Utah public health officials were warned that allocating COVID drugs based on race violated federal law, but did so anyway with the backing of the Biden administration, emails and documents obtained by the Washington Free Beacon show.
Utah’s points-based system for prioritizing COVID patients, which allocated more points for being non-white than for having congestive heart failure, troubled two law professors specializing in bioethics. They informed the doctors who designed the system in September 2021 that it was probably illegal.
“The use of non-white race really set off alarm bells,” Teneille Brown, a professor at the University of Utah’s S.J. Quinney College of Law, said in an email.
The “consensus among legal academics,” Brown’s colleague Leslie Francis added, is that a system like Utah’s would “violate federal law.”
This piece is based on materials obtained via a third-party public records request and shared with the Free Beacon.
The doctors Brown and Francis emailed were part of the state’s Crisis Standards of Care workgroup, assembled by the Utah Hospital Association at the behest of the health department. When COVID surged in November 2020, the health department asked the group to develop a system for allocating scarce therapies. The group conceded its approach hadn’t been “reviewed legally.” But, they assured the law professors, it did have the blessing of the Biden administration.
The Department of Health and Human Services “has lauded our approach,” said Mark Shah, the director of Utah’s Disaster Medical Assistance Team and a member of the group. In February 2021, Shah’s colleague Brandon Webb presented the race-based allocation system to HHS, according to power point slides reviewed by the Free Beacon. HHS subsequently listed the system as a “promising practice” for other states to consider.
Such race-conscious policies proliferated throughout the pandemic, sparking both moral outrage and legal scrutiny. Like Utah, Minnesota and New York prioritized non-white residents for moncolonal antibodies. Vermont did the same for vaccines. Some states, including Utah and Minnesota, scrapped their policies in the wake of political backlash—and amid threats of legal action from conservative nonprofits.
The emails suggest Utah was ground zero for many of these schemes. The state initially defended its system by invoking guidance from the Food and Drug Administration, which lists race as a risk factor that can qualify patients for monoclonal antibodies. But according to the emails, it was Utah that inspired that guidance in the first place.
“The FDA reviewed our Utah Risk Score and used it as precedent for including ‘race and other risk factors’ as qualifiers,” Shah told the group in June 2021. Minnesota in turn used that precedent to justify its own allocation system.
The emails reflect the race-conscious consensus that has taken hold of medical bureaucracies across the country. As that consensus has consolidated at every level of government, it has emboldened public health officials to flout anti-discrimination law, which they assume won’t be enforced.
The gap between law and policy widened with the pandemic, which provided an emergency pretext for suspending civil rights. Nondiscrimination, the emails suggest, was seen as an obstacle to crisis management.
“I’d prefer just using the ‘we’re too busy trying to save lives during the surge’ excuse,” Webb, an infectious diseases specialist at Intermountain Healthcare, emailed his colleagues after some back and forth with the law professors.
That utilitarian mindset extended to Utah’s Republican governor Spencer Cox, who in January 2022 told health officials to modify the allocation system, a spokesperson for the governor said—but only after it became clear that the drugs weren’t reaching minorities. The problem wasn’t that the system discriminated by race; it was that the discrimination didn’t work.
“Despite the inclusion of race and ethnicity,” the spokesperson told the Free Beacon, “communities of color did not receive monoclonal antibodies proportionate to their share of COVID-test positives.”
“I’m frankly surprised that this has not yet been subject to a legal challenge,” Webb wrote the law professors. He added that in 2020, the group asked “the Office of Civil Rights” for guidance on the use of race but didn’t receive a response.
It is unclear to which office Webb was referring. A draft copy of the group’s inquiry includes no date or letterhead, and Roger Severino, HHS’s director of civil rights at the time, said it never came across his desk.
“Had this been brought to my attention,” Severino told the Free Beacon, “I would have told them they risked violating Title VI and would have merited my office investigating them had they gone through with such explicit race based rationing.”
Reached for comment, Webb said Shah was the one who sent the inquiry. Shah did not respond to a request for comment.
The group, which developed the system in November 2020, took for granted that all racial minorities should receive special treatment. It borrowed heavily from an allocation system used by the Cleveland Clinic, which prioritized African Americans for monoclonal antibodies. The “only knock” against that system, Webb wrote the group, is that “it only gives disparity weighting to black race rather than recognizing elevated risk associated with other race/ethnicities.”
Utah’s system was based on an analysis of 20,000 COVID patients between March and October 2020. Though some minorities are at higher risk than others, according to the state’s own data, the analysis lumped all of them together, comparing hospitalization rates between “white” and “non-white” Utahns.
The result was a “risk score calculator” that gave “non-white race or Hispanic/Latinx ethnicity” two points—more than it gave hypertension, chronic kidney disease, or shortness of breath. Utahns needed to score a certain number of points to be eligible for monoclonal antibodies.
The calculator was first used by the Intermountain hospital system, which employed many members of the group, including Webb and Shah. By September 2021, it was causing controversy among COVID-stricken patients.
“We have been forced into a defense of the scoring system as now constituents are reaching out to elected leaders asking why they are not eligible,” lamented Kevin McCulley, the Preparedness and Response director for the health department.
As pushback mounted, the department’s main concern was semantic rather than substantive. Officials spent days wordsmithing an online “self-screening tool” based on the calculator, in part to ensure it didn’t run afoul of progressive sensibilities.
