The Daily Signal - Rubio Warns of China Cyber Threat, 24 Attacks From Biden’s Dog, Judge Rules Noncitizens Can’t Vote | Feb. 22

Starting point is 00:00:00 I'm Virginia Allen, and this is the Daily Signal Top News for Thursday, February 22nd. Here are today's headlines. This morning, tens of thousands of AT&T customers were experiencing issues with their cell phones, their internet, and home phones. The outages were first seen around 3.30 a.m. this morning. AT&T did say this afternoon that wireless service has been restored to all of their affected customers. AT&T did sincerely apologize and said keeping our customers connected remains our top priority and we are taking steps to ensure our customers do not experience this again in the future. The company told Fox business earlier today that the network team took immediate action to restore service. But the reason for the outage is not known.

Starting point is 00:01:04 Some T-Mobile and Verizon users were also experiencing issues. A defense secretary told Fox News that there was no indication that this was a cyber attack. But Senator Marco Rubio of Florida used the incident as an opportunity for warning. Rubio wrote on X today, I don't know the cause of the AT&T outage, but I do know it will be a hundred times worse when China launches a cyber attack on America on the eve of a Taiwan invasion. Rubio added, it won't be just cell phone service they hit. It will be your power, your water, and your bank.

Starting point is 00:01:43 FBI director Christopher Ray recently spoke at the Cybersecurity Conference held in Germany, and he warned about the threat of Chinese cyber attacks. Ray went so far as to say that attacks are reaching a fever pitch. Again, there is no indication that today's outages were a cyber attack. Non-U.S. citizens cannot vote in local elections in New York City. A New York Appeals Court ruled this week that green card holders and those with work visas are still not eligible to vote in local city elections. The court said that allowing these non-citizens to vote could violate the state's constitution. So why was this even a question to begin with? Well, that takes us back to 2021 when the New York City. City Council approved a bill, allowing non-citizens to vote in elections for offices like mayor or city council members. After the law was enacted in 2022, it was quickly challenged. And this week, the appeals court said that the local law was enacted in violation of New York

Starting point is 00:02:53 State Constitution and municipal home rule law, and thus must be declared null and void. The striking down of the rule is seen as a blow to leftists in New York. who have advocated that non-U.S. citizens should be allowed to vote. The Conservative House Freedom Caucus sent a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson this week with a proposal regarding spending levels and the federal budget. They asked for an update on how negotiations over appropriations are going. The deadlines are approaching quickly in March, and GOP lawmakers said that they should not be left in the dark

Starting point is 00:03:32 about spending levels and policy provisions until the last minute. And the House Freedom Caucus is proposing that if conservatives can't get real wins in the appropriations bills, then Johnson should put forward a year-long stopgap funding bill. The group of conservative lawmakers wrote to Johnson that if we are not going to secure significant policy changes or even keep spending below the caps adopted by bipartisan majorities less than one year ago, why would we proceed when we could instead pass a year-long funding resolution that would save Americans $100 billion in year one. I asked the Heritage Foundation's director of the Center for the Federal Budget, Richard Stern, if this proposal from the Freedom

Starting point is 00:04:16 Caucus should be seen as an idea that could benefit the American people. This is what he told me. What the Freedom Caucus is asking for here is a common sense update on information. It's not just about how much the government spends. It's about what the government spends it on. All of the so-called or rioters of the Freedom Caucus is asking about are things where the executive branch has abused the power of the purse, has abused the resources given to it by American people through regular taxes and inflation taxes. If conservatives can't get real wins on those tying the hands of the bureaucrats, then they are absolutely right that Congress should lean on the FRA framework that is already there to automatically cut spending because the more the government spends, the more that it drives

Starting point is 00:05:01 inflation and interest rates higher, imposing a generation long economic penalty on Americans. In the coming days, we should learn more about the status of the appropriations fight, and if Johnson is considering this idea from the Freedom Caucus, stay tuned. Biden's German Shepherd Commander was back in the news today. It has come to light that the dog bit secret service agents at least 24 times, and some of those incidents drew blood. Commander is no longer living with the President and the First Lady as a result of the attacks. He has reportedly been given to relatives. New Freedom of Information Act requests reveal a number of incidents both in 2022 and 2023 when Commander attacked members of Secret Service.

Starting point is 00:05:50 One incident from a Secret Service member reads, Commander and Potus were entering the Palm Room through the West Colonnade. Commander came in first, circled back, and grabbed my left arm. In another account, an agent was bitten in the left forearm, causing a severe deep open wound. There was reportedly a significant amount of blood loss, and the agent had to get six stitches. In another incident, commander attacked an agent in the Kennedy Garden at the White House. The dog ran towards the agent, jumped on them, and took them down to the ground. That agent also reportedly had to get stitches.

Starting point is 00:06:27 The Bidens also parted ways with their German Shepherd Major, after attacks again on Secret Service agents. Jill Biden's spokeswoman, Elizabeth Alexander, said, the president and first lady care deeply about the safety of those who work at the White House and those who protect them every day. Despite additional dog training, leashing, working with veterinarians, and consulting with animal behaviorists, the White House environment simply proved too much for Commander.

Starting point is 00:06:59 With both Major and Commander out, it appears the... the White House is dogless for now. With that, that's going to do it for today's episode. Thanks so much for being with us on The Daily Signals, top news. Make sure that you check out our morning edition. Tomorrow morning, I am sitting down with the Heritage Foundation's Kyle Brosnan. Kyle serves as Chief Counsel for Heritage's Oversight Project, and we are diving into all of the legal cases that Trump is facing right now,

Starting point is 00:07:28 parsing out where they stand and what the big cases are to be watching. watching in the coming weeks and months. So make sure you catch that conversation tomorrow morning. And in the meantime, take a minute to leave the Daily Signal a five-star rating and review. If you enjoyed the show today, please take a minute to let us know what you thought. We are also on all podcast platforms. So make sure that you hit that subscribe button. You never miss out on new shows. Thanks again for being with us today. Have a great rest of your Thursday. We'll see you right back here tomorrow morning. The Daily Signal podcast is brought to you by more than half a million members of the Heritage Foundation.

Starting point is 00:08:07 Executive producers are Rob Lewy and Kate Trinko. Producers are Virginia Allen and Samantha Asheris. Sound designed by Lauren Evans, Mark Geinney, and John Pop. To learn more, please visit DailySignal.com.

The Daily Signal - Rubio Warns of China Cyber Threat, 24 Attacks From Biden’s Dog, Judge Rules Noncitizens Can’t Vote | Feb. 22

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.