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Senate Report:  Thousands of Americans Were Left Behind in Afghanistan Following Biden Regime's Botched Withdrawal.  Thousands of Americans were left in Afghanistan after the Biden Administration's botched withdrawal last summer, according to a stunning new report released by the ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.  Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other Biden administration officials claimed that number of Americans left behind was only 100-150.  According to the report, published by Foreign Relations ranking member Jim Risch (R-Idaho), the Biden Administration "did not hold a senior-level interagency meeting to discuss an evacuation or formally task the State Department (State) to contact at risk populations, including Americans, until August 14, just hours before Kabul fell."

Chris Wallace joined CNN+ because Jeff Zucker would be his protector there, now reportedly 'irate' at his departure.  Apparently, nobody told Chris Wallace that rats are supposed to jump from sinking ships, not onto them.  After leaving Fox News for the nascent CNN+ streaming service (and watching ratings soar for his old show, Fox News Sunday, once he was gone), Wallace now finds himself abandoned by the person who lured him away, Jeff Zucker. [...] Wallace has got to be worried about the long knives and his ample back at his new employer that looks like it is about to clean house.  Notably, there are no reports of him bringing any staff with him from Fox, and his old support staff at Fox News Sunday must be popping champagne corks with the new ratings they enjoy with Shannon Bream helming the broadcast.

Elon Musk slams GoFundMe for 'double standard' after platform seizes $10 million from Freedom Convoy.  Elon Musk, the world's richest man, slammed GoFundMe for taking down the Freedom Convoy's fund, which amassed over $10 million.  As reported earlier by The Post Millennial, GoFundMe has taken down the Freedom Convoy fundraiser after significant pushback from those opposed to the protest.  They stated that they "now have evidence from law enforcement that the previously peaceful demonstration has become an occupation, with police reports of violence and other unlawful activity."  Responding to suggestions that he had donated funds to the GoFundMe, Musk denied that it was his money, but posted a meme that blasted GoFundMe for being "professional thieves."

Flashback:  GoFundMe supported Antifa-occupied 'CHAZ/CHOP' even after people were murdered.  GoFundMe, the crowdfunding platform that recently seized over $10 million in funds intended for the Canadian truckers' Freedom Convoy, financially supported and promoted the illegal "Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone" or CHAZ/CHOP in Seattle, Washington during the height of the summer 2020 riots that broke out in the wake of George Floyd's death.  As detailed by Jack Posobiec on Twitter, GoFundMe tweeted an advertisement publicizing one of the many crowdfunds set up in the CHAZ/CHOP, which was established by Black Lives Matter supporters, local gangs, and elements of Antifa, who set up a cop-free perimeter that encased several neighborhoods in Seattle's Capitol Hill district.

Hurricane Canada.  What is most surprising in a tepid and unadventurous country like Canada that habitually votes left is the degree of popular support the truckers' Freedom Convoy has garnered from ordinary citizens across the land.  Convoys have assembled in several Canadian cities, the Alberta-Montana border has been blockaded, and reinforcements continue to arrive — even on horseback, taking a page from the RCMP.  Naturally, official aggression is also formidable, as a bought-and-paid-for print media, enjoying Prime Minister Trudeau's $600 million bribe, and the country's national broadcaster the CBC, rolling in annual billion-dollar government funding, weigh in against the truckers.  Government officials at every level, municipal, provincial, and federal, with only a few exceptions, have joined the vigilante movement against the salt-of-the-earth protesters.  Threats of reprisal are mounting, highways have been closed, and the turbulence shows no sign of ending anytime soon.

Jake Sullivan Gets Taken to the Woodshed on Biden Hurting US, Helping Russia on Energy.  Biden's National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan went on all the networks on Sunday, stoking up the concern about a potential invasion of Ukraine by Russia.  But when he went on Fox, he faced some real questions from host Martha MacCallum about why Joe Biden had aided and abetted Russia with the moves that he has made regarding energy.  Now, we see a lot of liberal media giving the Biden Administration a pass when it comes to their bad moves on energy, but MacCallum had the facts and was loaded for bear with them in the interview.

Turns out Joe Biden abandoned 9,000 Americans to the Taliban in his chaotic Afghanistan withdrawal.  After Joe Biden, Tony Blinken, and other Biden administration officials blithely assured that the number of Americans left behind in Afghanistan in the chaotic U.S. pullout was minuscule, just a minor rounding error, Congress has come up with a more accurate figure. [...] That's a bona fide scandal because Biden and his administraton obsessively assured Americans that virtually no American was left behind.  He said that, of course, in order to get the issue off the front pages.

GoFundMe Says It Will Automatically Refund All Donations to Trucker Convoy; Florida to Investigate.  The GoFundMe fundraising platform said Feb. 5 it will automatically refund donations made to a trucker convoy in Canada protesting COVID-19 vaccine mandates after backlash.  GoFundMe said Friday it was preventing the funds from going to organizers of the Freedom Convoy and would instead send the money to "established charities verified by GoFundMe."  The justification for the unusual move?  "We now have evidence from law enforcement that the previously peaceful demonstration has become an occupation, with police reports of violence and other unlawful activity," GoFundMe said.  The website didn't provide any evidence of the alleged violence or unlawful activity.

GoFundMe Caves After Attempting to Steal 'Freedom Convoy' Donations.  As RedState reported Friday evening, GoFundMe has decided to shut down the fundraiser set up to provide money to the Freedom Convoy in Canada, a group of truckers, farmers, and others protesting draconian COVID-19 mitigation measures.  According to the crowd-funding site, they did so because of threats of violence and harassment, though, they provided no evidence of that claim.  In fact, the only violence so far appears to have come from someone running over some of the Freedom Convoy participants in what is still a developing story we reported on earlier Saturday [2/5/2022].  Worse, GoFundMe announced that it was only going to offer manual refunds, and that the unclaimed money would go to "approved" charities.  That meant that thousands of people who didn't hear the news could end up having their money go to causes they didn't approve of.  In short, GoFundMe was fine stealing people's money for political reasons.

Reporter Presses White House on 'False Flag' Claims.  Skepticism is building around the White House's narrative regarding Ukraine and Russia, and that boiled over today during the press briefing at the US State Department.  In a rare act of journalism, Matt Lee of the Associated Press excoriated State Department spokesman Ned Price in a must-see back and forth.  The issue at hand involved the Biden administration's latest claims that Russia is spreading "misinformation" and seeking to commit a "false flag" attack to offer a pretext for war.  While most reporters would have just accepted the government's word as fact, Lee was having none of it.  He lit into Price, comparing the claims to "crisis actors," and describing them as "Alex Jones territory." [...] The context of Lee's frustration is simple:  The government has, time and time again, shown itself to be completely untrustworthy in relaying information to the public.  At times, the dishonesty has come via omission.  At other times, it's manifested in outright lies.

Keep your gas tank full.  You might need it.
Canadian Convoy Movement Goes Global — Next Stop, U.S.?  As we've discovered again in recent years, the left loves civil disobedience, until it's someone disobeying them.  Then it becomes filled with authoritarian busybodies, more than happy to deny you your rights to enforce their vision of the world — whether it's COVID lockdowns used to force Americans to follow senseless, unscientific rules, racist America-hating Critical Race Theory forced on school kids, or insane "woke" cancel culture imposed on us all.  But some are now saying, "enough," and loudly.  And they're not the elites.  They're working people who have seen their livelihoods damaged or destroyed, lost their rights to travel and and speak out, and in general have been treated as subjects, not citizens.  That's where Canada's trucker convoy comes in.  Like the American Tea Party movement of more than a decade ago, the truckers hoped to use their right to speak out and criticize to compel their government to change its rigid and at times absurd lockdown rules, which have devastated whole swaths of the country's economy.  The Canadian government, led by Canada's woke, Peter Pan-ish Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, has responded not with an understanding of the trucker movement's followers and their very real fears, but with ridicule, name-calling and insults.

Workers of the World Unite, and the Left Hates It.  The workers are uniting against government mandates and the left now calls it fascism.  What began as a GoFundMe campaign for Canadian truckers who lost their jobs due to COVID-19 mandates for cross-border travel turned into a massive "Freedom Convoy" that drove across Canada and into the capital, Ottawa.  Left-wing Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau dismissed the truckers as a "small fringe" with "unacceptable views." [...] Are we really to believe that the Black Lives Matter protests didn't include "hateful rhetoric" and violence?  They certainly didn't practice social distancing or universal mask use when that was demanded by the capital "S," science.  Unlike those "mostly peaceful" protests that ended up in many cases burning down large sections of cities, no arrests or police incidents have occurred so far as a result of the Freedom Convoy.

China Builds 27 Empty New York Cities.  As of 2016, China's empty apartment units could house New York City 27 times over.  What does this mean to you?  There are a lot of effects from wasting so many resources. [...] If you are a connoisseur of forbidden truths, as I am, you don't take official figures at face value.  You keep digging for tells that reveal the real story.  I'm convinced that Chinese government statistics are as bogus as those in the United States.  And more so.  Professor Christopher Balding of Peking University's HSBC Business School, an authority with good sources in the People's Bank of China's (PBOC) Financial Stability Board, recently did some subversive arithmetic combining "on balance sheet assets" with "off-balance sheet assets."  Remember, while debts are liabilities to the borrowers, they are assets to the lenders.  He concludes that total debt in China is a breathtaking 833 percent of GDP.  That means a debt of roughly $116.6 trillion.

With Chris Wallace Gone, "Fox News Sunday" Sees Most Viewers in a Year.  Chris Wallace, the former Fox News Sunday host that many contended was extremely biased towards Biden in the first Trump-Biden debate, showed his true colors when he announced that he was leaving Fox for CNN, a move many said was for ideological reasons. [...] In any case, though Wallace probably thought he was doing the brave thing by leaving Fox and taking his audience with him, that didn't happen.  Rather than Fox's audience shrinking thanks to Wallace's departure, it actually grew!

'Fox News Sunday' Yet to Feel Impact of Chris Wallace's Departure, Sees Highest Rated Show in a Year.  Fox News' Sunday morning show, "Fox News Sunday," has not suffered a decline in the ratings since former anchor Chris Wallace announced his departure for CNN's streaming service.  The program even saw a rise in ratings, with the Jan. 23 broadcast raking in the most total viewers and the most viewers aged 25-54 the show has seen since Jan. 24, 2021.  According to Nielsen Media Research, the Jan. 23 episode of the show hosted by "Fox News at Night" anchor Shannon Bream saw a rating increase of 27 percent in the 25-54 demo and a 21 percent rise in total viewers over Wallace's last show on Dec. 12, 2021.

Boomers for Censorship.  If you're not aware, earlier this week, "[Neil] Young" threatened to remove his music catalogue from Spotify if the corporate media behemoth did not remove the "Joe Rogan Experience" podcast from its platform.  He gave Spotify an ultimatum, 'It's Joe Rogan or me.'  It's not clear whether Spotify assigned this challenge to its accounting department, but a quick glance at Joe Rogan's download numbers (in the tens of millions) shows that they dwarf the number of music downloads "and Young" gets on the platform.  Spotify apparently and politely told Young they were going to stick with Joe.  Spotify then proceeded to remove Young's music from the platform, forcing all of his fans to dust off their shoeboxes full of 8-track tapes if they want to listen to his music again.

Marijuana impairs driving more, and for longer, than users think, study finds.  Smoking marijuana impacts adults' ability to drive safely, yet most who use the drug believe otherwise, a study published Wednesday by JAMA Psychiatry found.  Adults in the study performed "significantly" less well on tests designed to assess their driving abilities, including reaction times 30 minutes and 90 minutes after smoking marijuana, the data showed.

Pennsylvania monkey truck crash spawns conspiracy theories after woman at scene falls ill.  A Pennsylvania woman first on the scene of last week's lab monkey truck crash near Danville is now the center of online conspiracy theories after falling ill.  The Daily Mail reports the woman, Michele Fallon who lives near Danville, Pa., is now suffering symptoms after one of the cynomolgus macaque monkeys "hissed" in her face.  On her Facebook page and in interviews, Fallon said she suddenly developed a cough, runny nose and pink-eye the day following the accident.  The pink-eye became so bad, she sought emergency room treatment at Geisinger Medical Center in Danville, the Daily Mail reported.

US sends Kiev a plane-load of lethal Javelin anti-tank weapons — each with Vlad's name on them.  Russia has for the first time moved elite paratroopers close to its border with Ukraine amid fears of a military operation to grab capital Kiev.  A train with the crack troops and their equipment was spotted moving west towards the potential war zone and appears to be the 217th Guards Parachute Regiment of the 98th Airborne Division.  The deployment was seen passing through Russia's Bryansk region which borders both Ukraine and Belarus, as shown in a video posted on TikTok.

Russia-Ukraine Crisis [is] Deescalating As NATO Countries Break From Bellicose US-UK Stance.  Deescalation appears to be accelerating over the Ukraine crisis given a number of rapid developments which have seen lead NATO countries break from the more bellicose and threatening tone of the United States and UK. After Germany's neutrality toward the Russia-Ukraine crisis became apparent, Sweden is the latest to follow its lead of forbidding arms transfers to Kiev, while Croatia is out with a firm statement saying it will recall all of its troops from NATO in the event of war.  This followed on the heels of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announcing that circumstances in the region are now "under control" and that there's "no reason to panic" according to The Associated Press.  It appears the earlier hyped messages of an 'imminent Russian invasion' have backfired, as Ukraine officials have now turned to castigating the media for spreading a sense of overblown panic and doom among the population.  Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov went so far as to say the threat of a Russian invasion "doesn't exist" despite there still being "risky scenarios". Other Ukraine defense officials have echoed this as well.

Microsoft's 'Woke' Language Editor Included in Software.  [Scroll down]  Imagine, Microsoft, the company founded by Jeffrey Epstein's great friend Bill Gates, is telling us how to behave through language alteration.  (Does anyone have a synonym for hypocrisy meaning "so hypocritical it's actually nauseating."  We need a new word here.)  Soon enough, they'll be asking us to insert our pronouns in order to log in.  On the surface the whole thing is hilariously stupid, but this is no joke.  Woke, and all it entails, is far from funny.  Even the reliably liberal Bill Maher has recognized that, reminding his ideological compatriots that a lot of the public is fed up with this nonsense.  But that doesn't deter Microsoft that continues to pay obeisance to what's in reality manipulative propaganda designed to control us and guilt us into being sheep, a nation of conformists.

China might claim salvage rights to crashed US F-35 stealth jet by calling it an 'environmental hazard'.  A retired military official is warning on Wednesday that China could claim salvage rights to an F-35 stealth fighter jet that crashed into the South China Sea earlier this week.  Carl Schuster, former director of operations at the US Pacific Command's Joint Intelligence Center in Hawaii, told CNN that China's likely game plan will be to capitalize on its territorial claims in the South China Sea and claim it's salvaging the craft for environmental purposes.  'Salvaging the plane with commercial and coast guard assets will enable Beijing to claim it is recovering a potential environmental hazard or foreign military equipment from its territorial waters,' the former Navy captain said.

US Navy sailors hurt in 'mishap' on USS Carl Vinson in South China Sea.  Seven US sailors were injured Monday when a fighter jet had a "landing mishap" on the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson in the South China Sea, officials said.  The pilot of the F-35 Lighting II warplane was recovered by a helicopter after ejecting and is in stable condition.  The incident occurred during "routine flight operations," the Navy said.  Three of the injured sailors were taken to a medical facility in Manila, while the other four were treated aboard the ship.  Three of the four have since been released.

Race to beat China to recover $100 million US F-35 stealth fighter from bottom of South China Sea.  The U.S. faces a race to beat China in recovering an F-35 stealth fighter that plunged into the South China Sea on Monday [1/23/2022] after what the Navy termed a 'landing mishap' aboard the USS Carl Vinson.  The pilot was forced to eject and seven military personnel in total were injured.  The $100 [million] warplane, customised for naval operations, plunged overboard — making it the second time in three months that an F-35 has been lost at sea.

Finnish Government Puts Christianity On Trial, Calls The Bible 'Hate Speech'.  Two Christian leaders in Finland stood trial in Helsinki on Jan. 24 for publicly stating the Bible's teachings on sex and marriage.  Longtime Member of Parliament Paivi Rasanen and Lutheran Bishop Juhana Pohjola defended in court their decision to write and publish, respectively, a pamphlet explaining Christian teachings about sex and marriage.  In the trial's opening arguments, which will resume on Feb. 14, Finnish prosecutors described quotations from the Bible as "hate speech."  Finland's top prosecutor's office essentially put the Bible on trial, an unprecedented move for a secular court, said Paul Coleman, a human rights lawyer with Alliance Defending Freedom International who is assisting in the Finns' legal defense and was present during Monday's trial.

The Criminalization of Christianity in Finland.  In a foreshadowing of America's future under coercive secularism, a Finnish politician and Finnish bishop will go on criminal trial next week for merely upholding historic Christian teaching on sexual morality.  The trial is a telling measure of the erosion of Christianity in Europe.  Juhana Pohjola, a Lutheran bishop, and Päivi Räsänen, a member of Finland's Parliament, stand accused of an act increasingly forbidden in the de-Christianized West: quoting the Bible.  "According to the nation's top prosecutor, the two people are accused of violating the equality and dignity of LGBT people," reports Christianity Today.  Simply quoting the Bible's condemnation of sexual immorality is now sufficient to qualify as a "hate crime" in Finland.  What Christianity has always taught — hate the sin, but love the sinner — is no longer permissible in the eyes of Finnish authorities.  They say that Pohjola and Räsänen are guilty of "ethnic agitation" — an absurdly vague charge they would never dream of applying to members of any other religion besides Christianity.

Drop in Public Trust in Military Officers Portends Danger.  The public disaster that unfolded in Afghanistan in August shook Americans to their core.  Many to this day cannot understand how the military was so unprepared for the sweep of the Taliban across Afghanistan.  They do not understand how U.S. forces were forced to conduct an evacuation out of a civilian airport unsuited for that purpose and why America relied on terrorists to provide airport security.  Despite moments of candor — such as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley's description of the Afghan war as a "strategic failure" — multiple days of congressional testimony failed to shed much light on these questions, and based on these poll results, Americans are not willing to let senior military leaders completely off the hook for the debacle.  But it probably isn't just Afghanistan that led to this decline.  Before Afghanistan there was a growing sense that senior military officers are becoming more political, and that does not sit well with Americans.

Now the BNSF Railroad Prepares to Go on Strike Adding to Challenges in Filling Already Empty Shelves in US Stores.  The Burlington Northern - Sante Fe (BNSF) railroad is preparing to go on strike.  This will involve 17,000 workers across the nation and will disrupt supply chain channels even further.

No military evacuation of U.S. citizens if Russia invades Ukraine:  State Department.  Americans in Ukraine will be on their own if Russia invades so the U.S. government is advising them to take the earliest commercial flight possible out of the country.  On Sunday [1/23/2022], State Department officials said they didn't know if Russian President Vladimir Putin has made the decision to send tanks across the border but insisted such a move could come "at any time."  "The U.S. government will not be in a position to evacuate American citizens in such a contingency," a senior State Department official told reporters in a briefing.  "Russian military action anywhere in Ukraine will severely impact the U.S. embassy's ability to provide consular assistance."

Joe Biden Just Told Americans in Ukraine to Go Jump in a Lake.  Are you ready for some more of that foreign policy "expertise" Joe Biden is supposedly famous for?  As RedState has reported, tensions between Ukraine and Russia are nearing a boiling point, with the latter possibly invading at any moment.  On Saturday, the State Department moved to evacuate all embassy personnel and their families.  Now, the call to leave the country has extended to all Americans.  Unfortunately, because absolutely no lessons were learned from Afghanistan, the Biden administration isn't planning on offering any help.

Senate Rejects Filibuster Change, Defeats Election Overhaul Bills.  The Senate late Thursday [1/19/2022] rejected a Democratic effort to alter the filibuster in order to pass their long-sought voting bills over unanimous Republican opposition, capping one of the most consequential days in the history of the chamber.  The vote failed 48-52 after Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema voted as they said they would for months, joining a unanimous Republican caucus in opposition and denying their party the necessary support for the change to take effect.  The change, had it been adopted, would have established a "talking filibuster" pertaining to the voting bills only, allowing any senator to speak for or against them for as long as they wanted but lowering the 60-vote threshold for passage to a simple majority.

Chuck Schumer's daughters work at Amazon and Facebook while Senate pursues antitrust bills.  Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer's two adult daughters work for big tech, raising questions about whether he has conflicts of interest as the Senate pursues legislation to rein in the companies.  The New York Post reported Tuesday that Jessica Schumer is a registered lobbyist for Amazon, while her sister Alison Schumer works for Facebook as a product marketing manager.  Schumer's first test could come soon, as a bill is making its way through the Senate Judiciary Committee that would prohibit companies like Amazon from 'self-preferencing' their content - essentially marketing their products over those from other sellers.

In Norway, a man who murdered 77 people — who was sentenced to only 21 years — is seeking release after 10 years in prison.  You may remember Anders Behring Breivik, who hunted down children at a Labor Party summer camp.  The sentence was 21 years because that was the maximum permitted, though the judge was able to add a provision for "preventive detention," based on his future danger to society.  But, technically, he's eligible for parole, and he's taking advantage of this access back into the public eye.

Glenn Youngkin Wastes No Time Delivering on Election Promises.  Shortly after being inaugurated, Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin and his administration set the left's hair on fire.  It was glorious to watch.  Virginia is not just full of government employees working in the Biden administration.  It is also full of corporate media hacks who cover the beltway.  One of the first few actions Youngkin took was appointing an adviser on the pandemic.  He chose Dr. Marty Makary, surgery and public health professor at Johns Hopkins University.

NYS landmarks to be lit red, green and black for MLK Day.  New York Governor Kathy Hochul has announced that state landmarks will be lit the night of January 17 to mark Martin Luther King Jr.  Day.  The landmarks with be lit red, green and black.

The Editor says...
Please explain how something can be lit black.

Married University of Michigan president, 64, is fired under zero-tolerance rules he created.  The University of Michigan has fired its $927,000-a-year president for having an affair with a subordinate, a year after implementing wide sexual misconduct rules to stop people in power sleeping with their staff.  Mark Schlissel, 64, was informed in a letter on Saturday that he was being fired from the role he has held since July 2014.  The university has also made public 118 pages of emails between him and the woman he had an affair with.  She is not named in the exchanges.  The school found out about their affair through an anonymous tip on December 8, 2021.  The emails begin in 2019, when he sent the woman an article that she 'couldn't download' about the sexual habits of New Yorkers.  Their correspondence ends on December 3 last year, five days before he was reported.

Communist Takeover:  Without Firing a Shot, China Seizes Control of America's Farmlands.  U.S President Joe Biden told the media earlier in 2021 after a phone call with Chinese President Xi Jinping that China was "going to eat our lunch."  Heads up, they already are — literally eating our lunch as they buy up American farmland and invest in thousands of American companies.  "The current trend in the U.S. is leading us toward the creation of a Chinese-owned agricultural land monopoly," Representative Dan Newhouse (R-WA) warned in a recent House Appropriations hearing.  According to American Military News, Newhouse raised his concerns about Chinese land ownership as he proposed an amendment in a new agricultural appropriations bill, H.R. 4356.  The amendment would block any new agricultural purchases by companies wholly or partly controlled by the Chinese government.  Furthermore, it would ban existing Chinese-owned farms in the U.S. from drawing from federal agricultural support programs.

Union Pacific train derails near site of recent cargo thefts in Lincoln Heights; 17 cars off track.  Seventeen cars of a Union Pacific train derailed Saturday afternoon in Lincoln Heights, the same area which has recently seen rail car thefts.  Drone video showed the scene of the derailment near San Pablo Street and Valley Boulevard, which is expected to be blocked for some time.

The Editor says...
[#1] I'm not a detective, but if the railroad pirates have discovered a gold mine of flat-screen TV's and other merchandise that can be looted and re-sold, they have a tremendous incentive to figure out how to derail a freight train at exactly the place they want it to stop.  A derailment leaves the train stopped for a long time, which makes it much easier to board and hastily ransack it.  [#2]  Democrats don't spend any time wondering, Where is this going to lead?  But allow me to make this prediction:  Before long, television sets will be sold as brain-dead devices that can only be activated after you enter a code that the retailer will supply to you when you legitimately purchase the TV.  That way, a stolen TV set will be useful only as a doorstop or boat anchor.  This would be especially effective if the TV has a connection to the internet.  Under this registration system, one could easily invent a system to remotely disable TV sets that were stolen after they were purchased and initially registered, but for now I won't elaborate on the technical details.

Biden boasts $27 billion in bridge repair spending.  President Biden on Friday announced that his administration will distribute $27 billion to repair or replace 15,000 bridges across the country.  The funds will be doled out as part of the bipartisan infrastructure spending Mr. Biden signed into law in November.  He said the funds were the largest investment in our nation's bridges since the creation of the Interstate Highway System in the 1950s.

The Editor says...
This is an example of a news story (and a presidential option) that is unleashed for the purpose of getting something in the newspapers other than presidential scandals.  In this case, the scandals include dementia, rock-bottom approval ratings, incompetence, runaway inflation, U.S. citizens trapped in Afghanistan, unchecked illegal immigration, the collapsing Covid-19 hoax, and big city crime that's out of control.  Stories like highway construction and NASA space probes are injected into the news stream to divert your attention.

Gov. Youngkin Signs 11 Executive Orders During First Day In Office.  Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin got straight to work Saturday, issuing 11 executive orders within hours of his inauguration.  Several of the orders were aimed at the issues within Virginia schools that gave him the edge over Democratic candidate Terry McAuliffe in the waning days of the election.  "It's Day One, and we are going to work just like we promised," said Youngkin in a press release, directing an end to "the use of divisive concepts, including Critical Race Theory, in public education" with his first executive order.  He further made good on his promise to parents with his second order by "empowering [them] in their children's education and upbringing by allowing them to make decisions on whether their child wears a mask in school."

VA Governor Glenn Youngkin Overturns Mandates and Takes on Critical Race Theory Immediately Upon Taking Office.  Newly-minted Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin started his first day in office with a bang that could reverberate across the nation as a signal to other governors on the fence between the people and the donor class.  Signing a slate of executive orders, Youngkin fulfilled some of the biggest promises he made to voters during his groundbreaking gubernatorial run.  The orders include:
  •   Ending the use of Critical Race Theory in public education
  •   Investigating "wrongdoing" in Loudon County
  •   Opening the economy for all business
  •   Withdrawing from previous "green energy" initiatives that have been harmful to Virginia's economy and bureaucracy
  •   Slashing "job-killing" regulations
  •   Allowing parents and students to opt out of school mask mandates
  •   Rescinding vaccine mandates for all state employees

Watch As Mexican Cartel Drops Bomb From Drone On Rivals.  A modified consumer drone was used in a bombing raid on a rival drug cartel in Mexico on Monday.  Video from the cartel-operated drone shows several bombs were dropped on a rival camp in a new turf war.  According to the Spanish-language daily newspaper El Pais, the drone was operated by the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) and bombed a rival cartel in the state of Michoacan.  At least one person was injured in the attack.  [Video clip]

National School Board Association 'at risk of total collapse'.  We've seen this coming for a while now, like a slow-motion train wreck.  After the National School Board Association (NSBA) sent a letter to the Biden administration comparing parents to domestic terrorists and even suggesting the PATRIOT Act might be used to reign them in.  That turned out to be the last straw for a lot of parents and maybe also for the NSBA.

Why Are They Building A Wall Around The White House?  The last year has seen a lot of construction making its way around the White House, and after the fountain on the South Lawn was renovated a month or two ago we had a bit of a break.  That ended today though as the construction crews moved into the North Lawn and surrounded the fountain with barriers and hoarding in preparation for some new construction at the White House.  Construction like this has been ongoing for over a year at the White House, but they generally move in small bits.  [Video clip]

Even as Biden tears down our border, he's protecting himself and his friends.  When Donald Trump boasted about and then began building his wall along America's southern border to protect us from illegal aliens flooding in, bringing crime in their wake, and taking jobs from low-income Americans, Democrats insisted that walls were evil.  Walls were ugly.  Walls divided Americans.  Blah, blah, blah.  And when Biden got into the White House, the first thing he did was stop building Trump's wall and throw open the border to illegal aliens from around the world.  Given all that, it's ironic, to say the least, that Biden appears to be building a ten-foot high wall around the White House.  Conservative Treehouse writes that "the Joe Biden White House is erecting a concrete (K-Rail) blast and security containment wall directly around the White House."  It's a big wall, too:  "The perimeter fence appears to be approximately 10' high and is made from reinforced concrete k-rails.  It is also being installed directly around the White House building itself."

Biden Administration Erecting Concrete Blast and Security Wall Around White House.  Recently revealed video shows the Joe Biden White House is erecting a concrete (K-Rail) blast and security containment wall directly around the White House.  There doesn't appear to be any explanation readily available.  These types of security barriers are sometimes erected when heads of state are planning to come to the White House.  However, there doesn't appear to be any information about an anticipated delegation or foreign dignitary.  Additionally, according to one researcher on social media, all of the publicly available CCTV video-streams have been disabled as this work is taking place.  The perimeter fence appears to be approximately 10 [feet] high and is made from reinforced concrete k-rails.  It is also being installed directly around the White House building itself.  [Video clip]

Pentagon opens probe into whether extremists are getting into the military.  The Department of Defense's inspector general this month launched an investigation into whether the military is adequately screening recruits for "supremacist, extremist and criminal gang behavior," in accordance with Pentagon policy and procedures.  In December, Pentagon officials issued new rules prohibiting service members from engaging in extremist activities.  The guidelines were announced about a year after some veterans and a handful of active-duty service members were found to have participated in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.  Soon after taking office, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered a "stand down" in the ranks so commanders could discuss what the Pentagon considers a rise in extremism in the armed forces.

Microsoft introduces new feature that suggests PC alternatives when someone types phrases that could offend snowflakes like 'mankind'.  Microsoft has included a new function in the latest version of its Word software that acts as a checker for inclusivity and offers PC alternatives to phrases which could upset others.  Traditionally, Microsoft Word has offered tools to its 250 million users such as checking software for spelling, punctuation and grammar.  But now, the tech giant has added an additional feature which reads through a user's work and examines whether the language used may offend an individual.

After a Visit by Pete Buttigieg, Oakland California Joins Operation Hide the Ships.  Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg visited the Port of Los Angeles (POLA) and Port of Long Beach (POLB) to announce the Biden administration officially saved Christmas.  Yes, that actually happened.  Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti took it one step further and proclaimed Secretary Buttigieg as the official "man who saved Christmas".

Fed vice chair is latest official to quit in trading scandal.  Federal Reserve Vice Chair Richard Clarida said Monday [1/10/2022] that he will step down on Friday, the third Fed official to resign after a trading scandal at the central bank that involved potential conflicts of interest.  The announcement followed new revelations around Clarida's trading in a stock fund in February 2020, when the coronavirus threatened to upend the global economy and the Fed was discussing extraordinary rescue measures.

McCarthy Eyes Ban on Lawmakers Trading Individual Stocks.  House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy is considering banning lawmakers from trading individual stocks if his party wins control of the chamber in the November midterms and he becomes speaker, a person familiar with the matter said.  The plan could be put into effect in the package of House rules voted on at the beginning of the next Congress.  Government officials' personal financial dealings are receiving fresh scrutiny following Federal Reserve Vice Chair Richard Clarida's announcement Monday that he will resign before his term expires amid revelations about his own stock trading on the eve of a major central bank announcement.

Powell calls inflation a severe threat, disputes White House claims of easing supply-chain woes.  Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome H. Powell on Tuesday [1/11/2022] disputed President Biden's claim that supply-chain problems have eased, telling Congress that persistent bottlenecks are responsible for record-high inflation that could prompt the central bank to raise interest rates more than planned.  In a confirmation hearing for a second four-year term, Mr. Powell told the Senate Banking Committee that high inflation has become a "severe threat" to healthy employment levels.  He said stalled shipping and delivery networks are still hurting the economy by contributing to the biggest price increases in consumer goods in four decades.  "We're not seeing really a lot of progress," Mr. Powell testified.  "Look at Long Beach and L.A., the two big ports on the West Coast for Asia, the number of ships at anchor is still at a record level."

American Airlines issues groveling apology after furious customer tweeted photo of pilot with Let's Go Brandon sticker on his case.  An American Airlines passenger has sparked a firestorm by complaining about a pilot whose case bore a sticker critical of Joe Biden.  Dana Finley Morrison, a Missouri-based fraternity and sorority worker, was flying from St Lucia to Miami on Saturday when she spotted the pilot's 'Let's Go Brandon' sticker. [...] he airline has a policy that only official, preapproved badges or pins can be worn by its staffers.  Examples include a military veterans pin, a gay pride pin and one for Christian workers.  Pilots can only wear three pins at a time.

Maryland surgeons successfully transplant pig heart into human patient.  In a medical first, doctors transplanted a pig heart into a patient in a last-ditch effort to save his life and a Maryland hospital said Monday that he's doing well three days after the highly experimental surgery.  While it's too soon to know if the operation really will work, it marks a step in the decades-long quest to one day use animal organs for life-saving transplants.  Doctors at the University of Maryland Medical Center say the transplant showed that a heart from a genetically modified animal can function in the human body without immediate rejection.  The patient, David Bennett, a 57-year-old Maryland handyman, knew there was no guarantee the experiment would work but he was dying, ineligible for a human heart transplant and had no other option, his son told The Associated Press.

Rep. Ed Perlmutter Becomes 26th Democrat to Announce Retirement In 2022.  Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-Colo.) has added his name to the already-expansive list of Democrats who have announced that they will be retiring ahead of the 2022 midterm elections.  Most of these retirements have thus far come from the House, where Republicans are expected to put on a real challenge to Democrats who are looking to keep their majority.  In the Senate, where Democrats have a more favorable election map, there has only been one retirement, that of Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), president pro tempore of the Senate.  The slew of Democratic retirements in the House has led some to speculate that there is a connection between the difficulty that Democrats will face in the 2022 elections and the growing list of retirements.  During a speech announcing his retirement, Perlmutter brushed off any such speculation.

Things to Look For that show signs of food supply chain vulnerability.  [Scroll down]  The reason I list the shortage of potatoes as the #1 precursor is because every food outlet sells a potato in some form.  Every supermarket and every single restaurant (fancy, sit down or fast food) sells some form of potato.  Potatoes are demanded by every single food outlet; therefore, a shortage of potatoes is the first noticeable issue.  The 2020 demand disruption problem now becomes a 2021/2022 supply chain problem on both the fresh and processing side (depleted inventories), with each vector now competing for the same raw material:  wheat, soybeans, grains, beans and stored row crops.  Making matters worse, the protein suppliers also need grain as feed for cattle, pigs, cows, chickens, etc.

Ted Cruz admits his comment calling the January 6 riot a 'violent terrorist attack' was 'dumb and sloppy'.  Texas Senator Ted Cruz gave a mea culpa to Fox News Channel host Tucker Carlson Thursday after Carlson criticized Cruz Wednesday [1/5/2022] for comments he made last week branding the Capitol riot 'a violent terrorist attack.'  Cruz, introduced by Carlson as 'smarter than me,' called his own comments 'dumb and sloppy' and said he texted Carlson shortly after and asked to go on the show.  Carlson didn't believe it, continuing his line of criticism from Wednesday night, where he said: 'He doesn't use a single word by accident.  Every word Ted Cruz uses is used intentionally.  He's a lawyer.'

The Editor says...
Ted Cruz isn't just a lawyer.  He was the Solicitor General for the State of Texas before being elected to the U.S. Senate.  Everything he says is planned in advance.  He knows exactly what he's saying.

Democrats Call for the Disqualification of Dozens of Republican Members.  Electoral disqualification systems are generally anathema to democratic values, but some in the United States are now toying with the idea for the 2022 or 2024 elections.  While more modest than the Iranian model, the Democratic calls for disqualification are just as dangerous.  What is most maddening is that this anti-democratic effort is cloaked in democratic doublespeak.  This week, Democratic lawyer Marc Elias predicted that 2022 would bring a renewed interest in disqualifying Republican members from office based on an obscure Civil War-era provision.  Elias — the former Hilary Clinton campaign general counsel — is a well-known figure in Washington who has been prominently featured in the ongoing investigation of Special Counsel John Durham.  Elias has founded a self-described "pro-democracy" group that challenges Republican voting laws and pledges to "shape our elections and democratic institutions for years to come."  In the age of rage, nothing says democracy like preventing people from running for office.

Disgraced Theranos boss Elizabeth Holmes is found guilty of four counts of wire fraud and conspiracy.  Elizabeth Holmes has been found guilty of four counts of wires fraud after a jury in San Jose found that she deceived investors into sinking more than $945 million into her faulty blood testing machines.  The former Theranos CEO is facing up to 20 years in jail, with each count of her sentence likely to be served concurrently.  She is expected to appeal.  Holmes, 37, who modelled herself on Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, won widespread acclaim — including from Harvard University and Time magazine — for a phoney technology which she claimed would revolutionize blood-testing methods by using miraculously tiny volumes of blood, such as from a finger prick.

Covid crisis leaves Sri Lanka on brink of bankruptcy.  Sri Lanka is facing a deepening financial and humanitarian crisis with fears it could go bankrupt in 2022 as inflation rises to record levels, food prices rocket and its coffers run dry.  The meltdown faced by the government, led by the strongman president Gotabaya Rajapaksa, is in part caused by the immediate impact of the Covid crisis and the loss of tourism but is compounded by high government spending and tax cuts eroding state revenues, vast debt repayments to China and foreign exchange reserves at their lowest levels in a decade.  Inflation has meanwhile been spurred by the government printing money to pay off domestic loans and foreign bonds.  The World Bank estimates 500,000 people have fallen below the poverty line since the beginning of the pandemic, the equivalent of five years' progress in fighting poverty.

China unveils plan to 'take over' Latin America.  Chinese Communist Party officials have unveiled an "action plan for cooperation" with Latin American countries that amounts to a "comprehensive" plan to influence the region and threaten U.S. interests, following a new summit with the nearest neighbors of the United States.  "The Chinese don't say, 'We want to take over Latin America,' but they clearly set out a multidimensional engagement strategy, which, if successful, would significantly expand their leverage and produce enormous intelligence concerns for the United States," U.S. Army War College research professor Evan Ellis, a former member of the State Department policy planning staff, told the Washington Examiner.

FDIC chair resigns after warning Democrats launching 'hostile takeover'.  FDIC Chairman Jelena McWilliams announced her resignation Friday [12/31/2021] in an open letter addressed to President Biden, just weeks after she warned of a "hostile takeover" of the agency by Democrats.  McWilliams, a Serbian immigrant, has lived in the country for decades and boasts a successful career in law, finance, and banking policy.

The Government Of Netherlands Banned Fireworks For New Year'd Eve, The People Begged to Differ.  This was the amazing scene on New Year's Eve in the Netherlands after the government banned fireworks in the face of Omicron spreading.  Looks like the good Dutch people have had enough of being told what to do, replicating Los Angeles one year ago when mayor Garcetti banned fireworks and the night sky filled with explosions in protest.  [Video clip]

Oregon Business Owner Ordered to Remove American Flag Mural on Private Property.  A business owner in Salem, Oregon, painted a mural honoring the American flag and the Marines who raised it at Iwo Jima.  Most observers considered it a beautiful memorial and an attractive use of an otherwise nondescript wall.  The owner of the business commissioned a local artist to create the tasteful and fetching display of patriotism.  The Salem City Council has ordered him to remove it, or face fines of up to $200 per day.

Brandon might as well make the most of it.
NASCAR's Brandon Brown to drive 'Let's go, Brandon'-themed car.  "Let's Go, Brandon"-themed stickers have spread from America's roadways to NASCAR's — thanks to "Brandon" himself.  Brandon Brown acquired a new sponsor Thursday, one that took its very name from the chant based on the driver's name but aimed at President Biden.  The cryptocurrency company LGBcoin — the self-styled "America's Coin" — will be the Brown team's full season primary partner for the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series[.]

Kraft Heinz Tells Grocery Retailers Price Increases Beginning 2022 Will Be Up to 20 Percent.  Hopefully everyone has done their preparatory diligence and are well situated to assist their family, because prices on fast turn consumable goods (groceries) are now less than 30 days from entering exponential increase phase.  CTH has been counting down the days to impact as the contract terms of 30, 60 and 90 days have begun expiring.  The Wall Street Journal has seen the first pricing notification memo from Kraft-Heinz food group to the buying offices of major U.S. retailers.  Here's how the WSJ presents it:  "Kraft Heinz Co. told retailer customers that it would raise prices across many of its products including Jell-O pudding and Grey Poupon mustard, with some items going up as much as 20%, according to a memo viewed by The Wall Street Journal."

Stu Scheller Announces Discharge from the Marine Corps, His Planned Media Blitz.  The Marine lieutenant colonel who demanded accountability from senior military leaders for the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan has announced that he has been officially discharged from the Marine Corps and is planning to go on a media blitz.  Former Marine Lieutenant Colonel Stuart Scheller wrote on his Facebook page on December 23:  "Out of respect to my senior leaders, I haven't done a single interview since this began.  But now it's my turn.  My television media blitz starts with Tucker Carlson on 4 January."

Power company scraps plan for natural gas turbines in Gowanus, Brooklyn.  An energy company is pulling the plug on a controversial plan to install natural gas turbines at a power plant in Gowanus, Brooklyn.  The proposal had come under criticism as a step backward while the state government attempts to phase out fossil fuels and switch to clean sources of energy.  Eastern Generation said it was withdrawing its application to replace combustion turbines at the Gowanus site — considered to be among the dirtiest power plants in the city — with natural gas units.

Amazon Partners With Chinese Propaganda Arm, Deletes Reviews Critical of Communist Party Books.  In the latest example of corporate America kowtowing to the Communists in Beijing, internal memos and Amazon.com insiders have revealed the company's continuing appeasement of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), including colluding with state propaganda operatives to delete reviews of books critical of the regime.  Notably, as reported by Reuters, Amazon caved in like a cheap Mao suit to a CCP edict that it stop allowing negative customer ratings and reviews of the book "Xi Jinping:  The Governance of China," which contains many of Xi's speeches and writings, as well as other state propaganda.  It gets worse.  Said a company insider, according to Reuters:  "I think the issue was anything under five stars."

NASCAR driver who unintentionally sparked 'Let's Go Brandon' chant says corporations don't want to sponsor him.  The NASCAR driver who recently rose in fame after unintentionally sparking the "Let's Go Brandon!" phrase says he's had a hard time finding corporate sponsors following the chant going viral.  "It got extremely difficult for us. ... If you're a national corporation, that means you sell to all consumers ... and unfortunately, when you get dragged into the political arena, people want you to take a side,'" Brown told Sports Business Journal in a recent interview.

The Editor says...
In my opinion, the damage to Brandon Brown's marketability was done by NBC Sports reporter Kelli Stavast, not by Brandon himself.

Today's deep question:  Do all California's education-equity execs live in Texas?  Answer:  Nope.  One of them lived in Philadelphia, for instance.  However, the latest California education executive to be discovered by Politico living out of state tendered her resignation ... from Dallas: [...] As a newly minted Texan, that irony makes my day.  Gavin Newsom made a big show of launching that ban — which most Texans likely appreciated — while his patronage regime paid at least one of its executives to live in Texas.

Internal Amazon Documents Show Alexa Owners Aren't Using Devices.  According to a recent report, Amazon is aware that many owners of its Alexa devices are not using them after as little as two weeks of use.  According to internal documents viewed by Bloomberg, as many as 25 percent of Amazon's smart home assistants become expensive paperweights just weeks after being activated.  A recent report from Bloomberg reveals that Amazon knows that users of its Alexa devices are not utilizing the full capabilities of the smart home assistant, and often are becoming bored with the device as quickly as two weeks after getting it.

The Editor says...
If you get tired of it, don't just ignore it.  Pull the power cord, so it won't keep listening and/or recording everything you say.

Did two Democrat politicians just get mugged by reality?  One of the long-standing problems with Democrat governance is that Democrat politicians enact policies that affect people other than themselves.  Thus, affluent professional Dems living in chi-chi gentrified enclaves aren't the ones who lose their jobs due to unconstrained illegal immigration.  Likewise, those same neighborhoods insulate them from the havoc their "defund the police" policies wreak.  However, on Wednesday, two Democrat politicians, one in Philadelphia and one in Chicago, were mugged by reality when both were carjacked.  Fortunately, neither was hurt but I hope it was a learning experience for both of them.

Former Arsonist Just Got Appointed Fire Chief In Illinois, Over A Dozen Firefighters Resign.  There were high emotions and high drama at a fire district board meeting in Illinois Monday, as a once-convicted arsonist was named acting fire chief of the volunteer fire department.  The board removed John Rosencranz as chief of the Prairie Du Pont Volunteer Fire Department and replaced him with Assistant Chief Jerame Simmons.  The two were seated at the same table when the change was made.  Board members said they had good reasons for making the change but they have not made those reasons public.  That wasn't good enough reasoning for most of the department's firefighters.  Ten of the department's 13 firefighters quit on the spot.  [Video clip]

10 Illinois firefighters walk off job after man convicted of arson appointed new chief.  Ten out of 13 firefighters with a volunteer Illinois department have quit after their chief was replaced by a man once convicted of arson.  Fire Chief John Rosenkranz was removed from his post and replaced with Assistant Chief Jerame Simmons, at a fire district board meeting in East Carondelet on Monday, FOX 2 reports.  The newly-appointed fire chief pleaded guilty to arson more than 20 years ago when he was just 18.  The two can be seen in video seated at the same table when the change was made.  Jerame Simmons is reportedly the son of Herb Simmons, who is the long-time director of the St. Clair County Emergency Management Agency.  He was accused of setting fire to a vacant home and setting another, smaller fire, at Dupo High School.  He served probation, but said Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker has since pardoned him.

Progressive DA Larry Krasner's office in chaos after 261 attorneys quit during his first term.  As you may have heard, shootings and murders are up around the country.  That's especially true in Philadelphia which had already recorded more murders this year than either New York City or Los Angeles.  Progressive DA Larry Krasner's response to that spike in violence has been denial.  "We don't have a crisis of lawlessness, we don't have a crisis of crime, we don't have a crisis of violence," Krasner said earlier this month.

Former Harvard Chemistry Chair Admits to Taking Tens of Thousands of Dollars From China.  The former chair of Harvard University's Chemistry Department accused of hiding Chinese ties has admitted to taking tens of thousands of dollars from China, video footage presented in federal court on Dec. 17 shows.  The footage, shot during an interrogation by federal investigators of nanoscientist Charles Lieber, was played for jurors on the fourth day of the trial regarding Lieber's alleged false statements about China funding.  The 62-year-old Harvard professor had maintained that he didn't take payments from a Chinese university, except for compensation of his travel costs to China.  But he shifted his story quickly after FBI agents Robert Plumb and Kara Spice presented him with copies of evidence, including a bilingual contract he signed with the Wuhan University of Technology (WUT) in 2011.

Special Report:  Amazon partnered with China propaganda arm.  Amazon.com Inc was marketing a collection of President Xi Jinping's speeches and writings on its Chinese website about two years ago, when Beijing delivered an edict, according to two people familiar with the incident.  The American e-commerce giant must stop allowing any customer ratings and reviews in China.  A negative review of Xi's book prompted the demand, one of the people said.  "I think the issue was anything under five stars," the highest rating in Amazon's five-point system, said the other person.

Mexico's Supreme Court says you can choose your own age.  That's right, Mexico's Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) has affirmed that a "fundamental right to personal identity" includes the right to change one's date of birth on government documents.  The Court ruled that, under the Mexican Constitution's recognition of individuals' "right to identity," a birth certificate should reflect how someone has "constantly identified himself in his private and public acts."  It added that identity is comprised of more than just "biological truth."

China Follows Up 2021 Box Office King with Another Anti-American War Movie.  Chinese filmmakers are preparing to follow up The Battle at Lake Changjin, which became this year's top box-office attraction in China with a good deal of help from the communist government, with another anti-American propaganda film about the Korean War called Crossing the Yalu River.  The Battle at Lake Changjin was touted by the Chinese communist government as the top movie worldwide in October, and the most successful movie ever produced by a Chinese studio.  Some of its massive ticket sales were due to the government strongly suggesting that every patriotic Chinese citizen was obliged to see it, and making sure no other movies were playing in many theaters.

Redfin and Realtor websites won't provide crime statistics for neighborhoods when homebuyers search for houses to avoid 'racial bias'.  Two major websites used by homebuyers to search for properties to move into have decided that ignorance is bliss when it comes to crime statistics.  As noted by Stacey Matthews on Legal Insurrection, Realtor.com and redfin.com decided on the same day that providing crime information on neighborhoods would promote racial bias.  Helping families avoid moving to a house or condo in a dangerous crime-ridden neighborhood is far less important to them than virtue-signaling their trendy "anti-racism."  Apparently, they both have forgotten the ancient maxim "caveat emptor" — "let the buyer beware."  I am not certain how to render "let the buyer be anti-racist" in Latin, but that is the replacement philosophy for these real estate marketing geniuses.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to investigate drugmakers promoting puberty blockers to minors.  Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced Monday that he was opening an investigation into two pharmaceutical companies for promoting puberty-blocking drugs to minors for gender transitions.  The investigation will look at whether or not Endo Pharmaceuticals and AbbVie Inc. have violated the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act by advertising and providing puberty-blocking drugs to underage children for the purposes of gender transitions, a use that does not have FDA approval.  The two companies provide puberty-blocking drugs that are approved for use in children with precocious puberty, a condition in which a child starts exhibiting signs of puberty prematurely.

Wait, What?  Jake Sullivan's Wife is AG Merrick Garland's Legal Counsel at DOJ?  The same Jake Sullivan who was one of Hillary Clinton's foot soldiers, a foreign policy advisor pushing the fraudulent Trump-Russia conspiracy theory, is now Joe Biden's national security advisor.  That was always sketchy by itself.  However, to discover that Sullivan's wife, Margaret Goodlander, is the legal counsel to Attorney General Merrick Garland, opens up an entire world of conflict issues.  As noted by Chuck Ross, Attorney General Merrick Garland is being advised by Jake Sullivan's wife and overseeing the John Durham criminal probe, which is looking into the role of Jake Sullivan in the construct of the fabricated Trump-Russia conspiracy, the use of the FBI as a political tool, and Sullivan's lies in testimony to congress.

North Koreans are banned from laughing or drinking for 11 days to mark tenth anniversary of former leader Kim Jong Il's death.  North Koreans have been banned from laughing or drinking for 11 days to mark the tenth anniversary of former leader Kim Jong Il's death.  Government authorities have ordered the public to not show any signs of happiness while North Korea commemorates his death.  Kim Jong Il ruled North Korea from 1994 until his death in 2011, and was then succeeded by his third and youngest son, current leader Kim Jong Un. 

The Editor says...
An eleven-day ban on laughing is appropriate, because there's no laughing or drinking where Kim Jong Il is now.

'Woke' retailers who asked Congress for help amid smash-and-grabs supported left-wing police reforms.  Retail CEOs are calling on Congress for help amid the smash-and-grab lootings that are leaving them grappling with hundreds of thousands of dollars of lost or stolen merchandise.  Some of those same companies, however, supported organizations last year that have called to defund or overhaul policing in the United States.  "Many corporate leaders jumped on the woke bandwagon and wrote big checks to organizations that still continue to advocate to defund the police.  They did not think of anything beyond not being labeled a racist," Sean Pritchard, president of the San Jose Police Officers Association, told Fox News Digital Tuesday [12/14/2021].  Nearly two dozen CEOs signed the letter to Congress asking for support as theft crimes rage, including the chiefs of Target, Nordstrom, Levi Strauss, Ulta Beauty and Home Depot.

Lee Harvey Oswald was in contact with member of KGB two months before shooting and anonymous phone calls said Russia was behind it, documents reveal.  More than 1,500 previously classified JFK assassination files have today been made public, including documents about killer Lee Harvey Oswald's contact with a KGB agent two months before the shooting.  The files were released at noon on Wednesday by the National Archives, after months of delays by Biden who had promised to make them public but then stalled, claiming COVID backlogs was the reason.  Not all of them are now public — some are still being held back for further review by the NSA until next December, a move that has been slammed by members of Kennedy's family.

The Editor says...
If inflation gets worse, and it will, or if Ghislaine Maxwell spills the beans about someone really important, or if a Democrat politician is struck by lightning while telling the latest in a series of obvious lies, a few more of these documents will be released, to get the bad news off the front page of the newspaper.  Anybody who has looked into the Kennedy assassination for a few years will learn nothing from the documents most recently declassified.  (Really, this is news?  Oswald had "contact with a KGB agent two months before the shooting?"  That it?  Did anybody not know that already?  The only difference is that it was a conspiracy theory last week, and now it's a fact.)  The really interesting stuff is still under wraps, and will be for years, no matter who is president.

Governor of Texas Exceeded Constitutional Authority.  Allen West says that recent edicts issued by the Governor of Texas exceeded the governor's constitutional authority.  West specifically mentioned such decisions as deciding which businesses were essential and which were not as being blatantly unconstitutional.  Part of the discussion included references to American and Texas history as both the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and Texas' break from Mexico in 1836 included opposition to similar autocratic decrees by the King of England and by General Santa Anna respectively.  West also mentioned the lack of enforcement of border security as well as gubernatorial edicts that changed Texas' election schedule in 2020 in a manner that all but killed any attempts to accomplish voter registration clean-up in Texas.

Key Inflation Metric Grows at Fastest Pace Ever Recorded.  The producer price index jumped 9.6 percent in November compared to the same month last year, the highest year-over-year increase since record-keeping began in 2010.  The PPI increased by 0.8 percent during the month of November 2021.  Prices still climbed 6.9 percent when excluding food and energy costs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  The PPI tracks changes in the sale price of domestically produced goods, and is a key gauge of inflation.

Leaked SoCal hospital records reveal huge, automated markups for healthcare.  Ridiculous, seemingly arbitrary price markups are a defining characteristic of the $4-trillion U.S. healthcare system — and a key reason Americans pay more for treatment than anyone else in the world.  But to see price hikes of as much as 675% being imposed in real time, automatically, by a hospital's computer system still takes your breath away.  I got to view this for myself after a former operating-room nurse at Scripps Memorial Hospital in Encinitas shared with me screenshots of the facility's electronic health record system.  The nurse asked that I not use her name because she's now working at a different Southern California medical facility and worries that her job could be endangered.

Pentagon Pledges to 'Do Better,' But Won't Discipline Anyone for Botched Kabul Drone Strike.  Remember back in August when the Biden administration, through its Pentagon brass, announced a "righteous" drone strike in Kabul that supposedly stopped an imminent suicide bombing amid President Biden's disastrous and deadly withdrawal from Afghanistan?  The one that turned out to have been a complete miss and killed ten innocent civilians including seven children?  Well, no one's getting punished, as Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby announced Monday [12/13/2021].  According to The Associated Press, U.S. defense officials reported that "No U.S. troops involved in the August drone strike that killed innocent Kabul civilians and children will face disciplinary action."

Pentagon confirms NO military personnel will be punished for botched Kabul drone strike that killed 10 civilians instead of ISIS-K suicide bombers.  The Pentagon said Monday [12/13/2021] that no action would be taken against military personnel involved in the botched drone strike that killed 10 civilians in Kabul as American forces withdrew in August.  Seven children were among the dead when a Hellfire missile hit a saloon car mistakenly identified as being packed with explosives in the Afghan capital.  U.S. nerves were on edge three days after an ISIS-K suicide bomber killed 170 Afghans and 13 American service members at Hamid Karzai International Airport.

Project Veritas Case Appointed a Special Master in Court Win Over DOJ.  Project Veritas is in court again, this time because they claimed to have received an abandoned diary that once belonged to Ashley Biden, daughter of the current President of the United States.  James O'Keefe, founder of the group that is devoted to conducting sting operations against Democrats and their various organizations, insisted the diary came into their hands around September 3rd, 2020 because it had been abandoned, not stolen.

Amazon's cloud outage left millions who use 'smart' technology locked out of their homes, fridges, vacuum cleaners and house lighting systems!.  Amazon's cloud outage saw Alexa's, Roomba robot vacuum cleaners and Ring doorbells go down — leaving some users trapped outside their own 'smart' homes.  Some Ring customers said that they spent time rebooting or reinstalling their apps and devices before finding out about the outage on social media.  Many rely on a phone app to enter their homes, rather than a code that can also be used, with those that had forgotten the latter stuck outside their own homes as Ring doorbells went down.

The Editor says...
If you put all your eggs in one basket, you're in for great disappointment.  The internet just isn't all that reliable.  Neither is the power grid.  Neither is the government.

GOP moves to stop 'zombie votes' at Democratic FTC.  Republican senators are aiming to stop the Federal Trade Commission's Democratic chairwoman, Lina Khan, from using the votes of departed commissioners to move her agenda forward.  Six Republican senators, led by Sen. Jerry Moran of Kansas, introduced legislation last week that would invalidate dozens of email votes left behind by Democrat Rohit Chopra when he left the agency in October.  The trade commission's current rules allow Chopra's votes to be used for up to 60 days after his departure, thereby allowing Democrats at the agency, led by Khan, to use his critical vote to maintain a majority regarding votes on policy statements, investigations, and rule-makings.

Leftist radicals enjoy unequivocal freedom of speech.  Conservatives do not.
Virginia: 'Let's Go Brandon' Boat Wins Boat Parade Contest, Is Then Disqualified Because of Liberal Tears.  Yorktown, Virginia held its annual Yorktown Lighted Boat Parade on Saturday night, and one 50-foot vessel won the coveted "Best in Show" title with a colorful and artfully designed display of lights, plus people dressed as Santa Claus and Old Joe Biden yelling "Merry Christmas" to the crowd, topped off with a pair of American flags at the bow.  A splendid time was had by all, but there was one fly in the festive ointment:  the winning entry was also bedecked with a sign reading "FJB Let's Go Brandon" in white lights.  Within hours, the Yorktown Foundation, which sponsors the event, had abjectly apologized and stripped the offending boat of its title.  An "overt political message," you see, is not allowed, or at least isn't allowed now that this has happened.

'Amazon Bought Twitch for $1 Billion for a Reason': Why Defense Experts Are Watching Video Game Industry.  From Call of Duty to Minecraft, virtual spaces are where more and more people are spending a good amount of their lives.  Facebook's plan to create a metaverse — a sort of next-generation internet that promises to blur the line between the actual and virtual worlds even further — raises valid concerns.  And yet, the demand for virtual environment is only growing.  In fact, Investopedia reports that the video game industry is larger than both the movie and music industries combined.  It has become an incubator for technology that is changing how people socialize, communicate, and even wage war.

Apple Signed Secret $275 Billion Deal With Chinese Government.  [Scroll down]  And just as the SEC prepares to boot dozens of Chinese companies off of US stock exchanges for refusing to comply with US audit standards (something the CCP has expressly forbidden under the auspices of data privacy), reporters with the Information have just published a bombshell:  At some point in the not-too-distant past, Cook struck a $275 billion deal with the Chinese government while facing pressure from the CCP.

Alleged $275 billion secret deal between Apple and China raises awkward questions.  A paywalled IT industry publication called The Information has published a blockbuster report titled, "Inside Tim Cook's Secret $275 Billion Deal with Chinese Authorities."  Only 2 paragraphs are visible to non-subscribers, Hartley Charlton of MacRumors has published a summary of it that is available to all.

New Bombshell Report Reveals CIA Is Full Of Pedophiles, Agency Refuses To Clean It Up.  The CIA covered up evidence of a Deep State pedophile ring operating within its own agency, according to newly released documents.  The bombshell revelation was reported, surprisingly, by BuzzFeed News, which obtained hundreds of internal CIA reports through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuits.  According to the documents, one of the 10 CIA staffers raped a two year old girl and admitted to raping a six-year-old on two occasions.  The employee was fired but never criminally charged.  [Video clip]

Stash of money and checks discovered in walls of Joel Osteen church.  A stash of money and checks was discovered behind a bathroom wall by a plumber working at the megachurch of televangelist Joel Osteen in Houston, Texas.  The revelation was reported Thursday with Morning Show radio host George Lindsey being told about the Nov. 10 find during repair work at the Lakewood Church, according to KPRC 2.  "There was a loose toilet in the wall, and we removed the tile," a caller said.  "We went to go remove the toilet ... I moved some insulation away, and about 500 envelopes fell out of the wall, and I was like, 'Oh wow!'"  The caller explained to Lindsey that, upon discovering the stash of envelopes filled with cash and checks, he immediately "contacted the maintenance supervisor" and had the money turned in.  Lindsey said he was in disbelief upon hearing that the plumber had turned in the money.  "We were like, 'What are you talking about?'"  Lindsey said the caller explained that "in 2014 there was a big story about money being stolen from Lakewood church that they never recovered."

Alabama School Board Association votes to leave the National School Boards Association.  The parent movement scored another victory, as confirmed last night, with a vote taken by the Alabama School Board Association.  That association voted to leave the National School Boards Association which brings the number to 26 states that have distanced themselves from or terminated their membership with the national organization, as noted by Christopher Rufo on Twitter.

Supply chain issues impacting pharmacies.  The Federal Reserve reported Wednesday that many parts of the country were hit by supply chain disruptions and labor shortages in November.  While these problems have continued into December — with price increases reported to be widespread across the U.S. economy — empty shelves aren't the only issue for Americans.  Pharmacies are reportedly running out of important prescription medications, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) shows there are about 111 drugs on backorder — including heart medications, antibiotics and cancer drugs.

U.S. Space Academies Prioritize 'Diversity' And 'Inclusion' As China Prepares To Eclipse U.S. In Space.  The United States may soon lose its status as a truly global superpower, both on Earth and in the heavens of low orbit.  "The threats are really growing and expanding every single day," Space Force Vice Chief of Operations Gen. David Thompson warned in an interview with the Washington Post published Tuesday.  As the Chinese and Russians continue to enhance their capabilities beyond Earth-bound gravity, the United States finds itself in the midst of a new 21st-century space race, competing with world powers developing new weapons to target satellites.  "We're really at a point now where there's a whole host of ways that our space systems can be threatened," Thompson said, adding U.S. satellites already face attacks "every single day" whether it be by laser, cyber, or frequency jammers.

DeSantis Moves to Reinstate the Long Disbanded Florida State Guard.  Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said on Dec. 2 that he will be reinstating the Florida State Guard and will be seeking $3.5 million in the budget to do it.  The state guard was formed in 1941 and filled in for the Florida National Guard troops when they were deployed during World War II.  In the late 1940s, the unit was disbanded.  The governor said he wanted "to make sure we have the flexibility — and the ability needed — to respond to events in our state in the most effective way possible."  He added that will require Florida to have access to, and use of, support in ways that don't require the federal government.  The state guard would answer to the governor with no federal deployment, or missions, and would receive no federal dollars.

Biden sending 1,000 Nat'l Guard troops to Africa.  President Joe Biden is sending 1,000 Virginia and Kentucky National Guard troops to the horn of Africa, the services announced on Saturday.  The deployment marks the largest single-unit mobilization of Virginia's National Guard since World War II.  According to the Virginia National Guard Public Affairs Office, 800 Virginia and 200 Kentucky Guardsmen were transported to Fort Bliss, Texas, for roughly one month of pre-deployment training, marking the start of their federal active duty status.  The troops will be deployed to "unspecified countries" in Africa early next year.

The Editor says...
The article goes on and on after that, but never addresses the obvious question, "Why are U.S. National Guard troops needed in Africa?  One might also reasonably wonder if U.S. troops are supposed to be a generic manpower pool for every country on earth.  One might also wonder why those same soldiers aren't stationed on the Mexican border to defend the international boundary.

18 Democrats Will Abandon the House — More than Triple GOP Needs to Win Back Majority.  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's (D-CA) ambitions of keeping the Democrat majority in the House of Representatives past the midterm elections next year are dwindling as droves of vulnerable Democrats have announced they are leaving their current seats to either retire or seek a different office instead of fighting in a brutal reelection.  Republicans only need to net five seats to pick up the House majority after the midterms.  So far, more than triple the amount of Democrats (18 total) have decided to officially call it quits on the House and have left their seats open for a fight, giving Republicans a chance to gain another seat since House Republicans only need to net five seats to gain the majority and retire Pelosi as Speaker.

Xi's plan to punish Australia for insisting on investigating the origins of Covid backfires.  For almost a year and a half, China has been trying to bully Australia for that nation's insistence on getting to the bottom of the spread of COVID from the Middle Kingdom.  From the standpoint of Chairman Xi, Australia must have looked like an excellent target to use as a means of establishing China's power over lesser nations that are part of the world's club of advanced nations.  Xi's ambition for China to be the world's hegemon requires that other nations fear its power. [...] China's GDP of 14.72 trillion dollars is more than 11 times Australia's 1.33 trillion.  China targeted Australian wines for trade restrictions, a shrewd move because of the visibility in Australia of this small but very proud industry.  However, Xi made a big boo-boo in targeting Australian coal.  That's a strategic item, and world energy markets can be volatile.

The trucker shortage is fueled by a misconception that the job is only for low-skilled people, who endure poor working conditions, says expert.  A false perception of truck drivers' experiences and working conditions is fueling the ongoing truck-driver shortage, according to an expert.  Tra Williams, CEO of FleetForce, a Florida-based truck-driving school, told Insider:  "The problem is the perception that trucking is for people of low skill, low education, who are OK with low wages.  All three are factually incorrect."  In the US, there is a shortage of around 80,000 truck drivers, Chris Spear, president and CEO of the American Trucking Associations, recently told CNN.

Disney's Faltering Brand Takes Another Hit with 'Encanto' Box Office Nosedive.  Despite rave reviews, Disney's Encanto, an animated musical with songs from Lin-Manuel Miranda, took a nosedive at the holiday box office.  As of Thursday, this tale of a magic castle in Colombia (or something) is expected to gross just $26 million over three days and an anemic $38.6 million over the full five-day holiday.  First off, no one can blame streaming.  This is a theatrical-only release.  Secondly, no one can blame the pandemic.  Plenty of movies are opening just fine.  How bad is this?  Oh, it's bad.  By comparison, one of Disney's biggest bombs, The Good Dinosaur, grossed $55.4 million over the five-day Thanksgiving weekend.  This is also the second time Hollywood's precious Lin-Manuel Miranda has failed to juice the box office this year.

This holiday season the Salvation Army wants a donation — and a 'sincere apology' for white racism.  As Americans head out on Black Friday to make a dent in their holiday shopping lists, some are sure to come across Salvation Army volunteers ringing bells as part of the annual Red Kettle campaign.  But this year, the global charitable organization wants more from its donors than a donation to the needy during the holidays.  With the dissemination of a recent Salvation Army guide titled "Let's Talk About ... Racism," the Christian organization is attempting to elicit "sincere" apologies from white people for being racist.  The guide, which was compiled and approved earlier this year by the International Social Justice Commission of the Salvation Army, aligns the organization with the ideology of the Black Lives Matter, antiracism, and critical race theory movements.

The Editor says...
This story sounds very difficult to believe, but I've heard it from multiple sources.  The others are immediately below.

Salvation Army's Donors Withdraw Support in Response to Racial 'Wokeness' Initiative.  As The Salvation Army launches its Red Kettle Campaign this holiday season, some of its long-time donors are withdrawing their support from the 156-year old charitable organization citing its newly embraced "woke" ideology as the reason.  Of great concern to loyal supporters and faithful Salvationists is the initiative dubbed "Let's Talk About Racism."  In a nutshell, its curriculum outlines the Christian church's alleged racial collusion and provides action steps to analyze and combat racism through an "anti-racist" lens while incorporating Critical Race Theory.  Definitions of institutional and systemic racism are included while real or perceived differences in life outcomes ("inequities") are attributable not to individual effort and other circumstances, but to discrimination.

Get woke and go broke.
Did donations dry up?  Salvation Army pulls U-turn on 'guidance' for whites.  Just as the famous red kettles of the Salvation Army are appearing nationwide for the international charitable organization's major fundraising effort, the organization abruptly has withdrawn a controversial "guidance" that warned white Americans racism is "systemic" and Christians would "evaluate" their racist practices.  Fox Business reported over the weekend that the guidance apparently was intended to ask "white Americans" to "stop trying to be 'colorblind.'"

Happy Holidays, White Donors:  Salvation Army Wants You to Offer a 'Sincere Apology' for 'Systemic Racism'.  The ubiquitous "red kettle."  Cheerful bell ringers, beckoning holiday shoppers to toss in a few bucks for the less fortunate among us.  My how times have changed since the first red kettle was set up on an Oakland street corner in 1891 — particularly for white donors.  Along with your holiday donations this year, white people, the Salvation Army beseeches you to offer a "sincere apology" to Black people.  For "systemic racism," of course.  Needless to say, the "Christian" organization has strayed a bit from its previously chosen non-judgemental path — particularly in its embrace of Marxist-derived Critical Race Theory.  Put simply, if you're white, you're guilty.

Disgusting: Salvation Army Wants White Donors To Offer A "Sincere Apology" For "Systemic" Racism.  What was founded in 1865 in London, England, as both a protestant Christian church and an international charitable organization, the Salvation Army has now embraced Critical Race Theory.  Its first "red kettle" was set up in Oakland, California in 1891 and since then millions of people have dropped coins and bills into their kettles while a smiling person repeating " Merry Christmas" rings a handheld bell perpetually.  Unfortunately, this Christian organization, like many others who have drifted away from the sole purpose of advancing the Gospel, is now embracing racist ideology peddled by anti-white activists including Ibram Kendi.  The organization is embracing the ideas of Black Lives Matter, an activist group, deemed as domestic terrorists by some, who are working to "dismantle white privilege" and "disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure."

Salvation Army defends guide telling white people to apologize for racism.  The Salvation Army recently defended an internal racism guide that discouraged "colorblindness" and encouraged staff members to "apologize for being white" after the guide faced backlash.  The Salvation Army argued the new guide was meant to encourage discussion about racism among members of the Salvation Army.  The organization denied attempting to indoctrinate or tell its donors what to think, reminding people that the guide was meant for internal use.  "The Salvation Army has occasionally published study guides on various complex topics, including race, to help foster positive conversations and reflection among Salvationists," the Thursday statement said.  "The hope is that by openly discussing these issues, we can encourage a more thoughtful organization that is better positioned to serve those in need.  These guides are solely designed for internal use.  No one is being told how to think.  Period."

The Salvation Army says white donors should 'repent for their racist ideologies'.  A Salvation Army released a guide, "Let's Talk About Racism," in April that is meant to provide "internal dialogue" on racism within the charity's organization.  The guide was created by the Salvation Army International Social Justice Commission.  According to the guide, "White culture" has challenges it needs to overcome, including "denial of racism," "defensiveness about race," and suggests for "White Americans" to "stop trying to be 'colorblind.'"

Update:
Salvation Army pulls anti-racism document after donor blowback.  The Salvation Army said Monday it has withdrawn a discussion guide on racism that was intended for its church members but that an advocacy group claimed was given to donors as a call to "repent" for being White.  "If that document is getting in the way of the fulfillment of our mission, The Salvation Army is going to remove it," Commissioner Kenneth Hodder, the group's U.S. national commander, told The Washington Times.  "Because nothing can be allowed to affect the fulfillment of that critical mission."  The church group has been flooded by email complaints about repentance requests over its guide "Let's Talk About Racism," one critic said.  An online petition has garnered more than 14,000 signatures asking the organization to denounce critical race theory.

Analysis:
Woke Salvation Army surrendered without a fight.  Over the years, I've embraced the opportunity to volunteer for the Salvation Army by serving meals to the poor and needy and by gleefully ringing the Christmas bell for Red Kettle donations.  I loved the many acts of broad and nonstop charity and goodwill the Salvation Army extended to all of humanity, as it was a reminder of the Gospel mission.  The Salvation Army had honorable principles and stood reliably strong as an institution in my mind.  Until now.  Salvation Army documents reveal that the organization has gone woke.  Instead of appreciating all people groups and continuing on an unbiased and uncompromising mission to serve all people compassionately, the Salvation Army now thinks it's somehow okay to view people through the lens of "race."  Somewhere deep in its leadership, the Army saw the enemy and embraced it.  Race consideration and connotations are an obvious outcome of Critical Race Theory (CRT), or adjunct theology (Liberation Theology, for instance).  Viewing people by race or class is wholly antithetical to any organization committed to providing compassionate and unbiased services to any and all people or groups in need.  Woke schemes see everything about human culture in one paradigm: "oppressors vs. oppressed" or "victimizers vs. victims."  Without exception, the oppressors and victimizers are "White" by definition.

Another update:
The Salvation Army takes an even deeper dive into wokedom.  The Salvation Army, despite having faced a massive backlash because of November's "Let's Talk About Racism" guide, doesn't seem to have learned its lesson.  It's now announced that, in January, it will be offering a two-day racial justice forum in Illinois.  This turn to the left does not bode well for an organization that has already seen a significant drop in charitable donations since it decided to embrace leftist politics.

Joe Biden Claims Shelves Are Well Stocked as Grocers Ration Food.  President Joe Biden tweeted Wednesday [11/24/2021] that supermarket shelves are well stocked across the country while grocers ration food.  "For all those concerns a few weeks ago that there would not be ample food available for Thanksgiving, families can rest easy today," Biden claimed. [...] Meanwhile, Publix Supermarkets, a Florida-based grocer, warned customers this week to expect food shortages in all 1,280 stores across the southeast.  According to the Orlando Sentinel, the list of rationed foods include the following:
  •   Canned cranberry sauce
  •   Jarred gravy
  •   Canned pie filling
  •   Canola and vegetable oil
  •   Cream cheese
  •   Bacon
  •   Rolled breakfast sausage
  •   Paper napkins
  •   Disposable plates, cups and cutlery
  •   Bath tissue
  •   Refrigerated snacks (Lunchables-type items)
  •   Sports drinks
  •   Aseptic-type juices (Capri Sun) [...]

Federal Reserve Should Fight Inflation, Not Climate Change.  [Scroll down]  Per the Fed's statement, "Climate change poses significant challenges for the global economy and financial system, with implications for the structure of economic activity, the safety and soundness of financial institutions and the stability of the financial sector more broadly.  A sustained global response by national authorities, the international community, and the private sector can address the financial and economic implications of climate change."  So, instead of declaring war on inflation and all the other problems facing the U.S. economy, the Fed is more inclined to use its bandwidth and resources to counter so-called climate change.  Just in case the Fed's recent statement on its quest to fight climate change was not enough to placate radical leftists, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell made it clear that the Fed, under his leadership, will prioritize climate change above all else.

Stunning good news from Chile — and not just for them, but for us.  In Chile, the presidential election was straightforward: communism or liberty.  Pick one or the other.  No soggy middle.  So guess which one got the most votes!  Yep, liberty, and I'm not talking about some namby-pamby nice-guy RINO kind of liberty, respectable at Santiago cocktail parties.  It was 100-proof hard stuff liberty, prompting shudders from the press. [...] José Antonio Kast is a solid free-market candidate who ran against Gabriel Boric, a self-described communist, and wound up with the most votes on an unapologetic advocacy and defense of free markets.  That was what Chile needed.

What to Watch For if Russia Invades Ukraine.  News reports from Europe indicate two potentially dangerous events occurring on the borders of NATO.  The most glaring is the report of Russian large scale troop deployments near the Ukrainian border indicating a possible invasion in the next few months.  The other report is on the smaller yet volatile migration movements along the Belarussian-Polish border.  These two circumstances coincide with Europe's weak energy situation and the global perception of American weakness created by the mismanaged withdrawal in Afghanistan.  Although the risk of war in this region remains low, the possibility of a regional war during a time of European energy shortages would threaten the world with a global depression next year.  How could Ukraine spark a depression?  The biggest impact on global markets would of course be related to oil and gas prices.  Three of the primary pipelines that feed the European Union go through Ukraine and any invasion would likely stop hydrocarbon delivery for weeks in the best-case scenario.

Gates Germ-Game Warning Motivates Smallpox Vaccine Discussions.  Policy Exchange recently hosted Mr. Bill Gates, Co-Chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt MP, Chair of the Health Select Committee, who discussed the potential of future pandemics.  In a wide-ranging discussion on November 4, 2021, Gates called for a new international Pandemic Task Force, with a budget of about $1 billion per year.  According to Microsoft's founder, governments must invest billions in research and development to prepare for future pandemics and smallpox terror strikes.

Just Days After Bill Gates Warned Of A Coming Smallpox Bioterror Attack, 15 Vials Labeled 'Smallpox' Are Found In Research Lab In Pennsylvania.  A scenario ripe for a zombie-horror movie has just happened.  The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed Tuesday that vials labeled 'smallpox' — an extremely deadly virus that was eradicated in the 1970s — were found at a vaccine research facility in Pennsylvania.  Just days after Bill Gates in an interview said that the next thing we need to prepare for is a smallpox bioterror attack, vials of... wait for it... smallpox dried vaccine were randomly 'discovered' in a research lab in Pennsylvania.  What an amazing coincidence, wouldn't you say?

The Editor says...
The "discovery" of smallpox, or at least, "vials labeled 'smallpox'" in a lab sounds really fishy.  The FBI is notorious for busting its own sting operations and a cynical onlooker might easily infer that this case is one of them.  The government wants to keep us all in a state of constant alarm, and this is just the latest angle.

Biden Admin Quietly Authorizes Largest Oil Lease Sale In US History Despite Campaign Promise.  The Biden administration auctioned off over 80 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico for oil drilling Wednesday [11/17/2021] despite a campaign promise to ban new oil and gas leasing, the Boston Globe reported.  The auction is the largest offshore oil and gas lease sale in the United States, according to the Boston Globe.  The new leases will produce 1.1 billion barrels of oil and 4.4 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, according to a Department of the Interior estimate, the Globe reported.  [Tweet]  "This morning was met with extreme disappointment, depleted hope, and shattered trust," Legal Director for Friends of the Earth Hallie Templeton said, the Globe reported.  Just four days before the sale, the Biden administration signed the COP26 pact, which requires countries to eliminate subsidies for the fossil fuel industry.  Biden previously pledged to ban new oil and gas leasing on public land and water.

FDA Approves New Drug Against Weaponized Smallpox.  The FDA has approved a new drug to treat smallpox.  Fearful of a possible bioweapon attack, the United States has been steadily preparing a defense through BARDA, the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority.  Tecovirimat was the first drug for smallpox, approved in 2018.  The FDA granted the new drug, brincidofovir, or BCV, fast track status and orphan drug designations in 2018.  The new approval came under the FDA's Animal Rule.  Drug testing usually goes through several phases prior to approval.  First, there is preclinical testing in test tubes and animal models.  Phase I is the "first in human" testing, looking primarily for safety and toxicity.  Phase II is where researchers look for the best dose to treat a specific condition.  The drug being tested is generally given to people who are relatively healthy otherwise.

FBI demands motorists return money they grabbed in frenzy after armored truck spewed cash over San Diego freeway.  An armored truck spewed cash all over a San Diego freeway this week after one of its doors burst open, and now the FBI and the California Highway Patrol are looking for those who ran off with the money.  'If anyone picked up cash, we ask you to bring it to the office in Vista immediately,' a CHP spokesperson told Fox 5.  'I just want to give everyone a head's up that there is a lot of video evidence.'  They are giving people 48 hours to return the money or face 'potential criminal charges.'  Two people have already been arrested, officials said.  Drivers stopped what they were doing Monday and scrambled to pick up 'free' money on the northbound side of Interstate 5 near Carlsbad, California.  The trunk was on its way to the Federal Reserve to make the deposit when the back doors burst open around 10 a.m., authorities said.

The Editor says...
There are a number of ethical issues involved here.  [#1] Maybe you should lock the doors on the armored car next time.  The money is all over the highway because of negligence.  [#2] It would be a lot easier to convince people to return the money except that we all know what would happen if the shoe was on the other foot:  The government eagerly confiscates large amounts of cash from innocent people travelling on Interstate highways, but now throws a fit when the roles are reversed.  [#3] It's the taxpayer's money.  Just go print some more.  That's what Joe Biden is doing anyway, and the inevitable inflation is well underway.  [#4] It's not your money, and you really should give it back, minus a customary ten percent finder's fee.  But the kind of people who scooped it up are more likely to buy marijuana with it, than to stimulate the economy by buying durable goods.

Royal Navy submarines and special forces [are trying] to recover crashed £100m F-35 fighter jet from the bottom of the Mediterranean.  Royal Navy submarines are racing against the Russians to recover a crashed £100million jet with top secret technology from the bottom of the Mediterranean.  An RAF pilot was forced to eject from his F-35B Lightning as it ditched into the sea soon after taking off on 'routine exercise' from the Navy's flagship aircraft carrier, HMS Queen Elizabeth.  The aircraft was one of eight UK fast-jets onboard, along with 10 US aircraft.  By plunging into international waters, the crash triggered a scramble to find the next-generation jet from the sea bed before it could be reached by Russia.  It s thought to be the first time an F35-B has crashed in such an area.  The technology aboard the US-designed aircraft, including top secret radar and sensors, is hugely sensitive as it allows the F-35 to fly 'unseen' in hostile territory at supersonic speeds.  However, it is likely that China already knows all there is to know about the jet due to spying.

China is destroying the world's fishing ecosystem.  Not content with overfishing its own coastline in a non-sustainable way, China has now turned to unethical pirate fishing in the territorial waters of less powerful nations around the world.  Chinese fishermen turn off their GPS transponders that can be traced electronically, send out false electronic signals, violate U.N. maritime law, enter the sovereign fishing territory of foreign nations, illegally fish with slave-like labor, and then escape to international waters with their catch.  Some fishing fleets are so large that they can be seen from space.  For China, world fishing is now like the wild west, with a value in billions of dollars annually.  The Chinese have an insatiable appetite for seafood, and their population is about 1.4 billion people.  They are even risking entering the territorial waters of the U.S. in Hawaii.  Guam and American Samoa may be next.  Fishing in pristine North Western Australia is done not only by China, but by Indonesia as well, and Australia recently sank fifteen Chinese fishing vessels and chased off many others.

Plane Stalls and Nearly Kills the People Skydiving.  A Plane stalled seconds after a group of skydivers took flight from the plane itself.  Seconds later the pilot eems to regain control and pulls up, coming just feet from the skydivers who just moments prior jumped out of the plane.  [Video clip]

US Marines Go All-In On Diversity-Equity-Inclusion Training.  Last week, the US Marine Corps marked its 246th birthday.  And while there are many reasons to celebrate this milestone, last we also saw a group Iran-backed of Houthi rebels stormed the U.S. Embassy compound in Yemen's capital San'a. [...] Also during the week, Chinese military forces held exercises near Taiwan in response to a visit by a US congressional delegation to the island. [...] Given these developments, sensible planners would consider making military preparedness, defense preparation, and troop recruitment and training top priorities.  Instead, the Biden administration's priorities have nothing to do with actual military readiness.  It intends to force march the US Marines toward diversity, equity and inclusion as the solution to make the Marine's "reflect America".

Pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson will split into 2 companies.  Johnson & Johnson, the New Jersey-based pharmaceutical giant, will separate into two publicly traded companies, creating an entirely new, rebranded consumer health business, the company announced Friday [11/12/2021].  It's a major change for the 135-year-old institution based in New Brunswick.  Johnson & Johnson, which has more than 136,000 employees, will split its consumer products arm — responsible for Band-Aids, Tylenol, Listerine and Neutrogena — from its pharmaceutical and medical device branches within 18 to 24 months, the company said.  The decision was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

China blew up one of its satellites with a missile 14 years ago and this week a piece of the satellite nearly hit the International Space Station.  Little-known fact:  Astronauts in the International Space Station have to work with the constant possibility that, at some point, a piece of hypersonic space junk might potentially obliterate the station.  The space station just dodged debris from a 2007 Chinese weapons test.  The object was expected to make a close pass with the outpost in orbit on Thursday night [11/11/2021].

Yale's Administrators Outnumber Its Entire Undergraduate Enrollment.  If you're wondering about the state of bureaucratic bloat in America — and, particularly, in education — look no further than Yale University. [...] From teaching to schooling, we appear to have jumped the shark where practical application is concerned.  Contemporarily, people go to college to absorb ideas that have no discernible real-world value.  We're living in an age of symbolism.  Of empty acts.  Take a look across the culture — entertainment elites endorse socialism while living indulgent capitalist lives.  Those who rail against energy abuse charter private jets.  The recent planetary environmental summit was held in person — everyone in that room posturing against fuel-consuming travel... traveled needlessly.

Los Angeles Potentially Exposed to Radioactive Dust After Explosive Demolition at Old Nuclear Test Site.  Residents of some parts of Los Angeles are expressing concern that they may have been exposed to radioactive dust particles after the U.S. Department of Energy demolished a building last month at a former nuclear testing site by using explosives.  [Video clip]

Pope Francis Says The Great Reset Must Include A 'Green Spirituality' Where The Earth Is Worshipped.  Pope Francis says the the pre-pandemic world must be done away with, all militaries around the world dismantled, and that the earth is our mother who needs to be protected.

Biden's naivete about Russian cyber warfare puts America in danger.  In September, the Biden Administration released back to Russia the world's most dangerous cybercriminal, Alexei Burkov, after Trump's Justice Department had taken great pains to extradite him from Israel.  From early 2009 till August 2013, 31-year old Burkov operated a website called "Cardplanet," which sold stolen numbers of credit and debit cards, many of which belonged to US citizens.  Fraudulent purchases in the amount of $20 million were made on US credit cards, as a result of stolen data traded on Burkov's website.  He also ran another website where elite hackers advertised stolen personal information, hacking tools and money laundering services.  Instead of serving a maximum sentence of 15 years in US prison, the cyber criminal was deported to his native Russia.  Russian cyber criminals like Burkov have extorted millions of dollars in ransom from US businesses in return for unlocking infected computer networks.  But the main value of highly-skilled cyber criminals like Burkov for Russian President Putin is not how much ransom he can gain, but rather, what these hackers can do for their country.

Black Americans Sue U.S. Farms for Replacing Them with Foreign Workers.  Black Americans who spent most of their lives working on Mississippi farms are suing their former employer after they were replaced by foreign workers on the H-2A visa program.  The lawsuit, filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi, accuses Pitts Farms of laying off a number of black Americans, only to replace them with foreign visa workers from South Africa.  The H-2A visa program allows U.S. farms to annually outsource an unlimited number of American jobs to foreign workers who can extend their stay for up to three years.  The foreign families of H-2A visa workers can also come to the U.S. on H-4 visas.

Tucker Burst Out Laughing at What Edward Durr Told Stephen Sweeney, the NJ Senate President He Ousted.  New Jersey Senate President Stephen Sweeney was ousted by Edward Durr, a little known Republican candidate who spent next to nothing on his campaign.  For a bit, Sweeney held out hope that once all the legal votes were counted, he'd beat the commercial truck driver, but that didn't pan out and he conceded this week.  During an interview with Durr, Fox News's Tucker Carlson asked if he has actually spoken to Sweeney since the election results came out.  "Have you talked to Sweeney since you dethroned him?  I mean, how baffled is he?" Carlson wondered.  "Yes, we had a phone conversation yesterday after he had given his press conference to the media and he congratulated me and just wished me luck to do well for South Jersey."  Durr said he was a "gentleman" about it.

The Editor says...
I suspect Mr. Sweeney wants to duck down the Media Memory Hole for a while, so nobody will ask about the 12,000 ballots that he allegedly "found" after the polls closed.

Norwegian undersea surveillance network capable of detecting submarines has cables mysteriously cut.  A Norwegian undersea surveillance network that is capable of detecting submarines has had its cables mysteriously cut.  Police were called in to investigate amid suspicion Russia could have 'sabotaged' the undersea sensors, which predominantly monitor fish but can pick up the movement of submarines.  The cables were cut and then disappeared, with the Institute of Marine Research describing 'extensive damage' to the outer area of the Lofoten-Vesterålen (LoVe) Ocean Observatory.

Tree DNA sends leader of poaching ring to prison after 2018 Olympic National Forest fire.  In the spring and summer of 2018, a crew of poachers had been chopping down trees by night in the Olympic National Forest in Washington state, federal prosecutors said.  On Aug. 3, they came upon the wasp's nest.  It was at the base of a bigleaf maple, a species of hardwood tree with a shimmering grain that is prized for its use in violins, guitars and other musical instruments.  The crew was selling bigleaf maples to a mill in Tumwater, Thurston County, using forged permits, prosecutors said.  The timber poachers sprayed insecticide and most likely gasoline on the nest and burned it, authorities said.  But they were unable to douse the fire with water bottles, so they fled, prosecutors said.  The fire spread out from the forest's Elk Lake area, near Hood Canal, burning 3,300 acres and costing about $4.2 million to contain, prosecutors said.

Rittenhouse Trial Judge's 'Asian Food' Comments Sparks Cries of Racism.  Leftist internet trolls have been crying racism in response to Kyle Rittenhouse trial Judge Bruce Schroeder's reference to "Asian food" on Thursday [11/11/2021] as the court went into recess.  The alleged "faux pas" happened as Judge Schroeder dismissed the court for lunch on Thursday afternoon, during which he mocked President Joe Biden's supply chain crisis at Asian food's expense.  "Let's hope for one o'clock, I don't know, the uh, hope the Asian food isn't coming — it isn't on one of those boats in Long Beach Harbor," he said.

The Editor says...
If that's all you've got against Judge Schoeder, you've got nothing.

Judge in Kyle Rittenhouse trial makes inappropriate joke about Asian food.  The judge presiding over the homicide trial of Kyle Rittenhouse confused observers after making a strange and off-color joke inside the courtroom on Thursday.  "I hope the Asian food isn't coming... isn't on one of those boats from Long Beach Harbor," said Kenosha County Circuit Court Judge Bruce Schroeder as the court was preparing to take a lunch break.  Schroeder, the longest-serving active judge in Wisconsin's trial courts, appeared to be referring to the supply chain backlogs caused by congestion problems in California ports.

The Editor says...
Oh, yeah.  That's a dog whistle, at least.

LA Ports Break Records During Supply Chain Crisis.  The waters off the coast of Southern California continued to see record-breaking numbers of cargo ships this week as one city opened its harbor to help with the overflow.  The ports broke a new record on Nov. 9, with 168 ships waiting to unload goods.  That included 55 ships drifting at sea, 48 at anchor, and 65 ships docked.  Another record fell the same day when 49 container ships were forced to drift off the coast, unable to anchor or dock at the overloaded twin ports.  "This is record-setting levels at anchor and record-setting levels at loitering," Kip Louttit, head of the Marine Exchange of Southern California, told The Epoch Times.

The Editor says...
About 45 years ago, I thought I might get a job as a radio operator on a ship.  For that job, one needed a Second-Class FCC Radiotelegraph License (which I had!), Coast Guard certification (which I didn't have), and about a year of jumping through hoops with the labor union in charge of such things.  I heard stories about how radio officers made good money, had no place to spend it, and racked up overtime when stuck in the Suez Canal, for example.  I'm not sure how much of that work has been automated out of existence, but each of these ships has a crew that can't go ashore, and a finite supply of groceries.  I would not want to be there.

3 Nigerian Men Are Flogged Mercilessly In Public For Bringing Meth Into The Neighborhood.  A viral video of a group of young men being beaten to stupor for taking hard drugs in Ekwe Isu, LGA of Imo state has surfaced on social media.  In the video making rounds, some group of boys were tied to a pillar and beaten by the community youths after they were reportedly caught taking a hard drug known as Methamphetamine Hydrochloride.  Sharing the video, a Facebook user simply named Uche disclosed that Mkpuru mmiri as it is called in the southeast is an addictive drug that has driven many young men to their early graves.  [Video clip]

Supply chain stalled by 72,000 truckers who failed strict drug tests.  A dire truck driver shortage that's wreaking havoc on the US economy is getting worse — and it's being fueled partly by tough federal drug-testing restrictions that were imposed nationwide last year, industry officials told The [New York] Post.  More than 72,000 truck drivers have been taken off US roads since January 2020 because they have failed drug tests that are now required by the Drug & Alcohol Clearinghouse, a 22-month-old registry established to increase safety on US highways, according to government data.  That's a big number, considering that the American Trucking Association — which also blames the pandemic and a lack of younger drivers, among other factors — recently pegged the industry's overall driver shortfall at 80,000, up from 60,800 in 2018 and 50,700 in 2017.  "It's a staggering number of drivers we have lost" because of the new drug-testing rules, Jeremy Reymer, chief executive of industry recruiter DriverReach, told The Post.

CCP Media Says Large Number of Officials 'Lack Confidence in the CCP,' Could Flee at Any Time.  Eight years ago, Chinese Communist Party (CCP) General Secretary Xi Jinping criticized party officials for letting their confidence waver and sending their families and money abroad.  These people were trying to "leave themselves a way out and prepared to 'jump ship' anytime."  Study Times, a newspaper run by the CCP's Central Party School for training Chinese officials, recently reiterated these words, saying some party officials were being physically in China, but mentally abroad.  "This shows a loss of ideal and a lack of confidence toward the Party and the nation," the article said, adding that such officials are more prone to "losing their direction" and "walking further away on the wrong path."  Such officials have become known as "naked officials," a figurative term suggesting that they are not leaving anything but themselves back home.  Naked officials might not be corrupt, but they have a higher chance to become corrupt," the Study Times article stated, naming three such officials to illustrate the point.

A Truck Driver With a Few Thousand Bucks and an iPhone Just Toppled New Jersey's Most Powerful Lawmaker.  It is not hyperbole to say that Edward Durr, a 58-year-old truck driver from New Jersey, just pulled off one of the biggest political upsets in American history.  With a bare-bones campaign that reportedly cost less than $6,000 (some earlier reports claimed that Durr spent just $153 on the race, but Durr later clarified that was not a full accounting), Durr ousted New Jersey Senate President Steve Sweeney (D-West Deptford) in Tuesday's election.  After previously calling the race for Sweeney and then withdrawing that call, the Associated Press called the race for Durr on Thursday morning.  He has a lead of over 2,000 votes with 99 percent of precincts reporting.  Sweeney, who was seeking a seventh term in the Senate, is widely regarded as a kingpin in New Jersey politics and one of the most powerful men in the state.  He has been president of the state Senate since 2010, the longest tenure in state history.

The mystery of the missing millions is the only blemish on a strong U.S. jobs report.  The U.S. jobs report for October hit all the right notes — except for one.  The number of people in the labor force barely grew, leaving the rate of participation at the lowest level since the early 1970s.  Put another way, millions of people who had jobs before the pandemic still haven't returned to work.  And that doesn't even take into account a few million more who likely would entered the labor force had there been no pandemic at all.

Murder By Any Other Name.  Scott Ritter explains how the murder of Zemari Ahmadi and nine family members by a U.S. drone attack in August was whitewashed by the Pentagon.

Josh Hawley:  Milley, Austin Need To Prepare US Troops For Real Wars, Not Culture Wars.  U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, reacted Thursday night [11/4/2021] on "The Ingraham Angle" to news that U.S. troops had been badly beaten by their British counterparts while both groups underwent a training exercise in California.  Hawley suggested the incident exemplified misplaced priorities in the U.S. military under the Biden administration — and worried that China might draw some conclusions about U.S. war readiness.

Epic Fail:  L.A. Ports Are More Clogged Now Than Before Biden's Supply Chain 'Fix'.  President Joe Biden says he's been addressing supply chain problems "since Day One," but that's consisted mainly of appointing task forces and holding summits.  His latest bold "action" was to beg G-20 leaders to "help address global supply chain issues."  The one concrete step Biden has taken was, he said, to get the Los Angeles ports to stay open 24/7, which he announced on Oct. 13.  Biden said this has the "potential to be a gamechanger."  A White House fact sheet declared that it "will speed up shipments of goods throughout the country."  Except, that's not what's happened.  In fact, things have gotten worse at those ports, not better, since Biden's "game changer."  On Oct. 10, three days before the president's announcement, there were 60 container ships waiting offshore to get into the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, and 27 were at berths unloading or loading cargo, according to the Marine Exchange of Southern California.  This Tuesday [11/2/2021], there were 77 container ships waiting, while 25 were berthed.

How Glenn Youngkin beat the Democrats in Virginia.  When a Republican wins in a reliably Democratic state, it's big news.  That's exactly what happened in Virginia, where newcomer Glenn Youngkin defeated former governor Terry McAuliffe.  The Republican won even though McAuliffe had a well-oiled political machine and high name recognition, and was campaigning in a state Joe Biden won by ten points only a year ago.  All those advantages were for nought.  The Commonwealth will have a Republican governor for the first time in over a decade.  It is likely Republicans will win the other two state-wide races for the lieutenant governor and attorney general and could win the House of Delegates, which had been under firm Democratic control.

The Red-Pilling of Loudoun County, Virginia.  The drama that played out in upscale Loudoun County, Virginia over the last year or so, and cost Democratic candidate Terry McAuliffe the governorship last night, is a book waiting to be written.  In fact, if companies like HBO or Netflix have any sense, it will soon be a movie as well, because almost every hot-button issue in American national politics was rolled up somewhere in this sprawling, preposterous, rage-filled suburban drama.  I have a longer piece on this coming, and have to return to the area at least once to follow up, so I can't get into it in depth yet.  But [...] a few things are already clear.  McAuliffe's collapse, and the corresponding underdog win by private equity titan Glenn Youngkin, is already being caricatured nationally using the language of 1980s politics.  We're meant to understand that the Loudoun County story — which is too complex to summarize easily but involves furious disputes between local parents and the school board over a variety of issues, including a pair of sexual assaults — was cooked up by Republicans as a cynical dog-whistle campaign.

CDC advisory committee recommends all US adults younger than age 60 get vaccinated against hepatitis B.  Advisors to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended on Wednesday that all U.S. adults younger than age 60 get vaccinated against hepatitis B.  Under the new policy, tens of millions of adults in the 30-to-59 age range could get their shots, protecting them against this potentially chronic liver disease.  The new recommendation aims to prevent infection among middle-aged adults with hepatitis B increasingly impacting people in their 40s and 50s in recent years.

Another Shocking Victory Happened in Texas Last Night and Suggests 2022 Doom for Democrats.  While all eyes were on Virginia last night, where Republican Glenn Youngkin pulled a massive upset, other elections were going on across the country.  Candidates for local offices and state districts along with referendums on things like defunding the police occurred in places like Texas, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, and there's a big upset in Texas that suggests doom is coming for Democrats in 2022.  That occurred in San Antonio where the race of HD118 took place.  Republican John Lujan came out victorious in the majority-Hispanic district that Democrats carried by double-digits the last time around.

Georgia woman was billed almost $700 for trip to ER; says she did not see a doctor and left after waiting seven hours.  A Georgia woman says she received an emergency room bill for nearly $700- despite not receiving treatment and leaving the hospital after seven hours without ever getting to see a doctor.  Taylor Davis told a local media outlet that she checked into Emory Decatur Hospital for treatment of a head injury in July — but after waiting to be seen for seven hours, left the facility.  'I sat there for seven hours,' she told Fox 5.  'There's no way I should be sitting in an emergency room — an emergency room — for seven hours.'  Weeks later, Davis said she was shocked to receive a hospital bill for $688.35.  "I didn't get my vitals taken, nobody called my name,' Davis told the outlet.  'I wasn't seen at all.'

Isn't that what sonar is for?
Navy investigation reveals sub hit uncharted underwater mountain.  A U.S. Navy investigation has determined that the nuclear attack submarine damaged in a collision in the South China Sea in early October struck an uncharted underwater mountain, defense officials said Monday [11/1/2021].  The Navy's U.S. 7th Fleet commander Vice Adm. Karl Thomas is now conducting a review of the findings to determine whether any additional accountability measures will be taken, U.S. Naval Institute News reported.  "The investigation determined USS Connecticut grounded on an uncharted seamount while operating in international waters in the Indo-Pacific region," 7th Fleet spokesperson Cmdr.  Hayley Sims said in a statement.  Vice Adm. Thomas "will determine whether follow-on actions, including accountability, are appropriate."

Staggering $1.5 billion lithium deposit discovered near Newry; excavating it poses a challenge.  The richest known hard rock lithium deposit in the world lies a few miles northeast of the ski slopes of Sunday River and not far from Step Falls, where swimmers can wade in shallow pools formed by hundreds of feet of cascading granite ledge.  Smaller deposits have been known in Maine for decades, but this recent discovery, just north of Plumbago Mountain in Newry, is the first to have a major resource potential.  And that potential is staggering:  At current market prices, the deposit, thought to contain 11 million tons of ore, is valued at roughly $1.5 billion.  Measuring up to 36 feet in length, some of the lithium-bearing crystals are among the largest ever found.

The Royal Marines defeat the U.S. Marines at the 'Battle of the Mojave Desert'.  The Marines occupy an almost mythic place in many Americans' minds as an invincible force that runs to the guns and fights no matter what.  That's why it was so shocking to learn that, during a joint training exercise in the Mojave Desert, Britain's Royal Marines inflicted such a shellacking on the Americans that the latter had to surrender halfway through the exercise.  This is a direct result of the Pentagon having gone woke under Obama — something that Trump failed to undo — followed by Biden doubling down on Obama's policies.  Marines used to be synonymous with dogged determination. [...] But the Marines have been in war nonstop since 2001, and that's a long time for a fighting force. [...] The American military has had another force bearing down on it that may be an even greater enemy than Islamists the world over.  That force has been wokeism.  Beginning with Obama, the American left has been using the military as a social justice experiment.

Special inspector general for Afghanistan warns the Pentagon is classifying documents to cover up failures.  A U.S. government watchdog on Friday accused the State Department and Pentagon of suppressing information that lawmakers and the public need to understand the collapse of Afghanistan's former government and military and the chaotic U.S. troop pullout.  John Sopko, the special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction (SIGAR), spoke out on Friday after it emerged that many of the routine documents had now been marked as classified.  'The full picture of what happened in August — and all the warning signs that could have predicted the outcome — will only be revealed if the information that the departments of Defense and State have already restricted from public release is made available,' said Sopko.

12 dock workers reveal the 'never-ending' chaos at shipping ports: 'We can't keep this pace up forever'.  Dock workers have long been working day and night to keep the supply chain running.  But, since the pandemic started, COVID-19 shutdowns and surging demand have cast the ports into chaos — and workers say there's no end in sight.  Insider spoke with 12 dock workers from across the US, including seven that work at ports in Los Angeles and Long Beach — locations responsible for over 40% of the nation's imports.  The workers asked to remain anonymous to speak freely about their jobs, but their identities have been verified by Insider.  Four longshoremen with more than 20 years of experience at the major California ports said they've never seen anything like the near-record backlogs.  The issues are spilling over to ports in cities like Seattle and Houston, as well, workers said.

North American Missionaries Going on Second Week as Hostages in Lawless Haiti.  Thursday [10/28/2021] marked 13 days that one Canadian and 16 U.S. citizen missionaries have been held by Haitian kidnappers for $17 million.  The kidnappers threaten to kill the hostages unless they get $1 million per person.  The hostages are in Haiti to do work for the Ohio-based Christian Aid Ministries and were abducted on Oct. 16, while on a trip to visit an orphanage supported by the organization.  The group includes six men and six women ranging in age from 18 to 48, and five children ages 8 months, 3 years, 6 years, 13 years, and 15 years.  Before the kidnapping, their work throughout Haiti included supporting thousands of needy school children, distributing Bibles and Christian literature, supplying medicines for numerous clinics, teaching Haitian pastors, and providing food for the elderly and vulnerable.

Top Florida Official Pleads With In-N-Out to Move After Vaccine Mandate Closures.  Florida's Chief Financial Officer, Jimmy Patronis, suggested that In-N-Out Burger should move to the Sunshine State after several In-N-Out locations were shut down by California officials.  Patronis appealed to In-N-Out CEO Lynsi Snyder to move to the state, arguing that Florida has a superior business climate — noting the state has no personal income tax, low corporate taxes, and no mandates.  "I'm writing you today not only as Florida's Chief Financial Officer, but as a small business owner who grew up in a family-owned restaurant and worked there for more than 30 years," his letter reads.  "I know how hard it is to turn a profit and make payroll on a good day, let alone when your own government is working to crush your business with absurd mandates.  Once I heard the news of your shutdown for refusing to act as 'vaccine police,' I knew I had to reach out immediately."  It came as health officials in Contra Costa County, Calfornia, shut down another In-N-Out Burger location for allowing indoor dining without checking customers for proof of vaccination, coming after a location was closed in nearby San Francisco for a similar reason.

Facebook changes company name to Meta.  Facebook on Thursday [10/28/2021] announced that it has changed its company name to Meta.  The name change was announced at the Facebook Connect augmented and virtual reality conference.  The new name reflects the company's growing ambitions beyond social media.  Facebook, now known as Meta, has adopted the new moniker, based on the sci-fi term metaverse, to describe its vision for working and playing in a virtual world.  "Today we are seen as a social media company, but in our DNA we are a company that builds technology to connect people, and the metaverse is the next frontier just like social networking was when we got started," Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said.

DeSantis Blasts Republican 'Boneless Wonders,' Totally Destroys 'Fake News' Media.  Yes, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is a man on a mission.  Moreover, the popular Florida governor doesn't suffer fools gladly — be those fools his fellow Republicans, left-wing loons, or anywhere in between.  A fired-up DeSantis went full metal attack mode at a Washington, D.C., Republican dinner on Tuesday night, effectively telling spineless Republican politicians to get hop aboard the train — or get [...] out of the way.  "We don't have time for boneless wonders," he said.  Even better, DeSantis blistered the "fake news" media, beginning with the never-ending "Russian collusion" nonsense in the 2016 presidential election win of Donald Trump, as transcribed by BizPac Review.

Florida Has The Fastest Job Growth Rate In The Nation, Significantly Faster Than National Average.  Florida's job market is recovering significantly faster than the national average, according to new figures.  The United States economy gained 194,000 jobs in the month of September, severely missing economists' expectations.  However, Florida alone gained 84,500 jobs during the same period — leading the nation in terms of the largest percentage increase. [...] [Governor] DeSantis was one of the first governors to pull his state from enhanced federal unemployment checks funded by President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan.  A recent report from the Foundation for Government Accountability — a Florida-based think tank seeking to reform welfare initiatives — confirms that DeSantis' decision to end the handouts paid significant dividends for the state's job market.

Air War College professor admits tie to Chinese official, pleads guilty to lying to federal agent.  Xiaoming Zhang, a civilian professor at the Air War College, headquartered at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama, pleaded guilty to making false statements to a federal agent.  He faces a maximum of five years in prison for lying about his relationship with a Chinese official to a federal agent.  Zhang is a naturalized U.S. citizen of Chinese descent.  His tenure as a professor at the Air War College began in 2003.  He traveled to China on a regular basis for both work-related reasons and to visit family living there.  He was as an associate professor in the college's Department of Leadership and Strategy.  He taught strategy and classes in China and East Asia.  Zheng held a secret security clearance as part of his employment.  He attended annual security training during which he was informed of reporting requirements about suspicious foreign contacts and relationships with foreign government officials.

Florida tries to lure ships waiting at backlogged California ports.  Florida is encouraging ships to ditch backed-up ports on the West Coast and head its way.  While dozens of ships remain moored off the coast of Los Angeles waiting to be unloaded in a historic supply chain snarl, ports in Florida are humming along with little or no delays and are standing by if shipping companies decide to reroute freighters to the East Coast.  Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, considered a possible contender for the 2024 Republican presidential ticket, recently invited ships to reroute and offload their shipments in Florida, which has several ports.

As Expected, Joe Biden Pledge To Speed Up California Ports Amounts to Absolutely Nothing.  In a rare act of journalism, NBC actually followed up on the October 13th grand proclamation of Joe Biden to speed up California ports.  What they found is exactly what everyone suspected, the grand prose from the White House was a political pantomime — absolutely nothing has changed.  [Video clip]  As noted, and as previously outlined, the issues with the backlog of the California ports have absolutely nothing to do with rapid unloading of ships and container vessels.  The issue is the inability of California truckers to move those containers.  The problem is a shortage of CA emission compliant internal transportation trucks to move the containers out of the port and into the U.S. mainland.

AG Garland Gaffes:  Missed Leftist 'Insurrection', Admits Unions Steer Policy, Shrugs Off CRT Conflicts.  For starters, while the Biden administration, Congressional Democrats and their media support complex have branded January 6th rioters as domestic terrorists — Garland had no clue about leftist Demonstrators who forced their way into the Department of the Interior just one week ago — to protest Biden's approval of fossil fuel energy projects.  "They forced their way into the Department of the Interior.  They fought with security and police officers, sending some of those officers to the hospital.  The extremists violently pushed their way into a restricted government building in an attempt to thwart the work of the department," Rep. Greg Steube (R-FL) told Garland.  "Police arrested at least 55 protestors on sight, but others got away.  Mr. Garland, do you believe these environmental extremists who forced their way into Interior are also domestic terrorists?"  Garland appeared to have no clue what Steube was talking about.

Biden delays release of JFK assassination records, blaming COVID-19 pandemic.  The US will "unfortunately" continue to delay the public release of records related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, and officials say the COVID-19 pandemic is to blame.  The move was announced in a memo signed by President Joe Biden and released by the White House Friday [10/22/2021].  "Temporary continued postponement is necessary to protect against identifiable harm to the military defense, intelligence operations, law enforcement, or the conduct of foreign relations that is of such gravity that it outweighs the public interest in immediate disclosure," Biden wrote.  In 1992, Congress ruled that "all Government records concerning the assassination of President John F. Kennedy ... should be eventually disclosed to enable the public to become fully informed about the history surrounding the assassination," the missive said.

White House further postpones disclosure of JFK assassination documents, citing Covid.  The White House announced late Friday that it would further postpone the release of more documents related to the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy, pointing to the "significant impact" of the Covid-19 pandemic.  President Joe Biden issued a memo that said the national archivist recommended he "'direct two public releases of the information that has ultimately 'been determined to be appropriate for release to the public.'"  The first will be an "interim release" later this year, with a second, "more comprehensive release in late 2022," the memo said.  The memo said that the Covid-19 pandemic has slowed down the process of reviewing whether redactions continue to meet the "statutory standard."

The Editor says...
Pardon my perpetual skepticism:  Joe Biden — or whoever is running the Executive Branch — has decided to keep these documents up his or her sleeve until the next major Biden scandal.  Only then will they be released, for the purpose of pushing that scandal off the front pages of America's few remaining newspapers.  And if that doesn't work, a few days later, NASA will announce they're discovered life on Jupiter — which none of us can disprove.  But if no need arises for this future JFK document dump, and Covid is long gone, there will be a "computer glitch" or "Russian hacker" someday, and all the documents will conveniently disappear.  Think for a moment:  What decision cannot be made due to Covid?  The Kennedy assassination happened in 1963.  There has been plenty of time to review what is in the documents, and to come up with excuses to keep them secret.  Covid has nothing to do with it.

Release of JFK assassination records delayed *again*.  There was an obscure deadline for the federal government coming up on Tuesday that is now being pushed back for the umpteenth time.  According to the latest interpretations of the Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992 (also known as the JFK Records Act or simply the JFK Act), the final trove of federal records related to the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963 and the subsequent findings of the Warren Commission had to be reviewed by this coming Tuesday, October 26, 2021, "to determine whether continued withholding from disclosure is necessary."  Last night, President Joe Biden signed and released a memo stating that the release of the remaining records from the National Archives & Records Administration (NARA), would "unfortunately" be delayed yet again.  The unreleased records contain more than 440,000 pages of documents.

Biden admin doubles estimate of Americans left behind in Afghanistan.  Nearly 200 Americans left behind in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan following the August U.S. military withdrawal may still be trying to get out, the State Department said Friday [10/22/2021], doubling its previous public count.  Spokesman Ned Price said the U.S. airlifted out several dozen people in the past couple days, but even more people have come forward in recent weeks saying they also want to leave, which has sent the number soaring.  He listed the current total still left behind and interested in getting out as somewhere between 100 and 200, and cautioned that the numbers are just "a momentary snapshot in time."

Trucking companies offer $100,000 salaries and $15,000 bonuses to lure 80,000 truckers and ease supply crisis.  Haulage companies are offering six-figure salaries and $15,000 sign-on bonuses while struggling to attract 80,000 new drivers who are needed to relieve the nation's supply crisis.  But industry experts said more drivers won't alleviate the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach backlog, where an empty shipping container fiasco is preventing trucks from moving product to consumers.  Facing an exodus of 600,000 retiring truckers by 2028, the transportation industry is desperate to recruit more people and estimates that 80,000 new hires are needed this year to offset attrition and clear a backed-up supply chain.

Taliban Official Can't Even Find Afghanistan On The Globe.  Watch as an Afghani reporter asks a Taliban official to find his own country on a globe and fail miserably.  [Video clip]

Ron DeSantis Addresses Supply Chain Crisis:  Florida's Ports Are Open.  Florida can play a key role in alleviating the nation's supply chain crisis, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) said Tuesday [10/19/2021], as Florida's ports remain open, ready, and, in some cases, are offering incentives for businesses to move their cargo through Sunshine State ports.  Speaking from Jacksonville, Florida's JAXPORT, DeSantis laid out the situation the nation faces, as Americans witness "major disruptions" in the supply chain, citing images of ships docked off the coast of various cities and log jams, which are directly "impacting what we see in terms of our store shelves."  Americans are seeing shortages of products, increased costs of items, and rising gas prices, directly affecting commuters.

The Editor says...
There are also ports at Houston, Beaumont, and Corpus Christi, if you really want to unload a ship.  That's what the Panama Canal is for.

Why don't they call it 'wokebook'? Users mock Facebook's plans to change their name to shake off multiple scandals.  Facebook has been mocked after it emerged the firm plans to rebrand its parent company with a new name next week in a bid to distance itself from a series of embarrassing scandals.  The firm's original, flagship social media site and app — Facebook — is expected to keep its moniker, but Facebook Inc., the parent company which also owns Instagram and WhatsApp, will be given rebrand.  Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg is set to reveal the parent company's new name at its annual Connect conference on October 28, but it could be unveiled sooner, the Verge reported.

Shipping Containers That Spent Weeks Aboard Ships Stuck At Ports Now Being Dumped In Nearby Neighborhoods.  With the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach now running 24/7 operations, a new problem has occurred.  Many of the shipping containers that spent weeks onboard ships waiting to be unloaded are now being dumped in nearby neighborhoods once they're emptied.  Sonia Cervantes lives along Anaheim Street, where UCTI Trucking Company is located.  The company's lot only has a capacity for 65 containers so the additional containers now line up along Anaheim Street in front of some people's homes.  "It's a bunch of neighbors that are very upset because it's a non-stop situation," said Cervantes.

Fully-vaccinated former Secretary of State Colin Powell, 84, dies of COVID complications while battling Parkinson's and blood cancer.  Colin Powell, the first black Secretary of State who formulated foreign policy under several presidents, died Monday morning at the age of 84 of complications from COVID.  The Pentagon powerhouse who served as a soldier in Vietnam and went on to become Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff was fully vaccinated and battling blood cancer and Parkinson's when he passed away at Walter Reed Medical Center in Maryland, according to his family.  Retired Four-Star General Powell, who was also suffering from Parkinson's, is survived by his wife of 59 years, Alma, and three children, and has a celebrated career that saw him rise up the military ranks after growing up in a Jamaican immigrant family in Harlem.

Colin Powell, military leader and first Black US secretary of state, dies after complications from Covid-19.  A source familiar with the matter said Powell had multiple myeloma, a cancer of plasma cells that suppresses the body's immune response.  Even if fully vaccinated against Covid-19, those who are immunocompromised are at greater risk from the virus.  "We have lost a remarkable and loving husband, father, grandfather and a great American," the family said.  Powell was a distinguished and trailblazing professional soldier whose career took him from combat duty in Vietnam to becoming the first Black national security adviser during the end of Ronald Reagan's presidency and the youngest and first African American chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under President George H.W. Bush.  His national popularity soared in the aftermath of the US-led coalition victory during the Gulf War, and for a time in the mid-90s, he was considered a leading contender to become the first Black President of the United States.

China Tests New Hypersonic Nuclear-Capable Missile That Circled Entire Globe at Low-Orbit.  China launched a new hypersonic nuclear-capable missile that circled the entire globe at low-orbit in August, the Financial Times reported.  US Intelligence and US Military officials were left stunned.  "We have no idea how they did this," a source told the Financial Times.  According to the report, the missile missed its target by about 24 miles and caught US intel by surprise.

Chinese Military Operation Leaves US Officials Dumbfounded.  The US military, specifically its leadership, has not had a good year.  While the bungled, deadly evacuation from Afghanistan was the clearest sign of incompetence yet, that disaster followed decades of failure and corruption.  Instead of admitting there's a problem and improving, the US military has been busy prosecuting soldiers for speaking out.  By contrast, the Chinese communists are eating our lunch by building the world's largest navy, advancing next-generation technologies, and promoting unity and strength among their rank and file.  The latest example of their advancement has left US officials dumbfounded, after the Chinese military launched a nuclear-capable hypersonic glider that orbited the earth and then descended into its target area.

As Expected Containergeddon is Getting Worse — Biden's Political Solution to Clear The Ships From Los Angeles Ports Only Making Things Worse.  This is a follow-up to the original explanation of the epicenter of the supply chain backlog issue, ie "The Clog".  You need to review the years-long and building background issue to understand the [mess] that Joe Biden has just made worse.  From the White House perspective, the problem at the California ports, specifically the Port of Los Angeles (POLA) and the Port of Long Beach (POLB), was visible due to hundreds of container ships sitting in a queue off the coast of Los Angeles awaiting their opportunity to offload their cargo.  The media was reporting on the backlog of ships and Joe Biden was under fire.  The team behind Joe Biden wanted the optics removed asap.  Hence, the White House meeting with the heads of the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, Gene Seroka and Mario Cordero, respectively.  The continuing supply chain crisis of empty store shelves, missing parts and component goods that are backlogged at the California ports may be politically represented by the optic of those floating vessels.  However, that's not the problem.

Australia Is Planning To Pass Law Banning Biker Gangs From Showing Gang Tattoos In Public.  An outlaw bikie gang member has slammed a new Western Australian law which could lead to him and his fellow tattooed associates being forced to wear make-up.  Chris 'Ballistic' Orchard, whose motto is the implied threat that 'I shake hands to negotiate ... I throw hands to renegotiate' compared a tough new law banning the public display of gang insignia to 'Nazi Germany'.  [Video clip]

Keywords: Unnecessary travel, junket, carbon footprint, jet fuel, money down the drain.
Buttigieg and 12 Other Biden Cabinet Officials to Attend U.N. Climate Summit as Supply Chain Crisis Continues.  Thirteen members of President Joe Biden's cabinet are heading to Glasgow, Scotland, for the United Nation's climate summit later this month, while the nation remains in the midst of a migrant crisis at the southern border and a supply chain crisis at U.S. ports.  The climate summit attendees will include Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg who has been on parental leave for weeks after adopting two infants.

Ethics watchdog files a complaint against Jen Psaki because she 'violated the Hatch Act by endorsing' Democrat Terry McAuliffe for Virginia Gov. at the White House.  A prominent outside government ethics watchdog has filed an ethics complaint claiming White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki violated the Hatch Act when she talked up former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe from the White House podium.  Citizens for Responsible Ethics in Washington, an ethics group that regularly hounded the Trump administration when multiple officials talked politics or promoted merchandise from the White House grounds, announced the complaint a day after Psaki's comments.  She had been asked whether the tight Virginia governor's race, just a few weeks out, would be a bellwether for Biden.

While Joe takes a nap...
Jill Biden out to flex political muscle in governors' races.  First lady Jill Biden is set to campaign Friday for Democrats in governors' races in Virginia and New Jersey, her most overt foray into politics since arriving at the White House nine months ago.  Her involvement is the latest sign that Democrats are pulling out the stops in the upcoming elections, particularly in Virginia, where Democrat Terry McAuliffe appears to be in a tighter race than expected.

The Editor says...
The Associated Press certainly has a way with words.  The phrase, "appears to be in a tighter race than expected," is a polite way of saying Mr. McAuliffe is likely to lose.  Here's some free advice for Mr. McAuliffe:  Don't ask Barack H. Obama for help.  He has the Reverse Midas Touch.

Scheller, Marine who criticized Afghanistan withdrawal, sentenced to reprimand, forfeiture of $5K in pay.  The U.S. Marine who posted videos on social media criticizing military leadership and the Biden administration's withdrawal of military assets from Afghanistan was issued a letter of reprimand and a forfeiture of $5,000 worth of pay for one month, after pleading guilty to all charges during his court-martial hearing this week.  Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller Jr. pled guilty to all six misdemeanor-level charges Thursday [10/14/2021], including willfully disobeying a superior commissioned officer, dereliction in the performance of duties and conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman.

Boeing deals with new defect on troubled 787 Dreamliner:  Admits titanium parts on new planes are too weak.  Boeing is dealing with an alarming new defect on its problem-plagued 787 Dreamliner, which involves certain titanium parts that are weaker than they should be, according to a new report.  The defect is on 787s built over the past three years, and is among the Dreamliner issues that has led to $25 billion in jet inventory piling up on Boeing's hands, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter.  In a statement to DailyMail.com, a Boeing spokesman confirmed that the company had received a notice from a supplier about 'certain 787 parts that were improperly manufactured.'

Amazon India reportedly copied sellers' products and rigged search results.  Amazon's India division engaged in a systematic campaign of copying items sold by third-party sellers and then manipulated search results to favor its own products, according to a Reuters report Wednesday [10/13/2021] that cites internal documents.  In a 2016 document, titled "India Private Brands Program," Amazon's private label team in India detailed how it would review sales and customer review data to identify "reference brands" to replicate, according to the article.

Marine who criticized military over Afghan withdrawal to plead guilty at court martial, lawyer says.  The Marine officer whose online video criticizing senior military leaders over the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan went viral is expected to plead guilty at his court-martial this week, his lawyer said.  Lieutenant Colonel Stuart Scheller is facing several charges ahead of the court-martial set for Thursday at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina.  They include disrespect toward superior commissioned officers, willfully disobeying a superior commissioned officer and conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman.  One of Scheller's attorneys, Timothy Parlatore, confirmed to CBS News that his client would be pleading guilty, but would not say which charges Scheller would plead guilty to, since details are still being finalized.

