Two days before New York’s online hate speech law is supposed to take effect, the video-sharing website Rumble and a law professor filed a lawsuit against New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) asking a judge to call it vague and unconstitutional.
Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, a non-profit group better known by its acronym FIRE, filed the 46-page complaint on behalf of three plaintiffs: Rumble, the crowd funding site Locals, and Eugene Volokh, the First Amendment scholar behind the legal blog The Volokh Conspiracy.
“New York politicians are slapping a speech-police badge on my chest because I run a blog,” Volokh wrote in a statement. “I started the blog to share interesting and important legal stories, not to police readers’ speech at the government’s behest.”
Passed in the wake of a white supremacist’s mass shooting of Black shoppers at a grocery story in Buffalo, New York, the law forces social media networks to publish a policy explaining how they will clamp down on speech perceived to “vilify, humiliate, or incite violence against a group or class of persons” based on race, color, religion, or other protected categories. FIRE notes that those platforms will be required to create a mechanism to report such speech — and must respond to those complaints.
In their complaint, Volokh’s lawyers say that the law “hangs like the Sword of Damocles over a broad swath of online services.”
“In something of a First Amendment ‘double whammy,’ the Online Hate Speech Law burdens the publication of disfavored but protected speech through unconstitutionally compelled speech — forcing online services to single out ‘hate speech’ with a dedicated policy, a mandatory report & response mechanism, and obligatory direct replies to each report,” the professor’s lawyer Darapana M. Sheth writes in the complaint. “If a service refuses, the law threatens New York Attorney General investigations, subpoenas, and daily fines of $1,000 per violation.”
Earlier this week, Buffalo mass shooter Payton Gendron pleaded guilty to all 25 state charges leveled against him for his terrorist attack, which he live-streamed via a GoPro that he wore to the mass slaughter. He disseminated a racist rant before his shooting spree that articulated his motives, like other white supremacists before him in Christchurch, New Zealand, and elsewhere.
The Empire State law had been intended, in part, to keep racially motivated terrorists from having spaces online to spread their ideologies and stop copycat attacks.
But Volokh says that the New York law goes too far, using such broad language that any attorney general can put bloggers at risk of financial ruin, if commenters share opinions that are disfavored by the state.
Under his interpretation of the statute, the professor says that regulators can go after an atheist perceived to have “vilified” organized religion — or comedian John Oliver for his recent segment on HBO’s Last Week Tonight sending up the British monarchy, which could be construed as a “humiliation” of the U.K.
“There can be no reasonable doubt New York will enforce the Online Hate Speech Law to strong-arm online services into censoring protected speech,” the complaint states. “The Attorney General’s intentions, in fact, could not be clearer; as recited, for example, in an October press release, the Attorney General declared that ‘[o]nline platforms should be held accountable for allowing hateful and dangerous content to spread on their platforms’ because an alleged ‘lack of oversight, transparency, and accountability of these platforms allows hateful and extremist views to proliferate online.’”
Rumble, Locals and Volokh want a federal judge to declare the law unconstitutional on its face as “vague” and “overbroad.” They also seek to a declaration that it runs afoul of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, a statute that has come under fire by politicians across the political spectrum. . . .
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How the COVID-19 Pandemic Is Damaging Children’s Vision
A rise in nearsightedness could grow worse as children spend more time indoors on devices amid COVID-19.
The post How the COVID-19 Pandemic Is Damaging Children’s Vision appeared first on NTD.
British Music Legends Out of Tune on COVID
The UK’s third and longest lockdown at 166 days is due to end on June 21. Surprisingly, the opposition to having everyday freedoms removed has been small aside from some peaceful demonstrations. The Conservative government even managed to increase its majority to 87 in a recent local election.
With live events being cancelled, the entertainment industry has been particularly hard hit. Yet any signs of a music rebellion against this new authoritarianism in Britain seems to have been largely confined to a few ageing members of the rock world’s aristocracy, who were mystified at how easily people—particularly the young—surrendered their freedoms.
Van Morrison’s song “Rebels” laments: “Where have all the rebels gone? Hiding behind their computer screens. Where’s the spirit, where is the soul? Where have all the rebels gone.”
Fellow dissenter Eric Clapton used the Northern Irishman’s lyrics in his 2020 release “Stand and deliver,” which begins, “Stand and deliver, you let them put the fear on you, Stand and deliver, but not a word you heard was true.” . . .
RFK, Jr. and River Activist Chad Pregracke on Removing 11 Million Pounds of Garbage from America’s Rivers + More
Through his nonprofit, Living Lands & Waters, Chad Pregracke and a team of 117,000 dedicated volunteers have removed 11 million pounds of garbage from America’s rivers.
Growing up in Moline, Illinois, Pregracke spent a lot of time outdoors swimming, fishing and hunting in and around the Mississippi River. His first job was working as a clam digger, where he spent up to 10 hours a day diving the depths of the Mississippi. It was this experience that solidified a lasting connection to the river.
Pregracke told Children’s Health Defense Chairman Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., on the “RFK Jr The Defender Podcast” about all the interesting things he’s found lying at the bottom of rivers, including an artillery shell shot during the Civil War, guns, grenades and plastic bags once filled with cash that were disposed of in the water after a bank robbery.
Living Lands & Waters has five barges, two towboats and six 30-foot work boats that can haul up to 5,000 pounds of trash. Once removed from the water, the nonprofit does its best to recycle as much of the garbage as possible, sorting it out into different categories of scrap metal, appliances, plastic, cans, bottles and more.
The organization also has an initiative, MillionTrees Project, through which it has planted nearly 1.5 million trees. Planting “trees is leaving a legacy,” said Pregracke. Trees will grow and create fruit for wildlife for generations to come, he said.
Listen to the full interview to hear Pregracke discuss his dream of introducing a small herd of Bison along the Mississippi as part of the nonprofit’s I-80 Restoration Project, the largest restoration project in Illinois history. The project seeks to restore the native prairie landscape which will benefit the local ecosystem and raise awareness about the endangered ecosystem.
Listen here:
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‘Highly inappropriate’: Journalism group rips Chris Cuomo, CNN over strategy talks with gov bro
CNN anchor Chris Cuomo acted in a “highly inappropriate” manner by advising his big brother, Gov. Andrew Cuomo, about how to handle a string of sexual misconduct allegations, according to a prominent journalism organization.
