U.S.-proposed amendments to the international health regulations which govern response to pandemics and the new global pandemic treaty, both on the agenda of the World Health Organization’s general meeting, pose a threat to countries’ sovereignty, said journalist and author Nick Corbishley.

The amendments proposed in January by the Biden administration will give the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) unilateral authority to declare a public health emergency in any nation based on whatever evidence the director chooses.

The WHO’s International Health Regulations were introduced in 2005 and were “stimulated a bit by the SARS outbreak in 2003, Dr. David Bell, an expert in global health and infectious disease who previously worked at the WHO, told EpochTV’s  “American Thought Leaders” program.

The 13 amendments put forward by the Biden administration were on the agenda of the 75th World Health Assembly held last week in Geneva, Switzerland. The World Health Assembly is the decision-making body of the WHO and is attended by delegations from all member states, according to the organization’s website.

The assembly also started deliberation on what the newly proposed global pandemic treaty might include.

The global pandemic treaty is a parallel mechanism of the WHO. It will have force under international law and is very similar to the International Health Regulations’ amendments, but it will give far more power to the WHO and its director-general, Bell said.

Corbishley believes that the assembly will focus more on compliance of WHO member states with regulations adopted by the organization. The Biden administration mentioned setting up a compliance committee that will ensure that WHO participants follow its regulations, Corbishley told EpochTV’s “Crossroads” program.

Currently, the WHO “only has an advisory role. It’s only able to make recommendations to member states and it is up to the participating nations to decide whether and how they implement those recommendations,” Corbishley explained. “That is likely to change if there is a global pandemic treaty. ”

He pointed out that the concept of a compliance committee if implemented, will be “almost like to police the actions of each member state.

“The countries that are most at risk of losing the most sovereignty in this sort of scenario are likely to be poorer, smaller countries.”

Similar cases have been observed within the last 15 to 20 years in the World Trade Organization, where global corporations can sue national governments in an international court for infringing on their profits or even threatening their future profits, Corbishley said. “It hits poor countries, smaller countries much more because they don’t have the money to be able to pay off these kinds of lawsuits.”

“They don’t have the diplomatic clout on an international level to be able to resist these things.”

Impact of  Global Pandemic Treaty

Every country that signs on to the pandemic treaty instituted by WHO will lose some degree of sovereignty, but it is hard to tell to what extent because the treaty is at the beginning of its development, Corbishley said.

“If [the WHO] does gain the power to declare a public health international emergency in a country without even consulting or reaching an agreement with the state in question, then that is a massive shift in the power balance between states and a supranational organization like the World Health Organization,” Corbishley said.

If the treaty can enforce a certain amount of compliance on states in the area of public health policy, a new trend of the “balkanization of globalization” could begin, Corbishley noted. “Globalization is beginning to look a lot more fragile than it did five to 10 years ago.”

For example, Russia, which has a large population and a reasonably large economy, recently floated the idea of withdrawing from WHO, he said. Although Corbishley doubts that the United States or the European Union will oppose the treaty, if some other big countries start expressing their concerns that the treaty is not in their interest, “then it could become impractical as a document,” he pointed out.

An initial working document toward this global pandemic treaty is called the zero draft report and it was also on the agenda of the last World Health Assembly, Bell said. The treaty is supposed to be discussed and agreed at the World Health Assembly that will convene next year and would then come into force upon ratification by the participating countries, he added.

To adopt the treaty, two-thirds of WHO members have to agree, while amending the existing international health regulations requires approval by only half of the participating countries, Bell said.

There are no clear proposals for the global pandemic treaty because the work on the draft has just started, Corbishley said, adding that some draft documents could be available in August.

Private Funding of WHO

Corbishley emphasized the issue of the private funding of the WHO, which in his view leads to the semi-privatization of global health. This trend is consistent with the strategic partnership agreement between the World Economic Forum and the United Nations, which represents the semi-privatization of certain global policies including health.

The WHO is influenced by the countries which comprise its assembly and by the private and corporate donors who fund a lot of its programs, Bell said. “So it responds to those who directed.”

“It certainly is pushing a very new way of managing health and of managing decision making in health, particularly in outbreaks, that is clearly to the advantage of these donors of WHO,” Bell explained.

He also noted that there is a possibility that countries would take advantage of this whole situation to further their strategic interests over the interests of rival countries. “The world is a diverse place. Not all countries agree with each other.”

About 80 percent of funding for the WHO, comprised of 194 member states, comes from private companies and private foundations such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation—the second largest overall contributor after Germany. The United States is the third-largest contributor.

Germany, the top donor to WHO, is also the biggest exporter of pharmaceutical products in the world, Corbishley pointed out. Moreover, the WHO has a contract with T-Systems, a subsidiary of German company Deutsche Telekom AG, to build a global interoperable system of vaccination passports, according to a company statement.

Considering “how pharmaceutical companies have managed to capture—to a certain extent or to a great extent—our governments and regulatory bodies and academia,” it begs the question: “to what extent [is the WHO] reflecting the interests of the global public, and to what extent do they represents the interests of the pharmaceutical companies that whether directly or indirectly through their the member states are funding the WHO,” Corbishley said.

He also encourages people on the left or the center of the political spectrum to pay more attention to the amount of private funding the WHO receives. Right now it seems people on the right are deeply concerned about how giving more powers to the WHO might pose a threat to sovereignty, Corbishley noted.

Jan Jekielek and Mark Tapscott contributed to this report.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/far-reaching-us-amendments-to-who-regulations-global-pandemic-treaty-raise-concerns-journalist_4498789.html?utm_source=News&utm_campaign=breaking-2022-05-30-1&utm_medium=email&est=FiydAr7Nict6QseJhnnxBtZ4bmLfRaS5ykjLEarnUeJWj6OmELF3mENiqHdRnqor3A%3D%3D

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) gave an impassioned defense of the Second Amendment during the National Rifle Association’s annual convention in Texas, days after a man murdered 19 children at an elementary school.

Cruz’s remarks come after an 18-year-old Latino attacked Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday before being killed by an off-duty U.S. Border Patrol agent. The response by local enforcement officials has been the focus of most of the criticism following the tragedy as numerous mistakes were made.

“If children are the picture of innocence, then the lunatics and the monsters like this one, the one who would deliberately murder children, they are the picture of evil,” Cruz said. “The anguish of those families right now is unimaginable. The very worst pain on Earth. All of us in Texas need to come together and comfort those families right now. We need to love them, embrace them, and take care of them.”

Cruz said that it was important for officials to understand what was driving tragedies like the one in Uvalde because “when we were growing up, this kind of thing didn’t happen.”

“Kids may have worried about getting into a fist fight at school, maybe a bloody nose at recess, but we never worried about a psychopath coming into our classrooms to commit murder.” Cruz slammed “the elites who dominate our culture” for pushing the notion that “firearms lie at the root of the problem.”

“It’s far easier to slander one’s political adversaries and to demand that responsible citizens forfeit their constitutional rights than it is to examine the cultural sickness giving birth to unspeakable acts of evil,” Cruz said. “It’s far less comfortable to ask why despair and isolation and violent hatred is so prevalent in America. It requires a sick soul to drive a truck into a crowded sidewalk, to plan a bomb at a marathon, or to fly a plane into a building. It requires a sick soul to open fire in a movie theater or in a church or in a school. A speeding automobile in the hands of a madman is as deadly as is a jet airplane.”

“Tragedies like the events of this week are a mirror forcing us to ask hard questions, demanding that we see where our culture is failing, looking at broken families, absent fathers, declining church attendance, social media bullying, violent online content, desensitizing the act of murder in video games, chronic isolation, prescription drug, and opioid abuse and their collective effects on the psyche of young Americans is both complicated and multifaceted,” Cruz continued. “It’s a lot easier to moralize about guns and to shriek about those you disagree with politically, but it’s never been about guns.”

Cruz noted that for millions of Americans, the Second Amendment is not an abstract theory, they live in conditions that require them to protect themselves from evil. Cruz said that the Obama White House reported that firearms “are used defensively to stop a crime between 500,000 and one million times every single year.”

“Taking guns away from these responsible Americans will not make them safer, nor will it make our nation more secure,” Cruz said. “In an age where elites embrace defunding the police, when homelessness runs rampant, when gangs dominate entire communities, and when radical district attorneys refuse to prosecute violent crime in cities across America, rarely has the Second Amendment been more necessary to secure the rights of our fellow citizens.”

Cruz noted that there are plenty of major cities across the U.S. that have strict gun control laws and yet are still violent and among some of the most dangerous places in the U.S.

Cruz also cited a quote from John R. Lott of the Crime Prevention Research Center, who wrote, “Out of the 101 countries where we have identified mass public shootings occurring, the United States ranked 66 in the per capita frequency of these attacks and 56th in the murder rate.”

Cruz noted that the Uvalde attacker passed a background check and that solutions offered by Democrats to address the problem would not have stopped the tragedy.

Cruz noted that Democrats filibustered legislation that he created in 2013 with Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) that “was designed to take the guns out of the hands of felons and fugitives and those with serious mental illness.”

“Grassley-Cruz did three things,” Cruz explained. “First, it would mandate that the Department of Justice conduct an audit of federal agencies to make sure that all felony convictions have been reported to the database. Second, Grassley-Cruz would create a gun crime task force at the Department of Justice, specifically to prosecute felons or fugitives who tried to buy firearms illegally. In 2010, there were 48,000 felons and fugitives who tried to illegally buy guns. The Obama Department of Justice prosecuted only 44 of them. That is indefensible. Third, Grassley-Cruz would’ve authorized $300 million for school safety improvement grants to harden our schools. When Grassley-Cruz came to the Senate floor for a vote in 2013, 52 senators voted yes, including nine Democrats. It was the most bipartisan piece of comprehensive legislation before the Senate.”

“So, why didn’t Grassley-Cruz pass into law if a majority of the Senate voted for it? Because Harry Reid and Chuck Schumer and the Democrats filibustered it,” Cruz concluded on the matter. “If you want to talk about policy proposals that could have stopped at least some of these mass murders, Grassley-Cruz is a perfect example.”

In closing his speech, Cruz said, “We must not react to evil and tragedy by abandoning the Constitution or infringing on the rights of our law-abiding citizens.”

“Now is not the time to yield to panic or intimidation or fear,” he said. “Now is not the time for lies. It is not the time for empty political gestures. Now is the time for unity. Now is the time for love. And now is the time for action to protect our rights, to stop those with evil in their hearts and to do everything humanly possible to protect our children and to protect our families.”

WATCH:

https://www.dailywire.com/news/ted-cruz-gives-fiery-defense-of-second-amendment-were-not-responding-to-tragedy-by-giving-up-rights?utm_medium=email&utm_source=cnemail&seyid=3949

A Feature, Not a Bug…

In the last two weeks, there have been two mass shootings in the United States, and the second took place this week at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas. These shootings have reignited the regime’s already intense desire for a disarmed populace. Even before the bodies of the dead children had been removed from the school, our mentally diminished President spoke to the nation, demanding that rifles (which he is not even able to accurately describe) be confiscated across a 330 million person country spanning an entire continent. This despicable man, and the legion of sociopathic ghouls arrayed behind him, are clearly overjoyed that there is a classroom full of young children lying dead in Texas. They don’t actually care about the anguish of parents who will never see their child grow up. Their deaths are merely a political prop for the most evil people on the planet.

It is hard to fully comprehend just how totalitarian such designs are. But these are the very same sadistic freaks who successfully locked those 330 million people in their homes for weeks or months, and then (mostly successfully) restricted their ability to provide for their families if they refused to get an extremely dangerous mRNA injection that does not even accomplish its intended purpose. All you are to them is a guinea pig or a rat in a social experiment. You do not matter. Your children do not matter. You only exist to provide them with power.

You must understand that school shooters and other mass shooters are an extremely acute symptom of the disease that horribly afflicts the American nation. You live in an incredibly sick society, and since you are born into it and live in it every day, you go about your life mostly unaware of just how dreadful things really are. It is imperative for the people who manufacture the inversion of reality that you perceive everything through the lens of the now. This is why “The Current Thing” has such memetic power: it attacks reality distortion at its source, where obsession over what is, right now, cuts you off from any sense of historical perspective. In the case of mass shootings, the exclusion of historical perspective keeps the masses from noticing that mass shootings are a very recent phenomenon and that decades ago, when the United States had vastly more liberal gun laws, and anyone could even purchase fully automatic submachine guns in the mail, this never happened. The question you should ask is, why not? What exactly was different about America 90 years ago compared to today?

The answer to that question is fairly obvious. Modern American society is a factory for psychopaths. The young man in the North American Continent is planted in a field fertilized by atomization, loneliness, and hopelessness. Many have never met their father, and most do not have anything remotely close to a “good relationship” with him. Most have no meaningful connection to the community in which they live, nor even the nation they inhabit. In school, they are social outcasts, driven to niche internet communities for the only semblance of human interaction in their lives. They are marinated in hardcore pornography from before they have even reached pubescence. They know (or at least perceive) that they will never know the love of a flesh-and-blood woman. They are on the kind of pharmacological cocktail that any premodern society would only ascribe to witchcraft and demon possession. They have nothing to live for and no one who loves them. Given how many young men our nation is producing like this, the question we ought to be asking is not “why does this happen?” but rather “why does it not happen a lot more?”

America is an incredibly sick nation. There is a spiritual sickness that pervades everything like a dark cloud. The people who dominate every institution in our nation have held this power for at least sixty years. For these sixty years, they have treated this nation as a grand social experiment. They have made the natural family, the very bedrock of human civilization, an antiquated, outdated institution that we have progressed beyond. They have financialized and commodified all of human life, uprooting people from their homes and extended families, and making them mercenaries chasing after a rapidly devalued dollar. They have exported the industry of the nation impoverishing the heartland of the country and leaving them to languish in despair. They actively cheer the deaths and replacement of the hated population, while at the same time denying this was ever their intent. They have introduced racial and ethnic strife, and in the chaos actively undermined rule of law. Sixty years of full-spectrum control by utopian social engineers have transformed the most affluent society in human history into hell on earth.

This did not happen by accident. These people are motivated by a deep hatred of humanity. Like the geriatric that currently occupies the Oval Office who well represents them, they simply do not care how much people suffer. You might think the progressive is merely mistaken, deluded by ideology. This is not the case. They have had more than sixty years to see the full extent of human misery their ideology produces when applied to the healthiest and most prosperous conditions. They know what they are doing.

But what is to be done? The utopian bugmen that dominate our nation must be overcome. You must personally re-capture the same spirit of Christian America that built a great nation. You must do all within your personal sphere of influence to rebuild the things that our enemies have destroyed. You must rebuild churches dominated by liberals and weak-willed conservatives. You must rebuild neighborhoods and communities with people who, like you, love the nation that their great, great-grandparents built and who want to worship the same God who gave them such strength. You must devote your life to both retaking what institutions you can, and creating alternatives for the institutions you can’t. It is not simply enough to decry that the libs have ruined everything—of course they have, they are like cancer! You must have a vision for your people, you must provide for them the thing they have taken away: hope for the future. We can again have the world that the liberal globalist regime has destroyed. A world where the fear of the Triune God pervades the land and not hopelessness and despair. You can have a world where things like mass shootings never happen again, but you must devote yourself to a life of repentance, faith, and an unquenchable passion for the true, good, and beautiful things God has given.

Andrew Isker is the pastor of 4th Street Evangelical Church in Waseca, MN. He is a graduate of Minnesota State University and Greyfriar’s Hall Ministerial Training School, and he has served churches in Missouri, West Virginia, and Minnesota. He is the author of the forthcoming book, The Boniface Option. Andrew, his wife Kara, and their five children reside in his hometown of Waseca, MN. He can be found on Gab @BonifaceOption.

Published in Bold Christian Writing and Uncategorized

Uyghur women are victims of sexual violence under the Chinese regime’s campaign of repression in Xinjiang, regardless of whether they are detained in an internment camp or not, according to Nury Turkel, vice chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.

“They think all the sexual violence that they’re subjecting Uyghur women to, this mysterious drug that they’re giving, forced sterilization, collective punishment through gang rape, are the methods [through which] they are liberating the Uyghur women … just let that sink in,” Turkel recently told Epoch TV’s “American Thought Leaders” program.

According to estimates by researchers, the Chinese regime has detained more than one million Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in internment camps in the far western region of Xinjiang, where they are subjected to torture, rape, forced labor, and political indoctrination. The U.S. government and other Western democracies have labeled Beijing’s actions a genocide.

Turkel, an Uyghur-American and author of the new book “No Escape: The True Story of China’s Genocide of the Uyghurs,” said he interviewed Uyghur survivors who confirmed that guards were always on the lookout for “younger, more vulnerable” female Uyghurs.

There was a “habitual practice” of those women being led out of the cell late at night, he added.

In cases where the rape resulted in a pregnancy, those babies would then be owned by the state and the mothers would disappear, the commissioner said.

“It reminds of the old KGB tactics to make babies and then let them train from the very early age, to be loyal to the Soviet regime,” Turkel said.

“It’s [also] a reminder of how Hitler treated the Jewish woman during the Holocaust,” he added.

Other testimonials Turkel received revealed that Uyghur women were subject to sexual violence even in their own homes when there was no male protection. Chinese cadres claiming to be relatives would invite themselves to stay with these families and some would demand sexual favors, he said.

“This is a wholesale attack … you will live in this fear, surveillance, even at your home. They come to stay with you and intimidate you, even using your children to spy on you,” Turkel said.

The religious freedom commissioner urged the international community to take action to stop the Chinese Communist Party’s crimes.

“If we don’t stop this atrocity, this crime committed against the Uyghurs, it may become a new norm, and they will be used against others, even though some of it has already been in practice.”

He used the Chinese regime’s persecution of Falun Gong practitioners, which has been ongoing for more than two decades, to illustrate this point.

“Falun Gong practitioners were subjected to organ harvesting … and people didn’t pay attention. Now it’s happening to the Uyghurs.”

https://www.theepochtimes.com/uyghur-women-subjected-to-sexual-violence-in-ccps-xinjiang-repression-us-religious-freedom-commissioner_4498979.html?utm_source=News&utm_campaign=breaking-2022-05-29-4&utm_medium=email&est=lvzYyRACH51S2k1bCTQtp5hRxXoRNADTT8GP68noKeHuDqP3FiN1lg3DPkrx1NHq4A%3D%3D

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) husband, Paul Pelosi, was arrested and charged for allegedly driving under the influence of alcohol on Saturday night, according to jail records and reports.

Pelosi, 82, was booked into jail at 4:13 a.m. local time on Sunday, and he was released at 7:26 a.m., according to Napa County records. The records, which included his exact birthdate, indicated that his bail was set for $5,000.

The public booking report said Pelosi faces a charge of violating two provisions under California’s Vehicle Code Section 23152. He was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol and was also charged with having a blood alcohol content of 0.08 percent or more. Both are misdemeanors.

Napa County is located in California’s Bay Area and is near San Francisco, the district that Speaker Pelosi has represented for decades.

Speaker Pelosi and her husband own a vineyard in Napa Valley, according to a 2015 report from the Los Angeles Times, which said the sprawling property was estimated to be worth between $5,000,001 and $25 million. Their property, located in St. Helena on Zinfandel Lane, is located near the Napa River and features a tennis court, according to Google satellite photos.

A spokesperson for Pelosi’s office confirmed that it was aware of the reports, but they told news outlets that the Democrat congresswoman won’t be commenting on the incident. The Epoch Times has contacted her office for comment.

“The Speaker will not be commenting on this private matter which occurred while she was on the East Coast,” the spokesperson said.

Pelosi was in Rhode Island on Sunday afternoon and gave a commencement address to graduates of Brown University. She has not made any public mention of her husband’s arrest.

Other details surrounding the incident were not immediately made available. It’s unclear if Paul Pelosi, who has run venture capital and investment firms, was driving alone when he was arrested.

Nancy and Paul Pelosi have been married since 1963. Paul Pelosi has previously said he’s tried to keep a low profile.

“I’ve made a conscious effort to not be involved or give the appearance of being involved in her political career,” he told the San Francisco Chronicle in 2004. “People should realize that she’s the one.”

Celebrity gossip and entertainment news website TMZ was the first to report on his arrest.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/speaker-nancy-pelosis-husband-arrested-for-dui-in-california_4498957.html?utm_source=News&utm_campaign=breaking-2022-05-29-4&utm_medium=email&est=Crn4pcw0gU7r2ndn9ImJ7NBZjh6L7cIGQ1B6zxcmH85ECjgA6Ft8Pl1wCXwAoDmGBg%3D%3D

At least 21 people were shot, including four fatally, across Chicago from Friday to Sunday morning, officials confirmed.

In one mass shooting incident, five people were seriously wounded after a fight broke out early Sunday morning in the Lawndale neighborhood on Chicago’s West Side. Five people aged 16 to 33 were on a sidewalk on South Karlov Avenue at around 1:30 a.m. when a fight broke out and a shooting ensued, police told local media outlets.

A 16-year-old girl was shot in the back, a male and female—both aged 21—were shot in the arms, a 21-year-old man was shot in the left side of the body, and a 33-year-old male was shot in the face. No suspects have been arrested.

In another part of Chicago, a man whose age is not known was shot and killed in Englewood on the South Side. Officials said he was on a sidewalk on South Carpenter Street when someone shot him in the head and body, according to local media reports.

On Saturday, two males were killed after they opened fire in Englewood at around 5 p.m. on South Bishop Street, police said. After they shot each other, both males were transported to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where they were pronounced dead. One of the shooters was identified as 29-year-old Derrick Washington, authorities said.

Another person was shot and killed on the South Side on Saturday at around 1:30 p.m. on West 63rd Street, according to police. The man’s age and identity were not provided, and no suspect has been taken into custody, police said.

Last weekend, one person was killed and another 26 were wounded in shootings across Chicago, which has among the strictest gun control laws in the United States. In 2022, there have been 899 shooting incidents, according to Chicago Police Department data.

Earlier this month, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said that in response to recent shootings, “I’m not gonna rest, and I know the superintendent and the entire department shares my resolve that we’ve got to do more to give people confidence and make them feel safe because they are safe,” according to local media.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/21-shot-4-dead-across-chicago-over-memorial-day-weekend-police_4498668.html?utm_source=News&utm_campaign=breaking-2022-05-29-3&utm_medium=email&est=jvVQAxakzqs9X2l3doyee7kPSENVFxNlvJDHw6zPWDs57Y6ZpfTnYKWbPghbVD20fA%3D%3D

Don’t believe what you’re being told by the propaganda machine. Facts don’t lie, and it’s now clear that COVID vaccination makes it more likely you’ll die if you are 60 years old or younger, not less likely. Here’s why.

Story at-a-glance

• According to a recent modeling experiment, “Increased contact among vaccinated people can give the false impression that COVID-19 vaccines are not working”
• This rationale is dubious at best, considering the unvaccinated have continuously been accused of not taking COVID seriously and going about their lives as normal, while the “vaccinated” are, by and large, more fearful and take “authorities” advice to heart, which includes avoiding large gatherings and close one-on-one interactions without wearing a face mask
• Many data sources reveal that COVID-jabbed individuals are now getting COVID-19 at far higher rates than the unjabbed. Death rates, both for COVID and other causes, have also risen in tandem with the number of shots administered
• According to an analysis of U.S. data, in September 2021, when Delta was most prominent, 23% of those who died from COVID had received the jab. In January and February 2022, when Omicron started dominating, that percentage jumped to 42%
• Many argue that Omicron was more contagious than Delta, hence the higher death toll. But Omicron was also far milder than Delta, and there’s no reason the jabbed would die at a higher rate from a less lethal variant than a more lethal one, unless the injection made the infection worse
• A preprint study found adult participants in Moderna’s trial who got the real injection and later got a breakthrough infection did not generate antibodies against the nucleocapsid — a key component of the virus — as frequently as did those in the placebo arm. Their anti-nucleocapsid response was also lower regardless of the viral load. As a result of this reduced antibody response, those who got the jab may be more prone to repeated COVID infections

Well, the COVID jab pushers have had to resort to all sorts of obfuscation to hide the fact that the injections don’t work, and now they’re really scraping the bottom of the barrel of excuses. According to a recent Reuters report,¹ “Increased contact among vaccinated people can give the false impression that COVID-19 vaccines are not working.”

This irrational explanation has been levied in response to studies showing COVID-jabbed individuals are getting infected at higher rates than the unjabbed, and there are many such studies.

“These studies are likely to involve statistical errors, particularly if they did not account for different contact patterns among vaccinated versus unvaccinated people,” Korryn Bodner, a research associate in infectious disease modeling in Toronto, told Reuters. Bodner is the first author of a preprint study² posted on medRxiv at the end of April 2022.

Are the Jabbed More Carefree Than the Unvaxxed?

Bodner’s claim is that those who got the jab may be more likely to throw caution to the wind and mingle with others, hence getting infected more frequently, while the unjabbed may be more cautious because they know they’re vulnerable. This rationale is dubious at best, considering:

a) The unvaccinated have continuously been accused of not taking COVID seriously and going about their lives as normal

b) Those who have taken the jab are, by and large, a far more fearful lot; they tend to listen to the “authorities” and take all of their advice to heart, which would include avoiding large gatherings and close one-on-one interactions without wearing a face mask

Check out the following story, reported by Anchorage Daily News:³

“Arianne Bennett recalled her husband, Scott Bennett, saying, ‘But I’m vaxxed. But I’m vaxxed,’ from the Washington hospital bed where he struggled to fight off COVID-19 this winter … Bennett went to get his booster in early December after returning to Washington from a lodge he owned in the Poconos, where he and his wife hunkered down for fall.

Just a few days after his shot, Bennett began experiencing COVID-19 symptoms, meaning he was probably exposed before the extra dose of immunity could kick in. His wife suspects he was infected at a dinner where he and his server were unmasked at times …

‘He was absolutely shocked. He did not expect to be sick. He really thought he was safe,’ Arianne Bennett recalled. ‘And I’m like, ‘But baby, you’ve got to wear the mask all the time. All the time. Up over your nose.’”

Within days of his third dose, he got a serious case of COVID. Yet they blame it on hypothetical exposure to an apparently healthy food server. This kind of irrational reasoning is prevalent among those who got the jabs and who keep going back for more as they are part of the 30% of the population that have been completely brainwashed.

To reiterate what I’ve explained since 2020, asymptomatic spread is likely to be so rare as to be nonexistent.⁴ It was a lie perpetuated to drive up fear and prop up rising “case” rates that didn’t really exist. It’s basic virology that you cannot transmit a virus unless you have a “hot” infection, and if you have an active, transmissible infection, you have symptoms. The symptoms are a sign that your body’s defenses are kicking in to rid itself of the live virus.

No symptoms, no transmission. So, unless the server was feeling sick and went to work anyway, the simplest explanation for Bennett’s demise was the shot itself. And if the server was sick, the fact that Bennett got so ill suggests the shot is ineffective, even at two doses.

The pro-pharma shills want you to believe there are so many confounding variables, we can’t possibly draw any conclusions from data showing the shots don’t work. Yet looking at data from a wide spectrum of sources, all show the same alarming trends. What “confounding factor” could possibly account for ALL of them being misinterpreted?

An Unproven Hypothesis

Reuters⁵ does note that Bodner’s simulations “do not prove that this type of bias affected studies of vaccine effectiveness versus the Omicron variant.” What it does show, according to Bodner, is that “even if vaccines work, increased contact among vaccinated persons can lead to the appearance of the vaccine not working.”

In other words, this is a hypothesis that has yet to be proven. Her modeling suggests it COULD make the jabs appear ineffective IF those who got the jab actually behave very differently from the unjabbed.

But again, it’s highly unlikely that the unvaccinated are avoiding exposure by steering clear of close contacts and crowds to a greater degree than those who got the jab. It’s far more reasonable to suspect that the shots don’t work.

On a side note, Bodner’s study was funded by the Canada COVID-19 Immunity Task Force.⁶ This task force is housed at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, and McGill University is a long-term recipient of grants from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.^7,8,9,10

What Do the Data Say About COVID Jab Effectiveness?

Based on data from around the world, it seems clear that the COVID gene transfer injections are not working. In fact, they’re having the opposite effect of what you’d expect from a real vaccine. According to a Washington Post analysis of state and federal data,¹¹ in September 2021, when Delta was most prominent, 23% of those who died from COVID in the U.S. had received the jab.

In January and February 2022, when Omicron started dominating, that percentage jumped to 42%. In December 2021 and January 2022, just under half of all the COVID patients in intensive care at Kaiser Permanente’s hospital system in Northern California had also received one or more shots.¹²

Many argue that Omicron was more contagious than Delta, hence the higher death toll. But Omicron was also far milder than Delta, so why would the jabbed die at a higher rate from a less lethal variant than a more lethal one?

One attempt at an explanation is that the fatalities are now occurring primarily among the elderly. Nearly two-thirds of those who died from COVID during the Omicron wave were 75 and older. During the Delta wave, 75-year-olds and older accounted for just one-third of the deaths.¹³

But that was the case from the beginning, and it still doesn’t answer the question: Why would old people be more likely to die from a milder virus than a more serious one? To answer that question, the injection pushers revert back to the argument of waning potency. Two-thirds of those who died in January and February 2022 did not have a booster shot. According to Anchorage Daily News:¹⁴

“Experts say the rising number of vaccinated people dying should not cause panic in those who got shots, the vast majority of whom will survive infections. Instead, they say, these deaths serve as a reminder that vaccines are not foolproof and that those in high-risk groups should consider getting boosted and taking extra precautions during surges.”

So, in other words, the jab only works for a handful of months, and then you have to take another. And another. And another. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,¹⁵ the first two doses wear off after five months, necessitating a third dose, and the third dose wears off in just four months, at which time you’re supposed to get dose No. 4.

Israeli data¹⁶ show the effectiveness of shot No. 4 in preventing severe disease declines by 56% in just seven weeks. So, it appears the protection you get from the shots keeps getting shorter with each dose. Meanwhile, data show the shots can render you increasingly susceptible to all manner of infection and disease, through a wide variety of mechanisms.

Moderna Trial Data Reveal Repeated Infections Are Likely

Among such data is a preprint study¹⁷ posted on medRxiv April 19, 2022, which found adult participants in Moderna’s COVID jab trial who got the real injection, and later got a breakthrough infection, did not generate antibodies against the nucleocapsid — a key component of the virus — as frequently as did those in the placebo arm.

Curiously, placebo recipients produced anti-nucleocapsid antibodies twice as often as those who got the Moderna shot, and their anti-nucleocapsid response was larger regardless of the viral load. As a result of this reduced antibody response, those who got the jab may be more prone to repeated COVID infections. As reported by The Defender:¹⁸

“[T]he authors found that using the presence of anti-nucleocapsid (anti-N) antibodies to determine whether a person was exposed to SARS-CoV-2 will miss some infections. Thus, the sensitivity of this kind of test, when applied to vaccinated individuals, is not ideal.

However, there are more important implications^19,20 of these findings … Specifically, the study implies that the reduced ability of a vaccinated individual to produce antibodies to other portions of the virus may lead to a greater risk of future infections in the vaccinated compared to the unvaccinated.

It is important to note that this is not just another argument for the superiority of natural immunity. Rather, this is evidence suggesting that even after a vaccinated person has a breakthrough infection, that individual still does not acquire the same level of protection against subsequent exposures that an unvaccinated person acquires.

This is a troubling finding, and something investigators conducting the Moderna vaccine trial likely knew in 2020.”

UK Data Confirm Results

These findings are corroborated by data from the U.K. Health Security Agency. It publishes weekly COVID-19 vaccine surveillance data, including anti-nucleocapsid antibody levels. The report²¹ for Week 13, issued March 31, 2022, shows that COVID-jabbed individuals with breakthrough infections have lower levels of these antibodies — a finding they attributed to the protective benefit of the shot:

“These lower anti N responses in individuals with breakthrough infections (post-vaccination) compared to primary infections likely reflect the shorter and milder infections in these patients.”

However, this interpretation is likely flawed, because less severe infection is associated with lower viral load, and as the study above demonstrated, the “vaccinated” have lower anti-nucleocapsid antibody levels than the unvaccinated at all viral load levels, but especially so at the lowest viral loads. As noted by The Defender:²²

“This is one of the most significant findings of the study because it overturns the heretofore unchallenged idea that decreased seroconversion in the vaccinated is due to less severe infection in this population — which is a benefit provided by the vaccine.

However, this new study shows that even at low viral loads, the unvaccinated are more likely to seroconvert than those who are vaccinated. In fact, the difference in seroconversion rates is the greatest at lowest viral loads. The decrease in conversion rates is not a result of a benefit from the vaccine. It is a consequence of it.”

Boosted Now Have Three to Four Times Higher Case Rates

The Defender also reviews other U.K. data showing the COVID case rate is three to four times higher among those who have received a booster shot, compared to the unvaccinated. This is true for all age groups with the exception of children under 18:²³

“What could explain such a large increase in infection rates among the boosted? Interestingly, the authors … warn that the unvaccinated may have contracted COVID-19 prior to the observation period — in other words, they may have acquired natural immunity previously, giving them added protection …

But their own data tells the opposite story. The boosted are more likely to contract the disease — by a factor of 3 to 4. How do we know whether the larger infection rates in the boosted are due to more robust immunity in the unvaccinated because of prior infection or due to an immune deficiency in the boosted?

The question can be definitively answered by examining the trend of infection rates [using] … the equivalent table from two months earlier. There is still a greater infection rate among the boosted, but it is only two to three times higher. If the authors’ hypothesis was correct, the more recent data should have shown less of a difference, not more.

If anything, their data support the finding that the decreased seroconversion rates in the vaccinated may be causing a greater risk of repeated infections.”

Walgreens’ Data

Data from the pharmacy chain Walgreens in the U.S. also reveal the same trend — COVID-jabbed individuals are testing positive for COVID at higher rates than the unjabbed, and those who got their last shot five months or more ago have the highest risk.

As you can see in the screenshot from Walgreens’ COVID-19 tracker²⁴ below, during the week of May 9 through 15, 2022, 21.4% of unvaccinated individuals who got tested for COVID got a positive result. Of those who had gotten just one COVID shot, the positivity rate was 26.3%.

Of those who received two doses five months or more ago, 31.3% tested positive, and of those who received a third dose five months or more ago, the positive rate was 32.7%. So, after the first booster shot (the third dose), people are at greatest risk of testing positive for COVID.

More Jabs, More COVID Deaths

Perhaps most disturbing of all are the data showing the COVID shots are raising mortality rates, both from COVID and other causes. Above is an animated illustration²⁵ sourced from Our World In Data, first showing the vaccination rates of South America, North America, Europe and Africa, from mid-December 2020 through the third week of April 2022, followed by the cumulative confirmed COVID deaths per million in those countries during that same timeframe.

Africa has had a consistently low vaccination rate throughout, while North America, Europe and South America all have had rapidly rising vaccination rates. Africa has also had a consistently low COVID mortality rate, although a slight rise began around September 2021. Still, it’s nowhere near the COVID death rates of North America, South America and Europe, all of which saw dramatic increases.

Here’s another one,²⁶ also sourced from Our World In Data, first showing the excess death rate in the U.S. (the cumulative number of deaths from all causes compared to projections based on previous years), between January 26, 2020, and January 30, 2022, followed by an illustration of the tandem rise of vaccine doses administered and the excess mortality rate. It clearly shows that as vaccination rates rose, so did excess mortality.

Risk-Benefit Analyses

We also have the benefit of more than one risk-benefit analysis, and all show that, with very few exceptions, the COVID jabs do more harm than good. A risk-benefit analysis²⁷ by Stephanie Seneff, Ph.D., and independent researcher Kathy Dopp, published in mid-February 2022, concluded that the COVID jab is deadlier than COVID-19 itself for anyone under the age of 80.

Another analysis,²⁸ which relied on data in the U.S. Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS), concluded that in those under age 18, the shots only increase the risk of death from COVID, and there’s no point at which the shot can prevent a single COVID death, no matter how many are vaccinated.If you’re under 18, you’re 51 times more likely to die from the COVID jab than you are to die from COVID if not vaccinated.

If you’re under 18, you’re a shocking 51 times more likely to die from the jab than you are to die from COVID if not vaccinated. In the 18 to 29 age range, the shot will kill 16 for every person it saves from dying from COVID, and in the 30 to 39 age range, the expected number of vaccine fatalities to prevent a single COVID death is 15. Only when you get into the 60 and older categories do the risks between the jab and COVID infection even out.

A third risk-benefit analysis by researchers in Germany and The Netherlands was published in June 2021, in the journal Vaccines.²⁹ The paper caused such an uproar, part of the editorial board resigned in protest.³⁰ The journal retracted the paper, but after a thorough re-review, it was republished in the August 2021 issue of Science, Public Health Policy and the Law.³¹

These researchers concluded that, “as we vaccinate 100 000 persons, we might save five lives but risk two to four deaths.”³² A fourth, still preliminary, analysis — based on more than 1,700 death reports collected by Steve Kirsch — shows the shots do more harm than good in anyone under age 60. Kirsch writes:³³

“Figure 1 below is an analysis of survey data I collected. The analysis shows that the vaccines are harmful to those under 60. The red dots higher than the error bar means more vaccinated people observed dead than expected based on the population of vaccinated to all people.

In other words, if we vaccinated 60% of people (middle of the grey bar) and 70% (red dot) of the deaths are vaccinated, we have a serious problem. The precautionary principle of medicine suggests if you are under 60 and thinking of taking a vaccine, you shouldn’t. These preliminary results are both statistically significant …

The conclusion is very clear: nobody under 60 years old should get the vaccine because there is no evidence of a benefit. In fact, if you are between 40-60, it’s clear that vaccination makes it more likely you’ll die, not less likely.”

Figure 1. Red dot below error bar = vax works. Red dot above error bar = vax likely causes harm. Red dot inside the error bar = Insufficient evidence to justify taking a new, unproven vaccine. Conclusion: Vaccine shouldn’t be considered unless there is a clear benefit. 60 and older seems to justify use based on the data we have so far. Limitations: we are waiting for others to confirm / challenge the analysis. See text³⁴ for more info. Joel Smalley did the analysis.

While some analyses present a direr picture than others, taken together, it’s clear that there appears to be no long term benefits to the COVID jabs. We’re consistently ending up with a higher cost than can conceivably be considered reasonable. The pro-pharma side will likely continue to lob flimsy excuses at the data, but at some point, the truth will be so clear that even the blind will see it. Until that day, continue to inform yourself and share what you find.

Originally published May 26, 2022 on Mercola.com

Sources and References

• ^1, 5 Medscape May 13, 2022
• ² medRxiv April 29, 2022 DOI: 10.1101/2022.04.25.22274266
• ^{3, 11, 12, 13, 14} Anchorage Daily News April 29, 2022
• ⁴ Nature Communications November 20, 2020; 11 Article number 5917
• ⁶ medRxiv April 29, 2022 DOI: 10.1101/2022.04.25.22274266, See funding statement
• ⁷ Gates Foundation Grant to McGill University September 2020
• ⁸ Gates Foundation Grant to McGill University April 2020
• ⁹ McGill International Funding Sources
• ¹⁰ McGill newsroom December 17, 2015
• ¹⁵ CDC COVID-19 Vaccine Booster Shots
• ¹⁶ The Defender April 7, 2022
• ¹⁷ medRxiv April 19, 2022 DOI: 10.1101/2022.04.18.22271936
• ^18, 22, 23 The Defender May 4, 2022
• ¹⁹ Igor’s Newsletter April 26, 2022
• ²⁰ Bad Cattitude Substack April 27, 2022
• ²¹ UK Health Security Agency COVID-19 Vaccine Surveillance Report Week 13
• ²⁴ Walgreens COVID-19 Index
• ²⁵ Twitter TexasLindsay April 23, 2022
• ²⁶ Twitter TexasLindsay April 25, 2022
• ²⁷ COVID-19 and All-Cause Mortality Data Analysis by Kathy Dopp and Stephanie Seneff (PDF)
• ²⁸ COVID Vaccination and Age-Stratified All-Cause Mortality Risk (PDF)
• ²⁹ Vaccines 2021; 9(7): 693
• ³⁰ Science, Public Health Policy and the Law August 2021; 3: 81-86, page 82
• ³¹ Science, Public Health Policy and the Law August 2021; 3: 87-89
• ³² Clinical and Translational Discovery February 25, 2022; 2(1): e35
• ^33, 34 Steve Kirsch Substack May 17, 2022

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No doubt that the Buffalo shooting is tragic and motivated by hate, but retired Vanderbilt University professor Carol M. Swain believes we need to address the underlying issues that create this type of hate and division. She said our leaders need to bring people together by promoting an American identity instead of pushing identity politics.

“In that book, “The New White Nationalism,” I argue that we needed to reject identity politics and multiculturalism,” Swain said during an interview with NTD’s Capitol Report. “In America, we need to focus on the American national identity. And I think that that is where we need to be.”

“I think we are responsible, that because we are not addressing issues and grievances and problems in a way that brings people together, we are creating an atmosphere where these types of incidents will continue to occur,” Swain said.

On May 14, Payton Gendron, an 18-year-old white male, shot and killed 10 at a supermarket and left three injured; 11 who were shot were black. Gendron described himself as a white supremacist.

According to the manifesto Gendron posted online, he said he chose Buffalo because of strict laws governing gun ownership there and because it has a large black population.

Swain said the Buffalo incident should be looked at in the context of broader hate crimes. She also thinks that there needs to be less focus on inclusion, equity initiatives, and the differences among groups, and a greater focus on what unites us as Americans.

“What happened was tragic. But we also need to look at the subway incident, we also need to look at the hate crimes that take place involving other groups. And we need to look at ourselves and our leaders and how they’re responding,” Swain said.

“Right now, we have the critical race theory, the diversity, equity, inclusion being pushed upon the population in a way that divides people, it creates racial animosity and hatred.”

Swain said political leaders are stoking divisions and allowing those on the left who vandalized business and federal buildings in the 2020 riots to get away with violence.

“As long as politicians see political advantage to dividing people along racial lines, I think you’re going to have young people, you know, that have grievances, and they see racial double standards, and they get angrier and angrier,” Swain said.

“What we find is that, in this environment, the political parties are divided to a large extent. The Democrats see political advantage to dividing people along racial and ethnic lines. And with the Republicans, they’re too afraid to stand up.”

A crucial step toward building unity is allowing for free speech and open dialogue, she said.

“Unfortunately, we have created a society where people can’t talk. We would be much better off if we could talk freely,” said Swain.

“If we stood up for principles, old-fashioned Judeo-Christian principles, as well as the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution, if we kept taking things back to principled responses, then I think there would be less animosity,” she added.

President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden went to Buffalo to visit the community that lost loved ones in the shooting. In his speech, the president called the shooting in Buffalo an act of “domestic terrorism,” invoked the Jan. 6 incident, and lumped the two together under the banner of white supremacy.

Swain called Biden’s remarks “pandering” saying, “When I look at Jan. 6, [it] has nothing to do with this young man in Buffalo, absolutely nothing.”

The vast majority of Jan. 6 protesters said that they were at the Capitol to voice their objection to the 2020 election irregularities and lack of election integrity.

‘They only care about certain deaths’

The left’s push for more gun control omit the many cases that go against their narrative, such as instances where guns were used to neutralize shooters, according to Erich Pratt, the senior vice president of Gun Owners of America (GOA), a gun rights advocacy organization that represents more than 2 million Americans.

“The left is all about pushing gun control. It’s absolutely disgusting what they’re doing. They’re pushing gun control, they’re fundraising off of this within hours of the shooting,” Pratt told NTD’s Capitol Report, referring to the May 24 shooting that killed 21 people at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.

“And really, it’s despicable because it becomes clear they only care about certain deaths,” he said.

Politicians and activists pushing for gun control neglect to talk about cities that already have the policies they want to implement for the entire nation, he said.

“For example, more than 40 people have been shot and killed in Chicago this month. In the last 30 days, in Baltimore, there had been 20 people shot and killed. But the left is not talking about that. They’re not fundraising off of Chicago or Baltimore because they already have very strict gun control,” Pratt noted.

“Those cities don’t serve their cause—[they] have red-flag, gun confiscation orders, they have universal background registration checks, they have so-called assault weapons bans, they have everything that the left is trying to push on us, and yet they have murders out the wazoo in those two cities that they can’t control it.

“And what that tells us, obviously, is that gun control is not the answer,” he said.

Pratt noted examples of past deadly attacks that did not involve guns, and said that blaming a certain instrument for mass attacks is “short-sighted because no law that bans a certain object is going to stop an evil-determined heart from killing.”

“What’s amazing, and this is one of the things that the anti-gun left does, is they only talk about certain uses of a firearm, which fit their narrative when they’re used in a bad way. But then they won’t talk about firearms when they’re actually used to stop mass shootings,” Pratt said.

Pratt noted how, on May 25, the day after the mass shooting in Uvalde, a woman with a concealed carry permit in West Virginia shot and killed a man who had started firing an AR-style rifle into a crowd of people at a birthday-graduation party.

He accused the left-wing media of generating opposition to people’s Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms “by only selectively talking about certain stories,” and neglecting stories that show how guns may be used to avert more deaths.

“A lot of times where there has been a lot of killing … they are brought to an end by a good guy with a gun,” he said.

Pratt shared the story of Stephen Willeford, who is currently GOA’s spokesperson. As an armed citizen, Willeford in November 2017 stopped a shooter at a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, from potentially killing more people.

“Sadly, everyone at that church in Sutherland Springs did not have a gun on that day except for the bad guy,” Pratt said. “But when Steven Willeford, who lived down the street heard the shooting, he ran out of his house barefoot with his AR-15 [and] called the guy out of the church. That guy came out and Steven mortally wounded him.”

“I mean, the guy got in his car, drove off but eventually took his own life because he was wounded so bad,” he continued. “The FBI cited that case and many other cases as examples where armed citizens use guns to stop attempted mass murders.”

Pratt argued against the concept of gun-free zones, saying they only serve to be places where shooters seek to go. The Uvalde shooting was an example of that, he noted.

“It’s really important to point out that in most cases, these killers will try to seek out a location where it’s a gun-free zone. You know, 81 percent of police agree that teachers and staff should be armed, and with good reason because no school has ever had a mass shooting where there were armed teachers and staff,” he said.

“But tragically, that wasn’t the case at the Texas School. Police were reportedly not quick to rush in. And this Texas school didn’t take part in the program that allows teachers to be armed, so it was a gun-free zone.

“And again, that’s what killers often choose to target. And why would 94 percent of mass shooters target gun-free zones? Because they don’t want bullets being fired back at them.

“That’s why they don’t target police stations or gun shows because killers love gun control. And sadly, that’s what enabled this killer in Texas.”

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Elon Musk called out former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates again for shorting Tesla’s stock, casting doubts on his goodwill in fighting climate change given the latter’s multi-billion-dollar bet against the electric carmaker.

In a series of Twitter posts, Musk disclosed Gates’ short position would now require up to $2 billion to close out. The position was initially $500 million before the business “went up a lot,” according to the Tesla CEO.

The share price of Tesla has seen a 20-fold increase since 2019, from $37 a share back in 2019 to the current trading value at around $760 per each, reaching an all-time high late last year of $1,222 per share, a 30-fold increase.

“Since Gates still has a multi-billion dollar short position against Tesla while claiming to help with global warming, I guess I have some trust issues with him too,” Musk wrote on May 27.

It was $500M, but then Tesla went up a lot, so now it’s $1.5B to $2B to close it out

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 28, 2022

It is not the first time for him to question Gates’s commitment to help to address climate challenges, as the later has been betting on the Musk-operated electric vehicle company’s stock prices dropping. Musk previously had confirmed a leaked text exchange with Gates, unveiling that the former world’s richest person admitted to short-selling Tesla shares. According to the conversation record, Musk turned down the other’s request “to discuss philanthropy possibilities.”

“Sorry, but I cannot take your philanthropy on climate change seriously when you have a massive short position against Tesla, the company doing the most to solve climate change,” Musk said.

Gates’s media relations team didn’t respond to a request for comment by press time.

“I don’t think whether one’s short or long Tesla is a statement about your seriousness about climate change,” Gates told The Wall Street Journal in early May. “I applaud Tesla’s role in helping with climate change,” he added, but did not not directly address his Tesla short position.

The billionaire also approves of Musk’s potential impact on Twitter, suggesting that the latter’s plan to purchase the platform would allow for more so-called misinformation to proliferate. “That’s not his track record,” Gates told the Wall Street Journal.

The Tesla CEO has said he would restore free speech to the platform that he described as having “a very far-left bias” and vowed to stop what he calls “woke mind virus.”

Musk’s recent remarks followed a now-closed Twitter poll, asking his followers whether they trust billionaires or politicians less. The result was nearly 76 percent of the 3.4 million respondents voting that they trust politicians less.

Some users then started targeting other billionaires in reply. One asked if he thought Amazon founder Jeff Bezos was “(generally) a good person?”

“He’s fine,” Musk wrote in response, but called for more effort from his rival on the ongoing space race, and “less partying.”

