Republican and Democratic lawmakers unveiled a bill on Wednesday that would increase safety restrictions on <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/ohio-train-disaster" target="_blank" rel="noopener">trains</a> carrying hazardous materials.
The legislation comes weeks after a Norfolk Southern train derailed near East Palestine, Ohio. Authorities evacuated all residents within one mile of the February 3 incident and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/evacuation-ordered-ohio-governor-warns-major-explosion-could-send-shrapnel-a-mile-from-derailed-train" target="_blank" rel="noopener">started</a> a controlled burn of chemicals on the vehicle to lower the risk of an explosion, producing massive plumes of black smoke visible throughout eastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania.
Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) and Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) introduced the Railway Safety Act of 2023, which would require rail companies to report hazardous materials present trains to state authorities, raise inspection requirements, and increase the rigor of defect detection efforts. Other sponsors include Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA), and Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA).
“Through this legislation, Congress has a real opportunity to ensure that what happened in East Palestine will never happen again. We owe every American the peace of mind that their community is protected from a catastrophe of this kind,” Vance said in a <a href="https://www.vance.senate.gov/press-releases/senators-vance-brown-to-introduce-bipartisan-legislation-to-prevent-train-derailment-disasters/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">press release</a>. “Action to prevent future disasters is critical, but we must never lose sight of the needs of the Ohioans living in East Palestine and surrounding communities. One day, the TV cameras will leave, and the news cycle will move on, but the needs of those Ohioans will remain.”
The <a href="https://www.vance.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Railway-Safety-Act.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">legislation</a> would also increase several civil penalties for violations of rail safety regulations tenfold and require that each train must operate with at least two-person crews. With respect to safety in transporting hazardous materials, each carrier must produce a gas discharge plan and submit to periodic inspections with minimum time requirements. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg would be directed by the legislation to enumerate more specific rules. The Biden administration has <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2023/03/01/politics/congress-response-railway-safety-norfolk-southern/index.html">called on</a> Congress to enact similar reforms.
“The Norfolk Southern train derailment left Pennsylvania and Ohio families, businesses, and first responders grappling with a disaster that spilled hazardous materials in their community. It shouldn’t have happened here and it shouldn’t happen anywhere else in America,” Casey added. “The Railway Safety Act will make freight rail safer, hold rail companies accountable for putting communities and workers in harm’s way, and protect people over profits.”
The train derailment launched debate in Washington over increased scrutiny for rail companies. Buttigieg <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/buttigieg-touts-funding-to-improve-rail-safety-in-wake-of-ohio-train-crash-doesnt-mention-what-hes-doing-right-now-to-help" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> the White House has been “constrained” on rail safety due to a “braking rule withdrawn by the Trump administration in 2018 because of a law passed by Congress in 2015.” National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy later <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/biden-admin-blames-trump-for-ohio-train-derailment-even-the-ntsb-chair-calls-that-misinformation" target="_blank" rel="noopener">clarified</a> that the rule would not have applied to the train which derailed in East Palestine because of its classification as a “mixed freight train” rather than a “high hazard flammable train.”
<a class="c-link c-link--focus-visible" href="https://onelink.to/dwapp" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-stringify-link="https://onelink.to/dwapp" data-sk="tooltip_parent" aria-describedby="sk-tooltip-146166">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILY WIRE APP</a>
Federal investigators have preliminarily <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/new-details-in-east-palestine-train-derailment-revealed-in-fresh-ntsb-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener">concluded</a> that the derailment was caused by a malfunctioning rail axle. “Surveillance video from a residence showed what appears to be a wheel bearing in the final stage of overheat failure moments before the derailment,” the NTSB said in a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/investigators-provide-more-details-on-what-caused-ohio-train-disaster" target="_blank" rel="noopener">press release</a>. “The wheelset from the suspected railcar has been collected as evidence for metallurgical examination.”

