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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May 4, 2021 | Nightly News Rebroadcast | Video: 52 Minutes 29 Seconds
Man Shot Outside CIA Headquarters Has Died: FBI; Derek Chauvin’s Legal Team Asks for New Trial. President Joe Biden sets a new vaccination goal that he hopes to accomplish by July 4, an FBI agent shot and killed a suspect at the Virginia CIA headquarters, and a Memorial Day weekend motorcycle rally honoring veterans is denied a permit in the nation’s Capitol.
Bannon’s War Room | Morning Edition Hour 1 | Recorded May 4, 2021 | Video: 48 Minutes 40 Seconds
Episode 920 – GOP Bunks Up with Google … Why Kevin McCarthy Could Be Out of Republican Leadership.
“They’re going to take your jobs and now you’re not going to have your kids educated,” Bannon said. Guest is: Marylyn Todd.
Bannon’s War Room | Morning Edition Hour 2 | Recorded May 4, 2021 | Video: 47 Minutes 37 Seconds
Episode 921 – China Hands … How American Elites Sold Us Out to the Chinese Communist Party.
“Well, it’s really up in the air,” he said. “We need a rejuvenation of the American people and we need a reinforcement of the fundamentals, what’s america about? It’s about human rights, freedom…I don’t think kids are taught citizenship anymore in schools, we get a lot of woke history but we don’t get real history.” Guest is: Clyde Prestowitz.
Bannon’s War Room | Evening Edition | Recorded May 4, 2021 | Video: 48 Minutes 59 Seconds
Episode 922 – Police Lives Don’t Matter … Media Blackout of 100 Cops Murdered in Line of Duty. “No more to backstabbing Republicans,” he said. “In the military you get to see your enemy in front of you. In politics what so often happens is that you think you’re engaged in one fight and then you get RINOs who come in and stab in the back.” Guests are: Cpt. Maureen Bannon, Eric Greitens, Heather Mullins.
Reaching ‘Herd Immunity’ Is Unlikely in the U.S., Experts Now Believe
Early in the pandemic, when vaccines for the coronavirus were still just a glimmer on the horizon, the term “herd immunity” came to signify the endgame: the point when enough Americans would be protected from the virus so we could be rid of the pathogen and reclaim our lives.
Now, more than half of adults in the United States have been inoculated with at least one dose of a vaccine. But daily vaccination rates are slipping, and there is widespread consensus among scientists and public health experts that the herd immunity threshold is not attainable — at least not in the foreseeable future, and perhaps not ever.
As Global Pandemic Worsens, U.S. Keeps Blocking Vaccine Patent Waivers Amid Big Pharma Lobbying
Big Pharma has hired an army of lobbyists to pressure U.S. lawmakers to block an effort at the World Trade Organization to loosen intellectual property rules on COVID-19 vaccines, which would allow countries around the world to ramp up production, vaccinate more people and bring the pandemic to an end sooner. Dozens of countries from the Global South, led by India and South Africa, are demanding a temporary waiver on vaccine patents, but rich countries, including the U.S. under both the Trump and Biden administrations, have opposed the move. Lee Fang, investigative journalist at The Intercept, says there is a “glut” of vaccines going to wealthy countries while much of the rest of the world is left waiting. “These initiatives that are based on voluntary agreements with the pharmaceutical companies have not worked,” he says. Fang also discusses his reporting on the Biden’s administration’s ties to the vaccine makers: White House adviser Anita Dunn is co-founder of the consulting firm SKDK, which works closely with Pfizer; Biden’s domestic policy adviser, Susan Rice, holds up to $5 million in Johnson & Johnson shares; and White House science adviser Eric Lander holds up to $1 million in shares of BioNTech, which co-developed Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine.
Kansas Legislature Overrides Governor’s Veto, Bans the Election Zuck Bucks. Plus: A Win for 2A Rights.
In the span of a month we’ve come full circle on election reforms — actual reforms, not the Democrats’ monstrosity that’s merely advertised as such. That unconstitutional power grab is going nowhere.
Kansas’ legislature has just overridden its governor’s veto and put into law a set of election reforms similar to those that just weeks ago Joe Biden declared were “Jim Crow on steroids.”
