CORONAVIRUS UPDATE: April 13th

Glenn gives the latest coronavirus numbers, updating YOU on everything needed to know as Americans and officials monitor China's new COVID-19 virus:

Daily Stats as of 5:30 AM CT (from John's Hopkins)

  • Total Confirmed Cases Worldwide: 1,862,254 (up from 1,615,092 Friday)
  • Total Confirmed Deaths Worldwide: 114,980 (up from 96,791 Friday)
  • Total Confirmed Recovered Worldwide: 431,666 (up from 362,542 Friday)
  • US has 560,433 Confirmed Cases and 22,115 Deaths, up from 468,895 cases and 16,697 deaths Friday
  • US now leads the World in both Cases and Deaths from COVID-19
  • US now accounts for ~30% of all confirmed cases and ~20% of confirmed deaths globally
All 50 US States Declared Disaster Zones For The First Time in US Historyhttps://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/public-global-health/492433-all-50-states-under-disaster-declaration-for-first
  • All 50 states are under a FEMA disaster declaration for the first time in U.S. history, after President Trump approved Wyoming's declaration Saturday.
  • Within 22 days, Trump has declared a major emergency in all 50 states and most territories.
  • Trump approved the first major disaster declaration for coronavirus in New York on March 20, followed two days later by Washington and California, the early hot spots of the virus.
  • New York has become the hardest-hit state, recording 188,694 positive cases and 10,000 deaths from the virus, according to the state's health department.
  • The U.S. Virgin Islands, the Northern Mariana Islands, Washington, D.C., Guam and Puerto Rico all received approved major disaster declarations.
  • American Samoa is the only U.S. territory that has not received a disaster designation.
Cue The Fat Lady? US Federal Reserve Buys Everything, Destroying the Free-Markethttps://finance.yahoo.com/news/fed-seizing-control-entire-u-144633849.html
  • The US Federal Reserve is purchasing approximately $625 Billion per week in US Treasury Bonds, US Municipal Bonds and Corporate Bonds.
  • At that rate of spend, The Federal Reserve will own all outstanding US Public Debt - Federal and Local - by September-October 2020 and all US Private/Corporate US Bond Debt by December.
  • The Federal Reserve is already the largest single holder of US Government Bonds...Of $20 Trillion in outstanding US Debt, the Federal Reserve owns approximately $5.7 Trillion and is now adding $1 Trillion in new US Bond purchases every two weeks.
  • This comes as the Bank of England skips the Bond Market entirely and is simply printing new currency to fund UK expenditures directly https://www.ft.com/content/664c575b-0f54-44e5-ab78-2fd30ef213cb, https://www.bbc.com/news/business-52226482 This is also known as Modern Monetary Theory.
  • As of this week's Fed Open Market Committee meeting, The Fed is also willing to purchase so-called Junk Bonds from US Companies in distress.
  • The Fed also issued a new fund to buy US Mortgage Assets from Banks, pledging $200 Billion per month to US Banks plus Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to buy distressed mortgages that may become insolvent due to COVID-19 mortgage delinquencies or defaults.
  • The US Federal Reserve is now officially the largest landlord in the world.
  • At this point, the only major asset in US Equity Markets the Fed is not directly buying are US Stocks https://finance.yahoo.com/news/feds-cure-risks-being-worse-110052807.html
  • In his latest FX Special Report, Deutsche Bank Senior-macro strategist George Saravelos stated, after last week's unprecedented Fed takeover of capital markets, "there is no such thing as a free market anymore."
  • Note: Ultimately, it is the US Taxpayer who is responsible for all of this debt, NOT the Fed.
  • The Treasury, using the Exchange Stabilization Fund, will make an equity investment in each Fed Fund and be in a "first loss" position, making US Taxpayers responsible should any of the investments or underlying funds fail...
  • As such, the US Treasury, not the Fed, is really buying all these securities and backstopping of loans; the Fed is acting as banker and providing financing.
US Could Face Rolling Lockdowns & Social Distancing Orders for 18-24 Months: US Federal Reservehttps://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/feds-kashkari-says-us-may-face-18-months-of-rolling-shutdowns/ar-BB12wqGD
  • Without an effective therapy or a vaccine for COVID-19, the U.S. economy could face 18 months of rolling shutdowns as the outbreak recedes locally and then flares up again, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis President Neel Kashkari said.
  • "We're looking around the world. As they relax the economic controls, the virus flares back up again," Kashkari said Sunday on CBS's "Face the Nation."