Tom Jones of the Poynter Institute for Media Studies wrote that the “Cuomo Prime Time” host’s relationship with his politico sibling represented “a conflict of interest that has been more than a year in the making … [and] finally blew up in CNN’s face.”
The Washington Post reported Thursday that Chris Cuomo took part in strategy sessions with the governor’s lawyer and aides, a clear violation of journalistic ethics. During those sessions, the paper reported, Chris Cuomo advised his older brother not to resign from office and depicted the governor as a would-be victim of “cancel culture.” . . .
Marvin Gaye’s ‘What’s Going On’ remains relevant 50 years later
“What’s Going On,” a poignant musical masterpiece crafted in a season of unease, persists as a timely backdrop to another heated time, half a century later, when the world feels upside down.
Fifty years ago, vibrating with agitation and energy, Marvin Gaye headed down the wood steps into a Detroit studio and made his anthem for the ages.
“What’s Going On,” a poignant musical masterpiece crafted in a season of unease, persists as a timely backdrop to another heated time, half a century later, when the world feels upside down.
Racial tensions, police controversy, environmental anxieties, a globe on edge — they were the topics on the front burner when Gaye rebooted his musical career and took control of his creative vision inside Motown.
His voice — voices, actually — hit the tape the second week of July 1970.
“There’s too many of you crying … there’s far too many of you dying …”
The song with the silky, layered vocals and an emphatic protest message was topical when Gaye cut it in 1970. It was still relevant when a newly freed Nelson Mandela recited its lyrics for a packed Tiger Stadium in 1990. And it resonates in 2021, in the wake of George Floyd’s death by police.
“In these times of crisis and challenge, we still go to those lyrics for strength,” said Detroit author and historian Ken Coleman.
The making of “What’s Going On” is a pillar of Detroit music lore.
Three years after the 1967 riot and rebellion that transformed his adopted hometown, the 31-year-old Gaye was in a deep and evolving head space. Shaken by the death of singing partner Tammi Terrell, haunted by the Vietnam War stories of his younger Army vet brother, Gaye was an emotional lightning rod waiting to be zapped with creative energy when Motown’s Obie Benson and Al Cleveland brought him their new composition about troubles across the land.
His textured recording was constructed over a series of sessions in 1970: the instrumental foundation in June, the vocals in July, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra’s sweetener in September. “What’s Going On” then sat for several months, a hot potato for Motown Records brass who fretted it was too controversial.
When the single finally went public in January 1971, it was an instant, massive hit. A full album was quickly commissioned, and four months later, Gaye’s groundbreaking LP of the same name was out.
The “What’s Going On” single, which reached No. 2 on the Billboard pop chart, was a mainstream breakthrough for conscious soul music. Its stature remains immense — Rolling Stone ranks it No. 4 on its “500 Greatest Songs of All Time” list — and it set the stage for themes now essential to hip-hop, resounding through artists such as Kendrick Lamar, Meek Mill and Joey Badass.
“It allows someone experiencing oppression and trauma — all these tragic moments that the government is often ignoring — to just ask the questions,” said Eldric Laron, a Detroit musician and spoken-word artist. “It’s so relevant today because that’s what a lot of us are doing. We’re asking questions before acting: the whats and whys and whos and whens. Saying ‘what’s going on?’ is a good starting point for yourself.” . . .
May 21, 2021 | Nightly News Rebroadcast | Video: 48 Minutes 08 Seconds
South Carolina to Allow Open Carry for Guns; Feds Seize Tigers, Lions From ‘Tiger King Park’. The Biden administration offered up a new price tag on its infrastructure plan. Students, parents, and organizers rally at Rutgers University to call for an end to the university’s vaccine mandate. A group of Georgia voters is now able to review absentee ballots in Fulton County.
Bannon’s War Room | Morning Edition Hour 1 | Recorded May 21, 2021 | Video: 48 Minutes 30 Seconds
Episode 964 – The Tyranny of the Minority … Joe Scarborough’s Melt Down. “You have all the power and you are using that power,” he said. “If you want to know what victory sounds like, that’s what victory sounds like.” Guests are: Boris Epshteyn, Mark Finchem, Ben Bergquam, Amanda Head, Naomi Wolf.
Bannon’s War Room | Morning Edition Hour 2 | Recorded May 21, 2021 | Video: 48 Minutes 04 Seconds
Episode 965 – 1776, 1863, and 2022?…Vaccine Fascism in Oregon and MAGA Candidates Fight in PA and OH. “I’m sitting here in Pittsburgh where a Democrat socialist, a European-style socialist mayor, just lost to a Marxist,” he said. “That is the energy in the Democrat Party right now. From the far left, from the fringes.” Guests are: Naomi Wolf, Jeff Bartos, Liz Preate Havey, Jennifer Zeng, Josh Mandel.
Bannon’s War Room | Evening Edition Hour 1 | Recorded May 21, 2021 | Video: 47 Minutes 58 Seconds
Episode 966 – War Room Special: Rise of the Phoenix … The Georgia Audit Exposed. Guests are: Amanda Head, Ben Bergquam, Drew Hernandez, Doug Wardlow, Garland Favorito, Sean Parnell, Mike Lindell.
Bannon’s War Room | Evening Edition Hour 2 | Recorded May 21, 2021 | Video: 48 Minutes 59 Seconds
Episode 967 – Making Lemonade … Audits Roll on and How MAGA Can Use the Jan. 6 Commission. Beattie says the Big Lies are all connected, and that he has gotten serious inquiries from congressmen about joining the Jan. 6 commission. Guests are: Mike Lindell, Darren Beattie, Jennifer Zeng, Matt Gaetz, John Fredericks.
Why Such A Heavy Push For A Vaccine Over Therapeutics? | Stopping Discussion Never Helps | Video: 16 Minutes 13 Seconds
There are many questions about the Covid-19 vaccine and issues related to side effects and effectiveness. Silencing those who question its necessity appears to do more harm than good. Even Fauci admitted that the high cycle thresholds used in today’s Covid-19 PCR tests are actually finding dead organic debris, not Covid-19. “Somebody comes in and they repeat their PCR and it’s like 37 cycle threshold. But you never, if you almost never can culture virus from a 37 threshold cycle. So I think if somebody does come in with 37, 38, even 36, you gotta say, you know, it’s just, it’s just dead nucleotides, period.” Our current cycle threshold for the general public is over 35 and as such, wildly inaccurate with many false positives.
