Yet another survey shows that the vast majority of Americans think the economy is going down the tubes.
According to a <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/inflation-political-division-put-u-s-in-a-pessimistic-mood-poll-finds-11654507800?mod=hp_lead_pos3">poll</a> conducted by The Wall Street Journal and the University of Chicago’s National Opinion Research Center (NORC), 83% of respondents described the state of the economy “as poor or not so good.” Meanwhile, 35% said they are not “satisfied at all with their financial situation” — the highest level since the poll began in 1972.
A slim 27% of respondents believe they have a “good chance of improving their standard of living” — representing a 20% drop since last year. Nearly twice as many — 46% — do not believe their living standards can improve.
Jennifer Benz, vice president of public affairs and media research at NORC, told The Wall Street Journal that inflation, in particular, is driving the dismal results. Indeed, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) has risen by 8.3% since last year — near the highest inflation rate in four decades.
The new poll is far from the only indication that rising price levels make consumers nervous.
When asked by a Harvard <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/poll-95-of-voters-say-inflation-is-somewhat-or-very-serious">survey</a> about inflation, 95% of respondents said that inflation is “very serious” or “somewhat serious.” A plurality — 47% — said that the Biden administration is responsible.
Another <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/94-percent-of-americans-concerned-about-inflation-overwhelmingly-trust-republicans-to-handle-it-poll">poll</a> conducted by The Washington Post and ABC News revealed that 94% of Americans were either “upset” or “concerned” about the impact of skyrocketing inflation. Biden’s approval rating was underwater, with 42% approving of his work and 52% disapproving.
Many high-profile Americans — from Tesla CEO <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/elon-musk-has-a-super-bad-feeling-about-the-economy-wants-a-massive-layoff-at-tesla">Elon Musk</a> to rapper <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/even-cardi-misses-trumponomics-cardi-b-wants-to-know-when-they-will-announce-the-recession">Cardi B</a> — are likewise worried about a looming economic contraction. While the former told executives at the automaker that he has a “super bad feeling” about the economy, the latter asked her followers when they think “they going to announce that we going into a recession.”
The United States economy contracted at a 1.5% annualized rate during the first quarter of 2022, according to the <a href="https://www.bea.gov/sites/default/files/2022-05/gdp1q22_2nd.pdf">Bureau of Economic Analysis</a>, which associates recessions with <a href="https://www.bea.gov/help/glossary?title_1=All&amp;title=&amp;page=6#:~:text=The%20NBER%20recession%20is%20a,well%20as%20quarterly%20GDP%20growth.">two consecutive quarters</a> of negative growth.
In interviews with residents of West Philadelphia — a Democrat-run, majority-minority neighborhood where median household income is 43% of the national average — The Daily Wire found that soaring inflation and gas prices are making life more difficult for those with precarious financial standing.
“It’s too high. I don’t know what happened, because the price of everything is too high now,” Mohamed, a West Philadelphia resident and immigrant from French-speaking Africa, explained.
“I drive to work and I go home. And anything else in between, I try to do it as I’m going home from work,” added Art, a maintenance worker who lives in Delaware but commutes to West Philadelphia. “It’s just too expensive.”
“The way prices with everything have gone up, I’ve had to start cutting back on what I spend money on,” Kahil, a high school student, remarked. “There’s only one simple answer. Prices need to go where they used to be.”
“I was using maybe $30 per week. Now I use almost $100,” said Iliassou about his struggles to fill his gas tank. “People don’t have money in their pockets anymore.”

President Biden Meets Virtually With Baby Formula Manufacturers To Discuss Shortage

Poll Finds More Americans Are Pessimistic About Their Standard Of Living

83% Of Americans Think The Economy Is 'Poor Or Not So Good'

Economy

Gas Prices

Inflation

Poll

Wall Street Journal

President Joe Biden said job creation in the U.S. could drop significantly over the coming months as Americans increasingly struggle to make ends meet amid soaring inflation and skyrocketing gas and food prices.
In an <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/my-plan-for-fighting-inflation-joe-biden-gas-prices-economy-unemployment-jobs-covid-11653940654?mod=opinion_major_pos5">op-ed piece</a> in The Wall Street Journal, Biden put much of the blame on Russian President Vladimir Putin&#8217;s invasion of Ukraine.
&#8220;The global economy faces serious challenges. Inflation is elevated, exacerbated by Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine. Energy markets are in turmoil. Supply chains that haven’t fully healed are causing shortages and price hikes,&#8221; Biden wrote.
&#8220;Americans are anxious. I know that feeling. I grew up in a family where it mattered when the price of gas or groceries rose. We felt it around the kitchen table. But the American people should have confidence that our economy faces these challenges from a position of strength.&#8221;
But Biden, who has taken credit for job creation that some economists <a href="https://thenationaldesk.com/news/americas-news-now/politifact-joins-critics-balking-at-bidens-claim-of-record-setting-job-growth-president-joe-state-union">say</a> is simply an economy recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, said it&#8217;s time to &#8220;transition&#8221; to a phase that will produce lower job creation in order to reduce inflation.
“I ran for president because I was tired of the so-called trickle-down economy. We now have a chance to build on a historic recovery with an economy that works for working families,” Biden wrote. “The most important thing we can do now to transition from rapid recovery to stable, steady growth is to bring inflation down.”
&#8220;During this transition, growth will look different. We will likely see fewer record job-creation numbers, but this won&#8217;t be cause for concern. Rather, if average monthly job creation shifts in the next year from current levels of 500,000 to something closer to 150,000, it will be a sign that we are successfully moving into the next phase of recovery &#8212; as this kind of job growth is consistent with a low unemployment rate and a healthy economy,&#8221; Biden wrote.
Biden has been pointing the finger of blame at nearly everyone but himself. He has attributed soaring inflation to Russia&#8217;s invasion of Ukraine as he and fellow Democrats parrot the talking point that it&#8217;s &#8220;Putin&#8217;s price hike.&#8221; Biden has also laid the blame at the feet of what he has dubbed &#8220;Ultra-MAGA&#8221; Republicans.
The president also claimed, &#8220;I’ve done what I can on my own to help working families during this challenging time — and will keep acting to lower costs where I can — but now Congress needs to act too.” Biden called on Congress to “help right away by passing clean energy tax credits and investments” and urged lawmakers to move on his proposals to lower the cost of housing, prescription drugs and child and elder care.
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.