“Latinex should have the ‘e’ removed (Latinx),” Matthew Plendl, a member of the health department, said of an early draft.
Some exchanges read like parodies of progressive racecraft, with officials attempting to sort out who would count as “non-white.”
The calculator lets “someone select more than one race category,” noted Jenny Johnson, a member of the health department’s communications team. “Would this mean anyone who marks ONLY White would not meet the criteria? And those who mark at least one race category that is not White does meet the criteria?”
Particularly vexing was the status of Hispanics.
“Someone with a high level of cultural competence should help us wordsmith this,” McCulley wrote his colleagues. “Is your race Non-white or Hispanic/Latinex Ethnicity? I don’t think Hispanic is a race.”
The post Utah Was Warned Racial Rationing of COVID Drugs Was Illegal. It Did It Anyway. appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.
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Facts Matter (May 19): Auditor Reveals Data Deleted From Election Machine Has Been Recovered
Four days ago, the governor of Tennessee signed into law a new “bathroom bill,” which protects access to bathrooms based on biological sex. In Arizona, during a special Senate meeting, one of the firms conducting the audit revealed that they were able to recover data that they thought was deleted. A newly resurfaced video from 10 years ago shows the co-founder of BLM expressing her fondness for Mao Zedong’s “little red book.” Facts Matter is an Epoch Times show available on YouTube.
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Facts Matter (May 19): Auditor Reveals Data Deleted From Election Machine Has Been Recovered
Four days ago, the governor of Tennessee signed into law a new “bathroom bill,” which protects access to bathrooms based on biological sex. In Arizona, during a special Senate meeting, one of the firms conducting the audit revealed that they were able to recover data that they thought was deleted. A newly resurfaced video from […]
GOP Gubernatorial Candidate Vernon Jones Calls for ‘An Immediate Forensic Audit of the Georgia 2020 Election’
Georgia GOP gubernatorial candidate and former State Rep. Vernon Jones called for “an immediate for an immediate forensic audit of the Georgia 2020 election” at a press conference on Wednesday.
Here is a transcript of that press conference:
Jones: The integrity of our election is nonnegotiable. It is non-negotiable. Zero room. And that is where I’m here today to call for an immediate forensic audit of the Georgia 2020 election. In recent weeks, I found myself troubled by the recent findings coming out of Arizona as they conduct forensic audits of their own led by their state legislatures.
From this audit, previously unknown findings have since come to life, including reports of missing ballots, broken seals on the boxes and containers that contain them, and wholly deleted databases of information related to this election. That is not right. Let me make one thing clear.
There’s no place in Georgia elections for those types of shenanigans. And the findings of such an audit will paint a clear road map where we must go from here in terms of further reform to safeguard our election process. Since day one, my campaign had made a commitment of integrity to this election while Brian Kemp sat on the sidelines in the 2020 election and refused to call a special session to secure our elections I was on the front line fighting for election integrity, integrity, and fighting and fighting for Donald J. Trump. Brian Kemp’s inaction cost us both the Congress and the White House.
But it is my hope that my action today will bring us closer to ensuring that this never happens again. That is why I’m calling on Brian Kemp today, this day to order a forensic audit of all 159 counties in the state of Georgia. (Applause) Over 50 percent of this state population do not trust the election process.
We have seen Stacey’s Law, supersede state law. That is unamerican and that’s an undisputed disputed violation of our Constitution. And I’m here with these Patriots today, Georgians who care about our election process. This is not a third-world country. This is the state of Georgia of the United States. Brian Kemp was afraid of Stacy Abrams.
He caved in to the left. He didn’t stand up for you, and he didn’t stand up for me. That’s why they’re going to have to be some changes. And the change is going to bring about a process where the people in this state, everybody feel that there’s confidence in our voting process where it’s free and it’s transparent.
And so with that, I’ll take some questions and comments, and then we’re going to close out.
Watch the full video here:
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The post GOP Gubernatorial Candidate Vernon Jones Calls for ‘An Immediate Forensic Audit of the Georgia 2020 Election’ appeared first on The Georgia Star News.
AZ Senate Majority Whip Sonny Borrelli Shares His Observations On the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors: “They’re Very Disrespectful”
The Gateway Pundit’s Jordan Conradson interviewed Arizona Senate Majority Whip Sonny Borrelli after the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors (MCBOS) refused to attend the Senate’s meeting on Tuesday, with the Arizona Senate Audit team.
Guest post by Jordan Conradson
On Monday, the MCBOS failed to attend a meeting requested by Senate Leader Karen Fann covering her devastating letter to the Board on May 12. Instead, they held their own meeting Monday, in response to her letter.
Jordan Conradson from The Gateway Pundit discussed these recent events with Senator Borrelli.
Conradson: The Board of supervisors refused to attend their meeting yesterday. What does that tell you?
Borrelli: It’s very disappointing because Senator Fann had questions about things that they had found, and they were legitimate questions… It was very disappointing that the meeting they had Monday was all accusatory and totally defensive and it really wasn’t warranted because the letter than Karen Fann sent to the supervisor was not accusatory. It was just asking questions on some of the things that were found… for them to not show up on Monday was completely disrespectful but then how they acted on Monday was very telling on their whole position…(on deleted data) It was deleted! So we have to find out how did it get deleted? They’re denying that it got deleted and they have no concerns of that and they don’t even want to know how or why it got deleted. It’s very troubling because nothing is supposed to be deleted for 24 months. Everything is supposed to be intact.