  • Kashkari is an influential voice at The Federal Reserve and is a voter in 2020 on the Fed's policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee.
  • "We could have these waves of flareups, controls, flareups and controls until we actually get a vaccine. I think we should all be focusing on an 18-month strategy for our health care system and our economy," he said.
  • Kashkari noted that as South Korea, Japan, China and Hong Kong attempted to re-open economies after periods of shut down, new-outbreaks of the virus caused additional states of emergency to be declared and new rounds of house-arrest to be ordered.
Hunt for Vaccine: A Year Would Be a Miraclehttps://www.thedailybeast.com/coronavirus-vaccine-hunt-could-go-horribly-wrong
  • Scientists indicated that while there are some hopeful signs for a COVID-19 Vaccine, with 2 such vaccines already moved into rapid-development and human clinical trials, 12-18 months is a very optimistic view of when one might be available.
  • SARS-1, MERs and the Common Cold have all been known examples of human-contagious Coronavirus for years, even decades. None have a working vaccine despite hundreds of attempts by pharmaceutical companies and researchers.
  • "Vaccine development is much harder than people think. Of the hundreds of known viral-infections that can be fatal to human beings, only about 25 have working, approved vaccines," said Dr William Schaffner, professor of preventive medicine and infectious diseases at Vanderbilt's School of Medicine.
  • "There have been times in the past where vaccines have been justifiably rolled out and they haven't measured up," said Dr. Schaffner.
  • According to a recent LX/Morning Consult poll, 75 percent of U.S adults said they'd likely get a coronavirus vaccine if it passed clinical trials.
  • But whether that's enough to provide herd immunity remains unclear. When it comes to measles, 90 to 95 percent of the population has to be vaccinated to guarantee sufficient protection, research has shown.
  • Dr. Schaffner summed it up bluntly: "The stakes really are high."
Kentucky Churchgoers Met with Nails in Road, Surveillance of License Plates https://nypost.com/2020/04/12/kentucky-worshippers-met-with-nails-in-road-as-they-defy-lockdown/, https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/492346-kentucky-governor-announces-state-will-record-license-plate-information
  • In a scene being repeated in states all over the US, Kentucky Churchgoers who are refusing to follow government guidelines for Quarantine are meeting Government resistance.
  • Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D) urged residents to remain indoors for the Easter holiday and mandated that anyone who breaks the state's stay-at-home order will have to self-quarantine for two weeks.
  • Beshear will enforce his state's laws by recording the license plates of any person attending Easter services or other gatherings. The residents will then receive quarantine notices in person, served by Country Sherriffs.
  • "This is a time and weekend, a whole week for multiple faiths, that is about faith. It's about knowing we have faced as people – as Christians, as Jews, as members of many faiths – many difficult, dark times, and we have prevailed," Beshear said Friday.
  • "This is the only way we can ensure that your decision doesn't kill someone else," he added. "You aren't just deciding for you, your actions might injure or kill other people unintentionally."
  • Beshear said the state government was only aware of six churches that were planning to hold in-person services for Easter. Those attending any gathering will be charged with a misdemeanor violation of the emergency orders issued by the governor and Kentucky Department for Public Health.
  • Public officials have credited social distancing measures with helping slowly curb outbreaks in a number of states and have warned that reversing such practices could lead to a dangerous COVID-19 resurgence.
  • However, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul (R) slammed Beshear's order:
  • "Taking license plates at church? Quarantining someone for being Christian on Easter Sunday? Someone needs to take a step back here," Paul, a staunch libertarian, tweeted.
  • Another Kentucky church defied orders and held a packed Easter Sunday service — despite a heavy police presence and even nails blocking the parking lots, according to a report.
  • Maryville Baptist Church appeared to have a near-full house for its Sunday service despite orders to avoid in-person services.
  • Worshippers arrived even after police warned that they would record their car plates to force them into 14-day quarantines.
