It’s the new leftist premise: “We are right, we are entitled to power, and we are morally superior regardless of the law, facts or objective reality.”
It’s the same premise as any fascist dictator.
Hold tight to your First and Second Amendment freedoms, America, and defend them with everything you’ve got. These new era “Democrats” are truly a sinister bunch.
Instead of impartial judicial review, the fate of a seized property is decided by the seizing agency itself. Worse, agencies have a direct financial incentive to forfeit property: Under federal law, they can keep up to 100% of the forfeiture proceeds.
Thought for the Day – Role Models
Integrity
means standing tall for what is great when those around you will not.
The U.S. has been distributing remdesivir donated by Gilead since the drug was authorized for emergency use in May.
The government (Medicare) price will be $390 per dose or $2,340 per patient for the shortest treatment course and $4,290 for a longer treatment course.
On average, the drug should help reduce hospital costs by $12,000 per patient
Gilead is preparing to begin charging for remdesivir in July
A married couple brandished firearms at protesters marching through their upscale St. Louis neighborhood. The couple confronted the group of about 300 protesters after they breached a gate in the neighborhood.
Court rules the agency's structure was unconstitutional because its director held too much unchecked power.
Congress overstepped constitutional lines in 2010 when it created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and placed it under the control of a single director who was insulated from the White House's political direction. The CFPB's director was unaccountable to the executive branch, creating an unconstitutional diminishment of presidential power. The court changed the CFPB removal provision to make the director subject to presidential removal for any reason.
The Trump administration declined to defend the CFPB and agreed with legal challengers who argued its structure was unlawful, abandoning the legal position of the Obama administration.
Hong Kong police arrested at least 53 people on Sunday after scuffles erupted during a relatively peaceful protest against planned national security legislation to be implemented by the mainland Chinese government.
The proposed national security law has raised concerns among Hong Kong democracy activists and some foreign governments that Beijing is further eroding the extensive autonomy promised when Britain handed the territory back to China in 1997.
"The governments wants to shut us up and to kick us out. We must stand up and strike down all those people who deprive Hong Kong people’s freedom."
Nearly two-thirds of the money the Biden Cancer Initiative spent since its founding in 2017 went toward staff compensation and six-figure salaries for top executives. The group spent far less on efforts to eradicate cancer.
It did not cut a single grant to any other group or foundation during its two-year run.
Several Minneapolis City Council members who have received death threats following their calls to defund the police after the death of George Floyd have been assigned private security details -- reportedly costing the city $4,500 a day in taxpayer dollars.
The Minneapolis City Council unanimously approved a proposal to eliminate the city's police department Friday, initiating steps toward establishing a new "holistic" approach to public safety.
Federal prosecutors have announced the arrests of more than six dozen people on charges ranging from murder to arson to looting in connection with rioting that grew out of protests over the death of George Floyd in the past five weeks.
Wilson’s “segregationist policies,” included segregating multiple federal agencies and his Cabinet after decades of integration following Reconstruction. Wilson rationalized segregation as a “strategy to keep racial peace.” Wilson also blocked a Japanese proposal to include racial equality as a founding principle to the League of Nations.
Finally – a prominent Democrat President gets labelled for what he was; now if only the rest of the Democrat Party would likewise be treated the same for its historic, routine racism.
The Trump administration on Thursday night filed a brief in a highly charged Supreme Court case that has the potential to completely overturn the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as ObamaCare.
The case, California v. Texas, is brought by a group of red states arguing that because Congress eliminated the financial penalty associated with the individual mandate -- the provision in the ACA that requires all Americans to purchase health insurance -- it is no longer a valid exercise of the government's power to tax and therefore is unconstitutional.
A group of blue states is backing ObamaCare. That group is led by California Attorney General Xavier Becerra.
The Supreme Court reading the mandate as a tax is what saved the law during a previous challenge. It will hear this case during its next term, which is set to begin in October.
District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan had "gone rogue" after essentially ignoring a DOJ motion to halt legal action against Flynn.
"Why are we getting these notes now? Where have the notes been? Where were the notes we got about a month or so ago from the Department of Justice?"
On January the 5th, 2017, in a meeting in the Oval Office with Vice President Biden and President Obama the Logan Act was mentioned. No one has ever been prosecuted under the Logan Act in the history of the country. There is no way Flynn's actions are a violation of the Logan Act for the incoming national security adviser to be talking to the Russian ambassador about changing policy. That could never be a violation of the Logan Act."
New York Gov. coronavirus orders unfairly targeted houses of worship.
A federal judge said New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Attorney General Letitia James, and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio "exceeded" their executive limits by limiting worship services and condoning mass protests as the state continues to reopen from coronavirus restrictions.
"By acting as they did, Governor Cuomo and Mayor de Blasio sent a clear message that mass protests are deserving of preferential treatment."
Special Counsel Christopher Ferrara called Cuomo's executive orders a "sham" that "went right out the window as soon as he and Mayor de Blasio saw a mass protest movement they favored taking to the streets by the thousands. Suddenly, the limit on 'mass gatherings' was no longer necessary to 'save lives.'"
"This decision is an important step toward inhibiting the suddenly emerging trend of exercising absolute monarchy on [the] pretext of public health. What this kind of regime really meant in practice is freedom for me, but not for thee."
Among many violations cited in the lawsuit, de Blasio ignored social distancing and the 10-person limit when he didn't wear a face mask on June 4 while attending and addressing a mass political gathering at New York City's Cadman Plaza.
Numerous Seattle businesses sued the city Wednesday, alleging city officials were complicit in allowing an "occupied protest" that has made them feel unsafe in their neighborhood.
Since the occupation began June 8, the area has seen shootings, vandalism and other crimes. The plaintiffs allege that city leaders provided the demonstrators with barriers, public restrooms and medical supplies – in effect supporting the occupation of the neighborhood and hindering the efforts of local businesspeople, employees and residents to reach their buildings, receive deliveries and provide services.
"The result of the City’s actions has been lawlessness."
Newly uncovered notes penned by former FBI agent Peter Strzok were obtained this week as part of the Justice Department’s ongoing review of the case against former national security adviser Michael Flynn and turned over to his legal team for review.
The page of notes was taken by former Deputy Assistant Director Peter Strzok,” they continued. “While the page itself is undated; we believe that the notes were taken in early January 2017, possibly between January 3 and January 5.
"The few notes produced today do further exonerate General Flynn."
Then-FBI Director James Comey appeared to downplay Flynn’s calls during the presidential transition with Russia's ambassador as "legit" during a meeting with then-President Barack Obama and then-Vice President Joe Biden.
Flynn attorney Sidney Powell filed the notes and claimed they produced "further stunning and exculpatory evidence" that was previously withheld from Flynn. Powell wrote that the notes show that "Director Comey himself and the highest levels of the Obama Administration had the transcripts of Flynn’s phone calls with officials of other countries and knew General Flynn’s calls were lawful and proper."
"Strzok's notes believed to be of January 4, 2017, reveal that former President Obama, James Comey, Sally Yates, Joe Biden, and apparently Susan Rice discussed the transcripts of Flynn's calls and how to proceed against him. Mr. Obama himself directed that 'the right people' investigate General Flynn."
The notes state: "VP: 'Logan Act,' P: These are unusual times. VP: I've been on intel committee for ten years and I never. P: Make sure you look over things and have the right people on it. P: Is there anything I shouldn’t be telling the transition team? D: Flynn -> Kislyak calls but appear legit."
"This caused former FBI Director Comey to acknowledge the obvious: General Flynn’s phone calls with Ambassador Kislyak 'appear legit.'" Powell also wrote that according to the notes "it appears that Vice President Biden personally raised the idea of the Logan Act. That became an admitted pretext to investigate General Flynn."
"No vacancy left behind." That quote, repeated over and over by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., in the past year -- to cheers from Republicans and the outrage of Democrats -- has been the creed behind the Senate's single-minded push to confirm as many Trump-nominated federal judges as possible. And the 52-48 confirmation of Cory Wilson to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on Wednesday means that McConnell, in one respect, has quite literally accomplished that goal. Wilson fills the final remaining federal circuit court vacancy. That pace is faster than every other president in history except for Jimmy Carter.
President Trump's appointees now make up more than one-quarter of the federal judiciary -- a legacy that will long outlast him and McConnell.
"It's a victory for the rule of law and for the constitution itself. If judges applying the law and the constitution as they're written strikes any of our colleagues as a threat to their political agenda, then the problem, I would argue, is with their agenda."
Challenges the notion that black Americans support toppling Confederate and other statues across the nation.
"They really have no agenda other than the idea we're going to topple a statue."
Johnson rejected the backlash against public figures who say "all lives matter" instead of "black lives matter," and the cancel craze targeting TV shows like "Dukes of Hazzard" and movie classics such as "Gone with the Wind." He also mocked white celebrities for what he described as apologizing for their race in emotional social media speeches.
This was the result of an appeal from Flynn's lawyers asking for a so-called writ of mandamus -- essentially an order telling a government official to carry out a certain duty -- directing District Judge Emmet Sullivan to approve the DOJ's motion to dismiss.
Major cities in the U.S. reported bloody weekends amid increased calls to defund and disband police departments.
Chicago recorded at least 11 killed and 67 wounded. Eight of those shot were children and teens. Four of them died.
A deadly shooting at the Capitol Hill Organized Protest zone in Seattle that resulted in the death of a 19-year-old male. Police are investigating a second shooting late Sunday night in the protest zone.
Minneapolis recorded one death and 11 injured in the uptown section of the city early Sunday morning.
In New York Post there was one shooting in the city per hour on Saturday. Those arrested for gun possession have been allowed to skip jail during the coronavirus pandemic. The paper reported that 24 people were shot citywide on Saturday alone.
Local governments and police departments in California have said in recent days that they will not enforce a mandate from Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom that people in the state wear face masks in most public places, including outdoor areas where social distancing is not possible.
Reinette Senum, the mayor of tiny Nevada City, tore into Newsom saying that "Our Governor does NOT have the unilateral power to make such orders."
"This is what the politicians wanted — no bail, nobody in Rikers, cops not arresting anyone. All those things equal people walking around on the street with guns, shooting each other."
97 shootings this month so far, compared to 89 for the whole month of June last year.
"It will be felt immediately throughout the five district attorney’s offices, it will be felt immediately in the communities that we protect."
Just who is funding, or should we say 'controlling', key aspects of expressed U.S. conservatism?
President Trump, in a tenuous alignment with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, has previously said the list of judicial nominees presented, considered, nominated and confirmed, were assembled and vetted by two specific groups: The Federalist Society and the Heritage Foundation; both of whom claim to hold conservative outlooks. As a result, it’s a little more than concerning to discover that both organizations are being funded by the ultra-left wing Google ideology.
"Most media companies are dependent on Google, who will control 70 percent of all online advertising. So if you're in the news business, you obey Google. When Google tells you to do something, you do it. You have no choice."
"They can bankrupt you in a minute and they will. In all of human history, no single entity is ever had more control over information than Google does right now. So if you're worried about the concentration of power in the hands of a few unaccountable actors, and you very much should be, nobody has more unchecked power than Google does."
"It's been clear for a very long time that the Big Tech monopolies have now surpassed the federal government as the chief threat to our liberties. Google is acting directly to shape what people can say and what they're allowed to speak. It's a direct effort to stifle free speech."
The European Commission is in advanced talks with pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson to reserve or buy up-front doses of its COVID-19 vaccine under development.
Johnson & Johnson plans next month to start human clinical trials for its experimental vaccine against the highly contagious coronavirus, which has infected more than 8.36 million people worldwide, with 447,985 deaths.
"Where are the people who will defend this? The Republican Party and conservatives have been largely silent."
"Make your own movie, write your own novel, do your own play about the antebellum South but don't demand that things be abolished simply because they weren't made with the peculiar narcissistic sensibilities of 2020 in mind."
The image of MSNBC’s Ali Velshi telling viewers that the Minneapolis riots were "not generally speaking unruly" as an out-of-control fire raged in the background was just one example of the left’s unwillingness to acknowledge the violence that has swept the U.S. since the death of George Floyd. They’ve covered for the rioters, cheered on the looters, and along the way seem to have forgotten all about social distancing.
Beginning on Friday, June 5th, a series of controversies rocked the media. By my count, at least eight news organizations dealt with internal uprisings (it was likely more). Most involved groups of reporters and staffers demanding the firing or reprimand of colleagues who’d made politically “problematic” editorial or social media decisions.
The mainstream media’s reporting has been blatantly unfair for decades, maybe even forever, but more recently, it has crossed the rubicon and has now reached Alice in Wonderland territory. Reporters no longer even try to hide their bias and in some cases, report outright lies.
He referred to "liberal, radical journalists" such as MSNBC's Joy Reid, CNN's Don Lemon and Roland Martin, saying they are, “putting more poison into the black community than any drug dealer."
Leftists have launched yet another campaign to destroy President Trump, the economy, and the hopes of the African-American community which had been seeing record employment numbers.
President Trump is standing with the 72% of African-Americans who are happy with their local police departments.
The Obama administration secretly sought to give Iran access — albeit briefly — to the U.S. financial system by sidestepping sanctions kept in place after the 2015 nuclear deal, despite repeatedly telling Congress and the public it had no plans to do so.
Under Obama, the Treasury Department issued a license in February 2016, never previously disclosed, that would have allowed Iran to convert $5.7 billion it held at a bank in Oman from Omani rials into euros by exchanging them first into U.S. dollars.
The banks refused to deal with Iran despite Obama asking them to.
Notes and emails that have been kept so far from Senate investigators show the FBI knew from its earliest interactions with Christopher Steele in July 2016 that his Russia research project on Donald Trump was connected to Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party.
"So far the bureau is slow-walking this stuff."
It wasn’t until late October 2017 that the public and Congress first learned that the law firm Perkins Coie, on behalf of the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton’s campaign, hired Glenn Simpson’s Fusion GPS research firm to have Steele delve into Trump’s Russia connections.
(also from other sources, including here and here)
She wins over Gorsuch and Roberts to rewrite the Civil Rights Act.
Congratulations to Chief Justice Elena Kagan on her big win Monday at the Supreme Court on gay and transgender rights in Bostock v. Clayton County. Ok, she isn’t the Chief, but she might as well be as her redefining of Antonin Scalia’s jurisprudence prevailed in a startling 6-3 ruling that included Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Neil Gorsuch.
Justice Kagan didn’t write the majority opinion, but her views are all over Justice Gorsuch's opinion that essentially rewrites Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. That law bars discrimination in employment on the basis of “race, color, religion, sex, [and] national origin.” But in oral argument, Justice Kagan redefined “sex” in Title VII to mean more than the binary choice of a man or woman. Justice Gorsuch bought the argument, and in the process he usurps Congress and distorts the textualist school of jurisprudence that he claims to follow.
There is no evidence that Congress or the public in 1964 understood gender identity and sexual orientation to be the same as biological sex. Mores have changed for the better, and Congress would have added gender and sexual orientation to the law sooner rather than later. But all 10 appellate courts that considered whether “sex” covered gender identity and sexual orientation before 2017 held that it did not.
