In an April 29, 2021, opinion piece published by Newsday,1 Arthur Caplan and Dorit Reiss, Ph.D., argue for the implementation of vaccine passports as a strategy to regain our freedom to travel and the “safe” reopening of schools and businesses.
Caplan is the director of medical ethics at NYU Grossman School of Medicine and Reiss is a law professor at UC Hastings College of the Law and a member2 of the Parent Advisory Board of Voices of Vaccines.
Caplan is also co-chair of the Vaccines Working Group on Ethics and Policy, a group formed specifically to address “key policy challenges associated with the testing and distribution of vaccines intended to prevent COVID-19 transmission in the United States,” and Reiss is a member of the board.3
Part of their argument is that vaccinations have “always” been “necessary for travel,” which is patently false. Proof of vaccination requirements are rare, and strictly limited to travel to certain destinations where the risk of contracting a disease and bringing it back to a population with nonexistent immunity against it is high. You’ve never had to show proof of vaccination when flying to Paris, France, for example.
Arguing for Unconstitutional Practices
Caplan and Reiss also argue that prohibiting businesses from requiring vaccine passports, which some state governors are now doing, is “unusual and irrational,” as private businesses have the right to make their business more attractive by increasing the safety for its staff and patrons.
The problem with that argument is that it is the government’s job to protect the Constitutional rights of all Americans. Allowing or encouraging businesses to create a two-tier society where unvaccinated people are barred from participating in civic society is unconstitutional on its face.
What’s more, proof of vaccination against COVID-19 will not ensure safety. It won’t even remotely promote it, as the so-called vaccines are designed to merely reduce symptoms of the infection. They don’t make you immune. You can still contract the virus and spread it to others. The only one who might benefit from the jab is the one getting it.
Of course, Caplan and Reiss make no mention of this crucial point, but since the vaccinated person is the only one getting any protection, no one needs to know your vaccination status, as it doesn’t affect them either way. A COVID-19 vaccinated individual poses the same risk to the community as an unvaccinated one.
So, the only reason for a vaccine passport is a control-related one, and Reiss and Caplan are keeping busy, trying to convince you otherwise. In a February 2021 Barron’s article,4 they argued for letting employers mandate vaccines for their employees, using the same lame arguments.
What’s happening here is that the U.S. federal government recognizes that it cannot legally mandate vaccine passports. It would be unconstitutional, as it would create a two-tier society built on medical discrimination. So, government is depending on private businesses to push through this measure. Reiss and Caplan’s efforts are part of this strategic subversion of Constitutional rights.
Caplan and Reiss also paired up for an opinion piece published April 27, 2021, by The Hour,5 in which they sank to typical propagandist lows, bashing parents of vaccine damaged children who fought against the removal of religious exemption to vaccination in Connecticut.6
The Threat of Utilitarianism
Caplan’s and Reiss’ one-sided obsession with utilitarianism, where risks to the individual are ignored and the idea of self-determination and personal choice is ridiculed, is clearly spelled out in an article published in the January/June 2020 issue of the Journal of Law and the Biosciences:7
“There is a large literature about school mandates, and a somewhat more limited literature on adult mandates, but there is less principled discussion of when is it appropriate to mandate a specific vaccine. Field and Caplan suggested an ethical framework to consider when school mandates ought to apply …
Their framework explains that autonomy, beneficence, utilitarianism, justice, and non-maleficence are the values affected by immunization mandates. Applying the framework here provides important insights on the suitability of a COVID-19 vaccine mandate …
[U]tilitarianism — acting for the benefit of the greatest number for society as a whole — supports a COVID-19 mandate, as it supports other vaccine mandates … The current pandemic is causing harms in lives and suffering, and also economic harms as preventing loss of more life requires measures like sheltering at home, closing businesses, and the closing of public spaces. Preventing these staggering costs is a huge social benefit.
Once a vaccine is available, the justification for measures like shelter at home will decrease, but preventing harms will depend on vaccine use. A mandate will increase use, boost herd immunity and reduce costs. The only caveat is that the balance of costs and benefits depends on the safety of the vaccine.”
Utilitarianism is a discredited pseudo-ethic that has repeatedly been used to justify horrific human rights abuses. By now, we can accurately predict what the outcome will be if we allow it to be used to justify vaccine passports and mandatory COVID vaccinations.
In short, utilitarianism is based on a mathematical equation that some individuals can be sacrificed for the greater good of the majority. In other words, if some people are harmed by vaccines, it’s an acceptable loss because society as a whole may or will reap gains.
Caplan and Reiss express this as “acting for the benefit of the greatest number.” The flip-side is that a smaller number — it could be 49 out of 100 — may be harmed and that’s acceptable, because the people harmed is still a smaller number than the majority.
More Than 11,000 COVID Vaccine Deaths Logged
The latest data on COVID-19 vaccine side effects suggest governments are already operating under this horrific utilitarian ideology.