President Biden Delivers Remarks On Passage Of Infrastructure Bill

Biden Says Job Growth Might Plunge By Two-Thirds As Economy ‘Transitions’

Biden Says Job Growth Might Plunge By Two-Thirds As Economy 'Transitions'

Jobs

Joe Biden

The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board has expressed concerns that an &#8220;abortion fanatic&#8221; might &#8220;commit an act of violence&#8221; in an effort to subvert the court&#8217;s expected decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
&#8220;One question is how fast the Court should now move to publish its decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization,&#8221; <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-supreme-court-leak-on-roe-v-wade-samuel-alito-john-roberts-abortion-draft-opinion-11651605792">the board said in a Tuesday editorial</a>. &#8220;There’s an argument for getting it out fast to make it a fait accompli.&#8221;
&#8220;Politico said the Alito draft was circulated in February, so the Justices have had ample time to absorb it and respond,&#8221; it continued. &#8220;We hate to say this, but some abortion fanatic could decide to commit an act of violence to stop a 5-4 ruling. It’s an awful thought, but we live in fanatical times.&#8221;
On Monday evening, <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2022/05/02/supreme-court-abortion-draft-opinion-00029473">Politico revealed</a> a draft opinion showing that the justices will likely rule to overturn Roe v. Wade. The news has sparked nationwide protests and frenzy as pro-abortion rights supporters grapple with the potential that Roe v. Wade could soon be overturned.
Experts and political commentators on the right <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/abortion-supporters-leaked-supreme-court-draft-to-intimidate-the-court-pro-life-advocates-say">have suggested</a> that the draft opinion was leaked, most likely by a progressive Supreme Court clerk, in efforts to intimidate the court and change its decision.
It has not yet been determined who the leaker is.
“The leak appears to be totally political in nature, not only intended to damage the Court and pressure the justices, but more immediately to incite Democrats to push their laundry list of terrible anti-life ideas, including blowing up the filibuster and attempting to codify abortion violence at the federal level prior to the November elections,” Katie Glenn, Government Affairs Counsel at Americans United for Life (AUL), told The Daily Wire.
The draft majority opinion, which is not final, says Roe v. Wade was &#8220;egregiously wrong.&#8221; “We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled,” Alito wrote, according to POLITICO. “It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives.”
And as protests over the news continue, conservative activists and legal experts call for the Supreme Court to promptly release its decision on Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
“Now that it is hanging out there, I don’t think it serves the Court’s institutional interests to wait on issuing the opinion,” Mark Paoletta, the former general counsel for the Office of Management &amp; Budget under President Donald Trump who worked on Justice Thomas’ confirmation, told The Daily Wire.
“They should issue it as quickly as possible,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Not issuing a final opinion would allow the Left to really ramp up this campaign of intimidation and threats to try and force the court to change course, which is exactly why this opinion was leaked.”
Judicial Crisis Network’s President Carrie Severino <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/conservatives-legal-experts-call-for-justices-to-release-roe-v-wade-decision">said</a> the unprecedented <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2022/05/02/supreme-court-abortion-draft-opinion-00029473">news</a> merits an “unprecedented response” — that the “Court should release its majority opinion as soon as possible.”
“Obviously no one can actually force the Chief Justice’s hand,” Severino told The Daily Wire, “but he may want to release the opinion early to avoid exposing the Court to further pressure and intimidation tactics that risk undermining the Court as an institution as a result of the draft opinion hanging out there for what could be months.”

Screen Shot 2022-05-04 at 12.11.44 PM

WSJ Editorial Board Worries ‘Abortion Fanatic’ Might ‘Commit An Act Of Violence’ To Prevent A Pro-Life Ruling

WSJ Editorial Board Warns 'Abortion Fanatic' May Take Matters Into Their Own Hands If SCOTUS Decision Is Delayed

Abortion

Pro-Life Movement

SCOTUS

Elon Musk and Twitter could reach a deal for the tech billionaire to buy the social media platform as early as today, in an agreement that could exceed $46.5 billion that would bring nearly two weeks of trolling, hand-wringing, and bickering to a dramatic end, according to two reports.
Twitter&#8217;s share price has risen since Musk made his offer of $54.20 per share, pushing the cost of a takeover closer to $50 billion than the original $43 billion.
Talks are in the &#8220;final stretch,&#8221; <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-04-25/twitter-on-track-to-reach-deal-with-musk-as-soon-as-monday?sref=WFt20nR4&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_campaign=socialflow-organic&amp;utm_content=markets&amp;utm_source=twitter&amp;cmpid%3D=socialflow-twitter-markets">Bloomberg reported</a>, citing a person with knowledge the matter. The San Francisco-based platform and world&#8217;s richest man could have a deal by the end of the day if they can hammer out terms, according to the person. <a href="https://www.reuters.com/technology/exclusive-twitter-set-accept-musks-best-final-offer-sources-2022-04-25/">Reuters reported</a> that Twitter&#8217;s board of directors is poised to recommend shareholders accept Musk&#8217;s $54.20-per-share offer
It remains possible that the deal could collapse at the last minute, the sources told Reuters.
The rapid development comes after Musk met Sunday with Twitter executives to demonstrate he had financing in place. The Tesla mogul had earlier hinted he might bypass the board with a tender offer directly to shareholders if the board rejected the bid he first announced on April 14. The share price of Twitter has risen nearly 7% since Musk made his offer, but still remain some 10% below his offer. Shares were up another 4.5% in pre-market trading Monday, at $51.15.
“A concern that Twitter’s board is weighing is that unless it seeks to negotiate a deal with Musk, many shareholders could back him in a tender offer,” Reuters <a href="https://financialpost.com/pmn/business-pmn/twitter-under-shareholder-pressure-to-seek-deal-with-musk-sources-say">reported</a>.
The Twitter board, which includes founder Jack Dorsey and current CEO Parag Agrawal, initially tried to fend off Musk with a so-called &#8220;poison pill,&#8221; which would dilute the value of his shares and allow current shareholders to increase their holdings. But now the board seems to recognize that Musk, who says he wants to take Twitter private to help it grow and better embrace freedom of speech, may have gained the upper hand.
“While the poison pill would prevent Twitter shareholders from tendering their shares, the company is worried that its negotiating hand would weaken considerably if it was shown to be going against the will of many of its investors,” sources told Reuters.
In a Securities and Exchange Commission <a href="https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0001418091/000110465922048128/tm2213229d1_sc13da.htm">filing</a>, Musk revealed he had obtained a debt commitment letter from Morgan Stanley Senior Funding, Inc. and certain other financial institutions showing they were committed to provide $13 billion in financing to him; a separate debt commitment letter from Morgan Stanley Senior Funding, Inc. and certain other financial institutions committing to provide $12.5 billion in margin loans, and an equity commitment letter in which Musk committed to provide equity financing for his offer.
<a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/twitter-re-examines-elon-musks-bid-may-be-more-receptive-to-a-deal-11650822932?mod=hp_lead_pos1">The Wall Street Journal</a> reported Sunday that Musk, who had informed  Twitter Chairman Bret Taylor he would not budge on his $54.20-a-share offer for the company, had met privately on video calls with several shareholders on Friday:
Since making his offer, Musk has used the platform itself &#8211; on which he has 80 million followers &#8211; to criticize its silencing of conservative viewpoints. He has also said he would consider making immediate changes, including adding an &#8220;edit&#8221; button and changing the way users gain coveted &#8220;blue checkmark&#8221; status.