Marine top brass claims Lt. Colonel Stuart Scheller 'incited a revolution' by criticizing Afghanistan withdrawal on Facebook.  Marine top brass has claimed in charges against Lt. Colonel Stuart Scheller that he was trying to 'incite a revolution' by repeatedly criticizing the chaotic Afghanistan withdrawal and calling for a change in military leadership, leaked documents have revealed.  The viral Marine posted that 'It's time for a new generation to assume American power.  We are ready, and we reject the current system... Follow me, and we will bring the whole [...] system down... in a constitutional manner with one loud voice.'  That September 2 post is referred to in a charge sheet that was first obtained by Task and Purpose, a military news site, and made public on Friday [10/8/2021].

Clint Eastwood Wins $6.1M Lawsuit Against CBD Scammers Using His Name.  Famed actor and director Clint Eastwood has won a $6.1 million lawsuit against a Lithuanian company that used his face and name without permission to sell CBD products.  The 91-year-old Dirty Harry star was thrilled that he came out on top in the lawsuit to stop the "scammers" from illegally using him — and other stars — to sell their products.

No cases of influenza A or RSV detected in Ohio during 2020-21 season - and just two cases of B flu strain.  Cases of influenza and other respiratory viruses plummeted during the COVID-19 pandemic, a new study suggests.  Researchers from Akron Children's Hospital, in Ohio, looked at data from children treated during the 2018-19, 2019-20 and the 2020-21 flu seasons.  They found that flu infections among kids were reduced by 99 percent and there were no cases of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) detected in northern Ohio.

New Zealand Central Bank Raises Interest Rates For First Time in Seven Years.  New Zealand's central bank raised interest rates for the first time in more than seven years on Wednesday, removing some of the support it put in place when the coronavirus pandemic began.  The Reserve Bank raised the benchmark rate to 0.5% from a record low 0.25%.

Lt. Col. Scheller [has been] Freed, but Charges Loom.  Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller has been freed from pretrial detention, but could still face charges for criticizing senior military officials over the U.S. evacuation from Afghanistan, The Epoch Times has learned.  Scheller was scheduled for a pretrial confinement initial review hearing Tuesday.  Military officials planned to conduct the hearing in secret, sparking anger from some media outlets and members of the public.  But prior to the hearing, the Marine Corps agreed to free Scheller, cancelling the pretrial review as a result, according to a source familiar with the matter.  Meanwhile, Scheller has submitted a request for resignation of his commission in lieu of trial to the Secretary of the Navy, the source said, speaking under the condition of anonymity to avoid backlash from the military.?utm_source=partner&utm_campaign=akdart

Lt Colonel Stuart Scheller is being released from military brig.  Lt. Colonel Stuart Scheller Jr. is being released from military brig today after winning a landslide of public support for his condemnation of the withdrawal from Afghanistan.  Scheller Jr. was jailed last Monday at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina for repeatedly criticizing the military's chaotic withdrawal from Kabul.  He was three days from retirement when he was stripped of his post and thrown in the grim confinement quarters to await military trial for contempt.  He had said in videos that he was resigning and giving up his $2 million pension because he was so appalled with how the situation in Afghanistan had unfolded.

Natural gas price spikes 25% on soaring demand.  European and UK gas prices surged on Wednesday by more than 25 percent, energised by soaring demand before the northern hemisphere winter.  Europe's reference Dutch TTF gas price jumped to 145.19 euros per megawatt hour and UK prices soared to 347.27 pence per therm.

General Mark Milley's Sketchy October 2020 Intelligence on China Fears Likely Came From Twitter and New York Times, Congressman Mike Turner Will Confirm.  CTH has discovered what we believe will turn out to be the currently classified "intelligence product" that Joint Chief's Chairman Mark Milley has been claiming as justification for his unilateral phone call with the Chinese military to discuss their concerns.  I am 80% certain we have located that intelligence product, and you ain't gonna believe where it was from.  Yesterday [9/29/2021], congressman Mike Turner of Ohio noted that no one in the entire system of intelligence and oversight had any idea what intelligence product Mark Milley was describing in his two days of testimony.  Former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe said Wednesday, in response to the claims of Milley, that no such intelligence product ever existed.  Congressman Turner, who sits on the House Intel Committee (HPSCI) and the House Armed Services Committee, confirmed the same.  Congressman Turner has demanded that General Milley turn over this mysterious, secret, oddly untraceable intelligence product that Milley alone has seen.

Facebook Whistleblower Is Leftist Activist Repped By Lawyer For 'Whistleblower' Behind Trump Impeachment.  The Facebook whistleblower, Frances Haugen, has a record of donations to far-left Democrats and a history of raising issues about purported bias while at previous employers, a Daily Wire review found.  She is working with Democrat operatives to roll out her complaint and has the same lawyers as the anonymous Ukraine "whistleblower" whose allegations led to Donald Trump's impeachment, but who reportedly turned out to be then-Vice President Joe Biden's top advisor on the country.  In a previous role at Pinterest, Frances Haugen was behind a "recent change to give users the option to filter searches to specific skin tones."  At Gigster, she gave a talk on how "if we don't build with an eye towards inclusion, we can end up enshrining bias." [...] According to public records, Haugen co-owns a house with Molly Tombley-McCann, a computer coder who made a "gamification tool to be a better ally."  Haugen has made more than twenty federal campaign contributions since 2016, all of which have gone to Democrats, according to Federal Election Commission data.

A simple guide to the Pandora Papers leak.  The Pandora Papers is a leak of almost 12 million documents that reveals hidden wealth, tax avoidance and, in some cases, money laundering by some of the world's rich and powerful.  More than 600 journalists in 117 countries have been trawling through the files from 14 sources for months, finding stories that are being published this week.  The data was obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) in Washington DC, which has been working with more than 140 media organisations on its biggest ever global investigation.  BBC Panorama and the Guardian have led the investigation in the UK.

Maj Gen Ordered 50+ Evacuees off One of Last Flights out of Kabul to Make Room for Taliban Souvenir.  [Scroll down]  During the last hours of the evacuation, according to troops under his command and as documented by photographs and witness statements, [Maj. Gen. Christopher] Donahue ordered all of the passengers aboard a C-17 transport plane to disembark so he could have a souvenir loaded onto the plane.  That souvenir, or "war trophy," was an inoperable Taliban-owned Toyota Hilux with a fully operational Russian ZU-23 anti-aircraft autocannon mounted in the bed.  Once the Hilux was loaded passengers were allowed back on the plane, but, of course, there wasn't room for all of them.  According to troops on the scene, at least 50 people and perhaps as many as 100 people were left at Kabul to make room for the Hilux.

Related story:  Nobody ran a red light for four straight hours.
Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp go down in major internet outage.  Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, three of the most-popular websites and apps in the world, were knocked offline Monday in a major internet outage.  The outage that affected the products, which are all owned and operated by Facebook, occurred around noon EST. Several other products that are owned and run by Facebook were also affected.  On Facebook, a simple error message read "Sorry, something went wrong.  We're working on it and we'll get it fixed as soon as we can."

Kabul faces blackout as Taliban fails to pay the bills.  Afghanistan's capital could be plunged into darkness as the winter sets in because the country's new Taliban rulers haven't paid Central Asian electricity suppliers or resumed collecting money from consumers.  Unless addressed, the situation could cause a humanitarian disaster, warned Daud Noorzai, who resigned as chief executive of the country's state power monopoly, Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat, nearly two weeks after the Taliban's takeover on Aug. 15.

Louie Gohmert shares reassuring update on jailed Marine after visit.  Republican Rep. Louie Gohmert of Texas said the Marine who was jailed after criticizing top military officials over the Afghanistan withdrawal "looks" and "sounds good" after the two met on Thursday [9/30/2021].  The congressman traveled to North Carolina's Camp Lejeune, where Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller is being held, for a visit and later provided a status update to his parents on Sean Hannity's Fox News program.  "There are people in that brig that like Stu, and so please know that," Gohmert told Scheller's parents, who say they have not talked to their son since he was thrown in the brig on Monday, on Hannity.  Scheller garnered attention in August when he posted a video on social media calling for accountability from military leaders over the United States's pullout from Afghanistan.  He later said he was "relieved from duty" after his comments went viral and that he expected to be jailed over it.  Scheller Jr. is currently in pretrial confinement as he awaits a hearing, which has not yet been scheduled.

$2 million raised for Marine in the brig for speaking out against Afghan chaos.  Individuals raised nearly $2 million on behalf of the Marine facing possible charges for his public criticism of military leadership amid the Afghanistan withdrawal.  Supporters have raised more than $1.85 million from over 23,000 donations for Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller Jr., who awaits a hearing for his viral videos in which he called for accountability for the military's top brass.  He is in pretrial confinement in the Regional Brig for Marine Corps Installations East abroad Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune.  However, the time, date, and location of the Article 32 proceeding has not been scheduled.

GOP Lawmakers:  Incarceration Of Lt. Col. Scheller Is Political.  Republican lawmakers are coming to the defense of a U.S. Marine who was jailed after criticizing Joe Biden's Afghan pullout.  In a statement on Thursday, Reps.  James Comer (R-Ky.) and Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) said Biden officials put a U.S. Marine in solitary confinement for demanding accountability from top brass for the Afghan disaster.  The lawmakers went on to ask why our troops receive punishment for questioning the failures of Biden and his administration.  Back in August, Marine Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller posted a video on Facebook asking why the Afghanistan crisis even happened and blasting military leaders for the exit.  He was placed in pre-trial confinement shortly after.

36 members of Congress sign letter calling for Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller's immediate release from grim military brig.  Dozens of congressmembers have demanded the immediate release of Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller after he was jailed for defying orders to stop publicly criticizing the nation's Afghanistan withdrawal.  Scheller, 40, was arrested and jailed at the Camp Lejeune brig Monday [9/27/2021] for allegedly breaking four military laws by refusing orders to stop posting critical videos on social media.  He was scheduled to make his first court appearance in North Carolina today, but the public — including elected officials and the media — are prohibited from attending.

The Scheller Case is America's Dreyfus Affair.  A US Marine officer, Lt. Colonel Stuart Scheller, publicly criticized the Biden Administration's chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan which left 13 servicemen and women dead at Kabul Airport.  He particularly targeted the top brass of the military, a military to which he devoted his energy and his life to serve, for their abysmal performance in the closing days of the Afghan withdrawal.  Scheller was relieved of his command shortly after he posted a video on Facebook demanding senior officers be held to account for their actions.  In the video, Scheller said that he intended to resign his commission. [...] On September 27, Lt. Colonel Sheller was suddenly arrested and placed in solitary confinement in the military jail at Camp Lejeune, N.C., according to Marine Corps spokesman Capt. Sam Stephenson.  He is held incommunicado, under a gag order, unable even to speak with his parents.  Throwing people into solitary confinement has become, it seems, a repeatable tactic to the current Democrat enforcers.

Workers Who Maintain Supply Chains Warn of Worldwide 'System Collapse'.  Several industry groups have warned world leaders of a worldwide supply-chain "system collapse" due to pandemic restrictions, coming as Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell suggested that the current period of higher inflation will last until 2022.  The International Chamber of Shipping, a coalition of truck drivers, seafarers, and airline workers, has warned in a letter to heads of state attending the United Nations General Assembly that governments need to restore freedom of movement to transportation workers amid persistent COVID-19 restrictions and quarantines.  If nothing is done, they warned of a "global transport system collapse" and suggested that "global supply chains are beginning to buckle as two years' worth of strain on transport workers take their toll," according to the letter.  It was signed by the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the International Road Transport Union (IRU), and the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF), which represent some 65 million transport workers around the world.

Coal For Christmas.  In mid-April 2021, I began receiving reports from sources in China and the United States that certain regions in China had begun to experience ongoing power disruptions at their warehouses and manufacturing facilities.  Most notable of these was in south China's Guangdong megaregion, where in June operations at the Taishan Nuclear Power Plant had become disrupted by a small number of faulty claddings for the fuel rods, ultimately forcing state-owned General Nuclear Power Group to shut down Unit 1 (there are two units) for maintenance and repair.  Concurrently, available power imported to the Guangdong region from Yunnan province's considerable hydroelectric capacity was reduced due to drier-than-expected weather throughout the spring.  Taken together, some estimates are that total power available to the region fell by as much as 15% by June.  In response, officials began quietly rationing power to factories, cutting business operation days by 1 or 2 days depending on the facilities' power requirements.  In recent weeks, however, officials have begun a much more aggressive rationing program, with factories in much of Guangdong now seeing only 1-2 days per week of power use allowed.

Millions Of Chinese Residents Lose Power After Widespread, "Unexpected" Blackouts; Power Company Warns This Is "New Normal".  Just yesterday [9/26/2021] we warned that a "Power Supply Shock Looms" as the energy crisis gripping Europe — and especially the UK — was set to hammer China, and just a few hours later we see this in practice as residents in three north-east Chinese provinces experienced unannounced power cuts as the electricity shortage which initially hit factories spreads to homes.  People living in Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang provinces complained on social media about the lack of heating, and lifts and traffic lights not working.  Local media in China — which is highly dependent on coal for power — said the cause was a surge in coal prices leading to short supply. [...] Then there is Beijing's pursuit of curbing carbon emissions — Xi Jinping wants to ensure blue skies at the Winter Olympics in Beijing next February, showing the international community that he's serious about de-carbonizing the economy — that has led to artificial bottlenecks in the coal supply chain. [...] Whatever the reason, it's just getting started:  as BBC reported, one power company said it expected the power cuts to last until spring next year, and that unexpected outages would become "the new normal."  Its post, however, was later deleted.

Why are the Chinese eating by flashlight?  Some [Chinese] homeowners and businesses are firing up generators to keep the power going during prime demand hours.  So what's going on?  Have they run out of fuel? [...] Nope.  As it turns out, there's plenty of power to go around but the government simply shut it off for their own policy reasons. [...] China's rapid expansion has more than doubled their power consumption over the past couple of decades.  Because they use a lot of "dirty" energy, that leads to more emissions.  Why would they care?  Because China is hosting a U.N. environmental conference next month where emissions will be a topic of discussion.  They are anxious to show that they are actually curbing emissions when they never actually do that.  To not produce some good numbers to show the UN would be a political embarrassment.

Alternative viewpoint:
Power shortages in China may cause world food and commodities prices to surge.  China is looking at a difficult harvest season as a severe energy crunch hurts the outlook for production — a development that can trigger another surge in food prices.  The autumn harvest in China is underway, but with power shortages in industrial hubs, authorities see slow processing growth.  This is especially true in the northeastern provinces of Jilin, Liaoning and Heilongjiang, where half of the country's corn and soybeans are grown.  This crisis is pushing concerns that China will have a tough time handling crops this year, as some plants were asked to cut their output to conserve electricity.  Over the past year, China already imported record lows of agricultural products due to domestic shortages, which drove prices and global food costs to record highs.  Power shortages in the country have forced soybean processors in northern regions to shut down, affecting operations of larger companies.

Parents of jailed Marine hail his courage calling out generals over Afghan disaster.  A Marine Corps officer jailed after releasing a series of Facebook videos criticizing military leadership for the botched withdrawal of Afghanistan, as well as a series of scathing posts lambasting "hypocrite" former presidents and generals, now sits in a type of solitary confinement with no phone, visitors, books, or even paper, his parents told the Washington Examiner.  "I anticipated it.  I ran the gamut of rage to tears," said Cathy Scheller upon learning that her son Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller was arrested Monday.  "I have taken up his cause.  I will do everything I can to make sure this doesn't disappear.  I am very proud of him for standing for the service members and asking for accountability."

The Marine Who Called for Afghanistan Accountability Has Been Thrown in Prison.  Back in August, Marine Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller called for accountability for military leadership on the disastrous and catastrophic exit from Afghanistan.  He did so knowing he was risking his career and would likely face punishment for doing so.  "The reason people are so upset on social media right now is not because the Marine on the battlefield let someone down," Scheller said.  "People are upset because their senior leaders let them down and none of them are raising their hands and accepting accountability or saying, 'We messed this up.'"  "I'm not saying we've got to be in Afghanistan forever, but I am saying:  Did any of you throw your rank on the table and say, 'Hey, it's a bad idea to evacuate Bagram Airfield, a strategic airbase, before we evacuate everyone.'  Did anyone do that?  And when you didn't think to do that, did anyone raise their hand and say, 'We completely messed this up.'"

The Wrong Man Is In The Brig — Put Biden On Trial.  U.S. Marine Lieutenant-Colonel Stuart Scheller is in the brig — a military jail at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.  More specifically, Scheller is in pre-trial confinement.  That means he is being held behind bars pending a military court-martial.  Scheller was up until recently a Marine battalion commander.  He was relieved of his command following a series of public statements he made chastising military leadership for the manifest incompetence shown during the Afghan withdrawal that led directly to the deaths of 13 Marines.  After his relief Scheller announced he would resign from the service and continued to speak out — in apparent violation of direct orders to stop discussing his concerns publicly.  In one video, posted on September 16th, Scheller stated his intention to charge Marine Gen. Kenneth McKenzie Jr., head of U.S. Central Command, with dereliction of duty.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin Makes the Case for His Own Resignation.  Joe Biden's generals are up on Capitol Hill today defending their incompetent, politically driven decision-making that led to the collapse of Afghanistan.  That collapse included the deaths of 13 Americans in a suicide bombing attack while we imported tens of thousands of "refugees" who weren't qualified.  In short, the entire thing was a massive catastrophe, led by people like Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley.  In fact, while speaking today, Austin didn't even really hide the fact that the Afghanistan withdrawal and subsequent evacuation were a total cluster.

Save it for the jury.
Mark Milley defends his secret China calls, insists he wasn't trying to undermine Trump.  Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley denied any wrongdoing in making two phone calls to China during Trump's presidency and insisted he spoke with his counterpart there to 'de-escalate' Beijing's fears over an imminent attack.  Speaking before a Senate panel on Tuesday, Milley also denied accusations that he told House Speaker Nancy Pelosi he agreed with her Trump is 'crazy,' telling lawmakers today that he instead told her he is 'not qualified to determine the mental health of the president.'  Milley and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin are testifying before the Senate Armed Service Committee Tuesday, marking their first public testimony since the U.S. completed its withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Outspoken Marine officer who went viral blasting military leaders over Afghanistan is jailed: report.  Marine Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller, the officer who went viral for blasting the military's leadership amid the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan, has been sent to the brig, according to a report.  "All our son did is ask the questions that everybody was asking themselves, but they were too scared to speak out loud," Scheller's father, Stu Scheller Sr., told Task & Purpose.  "He was asking for accountability.  In fact, I think he even asked for an apology that we made mistakes, but they couldn't do that, which is mind-blowing."  Scheller first rose to internet stardom by posting a video to Facebook blasting military leaders for the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, questioning their command decisions on the events leading up to and during the final evacuation effort.

John Hinckley, Who Shot President Reagan, to Be Granted Unconditional Release.  A federal judge has approved the unconditional release of John Hinckley Jr., the man who tried to assassinate President Ronald Reagan outside a Washington, D.C., hotel in 1981.  Hinckley, now 66, has been living outside a mental health facility for several years under court-imposed restrictions, including the oversight of his medical care and tracking of his computer passwords.  The new agreement will result in his full release from supervision in June 2022.  The Justice Department agreed to a settlement but will monitor Hinckley for nine months to ensure he remains mentally stable, as he will be living on his own for the first time in about 40 years and because one of his primary doctors is set to retire and dissolve Hinckley's therapy group.

The Editor says...
Doctors retire all the time.  That's no reason to let crazy people out of the mental hospitals.

Pentagon loosens access rules to secret programs, raising security leak fears.  Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks issued a memorandum to senior Pentagon officials on Sept. 20 stating that filling out a counterintelligence questionnaire is no longer required to gain access to special access programs.  Known as SAPs, these are the most secret activities and programs within the department.  The eased rules specifically allow Senate-confirmed political appointees, members of the House and Senate, the professional staff of the congressional defense and intelligence oversight committees and senior White House officials access to the programs without filling out a prescreening questionnaire as required for all other officials in the Pentagon's Special Access Security Manual:  Personnel Security.

Headline corrections provided by The Editor.
Biden admin purges Lee Greenwood from [the] [N]ational [A]rts [C]ouncil; [because the] singer's 'God Bless the USA' [is] played at Trump rallies.  The Biden administration's purge of appointees to various government advisory boards by prior presidents — mostly Republicans — is continuing with the dismissal of country music great Lee Greenwood from the National Council on the Arts.  During an interview last week with "Fox & Friends," Greenwood explained that he was initially appointed to the board by President George W. Bush then served throughout President Barack Obama's two terms and President Donald Trump's single term, adding he was shocked to get the letter advising him he was being replaced.  Greenwood, who wrote the country anthem "God Bless the USA," which was a favorite of the late President Ronald Reagan and has become a fixture at Trump's rallies, suspects that politics may be behind the decision to remove him from the arts council.

Democrats in Congress Try to Abolish Space Force.  Some Democrats in Congress are trying to abolish the Space Force at a time when China and Russia have been doubling down on expanding their military capabilities in space.  On Wednesday [9/22/2021], Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) introduced a bill named No Militarization of Space Act, trying to abolish the Space Force, a new military service branch created under former President Donald Trump.  "The long-standing neutrality of space has fostered a competitive, non-militarized age of exploration every nation and generation has valued since the first days of space travel," Huffman said in a statement.  "But since its creation under the former Trump administration, the Space Force has threatened longstanding peace and flagrantly wasted billions of taxpayer dollars."  The Space Force was established in December 2019 and has been deemed by some to be one of Trump's signature achievements.  But its origin can be traced back to the beginning of the Cold War.

The Editor says...
I'm opposed to the creation of a Space Force, simply because NASA already exists, and NASA isn't doing anything useful at the moment.  Create a Space Force if you must, but if you do, what is the purpose of NASA?

Costco Limits Purchases of Toilet Paper, Paper Towels, and Bottled Water amid Inflation, Supply-Chain Issues.  Costco is implementing new consumer limitations on purchases of household essentials including toilet paper, paper towels, and Kirkland bottled water as the company has seen an increase in demand due to a surge in the delta variant and supply-chain complications.  Costco has been dealing with significant issues centered around supply-chain complications and inflation according to the company's Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Richard A. Galanti.

The Editor says...
Mrs. Editor and I were turned away from Costco a couple of weeks ago when we refused to put on face masks before entering the store.  Costco headquarters is in Seattle.  The customers on the west coast may put up with that kind of treatment, but I'm done with Costco.

Pentagon names ISIS-K 'planner' who was killed in successful August drone strike.  The Pentagon has named an ISIS-K planner killed in a drone strike and said he was 'directly connected' to the suicide attack that killed 13 Americans.  The man, Kabir Aidi, was killed in an American drone strike on August 27 one day after the troops were blown up outside Kabul's airport.  It comes a week after the Pentagon admitted the US accidentally killed ten innocent people — including seven children — in a drone strike two days later on August 29 in Kabul.

South Korean President Travels to Hawaii to Repatriate US Servicemembers' Remains — Biden Admin Skips Event, Sends No One.  Biden leaves Americans stranded in Afghanistan.  And on Wednesday [9/22/2021] he didn't bother to send a single representative to honor our Korean war heroes or greet the South Korean leader in Hawaii.  South Korean President Moon Jae-in traveled to Hawaii on Wednesday to repatriate the remains of American service members.  Not a single representative from the Biden Administration showed up.  They hate this country, its heroes, its values and traditions and want it destroyed.

Is This Facebook's 'Big Tobacco' Moment?  Facebook Inc. executives have long boasted that its platforms are safe, even as they invested in ways to keep teenagers hooked and hid what they knew about the side effects.  Sound familiar?  Critics say Big Tobacco once used the same playbook, and it's fueling a whole new level of outrage against the social media giant.  Facebook consistently played down its own research that showed how photo-sharing app Instagram can harm the mental well-being of its youngest users, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.  Almost a third of young teen girls told Facebook they feel worse about their bodies after scrolling through the site, documents reviewed by the newspaper showed.  Despite that knowledge, Facebook is dedicating more resources to reaching even younger consumers, including developing a children's version of Instagram.

S. Korean President Returns U.S. MIA Troop Remains in Person.  Biden Sends No Rep.  Many of us remember the big stink that Joe Biden made last year when he bothered to campaign about how the Democrat would treat America's allies so much better than that loudmouth Donald Trump who was always talking about America First.  The allies seemed excited at the prospect of an American president treating them with the deference, respect, and obedience they've come to expect from American leaders until, well, you-know-who.  Biden can't seem to remember a lot of things these days, including the name of his Secretary of Defense and that five-sided building in Virginia where the military hangs out.

It is Trump's party.  Get over it.  Never Trump Congressman Anthony Gonzalez of Ohio announced he won't seek a third term because of Donald Trump.  Gonzalez won't be missed, He voted to impeach Trump.  I do not get the congressman's problem.  Water is wet, the media is biased, and Trump is the leader of the Republican Party.  It is no contest.  McLaughlin and Associates polled Republicans nationally and asked if Trump won the nomination in 2024, would you vote for him in the general election?  86% of Republicans said they would.  There are your Republican values and principles.  Donald Trump proved his worthiness as a Republican, as a conservative, and as an American in his 4 years as president.  He has nothing to be ashamed of.  Gonzalez, well, that's a different story.

Ohio Republican Who Voted to Impeach President Trump Announces He Will Not Seek Re-Election.  Anthony Gonzalez (OH-16) was one of the ten House republicans (pictured above) who voted to impeach President Trump.  As President Trump announced his support for Gonzalez's challenger, Max Miller, former House Speaker John Boehner went to Ohio to support Gonzalez.  Apparently the support of Paul Ryan and John Boehner was not enough to help.  Max Miller was in position to primary Gonzalez.

The DOJ Moves To Block The Purdue Pharma Bankruptcy Deal That Shields The Sacklers.  A division of the Justice Department that serves as a watchdog over the federal bankruptcy system filed an appeal late Wednesday seeking to block the controversial Purdue Pharma bankruptcy plan.  William Harrington, who serves as U.S. trustee for the Justice Department, also filed documents requesting an "expedited stay" to prevent implementation of the settlement.  The deal, which Judge Robert Drain approved Sept. 1, granted sweeping immunity from opioid lawsuits to members of the Sackler family who own the drug company.  The Sacklers, who are not bankrupt, were granted releases from liability after agreeing to contribute roughly $4.3 billion of their private wealth to the deal.

Centcom Commander General McKenzie Calls Drone Strike Killing 10 Innocents in Kabul, a Tragic Mistake — The Signals Intelligence Was Wrong.  Earlier today [9/17/2021], General Kenneth Franklin McKenzie Jr. admitted a claimed U.S. drone strike against the ever evolving and mysterious ISIS-K, actually killed 7 children and three innocent adult civilians.  General McKenzie calls it a "tragic mistake."  Four days after the August 29th strike Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, called the strike "righteous."  General McKenzi says he takes "full responsibility", yet he retains his position.  No one is being held to account.  No one at the Pentagon is facing discipline.  Both McKenzie and Milley claim it was solid intelligence that led them to watch, follow, and eventually target and kill Zemari Ahmadi, an Afghan relief worker who arrived home.  The missile struck his vehicle as his children ran out to welcome daddy home from work, killing all occupants in the car and those in the vicinity.

Oops: Biden's 'Righteous Strike' in Kabul Now a 'Tragic Mistake'.  In August, the Biden administration conducted a drone strike in Kabul that Gen. Mark Milley described as a "righteous strike" against the Islamic State.  On Friday [9/17/2021], CENTCOM commander Frank McKenzie acknowledged the strike was actually a "tragic mistake" that killed 10 civilians, and no ISIS targets were killed.

The Pentagon confesses that it lied about killing ISIS operatives.  For many years, the American military was the most respected institution in America.  In the seven months of the Biden administration, we've learned that the upper reaches of the Pentagon are partisan, corrupt, possibly treasonous, and totally incompetent.  The latest evidence of this is General McKenzie's confession that the military didn't really kill an "ISIS-K fighter" after Islamists slaughtered 13 American troops.  Instead, our military drone attack killed an aide worker, seven children, and two other adults.

Biden Vacations in Delaware as Generals Admit Drone Strike 'Mistake' in Kabul.  President Biden continued his vacation in Delaware Friday [9/17/2021] as the country's top generals confirmed a "tragic mistake" in Afghanistan that left three adults and seven children dead in a drone strike aimed at ISIS terrorists.  "We now assess that it is unlikely that the vehicle and those who died were associated with ISIS-K or a direct threat to US forces," McKenzie said of the airstrike at a briefing, following an investigation by the Military.  "This strike was taken in the earnest belief that it would prevent an imminent threat to our forces and the evacuees at the airport, but it was a mistake and I offer my sincere apology," Mckenzie added, claiming that he is "fully responsible for this strike and this tragic outcome."

US military admits drone strike intended to kill ISIS-K fighters in Kabul actually killed civilians, including 7 children.  An investigation by the US military has determined that an airstrike last month in Kabul believed to have eliminated a terrorist threat actually killed civilians, a top US general said Friday [9/17/2021].  "This strike was taken in the earnest belief that it would prevent an imminent threat to our forces and the evacuees at the airport, but it was a mistake and I offer my sincere apology," Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, the head of US Central Command, told reporters at the Pentagon.  "I am now convinced that as many as 10 civilians, including up to 7 children, were tragically killed in that strike," he said.

US military admits it killed 10 civilians and targeted wrong vehicle in Kabul airstrike.  A United States military investigation into a deadly Kabul drone strike on a vehicle in August has found it killed 10 civilians and the driver and that the vehicle targeted was likely not a threat associated with ISIS-K, announced Gen. Frank McKenzie, the top general of US Central Command, at the Pentagon on Friday [9/17/2021].  McKenzie told reporters that the strike — which he said killed seven children — was a "mistake" and offered an apology.  "This strike was taken in the earnest belief that it would prevent an imminent threat to our forces and the evacuees at the airport, but it was a mistake and I offer my sincere apology," he said.  McKenzie added that he is "fully responsible for this strike and this tragic outcome."

Senator Bob Menendez Threatens Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and All Further Pentagon Nominations.  Protecting the interests of the Fourth Branch of Government is not a partisan issue. [...] In this example, Democrat Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez targets the Pentagon Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin for not appearing to answer questions about Afghanistan.  Showcasing the out of balance power of the Senate, Menendez threatens to block defense department nominations as a consequence to Austin for defying the Fourth Branch of Government.  [Video clip]

Blinken Just Told Us How Many Biden Really Left Behind in Afghanistan.  I've been skeptical of the Biden administration's official number of Americans still left in Afghanistan.  They've said about 100-200 Americans were left behind (still a tragedy) but one U.S. official said that over 5,000 Americans were likely to end up stranded in the country by the time U.S. forces left.  As of yesterday, they are saying there are about 100 Americans still there — which likely means nothing has changed since the withdrawal concluded on August 30.

DOJ Allows Three U.S. Intelligence Contractors To Pay Their Way Out of Criminal Charges.  This thread might be well worth pulling for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is the DOJ National Security Division allowing three former Intelligence Community Contractors to pay their way out of criminal charges.  It appears that criminal operatives that come from within the Fourth Branch of government are allowed to get a "first-of-its-kind resolution."  Apparently it looks like three men Marc Baier, 49, Ryan Adams, 34, and a former U.S. citizen, Daniel Gericke, 40, all former employees of the U.S. Intelligence Community (USIC) or the U.S. military, left the contractor employment of the USIC in 2016 and went to work for the United Arab Emirates.  It appears the three were experts in computer intrusion; meaning they were hackers for the U.S. government working inside the intelligence system.  When they went to work for the UAE, they helped develop hacking tools that were later used to hack into U.S. cell phone networks and operating systems.  They were supposed to register as free-lance hackers, they didn't; and they were not allowed to help foreign governments hack into U.S. systems, which they did.

China Installs Cameras Inside People's Homes, Expanding Its Surveillance Network.  The world depicted in George Orwell's "1984" and "Animal Farm" is often used as an analogy for totalitarian states, such as China.  Recently, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is taking the "big brother" tactic of surveillance and control of citizens to a new level, building internet grids to watch and implicate the "whole clan" by association, sneakily monitoring private cellphones and even installing cameras inside people's homes.  As shown in the internal CCP documents obtained exclusively by The Epoch Times, under the name of COVID-19 containment, the regime has been systematically expanding its already massive surveillance network, spending hundreds of millions of yuan, hiring a large number of personnel, and incorporating more governmental departments.  The measures involved have become increasingly invasive, directly violating China's own constitution.

Pentagon defends drone strike in Kabul that reportedly killed civilians.  The Pentagon defended a deadly August drone strike in Kabul on Monday — despite a report that the attack actually killed an innocent man and his family.  The second of a pair of drone airstrikes in the waning days of the Afghanistan war is now being investigated by Central Command, but details are scarce and there remains a question of how much information will be shared once the probe is completed.  "I would say that the assessment by Central Command is ongoing and I'm not gonna get ahead of that," Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said during a news briefing on Monday.  "The strike was taken to prevent an imminent attack on the airport."

'Thousands' of lawful US residents left in Afghanistan, Blinken says in testimony.  President Joe Biden's administration assessed "thousands" of lawful permanent residents of the United States remain in Afghanistan following the tumultuous evacuation of Kabul, according to Secretary of State Antony Blinken.  "I think the best estimates are that there's several thousand green card holders in Afghanistan," Blinken told the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Monday [9/13/2021].  That figure hints at the scale of the diplomatic and humanitarian challenge confronting State Department officials in the absence of U.S. military personnel.  Blinken's team is developing new plans for securing the departure of the remaining American citizens, green card holders, and Afghan allies expected to face retaliation from the Taliban for their past work with the U.S. government — but the number of Afghans eligible for Special Immigrant Visas remains unclear.

Media Matters' Electioneering Against Larry Elder Broke IRS Rules, Complaint Says.  The Iowa-based conservative watchdog group Patriots Foundation filed a new complaint with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Monday against Media Matters for America (MMFA) arguing the tax-exempt group has violated its agency agreement with illegal electioneering.  Founded in 2004, the leftist non-profit was given 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status under IRS code which prohibits explicit campaign activity on behalf of any candidate or candidate's party.  In a supplemental complaint added to an existing referral over last year's election, however, the Patriots Foundation argues the group's interference in the California recall race violates IRS terms for tax exemption.  "MMFA has, from inception, operated as a thinly veiled partisan political organization supporting Democratic candidates for office and engaging in other improper activities," the group wrote, outlining four parameters groups must follow in order to maintain their 501(c)(3) status with the IRS. [...] In a Media Matters article headlined, "Larry Elder is running to be California governor.  Here's just some of his toxic record as a radio host and right-wing pundit," the Patriots Foundation explained, "each of these assurances have been abandoned."

House GOP Leader Asks Supreme Court to End Proxy Voting.  House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) is taking his fight against what he calls the "patently unconstitutional practice" of proxy voting in the U.S. House of Representatives to the Supreme Court.  In the early days of the pandemic in May 2020, the House approved a resolution allowing members to cast votes on the House floor by proxy on the theory that it was advisable to limit attendance in Congress to combat the spread of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus.  Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said at the time the new absentee voting protocol was needed because the virus posed a "mortal danger."  House Democratic leadership said when the policy began that it would be temporary but it is still in effect today.  This "unprecedented" proxy voting resolution permits a single member to vote on behalf of up to 10 absent members, according to the petition for certiorari, or review, from McCarthy.

I&I/TIPP Poll:  The Distrust Of Scientists Is Widespread — Including On COVID Vaccines.  rom coronavirus vaccines and the virus' origin to climate change, a substantial portion of the country distrusts scientists to do their jobs honestly and capably.  The latest data from the September Issues & Insights/TIPP Poll also found significant differences among Americans of different political views, reflecting a growing politicization of science in America.  The I&I/TIPP poll asked Americans "how much trust do you place in scientists" in three areas of science prominent in today's headlines:  "vaccine safety," "climate change," and "coronavirus origin."  Overall, among the three, vaccine safety was tops in scientist trust, at 61%.  Perhaps not surprisingly, that almost perfectly matches the share of the U.S. population currently vaccinated:  63%.

Last Missile Fired By U.S. Military in Afghanistan Killed Only Innocent Family — Not [an] ISIS 'Facilitator' as Gen. Milley Claimed.  The last missile fired by the United States Military in the 20-year war in Afghanistan struck only an innocent Afghan man and his family in Kabul — not ISIS militants, the New York Times reported on Friday [9/10/2021].  [Tweet]  The blast killed ten members of the extended family of a civilian aid worker, Zemari Ahmadi, and three of his children, Zamir, 20, Faisal, 16, and Farzad, 10; Mr. Ahmadi's cousin Naser, 30; three of Romal's children, Arwin, 7, Benyamin, 6, and Hayat, 2; and two 3-year-old girls, Malika and Somaya.  [Tweet]  While the Pentagon initially conceded there was some "collateral damage" in the aftermath of the Aug. 29 drone attack, military leaders called a "righteous strike" that eliminated an imminent threat to troops and civilians at the Kabul airport.

US drone strike that Pentagon said killed a suicide bomber in Kabul actually killed an aid worker and seven children who ran to greet him.  The drone strike that the Pentagon claimed killed an ISIS-K suicide bomber in Kabul actually targeted an aid worker who had filled his car with water jugs, rather than explosives, according to a shocking new report.  Zemari Ahmadi, 43, was driving the 1996 Toyota Corolla that was destroyed in the August 29 drone strike, killing him and nine family members, including seven children, according to a New York Times investigation.  The Pentagon still maintains that only three civilians died, despite the family now detailing in the new report how their 10 relatives were killed in the blast.

Report: Evidence suggests car hit by U.S. drone strike in Kabul wasn't carrying bombs.  The car that U.S. military officials believed was packed with explosives and destined for a suicide bombing at the Kabul airport on Aug. 29 may actually have been driven by an innocent man transporting canisters of water, a new report claims.  A New York Times story published Friday afternoon [9/10/2021] identified the driver of the car as Zemari Ahmadi, 43, who worked as an electrical engineer for an American aid and lobbying group doing business in Afghanistan.  The Times cited numerous interviews with family members, relatives and others with knowledge of the Aug. 29 incident, and the new report seems to cast serious doubt on the official version of events laid out by the Pentagon.

The Editor says...
Ordinarily, when someone dares to "cast serious doubt on the official version of events," he's called a "conspiracy theorist" or a "truther," or tin-foil-hat nut case.  We are supposed to believe whatever the government tells us.  In this case, the New York Times examined the facts and came up with the embarrassing truth.  Hardly anyone has the resources to examine an incident like this, and even fewer people would be able to report a blatant government lie and stay in business.  It may be a thousand years from now, but some day we'll know how many other lies we were told.

About That Drone Strike.  The New York Times has just posted this intensely interesting investigative scoop by Matthieu Aikins based on reporting by him as well as Christoph Koettl, Evan Hill, and Eric Schmitt:  "In U.S. Drone Strike, Evidence Suggests No ISIS Bomb."  Subhead:  "U.S. officials said a Reaper drone followed a car for hours and then fired based on evidence it was carrying explosives.  But in-depth video analysis and interviews at the site cast doubt on that account."

CNN Poll: 2% Think America Is Doing 'Very Well' Under Joe Biden.  Two percent of Americans participating in a CNN poll think the United States is doing "very well" under President Joe Biden, results revealed Friday [9/10/2021].  "How well are things going in the country today?" CNN asked respondents.  Two percent said "very well," 29 percent said "fairly well," 45 percent said "pretty bad," and 24 percent said "very badly."

Where are All the Americans Returning Home from Afghanistan?  President Joe Biden and his team of military, intelligence, and diplomatic advisors oversaw America's most epic surrender, on the world stage, under the lights and cameras of international media recording it for posterity, spinning the news to mitigate American failure.  One of many failures was the abrupt departure of American military and security forces, necessary to evacuate thousands of Americans and Afghan allies who placed themselves and their families at great risk by helping the Great Satan against the Taliban, the latter being the new boss, replacing the old boss.  How many Americans were left behind?  Official government numbers are all over the map.

30 Headless Goats Found In Georgia River, Ties To African Sacrifice Rituals Suspected.  Channel 2 Action News is investigating headless goats found floating in the Chattahoochee River.  Someone has dumped hundreds of decapitated goats over the past few years.  As they approached the Interstate 20 bridge near the Fulton County and Cobb County border, "There's a goat," Ulselth said.  "These goats have to be coming from somewhere, but we haven't been able to determine who's buying the goats, who's providing the goats or actually how they are making their way here in the river," Ulseth said.  It turns out it was part of a religious ceremony for the followers of Santeria, a religion that mixes West African culture with Cuban Catholicism.

State Department obstruction of private rescue flights from Afghanistan revealed in leaked email.  The State Department refused to grant official approval for private evacuation flights from Afghanistan to land in third countries, even though the department conceded that official authorization would likely be needed for planes to land in those nations, an email reviewed by Fox News shows.  Furthermore, the State Department explicitly stated that charter flights, even those containing American citizens, would not be allowed to land at Defense Department (DOD) airbases.  U.S. officials have pointed to possible security threats from landing charter planes at military bases, saying that they lack the resources on the ground to fully verify flight manifests.

The political time bomb for Biden inside the latest jobless numbers.  While the unemployment rate for Americans dropped in August, there is a political time bomb buried in the statistics for President Joe Biden and a Democratic Party increasingly focused on equity: black joblessness shot up significantly.  In other words, the president who fondly boasts of a domestic policy promising to leave nobody behind has an economic recovery that is leaving a key Democratic constituency in worse shape.  "The rise in black unemployment in August is certainly troubling, considering their unemployment rates were already much higher than any other group," Elise Gould, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, said on Twitter.  Adding to the complications is the fact that before the pandemic, African-Americans enjoyed historic economic gains under President Trump, including record-low unemployment and falling poverty.

US in talks with Taliban over additional Kabul evacuations.  Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday [9/7/2021] the United States is coordinating with the Taliban to secure additional charter flights from Kabul for people seeking to leave the country.  With the U.S. having concluded all military operations in the country following the Aug. 31 deadline for withdrawal, the State Department has been working closely with Taliban leaders to facilitate additional evacuations for an estimated 100 U.S. citizens who still want to exit Afghanistan.

Report: At Least 500 Americans [are] Stranded in Afghanistan, Contradicting Joe Biden's Estimates.  At least 500 Americans are reportedly stranded in Afghanistan, contradicting President Joe Biden's estimate of between 100 and 200, according to the Associated Press (AP) on Sunday [9/5/2021].  Among those who believe Biden has miscalculated how many Americans remain trapped behind enemy lines includes Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), who told the AP, "the number of U.S. citizens still there and wanting to leave is closer to 500."  And if the family members of those trapped Americans are included, Issa believes the overall "number of people could be as high as 1,000."

Pre-trial hearings for five 9/11 suspects delayed for 18 months by COVID resume at Guantanamo Bay.  Five of the suspects accused of being involved in the September 11 attacks will see their cases resume on Tuesday in Guantanamo Bay, after an 18-month hiatus caused by the COVID pandemic.  The five — Khalid Sheikh Mohammed; Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak Bin 'Attash; Ramzi Bin al-Shibh; Ali Abdul Aziz Ali; and Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi — were initially arraigned in May 2012.  Since then, there have been more than 40 rounds of pre-trial hearings, with the latest set to begin just four days before the 20th anniversary of the attacks.

Nihilism Is Not a Good Look for the USA.  Biden has given the West's enemies enormous resources that strengthen their geopolitical positions.  Does any sane military strategist believe the vast military resources left behind would be left to rust or merely used as scrap?  Any knowledgeable strategist would know that the military hardware would be confiscated and utilized by powers greater than the Taliban — global powers with a vested interest in undermining America and her allies.  Any strategist would be watching nations such as China and Iran waiting to take advantage of such a treasure trove.  As reports from Asaad Hanna and others surface indicating that much of the weaponry left behind in Afghanistan is being transferred to Iran, observers of recent history will recall that Iran's leaders still proclaim themselves to be the deadly enemies of the "Great Satan," America, and the "Little Satan," Israel.

Australian Supermarket Shelves Are Empty After Truckers Go On Strike, Protesting COVID Tyranny.  Videos of empty shelves in Australia have gone viral on TikTok and Twitter after truckers went on strike this past week over the country's heavy-handed COVID tactics.  The video shows meat, fruit, and vegetables running out as the fight between the government and citizens heats up.  [Video clip]

Second Thoughts:  Dems Have A Few.  The man who as a candidate promised to repair our international alliances has dealt NATO a significant if not fatal blow.  The rush to bug out of Afghanistan left hundreds, probably thousands of persons who were citizens, green card holders, and allies behind.  And our NATO allies have not been able to extract all their people either.  Worse, for reasons that seem impossible to justify, we gave the Taliban the names of the people we wanted to extract and turned down their offer to guard the airport ourselves instead of turning that task over to them.  Credible reports and videos at the site show how the Taliban refused entry to those entitled to leave. [...] We left behind on estimated $63 billion worth of military equipment, some of which the Taliban is reportedly selling off to Iran to use against us and Israel and to undo the peace in the Middle East which President Trump so adroitly brought about in the Abraham Accords.  China is the likely real victor, having worked out agreements with the Taliban allowing them to mine valuable mineral resources there.  If any of the abandoned military equipment is state of the art, expect it to fall into Chinese hands one way or another to be reverse engineered for their own use.

Taliban Refusing To Allow Planes Of Americans To Leave, Effectively A 'Hostage' Situation, Report Says.  The Taliban is reportedly not allowing flights carrying American citizens and green card holders to leave Afghanistan.  CBS News reported that, according to congressional and NGO sources, "multiple planes that are ready to take American citizens and green card holders out of the country are being denied permission to leave by the Taliban."  A State Department email viewed by CBS News said that the flights out of Afghanistan have permission to land in Qatar "if and when the Taliban agrees to takeoff."  A senior congressional source told CBS News, "The Taliban is basically holding them hostage to get more out of the Americans."

McCaul: Afghanistan Is 'Worse' than Pre-9/11 because Taliban Has U.S. Weapons.  Representative Michael McCaul (R-TX), the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, said on this week's broadcast of "Fox News Sunday" that the situation in Afghanistan is "worse" than before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks because the Taliban was now in possession of U.S. weapons.  McCaul said, "This over the horizon capability is greatly exaggerated because we don't have anything near Afghanistan.  It's a landlocked country surrounded by our enemies, Russia, China, Iran, who have now been emboldened by this foreign policy, you know, blunder.  So, you know, how do we — how do we go forward?  I think we have to establish that ISR.  You know, somewhere over the horizon capability means flying from a gulf, probably countries like Qatar, which would be, you know, anywhere from six to eight hours, having to fly, you know, around Iran, over Pakistan, get refueling.  This is not — when I talk to anybody in the military, they tell me this is not adequate for us to have ISR capability. [...]"

Private Afghanistan Evacuation Team Criticizes Biden Administration Officials Who 'Did Absolutely Nothing' To Help Girls Escape Taliban.  The Biden administration ignored several pleas for help from an American evacuation team in the waning days of the Afghanistan withdrawal, emails reviewed by the Daily Caller News Foundation show.  The team had contacted senior officials in the administration to help evacuate people from Afghanistan before the U.S. withdrawal, according to emails obtained by the DCNF.  They were working to get Americans and vulnerable Afghans out of the country, but it was a difficult task to do alone, according to the team.  Robert Stryk, who earlier spoke with the DCNF about his frustrations with the administration before Aug. 31, said Deputy National Security Advisor Jon Finer failed to act on his team's desperate pleas for help in getting hundreds of girls out of Afghanistan as the U.S. withdrawal deadline approached.

Biden signs executive order demanding the DOJ declassify FBI's 9/11 investigation documents.  President Joe Biden signed an executive order Friday [9/3/2021] that ordered a review of the classified documents related to the 9/11 terror attacks — with the promise of releasing more information to the public.  Biden had been told by nearly 1,800 Americans impacted by the terror attacks last month — including victims' family members, first responders and survivors — not to come to any of the 20th anniversary events unless he declassified documents that potentially show Saudi government links to the September 11, 2001 hijackers.  The order makes no mention of Saudi Arabia.

Marine who spoke out about Afghanistan withdrawal says he expects to be jailed.  A Marine who claimed he was "relieved from duty" after going viral for criticizing military leadership over the withdrawal from Afghanistan now speculates he might be court-martialed and "will probably do some jail time."  Stuart Scheller, who claims now to be a former lieutenant colonel, has been posting regular updates about his dissenting stance that led to his alleged removal from the military, saying in a Wednesday update to a video he uploaded to social media on Aug. 27, "The Marine Corps will assign an investigating officer.  Most likely a Colonel."

Afghan Journalist:  Family Blown Up by Joe Biden's Missile Strike Had Special Visas and Were About to Leave Afghanistan.  Afghan reporter Ali Latafi joined Yalda Hakim at the BBC to discuss the recent missile attack by Joe Biden that killed an Afghan family including several children in Kabul.  According to Latafi the family killed on Sunday by a US drone strike had Special Immigrant Visas (SIVs) to leave for the US and were about to leave Afghanistan.

DoD had Foreknowledge of Kabul Airport Bomber — Denied Permission to Fire Predator Drone that had Lock on Him — 13 US Heroes Dead.  Roger Pardo-Maurer, the former U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Western Hemisphere Affairs (2001-2006), joined Jorge Ramos on Univision Noticias on Monday to discuss the unfolding disastrous withdrawal of US forces in Afghanistan.  During their conversation, Pardo-Maurer told Ramos the Department of Defense had foreknowledge of the Kabul Airport suicide bomber but denied permission to fire a Predator Drone missile once they had a lock on him. [...] The US Department of Defense allowed the bomber to murder 13 Americans.

Report: US Knew About Kabul Bomber, Had Drone Lock but Didn't Take the Shot.  Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Western Hemisphere Affairs, Roger Pardo-Maurer dropped some incredible information during an interview and it's huge, if true.  Director of MRC Latino, Jorge Bonilla, posted an interview of Pardo-Maurer.  Pardo-Maurer, who was in the State Department for years, since at least 2001, said he was being told that the Department of Defense already knew who the bomber was ahead of time, before the bombing and when the Kabul attack would occur.

White House announces plan to build 100K affordable homes.  The White House said Wednesday it will use existing federal funds to build and provide 100,000 homes to low- and middle-income buyers and nonprofits over the next three years to bolster supply that is often snapped up by deep-pocketed investors.  President Biden believes Congress can bolster affordable housing by approving his mammoth spending plan for families, but the White House said it "can't wait to take action," as economically battered Americans sought space during the coronavirus pandemic only to find tight supply and runaway home prices and rents.  "The large and long-standing gap between the supply and demand of affordable homes for both renters and homeowners makes it harder for families to buy their first home and drives up the cost of rent," a White House fact sheet said.  "Higher housing costs also crowd out other investments families can and should make to improve their lives, such as investments in education."

The Editor says...
[#1] This is not the proper role of government at any level.  [#2] The story is a red herring, pulled out of a hat to get Afghanistan out of the headlines.  When Joe Biden is impeached, watch for a story the next day about NASA finding life on Mars, or some other sensational click-bait diversion.

In secret texts, U.S. military officials lamented leaving Americans behind in Kabul.  President Biden declared to a puzzled country on Tuesday that the U.S. evacuation from Afghanistan was an "extraordinary success," while his Pentagon portrayed a prosaic, workaday process to repatriate Americans still stranded in the war-torn country.  But text messages between U.S. military commanders and private citizens mounting last-minute rescues tell a far different story, one in which pleading American citizens were frantically left behind at the Kabul airport gate this past weekend to face an uncertain fate under Taliban rule while U.S. officials sought to spread the blame between high-ranking generals and the State Department[.]  "We are [...] abandoning American citizens," an Army colonel assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division wrote Sunday in frustration in a series of encrypted messages that detailed the failed effort to extricate a group of American citizens, hours before the last U.S. soldiers departed Afghanistan.

Biden Administration Erased Afghan Weapons Reports From Federal Websites.  The War in Afghanistan has always been a black box, but the Biden administration just made matters worse.  According to an admission obtained from the State Department, Biden officials recently directed federal agencies to scrub their websites of official reports detailing the $82.9 billion in military equipment and training provided to the Afghan security forces since 2001.  The scrubbed audits and reports included detailed accounting of what the U.S. had provided to Afghan forces, down to the number of night vision devices, hand grenades, Black Hawk helicopters, and armored vehicles.  Reports further quantified 208 aircraft and helicopters; 75,000 war vehicles — including 22 Humvees, 50,000 tactical vehicles and nearly 1,000 mine resistant vehicles; and 600,000 weapons — including 350,000 M4 and M16 rifles, 60,000 machine guns, and 25,000 grenade launchers.

Group of 87 retired generals call on Austin and Milley to resign following botched Afghan withdrawal.  Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Chairman of the Joints Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley have been called upon to resign by a group of 87 retired generals.  In an open letter from the group "Flag Officers 4 America," the retired generals argue Austin and Milley showed "negligence in performing their duties" during the botched exit from Afghanistan.  Members of the group, who describe themselves as "retired U.S. generals and admirals defending the Constitution," also wrote Austin and Milley must be held accountable for their actions that have stranded hundreds of Americans and Afghan allies in hostile territory as "de facto hostages of the Taliban."  The generals also argued Austin and Milley should have counseled President Biden against the swift exit from the region and resigned in protest if he did not abide by their recommendation.

Rapist Evacuated From Kabul to US Reveals Bigger Problem With People the Biden Team Evacuated.  [Scroll down]  Unfortunately, because it's the Biden Administration, lying and incompetence go hand in hand with each other so it raises the real question of whether people on the planes were adequately vetted or just packed onto the planes to bump the numbers.  I put nothing past the Biden team at this point.  This latest story confirms that not everyone was vetted sufficiently[.]  According to the Washington Times, a convicted rapist who had previously been deported from the United States was one of the people who made it on an evacuation flight all the way to the U.S., until he was flagged by border officials when he arrived at Dulles Airport.  He's now being held at a detention facility in Virginia.

Ron Johnson Demands Answers After U.S. Commander Allegedly Turned Away American Citizens In Kabul.  Republican Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin sent a letter to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken demanding answers on why a U.S. military official allegedly stopped Americans and Afghan allies from evacuating Afghanistan at the Kabul airport.  Johnson said he has heard reports indicating "a group of over 400 individuals including U.S. citizens were turned away from the airport" by "the commander of the 82nd Airborne Brigade ... who told them to get back on their buses and turn around because 'the rescue was over.'"  "It is not clear what happened to the Americans and the other individuals after they left the airport," Johnson wrote.  "It's hard to believe that any U.S. military official would deny Americans the ability to evacuate Afghanistan.  What generalized or specific order was given to the commander that caused him to take this alleged action?  Where did this order originate?"

Biden Officials at Kabul Airport Warned American Rescue Plane To Turn Back or Be Shot Down.  A private airplane that was flying into Hamid Karzai International Airport (HKIA) in Kabul, Afghanistan to rescue stranded American citizens and Afghan allies allegedly was told to turn back or they would be shot down.  In the past 24 hours, American officials in charge of giving clearance at the airport told fellow Americans they would be fired upon if they didn't leave, Mary Beth Long, a former Department of Defense official, told American Greatness in an exclusive interview.  The plane ended up landing elsewhere in Afghanistan, she said.  Now Americans are reportedly being advised to leave Kabul completely as the Taliban is expected to start rounding people up after the last of the U.S. military leaves.

Fox News' Jen Griffin Shocked at Blinken's Videotaped Afghanistan Withdrawal Speech.  As the last United States planes departed Afghanistan Monday, myriad questions remained.  Many Americans were unable to get to Kabul airport, making Joe Biden the first U.S. president in memory to leave American citizens behind enemy lines, despite saying it would not happen.  Embattled Secretary of State Antony Blinken took the stage for an early evening address and said he could not determine how many Americans remain in Afghanistan.  It was unclear whether the speech was pre-taped, but his mannerisms and eye contact were awkward.  Fox News national security correspondent Jennifer Griffin said Blinken appeared to be in a hostage video.  "I thought that the secretary of state's statement, which was videotaped and he was looking slightly off-camera, I mean it looked like a hostage video.  It was not the kind of production values that you would expect for such a moment in time," Griffin said.

Almost 90 Retired Flag Officers Demand Mark Milley, Lloyd Austin Resign After Afghanistan Debacle.  Nearly 90 retired U.S. generals and admirals penned an open letter asking Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley to resign from their positions following their "negligence in performing their duties primarily involving events surrounding the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan."  "As principal military advisors to the CINC [Commander-in-Chief]/President, the SECDEF and CJCS should have recommended against this dangerous withdrawal in the strongest possible terms," the letter states.  "If they did not do everything within their authority to stop the hasty withdrawal, they should resign.  Conversely, if they did do everything within their ability to persuade the CINC/President to not hastily exit the country without ensuring the safety of our citizens and Afghans loyal to America, then they should have resigned in protest as a matter of conscience and public statement."

Taliban seeks pallets of cash in exchange for extending US Aug. 31 evacuation deadline.  In a briefing last week, Joe Biden told inquisitive reporters that every American who wants to get out of Afghanistan would get out of Afghanistan, and he was counting on the Taliban's "self-interest" in letting the Americans leave.  Toss that one into the bin of lies and errors coming from this Biden Afghanistan fiasco.  Turns out the Taliban has its own ideas about what its self-interest is. [...] What we are seeing here is an emerging hostage situation in that country as Biden insists on pulling out by his Aug. 31 deadline, which the Taliban is holding him to, under penalty of "consequences."  The State Department has claimed that 300 Americans are awaiting evacuation and have not made it to the Kabul airport yet.  According to this disturbing collection of reports from AT deputy editor Andrea Widburg, it's likely more.

Afghan TV Show Host Surrounded By Taliban With Guns Tells Public Not To Be Afraid And Cooperate.  The presenter of Afghan TV's Peace Studio appears on video informing the Afghan public to "cooperate with it and should not be afraid" while members of the Taliban stand behind him at gunpoint.  [Tweet]  The host of the Peace Studio TV show which airs on Kabul TV can be seen being held at gunpoint while Taliban members clad in tactical gear appear to be holding rifles and surrounding the host.  The host can be seen telling his audience to "cooperate with it."  This occurs just over one week after the Taliban seized power over Afghanistan before the U.S. was set to complete its withdrawal of troops from the area, according to The Associated Press.

Finally, we have some good news.  The news is so depressing lately that it takes nerves of steel to open the newspaper, turn on the TV, or visit an internet news site.  However, there is good news out there if you know where to look.  First Item:  Taiwan has been jolted awake by the Afghanistan debacle!  For months, the Republic of China (Taiwan) has been nervously watching The People's Republic of China (China) amass and marshal its land and naval assets in a continuing threat to try to conquer the island through military force.

Dan Crenshaw, Lara Logan Bring the Most Disturbing Reports Out of the Kabul Airport Yet.  Rep. Dan Crenshaw is a retired Navy SEAL who served and was wounded in Afghanistan's Helmand province during his third deployment, in 2012.  He lost his right eye and his left eye was badly damaged in an IED attack.  Crenshaw is held in extremely high regard in the veteran and active-duty communities.  Lara Logan is a long-time award-winning journalist now working for Fox News who has spent much of her career covering war zones including Iraq and Afghanistan.  Between the two of them, Logan and Crenshaw have spent years in and around Afghanistan.  Due to their experience there, both are likely to have credible sources on the ground at the Kabul airport.  Both Logan and Crenshaw are independently reporting that Americans have been turned away from safety at that airport over the past couple of days.

Lawmakers: State Department No Longer Allowing American Citizens to Enter Kabul Airport.  Members of Congress said Sunday evening that the Biden administration was not allowing Americans to enter the Kabul airport and leave Afghanistan, as the evacuation mission nears its end by August 31.  Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX) tweeted Sunday night [8/29/2021] that the State Department was not helping American citizens trying to evacuate.  "I am furious!!  My team has been on the phone all day trying to get AMERICAN CITIZENS out.  They have been just outside the airport numerous times, but the State Department WILL NOT help them," he tweeted.

USMC Take[s a] Troubling Step Against Marine Commander Who Demanded Accountability on Afghanistan.  So what happens when you call out the powers that be and demand accountability, saying that you are going to get it, as Marine LTC Stuart Scheller has done?  Now, after his last video, the leadership is clearly not going to take it and they are moving against him because he's gotten far too much attention.  As we previously reported, they had already relieved him of his command.  Now the USMC is going to paint him as having mental health problems and being a "threat" because he spoke about bringing the "system down."  [Tweet]  There's nothing in his video that indicates that he's a threat to anyone, he's a bringer of truth that explodes the narrative that they want to pitch so they're going to paint him as a nut and try to do him in.

Marine Lt. Col. Who Got Fired From Position For Criticizing Command Resigns, Promises To 'Bring The Whole [...] System Down'.  Marine Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller on Sunday announced in a video that he was resigning his commission as a lieutenant colonel in the Marine Corps, following being fired as a battalion commander for asking for accountability from his senior leadership on the botched Afghanistan withdrawal.  [Video clip]

Marine Lt. Col. Is Fired For Angry Video Ranting Against Biden And The Military Leadership Over Afghanistan Mess.  Marine Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller was relieved for cause after demanding that senior U.S. leaders hold themselves accountable for actions made during the U.S. military's withdrawal from Afghanistan that led to the deaths of 13 service members.  Officials confirmed to Fox News on Thursday [8/26/2021] that 11 Marines, an Army soldier and a Navy corpsman were killed in explosions near Kabul's airport Thursday.  Another 169 Afghans were killed, according to two officials who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.  [Video clip]

Marine battalion commander resigns after he was relieved of his duties for slamming his superiors over botched Afghanistan exit.  The Marine battalion commander who was relieved of his duties for blasting his superiors over the Afghanistan exit strategy says he has resigned from the military.  Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller published a new video online on Sunday addressing his resignation just days after he went viral for calling out his superiors for not "raising their hands and accepting accountability or saying, 'We messed this up.'"  Scheller's original video criticized Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley for leaving the Bagram Air Base before all Americans and their allies had the chance to be evacuated.

Naval Intel reminds active duty, retired members they cannot 'disrespect' Biden, Harris.  Active duty and retired members of the Office of Naval Intelligence were reminded last week they are barred by the Uniform Code of Military Justice and other Department of Defense regulations from criticizing President Joe Biden and other ranking members of his Cabinet and the Pentagon.  The memo, sent via email and first reported by The Daily Wire, was sent out by the ONI's chief of staff following deadly suicide bombing attacks outside the international airport in Kabul which left 11 Marines, two Army soldiers, a U.S. Navy corpsman, and 169 Afghan civilians dead.  In addition to Biden, members were instructed they also could not publicly criticize or be contemptuous of Vice President Kamala Harris, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, members of Congress, and others.

CCP's Grand Strategy Is to Displace US: China Expert.  China has had three grand strategies to counter the United States since 1989, culminating in the latest phase, beginning in 2016, of wanting to displace the United States, China expert Rush Doshi said during an Aug. 26 webinar to talk about his new book.  Doshi wrote the book "The Long Game:  China's Grand Strategy to Displace American Order" while working at the Brookings Institution, which hosted the online event.  Now he's the Biden administration's newly appointed director for China on the White House National Security Council.  Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials "seek to restore China to its due place and roll back the historical aberration of the West's overwhelming global influence" with its grand strategy, according to Doshi's book.  The grand strategy is now in its third phase, he said, after he examined years of CCP documents such as memoirs, speeches, and biographies.  Today China sees its competition with the United States as global, regional, and functional in many domains, according to Doshi.

Congressmen and Others Accuse Biden of Blocking US Citizens from Kabul Airport.  Reports trickled in throughout Saturday [8/28/2021] that American citizens in Afghanistan were being blocked by U.S. military and government officials from entering Kabul airport so they could escape the (thanks to Biden) terrorist controlled nation.  Several reports also said Americans are being beaten by Taliban terrorists at the airport.  The reports reached a crescendo Saturday night with two Texas Republican Congressmen and military veterans, Dan Crenshaw and Ronny Jackson angrily calling out Joe Biden.  Crenshaw, "America, you need to know this:  Biden is not letting US citizens through the airport gates.  It has been impossible to get anyone through for the last 24 hours.  This administration has been lying about their intent to save Americans.  Unforgivable."

The Brits somehow seem to be getting their people out of Afghanistan.  While the United States has been warning all of its people to stay away from the airport in Kabul and is basically ready to shut down the evacuation, Great Britain has still been bringing people out of the country.  In fact, they expect to have all of their citizens out today, even though there are only a few flights expected to leave in the next 24 hours.  The troops they airlifted out were part of a group of more than 1,000 who stayed behind to help the United States secure the airport during the initial days of the bugout.  They won't hit 100% of their goals, however, admitting that as many as a thousand Afghans who had been assisting them will wind up being left behind.  But they do seem to have accounted for all of their own citizens in the country, so how did they manage to pull this off?

Afghanistan is not going down well with the U.S. military's ranks.  The perfumed princes of the Pentagon with their wokester focus, operate as if they have little to fear in making a hash of Afghanistan.  After all, Joe Biden has made it clear that nobody's getting fired.  And with all their consulting contracts and revolving board seats, it probably wouldn't matter if they did.  Why does General Mark Milley still have a job?  Biden's actually out gaslighting the public about how great he's doing.  One problem, though, is emerging from that phoniness:  Growing anger in the ranks.  These cossetted leaders no longer have the respect of the troops. [...] It seems so much of this is going down that someone high up in the ranks felt compelled to issue this reminder, recognizing probably quite accurately that the military's decadent leadership is actually losing control.  So not only can they not win wars, but they also are losing the respect of the troops.

Republicans file impeachment articles against Blinken over Afghan disaster.  House Republicans on Friday introduced articles of impeachment against Secretary of State Antony Blinken for "high crimes and misdemeanors" leading up to the chaotic withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan.  Republican Reps.  Ralph Norman of South Carolina and Andy Harris of Maryland co-sponsored the resolution.  They said "inexcusable failures" on behalf of Mr. Blinken led to the lives lost in Thursday's terrorist attack in Kabul and "set a horrible precedent on the international stage."  "Secretary Blinken's complete and utter failure of managing this avoidable catastrophe makes him unfit for leadership, and I hope my colleagues will join me in pushing for his removal," Mr. Harris said.

Taliban kill squad hunting down Afghans — using US biometric data.  The Taliban has mobilized a special unit, called Al Isha, to hunt down Afghans who helped US and allied forces — and it's using US equipment and data to do it.  Nawazuddin Haqqani, one of the brigade commanders over the Al Isha unit, bragged in an interview with Zenger News that his unit is using US-made hand-held scanners to tap into a massive US-built biometric database and positively identify any person who helped the NATO allies or worked with Indian intelligence.  Afghans who try to deny or minimize their role will find themselves contradicted by the detailed computer records that the US left behind in its frenzied withdrawal.  The existence of the Al Isha unit has not been previously confirmed by the Taliban; until now the Haqqani Network, a terror group aligned with the Taliban, has not admitted its role in targeting Afghans or its use of America's vast biometric database.

U.S. Used a Nasty New Hellfire Missile In Retaliatory Drone Strike on ISIS-K.  The United States used a relatively new gruesome, but effective kind of missile for its first retaliatory strike after the suicide bombings at the Kabul airport. [...] The article goes on to say that the military nickname for the missile is the "flying Ginsu."  It's not known exactly how many times the R9X has been used because the Pentagon doesn't exactly hit Instagram for everything it accomplishes.

So we blew up an ISIS-K "planner" with a drone last night.  After an ISIS-K suicide bomber attacked one of the gates at the Kabul airport, President Biden promised that we were going to strike back.  I'm assuming that this was what he was talking about.  NBC News is reporting that we took out an ISIS-K "planner" last night and he was allegedly engaged in plotting additional attacks in Kabul.  We didn't have to deploy any troops to do it, however.  The suspect was driving in a car with another person when he was taken out by one of our drones.  Oh, and he wasn't anywhere near Kabul at the time.

Experts question decision not to name ISIS terrorists killed in Afghanistan drone strike.  The failure of the Biden administration to name the two Islamic State terrorists killed in a US drone strike in Afghanistan on Friday [8/27/2021] has led some experts to conclude they were not high-value targets.  In a press conference Saturday, Major Gen. William Taylor only referred to the dead targets as a "planner" and "facilitator," and would not say if they played specific roles in the airport suicide attack Thursday that killed 13 American soldiers and 169 Afghans.  Islamic State Khorasan, or ISIS-K, was behind the attack.  "Normally if they get a high-profile guy they like to name him," retired US Army Lt. Col Brian F. Sullivan told The [New York] Post.  "They keep talking BS about 'eyes over the horizon' but I think a lot of this is the administration blowing more smoke," Sullivan added.  "They're throwing this up as if the US is reacting with strength and power.  So that makes the score something like ISIS 200-US two.  Who are they kidding?"

Biden's Pentagon Won't Tell Anyone Who Was Killed In That Drone Strike They Say Happened.  At this point, the Pentagon is best known for publicly downplaying the threat the Taliban posed for taking over all of Afghanistan, and for greenlighting closing its largest operational base in Central Asia.  It's still purging competent minds but retaining and encouraging its woke drones.  Gen. Mark Milley, the 21st-century version of Gen. Custer, still has a job.  Biden has lied, or remains unaware, about the fact that our allies are livid at him and questioning whether working with the United States is in their interests anymore.  The Biden government hasn't been straight about anything, from the number of stranded Americans to who is on the planes getting out to the inflation it has unleashed on the country.  This regime still thinks white supremacy is a greater threat than the monsters they've unleashed and armed in Afghanistan.

Color Me Extremely Skeptical About Joe Biden's Retaliation Strike Against ISIS.  Yesterday, as RedState reported, the US Military executed a drone strike that reportedly blew up an ISIS "planner" in the Nangarhar Province of Afghanistan.  This was touted as a retaliation strike for the dual suicide bombings that occurred in Kabul, which tragically took the lives of at least 13 US servicemembers with over a dozen others still hospitalized.  The terrorist attack also killed at least 170 Afghans with countless others wounded.  [Tweet]  I know this is the point where I'm supposed to give a fist-pump and praise Joe Biden for greenlighting a response that never should have been necessary in the first place, but color me extremely skeptical of how this is being framed.  If Jen Psaki herself had written that press release, what would be different about it?  No, I'm not suggesting a strike didn't take place.  I'm sure some terrorist-supporting goat herder in a hut was blown to bits.  But what I am suggesting is that there's some serious gaslighting going on about what the strike actually means and amounts to.

Pentagon Briefing on ISIS-K 'Retaliatory Strike' Prompts More Questions Than Answers.  My colleagues Bonchie and Streiff expressed important concerns about the drone strike retaliation attack on ISIS-K that the Biden Administration is claiming happened last night.  [Tweet]  Unfortunately, because they have told us so many lies at this point of the Afghanistan debacle, it's really hard to accept what they say without proof.  Indeed, assuming this report is true, there's a real question of proportionality of response here, as Streiff noted.  Not to mention, holding the Taliban accountable for this, as well.  The Pentagon briefing this morning didn't help provide any more assurances, although they did try to use Joe Biden's "over the horizon" phrase a lot.  [Tweet]

Pictures Of Where The Drone Strike On ISIS-K Occurred In Afghanistan — No Human Remains Can Be Seen.  The United States launched an airstrike following a suicide bombing at Kabul airport earlier this week.  The target of the drone strike, believed to have been killed with no known civilian causalities, was an ISIS-K fighter believed to be involved in the planning future attacks, according to two U.S. defense officials.  The US military says it has killed an ISIS-K planner in the Nangarhar Province of Afghanistan.  According to the US officials, the target was planning to attack US officials in Kabul airport.  A UAV took off from an unnamed base in the Middle East and reportedly hit the target while he was in a car with another associate.  It's reportedly the first UAV strike launched by the United States from outside Afghanistan.  "U.S. military forces conducted an over-the-horizon counterterrorism operation today against an ISIS-K planner," Captain Bill Urban, spokesman for U.S. Central Command, confirmed Friday night.  "The unmanned airstrike occurred in the Nangahar Province of Afghanistan.  Initial indications are that we killed the target.  We know of no civilian casualties."  The statement did not identify the target of the attack, or what role a "planner" has in the group.  It is unclear whether the planner was involved in Thursday's attack.

Joe Biden's Afghanistan Drone Strike Against ISIS-K Is a Joke, and We Are the Punchline.  Two days ago, a suicide bomber attacked a security checkpoint at the Hamid Karzai International Airport (HKIA) in Kabul, Afghanistan.  That airport is the main point of egress for any seeking to leave that sad simulacrum of a country, before US forces comply with the August 31 withdrawal deadline set for them by the Taliban.  Re-read that last sentence a couple of times to grasp the scope of our national shame.  Thirteen Americans were killed: eleven Marines, one Navy corpsman, and one Army special forces soldier.  Twenty more Americans were sufficiently wounded to require medical evacuation.

Rogue Team of Retired US Vets Rescue Afghan Allies During Secret Missions Conducted Behind Biden's Back.  A group of highly trained US military veterans have been conducting secret rescue missions behind the Biden State Department's back, rescuing hundreds of Afghan allies from Afghanistan with their heroic efforts.  Furious over the terrible situation in they had already sacrificed so much to prevent when they served, the team of retired specialists, including Green Berets and Navy SEALS, risked their lives.  They volunteered to travel to Kabul because they were afraid that Joe Biden was abandoning at-risk Afghan elite forces, leaving them to die at the hands of terrorists.  They felt it was necessary for someone to step up and were baffled "that our own government didn't do this," former Navy SEAL Jason Redman told ABC.

Marine LTC Fired After Demanding Accountability On Afghanistan.  Marine Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller announced Friday [8/27/2021] that he had been "relieved for cause" after he posted a video demanding accountability on Afghanistan.  Scheller shared a Facebook post saying that, as of 14:30 on Friday, he had been relieved of duty — and he noted that he would have taken the same action if he were in the position of his superior officers.

Marine Officer Who Questioned Generals over Afghanistan Is Relieved of Duty.  Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller of the United States Marine Corps revealed Friday afternoon that he has been relieved of duty for posting a video criticizing military leaders for failing to take responsibility for the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan.  In the video, Scheller, a 17-year Marine Corps officer, said that he knew he was risking his career by speaking out, but that he wanted to explain why so many service members were frustrated, in the wake of the terror attack on U.S. forces in Kabul on Thursday.

A Cry From The Heart.  Addressing "the American leadership," Marine Lieutenant Colonel Stuart Scheller has posted the video below to his Facebook page.  Making a point I have made repeatedly in my comments on our withdrawal from Afghanistan, Lieutenant Colonel Scheller seeks accountability from senior leaders.  Obviously made at substantial risk to himself, it is a powerful statement that is likely to be suppressed before long.  Perhaps he himself should have resigned from the Corps before he made it.  I don't know.  A reader writes to point out that "Marine leadership is as of yet unaware of it — but they will figure it out shortly."  Watch it while you can.  [Video clip]

This Marine Battalion Commander Probably Burned Down His Career to Demand Accountability for Chain-of-Command Failures in Afghanistan.  If you are a commissioned officer, going public with your concerns about how the military or your particular service is going is an activity nearly guaranteed to provide you all the fun and entertainment you can reasonably handle.  However, where integrity and forthrightness are given a place of honor in lesson plans and speeches, the reality is that at senior levels, you are expected to shut up and toe the command's line.  You deviate from that norm at your peril.

The Report on U.S. Officials Giving Taliban a List of American and Allied Afghans Makes Sense.  There are two puzzle pieces that help to make sense of the Politico report about "U.S. Officials" giving the Taliban a list of American and U.S. Afghan names to allow through the checkpoints.  However, if you don't understand the two dueling power teams, each attempting to position, it doesn't make sense.  Remember, the State Dept (DoS) and CIA are one team.  The White House and Pentagon are another team. [...] Both teams are highly political.  However, the State Dept/CIA team consider themselves above political changes; essentially the deeper Deep State.  With the DoS/CIA aligned with CNN/WaPo, when the Pentagon needs to defend their specific interests in crisis management, they must go elsewhere, hence Politico.

Biden admits admin may have given Taliban 'kill list' of Afghans who aided US.  A potentially deadly blunder by President Biden's administration effectively handed the Taliban a "kill list" to target Afghans who aided the US, according to a report Thursday — and he admitted it may have happened when asked later at a White House briefing.  Following the Taliban takeover of Kabul, US officials there gave the Islamic extremist group the names of American citizens, green card holders and Afghan allies so they could be allowed to enter the Taliban-controlled perimeter around Hamid Karzai International Airport, according to Politico.  The decision reportedly was made despite the Taliban's notorious reputation for brutally executing Afghans who helped the US military and other Western forces during the war and occupation that followed the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

U.S. Officials Handed Taliban a List of Names of Americans and Afghan Allies.  In a move no one can grasp, U.S. officials in Kabul gave the Taliban a list of names of American citizens, green card holders, and Afghan allies, believing the Taliban would allow them to enter the militant-controlled outer perimeter of the city's airport.  Lawmakers and military officials are outraged.  The insane move was designed to expedite the evacuation of tens of thousands of people from Kabul by the August 31 deadline.  It also came as the Biden administration began relying on the Taliban for security outside the airport.  ISIS-K has since set up forces around the soon-to-be-renamed Hamid Karzai International Airport.

CENTCOM Commander Reveals U.S. Intelligence-Sharing Operation with Taliban.  General Kenneth McKenzie, commander of the United States Central Command, revealed an intelligence-sharing operation between the U.S. and Taliban on Thursday at a Department of Defense briefing, just hours after attacks at Hamid Karzai International Airport killed at least twelve U.S. service members and 60 Afghan civilians.  According to McKenzie, the Taliban and U.S. share a "common purpose" of finishing the ongoing evacuation mission by August 31.

Trump slams Biden over 'Kill List': US officials naively gave Taliban list of Afghan allies and citizens to be evacuated.  Donald Trump has slammed Joe Biden for handing over a list of approved Afghan evacuees to the Taliban amid fears it will now be used by the extremist group to kill those named on it.  Calls for Biden's resignation and impeachment have mounted after at least 103 people, including 13 U.S. service personnel, were killed by ISIS terrorists in a double suicide attack on Kabul airport on Thursday.  In an emotional address to the nation, Biden vowed to 'hunt down' and 'make the terrorists pay' as he mourned the 'selfless heroes' who died helping vulnerable people flee the country.

Adam Schiff leaves classified briefing, says Afghanistan disaster was NOT the fault of intel agencies.  I know, I know.  This is Adam 'Pencil Neck' Schiff, one of the biggest liars on Capitol Hill.  But what he's saying right now, after having left a classified briefing, concurs with much of what we've learned in the media regarding Biden's Afghanistan disaster and it is NOT favorable to Biden.

The Kabul Mission Begins to Unravel and We Can Expect to See Much Worse.  Earlier today, some organization carried out a complex suicide bomb attack on the perimeter of Hamid Karzai International Airport (HKIA) in Kabul.  The explosions took place at an ingress point called the Abbey Gate and at the Baron Hotel, which is just a short distance from the Abbey Gate. [...] The US government negotiated an agreement with the Taliban to allow the use of HKIA for evacuation until the August 31 deadline laid down by the Taliban for all US forces to be removed from their country.  However, if you have followed the day-in-day-out reporting, it is obvious that the people making the deal don't necessarily have the juice to make the deals work.  For instance, Taliban forces harassed and beat US passport holders on the way to the airport despite everyone agreeing that this would not happen.  Earlier this week, Taliban fighters started turning back Afghans, no matter their US visa status.  This was followed by an "official" announcement by the Taliban government that Afghans would no longer be allowed to leave.

Naturalized Americans could have their citizenship revoked if secret DHS program hosted by Amazon flags their social media or other personal data as a threat.  Naturalized Americans could have their citizenship revoked thanks to a computer program that searches for concerning activity — with broad categories including anything deemed 'derogatory'.  The program, called ATLAS, is used by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and is hosted on servers owned by web e-commerce giant Amazon.  DHS stated on their website in a November update that ATLAS was created 'to automate, streamline, and support accurate exchange of data' among immigration authorities and the DHS, and 'to support biometric and biographic-based screening and vetting of immigration requests.'

Canadian Minister for Women and Gender Equality Refers To Taliban Thugs As 'Our Brothers'.  Canada's minister of women and gender equality says her mention of the Taliban as "our brothers" during a press conference Wednesday is a "cultural reference," after receiving criticism for her choice of language.  Maryam Monsef — who was born in Iran and raised in Afghanistan — had a direct message for the terrorist group, which has swiftly taken control of most of Afghanistan since the U.S. began withdrawing its troops following a 20-year mission.  [Video clip]

Taliban Secures World's Largest Lithium Deposits After US Withdrawal From Afghanistan.  It's been more than a decade since we penned "The US "Discovers" Nearly $1 Trillion In Mineral Deposits In Afghanistan" in which we highlighted the colossal untapped mineral deposits that reside in Afghanistan. [...] Readers have known for a while Afghanistan was never about the opium trade or the war on terror but rather the massive deposit of minerals essential for renewable energies.  So in the Economic Hit Man context, why would the Biden administration suddenly pull out of Afghanistan after 20 years if the play all along was about securing rare earth metals?  We don't want to speculate the Biden administration's intentions, nor do we have any idea.  Still, one thing is sure is that the Taliban now control the world's largest lithium deposits is becoming friendly with China.

No Americans Have Been Rescued Outside of Kabul:  Pentagon.  U.S. troops have not rescued any Americans in Afghanistan outside of Kabul, though they have the capability to do so, the Pentagon said Wednesday [8/25/2021].  Only three rescue missions have been conducted by American soldiers since the Taliban took over the country, according to military officials.  But all three took place within Kabul, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters in Washington.  "Could it be done outside Kabul, if needed?  We have the capability," he said.  "I'm not suggesting that it would be well outside of Kabul.  I'm not suggesting that it would be throughout the whole countryside," he added later.

No One Will Call It A Coup.  The report doesn't call it an attempted political coup.  But buried in the antiseptic language of an investigative report issued yesterday, it appears several former top employees of Attorney General Ken Paxton were more concerned with furthering their own political career than getting at the truth — and, ironically, at least two were willing to break the law to do it.  Texas' political world was rocked a year ago when seven top employees of the Office of the Attorney General filed a criminal complaint.  They alleged Paxton had received a bribe to aid a campaign donor, Texas businessman Nate Paul.  An internal investigation, however, finds the complaint had no substance and that Paxton himself took actions that were "proper pursuant to his legal obligations."  Meanwhile, "[t]here is no evidence that Nate Paul attempted to bribe [Ken Paxton]."  What emerges from the report is picture of an agency's senior staff who had decided to take out their boss — a statewide elected official — and were unconcerned with whatever facts needed to be ignored or concocted to make it happen.

Leaked Cable Showing Number of Americans Rescued From Afghanistan Produces Shock and Horror.  I'd like to say I have good news to share this morning, but that's not the reality we are living in.  Instead, a leaked State Department cable has finally revealed the number of Americans rescued from Afghanistan over the last 10 days.  Unfortunately, the number is so bad that it's producing shock and horror.  While the Pentagon and White House insisted yesterday that they didn't have this data, in the least shocking development of the week, we now know they were lying.  A running tally of Americans who have gotten out has been kept, and the numbers as of last night are that only 4,407 American citizens have made it onto flights.

Pleading With Terrorists?  CIA Director Meets With Taliban as Evacuation Fears Grow.  It just keeps getting better and better, doesn't it?  That is if you're the Taliban, al Qaeda, ISIS — now resurfacing in Afghanistan — and the rest of the toxic stew of Islmastist [sic] extremism hellbent on forcing — by any barbaric means necessary — the planet back to the 7th-century world of the Kharijites.  However, if you're hapless Joe Biden or a member of his equally hapless administration, you're anywhere from dangerously delusional to afraid to tell "the big guy" he's been catastrophically wrong about the debacle he and he alone created — from his no-plan "plan" to jerk American forces out of Afghanistan, inexplicably abandon Bagram Air Base and its multiple runways (which would have been easily defendable, not to mention come in [very] handy right how as "Evacuation HQ") — to the disaster at the Hamid Karzai airport out the outskirts of Kabul.

Negotiating with Terrorists:  Taliban Gives 'No Extensions' to Evacuation Timeline.  The Taliban gave "no" evacuation deadline extensions on Tuesday to the Biden and Harris administration after the CIA negotiated with a Taliban leader.  Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the terrorists will accept "no extensions" to the August 31 deadline.  Mujahid also suggests he was "not aware" the CIA met with the Taliban, "but he did not deny that such a meeting took place," the Associated Press reported.

Taliban may have biometric data of US military aides.  In 2007, the United States military began using a small, handheld device to collect and match the iris, fingerprint and facial scans of more than 1.5 million Afghans against a database of biometric data.  The device, known as Handheld Interagency Identity Detection Equipment (HIIDE), was initially developed by the US government as a means to locate insurgents and other wanted individuals.  Over time, for the sake of efficiency, the system came to include the data of Afghans assisting the US during the war.  Today, HIIDE provides access to a database of biometric and biographic data, including of those who aided coalition forces.  Military equipment and devices — including the collected data — are speculated to have been captured by the Taliban, who have taken over Afghanistan.

Food And Supply Shortages Hit Retailers, Walmart Shelves Empty.  Grocery-store chains are still battling supply challenges that some executives said are as bad as what they saw in spring 2020, when hoarding left holes in stocks of some staples.  Industry executives say new problems are arising weekly, driven by shortages of labor and raw materials.  Groceries including frozen waffles and beverages remain scarce as some food companies anticipate disruptions lasting into 2022.  A wider range of products is running short and logistical challenges are compounding for many retailers.  Donny Rouse, chief executive of Louisiana-based Rouses Markets, said he is struggling to fill shelves as his company runs low on everything from pet food to canned goods.  [Video clip]

Taliban transformed by haul of advanced U.S.-made weapons; lawmakers demand answers.  The Taliban were transformed from an insurgent rabble armed with cast-off Soviet-era weapons into one of the most well-equipped forces in the region in the space of a few days during their lightning-fast advance across Afghanistan.  Following the complete collapse of the U.S.-equipped Afghan army, the Taliban were able to scoop up a trove of advanced military hardware:  thousands of rifles, machine guns, grenade launchers, artillery pieces and night-vision goggles.  The Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANSDF) also left behind thousands of military vehicles from U.S. taxpayers, everything from Humvees to heavily armored Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) trucks.

Kamala Harris' flight from Singapore delayed by three hours because of Havana Syndrome.  Vice President Kamala Harris' departure from Singapore on Monday was delayed by more than three hours because of an 'anomalous health incident in Hanoi,' which was the next stop in her Asia trip.  Anomalous health incident is what the U.S. government calls Havana Syndrome, the mysterious condition that causes headaches, brain injury and other issues.  Officials said the decision was made to continue to the trip but did not offer many details.  'Earlier this evening, the Vice President's traveling delegation was delayed from departing Singapore because the Vice President's office was made aware of a report of a recent possible anomalous health incident in Hanoi, Vietnam.  After careful assessment, the decision was made to continue with the Vice President's trip,' the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi said in a statement.

The last sane man down under?  Aussie parliamentarian denounces totalitarian lockdown abuses.  I've been watching in sadness and wonder at the abuse that Australia's government elites — many of them purported conservatives — have heaped on their citizens, using military force to keep people imprisoned in their own homes, warning people against private conversations, vaccinating children without their parents' permission.  All over a handful of deaths in a continent-sized nation of 25 million.  There has been savage repression of demonstrations.  Finally, an Aussie Member of Parliament has stood up and denounced the madness.  [Video clip]  George Christensen is what passes for a maverick in Australia, outspoken, nationalist, anti-jihad, pro-life.

CBS Gets Blinken to Admit Biden Is Asking Taliban for 'Permission' to Save Americans.  The Biden administration was having an extremely rough time spinning their Afghanistan failure as they made the rounds on the Sunday shows.  Secretary of State Antony Blinken made things exponentially worse on CBS's Face the Nation after fill-in moderator Major Garrett got him to admit the administration was asking the Taliban for "permission" to get Americans out of the country.  Blinken's fumble began when Garrett asking him about President Biden's comments regarding "an agreement with the Taliban," because "that implies we're negotiating with them." "Does that not confer upon them already legitimacy," Garrett fretted.  In defense of Biden, Blinken suggested that negotiating with the terrorist organization was needed to foster "a working relationship in order to deconflict, in order to work through any problems with people getting to the airport."  Garret cut right to point and asserted that, to some, it sounded like he and the rest of the administration were asking "permission" to save Americans.  Blinken didn't disagree or show any discomfort at the notion:  [Video clip]

Psaki Bristles at Suggestion Americans Are 'Stranded' in Afghanistan: 'Irresponsible'.  White House press secretary Jen Psaki labeled it "irresponsible" to say that Americans currently attempting to leave Afghanistan are "stranded" in the country, in response to a question from Fox News reporter Peter Doocy at a press briefing on Monday [8/23/2021].  "First of all, I think it's irresponsible to say Americans are stranded.  They are not," Psaki said.  "We are committed to bringing Americans who want to come home, home," adding that the U.S. is in touch with Americans in Afghanistan by phone, email, and other communications.  "'There are no Americans stranded' is the White House's official position on what's happening in Afghanistan right now?" Doocy countered.  "I'm just calling you out for saying that we are stranding Americans in Afghanistan when we have been very clear that we are not leaving Americans who want to return home.  We are going to bring them home," Psaki said.

Reporter: British troops say the scene at Kabul airport now is the worst thing they've seen in their careers.  In case the new alert from the embassy didn't make it clear, the situation appears to be getting worse, not better.  Frankly, it's hard to fault the embassy for telling Americans to stay away at this stage.  Behold this scene.  What would be the point of trying to make it to the airport gate?  [Tweets]  One journalist there says he's personally witnessed four women towards the front of the crowd crushed to death.  Some have passed out from the heat and fatigue.  Others have been killed, presumably by the Taliban goons charged with keeping "order":  [Tweet]  The perimeter around the airport has become a refugee camp policed by one of the worst regimes on earth.  Meanwhile, greater Kabul is being policed by, essentially, Al Qaeda.

US considers ordering commercial airlines to help in Afghan evacuation.  The Biden administration is planning a dramatic ramp-up of its airlift from Kabul by making preparations to compel major U.S. airlines to help with the transportation of tens of thousands of evacuees from Afghanistan, while expanding the number of U.S. military bases that could house Afghans.  The White House is expected to consider activating the Civil Reserve Air Fleet, or CRAF, created in 1952 in the wake of the post-World War II Berlin Airlift, to provide nearly 20 commercial jets from up to five airlines to augment U.S. military efforts to transport Afghan evacuees from bases in the region, according to U.S. officials.

Serious Cyberattack on the State Department.  The hits keep on coming under Joe Biden.  Remember when Joe Biden allegedly asked Vladimir Putin and the Chinese not to conduct cyber attacks against us, but then he didn't sanction China and he gave Putin a list of the targets that were important to us?  How'd that work out?  Well, the cyberattacks have continued.  Great job, Joe!  Now, we're hearing about a serious breach, a new attack that hit the State Department.  It's not clear who is behind it yet.

Taliban Seized 75,000 Vehicles, 600,000 Weapons and 200 Aircraft in Afghanistan Leftover by Biden Admin.  Earlier in the week, it was reported the Taliban now controls approximately 174 humvees, 10,000 rockets and 6 light attack aircraft.  But it is much worse than that.  A report from Fox News on Saturday [8/21/2021] highlighted the scope of the crisis unfolding in Afghanistan as the network claims the Taliban now control 75,000 vehicles, 200 aircraft, 600,000 weapons, and $85 billion in funding.

No biggie, but ISIS appears to be in Kabul.  Earlier today [8/21/2021] we described how some British troops are describing the situation around the airport in Kabul as "the worst they've ever seen."  Well, they may need to expand their horizons a bit in terms of extremes.  CNN is reporting that the Pentagon is working on an "alternate route" for Americans, allies and our helpers to get to the airport and it's not just because of the massive crowds blocking the roads or the Taliban checkpoints turning people away. (Which we were assured wasn't happening.) No, this is an entirely new wrinkle in the picture.  There appears to be solid intelligence indicating that ISIS-K (which is just a rebranded ISIS offshoot that's taken root in Afghanistan) is on the prowl and looking to perpetrate attacks in or around the airport.  But that can't be right, can it?  Apparently, it can.

Americans Stopped, Beaten on Way to Kabul Airport as Biden Claims They're Having No Problems.  Joe Biden just gave more remarks on Afghanistan that were just delusional and devoid of reality.  He is now claiming that they've secured the airport and that the U.S. military is "standing guard around the airport" and that there's no problem for Americans or allies to get to the airport.  We have no information that Americans are having difficulty getting to the airport, Biden said.  Where there have been challenges for Americans, we resolved them, he claimed.  Completely ignoring the question about the safety of the allies, where there have been innumerable reports about them not being able to get through to the airport.  But as Sasha Ingber of Newsy explained, it's not even reality as to the Americans.  She explained that the situation was deteriorating rapidly and Americans are being stopped and beaten.

China Admits Taliban Ties Aimed at Getting Afghanistan's $3 Trillion in Rare Earths.  In the course of hectoring the United States for its "bungled and embarrassing withdraw from Afghanistan" on Thursday, China's state-run Global Times admitted Beijing has a rapacious interest in Afghanistan's vast rare-earths mineral resources and snarled it was none of America's business if China makes deals with the Taliban to get what it wants.  The Global Times accused the U.S. of profiteering from Afghanistan for the past twenty years, without offering any theories on where all the plunder might have gone, and claimed America is only worried about China going after those mineral resources because the U.S. is jealous.

Quick — What can we do to get Afghanistan off the front page?
Biden cancels $5.8 billion in student loan debt for the disabled.  President Joe Biden will cancel more than $5.8 billion in federal student loan debt for over 323,000 borrowers with permanent disabilities in the single largest cancellation of debt in his presidency the Department of Education announced on Thursday [8/19/2021].  For a second day in a row, the Biden administration announced an initiative with no connection to the ongoing Afghanistan crisis, where an unknown number of American civilians remain.  On Wednesday, the president pushed for COVID-19 vaccines and rallied against anti-maskers while refusing to answer questions about the situation in Afghanistan.  The debt cancellation is for those with total or permanent disabilities, or TPD.

French and Brits Are Rescuing Their Citizens in Kabul, but Here's What Americans Were Hearing.  Americans were left in the lurch by Joe Biden, stuck behind enemy lines in Afghanistan, despite the fact that the Biden team was warned about the impending collapse of Afghanistan and Kabul.  They were then told that if they were outside of Kabul, there was no plan to get them out.  Even the people in Kabul were told:  Figure out your own way to the airport through the Taliban because we're not going to help get you there.  Now, just in perspective, understand that the French and the British are actually going out and extracting their citizens in Kabul and bringing them back.  The French.  But the Biden folks aren't letting the military do that because of the "deal" with the Taliban about "safe passage" to the airport, according to reports.  Meanwhile, many can't get through despite that claim of "safe passage."  It's madness.  Biden is acceding to the Taliban, yet again.

British Paratroopers Bravely Entering Kabul to Save UK Citizens While Biden Does Nothing.  British paratroopers are risking their lives in Afghanistan to save UK citizens from the deadly Taliban after President Joe Biden's disastrous withdraw from the region.  While the British government is telling its citizens that "help is on the way," Biden is telling American citizens that they are on their own.  The UK is sending paratroopers to Kabul to rescue the 4,000 stranded Brits and Afghan allies in Kabul.  The paratroopers were told to "prepare for face-to-face combat."

Biden Admin Tells Americans Stranded In Afghanistan To Pay For Their Own Flights Home.  President Joe Biden's administration is telling Americans who are stranded in Afghanistan to pay for their own passage back to the U.S. "Repatriation flights are not free, and passengers will be required to sign a promissory loan agreement and may not be eligible to renew their U.S. passports until the loan is repaid," the Overseas Security Advisory Council noted in its security alert for Afghanistan.  "The cost may be $2,000 USD or more per person."  [Tweet]

A few hours later...
Under pressure, State Dept. scraps plan to bill Kabul evacuees $2K for flights.  The State Department was forced to scrap a widely excoriated plan to bill US citizens $2,000 or more for their evacuation flights from Kabul.  The hefty price tag drew social media outrage Thursday [8/19/2021] after it gained public notice.  "In these unique circumstances, we have no intention of seeking any reimbursement from those fleeing Afghanistan," State Department spokesman Ned Price said in a statement provided to The [New York] Post.  The cost was publicly posted to a State Department website on Saturday but went largely unnoticed before it was highlighted by Politico's military-focused newsletter Thursday.  An unnamed State Department spokesman initially stood by the charge, telling Politico that "U.S. law requires that evacuation assistance to private U.S. citizens or third country nationals be provided 'on a reimbursable basis to the maximum extent practicable.'"

Teddy Daniels Gives Forceful Speech at Pennsylvania Audit The Vote Rally, The Time is Now.  Teddy Daniels is a Republican congressional candidate for Pennsylvania CD-08, Scranton, Pennsylvania.  Teddy Daniels is challenging Democrat incumbent Matt Cartwright in the 2022 mid-terms.  Daniels [...] recently spoke at the Pennsylvania Audit The Vote rally.  [Video clip]

Teddy Daniels:  Pro-Trump America First Combat Veteran Who Won't Back Down.  Decorated combat veteran.  Retired police officer.  Business entrepreneur.  Teddy Daniels has spent his career serving community and country, and now he's running to be your voice in the halls of Congress.

China Threatens to 'Crush' U.S. Troops in Taiwan.  Exuberant after President Joe Biden's spectacular defeat in Afghanistan, China's state-run Global Times on Tuesday [8/17/2021] warned that if any American troops are present in Taiwan when Beijing decides to invade it by force, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) will "crush them by force."  The Global Times was responding indignantly to a tweet from Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) in which he listed U.S. troop deployments around the world.  Cornyn incorrectly stated in this tweet that 30,000 American soldiers are stationed in Taiwan, roughly the same amount stationed in South Korea.

Exclusive: Space Force Officer, Punished After Denouncing Marxism, to Leave Military.  The Space Force officer who was removed from his command post for condemning Marxism and critical race theory is leaving the military.  Lt. Col. Matthew Lohmeier told The Epoch Times' "American Thought Leaders" that his last day in the service will be Sept. 1.  "I wrote a letter to then-Acting Secretary of the Air Force explaining certain circumstances, which I don't plan to make public, but also requesting an early retirement, and a separation honorably from the service," he said.  "And they've denied me an early retirement, but agreed that they would separate me.  And so my family and I have decided that that's the best course of action for us right now, given the circumstances."  "I believe I'm able to continue serving my country outside of the service and out of uniform, perhaps in a better way than I was able to, given the circumstances, in uniform at the moment."

Afghan President Surfaces in the United Arab Emirates.  Ashraf Ghani, the Afghan president who fled his country as the Taliban gained the upper hand in the civil war against his government has surfaced in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).  "The UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation can confirm that the UAE has welcomed President Ashraf Ghani and his family into the country on humanitarian grounds," announced the small Middle Eastern nation in a statement.  In an address on Monday [8/16/2021], President Joe Biden lambasted Afghanistan's political leaders for having given up.  The proximate cause of the Taliban's victory has been the United States' withdrawal and decision to stop providing air support for the Afghan military.  According to the Wall Street Journal, the Afghans had relied upon American air power to "resupply outposts, strike targets, ferry the wounded, and collect reconnaissance and intelligence" among other tasks.  U.S. forces have not been leading the fight against the Taliban for years, instead taking on a support role.

Republican Flips State Senate Seat Where Biden Won By 25%.  A Republican candidate for state senate in Connecticut flipped a seat where then-candidate Joe Biden won by just over 25% during the 2020 presidential election.  Ryan Fazio, a member of Greenwich, Connecticut's Representative Town Meeting, defeated Alexis Gevanter, a gun control advocate who had never before held public office on Tuesday by less than three percentage points in the wealthy, suburban 36th State Senate District.  Republicans are hailing the victory as a preview of the 2022 congressional midterms, and are hoping that it will signal their continued viability with suburban voters.

Taliban Warning:  US Must Fully Withdraw American Troops by Sept. 11.  A spokesman for the Taliban warned that U.S. troops in Afghanistan have to leave by Sept. 11 — the anniversary of the terrorist attacks that launched the United States into the war — after troops were re-deployed to the Kabul airport to oversee an evacuation.  Suhail Shaheen, a member of the Taliban's political office, told Sky News on Tuesday [8/17/2021] that "we are committed not to attack them," but he stressed they have to leave by that date.  It's not clear what will happen if American forces remain in Afghanistan after Sept. 11.  The United States had previously planned to withdraw all its troops by the end of August, but the Pentagon was forced to send thousands of soldiers to the beleaguered country to facilitate evacuations from Kabul, which was quickly captured by the Taliban — considered a terrorist group by many countries — on Sunday.

That Story of Afghans Falling off Fleeing Transport Planes Just Got So Much Worse.  Yesterday, a disturbing video emerged from Kabul airport showing thousands of Afghans storming a C-17 transport aircraft.  AH-64 Apache helicopters were being used to swoop down and clear a path so the plane could take off.  That's how ill-prepared the evacuation was.  Other videos showed the scene after the plane rotated and began climbing, with at least two individuals falling to their deaths. [...] This is an inexplicable situation, not because the pilots did anything wrong, but because they were put in this position in the first place.  They had to make the no-win decision to remain on the ground and possibly be overrun or to take off knowing that people would die as a result.

Report: Taliban Seizing Personal Weapons Because Afghans 'Can Now Feel Safe'.  Taliban jihadists reportedly began seizing personal weapons from Afghans in Kabul on Sunday, claiming civilians "can now feel safe" and no longer need the firearms because the terrorists had taken over the country.  Taliban officials declared victory and the restoration of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan after occupying the presidential palace in Kabul on Sunday [8/15/2021].

Kabul Has Fallen, Afghan President Ghani Flees, U.S. Embassy Being Evacuated, Airport Under Siege, Biden on Vacation.  Throughout the night and today U.S. personnel were evacuated from the embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan.  The U.S. flag has been removed.  The airport in Kabul is no longer safe and flights have been suspended.  Afghanistan President Ghani has fled the country.  The Taliban are on the streets of Kabul as fighting around the airport continues.

Taliban seizes $6,000,000 US Blackhawk helicopters.  All of this was preventable, but the U.S. military was too busy making sure all its troops were woke and reliably Leftist.

Taliban Seizes Presidential Palace, to Soon Declare Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.  The Taliban has entered the presidential palace in the capital city Kabul and is now in control of the entire country, according to a highly placed source.  The group is soon expected to declare the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.  An anonymous source in a position to know confirmed the high-ranking source's report of the seizure of the presidential palace, which The Times of India has also reported.  President Ashraf Ghani left Kabul after stepping down from power on Sunday [8/15/2021].  Rumors of his resignation had been circulating since Friday, while fears of the Taliban attacking the capital were also high that night.  However, in a video message released on Saturday afternoon, Ghani didn't announce his resignation but said negotiations were ongoing.  The anonymous source told The Epoch Times that Ghani's announcement meant he will not step down until the whole country surrenders or falls to the Taliban.

Jen Psaki [is] Taking Next Week Off Amid Afghanistan Fiasco.  White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki is taking the next week off work amid the crisis in Afghanistan.  Joe Biden, who is on vacation, has still not addressed the public about the foreign policy nightmare underway in Kabul.  Questions sent to Psaki are being met with an autoreply saying that she will be out of the office through August 22.

Biden's Saigon:  Videos Reveal Utter Chaos at Kabul Airport as Taliban Conquers Afghanistan.  Videos uploaded from Kabul on Sunday [8/15/2021] showed chaos at the international airport as panicked people rushed to board aircraft ahead of the Taliban's advance.  Gunfire was audible in the distance as refugees packed into transport aircraft.  Operations at the airport were reportedly suspended for a time due to shooting nearby.

Helicopters Rescue U.S. Personnel from Embassy in Afghanistan, After Biden Said 'No Circumstance' That Would Happen.  Helicopters busily rescued personnel from the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Sunday, just weeks after President Joe Biden promised that there was "no circumstance" in which that spectacle, remembered from Vietnam, would recur.  Images of the evacuation of the U.S. embassy in Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) are seared into the American imagination as a memory of humiliating defeat, as U.S. promises of security for South Vietnam collapsed with the North Vietnamese advance.

This may be the biggest event ever pushed down the Memory Hole:
9/11 museum's decision to scrap special 20th anniversary tribute is a disgrace.  As the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attack looms, the National September 11 Memorial & Museum is crying poverty for the second year in a row.  This time, it says it can't afford to mount special exhibitions planned to mark the two-decade milestone.  In 2020, the twin-beam "Tribute in Light" was canceled only to win a last-minute reprieve after soon-to-be-ex Gov. Cuomo pitched in state resources.  But no such bailout appears in the offing this time.  In fact, this year, the museum is shamefully restricting the reading-of-the-names ceremony exclusively to the families of 9/11 victims.  No hero firefighters, cops, first responders or emergency workers, who were normally welcome until the pandemic eliminated last year's event, are invited.

Number of white people declines for first time — and other census data takeaways.  Detailed census data released Thursday [8/12/2021] revealed a more diverse country with the first recorded decline in the white population, as well as the slowest population growth in the country overall since the 1930s.  States will use the population information to redraw congressional and state legislative district lines, potentially giving Republicans an edge in House districts that favor them ahead of the 2022 midterm elections.  Democrats, too, hope to use the data to their advantage.

Texas Lawmakers Thwart Chinese Communist's Plan To Connect To State's Electricity Grid.  Lawmakers in Texas have blocked a Chinese billionaire's push to build a 15,000-acre wind farm on a large swath of land he purchased after news of his plans drew the attention of a conservancy group.  It warned first about the environmental impact and then noted Sun Guangxin's ties to the Chinese Communist Party and how the project could give him access to the state's electricity grid.  And the 140,000 acres that Sun snapped up in recent years is near Laughlin Air Force Base[,] raising national security concerns.

Biden Admin Decision to Hide Info About Palestinian Terrorism From Congress Broke Law, Watchdog Says.  Biden administration officials may have broken the law when they erased information about the Palestinian government's terror incitement from a mandatory compliance report submitted to Congress in July, according to a legal watchdog group.  The America First Legal Foundation (AFLF) in a letter sent Wednesday is asking the State Department inspector general to investigate the Biden administration's decision to omit references to the Palestinian government's calls for violence, as well as its support for the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement — issues that are being closely monitored by Congress as the Biden administration restarts millions of dollars in U.S. aid to the Palestinians.  Information about Palestinian terror incitement and support for the BDS movement were included in the outgoing Trump administration's October 2020 version of the report, but removed by the Biden administration when it came into office, as the [Washington] Free Beacon first reported.

Hospital Bill From 1955 Sparks Outrage Over Childbirth Costs In The US Today.  A 1955 hospital bill that revealed it cost less than $60 for a three-night stay to deliver a baby has shocked Americans who have become accustomed to being charged exorbitant amounts for childbirth.  Last month, a Reddit user who goes by the username @BinaryPeach uploaded a photo of the hospital bill to the platform, where they revealed that the invoice was from the December 1955 birth of their medical school professor in a Kansas hospital.  "My medical school professor showed me this bill from his birth in 1955 (in the United States)," the caption reads.  In the photo, the $59.95 bill, which one Reddit user estimated would be equivalent to $600 today, details the costs for services such as room and board and nursing service, which totalled $27, with the delivery room costing the new parents just $15.

Joe Biden approves Justice Department's move to conduct a 'fresh review' of documents pertaining to Saudi Arabia's role in Sept. 11 attacks.  President Joe Biden approved of a move by the Justice Department Monday to conduct a 'fresh review' of documents pertaining to Saudi Arabia's role in 9/11.  Biden was told Friday by nearly 1,800 Americans impacted by the terror attacks — including victims' family members, first responders and survivors — not to come to any of the 20th anniversary events unless he declassified documents that potentially show Saudi government links to the September 11, 2001 hijackers.

Senate Fails To Wrap Up Infrastructure Bill After Talks To Expedite Process Collapse.  Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer set up a critical vote on the bipartisan infrastructure bill Saturday after talks to expedite the process fell apart late Thursday [8/5/2021].  Both Republicans and Democrats engaged in marathon talks Thursday in a bid to vote on a package of amendments and to advance the sweeping public works package.  Doing so, however, required approval from all 100 senators, and Tennessee Republican Sen. Bill Hagerty refused to go along even as his Republican colleagues urged him to do so.  In a statement, Hagerty attributed his objection to the Congressional Budget Office's estimation that the bill would add $256 billion to the national debt over 10 years.

Now there are chipmunks in Lake Tahoe with the bubonic plague.  Okay, don't worry everyone.  Just some chipmunks over here in Lake Tahoe which have tested positive for the plague.  [Tweet]

Hagerty Holds Up the Senate — For Good Reason.  An article in the Washington Times this morning [8/6/2021] — "GOP Sen. Hagerty blocks Democrats from expediting $1.2T infrastructure bill in late-night session" — made this bald guy's hair stand on end this morning.  "Sen. Bill Hagerty blocked Democrats from ramming through President Biden's $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill late Thursday, only hours after the package was found to be not fully paid for as promised.  "Mr. Hagerty, a first-term Republican from Tennessee, refused to sign off on a deal between Democratic and GOP lawmakers to expedite passage of the legislation.  Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer had worked out an agreement with Republicans to pass a series of amendments to the infrastructure package en masse.  "If successful, the tactic would have all but ended debate on the bill, setting up a final vote for Saturday.  To succeed, however, all 100 members of the Senate had to acquiesce, something Mr. Hagerty refused."

Could pandemic unemployment be extended beyond Labor Day?  Lawmakers, economists and advocates are working to extend a handful of key federal aid programs established at the beginning of the pandemic, many of which are scheduled to end just as the delta variant has caused Covid caseloads to rise across the U.S. yet again.  Already this week, following pressure from House Democrats, the CDC extended the federal eviction moratorium through October 3 after it lapsed over the weekend.  Now, other Congressional Democrats are calling on the White House to extend the pause on federal student loan payments scheduled to expire at the end of September, the Washington Post reports.  Meanwhile, advocacy groups are also dialing up attention to extend pandemic-era unemployment benefits programs that are set to expire on Labor Day, September 6.

Have an older Kindle? It will lose access to the internet soon.  Amazon's Kindle eBook reader has been a huge success since its launch.  No longer having to carry hefty books with you on vacation, you can cram thousands of electronic versions onto a small device.  When they first launched, the Kindle connected to the internet through mobile networks.  This allows you to purchase and download more books from the Kindle repository.  As newer and more technologically advanced mobile networks emerged, so too did the Kindle.  The latest models connect to mobile networks through super-fast 4G and 5G availability.  But that also presents older Kindles with a problem.  Mobile networks in the country are rapidly replacing legacy technology like 2G and 3G with a better standard.

Former Papal Nuncio Brands Pope Francis 'Liquidator of the Catholic Church'.  The former papal nuncio to the United States, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, has issued a scathing indictment of Pope Francis, calling him "the head of the most extremist faction of progressivism."  In an hour-long video message posted to YouTube earlier this week, Archbishop Viganò attacks the pope's July 16 letter restricting the use of the Traditional Latin Mass, which Viganò calls the "highest and most sacred expression of prayer." [...] In his strongly-worded condemnation of the pope's decision to roll back accommodations to priests who want to celebrate the Traditional Latin Mass, Archbishop Viganò joins a growing list of high-ranking prelates who have expressed their anger and consternation over the "harsh" measure.

Sailor who 'hated the Navy' accused of destroying $1 billion naval assault ship.  The 2020 destruction of the Bonhomme Richard, if you can recall it, was a monster loss for the Navy.  I'm here in San Diego and have relatives who were stationed on that ship, and they said it was bad.  It happened at a particularly vulnerable time, during a holiday where there were few people around.  Once it got started, it was impossible to put out, and the whole ship had to be taken out of service and possibly scrapped, leaving a huge hole in U.S. naval capabilities, which can't be replaced for at least three years.  And it will cost $3 billion to restore the ship.  Two things spring to mind, aside from the fact that they didn't have adequate security over a long holiday:  One, why they weren't able to get rid of this guy, or at least get him off the ship? [...] Who needs the Red Chinese when the Navy harbors people like this?

ASPCA spending may not be what donors expect, investigation finds.  The heartbreaking commercials are almost impossible to ignore:  Sarah McLachlan singing to images of suffering animals and making an urgent appeal for donations to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, or ASPCA.  After those iconic commercials debuted more than a decade ago, the ASPCA's revenues tripled — going from $85 million in 2007 to nearly $280 million in 2019 — making the ASPCA one of the nation's leading animal welfare charities. [...] The ASPCA says the vast majority of donor dollars go directly toward its mission, but a CBS News investigation found there are questions about whether the money is going where donors expect. [...] Since 2008, the ASPCA has raised more than $2 billion for animal welfare.  In that time, it has spent $146 million, or about 7% of the total money raised, in grants to local animal welfare groups.  But during that same time period it spent nearly three times that, at least $421 million, on fundraising.  Over $150 million of that went to Eagle-Com Inc, a Canadian media production company, to produce and place ASPCA's ads.

The Editor says...
There is an old adage about charity organizations, which goes something like this:  If you pay me a million dollars per year to solve a problem, I will guarantee that no solution will ever be found.

Mike Lindell Says He's Losing $1M a Week Because Fox News Refused to Air Voter Fraud Ad.  MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell has said that is losing "about a million dollars a week" since he pulled his ads from the Fox News network.  "They're disgusting, what they've done to our country," Lindell said of the network while speaking on War Room, a show on Real America's Voice, a right-leaning media network.  The host is hosted by Steve Bannon, former White House Chief Strategist under Republican President Donald Trump.  "I mean, it's terrible," Lindell continued.  "I can't make this up.  This is about a million dollars a week MyPillow is going to lose again... I want nothing to do with them if they're going to ruin our country and decide on events you have.  'Oh, I don't want it.  You can't advertise that concert because we don't like who's playing.'"  Lindell was referring to his recent decision to pull his company's ads from the network after the network refused to air an advertisement for his upcoming "cyber-symposium."

Coming Soon:  A 'No Buy List' for Conservatives and Other 'Hate Groups'.  Suppose you're doing a little online shopping and see a nice pair of shoes you want to buy.  But when it comes to the payment part of the transaction, you are rejected.  Your PayPal account is frozen.  Your credit cards may be canceled.  And forget to try a crowdfunding site like GoFundMe as an alternative.  You haven't been hacked.  Your personal finances have been de-platformed.  You have become a non-person in the international financial community because somewhere someone determined that you were spouting "hate speech."  Perhaps you're pro-life?  That's an anti-woman point of view and will not be tolerated.  Do you support a traditional view of marriage?  Begone from Amazon, hateful one!

US Marines made rare move to deploy elite security teams to protect two American embassies in two months.  The U.S. Marine Corps deployed its Security Augmentation Unit (MSAU) twice in the past 30 days to help defend embassies in Africa and the Caribbean.  A team was sent to Haiti on July 16 in wake of the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, Fox News reported.  This mission was said to be 'out of an abundance of caution'.  Moïse was gunned down in his home in Port-au-Prince before dawn on July 7, setting off a new political crisis in the Caribbean country that has struggled with poverty, lawlessness and instability.

Generac recalls portable generators after 7 finger amputations.  A popular portable generator brand has recalled several models after multiple reports of fingers being injured in the machines.  Generac Power Systems recalled the gas-powered generators this week, advising consumers to stop using them immediately.  An unlocked handle can pinch fingers against the generator's frame when it's moved.  The Waukesha, Wisconsin-based company has received eight reports of injuries related to the generators, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.

'Inflation Storm' Looms as Expectations Hit 13-Year High, Consumer Sentiment Sinks.  Americans expect more inflaton this year and remain uneasy about the direction of the economy, the University of Michigan's survey of consumers showed Friday [7/30/2021].  Expected inflation over the next year rose to 4.7 percent from 4.2 percent in June.  That's the highest level in over a decade.  At least for now, however, Americans still believe that inflation will remain tame over the long term.  Expected inflation over the next five years is just 2.8 percent, down from 3 percent in May.

The Editor says...
Forecasts and expectations touted by the news media are meaningless, because when a Democrat occupies the White House, monthly economic reports are always unexpectedly bad. (When a Republican is in the White House, economic news is always unexpectedly good.)

Alcohol-infused ice cream:  Dessert's hottest trend.  Multiple startup companies across the United States have been infusing alcohol into classic frozen desserts, sparking a wave of boozy desserts just in time for summer.  [Video clip]

The Editor says...
Just in time for summer.  Right.  Summer started a month ago.  The announcement of a new product "just in time for summer" would take place in April or May.

The US is rapidly lowering its military profile and backing away from commitments to allies.  Why would the US Department of Justice drop five cases against Chinese researchers including Dr Juan Tang, a cancer researcher who allegedly lied on her visa application after photos of her were found wearing a Chinese military uniform?  Part of the answer is that Tang's case was dropped to facilitate Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman's high-level visit this week to China, where she was treated hostilely by her Chinese hosts.  The five cases are just part of a bigger picture which can best be termed as "The Great Retreat."  In many areas, the US is lowering its profile and backing away from its commitments.  For example, the US has pulled its only aircraft carrier, the USS Ronald Reagan, from the Pacific ostensibly to cover the retreat from Afghanistan.  But whether the Ronald Reagan carrier will return to Japan in the future isn't altogether clear.

Sailor charged in massive blaze that destroyed U.S. Navy warship.  The Navy has filed criminal charges against a sailor in connection with the July 12, 2020 fire aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard, which raged for several days in San Diego and forced the Navy to scrap the ship.  The sailor, who has not been identified, was a member of the crew at the time and is accused of starting the fire, said Commander Sean Robertson, a spokesman for the Navy's 3rd Fleet.  "Evidence collected during the investigation is sufficient to direct a preliminary hearing in accordance with due process under the military justice system," Commander Robertson said in a statement.

Pitchman and innovator Ron Popeil dead at 86.  Salesman, marketing visionary and inventor Ron Popeil wrapped up a colorful life Wednesday morning [7/28/2021], according to TMZ, which reports the 86-year-old Ronco founder died in a Los Angeles hospital following an unspecified medical emergency.  Known as well for his creative spirit as his ability to sell the items he sometimes made, Popeil is credited for introducing the world to the Pocket Fisherman, Mr. Microphone, Hair in a Can and Showtime Rotisserie & BBQ.  He made famous phrases like "But wait, there's more" and "Set it, and forget it."

Former Matt Drudge deputy starts rival to Drudge Report.  The former editor of the Drudge Report, Joseph Curl, announced Tuesday [7/27/2021] the launch of Off The Press, a conservative-oriented aggregator that he says will have a "fearless attitude" toward covering "everything for those who devour news all day."  Curl says the marketplace is ripe for a premier, 24/7 news aggregator that consumers can trust, with the Drudge Report having become just another echo chamber for the mainstream media.  "Now more than ever, keeping up with the most important stories is a battle," Curl says.  "With social media deluging everyone with endless posts on their news feeds, the internet needs an editor to cull the very best stories and present them on a single site.  That will be the sole mission of Off The Press."  Joining Curl as co-editor is veteran journalist Paul Bedard, "Washington Secrets" columnist for The Washington Examiner.

Goldman Sees Sharp Deceleration In US Economic Growth In 2022.  It was good while it lasted, but the party is finally ending.  One day after we reported that unemployed households which no longer receive emergency benefits are suddenly spending far less, and on the same day we read about an "unprecedented spike" in evictions as foreclosure moratoriums end, the only thing missing was a sellside downgrade to the US economy.  Well, we got just that early this morning, when Goldman — which last year was the first bank to unveil materially above consensus GDP projections — cut its 2021 second half consumption growth forecast, resulting in 1% downgrade to its GDP growth forecasts for Q3 and Q4 to +8.5% and +5.0%, respectively, "as it is becoming apparent that the service sector recovery in the US is unlikely to be as robust as the bank had expected.["]  Which is odd considering the trillions in monetary and fiscal stimulus that have entered into the economy.  One wonder how many more trillions would be needed for Goldman to be happy.

A loony leftist hunts Tucker Carlson down in a bait shop.  In 2008, before he was president, Obama told his followers that, if they were in the company of independents or Republicans, "I want you to argue with them and get in their face." A decade later, Rep. Maxine Waters (D. Stupidity), in defense of keeping an open border, exhorted her supporters that, if they saw someone from the Trump administration, "you get out and you create a crowd, and you push back on them, and you tell them they're not welcome anymore, anywhere." This is what leftists do — and it's what some guy in a bait shop did when he caught sight of Tucker Carlson.  Carlson responded with aplomb, but it must have been unnerving.

The man who accosted Tucker Carlson has an interesting background.  It's already old news that an obnoxious leftist verbally assaulted Tucker Carlson, who was in a fly fishing shop in Montana.  Leftists celebrated one of their own throwing mindless insults in Tucker's direction.  Conservatives appreciated how Tucker kept his calm and his sense of humor.  Now, though, some interesting information is emerging about the leftist yahoo, a guy named Dan Bailey, thanks to his having outed himself on his Instagram account.  It turns out that Dan Bailey worked for an organization that was closely associated with the CIA.

Navy warns it's running out of capabilities to cut, budget moves threaten readiness.  The Navy warned Congress today [7/21/2021] that it is quickly reaching the end of the line on divestments before cutting into capabilities needed for deterrence and war fighting.  Lawmakers from the Senate Appropriations Defense subcommittee questioned both the Navy and the Air Force on their divestment decisions at a hearing as Congress continues to parse the proposed budget for 2022.  "The challenge that we're facing now is that the good ideas, the things that we don't think we need to bring to the future fight, we're starting to run out of that," said Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Integration of Capabilities and Resources Vice Adm. Randy Crites.

Girl, 10, dies from the plague as cases confirmed in six Colorado counties.  Colorado health authorities are investigating a possible outbreak of the plague after a 10-year-old died from the ancient disease earlier this month for the first time since 2015.  The plague, a disease caused by bacteria most often spread by fleas, has been confirmed in six different counties, according to lab results from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.  The deceased child lived in La Plata County in southwestern Colorado.

23-year-old GOP candidate running for Congress [is] a promising antithesis of AOC.  Could 23-year-old college graduate Karoline Leavitt be the Republican version of AOC?  U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., was the youngest member of Congress when first elected to Congress in 2018, having defeated a top-ranked Democrat in the primary before winning in the general.  Leavitt is running against two-term U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas, D-N.H., and should she prevail, she would be 25 when she takes office — the Constitution requires members to be at least 25.  Her plan to defeat Pappas is to run against President Biden's policies and what she calls the "tyrannical ... corruption" of New York's Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the New York Post reported.