  • Many — including the defiant pastor, Rev. Jack Roberts — arrived with their plates covered, with officers instead recording their VIN numbers, the paper said.
  • Even more desperate measures appeared to have been taken to keep the faithful away — with "piles of nails" blocking each entrance, according to photos shared by the Courier-Journal.
DOJ To States: 1st Amendment Still the 1st Amendmenthttps://www.foxnews.com/us/doj-expect-action-government-regulation-religious-covid-19
  • Attorney General William Barr indicated the DOJ is monitoring State and Local Government actions related to limitations of religious services, and will potentially prosecute local officials if they violate the Civil Rights of religious people.
  • The Justice Department (DOJ) may take action next week against local governments that have cracked down on religious services as widespread parts of the country are shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic.
  • "While social distancing policies are appropriate during this emergency, they must be applied evenhandedly [and] not single out religious [organizations]," DOJ Director of Communications Kerri Kupec tweeted.
  • The DOJ move would come as some churches are standing up to city governments that have blocked them from holding in-person services during the outbreak -- even in "drive-in" formats that keep people separated and in their own cars.
  • A judge in Louisville, Ky., on Saturday issued a temporary restraining order blocking enforcement of Mayor Greg Fischer's ban on drive-in church services there.
  • "The Mayor's decision is stunning," District Judge Justin Walker, a former clerk to Supreme Court Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh, wrote in a memorandum to the order. "And it is, 'beyond all reason,' unconstitutional."
Oil Wars Over? Maybe...https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/energy/saudi-arabia-and-russia-finalize-big-oil-deal-to-cut-production-after-prodding-from-trump
  • OPEC+ rolled out a 9.7 Million Barrel per day production cut, to be phased in over the next 30 days, a joint-release from Russia & Saudi Arabia said.
  • Trump had been pushing for a 12 Million barrel per day cut to help stabilize oil prices and protect US Shale oil producers.
  • Trump said he intervened Friday to help resolve the stand-off, speaking with Mexico's populist President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who told Trump that Mexico will cut its production by 100,000 barrels per day.
  • Trump also spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Saudi King Salman in a whirlwind bout of diplomacy to try to get the deal to stick. He celebrated the outcome on Sunday, which is the largest oil market intervention in history.
  • "The big Oil Deal with OPEC Plus is done," Trump said in a Twitter post. "This will save hundreds of thousands of energy jobs in the United States. I would like to thank and congratulate President Putin of Russia and King Salman of Saudi Arabia. I just spoke to them from the Oval Office. Great deal for all!"
Is Democracy the Ultimate COVID-19 Victim?https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/Leaders-seize-new-powers-to-fight-coronavirus-15195776.php
  • France and Bolivia have postponed elections. Peru handed its president broad new legislative authority. Israel sharply ramped up the reach of its surveillance state.
  • The US is curtailing religious services and searching for out-of-staters door to door in some areas.
  • While leaders around the world fight the spread of the coronavirus, they're amassing sweeping new powers.
  • As legislatures limit or suspend activities in the name of social distancing, many of the norms that define democracy - elections, deliberation and debate, checks and balances - have been put on indefinite hold.
  • The speed and breadth of the transformation is unsettling political scientists, government watchdogs and rights groups. Many concede that emergency declarations and streamlining government decision-making are necessary responses to a global health threat. But they question how readily leaders will give up the powers they've accrued when the coronavirus eventually subsides.
  • "We've put our economies on hold and we can debate how we bring those back. But we've also put Democracy on hold. We have to bring that back, too," said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch.
Cost of COVID-19 Phase I & II Bailout: NASA's Budget...for the Next 207 Years
  • The cost of the $4.7 Trillion Bailout Packages equates to NASA's $22.6 Billion x 207 years of operation.
  • Said another way: Cost of the Bailout is equal to fully funding Six Mars Landers/Rovers missions to the Red Planet every day... for over 1 year.
  • Just the Phase II deal of $2 Trillion = $7,500 per American (cost) or $16,500 per taxpayer (only about 50% of US Citizens pay Federal Income Taxes).