Bezos previously questioned whether Twitter will fall under the influence of Beijing, hours after Musk secured a $44 billion buyout of the social media firm.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/musk-raises-trust-issues-on-bill-gates-multi-billion-dollar-bet-against-tesla_4498372.html?utm_source=News&utm_campaign=breaking-2022-05-29-2&utm_medium=email&est=vd1rjKimQ06BEhYuWN7xuEEgjDKiyvDf5Jkk%2FJe4mvqkam3O9q8rZK4u9MTmAqruLw%3D%3D

A top Republican said on Friday that President Joe Biden is raising gas prices on purpose.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) made the remarks when he was asked on Fox Business’s “Wall Street with Maria Bartiromo” to respond to Biden’s recent comments where he said raising gas prices is part of “an incredible transition.”

“I think that’s the main takeaway from his statement, that he is telling the American people they’re doing this to you on purpose, that the transition period is being imposed by policies coming from the Biden administration,” he said.

“This is a conscious effort by the Biden administration to destroy fossil fuel production in the United States, to get away from fossil fuels, and you’re living this experience. This is an irresponsible shutting down of oil and gas production in America, making us more dependent on oil and gas from bad actors, and it’s destroying the American economy,” he continued.

Biden characterized the soaring cost of gasoline in the United States as an “incredible transition” on Monday while taking questions from reporters during his trip to Japan.

“When it comes to the gas prices, we’re going through an incredible transition that is taking place that, God willing, when it’s over, we’ll be stronger and the world will be stronger and less reliant on fossil fuels when this is over,” he said alongside Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

The comment came as the national average cost of a gallon of gas sat at a record-high $4.596, with several states paying more than $6.00.

Biden went on to take credit for gas prices not being “even worse.”

“What I’ve been able to do to keep it from getting even worse—and it’s bad,” he said.

His comments were widely denounced by Republicans.

Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) criticized Biden for being “completely out of touch with everyday Americans.”

Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel released a statement the following day blaming the Biden administration for the continually elevated cost of gas.

“Another day, another new record high gas price in Biden’s America,” the statement reads. “Joe Biden doesn’t care about the historic inflation and skyrocketing gas prices families are facing every day as a result of his failed agenda. The pain is the point for Biden and Democrats, and Americans will continue to suffer as long as Biden is in charge.”

Biden and other senior administration officials have continually blamed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine for the inflated gas prices. In response to the invasion on Feb. 24, the United States and many of its Western allies put a halt to all imports of Russian oil and gas.

While the cost of gas did spike dramatically after Russia invaded Ukraine in February, it had already been rising steadily throughout Biden’s first year in office. After the sanctions, the price leveled off before increasing to new record highs in recent weeks.

Nick Ciolino contributed to the report.

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Non-scientific speculation regarding monkeypox is being used by the World Health Organization (WHO) to “justify further human rights violations” with a rollout of new, experimental vaccines, claims the World Council for Health (WCH), an independent nonprofit initiative.

There is no rational scientific basis for vaccinating people for smallpox in order to prevent the spread of monkeypox, according to the Council in a statement released Friday. The organization said that old photos from CDC archives and Getty Images, used to circulate a notion regarding the disease, is “not representative of current international cases of monkeypox.”

WCH referenced a post by Alliance for Natural Health (ANH) International, a UK-based non-profit organization founded in 2002 by Robert Verkerk, in the statement.

“Whether monkeypox gathers momentum or dwindles, its timing is ideal to justify further support for global, centralized health governance orchestrated by the WHO through the International Health Regulations and the WHO ‘pandemic treaty,’” said Verkerk in the May 25 article.

Verkerk says that case definitions of monkeypox “are set up perfectly to mask” COVID-19 vaccine injury symptoms such as the increasing prevalence of shingles following the inoculation jab.

The WHO’s original descriptions of smallpox pustules, according to a document from 1973, differs from pictures circulated by the media at present, which signifies inconsistency, claims Verkerk.

While smallpox peaked around the 1950s, it was virtually eradicated in 1980 globally.

However, the WHO is gearing up for a worldwide rollout of next-generation smallpox vaccines that will likely be justified by “health authorities despite a lack of evidence of safety,” especially when it interacts with “genetic vaccines” like that of COVID, said Verkerk.

Monkeypox requires clinical diagnosis and a PCR test will have serious limitations and could “lead to many false-positive cases,” noted the WCH statement. The current case definition of a suspected monkeypox case also includes conditions found in COVID-19, the common cold, and shingles.

“The biggest threat to global health is the ongoing effort of the WHO and its private partners to vaccinate every man, woman, and child with new experimental vaccines and injections that have not been adequately tested,” from the WCH statement.

Based on data from the CDC, the United States has registered 12 cases of monkeypox as of May 27.

People who may carry symptoms of the disease must contact their health care provider, including those who have traveled to central or west African countries and parts of Europe where monkeypox cases have been reported, as well as men who regularly have close or intimate contact with other men.

There is no specific treatment approved for monkeypox virus infections at present, according to the CDC, and prognosis for infected individuals depends on multiple factors like “previous vaccination status, initial health status, concurrent illnesses, and comorbidities.”

https://www.theepochtimes.com/who-using-monkeypox-to-justify-human-rights-violations-with-experimental-vaccines-world-council-for-health_4497664.html?utm_source=News&utm_campaign=breaking-2022-05-28-4&utm_medium=email&est=xKxhp3mQO%2FepzlyZVWtxxDU0F3wpWG8ZXH5mZtxoWdvxfiDTJJ1lkIE27%2Fs9pmCctA%3D%3D

Military service demands sacrifice. Members must accept time away from family, discomfort during training and active duty, and they must have a willingness to give their all; lay down their life.

But since 2021, military members who refused to take the COVID-19 shot for religious reasons have been told that they must also sacrifice either their faith or their career, discharge reputation, and any future benefits they may have been banking on.

In the waning days of the pandemic, all branches of the U.S. military are still denying religious exemptions that would allow those who object to the shots for religious reasons to continue to serve. More than 24,000 service members have filed a Religious Accommodation Request and have been denied, according to the Liberty Counsel, which is pushing forward with a class certification for a lawsuit that will include members of all six military branches, including the Space Force.

There are at least nine suits across the nation attempting to help the unvaccinated faithful keep their jobs.

“It is abusive. It is inhumane. It is an intentional purge of people of faith from the military by the Biden administration,” Mat Staver, attorney and chairman of the Liberty Counsel, told The Epoch Times. He notes numerous ways the military has relaxed its COVID mitigation, such as housing Marines at the Parris Island barracks who are COVID negative and COVID positive together. “We know across the board that you’re having various platoons that are being dismantled and are not being rebuilt because they don’t have people to staff. We know that recruitment is down. People are not coming into the military because the morale is at an all-time low. So that’s why I say in light of all of this, why are [there] still mandates?”

In response to the Jan. 6, 2021 rally at the U.S. Capitol that has been characterized as an insurrection of extremists, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, in February 2021, directed military leaders to address extremism within the troops. Austin’s office did not respond to a request for comment for this story.

“He wanted to purge the military. He was referring to people like those coming out of Jan. 6, but I think his definition is broader than that,” Staver said. He believes people of faith are also being targeted.

It has caused some military members to reevaluate who the enemy is.

“We’ve had high ranking people tell us, ‘We were prepared to fight the enemy. We were not prepared to fight our own government over this issue of religious exemptions.’”

Staver says those seeking religious exemption from the shot are facing immense pressure.

One client, a one-star brigadier general who has served more than 20 years, wasn’t ready to retire, but she could. She doesn’t want the shot for religious reasons. Instead of letting her retire with honor now, she must first take the shot. No shot would mean dishonorable discharge and a loss of benefits.

“We have people that are deployed in Korea or Japan,” Staver said. “We have many of these stories. One was sent to Korea for a year on a company deployment. He was supposed to come home in December of 2021. But because he asked for a religious exemption, they’ve frozen him in Korea. They won’t let him come back to see his wife and his 10-month-old son.” He’s never seen his son who was born while he served far from home. “His wife is very distraught. He tells us there’s no end in sight for him to be able to come home. They’re saying, ‘You’re not going to be able to leave and go home until you take the shot.’ And they’re doing that all over the world. I can tell you story after story after story.”

Staver knows of unvaccinated people who are kicked out of the barracks. They are not getting reimbursed for housing. Some are living in their cars.

And he tells of the military moving people’s belongings to the opposite coast as they were being redeployed to a different part of the country. Their furniture and other belongings end up frozen in the wrong place.

“This is the kind of pressure that they’re applying,” Staver said. “What the chaplains continue to say is they’ve never seen this kind of abuse and mistreatment of service members.”

He says morale is at an all-time low, and many who have spent their life serving have told him they would no longer recommend a military career to young people.

“At a time when we need the military at its strongest, Biden has weakened it. People who have been around for 18, 20, 25 years—you can’t replace those people very easily. Some of them are just irreplaceable. And they’re willing to kick them out.”

While the decision to decline the shot is personal, those who are asking for exemptions from the shot want Americans to understand their fight is a matter of liberty for all.

“These guys are metaphorically in a trench fighting to preserve the freedoms of being able to live out our convictions,” Megan, an Air Force wife at Offutt Air Force Base near Omaha, Nebraska, told The Epoch Times. Her last name is being withheld as they are trying to keep her husband’s job. “These guys want to live out their convictions and still be able to do their job. Why is it a mutually exclusive thing? You can no longer serve God and your country? How did this happen? How did we get here?”

https://www.theepochtimes.com/us-military-intentionally-purging-people-of-faith-via-covid-shot-liberty-counsel_4496238.html?utm_source=News&utm_campaign=breaking-2022-05-28-4&utm_medium=email&est=oRaRDZPZJfstZmB2JdwJBMKqbJJfNwBoeg7e3RNHGT3IDbEix4vsuMWdPaO3Gx5Rsw%3D%3D

The Small Business Administration (SBA) had no plan to address fraud in its nearly trillion-dollar Paycheck Protection Program, according to the agency’s inspector general.

The SBA “did not have an organizational structure” to handle potential fraud for the PPP program, which allowed businesses to receive forgivable loans from the federal government if they kept their staff amid the pandemic, according to Inspector General Hannibal Ware. The report, published Thursday, details how the agency altered its loan review process over time but was still unable to establish defined roles on how to counter fraud.

“The agency did not establish a centralized entity to design, lead, and manage fraud risk,” the report states.

PPP was established in March 2020 as a part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act. Former president Donald Trump extended the program until May 2021. Borrowers submitted applications for PPP through the Small Business Administration, which then delegated approval and distribution to its certified lenders across the country.  The loans totaled $799.8 billion to roughly 5,500 private lenders, according to the report. But experts say as much as $80 billion may be fraudulent loans.

“It is the biggest fraud in a generation,” Matthew Schneider, a former U.S. attorney, told NBC News.

The report comes amid historic inflation levels, which experts attribute at least in part to trillions in government spending amid the pandemic, including the PPP program. The Small Business Administration, however, omitted any mention of inflation from its proposed budget for 2023, the Washington Free Beacon reported earlier this month.

The exact amount of fraud is unknown, but the Department of Justice has prosecuted several PPP fraudsters, including a man who submitted false applications to steal $27 million. Labor unions also raked in at least $37 million in forgivable loans they were ineligible to receive, the Free Beacon reported.

Republicans on the House Committee on Small Business have in recent months sent a series of letters to SBA administrator Isabella Guzman demanding answers on how the agency is addressing PPP fraud. Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (R., Mo.), the committee’s ranking member, said the inspector general’s report confirmed his fears about the agency’s incompetence.

“It is clear to me the SBA under President Biden has failed to protect these federal dollars thus hurting both the American taxpayer and our struggling small businesses across the country,” Luetkemeyer told the Free Beacon. “The SBA clearly cannot manage this critical task.”

The SBA did not respond to a request for comment.

https://freebeacon.com/coronavirus/small-business-administration-had-no-plan-to-stop-billions-of-dollars-in-loan-fraud-report-finds/

Rampant inflation dooms the incumbent, vindicates right-wing economic theories, and sets back the post-war liberal welfare project a generation. Those are not the words of a Wall Street Journal editorial, but of Joe Biden.

They came during an interview in 1987, at the early stages of Biden’s first presidential run. At the time, he lamented voters’ disillusionment with government and large spending proposals associated with the New Deal and Great Society. The skyrocketing inflation that defined the presidencies of Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Jimmy Carter, according to Biden, sparked a suspicion of government.

“Government was making the wrong decisions,” Biden told the Atlantic. “As much as 5 or 6 percentage points on the inflation rate were due to oil. Another 5 percent was due to Vietnam. And so you have 10 or 11 percent on top of the inflation that had accumulated since 1932, as conservatives had predicted, and BAM—everything’s gone.”

If those conditions sound familiar, it’s because they are. Inflation is the highest it’s been in 40 years—driven in part by the war in Ukraine, rising oil prices, and an unprecedented amount of federal spending—and it risks completely sinking Biden’s presidency just as they sank Carter’s.

Yet the Biden of the 1970s and the Biden of 2022 might as well be two different people, with the latter challenging economic orthodoxy and alleging that new entitlements and stimulus in the form of Build Back Better will actually bring consumer prices down. As a young, reform-minded senator in the 1970s, Biden introduced bills to slash tens of millions of dollars from what believed were ineffective and useless federal agencies and insisted the only way out of America’s stagflation nightmare was massive spending cuts. His 180-degree change reflects the leftward lurch of a Democratic Party and White House staffed with ideologues (many of whom never lived through the 1970s) able to convince a nearly 80-year-old president that everything he once understood about how the economy worked was completely wrong.

“The taxpayers of this country have been charged $52 million to support 1,500 advisory committees, despite the fact that 397 of these committees have never even met and another 891 have never produced a single report,” Biden said in 1975.

Those positions earned praise from such then-conservative-leaning publications as U.S. News & World Report, which wrote that lawmakers such as Biden “are increasingly disillusioned with Great Society-type programs.”

Biden agreed with that assessment: “We newer liberal Democrats are rejecting the theory of our more senior colleagues, which was that if you spend enough money you can solve any problem,” Biden said in 1972.

Democrats, according to Biden in 1974, had lost focus on who their main constituency should be: the middle class. The persistent inflation that defined that decade convinced the average working man who makes “$12,000 a year” (around $70,000 today) that “he’s been had.” Poor Americans, Biden said, had received an inordinate amount of attention from lawmakers.

When angry truckers appeared in 1973 in Washington, D.C., as part of their nationwide effort to shut down transit in protest of rising gas prices, Biden was one of the few lawmakers who met with them. His appearance at the protest set him apart from more liberal members of the Democratic Party—then-senator George McGovern (S.D.), a former presidential candidate and supposed ally of labor, was nowhere to be found—and helped Biden paint an image of himself as a pragmatist.

A year and a half into his first presidential term, Biden has been dogged by criticism that he’s not doing enough to lower gas prices (as well as by an angry trucking industry with grievances that his White House refuses to acknowledge). Critics point to shutting down pipelines and failing to renew oil licenses on federal lands.

After reviewing then-president Gerald Ford’s budget, Biden expressly attacked the White House for not doing enough to address high gas prices and for its tax hikes on corporations, arguing there were better ways to cool demand. During a Senate hearing in 1974, Biden chastised liberals for forgetting “the vast resources of the ocean and their importance to us … [which] range from lobsters to oil.”

Although Biden called for some tax hikes on the margins, his plan to curb inflation was defined mostly by spending cuts. During his Senate reelection campaign in 1978, Biden took out a full-page advertisement in the News Journal, one of the largest newspapers in his home state of Delaware, to promote his “sunset bill” that would force “a thorough and complete review of federal spending programs every four years … [that] would automatically end a program that wasn’t proved useful or effective.”

The News Journal Tue Oct 24… by Washington Free Beacon

“The spiraling costs of inflation are ripping into the fabric of American society,” the ad reads. “We must bring these problems under control and the first place to start is with the cost of government.”

Biden’s earliest days in the Senate were defined by bills to reduce federal spending. One of the first bills he introduced was to cap pay raises for all federal employees and block automatic cost-of-living adjustments.

By 1978, Biden said he earned the moniker one of the country’s “stingiest senators.” His bills targeted the budgets of the Department of Labor and what was then called the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. He criticized the welfare system as “wasteful” and said it largely functioned as a way “to build political patronage.”

“I plan to keep chopping away—cutting wherever I can—so that eventually, we’re going to bring the monstrous federal budget under control,” Biden said during his first term in the Senate. “It’ll take time, but I know we can do it. We must.”

By 1979, the federal budget deficit was roughly $40.7 billion. In 2022, the federal budget deficit neared $1.4 trillion—an increase of $500 billion since 2019. In 1978, the inflation rate sat at 7.59 percent. Today, it sits at 8.5 percent.

A Gallup poll taken in April 1978—a year and a half into Carter’s term—found that just 39 percent of voters approved of the then-president’s job performance, with the firm concluding that the economy was responsible for Carter’s 9-point drop in one month. In April 2022, Gallup found that 41 percent of voters approved of Biden’s job as president, with a majority concerned about the economy.

One month before the 1978 midterms, Carter gave a televised address to the country on the state of the economy. In a rhetorical maneuver that Biden has also employed, Carter championed the improving labor market and pointed to rising inflation rates across the world.

“We know that government is not the only cause of inflation,” Carter said. “But it is one of the causes, and government does set an example. Therefore, it must take the lead in fiscal restraint.”

Those speeches, like many Carter gave during his only term in the White House, did little to reassure the public. Democrats would end up losing 3 seats in the Senate and 15 in the House.

Although Democrats did not lose control of either chamber of Congress, several Republicans who later led a conservative policy revolution, including Newt Gingrich, gained power. Carter, who afterwards attempted a pivot to the center, in 1980 faced a primary challenge from the left and then lost in the general election to Ronald Reagan.

Confronted with a similarly plummeting approval rating and a grim midterm cycle, party insiders are already speculating on who might replace Biden on the top of the ticket in 2024. An adviser to socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.), Biden’s former left-wing rival, said recently Sanders has not ruled out another presidential run.

In a National Journal interview conducted nearly a decade after the 1978 midterms, Biden reflected on the political problems that plagued Democrats.

“There is a consistent pattern that crept into the Democratic Party in the late 1960s and through the 1970s: We forgot who our people were,” Biden said. “The moral business of this country is not the way liberals think of it.”

https://freebeacon.com/politics/how-biden-stopped-worrying-and-learned-to-love-inflation/

Former vice president Al Gore runs a $36 billion investment fund dedicated to environmental and social sustainability. The “mission-led firm” that claims to “seek transformational change needed in climate and social action” has investments in companies that profit from Chinese slave labor and help the Chinese Communist Party censor the internet.

Generation Investment Management, which Gore formed in 2004, has stakes in Tencent, Anta, and Alibaba, according to its investment reports. Tencent, a tech conglomerate, routinely censors the internet at the behest of the Chinese Communist Party and has surveilled foreign users of its WeChat messaging app. Anta, a sports apparel company, has faced accusations of using cotton sourced from labor camps in Xinjiang. Alibaba, which operates China’s equivalent to Google, has links to the People’s Liberation Army.

Generation’s investments are part of a growing trend of firms touting social justice causes while profiting off companies that aid the authoritarian regime in Beijing. Coca-Cola, Delta, and Major League Baseball came under fire last year for criticizing voting laws in Georgia while raking in billions of dollars from China. The baseball league pulled its All-Star Game from Atlanta over the voting laws, but days later signed a licensing agreement with Tencent. The league entered the deal even though Tencent had blocked NBA games from airing in China because a league executive defended pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong.

Gore has followed a similar playbook. He accused Republicans last year of passing “truly un-American” voting laws while he profited from investments in China, which is led by unelected Communist Party bureaucrats.

Generation defends its Chinese investments on the grounds that the companies have pledged to curtail carbon emissions. The firm also cites the companies’ “significantly higher upside” than other investments in its portfolio.

Generation has worked closely with Tencent and Alibaba for years to develop its carbon emissions standards. The companies “have leapfrogged Western peers” by announcing plans to have net-zero carbon emissions by 2030, Generation said in a letter to shareholders last month. Generation voted to reelect Yang Siu Shun to the Tencent board of directors last year. Yang is a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, a political advisory committee for the Chinese government and Chinese Communist Party.

Generation likes Anta because of its “successful brand platform, excellent management team, and long runway for growth.” But Gore’s firm is well aware of longstanding concerns about the apparel giant’s link to slave labor.

“Sustainable investing can at times raise challenging issues, and we have recently been grappling with one at Anta Sports,” Generation said in its investor letter, acknowledging allegations that the apparel maker uses cotton made from slave labor in China’s Xinjiang province. Generation said it has discussed the issue with Anta management, and says the company is “well-intentioned” in its purported efforts to remove slave labor from its supply chain.

“In these situations, there can be a temptation to divest and move on,” the letter reads. “We believe this is the wrong thing to do with a management team that is engaged and well-intentioned, and where we feel our ownership can help to deliver change.”

Its claim notwithstanding, Anta has rebuffed calls from human rights groups to leave Xinjiang, where the Chinese government carries out genocide against Muslim Uyghurs. And in a particularly bold move, Anta said last year it uses cotton from Xinjiang and will continue to do so.

Gore’s compromise on Chinese firms for the sake of environmental sustainability bears similarity to another failed Democratic presidential candidate. John Kerry, the Biden administration’s climate czar, has refused to criticize China over human rights abuses out of concerns it would derail climate talks with Beijing. And like Gore, he has investments in controversial Chinese firms, including one linked to labor abuses against Uyghurs.

Both Gore and Kerry are in Davos, Switzerland, this week for the World Economic Forum. The annual conclave has long drawn criticism for attendees who fly on private jets halfway across the globe to lament the effect of climate change.

https://freebeacon.com/democrats/inconvenient-truth-al-gores-woke-firm-invests-in-chinese-slave-labor/

The mullahs in Tehran are now only weeks away from producing weapons grade uranium as Iran’s proxies menace our Middle Eastern allies.

A hearing with the Biden administration’s special envoy for Iran, Rob Malley, shed light this week on how we’ve arrived here. In testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday, Malley’s exchanges with lawmakers made clear that while the Treasury Department has sanctioned individuals and entities for a variety of bad behavior, it has not enforced so-called secondary sanctions—which remain in force—against China, the largest purchaser of Iranian oil, allowing money to continue to flow into the mullahs’ coffers.

Iran can survive without access to the U.S. economy, but China would never take that risk: A U.S. crackdown would compel swift compliance by the Chinese. The Trump administration weighed this get-out-of-jail free card for China and decided against it. The Biden administration has taken a different tack: That’s why, in April, as Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Bob Menendez pointed out, Iran sold on average 650,000 barrels of oil to China per day. The result, he said, has been “a flood of cash for the regime—tens of millions of dollars a day.”

But Malley is passing the buck. He would like Congress to believe that Iran’s predations are the result of the Trump’s administration and its policy of “maximum pressure.”

“Rather than compelling Iran to make concessions, the prior administration’s maximum-pressure campaign resulted in Iran’s maximum non-nuclear violations,” Malley said this week, referring to the spike in Iranian-orchestrated attacks on oil tankers, Saudi infrastructure, and U.S. bases that began a year after Trump withdrew the United States from Obama’s nuclear deal.

What he left out is that those operations largely stopped after Trump ordered the killing of Iran’s top general, Qassem Soleimani, in 2020, and that Iran only began the process of producing the highly enriched uranium suitable for a weapon after Biden assumed office in 2021. The mullahs also withdrew from an agreement with the United Nations’ atomic watchdog to allow full access for the agency’s inspectors to its program, fired ballistic missiles dangerously close to the U.S. consulate in northern Iraq, and dropped a drone on a U.S. outpost in Syria.

Meanwhile, as Malley and company desperately try to revive the Obama administration’s failed nuclear deal, it’s no mystery why the Iranians refuse even to meet the American delegation. Why would they? Biden won’t enforce the sanctions meant to pressure them to comply with the 2015 agreement.

Call it minimum pressure. The only silver lining is that, as Malley told the Senate panel, he is “not particularly optimistic” that the Biden administration can salvage the deal.

That’s no surprise, given that the Biden administration stopped enforcing the most crippling sanctions before the negotiations even started, and should Israel fail to halt Iran’s march to a nuclear bomb, Malley’s fingerprints—and Joe Biden’s—will be on the fuse.

https://freebeacon.com/biden-administration/on-iran-bidens-minimum-pressure-campaign-comes-home-to-roost/

Joe Biden’s Chief Climate Officer and Deputy Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development was a fellow at the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship, founded by World Economic Forum Chairman Klaus Schwab.

The prominent position of the Biden Appointee, Gillian Caldwell, gives her considerable direction over the White House’s energy and climate change policy, which the World Economic Forum (WEF) has highlighted as an integral component of its “Great Reset” agenda. In addition to exploiting COVID-19, the WEF has been accused of using issues like the environment to advance its radical agenda of abolishing private property ownership.

Caldwell was a Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship Fellow in 2001, which earned her “all expenses paid participation at the World Economic Forum in Davos annually,” according to her resume. The Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship was founded by WEF Chairman Klaus Schwab in 1998 and is run by his wife, Hilde.

While attending several WEF events, Caldwell has been a featured blogger for the group, which she reveals on her resume:

“The Schwab Foundation brings several dozen of us here each year as the primary vehicle through which is aims to support our work.”

Several blog posts authored by Caldwell from 2006 focus on panels she attended and business leaders, media figures, and celebrities she spoke with while at the WEF.

“Day 1 at the World Economic Forum. I attended a session this morning on how we did as a global community in the last year in the areas identified as top priorities by Davos attendees last year: poverty, equitable globalization, climate change, education, global governance, and the Middle East,” she reported

MUST READ: World Economic Forum Panelist Demands ‘Recalibration’ Of Free Speech.

Prior to joining the Biden White House, Caldwell worked as a consultant for clients including the shady far-left campaign slush fund Arabella Advisors, which has deep ties to George Soros. She was also a Strategy Consultant for the Robin Hood Foundation, which has received millions of dollars from Soros.

“Gillian serves as the Chief Climate Officer and is responsible for directing and overseeing all climate and environment work across the agency. She also serves as Deputy Assistant Administrator, overseeing DDI’s Center for Environment, Energy, and Infrastructure and the Office of Environmental and Social Risk Management,” explains her professional bio on USAID’s website.

The USAID has previously funded research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, believed by many to be the source of COVID-19.

You can read more about the World Economic Forum at www.TakeDownTheWEF.com 

A mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, resulted in the deaths of 19 children and two teachers on May 24. At least 17 others, including children, sustained non-life-threatening injuries.

The massacre is the country’s second-deadliest K-12 school shooting on record, following the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut.

Authorities identified Salvador Ramos, 18, as the shooter responsible for the attack. He was shot and killed about 90 minutes after he arrived at the school around 11:30 a.m. that day.

Reportedly a high school dropout, Ramos did not have any criminal or mental health history known to authorities. His motive remains unknown as authorities continue to investigate the events of the deadly shooting.

At a press conference on May 26 at Robb Elementary, an official from the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS), South Texas regional director Victor Escalon, said that Ramos appeared to have walked unobstructed into a school building before the attack, in contrast with previous reports that he had been confronted by a school security officer outside the school.

Below is an approximate timeline of what is known so far, including details about the events surrounding the massacre and conflicting reports.

Before May 24

Ramos turned 18 on May 16 and purchased two semi-automatic rifles separately, on May 17 and May 20, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) confirmed on May 25 in a briefing to Texas state senators, reported KHOU. ATF authorities said he also bought 375 rounds of 5.56 ammunition on May 18.

Day of the Attack

On May 24, earlier in the day, students and their parents had been at Robb Elementary for an honor roll ceremony.

11:00 a.m.

Ramos posted on Facebook three times in the 30 minutes before reaching Robb Elementary school, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott told a press conference on May 25. The first Facebook post indicated that he would shoot his grandmother. The second post said that he had shot his grandmother, and the third said that he would shoot an elementary school, without specifying which. The third post was published within 15 minutes before Ramos arrived at the school, Abbott said.

Meta, Facebook’s parent company, has said the posts were actually messages.

“It actually on a message … to somebody else that he had had conversation with,” Texas DPS Director Steven McCraw said Friday.

Ramos, who had moved in with his grandmother in March, shot her in the face and left her in critical condition before leaving the residence and traveling about 2.29 miles to Robb Elementary, McCraw said on May 25.

The grandmother, 66, ran across the street to a neighbor to get help after she was shot. She also reported Ramos to the police department, he added. She was medevaced to a San Antonio hospital, McCraw said.

11:28 a.m.

Ramos, traveling in his grandmother’s pickup truck, crashed into a ditch near the school, according to law enforcement. He emerged from the passenger’s side of the truck and was carrying what witnesses say was a long gun and a bag that authorities later determined contained the ammunition.

Ramos shot at two witnesses outside a funeral home across the street before he continued toward the school. He then climbed a fence into a parking lot and fired shots at the school “multiple times,” Escalon said.

The two witnesses ran away uninjured.

The Texas DPS around this time received calls from local law enforcement that Ramos was making entry into the school, Texas DPS spokesman Lt. Chris Olivarez told CBS News on May 25.

11:30 a.m.

A 911 call is made about a car crash and a man with a gun.

The suspect reaches the school parking lot and begins shooting at the school, McCraw said during a briefing on May 27.

Police vehicles arrive at the funeral home.

The school resource officer—initially said to have confronted the suspect, then reported not to be on campus—actually confronted a person, but it was a teacher, not the suspect, according to McCraw. The officer drove right by the suspect.

11:33 a.m.

The 18-year-old shooter entered the west side of Robb Elementary school, McCraw said.

The door had been propped open by a teacher.

The suspect begins shooting into a room, either room 111 or room 112.

He soon enters adjoining classrooms, gunning down teachers and children.

Over 100 rounds were fired in total.

11:35 a.m.

Three police officers enter the same door Ramos used, followed by another team of police officers and a sheriff’s deputy. The first officers received wounds from bullets grazing them.

None of the officers try breaking down the door to get into the classroom.

11:44 a.m.

Other officers entered the building, Escalon said. Some evacuated people who were inside.

As many as 19 officers were in the hallway at one time.

“There was plenty of officers to do whatever needed to be done with one exception: the incident commander inside believed they needed more equipment and more officers to do a tactical breach at that point,” McCraw said Friday. The commander “believed that, in fact, it was a barricaded subject that we had time there was no kids at risk,” he said.

While hearing the gunfire, teachers in other classrooms began “breaking windows trying to evacuate children to prevent any further loss of life,” Olivarez told CBS News.

12:03 p.m.

A 911 caller said she was in room 112, where Ramos had entered.

The call lasted one minute, 23 seconds.

12:10 p.m.

She called back, telling of multiple dead people.

12:13 p.m.

The caller called again.

12:15 p.m.

Border Patrol Tactical Unit members arrive, along with shields several minutes later.

12:16 p.m.

Same female called, saying eight or nine students were still alive.

12:19 p.m.

Another caller called 911 from the room. Three shots could be heard through the phone.

12:36 p.m.

Another 911 call. Lasted 21 seconds.

12:43 p.m.

Another 911 call.

12:47 p.m.

Another 911 call.

12:50 p.m.

Officers breach the classroom door and kill the suspect.

Aftermath

The 21 victims who perished in the attack were later all found in the same classroom. All of them were identified by May 26.

The gun used by Ramos in the shooting was a Daniel Defense DDM4 V7 rifle, the ATF confirmed on May 25, reported KHOU. On May 24, after the shooting, The Daily Dot obtained a receipt of the purchase. Daniel Defense, a gun manufacturer based in Georgia that sells guns online, appears to ship weapons to registered dealers which then complete the purchase, the outlet noted.

The other rifle, a Smith & Wesson M&P 15, was found on the ground after the shooting, outside the pickup truck, state and federal law enforcement officials said, reported NBC News.

Escalon was asked by reporters on May 26 about why officers were unable to stop Ramos sooner, and what officers were doing between 11:44 and 12:45. He responded that he had “taken all those questions into consideration” and hoped to provide updates later.

McCraw told reporters at a news conference on May 27 that it was the “wrong decision” to not engage Ramos sooner.

He said that “the on-scene commander at the time believed that it had transitioned from an active shooter to a barricaded subject.”

He also revealed that Ramos entered the school through a door that was propped open by a teacher just minutes before.

Zachary Stieber contributed to this report.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/timeline-of-texas-school-shooting-what-we-know-so-far_4494907.html?utm_source=News&utm_campaign=breaking-2022-05-27-3&utm_medium=email&est=GbiYIbFX%2Bo%2BCaPD1BF5kAjxzpRiPVm7HuWPfQCdckBMJqamgM5woqKk2g4JM1D10QQ%3D%3D

The Supreme Court on May 26 rejected a request from Republican-led states to block President Joe Biden and his administration from using a model to estimate the costs of greenhouse gas emissions.

Justices denied the application for a stay without an explanation.

Biden on the day he was sworn into office reestablished the Interagency Working Group on the Social Cost of Greenhouse Gases, the latter portion of the name referring to the model in question.

The order said that it was “essential” that federal agencies “capture the full costs of greenhouse gas emissions as accurately as possible, including by taking global damages into account.” Such costs, once modeled, should be included when conducting cost-benefit analyses that agencies regularly conduct, the president said at the time.

Louisiana and 10 other states sued, alleging the estimates were part of a power grab “designed to manipulate America’s entire federal regulatory apparatus through speculative costs and benefits so that the Administration can impose its preferred policy outcomes on every sector of the American economy.”

U.S. District Judge James Cain, a Trump appointee, issued a preliminary injunction against the administration in February, finding that the use of the model “directly causes harm” to the plaintiff states’ rights to proceeds from oil and gas leases.

The estimates “artificially increase the cost estimates of lease sales, which in effect, reduces the number of parcels being leased, resulting in the States receiving less in bonus bids, ground rents, and production royalties,” Cain said.

But a three-judge panel on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals disagreed and overturned Cain’s order. The panel said the plaintiff states claimed injury that may result, calling the impact “merely hypothetical.”

“The government defendants are also likely to succeed in showing that the plaintiff states have failed to meet their burden on causation and redressability. The increased regulatory burdens the plaintiff states fear will come from the interim estimates appear untraceable because agencies consider a great number of other factors in determining when, what, and how to regulate or take agency action,” the panel—consisting of Judges Leslie Southwick, a George W. Bush appointee, and James Graves Jr. and Gregg Costa, both Obama appointees—wrote.

That set up the Supreme Court challenge, with the plaintiffs saying that without action, the executive branch would “continue using this made-up, nonstatutory metric to arbitrarily tip the scales toward its preferred policy outcome for every activity the federal government touches.”

Elizabeth Prelogar, the solicitor general, had urged the court not to grant the request.

Article III of the U.S. Constitution and the Administrative Procedure Act “preclude applicants from challenging the president’s directive to federal agencies to use a specified methodology in monetizing costs as part of their cost-benefit analyses in this abstract suit unconnected to any concrete final agency action,” she wrote, adding: “If and when an agency relies on those estimates in issuing a rule or taking other reviewable action that injures the applicants, they may challenge that particular final agency action and argue that its reliance on the estimates renders it unlawful. But applicants may not maintain this Executive-Branch-wide challenge to the interim estimates divorced from any concrete agency action.”

In a response to the Supreme Court decision, Louisiana Solicitor General Elizabeth Murrill told The Epoch Times in an email: “The Administration’s efforts to reorder the American economy using these made-up metrics underscores the truth of the one economist’s statement that this is ‘the most important number you never heard of.’ We are disappointed with the Supreme Court’s decision to not vacate the stay, but we are confident that we will be successful in reinstating the injunction after this matter is heard on the merits at the 5th Circuit. Briefing is underway. In the meantime, we will continue to flag the government’s use of these numbers.”

https://www.theepochtimes.com/supreme-court-turns-down-request-to-block-biden-from-using-climate-model_4495450.html?utm_source=News&utm_campaign=breaking-2022-05-27-3&utm_medium=email&est=QUNChOjLsfQLi4jfdCmlDGCNNs09n4iXH%2Fc6%2BcMmVJkocgzB%2Bbr06c%2BSia7hZ5HVHw%3D%3D

“She sprinted out of the school with them.”

A mother of two students at Robb Elementary School, in Uvalde, Texas, alleged being briefly cuffed by U.S. Marshals on Tuesday after she urged officers to enter the school while an active shooter was still inside. After persuading her release, the mother said she hopped a fence and rushed into the school, sprinting back out after she grabbed her children.

An 18-year-old male, who will not be named per Daily Wire policy, killed at least 19 children and two adults at the elementary school on Tuesday.

“The police were doing nothing,” mother Angeli Rose Gomez accused, according to The Wall Street Journal. “They were just standing outside the fence. They weren’t going in there or running anywhere.”

Gomez, a farm supervisor, reportedly drove some 40 miles to the school after she learned her second- and third-grade children were at risk.

Gomez says that “she was one of numerous parents waiting outside the school who began encouraging—first politely, and then with more urgency—police and other law enforcement to enter the school sooner,” the Journal report outlined. “After a few minutes, she said, U.S. Marshals put her in handcuffs, telling her she was being arrested for intervening in an active investigation.”

Desperate to reach her children, the mother said she was able to convince local Uvalde officers whom she knew to get the marshals to un-cuff her.

“Once freed from her cuffs, Ms. Gomez made her distance from the crowd, jumped the school fence, and ran inside to grab her two children,” the report detailed. “She sprinted out of the school with them.”

A spokesman for the U.S. Marshals Service denied to the Journal that any parents were put in handcuffs.

“Our deputy marshals maintained order and peace in the midst of the grief-stricken community that was gathering around the school,” the statement said.

Gomez didn’t just recall being handcuffed herself, but claims she witnessed one father being “tackled and thrown to the ground,” and another guardian being pepper-spayed by authorities.

The Daily Wire reported Thursday that the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) has confirmed that the shooter “was not confronted by law enforcement before he entered Robb Elementary School through an unlocked door.”

“BREAKING: Texas DPS now says that there was no school police officer who encountered or engaged the mass shooter at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, TX,” reported Fox News’ Bill Melugin. “Shooter was not confronted before entry and it appears he walked into the school through an unlocked door, per DPS.”

https://www.dailywire.com/news/mom-briefly-handcuffed-for-urging-cops-to-enter-school-then-rushed-in-to-save-her-kids-report?utm_medium=email&utm_source=cnemail&seyid=3576

Senior Obama administration officials engaged in a secret meeting with Iran in 2018 as part of an effort to undermine the Trump administration’s diplomatic push to isolate the hardline regime, according to an internal State Department document.

As the Trump administration worked to increase economic pressure on Iran in 2018, a delegation of “U.S. former ambassadors held a secret, “off-the-record” meeting with former Iranian foreign minister Javad Zarif at his residence in New York City, according to a State Department memo unearthed this week as part of a lawsuit brought to compel the release of this information. The meeting took place around the same time John Kerry was reported to be working behind-the-scenes with Iranian officials to salvage the 2015 nuclear accord.

The internal memo, which is marked unclassified, details how these former U.S. ambassadors conducted shadow diplomacy with Iran’s top envoy surrounding “nuclear weapons, potential prisoner swaps, [the] Afghanistan withdrawal, and negotiations with the Taliban,” according to the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), a legal advocacy group that sued the State Department to obtain the internal memo.

The document is the firmest proof to date that Obama-era officials were engaged in back-channel efforts to keep negotiations with Iran alive, even as former president Donald Trump and his administration worked to isolate the regime, former secretary of state Mike Pompeo told the Free Beacon in exclusive remarks. Pompeo, who was not aware of these meetings while leading the State Department, said the memo corroborates reports from the time about Kerry’s efforts to salvage the 2015 nuclear deal through back-channel powwows with Iranian officials.

“This memo reflects even more than we already knew about former State Department officials continuing on as if they were still in office,” said Pompeo, who is now senior counsel for global affairs at the ACLJ. “Trying, at every turn, to work with the foreign minister for a terrorist regime, Iran, to undermine the very sanctions put in place by America. It’s worse than not knowing when to get off stage. Actively seeking to protect the terrible deal they struck, these former officials—two years after Obama left office—were signaling that Iran should stand firm against America.”

Pompeo said it is startling to learn that members of a former U.S. administration attempted to handicap a sitting president’s policies, describing the disclosure as “bad stuff, dangerous stuff, un-American stuff.” These former officials, he said, “should be ashamed of themselves. Working against their own nation’s policies alongside such a brutal regime.”

The seven-page memo was assembled during the meeting with Zarif, which came just days after reports emerged that Kerry was seeking to salvage the Iran nuclear agreement after Trump nixed it earlier that year. The document was produced after the ACLJ sued the State Department for records about any secret meetings between Zarif, Kerry, current U.S. Iran-Envoy Robert Malley, and former Obama secretary of energy Ernest Moniz.

During the meeting, Zarif claimed that Trump’s policies have fomented anti-U.S. fervor in Iran and pointed to the popularity of Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) leader Qassem Soleimani, who was assassinated by Trump two years later in a drone strike.

“I was as popular as Soleimani, but now I am at 47 percent and his is up,” Zarif said, according to the memo. “He is closer to 80 percent. People of Iran once preferred engagement, now opted for resistance as the only reality. That is what the polls are telling us now and it is the reality of the region.”

Zarif also said his government would never give up its missile program or stop enriching uranium, the key component in a nuclear weapon and one of the conditions Trump placed on a potential new deal with Iran that never materialized.

“The U.S. says no peace deal and the U.S. will reimpose sanctions, but the condition is zero missiles, zero nuclear enrichment. This what [John] Bolton wants,” Zarif said, referring to Trump’s national security adviser. “I know Bolton and negotiated with him years ago. His views are so radical, that we could not reach an agreement. Absolute impossibility to reach an agreement with John Bolton unless you ask him to sit down and read at dictation speed what he wants and then you sign it. He is incapable of compromise.”

Zarif also discussed his views on Iraq, potential prisoner swaps with the United States, and Iranian support for terror groups like Hezbollah and the Houthi rebels in Yemen.

As part of the ACLJ’s effort to force the release of further information on these back-channel talks with Iran, it received a series of internal State Department emails showing that after Kerry left office, he used State Department staffers to send correspondence to Zarif.

Ben Sisney, ACLJ’s senior litigation counsel, said the organization’s legal efforts prove that “there were even more secret meetings happening behind the Trump administration’s back than had been previously reported.”

But Sisney said it also raises further questions: “How did this memo of ‘former’ U.S. officials meeting with Zarif get into the State Department’s hands? Was someone at the State Department there? Did the State Department send an informal liaison?”

Update 7:35 p.m.: This piece has been updated to clarify Kerry’s role in the diplomacy with Iran.

https://freebeacon.com/national-security/disclosed-how-obama-administration-officials-conducted-shadow-diplomacy-with-iran-to-undermine-trump/

Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D., Mich.) spoke at a rally this month with a pro-Hamas newspaper publisher who urged Palestinians to attack Israel.

Tlaib shared the stage with Osama Siblani, the publisher of the Dearborn-based Arab American News, at the second annual Metro Detroit March for Jerusalem Palestine on May 15. Siblani, whose newspaper cosponsored the event, urged Arabs in Michigan and elsewhere to “fight within [their] means” against Israel, whether it be with “stones,” “guns,” or “their hands.” He sang the praises of the “fedayeen”—Islamic militants—for “striking [Israel] with knives and with their bare hands.”

In her speech, Tlaib railed against what she called the “apartheid” Israeli government and urged Arab Americans to run for office in order to advance the Palestinian cause in Washington, D.C.

Tlaib has emerged as one of the most vocal anti-Israel activists in Congress and is a strong backer of the anti-Semitic Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which aims to inflict economic harm on Israel. Tlaib has accused Jewish supporters of Israel of holding dual loyalties, a term widely considered anti-Semitic in nature.

Siblani has an extensive history praising the terrorist groups Hezbollah and Hamas. He told the Washington Post in 2003 that he viewed Hamas and Hezbollah as “freedom fighters” rather than terrorists. He told the Chicago Tribune in 2006 he would “be willing to go to jail” if the FBI decided to round up supporters of Hezbollah. Tlaib’s campaign has accepted $1,250 in contributions from Siblani since 2018, including $500 on March 13, according to Federal Election Commission records. Tlaib’s campaign spent $1,025 in 2020 on ads in Siblani’s paper, which has a history of publishing anti-Semitic content.

The Michigan rally featured other controversial speakers, including Rabbi Dovid Weiss. The anti-Zionist activist has attended Holocaust denial events with former Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke. Weiss gave a gift to the head of Hezbollah at an event in Beirut in 2018.

The Michigan rally was held to commemorate “the Nakba,” a Palestinian phrase for Israel’s founding that loosely translates to “the catastrophe.” Tlaib and other House members affiliated with “the Squad” introduced a resolution a day after the rally calling for the U.S. government to recognize “Nakba Day.” Jewish lawmakers and pro-Israel groups called the resolution anti-Semitic.

“This resolution is just the latest in a long line of anti-Semitic, anti-Israel statements, policies and actions by the most radical voices in the Democratic Party,” Rep. Lee Zeldin (R., N.Y.), who is Jewish, said in a statement. “This group on the far-left never misses an opportunity to dangerously promote anti-Semitic and anti-Israel sentiments and agendas.”

The Coalition for Jewish Values, an advocacy group representing more than 2,000 rabbis, said Tlaib’s promotion of the Nakba resolution is an “indelible stain on Congress.”

“Every Member of Congress, especially those who are Jewish, has a moral obligation to repudiate this hateful resolution,” Rabbi Yoel Schonfeld, the group’s president, said in a statement, adding that “the real catastrophe is that we have reached the point that this was introduced.”

The Republican Jewish Coalition described the Nakba Day resolution as “another attempt by the most radical leftists in Congress to delegitimize our ally Israel and to promote anti-Israel and frankly anti-Semitic efforts to destroy the only democracy in the Middle East.”

During Nakba Day demonstrations in Ramallah and other Palestinian territories, speakers advocated for Israel’s destruction and committed themselves to conducting terrorism operations against the Jewish state.

Tlaib came under fire in August 2021 when she claimed that wealthy pro-Israel forces are “behind the curtain” controlling U.S. policy. The statement was widely condemned as an anti-Semitic dog whistle by groups like the Anti-Defamation League and the Conference of Presidents, which represents major Jewish-American advocacy organizations.

https://freebeacon.com/democrats/meet-rashida-tlaibs-favorite-anti-israel-publisher/

Leaders encourage protesters to ‘stretch the bounds of constitutionally protected speech’

A radical leftwing group is laying plans to shut down the Supreme Court in response to a leaked opinion that overturns Roe v. Wade, the Washington Free Beacon has learned.

#ShutdownDC is planning to block streets adjoining the Court to prevent the justices and their staff from reaching their chambers. Organizers acknowledged their operations go beyond constitutionally protected activity, and they referenced the likelihood of arrests and clashes with law enforcement during a Tuesday night briefing the Free Beacon monitored.

“One of our goals would be to expand the current political crisis by shutting down the Supreme Court,” one of the organizers said. The group planned the blockade for Monday, June 13, a day when the Court will likely hand down opinions.

#ShutdownDC is concocting its ploy amid continued concerns over the Supreme Court’s security and that of the justices following the unprecedented leak. The Department of Homeland Security’s intelligence arm circulated a memo in May warning of a sharp rise in threats to the High Court. Law enforcement is investigating violent threats from pro-abortion extremists against members of the Court as well as the Court building itself, the memo said.

The Tuesday night briefing included more than 60 activists and was led by four or five organizers, some of whom concealed their identities. The presentation included a detailed “tactical” plan for blocking access to the Court’s underground parking garage, which is the primary entry and exit point for employees and justices.

The plan calls for demonstrators to obstruct two points near the Court on 2nd Street, and a third spot on A St., which bisects 2nd Street directly behind the Court building. A Street is a residential area, while 2nd Street is a busy commuter thoroughfare.

To coincide with the blockade, #ShutDownDC is planning a rally in front of the Court on First St., which lies between the U.S. Capitol and the Court’s marble plaza. Organizers described the rally as a “low-risk” location, in contrast to the blockade posts where they anticipate arrests and skirmishes with police.

“It’s possible we will see many different law enforcement agencies, as we’ve become used to,” an organizer said. Several agencies have jurisdiction over the area, including the Capitol Police and Washington’s Metropolitan Police Department. None of the organizers made threats against particular justices, but they opened the briefing by warning that their tactics are illegal and readily acknowledging their goal is to massively disrupt the third branch of the government.

“In this space we may talk about some action ideas that stretch the bounds of constitutionally protected speech,” a slide shown to attendees read.

“Avoid saying anything you wouldn’t want to see on Fox News,” it added.

The briefing highlighted the group’s connections to other liberal judicial groups which mobilized following the leak of the draft opinion.

One organizer said that #ShutdownDC is behind demonstrations at the homes of justices thought to have joined the leaked opinion overturning Roe. A separate entity called Ruth Sent Us—named for the late justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg—has claimed responsibility for those events, a sign that the two groups are closely aligned.