TikTok's Parent Company is a Strategic Partner of Chinese State Police.  ByteDance, the owner of the explosive social media app TikTok, is in direct collaboration with the Chinese State Police.  According to Chinese media outlet Sohu, on April 25, 2019, the Press and Propaganda Bureau of the Ministry of Public Security and ByteDance signed a strategic cooperation agreement.

'Verified ID': Meghan McCain, Sunny Hostin push rule to strip anonymity from social media.  Sunny Hostin and Meghan McCain want new rules for social media that would strip all users of anonymity.  The co-hosts of ABC's "The View" made the comments Wednesday [7/21/2021] after colleague Whoopi Goldberg discussed racist posts directed at Black athletes competing in the Euro Cup.  "I think this is a terrific, terrific idea," Ms. Hostin said of the idea while seconding actor Idris Elba's support.  "I mean, I am subjected daily to racist attacks on social media.  I'm talking daily.  Sometimes in the hundreds, sometimes in the thousands, and it's — it's painful, it's hurtful, and it's always from someone who has a cat icon, a flag icon, a frog icon, you know?  All sorts — an eagle icon, and they are, I believe.  Just Twitter thugs, social media thugs, hiding in their mama's basements."

American language gets new words: 'Zaddy' and 'oof' among 300 words added to Dictionary.com.  Dictionary.com is adding more than 300 words and definitions to its latest lexicon update to reflect changes in the culture, along with what appears to be, in part, a dollop or more of corporate political correctness.  New additions, abbreviations, and expanded explanations include 5G, content warning, cultural appropriation, DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion), deplatform, JEDI (justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion), long COVID, side hustle, TW (trigger warning), yeet, and zaddy.

Taco Bell is hit with nationwide ingredient shortages a week after Popeyes announced it's been hoarding chicken.  Taco Bell customers may be left hungry if they visit the chain any time soon amid a nationwide ingredient shortage.  The pandemic, which forced many factories to close, limited temporary visas for workers on farms and slowed transportation, has resulted in food shortages across the US as the food industry struggles to keep up with newly reopened restaurants, sports arenas and food halls.  At Taco Bell, a message posted atop the company's website the company apologized for its slimmed down menu.

Animatronic Biden joining Hall of Presidents at Disney World.  Forget an inauguration ceremony.  The true indicator of having made it as president is being added to the Hall of Presidents at Walt Disney World in Florida, an honor President Joe Biden will soon receive.  Disney World officials said Monday [7/19/2021] that they were putting the finishing touches on the animatronic Biden replica ahead of its debut next month at the Magic Kingdom attraction that features a tableau of the nation's presidents.

The Editor says...
Please select one of these incisive and witty retorts:
  [#1] How will anyone know it isn't Joe himself?
  [#2] If the robot spontaneously reboots once in a while, that will make it more realistic!
  [#3] In the event of a power failure, nobody will notice.
  [#4] Please don't let your young daughter stand too close to this display.
  [#5] Everything Animatronic Joe will say is being written at this moment by Doctor Jill Biden.
  [#6] Animatronic Joe will automatically call a lid at 11:00 a.m., and won't work at all on weekends.

Dow drops more than 700 points on Monday heads for worst decline of 2021.  U.S. stocks fell aggressively Monday [7/19/2021] on concern a rebound in Covid cases would slow global economic growth.  The selling picked up as the session went on, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average had its worst day since last October.  The Dow dropped 725.81 points, or 2.1%, to 33,962.04 in a broad-based rout that sent all 30 members lower.  At one point during the session, the Dow was down 946 points before recovering some ground into the close.  The S&P 500 fell 1.6% to 4,258.49.  Energy, financials and industrials were the worst-performing sectors.  The tech-dominated Nasdaq Composite slid 1.1% to 14,274.98, posting its fifth-straight day of losses and worst losing streak since October.

Aluminum Factor[y] Explosion In Henan Province China Looked Like A Mini Nuke!.  An explosion occurred at an aluminum alloy plant on Tuesday morning in Dengfeng, Central China's Henan Province.  No casualties were reported as of press time, said local authorities.  [Video clip]

US kosher supermarkets to stop stocking Ben & Jerry's in protest.  Some kosher supermarkets in the US won't stock Ben & Jerry's ice cream, after the company announces it will end sales in the "Occupied Palestinian Territories."  Glatt Express Supermarket, a kosher grocery store in Teaneck, New Jersey, announced via Facebook that it would no longer carry Ben & Jerry's products following the company's announcement.  "Due to the recent actions by Ben & Jerry's, Glatt Express will no longer be carrying Ben and Jerry's products.  Am Yisroel Chai," the store wrote in a post.  Aron's Kissena Farms, a kosher market in Queens, made the same decision.  The market "has removed all of the Ben & Jerry's products in the Freezers, and will no longer sell any and all Ben & Jerry products effective immediately," the store writes on Facebook.

EPA squeeze on aftermarket car part sellers hurts classic car industry, Lankford says.  Raids on aftermarket auto part vendors by the Environmental Protection Agency for evidence of emissions violations standards are harming the classic car industry, says Sen. Jim Lankford.  Lankford, an Oklahoma Republican and a member of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, told the Washington Examiner he recently took an interest in bipartisan legislation reintroduced in the House by Rep. Patrick McHenry, a North Carolina Republican, and Rep. Raul Ruiz, a California Democrat, known as the Recognizing the Protection of Motorsports Act.  The legislation, which has 61 Republican and 21 Democratic co-sponsors, aims to make clear that converting a street vehicle by emissions-related changes for exclusively competition purposes is legal.  Additionally, it would affirm that manufacturing, selling, and installing racing parts into a vehicle is a legal act.

Wha-a-a-at?  There's a flaw in Microsoft's software?
U.S. says Chinese intelligence behind global cyberattack [is] using [a] Microsoft software flaw.  China's Ministry of State Security (MSS) intelligence service was behind a major international cyberattack earlier this year involving tens of thousands of computers penetrated through security flaws in Microsoft software, the White House charged Monday [7/19/2021] in coordination with a group of major U.S. allies.  Beijing also is employing contract Chinese hackers to carry out ransomware attacks in financial crime schemes, according to a statement kicking off a major publicity campaign targeting what U.S. officials say are extensive Chinese state-linked hacking operations around the globe.  "Today, the United States and our allies and partners are exposing further details of the PRC's pattern of malicious cyber activity and taking further action to counter it, as it poses a major threat to U.S. and allies' economic and national security," the statement said, referring to the People's Republic of China.

Judge hit for ordering Trump supporter to remove [Anti-] Biden sign from yard.  A municipal judge in New Jersey's Roselle Park borough is facing condemnation and scorn for effectively violating a Trump supporter's First Amendment rights because of a complaint reportedly made by the borough's Democrat Party mayor.  That Trump supporter, Andrea Dick, has been displaying a slew of pro-Trump and profanely anti-Biden signs on the fence outside her mother's home.  Or rather, she had been, up until Roselle Park Municipal Court Judge Gary Bundy issued a ruling last Thursday [7/15/2021] ordering her mother, Patricia Dilascio, to remove the signs containing profanity within a week or face a $250/day fine.

Researchers follow trail of sex trafficking to Minnesota massage program.  Something seemed very wrong at the American Academy of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine.  There was a locked closet with student files the registrar could not access.  There were students arriving for a Chinese-language-only massage therapy program, siloed off from the rest of the classes at the Roseville campus.  Students who were sent off to "internships" at local massage parlors where some of their supervisors were unlicensed, some had prostitution arrests on their record, and few bothered to fill out all the paperwork the students needed for legitimate degrees, according to the Minnesota Office of Higher Education.  When state office investigators took a closer look in 2019, they found that seven of nine recent graduates of the Chinese Tuina Massage program had already had their massage therapist licenses revoked or deactivated for "ties to prostitution/trafficking."

California court strikes down law against "misgendering" speech.  There was a decision rendered on Friday [7/16/2021] in the California Court of Appeal that will impact some portions of the ongoing debates over transgender rights and free speech.  The catch here is that the state law in question, California Health & Safety Code §1439.51, applies only to employees of long-term healthcare facilities such as nursing homes and hospitals.  But even in that limited scope, it provides another bit of precedent that may wind up applying to the large backlog of similar cases currently making their way through the system.  In the case of Taking Offense v.  California, the plaintiffs were challenging the constitutionality of the portion of the law that makes it a criminal offense to repeatedly "misgender" a patient in the facility by referring to them using the pronoun appropriate for their biological gender and not the gender they "identify" as.

Pepper the robot discontinued after being repeatedly fired from jobs.  Good help is hard to find, particularly in the post-pandemic world.  You can add one more job opening to the list this week, though it doesn't appear to be an employment situation directly driven by COVID.  Pepper the artificial intelligence robot produced by Japan's Softbank Group is being discontinued after having been widely distributed around the globe for the past seven years.  And the reason is that Pepper turned out to be almost entirely unemployable.  Despite having been "hired" by multiple businesses and schools to perform a variety of jobs, the employers almost always wound up returning the robots for a variety of job performance-related issues.

Michigan Senate Repeals Emergency Powers Law, Whitmer Unable to Veto.  Michigan's Senate on Thursday [7/15/2021] approved a petition that repeals Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's emergency powers, with another approval expected by the state's lower chamber.  Whitmer, a Democrat, cannot veto the petition.  The Michigan Senate's 20-15 vote came two days after the Board of State Canvassers certified the petition, which was started by a group called Unlock Michigan that gathered over 340,000 signatures.  The board deadlocked 2-2 in April but voted 3-0 this time around.  The petition took aim at the 1945 Emergency Powers Act that enabled Whitmer to impose harsh restrictions on state residents during the COVID-19 pandemic.  Republicans on the Senate floor before the vote praised the petition and said it was needed to curb Whitmer's power.

Americans facing massive passport processing delays, lawmakers urging State Dept. to act.  A crush of Americans are seeking to travel overseas again as vaccination rates climb in the U.S., and foreign governments loosen their restrictions.  But many of them are running into a critical problem:  Their passport is expired.  That's led to another crush — of passport applications — one that has overwhelmed the State Department's 26 passport agencies across the country and created an enormous backlog of applications.

The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is straight out of Dr. Strangelove.  In Stanley Kubrick's 1964 black comedy, Dr. Strangelove or:  How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, the engine for the plot is Brigadier General Jack D. Ripper, a United States Air Force general, who goes completely off his rocker and launches a nuclear weapon at the Soviet Union.  We may have our own, real-life General Ripper in the form of General Mark Milley, a product of the Ivy League and now Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.  However, unlike General Ripper, who had the Russkies in his sights, General Milley is pretty sure that you are the enemy. [...] For many of us, Milley entered our consciousness on June 23, when he insisted that West Pointers should study Critical Race Theory and that he, especially, wanted to understand "White rage."  At that moment, when he openly embraced CRT, complete with its claims about White Supremacy, systemic racism, and White privilege, Milley imposed upon himself an obligation immediately to resign from his position and to insist that someone Black — anyone Black — take his place.  Until Milley walks away from his White privileged position, he's just a very dangerous, virtue-signaling windbag.

Rep. Crenshaw says military leaders 'prioritizing woke training over actual war fighting' after Navy report.  Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, said Thursday that U.S. military leaders are "prioritizing woke training over actual war fighting" following lawmakers' investigation into the Navy's culture.  Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark. — along with Crenshaw, a retired Navy SEAL, and fellow Republican Reps.  Jim Banks of Indiana and Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin — directed an investigation into Navy culture, following three major incidents between 2016 and 2017 that resulted in the death of 17 sailors.  They found that 94% of the sailors interviewed thought the military branch is facing a leadership and culture crisis.  "Unfortunately, the findings of our report aren't surprising," Crenshaw tweeted.  "We've known military leaders are prioritizing woke training over actual war fighting.  It's what we constantly hear from service members.  It doesn't make this any less concerning.  It's a threat to national security."

New Revelations Show How Absolutely Dangerous Our Military Leadership Has Become.  The descent into leftism of our current military brass has been a much-discussed topic lately.  As RedState reported previously, the woke ad campaigns belittle the mission and make a mockery of the readiness of our military.  While China grows a more capable Navy and prioritizes physical ability, the US Army and other branches are out there plugging for people with anxiety disorder and gay parents.  But just in case you thought our military leadership was delusional enough, a new book reveals just how insane they were and continue to be.  [Tweet]

Trump Responds to Military Coup Accusation.  In remarks reported in a forthcoming book, Army General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, compared President Donald Trump to the Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler and his supporters to Nazi brownshirts.  Milley said he feared a military coup from Trump, who had decided to contest the results of the 2020 election.  Trump responded to the accusation in a blistering statement on Thursday [7/15/2021].  "Despite massive Voter Fraud and Irregularities during the 2020 Presidential Election Scam, that we are now seeing play out in very big and important States, I never threatened, or spoke about, to anyone, a coup of our Government.  So ridiculous!" the former president wrote.  Trump insisted that the only way he would want to gain or hold on to power would be through an election.  He also went on the offensive against Milley.

The Left's Fear Is Palpable After Republicans Overperform in a Georgia Election.  Last night, several special elections happened in various legislative districts in the states of Georgia, Alabama, and Wisconsin.  After the results came in, a common theme was apparent:  Republicans had overperformed compared to the 2020 election.  Yet, it was the Georgia election that raised the most eyebrows.  In a suburban Atlanta district that saw its Republican vote share hit an all-time low just under a year ago, voters swung 22 points further toward the GOP yesterday.

Scathing official report finds US Navy is too woke for war because of risk averse, politically correct, control-freak top brass.  A scathing new report commissioned by members of Congress has claimed that the Navy's surface warfare forces have systemic training and leadership issues, including a focus on diversity that overshadows basic readiness skills.  The report prepared by Marine Lt. Gen. Robert Schmidle and Rear Adm. Mark Montgomery, both retired, came in response to recent Naval disasters, including the burning of the USS Bonhomme Richard in San Diego, two collisions involving Navy ships in the Pacific and the surrender of two small craft to Iran.  The authors conducted hour-long interviews with 77 current and retired Navy officers, offering them anonymity to identify issues they wouldn't feel comfortable raising in the chain of command.

Michigan Legislature Is About to Limit Gretchen Whitmer's Power as Governor.  Michigan might soon have some checks and balances restored to its legislature over a year after the current governor of the state overstepped her authority.  The really awesome part of this is that the law she abused will be taken off the books for good without a veto threat and no governor in the future will be able to use it.  That is a good thing, no matter if it is a Democrat or a Republican in the governor's mansion, and will prevent the people of Michigan from getting abused.

Mural Honoring George Floyd in Toledo, Ohio Destroyed by Lightning Strike.  A George Floyd mural in Toledo, Ohio was destroyed by a lightning strike Tuesday afternoon [7/13/2021], according to witnesses.  WTVG reported their Doppler Radar did show a lightning strike on the same block as the George Floyd mural at 4:30 this afternoon.  The lightning strike, which hit directly on George Floyd's face, reduced the mural to a pile of bricks.

Lightning strikes George Floyd memorial mural, collapses its brick wall; hilarity ensues.  For those who see the Hand of God in extraordinary natural phenomena, a lightning strike in Toledo, Ohio is being seen as divine retribution.  Others call it karma.  Witnesses reported that lightning struck a George Floyd memorial mural, not only burning the artistic expression, but collapsing the brick wall on which it was painted.

Lightning Strike Destroys George Floyd Mural in Toledo.  A lightning strike has completely destroyed a mural of George Floyd that was erected in Toledo.  Oh no, how awful.  After the mural collapsed, people were initially unaware of the cause, with one city inspector commenting it was "just age — it just came away," noting that the mural had been bowing.  [Tweet]  Witnesses later confirmed that it had been destroyed by what the insurance industry used to refer to as an "act of God."

Possible signs of life found on Saturn's moon.  Scientists find possible signs of life on Saturn's moon Enceladus.  In a recent interview Dr. Brad Tucker, said NASA's space probe Cassini found methane, a biproduct of life, emerging from a large sheet of ice.  Dr. Tucker, a cosmologist from Australia National University, said the space probe Cassini was able to collect data from the cracks in the ice that shoot out gases like a geyser.  "When the probes went through these plumes of gas, imagine like geysers shooting out of the cracks," he explained.  "Not only did they detect hydrogen, they detected methane, which is shown to be in the latest study a potential strong by-product of life.  You know, think cows, think methane."

The Editor says...
[#1] How convenient!  This is a shiny object to displace unpleasant headlines; for example, the threat of forced vaccinations, runaway inflation, rapidly rising gas and food prices, the wide-open Mexican border, anti-white racism in schools, riots in South Africa, revolution in Cuba, China is prepping for nuclear war, Chicago is a war zone, San Francisco is an asylum with an open sewer, much of the federal government is openly corrupt, and the 2020 election really was stolen.  Stories from NASA (which nobody else can verify or disprove) sit on the shelf until the government needs a red herring on the front page.  [#2] Escaping methane gas is not proof of life on or near Saturn.  There is no life in a climate that's as cold as liquid nitrogen.  [#3] It's difficult to believe that methane exists as a gas on Enceladus, since methane freezes at 90°K., and no place on Enceladus is that warm.  The news media confidently presume that you don't know that.  [#4] Combine points 1, 2, and 3, and the sum is fake news!

Experts Send Dire Warning About Biden's Economy.  Remember how the Biden regime and the Federal Reserve chair keep telling Americans how "inflation is transitory" and that we shouldn't worry much about it because it'll pass?  Yes, well, so much for that; another lie debunked.  "Americans should brace themselves for several years of higher inflation than they've seen in decades, according to economists who expect the robust post-pandemic economic recovery to fuel brisk price increases for a while," The Wall Street Journal reported.

Is this really our problem?
WH: Multi-agency delegation helping Haiti maintain security, schedule elections.  The White House said Monday [7/12/2021] a delegation from multiple U.S. agencies is helping Haiti maintain security and pave the way to "free and fair" elections in the wake of the July 7 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse.  Officials from the National Security Council and departments of Homeland Security, Justice and State traveled to Haiti on Sunday at the Haitian government's request.  "The delegation reviewed the security of critical infrastructure with Haitian government officials and met with the Haitian National Police, who are leading the investigation into the assassination," security council spokeswoman Emily Horne said.

The Editor says...
Joe Biden should make a bold step and appoint former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to lead the investigation into President Jovenel Moïse's death.  After all, she knows a lot about Haiti.  More than you might suppose.

Hotel Maid Prevents Potential 'Las Vegas Style' Mass Shooting Ahead of All-Star Game — FBI Says No Link to Terrorism.  A Denver hotel maid prevented a potential 'Vegas style' mass shooting ahead the MLB All-Star game over the weekend.  The maid discovered more than a dozen weapons, a thousand rounds of ammo and body armor in a room at the Maven Hotel near Coors Field.  According to Denver police, authorities confiscated narcotics, 16 firearms, ammo and body armor from two hotel rooms that had balconies overlooking downtown Denver.  Three men and one woman were arrested and being held on suspicion of weapons charges and possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute, according to Denver police.

More about the still-unexplained Las Vegas shooting in October 2017.

Vatican Insider:  Pope Francis 'Will Never Be the Same' After Colon Operation.  Luis Badilla, editor of the semi-official Vatican news aggregator Il Sismografo, said Wednesday [7/7/2021] that Pope Francis' health situation is "severe" and when he returns from hospital he "will never be the same again."  In his sobering blog post, Badilla declares that journalists and commentators are not doing the pope any favors when they downplay the seriousness of his illness.

The Editor says...
The Pope encourages crowds of ordinary Catholics to worship him.  Read Acts 12:23.

How Much Scientific Research Is Actually Fraudulent?  As I earlier reported, a 2015 editorial in The Lancet observed that "much of the scientific literature, perhaps half, may simply be untrue."  A 2015 British Academy of Medical Sciences report suggested that the false discovery rate in some areas of biomedicine could be as high as 69 percent.  In an email exchange with me, [Stanford University biostatistician John] Ioannidis estimated that the nonreplication rates in biomedical observational and preclinical studies could be as high as 90 percent.  The possibility that fraud may well be responsible for a significant proportion of the false positives reported in the scientific literature is suggested by a couple of new Dutch studies.  Both studies are preprints that report the results of surveys of thousands of scientists in the Netherlands aiming to probe the prevalence of questionable research practices and scientific misconduct.

What's in it for us?
Haitian Officials Request U.S. Troops to Protect Infrastructure amid Political Turmoil.  Haitian government officials said they've asked the United States to deploy troops in an auxiliary effort to help shield Haiti's infrastructure from attack amid the political turbulence the country is experiencing after President Jovenel Moïse's sudden assassination Wednesday [7/7/2021].  They requested U.S. forces to help protect Haiti's port, airport, gasoline reserves, and other facilities.  There are concerns that the leader's murder could exacerbate the already fraught situation in the country, which is afflicted by civil unrest, economic instability, gang violence, and a COVID public health crisis, among other woes.

The Editor says...
Assassinations are always sudden, aren't they?

Barry Diller Headed 2 Hollywood Studios.  He Now Says The Movie Business Is Dead.  Barry Diller made his name in the film industry as the chairman and CEO of two Hollywood studios, Paramount Pictures and what was then 20th Century Fox.  Now, he is declaring the industry dead.  "The movie business is over," Diller said in an exclusive interview with NPR on the sidelines of the Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference, a media and technology conference in Idaho.  "The movie business as before is finished and will never come back."  Yes, that has to do with a substantial decline in ticket sales and the closure of movie theaters during the coronavirus pandemic.  But Diller, the chairman and senior executive of IAC, a company that owns Internet properties, said, "It is much more than that."

FDA seeks probe into communications between its staff and Biogen after controversial approval of Alzheimer's drug.  The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had asked for a federal investigation into its approval of a controversial Alzheimer's drug.  Dr Janet Woodcock, acting commissioner of the FDA, announced she sent a letter to the Office of Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services for a probe into communications between FDA staff and Biogen Inc representatives in the lead up to the approval of Aduhelm, the company's Alzheimer's drug.  'Given the ongoing interest and questions, today I requested that [The Office of the Inspector General] conduct an independent review and assessment of interactions between representatives of Biogen and FDA during the process that led to the approval of Aduhelm,' she wrote on Twitter on Friday [7/9/2021].

Toyota halting contributions to U.S. lawmakers who opposed Biden certification.  Toyota Motor Corp's political action committee will halt donations to U.S. members of Congress who voted against President Joe Biden's election certification in January, the company said on Thursday [7/8/2021].  The largest Japanese automaker has faced harsh criticism for donations to some lawmakers — members of then-President Donald Trump's Republican Party — who voted against certification of Biden's win in some U.S. states.  "We are actively listening to our stakeholders and, at this time, have decided to stop contributing to those members of Congress who contested the certification of certain states in the 2020 election," the company said.

If you'll make it a thousand, I'll think about it.
Tennessee to use taxpayer funds to pay tourists $250 to visit the state.  Tennessee will pay for tourists to travel to its largest cities this year — but some are questioning if the gift is the best use of taxpayer dollars.  Gov. Bill Lee (R) was joined by country music star Brad Paisley in a video promoting the "Tennessee on Me" initiative, although some top lawmakers said they were blindsided by the announcement, a report said.  "The state's buying all these airline tickets and giving 'em away to anybody who books two nights in a hotel room to come to Tennessee, so it's 'Tennessee on Me,'" Lee said in the spot, posted by Paisley to his Twitter on July 4.

Venezuela to Cut Six Zeroes Off Bolivar to Simplify Transactions.  Venezuela is preparing to once again lop off zeroes from the national currency in an attempt to simplify daily transactions which sometimes barely fit on a calculator or require swiping cards multiple times to complete a purchase.  The central bank is planning to slash six zeroes from the bolivar as early as August after previous attempts to issue larger-denomination bills failed to resolve problems created by endemic inflation, according to three people with direct knowledge of the matter who aren't authorized to speak publicly about the plans.  That means one dollar would fetch 3.2 bolivars instead of 3,219,000 at present.

Wikipedia has become a one-sided 'thought police' for liberals, cofounder warns.  Larry Sanger, the co-founder of Wikipedia, is warning that the online encyclopedia has become too one-sided and overloaded with liberal sources in a way that harms democracy.  "In short, and with few exceptions, only globalist, progressive mainstream sources — and sources friendly to globalist progressivism — are permitted," Sanger wrote on his website in an article last week headlined "Wikipedia is more one-sided than ever."  "It is not too far to say that Wikipedia, like many other deeply biased institutions of our brave new digital world, has made itself into a kind of thought police that has de facto shackled conservative viewpoints with which they disagree," he added.  "Democracy cannot thrive under such conditions:  I maintain that Wikipedia has become an opponent of vigorous democracy."

Allen West to challenge Greg Abbott in Republican primary for Texas governor.  Republican Allen West, the former Florida congressman and firebrand who rode into office on the tea party wave a decade ago, said Sunday that he will run for governor of Texas in a bid to again seize on restless anger from the right.  His odds are far longer this time around:  Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, who is up for a third term and may also be eyeing a 2024 presidential bid, has already locked up the endorsement of Donald Trump — whose voters West would need to have any shot at winning a GOP primary in Texas.

The Editor says...
Politically, Allen West is well to the right of Greg Abbott.  That's a good position from which to start a campaign.  If Governor Abbott had made any effort to fight county-level Covid-19 restrictions, and had removed all face mask requirements statewide about three months before he did, he would have no trouble getting re-elected and might have a slight chance at the White House.  But he didn't.  The state of Texas is run by Republicans, but you'd never know it.  The Republican Party platform and the Party's long list of "legislative priorities" were all completely ignored by Governor Abbott.

Vatican Indicts Cardinal And 9 Other Suspects On Embezzlement, Fraud.  A Vatican judge indicted a cardinal and 9 other suspects on charges of money laundering, fraud, and abuse of office Saturday, according to the Independent.  The suspects are accused of withholding millions of euros from the Holy See and investing money that was donated to the pope for charity work, the Independent reported.  Italian broker Gianluigi Torzi is accused of using 15 million euros that he withheld from the Vatican to invest in a London building in 2018.  Former Holy See official Cardinal Angelo Becciu was indicted for helping organize the investment when he was the Secretariat of State's chief of staff, according to Independent.

Stunning Fire in the Gulf of Mexico Burns Anti-Capitalists With Their Own Narrative.  [Tweets blaming the Pemex fire on capitalism]  Except there's a small problem with that argument, kids.  You just got burned with your own narrative.  The company behind this is Pemex, a Mexican-state controlled company that formed by nationalizing private companies in 1938.  Literally the opposite of "capitalism."  It's the state seizing the means of production.  Pemex also has a long history of "major industrial accidents at its facilities," according to Reuters.  Not to mention it also has a bad record of pollution, being named one of the top polluters in the world.  When the government seizes control, they run things the way government often runs anything — badly.  When there's no incentive to do things better (you know, that whole capitalism thing), you tend to get shoddy work.  So, these folks who wanted to gore capitalism just pointed out a great example of why socialism is bad.

Nine people are taken into custody after heavily-armed Moorish-Americans fled during traffic stop.  Massachusetts police have taken eleven 'armed and dangerous' men into custody after they fled from police during a traffic stop overnight.  A state trooper spotted the group — who claimed to be members of 'Rise of The Moors' — at the side of the Interstate-95 between Wakefield and Reading around 1.30 am Saturday [7/3/2021].  The men, who were dressed in tactical-style gear and armed with both pistols and rifles, refused to comply with orders to drop their weapons and ran into woodland by the side of the road.

Texas Soldier Who Shot BLM Protester Indicted On Murder Charge.  A Travis County grand jury has indicted an active-duty former Fort Hood Army sergeant on charges of murder, deadly conduct and aggravated assault in the 2020 shooting death of an armed Austin protester.  Perry, who was stationed at Fort Hood, was working for a ride-sharing company and just dropped off a customer when he turned onto a street filled with people protesting police brutality.  He stopped his car, honked, and seconds later, police said Perry drove his car into the crowd, The Texas Tribune reported.  But videos show that he was under attack contradictory to the police reports!  The man who defended himself against BLM rioters was indicted today a year after the incident is yet another example of how illegitimate our justice system is.  Army Sgt Daniel Perry was driving Uber when rioters mobbed his car and pointed a gun towards him[.]

Biden's America:  Ransomware Attack Paralyzes Networks of Hundreds of US Companies.  A ransomware attack paralyzed networks of more than 200 US companies on Friday [7/2/2021].  Hackers targeted software supplier Kaseya and penetrated cloud-service providers by going through its network management system.  Surprise, surprise, Russians are being blamed for this latest ransomware attack.

CBO sees supercharged recovery as pandemic dissipates, predicts severe inflation in coming months.  The U.S. economy will roar to life for the rest of this year and remain supercharged through 2022, the Congressional Budget Office said Thursday, though the analysts also warned Americans to expect inflation to rise "sharply" for several months.  The unemployment rate will fall to 4.6% at the end of this year and be back to pre-pandemic levels at some point next year, said CBO, delivering a glowing picture on the most politically important yardstick.  Americans who saved up during the pandemic are looking to spend, creating strong demand for goods and services.  Inventories aren't ready to handle that demand right now, thus the spike in inflation.  The analysts said supply and demand will even out quickly and inflation pressures will dissipate by the end of the year.

The new Air Force fitness test will feature walking instead of running and modified push-ups.  The Air Force raised some eyebrows on Monday when it announced upcoming changes to its physical training test that would allow airmen to choose their own adventure for demonstrating physical prowess.  The new test, which the service will begin to experiment with in January 2022, will allow airmen to choose between running, shuttle run sprints, and walking for the aerobic portion of the test.  Shuttle run sprints involve sprinting back and forth between two markers about 25 meters apart.  They could then choose between planks and sit-ups for the core strength measure.  And for the final portion of the test airmen would be allowed to choose between push-ups and raised-hand push-ups.

Executive Agency Defies [Texas] Legislature, Creates 'Equity' Office.  The Texas Department of State Health Services is using close to $45 million to create the Office of Health Equity Policy and Performance.  Purportedly, the office will work with state and local public health entities to address disparities in health outcomes in various demographics.  If this sounds familiar, it is because Democrat State Rep. Garnet Coleman (Houston) authored a bill during the 87th Legislative Session that would have created the Office of Health Equity within the Texas Department of Health and Human Services, which is an entity of the Texas Department of State Health Services.  The bill was included in the healthcare legislative priorities of Republican House Speaker Dade Phelan as a part of his "Healthy Families, Healthy Texas" legislative package announced in early April.

While Congress Dithers on Confederate Statues, China Builds 119 New ICBM Silos.  While House Democrats consider crucial decisions on such weighty issues as which statues of Southerners get removed from the Capitol, word emerged Thursday that the People's Republic of China has undertaken a massive construction project to dig and fortify more than 100 new silos to house ICBMs. Newly-released photos from the private commercial satellite company Planet appear to show upwards of 120 silos under construction spread over a vast swath of desert in northwestern China.  Experts at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies said the excavations appear capable of housing China's DF-41 ICBM, which can contain multiple warheads and be delivered to targets in excess of 9,000 miles distant.  Not to draw too fine a point here but, hello, a 9,000-plus mile range would cover the United States.

Satellite images show China building what appears to be over 100 new silos for its nuclear missiles, analysts say.  China appears to be building more than 100 new missile silos in the desert, according to an analysis of satellite imagery first reported by the Washington Post Wednesday.  Analyzing satellite images from Planet Labs, Jeffrey Lewis and Decker Eveleth, researchers at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, identified 119 apparent intercontinental ballistic missile silos under construction near Yumen in Gansu province.

Controversial crypto billionaire — dubbed 'the father of bitcoin toxicity' — drowns off Costa Rica aged 41 leaving a $2bn fortune.  The sudden death of 41-year-old Mircea Popescu, an early adopter of Bitcoin, has left cryptocurrency experts speculating on what will happen to the estimated $2 billion worth that he owned.  There has so far been no word on who has access to his digital assets, believed to be some of the largest in the world, fueling unconfirmed rumors that the fortune could be gone.  Popescu drowned Monday morning [6/29/2021] off the coast of Costa Rica near Playa Hermosa, according to local news reports.

Seventeen people injured as 'controlled' detonation of illegal fireworks by police in middle of Los Angeles neighborhood goes horrifically wrong.  Seventeen people have been injured in Los Angeles after a cache of homemade fireworks exploded as it was being destroyed by a bomb squad, damaging cars and smashing windows in homes.  Police called in a bomb squad on Wednesday evening [6/30/2021] after a tip led them to seize some 5,000 pounds of illegal home-made and China-manufactured pyrotechnics at about noon, police said.  LAPD Chief Michel Moore said three box trucks and a 53-foot trailer were brought in to load up the fireworks and move them to a safe location.  However, 'improvised explosives' also were found that were too dangerous to move.

Bomb Squad Truck Carrying Illegal Fireowrks Explodes In Los Angeles, Injuring 17.  A bomb squad truck carrying confiscated illegal fireworks exploded unexpectedly, blowing out windows and destroying nearby cars in a South Los Angeles neighborhood Wednesday night [6/30/2021].  According to the Los Angeles Police Department, the explosion happened in the 700 block of East 27th Street a little after 7:30 p.m.  The explosion left a total of 17 people hurt, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department.  Of the 17 people hurt, 16 were taken to the hospital with one declining the option of being transported.  [Video clip]

HK media erase their archives amid rising arrests.  Several online media outlets in Hong Kong took down opinion articles and videos from their websites or said they would move out of the city after one more columnist of the Apple Daily was arrested at the airport on Sunday [6/27/2021].  Stand News, a pro-democracy news outlet, said in a statement that it had temporarily removed commentaries written by its bloggers and readers from May this year and before until it had decided whether it was appropriate to publish them again.  It said it had decided to stop accepting monthly sponsorship from readers and to shelve older commentaries.  It added that it had enough money to run for another nine to 12 months and maintain its current editorial guidelines.

Ed Henry, Former Fox Anchor, Strikes Back at Fox News.  Do you recall the aphorism, "revenge is a dish best-served cold?" Former Fox News show host, Ed Henry, delivered a frosty plate filled with offal today — courtesy of his attorney, Ty Clevenger — to the senior executives running Fox News.  Henry is suing for defamation and the text of the complaint contains some stunning allegations:  [Details omitted for brevity, among other reasons.]  Ed Henry kept his mouth shut since his shameful firing and gathered a mountain of evidence.  The allegations presented in this complaint are, I am told by a source with direct knowledge of the case, just the tip of the iceberg.  There is a lot more damaging dirt that will emerge if this goes to court.  This lawsuit comes on the heels of Fox News shelling out $1 million dollars this week in a settlement with the New York City Commission on Human Rights.

New Yorkers [are being] Asked to Turn Off Electricity to Avoid Power Outages Amid Blistering Heat.  New York City residents were asked on Wednesday to limit their electricity usage to avoid power outages during the blistering heat wave.  "We're now experiencing a heat emergency, and we need people to take immediate action," Mayor Bill de Blasio said.  "Our electric system is dealing with real strains right now because of the severity of heat that we are experiencing today."  De Blasio continued, "We have a real challenge on our hands.  So here's the message to all New Yorkers: immediately reduce the use of electricity in your home or in your business.  This is very serious stuff.["]

The Editor says...
Conservation is not an energy source.  The solution to excessive demand is increased production capacity.

Leftists Outraged After Popular British Influencer Comes Out As 'Transracial' Korean.  A British-born influencer announced this week that he is coming out as "transracial" and is now Korean.  In a series of videos he began sharing on June 26, Oli London, who boasts more than 300,000 followers on Instagram, revealed that he has had more than 18 plastic surgeries in order to become Korean and look like BTS singer, Park Ji-min.  "Hey guys!  I'm finally Korean.  I've transitioned," London said in a video posted Monday [6/28/2021] to Twitter.  "I identify as Korean — that's just my culture, that's my home country, that's exactly how I look now," he added.  London also claimed he's been "trapped in the wrong body for eight years."

The Editor says...
I have a few questions:  Is Korea really his home country?  North or South?  Has he ever lived there?  Was he born there?  Was anything other than his face altered through surgery?  How is this any less offensive than applying black face paint and claiming to be African?

After 18 plastic surgeries this British dude is "coming out as Korean" and we live in a bad sitcom.  This British bloke has had 18 (!!!) plastic surgeries so he can "finally be himself."  He is now a "transracial" "Korean" and if you say otherwise you are a HORRIBLE BIGOT!  [Video clip]

The Editor says...
Free advice for the delusional freak with too much money:  Move to Korea (South or North) and see how well your new look is received.

Jamaal Bowman requested special police protection for his Yonkers home.  Freshman U.S. Rep. Jamaal Bowman — a champion of defunding cops who claims policing is rife with "white supremacy" — asked for and received a special police detail to guard his Yonkers home in the days following the Jan. 6 Capitol Hill insurrection, The Post has learned.  "About a week after the Jan. 6th incident at the Capitol, we received a request from the Congressman's office for increased police presence at his residence," Yonkers Police Department Detective Lt. Dean Politopoulos told The [New York] Post.  "In response, our Intelligence Unit was notified of the request and the local precinct instituted what is called a directed patrol at the Congressman's home for the next two weeks," Politopoulos said.  Politopoulos said police have not detected anything unusual in Bowman's area for the last several years.

How Putin uses gas to win allies and punish enemies.  The recent US-Russia summit between Presidents Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin suggests that a controversial Russian natural gas pipeline, Nord Stream 2, is a done deal.  If completed as planned by the end of this year, Nord Stream 2 will convey 55 billion cubic meters of gas per year from Russia to Germany via the Baltic Sea and thence to the rest of Europe.  It is expected to bring US$3.2 billion to Russia annually.  Construction had been halted for over a year by US sanctions passed in 2019 on the pipeline's construction and financing.  Sanctions were later expanded in 2020.

Outgoing US envoy to Syria says he hid true number of troops from Trump team.  Veteran diplomat James Jeffrey, the outgoing US special representative in Syria, reportedly said he and his team were deliberately ambiguous in communications with senior Trump administration officials about the number of American troops in Syria.  President Donald Trump ordered withdrawals of US troops from northeast Syria, where they partnered with Kurdish forces to oppose the Islamic State, in 2018 and in October 2019, saying that the terror group had been defeated.  The withdrawal of the American soldiers was seen as a major shift in US policy, and a betrayal of the Kurds — longtime, close allies to the US whose territory was invaded by Turkey shortly after the US withdrawal.

Israel's High-Powered Laser System A 'Breakthrough'.  Israel has just completed tests of its new high-power laser system that, installed on a civilian aircraft, can shoot down drones.  It promises to be what is called a game-changer. [...] The lasers can cover a much wider area and lock onto, and then destroy, unmanned vehicles passing through that area.  The cost of firing a laser beam for an interception will cost around $2000.  Meanwhile, the price of launching an Iron Dome interception missile is between $40,000 and $60,000.  Consider how may tens of millions of dollars the IDF spent on Iron Dome missiles in the recent war against Hamas; Hamas aimed 4300 not-very-expensive rockets at Israel; about 600 fell short, leaving 3700 that entered Israeli airspace; Iron Dome missiles managed to intercept 90%.

BofA Crashes The "Transitory" Party:  Sees Up To 4 Years Of "Hyperinflation".  BofA chief equity strategist Savita Subramanian summarized the current state of affairs as follows:  "On an absolute basis, [inflation] mentions skyrocketed to near record highs from 2011, pointing to at the very least, "transitory" hyper-inflation ahead."  [Video clip] [...] While the Fed has bet what little credibility it has left on the benign meaning of "transitory" in setting its monetary policy (no rate hikes until 2023 by which point inflation will be in the double digits) and today's UMichigan commentary echoed the Fed's cheerful sentiment, predicting that soaring inflation won't last long, with Consumer Survey economist Richard Curtin writing that "year-ahead inflation expectations fall slightly to 4.2% in June from May's decade peak of 4.6%, [as] consumers believed that the price surges will mostly be temporary", one of the most respected Bank of America strategists just crashed the "transitory" party, and in a note published today, BofA Chief Investment Strategist Michael Hartnett wrote that, far from transitory, soaring US prices may last up to 4 years.

Groundbreaking decision:  Texas Supreme Court rules against Facebook in teen sex trafficking lawsuits.  The Texas Supreme Court ruled Friday [6/26/2021] that Facebook can be held liable for sex traffickers who use the social media platform to recruit and prey on children.  The court ruled in favor of three Houston civil actions involving teenage sex trafficking victims.  All three victims said they met their traffickers through Facebook's messaging functions.

Trump-appointed judges obstruct Biden 'pen and phone' policies just months into term.  Judges appointed by former President Trump have stymied President Biden's policies on multiple fronts in the early months of the new administration, taking what experts say is a less "deferential" approach to executive power as judges appointed by past presidents.  "What you're seeing is that 'pen and phone' initiatives are running into legal trouble right off the bat," Ilya Shapiro, the vice president and director of the libertarian Cato Institute's Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies, told Fox News.  "Trump appointed a lot of judges — more than anyone in one term than Jimmy Carter, for whom Congress created 152 new judgeships to fill — and these folks aren't as deferential to executive power as past Republican-appointed judges might have been."

Report finds UFOs may be security risk, have no 'single explanation'.  A long-awaited US government report on UFO sightings released Friday was largely inconclusive, describing the more than 140 strange objects seen by military personnel across the nation as a threat to flight safety and possibly national security, but adding that there was no "single explanation" for their appearance.  The nine-page public report from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) said the lack of "high-quality reporting ... hampers our ability to draw firm conclusions about the nature or intent" of the unidentified objects, but concluded they were likely physical in nature since they were picked up on radar and other sensors.

The Editor says...
The more you hear about UFOs in the news, the closer you need to look for important developments that the news media is covering up.  The UFO stories are just a diversion.

Pentagon: The UFOs are real and they're spectacular.  After six months of anticipation, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence released its unclassified report on the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force's assessment of UFOs seen in and around restricted airspace and military facilities.  (You can download and read the report here.  It's only nine pages, some of which is just boilerplate.)  A second, classified report which is believed to be much longer and containing far "juicier" material was also delivered to Congress.  The White House has also been briefed on the report. [...] So, assuming you're convinced that the government is telling the truth about all of this (a big assumption, I know), we've learned that the UFOs are real.  They're not ours and they're almost certainly not the property of one of our adversaries.  And some of them do things that they just shouldn't be able to do based on our understanding of the laws of physics.

UFO report:  US 'has no explanation' for sightings.  The US government has said it has no explanation for dozens of unidentified flying objects seen by military pilots.  A Pentagon report released on Friday says of 144 reports made about the phenomena since 2004, all but one remain unexplained.  It does not rule out the possibility that the objects are extra-terrestrial.  Congress demanded the report after the US military reported numerous instance of objects seen moving erratically in the sky.  The Pentagon then established the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force last August to look into the reports.

FAA group urges move to gender-neutral terms, no more 'airman' or 'cockpit'.  A Federal Aviation Administration advisory group is urging the agency to replace words like "airman" and "cockpit" with gender-neutral terms like "aviator" and "flight deck."  The FAA's Drone Advisory Committee put forth the recommendations in a report released Wednesday [6/23/2021], part of a broader push for equity in the agency and aviation industry.  "Research shows that the utilization of gender-neutral language can lead to a more inclusive environment that draws more people to the industry and helps keep them there," the report states.  The committee offered several alternatives for terms commonly used in the industry, such as using "manufactured" or "fabricated" instead of "man-made."

Technocrats Want Us to Pray to Machines.  Last April, as Covid restrictions were being lifted, Robert Jones at PRRI discovered Facebook had quietly rolled out a "prayer posting" feature for its religious users.  As Gizmodo reported on June 3, the platform now provides a "pray" button to click whenever a prayer request is posted to a faith-based group.  It's analogous to the vapid "like" icon, except the "pray" button is supposedly directed heavenward. [...] A Facebook spokesperson explained, "During the COVID-19 pandemic we've seen many faith and spirituality communities using our services to connect, so we're starting to explore new tools to support them."  A more accurate statement would be "We're exploring new tools to probe and manipulate our users."

How the Mormon Church Beat Bill Gates in a Battle Over Farmland.  On Friday [6/18/2021], a showdown between two of the largest agricultural landowners in the United States — the Church of Latter-Day Saints and Bill Gates' wealth management firm — came to a head when the Mormons beat out the mogul on a bid for 12,000 acres of Eastern Washington farmland that was once at the center of a $244 million "ghost cattle" fraud locals have dubbed "Cattlegate."  The land in question lies on the mighty Columbia River, the fourth-largest river in the United States and one central to the region's culture and economy for thousands of years:  fishing, transportation, and power generation are essential uses to this day.  The Columbia also provides agricultural landowners an important and dwindling asset:  water rights, and for those with anxiety over the coming climate crisis, access to a seemingly infinite supply of fresh water is worth fighting for.

New Polling Shows Majority of Americans Know Exactly Why Inflation Is Rising.  Inflation is on the run at rates the United States hasn't seen since 1992, and consumer prices in May 2021 were up five percent over May 2020.  Americans are paying attention as they experience price surges on basic and essential goods.  [Tweets]  Now, new polling from Echelon Insights shows the federal government is being held responsible for the problem as politicians in Washington, D.C., keep printing money for excessive spending.  [More tweets]

Collapsed Florida condo was sinking for decades, researcher says.  The Florida apartment building that partially collapsed on Thursday had been reportedly sinking for decades — and was undergoing a structural inspection, according to officials and a research study.  The 12-story beachfront condo in Miami-Dade County was built in 1981 — and had been sinking into the ground since the 1990s, according to a 2020 study conducted by Shimon Wdowinski, a professor at Florida International University. [...] Wdowinski's research focused on which parts of Miami were sinking, in an effort to determine what areas could be most impacted by sea-level rise and coastal flooding.

New York Supreme Court Suspends Rudy Giuliani's Law License.  [Scroll down]  Giuliani, who was admitted to the New York state bar in 1969, previously had a prominent legal career, having worked in the Department of Justice during the 1980s.  He was named as U.S. Attorney in Manhattan in 1983.  Years later, he was elected mayor of New York and served in that capacity for eight years.  Giuliani rose to national prominence for his leadership during and after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks targeting the World Trade Center in Manhattan.  Aside from the state Supreme Court's ruling, Giuliani also could face a potential criminal investigation, after a federal judge appointed a special watchdog to review material that was recently seized from him.  The watchdog, former federal Judge Barbara Jones, will determine what electronic files can be seen by prosecutors and what material should be exempt.

Florida Makes Sure Schools Teach Evils of Communism, Totalitarianism.  Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, recently signed legislation prohibiting critical race theory from being taught in the state's schools.  DeSantis followed Tuesday by signing into law three bills that further address education.  One of the new laws will create a survey to provide a look at viewpoint diversity on Florida's college campuses, as well as add protections for students' free speech.  Another requires that applicants pass a civics test to enter Florida's public universities.  The third bill will require public K-12 schools to teach students about communism, totalitarianism, and other political systems that "conflict with the principles of freedom and democracy essential to the founding principles of the United States."  At a press conference Tuesday [6/22/2021] after signing the bills, DeSantis explained why it's so important that citizens not only learn about civics but also the evils of truly oppressive regimes.

Satanists, Planned Parenthood and More: 216 Crazy AmazonSmile Charities.  From Planned Parenthood to Satanism, AmazonSmile encourages shoppers to donate to some extreme charities — at least 216 different groups.  But multiple prominent conservative groups aren't even allowed to participate.  Amazon, which is on track to be America's largest retailer next year, launched its charity program AmazonSmile in 2013.  The company has banned multiple conservative organizations since then, because it relies on the anti-conservative Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) to decide what groups qualify for the program.  WORLD News Group reported in 2020 that "Liberty Counsel, Family Research Council (FRC) and the American College of Pediatricians" are not allowed on Amazon Smile.  Alliance Defending Freedom was reportedly removed from the site as well.  Meanwhile, Planned Parenthood, Black Lives Matter, and The Satanic Temple are all free to collect donations from the program.

DeSantis Signs Bill Requiring High School Students Learn 'Evils Of Communism And Totalitarian Ideologies'.  Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill on Tuesday requiring high school students to learn about the evils of communist ideologies.  During a press conference at Three Oaks Middle School in Fort Myers, Florida, DeSantis signed three education bills designed to foster civic literacy in schools.  "It's crucial to ensure that we teach our students how to be responsible citizens," DeSantis said during the press conference.  "They need to have a good working knowledge of American history, American government and the principles that underline our Constitution and Bill of Rights."

Curtis Sliwa cruises to easy win over Mateo in Republican primary for NYC mayor.  Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa cruised to a big victory as the Republican nominee for mayor, handily defeating rival Fernando Mateo following a feisty and entertaining primary fight, according to Board of Election returns released Tuesday night [6/22/2021].  "Curtis won and we want to unite the Republican Party and we hope Fernando Mateo will join us," Sliwa senior campaign adviser Rob Cole told the [New York] Post.  It was a rout.  Sliwa captured 68.8 percent or 34,758 of the Republican votes to 27 percent or 13,655 votes for Mateo, a restaurateur who advocates for bodega owners and taxi drivers.  More than 95 percent of the precincts were reporting.

It's Beginning to Look Like Enemy Action.  Dong Jingwei is a Chinese defector working with the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA).  He served as Vice Minister of State Security in the Chinese Ministry of Defense.  Before defecting, he was responsible for the counterintelligence efforts in China.  He was in a position to know about all things "espionage" in China and is perhaps the highest-level Chinese defector the U.S. has ever had.  Even though the legacy media is playing it down, this is a big deal.  It speaks volumes that the man who knows the identity of all the Chinese spies in our country chose to defect to the DIA and only the DIA.  Further, it's reported that the DIA is not sharing the information it's receiving with the FBI or CIA.  Now why would that be?

Video Allegedly Shows That There Are Currently No Flags Flying At The Pentagon.  At the beginning of the month, the Pentagon confirmed that they will not allow rainbow pride flags to fly at military facilities in celebration of Pride Month.  That fell in line with the Pentagon's 2020 decision to permit only certain flags at Department of Defense installations.  Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby told reporters the DOD chose not to make an exception to the existing flag policy after careful consideration.  Along with the American flag, the current policy implemented under the Trump administration authorizes flags representing states and U.S. territories, military services, prisoners of war and missing in action, national flags of U.S. allies and a handful of others.  But a video that surfaced on Telegram this morning shows that there are no U.S. flags either.

eBay Bans Dr. Seuss, Allows Hezbollah.  Words and images that offend someone are just like violence.  At least that's the modern safetyism argument.  But the symbols of an Islamic terrorist organization are the symbol of someone else's freedom fighter.  eBay is very careful to keep the marketplace safe from things that might offend crybullies. [...] There's no room for And To Think I Saw It On Mulberry Street on eBay.  Hezbollah though is another matter, [...]

Biden Breaks the Record on Wealth Transfers: $4.9 Trillion.  The Democrats' new favorite term is "human infrastructure," which pretty much means anything they want to spend money on.  That raises the question:  Just how much does the government spend on "human infrastructure" today?  Turns out, it's an eye-popping $4.9 trillion this year alone — a new record.  Buried in President Joe Biden's 2022 budget is a document called Historical Tables, which breaks down annual federal revenues and spending in a variety of ways.  One of the tables in this document tracks what the government calls "direct payments to individuals."  These payments, mind you, don't count salaries paid to federal employees or the cost of buying equipment.  It's just what the name states — direct money transfers.

The Editor says...
This is the kind of information that was once published in the Statistical Abstract of the United States, before Barack H. Obama terminated the collection of this data in 2011, because it was starting to make him look bad.

US Navy Releases INSANE Footage Of The Detonation Of A 40k Pound Bomb That Caused A 3.4 Mag Earthquake In Florida.  The US Navy has released a jaw-dropping video that shows the moment a bomb exploded in the middle of the ocean, triggering an earthquake 100 miles away.  The footage shows the 40,000 lb bomb exploding in "full ship shock trials" where they are testing the effects such a device has on Navy ships.  The explosion caused a 3.9 magnitude earthquake roughly 100 miles away in Daytona Beach, Florida, a phenomenon that is not unusual during such trials.  [Video clip]

Abbott defunds the entire Texas state legislature.  Governor Abbott threatened to defund the Texas Legislature after Texas Democrats walked out of the legislative session rather than take a vote on election reform laws.  When they broke quorum and shut down the session, Abbott said that if legislators weren't going to do their jobs, they shouldn't be paid.  Friday [6/18/2021] Abbott made good on that threat.

A star is born:
Guy does a Perfect impression of a "Trump GPS".  [Video clip]  I would pay to have this impression installed on my GPS or Google/Apple Maps.  At the very least, I need this guy to make more of these vids to save the internet.

Outrage Erupts After Israeli Food Truck Uninvited from Philadelphia Event.  A food truck festival planned for Philadelphia's Kensington neighborhood was cancelled Sunday [6/20/2021] after outrage when a Israeli food truck was uninvited to the event.  The Israeli food truck, Moshava Philly, said in an Instagram post that they were asked not to come to Sunday's "The Taste of Home" event after organizers, Eat Up the Borders and Sunflower Philly, heard there could be protests over its inclusion.  "We were really hoping that the organizers ... would step up to the plate and defend local, small and immigrant based businesses, no matter where they are from ... but by the looks of it fear, violence, and intimidation got the best of them," one Instagram post read.

The Editor says...
[#1] If an meeting, a gathering, or a ceremony is planned, certain parties may be invited.  When someone was invited originally, but the invitation is subsequently withdrawn, that person is said to be disinvited.  If they show up anyway, or they were never welcome in the first place, they arrive uninvited.  [#2] The event had to be canceled because the organizers couldn't bear the presence of one particular vendor.  One might easily presume that these organizers are some of the same people who constantly tout diversity and inclusion.

That high level Chinese defector's 'embarrassing and damaging information about our intelligence community'.  The defector's name is Dong Jingwei and he's the vice minister of State Security.  He knows where all the bodies are buried, both in China and, I'm sorry to say, in America.  According to Spy Talk, Dong "was responsible for the Ministry's counterintelligence efforts in China, i.e., spy-catching, since being promoted to vice minister in April 2018."  Spy Talk also reports that China demanded Dong's return, but Blinken said no.  Interestingly, the weak, woke Blinken didn't say "no" as a matter of principle.  Instead, he took a stand only because the DIA hadn't told the administration about Dong's existence.  That tells you about how little the DIA trusts the Biden administration.

8 Million Face Foreclosure or Eviction Beginning July 1 — Economic Recovery Is About to Crash.  This issue has been lurking in the background for months.  Where I live, there are almost no homes on the market for rent.  The inventory of the number of homes for sale is at record lows, and when combined with historically low home mortgage rates, the prices at which homes are selling have gone through the roof.  There are no homes for rent because landlords have been unable to evict tenants for non-payment of rent for a year or more, depending on where you live.  The federal government — based on dubious legal authority — imposed an eviction "moratorium" during the pandemic, allowing renters to stop paying their rent safe in the knowledge that their landlords couldn't do anything about it.

NYC prosecutor working remote from Oklahoma refuses to come back.  A veteran Brooklyn prosecutor has been working remotely in Oklahoma amid the court system's coronavirus closure — and was told to resign because she refuses to return to New York, The [New York] Post has learned.  Senior Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Nasar relocated to the Sooner State after her husband, former Manhattan prosecutor David Nasar, landed a job with the US Attorney's Office in Tulsa last year.  In late October, the couple bought a newly built, $413,000 house in suburban Jenks, official online property records show.

Many Companies Want Remote Workers — Except From Colorado.  Big companies are hiring for remote positions that can be performed in any state across the U.S. except one:  Colorado.  At issue is a new Colorado law that requires companies with even a few employees in the state to disclose the expected salary or pay range for each open role they advertise, including remote positions.  The rule's aim is to narrow gender wage gaps and provide greater pay transparency for employees.  To avoid having to disclose that information, though, some employers seeking remote workers nationwide are saying that those living in Colorado need not apply.

Petition to Remove Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.  No institution in America — from government offices to schoolrooms to corporate boardrooms and beyond — is safe today from the divisive racism of Critical Race Theory and the "1619 Project," both of which posit that United States history is rooted in slavery and white supremacy, and that "whiteness" is an incurable disease.  The institution whose subversion poses the greatest threat to our national security is the U.S. military, whose head is Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.  General Austin is a determined advocate of these repulsive anti-American views.  As Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin has incorporated both Critical Race Theory and the 1619 Project as core elements of the Pentagon's military training programs, under the guise of "Diversity, Equity and Inclusion."  He has further ordered a purging of the military ranks of what he calls "extremists," defined as opponents of these noxious views and supporters of former president Donald Trump.  The consequence of dividing our troops by race and gender, and regarding one community of Americans as oppressors and beneficiaries of race and gender-based privileges is a direct threat to unit cohesion and military morale, the core elements of an effective military force.

Most of them weren't going to accomplish anything on Friday anyway.  Might as well pay them to stay home.
Federal workers get surprise Friday off thanks to new Juneteenth holiday.  The White House announced Thursday [6/17/2021] that most federal workers will have Friday off due to the new Juneteenth federal holiday, which President Biden will sign into law Thursday afternoon.  White House chief of staff Ron Klain announced the surprise three-day weekend on Twitter.  "Today [Biden] will sign the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act, establishing June 19th as a federal holiday.  As the 19th falls on a Saturday, most federal employees will observe the holiday tomorrow, June 18th," Klain tweeted.

Major Australian Banks, US Airlines Hit by Widespread Internet Outages.  Websites of dozens of financial institutions and airlines in Australia and the United States were briefly hit by an internet outage on Thursday, after a second major blackout in little more than a week.  The Australian outage, which also affected the country's central bank, was caused by glitches on the servers of Akamai, an operator of content delivery network (CDN) services used in speeding up the delivery of data-heavy content, videos and games to web pages.  The impacted platform is now up and running, an Akamai spokesperson said, adding that the company was "continuing to validate services".  Akamai, one of the largest providers of CDN services, competes with Fastly, Cloudera and Amazon's AWS.

"Omission of any rational basis": Federal judge strikes down Biden oil-lease ban.  It's "a blow to climate change activists," CBS News helpfully explains in its headline.  According to federal judge Terry Doughty, it's a blow for the rule of law.  Doughty issued a restraining order blocking Joe Biden's executive order suspending the issuance of gas and oil leases, an order that applies nationwide, ruling that Biden failed to follow the law in imposing this policy.  The problem is not just the rule of law, Doughty ruled, but also the lack of any rational basis for the decision: [...] Twelve states had joined Louisiana in challenging Biden's EO.  Doughty ruled that they had "reliance interests" on federal law that could run into billions of dollars of lost revenue for their economies.  Presidents can't just arbitrarily upend legal access to public lands, regardless of the purpose, especially given the stakes involved, Doughty ruled.

Louisiana federal judge rules that Biden ban on new oil leases must be lifted.  A Louisiana federal judge ruled the ban on new oil leases on U.S. lands and waters put in place by President Joe Biden's administration must be lifted nationwide.  Judge Terry Doughty of the Western District Court of Louisiana on Tuesday sided with 13 conservative states, including Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry, in saying the pause on drilling should be lifted.  President Joe Biden halted lease sales on federal lands and waters with an executive order in January.  Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah and West Virginia joined Louisiana in the suit.

Texans Are Getting Blackout Warnings in June.  Why?  Texans have been unpleasantly surprised with blackout and usage warnings from ERCOT this week.  That's the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which was no one's friend during the great freeze back in February.  Its rolling blackouts left Texans alternately freezing and fuming but not quite enough of the latter to keep our homes warm. [...] Now it's June, which we know will be hot, but we also know we're not yet at the peak of a Texas summer.  It's hitting the low 90s now.  It will top 100 in July and August.  This is an immutable fact of life, at least where I am in central Texas.  It's Texas.  It gets hot.  Hopefully, it'll at least burn up the mosquitoes outside.  But we need A/C inside or we'll all be living in saunas.

2 Nevada Counties Go 'Constitutional'.  Elected commissioners in two Nevada counties declared that the Bill of Rights will be upheld in their jurisdictions, even if it means standing against unconstitutional acts by state and federal authorities.  According to a resolution approved in Elko County on June 2, abuse of the constitutionally protected rights of citizens in Elko and Lander counties will be "dealt with as criminal activity."  Officials in Lander County approved a similar effort.  Under the leadership of constitutionally minded sheriffs and elected commissioners, the two rural counties in Nevada decided to become "constitutional counties" where the rights of citizens will be protected from all attacks.  That means local authorities intend to uphold the entire Bill of Rights in those jurisdictions, and that even federal and state officials must comply with the U.S. Constitution there, they said.

Germany and Italy Block G7 Condemnation of Chinese Slave Labour.  German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, along with EU leaders have reportedly blocked efforts by the G7 to issue a joint statement condemning alleged forced slave labour in the Chinese province of Xinjiang.  EU officials have reportedly expressed the opinion that the West should focus on corporation with China instead of adversarial elements.  Meanwhile, the United States along with Japan, Canada, the UK, and France supported the effort to call out the alleged slave labour.  France was the only EU member-state in the block that did not side with the EU on the issue.  EU leaders Ursula von der Leyen (herself a former German cabinet member) and Charles Michel (of Belgium) led the effort to oppose the measure.  The final version of the G7 communiqué read:  "we are concerned about the use of all forms of forced labour in global supply chains, including state-sponsored forced labor of vulnerable groups and minorities, including in the agricultural, solar, and garment sectors," with no mention of China in particular.

Try This One Weird Trick Russian Hackers Hate.  Possibly feeling the heat from being referenced in President Biden's Executive Order on cybersecurity this past week, the DarkSide group sought to distance itself from their attack against Colonial Pipeline.  In a message posted to its victim shaming blog, DarkSide tried to say it was "apolitical" and that it didn't wish to participate in geopolitics.  "Our goal is to make money, and not creating problems for society," the DarkSide criminals wrote last week.  "From today we introduce moderation and check each company that our partners want to encrypt to avoid social consequences in the future."  But here's the thing:  Digital extortion gangs like DarkSide take great care to make their entire platforms geopolitical, because their malware is engineered to work only in certain parts of the world.  DarkSide, like a great many other malware strains, has a hard-coded do-not-install list of countries which are the principal members of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) — former Soviet satellites that mostly have favorable relations with the Kremlin.

Apple, Amazon, Nike, [are] criticized for using Chinese forced labor.  American companies, including Amazon.com, Apple and Nike, came under fire by a U.S. Senator on Thursday [6/10/2021] for disregarding forced labour allegations in China and making American consumers complicit in Beijing's alleged repressive policies.  Speaking at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on China's crackdown on Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang region, Republican Senator Marco Rubio accused many U.S. companies of "profiting" from the Chinese government's abuses.  "For far too long, companies like Nike and Apple and Amazon and Coca-Cola were using forced labor.  They were benefiting from forced labor or sourcing from suppliers that were suspected of using forced labor," Rubio said.  "These companies, sadly, were making all of us complicit in these crimes."

Arizona Reverting to the Wild West as Cattle Rustling [is] Allowed to Thrive.  Arizona used to have some of the best livestock laws in the nation.  Now, the cattle ranching industry is being torn apart due to a dismantling of the successful laws and regulations that used to prevent cattle theft.  Close to 3,000 head of cattle have been stolen from at least 32 people in the last few years.  Thieves brazenly stole over 100 cows with calves from well-known attorney and judge Tom Kelly in Yavapai County.  Cowboys who once made a good living raising and selling cattle are finding substantial portions of their herds decimated, and when they complain to authorities, no one is ever arrested.  Instead, they get attacked and the investigations go nowhere.  Although Arizona is mostly a red state, it has an extensive history of corruption in government.  Powerful players including RINOs control many elected officials.  Under Governor Doug Ducey, a lot of corruption has been ignored and swept under the rug, making conservatives and honest people furious with him.  Cattle ranchers say there are important people in Phoenix behind the cattle rustling.

Man, 69, who continued to receive food stamps after $2 million lottery win is found dead in Michigan river.  A Michigan man who made headlines after he continued to collect food stamps despite winning the lottery has been found dead in a river.  Police recovered the body of 69-year-old Leroy Fick from the Tittabawassee River on June 5.  While the Midland Police Department has not publicly disclosed Fick's cause of death, they said the circumstances surrounding the 69-year-old's death do not appear to be suspicious, Mlive.com reported.

Organs on Demand:  China's Transplant Industry.  For years, China's organ transplant industry has been matching patients with organs at speeds unimaginable in the West — in some cases, producing four hearts in 10 days, or two livers in just 24 hours.  Damon Noto, spokesman for Doctors Against Forced Organ Harvesting, said:  "So how are they able to have this 'on-demand' transplant system that's capable of extremely short times?  The only way they can be doing this is if they have another source of living donors that are available on demand."  "So they become anonymous prisoners of conscience, and that makes them extremely vulnerable because they can disappear at any time without a trace," said Torsen Trey, executive director of Doctors Against Forced Organ Harvesting.

Pentagon whistleblowers:  Troops segregated for 'privilege walks,' critical-race theory reading lists.  Sen. Tom Cotton revealed several whistleblower complaints from service members who objected to critical-race theory indoctrination in the military, including airmen being divide race into groups for "privilege walks."  The service members also spoke out against receiving reading lists of critical race theory books as part of the Pentagon's new anti-extremism and diversity training within the ranks.  Mr. Cotton, Arkansas Republican, received the complaints after launching a whistleblower site in late May in partnership with Rep. Dan Crenshaw, Texas Republican.

Tom Cotton asks Lloyd Austin if military is a 'fundamentally racist organization'.  Sen. Tom Cotton and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had a heated exchange during a hearing this week over the military going "woke" through Defense Department efforts to address "extremism" within its ranks, with the senator asking bluntly if the United States military is a "fundamentally racist organization."  The intense back-and-forth occurred while Austin was testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday [6/10/2021].  The Arkansas Republican, who recently set up a whistleblower campaign for members of the armed forces to expose extremist training programs, began by noting that his office had received "hundreds" of complaints thus far.

GOP Rep. Byron Donalds says Congressional Black Caucus keeping him out.  A black GOP lawmaker in the House of Representatives says the Congressional Black Caucus has declined his efforts to become a member.  In a statement to The [New York] Post on Thursday [6/10/2021], Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) expressed his disappointment about being excluded from the CBC, which inducted other freshman lawmakers into the group six months ago.  "The Congressional Black Caucus has a stated commitment to ensuring Black Americans have the opportunity to achieve the American Dream," the 42-year-old lawmaker, who represents the Naples area, began.  "As a newly elected Black Member of Congress, my political party should not exempt me from a seat at the table dedicated to achieving this goal.  As a young Black man who grew up in the inner city of Brooklyn in a single-parent household, my achieving of the American Dream would be a valued addition to the CBC and one that should transcend politics."

Cotton presses defense secretary on 'anti-American indoctrination' as Austin defends diversity push.  Sen. Tom Cotton told Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin his office has received "hundreds" of whistleblower complaints about the military's new diversity and inclusion training, which he says amounts to "anti-American indoctrination."  Cotton, R-Ark., has aggressively fought back against such training.  In March, he introduced legislation to ban critical race theory training from the military.  He and Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, set up a website for whistleblower complaints to be directed to them earlier this month.  Cotton said he'd seen reports of "plummeting morale, growing mistrust between races and sexes where none existed just six months ago and unexpected retirements and separations based on these trainings alone."

Here We Go Again:  JBS "Paid" "Russian" "Hackers" $11 Million In Bitcoin To Resolve "Ransomware" Attack.  There was a moment of sheer hilarity earlier today [6/10/2021] when, during a Congressional Hearing, the CEO of Colonial Pipeline Joseph Blount took the merely farcical episode of the Colonial Pipeline ransomware hack — when, as a reminder, a ragtag band of elite "Russian" hackers somehow managed to penetrate the company's cyberdefenses but was so stupid it left most if not all of the $4.4 million bitcoins it demanded in ransom in an easily traceable address for the FBI to track down and magically confiscate (it is still unclear how the Feds got the private key to access the "hackers" digital wallet) in days if not hours — and elevated it to a level of sheer ridiculous absurdity when he told Congress that he didn't consult the FBI before paying the ransom.  This, pardon the parlance of our times, is [nonsense]:  either the CEO is lying or, worse, he is telling the truth and as some have speculated, he, the FBI and the "hackers" are all in on this so-called ransomware breach...

Suspect Identified After Posting Pic of His Hand Holding Cheese.  In 2019, I told audiences at a few conferences that we would eventually see persons identified via their fingerprints without them having touched anything, or even having been at a specific physical location.  At the time I acknowledged that some would marvel at the ingenuity while others would cringe at the privacy implications.  A man in the U.K. who shared a photo of his hand holding a block of cheese was sentenced to over 13 years in prison when police used the image to link his fingerprints to a criminal investigation.

A rogue killer drone 'hunted down' a human target without being instructed to, UN report says.  A "lethal" weaponized drone "hunted down a human target" without being told to, likely for the first time, according to a UN report seen by the New Scientist.  In the March 2020 incident, a Kargu-2 quadcopter autonomously attacked a person during a conflict between Libyan government forces and a breakaway military faction, led by the Libyan National Army's Khalifa Haftar, the Daily Star reported.  The Turkish-built Kargu-2, a deadly attack drone designed for asymmetric warfare and anti-terrorist operations, targeted one of Haftar's soldiers while he tried to retreat, according to the paper.

Scientists discover potentially dangerous metals in brains of Alzheimer's patients.  Scientists have discovered particles of copper and iron in the brains of deceased Alzheimer's patients, a discovery that could lead to new treatments for the disease.  In an article in the journal Science Advances, researchers from Keele University and the University of Warwick in the United Kingdom found traces of the elemental forms of copper and iron in amyloid plaque, proteins that form in the brains of Alzheimer's patients.  Copper and iron are found naturally in the human body but are usually in an oxidized form.  In an elemental form, the metals can produce unstable atoms, which are harmful to the brain.

U.S. recovers $2.3 million in ransom paid to Colonial Pipeline hackers.  The federal government has recovered millions of dollars in cryptocurrency paid in ransom to cybercriminals whose attack prompted the shutdown of the country's largest fuel pipeline and gas shortages across the southeastern U.S. last month, the Department of Justice announced Monday [6/7/2021].  On May 8, Colonial Pipeline paid a ransom worth roughly $4.3 million in bitcoin to the Russia-based hacking group known as DarkSide, which had used malicious software to hold the company hostage.  Colonial Pipeline CEO Joseph Blount told The Wall Street Journal that the company paid the pricey ransom because the company feared a prolonged shutdown and did not know how long it would take to restore operations.

DOJ Says it Seized $2.3 Million in Bitcoin from Colonial Pipeline Hackers.  Sketchy doesn't begin to describe this DOJ narrative.  According to their press release the DOJ seized 63.7 Bitcoin (digital currency) through accessing a server in North Carolina used to enter the Bitcoin wallet password of the original hackers.  However, the DOJ still claims the "hackers" were sophisticated Russian operatives.  Meaning the "Russian Hackers" were so sophisticated they could hack a major gas pipeline, but not sophisticated enough to protect their wallet and hosted it online on a US based server? [...] Doesn't this seem like either the private key wasn't private, or the FBI was the original hacker of the pipeline?

Energy secretary says enemies are capable of shutting down US power grid.  Adversaries to the US are capable of shutting down the nation's electrical grid, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm admitted Sunday, saying that such cybersecurity attacks are "happening all the time."  Granholm warned of the system's vulnerabilities — amid an uptick of ransomware sieges — on CNN's "State of the Union."  "Yeah, they do," Granholm told host Jake Tapper when asked if foreign actors have the ability to make the power grid go dark.  "There are very malign actors who are trying, even as we speak," she explained.  "There are thousands of attacks on all aspects of the energy sector and the private sector generally."

Energy secretary says US adversaries [are] capable of shutting down the nation's power grid.  Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm warned that United States's adversaries have the potential to tamper with the country's power grid.  Granholm confirmed the threat after being asked if adversaries have the capabilities to shut down the power grid, during an interview with CNN's Jake Tapper on Sunday [6/6/2021].  "Yeah, they do.  I think that there are very malign actors who are trying.  Even as we speak, there are thousands of attacks on all aspects of the energy sector and the private sector generally," the secretary said.

The Editor says...
I suspect the issue of hacking threats to the power grid is a red herring, injected into the news media to give the talking heads something to talk about other than inflation, uncontrolled illegal immigration, the stolen 2020 election, Hunter Biden and his laptop, the torrent of lies about Coronavirus, and the murder of Ashli Babbitt by a cop who still hasn't been named five months after her death.  UFO stories are being put out for the same reason.

Bush nonprofit agreed to take $5 million from Chinese Communist Party-connected group: report.  The George H.W. Bush Foundation for U.S.-China Relations agreed to accept $5 million from a group with ties to the Chinese Communist Party and China's international propaganda efforts, according to a report Saturday [6/5/2021].  The group, which was founded by Neil Bush, a brother to former President George W. Bush and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, goes by the name Bush China Foundation for short.  Its goal, according to its website, is to build "a constructive relationship" between the U.S. and China.  But a written agreement published by Axios reveals that the Bush China Foundation agreed in 2019 to accept $5 million over five years from the China-United States Exchange Foundation, an organization that's been criticized as a key part of China's international propaganda efforts.

Government's UFO report cannot explain aerial phenomena.  The US intelligence community has not found evidence that unexplained aerial phenomena seen by Navy pilots are from outer space, but they can't rule out the possibility or explain the mysterious vehicles, said officials who viewed a classified version of a report to Congress detailing everything the government knows about UFOs.  The report said most of the more than 120 UFO incidents examined over the past two decades were not the work of the US military or government, officials said, according to the New York Times.  The explanation means that the military eyewitnesses who encountered UFOs on an almost "daily basis" off the coast of California in 2017, and shot footage that was verified by defense officials, were not seeing programs the US meant to keep secret.

The Editor says...
Suppose the UFO stories are true.  Suppose there are manned spacecraft from some other civilization.  What then?  If the visitors were here to take over, they would have done so already.  If their technology is so far advanced that it's almost unimaginable, resistance is probably futile.  This sounds like a red herring that is being placed in the news media to distract from the socialist coup and imminent upheaval.

SD Gov. Noem Slams Biden Admin Decision To Close Mt. Rushmore For Fourth of July.  Thursday [6/3/2021], Gov. Kristi Noem (R-SD) spoke about the Biden administration's decision to close Mount Rushmore for the Fourth of July festivities, a contrast to a year earlier when then-President Donald Trump spoke before a fireworks display.  The South Dakota Republican slammed the move, claiming it was part of the "radical left's agenda."  "You know, the decision was really arbitrary," she said.  "That's why we'll be appealing this decision, and the fight isn't over. [...]"

Fed's Beige Book Freaks Out Over Unprecedented Nationwide Shortages Of Everything.  With the economy overheating, it will hardly come as a surprise that the latest Fed Beige Book — which found that the economy expanded at what the Fed absurdly called a "moderate pace" from early April to late May, at least clarifying that this was a "somewhat faster" rate than the prior reporting period — one of the top concerns was soaring costs, but nothing spooked the various Fed districts quite as much as what appears to be a shortage of everything, with district after district complaining about broken supply chains, a lack of workers, and critical commodities that just can't be procured, all resulting in sharply higher prices, slower delivery times and all around chaos.

Really?  It's a nice gesture, but is Pepsi any less active politically?
North Carolina county bans Coca-Cola machines over 'left-wing' politics.  Coke is too "woke" for one North Carolina county's government.  Surry County has voted to ban all Coca-Cola vending machines in its office buildings over backlash to the Atlanta-based soft drink maker's criticism of new restrictive Georgia voting laws.  "The left wing in America, they defund, they boycott, they cancel, they tear down statues — all sorts of egregious actions," Eddie Harris, a county commissioner, told WXII in a video interview.  "The expectation from them is the opposing political side will cower in the corner and we're supposed to accept that and it's supposed to be OK.  And it's not OK."

The Senate Parliamentarian Just Ripped the Heart out of the Democrat Agenda.  While the Democrats have high, if not delusional hopes of fundamentally changing every aspect of American life, from federal voting dictates to essentially outlawing sub-contracting, the actual rules of the Senate have stood in their way.  The filibuster, which Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema (among others who are laying low) have pledged to not touch, means that Chuck Schumer and his merry band can't force through things on a simple 50-50 vote. [...] Reconciliation is a very narrow process, and the Byrd Rule requires that anything included in a reconciliation bill must deal with taxes and budgetary issues.  You also have stipulations about deficit offsets that must be taken into account.  You can not pass regularly legislative items under the guise of reconciliation.  Given that, this ruling essentially defeats HR1, the ProAct, and much of what is included in the current "infrastructure" bill.  Of course, none of those bills were likely getting support from Manchin anyway, but with reconciliation off the table to get this stuff passed, Schumer is now officially out of options.

Dems Can Only Sidestep GOP on One More Bill This Session, Senate Parliamentarian Rules.  The Senate parliamentarian issued a new ruling that would effectively allow Democrats to use automatic budget reconciliation just one more time this year to bypass Republicans to advance President Biden's progressive agenda.  Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough ruled that a revision to the 2021 budget resolution cannot be automatically discharged from the Senate Budget Committee, according to The Hill.  This means that Democrats would need at least one Republican on the 11-11 panel to vote with them if they want to use reconciliation on more than one occasion before the legislative session ends in October.

Amazon's Sidewalk feature will share your internet connection.  Here's how to opt out.  Amazon is planning to automatically enroll owners of its devices in a program that would share a slice of their internet connection with neighbors.  Amazon confirmed in an email to USA TODAY that the program will launch on eligible Echo devices starting June 8.  Amazon Sidewalk is a low-bandwidth shared network the tech giant says will not only allow your devices to work better, but help locate lost items.  The network shares "a small portion of your internet bandwidth which is pooled together to provide these services to you and your neighbors," reads a description on Amazon's website.  "And when more neighbors participate, the network becomes even stronger," it claims.

US Army soldiers mistakenly raid Bulgarian olive oil factory during NATO exercise.  A team of U.S. Army soldiers mistakenly raided a factory in Bulgaria that manufactures equipment used in olive oil production during a NATO training exercise in the region, Fox News has confirmed.  Ken McGraw, the public affairs office for U.S. Special Operations Command, told Fox News on Tuesday [6/1/2021] that an initial report about the raid was incorrect.  "The unit that raided the factory was the 173rd Airborne Brigade, which is stationed in Vicenza, Italy," he said.  "U.S. Special Operations Forces were not involved in this incident in any way."

Employees Are Quitting Instead of Giving Up Working From Home.  A six-minute meeting drove Portia Twidt to quit her job.  She'd taken the position as a research compliance specialist in February, enticed by promises of remote work.  Then came the prodding to go into the office.  Meeting invites piled up.  The final straw came a few weeks ago:  the request for an in-person gathering, scheduled for all of 360 seconds.  Twidt got dressed, dropped her two kids at daycare, drove to the office, had the brief chat and decided she was done.

The Democrat Flint Witch Hunt is a Creepy Totalitarian Star Chamber.  The extreme ways that leftists have weaponized the justice system leading to show trials, star chambers, abuses of the law, and a blatant disregard of the evidence is an evolving totalitarian nightmare.  The federal system is already notorious for these things, but the Flint water case, already highly dubious, is starting to make the Feds look good.  The target is former Governor Rick Snyder and associates so it's already political as hell.  But the prosecution isn't acting like it has a case.  Instead, it's acting like it's operating in a police state and is doing everything it can to avoid any kind of open process. [...] The media has blown up the case, but some of the most basic facts about it are still being kept in a locked cabinet.  We've seen this pattern before with Democrats aggressively targeting Republicans, destroying their reputations, only for it to turn out that there was no actual criminal case here.

GOP Bill Aims to Ban Black Lives Matter, 'Political' Flags From Embassies.  Republican lawmakers have introduced a proposal that would prohibit U.S. embassies and consulates from flying "political" flags, such as those associated with the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement, after a number of diplomatic missions displayed the BLM flag on the anniversary of George Floyd's death.  Called the Stars and Stripes Act of 2021 (pdf), the measure was introduced by Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-N.Y.) and co-sponsored by a number of GOP members of Congress, including new Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.).  "Our beautiful American flag should fly over our U.S. embassies around the world — not the flag of a political organization founded by Marxists," Stefanik said in a statement, referring to the reported links between BLM founders and Marxism.

Why Inflation Matters.  Americans under 40 live with no memory of high or unpredictable inflation.  Thus, the generational divide over the new, rising risk of inflation, with younger Americans more complacent, is no surprise.  I don't remember the high-inflation days, but I still fear the prospect of their return — in part because I study economic history and because most of my research focuses on financing retirement, but mostly because whenever we count out a risk, it seems to come roaring back.  Policymakers and observers may be tempted to let the price level creep up to 4 percent yearly growth and see what happens, but inflation can quickly spiral out of control.  (The Federal Reserve currently targets an average inflation increase of 2 percent; inflation rose in April at a 4.2 percent yearly rate.)  If prices seem poised to increase, then people will demand higher wages.  They will then have more money to spend.  Businesses, paying higher labor costs, will produce fewer goods, pushing inflation higher.  Inflation makes the dollar less attractive as it depreciates; buying important goods becomes more expensive, too.

Rep. Dan Crenshaw and Sen. Tom Cotton launch new campaign urging military 'whistleblowers' to report 'woke' training programs.  Rep. Dan Crenshaw and Sen. Tom Cotton have launched a new initiative to prevent 'woke ideology' taking hold in the US military.  The Republican politicians announced their joint effort on Saturday [5/29/2021], sharing a 'whistleblower' form for military members to fill out should they encounter any far-left training materials.  Crenshaw wrote on Twitter Saturday:  'Enough is enough.  We won't let our military fall to woke ideology.  We have just launched a whistleblower webpage where you can submit your story.  Your complaint will be legally protected, and go to my office and @SenTomCotton'.

US Mint Delays Silver Shipments Due To "Global Silver Shortage".  Interest in silver is soaring (both for industrial use and financial investment), echoing 2013's crisis, as a recent report from the Silver Institute, silver demand for printed and flexible electronics is forecast to increase 54% over the next 10 years.  Demand for silver in this rapidly developing sector is forecast to come in at 48 million ounces this year.  By 2030, the demand is expected to surge to 615 million ounces.

Republican Lawmakers Demand Immediate Action From Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin After Bombshell Bishop Garrison Report.  A group of thirty Republican Congressmen led by Matt Rosendale of Montana are demanding action from Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin after Revolver's recent reporting exposed the disturbing depths of woke ideology taking control of the highest echelons of the American military.  "The sole purpose of the United States Military is to protect American citizens, defend American national security interests, and to fight and win wars when necessary," the Congressmen say in a letter exclusively provided to Revolver News.  "We urge you to use your authority to take action to fight back against the creeping left-wing extremism in the U.S. military."

Canadian soldier who spoke at anti-lockdown rally, called COVID-19 vaccine a 'killer' charged with mutiny.  A member of the Canadian Armed Forces has been charged with mutiny for speaking out against the COVID-19 vaccine and urging colleagues not to help with vaccine distribution.  Officer Cadet Ladislas Kenderesi has been charged with one count of persuading another person to join in a mutiny and one count of behaving in a scandalous manner unbecoming of an officer, according to the Ottawa Citizen.  In December, Kenderesi was filmed at an anti-lockdown rally in Toronto, wearing his Canadian Forces uniform and a nametag.

There's more going on in Houston than just oil and traffic jams.  They also have commie spies!
Shuttered Chinese Houston consulate called 'major hub' for science and tech espionage worldwide.  The Chinese consulate in Houston, ordered closed by the Trump administration last year, was a "major hub" for Beijing's global science and technology collection efforts, according to a new study.  Georgetown University's Center for Security and Emerging Technology examined 642 "international technological cooperation opportunities" between 2015 and 2020 identified by Chinese diplomats and found the Houston post was the key hub for science and technology (S&T) collection globally.  U.S. critics say intellectual property theft and piracy have been key to China's drive to close the technology gap with the U.S. and the West.

Fusion GPS is losing the fight to keep its records secret.  In 2017, the owners of Alfa Bank (we'll call them Alfa Bank for the purposes of this article) sued Fusion GPS and Glenn Simpson for their publication of false statements accusing Alfa Bank of "bribery, extortion, and interference in the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election."  Now, the Alfa Bank is on offense.  They have filed a motion to compel, asking the Court to require Fusion GPS and Glenn Simpson to produce nearly 500 critically important documents improperly withheld as privileged.  Fusion/Simpson have fought the production of the documents, arguing that they are subject to the "attorney-client privilege" and otherwise privileged and not subject to production.  These are weak legal arguments — and the attorneys for Alfa Bank recognize it.  First, Fusion/Simpson previously admitted the purpose of their work was political, and not for the purposes of any ongoing litigation.

Pennsylvania Rebukes Tom Wolf.  On May 18, Pennsylvania held its customarily scheduled municipal primary elections.  Following the example of previous municipal primary elections, Keystone State voters were faced with several statewide questions and ballot initiatives.  This year, these prompts included a new genre of questions:  those related to Gov. Tom Wolf's emergency powers.  Two questions specifically targeted Wolf's abuse of his emergency powers during the pandemic.  The results show Pennsylvania voters have fatigued from overreaching executive authority and they have chosen to strip Gov. Wolf of his emergency powers.  The first ballot question asked if voters felt that the state constitution should be amended to provide additional checks on the governor's emergency powers.  More specifically, by allowing the General Assembly the authority to terminate an emergency declaration, effectively removing Gov. Wolf as the sole decision-maker when it comes to emergency declarations.  Currently, under the Pennsylvania Constitution, any action by commonwealth agencies to address statewide emergencies requires the governor's approval.

Trump says he has done 'limited media' so America can see how much of a 'disaster' Biden is with inflation, the border and the Middle East.  Former President Donald Trump angrily rejected reports that social media bans had sent him sliding into irrelevance, insisting Monday [5/24/2021] that he was staying out of the headlines so attention would stay on President Joe Biden's troubles with inflation, the border and the Middle East.  His comments come as his lieutenants plan a new social media platform to propel Trump back into the daily conversation.  And a new poll suggests the former president retains his grip on Republicans, with a majority of the party still proclaiming Trump to be the 'true president.'

China, having weakened the West with COVID, threatens Australia.  For anyone doubting whether China has Taiwan in its sights, a warning that the Global Times, a Chinese communist party media outlet, issued to Australia should set those doubts to rest.  Having concluded that Joe Biden is not a threat, China is busy letting other regional powers know that they had better not cross China.  In response to Australia's participation in joint military exercises in the East China Sea, China's propaganda outlet threatened it with intermediate-range ballistic missiles.  Taiwan is a prosperous and free island located off the southeastern coast of China.  The two countries are separated from each other only by the Taiwan Straits.  Taiwan maintains that it is the legitimate government of China, while the Chinese Communist Party claims that it is a pretender nation.  The CCP has long made known its desire to conquer Taiwan and bring it into the mainland fold.

Black Man With A Gun Attempts A Carjack — Receive Instant Karma.  The attempted carjacking went down last year but started trending this morning because the video was released for public use yesterday.  In the video you see a black man trying to stop a car by standing in the middle of the road as he pulls out a gun.  The would-be carjacker receives instant karma as the driver of the car hits the gas and sent him flying down the street.  The moment of impact did some heavy damage to the man, as two people come to his aid immediately, and people allege that they also wanted to aid the robber.

The Editor says...
[#1] Obviously the two bystanders who immediately sprang to the aid of the gunman were his accomplices.  They probably called 9-1-1 for assistance after this occupational injury.  [#2] The biggest problem now faced by the driver is whether his insurance company will pay for his car repairs.

Montana prison dairy herd reduced after losing Darigold deal.  The last load of raw milk left the ranch outside Montana State Prison on Dec. 27, drying up a decades-long run for the prison's work program that was clipped by a shift in a single company's global commerce policy.  Last year Darigold, the product brand for a dairy cooperative headquartered in Seattle, canceled its 30-year contract with the prison, forcing the state's prison work program, Montana Correctional Enterprises, to scale down its dairy operation from 350 head to about 70, enough to produce milk to self-sustain the Department of Correction's facilities around the state.

How Apple, Tim Cook give into China while pushing back against the US.  Over the past 30 years, Western leaders have dreamed they lived in an earthly paradise where they could stand for both.  But the ruling Communist Party of China under paramount leader Xi Jinping is now making it increasingly clear that if you want to do business with his country, you'd best embrace the party line.  Take Apple.  The world's most valuable brand is a powerhouse in Washington, DC, maintaining armies of lawyers and making large donations to the political parties and to lobby organizations like the US-China Business Council.  It has instant entrée to the White House, Congress and any other center of American power.  In 2001, Apple closed its California production lines, dismissed its American workers and moved production to China, where investment subsidies were high, wages low, and labor unions and environmental rules nonexistent.  Apple has since admitted to avoiding $41 billion in US taxes.  Now the tech giant — led by CEO Tim Cook — has truly made out like a bandit, becoming the world's most valuable corporation in the process.

More Than 150 Missing Children [have been] Found in North Carolina.  More than 150 missing children have been found in North Carolina, a few of whom were victims of human trafficking, according to police.  On Wednesday [5/19/2021], Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department (CMPD) announced that detectives and marshals had recovered more than 130 missing and runaway juveniles, prior to an investigation called "Operation Carolina Homecoming" to recover missing and runaway children in the Charlotte area, where earlier efforts to find them had failed.  The operation, which took place April 26 to May 7, was able to find another 27 missing children.

Investigation of ousted Space Force Commander elevated to IG.  The investigation into the ousting of a Space Force commander who spoke out against Marxism and critical race theory in the military has been elevated to the Department of the Air Force's Office of Inspector General (IG).  Air Force spokesperson Ann Stefanek told Fox News on Thursday [5/20/2021] that the investigation into the removal of Lt. Colonel Matthew Lohmeier from duty was moving up to the IG's office for review, as the case could have an Air Force-wide impact.  Stefanek also said that the IG's investigation would take precedence over the one launched by Lohmeier's superior, Air Force Lt. General Stephen Whiting.

Nearly 1,000 Apple employees sign letter calling on Tim Cook to issue statement supporting Palestinians.  Nearly 1,000 Apple employees have signed an internal letter to CEO Tim Cook urging the company to issue a public statement in support of the Palestinian people, The Verge reported Thursday [5/20/2021].  "We are frustrated and disappointed because once more, many of those in positions of power and influence — who boldly stand for human rights in so many other just causes — either choose to remain silent or release ineffectually neutral 'both sides' statements with regards to the Palestinian situation," wrote the letter's authors, who are members of the Apple Muslim Association, according to The Verge.  Apple taking a "both sides" approach, they wrote, "would feel to us as the equivalent of 'all lives matter' — a minimization of the disproportionately larger pain and suffering of the Palestinian people."

Sex (and Sobs) on the Set:  Actresses Lay Bare Their Thoughts on Baring it All.  Hollywood actresses have been speaking up about how they really feel about performing on-screen sex and nudity.  Spoiler alert:  They hate it.  Actress Salma Hayek recently opened up to Dax Shepard, host of the Armchair Expert Podcast, about her experience filming the iconic sex scene in her first film Desperado:  "I started to sob and kept saying, 'I don't know that I can do it.'"  She remembers holding onto the towel wrapped around her.  "I would take it off for two seconds and start crying again."  And Hayek is not the only one.  Dozens of actresses have gone on record detailing traumatic experiences they had while filming sex scenes.

The Editor says...
[#1]  I've got no sympathy for actresses.  They read the script before the filming starts; probably before accepting the role.  Why are they surprised when they have to take their clothes off?  [#2] Notice that in Hollywood, lewd behavior is permissible in front of the camera, and is completely forbidden behind the camera.

Hollywood Celebrities Plead With Movie Fans:  Please Go Back To Theaters.  At the "Big Screen is Back" initiative on Wednesday, Arnold Schwarzenegger and J.J. Abrams joined fellow filmmakers and Hollywood studio executives in an effort to motivate a return to the theater-going lifestyle.  As reported by The Associated Press, the event was socially distanced and held at AMC Century City 15 theater in Los Angeles.  Before speaking, Schwarzenegger chanted, "We are back!  We are back!"  He described the importance of getting movie theaters back into commission and creating the experience of attending a movie in theaters once again.

The Editor says...
Sitting in a movie theater to watch a movie (and the commercials and trailers that are shown before the show starts) is as archaic and obsolete as waiting until 5:30 p.m. to hear the day's news from Huntley and Brinkley on broadcast TV.  Or waiting until the next morning to read about the same news in the newspaper.  By watching a movie on the internet, the only thing you're missing is about 30 dB of unrealistic dynamic range when the phony sound effects punctuate the computer-generated "action" scenes, i.e., depictions of senseless violence and gunfire that miraculously doesn't hurt anybody.  If you really miss the theater, set up a "home theater" in a spare bedroom.  Buy some badly-worn seats to accurately simulate the big theater experience, be sure there are no lights in the room, so you have to stumble all over the adjacent rows, and then invite a bunch of nasty, smelly strangers over, to sit uncomfortably close to you and chatter on their cell phones while the show is underway.  Be sure to stock up on Milk Duds and stale popcorn, for which you must pay twice the retail value, and pour a bottle of Coca-Cola on the floor about a week before watching your first film, so the floor is disgustingly sticky.  Then be sure the air conditioning is set to about 50 degrees.  Before watching each movie, get in your car and drive about a mile away from your house in a random direction.  On the way home, take a ten-dollar bill and either set fire to it, or mail it to someone you really don't like, who is already a lot wealthier than you'll ever be.  The movie theater experience may have been really enjoyable in 1948, when you had never seen a film in color, but those days are over.

Senate Republicans propose allowing states to redirect federal funds to debt reduction.  Senate Republicans will introduce legislation Thursday [4/20/2021] to allow state and local governments to redirect federal government grants they receive to go toward paying down the growing national debt instead.  In particular, the bill would ensure that Democratic-led blue states don't end up receiving federal funds that red states have rejected.  GOP Sens. Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming and Rick Scott of Florida are set to introduce the Pay Down the Debt Act of 2021 to give state and local leaders the power to take concrete steps to reduce the federal debt.

The Editor says...
I'm no economist, so tell me how that's supposed to work.  The federal government prints up a bunch of money, borrowed from the national debt.  Then the states take the money, and instead of spending it, they send it back to the federal government to pay down the debt.  That won't affect the debt at all.  The federal government could eliminate the middle-man and just print $20 trillion, and then have a big ceremony at which they drop all that cash into an enormous made-for-TV piggy bank.  The effect is the same.  This kind of shell game is something you'd expect from the Democrats!

Pentagon reportedly running secret army of 60,000 around the world.  The Pentagon is running a 60,000-strong secret army made up of soldiers, civilians and contractors, who travel the world under false identities embedded in consultancies and name-brand companies — without the knowledge of the American people or most of Congress — according to a report.  The top-secret army was created by the Pentagon over the past 10 years as part of a program called "signature reduction," and operates both domestically and internationally using a low-profile force of clandestine warriors who sometimes wear civilian clothes as they carry out their assignments, Newsweek reported.  The force is 10 times the size of the covert elements of the CIA, comes with a cost of more than $900 million, and engages about 130 private companies in operations in locales like the Middle East and Africa, the report said.

Conservative group launches ad campaign against 'woke capitalism,' targeting CEOs by name.  A conservative group is launching an advertising campaign Tuesday designed to push back against what it sees as "woke capitalism," spending more than $1 million on ads targeting the CEOs of Coca-Cola, American Airlines and Nike.  The ads are sharply critical of the CEOs on a range of issues ranging from childhood obesity to allegations of forced labor in China.  Organizers say the campaign, which is being mounted by the conservative group Consumers' Research, is designed to change the thinking in corporate boards around the economic and political costs of getting involved in flashpoint issues such as voting rights.  "Increasingly we're seeing companies taking their eye off the ball," said William Hild, executive director Consumers' Research.  "Our focus is always on the consumer.  And that's what it should be for these companies as well, but increasingly we're seeing them work to curry favor with woke politicians, rather than focusing on serving their consumers."

The Editor says...
I wouldn't wear Nike shoes if you gave them to me.  I've got no use for American Airlines.  Coca Cola would be hard to give up, but I could do it.

Biden will start sending monthly checks of up to $300 to 39 million families with children under the age of 16.  Expanded monthly child tax credits will start going out to 39 million U.S. families starting July 15, the President Joe Biden and the Treasury Department announced Monday [5/17/2021].  'We need to give ordinary families a break — a tax break — to help them with the cost of raising their kids,' Biden said during remarks from the White House on Monday.  'Most people don't know it, but for families with children we put that tax cut into the American Rescue Plan.'  '90% of the families, all middle class and working class families, will get this tax cut.  It's a one-year cut that reduces your taxes... for each child you have under the age of 18,' he added.

980-foot skyscraper sways in China, prompting panic and evacuations.  A Chinese skyscraper had to be evacuated Tuesday afternoon [5/18/2021] after it began inexplicably swaying on its foundation, prompting scores of bystanders to flee in terror, as seen in a series of viral videos circulating social media.  The shaky incident occurred around 1 p.m. at Shenzhen's SEG Electronics Building, which is one of China's tallest structures in the city at a whopping 980 feet tall.  "The people in the building and downstairs fled for their lives!" read the caption to one of the Twitter clips, which depicts petrified shoppers stampeding across a plaza like scene out of a monster movie.

Goodyear to phase out petroleum-based tires with soybeans by 2040.  For decades engineers have used petroleum to make everyday products.  It's still commonly used in everything from rubbers and plastics to chemicals and asphalt.  But this useful product comes from crude oil, which is often criticized by activists and experts as harmful to the environment, citing oil spills and fracking incidents.  Recent studies from the last decade have shown that petroleum isn't as efficient as some once thought.  Now, companies, engineers and scientists aim to replace it with plant-based oils, specifically soybeans.  The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. recently announced its goal to replace all petroleum-based products with soybean oil by 2040.

The Editor says...
What problem does this solve?  When tires are made from soybeans, and gasoline is made with ethanol (i.e., corn), food prices will increase rapidly.  Apparently a lot of CEO's have never heard, "If it works, don't fix it."

88% of children covered by monthly payments starting in July.  The Treasury Department said Monday that 39 million families are set to receive monthly child payments beginning on July 15.  The payments are part of President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package, which expanded the child tax credit for one year and made it possible to pre-pay the benefits on a monthly basis.  Nearly 88% of children are set to receive the benefits without their parents needing to take any additional action.

Governor Abbott Ends Federal Unemployment Insurance in Texas.  Governor Greg Abbott announced Monday afternoon that Texas will discontinue further federal unemployment benefits associated with the COVID-19 pandemic on June 26.  Among the insurance Texas is opting out of is the $300 weekly unemployment supplement from the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation program.  "The Texas economy is booming and employers are hiring in communities throughout the state," Abbott said.  "According to the Texas Workforce Commission, the number of job openings in Texas is almost identical to the number of Texans who are receiving unemployment benefits.  That assessment does not include the voluminous jobs that typically are not listed, like construction and restaurant jobs.  In fact, there are nearly 60 percent more jobs open (and listed) in Texas today than there was in February 2020, the month before the Pandemic hit Texas."

Texas, Indiana, Oklahoma to End Federal Unemployment Benefits in June.  Texas, Indiana, and Oklahoma on Monday announced that they will be joining a growing number of GOP-led states in ending the expanded federal unemployment benefits that were implemented during last year's pandemic relief efforts.  In a letter to the Biden administration, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said that the $300 weekly extra payments under the president's new $1.9 trillion stimulus plan will end on June 26, ahead of its September expiration date.  He joins at least a dozen other governors, all Republicans, who are opting out of the additional federal unemployment benefits this summer.  Republicans argue that these benefits have discouraged people from returning to the workforce and have become a drag on the recovery.

Space Force Officer's Book on Marxism in the Military Reaches No. 1 on Amazon After He's Relieved.  A U.S. Space Force officer's self-published book positing that Marxist ideology and Critical Race Theory is being spread throughout the military reached the top of Amazon's bestseller list on Sunday after it was learned that he was relieved of his command.  "Irresistible Revolution:  Marxism's Goal of Conquest & the Unmaking of the American Military" by Lt. Col. Matthew Lohmeier, reached the top of the retail website's bestseller list on Sunday evening.  It came after the Space Force confirmed that Lohmeier was relieved of his command "due to a loss of trust."  "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 on whether these comments constituted prohibited partisan political activity," according to the Space Force's statement, which was sent to a number of news outlets over the past weekend.

Republicans back 'hero' Space Force commander fired for speaking out against 'Marxism' in military.  Republican lawmakers blasted President Biden online after the military removed a Space Force commanding officer for speaking out against critical race theory and Marxism in the military.  Several prominent GOP lawmakers threw their support behind Lt Col. Matthew Lohmeier, the Space Force commanding officer who was relieved of duty Friday for decrying Marxist ideologies and critical race theory, which he said are gaining influence in the military, on a recent podcast.  Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas — himself a former Navy SEAL — said the military needs to prepare service members for combat and told social media users to not let the story "slip away."  "We need to be preparing our warriors to fight and win battles, not how to be SJWs," Crenshaw wrote.  "Far left critical race theory is taught while speaking out against MARXISM is punished??"

Georgia lieutenant governor announces he won't seek reelection after fighting Trump's election fraud claims.  Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, one of the most vocal state-level Republican critics against former President Donald Trump's claims of 2020 election fraud, announced on Monday that he will not seek reelection in 2022.  "It always feels coldest right before the sun rises," Duncan said in a statement posted to Twitter.  "I believe that this is the exact moment in time the Republican Party is caught in right now, and I am committed to being a part of creating those better days ahead for our conservative party all across this country."  Duncan also said that he plans to serve out the rest of his term, which will conclude in January 2023, noting how he has "no intention of slowing down on my policy over politics reform."

Space Force commander is Fired for warning of the spread of 'Critical Race Theory rooted in Marxism' throughout military.  A Space Force commander has been removed from his post after blasting diversity and inclusion training in the military as 'critical race theory rooted in Marxism'.  Lt Col. Matthew Lohmeier appeared on a podcast to promote his new self published book when he made the comments which led to a 'loss of trust and confidence in his ability to lead', according to a statement from the Space Force.  Lohmeier said: 'The diversity, inclusion and equity industry and the trainings we are receiving in the military... is rooted in critical race theory, which is rooted in Marxism.'

Israel Levels a Building Shared by Hamas and 'News' Outlets, Whose Freak-out Ignores the Bigger Story.  Israel isn't playing around with Hamas this time around.  While terrorist apologists plead for "proportionality" now that they've messed around and found out, the Jewish state seems determined to do more.  As of last night, rockets were still being launched at Tel Aviv, signaling no end to the conflict in sight.  Part of the IDF's campaign has included destroying buildings that Hamas uses for intelligence-gathering, and command and control.  Once, such building happened to also be an office complex for Al Jazeera, the Qatari-funded, terrorist propaganda outlet.  The Associated Press also had space there.  After multiple warnings and a "knock bomb," the building was evacuated.  Then this happened.  [Video clip]

The sixth borough:  Florida state records quantify defections from NY.  New data from the Sunshine State's Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles offers the latest glimpse of just how many New Yorkers fled south during the COVID-19 pandemic.  At least 33,565 New Yorkers exchanged their NY drivers licenses for Florida credentials between September 2020 and March 2021.  That's a 32% increase from the same period the prior year, when 25,370 New York driver's licenses were traded for Florida ones.  Florida officials said a major cause of migration was parents looking to get their kids back in full-time, in-person school.

Why didn't the USDA do this?
Texas House Approves Bill Banning Plant-Based Foods From Using 'Meat' On Labels.  Plant-based and additional meatless products are accused of misleading buyers under a bill the Texas House approved Monday [5/10/2021].  "Texas is the latest state to debate measures that would prohibit foods that don't contain animal products from using words like 'meat' or 'beef' in their name," the Dallas Morning News reported.  The bill was approved following a debate but needs one additional vote in the House to move on to the Texas Senate.

Hackers Threaten To Release Confidential DC Police Files Unless The City Pays Them $4 Million.  Hackers threatened to release 250 gigabytes of confidential Metropolitan Police Department files unless Washington, D.C., officials pay a $4 million ransom, the DCist reported Tuesday [5/11/2021].  The Russian-speaking hackers are part of a group known as Babuk, which allegedly posted 20 Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) officers' personnel files after stealing 250 gigabytes of internal data, the DCist reported.  Babuk said negotiations with officials "reached a dead end" and reportedly posted chat logs where officials offered $100,000 to the group.

Rep. Elise Stefanik wins GOP conference chair vote to replace Liz Cheney.  House Republicans approved Rep. Elise Stefanik to their No. 3 leadership position Friday — officially voting her into the post after Rep. Liz Cheney was forced out this week.  The 134-46 tally for Stefanik (R-NY) was nearly guaranteed before the vote took place, given that she went into the meeting with former President Donald Trump's endorsement and without a serious challenger.  "Listen, the Republican Party is a big tent party and my district is the story of the growth of the Republican Party.  My district voted for President Obama by double digits and voted for President Trump and myself by double digits — we have worked to grow the Republican Party," she told reporters following her win.

The Cybersecurity 202: Biden says the Russian government was not involved with Colonial Pipeline hack.  The issue of whether the U.S. government is doing enough to tackle international cybercriminals moved to center stage this week after the high-profile attack on a major East Coast energy supplier.  Even though Colonial Pipeline has restarted operations, there are still lingering questions about the group that executed the attack and how to prevent future assaults on critical infrastructure.  In a news conference yesterday, Biden emphasized the U.S. government's belief that the cybercriminals behind the pipeline company attack are based in Russia  — which has become a safe harbor for such groups — but do not work directly for the Russian government.  U.S. intelligence and researchers have also noted extensive ties between some criminal hacking groups in Russia and Russia's intelligence services.

Prime today, gone tomorrow:  Chinese products get pulled from Amazon.  If you ever bought power banks, water bottles, toys or other daily goods on Amazon, the chances are your suppliers are from China.  Analysts have estimated that the share of Chinese merchants represented 75% of Amazon's new sellers in January, up from 47% the year before, according to Marketplace Pulse, an e-commerce research firm.  Chinese sellers are swarming not just Amazon but also eBay, Wish, Shopee and Alibaba's AliExpress.  The boom is in part a result of intense domestic competition in China's online retail world, which forces merchants to seek new markets.  Traditional exporters are turning to e-commerce, cutting out excessive distributors.  Businesses are enchanted by the tale that a swathe of the priciest property in Shenzhen, an expensive city known for its tech and manufacturing, is now owned by people who made a fortune from e-commerce export.

Biden Blocks Trump Statues to Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks, and Jimmy Stewart.  In his Friday dump, Biden decided to revoke a number of President Trump's executive orders including the one creating the National Garden of American Heroes.  This order was a reaction to BLM's vandalism of American statues with the collaboration of local Democrat authorities.  As executive orders go, this was an odd choice to rescind considering that it called for little more than the creation of a garden of statues and the huge list of potential figures included plenty of lefty favorites like Woody Guthrie and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a whole lot of pop culture figures from a particular era from John Wayne to Jimmy Stewart, some conservative heroes, like Barry Goldwater, William F. Buckley, Jr. and Antonin Scalia, and the sort of traditional American figures whom the Left was obsessively tearing down including George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.

Joe Biden Revokes Donald Trump Orders for Garden of Heroes, Protection of Monuments.  President Joe Biden revoked an executive order Friday to create a National Garden of American Heroes, initially planned by former President Donald Trump.  Biden also revoked Trump's order to prevent online censorship, and his order to protect American monuments.  Biden could have modified Trump's initial order but instead revoked it entirely.  The White House did not say why Biden revoked his predecessor's executive orders but sent the text of his order to revoke Trump's priorities to reporters on Friday afternoon.

China and Overfishing.  All told, three billion people rely on fish as their primary source of protein, according to the World Wildlife Fund.  Given that this is nearly half of the world's population, the need to carefully manage the world's supply of fish is absolutely crucial for global stability.  A hungry nation is a desperate nation and desperate nations take desperate measures to feed themselves.  China is, far and away, the world's biggest offender when it comes to overfishing.  This isn't just a crime of omission — failing to adequately control its fishermen — but a crime of commission:  China prioritizes subsidies for overfishing above subsidies for conservation.  The powerhouse spent a whopping $7.2 billion in 2018 alone on fishing.

Indian workers held captive and forced to build New Jersey temple, lawsuit claims.  Hundreds of workers from India were allegedly lured to New Jersey and forced to work for just a few dollars a day to help build a massive Hindu temple, according to a lawsuit on Tuesday [5/11/2021].  The federal suit, brought by the laborers, accuses the prominent Hindu sect known as Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha, or BAPS, of human trafficking and wage law violations.  The global organization is accused of bringing more than 200 low-caste men from India to the US by claiming they were religious volunteers.

Poll: Orthodox Jews Are Overwhelmingly Republican and Growing in Number.  According to a new poll from the Pew Research Center, while the majority of Jews identify as Democrat, three out of four Orthodox Jews identify as Republican.  Overall, three out of four Orthodox Jews experienced at least some form of antisemitism in the past year, more than non-religious Jews.  The Pew poll "surveyed 4,718 U.S. adults who identify as Jewish, including 3,836 Jews by religion and 882 Jews of no religion.  The survey was administered online and by mail by Westat, from Nov. 19, 2019, to June 3, 2020."

Colonial Pipeline Hackers Apologize:  We Are 'Apolitical,' Will 'Avoid Social Consequences in the Future'.  The criminal hacking group that reportedly goes by the name DarkSide and attacked the largest gasoline pipeline in the United States has now put out an apology of sorts.  The Colonial pipeline, which snakes 5,500 miles along the eastern U.S., transports 2.5 million barrels of gasoline a day, and provides 45 percent of the region's fuel consumption, was shut down on Friday in response to the hacking.

The Editor says...
Pardon my perpetual skepticism, but the "Russian hacking" story sounds a little bit phony.  Deep State phony.  If there is physical evidence of the alleged "hacking," it will appear in a congressional hearing soon.  If there was no hacking, the news media is lying, and the Composite President made the decision to turn off the pipeline [1] to save the earth from fossil fuels and global warming, and [2] to mask the rapid inflation of gas prices.  Mostly #2.  Which one is more plausible:  Russian hackers did it for ransom, or the Deep State did it as a distraction?

Golden Globes Organization Implodes amid Accusations of Corruption and Lack of Diversity.  In the latest act of liberal Hollywood cannibalism, NBC has pulled the plug on the 2022 Golden Globes telecast as studios including Netflix, Amazon, and WarnerMedia have cut ties with the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) over accusations of corruption and a lack of diversity.  Many of these same studios have spent years showering HFPA members with gifts — including free overseas trips — as a way to help secure votes for their movies and TV shows.  Now, they are casting stones at the beleaguered HFPA, whose promises to reform have failed to impress industry leaders.

Latest on directed-energy attacks: 'It looks, smells and feels like the GRU'.  The attention being given to the directed-energy attacks that cause "Havana syndrome" has been ramping up lately.  Today Politico reports that while no new conclusions have been reached officially, there is a growing consensus behind the scenes that these attacks are being carried out by Russia's GRU. [...] A National Academies of Sciences report issued last year concluded that the attacks were likely being carried out using pulsed-microwaves, a type of energy attack that Russia had experimented with during the Cold War.  The Politico story quoted above claims the GRU's suspected involvement hasn't been reported before but that may be true but it's not the first time Russian intelligence agents have been identified as the likely cause.

Government Grew by 48,000 Employees in April.  Federal, state and local governments in the United States increased their employment by a combined 48,000 workers in April, according to the numbers released today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  From March to April, the number of workers employed by government in the United States climbed from 21,543,000 to 21,591,000.  Local government employment increased by 32,000, rising from 13,685,000 to 13,717,000.

Israel Shared Iranian General Soleimani's Cell Phones With US Intelligence Before Drone Strike:  Report.  Israel shared three cell phone numbers used by Qasem Soleimani with U.S. intelligence in the hours before American drones unleashed Hellfire missiles on the Iranian general last year, Yahoo News reported Saturday [5/8/2021].  The revelation sheds new light on the role that Israel played in the killing of Soleimani, who the State Department says was responsible for hundreds of U.S. troop deaths as the head of the Revolutionary Guard's elite Quds Force.  The drone strike occurred shortly after midnight on Jan. 2, 2020, as Soleimani and his entourage were leaving Baghdad's international airport.

Texas Gov. Abbott Just Showed America What Freedom Looks Like — in One Photo.  The republic of Texas held a premier boxing match Saturday night, and freedom broke out.  At least, that's how it looked in the tweet Texas Governor Greg Abbott sent out to Twitter followers around 12:30 a.m. Central time on Sunday morning [5/9/2021]. [...] [Quoting KTVT] It was also a record-breaking evening with 73,126 people in attendance for the boxing match between Mexico's Canelo Alvarez and Billy Joe Saunders. [...] AT&T Stadium didn't require masks at the unlimited capacity event but, instead, said they were encouraged.  [End quote]

Gov. DeSantis Tells Unemployed Floridians Collecting Benefits To Start Looking For A Job.  Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis informed unemployed Floridians during a Wednesday [5/5/2021] press conference that May will be the last month they can collect unemployment benefits without proving they are looking for work.  DeSantis, who had lifted the state's policy requiring such proof because of the pandemic, said that reopened Florida now offers ample opportunity for employment, and capable residents need to get off the government dole, according to CBS Miami.

Rats Leaving a Sinking Ship:  More Democratic House Retirements on the Way.  A combination of factors is driving a wave of Democratic retirements in the House as Republicans look to flip the chamber in 2022.  The census is giving deep-red Texas and Florida another congressional district.  And Republican-dominated state legislatures will be able to draw maps that make red districts redder and force two Democrats to vie for the same House seat.

Cryptocurrency investors should be prepared to lose all their money, Bank of England governor says.  Cryptocurrencies "have no intrinsic value" and people who invest in them should be prepared to lose all their money, Bank of England (BOE) Governor Andrew Bailey said Thursday [5/6/2021].  Digital currencies like bitcoin, ether and even dogecoin have been on a tear this year, reminding some investors of the 2017 crypto bubble in which bitcoin blasted toward $20,000, only to sink as low as $3,122 a year later.  Asked at a press conference about the rising value of cryptocurrencies on Thursday, Bailey said:  "They have no intrinsic value.  That doesn't mean to say people don't put value on them, because they can have extrinsic value.  But they have no intrinsic value."

Bank of America: "Transitory Hyperinflation Ahead".  Last week, when discussing the latest earnings call commentary, Bank of America said "Buckle up!  Inflation is here", and showed a chart of the number of mentions of "inflation" during earnings calls which exploded, more than tripling YoY per company so far, the and the biggest jump in history since BofA started keeping records in 2004. [...] While the implications are obvious, we leave it to Bank of America to explain what this means:  ["]On an absolute basis, [inflation] mentions skyrocketed to near record highs from 2011, pointing to at the very least, 'transitory' hyper-inflation ahead.["]

Microwaving the White House: Enemies Are Now Sonic Attacking Americans from American Soil.  Unidentified parties have in recent years been directing sonic attacks on U.S. officials on American soil.  One such attack even occurred on the grounds of the White House.  We should not be surprised.  Failure to impose costs on known sonic attackers — the Cuban and Chinese regimes — almost certainly emboldened the perpetrators to think they could harm Americans in America.  Two attacks, both from American soil, have involved National Security Council officials, one on the White House's south lawn, the Ellipse, last November and another after Thanksgiving in 2019 in Arlington, Virginia.  The earlier attack involved a White House staffer walking her dog.  The pet "started seizing up," and then she too suffered "a high-pitched ringing in her ears, an intense headache, and a tingling on the side of her face."

Montana governor pulls out of COVID federal unemployment programs.  Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte argued Wednesday [5/5/2021] that there has been "a continual stream of initiatives out of Washington that disincent work," explaining that his state decided to get rid of supplemental benefits and is offering a back-to-work bonus in order to incentivize people to get back into the workforce.  Gianforte made the comments on "Cavuto:  Coast to Coast" while explaining what was behind his decision to end Montana's participation in federal COVID-19 unemployment programs.  He also discussed the start of the new state program to give people "Return to Work" bonuses.

A federal judge scrapped a nationwide moratorium on evictions, saying the CDC went beyond its authority.  A US federal judge on Wednesday [5/5/2021] blocked an order from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to prevent landlords from evicting their tenants during the coronavirus pandemic.  "The CDC order must be set aside," US District Judge Dabney Friedrich said in a 20-page ruling.  The order was initially announced on September 4 to take effect for the rest of 2020.  President Joe Biden on his first day in office extended the order through June 30 to aid struggling tenants through the pandemic's financial fallout.  Friedrich wrote that the ban was among "difficult policy decisions that have had enormous real-world consequences" in the pandemic.

New York bill proposes to ban crypto mining for 3 years over carbon concerns.  Crypto miners in New York may be subject to a forced three-year hiatus if the latest environmentally-focused bill passes in the state senate.  The New York Senate Bill 6486 was proposed by Democrat senator Kevin S. Parker, the Chairman of Committee on Energy and Telecommunications, and co-sponsored by fellow Democrat senator Rachel May, the Chair of Committee on Aging, Chair of Legislative Commission on Rural Resources.  The bill is yet to receive widespread backing from other senators, however the Democrats do control the lower house and senate.  The bill seeks to "establish a moratorium on the operation of cryptocurrency mining centers," to slow the environmental impacts of fossil-fuel-backed crypto mining in particular.  It also aims to enforce stricter regulations for mining centers, such as the requirement to undergo an environmental impact review, which would prevent crypto mining if the facility does not comply with New York's climate change targets.

The Editor says...
Crypto mining produces no byproducts at all, other than heat, simply because the "mining" operation is just a large array of computers looking for magic numbers.  The electricity they use in this process is the same as that which is used for other residential or industrial purposes.  All the politicians are doing is trying to reduce the demand for electricity, because they are the ones opposing nuclear energy, coal, and natural gas, and thanks to these politicians, there's not enough electricity to go around.  Many of the same politicians are now on a campaign against air conditioning, for the same reason.  The solution to a shortage of electricity is not conservation.  The solution is greater supply, which requires building or re-activating coal-fired power plants, to use this country's 200-year supply of coal.

Tucker Carlson:  The woke CIA video may not be what we think.  Tucker at first mocks the wokeness of the video and puts up his new CIA acronym, which now stands for "Cisgender Intersectional Agency".  But then Tucker made the argument that this video may not be what we think, that the CIA is, after all, a hall of mirrors and maybe this is what they want our enemies to see.  Personally, I think Biden's CIA is as woke as it seems and the country is doomed.  But could Tucker be right about this woke facade, that it's just a ruse?

The Special Election in Texas Was All Bad News for the Democrat Hopes to Keep the House in 2022.  Texas 6 is located south of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex and has a demographic make-up of approximately 40% black and Hispanic voters.  Pres.  Trump carried the district in 2016 by 12%, but in 2020 he won Texas 6 by a margin of only 51-48%.  The district has a +6 partisan advantage for the GOP in voter registration.  The special election contest held on Saturday to fill the seat left vacant by Wright began with an "open" primary — the seat could be won if any single candidate received more than 50% of the vote.  If no candidate received more than 50% of the vote, Saturday's top 2 vote-getters would meet in a runoff to decide the winner.  Twenty-three candidates ended up on the ballot.  The GOP swept the top two positions, and the district will remain in GOP's hands after the runoff.  But the story is more interesting when you look closely at some of the numbers in the contest.

Failed Texas Democrat Candidate Sounds Alarm: 2022 'Could Be Major Setback' for Democrats.  Failed special election Democrat candidate Jana Lynne Sanchez has sounded the alarm that 2022 "could be a major setback" for Democrats if they lose their slim majority in the House of Representatives.  Sanchez, after not receiving enough votes last Saturday to make the special election runoff, has a very strong message for the Democrats.  Sanchez lost by fewer than 400 votes to come in third place.  Republican candidates did extremely well, edging out the rest of the field.  Sanchez said the Republicans received an overwhelming majority (62 percent) of the total voters.

Corn Prices Rise 30 Percent So Far This Year.  You've likely seen mentions of inflation popping up amid some MSM discussions.  Without a doubt you have seen significant price jumps at your local supermarket.  The reason is simple, JoeBama's economic policies are beneficial to the multinationals, crushing to the domestic U.S. economy and driving massive increases in prices in a variety of sectors.  As a consequence the leftist financial media (almost all financial media) are churning out deflection points, but if you understand the background you can predictably see the cause and effect.

This will have an immediate impact on ethanol.

Basecamp Employees Flee Company After CEO Rejects Woke Capitalism.  About one-third of the employees of software developer Basecamp have quit their jobs after the company's founders asked them to focus on developing software, rather than get involved in politics at work.  Basecamp co-founder and CEO Jason Fried told employees that "every discussion remotely related to politics, advocacy, or society at large quickly spins away from pleasant."

Reports say one-third of Basecamp employees exit in the wake of new company etiquette.  Last Monday, Chicago-based software firm Basecamp issued a statement that said it was making a number of changes, including a ban on political discussions on its company Basecamp account.  "Today's social and political waters are especially choppy.  Sensitivities are at 11, and every discussion remotely related to politics, advocacy, or society at large quickly spins away from pleasant," the company said.  "You shouldn't have to wonder if staying out of it means you're complicit, or wading into it means you're a target."  The changes were touted as a "new etiquette regarding societal politics" by company co-founder and CTO David Heinemeier Hansson.  They did not prevent employees from having such conversations in a personal capacity.  But the internal reception to the more inclusive guidelines was not overly welcome, with reports coming in that a third of the company's employee base had walked out, accepting severance packages.

A software company comes up with a brilliant corporate speech policy.  Basecamp is remote work software that provides a single online environment in which workers on a single project can consolidate everything they do on that project.  No matter where you are, there's a virtual meeting space in cyberspace.  That's pretty cool.  What's really cool about Basecamp, though, is its CEO's new rule: people may not discuss politics at work.  With that single announcement, a third of the workforce quit.  Other American corporations should follow suit. [...] This is the American ethos:  employees are paid to get work done, not to stand on soapboxes, and employers exist to give them a safe environment and a decent salary for their work, not to try to force their lifestyle choices.

One-Third Of Basecamp Employees Quit After Ban On Political Discussions At Work.  Roughly one-third of employees at Basecamp are quitting after the company instituted a 'controversial' ban on wokeness in the workplace, according to TechCrunch.  After CEO Jason Fried announced in a Monday blog post that employees would no longer be able to openly share their "societal and political discussions" at work, around 20 of the company's 60 employees simply couldn't handle minding their own business and focusing on what they were hired to do.  "Every discussion remotely related to politics, advocacy or society at large quickly spins away from pleasant," Fried wrote in the blog post.  "You shouldn't have to wonder if staying out of it means you're complicit, or wading into it means you're a target."

