Chad’s Morning Brief for 02.14.13

Here is your Morning Brief for the morning of February 14, 2013. Give Chad your feedback below and tune in to The Chad Hasty Show for these and many more topics from 8:30 to 11 am.

1. Watergate 2013 (link)

Watergate is back. So many stories yesterday about Senator Marco Rubio having to have a drink came out. Yes, it was awkward. Yes, his team probably could have taken steps to prevent it, but come on folks it's life. The hysteria officially went through the roof when CNN asked if the drink of water could end Rubio's career.

On Wednesday's The Situation Room, host Wolf Blitzer absurdly wondered if Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) pausing his State of the Union response for a drink of water would "break" his career. The CNN chyron flashed "Career-ender?"

"So can a drink of water make or break a political career?" Blitzer asked. "A U.S. Senator, possible presidential candidate. We're going to find out, whether he likes it or not." [Video below the break. Audio here.]

CNN did issue a statement later saying that the chyron was only a joke. Hmm.

I think much of the media spent more time on Rubio's water issue than they spend on what President Obama said during the State of the Union. They absolutely spent more time on Watergate 2013 than they did on the content of Rubio's speech.

This is how Obama and people like him win elections. The low-informed people don't pay attention to what really matters. Instead they focus on Rubio taking a drink of water.

2. Drones (link)

The FAA says that armed drones won't be flying over the United State.

A top official with the Federal Aviation Administration reassured the public on Wednesday that, despite the fear and paranoia of some, no armed drones will be permitted to fly in U.S. airspace.

“We currently have rules in the books that deal with releasing anything from an aircraft, period. Those rules are in place and that would prohibit weapons from being installed on a civil aircraft,” said Jim Williams, head of the FAA's Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration Office, in an address to the drone industry’s leading trade group meeting this week in Northern Virginia.

“We don’t have any plans of changing [those rules] for unmanned aircraft,” Mr. Williams added.

But when pressed on whether drones could, for example, be armed with weapons when patrolling the U.S.-Mexico border, Mr. Williams deferred.

“Border patrol is the responsibility of [the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency]. I’ll let them answer that question,” he said.

The FAA has been tasked by Congress to safely integrate drones, also known as unmanned aerial systems, into the national airspace by 2015. Mr. Williams called that complex and difficult task “the biggest challenge we’ve had in aviation in a long time.”

He also compared the emergence of drones to the Wright brothers’ flight and other milestones in aviation history, including the implementation of GPS systems and the invention of the jet engine.

The FAA also is grappling with privacy concerns associated with increasingly sophisticated and miniaturized unmanned vehicles. Those concerns have led at least 11 states, along with a growing number of local governments, to pursue laws to limit how drones can be used.

Seems like most of the people I hear from that have problems with the Obama drone policy are afraid that drones could be used in the US. I guess anything is possible, but I have no fear of this.

3. Illegal Immigrant Scolds Congress (link)

I was wondering when illegal immigrants where going to take the lead from John Conyers and other Democrats and go after people who use the term "illegal immigrants". On Wednesday it happened when an illegal immigrant scolded a congressional panel.

Jose Antonio Vargas, an illegal immigrant and former reporter, scolded a congressional panel on Wednesday, saying that he should not be called illegal, and saying it is an insult to his family who brought him here.

“When you inaccurately call me illegal, you not only dehumanize me, you’re offending them,” he said. “No human being is illegal.”

Mr. Vargas testified to the Senate Judiciary Committee alongside Chris Crane — a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent and president of the ICE agents’ union — who is unable to arrest him under the administration’s new non-deportation policies.

Mr. Vargas, who “came out” as an illegal immigrant several years ago, delivered an emotional plea for the country to legalize him.

“What do you want to do with us?” he asked the committee.

Last week, a top House Democrat also warned colleagues against using the term “illegal immigrants.”

“Our citizens are not — the people in this country are not illegal. They are are out of status. They are new Americans that are immigrants,” Rep. John Conyers Jr., Michigan Democrat, told colleagues on the House Judiciary Committee.

Many immigrant-rights advocates object to the terms “illegal” and “alien,” saying that people cannot be deemed illegal, and that the word “alien” makes them sound inhuman. They argue the better terms are “undocumented migrants.”

Many newspapers, including The Washington Times, use the phrase “illegal immigrant,” deeming it the most accurate description.

Mr. Vargas called himself an “undocumented immigrant.”

When you break the law, it's illegal. If you are an immigrant who broke the law by being in this country, you are illegal. Get over it.

Other Top Stories:

Norquist Wants to Unite Center Right on Immigration

TX House Resolution Testing Support for Immigration Reform

Republicans Support Path to Citizenship, Until Obama Supports it Too

Jindal Approval Sinks

Dallas vs. Ft. Worth

School Says Use of USA Chant Was Racist

These and many more topics coming up on today’s edition of The Chad Hasty Show. Tune in mornings 8:30-11am on News/Talk 790 KFYO, streaming online at kfyo.com, and now on your iPhone and Android device with the radioPup App. All guest interviews can be heard online in our podcast section after the show at kfyo.com.