Fresh from a $19-billion (14-billion-euro) takeover by Facebook, mobile messaging service WhatsApp said Monday it will launch free voice calls by mid-year. The introduction of free calls, revealed on the opening day of the four-day World Mobile Congress…
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'Red states get a lot of money': Fox News host destroys Marsha Blackburn's 'blue state bailout' lie
March 07, 2021
Fox News host Eric Shawn on Sunday challenged Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) after she claimed that the COVID-19 relief bill was delayed because Democrats "wanted people to suffer."
"The Democrats did not want timely relief prior to the election," Blackburn told Shawn in an interview on Fox News. "They wanted people to suffer and Nancy Pelosi told us why. She said because they felt like it would help them win the election."
<p>
Shawn interrupted: "Do you think it really is fair to say Democrats wanted people to suffer? I mean, they don't want people to suffer."
</p><p>
"They delayed relief when people were saying we desperately need relief," Blackburn argued. "They delayed money to small businesses when small businesses were saying we need another round of PPP. That was a choice they made."
</p><p>
Blackburn went on to insist that only 9% of the latest relief bill is related to COVID-19, a claim that <a href="https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2021/mar/01/ted-budd/budd-says-9-stimulus-targets-covid-rest-not-even-r/">Politifact has rated</a> as "half true."
</p><p>
"So whether you want to say it was fair or not fair, it is an action they took," the Tennessee Republican continued. "And it is an admission that they have made. So I think it was just really unfortunate that it was their choice."
</p><p>
Even though Blackburn voted against the latest COVID-19 relief bill, she argued that people "desperately need help."
</p><p>
"But do you really need to bail out the blue states that have mismanaged their funds and have mismanaged their pensions?" she quipped.
</p><p>
"But you also know," Shawn interjected, "your state get $6 billion, Florida gets $16 billion, Texas gets $27 billion. So red states get a lot of money too."
</p><p>
"It is immoral to continue to pile debt on our children and grandchildren," Blackburn opined. "It is selfish not to sit down and work this out so that we are not adding to the debt. There are all sorts of good things that you can do with money but we have to remember, the federal government only has money that the taxpayer sends to them."
</p><p>
"Socialism is fine until you run out of other people's money," she added. "And this continuing to say you're going to pick winners and losers with federal government money, which is taxpayer money, is completely inappropriate and, yes, it does need to stop."
</p><p>
Watch the video below from Fox News.
</p><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/PKoqyh4yJ5A" width="560"></iframe>
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By Laura Gottesdiener MATAMOROS, Mexico (Reuters) - A sprawling camp in the Mexican city of Matamoros, within sight of the Texan border, has since 2019 been one of the most powerful reminders of the human toll of former President Donald Trump's efforts to keep migrants out of the United States. The camp has dwindled to just a few dozen in residents in recent days, after hundreds of asylum seekers living there were finally allowed to cross the border to press their claim to stay in the United States. President Joe Biden last month rolled back the program - known as the Migrant Protection Protoc...
Republicans are desperately scrambling for new sources of indignation and victimhood: op-ed
March 07, 2021
Republicans politicians see culture wars as their avenue back to power, according to The Washington Post columnist James Hohmann.
A chorus of Republicans have complained that President Joe Biden had accused two GOP governors of engaging in "Neanderthal thinking" over their decisions to rescind COVID-19 prevent measures. They also expressed outrage that Hasbro planned to drop "Mr." from its Potato Head branding and that Dr. Seuss Enterprises planned to cease printing six books that contained racist stereotypes.
<p>"The familiar chorus of faux indignation from the bad-faith brigade illustrates more than just how reflexive and juvenile the discourse has become," Hohmann <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/03/06/biden-neanderthal-republicans-fake-anger/" target="_blank">writes</a>. "This week also put into stark relief how leading Republicans hope to fight their way out of the wilderness by leaning into grievance and picking culture war battles."</p><p>He adds that efforts to "capitalize on the cultural epidemic of grievance and victimhood" are "entirely rational," because they keep conservatives engaged.</p><p>Such battles also help to distract from the fact that Republicans are fighting against popular legislation. According to a Quinnipiac poll from February, <a href="https://poll.qu.edu/national/release-detail?ReleaseID=3688" target="_blank">nearly 7 in 10 Americans support</a> the Biden administration's proposed $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill, known as the American Rescue Plan.</p><p>"Republicans now face the familiar challenge of keeping their populist base riled up while opposing policies that would benefit many of those core supporters — this time without Trump," Hohmann explains. "Indeed, even as Republicans tried to convince their voters to take offense at Biden's Neanderthal label, they were voting en masse against a measure to extend unemployment benefits and send $1,400 checks to millions of households, while arguing against a $15 an hour minimum wage."</p><p>Biden and his aides, on the other hand, have mostly ignored the culture war battles. </p><p>"I don't think there is any danger in ignoring a debate on Mr. Potato Head and Dr. Seuss," John Anzalone, a Biden adviser and campaign pollster, <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2021/03/04/joe-biden-culture-wars-473824" target="_blank">told Politico</a>.</p>
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