RINGSIDE POLITICS – JUNE 3, 2021

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Welcome to another edition of Ringside Politics with Jeff Crouere

Today’s Hot Topics:

1) The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine be given to adolescents ages 12-15.

CDC Director Rochelle Walensky issued a statement saying, “The CDC now recommends the vaccine be used among this population, and providers may begin vaccinating them right away.”

An independent federal advisory committee on Wednesday had voted — 14 in favor with one recusal — to recommend that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine be quickly approved for those as young as 12.

Making younger people eligible could open a new front in the fight against COVID-19 as many states follow the recommendation.

2) President Joe Biden said Wednesday that he was examining whether the U.S. would retaliate for a cyberattack linked to Russian-based hackers targeting the country’s largest meat producer.

“We’re looking closely at that issue,” Biden said when asked if he could retaliate against Russia.

When asked if he believed Russian President Vladimir Putin was testing him, Biden said no.

3) ​Smugglers abandoned a 5-year-old boy just steps away from the Texas border because they expected his parents to pick him up, leaving the wailing tot to beg them, “Don’t leave,” according to a report.

A man and a woman were caught on cellphone video obtained by Agence France-Presse helping the young boy across the Rio Grande river but then ​leaving him by a barbed-wire wall at an underpass marking the border between Ciudad Juarez and El Paso, Texas, last Thursday.

The couple then turn around and walk back across the river, leaving the boy alone.

The boy, holding a teddy bear, screams amid his sobs, “Where are you going? … No, no, no. Don’t leave.​”​

The woman told AFP that the child’s parents live in the US and that the boy is from Mexico.

4) The Justice Department is vowing to systematically track and prosecute ransomware attacks, making the effort to counter the increasingly dangerous and disruptive online assaults on critical services a top priority.

The department will now require federal prosecutors across the country to notify senior officials of any significant new developments in ransomware investigations or when they learn of a new digital extortion attack, according to a directive issued Thursday by Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco.

“To ensure we can make necessary connections across national and global cases and investigations, and to allow us to develop a comprehensive picture of the national and economic security threats we face, we must enhance and centralize our internal tracking of investigations and prosecutions of ransomware groups and the infrastructure and networks that allow these threats to persist,” Monaco wrote.

Today’s Guests:

1) Col. Allen West, Chairman of the Texas Republican Party

2) Ron Kennedy, Author of “The South Was Right”

3) Steve Konos, Ringside Politics Creative Director; Ringside Politics Parody of the Week

4) Josh Bernstein, Ringside All-Star, Josh Bernstein Uncensored