“We were the first to hold an action at Brett Kavanaugh’s house, and then recently we held an action at Samuel Alito’s house,” the organizer bragged. She added that she was heartened to see new individuals joining their efforts at Tuesday’s presentation.

“This is a crisis moment for democracy and for our rights, so we need as many new folks leveling up in their mobilization as possible,” an organizer said.

Another organizer highlighted an upcoming June summit on the Supreme Court hosted by a leftwing dark money group called Demand Justice. The group, which is run by Free Beacon Man of the Year Brian Fallon, declined to say whether it is connected with #ShutdownDC or approves of its plans.

The Supreme Court’s public information office declined to comment for this story.

#ShutdownDC is sharpening focus on House Democrats, who have yet to approve enhanced security measures for the Court. Sens. John Cornyn (R., Texas) and Chris Coons (D., Del.) spearheaded a security bill in the Senate that passed without opposition earlier this month. The House has yet to do anything.

“This should not be about politics but about ensuring the safety of the nine individuals on the Supreme Court,” a senior House staffer who works on domestic security told the Free Beacon. “It’s not a matter of safety for Speaker Pelosi; it’s political theater with real ramifications.”

Joseph Simonson contributed to this report.

https://freebeacon.com/courts/shut-it-down-radical-leftwing-group-plans-to-blockade-supreme-court/

Long-awaited Title IX rule changes may eliminate due process protections, open women’s spaces to biological men

Popular opposition may be delaying the Biden Education Department’s push to expand Title IX protections to transgender Americans, experts say.

A spokesman told the Washington Free Beacon that the department plans to release updated Title IX rules in June, after twice delaying the rollout. The rule change is expected to erase Trump-era due process protections for sexual misconduct investigations on college campuses. But it could also allow transgender individuals to access sex-segregated spaces, like bathrooms. Title IX stakeholders believe the unpopularity of the latter provision could explain the arrested rollout.

“The administration may be looking at the polls showing that Americans overwhelmingly do not support this radical redefinition of a law meant to provide basic civil rights protections to women and girls in educational institutions,” Independent Women’s Forum senior policy analyst Inez Stepman told the Free Beacon. “This delay is an attempt to evade political responsibility for their unpopular policies.”

The delay could pose a political problem for the Biden administration. President Joe Biden promised during the 2020 campaign to bring to a “quick end” to the Trump-era rules. Critics say those rules prolonged investigations into sexual misconduct and delayed case resolutions. A coalition of activist groups has pressed Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona to expedite the department’s Title IX overhaul.

As of this writing, the proposed rule changes are still under review by the Office of Management and Budget. Sarah Parshall Perry, who served under former president Donald Trump in the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights, said the extended review process is a “hopeful sign” that the office is pushing the Education Department for more information on the rule change, or else has “sent the Department back to the drawing board.”

Candice Jackson, another Trump Education Department alum, suggests that the delay could be political, with the White House “looking ahead to the fall election … and wanting to bury this Title IX explosion under other news.”

But a June release could suggest the opposite. In addition to being LGBT Pride Month, this June marks the 50th anniversary of Title IX. Expanding Title IX to cover transgender people in June would fit the Biden administration’s pattern of pegging policy to politically advantageous dates. The president demanded that all American troops be pulled out of Afghanistan before the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks. The White House announced “Independence from COVID” on July 4, 2021. And Biden this week signed an executive order on police reform to mark the second anniversary of George Floyd’s death.

The department’s refusal to publicize its delay shows the administration’s fear of being held accountable for postponing a change that Biden promised to bring early in his time in office, Perry said.

“The fact that Politico broke the story that the new Title IX is once again being delayed, rather than the Department of Education publicizing that delay itself, indicates to me that they’re not keen to be held accountable for the delay,” said Perry, now a legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation.

A second period of public comment will come after the Education Department announces its rules. The department will then have a final opportunity to edit the rules before submitting the final change in the Federal Register.

https://freebeacon.com/biden-administration/the-biden-administration-is-dragging-its-feet-on-transgender-focused-title-ix-overhaul-heres-why/

Column: The president’s budget doesn’t match U.S. commitments

War was in the background of President Biden’s trip to Asia last week. He redeployed U.S. forces to Somalia before he left. He signed into law $40 billion in financial and military assistance to Ukraine during his visit to South Korea. Then, in Japan, a reporter asked Biden if he was prepared to “get involved militarily to defend Taiwan.” Biden’s answer was succinct. “Yes,” he said.

Forget the clumsy White House reaction to Biden’s moment of lucidity. Leave aside the question of whether the United States should move from a policy of strategic ambiguity, where our response to a Chinese invasion of Taiwan is left undefined, to a policy of strategic clarity where we let China know the direct consequences of such an attack.

Consider instead the following: Does the Pentagon have the resources to defend democracies from autocrats in two hemispheres?

Afraid not. The Pentagon ditched the “two-front” war preparedness strategy under Barack Obama. Meanwhile U.S. defense spending as a percentage of the economy has been in decline for decades. Biden has shown little interest in changing its downward course. Indeed, the one place where he’s been reluctant to spend money is national defense.

Biden’s fiscal year 2022 request of $715 billion was too small even for the Democratic Congress. It ended up authorizing $728.5 billion. Biden’s fiscal year 2023 request is for $773 billion. Maybe that seems like a hefty sum. It’s not. Biden’s defense budget is meager compared with the tasks the president has set out.

Why? Part of the reason is inflation. The Biden budget request paints a rosy—and inaccurate—scenario. My American Enterprise Institute colleague Mackenzie Eaglen has run the numbers. She begins with the $773 billion marked for the Pentagon. “Using a more honest 7.46 percent CPI [Consumer Price Index] estimate (the FY22 average so far) for military personnel raises the topline to $794.5 billion needed next year,” she writes.

That still isn’t enough, however. “$846 billion in FY 2023 is a more realistic down payment on matching defense investments against national security threats,” Eaglen concludes, “and should be the starting point as Congress builds a more accurate defense budget.” In other words, Eaglen recommends a 9 percent increase in the Biden administration’s topline before Congress and its appropriators become involved. Her proposal makes sense. It’s necessary. And it won’t happen.

It won’t happen for several reasons. The first is inertia. None of the threats we encountered or fear we might encounter in the post-Cold War world have provoked the people’s representatives to increase defense spending to Reagan-era levels. The political willpower doesn’t exist. Entitlements and interest on the debt act as additional constraints. We’ve muddled through for 30 years, this thinking goes. No need to stop now.

The second brake on defense spending is the Progressive bias against hard power. By the 2024 election, America will have been governed by presidents skeptical of defense spending and the military for 12 of the past 16 years. Such leadership has an effect not only on materiel but also on the culture of the national security establishment. Progressives under Obama and Biden see the Pentagon more as a vehicle for social policy and geopolitical featherbedding than as an instrument of deterrence and the national interest. Left-wing taboos against nuclear weapons, nuclear power, oil and gas, and the warrior mindset take precedent over military readiness and lethality. The president overrules the secretary of defense and joint chiefs. America grows weaker even as its leader calls for greater global activism.

Noninterventionism and restraint on the foreign policy right creates a bipartisan reluctance to spend more on defense. President Trump increased defense spending, but not by enough. His administration was filled with skeptics of American engagement and foreign intervention who wanted to reduce not only the Pentagon’s budget but also its influence throughout the world. Republican voices in Congress promote an “America First” foreign policy that would constrict U.S. deployments, aid, and partnerships.

About a quarter of the House GOP and a fifth of the Senate GOP, for example, voted against the latest aid package to Ukraine. Granted, this batch of aid seemed designed to split conservatives, who have a longstanding aversion to unconditional economic assistance. The vote stands as a warning for both liberal and conservative internationalists, nonetheless. The bipartisan consensus over Ukraine may not survive a prolonged war of attrition.

You correct a mismatch between resources and commitments by increasing resources or decreasing commitments. President Biden resists increasing resources for national defense, while powerful elements of both left and right work to reduce American commitments. Neither strategy makes America safer. Someone needs to make the case for a major U.S. defense buildup in response to the challenges of China, Russia, and Iran. And they need to do it soon.

https://freebeacon.com/columns/biden-defines-defense-down/

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) initial response to complaints about Abbott’s infant formula plant was “too slow” and some decisions could have been “more optimal,” the FDA’s top official said while facing a grilling from lawmakers on Wednesday.

FDA Commissioner Dr. Robert Califf appeared before a congressional panel to answer questions about the FDA’s handling of events that led to the biggest infant formula shortage in recent U.S. history after Abbott in February recalled some products and closed its Sturgis manufacturing plant.

Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.), chair of the panel, raised the question of the “timeline of FDA’s investigation and response,” citing a “four-month lapse before returning to inspect the Sturgis facility,” and a delay in contacting a former Abbott employee whistleblower.

Lawmakers heard that senior FDA officials only saw the complaint in February because of pandemic-related mail routing issues.

Califf acknowledged that the “FDA’s timeliness of interviewing the whistleblower and getting into the facility for a for-cause inspection were too slow. And some decisions in retrospect could have been more optimal.”

“While there are many steps along the way where different actions could have sped up the sequence of events, to this day, I can find no evidence of intentional delay or malfeasance,” he said.

The FDA inspected the plant following reports of bacterial infections in babies allegedly linked to Abbott’s formula, and the whistleblower complaint in late October.

But an investigation by the FDA and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention “could not conclude” that the “egregiously unsanitary conditions” at the Abbott plant caused the illnesses in the infants.

“However, we cannot rule it out either. There’s a confluence of events that’s highly unusual. There is no dispute that the facility was unacceptably unsanitary, as evidenced by the consent decree. Frankly, the inspection results were shocking,” he said.

Califf noted that inspectors found cracks in vital equipment, a lack of adequate handwashing, evidence of previous bacterial contamination, and water leaks in areas where formula is produced, a risk factor for bacteria.

It is critical to return the Sturgis plant to safe production of infant formula as soon as possible, Califf said, because Abbott holds the largest market share in America, “leaving it with a responsibility” to produce safe formula “that was not met.”

Abbott did not have a contingency plan to produce its lines of specialty formulas that serve as the only source of nutrition for thousands of babies with metabolic disorders, lawmakers heard.

“We will do everything in our power to work with Abbott to make this happen as quickly and safely as possible. But this timing is in Abbott’s control,” Califf said.

Reflecting on the FDA’s role in exacerbating the formula shortage, Califf cited chronic underfunding of the FDA as one issue that needs to be addressed, hinting that “you will see changes in the future.”

“Our requests for funding and authority are essential in concert with improved operations and leadership,” he said.

For the sake of expediency, the FDA entered a consent decree with Abbott, which allows the company to avoid litigation by pledging to voluntary act to improve and address deficiencies. An outside official will have full oversight of “every single step.”

Abbott said on Tuesday that it planned to reopen the plant on June 4.

Meanwhile, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on Tuesday launched an inquiry into the ongoing shortage of formula.

In a statement, the FTC said the inquiry seeks information on the “nature and prevalence of any deceptive, fraudulent, or otherwise unfair business practices aimed at taking advantage of families during this shortage.”

The inquiry also seeks to find out what factors “have led to concentration in the infant formula market and the fragility of the supply chains for these crucial products,” the FTC said.

Reuters and Mimi Nguyen Ly contributed to this report.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/too-slow-fda-admits-delayed-response-to-complaints-about-us-baby-formula-plant_4490930.html?utm_source=Morningbrief&utm_campaign=mb-2022-05-27&utm_medium=email&est=6M%2BncZNtTwru6s%2BFS49xPyJ1ZANTYqVAWKxA8s9g0ksUTil0tVPGzh7KIVhGzklXsQ%3D%3D

A dozen liberal groups that pressured Twitter advertisers to boycott the platform in response to Elon Musk’s plans to acquire it received money from entities backed by Bill Gates and George Soros, an analysis of public filings shows.

In early May, a group of 26 organizations penned a public letter claiming that the Tesla CEO’s takeover of Twitter would “be a direct threat to public safety” and turn the platform into “a cesspool of misinformation.” The letter called for Twitter’s top advertisers to “hold [Musk] to account” by committing to “non-negotiable” standards for doing business with the site, one of which is to not restore the accounts of political and public figures banned for “egregious violations of Twitter Rules.” The letter contained the logos of Accountable Tech, Media Matters for America, and UltraViolet Action.

An analysis of the public filings and records shows that at least 11 of the letter’s signatories or their affiliated groups have taken money from organizations funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. One of the three groups leading the letter has received over $1 million from billionaire financer George Soros’s grant-making network Open Society Foundations, while the two others were founded in part by former staffers for Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton.

Eight signatories also collected roughly $10.25 million in federal grants and loans between 2020 and 2021, public records show.

The New Venture Fund, the recipient of more than $500 million in grants from the Gates Foundation since 2012, in 2020 gave $180,000 in total to two signees, Media Matters for America and Center for Media Justice. Another $11.2 million of the New Venture Fund’s 2020 grant money went to North Fund, a shadowy progressive nonprofit based in Washington that funnels money to a number of other activist groups, including Accountable Tech, which published the letter.

Accountable Tech’s website shows that two members on its team—its co-founder and digital director—worked for Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign.

Founded in 2004, Media Matters for America describes itself as a “progressive research and information center dedicated to comprehensively monitoring, analyzing, and correcting conservative misinformation in the U.S. media.” A key function of the organization is to provide tools for monitoring what it considers to be “conservative misinformation,” which it defines to be “news or commentary that is not accurate, reliable, or credible and that forwards the conservative agenda.”

The Center for Media Justice, which in 2019 was rebranded to MediaJustice, aims to promote “racial, economic, and gender justice in a digital age,” its website states.

Tides Foundation, a Gates Foundation grantee since at least 2013, has handed over $2.34 million to eight of the signatories or their affiliates over a three year-period since 2019.

Among the recipients is Indivisible Project and its nonprofit charitable arm Indivisible Civics that work to “defeat the Trump agenda,” of which the signatory Indivisible Northern Nevada is a local chapter.

The other seven signatories that received money from Tides Foundation in the past three years are: women’s advocacy group UltraViolet Action; environmentalist groups Union of Concerned Scientists and Friends of the Earth; pro-abortion association NARAL Pro-Choice America; Black Lives Matter South Bend, a local chapter of the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation; GLAAD, which monitors media portrayal of LGBTQ groups; and Media Matters Action Network, a partner project of Media Matters for America.

UltraViolet Action’s board chair and board member Karen Finney was the Democratic National Committee’s first African American spokeswoman and had served as the senior spokesperson for Hilary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign, according to the group’s website. Another board chair, Arisha Hatch, was an organizer for then-candidate Barack Obama’s presidential campaign in 2008.

Access Now, which focuses on internet accessibility around the world, in 2021 received funds totalling $1.35 million from the Open Society Foundations that Soros founded and chairs, along with grants from Wikimedia Foundation, Microsoft, governments in Germany, Switzerland, Canada, and the Netherlands.

Beginning in 2017, the Open Society Foundation has also awarded three grants with a combined value of 1.625 million to Free Press, a pro-net neutrality group that also signed on to the letter.

The Microsoft founder last month admitted to having taken a $500 million short position on Tesla shares, according to a leaked text message string between Gates and Musk said that the latter said was authentic.

Musk had reacted to the boycott letter by calling for an investigation of the signatories’ funders.

“Who funds these organizations that want to control your access to information? Let’s investigate …” he wrote on Twitter on May 3, adding: “Sunlight is the best disinfectant.”

He later made note of a report that some signatories received funding from Soros and European governments. “Interesting. I wonder if those funding these organizations are fully aware of what the organizations are doing,” he wrote.

Twitter in recent years has drawn criticism for censoring and suspending conservative users. Among its list of banned public figures are former President Donald Trump, Georgia GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, COVID-19 vaccine critic Dr. Robert Malone, and retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn.

Musk has called Twitter’s ban of Trump’s account in early 2021 “flat-out stupid.” He said he would reverse the move if he becomes the platform’s new owner.

At a recent Miami tech conference, Musk also said he would be voting Republican after having “voted overwhelmingly for Democrats.” He described the $44 billion deal as “not some right-wing takeover,” but instead a “moderate take over and an attempt to ensure that people of all political beliefs feel welcome on a digital town square and they can express their beliefs without fear of being banned or shadowbanned.”

The Gates Foundation connections were first reported by Breitbart. The Epoch Times has reached out to all the named organizations.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/12-groups-behind-protest-of-musks-twitter-takeover-have-ties-with-gates-foundation-soros_4493281.html?utm_source=Morningbrief&utm_campaign=mb-2022-05-27&utm_medium=email&est=Hcd9Ay7OFxa2%2BF%2BTYbQlN7S2eGemkLkW3JBns57OH3FqIxrvdsam9Tc6gZhmOlGPMg%3D%3D

African nations say ‘the process should not be fast-tracked’

Opposition from African delegates to the 75th World Health Assembly (WHA) in Geneva, Switzerland, has forced hours of informal dickering on possible revisions to President Joe Biden’s proposals to grant new powers to the World Health Organization (WHO) to deal with viral pandemics.

As previously reported by The Epoch Times, Biden’s 13 proposed amendments to the UN’s International Health Regulations (IHR) that govern WHO operations grant broad new powers to Director-General Tedros Adhanhom Ghebreysus, a former Ethiopian government minister who has been in the role since 2017.

Earlier this week, Tedros was confirmed for a second term by the assembly, which is WHO’s decision-making body.

The United States provides more than $150 million in assessed contributions to fund the organization and has given, on average, an additional $262 million in annual voluntary funding since 2012.

Under the proposed amendments, the director-general could declare a public health emergency in any country regardless of whether local officials agree with the declaration.

Tedros also would be authorized to rely on evidence from sources other than those approved by the affected country as the basis of such a declaration.

Neither the organization’s media office nor its counterpart at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) responded to The Epoch Times’ request for comment.

The WHA’s business is being conducted by two committees consisting of delegates from 194 member nations. The Biden proposals were first considered earlier this week by Committee A, presided over by Japanese delegate Hiroki Nakatani.

The assembly’s process is to allow delegates to comment on and debate proposals, then if no objections are heard, the proposals are considered approved. But when the Biden proposals were first discussed earlier this week in Committee A’s third session, objections were voiced by African delegates.

“The African region shares the view that the process should not be fast-tracked,” Moses Keetile, deputy permanent secretary in Botswana’s health ministry, reportedly told the assembly on behalf of the African region.

During May 25’s sixth meeting of Committee A, Nakatani told the delegates that “progress was made during the informal discussions … but further discussion seems to be needed” and he said talks would continue.

James Rogulski, an independent journalist and researcher, who is closely following the assembly livestream, said “for some reason, they [assembly officials] could not reach a consensus, so it seems like they are not even going to bring it to the floor,” pending the outcome of the informal negotiations.

Rogulski added that “what they have done is they are setting up another bureaucracy. They are going to have a working group for the [IHR]. They are going to be taking submissions from around the world for their ideas on how these things should be amended.

“That will go into September and then it looks like they are apparently going to be having another meeting in November.”

More details about the working group were contained in Tedros’ report to the world assembly on “Strengthening WHO Preparedness for and Response to Health Emergencies,” including a recommendation for the international health agency to proceed as described by Rogulski.

The report said the new working group will “invite proposed amendments to be submitted by 30 Sept. 2022. All such proposed amendments to be communicated by the director-general to all state parties without delay; (d) request the [Working Group on International Health Regulations] WGIHR to convene its organizational meeting no later than 15 November 2022.”

Earlier this week, HHS assistant secretary for global affairs Loyce Pace alluded to the Biden amendments without acknowledging the necessity for the informal negotiations.

Pace told the assembly that the Biden “administration believes in the need for strong global relationships to combat COVID-19 and to prevent and prepare for future health emergencies.”

Pace said U.S. officials are “pleased” that the WHA is moving “to strengthen existing tools available to the WHO and to all member states.

“This includes strengthening the international health regulations from 2005 to clarify roles and responsibilities, increase transparency and accountability, share best practices, and communicate in real-time with our global partners.

“We are also committed to an intergovernmental negotiating body process that engages external stakeholders and develops an international instrument on pandemics that enables meaningful, inclusive action.”

But the Biden proposals have sparked a growing furor in the United States among critics who contend the amendments would amount to ceding of some portion of American sovereignty to WHO in the event of another pandemic like the one that has killed more one million Americans and in excess of six million people worldwide.

Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), the first member of Congress to comment critically on the amendments, told The Epoch Times on May 26 that, “Of course the amendments should be withdrawn, but the bigger issue is how we got to this point in the first place. Why is this administration apparently willing to cede any authority to an international body, particularly the WHO?”

Norman added that “given the public outrage over this issue, you’d think we’d be hearing directly from the White House concerning the status of these amendments, or at least our delegation to the World Health Assembly. It makes you wonder what’s coming next.”

The Biden amendments are being defended by FactCheck.org, a media organization at the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania that claims to “monitor the factual accuracy of what is said” by political and other figures on the issues of the day.

FactCheck.org said, “conservatives in the United States falsely claim … the amendments will threaten U.S. sovereignty.”

The media organization then cited as an example the Biden proposal to delete an existing requirement that WHO consult with officials in a nation with a suspected pandemic before acting.

But FactCheck.org then noted that “the proposal eliminates the requirement of consulting and obtaining verification of those third-party reports before taking action, and adds a deadline for the WHO to seek verification of the third-party report.”

Critics of the amendment claim removing the organization’s requirement to consult with an affected nation before taking action—such as declaring a public health emergency in that country—amounts to a unilateral grant of power to the international health body.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/african-opposition-forces-back-room-talks-seeking-revisions-to-bidens-13-who-amendments_4492867.html?utm_source=Morningbrief&utm_campaign=mb-2022-05-27&utm_medium=email&est=qLS5OjIaSEZPiSXW5qiqvSRheh2ZZrWmKipPQiVxBu6jA4ZOHjRWDl32mC%2FB%2FId3aQ%3D%3D

Some Republicans are considering conceding to Democrats’ demands to tighten federal gun laws in the wake of a school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, that left at least 19 dead.

Democrats have long pushed for stricter gun control at a federal level but Republicans, citing Second Amendment rights, have long pushed back against these efforts. Now, some Republicans seem to be open to softening this stance.

Most prominently, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said during an interview with CNN that he had instructed Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) to negotiate with some centrist Democrats, including Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) and Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), to try to hammer out a compromise bill.

“I’ve encouraged him to talk to Senator Sinema, Senator Murphy, and others who are interested in trying to get an outcome that’s directly related to the problem,” McConnell said, adding that he is “hopeful that we could come up with a bipartisan solution that’s directly related to the facts of this awful massacre.”

McConnell was anxious to emphasize that he was not pushing for legislation that would advance a partisan Democrat agenda, but only to find a legislative solution directly related to the circumstances of the Uvalde shooting.

“What I’ve asked Senator Cornyn to do is to meet with the Democrats who are interested in getting a bipartisan solution and come up with a proposal, if possible, that’s crafted to meet this particular problem,” he said.

McConnell’s lukewarm support for a compromise package could be a welcome sign for Democrats, who will need the support of at least 10 Republicans to overcome the Senate’s 60-vote filibuster threshold.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) also suggested a willingness to work across the aisle on a legislative response.

“I look forward to coming back after the break, see if we can find a pathway forward on common-sense gun reforms,” Graham said, ahead of a planned recess for the Senate.

Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) also suggested that a bipartisan agreement could be reached.

“Part of I think what some of us are still looking at is: is there a way to identify these individuals that have this propensity?” Rounds told reporters. “Is there a way to provide local law enforcement tools to use? Is there enough resources available at schools to be able to provide additional protection?

“Are those things that we could agree on? Could we find consensus on those things? And I think that’s part of the discussion that may very well ensue in the future.”

He suggested that such a bill may not include new gun regulations at all, but rather might focus on providing localities with additional funding for law enforcement.

“What do you do proactively then, that you could get, you know, 75, 80 votes on the floor of the Senate?” Rounds mused. “Perhaps it is funding—that’s one thing that we’ve been able to do. That is, to promote direct funding for local units, to be able to have the resources available to add additional protections to offer a deterrence for these individuals with, you know, with evil intent or with a serious mental health issue.”

However, other prominent Republicans, including Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), have rejected any efforts to concede to Democrats’ demands on gun law.

In a statement to one reporter, Scott’s spokesperson said that Scott is “not working with Senator Murphy or any other Democrat on federal gun legislation,” but is rather “focused on how we can continue to make schools safe.”

Some Democrats have expressed optimism that a compromise bill can be reached.

Though he refused to send a doomed gun control bill to the floor to force Republicans to show their position, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has said he will continue to work with Republicans to reach an agreement.

“I’m gonna keep in touch with them, and hopefully, we can get an outcome that can actually pass and become law rather than just scoring points back and forth,” Schumer said.

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), whose support is essential for almost any Democrat policy goal, has also said that he thinks that the moment “feels different” than past shootings.

Asked about Cornyn, Manchin said, “He’s had different iterations of bills. He’s worked with anybody that’s had anything along the lines [of] been mental illness—it could be red flag [laws], it could be background—looking at everything that we can to bring everyone to the table to find a really plausible way for them to move forward.

“It’s just the time—we just need to go,” Manchin added. “Way past time.”

The shooting has caused some Democrats to again look to H.R. 8 and H.R. 1446, two House bills that would further strengthen background check laws, as plausible ways to move forward.

However, it is somewhat unclear whether these bills could win the support of 10 Republicans in the Senate.

Despite criticism from progressives demanding wide-reaching, immediate action, the Senate has not canceled its Memorial Day recess, pushing off any possibility of a compromise bill until the week of June 6.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/mcconnell-other-republicans-consider-concessions-to-democrats-on-gun-legislation_4493929.html?utm_source=Morningbrief&utm_campaign=mb-2022-05-27&utm_medium=email&est=HFv9LyPMGFCBcVYHC9QGTPpNauDsg8GShpQSayC0jkchN1AgYvjE7Or0DDqcJFl5cg%3D%3D

WASHINGTON—Testimony that suggested the Donald Trump-Russia claims given to the FBI by a Hillary Clinton lawyer may have been fabricated will be struck from the record, along with mention of the email that triggered the testimony, a judge has ruled.

On Tuesday, FBI agent Curtis Heide was presented with an email sent by Rodney Joffe to researchers with the Georgia Institute of Technology dated Sept. 14, 2016. Joffe discussed one of the white papers Michael Sussmann, a lawyer representing both Joffe and the Clinton campaign, later handed over to the FBI alleging a secret link between Trump and a Russian bank.

“Please read as if you had no prior knowledge or involvement, and you were handed this document as a security expert (NOT a DNS expert) and were asked: ‘Is this plausible as an explanation?’” Joffe wrote. “NOT to be able to say that this is, without doubt, but to merely be plausible.”

DNS stands for Domain Name System, or the type of information that Joffe and the researchers said linked Russia’s Alfa Bank and Trump’s business in the papers they compiled. Sussmann gave those papers to the FBI shortly after the September email.

Asked about the language in the message, Heide said that “it appears, from this email, that this report may have been fabricated.”

Sean Berkowitz, a defense lawyer, said while the jury was out of the room that the answer was “prejudicial” to his client.

“I did not want to draw attention to it. But given the parameters of the court’s prior ruling and the way that they went through that, I think that was improper to elicit, and nonresponsive,” Berkowitz said.

Jonathan Algor, a prosecutor with special counsel John Durham’s team, said asking Heide about the email was “legitimate” because it followed a series of questions from the defense about David Dagon, one of the researchers Joffe emailed, and the source for the paper in question.

U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper, the Obama appointee overseeing Sussmann’s case, on May 24 ordered Heide’s quote struck from the record. His justification was that the answer was “at odds” with his earlier ruling that prosecutors could not delve into whether the data was concocted or “spoofed” because Sussmann was said to not be involved in the research itself.

On Wednesday, Cooper said the email itself can no longer be an exhibit.

Cooper had allowed the document to be admitted because he said it was not hearsay since it had a statement and a question.

Berkowitz, Sussmann’s lawyer, argued the “fabrication” quote from Heide had been reported by some media outlets and the only remedy would be to strike all mention of the email in addition to the email itself, as well as forbid prosecutors from bringing it up again.

“We think the probative value of that document at this stage is minimal, and I expect that if it is published to the jury and used in any way, the jurors will associate it with the fabrication comment,” he said.

While “the bell can never be unrung,” jurors “should not be reminded” of the email and the comment, he added.

DeFilippis noted that the court had cleared the document before prosecutors presented it to Heide. He also said prosecutors had never shown Heide the email prior to when it was presented, and “did not anticipate that he was going to speculate that it could be fabricated.”

“So we think the appropriate remedy here, Your Honor, is to cut off the response—the speculation—but not the document itself, which is highly probative” because of when it was sent—just days before Sussmann met with Baker, and on the same day Sussmann billed the Clinton campaign for drafting a white paper.

Cooper sided with the defense, citing how Joffe and the three researchers he emailed have not testified in the trial. Dagon and colleague Manos Antonakakis were on the prosecution witness list, but were never called. According to the judge, that means there is no basis to admit the document. He said the government, which has spent years on the investigation, had plenty of time to interview the researchers and call them as witnesses.

Cooper previously barred prosecutors from introducing emails from Fusion GPS, a firm that specializes in opposition research. Fusion operatives helped promote the Alfa Bank-Trump allegations to media outlets, and were part of the team that compiled the Trump-Russia dossier known as the Steele dossier. He also turned down a request from prosecutors to introduce other messages, including one that featured Joffe saying he was promised a position in the U.S. government if Clinton won the 2016 election.

The string of unfavorable rulings for the prosecution has led some legal observers to say the treatment of Sussmann differs from past high-profile cases, such as that against Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn.

“While the judge in Flynn’s case was eager to remove obstacles from the prosecution’s path, the judge in Sussmann’s case seems to have created a virtual obstacle course for Durham,” Jonathan Turley, a law professor at George Washington University, said in a recent op-ed. “Durham may be able to jump the legal hurdles, but he will do so without much of his evidence. To paraphrase Charles Dickens in ‘A Tale of Two Cities,’ for a prosecutor D.C. can be the best of venues or it can be the worst of venues.”

https://www.theepochtimes.com/judge-strikes-email-testimony-suggesting-trump-russia-claims-may-have-been-fabricated_4491341.html?utm_source=Morningbrief&utm_campaign=mb-2022-05-27&utm_medium=email&est=flN%2FrQKry13R8zxoqUBd1i%2Fi0oMMuugwwTIOm9xsKS7QHvs9n0A8fsAjCwq5VoWkXQ%3D%3D

THE BOMBSHELL CLAIMS WILL OPEN A NEW AVENUE OF INQUIRY INTO THE PUBLIC HEALTH RESPONSE TO THE COVID PANDEMIC.

Mask mandates caused higher COVID-19 death rates, according to the bombshell claims made in a new medical journal report analyzing fatality rates across the state of Kansas.

The observational study – “The Foegen Effect: A Mechanism by Which Facemasks Contribute to the COVID-19 Case Fatality Rate” – was published in Medicine in February 2022, authored by German doctor Zacharias Fögen.

The paper analyzed “whether mandatory mask use influenced the case fatality rate in Kansas” during the time period of August 1st, 2020 to October 15th. Kansas was used for comparison because the state allowed each of its 105 counties to decide whether or not to implement mask mandates, with 81 counties deciding against the measure.

“The most important finding from this study is that contrary to the accepted thought that fewer people are dying because infection rates are reduced by masks, this was not the case,” summarized the paper.

“Results from this study strongly suggest that mask mandates actually caused about 1.5 times the number of deaths or ∼50% more deaths compared to no mask mandates.”

The study also posited a potential reason for the disparity in risk ratio (RR) for dying from COVID-19:

“A rationale for the increased RR by mandating masks is probably that virions that enter or those coughed out in droplets are retained in the facemask tissue, and after quick evaporation of the droplets, hypercondensed droplets or pure virions (virions not inside a droplet) are re-inhaled from a very short distance during inspiration.”

Dubbed the “Foegen effect,” the theory suggests that COVID-19 “virions spread (because of their smaller size) deeper into the respiratory tract.”

MUST READ: U.S. Bioethics Chief, Who Happens to be Fauci’s Wife, Published a New Paper Telling Corporates They Can Ethically ‘Pressure Employees’ And ‘Embarrass Vaccine Resistors.’

“They bypass the bronchi and are inhaled deep into the alveoli, where they can cause pneumonia instead of bronchitis, which would be typical of a virus infection.”

“These findings suggest that mask use might pose a yet unknown threat to the user instead of protecting them, making mask mandates a debatable epidemiologic intervention,” concludes the paper.

The study follows another recently published analysis of international data showing the same relationship between COVID-19 and masks.

An interesting pattern emerged at the trial of Hillary Clinton’s campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann. While we may have expected special counsel John Durham to challenge the official media and establishment narrative that the Trump-Russia investigation was properly predicated and carried out, it is Sussmann who is now challenging that narrative, not Durham.

In fact, Durham made it clear from day one of the trial that he is running with the opposite narrative, that the FBI was a victim. In essence, Durham has forced Sussmann’s team to attack the FBI in order to exonerate their client—and Sussmann’s team has embraced the challenge.

In possibly the biggest bombshell admission of the past year, Sussmann’s team revealed an internal FBI text message that proves that FBI leadership was vigorously pushing the Trump-Russia collusion hoax despite the flimsiness of the evidence.

It is the first public acknowledgment backed by documentary evidence that FBI leadership was focused on taking out Trump.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/new-internal-fbi-text-message-reveals-fbi-leaderships-desire-to-get-trump-truth-over-news_4492007.html?utm_source=News&utm_campaign=breaking-2022-05-26-4&utm_medium=email&est=%2BOQFe%2Fs2necxfrFHAy1h0iHK1d46sV8dNBC%2Ft43HqGhrUVYpR5OgnuRp8JVOXBQadw%3D%3D

When she was working towards her Ph.D. in genetics at the University of California at Berkeley in the 1960s, my mother noticed something extraordinary: the organelles inside the cells she was studying looked surprisingly like single-celled free-living bacteria.

Was it possible, my mom asked herself, that bacterial cells somehow became integrated into other cells to form new organisms?

And could this be a driving mechanism of evolutionary change?

More established biologists laughed at her. Many of her colleagues dismissed her. A paper she wrote on the subject got rejected dozens of times. Later, Richard Dawkins, a famous British evolutionary biologist, called her “Attila the Hen.”

Throughout her career, my mother was ridiculed for being too iconoclastic, too unconventional, and too outspoken.

But science speaks for itself and my mother, Dr. Lynn Margulis, was able to prove, via electron microscopy, that, indeed, the mitochondria in our bodies (those tiny organelles within our cells that are responsible mainly for energy metabolism) could have come from a merger of very early bacterial cells becoming integrated into other cells.

Her theory, called the endosymbiotic hypothesis, as well as the idea of “symbiogenesis” (a word that she and my brother, science writer Dorion Sagan, coined), are now widely accepted by the scientific community.

Today the idea that we cohabitate with bacteria and other microorganisms as obligate symbionts is of seminal importance to our understanding of the human microbiome and how to promote and heal the gut. For years my mother was considered an outlier, now she is regarded as a visionary.

Science Advances With Open Debate

Orville and Wilbur Wright were famous for disagreeing with each other as they tried to solve the thorny problem of getting a craft airborne. How to design propellers was one of the many engineering questions the two brothers had to resolve, and the more they studied the problem the more complicated it seemed, according to David McCullough, who wrote a best-selling book in 2016 about the Wright brothers.

It took months of failures to find a design that worked. The problem, the Wrights figured out, was that the thrust of a standing propeller was not the same as the thrust of the same propeller in motion. They could only test the propellers if they tried them on a flying machine, McCullough explained in his book.

This was a frustrating time for the inventors, and they disagreed loudly about how to proceed, arguing day and night.

“If you don’t stop arguing, I’ll leave home,” their younger sister Katharine reportedly screamed at them one day.

But their heated arguments were a productive—even essential—part of the process of invention. Both brothers capitulated to each other, changing their minds based on their discussions, observations, and subsequent experiments. And they solved the propeller problem by positioning two propellers between the wings of their “Flyer,” just behind the pilot, with one spinning clockwise and the other counterclockwise to balance each other out.

I love this story because it shows how important differences of opinion are to the scientific process and how the best scientists and inventors are always willing—eventually—to put their egos aside and see things in a different way for the greater good of advancing knowledge.

And who knows? Without their lively debates, which helped them move their experiments forward, the Wright brothers may not have invented flight.

Whether the question is how life evolved on earth, how to get an aircraft off the ground, or what is the best way to treat an infectious disease like SARS-CoV-2, scientific knowledge advances by open debate, lively disagreement, and testing and re-testing hypotheses.

Differences of opinion are not dangerous. Conflicting information is not the problem. Shutting down conversations about science, censoring scientific debate, or ignoring data that do not fit into a preconceived idea—as the molecular geneticist and former vaccine developer Dr. Joe Wang has written about previously for The Epoch Times—are what lead to deadly consequences.

But that is exactly what has been happening for over two years now. Public health authorities, government officials, Big Tech, and even the conventional media, using SARS-CoV-2 as an excuse, continue to actively censor the free and fair exchange of ideas.

Much of this censorship is done by robots. Last week I was temporarily banned from Facebook for posting a link to a peer-reviewed scientific article published in the New England Journal of Medicine about the risk of myocarditis in young people following vaccination.

Apparently Facebook artificial intelligence knows more than an international team of highly qualified, highly credentialed scientists and their editors.

Lessons From China

You would think that every American understood that freedom of thought is the hallmark of an open society. After all, since the beginning of the COVID-19 scare, American newspapers have dedicated quite a bit of ink to criticizing the Chinese government for their extreme censorship.

(reported https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2020-02-06/chinese-doctor-warned-of-coronavirus-outbreak-dies)

(then died https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30382-2/fulltext)

As the Los Angeles Times reported, when Dr. Li Wenliang tried to share news about coronavirus, the Chinese government arrested him and seven other whistleblowers for spreading rumors. The 33-year-old ophthalmologist then died in a hospital in Wuhan on February 7, 2020, allegedly of SARS-CoV-2.

In China, the broadly worded crime of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble,” has been used time and again against citizens who are critical of the party line.

In August of 2021 it was evoked as a justification to give two Chinese brothers a 15-month jail sentence, as reported by the South China Morning Post. Their crime was simply making censored material—some 100 articles about COVID-19—available on the internet.

Silencing dissent is so deeply engrained in the CCP culture that the only people in China who can criticize the CCP are the CCP itself, and only after behind-the-scene power struggles settled by new CCP bosses criticizing their predecessors.

Speaking Out Against Censorship

“We are silencing scientists,” Dr. Martin Kulldorf said at a meeting of medical doctors and scientists in Washington, D.C. in March. “Science cannot operate that way. We won’t get progress and more knowledge that way.”

A Swedish-born epidemiologist who was a professor of medicine at Harvard for almost twenty years, Kulldorf has been fearlessly speaking out against censorship and dishonesty in the medical community.

He was at the inauguration of Hillsdale’s new Academy for Science and Freedom, attended by dozens of other scientific leaders who also champion the honest exchange of scientific ideas.

“All civilized societies depend on the free exchange of ideas that are involved in scientific inquiry,” said Scott Atlas, M.D., who is also a fellow at the Academy for Science and Freedom, at the meeting in Washington, D.C.

“It’s not just that we need to allow that, we need to encourage that … without that free exchange of ideas, you do not have science,” Atlas said.

This week, when I boarded a plane in New York, there were signs on the jet bridge instructing passengers to stay six feet apart. It doesn’t take a scientist to realize that staying six feet apart while walking to the plane, only to be seated close together breathing the same recirculating air, makes no sense.

The origin of the public idea that we should stay six feet apart from each other has been attributed to research conducted in 1897 by a German scientist named Carl Flügge. But at the time when this was widely promoted by public health officials, no studies—none—had ever evaluated the biophysics of droplets or gas cloud formation for patients infected with SARS-CoV-2, according to MIT’s Lydia Bourouiba, Ph.D., writing in the journal JAMA.

Later, as people started feeling increasingly restless with lockdowns and distancing, and parents began clamoring for schools to reopen, a study appeared in the journal Clinical Infectious Disease that found that three feet of social distance was enough.

This peer-reviewed science concluded that: “Lower physical distancing requirements can be adopted in school settings … without negatively affecting student or staff safety.” So, it seems, the six foot rule may have been wrong all along?

As the French would say, n’importe de quoi.

My mother died of a brain hemorrhage in November of 2011. Even though she’s not here anymore, she feels very present. Every day I hear her urging me to be brave, defend scientific freedom, and question the status quo.

Jennifer Margulis, Ph.D., is an award-winning science journalist and book author. She is currently writing a book about her mother’s life and legacy, to be published by Mariner Books in Fall of 2023.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/america-should-not-silence-science_4494299.html?utm_source=News&utm_campaign=breaking-2022-05-26-4&utm_medium=email&est=nlxMhc3oNJQSIxQ8PDpr7GcF2RplBtyrcQTpGp39N7bzk6aKlwAePYDLxjpYgMa4Vw%3D%3D

The husband of one of the teachers slain in the mass shooting at a Texas elementary school this week died on May 26 from an apparent heart attack, family members said.

Joe Garcia, the husband of Irma Garcia, “tragically passed away this morning as a result of a medical emergency,” Debra Austin, Irma Garcia’s cousin, wrote on GoFundMe. “I truly believe Joe died of a broken heart, and losing the love of his life of more than 25 years was too much to bear.”

According to the teacher’s official biography, the Garcias had been married for 24 years and had four children.

“I love to BBQ with my husband, listen to music, and take country cruises to Concan,” Irma Garcia wrote in the bio.

Family members took to social media to lament the newest loss.

“Lord god please on our family, my [tia’s] husband passed away this morning due to a heart attack at home,” Joey, one of Irma Garcia’s nephews, wrote on Twitter.

Joe Garcia visited a memorial for his wife in the morning on May 26 to drop off flowers, and when he returned home, he “pretty much just fell over,” John Martinez, another nephew, told The New York Times.

“I’m really in shock right now,” he added.

Martinez said on Twitter that Irma and Joe Garcia were high school sweethearts and leave behind children aged 13, 15, 19, and 23.

“No child should have to go through this. My heart breaks for them,” he said.

Irma Garcia and Eva Mireles, another teacher at Robb Elementary School, and 19 children were killed on May 24 by a shooter identified by authorities as Salvador Ramos, 18. Ramos was killed by officers, according to Texas authorities.

Family members have said Garcia and Mireles died trying to protect their students.

Garcia “sacrificed herself protecting the kids in her classroom,” according to Martinez.

Adalynn Ruiz, Mireles’s daughter, said on Facebook that her mother “selflessly jumped in front of her students to save their lives.”

“Mom, I have no words to describe how I feel right now, tomorrow, and for the rest of my life,” Ruiz wrote. “Mom, you are a hero. I keep telling myself that this isn’t real. I just want to hear your voice.”

https://www.theepochtimes.com/husband-of-teacher-who-died-in-texas-attack-passes-away-days-later-family_4492914.html?utm_source=News&utm_campaign=breaking-2022-05-26-4&utm_medium=email&est=rd9sLgeFhKhn2rrzF7p21jilOTvPvbWcQtZEz2biDpr560IISlnJX4LYfPaI3rhK1w%3D%3D

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) blocked legislation on May 25 that proponents say could help prevent school shootings.

The legislation, known as the Luke and Alex School Safety Act, would require the Department of Homeland Security to establish a clearinghouse on the best school safety practices after consulting with education, justice, and health officials.

“It’s pretty simple. It just creates a clearinghouse of information of the best practices for school safety. It ensures that parents, teachers, school officials, and other stakeholders have input into what those best practices are. It doesn’t allow the clearinghouse to mandate any school to take any certain action. Maybe most importantly, it publishes the available grant programs and federal resources available for school safety,” Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) said on the Senate floor in Washington.

The bill is named for Luke Hoyer and Alex Schachter, who were both killed when a man with a gun opened fire at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida in 2018. It’s backed by the parents of the boys.

“It’s a good idea. It could save lives. It is an action, when people are calling for action following this tragedy,” Johnson said.

He asked for unanimous consent for the legislation. That enables a bill to pass with no recorded vote, but also opens up the possibility that a single senator could block the request.

Schumer blocked it, referencing the mass shooting that took place this week in Uvalde, Texas.

The “sad truth” about that shooting is that “hardening schools,” or ramping up prevention techniques and strategies, “would have done nothing to prevent” the shooting, Schumer said.

“In fact, there were guards and police officers already at the school yesterday when the shooter showed up. One was a school police officer, two were from the Uvalde Police Department. The shooter got past all of them, with two assault weapons that he purchased. They couldn’t stop him,” Schumer said. “The bill would not have protected those children. More guns won’t protect our children. That is the wrong answer.”

He said he was open to adding the bill’s language as an amendment to a bill he supports, but only if Republicans voted for it.

Johnson responded, saying that he would “not engage in partisanship, other than to say it is just sad.”

“It is just sad that this body can’t pass this bill, when about a month ago, they passed an identical bill that applied to churches. This one applies to schools, and yet it’s inappropriate, according to the majority leader, to pass this nonpartisan bill by unanimous consent,” he said.

The Senate is in negotiations on different measures regarding guns, but with its 50–50 divide between Republicans and Democrats, few of them, if any, are expected to be approved.

Max Schachter, Alex’s father, denounced the blocking of the bill.

“I hoped after 21 were murdered in Uvalde, partisan politics would be put aside,” he wrote on Twitter. “I WAS WRONG.”

https://www.theepochtimes.com/top-democrat-blocks-legislation-aimed-at-preventing-school-shootings_4493691.html?utm_source=News&utm_campaign=breaking-2022-05-26-4&utm_medium=email&est=7vXvz64IHgvnFXkix9zYrldikB6OWiIIbFW%2BwXpjLIR0f%2B8%2F1eSjxj3CmzsLYRrMJA%3D%3D

I’m getting the feeling these shootings are orchestrated. How about you? [US Patriot]

Several witnesses at the scene of the Texas mass shooting said that police waited to enter, as videos surfaced of parents telling officers, “Go protect the kids!”

“What are you doing—get inside the building!” a person yelled in one of the videos, while another screamed, “Go protect the kids!”

Law enforcement authorities faced questions on May 26 about how much time had elapsed before they stormed a classroom in Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, where an 18-year-old gunman opened fire, killing two teachers and 19 children on May 24.

Investigators were also unable to say with any certainty whether an armed school district security officer outside Robb Elementary in the town of Uvalde exchanged fire with the attacker, Salvador Ramos, when Ramos first arrived.

Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw confirmed to news outlets on May 25 that 40 minutes to an hour had elapsed between when Ramos opened fire on the school security officer to when the tactical team shot him. Ultimately, officials confirmed that a Border Patrol agent shot and killed Ramos.

“The bottom line is law enforcement was there,” McCraw said. “They did engage immediately. They did contain [Ramos] in the classroom.”

However, several videos were captured outside the school, apparently as Ramos was inside, including a person saying to an officer, “Half of these [expletive] parents here, dude, they want to go in there—without vests, without guns—to get their [expletive] kids.”

Javier Cazares, whose daughter Jacklyn was fatally shot during the incident, told news outlets that police were not prepared.

“Let’s just rush in because the cops aren’t doing anything like they are supposed to,” he said.

“We didn’t care about us. We wanted to storm the building. We were saying, ‘Let’s go’ because that is how worried we were, and we wanted to get our babies out,” he said, according to The Washington Post.

McCraw said Ramos had run down a hallway into two adjoining classrooms and barricaded himself inside.

“And that’s where the carnage began,” McCraw said, according to reports.

Juan Carranza, 24, who watched the scene from outside a house across the street, said officers should have entered the building sooner. Carranza had seen Ramos crash his truck into a ditch outside the school, grab his AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle, and shoot at two people outside a funeral home, who ran away uninjured.

“There were more of them. There was just one of him,” he said.

Despite the criticism, McCraw defended the response.

“The bottom line is law enforcement was there,” he said. “They did engage immediately. They did contain [Ramos] in the classroom.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/police-waited-to-enter-texas-school-as-shooter-opened-fire-witnesses_4493029.html?utm_source=News&utm_campaign=breaking-2022-05-26-3&utm_medium=email&est=t9FFPHz0KMHlSXhfekKibJYGioX%2BP55JaoUTC5r0YE9gcTKqQGo8P%2BETs%2FlOI8lpIw%3D%3D

With the end of the academic year in sight, an overwhelming number of educators are planning to close the book on their teaching careers.

Much of this stems from post-pandemic classroom behavioral challenges with students and ongoing staff shortages that create excessive workloads for teachers.

Many educators who have 25 years or more under their belt are opting to retire, but even less seasoned ones are walking away and choosing different career paths.

Back in February, the National Education Association (NEA) released a study conducted by GBAO Strategies that revealed a startling 55 percent of teachers planned to leave their profession ahead of schedule.

The NEA is the most prominent teachers union in the United States and represents 3 million educators.

Widespread educator shortages pre-date the arrival of COVID-19, but the pandemic also served as the last straw for many, kicking off the trend of an early departure.