Biden would know these laws are nothing like Jim Crow, if he still had all his mental faculties, because he was around for Jim Crow. Biden happily cavorted with segregationist Democrats when it suited him. And Jim Crow was a Democrat policy.
Biden called slammed Georgia a month ago, and Coke, MLB, American, and Delta Airlines duly lined up with Biden and his shrill supporters — many of whom, like Stacey Abrams, can’t actually win elections. Their power is mostly on social media and as any real PR pro will tell you, much of what you see on social media isn’t real. MLB moved the All-Star Game from majority black Atlanta to very white Denver in the name of social justice, or something. Following Biden is a fool’s game and has been for going on 50 years. He’s the guy who would have left Osama bin Laden alive 10 years ago if it had been up to him.
(READ) Trump statement on “The Big Lie”
– May 3, 2021 – Statement by Donald J. Trump, 45th President of the United States of America, “The Fraudulent Presidential Election of 2020 will be, from this day forth, known as THE BIG LIE!”
Cheney slams Trump on ‘big lie’ over election
Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) on Monday shot back at former President Trump over his claims that the 2020 election was stolen, accusing those who spread the claim of “poisoning our democratic system.””The 2020 president…
Zuckerberg and George W. Bush Partner in Far Left Immigration Push.
Two organizations owned by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg have partnered with Former President George W. Bush to push for mass migration and amnesty for illegal aliens, policies which favor the political left and Big Tech corporations.
George W. Bush told radio host Hugh Hewitt, during an April 22 interview, that “the Bush Center is spearheading a reform movement” concerning mass migration. The former president added, “And you know, we’re talking to people about, you know, what needs to be done.”
The Zuckerberg-owned organization listed on the George W. Bush Presidential Center’s webpage for immigration policy under “Program Partners” is the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.
“The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative was founded in 2015 to leverage technology, community-driven solutions and collaboration to help solve some of society’s toughest challenges. Our mission is to build a more inclusive, just, and healthy future for everyone,” says the Initiative’s official website. Part of its “mission” is working with Bush to encourage amnesty for illegal migrants.
The Chan Zuckerberg group is the very same that dubiously pumped private cash into the 2020 election process in order to secure a “victory” for Joe Biden. They were rewarded with a position in the Biden administration.
MS-13 Gang Member Nicknamed ‘Terror’ Gets Life In Jail for Killing Texas Teen
An MS-13 gang member nicknamed “Terror” has been sentenced to life behind bars for his role in the shooting death of a Houston-area teenager. Douglas Alexander Herrera-Hernandez was sentenced to life in prison without parole after being found guilty of capital murder in the 2016 slaying of 16-year-old Estuar Quinonez, the Office of the District Attorney, Harris County, Texas, said in a release. The victim had witnessed several gang-related murders and his killers wanted to silence him forever, prosecutors said. “We are trying to break the back of this organization by sending their assassins to prison for as long as possible and we will remain unrelenting in our pursuit of these criminals who band together to terrorize communities,” Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said in the release. Prosecutors said Herrera-Hernandez admitted to contacting MS-13 gang leaders in El Salvador to sign off on Quinonez’s murder. Herrera-Hernandez and several other …
Judicial Watch: Records Show Iowa State Officials Coordinated with Big Tech to Censor Election Posts
The records show communications between the Secretary of State’s office and representatives of Facebook and Twitter to Target Judicial Watch Posts.
(Washington, DC) Judicial Watch announced today that it received 624 pages of records from the office of the Secretary of State of Iowa, revealing how state officials pressured social media companies (Twitter and Facebook) to censor posts about the 2020 election. Included in these records were emails from Iowa state officials to representatives of Big Tech pressuring these companies to remove Judicial Watch’s posts. The emails show how the state agency successfully pressured Facebook to censor Judicial Watch’s post about Iowa’s management of its voter rolls.
Judicial Watch received the records as a result of a June 2020 Iowa Open Records lawsuit that was filed after the Iowa Secretary of State failed to comply with a February 2020 request for records and communications about a Judicial Watch report regarding the accuracy of the state’s voter registration rolls (Judicial Watch v. Iowa Secretary of State (No. 05771 EQCE085973)). Judicial Watch was represented by Iowa lawyer Alan R. Ostergren of Des Moines, Iowa.
