Today, the Congressional Senate voted 93-2 to confirm Biden‘s nominee for Secretary of Defense, retired Army Admiral Lloyd Austin. Austin is the first African-American to serve as secretary of defense in the United States. He is also the second member of Biden’s Cabinet.
Congressional Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) tweeted last night, questioning Congressional Majority Leader Pelosi and Schumer about why they are letting National Guard soldiers from across the country who are guarding the president’s inauguration sleep in a garage. They deserve to be treated with respect.
On the other hand, the news agency One America (OAN) has confirmed the news that Trump allowed the soldiers who were thrown out by Congress to rest at the Trump Hotel. Some say that Trump is a true leader in this way.
And this week, with the change of the old and new administrations in the United States, the Chinese Foreign Ministry immediately named and sanctioned 28 former U.S. government officials. One of those named, former U.S. Under Secretary of State Keith Krach, tweeted that he would take these “sanctions” as a “badge of honor” and would not give in to the Chinese Communist bullies. He also said that when you stand up to bullies, they will back down, especially if you have friends around.
Yesterday, January 21, the European Parliament passed a resolution on the human rights situation in Hong Kong. The resolution calls on the Hong Kong government to immediately and unconditionally release all pro-democracy activists arrested after the implementation of the “Hong Kong version of the National Security Law” and to drop the charges against them. The motion also urges European leaders to sanction Xia Baolong, director of the Communist Party’s Hong Kong and Macau Office, and nine Chinese and Hong Kong officials, including Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor.
Next, we talk to you about the following topics: Biden’s executive order draws criticism from the crowd, YouTube removes backwards likes to cover up his low popularity; Antifa smashing, Chinese Communist Party sanctions, Biden is forced to take a stand; two US presidents are impeached at the same Time; Trump opens up his big plans for the next two years; Google threatens to ban search functions in Australia; and updates on the Epidemic.
Biden’s New Order Draws Criticism YouTube Cuts “Backwards Likes” to Hide Low Popularity
As we have seen, Biden has been very diligent in signing executive orders since he took office. Today, he signed two more executive orders related to the epidemic.
The first order requires the federal government to use existing resources to the greatest extent possible to support the livelihood of the American people, especially to provide Food assistance to low-income families.
The second order requires the government to provide better coverage and benefits for federal employees during the epidemic. Biden will direct the administration to fulfill his promise, which is to provide a $15 minimum wage and emergency paid leave for federal workers within 100 days of taking office, Fox reported.
Officials said the two executive orders will serve as “interim” programs until Congress passes a new epidemic revitalization bill.
So what was the reaction to the 17 “non-temporary” executive orders that Biden signed on his first day in office? Several of them drew a lot of criticism.
As we mentioned yesterday, Republican Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) blasted Biden’s executive orders, saying he made multiple mistakes on his first day in office.
House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) also said at a press conference that he was disappointed because “the new administration is more interested in helping illegal immigrants than its own citizens; more interested in making gestures to climate activists than supporting union workers on the Keystone XL pipeline; more interested in appeasing the World health Organization than going after the Chinese government. World Health Organization rather than delving into how the Chinese Communist Party released the virus into the world in the first place.”
Senator Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas, criticized Biden for unilaterally canceling the Keystone XL pipeline. He noted that the project provides 1,200 high-paying jobs now; in 2021, more than 11,000 jobs are expected with a contract worth $1.6 billion. But with the stroke of a pen, President Biden has lost all those jobs.
In addition, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said the Biden Administration announced a 100-day moratorium on deportations of certain illegal immigrants beginning Jan. 22; in response, Texas today filed a formal lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Paxton said the DHS decision is illegal and that the suspension of deportations will allow the Biden administration to grant “blanket Amnesty” to many undocumented immigrants “without congressional approval.
In a tweet posted today, he said, “When the Biden Administration breaks the law, I take action. I have told the Department of Homeland Security to immediately rescind its illegal and unjustified deportation ban or Texas will file suit. As attorney general, I will always put the interests of Americans, Texans (first), over dangerous foreigners who must be deported!”
While criticized by his peers, Biden’s popularity among the public is also a concern.
In the past few days, the official YouTube channel of the White House has seen a large number of “likes”, or “stomps”, under the Biden-related videos. How much? So much so that YouTube stepped in and started to remove the number of “stomps”.
One user shared a picture of the same video, and the first time he took a screenshot, there were 10,000 people who “stepped” on it, but more than four hours later, the number of “steppers” had dropped dramatically to 3,100. Many other users also shared similar screenshots, showing that tens of thousands of “steps” were deleted.
Does this scene look familiar? The deletion of posts and comments is simply following the CCP’s modus operandi all the way. I don’t think the American people could have imagined half a year ago that they would sooner get a taste of the iron fist of socialism.
In response, YouTube responded to Epoch Times that they are monitoring user click-through comments on the site to detect and remove user engagement that it deems spam. In this way, only those reviews that it considers genuine are retained. The company said this mechanism worked as it should have in the case of the Biden video.
But it’s not clear how YouTube distinguishes between genuine and fake review clicks, and the company has not responded to requests to tell further details.