How else do you explain the fact that the European Union’s vaccine injury reporting system had logged 330,218 adverse event reports, including 7,766 deaths, as of April 17, 2021,8 and the U.S. reporting system had logged 118,902 adverse event reports as of April 23, including 3,544 deaths and 12,618 serious injuries,9 yet all of these injuries and deaths are simply ignored and the call for everyone to get their jab continues unabated — all while bashing vaccine hesitancy as a mental illness, intellectual deficit or act of domestic terrorism?!
In a utilitarian system, you cease to be an individual with rights to autonomous decision-making and become a tool of the government, and that’s exactly what we’re seeing here. Government has apparently decided that some people — quite a few people, apparently — are expendable, which is the exact converse of what they’re telling us publicly.
They say we all must get vaccinated to save lives, especially the elderly. Yet lives are being taken, and these are not people who already have one foot in the grave. While COVID-19 kills the elderly and the seriously ill, these gene therapy injections are stealing the lives of younger, healthy individuals who are in the prime of their lives. How can you even compare those two scenarios and come to the conclusion that mass vaccination is the greater good?
While utilitarianism was a popular ideology in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it went out of fashion in the mid-20th century, after the Third Reich employed the utilitarian rationale as an excuse to demonize and eliminate minorities judged to be a threat to the health, security and well-being of the State.10 Its abhorrent and unethical nature was clearly recognized and clarified during the Nuremberg trials.
Although we may disagree about the quality and quantity of the scientific evidence used by doctors and governments to declare COVID-19 “vaccines” safe, at our peril do we fail to agree that, while government may have the power, it does not have the moral authority to dictate that individuals born with certain genes and biological susceptibilities give up their lives without their consent for what the ruling majority deems is the greater good.
Having everyone conform to a normal weight and not having insulin resistance issues would be for the greater good of society. Does that mean government should have the power to send everyone above a certain BMI to a forced internment camp where they are exercised and underfed until they no longer pose an increased health care cost risk?
We really ought to think long and hard before we jump on the utilitarian wagon and start pumping our fists in the air in endorsement of the “greater good” narrative.
Most people in the U.S. are engaging in lifestyle practices that put them at a seriously increased risk of being a financial burden on society and the health care system, so don’t fall for the baseless idea that unvaccinated people, specifically, will end up costing more because they’ll end up with more serious cases of COVID-19. There’s no data at all to back that up.
Conspiracies Blamed for Growing Sensibility
As more and more people are starting to realize the perilous road we’re on and where it’s taking us, the mainstream propagandists are turning up the heat, blaming vaccine hesitancy on one “conspiracy theory” after another. They simply refuse to admit that people can, and most want, to make their own decisions.
Rising anti-vaccination sentiment is being blamed on everything from Russian bots and trolls spreading misinformation online and making a tiny minority appear larger than what it actually is,11 to rebranding “harmful anti-vaccine views” as a civil liberties issue or a part of some other conspiracy theory involving the drug industry or Bill Gates.12
The fact is, the vaccine mandate pushers have nothing but foul language and mockery at their disposal. They have no facts with which to prove that COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective, or that mass vaccination will save lives. They cannot disprove the financial incentives and ties that exist between Gates, the World Health Organization, vaccine makers and government.
Gates is one of the largest funders of the WHO, which has been responsible for the global response to the pandemic, while simultaneously being heavily invested in COVID-19 vaccines and funding censorship of vaccine information.13
The WHO is also promoting global censorship of vaccine information, in part through its “Stop the Spread” campaign14 aimed at stopping the spread of COVID-19 “misinformation,” and a coalition of groups is calling on the Biden Administration to put together a disinformation task force.15
Showing just how ludicrous this suggestion is, the task force would “explore ways to crack down on deliberate disinformation campaigns in ways that don’t unduly limit free expression.” In other words, they’re to figure out how to censor people without making it a clear breach of the First Amendment.
Well, we already know one way in which they’re doing that, and that is by calling on private companies like Twitter and Facebook to censor for them. It’s still a violation of the First Amendment, though; it’s just harder to see.
Vaccine mandate pushers also cannot disprove that the pandemic is being used to roll out the Great Reset and global “build back better” plans that will decimate the U.S. Constitution and rob the working class of its wealth and autonomy. In short, they have no counter-arguments. All they can do is paint people who question their flimsy utilitarian narrative as crackpots of one sort or another.
If the vaccines were truly fantastic, word of their miraculous nature would spread like wildfire, just as reports of horrendous vaccine side effects now are, and people would flock to get them even in the absence of advertising and celebrity promotion.
The fact that name-calling and smear tactics are employed en masse to paint dissenters as crackpots and terrorists rather than presenting actual data and evidence that supports their pro-vaccine stance is proof positive that there’s something strange afoot.
Utilitarian Extremism Is on the Rise
I’ve previously written about the sudden influence wielded by a group called Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) — a progressive cancel-culture leader with extensive ties to government and global think tanks that recently labeled people questioning the COVID-19 vaccine as a national security threat.