The records show that officials in the Iowa Secretary of State office on multiple occasions contacted officials from Facebook and Twitter to try to have these companies remove Judicial Watch posts that raised concerns about Iowa’s failure to maintain accurate election rolls.
“These records are yet another example of state officials conspiring with Big Tech to deny Americans their First Amendment rights,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “These records further show that Big Tech censorship is a government scandal: Iowa government officials worked with Facebook to remove posts they didn’t like, and Facebook bowed to this political pressure immediately. It should be disturbing to all Americans that government officials are working to censor speech they disagree with and that these behemoth companies often seem willing to roll over and censor free speech.”
Facebook oversight board to reveal decision on Trump ban on Wednesday
Facebook’s “Oversight Board” said Monday that its decision on whether to keep former US President Donald Trump blocked from its social media platforms will come Wednesday.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the decision to block Trump from Facebook and Instagram on Jan. 7, one day after a group of Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol in a bloody and deadly riot.
“The shocking events of the last 24 hours clearly demonstrate that President Donald Trump intends to use his remaining time in office to undermine the peaceful and lawful transition of power to his elected successor, Joe Biden,” Zuckerberg wrote in the announcement.
In the same week, Twitter announced the decision to permanently ban Trump from its platform. Trump was also blocked from Snapchat and YouTube after the riot.
The bans ignited a debate about the role of social media giants in society and whether they should have the power to silence users without external policies that are clearly defined.
Gray Television to be second largest broadcaster after $2.7B Meredith deal
Gray Television will spend $2.7 billion to buy the local TV stations of Meredith, a purchase that will make it the second-largest local broadcaster in the U.S., the company announced Monday.
In the deal, Gray will acquire Meredith’s Local Media Group, which owns 17 television stations in 12 local markets including Atlanta, Phoenix, St. Louis, Nashville, Kansas City and Las Vegas.
Gray expects the deal to close at the end of the year, after which it will own stations in 113 local markets and serve approximately 36 percent of U.S. television households, according to the announcement.
Nexstar is the largest U.S. broadcast company, with stations in 116 markets serving nearly 62 percent of U.S. television households, according to its website.
As part of the deal, Meredith will spin off its National Media Group into a separate company.
National media owns numerous magazine brands including People, Martha Stewart Living, Better Homes & Gardens, InStyle, Allrecipes, Real Simple, Shape and Southern Living, as well as digital and marketing assets.
The Gray/Meredith deal is the latest of several significant media deals announced this year.
Modi Resists Pressure to Lock Down India as Virus Deaths Rise
Two weeks ago, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called on states to only consider lockdowns “as the last option.” Now everyone from his political allies to top business leaders and U.S. President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser see them as the only way to stem the world’s worst virus outbreak.
The debate has been complicated by Modi’s move last year to impose a nationwide lockdown without warning, spurring a humanitarian crisis as migrant workers fled on foot to rural areas. While Modi is keen to avoid that criticism again, particularly after his Bharatiya Janata Party failed to win an election in West Bengal when votes were counted Sunday, even states run by his party are ignoring his advice.
“One of the problems is this false narrative that it’s either a full lockdown, which equates to economic disaster, or no lockdown, which is a public health disaster,” said Catherine Blish, an infectious disease specialist and global health expert at Stanford Medicine in California. “What’s happening now is a health and an economic disaster. If you have huge swaths of your population getting sick, that’s not good for your population or your economy.”
Sen. Scott ‘Hopeful’ on Police Reform as Democrats Now Looking for ‘Solution,’ Not ‘Issue’
Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) on Sunday said that he’s now hopeful on negotiating police reform with colleagues on the other side of the aisle as Democrats have since last year shifted their focus from looking for an “issue” to finding a “solution” to the problem.
Nearly a year after the Republican senator first unveiled his law enforcement reform bill in response to the nation-wide protest against police brutality fueled by the death of George Floyd, Scott said he is more optimistic about working with Democrats on the issue.