  • No word yet on why it costs $7,500 in actual taxpayer cost for each American to receive $1,200 in stimulus checks.
Congratulations, You Don't Have COVID-19...Maybehttps://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/false-negatives-raise-doctors-doubts-about-coronavirus-tests/ar-BB12uwHS
  • False-negative results from coronavirus tests are becoming an increasing concern, say doctors trying to diagnose patients and get a grip on the outbreak, as a surprising number of people show up with obvious symptoms only to be told by the tests that they don't have the disease.
  • Some doctors described situations in which patients show up with clear symptoms such as a cough and fever, test negative, and then test positive later on.
  • It's a particular issue in New York, where the disease has likely infected far more than the 174,000 people confirmed through limited testing. At Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx, doctor Jeremy Sperling says so-called false-negative tests are now a frequent occurrence in the emergency room.
  • "If a patient presents with classic COVID-19 symptoms, but tests negative, they've still got COVID," said Sperling, who is the chair of emergency medicine at the hospital. "There is just nothing else it could be in New York City in 2020."
  • While still more research is necessary to determine the true prevalence of such false-negative results, experts agree that the problem is significant. False Negative rates in China and Europe exceeded 30%, according to some research studies.
  • False negatives not only impede the diagnosis of disease in individual patients and an accurate understanding of the extent of its proliferation but also risk patients who think they aren't ill further spreading the virus.
  • Concerns about false negatives arise from a mix of factors: quickly created tests from dozens of labs and manufacturers that haven't been extensively vetted by federal health regulators; a shortage of supplies and material for the tests that may impact results, long incubation times for the infection, and the challenge of getting an adequate sample from a patient from swab tests.
  • "We're testing patients 2-3 times each, days apart, just to be sure," Dr Sperling said.
Shortages for Toiletpaper, Masks, Purell...Now Meat?https://apnews.com/0cd7680d2d221944ed05f86691bb3537, https://www.theblaze.com/news/one-of-americas-largest-meat-producers-has-ominous-warning-about-grocery-store-supply
  • Smithfield Foods is closing one of the largest Pork processing plants in the US, due to an outbreak there of COVID-19 among workers.
  • The Plant was ordered to be shut-down by Health Officials. No word yet on when the plant might reopen, although the current order is for a 14-day shutdown.
  • The announcement came a day after South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem and Sioux Falls Mayor Paul TenHaken wrote to Smithfield and urged the company to suspend operations for 14 days so that its workers could self-isolate and the plant could be disinfected.
  • The plant, which employs about 3,700 people in the state's largest city, has become a hot spot for infections.
  • Health officials said Sunday that 293 of the 730 people who have been diagnosed with COVID-19 in South Dakota work at the plant.
  • "As a critical infrastructure employer for the nation's food supply chain and a major employer in Sioux Falls, it is crucial that Smithfield have a healthy workforce to ensure the continuity of operations to feed the nation. At the same time, employees need a healthy work environment," Noem and TenHaken wrote to the plant's operators.
  • The plant closure comes amid closures by Tyson Foods, Miller Beef and other major meat processors around the US.
COVID-19 Attacks Immune System, Not Just Respiratory Systemhttps://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/3079443/coronavirus-could-target-immune-system-targeting-protective
  • Scientists in China & The US confirm COVID-19 impacts more than just the respiratory system.
  • SARS-CoV-2 also targets the immune system itself, taking over T-Cells that normally fight off viruses.
  • The discovery may help explain why some patients become so critical so quickly, researchers said. "The Immune system itself becomes a carrier, and virus can spread to the heart, kidneys and brain through this (T-cell) transmission," the study from China indicated.
  • US researchers have also found T-Cells infected with the virus.
  • T-cells that are supposed to protect the body from harmful invaders.
  • One doctor said the concern is growing in medical circles that effect could be similar to HIV, where the Immune System is fully compromised by COVID-19.