Conradson: I thought that they didn’t actually deny data being deleted, but denied being the ones who deleted it?
Borrelli: Correct.
Conradson: So who does that leave?
Borrelli: That’s a good question and that was one of the questions they should have answered.
Conradson: So do you think it could have been Dominion that deleted the files?
Borrelli: It could be. It could be a tech mistake. It could have been all kinds of stuff but these are the things that need to be looked at. If their practices are faulty or someone is negligent, well then you need to find out… that’s pretty much the impetus of this audit, to find out if there was any discrepancies and what do we need to do to fix that for future legislation for future elections.
Conradson: So what’s the next step in enforcing the subpoenas on routers and passwords?
Sonny Borrelli: I’m not going to signal any kind of strategy but we’re just going to continue on with the audit after the graduation ceremonies that are going on at the coliseum. They’re going to resume going back to the headcount and verifying all of the ballots. So we’re just going to continue to march and do what we’re doing. We’ve been asking for cooperation from the supervisors from day one. The Supervisor Chairman and Hickman said they’re more than willing to cooperate, they want to cooperate, they want to have an audit and they want to work with us. But as soon as the gavel hit, it was the complete opposite.
Jordan Conradson: Have there been any more intimidation tactics by the DOJ?
Borrelli: No, and I thought that letter was kind of comical because we were not intimidated because all of the things they were accusing us of were all of the things that were caused by the Secretary of State’s office and the MCBOS. From day one we did not want any of the equipment or any of the ballots to leave the premises. We wanted to inspect the equipment there, intact, in the same environment where the election was held. So nothing needed to leave the premises and cause us to go to another location and hire a boat load of extra security and other logistics costs that we had to pay, and the SOS never once intervened and said timeout here there is a chain of custody issue.
Conradson: Will this audit continue next Monday?
Borrelli: Yes. Everything is in a secure location with armed security on them, we got cameras, lights on them. Nothings going to get near them and when we get the coliseum back, were going to continue to march and finish out the mission. You know I just find it really amazing, the supervisors, the SOS office, the Democrats are all saying this was a free and fair election. It was perfect. Ok great! Let us help you prove it. I’ve never seen someone fight so hard against somebody trying to help prove that they were elected.
The audit will continue next Monday
The post AZ Senate Majority Whip Sonny Borrelli Shares His Observations On the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors: “They’re Very Disrespectful” appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
Bannon’s War Room | Morning Edition Hour 2 | Recorded May 20, 2021 | Video: 47 Minutes 59 Seconds
Episode 962 – Power in Numbers (w/ Matthew Lohmeier, Boris Epshteyn, Beth Ann Hnat). Guests are: Lt. Col. Matthew Lohmeier, Boris Epshteyn, Beth Ann Hnat.
Bannon’s War Room | Evening Edition | Recorded May 20, 2021 | Video: 48 Minutes 59 Seconds
Episode 963 – The Wicked Witch of the South … How Vernon Jones Is Taking on Stacey Abrams. “She’s nothing more than the wicked witch of the south,” Jones said of Abrams. “I’m not afraid of her, or the left. I’ll call them out.” Guests are: Vernon Jones, Patrick O’Donnell, Mark Finchem.
Afghanistan: Joint call for an immediate end to attacks against human rights defenders and need for protection and accountability
Amnesty International, along with other human rights organisations, call of the Government of Afghanistan to end the threats, harassment, intimidation and attacks against human rights defenders, activists, journalists and media workers in the country. The Government of Afghanistan and international stakeholders and facilitators in the ongoing peace process, must take responsibility through their conduct and engagement in the country to stop the increase in violent attacks against human rights defenders. These organisations, in a joint letter, collectively call for an effective protection mechanism for human rights defenders in Afghanistan.
Israeli Human Rights Group B’Tselem: Israel Is Committing War Crimes by Killing Civilians in Gaza
As the Palestinian death toll in Gaza tops 200, the leading Israeli human rights group B’Tselem is accusing Israel of committing war crimes by killing blockaded civilians and destroying infrastructure on a massive scale. Executive director Hagai El-Ad says Israel has not done enough to distinguish between military and civilian targets or to act with proportionality. “We’ve seen war crimes in previous military assaults on Gaza,” he says. “And, in fact, the impunity of the previous times in which war crimes were committed is what has paved the way for the continuation of more such crimes being committed.” Earlier this year, B’Tselem released a landmark report denouncing Israel as an “apartheid regime.”
Colorado to pay unemployed residents to get them to go back to work
The state of Colorado will pay unemployed Coloradans up to $1,600 to get them to go back to work full-time, the governor’s office announced Wednesday.
Gov. Jared Polis signed an executive order to create the “Colorado Jumpstart” incentive program. Those who have been unemployed for at least a week between between March 28 and May 16 (among other stipulations) but return to work full time before May 29 could receive up to $1,600 to help with the transition. If a person returns to work full time between May 30 and June 26, they can get $1,200.
There will be two payments, one after a full month of employment and the other after two months of employment. If a person loses their job during the eight-week period, they forfeit the rest of the payment.