Elon Musk

Musk, Twitter, Could Reach Deal Today: Report

Bloomberg News

Poison pill

Twitter

A new poll by The Wall Street Journal found that Democrats and President Joe Biden are losing popularity on many topics voters care most about.
The Journal <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/wsj-poll-biden-ukraine-inflation-midterms-11646975533?mod=hp_lead_pos5">reported</a>, “[t]he new survey showed that 57% of voters remained unhappy with Mr. Biden’s job performance, despite favorable marks for the president’s response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and a recent State of the Union speech.”
Only 42% said they approved of Biden’s performance as president, which was fairly similar to the Journal’s <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/wsj-poll-biden-leadership-economy-midterms-11638888384?mod=article_inline">poll</a> from late last year, which showed around 41% of voters approving of his job performance. 
Democrats showed a slight dip in approval on some key points. “A 16-percentage-point Democratic edge on which party would best handle the pandemic was down to 11 points, while a 9-percentage-point lead on education issues was down to 5 points,” the Journal noted.
The question of which party could best safeguard middle-class families, the parties were essentially tied even. The Democrats had a 5-point lead on that question four months ago.
Respondents also provided Democrats with low scores for how they are dealing with inflation and the economy, &#8220;which 50% cited as the top issue they want the federal government to address,&#8221; per the outlet. The conflict in Ukraine was reportedly the second leading issue, with 25% of voters noting it was the most important. 
Additionally, 63% of voters said they didn’t approve of Biden’s handling of increasing prices. “Meanwhile, 47% of voters said Republicans were better able to handle inflation, compared with 30% who preferred Democrats,” the Journal noted. 
The Journal added that “[m]ore voters said that Republicans had a better plan to improve the economy, 45% to 37%.”
For pollsters and Democrats, the question now becomes whether voters’ feelings about the current state of the country — and President Biden’s strategy on key issues — will impact where they cast their vote in the 2022 midterm elections this fall. 
The Journal added: 
<blockquote>
46% of voters said they would back a Republican candidate for Congress if the election were today, compared with 41% who favored a Democrat, with Republicans gaining support among Black and Hispanic voters since the last Journal poll.
</blockquote>
Republicans saw a 5-point advantage in the recent data, contrasted with a 3-point advantage in November. 
Black voters reportedly favored a Democrat for Congress by 35 points in the new poll, plummeting from 56 points in November. “Support for a Republican candidate rose to 27% among Black voters, up from 12% in November,” the Journal added.
Ukraine also appears to be an important topic on the minds of many Americans, and a place where Biden has gained some favor. 
Around 50% of voters said they approved of how Biden has dealt with Russia, contrasted with 44% who said they didn’t approve. “Asked a separate question on their view of how Mr. Biden has handled the crisis in Ukraine, 47% of voters said they approved and 46% disapproved,” the Journal added. 
A broad majority of respondents said they were closely watching the situation in Ukraine — at 89%. And 55% said they were in favor of giving more military assistance to Ukraine, like equipment and weapons. The same amount said they would back putting additional economic sanctions on Russia. 
However, notably, China was also on the minds of respondents. The Journal reported, “73% of voters said China was the nation’s largest economic threat and 52% said it presented the biggest security threat.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was also thought of favorably by 65% of voters, whereas only 8% saw him in an unfavorable light. 
The Journal explained the polling data: 
<blockquote>
The Wall Street Journal poll was conducted by the firms Impact Research and Fabrizio, Lee &amp; Associates, who surveyed 1,500 respondents, drawn from a list of known, registered voters, from March 2-7. Half the respondents were interviewed on their cellphones. One-quarter were reached by text on their cellphones and completed an internet survey. One-quarter of respondents were interviewed by landline phone. The margin of error for the full sample was plus or minus 2.5 percentage points.
</blockquote>
Enter for the chance to hang out with Gina Carano at the premiere of her new Daily Wire movie, Terror on the Prairie! Two lucky Daily Wire members will be given the complete red carpet treatment &#8211; free airfare, hotel, premiere car service, and exclusive merch. Daily Wire members can click <a href="http://www.dailywire.com/redcarpet">here</a> to enter for a chance to win. If you’re not a Daily Wire member yet, click <a href="http://dailywire.com/subscribe">here</a> to join us so you can win this once-in-a-lifetime experience.