Screen Shot 2023-02-17 at 11.58.47 AM

Senators Introduce Bipartisan Bill To Improve Rail Safety After Ohio Train Crash

Senators Introduce Bill To Improve Rail Safety After Ohio Train Derailment

Congress

JD Vance

John Fetterman

Josh Hawley

Marco Rubio

Ohio Train Disaster

Politics

Railroads

Sherrod Brown

Train

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) criticized President Joe Biden during an interview on Sunday over his controversial handling of the Chinese spy balloon that flew over the U.S. during the last several days.
Rubio told CNN&#8217;s Jake Tapper on &#8220;State of the Union&#8221; that the American people need answers about why it took the administration so long to disclose the spy balloon&#8217;s presence over U.S. territory.
&#8220;I think what&#8217;s embedded here is a clear message. It&#8217;s not a coincidence that this happens leading up to the State of the Union address, leading up to [Secretary of State Antony] Blinken&#8217;s visit to China,&#8221; Rubio said. &#8220;The Chinese knew that this was going to be spotted. They knew that we were going to have to react to it. They flew it over military installations and sensitive sites across &#8212; right across the middle. I mean, look at the flight path of this thing. It&#8217;s a diagonal shot right through the middle of the continental United States.&#8221;
&#8220;And the message embedded in this to the world is, we can fly a balloon over airspace of the United States of America, and you won&#8217;t be able to do anything about it to stop us,&#8221; he added. &#8220;They calculated this carefully with a message embedded in it. And I think that&#8217;s the part we can&#8217;t forget here. It&#8217;s not just the balloon. It&#8217;s the message to try to send the world that America &#8212; we can do whatever we want, and America can&#8217;t stop us.&#8221;
WATCH:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Tapper asks Rubio about reported spy balloons during Trump admin." width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/U1FORYd7qV8?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
TRANSCRIPT:
<blockquote>TAPPER: Welcome back to STATE OF THE UNION. I&#8217;m Jake Tapper.
Many Republicans reacted with outrage after President Biden waited for the suspected Chinese spy balloon to leave the continental United States before shooting it down, for safety reasons, they said, at the Pentagon&#8217;s guidance.
Joining us now is the vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Republican Senator Marco Rubio of Florida.
Senator, thanks so much for joining us.
So you have said the President Biden should have shot the balloon down earlier. The defense secretary, Lloyd Austin, said &#8212; quote &#8212; &#8220;After careful analysis, U.S. military commanders had determined to downing the balloon while over land posed an undue risk to people across a wide area due to the size and altitude of the balloon and its surveillance payload.&#8221;
And, as you heard Secretary Buttigieg just a few minutes ago said that the debris field after the balloon was shot down was about seven miles&#8217; long.
Should President Biden have ordered that it be shot down anyway, regardless of that risk?
SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R-FL): No, not regardless of the risk.
First of all, they can track these things. I would hope you can track a slow moving balloon that clearly is headed here, as you can see from its trajectory. I think that&#8217;s one of the things we will learn this week, is how soon, how late into January did they already know that there&#8217;s this high-altitude balloon and what its trajectory was and where it was headed, and why didn&#8217;t they take action at that time?
That&#8217;s number one. I think the other thing that we need to know about it and understand is, why did it take so long for them to disclose this to the American public? I don&#8217;t think the trajectory of where this balloon was going was a mystery. I think, pretty early on, they probably &#8212; because of the prevailing winds, because of the direction that it was headed, I think it was pretty clear that this thing was going to enter the Northwest in Montana, in Idaho, move its way down the Midwest and exit the Eastern Seaboard just off the Carolinas.
I mean, that&#8217;s an unprecedented flight path. And why did it wait until Wednesday to notify &#8212; or Thursday to talk about it the American people, knowing people were going to be seeing this thing?
TAPPER: As the vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, do you know, has the U.S. recovered any parts of the Chinese spy balloon? Has the &#8212; and did the monitoring of the balloon during its journey, as far as you know, yield any worthwhile information for the U.S.?
RUBIO: Well, we won&#8217;t know that until we get to a secure setting this week in Washington. And, probably, most of that is something we won&#8217;t be able to disclose in any great detail, other than to say this.
And that is that they&#8217;re going to try to recover this. Apparently, it&#8217;s in shallow waters. We will see what they recover from it. But I don&#8217;t think the technology or the existence of these things is a great mystery. I think what&#8217;s embedded here is a clear message. It&#8217;s not a coincidence that this happens leading up to the State of the Union address, leading up to Blinken&#8217;s visit to China.
The Chinese knew that this was going to be spotted. They knew that we were going to have to react to it. They flew it over military installations and sensitive sites across &#8212; right across the middle. I mean, look at the flight path of this thing. It&#8217;s a diagonal shot right through the middle of the continental United States.
And the message embedded in this to the world is, we can fly a balloon over airspace of the United States of America, and you won&#8217;t be able to do anything about it to stop us. They calculated this carefully with a message embedded in it. And I think that&#8217;s the part we can&#8217;t forget here. It&#8217;s not just the balloon.It&#8217;s the message to try to send the world that America &#8212; we can do whatever we want, and America can&#8217;t stop us.
TAPPER: What information do you think the spy balloon might have gleaned as it traveled?
I know, it&#8217;s over &#8212; the fear is that it was over some U.S. military installations. I&#8217;m also wondering if infrastructure was probably part of the surveillance task at hand.
RUBIO: Well, again, it would be speculation, other than to tell you that those things usually at that altitude, and what they&#8217;re doing is probably trying to collect on signals, on electronic information that&#8217;s transiting that they can pick up on.
There are various other means that they can do that as well. And that&#8217;s why I go back to the whole point of the message. There are probably other ways that China could acquire whatever they acquired using this balloon. I may be wrong. There may be some unique attributes to it that I&#8217;m &#8212; that I&#8217;m not aware of yet, but we will learn more about this week.
But I think, more than anything else, beyond just the ability to collect information, it is the ability to send a clear message, and that is that we have the ability to do this, and America can&#8217;t do anything about it. If they&#8217;re not going to be able to stop a balloon from flying over U.S. airspace, how is America going to come to your aid if we invade Taiwan or take land from India or take islands from the Philippines and Japan? And I think the fact that they would do that leading up to State of
the Union, leading up to what was then Blinken&#8217;s scheduled visit, none of that is a coincidence. So, we need to understand clearly there was messaging behind this.
TAPPER: But you &#8212; so you think that &#8212; first of all, I guess there are two parts to a question I have following up on that.
One is, the Pentagon says that they know of the Chinese doing this at least four other times, previously once at the beginning of the Biden administration, three times during the Trump administration. It seems to be you&#8217;re saying &#8212; oh, you&#8217;re saying, no, that&#8217;s not true?
But, in any case, is the &#8212; what&#8217;s the difference?
RUBIO: No. No, what I&#8217;m saying &#8212; OK.
Well, the difference is this. Are we aware, have we seen the Chinese fly these balloons in the past? Yes. I think there&#8217;s even been Twitter pictures of it flying at one point off the coast of the U.S. down south somewhere. The existence of the balloons is not a mystery to people in that field.
What we have never seen, what is unprecedented, and whoever the source was at the Department of Defense would have to acknowledge this, what is unprecedented is a balloon flight that entered over Idaho and flew over Montana, over all these sensitive military installations, air force bases, ICBM fields, right across the middle of the country.
That has never happened before. That is unprecedented. That it flew briefly over some part of the U.S. or continental U.S., that&#8217;s one thing. But what we saw this week, it&#8217;s unprecedented. And that&#8217;s why everyone&#8217;s reacting the way they&#8217;re reacting. We have never seen this.
So, this is no comparison to anything that may have happened up to this point.
TAPPER: Your colleague and friend Republican Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina accused President Biden of &#8212; quote &#8212; &#8220;dereliction of duty&#8221; by allowing the Chinese spy balloon to fly across the U.S.
That&#8217;s a pretty strong accusation. Do you agree with it?
RUBIO: Well, I think the dereliction of duty begins with this.
Why not, on Tuesday or Wednesday &#8212; you know people are going to see this. At some point, you&#8217;re going to have to disclose it. And they probably didn&#8217;t want to, because they didn&#8217;t want to have their hand forced on canceling this Blinken visit. And so they didn&#8217;t &#8212; so they didn&#8217;t want to have to talk about it.
But why didn&#8217;t the president go on television? He has the ability to convene the country in cameras, and basically explain what we&#8217;re dealing with here and why he&#8217;s made the decisions he&#8217;s making and what they intend to do. I don&#8217;t understand, once they went public with it, knowing the amount of interest this was going to generate, presidents have the ability to go before camera, go before the nation and basically explain these things early on.
And his failure to do so is &#8212; I don&#8217;t understand that. I don&#8217;t understand why he wouldn&#8217;t do that. And that is the beginning of dereliction of duty. And the second is, we have to act swiftly on these things. I think that&#8217;s part of the &#8212; one of the things the Chinese are trying to message.
And that is, the U.S. had to see this coming and decided they couldn&#8217;t or wouldn&#8217;t do anything about it early on, and now had to wait until this thing went across the middle of the country. And what are we going to do the next time this happens? Are we going to allow it to fly through here again, and shoot it down once it gets to the East Coast?
I mean, these are questions the White House needs to answer. And I don&#8217;t think these are partisan claims I&#8217;m making. I think there would be a broad agreement that we need to know moving forward what our policy is going to be with regards to this.
TAPPER: So, as you noted, Secretary Blinken did cancel his trip to China after it was disclosed that this balloon was flying over the U.S.
What additional consequences should there be for the Chinese government now?
RUBIO: Well, I think the first consequence has to be &#8212; we have to decide, what are we going to do the next time one of these things heads this way? Because I don&#8217;t think it&#8217;ll be the last time. I think you will see it again.
Beyond consequences, I&#8217;m not sure there should be a direct individual consequence. I think the broader relationship between the U.S. and China to anyone who has any doubts about it, now the bottom line is here. And that is, we are now &#8212; China has been for some time and will be the primary strategic adversary of the United States.
And we should be focused on it, because what they&#8217;re trying to do is create a world in which they are the most powerful nation, and the United States is a great power in decline. That is &#8212; that is what they believe to be the case. That is what they are working on.
And we have to determine whether we&#8217;re going to allow the world to head in that direction or not. And then there&#8217;s all sorts of things we need to do, from how we&#8217;re postured militarily in the Indo-Pacific, all the way to what kind of companies do we allow to operate in the United States and spy on us, because we have invited them in?
Because they&#8217;re in our infrastructure, in our telecommunications infrastructure, because they&#8217;re buying land, because they&#8217;re buying farmland, because &#8212; because they&#8217;re wiping out key industrial capabilities of this country. There&#8217;s all kinds of things that need to be discussed when it comes to China, because this is the issue of the 21st century. TAPPER: The Chinese government says, now that the U.S. has shut down that balloon, they reserve the right to use whatever means they want to deal with any similar situation.
There&#8217;s even talk in &#8220;The Global Times,&#8221; which is basically a Chinese mouthpiece, that shooting down what they say is a civilian balloon sets a dangerous precedent and they might shoot down U.S. civilian apparatuses.
What do you make of that? Are you &#8212; are you fearful at all of this escalating?
RUBIO: Listen, if we were to fly anything over China, they&#8217;re going to shoot it down. They&#8217;re going to shoot it down, and they&#8217;re going to hold up &#8212; and they&#8217;re going to take pictures of it, and they&#8217;re going to go bonkers about it.
So I don&#8217;t know what statement they&#8217;re making. You can&#8217;t &#8212; you can&#8217;t fly anything over China now anyway. I mean, if we were to do that, if we were to fly a balloon over China &#8212; if the Goodyear Blimp flew over China, they&#8217;d shoot it down. So, it&#8217;s a &#8212; it&#8217;s a &#8212; it&#8217;s what they do over there. It&#8217;s silly talk.
Bottom line is, I think that&#8217;s &#8212; that&#8217;s what &#8212; that&#8217;s what we should expect anyways.
TAPPER: All right, the vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, thank you so much for joining us today.
Really appreciate it, sir.
RUBIO: Thank you.</blockquote>
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/jake-tapper-grills-pete-buttigieg-over-bidens-handling-of-chinese-spy-balloon">Jake Tapper Grills Pete Buttigieg Over Biden’s Handling Of Chinese Spy Balloon</a>