Australia Wants mRNA Vaccines Made Onshore
On Friday, the Australian government will commence an “approach to market” for developing the capacity to make messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines in Australia.
This comes as the government negotiates with Moderna about setting up an onshore manufacturing facility for mRNA vaccines.
In a statement, the government said onshore manufacturing would ensure a secure, long-term supply of Moderna’s mRNA-based vaccines against COVID-19, the disease caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, including variants and potential future pandemics.
The process, which was signalled in the May 11 Federal Budget 2021-22, will be open for eight weeks from Friday.
Industry Minister Christian Porter said Australian businesses and researchers were already developing mRNA capacity, describing it as a promising branch of science.
“However, our market analysis also shows there are gaps and challenges to scale up, which mean it’s not currently possible to commercially manufacture mRNA treatments locally.
“The government is inviting key commercial providers and potential providers to demonstrate their future capability and explain what government involvement, assistance or support could make that capacity a reality,” Porter said. . . .
California County Requires Businesses to Submit Covid-19 Vaccination Status of All Employees
Businesses in Santa Clara County, California are required to submit vaccination status of all employees.
According to the county’s public health order, “All businesses and government entities must ascertain the vaccination status of personnel and must comply with the rules for personnel who are not fully vaccinated, as required under section 9(c) and 9(d) of the County Health Officer’s May 18, 2021 Order.”
Under the health order, the employee can decline to provide their vaccination status to their employer.
If the employee declines to offer the information, the employer “should assume the employee may be unvaccinated and follow State and local requirements for unvaccinated employees.”
In other words, if an employee refuses to get the vaccine or declines to disclose this private information to their employer, they will be treated like a second class citizen and will be forced to wear a face mask.
The employers are not required to provide the vaccine information to the County, but they are required to collect it and “have it available to demonstrate their compliance with this requirement” (struggle session).
The health order argues that HIPPA does not apply when an employer asks an employee for their vaccination status.
“No. HIPAA applies to certain entities, such as healthcare providers and health plans, and what protected health information they can share about their patients or members under what circumstances. HIPAA does not govern what information employers may request from their employees.” – the health order read.
It gets worse…
Employees are told to document and snitch on fellow co-workers if they won’t tell fellow colleagues whether they are vaccinated – then treat them like dirty virus bags and stay away from them.
“You must document that the worker declined to disclose his or her vaccination status, assume that they are not fully vaccinated, and follow all the rules that apply to workers who are not fully vaccinated.” the order said.
The deadline for determining the vaccination status of workers is June 1, 2021, however employers are instructed to harass employees who have declined to disclose their vaccination status every 14 days.
The employers must ask employees every 14 days what their vaccination status is so they can update their records.
The post California County Requires Businesses to Submit Covid-19 Vaccination Status of All Employees appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
As Our Society Continues It’s Descent Into Madness, Individuals Must Show Proof Of Vaccination Status In Oregon If Not Wearing A Mask According To “Oregon Health Authority”
Masks Requirements
In light of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) May 13 announcement regarding masking guidance, Oregon Health Authority (OHA) reviewed and updated Oregon’s official masking guidance. This page was updated on May 19, 2021 to reflect those updates.
Note: Businesses, employers and faith institutions now have the option to adjust their masking guidance to allow fully vaccinated individuals to no longer wear a mask in their establishments. Businesses, employers and faith institutions doing so must have a policy in place to check the vaccination status of all individuals before they enter their establishment. Businesses, employers and faith institutions who do not create such policies will maintain the same masking guidance listed below, regardless of an individual’s vaccination status.
If you have a medical condition that makes it hard to breathe or a disability that prevents you from wearing a mask, you can request an accommodation from the business or venue or transit authority.
OHA does not recommend wearing a plastic face shield alone. While face shields can be very good at blocking droplets, they are not as good at stopping aerosols that can go around the shield. OHA recommends face shields only be used on a limited basis, for example when talking to someone who is deaf or hard of hearing and needs to read lips to communicate.
Maryland to offer COVID vaccine lottery incentive with $2 million in cash prizes
Forty daily drawings for $40,000 each and a $400,000 Fourth of July jackpot. Get at least one jab and you’ve got a shot.
Maryland’s latest effort to encourage people to get vaccinated will shower cash — a total of $2 million — on top of protection against COVID-19 for those who roll up their sleeves. Any Maryland resident 18 or older who received a coronavirus vaccine shot in the state at any point will be entered automatically to win the prizes, which the Maryland Lottery will pay from its marketing and promotional budget.
“Get your shot for a shot to win,” Gov. Larry Hogan said Thursday while announcing the VaxCash Promotion at a news conference outside the governor’s mansion in Annapolis. Hogan, wearing sunglasses in the late spring heat, was flanked by state Health Secretary Dennis Schrader, Maryland State Lottery and Gaming Control Director Gordon Medenica and a man dressed in a lotto ball costume.
Using vaccination records, the health department will assign numbers randomly to people who’ve been vaccinated in the state and the lottery will draw one winner a day, starting Tuesday and through July 3, for a $40,000 prize each. Winners will be picked using a random number generator. . .
‘Excuse Me, I’m Not Done’: Joy Behar And Meghan McCain Square Off In Explosive Segment On Fauci And Vaccine Hesitancy
Joy Behar and Meghan McCain got into a heated dispute Thursday over vaccine hesitancy and the messaging coming from experts like Dr. Anthony Fauci.
Behar argued that the messaging wasn’t complicated and that conservatives seemed willing to forgo a life-saving vaccine to “own the libs” — but McCain pushed back, arguing that a lot of the confusing messaging was coming directly from the CDC, the White House and Fauci himself. . .
Vaccinated travelers will be allowed to visit Europe, EU Says
BRUSSELS — The European Union agreed Wednesday to reopen its borders to visitors who have been fully vaccinated with an approved shot and to those coming from a list of countries considered safe from a coronavirus perspective, permitting broader travel just in time for the summer tourism season.
Ambassadors from the 27 EU member states endorsed a plan that would allow visits from tourists and other nonessential travelers, who have been mostly barred from entering the bloc for more than a year.
The move has been seen as an economic imperative for tourism-dependent countries such as Greece and Spain.
