The record shows that the DOJ is adept at using the Espionage Act as a cudgel to punish its political enemies.
Barely two weeks ago, the lawfare cabal at Just Security, led by Andrew Weissmann, the former senior prosecutor for the Robert Mueller special counsel investigation, released the second edition of their “model prosecution memorandum” to (presumably) help out his former colleagues at the Department of Justice (DOJ). The document seeks to offer up nearly any theory of law to “get Trump.”
Just Security bills itself as “an online forum for the rigorous analysis of security, democracy, foreign policy, and rights,” but in practice, the organization, funded in part by George Soros’ Open Society Foundations, is the legal beachhead of the Trump resistance. Their model document provides 186 pages of “throw the book at him” musings along with 222 separate footnotes and has largely telegraphed the DOJ’s legal strategy. The document is supported by a variety of public and nonpublic allegations (surely a mixture of leaked information and fabricated information if history is any guide). The fact that their roadmap nearly parallels the now-public indictment of former President Donald Trump is surely a coincidence.
Prosecuting Leaks and Foreign Spies
The “document retention” portion of the Espionage Act states:
§793. Gathering, transmitting or losing defense information
(e) Whoever having unauthorized possession of, access to, or control over any document, writing, code book, signal book, sketch, photograph, photographic negative, blueprint, plan, map, model, instrument, appliance, or note relating to the national defense, or information relating to the national defense which information the possessor has reason to believe could be used to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of any foreign nation, willfully communicates, delivers, transmits or causes to be communicated, delivered, or transmitted, or attempts to communicate, deliver, transmit or cause to be communicated, delivered, or transmitted the same to any person not entitled to receive it, or willfully retains the same and fails to deliver it to the officer or employee of the United States entitled to receive it… (emphasis added)
Prominently in their model prosecution memorandum related to the Espionage Act is the acknowledgment that the statute is typically used for “leaking cases and foreign government spies.” Dismissing the DOJ’s historical circumspection regarding its applicability, the document proceeds to weave together a basis to charge Trump under the statute. It is unclear if the fan fiction roadmap was needed, as the record shows that the DOJ is in fact quite adept at using 18 U.S.C. 793 (e) as a cudgel to punish its political enemies. Take for instance the case of Thomas A. Drake.
Government Cudgels a Political Enemy
Drake Joined the National Security Agency (NSA) as an executive on Sept. 11, 2001. He quickly became concerned about illegal activities, waste, and mismanagement within the agency. Accordingly, he attempted to raise concerns through standard channels and even elevated his concerns to Congress as a whistleblower.
Eventually, after getting nowhere trying to blow the lid off both financial waste and abuse of Americans’ fundamental civil rights via certain NSA surveillance programs, he decided to leak certain controlled information to a media contact. The resulting stories about the Trailblazer program published in The Baltimore Sun in 2006 and 2007 embarrassed Michael Hayden’s NSA.
Our government rewarded his efforts in November 2007 with a raid on his home, initially suspecting him of being the source of the leaks that disclosed the agency’s warrantless wiretapping in a 2005 New York Times expose. He denied having anything to do with those leaks but acknowledged providing unclassified information to The Baltimore Sun.
After the raid of his home, which caused him to lose his job, the government sat on the case for nearly three years before indicting him in April 2010. The indictment levied five counts of willful retention of National Defense Information (the Espionage Act charges), one charge of obstruction of justice, and four counts of false statements, but the case was eventually pleaded to a misdemeanor. At sentencing, the judge excoriated the government, first for wasting the court’s time only to settle the case on the eve of trial for a misdemeanor, and second for jerking around the defendant for as long as they did.
THE COURT: What message is sent by the government, Mr. Welch … when the government dismisses a ten-count indictment a year after indictment, on the eve of trial, after days and days of hearings under the Classified Information and Procedures Act, and in what I find to be an extraordinary position taken by the government, probably unprecedented in this courthouse, for a case of this profile, literally on a Thursday afternoon before a Monday trial, subject to the government to be prepared as you will in a moment to dismiss the entire ten-count indictment and allow the defendant to plead guilty to a misdemeanor?