A RAND study from January 2021 showed nearly a quarter of those surveyed expressed the desire to quit after just one year of teaching during the pandemic.

The average national turnover rate was only 16 percent before COVID-19. However, in 2021, that number jumped to 25 percent.

This year, 80 percent of NEA members reported that unfilled job openings at schools have led to more work obligations for the educators who’ve chosen to stay in their profession.

“I think people are leaving because it’s all too much. It’s a firestorm. It’s all eroding,” Heidi Rickard told The Epoch Times.

Rickard has been an educator since 1999. After spending some time teaching in Colorado Springs, she put down roots in the Alameda Unified school district in the San Francisco bay area.

She explained that many veteran teachers “just can’t take it” anymore and are leaving due, in part, to the scale of mental health challenges students brought back to the classroom after two years of online learning.

“As a veteran teacher, when the best of my best isn’t working, that’s so defeating,” Rickard said.

Two years of excessive screen time at home and the disengagement of online learning have left students struggling, falling behind, and adrift in a sea of depression.

COVID-19 and its subsequent restrictions created a mental health crisis for youth, which is now manifesting as aggressive or excessively troublesome behavior in the classroom.

In October 2021, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and the Children’s Hospital Association acknowledged the pandemic-fueled decline in child and adolescent mental health had become a national emergency.

And the dire shortage of counselors in school districts to assist students has added to this.

Rickard noted, “We haven’t had a counselor all year. Nobody even applied.”

Findings from a joint study on the role of school counselors from the Connecticut State Department of Education, the Connecticut School Counselor Association, and the Center for School Counseling Outcome Research and Evaluation at the University of Massachusetts Amherst revealed schools with fewer students and more counselors had lower rates of student suspensions and disciplinary actions.

Former superintendent, educator, and school counselor Gary Marks spent decades working in Nebraska schools. He agreed that student counseling and support for teachers in the classroom have hit a critical point.

“You need way more counselors when you’re having all these mental health issues,” Marks told The Epoch Times.

For example, he pointed to where his grandchildren go to school in Tennessee’s Farragut school district, which has only two counselors for about 600 students.

He also thinks a general lack of respect for educators underscores why more are leaving their jobs early, and others are reluctant to apply.

“The respect situation is just a huge issue,” he said.

Marks was candid when asked about the difficulties of hiring new talent in schools. “I don’t know right now, given the way the world is, if I’d be interested in being a classroom teacher.”

Yet the struggle to keep existing educators and hire new ones is only half the battle. A new report from the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education indicates that university students pursuing teaching degrees are declining.

In 2019, U.S. colleges awarded fewer than 90,000 undergraduate degrees in education. That’s down from nearly 200,000 a year in the 1970s. Over the past 10 years alone, the number of people completing traditional teacher preparation programs has dropped by 35 percent.

“This is a five-alarm crisis,” said NEA president Becky Pringle.

One of the hurdles administrators face amid the staff scarcity is a lengthy certification and training process even after qualified university graduates apply to teach.

“I want to continue teaching—however, I’m being forced out,” Lisa Carley Hotaling told The Epoch Times.

Having taught in Michigan and New York, Hotaling found herself between a rock and a hard place after she took a teaching job in California as an emergency hire in the Alameda Unified school district.

Despite already having a master’s degree and more than a decade of education and classroom experience, she still has to take the California Basic Skills Test (CBEST) and go back to school specifically for her master’s in education to continue teaching.

“That only gives me a one year credential,” Hotaling explained. “[Then] I’ll be required to return to school to do what I’m already doing in the classroom. It makes no sense. And I have to pay for further education on top of it?”

Last year, the Golden State eliminated the requirement for the CBEST and the California Subject Matter Exams for Teachers (CSET) to earn a teaching credential, so long as the applicants complete approved coursework.

Yet, some districts still want their educators to complete the additional screening, despite a shortage of educators.

“It’s very tricky to fill positions,” Heather Dutton told The Epoch Times.

Dutton has been a math instructor for nine years in the Community Learning Center Schools in the San Francisco Bay area.

She explained a lot of time is spent training a teacher who may leave if they’re not a good fit. This happens more often with newer teachers because Dutton says the first three years are profoundly challenging.

“I went into COVID with seven years of teaching experience. If your first three hellish years are on top of a pandemic, it would just crush you,” Dutton said.

“We lost a lot of teachers before the pandemic anyway, maybe 30 percent. But if you started in the middle of this horrible pandemic … people think it’s just too hard and can get paid as much or more doing something else.”

And the lack of substitute teachers has created a disproportionately high workload for the educators who remain.

“The sub [teacher] shortage is awful. We haven’t had subs all year, I think the pool of them dried up during COVID,” Dutton noted.

Additionally, Rickard says the lack of substitutes makes it nearly impossible to be gone for even a day.

“I feel guilty if I have to take a day off. There’s literally no one to cover. It leaves everybody in a bind.”

Dutton mentioned that in the high schools in her district, only three teachers would return in the fall. The rest will be new hires.

“If all the veteran people give up—where will we be?” Rickard asked.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/us-schools-facing-mass-exodus-of-teachers-who-wont-return-this-fall_4492739.html?utm_source=News&utm_campaign=breaking-2022-05-26-3&utm_medium=email&est=8raeWDpQeKRGPgtLMNFYWW4qIbR5b%2F3U7rTs0Q9JPjhywLeK%2FoiQkEsqzIj1A2UOzQ%3D%3D

The California Legislature is poised to pass Assembly Bill 2098, described as a “medical misinformation bill.” If passed, the new law would prohibit doctors from freely providing medical advice and treating their patients if those practices run counter to the official state sanctioned position.

In April 2020, the State of California Department of Consumer Affairs, the California State Board of Pharmacy, and the Medical Board of California issued a statement (pdf) regarding the “improper prescribing of medications related to treatment of Novel Coronavirus,” such as hydroxychloroquine, warning that “inappropriately prescribing or dispensing medications constitutes unprofessional conduct in California.”

On June 29, 2021, the Federation of State Medical Boards issued a warning, stating that “Physicians who generate and spread COVID-19 vaccine misinformation or disinformation are risking disciplinary action by state medical boards, including the suspension or revocation of their medical license.”

In August 2021, Dr. Anthony Fauci said there was no evidence that ivermectin works, and that it’s more likely to cause harm. In December 2021, the Food and Drug Administration issued a warning headlined, “Why You Should Not Use Ivermectin to Treat or Prevent COVID-19.” In an updated April 29, 2022, report, the COVID-19 Treatment Guidelines Panel said it “recommends against the use of ivermectin for the treatment of COVID-19, except in clinical trials.”

Should AB 2098 become law, doctors who prescribe medications not approved by the state or who claim unsanctioned drugs are effective would see their licenses revoked and face strict penalties and disciplinary actions by the Medical Board of California.

In short, AB 2098 would designate the dissemination of information not approved by the state related to the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, which causes “COVID-19,” as misinformation or disinformation, which constitutes unprofessional conduct.

One physician, Dr. Syed Haider, has already been reported to four state medical boards by pharmacists he says “don’t like filling ivermectin prescriptions.” He has also been forced to retain a lawyer to protect his medical license.

Since December 2020—after realizing that the United States had offshored almost all prescription drug manufacturing to unfriendly nations like China—Haider has focused on the prevention and treatment of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus through his online initiative mygotodoc.com, by providing easy online access to off-label prescriptions such as ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine, budesonide, and protocols for COVID, long COVID, and vaccine injuries.

“There was such a huge demand for it, it just took over my life,” Haider, who used to be “a hospital doctor,” told The Epoch Times. “Then, the pandemic hit.”

In early February 2020, Haider contracted the CCP virus at a hospital that he was working in. His work as a temporary traveling physician across many different medical practices and hospitals was coming to an end and he thought that, with the pandemic outbreak, there would be plenty of work. However, although he had applied for a position at a hospital in New York, Haider had begun to hear about online prescribing, and he started to work through an unnamed online telemedicine provider in the United States.

“Once I heard about ivermectin and off-label prescribing, people would show up on the online website looking for help with COVID and I would try to tell them about off-label medications,” Haider recalled. “And they would just give me a blank stare. Aside from hydroxychloroquine, they had never heard about drugs like ivermectin. They thought I was crazy. I think the thought was, ‘If this stuff works, why haven’t I heard about it on CNN, Fox News, or MSNBC?”

According to Haider, what really changed things for him was when he saw the Dec. 8, 2020, testimony of Dr. Pierre Kory (pdf) before Sen. Ron Johnson and the Homeland Security Committee Meeting regarding early treatment of COVID-19, “not only as an individual physician,” but also on behalf of his non-profit organization, the Front-Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance.

“Although we, like many, are extremely encouraged by the apparent successes in developing effective vaccines,” Kory said, “we also are dismayed at the near complete absence of guidance and research on effective early, at-home, or preventative treatment options apart from vaccines—a reality we find unconscionable.”

It was “with great pride as well as significant optimism” that Kory reported that his group, “led by Professor Paul E. Marik,” had “developed a highly effective protocol for preventing and early treatment of COVID-19,” and that “emerging publications” had provided “conclusive data on the profound efficacy of the anti-parasite, anti-viral drug, anti-inflammatory agent called ivermectin in all stages of the disease.”

“It was real clear in his face and in his demeanor that he was really upset and very sincere and it went viral on the internet,” Haider recalled. “Then, people started hearing from family and friends that they had used ivermectin and it made a difference for them, and people went online to find doctors who would prescribe it. At that point, things got very busy and I had to basically start my own website and prescribing it online to patients. Over the next year and a half, things really ramped up. More and more people had begun hearing about ivermectin, so more and more people were looking for it.”

According to the website, “mygotodoc makes it easy to safeguard you and your family, serving three important needs the wider medical community tends to ignore: (1) emergency antibiotics to have on hand in case disaster strikes and prescription drugs are unavailable, (2) 1-month backup supplies of your regular medication, and (3) safe off-label COVID protocols designed for prevention and treatment.”

“Myself and other doctors from all over the world have had incredible results with off-label protocols including ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine, budesonide, and a number of other protocols,” Haider explained. “What you hear over and over again is about the successful treatment of 5,000, 7,000, or 10,000 patients and maybe one death. They are shocking numbers compared to what you’re hearing with conventional treatments the CDC or FDA are recommending and what hospitals and other doctors are doing that are not using off-label protocols.”

Personally, Haider has treated over 50,000 COVID-related patients, many of them elderly. He said that among his patients, there have been zero deaths and only five hospitalizations. Despite his success, under California’s proposed Bill AB 2098, doctor’s using similar methods would have the state interfere and persecute them for providing independent care.

“Like a lot of other doctors around the world, I’ve just been trying to raise awareness of this,” Haider explained. “But, like a lot of doctors in America, I’ve gotten letters from the American Medical Association, the Federal State Medical Board warning me that my license is at risk if I speak out about vaccines or if I spread misinformation or if I prescribe ivermectin. I’ve had pushback from pharmacists, insurance companies, from medical boards in multiple states, that have sent me complaints and asked me to explain why I am conducting experimental trials on patients and why I am prescribing ivermectin.”

Prior to all of this, Haider had worked for over 10 years as a trained hospital physician in internal medicine and had “never had a single complaint from anyone on anything.”

“So, it was a very strange experience over the past couple of years to see what has happened to medical providers, including pharmacists,” Haider explained. “Pharmacists were pushing back at us because they were getting letters from their pharmacist boards warning them not to dispense it. ”

According to Haider, dissenting voices have been muzzled and censored from the very onset of the pandemic and they are now being threatened with the loss of their medical licenses. Because of this, Haider has had to retain an attorney.

“It’s very stressful to have to reply to a medical board,” he explained, adding that it’s a “very opaque process.”

“You don’t know who is going to see it or review it. You don’t know whether or not they’re friendly to what you are doing or if they disagree with what you are doing, and it’s not like a court of law where you can bring in witnesses in your defense. They just make a decision and sometimes they don’t even explain to you the reason behind it.”

Worse than that, Haider said his experience felt like they were trying to get doctors like himself to “get tripped up and to say the wrong things” and to incriminate themselves.

“One of the medical boards accused me of conducting medical experimental trials,” he said. “It’s not like they don’t know I’m prescribing off-label. We do off-label prescribing all the time in medicine. About 40 percent of prescribing is off-label and it doesn’t fall under the classification of ‘experiment.’ It’s not an unauthorized experimental medical trial. But they use that wording to try to get me to defend myself against that attack. If I had foolishly replied to them and tried to defend myself against their terminology, I would have incriminated myself because I can’t run an experiment without having a review board, authorization, and specific consent forms for experimental drug trials.”

Haider reflected on how during the current shift to vilify ivermectin that “everyone seems to forget that, during the past six months, they had the same problems with prescribing hydroxychloroquine.”

“I can send a hydroxychloroquine prescription to any pharmacist and they’ll fill it without question,” he said. “But now, they won’t fill ivermectin. It almost seems political rather than medical. It’s not scientific. There’s something else going on and it’s very strange. We can now prescribe things through pharmacies they used to vilify. But because our entire medical establishment has now decided that ivermectin must be killed, pharmacists now have a problem with ivermectin.”

According to Haider, the purpose of what he described as the “medical misinformation bill” in front of the California Legislature is to prevent doctors from saying things that the state deems to be disinformation. “That,” he said, “begs the question of who decides what is the truth?”

“In any scientific field or endeavor, there is no absolute truth,” he explained, asserting that “Dr. Fauci is not science, like he claims to be.”

“He does not have the last word on what scientific truth is. We’re always getting closer to the truth, but we have never arrived at a final truth in medicine. So, there always has to be room for debate. Doctors have to be able to take multiple different sides of an argument. So physicians have to be able to hash things out among themselves and to prescribe off-label. You can’t single out one disease and say, ‘This is off limits for the way we’ve conducted medicine for the past 100 years.’ Patients should be able to consult with their physician, discuss treatments and risks, and make decisions without the interference of the government.

“In nearly every hospital and clinic in the United States right now, it’s considered to be some form of misinformation or disinformation to say anything other than the vaccines are safe and effective,” Haider noted. “To say there are any risks associated with the vaccines is claimed to be misinformation or disinformation, and the working definition of misinformation or disinformation seems to be anything that would prevent someone from submitting to or doubting the FDA and CDC guidelines and recommendations.”

This bill would affect any doctor licensed in California, including Haider.

If AB 2098 becomes law, any doctor who prescribes ivermectin—even at the request of their patient—can lose their license to practice medicine in California.

“Once you lose your license in one state and you have licenses to practice in other states, you have to report that you lost your license in California to every other state you are licensed in, and then every medical board will start asking questions like, ‘Why did you lose your license in California.’ Once the snowball starts rolling, depending on what the medical board thinks about the reasoning behind the loss of your license in California, you can lose all of your licenses.”

In the wake of the pandemic, Haider noted how the country has been further compromised by unprecedented delays in supply lines. We no longer have domestic manufacturing of almost any medications, including and especially antibiotics. In fact, China has captured over 97 percent of the U.S. market for antibiotics. In the setting of runaway inflation, food shortages, and soaring gas prices, it’s easy to imagine an America where pharmacy shelves are bare, or with limited stock and huge price increases.

If AB 2098 becomes law, the precedent that would be set is California gets to become the proving grounds for new legislation, not just in medicine, but in everything, Haider said.

“Once you make this inroad in violation of physician autonomy on how to treat COVID for their patients, that could just be the beginning,” Haider warned. “What about after that? Do you go after a doctor’s ability to prescribe off-label for anything? Do we have to be restricted to what has been FDA approved for any indication? What happens when we don’t have an on-label drug for the treatment of an indication? What then? How do we treat our patients then?”

The Epoch Times has reached out to California Assemblyman Evan Low (D-Cupertino), sponsor of the Assembly version of the bill, as well as the Medical Board of California.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/california-poised-to-adopt-medical-misinformation-bill-targeting-alternative-covid-19-protocols_4490626.html?utm_source=News&utm_campaign=breaking-2022-05-26-2&utm_medium=email&est=iXaqmXOE9lhUZPcmgaZ8%2FmSnnOZkL%2FJBvK7%2BsSj9lzu8WfSwQ6arncJM1p0g%2FFlTDQ%3D%3D

The identities of the 21 people, including 19 children, who were slain in a Texas school shooting on May 24 have been identified.

Eva Mireles, 44, is one of two teachers killed in the shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, according to her aunt, Lydia Martinez Delgado, who spoke to ABC7.

Mireles’ daughter, Adalynn, paid tribute to her mother on Wednesday morning, writing in a Twitter post: “My sweet mommy, I will miss you forever.”

Xavier Lopez, 10, was identified as another victim, his cousin, Lisa Garza, told The Associated Press.

“He was just a loving 10-year-old little boy, just enjoying life, not knowing that this tragedy was going to happen today,” said Garza, according to the AP.

Manny Renfro lost his 8-year-old grandson, Uziyah Garcia, in the shooting. “The sweetest little boy that I’ve ever known,” Renfro said. “I’m not just saying that because he was my grandkid.”

Javier Cazares said he found out Tuesday afternoon that his 9-year-old daughter Jacklyn Cazares was killed in her classroom. She was with a group of five girls, including her second cousin, Annabelle Rodriguez, who formed a tight group of friends.

“They are all gone now,” Cazares said.

Jailah Silguero, a 10-year-old who was slain Tuesday, loved to film TikTok videos, said her mom, Veronica Luevanos, in an interview with the Los Angeles Times.

“She told her father, ‘Can I stay home?’” Luevanos also told Univision. “I think she knew something would happen.”

Jailah’s cousin also died in the shooting.

Irma Garcia, another teacher who died, was remembered on a GoFundMe page as a mother to four children.

“Sweet, kind, loving. Fun with the greatest personality,” the page read. “She sacrificed herself protecting the kids in her classroom. She was a hero.”

Angel Garza, a medical assistant with a step daughter at the school, arrived soon after the shooting and found himself aiding students streaming out injured and shaken up.

One girl was covered in blood and he asked if she had been shot.

“I’m not hurt. He shot my best friend,” the girl said. “She’s not breathing. She was just trying to call the cops.”

And then she named the friend, Amerie Jo Garza, his stepdaughter.

Amerie was a happy child who had just gotten her first cell phone for turning 10 and had just gotten a certificate the morning of the shooting for making the honor roll. She also loved to paint and draw and work with clay.

Eliahna Garcia’s parents, Stephen Garcia and Jennifer Lugo, said that she, too, died in the shooting.

Relatives of 10-year-old Eliahna Garcia recalled her love of family. “She was very happy and very outgoing,” said Eliahna’s aunt, Siria Arizmendi, a fifth-grade teacher at Flores Elementary School in the same district. “She loved to dance and play sports. She was big into family, enjoyed being with the family.”

Tess Mata’s sister, Faith Mata, remembered the girl in a Twitter post, confirming her death.

“My precious angel you are loved so deeply,” Faith wrote. “In my eyes you are not a victim but a survivor. I love you always and past forever baby sister, may your wings soar higher then you could ever dream. Till we meet again Tess Marie, love your big sissy.”

A GoFundMe account said that Jayce Luevanos was another victim.

“The Cardona family is asking for any and all help both monetarily, for funeral expenses, as well as prayers for their family,” the page says.

Eliahana “Elijah” Cruz Torres, 10, was looking forward to her team’s final softball game before her death, according to her aunt.

“I talked to her last night,” her aunt told KENS-TV, “and she was kind of nervous, saying that it was her last game, and she didn’t want softball to end.”

Claudia Perez Sanchez confirmed that her family member died on social media.

“Prayers to all the families and kids. This is so heartbreaking,” she said. In an updated post, Sanchez confirmed Maite was killed.

Another victim Nevaeh Bravo’s death was confirmed by her cousin on Twitter, reported the Los Angeles Times.

“Unfortunately my beautiful Nevaeh was one of the many victims from todays tragedy,” she wrote. “Thank you for the support and help. Rest in peace my sweet girl, you didn’t deserve this.”

Makenna Lee Elrod’s sister Kadence Elizabeth confirmed the child’s death on Twitter Tuesday.

“My baby sister has finally been found in a classroom … thank you for everyone sending their love to my family and I,” she wrote. “All I ask is that you hug your loved ones tonight and tell them you love them, you never know when you won’t have the chance to anymore.”

Rosemarie Ramirez, the aunt of one of the victims, told People magazine that Alithia Ramirez was among those who died. “I want the families to know that they’re not alone. We’re all grieving,” she says. “My whole family is devastated.”

“She loved to draw,” Rosemarie said. “It’s the last thing she gave me.”

Jacinto Cazares, the father of 10-year-old Jackie Cazares, confirmed that the girl died inside her fourth-grade classroom on Tuesday.

“My baby girl has been taken away from my family and I,” the father wrote online.

Annabell Rodriguez, 10 also died in Tuesday’s massacre, along with her cousin, Jackie Cazares, who was 10, according to Annabell’s aunt Polly Flores.

Miranda Mathis’s cousin Deanna Miller confirmed the 11-year-old girl’s death on social media: “My sweet baby cousin we loved u dearly I’m so sorry this happen to u baby please keep my family in your prayer.”

Salvador Ramos, 18, was identified by officials as the lone gunman in the shooting. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said Ramos shot his grandmother in the head before carrying out his rampage at Robb Elementary.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/what-we-know-about-the-21-victims-in-texas-school-shooting_4492715.html?utm_source=News&utm_campaign=breaking-2022-05-26-2&utm_medium=email&est=%2BXYuIAEhsDyo4XeIeJEzSB55DLZQ1GGAFg69A%2BrcqrW8JcRrYt6vbO16BfxK9GK0ZQ%3D%3D

Former Democrat President Barack Obama faced backlash online Wednesday afternoon after he invoked George Floyd following the school shootings that happened on Tuesday in Texas.

Obama’s remarks come after an 18-year-old Latino male stormed Robb Elementary School in Uvalde and opened fire on students, killing at least 19 children, before a nearby U.S. Border Patrol agent rushed into the building and killed the suspect.

“As we grieve the children of Uvalde today, we should take time to recognize that two years have passed since the murder of George Floyd under the knee of a police officer,” Obama tweeted. “His killing stays with us all to this day, especially those who loved him.”

Obama continued by promoting his leftist My Brother’s Keeper Alliance, which seeks to force police departments to “reimagine policing.”

Notable responses to Obama included:

• Ben Shapiro, The Daily Wire: “What in the world does the former have to do with the latter?”
• Jason Whitlock, The Blaze: “Let’s stand George Floyd on the dead bodies of slaughtered children. This is one of the worst tweets in history.”
• Harry Khachatrian, The Washington Examiner: “Innocent children gunned down in an elementary school is absolutely not comparable to a criminal being wrongly killed by police mid-arrest.”
• Kira Davis, political commentator: “Not a single grieving parent today gives a rip about what happened to Floyd or anyone right now. For crying out loud. This is not the time to be advertising for your favorite activist group. How utterly vile.”
• Harrison Fields, communications director for Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL): “Despicable. Floyd had his moment, literally a summer of protest and anarchy devoted to his memory. The evil man that murdered him will spend the rest of his life in jail. Now is the time to remember the 22 innocent souls that were senselessly massacred in TX. When they go low?”
• Gad Saad, professor: “Children, shmildren. Sure those kids died but let’s honor Floyd, a BLM icon. You are my president forever and I’m Canadian. Your ability to say nothing in such an articulate manner is inspiring. Thank you.”
• Mike Cernovich, political commentator: “George Floyd robbed a pregnant woman at gun point. It’s not the same, you divisive psychopath.”
• Christian Ziegler, Florida Republican Vice Chairman: “Quickest, weirdest and most insensitive Tweet Pivot I have seen. Obama turned the page on the children of Uvalde and moved the attention to George Floyd in less then 280 characters. I mean… couldn’t he have separated the two into 2 Tweets and waited 2 mins between both posts?”
• Rebeccah Heinrichs, Hudson Institute: “Not his best. We’ve got a Mad Libs vibe on this one.”
• Joel Pollak, Breitbart: “Why contrast these two events? Mark the memory of George Floyd without making it look like you resent the attention being paid to innocent children or heroic police. Tone deaf at best.”
• Emmanuel Rincon, El American: “The families of more than 20 people (mostly children) killed yesterday do not deserve this disrespect. It would be good to respect their pain and not use this moment to stir up more hatred.”

https://www.dailywire.com/news/obama-slammed-for-invoking-george-floyd-after-school-tragedy-one-of-the-worst-tweets-in-history?utm_medium=email&utm_source=cnemail&seyid=3387

Desperate loser Beto O’Rourke ejected after making scene

Failed candidate Robert Francis “Beto” O’Rourke was forcibly removed after making a scene at a press conference held by Gov. Greg Abbott in Uvalde, Texas, site of the horrific mass shooting at Robb Elementary School. The obnoxious Democrat, who is running against Abbott in Texas’s upcoming gubernatorial election, was immediately denounced by Uvalde mayor Don McLaughlin as a “sick son of a bitch” for attempting to make a “political issue” out of the tragedy.

O’Rourke is attempting to achieve the rare trifecta of political failure by launching unsuccessful campaigns for governor, president, and U.S. senator. Prior to being ejected from the event, O’Rourke accosted the legislators on stage, insisting that the tragic deaths of 19 children were “on you.” McLaughlin shot back as law enforcement officers were escorting O’Rourke out of the building. “It’s on assholes like you,” he shouted.

The failed Democrat was considered an early favorite to win the 2020 Democratic presidential primary after telling Vanity Fair he was “just born to be in it.” Former president Barack Obama was reportedly “enamored” with the politician whose signature accomplishment is losing to Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas) in 2018. Turns out he was just born to lose. O’Rourke ended his campaign months before the Iowa caucuses after a series of polls showed him getting blown out by alternative options such as “None” and “Not Sure.” Even Democratic voters were not particularly enamored with his single-minded focus on gun confiscation.

Apart from his inability to win an election, Beto is best known for being the sweatiest politician in America. Even dogs don’t like him. O’Rourke trails Abbott by 7 percentage points, according to the RealClearPolitics polling average.

https://freebeacon.com/democrats/beto-uvalde-heckler/

Self-described anarchists took credit for vandalizing four pro-life churches in Olympia, Wash., last weekend, referring to the houses of worship as “patriarchal sex abuse cults” that perpetuate the “violence of forced birth.”

Puget Sound Anarchists, a website that publishes writings from “anarchists and anti-authoritarians in the Pacific Northwest,” shared an anonymous post declaring a Mormon church, two evangelical churches, and a Catholic church had been given “facelifts” Sunday morning before services for their “ties to anti-abortion ‘crisis pregnancy centers.'” The churches, according to the anarchists, “are terrified of people exercising bodily autonomy—whether aborting unwanted pregnancies or taking gender-affirming hormones/surgery or fucking whomever we want—because they need the rigid hierarchy of the family as the basic unit of control.”

“We dumped red paint over the entryways and left messages of ‘If abortions aren’t safe, then neither are you,’ ‘Abort the church,’ and ‘God loves abortion,'” the anarchists said. “We are not appealing to state power for an end to patriarchal violence, but threatening: ‘If abortions aren’t safe, then neither are you.'”

The attack comes as churches, pro-life advocates, and some Supreme Court justices face heightened threats after a leaked decision revealed the Court is expected to overturn Roe v. Wade next month. Arsonists firebombed a pro-life advocacy group’s office in Wisconsin days after, spray-painting, “If abortions aren’t safe, then you aren’t either” on its façade. A Department of Homeland Security memo that surfaced last week showed the agency is readying for potential violence in the wake of the decision.

Cean Williard, an executive pastor at Harbor Church, one of the four churches vandalized, told the Washington Free Beacon parish leaders were “saddened that any group would choose to communicate through intimidation, vandalism, or threats of violence” but that the “attack has not altered [their] resolve.”

“All human beings are created in the image of God from the moment of conception with unique personhood, dignity, value, and worth. God has declared in his Word that he hates the shedding of innocent blood,” Williard said in a statement. “Therefore, we are deeply opposed to the practice of abortion, which is the murder of image bearers of God. We will continue to stand in opposition to this horrible practice.”

The Olympia anarchists said even though abortion will remain legal in Washington if Roe is overturned, “there are still local enemies who are doing everything in their power to make it as difficult and inaccessible as possible.” They said such “enemies are vulnerable and easy to find,” before sharing the address of a crisis pregnancy center and listing Olympia businesses that have donated to it. Abortion has been legal in Washington State since 1970.

The anarchists described crisis pregnancy centers, which typically provide free pre- and post-natal care to young mothers, as “religious fake clinics that manipulate mostly poor people into having & keeping children they don’t want or aren’t ready for and marrying whomever impregnated them whether or not that relationship is healthy or safe.”

“Crisis pregnancy centers are exploitative and serve the aims of upholding the patriarchal family, a primary site of violence against women, queers, and children,” they wrote.

The anarchists signed their missive “Jane’s Revenge”—the same name used by the vandals who threw a Molotov cocktail into the pro-life office in Wisconsin, according to the Washington Times.

Puget Sound Anarchists has posted other anonymous submissions admitting to crimes of property destruction. In July 2021, Portland vandals shared pictures of an attack they launched on police squad cars, smashing a dozen cruisers’ windows, windshields, lights, and side-view mirrors.

“We call on all abolitionists to take the defunding and disarming of the pigs into their own hands,” the submitters wrote. “Be bold! Sabotage is fun!”

A legal notice on Puget Sound Anarchists states, “We do not condone or promote illegal, violent, and unlawful behavior or actions, or acts of intimidation against individuals or groups.” On its contact page, the editors say they do not respond to media requests.

https://freebeacon.com/latest-news/anarchists-take-credit-for-vandalizing-four-pro-life-churches-in-washington-state/

After months of buildup, Secretary of State Antony Blinken will outline the Biden administration’s China strategy on Thursday. His venue: an event hosted by a group friendly to the Chinese Communist Party.

Blinken will give his much-anticipated speech at an event hosted by the Asia Society, a U.S.-based nonprofit that aims “to build bridges of understanding between Americans and Asians.” The speech comes as the administration weighs whether to relax Trump-era tariffs imposed on China and prepares for diplomatic talks in Asia.

The event could undermine the Biden administration’s attempt to talk tough on China. Several Chinese state-owned companies—including the China Investment Corporation and State Grid Corporation of China—are part of the Asia Society’s global corporate network, which helps members engage with “corporate leaders, policymakers, and influencers.” One of the Asia Society’s trustees is Ning Gaoning, a Chinese Communist Party official whose company, Sinochem, has been blacklisted by the United States government over its ties to the Chinese military.

The Asia Society also has ties to the Chinese Communist Party’s propaganda machine. It helped establish dozens of Confucius Institute classrooms across the country. U.S. government officials have warned that the Chinese government uses Confucius Institutes to disseminate pro-Beijing propaganda at American colleges and high schools. Another Asia Society board member is an official with the China-United States Exchange Foundation, a think tank that directs the Chinese Communist Party’s overseas influence activities.

“​​It’s unclear why Blinken chose Asia Society as a host,” said Anders Corr, an intelligence analyst and publisher of the Journal of Political Risk. Corr said Asia Society’s “soft-on-China reputation” and financial ties to state-controlled companies means it “should be avoided by U.S. government officials at any cost.”

Blinken is not expected to announce any major policy shifts toward China at the event, which he postponed earlier this month after contracting COVID-19. His speech comes amid intense debate in the Biden administration and business community over Trump-era tariffs against Chinese companies. Trade Representative Katherine Tai and officials on the National Security Council want to maintain tariffs while Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and others want to ease some in order to lower prices amid high inflation, the New York Times reported. Blinken is not expected to explicitly address how the administration should handle tariffs, according to the Times.

The Asia Society and many of its corporate sponsors support a rollback of tariffs. Anna Ashton, an official with the Asia Society Policy Institute, recently said the Chinese government had exercised “a great deal of patience” in hoping that American policymakers “would come to their senses” about the economic relationship between Washington and Beijing.

The State Department and Asia Society did not respond to requests for comment.

https://freebeacon.com/national-security/soft-on-china-blinken-to-unveil-biden-admins-china-policy-at-china-friendly-org/

Gov. Kristi Noem: Power over personal health choices ‘is not President Biden’s to give away’

Republican governors Ron DeSantis (Fla.), Glenn Youngkin (Va.), and Kristi Noem (S.D.) denounced the Biden administration’s proposed amendments to the World Health Organization’s International Health Regulations.

“We in Florida, there is no way we will ever support this WHO thing,” DeSantis said Monday. “No way.”

The amendments would change WHO’s surveillance methods, allowing the organization to “develop early warning criteria for assessing and progressively updating the national, regional, or global risk posed by an event of unknown causes or sources.” WHO would provide member nations with assessments that indicate “the level of risk of potential spread and risks of potential serious public health impacts, based on assessed infectiousness and severity of the illness.”

The amendments would also change how WHO determines public health emergencies. While the previous regulations task the organization’s director-general and each member nation with determining a crisis, the amendments delegate that power solely to the director-general. The amendments also allow the director-general to issue an intermediate public health alert if he deems that a crisis requires international awareness, even if it doesn’t meet international public health emergency standards.

DeSantis is not the only governor wary of the amendments.

“South Dakota will continue to trust our people to exercise personal responsibility over their health,” Noem said in a statement to the Washington Free Beacon. “That power is not President Biden’s to give away—the 10th Amendment reserves it for the states and for the people.”

A spokeswoman for Youngkin called the Biden administration’s plans “incredibly concerning” and said “giving WHO sovereignty over U.S. health decisions” is “not something Governor Youngkin condones or supports.”

WHO has a history of working against U.S. interests. Under the leadership of Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the organization repeatedly allowed the Communist regime in China to hold sway over official health decisions. At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, WHO followed Beijing’s lead and falsely claimed for weeks that human-to-human transmission was unconfirmed. A top WHO official in July 2020 promoted an anti-Taiwan conspiracy theory about the virus. Under former president Donald Trump, the United States withdrew from the organization, but President Joe Biden reversed Trump’s decision.

Delegates from almost 200 countries have gathered this month in Geneva, Switzerland, for the 75th World Health Assembly, where they are discussing the changes.

Member nations are allowed to reject WHO’s emergency assistance, but they must alert WHO of their rationale within 48 hours of the rejection.

The Biden administration’s proposals would establish “compliance committees” in each member country to gather information and promote compliance with regulations.

Members hope to establish a new pandemic agreement in addition to the International Health Regulations, which legally bind countries to detect and report potential health threats. If approved, these amendments are not expected to take effect until 2024.

In his Monday remarks to the World Health Assembly, a meeting of WHO’s legislative body, Health and Human Services director of global affairs Loyce Pace said the United States is pleased “with the consensus reached this week on concrete action and further work to strengthen existing tools available to the WHO and to all Member States.”

“This includes strengthening the International Health Regulations from 2005 to clarify roles and responsibilities, increase transparency and accountability, share best practices, and communicate in real-time with our global partners,” Pace said.

Member nations have until August to decide on initial drafts of the amendments.

Update 10:53 p.m.: This piece has been updated to include comment from Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R., Va.).

https://freebeacon.com/biden-administration/governors-say-no-way-to-biden-plans-to-empower-pro-china-health-organization/

Primary challenger Greg Raths says the ‘Jewish community’ uses ‘money’ to ‘control a lot of’ politicians

California’s upcoming primary elections could deliver Rep. Ilhan Omar (D., Minn.) an unlikely foreign policy ally—Republican Greg Raths, who last week said the “Jewish community” uses money to “control” U.S. politicians. 

Raths’s anti-Semitic rant came during a May 20 Orange County Islamic Foundation candidate forum, which saw the Republican claim that U.S. support for Israel is bought and paid for by the “Jewish community.” Raths, who is running against Republican congresswoman Young Kim in California’s 40th Congressional District, also called to “rein in” U.S. foreign aid to Israel, a position he said he is able to support because he hasn’t taken “one dime” from Jewish sources.

“That’s the problem. Israeli PAC in Washington, they got money and they control a lot of these politicians. And the other side, the Palestinians, they don’t have the clout. So these politicians go where the money is, unfortunately,” Raths said. “The Jewish community is very well organized in the United States and they control a lot of politicians. That’s why the foreign aid is so large going to Israel. … The Jewish community has never given me one dime, so I’m not beholden to them at all.”

Raths’s comments echo those of Omar, who in 2019 said U.S. support for Israel is “all about the Benjamins baby,” a reference to $100 bills bearing Benjamin Franklin’s face. The far-left congresswoman’s remark prompted swift condemnation from many of her Democratic colleagues—former New York representative Max Rose, for example, said Omar invoked “hurtful stereotypes and caricatures of Jewish people to dismiss those who support Israel.” Republican Jewish Coalition national political director Sam Markstein similarly rebuked Raths, calling his remarks “blatantly anti-Semitic.”

“Both Mr. Raths and Ilhan Omar now share the distinct dishonor of suggesting that Jewish Americans buy political influence—a well-known, age-old anti-Semitic stereotype,” Markstein told the Washington Free Beacon. “It is disgusting, appalling, and has absolutely no place in the GOP.”

Raths did not respond to a request for comment. His decision to appear at the candidate forum is a curious one for a Republican congressional hopeful. The Orange County Islamic Foundation’s leader, Sheikh Tarik Ata, has called Israel a “Nazi-like, apartheid, racist, aggressive, tyrannical, vicious, child-killing Zionist entity.” Raths’s campaign site says the California Republican will “support Israel.”

In addition to his call to reduce U.S. aid to Israel, Raths also endorsed sending American aid dollars to the Palestinian Authority, a policy the Biden administration resumed in 2021. During that year, the United States sent the Palestinian Authority more than $360 million even as it funnels hundreds of millions to terrorists and their families. The Trump administration terminated U.S. aid to the Palestinians over those terror payments, which are part of the Palestinian Authority’s “pay-to-slay” program.

“If we help one country, we should help the other, because each country needs to protect itself,” Raths said of Israel and the Palestinian Authority at last week’s forum.

Raths’s campaign against Kim is not his first congressional run. The Republican lost to Rep. Katie Porter (D., Calif.) by 7 points in 2020 after he failed to advance from two primary elections in Porter’s district in 2014 and 2016. Raths has raised $136,000 to Kim’s $4.8 million.

Raths’s full remarks at the Orange County Islamic Foundation forum can be viewed below:

https://freebeacon.com/elections/california-republican-goes-full-ilhan-omar-in-anti-semitic-rant/

When Jennifer-Ruth Green, a black woman, won an overwhelming victory in Indiana’s 1^st Congressional District Republican primary this month, she helped improve the chances that the GOP would take the once-reliable Democrat district in the general election.

Not only did Green, a political newcomer, beat an accomplished politician, Blair Milo, who served as mayor of LaPorte Indiana and is currently in the administration of Indiana’s Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb, she also won by a comfortable margin.

In a race that included Green, Milo, and another conservative campaigner who got 15 percent of the vote, Green very nearly go a majority of the vote, winning 49.2 percent of the Republican primary voters, according to the final vote totals at Ballotopedia. Milo won 18 percent of the vote.

Such a blowout win against an establishment candidate may have embarrassed big wigs in Indiana like former vice president and former Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, his brother Rep. Greg Pence (R-Ind.), and Holcomb.

The state GOP, however, seems solidly behind her candidacy.

“Jennifer-Ruth Green is an incredible candidate who will motivate and inspire not only Republicans, but northwest Indiana voters across the political spectrum,” Luke Thomas, press secretary and digital director at the Indiana GOP, told The Epoch Times in an email.

With the support of the GOP in the most important race in the state, Green could upset incumbent Democrat Frank Mrvan, who is running for re-election for the first time, just as she surprised insiders in the GOP.

“She’s a newcomer, but she’s a polished campaigner,” Adam Wren, publisher of Importantville, a subscription newsletter that covers Indiana politics at the micro-level, told The Epoch Times, while refusing to handicap the race for any candidate.

Back to Importantville

“Importantville,” many might remember, is how then-candidate for president Donald Trump described Indiana, as he campaigned in the state for the final 57 GOP delegates he needed to clinch the nomination

“Now Indiana is becoming very important … you folks belong where you belong; it’s called Importantville right? I love it,” Trump said about Indiana while campaigning there in 2016, according to ABCNews.

It’s appropriate because Green campaigned as a strong supporter of Trump, releasing a 30- second ad that attacked her GOP opponent as a “Never Trump Republican.”

“Don’t be fooled. Milo refused to support Trump,” said the Green ad, claiming that Milo wouldn’t support Trump’s nomination or his immigration policies.

Such an ad could have rankled the Pence brothers, one of whom has feuded with Trump since the 2020 election was final, but those close to the campaign say no.

“Jennifer-Ruth is a battle-proven leader and she has just the skillset to turn Indiana’s 1st District red and defeat Rep. Frank Mrvan and his 100 percent support for the failed Biden-Pelosi agenda,” said GOP state party press secretary Thomas.

Democrats’ Sagging Hopes

Indiana’s 1^st Congressional District, which used to reliably give Democrats 60 percent or more of the vote in general elections, is only leaning Democrat by 4 percent, according to a 2021 analysis by the Cook Political Report.

But that was before the tough year Democrats have had under President Joe Biden.

Inflation, a struggling economy and a Democrat Party that seems out of touch with voters has the GOP poised for some upsets, according to the latest AP polls, which show Biden under a 40 percent approval rating nationwide.

Most alarming for liberals is the sagging approval rating Biden has been given by Democrats.

After enjoying a positive bounce subsequent to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Biden’s approval rating has plunged nearly ten points among Democrats, according to the AP poll, to a lowest-ever for his presidency, at 73 percent.

It’s an ominous sign for Democrats in competitive House districts, such as Indiana’s 1^st, “with deepening pessimism emerging among members of his own Democratic Party,” said the AP.

And that gives Green a legitimate shot to be the only black woman to represent the GOP in the House next year, and wrestle one of two congressional districts out of seven away from the Democrats in Indiana.

This is especially true when one reckons that Indiana, as a whole, is one of the more reliable partisan Republican states in the country, according to FiveThirtyEight.

Incumbent Democrat Frank Mrvan has all but tied his fate to that of Biden’s after waiting around to shake the president’s hand at the conclusion of the State of the Union speech this year.

It wasn’t just a photo-op for Mrvan either. He stopped to thank Biden for signing a massive spending bill that critics say may have helped lead to the worst inflation in 40 years.

“I’m Frank Mrvan, I represent Gary, Indiana, I’m co-chair of the Steel Caucus, and I want to thank you for the infrastructure bill for our district and also for the steel industry, and what that will do for Northwest Indiana’s economy,” Mrvan told Biden, according to Mrvan’s campaign Facebook site.

Green: ‘Mrvan Owns Biden’s Failures’

Green countered by telling The Epoch Times that Mrvan voted with “Biden and Pelosi” 100 percent of the time.

“Frank Mrvan owns all of Biden’s failures from inflation to gas prices to food prices to the baby formula shortage to surging crime, border chaos and woke attacks on Hoosier families,” Green told The Epoch Times, while emphasizing that she’s pro-America and pro-military.

Despite coming from the same congressional district where Biden’s Secretary of Transportation, progressive Pete Buttigieg, was mayor, Green refused to be labeled the ‘anti-Buttigieg’ candidate, pushing back against contrasting her conservative credentials to former Mayor Buttigieg’s progressive stances.

“I’m pro-America, pro-family, pro-national defense. I’m not anti-anybody. I wish that Biden was pro-economy,” Green said.

When asked if the racial diversity training pushed in the U.S. military under Biden had affected the readiness of the armed services, Green, a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy, who still serves as a reservist, was direct.

Green said that, of course, historically there have been some real injustices racially and that some of the discrimination issues “are worth fighting for.”

“But there’s been an overreach,” on this subject by the Biden administration that “could impact our readiness.”

A Serious Campaign

Green served as a mission commander for counterintelligence activities in Baghdad and later as a deputy chief for a nuclear command post, according to her campaign biography.

But she’s not running on her military laurels, but as an unapologetic conservative backed up by political savvy.

“She has one of the best political operatives in the state working for her, so the campaign is very serious,” Wren, the political analyst, said.

Wren is referring to Tim Edison at FP1 Strategies who helped Josh Hawley win his Senate race in Missouri in 2018, and who, according to The New York Times, is promoting a more diverse GOP, one that seeks to make black men and black women more welcome.

Green emphasized that seeing more people like themselves in positions of leadership means that more black people will vote for the GOP and more black people will run for office as conservatives.

She said that meeting one of the Tuskegee airmen—a famed group of African American pilots and support staff who fought in WWII—for example, gave her the courage to become a pilot for the Air Force.

Mrvan won the district in 2020 with 57 percent of the vote. But more Democrats showed up in the 2022 primary than did Republicans, which could be problematic.

Still, if given the funding and whole-hearted party support in one of the legitimate places that the GOP is competitive, Green has a chance to take a House seat from the Democrats.

And that victory could bring Republicans a black woman and veteran to the House, willing to battle for the constituencies that the GOP claims are the key to the party’s future.

The Epoch Times has reached out to the White House and Mvran’s office for comment.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/veteran-mounts-challenge-against-democrats-in-midterms-could-become-only-black-republican-woman-in-house_4488186.html?utm_source=Morningbrief&utm_campaign=mb-2022-05-26&utm_medium=email&est=EW1J7QZEaF%2Bu%2FI6JFlGgY5EH2lcgJvd6CnEak%2BEn9DVwoFbQlmDd4FVMsadSwO%2Br3g%3D%3D

Every student who was killed in a mass shooting in Texas on Tuesday was in the same classroom, according to a law enforcement official.

Lt. Christopher Olivarez of the Texas Department of Public Safety told the “Today Show” and CNN on Wednesday that the child victims were in the same fourth-grade classroom at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde. At least 19 students were killed in the incident, which also left the suspect and another adult dead, officials have said.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Tuesday identified the gunman as 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, who attended a high school in the city.

Ramos “barricaded himself by locking the door and just started shooting children and teachers that were inside that classroom,” Olivarez said. “It just shows you the complete evil of the shooter.”

“It’s a small classroom, you can have anywhere from 25 to 30 students in there, plus there were two teachers in there. … So don’t have exact number of how many students were in that classroom, but it could vary … It was a classroom setting, a typical classroom setting where you have mass groups of children inside that classroom altogether, with nowhere to go,” Olivarez added.

There are still many unanswered questions, Olivarez said.

“That’s why we’re working with FBI right now to kind of look back to see if there were any indicators, any red flags, looking at social media. What we know about the shooter is that he is a resident here in Uvalde, he did attend one of the local high schools, he lived with his grandparents, was unemployed, no friends, no girlfriend that we can identify at this time, no criminal history, no gang affiliation as well,” he said.

Dillon Silva, whose nephew was in a nearby classroom, said students were watching a movie when a bullet shattered a window. Moments later, their teacher saw the armed assailant walk past the door.

“Oh, my God, he has a gun!” the teacher shouted twice, according to Silva. “The teacher didn’t even have time to lock the door,” he said, reported The Associated Press.

Ramos legally bought two AR-style rifles just days before the attack, soon after his 18th birthday, state senators briefed by law enforcement said.

Meanwhile, President Joe Biden responded to the incident and pushed for gun control laws. In a Twitter post, the president noted that gun-control measures won’t “prevent every tragedy” but still wants them passed.

“We know common sense gun laws can’t and won’t prevent every tragedy. But we know they work and have a positive impact. When we passed the assault weapons ban—mass shootings went down. When the law expired—mass shootings tripled,” Biden wrote.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/police-recount-disturbing-details-of-texas-elementary-school-shooting_4490297.html?utm_source=Morningbrief&utm_campaign=mb-2022-05-26&utm_medium=email&est=%2B5vsUZIpUrfTGpbzUo%2FgcUjFocIMWWE5LzujLNnAU5iZpVW1JdP%2BkUG6OD00W9xBJg%3D%3D

First lawsuit against Atlas Air has been filed

John Pierce Law has filed a lawsuit against Atlas Air, on behalf of US Freedom Flyers (USFF) and Atlas employees, and plans to sue all major airlines, 18 altogether, plus the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the Department of Transportation (DOT), contending that the vaccine mandates imposed by these agencies on the airlines’ employees infringed on their constitutional, religious, and medical liberties.

The lawsuit against Atlas Air was filed in federal court in the Southern District of Florida, with over 100 plaintiffs pursuing litigation.

“Fundamentally, this case is about whether Americans should be required to choose between their livelihoods and being coerced into taking an experimental, dangerous medical treatment,” reads the lawsuit (pdf).

Plaintiffs are mostly unvaccinated pilots, flight attendants, as well as other Atlas staff.

“It is also about the safety of America’s airline industry. Should pilots—under federal regulation required to be among the healthiest workers in the United States—who have taken an experimental ‘vaccine’ that is now shown to have potentially deadly, long-term side effects, be allowed to fly massive aircraft in our skies? While those who have (smartly) refrained from such a course be forced out of their jobs?” it states.

Atlas Air is one of the industry’s largest cargo carrier companies and the world’s largest operator of the Boeing 747 aircraft.