Former President Donald Trump Rallies For Marco Rubio In Florida

Marco Rubio: China Delivered A ‘Message Embedded In’ Sending Spy Balloon To U.S.

Balloon

China

Communist China

Executive

Global Politics

Jake Tapper

Joe Biden

Sen. <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/marco-rubio" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Marco Rubio</a> (R-FL) is making a new push to ban China&#8217;s TikTok from being able to be downloaded and used in the United States amid concerns that it presents a serious national security threat.
Rubio made the comments during an appearance on <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mark-warner-marco-rubio-face-the-nation-transcript-01-29-2023/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CBS News</a>&#8216; &#8220;Face The Nation&#8221; with host Margaret Brennan while discussing the company.
&#8220;We&#8217;re gonna go back to TikTok, people say, you know, &#8216;Why do we care about what some 16-year-olds are doing?'&#8221; Rubio, who is the Ranking Member on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said. &#8220;I don&#8217;t think the threat is that some 16-year-old likes these cool videos that are on there, which I admit are- are attractive, obviously, because the artificial intelligence makes it so. It&#8217;s the massive amount of data that they&#8217;re collecting, not on one 16-year-old, not on a thousand 16 year-olds, but on millions and millions of Americans that give them commercial advantages, potentially the advantage of being able to shape American public opinion in a time of crisis, that- that just give them an extraordinary insights that allow them to steer the conversation in this country in any direction they want.&#8221;
Even Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner (D-VA) agreed about the threat that TikTok poses to the U.S., saying that at the end of the day the company is &#8220;still responsible to the Communist Party.&#8221;
&#8220;138 million users in America use TikTok on a regular basis, average about 90 minutes a day,&#8221; Warner said. &#8220;I&#8217;m sure your network would love to have 138 million Americans spending 90 minutes a day on your network. And I&#8217;m not saying that the TikTok or Communist Party is driving the- the videos you see. But the- the fact is, the algorithms that determine what you see on TikTok, is determined out of Beijing by China. And the proof is, if you look at what Chinese kids are seeing on their version of TikTok, which emphasizes science and engineering, versus what our kids and kids around the world are seeing, it is dramatically different.&#8221;
Rubio later added that he is refiling legislation this year to ban TikTok in the U.S.
&#8220;It&#8217;s bipartisan, bicameral. Some people are not willing to go that far, but I certainly think it&#8217;s the right place to be,&#8221; Rubio said. &#8220;But in the end, we got to do something about it, whether it&#8217;s a ban or something else. I honestly don&#8217;t know, I- as I sit here with you today, I don&#8217;t know how our national security interests and the operation of TikTok in this country, as long as it&#8217;s owned by ByteDance, can coexist.&#8221;
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Sen. <a href="https://twitter.com/marcorubio?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@marcorubio</a> tells <a href="https://twitter.com/margbrennan?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@margbrennan</a> he intends to file his bill to ban TikTok again.
“I don&#39;t know how our national security interests and the operation of TikTok in this country, as long as it&#39;s owned by ByteDance, can coexist.” <a href="https://t.co/2CF0l3CFmp">pic.twitter.com/2CF0l3CFmp</a>
&mdash; Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) <a href="https://twitter.com/FaceTheNation/status/1619755813140107267?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 29, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
TRANSCRIPT:
<blockquote>MARGARET BRENNAN: You want to ban Chinese companies from investing in America?
SEN. RUBIO: Well, I think there&#8217;s certain invest- investments where there&#8217;s no way we can protect the country from doing it. You- we&#8217;re gonna go back to TikTok, people say, you know, &#8216;Why do we care about what some 16-year-olds are doing?&#8217; I don&#8217;t think the threat is that some 16-year-old likes these cool videos that are on there, which I admit are- are attractive, obviously, because the artificial intelligence makes it so. It&#8217;s the massive amount of data that they&#8217;re collecting, not on one 16-year-old, not on a thousand 16 year-olds, but on millions and millions of Americans that give them commercial advantages, potentially the advantage of being able to shape American public opinion in a time of crisis, that- that just give them an extraordinary insights that allow them to steer the conversation in this country in any direction they want. And- and these are long-term threats that are extraordinary to the country in- in- in the 21st century.
MARGARET BRENNAN: But this has been talked about for three years now.
SEN. WARNER: But- but let&#8217;s&#8211;
MARGARET BRENNAN: The Trump administration tried to ban it, the Biden administration still hasn&#8217;t pulled the trigger on what to do with TikTok&#8211;
SEN. WARNER: Let&#8217;s- let&#8217;s look- let me build on what Marco just said. And I think again, maybe we were all a little bit slow to recognize the challenge here. It is both a data collection entity. Now it may not collect as much data as some of our American platforms. But it is very much, at the end of the day, still responsible to the Communist Party. But think about this, Margaret. 138 million users in America use TikTok on a regular basis, average about 90 minutes a day. I&#8217;m sure your network would love to have 138 million Americans spending 90 minutes a day on your network. And I&#8217;m not saying that the TikTok or Communist Party is driving the- the videos you see. But the- the fact is, the algorithms that determine what you see on TikTok, is determined out of Beijing by China. And the proof is, if you look at what Chinese kids are seeing on their version of TikTok, which emphasizes science and engineering, versus what our kids and kids around the world are seeing, it is dramatically different. So both from a data collection, and from frankly, a propaganda tool, it is of huge concern. How we go at this systemically is what- you know- we&#8217;re both maybe, at slightly different ways to get there. But I think making sure we educate our fellow Americans and the rest of our colleagues on this challenge is really important.
MARGARET BRENNAN: But- so, CBS spoke to TikTok about their plans and the company said they had come to an agreement over the summer in terms of how they could structure things to separate and create a wall to protect against some of these concerns. They said they can continue operating in the U.S. by offering data protections. Do you both know what they are offering and- you&#8217;re laughing, so I&#8217;m guessing this isn&#8217;t sufficient?
SEN. RUBIO: I- I don&#8217;t know what the data protections are. And there&#8217;s a technical aspect to it. But it&#8217;s beyond the data protections. It&#8217;s the ability to- somebody- just let me give you an example, right? What is the Chinese narrative on Taiwan, that it&#8217;s part of China, that this is a fake claim, and so forth. And they understand that in this republic, in order for the United States to live up to its commitments to Taiwan, you need to have public support for that, right? Because of the potential high costs to pay for the U.S. to keep its commitments with regards to Taiwan. So if they dedicate years and years to influencing the American audiences through the use of TikTok: the data, and their ability to use artificial intelligence and their algorithms to guide it, to undermine our narrative, and to increase their narrative; we may very well reach a point where there is a Taiwan contingency, and millions and millions of Americans have already bought into years and years of influence from the Chinese. Now- in this country, people have a right to say those things. But to- but we were- think about how fired up everybody was over the fact that Russian trolls and bots were buying ads on Facebook during 2016. This goes exponentially greater than that, in terms of its level of influence and [unintelligible].
MARGARET BRENNAN: So Senator Hawley wants to ban it. Is that sufficient?
SEN. RUBIO: I [CROSSTALK] I filed a bill to ban it last year, we&#8217;re going to refile it again this year.
MARGARET BRENNAN: You are?
SEN. RUBIO: It&#8217;s bipartisan, bicameral. Some people are not willing to go that far, but I certainly think it&#8217;s the right place to be. But in the end, we got to do something about it, whether it&#8217;s a ban or something else. I honestly don&#8217;t know, I- as I sit here with you today, I don&#8217;t know how our national security interests and the operation of TikTok in this country, as long as it&#8217;s owned by ByteDance, can coexist.
SEN. WARNER: And I–
MARGARET BRENNAN: You want to force a sale?
SEN. RUBIO: I&#8217;ve been wanting to do that for three years.
SEN. WARNER: I&#8217;m looking at– listen, Marco and I have the same goals. I may have a slightly different approach. I&#8217;m going to sit down and see how we can work through this. But I&#8217;ve been hearing it, I&#8217;ve been trying to give the Biden administration, now more than two years, to see, is there a technical solution here? And I&#8217;d be willing to take a look at it. The Biden administration has not announced that. And I think the problem is, this is technically extraordinarily hard to do. TikTok has repeatedly said, &#8216;Oh, Americans&#8217; data, not being seen in China.&#8217; And repeatedly, we&#8217;ve seen Chinese engineers having access to American data. So how you fully wall that off, but bigger problem to me is, if you are actually still writing the algorithms in Beijing that determine what videos you see, how and if those algorithms on a regular basis get updated, how you put any kind of wall in there, even if there is an American company in between, that will give us the that kind of protection so that we don&#8217;t have this kind of manipulation, for example, on the issue like Taiwan.
MARGARET BRENNAN: But it&#8217;s already been downloaded 200 million times. And you could host content outside the U.S. How do you make that- you can make the argument here, but how do you convince a 16-year-old to delete the app and get rid of the phone? I mean, is- isn&#8217;t this very hard to put the toothpaste back in the tube?
SEN. WARNER: This- this- Absolutely. But this is one of the reasons why. And again, I think Congress has been horribly unsuccessful at this. I&#8217;ve been saying for years, and we may not fully agree on this. But on all these social media companies, a lot of good, but there is a dark underbelly. And the fact that the United States, historically, we would have set some rules of the road for these- for these entities, in terms of standards, in terms of protocols, in terms of appropriate behavior, in terms of questions like- even like basic privacy. But our failure to do so has mean, we&#8217;ve ceded that leadership, often out of time to the Europeans, or to individual states. And I think that&#8217;s, frankly, a loss of American leadership. And, as you said, putting the genie back in the bottle. Whether it&#8217;s- whether it&#8217;s TikTok, or even privacy on our own platforms, is a real challenge. I think Americans want us to do that. And we got to sort through a way to do it. And I think continued failure of Congress to act just isn&#8217;t a good enough response.
SEN. RUBIO: Every technological advance has come with benefits and- and costs. You know, we never had car accidents or drunk drivers until we had automobiles. And the same is true now with technology. So we&#8217;re grappling with that. I think the- the- the difference is the speed of innovation today moves so fast. And it moves much faster than the ability of this republic and this elected branches to respond to it. And it requires a level of expertise that oftentimes public policymakers struggle to keep up with because frankly, these industries are changing faster, by the time you&#8217;re- you think you understand that it&#8217;s become something else.</blockquote>