…
THE COURT: And as I tell you, as I say to you, Mr. Welch, I find it extraordinary. I even talked to one of my colleagues about it, his career background is similar to mine, I find it extraordinary in this case for an individual’s home to be searched in November of 2007, for the government to have no explanation for a two year delay, not a two and a half year delay, for him to then be indicted in April of 2010, and then over a year later, on the eve of trial, in June of 2011, the government says, whoops, we dropped the whole case. . . .
Skip The Scoop | Seek Understanding
Professor Fired For Reading Passage Containing Racial Slur From Mark Twain Novel That ‘Satirizes Evil Institution Of Slavery’
An adjunct professor at St. John’s University has allegedly been fired for reading a passage from Mark Twain’s anti-slavery novel “Pudd’nhead Wilson” during a class on satirical literature, The New York Post reported.
Hannah Berliner Fischthal, an adjunct at St. Johns for 20 years, used the word once during a remote class on February 10 after teaching her students the word’s history and context, and said she hoped the usage of the word would not offend anyone in the class, the Post reported.
“Mark Twain was one of the first American writers to use actual dialect. His use of the ‘N-word’ is used only in dialogues as it could have actually been spoken in the south before the Civil War, when the story takes place,” Fischthal said, referring to the book.
“It satirizes the entire evil institution of slavery,” she added in a statement after her firing, according to the Post.
Space Force official fired after denouncing ‘neo-Marxist agenda’ in U.S. military
U.S. Space Force officer who published a book saying that Neo-Marxism is influencing the military has been relieved of command due to remarks he made on a podcast.
“Lt. Gen. Stephen Whiting, Space Operations Command commander, relieved Lt. Col. Matthew Lohmeier of command of the 11th Space Warning Squadron, Buckley Air Force Base, Colorado, May 14, due to loss of trust and confidence in his ability to lead,” the Space Force said in a statement, according to the Washington Examiner. “This decision was based on public comments made by Lt. Col. Lohmeier in a recent podcast. Lt. Gen. Whiting has initiated a Command Directed Investigation (CDI) on whether these comments constituted prohibited partisan political activity.”
He made the remarks while promoting a book on a podcast, where he decried leftist practices in U.S. institutions, including the military. . .
Apple Set to Call Tim Cook to Witness Stand to Fight Monopoly Claims
Apple Inc. gets its turn this week to mount a courtroom defense against Epic Games Inc.’s antitrust claims, preparing to bring in its most powerful spokesman: Tim Cook.
Mr. Cook, a guarded chief executive who is used to carefully orchestrated public appearances, is set to testify in a trial that, regardless of the verdict, could prove to be one of the most consequential for the iPhone maker as it faces accusations it denies of abusing its market power.
Approaching the 10th anniversary of taking over as chief executive, Mr. Cook is no stranger to high-profile, make-or-break moments for Apple. A polished public speaker, he has twice testified before Congress but never appeared on a witness stand in a trial where his words could sway a judge for or against the company. . .
US Marshals Recovered Record-High 387 Missing Children in 2020: Top Official
A top official within the U.S. Marshals Service said that some 387 missing children were recovered by the agency in 2020, a record high number. Speaking to journalist Sharyl Attkisson, Chief Inspector Floriano Whitwell, who heads the U.S. Marshals’ sex offender investigations, said, “Last year, we recovered 387 missing children, and that was the most we’ve ever recovered, almost 100 more than the previous year. “But I would also emphasize that in my opinion, we’re barely scratching the surface,” he added. According to the FBI, the number of reported missing children was 421,394 in 2019 and 365,348 in 2020, while the majority of cases are considered “endangered runaways.” “I personally was extremely concerned by the lack of spotlight, the lack of resources, and just simply the lack of children being recovered across our country, knowing now how big of an epidemic it was,” Whitwell also said. “And so I decided to make that my focus” …
Dr. Mercola’s Attackers Sued for Role in ‘Crime of the Century’
In previous articles, I’ve discussed the central role false advertising played in the creation of the opioid crisis.1
To recap, a single paragraph in a 1980 letter to the editor2,3 (not a study) in The New England Journal of Medicine — which stated that narcotic addiction in patients with no history of addiction was very rare — became the basis of a drug marketing campaign that has since led to the death of hundreds of thousands of people, or four times the number of Americans killed in Vietnam.