The Court has now rewritten the law itself. While Justice Gorsuch concedes that “homosexuality and transgender status are distinct concepts from sex,” he says “discrimination based on homosexuality or transgender status necessarily entails discrimination based on sex; the first cannot happen without the second.”
But animus toward gays or transgender people isn’t based on their biological sex. People hostile to gays aren’t necessarily sexual chauvinists. Justice Gorsuch cites the High Court’s Phillips (1971) ruling that held Title VII protects a woman not hired because she was a mother. But motherhood is inextricably linked to biological sex. Gender and sexual orientation are not.
“When Congress chooses not to include any exceptions to a broad rule, courts apply the broad rule,” Justice Gorsuch writes. But the majority here isn’t merely applying an overly broad or vague law, which Justice Gorsuch has criticized the Court for doing in other cases. The Court is redefining the original meaning of “sex” in the law.
As Justice Samuel Alito explains in a comprehensive dissent joined by Justice Clarence Thomas, “The Court tries to convince readers that it is merely enforcing the terms of the statute, but that is preposterous. Even as understood today, the concept of discrimination because of ‘sex’ is different from discrimination because of ‘sexual orientation’ or ‘gender identity.’ And in any event, our duty is to interpret statutory terms to ‘mean what they conveyed to reasonable people at the time they were written,’” as Justice Scalia wrote.
Justice Alito adds: “The Court’s opinion is like a pirate ship. It sails under a textualist flag, but what it actually represents is a theory of statutory interpretation that Justice Scalia excoriated––the theory that courts should ‘update’ old statutes so that they better reflect the current values of society.”
Justice Brett Kavanaugh rebukes the majority in a separate dissent for short-circuiting negotiations in Congress and denying the LGBTQ community a democratic victory: “When this Court usurps the role of Congress, as it does today, the public understandably becomes confused about who the policymakers really are in our system of separated powers, and inevitably becomes cynical about the oft-repeated aspiration that judges base their decisions on law rather than on personal preference.”
All of this matters beyond this ruling because Justice Gorsuch sees himself as an evangelist for textualism and originalism. But he commits the cardinal sin of being a literalist in his interpretation of sex instead of looking at the original public meaning of the law Congress wrote. (“The good textualist is not a literalist,” Justice Scalia once wrote.)
If Justice Gorsuch can use textualism to rewrite a statute to comport with changing public mores, then it is meaningless. Textualism becomes merely one more tool of those who believe in a “living Constitution” that means whatever any Justice says it means. Justice Gorsuch has defined his own jurisprudence down.
This judicial law-writing may also have damaging practical consequences. More than 100 federal laws prohibit sex discrimination, and plaintiffs will now use them as a cudgel to let transgender females compete in women’s sports, provide gender neutral restrooms, and force religious institutions to bow to their cultural wishes. Congress could have protected gay rights while working out these accommodations in legislation.
Bostock is merely the latest evidence that the Roberts Court, even buttressed by two Trump nominees, is in no consistent way “conservative.” On major cases Justice Kagan swings the biggest constitutional bat.
Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Brett Kavanagh on Monday admonished their fellow justices for letting Second Amendment cases languish in the lower courts in a dissent to the tribunal's decision not to take up a gun rights case.
The Supreme Court handed a big win to the LGBT community Monday, ruling in a 6-3 decision that an employer who fires a worker for being gay or transgender violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act -- which already protected people from employer sex discrimination, as well as discrimination based on race, color, religion or national origin.
It stretches for several blocks in the densely packed Capitol Hill neighborhood just east of downtown Seattle and sprung up after police removed barricades near a police station Monday and largely left the building.
While safe-haven buying propelled the U.S. dollar index to a nearly 17-year high of 102.82 on March 20 -- amid fears the COVID-19 pandemic would bring the global economy to its knees -- the index had pulled back to 97.09 at Friday's close as panic safe-haven buying dissipated.
Our leaders used a health emergency to subvert democracy.
The coronavirus lockdowns continue in many places. You may not know that because it gets no publicity, but it's true. And if you're living under it, you definitely know. As a result of this, tens of millions of people are now unemployed. A huge number of them have no prospects of working again. Many thousands of small businesses are closed and will never reopen. More Americans have become dependent on drugs and alcohol, seeing their marriages dissolve, and become clinically depressed.
The cost of shutting down the United States and denying our citizens desperately needed contact with one another is hard to calculate. But the cost has been staggering.
The people responsible for doing all of this,say they have no regrets about it. We faced a global calamity, they say. COVID-19 was the worst pandemic since the Spanish flu. That flu killed 50 million people. We had no choice. We did the right thing.
They rule because we let them. The short answer is this: Yes, they were definitely lying.
As a matter of public health, we can say conclusively the lockdowns were not necessary. In fact, we can prove that. And here's the most powerful evidence: States that never locked down at all -- states where people were allowed to live like Americans and not cower indoors alone -- in the end turned out no worse than states that had mandatory quarantines.
The states that locked down at first but were quick to reopen have not seen explosions of coronavirus cases. All of this is the opposite of what they said would happen with great confidence.
The media predicted mass death at places where the middle class dares to vacation. But those deaths never happened.
The Wuhan coronavirus turned out to be a dangerous disease, but a manageable disease, like so many others. Far more dangerous were the lockdowns themselves. For example, in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Massachusetts, panicked and incompetent governors forced nursing homes to accept infected coronavirus patients, and as a result, many thousands died, and they died needlessly.
The media would rather tell you now why you need to hate your neighbor for the color of his skin. The media definitely don't want to revisit what they were saying just a few weeks ago, when they were acting as press agents for power-drunk Democratic politicians. News anchors were ordering you to stop asking questions and obey.
Meanwhile, in King County, Wash., Antifa can do whatever Antifa wants to do. They have taken over an entire six-block section of downtown Seattle, and that's fine with health authorities. There is no social distancing required.
We were all played. Corrupt politicians scared us into giving up control over the most basic questions in our lives. At the same time, they gave more power to their obedient followers, like Antifa, while keeping the rest of us trapped at home and censored online.
Neocons like Colin Powell, former President Bush, and Senator Mitt Romney (R-Utah) have announced they would not vote for Trump, seemingly under the belief that they can actually sway conservatives, who have given Trump a 96% approval rating, an all-time high.
Neocon political ideology is anti-freedom, pro-big-government; i.e., not all that different from Democrats' Socialism.
The planned test is part of a project to develop an artificial intelligence-driven drone that could change the face of air combat.
The Air Force is hoping to pit an autonomous drone equipped with an artificial intelligence-driven flight control system against a fighter jet with a human pilot in a little over a year.
The general concept of a fully-autonomous unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV) capable of air-to-air combat, as well as air-to-ground strikes, hold great potential to fundamentally change the character of aerial warfare.
It’s time for the Shadow Party's Godfather to face justice.
The deportation of a Nazi death camp guard from his residence in Queens, New York, in 2018 by ICE was described as the removal of the "last known Nazi collaborator from the United States." That’s not quite true.
There’s another Nazi collaborator living on Fifth Avenue. He’s a billionaire and untouchable because his dubious fortune has been used to finance the Democrat Party, radical leftists, assorted anti-Semites, and opponents of ICE, the agency that should step in to remove the aged Hungarian from the United States.
The most important estimate came on May 20, when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported its best estimate was that the virus would kill 0.26 percent of people it infected, or about 1 in 400 people. The virus would kill 0.4 percent of those who developed symptoms. But about one out of three people would have no symptoms at all, the CDC said.
The veteran volunteer "angel" underscored that the recently passed bail reform in New York – which came in play at the beginning of 2020 and essentially means that those apprehended don't need to post bail – is contributing to the ongoing turmoil that has clenched the city for multiple consecutive nights. "It has almost become a badge of courage for (the looters). They get out in a few hours, and get to tell their friends they got written up. It's like earning their stripes."
"It's a pretty devastating day in North Carolina," Lt. Gov. Dan Forest said, "but especially for the city of Charlotte [...] with $160 million pouring in, and now that's going away because of ... a negative action by the governor."
President Trump said the RNC would pick a new state on Tuesday night.
Not hosting the event compounds the pain of the hospitality industry after the coronavirus shutdown and then damage from looters, said Forest, who's running against Cooper in the 2020 election.
"Make no mistake. We have been very clear. Peaceful protesting surrounding this horrific death of George Floyd is warranted and substantial and the right thing to do. Sadly now, the life and death of George Floyd is getting overshadowed by criminals, anarchists, those looting and burning groups like Antifa who are wreaking havoc on the streets of our cities."
"What we are all witnessing as a country is a fundamental failure of liberal governments, liberal governors, liberal mayors all across the country. Philadelphia, Minneapolis, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland and other major cities now ravaged by chaos. They have been run by Democrats for decades."
"They know about Antifa. They know about these anarchists. They know the risks they pose. They have let this build and build and build and do nothing to stop the violence. Maybe on night one they could have said they weren't prepared. What's your excuse for nights two, three, four, five? They knew that cities were vulnerable to looting and violence during times of unrest. Yet, they are totally unprepared for anything as always. The damage, the carnage, the wreckage will go on for years as a result of this. This chaos needs to end now."
The Democratic politicians' handling of the violence is "a total complete dereliction of duty. There was no plan, a spectacular failure on every level."
"It was a good thing I had my customers and friends by my side, because it was pretty scary." The store owner said he and his friends helped nearby businesses discourage looters as well.
The owner saw a group of looters on his surveillance video breaking a padlock on his gate using bolt cutters. The owner confronted the thieves, and one pointed a gun at him. The owner fatally shot the gun-wielding robber using an AR-15. A second robber was also likely shot in the shoulder. The group then fled the scene.
"The protesters outside the White House Monday, who were cleared by police prior to President Trump’s brief visit to St. John’s Episcopal Church, were “professional agitators” and the media fell for their “calculated” tactics."
"They knew the street needed to be cleared before 7 pm curfew. But they deliberately stayed to trigger police action & get the story they wanted, that 'police attacked peaceful protesters.'"
On Saturday, Barr released a statement about the riots across several prominent U.S. cities, including Atlanta, Dallas, Portland, Seattle, and New York City. The attorney general said that the riots were being "hijacked by violent radical elements."
"Groups of outside radicals and agitators are exploiting the situation to pursue their own separate and violent agenda," Barr said.
This comes as Trump has blamed Antifa for riots taking place across the country in response to the death of George Floyd, the unarmed black man who died May 25 while in police custody in Minneapolis, Minn., after an officer kneeled on his neck for more than 8 minutes in an incident caught on video.
Fraudulent votes for party members comprised as much as 22% of total cast
Democrats continue to insist that vote fraud is a Republican conspiracy theory, but it was a former Democratic judge of elections in Philadelphia who pleaded guilty Thursday to accepting $2,500 in bribes to inflate the vote totals for three Democratic candidates.
In an interview with ABC News, former FBI Director James Comey admitted he never told President Trump that the infamous Steele Dossier — which was full of unverified and salacious claims — was paid for in part by Hillary Clinton.
Roberts’ decision to side with the liberals marks a stark contrast with judicial precedence to side with religious liberty enshrined in the Constitution.
Riots are "glorifying violence". Bringing peace is not violence.
"...These THUGS are dishonoring the memory of George Floyd, and I won't let that happen. Just spoke to Governor Tim Walz and told him that the Military is with him all the way.. Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts. Thank you!," Mr. Trump's tweet said.
America’s economy has consistently taken a hit ever since the coronavirus pandemic began and Democrats around the country have made it clear that they do not want to see President Donald Trump revive it.
Former top Obama administration economist Jason Furman stated, "We are about to see the best economic data we’ve seen in the history of this country." An informal adviser to Joe Biden said his campaign is "very much aware" that a roaring economy could soon be on its way before the November presidential election.
"Even today when we are at over 20 million unemployed Trump gets high marks on the economy, so I can’t imagine what it looks like when things go in the other direction," said another former Obama White House official.
Our system of representative government, separated powers and guaranteed liberties, only the legislative branch can craft laws and assign punishments for noncompliance. This is Constitutional Law 101.
The lockdown orders are all unlawful because none of them – none – has been enacted by a legislature, and all of them – all – interfere with fundamental liberties, each of which is guaranteed – guaranteed – by the Constitution.
The government in America – state or federal – has no power and no right to determine what goods, services and venues are essential.
The ferocity of police enforcement and the lameness of police compliance is surprising. The police have taken the same oaths to uphold the same Bill of Rights – it’s not the Bill of Safety; it’s the Bill of Rights – as have all other officeholders. The police also know that it is unlawful for them to obey an unlawful order, particularly when they use force.
Chinese officials have said the resolution is necessary for safeguarding national security, saying unrest in Hong Kong that started last summer has severely threatened China’s sovereignty.
Thousands of protesters shouted pro-democracy slogans and insults at police in Hong Kong on Wednesday as lawmakers debated a bill criminalizing abuse of the Chinese national anthem in the semi-autonomous city. Nearly 300 people were arrested across Hong Kong for unauthorized assembly.
"If the government wants to be respected, then let this government first respect the rights and freedoms of its people."
Anti-China sentiment has risen as residents of Hong Kong see Beijing moving to erode those rights.
One year after last summer's chaotic and frequently violent anti-government protests, the Chinese government has announced that it plans to pass a controversial national security law to outlaw secession, subversion, terrorism and foreign interference in Hong Kong. The National People’s Congress is expected to ratify the bill Thursday. Legislation could be finalized this summer
"This is a very complex situation. Our hearts go out to the individual civilians in Hong Kong. We're with them, but the president will have to decide what exactly is the appropriate response to it."
Faced with an imminent legal challenge from a local retail art gallery,
Cordair Art Studio,
Napa County officials said late yesterday that retail art galleries may open for business as part of California’s Stage 2 reopening plan.
Hong Kong residents protest new Chinese security bill
"It looks like with this national security law, they're going to basically take over Hong Kong. If they do, under the 1992 Hong Kong Policy Act and the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act of 2019, Secretary Pompeo would likely be unable to certify that Hong Kong maintains a high degree of autonomy. And if that happens, there will be sanctions that will be imposed on Hong Kong and China."
The legislation, which could be introduced as a motion to China’s parliament, could be a turning point for its freest and most international city, potentially triggering a revision of its special status in Washington and likely to spark more unrest.
The administration said Russia had repeatedly violated the pact's terms. The pullout would formally take place in six months, but President Donald Trump held out the possibility that Russia could come into compliance.
"I think we have a very good relationship with Russia. But Russia didn't adhere to the treaty. So until they adhere, we will pull out," President Trump said.
Judicial Watch announced today that it received the "electronic communication" (EC) that officially launched the counterintelligence investigation, termed "Crossfire Hurricane," of President Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. The document, which was written by former FBI official Peter Strzok and was obtained as the result of a Judicial Watch FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) lawsuit against the FBI and DOJ for: "The Electronic Communication that initiated the counterintelligence investigation of President Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign." (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Justice (No. 1:19-cv-02743)).