Marco Rubio Renews Push To Ban China’s TikTok In The U.S.

TikTok

World

Senators vowed to push back against the Biden administration for refusing to provide access to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/federal-authorities-were-prepared-to-get-search-warrant-on-biden-over-classified-docs-report-says" target="_blank" rel="noopener">classified documents found</a> at the residences of two presidents.
Democratic and Republican members of the Senate Intelligence Committee left a classified briefing Wednesday with Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines in an uproar, arguing they are being prevented from performing their congressional oversight duties for the sake of national security.
<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/25/politics/warner-rubio-senate-intelligence-classified-documents/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">As reported by CNN</a>, Chairman Mark Warner (D-VA) warned &#8220;all things will be on the table&#8221; to gain access to the documents as the committee was united in wanting to know &#8220;if there’s been any intelligence compromised.&#8221;
Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed special counsels to investigate former President Donald Trump&#8217;s and President Joe Biden&#8217;s handling of documents, which senators said was the justification the intelligence community gave to withhold information from Congress.
&#8220;The bottom line is this: They won’t tell us what they have until the special counsel allows them to tell us. That’s an unacceptable position,&#8221; said Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/senators-vent-intel-official-blocks-biden-trump-docs-rcna67550" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to NBC News</a>.
Lawmakers have been pressing the intelligence community to <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2022/08/27/intel-officials-national-security-fallout-trumps-mar-a-lago-documents-00054006" target="_blank" rel="noopener">conduct damage assessments</a> since the FBI raided Trump&#8217;s Mar-a-Lago resort last year. The sense of urgency has only grown since classified materials were found in recent months at President Biden&#8217;s Wilmington, Delaware, residence and think tank office in Washington, D.C., dating back to his time as a senator and vice president. Last week, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/mike-pence-takes-full-responsibility-for-classified-docs-at-his-home" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the public learned</a> classified documents were also discovered at the home of former Vice President Mike Pence.
Accusing the Biden administration of &#8220;stonewalling&#8221; Congress, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) signaled he is ready to turn up the &#8220;pain&#8221; by holding up Biden&#8217;s nominees — <a href="https://www.wral.com/senate-confirms-batch-of-us-attorney-and-us-marshal-nominations-after-cotton-lifts-long-standing-holds/20255196/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a strategy he&#8217;s used in the past</a> — or withholding budgetary funds, <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/3831525-cotton-vows-to-block-nominees-until-congress-sees-documents-seized-at-biden-trump-residences/">according to The Hill</a>.
“I’m prepared to refuse consent to fast-track any nominee from any department or agency and to take every step that I can on every committee on which I serve to impose consequences on the administration until they provide these documents,” said Cotton, who is also a <a href="https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/about/committee-members-117th-congress-2020-2021" target="_blank" rel="noopener">member of the Senate Intelligence Committee</a>.
Haines has yet to comment publicly on the standoff with senators, but she did talk Thursday about preserving &#8220;confidence&#8221; in the intelligence community&#8217;s work by conducting briefings with Congress on a bipartisan basis.
During a speech at the LBJ Presidential Library, Haines insisted she tries to emphasize “what we’re doing is for the nation and not for politics,&#8221; <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/justice/dni-haines-biden-classified-documents-stonewalling-democrats-republicans" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to The Washington Examiner</a>. She also said: &#8220;If the public doesn’t trust us and believes that we are biased politically or otherwise frankly in a way that is illegitimate, then people won’t pay attention to the warnings that we have — it makes us less effective from a national security perspective.&#8221;

