Cafferty File: Should crack cocaine offenders be released from prison early?

A Texas Republican best known for dressing up as "gay Hitler" became only the second U.S. legislator since the Civil War to file a formal bill calling for secession.

State Rep. Kyle Biedermann (R- Fredericksburg) filed the Texas Independence Referendum Act, which would allow voters to decide in November whether to leave the U.S. and establish an independent republic -- although doing so remains illegal, reported The Daily Beast.

Adolf Hitler used the "Big Lie" strategy to help kill democracy in his country. He had one Big Lie after another. Hitler used a Big Lie to explain away Germany's defeat in World War I and it set the stage for his meteoric rise in power. He blamed the Jews for Germany's loss, which was patently untrue. He promulgated that lie over and over. And it led to the biggest, and deadliest, lie in history — that Jews had to be exterminated.

Donald Trump used multiple Big Lies during his presidency. It was his propaganda technique. He took a page right out of Hitler's playbook — and it almost destroyed American democracy. The sad truth is that many Trump surrogates who remain within our government continue to stoke the remaining embers of the Big Lies. The goal of Trump's lies was to establish him as a dictator devoid of laws, rules or norms. He wanted absolute power. He wanted to amass greed with impunity. He wanted to be as corrupt and criminal as he wished.

Today, more Americans hope to receive a COVID-19 vaccine than current vaccine supply will allow. Consequently, although President Joe Biden's initial promise to dole out 100 million vaccine doses in 100 days would require a ramp-up in vaccine allocation, some consider the promise to be insufficient to meet current levels of demand and put the pandemic's spread into decline.

The current mismatch between vaccine demand and supply, however, may be short-lived. Despite concerns about lagging vaccine allocation for front-line health care workers and other vulnerable groups, health experts are optimistic that public demand for a COVID-19 vaccine will remain high in coming months as more vaccine doses become available.