The law firm was founded by Att. John Pierce, who founded the National Constitutional Law Union. He previously represented George Papadopoulos in connection with the 2016 “Russia Hoax,” reaching a dismissal of the DNC’s case and helping secure a presidential pardon. He is also currently representing defendants being charged in connection to the Jan. 6 Capitol breach.

“So the complaint has been filed. We’re in the process of serving everyone. And then, we’ll likely be looking for some kind of injunctive relief here soon to make sure that all the COVID-related mandates stop immediately. And then we’ll proceed [with] litigation, motion, practice, and discovery and then onward to trial eventually,” Pierce told The Epoch Times.

This week, John Pierce Law plans to file another lawsuit against United Airlines.

“We’ll be hitting basically all of them in sequence, and then we’ll be going after the FAA as well. We’re gonna get these vaccine mandate type of rules and COVID restrictions ruled unconstitutional. And we’re gonna get findings that there was discrimination under Title Seven. We’re gonna get punitive damages for intentional infliction of emotional distress and things like that,” Pierce said.

“It’s going to require a big fix, ultimately. And that’s probably going to require legislation and kind of getting all the stakeholders at the table, but the first step is civil litigation.”

Airlines, which are government contractors, are affected by President Joe Biden’s order from September of last year that states all employees of those companies have to be vaccinated against the Chinese Communist Party virus.

Pierce said that as soon as he heard about the airline mandates he predicted that it would be the next big wave of litigations.

“[These lawsuits are] absolutely crucial. It’s a very, very red line—If you get to the point where you have to choose between getting an experimental drug shot in your arm and your paycheck, that’s just unAmerican, it’s unconstitutional, it’s outrageous, it’s sickening.”

“If that’s not the hill to die on when it comes to liberty, that’s about as close as I can imagine it,” Pierce said.

Josh Yoder, a major airline pilot and a spokesperson for Freedom Flyers who recently supported the trucker-led “The People’s Convoy,” says that there has been harassment, threats, intimidation, vaccine injuries, and even “suicides that have come out of these mandates.”

“We’re not doing class action. We’re doing individual litigants. And the reason we’re doing it that way is because so many people have been harmed and people have experienced different levels of harm. We have the unvaccinated who have been harassed, threatened, and intimidated into getting vaccinated. Then we have many people as well who got vaccinated against their will, who were coerced and forced into doing it under threat of losing their employment,” Yoder said.

“And then, in addition, we have the vaccine-injured, and the numbers of vaccine-injured are growing by the day,” Yoder went on, “It’s just incredible what’s happening with pilots.”

Pilots have to maintain a flight physical in order to maintain their licenses.

The Epoch Times recently reported that a pilot for American Airlines, one of the top 3 largest airlines in the country, suffered a cardiac arrest between two flights, about 6 minutes after landing.

“And so what we’re seeing is many pilots are experiencing health conditions. Specifically, cardiac issues [are] what we’re seeing a lot of. And many of these pilots are afraid to come forward because if they come forward they lose their flight physical, they lose their flight medical. So they’re continuing to fly. We have a lot of pilots that are flying with chest pain and neurological conditions, because if they come forward they lose their careers,” Yoder said.

Freedom Flyers is now acting as an advocacy group between the pilots, the FAA, and the companies in order to assist them in coming forward and speaking out on their conditions.

“We have a massive team of medical professionals who are helping these people, but we’re asking everyone to come forward. While it’s absolutely devastating to their careers, we need them to come forward because this is the safety of the American public that we’re talking about,” Yoder said.

According to a group of attorneys, doctors, and other experts—and a pilot who says his career ended due to adverse reactions from a vaccine—the FAA has been breaking its own rule that states pilots should not fly after having taken medications that have been approved for less than a year, The Epoch Times reported in December.

The Epoch Times reached out to Atlas Air for comment.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/18-major-airlines-faa-and-dot-to-be-sued-over-covid-vaccine-mandates_4484295.html?utm_source=Morningbrief&utm_campaign=mb-2022-05-26&utm_medium=email&est=UvR%2BtnlaOyuWFyIt%2Fr7i0mVSFYQqmpxAGAZIM1SxAuWghxmQDDUHaD1vfj73MXR%2BrQ%3D%3D

UVALDE, Texas—The man who killed 19 children in a Texas elementary school on May 24 posted three times to Facebook before arriving at the facility, Gov. Greg Abbott said during a press briefing on May 25.

About 30 minutes before Salvador Ramos, 18, entered Robb Elementary School in Uvalde and opened fire, he wrote on social media, “I’m going to shoot my grandmother.”

Another post, minutes later, “I shot my grandmother.”

A third, around 15 minutes before the massacre began, “I’m going to shoot an elementary school.”

Apart from the posts, there was “no meaningful forewarning” of the mass shooting, Abbott, a Republican, told reporters during the briefing.

Andy Stone, a spokesman for Facebook parent company Meta, said in a statement that the posts were private one-on-one text messages. The messages “were discovered after the terrible tragedy occurred,” he said, adding that the company is closely cooperating with law enforcement in their ongoing investigation.

The posts were located by the FBI, which is assisting local and state authorities with the investigation, according to Texas officials.

An online search turned up no criminal history, and authorities have so far found no indication of prior criminal incidents.

Ramos was a dropout who had attended Uvalde’s high school. It’s unclear if he attended Robb Elementary School.

After Ramos shot his grandmother, 66, at her home where he lived, his mother called the police. She also ran for help for her mother, who was airlifted to a hospital in San Antonio, where she’s listed in critical condition.

Ramos then took his grandmother’s car and drove about three miles before crashing. He exited the vehicle with a backpack and one of the semi-automatic rifles that he purchased legally from a local sporting goods store in March, before moving to the west side of the school campus. As he was approaching, a school resource officer engaged with him. No gunfire was exchanged, and Ramos was able to make it into the school.

He turned right, then left, before reaching two adjoining classrooms and gaining access to them, where he opened fire.

Ramos tried entering at least one other classroom but moved on after finding a locked door, Joe Daniel, a Uvalde resident who lives near the school, told The Epoch Times. Daniel’s 8-year-old daughter was inside that classroom.

Chris Vasquez, a teacher at a nearby private school, said she spoke with a parent whose child was shot during the mayhem. The child, a boy, told his parents that the shooter walked into the classroom and said, “Okay everybody, goodnight.”

A tactical team of law enforcement officers, including Border Patrol SWAT agents and a Uvalde deputy, breached the classroom door and killed Ramos.

In addition to the shooter and 19 children, two teachers were killed. Other individuals were wounded.

The motive remains unclear, officials said.

Texas leaders largely framed the problem as a mental health issue, as opposed to one regarding access to firearms.

Any person who conducts such an attack has mental health issues, Abbott said.

“We as a government need to find a way to target that mental health challenge and do something about it,” he said.

“There are ‘real gun laws’ in New York. There are ‘real gun laws’ in Chicago. There are ‘real gun laws’ in California. I hate to say this, but there are more people that were shot every weekend in Chicago than there are in schools in Texas. And we need to realize that people who may think we just need to implement tougher gun laws, it’ll solve it—Chicago and LA and New York disproves that thesis.

“Our job is to come up with real solutions that we can implement.”

The state legislature will, when it reconvenes, discuss legislation to tackle mental health issues, Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan, a Republican, said.

Abbott said that laws that were passed in 2019 aimed at preventing school shootings would be closely examined to make sure there were no shortcomings in the language or implementation.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/texas-elementary-school-shooter-posted-to-facebook-three-times-before-massacre-governor_4490873.html?utm_source=News&utm_campaign=breaking-2022-05-25-4&utm_medium=email&est=%2BbdkW%2FNtT6PIrrhAcLUyGclrvAdur9D5v4Ta756nXW41SUznSjZjwtQ%2F4etQkGgyHA%3D%3D

The 18-year-old suspect who allegedly shot and killed 19 children at a Texas school allegedly messaged a stranger, saying: “I’m about to” hours before Tuesday’s incident.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott identified Ramos as the suspect of a mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde on Tuesday afternoon. He was slain by law enforcement officials, according to the governor’s office.

Ramos is also accused of shooting his grandmother before driving to Robb Elementary armed with a handgun and possibly a rifle, said Abbott. The suspect had attended Uvalde’s high school.

A manager at a local Wendy’s in Uvalde confirmed Ramos had worked at the establishment but “kept to himself mostly.”

“He felt like the quiet type, the one who doesn’t say much. He didn’t really socialize with the other employees,” Adrian Mendes, the manager, told CNN. “He just worked, got paid, and came in to get his check.”

And a young woman who had worked with Ramos said he appeared to be aggressive.

“He would be very rude towards the girls sometimes, and one of the cooks, threatening them by asking, ‘Do you know who I am?’ And he would also send inappropriate texts to the ladies,” the former co-worker, who was not identified, told The Daily Beast on condition of anonymity.

Without elaborating, the female worker said, “At the park, there’d be videos of him trying to fight people with boxing gloves. He’d take them around with him.”

Santos Valdez Jr. told the Washington Post that they had been friends until Ramos’ behavior started to “deteriorate,” adding that Ramos was often bullied because of a stutter and a lisp. At one point, Valdez recalled, Ramos cut his own face with a knife “just for fun.” He added: “He’d cut up his face with knives over and over.” Another person who knew him said Ramos allegedly would shoot at strangers with a BB gun from a car.

Just hours before the shooting, Ramos allegedly messaged a young woman, who said that Ramos was a total stranger who tagged her in a gun photo.

“You gonna repost my gun pics,” his alleged account, “@sal8dor_,” direct messaged the girl on May 12, according to screenshots of the messages. The account appears to have been deleted.

The woman then told him “what your guns gotta do with me (sic).” Ramos then allegedly replied: “Just wanted to tag you,” as reported by the New York Post.

That Instagram account also posted several images three days ago of two rifles, including one that appears to be a Daniel Defense AR-15-style rifle. Another image showed an individual holding a magazine.

A former classmate, Nadia Reyes, told the Washington Post that he posted videos to Instagram showing Ramos screaming at his mother and cursing at her as she tried to kick him out of the house.

“He posted videos on his Instagram where the cops were there,” Reyes said. “He’d be screaming and talking to his mom really aggressively.”

Another classmate of Ramos said that he texted him photos of ammunition and firearms. “He would message me here and there, and four days ago he sent me a picture of the AR he was using… and a backpack full of 5.56 rounds, probably like seven mags,” the unidentified friend told CNN, adding: “I was like, ‘Bro, why do you have this?’ and he was like, ‘Don’t worry about it.’”

“He proceeded to text me, ‘I look very different now. You wouldn’t recognize me,’” the friend said, adding that Ramos “slowly dropped out” of school after he was allegedly bullied.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/what-we-know-so-far-about-salvador-ramos-alleged-texas-school-mass-shooter_4490113.html?utm_source=News&utm_campaign=breaking-2022-05-25-2&utm_medium=email&est=yBmMPhGeFQI6jynzGFXOfQo3WY9j4hWlMi6evILjwKNsc0DV5jAJDYAa%2B%2B5LkhiJbw%3D%3D

Top House Republicans are demanding answers from the FBI after court-ordered information came to light showing that the federal agency had collected the information of over 3 million Americans without a warrant.

In a May 25 letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray, Reps. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Mike Turner (R-Ohio) asked Wray to explain why his agency had wiretapped and gathered personal information on over 3.3 million Americans without a warrant (pdf).

Limited authority to gather foreign intelligence information is granted by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).

Specifically, section 702 of the bill says: “the Attorney General (AG) and the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) may jointly authorize the targeting of (i) non-U.S. persons (ii) who are reasonably believed to be outside of the United States (iii) to acquire foreign intelligence information.”

However, this power can grant an expanding circle of possible searches to the FBI and other intel agencies, who can use the same power against American citizens who had any interaction with targeted foreigners.

Historically, insight into how FISA has been used against American citizens has been limited and hidden behind classified reports.

However, a November 2020 decision by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC)—which serves as a watchdog for U.S. intelligence agencies—required that the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) report “the number of U.S. person queries run by the FBI against Section 702-acquired information.”

In accordance with these new requirements, ODNI’s recently-released Annual Statistical Transparency Report included data on how often the FBI gathered information on American citizens using section 702 in 2021.

In total, queries against U.S. citizens came out to a jaw-dropping 3,394,053 searches. By comparison, only 1,324,057 such queries were made in 2020, representing around a 250 percent increase during President Joe Biden’s first year in office.

According to ODNI more than half of these queries—approximately 1.9 million—were part of the larger investigation of alleged Russian attempts to target or weaken U.S. critical infrastructure.

The ODNI report also admitted that on at least four occasions, the FBI failed to get FISC approval before accessing the contents of information collected under section 702.

This is not the first time the FBI has been caught red-handed overstepping its legal authority under section 702.

In November 2020, the FISC announced that “the government … reported numerous incidents” in which the FBI reviewed information gathered under section 702 without obtaining proper permission from the court.

On other occasions, the FISC noted, the FBI used section 702 for issues entirely unrelated to foreign intelligence. These included queries for criminal investigations about healthcare fraud, transnational organized crime, violent gangs, domestic terrorism involving racially motivated violent extremists, as well as investigations relating to public corruption and bribery.”

“None of these queries was related to national security, and they returned numerous Section 702-acquired products in response,” the FISC noted.

“Rigorous Congressional oversight of the FBI’s Section 702-related activities is essential given FBI’s track record utilizing its FISA authorities,” Jordan and Turner ruled in view of the FBI’s past overreach.

In their letter to Wray, Jordan and Turner laid out a laundry list of questions about the report, demanding further transparency and explanations on the revelation that the FBI has often overstepped its legal authority to spy on American citizens.

Among other questions, they requested a full accounting of all 3,394,053 citizens who showed up in FBI queries and “[the] number of preliminary or full investigations into any U.S. citizens the FBI has initiated as a result of information obtained through any of these U.S. person queries, and the nature of the predication for each such investigation.”

They also asked for information on the 1.9 million Americans queried over alleged Russian efforts to compromise U.S. critical infrastructure. Specifically, they asked for, “The rationale for why these queries were found to be compliant with the FBI’s Section 702 querying procedures [and the] total number of U.S. citizens the FBI identified as victims of these compromises(s) pursuant to these queries.”

In addition, they demanded “A detailed statement about the FBI’s investigation, including the status of the investigation and any information uncovered about the identity of the Russian actors and their involvement with or connection to the Russian government, if any.”

Additionally, they asked for information gathered under FISA rules in the years between 2015 and 2020, as well as for an explanation of the FBI’s overreach of authority on various occasions.

The letter demands that Wray provide a written response by no later than 5 p.m. on June 7.

FISA Section 702 was last authorized by Congress for a six-year period in 2018 and will be up for reauthorization in 2024.

The FBI could not be immediately reached for comment.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/report-shows-fbi-spied-on-3-3-million-americans-without-a-warrant-gop-demands-answers_4487840.html?utm_source=News&utm_campaign=breaking-2022-05-25-1&utm_medium=email&est=vli%2F%2BW%2FgQrRjLIdkkxbFMyzxKpcA%2BDebemQsdj4sQOEpQoPOVavfXJGhd2ry63Fvhg%3D%3D

Update: At least 20 people, including 18 children, have passed away from the shooting. 

At least 14 students and one teacher were killed during a shooting at a Texas elementary school on Tuesday afternoon, according to Governor Greg Abbott.

“Uvalde Memorial Hospital had said 15 students were being treated in the hospital’s emergency department in the wake of the incident,” ABC News reported. “University Health in San Antonio said it had two patients from the shooting incident — a child and an adult.”

There were initial reports that the suspect was in someway tied to something at the border, however, those reports do not appear to be accurate.

The Department of Homeland Security said that U.S. Customs and Border Protection personnel had “immediately responded to the scene to provide support, including medical aid.”

.@SecMayorkas has been briefed on the shooting in #Uvalde, Texas. @CBP immediately responded to the scene to provide support, including medical aid. DHS is actively coordinating with federal, state, and local partners, and will continue to provide the Department’s full support.

— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) May 24, 2022

Abbott identified the suspect as an 18-year-old male. The Daily Wire is not naming the suspect due to company policy about not giving notoriety to mass murderers.

The suspected reportedly murdered his grandmother before he stormed Robb Elementary School, which has an enrollment of nearly 600 students.

The shooting happened in the city of Uvalde, which is approximately 85 miles west of San Antonio and has a population of roughly 16,000 people.

“Texans across the state are grieving for the victims of this senseless crime and for the community of Uvalde,” Abbott said. “Cecilia and I mourn this horrific loss and we urge all Texans to come together to show our unwavering support to all who are suffering.”

“We thank the courageous first responders who worked to finally secure Robb Elementary School,” he continued. “I have instructed the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Texas Rangers to work with local law enforcement to fully investigate this crime. The Texas Division of Emergency Management is charged with providing local officials all resources necessary to respond to this tragedy as the State of Texas works to ensure the community has what it needs to heal.”

Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX), who represents the district where the tragedy occurred, responded by saying that he was “heartbroken” by the day’s events.

“It is devastating when our innocent children become the victims of senseless violence. We are devastated,” he wrote. “While we monitor this situation, we remember that Uvalde, while rocked by today’s events, is strong and resilient. In this time of trepidation, our office is always here to do whatever we can to help. We are family and we will continue to be here for each other.”

While we monitor this situation, we remember that Uvalde, while rocked by today’s events, is strong and resilient. In this time of trepidation, our office is always here to do whatever we can to help. We are family and we will continue to be here for each other.

— Rep. Tony Gonzales (@RepTonyGonzales) May 24, 2022

https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-shooting-at-texas-elementary-school-leaves-at-least-15-dead?utm_medium=email&utm_source=cnemail&seyid=3198

A U.S. Border Patrol agent who was near the Texas elementary school that was attacked on Tuesday did not wait for backup as he rushed into the school and killed the assailant.

The tragedy unfolded when an 18-year-old male stormed Robb Elementary School and began opening fire on students. The Daily Wire is not naming the suspect due to company policy about not giving notoriety to mass murderers.

“A Border Patrol agent who was nearby when the shooting began rushed into the school without waiting for backup and shot and killed the gunman, who was behind a barricade,” the Associated Press reported. “The agent was wounded but able to walk out of the school.”

Fox News correspondent Bill Melugin confirmed the report, writing that the agent was “an elite BORTAC Border Patrol agent.”

The number of victims who were killed during the shooting has reportedly reached at least 20.

Texas State Senator Roland Gutierrez (D) told CNN that he was informed by Texas law enforcement officials that 18 children were killed along with three adults.

Democrats immediately seized on the tragedy as many called for new gun control laws, while other Democrats used it as a cudgel to attack Republicans.

The shooting happened in the city of Uvalde, which is approximately 85 miles west of San Antonio and has a population of roughly 16,000 people.

“Texans across the state are grieving for the victims of this senseless crime and for the community of Uvalde,” Texas Governor Greg Abbott said. “Cecilia and I mourn this horrific loss and we urge all Texans to come together to show our unwavering support to all who are suffering.”

“We thank the courageous first responders who worked to finally secure Robb Elementary School,” he continued. “I have instructed the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Texas Rangers to work with local law enforcement to fully investigate this crime. The Texas Division of Emergency Management is charged with providing local officials all resources necessary to respond to this tragedy as the State of Texas works to ensure the community has what it needs to heal.”

Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX), who represents the district where the tragedy occurred, responded by saying that he was “heartbroken” by the day’s events.

“It is devastating when our innocent children become the victims of senseless violence. We are devastated,” he wrote. “While we monitor this situation, we remember that Uvalde, while rocked by today’s events, is strong and resilient. In this time of trepidation, our office is always here to do whatever we can to help. We are family and we will continue to be here for each other.”

This is a developing news story; refresh the page for updates.

https://www.dailywire.com/news/border-patrol-agent-rushed-into-texas-school-and-killed-shooter-without-waiting-for-backup?utm_medium=email&utm_source=cnemail&seyid=3198

The Biden administration is illegally withholding information about its bungled withdrawal from Afghanistan, including information that could show senior U.S. officials knew prior to the withdrawal that the Taliban would quickly rise to power and trap scores of Americans, according to a nonpartisan advocacy group focused on U.S. national security issues.

The Center to Advance Security in America (CASA) is petitioning a district court in Washington, D.C., to force the State Department to release communications records related to the 2021 Afghanistan evacuation. This would include information “related [to the] vetting of Afghan refugees, and the number of U.S. citizens and lawful residents that were or were not evacuated from Afghanistan,” according to a copy of the lawsuit obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.

The Biden administration has yet to provide the American public with a full accounting of those who were left behind in Afghanistan once the Taliban took over and American troops left the country, including the exact number of U.S. citizens and Afghans who aided the American government during the 20-year war. U.S. officials also have evaded congressional investigations into the matter and misled lawmakers for months about the number of Americans trapped in the country once the Taliban cut off access to airports. The Biden administration has thus far rebuffed congressional efforts and those from outside groups to determine how it is vetting scores of Afghan refugees that have been brought into the United States since the withdrawal, including how these individuals are being screened for terrorism ties.

CASA, which attempted to obtain these documents through Freedom of Information Act requests filed in January 2022, argues that “without litigation, [the State Department] will not produce the requested documents,” which are likely to shed light on the chaos that played out behind closed doors within the administration as the evacuation effort spiraled out of control. The State Department “wrongfully withheld agency records requested by CASA by failing to comply with the statutory time limits for making a determination on these FOIA requests, and by withholding from disclosure records responsive to CASA’s FOIA requests to DOS,” the group maintains.

The group wants the State Department to turn over all of the requested documents and stop stonewalling CASA’s FOIA requests, which have sat in administrative limbo for months. In addition to information about vetting and those trapped in Afghanistan, CASA wants the State Department to provide it with internal communications that could detail the administration’s efforts to downplay security concerns.

“The criminal and terrorist networks in Afghanistan are real and they are extensive,” CASA said in a statement about its lawsuit. “Americans have a right to know the people being brought to our country are not tied to them. Yet the U.S. government continues to hide the records surrounding the vetting process of refugees from the country who were admitted to the United States. Nor is State willing to reveal the real number of Americans left behind or if legitimate warnings were brushed aside.”

During and after the evacuation, Biden administration officials claimed for months that the number of Americans stranded behind enemy lines in the country was around 100. Lawmakers from both parties, however, disputed that number and disclosed that they were in contact with thousands who had trouble getting help from the State Department. To this day, it is unclear how many Americans were left behind and if any remain trapped in the country. Nonprofit organizations say at least 78,000 Afghans who worked with the United States were left behind.

The evacuation, CASA argues in the suit, was “conducted in a country controlled by a hostile government previously overthrown by U.S. forces, [and] was marked by chaos and ambiguity regarding who was, and who was not, being evacuated. That ambiguity extended to, for example, how many [U.S.-aligned Afghans]—at risk due to their support of the U.S.— were evacuated; furthermore, it was unclear whether the U.S. was vetting Afghan evacuees to ensure that they did not pose a national security, or other, risk to the U.S.”

Internal communications between the State Department and other agencies are likely to corroborate reports that the Biden administration ordered evacuation flights to be packed with unvetted Afghans.

Sen. Josh Hawley (R., Mo.), disclosed in October 2021 that an internal Biden administration directive ordered officials to overfill flights. “Total inflow to the U.S. must exceed the number of seats available. Err on the side of excess,” an Aug. 16 email stated. “This guidance provides clear discretion and direction to fill seats and to provide special consideration for women and children when we have seats.”

CASA argues in the suit that the State Department has “wrongfully withheld agency records” related to its screening process and failed “to comply with the statutory time limits” for providing the requested documents.

“Americans witnessed the mismanagement and chaos of the withdrawal from Afghanistan,” CASA director Adam Turner said in a statement on the suit. “Yet the State Department is unwilling to reveal what happened around this humiliating episode—were warnings of Afghanistan’s rapid collapse ignored, how many Americans and others we had committed to evacuate were left behind, were those admitted to the United States properly vetted? Americans deserve the answers to these and other questions. State’s lack of transparency is gravely concerning.”

https://freebeacon.com/biden-administration/biden-admin-withholds-info-on-bungled-afghanistan-withdrawal-lawsuit-says/

Democratic consultants may have misled the Department of Justice about foreign lobbying work for a company that counted Hunter Biden on its board of directors, a pair of Republican senators claim.

Blue Star Strategies disclosed this month that its founders, Karen Tramontano and Sally Painter, had two meetings in 2016 with State Department officials regarding Ukraine’s Burisma Holdings.  But according to Sens. Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa) and Ron Johnson (R., Wis.), Blue Star’s founders failed to disclose nine other meetings with government officials, including two American ambassadors to Ukraine.

“It appears that Blue Star Strategies’ top executives, Karen Tramontano and Sally Painter, filed incomplete and misleading information with the Department of Justice,” Grassley and Johnson wrote Attorney General Merrick Garland. The senators pointed to records from their investigation into Biden and Blue Star’s work for Burisma.

Hunter Biden, who served on the Burisma board of directors, recruited Painter and Tramontano in November 2015 to consult for Burisma and its owner Mykola Zlochevsky, who was under investigation for bribery. It is unclear what role Hunter Biden played in Blue Star’s foreign lobbying efforts. But the arrangement has come under scrutiny because Biden served in that role while his father was leading the Obama administration’s anticorruption efforts in Ukraine.

The senators’ findings raise questions about whether the Justice Department prematurely closed an investigation into Blue Star’s foreign lobbying. Painter and Tramontano, who served in the Clinton administration, disclosed their 2016 meetings in a filing earlier this month in order to resolve a Justice Department investigation into their foreign lobbying activity. A lawyer for the consultants said prosecutors closed the investigation after the firm disclosed the two meetings in a filing under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

The end of the probe was a much-needed win for Hunter Biden, who is under investigation for his taxes and foreign entanglements. Federal prosecutors are reportedly looking into Biden’s work in China and Ukraine. Burisma paid Biden and a business partner more than $80,000 a month to serve on the board of directors. At the time, Zlochevsky was under investigation for allegedly paying $23 million in bribes for drilling rights.

Painter and Tramontano disclosed to the Justice Department that they met with State Department officials Amos Hochstein and Catherine Novelli in 2016 to discuss Burisma. The consultants arranged meetings between the officials and Burisma’s lawyer in order to ascertain the U.S. government’s position toward the firm.

Grassley and Johnson detailed nine other meetings between Blue Star and officials from the Departments of State, Commerce, and Energy from 2015 to 2019.

The senators asked Garland whether the Department of Justice was aware of the meetings and whether the agency plans to address the incomplete filings.

“DOJ must scrutinize Blue Star Strategies’ recently filed [Foreign Agents Registration Act] forms given the firm’s apparent incomplete disclosures and its lack of consistency with our investigative records,” they told Garland.

Painter and Tramontano did other advocacy work for Burisma that is not disclosed to the Justice Department. In 2017, the consultants arranged a partnership between Burisma and the Atlantic Council, the prominent Beltway foreign policy think tank. For $300,000, Atlantic Council granted access to Burisma for its energy conferences and other policy events. State Department officials cautioned Atlantic Council officials about Burisma prior to the engagement, citing concerns about the Ukrainian company’s reputation.

Blue Star Strategies and a lawyer for the firm did not respond to a request for comment.

https://freebeacon.com/democrats/hunter-biden-cronies-filed-misleading-lobbying-disclosures-senators-say/

Eric Lynn, who holds student debt from law school, says loan forgiveness ‘is the right thing to do’

A Democrat running for Congress in Florida thinks the Biden administration has found the perfect amount of student debt to cancel—$10,000, which happens to be how much student debt he holds.

In August, former Obama campaign adviser Eric Lynn said he “stand[s] with President Biden’s plan to forgive up to $10,000 per student” as “student debt loan forgiveness is the right thing to do.” Ten months later, the Democrat filed a financial disclosure that shows he would personally benefit from the policy. According to the disclosure, Lynn holds between $10,000 and $15,000 in unpaid federal student loans from his time at Georgetown Law School.

Lynn’s call to have taxpayers cover his student loan debt could backfire in his race to succeed Democratic congressman Charlie Crist in Florida’s 13th Congressional District. According to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, canceling up to $10,000 in student loan debt per borrower would cost the government $245 billion, a bill the American public would eventually foot. Top Florida Republicans are already running against the proposal—Governor Ron DeSantis in April called it “wrong” to “make a truck driver or a waitress or a construction worker” help pay off postgraduate student debt such as Lynn’s.

Lynn did not return a request for comment.

As a presidential candidate, Biden promised to cancel all undergraduate student debt for those who went to a public college or university and earn less than $125,000. After his inauguration, however, the Biden administration pushed Congress to cancel $10,000 in student debt for all borrowers. According to federal data reviewed by the Brookings Institution, 56 percent of outstanding student debt “is owed by households that hold graduate degrees.”

Following his time at Georgetown Law, Lynn served as a national security adviser on former president Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign. According to his financial disclosure, Lynn now runs a strategic consulting business, Lynn Strategies LLC. The Democrat appears to be more than able to pay off his law school debt without the federal government’s help—his disclosure lists hundreds of thousands of dollars in financial holdings, as well as a Washington, D.C., condo worth up to $1,000,000. Should Biden limit student debt relief to those earning less than $125,000, Lynn could still be eligible. The Democrat reported earning $120,000 in 2021.

Lynn will almost certainly be the Democratic nominee to replace Crist, as two of his top primary opponents left the race last week. Florida’s new redistricting maps, however, will make Lynn’s general election campaign a difficult one. Those maps split St. Petersburg in a way that makes Crist’s 13th district more solidly red.

This is not Lynn’s first congressional bid. The Democrat ran against Crist in a 2016 primary but dropped out in favor of a state House campaign, which also saw him fail to progress to the general election.

https://freebeacon.com/democrats/this-florida-dem-wants-taxpayers-to-cover-his-10k-in-student-debt/

The World Health Organization (WHO) is responding to a string of monkeypox outbreaks, and will be convening an emergency meeting on the virus and its global spread.

In terms of government power, the timing of this outbreak couldn’t be better for the WHO—which may soon be granted powers to manage laws on global health outbreaks, and which is oddly well-positioned for a monkeypox outbreak following a recent “germ-games” call, and recent incidents tied to figures who include Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates.

The New York Post declared, “The World Health Organization is reportedly convening an emergency meeting into the alarming spread of monkeypox around the world—including a possible case in the Big Apple.” The Telegraph reports that the United Nations health authority will be bringing together “a group of leading experts” in the meeting, which is believed to be focused on how the virus is suddenly spreading so widely. It also allegedly will look into the virus’s prevalence among homosexual men and on the “vaccination situation.”

The numbers of infections are by no means high. By May 23, the University of Oxford and Harvard Medical School recorded 245 either confirmed or suspected cases in the entire world. Sajid Javid, the UK health secretary, wrote on Twitter: “Most cases are mild …”

The timing of all of this is important. It gives the WHO a chance to show its worth, since it’s in the process of trying to get new and expansive powers—under the banner of governing global health emergencies.

The United Nations is considering various amendments to the WHO at its 75th World Health Assembly in Geneva, that could give its director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the unilateral authority to declare a public health emergency with far-reaching powers over the laws of sovereign nations.

Not only would this give Tedros the ability to declare a public health emergency in any nation he wants—using whatever evidence he wants—but it would also allow him to dictate policies that the target country should adopt to respond to the U.N.’s declared emergency. If a country refuses, a proposed amendment could give the WHO the ability to sanction that country.

If you’re wondering whether giving such powers to a U.N. agency that couldn’t demonstrate its independence from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could fly in the face of U.S. law, it seems that President Joe Biden has the answer. Not only is the Biden administration allowing this shift in power to the WHO, but it’s also helping advance it.

The United States proposed amendments to the WHO in January, which will be considered at the U.N. meeting in Geneva, The Epoch Times reports. These included an amendment that would allow the WHO to make public declarations on a health crisis without needing to consult with the target country, and without needing to get verification from local officials. The Biden administration’s proposals would also give $2.47 billion in funding to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for things including “enhancements to domestic sentinel surveillance programs,” “investments in global genomic surveillance approaches,” and other systems.

As The Epoch Times reports, “Respiratory surveillance platforms include video cameras and recorders that alert authorities when members of the public are seen coughing or otherwise acting in a manner that could indicate the presence of an infectious disease or help spread one already present in a population. Such equipment is widely used in China.”

Whether or not monkeypox poses a large threat to public health, it presents a serious threat to public freedom. The virus could act as a Trojan horse, carrying inside it all the justifications to grant the WHO a dictator’s dream of global power, and give the CDC a system of surveillance beyond anything Orwell could have conceived.

Under normal circumstances, monkeypox wouldn’t be a large viral risk. The CDC states that it can be transmitted human-to-human mainly by respiratory droplets that typically don’t travel more than a few feet, and so it notes that “prolonged face-to-face contact is required.”

Even Biden is walking back his statements that people should be concerned about monkeypox, and is clarifying that it’s not as serious of a threat as COVID-19.

Regardless of its inability to spread widely under normal circumstances, a global discussion on monkeypox vaccines started in 2021 after Gates warned of a smallpox bioterrorist attack as a potential next pandemic. He called on world leaders to hold “germ games” and give the WHO new powers—similar to the ones they may soon receive—under a new WHO “Pandemic Task Force.”

Gates also called for pandemic surveillance systems, which seem eerily similar to what the Biden administration submitted in its proposed amendments for the WHO’s new powers.

“It’ll take probably about $1 billion a year for a pandemic Task Force at the WHO level, which is doing the surveillance and actually doing what I call ‘germ games’ where you practice.” Gates said in 2021, Sky News reported. “You say, OK, what if a bioterrorist brought smallpox to 10 airports? You know, how would the world respond to that?”

Even though the mention of smallpox by Gates was minor, it purportedly was used to justify new discussions on a smallpox vaccine that could also treat monkeypox. Just several days later, on Nov. 8, 2021, Precision Vaccinations reported, “Gates Germ-Game Warning Motivates Smallpox Vaccine Discussions.”

The “discussions” in question were about a Jynneos Smallpox and Monkeypox Vaccine—approved in 2019. Precision Vaccinations noted that it’s “the only FDA-approved non-replicating smallpox vaccine and the only FDA-approved monkeypox vaccine for non-military use.”

Movement within the CDC began a few days earlier, on Nov. 3, 2021. It says that “the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices reviewed the two presentations focused on the smallpox vaccine Jynneos.”

And then, just several days later, an even stranger occurrence took place—carrying out the idea of a “germ game” similar to what Gates proposed.

The Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) partnered with the Munich Security Conference to imagine a pandemic scenario with monkeypox. Following the hypothetical warning from Gates, the germ game imagined a strain of monkeypox, released through a bioterrorist attack, that had been altered to be resistant to vaccines.

On Nov. 23, 2021, the NTI published its results from the tabletop game, which showed the spread of the virus over the course of 18 months.

“By the end of the exercise, the fictional pandemic resulted in more than 3 billion cases and 270 million fatalities worldwide,” it states.

In an incredible act of foresight, the exercise from last year imagined that monkeypox would appear almost exactly when it did: in mid-May this year.

The NTI also published a detailed report on its results. According to a timeline on page 12 of the report, it imagined that in May 2022, the initial outbreak of monkeypox would infect 1,421 people and kill four people. By January 2023, it would spread to 83 countries, infect 70 million, and kill 1.3 million. At that point, it would be discovered that monkeypox had been engineered to be vaccine-resistant, and supply chain challenges would make a response more difficult.

After one year, on May 10, 2023, it was predicted to infect 480 million people and kill 27 million, and it would be revealed that a bioterror attack on a civilian biolab had been the origin. Then, by Dec. 1, 2023, the virus would be estimated to infect 3.2 billion people and kill 271 million.

Of course, the important caveat with their estimates is that the monkeypox strain they imagined was one that had been engineered to be vaccine-resistant. Accurate or not, the exercise gives authorities a predictive scenario to justify “pandemic response” policies. And we’ve seen this happen before.

A very similar “germ game” was held just before the outbreak of COVID-19, with many of the same figures involved now making noise about monkeypox and a new “pandemic.”

New York Magazine reported in February 2020 that “two months before the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 emerged in central China, a group of public-health experts gathered in New York City for a simulation.” It also noted, “The characteristics of the virus currently causing global havoc are remarkably similar to the one proposed in the simulation, dubbed ‘Event 201.’”

Partners in the exercise included the World Economic Forum and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Similar to the monkeypox “germ game” before the monkeypox outbreak, the coronavirus “germ game” before the coronavirus outbreak made predictions of a mass fatality scenario. It estimated that 65 million people would die.

The Center for Health Security issued a statement on its coronavirus exercise on Jan. 24, 2020. It stated that they weren’t predicting that COVID-19 would kill 65 million people, as the simulated virus was different from the CCP virus.

Yet the important thing wasn’t the specifics of the “germ game,” but instead, how the game and its participants went on to inform government policy.

And now, with monkeypox, we’ve arrived at a similar impasse. A “germ game” imagined the potential effect of the virus, and produced inflated numbers of deaths and infections by an imaginary version of monkeypox as the model, which was resistant to vaccines. Most importantly, this also coincides with the international community weighing whether the WHO should be granted powers to govern global health emergencies.

Among the trends of COVID-19 is that governments may now be more inclined to use a seasonal virus, already declared as endemic, to justify an indefinite global emergency. Additionally, small outbreaks can also be used to justify deeply authoritarian policies that aren’t limited to health care.

Read More

Narrative and Ideological Warfare: The Ongoing Battle Between Liberty and Authoritarianism

The worst example of this is the CCP, which is claiming to use single-digit infections to lock down entire megacities. And remember that under the Trump administration, the WHO was shown to be unable to demonstrate its independence from the CCP.

Health emergency response is also no longer limited to just medicine. The COVID-19 model included mass changes to election systems that undermined the basic integrity of elected government, and widespread censorship under the narrative of fighting “disinformation” and “misinformation.” Remember that at the beginning of the pandemic, the WHO and various U.N. agencies declared an “infodemic” that required controls and censorship of public information.

In the backdrop of the monkeypox scare, the world is preparing to hand the keys to the kingdom to the WHO. And with the strange track of “germ games” and overblown numbers by the so-called experts pulling the strings, the groundwork for this public takeover has already been laid.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/monkeypox-games-could-lay-groundwork-for-who-pandemic-takeover_4484764.html?utm_source=Morningbrief&utm_campaign=mb-2022-05-25&utm_medium=email&est=i4v9KVNQquvDGcYdeKLlx2GFFoOWP0TumpFPaBFA2PHLg9jb0rqWHrfwkhUL1K0ZRA%3D%3D

CONVENIENT THING TO LOSE.

The World Economic Forum has removed a document from its website, which revealed the attendance of the Mayor of the Chinese city of Wuhan – which hosts the lab believed to be responsible for COVID-19 –  at one of its events.

Former Wuhan Mayor Tang Liangzhi is included on the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) list of attendees to its 2013 “Meeting of the New Champions.” The event, hosted in China, is described by the WEF as the “premier gathering in Asia of leaders of multinational corporations [and] governments.” “The Meeting was held in close collaboration with the Government of the People’s Republic of China,” explains the WEF meeting summary.

A link containing a 42-page document, which revealed hundreds of attendees at the event, reroutes users to an error page reading “Apologies – this section of our website is currently unavailable.” An archived version of the webpage, however, reveals a document containing a list of the event’s participants, including the then-Mayor of the Wuhan Municipal Government Tang Liangzhi.

Tang, 61, served as Mayor of Wuhan from 2011 to 2014 before serving in the same role in other cities including Chengdu and Chongqing. He was later promoted in December 2021 to the Party Branch Secretary of the Anhui Provincial Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), which has been identified as the “highest-ranking entity overseeing” China’s United Front by the U.S. government.

The effort aims to “to co-opt and neutralize sources of potential opposition to the policies and authority of its ruling Chinese Communist Party” and “influence overseas Chinese communities, foreign governments, and other actors to take actions or adopt positions supportive of Beijing’s preferred policies.” The U.S. State Department also compares the United Front to the Chinese regime’s “magic weapon” to compromise Western politicians and elites.

MUST READ: Mask Mandates Caused MORE COVID Deaths, Study Alleges.

Tang’s ties to Wuhan follow controversy of the city and one of its premier laboratories, the Wuhan Institute of Virology, potentially being the source of COVID-19. The lab, which is under the control of the Chinese Communist Party, manipulated bat coronaviruses with striking genetic similarities to COVID-19 to become deadlier to humans.

The WEF has also been accused of exploiting COVID-19 to advance its transformational social, political, and business agenda through its push for the “Great Reset.”

 Joe Biden appeared to try to put a positive spin on skyrocketing gas prices Monday while taking questions from reporters during his trip to Japan.

When asked about the economy, inflation, and the record prices Americans continue to pay at the pump, Biden characterized the increased cost of gasoline as an “incredible transition.”

“When it comes to the gas prices, we’re going through an incredible transition that is taking place that, God willing, when it’s over, we’ll be stronger and the world will be stronger and less reliant on fossil fuels when this is over,” Biden said alongside Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishid.

The comment came as the national average cost of a gallon of gas sat at a record-high $4.596, with several states paying more than $6.00.

Biden went on to take credit for gas prices not being “even worse.”

“What I’ve been able to do to keep it from getting even worse—and it’s bad,” he said.

Speaking to broader concerns about food shortages, inflation, and other poor economic indicators both domestically and abroad, Biden suggested the problems will likely persist when he said, “This is going to be a haul.”

But when asked if he thought the United States would soon be entering a recession, the president responded “no.”

Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel released a statement the following day blaming the Biden administration for the continually elevated cost of gas.

“Another day, another new record high gas price in Biden’s America,” the statement reads. “Joe Biden doesn’t care about the historic inflation and skyrocketing gas prices families are facing everyday as a result of his failed agenda. The pain is the point for Biden and Democrats, and Americans will continue to suffer as long as Biden is in charge.”

Biden and other senior administration officials have continually blamed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine for the inflated gas prices. In response to the invasion on Feb. 24, the United States and many of its Western allies put a halt to all imports of Russian oil and gas.

While the cost of gas did spike dramatically after Russia invaded Ukraine in February, it had already been rising steadily throughout Biden’s first year in office. After the sanctions, the price leveled off before increasing to new record highs in recent weeks.

In an apparent attempt to rein in the cost of gas back in March, Biden announced the release of an unprecedented 180 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

“It’s helped, but it’s not been enough,” Biden said Monday.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/biden-rising-gas-prices-an-incredible-transition_4487226.html?utm_source=News&utm_campaign=breaking-2022-05-24-3&utm_medium=email&est=3b7il14J3LFrjW5SqS7XgLecQfP5JIZthgP6dOgCzrKT%2B92x7W35UcwPPsDsHHs0Eg%3D%3D

In the past two weeks, more than 60,000 migrants have amassed in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, directly across the border from El Paso, Texas, in anticipation of Title 42 being lifted from the border.

“And we can only imagine it growing even further,” Mario D’Agostino, El Paso deputy city manager, told the El Paso City Council on May 23.

About a month ago, the number of migrants in Ciudad Juárez was about 15,000, D’Agostino said. He said state and federal officials keep him updated on the numbers.

Title 42 is an emergency public health order that allows for quick expulsion of nonessential travel across U.S. borders to curb the COVID-19 pandemic. The Biden administration had planned to lift it on May 23, but a federal judge blocked that move, keeping it in place for now.

The El Paso City Council met on May 23 to discuss invoking local emergency measures—including increasing capacity for shelter, food, and transport—to deal with an anticipated influx of illegal immigrants into the city.

The call came after Border Patrol apprehended more than 1,200 illegal immigrants on May 14 and subsequently released 119 at a charter bus station because of space constraints.

“Busy times! Just today, #ElPaso #USBP agents have encountered over 1,200 migrants & counting entering the border illegally,” El Paso Sector Border Patrol Chief Gloria Chavez wrote on Twitter on May 14. “Haitians, Cubans, Nicaraguans, and Turkish nationals to name a few.”

On most days, Border Patrol drops between 400 and 500 illegal immigrants per day at local nongovernmental organizations (NGO), which then assist with food, lodging, and transport out of El Paso, according to Chief Jorge Rodriguez, emergency management coordinator for the city of El Paso.

“If and when Title 42 … is eliminated, we can anticipate that the numbers that we are seeing now (which is about 400 to 500 per day), conservatively speaking, will double to at least 1,000 per day,” Rodriguez said. “Almost zero percent of migrants remain in El Paso. The choice of travel—which has changed from what we saw in 2019—is primarily through the airlines.”

If the airplanes and buses are full, illegal immigrants are forced to stay an extra 24 to 48 hours in the city, which jams up city and NGO resources, D’Agostino said.

During the first four months of 2022, Border Patrol agents have apprehended more than 94,000 illegal immigrants in the El Paso area, up from 63,000 during the same period in 2021.

D’Agostino said the city’s emergency team has temporary housing options in place, but they can’t be accessed and staffed without an emergency ordinance in place.

An emergency ordinance is part of the council’s police powers to respond to local emergencies, and it suspends the bidding process requirement when procuring goods and services during an emergency.

It has to be passed unanimously and with the consent of the mayor.

On May 23, the seven city council members voted on the ordinance and it failed by one vote. Councilmember Claudia Rodriguez said she would be more inclined to give her affirmative vote if the mayor signed a local disaster declaration first.

El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser said he rejected a call last week to invoke a local disaster declaration, saying it would trigger an unwanted state response.

“We were really worried that the governor would get the [disaster declaration] … and he would send the National Guard down to the border or the DPS [Texas Department of Public Safety] to the border and create a scene that was not welcome in our community,” Leeser said.

D’Agostino said the disaster declaration proposal last week was a more extreme option in anticipation of Title 42 being lifted.

Councilmembers took a second vote and passed the ordinance, which goes into effect immediately and expires in 30 days.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/60000-migrants-waiting-in-mexico-across-border-from-el-paso-texas_4485883.html?utm_source=News&utm_campaign=breaking-2022-05-24-2&utm_medium=email&est=32p%2Fik9SN5Uttkob5CNBt0wdUCcgSkBWJtrMx6LpoCIjy2jnqBAibiGe%2FX1GBYgTUQ%3D%3D

WASHINGTON—Then-FBI Director James Comey and other bureau leaders were “fired up” in 2016 about allegations that Donald Trump’s business was secretly communicating with a Russian bank, according to internal FBI messages revealed in court on May 23.

“People on the 7th floor to include director are fired up about this server,” Joseph Pientka, an agent based in Washington, told Curtis Heide, a colleague working from the bureau’s Chicago office, in a message dated Sept. 21, 2016.

“Reachout [sic] and put tools on,” Pientka added. “Its [sic] not an option—we must do it.”

The message was sent just days after Michael Sussmann, a lawyer representing the campaign of Hillary Clinton—Trump’s rival for the presidency—met with an FBI lawyer and passed along information that he alleged showed a secret backchannel between the Trump Organization and Alfa Bank.

Even as FBI cyber experts deemed the allegations false within a day—and the CIA would later do the same—the bureau’s counterintelligence arm continued to probe the claims, a move backed by senior bureau officials such as Comey.

James Baker, the former FBI general counsel who met with Sussmann in 2016, quickly handed the information to higher-ups and personally briefed Comey and Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, both of whom were eventually fired by Trump’s Justice Department.

“It seemed to me of great urgency and seriousness that I would want to make my bosses aware of this information,” Baker said.

He recounted that both men were “quite concerned” about the allegations.

Pientka’s message was made public for the first time in federal court during the trial of Sussmann, who is charged with lying to the FBI for saying he wasn’t bringing the allegations on behalf of a client. Prosecutors say he was acting on behalf of the Clinton campaign in a bid to influence the 2016 presidential election. Clinton campaign officials have testified that they didn’t approve Sussmann taking the allegations to the bureau; they preferred to have them promoted in media reports.

Bill Priestap, who was on the stand when the message was read, said he hadn’t seen it before.

Priestap was the FBI’s assistant counterintelligence director in 2016. He retired in 2019 and founded Trenchcoat Providers, which bills itself as helping safeguard businesses against cyber intrusions.

Priestap testified that he “does not recall” why there was “no choice” but to begin an investigation, and was unsure whether the bureau did open a probe. The only reason he knows they did is that there was an official file opened. The file said the probe was approved by four officials, including Daniel Wierzbicki, an official at the FBI’s Chicago office.

Priestap was the first person Baker spoke with after meeting with Sussmann and receiving the Trump–Russia allegations. Priestap claimed not to remember taking notes of the conversation, but, while on the stand, he was presented with notes he had taken.

The notes show that Priestap wrote that he was told that Sussmann wasn’t representing any clients in bringing the information to the FBI, bolstering special counsel John Durham’s case.

The motivation of the person bringing allegations is of interest, but isn’t the only factor the FBI uses to assess what steps to take regarding information, Priestap said. The bureau would want to know if a political campaign was behind any allegations, and if a confidential FBI source was behind them.

Rodney Joffe, another Sussmann client, was a confidential source but, according to prosecutors, utilized Sussmann to convey the information to the FBI, as opposed to taking it himself to his handler.

Joffe was terminated “for cause” in 2021 as a source, prosecutors have revealed.

“It was not something that I was regularly briefed on, and if I recall correctly, at end of the day, it didn’t amount to much,” Priestap said regarding the allegations.