Colorado will spend $500,000 in the first month, and will move the funding from the Coronavirus Relief Fund within the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment to the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment. Additional money will be allocated from the fund through FEMA reimbursements of public health expenses, according to CDLE.
The total cost of the program is estimated to be between $36 million and $57 million, potentially providing payments to 40,000 or more people. The funding will be available until Sept. 4.
Colorado’s unemployment rate in March was 6.4%, or more than 200,000 people, according to federal data. (April numbers aren’t out yet.) But job boards show more than 282,000 active openings, suggesting that there are thousands who have chosen not to enter or return to the workforce. The state hopes this incentive program will bring people back into workplaces for the long term. . .
Biologically Male Sexual Predators Housed In Washington Female Prisons, Court Documents Show
A legal battle between a private citizen and the ACLU of Washington Foundation has revealed that biologically male sexual predators are being housed in the state’s female prisons, it was announced by an advocacy group Wednesday.
In March, the ACLU of Washington filed a lawsuit to prevent the public release of records pertaining to transgender inmates in the Washington prison system. Now, a judge has ruled in favor of the ACLU against private citizen Andrea Kelly, but key information was uncovered during the proceedings about biological male prisoners in female prisons.
“Judge Rice’s decision in this case to prevent the release of records which prove sexual misconduct by men currently housed in women’s prisons sets a dangerous precedent. The state of Washington has failed to uphold its legal obligations under the Public Records Act and, in doing so, denied citizens our ability to hold the government accountable for their violation of the human rights of female inmates,” said Women’s Liberation Front legal director Lauren Adams, who is representing Kelly in the case. . .
May 19, 2021 | Nightly News Rebroadcast | Video: 51 Minutes 49 Seconds
10-year-old Confronts School Board Over Masks; Netanyahu: Either Deter Hamas or Conquer Them. Over a dozen Republican senators called on President Joe Biden to clearly stand behind Israel, the House of Representatives decides whether to establish a commission to further investigate the events of Jan. 6, and Biden is lifting sanctions on the company behind Russia’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline.
Bannon’s War Room | Morning Edition Hour 1 | Recorded May 19, 2021 | Video: 48 Minutes 32 Seconds
Episode 958 – The Fresno State of Fighting Voter Fraud … Mike Lindell’s Crusade. Guest is: Mike Lindell.
Bannon’s War Room | Morning Edition Hour 2 | Recorded May 19, 2021 | Video: 48 Minutes 15 Seconds
Episode 959 – An America to Save … School Boards, Bus Tours, and Audits to Save the the Nation. Guests are: Michael Patrick Leahy, Tal Bachman, Ben Bergquam.
Bannon’s War Room | Evening Edition | Recorded May 19, 2021 | Video: 48 Minutes 59 Seconds
Episode 960 – Barking Up the Wrong Fed Tree … Inflation and Mom Says Enough to Mask Tyranny. Peter Navarro says Larry Summers is the “dumbest smart guy I ever met,” and explains whey he’s “barking up the wrong Fed tree.” Guests are: Eric Greitens, Peter Navarro Jessi Melton.
The Media’s Matt Gaetz Source – Joel Greenberg – Just Pleaded Guilty to Making FALSE Pedophilia Allegations about His Opponents.
Did you know the guy behind the Matt Gaetz allegations just pleaded guilty to making false allegations about sex with a minor about another of his political opponents? The media doesn’t seem to want to report this part of the case, which is available for anyone who wants to read it in Joel Greenberg’s plea deal released on Monday.
Greenberg, a Florida tax collector in Seminole County, pleaded guilty this week to a series of crimes. The corporate media is reporting on his plea deal with prosecutors and the implications for firebrand Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz. But there’s something else you need to know, and the media don’t seem keen to tell people.
Greenberg is the only person making accusations about Rep. Gaetz right now – two months in – and there’s plenty of evidence to suggest his animosity is driven by Gaetz’s refusal to get involved in Greenberg’s demands for a pardon from President Trump.
But take a look at Count Twenty-Four in Greenberg’s deal. It’s stunning, and it goes right to the heart of the allegations being made – mostly on the far-left Daily Beast website – about Rep. Gaetz.
Count Twenty-Four, which Greenberg has pleaded guilty to, establishes that Greenberg is a malicious and habitual liar who uses web publications to make false, criminal allegations about his political adversaries. . .
The post The Media’s Matt Gaetz Source – Joel Greenberg – Just Pleaded Guilty to Making FALSE Pedophilia Allegations about His Opponents. appeared first on The National Pulse.
Supreme Court Unanimously Rules Against Warrantless Gun Seizures
by Eric Lendrum
On Monday, in a rare unanimous decision, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled against the Biden Administration in a case regarding the legality of warrantless searches and seizures of firearms, The Epoch Times reports.
The case, Caniglia v. Strom, began oral arguments roughly two months ago. The case stems from an incident in Cranston, Rhode Island, back in August of 2015, where a man named Edward Caniglia had an argument with his wife of 22 years. Eventually, Caniglia withdrew an unloaded gun and suggested that his wife shoot him and “get me out of my misery.” His wife then called the police asking them to carry out a welfare check, where Caniglia was taken to the hospital.
