New York Democrat Gov. Andrew Cuomo has continued to lose allies in the wake of multiple allegations of sexual misconduct, including from those who have faced similar accusations like Joe Biden.
During an interview with George Stephanopoulos for ABC News, Biden distanced himself from the disgraced governor while walking back comments he made this past weekend. He had previously urged New Yorkers to “wait to see what the investigation will bring.”
Cuomo has been accused of sexual harassment by at least seven women in the past few weeks. Most recently, a journalist named Jessica Bakeman claimed the governor harassed her on multiple occasions from 2012 to 2014.
The accusations have bolstered ongoing calls to remove him from office, which began after claims surfaced regarding his mishandling of COVID-19 cases in nursing homes across the state.
Biden has joined a growing list of high-profile Democrats who have called for Cuomo to resign, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and 16 Democrats in Congress.
However, few have pointed out that Biden’s condemnation came nearly one year to the day after Tara Reade, one of Biden’s former staffers, told Katie Halper details about how Biden had sexually assaulted her while she worked in his office. Despite this, Biden received little criticism from the rest of his party and later became the Democrat’s presidential nominee.
Biden’s remarks suggest Cuomo has become a toxic liability for the Democrat Party due to his mounting problems.
Senate Republicans accused President Joe Biden of breaking federal budget law when he ordered a halt to construction of a southern border wall and say the action contributed to a surge in illegal border crossings.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and 39 other Republicans wrote a letter to the Government Accountability Office on Wednesday seeking an investigation into the president’s actions, which they allege violated a 1974 act forbidding the executive branch from refusing to spend money appropriated by Congress.
“On Jan. 20, in one of the first official acts of his presidency, Joseph Biden suspended border wall construction and ordered a freeze of funds provided by Congress for that purpose. In the weeks that followed, operational control of our southern border was compromised and a humanitarian and national security crisis has ensued,” the letter states. “The President’s actions directly contributed to this unfortunate, yet entirely avoidable scenario. They are also a blatant violation of federal law and infringe on Congress’s constitutional power of the purse.”
The letter was organized by West Virginia’s Shelley Moore Capito, the top Republican on the Homeland Security spending panel. It asks GAO head Gene Dodaro to issue a legal opinion on whether the Impoundment Control Act was violated.
The fiscal 2021 spending bill that Congress passed in December has $1.4 billion for border wall and related spending.
In 2019, President Donald Trump transferred money earmarked for military construction to be used instead for building the border wall. A federal appeals court last year found the transfer illegal.
Republicans this week have focused on the surge of migrants crossing the U.S. border from Mexico, with lawmakers traveling to the region to highlight the issue. Biden has ordered federal disaster officials to the area to handle the surge, while Democrats have said that border crossings remained at roughly the same level during the Trump administration. They also have argued that the border wall is ineffective.
The allegedly progressive modern left is bringing segregation back to America, but this time it won’t only be black and white people who are divided.
The division is being sowed between race, sexual orientation, immigration status and income levels.
New York City’s prestigious Columbia University will be hosting separate graduation ceremonies for students with different backgrounds next month.
Native, Asian, Latino and Black students will each have their own graduation ceremonies, along with an LGBTQ ceremony.
First-generation and low-income students will also have their own graduations.
Contributing to COVID-19 fear-mongering, the school’s ceremonies will all take place online.
“These events provide a more intimate setting for students and guests to gather, incorporate meaningful cultural traditions and celebrate the specific contributions and achievements of their communities,” a statement on the school’s website explains.
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) slammed the idea of segregated graduation ceremonies, saying critical race theory is to blame for the divisive idea.
“Critical race theory is the belief that people have value based on the color of their skin, and that our race defines everything about us. It’s not just false—it’s dangerous,” Cotton wrote.
He continued, “The problem is not just one ‘woke’ university embracing discrimination. Critical race theory is being pushed on our kids at school, it’s peddled by HR departments at corporations, and the Biden administration has embraced it under the guise of ‘racial equity.’”
