouldn't See Any Of The J6 Footage Nancy Pelosi Has Kept Hidden
FED UP?
Fed might raise policy rates to 6% - BofA
The U.S. Federal Reserve may hike interest rates to nearly 6%, BofA Global Research said, as strong U.S. consumer demand and a tight labor market would force the central bank to battle inflation for longer.
The number is higher than a peak of 5.4% by September that traders are currently pricing in.
"Aggregate demand needs to weaken significantly for inflation to return to the Fed's target. Further supply-chain normalization and a slowdown in the labor market will help, but only to a degree," said BofA in a noted dated Feb. 27.
Elon Musk is once again the world’s richest person. A surge in Tesla’s share price elevated the billionaire above French luxury tycoon Bernard Arnault.
ELECTION FRAUD DENIAL
Murdoch Acknowledges Fox News Hosts Endorsed Election Fraud Falsehoods
Rupert Murdoch, the conservative media mogul, spoke under oath last month in a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox by Dominion Voting Systems.
“They endorsed,” Mr. Murdoch said under oath in response to direct questions about the Fox hosts Sean Hannity, Jeanine Pirro, Lou Dobbs and Maria Bartiromo, according to a legal filing by Dominion Voting Systems. “I would have liked us to be stronger in denouncing it in hindsight,” he added, while also disclosing that he was always dubious of Mr. Trump’s claims of widespread voter fraud.
Asked whether he doubted Mr. Trump, Mr. Murdoch responded: “Yes. I mean, we thought everything was on the up-and-up.” At the same time, he rejected the accusation that Fox News as a whole had endorsed the stolen election narrative. “Not Fox,” he said. “No. Not Fox.”
FAKE SUGAR NEWS
Zero-calorie sweetener linked to heart attack and stroke, study finds
A sugar replacement called erythritol – used to add bulk or sweeten stevia, monkfruit and keto reduced-sugar products – has been linked to blood clotting, stroke, heart attack and death, according to a new study.
The system is pushing multiple narratives, some closer to truth than others. Beware of binary thinking. “If one is wrong the other one must be correct” is a trap. Always look for what they are leaving out.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal's last name eerily resembles the Hobbit's Sméagol (aka Gollum).