The new rules are set to become formal policy next week after clearing some bureaucratic hurdles, and, depending on how well each country has prepared to welcome tourists, could be implemented immediately. Some countries, like Greece, have already said that they will remove testing and quarantine requirements for vaccinated visitors. But most countries are likely to implement such changes more slowly and conservatively.
Under the EU plan, the bloc would accept visitors who have completed their immunization at least two weeks before their arrival, using one of the shots approved by its own regulator or by the World Health Organization. That covers the vaccines from AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Moderna, Pfizer-BioNTech and Sinopharm, according to a draft of the rules seen by The New York Times. . . .
Seller of vaccine disinformation has YouTube channel removed
Photo by Associated Press – This Wednesday, May 12, 2021 image shows a website featuring Ty and Charleen Bollinger advertising their video series, “The Truth About Vaccines 2020.”
The Truth About Vaccines YouTube channel was taken down this week, Ty and Charlene Bollinger said in a post Tuesday on the messaging app Telegram. The Bollingers’ channel had about 75,000 subscribers but some of its videos had a much broader reach, including one that had over 1.5 million views and featured Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., a prominent voice in the anti-vaccine movement.
A message that greets visitors to the channel says the account was “terminated for violating YouTube’s Community Guidelines.” YouTube said it terminated the account because it violated its policies barring “COVID-19 medical misinformation,” and had three strikes in a 90-day period. YouTube started banning anti-vaccine misinformation in October.
Emergent, Which Ruined Vaccine Doses, Gave Its Top Executives Bonuses
Emergent BioSolutions, the biotech company whose Baltimore plant ruined millions of coronavirus vaccine doses, awarded hundreds of thousands of dollars in bonuses to its top executives last year, and the company’s board praised its founder and chairman for “leveraging his critical relationships with key customers, Congress, and other stakeholders,” according to documents released Wednesday by a House subcommittee.
The government, which awarded the firm a $628 million contract last year, has so far paid Emergent $271 million, even though U.S. regulators have yet to clear a single dose of vaccine produced at its manufacturing plant in Baltimore, according to the documents released by the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis in advance of a hearing on Wednesday.
Production at the plant was halted a month ago after workers accidentally contaminated a batch of vaccine, forcing Emergent to discard the equivalent of up to 15 million doses of Johnson & Johnson’s coronavirus vaccine.
Records from an Emergent board of directors compensation meeting offer a rare glimpse inside a politically connected federal contractor whose business is built largely around a single customer: the United States government. . .
‘This Week’ With Mary + Polly: CDC Has ‘No Clue’ What Will Happen When COVID Vaccines Are Given With Other Vaccines + More
This week, Mary Holland, Children’s Health Defense (CHD) president, and Polly Tommey, co-producer of “Vaxxed,” cover the latest COVID headlines, including discrimination based on vaccine status, Eric Clapton’s experience with the AstraZeneca vaccine and lighting up Brazil’s Christ the Redeemer statue with the message “Vaccine Saves.”
Mary and Polly also take on the issue of targeting people in lower socioeconomic groups with vaccine incentives and pro-vaccine messaging, including Ohio’s million-dollar lottery and McDonald’s teaming up with the U.S. government to provide “vaccine education” on its packaging.
Here are a few of this week’s highlights:
- As health officials look to “schools, camps, even beaches” in the race to vaccinate teens, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced COVID vaccines can now be given alongside other vaccines — a departure from an earlier recommendation that they be spaced out by at least two weeks. The guidance comes even as the CDC acknowledges “data are not available for COVID-19 vaccines administered simultaneously with other vaccines.” Mary said, “They have no clue about what will happen, no clue.”
- Merriam-Webster changed the official definition of the word “anti-vaxxer” (a recent edition to Merriam-Webster’s dictionary). It has been changed to include people who oppose forced inoculation mandates.
- Pediatricians are being “primed” to lead the effort to convince the “skyrocketing” numbers of “vaccine-hesitant” to get their kids the vaccine. “No parent should be rushing to give a child an unapproved, unlicensed medical product” — especially for a virus they aren’t at risk from, Mary said.
- An 8-month-old baby became the world’s youngest to get two doses of the Pfizer vaccine.
- The World Health Organization continues to stand by vaccines even as India is ravaged by COVID variants — but one scientist warns mass vaccination could be causing more virulent strains. “It’s analogous to antibiotic resistance, where bacteria just evolve to evade the drug,” Mary said. “The virus wants to live.”
- Delta Airlines will require new employees to get the vaccine, but won’t force existing employees to get it. “This shows they’re afraid to lose their workforce,” said Mary. “They realize they’re walking into a hornet’s nest.”
- Vaccine mandate laws are changing. Visit the advocacy portal of the National Vaccine Information Center and sign up to get alerts about bills in your state.
- CHD will be back in New York in July to argue in court against allowing school officials to overrule medical decisions made by students’ physicians.
- Follow Children’s Health Defense Live for more interviews by Polly, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and others. Plus register and tune in May 25 at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT for an online town hall forum on all things COVID, featuring medical experts, scientists, researchers, attorneys and community activists and more.
Watch “This Week” with Mary + Polly:
The post ‘This Week’ With Mary + Polly: CDC Has ‘No Clue’ What Will Happen When COVID Vaccines Are Given With Other Vaccines + More appeared first on Children’s Health Defense.
Emergent CEO: J&J vaccine production could resume in days
Emergent BioSolutions could resume manufacturing doses of Johnson & Johnson’s coronavirus vaccine “within a matter of days,” the company’s CEO Robert Kramer told a House panel Wednesday.
Democratic lawmakers on the House Coronavirus Crisis Subcommittee pressed Kramer on Emergent’s ability to fix a host of manufacturing issues identified by a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) inspection of its Baltimore facility in April.
At least one of those issues led to the contamination of 15 million J&J doses with ingredients from AstraZeneca’s vaccine, which the company was also manufacturing at the time.
As a result, the FDA paused production and essentially quarantined the remaining doses on hand to conduct thorough quality checks. The Biden administration also ordered AstraZeneca to find a new manufacturing partner.
There are more than 100 million doses of Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine on hold, Kramer said, disclosing for the first time just how much of the vaccine has been affected. . . .
U.K.’s Johnson More Confident Vaccines Work Against Variants
U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he has “increasing confidence” vaccines are working against all coronavirus variants, raising hopes that the last lockdown rules will be lifted as planned next month.