DFF8406B-318E-486A-9CD7-E2B6AA954189_1_201_a

Poll: Democrats Losing Support On Main Issues

Democrats

President Joe Biden and his Democratic allies have consistently said that Biden&#8217;s &#8216;Build Back Better Plan&#8217; will add zero dollars to the deficit. This — of course — is mathematically impossible, but the Democratic party and their pals in the media have repeated it often enough in hopes it becomes true.
On Monday, The Wall Street Journal editorial board <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-real-cost-of-biden-spending-plan-build-back-better-cbo-reconciliation-graham-pelosi-manchin-11639344374?mod=e2two">issued</a> a blistering column, explaining why the true cost of the BBB plan is at least $3 trillion over a 10-year span of time and calling the claim zero dollars the &#8220;lie of the year&#8221;:
<blockquote>We’ve been telling you for months that the plan’s advertised cost of $1.75 trillion over 10 years includes multiple budget gimmicks that disguise the real cost. The Penn Wharton Budget Model has scored the 10-year cost at about $4.6 trillion, but the White House keeps claiming against all evidence that the cost is “zero.”</blockquote>
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Now comes the Congressional Budget Office to report that the claim of zero cost is a Big Con. CBO, a political outfit beholden to Congress, can’t be so blunt. It is constrained by budget conventions imposed by Congress. But even under those conventions, CBO has said the bill would add $200 billion to the deficit over 10 years.
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Enter Sens. Lindsey Graham and John Cornyn, who asked CBO director Phillip Swagel to add up the cost of the bill that recently passed the House if all of its programs were made permanent. This is a more honest accounting because Democrats admit both that they want to make the spending permanent and that they’ve adjusted programs to make them fit under the Senate budget rules so they can pass with a mere 51 votes (including Vice President Kamala Harris).
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As the Journal pointed out, what the White House is not saying is that many of the programs — like any &#8220;temporary&#8221; government program — will likely become permanent. In order to add up the actual price tag of the BBB, certain programs have to be treated as if they are going to remain beyond the time that the bill states:
<blockquote>Take the child allowance, which Democrats say will cost only $185 billion because it ends after one year. No one believes they won’t extend it next year, and the year after that, ad infinitum. CBO says the real cost over 10 years is $1.597 trillion. Democrats also peg their earned-income tax credit expansion at a cost of $13 billion because it too ends after one year. CBO says the real cost is $135 billion over 10 years.
An honest accounting of those two programs alone consumes $1.732 trillion, or nearly all of the $1.75 trillion that Sen. Joe Manchin has said is the most total new spending he’ll support over 10 years.</blockquote>
Because Swagel&#8217;s report shows the true price tag, the Journal slammed Democratic leaders for lying about what it will actually cost the American people (emphasis added):
<blockquote>Overall, Mr. Swagel says in his letter, CBO and the Joint Committee on Taxation project that the House bill would increase the deficit by $3 trillion over 10 years without the budget gimmicks and phony phase-outs.
Democratic leaders <a href="https://www.wsj.com/topics/person/nancy-pelosi">Nancy Pelosi</a> and Chuck Schumer reacted furiously to this news, falling back on their claims that the Build Back Better Act is “fully paid for.” Mrs. Pelosi says CBO has scored Mr. Graham’s “imaginary bill.” But her bill is the real fiscal fantasy and “fully paid for” is the lie of the year.</blockquote>
The Journal concluded that Democrats like Joe Manchin of West Virginia and other moderates should kill the bill, lest they want to be attached to the exorbitant deficit increases it will surely bring.

Biden and Pelosi

The Wall Street Journal Slams Biden And Dems: Build Back Better Price Tag Is ‘Lie Of The Year’

Build Back Better

Aaron Rodgers has had it with the talk about his injured toe, whipping out his foot at a press conference to show reporters exactly what&#8217;s going on.
The move by the Green Bay Packers quarterback followed reports that he has &#8220;COVID toe&#8221; &#8212; a claim the Wall Street Journal wrote an entire article about supporting the case.
“I have a fractured toe,” Rodgers declared, holding his bare foot up for all to see. &#8220;I can’t believe I have to again come on here and talk about my medical information but yeah, I have a fractured toe. I never heard of COVID toe before. I have no lesions on my feet. That’s just a classic case of disinformation.&#8221;
&#8220;It’s surprising coming from what used to be a reputable journalistic institution but that’s the world we live in these days,&#8221; Rodgers said.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
&quot;I have a fractured toe.&quot; 
Aaron Rodgers really showed his foot during his news conference 😅 <a href="https://t.co/9vc3v9l22z">pic.twitter.com/9vc3v9l22z</a>
&mdash; NFL on ESPN (@ESPNNFL) <a href="https://twitter.com/ESPNNFL/status/1463601856568078338?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 24, 2021</a></blockquote>
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The whole mess began when Rodgers sat down for an interview Tuesday and when asked about his health following a bout with COVID-19, he quipped &#8220;no lingering effects, other than the COVID toe.&#8221;
That prompted the esteemed Journal to pen a lengthy <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/aaron-rodgers-covid-toe-11637725526">piece</a> headlined, &#8220;Aaron Rodgers Doesn’t Just Have Any Toe Injury. He Has COVID Toe.&#8221;
&#8220;COVID Toe is a casual name for something medically known as pernio or chilblains, which is a condition that causes symptoms such as discoloration and lesions. It can be extremely painful and turn the toes purple,&#8221; said the paper.
&#8220;The shred of good news, when it comes to COVID Toes, is that they’re a sign of the body’s strong immune response to the virus. Recent research, including an October study published in the British Journal of Dermatology, has found that COVID Toes typically occur in younger patients who experience mild symptoms. The problem is that, when the body produces too much of a type of interferon, it can create other problems—and produce COVID Toes,&#8221; said the Journal.
For the record, Rodgers himself said this on the Pat McAfee Show: &#8220;This is something that&#8217;s not going to go away. One option not on the table is sitting out. I&#8217;m going to push through this.&#8221; He added: &#8220;I believe that I mentioned it was more painful than turf toe. That joint in the big toe [with turf toe], it is very painful. So naturally I&#8217;m leading people to understand if it&#8217;s worse than turf toe, there must be some sort of bone issue.&#8221; He mentioned that one option is surgery.
Others said Rodgers doesn&#8217;t suffer from &#8220;COVID toe.&#8221;
&#8220;McAfee and Rodgers threw around the phrase &#8216;COVID toe&#8217; — seemingly joking — as one possible explanation for his issue, as has been speculated by some fans making the connection between a COVID-19 diagnosis and a toe issue,&#8221; <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/packers/2021/11/23/aaron-rodgers-toe-injury-green-bay-packers/8740282002/">wrote</a> USA Today. &#8220;But while the mysterious COVID-19 toe ailment could be painful, it&#8217;s not common to have pain associated with the skin discoloration that has shown up in some COVID-19 patients in fingers and toes. There isn&#8217;t a universally agreed upon timetable for the ailment to heal, which would differ from Rodgers&#8217; certainty that he&#8217;d be dealing with the issue for several more weeks.&#8221;