Between September 2019 and September 2020 alone, opioid overdoses killed a staggering 87,000 Americans — a new record-high.4
Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, used this letter to the editor as the basis for its claim that opioid addiction affects fewer than 1% of patients treated with the drugs. In reality, opioids have a very high rate of addiction, have not been proven effective for long-term use5 and, in fact, fail to control moderate to severe pain any better than over-the-counter pain relievers.6
Various court cases have demonstrated how Purdue systematically misled doctors about OxyContin’s addictiveness to drive up sales, resulting in an avalanche of opioid addiction and subsequent deaths.7
Unethical to the core, Purdue also cashed in on the addiction trend it manufactured by secretly founding Rhodes Pharma to manufacture generic opioids,8 and getting into the business of creating overdose treatments.9,10
Facing an estimated 2,600 lawsuits11,12 relating to its role in the opioid epidemic, Purdue filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in September 2019,13 as a way to avoid litigation losses. Just over a year later they pleaded guilty to three federal criminal charges, including violating a federal anti-kickback law, conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government and violating the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act.14,15
The company agreed to pay $8.3 billion in fines, forfeiture of past profits and civil liability payments to settle the charges,16 but short on cash — having transferred more than $10 billion of the company’s funds into family trusts and offshore accounts17 — the company was dissolved and its remaining assets used to erect a “public benefit company” owned and controlled by the U.S. government.18 Future earnings will supposedly be used to combat the opioid crisis. . . .
Why Americans can’t trust the CDC’s advice on COVID-19
The agency continues a pattern of arbitrary, dubious and ever-changing recommendations.
“My promise is that CDC will continue to follow the science as our guide,” Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told senators last week.
While Walensky thinks the CDC already is doing that, her premise is contradicted by the agency’s history of arbitrary, dubious and ever-changing advice about COVID-19.
Early in the pandemic, the CDC, together with the Food and Drug Administration, disastrously bungled the rollout of virus tests, making it impossible to curtail the spread of COVID-19 through contact tracing. Its obstruction of independently produced tests was coupled with irrationally narrow guidelines that initially recommended screening only for symptomatic travelers from China and people who had been in close contact with them.
The CDC, which at first dismissed the idea that Americans should wear face masks in public places to curtail the spread of the coronavirus, later decided such coverings were “the most important, powerful public health tool we have.” It even insisted that people who had been vaccinated should continue wearing face masks in many indoor and outdoor settings, both public and private.
That advice went by the boards last week, when the CDC decided that fully vaccinated Americans generally do not need to wear masks, except when required to do so by businesses or the government. While Walensky suggested that shift was prompted by new data, the effectiveness of vaccines in preventing asymptomatic infection as well as serious disease and death had been clear for months.
At the end of March, an emotional Walensky warned that the country faced “impending doom” if states prematurely lifted COVID-19 restrictions. Although governors who favored reopening sooner rather than later paid her no heed, the disaster she predicted did not materialize, and last week she welcomed a vaccine-enabled “return to normal life.”
In April, the CDC published impractical, absurdly restrictive recommendations for summer camps, including a requirement that kids wear face masks during outdoor activities, which infectious disease experts slammed as “cruel,” “irrational” and “unfairly draconian.” During her Senate testimony last week, Walensky allowed that “our summer camp guidance is probably going to have to change,” but only because vaccination of 12-to-15-year-olds is now underway.
Three days after the CDC issued its widely ridiculed camp guidelines, Walensky said ”less than 10% of documented transmission[s], in many studies, have occurred outdoors.” As critics such as New York Times columnist David Leonhardt and Reason science correspondent Ronald Bailey pointed out, that statement, which was widely echoed by the press, was true but highly misleading, since it implied that outdoor transmission’s share of infections is close to 10% — a figure that may be off by two orders of magnitude.
The study that Walensky cited to back up her estimate, which she misrepresented in several significant ways, was inconsistent with the notion that outdoor transmission accounts for anything like 10% of infections. The actual number may be as low as 0.1%.
“I always considered the CDC to be the gold standard,” Sen. Susan Collins, R–Maine, told Walensky at the Senate hearing. “I don’t anymore.”
Collins worried that the CDC’s excessive conservatism “undermines public confidence in your recommendations,” including “the recommendations that do make sense.” Kavita Patel, health policy director during the Obama administration, expressed similar disappointment, telling CNBC “the CDC’s credibility is eroding as quickly as our cases of coronavirus are eroding.”