The problem is not just one "woke" university embracing discrimination.
Critical race theory is being pushed on our kids at school, it's peddled by HR departments at corporations, and the Biden administration has embraced it under the guise of "racial equity."
Vice President Kamala Harris is racing across the nation promoting the coronavirus relief package and stressing the importance of vaccination, giving many voters their first good look at the possible president-in-waiting.
The focus on Ms. Harris is growing with each passing day given that she is a heartbeat away from the presidency — and that heart belongs to a 78-year-old who might not seek a second term.
Ms. Harris’ role in the White House remains a work in progress and without a designated portfolio of duties.
For now, the 56-year-old former U.S. senator and California attorney general mostly serves as President Biden’s stand-in and understudy.
She is a regular presence at the president’s daily intelligence briefing and has made several calls to foreign leaders in Mr. Biden’s stead.
“Seems as though VP Harris’ role is still being shaped,” said Christy Setzer, a Democratic strategist. “Some aspects of her job are obvious: casting tiebreaking votes in a 50-50 Senate, leading outreach to women and communities of color on the administration’s policies.
“I suspect Harris will also take on her own meaty piece of the work, as Biden did when he led efforts for the middle class on the Recovery Act,” Ms. Setzer said.
Indeed, President Obama tasked Mr. Biden with acting as a bridge between Capitol Hill and the White House. He oversaw the stimulus program, the withdrawal of troops from Iraq and a gun control deal that ultimately died in Congress.
Signaling that he wants Ms. Harris to play a similar role in his administration, Mr. Biden has said he wants her to “participate in everything that I did” and “be the last person in the room” when he makes big decisions.
Ms. Harris has been a constant presence at Mr. Biden’s side.
She has been seen sitting alongside him during meetings with lawmakers at the Oval Office. She stood by his side last week when he signed the American Rescue Plan into law and then led him out of the room.
Her first 50-plus days in office have tested her ties with her former colleagues in Congress and the far-left wing of the Democratic Party.
Liberal activists said she blew a chance to include a $15-per-hour federal minimum wage in the coronavirus rescue plan by refusing to overturn a Senate parliamentarian ruling that it was out of order.
Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris split up this week as part of a concentrated push to highlight lesser-known parts of the relief package such as a child tax credit and extensions of unemployment benefits and the Paycheck Protection Program for small businesses.
Ms. Harris and her husband, Douglas Emhoff, on Monday visited a vaccine clinic at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and the Culinary Academy of Las Vegas.
“What I want to do is make sure that people know what they’re entitled to in the American Rescue Plan,” she said.
They followed that up Tuesday by traveling to Denver to speak with the head of a COVID-19 vaccination clinic and participate in a listening session with small-business owners at an empanada shop.
Ms. Harris said the administration is focused on ensuring that vaccinations are distributed with equity in mind.
“The president and I from the beginning of this have made it one of our highest priorities to make sure that we are taking into account racial disparities and that we supply folks on the ground with the resources you need so that we have equitable outcomes,” Ms. Harris said.
At the second stop, Ms. Harris said, “Small businesses are really part of the heartbeat of every community.”
Mr. Emhoff is settling into his role as the nation’s first second gentleman after leaving his law firm, DLA Piper.
Democrats hope the rescue package is the first accomplishment on a long Biden administration to-do list, which includes spending trillions of dollars on infrastructure, reducing greenhouse gas emissions to combat climate change, cutting the cost of college tuition, expanding health care, enacting universal background checks on gun purchases, and criminal justice reform.
David McCuan, chairman of the political science department at Sonoma State University, said Ms. Harris has plenty of time to “develop her own sizzle” by carving out a legislative corner of her own.
“The challenge is how you put meat on the bones [of her vision] and not be a potted plant and carry the water of the main man,” Mr. McCuan said. “That is where I think there is still a search for that role and what comes next.”