The probe of the allegations primarily took place at the FBI’s Chicago office. Ryan Gaynor, an FBI agent there, recounted on May 23 how he volunteered to track the progress of the probe for the bureau’s headquarters in Washington.

Gaynor learned that Sussmann was representing Democrats but chose to withhold that information from agents performing the analysis of the data. However, he also said that knowing Sussmann brought the data on behalf of a confidential FBI source would have likely led him not to volunteer.

Allison Sands, one of the agents who performed the analysis, determined that the data, which was contained on thumb drives that Sussmann dropped off with Baker along with several white papers, didn’t support the allegations.

Sands said she was prevented from knowing the source of the data because of Gaynor’s decision to keep it shielded. She would have wanted to speak to the source’s handlers if she knew. The team did figure out that David Dagon, a researcher with the Georgia Institute of Technology, authored one of the papers, but the team didn’t interview Dagon.

Sands said she was “either told not to, or to focus on the logs” on the thumb drives.

She said she knew only that the probe was ordered by officials from “someplace in headquarters land.”

Heide testified that the team had to open a full investigation because of demands from FBI leadership. He also said that the bureau headquarters rebuffed requests to interview the original source during the investigation. That led to frustration, and the feeling that the probe was incomplete even after being closed.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/fbi-leaders-including-comey-were-fired-up-about-trump-alfa-bank-claims-agent_4486824.html?utm_source=News&utm_campaign=breaking-2022-05-24-2&utm_medium=email&est=th86%2F4L7GC4bzml2itPYQxTfVgz0DC9MNEFQEJKR9Q%2BRsmDVOVGkrg8fa9D6MobTPA%3D%3D

Experimental drugs aim to help treat seasonal allergies

The National Institutes of Health division led by Dr. Anthony Fauci is slated to spend nearly $2 million to force feed puppies with experimental allergy drugs, according to a government watchdog group.

NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), which is helmed by Fauci, allocated $1,836,453 in taxpayer dollars for a contractor to test an experimental hay fever drug on mice, rats, and dogs, including puppies, according to the funding documents, which were obtained by the White Coat Waste Project and provided to the Washington Free Beacon. The most severe symptoms of hay fever, also known as seasonal allergies, are a runny nose and sneezing.

The documents, which were obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request and are highly redacted, show that the division requested at least five separate experiments on dogs that are likely to include force-feeding them experimental drugs for several months. While the contractor conducting the tests, Inimmune Corp., said guinea pigs could be used in place of dogs for some testing, purchasing “six-month old puppies” that would be exposed to allergens and then used for testing was also proposed.

NIH’s animal experiments have become a flashpoint in Congress after it emerged earlier this year that the government spent $2.5 million injecting beagle puppies with cocaine, sparking a bipartisan investigation, which was first reported by the Free Beacon. The NIH also funds labs in Russia, even as it invades Ukraine, including one lab that conducted “horrific and barbaric experiments on 18 cats.” The disclosure of the latest funding tranche is likely to build momentum for legislation called the Preventing Animal Abuse and Waste Act that would bar NIAID from conducting these types of dog experiments.

“Fauci’s white coats at NIAID have forced taxpayers to pay millions to de-bark and poison puppies, infest beagles with ticks and flies, and, now, needlessly torture puppies to test a new drug to treat a runny nose,” Devin Murphy, White Coat Waste Project’s public policy and communications manager, told the Free Beacon. “Even NIAID’s own contractor acknowledges that the dog testing demanded by Fauci’s agency is unnecessary because alternative animal models are available.”

The latest animal experiment grant, which began on September 1, 2021, and is slated to end in August 2023, indicates that NIAID attempted to purchase “allergic dogs” from a supplier, but ran into supply roadblocks. “Unfortunately, all of the allergic dogs from the [redacted] have not been available,” the documents state. “Six-month old puppies” were proposed as an alternative solution, though it is unclear if NIH went forward with that suggestion.

NIAID’s contractor, Inimmune Corp., suggested guinea pigs be used “instead of dog studies,” according to the documents, indicating that dog experiments were unnecessary and raising questions about the government’s desire to use them as lab subjects. This proposal was under consideration as of January 2022.

White Coat Waste Project is challenging the redactions in the documents and has submitted follow-up requests to obtain information on the experiments.

Rep. Nancy Mace (R., S.C.), who is spearheading the PAAW Act and investigating NIH for its animal experiments, told the Free Beacon that U.S. taxpayers should not be forced to foot the bill for “unnecessary and cruel” government tests.

“Americans across the political spectrum have been horrified to learn their tax dollars are being used to subsidize NIAID’s barbaric experiments on beagle puppies,” Mace said in a statement. “I’m proud to be leading the bipartisan PAAW Act to ensure taxpayer money is not used to support outdated, unnecessary and cruel experiments on dogs.”

https://freebeacon.com/biden-administration/nih-to-spend-2-million-in-taxpayer-funds-experimenting-on-puppies/

Proud American triumphs over former world No. 1

Naomi Osaka, the leftwing activist and former tennis champion who renounced her American citizenship to represent Japan at the Tokyo Olympics, suffered an embarrassing loss in the first round of the French Open on Monday.

New Jersey native Amanda Anisimova, 20, defeated the four-time Grand Slam winner 7-5, 6-4 at Roland Garros. Osaka, 23, said following the match that she didn’t know if she would be “motivated” enough to take part in next month’s Wimbledon tournament. “I’m not 100 percent sure if I’m going to go [to Wimbledon],” Osaka said. “I would love to go just to get some experience on the grass court, but, like, at the same time for me, it’s kind of, like, I don’t want to say pointless, no pun intended, but I’m the type of player that gets motivated by, like, seeing my ranking go up or like, you know, stuff like that.”

Despite winning four major titles, Osaka is best known for withdrawing from the 2021 French Open, for her social justice activism, and for accepting an endorsement deal from a cryptocurrency exchange in order to combat “inequality.” Osaka pulled out of last year’s tournament after being fined $15,000 for refusing to fulfill her media obligations by taking questions from reporters, which she described as a mental health hazard she could not abide in the interest of “self-care.”

Many journalists were among those who enthusiastically defended Osaka’s refusal to answer questions from journalists.

Osaka topped the Forbes list of highest-paid female athletes for the third consecutive year in 2021, raking in more than $57 million. Less than 5 percent of her income came from tennis winnings, however. The vast majority came from endorsement deals with companies such as Nike, Louis Vuitton, and Beats by Dre. She also partnered with NFL legend Tom Brady to release a collection of NFTs.

Anisimova, an aggressive baseline player with a ferocious two-handed backhand, has already earned more than $3 million over the course of her promising young career. Her victory on Monday marked the second time this year the American citizen has defeated Osaka at a Grand Slam event. Anisimova beat the former world No. 1 in three sets at the Australian Open in January.

Congrats, Amanda!

https://freebeacon.com/politics/naomi-osaka-french-open/

The main suspect in a New York City subway shooting on Sunday has 19 prior arrests, including for assault, robbery, and criminal possession of a weapon, according to the New York Post.

Law enforcement sources told the Post Andrew Abdullah is wanted for questioning in connection with the killing of Daniel Enriquez. Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell on Monday morning tweeted pictures of the suspect, who is still at large, asking New Yorkers for “help identifying & locating” the shooter.

As part of a progressive criminal justice reform effort, New York abolished cash bail in 2019 for most misdemeanor and nonviolent charges. Opponents of the bail law have credited it with an ongoing rise in crime in municipal areas as the law permits more repeat offenders.

“The worst part is, even if they catch this person, he’s going to be out again,” Enriquez’s sister, Griselda Vile, told the Post on Sunday. “I wish you guys would go back to Mayor Adams and tell him the city is not safe.”

At a press briefing Sunday, NYPD chief of department Kenneth Corey said the subway shooter was a dark-skinned, heavyset man who paced back and forth on the subway car before he fired “without provocation.”

Abdullah has also been charged with menacing and grand larceny, the Post reported.

Crime was up more than 30 percent in the Big Apple in April compared to last year.

https://freebeacon.com/latest-news/suspect-in-new-york-subway-shooting-had-19-prior-arrests/

When Georgia passed its voter ID law in March 2021, Democrats and the media went ballistic. They dubbed it “Jim Crow 2.0” and launched an economic boycott that led to the MLB pulling the All-Star Game from the state.

But as Georgians went to the polls last week, a funny thing happened. Early voter participation Rose more than 150 percent across the board, and early voting among black voters is Higher than ever before.

So much for the “new Jim Crow.”

President Biden and other elected Democrats said the law was worse than Jim Crow:

Sen. Cory Booker (D., N.J.) called the law a step “toward authoritarianism and repression.”

Failed Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams told MSNBC’s Joy Reid that Republicans were “stealing the right to vote”:

Never a group to miss their chance to stir up racial tension, the corporate press jumped on the “Jim Crow 2.0” bandwagon:

CNN covered the story constantly as part of the “Voting Rights Under Attack” series: 

MSNBC was similarly concerned:

As was the Washington Post editorial team:

There simply isn’t room to catalog all of the bad takes that this law produced:

Even debating the law was problematic, according to Vox:

Some critics were quick to claim that record early voter turnout has nothing to do with the new law:

But others have walked back their original assertions as the evidence to the contrary pours in:

A probe of the National School Boards Association’s call for federal investigations of parents as domestic terrorists found the White House was involved in the drafting process that led to the controversial request.

The association commissioned an internal investigation following outcry from parent groups and association board members who were upset by the inflammatory rhetoric in a Sept. 29 letter to President Joe Biden. The group found that Chip Slaven, then-CEO of the National School Boards association, told a White House senior policy adviser on Sept. 21 that he planned to ask Biden to use the FBI and Justice Department to investigate threats against school board members under counterterrorism statutes and the Patriot Act.

The White House adviser, Mary C. Wall, solicited Slaven for examples of threats made against school board members in advance of a Sept. 22 meeting with the Justice Department and other White House offices. The association detailed these previously unreported exchanges in a report released Friday.

“Evidence indicates that White House officials discussed the existence of the Letter, its requests, and the contents of the Letter with Department of Justice officials more than a week before the Letter was finalized and sent to President Biden,” the report says.

The letter sparked controversy at the time after Attorney General Merrick Garland formed a federal task force to monitor threats against school boards and teachers. Parent groups and Republicans accused the Biden administration of colluding with the NSBA to use the letter to justify scrutiny of school board meetings. They’ve questioned the involvement of federal investigators in local school board issues and alleged that the federal task force is intended to intimidate parents who voiced concern over schools’ coronavirus policies and left-wing curricula. Members of the association also complained about the contents of the letter, as well as being left out of the loop before it was sent.

The Washington Free Beacon reported on Oct. 21 that the White House was in contact with the National School Boards Association before the group sent the letter. But it was not known then that the White House knew of the controversial rhetoric in the document.

“It is inexcusable that a senior White House adviser would have the audacity to collaborate on a public request to use the Patriot Act against families,” Nicole Neily, the president of Parents Defending Education, said in a statement about the association’s report. “This is, quite literally, a betrayal of trust by the highest levels of government.”

Sen. Ben Sasse (R., Neb.), who questioned Garland about the federal task force in a Senate hearing last year, said the association report showed the letter was a “political hack job … drummed up by progressive activists and their partners in the Biden White House to chill parents’ exercise of free speech.”

The association said in a statement that the letter did not represent its views and that it does not support federal intervention in school board meetings. The report places most of the blame for the letter on Slaven, who served as the group’s interim CEO until November.

According to emails included in the report, Slaven began toying with the idea of asking the White House for federal support at school board meetings on Sept. 8. He told other association executives about a complaint from an Ohio school board member who received a threatening letter from a parent. Slaven said the intense atmosphere at school board meetings reminded him of the aftermath of “Waco or Ruby Ridge.”

Slaven shared his concerns with Wall, the White House adviser, on Sept. 14. Wall asked Slaven to provide her with some of the “egregious examples” of threats made against school board members. She followed up on the request on Sept. 21, saying that she wanted to cite them in a meeting the next day with the Justice Department.

Slaven gave Wall several examples from across the country. He also shared a summary of a letter he planned to send to the White House. Slaven told Wall he planned to ask Biden to use the FBI and Justice Department to use its counterterrorism divisions to investigate threats against school board members. Slaven also made reference to the Patriot Act and “domestic terrorism” investigations.

Slaven sent Wall a final copy of the letter hours before publishing it on Sept. 29. The White House official raised no objections to the language in the letter, and instead offered Slaven support.

“Thank you for sending in advance,” she wrote. “We will review, and we remain committed to working with you on these very important issues. As the President has stated, we stand with educators who are doing right by kids—and we know they/you all need to be protected now more than ever.”

Slaven was in contact with other federal officials after sending the letter to Biden. Anthony Coley, a Justice Department adviser to Garland, asked Slaven for a phone call on Oct. 4, the day that Garland formed the task force to monitor school board threats. Coley sent Slaven a preview of the statement before the Justice Department released it.

The Department of Homeland Security also contacted the association on Oct. 4.

https://freebeacon.com/biden-administration/report-reveals-white-house-involvement-in-letter-that-compared-parents-to-domestic-terrorists/

Auto and home insurance giant State Farm has encouraged hundreds of employees to donate books promoting transgenderism to young children to their local schools and libraries, according to an email leaked by a whistleblower.

The email, obtained by nonprofit organization Consumers’ Research, states that the company partnered with transgender youth advocacy group The GenderCool Project in a campaign “to help diversify classroom, community center, and library bookshelves” with a collection of books centered on the “national conversation about Being Transgender, Inclusive and Non-Binary.”

“The project’s goal is to increase representation of LGBTQ+ books and support our communities in having challenging, important and empowering conversations with children Age 5+,” Jose Soto, a corporate responsibility analyst for State Farm in Florida, wrote in the email dated Jan. 18.

One of the three books The GenderCool Project sought to promote is “A Kids Book About Being Transgender,” which encourages readers as young as 5 to “shake off whatever confusion, skepticism, concern, or biases you may have” about “transgender kids.” The book suggests that a child’s feeling that he or she is of a different gender should be validated rather than challenged, arguing that feelings sometimes “work more like our intuition or insight” that “allow us to understand something without having to think about it.”

“One day I look up ‘boy who feels like girl’ and found stories of people who were just like me,” the book reads. “That’s the first time I heard the word transgender. I realized I wasn’t alone. The feeling I had been a girl finally made sense.”

In the email, Soto asked for six State Farm insurance agents in Florida to volunteer to participate in the program by “receiving these books in March, then donating them to their community by the end of April.”

“Agents are key to the success of this program,” the email read. “Nationwide, approximately 550 State Farm agents and employees will have the opportunity to donate this 3-book bundle to their local teacher, community center or library of their choice.”

“Along with donating the books, we would encourage the agent to highlight our commitment to diversity on their social media pages,” it added. “This is a fantastic way to give back and an easy project that will help support the LGBTQ+ community and to make the world around us better.”

In a statement to the Washington Examiner, which first reported the matter, State Farm defended the voluntary program, saying that it is “strictly voluntary.”

“We embrace diversity and inclusion because it‘s the right thing to do. We work with a variety of organizations and causes that express their own unique views, and support civil and open dialogue on challenging topics,” the company said.

State Farm later announced it no longer supports the book donation program.

The GenderCool Project describes itself as “a youth-led movement bringing positive change to the world.” The organization’s website highlights a group of young transgender or gender non-conforming “Champions,” who are “helping replace misinformed opinions with positive experiences meeting transgender and non-binary youth who are thriving.”

GenderCool lists a number of high profile companies other than State Farm as its partners and supporters, including Adobe, Dell, Oracle, Intel, HP, Bayer, Nike, Bank of America, Capital One, Indeed, and NBC Universal. The group says it engages with partners in “six powerful ways,” such as speaking events, mentorship programs, DEI/HR consulting, and advising for parents of transgender children.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/state-farm-asked-employees-to-donate-transgender-books-aimed-at-young-children-watchdog-group-says_4484577.html?utm_source=Morningbrief&utm_campaign=mb-2022-05-24&utm_medium=email&est=QNSVCe1uqzp6DKLC9QcZ21tWgGegjDeW2u8o0gauMVTyC0o3V2o%2BMuZF8tmfj3wsZQ%3D%3D

Joe Biden’s proposed amendments to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) authority are “the greatest threat to our sovereignty that we’ve faced in a long time,” Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) told The Epoch Times on May 23.

“For this administration to sell this country down the river like he’s doing, to deal with somebody who is under the influence of China, who is a person who has not had the first inclination to investigate where the coronavirus came from, to give him more authority?” the South Carolina Republican asked. “We’re going to ring the bells.”

The individual whom Norman was referencing is Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, a former government minister from Ethiopia who has been the WHO’s director-general since 2017.

As previously reported by The Epoch Times, Tedros would receive significant authority to act unilaterally if a package of Biden administration-proposed amendments to the United Nations International Health Regulations (IHR) are adopted. The IHR defines WHO’s regulatory powers regarding public health issues around the world.

Biden’s amendments are to be considered this week during the annual conference in Geneva of the World Health Assembly, the decision-making body of the WHO. The United States provides more than $150 million in assessed contributions to fund the WHO, and has given on average an additional $262 million in annual voluntary funding since 2012.

Under the proposed amendments, WHO would be empowered to declare a public health emergency in any country regardless of whether officials in the country concur with the declaration. The WHO director-general also would be allowed to rely on evidence from sources other than those approved by the affected country as the basis of such a declaration.

The Biden WHO amendments are the latest step in the current president’s efforts to reintegrate the United States with WHO after his predecessor, President Donald Trump, slashed U.S. funding to the international health organization and then gave notice of U.S. withdrawal in 2020. Biden during his first week in the Oval Office repealed Trump’s withdrawal notice.

While the amendments were drafted at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and circulated among WHO officials in January, the proposals weren’t publicly discussed by federal officials until April.

Asked if he expects that a Republican congressional majority, if elected in November, would move to defund the United States’ contributions to WHO, Norman said: “This is a complete sellout. It shows the corruption of the administration and, yes, we are going to do everything we can, particularly if we can take the House with good numbers that will give us leverage, and the Senate as well.”

The United States was assessed $120.5 million in WHO dues for fiscal 2020, although only about half of that amount was paid before Trump issued his withdrawal notice. The United States has also provided additional annual voluntary contributions totaling on average $262 million since 2012.

In a related development on May 23, the House Freedom Caucus, an assembly of the lower chamber’s most reliably conservative members, made public its letter to Biden demanding that he “halt your efforts to empower [WHO] and instead either immediately resume President Trump’s withdrawal from the body or, at the very least, push serious reforms to aggressively correct the organization’s rampant corruption and ineffectual leadership.”

Meanwhile, Tedros was reappointed to a second five-year term as director-general;  no opposition candidates were submitted.

The House Freedom Caucus also told Biden that “not only did you fail to propose an alternative candidate to Dr. Tedros … you are now attempting to hand him more control. We call on you to instead use the 75th World Health Assembly as an opportunity to demand a radical course correction and change in leadership.”

A copy of the letter was made available to The Epoch Times. Norman is one of the group’s 42 House members.

The letter further says that “as efforts continue by WHO Member States to negotiate a ‘global pandemic treaty,’ we demand that you provide the American people with total transparency and respect for our nation’s sovereignty. Under no circumstances should you cede our government’s operational control in a public health emergency to an international body.”

If such a treaty is agreed upon by WHO members, the letter stated, “we expect you to fully comply with Article II, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution, which clearly states that ‘the President shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate to make Treaties, provided two-thirds of the Senators present concur.’”

https://www.theepochtimes.com/rep-ralph-norman-house-freedom-caucus-call-on-biden-to-drop-who-amendments_4485376.html?utm_source=Morningbrief&utm_campaign=mb-2022-05-24&utm_medium=email&est=%2BEjPS%2F95kqgPOzzosPVty6hgGT4hOgLoclzv6LamMKj97BwTaqkmabQ9dNpebeGN3Q%3D%3D

Robert Snow, a pilot for American Airlines, one of the top 3 largest airlines in the country, has 31 years of commercial airline experience and additionally seven years of experience as a U.S. Air Force pilot.

Snow says that he might not be able to fly again after he suffered a cardiac arrest only 6 or 7 minutes after landing a plane he piloted from Denver to Dallas Fort Worth (DFW).

He still had two more flights scheduled on April 9.

He believes that his cardiac arrest is connected to the Johnson & Johnson COVID vaccine he was forced to take in order to keep his job on Nov. 4, 2021, even though he already had natural immunity from previously contracting the virus.

Dr. Peter McCullough, a world-renowned cardiologist, told Newsmax that Snow’s case fits a “pattern.”

“There is no other explanation,” McCullough said about Snow’s case since Snow has no coronary disease.

“The MRI pattern is consistent,” the doctor said. “Indeed, it may have been vaccine-induced myocarditis with a late manifestation of cardiac death.”

In addition, he told The Epoch Times that he has received “several phone calls and communications from friends in the industry that do think that they might have had issues with a vaccine.”

Most alarming is that some pilots are “afraid to raise the flag and say, ‘Hey, I think I might have an issue because they’re afraid they’ll either lose their medical certification to fly, which if we lose our medical, we can no longer operate. We can’t be a commercial pilot anymore. And in worst-case scenario, which is what right now probably what I’m experiencing is you can’t fly at all. Period,” Snow said.

“I would just tell you that there are other pilots out there that have had concerns, not just pilots, also because it was an employee mandate. So we have flight attendants, we have mechanics, we have dispatchers, we have gate agents, you name it. Of course, for pilots, we consider that a safety-sensitive job so we’re a little bit more concerned from the standpoint of aviation safety; but yes, I have received calls from other pilots and other communications stating that they have concerns but because of the nature of this, they’re afraid to come forward.”

The veteran pilot had serious questions about the novel COVID vaccines that are supposed to prevent infection from the Chinese Communist Party virus, but are now known to provide little protection against infection after the Omicron virus variant became dominant.

Vaccine booster efficacy also wanes over time.

What’s more, cases of myocarditis—inflammation of the heart muscle, and pericarditis—inflammation of the lining outside the heart have spiked dramatically since the COVID vaccines started being administered worldwide.

He did not want to get the shot, but being the sole provider for his family, decided to take the risk.

Amid short sighs, Snow told The Epoch Times: “Initially, my employer was not going to force the vaccine on its employees. They subsequently changed their mind on approximately October 1, in conjunction with the executive office here in the United States mandate on federal contractors. They decided that now that they would enforce the vaccine mandate on all employees of the airline. And in regard to that, we were told that if we did not receive the vaccination we would be terminated. There was no question as to the sincerity at that time of their statement.”

Airlines, which are government contractors, were affected by President Joe Biden’s executive order from September that states all employees of those companies have to be vaccinated against the CCP virus.

The Epoch Times reported on December last year that the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) was breaking its own rule that states pilots should not fly after having taken medications that have been approved for less than a year, according to a group of attorneys, doctors, and other experts; including another pilot who says his career ended due to adverse reactions from a vaccine.

“So I elected, after some serious consideration given that I was the sole source of income for my family, that I would go ahead and receive the vaccine. I didn’t want to,” Snow said.

“I had serious questions as to the safety and the efficiency and the effectiveness of the vaccine. I’d already had COVID. I’d already tested positive for antibodies, and really didn’t see the rationale for it. But, the only solution that might have been available to me to not receive the vaccine was to request a religious or medical exemption. Neither of which did I really feel like I should request. Medical exemption, I didn’t have any reason to not to, scientifically speaking, not receive it, other than the fact that it was issued under an EUA and not fully tested. And as far as a religious exemption, I didn’t see any reason to request that because I don’t really have a religious belief that would prevent me from receiving this particular vaccination. So for moral and ethical reasons, absolutely. But that wasn’t considered a valid reason not to get the vaccine.”

The veteran pilot had a sore arm for 10 days after getting the jab, and later experienced a strange pain that spread through his upper body.

Snow said that his arm became “pretty sore,” for 10 days, something which he didn’t experience with any previous vaccinations. For other vaccines for travel or in the military, he would usually have soreness for two or three days maximum.

Things returned to normal until January, then he recalled:

“I was on that course of a flight and noticed a strange pain while I was working on the overhead panel. …  I got a strange pain in my right shoulder, seemed to spread down to my lower right quadrant and then up into my chest and through my shoulder blades, which I thought was very strange, but I just kind of chalked it up to manipulating myself oddly on the overhead panel, maybe tweaked a nerve or something like that, because I really had no history of that whatsoever that I’d ever experienced. And so [the] pain went away after one or two minutes and then back to normal.

“When we finished that flight, I actually tested positive again for COVID for the second time, [the] first time I had it was in March of 2021. Second time then would have been in January of 2022—this is postvaccination mind you— and that was what I presumed to be the Omicron variant because it presented itself basically as just allergies, I kept sneezing a lot, runny nose and that was it, no fever, no chills, no nothing, no loss of taste and smell like I had the first time. So I went back to work, after the mandatory amount of time, and I started getting the pain again, only a little bit more frequently this time. So actually, with a history of gastrointestinal issues, I went to see a gastroenterologist he elected to do an endoscopy to take a look to see if I had maybe a hiatal hernia or something that was aggravating the vagus nerve. We also did an abdominal CAT scan.

“During the course of awaiting the results of the abdominal CAT scan, that’s when I had my sudden cardiac arrest and that was after the course of a flight from Denver to DFW. We had been on the gate just a few minutes after shutting the aircraft down, probably about six minutes, six, seven minutes after touchdown. And I stood up to collect my bags to proceed to the next aircraft. We were to finish up with another turn to a different city to come back and then finish the trip on day four. And that’s the last I remember, standing up collecting my luggage. And at that point, witnesses say I collapsed in the flight deck. And that’s all I know at this point. When I woke up, I was in the ICU at Baylor Scott and White in Grapevine Texas, having suffered a sudden cardiac arrest.”

He now has to wear an automatic external defibrillator or “life vest” that monitors his heartbeats, except when he showers when he is supposed to be monitored by a family member. The life vest is designed so that if the heart rhythm becomes abnormal, it will send a small shock to get it back to sinus rhythm, and if it detects full atrial fibrillation, ventricular fibrillation, or any sort of fibrillation, it would send a much stronger shock to try to get it back to the right rhythm.

Albeit all this trauma, Snow feels very fortunate because he was able to get professional care immediately, which is not the case for many other people.

According to heart.org: “Cardiac arrest is when the heart stops beating. Some 350,000 cases occur each year outside of a hospital, and the survival rate is less than 12 percent. CPR can double or triple the chances of survival.”

“If you look at the numbers … I try not to look too closely at them because it’s rather intimidating.” Snow said, referring to the survival rate of cardiac arrests.

“The thing that concerns me, is [that] this happened in the right place at the right time. Because if it had happened … any other time where I was either alone or beyond reasonable response time for a medical response, I wouldn’t be here having this conversation.”

John Pierce Law, who previously represented many prominent conservatives, is going to sue 18 major airlines, including American Airlines, focusing on the alleged unconstitutionality of the vaccine mandates that were imposed on the airline employees.

The Epoch Times has reached out to Johnson & Johnson for comment.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/top-airline-pilot-suffers-cardiac-arrest-between-flights-post-mandatory-covid-vaccination_4477128.html?utm_source=Morningbrief&utm_campaign=mb-2022-05-24&utm_medium=email&est=Qie%2Fx46W068lt7Y2XdPFKlIzR72nB03WYdkAu1y33sPoyUPDdZGcJBQKd5ltY4zrXA%3D%3D

IN ADDITION TO REGULAR EXPOSÉS, THE NATIONAL PULSE WILL ADD THE WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM TO ITS RESEARCH AND INVESTIGATIVE PRIORITIES.

PALM BEACH, Florida – The National Pulse is announcing a new investigative priority surrounding the work of the World Economic Forum, as well as launching a new public information website: TakeDownTheWEF.com.

Founded in 1971 by German economist Klaus Schwab, the World Economic Forum (WEF) is an unaccountable, non-governmental organization which convenes meetings of world leaders in Davos, Switzerland, with a view to impacting policy decisions on behalf of its members: predominantly multi-national corporations and politicians.

The group has been criticized for its stated aims of transforming or “resetting” global society for the benefit of private corporations rather than the public.

Schwab himself has argued governments are no longer “the overwhelmingly dominant actors on the world stage” and “the time has come for a new stakeholder paradigm of international governance.”

As a result, The National Pulse is announcing a new commitment to exposing the work of the World Economic Forum, and is calling on ordinary members of the public to help support this effort through our crowdfunding site: FundRealNews.com

Speaking on the subject, The National Pulse Editor-in-Chief Raheem Kassam said: “We’re not just setting up a resource for members of the public to learn more about the World Economic Forum, we’re also crowdsourcing information on the group. The World Economic Forum is the throbbing, blackened heart of globalism, and we intend to drive a stake in it. For those interested in taking the fight to this group journalistically, as well as politically, think about urgently supporting this initiative.”

The World Economic Forum’s Davos summit kicks off this week, with a massive number of attendees from the United States and Ukraine, as reported by The National Pulse last week.

JUST ONE DAY INTO DAVOS, AND WE’RE ALREADY HEARING SOME DISTURBING THINGS.

Australian eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman called for a “recalibration” of free speech while speaking on a panel during the opening day of the World Economic Forum, Monday.

Inman discussed the prospect of re-envisaging what freedom of speech means, while speaking on a May 23rd panel for the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) annual meeting in Davos focused on “Ushering in a Safer Digital Future.”

Inman, who also served as the Director of Public Policy for Twitter in Australia and South East Asia, explained how “we’re going to have to think about a recalibration of a whole range of human rights”:

“We are finding ourselves in a place where we have increasing polarization everywhere, and everything feels binary when it doesn’t need to be – so I think we’re going to have to think about a recalibration of a whole range of human rights that are playing out online – from freedom of speech, to be free from online violence. Or the right of data protection, to the right of child dignity.”

Prior to running Australia’s Office of the eSafety Commissioner, Inman worked for other big tech companies in addition to Twitter including Microsoft. From 2009 to 2012, she served as the Global Director of Privacy and Internet Safety for the company, which was founded by leading WEF participant Bill Gates.

The scope of operations for Australia’s eSafety Commission appears to be broad, as the board defines its purpose as “help[ing] safeguard all Australians from online harms and to promote safer, more positive online experiences.”

“We prevent online harm by developing resources and programs based on robust evidence; We protect Australians and alleviate harm with our regulatory and reporting schemes; and we are proactive in minimising harms with initiatives that make our digital environments safer and more inclusive,” adds its mission statement.

MUST READ: REVEALED: The ‘Public Figures’ Attending the 2022 World Economic Forum in Davos.

Inman’s comments come amidst controversy over the creation of a Disinformation Governance Board at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which was temporarily paused due to the partisanship of its leader Nina Jankowicz. Advisory firms linked to Jankowicz, however, appear to still be receiving federal funds to combat “disinformation.”

Members of Atlanta’s highly trained SWAT team are normally called in to handle dangerous details, armed standoffs, or potentially explosive tactical situations.

Giving CPR to a 4-month-old baby is not part of a SWAT officer’s typical day, but that’s exactly what happened on Friday, May 13, when one SWAT member had a chance emergency encounter with the public.

The officer’s actions, caught on harrowing bodycam footage, likely saved the day for the infant and worried loved ones.

At around 12:38 p.m., SWAT Officer Oden was patrolling along Martin Luther King Jr. Drive when he saw a car driving with its hazard lights flashing, its horn blaring frantically.

The officer followed the vehicle to determine if an emergency was at hand. The car stopped at Fire Station 9, where the occupants jumped out and flagged down the officer for help. A woman holding a 4-month-old infant told the SWAT member the child was not breathing, the Atlanta Police Department (APD) stated.

She handed the boy to Officer Oden, who calmly checked him for a pulse but was unable to find one. He immediately radioed dispatch for assistance and began administering CPR on the unresponsive infant.

Nerve-racking footage of the emergency was captured on Officer Oden’s bodycam, showing the frantic female in clear emotional distress. The officer is seen applying rapid compressions with his thumb upon the infant’s tiny chest as more of the car’s distraught occupants gathered.

Moments later, EMS arrived. By now, the officer had succeeded in gaining a pulse from the child as his legs began to move. Emergency services took custody of the baby and rushed him to the hospital for further treatment.

“If being at the right place at the right time was a person, SPO Oden is him,” APD stated in clever hyperbole. They shared the hair-raising bodycam video on their Facebook and praised the officer’s incidental, yet heroic, emergency response.

“He could not have imagined that his patrolling that area would result in this type of emergency encounter. Officers never know what to expect during their shift, they just show up ready to act,” the APD captioned. “This is another example of the heroic work that officers do on any given day. His response reflects a high level of training, readiness, and compassion.”

They added, “We could not be prouder of him in this critical moment. We know the City of Atlanta is safer with SPO Oden and our team of professional, responsive, and caring officers who do this work and patrol our streets, 24/7, and 365 days a week. It is indeed a calling. Job well-done sir!”

Watch visceral footage from Officer Oden’s bodycam showing his heroic intervention; viewer discretion is advised, as some parts might be disturbing to some:Play Video

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A pair of scientists pleaded guilty to illegally importing potentially toxic lab chemicals and forwarding confidential mRNA vaccine research to China, according to a statement released by the Justice Department (DOJ).

Wu Chenyan and Chen Lianchun, a husband and wife who worked as research scientists for a major American pharmaceutical company, pleaded guilty on May 19 to charges related to their efforts to illicitly gather confidential mRNA research from that company and use it to advance the husband’s own competing laboratory research in China.

Wu worked for multiple pharmaceutical companies throughout his career, including a major corporation unnamed in court documents. Chen also worked at the same company. Wu moved to China in 2010 and opened a laboratory there in 2012 which focused on mRNA vaccine research.

Chen remained in the United States and continued working for the company while Wu was in China from 2012 through 2021. During that time, her research for the company also focused on mRNA vaccines.

Chen repeatedly accessed the company’s computers and copied confidential materials between 2013 and 2018, according to DOJ. She then emailed those materials to her husband in China using her personal email account. The materials included PowerPoints and Word documents with DNA and mRNA sequencing data, and confidential vaccine research & development information.

“The defendants used their placement and access to obtain and illegally share confidential lab research for their own benefit,” FBI Special Agent in Charge Stacey Moy said in a statement.

Wu first appeared on the FBI’s radar in 2019, when one such PowerPoint with his name on it was discovered by authorities while investigating a Chinese man convicted of violating U.S. export controls.

In 2021, Wu closed his lab in China and attempted to move it to the United States. He packed its contents into five separate suitcases and flew to America. He did not declare any of the biological materials on his customs form, nor to the customs officer while passing through inspection.

Nevertheless, customs agents discovered chemical and biological samples in Wu’s possession, along with medical equipment and research documentation, as it had all been found to be improperly packaged.

In all, Wu was carrying nearly 1,000 unlabeled centrifuge tubes, which appeared to contain proteins, and multiple containers of unknown chemicals, the DOJ said. Some samples were even labeled as hazardous, and one bore a skull and crossbones image and the word “harmful if swallowed … toxic if inhaled.”

“These are serious computer fraud and smuggling crimes,” said U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman. “One defendant failed to protect her employer’s confidential and important research, and instead used it to her and her husband’s advantage.”

“Compounding the harm, the other defendant put travelers in harm’s way by illegally transporting his laboratory’s hazardous chemicals back to the United States.”

The saga is just the latest continuation of the DOJ’s ongoing struggle to curb an ever-rising number of China-related economic espionage and intellectual property theft cases. According to the FBI, there are currently over 2,000 active cases related to China-based attempts to steal vital technology and information from the United States.

The department was engaged in a Trump-era effort to curb such cases in a program known as the China Initiative, but the Biden administration scrapped that initiative following allegations of racial bias. The department clarified that an internal review found no evidence of bias, but that its “harmful perception” meant the initiative had to end.

Wu and Chen are both scheduled to be sentenced in August of this year.

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A research analyst with Goldman Sachs was shot and killed on a subway train in New York on May 22, according to the investment banking firm and his family.

Daniel Enriquez, who joined Goldman Sachs in 2013, was shot in the chest at about 11:45 a.m. local time as he was riding on the Q train near the Manhattan Bridge, city police officials and Goldman Sachs told local media.

“We are devastated by this senseless tragedy and our deepest sympathies are with Dan’s family at this difficult time,” Goldman CEO David Solomon said in a statement, adding that Enriquez was a “dedicated and beloved” employee.

The unidentified suspect, who shot Enriquez “without provocation,” is dark-skinned, heavyset, and had a beard, NYPD Chief of Department Kenneth Corey told reporters. Officials also released two photos of the alleged gunman, showing the individual appears to be a black male.

Enriquez’s family, after the shooting, criticized the administration of the city’s Democratic mayor, Eric Adams.

“No one, no one, no one should have this happen to their family,” Griselda Vile, Enriquez’s sister, told the New York Post on May 22.

“And the worst part is, even if they catch this person, he’s going to be out again,” she said, referring to the state’s lenient bail reform laws.

Vile told the Post: “I wish you guys would go back to Mayor Adams and tell him the city is not safe. My brother just became a statistic on the way to the city. He was shot at close range.”

🚨We need all eyes on this.@NYPDDetectives need your help identifying & locating this man who is wanted for homicide in the tragic, senseless shooting of a man on a “Q” train that was approaching the Canal/Centre St. station on Sunday.

Call @NYPDTips at #800577TIPS with info. pic.twitter.com/pyHw4XYF97

— Commissioner Sewell (@NYPDPC) May 23, 2022

Her husband, Glenn Vile, had a message for Adams.

“Do your job” and “get crime off the streets” of New York City.

The shooting comes about a month after an individual opened fire inside a New York subway during rush-hour traffic, injuring more than two dozen people.

Officials later arrested Frank James, a black man who espoused racist views against white people and other ethnic groups, for the attack. Authorities allege that James detonated a smoke bomb before opening fire on subway riders.

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New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, a Republican, vetoed legislation on May 20 that would ban public school mask mandates.

“I was shocked, really shocked,” state Rep. Melissa Blasek, a Republican and the measure’s sponsor, told The Epoch Times. “I 100 percent assumed this bill was a done deal.”

Blasek said H.B. 1131 was so popular that it drew a huge crowd of parents during one of the state’s worst snowstorms to a hearing in support of it.

She called Sununu’s veto “a huge political misstep” that “pacified the left” while “alienating parents on the right and in the middle.”

Many state Republicans reacted similarly on social media. State Rep. Leah Cushman, the Republican who led the legislation to make human-grade ivermectin available without a prescription in New Hampshire, posted on Facebook that Sununu’s veto of the statewide mask ban in public schools was “disgraceful.”

“Our Republican-majority house has been kicking butt all session despite the slim majority and members who vote like Dems, only for the senate and governor to kill it all,” Cushman said.

New Hampshire Republicans said they were especially stumped by the veto since Sununu held a press conference in February with the state’s epidemiologist, Dr. Benjamin Chan, announcing that his administration was calling upon schools to end mask mandates.

Asked then if his call to end school mask mandates was an option or a mandate to schools, Sununu said that “ultimately those policies really have to move.” He also promised that the New Hampshire Department of Education “will move any of the remaining districts to get their policies where they need to be to ensure that everyone can attend school without a mask.”

In a statement explaining the reason for his veto of the House- and Senate-supported legislation proposing a ban on school mask mandates, Sununu said it’s important to preserve local governments’ decision-making authority.

“Just because we may not like a local decision, does not mean we should remove their authority,” Sununu said in a statement. “One of the State’s foremost responsibilities is to know the limits of its power. As Granite Staters, we take pride in local control and our bottom-up approach to education. Similar to our fight to retain states’ rights against a bloated and ever-encroaching federal government, we have a responsibility to ensure the State minimizes its infringement on local control.”

JR Hoell, a founder of the Republican political watchdog group RebuildNH, told The Epoch Times that he finds Sununu’s position to be hypocritical.

“For someone who single-handedly ruled the entire state via executive fiat for over a year, issued 21 consecutive executive orders regulating every public and private entity, to then say that one of the foremost responsibilities of a state is to know its limit of power is the ultimate in hypocrisy,” said Hoell, who’s also a former state representative.

Sununu has had his share of political conflicts. Earlier this year, he was accused by Republican party leaders of orchestrating the arrest of eight citizens who had previously protested his push for the state to take federal money to promote the COVID-19 vaccine.

Nationally, Sununu won criticism among party pundits for calling former President Donald Trump “[expletive] crazy.”

However, according to a recent poll, the three-term governor, who’s up for reelection this year, remains one of the most popular governors in the United States.

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Lorie Smith left the corporate world in 2012 to form her own website design firm, 303 Creative, which soon flourished. But in 2016 she was asked to create a design conveying a same-sex marriage message that flatly violated her deeply held Christian faith.

Smith declined to do so and when it became clear a Colorado public accommodation law would be used to force her to create messages that she and other Coloradans did not support, or face harsh penalties, she decided she had to challenge the statute.

So she turned to the federal court system to uphold her First Amendment freedoms and six years later the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in her case later this year.

Now Smith fears for her life as she awaits the slow-turning of the wheels of justice—thanks to continuous terrifying harassment, including death threats, from activists seeking to suppress her Christian beliefs.

“I have received phone calls, I’ve had mail show up at my home, I have had people wish me really vile things, things that should not be repeated, threats of bodily harm, some really vile things,” Smith said in response to a question from The Epoch Times.

Asked if she feared for her life Smith quickly responded saying, “Of course. When you hear the things that I’ve heard it is terrifying. It definitely makes your skin crawl and the hair on your back stand up.”

Smith added that “my clients have been harassed, and I love all of them dearly. They’ve received threats, as well as ultimatums, which has been difficult.”

She said the ultimatums came from “the same groups of people who have been so hateful toward me, but they took it a step further. They figured out my clients’ contact information and harassed them as well.”

Smith’s comments came on May 18 during a discussion with reporters at the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) headquarters in the nation’s capital. Smith is being represented by ADF, an Arizona-based public interest law firm that specializes in First Amendment and religious freedom cases. Her case is 303 Creative vs. Elenis.

Kristen Waggoner, ADF’s general counsel, told reporters that Smith had to appeal her case to the Supreme Court despite the multiple facts both sides of the litigation agreed on in the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals.

The 10th Circuit ruled against Smith and in favor of the Colorado Civil Rights Commission in a July 2021 decision in which the chief judge on the court dissented, calling the majority opinion “unprecedented” and “staggering” because the “Constitution protects Ms. Smith from the government telling her what to say …”

The chief judge also observed that, “Though I am loathe to reference [George] Orwell, the majority’s opinion endorses substantial government interference in matters of speech, religion, and conscience.

“Indeed, this case represents another chapter in the growing disconnect between the Constitution’s endorsement of pluralism of belief on the one hand and anti-discrimination laws’ restrictions of religious-based speech in the marketplace on the other.”

The judge was referring to Orwell’s famous quote that “if liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.” He added that quote to his dissent text.

The first of the essential facts in the case that both sides accepted, Waggoner explained, was “that Lorie’s religious beliefs are central to her identity and that she strives to glorify God in everything she does. The second is that Lorie works with people from all walks of life, including those who identify as LGBT.”

Waggoner said, “the 10th Circuit also agreed that Lorie, like every other artist, serves everyone. Lorie chooses whether to create websites based on their content, not based on the person that requests that content, and the 10th Circuit agreed with that fact as well. Lorie’s websites are protected speech under the First Amendment, and the 10th Circuit agreed with that.”

Even so, she said, “the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals held in a 2-1 decision that the government can actually compel Lorie’s speech, even though it admitted that her decisions hinge on what the message is in the speech and not the person who requests it.”

Waggoner described the decision as “absolutely unprecedented,” and said “our government’s duty is to protect freedom, not to take it away. So, if the government has the power to force Lorie to speak a message, then it can force any one of us to speak a message.”

The Supreme Court accepted Smith’s case in February. Waggoner said that law enforcement authorities will be contacted if Smith continues to receive harassment and threats.

Waggoner said she will be filing briefs to the High Court next week, and Colorado will then have several months to reply. Amicus briefs supporting Smith are due June 2. Oral arguments could come as early as October.

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Democrat Joe Biden was mocked over the weekend for bragging about flying 70,000 pounds of baby formula from Europe to the U.S. as his administration has faced criticism for the shortage of baby formula across the country.

“Folks, I’m excited to tell you that the first flight from Operation Fly Formula is loaded up with more than 70,000 pounds of infant formula and about to land in Indiana,” President Biden tweeted Sunday. “Our team is working around the clock to get safe formula to everyone who needs it.”

Biden originally claimed on Twitter that his administration had brought in “70,000 tons” of baby formula which was later deleted, but not before it went viral on social media.

Official @POTUS account tweets the U.S. is receiving 70,000 tons of baby formula. Actually it’s 70,000 pounds, so less than 40 tons. Now deleted. Not before it was spread by various blue checks.

Good thing the Disinformation board was disbanded… pic.twitter.com/dXckJGCKKw

— Steve Krakauer (@SteveKrak) May 22, 2022

Biden faced a mix of mockery and intense criticism online for bragging about the situation.

“Over 10,000 children are born daily in the US, 20% of which will use formula within the first days of life,” Nicole Saphier, MD, wrote on Twitter. “The shipment is great, but let’s be honest, the supply won’t last more than a couple days.”

The popular conservative Twitter account Comfortably Smug wrote, “Biden has turned us into a third world nation where other countries are sending us relief aid.”

Other notable responses included:

• Stephen L. Miller, political commentator: “Another Biden Admin historic airlift.”
• Julie Gunlock, director of Independent Women’s Network: “The Biden admin created this mess…but sure, folks, take a bow.”
• Ellen Carmichael, president of The Lafayette Co.: “Will never not be discomfiting to see other countries bailing us out for stupid policy decisions. This is America.”
• Jesse Kelly, radio host: “The government causing a baby formula bottleneck with ridiculous regulations and then causing a baby formula shortage with incompetence and then acting like a hero for flying in baby formula is the most government thing in the history of government things.”
• Preston Byrne, attorney: “If you just allowed European formula to be sold to US distributors you wouldn’t need the military to fly in pallets for show Abolish the FDA.”
• Victoria Coates, former White House official: “Honestly I think it might have been better to just sit this one out and hope folks weren’t paying too much attention on a Sunday morning to your previous effort?”
• James Jay Carafano, Heritage Foundation Vice President for Foreign & Security: “Only this White House could attempt to make virtue out of its incompetence.”
• Tammy Bruce, Fox News: “You have officially turned our great country into Blanche DuBois, unstable and completely reliant on the kindness of strangers.”
• Hans Mahncke, political commentator: “Probably the most humiliating tweet of all time (made even more humiliating by the fact that the millennials who wrote it are oblivious to how humiliating it is).”
• Zack Kanter, political commentator: “It’s a reverse Berlin Airlift, where we’re blockading ourselves and flying in our own shipments to prevent the starvation that we’re at risk of causing.”
• Sean Spicer, former White House official: “There has been a baby formula shortage in the US since January – we a[re] less than 10 days from June.”
• John Cardillo, political commentator: “This senile idiot is impressed that third world countries are solving problems he and his handlers created.”
• John Cooper, The Heritage Foundation: “How bad are things under Joe Biden? We have to fly in baby formula from Germany to make sure American babies don’t starve.”

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Stacey Abrams is running to be governor of the worst state in the country – according to her.

The Democrat, who is hurtling toward a rematch with Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, who defeated her four years ago in an election she never conceded, made the shocking statement Saturday night at the Gwinnett Democrats’ Bluetopia Gala in Norcross. The two are expected to emerge as their parties’ candidates after Tuesday’s primary.

“I am tired of hearing about how we’re the best state in the country to do business when we are the worst state in the country to live,” Abrams told the Peach State party faithful.

Abrams, who immediately acknowledged that her opponents could use the statement against her, was reacting to Georgia Republicans’ long-running claim that the state is the best in the nation for doing business. She then listed several categories in which the state does not stack up well.

she can leave anytime.

— Jo Hunter (@_johunter_) May 22, 2022

“Let me contextualize,” Abrams said. “When you’re No. 48 for mental health, when we’re No. 1 for maternal mortality, when you have an incarceration rate that is on the rise and wages are on the decline, then you are not the No. 1 place to live.”

Abrams appeared at the gala with fellow Democrat U.S. Sens. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, and spoke for just over 20 minutes. Most of her speech was devoted to blasting the record of Kemp, who polls show is leading the GOP gubernatorial primary race while Abrams is the only candidate on the Democratic ticket.

“Brian Kemp doesn’t care about our families or else he would be doing more to make sure that they were taken care of,” Abrams said. “Instead, in the midst of COVID, he passed a law to protect our companies but did nothing to protect our communities.”

But word of her characterization of Georgia as “the worst state” in the country spread quickly on social media.

“Stacey Abrams may think differently, but I believe Georgia is the best state to live, work, and raise a family,” Kemp tweeted.

Other Twitter users were more harsh.

“Stacy, please, we beg you, move to California or something…,” tweeted LibertarianForever.