“One of the reasons why I’m hopeful is because, in a way, this time, my friends on the left aren’t looking for the issue; they’re looking for a solution,” Scott, the fourth black politician from the South to serve in the U.S. Senate, told CBS’s “Face the Nation.”
“And the things that I offered last year are more popular this year. That gives me reasons to be hopeful,” he told host John Dickerson.
Verizon Agrees to Sell Yahoo, AOL to Apollo for $5 Billion
Apollo Global Management Inc. agreed to pay about $5 billion to acquire Yahoo and AOL from Verizon Communications Inc. as the wireless company exits its ill-fated foray into the media business.
The private-equity firm is paying $4.25 billion in cash for a 90% share of the media assets. Verizon will keep a 10% stake and $750 million of additional preferred stock in the new company, called Yahoo, that will be formed to operate the business.
The Wall Street Journal earlier reported the potential sale of Verizon’s media assets to Apollo. Verizon Media, which mostly struggled to grow against Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Facebook Inc., generated $7 billion in revenue last year.
Apollo’s strategy for the business revolves around getting more revenue from each of its 900 million active monthly users. Verizon’s positioning of the media business as a complement to its core mobile business—aimed at helping it add subscribers and reduce the number of people who quit—meant it hasn’t pursued some opportunities to maximize the value of each asset, executives at the private-equity firm
May 3, 2021 | Nightly News Rebroadcast | Video: 52 Minutes 29 Seconds
Bill and Melinda Gates Announce Divorce After 27 Years; Biden Raises Refugee Cap to 62,500. The Biden administration has just increased the limit for foreigners seeking refuge in the United States, President Joe Biden visited an elementary school and a community college in Virginia to sell his latest spending plan, and violent riots broke out on the West Coast on May 1.
Trump Lawyer Jenna Ellis Challenges Liz Cheney to Debate on 2020 Election Integrity: ‘Name the Time and Place’
Jenna Ellis, a former Trump campaign lawyer, is challenging Rep. Liz Cheney to debate election integrity in the 2020 election.
On Monday, Rep. Liz Cheney insisted on Twitter that the 2020 presidential election “was not stolen.”
“Anyone who claims it was is spreading THE BIG LIE, turning their back on the rule of law, and poisoning our democratic system.”
Cheney was responding to a Trump statement released Monday morning that “The Fraudulent Presidential Election of 2020 will be, from this day forth, known as THE BIG LIE!”
In response to Cheney’s tweet, Ellis pointed out that “Election officials in at least six states violated the law in the administration of the 2020 election. That’s called cheating.”
“If you have the guts to debate me on this, name the time and place,” Ellis tweeted to Cheney.
Hillary Clinton voices concern on Biden’s Afghanistan withdrawal, warns of ‘unintended’ consequences
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is putting a warning label on fellow Democrat President Biden’s decision to pull all U.S. troops out of Afghanistan.
“I know it is a very difficult decision,” Clinton said Sunday on CNN “This is what we call a wicked problem. You know there are consequences both foreseen and unintended of staying and of leaving. The president has made the decision to leave.”
Biden, who during the Obama administration was vice president when Clinton was the country’s top diplomat, said last month that all of the remaining 2,500 U.S. military troops in Afghanistan will leave by Sept. 11 – roughly 20 years they arrived in the aftermath of the 9/11 terror attacks.
Clinton said her major concerns are the potential collapse of Kabul and the Taliban taking over the country, which could result in the resuming of global terrorist activities.
New York area will lift capacity restrictions May 19
The New York tri-state area will jointly lift most of the coronavirus capacity restrictions on businesses and restaurants starting May 19, governors announced Monday.
Govs. Andrew Cuomo (D) of New York, Ned Lamont (D) of Connecticut and Phil Murphy (D) of New Jersey said retail stores, food services, theaters, fitness centers, amusement parks, hair salons, museums and other businesses will be allowed to operate at full capacity for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic.
“The tide is turning against COVID-19 in New York, and thanks to our increasing vaccination rates, as well as our successful, data-based regional approach, we’re able to take more steps to reopen our economy, help businesses and workers, and keep moving towards returning to normal,” Cuomo said in a statement.