Mr. McCuan said Ms. Harris could end up leading on an issue such as infrastructure. “It is not sexy,” he said, but it could help deflect some of the criticism that she has been short on substance.
Mr. McCuan said pressure is on the Harris team to step into the limelight because Mr. Biden’s political future is uncertain.
“You have the race to solidify her position as a next-generation leader of the party, while the base of the party is rapidly changing,” he said.
Mr. McCuan said Ms. Harris’ best chance of making an early big splash could be a response to the push to recall California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat and one of her biggest allies in the state.
“The recall in California will become the warm-up battle for the 2022 general election,” he said.
Brad Bannon, a Democratic strategist, said Ms. Harris appears to be focused on filling a gap on her resume by focusing on foreign affairs. He noted the vice president’s conversations with several foreign leaders.
“She apparently wants to be a strong voice on national security issues,” Mr. Bannon said.
She was reportedly “heavily engaged” in discussions last month before Mr. Biden ordered an airstrike on Iran-backed militias that the Pentagon said were responsible for attacking Americans and allied forces in Iraq.
Mr. Bannon said Ms. Harris faces a bigger challenge than most other vice presidents because it is not clear whether Mr. Biden plans to run for reelection.
She could be working within a four-year rather than eight-year window when it comes to delivering as vice president and setting the stage for a presidential run of her own.
“Look at poor Mike Pence. I don’t think he ever carved out an identity for himself under Donald Trump,” Mr. Bannon said. “He played the loyal soldier even when Trump went completely off the deep end.
“That is why so many vice presidents never become president: because they never carve out an identity for themselves.”
(Newsweek) Officials in Italy have seized nearly 400,000 doses of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine and are conducting a criminal investigation after a man died hours after receiving the shot.
On Monday, prosecutors in the northern Italian region of Piedmont said they had seized the doses after Sandro Tognatti, a 57-year-old music teacher, fell ill and died shortly after getting vaccinated on Sunday.
Officials have not yet determined if Tognatti’s death is related to the inoculation. On Sunday, Piedmont’s regional government suspended the use of a vaccine batch, and prosecutors the next day said it was important to seize doses to ensure the vaccine “does not lead to further consequences.”
“It is therefore important to ensure that continued administration of the drug throughout the country does not lead to further consequences [harmful or fatal]…until we are completely sure that [Tognatti’s] death cannot be attributed to the above-mentioned inoculation,” prosecutor Teresa Angela Camelio said in a statement, according to Reuters.
The teacher received his vaccine in his hometown of Biella on Saturday afternoon and went to bed that night with a high fever, his wife told Italian media. The next morning, an ambulance was called after his condition worsened, but he died shortly after, the New York Post reported.
Prosecutors opened the probe into his death later that day and are investigating it as a possible manslaughter, according to the newspaper.
The investigation comes after a similar situation happened last week in Sicily, when local magistrates ordered the seizure of a separate batch of AstraZeneca vaccines after two men who had recently been inoculated suddenly died, Reuters reported.
However, the national Italian government has said it does not have evidence of a connection between the deaths and the shots and has allowed the vaccine administration to continue.
Meanwhile, the AstraZeneca vaccine, which was created by British-Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford, has faced growing scrutiny across other European countries.
The 17 countries are Austria, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Romania, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden.
Reached for comment on Tuesday, a spokesperson for AstraZeneca directed Newsweek to a statement from the company in which it said “the safety of all is our first priority.” The company added, “We are working with national health authorities and European officials and look forward to their assessment later this week.”
The statement continued, “Around 17 million people in the EU and UK have now received our vaccine, and the number of cases of blood clots reported in this group is lower than the hundreds of cases that would be expected among the general population.”
AstraZeneca has not yet been approved for use in the U.S. On Tuesday, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious diseases expert, assured Americans about the U.S. vaccines.
“Thus far—you have to keep following these things very carefully—there are no safety signals that turn out to be red flags,” Fauci said.