New data indicates that “vaccines are effective against all variants, including the Indian variant,” Johnson told MPs on Wednesday. The spread of the new form of the virus had sparked concern that the government will be forced to delay plans to end most restrictions in England on June 21.
There are currently 2,967 cases of the India variant in the U.K., Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced Wednesday, up from 2,323 on Monday. Extra testing sites are being set up in eight more districts that have detected spikes in cases, Hancock told parliament. . .
Over 100 Million J.&J. Doses On Hold As U.S. Regulators Inspect Them
The chief executive of Emergent BioSolutions, whose Baltimore plant ruined millions of coronavirus vaccine doses, disclosed for the first time on Wednesday that more than 100 million doses of Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine are now on hold as regulators check them for possible contamination.
In more than three hours of testimony before a House subcommittee, the chief executive, Robert G. Kramer, calmly acknowledged unsanitary conditions, including mold and peeling paint, at the Baltimore plant. He conceded that Johnson & Johnson — not Emergent — had discovered contaminated doses, and he fended off aggressive questions from Democrats about his stock sales and hundreds of thousands of dollars in bonuses for top company executives.
Emergent’s Bayview Baltimore plant was forced to halt operations a month ago after contamination spoiled the equivalent of 15 million doses, but Mr. Kramer told lawmakers that he expected the facility to resume production “in a matter of days.” He said he took “very seriously” a report by federal regulators that revealed manufacturing deficiencies and accepted “full responsibility.”
“No one is more disappointed than we are that we had to suspend our 24/7 manufacturing of new vaccine,” Mr. Kramer told the panel, adding, “I apologize for the failure of our controls.” . . .
Nolte: Pelosi’s Anti-Science Mask Mandate Undermines Trust in Vaccine
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has moved into Joe Biden’s previous role as America’s Anti-Vaxxer-in-Chief, and it’s not only terrible for the country, it’s blatantly anti-science.
For months and month, His Fraudulency Joe Biden made it his mission to undermine confidence in the coronavirus vaccines. Although he was fully vaccinated, the idiot still wore his mask while outdoors He even wore a mask during a Zoom meeting. There was no scientific rationale for a vaccinated person to behave this way; he just did. And this was after he told the country not to trust the vaccine.
“Let me be clear. I trust vaccines. I trust scientists. But I don’t trust Donald Trump. And at this moment, the American people can’t either,” he said in September.
In word and example, Biden’s been telling people not to trust the vaccine. . . .
Rand Paul Takes Victory Lap Over Arch-Nemesis Anthony Fauci, Accuses Doctor of ‘Doing It for Show’
Rand Paul has been smacking around Anthony Fauci’s smug little face for months. To the dismay of everyone in the media with a velvet painting of Fauci that they surround with candles and pray to five times a day. Rand Paul would challenge Anthony Fauci to back up what he says with data. The infallible Pope Tony would accuse Rand of “theatrics.” The media would say, “Yeah, what Fauci said!” So when the sciencey Fauci admitted in so many words that he masks up just for show, Senator Paul had a little somethin’ somethin’ to say about it.
Senator Paul on The Story
My question to [Dr. Fauci] would be “Did you just discover vaccine immunology? Did you not believe in vaccine immunology couple weeks ago when I asked you this? Or were you doing it for show?” … You heard him say he didn’t want people to SEE him without a mask. The thing is, the science hasn’t changed. We’ve known that when you’re vaccinated — we’ve known this for quite a while — that you’re not transmitting it and not getting it. We’ve known that for months now. … But realize they’re still pushing this on our kids now because they’re saying, “[Kids] have to have been vaccinated [to unmask].” …
Kids should be allowed to run around outside without a freakin’ mask.
Senator Paul is a better man than me. I would have a “Fauci Sucks Eggs” T-shirt on everywhere I go. My five-word response would simply be, “I f*cking told you so!” Because Senator Paul has in fact been f*cking telling Fauci so.
- Rand Paul SCOLDS Fauci for Lockdown Effects. It Gets Heated!
- Rand Paul Mocks Anthony Fauci’s ‘Noble Lies’ We’re Told for Our Own Good
- Rand Paul Unloads on Anthony Fauci’s Claim We Need Masks Even After Being Vaccinated
- Rand Paul Wrecks Anthony Fauci Over His ‘Fatal Conceit’
- Rand Paul Confronts Dr. Fauci, TO HIS FACE, About Crappy Covid Modeling
It would take honest reporting to point out all the things Anthony Fauci has gotten wrong, why he got away with it for so long, and how his wrongness prolonged everyone’s misery. I doubt another Senate hearing would help matters. But if it’s Rand Paul grilling Dr. Faucci one last time, it will at least be a blast to watch.
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Canadian Man Loses Over Six Feet Of Intestine After Blood Clot Caused By COVID Vaccine
A husband and father in British Columbia, Canada has lost over half of his small intestine to a blood clot induced by a dose of the AstraZeneca COVID vaccine, and has issued an urgent warning to other vaccine recipients after being told by doctors he had almost died.
“I really wish they had let us know what “worse case scenario” might look like…,” Shaun Mulldoon posted on Facebook. “If you, or if any of your friends or family have received AstraZeneca vaccine…. I had stomach pains 10 days later (Monday) They continued for 5 more days. Spoke to my family doctor twice, on Monday, and again 4 days later on Friday. Had a negative covid test Wednesday 17 days after my vaccine ended up going into emergency surgery to remove over 6 feet of my small intestine. I had a massive blood clot.”
“Second surgery two days later to [remove] more,” Mulldoon’s post continued. “My surgeon told me it was very close If you get [Astra] and do [not] feel 100%, get yourself to emergency immediately!!! Still in hospital a week later.”
“This is life changing for us,” Mulldoon’s wife Tara said. “I feel like we have a long road ahead of us as far as his recovery goes. He’s lost half of his small intestine.” According to CBC, Mulldoon was vaccinated on April 22 and suffered symptoms that progressed from nausea to headache, vomiting, and fever. Mulldoon reported his symptoms, but was advised to stay home multiple times by doctors.
The symptoms progressed to passing and vomiting blood on May 8, and Mulldoon was in emergency surgery a day later.
Mulldoon’s post was struck with a label by Facebook that reads, “COVID-19 vaccines go through many tests for safety and effectiveness and are then monitored closely,” sourcing the ‘World health Organization.”