The CCDH has published two reports16,17 naming me as one of the top 12 individuals responsible for 65% of vaccine “disinformation” on social media, and in true utilitarian fashion, CCDH founder Imran Ahmed is calling on all platforms to silence me for the public good.
Ahmed has also published an article18 in the journal Nature Medicine, calling for the “dismantling” of the entire “anti-vaccine industry.” In it, he repeats the lie that he “attended and recorded a private, three-day meeting of the world’s most prominent anti-vaxxers,” when, in fact, what he’s referring to was a public online conference open to an international audience.
All attendants have access to the recordings as part of their attendance fee, so unless he illegally hacked his way into the conference, he didn’t have to record a thing. We gave it to him. When you lie about something that stupid, it really puts your credibility about larger issues in question.
The CCDH is partnered with Anti-Vax Watch, which held a demonstration outside the halls of Congress in this bizarre getup. While the CCDH claims to be fighting the good fight against dangerous crackpots and extremists, they work with people who look like they epitomize those terms.19
This is hardly the look of people standing on higher moral and ethical ground. This is pure theatre, which makes sense, seeing how they don’t have facts and data with which to make their point.

Gates-Funded Doctor Demands Terrorist Experts Attack Me
Dr. Peter Hotez, president of the Sabin Vaccine Institute,20 recently cited the CCDH in a Nature article in which he goes so far as to call for cyberwarfare experts to be enlisted in the war against vaccine safety advocates and people who are “vaccine hesitant.”
“Accurate, targeted counter-messaging from the global health community is important but insufficient, as is public pressure on social-media companies,” Hotez writes.21
“The United Nations and the highest levels of government must take direct, even confrontational, approaches with Russia, and move to dismantle anti-vaccine groups in the United States.
Efforts must expand into the realm of cyber security, law enforcement, public education and international relations. A high-level inter-agency task force reporting to the UN secretary-general could assess the full impact of anti-vaccine aggression, and propose tough, balanced measures.
The task force should include experts who have tackled complex global threats such as terrorism, cyber attacks and nuclear armament, because anti-science is now approaching similar levels of peril. It is becoming increasingly clear that advancing immunization requires a counteroffensive.”
This appears to be part of the campaign to pressure the White House administration into creating an information warfare task force, as mentioned earlier. Not surprisingly, the Sabin Vaccine Institute has received tens of millions of dollars from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.22,23,24,25 Most recently, funds from the Gates foundation were used to create a report called “Meeting the Challenge of Vaccine Hesitancy.”26,27
A Well-Informed Humanity United Is the Answer
Even while censorship and utilitarian-driven extremism heats up, we must never stop seeking out and sharing information that impacts our health and freedom. Informed consent demands transparency of the bad along with the good. Right now, all people are given free access to is the supposed benefit, while all potential harms are whitewashed and scrubbed from the internet.
Nothing good can come of this. As noted in Kennedy’s October 24, 2020, online speech,28 “International Message of Hope for Humanity” — which kicked off a day of protest against the coup d’état by the technocratic elite — we must shed our imaginary fears, reject media fearmongering, insist on freedom of speech and engage in the democratic process.
“The only way we can win it is with democracy,” he said. “We need to fight to get our democracy back, to reclaim our democracy from these villains who are stealing it from us. Notice the people who are getting richest from this quarantine are the same people who are censoring criticism of the quarantine.”
The same is true for vaccines and vaccine passports. Kennedy also stressed another crucial point, namely the need to unify. We must put aside our quibbles over nonessential things like race, religion and political affiliations, and stay laser-focused on the real enemy.
“What the Big Tech villains … want us to do is fight with each other. They want Blacks fighting against Whites. They want republicans fighting against democrats. They want everybody polarized. They want everybody fragmented because they know that if we all get together, we’re going to start asking questions and those are questions they can’t answer …
Stop identifying yourself. The enemy is Big Tech, Big Data, Big Oil, Big Pharma, the medical cartel, the government totalitarian elements that are trying to oppress us, that are trying to rob us of our liberties, of our democracy, of our freedom of thought, of our freedom of expression, of our freedom of assembly and all of the freedoms that give dignity to humanity …
The free-flow of information, the cauldron of debate, is the only thing that allows governments to develop rational policies in which self-governance will actually work and triumph.
You are on the front lines of the most important battle in history — the battle to save democracy, freedom, human liberty and human dignity from this totalitarian cartel that is trying to rob us, simultaneously, in every nation in the world, of the rights that every human being is born with …
And I pledge to you: I will go down dying with my boots on, fighting side-by-side with all of you to make sure that we return these rights and preserve them for our children.”
I too will continue fighting for human rights, free speech and medical freedom. Without these, what are we? What is life reduced to? What’s the point of preventing a few COVID-19 cases and deaths if the entire global population — including the billions who are at no risk from this virus — must gamble their health in the process?