The CIA's woke recruitment video gets panned.  A new CIA recruitment video has been widely ridiculed online after the recruit described herself as an 'intersectional cisgender millennial'.  The unnamed CIA officer, 36, tells viewers she is 'unapologetically me', adding that she to suffer from 'imposter syndrome' but now refuses to 'internalize misguided patriarchal ideas of what a woman can or should be.'  But the clip has sparked a fierce reaction online with users labelling it 'woke'.  Another said:  'The world is laughing at us.'

The CIA Goes Full-Blown WOKE, Release Commerical Targeting 'Cisgender Millennials' Featuring An Agent With A Mental Disorder.  The Central Intelligence Agency's recent advertisement profiling a "cisgender millennial" agent is being criticized and ridiculed by social media, especially on Twitter where the hashtag #CIA is trending.  The ad follows a 36-year-old Latina CIA agent, who identifies herself as a "woman of color" who has been "diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder."  "I am intersectional, but my existence is not a box-checking exercise," the agent says in the video, later adding that she "refuse[s] to internalize misguided, patriarchal ideas of what a woman can or should be."  [Video clip]

Chinese Leader Xi Jinping Lays out Plan to Control the Global Internet:  Leaked Documents.  Chinese leader Xi Jinping personally directed the communist regime to focus its efforts to control the global internet, displacing the influential role of the United States, according to internal government documents recently obtained by The Epoch Times.  In a January 2017 speech, Xi said the "power to control the internet" had become the "new focal point of [China's] national strategic contest," and singled out the United States as a "rival force" standing in the way of the regime's ambitions.  The ultimate goal was for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to control all content on the global internet, so the regime could wield what Xi described as "discourse power" over communications and discussions on the world stage.

Cop suspended for mocking LeBron James has GoFundMe erupt for over $289,000.  The cop who mocked LeBron James in a viral video got suspended.  Now there's a GoFundMe for him that has over $289,000 at the time of publication.  The police officer was mocking LeBron James soon after his "You're Next" tweet targeted the police officer who shot Ma'Khia Bryant.  LeBron James deleted the tweet and posted again suggesting it was out of anger, despite him having the facts and possibly not even watching the video to see Ma'Khia Bryant had a knife in her hand as she ran at another girl who was in a defensive stance.

Washington DC Is Paying $1.6 Million In Settlements To Rioters At Trump's Inauguration.  The double standard of justice continues.  Washington D.C. is going to pay $1.6 million in settlements to those who were arrested for rioting at Trump's inauguration.  According to lawsuits filed protesters were arrested without cause and excessive force was used. [...] Trump supporters who were at the capitol on January 6th are not getting the same treatment.  While they do nothing about the crimes committed by the deep state and radical left they are targeting every Trump supporter.  The FBI is now focusing in on a Grandmother who just walked through the U.S. Capitol!

UFOs are real, feds' cover-up fueled by fear: ex-Pentagon whistleblower.  UFOs exist — but the government doesn't want you to know it, according to the ex-Pentagon official who says he ran the program investigating "unidentified aerial phenomena" or UAP.  Recalling the revelatory instant when he recognized that UFOs were bona fide, controversial whistleblower Luis "Lue" Elizondo exclusively told The [New York] Post, "... [N]ow we have to do something about it.'"  However, Elizondo has not been able to get the feds to act on what he describes as a serious national security risk due to a litany of roadblocks — including a cover-up of the existence of UFOs because of religious objections, concerns over tarnishing its own reputation and fears of inciting public panic.

Former Sen. Harry Reid thinks Lockheed Martin may have UFO fragments.  Former Nevada Sen. Harry Reid believes US defense contractor Lockheed Martin may have once had fragments of a crashed UFO in its possession, it was revealed Friday.  Reid, 81, told The New Yorker that he had never actually seen proof of the remnants — but tried, unsuccessfully, to get approval from the Pentagon to find them.

Goodbye Humvee, Hello Z-MAG: Meet Israel's New All-Terrain Military Vehicle.  Israel's Ministry of Defense is procuring Z-MAG, a unique all-terrain vehicle for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).  The IDF traditionally has used several types of light armored vehicles and jeeps, including thousands of Humvees.  Now Z-MAG will be one of the IDF's future vehicles as the army continues to modernize and use new technology.  Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), one of Israel's largest defense companies, acquired the manufacturing of Zibar, Z-MAG, and ZD vehicles from off-road vehicle manufacturer Ido Cohen, the company said last year.  At the time IAI said that the all-terrain vehicles would be upgraded for military and homeland defense applications with a range of intelligence, radar, and communication systems manufactured by IAI's ELTA Systems.

US reveals suspected energy weapon attacks near Trump White House in 2020: Report.  Federal agents are reportedly looking into a suspected directed energy weapon attack near the White House in November of last year while President Donald Trump was still in office, as well as another suspected attack on a White House staffer the year prior.  The suspected November attack took place near the Ellipse, the large oval lawn on the south side of the White House, according to sources for CNN.  U.S. Secret Service agents were sickened during the incident, according to multiple current and former officials.  Details about the November attack are still limited, but CNN reported defense officials briefed lawmakers on the Senate and House Armed Services Committees on the matter earlier this month.  Recent reports have detailed defense officials' efforts to brief lawmakers about several different incidents of directed energy attacks, including at least one in Syria in the fall of 2020 that sickened several U.S. troops with flu-like symptoms.

Report: Chinese Investors Seeking Stake in Saudi Oil Company Aramco.  Reuters reported Wednesday that "major Chinese investors" are in talks to buy a stake in Saudi Aramco, the national oil company of Saudi Arabia.  Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) mentioned the possibility of selling some Aramco stock in a television interview Tuesday [4/27/2021].  "I don't want to give any promises but there's a discussion for acquisition of one percent of one of the pioneer companies for energy that will be a great deal to enhance the sales of Aramco in the country of this company," he said.

DC agrees to $1.6M settlement in lawsuits over mass arrests of Trump inauguration protesters.  The nation's capital reached a settlement over allegations that city police officers unlawfully arrested and detained more than 200 people protesting or observing protests of former President Donald Trump's inauguration in January 2017.  The Washington, D.C., government will pay a combined $1.6 million to settle the two lawsuits over the mass arrests, according to court documents filed Monday which alleged that D.C. police violated the First, Fourth, and Fifth Amendment rights of plaintiffs, citing the use of pepper spray, flash-bang grenades, concussion grenades, and stingballs.  The lawsuits also alleged many plaintiffs were arrested without probable cause and that they were detained for 16 hours without access to food, water, or restrooms.

Used pickup prices are skyrocketing amid new vehicle shortage.  A sharp drop in the supply of new vehicles due to the ongoing semiconductor chip shortage coupled with a strong demand for cars as the economy continues its post-lockdown recovery has led to an increase in used car prices with pickups leading the way.  According to used automobile wholesaler Manheim, the average wholesale price for a pickup hit $30,093 in mid-April, which is up from #28,121 a month earlier and $17,201 last April when the industry was oversupplied during the worst part of the coronavirus lockdowns.  Manheim chief economist Jonathan Smoke said the increase should be reflected in retail prices within six to eight weeks.

Apple, Retail Groups Continue Lobbying Congress On Chinese Slave Labor Bill.  Apple and several retail trade groups continued lobbying policymakers in the first quarter of this year on a bill to prohibit American firms from using Chinese forced labor, according to disclosures filed with Congress this week.  Apple paid Fierce Government Relations, a Washington, D.C. firm, $90,000 to lobby the House and Senate on multiple pieces of legislation, including the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, according to Fierce's lobbying disclosure filing.  The tech giant also paid $90,000 to Invariant LLC, another Beltway-based firm, to work on several bills and to monitor "legislative action on workforce and supply chains in China."

Cops found 'cryptic writing and emblems' in Phillip Adams' home.  Former NFL player Phillip Adams may have become involved in a new religion before going on a killing rampage that left six people dead in South Carolina earlier this month.  After searching the ex-athlete's home, detectives said they had learned that Adams 'had been acting differently' and was 'possibly following a new religion or ideology'.  Investigators also discovered numerous notebooks containing 'cryptic writing with different designs and emblems' in Adams' room although they indicated they were not able to determine the meanings of these.

China's Fishing Fleet Is Vacuuming the Oceans.  Communist China seems increasingly to be depleting the world's oceans of marine life.  The country has by far the world's largest fishing fleet of anywhere between 200,000 to 800,000 fishing boats — accounting for nearly half of the world's fishing activity — approximately 17,000 of which belong to its distant-water fishing fleet.  The growth has been made possible by enormous state subsidies.  In 2012, for instance, the Chinese state poured $3.2 billion in subsidies into its fishing sector, most of it for fuel.  However, according to a report from 2012, "government support for the fishing and aquaculture sector could be as much as CNY 500 billion (USD 80.2 billion, EUR 61.7 billion) when regional and national subsidies for rural-based fish farmers are taken into account."  As noted by the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), many industrialized countries, having depleted their domestic waters, go distant-water fishing in the territorial waters of low-income countries, but China's distant-water fleet is by far the largest in the world.  The ODI also noted that ownership and operational control of China's fleet is both "complex and opaque".

Apple claims 'no reasonable consumer would believe' hitting 'buy' button means you forever own the digital content they sold you.  Our high-tech overlords are redefining the word "buy" when it comes to online purchases of digital content from them.  They seem to conflate it with "rent."  Class action lawsuits are challenging the two most valuable companies in the world on this point.

Why lawmakers are so interested in Apple's and Google's "rents".  I suspect you, unlike me, had better things to do last Wednesday than watch the Senate antitrust subcommittee hearing on Apple's and Google's mobile app stores.  But if you did tune in, and you're not an economist, you might have been baffled by that exchange.  What is a monopoly rent — a term that was mentioned over and over at the hearing — and why is it bad?  What does it have to do with app stores?  In economics, the concept of rent refers to money that a business makes in excess of what it would get in an efficient, competitive market.  In other words, it's money that isn't earned by actually creating value.  When corporations lobby government to give them a tax break or a special regulatory favor, they are often accused of "rent seeking."  It's a pejorative term, and the precise limits of it are up for debate; it can be hard to draw the line between fair profits and unreasonable rents.  But the basic premise is that businesses should try to get rich by improving their products and services, not by gaming the system.

Elon Musk says 'bunch of people will probably die' during Mars mission.  Elon Musk has admitted that "a bunch of people will probably die" in the race to get to Mars.  The SpaceX pioneer made his blunt prediction as he laughed at how his planned Mars mission was being seen as "some escape hatch for rich people."  "You might die, it's going to be uncomfortable and probably won't have good food," Musk told Peter Diamandis, the founder and chairman of the X Prize Foundation for scientific discovery.  Advertisements for the journey should note how it will be an "arduous and dangerous journey where you may not come back alive," Musk said with a chuckle.

A mystery:  Why is the Pentagon sitting on four percent of all internet addresses?  This is just a really odd story that's been bouncing around for a little while now, but the Associated Press is reporting that at least some details have emerged pointing to a possible explanation.  On January 20th (the day Joe Biden was inaugurated as president), a shadowy company in Florida announced that it was now managing a massive chunk of all the available internet addresses in the world and they were doing so on behalf of the United States Department of Defense.  The term "massive" isn't hyperbole in this case.  We're talking about more than 175 million addresses or roughly 4% of the total available domains.  Virtually all of this internet space was unused, too.  The problem was that the Pentagon didn't seem to have anything to say about it and the company making the claim barely existed except on paper, having only been incorporated last September.  Some additional probing by journalists has now produced a few answers, but many questions still remain.

Pentagon quietly transfers 175 million internet addresses worth $4 BILLION to mysterious firm at shared workspace in Florida.  A very strange thing happened on the internet the day President Joe Biden was sworn in.  A shadowy company residing at a shared workspace above a Florida bank announced to the world's computer networks that it was now managing a colossal, previously idle chunk of the internet owned by the U.S. Department of Defense.  That real estate has since more than quadrupled to 175 million addresses — about 4 percent the size of the entire current internet.  It's also more than twice the size of the internet space actually used by the Pentagon.

Atlanta dethroned as world's busiest airport.  [Scroll down]  The second surprise there, the fact that China's airports take 7 of the top ten slots for the busiest airports in the world, is even more significant.  Part of the surge is because the pandemic that originated in China has devastated other countries' business travel, the core of the airline industry's traffic, while China's economy has bounced back much faster.  (Why that is the case ought to be a central political issue of our time.)

Manchin rails against eliminating filibuster, says he's not 'going to be part of blowing up this Senate'.  Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., on Sunday [4/25/2021] pushed back against progressive Democrats who call him a "roadblock" to their liberal proposals, emphasizing he is "not going to be part of blowing up this Senate."  CNN's "State of the Union" anchor Dana Bash asked Manchin how he would respond to Democrats who say that he is one of the "main roadblocks" to President Biden passing his "ambitious agenda," prompting Manchin to say, "I'm not a roadblock at all."  "I am not going to be part of blowing up this Senate of ours or basically this democracy of ours or the republic that we have," Manchin said, referring to the Democratic push to eliminate the filibuster.  "If we have a 51-vote threshold in the Senate, the same as the House — the House wasn't designed to be partisan."

NYPD Officers Leaving In Droves, 75% Increase In Quitting Or Retirement In 2020.  The members of the NYPD grew so disenchanted with their jobs in 2020 that over 5,300 uniformed officers either retired or quit, an astonishing 75% increase over the year before, amounting to 15% of the total number of officers on the force.  The impetus for the officers quitting seemed to be the death of George Floyd and the unrest that followed; between May 25 and June 24, 2020, a whopping 272 officers left the force in one month.  2,600 officers quit and 2,746 filed for retirement, according to the New York Post.  The 5,346 officers who left the force were nearly 2,300 more than left the force in 2019, when 1,509 officers quit and 1,544 filed for retirement.

Jim Clyburn Fined $5,000 For Bypassing Metal Detectors Outside House Floor.  House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn was fined $5,000 Friday for bypassing the metal detectors before walking on the floor.  The House Ethics committee released a statement, saying Clyburn had been fined and that he has appealed the fine.  The House installed magnetometers in early January and require all members of Congress to walk through them before entering the chamber after rioters supporting Trump stormed the U.S. capitol, committing acts of vandalism and violence.  Clyburn denied breaking House rules to CNN, saying:  "I have no idea," adding:  "It's just somebody on the other side trying to cause mischief."  For a first-time offense, the fine is $5,000, a second-time offense is $10,000.

Former Coca-Cola Employee Convicted of Stealing $120 Million Worth of Trade Secrets to Sell in China.  A Chinese-born American chemist was found guilty on April 22 for her role in a scheme to steal trade secrets worth an estimated $120 million from American companies for the purpose of setting up a Chinese company that would manufacture the product for the global market.  After a 12-day trial, 59-year-old You Xiaorong — also known as Shannon You — of Lansing, Michigan, was convicted of conspiracy to commit trade secret theft, conspiracy to commit economic espionage, possession of stolen trade secrets, economic espionage, and wire fraud, according to the Justice Department.  While working at two U.S. companies — Coca-Cola in Atlanta, Georgia, and Eastman Chemical Company in Kingsport, Tennessee — she stole trade secrets related to BPA-free (bisphenol-A) coating technology, which lines the insides of cans and other food and beverage containers to prevent flavor loss, corrosion, and reactions to the food or beverage content.

Coca-Cola GC who pushed law firms on diversity resigns post after less than a year.  Bradley Gayton, who joined the Coca-Cola Co as general counsel in September and made headlines for requiring its law firms to staff its matters with diverse lawyers or lose its business, has resigned, the beverage giant said in a Wednesday [4/21/2021] filing.  Gayton will now serve as an outside consultant to Coca-Cola's chief executive, the Atlanta-based company said in a statement and a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. [...] Gayton's new consulting agreement is non-exclusive and expires at the end of next April.  Under its terms, he is set to receive a lump-sum, $4 million "sign-on make-whole" payment this month and an additional $8 million combined in monthly installments, the filing said.

Cotton singles out Schiff as 'potential source' for hyped Russian bounties reporting.  House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff may have been a source for media reports last year that hyped intelligence about how the Russian government had offered bounties to Afghan militants to kill U.S. troops, according to a Republican lawmaker.  Sen. Tom Cotton told Lisa Boothe on her podcast, The Truth with Lisa Boothe, that the leaks were "probably as likely" to have come from Democrats in Congress as the U.S. intelligence community and specifically name-dropped Schiff, a California Democrat.  The Arkansas Republican was reacting to the White House saying last week the U.S. intelligence community had only "low to moderate confidence" in intelligence that was used by former President Donald Trump's critics to say he was ignoring information out of deference to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

From 'Insurrectionists' to 'Interruptionists'.  Well, this is a bummer for the sedition-baiting crowd.  The Biden Justice Department last week announced its first plea deal related to the January 6 protest on Capitol Hill:  Jon Ryan Schaffer pleaded guilty to two charges — obstruction of an official proceeding and entering the Capitol with a dangerous or deadly weapon.  Schaffer, who has no criminal record, faced six counts of various trespassing and disorderly conduct offenses.  (He did not plead guilty to any of the initial charges.)

Florida Sheriff To Incoming Residents Fleeing Blue States; 'Welcome To Florida, But Don't Vote Stupid.".  For any American who values liberty, freedom, patriotism, and 'America First,' if you're currently living in a blue-state or blue-city hell and are seeking to escape, there are a number of 'free states' where you can go to live a better life.  Missouri is good.  Texas is good.  The Dakotas would work.  Oklahoma and Kansas and Tennessee and Kentucky are options.  So, too, is Mississippi, Arkansas, Utah, and Idaho.  But wait — what if you're an American who values liberty, freedom, patriotism, and 'America First,' and who also wants really good weather for the majority of the year?  Yes, there's an option for those folks, too:  Florida.  Thanks to the Republicans who run that state, Florida has become a beacon of industry, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  That didn't come easy and it is a constant battle to keep the state that way.  Which brings me to a particular Florida law enforcement leader who had something to say about that very subject this week.

Executive Order Canceling the Constitution.  On April 15, Preident Biden signed an Executive Order on Blocking Property with Respect to Specified Harmful Foreign Activities of the Government of the Russian Federation.  Contrary to its title, this EO is not about Russia.  It is designed to allow the Biden administration to deprive American citizens and organizations of their rights and property by arbitrarily linking those persons to real, imagined, or vaguely defined activities of the Russian government.  The Biden administration unilaterally makes the determination and requires neither criminal acts nor intent.  The punishment is blocking assets and a prohibition on any dealing with the accused person.  Spouses and adult children of individuals found guilty by accusation under this EO are punished, too.  The EO was preceded by some distracting maneuvers, both diplomatic (hostile rhetoric toward Russia) and military (sending naval ships toward the Black Sea and recalling them back, as if dealing with Russian threats).  Thus, many people assumed that the EO was directed at Russia, and completely missed the fact that it is directed at dissent here, at home.

The Catholic Church is Building Mosques Now:  What could possibly go wrong?  Celebrate diversity!.  Gloria.tv reported Saturday [4/17/2021] that in France, "Tours Diocese donated money for the construction of a local mosque," and that "Tours Bishop Vincent Jordy justified his donation on April 15 with the fact that for John Paul II's 1996 visit to the city, the local Muslims made a symbolic donation which the diocese wanted to reciprocate.  Riposte-Catholique.fr adds that in 2015, Auch Diocese — where John Paul II never visited — donated €5000 for a mosque."  Also, the amount of the Muslims' "symbolic donation" was not reported, but it is not likely to have been enough to build a church, much less two churches.  Meanwhile, Bishop Stephen Mamza of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Yola in Nigeria is building houses in Yola for people who have lost their homes due to jihad terror activity by the Islamic group Boko Haram, whose official name is People Committed to the Prophet's Teachings for Proselytizing and Jihad.  Since many of those displaced are Muslims whom Boko Haram didn't think were Islamic enough, Bishop Mamza also built them a mosque.

It Was Worse Than We Thought:  NO ONE Met Japanese Prime Minister at the White House Door Except Stationary Army Guard.  In a highly disrespectful and embarrassing move, Kamala Harris welcomed Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga to the White House on Friday [4/16/2021].  Joe Biden was nowhere to be found as Kamala Harris welcomed Yoshihide Suga, the first foreign leader to visit the Biden White House.  But it was way worse than we originally reported.  No one met Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga at the door when he arrived.  The only one standing there was a stationary Army guard.

Trump-Supporting Republican Vernon Jones To Primary RINO Brian Kemp In Georgia Governor's Race.  Georgia Governor Brian Kemp (R) officially has a primary challenger.  Former Democrat Vernon Jones announced he would be running for Georgia Governor — as a Republican! [...] On January 6th Vernon Jones officially announced that he would be joining the Republican Party.

This is what happens when the government prints money and passes it around:
U.S consumer prices surge in March, CPI finds, pushing inflation to 2 1/2-year high.  Consumer prices rose in March for the fourth month in a row and the pace of inflation hit the highest level in two and a half years, underscoring new pressures emerging on the economy as the U.S. recovers from the coronavirus pandemic.  The consumer price index jumped 0.6% last month, the government said Tuesday, spearheaded by the rising cost of oil.  Economists polled by Dow Jones and The Wall Street Journal had forecast a 0.5% increase in the CPI.  The rate of inflation over the past year shot up to 2.6% from 1.7% in the prior month, marking the highest level since the fall of 2018.  The yearly rate of inflation is widely expected to surge in the next few months.

Consumer Prices Jump 0.6% in March, Biggest Gain Since 2012.  U.S. consumer prices increased a sharp 0.6% in March, the biggest uptick since 2012, while inflation over the past year jumped 2.6%.  The big gains had been anticipated and are largely expected to be a temporary blip rather than a reawakening of long dormant inflation.

House Democratic margin shrinks to 2 votes with swearing-in of Republican Julia Letlow.  House Democrats are barely holding onto their majority, with Rep.-elect Julia Letlow, R-La., set to be sworn in Wednesday morning.  Letlow will be joining the House in the seat originally won by her husband, Luke Letlow, who died in September from COVID-19 before he was supposed to be sworn in.  Julia Letlow won a special election in March.  This gives Republicans 212 seats in the House, catching up to Democrats' 218.  Since tie votes fail in the House, that means Democrats cannot lose more than two votes from their party to pass legislation if the GOP fully opposes them.  That slim margin of error could prevent Democrats from passing more progressive bills that moderates in their party may not support.

Is the Special Election in Texas 6 a 'Canary in GOP Coal Mine'?  Texas is turning blue.  We know because that's what we're told.  Despite Donald Trump winning the state in 2020 and the 10 Democratic targeted House races all ending up in Republican hands, the state is getting bluer all the time.  We know because... well, if the media tells us Republicans are sinking and Texas is where the "evidence" will appear next, naturally, the race to succeed Rep. Ron Wright, who died of COVID-19 in February, will be the "canary in the coal mine" according to Politico.

Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff dies in prison.  Bernard Madoff, the infamous architect of an epic securities swindle that burned thousands of investors, outfoxed regulators and earned him a 150-year prison term, died in a federal prison early Wednesday [4/14/2021].  He was 82.

U.S. soldiers should be at the Mexican border.
Pentagon will send 500 new troops to Germany in reversal of Trump plan.  The Pentagon on Tuesday [4/13/2021] said it will send an additional 500 U.S. troops to Germany in the coming months, marking a stark reversal of former President Trump's ill-fated push to move thousands of forces out of the country.  Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced the shift after meeting with German Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbaue, who hailed the plan as a "strong signal" of America's commitment to its European ally.  The 500 troops will join the roughly 35,000 American personnel now in Germany.  They are expected to arrive by the fall.

Due process is no more in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota.  [Scroll down]  Due process is the underpinning of the rule of law:  Those in power cannot treat people in an arbitrary and capricious manner.  Instead, there are rules for dealing with problematic situations, whether criminal accusations or workplace wrongdoing, especially in the context of government employment.  Due process is a double-sided shield that, in addition to protecting Americans from those in power, also protects them from the passions of the mob[.]  A man like this, who can stand for the rule of law when the mob is baying for blood, is a treasure and should be cherished.  In a fraught situation, he placed profoundly important principles ahead of any personal feelings he might have had regarding the events that just put his city on the map.  It turned out that the City Council would have liked to cherish him but the members were too frightened to do so.  Immediately after the conference, the Council convened in an emergency session and promptly fired [City Manager Curt] Boganey.  As one council member stated explicitly, the council's decision was made entirely to appease the mob.

Daunte Wright shooting:  Brooklyn Center city manager fired after call for due process for police officer.  Brooklyn Center City Manager Curt Boganey was fired on Monday evening, hours after he publicly disagreed with Mayor Mike Elliott's assertion that the police officer who fatally shot a Black man in the Minneapolis suburb should be immediately fired in response to the incident.  "Effective immediately our city manager has been relieved of his duties, and the deputy city manager will be assuming his duties moving forward," Elliott wrote on Twitter.  "I will continue to work my hardest to ensure good leadership at all levels of our city government."

Bitcoin Was Supposed to Be a Way Around Corporate Gatekeepers.  Now Big Companies Are Hopping On Board.  A year ago, Bitcoin was just a curiosity for many companies.  That's starting to change.  More than two dozen public companies now own some cryptocurrencies on their balance sheets.  Many more are starting to offer services to people interested in buying Bitcoin or to companies that want to hold it or accept it for payments. [...] Helping to push Bitcoin further into the mainstream have been traditional Wall Street institutions that are figuring out how to update their current systems to offer the same services for crypto that they do for cash.

If you're making counterfeit money, head to Minneapolis. They'll take it.
Retailers [are being] urged to re-think police calls for low-level crimes after George Floyd's death.  George Floyd died in police custody after a corner store clerk reported he had used a fake $20 bill, a nonviolent offense so low-level that police don't usually take people to jail for it. [...] In response to community outcry following Floyd's death, the owner of the Cup Foods store said they would no longer contact police in cases of nonviolent crime, as they did for Floyd's suspected counterfeit bill.  Raymond Moss, who runs the St.  Paul-based Carl Moss Institute that helps young people who have been incarcerated re-enter society, believes more stores need to forgo calling the police for small crimes and change the loss prevention culture among their security officers and staff.

The Editor says...
[#1] Counterfeiting is a federal crime.  It is not "low-level."  [#2] When the police tried to put George Floyd in the back of a cop car, he went berserk, because he was already about to die from a drug overdose.  [#3] Failing to report petty crime will result in more serious crime.  Who decides where to draw the line?  [#4] There's already too much selective enforcement of the law.  If you're white, no offense is too petty to overlook.

Portland Plans to Combat Crime with Unarmed Park Rangers.  Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler reportedly backed down from his request the police bureau be given $2 million in emergency funds and instead voted with city commissioners to spend $6 million on grants to community groups and also hire 24 park rangers.  "The deal gives police no money but calls for the Portland Police Bureau to assemble a new gun violence team to replace the one eliminated last June, when the city defunded its police by $15 million in the midst of nightly social justice protests," Fox News reported Friday [4/9/2021].

JAMA pulls plug on editor; fired for questioning 'existence of structural racism' on podcast.  An editor at the Journal of the American Medical Association is out of a job after criticizing the concept of structural racism in the healthcare field during a February podcast.  Dr. James L. Madara, CEO and executive vice president of the American Medical Association, announced in a statement that the journal had accepted the resignation of Deputy Editor for Clinical Reviews and Education Dr. Edward H. Livingston, accusing him of hosting a "harmful" podcast that "both minimized the effects of systemic racism in health care and questioned its profound impact on millions of people across our country."  The AMA's CEO declared that "structural racism exists in the U.S. and in medicine" and that it's "not opinion or conjecture" but a fact proven "through the science and in the evidence."

7% of Americans don't use the internet.  Who are they?  For many Americans, going online is an important way to connect with friends and family, shop, get news and search for information.  Yet today, 7% of U.S. adults say they do not use the internet, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted Jan. 25-Feb. 8, 2021.  Internet non-adoption is linked to a number of demographic variables, but is strongly connected to age — with older Americans continuing to be one of the least likely groups to use the internet.  Today, 25% of adults ages 65 and older report never going online, compared with much smaller shares of adults under the age of 65.  Educational attainment and household income are also indicators of a person's likelihood to be offline.

The Editor says...
The Democrats often say that high-speed internet service should be available in every part of the country, but the poll reported above shows that some people don't care about the internet at all.  The last time I checked, just over one percent of American households do not have a television.  With TV's so cheap and plentiful, that must be voluntary.  (It's voluntary at my house).  Some people just want to isolate themselves from all the noise.

'Is there an actual plan?' New Yorkers rip De Blasio for saying residents 'don't live in fear' amid crime spike.  Mayor de Blasio boldly insisted Wednesday [4/7/2021] New Yorkers are unrattled after 34 of them failed to dodge a fatal bullet last month, after a 5-year-old Brooklyn girl was grazed by a gunshot Monday outside her home, and after a Times Square tourist who'd just taken in a Mets game was hit by a stray shot walking to his hotel.  "I do not believe New Yorkers are living in fear," the mayor declared.  "It's just not who we are.  I believe there are some real issues we have to address .... But New Yorkers don't live in fear.  They keep moving forward.  I really believe that."

The Editor says...
If "New Yorkers don't live in fear," why is everybody wearing face masks?  Because they live in fear!

China warns Biden:  Cave to our demands or forget about your climate agenda.  A critical meeting on climate change, organised by the UK, appears to be the latest victim of an ongoing row with China.  Ministers from around 35 countries are due to participate in today's summit on climate and development.  But while the US, EU, India and others are taking part, China is notable by its absence.  The UK says that China was invited to the event but is not participating.

Rep. Lee Zeldin announces run for NY governor amid Cuomo scandals.  Long Island Rep. Lee Zeldin announced his candidacy for governor of New York on Thursday with the message:  "Cuomo's gotta go!"  Zeldin, 41, is the first GOP contender to officially challenge three-term Democrat Gov. Andrew Cuomo in 2022.  "I'll bring the kind of relentless, fighting spirit towards helping to save our state that Cuomo reserves for multi-million dollar self-congratulatory book deals, cover-ups, abuse & self-dealing," the congressman tweeted. 

Cop-Hating Leftist Tishaura Jones Wins St. Louis Mayoral Race — As Homicides Soar in St. Louis City to 50-Year High.  Former St. Louis Treasurer Tishaura Jones defeated fellow Democrat Cara Spencer to win the St. Louis Mayoral race.  Tishaura Jones is a radical leftist who is very critical of St. Louis City policing. [...] The murder rate in St. Louis City hit a 50-year high in 2020.  Tishaura Jones said the city's brightest days are "ahead of us and not behind us."  That's Doubtful.

Man accused of trying to extort Matt Gaetz admits he asked for cash.  The man accused of trying to extort $25 million from Rep. Matt Gaetz's family admitted Monday that he asked the congressman's dad for cash — but denied that it was a shakedown.  Bob Kent, an ex-Air Force intelligence officer, confirmed to Sirius Radio host Michael Smerconish that he approached the Florida Republican's dad, Don Gaetz, for money last month.  The funds, Kent said, were to pay for an effort to free Robert Levinson, a former FBI agent who disappeared in Iran in 2007, and is believed to be dead.  Kent claimed he has video evidence that Levinson is still alive and is being held hostage.

Keep Up The Delta Airlines Boycott — Delta Cancels Over 100 Flights on Sunday, But Cites "Staff Shortages".  Last week President Donald Trump asked for a full and unrelenting boycott of several corporations who are operating as political activists to advance an agenda on behalf of the far-left.  The corporations spoke against election integrity and are opposed to secure election reforms.  Among those corporations cited for immediate boycott was Delta Airlines.  On Sunday Delta cancelled over 100 flights: [...] Delta is claiming "staff shortages" suddenly appeared in multiple states, simultaneously; that had never happened before, immediately after the boycott began.  This story reeks of Delta cancelling the flights because of the boycott, but they don't want to admit the reason for the cancellation so they make up an artificial justification.  You decide what is likely.  A coincidental cancellation across multiple states, affecting multiple flights, in multiple locations, or the boycott is working?

Georgia GOP Legislators to Coca-Cola:  We Want You Out.  Certain Republican Georgia lawmakers want Coca Cola products removed from their offices after the corporation spoke out against the state's new election law, reports the Hill.  In a letter to Kevin Perry, president of the Georgia Beverage Association, eight members of the Georgia House of Representatives — Victor Anderson, Clint Crowe, Matt Barton, Jason Ridley, Lauren McDonald III, Stan Gunter, Dewayne Hill and Marcus Wiedower — complained about Coca-Cola.  "Given Coke's choice to cave to the pressure of an out of control cancel culture, we respectfully request all Coca-Cola Company products be removed from our office suite immediately," they stated.  "Should Coke choose to read the bill, share its true intentions and accept their role in the dissemination of mistruths, we would welcome a conversation to rebuild a working relationship."

The company racing to free US from reliance on China for electric cars, wind turbines, and satellites.  One company sees a business opportunity in the United States's reliance on China for rare earth elements, such as dysprosium, terbium, and yttrium, crucial for the proper functioning of night vision goggles and wind turbines, among scores of other kinds of important hardware.  There are 17 metals called rare earth elements, also referred to as REEs.  China has dominated the rare earth market for years and accounts for about 80% of U.S. imports of rare earth metals and compounds.  Demand for the metals is only growing as clean energy products such as wind turbines and electric cars, which use the metals, become more popular.  UCore aims to rip that hegemony away from China.  "It's a pretty dangerous spot to be in," UCore interim CEO Pat Ryan told the Washington Examiner.  "It's quite an imbalance, and it's got to be corrected, or the technology will continue to evolve with control by China."

The Duty to Dissent:  In our free republic, where the God-given right to free speech is recognized by our federal and state constitutions and guaranteed by our servant governments, a recent poll of our fellow citizens should amaze no one and enrage everyone.  Consider these findings:
  •   64 percent believe there is "a growing cancel culture" threatening their freedom (36 percent disagreed);
  •   36 percent said cancel culture is a "big problem"; 32 percent a "moderate problem"; 20 percent a "small problem"; 13 percent said it's "not a problem";
  •   54 percent are "concerned" that expressing online opinions would get them banned (by Big Tech) or fired by their employer; 46 percent "were not concerned."

New York opens Office of Cannabis Management following legalization.  A state-run website for a new Office of Cannabis Management was launched Friday following the legalization of recreational marijuana in New York.  The website is meant to educate the public "on the OCM's regulatory structure which, with the Cannabis Control Board, will oversee the licensure, cultivation, production, distribution, sale and taxation of medical, adult-use and cannabinoid hemp within New York State," Gov. Andrew Cuomo's office said.  The site also provides resources for individuals seeking medical cannabis practitioners and medical cannabis IDs as well as businesses seeking licensure to participate in the adult-use, medical and cannabinoid hemp industries even though legal marijuana cannot be sold by licensed dispensaries until at least next year.

Oil companies defeat New York City appeal over global warming.  A federal appeals court on Thursday [4/1/2021] rejected New York City's effort to hold five major oil companies liable to help pay the costs of addressing harm caused by global warming.  Ruling in favor of BP Plc, Chevron Corp, ConocoPhillips, Exxon Mobil Corp and Royal Dutch Shell Plc, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan said the regulation of greenhouse gas emissions should be addressed under federal law and international treaties.  It rejected the city's efforts to sue under state nuisance law for damages caused by the companies' "admittedly legal" production and sale of fossil fuels, and said the city's federal common law claims were displaced by the federal Clean Air Act.

Georgia House passes bill stripping Delta of tax break after airline's CEO slammed new election integrity law.  Georgia lawmakers passed an amendment that would strip Delta Airlines of a tax break on jet fuel after the company publicly excoriated the state's newly enacted election integrity law.  Republicans in the Georgia House of Representatives narrowly passed an amendment that would revoke the tax break, costing the Atlanta-based Delta tens of millions of dollars per year, according to Forbes.  "They like our public policy when we're doing things that benefit them," state House Speaker David Ralston said about the move.  "You don't feed a dog that bites your hand.  You got to keep that in mind sometimes."

Detectives find cause of Tiger Woods crash but won't reveal.  The Los Angeles County sheriff said detectives have determined what caused Tiger Woods to crash his SUV last month in Southern California but declined Wednesday to release details, citing unspecified privacy concerns for the golf star.

Russia Massing Troops on Ukraine Border; US Forces in Europe Raise Watch to Highest Level 'Potential Imminent Crisis'.  Russian forces massing on the border with Ukraine have prompted the U.S. European Command to raise its watch level to its highest point of "potential imminent crisis", according to a New York Times report Tuesday night [3/30/2021].  On Wednesday, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley spoke to senior Russian Gen. Valery Gerasimov about the buildup, according to Russia.  Four Ukrainian soldiers were killed last week in an extended battle in the contested Donetsk Region against Russia-backed separatists.  Russian forces that were thought to have gathered for training exercises near the border have stayed and grown in numbers, prompting concerns.

Mike Lindell:  New Social Media Platform Will Be Able to Handle Upwards of a Billion People.  The forthcoming social media website from MyPillow's Mike Lindell will be able to handle more than a billion users, Lindell said this week.  "I believe it will handle upwards of a billion.  If it doesn't, we will get to that capacity.  I don't think that's exaggerated, by any means," Lindell told The Epoch Times.  "It's going to be the safest, secure platform.  I built it expecting to be attacked."  The platform, dubbed Frank, has a landing page but isn't operational yet.  Lindell told The Epoch Times' affiliate NTD on March 11 that the website would be up and running within two weeks.

Biden Stimulus Delayed for Many Americans on Social Security.  Americans struggling to survive on federal benefits have waited weeks for word on their share of the $1.9 trillion stimulus.  Some of the country's most vulnerable citizens have been waiting weeks for the next round of promised financial aid from President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion "American Rescue Plan" coronavirus relief package, with no indication of when it would come.  Chief among those are the millions of elderly Americans who depend on federal assistance to survive.

Terrorism Charges Dismissed by Judge Against Three Men Accused of Plotting to Kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer.  Jackson County District Judge Michael Klaeren (Michigan 12th District) has removed charges of terrorism against three men accused in a plot to kidnap governor Gretchen Whitmer.  According to the Detroit News, judge Klaeren said:  "There has to be some form of intent here to incite mayhem", and no evidence in that regard has been presented.  The terrorism charges fail for lack of evidence.

Identity Politics and Critical Race Theory Have No Place in US Military.  Sen. Tom Cotton, rightly angered that the Department of Defense is moving to indoctrinate U.S. military personnel in divisive critical race theory, has introduced a bill that would forbid it.  Like colleagues in the House who sent letters to Adm. Mike Gilday, the chief of naval operations, expressing severe disapproval of the Navy's decision to include books on critical race theory and other aspects of identity politics on professional reading lists, Cotton, R-Ark., and a former soldier, demonstrated he understands the corrosive effect that such teachings would have on the U.S military.

Limbaugh's Brother Addresses Fans Directly, Tells Them What Their 'Profound Love' of Rush Means.  It's been over a month since conservative talk show legend Rush Limbaugh passed away.  And ever since, the many voices of many American conservatives that would've otherwise remained unheard without his golden microphone, now speak in loving remembrance.  Limbaugh's brother David, awed by the immense outpour of love his now-deceased brother's audience continues to show, expressed his overwhelming gratitude in words every Rush fan needs to hear.

How a desert wind blew $10 billion of global trade off course.  The forecast for Tuesday, March 23, showed wind gusts of more than 40 miles per hour and sand storms sweeping through northern Egypt.  Indeed, such weather is common in the Sinai desert at this time of year.  The Suez Canal — one of the most critical, yet precarious waterways on the planet — remained open.  Ships were starting to form the daily convoy as the gusts picked up.  One of the world's biggest container vessels, the Ever Given, joined it.  The decision would reverberate globally within hours.

Suez Canal snafu costs $10 billion a day: report.  A massive container ship remains stuck in the Suez Canal for a sixth day on Sunday — hiking the estimated economic damage from the resulting shipping logjam to $60 billion.  The crisis is causing commercial losses of about $9.6 billion a day as ships that should have been heading between Europe and Asia stay immobilized, according to economic estimates calculated by Bloomberg.  Meanwhile, there is still no timeline for freeing the massive Ever Given container ship, which is about the length of the Empire State Building.  The vessel went aground Tuesday [3/23/2021] after being blown aground inside the canal by heavy winds, investigators said.

Myanmar military kills dozens of anti-coup protesters; baby injured.  Myanmar's military fatally shot dozens of protesters Saturday and a rubber bullet injured a baby amid anti-coup demonstrations, observers said.  The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners said dozens of protesters were shot dead in the bloodiest day since the February coup with the latest deaths bringing the total number to about 400, according to the BBC.

US military has gone full woke, waging war on those who disagree with them.  Who exactly is Richard Torres-Estrada?  His Facebook page gives us some indication of who he is.  On it, you'll find an attack on the police, you'll find crude BLM propaganda, you'll find a picture of Donald Trump holding a Bible in front of a church.  Next to Trump is a photograph of Adolf Hitler.  The point is, they're the same.  So, this is the guy who now oversees hiring for the SEALs.  If you're wondering whether our military leadership has gone woke, consider that question settled for good.  The Pentagon is now the Yale faculty lounge, but with cruise missiles.  That should concern you.  Meanwhile, the rest of the world rolls on and gets more menacing by the day.  Tonight, the Suez Canal, one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world, is blocked by a stranded container ship.  Was it an accident?  Maybe.  Maybe not.  We don't know.  What we do know is the Suez Canal is vital to the world's economy.  That's not an overstatement.  The Suez Canal is one of about a dozen strategic choke points that control virtually all global trade.  Now it's closed.

James Huntsman files lawsuit accusing Latter-day Saint Church of fraud.  A member of one of Utah's most prominent families, and a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, has filed a lawsuit accusing the church of fraud.  James Huntsman says the church spent tithes from members on commercial interests instead of charity, as it was intended.  "This is not a case about faith; it is a case about fraud and corporate greed," the lawsuit reads.  The lawsuit was filed Tuesday [3/23/2021] in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California and first reported by the Washington Post.  Huntsman claims the Church lied to members about the use of funds that it said would be used for non-commercial purposes such as "missionary work, member indoctrination, temple work, and other educational and charitable activities."

Parler Just Flipped Big Tech's Jan. 6 Conspiracy Theory on Its Head.  In the days after the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021, Big Tech moved against a conservative alternative social media platform, Parler, based on the premise that the rioters has used Parler to plan the attack on the Capitol and that Parler had failed in its responsibility to prevent such coordination. [...] On Thursday [3/25/2021], Parler sent a response to the House Committee on Oversight and Reform's request for documents regarding the riot, the company explained in a press release.  In that response, Parler revealed that it had "proactively developed an open line of communication with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the fall of 2020 and referred violent content and incitement from Parler's platform over 50 times before January 6th.  Parler also warned the FBI about specific threats of violence being planned for the events at the Capitol on January 6th."  The letter details Parler's efforts "to flag and remove unlawful speech from its platform that was not protected by the First Amendment."  It also notes that of the 270 charging documents filed by the Department of Justice, 80 percent of social media references involved Big Tech platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.  "Only 5% referred to Parler."

North Korea:  Lockdown as a Strategy.  There used to be a saying that any country called the "People's Democratic Republic" was the reverse.  Nothing illustrates the semantic inversion better than the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK, also known as North Korea). [...] The Democratic People's Republic's claim to be coronavirus-free cannot be independently confirmed in a country where lockdown is policy.  The secret to the Kims' ability to control the messaging is the principle that less is more.  To achieve this, they deplatformed channels in favor of systems like their unique low bandwidth closed-circuit radio.  DPRK closed-circuit radio works just like a giant apartment intercom system.  "When hundreds of houses and apartments were completed last year, North Korean media showed residents entering their new homes, welcomed with a pile of household goods.  On the wall of each home was something else provided by the state:  a dedicated receiver for the country's secretive third radio network that relays daily news, instruction, and propaganda."  It is obviously impossible to run an economy on the basis of an apartment intercom/loudspeaker.  But the royal Kims are not interested in running an economy, just maintaining control.  For this their infrastructure suffices.

Republican Candidate For Congress In Texas: 'Commies In DC' Are Ruining America.  Dan Rodimer is a former WWE wrestler who is running for Congress in Texas.  In one of his new ads, he takes aim at Nancy Pelosi and Democrats in Washington, DC and refers to them as 'commies' who are ruining America.

China's Myanmar dilemma grows deep and wide.  Soon after 17-year-old medical student Khant Nyar Hein was shot and killed during an anti-coup demonstration in Yangon's Tamwe township on March 14, his mother posted on social media that although her family is ethnically Chinese they do not support the People's Republic of China (PRC).  Ethnicity also came into play in Mandalay when a 19-year-old woman was shot by a Myanmar army sniper on March 3.  Widely circulated pictures of the Sino-Myanmar woman, known as Angel, taken just moments before she was killed showed her in a T-shirt with the slogan "Everything will be OK."

Global Plastic Shortage Triggered By Texas Deep Freeze.  The cold snap that shut down oil fields and refineries across Texas last month has severely impacted several petrochemical plants caused a global shortage of plastics, according to WSJ. Plastics produced on the Gulf Coast are essential for carmaking, medical devices, homebuilding, and consumables.  Prices for polyethylene, polypropylene, and other plastics used to make automobiles, computers, and pipes have reached their highest prices in years due to the shortages produced by the shuttering of petrochemical plants across Texas and other Gulf Coast states due to cold weather in February.  On top of a shortage of almost everything and soaring prices, as we explained days ago, wide-scale supply chain pains are expected throughout 2021.

Kylie Jenner, Billionaire, Asks Fans To Donate To Her Injured Makeup Artist's GoFundMe.  Kylie Jenner, who earned $590 million in 2020 alone, asked her fans to crowdsource $60,000 for her makeup artist's medical bills[.]  According to Forbes, Kylie Jenner made $590 million in 2020, making her the highest paid celebrity of that year.  Not the highest paid female celebrity.  The highest paid celebrity, full stop.  Her estimated net worth is just shy of a billion dollars, and her family's combined net worth?  Estimated to be somewhere around $2 billion.  And over the weekend, Jenner asked her social media fans to contribute to a GoFundMe to help pay for her makeup artist's medical bills.

China's rare earth supplies disrupted by Myanmar tumult.  Fears are growing of a global shortage of rare earth minerals used in the manufacture of high-tech devices as unrest in Myanmar following the February 1 coup disrupts exports to China.  Chinese companies started complaining about delays in shipments of the minerals since mid-March, reportedly due to the deteriorating political and economic situation, which Chinese media reports say have had an impact on logistics.  Rare earth metals are used in aerospace, advanced military equipment, mobile phones and electric vehicles, among other tech products.  Myanmar is a major supplier of rare earth ores, which are exported to China for extraction and processing, and then either used in local production or shipped on to global markets.

Army pulls the pin on 'gender neutral' combat fitness test; creates separate tiers for men, women.  The latest version of the Army Combat Fitness Test (ACFT) will be gender-neutral in how performance is measured but will establish separate ranked tier systems for men and women, military officials said Monday as they rolled out the latest tweak to the Army's physical performance standards.  Army leaders said that both male and female soldiers will be measured on the same numerical scale of 360 to 600, with a 360 score being the minimum threshold.  In other words, a man and woman who run a mile in the same amount of time will have their performance measured equally on that point scale, and they will receive the same score.  But from there, the results will be separated out by gender in what Pentagon officials say is a recognition of reality.  The changes come amid criticism that previous tries at a truly "gender-neutral" test resulted in high failure rates for female soldiers.

Condo Association Says Resident's American Flag Is Too Noisy, Threatens Fines.  A condo association in Fargo, North Dakota, has threatened ongoing fines to a resident for the flapping sounds his flag makes on windy days.  Andrew Almer, like many Americans, hangs an American flag outside his home.  "It's something I've always wanted when I owned a home," Almer told Fox 13 on Friday.  "Having an American flag in the yard is just an American thing — that pride to have."  Now it looks like the patriotic display could cost him.

Wild Footage Shows Protesters In Myanmar Trying To Fight Armed Security Officers With Slingshots.  Protesters in Myanmar fired slingshots and threw Molotov cocktails toward lines of security forces after apparently coming under fire Wednesday in a rare incidence of anti-coup demonstrators fighting back against a relentlessly violent crackdown.

China uses Black Lives Matter to embarrass Biden Administration.  The Biden administration was thoroughly embarrassed and unprepared in their first diplomatic meeting with the Chinese delegation yesterday [3/18/2021].  On U.S. soil, the Chinese mocked U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan.  "Many people within the United States actually have little confidence in the democracy of the United States," top Chinese diplomat Yang Jiechi told the Biden administration, citing the Black Lives Matter movement.  The Chinese brazenly violated protocol for their 2-minute openings, each extending their comments beyond the given time.  Mr. Yang spoke for 16 minutes.

How Covid-19 Supercharged the Advertising 'Triopoly' of Google, Facebook and Amazon.  When the pandemic upended the economy last year, companies took a hard look at their advertising plans.  Oreos maker Mondelez International Inc. shifted money meant for TV commercials during March Madness basketball and the Summer Olympics into digital platforms.  A hefty chunk went to Alphabet Inc.'s Google, which offered data on what locked-down snack lovers were searching for.  Athleisure company Vuori Inc. more than tripled its spending on Facebook Inc., spotting a chance to juice sales of its sweatpants to people stuck at home.  Office-furniture maker Steelcase Inc. built an operation to sell directly to workers and advertised aggressively on Amazon.com Inc.  The Big Three of digital advertising — Google, Facebook and Amazon — already dominated that sector going into 2020.  The pandemic pushed them into command of the entire advertising economy.

Weather Channel will stop using 'racially insensitive' term 'Dixie Alley' for tornado-prone region of the South.  The Weather Channel on Friday [3/19/2021] announced it will no longer use the term "Dixie Alley" on its television network.  The term describes the region of the southern U.S. that's prone to deadly tornado outbreaks.  "Effective immediately, we will discontinue use of the racially-insensitive term 'Dixie Alley' — and I call on others in the industry to do the same," Byron Allen — CEO of Allen Media Group, parent company of The Weather Channel television network — said in a statement.

Myanmar Military Seizes George Soros Organization's Bank Accounts, Announces Arrest Warrants After Coup.  The military government in Myanmar, in place after a coup provoked by widespread accusations of voter fraud plagued the country's recent election, has now seized the bank accounts of George Soros' Open Society Foundations.  After taking control of the country in a military coup provoked by allegations of voter fraud earlier this year, the Myanmar military government has seized several bank accounts belonging or affiliated with George Soros' Open Society Foundations, and has announced arrest warrants for 11 members of the organization in the country "on suspicion of giving financial support to the civil disobedience movement against the military junta."

Former intelligence chief: 'Quite a few more' UFOs detected than public knows.  A former top intelligence official raised expectations on Friday for a forthcoming U.S. government disclosure on what it knows about UFOs.  John Ratcliffe, who served as director of national intelligence under former President Donald Trump, was asked on Fox News by host Maria Bartiromo what he knows about unidentified flying objects that have captured people's imaginations for generations.  "There are a lot more sightings than have been made public," Ratcliffe said.  "Some of those have been declassified.  And when we talk about sightings, we are talking about objects that have seen by Navy or Air Force pilots, or have been picked up by satellite imagery that frankly engage in actions that are difficult to explain.  Movements that are hard to replicate that we don't have the technology for.  Or traveling at speeds that exceed the sound barrier without a sonic boom."  After saying that there have been sightings all around the world, Ratcliffe insisted that reports of "unidentified aerial phenomena" already in the public eye are only part of the bigger picture.

January 6 Narrative Collapse:  Assault Charges Spell Problems for DOJ, FBI in Officer Sicknick Case.  A major development broke this week in the Federal investigation into what exactly caused the death of U.S. Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick. [...] Here's what we know:  Two men, Julian Khater and George Tanios, have been charged with nine criminal counts for actions taken on January 6th just outside the steps of the U.S. Capitol building.  The most serious offense appears to be assault on an officer with a dangerous weapon, arising from Khater's alleged use of Tanios's chemical spray to tag Officer Sicknick and two other officers in the face.  It's not fully clear whether "dangerous weapon" or "deadly weapon" is the apt description.  The front page of the criminal complaint describes the assault as only being with a "dangerous weapon": [...] Everyone from Fox News to The Daily Caller to TMZ to World Socialist Website to Baltimore Jewish Life to the January 6th Wikipedia entry reported the charge as assault with a "deadly weapon"[.]

Tide wants you to wash in cold water to save the planet.  Detergent and cleaning brand Tide is urging Americans to do their laundry in cold water; to save the planet, and maybe save some money.  As part of their effort to lower the carbon footprint of doing laundry, Tide's new campaign is aimed at getting people to do an average of three out of four loads of laundry with cold water by 2030.  Currently, about half the loads of laundry in North America are with cold water.  The switch will cut down on the power consumption needed to heat the water.

The Editor says...
[#1] Hot water cleans better, every time.  [#2] Just make the soap, and leave the environmental preaching to someone else.  The detergent market is very competitive.  If I try all the other brands, I might not come back.  [#3]  If there is not enough power available in this country to wash clothes in warm water, the solution is to build more power plants; preferably fueled by America's 500-year supply of coal and 200-year supply of natural gas.

The Root accused of racism after piece by New York Times contributor declares 'Whiteness is a Pandemic'.  The digital magazine The Root was accused of racism Wednesday after publishing an article declaring "Whiteness is a Pandemic" in response to Tuesday's deadly shootings in Georgia.  There was a rush to conclude that the shootings that killed eight people at three Atlanta-area massage parlors were hate crimes after officials confirmed that six of the eight victims were Asian-Americans.  Investigators said Wednesday that the suspected gunman, 21-year-old Robert Long, told them he was motivated by a "sexual addiction".  They added that racism "did not appear to be the motive".  Long has since been charged with multiple counts of murder and assault.  In the piece, Root senior editor Damon Young argued that "Whiteness" is a "public health crisis."

Biden Admin Halts Navy Operations, Orders Sailors to Undergo 'Chilling' Stand-Down Training.  [Scroll down]  As one person on our team put it, "Why does the DoD only care about one kind of extremism?  Why do they refuse to talk about antifa?  Why is it extremist to attack a Capitol police officer, but not extremist to attack a Portland police officer?"  We were further lectured that "supremacists" were seeking to join the military to gain skills and proficiency with weapons.  But, of course, we know that inner-city gangs have been trying this for years, and yet there was no discussion of this.  Nor was there any mention of antifa, which explicitly and often openly promotes violent activities.  It seems odd that in 2020, when we saw 1,000 riots with varying levels of violence, our training would be centered on the one riot connected to the right and ignore the 999 connected to the left.

Ohio AG sues Biden administration over pandemic bill.  Ohio's attorney general filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration on Wednesday [3/17/2021] over a provision of the recently signed pandemic relief bill.  In a complaint filed in federal district court in Ohio, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost (R) challenged a provision in the legislation that forbids state and local government from using pandemic aid to offset tax cuts.  "Ohio seeks to enjoin federal officials from enforcing the unconstitutional Tax Mandate, and seeks declaratory relief establishing that the State of Ohio, under the Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, retains the freedom to manage its own tax policy," the lawsuit reads.

U.S. has issued 90 million stimulus checks worth $242 billion, Treasury says.  The U.S. has thus far issued 90 million stimulus checks worth a collective $242 billion as part of President Joe Biden's landmark $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, according to a report released Wednesday [3/17/2021] by multiple government agencies.  The first batch of payments were mostly sent by direct deposit, and some recipients started receiving their checks this past weekend, the Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service announced.  The Treasury said it also mailed about 150,000 physical checks worth about $442 million as part of the first wave of disbursements.

Convicted Democratic fund-raiser had secret ties to U.S. intelligence.  Imaad Zuberi hobnobbed for two decades among America's political elite, raising millions for Barack Obama, Joe Biden, and Hillary Clinton, texting with kings, princes, presidents and prime ministers and jet-setting with Republican senators like Lindsey Graham and John McCain. [...] When Zuberi was sentenced last month to 12 years in prison and more than $18 million in fines — one of the harshest penalties ever meted out for a donor fraud case — it seemed like an open-and-shut case of political corruption. [...] But back in the nation's capital, the U.S. government harbored a deep secret about Zuberi, a Pakistani-American who ran a highly successful venture capital firm with reach across the globe.  Just the News has confirmed from multiple current and former U.S. officials that Zuberi enjoyed a long and complex relationship with U.S. intelligence.  His early help to the Drug Enforcement Administration with illegal drug trade and the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department in the war on Islamic terrorism in the early 2000s eventually elevated him to becoming a valuable source inside Washington's security and spy establishment for much of the last two decades, the officials said.  They declined to be more specific.

Man Sues Hertz Over Lost Receipt That Was His Murder Alibi.  A Michigan man has sued Hertz, the car rental company, saying it failed to produce a receipt that would have proved his innocence before he was convicted of a 2011 murder.  The man, Herbert Alford, was convicted in 2016 of second-degree murder in the fatal shooting of Michael Adams, 23, in Lansing, Mich.  Mr. Alford insisted that he was innocent and that a car rental receipt from the Hertz location at the Lansing airport would prove that he was nowhere near the scene of the murder when it occurred in October 2011.  The company produced the receipt in 2018, and the charges against Mr. Alford were dropped last year.

Democrat Introduces Sensible Bill To Eliminate Clock Changes.  Have you recovered from once again having an hour stolen from your day on Saturday night?  This annoying practice has been with us for quite a while now but it's always seemed fairly pointless to me.  Beyond not providing any concrete benefits, it's an annoyance.  Every time I complain about changing the clocks twice per year, somebody always chimes in telling me to move to Arizona, but that's not a practical solution for everyone.  So how would you feel about doing away with it?  That may finally be possible with the latest submission of a bill that would keep the United States permanently on Daylight Savings Time.  Sponsored by Senator Ed Markey and already garnering bipartisan support, it sounds like we may actually be able to put an end to this nonsense.

Lockdowns: Class warfare of the rich and the professional class against the working class.  A year after "15 days to flatten the curve" began our lockdowns, we have enough data to answer the classic question about lockdowns (which still exist a year later in many places, including much of California):  cui bono?  (who benefits?)  The answer is:  as an individual, Jeff Bezos.  His stock in Amazon, the single biggest beneficiary of lockdowns, is worth billions of dollars more than before the lockdown.  As a group:  educated professionals, able to work from home via Zoom and other internet-based services and able to afford home delivery.

A Study Shows Very Few Capitol Hill Rioters Were QAnon Red-Staters With Ties to 'Right Wing' Groups.  A survey by the University of Chicago finds that most Capitol Hill rioters had no ties to any fringe right-wing groups and were engaged people outraged by what they believed was a rigged election.  While colorful weirdos with names such as QAnon Shaman and Baked Alaska stole the headlines, people who were arrested by federal officials during and after the riot were a "broader core of people" with a healthy skepticism about the veracity of the November 2020 election, according to the study.

Journalism Competition and Preservation Act could be a massive blow to small media companies.  The Journalism Competition and Preservation Act of 2019 is currently making its way through Congress and if passed, would be a massive blow to small media companies.  According to govtrack.us, the bill creates a four-year safe harbor from antitrust laws for print or digital news companies to collectively negotiate with online social media companies regarding the terms on which the news companies' content may be distributed by online content distributors.  A report published by Breitbart this week criticizes the bill, saying it would give Big Media companies a special exemption from antitrust law, allowing them to form a cartel, meaning big companies would maintain prices at a high level while restricting the competition.

Poll Finds Most Democrats Still Think Trump Stole The 2016 Election — Why Aren't They Being Canceled?  Pollster Scott Rasmussen recently came up with an interesting finding.  His poll showed that almost the exact same percentage of Americans think Hillary Clinton had the election stolen from her as think Donald Trump suffered the same fate in 2020.  So why is it that Democrats never get attacked for being seditionists?  Rasmussen (who founded but is no longer with the Rasmussen Reports polling firm) surveyed 1,200 registered voters, asking who they believe were the legitimate winners of the 2016 and 2020 elections.  What he found was that 52% of Democrats continue to believe that Clinton was the actual winner in 2016.  Only 34% of Democrats believe Trump was the legitimate winner, and 14% aren't sure.

U.S. Army Considers Reversing 'Gender Neutral Physical Test' After Majority Of Women Fail To Keep Up With Men:  Report.  The United States Army is reportedly considering doing away with its new "gender-neutral physical test" after test results showed that the majority of women failed while approximately 90 percent of men passed.  Officials are reportedly considering having different evaluation categories for men and women due to the physiological differences between the two.  "Research showed that the Army Combat Fitness Test [ACFT], which is the same for male and female soldiers, was leading to lower results for women with a knock-on effect for promotions," The Telegraph reported.  "An early Pentagon study showed that women were failing the ACFT at a rate of 65 percent, while only 10 percent of men did."  A report from last fall found that 54 percent of women failed the test while only 7 percent of men failed it.

Biden Admin Warns NY Sheriff Over Flying of Trump Flag in Boat Parade.  Joe Biden's handlers are not content with the fact that they managed to get rid of Donald Trump, because now they're going after his supporters and pretending as though they have the law on their side.  The Office of the Special Counsel has issued a warning to a New York sheriff that he allegedly violated an 82-year-old law that prevents federal workers from doing political stuff in their official capacity.

Some people read too many sci-fi novels.
Scientists want to send 6.7M sperm samples to the moon.  Scientists have begun to lay plans for repopulation, starting with a sperm bank — on the moon.  In what they're calling a "modern global insurance policy," mechanical engineers have proposed that humans establish a repository of reproductive cells — sperm and ova — from 6.7 million of Earth's species, including humans.  And the proposed bank, or "ark," would be beneath the moon's surface.

The Editor says...
Who's going to pay for this project?  Under what circumstances would it be necessary, feasible, or possible, to go get all that material from the repository?  It would be all but useless on the moon, so one infers that the stuff would be returned to the Earth.  By whom?  For what purpose?

Wall Street elites who fled to Florida amid COVID-19 want to return to NYC.  Wall Street elites who flocked to Florida to ride out the COVID-19 crisis now have regrets — and are eyeing a move back to the Big Apple.  "The main problem with moving to Florida is that you have to live in Florida," Jason Mudrick, the founder of Mudrick Capital Management, told Bloomberg.  Those among the upper crust are being drawn back to New York for its choice selection of private schools, restaurants and cultural institutions — as well as the city's deep pool of young talent when it comes to finance jobs.  "New York has the smartest, most driven people, the best culture, the best restaurants and the best theaters," the Manhattan resident of more than two decades admitted to the outlet.

The Editor says...
Yeah, your life in Florida must be really tough.  I feel so sorry for you.  It probably feels like Kansas, but with more rain.

The Socialist Revolution Expects Venezuela's Elderly to Live Off $0.63 a Month.  Time and time again the "Bolivarian, Socialist, Anti-Imperialist, and Profoundly Chavista" Revolution has stylized itself as a champion of the elderly.  In reality, being an elderly Venezuelan in times of socialist revolution means living a miserable retirement, on a pension so low that it's all but a death sentence.

The Man Who Tried To Stop The Space Shuttle Challenger Launch And Exposed NASA's Cover-Up Dies At 83.  Allan McDonald lived an incredible life dedicated to exploration and the pursuit of truth.  In 1986, McDonald had a very important decision to make:  To let the U.S. space shuttle Challenger fly despite adverse conditions, or to deny launch.  He refused to sign off on a launch that fateful January day, and he refused to remain silent when NASA attempted to cover up what really happened.  As the director of the solid rocket booster project at Morton Thiokol, the NASA contractor that built the rockets, he was the one who had to sign off on a launch.  But the night before the January 28 launch, McDonald had some serious concerns.  Concerns that would prove completely valid in the cold light of day.

No Labor Shortage: 17M Americans Remain Unemployed, All Want Jobs.  Nearly 17 million Americans remain unemployed in the United States economy, though all want full-time jobs, as President Joe Biden's administration looks to pack the labor market with foreign workers.  The latest Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data for February finds that about ten million Americans are unemployed, 6.9 million are out of the labor force entirely and 6.1 million remain underemployed, but all want full-time work with competitive wages and good benefits.

Biden's German Shepherd has aggressive incident and is sent back to Delaware.  The two German Shepherds belonging to President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden were returned to the Biden family home in Delaware last week after aggressive behavior at the White House involving Major Biden, two sources with knowledge tell CNN.  Major, who was adopted by Biden in November 2018 from a Delaware animal shelter, had what one of the people described as a "biting incident" with a member of White House security.  The exact condition of the victim is unknown, however, the episode was serious enough that the dogs were subsequently moved to Wilmington, Delaware, where they remain.  CNN reached out to the White House for comment and did not immediately receive a reply.

At Least 30,000 U.S. Organizations Newly Hacked Via Holes in Microsoft's Email Software.  At least 30,000 organizations across the United States — including a significant number of small businesses, towns, cities and local governments — have over the past few days been hacked by an unusually aggressive Chinese cyber espionage unit that's focused on stealing email from victim organizations, multiple sources tell KrebsOnSecurity.  The espionage group is exploiting four newly-discovered flaws in Microsoft Exchange Server email software, and has seeded hundreds of thousands of victim organizations worldwide with tools that give the attackers total, remote control over affected systems.

Democrat Sen. Joe Manchin Starts To Crack On Filibuster, Signals Openness To Change.  Democrat Senator Joe Manchin (WV) appears to have started to shift his views on the filibuster with remarks that he made on two news shows on Sunday morning [3/7/2021].  The shift from Manchin comes after he has repeatedly stated that he would not vote to end the filibuster, despite pressure from the far-Left.  During the interviews on Sunday, Manchin repeatedly claimed that he was not open to ending the filibuster because he did not want to strip the minority party of their power in the Senate, but signaled that he was open to changing it. [...] Left-wing TPM editor Josh Marshall tweeted out a clip of the interview and noted that Manchin is apparently adopting the talking points that leftists are pushing in their attempts to combat the filibuster.

Rep. Lee Zeldin Has an Announcement for Gov. Cuomo.  "Cuomo's Gotta Go," said Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY) on Twitter on Tuesday.  And he wants to be the guy to kick him out.  Fielding a nursing home scandal had already weakened Gov. Andrew Cuomo politically, but with a new trio of sexual harassment accusations against him, Cuomo finds even his own party starting to turn against him.  Zeldin sees an opening and he is "actively exploring" a run against Gov. Cuomo in 2022.

Contractor serving National Guard at U.S. Capitol defends catering service.  The caterer contracted to feed thousands of National Guard troops providing security at the U.S. Capitol defended its food service Thursday [3/4/2021], claiming that none of the cases of reported gastrointestinal illness among soldiers have been linked to the company.  "No cases of foodborne illness can be directly tied to this vendor," said Maria Stagliano, a spokeswoman for Sardi's Catering in College Park, Maryland.  The response follows a Wednesday announcement by the National Guard that at least 50 service members have been sickened with gastrointestinal issues after complaints that they were served bad food while on duty guarding the Capitol.

Biden Administration Fires Trump-appointed Lawyer Who Refused To Resign.  The White House fired the Trump-appointed General Counsel of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) Friday evening, following her refusal to step down.  In a definite letter Friday morning [3/5/2021] to President Biden, Sharon Gustafson said she "respectfully" declined the White House's request for her resignation, noting she had only served half of her four-year term.  "I intend to honor that commitment," she wrote in a letter released by the Ethics and Public Policy Center.  "I have confidently given this advice to countless embattled clients over the last 25 years:  hold your head high, do your best work, and do not resign under pressure.  I stand in solidarity with them, I will follow that advice," she added.

Wall Street Made Huge Profits Off Deep Freeze, at Least on Paper.  Traders across Wall Street are poised for significant profits from the freeze that roiled energy markets and left swaths of the U.S. without electricity last month.  That is, if they can collect.  Goldman Sachs Group Inc. could gain more than $200 million from the physical sale of power and natural gas and from financial hedges after spot prices surged across much of the U.S., according to people with knowledge of the matter.  Morgan Stanley's gains could come in under $200 million, according to a person with familiar with the matter, and Bank of America Corp. stands to rake in profits as well.  But those gains in their totality may prove elusive given the crisis's fallout — tipping energy companies into bankruptcy, triggering legal challenges and prompting government intervention.  The uncertainty is such that Goldman executives estimate that the bank may realize less than half of its paper gains, the people said, asking not to be identified as the information isn't public.

Ebay scraps 'canceled' Dr. Seuss books from site.  Dr. Seuss' "canceled" books are becoming rarer by the minute.  EBay is barring users from reselling the six Dr. Seuss books that will no longer be printed due to their "racist" imagery — a move that comes after the books started going for hundreds of dollars on the auction site.  "EBay is currently sweeping our marketplace to remove these items," an eBay spokeswoman told the Wall Street Journal in an email.  The announcement comes after Dr. Seuss Enterprises, which publishes the author's books for Penguin Random House, said it would no longer print six titles — "And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street," "If I Ran the Zoo," "McElligot's Pool," "On Beyond Zebra!," Scrambled Eggs Super!," and "The Cat's Quizzer."  A scan of eBay on Thursday [3/4/2021] showed a handful of the titles still available for sale on the site, although fewer than the prior day, the Journal said.

Outrage as eBay removes listings for canceled Dr Seuss books 'because they glorify violence' but allows copies of Mein Kampf and Louis Farrakhan's books to be sold.  Outraged Americans are demanding to know why eBay has banned them from reselling the six 'offensive' Dr Seuss books that are being canceled when copies of Hitler's Mein Kampf and Louis Farrakhan — whose anti-Semitic remarks are well known — are still available.  Ebay on Thursday started removing listings for the six Dr Seuss books that are no longer going to be produced.  They emailed people who had listed the books, saying that the post violated their 'offensive materials policy'.  The company has not released any kind of statement about it, nor have they responded to inquiries.

Dr. Seuss Books Hold 42 of Top 50 on Amazon Sales Ranking Chart.  Sales of Dr. Seuss children's books continue booming a day after the left tried to "cancel" the author's works on his birthday.  Dr. Seuss's books were among the leading 42 titles on the top 50 list of Amazon's "movers and shakers" on Wednesday morning [3/3/2021] after the ban was announced.

Phil Haney's warning to America:  Did he know something that got him killed?  A little over a week before government whistleblower Phil Haney was found dead on the side of a road in California, he was heard on a conference call discussing an interfaith initiative that involved Islamic organizations working with the Vatican and the U.S. government.  One of the people on that call with Haney was Elizabeth Yore, a longtime attorney and international activist who focuses on issues involving the Vatican, Islam and global child abuse.  "I was on this conference call with a group that included Phil, talking about the Abrahamic Faiths Initiative and Pope Francis," Yore told me in a phone interview Friday, March 5.  The Abrahamic Faiths Initiative was announced Jan. 14, 2020, a little over a month before Haney's mysterious death.

Marlboro Maker Asks FDA to Convince Americans Nicotine Isn't That Bad.  Marlboro-maker Altria Group Inc. wants to enlist an unlikely partner in convincing Americans that nicotine isn't as bad as they think — its regulator.  The company asked the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to tackle misperceptions about nicotine as part of a proposed $100 million advertising campaign to reduce the harm caused by tobacco, according to a letter seen by Bloomberg News.  That could be difficult with about three-fourths of U.S. adults incorrectly believing nicotine causes cancer, Altria said in the communication, citing government research.  Clearing up the drug's health risks will be key to the agency reducing smoking because it will help convince cigarette users to switch to non-combustible options for nicotine, the company said.

Canceled: Conservative comic strip 'Mallard Fillmore' dropped in 'unprecedented' move.  The conservative comic strip "Mallard Fillmore" has been plucked.  Bruce Tinsley, creator of the 27-year-old cartoon, said he was told this week by his syndication company that Gannett newspapers across the country simultaneously dropped the comic over two strips critical of President Biden and transgender participation in women's sports.  "It was a big shock," Mr. Tinsley told The Washington Times.  "From what I'm hearing, it was unprecedented.  My syndicate had never seen anything like it."

Capitol Police chief disputes FBI's account of pre-insurrection warnings.  Acting Capitol Police Chief Yogananda Pittman said her department received only an email warning of "war" at the Capitol, disputing testimony Tuesday by FBI Director Christopher Wray, who said his agency communicated the intelligence three different ways on the eve of the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol.  "The FBI only sent the email," Pittman told House appropriators Wednesday [3/3/2021].  Pittman appeared before the Legislative Branch Appropriations Subcommittee asking for a fiscal 2022 budget of $619.2 million, a boost of more than $100 million over the past year.  The budget request would add 212 sworn officers to fund a total of 2,112 uniformed and 453 civilian employees.  The force would use the additional officers for a standby quick response force, as threat assessment agents and as dignitary protection agents.

FBI Official Says No Guns Were Recovered During Capitol Riot Arrests.  A top FBI counterterrorism official testified on Wednesday [3/3/2021] that no firearms were recovered during arrests of rioters who breached the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.  "How many firearms were confiscated in the Capitol or on Capitol grounds during that day?" Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson asked Jill Sanborn, the FBI official, during a Senate Homeland Security hearing.  "To my knowledge, we have not recovered any on that day from any other arrests at the scene at this point," replied Sanborn, who serves as FBI assistant director for counterterrorism.  "I don't want to speak on behalf of Metro and Capitol police, but, to my knowledge, none," she added.

Chuck Schumer Used 'Green Eggs and Ham' to Sell Obamacare.  President Joe Biden joined the "cancel culture" this week by dropping Dr. Seuss from "Read Across America Day" after left-wing critics complained about the author's early caricatures and race-neutral beliefs.  But Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who leads the Democratic Party in the Senate, is among the many members of his party who have used Dr. Seuss to make political points.  In 2013, for example, Schumer used Dr. Seuss to argue for the Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare.  Schumer cited the popular Dr. Seuss book Green Eggs and Ham, which Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) had read aloud on the Senate floor as he attempted to block the implementation of Obamacare.  Schumer argued that like the central character in Green Eggs and Ham, who resisted the dish until he actually tried it, Americans would enjoy Obamacare once they were forced to enroll in it.

SpaceX Starship rocket prototype nails landing... then blows up.  The latest heavy-duty launch vehicle prototype from SpaceX soared flawlessly into the sky in a high-altitude test blast-off on Wednesday from Boca Chica, Texas, then flew itself back to Earth to achieve the first upright landing for a Starship model.  But the triumph was short-lived.  Listing slightly to one side as an automated fire-suppression system trained a stream of water on flames still burning at the base of the rocket, the spacecraft blew itself to pieces about eight minutes after touchdown.

Mike Pence Speaks Out Against 2020 Election Irregularities.  Former Vice President Mike Pence has been extremely quiet since January 6th, when he presided over an Electoral College objection process that was cut short by his rules decisions.  Amid the Capitol uprising that even spurred him to be ushered out by the Secret Service, it seemed to be a foregone conclusion that Pence must have been partial to the arguments that there were no major irregularities in the 2020 elections.  Pence put that presumption to rest today [3/3/2021] with an op-ed published at the conservative Daily Signal.  In the opinion piece, the former vice president weighs in on the "election irregularities" that he believes played a role in keeping the 2020 election from being "free and fair."

Biden Gives China Full Access to Control the U.S. National Power Grid.  In his first week in office, President Biden put U.S. security at great risk by giving China autonomous ability to control the national power grid.  Biden issued executive order 13990 in which, buried amid matters purportedly designed to combat climate change, was an anomalous and potentially dangerous provision that suspends a key security measure put in place last May 1 by former President Donald Trump.  Biden's executive order permits China to have full access to the U.S. power grid for 90 days.  Trump's Executive Order 13920 declared an official national emergency with respect to the nation's electric grid and prohibited the acquisition or installation of "any bulk-power electric equipment ... designed, developed, manufactured, or supplied, by persons owned by, controlled by, or subject to the jurisdiction or direction of a foreign adversary."  In sum, Trump forbade the use of grid equipment that is made in China, Russia, or other hostile nations.  Trump's order was a common-sense response to real, proven threats.  Just last year, the Wall Street Journal reported that the United States seized a Chinese-built transformer because officials believed "its electronics had been secretly given malicious capabilities, possibly allowing a distant adversary to monitor or even disable it on command."

FBI official:  No shots [were] fired by rioters, [and] no firearms [were] recovered during [the] siege on [the] U.S. Capitol.  No firearms were recovered on the U.S. Capitol grounds on Jan. 6 during the riot, and no shots were fired by the demonstrators, an FBI official on Wednesday [3/3/2021] told Congress.  "To my knowledge we have not recovered any [firearms] on that day from any of the arrests at the scene at this point," said Jill Sanborn, assistant director of the FBI's Counterterrorism Division.  "No one has been charged with a firearms violation."  Sanborn made her comments during a joint oversight hearing in the Senate to examine the breach of the U.S. Capitol.  In addition to Sanborn, witnesses included the commander of the Washington, D.C. National Guard, and civilian officials from the Pentagon.

$1,400 stimulus checks in COVID relief bill would phase out at $80,000 instead of $100,000, according to deal between Biden and Democrats.  Senate Democrats reached a deal with President Joe Biden to limit the eligibility for $1,400 stimulus checks in his $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill, phasing the payments out for Americans earning over $80,000, according to two sources familiar with the deliberations not authorized to speak on the record.  The tweak is a key goal of moderates who did not want the checks to go to wealthier Americans[.]  The stimulus checks would phase out entirely at $80,000 of income for individuals, as opposed to about $100,000 in the version of the legislation passed by the House last week.  Joint filers would have their checks phase out entirely at $160,000.

Widely Used Flea Collar Linked to Nearly 1,700 Pet Deaths With No Warning From EPA.  For cat and dog owners, flea and tick collars is a staple for their animal's care.  Sadly, one of the most widely used flea and tick collars in the U.S., Seresto, is linked to hundreds of animal deaths and tens of thousand of animal injuries, not to mention hundreds of humans that have been harmed by the product according to Environmental Protection Agency documents.  However, the EPA has not warned the public of these risks.

Popular flea collar reportedly linked to 1,700 pet deaths.  A popular flea and tick collar is reportedly making thousands of pets sick and even killing some of them — and critics are blaming the Environmental Protection Agency for turning a blind eye to the problem.  The EPA, which is responsible for regulating products that contain pesticides, has received 75,000 incident reports about Seresto pet collars, developed by Bayer and manufactured by Elenco, since they were introduced in 2012, according to public records.  Those include 1,698 pet deaths and nearly 1,000 incidents involving harm to humans, according to an explosive report published Tuesday by the Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting and USA Today.

China appears to warn India:  Push too hard and the lights could go out.  Early last summer, Chinese and Indian troops clashed in a surprise border battle in the remote Galwan Valley, bashing each other to death with rocks and clubs.  Four months later and more than 1,500 miles away in Mumbai, India, trains shut down and the stock market closed as the power went out in a city of 20 million people.  Hospitals had to switch to emergency generators to keep ventilators running amid a coronavirus outbreak that was among India's worst.  Now, a new study lends weight to the idea that those two events may have been connected — as part of a broad Chinese cyber campaign against India's power grid, timed to send a message that if India pressed its claims too hard, the lights could go out across the country.  The study shows that as the battles raged in the Himalayas, taking at least two dozen lives, Chinese malware was flowing into the control systems that manage electric supply across India, along with a high-voltage transmission substation and a coal-fired power plant.

Chinese companies buy up UK private schools, sparking fears of CCP influence.  Chinese companies have bought up 17 U.K. private schools in the United Kingdom in recent years, sparking fears of expanding Chinese Communist Party (CCP) influence in the country as the schools struggle financially in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, British media reported.  "Hundreds of independent schools left in dire financial straits by the coronavirus pandemic are being targeted by Chinese investors," the Mail on Sunday newspaper reported at the weekend.  Some of the companies are run by high-ranking members of the ruling Chinese Communist Party, and "seek to expand their influence over Britain's education system," the report said.

China Boasts It Is Getting Rich Selling Syringes to America.  China's state-run Global Times bragged Sunday [2/28/2021] that Chinese companies are making a fortune selling syringes and needles to the United States during the coronavirus pandemic, a tidal wave of imports that makes a mockery of "the U.S. government's attempt to get rid of the Chinese supply chain."  The Global Times quoted U.S. officials admitting in congressional testimony that 80 percent of the needles and syringes used in the United States, and about 90 percent of the supplies purchased worldwide, originate from China.  Chinese officials said China's factories produce hundreds of thousands of syringes a day.

Six Dr. Seuss books won't be published due to racist images, publisher.  The publisher of the popular Dr. Seuss children's books said Tuesday [3/2/2021] it will stop publishing six of the books because of their racist and hurtful imagery, according to the publishing company.  Dr. Seuss Enterprises said the books including "And to Think I Saw It on Mulberry Street" and "If I Ran the Zoo."  "These books portray people in ways that are hurtful and wrong," the company told the Associated Press in a statement.

The Editor says...
Dr. Seuss books are not encyclopedias.  They are books for teaching little kids to read, and they were written with humor and illustrated with harmless caricatures.  Anyone who is not perpetually outraged knows this.  If you don't like Dr. Seuss, don't buy the books, but don't ruin them for everybody!

Trump Confirms He Called For 10,000 National Guard For Jan 6th; Pelosi Refused.  Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Monday blamed former President Trump and his team for the border crisis that's now engulfed the new Biden administration, saying when he took office he found "quite frankly the entire system was gutted."  "What we are seeing now at the border is the immediate result of the dismantling of the system and the time it takes to rebuild it virtually from scratch," Mr. Mayorkas said at the White House.  He pleaded with migrants not to make the trip right now, telling them to wait until the rebuild is further along when they can try to come and take their chances under a new Biden system.

Oklahoma House votes to enable legislature to block Biden's executive orders.  James Madison once asserted that "in a republican government, the legislative authority necessarily predominates."  Well, today, only executive power predominates, because federal and state executive agencies seem to be the only ones doing the legislating.  As Joe Biden continues to pass sweeping "laws" unilaterally with no authority from Congress, the red states are the only even potential check on his abuse of power.  It appears that the state of Oklahoma has now taken up the mantle as the second state to move to block these executive orders.  On Thursday [2/25/2021], the Oklahoma House overwhelmingly passed a bill, HB 1236, that would grant the state's attorney general and state legislature the authority to review the president's executive orders to determine constitutionality.  Specifically, the bill would authorize the legislature to recommend that the attorney general review any executive order, federal agency rule, or federal congressional action to determine whether the state should seek an exemption or declare it unconstitutional.  If either the attorney general or the legislature, by concurrent resolution, declares the act unconstitutional, then all state and local officials and any publicly funded organization are prohibited from enforcing it.

Capitol police chief claims militias are plotting to blow up Capitol during SOTU, kill as many as possible.  Acting Capitol Police Chief Yogananda Pittman issued an alarming statement that members of violent militias who were involved in the Jan. 6 riot are allegedly plotting to blow up the Capitol during Biden's State of the Union address.  She made the explosive claim on Thursday during her testimony via teleconference at a House hearing.  She posited that the goal was to kill as many members of Congress as possible.  "We know that members of militia groups that were present on Jan. 6 have stated their desires that they want to blow up the Capitol and kill as many members as possible with a direct nexus to the State of the Union, which we know that date has not been identified," Pittman declared.

Arizona's Paul Gosar Proposes Amending Coronavirus Package to Replace Pork with $10,000 Stimulus Checks.  Representative Paul Gosar of Arizona has proposed that the federal government pay stimulus checks of $10,000 to Americans beleaguered by the coronavirus pandemic, adopting an approach that would prioritize direct payments to individuals over payments to state and local governments.  Gosar's Amendment, offered on Friday night, would also replace payments to extend federal unemployment benefits.

Make America Ugly Again:  Biden Axes Trump's 'Beautiful' Federal Architecture Order.  Brutalism was seen as modern, stylish, and even futuristic at the time.  It was also cheap to build because it was mostly concrete.  Hence why you'll also find such buildings on college campuses throughout the country.  It's really, really, really ugly.  Few would argue that brutalism has stood the test of time the way classical Greco-Roman architecture has.  As someone who studied architecture in college, I can tell you that Brutalist architecture, while historically significant, is not studied because of its beauty, but for its failure to create inviting spaces.  One classic example of how terrible the Brutalist movement is can be seen in Boston's City Hall Plaza, which has been deemed one of the worst public spaces in the country, and City Hall itself one of the ugliest in the world.  Yet anti-Trumpism apparently takes precedence over architectural beauty, as Joe Biden axed Trump's executive order earlier this week.  There seems to no other justification for this move.  Brutalism is now widely panned, even in architectural circles, whether they'd like to admit it or not.

Russia and the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.  [Scroll down]  The debate over Warren's conclusion that Oswald acted alone continues.  However, it is surprising that most Americans have refused to accept that conclusion.  In 2003 three quarters of Americans thought more than one man was involved, and in 2013, the number was still 61%.  It may not be a driving event in American history, but it is important in this era of Russian disinformation to examine allegations of a covert war waged by the Kremlin in the past.

Anything you say on the internet can and will be taken out of context and used against you.
Facebook admits 'mistake' in threat to ban 81-year-old knitter for hate speech.  Facebook has apologized to Rita Rich-Mulcahy, the 81-year-old knitter who was nearly banned from the site for promoting "white pigs."  It all started when Rich-Mulcahy, of Adelaide, Australia, began knitting stuffed animals to pass the time and distract the grieving widow from the death of her husband in 2020.  She also set up a Facebook page through which to share her swine-inspired crafts.  Recently, the self-proclaimed "porcophile" was flagged for "hate speech" by the social-media company — for writing the caption "white pigs" under images of her knitted piglets.  The guiltless woman called it a "frightening" experience for someone without so much as "an overdue library book," she claimed.

One more product to boycott:
Oreo Cookie tweets 'Trans people exist'.  The Twitter feed for Oreo cookies seemed to weigh in on the day's events with a simple statement Thursday [2/25/2021]: "Trans people exist."  The Nabisco cookie brand sent out those three words following a busy day of debate over gender identity rights.  That included a contentious day of testimony over President Biden's transgender Health and Human Services deputy secretary nominee Rachel Levine, where conservative Kentucky senator Rand Paul drilled Levine on topics including hormone treatment for trans teens.

The Editor says...
It may not be possible to boycott every company that connects leftist political messages to its products, but I can try.

Texas was "seconds and minutes" away from catastrophic months-long blackouts, officials say.  Texas' power grid was "seconds and minutes" away from a catastrophic failure that could have left Texans in the dark for months, officials with the entity that operates the grid said Thursday [2/18/2021].  As millions of customers throughout the state begin to have power restored after days of massive blackouts, officials with the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, or ERCOT, which operates the power grid that covers most of the state, said Texas was dangerously close to a worst-case scenario:  uncontrolled blackouts across the state.  The quick decision that grid operators made in the early hours of Monday morning to begin what was intended to be rolling blackouts — but lasted days for millions of Texans — occurred because operators were seeing warning signs that massive amounts of energy supply was dropping off the grid.

What Happens When Cryptocurrencies Earn Interest?  The premise of DeFi is simple:  Fix the longstanding inefficiency in crypto finance of capital being kept idle at a nonzero opportunity cost.  Now, most investors buy crypto with the hope that the value of the currency itself will rise, as Bitcoin has.  In general, that strategy has worked just fine.  The value of cryptocurrencies has appreciated so rapidly that there just wasn't much incentive to worry about gains of a few percent here and there.  But the recent rise of stablecoins, which are designed keep their value constant, has changed that calculation.  The combined market cap of stablecoins such as Terra and USDC has more than quadrupled in 2020.  Now, vast passive income opportunities are being awakened by DeFi.  The appeal of a lower-risk approach to crypto is obvious and has the potential to expand the pool of investors.  For the first time, it's possible to be compensated for owning cryptos (even in the absence of price appreciation), which brings real, tangible utilities to digital currencies and changes the narrative of an asset class whose sole purpose used to be about being sold at a higher price.

Lee Harvey Oswald [was] ordered to kill JFK by Soviets, ex-CIA chief claims.  Lee Harvey Oswald was a KGB associate who was personally instructed by Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev to assassinate President Kennedy.  Sometime shortly thereafter, the Soviets changed their minds, and Oswald was told to drop the plan.  But Oswald, harboring a blinding love for all things USSR, refused.  A new book by two former intelligence chiefs — one from the west, one from the east — tosses this tale on the voluminous pile of JFK assassination theories.  "Operation Dragon:  Inside The Kremlin's Secret War on America," (Encounter Books), was written by Ambassador R. James Woolsey, who ran the CIA from 1993-1995 (and who, ironically, resigned abruptly during the scandal over Aldrich Ames, a CIA officer turned Russian double agent), and Lt. Gen. Ion Mihai Pacepa, a former acting chief of Communist Romania's espionage service and the "highest-ranking intelligence official from an enemy country ever granted political asylum in the United States[.]"  (Pacepa died of COVID earlier this month).

Mother Of Officer Sicknick Says Media Got Her Son's Death Wrong, Rejects NYT Fire Extinguisher Story.  The mother of Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, who died one day after the Capitol riots in January, rejected media assertions weaponized by Democrats in their impeachment trial that her son was killed from head trauma by a fire extinguisher.  "He wasn't hit on the head, no.  We think he had a stroke, but we don't know anything for sure," Gladys Sicknick told the Daily Mail in an interview published Tuesday [2/23/2021].  "We'd love to know what happened."  The false narrative first came from the New York Times, which headlined an article, "Capitol Police Officer Dies From Injuries in Pro-Trump Rampage," published on Jan. 8, two days after the riot. [...] Democrats repeatedly cited the story and even introduced it into evidence at the impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump.

Capitol Police Witnesses Struggle to Explain How Rioters Breached the Capitol on January 6.  On Tuesday, current and former Capitol Police officials testified at a joint hearing of the Senate Homeland Security and Rules committees about the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.  The law enforcement officers claimed that they had been prepared to face a potentially violent protest, but they said the rioters caught them off guard.  "We properly planned for a mass demonstration with possible violence.  What we got was a military-style coordinated assault on my officers and a violent takeover of the Capitol building," former U.S. Capitol Police (USCP) Chief Steven Sund testified.  He pushed back on claims that USCP was not prepared for the riot.

Co-founder says Wikipedia's neutrality 'long gone,' cites leftist bias.  Wikipedia co-founder Larry Sanger is criticizing the site's left-wing bias, saying the popular online encyclopedia has become an irretrievably broken platform for socialism.  "The days of Wikipedia's robust commitment to neutrality are long gone," Mr. Sanger told Fox News in a new interview.  "Wikipedia's ideological and religious bias is real and troubling, particularly in a resource that continues to be treated by many as an unbiased reference work."  Mr. Sanger, 52, co-founded the site with Jimmy Wales in January 2001.  He said Wikipedia's turn away from neutrality is "disheartening."

Autos need finite rare earth, critical, & precious metals.  There are 17 rare earth elements (REE) that China controls up to 97% of (Klare 2012, Shumsky 2011).  These are essential for transitioning to so-called green energy — not just cars but solar panels, windmills, solar photovoltaic, computers, electronics, the smart grid and more.  While we can import oil from dozens of nations, REE make us dependent on China, and China is also constructing mines all over the world — it's as if Saudi Arabia bought up all the remaining oil fields.  Mining is the second most toxic, environmentally damaging industry on earth.  So whatever the cost may be, no matter how high, let the Chinese destroy their land.  It's a cheaper price to pay rather than destroy our own nation's precious topsoil, which in the long run is the most valuable possession we have.  Already 20% of China's arable land is polluted with toxic heavy metals from mining and industry.

Professor Charged with Stealing $1.75 Million in Research for China.  We are closely watching the growing threat China poses to the United States, not the least of which is its wholesale, systematic theft of scientific and medical research.  A recent criminal indictment, reported in our Corruption Chronicles blog, illustrates how this theft is too often enabled with your tax dollars:  Communist China has long benefitted from American-funded research stolen by Chinese academics who infiltrate colleges throughout the United States.  This month a criminal indictment sheds light on a recent scheme allegedly masterminded by a Chinese professor at one of the nation's top-ranked public universities.  His name is Lin Yang, a 43-year-old member of the Thousand Talents Program (TTP) operated by the Chinese government to transfer original ideas, technology and intellectual property from foreign institutions, especially American colleges.

Court Docs Show Facebook Played Much Bigger Part In Capitol Riot Than Parler, Yet No Consequences.  It's been more than a month since the app stores of Google and Apple joined forces with Amazon Web Services to knee-cap an upstart competitor, Parler.  The stated reasoning was Parler's lack of content moderation policies, which Apple, in particular, claimed led to Parler's use as a forum to "plan, coordinate, and facilitate the illegal activities in Washington DC on January 6, 2021."  This reasoning was confidently repeated across the corporate press.  "The Capitol mob began organizing ... on platforms like Parler and Gab," Vox asserted.  Planning for the "mob violence that descended on the U.S. Capitol ... took place openly on websites popular with far-right conspiracy theorists," National Public Radio proclaimed.  Facebook shut down Stop the Steal groups, said The New York Times, so planning moved to Parler and Gab. [...] The problem with all of this is that it turned out to be mostly wrong.  Yes, Parler was used, in some form, to promote and discuss the violent aspects of Jan. 6.  But so too were other major social media platforms — and in a much larger way than Parler.  The Department of Justice has now charged 223 people for their participation in the events of Jan. 6.  A comprehensive analysis of those charging documents performed by Forbes demonstrate that Parler's role was minimal, compared to that of Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram.

At least 800 Ethiopians killed after defending 'Ark of the Covenant'.  At least 800 people were reportedly killed in Ethiopia as worshippers and soldiers risked their lives to protect what Christians there say is the sacred Ark of the Covenant from local militia.  Ethiopian Christians claim the Ark — the wooden chest built to hold the Ten Commandments of Moses — is being kept safe in a chapel in the holy northern city of Axum in the Tigray region.  The battle between Ethiopian soldiers and rebel fighters happened in the fall, The Sunday Times reported, but it is only being reported now.  "When people heard the shooting they ran to the church to give support to the priests and others who were there protecting the ark," Getu Mak, a local university lecturer, told The Times.  "Certainly some of them were killed for doing that."

'How in the world can anyone pay that?': Some seeing electric bills as high as $17K in wake of Texas winter storm.  The Texas power outage has become the Texas power outrage.  Electricity supply and demand in Texas has really stabilized now.  But when it was grossly out of whack over the past several days, the cost of power in the wholesale market went crazy.  It went from about $50 per Megawatt to $9,000.  That didn't affect retail many customers because they were on a fixed-rate plan.

Portland police officers 'guarding' Fred Meyer dumpsters as residents seek discarded food.  Roughly a dozen Portland police officers faced off with a small group at a Northeast Portland Fred Meyer on Tuesday after people tried to take food that had been thrown away.  Workers at the Hollywood West Fred Meyer threw away thousands of perishable items because the store, like many others, had lost power in an outage brought on by the region's winter storm.  Images on social media showed mountains of packaged meat, cheese and juice, as well as whole turkeys and racks of ribs that had been tossed into two large dumpsters near the store.

Rep. Banks Leads Republican Study Committee in Large-Scale Campaign to Counter CCP.  For the first time in its history, the Republican Study Committee (RSC) — the largest conservative caucus on Capitol Hill — will make countering the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) a key part of its agenda under the leadership of its newly elected chairman, Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.).  As part of this large-scale effort, Banks said that he and others in the House committee will introduce more than 20 bills this week alone dedicated to confronting the China threat and holding the Biden administration accountable for weak policies on China.  The legislative barrage will touch upon a wide range of issues broadly focused on pushing back against the CCP's influence in the United States.  "We've made countering communist China a platform of the RSC for the first time, under my leadership," Banks told The Epoch Times.  "It deserves our attention, and as the largest caucus, our members understand this is the greatest threat that we face and that we have to confront it."

Texas Attorney General Announces Probe Into ERCOT Over Role in Blackouts.  Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has launched an investigation into the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), the organization that operates the state's power grid, alleging "mishandling" amid the brutal cold snap that has left millions of Texans shivering and in the dark.  "ERCOT & other energy cos have slipped & fallen on their faces & it's not the ice's fault.  They have left 3+ million homes w/o power for days, including my own," Paxton wrote in a tweet late Wednesday [2/17/2021].  "What do they do in response?  Jack up prices, go silent, make excuses, & play the blame game.  It's unacceptable!" he added.  Paxton also commended officials, including Texas Gov. Gregg Abbott, on "getting to the bottom" of the power crisis.

Texas Electric Board Members Live WHERE?  Many, probably most, Texans hadn't heard of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas until this week.  Then a historic winter storm froze up the place and "electric reliability" turned into an unfunny joke for far too many.  Their electricity was reliably unavailable.  Well, except in certain well-lit urban downtowns.  If you live outside of those, as most Texans do, you were forced to play a grim version of Russian Roulette with your power and water supply — if you could get either.  Your water pipes may have frozen and burst, rendering your frigid home uninhabitable.  I have friends who are dealing with this and will be dealing with it for a long time after the storm.  Power went out for millions of Texans several days ago and is only now being restored piecemeal.  Freezing temperatures won't even leave central Texas until Friday.

A third of the ERCOT board members live out of state.  A third of the board of directors that operate the state's electrical grid do not appear to live in Texas, and their performance in wake of widespread outages has led to a Dallas-area lawmaker's call for change.  Records show the two top office holders of the 15-member board of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), live out-of-state.  Three other ERCOT board members also appear to live thousands of miles from Texas.

Florida GOP congressman beckons New York Stock Exchange to move to Florida.  Florida GOP Rep. Byron Donalds is urging The New York Stock Exchange to leave Lower Manhattan for Florida.  Donalds argued such a move would benefit the exchange because Florida has no tax on stock trades.  "Oh I do," Donalds said in response to a question on whether the NYSE should leave Wall Street for Florida.  "We have a lot of nice land here in southwest Florida we can find a nice place for them right here in the heart of my congressional district."

Chattanooga man charged with impersonating President Obama on gun permit application.  Police are charging a man from Chattanooga after they say he forged former President Barack Obama's name on an application for a handgun permit.  Chattanooga officers arrested Robert Joseph Hallick on February 11th.  He's charged with perjury, forgery and identity theft.  An affidavit obtained by NewsChannel 9 says Hallick had been denied a gun permit request using his own name back in November due to an active warrant for his arrest in the state of Michigan.  The arrest report says Hallick sent another application on January 21st, except this time he used the name "President Barack H. Obama" instead.  Included along with the form was a $50 check.

The Editor says...
Helpful clues for the police: [#1] Barack H. Obama doesn't have a valid Social Security number to put on an application for a gun permit, or any other form.  [#2] Barack H. Obama is the last person in town who needs a gun, since he's surrounded by armed cops 24/7.  [#3] The only time Barack H. Obama has ever held a gun (reluctantly!), as far as I know, was for this photo op.  He's the least likely customer to come in to a gun shop.

Rush Limbaugh, the Human Megaphone Who Hijacked the GOP, Dead at 70.  Rush Limbaugh, whose wife Kathryn confirmed on Wednesday [2/17/2021] that he died at 70 after a yearlong and very public battle against lung cancer, was a college dropout when he began his combustible radio career, repeatedly losing gigs as a deejay and news-talk host; he spent much of 1974 jobless and living in his parents' basement in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. [...] Yet in his final two decades of life, he managed to dominate conservative talk radio even after near-total deafness — somewhat remediated by a cochlear implant — required him to hire a former court reporter to sit in his Palm Beach control room and instantly transcribe listener phone calls so he could converse in real time on the air.  Born Rush Hudson Limbaugh III into a distinguished and rabidly Republican family of judges and lawyers in the nearly all-white southeast Missouri town on the Illinois border, he ultimately commanded an adoring national audience of as many as 20 million listeners — "dittoheads" in Limbaugh-speak — and became by some accounts (especially from his Democratic detractors) the de facto leader of the GOP.

Rush Limbaugh, RIP.  Rush Limbaugh, the monumentally influential media icon who transformed talk radio and politics in his decades behind the microphone, helping shape the modern-day Republican Party, died Wednesday morning at the age of 70 after a battle with lung cancer, his family announced.  Limbaugh's wife, Kathryn, made the announcement on his radio show.  "Losing a loved one is terribly difficult, even more so when that loved one is larger than life," she said.  "Rush will forever be the greatest of all time."  The radio icon learned he had Stage IV lung cancer in January 2020 and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Trump at the State of the Union address days later.  First lady Melania Trump then presented America's highest civilian honor to Limbaugh in an emotional moment on the heels of his devastating cancer diagnosis.

Texas mayor quits after saying residents are 'lazy' amid power outages.  A Texas mayor has resigned over controversial social media posts that called his constituents lazy for complaining about power outages, according to a report.  Colorado City Mayor Tom Boyd announced his resignation Tuesday [2/16/2021] hours after he received backlash for his long Facebook rant, according to KTXS-TV.  "No one owes you or your family anything; nor is it the local governments responsibility to support you during trying times like this!  Sink or swim, it's your choice!" he wrote.  "The City and County, along with power providers or any other service owes you NOTHING!"  "If you have no water you deal with out and think outside of the box to survive and supply water to your family," he added.

The Editor says...
How true.  It is not the government's job to buy you a wool blanket and tuck you in on a cold winter night.  It's also not the government's job to mop up your house after a hurricane.

'This didn't look like an armed insurrection.' Trump ultra-loyalist senator Ron Johnson plays down danger of the MAGA riots saying 'How many shots were fired?'  Ron Johnson said Monday [2/15/2021] that the MAGA riot 'didn't seem like an armed insurrection to me' in downplaying the violent assault on the U.S. Capitol last month that left five dead and hundreds injured.  'When you hear the word 'armed,' don't you think of firearms?' Johnson questioned during his conversation with 1130 WISN conservative radio talk show host Jay Weber.  'Here's the questions I would have liked to ask — how many firearms were confiscated?' the Trump loyalist senator continued.  'How many shots were fired?  I'm only aware of one, and I'll defend that law enforcement officer for taking that shot, it was a tragedy, but I think there was only one.

The Editor says...
Yes, let's hear more about that one shot that was fired, and about the name of the "officer," if that's what he was, and the name of the agency for which he works, and about the justification for the shooting.  All that information is a deep dark secret, which means there is a cover-up underway, and the door to the News Media Memory Hole is open now.

Pelosi: 'Next Step' Is 9/11-Type Commission To Investigate January 6.  David Perdue lost re-election to Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) in Georgia's Senate runoff election on January 5, with Ossoff winning by just over 93,000 votes (2%).  It now seems that Perdue is considering a 2022 Senate run against Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA), who beat Kelly Loeffler in Georgia's special election.  According to Fox News, Perdue filed Federal Election Commission (FEC) paperwork on Monday evening "to become a candidate to run for Senate in 2022."  The paperwork designated a "principal campaign committee," titled "Perdue for Senate."  Warnock defeated Loeffler — who was appointed to the U.S. Senate by Georgia Governor Brian Kemp on December 4, 2019, after Johnny Isakson announced his resignation for health reasons — on January 5, also by just over 93,000 votes.

China Is Creating a New Master Race.  Bing Su, a Chinese geneticist at the state-run Kunming Institute of Zoology, recently inserted the human MCPH1 gene, which develops the brain, into a monkey.  The insertion could make that animal's intelligence more human than that of lower primates.  Su's next experiment is inserting into monkeys the SRGAP2C gene, related to human intelligence, and the FOXP2 gene, connected to language skills.  Has nobody in China seen Planet of the Apes?  Or maybe they have.  "Biotechnology development in China is heading in a truly macabre direction," writes Brandon Weichert of The Weichert Report in an article posted on the American Greatness website.  In a communist society with unrestrained ambition, researchers are pursuing weird science.  What happens when you mix pig and monkey DNA?  Chinese experimenters can tell you.  How about growing human-like organs in animals?  Yes, they have done that as well.  Moreover, Beijing may already be engineering "super soldiers."

Biden Deputy Press Secretary TJ Ducklo Threatens Reporter: 'I Will Destroy You'.  Earlier this week there was a treacly story in People magazine about an Axios White House reporter named Alexi McCammond, who turns out to be dating White House deputy press secretary TJ Ducklo.  A heartwarming workplace romance!  There were a few grumbles about ethics in journalism and whatnot, but then everybody forgot about it because journalists don't really care about ethics.  Besides, at least Biden isn't Trump, right?  The journos got what they wanted and they just want to take a nap for 4-8 years.  But now the story is getting interesting!

Refund the police!
Minneapolis to spend $6.4 million to hire more police.  Minneapolis will hire dozens more police officers after the City Council on Friday [2/12/2021] agreed to release $6.4 million to bring on additional recruits.  The unanimous vote came eight days after Minneapolis police requested the funding, saying they had 200 fewer police officers available to work than in most recent years.  The additional funding comes at a time when some City Council members and activist groups are pushing to replace the Police Department in the wake of George Floyd's death.  Minneapolis police said they began the year with 817 officers on their payroll, 60 fewer than the previous year.  But, only 638 officers are currently available to work, the department said.  Some officers resigned or retired early in the year, while another 155 remain on some form of extended leave.  With the new recruit classes, the city expects it will have 674 officers available to work at the end of the year, and another 28 working their way through the hiring process at that time.

'A hoax from day one': Michigan GOP leader says Capitol riot was 'staged'.  The Republican leader in Michigan's state Senate said last week that the Jan. 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol was a prearranged hoax and not the work of supporters of then-President Donald Trump.  "That wasn't Trump's people.  That's been a hoax from day one.  That was all prearranged," state Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey said of the riot.  "It was arranged by somebody who was funding it," the Clarklake Republican continued.  "It was all staged."

What's most interesting about the Florida water system hack?  That we heard about it at all.  Stories about computer security tend to go viral when they bridge the vast divide between geeks and luddites, and this week's news about a hacker who tried to poison a Florida town's water supply was understandably front-page material.  But for security nerds who've been warning about this sort of thing for ages, the most surprising aspect of the incident seems to be that we learned about it at all. [...] In short, a likely inexperienced intruder somehow learned the credentials needed to remotely access Oldsmar[ Florida]'s water system, did little to hide his activity, and then tried to change settings by such a wide margin that the alterations would be hard to overlook.  "The system wasn't capable of doing what the attacker wanted," said Joe Weiss, managing partner at Applied Control Solutions, a consultancy for the control systems industry.  "The system isn't capable of going up by a factor of 100 because there are certain physics problems involved there.  Also, the changes he tried to make wouldn't happen instantaneously.  The operators would have had plenty of time to do something about it."

Today's blacklisted American:  Chase Bank blacklists Pro-Trump Covfefe Coffee.  They're coming for you next:  Chase Bank has suddenly decided that it can't do business with the coffee company, Covfefe Coffee, apparently for the simple reason that the coffee company is unabashedly pro-Trump and supports the standard American values of freedom and liberty that made this nation the haven for the oppressed for more than two centuries. [...] Amazon suspended the company's advertising on that platform in 2019 for using the phrase "Make America Great Again," a phrase that Amazon thinks "incites hate."  What this really tells us is that the people at Amazon and Chase Bank hate America, and want it to fail.  Anyone who thinks different must be blacklisted and preventing from succeeding.

Denver City Council Passes Controversial Group Living Amendment.  The Denver City Council has voted 11-2 to pass the controversial 200-page group living text amendment proposal.  This, following a more than seven-hour meeting, in which at least 150 Denver residents spoke about their impassioned feelings on the proposal, some in favor and some against. [...] The text amendment will allow five unrelated adults to live together, instead of two, among several other changes.  The text amendment would also allow residential care facilities in more areas, including community corrections facilities — or halfway houses — in more neighborhoods than is currently allowed.

Aunt Jemima breakfast brand renamed Pearl Milling Company.  The Aunt Jemima breakfast brand will be renamed Pearl Milling Company, it was announced Tuesday, after the 130-year-old maple syrup mascot was scrutinized last year over its ties to slavery.  Quaker Oats, a division of PepsiCo that owns the brand, unveiled the new name and logo, which it said would hit store shelves in June.  Pearl Milling Company has historical roots with the brand.  It was a small Missouri mill that in 1889 produced the self-rising pancake mix later known as Aunt Jemima.

Bitcoin and Its Discontents:  What Elon Musk is Telling Us.  Elon Musk, our new arbiter of all that is in and out, has purchased $1.5 billion in bitcoin and announced that Tesla plans to accept it as payment.  Bitcoin predictably has jumped to a record high, in excess of $46,000, and now is up more than eight-fold in the past year. [...] Regardless of whether bitcoin in the short-term gyrates unpredictably in value, it is timely to ask not what bitcoin is worth, but what its valuation tells us about ourselves.  The enduring beauty of bitcoin lies in its origin.  It is typically defined as a peer-to-peer digital currency whose ownership is recorded in a secure account ledger, known as a blockchain.  Lose the private key to access this ledger, as reportedly many early buyers have done, and the investment is lost forever, even if it amounts to millions, or now even billions of dollars.

Tesla buys $1.5 billion in bitcoin: as Elon Musk jumps on board with cryptocurrency.  Tesla invested $1.5 billion in bitcoin in January in a nontraditional move to diversify its investments.  The investment, which the electric vehicle maker disclosed Monday in a public filing, comes as CEO Elon Musk has been promoting an alternative cryptocurrency in recent weeks.  Tesla said in its annual report that the company made the move as part of a policy change designed "to provide us with more flexibility to further diversify and maximize returns on our cash."  It is not typical for major corporations to acquire digital currency due to questions about its dependability and concerns about its volatility.  The new policy authorized by the Tesla board allows the company to invest in various forms of digital assets.

Following the money behind Myanmar's coup.  By seizing absolute power, Myanmar coup leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing has protected his and his family's financial interests and the military's unscrutinized economic domination.  Min Aung Hlaing spent much of his military career as a quiet, publicity-shy officer steadily promoted to higher positions before grabbing absolute power at dawn on February 1, five months before his mandatory retirement at age 65 on July 3.  Among other goals, the military's commander-in-chief apparently hopes he has protected himself, his family, and military colleagues from possible investigation over their extensive, lucrative financial deals and economic holdings, sources say.  "His financial interests must be considered as a motive for his coup," the Justice for Myanmar campaign group of activists said in a statement.

Canadian traces origin of AIDS to starving First World War soldier who hunted chimpanzees.  A Canadian professor who has been studying the origin of HIV for decades says he has identified a new "Patient Zero" — a starving First World War soldier stationed in Cameroon who was forced to hunt apes to survive.  In the first edition of his book Origin of Aids, Jacques Pepin, a professor in the Department of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases at the University of Sherbrooke in Quebec, originally traced the first case of the human immunodeficiency virus to a hunter in Southeast Cameroon at the start of the 20th Century.

Fox News suffers worst ratings in 20 years.  Fox News has fallen into third place among US cable current affairs broadcasters, languishing behind CNN and MSNBC in Donald Trump's final month in the White House as conservative viewers deserted the channel.  January saw a mob of enraged Trump supporters stage a failed insurrection at the US Capitol in protest at his election defeat, the president's historic second impeachment by the House of Representatives, his departure from the Oval Office and Democrat Joe Biden being sworn-in as his successor.  But despite this dramatic sequence of events, Rupert Murdoch's network suffered its worst month since April 2000, falling into third for total day viewers and overall viewers, according to the latest Nielsen ratings.

Amazon stole $62 MILLION in tips from delivery drivers and the fed is telling them to give it back.  Here's another story of giant corporations totally (not) looking out for the little guy.  The Federal Trade Commission revealed this week that Amazon was making some pretty big bucks stealing tips meant for its drivers.  Apparently, after Amazon started letting average Joes use their own cars to deliver products for some side money, it also decided to skim some $62 million of that hard-earned cash out of the virtual tip jar.

Biden Admin Yanks Maternity Leave From Trump Appointees Days Before Some Give Birth.  President Joe Biden's administration denied multiple President Trump-era aides their previously established maternity leave, some days before birth, reports Politico.  Even though some Trump aides made arrangements for parental leave early in 2021 in advance of their children's births, multiple federal employees were told shortly before or after their babies arrived that the benefits would no longer be extended to them after Biden and his team took office.

Amazon Plans To Install AI Surveillance Cameras In Delivery Vans.  Amazon is preparing to install high-tech video cameras inside its fleet of delivery vehicles to better monitor drivers' behavior, according to The Verge.  The Information first uncovered an instructional video sent out to employees and contract workers about Amazon's new partnership with Netradyne, a California-based company developing video cameras inside fleet vehicles to monitor drivers.  The device will tell the driver:  "Distracted driving," "No stop detected," and "Please slow down."  The video was first uploaded to Vimeo a week ago and is titled "Amazon Netradyne Driver Information."

US Navy's UFO-like patent raises questions.  It has long been claimed by ufologists that the US government has been back-engineering UFOs at Area S4, the ultra secret site within Area 51.  In 1989, scientist Bob Lazar, who claimed to have worked at the base deep in the heart of the Nevada desert, spilled the beans on the study of UFOs — of which he claimed they had several.  The smaller saucer-like UFO he said he was studying, which was called the "sport model," supposedly was based on directing gravity waves.  This came from a reactor which amplified the gravity waves which extended beyond the atom of Element 115, which he predicted to exist (he would be proved right years later).  Whether any of that is true or not, it is interesting to note that in 2019, the US Navy's Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD) filed a number of seemingly out of this world patents that could, in theory, revolutionize not only military aviation, but just about everything.  According to a report by Alex Hollings in The National Interest, chief among these strange new inventions is a High Energy Electromagnetic Field Generator (HEEMFG), which if functional, could produce massive amounts of power with far reaching military and commercial implications.

Never give up!
Rescue divers find a guy alive in a sunken tugboat on the bottom of the ocean 3 days after it capsized in a storm.  [Scroll down]  Those divers were not expecting to find anyone alive.  They were sent down there to investigate the cause of the crash and recover bodies.  You can tell how surprised they were to see a moving hand.

Pentagon purges advisory boards of Trump loyalists.  Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Tuesday [2/2/2021] ordered the resignation of the hundreds of people that serve on the Pentagon's 42 civilian advisory boards, effectively purging a number of Trump loyalists named to the boards in the Trump administration's final days.  The resignations are part of a broader review Austin has ordered to look at the viability of the boards and to eliminate potential overlaps.  But the Pentagon's top spokesman acknowledged that the resignations and the review had been prompted by the last-minute appointments of Trump loyalists to the boards, including Trump's former campaign manager.

Firefighter Facing Discipline For Rushing 3-Year-Old Burn Victim To Hospital After Ambulance Never Showed.  A veteran Oklahoma City Fire Department (OKCFD) major has lost his role as senior company officer of his station after he rushed a three-year-old burn victim to the hospital on a fire truck because the ambulance was taking too long to respond.  "We don't transport patients," OKCFD Chief Richard Kelley told KFOR.  "That's not our job."  The complaint against OKCFD Major Corey Britt was field by EMSA, the emergency medical and ambulance service that serves Oklahoma City.

Jeff Bezos, 57, steps down as Amazon CEO and will be replaced by Andy Jassy - the man who built AWS and pulled the plug on Parler.  Jeff Bezos is stepping down as the CEO of Amazon, 27 years after founding it with his ex-wife and building it into one of the most successful companies of all time now worth $1.7 trillion.  Bezos, 57, announced the move in a letter to his 1.3 million Amazon employees Tuesday where he insisted he isn't retiring but wants to focus on his 'passions' including his space and climate change ventures.  He will be replaced by 53-year-old Andy Jassy, the current CEO of the Amazon empire cloud business Amazon Web Services (AWS) and the man behind the move to cancel Parler.

New York City to ban natural gas hookups in new buildings by 2030: mayor.  New York City this week said it will join a growing list of U.S. cities banning natural gas hookups in new buildings.  New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Thursday as part of his State of the City address that New York will "ban new fossil fuel connections in new construction by at least 2030."

The Editor asks...
What will be gained from this?

Justice Department Probes SpaceX After Hiring Discrimination Complaint.  The Department of Justice is probing Elon Musk's rocket company SpaceX over whether the company discriminates against non-U.S. citizens in its hiring, according to court documents filed on Thursday [1/28/2021].  The Justice Department's Immigrant and Employee Rights division received a complaint of employment discrimination from a non-U.S. citizen, who alleged that SpaceX discriminated against him based on his citizenship status.  "Specifically, the charge alleges that on or about March 10, 2020, during the Charging Party's interview for the position of Technology Strategy Associate, SpaceX made inquiries about his citizenship status and ultimately failed to hire him for the position because he is not a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident", DOJ attorney Lisa Sandoval wrote in the complaint filed on Thursday.

The Editor says...
Why is it illegal to prefer U.S. citizens for new employees?  It's just common sense to hire Americans first, especially in an industry that's at least 95 percent publicity-centric, like manned space travel.

Texas governor vows to fight U.S. curbs on oil and gas activity.  The top elected official of the largest U.S. oil and gas producing state on Thursday [1/28/2021] pledged to fight President Joe Biden's executive orders that he claimed would undercut Texas energy production.  In a case of dueling executive orders, Texas Governor Greg Abbott authorized state agencies to bring legal challenges Biden's policies.  Biden on Wednesday unveiled a series of actions to combat climate change, including pausing new oil and gas leases on federal land and cutting fossil fuel subsidies.

Pathetic:
German-built robot gives hugs to provide emotional support for people.  German scientists taught a human-like robot how to give a hug and provide emotional support to people.  Footage shows HuggieBot raising its plastic arms before embracing the person in front when prompted.  Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Stuttgart made the robot wear a jacket to better imitate warm hugs.  Project leader Alexis Block said they are interested in enabling robots to give a hug because of its health benefits.  [Video clip]

You Can Thank Our Elites For Proliferating Conspiracies.  [Scroll down]  Let's focus in on the second point.  Rep. Ilhan "All-About-The-Benjamins" Omar, D-Minn., is corrupt and nearly as conspiratorial as [Rep. Marjorie Taylor] Greene.  She also seems to be antisemitic.  But the media doesn't make Omar the subject of breathless coverage about her party's moral bankruptcy.  They put her on magazine covers.  The same goes for the likes of Linda Sarsour and Tamika Mallory.  Hillary Clinton and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) are currently trafficking in bizarre conspiratorial theories that Donald Trump talked to and took direction from Vladimir Putin on the day of the Capitol riot without being treated as menacing representations of rot in their party.  Clinton never accepted the results of her 2016 loss, and continues to recklessly advance baseless notions of "hacking."  That brings us to the Russia collusion hoax, which for years consumed the entire Democratic Party (even Sen. Bernie Sanders!) in a silly conspiracy replete with prostitutes and urine.  Because this comported with the media's basic political narrative, they failed to approach it with appropriate skepticism.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene Publishes Statement Addressing the Mob That's Trying to 'Take Her Out'.  Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene posted a statement on Friday addressing the mob of Democrats and liberal reporter henchmen that are trying to "take her out" with a massive smear campaign.  The statement comes shortly after Marxist Democrat lawmaker Cori Bush tried to claim that Greene had harassed her in the halls — which Greene promptly shut down with a video of the incident.  [Video clip] [...] In a statement published on social media and sent out to members of the media by her press team, Greene wrote that "since launching your smear campaign attacks on me, nearly 60,000 America First Patriots from all 50 states have reached out with messages of support and have poured over $1.6 million in small donations into my campaign account."

Pressure builds against GOP Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene as Dem demands her expulsion.  It appears that Democrats have decided to go after Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA). Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-CA) announced on Wednesday [1/27/2021] that he will introduce a resolution to expel Greene from Congress because she poses a "direct threat" to other lawmakers.  "Her very presence in office represents a direct threat against the elected officials and staff who serve our government, and it is with their safety in mind, as well as the security of institutions and public servants across our country," Gomez stated.  This move follows Greene introducing articles of impeachment against President Biden immediately after he took office.  But the reasoning put forth here is that she supported the rioters, and Gomez claims that her Facebook posts advocated violence against Democrats and the FBI.

Dem rep plans to introduce a resolution to expel Marjorie Taylor Greene.  Rep. Jimmy Gomez on Wednesday [1/27/2021] announced that he plans to introduce a resolution to expel the controversial Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene from Congress, accusing Greene of previously supporting calls for "political violence" and advocating "extremism and sedition."  The resolution would require the support of two-thirds of the members of the House to pass. [...] Greene was first known during her run for Congress as a supporter of the online conspiracy theory QAnon, which she later distanced herself from in an interview with Fox News in August.  She's since earned a reputation as a bomb-thrower in Congress.  She's refused on various occasions to wear a mask, supported false allegations of widespread election fraud which resulted in her temporarily losing access to her Twitter account and most recently announced that she was filing articles of impeachment against President Biden.

Pennsylvania Teacher Suspended for Attending Trump Rally Says His Life Has Been Destroyed.  Jason Moorehead, a teacher in Allentown, PA, for 17 years, attended the Trump rally in DC on January 6th.  Although he did not participate in the Capitol Hill riots, he claims he was smeared by association and suspended from his job.  He has also been doxxed, and now his family is living in fear.

Fierce Cuomo Critic Janice Dean Might Challenge Him In 2022.  Fox News meteorologist Janice Dean, whose profile grew exponentially in 2020 as she repeatedly blasted Democratic New York Governor Andrew Cuomo after her in-laws died in New York nursing homes, is hearing calls for her to run against Cuomo in 2022 — and she's leaving the door open, saying, "You never say never in this life, right?  And many people have gotten into government because something personal has happened to them."  Former Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly, a close friend, was delighted with the idea of Dean running, noting that Dean, 50, has weathered home invasion, sexual harassment, and multiple sclerosis.  Kelly told the New York Post, "Unlike the poser currently in the governor's mansion, she really IS 'New York tough,' whip smart, and we can trust her.  She's got my vote."

US State Department Criticizes China After Latest Military Incursion Against Taiwan.  The U.S. State Department has voiced concerns about China's continued military aggression against Taiwan, after China breached the island's air defense zone with 13 military aircraft.  "We urge Beijing to cease its military, diplomatic, and economic pressure against Taiwan and instead engage in meaningful dialogue with Taiwan's democratically elected representatives," State Department spokesperson Ned Price said in a statement on Jan. 23.  He added:  "We will continue to assist Taiwan in maintaining a sufficient self-defense capability.  Our commitment to Taiwan is rock-solid and contributes to the maintenance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and within the region."  Beijing's coercion against Taiwan is nothing new, as the Chinese communist regime claims the self-ruled island as a part of its territory and has repeatedly threatened to use military force to bring the island under its fold.