Sen. Chris Murphy, D–Connecticut, sprang to Walensky’s defense. “I frankly appreciate the fact that we have leaders today who recognize that we still have gaps in information [and] who occasionally may err on the side of caution in order to save lives,” he said.
Murphy assumes that “gaps in information” explain the CDC’s reluctance to relax its recommendations, that the agency is actually saving lives, and that erring on the side of caution means disregarding the burdens imposed on Americans yearning for “normal life.” The CDC’s track record provides little reason to believe any of those propositions.
Jacob Sullum is a senior editor at Reason magazine.
Send letters to letters@suntimes.com.
Elites Worried: COVID Cases in India Plummet After Government Promotes Ivermectin and Hydroxychloroquine Use
Coronavirus cases are plummeting in India thanks to new rules that promote Ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine to its massive population.
Of course, the WHO and pharmaceutical companies are having fits.
This is despite the fact that lives are being saved.
The COVID Blog reported:
India has received the baton for title of COVID Capitol of the World after China, Italy and the United States held it for much of last year.
The world second-most populace country after China had fewer than 138,000 total active COVID cases in early February 2021. That’s the lowest figure since January 2020. India active COVID cases sit around 3.6 million today, according to the India Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Mainstream media are blaming the massive spike on a “scary, mutant variant” called B.1.617…
…The India health ministry updated its guidelines on April 28 for quarantines, treating the asymptomatic and those with mild symptoms of COVID-19. The agency now says that asymptomatic patients should “consider Tab Ivermectin (200 mcg/kg once a day, to be taken empty stomach) for 3 to 5 days.” Caregivers of patients in quarantine are instructed to “take Hydroxychloroquine prophylaxis as per protocol and as prescribed by the treating medical officer.” See the full document here.
There are 292 studies (219 are peer-reviewed) proving the effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine as both a treatment and prophylaxis against COVID-19. Ivermectin has 93 studies (54 peer-reviewed) showing its effectiveness as treatment and prophylaxis against COVID-19. Despite the now-indisputable fact that these drugs essentially kill COVID-19 within hours or days, the Bill Gates-funded World Health Organization (WHO) and big pharma are having fits over India’s new guidelines and the results.
And now the COVID cases are plummeting.
Via Worldometers.
And the active cases in India are also plummeting.
Of course, this will not make any headlines.
The post Elites Worried: COVID Cases in India Plummet After Government Promotes Ivermectin and Hydroxychloroquine Use appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
Bannon’s War Room | Morning Edition Hour 1 | Recorded May 17, 2021 | Video: 48 Minutes 36 Seconds
Episode 951 – The Prince of Politically Correct Cancel Culture … Why Prince Harry Came to Hollywood. Guests are: Cpt. Maureen Bannon, Nigel Farage, Todd Wood, Samaire Armstrong.
Bannon’s War Room | Morning Edition Hour 2 | Recorded May 17, 2021 | Video: 48 Minutes 12 Seconds
Episode 952 – Dr. Fauci’s Self-Licking Ice Cream … Weaponizing Zika and If Wuhan Falls. Guests are: Cpt. Maureen Bannon, Dr. Lawrence Sellin, Lt. Gen. Rod D. Bishop, Jr., Dan Schultz.
Bannon’s War Room | Evening Edition | Recorded May 17, 2021 | Video: 48 Minutes 12 Seconds
Episode 953 – Rudy Giuliani’s Lawyer Speaks Out and Exposing Critical Race Theory in the Military. “I have a cadet who I’ve known his family since before he was born…he said, you know the worst place for a white male Christian is the U.S. Air Force academy,” Gen Bishop said. Guests are: Cpt. Maureen Bannon, Boris Epshteyn, Lt. General Rod D. Bishop Jr. , Matt DePerno, Bob Costello.