Despite the police’s assurance that his guns would not be confiscated, they ultimately did seize his firearms without a warrant after he had been hospitalized, and refused to return them to him after he was discharged. Caniglia subsequently sued, claiming that the exception for community caretaking, which is what the police claimed to have used in this case, should not apply inside his home.
The Biden Administration’s Department of Justice, represented by DOJ lawyer Morgan Ratner, argued in favor of the city’s actions, claiming that “the label you give it is not nearly as important as principle. And the key principle is if someone is at risk of serious harm and it’s reasonable for officials to intervene now, that is enough.”
The Court ultimately ruled in Caniglia’s favor, determining that the seizure of his weapons without a warrant violated his Fourth Amendment rights. Justice Clarence Thomas wrote the relatively short opinion, at just four pages long.
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Eric Lendrum reports for American Greatness.
The post Supreme Court Unanimously Rules Against Warrantless Gun Seizures appeared first on The Georgia Star News.
Disturbing footage of Texas abduction shows alleged kidnapper taking 4-year-old
Newly released home surveillance footage captured the shocking moments that a teen allegedly abducted a 4-year-old from his Texas bedroom — before the child was found dead in the street.
The video, obtained and published by The Daily Mail, allegedly shows suspect Darriynn Brown, 18, breaking into Cash Gernon’s bedroom around 5 a.m. Saturday morning and taking the boy, who had been sleeping next to his twin brother.
He appears to momentarily hesitate before picking up Cash, and leaving the room.
Less than two hours later, Cash was stabbed to death with what police called an “edged weapon,” and his body was found dumped on a Dallas street by a jogger, officials said.
Security footage allegedly also captured the teen returning to the bedroom around 7 a.m. — after police said Cash had been killed — and hovering over his brother, Carter, but leaving without waking the boy, the Daily Mail reported.
More than 600,000 American kids ages 12 to 15 got Covid vaccines last week
- CDC Director Dr Rochelle Walensky revealed that more than 600,000 children between 12 and 15 got vaccinated last week during a White House press briefing
- U.S. regulators last week authorized Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine for use in children as young as 12
- About 17 million people aged 12 to 15 are now eligible to get shots, but only three in 10 parents said they wanted to vaccinate their kids ASAP
- Children very rarely get severely ill or die of COVID-19, but experts argue vaccinating them will help keep schools open in person and protect adults
REPORT: Bill Gates Hoped Epstein Could Help Him Win Nobel Peace Prize
Bill Gates wanted to use Jeffrey Epstein’s connections to get himself a Nobel Prize, the billionaire’s ex-staffer said, The Daily Beast reported Tuesday.
Members of Gates Foundation were assured that Gates‘ relationship with Epstein “was a maneuver” aimed at a Nobel Peace Prize, the former employee, who asked to remain anonymous, said, according to The Daily Beast. . .
Gates and Epstein held several meetings starting in 2011, three years after Epstein had pleaded guilty to soliciting a young girl, The New York Times reported. Gates reportedly said that Epstein’s “lifestyle is very different and kind of intriguing although it would not work for me,” in an email sent to colleagues at the time.
A 2013 meeting between Gates and the convicted sex criminal caused major issues in the relationship of the tech mogul with Melinda Gates which may have ultimately led to the couple’s early May divorce announcement, the Daily Beast reported. . .
Tlaib Confronts Biden on Israel, Saying Support Enables Crimes Against Palestinians
Representative Rashida Tlaib, Democrat of Michigan, confronted President Biden on Tuesday over his support for Israel amid its bombing campaign against Hamas in Gaza, urging him to stop enabling a government she said was committing crimes against Palestinians, according to a Democratic aide familiar with the exchange.
During a conversation on a tarmac in Detroit, where Mr. Biden had arrived to visit a Ford factory near her congressional district, Ms. Tlaib echoed a scathing speech she delivered last week on the House floor, telling the president that he must do more to protect Palestinian lives and human rights, said the aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe her remarks.
Her comments came as Israel has scaled up its bombing campaign in the past week. Among Democrats in Congress, attitudes toward Israel have grown more skeptical as the party base expresses concern about Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians, and several high-profile progressive lawmakers including Ms. Tlaib have become increasingly vocal about criticizing Mr. Biden for his stance.
There was no immediate comment on the exchange from the White House.
May 18, 2021 | Nightly News Rebroadcast | Video: 53 Minutes 52 Seconds
President Joe Biden is coming up with another multi-billion dollar plan after visiting a Ford factory in Michigan, international pressure to boycott the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics is picking up over China’s human rights abuses, and the Trump administration’s top diplomat weighs in on the Israel–Palestine conflict.
Biden Snatched War From the Jaws of Israel Peace Deals. Pence Explains How He Did It
Officials Identify Slain Dallas 4-Year-Old as Cash Gernon, Suspect Being Held on $1.5 Million Bond
Officials identified a 4-year-old boy who was found dead on a street in Dallas as Cash Gernon, and police said he was being taken care of by the girlfriend of Cash’s father, according to a news release.
“There has been a misidentification of Ms. Monica Sherrod as to being Cash’s biological/Stepmother. Cash was left in the care of Ms. Sherrod by his father unbeknownst to his biological mother, Ms. Melinda Seagroves. According to Ms. Sherrod, she has not been able to contact the father since his departure from her residence in March 2021,” according to the news release.
The release added: “Meanwhile, Ms. Seagroves, with the help of her mother Ms. Connie Ward, has been conducting an extensive search for her sons for an extended amount of time.”