"No wonder the DOJ and FBI resisted the public release of this infamous 'electronic communication' that 'opened' Crossfire Hurricane – it shows there was no serious basis for the Obama administration to launch an unprecedented spy operation on the Trump campaign. We now have more proof that Crossfire Hurricane was a scam, based on absurd gossip and innuendo. This document is Exhibit A to Obamagate, the worst corruption scandal in American history."
President Trump announced an executive order Tuesday that aims to make hundreds of deregulations in the age of coronavirus permanent, something that would amount to a massive overhaul of regulatory policy.
"If a bureaucratic rule needs to be suspended during a time of crisis to help the American people, we should ask ourselves if it makes sense to keep at all."
"Typically when our country has faced a crisis, Washington responds by grabbing more power. President Trump understands that to get the economy moving, the power needs to be given back to the people and entrepreneur."
The Trump administration has used the pandemic to spur a deregulation campaign, notably removing regulations to telemedicine and removing barriers to accelerate coronavirus vaccine or cure development. At the same time, Trump has also rolled back clean air and water restrictions and vehicle emissions standards enacted by the Obama administration.
Regarding a newly declassified email written on Jan. 20, 2017 by former National Security Adviser Susan Rice regarding the investigation into Michael Flynn, "The first thought when I read that declassified e-mail was, 'Why in the world was that ever classified?' We didn't witness what America's become so famous for, a peaceful, cooperative well-wishing transition of power. Instead, we saw a corruption of that transition. A transition really designed to sabotage and really upend the new administration.
According to the email, then-FBI Director James Comey suggested to President Barack Obama in a Jan. 5, 2017 meeting that the National Security Council (NSC) might not want to pass "sensitive information related to Russia" to Flynn, then Rice's designated successor.
"You would expect the incoming administration to be making a lot of phone calls, preparing for an enormous task. What you don't expect is a previous administration spying on them. You don't expect the previous administration sabotaging the incoming administration."
Legal challenges to governors' coronavirus shutdown orders are piling up nationwide.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court struck down Democratic Gov. Tony Evers' "safer at home" order.
The Oregon Supreme Court temporarily blocked a lower court order that would have invalidated all of the state's coronavirus restrictions.
The U.S. Supreme Court has turned back an application asking it to overturn Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf's statewide stay-at-home order.
A case is pending before a lower court in Illinois that has the potential to invalidate that state's coronavirus restrictions implemented by Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker. A judge who ruled against Pritzker's order as it applied to just one state lawmaker will hear arguments Friday in a case that attempts to undo the order in its entirety.
California is facing at least a dozen lawsuits that include claims that the state has unjustly closed down gun shops and religious services.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is up against a lawsuit from Republicans in her state's House and Senate over her extension of an already-strict emergency order that has regulated residents' movement and closed businesses.
Kentucky protesters sued officials including Gov. Andy Beshear, also a Democrat, for allegedly violating the First Amendment by banning mass protests.
A group of Ohio gyms sued Republican Gov. Mike DeWine over his reopening order excluding them from those businesses allowed to operate, but it was subsequently announced that they will be allowed to reopen after all.
The widespread spate of suits shows that with governors taking the lead on the coronavirus crisis, those who disapprove of the nature of the coronavirus lockdowns see the judiciary as their only option for relief from the orders.
With almost 52,000 infected and nearly 5,000 dead in Michigan, the state is in the midst of a rebellion as a growing number of people are defying and protesting the governor’s stay-at-home order. People refusing to cover their faces in stores, ignoring the governor’s order to wear masks in public places. In perhaps the most extreme form of protest that made international headlines, masked gunmen toting assault rifles made their way inside the state Capitol to rail against state orders — images that played out on television and computer screens nationwide, making Michigan the new face of defiance in America. No matter their differences the gunmen and their more moderate counterparts share a common message: Stop telling us how to live our lives, and open up the economy. Many across the state argue that Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's executive order has reached a breaking point, and that it’s time to let people get back to their normal lives and back to work. "This is flat-out tyranny, They’re robbing our freedom right from under our eyes."
A Kentucky pastor, joined by at least 50 other churches, is urging religious leaders across the nation to "step up and roar" for the right to worship amid coronavirus shutdowns.
"I believe that every day a church is closed, a bit of liberty dies. We need people to stand up and roar. There is a time to be quiet, a time to be the lamb, but today is the day to be the lion."
"We're looking across the road at fast-food places handing out french fries. Liquor stores are serving patrons -- but the church is the bad guy. It is time for us to stand up for our First Amendment rights. We have religious freedom in this nation. We'll not lay that down on our watch. We have a right to peaceably assemble"
"I declassified the enclosed document, which I am providing to you for your situational awareness," Grenell wrote to the GOP senators in sending along the list.
A Justice Department official stateed that the DOJ has been reviewing the unmasking of U.S. officials as part of its broader examination of the origins of the Trump-Russia investigation and was taking a look at the files that Grenell declassified and delivered to the Justice Department last week.
It’s amazing that, to this day, neither of Gen. Michael Flynn’s legal teams have been able to obtain the FBI’s 302 from the January 24, 2017 White House ambush interview. Prosecutors claim this document has vanished.
Senator Nunes told Bartiromo the original report has vanished. "It’s gone. Poof. It’s out of sight — we can’t find it." 302s are meant to be completed as soon as possible after an interview. An FBI agent is allowed a maximum of five days to prepare the report. Yet, 17 days after the interview, FBI agent Peter Strzok and girlfriend, FBI lawyer Lisa Page are captured texting back and forth about edits they’re making to the original report.
Obviously, because Flynn has been persecuted over the FBI’s edited version of that interview for over three years now, it is critical the defense be granted a look at the original document.
While Beltway blowhards rail against foreign interference in our elections, Beijing's hijacking of our classrooms ensues with hardly a peep of political resistance.
Last week, the University of Missouri at Columbia announced it was terminating its partnership with a Chinese government-funded language and cultural program called the Confucius Institute amid widespread national security concerns. The Institute's teachers were pouring into local K-12 schools through the J-1 visa program unsupervised. The U.S. Government Accountability Office identified more than 500 "Confucius Institutes" worldwide, with 96 located at colleges and universities in the United States as of December 2018 -- the vast majority of them publicly funded institutions. A PRC propaganda outfit called Hanban has provided funding ranging from $900,000 to $1.7 million for "model" Confucius Institutes.
Stay-at-home orders aimed at reducing the spread of coronavirus are now facing legal challenges from residents and state officials alike, alleging that some measures – mostly put in place by Democrats -- go too far while the country gradually moves toward reopening. California alone is facing at least a dozen lawsuits that include claims that the state has unjustly closed down gun shops and religious services, infringed on freedoms of speech and assembly by restricting protests, and one case where a resident alleges that being forced to remain at home constitutes forced detention without due process..
In addition to California, lawsuits are faced by Wisconsin, Michigan, Kentucky, Maryland, Ohio, and several cities in Texas.
Global leaders have joined the United States’ call for the World Health Assembly [WHA] on the coronavirus to include Taiwan. In a letter to the World Health Organization sent last week, the U.S. made a bipartisan appeal to allies for support in confronting the World Health Organization over its exclusion of the island nation. Taiwan has conducted perhaps the most effective containment of the pandemic, some analysts have said, making its exclusion particularly controversial. "Diseases know no borders," the letter read. "We urge your government to join us in addressing the pressing issue of Taiwan’s inclusion in the global health and safety organization."
China strongly opposed Taiwan’s attendance; it’s viewed Taiwan as a breakaway province failing to cohere with its "one-China" policy. Taiwan attended the WHA as an observer from 2009-2016 as "Chinese Taipei," but China blocked further participation after the election of Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen, whom China has viewed as a separatist.
The protests, which have stretched into their 17th week, reached a new level of chaos on Tuesday, when an officer shot a demonstrator in the chest at close range, leaving him in critical condition. It was the first shooting to occur during the protests.
It marks the 17th straight week of pro-democracy protests, which began earlier this summer over a now-shelved bill that would have allowed the extradition of suspected criminals from Hong Kong to mainland China, where the courts are controlled by the Communist Party. They’ve since morphed to reflect broader calls for reform.
"It has recently come to my attention that the Chinese government has threatened to interfere with the work of American journalists in Hong Kong. These journalists are members of a free press, not propaganda cadres, and their valuable reporting informs Chinese citizens and the world," Pompeo said.
He noted that this report could affect the U.S. evaluation of Hong Kong's status. His statement added: “Any decision impinging on Hong Kong’s autonomy and freedoms as guaranteed under the Sino-British Joint Declaration and the Basic Law would inevitably impact our assessment of One Country, Two Systems and the status of the territory.”
China announced that it would be kicking out correspondents from The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Voice of America, and Time magazine. Beijing justified its actions as retaliation over new rules the Trump administration placed on Chinese reporters, including a 100 reporter cap from five state-run media outlets. The outlets had 160 reporters in total, meaning 60 would be sent back to China.
Democratic Arizona Senate candidate Mark Kelly has avoided questions concerning investments made by a Chinese technology conglomerate to a space exploration company he co-founded. In 2014, the company received an unknown investment amount from the Chinese multinational giant, Tencent Holdings Ltd — the company responsible for temporarily suspending NBA streaming in China last year over a league manager expressing support for protesters in Hong Kong. Again, in 2016, World View received additional funding from Tencent during a $15 million investment round.
Kelly, until he started running for Senate in Arizona, was an adviser for World View and still has investments in the company ranging from $100,000 to $250,000, according to a financial disclosure record filed in July of 2019.
Back in March, Republican Sens. Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley both introduced legislation that would ban U.S. government employees from using telecommunications services provided by Chinese companies including Tencent. "Companies like Tencent and Huawei are espionage operations for the Chinese Communist party, masquerading as telecom companies for the 21st century," Cruz said. "Prohibiting the use of these platforms and stopping taxpayer dollars from being used to capitalize Chinese espionage infrastructure are common sense measures to protect American national security."
Help elect Kelly's GOP opponent, Martha McSally - a candidate worth voting for, and helping to win.
President Donald Trump fired State Department inspector general Steve Linick on Friday night, causing a massive reaction from those on the political Left. Two sources familiar with Linick’s ouster told the DCNF that while they were not certain of the precise reason that the watchdog was fired, he was under investigation last year by the Department of Defense’s inspector general for mishandling sensitive material.
Linick attempted to play a role in the impeachment of President Donald Trump last year by approaching Congress with information that he appeared to think was relevant — it was not. Even Democrats, who were chomping at the bit to impeach and remove the president, said that Linick was unhelpful.&NBsp; "Good riddance. This guy was the Peter Strzok of the State Department."
President Donald Trump retweeted Michelle Malkin’s tweet this morning on the far left censorship at Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Google. President Trump added that his administration is working to remedy "this illegal situation." Twitter then removed the video after the US President retweeted her! The tech giants have absolutely NO FEAR in their open discrimination against conservative users!
Colorado has made a stunning and significant change to the way it counts COVID-19 deaths that reduced the statewide figure from more than 1,000 to 878, according to a report.
The change came after Colorado’s Department of Public Health admitted that its COVID-19 death toll was counting those who tested positive for the coronavirus but had died of other causes.
Former Army Staff Sgt. Ronald Shurer II, who received the Medal of Honor in 2018 for braving heavy gunfire to save lives in Afghanistan, has died of cancer. He was 41.
"He was an amazing man. Obviously, he is known for being an amazing soldier. The same characteristics that made him a great teammate in Special Forces also made him a great husband and a great father and a great friend. He was very loved."
“Today, we lost an American Hero: Husband, Father, Son, Medal of Honor Recipient - Special Agent Ronald J. Shurer II. From a grateful Nation and Agency — your memory and legacy will live on forever,” – the U.S. Secret Service.
Gowdy, former chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, was "struck" by how many people in the Obama administration had the power to request Flynn's name be unmasked.
Gowdy said the 'serious crime" must be investigated and brought to a conclusion, especially considering how much effort was spent to bring charges against Flynn. "So I ask the FBI again: how is your leak investigation going? I know how your Michael Flynn investigation went, I know the time and effort you spent to try to catch someone in a lie. How is your 10-year felony investigation going? It has been four years now."
Some moderate members in swing districts -- including Reps. Abigail Spanberger of Virginia, Joe Cunningham of South Carolina, Kendra Horn of Oklahoma, Cindy Axne of Iowa and Ben McAdams of Utah -- ripped the massive measure as a one-sided partisan bill that is going nowhere.
"Don't do what she says," said Erica Pettinaro, a co-founder of Michigan United for Liberty, which has sued Whitmer. "She doesn't care about the Constitution of the United States of America."
A court will hear arguments Friday in GOP lawmakers' lawsuit challenging the governor's ability to extend an emergency declaration, the underpinning of her restrictions, without their blessing.
Karl Manke, 77, became a symbol of resistance when he opened the doors of his Owosso shop on May 4 and refused to close, pledging to keep his doors open until police arrest him or "Jesus walks in."
After a judge declined to sign an order to shut down his shop Monday without first holding a hearing, state regulators opted to suspend Manke’s barber and shop licenses. Manke is still able to cut hair until the suspension is served; it had not reached the barber’s hands as of Wednesday afternoon.
Manke’s attorney, Dave Kallman, told the Lansing State Journal that the state’s action against the 77-year-old barber is "an abuse of power." "I think it’s totally vindictive," Kallman said. "It's petty, it'’s totally in retribution because they didn’t like the court order from earlier this week."
Under Whitmer’s strict “stay-at-home” orders, hair salons and barbershops have been closed for weeks to curb the spread of the coronavirus. The governor has faced mounting criticism, including armed protests at the Capitol and death threats online, for her restrictions.
"I don’t need the governor to be my mother," Manke said.
The ruling said the state health secretary's emergency order is "unlawful, invalid, and unenforceable."
In a 4-3 ruling, the court called Health Services Secretary Andrea Palm's directive, known as Emergency Order 28, a "vast seizure of power."
During oral arguments, Justice Rebecca Bradley suggested that the order amounted to "tyranny," and at another point, she referred to Japanese Americans' internment during World War II.
As it turns out, President Obama isn’t wrong — at least not entirely. Our basic understanding of the rule of law is at risk, not because Bill Barr stepped in to prevent an unjust prosecution but because our institutions under the Obama administration were politicized in ways that should shock the American conscience.
"It was obvious then and it's been proven now. It was an attempted takedown of Donald Trump." In other words, an attempted coup against the lawfully-elected President of the United States.
Candidates backed by President Trump were outperforming expectations in two closely watched congressional special elections on Tuesday night, giving California Republicans a chance to claim a Democratic-held congressional seat in the state for the first time since 1998. Former Navy combat pilot Mike Garcia inched closer to retaking Democrat Katie Hill's California seat and Republican Tom Tiffany easily prevailed in Wisconsin. Trump backed Tiffany in the race, but due to the pandemic was unable to campaign in person for him.
Trump himself put up historic numbers in the Nebraska presidential primary. With less than half the vote in, Trump has already doubled his 2016 total in the state -- leading GOP Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel to tout what she called surging "enthusiasm" for the president's reelection.