Mark Warner and Mark Rubio

Growing Standoff Emerges Between Senate Intel And Biden Admin Over Classified Docs

classified documents

Director of National Intelligence

Scandals

Senate

Tom Cotton

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) sent a <a href="https://www.rubio.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/50bc1af2-3c4d-4930-97eb-8f78f4aebc5e/4A586B331CB917CD003F924A77D0867B.01.26.23-smr-letter-to-pfizer-re-covid-mutation-research.pdf">letter</a> to Pfizer this week demanding answers after an undercover sting video was published by Project Veritas this week that allegedly showed an official at the company claiming that it was involved in controversial research related to vaccines.
The 10-minute video, which has been viewed nearly 20 million times, shows a man identified as Jordon Trishton Walker, Pfizer’s director of research and development, strategic operations – mRNA scientific planner, claiming that the company is &#8220;exploring&#8221; ways to &#8220;mutate&#8221; coronaviruses so they can &#8220;create — preemptively develop new vaccines.&#8221;
&#8220;If we’re gonna do that though, there’s a risk of like, as you could imagine — no one wants to be having a pharma company mutating f***ing viruses,&#8221; he <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/project-veritas-video-pfizer-official-says-firm-considering-ways-to-mutate-virus-via-directed-evolution">said</a>. “Don’t tell anyone. Promise you won’t tell anyone. The way it [the experiment] would work is that we put the virus in monkeys, and we successively cause them to keep infecting each other, and we collect serial samples from them.”
“You have to be very controlled to make sure that this virus [COVID] that you mutate doesn’t create something that just goes everywhere,” he added. “Which, I suspect, is the way that the virus started in Wuhan, to be honest. It makes no sense that this virus popped out of nowhere. It’s bulls***.”
Rubio responded to the video by sending a letter to Dr. Albert Bourla, chief executive officer and chairman of Pfizer Inc.
&#8220;I write in response to troubling reports on Pfizer’s intention to mutate the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID) virus through gain-of-function, or &#8216;directed evolution,&#8217; as detailed by Pfizer Director of Research and Development, Jordan Walker,&#8221; Rubio said in his letter. &#8220;As has been proven time and time again, attempts to mutate a virus, particularly one as potent as COVID, are dangerous. If the claims detailed in the video are true, Pfizer has put its desire for profit over the concern of national and global health and must hold itself accountable.&#8221;   &#8220;In a video released by Project Veritas on January 25, 2023, Mr. Walker laid out Pfizer’s plans to develop new vaccines for future variants of COVID by mutating the virus through directed evolution, a process that uses protein engineering to impose natural selection on a living organism or other biological materials, including viruses,&#8221; the letter continued. &#8220;Though he claimed the research is currently &#8216;exploratory,&#8217; he detailed how the research would proceed, such as how scientists would inject the mutated viruses into monkeys and collect serial samples from other monkeys who are infected.&#8221;
UPDATE: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/pfizer-denies-conducting-covid-gain-of-function-research-in-delayed-response-to-veritas-video" target="_blank" rel="noopener">PFIZER DENIES CONDUCTING COVID GAIN-OF-FUNCTION RESEARCH IN DELAYED RESPONSE TO VERITAS VIDEO</a>   Rubio demanded that Pfizer answer the following questions:
<ol>
<li>What efforts is Pfizer currently, or planning to, engage in to mutate the SARS-CoV-2 virus?</li>
<li>Does Pfizer intend to continue mutating the SARS-CoV-2 virus through gain-of-function, or directed evolution research, with the purpose of creating new vaccines before the variant is present in the greater population?</li>
<li>Has Pfizer engaged with federal officials engaged regarding their plans to oversee this research? Please provide the names and agencies for these individuals.</li>
<li>What steps has Pfizer taken to ensure the mutated virus does not leak from the laboratory and infect the greater population?</li>
<li>Has Pfizer engaged with other biopharmaceutical companies to collaborate on this research effort? Please list the entities that you have been in contact with.</li>
<li>Will you commit to halting any future research that mutates the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine as substantial evidence has indicated that similar dangerous research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology very likely led to the initial emergence and global spread of the virus?</li>
</ol>
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/watch-pfizer-official-physically-assaults-james-okeefe-destroys-ipad-showing-undercover-recordings">WATCH: Pfizer Official ‘Physically Assaults’ James O’Keefe, ‘Destroys iPad Showing Undercover Recordings’</a>

Rubio Sends Letter Demanding Answers From Pfizer Over Project Veritas Video

COVID-19

COVID-19 Vaccine

Pfizer

Finally, lawmakers are taking action against TikTok, the social media platform run by the communist Chinese.
No, it&#8217;s not because of all the scantily dressed underage girls dancing about or public school teachers flaunting their transgenderism. Federal lawmakers are finally convinced that the video-sharing app is up to no good.
Last week, in the massive $1.7 trillion omnibus bill, lawmakers included a call to ban TikTok from government devices like phones and computers. The move, signed into law by President Joe Biden, came after reports that TikTok and its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, improperly used the 
app to spy on reporters covering the company.
&#8220;Forbes first reported the existence of the surveillance scheme, which targeted three Forbes reporters, in October,&#8221; the magazine <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/emilybaker-white/2022/12/23/lawmakers-outrage-tiktok-spied-on-journalists/?sh=4903b3025d70">reported</a> last week. &#8220;At the time, TikTok did not deny the report, but tweeted that the app had &#8216;never been used to &#8220;target&#8221; any members of the U.S. government, activists, public figures or journalists.&#8217; TikTok and ByteDance now admit that this was false.&#8221;
In an internal report released to the public, ByteDance confirmed that four of its employees collected data of at least two TikTok accounts belonging to U.S. journalists.
“The individuals involved misused their authority to obtain access to TikTok user data,” TikTok CEO Shou Chew said in his email to employees, according to an excerpt of the email <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/22/tech/tiktok-bytedance-journalist-data/index.html">reviewed</a> by CNN. “This is unacceptable.”
“The misconduct of these individuals, who are no longer employed at ByteDance, was an egregious misuse of their authority to obtain access to user data,” TikTok spokesperson Brooke Oberwetter confirmed to CNN. “This misbehavior is unacceptable, and not in line with our efforts across TikTok to earn the trust of our users.”
When the app was going viral in 2019, TikTok went so far as to claim all data would be secure, vowing that U.S. user data would be kept in the United States and not sent to ByteDance headquarters in China. The revelation that the company was scouring the date of American journalists proves that&#8217;s false.
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) has led the campaign to ban TikTok from government devices.
“The federal government has yet to take a single meaningful action to protect American users from the threat of TikTok. This isn’t about creative videos — this is about an app that is collecting data on tens of millions of American children and adults every day,&#8221; Rubio <a href="https://www.rubio.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=D1C2E147-3A23-4F49-AC27-268572AABDCD">said</a> in a press release before lawmakers moved against TikTok.
&#8220;We know it answers to the People’s Republic of China. There is no more time to waste on meaningless negotiations with a CCP-puppet company,&#8221; he said.
Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI) chimed in. &#8220;TikTok is digital fentanyl that’s addicting Americans, collecting troves of their data, and censoring their news. It’s also an increasingly powerful media company that’s owned by ByteDance, which ultimately reports to the Chinese Communist Party – America’s foremost adversary.&#8221;
Gallagher said that allowing the app to continue to operate in the U.S. &#8220;would be like allowing the U.S.S.R. to buy up the New York Times, Washington Post, and major broadcast networks during the Cold War. No country with even a passing interest in its own security would allow this to happen, which is why it’s time to ban TikTok and any other CCP-controlled app before it’s too late.&#8221;
So finally, the federal government has taken action. But it&#8217;s high time that Americans do the same &#8212; kill the app off your phone so the Chinese can no longer collect your data.
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
Joseph Curl has covered politics for 35 years, including 12 years as White House correspondent for a national newspaper. He was also the a.m. editor of the Drudge Report for four years. Send tips to josephcurl@dailywire.com and follow him on Twitter @josephcurl.