Pentagon Withdraws 120 US Troops From Israel
The Department of Defense confirmed it is pulling 120 troops from Israel amid a flare-up in tensions between Jerusalem and designated terrorist groups in Gaza. Pentagon press secretary John Kirby told reporters that U.S. Central Command and U.S. European Command staff flew on a C-17 military plane from Israel and arrived at Germany’s Ramstein Air Base on Thursday. “We made this decision to remove these individuals in coordination with our Israeli counterparts,” Kirby said, adding that the military staff “were in Israel for a routine planning event” before the fighting escalated. The move was done as a precaution, Kirby said. Israel carried out a number of airstrikes on targets in Gaza in recent days, including hitting buildings that were reportedly being used by Hamas—the group that rules over Gaza and was designated as a terrorist group by the State Department in 1997. The airstrikes were in response to Hamas and other groups …
Roger Waters, Sitting by Poster Comparing America to Nazis, Trashes Israel
Former Pink Floyd frontman Rogers Waters used a poster linking America and Nazism as a backdrop during an interview with RT on Friday.
Waters spoke with RT — formerly known as Russia Today, a English-lnguage news media outlet run by the Russian government — about ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestinians.
The poster had the message “USSA,” with the two ses, referring to the Nazi Germany’s Schutzstaffel paramilitary, commonly referred to with the acronym “SS.” Waters joined RT remotely from his apartment in New York City.
Biden’s overtures to Iran undercut US bid to end Hamas-Israel conflict
With rockets flying and violence escalating in the Gaza Strip, the Biden administration announced Wednesday that it dispatched Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Hady Amr to the region, in an effort to broker calm between Israel and the terrorist group Hamas. The likelihood of a successful mission is low. But that’s not Amr’s fault; it’s President Joe Biden’s. His Middle East foreign policy is simply out of sync with this mission.
In past conflicts, senior American officials often found ways to steer both sides to a ceasefire, even when Israel wasn’t quite satisfied with the results on the battlefield. But Jerusalem always acquiesced to Washington in the end, out of deference to the close ties between the two nations.
Given America’s foreign policy these days, it’s not clear how that will fly. Israeli officials are not exactly eager to hear America’s view of Iranian-backed terrorists like Hamas. Tensions are at a zenith, thanks to the Biden administration’s stubborn insistence that now is the time to re-enter the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action — the flawed 2015 nuclear deal with Iran.
Israeli military accused of using media to trick Hamas
Militaries around the world have long used deception and trickery against their enemies.
JERUSALEM — Early Friday, just after midnight, the Israeli military put out an ominous statement to the media: “IDF air and ground troops are currently attacking in the Gaza Strip.”
The terse statement set off frenzied speculation that Israel had launched a ground invasion of Gaza — a much-feared scenario that would mark a bloody escalation of this week’s operation against Hamas militants. Some reporters were even told outright the incursion had begun.
Hours later, the military issued a “clarification.” There were no troops inside Gaza. But by then, several major news outlets had erroneously reported the ground offensive was under way.
While the army attempted to play down the incident as a misunderstanding, well-placed Israeli military commentators said the media had been used as part of an elaborate ruse to lure Hamas militants into a deadly trap that may have killed dozens of fighters.
“They didn’t lie,” said Or Heller, a veteran military correspondent on Israel’s Channel 13 TV. “It was a manipulation. It was smart and it was successful.” . . .
Deadly Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Continues
Tensions between Israel and the Hamas terrorist group continue with no end in sight. On Friday, Israel bombed Gaza with artillery fire and airstrikes, and Hamas has fired almost 2,000 rockets at Israel in the last five days.
The post Deadly Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Continues appeared first on NTD.
Israeli Strike on Gaza Kills 10, Unrest Spreads to West Bank
Gaza City, Gaza Strip (AP) — An Israeli air raid in Gaza City killed at least 10 Palestinians, mostly children, early Saturday in the deadliest single strike since the battle with Gaza’s militant Hamas rulers erupted earlier this week. Both sides pressed for an advantage as cease-fire efforts gathered strength.
Israel flattens media building in Gaza, destroying offices of Associated Press, other outlets
The Israeli military destroyed a Gaza building on Saturday containing the offices of several international media outlets including those of the Associated Press and Al Jazeera, both organizations confirmed following the strike.
The Israeli Defense Forces airstrike leveled Jala Tower in Gaza, flattening the building “that house[d] Al Jazeera and other international media outlets in Gaza City,” Al Jazeera said in a tweet on Saturday morning.
The Associated Press, meanwhile, confirmed in a news report that the building that had been destroyed “housed offices of The Associated Press and other media outlets.”