"Frankly, this is the final straw. Tesla will now move its HQ and future programs to Texas/Nevada immediately. If we even retain Fremont manufacturing activity at all, it will be dependen on how Tesla is treated in the future. Tesla is the last carmaker left in CA." – Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 9, 2020
Musk has called the shutdown and lockdown orders fascist and has become increasingly public in opposing them. Musk at first defied Alameda’s mid-March shutdown order and resisted pressure from the county and Fremont to idle the Fremont factory. While Tesla claimed it was an essential business, the county’s health officer disagreed and said the plant posed a public-health risk. Much of the Bay area has extended shelter-in-place orders through the end of May. Now Musk is joining the long parade of companies, and their jobs, leaving the former Golden State purely because it has become so anti-business.
Asked if former President Barack Obama's name is on the list of officials involving in unmasking Flynn, the source would not say but stressed the list would make waves.
In court documents filed last week, the Justice Department said that after reviewing newly disclosed information and other materials, it agreed with Flynn’s lawyers that his Jan. 24, 2017 interview with the FBI should never have taken place because he had not had inappropriate contacts with Russians. The interview, the department said, was "conducted without any legitimate investigative basis."
FBI agents did their best to hide their investigation and attempted to entrap Flynn.
Sidney Powell, one of Flynn’s lawyers, said the "whole thing was orchestrated and set up within the FBI, Clapper, Brennan and in the Oval Office meeting that day with President Obama." Did the scandal reach up to Obama? Powell responded, "Absolutely."
A number of events will play out in the coming months. The first are attempts by countries to reduce the Chinese role in their supply chain. Second are global efforts to reopen domestic economies. Third is the political infighting caused by need to blame someone for the effects of the coronavirus.
Unfettered trade with China, once seen as the cornerstone of international peace and prosperity, has now become a national security liability. Countries that fear Beijing are opening the distance. "Japan identified 518 of its roughly 3,800 listed firms as having operations core to national security, making them targets for stringent regulations, a list released by the Ministry of Finance (MOF) showed."
China's attempt to turn 2020 into a referendum on Trump-to-blame-not-China may put Biden in an awkward position because it is a Democratic article of faith that the Donald is always to blame. A 2020 “China election” would vex allies because even those with no affection for Trump cannot afford to see China win.
The largest pro-Trump PAC is already calling Joe Biden “Beijing Biden,” laying a trap for him to either defend China or bash it harder than Mr. Trump. Either way suits the president.
Iran and other nations are also looking to steal data and exploit the pandemic with attacks on infrastructure.
The F.B.I. and the Department of Homeland Security are preparing to issue a warning that China’s most skilled hackers and spies are working to steal American research in the crash effort to develop vaccines and treatments for the coronavirus. The efforts are part of a surge in cybertheft and attacks by nations seeking advantage in the pandemic.
It would be "abominable" if the Obama White House was behind the FBI's controversial interview of former national security adviser Michael Flynn, a former assistant director of intelligence for the bureau said Friday night.
Did the FBI conduct this interview at the behest of the Obama White House or was it motivated by their own now well-established personal biases and prejudices against President Trump?
"That has to be determined. If it's the former ... Well, if it's either, it's abominable."
The abrogation of the rule of law was in conducting an investigation that was not legally predicated.
"So if I go in and I talk you, about something... that's not a federal crime as an FBI agent and I accuse you of doing it and I have proof that you did it, but it's not a federal crime... and you lie to me. There's no materiality there because there's no reason for me to be investigating in the first place."
A key part of reopening America involves going on the offensive when it comes to protecting our constitutional rights. Weeks ago, I sent a letter to the Attorney General expressing concern over media reports that he was considering "suspending" a variety of constitutional protections for American citizens. Not only has that not come to pass on the federal level, but he is now firing a warning shot against Mayors and Governors who have taken certain restrictions too far. For example, individuals and congregations can and should decide for themselves whether to exercise their First Amendment right to protest or hold an in-person worship service, but that decision solely belongs to them, NOT the government. And I'm sorry "Mayor" that you hate the Second Amendment, but this crisis doesn't give you the authority to "suspend" those rights either. Thank you to the Trump Administration for helping protect our liberty and for working to reopen our country!
My thoughts: If you want to see real rebellion, just go ahead and try to "suspend" Constitutional Rights! The Constitution supersedes all else, and there is no provision to do that; to attempt it is to destroy the Constitution. Every public official, policeman, and military serviceman has sworn to uphold, defend, and protect the Constitution - not to take orders from anyone!
The Congressional Budget Office estimates that this year’s federal budget deficit will be $3.7 trillion, with public debt projected at 101% of GDP. And that was before the "phase four" $484 billion relief package passed by Congress late last week.
On the other hand, these same governmental bodies are repealing laws, suspending regulations, and ignoring previous restrictions that impeded the ability of the private sector to act. They are liberating doctors, nurses, drug manufacturers, test makers, makers of personal protective equipment, etc., to do things that were illegal to do only a few months ago.
The Americans for Tax Reform calculates that 397 regulations have been waived in order to fight COVID-19. That count is probably way too low. The federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has eliminated so many restrictions it would be hard to count them all.
Fortunately, the Trump administration was ahead of the game, making many needed changes before the COVID-19 virus hit. Once in crisis mode, Congress and state governments also responded – apparently in sheer desperation.
But the regulatory approach may be making things worse. A nationwide lockdown has put the economy into a financial coma. Although the purpose of those measures was to keep people healthy, it may be having the opposite effect. Between people’s fear of going to emergency rooms and government orders to cease all elective surgery, patients with non-coronavirus conditions are not getting health care.
Gowdy then reacted to the release Thursday of interview transcripts from the House Intelligence Committee's own Russia investigation. "I can tell you I was in that room for a year with [Rep. Eric] Swalwell [D-Calif.] and Schiff, and it was the longest damn year of my life," he said. "Every witness would say the exact same thing." Gowdy recalled that he would ask each witness whether they had any clear evidence that the Trump campaign was colluding with Russia and receiving the same answer. "The answer was none."
Gowdy also railed against Comey over his reaction to the Flynn news, which was also posted on Twitter Thursday. Gowdy said that Comey should title his next book "How My Arrogance Ruined the Reputation of the World's Premier Law Enforcement Agency.". He remarked that Comey should "stay the hell in whatever woods he's in on his Twitter profile."
After the briefing, Obama asked Yates and Comey to "stay behind," and said he had "learned of the information about Flynn" and his conversation with Russia's ambassador about sanctions. Obama "specified that he did not want any additional information on the matter, but was seeking information on whether the White House should be treating Flynn any differently, given the information." A previous memo from Rice stated that Biden also stayed behind after the main briefing had ended.
Obama had fired Flynn as head of the Defense Intelligence Agency in 2014; Obama cited insubordination, while Flynn asserted he was pushed out for his aggressive stance on combating lslamic extremism.
The Logan Act, an obscure statute, has never been used successfully in a criminal prosecution; enacted in 1799 in an era before telephones, it was intended to prevent individuals from falsely claiming to represent the United States government abroad. In its motion to dismiss Flynn's case on Thursday, the DOJ noted that the law was an unserious dead letter.
University trades free inquiry for Chinese dollars
Harvard University canceled a panel discussion on human rights issues in China because the event coincided with the university president's meet-and-greet with Chinese president Xi Jinping.
China's ties with universities has gradually eroded the principles of free inquiry, academic freedom, and free speech.
Newly released transcripts of interviews from the House Intelligence Committee’s long-running Russia investigation reveal top Obama officials acknowledged that they knew of no “empirical evidence” of a conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia in the 2016 election, despite their concerns and suspicions.
McCabe was asked during his interview in 2017 what was the most “damning or important piece of evidence in the dossier that” he “now knows is true.” McCabe replied: “We have not been able to prove the accuracy of all the information.” “You don’t know if it’s true or not?” a House investigator asked, to which McCabe replied: “That’s correct.”
Schiff released the files after facing pressure earlier this week from Republicans to do so.
The department says it is dropping the case "after a considered review of all the facts and circumstances of this case, including newly discovered and disclosed information." The DOJ said it had concluded that Flynn's interview by the FBI was "untethered to, and unjustified by, the FBI's counterintelligence investigation into Mr. Flynn" and that the interview was "conducted without any legitimate investigative basis."
Flynn allies had argued that he was essentially set up in a perjury trap.
The DOJ was "not persuaded that the January 24, 2017 interview was conducted with a legitimate investigative basis and therefore does not believe Mr. Flynn's statements were material even if untrue."
"He was an innocent man... Now in my book he’s an even greater warrior," Trump said Thursday, while criticizing Obama administration officials. "They’re human scum. ... It’s treason."
Transcripts of House Intelligence Committee interviews that have been cleared for release show top law enforcement and intelligence officials affirming they had no evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia during the 2016 election.
This would align with the results of former Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation — which found no evidence of illegal or criminal coordination between President Trump, the Trump campaign and Russia in 2016
But the numerous transcribed interviews could raise further questions about committee Chairman Adam Schiff’s past statements saying that there was “direct evidence” of collusion.
"In January of 2017, the subsource disavowed the [Christopher Steele] dossier. And without the dossier, there is no [FISA] warrant. So they knew that the Carter Page thing was a fraud. They wanted to close the case against Flynn. We have Papadopoulos on record denying working with the Russians, saying to do so would be treason. So the foundation for the Mueller investigation is crumbling."
"The legal foundation to justify Mueller's appointment in my view does not exist. That’s why this memo is so important. They name four people. Rosenstein tells Mueller to look at four people [on] August 2nd, 2017. Carter Page is one of the four. In January, eight months before the subsource disavowed the dossier, there was no legal justification to suspect Carter Page of being a Russian agent because it all depended on the dossier. And that crumbled in January."
The entire Mueller investigation was illegitimate to begin with.
As the Trump-Russia narrative collapses and evidence mounts that the investigation into the Trump campaign was politically-motivated and baseless, the “Media Russia Hoax Rats” who pushed the narrative are panicking.
"I haven’t seen the evidence that would justify an investigation into the Trump campaign, at all – because it was made up by the Clinton campaign. Those are just the facts."
"Throwing Texans in jail who have had their businesses shut down through no fault of their own is nonsensical, and I will not allow it to happen," Governor Abbott said.
"As a mother, Ms. Luther wanted to feed her children," Paxton said in a letter to the judge asking him to free her. "As a small business owner, she wanted to help her employees feed their children. Needless to say, these are laudable goals that warrant the exercise of enforcement discretion."
Salon owner to judge: "I have to disagree with you, sir, when you say that I'm selfish because feeding my kids is not selfish. I have hairstylists that are going hungry because they would rather feed their kids. So, sir, if you think the law is more important than kids getting fed, then please go ahead with your decision. But I am not going to shut the salon."
A 40-year-old Idaho mother was arrested for allegedly refusing to leave a closed playground where she had brought her two children to play. Her arrest later prompted a demonstration at city hall by more than 100 supporters.
In North Carolina, members of the “ReOpen NC” group were arrested last week, accused of resisting a public officer and violating the Democratic governor’s executive order. "If you feel the need to stay home, it is your God-given right to do so. But we want to live! [Gov.] Roy Cooper has shown again and again how out of touch he really is."
Across the country, governors such as Laura Kelly of Kansas and Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan have faced opposition for the shutdown orders, such as Kelly’s limits on church gatherings – which faced GOP opposition and later a temporary restraining order – and Whitmer’s restrictions against traveling to relatives' homes, and on sales of items such as gardening supplies, both of which were scaled back after public protests.
If the Governors' orders were so important, then why were they scaled back? Or are the Governors drunk with power?
The Governors' orders are wrong. There are no exceptions to the Bill of Rights.
"The office of the former president, Barack Obama, blasted a congressional investigation into Biden's dealing with Ukraine. Wonder why. Now, the office actually accused the investigation [of] giving credence to a 'Russian disinformation campaign,' and this ridiculous letter insinuated lawmakers were just spreading Russian propaganda. This is all a lie, what Obama put out tonight."
"In reality, it was Obama. It was his administration. It was Biden. They are the ones that spent months and months propagating the Russian disinformation campaign. Uh, Barack? Did you ever hear of the dirty Russian dossier that Hillary Clinton paid for? Of course you have."
The letter, addressed to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), which manages presidential records, was written in response to a request on Nov. 21, 2019, by Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Ron Johnson R-Wis., for Obama administration records on Ukraine-related meetings. The letter described the senators' request as improper use of the NARA’s release terms.
"Well, Barack, what were you hiding from we, the people? We would like answers."
The Justice Department has sided with a Virginia church suing Gov. Ralph Northam after police threatened a pastor with jail time or a $2,500 fine for violating lockdown restrictions by holding a service on Palm Sunday – marking the latest incident where federal lawyers or local courts have challenged a state’s stay-at-home mandates during the coronavirus pandemic.
U.S. Attorney General William Barr made it clear last month that federal prosecutors should "be on the lookout" for overly restrictive state and local shutdown orders that may infringe on people's constitutional rights – especially when it comes to the First Amendment.
The Justice Department said the U.S. regularly files statements of interest on "important issues of religious liberty in courts at every level, from trial courts to the Supreme Court of the United States."
The Supreme Court on April 27 remanded the NRA-backed case of New York State Rifle and Pistol Association, Inc. v. City of New York (NYSRPA v. NYC) to the lower courts without addressing whether the regulations challenged in the case violated the right to keep and bear arms. The court held that because the challenged laws had been changed after it decided to hear the case, the original dispute was moot. Any residual challenges to the new laws, according to the court, would have to be decided in the lower courts with an amended complaint and additional development of the evidentiary record.
At issue in the case was whether the Second Amendment allowed New York City to prohibit licensed handgun owners from transporting their guns, locked in a case and unloaded, outside the city for lawful purposes.
The Supreme Court quickly signaled that it may be considering another Second Amendment case "soon". By the end of the day on which the court had issued its opinion in NYSRPA v. NYC, it had also distributed 10 additional Second Amendment cases to be considered during a Friday conference on which new cases the court may hear.
Social security is expected to exhaust by 2035, according to a Trustees Report
A report released in late April states that in 2035 Social Security is expected to exhaust its combined trust funds, leaving the program with no excess cash reserves to dip into. At that point, current and future beneficiaries alike can expect a 21% reduction in their scheduled benefits.
Lawmakers are specifically seeking to question a mysterious FBI agent, Joe Pientka, who participated in the January 2017 White House interview that led to Flynn's prosecution.
Pientka was also intimately involved in the probe of former Trump aide Carter Page, which the DOJ has since acknowledged was riddled with fundamental errors and premised on a discredited dossier.
Pientka was con- spicuously removed from the FBI's website after Fox News contacted the FBI about his extensive role in Crossfire Hurricane Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) matters -- a change first noticed by Twitter user Techno Fog -- but sources say Pientka remains in a senior role at the agency's San Francisco field office. Last December the FBI asserted that reporting on Pientka's identity would potentially endanger his life and would serve no legitimate journalistic purpose.
FBI Director Wray has suggested in testimony that several agents could be under internal investigation by the FBI.