UPDATE: Here's how the discussion went on radio. Watch the video below.

CORONAVIRUS UPDATE: The Fed is buying 625 BILLION DOLLARS a week in bonds (debt that YOU will pay!)youtu.be

There is no doubt about it—we are entering dark times.

The November presidential election is only a few months away, and following the chaos of the 2020 election, the American people are bracing for what is likely to be another tumultuous election year. The left's anti-Trump rhetoric is reaching an all-time high with the most recent "Bloodbath" debacle proving how far the media will go to smear the former president. That's not to mention the Democrats' nearly four-year-long authoritarian attempt to jail President Trump or stop his re-election by any means necessary, even if it flies in the face of the Constitution.

Meanwhile, Biden is doing worse than ever. He reportedly threw a tantrum recently after being informed that his polls have reached an all-time low. After Special Counsel Robert Hur's report expressed concerns over Biden's obviously failing mental agility, it's getting harder for the Democrats to defend him. Yet he is still the Democratic nominee for November, promising another 4 years of catastrophic policies, from the border to heavy-handed taxation, should he be reelected.

The rest of the world isn't doing much better. The war in Ukraine has no clear end in sight, drawing NATO and Russia closer and closer to conflict. The war in Gaza is showing no sign of slowing down, and as Glenn revealed recently, its continuation may be a sign that the end times are near.

One thing is clear: we are living in uncertain times. If you and your family haven't prepared for the worst, now is the time. You can start by downloading "Glenn's Ultimate Guide to Getting Prepared." Be sure to print off a copy or two. If the recent cell outage proved anything, it's that technology is unreliable in survival situations. You can check your list of supplies against our "Ultimate Prepper Checklist for Beginners," which you can find below:

Food

  • Canned food/non-perishable foods
  • Food preparation tools
  • Go to the next level: garden/livestock/food production

Water

  • Non-perishable water store
  • Water purification
  • Independent water source

Shelter

  • Fireplace with a wood supply
  • Tent
  • Generator with fuel supply
  • Go to the next level: fallout shelter

Money

  • Emergency cash savings
  • Precious metals

Medicine

  • Extra blankets
  • Basic first aid
  • Extra prescriptions
  • Extra glasses
  • Toiletries store
  • Trauma kit
  • Antibiotics
  • Basic surgery supplies
  • Potassium Iodate tablets

Transportation

  • Bicycle
  • Car
  • Extra fuel

Information

  • Birth certificates
  • Insurance cards
  • Marriage license
  • Immunization records
  • Mortgage paperwork
  • Car title and registration
  • House keys, car keys
  • Passports
  • Family emergency plan
  • Prepping/survival/repair manuals
  • Go to the next level: copy of the Bible, the U.S. Constitution, and other important books/sources

Skills

  • Cooking
  • Gardening
  • Sewing
  • First Aid
  • Basic maintenance skills
  • Go to the next level: farming/ranching
  • Self-defense training

Communication

  • Family contact information and addresses
  • HAM radio

Miscellaneous

  • Flashlights and batteries
  • Lamps and fuel
  • Hardware (tools, nails, lumber, etc)
  • Extra clothes
  • Extreme weather clothes and gear
  • Gas masks and filters
  • Spare parts for any machinery/equipment

Is Trump's prosecution NORMAL?  This COMPLETE list of ALL Western leaders who served jail time proves otherwise.

PhotoQuest / Contributor, The Washington Post / Contributor, Win McNamee / Staff | Getty Images

Mainstream media is on a crusade to normalize Donald Trump's indictments as if it's on par with the electoral course. Glenn asked his team to research every instance of a Western leader who was jailed during their political career over the past 200 years—except extreme political turmoil like the French Revolution, Napoleonic Wars, Irish Revolution, etc.—and what we discovered was quite the opposite.

Imprisoning a leader or major political opponent is not normal, neither in the U.S. nor in the Western world. Within the last 200 years, there are only a handful of examples of leaders in the West serving jail time, and these men were not imprisoned under normal conditions. All of these men were jailed under extreme circumstances during times of great peril such as the Civil War, World War II, and the Cold War.

What does this mean for America? Are Trump's indictments evidence that we are re-entering times of great peril? Below is a list of Western leaders who were imprisoned within the last 200 years. Take a look and decide for yourself:

Late 1800s

The Washington Post / Contributor | Getty Images

Jefferson Davis: The nearest occurrence to a U.S. President to serve jail time was in the case of Jefferson Davis, the first and only president of the Confederate States of America. Jefferson was captured in Georgia by Northern Soldiers in 1865 and locked up in Fort Monroe, Virginia for two years. He was offered a presidential pardon but refused out of his loyalty to the confederacy.

