Other news, 03/18/2021

• The United Auto Workers union has informed workers that Ford plans to move a major project worth $900 million from Ohio to its plant in Mexico -WSJ

• House Democrats on Tuesday blocked a bill brought by House GOP members requiring that illegal immigrants test negative for COVID-19 before being released into the U.S. from ICE/CBP

• Obama’s CDC director Tom Frieden says 3 ft of social distancing is fine, if people wear masks

“Experts increasingly say the CDC’s six-feet guidance wasn’t based on evidence” -WaPo 

• White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki on Wednesday clarified that President Biden’s proposed tax hike would apply to people who earn $200,000 per year if they are married to someone who makes the amount.

  Psaki said at her daily press briefing that the proposed $400,000 threshold for tax increases applies to “families” rather than individuals.

• White House orders flags to half-staff upon all public and military buildings/grounds after Atlanta area shootings.

• United States warns entities involved in the Russian-European Nord Stream 2 project to "immediately abandon work."

• A Milwaukee judge who serves as the President of an LGBTQ+ foundation in Wisconsin was arrested and charged with seven counts of possessing child pornography on Tuesday. Brett Blomme, an elected judge for Branch 5 of the Milwaukee County Circuit Court, is also the President and CEO of the Cream City Foundation.

  The Cream City Foundation brags openly about organizing Drag Queen Story Hour events in Milwaukee on its website, sponsoring the practice in which impressionable youths are subjected to sexualized and cross-dressing drag queens.

• 21 states sue Biden administration over Keystone XL pipeline revocation. The lawsuit states that President Biden does not have the unilateral authority to change energy policy that Congress has set.

• North Korea calls U.S. contact attempts a waste of time, says they will not respond -Reuters