“Stacey Abrams, don’t let the door hit you where the good Lord split you,” tweeted Paul V Kelly Sr.

After her loss to Kemp in 2018, Abrams decried voter integrity measures passed by the state le=gislature, saying they would disenfranchise black voters. But early voting turnout in the primary shows that is not the case.

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s office announced last week that “more than 565,000 Georgians have voted early, which is a 153% increase from the same point in the early voting period in the 2018 primary election and a 189% increase in the 2020 primary election,” 11 Alive reported on Thursday.

https://www.dailywire.com/news/stacey-abrams-calls-georgia-the-worst-state-in-the-country-as-she-runs-for-governor?utm_medium=email&utm_source=cnemail&seyid=2818

REVIEW: ‘Take Two Aspirin and Call Me By My Pronouns’ by Stanley Goldfarb, M.D.

It is a popular sport among those on the progressive left to dismiss conservatives’ concerns about the spread of “woke” ideology (such as Critical Race Theory and “antiracism” training) in public education and corporate culture. Parents are scolded for suggesting that seeing the world through the “lens of CRT” or the factually challenged posturing of the 1619 Project might be harmful to their children’s education, and employees are chastised for questioning the effectiveness of new mandates on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. The implication is that only a racist would resist the new “antiracism.”

And yet, there is one arena in which woke thinking is not merely politically polarizing, but deadly. As Dr. Stanley Goldfarb, a nephrologist and associate dean for curriculum at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, writes in Take Two Aspirin and Call Me By My Pronouns, the “quiet woke revolution” that had been going on in medicine for some time “erupted in spring 2020 into a full-blown revolution”—one with ongoing negative consequences.

That year, in the wake of the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis and the ensuing protests, and amid a global pandemic, doctors and medical students began going well beyond their remit as physicians to embrace the role of social justice activists. “Led by a cadre of woke administrators who embraced the tenets of critical race theory, the medical establishment was committing itself to a misguided focus on anti-racism and equity in all aspects of the health-care system,” Goldfarb writes.

Groups of physicians organized under names such as White Coats for Black Lives, and issued manifestos that were little more than crypto-Marxist argle bargle: A June 2021 statement outlined the group’s mission of “dismantling dominant, exploitative systems in the United States, which are largely reliant on anti-Black racism, colonialism, cisheteropatriarchy, white supremacy, and capitalism,” for example. When “just what the doctor ordered” means a lecture on the harms of the cisheteropatriarchy, it is clear medicine has strayed far from its professional purpose.

Goldfarb makes short work of many of the faulty “antiracism” medical studies that take as their starting point the new popular assumption that medicine is racist. One frequently cited study about pain treatment in black and white patients claimed white doctors do not adequately treat black patients for pain; in fact, as Goldfarb describes, that study’s conclusions relied on other studies that were themselves seriously flawed and often not replicable, but which nevertheless received a great deal of attention, citation, and publication in prestigious medical journals eager to demonstrate their “antiracism” bona fides.

Likewise, studies of maternal and infant care of black women versus white women have yielded poorer outcomes for black women. If you ask a woke believer why this is the case, they will tell you something akin to the word salad offered by Vice President Kamala Harris: “Systemic racial inequities and implicit bias.” But, Goldfarb notes, to come to such alarmist conclusions one must ignore, as many of these studies do, many confounding factors such as the fact that black women “tend to have more underlying ‘comorbid’ conditions such as obesity, diabetes, and hypertension. They tend not to seek prenatal care as often as White women despite government programs to support such visits.” In fact, “Were obstetricians to take classes in unconscious bias every year of medical school, their attendance would not do a thing to alter the factors that contribute to the greater risk of childbirth in the Black community.”

Although “antiracism” studies are built on sand, they serve a professional and practical purpose for woke physicians by creating an easy villain. “The new religion of ‘wokism’ demanded the acceptance of a crippling mythology that racism—or even White supremacy—was the cause of the very real disparities in health-care outcomes for Black communities,” Goldfarb writes. Far easier to cite “racism” than to delve into the complicating factors that impact individual health.

Goldfarb is at his best when he tackles two disturbing trends in medicine: the dumbing down of standards for entrance into medical schools and the capitulation of medical school curricula to woke posturing at the expense of rigorous clinical training. He sees how even the American Medical Association has engaged in an institutional effort to appear more equitable by attacking the very idea of merit. The AMA’s recent master plan, for example, decries the “myth of meritocracy and other malignant narratives.”

Goldfarb notes the irony of claims that medical schools and hospitals are awash in white supremacy; these are the same institutions that for decades have pursued affirmative action policies that hold minority applicants to lower standards than their white peers. “The inarguable reality is that Blacks are preferentially admitted to medical school. Once admitted, they are virtually guaranteed to graduate. And once graduated, they are likely to find training programs more than eager to accept them in the name of diversity,” he writes. “Black students with a middling GPA in college and a 50ish percentile rank on the MCAT had a ninefold greater chance than White students. In other words, while only 20 percent of White applications with such mediocre grades and scores were admitted to medical school, 85 percent of comparable Black applicants were.”

When minority students fail to achieve at levels considered “equitable” to students of other races, the standards are simply changed or dropped to achieve the desired outcome. When black medical students failed to qualify for Alpha Omega Alpha (the medical school society equivalent of Phi Beta Kappa, which inducts entrants based on academic achievement), woke scholars like Dr. Catherine Lucey at UCSF attacked the standards, claiming the “systems we use [for student evaluation] fail to take into account the extra work minorities are doing.” What extra work is this? She cited, without evidence, “stressors” such as “low levels of racism that exist in our patients.” As Goldfarb puts it, “If extra work and stressors were the criteria, young women who give birth during medical school would be automatic inductees.”

Once accepted into medical school, students encounter far less rigorous training than in previous eras. Citing equity goals, many medical schools have moved from issuing grades to pass/fail assessments. A longtime educator himself, Goldfarb is concerned that “the science content of student education has been dramatically reduced. So has the range of clinical experience,” which has “diminished the practical value of medical education.” What are they learning instead? As Goldfarb describes, “Researchers at the University of Oregon, writing in the journal Academic Medicine in 2021, surveyed the curricula of 122 medical schools and found that more than half had a required course that covered elements of advocacy.” The goal of such classes is “clearly political, not medical.”

Woke medicine thus creates its own feedback loop:

Many young physicians and medical students see poverty, housing, police policies, incarceration rates, climate, and gun control as legitimate concerns of the medical profession. This expanded role for physicians is the rationale for the proposed transformation in medical education. Medical students are not being educated in the complexities of social policy. They are being indoctrinated. Once programmed, they can leverage the trust placed in physicians to advocate for a variety of progressive policies that have never worked anywhere.

Goldfarb is blunt in his assessment of the consequences—not the woke utopia imagined by its practitioners, but degraded health care for all: “By abandoning the traditional values such as treating all patients equally and recruiting the best and the brightest students, too many health educators have adopted a racialist agenda that will, if anything, aggravate health disparities and undermine the trust of patients of all races.”

Humanities majors might wince when Goldfarb says, “It is one thing for the Princeton classics department to abandon its Latin requirement for classics majors. It is quite another for Harvard Med to cut training time in biochemistry and pharmacology for future doctors. After all, no one dies if the classics major cannot conjugate morior.” But he is right to point out the real-world stakes. Commenting on the AMA’s “Organizational Strategic Plan to Embed Racial Justice and Advance Health Equity,” Goldfarb notes, correctly, and chillingly, “Unlike other social justice programs, this program is lethal. It will tangibly reduce the quality of medical care, and almost every American will suffer its side effects.”

Throughout the book, Goldfarb makes a convincing case that woke medicine is both a distraction and a danger. It’s a distraction because it exacts serious opportunity costs. Training doctors to be activists rather than to better treat individual patients does little to improve health care; physicians should be eliminating suffering, not engaging in social engineering. Likewise, it is dangerous because by lowering standards and rigor in the name of “equity,” it undermines the quality of medical care.

It also justifies racist practices in the name of righting past injustices. A badly designed study that purported to show that white cardiac patients received better care than black patients concluded by noting proudly that the hospital where the researchers worked now practiced “a preferential admission option for Black and Latinx heart failure patients to our specialty cardiology service.” As Goldfarb writes, “this is probably illegal but certainly immoral and an abrogation of the authors’ medical oath to care for the best interests of the patient.” Unfortunately, there are many more examples of physicians sacrificing patient care on the altar of political correctness.

Oddly for revolutionaries, today’s woke physicians and medical students are surprisingly sensitive. Harvard Medical School’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital recently caved to the complaints of woke medical students who said that the hospital’s main auditorium made them “uncomfortable” because it contained portraits of past leaders in the profession, who happened to be white men. “These giants of American medicine did not own slaves, treat Indians poorly, experiment on Black patients, or help the American military in any way,” Goldfarb notes. “Their sin was to be White, all of them, and, even worse, male. Their very existence was a microaggression.” For a profession that requires rigor, intelligence, and resilience, such coddling does not bode well.

And yet, Goldfarb is not despairing; rather, he calls for a “neo-traditional counterrevolution” in medicine that will revive higher standards for medical education and practice—standards uncorrupted by ideological crusades. He has spearheaded the formation of a nonprofit organization, Do No Harm, to eliminate identity politics in medicine.

It is a mark of his good sense that Goldfarb manages to maintain a wittily combative tone throughout his book—a commendable quality given the concerted efforts by some of his colleagues to cancel him. The book grew out of an opinion piece he published in the Wall Street Journal and for which he was pilloried by his woke colleagues and attacked on social media as an “asshole.” Goldfarb writes, “My goal is to inspire my fellow assholes to go full Howard Beale and shout from the rooftops, ‘I’m as mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore.'”

After reading this book, every American who has ever set foot in a hospital or a doctor’s office should be mad as hell too.

Take Two Aspirin and Call Me By My Pronouns: Why Turning Doctors into Social Justice Warriors is Destroying American Medicine
by Stanley Goldfarb, M.D.
Bombardier Books, 216 pp., $17

Christine Rosen is senior writer at Commentary magazine and a fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture at the University of Virginia.

https://freebeacon.com/culture/woke-medicine-a-prescription-for-disaster/

State Department fueling ‘new anti-Semitism,’ lawmakers say

Senate Republican foreign policy leaders are demanding the Biden administration pull nearly $1 million in taxpayer funding for groups to investigate alleged human rights abuses in Israel, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip—an effort that the senators say is fueling a “new anti-Semitism.”

The State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL) announced in March it will pay nonprofit groups up to $987,654 to “strengthen accountability and human rights in Israel and the West Bank and Gaza,” according to a grant notice first posted online in February. Groups angling for the grant money are instructed to investigate alleged crimes inside and outside of Israel to “collect, archive, and maintain human rights documentation to support justice and accountability and civil society-led advocacy efforts, which may include documentation of legal or security sector violations and housing, land, and property rights.”

The grant was seized upon by Israel’s defenders on Capitol Hill as a prime example of the Biden administration’s efforts to undermine the Jewish state and strengthen the anti-Semitic Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement, which wages economic warfare on Israel. Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas) and 11 other Republican lawmakers are calling on the Biden administration to cancel the grant program and live up to its repeated pledges to combat the BDS movement.

“As a policy matter, it is wholly unacceptable for the State Department to fund NGOs to delegitimize and isolate Israel,” the lawmakers write, according to a copy of the letter obtained by the Washington Free Beacon. The State Department, the lawmakers allege, is using taxpayer dollars to promote a “new anti-Semitism” that is “driven by a global network of anti-Israel nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and human rights groups.”

Senior Republicans on Capitol Hill who spoke to the Free Beacon say the grant is part of a larger effort by Biden administration officials to mainstream the BDS movement and undermine the U.S.-Israel alliance, even as terror attacks on the Jewish state spike. The State Department has already come under scrutiny from the GOP and pro-Israel groups for hiring several people who worked in the anti-Israel community and promoted the BDS movement.

The State Department also is facing an outside investigation from a legal watchdog group, which ordered the administration in March to turn over all documents and internal communications related to its decision to approve the nearly $1 million in funding, as the Free Beacon first reported.

Cruz, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told the Free Beacon that, despite its past rhetoric, the Biden administration is helping to foment anti-Israel scandals.

“The Biden administration spends enormous time and resources looking for excuses to criticize Israel, on everything from counterterrorism to international diplomacy,” Cruz said. “Now they’re spending $1 million in taxpayer money to manufacture even more excuses, and in the process funding the international campaign to delegitimize and wage economic warfare against Israel. The State Department should rescind this grant.”

Cruz and his colleagues, including Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R., Tenn.), Tom Cotton (R., Ark.), Bill Hagerty (R., Tenn.), and Joni Ernst (R., Iowa), say the NGO grant clashes with the Biden administration’s rhetorical commitments to fight anti-Semitism and the delegitimization of Israel.

In February, for instance, Secretary of State Antony Blinken penned a letter to the American Zionist Movement in which he committed to combating “efforts to delegitimize Israel” and to “counter[ing] attempts to isolate Israel in the international community.” President Joe Biden also has said that he rejects the BDS movement and would use his position in the White House to combat it.

The GOP lawmakers are challenging the administration’s commitment to Israel, saying the grant will help feed a network of “anti-Israel nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and human rights groups” that see it as their mission to topple the Western support for the Jewish state.

During the 2001 World Conference Against Racism in Durban, which famously devolved into an anti-Israel hate fest that the United States ultimately boycotted, many of the same NGOs poised to cash-in on the Biden administration’s grant money signed onto a declaration calling Israel “a racist, apartheid state” that commits “crimes against humanity.”

“The declaration has served as the basis for anti-Semitic campaigns by NGOs calling for economic warfare and rationalizing actual warfare against Israeli Jews,” the senators write. “For decades these NGOs and campaigns have been significantly funded by European governments and the European Union. The United States has traditionally condemned such campaigns.”

But the State Department’s grant, which is designed to solicit reports of alleged Israeli crimes, indicates the Biden administration is aligned with the anti-Israel NGO community. The grant also was posted just months after the Biden administration rejoined the United Nations Human Rights Council, which has historically targeted Israel and was boycotted by the Trump administration for its anti-Semitic bias.

“The similarities in rhetoric, logic, and implication between the State Department notice and the NGO Forum Declaration are striking and disturbing,” the lawmakers say.

https://freebeacon.com/biden-administration/senators-demand-biden-pull-taxpayer-funding-for-anti-israel-initiative/

DOWN, BUT NOT OUT, THANKS TO YOUR TAX DOLLARS.

A consultancy firm advised by former “Ministry of Truth” Director Nina Jankowicz received a federally funded contract to combat the spread of alleged disinformation in the U.S. Air Force, The National Pulse can reveal.

The company, the Alethea Group, was founded in 2019 and purports to defend its clients from “disinformation campaigns.”

Jankowicz became the Alethea Group’s Director of External Engagement in September of 2021, remarking at the time: “I’m thrilled to lead Alethea’s external-facing research to continue to educate the public about the impact of disinformation on public safety, public health, and the functioning of global democracies.”

Just months after Jankowicz joined the Alethea Group, the company scored its first federal contract through the AFWERX program, dubbed the “the venture capital fund of the Air Force.” The firm was awarded an AFWERX Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I contract “to help the Air Force detect and mitigate instances of disinformation and misinformation,” according to a company press release.

“Artemis, Alethea Group’s machine learning platform, will be used to enable Air Force decision makers to proactively counter-message disinformation narratives in a way that’s appropriate for a government use-case.” 

“Adversaries are finding the use of disinformation to be more effective in influencing behavior and have targeted the US military, Service members, Veterans, and their families,” explained an Alethea Group representative, who added:

“Narratives and false information resulting from disinformation have negative consequences for the military ranging from heightened political tensions that cause divisions between Service members, to lower COVID vaccination rates, to violence and offline action inspired by conspiracy theories.”

Established by Congress in 1982, the AFWERX SBIR program is supported by eleven federal agencies, including the Department of Defense, and is intended to adapt commercial technology to U.S. Air Force needs.

The unearthed contract follows the Biden White House pausing its plans to create a Disinformation Governance Board at the Department of Homeland Security, which would have been led by Jankowicz. Despite Jankowicz exiting the role shortly after it was announced, it appears the Alethea Group’s AFWERX contract is still active, allowing the firm to receive federal funds and advise the U.S. military on what constitutes “disinformation.”

ARE WE HERE BECAUSE OF CHINA’S EXPERIMENTS AGAIN?

The Wuhan Institute of Virology assembled a monkeypox virus genome, allowing the virus to be identified through PCR tests, using a method researchers flagged for potentially creating a “contagious pathogen,” The National Pulse can reveal.

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The study was first published in February 2022, just months before the latest international outbreak of monkeypox cases which appear to have now reached the United States.

The paper, which was authored by nine Wuhan Institute of Virology researchers and published in the lab’s quarterly scientific journal Virologica Sinica, also follows the wide-scale use of Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) tests to identify COVID-19-positive individuals.

Researchers appeared to identify a portion of the monkeypox virus genome, enabling PCR tests to identify the virus, in the paper: “Efficient Assembly of a Large Fragment of Monkeypox Virus Genome as a qPCR Template Using Dual-Selection Based Transformation-Associated Recombination.”

Monkey pox viruses – referred to as “MPXVs” in the paper – have strains that are “more pathogenic and [have] been reported to infect humans in various parts of the world.”

“Quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) is the gold standard for the detection of orthopoxvirus (including MPXV). For pan-orthopoxviruses detection, the E9L (DNA polymerase) gene has been shown to be an excellent target for qPCR assays. For MPXV detection, Li et al. reported that the C3L (complement-binding protein) gene could be used as the qPCR target for the MPXV Congo Basin strain,” explained the paper before noting that China lacked sufficient genetic information on the virus for PCR detection:

“Since MPXV infection has never been associated with an outbreak in China, the viral genomic material required for qPCR detection is unavailable. In this report, we employed dual-selective TAR to assemble a 55-kb MPXV genomic fragment that encompasses E9L and C3L, two valuable qPCR targets for detecting MPXV or other orthopoxviruses.”

“The primary purpose of assembling a fragment of the MPXV genome is to provide a nucleotide template for MPXV detection,” reiterated the study, which relied on the process of transformation-associated recombination (TAR) to isolate a genomic fragment of the monkeypox virus.MUST READ:  Wuhan Lab Publishes Study Manipulating H7N9 Virus To Be More Lethal.

“As an efficient tool for assembling large DNA fragments up to 592 kb in length, TAR assembly has become essential for preparing infectious clones of large DNA/RNA viruses,” explained researchers.

The paper acknowledged that TAR “applied in virological research could also raise potential security concerns, especially when the assembled product contains a full set of genetic material that can be recovered into a contagious pathogen.”

“In this study, although a full-length viral genome would be the ideal reference template for detecting MPXV by qPCR, we only sought to assemble a 55-kb viral fragment, less than one-third of the MPXV genome. This assembly product is fail-safe by virtually eliminating any risk of recovering into an infectious virus while providing multiple qPCR targets for detecting MPXV or other Orthopoxviruses,” posited researchers.

The unearthed study follows the Wuhan Institue of Virology conducting similar research into strains of bat coronaviruses that could infect humans while admitting its facilities lacked proper laboratory safety protocols.

Read:

Belgium has become the first country in the world to introduce a mandatory 21-day monkeypox quarantine for those who contract the virus after several cases were found, with a White House official warning Sunday that more U.S. cases are likely.

Those who contract the virus will have to self-isolate, confirmed Belgian health authorities to news outlets. Individuals who have had close contact with monkeypox cases aren’t required to self-isolate but should remain vigilant if they have been in contact with vulnerable people, officials said.

The fourth case was reported in Belgium on Saturday, said Emmanuel Andre, the official in charge of the National Reference lab for COVID-19 in Belgium. “This patient is being treated in Wallonia and is linked to the Antwerp event in which two other people were infected,” he wrote, referring to a festival that was held in the city earlier this month.

Monkeypox, which originates in Africa, is a virus related to smallpox and symptoms include a bumpy rash, a fever, sore muscles, and a headache. It’s less deadly than smallpox, and health officials have said that its mortality rate is around 4 percent. Experts, however, have expressed concerns about monkeypox’s spread beyond Africa in recent days.

White House officials, including President Joe Biden, said they are worried about the spread of the virus in public remarks issued on Sunday.

“I would not be surprised Martha if we see a few more [monkeypox] cases in the upcoming days,” White House COVID-19 coordinator Ashish Jha told ABC News on Sunday. “And I think the president’s right, anytime we have an infectious disease outbreak like this, we should all be paying attention.”

But Jha said that the administration is “confident we’re going to be able to get our arms around it … but we’re going to track it very closely and use the tools we have to make sure that we continue to prevent further spread and take care of the people who get infected.”

In a Saturday update, the World Health Organization (WHO) said there were 92 confirmed cases in 12 different countries, with more under investigation. So far, cases have been confirmed in the United Kingdom, Italy, Sweden, Portugal, Belgium, Germany, France, Spain, the United States, Australia, and Canada.

Dr. Susan Hopkins, one of the top medical advisers to the UK Health Security Agency, warned over the weekend that there is community transmission of the virus in the United Kingdom.

Officials in Belgium and the United Kingdom said that it appears a significant portion of the virus’s transmission is among homosexual males. In statements to local media, Belgian officials said that “we are observing transmissions among men who have sex with men,” and it is a development “that we must study properly to better understand the dynamics.”

https://www.theepochtimes.com/first-mandatory-quarantines-for-monkeypox-as-white-house-warns-of-more-cases_4482806.html?utm_source=News&utm_campaign=breaking-2022-05-22-4&utm_medium=email&est=9Di0uisOh1MAhVvPST%2FF0Fav0Cauo9SFkciko%2BsyGanJt1WcnqT4GVe4JTyl0agMmA%3D%3D

 Joe Biden is making a final decision on whether to fulfill his campaign pledge to cancel student loans at a politically precarious time.

Biden wants to avoid alienating his young supporters ahead of the November elections, but he faces a tough choice as canceling student debt in the midst of high inflation might spark a backlash, potentially costing him the midterms.

In April, Biden extended the moratorium on student debt payments for the sixth time through August 31. Borrowers have gone more than two years without making a single payment or accruing additional interest on their student loans.

Critics argue that canceling or delaying student loan payments is a bad policy that will merely stoke the flames of inflation and do more harm to the economy. High inflation, they argue, is a hidden tax that disproportionately affects the poor.

Debt forgiveness is akin to the Federal Reserve increasing the money supply, according to E.J. Antoni, a research fellow at the Heritage Foundation.

“One of the key things that people don’t realize about debt is that when you take out a loan, you actually are creating money,” Antoni told The Epoch Times.

“Conversely, when you repay a debt, that is destroying money, so you actually can expand and contract the money supply simply by taking on debt and by repaying debt. When it comes to student loans the principal is literally no different.”

Since the pandemic began in 2020, the Federal Reserve has poured money into the financial system in unprecedented amounts to protect the economy from the effects of the health crisis and lockdowns. Inflation surpassed 8 percent this year, a 40-year high, in part due to the Fed’s policies.

The central bank is now preparing to slam on the brakes by tightening the money supply in order to bring inflation under control. However, forgiving student loans will undermine these efforts, making it more difficult for policymakers to combat inflation.

Making people repay their student loans, on the other hand, would help shrink the money supply and reduce inflation, according to Antoni.

Student loan relief also lowers the incentive to work and affects labor force participation, which retards economic productivity and raises prices, critics say.

According to the Urban Institute, the majority of outstanding student loan debt is carried by those with relatively high earnings.

The Biden administration has recently signaled that student debt relief could be on the way soon. The move could have an impact on nearly 43 million borrowers who owe more than $1.6 trillion in federal student loans.

Can Biden Cancel Student Debt?

Unlike other policies, which require congressional approval, the decision to cancel student loans can be taken by the executive branch, according to Democrats.

They contend that the president has the unilateral authority because the Higher Education Act of 1965 grants the education secretary the authority to “waive, or release” federal student loans.

Some argue that this unilateral authority is ambiguous and that it might be challenged in courts.

“The administration knows that they probably don’t have a constitutional leg to stand on here,” Antoni said.

If they attempt to take this move and the courts overturn it, they may suffer more political damage than benefit, he noted.

While the debate over whether to adopt broad student debt forgiveness continues, the Biden administration has already “approved more than $18.5 billion in loan discharges for more than 750,000 borrowers,” according to the Department of Education.

Mike Lux, a Democratic political strategist, believes providing broader debt forgiveness would greatly increase young people’s motivation to vote.

“We desperately need to motivate young people to vote to have a chance to win this election,” he recently told Washington Post.

However, Biden and Senate Democrats have a major disagreement over the relief amount.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y), have been advocating for a more sweeping package that would forgive up to $50,000 in student debt.

Biden, however, has indicated that he would support relief only up to $10,000 per borrower.

According to economists at the New York Federal Reserve, forgiving $10,000 per borrower would cost the government nearly $321 billion. Under this program, the average borrower would receive loan forgiveness of $8,478. Meanwhile, raising the cap to $50,000 would cost the government $904 billion and result in an average relief of $23,856 per borrower.

Proponents of student loan forgiveness claim that the cancellation of some or all of student debt would minimize the negative consequences it has on the economy such as low homeownership and small business formation.

“They could be good for the economy,” Secretary Janet Yellen said during a Congressional hearing on May 10.

Advocates also argue that student loan forgiveness would help reduce racial income disparities.

However, according to some economists including Stephen Moore forgiving student loans is a bailout funded by taxpayers.

“It’s not forgiveness. … It’s shifting the burden from the people who borrowed the money to you and I and all the taxpayers,” Moore told NTD Business on April 28. He added that the move will make the record-high inflation even worse.

The student loan moratorium has cost taxpayers more than $130 billion in interest payments since the pandemic began, according to Antoni.

To avoid criticism, Biden is considering imposing income limitations on student loan forgiveness to keep higher-income borrowers out.

This strategy, however, is another hurdle for Biden to overcome. The proposal has already angered progressives as its implementation before the November elections might be a nightmare, according to a Politico article.

Education Department officials have privately voiced concerns about the difficulty of attaching an income requirement to the cancellation of student loans simply because they don’t have the income data.

That’s why the concept of student debt elimination will necessitate significantly greater information sharing with the government than is currently necessary, according to John Gizzi, chief political columnist of Newsmax.

“To qualify for cancellation or relief, one will be forced to give the Department of Education permission to acquire personal information on him or her from the IRS,” Gizzi told The Epoch Times.

Because of these issues, some speculate that the Biden administration may seek to extend the moratorium on student loan payments until after the November elections. After all, they argue, extending is practically the same as forgiveness.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/canceling-student-loans-will-worsen-inflation-hurt-the-poor-experts-warn_4479291.html?utm_source=News&utm_campaign=breaking-2022-05-22-3&utm_medium=email&est=aul8BG9bA8t3Eyet7lxAwTrGZE4nLtW9Mg2qoqlGcz4MIWEHtOfSxLXp8jkx2tj%2BQg%3D%3D

STORY AT-A-GLANCE

• Canadian immunologist and vaccine researcher Byram Bridle, Ph.D., has gained access to Pfizer’s biodistribution study from the Japanese regulatory agency. The research demonstrates a huge problem with all COVID-19 vaccines
• The assumption that vaccine developers have been working with is that the mRNA in the vaccines would primarily remain in and around the vaccination site. Pfizer’s data, however, show the mRNA and subsequent spike protein are widely distributed in the body within hours
• This is a serious problem, as the spike protein is a toxin shown to cause cardiovascular and neurological damage. It also has reproductive toxicity, and Pfizer’s biodistribution data show it accumulates in women’s ovaries
• Once in your blood circulation, the spike protein binds to platelet receptors and the cells that line your blood vessels. When that happens, it can cause platelets to clump together, resulting in blood clots, and/or cause abnormal bleeding
• Pfizer documents submitted to the European Medicines Agency also show the company failed to follow industry-standard quality management practices during preclinical toxicology studies and that key studies did not meet good laboratory practice standards

The more we learn about the COVID-19 vaccines, the worse they look. In a recent interview[1] with Alex Pierson (above), Canadian immunologist and vaccine researcher Byram Bridle, Ph.D., dropped a shocking truth bomb that immediately went viral, despite being censored by Google.

It also was featured in a “fact” check by The Poynter Institute’s Politifact,[2] which pronounced Bridle’s findings as “false” after interviewing Dr. Drew Weissman,[3] a UPenn scientist who is credited with helping to create the technology that enables the COVID mRNA vaccines to work. But, as you can see below, unlike Bridle, Politifact neglected to go beyond interviewing someone with such a huge stake in the vaccine’s success.

In 2020, Bridle was awarded a $230,000 government grant for research on COVID vaccine development. As part of that research, he and a team of international scientists requested a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) access to Pfizer’s biodistribution study from the Japanese regulatory agency. The research,[4] [5]previously unseen, demonstrates a huge problem with all COVID-19 vaccines.

“We made a big mistake,” Bridle says. “We thought the spike protein was a great target antigen; we never knew the spike protein itself was a toxin and was a pathogenic protein. So, by vaccinating people we are inadvertently inoculating them with a toxin.”

Pfizer Omitted Industry-Standard Safety Studies

What’s more, TrialSite News reports[6] that Pfizer documents submitted to the European Medicines Agency [EMA] reveal the company “did not follow industry-standard quality management practices during preclinical toxicology studies … as key studies did not meet good laboratory practice (GLP).”

Neither reproductive toxicity nor genotoxicity (DNA mutation) studies were performed, both of which are considered critical when developing a new drug or vaccine for human use. The problems now surfacing matter greatly, as they significantly alter the risk-benefit analysis underlying the vaccines’ emergency use authorization. As reported by TrialSite News:[7]

“Recently, there has been speculation regarding potential safety signals associated with COVID-19 mRNA vaccines. Many different unusual, prolonged, or delayed reactions have been reported, and often these are more pronounced after the second shot.

Women have reported changes in menstruation after taking mRNA vaccines. Problems with blood clotting (coagulation) — which are also common during COVID-19 disease — are also reported. In the case of the Pfizer COVID mRNA vaccine, these newly revealed documents raise additional questions about both the genotoxicity and reproductive toxicity risks of this product.

Standard studies designed to assess these risks were not performed in compliance with accepted empirical research standards. Furthermore, in key studies designed to test whether the vaccine remains near the injection site or travels throughout the body, Pfizer did not even use the commercial vaccine (BNT162b2) but instead relied on a ‘surrogate’ mRNA producing the luciferase protein.

These new disclosures seem to indicate that the U.S. and other governments are conducting a massive vaccination program with an incompletely characterized experimental vaccine.

It is certainly understandable why the vaccine was rushed into use as an experimental product under emergency use authority, but these new findings suggest that routine quality testing issues were overlooked in the rush to authorize use.

People are now receiving injections with an mRNA gene therapy-based vaccine, which produces the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein in their cells, and the vaccine may be also delivering the mRNA and producing spike protein in unintended organs and tissues (which may include ovaries).”

Toxic Spike Protein Enters Blood Circulation

The assumption that vaccine developers have been working with is that the mRNA in the vaccines (or DNA in the case of Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca’s vaccines) would primarily remain in and around the vaccination site, i.e., your deltoid muscle, with a small amount draining into local lymph nodes.[8]

Pfizer’s data, however, show this isn’t the case at all. Using mRNA programmed to produce luciferase protein, as well as mRNA tagged with a radioactive label, Pfizer showed that the majority of the mRNA initially remain near the injection site, but within hours become widely distributed within the body.[9]We have known for a long time that the spike protein is a pathogenic protein. It is a toxin. It can cause damage in our body if it gets into circulation.— Dr. Byram Bridle

The mRNA enters your bloodstream and accumulates in a variety of organs, primarily your spleen, bone marrow, liver, adrenal glands and, in women, the ovaries. The spike protein also travel to your heart, brain and lungs, where bleeding and or blood clots can occur as a result, and is expelled in breast milk.

This is a problem, because rather than instructing your muscle cells to produce the spike protein (the antigen that triggers antibody production), spike protein is actually being produced inside your blood vessel walls and various organs, where it can do a great deal of damage.

“It’s the first time ever scientists have been privy to seeing where these messenger RNA [mRNA] vaccines go after vaccination,” Bridle told Pierson.[10]

“Is it a safe assumption that it stays in the shoulder muscle? The short answer is: absolutely not. It’s very disconcerting … We have known for a long time that the spike protein is a pathogenic protein.

It is a toxin. It can cause damage in our body if it gets into circulation … The spike protein on its own is almost entirely responsible for the damage to the cardiovascular system, if it gets into circulation.”

The Spike Protein Is the Problem

Indeed, for many months, we’ve known that the worst symptoms of severe COVID-19, blood clotting problems in particular, are caused by the spike protein of the virus. As such, it seemed really risky to instruct the body’s cells to produce the very thing that causes severe problems.

Bridle cites research showing that laboratory animals injected with purified spike protein from SARS-CoV-2 straight into their bloodstream developed cardiovascular problems and brain damage.

Assuming that the spike protein would not enter into the circulatory system was a “grave mistake,” according to Bridle, who calls the Japanese data “clear-cut evidence” that the vaccine, and the spike protein produced by it, enters your bloodstream and accumulates in vital organs. Bridle also cites recent research showing the spike protein remained in the bloodstream of humans for 29 days.

Once in your blood circulation, the spike protein binds to platelet receptors and the cells that line your blood vessels. As explained by Bridle, when that happens, one of several things can occur:

1. It can cause platelets to clump together — Platelets, aka thrombocytes, are specialized cells in your blood that stop bleeding. When there’s blood vessel damage, they clump together to form a blood clot. This is why we’ve been seeing clotting disorders associated with both COVID-19 and the vaccines
2. It can cause abnormal bleeding
3. In your heart, it can cause heart problems
4. In your brain, it can cause neurological damage

Importantly, people who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 absolutely should not donate blood, seeing how the vaccine and the spike protein are both transferred. In fragile patients receiving the blood, the damage could be lethal.

Breastfeeding women also need to know that both the vaccine and the spike protein are being expelled in breast milk, and this could be lethal for their babies. You are not transferring antibodies. You are transferring the vaccine itself, as well as the spike protein, which could result in bleeding and/or blood clots in your child. All of this also suggests that for individuals who are at low risk for COVID-19, children and teens in particular, the risks of these vaccines far outweigh the benefits.

The Spike Protein and Blood Clotting

In related news, Dr. Malcolm Kendrick posted an article[11] on his website June 3, 2021, in which he discusses the links between the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein and vasculitis, a medical term referring to inflammation (“itis”) in your vascular system, which is made up of your heart and blood vessels.

There are many different types of vasculitis, including Kawasaki’s disease, antiphospholipid syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis, scleroderma and Sjogren’s disease. According to Kendrick, all of them have two things in common:[12]

1.Your body for some reason starts to attack the lining of your blood vessels, thereby causing damage and inflammation — The “why” can differ from one case to another, but in all cases, your immune system identifies something foreign in the lining of the blood vessel, causing it to attack. The attack causes damage to the lining, which results in inflammation.

Blood clots are a common result, and can occur either because the platelets clump together in response to the vessel wall damage, or because your anticlotting mechanism has been compromised. Your most powerful anticlotting system is your glycocalyx, the protective layer of glycoproteins that lines your blood vessels.

Among many other things, the glycocalyx contains a wide variety of anticoagulant factors, including tissue factor inhibitor, protein C, nitric oxide and antithrombin. It also modulates the adhesion of platelets to the endothelium. When blood clots completely block a blood vessel, you end up with a stroke or a heart attack.

A reduction in platelet count, known as thrombocytopenia, is a reliable sign that blood clots are forming in your system, as the platelets are being used up in the process. Thrombocytopenia is a commonly-reported side effect of COVID-19 vaccines, as are blood clots, strokes and lethal heart attacks — all of which are pointing toward spike proteins causing vascular damage.

2.They significantly increase your risk of death, in some cases raising mortality by 50 times compared to people who do not have these conditions.

The take-home message Kendrick delivers is that “If you damage the lining of blood vessel walls, blood clots are far more likely to form. Very often, the damage is caused by the immune system going on the attack, damaging blood vessel walls, and removing several of the anti-clotting mechanisms.” The end result can be lethal, and this chain of events is exactly what these COVID-19 vaccines are setting into motion.

SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein May Damage Mitochondrial Function

Other research suggests the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein can have a serious impact on your mitochondrial function, which is imperative for good health, innate immunity and disease prevention of all kinds.

When the spike protein interacts with the ACE2 receptor, it can disrupt mitochondrial signaling, thereby inducing the production of reactive oxygen species and oxidative stress. If the damage is serious enough, uncontrolled cell death can occur, which in turn leaks mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) into your bloodstream.[13]

Aside from being detected in cases involving acute tissue injury, heart attack and sepsis, freely circulating mtDNA has also been shown to contribute to a number of chronic diseases, including systemic inflammatory response syndrome or SIRS, heart disease, liver failure, HIV infection, rheumatoid arthritis and certain cancers.[14] As explained in “COVID-19: A Mitochondrial Perspective”:[15]

“Apart from its role in energy production, mitochondria are crucial for … innate immunity, reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation, and apoptosis; all of these are important in COVID-19 pathogenesis. Dysfunctional mitochondria predispose to oxidative stress and loss of cellular function and vitality. In addition, mitochondrial damage leads to … inappropriate and persistent inflammation.

SARS coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) … enters cell by attaching to angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptors on cell surface … Following infection, there is internalization and downregulation of ACE2 receptors.

At vascular endothelium, ACE2 performs conversion of angiotensin II to angiotensin (1–7). Thus, a low ACE2 activity subsequent to SARS-CoV-2 infection leads to imbalance in renin-angiotensin system with relative excess of angiotensin II.

Angiotensin II through binding to its type 1 receptors exerts pro-inflammatory, vasoconstrictive, and prothrombotic effects, while angiotensin (1–7) has opposing effects … In addition, angiotensin II increases cytoplasmic and mitochondrial ROS generation leading to oxidative stress.

Increased oxidative stress may lead to endothelial dysfunction and aggravate systemic and local inflammation, thus contributing to acute lung injury, cytokine storm, and thrombosis seen in severe COVID-19 illness …

A recent algorithm showed that majority of SARS-CoV-2 genomic and structural RNAs are targeted for mitochondrial matrix. Thus it appears that SARS-CoV-2 hijacks mitochondrial machinery for its own benefit, including DMV biogenesis. Manipulation of mitochondria by virus may lead to mitochondrial dysfunction and increased oxidative stress ultimately leading to loss of mitochondrial integrity and cell death …

Mitochondrial fission enables removal of the damaged portion of a mitochondrion to be cleared by mitophagy (a special form of autophagy). Metabolomic studies suggest that SARS-CoV-2 inhibits mitophagy. Thus, there is accumulation of damaged and dysfunctional mitochondria. This not only leads to impaired MAVS [mitochondrial antiviral signaling] response but also aggravates inflammation and cell death.”

The author, Pankaj Prasun, points out that the virus’ impact on mitochondria helps explain why COVID-19 is so much deadlier for older people, the obese, and those with diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease.

All of these risk factors have something in common: They’re all associated with mitochondrial dysfunction. If your mitochondria are already dysfunctional, the SARS-CoV-2 virus can more easily knock out more mitochondria, resulting in severe illness and death.

The Spike Protein Is a Bioweapon

In my interview with Seneff and Mikovits, they both stressed that the key danger — both in COVID-19 and with the vaccines — is the spike protein itself. However, while the spike protein found in the virus is bad, the spike protein your body produces in response to the vaccine is far worse. Why?

Because the synthetic mRNA in the vaccine has been programmed to instruct your cells to produce an unnatural, genetically engineered spike protein. Specific alterations make it far more toxic than that found on the virus itself. Mikovits goes so far as to call the spike protein a bioweapon, as it is a disease-causing agent that demolishes innate immunity and exhausts your natural killer (NK) cells’ ability to determine which cells are infected and which aren’t.

In short, when you get the COVID-19 vaccine, you are being injected with an agent that instructs your body to produce the bioweapon in its own cells. This is about as diabolical as it gets.

In her paper, “Worse Than The Disease: Reviewing Some Possible Unintended Consequences of mRNA Vaccines Against COVID-19,” published in the International Journal of Vaccine Theory, Practice and Research in collaboration with Dr. Greg Nigh,[16] Seneff explains why the unnatural spike protein is so problematic.

In summary, normally, the spike protein on a virus will collapse on itself and fall into the cell once it attaches to the ACE2 receptor. The vaccine-induced spike protein does not do this. Instead it stays open and remains attached to the ACE2 receptor, thereby disabling it and causing a host of problems that lead to heart, lung and immune impairment.

What’s more, because the RNA code has been enriched with extra guanines (Gs) and cytosines (Cs), and configured as if it’s a human messenger RNA molecule ready to make protein by adding a polyA tail, the spike protein’s RNA sequence in the vaccine looks as if it is part bacteria,[17]part human[18] and part viral at the same time.

There’s also evidence suggesting the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein may be a prion, which is yet another piece of really bad news, particularly as it pertains to vaccine-induced spike protein. Prions are membrane proteins and when they misfold, they form crystals in the cytoplasm resulting in prion disease.

Since the mRNA in the vaccines has been modified to spew out very high amounts of spike protein (far greater than that of the actual virus), the risk of excessive buildup in the cytoplasm is high. And, since the spike protein doesn’t enter into the membrane of the cell, there’s a high risk that it can become problematic if indeed it works like a prion.

Remember, the research cited by Bridle at the beginning of this article found the spike protein accumulates in the spleen, among other places. Parkinson’s disease is a prion disease that has been traced back to prions originating in the spleen, that then travel up to the brain via the vagus nerve. In the same way, it’s quite possible COVID-19 vaccines may promote Parkinson’s and other human prion diseases such as Alzheimer’s.

What Are the Solutions?

While all of this is highly problematic, there is help. As noted by Mikovits, remedies to the maladies that might develop post-vaccination include:

• Hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin treatments. Ivermectin appears particularly promising as it actually binds to the spike protein. Please listen to the interview that Brett Weinstein did with Dr. Pierre Kory,[19] one of Dr. Paul Marik’s collaborators
• Low-dose antiretroviral therapy to reeducate your immune system
• Low-dose interferons such as Paximune, developed by interferon researcher Dr. Joe Cummins, to stimulate your immune system
• Peptide T (an HIV entry inhibitor derived from the HIV envelope protein gp120; it blocks binding and infection of viruses that use the CCR5 receptor to infect cells)
• Cannabis, to strengthen Type I interferon pathways
• Dimethylglycine or betaine (trimethylglycine) to enhance methylation, thereby suppressing latent viruses
• Silymarin or milk thistle to help cleanse your liver

From my perspective, I believe the best thing you can do is to build your innate immune system. To do that, you need to become metabolically flexible and optimize your diet. You’ll also want to make sure your vitamin D level is optimized to between 60 ng/mL and 80 ng/mL (100 nmol/L to 150 nmol/L), ideally through sensible sun exposure. Sunlight also has other benefits besides making vitamin D.

Use time-restricted eating and eat all your meals for the day within a six- to eight-hour window. Avoid all vegetable oils and processed foods. Focus on certified-organic foods to minimize your glyphosate exposure, and include plenty of sulfur-rich foods to keep your mitochondria and lysosomes healthy. Both are important for the clearing of cellular debris, including these spike proteins. You can also boost your sulfate by taking Epsom salt baths.

To combat the toxicity of the spike protein, you’ll want to optimize autophagy, which may help digest and remove the spike proteins. Time-restricted eating will upregulate autophagy, while sauna therapy, which upregulates heat shock proteins, will help refold misfolded proteins and also tag damaged proteins and target them for removal. It is important that your sauna is hot enough (around 170 degrees Fahrenheit) and does not have high magnetic or electric fields.

Originally published Jun 14, 2021 on Mercola.com

References

[1] Newzworldtoday.com June 2, 2021

[2] Politifact May 31, 2021

[3] Penn Medicine News December 23, 2020

[4] SARS-CoV-2 mRNA Vaccine BNT162 Biodistribution Study

[5] Trialsitenews May 28, 2021

[6] Trialsitenews May 28, 2021

[7] Trialsitenews May 28, 2021

[8] Trialsitenews May 28, 2021

[9] Trialsitenews May 28, 2021

[10] Newzworldtoday.com June 2, 2021

[11] drmalcolmkendrick.org June 3, 2021

[12] drmalcolmkendrick.org June 3, 2021

[13] F1000 Research 2017; 6: 169

[14] F1000 Research 2017; 6: 169

[15] DNA and Cell Biology April 19, 2021 DOI: 10.1089/dna.2020.6453

[16] International Journal of Vaccine Theory, Practice and Research May 10, 2021; 2(1): 38-79

[17] Appl Environ Microbiol. 2010 May;76(9):2846-55

[18] Trends Cell Biol. 2019 Mar; 29(3): 191–200

[19] Youtube Bret Weinsten interviews Dr. Pierre Kory June 1, 2021

https://www.theepochtimes.com/researcher-we-made-a-big-mistake-on-covid-19-vaccine_4469331.html?utm_source=News&utm_campaign=breaking-2022-05-22-3&utm_medium=email&est=i%2FIuH7psqKl4KS0XPvakKd0m8Pv%2FTfNe%2FgyVcPhKxh2XXMJR0V5%2BtMIb8%2Bhhp1I%2Frg%3D%3D

A 15-year-old boy in New York City is facing murder charges in connection to the fatal shooting of Kyhara Tay in the Bronx earlier this week, authorities said.

Keechant Sewell, the commissioner of the New York Police Department (NYPD), confirmed during a news conference that the teen, identified as Matthew Godwin, was arrested for murder, manslaughter, and possession of a weapon just before 2 a.m. on Friday.

Godwin was seen in surveillance footage on the back of a scooter as he opened fire on a 13-year-old boy, the intended target. The bullet missed the teen boy and instead hit Tay in the stomach.

“Instead of hitting his intended target … [Godwin] ended the life of a totally innocent, completely uninvolved 11-year-old girl,” Sewell said. “I won’t say she was in the wrong place, because why shouldn’t an 11-year-old child be able to stand outside in broad daylight?”

“The teenagers who took Kyhara’s life, a sixth-grader who, as her father said, didn’t even have the chance to grow up, …  have devastated a family, while at the same time ending their own lives as they know them,” she added.

Authorities have launched a citywide manhunt to arrest a second suspect, identified as 18-year-old Omar Bojang. He is believed to be the driver of the scooter.

A reward of up to $10,000 was being offered in connection with the case for information leading to an arrest. It is unclear if Godwin’s arrest came from a community tip.

This is Omar Bojang.

He is wanted in connection to the homicide of 11-year-old Kyhara Tay. Someone knows him.

Have any info on his whereabouts or this incident? DM @nypdtips or call 800-577-TIPS pic.twitter.com/q4hz7xU6xe

— NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) May 20, 2022

???? $????????,???????????? ???????????????????????? is now being offered for information leading to the arrest and indictment/conviction of the individual(s) who shot and killed an 11-year-old girl near Fox Street and E. 165 Street in #TheBronx. Call #800577TIPS.

????Help us share this far and wide. https://t.co/ZaPSyMgau6 pic.twitter.com/BKMWdeJIrU

— Commissioner Sewell (@NYPDPC) May 17, 2022

Bojang is no stranger to law enforcement officials and was arrested in June 2020 for gun possession and was also wanted for a robbery pattern. He is known to Bronx police in connection with gang activity.

In April 2020, Bojang and another male, identified as a “27-year-old Blood gang member,” were involved in a shooting. He was shot in the leg that day, an NYPC detective said during Friday’s press briefing. In November 2020, he got shot in the leg again during “an exchange of gunfire between Bojang and rival gang members,” the detective added.

NYC Mayor Eric Adams expressed frustration on Friday over a “flow of guns” and a surge of gun violence incidents in the city, saying the number of youth shooting victims is increasing as “younger and younger” children are obtaining firearms.

“This is what we’re dealing with over and over: kids killing kids—illegal guns are as easy to buy as candy and comic books. They are everywhere,” Adams said, adding that he has never witnessed anything like this before in his professional career.

NYPD officers made 410 gun arrests in March, bringing the total number of such arrests in the first quarter of 2022 to 1,207, according to an April 6 NYPD press release. This is the highest number of gun arrests on a quarterly basis since early 2021, when 1,385 arrests were reported. Arrests in March 2022 were 28.2 percent higher than in March 2021.

Shooting incidents in the city rose by 16.2 percent during this period, while homicides dropped by 15.8 percent. In 2021, there were nearly 4,500 gun arrests, and 470 of those suspects were people under the age of 18, according to the NYPD.

From NTD News

https://www.theepochtimes.com/nyc-teen-arrested-for-murder-in-connection-to-shooting-death-of-11-year-old-girl_4481711.html?utm_source=News&utm_campaign=breaking-2022-05-21-3&utm_medium=email&est=A1gHrgUSHijDo7bl4OSrMujfHhaXjL%2FrvORaaFr2%2FkOjGg8ZOeZvMTKIFCmY1GgiWA%3D%3D

Across America, parents and caretakers of infants are enraged and panicked about the shortage of baby formula. Approximately 40 percent of baby formula is out of stock nationwide, with some states, such as Texas, Arizona, and Nevada, experiencing out-of-stock rates above 50 percent.