Congressmen Jordan and Johnson further demanded the FBI "produce all documents and communications referring or relating to Crossfire Razor, the FBI code name for its investigation into LTG Flynn."
The Republicans also wrote that the bureau needed to "explain why the Committee and the American public are learning of the FBI’s misconduct with respect to LTG Flynn from court filings rather than from you."
My Leftist friends (as well as many ardent #NeverTrumpers) constantly ask me if I’m not bothered by Donald Trump’s lack of decorum. They ask if I don’t think his tweets are "beneath the dignity of the office." Here’s my answer.
Western intel details how China deceived, bullied the world in response to deadly pandemic
China intentionally hid or destroyed evidence of the coronavirus outbreak, leading to the loss of tens of thousands of lives around the world.
The dossier touches on themes that have been discussed in media reports about the outbreak of the virus, including an initial denial by China that the virus could be transmitted between humans, the silencing or "disappearing" of doctors who tried to speak up, the destruction of evidence in laboratories and refusal to provide live samples to international scientists working on a vaccine.
The file notes that China began censoring news of the virus on search engines and social media beginning Dec. 31, deleting terms including “SARS variation," “Wuhan Seafood market” and “Wuhan Unknown Pneumonia.” Three days later, on Jan. 3, China’s National Health Commission ordered virus samples to be either moved to designated testing facilities or destroyed, while simultaneously issuing a "no-publication order" related to the disease.
Most damningly, the dossier states that Chinese authorities denied that the virus could be spread between humans until Jan. 20, "despite evidence of human-human transmission from early December."
Standards in Wuhan were disregarded before the virus leaked, prompting Beijing to initiate a cover-up. Sources also claimed the WHO was complicit from the beginning in helping China cover its tracks.
According to the dossier, the team's work at the Wuhan lab involved discovering samples of coronavirus within a cave in Yunnan province and synthesizing a bat-derived coronavirus that could not be cured.
"I don't know if he convinced anybody either way. Voters are just gonna have to never know the truth and just factor this into their decision in November."
"He left himself vulnerable for sure. When asked if he remembered Reade, he dodged."
"Biden was doing great in that interview until he confessed. First he had the total denial. The denial was pretty strong. And then he says as a complaint. 'You know, I don't know why all of a sudden 27 years 'this' gets raised."
One day after California Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered all beaches in the state closed to help slow the spread of the coronavirus, hundreds of protesters flooded the Orange County city of Huntington Beach to demonstrate against the action.
U.S. Attorney for Connecticut John Durham has reviewed the bombshell files released earlier this week showing FBI officials discussed whether they wanted to interview Michael Flynn in order to “get him to lie.”
Charges could be justified against officials, and that those reviewing the Justice Department and the FBI's actions are building a "serious case." What the files show "could be sufficient for some charges against agents." "They’re building a very serious case."
Documents unsealed late Wednesday by the Justice Department revealed that top FBI officials openly questioned if their "goal" in interviewing Flynn in January 2017 was "to get him to lie, so we can prosecute him or get him fired."
The files prompted accusations from Flynn's defenders that agents essentially talked about setting a perjury trap.
"The president has been briefed that the case is being pursued, and it’s serious."
"If they don’t have it, they’re not going to bring it," one source said. "But they think they’ve got it."
These are not mere procedural quibbles, but profound questions about the integrity and legality of the FBI’s investigations into key officials in the incoming Trump administration, including Trump himself. A pattern of collusive illegality on the part of the FBI and key Justice Department officials has become increasingly clear from these and other revelations.
Flynn, you will recall, pleaded guilty to a charge of lying to federal officials. But he did so only after being forced to sell his home to fund his legal defense, and after threats to prosecute his son if he didn’t cop a plea.
With a bulging ventilator stack, Cuomo has directed the National Guard to remove the unused, life-saving machines from medical facilities and reallocate or return them to other states.
According to New York Assemblyman Mike LiPetri, a Republican, this only adds to the existing "$6 billion deficit Cuomo administration," given that much of the ventilator stockpile has, at least to date, not been needed. "We went to Albany and voted on a state budget in the middle of the night that was filled with political pet projects and misguided priorities," LiPetri continued. "Nowhere did it include hazard pay for those on the front lines or small business relief for those on the verge of closing their doors forever."
Coronavirus patients at a Brooklyn nursing home were denied admission to both of the medical facilities established in New York to handle victims of the pandemic even though beds were mostly empty. The snub came weeks after New York health officials were warned by the nursing home operator – where 55 people have died – that there was a grave concern, and requesting patients be transferred to the temporary facilities.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is in the process of shuttering the much-touted, 2,500-bed Javits Center – having treated only around 1,000 patients over the course of more than a month.
On Thursday, the heralded Navy ship – which was equipped with 1,000 beds and intended to take the burden off other hospitals and treat non-coronavirus patients before finally taking on a handful of those with the infection – sailed away, barely used.
"[The models] have been extremely inaccurate," says Dr. David Samadi, a New York-based surgeon. "These models gave a horrifying prediction that suggested COVID-19 could kill anywhere from 200,000 to 1.7 million Americans. Currently, it looks to be more like 60,000 to 65,000 deaths. While any American life lost to this virus is a shame, the death and infection rate is looking not quite so bleak as it was in the beginning."
President Donald Trump on Friday urged Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to work with and not against citizens calling for her to loosen the stranglehold on everyday life imposed by her executive orders.
"The Governor of Michigan should give a little, and put out the fire. These are very good people, but they are angry. They want their lives back again, safely! See them, talk to them, make a deal," Trump tweeted.
Trump’s tweet followed a contentious Thursday in which Michigan residents who oppose Whitmer’s edicts demonstrated outside of the Michigan State Capitol building, with some entering the building as well. Protesters waved signs and American flags, and in some cases carried legal firearms.
"[T]he Order violated the Petitioners rights not to be deprived of their property without due process of law guaranteed by the [Fifth and 14th Amendments], the right not to have their property taken without just compensation guaranteed by the [Fifth Amendment], their right to judicial review guaranteed by the [5th and Fourteenth Amendments], their right to equal protection of the law guaranteed by the [14th Amendment], and their right to free speech and assembly guaranteed by the [First Amendment]."
Newly released FBI files revealed agents discussing their motivations for interviewing the former national security adviser -- in turn, raising serious questions about the future of the case against him.
"DIRTY COP JAMES COMEY GOT CAUGHT!"
The Justice Department turned over the documents just this week, even though a February 2018 standing order in the case from United States District Court for the District of Columbia required the government to turn over any exculpatory materials in its possession that pertained to Flynn. Such materials ordinarily do not need to be disclosed to uncharged individuals or those who have already pleaded guilty, Sullivan has ruled.
Flynn’s attorney, Sidney Powell, told Fox News on Thursday that in light of the new documents, "this persecution will have to be thrown out entirely." Even more exculpatory documents are forthcoming, as Attorney General Bill Barr continues to look over the DOJ's investigation into the handling of the Flynn case.
China's mishandling of the outbreak, complete with widespread allegations of coverups and flat-out lies, has damaged China's credibility and standing on the global stage.
Beijing has been accused of downplaying the virus, silencing doctors, and significantly rounding down the number of cases and fatalities it had. The move infuriated the international community because it had relied on China to accurately report its findings so they could prepare as the novel coronavirus spread across the world.
In recent days the consensus has been growing that the more China engages in fights or threatens economic retaliation, the greater the chance it has of the world turning against them.
Chinese threats won't work, experts say, adding that they could backfire and further alienate Beijing from the rest of the world -- something that could cripple the country.
President Trump on Tuesday further angered China by referring to COVID-19, which has killed more than 7,000 people worldwide, as the "China virus," despite being asked repeatedly to stop.
Geng Shuang, a spokesman for China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stated "Some politicians in the U.S. associated the coronavirus with China, and smeared China. China expresses its strong anger and opposition to that," he said. "We call on the U.S. to stop finger-pointing at China. The utmost priority is for the international community to cooperate on fighting the virus."
Chinese officials have come after people like Secretary of States Mike Pompeo, who deliberately referred to COVID-19 as the "Wuhan virus" after China's foreign ministry called it "highly irresponsible" to do so. Other Republicans who came under scrutiny include House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, of California, and Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton.
China has been widely accused of suppressing vital facts about the virus, including when it surfaced and how quickly it spread.
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence confirmed on-record for the first time Thursday that the U.S. intelligence community is investigating whether the coronavirus outbreak, which has wreaked havoc across the globe, started as the result of an accident at a laboratory in Wuhan, China.
There is increasing confidence that the outbreak likely escaped from the lab, not as a bioweapon but as part of a Chinese effort to show that its efforts to identify and combat viruses are equal or greater than those of the U.S.
Home to 1,000 public corruption convictions in the last 20 years. The FBI has been picking off powerful politicians and insiders for bribery, self-dealing and abuse of power.
State politicians want over $40 billion. Governor J.B. Pritzker has separately requested billions in federal funds.
Federal dollars should not prop up Illinois’ failed system. A massive federal bailout won’t satiate the reckless spending habits of Illinois’ political class.
The Land of Lincoln is no longer a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. Illinois’ financial collapse reveals our government’s moral bankruptcy. Our leaders simply want to feed at the federal trough without fixing this self-inflicted disaster.
On April 23, 2020, Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced an extension of the stay at home order for Illinois as well as a mandatory face covering order at his daily Illinois coronavirus update. Illinois State Rep. Darren Bailey, R-Xenia filed suit against the order, and a judge in southern Illinois ruled Monday, April 27, 2020, that the Illinois governor's order to stem the spread of the coronavirus exceeds his emergency authority and violates individual civil rights.
On Saturday two California doctors of Immunology went on with KERO News 23 in California and made a video disputing the official state coronavirus policy in California.
According to their data, the death rate of the coronavirus is similar in prevalence to the flu. And they believe only the sick and elderly should be quarantined and that businesses should open.
They also revealed that the state of California is pressuring doctors to pad the COVID-19 numbers.
Following their appearance on the show their videos were removed from Google-YouTube! They did not pass official WHO policy.
Censorshiop is alive and well, and not just in China.
General Flynn to be completely exonerated this week
New documents recently turned over to Michael Flynn's legal team have led to speculation that the former national security adviser could catch a break in his long-stalled case due to purportedly exculpatory evidence that previously had not been disclosed.
The woman who has accused Joe Biden of a sexual assault in the early 1990s is calling out the media and several politicians being considered to join the former vice president on the 2020 ticket for "protecting a powerful man" while attempting to "silence" her in the process.
CNN had previously reached out to Tara Reade multiple times but she had not agreed to be interviewed prior to Friday. In that phone interview, she shared similar details of the sexual assault allegation she had told in recent weeks to multiple media outlets, including The New York Times, Washington Post, and the Associated Press.
She told CNN that in 1993, when she was working as an aide in Biden's Senate office, she was asked to deliver a duffle bag to the then-Delaware senator. In a corridor somewhere in the Capitol Hill complex, Reade said Biden "had me up against the wall; he used his knee to spread open my legs," etc.
Michigan Congresswoman Karen Whitsett recently survived a bout with coronavirus – only to now face possible censure by some fellow Democrats for having said "thank you" to President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence during a recent White House meeting.
Whitsett had thanked Trump and Pence because she attributed her recovery from the coronavirus to having taken the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine -- a treatment Trump has frequently supported during White House news briefings. The congresswoman said the drug had "saved my life."
"Thank-you for everything that you have done," Whitsett said. "I did not know that saying thank-you had a political line. I’m telling my story and my truth, and this is how I feel and these are my words."
The 13th Congressional District Democratic Party Organization will consider censuring Whitsett when it meets Saturday. Whitsett is not the only Democrat to face repercussions for positive comments about Trump.
The American Civil Liberties Union made news with demands that states and the federal government release large numbers of offenders due to the spread of the coronavirus among inmates.
The ACLU has long implored government at all levels to release as many inmates as possible back onto our streets.
The better option, however, is what’s happening in Indiana and other states.
The ACLU ignores the reason so many people are locked up: too many people commit serious crimes. Even the alarming and disproportionate number of blacks in prison arises directly from the disproportionate amount of violent crime committed in socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhoods — a pattern that also produces a disproportionate number of black victims.
It is the crime itself — not holding offenders accountable — that is harming our communities.
The United States condemned the arrests of at least 14 veteran pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong on charges of joining massive anti-government protests last year, saying the police action jeopardizes a high degree of autonomy guaranteed the southern Chinese city.
While the protests began peacefully, they increasingly descended into violence after demonstrators became frustrated with the government’s response.
"Beijing and its representatives in Hong Kong continue to take actions inconsistent with commitments made under the Sino-British Joint Declaration that include transparency, the rule of law, and guarantees that Hong Kong will continue to ‘enjoy a high degree of autonomy."
Attorney General William Barr also weighed in with a statement saying these events show how "antithetical the values of the Chinese Communist Party are to those we share in Western liberal democracies. These actions — along with its malign influence activity and industrial espionage here in the United States — demonstrate once again that the Chinese Communist Party cannot be trusted.”
The Chinese government's fear and insecurity are clearly at the core of their actions.
Imagine an election where a ballot is sent to a person regardless of eligibility, signed by someone else, picked up and delivered by a campaign operative, and still counted. If Democrats got their way, that is what would happen in Nevada this June, and nationwide in November.
It is the American people, not the government who will decide when this lockdown is over. And they are getting closer to that decision.
We tend to think of the idea of the government existing through the consent of the governed as being about elections, but it is about more than that, the successful lockdown of New York City was not enforced as much as it was consented to.
The U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights supersedes any Governor's "executive orders".
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s handling of the COVID-19 lockdown has stood out as one of the most severe and arbitrary in the US. Michiganders are unable to purchase gardening supplies but lottery tickets are fine. They can travel to Walmart but not to their cabins in the countryside. They can paddle a canoe but can’t ride a jet ski.
Sheriffs from four contiguous counties in the northwest corner of the lower peninsula are placing their constitutional duties above the governor’s mandates.
We write today to inform the public for our respective counties of our opposition to some of Governor Whitmer’s executive orders. While we understand her desire to protect the public, we question some restrictions that she has imposed as overstepping her executive authority. She has created a vague framework of emergency laws that only confuse Michigan residents.
As a result, we will not have strict enforcement of these orders.
Gov. Whitmer has faced an unprecedented backlash from the public due to her bizarre overreach, both online and at the state capitol.
Whitmer (and several other governors, all Democrats) don’t understand that lockdown orders only last as long as officials and the public allow them to. The principle of “consent of the governed” was popularized by John Locke, but has existed forever. Even autocrats who theoretically held absolute power were overthrown when the people had enough. Roman generals shivved unpopular emperors and a Milanese mob swung Mussolini from a lamppost. Mercifully, our political leaders are merely recalled from office or tossed out on election day.
The Declaration of Independence made the US the first nation to enshrine this concept in its founding documents. "That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed."
If Whitmer wants to keep her job, she might want to read her John Locke.