The announcement of May 19 represents a significant acceleration from the July 1 target for full reopening set by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) just four days ago.
A day later, Cuomo declared that indoor capacity would increase for restaurants and bars statewide from 50 to 75 percent starting on May 7.
Walgreens launching mobile clinics, walk-in COVID-19 vaccinations
Walgreens’ mobile clinics and select stores will offer vaccinations with no appointment needed. Also Monday, Illinois officials reported 2,049 new, confirmed COVID-19 cases and 28 more deaths, raising the state death toll to 22,047.
Walgreens on Monday launched mobile clinics in Chicago to bring COVID-19 vaccines to underserved communities — no appointments necessary.
And starting Wednesday, some Walgreens locations also will offer walk-in vaccinations, with no need to book online in advance.
Details on where the mobile clinics will be set up, or on which store locations will offer walk-in vaccinations, were not immediately available.
“We understand the important role Walgreens has and will continue to play in removing access barriers to the COVID-19 vaccine,” John Standley, president of Walgreens, said in a statement. “Mobile clinics and the other models we use will allow us to bring vaccines to the heart of the most impacted communities, as well as addressing common barriers like transportation and convenience for those who want to get vaccinated.”
Austin residents vote to ban homeless encampments
More than half of Austin residents voted Saturday to reinstate a ban on homeless encampments in the city.
Fifty-seven percent of voters in the Texas state capital said they were in favor of reinstating criminal penalties for camping in public spaces via Proposition B, the Austin American-Statesman reported.
The controversial measure was one of eight proposals on the ballot. More than 150,000 Austin residents cast a vote, with 85,830 voting in favor and 64,409 against, according to the paper.
The vote comes after the city’s mayor, Stever Adler, and the city council in July 2019 canceled a more than 20-year-old ordinance that banned camping in public spaces.
Denmark Ditches J&J COVID Vaccine, Says Benefits ‘Do Not Outweigh Risk’ of Blood Clots
Denmark on Monday became the first country to exclude Johnson & Johnson’s (J&J) COVID vaccine from its vaccination program over a potential link to blood clotting disorders.The Danish Health Authority said in a statement it had concluded “the benefits of using the COVID-19 vaccine from J&J do not outweigh the risk of causing the possible adverse effect in those who receive the vaccine,” Reuters reported.
Danish health officials noted the European Medicines Agency’s (EMA) conclusion that “there is a possible link between rare but severe cases of blood clots and the COVID-19 vaccine from J&J,” referring to an investigation last month into eight U.S. reports of rare blood clots — one of which was fatal — that occurred after recent vaccination.
Unlike the Danish Health Authority however, the EMA concluded the benefits of using the J&J vaccine outweigh the risks. The EMA did recommend adding a warning to J&J’s vaccine label, and the company said it would comply with that measure.
“Taking the present situation in Denmark into account, what we are currently losing in our effort to prevent severe illness from COVID-19 cannot outweigh the risk of causing possible side effects in the form of severe blood clots in those we vaccinate,” the health authority said.
Denmark stopped using AstraZeneca’s vaccine last month after European regulators found a possible link between AstraZeneca’s COVID vaccine and “very rare” blood clots.
Both J&J and AstraZeneca vaccines use a modified adenovirus vector technology as opposed to the mRNA technology used in the Moderna and Pfizer’s COVID vaccines.
Florida Gov. DeSantis Suspends Local COVID-19 Emergency Orders, Bans Vaccine Passports
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill banning COVID-19 vaccine passports and also announced an executive order that suspends all local pandemic emergency mandates effective July 1.
DeSantis signed Senate Bill 2006, passed by Florida state lawmakers last month granting DeSantis the ability to override local emergency orders. The bill also includes a ban on vaccine passports that would levy fines of $5,000 per violation.
“I’m going to sign the bill. It’s effective July 1. I’ll also sign an executive order pursuant to that bill invalidating all remaining local emergency COVID orders effective on July 1,” the Republican governor said in a news conference in St. Petersburg on Monday. “But then, to bridge the gap between then and now, I’m going to suspend, under my executive power, the local emergency orders as it relates to COVID.”