US Top News: Ireland suspends AstraZeneca vaccine amid blood clot reports – New York Post https://t.co/wDvXZdp2Fp
Some businesses struggled to access loans through the program, a key coronavirus rescue fund
The Small Business Administration mistakenly paid close to $692 million in duplicate Paycheck Protection Program loans to thousands of small businesses, even as others struggled to secure enough financing to stay afloat during the pandemic, according to a new report published by the agency’s in-house watchdog.
The Small Business Administration’s Office of the Inspector General said in a report released Monday that between April 3 and Aug. 19, lenders made more than one loan disbursement to 4,260 borrowers, including 2,689 with the same tax ID number and 1,571 with the same business name and address.
In response to the report, the SBA said it would recover the improper payments and prevent loan forgiveness on the second — meaning some businesses may have to pay back the duplicate loan if they can.
The watchdog added it did not find any evidence that borrowers intentionally exploited the program in order to obtain more than one loan.
The SBA identified issues last year that allowed the duplicate loan applications to be processed, but has since turned off controls for its electric loan-application system and will rely on loan reviews to eliminate duplicates moving forward, according to the report.
“Establishing strong controls to prevent improper or duplicate disbursements from occurring during initial loan processing is more effective than attempting to identify and resolve improper disbursements in the loan review phase,” the report said. “SBA’s efforts should focus on safeguarding funds up front, as it is more prudent and effective to prevent a loan from occurring than attempting to recover funds after the loan has been disbursed.”
Congress established the rescue fund, which provides government-backed forgivable loans to small businesses if they maintain their payroll, one year ago with the passage of the $2.2 trillion CARES Act. In total, lawmakers have approved about $806 billion in funding for the program.
The rescue fund reopened to applicants at the end of January following the passage of a $900 billion coronavirus relief package. Any business with fewer than 500 employees can apply for a first-time loan, and any business that already received a PPP loan can apply for a second if it employs fewer than 300 workers
Businesses can choose to spend the funds over any period of time between eight and 24 weeks. At least 60% of the money must be spent on maintaining payroll in order to receive full forgiveness.
The interest rate is still 1%.
The program closes on March 31, although a bipartisan, bicameral group of lawmakers has introduced legislation to extend the deadline by two months, until May 31.
Having been involved in public policy for nearly four decades, I’ve all too often seen the unintended consequences of liberals’ misguided compassion. And long before getting involved in public policy, I experienced those consequences myself as a Black child living in a housing project in the 1950s.
Now, I’m watching that misguided compassion wreak havoc on the lives of thousands of children illegally crossing our southern border as the Biden administration guts the successful immigration policies of the last four years.
Certainly, many average Americans who support more open immigration policies and amnesty programs do it out of a sense of compassion, hoping that people less fortunate than they are will be able to come to America to make better lives for themselves and their families.
But I can’t assume the same good intentions from our elected officials. Those in government know full well the tragic consequences of opening our borders. Rather than being motivated by compassion, they seek to gain power, and they’re willing to sacrifice some of the most vulnerable people to do it.
The Biden administration’s recent open-borders immigration policy and talk of potential amnesty has predictably resulted in a dramatic rise in unaccompanied children risking their lives to enter the United States across our southern border. The number of children coming without parents is now more than 430 a day, with immigration experts predicting an influx of more than 100,000 unaccompanied children by the end of 2021.
Parents are paying murderous drug cartels thousands of dollars to smuggle their children across the border. Some children are traveling across two or three countries to get here. Some have died during the rough and dangerous crossing, others have been abused by the smugglers, and some have been sold into human trafficking networks. We’ve also seen children being “rented” and “recycled” across the border several times to help adult males gain easier entry into the U.S. by claiming that the children are their own.
Once in this country, children are placed in cramped facilities until the government can connect them with relatives or caretakers already here. The Associated Press recently reported on one tent facility in Texas where hundreds of children have been so packed together that it’s impossible to practice social distancing.