There is increasing confidence that COVID-19 likely originated in a Wuhan laboratory, though not as a bioweapon but as part of China's effort to demonstrate that its efforts to identify and combat viruses are equal to or greater than the capabilities of the United States, multiple sources who have been briefed on the details of early actions by China's government and seen relevant materials.
This may be the "costliest government coverup of all time." The initial transmission of the virus was bat-to-human, and that "patient zero" worked at the laboratory, then went into the population in Wuhan.
What all of the sources agree about is the extensive cover-up of data and information about COVID-19 launched by the Chinese government.
The Wuhan wet market initially identified as a possible point of origin never sold bats, and the sources tell Fox News that blaming the wet market was an effort by China to deflect blame from the laboratory, along with the country's propaganda efforts targeting the U.S. and Italy.
The Wuhan laboratory "contained highly contagious materials -- we knew that, we knew that they were working on this program, many countries have programs like this. In countries that are open and transparent, they have the ability to control them and keep them safe, and they allow outside observers in to make sure all the processes and procedures are right. I only wish that that had happened in this place."
China "100 percent" suppressed data and changed data. Samples were destroyed, contaminated areas scrubbed, some early reports erased, and academic articles stifled. Doctors and journalists were "disappeared" warning of the spread of the virus and its contagious nature and human to human transmission.
Sources say the World Health Organization (WHO) was complicit from the beginning in helping China cover its tracks.
"The Bill of Rights, as you well know, protects Americans' rights -- enshrines their right to practice their religion as they see fit and to congregate together to assemble peacefully. By what authority did you nullify the Bill of Rights in issuing this order? Since you are an elected official, a leader in the government, an executive, how do you have the authority to order something that so clearly contravenes the Bill of Rights of the United States -- the U.S. Constitution -- where do you get the authority to do that? You can't just, as the governor of a state, tell people who they can talk to when and where, because the Constitution of the United States -- upon which all of this is based -- prohibits you from doing that, so you clearly decided that you could do it."
In times of panic, the natural tendency is for government power to expand, and some states have already enacted laws giving state governors near-dictatorial power to waive or suspend legal requirements. But history teaches all too well that such expansions of power are rarely reversed when the crisis that precipitated them abates. So although our current situation requires rapid action, it is both better and safer to make changes through ordinary legislative and rule-making processes.
Health Ministry death toll figures counted only those who died in hospitals and had gotten positive test results for the virus. That disregarded all coronavirus victims who died in their homes. The report also said that aggressive testing, something experts have seized upon as necessary in the pandemic, has not been done in Iran — meaning other cases likely have been missed.
Thoughts for the Day
Ironic Humor for the Day
Here are the official Coronavirus guidelines:
1. Basically, you can't leave the house for any reason, but if you have to, then you can.
2. Masks are useless, but maybe you have to wear one, it can save you, it is useless, but maybe it is mandatory as well.
3. Stores are closed, except those that are open.
4. You should not go to hospitals unless you have to go there. Same applies to doctors, you should only go there in case of emergency, provided you are not too sick.
5. This virus is deadly but still not too scary, except that sometimes it actually leads to a global disaster.
6. Gloves won't help, but they can still help.
7. Everyone needs to stay HOME, but it's important to GO OUT.
8. There is no shortage of groceries in the supermarket, but there are many things missing when you go there in the evening, but not in the morning. Sometimes.
9. The virus has no effect on children except those it affects.
10. Animals are not affected, but there is still a cat that tested positive in Belgium in February when no one had been tested, plus a few tigers here and there…
11. You will have many symptoms when you are sick, but you can also get sick without symptoms, have symptoms without being sick, or be contagious without having symptoms. Oh, my..
12. In order not to get sick, you have to eat well and exercise, but eat whatever you have on hand and it's better not to go out, well, but no…
13. It's better to get some fresh air, but you get looked at very wrong when you get some fresh air, and most importantly, you don't go to parks or walk. But don’t sit down, except that you can do that now if you are old, but not for too long or if you are pregnant (but not too old).
14. You can't go to retirement homes, but you have to take care of the elderly and bring food and medication.
15. If you are sick, you can't go out, but you can go to the pharmacy.
16. You can get restaurant food delivered to the house, which may have been prepared by people who didn't wear masks or gloves. But you have to have your groceries decontaminated outside for 3 hours. Pizza too?
17. Every disturbing article or disturbing interview starts with "I don't want to trigger panic, but…"
18. You can't see your older mother or grandmother, but you can take a taxi and meet an older taxi driver.
19. You can walk around with a friend but not with your family if they don't live under the same roof.
20. You are safe if you maintain the appropriate social distance, but you can’t go out with friends or strangers at the safe social distance.
21. The virus remains active on different surfaces for two hours, no, four, no, six, no, we didn't say hours, maybe days? But it takes a damp environment. Oh no, not necessarily.
22. The virus stays in the air - well no, or yes, maybe, especially in a closed room, in one hour a sick person can infect ten, so if it falls, all our children were already infected at school before it was closed. But remember, if you stay at the recommended social distance, however in certain circumstances you should maintain a greater distance, which, studies show, the virus can travel further, maybe.
23. We count the number of deaths but we don't know how many people are infected as we have only tested so far those who were "almost dead" to find out if that's what they will die of…
24. We have no treatment, except that there may be one that apparently is not dangerous unless you take too much (which is the case with all medications).
25. We should stay locked up until the virus disappears, but it will only disappear if we achieve collective immunity, so when it circulates… but we must no longer be locked up for that?
26. Shop local! Support local businesses! But, don't go outside.
27. Have items delivered so you don't have to go outside. Remind the deliver people that they should not be outside. Thank them for their sacrifice. Remind them to wash their hands. Don't let them inside your house to wash their hands.
28. Exercise and get sunshine by walking or jogging. But, all parks are closed so you'll have to squeeze onto the busy sidewalks and walk in the road, so watch out for cars driven by people who aren't wearing masks and shouldn't be outside.
Trump also declared that the United States would undertake a 60-to-90 day investigation into why the "China-centric" WHO had caused "so much death" by "severely mismanaging and covering up" the coronavirus' spread, including by making the "disastrous" decision to oppose travel restrictions on China.
The Chinese government suppressed news about the virus, and even detained Doctor Li Wenliang, who has since died of coronavirus after trying to warn the international community of the threat.
"We have deep concerns over whether America's generosity has been put to the best use possible."
A Chinese laboratory at the center of new theories about how the coronavirus pandemic started was the subject of multiple urgent warnings inside the U.S. State Department two years ago.
The horseshoe bats collected from a case in Yunnan province were most likely from the same bat population that had been behind the first SARS coronavirus in 2003.
"Many Chinese believe the virus either was deliberately released or accidentally escaped from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, a P4-level bio-safety facility."
Despite evidence that points to dangerous practices inside the Wuhan labs, top U.S. military brass, as well as other senior officials, have said that the origins of COVID-19 did not come from a laboratory nor was it the result of a bioweapon.
The theory has gained traction in recent days. The United Kingdom has said that the idea that the virus, which has turned into a full-blown global pandemic, was leaked from a Wuhan lab is "no longer being discounted."
Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, was asked about the report on CNN and admitted that earlier action could have saved more lives.
Fauci told people in late February that "there was nothing to worry about and it posed no threat to the US public at large."
In February, Fauci was asked if Americans should change their way of life and he said,
there is no need to change what you are doing on a day-by-day basis."
Fauci has faced increasing criticism on conservative radio who see him as a career bureaucrat. Fauci has slammed the media in the past for attempting to "pit" him against Trump. "The president has listened to what I've said and to the other people who are on the task force have said,” Fauci said. "When I've made recommendations, he has taken them. He has never countered, overwritten me. The idea of just pitting one against the other is not helpful."
As of early Monday, there were nearly over 550,000 confirmed cases in the U.S. and 22,000 deaths.
A recent Fox News poll showed Trump’s job performance numbers at a record high.
Two websites for leading universities in China seem to have published and then deleted academic research about the origins of the coronavirus.
Ultimately, the U.S. was able to get China’s consent to send two people on the WHO team that traveled to China later in the month. But by then precious weeks had been lost and the virus had raced across Asia and had started to escape the continent.
From the Wall Street Journal:
The pandemic is upending the streaming wars. Americans stuck at home are increasingly turning to streaming services to keep them entertained. But maintaning a pipeline of content to satisfy users will get harder as the pandemic lingers, raising the stakes for the likes of Disney+ and Apple TV+, which are seeking to challenge Netflix.
Two researchers from Göttingen University claimed countries have only spotted six per cent of all COVID-19 cases, on average. Rates - which the researchers said were true up to March 31 - were staggeringly low in Britain (1.2 per cent), Italy (3.5 per cent), Spain (1.7 per cent) and the US (1.6 per cent). Because of the huge disparity, they described the official tallies trotted out by health ministers across the world each day as 'rather meaningless'.
Up to 15 per cent of people in hard-hit German town may already have immunity. If 15 per cent of people do have antibodies, then Germany's actual death rate could be as low as 0.37 per cent. This is five times lower than the current calculated level.
"This means a gradual relaxation of the lockdown is now possible."
With far more people infected than previously thought, Europe as a whole could be closer to herd immunity than expected.
"I think a lot of people cheat with mail-in voting," Trump said Friday. "I think people should vote with Voter ID. I think Voter ID is very important, and the reason they don't want Voter ID is because they tend to cheat."
Trump said people should show up to the polls in person and cast their votes after presenting the proper identification. "It should be you go to a booth and you proudly display yourself."
"We've engineered neutralizing antibodies that go and block the virus. The coronavirus, if you were to zoom in on it, you would see a series, a ring of spikes, and it uses those spikes to invade human cells. We've identified a series of super potent antibodies that block those spikes and therefore make the virus no longer infectious."
Thought for the Day
Giving people all the facts is not enough. A person – each one individually – has to connect the dots; he has to put the individual facts together; relate each fact to others in his mind; to see how they fit together, and to note what the implications are.
Some people do this more easily than others, but being able to do so does not imply it will get done – and frequently it does not get done; frequently it is assumed that one is good enough at doing it naturally that no additional effort is needed – and none is taken.
To fit and relate the facts together, a person has to want to do that. He has to decide he wants to run those facts through his mind; he has to devote the time needed for it; to give it a higher priority than the other things he could be doing – things he likes to do or tpically does. He has to make that extra, conscious mental activity a habit – a part of his thinking routine.
He has to decide there is a value to be gained by thinking in added depth, and that spending the time to do that is a good idea. He has to learn over time that to spend more than a momentary span of time in mulling over the facts is productive – that doing so gives him something important enough to devote a sizeable amount of time to extended thought on a regular basis in the future.
Ultimately, he has to like to think in such depth.
The DOJ’s Office of Inspector General on Tuesday said in a report it still has a “lack of confidence” in the FBI’s FISA procedures. Horowitz’s office found errors in all of the 29 FISA applications it reviewed during an audit as follow-up to an investigation of the bureau’s illegal spying of Carter Page. The OIG released a report on Tuesday revealing the FBI’s FISA abuse is still a widespread ongoing problem.
Despite the overwhelming evidence of FISA abuse, there still has been zero indictments of Deep State officials.
Journalists and top Democrats have beaten a similarly hasty retreat from their previous claims that Trump's ban on travel from China was both xenophobic and ineffective.
For many news outlets, the about-face has been stark. A Jan. 31 article in The New York Times quoted epidemiologist Dr. Michael Osterholm as saying that Trump's decision to restrict travel from China was "more of an emotional or political reaction." Weeks later, though, the paper reported that dozens of "nations across the world have imposed travel restrictions to curb the spread of the coronavirus," and did not criticize any of them for the move. See that news article here.
Similarly, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, went from threatening doctors who prescribed the drug with "administrative action" to requesting that the federal government ship her state some.
Other state leaders have followed suit, including Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak, also a Democrat.
The Washington Post ran a story quoting a Chinese official asking for "empathy" and slamming the White House for acting "in disregard of WHO [World Health Organization] recommendation against travel restrictions." In March, The Post finally acknowledged that critics accused China and WHO of "covering up or downplaying the severity of an infectious disease outbreak."
All of this is obviously nothing but bad politics by Democrats and the Chinese.
Stacks of thousands of urns outside funeral homes in Hubei province have driven public doubt in Beijing’s reporting.
"The claim that the United States has more coronavirus deaths than China is false," Senator Ben Sasse, a Nebraska Republican, said in a statement after Bloomberg News published its report. "Without commenting on any classified information, this much is painfully obvious: The Chinese Communist Party has lied, is lying, and will continue to lie about coronavirus to protect the regime."
"The reality is that we could have been better off if China had been more forthcoming," Vice President Mike Pence said.
"Retailers have been telling us that the overwhelming majority of those buying firearms over the last month have been first-time gun owners. This puts to rest America's thoughts on gun-control ideas. Americans across the country chose to exercise their right to lawfully purchase a gun when their safety became more than a rhetorical question."
Many of its money-making outlets have been shuttered. Traditional organized-crime rackets like betting and construction are bleeding the New York mafia dry. The American mafia families are also losing out on the extortion racket after restaurants and other entities close their doors under New York City’s "shelter in place" order.
But in Italy, the mobs are stronger than ever. Various criminal groups are involved in the construction of field hospitals and importation of medical supplies like masks and other equipment. But the real money will be made when the lockdown ends, when cash-strapped entrepreneurs will need loans. Those loans will be hard to secure from banks, which will take a huge hit.
These are the same army scientists who helped develop vaccines for anthrax, the plague and Ebola. Now, they have been working double shifts growing large amounts of the COVID-19 virus at this sprawling lab complex.
"We can test about 300 drugs or compounds in each plate."
They have used sneeze labs -- a technology the U.S. Army invented -- to test how the virus has spread through the air. "It would mimic you and I walking through someone's sneeze. There's a swirl of virus within droplets, so it doesn't exist just in air, but it's in fine droplets of many different sizes. Large droplets would land on your mouth and eyes, maybe on your hands, on surfaces, small droplets. You breathe them into your nostrils. Some of them make it past your projections, get deep into the lungs."
"We're going to find this vaccine and we're gonna win in the end."
The emergency-use authorization is for two oral prescription drugs, hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine, which are used primarily to treat malaria, but are now being investigated by federal agencies. 30 million doses of hydroxychloroquine sulfate and one million doses of chloroquine phosphate have been donated. The FDA will allow the drugs to be distributed and prescribed by doctors to hospitalized teen and adult patients with COVID-19, as appropriate.
As of early Monday morning, the coronavirus has infected more than 143,000 people in the U.S. and at least 2,513 people have died from the respiratory illness.
As many as 10% of recovered coronavirus patients in China tested positive again after being discharged from the hospital, according to a report. So far there is no evidence to suggest that they are infectious. The five patients who tested positive again did not have any symptoms and none of their close contacts had been infected.
Surveillance of similar patients showed that 80 to 90% had no trace of the virus in their system one month after being discharged from the hospital.
Additionally, health officials around the world are testing the concept of taking plasma from someone who has been infected, processing it, and injecting the antibodies into a sick person to stimulate their immune system.
