16 NEWS Talking points
Re
uters,
Twitter/@bu
bbaprogQThe pandemic cut U.S.
life expectancy by a year,
to 77.8, in the first half
of 2020, the largest drop
since World War II. People
of color saw the biggest
impact, with blacks losing
nearly three years and
Hispanics losing nearly
two. “This is a huge
decline,” said CDC official
Robert Anderson.
NBCNews.com
QThe more than 500,
Americans who’ve died
of Covid-19 exceeds the
number of war veter-
ans buried in Arlington
National Cemetery. The
cemetery dates to the
Civil War and holds the
remains of troops from
every major U.S. military
conflict.
The Washington PostQSix Capitol Police of-
ficers have been sus-
pended for their actions
in the Jan. 6 insurrection,
and 29 others are under
investigation. Those
under suspension include
an officer who took a
selfie with a member of
the mob and one who
wore a MAGA hat and
directed invaders around
the building.
CNN.com
QAcross the country,
majority-nonwhite
public school districts
receive $23 billion less
in annual funding than
majority-white districts,
despite having the same
number of students. The
disparity translates into
fewer computers, more
first-year teachers, fewer
counselors, and fewer
electives and advanced
classes.
Vox.comFlyin’ Ted: A gaffe for the ages
In Washington, there is near-
universal agreement that
“nobody likes Ted Cruz,” said
Dan Zak in The Washington
Post. But the loathing of the
Texas Republican hit new
heights last week after he flew
off to the Cancún Ritz-Carlton
while more than a million of
“his ice-blasted constituents”
were sitting in blacked-out,
frozen homes watching their
pipes burst, boiling water
to drink, and “defecating in
buckets.” After being photo-
graphed at the airport on the way to 80-degree
Mexico with his wife and two daughters, Cruz
was shamed into lugging his bulging suitcase
back to Houston three days earlier than planned.
He had the gall to blame his daughters, saying
they had begged for the trip, but leaked group
texts showed Cruz’s wife whining to friends that
she was “FREEZING” and saying she’d found a
Cancún hotel room for just $309 a night.“Nero fiddled while Rome burned,” said David
Graham in TheAtlantic.com, and “Ted Cruz
jetted to Cancún.” Cruz’s biggest sin was not
the hypocrisy of a faux good ol’ boy populist
abandoning his constituents; “it’s that he couldn’t
think of any way he could use his power as a U.S.
senator to help Texans in need.” Yes, Cruz is aspineless hack “who voted
to overturn the election in
favor of the guy who once
called his wife ugly,” said
Tiana Lowe in Washington
Examiner.com, “but he isn’t
stupid.” The Princeton- and
Harvard-educated Cruz,
50, was expected to make
another presidential run
in 2024. So what was he
thinking when he booked a
getaway to sunny Mexico
while his constituents froze
in the dark?Look at what two of his fiercest Democratic
rivals managed to do, said Amanda Carpenter in
TheBulwark.com. Beto O’Rourke, whom Cruz
narrowly defeated in 2018, “organized a mas-
sive phone bank to check on Texas seniors, see if
they needed help, and direct them to resources.”
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) went to
Texas and helped raise $2 million for people in
need. But Cruz not only fled our “frozen hell,”
said the Houston Chronicle in an editorial, he
ignored federal guidelines and took his family
to Mexico—a “Level 4” coronavirus hot spot.
Now his kids have to quarantine and miss class.
“It was obviously a mistake,” he conceded upon
his forced return. You think? “Take our advice,
senator, and resign.”Noted
President Biden has made his “opening gambit”
to restart the Iran nuclear deal, said Alex Ward in
Vox.com. Last week, he withdrew a request the
Trump administration had made to the United
Nations to reimpose sanctions on Iran because
it was no longer in compliance with the 2015
accord signed by the U.S. and five other nations.
The Biden team then jumped on an idea from a
European diplomat to host an “informal meet-
ing” of all parties to “discuss the way forward.”
So far, however, Iran has said it will not begin any
talks until the U.S. first lifts all sanctions former
President Trump imposed as part of his “maxi-
mum pressure” campaign. Iran also “handed
Biden his first credibility test,” said Michael
Knights in Politico.com. An Iranian-backed mili-
tia is believed to have fired about 24 rockets at
a U.S. air base in Iraq last week, killing one non-
American contractor and wounding nine other
people. Biden must put Tehran on notice that
if any American is killed or wounded by Iran’s
proxies, no new negotiations will occur.Biden hasn’t given away the store just yet, said
The Wall Street Journal in an editorial, “but
this week wasn’t encouraging.” After the rocket
attack, the administration responded with “amajor concession” on sanctions that will allow
Iran to buy advanced weaponry. Such foolhardy
forbearance will lead Tehran to “reasonably think
Biden is so eager for talks that he’ll ignore attacks
on Americans.” It’s a shame that “Biden seems
hell-bent” on reviving the deal, said the New
York Post in an editorial. The Iranians said last
week they will no longer allow the International
Atomic Energy Agency to perform snap inspec-
tions of their nuclear sites, where they are enrich-
ing uranium to a suspicious level. Why negotiate
with this untrustworthy terrorist state?Reviving the Iran deal will require “tough, imagi-
native, and potentially painful diplomacy,” said
Robin Wright in The New Yorker. And even then,
it may be impossible. Iranians are indignant that
they agreed to surrender most of their uranium
and centrifuges and allow intrusive inspections—
only to have President Trump unilaterally pull the
U.S. out of the deal and hit Iran with sanctions
that it says have cost them $250 billion. Feeling
betrayed and distrustful, the Iranians insist the
onus is on the U.S. to lift those sanctions. Mean-
while, Iran comes closer every day “to the ‘break-
out time’ to produce and then assemble elements
for a bomb.”Iran: Is a new deal possible?
Caught: Will Cruz ever live this down?