The Rise of Utilitarian Extremism, and How to Recognize It | Mercola
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Journalist Andy Ngo Confirms He Was Chased and Beaten in Portland While Covering Antifa
Journalist Andy Ngo, who has spent years documenting the activities of the anarcho-communist group Antifa, confirmed in a statement on Wednesday that he was once again assaulted while he was reporting on protests in Portland, Oregon.
The attack against Ngo occurred on May 28 when the journalist was covering a rally on the one-year anniversary of George Floyd’s death. Several media outlets reported that a group of protesters pursued and assaulted a man who they believed was Ngo. However, the man’s identity could not be confirmed at the time.
In his account, Ngo, who is the editor-at-large of The Post Millennial, said the assault began shortly before midnight when an Antifa member, who had allegedly assaulted the journalist in 2019, approached him with questions. Ngo said he attempted to avoid speaking with the man and walked away but “a group of masked people in black” began pursuing and surrounding him. One of the protesters pulled down Ngo’s mask and immediately yelled: “That’s Andy. Get him! Get him!”
Ngo recounted how the group chased him through downtown Portland before tackling him to the ground in front of Pioneer Place Mall. His attackers allegedly punched him in his head and face.
“I pleaded for them not to kill me. All the time I could hear the angry cries and footsteps of the mob approaching,” Ngo wrote. . . .
Swedish Parliament Committee Says Government Failed in Pandemic Handling
STOCKHOLM—Sweden’s center-left, minority government failed in several aspects of its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, parliament’s constitutional committee said on Thursday.
The government was slow to put in place a testing and tracing system, failed to protect the elderly and there was a lack of clear lines of responsibility between national and local authorities, the committee said. It did not comment on Sweden’s controversial no-lockdown strategy.
“It is … clear that Sweden was not sufficiently prepared before [the pandemic] and we can learn from many of the underlying failures that have been identified,” Hans Ekstrom, deputy chairman of the committee and a Social Democrat lawmaker, told a hearing. . . .
Bannon’s War Room | Morning Edition Hour 1 | Recorded June 3, 2021 | Video: 48 Minutes 43 Seconds
Episode 995 – War Room Live From Freedom Tower … Taking Down America’s Elites By Taking Down the CCP. Guests are: Natalie Winters, John Fredericks, Rabbi Aryeh Spero, Boris Epshteyn, Jack Posobiec.
Bannon’s War Room | Morning Edition Hour 2 | Recorded June 3, 2021 | Video: 48 Minutes 19 Seconds
Episode 996 – Fauci’s Boss … Don’t Forget Francis Collins’ Role in CCP Virus. Guests are: Natalie Winters, Rudy Giuliani.
Bannon’s War Room | Evening Edition | Recorded June 3, 2021 | Video: 48 Minutes 58 Seconds
Episode 997 – A $10 Trillion Opening Bid … Holding the CCP to Account and Mike Lindell Goes to Court. “They’re attempting to get ahead of the results,” he said. “If you Google the arizona audit right now all the top articles are “Arizona audit is a fraud.’ Guests are: Natalie Winters, Jack Posobiec, Drew Hernandez, Mike Lindell.
June 2, 2021 | Nightly News Rebroadcast | Video: 50 Minutes 15 Seconds
Thousands of Fauci’s Emails Published; 25 States to End Pandemic Unemployment Aid. Thousands of pages of Dr. Anthony Fauci’s emails from the early days of the pandemic are published, the Biden administration officially ends the Trump-era Remain in Mexico policy, and an energy expert predicts that Pennsylvania households might have to spend a thousand dollars more on energy per year if their state joins the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative climate compact.
Bannon’s War Room | Morning Edition Hour 1 | Recorded June 2, 2021 | Video: 48 Minutes 59 Seconds
Episode 992 – The Walls Closed In … Dr. Fauci Indicted By His Own Emails. Guests are: Rudy Giuliani, James Calkins, Boris Epshteyn, Dr. Lawrence Sellin.
Bannon’s War Room | Morning Edition Hour 2 | Recorded June 2, 2021 | Video: 48 Minutes 18 Seconds
Episode 993 –The Clever Lies of Covid-19…Dr. Michael Yeadon Exposes Why Governments Lied About Covid. Guests are: Dr. Michael Yeadon, Larry Hetu.
Bannon’s War Room | Evening Edition | Recorded June 2, 2021 | Video: 48 Minutes 59 Seconds
Episode 994 – Mike Lindell’s New Lawsuit, Doug Mastriano and Audit, and Navarro Unleashes on Fauci. Dr. Peter Navarro reveals the “smoking Howitzer” on Dr. Fauci, an email from Kristian Andersen on Jan. 31, 2020, where Andersen said the virus was “potentially engineered.” Guests are: Dr. Peter Navarro, Mike Lindell, Doug Mastriano.
June 1, 2021 | Nightly News Rebroadcast | Video: 52 Minutes 45 Seconds
Meat Production Disrupted After JBS Cyberattack; Florida Bans Trans Athletes From Women’s Sports. The White House blames Russia for a cyberattack that shut down a major meat producer. President Joe Biden travels to Tulsa, Oklahoma, to remember riots from over 100 years ago. Florida’s governor says only biological girls can take part in girls’ sports in the state.