The shortage follows a February 17 recall of infant formula after two babies died and two were hospitalized due to a dangerous bacterial infection. The formula came from a now shut down Sturgis, Michigan manufacturing plant run by Abbott Nutrition, a company that accounts for 42 percent of the domestic formula market and is one of four major U.S. manufacturers. (The Food and Drug Administration on May 16 reached a deal with Abbott outlining the necessary steps to reopen the facility. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention did not find a genetic match between the bacteria strains found in the factory and the affected infants.)

While the ongoing supply chain crisis and the shared monopoly created by welfare program rebates have certainly contributed to this burgeoning crisis, the Biden administration’s response – or more accurately, its lack of action – has ultimately made the problem worse.

President Joe Biden and his administration are attempting to deflect blame for forcing desperate parents to drive hours to find food for their babies amid skyrocketing gas prices.

Asked by a reporter last week whether he could have taken steps sooner to curb the impacts of the shortage before it reached crisis level, Biden responded, “If we’d been better mind-readers I guess we could have.”

On May 18, President Biden took steps to have the government take more control over domestic baby formula production and make imports easier, but these actions are too little, too late – and it’s unclear what impact they will have.

But it didn’t take a mind-reader to see this crisis brewing.

As Politico reported, in September 2021, Minnesota state health officials first notified the FDA and the CDC that an infant had fallen ill after consuming formula from the Sturgis plant.

Weeks later, in mid-October, a former Abbott Sturgis employee sent a 34-page document to senior FDA officials that, according to Politico, “outlined allegations of lax cleaning practices, purposely falsified records and efforts by plant officials to keep the FDA from learning about serious issues related to the plant’s own system for checking bacteria in formula, among other things.”

Despite such alarming claims and incidents of illness, it wasn’t until December that the FDA interviewed the employee, and later, on January 31, inspected the plant.

As New York Congresswoman and mother to an 8-month-old boy, Elise Stefanik, wrote in a February 28 letter to FDA Commissioner Robert Califf, “Allowing months to pass while infants are hospitalized places the health and welfare of our nation’s most vulnerable population at severe risk. … This impossible situation for parents may have been largely averted had the FDA acted swiftly upon initial reports of illness.”

While American babies don’t have enough to eat, the Biden administration has been shipping pallets of formula to southern border processing facilities to cope with its disastrous open borders policy.

After a visit to the southern border last weekend, Florida Rep. Kat Cammack, reported, “there were multiple stocked warehouses” which were “filled with baby formula, diapers, wipes, and clothing.” According to Cammack, “They have been doing this for months and there’s more en route.” 

To be clear: No child should ever be left to go hungry. It is, however, important to note that this flow of resources to the southern border is a direct result of President Biden’s policies that invite and encourage our border to be overrun, creating a humanitarian crisis.

With the Biden administration’s plan to lift Title 42, Americans can expect even more desperately needed resources to be directed away from their families and toward the U.S. southern border. The administration has acknowledged the likelihood of an imminent surge in migrants and is planning for as many as 18,000 people to arrive at the U.S. border every day.

As Former Acting ICE Director Tom Homan said, “The Border Patrol is already overwhelmed. If Title 42 goes away, it’s going to be chaos all across the border.”

This blatant and continued failure of leadership has led to a large-scale crisis previously unimaginable in the wealthiest and most powerful country in the world. As President Biden has said, “The buck stops with me.”

Tragically, for America’s families and their beautiful babies, Biden has passed the buck and the burden on to them.

Michigan Democrat ended her salary sacrifice even as her pandemic restrictions dragged on

In early 2020, Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer (D.) pledged to give back a portion of her salary for the duration of the coronavirus pandemic. But she stopped after 5 months—even as her gathering and mask restrictions dragged on for more than a year.

Whitmer in April 2020 said she would “lead by example” and return 10 percent of her $159,300 salary to the state’s treasury department during the pandemic. According to state records obtained by MIRS News, however, Whitmer ended the pledge just five months later in September after cutting three checks totaling $4,917 back to the state. The Democrat’s pandemic restrictions lasted significantly longer than her self-imposed pay cut pledge—Whitmer limited indoor gatherings and required face masks in public for 15 months.

The revelation marks Whitmer’s latest in a long line of COVID blunders. 

During the pandemic’s early stages, the Democrat issued draconian stay-at-home orders that shuttered local businesses but allowed large corporations to stay open. Whitmer also implemented a policy that required nursing homes to accept positive coronavirus patients who were discharged from hospitals, a decision that Republicans argue led to increased deaths in elderly facilities. Meanwhile, as the pandemic raged on, Whitmer broke her own COVID rules during a dinner party at a Michigan State University bar and fled the state to party maskless at a crowded Washington, D.C., cocktail joint.

“Governor Whitmer shut down the state far longer than the months she sacrificed, upending the economy and lives of Michiganders,” Michigan Rising Action executive director Eric Ventimiglia said in a statement. “Despite pledging to ‘lead by example,’ Whitmer … continued to enjoy a generous, taxpayer-funded salary.”

Whitmer’s office did not return a request for comment.

The Democrat entered the governor’s mansion in 2019 after centering her campaign on a pledge to “fix the damn roads.” More than three years into her tenure, however, Michigan’s “deteriorating” roads are costing residents nearly $5,000 a year in car repairs, an April report from national transportation research nonprofit TRIP found.

Whitmer’s infrastructure shortcomings and infamous pandemic response now have the Democrat engaged in a difficult reelection bid. According to a January Detroit News poll, just 40 percent of Michiganders would vote to reelect the Democrat. Forty-eight percent of respondents said the state is on the “wrong track,” compared with 36 percent who said it is on the “right track.” 

Whitmer’s prospective GOP opponents include former Detroit Police Department head James Craig, Michigan State Police captain Mike Brown, and Detroit businessman Kevin Rinke. Republicans will nominate Whitmer’s challenger during the state’s Aug. 2 primary.

https://freebeacon.com/democrats/whitmer-pledged-to-cut-pay-during-pandemic-she-gave-up-after-five-months/

Two sexually explicit novels may soon be removed from Virginia public school libraries thanks to a circuit court decision that called the books “obscene.”

Judge Pamela Baskervill ruled Wednesday that Gender Queer: A Memoir and A Court of Mist and Fury are too “obscene for unrestricted viewing by minors,” ABC 7 News reported. Virginia public schools may soon have to remove the novels and similarly graphic books from library shelves. The books’ publishers have three weeks to contest the ruling.

The Virginia Beach School Board voted prior to the decision to remove Gender Queer from libraries, after a district working group deemed it “pervasively vulgar.” Written by “nonbinary” author Maia Kobabe, Gender Queer is a graphic novel focused on the author’s sexual experiences.

The book contains illustrations of a male character performing oral sex on a dildo affixed to Kobabe with a harness and recounts Kobabe’s trip to a pornography production company. A Court of Mist and Fury contains several graphic sexual scenes, the Washington Free Beacon found.

Virginia state delegate Tim Anderson (R.) in April petitioned the court to pull the books from schools on behalf of Tommy Altman, a congressional candidate running against Rep. Elaine Luria (D., Va.). Altman and Anderson on Wednesday filed a separate motion to the court, seeking to extend the ruling to all Virginia libraries and booksellers. If a judge rules in their favor, public libraries and bookstores will be barred from sharing or selling the books to minors without parental permission.

Critics say that banning books from school libraries violates the First Amendment. But Anderson insists the court order doesn’t explicitly ban the books but helps parents control their children’s access to obscene content, according to ABC 7.

This is not the first time Gender Queer has caused a dustup in Virginia schools. Fairfax County Public Schools in October pulled the book from libraries but reversed its decision a month later. Loudoun County Public Schools removed Gender Queer from libraries after determining the book “ran counter to what is appropriate in school.”

https://freebeacon.com/campus/parental-advisory-court-rules-gender-queer-novel-too-sexually-explicit-for-schools/

The DCCC chair’s 3 most outrageous moves

It’s been a tough week for Democratic New York congressman Sean Patrick Maloney, who is facing the wrath of his own party after he decided based on new political maps to switch districts. Rather than fight it out in his own district, he is running in a neighboring district already held by a Democrat.

The attacks started with his New York colleagues in the House. Rep. Ritchie Torres (D., N.Y.) said Maloney’s decision to challenge a black colleague was “thinly veiled racism.” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.) said Maloney should resign his chairmanship of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

Liberal MSNBC host Chris Hayes said Maloney’s decision was the “most egregious political malpractice I have ever seen in my life.”

This all comes with Democrats poised to lose a historic number of seats in the House, and the majority that Maloney is tasked with maintaining is all but destroyed.

You could say he’s had it coming. Here are some of his most outrageous actions since the Canadian-born Maloney was elected to Congress in 2012:

The Time Maloney Partied Maskless at a French Billionaire’s Estate During the Pandemic

In August, the DCCC chair partiedMaskless At A Billionaire’s Estate In France, even as he and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urged Americans to wear masks. 

“We all have to do our part to crush this virus,” Maloney wrote during his luxurious jaunt on the French Riviera. “Get your shot, wear a mask, and follow CDC guidelines. It’s just the right thing to do.”

Maloney’s trip violated U.S. health and safety guidelines, which unequivocally warned not to travel to France due to the pandemic.

The congressman’s Instagram stories of the trip included footage from a wedding at the Villa et Jardins Ephrussi de Rothschild, which is outside of Nice on the Mediterranean coast. The guests were all maskless. The bride is a close associate of Manhattan district attorney Cy Vance (D.), who chose not to prosecute sex criminal Harvey Weinstein.

Maloney and his husband later visited Italy, even though the State Department said Americans should “reconsider travel” to the country because of COVID-19. A photograph shows the two maskless at an indoor art studio in Puglia.

The DCCC chairman capped off his transatlantic jaunt in Napa Valley, attending a Democratic fundraiser featuring House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.), Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm, and Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo. Tickets cost as much as $29,000 for donors. Servants were masked, but Maloney and the other guests were not.

The Time Maloney Hired a Gang Member To Advise Democrats on Diversity

Facebook

Just weeks after being made chairman, Maloney hired a former “triggerman” for an upstate New York gang as a senior adviser for diversity and inclusion at the DCCC.

Dyjuan Tatro was on parole for drug and assault convictions in New York when he was hired, according to state records. In a 2010 plea agreement, the DCCC diversity and inclusion head admitted to attempted murder, assault, running guns from out of state, and distributing crack—making him eligible for a life sentence.

Before his hiring, Tatro attacked law enforcement on social media, comparing cops in the United States to Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan. He tweeted and then deleted a post after the Jan. 6 Capitol riot calling U.S. Capitol Police “white supremacists.”

Shortly after he was hired, Tatro shared photographs of himself on the beach in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico—an apparent violation of his parole. It’s unclear when the trip occurred.

Maloney did not return a Free Beacon request for comment about his decision to hire Tatro.

The Time Maloney Went to Bat for Pimp Running Online Brothel Rentboy.com

After federal prosecutors took down the ringleader of Rentboy.com, an online database for male prostitutes that turned a blind eye to underage boys selling sex, Maloney wrote a letter to top Obama administration officials to call the arrest “troubling.”

In a February 22, 2016, letter to U.S. attorney general Loretta Lynch and Homeland Security secretary Jeh Johnson, Maloney said the arrest of Rentboy.com CEO Jeffrey Hurant was homophobic.

“This seemingly arbitrary action by DHS and DOJ—which appears to be aimed at shaming the LGBT community rather than protecting the American people—comes off as a disturbing relic of our troubled past,” Maloney wrote.

Hurant had run the prostitution website for two decades but was shown leniency by a judge who referenced letters in support of Hurant like the one sent by Maloney. He only received six months in prison and a $7,500 fine, though the website had earned more than $10 million in revenue in the years before it was shuttered.

The federal indictment shows Hurant and Rentboy.com were aware of illegal prostitution activity taking place on the site, and encouraged it—Hurant even held an annual award show for male prostitutes called the Hookies.

Hurant has made donations to Maloney’s Democratic colleagues since his release. During the 2020 election cycle, Hurant contributed money to Pete Buttigieg’s presidential campaign, and several House candidates. The Free Beacon previously reported that Hurant donated hundreds of dollars to Barack Obama in 2008.

https://freebeacon.com/democrats/the-worst-of-sean-patrick-maloney/

Policy remains in place amid ongoing litigation

A federal judge has blocked the Biden administration from ending Title 42, a border policy that has enabled border authorities to quickly expel illegal immigrants at the southern U.S. border back to Mexico on public health grounds amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a 47-page ruling on Friday, Judge Robert Summerhays in Louisiana granted a nationwide injunction to block the termination of Title 42, saying the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) move to terminate the policy didn’t comply with the Administrative Procedure Act that requires public notice and time to gather public comment on the plan.

“Simply put, the CDC has not explained how the present circumstances prevented the CDC from issuing the Termination Order through the required notice and comment process under the [Administrative Procedure Act],” Summerhays wrote. The notice and comment process can potentially take months to complete.

“Given the impact of the Termination Order on the Plaintiff States and their showing that the CDC did not comply with the [Administrative Procedure Act], the Court concludes that the public interest would be served by a preliminary injunction preventing the termination of the CDC’s Title 42 Orders,” the ruling reads.

The ruling means the CDC is blocked from terminating Title 42, and the policy will remain in place amid ongoing litigation until a final decision is made on the merits of the case. The full trial is likely to take many months.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) said it will appeal the latest ruling.

“The [CDC] invoked its authority under Title 42 due to the unprecedented public-health dangers caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. CDC has now determined, in its expert opinion, that continued reliance on this authority is no longer warranted in light of the current public-health circumstances. That decision was a lawful exercise of CDC’s authority,” spokesman Anthony Coley said in a statement. “The Department of Justice intends to appeal the court’s decision in Louisiana et al. v. CDC et al.

The White House said it disagreed with the court’s ruling, but would comply with it pending the DOJ’s appeal.

“The authority to set public health policy nationally should rest with the Centers for Disease Control, not with a single district court,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement.

Since Title 42’s implementation in March 2020 under the Trump administration, border agents have been able to turn illegal immigrants away from the southern U.S. border over 1.9 million times without giving them a chance to seek asylum.

The CDC had announced on April 1 it would end the emergency border powers on May 23, citing declining cases of COVID-19 and increased availability of vaccines and therapeutics.

Prior to the CDC’s announcement, White House director of communications Kate Bedingfield said that ending Title 42 would result in an expected “influx of people to the border.”

The CDC decision prompted 24 states, led by the attorneys general of Arizona, Louisiana, and Missouri, to file a lawsuit on April 4, seeking an injunction to keep the policy in place. The states, all with Republican attorneys general, argued in part that the termination of Title 42 would “induce a significant increase of illegal immigration into the United States, with many migrants asserting non-meritorious asylum claims.”

Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich on Twitter called the ruling by Summerhays a “great win.”

Republicans and some Democrats in Congress had criticized the CDC’s decision to lift Title 42 over the likelihood of higher migrant crossings, saying the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was not prepared to handle the increased migrant numbers.

DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas had said on May 1 the agency was preparing for a possible flood of U.S.-bound immigrants at the southern border, saying there could be as many as 18,000 migrants a day if Title 42 is terminated.

Meanwhile, the United Nations and other Democrats previously said the Title 42 expulsions put vulnerable migrants in danger and were not based on science.

A separate court ruling blocks the Biden administration from expelling families to places where they could be persecuted or tortured.

In April, border agents encountered more than 234,000 attempts by migrants to cross the southern border, marking a new monthly record, according to latest data from the DHS.

Reuters contributed to this report.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/judge-blocks-biden-administration-from-lifting-title-42_4480809.html

IS YOUR REPRESENTATIVE GOING TO DAVOS, AND WHY?

The World Economic Forum has announced a list of public figure attendees for its upcoming Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland.

Taking place May 22nd through 26th, the World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting will count 50 heads of government and thousands of corporate, philanthropic, and scientific leaders in attendance.

Twenty-five American officials, including two White House representatives, are going to the meeting. An additional 12 Democrat and 10 Republican politicians, listed below, will accompany them.

Visit TakeDownTheWEF.com for more on the World Economic Forum.

U.S. and Ukrainian attendees outnumber those coming from other leading nations, which includes just three from the United Kingdom, France, and Germany respectively.

The names of U.S. delegates appear below, with a full list of public figure attendees in the embedded spreadsheet following.

American Attendees of the World Economic Forum 2022:

• Gina Raimondo Secretary of Commerce of USA
• John F. Kerry Special Presidential Envoy for Climate of the United States of America
• Bill Keating Congressman from Massachusetts (D)
• Daniel Meuser Congressman from Pennsylvania (R)
• Madeleine Dean Congresswoman from Pennsylvania (D)
• Ted Lieu Congressman from California (D)
• Ann Wagner Congresswoman from Missouri (R)
• Christopher A. Coons Senator from Delaware (D)
• Darrell Issa Congressman from California (R)
• Dean Phillips Congressman from Minnesota (D)
• Debra Fischer Senator from Nebraska (R)
• Eric Holcomb Governor of Indiana (R)
• Gregory W. Meeks Congressman from New York (D)
• John W. Hickenlooper Senator from Colorado (D)
• Larry Hogan Governor of Maryland (R)
• Michael McCaul Congressman from Texas (R)
• Pat Toomey Senator from Pennsylvania (R)
• Patrick J. Leahy Senator from Vermont (D)
• Robert Menendez Senator from New Jersey (D)
• Roger F. Wicker Senator from Mississippi (R)
• Seth Moulton Congressman from Massachusetts (D)
• Sheldon Whitehouse Senator from Rhode Island (D)
• Ted Deutch Congressman from Florida (D)
• Francis Suarez Mayor of Miami (R)
• Al Gore Vice-President of the United States (1993-2001) (D)

“The Annual Meeting 2022 will embody the World Economic Forum’s philosophy of collaborative, multistakeholder impact, providing a unique collaborative environment in which to reconnect, share insights, gain fresh perspectives, and build problem-solving communities and initiatives,” explains the group, whose efforts to exploit COVID-19 for its “Great Reset” has come under intense scrutiny.

“Against a backdrop of deepening global frictions and fractures, it will be the starting point for a new era of global responsibility and cooperation,” posits the WEF, which selected “history at a turning point” as its event’s primary theme.

The event focuses on eight key areas: Climate and Nature; Fairer Economies; Tech and Innovation; Jobs and Skills; Better Business; Health and Healthcare; Global Cooperation; and Society and Equity. Panel discussions include “Economic Weaponry: Uses and Effectiveness of Sanctions,” “Safeguarding Global Scientific Collaboration,” “Blue Foods for a Sustainable Future,” “The Journey towards Racial Equity”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will also be giving a special welcome address on the opening day of that event and will be followed by executives from companies such as COVID-19 vaccine maker Pfizer.

The event also counts dozens of corporate and philanthropic partners, including Alibaba Group, which is a key component of the Chinese Communist Party’s social credit score system, Google, Amazon, AstraZeneca, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, BlackRock, George Soros’s Open Society Foundations, Meta, Johnson & Johnson, Huawei Technologies, Pfizer, and the Wellcome Trust.

Read the full list of attendees:

WASHINGTON—Hillary Clinton greenlighted the plan to give allegations against Donald Trump to a reporter ahead of the 2016 election, Clinton’s campaign manager testified in federal court on May 20.

“We told her we have this and we want to share it with a reporter. She agreed to that,” said Robby Mook, the campaign manager.

The allegations purportedly showed a secret back channel between Trump’s business and Russia’s Alfa Bank.

Several stories were published about the claims on Oct. 31, 2016. Hours later, Clinton herself promoted them.

“Computer scientists have apparently uncovered a covert server linking the Trump Organization to a Russian-based bank,” Clinton wrote in a Twitter post.

Neither she nor Jake Sullivan, a top campaign official, mentioned that the allegations were passed to the media by the campaign.

The allegations stemmed from Rodney Joffe, a technology executive who hoped to score a position in the government if Clinton won the election, researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology, and Michael Sussmann, a lawyer for the campaign who is on trial for allegedly lying to the FBI.

Sussmann informed his colleague Marc Elias of the allegations in the summer of 2016, who passed them on to the campaign in August of that year, Elias told the court this week.

“I thought that if there was a news account of the allegations,” it would “benefit the campaign,” Elias said.

Both Sussmann and operatives with Fusion GPS, a firm tapped by the campaign, worked to seed stories about Trump and Alfa Bank in media outlets, succeeding when Slate and the New York Times published stories that remain largely uncorrected to this day.

Mook says he was briefed by Elias on the claims, which he was told came from people with expertise in cyber matters. He does not recall being told any names and said campaign officials did not have the subject matter expertise to judge the claims themselves. He spoke with Sullivan and John Podesta, another campaign official, about spreading the allegations to media outlets.

Mook said the campaign didn’t immediately act on the allegations because of worries they weren’t credible. Officials ultimately decided, despite not being “totally confident” in the allegations, to give them to a reporter so the reporter could “run it down.”

“Our hope was they were going to run it down, that it would be substantive, and accurate,” he said.

A campaign staffer whose name Mook could not recall, with the campaign’s press department, conveyed the allegations to the press.

Mook said he couldn’t recall exactly when Clinton approved the move.

“All I can remember is she agreed with the decision. She thought we made the right decision,” he said.

According to previously disclosed declassified information, Clinton allegedly approved a campaign plan in late July 2016 to “stir up a scandal” against Trump by tying him to Russia.

Separately, in late September 2021, Sussmann handed over white papers outlining the allegations regarding Trump and the Russian bank and thumb drives with data purportedly supporting them to the FBI, a move that Elias and Mook both say was not cleared by the campaign.

Mook said he was “not aware” if Clinton approved Sussmann’s meeting. “I don’t know why” she would do so, he said.

Sussmann is on trial because he told FBI lawyer James Baker he was not bringing the information on behalf of any client.

Both the FBI and CIA determined the allegations were unsupported by the data, though that fact was not made public until this year through filings by Durham’s team.

Mooks said he was “not aware” if Clinton approved Sussmann going to FBI. “I don’t know why” she would do so, he said.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/hillary-clinton-approved-giving-trump-russia-allegations-to-reporter-testimony_4479740.html?utm_source=News&utm_campaign=breaking-2022-05-20-3&utm_medium=email&est=jC1DzD2JoiKQc58tFA2HyuRv0%2Fs8mpfyM4PfROi4Owz3VjEOlZlY%2FqTU7qajhGd5lA%3D%3D

Bobby Powell thought someone would be interested in his video evidence showing two “suspicious actors” taking part in events on the east side of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

He was in for the surprise of his life.

The semiretired Michigan radio journalist and podcaster has spent the past 16 months trying to get politicians, media personalities, pundits, and the FBI to view his video footage and identify the two “suspicious actors.”

He wants to see those men charged with the destruction of government property and assault.

Almost no one, it seems, wants to listen.

Powell has learned that his video isn’t welcome in many places; some people view it as a threat. In Michigan, he said a politician friend suggested he take a six-figure bribe to keep quiet. When he flatly refused, he says his life was threatened.

The 29 minutes of high-definition video have turned Powell’s life upside down.

In Search of an Audience

As the smoke at the Capitol cleared from the Jan. 6 unrest, Powell began his long quest to find an audience for his video evidence. He was in Washington that day as a credentialed reporter representing his news podcast “The Truth is Viral” and radio station WCHY in Cheboygan, Michigan.

After he called the FBI on Jan. 15, 2021, an agent from the bureau’s Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) called him back and took his information. He also contacted the U.S. Secret Service and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS).

Powell provided the address to his website where agents could view his Jan. 6 videos, and offered to come in for an interview. Even after nearly a half-dozen follow-ups with the FBI and other agencies, there has been no reply from any law enforcement officer.

He also thought photos of the men would eventually appear among the 1,558 individuals on the FBI’s Jan. 6 most-wanted page. That never happened, nor have they been arrested or charged.

“These are two men that are pulling windows out of the Capitol and pushing people inside the doors,” Powell told The Epoch Times. “Okay, so why isn’t the FBI interested? That is the key question.”

“The FBI has no comment on the ongoing Jan. 6 investigation,” the agency’s national press office said in an email in response to an inquiry by The Epoch Times about the video and Powell’s claims.

Meanwhile, Powell has posted a video link to the Twitter page of the U.S. Capitol Police with the question, “Who are these men?”

About five minutes later, his Twitter account was permanently suspended. Twitter didn’t respond by press time to a request for comment about the action.

Google, meanwhile, demonetized his “The Truth is Viral” YouTube page and Facebook took down his live streams and drastically cut the reach of his videos. Powell had been broadcasting on the internet since 2008.

Based on what he says he witnessed on Jan. 6, the grizzled radio veteran and honorably discharged Marine believes the men in the video are FBI or other government agents who were assigned to draw then-President Donald Trump supporters into the Capitol building so they could be arrested.

If proven true, Powell’s allegation would be the latest explosive evidence suggesting that federal agencies played a role in the Capitol riots.

“I’ve been giving speeches in New York, North Carolina, Florida, for the January 6 defendants,” Powell said. “And you know, I flat out come out and say it:

“The FBI led the insurrection of the Capitol.

“I have proof, and, you know, the FBI didn’t want to hear anything about it.”

Defense attorney Brad Geyer sees great value in Powell’s video and its potential exculpatory role for defendants charged with myriad crimes for being at the Capitol on Jan. 6.

“Bobby Powell presents important visual evidence suggesting facts and context that fall outside the accepted narrative,” Geyer told The Epoch Times, “a narrative upon which seemingly every Washington D.C. constituency seems unanimous: it was 100 percent the fault of the person attending a rally who engaged in a criminal act by entering the Capitol.”

Geyer, who represents Oath Keepers defendant Ken Harrelson, filed a motion on May 6 to compel prosecutors to help him identify 80 “suspicious actors” and “material witnesses.” Most of those on Geyer’s list were located at or near the Columbus Doors on the east side of the Capitol.

Geyer’s motion documents criminal behavior by some of the suspicious actors, such as removing security fencing and signage, breaching police lines, attacking officers, and inciting crowds to storm into the Capitol. Powell’s video is more evidence that adds weight to the argument, he said.

“Let’s forget about the rally being overrun by people who look like inauthentic rally attendees at best who also seem to be ghosts as far as investigative agencies are concerned,” Geyer said.

A Day That Changed Everything

Powell was supposed to retire after his assignment on Jan. 6. He went to Washington to cover then-President Trump’s rally and ended up at the Capitol, documenting the unrest and rioting.

He was on the terrace on the east side of the Capitol, when a 20-year-old California man ran into his field of view. Dressed mostly in black, Hunter Allen Ehmke jumped up on a window sill and started kicking in the glass in the multi-pane window.

After smashing several of the lower panes, Ehmke made a fist and punched the upper glass. Police officers who sprinted into view knocked Ehmke off his perch and swarmed over him on the ground. As Ehmke was placed into handcuffs, a hostile crowd started to gather.

The eight police officers involved in Ehmke’s capture left as quickly as they had arrived. Powell was surprised to find himself guarding the broken window. The scene didn’t sit well with some of the bystanders.

“Does this make any [expletive] sense to y’all? a man with a red beard asked bystanders. “I’m like, this is a [expletive] trap,” the man added in reference to the window.

A man off-camera said, “That is definitely a trap.”

As he picked up glass shards that littered the window sill, Powell heard a voice from behind.

“Why don’t you guys open up the rest of it?”

Powell replied, “Because I think that would probably be illegal.”

The stranger’s dress and demeanor stood out among the protesters passing by the window; he was wearing a black ball cap with an American flag patch. His face was covered with a black and gray striped neck gaiter. He walked onto the east terrace carrying a large white stick. It’s not clear what became of the stick.

He had a radio attached to a strap on the left-center of his chest. On his left chest was a bite valve attached to a hydration pack on his back.

As he pondered what the man was up to, Powell finished toying with the splintered glass.

“I’m just picking up garbage,” he told the man.

To Powell, the man was out of place.

“I knew he was an operator of some kind right away,” he said. “He was no protester. He was there on a mission.”

Powell took a few steps to his left and turned around with his camera rolling, just in time to see the man pull out one of the lower glass panes and drop it on the ground. After the glass came loose, it appears the man realized he was being filmed. He unceremoniously dropped the glass and stepped away, the video shows.

Gavin Crowl ran into the scene and shoved the man in black away from the window. Powell gave Crowl a stern warning to stay away from the window: “Do not go in there!”

As Crowl attempted to walk away, the man in black pursued him and gave him a shove that almost knocked him off his feet. It can’t be heard on the video, but Crowl later said the man shouted at him, “Why are you breaking that window? Who do you think you are? Get out of here!”

Crowl seemed incredulous at being accused of what the man in black had just done. The man shoved Crowl again, then made a fist as if to strike him. Crowl put up his hands in surrender and walked away.

“Obviously, the guy in black was trying to cover his own [expletive] because he had seen my press helmet and the fact that I was pointing the camera right at him,” Powell said.

“So he didn’t know how long I had been recording,” Powell said. “He was just trying to cover his own butt. And then the guy leaves. He just leaves. Never to be seen again.

“I’ve watched surveillance footage; he just melts off into the crowd and I can’t see him anymore.”

Second Suspicious Actor Acted as Doorman

Powell moved over to the nearby Columbus Doors, where a large, rambunctious crowd was trying to get into the Capitol Rotunda. He saw about a dozen men come running out or being shoved out of the entrance by police.

Some of the men had been maced. Clouds of tear gas streamed out of the entry.

As Powell moved to the front line, a man who was holding the doors open used his right arm to shove Powell toward the entrance.

“Hold the line!” the man shouted. Someone else screamed, “Hold the line!”

Like the first suspicious actor, this man had a calm demeanor and a military efficiency about him, according to Powell. He wore a green fleece zip-up jacket, a brown checkered neck gaiter, a camo-pattern cap, and dark sunglasses. His gloves had bright lime-green tape on them. To Powell, he looked out of place.

Powell apparently didn’t notice, but the first suspicious actor who broke the glass was directly in front of him, crouched down behind another man. To his right was Matthew Perna of Sharon, Pennsylvania, who—after becoming distraught over being threatened with years in prison for being at the Capitol on Jan. 6—committed suicide nearly 14 months later.

An Uphill Battle

Powell estimates he has spent more than $20,000 over 16 months trying to get his story out. He spoke to producers of some of the biggest names in broadcast news, including one who told him flat-out they weren’t interested in a story about alleged government agents attacking the Capitol.

Powell has a podcast and publishes news on Substack, but the loss of revenue from YouTube struck a heavy blow. Days after he appeared on a Newsmax program, PayPal shut down his donation account. Since then, he has turned to GiveSendGo to help support his efforts.

“I called PayPal and spoke to a supervisor who told me they could find no policy I had violated, just that my account was marked, ‘Do Not Reinstate,’” he said.

Due to the loss of income, Powell sold his home to avoid foreclosure.

“So they’ve taken away all my sources of income except for my social security disability,” he said. “So I had to sell my house.”

He feels the weight and stress of Jan. 6.

“I was gonna pack in my microphone and go fishing. Boy, here it is 16 months later, and I am still going,” Powell said. “I’ve had four heart attacks in 16 months, the last one damn near killed me. If I hadn’t been in the ER when it happened, it would have.”

In early May, Powell hand-delivered a memory stick with his videos to Trump attorney Peter Ticktin. The attorney had put out a statement asking the public to submit January 6 video footage.

“I’m gonna see—I guess the entire country is going to see—how well they will be able to ignore it, now that I’ve given a video to [former] President Trump.”

The Biden administration has placed an order for millions of doses of a vaccine intended to protect against smallpox and monkeypox, after the first case of monkeypox in the United States this year was confirmed in Massachusetts on May 18.

Monkeypox, a viral disease typically limited to Africa, has been reported in several countries with more than 25 confirmed cases since the beginning of May.

Denmark-based biotech group Bavarian Nordic announced the order on May 18, which prompts the company to convert its bulk liquid smallpox vaccine into freeze-dried versions, which have an improved shelf life. The bulk vaccine has already been manufactured and invoiced under previous contracts with the U.S. government, the Bavarian Nordic stated. The vaccine is approved under the name “JYNNEOS” in the United States.

The order represents $119 million worth of the Jynneos vaccines, which would be manufactured and invoiced in 2023 and 2024.

Under the contract, the Biden administration has the option to place another order worth $180 million. That would allow for about 13 million freeze-dried doses of the Jynneos smallpox vaccine to be manufactured by around 2024 and 2025. The majority of the bulk vaccine for those doses has already been manufactured and invoiced, according to the company.

Bavarian Nordic later announced on May 19 it will supply “an undisclosed European country” with its smallpox vaccine. It is approved under the name “IMVANEX” in Europe for smallpox, but has been previously given off-label for monkeypox, the company said.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the company’s Jynneos vaccine in September 2019 for the prevention of smallpox and monkeypox disease in people aged 18 and over. The vaccine would be “available for those determined to be at high risk of either smallpox or monkeypox infection.”

The FDA stated at the time, “This is the only currently FDA-approved vaccine for the prevention of monkeypox disease.”

Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said at the time that “the intentional release” of smallpox, a highly contagious virus, “could have a devastating effect.”

Bavarian Nordic President and CEO Paul Chaplin called the current monkeypox situation in Europe one that “calls for a rapid and coordinated approach by the health authorities,” adding that the company is “pleased to assist in this emergency situation.”

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) back in 2004 had given Barvarian Nordic a $100 million contract for research on a smallpox vaccine, as part of Project BioShield, a government initiative to incentivize private companies to develop vaccines and other countermeasures to deal with chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear threats.

Growing Cases of Monkeypox

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, monkeypox in humans shows symptoms similar to smallpox, but milder. Those infected may have fever, headache, muscle aches, and exhaustion, as well as skin lesions that can last up to a month.

After fever onset, patients can also develop a rash that often starts on the face and spreads to other parts of the body. Monkeypox causes lymph nodes to swell while smallpox does not, the CDC states on its website.

Authorities in multiple countries have reported that the vast majority of cases involve men who have sex with other men, but have not yet confirmed how people have been infected. The World Health Organization says monkeypox “can be transmitted by droplet exposure via exhaled large droplets and by contact with infected skin lesions or contaminated materials.”

Italy, Sweden, and Australia each reported their first confirmed cases of monkeypox this year, on May 20.

Canada also reported its first two cases in Quebec on May 19, and is investigating 17 suspected cases in the greater Montreal region.

The United States confirmed one case in Massachusetts on May 18. A suspected case of monkeypox is also being investigated in New York City after a man presented to a hospital with symptoms on May 19.

Also on May 19, Spain reported seven cases, while Portugal updated its number of confirmed cases to 14. Both Spain and Portugal have over 40 suspected cases of monkeypox. That same day, France reported its first suspected case in the Paris/Ile-de-France region.

There are nine confirmed monkeypox cases in the U.K., where the first cases outside Africa were reported. The first U.K. case was reported on May 7, involving a patient who recently traveled to Nigeria.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/biden-admin-places-119-million-order-for-vaccines-after-single-case-of-monkeypox-reported-in-us_4478604.html?utm_source=News&utm_campaign=breaking-2022-05-20-1&utm_medium=email&est=NENtI0thaNnFWAHnPcyPjbas2Jo23jzXMTxP3SsecpGx8Td8ToEAAqCueIf0Ix5GDQ%3D%3D

Phelim McAleer, a producer of the upcoming independent movie “My Son Hunter” exposing alleged corruption in the Biden family, said he hasn’t “recovered from the shock” after knowing that Hunter Biden’s attorney had infiltrated his movie set in Serbia.

“Hunter Biden’s lawyer was on the set of our movie, secretly recording and interviewing people under false pretenses over several days to find out what was going on,” McAleer said in a recent interview with EpochTV’s “China Insider” program.

The lawyer that he was referring to is Hollywood attorney Kevin Morris, who won a Tony award as a co-producer of the Broadway musical “The Book of Mormon.” His law firm previously represented Hollywood celebrities including Chris Rock, Scarlett Johansson, and “South Park” creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker.

According to McAleer, Morris and two of his associates flew to his movie set in Serbia on a private jet, claiming to be making a documentary with the aim to expose Hunter Biden’s corruption.

McAleer said he found their visit “unusual” but he didn’t question their intention during their short visit, since Morris did not conceal his name and he knows who Morris is.

However, what Morris did hide from McAleer is the fact that he was representing Hunter Biden, a revelation exposed by CBS News in early May. The outlet got confirmation from Morris’s office that he was putting together a legal and media strategy for the president’s son.

What’s more, Christopher Clark, Hunter Biden’s criminal attorney, also confirmed to the outlet that Morris is acting as an “attorney and trusted adviser” to the president’s son.

McAleer said he was stunned when he saw the CBS report.

“I did not believe it,” McAleer said. “I was thinking, like, this is a lawyer, you can’t do that as a lawyer, you can’t pretend you’re not representing your client and speak to a third party, and misrepresent that.”

He added, “There’s an actual part of the California Bar Association ethics rules that says, you’re not allowed to represent yourself as an independent person, to someone who does not have legal counsels.”

Looking back, McAleer said he had some assumptions about why Morris was at his set.

“They’re trying to get some words that they could smear and put together to discredit the movie and to discredit our project,” McAleer said.

He said “My Son Hunter,” a crowdfunded film now in post-production, will be “Austin Powers” meets “House of Cards.” The movie stars British actor and political activist Laurence Fox in the title role and “Dynasty” star John James as Joe Biden.

“It’s a great story and that’s what they’re afraid of, that the story will travel far and wide and that’s why I suppose they infiltrated our movie set, tried to spy on it,” he added.

Hunter Biden, who is currently under federal investigation for tax affairs, has been under scrutiny for his overseas business dealings in countries including Ukraine, Russia, and China, particularly during the time when Biden was vice president during the Obama administration.

For instance, he was paid over $83,000 a month for his work at Ukrainian energy firm Burisma’s board, a position he held from 2014 until 2019, according to payment records that former Ukrainian law enforcement officials provided to Reuters.

Emails unearthed from Hunter Biden’s laptop showed that he traveled to Beijing between 2014 and 2015 trying to broker a $120 million oil agreement between a Chinese state-owned oil company and Kazakhstan’s then-prime minister.

In March, Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) presented bank records on the Senate floor showing CEFC China Energy, a now-defunct company, made payments to Hunter Biden.

McAleer didn’t think the infiltration has caused him or his movie any damage.

“I suspect the damage actually is going to be for Kevin Morris and Hunter Biden,” he said. “How do you hold the moral high ground when you infiltrated a movie set under false pretenses?

As for what people can get out of watching “My Son Hunter,” McAleer said he wanted people to learn.

“I wish the people learn that the Vice President of the United States was doing deals with foreign entities, Chinese entities, Russian entities, Ukrainian entities, getting tens of millions of dollars for doing nothing,” he said.

“I want them to start asking questions,” he added. “But I also want them to enjoy a really funny movie.”

The Epoch Times has reached out to Morris for comment.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/my-son-hunter-movie-producer-says-hunter-bidens-attorney-infiltrated-his-film-set_4479039.html?utm_source=News&utm_campaign=breaking-2022-05-20-1&utm_medium=email&est=IdZF1SPppUzw6DuQihRiAr4ElRN3O7gSqZ8U223cSeqq2ZhGkKWwER%2FZ73uwn4JSwg%3D%3D

WASHINGTON—The FBI lawyer who served as a conduit for flimsy allegations against Donald Trump said May 19 he would have acted differently if he knew Trump’s rival for the presidency, Hillary Clinton, was behind the claims.

James Baker, who now works for Twitter, said that he likely would not have have met with Michael Sussmann, who is accused of passing on data that allegedly linked Trump’s business to a Russian bank, if he knew Sussmann was acting on behalf of the Clinton campaign.

“I don’t think I would have,” Baker said on the stand in federal court in Washington.

Knowing Trump’s opponent was behind the allegations “would have raised very serious questions, certainly, about the credibility of the source” and the “veracity of the information,” Baker said. It would also have heightened “a substantial concern in my mind about whether we were going to be played.”

The testimony bolsters a key piece of special counsel John Durham’s case against Sussmann—that knowing the sources propelling Sussmann to meet with Baker would have altered how the FBI analyzed the information, which the bureau ultimately found did not substantiate the claims of a secret backchannel between the Trump Organization and Alfa Bank.

“Absent Sussmann’s false statement, the FBI might have taken additional or more incremental steps before opening and/or closing an investigation,” prosecutors said in Sussmann’s indictment, which charged him with lying to the FBI.

Defense lawyers have argued that the impact of Sussmann’s alleged lie was “trivial or negligible.”

Sussmann met Baker in the FBI lawyer’s office on Sept. 19, 2016, just weeks before the presidential election. No other persons were present.

Baker said Thursday that would not have been the case if he knew the Clinton campaign’s involvement. He said he likely would have directed Sussmann to other FBI personnel—bureau lawyers don’t typically receive information—or would have still met with Sussmann, but made sure other personnel were present.

“I was willing to meet with Michael alone because I had high confidence in him and trust,” said Baker, who has described Sussmann as a friend. “I think I would have made a different assessment if he said he had been appearing on behalf of a client.”

Sussmann told Baker in a text message the night before the meeting that he had sensitive information he wanted to pass on but that he was doing so on his own accord, not on behalf of any clients. Baker testified that Sussmann repeated the lie during the meeting. Sussmann later told a congressional panel that the information was given to him by a client.

“I think it’s most accurate to say it was done on behalf of my client,” Sussmann said, apparently referring to Rodney Joffe, a technology executive who has said he was promised a position in the government if Clinton won the election.

While Sussmann, Joffe, and others worked on the white papers that he ultimately passed to Baker, the lawyer was billing the Clinton campaign, according to billing records. Sussmann also told the campaign about the allegations before he met with Baker, though the campaign allegedly did not approve the meeting.

Sussmann was well-known to the FBI, having worked with the bureau on multiple cases, including the alleged hack of Democratic National Committee servers. Sussmann “had a vibrant national security practice that had contact with the FBI a lot,” Baker said. Sussmann worked for Perkins Coie, which was the Clinton campaign’s law firm during the 2016 election, and has a long history of working with Democrats.

On cross-examination, Sean Berkowitz, representing Sussmann, hammered Baker over inconsistencies in his testimony and what he’s said before.

Baker, for instance, told the Department of Justice Office of Inspector General in 2019 that Sussmann said he had information stemming from “people that were his clients.” Baker said he was using a “shorthand way” of describing the cyberexperts with whom Sussman was working.

In 2018, testifying to a House of Representatives panel behind closed doors, Baker said he couldn’t remember whether he knew at the time that Baker was representing the Clinton campaign. “I don’t know that I had that in my head when he showed up in my office,” Baker said at the time.

“I just find that unbelievable that the guy representing the Clinton campaign, the Democrat National Committee, shows up with information that says we got this, and you don’t ask where he got it, you didn’t know how he got it,” Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) responded.

“I was uncomfortable with being in the position of having too much factual information conveyed to me, because I’m not an agent. And so I wanted to get the information into the hands of the agents as quickly as possible and let them deal with it. If they wanted to go interview Sussmann and ask him all those kinds of questions, fine with me,” Baker said.

According to Baker’s testimony and previous remarks from Sussmann, no agents ended up asking those kinds of questions.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/fbi-lawyer-knowing-clinton-was-behind-trump-allegations-would-have-changed-things_4478501.html?utm_source=News&utm_campaign=breaking-2022-05-20-1&utm_medium=email&est=ArKq6sff9EIj3uA1BKp27aswgTL%2FO5yK8%2B9vEmjKaqzIeBuGliayP5PZlRd8WP4Tug%3D%3D

One of President Joe Biden’s judicial nominees is faltering after she flip-flopped over a past statement about police shootings.

Nusrat Choudhury, Biden’s pick for a New York City federal trial court, allegedly claimed during a 2015 panel that police shoot unarmed black people every day in the United States. Choudhury defended the statement in a confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee in April. But on May 11, Choudhury told the committee she had never made such a statement.

“I did not make this statement. I strongly disavow this statement, and I regret not disavowing this statement during my hearing,” Choudhury wrote in a letter obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.

Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee are pushing for a second hearing to question Choudhury’s about-face, which they say poses problems for future nominations.

“If nominees are allowed to testify one way before the Judiciary Committee and then send a letter reversing themselves, it would be a new level of deterioration for the nominations process,” committee Republicans wrote in a letter to committee chair Dick Durbin (D., Ill.), which the Free Beacon obtained.

Republicans have yet to defeat one of Biden’s judicial nominees, and Choudhury’s unexplained turnabout presents their best opportunity yet. A second hearing would prolong the confirmation process and heighten pressure on the nominee.

Choudhury is a career ACLU lawyer whom Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) has championed for the bench. She participated on a panel at Princeton’s School of Public and International Affairs in 2015. A representative from a school alumni group live-tweeted the event and reported that Choudhury claimed unarmed black people are shot by police on a daily basis.

There is no record of Choudhury’s statement apart from the tweet. But when pressed by Sen. John Kennedy (R., La.) about the claim at an April 27 hearing, Choudhury said she had been “engaging in rhetorical advocacy” three times and never disavowed the false claim.

Fatal police shootings of unarmed blacks average about 22 per year, according to Manhattan Institute data.

Republicans say Choudhury should answer questions about her reversal, and they suspect the letter, which came two weeks after her initial hearing, was an insincere damage control ploy.

“This letter looks like a piece of ‘rhetorical advocacy’ and blatant ‘confirmation conversion’ by Ms. Choudhury,” Republicans wrote to Durbin.

It’s unusual that a judicial nominee would appear twice before the Senate Judiciary Committee, though Democrats strong-armed Justice Brett Kavanaugh into dual appearances during his confirmation to a federal appeals court and the Supreme Court. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa), the ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee, said the step is justified given Choudhury’s inconsistent testimonies.

“This isn’t just a case where she misspoke and her letter clarified what she meant. It directly conflicts. The only way to address this is for Ms. Choudhury to come back for another hearing,” Grassley said.

Law enforcement groups denounced Choudhury’s 2015 statement and failure to renounce it at the hearing. Patrick Yoes, the president of the Fraternal Order of Police, called on the Senate to reject her confirmation. The National Sheriffs’ Association and the NYPD Sergeants Benevolent Association joined the Fraternal Order in opposition.

“She said it with malice aforethought and in so doing buttressed the increased public bias against law enforcement officers and contributed to the barrage of false and hateful rhetoric that inspires others to violence,” Yoes said.

The Judiciary Committee was set to forward a slate of nominations, including Choudhury’s, to the full Senate at a Thursday morning hearing. The panel delayed the slate at the last minute, giving Republicans an opportunity to ramp up pressure on the nominee.

Democrats are facing a time crunch on judicial nominations. Biden may have just a few months left to leave his mark on the federal judiciary, given that Republicans are favored to take control of the Senate in November. Republicans confirmed only a handful of judicial nominees under former president Barack Obama after seizing the upper chamber in 2014, and there is every reason to think the GOP will resume its confirmation blockade in the new Congress.

After an initial burst of success, the White House’s judicial confirmation effort is faltering. There are about 80 vacancies as of this writing, according to the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. The president has named nominees for fewer than one-third of those seats.

https://freebeacon.com/courts/biden-judicial-pick-lied-about-cop-killings-now-she-claims-she-didnt/

Twitter’s pick to stop the spread of misinformation in times of crisis has a history of pushing falsehoods.

Yoel Roth, the head of Twitter’s safety and integrity unit, unveiled the site’s “crisis misinformation policy” on Thursday. In a blog post, Roth outlined how Twitter will place warning labels on tweets deemed to contain misinformation and prevent them from being “amplified or recommended” in times of armed conflict, natural disasters, or public health emergencies.

Roth is a questionable pick to launch the policy, given his own track record with misinformation. Roth oversaw Twitter’s decision to block the sharing of an October 2020 New York Post report on emails from Hunter Biden’s abandoned laptop. Roth told the Federal Election Commission he made the decision based on “rumors” shared by the United States government’s intelligence community that the Russian government might release materials hacked from Hunter Biden.

There has been no credible evidence that Biden’s laptop was hacked, or that Russia played a role in publishing emails from it. Former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey later admitted that blocking the article was “a total mistake.”

Roth came under fire earlier in 2020 for referring to Trump officials as “actual Nazis” in a 2017 tweet. He also called Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) a “bag of farts.”

Twitter is rolling out the policy amid a period of uncertainty for the company. Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who is seeking to buy the company, has stated his opposition to censorship on the site. He has also said Twitter has “a strong left wing bias.”

The Twitter policy also comes as the federal government falters in its efforts to combat misinformation. The Department of Homeland Security scrapped its proposed Disinformation Governance Board this week following revelations that  its executive director, Nina Jankowicz, pushed conspiracy theories about both the Biden laptop and claims of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. Jankowicz officially resigned her post Wednesday.

Twitter did not respond to a request for comment.

https://freebeacon.com/media/meet-the-conspiracy-theorist-behind-twitters-crisis-misinformation-policy/