Cash’s brother has been reunited with Seagroves, they said, adding that “fraudulent GoFundMe accounts” have been set up.
Several hours before a 4-year-old boy was found deceased on a street in Dallas, a man was seen taking the boy from his bed and carrying him away, according to home surveillance footage cited by court documents.
The girlfriend said the person who took the child from his bed on Saturday was 18-year-old Darriynn Brown, officials said, reported Fox News and other media outlets.
Canada Will Need 75% Vaccination Before U.S. Border Reopens, Trudeau Suggests
WASHINGTON—Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is suggesting that three-quarters of Canadians will need to be vaccinated against COVID-19 before the Canada-U.S. border can be reopened.
Trudeau acknowledges that discussions about the border are ongoing, but he’s tamping down any expectations that travel restrictions could be lifted soon.
Discretionary travel between Canada and the United States has been prohibited since March 2020, a restriction that will be extended into June before the end of the week.
Trudeau says Canada is still not out of the current third wave of COVID-19 and has much more work to do before it’s safe for travel to resume.
That’s in contrast with the U.S., where a blistering vaccination pace has prompted public health officials to lift face mask requirements for people who are fully vaccinated.
That has some U.S. lawmakers urging the Biden administration to get serious about drafting a plan to allow travel to and from Canada to resume in time for the July 4 holiday.
Amazon’s Ring Is Largest Civilian Surveillance Network U.S. Has Ever Seen + More
Amazon’s Ring Is the Largest Civilian Surveillance Network the US Has Ever Seen
In a 2020 letter to management, Max Eliaser, an Amazon software engineer, said Ring is “simply not compatible with a free society.” We should take his claim seriously.
Ring video doorbells, Amazon’s signature home security product, pose a serious threat to a free and democratic society. Not only is Ring’s surveillance network spreading rapidly, it is extending the reach of law enforcement into private property and expanding the surveillance of everyday life. What’s more, once Ring users agree to release video content to law enforcement, there is no way to revoke access and few limitations on how that content can be used, stored, and with whom it can be shared. . . .
Biden Wants to Surveil Soldier Social Media Pages, Use Private Firms to ‘Circumvent’ First Amendment
The Democrats who control Joe Biden have been chirping about a “domestic war on terror” since January 6 and even before that while ignoring all the domestic violence their side was committing all throughout 2020. Leftists claim their concern is “extremism,” then declare any opinion they disagree with to be “extreme.” Unfortunately for them (yet good for Americans), the Bill of Rights makes it difficult for them to surveil anyone they determine to be a “domestic threat.” So they use private companies to get around pesky First Amendment issues. This now, according to reports, includes our military. That’s right. The Biden administration is concerned that our armed service members maybe a little too “extreme” and wants to monitor what they say on social media.
Per the Intercept, the Pentagon is working on a program to do just that.
An extremism steering committee led by Bishop Garrison, a senior adviser to the secretary of defense, is currently designing the social media screening pilot program, which will “continuously” monitor military personnel for “concerning behaviors,” according to a Pentagon briefing in late March. Although in the past the military has balked at surveilling service members for extremist political views due to First Amendment protections, the pilot program will rely on a private surveillance firm in order to circumvent First Amendment restrictions on government monitoring, according to a senior Pentagon official.
A spokesman for the House Armed Services Committee claims to believe this will only be used for background checks and vetting security clearance. Though they did add the following:
Secretary [of Defense Lloyd] Austin has been clear about his intentions to understand to what extent extremism exists in the force and its effect on good order and discipline.
Your level of concern is probably indexed to your level of cynicism toward the government’s “honesty” and “trustworthiness.” Mine is high on both counts. But there is a bigger problem, assuming the report is accurate. The people whose job it is to send soldiers into combat don’t trust the soldiers they send into combat. Or, at the very least, need to make sure they don’t hold opposing viewpoints.
The left will claim their only concern is “extreme” opinions, implying they’re looking for traitors and anarchists. We’ll see how quickly that becomes soldiers who question climate policy, disagree with POTUS on the Second Amendment, or think that boys are boys and girls are girls.
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AP’s Sally Buzbee Mired in Scandal as She Preps for Role as Washington Post Executive Editor
Days after the Washington Post tapped Sally Buzbee to replace Marty Baron as executive editor, the Associated Press boss finds herself mired in controversy as the organization she has helmed since 2017 is under fire for knowingly associating with terrorists.
The Post announced Buzbee’s hiring on May 11 to the delight of journalists and other liberal proponents of representational diversity. Buzbee will be the first woman to serve as top editor of the Jeff Bezos-owned publication. The initial fervor over the announcement, however, was quickly overshadowed by criticism of the AP’s ties to Hamas, the Iranian-backed terrorist organization behind the recent spate of violence in Israel and the Palestinian territories.
The controversy began on May 15 after Israeli airstrikes destroyed the Jala Tower in Gaza City. The 12-story complex was home to a number of Hamas operations, including weapons manufacturing and military intelligence, as well as the Associated Press and other media organizations. According to national security expert Noah Pollak, the AP’s local reporters knew of the terrorist group’s presence in the office building.