Antifa smashing, Chinese Communist Party sanctions Pompeo Biden was forced to take a stand
Now, Biden is faced with taking a stand on two other matters.
One is the Antifa group that has been beating, smashing, burning, looting and vandalizing property in the western cities of Portland and Seattle since Biden’s inauguration.
Their signs read “No Police, No Prisons, No Borders, No President,” and police recovered pepper ball guns, Molotov Cocktails, knives, large fireworks, shields and rocks from some of the rioters.
On Thursday evening (Jan. 21), Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) asked Biden to condemn the Antifa riots, but Biden has not yet spoken out.
In addition, the Chinese Communist Party’s sanctions against Pompeo and 28 other Trump Administration officials continue to fester, with several lawmakers strongly condemning them and top congressional Republicans urging Biden to take strong measures against the Chinese regime.
Outgoing Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Rep. Jim Risch (R-Okla.) tweeted that the Chinese Communist Party is testing the Biden administration’s resolve to see if it wants to continue to take tougher, more competitive measures against China (CCP). “Republicans and Democrats must come together to show Beijing that we will not back down on defending America’s interests.”
Senior Republican Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), vice chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, tweeted, “The Biden Administration must make clear immediately that it will not tolerate (the CCP’s) coercive behavior.”
In an interview with Fox News, Republican Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Texas) said the Communist Party’s sanctions “are more of a blow to Biden’s national security team than they are to those [U.S.] officials. He urged the Biden administration and Congress to respond that the United States cannot allow the Chinese Communist Party to continue its campaign of intimidation.
So far, we have seen Biden’s National Security Council spokeswoman Emily Horne respond on the same day, calling the Communist Party’s sanctions “futile,” but Biden has yet to take any other substantive action.
Unprecedented impeachment of two U.S. presidents at the same time
The U.S. political arena is full of smoke and mirrors, and there is a major war zone that cannot be ignored, namely the impeachment of the president. And, now it is Biden and Trump who are facing this issue at the same time.
On the 21st, Georgia’s newly elected Republican Congressman Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) kept a promise she made earlier to bring impeachment against Biden.
In a press release, Greene said the articles of impeachment were based on Biden’s alleged abuse of power as vice president and corrupt practices in his dealings with Ukraine.
She accused Biden of “promoting bribery” and “(engaging in) blatant nepotism” through his son Hunter Biden’s position in the Ukrainian energy company Burisma.
Since the House is currently controlled by Democrats, the media expects Green’s impeachment may not go very far. For his part, Greene tweeted, “We’ll see how it goes.”
On the other hand, the House passed an impeachment bill against former President Trump on Jan. 13, but never sent the impeachment text to the Senate.
New Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said today that he has spoken with Pelosi and that the impeachment will be sent to the Senate on the 25th.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell proposed yesterday that the trial start in mid-February, leaving that time for the Democrats prosecuting the case and Trump’s defense team to prepare.
McConnell said the proposal would provide a “full and fair process” given the “serious factual, legal and constitutional issues” involved in the case.
So, will the trial really be “fair”?
Alan Dershowitz, a constitutional law expert and retired Harvard law professor, noted that “the Constitution is very clear that the purpose of impeachment is removal from office,” and that “the Senate cannot try an ordinary citizen” when Trump has already left office. . In other words, to impeach Trump now is simply unconstitutional, so how can we talk about fairness?
Two days ago, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) called on McConnell to condemn the second impeachment of Trump because it would not only be unconstitutional, but would further divide the country.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said last week that “if Republicans go along with it, it will destroy the party.” “A third of Republicans will leave the party.”
In addition, the national polling firm M&A1 released its latest poll on January 12, showing that 80 percent of Trump supporters and 76 percent of Republicans, will not vote again for a pro-impeachment lawmaker.
Trump’s big plan for the next two years revealed 2025 or return to the White House?
For the impeachment, Trump gives the impression that he is very calm, as if he did not take it very seriously. When he gave his exit speech on the 20th, he said he “will return in some form”, giving supporters renewed hope.
Yesterday, Trump’s top adviser Jason Miller told “Just the News AM” that he has “big plans” for the next two years.
Miller said Trump “has a lot of goals for the next couple of years …… including winning back the House and Senate for Republicans in 2022 to make sure we can stop the Democrats from going crazy.
He added that a lot of important work needs to be done on voter integrity, and Trump is expected to be a leader in that regard. That plan is expected to take full shape in the coming months.
Miller also recently tweeted a photo of the White House with the caption “Until 2025,” speculating whether Trump would run for president again in 2025.
Miller replied that Trump has not yet made a decision on whether to run again in 2024, but he would like to see Trump return to the White House in 2025 for a second term.
In addition, House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy (Kevin McCarty) said yesterday that although Trump has left office, but still has the ability to lead and unite the Republican Party.
He told “Fox News” that Trump “has been able to steer us in the right direction to keep America strong.”
