Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters of California and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent got into a rhetorical tussle during a congressional hearing Wednesday, and the White House weighed in on the incident.

Waters and Bessent were debating whether illegal immigration had a deleterious effect on the housing crisis when the Democrat called on the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee to “shut him up” after her time expired.

‘Mr. Chair, will you let him know that when I ask you for time … can you shut him up?’

Waters challenged Bessent on his previous comments linking tariffs to inflation, and he countered by citing studies that said tariffs were not inflationary. She went on to the housing crisis and blamed tariffs on lumber and steel for some of the housing price increases.

Bessent tried to argue with her, but she interrupted him and continued.

“Trump single-handedly made housing more expensive, and once again, you know it. As Axios has reported, you were planning to lift tariffs on housing production goods,” she said.

She went on to criticize Trump’s policies on immigration and argued that deportations had hurt the housing construction industry by deporting their source of labor.

“I ask you, Secretary Bessent, will you be the voice of reason in the administration and urge Trump to stop waging a war on American consumers and on housing affordability?” she asked.

When Bessent launched into an explanation, she interrupted numerous times.

“Will you be the voice?” she shouted. “Will you be the voice?”

He tried to talk over her, but she persisted in interrupting.

“Reclaiming my time!” she interrupted. “Mr. Chair, will you let him know that when I ask you for time … can you shut him up?”

“Can you maintain some level of dignity?” Bessent fired back.

“Gentlelady’s time has expired,” the chairman said.

“No, my time has not expired!” she protested.

Waters accused the chairman of protecting Bessent before they moved on.

RELATED: Jasmine Crockett stumbles when confronted with her past comments insulting Latino voters

The White House Rapid Response account fired back at Waters on social media, calling her “rude and low IQ” and quoting from Bessent’s testimony.

“Adding 10 to 20 million new people demanding housing, Congresswoman, is what caused a great deal of housing inflation for working Americans — so you and the Biden administration should be ashamed,” he said.

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​Bessent vs maxine waters, Housing crisis, Trump tariffs, Bessent testimony congress, Politics 

The city council of Minneapolis is taking steps to help those affected by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement surge against illegal aliens.

Members of the council are proposing an eviction delay as well as the provision of $1 million in rental assistance as ICE continues to target illegal aliens in the Minnesota city.

‘ICE is a deadly virus. If you come in contact with it, it can end your life — either literally, or by completely uprooting you, abducting you.’

City Council Minority Leader Robin Wonsley, a democratic socialist who wrote the proposal, criticized President Donald Trump in an interview with Jacobin, a socialist and Marxist magazine.

“Our president is a domestic terrorist who is actually not interested in negotiating in good faith,” Wonsley said. “He smells weakness. He feels emboldened by his perception that he got Walz to drop out of his gubernatorial race after pushing fraudulent charges for several months and building a public narrative around that.”

Wonsley also accused Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) of giving in to Trump.

“People are disappointed because the state has options, and it’s refusing to use them,” she added. “Instead of a rent moratorium so people can shelter in place, we get the political version of a boss’s pizza party: symbolic comfort and no material protection.”

She went on to accuse corporations of being complicit with fascism and added that this was the reason they needed rental assistance as well.

“We understand that, in addition to rental assistance — to support our big moratorium — there also needs to be business assistance,” Wonsley added. “People need help making payroll so that workers can keep their jobs. Right now, it’s touch-and-go because businesses are not getting customers.”

RELATED: DHS accuses Hilton Hotels of ‘siding with murderers and rapists’ over ICE — and the hotel chain responds

She compared ICE to a virus that kills people and said Trump’s policies were akin to the pandemic in terms of their damage to the economy.

“ICE is a deadly virus,” she added. “If you come in contact with it, it can end your life — either literally, or by completely uprooting you, abducting you. From a public health standpoint, why would we want anyone to come in contact with an agency like that?”

The council will vote on the proposal on Thursday.

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​Robin wonsley vs trump, Minneapolis city council, Socialists vs trump, Rental assistance ice surge, Politics 

On Monday, February 2, Elon Musk announced that SpaceX had officially acquired xAI in an all-stock deal. The move combines SpaceX’s rockets and Starlink satellite network with xAI’s artificial intelligence technology, creating what Musk calls “one of the most ambitious, vertically integrated innovation engines on (and off) Earth.” Valued at a staggering $1.25 trillion, it’s the largest private company to ever exist.

In other words, rockets just married artificial intelligence in a super-union that the world can’t even begin to fathom.

Most normies are shrugging off the news as just another leap in an ever-evolving technosphere, but Glenn Beck says our skies are about to change forever.

This merger, he explains, actualizes Musk’s wild dream of launching a million satellites into space, which SpaceX first proposed to regulators in late January this year. Except these satellites won’t be typical Starlink comms; they’ll be a gargantuan network of orbiting supercomputers, drastically expanding the cloud and AI processing capabilities.