Bannon’s War Room | Saturday Edition Hour 1 | Recorded May 15, 2021 | Video: 48 Minutes 34 Seconds
Episode 949 –The American Generals Speak (w/ Cpt. Bannon, Gaffney, LG Boykin, MG Harrell, BG Bolduc).
“I saw the biggest threat to our republic, our democracy, our form of government, everything I fought for,” Bolduc said. “I lost 72 men and women in combat over 10 tours in Afghanistan in 2 years as the special operations commander. Guests are: Cpt. Maureen Bannon, Frank Gaffney, LG Jerry Boykin, MG Gary Harrell, BG Don Bolduc.
Bannon’s War Room | Saturday Edition Hour 2 | Recorded May 15, 2021 | Video: 48 Minutes 43 Seconds
Episode 950 – Marxism, With American Characteristics … Why Stacey Abrams is Saul Alinsky. “We don’t have democracy right now,” Navarro said. “What we have is a stolen election. Steal it they did, that’s what we’ve got.” Guests are: Cpt. Maureen Bannon, Frank Gaffney, LG Jerry Boykin, MG Gary Harrell, BG Don Bolduc, Dr. Peter Navarro, Brian Kennedy, Sam Faddis, Katie Hopkins.
May 14, 2021 | Nightly News Rebroadcast | Video: 51 Minutes 38 Seconds
Israel is going on a military offensive after the Hamas terrorist group launched thousands of rockets at the nation.
Congresswoman Elise Stefanik thanks former President Donald Trump in her new role as GOP conference chair.
Over 40,000 Chinese illegal immigrants await deportation in the United States.
More than 15,600 East Coast gas stations report out of fuel, after pipeline cyber attack
U.S. officials anticipate the gas situation will return to normal by the weekend.
FARRELL: Democrats Have Decided Every Part Of Their Big Government Agenda Counts As Infrastructure
From Chris Farrell’s Op-Ed for The Daily Caller:
Wednesday’s White House summit with congressional leaders on the $2.3 trillion infrastructure bill, officially known as the American Jobs Plan, made little headway in forging bipartisan consensus. A large part of the problem is that President Biden and Congressional Democrats have decided that virtually any aspect of their big-government agenda can be redefined as infrastructure and tossed in the mix.
For example, fighting climate change is now part of infrastructure. The bill would fund a “Civilian Climate Corps,” a nod to the old Civilian Conservation Corps from the FDR era, which seeks to “put a new, diverse generation of Americans to work conserving our public lands and waters, bolstering community resilience, and advancing environmental justice.” In other words, it will spend billions to underwrite make-work jobs with full health benefits for environmental activists who can’t find gainful employment in the private sector. There are also $175 billion in subsidies for electric vehicles, which could very well be a replay of the Solyndra solar panels debacle. And throughout the bill are nods to promoting green best practices and “environmental justice,” whatever that is.
Education is now part of infrastructure. There is $100 billion devoted to public schools, on top of the $128 billion from the COVID-19 relief bill. A further $12 billion goes to community colleges, in addition to the planned $109 billion in the American Families Act to provide two years of tuition-free education. And other billions are devoted to reducing “racial and gender inequities” in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) fields. . .
Guantánamo Detainee Agrees to Drop Call for C.I.A. Testimony
Under a deal with the military court, Majid Khan, who has admitted being a courier for Al Qaeda, will give up his chance to call witnesses to his torture in return for being released as soon as next year.
Psaki: Teaching ‘1619 Project,’ Critical Race Theory in College is ‘Responsible’
White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Thursday said it is responsible for colleges to teach the idea that racism is embedded in the American system, dismissing criticism that such teaching aims at indoctrinating American youth. . . .
Legacy Media Finally Calls Out the Experts for Their COVID-19 Misrepresentations
The coverage on COVID-19 has taken a strange turn in the legacy media. For a while now, cable news anchors have been pressing Dr. Anthony Fauci, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, and other administration members about continued mask-wearing and other restrictions for vaccinated individuals. Quite frankly, their answers never made any sense after the CDC put out guidance that vaccinated individuals who were exposed to a COVID-19 positive individual did not need to quarantine if they did not have symptoms.