Green Bay Packers v New England Patriots

Aaron Rodgers Says He Does NOT Have COVID Toe, Was Just Making Joke

Aaron Rodgers

COVID

For years, Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg has insisted that the ground is level on his platform, and the company treats its nearly three billion users equally. But according to a new <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/facebook-files-xcheck-zuckerberg-elite-rules-11631541353?mod=rss_Technology">Wall Street Journal</a> report, a secret Facebook program known as “X-Check” or “Cross-Check” has long allowed celebrities, politicians, and other high-profile accounts to avoid policies other users must follow.
A confidential, internal audit the outlet managed to obtain found that Cross-Check has permitted millions of famous users to post bullying, sexual material, hate speech, incitement to violence, and other banned content without censure. Some privileged users enjoy a totally hands-off approach, while rule-violating posts from others are flagged for reviews that never come.
The Whitelist
Originally, Cross-Check was intended to provide Facebook an additional layer of review that would help it avoid PR issues that might crop up from censoring or deplatforming famous users. In practice, the company’s researchers found it instead resulted in many high-profile accounts being “whitelisted.” These individuals could say what they liked without the threat of penalties ordinary users experience at the hands of moderators and algorithms.
For example, in 2019 Facebook allowed Brazilian soccer player Neymar to post nude images of a woman who had accused him of rape on an account followed by tens of millions of fans. Facebook eventually took the photos down, but not as quickly as it would have in other cases. The Journal says the review also shows that the company allowed VIPs to incorrectly claim that former President Donald Trump said asylum-seeking refugees are “animals” and that Hillary Clinton led a pedophile ring.
The Journal reported Facebook researchers found the company&#8217;s favoritism to those users &#8220;to be both widespread and ‘not publicly defensible.’”
A 2019 internal memo titled “The Political Whitelist Contradicts Facebook’s Core Stated Principles” detailed the disconnect between the social media giant’s public stance and its actual practice. The researchers called the program a &#8220;breach of trust&#8221; and stated, “We are not actually doing what we say we do publicly…Unlike the rest of our community, these people can violate our standards without any consequences.”
The Journal’s reporting concluded that, based on these documents, Facebook’s public responses to questions about its oversight policies and procedures — including those it has provided in Congressional hearings — are often misleading or partial. It said the company had disguised the extent of leadership’s knowledge of these problems.
The Oversight Board, the independent body instituted in 2018 that Facebook describes as a kind of “supreme court” to settle precedent-setting moderation questions, said in response to the Journal&#8217;s story that it, too, has called on the company to address the murky rules it applies to celebrities.  “The Oversight Board has expressed on multiple occasions its concern about the lack of transparency in Facebook’s content moderation processes, especially relating to the company’s inconsistent management of high-profile accounts,” it posted in a <a href="https://twitter.com/OversightBoard/status/1437434013153640455?s=20">Twitter thread</a> Monday.
It went on, “The Board has repeatedly made recommendations that Facebook be far more transparent in general, including about its management of high-profile accounts, while ensuring that its policies treat all users fairly.&#8221;
Facebook’s Response
Facebook‘s policy communications director Andy Stone addressed The Journal’s report on Twitter Monday, saying in a <a href="https://twitter.com/andymstone/status/1437460926635126787?s=20">thread</a>, “As we said in 2018: ‘Cross-check’ simply means that some content from certain Pages or Profiles is given a second layer of review to make sure we’ve applied our policies correctly.’ There aren’t two systems of justice; it’s an attempted safeguard against mistakes.”
He continued:
<blockquote>In his article, [Wall Street Journal reporter] Jeff Horwitz quotes Mark Zuckerberg making statements to Congress about our misinformation policies and Fact Checking program. 
Yet he relates those to issues with the cross-check program as a way of conflating the programs and misleading readers about the context of the remarks to Congress. 
The Journal’s reporting also suggests we were not clear about the ability of politicians to speak freely on the platform &#8212; suggesting this somehow a secret protection. 
But since 2019, when we, ourselves, promoted that the company would take this approach to politicians’ speech, there have been literally hundreds of news stories critical of our approach. 
In the end, at the center of this story is Facebook&#8217;s own analysis that we need to improve the program. We know our enforcement is not perfect and there are tradeoffs between speed and accuracy. 
The WSJ piece repeatedly cites Facebook&#8217;s own documents pointing to the need for changes that are in fact already underway at the company. We have new teams, new resources and an overhaul of the process that is an existing work-stream at Facebook.</blockquote>
But according to The Journal, the internal documents prove that “Facebook knows, in acute detail, that its platforms are riddled with flaws that cause harm, often in ways only the company fully understands.”
More to Come
The outlet concluded by saying this will be only the first in a series of articles based on internal documents, as well as interviews with dozens of current and former employees.
The second <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/facebook-knows-instagram-is-toxic-for-teen-girls-company-documents-show-11631620739?reflink=desktopwebshare_twitter">report</a>, published Tuesday, found that the company had reason to know its sister platform, Instagram, has been damaging to the mental health of teens in ways specific to that app. The Journal promises further reporting will be forthcoming.

Facebook Holds Virtual F8 Developer Conference

Report: Secret Facebook Program Exempted Celebrities, VIPs From Moderation Policies, Internal Review Calls It ‘Breach of Trust’

Facebook

The publishers of the The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post sent a letter to President Joe Biden on Monday urging safety for their colleagues and journalists operating in Afghanistan. 
The <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/pr/2021/08/16/statement-president-biden-washington-post-new-york-times-wall-street-journal/">letter</a> reads: 
<blockquote>
Dear President Biden:
For the past twenty years, brave Afghan colleagues have worked tirelessly to help The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal share news and information from the region with the global public. Now, those colleagues and their families are trapped in Kabul, their lives in peril.
As employers, we are looking for support for our colleagues and as journalists we’re looking for an unequivocal signal that the government will stand behind the free press. In that light, we ask the American government to move urgently and take three concrete steps necessary to protect their safety.
What We Seek
<ul>
<li class="p1">Facilitated and protected access to the US-controlled airport</li>
<li class="p1">Safe passage through a protected access gate to the airport</li>
<li class="p1">Facilitated air movement out of the country</li>
</ul>
Sincerely,
Frederick J. Ryan, Jr., Publisher and CEO, The Washington Post
Almar Latour, CEO, Dow Jones &amp; and Co. and Publisher, The Wall Street Journal
A.G. Sulzberger, Chairman and Publisher, The New York Times
</blockquote>
As The Daily Wire previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/joe-biden-hammered-for-hiding-at-camp-david-while-afghanistan-collapses">reported</a>, Biden has been heavily criticized for not being adequately engaged with the situation in Afghanistan.
“Biden ordered a complete pullout of the U.S. from Afghanistan in April. In the past week, the Taliban has conquered multiple major cities across the country and entered the nation’s capital of Kabul. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/thats-it-its-over-afghan-president-and-core-team-flown-out-of-afghanistan">fled</a> on Sunday morning, all but sealing the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan,” The Daily Wire reported. 
“While the Taliban have blitzed across Afghanistan in the wake of U.S. military forces pulling out, Biden has been absent from Washington. The president left the capital on Thursday for Camp David, the presidential retreat, and has been there since. Biden, notably, did not take questions from reporters about Afghanistan before he left,” it noted.
“Why is Joe Biden in hiding? He should immediately address the nation and answer for the catastrophic situation in Afghanistan. Conference calls between cabinet secretaries and senators don’t cut it in a crisis,” Sen Tom Cotton (R-AR) <a href="https://twitter.com/SenTomCotton/status/1426922151148404736">said</a>.
“America’s in crisis. Afghanistan’s in chaos. Why’s Joe Biden on vacation?” Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) <a href="https://twitter.com/Jim_Jordan/status/1426963534991216651">posted</a>.
Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN) added: “On the conference call briefing for members of Congress with Biden officials. It’s clear the Biden administration was caught unprepared, didn’t anticipate this catastrophe and the President is hiding &amp; asleep at the wheel.”
As The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-biden-bolts-from-press-conference-on-afghanistan-refuses-to-take-questions-from-media">reported</a>, Biden quickly departed a press conference he gave at the White House on Monday afternoon regarding the worsening situation in Afghanistan.
“During his remarks, Biden sought to cast blame on others for the situation that unfolded on his watch and then, after finishing his short speech, he turned his back and bolted from the room as reporters shouted questions,” The Daily Wire reported.