Many are sleeping on the floor because there aren’t enough mats. Some have had to wait five days or more to shower, and soap isn’t always available. Other reports are that the administration won’t allow media inside some facilities to inspect the conditions, citing the pandemic as an excuse.
This raises so many other questions that need answering: If detention facilities are already running out of bedspace, how is the government quarantining COVID-positive children before releasing them into the population? What kind of strain is this sudden influx placing on local social services agencies that are already overburdened because millions of Americans are out of work? And at a time when educational resources are already being stretched thin with class sizes cut in half or children are studying from home, how are our schools handling the influx?
The Biden administration has created a border crisis that experts clearly warned would happen.
The president’s executive orders have directed federal agencies to disregard U.S. law. The administration tore up agreements with Central American nations that had helped stop the uncontrolled flow of migrants. It abandoned the effective “Remain in Mexico” policy for asylum seekers that was critical to reducing fraudulent asylum claims. It has nearly eliminated ICE’s ability to deport those here illegally. And rather than securing the border, the administration is sending processors to the border to move illegal immigrants into the U.S. interior as quickly as possible.
What’s the ultimate goal of this explosion of illegal immigrants into the United States? It certainly can’t be for the alleged humanitarian reasons we keep hearing about from our politicians. As the numbers rushing the border continue to grow, violent drug cartels are growing richer from smuggling fees, more children are being handed over to the custody of violent criminals, and kids are being stuffed into cramped holding facilities. That’s no one’s definition of humanitarian.
Yet, it’s no coincidence that at the same time the administration and its allies in Congress are promoting these open-border policies and proposing giving millions of illegal immigrants amnesty, they’re also pushing H.R. 1, a bill that would diminish safeguards that prevent non-citizens from illegally registering and voting. The left is working to create voters out of millions of illegal immigrants — not to help those immigrants, not to make America stronger, but merely to cement their own power. And politicians won’t let the children stand in their way, even if it means putting hundreds of them in danger each day.
These children, our children — all children — deserve better than this.
• Kay C. James is president of The Heritage Foundation (heritage.org).
“Someone has to sacrifice in order for the rest to be safe.”
A Norwegian journalist bizarrely claimed she would “love to die from the AstraZeneca vaccine” if it meant other people in Europe were not discouraged from taking it.
The statement was made in the headline of Linn Wiik’s article, which literally translates as “I would love to die from the AstraZeneca vaccine.”
The AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine has been temporarily pulled by numerous countries across Europe, including Spain, France, Portugal, Cyprus, Austria, Denmark, Slovenia and Norway, due to reports of blood clotting and several deaths of people who took the jab.
In response to the news, Wiik defiantly suggested that she would be prepared to die from taking the vaccine if it meant others were not discouraged from taking it.
— American Faith Media (@AmericanFaithM1) March 16, 2021
“Some must be sacrificed in the war against the corona,” she wrote. “That’s the way it is in all wars. This time it may well be me.”
Wiik went on to downplay deaths and illnesses linked to the vaccine, asserting, “People get blood clots and die of cerebral hemorrhage every year.”
“But even if it turns out that it is the AstraZeneca vaccine that has caused blood clots or cerebral haemorrhage, I have no doubt: If I get the offer, I will take it anyway,” she continued.
“Because, sorry to say it so bluntly: Someone has to sacrifice in order for the rest to be safe.”
Judging by her picture, Wiik is not over the age of 69, meaning she has a better than 99.5% of surviving COVID-19 if she catches it.
One wonders if given the choice between those odds and risking serious illness from taking a vaccine from a contaminated batch that she would still choose the latter.
“Have we hit peak journo-ism yet?” asked Chris Menahan.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom admitted Tuesday that he’s “worried” about being recalled from office as organizers prepare to submit petitions to place his political fate on the special-election ballot.
“Am I worried about it? Of course, I’m worried about it,” Mr. Newsom said on ABC’s “The View.” “The nature of these things, the up-or-down question, the zero-sum nature of the question is challenging, it’s vexing.”