Gun sales up 66 percent in California during pandemic: nonprofit
Gun purchases in California skyrocketed since March 2020 — a 66 percent increase from the previous 14 months, according to a report from thetrace.org, a journalism nonprofit.
California residents purchased approximately 920,000 handguns between March 2020 and April 2021, according to estimates from the organization, The Sacramento Bee reported.
Gun sales have been on the rise in California for years, according to the Sacramento Bee, which can mainly attributed to an increase in long gun purchases following mass shootings or before new gun control measures have gone into effect.
During the pandemic, however, handgun sales outpaced that of long guns, the Sacramento Bee noted.
An additional 365,000 handguns were sold during the pandemic lockdowns compared to the previous 14 months, according to the newspaper, while long gun sales only increased by 183,000 over the same time frame.
Of California’s 12 highest months for handgun sales since 2000, eight were during the pandemic, the newspaper reported.
Mexico report suggests child sex abuse ring at some schools
MEXICO CITY — A study published by a children’s rights group in Mexico Monday suggests there has been a disturbing pattern at as many as 18 schools and childcare centers where multiple adult employees allegedly collaborated among themselves and used eerily similar tactics and practices to sexually abuse pupils between the ages of three and seven.
In one case uncovered in 2018, 11 adults at one pre-school allegedly abused 49 children aged between 3 and 5, by inserting water-filled syringes into their bodily orifices, a practice found over and over in other cases.
The “11 offenders are accused of committing the abuse in a coordinated fashion,” according to the report by the civic group Center for The Defense of Children’s Rights. Children were forced to watch adults performing sexual acts or touch or abuse other kids. In many cases, the similar use of disguises or specific staging of the abuse suggested a broader pattern. . .
Va. School District Suspends PE Teacher Who Opposed Transgender Policy. Now, He’s Fighting Back
Last week, a physical education teacher at Leesburg Elementary in Leesburg, Va., dared to speak out against a policy that would require teachers to endorse transgender identity by using female pronouns to refer to male students and vice versa. Less than two days later, the school suspended him pending an investigation and forbade him from setting foot on school property without special permission. A Christian law firm has taken up his case and the situation has sparked a new feud between a local pastor and the local Democratic Party.
“My name is Tanner Cross, and I am speaking out of love for those who suffer with gender dysphoria,” Byron [Tanner] Cross, the PE teacher at Leesburg Elementary, said during the public comment segment of a Loudoun County school board meeting on Tuesday. “Sixty Minutes this past Sunday interviewed over 30 young people who transitioned but they felt led astray because lack of pushback or how easy it was to make physical changes to their bodies in just three months. They are now detransitioning.”
Cross condemned LCPS Policy 8040 and the proposed changes to LCPS Policy 8350, which would require teachers to refer to students by preferred gender pronouns, rather than the pronouns that correspond to a student’s biological sex as male or female. He referenced the 60 Minutes segment on detransitioners in order to highlight the danger of transgender ideology. In pursuit of false gender identities, men and women have permanently mutilated their bodies, only to later reject the transgender identity.
“It’s not my intention to hurt anyone, but there are certain truths that we must face when ready,” Cross insisted. “We condemn school policies like 8040 and 8350 because it would damage children, defile the holy image of God. I love all of my students, but I will never lie to them, regardless of the consequences.” . . .
Cyberattack Hits World’s Largest Meat Processing Company JBS, Production Disrupted
CANBERRA, Australia—Thousands of Australian meat workers had no work for a second day on Tuesday after a cyberattack crippled the world’s largest meat processing company. A government minister said it might be days before production resumes. JBS is also Australia’s largest meat and food processing company, with 47 facilities across the country including abattoirs, feedlots, […]
Moderna applies for full FDA approval of its COVID-19 vaccine
If approved the vaccine will stay on U.S. markets after the pandemic is over.
Florida State University Settles Discrimination Lawsuit With Catholic Student for Almost $100,000
Florida State University (FSU) has reached a settlement with a former student leader who sued the school last year for violating his First Amendment rights.
The settlement came nearly a year after Jack Denton, who is Catholic, was ousted from his position as the student senate president after comments he made in a private text messaging group were made public.
In June 2020, amid the nationwide unrest and debate over racism, Denton advised fellow students in a Catholic Student Union messaging group not to donate to Black Lives Matter, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) or Reclaim the Block, because those organizations “all advocate for things that are explicitly anti-Catholic.”
“BlackLivesMatter.com fosters a ‘queer affirming network,’ and defends trangenderism,” Denton wrote, when asked by a student what exactly he meant by that. “The ACLU defends laws protecting abortion facilities and sued states that restrict access to abortion. Reclaim the Block claims less police will make our communities safer and advocates for cutting [law enforcement] budgets. This is a little less explicit, but I think it’s contrary to the church’s teaching on the common good.” . . .