Justice Department considers Not charging up to 800 MAGA rioters who caused havoc at the Capitol 'since most of them just trespassed and were not violent'.  The FBI and prosecutors at the Justice Department are debating whether to decline to charge some of the MAGA rioters who stormed the United States Capitol on January 6 in an attempt to derail President Joe Biden's certification.  There is concern among DOJ officials that bringing charges against all of the estimated 800 rioters who ransacked the Capitol building could flood the local federal courthouse in Washington, DC, with cases.  There have been internal discussions about forgoing charges against those who were not involved in any violence or vandalism but were simply trespassing or 'going along with the crowd,' The Washington Post reported.

U.S. forces choppered into Syria 24 hours after new commander-in-chief takes power.  A large convoy of U.S. military personnel headed into Syria on Thursday along with hundreds of troops some 24 hours after President Joe Biden took office and took on his commander-in-chief role, foreign media reported.  Citing Syrian state news agency SANA, i24 News reported that a convoy of about 40 trucks and armored vehicles "entered northeastern Syria" on Thursday supported by helicopters.  The convoy entered the country from Iraq via the al-Waleed crossing "to bring arms and logistical equipment to bases in Hasakeh and Deir Ezzor provinces," i23 News stated.  And while "other local media" noted that such resupply convoys are not uncommon, SANA's report added that an additional 200 U.S. troops were choppered into the Hasakeh province as well.

Trump Offers to Let National Guard Stay at the Trump Hotel D.C. After Parking Garage Outrage.  Former President Trump has reportedly offered to let the National Guardsmen still stationed at the Capitol stay at his Trump Hotel in Washington D.C.  "Trump has given permission for the troops to stay at Trump Hotel DC if any of them need, an advisor told the One America News Network.

President Trump Gives Permission for US Troops to Stay at Trump Hotel in Washington DC.  As reported earlier by Cristina Laila military source in DC told TPUSA Chief Creative Officer Benny Johnson that for the last week his battalion had been sleeping on the floor in the Senate cafeteria in preparation for Biden's sham inauguration.  One day after Biden's inauguration, 5,000 soldiers were moved to a cold parking garage.  There is one power outlet and one bathroom for 5,000 soldiers.

The Mullahs Turn to Bitcoin Mining.  The Iranian regime's economy is suffocating, its banking system locked at the international level.  Khamenei believes that any negotiation and moderation would mean an end to his nuclear ambitions and the export of regional terrorism, threaten his regime's survival and could swiftly lead to its overthrow.  The financial institutions affiliated with Khamenei and especially the IRGC, need to find other ways to launder money, circumvent sanctions, and evade the world banking system.  Supporting their proxy forces in the region depends on keeping the money flowing.  There is no centralized control over bitcoin, making it an attractive vehicle, but Iran hasn't got enough hard currency to buy a lot of it.  Bitcoin can't be used to circumvent sanctions importing and exporting and unless two countries cooperate.  Iran cooperates with China, Venezuela, Turkey, and several other countries on bitcoin transactions.  Enter bitcoin mining.

325 Australian-Based Scientists, Researchers Identified as Recruits for Beijing.  Over 325 academics and scientists in Australian universities and research institutes have been identified as alleged recruits of Beijing's controversial overseas talent-recruitment programs.  The allegations raise questions over potential conflicts of interest, grant fraud, and Australian research funds inadvertently advancing the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) military technology.  Alex Joske of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), wrote to the Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security claiming that despite 325 individuals being identified, as many as 600 could be connected to Beijing-backed partnerships.

'We feel incredibly betrayed': Thousands of Guardsmen forced to vacate Capitol.  Thousands of National Guardsmen were allowed back into the Capitol Thursday night, hours after U.S. Capitol Police officials ordered them to vacate the facilities, sending them outdoors or to nearby parking garages after two weeks pulling security duty after the deadly riot on Jan. 6.  One unit, which had been resting in the Dirksen Senate Office building, was abruptly told to vacate the facility on Thursday, according to one Guardsman.  The group was forced to rest in a nearby parking garage without internet reception, with just one electrical outlet, and one bathroom with two stalls for 5,000 troops, the person said.  Temperatures in Washington were in the low 40s by nightfall.

National Guard Kicked Out Of The Capitol, Forced To Sleep In A Parking Garage.  Thousands of National Guardsmen descended on the Capitol and surrounding buildings after the riots at the Capitol earlier this month.  They were there as a show of force and to discourage anyone who was thinking about a repeat performance during the inauguration. [...] Something apparently changed today [1/21/2021].  The NY Times reports the Guard was kicked out of the Capitol and surrounding buildings and sent to sleep in a parking garage.

Ohio orthodox priest suspended for attending Trump rally at U.S. Capitol, reports say.  An orthodox priest in western Ohio who has filled in at churches in the Cleveland area has been suspended and could be defrocked after he attended a rally for former President Trump in Washington on Jan. 6 that ended with an assault on the nation's Capitol, according to reports.  A notice on the website for the Orthodox Church in America says Archpriest Mark Hodges was suspended on Jan. 12.  The notice offers no other details.  According to the Dayton Daily News, Hodges most recently has been a "supply priest" in the Diocese of the Midwest and has filled in at parishes in Cleveland and Olmsted Falls.

The Editor says...
Does he not enjoy the freedom of association that the rest of us have?  There might have been half a million people at that event.  Should they all lose their jobs?

No pardons by Trump for Snowden, Assange.  Fugitive national security contractor Edward Snowden and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange missed out on pardons from outgoing President Trump on Wednesday [1/20/2021].  The high-profile figures were not among the 143 pardons and commutations issued by Mr. Trump with just hours remaining in his presidency.  The clemency actions included a pardon for former White House strategist Steve Bannon, who was facing trial for allegedly defrauding donors in a project to help build Mr. Trump's border wall.  Also missing from the clemency list was Reality Winner, a former National Security Agency contractor imprisoned in 2018 for mailing classified material to a news outlet.  The documents pertained to Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

Bill Sammon and Chris Stirewalt out at Fox News.  Two executives involved in the early call of Arizona for Joe Biden on Election Night, angering many conservatives, are no longer employed at the cable network whose ratings took a subsequent nosedive.  Both have been lightning rods for conservatives since the election.

Failing Fox purges Stirewalt and 16 others — shifts back to conservative opinion.  Fox News laid off at least 16 staffers at Fox digital, including Chris Stirewalt, the political editor who defended the election-night call of Arizona.  While the purge is allegedly a restructuring after the election, insiders told The Daily Beast it's an ideological purge.  Viewers were infuriated with Stirewalt when he called Arizona while people were waiting in line to vote.  Fox refused to call Florida and Texas for Trump when he obviously won.  Stirewalt was a Never Trumper who told reporters to never attend Trump rallies.  He said their presence allows Trump to use them as a "prop."

Court documents reveal a group of militia members planned their entry to the U.S. Capitol.  The Washington Post story focuses on three individuals who have now been charged for their involvement in the riot.  But unlike some people who may have just been following the mob, these three — Thomas Caldwell, Jessica Watkins and Donovan Crowl — appear to have planned their entry to the Capitol in advance and discussed their progress during the riot.

Army vet shreds Dem Rep for 'ridiculous' remark about dangerous troops:  You've no business leading this country.  A U.S. Army veteran slammed Rep. Steve Cohen for claiming that National Guard troops in Washington, D.C., could pose a threat to President-elect Joe Biden.  West Point graduate Jeremy Hunt called out the Tennessee Democrat for questioning the loyalty of 25,000 troops who have been deployed to the nation's capital for Biden's inauguration on Wednesday, calling it "absolutely ridiculous" and blasting him for exploiting an intelligence report to score political points.  With reports that the U.S. Military was running background checks and the FBI was conducting additional vetting of the Guard troops, Cohen weighed in on CNN, recounting how former India Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her own bodyguards, as he suggested some within National Guard could be suspicious.

Pentagon won't say what got 12 Guard troops sent home from Biden inauguration duty in DC.  Twelve National Guard troops deployed to Washington ahead of President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration were flagged during background checks and have been sent home, Defense Department officials confirmed Tuesday, offering scant details as to what raised suspicions about them.  Two of those were flagged for "inappropriate comments or texts," Army Gen. Daniel Hokanson, chief of the Nation Guard Bureau, told reporters, including one reported within their own chain of command.  Hokanson's comments refute a Tuesday story from the Associated Press that all 12 troops removed from the Capitol had right-wing militia ties.

Pentagon: No indication of 'inside threat' to inauguration, troops being vetted.  Acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller said Monday [1/18/2021] that there is no intelligence to suggest President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration is being targeted by any members of the National Guard.  Miller's statement comes as reports surfaced over the weekend that the 25,000 National Guard members stationed in Washington to protect the Capitol were being vetted.  Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy told The Associated Press on Sunday that National Guard commanders were instructed to be on the lookout for problems within their units.  "As is normal for military support to large security events, the Department will vet National Guardsmen who are in Washington, D.C," Miller said.  "While we have no intelligence indicating an insider threat, we are leaving no stone unturned in securing the capital."

Is this paranoia, or just bigotry?
Democratic Congressman Fears Trump-Voting 'White Males' in National Guard at Inauguration: '75 Percent Are in the Class' that May 'Do Something'.  Democratic Rep. Steve Cohen (TN) expressed concern Monday [1/18/2021] that the National Guard troops responsible for protecting Washington, D.C. on Inauguration Day could constitute a threat because they included too many "white males" who voted for President Donald Trump.  "The guard is 90-some-odd percent, I believe, male," Cohen said in a Monday interview with CNN's Jim Sciutto.  "Only about 20 percent of white males voted for Biden.  You've got to figure that in the guard, which is predominantly more conservative — I see that on my social media, and we know it.  They're probably not more than 25 percent of the people that are there protecting us that are voting for Biden.  "The other 75 percent are in the class, the large class of folks, who might want to do something," he added.

Bed Bath & Beyond and Kohls will STOP selling MyPillow because of CEO Mike Lindell's support of voter fraud theories.  MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell revealed Monday [1/18/2021] that Bed Bath & Beyond, Kohl's and Wayfair have all stopped selling his products on account of his continued support of widely discredited conspiracy theories regarding election fraud.  Lindell, whose company is based in Minneapolis, made the announcement during an interview with conservative commentator Brian Glenn on Monday night [1/18/2021].  'Just got off the phone with Bed Bath & Beyond.  They're dropping My Pillow.  Just got off the phone not five minutes ago.  Kohl's, all these different places,' Lindell said during the interview. 'These [companies], they're scared, like a Bed Bath & Beyond, they're scared.  They were good partners.  In fact, I told them, "You guys come back anytime you want."'

'No Plot Against Biden Found' — 2 National Guardsmen Removed From Duty In DC After Social Media Spying.  Despite no plot against Biden being found, two National Guardsmen have been removed from duty in Washington, D.C. after government agencies began scouring their social media feeds for pro-Trump sympathies.  The Associated Press reports from an anonymous source: "two National Guard members have been found to have ties to fringe right group militias.  No plot against Biden was found."  According to the AP: An "Army official and the intelligence official spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity due to Defense Department media regulations.  They did not say what fringe group the Guard members belonged to or what unit they served in.  The National Guard Bureau referred questions to the U.S. Secret Service and said, "Due to operational security, we do not discuss the process nor the outcome of the vetting process for military members supporting the inauguration."

Gov. Abbott vows to never again authorize deployment of Texas Natl Guard to DC over 'offensive' loyalty screening.  Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said in a tweet Monday night [1/18/2021] that he will not authorize the deployment of the Texas National Guard to Washington, D.C. again if the troops are going to be disrespected.  Responding to a Washington Post article on the Pentagon was vetting National Guard members tapped to help with security on Inauguration Day for extremist ties, the Republican governor called it "the most offensive thing I've ever heard."  In effect, with an assist from the FBI, the 25,000-plus soldiers deployed to DC in a show of force are being submitted to background checks — essentially a political purity test — to ensure that they are not an inside threat endangering Joe Biden.  Seriously.

The Editor says...
Governor Abbott, if you're really so offended, you could recall those soldiers back to Texas and keep them from participating in ... whatever this event is.

FBI vetting Guard troops in DC amid fears of insider attack.  US defense officials say they are worried about an insider attack or other threat from service members involved in securing President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration, prompting the FBI to vet all of the 25,000 National Guard troops coming into Washington for the event.  The massive undertaking reflects the extraordinary security concerns that have gripped Washington following the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection at the US Capitol by pro-Trump rioters.  And it underscores fears that some of the very people assigned to protect the city over the next several days could present a threat to the incoming president and other VIPs in attendance.

Ever Had a Hard Time Understanding Someone's Accent?  A Professor Says You're Guilty of 'Linguistic Racism'.  Have you ever had difficulty understanding someone's accent?  That is, have you ever been racist?  According to a Michigan State University linguistics and education professor, the two are one and the same.  So stop being beastly, and start understanding everyone.  Per Professor Peter De Costa, when/if you don't know what someone's saying due to their consonants and vowels, you're guilty of "linguistic racism."

Conservative Joe Ricketts, Cubs family patriarch who closed DNAinfo after union vote, to launch Omaha-based 'unbiased' news site.  The Omaha World-Herald reported on Sunday [1/17/2021] that billionaire businessman and philanthropist Joe Ricketts is hiring staff to launch an online national news source called Straight Arrow News.  "I think there's a gap in the market — there's no source for unbiased, fact-based news," Ricketts told the World-Herald in an emailed response to questions last week.  "And I believe there's a business opportunity there."

Arrests Connected to the Capitol Hill Protest Are Creating a Procedural Mess As Reflected by the Media's Coverage.  [Scroll down]  Where supported by the evidence, agents are drafting affidavits and prosecutors are filing criminal complaints to obtain arrest warrants for individuals connected to their actions.  Given the sheer numbers involved, I would guess that a dozen or more prosecutors are working on cases connected to the January 6 protests and nothing else.  But, as Michael Sherwin, Acting US Attorney for the District of Columbia, noted in a public statement earlier in the week, this process is made quite difficult by the fact that most of the persons being charged were able to return to their homes in other states prior to them being identified and the charges being filed.  Those individuals are now being arrested in their home states — not in DC.  That fact creates some procedural issues that DOJ must work through before the cases can proceed.

America's Biggest Owner Of Farmland Is Now Bill Gates.  Bill Gates, the fourth richest person in the world and a self-described nerd who is known for his early programming skills rather than his love of the outdoors, has been quietly snatching up 242,000 acres of farmland across the U.S. — enough to make him the top private farmland owner in America.  After years of reports that he was purchasing agricultural land in places like Florida and Washington, The Land Report revealed that Gates, who has a net worth of nearly $121 billion according to Forbes, has built up a massive farmland portfolio spanning 18 states.  His largest holdings are in Louisiana (69,071 acres), Arkansas (47,927 acres) and Nebraska (20,588 acres).  Additionally, he has a stake in 25,750 acres of transitional land on the west side of Phoenix, Arizona, which is being developed as a new suburb.

GOP Senators To Attend Biden Inauguration Wednesday After Objecting To His Electoral College Win.  At least half of the eight GOP senators who voted against President-elect Joe Biden's Electoral College victory will be attending the inauguration Wednesday [1/20/2021] in Washington to support the peaceful transfer of power, Fox News has learned.  Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who spearheaded the Jan. 6 effort to toss out electoral votes for Biden, will attend the official swearing-in at the Capitol.  Sens. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., and Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., who joined with Cruz in objecting to Biden's victory before a Joint Session of Congress, also will attend Biden's inauguration, their offices confirmed.

Trump Declassifies 'Foot-High' Stack Of Russiagate, Obamagate Documents; Set For Release Within Days.  President Trump has declassified and authorized the release of "more than a foot-high stack of documents" related to the Obama administration's surveillance and espionage committed against the 2016 Trump campaign, as part of a larger campaign to discredit and undermine the incoming US president.  According to journalist and Trump insider John Solomon, the documents would be released as soon as Friday [1/15/2021], but no later than Monday.  "He has delivered in a big way.  More than a foot-high stack of documents he has authorized to be released by the FBI and the DOJ.  These are the things that the FBI has tried to keep from the public for 4 years.  They have amazing, big picture revelations," Solomon told Fox News' "Lou Dobbs Tonight."

Poll: Strong majority of GOP voters see themselves as Republicans instead of 'MAGA Nation'.  A strong majority of GOP voters view themselves as Republicans rather than devotees of President Trump's Make America Great Again, or "MAGA," movement, according to a new Just the News Daily Poll with Scott Rasmussen.  Among the Republican voters, 74% consider themselves "more of a Republican," while 19% see themselves as "part of MAGA nation."  The numbers could reflect the fallout from last week's Capitol riot, which has been broadly characterized as being led by Trump's MAGA devotees, a key part of the president's base, helped him become president in 2016.  However, there is no similar, previous polls to compared percentages.  The president has condemned the deadly, Jan. 6 siege on the U.S. Capitol Building, disavowed the participants and argued that "no true supporter" of his could have participated in it.

CISA and the SolarWinds Attack:  What Do We Know?  On November 17, President Trump appointed Brandon Wales as the director for the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).  Wales was a highly qualified choice, as he had been CISA's first executive director and previously served as the director of the DHS Office of Cyber and Infrastructure Analysis (OCIA), which provides analysis of cyber- and physical risks to America's critical infrastructure.  Perhaps the most pressing cyber-security issue for America and CISA currently is the fallout from the SolarWinds hacking attack that has affected at least 2,000 computer systems belonging to over 100 governmental and non-governmental agencies around the world.  News of the attack was first reported a few weeks after Wales took over CISA.  The attacks have been attributed to APT29 (Advanced Persistent Threat).  The Russian hacking group is known by several aliases including Cozy Duke, Cozy Bear, the Dukes, and Office Monkeys.

Elon Musk Blames Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg For Capitol Riot.  In times of social crises in America, big tech billionaires are often amongst the first to speak up — though how they do so varies.  Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, unlike many of his peers, didn't directly speak about the riot that erupted in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday afternoon.  But the second-richest man in the world did make it clear that he was watching the news and indeed had a strong opinion about the surreal events that transpired at the U.S. Capitol.  Late Wednesday night [1/6/2021], after police had cleared protestors from the Capital ground to allow Congress to resume vote counting and certifying election results, Musk tweeted a meme showing bricks lining up like dominoes.  The smallest front brick was labeled "a website to rate women on campus" — a reference to the early version of Facebook — and the largest tile in the back was superimposed with a tweet by The New York Times Magazine correspondent Mark Leibovich that read:  "The Capitol seems to be under the control of a man in a viking hat."

Lawmaker Urges House Leadership to Stop Distributing Communist Propaganda Paper.  Freshman representative Ashley Hinson (R., Iowa) petitioned House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) to stop distributing a Chinese Communist propaganda paper to House offices on Capitol Hill, according to a letter sent late last week and obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.  Hinson, who was elected in November, said she is "appalled" that lawmakers receive unsolicited copies of China Daily, a Chinese state-controlled newspaper that has been designated as Communist propaganda by the State Department.  China Daily has been delivered to congressional offices each morning for many years despite outrage among some members who view its circulation as inappropriate.  "Frankly, I was appalled when I walked into work Friday morning and saw my office had received an unsolicited copy of China Daily," Hinson, a former television news reporter, told the Free Beacon.

Indonesia jet carrying 62 goes missing on domestic flight.  A jet carrying 62 people lost contact with air traffic controllers minutes after taking off from Indonesia's capital on a domestic flight on Saturday, and debris found by fishermen was being examined to see if it was from the missing plane, officials said.  Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi said Sriwijaya Air's Flight SJ182 was delayed for an hour before it took off at 2:36 p.m.  The Boeing 737-500 disappeared from radar four minutes later, after the pilot contacted air traffic control to ascend to an altitude of 29,000 feet (8,839 meters), he said.

Indonesian airliner's pilots reportedly did not declare emergency before crash.  The pilots of the Indonesian airliner that plunged into the sea off Jakarta with 62 people aboard did not declare an emergency or report technical problems before the Boeing 737-500 went down, according to a report.  National Transportation Safety Committee investigator Nurcahyo Utomo said recordings of conversations between the crew of the Sriwijaya Air flight bound for Pontianak and air traffic control were routine.  "It's like a normal conversation and nothing suspicious," he told Agence France-Presse.  "There's no talk of an emergency or something like that."  Preliminary data suggest it was "most likely" that the jet was intact when it hit the water Saturday, Utomo said, adding that "we don't know at this stage" what caused the crash.  His comments came as divers searched for the black boxes — cockpit voice and flight data recorders — that could be crucial to help explain why the aircraft went down with 62 Indonesians aboard, including 10 children.

The Editor says...
If they have not yet recovered the cockpit voice recorder, how do they know the crew's conversation was routine?  This case sounds a little like Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, which crashed March 15, 2014.

Hennepin County libraries end overdue book fees.  Hennepin County Library users will no longer be paying fines for overdue books, movies and music.  The Hennepin County Board is eliminating the fees to make libraries more accessible to low-income populations, the kind of users who might stay away as fines pile up.  "Whenever a constituent would hear about a city or county eliminating fees, I would get e-mails from them asking why Hennepin hasn't done it," County Board Chairwoman Marion Greene said.  "This is really a way to drive usage of the libraries."

The Editor says...
Library fines don't "pile up" unless one violates the library's terms of use.  Fines exist for a reason. If the libraries eliminate fines, the books will all walk out the door, never to return.

GOP Rep Stands His Ground After CNN Commentator Demands Resignation.  A newly-elected black Republican House representative is firing back after he was told this week to "resign in disgrace" after he objected to the election results in a number of states Wednesday during congressional certification of the election results.  Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida stood with dozens of other lawmakers in questioning the results from a number of key battleground states.  The Republican was vocal on his Twitter page with regard to his intent to object to certification, prior to the Capitol incursion.  "The people of Florida's 19 Congressional District elected me to honor the Constitution and the Rule of Law.  That is why I just officially signed the objection to the electoral college certification — our election laws matter," he posted on Jan. 6.

Australians call on authorities to solve mystery of funds from Vatican.  People inside and outside the church are calling on authorities to get to the bottom of mystery funds transferred from the Vatican to Australia.  As Australia's bishops are considering requesting information from the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre, a source close to the Vatican told The Catholic Weekly, newspaper of the Archdiocese of Sydney, that it was "completely implausible" that $2.3 billion Australian dollars (U.S. $1.8 billion) in Vatican funds transferred to Australia from Rome between 2014 and 2020 were legitimate.

Report Details Space Force Success in Foiling Iranian Missile Attack.  The Space Force proved instrumental in thwarting an Iranian missile attack on American bases in Iraq last year, a new report shows.  A review of the events of January 7, 2020, reported by C4ISRNET indicates that the newly created Space Force's early warning system allowed hundreds of Americans to quickly shelter in bunkers as Iran fired over a dozen ballistic missiles at U.S. military installations.  The missile attacks came days after a U.S. drone strike killed Iranian general Qassem Soleimani.  A Space Force early warning team at Buckley Air Force Base in Aurora, Colo., picked up unusual readings from advanced satellite missile-detection technology and informed military officials in Iraq within minutes.  The early warning potentially saved lives, as U.S. forces reported zero deaths after the night's action despite personnel suffering 110 injuries.

Reaction to the Conservative Daily Wire's Hollywood Debut Speaks Volumes.  Deadline.com leans reliably to the Left, but the news outlet played it straight this week for a big announcement.  The site revealed The Daily Wire's first feature film will be "Run Hide Fight," a Die Hard-style thriller set during a school shooting.  [Video clip]

Matt Gaetz draws raucous reactions from congressmembers, calls it like he sees it in Fiery floor speech.  U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz delivered a fiery speech from the House floor defending President Donald Trump and addressing protests that rocked the nation's capital.  The Florida Republican elicited both applause and boos from his colleagues in Congress Wednesday as he reminded them that Trump had asked protestors to be peaceful.  He expressed his gratitude to law enforcement who defended the Capitol when it was overrun by protesters but blamed the violence on Antifa and the left's rhetoric.  While many in Congress seemed to dial back their open defense of the president following the deadly violence that unfolded, Gaetz doubled down on his support in a blistering speech calling out Democrats for the part they have played in stoking divisions and holding a double standard.

Cancel culture comes for Justice Clarence Thomas over wife's alleged tweets.  The far-left cancel culture is in full gear following the protest Wednesday at the U.S. Capital that got out of hand, even targeting Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, who is no stranger to "high-tech lynchings."  Not that Thomas did anything.  No, it's because his wife allegedly expressed support for the tens of thousands of Trump supporters who came to DC to peacefully protest the results of an election that they believe to be illegitimate — never mind that Ginni Thomas tweeted her presumed remarks well before a smaller faction of protesters stormed the U.S. Capitol.

CBS News:  Cabinet Members Discussing 25th Amendment To Remove Trump.  A CBS News correspondent reports [1/6/2021] that cabinet members are discussing possibly invoking the 25th Amendment to remove Donald Trump as president.

Has the 25th Amendment Basically Been Invoked?  Today [1/6/2021], violent radicals stormed the U.S. Capitol Building after the conclusion of President Donald Trump's speech at what is likely to be the final rally he'll hold in the city.  In the end, one woman was shot and killed, parts of the building were damaged, and a lot of morons made fools of themselves.  Nothing of value was actually accomplished because that obviously wasn't the goal of the perpetrators.  Instead, any possible debate on election integrity will be shelved for the foreseeable future.  In fact, most of the elected officials who were set to object to the electoral college certification today have backed out.  That line of pursuit is simply over.  In order to regain control of the Capitol, National Guard troops were called in, but it's who called them in and who wasn't consulted that makes that decision interesting.  It turns out that VP Mike Pence made the call.  In fact, the Department of Defense never even contacted the President, completely bypassing him.

Donald Trump:  Riots Happen When Election 'Landslides' Are Stolen.  President Donald Trump on Wednesday told his supporters who were demonstrating in Washington, DC, to "go home with love and in peace," though he simultaneously argued that protesters breaking into the U.S. Capitol was a consequence of the presidential election allegedly being stolen.  "These are the things and events that happen when a sacred landslide election victory is so unceremoniously and viciously stripped away from great patriots who have been badly and unfairly treated for so long," Trump wrote on Twitter.

VP Pence Just Unfollowed President Trump on Twitter.  This afternoon [1/6/2021] at 1:16 PM, former AG GOP Chair Kelli Ward tweeted a copy of Vice President Mike Pence's statement, informing the public that he has no intention of sending the Electoral College votes from 6 contested states back to their state's legislature.  100 Percent Fed Up reports — AZ GOP Chair Dr. Kelli Ward appears to be blaming VP Pence for the chaos that ensued in the Capitol building during the Joint Session of Congress.

Incompetence:
"Which Executive Order?"; Jen Psaki Had No Idea That Biden Resumed Catch And Release On The Border.  During the White House press briefing on Friday, Press Secretary Jen Psaki was blindsided by a reporter when she learned that Joe Biden had signed an executive on Tuesday [2/2/2021] resuming catch and release on the border.  The Biden order allows illegal immigrants to remain in the US while awaiting immigration proceedings.  According to the NY Post, "the executive order only permits Border Patrol to hold an undocumented illegal alien crossing the border up to 72 hours[.]"  Understandably, the reporter brought up concerns about the potential spread of COVID from random migrants who enter the country.  When the reporter mentioned the executive order, Psaki gave her a blank stare, clearly not knowing what she was talking about.

The U.S. Has Lost More Than 110,000 Restaurants, Setting The Stage For A Commercial Real Estate Collapse Of Epic Proportions.  The restaurant industry is in the midst of a complete and total meltdown that is unlike anything that we have ever seen before.  If you ask Google how many restaurants there are in the United States, it will tell you that there are 660,755, although that number is a few years old.  But for the purposes of this article, that is a good enough estimate.  Americans love to eat out, and restaurant workers are some of the hardest working people in the entire country.  So it is incredibly sad to see more restaurants constantly going under.  In some cases, restaurants that have served their communities for decades are deciding to permanently close their doors.

LA County Orders Ambulance Crews Not to Transport Patients With 'Little Chance of Survival'.  Los Angeles ambulance crew members have been instructed not to transport patients with "little chance of survival" to local hospitals as ICUs near capacity across the county.  In a directive issued by the Los Angeles County Emergency Medical Services Agency Monday, ambulance workers were also told to conserve the use of oxygen in the state's most populous county, which currently has an infection rate of 138 per 100,000, according to California's tracking dashboard.  According to county health data, there were just 17 adult ICU beds available, with 7,544 hospitalizations as of Monday evening [1/4/2021].  The county EMS directive states that due to bed shortages, ambulance crews should no longer transport patients to hospitals if their hearts have stopped and resuscitation attempts have failed, according to the Los Angeles Times.

No Police Officers Will Be Charged In Kenosha Shooting Of Jacob Blake, District Attorney Announces.  Kenosha County District Attorney Michael Graveley announced on Monday that the officers involved in the shooting of Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old black man, in August in Kenosha, Wisconsin, will not be charged.  According to Graveley, there was not sufficient and admissible evidence to support an unlawful shooting charge against law enforcement.  He also clarified that Blake will not be charged. [...] The announcement comes months after Blake was shot in the back seven times by Officer Rusten Sheskey after Blake grappled with and then attempted to flee the police tasers and enter a vehicle containing three of his children.  The shooting, which left him partially paralyzed, was caught on video and shows that Blake may have been holding a knife, which was later recovered from the scene.  Officers originally pursued Blake in response to a complaint from his girlfriend, who said he was violating a restraining order.

Kenosha Wisconsin Prosecutor Will Not Charge Police Officer With Shooting of Jacob Blake.  On Tuesday afternoon [1/5/2021] Kenosha County District Attorney Michael Graveley announced his decision that his office would not file criminal charges against Kenosha Police Officer Rusten Shesky in connection with the shooting by Shesky of Jacob Blake on August 23, 2020.  Blake was left paralyzed from the waist down by the shooting, which was captured on a cell phone video from across the street, and the video spread widely on the internet in the hours following the shooting.  In making his announcement, Gravely stated that his office had employed an independent "use of force" expert as well as the Wisconsin Department of Justice.  His decision was based on an analysis of how a trial on any charges would likely develop, and the "privilege of force" defense that would likely be available to Officer Shesky.

Senate Swears In 6 New Members as 117th Congress Convenes.  Several new members of the Senate on Sunday [1/3/2021] were sworn in for the 117th Congress.  The new members include Sens. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), Ben Ray Lujan (D-N.M.), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), and Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.). Tuberville defeated former Sen. Doug Jones, a Democrat; while Hickenlooper defeated former Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.). Marshall succeeded former Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.), Hagerty succeeded former Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), and Lummis succeeded former Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.).  "To say the 117th Congress convenes at a challenging time would indeed be an understatement," Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said in a statement after the senators were sworn into office.  "From political division to a deadly pandemic to adversaries around the world, the hurdles before us are many and they are serious."

Printing Business In Rochester Burns To Ground, Sparks Unfounded Rumors About Ballots.  A printing business in upstate New York that has been a staple in the community for nearly a century burned to the ground on Christmas Eve.  Taking 70 firefighters to put out the raging flames, City Blue Imaging Services on Scio Street in Rochester was reduced to rubble by Christmas morning.  "First I cried, obviously," said City Blue employee Paul Kieffer, on scene the morning after the fire.  "There are no words for it.  We expected burned up building, maybe a small fire, but it's just gone." [...] City Blue has denied any connections to ballot printing, posting via Twitter:  "NO, we do not do ballot printing.  We don't have the equipment and it's not a specialty we would be involved with.  We are mainly doing blue printing and marketing."

Jon Ossoff's Company Produced [a] Documentary Praising China's Rise in Africa.  Democrat Georgia Senate candidate Jon Ossoff's production company, Insight TWI, produced a two-part report for Al Jazeera in 2015 that praised China's growing power and influence in Africa, two years after he became the company's CEO.  The report, featuring Sierra Leonean investigative journalist Sorious Samura, begins with an interview with an elderly African woman talking about how, when she was young, "white men" came, took their land, and destroyed their forests.  Samura contrasts that with the "new elephant" in Africa — China.  "China is now Africa's largest trading partner.  If you fly into Kenya, China greets you at the airport," Samura said.  "In just 10 years, China's trade with the continent has gone from $10 billion to over $200 billion."  Samura reported that an estimated 30 percent of all new projects in Africa are the result of Chinese investment.  He gave passing mention to China's desire for the "freeflow of mineral resources."

Gohmert on Lawsuit Dismissal: 'If I Don't Have Standing to Do That, Nobody Does'.  Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) said late Friday [1/1/2021], after a federal judge dismissed the lawsuit he and others filed against Vice President Mike Pence, that the ruling was wrong, and that he plans to appeal.  District Judge Jeremy Kernodle, a Trump nominee, alleged Gohmert didn't have sufficient standing to bring the legal action.  Gohmert "alleges at most an institutional injury to the House of Representatives," Kernodle wrote.  "Under well-settled Supreme Court authority, that is insufficient to support standing."  Reacting during a virtual appearance on Newsmax, Gohmert said, "If I don't have standing to do that, nobody does."

Congress Overrides President Trump's Veto of $740 Billion Defense Bill.  The Republican-controlled Senate voted to override President Trump's veto of the $740 billion defense bill on Friday [1/1/2021].  President Trump last Wednesday vetoed the $740 billion defense bill because the legislation renamed bases named after Confederates and would not allow for removal of our military from other countries.  Trump also wanted to add a provision terminating Section 230 protections for tech giants.  The House of Representatives Monday evening overwhelmingly voted to override President Trump's veto of the defense bill.

Senate Overrides Trump's Veto of NDAA, 13 Members Uphold Veto.  The Senate voted to override President Donald Trump's veto of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for 2021.  The upper house on Friday afternoon [1/1/2021] passed the bill without the president's signature with an 80-13 vote — the first time a Trump veto has been overridden.  The debate over the bill was ended earlier in the day with the same result.

McConnell Ties $2,000 Checks to Section 230 Repeal, Voter Fraud Investigation.  Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell introduced legislation authorizing direct cash payments of $2,000 Tuesday [12/29/2020], but with a catch to which Democrats will likely object.  The bill combines $2,000 payments with a repeal of Section 230, a provision that grants social media companies liability protections against content users post on their platforms, and the establishment of a commission to study allegations of voter fraud in the 2020 election.  Though Democrats supported President Donald Trump's push for $2,000 checks, they have opposed his efforts to abolish Section 230 and investigate his allegations of fraud, giving McConnell's bill little chance of becoming law.

Most West Point cadets in cheating scandal are athletes.  The majority of cadets caught cheating on a math test at the West Point military academy are athletes — including two dozen members of the Army football team playing West Virginia in Thursday's Liberty Bowl.  Of the 24 Army Black Knights embroiled in the scandal, 17 remained in uniform as of Wednesday — and a few have already played in games this season, USA Today reported.  They remain on the team because West Point Superintendent Lt. Gen. Darryl Williams suspended the school's policy of barring cadets who violate the academy's honor code from representing the school in public.  The honor code is engraved in a monument at the Hudson River front school:  "A cadet will not lie, cheat, steal, or tolerate those who do."

Mich.  Gov. Whitmer Vetoes Unemployment Funds.  Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) is under fire from Republicans after cutting millions of dollars in unemployment benefits from a state COVID-19 relief bill.  On Tuesday [12/29/2020], Whitmer signed a massive bipartisan relief package that was easily passed by state legislators, but not before nixing a provision to provide $220 million to Michigan's Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund.  She adamantly claimed while signing the bill, the change wouldn't affect people's jobless benefits.  "To be very clear, this will not impact individual workers," she stated.  "General fund dollars have got to be used to fund essential services like vaccines and PPE, not to give tax breaks to big businesses right now."

Mitch McConnell blocks unanimous vote on $2,000 COVID-19 stimulus checks.  Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday blocked unanimous passage of the $2,000 COVID-19 stimulus checks requested by President Trump.  McConnell (R-Ky.) objected after Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) asked for a unanimous vote on a five-page bill that passed the House on Monday [12/28/2020] with 44 Republican votes.  Trump requested the $2,000 checks last week, saying the $600 checks approved as part of a $2.3 trillion pandemic relief and government funding bill was too small.  McConnell blocked unanimous passage after scheduling a Wednesday vote to override Trump's veto of a $740 billion defense bill.

McConnell blocks Democrats' attempt to quickly approve $2,000 stimulus checks amid pressure on GOP to act.  Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Tuesday [12/29/2020] blocked consideration of a House bill that would deliver $2,000 stimulus payments to most Americans — spurning a request by President Trump even as more Senate Republicans voiced support for the dramatically larger checks.  McConnell's move was just the beginning of a saga that is likely to engulf the Senate for the rest of the week.  Democrats are pushing for an up-or-down vote on the House bill, while more Republicans acknowledge a need for larger stimulus checks.  Tension within the Republican party spilled into public view on Tuesday, with Trump leveling pointed attacks at GOP leaders for failing to act, accusing them of being "pathetic" and suggesting they had a "death wish."

The Editor says...
By all means, block the $2,000 payments, if you're doing it for the right reasons.  The right reasons include the simple fact that the Constitution does not authorize direct payments to individuals, and the national debt is already high enough, and printing money causes inflation.  But I doubt if Mitch McConnell is motivated by any of that.

American youth too flabby to defend nation, retired generals say.  A group of retired military leaders is warning the Pentagon that most of America's youth is too out of shape to defend the nation.  The organization, known as "Mission Readiness" wants the Pentagon to help set up an interagency committee to address what it considers the nation's military recruiting crisis.  They recently sent a letter to acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller, urging him to work with heads of other relevant federal departments and agencies to take a "holistic approach" to addressing issues ultimately impacting the ability of the military to recruit personnel.

Global investors flee from Chinese tech stocks after the government crackdown on Ant and Alibaba.  Global investors are running from Chinese tech stocks in the wake of the government's crackdown on Ant Group and Alibaba, two high-flying businesses founded by Ma Yun (Jack Ma) that were once hailed as paragons of China's new tech elite.  Shares of major technology companies in the country have fallen sharply in recent days, with Bloomberg calculating that Alibaba, Tencent, JD.com and Meituan have lost around $200 billion in value during a handful of trading sessions.  Already reeling from the last-minute halt of the public debut of Ant Group, a major Chinese fintech player with deep ties to Alibaba, the e-commerce giant came under new fire, as China's markets watchdog opened a probe into its business practices concerning potentially anticompetitive behavior.

Group pushes to diversify volunteering at Minnesota nonprofits.  Minnesotans have rallied to help nonprofits during the pandemic, but across many organizations, most of those volunteers are white.  A statewide organization is trying to change that with new research calling attention to disparities in volunteerism.

The Editor says...
If you need unpaid help with your charitable organization, and you really care what color the volunteers are, you might be a racist.

The U.S. government spent billions on a system for detecting hacks.  The Russians outsmarted it.  When Russian hackers first slipped their digital Trojan horses into federal government computer systems, probably sometime in the spring, they sat dormant for days, doing nothing but hiding.  Then the malicious code sprang into action and began communicating with the outside world.  At that moment — when the Russian malware began sending transmissions from federal servers to command-and-control computers operated by the hackers — an opportunity for detection arose, much as human spies behind enemy lines are particularly vulnerable when they radio home to report what they've found.  Why then, when computer networks at the State Department and other federal agencies started signaling to Russian servers, did nobody in the U.S. government notice that something odd was afoot?  The answer is part Russian skill, part federal government blind spot.

Mayhem in the streets:  Illegal vendors are overtaking NYC.  Live crabs.  Bras with rhinestones.  Old shoes.  Frayed electrical cords.  Knock-off Louis Vuitton clutches.  Disposable face masks.  Mets caps.  Illegal street peddlers hawking such items have taken over the outer boroughs, clogging sidewalks with their second-hand wares and pulling customers from pandemic-ravaged mom-and-pop shops.  And everybody is pointing the finger at Mayor de Blasio.  From Brooklyn to the Bronx, Staten Island and Queens, folding tables and mats rolled out on the ground force pedestrians to go single-file or step aside so they don't get run over.

The Editor says...
I don't see how the situation described above qualifies as mayhem.  Many people are selling substandard merchandise without permits from the city.  That sounds like free-market capitalism.  Maybe some of the vendors are aggressively touting their wares and impeding the flow of pedestrian traffic.  In Texas, that condition is known as the State Fair.

GoDaddy teased 500 employees into replying to email promising Christmas $650 bonus — only to then reveal it was phishing test they FAILED.  Internet domain giant GoDaddy is in hot water after sending several employees an email claiming that they would get a holiday bonus, only for it to be a hoax that the company set up to test staff.  A December 14 email was sent to employees of the Scottsdale, Arizona-based company after staff had already been notified that they would not be receiving bonuses for the holidays this year.  'Happy Holiday GoDaddy! 2020 has been a record year for GoDaddy, thanks to you,' the email, obtained by 12 News, read.  It was sent to roughly 500 employees.

The Editor says...
In the last few years before I retired, I got two or three of those emails.  Fortunately I deleted them without looking at them, but the unfortunate few who did read them got in a little bit of trouble.  All the company accomplished was to teach us not to trust anybody.

So many people left New York that the state may lose a seat in Congress.  The coronavirus pandemic appears to have been the icing on the case in terms of New York's declining population, and it could impact the state's political influence in future elections.  According to preliminary US Census Bureau data released on Tuesday, more than 126,000 people moved out of New York state between July 2019 and July 2020 — the biggest population drop of any state this year.

Elephant Walk:  It's showdown time in Alaska.  According to a report in the UK's Daily Mail, an impressive fleet of 30 fighter jets and two refueling aircraft lined the runway at Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska, in a display of air power and American military might.  A group from the 354th Fighter Wing and the 168th Wing Air National Guard were pictured on Friday in what is known as an "Elephant Walk."  The drill involves a procession of military aircraft taxiing close in formation right before a minimum interval takeoff — essentially a readiness exercise in testing how quickly fighter jets can take to the skies.

War Train.  This War Train was filmed in the CSX Yard back in March (Pensacola, Florida) [March, 2020]  [Video clip]

Bodycam shows ex-wife of Georgia Dem.  Senate candidate Raphael Warnock telling cops he hit her as he drove off with their kids.  The ex-wife of Georgia senatorial candidate Raphael Warnock accused him of running over her foot in his car during a domestic dispute in March, and told police he is 'a great actor' obsessed with his reputation.  Police bodycam footage of the incident, shown by Fox News' Tucker Carlson on Tuesday [12/22/2020], shows a tearful Ouleye Ndoye, 35, telling cops that her then-husband had injured her foot while trying to drive away with their children.  Ndoye, who works to combat human trafficking in the office of the mayor of Atlanta, Keisha Lance Bottoms, called police over the incident.

That video of Warnock's wife is really... something.  We've repeatedly discussed the fact that the oppo file on Reverend Raphael Warnock is about as thick as the Oxford English Dictionary, but even with that as a given, I'm pretty sure this wasn't the present he wanted to find under his Christmas tree right before the Georgia runoff elections.  Last night on Tucker Carlson's show on Fox News we were shown police body camera footage of Warnock from an incident that took place earlier this year.  Warnock's former wife accused the Reverend of running over her foot with his car during an argument in the driveway of their home.  Warnock cast doubt on the claim, but the wife seemed insistent.  She also went on to say that her husband is "a great actor" and he's able to fool the public easily.

Pelosi and Schumer Agree to Trump's Demand for $2,000 Stimulus Checks.  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) signaled that they are open to increasing the amount for the stimulus checks after President Donald Trump threatened to veto the COVID relief bill unless the direct payment was increased to $2,000 per individual.  "Republicans repeatedly refused to say what amount the President wanted for direct checks.  At last, the President has agreed to $2,000 — Democrats are ready to bring this to the Floor this week by unanimous consent.  Let's do it!" Pelosi wrote on Twitter on Tuesday [12/22/2020].

Hackers believed to have stolen Treasury Department's encryption keys.  Hackers who broke into the US government's computer systems appear to have stolen encryption keys, potentially giving them access to the email accounts of top officials, US Sen. Ron Wyden said Monday [12/21/2020].  Following a briefing on the SolarWinds hack — a suspected state-sponsored act of espionage, with fingers pointed at Russia — Wyden issued a statement saying that the hack of the US Treasury Department, in particular, "appears to be significant."  According to department staff, "the agency suffered a serious breach, beginning in July, the full depth of which isn't known," Wyden said.  "Microsoft notified the agency that dozens of email accounts were compromised."

IBM, 3M, PepsiCo Among Leading US Firms That House Chinese Communist Party Units:  Leaked Database.  Hundreds of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) members are embedded within the Chinese divisions of major U.S. corporations, from IBM to PepsiCo to 3M, a leaked CCP-member database revealed.  The existence of Party units within foreign companies in China is hardly surprising, given that the regime mandates any organization with at least three CCP members to form a Party branch.  But the 1.95 million CCP member list, which includes names, levels of education, ethnicity, and the Party branches they belong to, was to date the biggest revelation on the scale of the CCP's influence on international companies.  Most of the members in the database are from the country's southeastern coastal metropolis of Shanghai.  New York-headquartered tech firm IBM has at least two dozen Party units with 808 members in China.

Houston pastor on $200K Lamborghini gift: 'It wasn't a pastor that bought the car.  It was a husband'.  An associate pastor at Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church who caught heat for buying his wife a $200,000 Lamborghini Urus is now defending the move, saying, "it wasn't a pastor that bought the car, it was a husband that bought the car."  Pastor John Gray, who leads his own megachurch in Greenville, S.C., said in a 23-minute Facebook Live video that he bought the car using funds from other ventures — citing his book deals, a reality TV show on the Oprah Winfrey Network and being "wise with savings and investments" — and did it to mark the couple's eighth anniversary.

Former Host Says Fox News Is Tanking, Lost 40% Of Audience.  Former Fox News host Eric Bolling said people at Fox News are nervous.  Fox News ratings have dropped by 40%, and they don't know how to turn it around.

Congress Finally agrees on $900B COVID relief package that will send $600 to Americans — half of what they got in April.  Congress has agreed to a $900 billion coronavirus relief package, Senate leaders announced Sunday [12/20/2020].  The deal finally delivers long-overdue help to businesses and individuals and provides money to deliver vaccines to a nation eager for them.  It establishes a temporary $300 per week supplemental jobless benefits and $600 direct stimulus payments to most Americans — half of what they got in April — along with a new round of subsidies for hard-hit businesses and money for schools, health care providers and renters facing eviction.

Are We Witnessing the Beginning of the End for Fox News?  Newsmax is not yet rivaling Fox in terms of ratings, but it seems feasible that the outlet could close the gap in the next few years.  GOP lawmakers told The Hill that the rise in popularity for Newsmax and other right-leaning news organizations has enticed them to appear more frequently on these alternative networks.  Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD) stated that Trump's feud with Fox contributed to his decision to look at smaller outlets.  The Hill noted, "asked whether Trump's criticism of Fox News is a factor for the small segment of Republicans considering the alternative networks, Harris replied: 'It is for me.'"

Critics Boycott CBS Series 'The Stand' Because the Actor Playing the Deaf Character Can Hear.  Well, it had to happen eventually.  In our new woke paradigm, actress Scarlett Johansson can't portray a woman identifying as a man.  Nor can James Corden be a straight actor playing a gay character.  Thus, we take an obvious next step:  Deaf characters should only be played by deaf actors.  Such is the premise of a December 17th letter picking up steam on the web, which condemns the casting of actor Henry Zaga.

The Editor says...
But it's okay to portray Beethoven as a black man.

Resignations by US Attorneys Create Opportunity for Senate GOP to Maintain Influence Over Biden DOJ.  [Scroll down]  I was in my first year with DOJ in 1992 when George H.W. Bush lost to Bill Clinton, and I had a front-row seat to how that transition took place.  I can't express any opinions about other departments of agencies, but I can say that DOJ is heavily influenced in its functioning by the people who hold the position of US Attorney in the 93 US Attorneys' Offices around the country.  A very large percentage of the work done by DOJ takes place far outside Washington DC, and includes a significant amount of "discretionary" judgment at the local level about what cases to bring and what cases to decline.  The oversight from DC comes almost exclusively from the Office of the Deputy Attorney General and the Attorney General, not other sections of Main Justice.

Space Force Reveals What Their Personnel Will Officially Be Called.  The United States Space Force (USSF), which is the sixth branch of the United States Armed Forces, revealed on Friday that their personnel will officially be called "Guardians."  "Today, after a yearlong process that produced hundreds of submissions and research involving space professionals and members of the general public, we can finally share with you the name by which we will be known:  Guardians," the USSF said in a statement.  "The opportunity to name a force is a momentous responsibility.  Guardians is a name with a long history in space operations, tracing back to the original command motto of Air Force Space Command in 1983, 'Guardians of the High Frontier.'"

The Editor says...
Now that the Space Force is up and running, why are we still spending money on NASA?  On the other hand, if we really need a Space Force, why not just militarize NASA?  If both entities exist, something tells me the great majority of the Space Force's activity will be secret and/or redundant, and thus ten times as costly as it should be.

Pentagon halts Biden transition briefings.  Acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller ordered a Pentagon-wide halt to cooperation with the transition of President-elect Biden, shocking officials across the Defense Department, senior administration officials tell Axios.

It's 'pretty clear' Russia did it, Pompeo says of massive U.S. government hack attack.  Russia is behind the ongoing hack of a spectrum of government agencies and corporations, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Friday night [12/18/2020].  "This was a very significant effort, and I think it's the case that now we can say pretty clearly that it was the Russians that engaged in this activity," Pompeo said during an interview on the Mark Levin Show.  Pompeo is now the first Trump administration official to pin the hack on Russia.  "We're still unpacking precisely what it is, and I'm sure some of it will remain classified," Pompeo, who formerly headed the CIA, told Levin, according to a transcript of the interview released by the State Department.

New York village votes to dissolve its own government.  A 142-year old Rockland County village has voted its independence out of existence.  Residents of South Nyack, a small community in Orangetown along the Hudson River, voted Thursday [12/17/2020] in a referendum to dissolve its government, the Journal News reported.  "We acknowledge that the residents have chosen to dissolve the village and we will now work to establish a plan that will allow for a smooth transition into the Town of Orangetown," said South Nyack Mayor Bonnie Christian.  The 508 to 292 vote means South Nyack's nearly 2,000 residents will rely on Orangetown to provide municipal services such as police and street maintenance.

Woke Art Centre Celebrates Beethoven Birthday with Portrait of Composer as a Black Man.  The Centre of Fine Arts in Brussels announced the celebration of the 250th birthday of German composer Ludwig van Beethoven by posting a portrait of the composer as a black African man.  The centre, also known as BOZAR, published a post on Wednesday [12/16/2020] of a still from a video entitled "Black Beethoven" by American artist Terry Adkins, which features a portrait of the late 18th and early 19th-century composer depicted a young black man with dreadlocks.

The Editor says...
Beethoven wasn't black.  What would be the purpose of depicting him as a black man?  That's borderline insanity.

Two SolarWinds investors sold $280 million in stock six days before it was hacked in 'Russian cyber-attack' along with six federal agencies.  Two investment firms that together own 70 percent of SolarWinds sold off $280 million in stock just six days before it was revealed the technology company had been the subject of a huge hack hitting federal agencies.  On December 7, Silver Lake — a Silicon Valley investor — sold $158 million in shares, while Thoma Bravo — a San Francisco-based private equity firm — sold $128 million in shares on the same day.  Three executives from each firm sit on the board of SolarWinds and they have been the largest investors in the company since it went public in 2018.

Cuomo signs bill banning sale of Confederate flags.  Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a bill into law aimed at banning the sale of "hate symbols" such as the Confederate flag or the swastika on state property — even while admitting the new edict might clash with the First Amendment and be struck down as unconstitutional.  The new law — effective immediately — prohibits the sale of hate symbols on public grounds including state and local fairs, and also severely limits their display unless deemed relevant to serving an educational or historical purpose.  But Cuomo said the rule likely needs "certain technical changes" so the Empire State doesn't get caught treading upon free speech protections codified in the Constitution's First Amendment.

Intel community assessment delayed amid dispute over whether China sought to influence 2020 election.  The 2020 Intelligence Community Assessment focused on foreign election influence will be delayed, Fox News has learned, amid a dispute among senior intelligence analysts over whether China sought to influence the election.  "This afternoon the DNI was notified by career intelligence officials that the Intelligence Community will not meet the December 18 deadline, set by Executive Order and Congress, to submit the IC's classified assessment on foreign threats to the 2020 U.S. elections," Amanda Schoch, Assistant DNI for Strategic Communications said in a statement to Fox News.

Redistricting gives GOP a built-in edge to win House majority in 2022.  The Republican Party is poised to win the House majority in 2022, boosted by the rare combination of President Trump's ouster and down-ballot victories that put the GOP in command of the decennial redrawing of district boundaries.  House Republicans flipped nearly a dozen Democratic-held seats in the Nov. 3 elections, a surprising gain that left them a handful shy of the majority.  With such a thin margin, there is loose speculation redistricting could effectively deliver Republicans the speaker's gavel before a single Democratic incumbent is defeated.  The GOP preserved control of key state legislatures and governor's mansions, a crucial advantage in the partisan battle over reapportionment.

DNI John Ratcliffe Confirmed There Was Foreign Interference in November Elections:  Report.  Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe confirmed that there was foreign interference in the 2020 election, according to CBS correspondent Catherine Herridge.  "Well DNI Ratcliffe leads the 17 intelligence agencies and he has access to the most highly classified information that is held by the US government.  And he told CBS News that there was foreign interference by China, Iran, and Russia in November of this year and he is anticipating a public report on those findings in January," Herridge said on Dec. 3.

Government Leaders Clash Over Next Step for Trump's Ban on Chinese Stocks.  President Trump's recent executive order prohibiting Americans from investing in companies tied to China's military complex has set up a fight in the highest ranks of government over how broad the list should be.  Since November, the White House barred U.S. investors from buying into 35 Chinese companies the Pentagon has classified as aiding China's defense, intelligence and security apparatus.  It sparked selloffs of Chinese stocks and bonds, forced index firms to drop companies from marquee benchmarks, and pushed Wall Street to reassess risks from investing in China.  Now, the U.S. government is at odds over whether the blacklist should include subsidiaries of the companies.  Another battlefront is over whether affiliates should be included.  The question affects how much teeth the ban will have.

Why The Epoch Times Won't Call the Presidential Race Until All Challenges Are Resolved.  Our nation is moving into uncharted territory as multiple legal challenges have been filed in response to the 2020 elections, with more challenges expected to come.  Both candidates have claimed victory in certain states, but it appears increasingly likely that this election will be resolved in the courts.  For that reason, The Epoch Times will not declare a winner of the 2020 presidential election until all legal challenges are resolved.

Venezuela wields a powerful "hate" law to silence Maduro's remaining foes.  Francisco Belisario, a Venezuelan mayor, retired general and member of the ruling Socialist party, had enough.  His loudest local critic had accused him of bungling the response to the coronavirus outbreak and other big problems.  In August, he wrote a state prosecutor and requested an "exhaustive investigation" of his nemesis, Giovanni Urbaneja, a former lawmaker who had become a gadfly to the mayor and other Socialist officeholders.  Urbaneja, Belisario wrote in a letter reviewed by Reuters, was conducting a "ferocious smear campaign" on Facebook and elsewhere.

Barr resigns:  Everyone (except Biden) wins.  William Barr resigned as Attorney General yesterday [12/14/2020], clearing the way for appointment of a special counsel to investigate the crimes of Hunter Biden and any other matters that may arise from that investigation. [...] The fact that his resignation letter and President Trump's tweets were cordial tells me that an arrangement between the two men was reached.  My strong suspicion is that Trump asked Barr to appoint a special counsel to take over and potentially expand the investigation of Hunter Biden already underway by the US Attorney for Delaware and that Barr declined, but offered to resign to allow a successor (for now, Deputy Attorney General Jeffery Rosen) to appoint a special counsel. [...] If Biden is inaugurated, he could easily demand the resignations of all sitting US Attorneys, as has been done before by new presidents.  That would relatively quietly kill the investigation of the Biden family's corrupt arrangements with foreign entities and governments, since the media would raise no questions and the social media oligopolists would suppress discussion.  But firing a special counsel, while not impossible, is more difficult.

White House confirms cyberattack report on U.S. Treasury by foreign government.  The U.S. government has acknowledged reports that hackers backed by a foreign government have breached the U.S. Treasury Department and an agency within the Commerce Department.  "The United States government is aware of these reports and we are taking all necessary steps to identify and remedy any possible issues related to this situation," National Security Council spokesman John Ullyot told FOX Business in a statement.  According to Reuters, the elaborate cyber hack was launched on the Treasury Department as well as the Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration, or NTIA, a U.S. agency that is tasked with crafting internet and telecommunications policy.  Sources told the outlet that the hack was so serious it led to a National Security Council meeting on Saturday [12/12/2020].

Suspected Russian hackers broke into US federal agencies and spied on emails in a 'highly sophisticated' cyberattack.  Suspected Russian hackers have infiltrated several key parts of the US government, including the Treasury and Commerce departments, in a "highly sophisticated" and large-scale cyberattack that took place over several months.  The security breaches were so alarming that they prompted the National Security Council to meet Saturday, Reuters reported, and came less than a week after the National Security Agency warned that "Russian state-sponsored actors" were exploiting weak spots in a computer system used by US federal agencies.

Wisconsin Supreme Court Dismisses Trump Lawsuit.  In a 4-3 decision [12/14/2020], the Wisconsin Supreme Court dismissed President Trump's lawsuit seeking to invalidate roughly 220,00 votes in Dane and Milwaukee counties.  The court stated that it would not made a blanket invalidation of ballots cast under the status of indefinitely confined, as President Trump had sought.  Regarding other challenged ballots, the court said President Trump waited too long in bringing his challenge.

Wisconsin Supreme Court says election officials were wrong; ballots may not be counted.  The Wisconsin Supreme Court has ruled in favor of Mark Jefferson and the Republican Party of Wisconsin.  The opinion, which was released this morning [12/14/2020], says local election officials were wrong to suggest that voters could claim the status of "indefinitely confined" based on COVID-19.  The majority decision also held that if voters falsely claimed they were indefinitely confined "their ballots would not count."

Houston, We Have A Road Rage Shooting Problem, Governor Abbott Deploys DPS.  Governor Abbott announced Wednesday that he is deploying resources from the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) to Houston.  This move is to support the Houston Police Department as it deals with a sharp rise in road rage shootings and other violent crimes.  The announcement from the governor's office followed a news conference held the previous day by Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo.  Acevedo spoke about the new task force put in place to help combat road rage incidents on Houston's streets and roadways.  The situation has gotten out of control.

Osama bin Laden's spin doctor is back on UK streets after being freed early from US jail.  Osama bin Laden's spin doctor is walking the streets of Britain again today after being released from a US prison because he is too fat to be locked up safely amid the pandemic.  Adel Abdel Bary, 60, was jailed over the devastating 1998 attacks on US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that killed 224 people.  But the terror propagandist won early 'mercy' release because his morbid obesity and asthma puts him at risk of Covid.

'The Big One' Gets Bigger: 15 Michigan Legislators Join Texas Election Lawsuit.  On Thursday [12/10/2020], 15 Republican legislators in Michigan filed a motion in support of Attorney General Ken Paxton's (R-Texas) lawsuit challening the 2020 presidential election results in four key swing states, including Michigan.  The legislators joined the Amistad Project of the Thomas More Society in supporting the Texas lawsuit, which asks the Supreme Court to remand the election results to swing-state legislatures for review and potential reversal.

Chuck Schumer 'forced to have serious and painful talks' with Dianne Feinstein over apparent cognitive decline.  Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer has reportedly been forced to have several "serious and painful talks" with 87-year-old colleague Diane Feinstein, over alleged mental decline.  Ms Feinstein, who has represented California since 1992 and who previously served as mayor of San Francisco, was seen to repeat a question to Twitter boss Jack Dorsey during a November 17 hearing on Capitol Hill, something he chose to ignore, but which social media did not.  She had also angered some progressives during the recent confirmation hearting for justice Amy Coney Barrett, for the way she seen to be too deferential and excessively friendly with Republicans, who were pushing through Donald Trump's nominee in controversial circumstances.  She said afterwards she would be giving up her position as ranking member on the judiciary committee.

Senate Judiciary Committee advances Amy Coney Barrett replacement on 7th Circuit to floor over Dem opposition.  The Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday advanced the nomination of Thomas L. Kirsch II for a seat on the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals to the floor in a party-line vote, moving the Senate one step closer to filling the vacancy created by the confirmation of Justice Amy Coney Barrett.  President Trump had named Kirsch as his replacement for Barrett before she was even confirmed and the Judiciary Committee took a little over a month after her confirmation to report Kirsch favorably to the Senate floor.  With the Senate still in session and multiple bills still to be passed this year, the timing of when the Senate might confirm Kirsch is unclear, but it is likely to happen before the Senate leaves town for the holidays.

Vaccine Whistleblower Found Dead After Saying She'd Never Commit Suicide.  Brandy Vaughan was a whistleblower of Big Pharma and vaccines has been found dead roughly a year after she released a public statement saying she'd never commit suicide.  Her body was discovered by her nine-year-old son earlier this week, according to reports.  The cause of death is currently unknown.

Pandemic Villains:  Robinhood.  As the world went into lockdown and the global economy into a spiral last spring, one company struck gold.  A phone-based trading app called Robinhood began wiping the floor with more celebrated online brokerage rivals like Charles Schwab, TD Ameritrade, and E-Trade.  The moment the pandemic began, it seemed, the world started trading stocks on Robinhood.  The numbers were staggering.  Robinhood's average daily trading volume tripled in the first quarter of this year, compared with the last quarter of 2019, and saw a tenfold increase in net deposits as millions were losing their jobs.

48 States and US Government Sue Facebook for Illegal Monopoly Practices.  Facebook is facing a lawsuit filed by 48 states for monopoly practices and the FTC is joining with supportive legal action.  NY Attorney General Latitia James held a news conference to announce the antitrust lawsuit using Instagram & WhatsApp as examples.  [Video clip]

Folks, This Is NOT Good!  Folks, feel free to dismiss this, or to count it as 'coincidence,' but I don't believe in 'coincidence' — especially not 'coincidences' like this one.  The other day, GA Gov. Kemp called for a signature verification of the mail-in ballots in his State.  The next day, this happened and that call was dropped: [...]

Message For Governor Kemp From The Deep State.  An apparent car crash in Georgia — kills Harrison Deal.  He was a staffer for Georgia Senator Kelly Loeffler.  Harrison Deal was also dating Gov Kemp's daughter.  ["]#HarrisonDeal car exploded (witnesses heard the explosion over a mile away).  Vehicle left as molten metal, engine block ejected 50-60 yards away.  That's not an accident.  That's a car bomb disguised as an accident.["]

Loeffler campaign staff member, Kemp family friend dies in car crash.  Harrison Deal died Friday [12/4/2020] at age of 20.  The UGA junior died in a fiery car accident on Interstate-16, Pooler Police confirmed to Channel 2's ABC affiliate WJCL in Savannah.  Deal served as Loeffler's Athens Regional Field Director.  He is also a family friend of the Kemp family.  Gov. Brian Kemp tweeted a statement and photo of his family with Deal.  "Today, we lost a member of our "Kemp Strong" family and words cannot express how much Harrison Deal's life, love and support meant to us.  He was a person of deep faith, unmatched integrity, and incredible kindness.  Harrison was the Kemp son and brother we never had," Kemp said in a statement.

Explosive Video of Car Crash Killing Boyfriend of Kemp's Daughter Sparks Conspiracy Theories.  Just one day after Brian Kemp account a signature audit in Georgia, his daughter's boyfriend, and a staffer to Senate runoff candidate Kelly Loeffler was killed in a fiery car crash. [...] Harrison Deal was a young aspiring Georgia political figure.  In his very young life, he'd already worked for two Senators, Perdue and Loeffler, and he had sights set on becoming a political figure in his own right.  He was dating the daughter of controversial GA Governor Brian Kemp, who was under a lot of pressure to recount the 2020 election in his state and audit the signatures.  After refusing to do it, Kemp finally relented and called for the signature audit.  But then, suddenly he went dark, and we didn't hear anything from him — later we found out that was because his daughter's boyfriend was tragically killed in a car accident.

Murder Video!  Gov. Brian Kemp's Daughter's Boyfriend Wacked in Gangland Car Explosion!  Governor Brian Kemp is Involved in Election Fraud.  Now His daughter's boyfriend, Harrison Deal, has been Assassinated in a Fiery Gangland Hit on a Parkway near Savannah.  Deal was working on the Kelly Loeffler U.S. Senate campaign, and close to the Election Dumpster Fire at the Governor's Office.  Twitter is going Wild, and the comparisons to Seth Rich's Murder are right on Point.

Congressional Inaugural Committee Adjourns After It Fails To Agree Joe Biden Is President-Elect.  [Scroll down]  To date, only a relatively small number, about 27, Vichy Conservatives have lined up to welcome their new master.  That any have done so just shows the absolute cravenness of a small but, I predict, a growing number of Republicans who will find life without invitations to the right parties to be just too much to bear.  It would have cost them nothing to say nothing until the Electoral College votes and it would have shown solidarity with that 70+% of Republicans and 50% of all Americans who believe Joe Biden is the beneficiary of a fraudulent election. [...] Eventually, there will be a president-elect, but it will be one decided by the Electoral College, not one appointed by the news media and demanded by geriatric Democrats.

Win Over FOX News Host Martha MacCallum for the First Time Ever.  This was a first.  Newsmax nighttime host Greg Kelly scored a ratings win over FOX News host Martha MacCallum for the first time on Monday night [12/7/2020].  FOX News continues to crash and burn after they turned a blind eye to the massive voter fraud in the 2020 election.

FireEye, a Top Cybersecurity Firm, Says It Was Hacked by a Nation-State.  For years, the cybersecurity firm FireEye has been the first call for government agencies and companies around the world who have been hacked by the most sophisticated attackers, or fear they might be.  Now it looks like the hackers — in this case, evidence points to Russia's intelligence agencies — may be exacting their revenge.  FireEye revealed on Tuesday that its own systems were pierced by what it called "a nation with top-tier offensive capabilities." The company said hackers used "novel techniques" to make off with its own tool kit, which could be useful in mounting new attacks around the world.  It was a stunning theft, akin to bank robbers who, having cleaned out local vaults, then turned around and stole the F.B.I.'s investigative tools.  In fact, FireEye said on Tuesday [12/8/2020], moments after the stock market closed, that it had called in the F.B.I.

Communist China Cynically Weaponizes Race To Help Democrats Smear Republican Senator.  Communist China appears to be targeting Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn for calling out China's moral bankruptcy, including enslaving Uyghur Muslims in the northwest province of Xinjiang. [...] Chinese propaganda mouthpiece Chen Weihua responded by tweeting sexist profanities at the GOP woman and labeling her the "most racist" senator. [...] Shortly after she was publicly insulted by Weihua, Blackburn released a statement condemning communist China's actions.  "From Tiananmen Square to the Uyghur genocide, Communist China is an expert at slaughtering populations," Blackburn said in a statement.  "America will not bow down to sexist communist thugs."

China honeytrap spy targeted Eric Swalwell as her useful fool.  Rep. Eric Swalwell is famous for yelling about Russian influence with outrageous claims against President Trump, even calling for a 'presidential crimes commission,' but based on a year-long investigation from Axios, he's the one who has some spy problems, and they ought to be embarrassing at least.  He was China's idea of the perfect fool.  According to a year-long investigation from Axios:  ["]A suspected Chinese intelligence operative developed extensive ties with local and national politicians, including a U.S. congressman, in what U.S. officials believe was a political intelligence operation run by China's main civilian spy agency between 2011 and 2015, Axios found in a yearlong investigation.["]  ...and...  ["]The woman at the center of the operation, a Chinese national named Fang Fang or Christine Fang, targeted up-and-coming local politicians in the Bay Area and across the country who had the potential to make it big on the national stage.["]

Trump tweets video of Chinese professor claiming that Beijing can swing US policy because it has 'people at the top of America's core inner circle of power'.  President Donald Trump has tweeted video of a Chinese professor suggesting that China has managed to influence U.S. policy for decades thanks to a special network of relationships with people at the upper echelons of American power.  The video, which had originally been posted on Weibo but has since been removed from Chinese social media according to Fox News, depicts Di Dongsheng, a professor and associate dean of the School of International Studies at Renmin University in Beijing.  Tucker Carlson shared a clip at the top of his show on Monday evening [12/7/2020].  In the video Professor Di suggests that China has managed to influence American policies for decades through a special undercover network of 'old friends' who were at the highest levels of the U.S. government and financial institutions.

DNI Ratcliffe:  China Trying to Breed Stronger Soldiers 'Through Gene Editing'.  China is a threat to the United States, "economically, militarily, technologically," Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe wrote last week in a Wall Street Journal op-ed.  On Sunday [12/6/2020], Ratcliffe told Fox News's Maria Bartiromo that the op-ed was more of an "intelligence briefing to the American people."

Ivanka and Jared buying $30M Miami waterfront lot from Julio Iglesias.  Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner have set their post-White House sights on Miami.  The couple is spending $30 million to purchase a waterfront lot on Indian Creek Island in a deal that's set to close Dec. 17, according to the New York Post.  Famed singer Julio Iglesias sold the 1.8-acre property, which the Post reported is Lot 4.  Iglesias listed the land earlier this year for $31.8 million.  It has about 200 feet of water frontage.

Ivanka Trump and Jared Kusher 'buy $30m plot on high-security island known as Miami's 'Billionaire Bunker'.  Ivanka Trump Trump and Jared Kusher are buying a $30 million plot on a high-security island dubbed "Billionaire Bunker" in Miami, reports say.  The Kushners, both 39, are supposedly taking steps to start their post-White House life in a highly exclusive Florida neighborhood when Joe Biden takes over from Donald Trump next year.

The Editor says...
Google Street View has taken pictures of residential areas all over the world.  Many of them are dangerous slums.  Someone — other than me, of course — should compile a list of all the places in the U.S. that Google Street View has never been.  Such a list would include
  •   Chappaquiddick Island, Massachusetts
  •   Hart Island, New York
  •   Riker's Island, New York
  •   Most of Centralia, Pennsylvania
  •   Indian Creek Island, (Miami) Florida

The 'Biggest Ever' Flotilla Of Iranian Tankers Is En Route To Venezuela With Fuel.  It appears both Iran and Venezuela are ready and willing to test the outgoing Trump administration in a major gambit to skirt sanctions in a crude and fuel export scheme.  The daily American military newspaper Stars & Stripes alongside Bloomberg reports this weekend that Iran "is sending its biggest fleet yet of tankers to Venezuela in defiance of U.S. sanctions to help the isolated nation weather a crippling fuel shortage," based on sources familiar with their movements.  "Some of the flotilla of about 10 Iranian vessels will also help export Venezuelan crude after discharging fuel, the people said, asking not to be named because the transaction is not public," the report continues.

Trump Makes Georgia Rally Press WiFi Password 'RiggedElection!'  President Donald Trump is scheduled to speak in Georgia today in a stump appearance for Republican Senate candidates Kelly Loeffler and David Purdue, and has named the media's WiFi router "Make America Great Again", and the password to gain access, "RiggedElection!"  In what must be a frustrating and traumatic experience for mainstream media reporters and cameramen, Breitbart News videographer Matthew Perdie reveals that the Trump campaign is forcing them to access an America First Internet router using "RiggedElection!" as the password if they want to work during his event.

Al-Qaeda Calls on Jihadis to Kill Non-Muslims With Poisoned Coronavirus Masks.  If you're tired of wearing a visible sign of massive government overreach and ginned-up hysteria everywhere you go, do not despair.  Help could be on its way, courtesy of the most unlikely source:  al-Qaeda.  According to the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), the jihad group is refusing to accept the State Department's complacent assertion that it is on the ropes, and has just published a new magazine with the catchy title Wolves of Manhattan, in which it calls on the warriors of jihad who find themselves in the U.S. to murder people by means of poisoned coronavirus masks.  So now it's wear a mask or the coronavirus will get you (unless you're at a Black Lives Matter protest, of course; the virus knows better than to infect the righteous), or don't wear a mask so that al-Qaeda doesn't get you.

DOJ says Facebook gave preference to foreigners over American workers.  The Justice Department said Thursday [12/3/2020] that Facebook "intentionally" discriminated against U.S. workers and hired foreign guest workers instead — and actively tried to deter Americans from even applying.  For most of its jobs the California tech giant abides by the law, but in cases when a foreign worker is already employed on a temporary visa and seeks a permanent job, Facebook locks out any other candidates, the government said in a new complaint filed in immigration court.

Puerto Rico:  Iconic Arecibo Observatory telescope collapses.  The US National Science Foundation (NSF) said the telescope's 900-ton instrument platform fell onto a reflector dish some 450ft (137m) below.  It came just weeks after officials announced that the telescope would be dismantled amid safety fears, following damage to its support system.  The Arecibo Observatory telescope was one of the largest in the world.

Technical details about the Arecibo collapse.  The 900-ton instrument platform of the 305-meter radio telescope at Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico fell some 400 feet Tuesday morning, crashing into the huge, already-damaged dish below, the National Science Foundation (NSF) reported in a December 1 Tweet.  "No injuries were reported," NSF said, adding that it is still assessing the situation.  "Our top priority is maintaining safety." The calamity not only was a final and fatal blow for the observatory but for the people of Puerto Rico.

Footage of Collapse Arecibo Observatory.  [Video clip]

Entire police department resigns in South Carolina town.  The entire police force of a small South Carolina town resigned "due to the constant impediment of police matters" by the town's mayor.  Pine Ridge, a 2,000-person town outside Columbia, typically has a police department of three full-time officers and a number of part-time officials.  According to the State, that hasn't been the case since Oct. 13, when interim Police Chief Lt. Vincent Silano resigned after only five months.  Silano is the fourth chief in the past three years.  Five other officers have left since in the same period of time.  In a letter sent to Mayor Robert Wells and the town council, Silano said his departure was "solely due to the constant impediment of police matters and micro-managing at the hands of Mayor Robert Wells."

Socialist Takeover:  Militant Left-Wing Groups Descend On Georgia to Seize Control of the Senate.  Left-wing groups who seek to fundamentally transform America into a socialist country are descending upon Georgia in order to win two Senate seats (currently held by Republican Senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler) in run-off races to be held on January 5, 2021.  The left is throwing their weight behind their far-left challengers Jon Ossoff and Rev. Raphael Warnock.  If they are successful, the radical big government policies they propose such as open borders, abolishing police, a welfare state, unrestricted abortion, class war, burdensome regulations, restrictions on speech, fake news monopoly, coronavirus tyranny, Supreme Court Packing, so-called sanctuary cities, the destruction of the filibuster, massive taxes and the Green New Deal will be pushed through the Senate and rubber-stamped by the incoherent Joe Biden, should he win the 2020 election.

Woke Police Reform Doesn't Work.  This summer, street anarchists and militias doubled down on their exploitation of fatal police-involved shootings as straw arguments to legitimize widespread rioting.  A 2019 landmark, five-year study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by five university scholars reported that fatal shootings involving black and white officers disproportionately occur in minority neighborhoods with greater rates of violent crime and show no evidence of anti-black or Latino disparities.  The study shook the sensibilities of the professoriate and raised the hackles of the anti-police movement.  The research drew an immediate rebuke and ejection from the journal, attended by an author apology over the temporary loss of their senses.  It unveiled an effort by progressive academia to treat with utter contempt any research supporting the claim that fatal police shootings are remote events, blind to race, ethnicity, and gender, and negligible in situations where the police are found at fault.

Nike, Coca-Cola, others reportedly lobbying against Uighur Chinese labor bill.  Nike and Coca-Cola are among a number of companies seeking to water down a bill that would ban imports from a region of China where products are made through forced labor by minority Muslim groups being held in detention camps, according to a report.  The bill, called the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, would forbid the import of a variety of materials from the Xinjiang region of China, in an effort to crack down on human rights abuses, the New York Times reported on Sunday [11/29/2020].  It passed the House in September by a 406-3 vote and has enough support to pass the Senate.  Xinjian produces materials like cotton, sugar, coal and tomatoes and also supplies workers for Chinese clothing factories.

France Looks Like A Dystopian Warzone Movie As Thousands Take on Hundreds Of Cops.  Demonstrations took place across France on Saturday against the proposed global security law and its signature measure to restrict the filming of police officers.  They came as calls to withdraw it were exacerbated by cases of police violence this week.  The police prefecture initially restricted the main protest to République Square, but the decision was overturned by an administrative court and a collective was allowed to march from République to Bastille as the organizers had requested.  The route is typical for protests in Paris.  The collective, called "Stop Loi Sécurité Globale" or Stop Global Security Law, is composed of journalists' unions, human rights NGOs and other groups.  They are advocating for the withdrawal of articles 21 and 22 of the proposed law, "which organize mass surveillance," and article 24, which would penalize the "malicious" dissemination of the image of police officers.  [Video clip]

London Streets Turn Chaotic As The Masses Showed Up To Protest Lockdowns, 155 Arrested.  More than 150 people have been arrested as anti-lockdown protesters clashed with police in central London.  Thousands of demonstrators marched through the city near Oxford Street chanting "freedom" on Saturday, with some carrying placards reading "stop controlling us" and "no more lockdowns".  The Metropolitan Police said the arrests were for a number of suspected offenses including breaching coronavirus regulations and that it expected the number to rise.  [Video clip]

President Trump Tells Supporters to Ignore the Grifters and Turn out to Vote in Georgia.  On January 5[,] Georgians return to the polls for two elections.  Incumbent senator David Perdue is in a runoff contest with Socialist Jon Ossoff.  Perdue led Ossoff in the general election but failed to break the 50% threshold to win outright.  The other election is a special election to fill the remainder of the term of Johnny Isakson, who resigned on December 31, 2019, for health reasons.  Kelly Loeffler was appointed to fill the vacancy.  She will face off against Democrat Raphael Warnock, who is running on an anti-police, anti-military, racial-identity-trumps-all platform.

8 U.S. House Races Still Have Not Been Called.  Republicans Lead All 8 Races.  The results from eight U.S. House races have still not been finalized in the 2020 elections nearly four weeks after election day.  The Republican candidates in all eight races currently are leading their Democrat opponents.

Images Show Zombified Americans More Concerned With Toilet Paper Than Food.  Back in March ANP published a piece titled "Due To An 'Outbreak Of Stupidity' People Will Die Of Starvation Surrounded By Toilet Paper," because when the initial quarantine lockdowns began, clueless Americans were more worried about paper products [...] than they were about eating.  The food shortages and limits on purchases came well after the toilet paper runs on any store that carried the product.  We are now looking at another round of quarantine lockdowns, and readers are once again sending ANP exclusive images, the majority of which are... Yup... toilet paper aisles and other paper goods shelves quickly emptying, while a much smaller percentage of reports and images are showing food aisles, and those are from canned good shelves.

Matt Drudge Logs Off.  The Drudge Report once cycled through 40-50 links in a single five-hour period.  The page is now updated only once or twice a day and almost never reacts to breaking news, as if it's being run by someone who simply doesn't care anymore.  Traffic has reportedly lagged, with Comscore data suggesting a 45% plunge in the year before this past September.  In the glory days even a midpage Drudge link could pull a million views; the number is now down to the high tens of thousands.

Diverse Group of Incoming House Republicans Form 'Freedom Force' to Counter AOC's Socialist 'Squad'.  Not only did Republicans make big gains in the U.S. House on Election Day, but among those elected are men and women whose families fled communist and socialist countries and came to America to build better lives.  Nicole Malliotakis (NY-11) is the daughter of Greek and Cuban immigrants.  Maria Elvira Salazar's (FL-27) parents were Cuban exiles.  Carlos Gimenez (FL-26) was born in Cuba and his family emigrated to America in 1960 after the Cuban Revolution.  Gimenez's father Carlos Gimenez, Sr., who was 98, passed away just days after his son was elected.  Victoria Spartz (IN-5) was born in what was at the time known as the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.  She emigrated to the U.S. in 2000.

Pentagon Fails Another Audit, Will Likely Get Budget Increase From Congress Anyway.  The third time wasn't the charm for the Pentagon, which has once again failed to successfully complete an audit.  Thomas Harker, the Pentagon's comptroller, told Reuters that it could be another seven years before the department can pass an audit — something that it has never accomplished.  Previous attempts in 2018 and 2019 turned up literally thousands of problems with the Pentagon's accounting system and millions of dollars' worth of missing equipment.  In a statement, the Pentagon lauded the fact that auditors had "cleared" more than 500 issues identified in previous audits.  That serves as compelling evidence that the effort is worth it, even if a clean review is still impossible.  The Pentagon had resisted being audited for years.  Though Congress passed a law in 1990 requiring all federal departments to be audited every year, it still took nearly two decades for the first Pentagon audit to be attempted.

Fox News Feels the Heat as Morning Joe Beats Fox and Friends for the First Time in 20 Years.  I'm sure Fox News' new public relations firm will say this is no big deal and point us to Tucker Carlson's ratings, but this seems like a pretty big deal to me.  For the first time since 2001, MSNBC's Morning Joe has beaten Fox and Friends in the ratings game.  This is also not a single cherry-picked day, but an average of the entire week.

New stats reveal massive NYC exodus amid coronavirus, crime.  More than 300,000 New Yorkers have bailed from the Big Apple in the last eight months, new stats show.  City residents filed 295,103 change of address requests from March 1 through Oct. 31, according to data The [New York] Post obtained from the US Postal Service under a Freedom of Information Act request.  Since the data details only when 11 or more forwarding requests were made to a particular county outside NYC, the number of moves is actually higher.  And a single address change could represent an entire household, which means far more than 300,000 New Yorkers fled the five boroughs.

Jon Ossoff's Financial Ties to Pro-CCP Hong Kong Media Company Revealed.  Jon Ossoff, currently a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Georgia, reportedly took money from a Hong Kong media company whose owner has condemned the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong.  Ossoff challenged Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.) in the November election and his race went to a runoff scheduled for January 5, 2021.  The Democrat had failed to previously disclose the gift from the Hong Kong media company, which supports the Chinese Communist Party.  Ossoff recently amended a financial disclosure form reporting that he has received at least $5,000 from PCCW Media Limited over the last two years.  His initial disclosure, filed in May, omitted the payments.

Trump Wins Battleground State of North Carolina.  President Trump has won the battleground state of North Carolina with its 15 electoral votes.  The Associated Press called the state for Trump Friday afternoon, 10 days after Election Day.

Republicans Pick Up Tenth House Seat With New York Victory.  House Republicans added one more to their ranks this week after New York Democratic Rep. Max Rose conceded defeat Thursday in the Staten Island-area district.  "I received a gracious phone call from Rep. Max Rose today conceding the election," wrote State Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis on Twitter.  "I want to thank him for his service to our nation in both the military and in Congress.  We agreed to work together on a seamless transition to best serve our constituents."

After the Election, the Left Demands Purges.  Joe Biden is calling for unity following the 2020 presidential election, but it's clear that many of the former vice president's supporters view postelection unity as something to create by force and intimidation.  That sort of unity is enforced by ruthless institutional pressure and cancel culture.  It's a tactic that the left already uses through its power in America's elite institutions, but is looking to redouble if it indeed captures the presidency and the executive branch.  Numerous liberals and left-wingers have demanded punishment of anyone who has worked for, allied with, or generally supported President Donald Trump.  Some want to destroy the Republican Party.

Fox News Terminates Trey Gowdy After Joining Trump's Legal Team.  Fox News has reportedly terminated former Republican Congressman Trey Gowdy after he has allegedly joined the Trump campaign's legal team.  On Tuesday [11/10/2020], Fox News contributor Trey Gowdy said it's "inexcusable" to not count all legal votes within 48 hours of the presidential election.

MSNBC splits with two more contributors going to work for Biden.  MSNBC has split with two more on-air contributors who will work with Joe Biden's White House transition team, a report said Tuesday [11/10/2020].  Barbara McQuade, a legal analyst for the cable network, and political analyst Richard Stengel will no longer be paid contributors at the station after they were announced as part of Biden's forthcoming administration, the Daily Beast reported.  Stengel will serve on the review team for the US Agency for Global Media and McQuade will be a member of the Department of Justice Review team, according to the report.  The network does not allow their contributors to endorse candidates or run for office while being paid by the outlet, the Beast reported.

Conservative Network Newsmax Surges In Ratings — Already Beating The FOX Business Network.  FOX News may have made a colossal mistake.  They had one of the most loyal audiences in cable television.  But after their reportage of the 2020 election, and particularly election night, the landscape is changing fast.  Anger from their audience is already driving down FOX's ratings.  Now, another right leaning network called Newsmax is getting a major boost from former FOX News fans.  In fact, Newsmax is already eclipsing the FOX Business Network in ratings.

New York City to try new, NYPD-free approach to mental health crises: de Blasio.  Teams of mental health professionals and EMS staff will respond to 911 mental health calls instead of police officers under a new trial program, Mayor de Blasio announced Tuesday [11/10/2020].  Without providing key details such as when the program will start and where it will take place, Hizzoner and First Lady Chirlane McCray promised "a major innovation" in how the city handles mental health and policing.  "Helping people in a time of crisis with a new approach ... this is a big change in how things are done," de Blasio said at a press conference.

Trump Wins North Carolina, Decision Desk HQ Projects.  Decision Desk HQ called North Carolina for President Trump on Tuesday afternoon, awarding the state's 15 electoral votes to the president on the outlet's election map.  Decision Desk HQ is the first major outlet to award the state to Trump over Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden.  The call comes a week after election day on Nov. 3 and is one of the final states to be called by any major election decision desk.  Trump has led in the state almost the entire time as outstanding ballots continue to be counted in North Carolina.

Pompeo predicts 'smooth transition' — to second Trump administration.  Secretary of State Mike Pompeo predicted Tuesday [11/10/2020] that President Trump would emerge victorious in this year's election.  During a briefing at the State Department's headquarters, Pompeo was asked by a reporter whether officials there were "preparing to engage" with Joe Biden's transition team.  "There will be a smooth transition to a second Trump administration," Pompeo said with a smile.

Trump Pulls Within 1 Percent of Biden in Arizona.  President Donald Trump is within 1 percent of Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden in Arizona, according to the latest unofficial results.  An automatic recount will take place if the final margin is one-tenth of 1 percent, according to state law.  Trump has received 1.63 million votes to Biden's 1.64 million, as of late Monday [11/9/2020].  That's a margin of 0.45 percent.  Biden's lead has slowly decreased as new bundles of ballots are added to the count.  Fox News called the race in Biden's favor on election night, followed by The Associated Press, even though hundreds of thousands of votes remained outstanding.  Trump's campaign predicted the president would ultimately win the state, as he did in 2016.

Trump's (Alleged) Defeat [is] a Stunning Rebuke to Obama, Hillary.  For reasons too numerous to count, President Donald J. Trump will go down in history as a world-historic leader who defied the odds at every turn.  Trump's 2016 election was a stunning rebuke to both his opponent, Hillary Clinton, and his predecessor, Barack Obama.  Amazingly enough, so is his (alleged) defeat in the 2020 election.  In addition to undoing the vast majority of Obama's legacy, Trump is on track to receive more than 71 million votes in this year's election.  That means more people will have voted for Trump in 2020 than voted for Obama in the 2008 (69 million) and 2012 (66 million) elections.  The nature of Trump's (alleged) defeat is also rather embarrassing for the former president.  His opponent this time around, Joe Biden, wanted to run for president in 2016.  His boss, Obama, talked him out of it.

Sharpies Were Made Available Throughout Arizona's Largest County, Officials Say.  Sharpies were made available at all 175 voting locations on Election Day in the largest county in Arizona, officials said Thursday [11/5/2020].  "Poll workers in all those locations were instructed to provide voters with Sharpie markers to mark their ballots in accordance with the recommendation of the manufacturer," Tom Liddy, civil services division chief for Maricopa County, said in a letter to the office of Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich's office.  The office opened an inquiry this week after hundreds of voters filed complaints about Sharpies at polling locations.  Michael Catlett, deputy solicitor general for Brnovich, asked Maricopa County in a letter about the use of Sharpies and wondered how many ballots were rejected because ink from markers bled through. [...] Liddy said the manufacturer of the vote tabulation machines used by the county recommends Sharpies because ink from ballpoint pens can cause smudges in the machines and foul them, while Sharpie markers do not.

The Editor says...
This is perhaps the biggest non-issue of the whole election.  A reporter who spends his day writing articles like this is a reporter who is expendable.  If you're watching a newscast or a cable TV news network and they start talking about meaningless trivia like this, it's time to turn off the TV.

George W. Bush congratulates Joe Biden and tells Trump that he must concede.  George W. Bush congratulated Joe Biden on his election victory Sunday, and delivered an unmistakable message to Donald Trump that he must now concede.  The only living former Republican president broke his silence, more than 24 hours after Biden was declared the winner in a call by TV networks and the Associated Press, to say that he had spoken to the Democratic victor, and to Kamala Harris, the vice president-elect.  'I just talked to the President-elect of the United States, Joe Biden,' he said in a statement.  No Republican leader has so far called Biden president-elect.

Newsmax Releases Statement Refusing to Bend on Presidential Call by Other Media.  Newsmax released a statement saying they refuse to bend on the call for president because there are numerous challenges to the vote in different states by President Trump's lawyers.  President Trump and his legal team are disputing results in key swing states like Pennsylvania.  This is not over, but all major news outlets have surrendered to the steal except Newsmax and OANN.

Dems plot mass migration to Georgia to take advantage of runoff election.  As the fate of control of the Senate is still in doubt, two senate races in Georgia are likely headed for run-off elections on Jan. 5, because so far none of the candidates received above 50 percent of the vote.  Democrats will likely need to win both of them to retake the majority for the first time since 2014.  However, what appears to be a major loophole for potential voter fraud has created a strong likelihood that the balance of power in the US Senate will be decided not by current Georgia residents but by many new voters not in Georgia today.  Some Liberals, including journalists, are encouraging Democrats to move to red states like Georgia with the sole purpose of impacting future elections even suggesting that Michael Bloomberg should foot the bill.

What?  Liberal tears are flowing?  [Scroll down]  The story said, "In a caucus meeting held by telephone that was their first group conversation since Election Day, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Representative Cheri Bustos of Illinois, who led the party's campaign arm, defended their efforts.  Democrats expressed frustration over the loss of eight of their members — and a net loss of six seats, with 33 races still undecided — that had left them with a slimmer margin of control."  It was a 3-hour call.  That is 3 hours longer than Biden campaigned in the 5 days before the last debate.  Bustos said, "Something went wrong."

Trump Campaign:  Projection of Biden as Winner Is 'False'.  A projection of Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is not accurate, President Donald Trump's campaign said Friday [11/6/2020].  Decision Desk HQ around 9 a.m. projected a Biden win in Pennsylvania.  If Biden wins the state, he would win the presidency, based on the current projected results.  "This election is not over.  The false projection of Joe Biden as the winner is based on results in four states that are far from final," Matt Morgan, the Trump campaign's general counsel, said in a statement.  "Georgia is headed for a recount, where we are confident we will find ballots improperly harvested, and where President Trump will ultimately prevail.  There were many irregularities in Pennsylvania, including having election officials prevent our volunteer legal observers from having meaningful access to vote counting locations.  We prevailed in court on our challenge, but were deprived of valuable time and denied the transparency we are entitled to under state law," he continued.

Why The Epoch Times Won't Call the Presidential Race Until All Challenges Are Resolved.  Our nation is moving into uncharted territory as multiple legal challenges have been filed in response to the 2020 elections, with more challenges expected to come.  Both candidates have claimed victory in certain states, but it appears increasingly likely that this election will be resolved in the courts.  For that reason, The Epoch Times will not declare a winner of the 2020 presidential election until all results are certified and any legal challenges are resolved.

For First Time In 20 Years, US Senate Candidate Wins More Votes Than Presidential Candidate In Texas.  When U.S. Senator John Cornyn won his fourth term this week, he not only defeated Democratic challenger MJ Hegar by ten percentage points, he also won more votes in Texas than President Donald Trump.  Senator Cornyn has 5,931,602 votes so far, which is 71,506 votes more than President Trump, who has 5,860,096 votes.  The President defeated Democrat Joe Biden by 648,690 votes or six percentage points, 52%-46%, while Cornyn defeated Hegar by ten percentage points, 54%-44%.

The Editor says...
That might be because this was the first major election after the end of straight-party voting in Texas.

WaPo to Dems:  Don't get your hopes up on those two Georgia runoffs.  For now, it appears that Joe Biden will become the forty-sixth president — but potentially with a historically hostile Congress for a first-termer.  At best, Democrats' hold on the House has slipped, thanks to unexpected losses in a cycle where their party reclaimed the White House.  At worst, it still might end up in Republican hands, although that would require the GOP to pull an inside straight on all of the outstanding House races left.

Democrat civil war begins.  Democrats planned a blue wave election the likes of which have not been seen before.  Bigger than Obama.  They said they would win the Senate, the White House, and increase their lead in the House and rule for 10,000 years.  Two of those things did not happen and likely the third one as well.  They poured a whopping $315 million into Senate races in Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Montana, South Carolina, and Texas — and lost every one.  Mini Mike Bloomberg spent $100 million to stop President Trump in Florida and Ohio.  The president won those states by 3 and 8 points, respectively.  In the House, Republicans added members despite Democrats spending more money.  This has led to many unhappy campers.

UN speaks of Temple Mount as solely Muslim site, ignores Jewish ties.  Some 138 United Nations countries approved a draft resolution that spoke of the Temple Mount solely as an Islamic holy site, by referencing it only by its Muslim name of al-Haram al-Sharif.  It was one of seven pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel resolutions that the UN General Assembly's Fourth Committee in New York passed on Wednesday [11/4/2020].  The resolution was titled, "Israeli practices affecting the human rights of the Palestinian people in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including east Jerusalem."

Steven Crowder's Election Coverage Drew Millions Of Views, Competed With Big Networks.  Conservative podcast host Steven Crowder's election night coverage garnered millions of views on YouTube, more evidence of a growing trend of viewers looking to sources other than the establishment media for important news and commentary.  As of this writing, Crowder's election night coverage streamed on YouTube has amassed 8.1 million views.  His coverage of election updates and news the following day attracted another 3.1 million views online.  The impressive showing may be a bell-weather for the future of media as newcomers compete with legacy media corporations.

Somebody's pink sneakers didn't have enough traction.  Many of you may recall Wendy Davis, the progressive darling who drew national acclaim from liberals for her now-infamous eleven-hour filibuster of a pro-life bill back in 2013.  The effort proved ineffective since the bill went on to pass anyway.  She then tried to leverage the national attention she had drawn by running for governor.  She experienced a similar level of "success" in that effort, being trounced by Greg Abbott by more than twenty points.  This year she decided to shoot for a more modest goal by trying to unseat Republican Congressman Chip Roy in the 21st district of the Lone Star State.  I know you'll all be shocked to learn that her efforts once again produced the same result.  The Associated Press called the race earlier this morning, and while Davis did slightly better than she had in her gubernatorial bid, she still came up six points shy of finally putting one the W column.

Walmart fires inventory-tracking robots, realizes humans work just as well.  Walmart is parting ways with robots used to monitor store inventory as the retail giant realized humans are just as capable, a new report said.  The robot layoff is the result of the company cutting ties with startup Bossa Nova Robotics, which over the last five years provided six-foot-tall inventory-tracking machines to roughly 500 Walmart stores, The Wall Street Journal reported.  Sources familiar with the move told the newspaper that company executives determined they can use their own store employees to effectively keep tabs of inventory.  Walmart US chief executive John Furner has also expressed concern over shopper reactions to the hulking robots.

Reuters equipping journalists with gas masks, flak jackets for election coverage.  Reporters for Reuters covering the elections in the US will have protective gear in anticipation of protests after several incidents in which journalists were targeted during summer demonstrations.  Stephen Adler, the editor-in-chief of the global news service that employs 2,500 journalists, told the Press Gazette that his reporters were supplied with flak vests, helmets and gas masks, as well as COVID-19 personal protective equipment including N95 masks, the newspaper reported.

'Aloha also means goodbye': Tensions brew between locals and tourists as Hawaii reopens.  For anyone who's traveled recently — including visitors with negative results on a preflight COVID-19 test — you may have to skip dining at two popular North Shore Kauai restaurants.  The state reopened to trans-Pacific travel on Oct. 15, allowing travelers to skip the 14-day quarantine under its Safe Travels testing program.  As tourists began to return, the Saenz Ohana Breakfast food truck in Princeville and the Bistro restaurant in Kilauea decided to limit on-site service to those who have not traveled in the past 14 days as an additional safety precaution.  Those who do not meet this criteria can order online for takeout instead.

The Editor says...
I would be delighted to see Hawaii secede from the United States and resume its previous role as an independent kingdom.  I would be even more delighted to see the United States prohibit travel to or from the independent Hawaii.  The locals are bigoted against tourists and outsiders, and have been for decades, so let's see how well they do on their own.  Let's see if they can eat all those pineapples by themselves.

New York is about to kill a whole lot of landlords.  Gov. Andrew Cuomo and President Trump made sure to protect tenants by banning evictions during the pandemic, but public officials have done almost nothing for property owners.  That's inviting disaster.  Many of these landlords, particularly mom-and-pop small-building owners, have been struggling for months to make ends meet as the COVID crisis drags on.  Thousands of tenants haven't paid full rent.  Others, looking to escape the virus, violent crime and plunging quality of life, have fled, pushing up the vacancy rate and forcing owners to grant concessions.

Philadelphia Firefighters Union Confirms Trump Endorsement in Forced Recount.  Earlier in October, the union representing Philadelphia firefighters voted to endorse Donald Trump.  This was no small undertaking, given the overwhelming support of most unions for Joe Biden.  When some union members complained about the process, a second vote was conducted.  Trump won that vote by a two-to-one margin, with a final tally of 1,444 votes to keep the endorsement in place to 782 votes to rescind the endorsement.

And now... here's the next contestant on Get Woke and Go Broke!
Drudge Report traffic plunges as content turns against Trump.  The Drudge Report posted a 45 percent decline in web traffic in September as the site alienated its core readers by turning against President Trump ahead of the 2020 presidential election.  The data — derived from comScore, which tracks the industry — were released in a report by TheRighting, a website that analyzes traffic to right-leaning websites.  TheRighting told The [New York] Post that the Drudge Report had 1,291,000 unique vis itors in September, according to data supplied by comScore, down from 2,340,000 in the same month a year ago.  September's eye-popping decline marks the ninth month in a row that the political news aggregation website run by reclusive founder Matt Drudge has seen traffic fall, TheRighting said.

Biden Campaign Bus Runs Red Light to Flee Pro-Trump 'Democrat Cemetery Vote Collector' Hearse.  A Trump supporter with an "Official Democrat Cemetery Vote Collector" hearse tailed a Biden campaign bus in Houston on Thursday, leading to the vehicle running at least one red light in an attempt to get away.  Video showed the bus at a red light before driving through it, causing a delivery van driver to jam on the brakes.

F-16s intercept plane flying too close to Trump rally in Arizona.  "Oh, look at that.  Look, look, look," Trump said, pointing at the sky.  "Look at that.  They gave the president a little display."  The crowd then chanted "USA, USA, USA!"  [Video clip]

F-16 Fighter Jet Fires Flares at Unauthorized Aircraft Near Trump Rally.  An Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon was scrambled to intercept a civilian aircraft flying near President Donald Trump's latest rally in Arizona Wednesday, setting off flares to get the aircraft's attention, according to North American Aerospace Defense Command.  The fighter jet was dispatched to investigate "a general aviation aircraft that was not in communication with [Air Traffic Control] and entered the Temporary Flight Restriction area surrounding Bullhead City, Arizona, without proper clearance," NORAD said in a tweet.  The incident occurred around 2 p.m. local time.

A Navy veteran exposes the insanely gross food served on warships in a viral Facebook post.  A Navy veteran has posted pictures and videos capturing the rotten, unhealthy, and quite frankly disgraceful food that sailors and Marines are forced to eat while embarked on the service's warships.  The compilation of nauseating imagery, most of which were taken aboard multiple surface vessels, includes pictures of lettuce with insects, hair on food, and raw chicken, among other egregious examples.

Democrat 'Dirty Campaign Tricks' Against Lindsey Graham Backfire, Even Critics Rally to Graham's Defense.  The South Carolina Senate race between Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham and his opponent and former SC Democratic party chairman Jaime Harrison has turned into the national media's 2020 version of the 2018 race between Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) vs.  Democrat Beto O'Rourke.  Not a day goes by where there is not a fawning puff piece or two and/or umpteen tweets from reporters and "political analysts" on how Harrison has managed to make a race most believed at the beginning of the year would not be competitive into one to watch down the homestretch.

Trump Supporter Pays $2,600 For Downtown New Hampshire Billboard.  Just Before Election, Company Removes It After Complaints.  A Trump supporter who spent $2,600 for a billboard that read "Trump Country" on a building in downtown Nashua, New Hampshire, discovered that the company that he paid to help him design it removed it from the building after complaints were made, just in time for the presidential election.  Dave Streit, who told The New Hampshire Union-Leader, "I think that Trump was the most unlikely conservative imaginable, and he has delivered on every single promise, and we will never have a president like him again," paid Outfront Media to place the message on the top of 169 Main Street in downtown Nashua from Oct. 6 to Nov. 3.  "The company notified him Monday [10/26/2020] that the message would be removed in the next couple of business days because of complaints.  By Tuesday morning, the sign had been taken down," the Union-Leader reported.  Streit said, "Free speech just got thrown out the window."

Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev blames TV show Dallas for the fall of the USSR because it opened people's eyes to western lifestyles.  TV show Dallas was the main reason behind the collapse of communism in the Soviet Union, it has been claimed.  Eurythmics co-founder Dave Stewart said that former Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev told him that the 1980s soap opera 'had more effect' in ending the Cold War than anything else.  Mr Stewart, 68, said the Gorbachev admitted an illicit broadcast of the US show in Russia had opened his people's eyes to Western life, and the Texas-based show 'brought down' the communist superpower.

The Editor says...
If ever there was misleading propaganda on television, it was Dallas.  The show painted everyone in Texas with the same broad brush:  You would have thought that everybody in downtown Dallas walks around in cowboy boots and a ten-gallon hat, and everybody else within 100 miles is fabulously wealthy, slightly drunk, evil, mean, nasty, and ruthless.

Texas Dem MJ Hegar's Latest Detractor Is Her Own Mother-In-Law.  Texas Democrat MJ Hegar's bid to unseat Republican incumbent senator John Cornyn will be without the support of her own mother-in-law, who says she would "never vote" for Hegar because "she is not a good person."  Patricia Heiman, the mother of Hegar's husband Stephen Hegar, took to Facebook in the race's final weeks to warn voters against supporting the Democratic Senate candidate, specifically pointing to Hegar's failure to lend a helping hand to her three step-children after their home was burned down in a fire earlier this year.  "I know her personally and she is not a good person," Heiman wrote.  "I know that sounds like a spiteful mother-in-law but I speak on behalf of my son's three other children that they do not see."

Only one long week left in the election struggle for control — of the Senate.  While national attention is riveted by the presidential horse race, a more important contest — or series of contests — is unfolding for control of the Senate.  No matter who occupies the Oval Office, the political majority that runs the Senate will play the decisive political role for at least the next two years, perhaps longer.  In what is shaping up as a difficult year for Republicans, the House of Representatives seems virtually certain to remain under the gavel of Speaker Nancy Pelosi.  Republicans would need to gain 18 seats there to hand the gavel to another Californian, Kevin McCarthy.  But an array of intriguing scenarios all depend on a handful of crucial Senate seats.

Pope Francis to Celebrate Christmas Mass Without a Congregation.  The Vatican has announced Pope Francis will livestream his Christmas liturgies this year without public participation due to concerns over the coronavirus.  In an October 22 letter to ambassadors to the Holy See, the Vatican's foreign minister, Archbishop Paul Gallagher, said that the pontiff's Christmas ceremonies would take "a private form" this year without the presence of the faithful.

The Editor says...
Is he afraid of getting sick, or is he just lazy?  Either way, he should find another line of work.

US threatens to destroy Iranian missiles shipped to Venezuela.  The United States is warning it will destroy potential Iranian long-range missile shipments delivered to the Maduro regime in Venezuela, a senior administration official tells Fox News.  "The transfer of long-range missiles from Iran to Venezuela is not acceptable to the United States and will not be tolerated or permitted," said Elliott Abrams, the State Department Special Representative for Iran and Venezuela.  "We will make every effort to stop shipments of long-range missiles, and if somehow they get to Venezuela they will be eliminated there," added a senior administration official.

Millionaire owner of iconic Strand Book Store in NYC pleads with public for help as revenue drops.  An iconic New York City bookstore is asking the public to save it from financial ruin brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic even though it is owned by a multimillionaire wife of a US senator who recently bought at least $115,000 in Amazon stock and then got a PPP loan while laying off workers. [...] [O]utraged Twitter users noted that the store's owner, Nancy Bass Wyden, the wife of Senator Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon, is reported to be worth tens of millions of dollars.

Friend recalls moment Indiana tourist was shot dead with 'no warning' in NYC.  The Brooklyn gunfire that killed a young tourist from Indiana this weekend came out of nowhere, a witness told The [New York] Post on Sunday [10/25/2020].  Ethan Williams, 20, was sitting with four of his friends on a stoop outside their Bushwick Airbnb around 2:30 a.m.  Saturday when shots broke out across the street and struck him in the chest with "no warning," his pal Jacob Mayhew told The Post on Sunday.  "Some guy next to that mailbox just started shooting!" he said.

The Editor says...
When young people die unexpectedly, it is often the result of their own faulty decisions.  [#1] Why would anyone go to New York City as a tourist?  I would sooner go to Mexico City.  [#2] Why would a tourist be outdoors at 2:30 a.m. in a strange city?

NYC Hotel Occupancy Rate Crashes Toward 10% As Permanent Closures Loom.  Prices at New York City hotels have plunged as the hospitality industry continues to try and grapple with the effects of the global pandemic.  Some hotels, like the Midtown Hilton, have remained closed since March.  Others, like the Pierre, are operating in limited capacity.  Those that are open for business have slashed prices by more than 60%, according to a new writeup by AlJazeera.  Despite October usually being a fruitful month for tourism in NYC, coronavirus has forced the cancellation of staple events like the NYC Marathon and Fashion Week.  And while the industry has definitely recovered since March, it still has a long way to go.  200 of New York's roughly 700 hotels remain closed, the article notes.

The Editor says...
The tourism industry in New York City is dead, and this should surprise no one.  The hotels are bring used to house vagrants. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] The streets are full of violent criminals.  The subways are, too.  And with the city's high population density, the city is a hotbed of Covid-19 activity, so you'll have to wear a face mask everywhere you go.  Even in pre-pandemic times, the city was full of prostitutes and pickpockets.  Who would want to visit a place like that?

Macy's Cancels Santa Claus.  Macy's canceled their nearly 160-year-old tradition of hosting Santa Claus in their midtown Manhattan store because of COVID-19.  More than a quarter of a million people typically shuffle through the store's elaborate Santaland each Christmas season, but the close quarters of the attraction have rendered it impossible in the age of social distancing, according to The Associated Press.  Santa will also not be appearing in the Macy's in Chicago or San Francisco, though he will be making an appearance at the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, which has also had to undergo adjustments to comply with health guidelines.

Swiss couple names daughter after internet provider to score free Wi-Fi.  One Swiss dad thinks there are worse names than Twifia for his baby girl.  A couple in Switzerland has chosen to name their daughter after their internet service provider after the company ran a promotion offering 18 years of free service.  According to a local newspaper, Blick, the internet provider, Twifi, promised free Wi-Fi for 18 years to any family that named their child Twifia or Twifius.  At first, the anonymous Swiss couple, 30 and 35, reportedly thought it was a joke.  However, the more the soon-to-be dad thought about it, the more he began to like the "unique moniker."

The Editor says...
What if the wi-fi company goes out of business in five years?

Canadian motorist with 8 lifetime driving bans busted for speeding.  A man pulled over for allegedly speeding was discovered to have a whopping eight separate lifetime driving bans, reported Canadian news website the Orangeville Banner.  When cops ran a driver's license check on Toronto resident Timothy Fraser after halting him Oct. 21, they discovered the steering scofflaw's checkered past.  "I've never seen that many.  This is the first time I've seen someone with eight," Dufferin Ontario Provincial Police Constable Shannon Gordanier told the Banner.  "The risk of driving and putting other people in harm's way is definitely not worth it.  There is a reason there had been that many prohibitions and therefore, it needs to be taken seriously."

Debate topics and American priorities.  The supposedly nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates has selected the following topics for Thursday night's final encounter between President Trump and Joe Biden:  "Fighting COVID-19," "American Families," "Race in America," "Climate Change," "National Security" and "Leadership."  The commission also announced it will mute the microphone of the candidate who is not talking, which could be advantageous for President Trump since the more Biden talks the less clear he becomes.  Are these topics priorities for most voters?  Not according to the Pew Research Center.  Nearly eight in 10 registered voters say the economy is their number one issue, followed by health care, Supreme Court appointments, the virus and foreign policy.  Race and ethnic inequality come in number eight (52 percent) and climate change ranks next to last at just 42 percent.

UT stands by 'Eyes of Texas' song, will play recording as band refuses to play.  The University of Texas school song has been deemed racist by some.  Band members are now refusing to play it, but the school says it will just play a recording instead, and was planning to do that anyway.  As calls to cease the playing of its school song "The Eyes of Texas" went unheeded by the administration, several band members said they would not play the song.  Despite petitions and demands from both student-athletes and several band members, the University of Texas has announced that it will continue to play "The Eyes of Texas."  University President Jay Hartzell doubled down Wednesday on his commitment to keeping the song, assuring that it would be played one way or another, even with band members refusing to do so, at the upcoming game against Baylor University.

The Editor says...
Scrap the band.  Who needs the UT band anyway?  Dismantle it.  Defund it.  Use the band hall as a homeless shelter.

Zeptoseconds: Scientists successfully record shortest measurement of time in history.  The blink of an eye seems to most people like an incredibly fast act.  Scientists in Germany however, say they've witnessed something that makes the blink of an eye seem as slow as watching paint dry.  Atomic physicists at Goethe University have measured the time it takes for a photon to cross a hydrogen molecule; a process that can only be measured in zeptoseconds.  In 1999, Egyptian chemist Ahmed Zewail won the Nobel Prize for measuring the speed of molecules changing their shape.  Zewail founded the science of femtochemistry, which measures the formation and division of chemical bonds in femtoseconds. [...] The new study has now broken this record, finding that it takes 247 zeptoseconds for photons to cross hydrogen molecules.

Ted Cruz introduces constitutional amendment to limit Supreme Court to nine justices.  Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, along with other GOP senators, has introduced a constitutional amendment that, if it were to pass, would prevent court packing on the Supreme Court.  Additionally, the Texas senator is pushing a separate proposal to forever block Democrats, should they regain control of the Senate, from passing any legislation to add additional justices to the high court.  The amendment proposal states simply, "the Supreme Court of the United States shall be composed of nine justices."

'Nodding woman' Mayra Joli from Trump town hall shares hate mail.  Miami lawyer Mayra Joli, the freshly famous "nodding woman" behind President Trump at last week's NBC News town hall, says her employees are being targeted with hate mail.  "Nobody can call an employer to fire me," Joli told Fox News.  "What they're doing is calling my employees so they quit."  Joli, who donated to Hillary Clinton in 2016, said that "they start sending other [messages] saying, 'I can't believe you're working for that person.  I thought you were better.' ... They aren't used to this commotion."  The Dominican Republic-born Joli wore a red mask and nodded in response to Trump's answers during a frequently acrimonious hour-long event hosted by Savannah Guthrie of NBC News, who grilled Trump about conspiracy theories and likened him to "someone's crazy uncle."

'Nodding lady' at Trump town hall accuses critics of targeting her employees.  Mayra Joli, the Miami lawyer who gained renown as the "nodding lady" sitting behind President Trump during a nationally televised town hall, said her employees began receiving hate messages urging them to quit after the Oct. 15 event.  The digital onslaught isn't enough to change her mind, however.  An immigration lawyer and mother from the Dominican Republic, Joli came to the U.S. with her family in the 1990s and donated to Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign before becoming a Trump supporter.

Here are the fastest-growing jobs in every state this year: report.  As the U.S. grapples with unemployment because of the coronavirus pandemic, a new report could help people who are trying to figure out where to look for a new job. [...] The occupation with the highest percentage increase was in Rhode Island, where structure metal fabricators and fitters saw a 674% increase from 2015 to 2019.

Bill Gates: 'Shutting down' economy 'nowhere near sufficient' to stop climate change.  Just the News:  Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft, said the coronavirus pandemic demonstrates that "simply shutting down" the U.S. economy won't bring about net zero carbon emissions to fight climate change.  Gates said the emissions reductions from the pandemic were "quite modest," despite the drastic drop in air travel and car travel.

Senator John James of Michigan?  We've been focusing so much on Senator Susan Collins of Maine and Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina that we may be forgetting that John James has a shot at flipping the U.S. Senate seat in Michigan.  We hope James wins the race.  Of course, it depends a lot on turnout and that's always hard to measure.  According to statespoll.com, Michigan is tilting to Trump, but it's still in the margin of error.  In all fairness, other polls show Biden ahead so your guess is as good as mine.  We can say this:  James would become an overnight sensation if he pulls this out.

Commission will mute mics during final debate between Trump and Biden.  The Commission on Presidential Debates has decided to mute microphones to allow each candidate the opportunity for uninterrupted remarks during this week's final forum.  The mute button will be featured at the start of each 15-minute segment during opening comments, according to the commission.  After that time, both mics will be turned on without a mute option to enable debate.  The rule change follows the first debate between President Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden that devolved into a frequently interrupted shouting match.

Investigation: 9NEWS has used multiple unlicensed security guards.  Unlicensed security guard Matthew Dolloff, 30, is facing 2nd degree murder charges for the shooting and killing of 49-year-old Lee Keltner during dueling Denver rallies on Saturday, Oct. 10.  Separate from the criminal investigation, there is also an administrative investigation taking place because the city said Dolloff was not licensed to work as a security guard in Denver, or to be armed while doing so. [...] This investigation finds Dolloff is not the only unlicensed or not properly credentialed security guard to accompany 9NEWS crews as they covered protests and riots during the past five months.

Texans Can Dethrone 'Abortion Rights Queen' Wendy Davis.  Since the passing of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to fill the vacancy, the national debate over abortion has returned to the forefront.  For pro-life Americans, there is no more important U.S. House race in the country than Texas' 21st Congressional District.  The choice for Hill Country Texans from Austin to Kerrville could not be more stark than that between trusted pro-life Republican Chip Roy and the radically anti-life leftist Wendy Davis.  Congressman Roy has been endorsed by pro-life Susan B. Anthony List, while every extreme pro-abortion group in the nation has endorsed Davis.

The Editor says...
Last week, I was under the mistaken impression that Wendy Davis was running for a seat in the Texas Senate; but no, she is running for U.S. Congress.  The 21st congressional district includes Fredericksburg and Kerrville — two delightful towns, especially in March and April when the wildflowers are in bloom.  But politically, the two towns are solid blue, and the district goes east to Austin, by way of Johnson City, which is also solid blue.

Is this not an act of war?
China warns it will take Americans hostage if DOJ doesn't drop charges against researchers.  Beijing is threatening to take Americans in China hostage if the Department of Justice doesn't drop its prosecution of several Chinese research scientists arrested on U.S. soil this year, according to a report on Saturday [10/17/2020].  Chinese government officials have repeatedly warned their U.S. counterparts that Americans in China face being detained if its demands are not met, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing sources familiar with the matter.  The drastic action — dubbed "hostage diplomacy" — would be in retaliation for the arrests of at least five Chinese military-affiliated scholars visiting American universities to conduct research.  The scientists were charged with visa fraud for allegedly lying to U.S. immigration authorities about their active duty statuses with China's People's Liberation Army.

More On The PA Mayor That Fired Her Police Chief Over Wife's Pro-Trump FB Posts.  As you may recall, about a week ago we learned that the Mayor of Lancaster, Pennsylvania had given her chief of police a stark choice.  Retire early or be fired.  Mayor Danene Sorace had said she negotiated a "private agreement" with Police Chief Jarrad Berkihiser so she would not comment further on the details.  The reason, as detailed by a past President of the PBA, was that Mayor Sorace was incensed over a couple of Facebook comments the Chief's wife had posted in support of President Trump. [...] At the time I speculated that there was much more to the story than what the Mayor was saying.  That prediction is looking considerably more solid now.  After being badgered by the local press for more information, the Mayor decided to comment on the subject she was "not allowed to comment on" after all.  She's now telling a different story, claiming that the Chief didn't "share her vision" for the progressive future of Lancaster.

Joe Biden retreats to Delaware as Trump stumps through four states.  It was back to the basement for Joe Biden Saturday [10/17/2020] — as President Trump went into campaign overdrive.  With only 16 days to go before Election Day, amid an uproar over The [New York] Post's expose of son Hunter's shady foreign business deals and with a second debate face-off this week, Biden retreated to his Delaware home with no public events on his schedule — and a substantial but slightly slipping national polling lead in his pocket.  Meanwhile, the underdog president whipped up his troops Saturday at back-to-back rallies in two crucial battleground states, with two more of the raucous gatherings set for Sunday and a full slate of appearances this week that will have him hopscotching across the country.

Click bait alert:  Apparently the only mention of Texas is in the headline.
Texas Software Billionaire Charged in Largest Tax Fraud Indictment in US History.  A Texas software billionaire is being charged with tax evasion in a case federal prosecutors are describing as the largest incidence of tax fraud in American history.  79-year old Robert Brockman was charged in a 39-count indictment that includes charges of money laundering, conspiracy, wire fraud, and tax evasion, with an indictment being unsealed by the US Attorney for the District of San Francisco on Thursday.

Orwell Rears His Head.  On Monday of last week, to use the phrase "sexual preference" was completely acceptable.  As recently as last month, multiple gay rights publications used the phrase.  Leon Panetta had used the phrase in the past couple of years.  Joe Biden has used the phrase this year.  Merriam-Webster considered "sexual preference" to be just another version of "sexual orientation."  But then Tuesday happened.  On Tuesday, the village idiot from Hawaii masquerading as a senator, Mazie Hirono, attacked Amy Coney Barrett for using "sexual preference" instead of "sexual orientation."  By Tuesday evening, the employees of Merriam-Webster had changed the phrase in their online dictionary to note it was offensive.  No, I am not making that up.  The dictionary company literally changed it after Barrett's exchange with Hirono.  Steve Krakauer, a former CNN producer who now produces Megyn Kelly's podcast, documented the change on his social media feed.  Gay rights publications such as The Advocate went on the attack as well.  In just 18 days, "sexual preference" went from acceptable to a hate crime.

Underdog GOP Senate candidate gains ground in race against incumbent Democrat, campaign says.  Virginia's Republican Senate candidate is heading into Election Day at a fundraising disadvantage against a well-known Democratic incumbent — but the Iraq War veteran said he's closing the gap.  Daniel Gade, who lost a leg to a roadside bomb during Operation Iraqi Freedom, said he believes his story is attracting more voters.  He graduated from West Point in 1997 and remained in the Army after his injury, retiring as a lieutenant colonel in 2017.  He also served on several White House advisory committees for veterans and the disabled beginning under former President George W. Bush.  He has a Ph.D. in public administration and became a university professor.

How a Goya boycott led to a 'buycott'.  First, the Goya Foods boycott turned into a "buycott." Now the largest Hispanic-owned foods company is finding favorable backlash in the wake of the CEO's praise for President Trump.  Company sales have been "fantastic" and "historic" following the controversy surrounding his positive comments for President Trump in July, according to CEO Robert Unanue.  "Our sales went up significantly since the pandemic," Unanue told FOX Business' Stuart Varney.  "We did well because the restaurant business declined 70% but we also did well because of the backlash of a boycott to a buycott.  We have our traditional customers, we kept them, but we also have new customers."

Amazon Prime Cancels Shelby Steele.  Though most of the focus is on Twitter's White Knighting of Joe Biden, it's also worth noting that many other voices are inhibited by Big Tech because they fail to conform to leftist orthodoxy.  Just today [10/15/2020], the Wall Street Journal reported that Shelby Steele's documentary What Killed Michael Brown?, which explores race relations in the United States, has been rejected because it "doesn't meet Prime Video's content quality expectations."  Amazon claims the documentary, which Steele made with his son Eli, isn't "eligible for publishing" and that they "will not be accepting resubmission of this title and this decision may not be appealed."

NeverTrump Website The Dispatch Colludes With Big Tech To Censor SBA List's Pro-Life Ads.  Facebook censored two advertisements from the pro-life group Susan B. Anthony List's, claiming the videos contained "partly false information" about Democratic Presidential Nominee Joe Biden and VP Nominee Kamala Harris's views on late-term abortions.  The ads, which focus on the Democratic Party's position in support of abortion on demand and up until the moment of birth, were labeled by "independent fact-checkers" who claim to "look carefully into claims from elected officials, reports from the media, and disinformation on social media to help you understand what's true and what's not."

Out-of-state buyers from New York City, Boston and DC are flooding the Maine property market causing home values to surge 17% and supply to hit a 'historic low'.  Maine has seen a stunning real estate boom as buyers from New York City, Boston and Washington DC flee for quieter pastures amid the pandemic, causing home values to surge 17 percent, supply to hit a historic low and properties to fly off the market in a matter of 11 days.  In the spring Maine saw a startling decline in sales at the start of the pandemic, but by summer time a wave of buyers came in from out of state looking to ride out the COVID-19 crisis.  The value of single-family existing homes jumped 17.39 percent in August this year compared to 2019 and homes reached a median sales price of 270,000, as per Maine Listings.

The Mysterious October 20th DOJ Targeting Memo [is] Finally, Quietly, Released.  On June 3, 2020, former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee to discuss his role in how Main Justice was operating while Andrew Weissmann's special counsel was in charge.  What he said in that hearing never quite made sense until yesterday. [...] Rosenstein's tone when questioned about the scope memos he authorized during the special counsel time-frame was very odd in that June hearing.  Rosenstein had a very guilty conscience and it was on full display as he attempted to justify his action.  You see, there was always a missing scope memo from October 20, 2017, that no one in the DOJ ever discussed.  The nature of the scope memo was mentioned by Weissmann and Mueller in part of their Russia report; but until yesterday it was hidden.