Early 1900s

PhotoQuest / Contributor | Getty Images

Eugene V. Debs: Debbs, a Midwestern socialist leader, became the first person to run for president in prison. He was locked up at a federal penitentiary in Atlanta having been convicted under the federal Sedition Act for giving an antiwar speech a few months before Armistice Day, the end of World War I. Many of his supporters believed his imprisonment to be unjust. Debs received 897,704 votes and was a distant third-part candidate behind Warren G. Harding, the Republican winner, and James M. Cox, the second-place Democrat. Harding ordered Debs’s release from prison toward the end of 1921.

Nazi sympathizers and collaborators: After the end of World War II in 1945, several European leaders who had "led" their countries during the Nazi occupation faced trial and imprisonment for treason. This list included Chief of the French State Philippe Pétain, French Prime Minister Pierre Laval, and Minister-President of Norway Vidkun Quisling. The latter two were also executed after their imprisonment. President of Finland Risto Ryti and Prime Minister of Finland Johan Wilhelm Rangell were also tried and jailed for collaborating with the Nazis against the Allied Powers.

Late 1900s

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The end of the Cold War: The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 was one of the pivotal moments that brought the Cold War to a close and marked the end of Communist East Germany. With the fall of the wall and the collapse of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany), the former leaders were brought to trial to answer for the crimes committed by the GDR. General Secretary Erich Honecker and General Secretary Egon Krenz were both put on trial for abuse of power and the deaths of those who were shot trying to flee into West Germany. Honecker was charged with jail time but was released from custody due to severe illness and lived out the rest of his life as an exile in Chile. Krenz served 4 years in jail before his release in 2001. He is one of the last surviving leaders of the Eastern Bloc.

Lyndon LaRouche: Larouche was a Trotsky evangelist, public antisemite, and founder of a nationwide Marxist political movement, became the second person in U.S. history to run for President in a prison cell. Granted, he ran in every election from 1976 to 2004 as a long-shot third-party candidate. When he tried to gain the Democratic presidential nomination, he received 5 percent of the total nationwide vote. Even though in 2000 he received enough primary votes to qualify for delegates in a few states, the Democratic National Committee refused to seat his delegates and barred LaRouche from attending the Democratic National Convention.

TOP 5 issues that have gotten WORSE since the last State of the Union

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If you saw Biden's State of the Union last week, or Glenn's firey reaction to it, you know that Biden hardly spoke a word that wasn't a flat-out lie.

If you spent the last 12 months in a fallout shelter and Biden's speech was the only media interaction you had since the last State of the Union, you might be tempted to believe that the country has improved in some way over the past year. But the rest of us, who have been living above ground, going to the grocery store, and paying some attention to current events, had only to look around to see that Biden's speech was nothing but hot air.

Here are the TOP 5 issues that have gotten worse since the last State of the Union.

Economy

Biden spent a significant amount of time during the State of the Union boasting about the strength of his economy, but anyone who has checked their bank account lately was left wondering if he was holding his speech upside down. It's not just the cobwebs in your wallet; the numbers show the devastation wrought by "Bidenomics" too. In 2022, American grocery bills increased by 11.4 percent and restaurant bills by 7.7 percent. In 2023 prices only continued to rise, with an additional 1.2 percent increase in food-at-home prices and a 5.1 percent increase in away-from-home prices.

Debt crisis and inflation

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The national debt continues to grow, and Biden managed to add almost 3 trillion dollars in just one year. As of December 2022, the national debt was $31.42 trillion. As of January 2024, the national debt has risen to $34.19 trillion.

Inflation didn't fare much better. While the 2023 annual inflation rate did drop from the horror of 2022, from 6.5 to 3.4 percent, that is still significantly higher than anything we saw before 2021. You also have to remember that it CARRIES year to year, as Glenn explained in his response to Biden's State of the Union: "Yes, it's not as bad as it was, but it's still what it was PLUS what it is now."

Border

Anadolu / Contributor | Getty Images

Biden's mismanagement of the southern border has inflamed the border crisis to all-time highs. In 2022 there were a staggering 2.2 million illegal border crossings, but that wasn't enough for Biden apparently, as an additional 2.5 million illegally crossed in 2023. An estimated 10 million illegal immigrants have crossed the southern border since Biden took office, and the effects are being felt. There has been a surge in crime across the country that is impacting millions of Americans, including the tragic murder of Laken Riley.