Highly contagious Indian COVID variant spreading rapidly in the US
The highly contagious COVID-19 variant that first emerged in India is spreading at a rapid rate in the US — and now makes up 7 percent of new cases, data shows.
The dramatic rise of the B.1.617.2 variant comes after it accounted for only 1 percent of new cases stateside at the start of May, according to a report from Outbreak.info.
The data revealed that the variant, which experts suspect is 60 percent more transmissible, reached its high of 7 percent of samples sequenced on May 26.
The World Health Organization last week classified the variant as being one of global concern and requiring heightened tracking and analysis.
“There is some available information to suggest increased transmissibility,” Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO technical lead on COVID-19, told reporters.
Justices reject Johnson & Johnson appeal of $2B talc verdict

The justices did not comment Tuesday in rejecting Johnson & Johnson’s appeal. The company argued that it was not treated fairly in facing one trial involving 22 cancer sufferers who came from 12 states and different backgrounds.
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court is leaving in place a $2 billion verdict in favor of women who claim they developed ovarian cancer from using Johnson & Johnson talc products.
The justices did not comment Tuesday in rejecting Johnson & Johnson’s appeal. The company argued that it was not treated fairly in facing one trial involving 22 cancer sufferers who came from 12 states and different backgrounds.
A Missouri jury initially awarded the women $4.7 billion, but a state appeals court dropped two women from the suit and reduced the award to $2 billion. The jury found that the company’s talc products contain asbestos and asbestos-laced talc can cause ovarian cancer. The company disputes both points.
Johnson & Johnson, which is based in New Brunswick, New Jersey, has stopped selling its iconic talc-based Johnson’s Baby Powder in the U.S. and Canada, though it remains on the market elsewhere.
But the company faces thousands of lawsuits from women who claim asbestos in the powder caused their cancer. Talc is a mineral similar in structure to asbestos, which is known to cause cancer, and they are sometimes obtained from the same mines. The cosmetics industry in 1976 agreed to make sure its talc products do not contain detectable amounts of asbestos.
The lead attorney for the women during the trial, Mark Lanier, praised the court’s refusal to hear Johnson & Johnson’s appeal. “This decision sends a clear message to the rich and powerful: You will be held to account when you cause grievous harm under our system of equal justice under law,” Lanier said.
Justices Samuel Alito and Brett Kavanaugh took no part in the court’s action. Alito owns $15,000 to $50,000 in Johnson & Johnson stock. Kavanaugh’s father headed the trade association that lobbied against labeling talc a carcinogen and including a warning label on talc products.
Ethicists contacted by The Associated Press said they did not think E. Edward Kavanaugh’s role required his son to step aside from the case.
Bannon’s War Room | Morning Edition Hour 1 | Recorded June 1, 2021 | Video: 48 Minutes 16 Seconds
Episode 989 – Welcome Back to the 1970s … The Worst Case Scenario Biden Economy. “China’s government knows covid-19 is their unrestricted bioweapon,” she said. “China is still using misinformation to cover it up. Guests are: Steve Cortes, Dr. Yan.
Bannon’s War Room | Morning Edition Hour 2 | Recorded June 1, 2021 | Video: 48 Minutes 24 Seconds
Episode 990 – Cornucopia of Corruption … How Bureaucrats Protected Antifa. “That guy is a piece of crap, a piece of garbage,” Covington said. “All he cares about is lining his own pockets and bowing down to China. Guests are: Colby Covington, BG Bill Welch, Jack Posobiec.
Bannon’s War Room | Evening Edition | Recorded June 1, 2021 | Video: 48 Minutes 59 Seconds
Episode 991 – The Fauci That Didn’t Bark … the Fox Running Fulton County’s Hen House. “This is right out of a Sherlock Holmes novel,” he said. “This is the dog that didn’t bark. There’s thousands of emails out there. None of these emails does Fauci ever ask about the origin of the virus.” Guests are: Peter Navarro, Boris Epshteyn, Garland Favorito, Kevin Freeman.
Apparently, They Knew It All Along | Democrats Decry Voting Machines & Specifically Call Out Georgia | “So much for cybersecurity 101” ~ Democrat Senator Ron Wyden | Video: 2 Minutes 15 Seconds
“Our elections weren’t secure last week. And they sure as heck aren’t secure this week. And anybody who says otherwise is either selling you voting machines or simply has a malicious intent.” ~ Democrat Senator Ron Wyden
Democrat Senator Ron Wyden, Democrat Senator Amy Klobuchar, Kamala Harris in their own words.
[ Rumble ]
May 31, 2021 | Nightly News Rebroadcast | Video: 49 Minutes 48 Seconds
Google Sued Over Data Collection; Memorial Day: Veteran Writes Anthem to Inspire and Uplift. America commemorates those who sacrificed for the nation’s freedoms, new documents raise concerns about the way Google collects user location data, and Republican lawmakers are introducing a bill that would prevent American embassies and consulates from flying political flags.