Can McSally Rocket Past Kelly in AZ Senate Race?  Martha McSally seems relaxed — almost curiously so for a first-term appointed senator facing voters again after just two years on the job and trailing her opponent in every public poll conducted over the last month.  It's a mid-October afternoon, less than a month before Election Day.  Early voting is underway, and tens of millions of dollars are pouring into the Arizona Senate race pitting McSally, 54, the first female U.S. military pilot to fly in combat, against Mark Kelly, a former NASA astronaut who commanded the second-to-last space shuttle mission.  He's also the husband of former Arizona Rep. Gabby Giffords, who was grievously wounded in a 2011 mass shooting in Tucson.

Trump administration to consider adding China's Ant Group to trade blacklist — sources.  The U.S. State Department has submitted a proposal for the Trump administration to add China's Ant Group to a trade blacklist, according to two people familiar with the matter, before the financial technology firm is slated to go public.  It was not immediately clear when the U.S. government agencies that decide whether to add a company to the so-called Entity List would review the matter.

Police Chief Forced To Retire After Wife Supports President Trump On Social Media.  The media missed this one!  The Lancaster police chief was forced to retire at the end of September after the mayor took issue with comments his wife made on Facebook in support of President Donald Trump's re-election.  John Fiorill, a former president of the local Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), said that Lancaster Police Chief Jarrad Berkihiser was asked to resign on Sept. 30 because his wife had shown support for President Trump when he visited a nearby airport a day earlier.  Now-former Chief Berkihiser's wife, posting under her own personal Facebook account "Kristy Lynne," commented on a post made by somebody who was at the Trump campaign rally at Harrisburg International Airport on Sept. 29.

Republican Chip Roy defending his Congressional seat against former state Sen. Wendy Davis in District 21.  The race for U.S. Congressional District 21 has been one to watch since the primaries when election officials announced Wendy Davis won the Democratic nomination and would challenge Republican incumbent Chip Roy on Election Day.  Roy is a former federal prosecutor, advisor to elected officials, and was first assistant attorney general to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.  Roy recently called Paxton to resign amid accusations against Paxton of bribery and abuse of office.  Davis is a former state senator for State District 10 who led a 13-hour filibuster to block a bill restricting abortion rights in Texas.  She was also the Democratic challenger in the 2014 gubernatorial race against now-Gov. Greg Abbott.

'Unmasking' probe commissioned by Barr concludes without charges or any public report.  The federal prosecutor appointed by Attorney General William P. Barr to review whether Obama-era officials improperly requested the identities of individuals whose names were redacted in intelligence documents has completed his work without finding any substantive wrongdoing, according to people familiar with the matter.  The revelation that U.S. Attorney John Bash, who left the department last week, had concluded his review without criminal charges or any public report will rankle President Trump at a moment when he is particularly upset at the Justice Department.

Minneapolis loses more police officers to disability claims.  Attorney Ron Meuser told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS the number of Minneapolis police officers who have filed for disability claims since this spring's civil unrest and rioting has now reached 175, with 100 other officers considering similar moves.  "The 100 additional officers are doing their best to hang in there and not leave because they want to serve their community," Meuser said.  "But if there is more rioting in the near future, I would not be surprised to see the number of officers filing for disability to reach between 250 and 300 officers."  Meuser says the disability filings are for both physical and mental health reasons.  So far, 2020 has seen twice as many claims as usual.

GOP Challenger John James Running Neck-And-Neck With Gary Peters, Recent Poll Shows.  John James, the Republican senatorial candidate from Michigan, has pulled within one point of incumbent Democratic Sen. Gary Peters, according to a New York Times/Sienna College poll released Monday [10/12/2020].  Peters leads James 43-42 among likely voters in the state, the poll's crosstabs show.  The poll shows a significant jump in support for James, who trailed Peters 41-31 in a similar NYT poll from June and lost to Sen. Debbie Stabenow, the state's senior senator, two years ago.

Another young Republican has another phenomenal campaign video.  Twenty twenty has introduced several dynamic young Republican candidates who use eye-catching, powerful campaign videos to challenge incumbent Democrats.  Joe E. Collins III, a naval veteran from South Los Angeles, is the latest entrant in this category.  He's running as a Republican and challenging Rep. Maxine Waters, who's spent 44 years enriching herself while her constituents live in the slums of South L.A. (AKA California's 43rd Congressional District).  Collins opens his video by standing in front of Maxine Waters's beautiful Southern California mansion, worth a hefty $6 million.  It's not in her district, though.  Her district is South L.A., one of the poorest and most violent communities in America.

Feds to Portland:  Take Your Fine and Shove It.  Several months ago, an ambitious and radical Portland city commissioner tilted at the federal windmill by levying fines for the fence erected around the courthouse downtown that rioters have repeatedly attempted to burn down.  The fence blocks bike lanes, which has drawn the ire of radical Commissioner Chloe Eudaly, head of the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT).  The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) didn't bother to respond — until now. [...] The fines have grown to over $3.7 million, as Portland continues to assess $48,000 a day to DHS. [...] On top of the bike lane fines from PBOT, the Portland Bureau of Environmental Services (BES) has also levied fines on DHS for excess tear gas found in stormwater drains.  Apparently nobody informed BES that, had Portland police been allowed to disperse the riots, there would have been no need for excess tear gas.

Robinhood Users Say Accounts Were Looted, No One to Call.  It took Soraya Bagheri a day to learn that 450 shares of Moderna Inc. had been liquidated in her Robinhood account and that $10,000 in withdrawals were pending.  But after alerting the online brokerage to what she believed was a theft in progress, she received a frustrating email.  The firm wrote it would investigate and respond within "a few weeks."  Now her money is gone.  Bagheri is among five Robinhood customers who recounted similar experiences to Bloomberg News, saying they've been left in limbo in recent weeks after someone sold their investments and withdrew funds.  Because the wildly popular app has no emergency phone number, some said they tried in vain to intervene, only to watch helplessly as their money vanished.

Nation Experiences Pandemic-Fueled Mason Jar Shortage.  For plenty of people across the United States, the pandemic has prompted a resurgence in cooking at home more and experimenting with food preparation in general.  For a number of home cooks, that has ended up involving the purchase of plenty of Mason jars — some for cooking, some for storage and others for preservation.  And that, in turn, has led to a nationwide Mason jar shortage.  It's not the most unpleasant side effect of the pandemic by a long shot, but neither is it minor:  cooking and canning for yourself can be both healthier for you and a good way to save money.  A new report from CNN explores the shortage — both in terms of Mason jars and for the lids used in canning.

Colorado town to pay visitors $100 to travel there.  Glenwood Springs, Colo., is paying visitors $100 to visit the town famous for its hot springs until Nov. 30.  The town's tourism business announced in late August that it would be extending the stimulus program, which began in the spring during the coronavirus pandemic, through Nov. 30 as part of an effort to boost fall tourism in the area.

$68,703: Median Household Income Set Record in 2019.  Median household income in the United States rose to a record $68,703 in 2019, according to data released by the U.S. Census Bureau in its Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement (CPS ASEC).  Because of the COVID-19 pandemic and changes in recent years to the manner in which the Census Bureau surveys household income (which it has been estimating since 1967), the bureau this year addressed questions about whether or not the 2019 median household income could indeed be considered a record high.

Big Three Censor Poll Showing Majority Say They're Better Off Now than 4 Years Ago.  It turns out the ABC, CBS and NBC evening news shows won't show you polls that show the majority of the American voters feeling better off now under President Donald Trump's economy than under former President Barack Obama's economy.  But they do love parading around questionable polls showing Trump losing the election by double digits.  Gallup released a jaw-dropping news released Tuesday, the day of the vice presidential debate.  A new poll, taken between September 14 [and] September 28, showed that 56 percent of registered voters said that "they are better off now than they were four years ago, while 32% said they are worse off."  That's a 24 percent disparity.

Poll: 56% Americans Say They Are Better Off Now Under Trump Than Four Years Ago Under Obama-Biden.  A solid majority of 56 percent of Americans say they are better off now than they were four years ago, a new Gallup survey reveals.  Only 32 percent say they are worse off than four years ago.  The number is, as Fox News's Laura Ingraham noted on Thursday night, "the highest Gallup has ever recorded." [...] While the 56 percent number is impressive indeed — again the highest ever recorded this close to an election — it was even higher before the coronavirus pandemic swept across the United States.

Anarchist Arrested For Plot to Kidnap and Kill Whitmer Hates President Trump.  Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer (D) owes President Trump an apology. [...] It turns out Brandon Caserta, one of anarchists who was arrested for plotting to kidnap Whitmer, actually hates President Trump and is on video calling Trump a "tyrant."  "Trump is not your friend dude," Caserta said.  He says Trump is "a tyrant" and calls President Trump an "enemy."  [Video clip]

Pizzas kept showing up every 45 min outside Walter Reed: 'You know it's from Trump, there's meat on it!'  While you don't know for sure if President Donald Trump is behind it, somehow you just know he is.  A peculiar thing happened Sunday night outside the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, hot pizzas kept showing up.  By the dozens.  A throng of Trump supporters have been holding a vigil outside the facility since the president was admitted on Friday after testing positive for COVID-19, or as Trump is now calling it, the "plague from China."  According to one enthusiastic supporter, Domino's pizzas were being delivered every 45 minutes to the crowd — 250 pies and counting.

Cruise ships in the scrap yard:
Drone view of a ship graveyard as cruising market collapses in pandemic.  Dozens of workers stripped walls, windows, floors and railings from several vessels in the dock in Aliaga, a town 45 km north of Izmir on Turkey's west coast.  Three more ships are set to join those already being dismantled.  [Video clip]

The Slow Suicide of New York City.  About 1,200 restaurants have permanently shuttered since March.  The city has around 600,000 fewer jobs than a year ago.  About one-third of the city's small businesses may never reopen.  But, of course, it's not just about numbers.  It's the vitality of the city that has been struck down.  Tourism is practically a thing of the past.  Hotels lay in waste.  Broadway remains dark.  Offices spaces are just that — vacant.  The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which operates the subways, is hemorrhaging $200 million a week.  Nobody, it seems, is going anywhere.  Take a look at the platforms at virtually any subway station: a ghost town.  Imagine the wreckage occurring to the city's tax base.

Trump Supporter Outside Walter Reed Hospital: 'We Brought a Trump Rally to Him'.  A Trump supporter who gathered outside of Walter Reed hospital with fellow supporters on Sunday said that they effectively "brought a Trump rally" to the president, as Trump remained in the hospital undergoing treatment for the Chinese coronavirus.  "Trump has been giving us rallies basically four, five times a week, every day the last three, four weeks," the Trump supporter, identified as "Greg," told Breitbart News.  "Right now he needs us.  So we brought a Trump rally to him and he came out and he said hi and it made his day."  Earlier in the day, Trump made a surprise visit to his supporters who have gathered outside of the hospital throughout the duration of his stay, waving to them from a[n] SUV.

Led Zeppelin emerges victorious in 'Stairway to Heaven' plagiarism case.  British rock band Led Zeppelin on Monday effectively won a long-running legal battle over claims it stole the opening guitar riff from its signature 1971 song "Stairway to Heaven."  The band, one of the best-selling rock acts of all time, was handed victory after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to take up the case, meaning that a March 2020 decision by a U.S. appeals court in Led Zeppelin's favor will stand.  Lead singer Robert Plant and guitarist Jimmy Page had been accused in the six-year-long case of lifting the riff — one of the best-known openings in rock music — from a song called "Taurus", written by the late Randy Wolfe of the U.S. band Spirit.

Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany, 32, becomes Thirteenth member of Trump's inner circle to test positive for COVID-19.  White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany has become the latest person in the President's inner circle to test positive for COVID-19, three days after Trump confirmed he'd been infected.  McEnany, 32, continued going to work at the White House despite Trump testing positive late on Thursday night and she took her mask off on Sunday to brief reporters.  She had been in close contact with the President and others at White House who have tested positive, but repeatedly tested negatively herself until Monday.  Her assistant, Chad Gilmartin has also tested positive.

White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany says she's tested positive for coronavirus.  White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany revealed she tested positive for the coronavirus on Monday morning and will start the "quarantine process," becoming the latest person in President Trump's orbit to get the virus.  "After testing negative consistently, including every day since Thursday, I tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday morning while experiencing no symptoms," McEnany said in a statement.  "No reporters, producers, or members of the press are listed as close contacts by the White House Medical Unit."

Carl Sagan's socialism hot take with Ted Turner goes viral 31 years later.  Carl Sagan, who spent his career in search of extraterrestrial intelligence, was apparently hard-pressed to find it here on Earth.  The famed astronomer made a case for socialism in a 1989 interview on CNN with billionaire television mogul Ted Turner when asked simply, "Are you a socialist?"  A clip of their exchange has gone viral on Twitter with more than 100,000 likes and more than 3 million views since Sunday night.

Martha McSally has what it takes to be a senator.  Mark Kelly doesn't, former astronauts say.  As former fighter pilots and test pilots, we know what it takes to get in the cockpit of a fighter jet for a test flight or combat:  incredible determination, strength and grit.  That's why we support Sen. Martha McSally.  As the first woman in U.S. history to fly a fighter jet in combat and command a fighter squadron, she broke barriers in the Air Force and the military.  We remember a not-so-distant past when the Air Force wouldn't let women fly in combat.  Instead of sitting down accepting the status quo, McSally stood up, fought for change and made strides for generations of women to follow her.

Ouch! Three Astronauts Endorse AZ's GOP Senator Over Her Astronaut Senate Challenger.  You hate to see it.  Things are going great in your effort to become a U.S. senator:  you're crushing your general election opponent both in the polls and donations haul, PACs are filling the airwaves and online with nasty, dishonest ads against your governor-appointed, incumbent adversary.  Then this happens...  The Arizona Republic, the largest newspaper in the state of Arizona and the ostensible paper of record for the movers and shakers in the capital city, Phoenix, publishes an embarrassing endorsement for your GOP rival, barely thirty days before Election Day, from these three gentlemen.

Horse-Drawn Carriages Met With Protesters As Rides Return To Central Park.  Horse-drawn carriage rides are officially back in Central Park again.  Rides ran Saturday [10/3/2020] for the first time since March after being shut down due to the pandemic.  But as drivers and tourists celebrated the return, they were met with protesters who are asking the city to get the carriages off the streets again.

The Editor says...
Rusty!

Biden's dramatic change to retirement accounts could reduce their availability, industry warns.  Former Vice President Joe Biden's presidential platform includes a tax proposal that could force some employers to abandon offering retirement options to workers, the industry is warning.  The plan would dramatically change the incentive to save for retirement by replacing the current deferral system with a tax credit.  Most retirement plans, such as 401(k) plans and IRAs, allow taxpayers to delay paying taxes on contributions to accounts until they are retired.  By suspending this tax until retirement, workers have been able to grow their nest eggs beyond what they would have been if taxes were paid in the year that the money was received.  Biden would like to replace the current system with a tax credit.  His campaign site does not lay out a rate for the credit, but it has been reported to be 26%.

Texas AG Paxton disputes bribery, abuse-of-office allegations leveled by aides.  Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton defended himself Saturday evening [10/3/2020] after a group of high-level aides reported alleged criminal misconduct to federal law enforcement, according to local reports.  "We have a good faith belief that the Attorney General is violating federal and/or state law, including prohibitions relating to improper influence, abuse of office, bribery and other potential criminal offenses," said a letter signed by seven high-ranking assistant attorney generals.  It was dated Oct. 1 but obtained and published Saturday by Austin's KVUE-TV and the Austin American-Statesman.

China's Communist Christ.  Earlier this year, we learned of the Chinese Communist Party's intention to undertake its own, state-approved "translation" of the Bible.  Evidently, the Christian Scriptures are not as amenable to CCP orthodoxy as the Politburo would like.  According to the state-run Xinhua News Agency, the Party assembled a group of obedient and pliable "scholars" late last year and charged them with "making accurate and authoritative interpretations of classical doctrines to keep pace with the times."  In other words, the CCP plans to turn the Scriptures into another piece of regime propaganda by rewriting them beyond all recognition.

The Editor says...
Numerous re-translations of the Bible have been produced over the last century, and many of them are so loosely paraphrased or so excessively "amplified" and embellished that they don't sound like the original at all.

Debate commission accedes to Biden campaign's 'health and safety' objections for VP debate.  The Commission on Presidential Debates has agreed to seat Kamala Harris and Mike Pence 12 feet apart at the vice presidential debate next week, after the Biden campaign raised health and safety objections to the original spacing between the two candidates because of Covid concerns.  As of Friday evening [10/2/2020], however, the commission would not accede to the Biden campaign's request that Harris and Pence stand during the debate.  Instead, the two will be seated, which was the preference of the Trump campaign, a source familiar with the discussions told POLITICO.

Former FBI Official Proposes 'Bipartisan Commission' to Vet Presidential Candidates Like Trump.  A former top FBI official on Thursday [10/1/2020] proposed that a "bipartisan commission" be created to vet presidential candidates so people like President Trump can never be elected again.  "We got this wrong, and this can't happen again," said Frank Figliuzzi, who was briefly the assistant director of the FBI under President Obama.  During a discussion on MSNBC about Trump's taxes Thursday morning, Figliuzzi opined that the president's supposedly dire financial situation made him "vulnerable" to certain entities like {{{Russia}}}.

The Editor says...
[#1] Whenever a "bipartisan commission" is proposed, the purpose of it is to damage or impede the Republicans.  [#2] Whenever you read, "former Obama official," you can stop right there and infer that the proposal is as partisan as it can be.  [#3] Little kids have been told for centuries that anyone can grow up to be President of the United States.  Is that still true?  Was it ever true?  [#4]  Presidential candidates are filtered by a lengthy campaign process which is widely televised for all to see.  If the American voters want to elect someone with a sketchy background, a phony Social Security number, and a forged birth certificate, it is the duty of the press to let everyone know about all this before Election Day.

Trump delivers video message saying he thinks he is 'doing very well,' after testing positive for coronavirus.  President Trump thanked Americans for their "tremendous support" and said he is "doing very well" in a pre-recorded video he tweeted out Friday as he was being flown by Marine One to Walter Reed Military Medical Center where he will be treated for mild symptoms after testing positive for the COVID-19.  The president's message was upbeat, though his tone was more subdued than usual in the video, which is believed to have been shot just before he was transferred to Walter Reed "out of an abundance of caution," according to the White House.

Trump Taken to Hospital 'Out of an Abundance of Caution,' White House Says.  [Scroll down]  The Trumps' diagnosis comes just three days after the first presidential debate of this year's election cycle, where Trump and Biden did not shake hands in order to protect both candidates against contracting the virus.  Republican Senator Mike Lee has tested positive as well, just two days after he met with in-person with Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett.  Barrett reportedly already contracted the coronavirus over the summer and has since recovered.

Stock futures, oil prices plunge after Trump tests positive for coronavirus.  US stock futures and global shares tumbled Friday as President Trump's announcement that he tested positive for coronavirus rattled investors.  Futures contracts for the Dow Jones industrial average had dropped 348 points, or about 1.2 percent, to 27,341.00 as of 6:52 a.m. after Trump tweeted that he and first lady Melania Trump had contracted the virus.  Futures for the benchmark S&P 500 index sank 1.3 percent while Nasdaq futures fell about 1.8 percent, pointing to a sharp drop on Wall Street at Friday's opening bell.  Investors also sold stocks abroad, with London's FTSE 100 index dropping as much as 1.1 percent and Germany's blue-chip DAX index falling as much as 1.4 percent.

The Editor says...
It sounds like a bunch of armchair investors find it much too easy to buy and sell over the internet.

Verizon scrambling to unload HuffPost as losses mount.  Verizon has been quietly scrambling to unload HuffPost as it grapples with continued losses at the left-leaning news and culture website, The [New York] Post has learned.  The telecom giant — which acquired the site formerly known as the Huffington Post as part of its $4.4 billion purchase of AOL in 2015 — has approached multiple digital-media companies during the past few months in a bid to get the property off its books as losses accelerate due to the coronavirus, according to sources close to the situation.  Verizon has pitched the property to prospective buyers including Thrillist-owner Group Nine Media, Rolling Stone publisher Penske Media Corp., Bustle Digital Media and J2 Global, insiders said.  Those media outlets declined to comment.

GOP pollster sees Trump-Biden debate as embarrassing, says it 'encouraged people not to vote'.  Longtime Republican pollster Frank Luntz told CNBC on Wednesday [9/30/2020] that participants in his focus group were let down by the first debate between President Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden.  "I have never had a session blow up where the participants were disappointed on both sides, where everyone was embarrassed and everyone was upset about what had happened," Luntz said on "Squawk Box," while agreeing with the participants' assessment.

Dallas salon owner jailed for defying lockdown orders wins spot in run-off for state senate seat.  Remember Shelley Luther, the Dallas salon owner who reopened her business during the coronavirus shutdown?  She decided to turn her story into action and is running for a seat in the Texas State Senate.  Tuesday night [9/29/2020], she earned a spot in the run-off for that seat.  While everyone else was consumed with the presidential debate, a special election race was being held in the Dallas area.  Sen. Pat Fallon (R-Prosper) is running for Congress so his seat has been vacated.  The district is a solidly red district and stretches to the northwest around Dallas-Fort Worth.  With 100% of precincts reporting, she and state Rep. Drew Springer of Muenster ended in a dead heat.  The third-place finisher was the only Democrat running.

Court rules Subway sandwiches too sugary to meet legal definition of 'bread'.  Ireland's highest court isn't sweet on tax breaks for footlongs.  The country's Supreme Court ruled that the starch used in Subway sandwiches is too sugary to meet the definition of "bread" — a legal distinction that would have saved the firm some dough.  In deciding whether to give the fast-food chain a tax break for serving a "staple" food item, the five-judge panel ruled that the bread's sugar-to-flour content is roughly five times too high to qualify, according to the Irish Independent.  For a company to be taxed zero percent, under the Value-Added Tax Act of 1972, the weight of sugar and fat in a bread product must not be more than 2 percent of the total weight of flour in the dough.

Next major doc declass by WH said to show Russia was actually trying to hurt Trump, not collude with him.  The White House is set to declassify a major trove of documents that include evidence showing Russian President Vladimir Putin was actually working against then-GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump, not 'colluding' with him as Democrats have long charged, a report said Tuesday [9/29/2020].  The declassification and its potential to flip the narrative — set for this week according to multiple sources who spoke to Just The News — would come four years after the Obama-era FBI launched a counterintelligence probe over claims that people within the Trump campaign were working with Moscow to manipulate the outcome in the GOP contender's favor.

A temporary dip in demand is no reason to move the plant.  There must be more to it.
Boeing to move all 787 Dreamliner production to South Carolina.  Boeing Co. will set plans this week to consolidate 787 Dreamliner assembly in South Carolina, people familiar with the matter said, ending production of that jetliner in Washington state as the coronavirus pandemic saps demand for aircraft.  The decision carries significant implications for the Seattle-area economy and Boeing's unionized workforce around Puget Sound.  It wasn't clear over what period of time the consolidation would play out, or how many employees might be affected by the move.  Boeing could announce the plans as soon as this week, some of the people familiar with the matter said.

Chamber of Commerce's Political Chief Resigns After Democrat Endorcements.  The United States Chamber of Commerce's chief political strategist has resigned from the business group after its endorsement of 23 House Democrats in swing districts across the country.  Scott Reed, the Chamber's longtime senior political strategist, has resigned, according to the New York Times' Maggie Haberman.  "Scott Reed, who's been the top political strategist at the US Chamber for years, tells me he has resigned, amid a perceived drift to the left at the Chamber on heels of nearly two dozen endorsements of House Dems," Haberman posted online.

Governor Cuomo Offers To Send National Guard To Pick Up Trash.  New York Governor Andrew Cuomo offered to send the national guard to help pick up the trash which has reportedly been piling up in New York City.  "Garbage piling up, literally, people saying there is an odiferous environment because of the garbage piling up," Cuomo said during a Tuesday [9/29/2020] press conference.  "I don't know what's going on in New York City.  If they can't do it, I have offered to send in the National Guard to come help pick up the garbage."

The Editor says...
If you're in the National Guard, is this the kind of duty you had in mind when you signed up?  Is the National Guard just a mass of poorly-paid all-purpose servants who clean up the 50 governors' messes?

Ron Johnson: 'Political' for John Durham not to release interim report before election.  A top Republican senator blamed U.S. Attorney John Durham's criminal inquiry into the Russia investigation for presenting a roadblock to documents sought by Congress.  This is why Sen. Ron Johnson, the chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said "it is incredibly disappointing" if the federal prosecutor does not intend to release an interim report before the Nov. 3 election due to concerns about such a disclosure being viewed as political as Fox Business anchor Maria Bartiromo reported on Sunday [9/27/2020].  "What's political is if he doesn't report," the Wisconsin Republican declared.  Johnson said the "deep state" has, "through these other investigations," prevented the public "from knowing what happened with the FBI's corruption of their investigation, the corruption of the transition process, for about three-and-a-half years."

Huge: No Durham Report, Indictments Coming per Sources.  This is not the kind of big news you want to get on an otherwise slow Sunday morning, but here it is.  Fox News' Maria Bartiromo is reporting this morning that there will be no Durham interim report or indictments coming before the election.  By the wording, she may actually be saying there's no report coming at all.  If true, this is a travesty of justice of the highest order given what has transpired the last five years. [...] Whether or not you believe this news will probably depend on the level of cynicism you normally operate with in regards to this topic.  I've been far more skeptical of the Durham investigation than even I'd like to admit at times.

Hollywood not good enough?  Meghan Markle reportedly now wants to be US president.  Forgetting who she is, Meghan Markle, duchess of Sussex, has decided she'd also like to become president of the United States. [...] Seems that with duchess titles coming easily, shouldn't presidential ones, too?  All she has to do is smile pretty... and speak woke, and the American voters will be drooling for her.  Her foray into U.S. politics is getting particularly unseemly for someone who hasn't renounced her title of duchess.  First she started hanging out with Michelle Obama, "teaming up for female empowerment" as the press release, I mean USA Today article, put it.  Then she gets a lucrative Netflix deal, too, kind of like what the Obamas got.  Then she puts her husband, Prince Harry, in an embarrassing position by making a get-out-the-vote "public service" announcement, insisting that the election of 2020 would be "the most important election of our lifetimes," which was clearly targeted at President Trump.  She did her husband Harry, who has never voted in his life, a tremendous disservice by shoving him into that.

Woke Royals' U.S. Election Interference 'Violation' of Megxit Deal:  Claim.  The decision by Los Angeles-based Prince Harry and Meghan Markle to wade into the upcoming U.S. election by offering voting advice was a "violation" of their "Megxit" deal with the Queen and could further jeopardise their links to the monarchy, it was claimed Sunday [9/27/2020] by senior royal aides.  According to the Times newspaper, courtiers have been canvassing how the royal household could separate itself further from the pair.  The distance is required after the couple called on voters in America to "reject hate speech, misinformation and online negativity" in "the most important election of our lifetime" — comments widely interpreted as a swipe at President Donald Trump, as Breitbart News reported.

New Year's Eve ball drop in Times Square will be virtual this year.  For the first time in 114 years, there will be no crowd in Times Square to cheer the famed New Year's Eve ball drop.  In the latest COVID-19-induced blow to Big Apple traditions, officials announced major changes to the annual event Wednesday [9/23/2020] — saying that while the ball will still drop, the usual packed celebration will be a no-go.  "One thing that will never change is the ticking of time and the arrival of a New Year at midnight on December 31st," said Tim Tompkins, the president of the Times Square Alliance, in a news release.

The Editor says...
You could ring in the new year yourself, just by observing the time here or here.  If you have to be at work early the next morning (like I always did), you can celebrate the New Year in UTC or Zulu time, five hours earlier than Eastern Standard Time.  To simulate the actual conditions at Times Square, find about a thousand nasty smelly strangers to crowd around you, including a few pickpockets and prostitutes.  Then spill beer and cigarette butts all over the ground, and charge yourself $50 for a ride home.  In other words, you're not missing anything by not being in Times Square at midnight.

Anti-Cop Alyssa Milano Terrorizes Her Neighborhood by Calling Cops on a Teenager and a Squirrel.  If you're a liberal in Hollywood who likes to spout off about vital political issues 'n' stuff, there is a 98% chance you are a flaming hypocrite for it.  Like all the celebs who want to #DefundThePolice for me and you, but not for them.  And when it comes to leftist celebs with dumb political opinions, top of the list is usually Alyssa Milano.  Who, for a celeb who is super-serious about defunding the police — she [...] tweeted about it and everything — she has no problem calling the police.

The Editor says...
Apparently she wasn't acquainted with the teenager, otherwise I'd suspect her of low-level SWATting.

'Defund the police' activist Alyssa Milano calls 911 sparking massive police presence in her quiet California neighborhood.  Actress and 'Defund the police' activist Alyssa Milano was quick to call cops when she believed an armed gunman was on her Bell Canyon property on Sunday morning [9/20/2020].  The call ignited a response that included seven Ventura County Sheriffs' vehicles, one K-9 unit, a police helicopter and one Los Angeles Fire Department team that sat down the street on standby. [...] The search by air and street level lasted over three hours and ended abruptly at 12.20 pm. [...] 'It turned out it was a neighborhood teen with an air gun shooting at squirrels,' a resident told the DailyMail.com.  The male teenager witnessed the emergency response and later realized he was the cause and turned himself in.

The Editor says...
This is a person who wants to live in a little world without cops.  If that's what she wants, she should learn a lot more about firearms.

House passes short-term spending bill to avoid government shutdown.  The House approved late Tuesday night, in a 359-57-1 vote, a stopgap bill to avoid a government shutdown at the end of the month.  Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez did not vote yes or no, but "present."  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced earlier Tuesday [9/22/2020] that Democrats had reached a deal with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to avert a government shutdown and fund the government with a continuing resolution through Dec. 11.

The Editor says...
AOC has figured out how to get easy press coverage:  Just vote "present," like Barack H. Obama used to do, and the news media will point out the lone exception.  In doing so, she isn't representing her constituents, but as long as the newspapers spell her name correctly, she doesn't seem to care.

Bloomberg raises millions to help Florida felons vote.  Just days after after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis won a court victory to keep felons from voting until they've paid off fines, restitution and court fees, billionaire Mike Bloomberg has stepped in to help them pay off the debts.  The former Democratic presidential candidate has helped raise more than $20 million so that felons who completed their prison sentences can vote in the presidential election.  Bloomberg also has pledged $100 million to help Joe Biden win Florida.

Matt Gaetz Calls On Florida AG To Investigate Mike Bloomberg "For Potentially Engaging In Bribery And Vote Buying".  Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) has called on the state's Attorney General to investigate Bloomberg for "Potentially Engaging In Bribery And Vote Buying."  [Video clip] [...] [Earlier,] Former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg, who has committed at least $100 million in Florida towards electing Joe Biden, has raised another $16 million to pay the court fines and fees of nearly 32,000 Black and Hispanic felons so that they can vote in the November election.

Mike Bloomberg Is Likely Breaking Federal Law by Paying off Felon Debts for Democrat Votes.  As reported earlier former New York City Mayor and billionaire Mike Bloomberg raised $16 million to pay off the fines for 32,000 black and Hispanic Florida voters so they can vote for Joe Biden in the 2020 election.  Basketball icon Lebron James is also looking to pay convicted felons' fines so they can vote for Joe Biden.  But tonight legal analyst J. Christian Adams argued that Michael Bloomberg is breaking federal and likely Florida state law by buying votes from felons.  And J. Christian Adams also argued that Bloomberg is putting the felons in legal and financial jeopardy by paying off their debts for votes.

Candace Owens Claims Amazon [is] Destroying Her Books Before Shipping, Provides Photos.  On Saturday, conservative commentator and author Candace Owens claimed about 1,000 fans have informed her that their copy of her new book, "Blackout:  How Black America Can Make Its Second Escape from the Democrat Plantation," was damaged upon arrival from Amazon.  "Dear [Amazon].  About 1,000 people have written to let me know that your employees appear to be stomping on and in this case, smearing Vaseline on my books before mailing them," Owens accused.  "I know it must have pained you to ship out all 90,000 copies you had in stock — but this is unacceptable."  Owens provided photos of the damaged books and retweeted others showcasing similar damage to their copy.

Translation:  Printing money causes inflation.
Price Increases at Retail Level Accelerating, Thanks to Massive Money Supply Increase.  The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported on Friday [9/11/2020] that prices at the retail level in August increased at an annual rate of nearly five percent in August.  Retail prices dropped when the shutdown began and demand for retail items such as gas and services such as restaurants fell like stones.  People nearly stopped buying, preferring to stash their "stimulus" checks from the government in savings or use them to pay off credit card debt.  In response, the government, with the help of the Federal Reserve, dumped massive amounts of newly created digital currency into the economy, hoping that the infusion would quickly revive it once the infection risk had passed.

Most Want 'Blue Lives Matter' Laws to Protect Police, Fear for Public Safety.  Most voters believe there is a war on police in America today and want to make attacks on cops punishable as a hate crime.  Blacks worry most that these attacks will make their communities less safe.  The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 59% of Likely U.S. Voters think there is a war on police going on.  That's up from 43% two years ago and up from a previous high of 58% in 2015.  Just 29% disagree, while 12% are undecided.

Senate Dems, including Kamala Harris, call for investigation into Durham probe.  Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee, including Sen. Kamala Harris, are calling on the Justice Department's watchdog to investigate whether a probe led by U.S. Attorney John Durham violates Justice Department policy.  Durham, is investigating the origins of the Trump-Russia probe and other intelligence-gathering activities related to Donald Trump and his associates.

Black Leaders Launch '1776 Unites' High School Curriculum.  Two black leaders are launching "1776 Unites," a new high school curriculum that aims to combat victimhood culture in American society by telling the stories of black Americans who have prospered by embracing America's founding ideals.  Civil rights veteran Bob Woodson and Ian Rowe, a charter school leader, gave remarks Wednesday on the new curriculum and what they hope it will accomplish for young black students and students of all races.  The curriculum's goal is to "let millions of young people know about these incredible stories, African-Americans past and present, innovative, inventive, who faced adversity, did not view themselves as victims, and chose pathways to be agents of their own uplift," said Rowe, who is also a Resident Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.

Oregon couple helplessly watch as looters break into evacuated home.  An Oregon couple forced to flee their home because of the raging wildfires soon faced a second heartbreak — as they helplessly watched looters breaking in on their home video surveillance system.  Tracy and Marvin Johnson told KOIN 6 News how the Unger Fire had already destroyed a two-mile hiking trail in Beavercreek that they had opened days earlier after spending eight years building.  Firefighters managed to save their home despite the blaze coming within feet of it — just for looters to break in despite an evacuation order in the area, they told the station.  "Our Nest cam came on and told us that there was movement and we could see the lights pull up into our driveway," Marvin Johnson said.

Analyst: Neither Trump or Biden care about soaring federal debt, deficit.  The U.S. government is awash in debt and red ink — and neither President Donald Trump or his Democratic challenger appear bothered by the status quo, an analyst told Yahoo Finance on Wednesday [9/16/2020].  Last week, the Treasury released data showing how the COVID-19 pandemic helped push the U.S. federal budget deficit above $3 trillion for the first 11 months of fiscal 2020, a rate more than double the prior full-year record.

Uh-Oh: John Bolton Is Officially Under DOJ Investigation.  Perhaps that book wasn't such a great idea?  John Bolton is now officially under DOJ investigation for possibly leaking classified information in his recent tell-all publication.  The book made news by making several big unsubstantiated claims aimed at hurting President Trump.  The media obviously salivated over Bolton because he was targeting the right person, though they once treated him as the root of all evil and a disgusting warmonger.  But Trump has a way of rehabilitating anyone's image.  Now, Bolton may be rethinking whether all those plaudits were worth it.

Data Reveals Where the Majority of Biden's Donations Came from — and It's Bad News for Dems.  The conservative group Take Back Action Fund is sounding the alarm on millions of political donations made to former Vice President Joe Biden's presidential campaign.  According to the group, more than half of the 2019 contributions Biden received on the Democratic fundraising platform ActBlue came from unemployed people, Fox News reported.  That number has increased in 2020, particularly in light of the pandemic. [...] "After downloading hundreds of millions of [dollars in] donations to the Take Back Action Fund servers, we were shocked to see that almost half of the donations to ActBlue in 2019 claimed to be unemployed individuals," Take Back Action Fund's president, John Pudner, told Fox News.  "The name of employers must be disclosed when making political donations, but more than 4.7 million donations came from people who claimed they did not have an employer.  Those 4.7 million donations totaled $346 million ActBlue raised and sent to liberal causes."

Rochester Police Receive Permission to Cover Their Names After Harassment.  Rochester, New York, police officers have received permission to cover their name tags in an effort to avoid harassment from far-left protesters.  Rochester Police Chief La'Ron Singletary who is set to retire soon, approved the move after protesters targeted a number of officers who shouted out their home addresses, the names of their children and their schools, and made phone calls to their parents.  After the decision, a city council meeting with Democrat Mayor Lovely Warren and City Council Chief of Staff Robert Scanlon occurred.  During the meeting, Scanlon fielded questions on the police.  Scanlon read a response on behalf of Singletary.

Silicon Valley's Tech Titans Cut Pay For Staff That Work From Home.  Software company VMWare announced recently that employees that opt to work from home indefinitely will be asked to accept as much as an 18 percent reduction in pay.  Now, other companies in Silicon Valley have announced similar plans to decrease salaries for those that choose to work from home.  According to a report by Bloomberg News, companies in Silicon Valley may reduce pay for employees that opt to work from home indefinitely.  Both Facebook and Twitter confirmed that they may adopt policies that would reduce pay for employees that opt to work from home.

Hero veteran's 'Oregon is burning' campaign ad sweeps the internet for originality and fire.  A Republican running for Congress in Oregon blasted his far-left opponent for a dismal track record in representing their district in a fiery new campaign video.  In the video released this week, Republican congressional candidate Alek Skarlatos declared that "Oregon is burning" as he called out Democratic Rep. Peter DeFazio, who has "been in office longer than I've been alive."  The 27-year-old former Oregon National Guardsman, hailed as a hero for his part in thwarting a terrorist attack on a Paris-bound train in 2015, now wants to represent Oregon's 4th district in Congress.

Entire Rochester, NY Police Command Staff Resigns.  Rochester has been having fiery but mostly peaceful protests ever since a mentally-ill man jacked up on amphetamines died while in police custody.  He said he had covid and began spitting on officers, so, to protect Their Lives, which apparently don't matter, they put a spit-hood over him.  Then he suffocated.  "Mostly Peaceful Protesters" blame the spit-hood.  I blame the spitting of disease on cops.  I also blame the illegal amphetamines this lunatic was amped up on.  They've been rioting since then, and now the whole leadership says Byeeee!

Propaganda for kids:
DC Comics 'Wonder Women Of History' To Feature 'Real World Heroes' Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib.  DC Comics is releasing a new graphic novel celebrating the "Wonder Women of History," and included among 17 female "real-world heroes" will be leftist darlings Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), and even former presidential candidate, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA).  The list of "Wonder Women of History" also includes Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, tennis star Serena Williams, Beyonce, and alternative comedian Tig Notaro, as well as a number of social justice activists.  No conservative women were included.

New Jersey orders American flags honoring 9/11 to be removed from overpasses.  New Jersey's Department of Transportation has come under fire for ordering the removal of flags hung on overpasses in memory of lives lost on 9/11.  Days before the anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks on The U.S., flags that have been hung on New Jersey highway overpasses for years were reportedly ordered to be taken down by the state's turnpike authority because they were deemed a "distraction."

The Editor says...
Ri-i-i-ight.  But the state's own highway message boards are okay, even if they just have a placeholder message like "Click It or Ticket."

Alek Scarlatos is Running for Congress in Oregon's 4th District.  Alek Scarlatos is running for Congress in Portland's 4th Congressional District. [...] Alek can win this district.  Alek is running against Rep. Peter DeFazio who has held the seat since January 1987 before Alek was born.  You may recognize Alek Scarlatos.  In August 2015 Alek Scarlatos along with this friends Spencer Stone and Anthony Sadler took down an armed Islamic terrorist during his attack in the train from Belgium to France.

Minnesota Veteran Running for Congress Criticizes Obama-Era VA.  Minnesota GOP congressional candidate Tyler Kistner told Fox Business on Friday [9/4/2020] the Obama-era Veterans Affairs was the "worst it had ever been."  "Under the Obama administration ... our budget was cut.  We had limited resources to effectively carry out our job, and Veterans Affairs was the worst it had ever been," Kistner, a former Marine, told Fox Business.  "So I stand with our president and everything he's continuing to do for our military day in and day out."

UN Forced to Admit Gates-funded Vaccine is Causing Polio Outbreak in Africa.  This really should be one of the biggest public health scandals of the decade, but instead it's given little attention — mainly because of the high-profile nature of the people and organisations involved.  The United Nations has been forced to admit that a major international vaccine initiative is actually causing a deadly outbreak of the very disease it was supposed to wipe-out.  While international organisations like the World Health Organization (WHO) will regularly boast about 'eradicating polio' with vaccines — the opposite seems to be the case, with vaccines causing the deaths of scores of young people living in Africa.

The Coming Coup?  Democrats are laying the groundwork for revolution right in front of our eyes.  As if 2020 were not insane enough already, we now have Democrats and their ruling class masters openly talking about staging a coup.  You might have missed it, what with the riots, lockdowns and other daily mayhem we're forced to endure in this, the most wretched year of my lifetime.  But it's happening.  It started with the military brass quietly indicating that the troops should not follow a presidential order.  They were bolstered by many former generals — including President Trump's own first Secretary of Defense — who stated openly what the brass would only hint at.  Then, as nationwide riots really got rolling in early June, the sitting Secretary of Defense himself all but publicly told the president not to invoke the Insurrection Act.

Discover blocks donations to site raising money for Kyle Rittenhouse defense.  Discover Financial Services has blocked customers from making donations on a Christian crowdfunding site that was raising money for accused Kenosha gunman Kyle Rittenhouse, a report said.  GiveSendGo has raised more than $380,000 for the 17-year-old, who has been receiving support in some conservative circles who claim he acted in self-defense when he fatally shot two protesters with an AR-15 style rifle during a chaotic night following the shooting of Jacob Blake.  The credit card company, in emails to Forbes, said the action was taken for operating regulation violations.  The violation wasn't explained.

AG Barr on Michael Reinoehl's Killing: 'Our Cities Are Safer With This Violent Agitator Removed'.  Attorney General William Barr on Friday lauded law enforcement after the killing of self-professed Portland Antifa member and murder suspect Michael Forest Reinoehl, saying American cities are safer with him off the streets.  "Last Saturday, Aaron 'Jay' Danielson was shot and killed amid the continuing violence in Portland.  Local authorities subsequently obtained an arrest warrant for Michael Forest Reinoehl, a self-described Antifa member suspected of the alleged murder," Barr said in a statement.  "Reinoehl fled to Washington State, where he was located yesterday by members of a fugitive task force led by the U.S. Marshals Service, the FBI, and state and local law enforcement partners.  When Reinoehl attempted to escape arrest and produced a firearm, he was shot and killed by law enforcement officers."

Jacob Blake pleads not guilty to sexual assault charges in virtual court appearance.  Jacob Blake, the black man who was shot by a white cop in Kenosha, Wisc., last month, surfaced Friday for the first time since he was injured — to plead not guilty to previous criminal charges filed against him in July.  Blake, 29, donning a blue button-down shirt and yellow tie, entered his plea by video from his hospital bed at Wisconsin's Froedtert Hospital.  It was his first public appearance since he was shot seven times in the back by a Kenosha police officer Aug. 23, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down.  His shooting sparked more widespread police-brutality protests.

Atlanta ICE operation nets 77 'worst of the worst' offenders.  At least 77 "worst of the worst" accused offenders were arrested during an operation by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Atlanta Field Office earlier this summer, according to a report on Thursday [9/3/2020].  Most of the individuals arrested have had convictions for aggravated assault, cruelty towards children and other crimes that targeted the young, Thomas Giles, the ICE Atlanta Field Office director, told FOX 5.  He said the operation — which spanned from July 13 to Aug. 20 — focused on individuals he deemed "the worst of the worst — the threats to public safety."

If a Republican does this, it's called going into hiding.
St. Louis mayor temporarily relocates following protests at her home.  Mayor Lyda Krewson has temporarily relocated after a string of protests at her Central West End home.  The mayor on Wednesday [9/2/2020] confirmed that she and her husband, former television reporter Mike Owens, have been living at an apartment, also in the Central West End.  "We have not lived at home for 2 months," Krewson said in a text message to a reporter.  "We did it to deescalate the situation, to save police resources, and importantly because our neighbors were being disturbed and threatened."  The mayor said "for me it comes with the territory."  "I ran for this job — my neighbors did not," Krewson said.

Students Think Trump's 2nd-Term Plans Are Great... When Told They Are Biden's.  A new video highlights how young people agree with Donald Trump's second term agenda, just so long as they don't know it's the President's.  Campus Reform told students that the plans, including going after human traffickers and terrorists, and ending wars to bring troops home.  [Video clip]

DoJ: Operation Legend arrests 147 murder suspects — and 2,000 overall — in six weeks.  How did the Department of Justice make over 2,000 arrests in less than two months of Operation Legend?  In part by returning to the kind of effective law enforcement that cities have abandoned in 2020.  US Attorney Justin Herdman told Fox & Friends that the efforts in nine cities have found almost 150 murder suspects since the late-July effort began, which is one reason why local police departments have welcomed federal help, Herdman claimed.  The boost in resources at all levels allows officers to use broken-windows policing to find criminals who have been hiding in plain sight all along.

Court Documents Reveal Shot Kenosha Rioter Joseph Rosenbaum Was a Convicted Child Rapist.  New court documents of the Pima County, Arizona circuit court reveal that Joseph Rosenbaum was convicted of various sex crimes against children in Arizona in 2002.  Rosenbaum was killed in an altercation while rioting in Kenosha, Wisconsin last week.  He is seen on camera lunging at 17-year old Kyle Rittenhouse, who eventually shot him, claiming he acted in self defense when Rosenbaum attempted to take the AR-15 rifle he was carrying.

Pedophiles are Using Cheese and Pizza Emojis to Share Child Porn Images on Social Media.  Experts are warning that pedophiles are using cheese and pizza emojis to trade child pornography over social media.  PDProtect, a London-based group, is warning that pedophiles are taking and sharing images of children that are uploaded by their own parents and sharing them with other creeps.  "I couldn't just scroll past it as at the end of the day these are people's children," said India, the 27-year-old mother who founded the project, to The Telegraph.

Seattle mayor asks state Supreme Court to halt recall effort against her.  Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan filed a petition Monday asking the state Supreme Court to block an effort to recall her, arguing that the push is based on a policy disagreement and is vague about what she should have done differently in her handling of widespread protests in June.  In appealing her case to the state Supreme Court, Durkan argued that she hadn't violated any law or standard.

Fox News' Chris Wallace to moderate first Trump-Biden presidential debate.  "Fox News Sunday" anchor Chris Wallace has been selected to moderate the first presidential debate between President Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden, the non-partisan Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) announced Wednesday [9/2/2020].  Wallace will moderate the first debate, which is scheduled to take place Tuesday, Sept. 29 in Cleveland.  Fox News Media CEO Suzanne Scott celebrated the announcement in an email to staffers on Wednesday.

US Marshals Service 'Operation Safety Net' recovers 25 missing children in Ohio in its first two weeks.  The U.S. Marshals Service recovered at least 25 missing children in Ohio in a two-week stretch as part of an ongoing operation in the Buckeye State.  "Over the weekend U.S. Marshals rescued dozens of missing children across Ohio, many of whom were being trafficked." Gov. Mike DeWine said during a Tuesday [9/1/2020] news conference.  "Operation Safety Net" is still in its first two weeks and is ongoing, according to the Marshals Service.  It's being carried out in conjunction with local law enforcement agencies around northern Ohio.

Body cam:  Knife-wielding woman killed after stabbing Jacksonville officer.  Body camera footage released Tuesday [9/1/2020] shows the sequence of events leading up to what the State Attorney's Office ruled a justifiable police shooting.  Leah Baker, 29, was shot and killed by police after attacking an officer who was answering an April 11 call about a dispute at a home in Northwest Jacksonville.  The newly obtained video shows how quickly the encounter escalated.

Oregon State Troopers were deputized by the feds so they can make arrests on federal charges.  There are a lot of moving parts to this one so let's quickly recap.  There have been 95 straight nights of protests in Portland since the death of George Floyd and on 25 occasions those have been declared riots.  Mayor Ted Wheeler has been more vocal lately about denouncing the violence and in response the mob has targeted him at his home with occupations, vandalism, arson and rioting.  Mayor Wheeler has now told his neighbors that for their safety he plans to move.

The Editor says...
Ri-i-i-ight.  I'm moving for your safety.  Perhaps at your expense, too.  It's a public service!

RFK's grandson Joe Kennedy III becomes the first member of his family to lose a Massachusetts election.  Joe Kennedy III on Tuesday failed in his bid to take the Senate seat held by JFK, becoming the first member of his family to lose an Congressional election in Massachusetts.  The 39-year-old grandson of Robert F. Kennedy lost to incumbent Sen. Ed Markey, 74, who has been in the Senate since 2013.  Kennedy said Tuesday night that the results aren't the ones he'd hoped for, but pledged to work for Markey's reelection.

Fleet of moving trucks mark exodus from Manhattan's troubled Upper West Side.  Moving trucks were out in force on Manhattan's Upper West Side on Saturday [8/29/2020] — leaving Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa practically tripping over them.  "The mass evacuation of Upper West Siders from NYC is in full effect," Sliwa, who lives on W. 87th Street, lamented, blaming the city's decision this summer to house hundreds of emotionally disturbed homeless and recovering addicts in neighborhood hotels.  A mayoral candidate, Sliwa has been organizing and often leading Guardian Angels patrols of the area.  "They were stacked up," Sliwa told The [New York] Post of the four trucks he saw as he took a morning walk on Saturday.

Shelley Luther, Dallas hair salon owner who defied Covid-19 shutdown, is running for office in Texas.  Dallas hair salon owner Shelley Luther is running for state senate in Texas to represent local business owners and individuals who want to make their own informed decisions during the pandemic.  Luther, a Republican, appears to be pro-choice as far as freedom of movement and face masks are concerned.  Moreover, Luther described Gov. Greg Abbott's statewide mask mandate as "ridiculous" and believes that any further measures related to COVID should be subject to the approval by the state legislature "otherwise, we'll turn into a communist state."  "I feel like if a business owner wants to require a mask to come in, then that's their right," she told Texas native Will Cain on Fox & Friends.

Should've waited for facts!  Armed Blake fleeing, was wanted for alleged robbery, sexual assault.  Non-fatal police shooting "victim" Jacob Blake of Kenosha, Wisconsin, may not be as innocent of a so-called "victim" as the media have portrayed him to be.  In fact, according to his police records, he's an alleged sexual assaulter.  The evidence is contained in charges that were filed against Blake on July 6, 2020, and subsequently obtained and published by the Daily Mail this Friday [8/28/2020].  According to the complaint, on May 3rd, Blake entered the home of his ex-girlfriend, identified as "LNB," and proceeded to sexually assault her.

This is why Jacob Blake had a warrant out for his arrest.  The cops involved in the shooting of Jacob Blake — which touched off a fresh wave of angry, anti-police sentiment across the country — were attempting to arrest him for violating a restraining order stemming from an alleged sexual assault, The [New York] Post has learned.  Blake, 29, was forbidden from going to the Kenosha home of his alleged victim from the May 3 incident, and police were dispatched Sunday following a 911 call saying he was there.  The responding officers were aware he had an open warrant for felony sexual assault, according to dispatch records and the Kenosha Professional Police Association, which released a statement on the incident on Friday.

Latest Chicago and Minneapolis riots broke out over police killings that never happened.  How do you restore order when people start riots over injustices that never happened?  Tragically, as riots sparked by disinformation unfold in Minneapolis and Chicago, this is the question we now face as a country.  Things are spiraling out of control.  The riots that broke out in late May and June after the death of George Floyd in police custody were destructive beyond description.  At least 15 people were killed during the wanton arson and looting.  Meanwhile, thousands of businesses, many owned by people of color, were destroyed, looted, and vandalized.  The economic fallout of this violence will haunt riot-torn urban communities for decades.

Biden campaign buys Keep America Great website domain to post anti-Trump messages.  Joe Biden's presidential campaign took a wily move from the Trump campaign playbook, buying up the domain KeepAmericaGreat.com and using it to post anti-Trump messages.  The slogan is frequently used by President Trump as part of his 2020 reelection effort.  Instead of MAGA boilerplate, however, visitors to KeepAmericaGreat.com are confronted with a laundry list of Trump's alleged broken promises.  "Trump isn't looking for a second term — he's looking for a do-over.  Here's how Trump's record stacks up against the promises he made to the American people," reads an intro to the material.  The website URL has existed in some form since 2004, though in recent years it has taken on a colorful new life among resistance trolls, according to the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine.

UCLA: Chinese visiting college researcher arrested, charged with destroying evidence.  Once again, a Chinese national has been arrested and detained in the United States for his alleged activities as a military scientist.  Guan Lei first came under investigation in July by the FBI.  He was under suspicion for visa fraud and possibly transferred "sensitive software or technical data" from UCLA.  Guan Lei studied machine-learning algorithms in UCLA's mathematics department.  According to one FBI agent's affidavit, he transferred information to "high-ranking" officials in the Chinese military.  He isn't charged with that, though.  He is accused of destroying evidence.  FBI agents staked out his apartment, saw him pull a computer hard drive from his sock and throw it into a trash dumpster.  He tossed the damaged hard drive just days after he was interviewed by investigators and tried to board a plane back to China.  It sure sounds like he's hiding something, right?

Criminal Complaint Against Jacob Blake Released, The Original Story His Lawyer Told Was a Lie.  The criminal complaint which led to the outstanding warrants on Jacob Blake has been obtained and released.  Blake was shot and wounded by police after assaulting an officer, resisting arrest, having a knife, and then trying to reach back into the car where the knife was late located.  In the complaint, we see exactly why cops were pursing him, that they knew who he was when they were called, and why tensions were so high. [...] This completely changes the narrative.  The first story told by the press and Blake's lawyer was that he was an innocent bystander just breaking up a fight.  That was a total lie, as evidenced by the statement's of his own ex-girlfriend, who had a restraining order against him.  In reality, he showed up and was attempting to steal her car.  The warrant was for allegedly sexually assaulting the woman, among two other things.  This also brings up the possibility that Blake was taking the children against the mom's wishes.  Why else would they be in the car he was stealing at the time of this incident?

9th Circuit Appeals Court Rejects Oregon Judge's Order Protecting "Press" from Federal Agents in Portland.  This bit of news slipped past on Thursday [8/27/2020] in the wake of events in Kenosha and the RNC Convention speech by Pres.  Trump.  One such story was the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals temporarily blocking an Order from an Oregon judge placing restrictions on federal agents in Portland concerning their actions involving the press and legal observers.  I have written two stories in recent weeks about orders by Federal District Court Judge Michael Simon in Portland — [an] Obama appointee — which placed restrictions on alleged conduct by federal law enforcement agents claimed by members of the "press" and "legal observers" as having been targeted at them by the agents.  Judge Simon first issued a temporary restraining order, and later, after hearing additional evidence, entered a preliminary injunction which made the restrictions permanent while the case brought by news agencies and others was pending before him.

George Floyd's Brother Ends $14.7 Million GoFundMe Memorial Account, One Day Before the Release of 3-Month Old Toxicology Report Revealing Floyd Died Of Overdose.  Two days after George Floyd's death in Minneapolis, MN, his brother, Philonise Floyd started a GoFundMe account to raise money for his estate and for grief counseling.  The GoFundMe description, written by Philonise also mentions that the funds they collect will help to cover the costs of a funeral.  George was buried in a gold casket and placed in a mausoleum as part of his elaborate funeral.  Retired professional boxer Floyd Mayweather donated $88,500 to cover the costs of George Floyd's funeral.  The GoFundMe campaign for George Floyd ended one day before the toxicology report was made public by the MN prosecution revealing the cause of George Floyd's death was a fentanyl overdose.

Fox News makes history with massive audience for Trump's GOP renomination acceptance speech.  A whopping 9.2 million people tuned in to Fox News from 10 p.m. to 11:45 p.m. ET Thursday [8/27/2020] to watch President Trump accept his party's renomination for president to close the Republican National Convention.  By contrast, no other network garnered more than 2.6 million viewers.  More people tuned into Fox News Thursday night than did CNN, MSNBC, ABC, NBC and CBS combined.  The viewing figures more than double the combined viewership of the two liberal cable news networks, with CNN averaging 2.2 million viewers and MSNBC pulling in 1.9 million viewers.

Kenosha police union gives its account of Jacob Blake shooting.  The Kenosha, Wis., police union issued a statement Friday on the police shooting of Jacob Blake, an incident last Sunday that sparked protests and rioting in the city this week that led to at least two deaths. [...] In Sunday's incident, Blake was "armed with a knife" and "forcefully fought" with officers, putting one of them in a headlock, Brendan Matthews, an attorney for the Kenosha Professional Police Association, said Friday, according to Kenosha News. [...] Matthews said officers first tried unsuccessfully to subdue Blake with stun guns.  Blake's lawyer claimed his client was trying to break up a domestic dispute before his arrest and he was unarmed at the time.  The police union statement added that most accounts of the shooting were "wholly inaccurate" and "purely fictional," Kenosha News reported.

WGN America to launch 'News Nation' on Tuesday, aiming to transform the house that Bozo built into the next CNN.  WGN America, the erstwhile home to Bozo and Andy Griffith, is set to reinvent itself as a cable news network with the Tuesday [9/1/2020] launch of "News Nation," a prime-time newscast that pledges to deliver unbiased reporting.  The mission is to take a bite out of CNN, MSNBC and Fox News.  Delayed but not derailed by the pandemic, WGN America has assembled a 150-person newsroom and has been making dry runs for several weeks of its nightly three-hour newscasts from extensively remodeled Chicago studios.

The Editor says...
That's a nice looking newsroom, but it is a mistake to put the primary news studio in one end of a TV newsroom.  In a newsroom, especially when unexpected (bad) things are happening somewhere nearby, conversations tend to get clamorous, police scanners are chattering, and everybody's phone is ringing.  The Happy Team doesn't like off-camera distractions.  A television studio is supposed to be totally silent except for the voices of the on-air talent.  Moreover, the modern TV studio has robotic cameras, and robotic cameras don't watch where they're going.  The robot will stop if it runs over your foot, but by then, it has run over your foot.

U.S. Marshals Find 39 Missing Kids and Rescue 15 From Sex Trafficking in Atlanta.  The U.S. Marshals Service put out a press release on Thursday announcing the recovery of 39 missing kids, some of whom were rescued from sex traffickers in Atlanta and Macon during Operation Not Forgotten in the state of Georgia. [...] The U.S. Marshal's Office is taking on child traffickers around the country.  Historically, the U.S. marshals are famous for the manhunt.  This kind of work is right up their alley and it was surprising to learn they had not been utilized to find missing children up until now.

The Kennedy dynasty may be well and truly over.  When Joe Kennedy III, the undistinguished, 39-year-old, four-term Democratic congressman from Massachusetts, announced he would challenge longtime incumbent Ed Markey for the US Senate last September, the liberal media had its typical slobbering, Pavlovian response.  Still does, despite a dramatic drop in the polls.  "The Democratic representative hasn't come up with a good rationale for challenging progressive Senator Ed Markey in Massachusetts," The Atlantic said three weeks ago.  "But with a name like his, it may not matter."  Really?  Great-Uncle Ted's run for president in 1980 couldn't be derailed by serial drunkenness, womanizing, cheating, nor lying — not even Chappaquiddick and the little matter of leaving a young woman to drown was enough.  It was Ted's televised inability to answer that very question — "Why are you running?" — that did him in.  Voters aren't stupid.  They know the reason.  The Kennedys think Massachusetts is their fiefdom, the Oval Office their birthright.  Kennedys run because they are Kennedys.

BLM Mob Starts Looting to Protest Police Brutality After Black Murder Suspect Commits Suicide.  It appears Black Lives Matter activists are so anxious for an excuse to riot that they won't even make sure the police were the ones who pulled the trigger when a black man loses his life.  On Wednesday night, a large crowd started breaking windows and looting stores like Target at Nicollet Mall in Minneapolis following news of a black man dying after police pursued him.  As it turned out, the man was a suspect in a murder case and he committed suicide to avoid arrest.

Arson suspected as cause of ship fire at San Diego Navy base.  Arson is suspected as the cause of a July 12 fire that left extensive damage to the USS Bonhomme Richard and a U.S. Navy sailor is being questioned as a potential suspect, a senior defense official said Wednesday.  The sailor was being questioned but was not detained and defense department leaders were notified of the development, the official said.

No, It's Not New for a Cabinet Secretary to Address a Political Convention.  Over at Slate, Fred Kaplan fumes about Mike Pompeo's speech from last night and writes, "no secretary of state has ever spoken at a party convention.  The Hatch Act forbids federal employees from taking part in political campaigns.  Pompeo also violated his own guidance, sent to his underlings on Feb. 18 of this year.  A bold-faced sentence in that memo read: 'Senate-confirmed Presidential appointees may not even attend a political party convention or convention-related event.'"  But the Hatch Act doesn't bar cabinet officials from speaking at political events.  The rules state that a cabinet official "may not use the official title 'Secretary' when engaging in political activity, such as speaking at a political campaign event.  However, a Cabinet secretary may use a general form of address, such as 'The Honorable,' when engaging in political activity, as such address does not identify his or her position."

Tom Fitton sharply criticizes the Durham probe..  Something is wrong.  Durham is NOT investigating.  Looks like a sham.  [Video clip]

Young woman in Detroit declared dead by paramedics, found alive at funeral home.  A 20-year-old woman was discovered this past weekend breathing at a Detroit funeral home hours after she was declared dead by paramedics and sent to the mortuary by her bereaved family.  "While it is our practice not to comment on open investigations, we can confirm that on Sunday, August 23, 2020, we received a call to pick up a Southfield woman who was deceased.  Upon her arrival at the funeral home, our staff confirmed she was breathing and called EMS," the mortuary told ABC News on Monday [8/24/2020].

Hungry New Yorkers form quarter-mile line for free food in Queens.  The line stretched a quarter-mile before the sun was barely up Saturday, snaking around corners like bread lines in the 1930s.  But the hungry in Queens are today's New Yorkers, left jobless by the coronavirus.  Until the pandemic struck the city, La Jornada food pantry used to hand out groceries to roughly 1,000 families a week.  Now, the figure tops 10,000.  And volunteers serve lunch every day to 1,000 — many of them kids with growling stomachs.  Across the five boroughs, the hungry number in the hundreds of thousands, the Food Bank of New York estimates.

The Editor says...
People always line up for free stuff, whether they're really hungry or not.

Chinese Government Urges Dam Operators at Maximum Capacity to Hold Back the Flood.  Pressuring operators of dams which are already at or near maximum capacity to try to hold back anticipated severe flooding in my opinion puts the structural integrity of the entire river system at risk.  One of the worst dam failures in history occurred in 1975, after Typhoon Nina dumped water upstream of the Banqiao Dam.  Whistle blower Chen Xing had warned Banqiao Dam was defective but his warnings were ignored.  Authorities rejected a plea from dam operators on August 6th to open the floodgates.  This order to keep the flood gates closed was rescinded on August 7th, too late to save the dam.  Up to a quarter of a million people are estimated to have died because of the Banqiao Dam failure.

Houston police chief recruits officers from defunded police departments: 'We're hiring'.  Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo is inviting officers laid off by defunded police departments throughout the country to join his force telling "Fox & Friends Weekend" on Sunday [8/23/2020], "We're hiring."  "We're fortunate we have a mayor and a council .. that understands that our community doesn't want less policing, they don't want to defund the police, they want better policing and they want good cops," Acevedo said.  He made the comments amid a growing push across the country to defund or dismantle police departments, following the death of George Floyd in police custody.

Chipotle keeps the change — without customers' permission, lawsuit claims.  Cashiers at the Chipotle restaurant chain have been rounding off customers' tabs a little too well, according to a lawsuit.  Some of the chain's locations in Pennsylvania have been keeping the change by hundreds of thousands of dollars, the suit claims, KDKA-TV of Pittsburgh reported.  The state attorney general's office has received at least seven complaints, reports said.

The Editor says...
The plaintiffs must be credit card customers.  If you pay with cash, you would notice this immediately.

FL airport discovered live missile, evacuated.  The Lakeland Linder Airport in Florida was forced to evacuate on Friday [8/14/2020] after an airport employee discovered a container with a live missile in it.  BayNews9 reported officials cleared the airport and the surrounding area after the discovery of the missile.  Officials who spoke with another outlet, ABC Action News, said the missile they found Friday evening "was live, but it not armed."

Court Affirms Right Of California Church To Meet Indoors.  Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California is affirmed in its right to host indoor worship services after a Los Angeles County Superior Court ruled that there is no court order preventing it.  The ruling comes just a mere week after an emergency order enacted by the California Court of Appeals made it again illegal for the church to meet indoors.  "We are pleased with the outcome today.  Judge Mitchell L. Beckloff correctly found there is no court order prohibiting Grace Community Church from holding indoor services," said Jenna Ellis, one of the Thomas More Society attorneys representing the church and Pastor John MacArthur.

You Don't Really Own Your Own Gadgets.  The water filter inside a household refrigerator is a simple device:  a plastic tube packed with activated carbon.  Nonetheless, replacement filters for certain GE refrigerators cost a stiff $55.  And they need to be replaced every six months.  So it's no surprise that many GE fridge owners seek cheaper generic filters.  These fit just fine.  But when the owner presses the button to dispense water or ice, nothing comes out.  The culprit is a bit of engineering almost as ingenious as it is infuriating.  It seems that official GE replacement filters include a small RFID chip whose only purpose is to tell the refrigerator that an up-to-date GE-brand filter has been installed.  If a customer installs a generic filter, the water system shuts off.

The Editor says...
Solution:  Tape the old water filter next to the new water filter, so the refrigerator can still sense the RFID chip.  The sensor is probably close to the filter.  Even if this only works for a year or two, you'll be better off.

Army investigating soldiers who appeared in DNC video.  The Army is launching an investigation into two soldiers who appeared in uniform during Democratic National Convention coverage Tuesday night, the service announced Wednesday [8/19/2020].  During the broadcast, two soldiers in uniform flanked officials from American Samoa while the territory awarded its delegates during the roll call at the Democratic National Convention.  The appearance goes against Defense Department regulations, which prohibit all troops from being in uniform at partisan political or campaign events.

Army investigating uniformed soldiers who appeared in DNC roll-call vote.  The Army announced it has launched an investigation into how two uniformed soldiers appeared on camera during the televised roll-call vote at the Democratic National Convention.  The two service members, who are assigned to the Army Reserve's 9th Mission Support Command, raised concerns that they had violated Defense Department rules after they were seen standing with delegates from American Samoa during the state roll call.  The Pentagon strictly forbids uniformed personnel from appearing at political engagements as part of its longstanding effort to keep the military as apolitical as possible.

Democrats Blew $5.3 Million On Failed Bid To Shape Kansas GOP Primary Results.  Political action committees aligned with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Emily's List, a pro-choice group, paid a dark money group $5.3 million in a failed bid to shape the results of the Kansas Republican Senate primary, according to campaign finance records released Thursday night [8/20/2020].  A mysterious super PAC called Sunflower State popped up in June and began a relentless media campaign in Kansas aimed at portraying Republican Rep. Roger Marshall as insufficiently conservative compared to his opponent, former Kansas Sec. of State Kris Kobach.  Democrats apparently saw an easier path to victory in November against Kobach, who lost the 2018 race for governor to Laura Kelly, a Democrat.  Sunflower State's effort failed, as Marshall won a decisive victory over Kobach in the state's primary on Aug. 4.

Goodyear Says BLM, LGBT 'Acceptable'; MAGA, Blue Lives Matter, Not So Much.  We can add "America's Tire Company" to the long and growing list of virtue-signaling corporations that continue to prostrate themselves before the Black Lives Matter altar of pretend "systemic racism."  And for virtue-signaling extra credit, Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company has told its employees that terms like MAGA, Blue Lives Matter, and All Lives Matter are "unacceptable" in the workplace.  As reported by WIBW 13 News in Topeka, Kansas, a Goodyear employee leaked a screenshot of a slide that was presented during a diversity training session showing what's acceptable and what isn't acceptable as part of the company's new zero-tolerance policy. [...] In the eyes of the Left, tolerance is a one-way street.  Those of us on the Right must be tolerant of their beliefs, causes, and everything else they foist upon us.  When we're not, we are immediately labeled (pick one or more):  "racist," "white supremacist," "bigoted," "homophobic," Islamophobic," "misogynistic," or worse.  That reality has never been clearer than in the aftermath of George Floyd's death.

Donald Trump Reacts to MAGA Hat Ban:  Do Not Buy Goodyear Tires.  President Donald Trump on Wednesday reacted to a viral image showing Goodyear Tire had banned employees from wearing MAGA attire.  "Don't buy GOODYEAR TIRES — They announced a BAN ON MAGA HATS," Trump wrote on Twitter.  "Get better tires for far less!"

Need New Tires?  Don't Buy From Goodyear.  I'm currently searching for new tires for our car, and was looking seriously at a 50,000-mile set from the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company.  After all, it's a great American company — or at least it used to be — and I'm all about buying American since China's government intentionally spread a deadly virus all over the world.  But that consideration of ever buying from Goodyear ended this morning when news broke about a new attire policy the company has adopted for its employees.

Goodyear Bans Employees From Wearing 'All Lives Matter,' 'Blue Lives Matter' or MAGA Slogans, But Says Black Lives Matter is Allowed.  A slide has leaked from a Goodyear diversity training which brands "Blue Lives Matter," "All Lives Matter" and "MAGA" attire "unacceptable," while deeming Black Lives Matter and LGBT slogans to be "acceptable."  The leaked slide is of their "zero tolerance" policy towards support for police or conservative values.  According to a report from WIBW, the person who took the photo of the slide said that it was presented at a Topeka plant by an area manager and says it came from their corporate office out of Akron, Ohio.

Trump backs boycott of Goodyear over 'MAGA hat ban'.  Trump called for a boycott of Goodyear tires Wednesday [8/19/2020] after the company's workplace tolerance policy banned his trademark #MAGA caps as a display of hate speech on the job.  "Don't buy GOODYEAR TIRES — They announced a BAN ON MAGA HATS," Trump tweeted.

The Editor says...
I was once a loyal Goodyear customer, because I liked the local dealer, but I'll never buy Goodyear tires again.

It's too late now!
Goodyear president affirms company's support for police, says employees can wear pro-police clothing.  Goodyear Chairman, CEO and President Rich Kramer on Thursday released a statement following public uproar over a slide shown at a Topeka, Kansas plant that suggested pro-police apparel should be banned.  The slide categorized "Blue Lives Matter," "All Lives Matter," "MAGA Attire" and "Political Affiliated Slogans or Material" as "unacceptable" but described "Black Lives Matter" and "Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual Transgender Pride" as "acceptable."  "The slide in question was created by a plant employee to try to explain what is acceptable to wear in the workplace.  The slide was not approved or distributed by Goodyear Corporate or anyone outside of that facility," Kramer explained.

The Editor says...
Really?  Then show me the list of people inside that facility who have been fired as a result of this incident.

Goodyear clarifies policy on MAGA, pro-police gear after Trump boycott call.  Goodyear clarified its policy on acceptable workplace attire on Thursday, one day after reports that one of its facilities in Topeka, Kansas had banned "Make America Great Again" and "Blue Lives Matter" apparel which prompted President Trump to call for a boycott of the Ohio-based company.  Goodyear Chairman and CEO Rich Kramer said the slide from a presentation at the Topeka plant "was not approved or distributed by Goodyear Corporate or anyone outside of that facility."  The company has clarified its policy to inform employees that they can "express support for law enforcement through apparel at Goodyear facilities," but are asked to "refrain" from wearing apparel of a political nature.

The Editor says...
Obviously, BLM is "of a political nature," just like MAGA.

Goodyear is Run By Idiots.  Get woke — Go broke, strikes again.  When you consider the scale of the company and the resources available to them on branding and marketing, one can only come to the reasonable conclusion that Goodyear is run by idiots.

Update:
Audio from Goodyear training session reveals more about the company's 'zero tolerance' policy.  New audio reveals why Topeka Goodyear said All Lives Matter, Blue Lives Matter and MAGA attire are unacceptable.

Goodyear hands a political triumph to Trump.  In terms of the reality TV show of the presidential campaign, Goodyear has caved-in to Donald Trump's pressure and affirmed its support for law enforcement, handing a potent symbolic victory to his reelection effort.  The now-notorious Topeka "zero tolerance" slide framed a simple tale of PC bullies taking over a corporation and terrorizing the employees into verbal conformity, silently hewing to the party line with all the enthusiasm of a 1986 East German. [...] By midday, yesterday [8/20/2020], after trying to weasel their way out with inside baseball about corporate versus Topeka, the Chairman of the Board surrendered and affirmed the company's "support for law enforcement."

Former CIA Officer Arrested as Chinese Spy:  You'll Never Guess Who Hired Him.  On Monday morning [8/17/2020], it was announced in Honolulu, Hawaii, that a naturalized US citizen, Alexander Yuk Ching Ma, 67, originally born in Hong Kong, has been charged with espionage on behalf of the People's Republic of China. [...] The charges against Ma could result in life in prison.  What intrigues me about the complaint is that I have strong suspicions the level of detail provided is not consistent with espionage activities that were only uncovered after the fact, and pieced together in a historical analysis.  The fact that someone has had a video for nearly two decades of that March 2001 five day session in a Hong Kong hotel room strongly suggests that Ma was not a complete "unknown" on his first day reporting to work in Honolulu.  There might be much more to this story if it does actually play out in a Hawaii federal courtroom.

When has the Washington Post, or any newspaper, called anyone a "left-wing commentator?"
Right-wing commentator Loomer wins GOP primary in Trump's Palm Beach district.  A right-wing commentator supported by Roger Stone and Alex Jones defeated five opponents in the Florida Republican primary Tuesday in the congressional district that includes Mar-a-Lago and its notable voters, President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump.  Laura Loomer, 27, will face four-term Rep. Lois Frankel, a Democrat, in the November general election.  Frankel, who has served in Congress since 2013 and ran unopposed two years ago, easily defeated primary challenger Guido Weiss, a former legislative assistant for Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii.  Frankel will be the favorite in the heavily Democratic district that covers a swath of Palm Beach and Broward counties.

GoFundMe for Cannon Hinnant, boy fatally shot in head by neighbor, raises $700K.  A GoFundMe account has raised some $700,000 for the family of a North Carolina boy shot in the head and killed by a neighbor.  Cannon Hinnant, 5, was riding his bike outside his home last Sunday when Darius Sessoms, who lives next door to Cannon's dad, allegedly ran up and shot the child at point-blank range.  Sessoms has been charged with murder.  "He was merely doing what he would do any other day and that's playing with his sisters, riding his bike, doing what kids do and all of the innocence that comes with being a child," wrote Gwen Hinnant, who listed herself as Cannon's grandmother and started the fundraiser to pay for the boy's funeral.

North Koreans are ordered to hand over 'decadent and bourgeois' pet dogs for 'restaurant meat' as the country is rocked by food shortages.  Kim Jong-un has declared that pet dogs are a symbol of capitalist 'decadence' and ordered that dogs in Pyongyang be rounded up — and owners are fearful that their beloved pets are being used to solve the nation's food shortages.  Dictator Kim announced in July that owning a pet is now against the law, denouncing having a dog at home as 'a tainted trend of bourgeois ideology'.  'Authorities have identified households with pet dogs and are forcing them to give them up or forcefully confiscating them and putting them down', a source told South Korea's Chosun Ilbo newspaper.

Millie Weaver faces her first court hearing this morning after being arrested and jailed last Friday.  New media reporter Millie Weaver is scheduled to have her first court hearing this morning after a weekend in jail following her arrest last Friday [8/14/2020].  Weaver's arrest came on the eve of the release of her 82-minute documentary, Shadow Gate, that is an exposé of the Deep State with the assistance of two individuals identified as whistleblowers.  Her arrest and incarceration in the Portage County Jail in Ravenna, Ohio immediately raised suspicions that she was being subjected to a scary new level of intimidation and censorship.  Millennial Millie, as Weaver is known, is a conservative rising star on the new and alternative media landscape, having worked as a reporter and contributor for Infowars since 2012 and lately on her own as well.  She has developed a loyal following, and there is widespread interest in the outcome of the legal case against her.

Update:
'Millennial Millie' Weaver's felony case totally dismissed.  Ten weeks after her widely reported arrest, the conservative new media star Millie Weaver and her two fellow defendants have been exonerated and the mainstream media are ignoreing [sic] her vindication.  On Friday, August 14, 2020, Weaver, widely known as Millennial Millie, a 29-year old conservative new media video and print journalist with a large following online — including over 200,000 on Twitter — was arrested at her home in Ohio.  The arrest stemmed from an indictment issued weeks earlier for multiple felonies relating to an alleged family dispute.  The charges seemed specious at best but Weaver and her husband and younger brother, who were also arrested, spent the weekend in jail until they were released on their own recognizance the following Monday.  Alarms were immediately raised among Weaver's fans and followers who smelled a rat.  On the day of the arrest, Weaver was about to release a provocative 82-minute documentary on the Deep State titled Shadow Gate.  A colleague of hers uploaded it to YouTube on that same Friday where, before it was banned less than a day later, it had been watched about a million times.  It has since propagated all over the Internet including here.

Wuhan launches air cargo route to Dallas, LA.  A new air cargo route linking Wuhan in central China's Hubei Province and Dallas and Los Angeles in the United States was launched on Sunday [8/16/2020].  An all-cargo flight carrying 110 tonnes of exported auto parts and electronic products took off from Wuhan Tianhe International Airport at noon on Sunday for Dallas.  It was the third regular, intercontinental air cargo route opened by the airport, and the only all-cargo flight to Dallas in China.  After arriving in Dallas, the aircraft continued on to Los Angeles.

Bulletproof vest sales soar amid surge in NYC shootings.  With bullets flying over Broadway, New Yorkers are buying up bulletproof vests.  Midtown dealer Brad Pedell — who runs 221B Tactical — claims sales of body armor are up 80 percent this year compared with 2019 due to the "unrest" in the city and nationwide.  "You wouldn't believe the people who call up and say, 'I'm scared,'" Pedell told The [New York] Post.  He said most buyers are from the Bronx and Brooklyn, where shootings have skyrocketed.  Pedell's customers tend to keep their purchases — and motivations for buying — to themselves.

4 Things to Know About the Prosecutor Who's Probing 'Obamagate'.  A federal prosecutor in Texas is drawing a new kind of attention by digging into the "unmasking" of Trump campaign associates that occurred in the waning days of the Obama administration.  Attorney General William Barr last month revealed to the House Judiciary Committee that he had assigned U.S. Attorney John Bash of the Western District of Texas to probe what the Obama administration did in the name of national security. [...] John Franklin Bash III, now 37, went to work in the Trump White House counsel's office in early 2017 as special assistant to the president and associate counsel to the president. [...] "John Bash is a brilliant lawyer who will be an outstanding United States attorney," [Senator Ted] Cruz said in a prepared statement when Trump nominated him.  "He is committed to the fair and effective enforcement of the law, and has the integrity, judgment, and skill necessary to serve the people of the Western District as its chief federal law enforcement officer."

Oregon State Police Leave Portland After Woke Prosecutor Refuses to Charge Rioters.  For weeks, the Marxists who run Portland complained about the outsized presence of federal agents and officers sent to protect the Mark O. Hatfield United States Courthouse.  It was an invasion ordered by President Donald Trump, you see. [...] That's nonsense, of course, but to sane people, little of what emanates from Portland these days makes much sense.  In any event, in response to the constant harping and whining from people like Mayor Ted Wheeler and Gov. Kate Brown, the Trump administration cut a deal to gradually redeploy federal protective service officers and other DHS agents out of the courthouse and out of Portland, replacing them with local and Oregon State Police.  Well, no sooner than that happened, the Antifa thugs that have been allowed to run wild through Portland streets re-focused their attention back on local cops — and State Patrol officers — as nightly riots continued.  Now, according to The Daily Wire, the Oregon State Police has had enough of the Left-wing lunacy in Portland after the Marxist district attorney announced he wouldn't be prosecuting anyone for the 'peaceful' act of violent rioting.

Oregon State Police Pull Out of Portland — Local DA's Refusal To Prosecute Behind The Move?  Return of Feds At Hand?  Very interesting development earlier today [8/14/2020], as the Oregon State Police announced they were leaving Portland. [...] Local reporting says that the move is a result of the announcement by Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt's that his office does not intend to prosecute most of those arrested. [...] The deployment of the State Police in support of the Portland PD was the product of an agreement reached between Democrat Oregon Governor Kate Brown, and officials of the Trump Administration, which came after weeks of escalating violence in the rioting at the Hatfield Federal Courthouse in Portland.  Prior to the agreement being reached two weeks ago, the Portland Police Department had been ordered by Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler to leave federal law enforcement agents defending the courthouse to fend for themselves, and did nothing while rioters organized themselves and provided for their logistical needs in the parks across the street from the courthouse.

Facebook's "Offshore Drilling" Mishap.  The drilling incident occurred on April 28, 2020.  They didn't notify the Oregon Department of State Lands about the incident until June 19, thus eliminating "any potential options for recovery of the equipment."

The Case for Trump.  Americans who want to remain citizens of a united country that at least makes some desultory attempt to protect them and further their interests have no choice but to stay the course.  As the saying goes, the only way out is through. [...] [T]here's little wrong with President Trump that more Trump couldn't solve.  More populism.  More nationalism.  More patriotism.  More law and order. [...] In short, more adherence to the 2016 agenda.  The only way to get more Trump is, literally, to get more Trump.  Which means the president being reelected and implementing his core agenda in a second term.  But that alone will not be enough.  Saving America as a unified, self-governing republic is a long-term — possibly generational — project.

New York Uses Coronavirus as Excuse to Cancel 9/11 Light Tribute.  "The iconic Lower Manhattan 9/11 memorial display that features twin beams of light to honor victims of the terror attacks will not shine this year over coronavirus concerns," reports the New York Post.  "The annual 'Tribute in Light' display requires a large crew to pull off ... posing health risks this year that 'were far too great.'"

The Editor says...
Additionally, this pushes the 9/11 attacks one step closer to the Memory Hole.

Update:
'Tribute In Light' Memorial To 9/11 Victims No Longer Canceled.  The 9/11 Memorial and Museum announced that the annual "Tribute in Light" — an artistic light installation that projects twin beams into the Manhattan skyline as a memorial to the victims of the September 11 terrorist attacks — actually won't be cancelled this year after all.  "For the last eight years the 9/11 Memorial & Museum has produced the Tribute in Light and we recognize the profound meaning it has for so many New Yorkers.  This year, its message of hope, endurance, and resilience are more important than ever," said museum president Alice Greenwald in a statement.  "In the last 24 hours we've had conversations with many interested parties and believe we will be able to stage the tribute in a safe and appropriate fashion."

Federal court rules all-male military draft is constitutional.  A federal appeals court in New Orleans on Thursday [8/13/2020] ruled that the all-male military draft system is constitutional, pointing to a 1981 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court.  The case, which was argued in March, stemmed from a lawsuit filed by two men with the National Coalition for Men who had challenged the historic male-only draft.  They had argued that the 1981 case was outdated and was ruled on when women were not as involved in combat as many are today.  The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rule[d] that "only the Supreme Court may revise its precedent."

Somebody New Is Cracking Down On "Unauthorized Parties" And It's Not The Government.  As we've recently seen, California is cracking down on people throwing house parties in defiance of state-ordered bans on large gatherings of people, particularly when they fail to practice social distancing.  They're going so far as to cut off water and electrical services to residents engaging in such behavior.  Or at least they would like to crack down on them, assuming they can get the police to enforce the rules.  But it's not just the Governor and Mayor Garcetti who are throwing down the gauntlet and reining in these scofflaws.  There's a new sheriff in town and it's Airbnb.  The company has "taken action against" one guest on their platform who rented out a house for a large party that wound up including a gunfight where multiple people were shot.

Disney kills off the Fox name:  Conglomerate renames 20th Century Fox Television and replaces iconic title card.  The Walt Disney Company has purged the remaining Fox branding from assets it acquired in a 2017 deal, renaming 20th Century Fox Television as simply 20th Television.  It comes as part of a larger rebrand for all of Disney's TV studios, with Fox 21 Television Studios renamed Touchstone Television and ABC Studios and subsidiary ABC Signature merging under the ABC Signature banner.

Retail Chains Abandon Manhattan: 'It's Unsustainable'.  For years, Bryant Park Grill & Cafe in Midtown Manhattan has been one of the country's top-grossing restaurants, the star property in Ark Restaurants' portfolio of 20 restaurants across the United States.  But what propelled it to the top has vanished.  The tourists are gone, the office towers surrounding it are largely empty and the restaurant's 1,000-seat dining room is closed.  Instead, dinner is cooked and served on its patio, and the scaled-down restaurant brings in about $12,000 a day — an 85 percent plunge in revenue, its chief executive said.

There's a shortage of Dr. Pepper amid the COVID-19 pandemic.  The iconic soda brand confirmed on Aug. 10 that there is indeed a shortage impacting all Dr. Pepper products at grocery stores.  While it didn't cite a specific cause, the company comforted fans with some hopeful words.

Russian Collusion Perps Target Johnson.  Still unpunished for the first go-around, Russian collusion perpetrators are taking aim at a new target this time:  Senator Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.  The news media and Democratic lawmakers are accusing the two-term senator of acting as an agent of Russia for continuing to pursue his investigation into the Biden family's shady ties to Burisma, the troubled Ukranian energy company that paid Hunter Biden millions of dollars while his father was vice president and Obama's designated "point person" in Ukraine.  The onslaught began last month when Politico reported Johnson planned to subpoena Biden associates after they refused to voluntarily testify.

Seattle's First Black Female Police Chief Resigns After Budget Cuts.  Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best announced Monday evening she is retiring, the same day the city council voted to slash police department funding.  "This was a difficult decision for me, but when it's time, it's time," Best said in an email to the police department.  The first black woman to serve as police chief in Seattle, Best will step down on Sept. 2.

Seattle's police chief stepping down after City Council votes to trim department, sources say.  Seattle's Police Chief Carmen Best is stepping down, multiple sources tell the CBS affiliate there, KIRO-TV.  One source calls the development "devastating."  The move came to light made the same day the City Council approved reducing the department's ranks by as many as 100 officers through layoffs and attrition, note's KIRO's Gary Horcher[.]

House won't return until mid-September amid coronavirus gridlock.  The House's No. 2 Democrat announced Monday the lower chamber will not return for votes in Washington until mid-September after negotiations between Democratic leaders and the White House on the next coronavirus relief measure collapsed last week, leaving millions of jobless Americans without immediate relief.  According to the schedule released by House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer on Monday, the House will not convene for votes until September 14.

Ousted 'Diamond and Silk' call on fans to 'ditch and switch' from Fox News after joining new network.  Pro-Trump personalities "Diamond & Silk" have joined the Newsmax TV line-up after being ousted from Fox Nation earlier this year following a controversial episode.  The duo — Lynnette Hardaway and Rochelle Richardson — are hosting the program, "Diamond and Silk Crystal Clear," which debuted on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.  EST.  Their show follows conservative pundit and author Michelle Malkin, who hosts, "Michelle Malkin Sovereign Nation."  The duo was released from the subscription-only Fox Nation in April after they allegedly pushed coronavirus 'conspiracy theories' and "disinformation," BizPac Review reported at the time.

Seattle City Council Votes to Lay Off 100 Police Officers.  The Seattle City Council voted unanimously on Wednesday in support of police budget proposals that would lay off 100 police officers, despite objections from the city's mayor and police chief.  The city council began to reexamine the police department's budget earlier this summer in response to anti-police protests.  Mayor Jenny Durkan (D.) and police chief Carmen Best criticized the most recent set of proposals, which would also end the removal of homeless people from the city's streets and cut salaries for police leadership.  Durkan said the cuts would hit the "most diverse class" of officers the city has ever had, as police union rules mandate that layoffs are determined by seniority.

This probably has a lot to do with voter fraud:
Fake driver's licenses flooding into US from China, other countries, US says.  Counterfeit documents are giving criminals a license to commit a host of offenses, including terrorism, U.S. officials say — and young adults who are lax with their personal information may be their biggest enablers.  In the first six months of 2020, Customs and Borden Protection officers seized nearly 20,000 counterfeit U.S. driver's licenses at Chicago's O'Hare airport alone, according to a report.  The 19,888 licenses and other fake documents were included in 1,513 overseas shipments, mostly from China and Hong Kong, CBP said, according to FOX 5 in New York City.  Others were from South Korea and Britain.

Report:  Shipment of Nearly 20 Thousand Fake U.S. Drivers Licenses From China Were Just Confiscated at Chicago Airport.  Why are the Chinese making so many fake U.S. driver licenses?  That's a disturbing little tidbit to discover, especially right before an election, right?  According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the bulk of these fake U.S. IDs flooding into the country come from China and Hong Kong, with the rest coming in from South Korea and the U.K.  Officials in Chicago just confiscated a shipment of these fake IDs totaling nearly 20 thousand.

Meet Kanye West's presidential running mate, Michelle Tidball.  The world may be long familiar with rap superstar Kanye West, but not many know his vice presidential running mate, Michelle Tidball.  Tidball is a 57-year-old spiritual coach who, like West, lives on a ranch in Cody, Wyoming, and has a deep religious background. [...] Tidball touted on the now-deleted page that she has "various degrees in mental health and criminal justice." The only known degree she has, however, is a bachelor's in psychology from the University of Wyoming in 2003, according to TMZ.

Milwaukee police chief demoted over tear gas use, other concerns.  An oversight board demoted Milwaukee Police Chief Alfonso Morales after questioning how he handled multiple incidents, including ordering officers to fire tear gas and pepper spray at protesters demonstrating over George Floyd's death.

Milwaukee FPC votes to demote police chief to captain for role in MPD's protest response.  The Milwaukee Police and Fire Commission (FPC) voted to demote Milwaukee Police Chief Alfonso Morales to the rank of captain on Thursday, Aug. 6.  The commission also voted to appoint Assistant Chief Michael Brunson as acting police chief.  The possibility of disciplining Morales came after he ordered officers to use tear gas to break up protests over George Floyd's death.  It was the last straw for some FPC members who were upset over how Morales has handled incidents since the arrest of Milwaukee Bucks player Sterling Brown in 2018.  The commission's vote on Thursday took just minutes to conclude.  Acting Chief Brunson will be given two weeks to choose his command staff.

Obesity may cause cancer simply because larger organs have more cells.  CT scans of 750 individuals show that people who are obese have larger organs and thus more cells.  This could explain why people who are obese have a higher risk of many kinds of cancers.  "While obesity is a complex disease that may affect cancer risk in several other ways, the increase in the size of an organ, and in the number of its cells, must increase the risk of cancer in that organ," states the team, which is led by Cristian Tomasetti at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

The Citadel Will Require All Cadets to Take Class on the Constitution.  The Citadel, a military academy in South Carolina, has announced that it will require all students to take a course on the United States Constitution.  The decision comes in the aftermath of discussions by state lawmakers to enforce a decades-old law that requires public institutions to teach a course on the Constitution.  According to a report by Campus Reform, The Citadel, a military academy in South Carolina, announced this summer that it will introduce a mandatory course on the U.S. Constitution.

Pelosi, Schumer Send Urgent Letter to Postmaster General Demanding Reversal of Operational Changes to USPS Ahead of Election.  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) on Thursday [8/6/2020] sent an urgent letter to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy demanding he reverse the recent operational changes to the USPS that "threaten the timely delivery of mail" ahead of the 2020 election.  The Democrat-media complex exploded last week and accused President Trump of "destroying" the US Postal Service after the President's newly appointed postmaster general made structural changes.  New changes made by Louis DeJoy have reportedly 'slowed down' the mail deliveries, prompting the left to accuse President Trump of corrupting the US Postal Service in order to deter people from using mail-in ballots for the November election.

Amateur Video Shows The MASSIVE Explosion And Mushroom Cloud In Lebanon.  Beirut, Lebanon (CNN)A massive explosion ripped through the Lebanese capital Beirut on Tuesday, injuring many people and blowing out windows in buildings across the city.  The source of the explosion was initially believed to be a major fire at a warehouse for firecrackers near the port in Beirut, the state-run National News Agency reported.

What the videos of the Beirut blast tell us about the explosion.  The massive explosions in a Beirut port on Tuesday [8/4/2020] provoked fear, then speculation after an eerie, white cloud enveloped the lenses of bystander videos, with many suggesting online that it looked something like a nuclear blast.  But the building consensus among arms experts and Lebanese officials is that the explosion, which killed at least 100 people and injured thousands more, may have been ignited by burning chemicals stored at a warehouse.  Many not accustomed to seeing large explosions may conflate mushroom clouds and spherical blast waves as nuclear, said Jeffrey Lewis, an arms-control expert and professor at Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey.  "But some of the things we associate with nuclear explosions are just associated with explosions."

Primary battles paint a surprising picture of GOP vs. Democrats.  Establishment Republicans dodged a bullet in Tuesday night's [8/4/2020] round of primaries while Establishment Democrats took one to the heart.  In the Kansas GOP primary, Rep. Roger Marshall triumphed over former Secretary of State Kris Kobach, allowing him to run for the seat now held by retiring GOP Sen. Pat Roberts.  Marshall appears to have won by a comfortable margin, 40% to 26%, much to the relief of Republican Party leaders trying to keep control of the Senate this fall.  In early polling, he leads his Democrat rival, Barbara Bollier.

Bill Gates issued a stark warning for the world: 'As awful as this pandemic is, climate change could be worse'.  Bill Gates has advocated for pandemic preparedness for years, and famously gave a TED talk in 2015 that warned of the potentially staggering death toll a worldwide pandemic could create.  Now, Gates is once again urging preparedness for a potentially devastating emergency.  "As awful as this pandemic is, climate change could be worse," Gates said in a blog published on Tuesday [8/4/2020].  "If you want to understand the kind of damage that climate change will inflict, look at COVID-19 and spread the pain out over a much longer period of time.  The loss of life and economic misery caused by this pandemic are on par with what will happen regularly if we do not eliminate the world's carbon emissions."

The Editor says...
[#1] Carbon dioxide is not carbon, for the same reason that water is not hydrogen.  [#2] Carbon dioxide is not a pollutant.  [#3] There is no extraordinary global warming; in fact, global cooling is a more likely problem.  If global warming (or cooling) occurs at a rate of one degree per century, nobody will ever notice, and only the people who watch television will ever be alarmed about it.  [#4] The day will never arrive when mankind "eliminate[s] the world's carbon [dioxide] emissions."  Natural emissions of carbon dioxide exceed man-made CO2 emissions.  [#5] One would think that someone as bright as Mr. Gates would know about all this.

NBC News Reportedly Laying Off Staff Due To COVID-19.  NBC News will reportedly be laying off staff due to declining revenue amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to Page Six.  The network's parent company NBCUniversal is planning cuts countrywide, according to Tuesday [8/4/2020] reports.  These cuts include employees at NBC News, sources told Page Six.  A little less than 3% of employees at NBC News are reportedly being laid off, the publication added.  These cuts come as NBC News' "Today" producer Jackie Levin leaves the network.  Levin worked at NBC for 26 years and recently accepted a buyout, Page Six reported Tuesday.

Attorney of Driver in Austin Shooting Releases Details Confirming Self Defense.  There are new developments in the shooting case where a driver shot a protestor who was armed with an AK47 type rifle, as his car was being swarmed by the crowd of protestors.  The following is a press release from the attorneys of Daniel Perry, who has identified himself as the driver who shot Garrett Foster on the evening of 25 July.  This account tells what happened from the viewpoint of Daniel Perry.

Beirut death toll rises to at least 100 as explosion is blamed on 2,750-ton ammonium nitrate stash.  Beirut's residents are in shock and mourning after an enormous explosion at the city's port ripped through the Lebanese capital, killing at least 135 people, injuring more than 4,000 and displacing some 300,000, according to emergency services.  Hospitals are overwhelmed, with some too damaged by the blast to operate.  The explosion, which blew out windows and destroyed property for miles around, has been initially blamed on 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate stored in an unsecured warehouse, without safety measures, since 2014 at Beirut's cargo port.  The New York Times, citing public records, reported that Lebanese officials knew about the risks for several years but did not act on them.  The government subsequently announced an investigation to determine within five days the exact cause of the explosion and "who was responsible."

TV meteorologist is fired for tweet comparing federal troops policing American cities to Nazi Germany.  A meteorologist at a Colorado news station has been fired after he shared a tweet comparing federal agents policing cities amid the recent unrest across the country to Nazi Germany.  Marty Coniglio shared a picture of soldiers posing with Adolf Hitler and captioned the July 23 post: 'Federal police in cities ... now where have I seen that before?'  The following day Coniglio, who has been on television in Denver for three decades, confirmed he had stopped working for 9News.

Nobody's defunding the police here!  Quite the opposite.
Overtime costs to monitor protests at capital soar to nearly $880,000.  As the 24-hour-a-day protest at the state capitol approaches its 50th day, the cost to pay overtime and travel expenses for state troopers has ballooned to $878,626.15.  The latest available figure is only for roughly half of the protest so far, between May 31 and June 30. According to a spokesman for TEMA, the cost cannot be reimbursed by federal dollars because of its type of emergency, therefore it will be paid out of the state's reserve funds for emergencies.  Activists like Justin Jones said the protestors shouldn't be blamed for the costs.  "That is the choice of the governor.  This could have easily been over with a conversation.  If the governor has [sic] come out on day one to talk to these people — we've been out here for 50 days — that would have saved all that money," Jones said.

Wisconsin Republicans help Kanye West in his attempt to get on state presidential ballot.  Who knew Wisconsin Republicans were such big fans of Kanye West?  The rapper's campaign turned in a number of signatures on Tuesday in a bid to get on the November presidential ballot in Wisconsin.  He is making similar attempts in Ohio, Arkansas and West Virginia.  Reid Magney, spokesman for the state Elections Commission, said it could be several days before officials confirm that West has enough valid signatures to appear on the ballot as an independent candidate representing the Birthday Party.  It was a pretty impressive feat that West's campaign was able to submit as many signatures as it did by Tuesday's 5 p.m. deadline.

As Democrats decried national park openings, one pushed to front of Yosemite's line.  Worried about loose rules amid a surge in the coronavirus crisis, Democrats have urged the National Park Service to stop or slow the reopening of facilities, citing concerns about the safety of employees, visitors, and neighboring communities.  That is, except one:  California Rep. TJ Cox, whose Fresno district is close to Yosemite National Park.  In emails shared by the Interior Department with the House Natural Resources Committee, Cox's staff sought two vehicle passes of the 340 available to the public for July 4.  When he was told he'd have to wait in line like others, he pushed for "preferential treatment" to get them, according to a letter calling for an Interior Department investigation.

KFC Tests 3D-Printed Chicken Nuggets in Russia.  KFC has partnered with a Russian biotech research firm to create the world's first laboratory-produced chicken nuggets this fall.  The fast-food chain and Russia's 3D Bioprinting Solutions, founded by the private medical firm Invitro, announced the partnership Thursday [7/16/2020] amid a growing global race to find safe and authentic-tasting meat alternatives.

The Editor says...
Sadly, the persistent misuse of partner as a verb had paid off, [1] [2] and it's only a matter of time before that definition is included in an actual dictionary (i.e., a big heavy book that gathers dust on a shelf).

Largest police union in Florida endorses Trump reelection bid: 'We're being used like a punching bag'.  The largest police union in Florida voted to endorse President Trump in the 2020 election.  The Florida Police Benevolent Association's president, John Kazanjian, said on Friday [7/31/2020] that Trump has sided with law enforcement amid a wave of anti-police sentiment during nationwide protests against police brutality and racial injustice that have taken place over the past several months.  "I spelled it out.  What's going on in not just in Florida but across this country that, 'Hey, you know what, we're getting beat up.  We're being used like a punching bag, and we're tired of it.  And President Donald Trump has been there for us.  He supported us,'" Kazanjian told Fox & Friends.

DoJ Seeks Removal of Protection for Journalists in Riots Due to Presence of Imposters.  Officials from the Department of Justice have officially filed a request with the courts asking for the removal of special protection for journalists in the ongoing riots in Portland, due to rioters often disguising themselves as journalists in order to commit violence, according to Politico.  In a filing submitted to U.S. District Court Judge Michael Simon, the Department of Justice asks Simon to consider overturning his previous temporary restraining order (TRO) issuing special protections for journalists, which, among other privileges, allowed journalists to remain in place even if the police force rioters back or attempt to disperse the crowds.  In the filings, lawyers with the Justice Department revealed that "individuals are abusing the TRO to masquerade as members of the press and evade lawful orders, or actively participate in protest activities and even illegal acts while holding themselves out to be members of the press under the protection of the TRO."  The Department of Justice included at least seven recorded instances of rioters abusing this protection, disguising themselves as members of the press in order to carry out acts of violence.

Leftie James Murdoch Resigns from News Corporation, the Parent Company of FOX News Over "Differences in Editorial Content".  James Murdoch tendered his resignation from the Board of Directors of News Corporation, the parent company of FOX News.  Rubert Murdoch stepped down as the CEO of FOX in June 2011 and handed the reins over to his son James.  James Murdoch's wife Kathryn Murdoch is an outspoken leftist who works for the Clinton Climate Initiative.  The resignation went into effect today [7/31/2020].

Cuomo: Federal government needs to fill New York's budget gap.  The state of New York faces a budget deficit of $30 billion over the next two years thanks to the COVID-19 crisis, and Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Wednesday [7/29/2020] it's up to the federal government to fill it.  Without that help, Cuomo told reporters that funding for local governments and hospitals would take a significant hit.  Education will too, unless the federal bill requires states to fully fund education.  His comments come a day after Senate Republicans in Washington revealed details of their latest COVID-19 relief package proposal, called the HEALS Act.  Cuomo sent a letter to the state's congressional delegation urging them to push for $500 billion in unrestricted state aid that the National Governor's Association is calling on Congress to pass, and he wants them to fight for every dollar they can get for New York.

The Editor says...
[#1]  When you fight for every dollar you can get from the federal government, where does that money come from?  [#2] The federal government should never bail out badly-managed states after natural disasters or public health problems.

Obama Privately Warns Top Dem Donors:  Trump Voters 'Glued' to Breitbart, Fox News, Rush Limbaugh.  Former President Barack Obama is privately telling some of the biggest and most influential donors on the left that the 2020 election will not be a lock for former Vice President Joe Biden because President Donald Trump's voters are "glued" to outlets on the right like Breitbart News and will turn out in droves in November, according to a Thursday report in the New York Times.  Obama has reportedly raised $24 million for Biden in two months by having conversations with people like LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman, actor George Clooney, and top party leaders.  According to the Times, "donors who have paid six-figure sums" have been able to see Obama have these "wide-ranging Q. and A. sessions about the state of politics and unvarnished analysis" on Zoom.

Barr Rightfully Defends Federal Response to Dangerous Rioting, as House Democrats Attack Him.  In testimony Tuesday, Attorney General William Barr justifiably pushed back hard against confrontational and rude Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee who appeared intent on scoring political points by shouting over him as he explained the Justice Department response to riots across the country.  Committee members got something else as well from the attorney general:  a much-needed lecture on their role and responsibilities as elected public officials.  Barr told them that "regardless of their political views" or "their feelings about the Trump administration," they should "condemn the violence" engulfing our cities, particularly violence directed at federal officers and federal property.  "To tacitly condone destruction and anarchy is to abandon the basic rule-of-law principles that should unite us even in a politically divisive time," Barr said, stating an obvious truth.

Bannon's Radio Free China.  During the Cold War, Radio Free Europe (RFE) broadcast anti-communist messaging to countries behind the Iron Curtain.  In addition to providing hope to victims of leftism and countering the official Soviet narrative, RFE shored up hope for change.  The efficacy and threat of this western-backed and -operated "free flow of information" was recognized by the Soviet Union, such that in 1981, RFE's Munich headquarters were bombed by Carlos the Jackal under the orders of the Stasi.  Seventy-one-years after RFE's inception and twenty-nine-years after the fall of the Soviet Union, the West continues to "provide accurate and timely news and information to... countries whose governments prohibit access to a free press," only now it is targeting a new audience: the Chinese people, along with North Koreans, Cambodians, Vietnamese, and Burmese listeners.  Radio Free Asia began broadcasting in 1996, but the CCP has managed, in large part due to its great firewall, to jam the signal.

'Maybe the National Guard:' Chief may request help with 100+ police departments pulling out of DNC.  Milwaukee Police Chief Alfonso Morales said Wednesday, July 29 he may seek state or federal assistance with more than 100 local police departments pulling out of responding to the Democratic National Convention starting Aug. 17.  Meanwhile, with his job at stake if he doesn't comply with a list of directives handed down by the Milwaukee Fire and Police Commission, the chief weighed in on those orders, with some due Thursday [7/30/2020].  Chief Morales wasn't shy about the fact that his future is uncertain.  "I gotta be able to look at myself in the mirror," he said.  "I gotta be able to do the right thing, whether it means my job or not."

Cops pull out:  Democrats in need of convention protection can now call a hippie.  One hundred police agencies delivered a vote of "no confidence" in the Democrats' fitness to govern, pulling out from contracts to protect the Democratic National Convention in Milwaukee, just three weeks before kickoff.

More than 100 police departments back out of agreements to help provide security for Democratic National Convention in Milwaukee.  More than 100 police agencies are withdrawing from agreements to send personnel to bolster security at next month's Democratic National Convention in Milwaukee, in part because they're concerned about a recent directive ordering police in the city to stop using tear gas to control crowds.  A citizen oversight commission last week directed Milwaukee's police chief to publicly account for why the department used tear gas during protests in late May and early June after the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis and to change Milwaukee's police policies to ban the use of tear gas and pepper spray.  The Milwaukee Fire and Police Commission said in its order that Police Chief Alfonso Morales could be fired if he fails to comply.

The Editor says...
The left-wing Democrats (which is the only kind) proudly huff and puff about defunding the police, which is another way of saying eliminating the police.  Now that the police want nothing to do with the Democratic National Convention, we will see what happens when the rubber meets the road.

Alarm over discovery of hundreds of Chinese fishing vessels near Galápagos Islands.  Ecuador has sounded the alarm after its navy discovered a huge fishing fleet of mostly Chinese-flagged vessels some 200 miles from the Galápagos Islands, the archipelago which inspired Charles Darwin's theory of evolution.  About 260 ships are currently in international waters just outside a 188-mile wide exclusive economic zone around the island, but their presence has already raised the prospect of serious damage to the delicate marine ecosystem, said a former environment minister, Yolanda Kakabadse.  "This fleet's size and aggressiveness against marine species is a big threat to the balance of species in the Galápagos," she told the Guardian.

Man, 40, dies after cops find him burning alive on the side of a California highway 'after getting into argument outside a 7-Eleven'.  A 40-year-old man has died after being found on fire by cops on a California highway shortly after he got into an argument with a group of people outside a 7-Eleven early Friday morning. [...] A woman identifying herself as Mungaray's sister said he was last last seen Thursday outside a 7-Eleven in Gilroy where he was having an argument with the occupants of two cars.

Oregon Football Coach Fired Because Of His Job As Portland Police Officer.  A longstanding football coach was recently fired by an Oregon high school.  Sgt. Ken Duilio is "one hundred percent positive" that he was targeted because of his day job as a Portland Police Officer.  It's tough being a cop these days as protests against the police have evolved into riots.  Some politicians across the country are even demonizing the men and women in blue who protect us and are joining the protests.  Portland Police have been put in an incredibly challenging position by local politicians and rioters.

Jim Jordan Opens AG Barr Hearing with Devastating Video on Leftist Violence, Looting and Rioting in the Streets of America.  Attorney General Bill Barr is set to testify in front of the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday morning.  Chairman Jerry Nadler opened the hearing with several baseless attacks on Attorney General Barr.  Next up was Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) the ranking Republican on the House Judiciary Committee.  Jordan was ON FIRE!  Rep. Jordan opened his remarks reminding the American public that Barack Obama spied on the opposition party and candidate Donald Trump during the 2016 election and beyond.

Fort Worth Zoo named best in the country in USA Today poll.  The Fort Worth Zoo was recently named the best zoo in the nation, according to a USA Today poll.  USA Today assembled a panel of industry experts who created a list of 20 zoos that excel in animal care and enrichment, while also creating interactions between animals and humans, according to a press release.  Once people across the country voted, the Fort Worth Zoo claimed the number one spot after finishing in the top five for the last four years, zoo spokesperson Avery Elander said.

The Editor says...
The Fort Worth zoo might be enjoyable someday after the state-wide face mask mandate is over, but not until then.

Sen. Rand Paul's neighbor gets an additional 13 months for assault.  Back in 2017, Sen. Rand Paul's neighbor, Rene Boucher, attacked the Senator on his own property, allegedly over a dispute about lawn clippings.  The attack left Sen. Paul with several broken ribs.  Last August, Paul had a portion of his lung surgically removed because of damage caused by the attack.  Boucher was eventually charged with one count of assaulting a member of Congress.  Boucher was initially given a light sentence of just 30 days in jail plus a $10,000 fine and community service.  But the case was appealed and last September the appeals court overturned the sentence saying it was too light given the extent of Sen. Paul's injuries.  A review of similar cases involving suspects with no criminal history found the average sentence was more than two years.

Notre Dame withdraws from hosting first Trump-Biden debate.  The commission that holds the quadrennial presidential debates says that the first of the three scheduled showdowns this fall between President Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden is being moved from Indiana to Ohio after Notre Dame withdrew as a host.  The Commission on Presidential Debates (CDP) announced on Monday that the Sept. 29 debate will now be co-hosted by Case Western Reserve University and Cleveland Clinic and held at the Health Education Campus (HEC) in Cleveland, Ohio.  The move came after Notre Dame University in South Bend, Indiana withdrew as the host of the first presidential general election debate.

Violent Crime Explosion Forces Minneapolis Residents to Form Militias.  [T]he first, the very first priority of government is to protect our God-given rights from being violated, most especially by others.  We have a God-given right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and the government has no higher purpose than to see to it those rights are not interfered with.  To say the Democrat-run city of Minneapolis is failing on this point would be an understatement.  The city, which has not had a Republican mayor in nearly 50 years, slashed the police budget and turned its police department into eunuchs who are either unable to respond due to budget cuts and ridiculous policies that make it impossible to enforce the law or are unwilling to respond for fear they will become CNNLOL's Villain of the Day.  And now the city's residents are forced to go to extraordinary lengths to protect their family and property.

Armed Minneapolis Residents Are Patrolling Their Own Neighborhoods As City Moves To Defund Police.  Minneapolis residents have begun patrolling their own neighborhoods after violent crime across the city surged in the aftermath of George Floyd's death in late May.  The patrols, some armed, are part of a largely grassroots efforts to protect neighborhoods, businesses, and residents from rioters and criminals.  Some groups have constructed barriers at the entrance to their neighborhoods and control who can enter, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Parking Tickets Covered By Eighth Amendment's Ban On Excessive Fines, Federal Court Rules.  In a decision that managed to cite both La La Land and Magna Carta, the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Wednesday [7/22/2020] that parking tickets and fees must comply with the Eighth Amendment's ban on "excessive fines."  Although the ruling is only a partial victory for the Angeleno drivers in this case, it nevertheless clears a path for others to challenge municipal fines as unconstitutional.  "This right to be free from excessive governmental fines is not a relic relegated to the period of parchments and parliaments, but rather it remains a crucial bulwark against government abuse," Judge Kenneth Lee wrote for the court.  "The government cannot overstep its authority and impose fines on its citizens without paying heed to the limits posed by the Eighth Amendment."

The Editor says...
That must have been quite a hefty parking ticket.

US Could Deploy Aegis Missile Defense System To Protect Guam From Chinese Attack.  The United States is planning to deploy the deadly Aegis Ballistic Missile Defence System in Guam in preparation of an attack with China.  As Sino-American tensions continue to escalate, experts suspect that the island of Guam could be targeted by Beijing.  Phil Davidson, the US Navy admiral in charge of Indo-Pacific Command was the latest to voice his concern.  He says that an attack by Chinese could remove from the map the U.S. Air Force's main Pacific base for bombers and other heavy warplanes.  To protect the US base in Guam, the US should deploy the Aegis missile-defence system on Guam., he says.

Judge denies Oregon push to limit US agents during arrests.  Thousands of people gathered in Portland streets for another night of protests Friday [7/24/2020], the same day a U.S. judge denied Oregon's request to restrict federal agents' actions when they arrest people during chaotic demonstrations that have roiled the city and pitted local officials against the Trump administration.

US officials force their way into Chinese consulate in Houston.  The Chinese consulate in Houston has been raided by U.S. officials, shortly after it officially closed for business.  The consulate, which Donald Trump forced to close on Wednesday, was reportedly a hot bed of spies and was allegedly being used to steal medical and scientific research.  Beijing was told that the consulate must cease operations by Friday [7/24/2020].

Chinese Researcher Tied To Chinese Military [is] Hiding From FBI In Chinese Consulate.  Although the FBI has arrested three Chinese visa holders suspected of having memberships in the People's Liberation Army, a fourth research visa fraud suspect is being protected in the Chinese consulate in San Francisco, where U.S. law enforcement cannot enter unless invited.  The People's Liberation Army is under the command of the Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of China.

Are the cities emptying out?  Millions of Americans are voting with their feet.  They're leaving the cities.  In Michigan, despite some of the nation's worst unemployment — engineered in large part by our governor — homes priced around $200,000 are often on the market for about a day.  Much more expensive homes in northern Michigan, hundreds of miles from Detroit and Grand Rapids, are also selling quickly.  Why?  Two reasons:  People have found they can work from home, and they want to escape what the media portray as nonviolent protests and riots.

The Editor says...
This effect was once known as "White flight."  But apparently it's not polite to use that term any more.

Senate passes veto-proof bill that will strip Confederate names from military bases.  The Senate on Thursday [7/23/2020] passed a $740 billion defense spending bill that includes a provision to remove the name of Confederate leaders from military bases — setting up a showdown with President Trump who is opposed to the move.  The GOP-controlled chamber overwhelming passed the legislation with a vote of 81 to 14 — well over the number required to override the presidential veto which Trump threatened to wield last month in a bid to stop the bill.  The National Defense Authorization Act includes a plan to change the names of army bases named after Confederate soldiers, such as Fort Bragg in North Carolina and Fort Benning in Georgia, which are named after Confederate Gens.  Braxton Bragg and Henry Lewis Benning.

Chinese buy strategic land in Texas, U.S. intel may not be pleased.  Given its hold on many American Democrat politicians (Joe Biden among them) and its aggressive global stance, it is not surprising that during testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee in July 2019, FBI Director Christopher Wray emphasized: "there is no country that poses a more severe counterintelligence threat right now than China."  Now in 2020, China has purchased over 100,000 acres in West Texas for what they say is an economic project.  U.S. intelligence is casting a suspicious eye at their claim.  Retired CIA station chief Daniel Hoffman told the media, "The specific location in Xi's crosshairs is the iconic frontier landscape, framed by the pristine Devils River and legendary Pecos River, in the West Texas borderlands of Val Verde County.  Beginning in 2015, GH America Investment Group purchased over 130,000 acres of property in Val Verde County.  GH America is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Xinjiang-based Guanghui Industry Investment Group.  Xinjiang is notorious for its so-called 're-education' camps, where China detains Uighur Muslims and other ethnic minorities against their will and violates their human rights."

Afghan Girl, 15, Picks Up AK-47, Kills Taliban Fighters Who Murdered Her Parents.  Last week, about 40 Taliban fighters stormed the village of Geriveh in the central Ghor province.  Around midnight, they knocked on the door of the house where Qamar Gul, 15, lived with her parents and 12-year-old brother Habibullah, officials told Agence France-Presse (AFP). [...] Officials said the fighters were looking for Gul's father, the village chief, and a government supporter.  Aber said Gul told him the Taliban members "took my father and mother outside and shot them several times.  I was terrified." That's when the teen girl took action.  "According to Aber, Qamar Gul witnessed the death of her parents, picked up her father's rifle and shot and killed three insurgents.  She then started a one-hour battle with the Taliban alongside her 12-year-old brother, Habibullah," AFP reported.

This is why we have secret ballots:
62% Of Americans Are Afraid To Express Political Views, Survey Finds.  Self-censorship is on the rise according to a new Cato Institute survey that reports nearly two-thirds of Americans are afraid to share their political views.  A new CATO Institute/YouGov national survey found 62% of Americans say the political climate today prevents them from saying what they believe.  This is up several points from 2017 when 58% of Americans said they were afraid to share their political beliefs.  "31% of liberals, 30% of moderates and 34% of conservatives are worried their political views could get them fired or harm their career trajectory," the CATO survey stated.

Rubio: Chinese consulate in Houston was 'massive spy center'.  Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., tweeted his support Wednesday for the shuttering of a Chinese consulate in Houston, claiming that spying activity was carried out through the facility.  The U.S. directed the closure of the consulate on Tuesday [7/21/2020].  The Chinese government said Wednesday morning that they had been instructed to do so without warning, but Rubio claims the move was "long overdue."

US orders Chinese Consulate in Houston to close, fire spotted in courtyard hours later.  Hours after the United States ordered the closure of the Consulate General of China in Houston on Tuesday, witnesses spotted workers burning papers in the courtyard.  Firefighters said they could smell smoke and saw something burning in barrels, the Houston Chronicle reported.  However, firefighters were not granted access to the building.  "All I know, it's illegal to have open burning in the city of Houston like that," Houston Fire Chief Samuel Peña said.

Rand Paul calls other Republican senators 'Bernie bros' and 'insane' and Ted Cruz curses in bitter feud over $1 trillion coronavirus bailout plan.  The price tag for the next COVID-19 aid package could quickly swell above $1 trillion as White House officials negotiate with Congress over money to reopen schools, prop up small businesses, boost virus testing and keep cash flowing to Americans while the virus crisis deepens in the U.S.  Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday promised a new round of direct payments to earners below a certain income level, similar to the $1,200 checks sent in the spring.  President Donald Trump insists on a payroll tax holiday for workers.  And Democrats want billions to outfit schools and shore up local governments.

Cops In Riot Gear Clear Out NYC 'Occupy' Camp Near City Hall In Pre-Dawn Raid.  New York Police Department officers clad in riot gear emptied out an "occupy" protest that sprung up around NYC City Hall weeks ago in a dramatic pre-dawn raid, according to local media.  The protest, which began on June 28 with just 100 protesters, had spilled over into the street as demonstrators demanded a massive cut to the NYPD budget.  Although New York City mayor Bill de Blasio happily complied with demands to "defund the police," slashing the NYPD's operating funds by nearly a billion dollars and canceling more than 1,000 planned hires, protesters remained unsatisfied given that de Blasio refused to officially sign the change into law.

Ousted Cardinal McCarrick ran sex ring at N.J. beach house: suit.  Former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick ran a depraved sex ring of underage boys at a beach house on the Jersey Shore, a disturbing new lawsuit claims.  The suit, filed by a man using the pseudonym Doe 14, claims that in 1982 and 1983, when he was as young as 14 years old, he and other victims were taken on weekend overnight trips to a Sea Girt beach house.  "McCarrick assigned sleeping arrangements, choosing his victims from the boys, seminarians and clerics present at the beach house," according to the suit filed in state court under New Jersey's Child Victims Act.  "On these occasions, minor boys were assigned to different rooms and paired with adult clerics."

Sen. Ted Cruz seeks to hold hands-off local officials liable for protest, rioting damage.  Sen. Ted Cruz, Texas Republican, has a plan on how to douse the protest violence in Portland, Seattle and elsewhere:  Hold local officials responsible for failing to stop it.  Mr. Cruz introduced Wednesday legislation that would "hold state and local officials liable when they abdicate their legal duty to protect the public in cases where death, serious bodily harm or significant property damage have occurred."  The bill, called the Restitution for Economic losses Caused by Leaders Who Allow Insurrection and Mayhem Act, or RECLAIM, would allow property owners to seek triple damages for protest destruction.

The Death of Standards at the New York Times.  The mainstream press has spent a lot of time and energy recently attacking Tucker Carlson, none more enthusiastically than CNN's simpering and shrieking little eunuch, Brian Stelter.  Of course Carlson, with the No. 1 rated show in the history of cable news, can laugh all the way to the bank in response to most of these critics.  This is nothing new:  Fox News is used to its top stars being attacked by the thought-monolith, leftist media and benefitting from the drama in the ratings.  For those of us on the Right, it's amusing and tiresome all at once.  But at the same time, disturbing undertones are emerging in these stories.  On Monday [7/20/2020], Carlson revealed that the New York Times was preparing to publish a story discussing the details surrounding the location of his family residence.  This pathetic attempt to incite doxxing and harassment is unfortunately par for the course for the rag started by Confederate sympathizers.  The paper with its new generation of little wokesters will brook no deviation from their leftist dogma and are intent on driving out any editors, reporters, or columnists who are not 100 percent on board with their program to smash the Right.

Woke Red Bull Execs Fired After Attempting to Force Company Into Black Lives Matter Virtue Signal.  Companies are routinely being pressured to show their support for Black Lives Matter.  Those who don't are under threat from the mob to be accused of being racist or in support of police brutality.  The idea that silence is violence has forced many a company executive to cave out of fear that they'll be personally held responsible by the mob and their entire life will be ruined.  Red Bull has taken the opposite tack.  In fact, it fired execs attempting to force the company into a BLM virtue signal.  According to the Wall Street Journal, Red Bull North American chief executive Stefan Kozak and North American president and chief of marketing Amy Taylor were both terminated from their positions after they attempted to force the company to support BLM by subversively creating racial tension within the company.

Michigan School Fires Popular Teacher For Saying 'Trump Is Our President'.  A Michigan school district fired a popular high school teacher and coach after he pointed out that "Trump is our president" on social media.  Varsity baseball coach and social studies teacher Justin Kucera said Walled Lake school district officials hauled him into a closed-door meeting after he indicated his support for President Trump's speech to reopen schools.  He told the Washington Free Beacon the Walled Lake Western principal and district superintendent gave him an ultimatum: be fired or resign.