"It seemed like a normal rehearsal, except that choirs are huggy places,” Burdick recalled. “We were making music and trying to keep a certain distance between each other." After 2 1/2 hours, the singers parted ways at 9 p.m. Nearly three weeks later, 45 have been diagnosed with COVID-19 or ill with the symptoms, at least three have been hospitalized, and two are dead.
"Fear of Covid-19 is based on its high estimated case fatality rate—2% to 4% of people with confirmed Covid-19 have died, according to the World Health Organization and others. We believe that estimate is deeply flawed. The true fatality rate is the portion of those infected who die, not the deaths from identified positive cases."
The deaths from identified positive cases are “misleading” because of limited data.
"The real fatality rate could in fact be closer to 0.06%."
3. We Must Establish Principles for Dealing with Crises
4. The GOP Needs a Real Response for Democrats’ Games
For Democrats, politics and their singular desire for power trumps all else. Simply put, for Democrats, the ends justify any and all means.
The fact that Republicans were so blindsided and befuddled by this in the coronavirus context indicates the GOP still lacks an understanding of the nature of their political adversary.
This goes way beyond Trump Derangement Syndrome. It’s derangement, but it’s also destruction and evil. An international pandemic may be no time for politics. But evil people are always political, because power is all they care about. They are exploiting this present crisis to overthrow Donald Trump and then secure the power they feel entitled to hold forever.
"First it tried to suppress the news," Ambassador Woody Johnson wrote in an article for The Times newspaper published on Thursday, adding that Beijing had then selectively shared critical information while stonewalling international health authorities.
"We lose thousands and thousands of people a year to the flu. We don't turn the country off," Trump said during the interview.
"We lose much more than that to automobile accidents. We don't call up the automobile companies and say stop making cars. We have to get back to work."
Condemns the Chinese government over its handling of the coronavirus outbreak, painting a stark picture of lies and mismanagement contributing to the pandemic that has infected nearly 390,000 people worldwide and killed more than 16,700.
This resolution comes as tensions between the U.S. and China are running high over the Chinese government's high-powered propaganda campaign seeking to paint itself as the global coronavirus savior while several U.S. officials and politicians, including President Trump, have taken to calling the coronavirus the "Chinese virus" in reference to its origins in Wuhan, a city in China.
The cozy and symbiotic relationship between WHO chief Tedros and Chinese President Xi Jinping has some crying foul.
The coronavirus has been traced back to Wuhan, China, with the first case surfacing in late November, weeks before the Chinese government claimed it had.
The problem is that China's complacency at the beginning of the outbreak helped create the crisis. The WHO accelerated it.
By January 3rd, Chinese authorities had already ordered #COVID19 virus samples destroyed, silenced Wuhan doctors, and censored public concerns online.
Through it all, Tedros has defended China. "When he should have been focusing on global counter-pandemic efforts, Tedros instead was politicizing the crisis and helping Xi to shirk his responsibility for a series of wrongdoings in addressing the outbreak,"
Tedros is also accused of using the WHO platform to "defend the Chinese government's gross violation of human rights." As China knowingly misled the world, Tedros publicly praised the country for its "transparency."
Why did he do it? Some say keeping China happy has tremendous advantages for not only the WHO but also for Ethiopia, Tedros' home country. For more than a decade, Ethiopia's economy has been largely dependent on China. Beijing has shelled out hundreds of millions of dollars for mega-projects
Lately, China hasn't been happy with its investments in Ethiopia after projects failed to generate the kind of cash developers had hoped. If China pulls out of Ethiopia, the African country's economy could crumble -- something Tedros is desperate to avoid.
"The coronavirus pandemic has shown that Tedros is not fit to lead the WHO. Because of his leadership, the world may have missed a critical window to halt the pandemic or mitigate its virulence."
"The world is now battling rising infections and many countries have imposed restrictions. As leader of the WHO, Tedros should be held accountable for his role in mismanaging efforts to control the spread of the virus."
The Chinese government is too weak to handle criticism, and they stupidly resort to force and violence.
The Chinese government specifically called out an "insulting article with a blatantly racist headline" that was published in the Journal, which China claims "is unacceptable in any country."
It should be noted, freedom of the press is on the checklist of what it means to be a civilized country.
The coronavirus pandemic sweeping across borders, sickening and killing people in nearly every country, and sending the world economy into a downward spiral, is a global challenge unlike any other in our lifetimes. Perhaps more than any major news event in modern history, this moment underscores the urgent importance of both probing, accurate, on-the-ground reporting from the centers of the pandemic and of sharing the information, insights and lessons that reporting reveals as widely as possible.
In this moment of shared crisis, China has decided to expel American journalists from a number of news organizations, including the three we oversee, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and The New York Times. This move — made in retaliation for recent expulsions by the United States government — is one that we would protest under any circumstances. But it is uniquely damaging and reckless as the world continues the struggle to control this disease, a struggle that will require the free flow of reliable news and information.
We strongly urge the Chinese government to reverse its decision to force the Americans working for our news organizations to leave the country and, more broadly, to ease the growing crackdown on independent news organizations that preceded this action. The media is collateral damage in a diplomatic dispute between the Chinese and U.S. governments, threatening to deprive the world of critical information at a perilous moment.
The earliest reports on the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan and its rapid spread were brought to the outside world by the journalists who work for us in China, as well as their colleagues for other leading news organizations. We have sent our reporters to live for extended periods in the center of the outbreak to document the toll of the disease and the struggle to treat those afflicted with it. We have prominently featured news and analysis about China’s remarkable progress in reducing the spread of the virus through containment and mitigation. Even now, with some of our journalists facing imminent expulsion, they are reporting on how China is mobilizing state resources to develop vaccines that could offer hope to billions of people there and around the world.
Our news organizations are rivals. We compete with each other on the biggest stories, including this one. But on this matter we speak with a single voice. Both countries — and the rest of the world — benefit from having talented journalists, many of them fluent in Chinese and versed in Chinese culture, cover the world’s second largest economy, the center of global manufacturing, and, unfortunately, a population hard hit by one of the worst pandemics of modern times. Even when this crisis passes we believe both countries will continue to benefit from freer access to news and information about the other.
Amid tensions between superpowers, journalism bolsters strong, confident societies by providing to leaders and citizens important information and awareness to inform their lives and decisions — even, perhaps especially, when it is challenging to governments. We believe it is unambiguously in the interests of the people of both countries, as well as their leaders, to let journalists do their work.
William Lewis, Publisher, The Wall Street Journal
Fred Ryan, Publisher, The Washington Post
A. G. Sulzberger, Publisher, The New York Times
The article was published Tuesday, the same day the Pacific Fleet announced on Twitter that the aircraft carrier strike group led by the USS Theodore Roosevelt, and the USS America, an amphibious assault carrier and leader of an expeditionary strike group, were conducting exercises in the South China Sea.
The large-scale military maneuvers are a direct challenge to China’s claims to control 90% of the South China Sea, despite an international court ruling several years ago rejecting those claims. The Global Times report said the carrier operations marked the third time in the past week that U.S. warships have “trespassed” into the sea.
From South Carolina's Congressman Jeff Duncan
Key coronavirus updates this morning:
There are currently at least 33,276 cases and 417 deaths in the United States, as reported by Johns Hopkins and other media sources. There are more than 335,957 cases worldwide, with more than 254,550 of those being outside China.
President Trump announced that he has activated the National Guard in New York, California, and Washington. The President has approved disaster declarations for New York and Washington, and California’s declaration should be approved soon. The President also instructed FEMA to supply:
Four federal medical stations with 1,000 beds for New York
Eight federal medical stations with 2,000 beds for California
Three federal medical stations and three smaller medical stations with 1,000 beds for Washington
President Trump also outlined the number of supplies that had been sent to New York state as of March 19:
188,416 N95 respirators
444,000 O-98 surgical masks
84,560 face shields
68,944 surgical masks
352 coveralls
245,486 gloves
The President also outlined the number of supplies sent to Washington state:
369,000 N-95 respirators
575,406 surgical masks
63,788 face shields
107,850 surgical gowns
240,376 gloves
More than 254,000 Americans have been tested and received results for coronavirus, and more than 30,000 have tested positive. These numbers do not yet include local hospitals or private labs that have conducted tests. Commercial labs should be caught up with the backlog of testing by the middle of next week, and should prioritize inpatient testing going forward.
The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) announced that it is providing support for a U.S. phase 2/3 clinical trial to evaluate Regeneron Pharmaceutical’s Kevzara as a potential treatment for COVID-19. Kevzara is currently approved by FDA for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, and was developed under a collaboration between Regeneron and Sanofi. As a reminder, NIAID is also sponsoring a randomized controlled clinical trial to evaluate the safety and efficacy of the antiviral remdesivir.
FDA announced that hospitals and other health care professionals can repurpose ventilators that were originally intended for other environments, such as using ventilators currently used in ambulances for patients treated inside facilities. FDA also said that manufacturers that would normally need FDA clearance to modify a ventilator could now do so without an agency review.
FDA provided additional information on the Cepheid point-of-care diagnostic test. Cepheid says tests will begin to ship on Friday, March 27 with plans to begin testing on Monday, March 30. The test uses a machine called GeneXpert that can run the full test in 45 minutes. There are more than 23,000 automated GeneXpert systems worldwide and about 5,000 in the United States.
IBM is partnering with the Department of Energy and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy to launch the COVID-19 High Performance Computing Consortium. This will make supercomputing power available to help researchers with predictive models and model new potential therapies or a possible vaccine.
INFORMATION FOR AMERICANS ABROAD:
The State Department is making efforts to bring home Americans, including through commercial flights, chartered flights, and military transport. Any American abroad who needs assistance should contact their local U.S. embassy and register with the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program online or by calling 1-888-407-4747.
These three factors mentioned in the article must be considered together:
1. If an investor missed the S&P 500's 10 best days in each decade, total returns would be just 91%, strikingly below the 14,962% return for investors who held steady throughout the ups and downs.
2. The best days generally follow the worst days for stocks.
3. "Households," defined as retail investors (as well as some professionals such as hedge funds), are the only subset of shareholders that have "sold equities during each bear market since 1950."
Be sure to read the entire article; there is a wealth of good advice.
Remember this quote, from the book The The Capitalist Manifesto, by Ralph Benko and Bill Collier: Capitalism is the only economic system which anyone honestly can point to and say, "it has made substantive progress toward its seemingly utopian aims."
There's been a debate about possible political motives surrounding the panic he has created; the massive economic damage he has inflicted; and the conflicting assertions of National Institute of Allergy and Infections Diseases (NIAID) Director Dr. Anthony Fauci.
Doesn't look like any debate is needed at all. Fauci's motives are obvious.
David Binford, Eric Couture and Holly Rae Beene filed a lawsuit Tuesday, the day after Republican Gov. Chris Sununu issued the order prohibiting large scheduled gatherings for social, spiritual and recreational activities. They argue there is no emergency, and that the governor is violating their constitutional rights. "We can choose to assemble if that is our desire. What cannot occur is one man in a position of power deciding to strip us of our rights in the name of safety and without due process," Couture said in press release.
The new emails include an October 13, 2012, message from Clinton telling private attorney Robert Barnett about a conversation with Jake Sullivan, Clinton’s senior advisor and deputy chief of staff, about Benghazi: “Jake and I were discussing the Benghazi security issue since he tried to tell [Redacted] would be asked about it but they didn’t think so. Might be good for you to call Jake too.” Clinton also mentions then-candidate Mitt Romney’s “47% remark,” referring to his dismissal of Obama voters as irresponsible.
from Richard Zuendt
Yesterday [on Facebook] I posted an article, from Rolling Stone, citing an article from Politico.com. It dealt with the idea that DOJ is studying the idea of suspending Constitutional Rights to enforce home quarantining. Some people feel that by posting such an article, from such source, I am pushing a liberal agenda. I don't think so, because it has happened before.
John Adams help pass what is known as the, Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798. These acts restricted the activities of foreign residents in the country and limited freedom of speech and of the press.
Abraham Lincoln, old honest Abe, suspended habeas corpus which allowed for the indefinite detention of 'disloyal persons' without trial.
Woodrow Wilson got congress to pass two laws, the Espionage Act and the Sedition Act. With these laws, no one could say anything "insulting or abusing the U.S. government, the flag, the Constitution or the military." If a person was found guilty of violating these rules they could receive a hefty fine and 20 years in prison.
Franklin Roosevelt, with a stroke of a pen, interned (really imprisoned) all those of Japanese origin. He also ordered the Secretary of Agriculture to implement a rule that actually told a person how much food they could grow for their own family. He had the opinion that the Constitution is "quaint" and outdated.
And in the fight against terrorism, George W. Bush justified arresting people “whom he and his agents determined to be this country’s enemies without obtaining a warrant, letting them hear the charges against them, or following other safeguards against wrongful punishment guaranteed by the Bill of Rights.
So I don't care who brought up the subject to start off with, we need to be aware of previous times that our government felt it was in our "best" interest to deny us our God given rights as Americans. Just remember, those who fail to study history, are doomed to repeat it.
In a tragic turn of events, America has announced that it has tested positive for socialism. Many began to suspect America had become infected when the government announced totalitarian lockdowns and a plan to print free money for everyone, and the test results confirmed the worst.
Thoughts for the Day
Capitalism is the only economic system which anyone honestly can point to and say, "it has made substantive progress toward its seemingly utopian aims."
Keep this quote by VP Mike Pence in mind when recalling where the Wuhan virus came from . . .
. . . and when considering China's current posturing.
The former special counsel’s latest humiliation comes as the Justice Department moved on Monday to drop all charges against two Russian companies that Mueller accused of meddling in the 2016 presidential election. A team of skilled American lawyers who demanded to examine the actual evidence. Prosecutors balked and stalled. Mueller and his team of partisans wasted 22 months and squandered more than $30 million dollars on an investigation of Russian “collusion” that never existed.
Judicial Watch released 80 pages of new emails recently found by the FBI. With each passing round of discovery, the Court is left with more questions than answers.
Long before the coronavirus crisis, Americans were concerned about China’s control over the U.S. drug supply. The Department of Defense "has long raised red flags about such dominance being a national security concern." Yet, the flow of cheap, generic pharmaceuticals and medical equipment continued to flow to the U.S. from China. Chinese pharmaceutical companies supply about 85 percent of U.S. antibiotics, 70 percent of acetaminophen and about 40 percent of heparin. Additionally, the majority of the key ingredients and raw materials used to manufacture essential drugs are supplied by China. And the Chinese are keenly aware of it, threatening to blackmail the U.S.
Canadian records show the chairman of Russian-owned Uranium One gave over $2 million in donations to the Clinton Foundation, which the Clintons’ didn’t disclose. At the same time, Russia pushed for control of a Canadian Uranium company. A Kremlin-connected bank promoting stock in the company also reportedly paid Bill Clinton $500,000 for a speech in Moscow. Eventually, the Russian-Canadian uranium deal was approved.