59D01A3B-BCCF-4429-95A3-B1D3F105FA2E_1_201_a

NYT, WSJ, WaPo Publishers Urge Biden To Protect Afghan Colleagues In Kabul: ‘Stand Behind The Free Press’

Afghanistan

New York Times

Washington Post

Peggy Noonan has spent a lot of ink lately fretting over the events of January 6. As one who has also appeared in the Wall Street Journal where she runs a column every Saturday, I certainly respect her writings in many areas. Reagan’s speech she crafted after the Challenger explosion, for example, was right on the mark. Yet for years now — the Trump years to be precise — Ms. Noonan has morphed into one of the more eloquent representatives of the staid old white-shoe wing of the GOP. That group of noble politicians who never get their hands dirty out of “principle” and are perfectly content to “lose with dignity” to those willing to play in the mud to win elections… and with them shape policy. She has been a voice of that DC establishment so well represented by the Bush family she served through two administrations. Indeed, had Ms. Noonan had her way (as I would be shocked if she voted for Donald Trump) the person taking the oath of office in 2017 would have either been the wife of a former president or the son and brother of former presidents.
Thus has her spate of recent columns disparaging conspiracy theorists, waxing tragic over the Capitol Hill riot, labeling Republicans who ousted the war-mongering DC legacy Liz Cheney “cowards”, or lamenting a GOP in disarray, not surprised me. Her latest is “Why We Can’t Move On From Jan. 6.” Perhaps a more accurate title should be “Why I Can’t Move On From Jan. 6.” I think part of the reason is that, unlike the arson, the looting, the violence and murder that for eight months consumed dozens of American cities over which she seemed to lose little sleep, what occurred on Jan. 6 was just a tad too close to home for the Washington group-think insider and columnist. It’s one thing to watch on TV from the comfort of your DC office or townhome someone else’s small business go up in flames in Minneapolis, a bleeding police officer pelted with rocks in Chicago, or a genuine insurrection in Seattle wherein an actual new faux country is declared. But it is something else entirely when a screwball with a horn hat sits in your friend’s office chair.
Ms. Noonan has been a voice of reason in the past. And I have often found myself nodding in agreement with her, even if I think she relies too much on inductive reasoning through the personal anecdote to drive home broader narratives (“I was talking to a Democrat friend the other day, and he says…”). But the former speech-writer is also representative of the very insular arm of the GOP that made the ascendancy of Donald Trump — a politician she clearly despises — possible. Her bona fides are those of the classic old school Republican establishment that has fueled so much resentment among the party base. Her fixation with a two-hour act of trespassing in the nation’s Capitol is one such example. To read her columns you would think  a hogtied Pence, Pelosi, and Schumer were trundled out on a wagon and handed over to the guillotine as an illegal government was this close to upending the entire two million-person federal apparatus. Yes, four people did die. But three were from medical emergencies and one unarmed four-tour veteran was shot by a Capitol Hill policeman… nothing to see there. BLM/Antifa rioting, by contrast, saw ten times the death toll. But for Ms. Noonan, her take-away from the latter far more pervasive and destructive atrocities was often how the imagery would drive white voters to Trump.
Given how much Ms. Noonan continues to wring her hands over Jan. 6, one would think it was 9/11, Pearl Harbor and Antietam all rolled into one. Hardly. Although this certainly fits the Democrat narrative, for which they will thank her at the next Press Club Dinner. Was Jan. 6 a serious matter? Of course. It was also brief, contained, and lost the significance Ms. Noonan keeps trying to ascribe to it the moment it was blatantly politicized by the Democrats. The party and its media cohorts who spent four months lying about the death of a capital policeman whose tragic passing was completely unrelated to the riot for political gain were the same people who spent an entire year demonizing police, and even bailing out their attackers. So one is unconvinced by Congress’ new-found love for the thin blue line.
Where I think Ms. Noonan goes awry in her reflections on the Capitol Hill riot is that she cares more about what happened and how it happened than why it happened. For me, I want to understand what did the riot mean? In fact, what did Trump’s ascendancy to be Ms. Noonan’s party’s unlikely standard-bearer say about their own leadership? What forces were at work that made so many Republicans feel so voiceless, so disenfranchised, as to offer up a thrice-married Manhattan real estate mogul and reality TV star who’d never even run for city council as their voice? The Donald was a Hail Mary pass thrown in abject desperation, by a people who no longer felt they mattered to the powerful and aloof party insiders in the far away capital city.
As if to drive home that aloofness, consider the tone-deaf first sentence in Ms. Noonan’s column. “I started the new year with a bang, at a gathering in the Washington home of a European diplomat.” Am I supposed to be impressed? I want you to imagine you are not at that swanky “gathering” clinking glasses of Louis Roederer. Rather you are sitting at your kitchen table, running your fingers through your hair,  contemplating a stack of delinquent bills before you while your children sleep, not knowing that their parents have burned through their savings and thus may lose their home due to unnecessary unemployment foisted upon them by edicts from some of the very people in that diplomat’s home who, safe in the job security of big government, will never feel the devastating impacts of their own policies. “I was interested in how Europe was processing America’s political scene.” I must ask Ms. Noonan, does she think the many American parents wondering how they’re going to afford the next run to the grocery store really care about what a diplomat from Europe — living under the protection of F-22s and US Army divisions courtesy of this same couple’s ever-rising taxes — has to say about this country?