Allen West elected chairman of Texas GOP, vows no more 'watered down conservatism'.  The nation's largest state Republican Party has a new leader.  Allen West was elected chairman of the Republican Party of Texas in the early hours of Monday during a virtual vote among the organization's membership.  The retired U.S. Army officer and former presidential hopeful has already taken on the responsibilities of the role and begin to "implement his strategy to hold Texas," according to his campaign — which means a return to traditional conservatism for Lone Star Republicans.  "I am honored and privileged that Republicans of Texas have selected me to Chair their party and to be at the helm during this coming election cycle.  We need to focus on maintaining the conservative policies that made Texas strong and drive voter outreach across the state," Mr. West said in a statement.

Japan to Pay at Least $536 Million for Companies to Leave China.  Japan's government will start paying its companies to move factories out of China and back home or to Southeast Asia, part of a new program to secure supply chains and reduce dependence on manufacturing in China.  Fifty-seven companies including privately-held facemask-maker Iris Ohyama Inc. and Sharp Corp. will receive a total of 57.4 billion yen ($536 million) in subsidies from the government, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said Friday.  Another 30 firms will receive money to move manufacturing to Vietnam, Myanmar, Thailand and other Southeast Asian nations, according to a separate announcement, which didn't provide details on the amount of compensation.

German States Ask Congress Not to Remove U.S. Troops.  The leaders of four German states wrote to Congress asking for a halt to Washington's troop withdrawal plan from the country, Reuters reported Sunday [7/19/2020].  The premiers of the four states — all of which have U.S. bases — addressed their letters to 13 members of Congress, including Sens. Mitt Romney (R., Utah) and Jim Inhofe (R., Okla.). Inhofe chairs the Armed Services Committee, while Romney is a leading member of the Foreign Relations Committee.

A long-needed conservative movie studio is being created to counter far-left Hollywood.  In the 2015 movie "Trumbo," top Hollywood scriptwriter Dalton Trumbo fights against the evils of a blacklist that prevents him from earning a living in the late 1940s and 1950s because of his membership in the Communist Party of the United States.  The plot of the film — based on a true story — could work for a documentary about Hollywood today, but with an important twist.  Now far-left and pro-Communist voices are celebrated.  The cancel culture has come for conservative and Christian voices.  And heaven help anyone in Hollywood who supports President Trump.  Actor Antonio Sabato Jr. is out to change that.

Federal Unit Behind Arrests In Portland Reportedly Identified.  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) smeared federal law enforcement officials on Friday night while making false claims about the continuing violence and rioting in Portland, Oregon. [...] Pelosi's claim that the officials were "kidnapping protesters" in response to "graffiti" is wildly misleading.  The Washington Post documented one man who was arrested and the process that he went through, which resulted in his brief detainment and release.  "He was detained and searched," The Post said.  "One man asked him if he had any weapons; he did not.  They drove him to the federal courthouse and placed him in a holding cell."

Genocide in China ignored by most of the press.  China is running concentration camps and committing demographic genocide, but the media hardly care. [...] In northwestern China, as many as three million members of ethnic minority groups have been imprisoned in grim concentration camps.  Over one million of the imprisoned people are Uighurs, the largest minority group in China's Xinjiang province.  Torture is widespread in the concentration camps, and thousands have died in them.  Uighur cemeteries have been destroyed in a campaign some have called cultural genocide.  But many progressives think America is more racist than China.  Thus, they argue, it lacks any moral authority to criticize China's human-rights violations.

Ford is auditing 188,000 employees:  What it's asking.  Ford Motor Co. is currently "auditing" an estimated 188,000 salaried and hourly employees worldwide to see where the 117-year-old company stands on workplace attitudes about diversity.  The effort involves employees from the factory floor to executive suites in an aggressive attempt to address institutional bias and issues that may hinder employee performance, company officials confirmed to the Free Press.

New 'Unwoke' Job Website Lists Jobs for Regular Americans, Not Left Wing Activists.  A new job listings board created for the purpose of hiring workers and not activists has been met with a mixed reception following its recent release.  Unwoke.hr was unveiled to post job opportunities for discerning workers at a time where activism pervades practically all human resources departments of major corporations.

AG Barr:  China Waging 'Economic Blitzkrieg' to Replace U.S. as Top Superpower.  The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), under dictator Xi Jinping, has launched an aggressive, governmentwide, whole-of-society "economic blitzkrieg" to replace America as the globe's "preeminent superpower," U.S. Attorney General William Barr warned on Thursday [7/16/2020].  China's "predatory economic policies are succeeding," Barr conceded via written remarks prepared for delivery during a speech at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum in Michigan.

National Association of Police Organizations President:  Vote to Endorse Trump 'Overwhelming'.  On Wednesday's broadcast of the Fox Business Network's "Evening Edit," National Association of Police Organizations President (NAPO) Mick McHale discussed the group's endorsement of President Trump and stated that the endorsement was partially due to the "overwhelming vote of the majority of the associations who participated" and stated that while Trump addressed the organization's board, 2020 Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden did not take advantage of the same opportunity.  McHale said that the endorsement of Trump is the result of the association's endorsement process and the "overwhelming vote of the majority of the associations who participated."

Rabbi wounded in deadly California synagogue shooting pleads guilty to multi-million dollar tax scam.  The founder of a California synagogue at the center of deadly shooting in 2019 has pleaded guilty for his role in a multimillion-dollar scam, which aimed to disguise charitable contributions so that they can be used for personal gain.  Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein, longtime leader of the Chabad of Poway synagogue, on Tuesday admitted to his role in the plot, involving tax, real estate, insurance and grant frauds. [...] According to prosecutors, Goldstein collected an estimated $6.2 million in fake donations for the synagogue only to return 90% to those who contributed along with phony receipts.  The remaining 10% he kept for himself, which in total is around $620,000.

NY Times Gushes Over Lefty Dixie Chicks: 'Witches Who Could Not Be Burned'.  The band formerly known as The Dixie Chicks made the front of the New York Times Sunday Styles with a full-page photo under the puffed-up headline "Still Fearless."  Inside was a two-page spread with posed photos, "A Sisterhood Skilled at Ignoring the Static."  The text box:  "Three women flourished in an industry that never really loved or defended them."  Fortunately for the "Chicks" (who recently ditched the "racist" part of their name but kept the "sexist" one) the gushing by the liberal press made up for it.  The online version came with the ironic headline, "The Chicks Are Done Caring What People Think."  So why did they just change their name?

Fifty-four scientists have lost their jobs as a result of NIH probe into foreign ties.  Some 54 scientists have resigned or been fired as a result of an ongoing investigation by the National Institutes of Health into the failure of NIH grantees to disclose financial ties to foreign governments.  For 93% of the 189 scientists whom NIH has investigated to date, China was the source of their undisclosed support.  The new numbers come from Michael Lauer, NIH's head of extramural research.  Lauer had previously provided some information on the scope of NIH's investigation, which had targeted 189 scientists at 87 institutions.  But his presentation today to a senior advisory panel offered by far the most detailed breakout of an effort NIH launched in August 2018 that has roiled the U.S. biomedical community, and resulted in criminal charges against some prominent researchers, including Charles Lieber, chair of Harvard University's department of chemistry and chemical biology.

Virus or Politics?  Houston Democrat Mayor Cancels Texas GOP Convention.  Houston's Democrat Mayor Sylvester Turner heaped praise on the recent George Floyd protests, which drew tens of thousands of people tightly packed into the city.  He even addressed the crowd.  Coronavirus was no problem, the protests were too important.  Yesterday [7/8/2020] Mayor Turner cancelled the Texas state Republican Party convention, which was to be held in Houston and would bring in a tiny fraction of the numbers of those who attended the Floyd protest.  The mayor's reason to cancel the Republican Party convention?  Coronavirus!  Is this really about public health, or is it something else?  [Video clip]

GOP Denied Convention Plan For Texas.  A Texas Supreme Court decision ruled that Huston [sic] is free to choose whether to host a GOP Convention, and that the party was prevented from forcing the city to agree.  The decision came out 7-1 with a majority in favor of Houston's right to choose on hosting the convention.  The GOP wanted a in-person event to take place in Huston [sic] this week, following a Democratic Convention online in June.  "The Party argues it has constitutional rights to hold a convention and engage in electoral activities, and that is unquestionably true," said the court's majority decision.  "But those rights do not allow it to simply commandeer use of the [George R. Brown Convention] Center."

The Editor says...
The Republican Party of Texas had a legally-binding contract with the convention center, so the word commandeer hardly seems appropriate.  The mayor canceled that contract at the last minute for purely political reasons.  No doubt this will all end up in the courts, months from now; but of course it will be too late then for any meaningful relief.

In politics, there are no coincidences.
Kansas GOP Rep charged with voter fraud just before primary debate.  Something truly bizarre happened last night in the runup to a GOP congressional primary debate in Kansas.  Republican Congressman Steve Watkins (KS-2) was preparing to take the stage against two primary opponents when he received some unexpected and potentially politically damaging news.  The District Attorney had just slapped him with four counts of voter fraud, including three felony charges.  That changed the tone of the debate, to say the least, as it immediately became the first question of the evening from the moderators.

Shamers lose it when Ted Cruz is 'captured' on a commercial flight drinking coffee with no mask.  A marketing and compliance official with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee snapped pics of Sen. Ted Cruz during a commercial flight Sunday [7/12/2020] in which the Texas Republican was seen not wearing a mask.

The Editor says...
If that's all you've got on Ted Cruz, you've got nothing.

American Airlines Investigating Photo of Ted Cruz Not Wearing a Mask on a Plane.  American Airlines has reached out to Senator Ted Cruz's (R-Texas) office after a photo began circulating online of the senator apparently not wearing a mask on one of its flights, according to The Hill.  The airline, which requires that all passengers keep masks on for the entirety of their flight duration, said that "we have reached out to Sen. Cruz to affirm the importance of this policy as part of our commitment to protecting the health and safety of the traveling public."  The statement came after a radical Democratic campaign operative tweeted a photo allegedly showing Cruz without a mask on.  The senator's office responded with a statement explaining that Cruz had taken his mask off to drink his coffee, which he can be seen holding in the photo.

Feds spent $1 trillion last month.  The federal government spent $1.1 trillion last month, shattering the record for the highest monthly spending ever, and sending the deficit soaring to $2.7 trillion so far this fiscal year, the Treasury Department reported Monday [7/13/2020] [.]  Before this year, the highest monthly total was $439.8 billion, spent last May.  But the last three months have easily topped that, totaling nearly $2.7 trillion in spending over just those three months along.  As recently as 2006, the government spent less than that in the entire year.

California tries the box and breakfast — a hotel made of shipping containers.  A winery in central California has opened a hotel for guests made from recycled shipping containers.  The quirky development offers a "luxury hospitality experience," according to the owners of the Geneseo Inn.  The eight-unit "box & breakfast," composed of 20 factory-built shipping containers, is situated on a scenic, 145-acre estate amid grapevines and rolling hills.  The rectangular suites, grouped in clusters around a sprawling 60-foot live oak tree, are set off the ground by steel frames, allowing overnighters to park their cars underneath their rooms.

Lindsey Graham says he'll grant Democrats' request for Mueller to testify before Senate.  Sen. Lindsey Graham said Sunday [7/12/2020] he will approve Democrats' request to invite Robert Mueller to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee after the former special counsel published an op-ed in The Washington Post criticizing President Donald Trump's decision to commute the prison sentence for Roger Stone.  "Apparently Mr. Mueller is willing — and also capable — of defending the Mueller investigation through an oped in the Washington Post," Graham wrote on Twitter.  "Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee have previously requested Mr. Mueller appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee to testify about his investigation."  "That request will be granted," he added.

Petition for election to recall Mayor Jenny Durkan can move forward, judge says.  A King County Superior Court judge has approved a petition [7/10/2020] for an election to recall Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan, opening the door for a campaign that's gained steam over the last several weeks. [...] Once any recall petition is approved, signatures are needed to qualify for a special election ballot.  The petitioners must, within 180 days, collect valid signatures from a number of voters equal to 25% of the votes cast in the last election.  In this case, signatures from more than 50,000 Seattle voters would be needed.  The Durkan petitioners' recall effort, known online as the "Fire the Mayor" campaign, accuses the mayor of "endanger[ing] the peace and safety of the community" by allowing police to "leak false information about fabricated crimes and threats to the media" and issuing a citywide curfew without sufficient notice to the public.  The petitioners also accused Durkan of restricting certain property rights in downtown Seattle and Capitol Hill, the neighborhood where many of the protests took place.

Greyhound's Value Drops by $156M Due to Less Illegal Immigration to U.S..  The value of Greyhound Lines Inc., the intercity bus service company, has seen a drop in its value as a result of reductions to illegal immigration at the United States-Mexico border.  Executives with Greyhound's parent company, FirstGroup, told MarketWatch their value has dropped by about $156 million because of less migration across the southern border.  As Breitbart News has reported, President Trump's administration released tens of thousands of border crossers and illegal aliens into the U.S. every month.  Those foreign nationals would board Greyhound buses to travel to the interior of the country.

Goya 'buy-cott' begins as customers load up on product after Trump backlash.  Many took to social media to express their displeasure with Goya Foods CEO Robert Unanue after he praised President Trump at a White House event on Thursday, but others are flipping the narrative and calling for a Goya Foods "buy-cott."  "My brother came up with a terrific idea and I am encouraging all to join me in purchasing $10 worth of Goya Foods products and donating them to your local food bank," self-described "conservatarian" radio host Mike Opelka wrote on Twitter.  "Let's push a BUY-cott, not a boycott.  Let's show the #Goyaway people what compassion can do.["]  Opelka's post received 27,000 likes.

A Journalist's Escape From Socialist Venezuela, Part 1.  These articles document a Venezuelan journalist's struggle to flee the failing state and survive in a place where journalists are often under serious threat of bodily harm.  Some names have been changed in order to protect those involved.

'They are killing our nation': Goya Foods CEO slams growing boycott of his brand.  Goya Foods CEO Robert Unanue has doubled down on his support for Donald Trump saying 'we are with the president' and blasting protesters for 'killing our nation' amid the growing boycott of his family brand.  Unanue showered more praise on Trump in an interview with Fox News Friday, just one day after he spoke at an event in the White House Rose Garden where he told Americans they were 'truly blessed' to have a leader like him.  His comments sparked an instant backlash on social media and from some major political names including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Julian Castro, with calls mounting for a boycott of the popular food brand.

Body Cam Transcript Tells a Different Story on the Death of George Floyd.  The transcript from the body camera worn by J. Alexander Kueng shows clear evidence that George Floyd was suffering respiratory distress before police laid hands on him.  He died from a Fentanyl overdose, not from being choked out by Minneapolis police.  This news will not bring joy to the crazed, leftist mob screaming to lop off the heads of the Minneapolis police officers who stand accused of "murdering" George Floyd and little attention has been paid to the transcript since its release on July 7.  I hope to correct that oversight.  First a note about Officer J. Alexander Kueng.  He also is a black man.  He was adopted shortly after birth by a white woman and single mother.  Can't have that story out there.  Simply does not promote the meme that white Americans are inherently and irredeemably racist.

Ohio protester, 22, died of natural causes, not pepper spray: autopsy.  A 22-year-old Ohio woman who died two days after participating in a protest related to the death of George Floyd, died of natural causes — not from exposure to pepper spray, an autopsy determined.  Sarah Grossman, who took part in the May 28 protest in Columbus, had recently graduated from the Ohio State University, according to The Lantern, a campus newspaper.  The autopsy after her May 30 death in a hospital revealed she died from a tear in a coronary artery related to a pre-existing case of Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, according to The Associated Press.

2 Texas police officers killed in ambush attack; suspect dead, authorities say.  Two police officers were killed in a Texas border town Saturday in what authorities described as an ambush shooting.  The gunman later killed himself after engaging in a shootout with other responding officers, The Monitor of McAllen, Texas, reported.

How have Iran's intelligence forces broken down in face of explosions?  Iran is facing a total intelligence breakdown.  With another explosion on Thursday night, reportedly at an Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps facility, the question is not only how anyone has pulled off up to seven attacks in around two weeks, but how has the Islamic Republic repeatedly failed to stop them.

Professor charged over scheme to use $4M in US grant money to conduct research for China.  An Ohio State University professor with ties to China is charged with using more than $4 million in U.S. grant money to develop rheumatology and immunology expertise for the Chinese government, according to an indictment unsealed Thursday [7/9/2020].  Song Guo Zheng, 57, was arrested on May 22 at an airport in Anchorage, Alaska while preparing to board a charter flight to China, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a press release.  At the time of his arrest, Zheng was carrying three large bags, filed electronic devices, expired Chinese passports for his family, deeds for a property in China, among other items, the DOJ said.

Black activist takes on Minn city council member for demolishing police: 'Utopia is a bunch of BS'.  A former police officer calling "B.S." on the Minneapolis city council's plan to dismantle the police department got a chance to confront a Councilmember directly.  Community violence-prevention advocates held an emergency news conference to denounce the push to dismantle the police department following deadly shootings in the area, demanding that citizens rise up against the threatened move.  Lisa Clemons, a former officer and a peace activist with "A Mother's Love" was speaking on the issue when Minneapolis City Councilmember Andrea Jenkins happened on the scene.

Ford employees ask if company should stop building police vehicles.  An estimated 100 employees of Ford Motor Co. have asked the automaker to reconsider building and selling police vehicles in light of controversy related to police brutality and social justice, the Free Press confirmed late Wednesday [7/8/2020].  The issue has been raised with Ford executives by employees during at least one virtual town hall and a series of letters sent to executives since the May 25 death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police.  Over the past six weeks, civil rights protests have roiled the streets of Detroit and cities across the country as debate about police reform grows.  Auto executives and business leaders in Detroit have made headlines with calls for racial justice.

The Beginning of the End of Whites in South Africa.  And it's worse than any of us can imagine.  Eighty-four farm attacks since lockdown began, twelve white farmers slaughtered from their land.  The footage of the aftermath of one of the attacks circulating on Telegram and sent to me — too brutal to share.  Only monsters could do such things to the elderly in their own homes.  As many of us celebrated the 4th of July this weekend, there were three murders in two days, one of them so unspeakably cruel that even those hardened to the news of torture of farmers by black gangs have found themselves white-knuckled at the speed of the horror.

Five Guys Employees Fired After Refusing Service to Police Officers.  Multiple Five Guys employees have been fired or suspended from the Daphne, Alabama, location after they refused to serve members of the Daphne Police Department, according to a statement from the company.  Earlier this week, Alabama-based Yellowhammer News reported that three Daphne police officers were refused service when they entered the Five Guys restaurant in Alabama.

Pandemic accelerates the death of malls.  The coronavirus pandemic has accelerated the closing of malls as people fear venturing into enclosed spaces and touching merchandise that has likely been handled by hundreds of other shoppers, according to an industry expert.  "COVID accelerated the migration to online [shopping], and it's accelerating the rationalization of the retail landscape, so, more stores will close within the next year or two, and more malls will come down in the next year or two," said Marie Driscoll, managing director, luxury and fashion, at Coresight Research, a retail advisory and research firm.

Supreme Court:  Eastern Oklahoma is American Indian territory.  The Supreme Court ruled Thursday [7/9/2020] that a large swath of eastern Oklahoma is actually an Indian reservation belonging to the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, meaning that hundreds of prosecutions could be tossed because the state does not have jurisdiction there, including in part of Tulsa.  The 5-4 decision notes that only federal prosecutors have jurisdiction over American Indians on the reservation, which includes most of Tulsa, the state's second-largest city.  Justice Neil M. Gorsuch joined the court's four liberal justices in the majority decision in McGirt v. Oklahoma.

NYPD limits retirement applications amid 400 percent surge this week.  New York's Finest are putting in for retirement faster than the NYPD can handle — while citing a lack of respect and the loss of overtime pay, The [New York] Post has learned.  A surge of city cops filing papers during the past week more than quadrupled last year's number — as the city grapples with a surge of shootings — and the stampede caused a bottleneck that's forcing others to delay putting in their papers, officials and sources said.  The NYPD said Wednesday that 179 cops filed for retirement between June 29 and Monday, an astounding 411-percent increase over the 35 who filed during the same time period in 2019.

Counterfeit $20 bill now part of George Floyd murder case.  The counterfeit $20 bill that cost George Floyd his life is now part of the murder case against the ex-Minneapolis cops charged in his death, according to court records made public Wednesday [7/8/2020].  The lawyer for accused former cop Thomas Lane said the crumpled bills found between the seats of Floyd's SUV put the officer on alert from the start after Floyd repeatedly reached down and ignored 10 requests to show his hand.  "From the initial interaction with Floyd and his vehicle, Lane noticed the driver and passenger in the vehicle digging underneath the seat, as if reaching for something," defense attorney Earl Gray said in a motion to dismiss charges against Lane which included photos of the bills.

Brooks Brothers Files For Bankruptcy After 202 Years Of Business.  Brooks Brothers, one of the United States' oldest and most prestigious retailers, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Wednesday after 202 years, CNBC reported.  The retailer, credited with dressing 40 U.S. presidents since its founding in 1818, had already been burdened with rising rent when it was devastated by the coronavirus pandemic, which sunk the company's potential sale, according to CNBC.  "Over the past year, Brooks Brothers' board, leadership team, and financial and legal advisors have been evaluating various strategic options to position the company for future success, including a potential sale of the business," a company spokesman said.

Kanye West To Run On 'Birthday Party' Ticket, Use 'Wakanda Management Model'.  Kanye West is running for president and the details of his bid for the White House are spectacular. [...] In his announcement, West said he's no longer a backer of President Donald Trump.  "I'm taking the red hat off," West told Forbes.  The reason?  "I don't like that I caught wind that he hid in the bunker," West said, referring to the time Secret Service agents took Trump to an underground safe room on May 29 amid violent riots near the White House[.]  (Trump later said he was there just to inspect the site).  But West is still a fan of the president.  "Trump is the closest president we've had in years to allowing God to still be part of the conversation," he said.

Kanye West: 'It's 'Racism and White Supremacy to Say All Black People Need to Be Democrat'.  Grammy-winning rapper and fashion mogul Kanye West ripped Joe Biden and declared that the Democratic Party has controlled black Americans to the point that "this white man can tell a black man if you don't vote for me, you're not Black."  "That is a form of racism and white supremacy and white control to say that all Black people need to be Democrat and to assume that me running is me splitting the vote.  All of that information is being charged up on social media platforms by Democrats," Kanye West said in a lengthy interview with Forbes magazine.  "And Democrats used to tell me, the same Democrats have threatened me....  The reason why this is the first day I registered to vote is because I was scared.  I was told that if I voted on Trump my music career would be over."

The Editor says...
Spoken like a man who thinks primarily of himself.

Big Tex hardest hit:
State Fair of Texas cancelled for first time since WWII due to coronavirus pandemic.  The 2020 State Fair of Texas has officially been cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic — marking the first time since WWII that the annual event will not be held.  The decision was made Tuesday [7/7/2020] in a vote by the fair's board of directors.  "In the current climate of COVID-19, there is no feasible way for the Fair to put proper precautions in place while maintaining the Fair environment you know and love," board Chairwoman Gina Norris said.

The Editor says...
What a shame.  Where else can I go to enjoy a five-dollar corn dog, accompanied by a four-dollar drink?  Where else can I go to park my car in a high-crime neighborhood under the blazing Texas sun, for only $20?  Where else can I go to be aggressively approached by some nosy salesman wanting to sell me faster internet service?  Oh, wait — that salesman is at Wal-Mart, with a table set up next to the electronics department.

2020 State Fair of Texas Canceled Due to Ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic.  For just the eighth time in the fair's 134-year history, The State Fair of Texas is canceled for the upcoming season.  The fair made the announcement on their website Tuesday morning, citing the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic as the reason.

FBI Director Wray says half of bureau's 5,000 counterintelligence cases are related to China.  FBI Director Christopher Wray on Tuesday warned Americans that the Chinese government's theft of American information is taking place on so large a scale, suspected incidents make up nearly half of his bureau's counterintelligence cases.  Speaking at an event hosted by the Hudson Institute in Washington, Wray said that Chinese thefts amount to "one of the largest transfers of wealth in human history," and that the American people are the victims.

Officer cleared after appearing to flash white power sign at Oregon protest.  The Oregon State Police on Sunday [7/5/2020] cleared a trooper who appeared to make a white power symbol during a Black Lives Matter protest in Salem, Oregon, over the weekend.  In a statement, authorities said the trooper made the gesture after seeing a skirmish during the event at the Oregon Capitol on Saturday.  He was checking on a man who had been knocked to the ground, police said.  Footage of the protest, which was streamed live on social media, shows a trooper observing counter-protesters during the demonstration.  The officer then walks towards one of the counter-protesters and flashes the "OK" hand gesture, which is used among extremist circles to signal "white power," according to the Anti Defamation League.  The counter-protester is then seen patting the officer on the back.  NBC News is not publishing or linking to the video to avoid providing a platform to apparent expressions of hate or white supremacy.

The Editor says...
If you re-define a harmless hand gesture that has been in use for many decades, you are to blame if someone misconstrues its use.  I had no idea, until a few months ago, that this gesture had been hijacked (mostly by the news media, since there aren't that many white supremacists) as some sort of hateful symbol.

Burgess Owens:  America Will See a 'Renaissance' with Trump Re-Elected, GOP House.  Utah congressional Republican candidate Burgess Owens told Breitbart News Saturday that America will see a "true renaissance" with President Donald Trump re-elected for a second term and a Republican majority in the House of Representatives.  Owens — a former Oakland Raiders safety and Super Bowl champion — recently won Utah's fourth congressional district primary.  The black conservative hopes to unseat freshman swing district Democrat Rep. Ben McAdams.

The Editor says...
Now is the time to build more prisons.  If the Democrats win, the prisons will be full of people who used to wear red MAGA hats.  If the Republicans win, they could be filled with rioters, looters, and other violent criminals, of which there is no shortage.

US population growth is driven ONLY by minorities with the white population declining for the first time in the nation's history.  Population growth in the United States has been driven only by minorities in the last decade, according to a new report.  Data analysis by Brookings suggests the last decade will also be the first in America's history where the white population declined in numbers.  Estimates released by the US Census Bureau ahead of the 2020 results show that last year, for the first time, more than 50 percent of those under 16 also identified as a racial or ethnic minority.

Amazon driver in Detroit quits job on Twitter, leaves package-filled van with keys in the ignition.  Here's why he did it.  Among the grievances that led [Derick] Lancaster to quit:  He said he was late getting to his sister's recent graduation party because he was working, and he felt constant pressure to deliver more packages — and to do it faster.  Lancaster said after he left the van, he called a Lyft and went home, until he came to his senses hours later and returned to the gas station and waited for someone from Amazon to pick up the van.  He also got back on Twitter and posted a live video about why his job and mental health wasn't worth $15.50 an hour.  Since the pandemic began, Amazon workers nationwide have called out sick in protest and held rallies to raise awareness about what they say are unsafe and harsh working conditions.

Home Depot removes spools of ropes from its shelves after customer started making nooses in stores.  The Home Depot has changed the way it displays rope for sale after nooses made from spooled rope were discovered in several of its stores, most recently last month in North Carolina.  The home improvement giant has removed giant spools of rope from every one of its US locations and has switched to selling pre-cut rope in lengths that are most commonly sold, Home Depot spokesperson Margaret Smith told DailyMail.com

CBO predicts V-shaped recovery, GDP growth to top 12% for rest of 2020.  The Congressional Budget Office is predicting the economy will come roaring out of the coronavirus recession with growth surging to 12.4% the rest of this year, before settling back into the longer-term trend of about half that.  Unemployment will peak at more than 14% but "fall quickly" as the economy rebounds later this year and into next year, the CBO said in its new update Thursday [7/2/2020]. But it will still be at nearly 6% in 2024, and through the end of the decade will never reach the historically low levels of just a few months ago, CBO said.

CNN Reporter Robbed at Knifepoint on Live TV.  It doesn't matter what part of the globe you're in — if you work for fake news CNN, bad things will find you.  That's what happened to CNN Brasil reporter Bruna Macedo, who was robbed at knifepoint during a live report in São Paolo on Saturday [6/27/2020].  Macedo was reporting on rising water levels at Bandeiras Bridge in São Paolo when a man in a hoodie was lurking around on camera behind the reporter.  It didn't take long for him to make his move.

Rich Hamptons residents rush to hire private security guards after protests.  With protesters descending on the Hamptons this summer, rich New Yorkers with second homes on the East End are looking for more protection than just their hedges.  Wealthy Hamptonites are rushing to hire security guards to keep them safe from the threat of unrest, The [New York] Post has learned.  Charlie McArdle, co-founder of CM Security Consulting, says business is booming in the moneyed enclave, and that he's gotten a flood of calls after Thursday's protests, which targeted the Hamptons homes of figures such as Mayor Mike Bloomberg, real estate mogul Stephen Ross and Blackstone CEO Steven Schwarzman.  "My clients range from the 1 percenters to people who are concerned about the political climate and what's going on today," McArdle said.

Wisconsin police officer fatally shoots black man allegedly wielding knives, family says race played role.  A black man was shot a killed by a Wisconsin police officer Thursday [7/2/2020] after authorities say he chased a woman with a pair of knives and then advanced on the officer.  Family members of Kevan Ruffin, 32, said he had psychiatric issues but believe his race played a role in the shooting.  Sheboygan, Wis., Police Chief, Christopher Domagalski said police officers responded to a call that a man was chasing a women with "sai-style" kitchen knives at around 5:50 a.m.

Broadcasting legend Hugh Downs dead at 99.  Broadcasting legend Hugh Downs died at age 99 on Wednesday night [7/1/2020] surrounded by loved ones, according to CBS' Arizona affiliate.  Downs' historic career lasted over 60 years, with memorable work on "20/20," "Today" and "The Tonight Show."  He famously co-anchored "20/20" alongside Barbara Walters where the duo became beloved by millions.

Epstein 'sex slave' Virginia Giuffre, Alan Dershowitz both lose in new court ruling.  Attorneys for alleged Jeffrey Epstein "sex slave" Virginia Roberts Giuffre were ordered Wednesday [7/1/2020] to destroy evidence from her case against Ghislaine Maxwell — as lawyer Alan Dershowitz was also denied access to the potentially explosive information.  Manhattan federal Judge Loretta Preska said she was "troubled" to learn during oral arguments last week that Giuffre's lawyers, from the firm of Cooper & Kirk, had been given sealed records from her since-settled suit against Maxwell, who Giuffre claims recruited her to have sex with Epstein and his pals while she was underage.

New GOP Ad Issues Powerful Warning About Democrats Threatening American Culture.  On Wednesday, the Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA) released a powerful new ad warning about vandals and rioters destroying a key monument in American culture — the presidents on Mount Rushmore.  While the vandals are not likely to actually deface Mount Rushmore anytime soon, their iconoclastic movement has already targeted each of the four presidents on the monument — George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt.

Twitter alternative Parler faces growth obstacle:  Too few liberals.  The self-proclaimed "unbiased" platform Parler has the potential to become a mainstream platform, social media analysts say, but its one-sided political audience could stunt its growth.  "If Parler can't grow beyond its current conservative user base, it will be a trend that quickly fades.  It's going to need to get more diversified users and diversified content," social media marketing expert and Digital Trailblazer owner Todd Getts told the Washington Examiner.

The Editor says...
A one-sided audience might inhibit advertising sales, but otherwise, there is nothing to be gained by recruiting left-wing extremists to join the platform.

Bottles And Trash Thrown At NYPD Responding To Crimes.  This story is from the weekend, but I wanted to circle back to it as it seems to be emblematic of what's going on in New York City these days in terms of the ability of the police to maintain order in the Big Apple.  Early Sunday morning, the police were dispatched to a scene were gunfire was reported.  Upon arriving at the Harlem neighborhood where the report originated, they were greeted by the sight of hundreds of people having some sort of party in the streets.  But rather than helping the officers look for any possible shooter in the vicinity, dozens of partygoers began pelting the police cruisers with rocks, bottles and garbage.  The cops were so badly outnumbered that there was virtually nothing they could do to address the original report.

Knoxville police regain access to computer system following ransomware attack.  The Knoxville Police Department regained use of its in-car computers more than two weeks after a ransomware attack shuttered the reporting system the officers use.  KPD previously announced officers would not respond to car crashes unless they involved injury or a disabled vehicle blocking traffic because they couldn't access their electronic reporting system.

Trump congratulates Boebert for win in Colorado primary.  President Trump congratulated Lauren Boebert late Tuesday night after the pro-gun businesswoman defeated Rep. Scott Tipton, who represented his Colorado district for five terms in Congress.  "Congratulations on a really great win!" Trump tweeted.  Trump's tweet linked to a post from her Twitter account from back in May where she described herself as a tough fighter against socialism and advocate for the Second Amendment.

University of California SF pays ransomware hackers $1.14 million to salvage research.  The University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) has admitted to paying a partial ransom demand of $1.14 million to recover files locked down by a ransomware infection.  The university was struck on June 1, where malware was found in the UCSF School of Medicine's IT systems.  Administrators quickly attempted to isolate the infection and ringfence a number of systems that prevented the ransomware from traveling to the core UCSF network and causing further damage.  While the school says the cyberattack did not affect "our patient care delivery operations, overall campus network, or COVID-19 work," UCSF servers used by the school of medicine were encrypted.

China Is Buying Up Dozens of U.S. Commercial Airliners.  We Should Be Worried.  After years of aggression, broken promises and falsehoods, most recently about the coronavirus outbreak, the Chinese government has finally begun to face the consequences of its misconduct.  On behalf of industries that range from technology to pharmaceuticals, the United States is fighting back against the Chinese.  Why then is it looking the other way as Chinese companies buy up the commercial aircraft that Americans fly?

Black cop charged in George Floyd's death joined force to stop discrimination.  The black officer charged in the death of George Floyd had joined the force to protect other young black men from police abuse, arguing more cops like himself could change the Minneapolis force.  Now J. Alexander Kueng is being denounced by members of his own family.  Kueng's mission to change the reputation of the department was rooted in seeing friends — even a sister, Taylor Kueng — treated badly by law enforcement officers, the New York Times reported.  Still, Kueng defended authorities, including the sheriff's deputies who arrested his sibling, telling his friends and relatives the best way to fix the department was from within, not by public demonstrations.

Comey miniseries gets pre-election airdate, after director pleads for chance to sway voters.  Showtime miniseries based on former FBI Director James Comey's memoir has been rescheduled to debut before Election Day, after its creator made an emotional plea for a chance to sway presidential voters.  Billy Ray, who wrote and directed "The Comey Rule," recoiled after learning Showtime originally planned to debut it in late November.  Ray wrote an angry letter to his cast and crew about the post-election date obtained by Deadline.com.  The note suggests a collective agenda behind the project:  ["]I know what a disappointment this is to you.  It is for me too — because while I've made movies about my country before, this was the first time I ever made a movie for my country.  We all were hoping to get this story in front of the American people months before the coming election. [..."]

Disney to retheme Splash Mountain in Orlando and California to Princess and the Frog.  Disney will retheme Splash Mountain to its only film to feature a Black princess, The Princess and the Frog.  Disney announced Thursday [6/25/2020] that the ride — currently themed to a film some Disney fans say is the company's most racist, "Song of the South" — will get a makeover at both Walt Disney World in Orlando and Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif.

Army ditches officer promotion photos to combat bias, says strength 'comes from our diversity'.  The U.S. Army says its time to ditch photos in officer promotion board packages as a way guaranteeing a diverse racial aesthetic.  The move, which will go into effect Aug. 1, was confirmed by Military.com on Thursday and comes shortly after the creation of the "Defense Board on Diversity and Inclusion."  "The strength of our Army comes from our diversity," leaders wrote in a memo obtained by the defense website.  "Developing and maintaining qualified and demographically diverse leadership is critical for mission effectiveness and is essential to national security."

The Editor says...
Exactly the opposite is true.  The strength of the Army comes from uniformity, not diversity.  Diversity adds nothing but confusion.  Just ask anyone who worked on the Tower of Babel.

US puts sanctions on 5 Iranian ship captains for bringing oil to Venezuela.  The United States on Wednesday imposed sanctions on five Iranian ship captains who delivered oil to Venezuela, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo reaffirmed Washington's backing for Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido.  Speaking at a news conference, Pompeo said the ships delivered about 1.5 million barrels of Iranian gasoline and related components, and warned mariners against doing business with the government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, whose ouster Washington seeks.

GOP Lawmaker Forces DOJ Whistleblower To Admit He Sought Job With Democrats During Trump Impeachment.  A Justice Department official turned whistleblower appeared caught off-guard Wednesday when Republican Rep. Doug Collins pressed him in a House Judiciary Committee hearing about his efforts in 2019 to work for House Democrats during the Trump impeachment saga.  John Elias, a chief of staff to the Justice Department's assistant attorney general in the antitrust division, reluctantly conceded at the hearing that he sought a position on the Democratic side of the House Judiciary Committee.  Elias was one of three witnesses who accused Attorney General William Barr of abuse of his authority at the Judiciary hearing.

Black citizens chase punk robbing old white man, make him give money back.  While you would be hard-pressed to believe it watching cable news these days, there really are two Americas.  There is the version portrayed nightly on your TV and computer screens, by a liberal media fully invested in a racially-divisive narrative ahead of the presidential election, and there is the America most of us live in.  An example of the latter world was captured in a video making the rounds on social media, featuring a black woman and her brother chasing down a younger black man, who appears to have just robbed an old white man.

We Appear to Have the Winner of the 'Most Conservative District' in New York.  State Senator Chris Jacobs declared victory Tuesday night in the special election for New York's 27th congressional district, held to replace former Rep. Chris Collins (R) after his resignation following insider trading charges.  NY-27 has been classified as the "most conservative district" in the state of New York, so there were plenty of eyes on this one.  In his win, Jacobs defeated attorney Beth Parlato, Erie County Comptroller Stefan Mychajliw, and the lone Democratic candidate Nate McMurray.  McMurray has yet to concede, but Jacobs's team says there's no way, even with absentee ballots, that the Democrat can make up the deficit.  President Trump endorsed Jacobs, touting him as a congressman who would be strong on many of the issues conservatives care about.

Assistant principal at Staten Island high school is investigated after 'racist' rant on Facebook.  The New York City Department of Education has launched an investigation into a troubling Facebook post penned by an employee of a Staten Island high school.  Deborah Morse-Cunningham, who serves as the assistant principal of New Dorp High School, is still at work despite sharing a lengthy status update in which she pondered the nature of privilege by referring to a number of racial stereotypes.  'What is privilege?' Morse-Cunningham asked in the post, which has now been deleted.  'Privilege is wearing $200 sneakers when you've never had a job.  Privilege is wearing $300 Beats headphones while living on public assistance.  Privilege is living in public subsidized housing where you don't have a water bill, where rising property taxes and rents and energy costs have absolutely no effect on the amount of food you can put on your table.'

The Editor says...
How is that "a troubling Facebook post"?  What did she say that isn't true?

Whistleblower Claims Chinese Communists Pay Vatican $2 Billion in Bribes.  Exiled Chinese dissident Guo Wengui alleged this weekend the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) "allocates $2 billion a year" to pay off the Vatican for its silence concerning Chinese atrocities.  In a June 20th interview on The War Room, Mr. Guo said the CCP earmarks massive sums each year to win the allegiance of foreign countries including the Vatican, Italy, and Australia.  Among them, the Vatican receives up to 2 billion dollars from the Chinese Communist Party every year, he said.

Due to Seattle's unrest, [a] billion-dollar investment firm [is] moving to Phoenix.  Coronavirus pandemic or not, an investment advisory company is leaving the cultural unrest in Seattle and moving its headquarters to Phoenix's Camelback Corridor. [...] [President and CEO Cole] Smead said that although taxes in Seattle are lower, candidate recruitment is harder and the cost of living within the city is more expensive than Phoenix.

Berman refused to criticize de Blasio over social distancing rules for religious gatherings, not protests: report.  Geoffrey Berman, the former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, refused to sign a letter criticizing New York Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) for okaying protests but not religious gatherings a day before Attorney General William Barr announced he would be replaced, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday [6/22/2020].  Justice Department supervisors asked both Berman and Eric Dreiband, the head of the agency's civil rights division, to sign the letter, but after a brief back-and-forth, Berman objected to its characterization of de Blasio's handling of the protests as a double standard and said signing the letter would hurt relations between the city and his office, the newspaper reported, citing people familiar with the matter.  The letter was never sent.  It is unclear whether the episode contributed to the Justice Department's removal of Berman.

Digital Yuan:  China's Plan to Topple the U.S. Dollar.  There are many qualified candidates for the title of second most consequential event of 2020, right after coronavirus and its associated worldwide economic implosion.  The global reach of the George Floyd protests comes to mind, as does the still-unfolding China-India clash in the Himalayas.  Perhaps North Korea or Iran will deliver another crisis unto the world.  Possibly more deserving than any of these, however, is China's planned rollout of its digital yuan, through which the Communist Party intends to upend the U.S.-led financial world order.

Hackers Doxxed More Than 200 Law Enforcement Agencies.  The hacker group known as "Distributed Denial of Secrets" on Friday released 10 years' worth of data from more than 200 law enforcement agencies across the nation.  The doxxing, being dubbed "BlueLeaks," includes "hundreds of thousands of documents," including "police and FBI reports, bulletins, guides, and more."  The documents are 269 [gigabytes].  The group's Twitter account stated the information is being released anonymously, but they took no part in actually obtaining it.  The release was done as protests and riots over the death of George Floyd continue across the nation.  DDOS co-founder Emma Best told Wired that people began sifting through the documents to learn more about how law enforcement is tracking and communicating with one another about the protests.

In Venezuela, 'Enforced Disappearance' Is Used by the Regime to Keep People In Line.  Earlier this week I wrote about the continued deterioration of democracy in Venezuela.  Specifically, the Maduro loyalists on Venezuela's Supreme Court announced they were handing control of two opposition parties to individuals who had previously left the parties and joined the Maduro regime.  Today a human rights group has published a report documenting how "politicallly-motivated detentions" have become a major tool of repression in Venezuela.

Facebook breaks [its] own free-speech policy over bogus 'symbol of hate' charge.  Facebook employees are apparently creating exceptions to CEO Mark Zuckerberg's vow to refrain from policing political speech:  On Thursday, the social-media giant took down a Trump-campaign ad — citing a preposterous rationale.  "We removed these posts and ads for violating our policy against organized hate," a Facebook spokesman said:  They showed a red, upside-down triangle similar to what Nazis used to classify political prisoners, so they violated the platform's ban on "using a hate group's symbol to identify political prisoners without the context that condemns or discusses the symbol."  Huh?  There are no political prisoners in question here.  And Team Trump was clearly condemning the symbol — which is indeed linked to antifa — because the ad included the words:  "STOP ANTIFA."  In any event, most Americans probably have no idea that the triangle is linked to either the Nazis or antifa.  Indeed, a campaign spokesman notes that Facebook itself "has an inverted red triangle emoji in use."

Hillsdale College Refuses To Bow To The Totalitarian Mob.  The nationally recognized liberal arts institution Hillsdale College has a history of defying political pressure in order to uphold what is good and true.  Its recent refusal to give in to the demands of those who think a public statement is necessary to fight social injustice is just the most recent example.  Some of the college's alumni publicly pushed their alma mater to comment on the recent controversies regarding the death of George Floyd and the ensuing protests and riots.  When a petition began circulating calling on the college to release a statement, arguing that its "silence" supported violence, the college responded in an open letter. [...] Hillsdale was founded by abolitionists in 1844 and has, since its inception, pledged to educate all students, "irrespective of nation, color, or sex."  Such strong anti-discrimination practices were viewed as fiercely radical at the time, and made Hillsdale among the first in the nation to grant education to black Americans and the second in the nation to provide four-year liberal arts degrees to women.

In a world of sheep-like conformity, Hillsdale College takes a stand.  [Scroll down]  In the 20th century, as myriad colleges gave up their intellectual independence chasing after state and federal money (and, it seems, Chinese money), Hillsdale refused to do so.  As it has since its founding, it depends entirely on private donations and tuition to meet its needs.  Hillsdale is also one of the few colleges in America that continues the classic inquiring tradition of a liberal education, rather than falling in line with academic leftism and mindless obedience.  In sum, Hillsdale is a bastion of intellectual liberty, founded on a moral and historic bedrock dedicated to the equal rights of all people, regardless of race or sex.  So, of course, people began insisting that it issue a statement supporting Black Lives Matter.

Canceled: Hispanic Man Loses Job Over 'White Power' Hand Gesture Accusation.  He Was Cracking His Knuckles.  The fanatical urge to purge and punish wrong-think is claiming scalps across the country, and one of its latest victims is a blue collar, Mexican-American worker in Southern California.  Via San Diego's NBC affiliate, this is yet another installment of weaponized political correctness harming innocent people — as the practitioners of paranoid, irrational cancel culture run roughshod over any semblance of common sense, logic, or grace.  Everything about this is cartoonishly insane.

Sick, Twisted and Evil — Six eBay Executives Charged With Disturbing Cyberstalking.  This is so purposefully evil it almost seems unbelievable.  If you ever wondered how twisted and deranged a group of Silicon Valley executives could be this might provide some context.  This is what happens when Antifa-types get jobs.

Six Former eBay Employees Charged with Aggressive Cyberstalking Campaign Targeting Natick Couple.  Six former employees of eBay, Inc. have been charged with leading a cyberstalking campaign targeting the editor and publisher of a newsletter that eBay executives viewed as critical of the company.  The alleged harassment included sending the couple anonymous, threatening messages, disturbing deliveries — including a box of live cockroaches, a funeral wreath and a bloody pig mask — and conducting covert surveillance of the victims.

Feds take on Nigerian internet fraud, freeze assets of six scammers.  The Treasury Department said Tuesday that it has frozen the assets of six Nigerian scammers who targeted American businesses and widows for internet fraud, hoping the same financial tools used against terrorism and drug cartels can make a dent in email phishing scams.  Government officials called the sanctions an "extraordinary step" as the Justice Department announced fraud and identity theft indictments against the six men, all of whom are still at large.  Those announcements were made a day after federal prosecutors in Boston announced that they had arrested and charged two Nigerian men who they say are responsible for stealing coronavirus unemployment benefit money.

Aunt Jemima to remove image from packaging and rename brand.  The breakfast brand Aunt Jemima is removing its logo and will be renamed, amid public outcry that the branding perpetuated a racist stereotype, its parent company said Wednesday [6/17/2020].  Quaker Oats said in a statement that the longtime brand will remove the image of Aunt Jemima from its packaging starting at the end of 2020, and the name change will happen at a later date. [...] Quaker Oats, a subsidiary of PepsiCo, owns the Aunt Jemima brand, which has been around for more than 130 years.

The Editor says...
This is better than a caption contest.  Stand by for a whole series of memes featuring insensitive and politically incorrect new names for this product, as well as some innovative packaging ideas all over the internet.

Beverly Hills tells BLM protesters to scram; gatherings limited to 10 at night for 'tranquility'.  The wealthy stars in Beverly Hills support large Black Lives Matter protests — provided they're held elsewhere.  The city issued an ban on any gatherings over 10 people after 9 p.m. until further notice to "preserve peace and tranquility."

Panic In Beverly Hills:  Emergency Order Bans Protests In Residential Areas.  The rich and famous are all about protesting and declaring themselves down with the struggle until protesters forget their place and invade residential areas of Beverly Hills.  Then the masks drop.  It's the ultimate Not In My Back Yard (NIMBY) — the City of Beverly Hills issued an emergency order Saturday night [6/13/2020] that bans public gatherings of more than 10 people in residential areas between 9 PM and 8 AM.  What brought this on?  Well, it seems a group calling themselves "Occupy" disrupted the beauty sleep of locals in their posh neighborhood on June 12 between the hours of 10 PM until 1 AM.  The group used bullhorns and "amplified music".  The residents want their tranquility back.  The emergency order remains in effect until further notice.

Disney Mum on Splash Mountain Outcry.  There is a growing call for Disney to rebrand one of its classic rides, which is intertwined with arguably the company's most controversial film.  Amid the ongoing worldwide anti-racism protests in the wake of the May 25 killing of George Floyd, a number of discussions have taken place about previously accepted symbols of historical division in America.  There have been some direct results from the renewed outcry, such as NASCAR banning the use of the Confederate flag at races and the country band Lady Antebellum renaming itself "Lady A."  Disney has found itself in the middle of the debate due to Splash Mountain, the ride featured at a number of its theme parks, including Walt Disney World and Disneyland.  The ride features characters from the 1946 film Song of the South, a movie so overtly out-of-touch and racist, Disney chairman and former CEO Bob Iger made it a point to note the film would never be available for purchase or made to stream on Disney+.  (Vintage VHS copies are going for north of $100 on eBay).

NYPD investigating whether three cops were served poisoned milkshakes at downtown Manhattan Shake Shack.  Three police officers fell ill Monday after drinking milkshakes at a Manhattan Shake Shack, and the NYPD was investigating if they were poisoned with bleach.  The officers ordered a meal at the burger chain's location at Broadway and Fulton St. at about 8:30 p.m. and noticed their shakes tasted strange, police sources said.  One of the officers noticed a "clump of something" in one of their cups, and a second cop smelled bleach before all three fell ill, sources said.

NYPD officers taken to hospital after drinking milk shakes at Shake Shack: cops.  Three NYPD police officers were taken to the hospital on Monday night after drinking milkshakes at a Shake Shack in the city that they said had an unfamiliar taste, police officials told Fox News.  It was later determined that there was "no criminality" after police investigated the scene.  "After a thorough investigation by the NYPD's Manhattan South investigators, it has been determined that there was no criminality by shake shack's employees," Chief Rodney Harrison, the head of detectives for the department, announced on Twitter.

Update / opposing viewpoint:
Oops: Four NYPD Officers Poisoned At Restaurant — By Accident.  Detectives determined that the employees failed to properly rinse the milkshake machines after cleaning them as usual with a bleach solution, CNN reported shortly afterward. [...] It was just random chance, therefore, that the first customers who ordered milkshakes turned out to be cops.

The Editor says...
Even if this explanation is true, the cops could still sue the restaurant.

NYPD Cops 'Intentionally Poisoned' With Bleach In Drinks From Shake Shack.  After an investigation, the NYPD says there is no criminality involved, suggesting the drinks were poisoned by accident.  "NYPD finds no criminality by Shake Shack workers in case of sickened cops," remarked John Cardillo.  "Well this is odd as most places don't bleach paper cups.  I guess the bleach jumped into the milkshakes on its own."

Shake Shack 'Horrified' NYPD Cops' Drinks May Have Had Bleach.  Three NYPD officers were sickened by a cleaning solution that was left in the drink machine their milkshakes came from when they dined at a Shake Shack in Lower Manhattan Monday night, police said.  After a thorough investigation, the NYPD said it found no criminality by Shake Shack's employees, according to Chief of Detectives Rodney Harrison.  The three cops from the Bronx were assigned to watch over protests in Manhattan and they went into the burger chain at Fulton Center around 8:30 p.m., according to the union.  After eating their meals and drinking some of their milkshakes, the officers discovered some toxic substance in their beverages, the union said.

Update:
Update: NYPD Denies that Officers [were] Poisoned at Shake Shack.  NYPD Chief of Detectives Rodney Harrison declares that an investigation of the incident did not find evidence of a crime from any Shake Shack employees.

The Editor says...
How did this story gain so much traction so quickly?  Because it is 100 percent believable, at a time when anti-police demonstrations are underway in major cities.  If I were a cop, I'd be extremely suspicious of the employees in every restaurant.

Insanity at the Poetry Foundation.  You may not pay much attention to the Poetry Foundation, possibly because you are under the impression that, as the modesty of its name and goals imply, it is a struggling little outfit.  Perhaps you picture a staff of a few miserable editors working in some backroom in threadbare cardigans, warming their hands over the only heat they can afford, which is generated by setting fire to their own rejected manuscripts.  The Poetry Foundation is, however, more like the Palace of Versailles of cultural nonprofits.  Its endowment is fat with a quarter of a billion dollars of assets, according to the New York Times, thanks to the generosity of the late pharmaceutical heiress Ruth Lilly, who gave the Chicago foundation $100 million in 2002 before her death in 2009.  Those who would like to transfer this fortune from the Poetry Foundation to their own bank accounts are using the favored tool of the day, which is to issue a thundering race-based denunciation.  As usual, this tactic is working well.

The Editor says...
I had never heard of the Poetry Foundation until now, and now that I've heard of it, I can't imagine what this organization does that requires so much money.

Florida police chief takes a knee, loses his SWAT team.  Is there anything more pathetic than a leader whose charges have all simply walked away?  Hard to look big and powerful when that happens.  That's the pretty picture in Hallandale Beach, where the entire SWAT team resigned after the police chief and members of his command staff took a knee in religious obeisance to the Black Lives Matter anti-police activist group.

Entire SWAT Team in Florida City Resigns in Response to Police Chief Kneeling with Black Lives Matter Protesters.  An entire SWAT team in Hallandale Beach, Florida resigned on Friday in response to Police Chief Sonia Quinones kneeling with Black Lives Matter protesters.  The police chief scheduled a meeting for Monday [6/15/2020] with the officers who resigned to hear their complaints.  In a memo, the SWAT officers said in addition to being under trained and minimally equipped, they were outraged to see the police chief kneeling with political activists.

Cops to America:  You won't have to abolish police, we're outta here.  Mike O'Meara, the president of the New York State Police Benevolent Association, is not the only cop fed up and exasperated with mainstream America's incessant demonization of all law enforcement officers.  Not by a long shot.  So is Travis Yates, a 27-year Tulsa cop who "grew up in a law enforcement family" but is now warning of an incoming police exodus.  In a powerful, nearly 1500-word long column published last week at LawOfficer.com, Yates poured his heart out over the growing disrespect for law enforcement that he's seen as the decades have progressed.

Truck Drivers Say They Will Not Deliver to Dangerous Far Left Cities with Defunded Police Departments.  77% of truck drivers say they will not deliver to far left cities with defunded police departments.  Nor should they.  Truck driving is a dangerous profession.  Far left mayors and violent rioters make it deadly.  Here's a scene from a "peaceful protest" last week that did not end well for the trucker.  The mob yanked him from his cab and beat him senseless.  [Video clip]

State to relitigate Supreme Court's Hobby Lobby abortion decision.  The state of Illinois apparently has decided to relitigate the Supreme Court's Hobby Lobby decision, which concluded the First Amendment prevents the government from ordering religious believers to violate their conscience by requiring them to pay for abortion.  In response, the Thomas More Society is suing the state "to challenge a law requiring all health insurance policies sold in the state to provide coverage for elective chemical and surgical abortions, with no exemptions, even for churches."

A New Silent Majority Is Coming.  Led by a media that is at once delusional and cynical — an eye-rolling combination — America is in the throes of a national madness.  Few are able to tell the truth — and when they do, they are attacked by the mob, not only in the street, but in the board room.  Just the other day, talk show host Tucker Carlson opened his mouth about the well-documented dishonest origins (the lie about Michael Brown) of Black Lives Matter and sent advertisers skittering like so many scared rabbits.  You have the sensation that people across the country are hiding what they really think for fear of repercussions, retribution that will destroy their lives and livelihood.  And they're not being stupid.  It could — and has.

Twitter removes 170,000 accounts associated with Chinese misinformation campaigns.  Twitter announced Thursday [6/11/2020] that it deleted more than 170,000 accounts associated with Chinse state-linked misinformation campaigns.  The social media company published an archive of 32,242 accounts related to state-linked information operations including three attributed to China, Russia and Turkey, adding that data from the accounts was shared with the Australian Strategic Policy Institute and Stanford Internet Observatory.

Cancel culture goes crazy, claiming classics, cartoons and the confederacy.  All right, this time they've gone too far.  As part of a sweeping reassessment of all things either favorable to the police or upsetting to the black community, the latest target is "Paw Patrol."  That's right.  No less an authority than the New York Times informs us that the Nick Jr. cartoon — featuring a squad of canines running around helping other creatures — is too positive toward the cops.  After the show tweeted an appeal for black voices to be heard, the commenters started growling:  "Defund the paw patrol."  "Euthanize the police dog."  "All dogs go to heaven, except the class traitors in the Paw Patrol."

Black Lives Matter Website, 'Defund The Police' Donations Go to 'Act Blue', The 'Biden For President' Campaign's Top Source of Donations.  The National Pulse can reveal the Black Lives Matter website — the organization spearheading nationwide "defund the police" campaigns — is partnered with ActBlue, a Democrat fundraising platform that is the top donor to Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, responsible for raising nearly 99.64 percent of the Biden for President effort.  While the Biden campaign insists it doesn't support efforts to defund the police, it may happily profit from Black Lives Matter (BLM) efforts, and is complicit in taking money from an organization partnered with those spearheading the dangerous policy that has already taken root in Minneapolis, New York, and Los Angeles.

BUSTED! DNC Gets Caught Laundering Money Through Black Lives Matter.  The Democratic National Committee and the Democrats are really as corrupt as they come.  It is absolutely unreal what they get away with.  Last year, we learned about a lot of overseas donations from foreign entities to Democrats including former presidential candidates such as Cory Booker, Kamala Harris, and Adam Schiff, but ther were a number of others as well.  It appears as though the BlackLivesMatter.com website that it is an international money laundering scheme and a front for the DNC to generate money from people across the world.

Merriam-Webster To Change Dictionary Definition of "Racism" to Show Only White People are Racist.  The root of the issue here is how to define racism.  Racism, obviously, means disliking another race, viewing it as 'bad'.  That's a definition that black nationalists and their leftist allies really hate because it raises the possibility that Farrakhan, Sharpton, or Tamika Mallory can be racist.  Instead they define racism as a system of oppression so that only people with power can be racist and only white people have power.  Therefore Farrakhan can't possibly be racist.  This wasn't a fringe idea.  Obama was one of the more prominent figures who implicitly championed it The usual tell for someone who is pushing this is their use of "reverse racism" to refer to racism by minorities, all the while insisting that reverse racism doesn't exist.  Now in the dumpster fire of 2020, Merriam-Webster will be redefining racism.

Leaked 2015 Democrat Memo Warned Lawmakers 'Don't Offer Support' for 'Radical' Black Lives Matter.  A leaked 2015 internal Democrat Party memo warned top House Democrats not to embrace the Black Lives Matter movement because it was described by the Democrat Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) as a "radical movement."  The memo, from then-DCCC official Troy Perry addressed to "DCCC Staff" on Thursday Nov. 19, 2015, noted that the Democrats' 2016 presidential candidates "have struggled to respond to tactics of the Black Lives Matter movement."  Perry was at the time he wrote this the DCCC's Director of Diversity and Public Engagement. [...] Perry warned recipients of his memo in the next line that it was top secret and confidential — not to be shared with anyone.  "This document should not be emailed or handed to anyone outside of the building," he wrote.  "Please only give campaign staff these best practices in meetings or over the phone."

Cox slows an entire neighborhood's internet after one person's 'excessive use'.  Cable company Cox Communications is slowing internet speeds of a whole neighborhood if one resident is a heavy user, Ars Technica reported.  Cox confirmed that it does enact neighborhood-wide slowdowns to discourage what it calls "excessive use," but didn't specify how many users it would take for this to happen.  One Florida customer said he was warned about his data usage before Cox responded by slowing upload speeds on his gigabyte internet plan with unlimited data from 35 Mbps to 10 Mbps for the customer and all of his neighbors.

'Cops' canceled amid George Floyd protests.  The long-running reality-TV show "Cops" has been canceled, a casualty of the George Floyd protests.  The show, which began in 1989, was pulled from the schedule of the Paramount Network several days ago, and Tuesday [6/9/2020] the network said it won't be coming back.  "'Cops' is not on the Paramount Network and we don't have any current or future plans for it to return," a Paramount Network spokesperson told Variety magazine in a statement.

Corcoran realtor fired for using photo of NYPD van on fire to sell homes.  A Corcoran realtor has been fired for trying to lure Big Apple home buyers to Florida — by using a photo of an NYPD van in flames during the recent George Floyd protests.  "Looking for Change?" South Florida agent Joseph Swedroe asked in an email blast — juxtaposing the engulfed cop vehicle with images of boating and sandy beaches in the Sunshine State, according to The Real Deal.  His email asked potential buyers if they wanted to live in "chaos or comfort," alluding to violent clashes and looting that rocked the city during mass protests over Floyd's death, the real estate site said.  Swedroe — a licensed real estate agent since 2010 — insisted there was "nothing offensive" in his blast because "everything in the email was easily available online, or in the newspaper or on TV."

Petition language to recall Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer approved by state board.  The language in a petition to recall Gov. Gretchen Whitmer for the signing of nine of her executive orders during the COVID-19 pandemic has been approved by the Michigan Board of State Canvassers.  Albion resident Chad Baase, 39, was successful in his third attempt at coming up with "clear and factual" language to move forward with the recall petition process.  He and his group — the Committee to Recall Governor Gretchen Whitmer — must come up with more than 1 million signatures from registered voters in 60 days or less to trigger a recall election.

"We Effectively Have A Zimbabwe Fed" - John Williams Warns "The System Is Bankrupt".  While the country was distracted with the Covid-19 lockdown and economic crisis, the Federal Reserve made a huge banking requirement change never before done in history.  The Fed cut "...reserve requirement ratios to zero percent effective March 26, 2020.  This action eliminated reserve requirements for all depository institutions."  What does this profound change mean?

Stan Wischnowski resigns as The Philadelphia Inquirer's top editor.  Stan Wischnowski, the top editor of The Philadelphia Inquirer, has announced his resignation, days after discontent among the newspaper's staff erupted over a headline on a column about the impact of the civil unrest following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. [...] It was the placement of an insensitive headline over Inga Saffron's column in the Tuesday [6/2/2020] newspaper that may have set the stage for Wischnowski's departure.  He joined the two other top editors in signing an apology to readers and staff, characterizing the headline, "Buildings Matter, Too," as "deeply offensive" and apologizing for it.

Alamance County speedway breaks state's restrictions again, draws more than 2,000 in 'protest against inequality, injustice'.  A North Carolina speedway drew a crowd of more than 2,000 spectators in defiance of the state's coronavirus restrictions after declaring the race a "protest."  The governor's office had warned Ace Speedway that a crowd of more than 25 would violate the state's Phase 2 coronavirus restrictions.  But news outlets report that more than 2,000 attended a race Saturday night.

Boris Johnson's excellent answer to Beijing's move on Hong Kong's freedom.  Cheers to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson for offering millions of Hong Kongers visas and a path to UK citizenship if Beijing goes ahead with its horrible new "security law." [...] London is in no position to stop the massive treaty violation.  But Johnson's riposte will still wound:  If the law goes ahead, he says, he'll offer visas and potential citizenship to all 3 million Hong Kongers who qualify for British National (Overseas) passports, not just the 300,000 who now hold them.

The Great Diamond Glut:  Miners Stuck With Gems Worth Billions.  In one of the world's biggest diamond vaults, hidden inside a nondescript office compound on the dusty outskirts of Botswana's capital, the precious stones just keep piling up.  Owner De Beers, which mines and auctions most of its gems in the southern African nation, has barely sold any rough diamonds since February.  Neither has Russian rival Alrosa PJSC.  Now, as the coronavirus restrictions that froze the global industry for months begin to lift, the unsold diamonds present a dilemma:  how to reduce billions of dollars' worth of stocks without undermining the nascent recovery.  The pandemic has devastated the diamond world.  Jewelry stores closed their doors, India's cutting and polishing artisans were forced to stay home and De Beers had to cancel its March sale because buyers couldn't travel to view the merchandise. [...] The five biggest producers are probably sitting on excess inventories worth about $3.5 billion, according to Gemdax, a specialist advisory firm.

The Editor says...
Diamonds are just minerals, and in some parts of the world they are not especially rare.  If the American consumer were to realize this, the price of diamonds would drop ... like a stone.

Looney Tunes remake will see Elmer Fudd without his rifle as creators declare 'we're not doing guns'.  Warner Bros has commissioned a new animation series featuring the classic characters, including Bugs Bunny, which sticks close to the spirit of the originals. [...] In response to US gun violence, the showrunners will not include firearms in Fudd's arsenal.  That is not to say that he has given up hunting Bugs Bunny, though — he just uses a scythe instead.

The Editor says...
[#1] Elmer Fudd never carried a rifle.  [#2] The depictions of firearm misuse in cartoons had no effect on violent crime in America in the 1940's and 1950's, when the cartoons were so violent that many of them can't be shown on television any more.  [#3] The Warner Brothers cartoons started going downhill about 1960, and really hit the skids when computer animation took over from hand-drawn works of art.

Antifa Reportedly Chased Out of Town by Hell's Angels Biker Gang.  According to various reports on social media, several biker gangs coalesced to prevent an Antifa demonstration from taking place in Placerville, California. [...] A tweet containing a Facebook post from the small California town telling how the infamous Hell's Angels united with other gangs to reportedly repel an Antifa demonstration.  The tweet reads:  "ANTIFA has threatened the town of Placerville, CA.  They said if anyone stands in their way "there will be consequences."  So Hell's Angels and the Mongols biker gangs have accepted the challenge !

'I Only Kneel For One Person': Black Georgia State Trooper Refuses To Kneel At Black Lives Matter Protest.  A Georgia law enforcement officer refused to kneel for protesters at a Black Lives Matter rally in Hartwell, Georgia on Sunday [6/7/2020].  Instead, Georgia State Trooper O'Neal Saddler was recorded telling a female protester that he only kneels "for one person, and that's God."  The video, which was first posted to Facebook by Ni'Rubyan Photography, was shared Saturday on Twitter by Students for Trump President Ryan Fournier.

Black Georgia state trooper refuses to kneel at a Black Lives Matter protest: 'I only kneel for one person'.  Georgia State Trooper O'Neal Saddler refused to kneel during a Black Lives Matter protest in Hartwell, Georgia, on Sunday, saying he "has much respect" but only kneels "for one person."  Video was rolling after Saddler had apparently been asked by a protester to kneel during the demonstration out of respect for the black community.  "If I didn't have any respect, I wouldn't [be here]," Saddler began saying to a female protester.  "I was supposed to be out of town this weekend with my wife.  I took off today, this weekend, but I'm out here to make sure y'all are safe."  "Don't go there with respect, OK? I have much respect, but I only kneel for one person," Saddler continued.

Poll: 56% Of Americans Believe Police Are Behaving Appropriately Or Not Being Aggressive Enough.  A new NPR-Marist poll found that 56% of Americans believe that the police are behaving appropriately or not being aggressive enough during the nationwide demonstrations after George Floyd's death.  The survey, which was conducted Tuesday through Wednesday, asked 1,062 American adults about police behavior in relation to the protests about George Floyd's death with a margin of error of +/- 4 percentage points.

Trump retweets video of Candace Owens attacking George Floyd.  President Trump retweeted a video Friday of right-wing commentators Glenn Beck and Candace Owens attacking the reputation of George Floyd.  "The fact that he has been held up as a martyr sickens me," Owens told Beck in the footage.  "George Floyd was not a good person."  As mass protests rocked the nation for yet another day, the Trump retweet amplified the message to a worldwide audience and his 81.8 million Twitter followers.  Beck and Owens then delved into Floyd's lengthy criminal record, which included time behind bars.  Floyd's autopsy report revealed he had both fentanyl and methamphetamine in his system at the time of his death.

AMC theater chain warns it may not survive.  Back in mid-March, Regal Theaters announced they would be closing down operations because of the coronavirus and I was worried that it could be the end for some chains.  Today [6/3/2020], AMC Theaters, the nation's largest chain announced that it might not survive if shutdowns continue for much longer.  All of AMC's theaters are shut down through June, which means the company isn't generating any revenue.

A Dark Day for Freedom of Expression.  It's been a terrible 48 hours for Americans who believe in freedom of speech. [...] [F]irst a note about Alex Berenson.  He is the former New York Times reporter who has been highly critical of the lockdown policy employed by most places to slow the spread of coronavirus.  Berenson's lockdown critique was sober and data-based — and deeply unpopular among advocates of extending lockdowns far into the future.  So Berenson put his work into book form.  And then, on Thursday, he got a message from Amazon, telling him the online giant would not be selling his book.  "Your book does not comply with our guidelines," Amazon said.  "As a result we are not offering your book for sale."  Amazon went on to refer customers to "official sources" for information about coronavirus.  Amazon offered no further explanation.  It was censorship, pure and simple.  And then some prominent voices, notable among them tech mogul Elon Musk, began to protest.  "This is insane, @JeffBezos," Musk tweeted, addressing the head of Amazon.  "Time to break up Amazon.  Monopolies are wrong!"  And then — Presto! — Berenson's book was released from captivity, available from Amazon.

Autopsy report:  George Floyd died from cardiopulmonary arrest, was positive for COVID-19.  The family of George Floyd and the Hennepin County Medical Examiner's Office agreed to release the full autopsy report of George Floyd.  In the report, it is stated that Floyd died of cardiopulmonary arrest complicating law enforcement subdual, restraint and neck compression.  Floyd had multiple blunt force injuries to his forehead, face and upper lip as well as cutaneous blunt force injuries of the shoulders, hands, elbows and legs.

The June 4 Tiananmen Square Massacre:  Five Truths That Still Aren't Widely Known.  Despite Hong Kong lighting up every evening on June 4 in an annual candlelight vigil to commemorate the victims of the massacre, Chinese mainlanders across the border are without such freedom of speech.  Talking about the Tiananmen Square Massacre, or even mentioning "June 4," or "6.4," could have one disappear.  In 2007, Zhang Zhongshun, a lecturer from Yantai University, showed his class a video of the massacre he obtained from an overseas website.  He was subsequently jailed for three years by Laishan City Court on Feb. 28, 2008.  "I imagined that the worst case would just be that the university president would criticize me in front of my colleagues in a meeting.  I would not have thought that the communist regime would imprison me," Zhang told The Epoch Times in an interview after his release from the detention.  "Is it illegal even if I include a historical event into my lecture?" he asked.  Who'd dare raise this for discussion in China knowing the consequences?

Who are the biggest holders of gold?  The U.S. Federal Reserve is the world's largest holder of gold, with 8,133.5 tonnes as of May 2020, accounting for 78.3 percent of its reserves, according to the International Monetary Fund and International Financial Statistics.  Germany was the second-largest gold hoarder at 3,362.2 tonnes, or 74.3 percent of reserves.  The International Monetary Fund has the third-largest gold stash at 2,814 tonnes.  The IMF holds the commodity for financial soundness and to help meet unforeseen contingencies.

Petition to impeach Mayor Bill de Blasio gains support amid protests.  Critics of Mayor Bill de Blasio are circulating an old, fanciful petition calling for his impeachment amid outrage over riots and lootings in the city during protests over the death of Minnesota resident George Floyd at the hands of the police.  The online Change.org petition — "Impeach de Blasio" — garnered more than 60,000 signatures and growing Tuesday night [6/2/2020]. Organizers are seeking 75,000 backers.  The petition was started last year but thousands signed onto the petition Tuesday as controversy raged over protests engulfing the city that have triggered clashes between participants and police officers and reports of vandalism and property damage of retail stores.  But critics are just venting their frustration.  De Blasio will not be impeached.  He is term-limited and will complete his term at the end of 2021.

George Floyd had 'violent criminal history': Minneapolis police union chief.  The head of the Minneapolis police union says George Floyd's "violent criminal history" needs to be remembered and that the protests over his death are the work of a "terrorist movement."  "What is not being told is the violent criminal history of George Floyd.  The media will not air this," police union president Bob Kroll told his members in a letter posted Monday on Twitter.  Floyd had landed five years behind bars in 2009 for an assault and robbery two years earlier, and before that, had been convicted of charges ranging from theft with a firearm to drugs, the Daily Mail reported.

The Editor says...
Regardless of his criminal record, Mr. Floyd did not deserve the treatment he got.

140 Republican Lawmakers Pile Onto Lawsuit Against Democrats Over Proxy Voting, File Injunctions On New Proxy Votes.  An additional 140 House Republicans have joined a lawsuit Friday filed earlier this week against Speaker Nancy Pelosi over new rules in the lower chamber allowing for proxy voting.  The suit was initially filed Tuesday by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy joined by 20 GOP lawmakers and four constituents on the eve of the first time members of the House have ever voted without being physically present, upending more than 200 years of precedent.

Chinese state media says US demonstrations are 'beautiful' as it hits back at American support for Hong Kong protests.  Chinese state and social media have been filled with reports highlighting the nationwide demonstrations against police brutality in the US and attacking American politicians who supported the Hong Kong protests.  State news agency Xinhua described the chaotic scenes as "Pelosi's beautiful landscape", a veiled reference to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's comments last year that the mass protests in Hong Kong were "a beautiful sight to behold".  State broadcaster CCTV on Saturday referred to the protest cities as "warzones" and produced round-the-clock updates and analyses highlighting the racial divide in the US.

As you hurl bricks and set fires...
Minneapolis mayor urges protesters to wear masks and practice social distancing.  The mayor of Minneapolis told individuals protesting that their anger is "understandable" and "right" but urged them to make sure they are wearing masks and practicing social distancing during their demonstrations.  "The City encourages everyone to exercise caution to stay safe while participating in demonstrations, including wearing masks and physical distancing as much as possible to prevent the spread of COVID-19," Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey's office wrote in a statement addressed to individuals who took to the streets following the death of George Floyd while in police custody.  "The City has made hundreds of masks available to protesters this week."

Twin Cities Situation Deteriorating as Keith Ellison Fans the Flames.  Twin Cities rioters and leftists are spreading a conspiracy theory: they claim that an agent provocateur, an undercover police officer, was the first to vandalize property in Minneapolis, and therefore the police are "really" responsible for the arson, looting, and so on now taking place.  This is absurd, of course.  But now Attorney General Keith Ellison, the state's chief law enforcement officer, has signed on with the far-left kooks:  [Tweet]

Trump supporters smeared — again — by the left, in Minnesota mayhem.  When Trump supporters say 'it's not about Trump, it's about us,' when the left howls about President Trump, they aren't kidding.  The Minnesota riots, brought on by a video of a bad instance of police brutality, have incited leftists to paint the perpetrating cop, Derek Chauvin, as a Trump supporter on social media, something they're spreading around:  [Tweets]  Here's the fact-check that isn't been seen on Twitter from its vaunted fact-checkers:  The claim is 100% fake.  100%  And I've looked around for Twitter's disclaimers about it and don't see any.

By all means, if you're going to loot a store, hit Whitey!
Sharpton Upset: 'Reckless' Rioters Are Destroying the Black-Owned Stores!  One might think that MSNBC might give Rev. Al Sharpton the day off when the hot topic is protesters burning down buildings.  In 1995, Sharpton's protest against the "white interloper" who ran Freddy's Fashion Mart in Harlem led to a fire where seven people died of smoke inhalation (and the arsonist shot himself).  Discussing the rioting in Minneapolis on today's [5/29/2020] Morning Joe, Al Sharpton began by telling protesters that the goal of a fair criminal justice system wouldn't be achieved by "appearing" to be criminal themselves.  He warned that people would "exploit" that.  A clearly upset Sharpton then said:  "As I walked around Minneapolis yesterday ... some of the stores that are being damaged are black-owned stores!  So we cannot become so reckless that we are destroying each other in our rage."

The Editor says...
I hope all the rioters are staying six feet apart from one another, because that's what's really important!  We want you brick-throwing Antifa anarchists to stay healthy!

Minneapolis Mayor Frey: 'Brick and mortar is not as important as life'.  Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey held a press conference early Friday morning ]5/29/2020] at City Hall.  Around 1:30 a.m., Frey addressed a city that is enduring escalating protests that have lasted for the past three days in response to the death of George Floyd.  Four Minneapolis Police officers were fired in the incident that happened Monday night.  Thursday night's protests accelerated in violence in comparison to the previous two, with the Minneapolis Police Department's 3rd Precinct set on fire, where all the fired officers were from.

CNN Crew Arrested by MN State Police Live on Air During Riot Coverage.  The Minnesota Governor has activated the National Guard and the state police have been deployed to try to control the situation.  But the state police may have just stoked the situation instead by arresting a CNN crew live on air.  Police claim that the crew didn't move out of the riot area when they were told.  The CNN crew said they were trying to be compliant with the police and that's what it appears like from the video.  But then they were arrested while the cameras rolled.  They arrested the reporter, Omar Jiminez on air, but also arrested the whole crew including the producer and the cameraman.  [Video clip]

Update:
CNN crew released after being arrested while reporting on Minneapolis protests.  Three members of a CNN crew have been released after being placed under arrest during a live report Friday morning [5/29/2020], according to the Minnesota State Patrol.  According to CNN, the crew was detained while giving a live report in Minneapolis just after 5 a.m.  Friday.  The CNN crew was covering protests over the death of George Floyd this week in Minneapolis.  The reporter at the scene who was placed under arrest told CNN he was holding his badge and identified himself as a reporter while reporting from the scene.  According to the crew at the scene, CNN reports, police told them they were detained because they were told to move and didn't.

Cuomo says NY businesses can deny entrance to those without masks.  New York businesses will have the right to deny entrance to those who refuse to wear a mask or other face covering under an executive order Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Thursday [5/28/2020].  "We're giving the store owners the right to say, 'If you're not wearing a mask, you can't come in,' " said Cuomo in a press briefing at the Madison Square Boys and Girls Club in Flatbush, Brooklyn.  "That store owner has a right to protect the other patrons in that store.  "You don't want to wear a mask?  Fine.  But you don't have a right to then go into that store if that store owner doesn't want you to."

The Editor says...
Consider what this means.  The store owners now have permission to deny entrance to certain people because of the way they're dressed.  This can be used in ways that have nothing to do with masks.  For example, some business owners don't like red MAGA hats.  Some don't like police officers and soldiers in uniform.  It's a can of worms.

China's Communist Regime Shows Its True Totalitarian Colors.  For years, Americans of all political stripes operated under the delusion that China, though nominally communist, was becoming more like the West every day.  Our massive, but one-sided, trade with the country would bring changes, we thought.  An inevitable consumer economy in China would expand, and bring with it ideas of freedom, human rights and democracy.  China would moderate its behavior, the argument went, perhaps eventually easing its military threats against Taiwan, and letting Hong Kong maintain its status as a free-trading city-state outside of Beijing's direct control.  That was our folly and our delusion, as we're now finding out.

Seattle Judge Tosses Suit That Tried to Gag Fox News Commentary.  A Seattle judge has dismissed a lawsuit from a little-known advocacy organization that hoped to bar Fox News Channel from transmitting its popular primetime opinion programs to its large cable-news audience.  The Washington state group known as the Washington League for Increased Transparency and Ethics, or WASHLITE, filed a suit in Superior Court of Washington State in April, calling for an injunction that would keep Fox News from "publishing further and false and deceptive content" about the coronavirus pandemic.  Several Fox News opinion hosts in prior weeks questioned the level of the coronavirus threat, with former Fox Business Network anchor Trish Regan losing her position at the company after hosting a segment with graphics that read "Coronavirus Impeachment Scam" while suggesting liberals were overstating the danger of the contagion.

Devin Nunes:  House Cannot Debate FISA Reauthorization When Democrats are Not Here.  Devin Nunes appears on Fox News daytime to discuss the pending FISA reauthorization bill from the Senate amid President Trump's request to expose corruption before legislation.  As Representative Nunes outlines there are only a handful of Democrats in Washington DC because they are planning all votes by proxy.

'COVID camper' sales surge before summer amid pandemic: report.  The future of travel remains uncertain amid the coronavirus pandemic, but the open road is alluring as ever.  Some RV dealers across the country say that sales are surging amid the ongoing outbreak of the novel coronavirus, Fox 59 reports, as cooped-up adventurers invest in what Bloomberg has dubbed "COVID campers" for road-trip getaways.  In Indiana, Mount Comfort RV owner Ken Eckstein said that RV sales are about triple what they were last year.

The Editor says...
Consider the possibility that FEMA or other government agencies are buying them.

COVID-19 'surcharges' take customers by surprise.  Some companies are adding coronavirus surcharges to bills, infuriating customers enough to take their business elsewhere.  "Many customers are angry about the changes," wrote Ted Rossman, an industry analyst at CreditCards.com.  Rossman noted that roughly 86% of respondents from an American Express survey said they would stop patronizing a business if it applied surcharges to receipts.  A dentist in Florida charged patients $10 to help pay for the personal protective equipment worn by staff, which the mother of one patient felt she was not obligated to pay.  "I don't feel that I'm required to pay that," she told a local news station in Jacksonville, Florida.

Illinois Dems Bank on a Congressional Bailout.  Illinois Democrats passed a state budget over the weekend that relies on billions in still-not-guaranteed federal dollars to avoid a gaping deficit.  The state's 2021 budget, now headed to Gov. J. B. Pritzker's (D.) desk, is written with the expectation that the $3.5 billion the state received under the CARES Act will be freed up for general spending.  That would require Congress to change limitations on those funds, which currently can only be spent on expenses directly related to coronavirus — not general fiscal costs.  The bill also gives Pritzker the authority to borrow up to $5 billion from the Federal Reserve as part of a program backstopped by Congress.

Reopening optimism fuels stock market surge.  Stocks soared Tuesday [5/26/2020] as enthusiasm builds about the reopening of the country and the development of a coronavirus vaccine.  The S&P 500 rose nearly 2%, breaking over 3,000 for the first time since March 5.  The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose over 2%, briefly trading above 25,000 for the first time since early March.  Some companies showing the greatest gains would be aided by faster removal of business and travel restrictions.  They include Carnival, whose shares jumped 12.7%, MGM Resorts, whose shares climbed 8.6%, and United Airlines and Southwest Airlines, whose shares rose over 11% each.

In a viral video, a supermarket mob rampages against a woman.  On Monday morning [5/25/2020], people woke up to a video on Twitter showing masked customers in a Staten Island grocery store screaming obscenities at a woman without a mask and shouting at her to "get out."  It's an alarming video because it shows how quickly people can be turned into human weapons when fear powers them.

Poll: Up to 94 Percent of Americans Want Economic Nationalist Overhaul in Wake of Chinese Coronavirus Crisis.  Up to 94 percent of American voters say they want an economic nationalist overhaul of the United States' economy in the wake of the Chinese coronavirus crisis, a survey reveals.  A survey conducted by FTI Consulting finds that American voters overwhelmingly want economic nationalist policies implemented — including more tariffs on foreign imports, mandatory country-of-origin labeling, and a requirement that goods be made in the U.S.

The implication here is that all restaurants have rats.  That is not believable.
CDC warns rats becoming 'aggressive' in search for food during pandemic restaurant closures.  Starving rats growing increasingly "aggressive" are starting to become a problem as the coronavirus pandemic continues.  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned last week that restaurant closures and restrictions intended to combat the spread of the COVID-19 virus have left trash bins less full than usual, cutting into a major food source for rodents.  In a battle over slim pickings, some have become more aggressive, leading to reports of rat cannibalism and rodent armies on city streets.

China poised to cash in on coronavirus aid designated for U.S. railroads, safety advocates warn.  China's communist government is poised to cash in on billions of dollars in federal coronavirus aid designated for U.S. railway systems, warn railroad safety advocates.  Erik Olson, vice president of the Rail Security Alliance, said more than $2.6 billion in contracts has already gone to the Beijing-backed China Railway Rolling Stock Corporation in the past four years.  Because CRRC benefits from financial support from the Chinese Communist Party, the company often can significantly underbid competitors, said Mr. Olson.

Hong Kong, All Alone.  China's legislature in Beijing is preparing a new national-security law aimed at Hong Kong to prohibit and punish terrorism, foreign influence, and secession.  By that, they mean demonstration, free speech, and a functioning democratic system with rights guaranteed to citizens.  Meanwhile, Beijing's loyalists installed in Hong Kong's legislative council have been making open attempts at a putsch against the pro-democracy majority.

Law professor falsely accused of rape, wins defamation case.  A University of Minnesota Law School professor, Francesco Parisi, has won a nearly $1.2 million defamation case against a woman who had falsely accused him of rape.  In his blistering ruling on Tuesday [5/19/2020], Hennepin County Judge Daniel Moreno wrote that Parisi's former lover, Morgan Wright, had pursued an "untruthful narrative crusade," and her "accusations were false, and made with malice."  It is believed to be the largest defamation judgement in Minnesota.  The vast majority of the judgement, $814,514 is for economic losses, as well as reputational and emotional damages.  Only $100,000 was for punitive damages.

Propaganda organs of the left hard hit by lockdown.  The nation's blue-state governors seem to be far more enthusiastic about lockdowns than their red-state counterparts, perhaps because they recognize that the small businesses being driven toward extinction are a key component of the GOP base.  But if their motives are so ruthless, perhaps they need to reckon with the damage being done to the key propaganda organs of the left:  progressive media, higher education, and government schools.  Waves of layoffs already have hit such progressive stalwarts as Vice, Quartz, BuzzFeed, and Conde Nast.  Now The Atlantic, controlled by Steve Jobs's widow and previously recruiting highly paid talent, is joining the layoff crowd.

Obama's Man in China Now Beijing's Man in Washington.  As the novel coronavirus wreaks havoc across the world, the Obama administration's ambassador to China has found a second lease on life as a pro-China talking head on regime propaganda outlets.  Former ambassador Max Baucus has given at least four different interviews to Chinese propaganda outlets in the last two weeks, repeatedly comparing the U.S. rhetoric about China to both the McCarthy era and Nazi Germany.  "Joe McCarthy [and] Adolf Hitler ... rallied people up, making people believe things that were really not true," Baucus said during a May 12 interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN), a regime mouthpiece.

Tomorrow could be the end of Hong Kong as we know it.  When the British handed over Hong Kong to China in 1997, China promised to respect it's [sic] independence for the next 50 years.  The shorthand for that plan was "one country, two systems."  But the two systems part of the plan could effectively come to an end tomorrow.  China has tried and failed in the past to exert more control over Hong Kong, but this time it seems prepared to simply bypass Hong Kong's government entirely and pass the new law via the mainland's one party system.

Mark Cuban's mindless critique of President Trump.  In an era when American politics is dominated by obnoxious loud mouths, it's not surprising that Mark Cuban thinks he should have a big role.  Cuban deems himself presidential timber, and has not ruled out running for president in 2024.

Media knives out for Catherine Herridge — for reporting ObamaGate straight.  Journalists are pack animals.  That's especially true in Washington.  Despite the hunger for scoops, when it comes to the substance of stories, few have the guts to go against the ideological groupthink that prevails in our nation's capital.  That's what makes CBS' Catherine Herridge so exceptional.  In an era when too many network journalists slant their reporting to serve establishment opinion, Herridge sticks to the facts.  Her dogged determination to get to the bottom of stories has made her an invaluable source on the national-security beat.  Her sterling quality and integrity have also put a target on her back.  When it came to the "collusion" hoax, she dared to let the truth guide her.

Social distancing beeper will go off if you're within 6 feet of someone.  A social distancing gadget that beeps whenever you're not keeping six feet from someone could help people return to work.  The beeper has been invented by Pathfindr and aims to helps companies keep their workers safe.  In the UK and the US, two meters (six feet) apart is the recommended distance to stand in order to try and not spread Covid-19.  Pathfindr, based in Norfolk in the UK, usually provides internet-based technical solutions for companies.

These two congressional districts could decide the presidential race.  The fate of the 2020 general election could hang on two congressional districts, one in Maine and the other tucked away in Nebraska.  Maine and Nebraska are the only two states in the country that split their Electoral College votes by congressional district while also rewarding the statewide victor, giving Democrats extra opportunities to pick up votes in otherwise Republican strongholds.  And with the fall fight between President Trump and Joe Biden set to be a tight battle for the White House, every vote will matter on Nov. 3.

The pandemic has changed everything. So, why does the race for president look the same?  In February, America had a booming economy.  Since then, because of fears of this invisible virus and even worse fears of it somehow spreading further, the entire economy is paralyzed.  More than 36 million men and women have filed unemployment claims.  Schools are closed indefinitely, as are most offices.  With little debate and virtually no opposition, the federal government is blithely spending trillions of dollars we don't have.  Many Americans have begun fighting each other over when, or even if, to resume normal social and economic activities. [...] Yet, also without seeming explanation, one thing has remained static:  politics.

Katie Hill Threw a Tantrum Because Republican Mike Garcia Won Her Vacant Seat.  Former Rep. Katie Hill (D-CA) was forced to resign after the House Ethics Committee launched an investigation into her private life.  She was allegedly having an extra-marital affair with her Legislative Director, Graham Kelly, and a throuple relationship with a female campaign staffer.  Hill repeatedly said she was going through a divorce from her abusive husband but text messages show Hill, her husband, Kenny Heslep, and the female staffer had an ongoing relationship.  The husband admitted in text messages to the campaign staffer that he and Hill abused her.  The former representative had a meltdown after learning that the Republican Party was successful in flipping her seat red with congressman-elect Mike Garcia.

The Editor says...
Well, Katie, perhaps if you made better decisions, your life would be less chaotic.

Elon Musk stirs the pot with cryptic 'red pill' tweet.  [Scroll down]  Musk has been vocally critical of government shutdown policies during the global pandemic recently, reopening Tesla's California plant in defiance of local restrictions there last week.  Tesla's factory reopened Monday [5/11/2020] with Musk practically daring local law enforcement to arrest him.  The plant apparently continued operations on Tuesday.  Officials backed off Wednesday and announced that the move would be okay, as long as the company followed previously agreed-upon worker safety precautions.

AG Barr:  Durham probe unlikely to lead to criminal investigations of Obama or Biden.  U.S. Attorney John Durham's probe into the origins of the Russia collusion investigation is not expected to lead to a criminal investigation of either former President Barack Obama or former Vice President Joseph R. Biden, Attorney General William P. Barr said Monday [5/18/2020].  "As for President Obama and Vice President Biden, whatever their level of involvement based on what I know, I don't expect Durham's work will lead to a criminal investigation of either man," Mr. Barr said.  "Our concern of potential criminality is focused on others," he continued.

Elon Musk, having taken the 'red pill,' now urges others to join him.  Elon Musk is always interesting. [...] [H]aving tasted freedom, Musk likes it — especially because he's got a factory that, to survive, must be able to open.  To that end, Musk fought the law...and he won.  Now, flush with success, he has tweeted that it's time for others to join him by taking a "red pill."  Musk set up his Tesla factory in Fremont, California, which is located on the southeastern side of the über-liberal San Francisco Bay Area.  Because electric cars are "green," nobody minded a big new manufacturing plant.  Recently, however, Musk's relationship with California went flipsy-wopsy when the total lockdown, complete with mandatory "shelter in place" orders, went into effect.  By the end of April, Musk was tweeting out the damage that the lockdowns were doing and the falsity of the panic.

Fed chief inadvertantly makes the case for re-electing Trump.  [Scroll down]  This wasn't some policy that went wrong — overspending, bank failure, currency meltdown — or any of the things that have the makings for real depressions both here and abroad.  The structure was great, and the U.S. just got hit by an unexpected hurricane.  It would skew back to what it was if nothing else changed.  This would have to assume nothing else changes.  The good economy he's describing is the Trump economy, the economy that roared in the wake of President Trump's policies.  Changing those policies, as Joe Biden vows to do — and putting Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in charge of energy policy is pretty much what he means — would open the door to structural problems, the things that really do create depressions.  That has to be an endorsement of President Trump from the Fed chief.  Policies are what create depressions, not natural disasters, and Joe wants to remake policies.

Firefly: Israel's 'Loitering' Munition (or Kamikaze Drone).  It hovers and looks like a black stick floating in the sky but can slam into an enemy at seventy kilometers an hour.  The Firefly is Israel's latest weapon to be acquired by the Israeli Ministry of Defense from Rafael Advanced Defense Systems.  It will be deployed with infantry and is specially designed for soldiers fighting in urban areas, giving them the ability to fly a hovering missile around buildings to accurately take out terrorists or enemy forces.  The Firefly is a loitering munition, a kind of kamikaze drone but it is part of Rafael's larger Spike family of missiles that have been deployed to thirty-three countries.  The United States has used the Spike for its AH-64 Apaches.  Spike missiles are more usually known for their ability to kill tanks, but the Firefly is a much smaller weapon that weighs only 3kg so it can be carried into battle by soldiers.  Infantry have been increasingly deploying smaller drones in a surveillance role and also for attack, but the use of small drones that are man-packable is still in its infancy.

Case Western Reserve Prof Arrested over Financial Ties to Chinese Government.  A professor at Case Western Reserve University's School of Medicine was arrested on Wednesday [5/13/2020] over his alleged financial ties to the Chinese government.  The FBI alleges that professor Qing Wang was providing research funded with taxpayer money to the Chinese communist government.  According to a report by Campus Reform, Professor Qing Wang was arrested in Shaker Heights, Ohio, on Wednesday on wire fraud charges.  Wang allegedly failed to disclose his affiliations with several Chinese universities.

DOJ: Pakistani Doctor on H-1B Visa Wanted to Attack U.S. for ISIS.  A Pakistani doctor, admitted to the United States through the H-1B visa program, wanted to attack Americans for the Islamic State (ISIS), federal agents say in a criminal complaint.  Muhammad Masood, a 28-year-old Pakistani national, first arrived in the U.S. in February 2018 after he was able to secure an H-1B visa — the visa program whereby more than 100,000 foreign workers are brought to the U.S. every year and are allowed to stay for up to six years.  There are about 650,000 H-1B visa foreign workers in the U.S. at any given moment.

Chinese-Born Researcher at Cleveland Clinic Accused of Fraud, Links to Espionage.  The FBI announced on Thursday [5/14/2020] that it has arrested Dr. Qing Wang, a longtime employee of the famed Cleveland Clinic, on charges of fraud for accepting grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) without disclosing that he was simultaneously working for a Chinese university.  "This is not a case of simple omission.  Dr. Wang deliberately failed to disclose his Chinese grants and foreign positions and even engaged in a pervasive pattern of fraud to avoid criminal culpability," said Eric B. Smith, FBI Special Agent in Charge (SAC) of the Cleveland office.

Grenell: Top counterintel official will take charge of 2020 campaign briefings on election interference.  The Office of the Director of National Intelligence announced Friday [5/15/2020] that its top counterintelligence official would carry out all election security intelligence briefings to 2020 candidates and campaigns instead of the FBI or Department of Homeland Security.  The nation's top spy office, which oversees all 17 spy agencies and is currently led by acting spy chief Richard Grenell, said that the intelligence community "will lead all intelligence-based threat briefings to candidates, campaigns, and political organizations under the U.S. government's notification framework."  ODNI said William Evanina, the director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center since 2014, will "serve as the IC's leader to this critical effort."  The ODNI also announced reforms to the National Counterterrorism Center on Friday.

NYC providing 74K air conditioners for low-income seniors ahead of summer months.  Mayor Bill de Blasio revealed new a new plan Friday [5/15/2020] aiming to keep all New Yorkers cool and safe this summer amid the coronavirus pandemic.  The first goal of the mayor's "COVID-19 heat-wave plan" focuses on protecting the city's most vulnerable residents as they remain at home in the hotter months.

The Editor says...
Providing air conditioners (and buying votes) is not the proper role of government, but I guess it's better than handing out cash.  But wait — surely there are more than 74,000 "low-income seniors" in New York City, so who decides who receives a free air conditioner?

Farmers dubbed the 'Carbon Cowboys' say business is booming during coronavirus.  While much of the farming industry has been decimated by the global coronavirus pandemic — forced to wastefully slaughter livestock, abort piglets, crush food and pummel perfectly healthy crops — one group spawning America's heartland claims that its method has actually seen sales soaring.  The so-called Carbon Cowboys are the subject of a new 10-part documentary series detailing the farming technique known as regenerative grazing, which seemingly is saving them from a sales' drought.  The series, directed by Peter Byck, was filmed over six years in various rural communities across the U.S., Canada and the U.K.

Shoppers begin to shift from stockpiling to penny pinching at the grocery store.  U.S. shoppers are making more trips to the dollar store.  They're stocking up with items from stores' private label brands more than usual and cutting back on snacks and sodas at convenience stores.  Those emerging data points, captured by market research firm IRI in recent weeks, may preview the next wave of grocery shopping during the coronavirus pandemic.  They all have something in common:  They are the buying patterns that herald an economic downturn.  "As this drags on, you are going to see a lot more recessionary behavior coming up," said Krishnakumar Davey, president of strategic analytics for IRI.  "We are just seeing the beginnings of it."

Mark Kelly Silent on Firm's Windfall From Chinese Tech Giant.  Mark Kelly, the former NASA astronaut who commanded the second-to-last space shuttle mission and spent 25 years in the Navy, readily acknowledges the myriad threats China poses to the U.S. Earlier this month, he told an Arizona TV station that U.S. intelligence has repeatedly shown China suppressed information about the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak before COVID-19 spread to become a global pandemic.  The interview was part of Kelly's new mission: trying to oust GOP Sen. Martha McSally, herself an aerospace pioneer as the first female fighter pilot to fly in combat.  The clash of the two American flight titans has become one of the most closely watched campaigns in the country.

$1.6T in century-old Chinese bonds offer Trump unique leverage against Beijing.  As the Trump administration seeks ways to penalize China for its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, it need look no further than Tennessee.  The Lewisburg, Tennessee-based American Bondholder Foundation holds $1.6 trillion of century-old Chinese debt, including interest, dating to before the founding of the communist People's Republic of China, that it wants the administration's help in redeeming.  There is an estimated $6 trillion or more of the debt outstanding worldwide.

Elective surgery moratorium takes toll on patients.  Prohibitions on elective surgeries, in place in most states since early March, have taken a toll on hospitals, physicians, and other healthcare workers.  But patients may be the group that have suffered the most.  "A lot of treatment has been delayed that was important but not necessarily emergent," said Dr. Juliette Madrigal Dersch, a primary care physician in Marble Falls, Texas.  Elective surgery includes heart operations, cancer treatment, joint replacements, and spine surgery.  "Elective" only means that it is not a medical emergency, not that it is unnecessary.

FBI mistakenly reveals Saudi diplomat suspected of aiding 9/11 terrorists.  FBI lawyers accidentally revealed the identity of a Saudi diplomat who agents have suspected helped deliver crucial support to the al Qaeda terrorists who carried out the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, according to a report.  The disclosure came in court documents filed in April that were unsealed late last week in a lawsuit brought by families of 9/11 victims accusing the Saudi government of aiding the attacks, Yahoo News reported.  The Saudi official, Mussaed Ahmed al-Jarrah, had his name blocked out in all but one appearance in the document, with the FBI admitting to Yahoo it was a mistake.  Jarrah was a Saudi Foreign Ministry official assigned to the Saudi Embassy in Washington, DC, in 1999 and 2000.

RussiaGate Collapses:  CrowdStrike Admits 'No Evidence' Russia Stole Emails From DNC Servers.  Fox News' Tucker Carlson and The Grayzone's Aaron Mate on Monday broke down new evidence released by the Department of Justice exposing RussiaGate as a farce.  Mate broke down newly released testimony from CrowdStrike president Shawn Henry admitting behind closed doors before House Intelligence Committee chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA) that "we did not have concrete evidence" that Russian hackers stole emails from the DNC's servers.

As Lobbyist for Huawei, Las Vegas Radio Station May Have Broken Law.  A local Las Vegas radio station may have broken federal communications laws when it failed to disclose its partnership with Chinese telecom giant Huawei, according to a former official of the Federal Communications Commission.  Las Vegas Public Radio, the self-professed "people's voice of Las Vegas," registered to lobby for Huawei in May 2019, promising to "address concerns that Members of Congress, Executive branch and American businesses have about Huawei products/services being developed or manufactured in the US for US consumption" in its lobbying disclosure.  In turn, Huawei promised to help the radio station open up a branch in China.

Politico: Special election tomorrow may hand Dems 'unthinkable' defeat in House race.  Politico has never been known as a cheerleader for Republicans, so when it headlines, "Democrats are on verge of the unthinkable:  Losing a swing district in California," you know that the donkeys are facing a humiliating and symbolically important blow to their House majority and a possible portent of disaster on November.  Recall that pervy Congresswoman Katie Hill resigned after being caught in sexual involvement with her staff.  Tomorrow will see a special election in her suburban Los Angeles district largely in the Inland Empire, pitting a Dem state rep against a ruggedly handsome retired Navy combat veteran fighter pilot, who just happens to be Hispanic.

Democratic North Carolina Governor Could Throw a Monkey Wrench into GOP Convention Plans.  The Republican National Convention is scheduled for August 24-27 in Charlotte, NC, and Donald Trump has been adamant that the event will go forward as planned.  That means thousands of Republicans descending on Charlotte from across the country and standing shoulder-to-shoulder in the Spectrum Center, acclaiming Trump as their standard-bearer.  That is unless the Democratic Governor Roy Cooper intervenes and nixes the whole thing.

Many Texas ranchers won't survive multibillion-dollar financial hit from coronavirus.  The spring pastures perfect for grazing cattle on Marisue Potts' ranch have begun to dry.  That means it's time to sell.  Potts owns a ranch near Matador, Texas, where she keeps a herd of about 35 cattle.  In a few weeks she'll take her yearlings and full-grown steers to the nearest auction in Floydada.  She expects to make less per head than she's made in at least a decade.

Iran Sinks Its Own Battleship.  [F]riendly fire may have killed dozens of servicemen, Al Jazeera have reported.  According to local media, an Iranian battleship was accidentally hit by a C-802 Noor missile during military exercises, causing it to sink.

'Unhappy? Go To Another State,' Murphy Tells NJ's Jobless.  In case you missed the end of Thursday's [5/7/2020] daily news briefing, Gov. Phil Murphy told anyone unhappy with the guy in charge of New Jersey unemployment to "Go to another state."  The governor said anyone who doesn't like state Labor Commissioner Robert Asaro-Angelo can move.  Murphy's dismissive remark came when asked by a reporter about Bergen County Assemblyman Kevin Rooney's call for the labor commissioner to fix the backlogged unemployment system or resign.  Earlier, state officials announced that more than a million New Jersey residents have filed jobless claims due to the coronavirus pandemic — but that 300,000 still had to be processed.

The Editor says...
Please come to Texas, but only if you are willing to renounce everything that makes New Jersey different from Texas.  Also you must promise never to vote for a Democrat again.  Otherwise, you'll turn Texas into New Jersey, and you'll be right back where you started.

Workers Are No Longer Heroes, Kroger Concludes.  What Kroger giveth, Kroger taketh away.  The national grocery-store chain will end a $2 per hour "hero pay" bonus for workers on May 17, the United Food and Commercial Workers union announced on Thursday [5/7/2020].  Kroger only implemented the raise last month; the pandemic, meanwhile, shows no sign of ending, and the risks for essential workers remain very real.

Durham Moving Full Throttle on Russian Probe Review.  U.S. Attorney for Connecticut John Durham is going "full throttle" with his review into the origins of the investigation into suspected Russia-Trump coordination in the 2016 election, with additional top prosecutors involved in looking at different components of the original probe, sources told Fox News.  Two sources told Fox News that Jeff Jensen, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri who was tapped by the Justice Department in February to review the case of former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, is continuing to help with Durham's investigation even after the DOJ's move last week to drop the case against Flynn.

South Dakota governor threatens Native American tribes with legal action if they do not remove coronavirus checkpoints.  The governor of South Dakota has issued ultimatums to two Sioux Native American tribes to remove travel checkpoints on state and US highways aimed at protecting themselves from the coronavirus.  Governor Kristi Noem sent letters to the Oglala Sioux Tribe and the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe on Friday [5/8/2020] requesting that they remove the checkpoints surrounding their reservations within 48 hours or "the state will take necessary legal action".  "We are strongest when we work together; this includes our battle against Covid-19," the governor said.  "I request that the tribes immediately cease interfering with or regulating traffic on US and State Highways and remove all travel checkpoints."

United Kingdom reveals last decoded Nazi message to mark VE Day.  To mark Friday's [5/8/2020] 75th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe, the British government revealed the final Nazi message intercepted and decoded by U.K. codebreakers as Allied forces were advancing through Germany. [...] At 7:35 a.m. on May 7, 1945, a Nazi soldier identified as "Lt. Kunkel" sent a final message to colleagues from the town of Cuxhaven on Germany's North Sea coast.  "British troops entered Cuxhaven at 14:00 on 6 May — from now on all radio traffic will cease — wishing you all the best.  Lt Kunkel," the message read.  "Closing down forever — all the best — goodbye."

Adam Schiff Changed Russia Document Release Strategy Because Grenell Forced His Hand.  Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), the chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI), had only planned to release partial transcripts from the committee's Russia investigation, not all of them, a source with knowledge of his efforts told Breitbart News.  But then, when acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell announced he was prepared to release all of the transcripts in full — something Grenell had planned to do on Friday morning if Schiff had not done so — Schiff changed his strategy and agreed to release them all in full.

Souplantation, Sweet Tomatoes permanently closing all restaurants amid pandemic.  San Diego-based buffet chain Souplantation has announced it will permanently close all of its restaurants amid the coronavirus pandemic, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports. [...] CEO John Haywood told the publication that the restaurants' buffet-style model wouldn't be able to survive amid the FDA's regulations.  According to the outlet, about 4,400 employees will lose their jobs, the Union-Tribune reported.

Engineers Just Tested an 'Impossible' Detonation Engine For The First Time - And It Works.  A type of rocket engine once thought impossible has just been fired up in the lab.  Engineers have built and successfully tested what is known as a rotating detonation engine, which generates thrust via a self-sustaining wave of detonations that travel around a circular channel.  As this engine requires far less fuel than the combustion engines currently used to power rockets, it could eventually mean a more efficient and much lighter means of getting our ships into space.

Nunes dares Schiff to release House Intel Russia probe transcripts.  The top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee on Thursday demanded Chairman Adam Schiff release the transcripts of interviews conducted by the panel during its Russia probe in 2017 and 2018, now that they have been cleared by the intelligence community.  "Schiff himself voted to release these transcripts and claims he wants them out," Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., told Fox News Thursday.  "There's no reason he can't publish them all today — except that he really doesn't want the American people to see how little evidence there ever was for the Russian collusion hoax he advocated and continues to advocate."

Sources say Russia probe transcripts affirm officials came up empty on collusion: 'Schiff is in panic mode'.  Transcripts of House Intelligence Committee interviews that have been cleared for release show top law enforcement and intelligence officials affirming they had no evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia during the 2016 election, senior administration and intelligence community officials told Fox News on Wednesday [5/6/2020].  This would align with the results of former Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation — which found no evidence of illegal or criminal coordination between President Trump, the Trump campaign and Russia in 2016 — but the numerous transcribed interviews could raise further questions about committee Chairman Adam Schiff's past statements saying that there was "direct evidence" of collusion.  "Schiff is in panic mode," a senior administration official told Fox News.

DNI to Schiff:  The transcripts are ready to release.  A big development in the fight over 53 secret interviews the House Intelligence Committee conducted during its Trump-Russia investigation.  Acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell has sent a letter to chairman Adam Schiff notifying him that transcripts of all 53 interviews, over 6,000 pages in all, have been cleared for public release.  "All of the transcripts, with our required redactions, can be released to the public without any concerns of disclosing classified material," Grenell wrote to Schiff in a letter dated May 4.

Russian collusion emperor Adam Schiff about to be exposed today and it won't be pretty.  Adam Schiff, the fanatic who from the begining launched probe after probe of President Trump, is about to see the 2017-2018 Russia collusion transcripts he's been sitting on all these months released to the public, all 6,000 pages, with 73 witnesses stating there was no Russian collusion in 53 transcripts.  National Intelligence Director Richard Grenell did the job Schiff wouldn't do, releasing the transcripts, and now Schiff is expected to be looking more bug-eyed than usual.

Federal judge reinstates New York Democratic presidential primary.  A federal court judge has ordered New York Democrats to reinstate the presidential primary election for June 23 after one-time candidate Andrew Yang challenged its cancellation.  Judge Analisa Torres in her decision Tuesday [5/5/2020] ruled that the New York Board of Elections' decision to cancel the vote was unconstitutional and that all qualified candidates as of April 26 must be on the ballot.  "[T]he removal of presidential contenders from the primary ballot not only deprived those candidates of the chance to garner votes for the Democratic Party's nomination," Torres wrote in her opinion.

How China is buying up America's food supply.  A Sioux Falls meatpacking plant was forced to close when it became the epicenter of COVID-19 in South Dakota.  Three weeks after executives from its Chinese owner, WH Group, visited the plant, a month after President Trump's ban on travel from China, nearly 600 of Smithfield Foods' 3,700 employees tested positive for the virus, as have 135 additional people in close contact with employees.  Smithfield Foods was started in 1936 by a family in Virginia.  Today, the Chinese own Armour and the famous Smithfield hams, together with the most quintessential American brand of all:  Nathan's Famous hot dogs, with its iconic annual eating contest.  In 2013, Smithfield Foods was bought by the Shanghui Group, later rebranded as the WH Group, for $4.7 billion.  It remains the largest total acquisition of a U.S. company by the Chinese.

Pope Francis, Not Content to Falsely Accuse Christians of Fictional Atrocity, Celebrates Jihadis' Favorite Holiday.  The Vatican's Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue on Friday [5/1/2020] informed its "dear Muslim brothers and sisters" that the month of Ramadan is "a time for spiritual healing and growth, of sharing with the poor, of strengthening bonds with relatives and friends," as well as an opportunity for "your Christian friends" to "further strengthen our relationships with you."  The message, which was published in Arabic, Italian, French, and English, added:  "It is in this spirit that the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue offers its prayerful best wishes and hearty congratulations to you all."  And that's wonderful, but just what was the Vatican congratulating?  Vatican officials are without any doubt unaware of the fact that because Ramadan is the month in which Muslims redouble their efforts to obey Allah, Ramadan is also quintessentially the month of jihad.

'The hardest time we've ever faced': Amazon revenue surges, but coronavirus costs may wipe out operating profit.  Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos warned the company's stockholders that Amazon may incur a second-quarter operating loss as it spends at least $4 billion from April through June on its coronavirus pandemic response, including some $300 million to develop its own testing capabilities.  Amazon's first-quarter sales were up 26% year over year to $75.5 billion — well above the high end of the company's previous expectations.  Despite the revenue surge, expenses related to Amazon's pandemic response weighed on the bottom line in the quarter ended March 31.  Amazon's net income fell 29% to $2.5 billion, or $5.01 per share, compared to $3.6 billion, or $7.09 per share, during the first quarter of 2019, it said Thursday afternoon [4/30/2020].

Trump Ridicules George W. Bush Appeal for Bipartisanship amid Coronavirus.  A call by former President George W. Bush for humanity to jettison partisanship amid the Chinese coronavirus pandemic has drawn a sharp rebuke from President Donald Trump.  Bush published a video message on Saturday urging unity and togetherness amid the coronavirus' outbreak, which received 4.4 million views on Twitter as of Sunday morning [5/3/2020]. [...] The president's response was straight to the point, outlining Bush's absence when Trump was being excoriated during his impeachment proceedings.  "[...] I appreciate the message from former President Bush, but where was he during Impeachment calling for putting partisanship aside. [...]"

Epstein had his own office, phone line at Harvard even after his 2008 conviction of soliciting sex from minors.  Harvard University admitted Friday [5/1/2020] that Jeffrey Epstein had his own office and phone line at the university and also made several visits there even after he was convicted in 2008 of soliciting sex from minors.  According to a new report from the university, Epstein, the disgraced financier who killed himself in jail last year while awaiting sex crimes charges, visited Harvard more than 40 times after his 2008 conviction and unveiled deep ties between him and the university, with which he had no official affiliation.  University President Lawrence Bacow said in a letter to the Harvard community that Harvard accepted $9.1 million from Epstein between 1998 and 2008 to support research and faculty activities.

How natural gas is withstanding the energy market collapse.  Natural gas is withstanding the coronavirus-fueled economic crash in a way that its closely associated relative, oil, isn't.  Oil prices have reached record lows, with the U.S. benchmark oil price briefly dropping below zero last month after trading at around $60 per barrel at the start of 2020.  The U.S. natural gas price, meanwhile, is stable, staying below $2 per million British thermal units, or MMBtu, a historically low level it has been hovering at for a while due to a glut produced from the shale boom.  Oil producers are shutting in their wells, prompting tens of thousands of layoffs, because the pace of the price collapse was so sudden, caused mostly by the fact that the pandemic has crushed demand for transportation fuels made with oil, as people forgo driving and flying.

U-Haul hands down lifetime ban to Brooklyn funeral home that stored bodies in trucks.  Rental company U-Haul has reportedly cut ties with the Brooklyn funeral home caught storing dozens of bodies inside their unrefrigerated trucks.  Andrew T. Cleckley Funeral Services in Flatlands is no longer welcome to rent from the company, U-Haul sources told TMZ.  The U-Haul trucks used by the funeral home to hold corpses are also being decommissioned so they can be deep cleaned, according to the report.  "This is a wrongful, egregious and inhumane use of our equipment," company bigs told the outlet.

Iran Is Hauling Gold Bars Out of Venezuela's Almost-Empty Vaults.  Out of cash and desperate for help in propping up its oil industry, Venezuela is raiding its gold vaults and handing tons of bars to its long-time ally Iran, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter.  Government officials piled some 9 tons of gold — an amount equal to about $500 million — on Tehran-bound jets this month as payment for Iran's assistance in reviving Venezuela's crippled gasoline refineries, the people said.  The shipments, which resulted in a sudden drop in Venezuela's published foreign reserve figures, leave the crisis-ravaged country with just $6.3 billion in hard-currency assets, the lowest amount in three decades.

Globalists are Now Talking about 'Flattening the Climate Curve' to Stop Global Warming.  With the notion of "flattening the curve" now burned into the minds of traumatized individuals worldwide, the globalists are attempting to re-appropriate the familiar propaganda line in their war against so-called climate change.  The World Economic Forum (WEF), which works hand-in-hand with the World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations (UN), is urging various governments to focusing on flattening the "climate curve," whatever that is supposed to mean, when the coronavirus pandemic comes to an end.

Why Trump's new UFO comments are interesting.  [Scroll down]  [President] Trump and certain members of the House and Senate Armed Services and Intelligence committees have been briefed on what is known about the objects.  But those briefings center on the objects' indicated capability and behavior patterns, not their origin.  Still, Trump's doubts as to whether the objects in the videos are "even real" is noteworthy.  Those words match up with the argument propagated by some, that these objects might not actually be real in the first place.  Some have suggested these objects are actually the products of highly advanced and top-secret electronic or psychological warfare capabilities or that they're a combination of both.  Such capabilities involve tricking personnel and platforms as to the location and operational activity of enemy forces.  The United States and China have invested heavily in trying to weaponize these capabilities.  So, are these objects really sensory fictions?  The government's assessment is that this is highly unlikely, although not impossible.

City To Dump Ton Of Chicken Manure In Central Park To Discourage Festival Gathering.  A city in Sweden is set to dump a ton of chicken manure in a central park to discourage crowds from gathering for an annual festival amid the coronavirus pandemic.  The move is an attempt to deter as many as 30,000 residents in Lund, a university town east of Copenhagen, from gathering in the park for traditional celebrations to mark Walpurgis Night on Thursday [4/30/2020], The Guardian reported.  The festival features parties and bonfires scattered across Europe.

Dozens of Bodies Found in U-Haul Trucks Outside Brooklyn Funeral Home.  Dozens of dead bodies were found stored in unrefrigerated U-Haul trucks outside a Brooklyn funeral home Wednesday [4/29/2020], according to two senior law enforcement officials.  Around 50 bodies were discovered inside as many as four different storage vehicles over the past few days, the law enforcement officials said.  The Andrew T. Cleckley Funeral Home, located on Utica Avenue in the Flatlands neighborhood, was using ice inside the trucks in an effort to maintain the bodies.

Woman Who Blamed Trump after Giving Her Husband Fish-Tank Cleaner Now Under Investigation for Murder.  Arizona police are now conducting a homicide investigation into a woman who claimed she gave her husband fish tank cleaner after President Trump claimed the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine was an effective treatment for coronavirus.  Wanda Lenius told NBC News last month that she and her husband Gary consumed fish tank cleaner because it contained a chemical that Trump suggested might be an effective prophylactic and treatment for coronavirus.  The cocktail, which contained four teaspoons of fish tank cleaner mixed with soda water, put Wanda in the ICU and killed Gary.  "My advice," Wanda explained, is "don't believe anything that the President says and his people because they don't know what they're talking about."

Amazon turns to Chinese firm on U.S. blacklist to meet thermal camera needs.  Amazon.com Inc has bought cameras to take temperatures of workers during the coronavirus pandemic from a firm the United States blacklisted over allegations it helped China detain and monitor Uighurs and other Muslim minorities, three people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

You Don't Get to Collect Unemployment Because You Are Scared.  It is always great when the media reports news that isn't really news.  Reports are surfacing today that some awful Republican governors are telling citizens if they are recalled to work and refuse to go, they will be ineligible for unemployment.  This is not startling and will most likely be the case in blue states as well.  Of course, you won't hear about that.  Unemployment is a system for people who are able to work but either out of work for reasons beyond their control or going through a period of reduced work because of reduced business operations.  The entire goal of the Paycheck Protection Program was to keep employees attached to their employers so they could seamlessly return to work when operations resumed.

Newt Gingrich blasts 'precious politicians' who want to wimp out of their jobs with remote proxy vote.  Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich called out "precious politicians" who are avoiding getting back to Washington due to the coronavirus pandemic.  Gingrich found it "bizarre" that some lawmakers would consider themselves any different from those who are working through the crisis, calling on them in tweets to get back to work or "resign."

The deaf community faces another communication hurdle as face masks become the new normal.  Mary Beth Pagnella, who has lived with profound hearing loss most of her life, prides herself on being an excellent lip reader.  But,amid the coronavirus outbreak, reading lips has become more difficult with state and federal officials recommending, and some requiring, people to wear masks in public.  "I feel so lost and out of place because [people] are wearing masks and I cannot read their lips," Pagnella told USA Today.  "Not being able to hear is hard enough.  Now, lip reading is hard, too."

Long-Lost U.S. Military Satellite Found By Amateur Radio Operator.  [Scroll down]  In other words, says [Scott] Tilley, even though the satellite was supposed to shut down in 1972, it's still going.  As long as the solar panels are in the sun, the satellite's radio continues to operate.  Tilley thinks it may even be possible to send commands to the satellite.  The MIT lab that built LES-5 still does a lot of work on classified projects for the military.  NPR contacted its news office to ask if someone could say more about LES-5 and whether it really could still receive commands.  But after repeated requests, Lincoln Laboratory finally answered with a "no comment."  It seems that even a 50-year-old zombie satellite might still have secrets.

Police open homicide probe into death of man whose wife gave him fish tank cleaner, blamed Trump.  The Mesa City, Ariz., Police Department has launched a homicide investigation into the death of Gary Lenius, the man whose wife gave him a drink laced with fish tank cleaner allegedly to ward off COVID-19.  The investigation, which was confirmed by the Washington Free Beacon, is being handled by Det.  Teresa Van Galder, who could not provide any details at the moment because it's an active case.  The news site also reported that it provided a recording of its interview with Wanda Lenius, 61, from March.

All Is Not What It Seems In Sweden.  Sweden has been regularly cited in American media as a country that chose an approach to the Covid-19 pandemic different from that of the U.S. and the European countries.  There have been pictures of Swedes crowding into outdoor restaurants, enjoying sunny early spring weather.  Streets in central Stockholm have been shown looking "normal," although the density of shoppers and pedestrians had been exaggerated through tele-lens photography.  These news reports seemed to suggest social life little affected by the pandemic, as if Sweden had taken a more relaxed approach to the virus than other countries.

Kentucky Representative Thomas Massie Touches the Third Rail — Reveals DC's Biggest Secret.  With congress saying they will not be returning to work next week, it appears Kentucky representative Thomas Massie has decided to use the opportunity to expose Washington DC's biggest secret.  Something 99% of American voters do not understand: [...] You see, congress doesn't actually write legislation.  The last item of legislation written by congress was sometime around the mid 1990's.  Modern legislation is sub-contracted to K-Street.  Lobbyists write the laws; congress sells the laws; lobbyists then pay congress commissions for passing their laws.  That's the modern legislative business in DC.

The House of Representatives has identified itself as a non-essential service.  The original plan in Washington, D.C., was for both the Senate and the House to reconvene on May 4.  News broke on Tuesday [4/28/2020], though, that the House will not be returning to work.  It turns out that so many members of the House panicked at the thought of working once more for the American people that House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer was forced to announce that the House would remain closed next week.

Sen. Cotton says Chinese students shouldn't be allowed to study science in US.  GOP Sen. Tom Cotton suggested that Chinese students should be banned from studying technology and science in the US — and said he has "little doubt" that Beijing is trying to steal a coronavirus vaccine from America.  "In the middle of a pandemic, what's the most valuable intellectual property in the world?  It's the research that our great laboratories and life science companies are doing on prophylactic drugs, therapeutic drugs, and ultimately a vaccine," Cotton of Arkansas said on Fox News' "Sunday Morning Futures."  "So I have little doubt that the Chinese intelligence services are actively trying to steal America's intellectual property as it relates to the virus that they unleashed on the world, because, of course, they want to be the country that claims credit for finding those drugs or finding a vaccine, and then use it as leverage against the rest of the world," the senator continued.

More than 88 million emergency payments totaling $158 billion are out the door:  IRS.  The Internal Revenue Service on Friday said the federal government has issued more than 88 million emergency direct payments to individuals that collectively totaled about $158 billion over a three-week period ending April 17.  "The IRS, Treasury and partner agencies are working non-stop to get these payments out in record time to Americans who need them," said IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig.  A total of more than 150 million payments, which were a central feature of a recent $2.2 trillion economic rescue package, are expected to be sent out.

One country, one system:  The week that China shredded its promise on Hong Kong.  Martin Lee has tangled with the Chinese Communist Party countless times in his decades-long fight to achieve free elections in Hong Kong and enlist Western support for the city's democratic ambitions.  Last weekend, the police came knocking.  Seven officers appeared at Lee's home and arrested the 81-year-old for participating in an unauthorized protest last year that 1.7 million people attended.  More than a dozen other democracy activists were detained the same day.  The arrests buttressed a week of coordinated actions by Beijing that experts say have redefined the status of Hong Kong.  The effect was to demolish the "one country, two systems" framework that prohibits Beijing's involvement in local affairs and is supposed to afford the financial center a high level of autonomy.