In this photo illustration the Chinese video-sharing social

It’s About Time The U.S. Government Shut Down TikTok — And Americans Should Follow Suit

It's About Time The U.S. Government Shut Down TikTok -- And Americans Should Follow Suit

Forbes

Lawmakers have introduced legislation to ban the use of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/tiktok" target="_blank" rel="noopener">TikTok</a> in the United States as security concerns have steadily risen regarding the use of the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/china" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Chinese</a>-owned app in the country.
Republican Senator Marco Rubio of Florida introduced the legislation after <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/republican-lawmakers-to-introduce-legislation-banning-tiktok-in-u-s" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announcing</a> plans to do so last month with Republican Representative Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin. Gallagher and Democratic Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois <a href="https://gallagher.house.gov/media/press-releases/gallagher-rubio-introduce-bipartisan-legislation-ban-tiktok" target="_blank" rel="noopener">introduced</a> paired legislation in the House as well.
“The bipartisan ANTI-SOCIAL CCP Act is a strong step in protecting our nation from the nefarious digital surveillance and influence operations of totalitarian regimes,” Krishnamoorthi <a href="https://www.rubio.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=Press-Releases&amp;id=D1C2E147-3A23-4F49-AC27-268572AABDCD" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> in a statement.
The Senate <a href="https://www.rubio.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/1ebac814-157e-4e26-81b9-d9aa3fd96ae3/5861AFCCFDC5254BAFEE5BB2BDA54B32.hey22c36.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">bill</a> is called the Averting the National Threat of Internet Surveillance, Oppressive Censorship and Influence, and Algorithmic Learning by the Chinese Communist Party Act (ANTI-SOCIAL CCP Act) and would “block and prohibit all transactions in all property and interests in property of” a social media company that is based in or “organized under the laws of a country of concern.”
A company would also be eligible for blocking if it is owned or controlled by a “country of concern,” among other criteria.
The bill specifically calls out companies TikTok, and its parent <a href="https://www.nextgov.com/cxo-briefing/2022/12/lawmakers-intro-bill-ban-tiktok-us/380817/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">company</a> Bytedance, Ltd., a Chinese company.
The legislation also points out that a “country of concern” means “foreign adversary” as defined in the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act of 2019. Countries included under its definition are China, which includes “the Special Administrative Regions of China, including Hong Kong and Macau,” as well as Russia, Iran, Cuba, Venezuela, and North Korea.
“The federal government has yet to take a single meaningful action to protect American users from the threat of TikTok. This isn’t about creative videos — this is about an app that is collecting data on tens of millions of American children and adults every day,” Rubio <a href="https://www.rubio.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=Press-Releases&amp;id=D1C2E147-3A23-4F49-AC27-268572AABDCD" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> in a statement. “We know it’s used to manipulate feeds and influence elections. We know it answers to the People’s Republic of China. There is no more time to waste on meaningless negotiations with a CCP-puppet company. It is time to ban Beijing-controlled TikTok for good.”
Representative Gallagher said in a statement that TikTok is “digital fentanyl that’s addicting Americans, collecting troves of their data, and censoring their news.&#8221;
&#8220;Allowing the app to continue to operate in the U.S. would be like allowing the U.S.S.R. to buy up the New York Times, Washington Post, and major broadcast networks during the Cold War. No country with even a passing interest in its own security would allow this to happen, which is why it’s time to ban TikTok and any other CCP-controlled app before it’s too late,” Gallagher added.

4C882BA8-D5EA-4962-94B6-45B6208D82FA_1_201_a

Lawmakers Introduce Bill To Block TikTok In U.S.

Lawmakers Rubio, Gallagher, Krishnamoorthi Introduce Bill To Block TikTok In U.S. 

Big Tech

Business

Military leaders’ embrace of woke diversity and transgender policies and ideology is corroding the effectiveness of the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/u-s-military">U.S. military</a>, according to a new report by GOP lawmakers.
Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida and Rep. Chip Roy of Texas, both Republicans, put out a report on the impact of DEI and LGBT initiatives on the U.S. military on Monday. The 18-page <a href="https://www.rubio.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/ee1d7a86-6d0c-4f08-bd15-24e5b28e54b7/3756824FA9C21B819BB97AAB16221530.woke-warfighters-report-3.pdf">report</a> takes shots at some of the top leaders in the U.S. military, such as Gen. Mark Milley, and says that poor leadership is distorting the military’s purpose.
“The United States military is the greatest fighting force in the world. It is also one of the most humble and sacrificial the world has ever known,” the report begins. “Unfortunately, President Joe Biden and his administration are weakening America’s warfighters through a sustained assault fueled by woke virtue signaling.”
“Our military’s singular purpose is to ‘provide for the common defense’ of our nation. It cannot be turned into a left-wing social experiment. It cannot be used as a cudgel against America itself. And it cannot be paralyzed by fear of offending the sensibilities of Ivy League faculty lounges or progressive pundits,” the report’s summary says.
The Department of Defense (DOD) stood by its policies in answer to the report.
“Diversity, inclusion, and equality at its core is about leveraging the strengths of all our people, advancing opportunity, addressing potential barriers or discrepancies, and – fundamentally – ensuring people are treated with dignity and respect. We always talk about weapons systems, yet every one of us will agree that our greatest weapons system are our people.  So that’s why our policies to better leverage our people and increase unit cohesion are important here,” a spokesman with the DOD told The Daily Wire in a statement.
The report singles out several top military officials for criticism: Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Milley, who is Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The report also notes the partisan pasts of two top Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) staffers: Bishop Garrison, senior advisor to the U.S. Secretary of Defense on Human Capital and DEI issues, and Kelisa Wing, the DEI head of the Department of Defense Education Activity.
Weeks into President Joe Biden’s term, Austin issued a one-day stand-down order to all service members and civilian employees. The purpose of the stand-down order was to “discuss extremism in the ranks with their personnel.” A follow-up report by the Senate Armed Services committee assessed that, because of the dearth of extremism among U.S. service members, further investment on countering extremism in the military would be an “inappropriate use of taxpayer funds.”
Milley <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/highest-ranking-u-s-military-official-defends-teaching-crt">supports</a> “teaching [Critical Race Theory] at U.S. Service Academies” and testified in front of Congress that he is interested in understanding “white rage,” according to the report.
“The Biden Administration is choosing to focus on and fund the study of racial extremism even when … it is a virtual non-issue in the military,” the report says.
DEI has become a top priority for the Biden administration across departments, not just in the Pentagon. The Department of Homeland Security has <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/08/politics/white-supremacy-dhs-draft-assessment/index.html">identified</a> white supremacy as one of the preeminent threats to the United States. In September, the Department of Energy <a href="https://www.energy.gov/articles/doe-releases-first-ever-plan-advance-diversity-equity-inclusion-and-accessibility">released</a> its first-ever “Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) Strategic Plan to underscore the Department’s commitment to creating a workplace that celebrates Americans of all backgrounds.”
The commitment to DEI has bled into the U.S. Special Forces. The United States Special Operations Command’s 2021 Diversity and Inclusion Strategic Plan states that “diversity and inclusion are operational imperatives.”
“The only goal of our Special Forces should be effectiveness. Every other consideration must be subordinate to and in service of that end,” the report says. “[F]orcing our military to engage in DEI trainings encourages supporting and advancing people on criteria other than competence and ability to carry out a mission.”
According to Rubio and Roy, the military has lowered its standards for health and fitness to allow transgender people and those diagnosed with gender dysphoria into the ranks of the military. The process began under former President Barack Obama, was reversed under former President Donald Trump, and reinstated under Biden.
“People cannot even enlist with Invisalign or braces until they are removed. And yet, today’s woke military is now proudly promoting and celebrating sex reassignment procedures, which can have months-long recovery periods, with complete recovery taking &#8216;up to one year&#8217; for some procedures,” the report says.
The highest levels of the U.S. military lack accountability for mistakes, the report says. One glaring example of this is the disastrous U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, in which 13 U.S. service members were killed and hundreds of Afghans in a terror attack on Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport. A retaliatory strike against a target believed to be a terrorist accidently killed 10 civilians, including seven children.
“The only service member who received a reprimand from the Afghanistan debacle was a lieutenant colonel who criticized the way the withdrawal was executed. What this officer did was concerning. Despite a gag order, while in uniform he used government property to harshly criticize superiors while there were still boots on the ground in Kabul. This is certainly improper behavior,” the report states.
“Nevertheless, the hypocrisy is glaring. It is outrageous that the woke Biden Administration held him to account while leaders whose decisions resulted in the deaths of service members and billions of dollars’ worth of equipment falling into enemies’ hands went unpunished,” it concludes.

