Becker Brief: Morning Report for 3-1-23
Chicago mayor rebuked in election, GOP maneuvers to cut off Ukraine aid, Xi threatens Musk, Covid myths debunked, Woody Harrelson doubles down & more!
CHICAGO MAYOR’S CRUSHING DEFEAT
Lightfoot ousted as Chicago mayor
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot (D) lost her bid for reelection, a stunning blow to an incumbent who made headlines as an underdog reformer candidate who defied expectations and won the city’s top job in 2019.
Lightfoot on Tuesday failed to be one of the top two vote-getters to notch a spot in the final round of voting in April, according to unofficial results from the Chicago Board of Elections, making her the city’s first mayor to lose reelection in 40 years.
ANOTHER BLOW TO COVID ORIGINS NARRATIVE
FBI Director Wray confirmed that the Bureau has assessed that the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic likely originated from a lab incident in Wuhan, China.
CALIFORNIA COVID ‘EMERGENCY’ TO FINALLY END
L.A. County’s COVID-19 emergency will end March 31
Los Angeles County will end its COVID-19 emergency declaration at the end of March, becoming the latest region to take that step amid improving pandemic conditions.
The move, approved unanimously Tuesday by the county Board of Supervisors, came the same day Gov. Gavin Newsom formally rescinded the statewide emergency declaration issued three years ago during the onset of the coronavirus outbreak.
COVIDIOCY IN THE MEDIA
Credibility crisis: New York Times helped mislead America over COVID lab leak theory
'The legacy media abandoned any pretext of objective journalism,' Chris Barron said
The New York Times was among the many media organizations in 2020 that pushed the narrative that the COVID lab leak theory was some sort of wild conspiracy being pushed by the far right.
10 myths told by COVID experts — and now debunked by Dr. Marty Makary
When a study did not support their policies, they dismissed it and censored opposing opinions.
At the same time, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention weaponized research itself by putting out its own flawed studies in its own non-peer-reviewed medical journal, MMWR.
In the final analysis, public health officials actively propagated misinformation that ruined lives and forever damaged public trust in the medical profession.
CHINESE TAKE-OUT
BIDEN DEFECTION
Biden Adviser Seen as Prominent China Hawk to Leave White House
A key aide to National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan is leaving the White House, the latest departure from a coterie of officials seen as prominent China hawks at a critical time in President Joe Biden’s relationship with Beijing.
Jennifer Harris, who has been the National Security Council’s senior director for international economics for the last two years is le
DISASTERS IN AMERICA
An independent analysis of Environmental Protection Agency data from the Ohio train derailment site found that many of the toxic chemicals detected could pose long-term health risks if they continue at current levels.
Scientists from Texas A&M and Carnegie Mellon University studied the measurements of air pollutants collected by the EPA and said nine of the pollutants were at higher than normal levels.
“If they continue at these levels, they may be of health concern,” the researchers wrote on Twitter.
UKRAINE IN THE MEMBRANE
Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) told Breitbart News in an exclusive interview this week that House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) set the “gears in place” for conservatives on the House Rules Committee to strip Ukraine aid from must-pass spending bills.
Asked if House conservatives on the House Rules Committee would move to strip Ukraine aid from must-pass spending bills, Norman said, “We’re going to make sure it happens.”
No evidence of fraud in weapons to Ukraine, watchdog says
The Pentagon’s inspector general said Tuesday his office has found no evidence yet that any of the billions of dollars in weapons and aid to Ukraine has been lost to corruption or diverted into the wrong hands, but cautioned that those investigations are only in their early stages.
Keeping military aid to Ukraine protected from waste or fraud has become a critical part of keeping support for Ukraine intact in Congress, where some lawmakers have already begun to question why the U.S. is spending so much to help Kyiv.
Greek Foreign Minister Calls For Immediate End to Ukraine War Without Conditions
Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias has called for an immediate end to the war in Ukraine without any conditions and called on both Russia and Ukraine to begin negotiations.
Foreign Minister Dendias made his statements on the one-year anniversary of the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine saying, “What we ask is for this war to end immediately, completely and with no conditions because this is the only way for real dialogue to begin.”
JAN. 6 INSIDE JOB
‘Make it a spectacle’: Proud Boys leader Tarrio key to Jan. 6, U.S. says
Henry ‘Enrique’ Tarrio aligned plans with Trump ‘stop the steal’ campaign organizers, knowing by Jan. 6 that followers might explode into violence, U.S. says
SCOTUS WATCH
Supreme Court signals skepticism of Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan
Supreme Court justices have expressed skepticism over President Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan, with the court’s Republican-appointed members raising questions about fairness.
CNN focused on the backgrounds of the justices in order to make it appear that they were ruling based on their elitist schooling.
The article at no time argued that the program was even remotely constitutional, which is what the Supreme Court is supposed to consider.
"Justice Thomas grew up in abject poverty and his first language wasn’t even English. Justice Sotomayor grew up in a Bronx housing project with an alcoholic father. If those two people can work their way up to the High court you can work to pay off your student loans," responded Dace Potas of Lone Conservative.
CREEPY JOE STRIKES AGAIN
WOKE POLITICS
"We consider the attendance of a ‘drag queen’ in class and alienating students clearly confused about the information discussed during this session wholly inappropriate," the petition reads in part.ort
Megyn Kelly rips Sally Field over apology for being White: ‘Pathetic’
“I was a little White girl with a pug nose born in Pasadena, California. And when I look around this room tonight, I know my fight, as hard as it was, was lightweight compared to some of yours. I thank you. And I applaud you,” Ms. Field said.
Hershey announces return of ‘SHE’ chocolate bars
The Hershey Company has announced that limited edition Hershey’s SHE bars are returning to store shelves for a third year to celebrate International Women’s History Month and International Woman’s Day.
2020 ELECTION DENIAL
Schumer, Jeffries demand Fox News stop promoting ‘grave propaganda’ about 2020 election
Democratic leaders are sending a letter to Fox News executives demanding the network stop spreading misinformation about the 2020 election and for its hosts to admit on air they were wrong to do so. The letter comes amid reports that Fox Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch admitted in a deposition that some Fox hosts “were endorsing” election falsehoods and that he wished the network had pushed back harder on such conspiracy theories.
In a letter to the network’s executives Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) cited testimony from Murdoch that was made public this week as part of Dominion Voting Systems’ $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against the network.
“As noted in your deposition released yesterday, Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, and other Fox News personalities knowingly, repeatedly, and dangerously endorsed and promoted the “big lie” that Donald Trump won the 2020 presidential election,” Schumer and Jeffries wrote. “Though you have acknowledged your regret in allowing this grave propaganda to take place, your network hosts continue to promote, spew, and perpetuate election conspiracy theories to this day.”
CLIMATE CON JOB
The U.S. Postal Service's plans for a nationwide fleet of electric vehicles are getting closer to being realized. The service awarded contracts on Tuesday for 9,250 battery electric vehicles and for more than 14,000 charging stations.
The vehicles purchased are Ford E-Transit Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs), which according to USPS are "100 percent electric."
WOODY DOUBLES DOWN
Woody Harrelson: Biden’s Covid Mandates Prove America Is ‘Not a Free Country’
Hollywood star Woody Harrelson has blasted the nationwide Covid mandates that have been enforced in Democrat President Joe Biden’s America.
Speaking during a new interview with The New York Times, Harrelson warned that Biden’s mandates prove that the United States is “not a free country.”
Woody Harrelson has got it goin on!
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Lori Lightfoot - Chicago's Race Baiter In Chief - just lost to a straight white man on the last day of Black History Month.
Poetic justice.