There are many tributaries that fed into the disaffection of tens of millions that led to Trump’s 2016 nomination and victory, but it can basically be boiled down to this: there has been a complete breakdown of trust in every major institution in the country. Once important pillars of the republic — a free and impartial press, enlightened education, open exchange of ideas, corporate responsibility, a thriving middle class, a political leadership that caters to the needs and hears the concerns of its constituents, and even the legitimacy of the electoral process itself — have been, in the eyes of millions, hopelessly corrupted by people with a ruthless willingness to wield the power these combined institutions can bring to bear on the average citizen. The 2020 election was for many the final straw. Remember, we don’t just have elections to elect our leaders… we have them so we don’t kill each other. So what happened in the Capitol doesn’t happen. But all that depends on belief that the process is fair, honest, and open. Clearly, right or wrong, millions believe this is not the case. But what brought so many to this state of mistrust? Isn’t that the real question Ms. Noonan should be asking? If she wishes to brush the concerns aside as “conspiratorial”, well, hasn’t Dr. Fauci shown that sometimes today’s “conspiracy” is tomorrow’s headline?
Ms. Noonan, who swigs cocktails with “diplomats” (among the most useless and parasitic of God’s creations) has become an incarnation of the reason Trumpism, with all its boorish offenses, rose to prominence in the first place. She has worked for two Bushes in the White House whose legacies were as follows: With the father, his reneging on a pledge to not raise taxes, creating a schism in the party that opened the way for a Ross Perot candidacy, which in turn gave us the rise of the Clintons (a corrupt machine that took Trump to finally eviscerate). And with the son: the longest and most unnecessary wars in our history (still going on), and a penchant for compromising with the left to the point where he and Ted Kennedy were shaking hands in the Rose Garden. As Shakespeare might say: “Conservatism should be made of sterner stuff.”
But Ms. Noonan and her generation are not true conservatives. If she were, she would have supported a President who opposed illegal immigration, cut regulations, lowered taxes on the middle class and corporations, sought to shrink the size of the federal government, and filled the courts with Constitutional strict constructionists. But for Ms. Noonan and her like, having spent decades inside the beltway, these are all nice and good, but what kind of a guest would Trump have made at her next cocktail party? Like many in her camp, she suffers a longing for the Reagan years, even though in hindsight they just served as a speed bump along the way to the nation’s shift towards rampant leftism. And it must be pointed out that Reagan-worship has become an anachronistic fixation. We are as far from the 1980s today as the 1980s were from the 1940s. Think about that a moment.
For those who live outside the Emerald City, the paradigms shifts in governance that occur when conservatives like Ms. Noonan, who believe in bringing knives to gunfights and thus see power and the culture ripped out from under them while they review the hors d’oeuvres for their next “gathering,” have real, lasting, and often devastating consequences far beyond the annoyance of having to update one’s rolodex. While she hobnobs with DC elites, parents in the heartland must face leftist indoctrination in their kids’ schools, out-of-control tuitions, stagnant wages, inflation, an opioid epidemic, job insecurity, social media decaying young minds, and a general sense that their country has gone from Ms. Noonan’s cliché “city on a hill” to a dystopian landscape of shuttered factories, outsourced careers, and a sense that those in charge (like those in Ms. Noonan’s social circles) really do not care what goes on outside the beltway, so long as the PAC, lobbyist, and contractor money keeps pouring in.
Ms. Noonan tells us that Republicans need to be freed to “develop policies that address people’s real issues again, not only their grievances.” Does she mean the way Trump, whom she opposed, was trying to do? One cannot craft policies that address people’s real issues without appreciating what are the grievances, any more than a doctor can prescribe a cure for a disease about which she asks no symptoms. Instead Ms. Noonan harps on how appalled one should be about Jan. 6. Ironically, in her latest piece, she does briefly happen upon an insightful observation when she offers that those who were not horrified “see the Capitol as already trashed through decades of bad governance.” She describes it as a “mess and a bit of a whorehouse.” Getting warmer. But then she reflexively pivots back into her poetic “city on a hill” schtick by assuring us that “greatness can erupt there, progress can be made, things improved.” That seems sadly out-of-touch with today’s Capitol Hill. A place infested with those whose mediocrity is surpassed only by their cynicism and naked hunger for power…and willingness to selectively wield the entire system as a cudgel to attain and hold onto it. I ask Ms. Noonan, honestly, what “greatness” does she see coming out of the offices of the likes of Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, Jerry Nadler, Kamala Harris, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, AOC, Cory Booker, Kristen Gillibrand, Bernie Sanders, Maxine Waters, Elizabeth Warren, etc.? I’d be curious to know what “progress” she sees emerging from a weekend retreat involving this crew.
So, yes, Ms. Noonan can bemoan the two hours in which a few hundred out-of-control citizens out of 100,000 briefly entered a Capitol building they felt no longer represented their interests anyway. But perhaps she should spend less time pondering what foreign diplomats think about the goings on of the country outside the DC ramparts, and maybe ask the people of this country instead.  And “I was having brunch with a friend at Alta Strada this weekend and over mimosas I asked her what she thought of…” is not what I mean.
Brad Schaeffer is the author of the acclaimed World War II novel <a href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Of-Another-Time-and-Place/Brad-Schaeffer/9781642932867" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Of-Another-Time-and-Place/Brad-Schaeffer/9781642932867&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1624127216938000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGhiBaHpY3EgyGwKmpzbdNJg_23rQ">Of Another Time And Place</a>. His newest novel, <a href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Extraordinary/Brad-Schaeffer/9781642939422" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Extraordinary/Brad-Schaeffer/9781642939422&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1624127216938000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHt4uzDjpdIILWYTjuVQwMUYnQmRg">The Extraordinary</a>, will be released August 31 and is currently available for pre-order. 
The views expressed in this opinion piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Donald Trump Holds Campaign Rally In Virginia Beach