Buzbee denied the AP, which has maintained offices in the Jala Tower for 15 years, was ever aware of the Hamas operations in the building, and demanded an independent investigation into the matter. “We are in a conflict situation,” Buzbee said in an interview with the AP. “We do not take sides in that conflict. We heard Israelis say they have evidence; we don’t know what that evidence is.”
Buzbee’s remarks echoed those of AP president and CEO Gary Pruitt, who said the organization was “shocked and horrified” by the Israeli airstrike and had “no indication Hamas was in the building.” Pruitt said the proximity of active terrorist operations was “something we actively check to the best of our ability” and insisted the AP “would never knowingly put our journalists at risk.”
The AP’s denials notwithstanding, evidence suggests the organization’s due diligence was less than thorough. Matti Friedman, a former AP correspondent based in Jerusalem, has written extensively about his experiences covering the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on the ground. In a 2014 article published in the Atlantic, for example, Friedman explained how news coverage of the region was often shaped by an “informal alliance” between media organizations and Palestinian terrorist groups.
“The AP staff in Gaza City would witness a rocket launch right beside their office, endangering reporters and other civilians nearby—and the AP wouldn’t report it, not even in AP articles about Israeli claims that Hamas was launching rockets from residential areas,” Friedman wrote. “Hamas fighters would burst into the AP’s Gaza bureau and threaten the staff—and the AP wouldn’t report it.” . . .
Amnesty International wins Webby Award for multimedia tear gas project
Amnesty International’s online multimedia project, Tear Gas: An Investigation, has won a prestigious Webby Award today for the best activism website worldwide.
Hailed as the “internet’s highest honour” by The New York Times, the 25th annual Webby Awards, presented by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences (IADAS), is the leading international award honouring excellence on the internet.
“We are delighted to achieve this distinction, which reflects the hard work our team and our partners put into ensuring that Tear Gas: An Investigation was as informative, relevant, user-friendly and visually striking as possible,” said Sam Dubberley, Head of the Crisis Evidence Lab at Amnesty International.
“It is a great honour for the site to be held in such high regard by The Webby Awards judges and the public, and we hope this attention will raise awareness of the serious topic it covers. When misused by police forces, tear gas and other less-lethal weapons can actually maim and kill, in violation of international human rights law and norms. The transfer and use of tear gas must be better regulated globally.”
Arizona Senate Hearing on Maricopa County Audit and 2020 Election Issues – 4:00pm ET Livestream Links
Today at 1pm local / 4:00pm Eastern, the Arizona Senate is holding a public hearing to accept testimony from the groups and individuals currently undertaking the Maricopa County ballot audit of the 2020 election. The auditors are expected to deliver testimony and answer questions raised about what the audit has discovered so far. The event […]
The post Arizona Senate Hearing on Maricopa County Audit and 2020 Election Issues – 4:00pm ET Livestream Links appeared first on The Last Refuge.
Michigan Judge Dismisses Antrim County Election Case
A Michigan judge on Tuesday threw out a case challenging the 2020 election in Antrim County. 13th Circuit Court Judge Kevin Elsenheimer, a Republican nominee, ruled that plaintiff William Bailey, a resident of Antrim County, had received the relief he sought after he filed the lawsuit last year following the election. Bailey was seeking an independent audit of Antrim County’s election but Elsenheimer decided that the February risk-limiting audit conducted by county clerks, who reviewed a random sample of some 18,000 ballots, was sufficient under state law. “There is no right either in the constitutional section or the statue for the independent audit that Mr. Bailey seeks,” Elsenheimer told the court. “As the plaintiffs have either received all of the requested relief or are not entitled to the relief requested as a matter of law … the plaintiff’s claims are, in fact, moot,” he added. . .
Bannon’s War Room | Morning Edition Hour 1 | Recorded May 18, 2021 | Video: 48 Minutes 37 Seconds
Episode 954 – We Are Citizens, Not Subjects … What They’re Hiding in Maricopa. Guests are: Amanda Head and Ben Bergquam, Rep. Mark Finchem, Dr. Joseph Mercola.
Bannon’s War Room | Morning Edition Hour 2 | Recorded May 18, 2021 | Video: 48 Minutes 30 Seconds
Episode 955 – The Indispensables … Untold Stories from the American Revolution. Guests are: Mary Ann Mendoza, Patrick K. O’Donnell, Michael Patrick Leahy.
Bannon’s War Room | Morning Edition Hour 3 | Recorded May 18, 2021 | Video: 47 Minutes 58 Seconds
Episode 956 – The Liberty Trail…From Philadelphia to Georgia. “As we move across America, more and more people are asking questions about the election,” she said. “If there’s just a tiny tiny crack in the story, that’s when people start wiggling with that crack and then they find out a whole mess of things that destroys the Democrat narrative in Arizona, in Georgia, in Pennsylvania, in Wisconsin, all across those swing states.” Guests are: Amanda Head, Ben Bergquam, Laura Baigert, Vernon Jones, Darren Beattie, Patrick O’Donnell.
Bannon’s War Room | Evening Edition | Recorded May 18, 2021 | Video: 48 Minutes 58 Seconds
Episode 957 – How MAGA Patriots Are Like Marbleheaders in the American Revolution. “She’s scared down to the marrow of her being,” he said. “A couple weeks ago she ends with ‘this is dangerous.’ Now the Maricopa County board says ‘this is dangerous.’” Our guests are: Amanda Head, Ben Bergquam, Boris Epshteyn, Patrick O’Donnell.