Posturing as enlightened and moral, leftism actually amounts to a bizarre cult
Journalists who condemn you as “racist” for referring to the Chinese or Wuhan coronavirus. Men who swear they are women. A presidential primary contest between a perpetually enraged old communist and a corrupt, excruciatingly senile politician who lies constantly. Giddy legislators high-fiving each other after legalizing abortion at 40 weeks – which is to say, legalizing infanticide. A political party obsessed with eliminating America’s borders, protecting criminals and dismantling law enforcement.
Leftism is a religion. Whether one calls it "leftism," "Marxism," "progressivism," "identity politics" or "wokeness," a bizarre and dangerous religious movement has infected the Democratic Party.
Roughly 35 companies and academic institutions are rushing to create a vaccine and at least four have tested it on animals. Moderna, a biotech company in Massachusetts, has already shipped the first batches of its COVID-19 vaccine to the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. It was said to be ready for human trials in April, but the first patient will receive an experimental dose today.
The oil market hit a sharp downward spiral on Monday, with prices falling over 30 percent, as Saudi Arabia and Russia engaged in a price war, flooding the market with product. "They’re taking advantage of this coronavirus pandemic that’s sweeping the world to focus in on this industry and devastate it."
“Thank you so much for the invitation to this morning’s event! I was blown away by your incredible hospitality and can’t thank you enough for allowing us to crash that fabulous party. It was a really memorable morning.”
Robinson and Allen, both registered Democrats, took photos with Clinton at the fundraiser, held at the home of Qualcomm co-founder Irwin Jacobs and his wife, Joan.
Within months of the fundraiser, Rep. Hunter became the first sitting member of Congress to publicly endorse Clinton’s opponent in the 2016 presidential campaign, Donald Trump. Robinson became acting U.S. Attorney in January 2017, and her office commenced its investigation of Hunter and his wife the following month.
The Hatch Act generally prohibits federal employees from participating in political activities while on duty, and Department of Justice regulations impose further restrictions on prosecutors. Rules of professional conduct prohibit attorneys from knowingly making false statements of material fact to a tribunal or failing to correct such statements. They also require truthfulness in statements to others.
Even The New York Times had to concede that Trump was overseeing "blockbuster" job creation. 273,000 new jobs were added in February, bringing the 2020 total to over half a million. These numbers are up significantly from last year's average of 179,000 jobs, putting this year on pace to be one of the strongest of the decade.
Despite the short-term harm caused by coronavirus, jobless claims actually went down by roughly 4,000 this past week as compared to the week before.
The president prevented China from winning control of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WPO) – the United Nations agency that protects patents and IP from theft in the global economy. This victory was crucial because China has routinely stolen U.S. innovators' intellectual property, costing the U.S. between $225 and 600 billion a year. While the administration has cracked down on it in the past by passing the USMCA trade deal, this move is far more crucial because it has solidified a pro-IP stalwart in one of the highest positions of authority for a full six years.
President Trump is already delivering on his second term pledge to keep America great
'He's now officially a member of the resistance & should be expelled'
The Utah Republican Party is reportedly considering multiple resolutions following Sen. Mitt Romney’s vote to convict President Donald Trump in the impeachment trial, including a resolution calling for his resignation.
The worker told Biden, "You're working for me, man," and told Biden that he saw an online video supporting his claim that Biden is hostile to the Second Amendment. Biden, pointing at the individual as they were mere inches apart in the middle of a crowd, said he's not working for him.
The politician who forgets that he works for the citizens does not belong in politics.
And we all can, should, and must say, "Not my President!"
Robinson said that President Trump has done a "fantastic" and phenomenal job, attributing to the commander in chief an unprecedented low African-African American and female unemployment rate. "He’s truly proven that conservative principles make life better for average everyday Americans. He’s proven that every day that he’s in the White House."
The Italian government is locking down 17 million people—more than a quarter of its population—including in Milan, the surrounding Lombardy region and 14 neighboring provinces, in the most sweeping steps any European country has prepared to take against the coronavirus epidemic. Those provinces include Venice, Parma and Modena.
Italy has had the largest number of infections outside Asia.
Italy had confirmed 5,883 coronavirus cases by Saturday, of which 233 people had died.
The quarantine will be effective from Sunday until April 3.
Foval goes into great details about how fraudulent out-of-state voters are hired on at fake 'shell companies' just so they can register to vote and are then paid for their votes through 'paychecks' from those same entities. Foval goes on to detail how the operatives bring people in to different states, using their own personal vehicles or by having shell companies rent vehicles, instead of using busses which would make it easier to prove a conspiracy.
Co-conspirator Robert Creamer is a veteran Chicago activist and convicted felon who is thought to have planned Democrats' political strategy during the push for Obamacare in 2009 and 2010. Creamer is also the co-founder of Democracy Partners, a consulting group that apparently contracts directly with the Hillary Clinton campaign and the DNC, and that works with an array of super PACs. He visited the Obama White House more than 340.
"I want to thank Acting Chief Mick Mulvaney for having served the Administration so well. He will become the United States Special Envoy for Northern Ireland. Thank you!" Trump said.
“I want to tell you, Gorsuch, I want to tell you, Kavanaugh, you have released the whirlwind and you will pay the price, Schumer yelled into the mic before a crowd of abortion supporters. You won’t know what hit you if you go through with these awful decisions.”
Assembly Bill 5, or AB5, went into effect on Jan. 1, essentially making the gig economy illegal in the state. All workers are classified as employees unless they:
1. perform their work independent of supervision;
2. have an established business doing the same sort of work for multiple customers;
3. are doing work that isn’t part of the company’s core business.
The law effectively bans Uber, Lyft, freelance journalism, the Lake Tahoe Music Festival, the Island City Opera in Alameda, and others. Roughly a million jobs are put at risk by AB5.
The same Iranian lawmakers who routinely chant "death to America" are going to be dependent on America's pharmaceutical industry to save them from the coronavirus.
For the past 18 months, Ginni Thomas, the wife of Justice Clarence Thomas, and other conservatives have plied the White House with memos and suggestions about which people to fire — and who should replace them.
Some administration aides have long been suspicious that people like Ms. Thomas and Ms. Dunlop are less interested in pro-Trump purity than in appointments for their own networks of friends. White House officials have privately questioned Ms. Thomas’s lobbying on personnel, and have said Mr. Trump — who is facing several decisions before the Supreme Court personally and in terms of administration policy — has made clear he is conscious of whom she is married to.
Still, in the last year, as Mr. Trump has grown more mistrustful of his government, the sway held by Ms. Thomas and her group has increased. Administration officials have routinely sent aides to attend weekly Groundswell meetings held at the offices of Judicial Watch, another conservative group led by a vocal defender of the president, Tom Fitton.
It's George McGovern in 1972 all over again. The Democrats are up against an incumbent they cannot beat, so let the snowflakes have their heyday. Stir the pot, annoy the President, and see who has the staying power for when it will really matter, in 2024.
Record GOP field forms, on 2020 mission to take down 'socialists'
'I'm tired of seeing my president attacked every day. ... it’s time to get off the bench.'
Like many GOP candidates vying for office this year, she is taking aim directly at progressive darling Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and her freshman squad and says Congress needs strong conservative women to stand up to “tyrannical socialist Democrats.” “These are radical women that will not bend. They do not want to work across the aisle. They only want their policies of the Green New Deal, 'Medicare-for-all' and socialism for America."
Thought for the Day
"Let's be very clear to the American people that Joe Biden is dangerous. He's not just an idiotic person who says impossible, absurd things and he's not just naive, but he's dangerous. Americans will have to understand, whether you believe in owning a gun or not owning a gun, that the Democrats are dangerous."
- Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick
Rural Oregon counties want to leave liberal state, join Idaho
"Rural counties have become increasingly outraged by laws coming out of the Oregon Legislature that threaten our livelihoods, our industries, our wallet, our gun rights, and our values. We tried voting those legislators out but rural Oregon is outnumbered and our voices are now ignored. This is our last resort."
"From the Soviet Union, to China, to Cuba, to Nicaragua, to Venezuela, Bernie Sanders has never met a communist regime he didn't praise, regimes that killed millions of people in the 20th century. This is your Democratic frontrunner"
The SC GOP will be voting in the Dems' primary – for Bernie,
in effort to get SC Dems to agree to close Party Primaries.
And there are more GOPers than Dems in South Carolina.
Demise of coal in rich countries brings global carbon emissions to a stall
Coal generation in advanced economies fell by nearly 15%. U.S. emissions fell 2.9%, or by 140 million tons, continuing the trend of the United States leading the world in total emissions decline since 2000. Emissions in the European Union declined 5%, while Japan’s emissions were 4.3% lower in 2019. But emissions in the rest of the world grew by nearly 400 million tons, with 80% of that increase coming from developing countries in Asia.
Ancient Greek philosophy opened the doors to a particular way of thinking that provided the roots for the Western intellectual tradition and civilisation. Ancient Greek philosophers were the first that doubted the contemporary philosophical paradigm, observed and interpreted the world they lived in and set the basis of Western civilisations.
The Senate impeachment trial strengthened Trump’s hand within the party, especially with his core conservative base. "It actually endears him to his most committed supporters. If Trump is a disrupter, it makes all the sense in the world for the insiders to try to get rid of him. It hands Trump a real messaging point."
China to Cut Tariffs on $75 Billion of U.S. Goods
In January, the U.S. and China signed a "phase one" trade deal, signalling a truce in a yearslong trade war. The deal cuts U.S. tariffs to 7.5% on about $120 billion in Chinese goods, but kept in place tariffs on about $360 billion of Chinese imports. President Donald Trump said those tariffs would stay in place until there is a "phase two" trade deal.
Keep Iowa Great!
Democrats seem to have a problem understanding the Rule of Law
Remember when these TV shows were news media, and not propaganda & lies?
And we should not forget how wrong Mini Mike Bloomberg is about 19-year-olds ...
But the article never points out who is to blame! Blame the socialists, the dictators, and the repressive economic systems of the countries drenched in poverty.
Imagine if they were all as free as in the U.S.A.! There would be millions of billionaires, not just thousands. Poverty would be reduced to isolated pockets – virtually wiped out. Imagine a world like that!
Trump administration starts returning migrants deep into Mexico to combat border crisis
The “Remain-in-Mexico” policy has proven controversial with human rights and pro-migrant activists, who claim it can place migrants in significant danger of kidnapping or violence by returning them to the Mexican side of the border.
– But these people want open borders???
Record 158,803,000 Americans Employed; 1.85M Year-to-Year Increase
Trump's stance on freedom and de-regulation works,
exposes flaws in Socialist claims and ends delusion of Socialists' goals,
sets anti-rights Socialist dreams back for years to come.
No wonder the Democrats hate Trump so much.
'Soleimani Was a Murderer':
Dramatic Footage Shows Iranian Crowds Demanding End of Regime
"They are lying that our enemy is America, our enemy is right here."
"Death to the Islamic republic"
The latest upsurge in anger adds to challenges facing the authorities, which launched a bloody crackdown in November to quell protests. The leadership is also struggling to keep the crippled economy afloat under rigorous U.S. sanctions.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Twitter: “There can not be another massacre of peaceful protesters, nor an internet shutdown. The world is watching.”
J.K. Rowling Is Taking Heat From the LGBT Left. The Reason Should Concern Us All.
"There are two sexes. Men are male. Women are female."
British law no longer protects speech that goes against progressive sexual orthodoxy, because said speech now violates a person’s "dignity."
By that standard, virtually any traditional belief system could be labeled as discriminatory if it can be argued that it offends someone’s dignity.
The book destroys several myths about capitalism, and nails what is wrong with socialism, fascism, and communism.
Socialism is cronyism on steroids. Those at the top receive special benefits, privileges and high incomes, while everyone else fights for a small remainder.
Because there is little incentive to put in a healthy day’s work under socialism, there aren’t enough goods and services to go around.
Socialism and communism are merely disguised and mechanized forms of feudalism.
Greed is not the foundation of capitalism. Capitalism rewards people in proportion to their service to others. A businessman who provides jobs to people will prosper. It is the opposite of greed.
If there is cronyism in capitalism, then it’s no longer capitalism. Capitalism is opposed to cronyism. Crony capitalism is a monster that uses the rhetoric of free markets to defend special privileges.
The true name for the mixture of big business with the State is fascism.
Social insurance programs like Medicare and Social Security are not welfare or entitlements, they are social insurance. They are acceptable. Medicare for All, on the other hand, is welfare.
Perversely, Karl Marx's path to eliminating the state was to create a monstrous, overbearing, and monolithic state.
People’s health, education, and welfare are becoming recognized as capital. Therefore, it is a function of capitalism for business to invest in these areas regarding their employees.
Capitalism is the only economic system which anyone honestly can point to and say, "it has made substantive progress toward its seemingly utopian aims."
President Trump’s job performance rises after US killing of Iranian commander
"Soleimani was actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the region,” conducting the recent attacks on U.S. troops and embassy in Baghdad, and the “strike was aimed at deterring future Iranian attack plans."
Census projections showing Electoral College gains for GOP
The Left has long criticized the presence of the Electoral College as a countermeasure to pure majoritarianism. However, the Electoral College is a constitutional safeguard to protect minorities from the tyranny of majorities.
The United States is not a democracy, and was never intended to be a democracy.
The Founders had studied the democracy of Athens, and their creation – the Constitution, including the Electoral College – was designed specifically to avoid its fatal flaws.
Thought for the Day – Role Models
St. Louis couple draw weapons on protesters headed to mayor's house
Supreme Court orders restructuring of Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
Manned Fighter To Face Autonomous Drone Next Year
ICE Should Deport George Soros as a Nazi Collaborator
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Thousands of protesters shouted pro-democracy slogans and insults at police in Hong Kong on Wednesday as lawmakers debated a bill criminalizing abuse of the Chinese national anthem in the semi-autonomous city. Nearly 300 people were arrested across Hong Kong for unauthorized assembly.
US sanctions against China 'likely' due to China's new Hong Kong national security law
China plans controversial security law in response to Hong Kong unrest
Judicial Watch announced today that it received the "electronic communication" (EC) that officially launched the counterintelligence investigation, termed "Crossfire Hurricane," of President Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. The document, which was written by former FBI official Peter Strzok and was obtained as the result of a Judicial Watch FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) lawsuit against the FBI and DOJ for: "The Electronic Communication that initiated the counterintelligence investigation of President Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign." (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Justice (No. 1:19-cv-02743)).
Trump announces executive order aiming to make hundreds of deregulations amid coronavirus permanent
But the numerous transcribed interviews could raise further questions about committee Chairman Adam Schiff’s past statements saying that there was “direct evidence” of collusion.
Leaked Western intel dossier reveals how China deceived the world about coronavirus
Documents unsealed late Wednesday by the Justice Department revealed that top FBI officials openly questioned if their "goal" in interviewing Flynn in January 2017 was "to get him to lie, so we can prosecute him or get him fired."
Giving people all the facts is not enough. A person – each one individually – has to connect the dots; he has to put the individual facts together; relate each fact to others in his mind; to see how they fit together, and to note what the implications are.
Thoughts for the Day
Keep this quote by VP Mike Pence in mind when recalling where the Wuhan virus came from . . .