OPINION: The Wall Street Journal’s Peggy Noonan Needs A Lesson On Conservatism

Media Bias

Communist China detained a reporter from The Wall Street Journal who sneaked to the cave in southern China where the Wuhan Institute of Virology collected coronavirus samples approximately eight years ago after six miners became extremely ill, three of whom later died, after cleaning out the cave&#8217;s bat feces.
The backstory about the six miners, which was reported nearly a year ago by <a href="https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/12413978/coronavirus-first-appeared-in-chinese-miners/">The Sun</a>, took place in a copper mine in the mountains of southwest China in the Yunnan province.
&#8220;Chinese authorities have obstructed independent efforts to investigate the mine, setting up a checkpoint nearby where unidentified men stopped several foreign journalists in recent weeks, on one occasion warning there were wild elephants ahead,&#8221; The Wall Street Journal <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/wuhan-lab-leak-question-chinese-mine-covid-pandemic-11621871125">reported</a>. &#8220;A Journal reporter reached the mine by mountain bike but was later detained and questioned for about five hours by police, who deleted a cellphone photograph of the mine. Villagers told the reporter that local officials had warned them not to discuss the mine with outsiders.&#8221;
The BBC tried to get to the mine late last year and were met by police officers who followed them around in unmarked cars.
&#8220;And we ran into checkpoints at which unidentified men told us their job was to keep us out,&#8221; The BBC reported. &#8220;At first sight, all of this might seem like a disproportionate effort given our intended destination, a nondescript, abandoned copper mine in which, back in 2012, six workers succumbed to a mystery illness that eventually claimed the lives of three of them.&#8221;
While The Wall Street Journal contains lots of information that may seem new, a lot of it was covered months ago by the BBC, the Daily Mail, The Sun, New York Magazine, and various conservative publications. It&#8217;s only been in the last couple of weeks that the narrative in the U.S. mainstream media has started to take a significant shift from the lab leak hypothesis being a &#8220;conspiracy theory&#8221; to being considered a serious explanation for the origins of the pandemic.
“I’m convinced that what happened is that the virus was brought to a lab, they started to work with it…and some sloppy individual brought it out,” said Bernard Roizman, a University of Chicago virologist, told The Wall Street Journal. “They can’t admit they did something so stupid.”
The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/multiple-researchers-at-chinese-lab-in-wuhan-were-hospitalized-with-covid-19-like-symptoms-in-november-2019-u-s-intelligence-report">reported</a> on Monday that three researchers from the Wuhan Institute of Virology — China’s only Biosafety level-4 laboratory — were hospitalized in November 2019 with symptoms consistent with COVID-19, according to a previously undisclosed U.S. intelligence report.
“The details of the reporting go beyond a State Department fact sheet, issued during the final days of the Trump administration, which said that several researchers at the lab, a center for the study of coronaviruses and other pathogens, became sick in autumn 2019 ‘with symptoms consistent with both Covid-19 and common seasonal illness,&#8217;” The Wall Street Journal <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/intelligence-on-sick-staff-at-wuhan-lab-fuels-debate-on-covid-19-origin-11621796228">reported</a>. “The disclosure of the number of researchers, the timing of their illnesses and their hospital visits come on the eve of a meeting of the World Health Organization’s decision-making body, which is expected to discuss the next phase of an investigation into Covid-19’s origins.”

Thailand’s Bat Catchers Investigate The Origins Of COVID-19

China Detains Reporter Who Sneaked To Cave Where Coronavirus Samples Were Collected For Wuhan Lab, Destroys Photo He Took: Report

Wuhan

<div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text">
The Wall Street Journal editorial board denounced the GOP on Tuesday for threatening to pull Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) &#8212; the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney &#8212; from leadership for &#8220;daring to tell the truth&#8221; about the 2020 election.
The <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/wall-street-journal-liz-cheney_n_6092201be4b0ccb91c37a435">op-ed</a> responded to Rep. Kevin McCarthy&#8217;s (R-CA) statement on a hot mic saying that he&#8217;s &#8220;had it&#8221; with Liz Cheney being the third-ranking member of the House GOP and supported a motion to oust her from leadership.
“I think she’s got real problems,” McCarthy told Fox News host Steve Doocy right before appearing on “Fox and Friends.&#8221; “I’ve had it with … I’ve had it with her. You know, I’ve lost confidence. … Well, someone just has to bring a motion, but I assume that will probably take place.”
The Wall Street Journal editorial board seemed to assume McCarthy was going against his principles.
</div>
<div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text">
“But Mr. McCarthy knows Ms. Cheney is right,” the op-ed said. “The election wasn’t stolen, yet Mr. Trump wants an endorsement of his stolen claim to be a litmus test for every Republican candidate.”
“She may be ousted because she is daring to tell the truth to GOP voters, and at personal political risk,&#8221; it added.
Should Cheney be ousted from her leadership position, The Wall Street Journal said that it would hurt the Republicans during the 2022 midterms.
“Republicans will look foolish, or worse, to swing voters if they refight 2020 in 2022,” it said.
During the on-air interview with Doocy, McCarthy said that the problem with Cheney is one of confidence in her ability to carry out the broader GOP message. In essence, if her entire identity (and therefore the identity of the GOP) becomes solely about distancing from Trump, then the GOP has no broader message.
</div>
“There’s no concern about how she voted on impeachment. That decision has been made,” said McCarthy. “I have heard from members concerned about her ability to carry out the job as conference chair, to carry out the message.”
“I haven’t heard members concerned about her vote on impeachment. It’s more concerned about the job, ability to do, and what’s our best step forward that we can all work together instead of attacking one another,” <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/ive-had-it-with-her-kevin-mccarthy-caught-slamming-liz-cheney-on-hot-mic">he added</a>.
As The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/cheney-facing-leadership-threat-says-gop-at-turning-point-in-op-ed">reported</a>, Cheney responded to these attacks in an op-ed for The Washington Post, arguing that Trump has so fundamentally debased democracy that the GOP has no choice but to oppose him.
“Trump is seeking to unravel critical elements of our constitutional structure that make democracy work — confidence in the result of elections and the rule of law. No other American president has ever done this,” she wrote.
Former President Trump and other Republicans have backed Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) to replace Cheney as the conference chair.
“We want leaders who believe in the Make America Great Again movement, and prioritize the values of America First. Elise Stefanik is a far superior choice, and she has my COMPLETE and TOTAL endorsement for GOP Conference Chair,” wrote Trump.
Related:<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/cheney-facing-leadership-threat-says-gop-at-turning-point-in-op-ed"> Cheney, Facing Leadership Threat, Says GOP At ‘Turning Point’ In Op-Ed</a>

LIZ CHENEY

Wall Street Journal Editorial Board Says GOP Trying To Oust Liz Cheney For ‘Daring To Tell The Truth’

Liz Cheney

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