May 17, 2021 | Nightly News Rebroadcast | Video: 53 Minutes 52 Seconds
Hamas has now fired over 3,000 rockets into Israel, and Israel has killed one more terrorist leader.
The amount of fentanyl seized at the southern border jumped eightfold last month compared to April last year.
A Space Force officer was fired after his public comments criticizing the military’s embrace of critical race theory.
White House Defends ‘Quiet’ Diplomacy in Israel-Gaza Crisis
The Biden administration says it wants to de-escalate the violence between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza, but the White House is resisting calls to demand a cease-fire in a conflict that has cost at least 200 lives.
Pressed on why President Joe Biden and other top officials aren’t publicly calling for a cease-fire, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Monday that “every statement we make is with the objective of reducing the violence and bringing an end to the conflict on the ground.”
“There are times in diplomacy where we’ll need to keep those conversations quieter, where we won’t read out every component of it,” Psaki told reporters. “But that is our objective and that is the prism through which every action and every comment is being made.”
Psaki said she wasn’t sure if Biden had seen the latest statement by a group of Senate Democrats calling for a cease-fire. She emphasized dozens of calls made by the president and top officials seeking to resolve the crisis, calling it “quiet, intensive” diplomacy, and said Biden was aware of the views held by members of Congress.
The statement signed by 29 Senate Democrats on Sunday said it’s time for the violence to stop.
Exclusive – Former Israeli Ambassador to U.N.: ‘I Would Expect from AP to Check Who Your Neighbors Are,’ IDF Warned Them Before Strike
Former Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Dannon told Breitbart News on Monday that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) notified people within a building in Gaza holding Associated Press (AP) offices prior to striking it with warplanes.
Danon discussed the IDF’s destruction of the Jala Tower in Gaza, which also housed the AP, Al Jazeera, and other news media outlets’ offices on SiriusXM’s Breitbart News Daily with host Alex Marlow, author of Breaking the News: Exposing the Establishment Media’s Hidden Deals and Secret Corruption.
“This building was an office building in the center of Gaza, and in that building there were a few headquarters of Hamas intelligence units, and you had some media offices — AP and Al-Jazeera — and we decided to target this building because of information we gathered,” he said. “We notified everybody to evacuate the building. We allowed them to take out all their instruments, their computers, and then we attacked the building, making sure there would be no casualties, so no one can blame Israel for that.”
Parler Names George Farmer as CEO as It Returns to Apple’s App Store
Parler LLC on Monday named prominent U.K. conservative George Farmer as its new chief executive and said that its social network has returned to Apple Inc.’s App Store, the company’s latest steps to rebuild its business months after the U.S. Capitol riot.
Mr. Farmer is succeeding interim chief Mark Meckler, who is leaving the company. Mr. Farmer joined Parler in March as operating chief and previously worked in financial services for a decade, the company said.
He is married to Candace Owens, a conservative author and commentator known for being a loyal supporter of former President Donald Trump. In 2019, Mr. Farmer was an active financial supporter and candidate for the U.K.’s Brexit Party, according to Parler.
The company didn’t disclose the reason behind the executive change.
Arrest Made After Boy, 4, Found Slain on Dallas Street
DALLAS—An 18-year-old man has been arrested after the body of a 4-year-old boy was found lying on a neighborhood street in Dallas, police said Sunday.
Police said that Darriynn Brown has been charged with kidnapping and theft. Police say they also anticipate additional charges pending the results of a forensic analysis.
Brown was being held Sunday in Dallas County jail on a $750,000 bond. Jail records did not list an attorney for him.
Police received a call that there was a child dead in the street at about 6:50 a.m. Saturday.
Assistant Police Chief Albert Martinez has said it appeared the child suffered a violent death and that “an edged weapon” was used. He said it’s believed the child was killed at about 5 a.m.
The child’s name hasn’t been released, but he’s believed to have lived in the southwest Dallas neighborhood where he was found, Martinez said.
Antwainese Square, 39, told The Dallas Morning News she alerted authorities after seeing the boy’s body while she was jogging. She said the boy’s face and upper half of his body were covered in blood and that he didn’t have shoes or a shirt.
“It breaks my heart,” Square told the newspaper. “And now I’m afraid. Now I’m paranoid. Because I don’t know what happened, I don’t know what’s going on.”
EXCLUSIVE: Republican ‘Team Effort’ Killed Bill To Stop Child Transgender Surgeries, ‘Texas GOP Needs A Housecleaning’
Former Texas Rep. Matt Rinaldi told National File that a group of Texas Republican legislators – reportedly acting on orders from Gov. Greg Abbott – worked together to kill a bill that would have effectively banned child transgender surgeries and chemical castrations in the state.
Family activists in Texas are reeling after H.B. 1399, which would have stripped doctors of their ability to acquire liability insurance if they engaged in child transgender surgeries or chemical castrations at their practices, was almost certainly doomed by Texas Reps. Dustin Burrows and Jared Patterson, both on the Calendars Committee responsible for assigning the legislation a date for a full House vote. Burrows and Patterson scheduled the bill for last Wednesday after extreme pressure from activists, but placed hundreds of other legislative items on the agenda ahead of the vote, all but ensuring the bill would not receive a vote before the end of the legislative session and effectively killing it.