Bannon’s War Room | Morning Edition Hour 1 | Recorded May 31, 2021 | Video: 46 Minutes 40 Seconds
Episode 987 – The Honored Dead … War Room’s Memorial Day Special Part I. “We literally wouldn’t be here,” O’Donnell said. “Their sacrifice in the Battle of Brooklyn has an incredible importance because the war hung in the balance.” Guests are: Cpt. Maureen Bannon, Patrick K. O’Donnell.
The Unknowns By Sharyl Attkisson | Video 2 Minutes 24 Seconds
On Memorial Day, we honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice to protect our freedoms. This year, we speak with Arlington Cemetery Historian Timothy Frank, on recognizing a century of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. . .
[Video]
The dead we honor: Shakespeare for Memorial Day
Memorial Day inspires mixed emotions: pride in the valor of those who gave their lives in the cause of freedom; sorrow that such self-sacrifice should have been necessary. Pride in past valor may be best expressed in the St. Crispin’s Day speech from “Henry V” (Act IV, Scene iii), delivered by the young king on the eve of the Battle of Agincourt. . . .
7,300 People Tune in to White House YouTube Channel to Watch 81 Million Vote Recipient Joe Biden Deliver Memorial Day Service Remarks
Joe Biden on Saturday delivered remarks at an annual Memorial Day Service in Delaware.
Biden slurred his way through a 9 minute speech.
“I had a long conversation for two hours recently with President Xi, making it clear to him we could do nothing but speak out for human rights around the world because that’s who we are,” Biden said. “I’ll be meeting with President Putin in a couple weeks in Geneva making it clear that we will not stand by and let him abuse those rights.”
7,300 people tuned in to the White House’s YouTube channel to watch Biden speak.
There was 1,500 “down votes” and 199 “up votes.”
But Joe Biden totally got 81 million votes.
The post 7,300 People Tune in to White House YouTube Channel to Watch 81 Million Vote Recipient Joe Biden Deliver Memorial Day Service Remarks appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
A Personal Memorial Day Memory: Introducing Loyce Deen of Altus, Oklahoma
Commentary: Pop, the uncle who raised me, carried with him for more than half a century a haunting memory from his time aboard the aircraft carrier Essex in World War II. Anti-aircraft fire had killed a turret gunner during a sortie. Pop, whose job it was to repair and prepare planes for the next mission, went up to inspect the plane as soon as it landed. What he encountered was a gruesome sight: the decapitated body of the turret gunner in a blood-soaked turret.
The captain of the Essex dispatched the ship’s chaplain to ask Pop if the plane could be patched up enough to fly again. Pop’s reply to the captain, via the chaplain/messenger, was, “Yes, but with all this blood in the tropical heat, it will stink to high heaven. I recommend we bury this man in the plane in which he had given his life for his country.” When the chaplain relayed Pop’s message to the captain up on the bridge, the captain turned to Pop and gave him the thumbs-up signal. The subsequent burial at sea was unique. It was the only time during World War II that a still-flightworthy aircraft was used as a coffin. . .
Editorial: This Memorial Day spend time with a veteran and contemplate ways you can help
This editorial was written by the Daily Camera.
Monday is Memorial Day, and the best thing anyone can do, says Gulf War veteran Jason Scott Fearing, is to seek out a veteran and start a real, honest, conversation. It could lead to a lifelong friendship, a greater understanding of humanity, or simply and no less importantly allow one veteran to be heard.
Fearing served for 12 years in the U.S. Army, with 30 deployments, including joining hundreds of thousands of American soldiers — his brothers and sisters — during the early 1990s in Operation Desert Shield followed by Operation Desert Storm in the Persian Gulf.
Fearing, who suffers from long- and short-term memory loss, can recall turning 21 years old during boot camp in Ohio, but his days, weeks and hours in combat are not so clearly remembered. Those awful memories – which can be triggered by any loud noise sounding like mortar fire, he says — have manifested as chronic mental health challenges with associated physical pain from a central nervous system disorder. And what he does remember, he doesn’t wish to talk about.
“I stutter, I struggle to remember what I am talking about sometimes and stop, or I might act weird if something smells like burned meat,” he says. “But my sacrifice was worth it to me. I helped people and did a lot of good things like building infrastructure. Remember Baghdad airport?”
Today, at age 50, life is pretty good, Fearing says. He’s got his best friend, a “super pugle” he calls him, a mix of a pug and a beagle named Buddy Boyd. He collects Hot Wheels and shops for food when he isn’t in too much pain or there isn’t too much snow hampering his wheelchair. It was a long road to get here, with a lot of help from others, he says. . . .
Exclusive — Sen. Tom Cotton on Serving at Arlington Cemetery: If They Sacrificed Their Lives, We Can Sacrifice Time and Comfort for Them
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) recalled his service in the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment, known as the Old Guard, while reflecting on the sacrifice of those who died in America’s armed forces ahead of Memorial Day.