Describing his executive orders as the “evidence-based thing to do,” DeSantis said that proponents of lockdowns “really are saying you don’t believe in the vaccines, you don’t believe in the data, you don’t believe in the science.” He added: “We’ve embraced the vaccines. We’ve embraced the science on it.”
The order suspending local emergency mandates only affects governments, not businesses.
The ‘Left’ Has Learned, The Quickest Way To Shut Down Your Opponent’s Objections Is To Call Them A ‘Racist’ | Just Ask ‘Minorities’ | “GOP Whip Montoya Blasts ‘race-baiting’ In Session”
House Minority Whip Rod Montoya, R-Farmington
SANTA FE — House Minority Whip Rod Montoya, R-Farmington, had some harsh words for legislative leaders this week as the special session got underway, accusing lawmakers of “aggressive race-baiting” and unjustified allegations of bullying and sexism.
He outlined his thoughts in a three-page letter to Democratic and Republican leaders in both chambers of the Legislature.
Montoya said that as a Hispanic man married to a Native American woman, he is tired of white progressives offering platitudes about climate change as Navajo coal miners and others lose their jobs.
“Members of the Democrat Party regularly use such terms as ‘marginalized peoples,’ ‘institutional racism,’ and ‘implicit bias’ to avoid having to answer legitimate policy questions,” Montoya said. “While this may be an effective way to shut down opposition, it does not benefit us as a lawmaking body.”
Bannon’s War Room | Morning Edition Hour 1 | Recorded May 3, 2021 | Video: 48 Minutes 24 Seconds
Episode 917 – The Great Reset to the Great Realignment … (w/ Cpt. M. Bannon, Gracia, Rachmuth).
“Ilegals are having gun battles on their ranches, they’re finding dead bodies, their homes are being broken into,” Gracia said. “They don’t have the manpower to address this.” Guests are: Cpt. Maureen Bannon, Bianca Gracia, Sloan Rachmuth.
Anti-Woke Faction Opposed To Critical Race Theory Wins Texas School Board Race
- Candidates opposed to critical race theory swept Saturday’s race in Southlake
- School district had been embroiled in bitter controversy for nine months
- Last summer, plans for diversity training were announced after offensive video
- Conservative parents fiercely opposed plan, saying it called for ‘diversity police’
- Others insisted new curriculum was needed to battle racism and inequity
- Now, candidates opposing the diversity plan win board seats by wide margins
- It comes amid a national debate over critical race theory in classrooms
Candidates opposed to teaching ‘critical race theory’ in the classroom have swept a local school board election in Texas, following a bitterly contested campaign that saw passions rise on both sides.
In Saturday’s election in Southlake, candidates opposed to the new curriculum won the two open seats on the Carroll Independent School District board overwhelmingly, with nearly 70 percent of the vote.
The election followed a harsh dispute over plans the district introduced last summer to require diversity and inclusion training after a video went viral showing some of its high school students laughing as they shouted the N-word.
Parents packed school board meetings to oppose the plan, arguing it would create ‘diversity police’ and discriminate against white children. Some even pulled their kids out of the district, and one mother sued, pausing the plan’s implementation.
Bannon’s War Room | Morning Edition Hour 2 | Recorded May 3, 2021 | Video: 48 Minutes 16 Seconds
Episode 918 – Shut Up and Get Your Gene Therapy…NY Times and Fauci Move the Herd Immunity Goal Posts.
“They’re saying shut up and get your vaccination,” Kassam said. “Or shut up and get your gene therapy, I should say.” Guests are: Cpt. Maureen Bannon, Mike Lindell, Marylyn Todd, Dustin Cournoyer, Mark Finchem.
Bannon’s War Room | Evening Edition | Recorded May 3, 2021 | Video: 40 Minutes 16 Seconds
Episode 919 – It’s a Small World of Election Rigging … Raffensberger Ties in NH. Heather Mullins, of Real America’s Voice, reports on the battle over the forensic audit in New Hampshire. Mullins reveals another reason for uproar against Verified Voting: its head worked with Brad Raffensberger in Georgia. Guests are: Cpt. Maureen Bannon, Boris Epshteyn, Mark Finchem.