“We are not anti-vaxxers,” Tara Mulldoon said. “We just want people to take any adverse symptoms following the vaccine – please take it seriously.” The couple noted that doctors did not accurately represent the risk of serious side effects: “I mean there’s chitter chatter about the risks of blood clots, but … it was presented to us as being so so rare.”
The Norwegian Institute of Health recommended that the AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson vaccine be banned earlier month, following numerous reports of dangerous side effects such as blood clots. . .
COVID Vaccines May Not Work on Millions Who Have Underlying Conditions, Yet CDC Continues to Recommend They Get the Shot
Emerging research shows that 15% to 80% of people with certain medical conditions aren’t generating many antibodies, if any, after receiving a COVID vaccine.
According to NBC News, people taking medications that suppress their immune system, those on medication for inflammatory disorders and those with blood cancers showed a significantly weaker antibody response to the vaccine.
An organ transplant study published in JAMA found 46% of 658 transplant patients did not mount an antibody response after two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines. Researchers think the lack of reaction is probably a result of taking a class of immunosuppressive drugs, called antimetabolites.
“Although this study demonstrates an improvement in … antibody responses in transplant recipients after dose two … these data suggest that a substantial proportion of transplant recipients likely remain at risk for COVID-19 after two doses of mRNA vaccine,” researchers from Johns Hopkins wrote.
“I am quite disappointed that a significant amount of transplant patients did not get a reasonable response from both doses of the vaccine,” said Dr. Dorry Segev, author of the study, associate vice chair for research and professor of surgery at Johns Hopkins University.
“The overwhelming majority of transplant patients, even after a second dose of the vaccine, appear to have suboptimal protection — if any protection — from the vaccine, which is frightening, disappointing and a bit surprising,” Segev said.
One of Segev’s trial participants, Laura Burns, received a double lung transplant in 2016, and was taking immunosuppressive medications to prevent her body from rejecting the new lungs. Despite two doses of Moderna’s vaccine, her body did not mount any detectable antibodies to the virus.
However, Segev said he was hopeful because the number of participants who developed antibodies after two doses was higher than the number of people who developed antibodies after just one dose. He and other researchers said scientists are prepared with potential solutions, including a third booster or high-dose shots — though no clinical trials have been conducted yet.
Mounzer Agha, a hematologist at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, led a study on blood cancers and COVID vaccines posted online before peer review. Agha said he was crushed when he saw the low antibody results for nearly half of the 67 patients his group tracked. . .
May 20, 2021 | Nightly News Rebroadcast | Video: 54 Minutes 07 Seconds
Israel and Hamas Agree to Ceasefire; Pennsylvania Votes to Limit Governor’s Powers. Israel and the Hamas terrorist group agree on a ceasefire, U.S. Senate Republicans call on President Joe Biden to continue oil sanctions on Iran, and the House passes a $1.9 billion bill to enhance security around the U.S. Capitol.
Paying People To Kill Us – China’s Focus On Biological Warfare…
It is clear to anybody who can read and is willing to think for themselves by this point that COVID-19 almost certainly came out of a Chinese bio lab in Wuhan. You can continue to believe in the bat soup hypothesis if you want, just as you can continue to believe in any number of other fairy tales, but that does not make it real.
It is also clear that Dr. Fauci and a number of other prominent American scientists had extensive contact with the Wuhan lab and Chinese scientists working there. There has been no wall between the United States and China when it comes to potentially deadly “gain of function” research on coronaviruses. Fauci in particular knew about and funded work at Wuhan that was specifically designed to make naturally occurring viruses more deadly to humans.
What is perhaps less well appreciated is the context in which all this occurred. Let’s forget for a moment that the sloppy lab practices in Wuhan were well known or that in general the tendency of studied organisms to escape from lab conditions and return to the “wild” has been well documented. Let’s just focus on this question, what should Fauci, and his associates have reasonably assumed the Chinese were going to do with the new “Frankenstein” viruses they were building?
Let’s talk about biological warfare. . .
[ Paying People To Kill Us – China’s Focus On Biological Warfare… ]
Ice Age wood artifacts discovered in Carver County
A Goodhue, Minn., man stumbled upon wood buried deep in the ground while doing excavation work in Carver County last summer, later discovering the artifacts were 14,000 years old.
The uncommon find, which survived the last Ice Age, offers a window into a time when parts of Minnesota were covered in glaciers. The wood split into pieces during excavation — the larger of two chunks, which is 2 feet long and a few inches in diameter, found a home last week at the Carver County Historical Society as the oldest item in its collection. The smaller one will stay at the University of Minnesota’s Bell Museum of natural history.
Joel Kassen was installing new sewer lines in a Carver farm field in June when he noticed his excavator was hitting wood. He found that unusual, since he was digging about 18 feet underground — deeper than anyone had dug in recent centuries and far below where a log would typically hide, said his brother, Gary Kassen.
Joel Kassen carefully scooped out the relic and brought it to his brother’s Chanhassen home. The pair both have an interest in geology and history and suspected the wood, which had remained solid, “was from the glacial period,” Gary Kassen said. “I was excited — that’s something I’ve always hoped I would find, or I would see.”
Bannon’s War Room | Morning Edition Hour 1 | Recorded May 20, 2021 | Video: 47 Minutes 42 Seconds
Episode 961 – Hitting Woke Where It Hurts (w/ J.D. Vance, Matthew Lohmeier). Guests are: J.D. Vance, Lt. Col. Matthew Lohmeier.
Biden Calls Coast Guard Graduates a “Dull Class” and Demands They Clap for Him
Two factual notes…. (1) Biden is a person of generally intemperate disposition. (2) The rank and file military do not like him. The installed White House occupant calls the graduating class of the Coast Guard “dull” after they do not clap for him. WATCH: . Nobody likes sleepy creepy Joe. Posted in 1st Amendment, Big […]
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NYC Pride Bans Police Presence Until 2025
NYC Pride announced a ban on law enforcement at its annual celebration, saying it does not want to create an “atmosphere of fear or harm.”
The non-profit organization said the ban would be effective not only at this summer’s events, but at events until 2025, with any participation by law enforcement to be reviewed by the Community Relations and Diversity, Accessibility, and Inclusion committees.
“This announcement follows many months of conversation and discussion with key stakeholders in the community,” NYC Pride Co-Chair André Thomas said in a statement.
