Suozzi wins: Former Congressman Democrat Tom Suozzi has won the special election to fill the House seat vacated by indicted former Republican Congressman George Santos. Suozzi defeated Mazi Pilip, a registered Democrat who ran on the Republican ticket after being selected by the MAGA wing of the party and endorsed by Donald Trump. While campaigning, Pilip tried to distance herself from Trump. Suozzi’s win chips away at the margin of Republican control of the House. Santos had been expelled from the House of Representatives and is due t sand trial on various charges including financial fraud. Suozzi is expected to run again in November for a full term.
Republicans impeach Mayorkas: House Republicans, after working to scuttle a bipartisan bill that included comprehensive border reforms, last night impeached Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on complaints that he wasn’t doing enough to promote border reforms. The vote was 214 to 213. This was their second vote; last week a vote failed when House Speaker Mike Johnson did not have the necessary votes lined up in advance of bringing the matter to the House floor. The House Republicans failed to produce any evidence to back up their allegations. The Senate is expected to refuse to remove Mayorkas from office when they get the matter.
Super Bowl LVIII record: Nielsen ratings show that the Super Bowl telecast drew a record 123.7 million viewers in the U.S. on Sunday making it the most-watched TV programming since the astronauts first walked on the moon in 1969 when up to 140 million people watched. of all-time in the U.S. The Super Bowl had an advantage over the Apollo 11 moon landing since in addition to being broadcast on the CBS Television Network the Super Bowl was streamed on various internet channels. It’s estimated that about 3-million watched it on the internet.
Water everywhere: CNN quotes an official of the Los Angeles County Public Works department as reporting that enough rain fell on Los Angeles in recent days to supply 65,600 residents with all the water they need for a year. Liz Vasquez told CNN that 2.7 billion gallons of water were captured in water storage facilities. Throughout Southern California, it’s estimated that 4.9 billion gallons went into groundwater supplies from the rain. So much rain fell that steps had to be taken to prevent raw sewage from overloaded treatment plants from having to be discharged into waterways.
Missiles fired: For the sixth time this year North Korea has fired missiles into waters off the coast of South Korea. North Korea is believed to be supplying missiles to Russia for it to use against Ukraine and it’s believed some of the missiles tested may have been Cruise missiles being supplied to Russia. Members of South Korean and U.S. intelligence services were believed to be stepping up surveillance of the North Koreans.
No NATO dues: NATO was due to announce today that 18 of its 32 member nations spend at least 2% of their gross domestic product on defense, which is the minimum amount members are expected to spend. NATO members do not pay dues and NATO does not send them bills. Donald Trump has lied to his supporters about there being NATO dues and NATO countries avoiding paying their bills. Poland spends more of its gross domestic product on defense than any other nation, with 3.9% of its GDP going toward defense.