Google Australia resists paid threat to ban search function
Trump to regain the integrity of the electorate, in addition to involving all levels of government departments, we know that also involves those technology giants and the media and other aspects of the work. For example, some experts have previously pointed out that Google has influenced “at least” 6 million votes in the November 3 presidential election by promoting a political agenda to users.
Such a huge influence and control has caused many people to worry. So today, Google is showing off its muscles against Australia again.
An Australian Senate committee held a hearing today on the draft News Media Bargaining Act, which would require big tech companies like Google and Facebook to pay news publishers for displaying news content.
In response, Google has taken a very strong stance. Mel Silva, managing director of Google Australia, said at the hearing that it was unworkable and that “if this version of the draft becomes law, it will leave us with no choice but to stop offering Google’s search capabilities in Australia.”
She added that “this is not a threat, it’s a reality.”
Facebook has also previously threatened to ban users from sharing news on their platform if the current version of Australia’s draft News Media Bargaining Act is passed.
However, Australian Prime Minister Morrison was also tough. He said the Australian government has set the rules and this is the way Australia works. “We welcome people who want to come and cooperate, but we’re not going to respond to threats.”
Over the next three months, if Google and the media can’t agree on a fee, it will go to mandatory arbitration.
Variant virus hits multiple countries again, Israel infects more than 12,000 despite vaccination
Here’s another look at the latest global outbreak.
Today, the “variant” of the Chinese Communist virus is the key word in many countries’ outbreak news.
The first case of the South African variant was found in Cuba; the first case of the Brazilian variant was found in Germany; and, according to AFP, a group of British tourists in the French Alps tested positive for the virus, raising local alarms that the British variant may be spreading in the region.
In addition, Irish media reported that Irish authorities are considering placing the country on lockdown for six weeks due to the spread of the new British variant.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson told a news conference today that some of the preliminary evidence suggests that the UK variant of the virus is not only spreading at a higher rate than the old virus, but is also more deadly. However, there is no evidence that the variant virus will render the vaccine ineffective.
In addition, Spain today reported a record number of deaths in a single week, at least 1,411; Portugal set a record for the fifth day in a row, with 234 deaths in the past 24 hours; and Germany has seen more than 50,000 deaths from the Chinese communist virus as of today.
And Israel is questioning the effectiveness of the Pfizer vaccine, as more than 12,000 people in their country have been diagnosed with CCP pneumonia despite receiving the Pfizer vaccine.
In the U.S., President Joe Biden warned that the death toll from the epidemic in the U.S. would reach 500,000 in February. He said, “We are still in the dark winter of this epidemic. It’s going to get worse before it gets better.”
Virus closing in on Zhongnanhai? Hu Xijin besieged for singing hymns about epidemic prevention
For mainland China, as of 6 p.m. local time today, there were six high-risk areas and 66 medium-risk areas, with the epidemic spreading across 21 provinces and cities nationwide.
Among them, there are 2 medium-risk areas in Shunyi District, Beijing, 1 high-risk area in Daxing District, and 6 more closed management communities in Tiangongyuan Street, Daxing District.
More notably, the Beijing Dongcheng District and Xicheng District epidemic prevention and control team issued a notice today that because of the increased risk of recent external epidemics, the entire population of the two districts will be tested for nucleic acid in batches today and tomorrow.
The major screening involves a population of more than 2 million. The Associated Press reported that thousands of people braved the cold to line up on a street corner in Dongcheng District, with the line spreading for several blocks; Reuters reported that the line outside the testing station at Dengshikou Primary School in Dongcheng District was more than 200 meters long.
The Dongcheng District and Xicheng District are located in the eastern and western halves of central Beijing, covering all of the areas within the Second Ring Road and a small portion outside of it, and most of the important organs, including Zhongnanhai, where the core of the Chinese Communist Party and government is located, are within the Xicheng District.
We do not know the true extent of the epidemic in Beijing due to the CCP’s cover-up of information, but the sudden nucleic acid testing of the entire population of the two districts is very notable. The outside world also speculated whether the virus was approaching Zhongnanhai.
The epidemic in China is getting worse day by day, and the Communist Party’s epidemic prevention policy is tightening up on the people, causing a lot of discontent. Today, the grizzly warrior Hu Xijin came out again to defend the CCP’s “don’t return Home for the New Year” slogan, and was mobbed by netizens.
Hu Xijin said in a Weibo post that he believes China cannot afford a nationwide movement of people, and that the Chinese Communist Party is right to impose restrictions on returning to the hometown for New Year’s Eve and to encourage spending it locally.
He also said that his unit strongly urged people not to leave Beijing for New Year’s Eve, “All of us are participants in the fight against the epidemic this winter. Responding to the call to spend the holidays in place is doing one’s part.”
The tweet immediately ignited the anger of netizens. Some people left a message saying, “Laohu’s words are all right, but you just can’t read the combined book (linked together).” “Old Hu is standing and talking! What kind of unit are you there? Most of the employees have houses in Beijing and most of their families are in Beijing.”
Others said, “You roll, the idea of how far you can get away from me.” “Workers outside the hard work of a year, in the end, the New Year is not even allowed to return home!”
Recent Comments