Cotton, U.S. Army veteran who served tours in both Afghanistan and Iraq, described the attention to detail involved in the Old Guard’s ceremonial mission of receiving remains of fallen soldiers returned to America and of funerals at Arlington National Cemetery.
“We have rulers that are measured down to 1/64th of an inch, which is the standard for most decorations and badges on an Old Guard soldier’s uniform,” Cotton said on Thursday’s edition of SiriusXM’s Breitbart News Daily with host Alex Marlow.
He continued, “That level of discipline and precision and high standards is a reflection of the care that we have for those fallen heroes, and that if they sacrificed their lives for our nation, then surely we can sacrifice a little comfort, a little time to make sure that everything is perfect for them.” . . .
On Memorial Day, We Celebrate Such Men And Women Because They Lived
There’s a serenity about Section 60 at Arlington National Cemetery. It is a peaceful place. It’s where I choose to celebrate Memorial Day. . . . It is where they are at rest. Arlington National Cemetery is where I know too many names etched on the white marble headstones. It is 639 acres of ground sanctified by the blood of our nation’s warriors dating back to the Civil War. This ground, and the hundreds of national cemeteries around the country and overseas, is where millions will pause, remember these men and women and take stock of what they fought so bravely to preserve. . . .
28 shot, 2 fatally, over Memorial Day weekend in Chicago

In preparation for the historically violent weekend, the Chicago Police Department canceled days off and put officers on 12-hour shifts while community groups fanned out across the city to draw people out of the line of fire.
Two people have been killed and at least 26 others wounded in shootings across Chicago over Memorial Day weekend.
In preparation for the historically violent weekend, the Chicago Police Department canceled days off and put officers on 12-hour shifts. Meanwhile, community groups fanned out across the city to draw people out of the line of fire.
“This is our city that we love, and there is loss of life, and it should make us weep and roll up our sleeves,” said John Fuder of Chicagoland United in Prayer, whose group is sponsoring prayer marches across the city this weekend. . . .
Exclusive — Rep. Brian Mast on Memorial Day: The Fallen Are ‘Sewn into the Fabric of America’
While reflecting on the purpose of Memorial Day, Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL) told Breitbart News Americans who lost their lives in armed conflicts are “sewn into the fabric of America.”
Mast, a U.S. Army who served in Afghanistan, joined Thursday’s edition of SiriusXM’s Breitbart News Daily with host Alex Marlow ahead of the Memorial Day weekend.
“There’s a really important reason that we go out there and that we take this time out,” Mast said. “We should be doing it every single, day but I always ask people, ‘Ask yourself, how do you make somebody live on that did something worthy of remembering? How do they live on?’ And the way that they do that is to remember what they did.”
He added, “You don’t just remember what they did. You remember why they did it [and] what to them was was worth fighting for, and take Memorial Day as a day to stop and think about that for a few minutes.” . . .
Bannon’s War Room | Morning Edition Hour 2 | Recorded May 31, 2021 | Video: 46 Minutes 27 Seconds
Episode 988 – The Honored Dead … War Room’s Memorial Day Special Part II. “Their sacrifice in the Battle of Brooklyn has an incredible importance because the war hung in the balance.” Guests are: Cpt. Maureen Bannon, Patrick K. O’Donnell, Joe Kent.
“Justice Clarence Thomas: Created Equal” The Documentary That Recounts Thomas Leaving The Violent Left To A Place Of Peace, In His Own Words | Video: 2 Minutes 9 Seconds
“We were supposed to be revolutionaries. We were for anybody who is kind of in your face. I saw what I had become, lashing out at every single thing. And then I asked God that if you take anger out of my heart I’ll never hate again.” ~ Justice Clarence Thomas
[ Full Documentary ]
What Happened To Us On The American Left? | “Justice Clarence Thomas: The Left Is The Enemy Of Free Thought” | Video: 1 Minute 40 Seconds
You cannot live a free life without having your own thoughts. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas makes this poignantly clear. “In my life I had been looking at the wrong people as the people who would be problematic toward me. We were told that, oh, it’s going to be the bigot in the pickup truck, it’s gonna be the klansman, it’s gonna be the rural sheriff. And I’m not saying that there weren’t some of those who were bad. But, it turned out that through all of that ultimately the biggest impediment was the modern day liberal. That they were the ones who would discount all those things because they have one issue or because they have the authority, the power to caricature you.” ~ Justice Clarence Thomas
Bannon’s War Room | Saturday Edition Hour 1 | Recorded May 29, 2021 | Video: 48 Minutes 26 Seconds
Episode 985 – The American Generals Speak Part II (w/ Gaffney, MG Arbuckle, BG Bolduc, BG Perry). “This is really about the last bastion of Constitutional defense,” he said. “The left is working very very diligently to change what America is, and they can’t have law enforcement, the military standing in the way.” Guests are: Frank Gaffney, MG Joseph Arbuckle, BG Don Bolduc, BG Scott Perry.