Mark Milley

Woke Leadership Is Gutting U.S. Military Through DEI, Trans Policies, GOP Report Says

Chip Roy

Department of Defense

Lloyd Austin

Military

U.S.

Washington D.C.

Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Representative Mike Gallagher (R-WI) are introducing legislation that <a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/republicans-introduce-bill-to-ban-tiktok/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">would</a> prohibit <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/tiktok" target="_blank" rel="noopener">TikTok</a> in the United States.
In an opinion piece <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/11/10/marco-rubio-ban-tiktok-america-china-mike-gallagher/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">published</a> in The Washington Post on Thursday, Rubio and Gallagher outlined the threat that TikTok and other social media businesses that are effectively managed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) pose to the United States.
The lawmakers noted how the TikTok social media platform is owned by ByteDance, which is a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/china" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Chinese</a> company, although it is not owned by the Chinese government. However, they stated, “in China, no company is truly private” because China’s National Intelligence Law of 2017 holds that all people and companies must help with intelligence, including sharing information.
Several of ByteDance’s directors also used to work for outlets that spread CCP messaging and propaganda and at least 15 ByteDance workers are currently employed by them, the legislators wrote.
The security risks of TikTok usage have been raised as a concern by many people over the past several years, and the lawmakers are the most recent to do so in a substantive way that could result in shutting down the app in the United States.
They pointed out that the TikTok app can track where users are physically located and gather information about which websites they are visiting, even if they are on unconnected sites.
They also note the concern about TikTok’s algorithm, which can be changed by the manufacturers at any point without telling the people who use the app. The potential indoctrination of Americans is alarming, they said, and the app has already restricted speech about issues like human rights abuses against Uyghurs and the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989.
The legislators also pointed to a Pew Research Center <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2022/10/21/more-americans-are-getting-news-on-tiktok-bucking-the-trend-on-other-social-media-sites/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> that revealed an increasing amount of American adults are getting their news information from TikTok. The share has gone from 3% of U.S. adults in 2020 to 10% in 2022.
“TikTok is a major threat to U.S. national security. Yet Biden is encouraging greater engagement with the platform by <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/10/27/tiktok-democrats-influencers-biden/?itid=lk_inline_manual_26" target="_blank" rel="noopener">directly courting</a> TikTok influencers,” they added.
They discussed a New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/26/technology/tiktok-national-security-china.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> from September that found the Biden administration created a preliminary deal with TikTok to fix national security issues. The agreement would not force TikTok to find a new owner, but the app would need to alter its personnel and data storage, according to the Times.
“Anything short of a complete separation” of TikTok from owner ByteDance “will likely leave significant national security issues regarding operations, data and algorithms unresolved,” Rubio said in a statement at the time.
“Congress needs to act against the TikTok threat before it’s too late,” the lawmakers concluded.

C14413F2-E8E4-4412-9D7A-F60A4755A441_1_201_a

Republican Lawmakers To Introduce Legislation Banning TikTok In U.S.

Republican Lawmakers Rubio And Gallagher To Introduce Legislation Banning TikTok In U.S.

Chinese Communist Party

A campaign canvasser for Sen. <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/marco-rubio">Marco Rubio</a> (R-FL) reportedly suffered serious injuries late Sunday night while knocking on doors, the senator&#8217;s campaign said in a statement Monday afternoon.
&#8220;Last night one of our canvassers wearing my T-shirt and a DeSantis hat was brutally attacked by 4 animals who told him Republicans weren’t allowed in their neighborhood in Hialeah, Florida,&#8221; Rubio&#8217;s campaign posted on Twitter.
&#8220;He suffered internal bleeding, a broken jaw &amp; will need facial reconstructive surgery,&#8221; the campaign added.
The campaign included photographs of the young man who was attacked that showed his face was badly beaten, and his eyes appeared swollen shut.
The young man was pictured being taken away in an ambulance.
Hialeah Sgt. Jose Torres said the that victim, an unidentified 27-year-old, was struck “multiple times in the face and the head causing the injuries.” The incident, Torres said, allegedly started after the victim tried to hand out fliers in an area and told he was not allowed to. He was then allegedly attacked by 25-year-old Javier Lopez.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Last night one of our canvassers wearing my T-shirt and a Desantis hat was brutally attacked by 4 animals who told him Republicans weren’t allowed in their neighborhood in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Hialeah?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Hialeah</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Florida?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Florida</a> 
He suffered internal bleeding, a broken jaw &amp; will need facial reconstructive surgery <a href="https://t.co/36QpbySg58">pic.twitter.com/36QpbySg58</a>
&mdash; Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) <a href="https://twitter.com/marcorubio/status/1584564895605198849?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 24, 2022</a></blockquote>
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“I can tell you this: political violence should not be tolerated by anyone,&#8221; Rubio added. &#8220;Our side or their side, we don’t tolerate political violence. In this country, we decide who governs not by street mobs, we decide who governs at the ballot box.”
The alleged attack comes after a North Dakota man <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/man-who-allegedly-drove-over-republican-teen-i-dont-want-to-lose-my-job-life-house-because-of-bond">admitted</a> to fatally hitting a teenager with his car last month after a &#8220;political argument&#8221;. The man accused the teenager of being a &#8220;Republican extremist.&#8221;
Republican Gubernatorial candidate Mark Ronchetti <a href="https://www.koat.com/article/gubernatorial-candidate-mark-ronchettis-home-shot-with-pellets/41434626#">said</a> last month that he got a call from his wife after someone came by their house and &#8220;shot out the windows on our garage&#8221; with pellets.
Two canvassers for Texas Governor Greg Abbott were <a href="https://news4sanantonio.com/news/local/two-volunteers-of-texans-for-greg-abbott-attacked-while-knocking-on-doors-in-austin">attacked</a> last month while they were out knocking on doors. Law enforcement arrested the subject and charged him with criminal mischief.
The attacks come after President Joe Biden (D) demonized Republicans during a speech at the start of last month, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/biden-demonizes-millions-of-americans-while-calling-for-unity">saying</a> that “MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic.”
The incident garnered responses from top Republicans, including Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), who responded: &#8220;Absolutely horrific. Violence has NO PLACE in politics. Heidi and I are praying for his swift recovery.&#8221;
Former Rep. Mia Love (R-UT) responded, &#8220;If you’re concerned about preserving our system of government, you need to be concerned about this type of hatred and violence.&#8221;
The Miami Herald reported that Hialeah Mayor Esteban &#8216;Steve&#8217; Bovo said during an interview that the city&#8217;s police chief told him that an arrest has been made in the case but that other details were still not known at this time.
This is a breaking news story; refresh the page for updates.

