DML Morning Briefing Fri. Feb 5: The fundamental transformation begins, missing explosives, a viral video, and more…
By Team DML
Today is February 5 and I am Dennis Michael Lynch.
1 – Harris casts first tie-breaking votes as vice president
The Hill reports: Vice President Harris cast her first tie-breaking votes early Friday morning helping Senate Democrats pass a budget resolution that greenlights them passing coronavirus relief without GOP support.
Harris, who served in the Senate for roughly four years before stepping down to become vice president, arrived at the Capitol on Friday hours into the Senate’s all-night vote-a-rama on the budget resolution.
Harris cast her first tie-breaking vote on a final amendment from Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Senate Budget Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). Republicans said the Democratic proposal stripped out three GOP amendments and opposed it resulting in a 50-50 tie.
Harris then cast a second tie-breaking vote on the final passage of the budget resolution. Every Democrat voted for the proposal, while all Republicans voted against it. Because the Senate is evenly split 50-50 that resulted in the tie.
Schumer thanked Harris for helping them pass the budget resolution after the votes. Though the budget doesn’t get signed into law it’s a crucial first step for Democrats to be able to pass a $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill without GOP support.
DML: Well, like Schumer said, they took Georgia, now they change America.
2 – Taxpayer-Funded Refugee Contractors Cheer Joe Biden Surging Refugee Resettlement by 960%
Breitbart reports: Taxpayer-funded contractors, responsible for resettling refugees across the United States, are celebrating President Joe Biden’s executive order that will increase refugee resettlement by nearly 960 percent this year.
On Thursday, Biden signed an order that will set the maximum number of refugees resettled in the U.S. at 125,000 for Fiscal Year 2021. The refugee cap is simply a numerical limit and not a goal for federal officials to reach.
In Fiscal Year 2020, the Trump administration admitted less than 12,000 refugees as the program was largely halted to slow the spread of the Chinese coronavirus and only emergency cases were processed. Biden’s increase means that the U.S. will likely see a nearly 960 percent increase in refugee resettlement this year, despite the ongoing crisis.
Nine refugee contractors — who have a vested interest in ensuring as many refugees are resettled across the U.S. as possible because their annual federally-funded budgets are contingent on the number of refugees they resettle — are celebrating Biden’s order.
DML: Get ready for your new neighbors.
3 – Survey: 64 percent of GOP voters say they would join a Trump-led new party
The Hill reports: A majority of Republican voters said if former President Trump were to start a new political party they would likely join, a new Hill-HarrisX poll finds.
Sixty-four percent of registered Republican voters in the Jan. 28-29 survey said they’d join a new political party led by the former president, including 32 percent who said they would very likely join.
By contrast, 36 percent of Republican respondents said they are either very or somewhat unlikely to join.
The survey found 28 percent of independents and 15 percent of Democrats said they’d likely join a third party led by Trump. Thirty-seven percent of voters overall said if Trump started a new political party they’d likely join.
DML: If it’s already at these numbers now, wait until Biden has been in office a year.
4 – High-powered explosives missing, possibly stolen from Southern California military base
ABC10 San Diego reports: Military officials are working to recover high powered explosives that vanished from a Southern California installation. The explosives disappeared from the Twentynine Palms Marine Corps Base, and now a reward is being offered for their discovery, sources told ABC 10News.
Sources report that approximately 10 pounds of Composition C-4 disappeared during a long training exercise two weeks ago. They also believe the manufactured plastic explosives may have been stolen.
Retired Captain Kelly Mayer told ABC 10News that one pound alone could blow up a vehicle when detonated. Mayer, a former firefighter and bomb-technician with 23 years of experience, added that C-4 is one of the most powerful explosives to be manufactured.
DML: Highly disturbing.
5 – Footage of Florida grocery store with lack of masks goes viral
The Hill reports: A video filmed at a Florida grocery store this week by an NBC News correspondent quickly went viral after many customers and employees in the footage were seen not wearing face masks. (As of this report, the video has over 4 million views.)
The video, filmed and posted on Twitter Wednesday by NBC News correspondent Sam Brock, pans along the checkout registers at Oakes Farms Seed to Table Market in Naples, about 42 miles south of Fort Myers.
In the footage, many employees and customers can be seen without face masks and not observing social distancing guidelines as advised by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
A sign on the door reads: “Those in our lovely government have ordered all persons entering indoor facilities to wear a mask. If you have a medical condition that prevents you from wearing a mask, you are exempt from this order. If we see you without a mask, we will assume you have a medical condition and we will welcome you inside to support our business.”
DML: Amazing – one video showing what real life should be like everywhere has Dems in a crazy meltdown. LOVE IT!