In past years, NYPD officers in the LGBTQ-A community have joined in the parade, typically in full uniform, and Pride officials felt that it would not be appropriate as NYPD presence can feel “dangerous,” to community members who in the past may have had excessive force used against them.
“NYPD is not required to lead first response and security at NYC Pride events,” NYC Pride said in its statement. “All aspects of first response and security that can be reallocated to trained private security, community leaders, and volunteers will be reviewed. An increased budget for security and first response will allow NYC Pride to independently build a first response emergency plan using private security and provide safety volunteers with de-escalation training for first response when necessary. NYPD will provide first response and security only when absolutely necessary as mandated by city officials.”
NYPD Deputy Commissioner John Miller addressed the ban, saying it was “disappointing.”
“NYC Pride’s decision to exclude members of the NYPD from Pride events is hurtful and disappointing,” Miller said through Twitter. “… inclusion and dialogue are the oxygen of reform.”
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio echoed NYPD’s sentiments Monday, calling the decision by NYC Pride, “a mistake.”
“First of all, we have to keep people safe and it’s been an incredibly safe, positive event, and we have to be mindful of continuing that,” Mayor de Blasio said while speaking at City Hall. “Second of all, I believe in inclusion, and we’re talking about, one of the issues is, officers who are members of the LGBT community wanting to march and express their pride and their solidarity to the community, and their desire to keep changing the NYPD and changing the city. That’s something I think should be embraced.”
On the other side of the country, L.A. Pride had a similar dilemma with law enforcement at its 2020 festivities. A march of solidarity with the black community was planned last summer and later canceled after organizers “overlooked the direct police involvement that permitting involved,” when seeking city permits. Instead, an independent committee was formed for a march titled “All Black Lives Matter,” on the day the original Pride march was supposed to take place.
L.A. Pride supported the decision of Black LGBTQ community members moving forward for a march without the organization. ❖
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Fake Outrage Over Cheney ‘Ouster’; Dems ‘Ousted’ Bernie Twice
Source: AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite
A CNN headline read in part: “Ousted Cheney Warns Direction of the Party is ‘Dangerous.'” MSNBC wrote, “The GOP infighting reached a turning point after Republicans ousted Congresswoman Liz Cheney from her leadership position.”
PBS wrote, “In less than 20 minutes behind closed doors, House Republicans made their allegiance to former President Donald Trump clear by ousting … Cheney.”
The Washington Post said Cheney’s removal from leadership “offered the clearest sign yet of how far Republicans are willing to go to support or tolerate Trump’s lies about the election as well the degree to which many members are trying to rewrite the history of Jan. 6 to erase the former president’s culpability.” Never mind that for four years and counting, Hillary Clinton has referred to the 2016 election as “stolen” and then-President Trump as “illegitimate.” Two-thirds of Democrats believe that in 2016, the Russians changed vote tallies to defeat Clinton, despite the exhaustive Senate report that found zero evidence that the Russians succeeded in changing a single vote tally.
Bear in mind we were talking about Cheney, the daughter and ideological soul mate of the former Vice President Dick Cheney, who was labeled a “neocon” and loathed by the left. MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan praised Liz Cheney for “her stance against her own party,” but added: “But what about the argument that Liz Cheney herself isn’t a stranger to, quote/unquote, big lies? She backed the Iraq war. She denied Bush-era torture.” So, the left’s newfound love for Liz Cheney is, well, complicated. Note also that Cheney’s replacement has a more moderate voting record, a change that, in normal times, would please the average liberal.
This is about Trump. Ratings for cable news, particularly at CNN and MSNBC, declined dramatically after the Trump presidency. To reverse this downward trend, the media seeks whenever possible to keep Trump in the news. Thus, the Cheney “ouster” story checks a lot of boxes. But one of the boxes it checks is hypocrisy.
Where was this outrage over the “ouster” of Sen. Bernie Sanders, D-Vt., from the presidential campaigns in 2016 and in 2020? […]
Baltimore roared back to life from deadly 1918 flu pandemic after just a few weeks of restrictions
When the 1918 pandemic hit Baltimore nearly 5,400 persons died within a few weeks. The influenza landed lethally in October, prompting authorities to close schools, churches, synagogues, racetracks and theaters.
There were marked differences between 1918 and 2020-2021.
The 1918 pandemic cut down young persons in the 20 to 44 age group with alarming speed. In 2021, it was seniors who were most susceptible, though health officials say younger people are currently fueling transmission of COVID-19.
Baltimore’s 1918 restrictions, imposed to stop the spread of the virus, did not last long — only several weeks. By Oct. 27, 1918, City Health Commissioner John D. Blake reopened churches for all services, excepting funerals. By Nov. 1, he reopened schools and eased nearly all other restrictions because the infection rate had dropped off.
By comparison, more than 8,700 died in all of Maryland since the coronavirus was first detected in March 2020. Just this week, Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott said the city would continue its masking restrictions until more of the city’s residents were vaccinated — continuing over a year of mandates and regulations designed to stop the spread.
Federal Law Prohibits Mandates of Emergency Use COVID Vaccines, Tests, Masks — 3 Resources You Can Use to Inform Your School or Employer
With more than 100 U.S. colleges mandating COVID vaccines for in-person attendance and schools enforcing mask mandates, it’s critical people understand their rights.
The bottom line is this: mandating products authorized for Emergency Use Authorization status (EUA) violates federal law as detailed in the following legal notifications.
All COVID vaccines, COVID PCR and antigen tests, and masks are merely EUA-authorized, not approved or licensed, by the federal government. Long-term safety and efficacy have not been proven.
EUA products are by definition experimental, which requires people be given the right to refuse them. Under the Nuremberg Code, the foundation of ethical medicine, no one may be coerced to participate in a medical experiment. Consent of the individual is “absolutely essential.”
Earlier this year, Mary Holland, Children’s Health Defense president and general counsel, and attorney Greg Glaser stated that federal law prohibits employers from mandating EUA COVID vaccines (or EUA COVID-19 tests or masks).
Holland and Glaser wrote:
“If a vaccine has been issued EUA by the FDA, it is not fully licensed and must be voluntary. A private party, such as an employer, school or hospital cannot circumvent the EUA law, which prohibits mandates. Indeed, the EUA law preventing mandates is so explicit that there is only one precedent case regarding an attempt to mandate an EUA vaccine.”