ADL’s Official Stance On Israel | “Support Israel: A Jewish and Democratic State”
Israel is the national homeland of the Jewish people. The overwhelming majority of Jewish people around the globe, regardless of political orientation, consider a connection to Israel a part of their Jewish identity.
For decades, ADL has worked to support a secure Jewish and democratic state of Israel and to promote a strong and constructive US-Israel relationship. ADL is a strong advocate for a two-state solution, calling for a mutually negotiated and sustainable peace agreement that can ensure security, self-determination and dignity for both Israelis and Palestinians. We champion policies and initiatives that foster Israeli-Palestinian understanding and people-to-people engagement and call out those who would undermine such progress and ultimately peace. ADL celebrates wider Israeli-Arab normalization and peace efforts in the region as a critical driver for regional security, stability and people-to-people understanding.
Understanding the complexities of current issues confronting Israel, both external threats and internal challenges, is important in helping to separate facts from misleading assertions and misrepresentations. Through analysis and action, ADL seeks to unpack historical and contemporary developments, and encourage thoughtful, informed and fair discourse about Israel, Israeli-Palestinian relations, and Israel’s place in the broader Middle East and the world.
ADL recognizes that, like all other countries, Israel should not be exempt from criticism, however ADL educates and engages on how certain harsh expressions about the Jewish state and Zionism can be antisemitic. We raise awareness about efforts to delegitimize Israel’s existence, which is often a characteristic of the BDS (boycott, divestment, sanctions) movement’s campaigns and initiatives. (link to anti-Israel page)
On the ground in Jerusalem, ADL’s Israel office advocates for a Jewish and democratic state and works to help build a cohesive society. We speak out on issues of hate, discrimination and inequities, and actively oppose initiatives that would serve to undermine Israel’s vibrant democratic institutions and pluralistic fiber. We advocate in support of vulnerable and minority communities – Jewish, Muslim, and Christian – including Ethiopian, Charedi, Bedouin, Druze, LGBTQ+ and African asylum seekers. We work in partnership with civil society organizations and activists across Israel to strengthen our reach and bring diverse Israeli communities and coalitions together. Our educational programs engage Israelis of all backgrounds on issues of understanding, tolerance and respect.
John Kerry Threatens Israel With Boycotts (2014)
US Secretary of State John Kerry on Saturday threatened Israel that a failure in the peace talks would lead to global boycotts and delegitimization of the Jewish state. The warning comes as no surprise to those familiar with reports earlier in the month, which revealed that Kerry is orchestrating the European boycottsagainst Israel.
Deputy Defense Minister Danny Danon responded to Kerry’s threats of boycotts, saying “we respect Secretary of State Kerry but will not hold talks with a gun to our head. Friends don’t put ultimatums on the security of the state of Israel.”
Speaking at a security council in Munchen, Germany, Kerry also mentioned Defense Secretary Moshe Ya’alon’s comments calling Kerry “messianic” and “obsessive” in trying to force Israel to submit to a peace deal, which would include massive territorial withdrawals and an Arab capital in Jerusalem.
Former Security Adviser: John Kerry Undermined Trump in Unapproved Iran Talks
Former Secretary of State John Kerry repeatedly undercut President Donald Trump’s foreign policy towards Iran during unauthorized talks with senior Iranian officials, according to Keith Kellogg, the former chief of staff for the National Security Council under President Donald Trump.
ADL To Kerry: ‘Your Threats Destroy Peace Talks’ (2014)
Abraham Foxman, Director of the Anti-Defamation League, issues sharp response to US Secretary of State’s remarks against Israel.
In yet another backlash, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) issued a letter slamming the boycott threats against Israel from US Secretary of State John Kerry Tuesday.
Kerry’s comments at the Munich Security Conference Saturday have sparked an immense backlash from the Israeli government. He said then, “today’s status quo absolutely, to a certainty, I promise you 100 percent, cannot be maintained. It’s not sustainable. It’s illusionary,” Kerry stated. “You see for Israel there’s an increasing de-legitimization campaign that has been building up [. . .] there are talk of boycotts and other kinds of things. Are we all going to be better with all of that?”