That guidance meant that the vaccines effectively prevent illness from COVID-19, and data on breakthrough infections supported that idea weeks ago. The risk is approximately one in a million that a vaccinated individual will become ill and die from COVID-19. The CDC also noted in the reporting that the risk for this is in the expected demographic. That means the elderly with pre-existing conditions. So if you are under 65 and healthy and this news scares you, don’t ever get in your car, cross a city street, or use stairs or climb a ladder. Your lifetime odds of dying doing one of those is well under one in a thousand. . .
Covid UK: SAGE says Indian variant could lead to 1,000 deaths and 10k hospital admissions a day
SAGE says it’s a ‘realistic possibility’ the Indian variant is 50% MORE infectious than dominant Kent strain and could lead to 1,000 Covid deaths and 10,000 hospital admissions a day by summer
- SAGE model warns that up to 10,000 people per day could be hospitalised in summer in worst-case scenario
- But scientists are optimistic vaccines will work against the strain and still no evidence it is more dangerous
- Public Health England report showed cases in the UK more than doubled in a week from 520 to 1,313
‘Foot soldiers’ of Birmingham to BLM: ‘Keep on keeping on’
Veterans of the campaign that the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. helped lead to eradicate racial segregation in Birmingham nearly 60 years ago remain firmly in the corner of racial justice now that they’re old and gray.
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Charles Avery had barely started marching when police arrested him, forced him into a police vehicle and took him to jail for participating in landmark civil rights protests that helped change the nation in 1963. He spent days in custody and then lived decades haunted by a conviction for the most innocuous of offenses — parading without a permit — that he saw as noble yet others questioned with suspicion.
“I had to explain what it was, that it was from Birmingham,” said Avery, 76. “It always came up.”
Yet Avery said he’d do it again all these years later, and he has a message for the thousands of demonstrators who have been arrested nationwide during the months-long uprising over police violence and racism: Keep going. A lifelong mark in the name of justice is worth the trouble.
Veterans of the campaign that the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. helped lead to eradicate racial segregation in Birmingham nearly 60 years ago remain firmly in the corner of racial justice now that they’re old and gray, with some joining in protests that followed George Floyd’s murder by Minneapolis police last year and others watching at home on TV.
Nonviolence was King’s way, and some are put off by scenes of burning buildings and rioting that accompanied some protests, including one in Birmingham. But foot soldiers who first advocated for the idea that Black lives matter decades ago now support the movement of the same name; The Associated Press interviewed some of them ahead of an online commemoration of the ‘63 Children’s Crusade protests held Friday that focused on challenges facing young people today. . .
Democrats Press Forward to Create a Commission on the Capitol Riot
House Democrats are pressing forward with a bipartisan proposal to create an independent commission to investigate the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, after reaching agreement with a key Republican to drop his party’s demand to look into left-wing violence at racial justice protests.
The deal announced on Friday between Representative Bennie Thompson, Democrat of Mississippi and the chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, and Representative John Katko of New York, the panel’s senior Republican, could break a partisan logjam that has persisted for months around the commission.
It was not clear whether Republican leaders would support it after insisting that any investigation into the deadly riot at the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob also look at violence by Antifa and Black Lives Matter. Representative Kevin McCarthy, Republican of California and the minority leader, said shortly after the announcement that he had not signed off on the plan and still needed to review its details.
Mosques disappear as China strives to ‘build a beautiful Xinjiang’
In recent months, China has stepped up a campaign on state media and with government-arranged tours to counter reports that say thousands of mosques have been targeted in a crackdown on the region’s mostly Muslim Uighur people.
Bannon’s War Room | Morning Edition Hour 1 | Recorded May 14, 2021 | Video: 48 Minutes 53 Seconds
Episode 946 – ‘Peace,’ ‘Peace’ There Is No Peace (w/ Rabbi Spero, Epshteyn, Kassam, McCall). “You see the forces of evil this new axis of evil that’s working to undermine the Judeo-Christian West,” he said. “They say they stand not in opposition to the Jewish state’s policies, but to the opposition to the Jewish state’s existence. Guests are: Rabbi Spero, Boris Epshteyn, Raheem Kassam, Matt McCall.