Petitions are due Wednesday to the California secretary of state, but leaders of Recall Gavin Newsom say they have already collected more than 2 million signatures, well above the nearly 1.5 million needed to qualify the measure for the ballot, and that 1.8 million have been verified as valid.
Mr. Newsom said that six would-be recalls have been floated since he was elected in November 2018, but that “this one appears to have the requisite signatures.”
“We’re taking it seriously,” Mr. Newsom said. “I have to do my job every single day, but I’m going to fight this thing because I’m going to fight for California values and the things I hold dear and I think the vast majority of Californians regardless of their political stripes hold dear.”
The Democratic governor launched Monday the anti-recall campaign Stop the Republican Recall, calling it a “naked partisan power grab” and linking it to extremist groups, which the recall group blasted as a “smear campaign.”
“Newsom is calling on the political establishment to shut us down,” the recall group tweeted. “His smear campaign, to label and stereotype us won’t work! We know better. The people will choose the future of California.”
Only two governors in U.S. history have been recalled, but one of those was in California: Democratic Gov. Gray Davis was ousted in 2003 and replaced with Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger.
California Gov. @GavinNewsom tells @TheView he’s taking the recall effort against him “seriously” and “going to fight this thing”: “It’s less about me, it’s more about… Democratic party values.”
A California Emerson College/Nexstar Media poll released Monday found Mr. Newsom receiving a 42% to 40% approval-disapproval rating, with 42% sayings they would vote to keep him in office and 38% supporting the recall.
The fragments contain text from Zechariah and Nahum
Israeli archeologists announced Tuesday their discovery of dozens more Dead Sea Scroll fragments, adding to the already immense collection of ancient biblical texts that date back almost 2,000 years, the Associated Press reported.
MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP via Getty Images
The newly discovered fragments contain text from a Greek translation of the Book of the Twelve Minor Prophets, specifically Zechariah and Nahum, likely written in the 1st century A.D., according to radiocarbon dating. The discovery was reportedly made as part of a four-year campaign by the Israel Antiquities Authority, and is the first such discovery made in 60 years.
Among the texts recovered is Nahum 1:5–6, which says: “The mountains quake because of Him, And the hills melt. The earth heaves before Him, The world and all that dwell therein. Who can stand before His wrath? Who can resist His fury? His anger pours out like fire, and rocks are shattered because of Him.”
And Zechariah 8:16-17: “These are the things you are to do: Speak the truth to one another, render true and perfect justice in your gates. And do not contrive evil against one another, and do not love perjury, because all those are things that I hate — declares the Lord.”
Also unearthed in the excavation was a “6,000-year-old skeleton of a partially mummified child and a 10,500-year-old basket, which Israeli authorities said could be the oldest in the world,” NBC News noted.
Bedouin shepherds first discovered the treasure trove of ancient biblical texts now known as the Dead Sea Scrolls in the 1940s and 1950s in desert cave near Qumran. The documents date from the 3rd century B.C. to the 1st century A.D. Before then, the oldest manuscripts of the Old Testament could only be traced back to the 9th and 10th century A.D.
Archaeologists suspect the roughly 80 new fragments were part of a scroll hidden in the caves of Qumran during the Bar Kochba Revolt, an armed Jewish uprising against Rome during the reign of Emperor Hadrian. They were found in the so-called “Cave of Horrors” in the Judean Desert, named for the numerous human skeletons found inside.
The cave, which is situated approximately 80 meters below a cliff top, is “flanked by gorges and can only be reached by rappelling precariously down the sheer cliff,” according to the IAA.
“The desert team showed exceptional courage, dedication and devotion to purpose, rappelling down to caves located between heaven and earth, digging and sifting through them, enduring thick and suffocating dust, and returning with gifts of immeasurable worth for mankind,” IAA director Israel Hasson, added in a news release.