Rubio staffer

Rubio Campaign Canvasser Seriously Injured After Violent Attack For Wearing DeSantis Hat, Rubio Shirt, Campaign Says

Marco Rubio Staffer Seriously Injured After Violent Attack For Wearing DeSantis Hat, Rubio Shirt

Ron DeSantis

Violence

As Hurricane Ian decimated the Gulf Coast of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/florida">Florida</a> last week, a woman in Fort Myers swam to safety in 10-foot-deep waters with her three-month-old son swaddled in a blanket and secured in a car seat that she tucked inside a storage bin.
&#8220;Terrifying,&#8221; Callie Brown told <a href="https://www.ksbw.com/article/mainer-fl-tucks-baby-plastic-bin-survival-hurricane-ian/41506544">KSBW 8 Actions News</a>, which first reported her story. &#8220;The most terrifying thing I&#8217;ve ever gone through my entire life.&#8221;
Brown&#8217;s video footage shared with the local media outlet showed the vantage point from her attic, where she and her partner, Chad Duckwall, and their 3-month-old son Charlie took refuge as the Category 4 hurricane caused ocean waters and massive rainfall to batter Florida&#8217;s western coastline.
Brown said her &#8220;mom instincts&#8221; kicked in when she found a plastic storage tote filled with Christmas decorations that she immediately emptied before creating a safeguard for Charlie.
&#8220;He was such a little trooper.&#8221; Brown said. &#8220;He didn&#8217;t even cry.&#8221;
While caring for her son, Duckwall found another storage bin he used for the family cat as they floated toward a neighbor&#8217;s house on higher ground for safety.
Brown said they were caught in the eye wall of the hurricane at the time of the escape, which produced up to 150-mile-per-hour winds causing debris to fly all around them.
Thankfully, she said, no one was hurt.
&#8220;I didn&#8217;t know if we were going to make it — to be totally honest,&#8221; Brown said. &#8220;I remember looking at Chad and just saying, &#8216;I don&#8217;t want to die. I don&#8217;t want to die.'&#8221;
The next day, they returned to their home to assess the damage caused by Florida&#8217;s fifth most powerful storm to hit the U.S. mainland, which brought 250-500mm (10-20 inches) of rainfall and storm surges of 12-15ft that drove 1.7 million people from their homes, according to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/oct/03/hurricane-ian-cost-death-toll-florida">The Guardian</a>.
Brown and Duckwall hoped to salvage their belongings, but most of the stuff had been displaced or damaged, noting their couch landed on the kitchen counter, and the dining room table moved into the living room.
The family will stay with one of their relatives in a condo until they can rebuild and recover from the storm.
Brown told local media that they experienced Hurricane Irma in 2017, which she said they evacuated then for no reason and ultimately caused her to ignore the mandatory evacuation order.
Which she now regrets.
&#8220;I will never stay again,&#8221; Brown said. &#8220;I will absolutely evacuate — I don&#8217;t care if it&#8217;s a category 1, I&#8217;m not staying ever again for a hurricane. I never want to experience that again.&#8221;
In the aftermath of Hurricane Ian, reports show the storm has left 32 people dead in Florida and South Carolina, approximately 10,000 people are still considered missing, and could cost Florida up to $40 billion of insured losses.
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) said Hurricane Ian’s damage to Florida’s Gulf Coast communities was a “character-altering event.”
“There are entire communities — Fort Myers Beach no longer exists,” Rubio<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/marco-rubio-hurricane-ian-damage-to-floridas-gulf-coast-a-character-altering-event"> said</a>. “I mean, it’ll have to be rebuilt. It’ll be something different. And even the structures that are standing — I was with the Coast Guard two days ago as we went overhead on it — even the structures that are standing have been damaged by water, probably uninhabitable and have to be razed.”

TOPSHOT-US-WEATHER-HURRICANE-IAN

Couple Rescues 3-Month Old Baby Using Storage Bin During Hurricane Ian

Florida

Hurricane

Hurricane Ian

Mother Rescues 3-Month Old Baby Using Storage Bin During Hurricane Ian

Natural Disaster

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) said Hurricane Ian&#8217;s damage to Florida&#8217;s Gulf Coast communities was a &#8220;character-altering event.&#8221;
Appearing on ABC&#8217;s &#8220;<a href="https://twitter.com/ThisWeekABC/status/1576569792617652225?s=20&amp;t=79Xrswz0B2yjFRYSO_g7nQ" target="_blank" rel="noopener">This Week</a>&#8221; Sunday, Rubio said that buildings in areas hit hardest were flattened, and still others would be rendered uninhabitable and need to be razed. He also said that the damage would change the economic character and nature of the places affected.
&#8220;There are entire communities &#8212; Fort Myers Beach no longer exists,&#8221; Rubio told co-anchor Jonathan Karl. &#8220;I mean, it’ll have to be rebuilt. It’ll be something different&#8230; And even the structures that are standing &#8212; I was with the Coast Guard two days ago as we went overhead on it &#8212; even the structures that are standing have been damaged by water, probably uninhabitable and have to be razed.&#8221;
&#8220;Obviously, the human toll is still being calculated, and that &#8212; that has no price,&#8221; he added. &#8220;It’s extraordinary and we fear that number will continue to rise.&#8221;
Rubio said further that Sanibel Island, a popular tourist spot, is inaccessible because of damage to the bridge connecting it to the mainland.
&#8220;It’s not just the parts that were washed away, that entire bridge is structurally compromised potentially,&#8221; he said. &#8220;So, it will have to be rebuilt and that will take a while.&#8221;
In the meantime, getting people off the island is a priority for first responders conducting rescue operations.
&#8220;This is a character-altering event,&#8221; Rubio said. &#8220;It will change the character and the nature of these communities. They’ll be rebuilt, but you can’t rebuild something that is a slice of old Florida and bring it back. It will be something new, but it won&#8217;t be the same, and that’s the most heartbreaking part about it from an economic standpoint.&#8221;
Hurricane Ian made landfall Wednesday on the Gulf Coast of Florida at nearly the strength of a Category 5 storm. With winds exceeding 150 miles per hour, the system was tied for the fourth-strongest hurricane ever to hit the Sunshine State.
On Thursday afternoon, Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno shared <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/we-were-incredibly-hard-hit-stunning-video-shows-submerged-houses-blown-out-bridges-following-hurricane-ian">footage</a> showing destroyed neighborhoods and infrastructure along the coastline. Homes and streets were flooded as some residences smoldered with fire, beachfront structures were reduced to scraps, and portions of bridges were washed away or submerged.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
This morning Sheriff Carmine Marceno took a tour of Lee County to begin assessing damage caused by Hurricane Ian. We are devastated. Our hearts go out to every resident who is impacted. The Lee County Sheriffs Office is mobile and will stop at nothing to help our residents. <a href="https://t.co/S4OsB8ajRv">pic.twitter.com/S4OsB8ajRv</a>
&mdash; Carmine Marceno &#8211; Florida’s Law and Order Sheriff (@SheriffLeeFL) <a href="https://twitter.com/SheriffLeeFL/status/1575529164899340289?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 29, 2022</a></blockquote>
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Lee County, where Fort Myers Beach and Sanibel Island are both located, is home to nearly 800,000 people, according to data from the Census Bureau. The region is a major tourism hub on the Gulf Coast.
According to data from PowerOutage.US, roughly 89% of Lee County homes and businesses were without power as of Thursday afternoon.
Ben Zeisloft contributed to this report.

Marco Rubio: Hurricane Ian Damage To Florida’s Gulf Coast A ‘Character-Altering Event’

Marco Rubio: Hurricane Ian Damage To Florida's Gulf Coast A 'Character-Altering Event'

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