Fentanyl

The fentanyl crisis has only continued to worsen as more and more synthetic opioids flood our streets. Between the fiscal year 2021 and 2022, there was a shocking 54 percent increase in fentanyl trafficking offenses as more and more of the narcotic is smuggled across the southern border. We also saw an increase in fentanyl overdose deaths. In 2022 there were approximately 73,654 deaths, which is a significant increase from 70,601 in 2021.

Education and mental health

While the pandemic is long over, the lingering effects of the lockdowns are still being felt. Unsurprisingly, missing years of school has a major impact on the educational development of children. Kids across America are STILL struggling from pandemic-related setbacks, reading scores are still falling, and parents are reporting that their kids are struggling in their studies. The mental health crisis, another symptom of the COVID lockdowns, has also continued to worsen. Tragically, suicides increased by 2.6 percent between 2021 and 2022, marking the continued decline of mental health in America.

TOP FIVE takeaways from Super Tuesday

Anna Moneymaker / Staff, Win McNamee / Staff | Getty Images

The 2024 Presidential Election is taking shape.

Yesterday was Super Tuesday, the single biggest day in the presidential primary season. More than one-third of all delegates needed for a candidate to become the Presidential nominee of their party was up for grabs along with a plethora of state and local elections. In short, yesterday's results will shape the rest of the election season. It was a big deal.

Here are the top 5 takeaways from yesterday's elections:

Haley drops out

Nikki Haley drops out of the 2024 Presidential election.

Anna Moneymaker / Staff | Getty Images

After the mass exodus of Republican candidates in January, most commentators agreed that it was only a matter of time before Haley stepped out as well. Haley put up a valiant effort and held out almost two months longer than the other Republican candidates, but after a disappointing turnout on Super Tuesday, she made the call to step back from the race. There was a small victory for Haley fans, however, in that she won Vermont, her first state primary victory following her win in Washington, D.C.

Trump sweeps the board

Trump wins over 1,000 delegates during Super Tuesday.

Win McNamee / Staff | Getty Images

While Haley had a disappointing day yesterday, Trump and his team celebrated a huge win. Aside from Vermont, Trump won every state that had a primary. At the time this was written, Trump had picked up a whopping 731 delegates, bringing his total to 1,004, out of the required 1,215 to win the presidential nomination.

Democrats are not committed to Biden

Biden wins big on Super Tuesday, but he is struggling to maintain his Democrat base.

Anna Moneymaker / Staff | Getty Images

On paper, Biden had an excellent Super Tuesday, winning every state primary except American Samoa. However, a closer look reveals cracks in his supporter base. Yesterday, a shocking 19 percent of Minnesota Democrats voted for "uncommitted" instead of Biden. While that wasn't enough to change the outcome of the primary, it shows that Biden is walking on shaky ground, even among Democrats.

This phenomenon wasn't limited to Minnesota either. Eight percent of Colorado and Tennessee Democrats voted "uncommitted," and 10 percent of Massachusetts Democrats and 10 percent of North Carolina Democrats voted "no preference." Is this more evidence of a third-quarter bait-and-switch that Glenn has hypothesized?

The search to replace Feinstein continues

Adam Schiff and Steve Harvey compete for Diane Feinstein's Senate seat.

Anna Moneymaker / Staff, Barry King / Contributor | Getty Images

California is having two Senate elections to replace the late Senator Dianne Feinstein. There is a special election to fill out the remainder of her term and a regular election to fill her seat for the next six years. The results of the Tuesday primaries put Republican and former Los Angeles Dodgers player Steve Garvey and Democrat Adam Schiff as the front runners, and the two of them will be going head-to-head in November. Surprisingly, even in deep blue California, Garvey won more votes than Schiff in the special primary. Does Garvey have a chance?

Ted Cruz is back up for election in Texas

Ted Cruz is up for re-election in 2024

Anna Moneymaker / Staff | Getty Images

The Texas senate primaries were also on Tuesday, and Ted Cruz is back up for election in November. Cruz comfortably won the Republican Primaries with 88 percent of Texas Republicans backing him. Rep. Colin Allred, a Dallas-area congressman won the Democratic primary with a narrower margin of 58 percent. While it's easy for Texans to take their state's red status for granted, it is vital Texans stay vigilant and cast their vote this November.