What to do if your school or employer says you must get the COVID vaccine
The Children’s Health Defense legal team has written three legal notifications that anyone faced with a COVID vaccine, COVID test or mask mandate can use to inform employers and universities that they are violating federal law. You can download the three notifications here.
All of the notifications include this language:
“Federal law, Title 21 U.S.C. § 360bbb-3(e)(1)(A)(ii)(I-III) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, states the following about products granted emergency authorization usage:
Individuals to whom the product is administered are informed—
(I) that the Secretary has authorized the emergency use of the product;
(II) of the significant known and potential benefits and risks of such use, and of the extent to which such benefits and risks are unknown; and
(III) of the option to accept or refuse administration of the product, of the consequences, if any, of refusing administration of the product, and of the alternatives to the product that are available and of their benefits and risks.
Any entity or organization that requires EUA COVID-19 vaccinations, COVID-19 tests or masks are in violation of federal law, and will likely face lawsuits if they don’t allow exemptions or alternatives.”
Submitting the notices prepared by Children’s Health Defense is the first step prior to seeking an exemption or taking legal action.
Vaccine exemption laws vary by state. Go to the National Vaccine Information Center to learn more about your state exemptions.
It’s critical to stand against mandates and preserve legally protected, fundamental human rights on issues related to health freedom. Don’t fall prey to coercion and pressure, use the resources available to protect your legal rights.
The post Federal Law Prohibits Mandates of Emergency Use COVID Vaccines, Tests, Masks — 3 Resources You Can Use to Inform Your School or Employer appeared first on Children’s Health Defense.
Chicago Mayor Lightfoot says will grant one-on-one interviews only to black or brown reporters
Chicago Democratic Mayor Lori Lightfoot says she’ll give one-on-one interviews to mark the halfway point of the first, four-year term but only to black and brown journalists.
Lightfoot in a tweet Wednesday say her decision is in response to the city hall press corp being “overwhelmingly white,” in a city in which over half of its population identifies as “Black, Latino, AAPI, or Native American.”
The decision has resulted is backlash and raised questions about discrimination on the basis or race or color.
The Price of Woke Corporate Politics
Some of America’s most prominent CEOs have been getting political, as in woke political, and perhaps they figured it was cost-free. They are now learning the hard way that it isn’t, as a national advertising campaign targets their brands and credibility.
The campaign launched Tuesday by Consumers’ Research, a conservative nonprofit, takes aim at Nike , Coca-Cola and American Airlines. But others could be the targets, says Will Hild, executive director of Consumers’ Research. The 30-second spots will air on national cable news, as well as “in local markets where the companies are headquartered,” the nonprofit said. One source says the overall ad buy could be up to $13 million.
Each ad treats the companies like a political candidate would an opponent, hitting the company’s reputation and contrasting its high-minded social-justice rhetoric with its other behavior. Nike embraced Colin Kaepernick, the woke former quarterback, one ad says, but “rather than hiring Americans, Nike chose China.” The ad mentions CEO John Donahoe and claims the company produced shoes in a factory and regions suspected of using forced Uyghur labor.
Nike says its code of conduct prohibits “any type of prison, forced, bonded or indentured labor” and that it has no evidence “of employment of Uyghurs, or other ethnic minorities” from Xinjiang in it supply chain.
Auditors: “Deleted” files “recovered” in Maricopa Co. 2020 election audit
An auditor working on the 2020 election audit in Maricopa County, Arizona says he has recovered files that were deleted from a server. Ben Cotton reported that data from an allegedly deleted database is now accessible. Meantime, Maricopa County officials implied the files had not been deleted. In a tweet, the County wrote: “Just want […]
CONFIRMED: Arizona Auditors Recover 2020 Election Databases Deleted Only Days Before Audit Began
Forensic analysis firm CyFIR’s founder confirmed this week that the primary database for the the Maricopa County presidential election, which had been deleted at some point, has successfully been recovered and is now undergoing data continuity checks to ensure that the data is useful.
Though Democrat officials have insisted that the Database directory on the primary EMS server has not been deleted, and that claims as such were right-wing conspiracies, CyFIR’s Ben Cotton confirmed during a special hearing on Wednesday that the database had in fact been deleted. The recovery of the database initially spawned false proclamations from left-wing media that the data had never been deleted in the first place.
“Maricopa County did not delete files when preparing the subpoenaed SQL server for delivery,” the Maricopa County Election Board insisted in a lengthy tweet thread accompanied by verbose graphics on Wednesday. However, a statement from Cottton swiftly debunked false information from left-wing media.
“Statement from Ben Cotton of Cyfir: My testimony on May 19th before the AZ Senate is being taken out of context by some media outlets. To confirm: the ‘Databases’ directory on the EMS Primary Server WAS deleted containing the voting databases,” the statement read. “I was able to recover the deleted databases through forensic data recovery processes. We are performing data continuity checks to ensure that the recovered databases are usable.”
2/2) I was able to recover the deleted databases through forensic data recovery processes. We are performing data continuity checks to ensure that the recovered databases are usable.
— Maricopa Arizona Audit (@ArizonaAudit) May 19, 2021
As National File previously reported, officials have confirmed that a massive breach of voter data in Maricopa County prior to the presidential election, where Democrat Joe Biden took the county by a narrow margin:
Arizona Republican party chair Kelli Ward stated on Thursday that Maricopa County recorder Stephen Richer learned of a significant “breach of voter identification information” last year, a breach that is currently being investigated by law enforcement officials. In November 2020, federal agents raided a home in Maricopa County looking for stolen voter data after the Maricopa County Recorder’s office confirmed that voter data had been stolen.
“Beyond the actual recounting of each and every ballot, there is new information coming to light each and every day, as to how poorly the election in November was supervised in Maricopa County and in Arizona,” Ward continued. “Election officials say they didn’t have access to passwords that are critical, critical equipment, but outside vendors like Dominion did. Routers weren’t secure and may have been used to allow access to a network of county offices. And now Maricopa County recorder Stephen Richer has revealed in a letter to voters that he learned, prior to his term, a breach of voter identification information occurred last election cycle and is now being investigated by law enforcement.”
On November 5, 2020, the FBI raided the home of an IT expert named Elliot Kerwin after a cyberattack that resulted in the theft of Maricopa County voter data was reported by the county Recorder’s office. According to Forbes, the agents confiscated “eight hard drives, three computers and a bag of USB sticks. ”