Bannon’s War Room | Morning Edition Hour 2 | Recorded May 14, 2021 | Video: 47 Minutes 40 Seconds
Episode 947 – Vaccine Vacillation (w/ Dr. Joseph Mercola, Liz Yore, Saurabh Sharma). “The pregnant women were not included in this trial, this is one of many reasons why you should rethink your desire to get this vaccine,” he said. Guests are: Dr. Joseph Mercola, Liz Yore, Saurabh Sharma.
Bannon’s War Room | Evening Edition | Recorded May 14, 2021 | Video: 48 Minutes 59 Seconds
Episode 948 – The Receipts Don’t Match … Fraud in Arizona and Re-Education in Public Schools. “Well if that’s the case, why are you so reluctant to give us the routers to verify they weren’t connected to the internet?” Finchem said. Guests are: Mark Finchem, Darren Bettie, Cindy Chafian.
A Look Back, November 20, 2020 | “Rep. Devin Nunes on the Election: ‘Biden Team Is Putting on a Facade That They’ve Won’ | American Thought Leaders” | Video: 36 Minutes 27 Seconds
Big tech and corporate media played an outsized role in the 2020 election, says California Congressman and House Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Devin Nunes. And based on how the Biden team is responding to evidence of election irregularities and potential fraud, former Vice President Biden does not seem confident in victory, Nunes says (November 20, 2020).
[This is part of the Epoch Times’ “American Thought Leaders” excellent ongoing discussions on important issues. Epoch TV]
May 13, 2021 | Nightly News Rebroadcast | Video: 51 Minutes 38 Seconds
The Colonial Pipeline hackers were reportedly paid millions of dollars in ransom to regain control of the systems, a group of senators say they’re afraid another economic crisis is around the corner if people don’t get back to work, and more than 40 conservative organizations have promised not to accept donations from Big Tech companies.
BREAKING: Trump Responds To 17.5% Ballot Discrepancy In Arizona, Claim That Biden Likely ‘Did Not Win’ The State
President Donald Trump issued a statement after it was reported that up to 17.5% of the ballots in Maricopa County, Arizona do not match the totals provided to auditors by the Maricopa County election officials. In the statement, President Trump slammed the election as “corrupt” and from the “third world.”
“A devastating letter written by Arizona Senate President Karen Fann on voting irregularities, and probably fraud, in Maricopa County during the 2020 Presidential Election. Even the database was illegally deleted after the subpoena to produce the information,” wrote President Trump, referring to the letter where it was revealed that there was a 17.5% discrepancy in the number of ballots provided versus the number of ballots listed in at least one instance. “Senate President Fann has invited Maricopa County officials to a public hearing on May 18 to allow them the opportunity to try to explain what happened to the missing databases, ballots, and other significant issues.”
President Trump added, “The Fake News and Lamestream Media is doing everything they can not to cover this major story. They just refuse to talk or report about it. They don’t want the United States or World to see what is going on with our corrupt, third world election.” President Trump also added a link to the letter written by Senate President Karen Fann.
As National File reported, this nearly-20% gap is far beyond what the Federal Elections Commission legally allows. According to political strategist Boris Ephsteyn, “It’s absolutely mind boggling, anything above a tiny fraction of a percentage is unacceptable, by the way, unacceptable according to the Federal Elections Commission.”
“We now know why the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors have been fighting this subpoena so hard, why Perkins Coie has come in, why the Democrats are pushing back, why you’ve got mainstream media melting down,” he explained, “Because they’re hiding this. They’re hiding the disaster in which they handled this election, and likely, the fact that Joe Biden did not win in Arizona.” (READ MORE: Mark Kelly Hires Perkins Coie To Sue National File, Here’s How You Can Help)
President Trump also referred to the directory full of election databases deleted by Maricopa County officials, while under subpoena, only days before the electronic equipment was delivered to the Arizona auditors. The official Maricopa Arizona Audit Twitter account, controlled by former Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett, said this constitutes “spoliation of evidence.”
Jim and Joe Hoft React to Criminal Destroying of Voting Machine Evidence in AZ | Video: 11 Minutes 10 Seconds
Jim and Joe Hoft, of the Gateway Pundit, react to the bombshell breaking news out of Maricopa County.
Wisconsin Gov. rips Sidney Powell’s lawsuit filled with factual errors in court filing
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers (D) lambasted former Trump campaign lawyer Sidney Powell in court filings on Wednesday, stating that the attorney filed a suit with factual errors. The state of Wisconsi…