The ADL’s response strongly condemns Kerry’s comments.
Apparently, Human Rights Watch Disagrees With ADL’s Stance On Israel | Video: 3 Minutes
One would think, if you listen to the ADL, that the debate on Israel is between Anti-Semites, or more kindly, Gentiles and Jews. It’s more complicated. There’s actually a very strong and vibrant debate on Israel between those of us who are either Jewish or have Jewish ancestry. Tied into this debate is a mix of political affiliations, many times expressed as ‘Left’ and ‘Right’. Even this is complicated and not quite accurate because the differences also lie in the gamut of beliefs from pure Atheism to strict Orthodoxy. In any case, as the ADL makes a strong push to reform it’s image to the general public and particularly to those deeply involved in politics with some knowledge of the history of the ADL, Human Rights Watch has ‘Crossed A Threshold’ and strongly suggested Israel is guilty of ‘crimes against humanity of apartheid and persecution.’ ~ Human Rights Watch
Gov. Abbott praised by Anti-Defamation League over racist posts by GOP leaders in Texas
DALLAS – The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) praised Texas Governor Greg Abbott Monday for denouncing racist posts by several Texas Republican County Chairs, but also called on the governor to take concrete measures, and use input from the African American community, to address institutional racism in the Texas Republican party and beyond after nearly a dozen social posts of the same conspiratorial nature were identified as coming from local party officials.
Texas GOP Chairman Allen West Joins Gab After Party Takes Account Down
Just days after the governing body of the Republican Party of Texas voted to leave the free-speech social media platform Gab, Texas GOP Chairman Allen West has created a Gab account of his own.
His first Gab post was dedicated to discussing why critical race theory is subversive, rooted in Marxism, and must be combated. His second post came just nine minutes later: a picture of the Constitution, with West’s caption stating his support for free speech. . . .
Could We Soon See Liz Cheney Gone from Leadership?
Source: AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File
Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY), who is the chair of the House Republican Conference and the third-highest ranking Republican in the U.S. House, has found herself in the news quite a bit lately. Matt reported last week that she said she thinks she may even run for president in 2024, after being particularly vocal in impeaching Trump the second time around, while she continues to trash him to this day. Well, Republican leaders have had enough of her, and may even be willing to push her out, according to Axios.
On Saturday, Jonathan Swan, Glen Johnson and Alayna Treene reported, “Scoop: GOP leaders threaten Cheney ouster.” Honestly, it sounds like House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA), the highest and second-highest ranking Republicans in the House, respectively, have been fed up with her for some time.
Hubble Watches How a Giant Planet Grows
NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope is giving astronomers a rare look at a Jupiter-sized, still-forming planet that is feeding off material surrounding a young star.
“We just don’t know very much about how giant planets grow,” said Brendan Bowler of the University of Texas at Austin. “This planetary system gives us the first opportunity to witness material falling onto a planet. Our results open up a new area for this research.”
Though over 4,000 exoplanets have been cataloged so far, only about 15 have been directly imaged to date by telescopes. And the planets are so far away and small, they are simply dots in the best photos. The team’s fresh technique for using Hubble to directly image this planet paves a new route for further exoplanet research, especially during a planet’s formative years.
Fake News: New York Times, WaPo, NBC forced to retract false claims about Giuliani
The New York Times, Washington Post and NBC News all issued retractions Saturday for their coverage of Rudy Giuliani following a raid of his Manhattan apartment by the FBI.
The Times appended their correction to a story about the role Giuliani may have played in the 2019 recall of ambassador Marie L. Yovanovitch and whether he received a warning from the FBI about Russian disinformation.
“An earlier version of this article misstated whether Rudolph W. Giuliani received a formal warning from the F.B.I. about Russian disinformation. Mr. Giuliani did not receive such a so-called defensive briefing,” The Times wrote Saturday in a note attached to the piece.
The Washington Post’s correction, on a story about prominent Americans being targeted by Russian disinformation, was similar.
“An earlier version of this story, published Thursday, incorrectly reported that One America News was warned by the FBI that it was the target of a Russian influence operation,” the paper said.