This is far bigger than most people realize, Glenn says.

“To give you some idea, right now humanity has roughly 14,000 active satellites operating and orbiting Earth, OK? That’s every nation. That’s every military. That’s every weather system, every GPS signal, every communications platform humanity has ever put into space,” he says.

“Even if only a fraction of that number is ever launched, this is not an expansion of what exists today. This is a complete redesign of space around Earth. This is a replacement of the scale itself.”

While the plan is all about cutting-edge technology, Glenn says it’s more about history repeating itself. In 1800s America, power, he explains, was determined by “who controlled the rivers and then later who controlled the railroads.”

That same power dynamic is at play today — “except the frontier is not land; it’s the sky.” And Elon Musk is doing exactly what the 19th century’s captains of industry did by staking his claim through building.

Like land, which is limited, “there are only so many usable altitudes” in low Earth orbit, Glenn says.

“You place tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of objects into those corridors, you’re no longer participating in space. You’re designing and structuring it.”

What Musk is set to do through the merging of SpaceX and xAI is the equivalent of “one company building every road, every bridge, every highway and [saying], ‘Everybody else can use them, but we built them first,”’ Glenn analogizes.

“Control doesn’t require ownership; it requires scale, and that is what Elon Musk is very good at,” he says.

Why does this matter to the average Joe?

“Because for the first time in history, a private company is positioned to shape the planetary structure … faster than governments, cheaper than any nation, with replacement cycles measured in months, not decades,” Glenn answers.

“The sky itself [is] becoming managed infrastructure,” and history tells us that whoever is the first to build in a new domain gains a monopoly on it.

These kinds of pioneers “don’t just win,” Glenn says. “They set the rules that everybody else spends decades trying to renegotiate.”

“Every great power shift in history looks small right up until the time it doesn’t. And by the time most people look up, the frontier is already gone.”

Our skies remain a frontier for now, but as soon as Musk’s satellites start going up in droves, we’ll know that the frontier has already been claimed — and the rules are being written by one man.

“When you go out at night, you’re going to see a different sky,” Glenn says.

To hear more of his commentary, watch the video above.

Want more from Glenn Beck?

To enjoy more of Glenn’s masterful storytelling, thought-provoking analysis, and uncanny ability to make sense of the chaos, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

​Glenn beck, The glenn beck program, Elon musk, Spacex, Xai, Blazetv, Blaze media, Outer space, Artificial intelligence, Artificial intelligence advancing, Musk 

A Louisiana educator — previously celebrated as a teacher of the year — was arrested twice in less than a week following allegations of sexual misconduct with a minor.

Christie Elizabeth Dunbar Oster, 38, of Lafayette had been a teacher at Broussard Middle School, according to an archived version of the school’s website.

‘The Lafayette Police Department noted that the alleged victim is a former student of Oster.’

Last September, the middle school named Oster a teacher of the year.

“Congratulations to our 2025-2026 BMS Teacher of the Year, Mrs. Christie Oster,” a since-deleted Facebook post read, according to KLFY-TV.

However, the Lafayette Police Department arrested Oster last Wednesday on charges of carnal knowledge of a juvenile and indecent behavior with a juvenile, according to WKRC-TV.

KPLC-TV reported that Oster was released from jail after posting a $30,000 bond.

RELATED: Former teacher of the year sentenced to 30 years in prison for grooming, sexually assaulting 2 elementary school students

But Oster was arrested a second time on another child sex crime just days later.

KATC-TV reported that the warrant was related to the previous case and that “the crime happened in Broussard, but not at the school, police say.”

The Broussard Police Department “learned of an incident involving Oster and the victim that occurred within the Broussard city limits and issued a warrant for her arrest,” KADN-TV reported.

Oster turned herself in Monday to the Lafayette Parish Sheriff’s Office. She was charged with indecent behavior with juveniles, and her bond on the new charge was set at $10,000, KADN said.

According to jail records, Oster was released Monday after she posted bond.

The Lafayette Police Department noted that the alleged victim is a former student of Oster, KADN reported.

Citing Lafayette Parish Clerk of Court records, KATC reported that a stay-away order was filed Jan. 5. against Oster.

The Louisiana Supreme Court states:

Protective order, restraining order, injunction against abuse, peace bond, or criminal order of protection — these are all terms used generally to refer to court orders that require one person to stay away from another person. The intention of such orders is to prevent abuse and enhance safety for the person who is seeking the court’s protection. These orders may be issued by a civil court, a juvenile court, a family court, or a criminal court.

Lafayette Parish School System officials told KATC that the Broussard Middle School has placed Oster on leave, and she’s no longer listed on the school’s website.

The Lafayette Police Department and the Lafayette Parish School System did not immediately respond to Blaze News‘ request for comment.

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​Teacher arrested, Bad teacher, Teacher sex scandal, Teacher student sex scandal, Child sex crimes, Crime, Louisiana, Arrest