AutoNation, a Fortune 500 auto retailer worth $3 billion, received nearly $95 million in PPP funds by using separate tax IDs.  A Fortune 500 auto company worth $3 billion received nearly $95 million in federal small-business funds, almost double the amount of any company that received money through the Paycheck Protection Program.  The $95 million received by AutoNation is said to have been spread among dozens of their more than 300 locations and intended to use the funds to help employees.  Funds for PPP ran out last week, with thousands of small businesses left without a dime.  AutoNation Executive Vice President Marc Cannon said that the company's board voted on Thursday [4/23/2020] to return the funds, the Washington Post reports.

World Health Organization's History of Promoting Radical Sex Ed.  When President Donald Trump pushed the pause button on funding the World Health Organization this past week, most people's only experience with the group was as a harmless arm of the United Nations.  But the "watchdog" of the global health is a lot more than the world's disease and infection police.  It's also, as more Americans are starting to learn, one of the biggest promoters of abortion and peddlers of radical sex ed.  At this point, it's undeniable.  And it's been its agenda for many years.  If Americans are upset about anything, it shouldn't be that the president temporarily cut the WHO's funding.  It should be the incredible injustice that's been done to taxpayers by sending billions of dollars to a group that doesn't share most people's values.

Tucker Carlson goes full Alinsky on McKinsey for outsourcing manufacturing to China.  Tucker Carlson spent the first 15 minutes of his show last night decrying the loss of so much of our manufacturing base to China.  That concern has spread from the already devastated Rust Belt to the coastal habitats of the elites now that the pandemic has exposed our reliance for survival on an increasingly threatening China for pharmaceuticals, protective gear, and many other critical strategic goods, such as the rare earths necessary for the manufacture of advanced electronic components.  With the dangers of such dependence obvious to all, Tucker took an original angle and followed Saul Alinsky's Rule #13:  "Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it."  His target:  McKinsey & Company, the global consulting group that has helped many a giant corporation outsource its manufacturing to lower-wage countries, pre-eminently but not exclusively China, as a means of competing in world markets and in the domestic American market, which for the most part has been wide open to foreign competition.

Workers volunteered to live in a factory for 28 days to produce millions of pounds of raw PPE materials to make masks and gowns.  Workers at a Pennsylvania petrochemical factory ended a nearly monthlong "live-in" at their workplace to produce 40 million pounds of raw material used to make personal protective equipment like hospital masks and gowns.  Forty-three employees at Braskem America in Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania, volunteered to live in the factory to limit outside exposure to the coronavirus as they made polypropylene, a material used to make hygienic products such as face masks, surgical gowns, and disinfectant wipes.

Could Poorly Managed States End Up in Bankruptcy?  The Constitution grants Congress the power to establish uniform laws for bankruptcies throughout the country.  Yet the bankruptcy code lacks a chapter extending such protection to states, which might be why some of them have become so profligate.  That combined with the coronavirus has put some of them on the brink of collapse.  This erupted in the news when the President of the Illinois senate, Don Harmon, wrote a letter to the Illinois delegation in the U.S. Congress asking a bailout of more than $40 billion for the state.  Chicago Tribune blew its stack in a memorable editorial.  What was so galling about it, at least to us, is that Mr. Harmon sought a $10 billion bailout directly to the Land of Lincoln's long-underfunded pension system.

Ruth's Chris Steakhouse owner says it will repay $20 million in small business loans.  Ruth's Chris Steak House announced Thursday [4/23/2020] it will return the $20 million it received in coronavirus small business loans.  Ruth's Hospitality Group, which owns the Ruth's Chris Steak House brand, procured two $10million loans from the government's $350 billion Paycheck Protection Program this month.  The chain was met with fierce criticism for using loopholes in the PPP system to secure funding, leaving the small business applicants it was designed for high and dry.

On Earth Day, pope says nature will not forgive our trespasses.  Pope Francis made an impassioned plea for protection of the environment on Wednesday's 50th anniversary of the first Earth Day, saying the coronavirus pandemic had shown that some challenges had to be met with a global response.  Francis praised the environmental movement, saying it was necessary for young people to "take to the streets to teach us what is obvious, that is, that there will be no future for us if we destroy the environment that sustains us".

The Editor says...
I'm not worried about nature forgiving me for anything.  Personification of the earth, or Naturalistic Pantheism, is heresy.  The Pope's message is something you'd expect to hear from a Buddhist, not a Catholic.

States Made Risky Bets with Pensions Before Coronavirus.  Now They Want a Bailout.  Staring down the coronavirus's effect on their budgets, states like New Jersey and Illinois are calling on federal leaders to backstop public pensions as part of future coronavirus relief. [...] But the pension shortfalls are not just a product of the bear market, experts tell the Washington Free Beacon.  Some states now seeking bailouts are in part covering for more than a decade of economic mismanagement, having chased increasingly risky investments to fund generous benefits at low up-front costs.  Bailouts would allow states to dodge hard questions about the viability of excessively generous public pensions.

Usama bin Laden wanted to kill Obama so 'totally unprepared' Biden would be president, declassified docs show.  Usama bin Laden wanted to assassinate then-President Barack Obama so that the "totally unprepared" Joe Biden would take over as president and plunge the United States "into a crisis," according to documents seized from bin Laden's Pakistan compound when he was killed in May 2011.  The secretive documents, first reported in 2012 by The Washington Post, outlined a plan to take out Obama and top U.S. military commander David Petraeus as they traveled by plane.  "The reason for concentrating on them is that Obama is the head of infidelity and killing him automatically will make [Vice President] Biden take over the presidency," bin Laden wrote to a top deputy.  "Biden is totally unprepared for that post, which will lead the U.S. into a crisis.  As for Petraeus, he is the man of the hour ... and killing him would alter the war's path" in Afghanistan.

Judge Napolitano skeptical about lawsuits against China over coronavirus losses: 'They don't have a case'.  Fox News senior judicial analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano joined the "Fox News Rundown" podcast Thursday to offer a legal perspective on coronavirus after Missouri became the first state to file a lawsuit against China in an attempt to hold Beijing accountable for the severity of the pandemic.  "At the present time, they don't have a case because of the Foreign Sovereign Immunity Act [of 1976], which basically says American courts do not have jurisdiction over the behavior of foreign governments and that, of course, would bar nearly any lawsuit against the government of China," Napolitano explained.

DeVos bars undocumented college students from emergency aid.  The Trump administration on Tuesday prohibited undocumented college students from receiving emergency federal cash assistance for expenses like food, child care and housing.  The economic rescue law passed by Congress gives $6 billion to colleges to dole out to students for expenses stemming from the disruption on campuses caused by the pandemic.  But Education Department officials in new guidance said the money can go only to students who qualify for federal financial aid — U.S. citizens and some legal permanent residents.

The Death of the Department Store: 'Very Few Are Likely to Survive'.  American department stores, once all-powerful shopping meccas that anchored malls and Main Streets across the country, have been dealt blow after blow in the past decade.  J.C. Penney and Sears were upended by hedge funds.  Macy's has been closing stores and cutting corporate staff.  Barneys New York filed for bankruptcy last year.  But nothing compares to the shock the weakened industry has taken from the coronavirus pandemic.  The sales of clothing and accessories fell by more than half in March, a trend that is expected to only get worse in April.  The entire executive team at Lord & Taylor was let go this month.  Nordstrom has canceled orders and put off paying its vendors.  The Neiman Marcus Group, the most glittering of the American department store chains, is expected to declare bankruptcy in the coming days, the first major retailer felled during the current crisis.  It is not likely to be the last.

The 2016 election scandal waiting to break.  As I've been telling you for a long time, there are going to be repercussions from the political scandals of 2016.  The time is coming soon — maybe very soon — when we will find out who will be indicted and what impact these legal actions will have on the 2020 presidential election.  John Durham, the US Attorney in Connecticut, has been investigating whether there was wrongdoing before and after the last presidential election.  His focus seems to be on whether warrants were improperly obtained to spy on the Trump campaign.  But over the two-plus years since Durham has been on the case, the probe seems to have expanded.  High up intelligence officers in the US seem to be the target.  Durham's probe could turn very political if his evidence determines that actions were taken by the intelligence community to aid the Democrats.

Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue Announces $19 Billion U.S. Farm Aid Relief Package.  In the background of lessons being learned from the COVID-19 pandemic, stay tuned for a new MAGA-minded small farm program in the agricultural industry similar in construct to how President Trump and Secretary Mnuchin created the parallel banking system using community banks and credit unions.  Domestic food security is national security.  Today [4/17/2020] President Trump and Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue revealed a $19 billion U.S. farm relief program which includes the Dept. of Agriculture purchasing $3 billion in farm products from the fresh supply chain to support those impacted by the collapse of the restaurant, hotel, school and cafeteria demand (food away from home).

Foreign Powers Test US defenses amid coronavirus pandemic.  U.S. adversaries are probing America's defenses as the world is preoccupied with the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.  In the past two weeks, Russia, China, Iran and North Korea have all moved to test Washington in the sea, in the air and on land as U.S. forces have become more restricted in movement amid concerns over the spread of COVID-19.  "Exactly how distracted is the U.S. military?  They want to know," said Susanna Blume, the director of the defense program at the Center for a New American Security, referring to foreign countries.

Texas Lt. Gov Patrick says it's time for Congress to take a pay cut, show Americans 'you're with us'.  Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick is calling on Congress to show solidarity with Americans hurt by the coronavirus crisis and take a pay cut.  With millions of people across the nation facing financial hardship due to government decisions to shut down the economy, Patrick believes members of Congress who "are not hurt" by the same constraints should stand with citizens, telling Fox News host Laura Ingraham that it's high time lawmakers in Washington "feel some of this pain."

Over 20 million Americans lack broadband, says senator.  More than 20 million Americans lack "meaningful broadband service" as people turn to the internet for school and work during the coronavirus crisis, Virginia Sen. Mark Warner warned federal regulators.  "Under the current circumstances, this lack of broadband access threatens to greatly — and potentially lastingly — exacerbate disparities in health, education and economic equity," said Mr. Warner, a Democrat, in a letter to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai on Thursday [4/16/2020].  He noted that 770,000 Virginians don't have broadband access.

The Editor says...
Broadband internet service should be the least of Virginians' concerns, when the Governor is trampling their First- and Second-Amendment rights.  But aside from that, what is the minimum download and upload speed that qualifies as "meaningful broadband service?"  I suspect I'm one of the unfortunate victims left behind, with my minimal DSL service.

Land O'Lakes quietly removes image of Mia, its longtime Native American maiden.  Popular dairy brand Land O'Lakes quietly changed its packaging to remove its iconic Indian maiden image, it was revealed Wednesday [4/15/2020].  The new packaging has already started to appear in stores and looks similar to the previous branding with an image of lake and trees — except without Mia, the kneeling woman featured in the center, the Minnesota Reformer reported.

Land O'Lakes Drops Its 'Racist' Native American Packaging After Nearly 100 Years.  The iconic Native American woman has been removed from all butter and margerine packaging for the Minnesota-based company Land O'Lakes.  In a press release, the company announced that it has introduced a new brand of packaging without mentioning the Native American woman's removal.  The new packaging simply features the "Farmer-Owned" Land O'Lakes before an evergreen wilderness.  "The new packaging will show up in a variety of ways, including through a new front-of-package design that features the phrase 'Farmer-Owned' above the LAND O LAKES brandmark, 'Since 1921' below it and a vibrant illustration of land and lakes," said the statement.

The Editor says...
How strange it is, that the illustration wasn't racist until this year.  My advice would be to leave the packaging exactly as it was, and let that one-in-a-million snowflake boycott this product.

Related topic:  Redskins.

Q Praises Shocking Out of Shadows Documentary and Millions Watch it.  On April 10, an underground documentary with no publicity landed on YouTube and amassed one million views in 24 hours.  Despite YouTube's efforts to hide it, Out of Shadows continues to attract more than a million viewers a day, lifting the mask "on how the mainstream media and Hollywood manipulate and control the masses by spreading propaganda throughout their content."  "Why do you believe what you believe?" asks Mike Smith, a former star stuntman for Hollywood action films, who produced and self-funded the film.  Mike tells the story of how he began delving into the messages of the high-budget films he worked on, after an injury sidelined him.  To his shock, he discovered that "we have all been lied to and brainwashed by a hidden enemy with a sinister agenda."  Mike's investigation revealed a host of CIA programs he sees as designed to control the public's beliefs and deflect attention from massive governmental crimes.

Mike Smith, the Stuntman, QAnon Follower & Trump Fan Behind 'Out of Shadows' Documentary.  ike Smith is the Hollywood stuntman behind the conspiracy documentary, "Out of Shadows."  Smith says in the documentary that while he rehabbed an injury on his pelvis that he suffered while filming, he had a spiritual awakening.  Smith says, "I didn't find God because I went to church.  I found God because I realized that the Luciferian and the occult world was real and that I had been fooled for all of these years and I then got really scared."  Smith goes on to say that he became a Christian again because of his belief that Hollywood and the entertainment industry was influenced by Satan.  The film delves deep into the disproved Pizzagate conspiracy theory.

Newly Declassified Papadopoulos Transcript Exposes Crossfire Hurricane Corruption.  Attorney General William Barr said last week that "the evidence shows that we're not dealing with just mistakes or sloppiness" in the Crossfire Hurricane investigation.  Rather, "there is something far more troubling here."  "Without any basis," Barr added in his sit-down interview with Fox News' Laura Ingraham, "they started this investigation of [Trump's] campaign, and even more concerning actually is what happened after the campaign, a whole pattern of events while he was president to sabotage his presidency — or at least have the effect of sabotaging the presidency."

No construction order means "open season" for squatting, theft, vandalism.  As stakeholders continue to discuss how to resume construction activity during the COVID-19 pandemic, builders across the state say criminals are taking advantage of empty construction sites and near-completed residential homes — and the effects are destructive and costly.  In one case, a city manager has provided further guidance to the industry as it seeks to navigate the challenging circumstances.  In addition to myriad financial consequences construction businesses and employees are bearing due to the inactivity, builders say there's been a sharp increase in vandalism, thefts and squatters on construction sites, in some cases despite enhanced security measures.  Additionally, people are using the sites as dumping grounds for all manner of things from old appliances to electronics and more, likely to avoid fees at transfer stations.

The Fastest Growing and Declining E-Commerce Categories.  The COVID-19 pandemic is having a significant impact on every aspect of life, including how people shop for their necessities, and their not-so-necessities.  With online retail sales estimated to reach an eye-watering $6.5 trillion by 2023, the ecommerce sector was already booming.  But since the outbreak, online shopping has been catapulted into complete overdrive.

Confirmed: Air Force "Men in Black" were investigating Luis Elizondo over UFO videos.  The last time we checked in on the folks at the Pentagon who have gone almost entirely silent on the matter of government and military investigations into Navy encounters with UFOs, there were plenty of questions left unanswered.  One of the key issues was why they seemed to keep changing their story when pressed for answers and how they couldn't seem to define precisely what Luis Elizondo did or didn't have to do with their secret UFO program known as AATIP (Advanced Aerial Threat Identification Program). One other question was how those three Navy UFO videos wound up making their way into the public eye if all of this was supposed to be so hush-hush.  Now we know the answer and several other new details.

The BBC Ridicules Christianity On Good Friday.  At the end of holy week, the Christian — or at least the Western Christian Churches — celebrate the mysteries of Easter and the resurrection of Christ.  At this time the BBC, in the shape of Nick Robinson on its flagship Today program, decided to belittle a Covid survivor's reference to his faith as a 'trick' played on him by the drugs he was being administered in intensive care.

Pressure mounts for Gov. Inslee to restart private construction projects.  Pressure is mounting on Gov. Inslee to relax his stay-at-home requirements for the construction industry.  He is getting letters from developers, lawmakers, and others saying private construction is just as essential as public projects.  While most large public projects have been halted — including state road projects and some Sound Transit work — public construction projects are on Gov. Inslee's "essential" list.  Building homes is not, a double-standard contractors believe isn't fair.

Bridge collapses in Italy with almost no traffic amid lockdown.  A bridge on a normally busy provincial road in northern Italy collapsed on Wednesday [4/8/2020] but with virtually no traffic during the coronavirus lockdown, only two truck drivers suffered minor injuries, the fire brigade said. [...] Although casualties were limited in Wednesday's incident, the incident highlights the poor state of repair of Italy's road network, after the collapse of a motorway bridge in the port city of Genoa in 2018 that killed 43 people.

Airline travel has dropped 96 percent amid coronavirus.  Airline travel has dropped 96 percent amid the coronavirus pandemic, CNN reported Thursday [4/9/2020], citing multiple metrics.  Only about one in 10 seats on U.S. domestic planes are occupied, the outlet reported citing Airlines for America, an industry group that represents airlines including American, Delta, Southwest and United.  On the limited number of international flights operating, only one in five seats are occupied, the group said.

The Editor says...
On a normal day (how I miss normal days!) there was an airplane flying over my house about every two minutes.  Now, there are only a few per day.

Bill Barr:  "Without Any Basis".  Here are what I think are the important points we can take from what Barr said.  First of all, it seems apparent that the Durham investigation has completed most of its evidence gathering — whether documentary or through interviews.  That doesn't mean the investigation is finished.  There is also the question of putting together a prosecutive case, and that will probably involve complicated negotiations with the lawyers for the persons being investigated.  That, in turn, could lead to further substantive investigation.  But the bottom line is that at this point Barr appears confident that he knows what happened and, most likely, who was behind it.  As Barr says, this is a "sprawling" case.

Battery explodes in a home while being charged.  Batteries are not 100% safe and should not be left unattended while charging.  [Video clip]

NASA astronaut's estranged wife charged with lying about space crime allegation.  The estranged wife of a NASA astronaut who claimed her spouse improperly accessed her bank account from space has been indicted for lying to federal authorities.  Summer Worden, 44, whose claim would have potentially been the first accusation of a crime committed in space, made false statements to NASA's Office of the Inspector General and the Federal Trade Commission, according a statement from U.S. Attorney Ryan Patrick.  A federal jury in Houston returned the two-count indictment in late February, but it was unsealed Monday [4/6/2020].

Kennedy Center Agrees To Pay Orchestra After Lawmakers Move To Rescind Bailout.  The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts has walked back its decision to furlough nearly 100 members of the symphony orchestra despite receiving a $25 million federal bailout, a move that prompted the affected musicians to file a lawsuit against the performing arts center.  According to The Washington Free Beacon, the center has offered the musicians pay cuts and a wage freeze instead of furloughs, and the union representing the orchestra's musicians has, in turn, decided to drop a lawsuit against the center for allegedly violating a contract, which prohibits layoffs without six weeks notice.

US Box Office Sales Collapse To Just $5,179; Was $204 Million During Same Period Last Year.  As millions of Americans spend quality time with their families to avoid the global pandemic, box office sales across the US have predictably cratered — falling to just $5,179 from March 20 through March 26 as movie theaters across the country remain shuttered.

Landlords alarmed over rent forgiveness proposal.  On Wednesday [4/1/2020], Portland city leaders sent a letter to the governor asking for statewide rent forgiveness for people who lost incomes because of the pandemic.  "We've never talked about a rent moratorium before or forgiving mortgages.  I know it might sound outlandish to some, but I just ask them to consider the alternatives or offer alternatives.  You can't squeeze blood from a stone," Portland City Commissioner Chloe Eudaly told KATU.  Since then, reaction has been swift, claiming if put in place, it would cause long-term damage to basic economic structures.

California nonprofit calls for statewide rent strike.  The start of the month under a statewide stay-at-home order means many tenants and homeowners are scrambling to come up with the money for their rent and mortgage bills.  On Wednesday, the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment declared a statewide rent strike, demanding that those payments be forgiven until people can return to work.  With so many workers out of a job right now, a number of families do not know when their next paycheck is coming — but the bills keep piling up.

The Editor says...
Being unable to pay the rent and being unwilling to pay the rent are two entirely different things.  In the former case, one might reasonably hope for mercy, longsuffering, and unmerited kindness.  In the latter case, one might reasonably expect eviction.

European leaders warn coronavirus could lead to the breakup of their union.  The coronavirus pandemic, with its simultaneous health and economic crises, is deepening fault lines within Europe in a way some leaders fear could prove to be a final reckoning.  The cohesion of the European Union had been battered by Brexit, bruised by the political fallout from the 2015 migration surge and the 2008 financial crisis, and challenged by rising autocracy in the east that runs contrary to the professed ideals of the European project.  Now, if Europe's leaders cannot chart a more united course, the project lies in what one of its architects described this week as "mortal danger."

Major Errors Found In All 29 of the FISA Warrants The IG Has Reviewed.  FISA hearings are ex parte — one sided.  There is only a prosecutor; there is no defense attorney present to challenge or question the claims made to the judge.  That's why the Woods Procedures specify that each and every claim made in the FISA application be so thoroughly proven that even if there were a defense attorney present to challenge every claim, the judge would still find that the claim was too well supported to be questioned.

DOJ Inspector General Finds Rampant Errors in FBI Surveillance.  The Justice Department's watchdog determined that the FBI failed to properly document the facts in 29 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) applications that were reviewed in an audit.  The findings are part of a report released on March 30 by the Department of Justice's Office of Inspector General.  The office had previously found widespread fundamental and serious errors in the FISA applications used to spy on former Trump campaign associate Carter Page. [...] Of the 42 applications reviewed, 39 had a "total of about 390 issues, including unverified, inaccurate, or inadequately supported facts, as well as typographical errors."  Just three applications had no issues.

Two Fateful Events Occurred on January 15 Which Changed America for Years to Come; One Glaring, the Other Quiet.  On January 15, America watched as a group of prideful House Democrats, placing partisan interests above their country, walked the spurious Articles of Impeachment over to the Senate.  The solemn looks on their faces belied the elation they tried hard not to show.  For the next three weeks, we watched the spectacle of Adam Schiff and his team trying desperately to prove their fraudulent case against President Trump.  Fortunately, they failed.  At the same time, an airplane landed at Washington State's Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.  A 35-year-old man had just returned from visiting his family in Wuhan, China.  Five days later, on January 20, he would become the first person in the U.S. to test positive for the coronavirus.

A Surprising Paradox of Major Floods.  Last year, record floods along the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers caused $2.9 Billion worth of damage in Nebraska and Iowa, flooding at least one million acres of farmland and killing three people.  While floods and other natural disasters can inflict unfortunate death and destruction upon individuals, they can paradoxically benefit communities in the long run.  In the short term — over a span of a few years — floods can transform urban areas into downtrodden, waterlogged ghost towns.  But you might be surprised to learn that in the long term — think more than ten years — floods and other natural disasters actually seem to grow economies and populations.

Fish tank cleaner couple's story gets weirder and weirder.  [W]hat normal person eats a fish-tank cleaner to avoid coronavirus?  Hmmm, perhaps a loving husband whose oh, so solicitous wife suggests it because President Donald J. Trump (R) highly recommends it.  At least that's what the grieving widow says, whose husband died from dining on the stuff while she daintily ingested a mere taste.  While the lefty media — i.e., 90% or so of the media — gleefully agreed with her that Trump was at fault, the remaining 10% of the media, plus the hundreds of thousands of silent deplorables, thought this explanation was fishy.  The fishiness began to stink to high Hillary hell upon the discovery that the couple was — surprise! — Democratic donors.

The mysterious case of the people who ate fish tank cleaner.  Shortly after President Trump touted chloroquine as a potential cure for COVID-19, the media triumphantly reported that a man died from taking homemade chloroquine due to Trump's recommendation.  It turned out that the man's wife fed him some fish tank cleaner.  She even partook of it with him, except that he died while she didn't.  As a dedicated murder mystery reader, I didn't blame Trump.  My suspicions were focused elsewhere.  It turns out my instincts may have been right on the money.  Here's the story the drive-by media didn't tell you: [...] Here's an excellent rule of thumb when navigating stories that are hostile to President Trump:  Assume everything you hear is a lie, whether it's from the media or from the anti-Trump source about which the media is reporting.  Also, you can learn a lot about human nature and sneaky crimes by reading murder mysteries.

Rick Perry warns US energy sector on verge of 'massive collapse' due to coronavirus pandemic.  Former Energy Secretary Rick Perry warned Tuesday [3/31/2020] on "Tucker Carlson Tonight" that the coronavirus pandemic has brought the United States' once-thriving oil and energy sector to the verge of a "massive collapse."  Sweeping restrictions on work and travel have brought industrial activity to a near-standstill.  Perry explained that fewer cars on the road and fewer flights in the air translate to a major decrease in demand for oil, which is bad news for America's energy producers.

Ex wildlife chief:  Trump rule could kill billions of birds.  At a former open-pit copper mine filled with billions of gallons of toxic water, sirens and loud pops from propane cannons echo off the granite walls to scare away birds so they don't land.  After several thousand migrating snow geese perished in the Berkeley Pit's acidic, metal-laden waters in 2016, its owners deployed a sophisticated arsenal to frighten away flocks, including lasers, drones, fireworks and remote-controlled boats.  Montana Resources already had been hazing incoming birds with spotlights and rifle shots into the water — and a spokesman says those existing deterrents likely helped the company avoid a penalty or prosecution under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. [...] However, the Trump administration says deaths of birds that fly into oil pits, mining sites, telecommunications towers, wind turbines and other hazards should be treated as accidents not subject to prosecution.

The Editor says...
Where was this writer's concern about windmills killing birds when Obama was president?

Coronavirus job losses could hit 47M, unemployment rate may surge to 32%, St. Louis Fed says.  Tens of millions of Americans will likely lose their jobs as the coronavirus pandemic sends the U.S. economy into a free fall, causing the unemployment rate to surge to levels not seen since the Great Depression, according to a St. Louis Federal Reserve estimate.  The analysis, posted by St. Louis Fed economist Miguel Faria-e-Castro, projected that unemployment could hit 32 percent in the second quarter as more than 47 million workers are laid off as a result of the pandemic, which has forced swaths of the economy to shut down.  That would exceed the 24.9 percent peak during the Great Depression.  "These are very large numbers by historical standards, but this is a rather unique shock that is unlike any other experienced by the U.S. economy in the last 100 years," Faria-e-Castro wrote in the research paper published last week.

King of Thailand 'isolates' from coronavirus with 20 women.  Thailand's playboy king has taken over a luxury German hotel to isolate from the coronavirus — along with a harem of 20 women, according to reports.  King Maha Vajiralongkorn, 67, reportedly booked the entire Grand Hotel Sonnenbichl with "special permission" to break the lockdown in the Alpine resort town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, the Independent said, quoting German media.  But rather than isolate, he moved in a harem of 20 concubines along with a team of servants, the UK paper said, citing German tabloid Bild.

France Issues Rallying Calls to 'Buy French' as Coronavirus Erodes EU Single Market.  French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire has called on his countrymen to buy domestic products as the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak cripples the European single market.  Describing his approach as "economic patriotism," he urged French supermarkets to 'stock French products.' The call didn't go unheard.  Following the minister's remarks on Tuesday, the trade body representing French supermarkets vowed to stock up shelves exclusively with fruits and vegetables produced within France once the foreign products run out, the newspaper Les Echos reported.

Globalism gone bust:  Italians burn EU flag, vow to leave EU over EU's lousy coronavirus response.  Now that Italy has recorded its 10,000th coronavirus death, a third of the global total, and nearly a thousand just yesterday, Italians are questioning the value of globalism, and more specifically asking what good its European Union membership does it.  Sentiment is soaring for getting out and going it alone.  Britain did it, why not Italy?  Locals are now burning European Union flags, and Italian politicians are ramping up the talk about getting the heck out of the European Union altogether.

Senior WHO Official Cuts Off Interview When Reporter Implies Taiwan Isn't Part Of China.  A senior World Health Organization official appeared to pretend he couldn't hear a reporter and then cancelled the call when she implied Taiwan was a separate country from China.  A Hong Kong-based outlet was conducting the interview with senior advisor to the WHO Bruce Aylward.  Taiwan is one of the few Western-style democracies near China, and China's communist government has long insisted that the international community treat Taiwan as a part of "Greater China," despite having separate governments.  The WHO complies and does not allow Taiwan to be a member state.  The reporter asked whether that policy might change during the coronavirus pandemic.

Trump to cruise lines:  If you want American coronavirus relief, try being American companies first.  If companies want America to bail them out, perhaps they should bail back into America first.  Donald Trump had spoken repeatedly about the financial beating that cruise lines had taken since the start of the coronavirus outbreak, and perhaps those corporations just assumed that they could access the COVID-19 rescue package once it passed. [...] Last night [3/26/2020], Trump sympathized with the plight of cruise lines, but noted that these companies haven't done much to invest in the US.  If the cruise lines want the protection of American taxpayers, they should join their ranks first, Trump said.

President Trump signs into law $2 trillion coronavirus bailout.  President Trump on Friday [3/27/2020] signed into law a historic $2.2 trillion coronavirus rescue package, the largest stimulus deal in United States history, as the pandemic devastates the nation's economy and sickens thousands.  "This will deliver urgently needed relief to our nation's families, workers and businesses and that's what this is all about," Trump said in the Oval Office flanked by GOP lawmakers and administration officials.  "I want to thank Republicans and Democrats for coming together, setting aside their differences and putting America first," he added.  The bill includes $500 billion in direct checks to American families, $500 billion in small business loans, $150 billion in hospital funding and a $150 billion relief fund for state and local governments, among other measures.

More than 400,000 jobs available as coronavirus prods people to stock up on necessities and order takeout.  The outbreak of the coronavirus across the United States has shuttered whole industries.  Still, demand for essentials, such as food, toilet paper, and even pizza delivery, has increased hiring by over 400,000 jobs as people shelter in their homes and stock up on necessities.  Walmart, the largest employer in the U.S., wants to hire an additional 150,000 temporary workers by the end of May to meet the increase in demand at its stores.  However, those temporary jobs could become permanent.  "These roles will be temporary at first, but many will convert to permanent roles over time," it stated in a press release.

China Uses Coronavirus Crisis to Bulldoze Churches and Temples.  Religious freedom watchdog groups are accusing the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) of using the Wuhan coronavirus epidemic as an opportunity to intensify their crackdown on religion, bulldozing some churches and placing others under heavy surveillance.  "China is now holding itself up as a model for fighting the coronavirus.  But fighting the pandemic hasn't stopped communist officials from persecuting Christians," Todd Nettleton, a spokesman for the nonprofit group Voice of the Martyrs (VOM), told Fox News on Tuesday.

The United States indicts Venezuela's Maduro on narco-terrorism charges.  The Trump administration unsealed sweeping indictments Thursday against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and members of his inner circle on narcoterrorism charges, a move that dramatically escalates U.S. efforts to force the authoritarian socialist from power.  The United States also offered a $15 million bounty for information leading to Maduro's capture and conviction.  Attorney General William P. Barr said the Justice Department has charged Maduro, along with a host of other current and former Venezuelan officials, with narcoterrorism, money laundering and drug trafficking.  Barr and other U.S. officials outlined a detailed conspiracy headed by Maduro that effectively worked with Colombian guerrillas to transform Venezuela into a transshipment point for moving massive amounts of cocaine into the United States.

His Tesla was in a hit and run.  It recorded the whole thing.  The car is becoming a sentry, a chaperone, and a snitch.  My parked car got gashed in a hit-and-run two weeks ago.  I found a star witness:  the car itself.  Like mine, your car might have cameras.  At least one rearview camera has been required on new American cars since 2018.  I drive a Tesla Model 3 that has eight lenses pointing in every direction, which it uses for backing up, parking and cruise control.  A year ago, Tesla updated its software to also turn its cameras into a 360-degree video recorder.  Even when the car is off.

Sentiment builds for moving U.S. companies out of China.  American companies that produce essential goods in China should plan to shift their operations back to the United States or other Western countries, according to a senior Republican lawmaker.  "We're staring into a significant, significant crisis of supply chain," Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner told the Washington Examiner.

Deal Reached on $2 Trillion Package to Pay for Our 'Strange New Reality'.  Senate and White House negotiators reached an agreement early Wednesday morning [3/25/2020] on a $2 trillion stimulus package to help businesses and families affected by the coronavirus epidemic and to bolster the economy.  The agreement clears the way for the package to sail through both houses of Congress on its way to President Trump.  Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin told reporters that Trump will sign the bill as soon as it reaches his desk."

Dow surges more than 2,000 points in its strongest one-day performance since 1933.  The Dow soared more than 2,000 points on Tuesday in its strongest one-day performance since 1933 as US lawmakers neared a deal to inject nearly $2 trillion of aid into an economy ravaged by the coronavirus.  All three main US stock indexes rebounded strongly from Monday's brutal selloff as the coronavirus outbreak forced entire nations to shut down.

Hallelujah! Daughter of Muslim domestic terrorist defeated In Illinois election.  Ameena Nuur Matthews was defeated in the Democratic primary election for Illinois' 1st Congressional District on March 17th, 2020.

De Blasio's senior staff in near revolt over his coronavirus response.  When Mayor de Blasio dragged aides and members of his NYPD security detail to his Brooklyn YMCA Monday morning amidst the coronavirus outbreak, fellow fitness enthusiasts were coughing and sneezing — and a mentally ill person was walking around touching the equipment, a gym source said.  "It's crazy that he made his staff and detail come with him to the gym and expose them like that," the source said.  But the incident is just one example of the mayor's disregard for the health of his staff during the crisis, multiple sources told The [New York] Post.  There's also growing frustration from senior aides, who fault the mayor for dithering instead of making decisions, micromanaging instead of leading, and insisting he knows best instead of listening to others, three sources said.

Political tectonic plates are shifting as media and other Dems start praising Trump's crisis management (and as his polls rise).  Democrat politicians have access to far more granular polling data that must show them that Americans want a strong leader in a time of mortal peril facing them, and that President Trump is rising to the challenge of his office.  The smarter ones among them may also understand that the nonstop carping, criticizing every move that Trump has made since taking office, has created cynicism and doubt about the sincerity of the continuous nit-picking.  President Trump is not about to let them forget the wave of criticism denouncing his prescient ban on arrivals from China as racist, either, so they had better get on board and earn his favor, lest they be called out.

Amazon to Add 100,000 Jobs, Raise Pay During 'Unprecedented' Needs of Coronavirus.  Amazon announced Monday [3/16/2020] it will invest over $350 million to open up 100,000 new jobs and to increase pay by $2 per hour in the U.S. and around the world during the coronavirus pandemic.  The Seattle-based multinational e-commerce company, said Dave Clark, senior vice president of worldwide operations, in a press release that it is seeing a "significant increase in demand" and accompanying "unprecedented" labor needs.

Americans are very likely to get $1,000 (or more) checks.  Here's what you need to know.  Americans could get a check for $1,000 or more in the coming weeks, as political leaders coalesce around a dramatic plan to try to prevent a worse recession and protect people from going bankrupt.  The idea took off Monday [3/16/2020] when Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) called for every American adult to receive a $1,000 check "immediately" to help tide people over until other government aid can arrive.  By Tuesday, there was bipartisan support for the idea, including from President Trump.  The White House even suggested the amount could be over $1,000, an acknowledgment of how big the economic crisis is becoming.  "We're looking at sending checks to Americans immediately," Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said, adding that Trump wants checks to go out "in the next two weeks."

Utah hit with its strongest earthquake since 1992.  Utah was hit with a 5.7 magnitude earthquake on Wednesday, its strongest since 1992, officials said.  The earthquake, which struck at 7:10 a.m. local time and was centered just north of Magna, shook houses between Salt Lake City and Antelope Island, the U.S. Geographical Survey (USGS) reported.

Adam Schiff's surveillance state.  Lawmakers are debating ways to prevent the Federal Bureau of Investigation from abusing its surveillance authority again.  While they're at it, they have an obligation to address their own privacy transgressor, Rep. Adam Schiff.  That's the gist of a pointed letter from Federal Communications Commissioner Brendan Carr, which landed Thursday at the House Intelligence Committee.  Chairman Schiff spent months conducting secret impeachment hearings.  His ensuing report revealed that he'd also set up his own surveillance state.  Mr. Schiff issued secret subpoenas to phone carriers, to obtain and publish the call records of political rivals.  Targets included Rudy Giuliani and another attorney of the president, the ranking Republican on the Intelligence Committee (Rep. Devin Nunes) and a journalist (John Solomon).

FCC Commissioner Calls Out Adam Schiff Over His Secret Subpoenas, May Take Action.  During the House impeachment proceedings, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) released a report which included the phone records that included calls made or received by Rep. Devin Nunes(R-CA), journalist John Solomon, Rudy Giuliani and others.  The records in the report didn't contain the content of the conversations but included who called who called who and how long the call lasted.  The belief was that the records were obtained through subpoena to the phone companies of records related to Giuliani and Lev Parnas, with the obvious purpose meant to try to impugn the people whose records were included without reason or cause.

Woman pardoned by President Trump announces Congressional run against Rep. John Lewis.  A woman who was pardoned by President Donald Trump has announced she will be running for Congress against Georgia Democratic Rep. John Lewis.  Angela Stanton-King, who was pardoned by Trump last month, announced her congressional bid in a message clarifying that "this isn't about replacing John Lewis, this is about picking up the torch and continuing the fight for Justice.

3-year-old boy gets lost and left behind by class, teachers on preschool field trip.  A 3-year-old boy was left behind by his class and his teachers while on a school field trip last week and his mother was notified days after the incident took place.  Karter Williams, a 3-year-old student in the Houston Independent School District (HISD) Head Start program at Thompson Elementary in Houston, Texas, was on a field trip with his class to the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo last Friday when he became separated from his classmates and teachers.  It is unclear how long Karter was wandering around for on his own.

The Editor says...
Why is a three-year-old kid in school at all?

California Throws The Books At Undercover Reporter Who Exposed Baby Body Trafficking.  An undercover reporter has been arraigned in California and charged with ten felonies for secretly recording conversations, and it's time to revisit how the judiciary and the law can stifle the First Amendment's guarantee of freedom of the press.  The accused, David Daleiden, used standard media undercover techniques to investigate and expose Planned Parenthood's sale of aborted fetus body parts.  While the use of undercover techniques like Daleiden's is a controversial practice even within journalism circles, Daleiden's upcoming jury trial has far wider implications for journalists.  Namely, can and should government criminalize undercover reporting, which historically has revealed otherwise hidden wrongdoing of all kinds?

US Treasury likely to push back April 15 tax filing deadline, Report.  The Trump administration is likely to extend the April 15 tax deadline as part of an effort to mitigate the effects of the novel coronavirus on U.S. households and businesses, according to an administration official and another person familiar with the matter.  Neither the decision to extend the deadline nor the mechanics of how such an extension might work are yet final.

'Black Americans Are Waking Up:' More African Americans Exiting Democratic Party in 'Blexit' Movement.  A recent poll found that 54 percent of African Americans believe the Democratic Party isn't paying enough attention to their needs.  It is an issue that is leading a growing number of blacks to rethink their choices at the ballot box.  For decades African Americans have been a key voting block for Democrats.  In 2016, 89 percent of black voters supported Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump.  Now, a movement called Blexit, which means the exit of black Americans from the Democrat Party, is encouraging African Americans to abandon the status quo.

Pierce Bush, late President George H.W. Bush's grandson, loses Texas Congressional bid.  Republican Pierce Bush, a grandson of former President George H.W. Bush, failed to advance out of Tuesday's primary in his bid for a Houston congressional seat, becoming the first member of his family to lose a race in Texas in more than 40 years.  Aside from the recognition of coming from America's most enduring Republican dynasty, Bush 34, was endorsed by the outgoing GOP incumbent, Rep. Pete Olson and raised more money than many of the other 14 candidates in the field.  Troy Nehls and Kathaleen Wall, staunch defenders of President Donald Trump, advanced instead to the runoff.  That raised questions about whether the Bush family's sharp personal clashes with the president in recent years turned off Republican voters.

London Uber driver reveals how he killed a man by removing his liver and kidneys while working as a doctor in China.  China has slaughtered thousands of its citizens to harvest organs such as hearts, lungs, kidneys, eyes and even skin for sale and to transplant into sick patients in hundreds of hospitals across the country.  A landmark international investigation, published in full today, will accuse the Beijing government of covering up 'crimes against humanity' that have been routinely carried out against religious minorities.  The inquiry says the organised butchery of living people to sell body parts can be compared 'to the worst atrocities committed in conflicts of the 20th Century' such as the Nazi gassing of Jews and Khmer Rouge massacres in Cambodia.

Fed Announces Emergency Rate Cut to Fight Coronavirus Economic Risks.  The Federal Reserve announced an emergency interest rate cut Tuesday, saying it was slashing its benchmark target by half a percentage point to combat the risks by the global outbreak of the coronavirus.  This was the largest move in interest rates since the Fed cut rates during the financial crisis and the first emergency cut since late 2008.  Typically, the rate target only moves its rate target at scheduled meetings.  The next meeting is set to begin in two weeks.

Federal Reserve announces first emergency rate cut since the financial crisis.  The Federal Reserve slashed interest rates by half a percentage point on Tuesday, a bold attempt to give the US economy a jolt in the face of concerns about the coronavirus outbreak.  It was the first unscheduled, emergency rate cut since 2008, and it also marks the biggest one-time cut since then.  The new benchmark interest rate is 1% to 1.25%.

Trump campaign manager says Democrats will try to steal the election.  President Trump's campaign manager thinks that Democrats will fight dirty in the race to the White House this year.  "They are going to cheat," Brad Parscale told an audience at the Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Maryland, on Friday [2/28/2020].  "Trust me, I saw what they did in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019.  They are not going to wake up in 2020 and say, 'Let's play fair now.'"  Some Democratic voters are concerned that Trump will refuse to accept the results of the election.  The campaign expects to have an email list that is 50 million contacts deep by November, and 2 million trained volunteers — a massive jump from the 16,000 trained volunteers it had in 2016.

China is concocting plans to paralyze US society before conflict, Marco Rubio says.  Chinese officials are seeding the United States and allied nations indirectly with technology that could cause massive societal disruption in the event of a conflict, according to a senior Republican lawmaker.  "We have never faced that sort of vulnerability in the backbone of our country," Sen. Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican, said this week.  China's potential to carry out a crippling attack against U.S. satellites has commanded attention from military strategists and diplomats for years, but Rubio's warning was spurred by analysis of much more mundane systems:  office printers, which could pose an unexpected intelligence threat.

Mystery zero-day in Chrome — update now!  Google has issued an update for its widespread Chrome browser to fix three security holes.  Unfortunately, one of those holes is what's known as a zero-day: a bug that was already being exploited by cyerbcrooks before Google tracked it down and fixed it.  Google, which is often vociferous about bugs and how they work, especially those found by its own Project Zero and Threat Analysis teams, is playing its cards close to its chest in this case.

Oregon man busted for buying Girl Scout cookies with fake bills.  An Oregon man has been busted for repeatedly duping Girl Scouts, buying cookies with counterfeit money, police said.  Camden Stevens Ducharme, 36, of Salem, was arrested Sunday [2/23/2020] on charges of theft and forgery after two separate Girl Scouts troops reported getting bogus bills while hawking their iconic baked goods earlier this month, the Statesman Journal reports.  During one incident, police said Ducharme passed a counterfeit $20 to purchase a box of cookies from a Girl Scout troop outside a Walmart in Salem and received legal currency in exchange, the newspaper reports.

Using radar, not a shovel:
Digging into the far side of the moon:  Chang'E-4 probes 40 meters into lunar surface.  A little over a year after landing, China's spacecraft Chang'E-4 is continuing to unveil secrets from the far side of the Moon.  The latest study, published on Feb. 26 in Science Advances, reveals what lurks below the surface.

The Editor says...
I confidently predict that all they will find is rocks, dust, and sterile dirt.  But suppose they find giant gold nuggets or big chunks of solid uranium?  What possible benefit would that be?  The moon is too far away for mining — even robotic mining.  I encourage the government of China to keep wasting money and manpower on this futile nonsense.

In the UK, it now spells a product's death if conservatives boast about liking it.  Because Britain is still a free-market economy, although Yorkshire Tea shies away from positioning itself with specific political or social demographics, it has no control over who ultimately buys its products.  The free market's effect of letting anyone buy a product, and even boast about the product, is why SJWs in England are trying to destroy Yorkshire Tea.  Rishi Sunak, the conservative chancellor of the Exchequer in Boris Johnson's government, decided it would be good to tweet out that he was making a big pot of Yorkshire Tea.  Presumably, with Brexit going into effect, he did so to highlight homegrown British industries: [...] The SJWs went ballistic.

Beware of fair weather friends:
Eight Mississippi Elected Officials Leave Dems, Independents, Join GOP.  Sensing the sentiment in their state has swung toward the GOP, eight Mississippi political office holders who were either Democrats or Independents have joined the Republican Party.  "We have had a relentless focus on switching conservative Democrats over to the Republican party," Mississippi Republican Party Chairman Lucien Smith said of the flurry of politicians looking for a safe haven.  He added, "They recognize increasingly that there is only one party that represents the conservative values of our state and that is the Republican party," as WLBT reported.

Trey Gowdy:  Time for intel officials to stop briefing 'epidemic leaker' Adam Schiff.  Former Republican congressman Trey Gowdy suggested intelligence officials should just stop briefing "epidemic leaker" Rep. Adam Schiff.  The Fox News contributor slammed the House Intelligence Committee chairman during a discussion Monday on "Hannity" about the recent reports of US intelligence assessments on alleged Russian meddling in the 2020 election.

John Ratcliffe Discusses Manufactured ODNI Intel Briefing on Russia and Upcoming FISA Reauthorization.  Representative John Ratcliffe appears with Maria Bartiromo to answer questions about the fraudulent information within an intelligence briefing last week and the House democrats weaponizing a false narrative.  Ratcliffe points fingers toward Adam Schiff for manufacturing the false media assertions & perpetuating a hoax on the American people.  Additionally Mr. Ratcliffe notes the upcoming reauthorization of FISA authority is taking place under a cloud of abuse by government officials and a host of deep state resistance interests who do not want to admit abuse within the FISA system.  [Video clip]

Warning! House Schedules Backroom FISA Reauthorization Hearing Without Sunlight, While FISA Court and DOJ Delay.  Against the backdrop of a then pending OIG FISA report, in December of 2019 buried deep in the congressional budget Continuing Resolution (CR) was a short-term extension to reauthorize the FISA "business records provision", the "roving wiretap" provision, the "lone wolf" provision, and the more controversial bulk metadata provisions [Call Detail Records (CDR)], all parts of the Patriot Act.  As a result of the FISA CR inclusion the terminal deadline was pushed to March 15, 2020: [...] For the past several years no corrective action taken by the intelligence community has improved the abuses outlined by the FISA court.  The sketchy programs, and abuse therein, needs more public attention.  However, there is now a confluence of events highlighting a likelihood congress and the intelligence apparatus writ large want to reauthorize the FISA surveillance and collection authorities without further sunlight and without public input.

New Jersey lists threat from white supremacists as higher than ISIS.  New Jersey officials have raised the threat level from white supremacists to the highest possible level — while deeming Islamic terror groups like ISIS a low threat to the Garden State.  The annual threat assessment report released Friday shows that white supremacists are now labeled a "high" threat for attacks, joining other so-called homegrown violent extremists as the biggest menace.  "The threat from white supremacist extremists increased from moderate to high in 2020 due to the number of threats, plots, and attacks conducted in 2019," the report said.  ISIS, however, was dropped from a moderate threat level to low, joining other fundamentalist terror groups like Al Qaeda, Al-Shabaab and Boko Haram.

Nevada Democratic Party asks caucus volunteers to sign confidentiality agreements.  The Nevada State Democratic Party is asking site leaders for Saturday's caucuses to sign non-disclosure agreements that would prevent them from speaking to the media.  The news comes just one day before the Nevada Democratic caucuses.  The caucus process here in Nevada has come under intense scrutiny after a similar process melted down in Iowa.

Electricity Rates By State.  Electricity rates are not usually something that most people think about every day until the end of the month when the unpleasant surprise arrives in the form of an energy bill.  If you've always wondered why your electric bill varies from time to time, who is the company whose letterhead your bill arrives on and how do the average electricity rates by state vary on average, we have the answers.

John Bolton Admits Last-Minute Impeachment Leak Was A Publicity Stunt.  Former National Security Advisor John Bolton admitted Wednesday that his testimony in President Donald Trump's recent impeachment proceedings involving Ukraine would have had no impact on the trial's outcome even after sections of his upcoming book leaked attempting to convict the president in its final days.  "People can argue about what I should have said and what I should have done," Bolton said at Vanderbilt University Wednesday night during a forum with his predecessor Susan Rice, according to ABC News.  "I will bet you a dollar right here and now my testimony would have made no difference to the ultimate outcome."

Newspaper Lobbyists and Encryption Foes Join the Chorus Against Section 230.  On Wednesday [2/19/2020], the U.S. Department of Justice held a "public workshop" on Section 230.  Predictably, it wound being up a greatest hits of the half-truths and paranoid bellyaching commonly employed against this important law.  Section 230 prevents digital companies from being automatically treated as the speaker of any third-party speech they assist in putting online.  It also allows companies to moderate content without becoming liable for it.  The law was passed in 1996 to address the fact that the then-dominant web companies felt forced to choose between very strictly gate-keeping or allowing a free-for-all if they wanted to avoid civil lawsuits and criminal liability over user-generated speech.  Section 230 has never prevented the Justice Department from enforcing federal criminal statutes against online violators, as many have misleadingly argued.  It acts as a shield against civil lawsuits and against state and local criminal charges.

If you rent an arena to a Democrat, demand payment up front.
Dems race to avoid going broke before Super Tuesday.  Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar and Elizabeth Warren each started the month scraping perilously close to the bottom of their campaign bank accounts, posing an existential threat to their candidacies as the Democratic primary goes national.  They're up against well-funded machines threatening to dominate the Democratic race:  Bernie Sanders, whose recent rise in the polls has come during a major spending streak fueled by his online donors, and billionaire Mike Bloomberg, whose personal fortune has vaulted him into the middle of the campaign to take on President Donald Trump.

Democrats' once-wishful hero slams House impeachment process as 'grossly partisan'.  Former National Security Adviser John Bolton slammed the Democrats' impeachment process of President Trump as "grossly partisan" and claimed his own potential testimony "would have made no difference to the ultimate outcome."  Despite the left's hailing him as a hero for claiming he had information about Trump's conduct regarding Ukraine, Bolton has increasingly come under fire for teasing information but never really saying anything.  Many who formerly praised his courage blasted him for just trying to sell his forthcoming book.

George Soros calls for Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg to be removed from Facebook.  George Soros has called for Mark Zuckerberg to be removed from Facebook because he thinks he is 'helping Trump get re-elected' by not censoring or banning political ads.  Soros, a prolific billionaire Democrat donor, wrote a letter to The Financial Times on Monday [2/17/2020] calling on both Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg to step down.  He has accused them of having a 'mutual assistance arrangement' with Trump that will 'help him get re-elected'.

Source: Democrat Senator Held Secret Meeting In Munich With Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif.  Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut and other Democratic senators had a secret meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif during the Munich Security Conference last week, according to a source briefed by the French delegation to the conference.  Murphy's office did not respond to repeated requests for comment by press time.  Such a meeting would mean Murphy had done the type of secret coordination with foreign leaders to potentially undermine the U.S. government that he accused Trump officials of doing as they prepared for Trump's administration.  In February 2017, Murphy demanded investigations of National Security Advisor Mike Flynn because he had a phone call with his counterpart-to-be in Russia.

Alaska Supreme Court puts Gov. Dunleavy recall campaign on fast track, allowing signatures to be collected.  The Alaska Supreme Court Friday [2/14/2020] ordered the state Division of Elections to allow Alaskans to sign petitions seeking to remove Gov. Mike Dunleavy from office and said that arguments over the legality of the recall will take place March 25.  The decisions reverse a lower-court ruling that had paused signature-gathering and put the case on an extremely speedy schedule by the standards of the court.  Both orders were signed by all five justices.

Everest:  Top Sherpas slam Nepal's plan to clean rubbish from mountain.  A plan to clear 35,000kg of rubbish from Everest and five other Himalayan peaks has been slammed by some of Nepal's leading mountaineers.  The government says the army will be used for the task, which will cost 860 million Nepali rupees ($7.5m; £5.7m).  Last year, they managed to clear about 10,000kg of waste from the region.  But Kami Rita Sherpa, who has scaled the world's highest mountain a record 24 times, says they do not have the skills to reach the highest points.

Harvard, Yale under investigation over foreign gifts totaling hundreds of millions of dollars.  The U.S. Department of Education (DOE) announced an investigation into Harvard and Yale on Wednesday and accused both universities of failing to report foreign gifts and contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars.  The federal agency claimed Yale failed to report at least $375 million in foreign transactions and hasn't reported any gifts or contracts for the last four years.  The DOE did not say how much Harvard might have failed to report.  Section 117 of the Higher Education Act requires American Title IV-eligible colleges and universities to report any foreign gifts or contracts that exceed $250,000 in value.  Institutions must also disclose any foreign ownership or control, twice each year — something many schools have failed to do, according to federal officials.

Siri is Now Refusing to Say the Word "Gun".  Apple's Siri voice assistant is now apparently refusing to say the word "gun" when used on an iPad.  Tracy Connors tweeted a video of herself attempting to have Siri read out a Daily Caller headline entitled 'Virginia House of Delegates Passes Gun Ban, Seizure Bill'.  Instead of saying the word 'gun', Siri spelled out the letters G-U-N.

Seattle City Council approves legislation protecting renters from wintertime evictions.  The Seattle City Council voted Monday [2/10/2020] to prohibit some residential evictions during the winter, but altered what had been originally proposed by reducing the number of months the ban would be in effect.  Before voting 7-0, the council trimmed the period covered by the legislation from five months to three months; limited the rule to low- and moderate-income tenants; and exempted landlords with four or fewer housing units.  The legislation is meant to prevent most evictions during the coldest months for people behind on their rent.

Catherine Herridge Drops Big Scoop About the DOJ and What They're Doing on Ukraine.  [Scroll down]  While there are obviously questions about the Bidens, there are also questions about possible interference in our 2016 election and the role of the Democrats or the DNC and Ukraine in that.  The fact that Barr took it out of main justice and assigned it to a separate U.S. Attorney, as he did with the Russia probe and U.S. Attorney John Durham, makes me think he believes there's a lot there to look at as well as he wants to ensure that an independent eye looks at it.

Authorities in Awe of Drug Runners' Jungle-Built, Kevlar-Coated Supersubs.  The vessel, which never had a chance to take its maiden voyage, is by no means perfect.  Its steel-free hull can't withstand depths of more than 62 feet, according to the US Navy's technical assessment, a limitation that gives the pilot an incredibly narrow comfort zone.  In other words, the slightest miscalculation in ballast — the amount of seawater a sub takes in to dive — could spell disaster for the unwieldy, 16-foot-high vessel.  Still, while they don't approve of its purpose, the Psubs members confirm that the craft is an impressive piece of work.  "Something like that would have taken a year or so in a modern shop," says Vance Bradley, a member of the group's advisory council and a former professional submarine fabricator.  "Imagine doing it out in the boonies with the mosquitoes and vermin!"

Boycott MSNBC trends after Chris Matthews breaks silence, goes off about Dems and socialism.  MSNBC's Chris Matthews stepped too far outside the liberal box in a rant on socialism that ignited social media's cancel culture.  Matthews unloaded on the word "socialism," saying he has an "attitude" about the term and proceeded to stun the MSNBC panel and viewers with his passionate warning to Democrats about supporting 2020 candidates who promote the ideology.

How a Croatian gas project exposes Green Deal hypocrisy.  The company in charge of the construction is the Austrian company Strabag, who provided an update on the construction's progress in December 2019.  Strabag is involved in one of the largest corruption scandals in Austria.  It is being investigated by the Austrian fiscal authorities and is accused, alongside a dozen of other peers, of cartel forming and price-fixing of construction work tenders in Austria since 2003, in violation of Austrian and EU law.  Strabag's offices were raided by the authorities in 2019.  According to media, the expected fines are estimated to reach tens of millions of euros.  This adds an extra shade of grey to the Croatia LNG project, whose hidden interests have been challenged by international civil society in a report in 2019.

Report: Missing $1.8 Billion in Aid Linked to Corrupt Oligarch Who 'Bankrolled' Ukraine Revolution.  In a live video presentation, Thursday night, conservative radio host Glenn Beck accused the Obama administration of funneling $1.8 billion in taxpayer dollars to Ukraine in order to fund the Ukrainian revolution against Russia.  Calling the scandal bigger than the Reagan-era "Iran Contra" scandal, The Blaze founder said that his research team made the discovery while looking into the phone call between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Zelensky, which spurred the Democrats' now-failed impeachment charade.

John Solomon's laptop was stolen on eve of Senate impeachment trial using 'sophisticated device'.  Investigative reporter John Solomon, whose bombshells on Ukraine-Biden corruption have upset a number of deep state operatives and Democratic lawmakers in Washington, had his laptop computer stolen on the eve of the Senate's impeachment trial of President Donald Trump.  According to a report by RealClearInvestigation's Paul Sperry, Solomon noted that nothing else was taken from his vehicle, just the laptop.  Even his US Capitol press security badge was left untouched.  According to the report, Solomon said his laptop contained "notes on Ukraine and former Vice President Joe Biden and other sensitive information."

Donald Trump Awards Rush Limbaugh the Presidential Medal of Freedom.  President Donald Trump awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Rush Limbaugh during Tuesday's State of the Union address before a joint session of Congress in Washington, D.C.  Limbaugh, in attendance and seated beside first lady Melania Trump, was visibly emotional upon hearing the president's announcement.  Melania Trump presented the medal and placed it around Limbaugh's neck.

Mid-SOTU, First Lady Presents Rush Limbaugh With Presidential Medal Of Freedom.  First Lady Melania Trump presented legendary talk radio host Rush Limbaugh with the Presidential Medal of Freedom during Tuesday's State of the Union address.  Limbaugh had revealed his advanced lung cancer diagnosis only one day earlier.  "Almost every American family knows the pain when a loved one is diagnosed with a serious illness," President Trump said on Tuesday night.  "Here tonight is a special man, beloved by millions of Americans, who just received a stage 4, advanced cancer diagnosis.  This is not good news, but what is good news is that he is the greatest fighter and winner that you will ever meet, Rush Limbaugh.  Thank you for your decades of devotion to our country."

'An unacceptable and upsetting environment': 2020 Democratic Host Committee under investigation.  The two top officials overseeing Milwaukee's host committee for the 2020 Democratic National Convention were sidelined Monday [2/3/2020] amid allegations of a toxic work culture.  In a letter to staff obtained by the Journal Sentinel, the board said it had retained an attorney to investigate "concerns about the work environment" for the Milwaukee 2020 Host Committee.  During the investigation, Liz Gilbert, president of the host committee, will not be in the office and "will not have direct contact with staff," the letter says.  Adam Alonso, the chief of staff for the group, has been placed on administrative leave, pending the outcome of the probe.

That Incident With the SUV Crashing the Barricades at Mar A Lago Yesterday Is Weirder Than We Realized.  It didn't quite get the attention yesterday one might expect, but yesterday was an extraordinarily busy news day and, more importantly, it wasn't quite the ominous story it initially appeared to be.  An SUV crashed through the gates at Mar-a-Lago, late yesterday morning.  Shots were fired by the Secret Service and, ultimately, the driver was taken into custody.  What became clear fairly quickly is that this was not a terrorist type thing — nor did it appear that Mar-a-Lago was intentionally targeted by the SUV driver.  Rather, the driver — a 30-year-old opera singer from Connecticut — apparently was under the influence/impaired.  But the story is a little more involved than that, [...]

CNN is Angry That White People Are Trying to Stop the Coronavirus Spreading.  According to CNN, the real concern about the coronavirus is not the potential for a global pandemic, it's the fact there are too many white people trying to stop it.  That was the message sent by an article posted on the news network's website entitled 'Coronavirus task force another example of Trump administration's lack of diversity'.

Proposed Missouri book ban could jail librarians for loaning 'inappropriate' content.  Librarians and free speech advocates are fighting back against a proposal in the Missouri House of Representatives that would ban certain books from the state's libraries with the threat of a misdemeanor charge. [...] Cynthia Dudenhoffer, the president of the Missouri Library Association, said she was shocked when she first heard about the bill and said it was unnecessary.  Each of the state's library systems, which account for a total of 365 branches, already have their own protocols in place to determine which materials are allowed for their younger members. [...] Dudenhoffer, however, noted that drag queen story hours and other similar events aren't mentioned in the bill and those readings have not included books with sexually inappropriate content.

Suspects accused of running $7M fentanyl ring released without bail.  Six suspected drug dealers who are accused of running a $7 million fentanyl distribution operation out of a Bronx apartment were released without bail under the state's new criminal justice law early Wednesday [1/29/2020].  The suspects — Livo Valdez, Jaslin Baldera, Frederick Baldera, Frandi Ledema, Diego Tejada and Parfraimy Antonio — were arrested Monday [1/27/2020] when officers with the New York Drug Enforcement Task Force raided an apartment on Sedgwick Avenue in Kingsbridge that was allegedly used as a heroin and fentanyl packaging mill.  They were each charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance and criminally using drug paraphernalia.

Bellwether to Blowout:  Texas House District Gets Redder to Lead Off 2020 Elections.  Texas House District 28's special election offered a first test of the theory that red Texas may be trending blue in the age of Trump.  The suburban district west of Houston offered Democrats an opportunity to grab a seat and the narrative just days before the 2020 Iowa caucuses. [...] Sen. Elizabeth Warren endorsed the Democrat.  Former veep Joe Biden did the same.  Julian Castro campaigned for the Democrat.  Mike Bloomberg bumbled his way into town and apparently knocked on the wrong doors.  Beto O'Rourke practically lived in the district for the last few weeks, showing up everywhere giving speeches for the Democratic candidate, Dr. Eliz Markowitz.  If one were to go by Twitter, the Dem would win 90-10.

$900K in counterfeit $1 bills discovered inside Chinese shipping container.  Minnesota officers from Customs and Border Protection said they discovered 900,000 fake $1 bills in a commercial rail shipment that originated from China.  The officers flagged a container last month at the International Falls Port of Entry, located between International Falls, Minnesota, and Fort Frances, Canada.  During the search, $900,000 worth of U.S. currency was found in 45 different cartons within the shipping container.  The Secret Service determined all of the money was fake, according to a press release from CBP over the weekend.

The Editor says...
I'm very surprised that anyone bothers to counterfeit one-dollar bills.  That would involve a lot of paper and very little gain.  It sounds like the case of Mr. 880, except in this case there was a railroad car full of money.

CBP officers seize $900K worth of counterfeit U.S. currency.  U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers at the International Falls Port of Entry seized $900,000 in counterfeit United States currency Friday [1/24/2020] that was discovered in a commercial rail shipment originating from China.  "CBP officers strive every day to protect the United States from a variety of threats," said Jason Schmelz, Pembina Area Port Director.  "Those threats don't always come in the form of terrorists or narcotics, but also in the form of counterfeit currency and other goods that have the potential to harm the economy of the United States.  Thanks to the dedication of our officers and our partnership with the Secret Service, we were able to keep this currency from entering into circulation."

The Editor says...
As pointed out elsewhere, it isn't worth the trouble to counterfeit one dollar bills.  This story doesn't add up.  The simplest explanation is that the customs people needed to justify their existence, so they put some $1 bills in an envelope to show the press, along with some boxes stacked against a wall, and claimed to have disrupted a counterfeiting operation.  But if you actually make such an accusation, you'll be called a conspiracy theorist.

Harvard chemistry department chairman charged with lying about ties to Chinese government.  Federal prosecutors Tuesday charged Harvard University's chemistry department chairman with lying to the U.S. Department of Defense about his ties to a controversial Chinese talent recruitment program.  Prosecutors say Charles Lieber concealed almost $2 million from authorities in an alleged scheme to hide his ties to a Chinese university linked to a program accused of stealing U.S. intellectual property from businesses and universities.  By hiding his ties, Mr. Lieber was able to secure $18 million in research grant funding from the Department of Defense and National Institutes of Health, prosecutors said.

Harvard professor arrested for failing to disclose $50,000 per month he received from China.  Dr. Charles Lieber, a professor who led Harvard's chemistry department has been arrested and accused of lying about his ties to a Chinese program that recruited scientists and paid them to share their expertise at Chinese universities.

Rand Paul Says Trump Kids Should Sue Chuck Schumer for Slander.  When Senator Rand Paul gets a lil fire in his belly it is always a lot of fun to watch and man did he have some fire earlier today.  Earlier today [1/28/2020] on Fox while Rand was being interviewed they cut live for a couple of minutes to Sen. Chuck Schumer doing his daily talkfest before the trial was gaveled in.  When host Ed henry cut back to Sen. Paul and asked him what was said, the Kentucky politician was ready to rip on what he heard Schumer said.

Is This Objectively Disgusting Soup What's Causing China's Disease Outbreak?  A recent outbreak in China of a new strand of coronavirus may be linked to an objectively disgusting Chinese delicacy called bat soup, according to reports.  Video footage online shows an entire cooked, dead bat sitting in soup.  Scientists believe that the virus, which has killed 17 and infected over 640 people, could have spread from snakes or bats.  Is this bat soup the cause of the quickly-spreading virus?

The Editor says...
The Chinese people eat rats and wolves, too.  Maybe that's because they live under communism; but really, it's no wonder they're sick.

Some junk for sale on Amazon is very literally garbage, report finds.  Some days it seems like searching for an item on Amazon just brings up endless pages of junk with no clear pattern.  There's a reason for that, it turns out: dumpster divers are, in fact, literally reselling discarded junk.  Resellers hunt through trash to find and repair treasures, the Wall Street Journal reported today.  Those sellers, for understandable reasons, mostly didn't want to talk to the WSJ, so reporters for the paper tried it themselves.

The Disturbing Dismissal of the Kiddies' Climate Lawsuit.  On a 2-1 vote, the Ninth Circuit Court finally dismissed Juliana v. United States, the lawsuit brought on behalf of child plaintiffs demanding their constitutional right to "a climate system capable of sustaining human life."  The children, and the environmentalist group Our Children's Trust that's using them as lawfare puppets, were demanding a court order compelling the U.S. government to "swiftly phase out fossil-fuel use" and develop and implement "a national plan to restore Earth's energy balance ... to stabilize the climate system." [...] Juliana is only one of a "wave" of climate lawsuits proceeding on the basis "that climate science itself isn't up for debate."  Even when a court gets it right as a matter of law, as happened this time in Juliana, widespread allegations that apocalyptic climate theories are "settled science" have a cumulative effect across the Judicial Branch.

Millennials Offended by Suggestion They Work Weekends.  Individual tweets rarely deserve article-length analyses.  In our social media-addled age, blithely drafted tweets too often lead to unforgiving shaming campaigns, which result, not infrequently, in ruined careers.  But, once in a while, a 280-character-or-fewer remark actually accomplishes the Pollyannaish wishes of Silicon Valley techies:  it provokes thought, sparks debate, inspires afflatus, and makes us consider the important things in life.  A tweet from a cryptocurrency enthusiast named Ryan Selkis was roundly reviled by critics who are almost certainly leftists by persuasion.  "If you don't work nights and weekends in your 20s, you're not going to have a successful career.  Sorry," Selkis wrote in response to Jason Fried, CEO of the business management platform Basecamp, who called weekend work a sign of brokenness within a company.

US troops drink Iceland capital's entire beer supply in one weekend.  Thousands of U.S. soldiers depleted all of the beer in Iceland's capital over the weekend.  More than 6,000 soldiers were in Reykjavik for four days participating in the Trident Juncture 18 — a NATO-led military exercise.  After their drills, the troops reportedly visited the city's downtown bars, where they finished off the entire beer supply.

Justice delayed: 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed appears in Guantanamo courtroom as trial approaches.  Khalid Sheikh Mohammed will appear in a Guantanamo Bay courtroom this week, more than 18 years after the 9/11 terrorist attacks he is alleged to have masterminded and a year before he will finally face a jury.  In the nearly two decades since 19 al Qaeda terrorists crashed hijacked planes into the World Trade Center buildings, the side of the Pentagon, and a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, killing nearly 3,000 people, the five men believed to be responsible have yet to face a trial.

Cases of bottled water found inside another vacant building in Flint.  This time, they were found inside Flint Northern High School.  Flint Northern High School closed in 2013.  The discovery was made by Todd Farnum, who is an urban discoverer in the area.  Farnum tells our Lia Kamana that he and a friend had discovered the water bottles back in 2018 while walking around in the neighborhood.  Farum and his friend came back to the area last week and noticed that the cases of bottled water were still inside the building.  The last time cases of bottled water were found inside a vacant building was back in 2019.

Made to Order Colorado Birth Certificates.  Colorado has enacted legislation, effective Jan. 1, allowing adults born in Colorado to secure a new birth certificate reflecting a self-designated gender other than as recorded on an original birth certificate.  That legislation is unwise, unethical, dangerous, and, surely to be contended by some, unlawful. [...] Impersonation is an act of pretending to be another person for the purposes of entertainment or fraud.  Criminal impersonation includes pretending to be another individual in order to deceive others or gain some advantage, benefit, or thing of value.  Since impersonation can also include assuming a fake identity with intent to defraud another, persons of one sex impersonating the opposite sex may be in violation of law when seeking an advantage such as access to opposite-sex bathrooms or when surreptitiously advancing intimate relationships with unsuspecting persons who would find such a relationship abhorrent.

Report: Over 50 Percent Of Attendees At Trump's Wisconsin Rally Weren't Republicans.  This is some news that should absolutely terrify Democrats.  They know they need Wisconsin and other rust belt states to beat Trump in 2020 but the crowd at Trump's recent rally there proves winning the state is going to be extremely difficult for them.  More than half of the people at Trump's rally were not even Republicans.

Democrats & Independents Are Now Flocking To President Trump.  Support for President Trump is surging due not only to the remarkably strong economy and international successes for the U.S., but also because of voter backlash against the ongoing insanity that is the Democrat Party — a party currently without any substantive policies or direction.  When more than half of the people attending recent political rallies for President Trump are Democrats and Independents it's a sign the president's broad-based appeal to tens of millions from all backgrounds could prove impossible for the zany Democrats to defeat in 2020.

Mother and daughter psychics get prison time for $1.4 million fraud.  They claimed they were "white squaw Cherokee Indian" spiritual healers, and used eggs filled with snake embryos to convince their victims that they were cursed, authorities say.  One woman forked over almost $1.5 million before realizing it was a scam.  But on Friday [1/17/2020], the mother-daughter pair of Annie Marie Vwanawick, 74, and April Miller, 44, both of Broward, were sentenced to 42 months and 27 months in prison, respectively, for defrauding two victims with their spiritual scams.

Meet the Muslim Republican Iraqi Refugee Who's Looking to Unseat Ilhan Omar.  A Muslim Iraqi refugee who previously worked as a war journalist announced she is running for Congress in Minnesota's 5th Congressional District, meaning she will try to unseat Democrat Rep. Ilhan Omar.  In her campaign announcement video, Dalia al-Aqidi said she was fortunate to be able to come to the United States as a little girl with her mother to escape Saddam Hussein, who she described as a "brutal dictator."  Seeing how terror had affected her family, al-Aqidi says in the video she was happy President Trump ordered the death of Iranian general and terrorist Qasem Soleimani.

Amazon Crowns 'Profiles in Corruption' the 'Most Anticipated' Nonfiction Book.  Slated to hit bookstores nationwide on January 21, Profiles in Corruption by Government Accountability Institute President and Breitbart senior contributor Peter Schweizer hit #1 in Amazon 10 days before its official release.  The book is said to contain never-before-published revelations about Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Joe Biden, Eric Garcetti, Kamala Harris, Sherrod Brown, and Amy Klobuchar — several of whom are featured on the book's cover.

Victory In New Jersey!  Mandatory Vaccine Bill Miserably Fails After Thousands Show Up To Protest.  A bill in New Jersey that would've stripped parents and children of their right to informed consent by allowing them to object to mandatory vaccinations failed on Monday.  Much to the chagrin of the tyrants who claim ownership over the bodies of others, the bill that would have eliminated religious exemptions to mandatory vaccinations failed to pass the New Jersey state legislature.  According to reports, the bill was canceled in the Senate before the vote because lawmakers knew they lacked the passing votes.  The proponents of the bill vowed to reintroduce it on Tuesday but this gives opponents a new time frame on the public hearing and voting process.

Stephen King faces backlash for saying 'quality' should matter in Oscar nominees over 'diversity'.  Legendary horror author Stephen King is facing backlash on Tuesday for his commentary on this year's Oscar nominations, stressing that the "quality" of the art should matter over "diversity."  On Monday [1/13/2020], the Oscar nominations were revealed, and the Academy was slammed for both not having any female nominees for Best Director and for the numerous snubs of people of color among the other categories.  King weighed in on the controversy on Twitter.

Drinking in the US hits 30-year high — Here's how much the average American drinks.  Drinking in America has been rising for the last 20 years and has reached a point where Americans are drinking more than they were when Prohibition was enacted, according to federal health statistics.  Aside from rising per-person alcohol consumption, there has also been an increase in emergency room visits, hospitalizations and deaths related to drinking, The Associated Press reported Tuesday [1/14/2020].  "Consumption has been going up.  Harms [from alcohol] have been going up," Dr. Tim Naimi, an alcohol researcher at Boston University, said.

The NSA found a 'severe' security flaw with Microsoft Windows 10, and it's urging all users to do a software update immediately.  The National Security Agency is urging all Windows 10 users to update their software after detecting a "severe" security flaw in the operating system, the agency announced Tuesday.  The NSA first detected the flaw and alerted Microsoft, prominent security researcher Brian Krebs first reported.  NSA Director of Cybersecurity Anne Neuberger confirmed that the agency told Microsoft about the flaw in a call with reporters Tuesday morning [1/14/2020].

Rep. Meadows:  Lawmakers Will Appeal To FISC Judge To Remove David Kris From FBI Review.  North Carolina Congressman Mark Meadows told "The Sara Carter Show" Monday that he — along with other senior Republican lawmakers — will send a letter to the presiding Judge of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court demanding that FBI apologist David Kris be removed from overseeing bureau reforms demanded by the secret court.  Kris, who openly criticized Republican lawmakers and defended the bureau's spying of short-term Trump campaign advisor Carter Page, is coming under heavy scrutiny for his online posts and blogs targeting Republican lawmakers investigations that uncovered malfeasance at the bureau.

AG Barr rains on Dem parade, says Trump consulted DOJ prior to Soleimani airstrike.  Attorney General William Barr rained on the liberal media's parade in trying to paint President Donald Trump as an impulsive, irrational war-seeking commander-in-chief going off half-cocked to stir world passions.  Countering media claims that the president disdains expertise in making decisions, Barr said Monday that Trump consulted the Justice Department before ordering the airstrike that killed Iran's terrorist general.  "The Department of Justice was consulted and frankly I don't think it was a close call," the attorney general said.  "I believe the president clearly had the authority to act as he did on numerous different bases."

Exclusive: Iranian National Arrested Near Mar-a-Lago with Machete, Knives Came to U.S. as Refugee.  An Iranian national arrested near President Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, originally arrived in the United States as a refugee, Breitbart News has learned.  On January 10, Palm Beach Police Department arrested 38-year-old Masoud Yarieilzoleh, from Iran, who was apparently sleeping in a gazebo in a park in Palm Beach, according to the Palm Beach Post.  When police searched Yarieilzoleh, they found a 17-inch machete, two 4.5-inch knives, and an ax, along with about $22,000 in cash.

Poll: 47% of Young Democrats Prefer Other Countries over America.  A shocking new poll has discovered that 47 percent of young Democrats believe that other countries are better than the United States.  Moreover, many young Americans admit that they wouldn't mind other countries becoming as militarily powerful as the United States.  Slightly more than one third — 36 percent — of Americans 18 to 29 say that other countries are better than the United States, according to a recent poll released by Pew Research.

Red states see less unemployment, more economic growth.  Opinion polling isn't everything.  However, it often gives you a good barometer of the general shape of things, especially at the state level.  As of mid-2019, every single one of the top 10 most popular governors in the country were Republicans, while eight of the 10 least popular were Democrats.  Generally speaking, voters trust Republicans more than they trust Democrats to lead their states.

AG William Barr Backs Soleimani Strike: 'He Was the Head of a Terrorist Organization'.  Attorney General William Barr held a press conference on Monday to discuss the findings of an investigation into the terror attack on a Florida Naval base in December and other topics, at one point defending the Trump administration's elimination of Iranian Major General Qasem Soleimani.  A reporter asked Barr if the Trump administration gave any "special consideration" to Soleimani's position in the Iranian government — the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' (IRGC) Quds Force, an arm dedicated to external acts of terrorism.

Iranian protesters refuse to walk on US, Israeli flags.  A few people who did walk over the flags were booed by protesters in the area with chants of 'Shame on you.'  Some reports said that the protesters chanted 'Our enemy is in Iran, not America.'

President Trump praises Iranians for protesting Ayatollah regime.  Protesters in Iran are calling for Ayatollah Khamenei to step down.  During Saturday's [1/11/2020] demonstrations in Tehran, protesters were heard chanting "commander in chief resign" and "death to the liars."  The protests came in response to the Iranian government's admission of guilt regarding the Ukrainian passenger plane crash, which killed 176 people this week.

Yale Psychiatrist Issues Diagnosis of "Psychotic" for Defending Constitutional Rights.  A Yale professor of forensic psychiatry has diagnosed guess who — your truly — as suffering from "psychosis" for expressing legal views that happen to be on the Constitutional rights of President Donald Trump.  Dr. Bandy Lee has never met me, never examined me, never seen my medical records, and never spoken to anyone close to me.  Yet she is prepared to offer a diagnosis of "psychosis" which she attributes to my being one of President Trump's "followers."  (I voted for Hillary Clinton and am a liberal Democrat.)  Indeed, Dr. Lee went even further, diagnosing "the severity and spread of 'shared psychosis' among just about all of Donald Trump's followers."  Nor does she seem to be using these psychiatric terms as political metaphors, dangerous as that would be.  She is literally claiming that we are mentally ill and our views should be considered symptoms of our illness, rather than as legitimate ideas.

Walmart Has Made A Genius Move To Beat Amazon.  I ordered Powerbeats earbuds from Amazon the other day.  As a Prime member, I got them to my doorstep in Stowe, Vermont the next day for free.  When I unpacked the box, one of the accessories was missing.  I called Amazon's customer service to get a replacement sorted out.  But what I was told raised my eyebrows:  "We'll make a one-time exception.  Keep the earbuds and we'll issue you a full refund right now."  "Why don't you take them back?  They are fine, it's just the wire clip is missing," I asked, puzzled.  "It's too expensive to ship them back..." the customer rep replied.  This surprising story hints at Amazon's Achilles heel that threatens its crown as the king of online retail.  And as I'll explain in a moment, America's biggest retailer Walmart has a master plan to use it against Amazon.

Once Again, Government-Subsidized Projects Fail to Deliver.  In June 2018, President Donald Trump attended the groundbreaking ceremony for a Foxconn factory in Wisconsin. [...] A year and a half after Trump paraded at the site with his golden shovel, the reality isn't as bright.  First, a few days before the ceremony, Foxconn announced that the factory would ultimately be smaller than the one initially promised.  It would also be highly automated, with almost all of the assembly work done by robots, and would only require 3,000 employees — 90% of them "knowledge workers" such as engineers, programmers and designers.  There's nothing wrong with such a modern factory, except that it's not what Trump and other government officials thought they were buying with taxpayers' money.

Illinois: Daughter of convicted Muslim terrorist is running for Congress.  The daughter of Jeff Fort (aka Abdul Malik Ka'bah), who is spending the rest of his life in prison for domestic terrorism charges, is running for Congress in Illinois.  Ameena Matthews is a Democratic candidate for U.S. House of Representatives in Illinois' 1st Congressional District.

Army warning Americans about fake military draft texts.  The US Army is warning Americans about a flurry of "fraudulent text messages" falsely telling recipients they have been drafted into the military and will be shipped out to Iran.  The bogus texts tell hapless recipients to report to the nearest Army recruiting branch "for immediate departure to Iran," and warn about multiple attempts to contact recipients, in one case warning "you'll be fined and sent to jail for minimum 6 years if no reply," CNN reported Wednesday [1/8/2020].

Scientists claim that 'normal' body temperature is now 36.6°C NOT 37°C.  Human bodies have naturally got cooler over the last century, a study reveals.  The accepted wisdom is that the human body sits, under normal conditions, at a nice balmy 37°C (98.6°F), but this is no longer true for modern-day humans.  Researchers at Stanford University in the US measured people's temperatures from the 2000s and compared them to records of soldiers that fought in the US Civil War.  The study reveals that modern-day men have a body temperature 0.58°C (1.06°F) lower than their 19th century counterparts, while women are 0.32°C (0.58°F) cooler.

Peter Schweizer Book Set to 'Upend Official Washington'.  The investigative author behind the game-changing New York Times bestsellers Clinton Cash and Secret Empires is set to drop another bombshell book that sources close to the publisher say will "upend official Washington."  As Axios reported on Thursday [1/9/2020], [...] Peter Schweizer's forthcoming book, Profiles in Corruption:  Abuse of Power by America's Progressive Elite (HarperCollins), is set to launch Tuesday, January 21.

Climate Change?  Turns Out Two Dozen Arrested for Setting Australia's Fires.  Authorities in New South Wales have arrested two dozen Australians for intentionally setting fires as huge swaths of the country continue to be engulfed by flames.  In a news release issued Monday, the NSW Police Force said legal action has been taken against more than 180 people since late last year.  The bushfires have killed 18 people and burned 4.9 million hectares of land, consuming thousands of structures, and millions of animals, the statement said.  In breaking down their figures, the police said "24 have been charged over deliberately-lit bushfires; 53 people have had legal actions for allegedly failing to comply with a total fire ban; and 47 people have had legal actions for allegedly discarding a lighted cigarette or match on land."

Indiana twins born in different decades.  Meet Baby New Year — and his twin sister Baby Last Year.  A pair of Indiana twins were born just a half hour apart, but entered the world on different days, months, years and even decades from one another.

The Editor says...
Technically, the current decade doesn't end until the last day of 2020, because there was no Year Zero.

Ignored by Liberal Mainstream Media:  Iranian Regime Bribed Funeral Attendees with Free Meals.  The liberal pro-Iranian mainstream media could not stop talking about the size of the crowds at the "popular" and "loved" Qassem Soleimani funeral today [1/7/2020].  The media was in awe of the number of people at Soleimani's funeral.  [Video clips]  The regime was serving dinners to people who came out to the funeral.

Retired Green Beret slams Dems, says Army community buried Americans killed by Soleimani.  Retired Green Beret Master Sgt. Terry Schappert fired back at Democrats who criticized President Trump's order of the U.S. airstrike that killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani on Friday, detailing the general's role in hundreds of American deaths.  "If you're in my community, it's pretty safe to say that you've probably buried somebody who was killed by him [Soleimani], you know someone who's lost a limb or been catastrophically wounded, and you know a Gold Star family who has been destroyed by this guy," Schappert said on "The Greg Gutfeld Show" over the weekend.  "If you can't care about that, you can care about all the people he's killed over there... Iraq, Syria, Lebanon... his own country... he's murdered and tortured people," he added.

Iran Loses Its Terror-Master.  Trump's red line against the Iranian regime harming Americans was very real, and Qasem Soleimani is dead.  The U.S. killed the Iranian terror-master at the Baghdad airport where he reportedly had just arrived from Syria.  The head of the Revolutionary Guard's elite Quds Force, Soleimani was the instrument of Iranian imperialism around the region, building up proxy forces, overseeing operations, and executing a geopolitical vision.  He existed at the very center of the Iranian regime and was uniquely skilled at his role, honed over decades of ruthlessness and cunning.  He was also a cold-blooded killer of Americans, responsible for the deaths of hundreds of our servicemen during the Iraq war.  He deserved to die for that alone.

Inside the twisted, terrible reign of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani.  The killing of Iranian terror-meister Qassem Soleimani in a targeted US air strike in Baghdad on Thursday will have a dramatic impact on the stability of the Iranian regime and its ability to conduct oversea terrorist operations.  Soleimani was, in many ways, the irreplaceable man.  Known as a charismatic leader — indeed, the only charismatic leader in Iran's military today — he has no parallel among contemporary Iranian commanders.  Wherever Iran has sent its expeditionary Quds Force to war — in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and Yemen — there you would find Soleimani.

Impeached, Imprisoned Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich Slams Democrats on Impeachment.  Former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, who was impeached and removed, and later criminally convicted, for trying to sell then-president-elect Barack Obama's U.S. Senate seat, has written an op-ed condemning Democrats' ongoing impeachment effort.  The op-ed, published at Newsmax on Tuesday [12/31/2019], argued that Democrats' new standard for impeachment is so low that they would have impeached President Abraham Lincoln.  (In fact, Democrats' opposition to Lincoln triggered the Civil War.)

New York is losing residents at an alarming rate: report.  Despite the nation's longest economic expansion, the Empire State is actually losing population, an analysis of newly released US Census data released Monday reveals.  The total state population as of mid-2019 was 19,453,561 — a drop of 76,790, or 0.4 percent, from the previous year, according to the study by the Empire Center for Public Policy.  New York was one of only 10 states to suffer a total population decline in 2018-19 — its fourth consecutive annual decrease after five years of growth, and the largest population drop of any state.  Only West Virginia, Alaska and Illinois saw their populations fall at a faster percentage clip.

While We Were Focused on the IG Report, Rep. Ratcliffe 'Dropped a Bomb' at the House Hearing.  Adam Schiff and Nancy Pelosi have released most of the transcripts from the first round of witness interviews, 15 to be exact, however there is one they refuse to let go of.  That would be the transcript from Intelligence Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson's October 4 closed-door testimony before the House Intelligence Committee.  Investigative journalist Paul Sperry asked about this in a tweet and Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-TX) replied. [...]

CBC Cuts Donald Trump's 'Home Alone 2' Cameo Out of Broadcast.  Home Alone 2: Lost in New York is full of violence that, in my opinion, exceeds the physical comedy of the original film and is borderline barbarism.  The main antagonists were subjected to bricks thrown at them from atop a building, being shot with a staple gun, having their heads lit afire, and being electrocuted.  It is actually hard to watch.  But, for CBC TV in Canada, the following scene was too much, and had to be removed from their broadcast of the film:  [Video clip]

Venezuela's currency so worthless it's mostly being used for making crafts.  Venezuela — once one of the more prosperous countries in Latin America — has been driven into such economic and political turmoil that its currency is no longer of any use.  However, that has not stopped Venezuelan bolivares from becoming a commodity elsewhere.  Across the border in Colombia, Hector Cordero uses the currency to make wallets and purses, which he sells to tourists in Colombia.

Giuliani: 'Saint Marie Yovanovitch' Quashed Ukraine Probe Into Missing $5.3 Billion in Foreign Aid.  Rudy Giuliani alleged Monday that former Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch "quashed" a corruption investigation into the disappearance of foreign aid because the Obama Administration was funneling the money to non-governmental organizations run by left-wing billionaire George Soros.  Giuliani, President Trump's personal attorney, recently returned from a fact-finding mission in Ukraine, and discussed his findings in an interview with Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk for his podcast.  The former mayor of New York City told Kirk that in 2017, the Ukrainian Accounting Authority did a study which revealed that $5.3 billion in foreign aid during the Obama/Biden years was not properly accounted for.  So the agency started an investigation[.]  "All of a sudden, members of the U.S. Embassy, under the control of Marie Yovanovitch — I call her Saint Marie Yovanovitch — comes and tells them, 'there's no need to do that.  We're okay with the spending.  There's no need to.'"

Soros gave millions to a group trying to pit Republicans against President Trump.  A "dark money" group that received millions from speculator George Soros — whose organizations and other establishments have been expelled from several countries on charges of political interference and subversion — is hiding behind a massive media campaign that is trying to pressure Republicans to support the impeachment of President Donald Trump.

English Girl Finds Plea for Help From Prisoners in China in Christmas Card.  Florence Widdicombe, a six-year-old girl from Tooting, Southwest London, was writing Christmas cards to send to her friends when she made a startling discovery.  Inside one of cards was the frightening message, "We are foreign prisoners in Shanghai Qingpu prison China.  Forced to work against our will.  Please help us and notify human rights organization." [...] As disturbing as this report of inmates at a Chinese prison being subjected to forced labor is, it is hardly an anomaly.  Communist nations such as China, North Korea, Vietnam, and Cuba are by their very nature giant prisons and very little labor done within them can be said to be voluntary.

U.S. Stops Sending Bomb-Sniffing Dogs To Jordan, Egypt After Ten Percent Of Dogs Die From Mistreatment.  The United States State Department says that ten percent of bomb-sniffing canines, lent to countries like Egypt and Jordan in a program to help control and prevent bombings, died after being mistreated.  The Inspector General that discovered the disturbing trend now suggests the U.S. suspend the program altogether.  The Hill reports that the State Department's Inspector General found, in September, that "at least 10 of the 100 explosive-detection dogs sent to Jordan between 2008 and 2016 died of 'various medical problems,' while others were living in 'unhealthy conditions.'"  Last Friday [12/20/2019], the same inspector general released a follow-up report, adding that they'd "received notice of additional canine deaths" since September" and that the State Department should take immediate action to stop the program.

The Editor says...
Muslims hate dogs, among other things, which probably explains why they don't take care of the dogs they've been given.  Bring the dogs home, I say, and let the Egyptians and Jordanians find explosives the hard way.

Pope says Christians should never seek to convert unbelievers, anyone who proselytizes "is not a disciple of Jesus".  In a dialogue with Catholic high school students in Rome this weekend, Pope Francis responded to a question about how to deal with atheists and people of other faiths by saying that Christians should never proselytize — and any who do are not truly Christians. [...] Last year, Pope Francis told a grieving boy that his late father was in heaven, despite the fact that he was an atheist, because he had his children baptized.

Hospitals, not drugs, are the big driver of health-care costs.  It's perfectly fine for politicians to look at ways to keep prescription drugs affordable.  But why does the bigger problem of soaring hospital bills get so little notice?  Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services data out this month show that "retail prescription drug prices declined by 1.0 percent" last year, to $335 billion, while spending for hospital-care services rose at about the same rate as in 2017, to $1.2 trillion.  And that's nothing new:  The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that drug prices have gone down for more months this year than they've gone up, something the White House understandably celebrated.

Rudy Giuliani reveals what he discovered on Ukraine trip, alleging U.S. embassy would not stop a corruption scheme funneling money to George Soros.  Rudy Giuliani has revealed some of what he discovered on his trip to the Ukraine, unraveling a conspiracy theory alleging the U.S. Embassy — led by then-Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch — 'quashed' efforts by Kiev to end a corruption investigation into the disappearance of foreign aid because it was going to a non-governmental organization run by billionaire George Soros.  Giuliani, Donald Trump's personal attorney, unveiled his findings in an interview with Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk for his podcast, a copy of which was obtained by DailyMail.com.  He told Kirk he has told President Trump of his findings.

China to Build Space Solar Power Station Pioneered by Caltech.  China announced it will begin building megawatt-capable solar power stations in space by 2035, as it intends to displace the United States as the leading space power.  The space-based solar power (SSP) were first designed by Caltech Jet Propulsion Laboratory scientists.  Caltech (California Institute of Technology) spent 40 years perfecting SSP as a weapons platform and power replacement for U.S. "peak oil."  But the effort was shelved after the collapse of the Soviet Union in the 1990s and the realization by 2009 that the U.S. oil fracking boom was about to add another 200 years to America's oil reserves.  China Academy of Space Technology scientist Wang Li stated at the China-Russia Engineering Forum in late November that China was moving ahead to build a 200-ton power (SSP) station in space to capture the sun's energy, convert it to microwaves or lasers, and wirelessly beam energy to the Earth.

What's Working:  Fuzzy math used for move-to-Vermont cash giveaway.  Vermont spent nearly a half-million bucks this year to increase its population by 341 people.  That math might work for Vermont since it had seen its resident count grow by a mere 555 over most of this decade.  New Hampshire, meanwhile, gained nearly 40,000 people during that same time frame.  "And we haven't paid one to come," Taylor Caswell, the state's economic development chief, said in an interview last week.

Three Ukrainian Officials Swear Under Oath that Ukraine Interfered in the 2016 US Election Against Donald Trump.  Andrii Telizhenko worked in Washington DC at the Ukraine Embassy in 2016.  Today Andrii is a political consultant.  Andrii was approached by a DNC operative during the 2016 election (March-April 2016).  This past week Andrii Telizhenko joined two other Ukrainian officials who all swore under oath that Ukraine was meddling in the 2016 US election.

Monica Crowley Vindicated by Columbia University After Fake Plagiarism Accusations from CNN, Establishment Media.  Treasury Department Assistant Secretary of Public Affairs Monica Crowley has been vindicated by Columbia University after a years-long investigation ultimately concluded she did not plagiarize her thesis, despite allegations by CNN and other establishment media outlets that she did.  Crowley, now the Treasury Department's top spokeswoman but previously a Fox News contributor, had been under consideration to join the National Security Council (NSC) in the White House at the very beginning of President Donald Trump's administration under his first national security adviser, retired Gen. Mike Flynn.  Then, allegations from CNN and Politico, among other publications, claimed that she plagiarized her 2012 book and her thesis at Columbia, sparking Columbia to launch a review of her thesis that has now concluded.

Investigation clears West Point cadets of 'white supremacy' allegation.  Cadets who were accused of signaling a white supremacist hand signal at the annual Army-Navy football game have been cleared of wrongdoing.  West Point released a report today that states cadets were playing the "circle game," where players attempt to get one another to look at the "OK" hand gesture and then deliver a punch if others look.  "The evidence strongly supports a finding that the cadets were playing the 'circle game,' an internationally recognized game in which people attempt to trick someone else into looking at an okay-like hand gesture below the waist."

The Editor says...
I feel so much better knowing these buffoons are about to be Army officers.

Don't let the door hit you on the way out.
Fourth Pentagon official announces resignation within week.  A top Pentagon intelligence official will soon leave the building, the fourth key defense official to announce their resignation within a week.  Principal Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence Kari Bingen submitted her resignation on Dec. 5 and will leave Jan. 10, Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Uriah Orland confirmed in a statement.  Her departure was first reported by Politico.

Marine Corps eyes gender-integrated basic training.  The push to eliminate all gender segregation at Marine Corps camps has more momentum than ever, but analysts and military insiders say there remain major real-world, physical roadblocks to coed basic training and serious questions about whether the Marines can or should follow the lead of the Army, Navy and Air Force.  The Marine Corps last month reportedly commissioned a comprehensive study to examine the benefits and potential pitfalls of moving to more integrated training of male and female Marines.

Earth's Magnetic North Pole Continues Drifting, Crosses Prime Meridian.  Earth's magnetic north pole, which has been wandering faster than expected in recent years, has now crossed the prime meridian.  Magnetic north has been lurching away from its previous home in the Canadian Arctic toward Siberia at a rate of about 34 miles (55 kilometers) a year over the past two decades.  The latest model of the Earth's magnetic field, released Dec. 10 by the National Centers for Environmental Information and the British Geological Survey, predicts that this movement will continue, though likely at a slower rate of 25 miles (40 km) each year.

Dangerous Debt Hidden Reason for Monetary Madness.  The Federal Reserve Bank of New York injected $86.4 billion into the repo market on Monday.  This follows three months of the Fed intervening in a repo market it normally leaves to its own devices.  When repurchase agreement (repo) rates exploded in September and the Fed intervened in that market for the first time in more than a decade, interested parties cited corporate tax deadlines, regulations, and other minor reasons as the major factor.  BIS Quarterly Review shines the light on the $23 trillion elephant in the room.

Two Chinese diplomats expelled from US after entering military base: report.  Two Chinese diplomats have been secretly kicked out of the US after driving onto a sensitive military base in Virginia — the first such expulsions in more than 30 years, according to a report Sunday [12/15/2019].  The Chinese Embassy officials were stopped in September at a base in Norfolk that is home to Special Operations forces — after they were chased by military personnel, according to The New York Times.  At least one is believed to be an intelligence officer operating under diplomatic cover, The Times said, citing six people with knowledge of the expulsions.

What is going on at Drudge Report?  The NOQ Report noted over the weekend that the Drudge Report has lost almost a third of its regular visitors since the summer.  This observation came a week after Rasmussen Reports called attention to a rumor that Matt Drudge had sold his eponymous media behemoth some time ago.  Does it make more sense that one of the savviest communicators of information in the history of the world (no exaggeration when you think of the sheer number of ideas he has used to change minds; affect populations; and influence leaders, movements, and governments for twenty-five years) decided to burn his creation down in nihilistic rage and madness, or that some other person or entity is now directing the show in his name?

Drudge Report Has Lost 28% of Its Traffic in Last Four Months Alone As It Continues to Push Corrupt Anti-Trump News.  On November 1oth we reported that since 2017 Matt Drudge and The Drudge Report has gone from staunch Trump supporter to Never-Trump.  It's obvious to everyone.  Matt Drudge is pushing for President Trump to be removed from office in a Democrat coup.  This makes no sense.  Drudge was once well respected and it was an honor to have a link to the Drudge Report.  Now the links only go to far-left anti-Trump corrupt publications.

9 of the 20 Richest Counties Are D.C. Suburbs; Virginia Suburbs Beat Silicon Valley.  Nine of the 20 richest counties in the United States — when measured by median household income — are suburbs of Washington, D.C., according to data released today by the Census Bureau.  In fact, two Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C., are richer than the California counties that constitute Silicon Valley.

Exxon wins first-of-its-kind climate change case against New York.  ExxonMobil won a first-of-its-kind climate change fraud trial on Tuesday [12/10/2019] as a judge rejected the state of New York's claim that the oil and gas giant misled investors in accounting for the financial risks of global warming.  New York Supreme Court Justice Barry Ostrager said the state failed to prove that Exxon violated the Martin Act, a broad state law that does not require proof of intent of shareholder fraud.

Mount Sinai Hospital's emergency department is a 'war zone,' workers say.  Mount Sinai Hospital is considered one of the best in the country — but its emergency department is a "war zone" and a danger to the very patients it is supposed to save, current and former staffers have told The [New York] Post.  Nurses from the Upper East Side hospital recalled patients going into cardiac arrest without anyone noticing, others not being admitted to the critical care area because it was too full and staffers losing track of their charges.  They blamed staffing shortages and an obsession with profits.

He makes a village.  Tyler Merritt has taken the saying "It takes a village to raise a child" and turned it a bit sideways.  He's building a village, literally, to allow adults to raise themselves up.  His village is a stabilizing rail, or a stepping stone to a better life.  Merritt, a former special operations air mission commander, is trying to help his military brothers and sisters who have found themselves post-military service one paycheck away from financial collapse, as well as those struggling to find their way through modern civilian life, which does not begin and end with a stated purpose in the way military service does.  "Our most recent initiative is our veterans village," said Merritt, whose post-military life makes him an unlikely entrepreneur and philanthropist as the CEO of Nine Line Apparel and president of Nine Line Foundation.

Cyber Monday shoppers spent $9.4 billion, setting new record.  American shoppers shelled out $9.4 billion on Cyber Monday, setting a new spending record, new data show.  The total was a 19.7 percent jump from last year, according to real-time Adobe Analytics data.  Smartphones also set a new record by accounting for $3 billion, or about a third, of all Cyber Monday sales, Adobe says.  "Consumers capitalized on deals and ramped up spending, especially on smartphones, where activity increased on days when shoppers were snowed or rained in," John Copeland, Adobe's head of marketing and consumer insights, said in a statement.

Chinese defector spills Communist Party, military secrets in Australia.  China's military is engaged in an elaborate covert smuggling operation in Hong Kong to steal U.S. and other western arms and military technology, according to a Chinese intelligence official who has defected to Australia.  Wang Liqiang described the operation in an official statement to Australian authorities that also revealed details of a major Chinese influence campaign aimed at swaying the upcoming presidential election in Taiwan, and aggressive efforts to undermine democracy advocates in Hong Kong.

Thanksgiving Day shopping frenzy tops record with $4.1B spent.  Shoppers on Thursday [11/28/2019] weren't slowed down one bit by their huge turkey feasts.  Consumers spent a staggering $4.2 billion online on Thanksgiving, a 14.5 percent from last year and a record high, according to new figures published by Adobe Analytics on Friday.  This marks the first time that Thanksgiving shopping has surpassed $4 billion.

Leftists Decry Fake University ICE Sting Practiced During Obama Administration.  The fake University of Farmington, set up by the Department of Homeland Security, that resulted in the arrest of 250 foreign students this year and prompted outrage from leftists, was a concept embraced by the Obama administration, which engaged in similar operations.  Leftists experienced a collective freakout this week after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced the arrest of dozens of foreign nationals committing visa fraud by enrolling in the fake university.  It was "part of a sting operation by federal agents who enticed foreign-born students, mostly from India, to attend the school that marketed itself as offering graduate programs in technology and computer studies," the Detroit Free Press reported.

Shoppers Spend $7.4 Billion Online During Black Friday Sales.  Black Friday shoppers spent $7.4 billion online Friday [11/29/2019] and $4.2 billion on Thanksgiving day, making it the second largest Internet shopping day ever, according to data compiled by Adobe Analytics.  Receipts for Friday trail only last year's Cyber Monday's record-setting $7.9 billion in sales.

Surprising findings about your life expectancy and US health care.  Do Americans live in a health care hellscape?  A report out this week would seem to indicate as much — but that first impression is deceiving.  "U.S. life expectancy has not kept pace with that of other wealthy countries and is now decreasing," concluded the report, published by the medical journal JAMA.  Or, as The Washington Post put it:  "'There's something terribly wrong': Americans are dying young at alarming rates."  "Medicare-for-all" partisans have pounced on the research to declare the U.S. health care system an expensive failure — one in which we spend more than double what other developed nations devote to health care but die younger.

China due to introduce face scans for mobile users.  People in China are now required to have their faces scanned when registering new mobile phone services, as the authorities seek to verify the identities of the country's hundreds of millions of internet users.  The regulation, announced in September, was due to come into effect on Sunday [12/1/2019].  The government says it wants to "protect the legitimate rights and interest of citizens in cyberspace".  China already uses facial recognition technology to survey its population.

Democrats 'will not be able to field a candidate' in Arkansas Senate race.  The Democratic Party of Arkansas had selected Joshua Mahony to run against Sen. Tom Cotton in next year's election.  However, minutes after the filing deadline for candidates had passed, Cotton's campaign released significant oppo research which caused Mahony to withdraw from the race within a matter of hours.  In fact, Mahony didn't even talk to the party before announcing on Twitter that he was withdrawing from the race.  Monday [11/25/2019] the Democratic Party announced that, after a failed attempt to find a path forward, it was simply too late to field a replacement candidate.

Texas teacher fired after asking Trump to remove 'illegal students from Mexico' wins her job back.  A Texas teacher who lost her job after asking President Trump on Twitter to remove the "illegal students from Mexico" from her school has won an appeal to get her job back.  Texas Education Agency Commissioner Mike Morath ruled Monday that the series of offensive tweets sent in May by Georgia Clark — an English teacher at Carter-Riverside High School in Fort Worth — were protected by the First Amendment, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports.

Government workers more likely to support socialism, repealing Second Amendment:  Poll.  Government employees are more likely than other workers to support socialist candidates and oppose the Second Amendment, according to a newly released poll.  A survey of likely voters conducted by the pollster Rasmussen Reports and the free-market Heartland Institute found that 69% of Americans favor capitalism over socialism, and that 50% would not vote for a self-described socialist.  Republicans and unaffiliated voters were more likely to support a free-market economic system, with 87% of Republicans and 69% of unaffiliateds favoring capitalism, while just 53% of Democrats agreed.

The Editor says...
This is not surprising.  A poll like this is hardly worth conducting, let alone publishing.  If you work for the government, you would naturally support big government.

Hero Dog 'Conan' Visits the White House.  President Donald Trump met with the hero dog of the famous raid leading to the death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi on Monday, surprising reporters at the White House.  "Conan is a tough cookie," Trump said proudly, after meeting the dog.  "Nobody's going to mess with Conan."  The dog was slightly injured in the raid that took place in October in Syria but has returned to duty.  The president, the first lady, and Vice President Mike Pence appeared in the Rose Garden with Conan to recognize her contribution to the successful raid.

The President is paid in quarters!
Trump donates 3rd-quarter salary to help fight opioid crisis.  President Donald Trump is donating his third-quarter salary to help tackle the nation's opioid epidemic.

Smoking is prohibited in shopping malls, because second-hand smoke is harmful, but this is okay?
Native American offended that his burning sage sickens people at mall.  The head of a Native American cultural center at a shopping mall in Rapid City, South Dakota, is "hurt and offended" by complaints that people are being sickened by his practice of burning sage several times a day.  However, he is promising to cut back on the smoke that has made the mall air hazy.  The Rapid City Journal reported the manager of the Rushmore Mall warned Erik Bringswhite at the I Am Legacy center in a letter that his lease would be terminated if he continued to burn sage "because it was jeopardizing people's health."

Ex-CIA operative gets 19 years for China espionage.  A former CIA case officer who spied for China was sentenced to 19 years in prison on Friday [11/22/2019] in a case U.S. officials say involved the loss of more than two dozen recruited CIA agents in China.  Jerry Chun Shing Lee, 55, was sentenced to the prison term Friday by federal Judge T.S. Ellis III during a hearing in an Eastern District of Virginia courtroom.  G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, said the sentence should serve as a warning to other would be spies.

Stefanik Successfully Uses Battle Against Schiff to Raise over $500K in Less than Two Hours.  Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) is using her ceaseless battle against House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA) and his impeachment efforts to her advantage, raising over $500,000 for her congressional campaign in less than two hours, she announced on Friday [11/22/2019].  Stefanik has been a predominant GOP figure in recent weeks, particularly due to her significant role on the House Intelligence Committee, which held a series of public impeachment trials over the last two weeks.  Stefanik has used her time during the hearings to demonstrate the partisan nature of the inquiry and question Schiff's methods.

Why primary care costs a trillion dollars more than it should.  Americans carry insurance for unexpected catastrophes such as car accidents, burned houses, and inpatient hospital care.  We don't purchase it for routine car or home maintenance, so why do we have it for everyday medical care?  The reason is, unlike other insurance, it is a pre-tax expense enjoyed primarily by large and medium-sized corporations that exert a large amount of political influence.  Most people don't know that this tax exemption for employer-provided health insurance adds about $350 billion to our national debt each year while discriminating against the self-employed and employees of small businesses, many of whom can't afford health insurance yet were cruelly forced to pay ObamaCare penalties.  The increasing number of families choosing membership in Christian health care sharing ministries don't benefit from this tax exemption.

Stents no better than drugs for many heart patients:  U.S. study.  Many patients with severe but stable heart disease who routinely undergo invasive procedures to clear and prop open clogged arteries would do as well by just taking medications and making lifestyle changes, U.S. researchers reported on Saturday [11/16/2019].

As Impeachment Fizzles, The Stock Market Soars.  In New York City on Friday the Dow Jones Industrial Average soared to 28,004, a new record.  In fact all major U.S. stock indexes hit new highs, and the SNP 500 hit its longest streak of weekly gains in two years.  Put simply, it was a really good day for the economy.  Meanwhile in Washington, the public phase of the House impeachment inquiry slogged along, with Democrats all but conceding that even if they vote to impeach, the removal of the president by the Senate is all but certainly not going to happen.

So 'Pachamama' was a problem in Bolivia, too.  A few weeks ago, some Catholic activists marched on the Vatican and flung statues of "Pachamama," a pagan goddess of the Andes, into the Tiber.  Good riddance.  The radical leftists in charge at the Vatican were trying to sell some extra gods to the Catholic faithful under the banner of globalism, multiculturalism, New Age-ism, and inclusion.  And while there is nothing wrong with appreciating indigenous peoples in a non-religious context, embracing them in a religious context is something else. [...] But this doesn't seem to be the end of it.  Moving away from the Catholic Church itself, seems the land of Pachamama itself, Bolivia, is getting upended over the leftist desire to shove Pachamama in people's faces, too.

Pope Francis Invokes Hitler, Criticizes Politicians Who Denounce Homosexuality.  This is an interesting point for a Pope to make for a couple of reasons.  First, is the Pope's equating of the denouncing a particular sexual act that is denounced in scripture with hating people on the basis of race, contrary to the explicit command of scripture.

LASIK eye surgery needs to stop, former FDA adviser says:  Report.  Even though LASIK has been around for 20 years in the U.S., one former FDA adviser has said the procedure should be taken off the market.  Dr. Morris Waxler originally voted to approve the eye surgery, but he's changed his mind.  "Essentially we ignored the data on vision distortions that persisted for years," the retired FDA adviser told CBS News.

CBS executive to receive $100 million package.  Joe Ianniello's sweet deal just keeps getting sweeter.  Acting CBS Chief Executive Ianniello, who will become chairman and CEO of CBS once Viacom merges with CBS, will bank a hefty payout of $100 million when the deal closes, sources said.  That's up from the $70 million he was already set to pocket in severance for not being named head of the newly combined company — despite staying on in his current job.

Chrysler prodded sellers to absorb glut of 40,000 unordered cars, dealers say.  Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV has been manufacturing more cars and trucks than its U.S. dealers are willing to accept, at one point creating a nationwide glut of about 40,000 unordered vehicles and stoking tension with some of its retailers.  Four dealers, two of whom spoke on the condition they not be named, said Fiat Chrysler has revived what's known in industry circles as a "sales bank."  The practice is decades old and frowned upon by investors and analysts because it can obscure an automaker's inventory figures.

Federal Judge Rules U.S.-Born 'ISIS Bride' Not an American Citizen, U.S. Not Required to Repatriate Her.  A federal judge ruled Thursday [11/14/2019] that 25-year-old Hoda Muthana, who lived in Alabama but left the U.S. in 2014 to join ISIS, is not an American citizen and therefore the country is not required to repatriate her.  Muthana is the daughter of Yemen's former ambassador to the United Nations, Ahmed Ali Muthana.  Judge Reggie Walton ruled that because Hoda was born while Ahmed Ali still had diplomatic status, Hoda could not be considered a U.S. citizen.  Ahmed Ali has since become a naturalized citizen.  In addition, Walton ruled that Ahmed Ali cannot provide financial aid to his daughter, who escaped from ISIS to a Kurdish refugee camp in 2018.  Hoda Muthana has a son, Adam, who was born in ISIS territory.

A Judge Has Ruled That A Woman Who Left The US For ISIS Is Not An American Citizen.  A federal judge ruled Thursday [11/14/2019] that Hoda Muthana, a US-born woman who left the country to join ISIS, is not an American citizen, and therefore the government has no obligation to facilitate her return or that of her 2-year-old son.  Judge Reggie Walton said there was sufficient evidence that Muthana had been born while her father, who once represented Yemen in the United Nations, still had diplomatic status in the US.

Dutch Priest on Pope Francis: 'I Rightly Think He Is a Heretic'.  Rev. Cor Mennen, a retired priest in the Netherlands, recently wrote on his blog that he thinks Pope Francis is a "heretic," and explained that excessive respect by Catholics towards the papacy is not a virtue given that Christ Himself rebuked the first Pope, St. Peter, ordering him to "Get thee behind me, Satan!"  Fr.  Mennen, 74, was ordained a priest in 1969.  He also holds a degree in ecclesiastical law and is vice chairman of the board of the Latin Liturgy Association.  He lives in Vlijmen, east of Rotterdam, still participates in events for the diocese, and is often interviewed on Radio Maria.  In an Oct. 28 blog post, Fr. Mennen criticized some of the pagan events that occurred at the Vatican during the Amazonian synod, such as the veneration of a wooden statue of an Earth goddess named "Pachamama" in the Vatican gardens.

So much for "peak oil."
Iran discovers new oil field with over 50 billion barrels.  Iran has discovered a new oil field in the country's south with over 50 billion barrels of crude, its president said Sunday [11/10/2019], a find that could boost the country's proven reserves by a third as it struggles to sell energy abroad over U.S. sanctions.

The Editor says...
Let the Iranian terrorists drown in oil.  The United States should never buy oil from Iran again, because the U.S. has plenty of it.

Socialist Bolivia heading for the ash heap of history?  Like all dictatorships, every socialist hellhole dictatorship eventually falls.  It's a law of nature, and with socialism inherently unsustainable as both a political and an economic system, it's a law about as certain as 'what goes up, must come down.'  Which brings us to Bolivia, where embattled far left Hugo-Chavez-trained socialist dictator Evo Morales, now on his fourth term in a grossly rigged election, has for the first time wobbled in fear in response to protests.

Bolivian Leader Evo Morales Steps Down.  President Evo Morales of Bolivia, who came to power more than a decade ago as part of a leftist wave sweeping Latin America, resigned on Sunday after unrelenting protests by an infuriated population that accused him of undermining democracy to extend his rule.  Mr. Morales and his vice president, Álvaro García Linera, who also resigned, said in a national address that they were stepping down in an effort to stop the bloodshed that has spread across the country in recent weeks.  But they admitted no wrongdoing and instead insisted that they were victims of a coup.  "The coup has been consummated," Mr. García said.

70-year-old man on electric scooter dies in car crash.  The Boston Globe reports the Falmouth man, who police did not identify, was struck and killed at an intersection on Wednesday while riding the scooter.

The Editor says...
I'm surprised this doesn't happen every day.  Advertisements for electric scooters portray them as a way to ride around effortlessly, safely, and quickly, anywhere in town!  Many of the people who buy electric scooters think they are getting a one-seat electric car.  (Purchased by Medicare, of course.)  I sometimes see a fat old person trying to make a round trip to the grocery store on an electric wheelchair.  I suspect the grandkids have to come and pick up grandma fairly often, when the batteries run out.  Electric scooters are not street legal.  You shouldn't even go outdoors on one of these things.

How Dystopian Los Angeles Measures Up to Rwanda.  [Scroll down]  I asked our guide how the Rwandans manage to keep their city so clean. "Umuganda!" he shouted.  "Before Umuganda, there were piles of garbage everywhere!  Look!  Now, no one is now allowed to even use a plastic bag, no one is allowed to buy water in a plastic bottle.  We are solar.  Rwanda is green!"  He explained that on the last Saturday of every month, all able-bodied Rwandans (18-65), including the president and his Cabinet members, are required by law to go out and clean the areas around their homes and businesses.  The police fine eligible citizens who fail to participate 5,000 Rwandan francs (about U.S. $5.00).  These fines and traffic tickets are sent via text to the violator's mobile phone.  The fine is paid via the phone.  Mobile phone transactions have all but overtaken those involving currency in Rwanda.

I wonder if the Cardinals knew this before they elected him.
Report:  Pope denies bodily resurrection of Christ.  Pope Francis already has been accused of heresy by prominent Catholic clergy, but now his longtime friend and interviewer is claiming the South American-born pontiff denies one of the foundational doctrines of the Christian faith, that Jesus Christ rose from the dead in bodily form.  Eugenio Scalfari, a left-wing atheist journalist, published the remarks in the periodical he founded, La Repubblica, and in a new book, CNS News reported.

Heresy:
Scalfari: Pope Denied Jesus' Bodily Resurrection, Said It Was 'Semblance of a Spirit'.  In his new book and in the periodical he founded, La Repubblica, Eugenio Scalfari, a long-time friend of Pope Francis and frequent papal interviewer, claims that the Pope told him that Jesus Christ did not rise bodily from the dead but "in the semblance of a spirit."  This notion is a contradiction of Church teaching and the Gospels.

Pilot Who Chased The UFO: Some Of The Tapes Are "Missing".  Another interesting tidbit has surfaced in the story of U.S. Navy Cmdr David Fravor (Ret), the pilot who engaged in the now-infamous encounter with the "tic-tac" UFO in 2004.  While flying his F/A-18F Super Hornet, he was sent to observe unidentified craft showing up on radar, flying from the USS Nimitz carrier battle group, leading to the bizarre run-in with the tic-tac.  This encounter produced one of the three Navy UFO videos that have been making the rounds in the media for the past couple of years.  During an interview earlier this year, however, Fravor indicated that there were more tapes, including video and radar tracking information, that simply "disappeared" after the event.  And so, the mystery deepens further.

Bill Gates says meeting Jeffrey Epstein was a 'mistake'.  Bill Gates said Wednesday that he "made a mistake" when he decided to meet with convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein while seeking money for his global health campaign.  Gates made the mea culpa while speaking to The New York Times Dealbook Conference — saying that by sitting down with Epstein he helped legitimize the convicted sexual predator.  "I made a mistake in judgment that I thought that those discussions would lead, literally, to billions of dollars going to global health.  It turned out that was a bad judgment," said 64-year-old Gates.

The most and least affordable places in America to rent a home.  Average rent in the U.S. recently dropped for the first time in two years, with prices waning in more than half of the country's largest renter hubs.  The declines aren't uniform, though, and for people trying to stick to a tight budget, some areas are still significantly more affordable than others.

Turkey:  Arming Genocide of Christians in Nigeria?  [Scroll down]  He then played an intercepted audio of what he said were Mustafa Varank (currently Turkey's Minister of Industry and Technology) and Mehmet Karatas (a manager at the partly state-owned Turkish Airlines).  The gist of their brief conversation in Turkish, according to the Arabic transcript, is that weapons were being transferred from Turkey to Nigeria — and that there was a concern that the weapons might kill not just Christians but Muslims.

Planeloads of Cash From Russia Have Been Shipped to Venezuela.  Hundreds of millions of dollars in cash has been shipped from Russia to Venezuela, providing a lifeline to the South American country as U.S. sanctions limit its access to the global financial system.  A total of $315 million of U.S. dollar and euro notes were sent in six separate shipments from Moscow to Caracas from May 2018 to April 2019, according to data reviewed by Bloomberg from ImportGenius, which compiled Russian customs records it obtains through private sources.  The cash came from lenders run by the countries' governments and went to Venezuela's development bank, the records show.

TPUSA Officers at KSU Quit En Masse.  All of the officers of the Kansas State University chapter of Turning Point USA announced on Thursday that they are stepping down from their positions because the purported conservative organization no longer reflects their conservative values.  In a statement, Jaden McNeil, the former president of the KSU chapter of TPUSA listed several reasons why he was quitting, including what he called the group's "fair weather conservatism," their refusal to promote social conservative values, their tone-deaf views on immigration, and the group's "culture of censorship."

Pentagon releases incredible footage of Abu Baghdadi raid.  The Pentagon has released footage showing the raid that resulted in the death of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.  Marine Corps General Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr, commander of U.S. Central Command, released the footage at a press conference on Wednesday [10/31/2019] at the Pentagon.  McKenzie was the operational commander of the Delta Force raid, which took place on Saturday in northwest Syria, and resulted in the death of Baghdadi after the terror leader detonated a suicide vest to avoid capture.  [Video clip]

The Editor says...
When the Pentagon releases footage of this sort, it is always blurry, fuzzy, monochrome video that looks like a fourth-generation VHS dub.  Come on, fellas!  We should be seeing these explosions in 4K by now.  Quit showing us the muddied-up version.

House Dem Katie Porter wears Batgirl costume in Congress.  Rep. Katie Porter, D-Calif., wore a Halloween costume and kept her mask on during a vote Thursday in the House Financial Services Committee.  At one point, Porter reportedly yelled at a reporter about her outfit.  "It's Batgirl!" she told Washington Post reporter Mike DeBonis.  She wore her outfit on the same day Democrats voted for a resolution on ground rules for the impeachment inquiry surrounding President Trump.  For Republicans, Porter's display was inappropriate.

The Editor says...
That kind of behavior might be okay in a California high school, but not in Congress.  Grow up.

Fox News's Catherine Herridge Contract Lapses, Heads To CBS.  Catherine Herridge, a beloved investigative correspondent at Fox News, is leaving the network after 23 years to go to work for CBS News.  Media reporters like CNN's Chief Media Correspondent Brian Stelter are taking the moment to gloat, insinuating that Herridge's departure marks another defection from the network.  Shepard Smith recently resigned from Fox News after also working there for 23 years.

Catherine Herridge, Fox News Veteran, Moves to CBS News.  Catherine Herridge, a Fox News Channel veteran who has been with that network since it was founded in 1996, is moving to rival CBS News.  She will work as a senior investigative correspondent out of Washington, CBS News said, and will start in November.  Herridge is the second long-serving Fox News journalist to leave the Fox Corporation-owned cable-news outlet in recent weeks.

Ex-CIA boss Brennan appears to partly back Hillary Clinton's theory Tulsi Gabbard is a Russian asset.  When it comes to Hillary Clinton's controversial suggestions about 2020 Democratic hopeful Tulsi Gabbard, it seems that maybe, John Brennan is with her.  Speaking at the "2020 Vision:  Intelligence and the U.S. Presidential Election" event at the National Press Club, the former CIA director was asked about Clinton recently raising the suggestion that Gabbard, a Democratic candidate for president, is a Russian asset. [...] "Something is a Russia asset even if it is not intentionally advancing their interest," the ex-CIA boss said.

X-37B spaceplane lands after record-breaking 780 days in orbit.  The Air Force's X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle Mission 5 successfully landed at NASA's Kennedy Space Center Shuttle Landing Facility Oct. 27, 2019, at 3:51 a.m.  The spaceplane conducted on-orbit experiments for 780 days during its mission, recently breaking its own record by being in orbit for more than two years.

Poll: 7-in-10 Voters Believe in 'America First' Agenda Ahead of 2020 Election.  Ahead of the 2020 presidential election, the overwhelming majority of likely voters say they believe in the doctrine of "America First" when it comes to national public policy, a new poll reveals.  A poll by Selzer and Company/Grinnell College finds that the vast majority of American adults say they are America First voters, while less than 20 percent identify as socialists.  Overall, about seven-in-ten — or 70 percent — of likely voters say they are believers in America First — the nationalist-populist doctrine that guides President Trump's agenda on immigration, trade, healthcare, and foreign policy, among others.

DC Circuit Halts Disclosure Of Mueller Grand Jury Materials Just Hours Before Release.  The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit temporarily halted the release of grand jury materials from former special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation Tuesday, just hours ahead of their scheduled distribution.  A three-judge panel issued a short directive saying the grand jury documents will be temporarily withheld while it considers an emergency appeal from the Department of Justice (DOJ), which hopes to shield those materials on a permanent basis.

California Power Outages — A Look Into The Future.  Pacific Gas and Electric began shutting down power early the morning of Oct. 9, when electricity was cut to more than 140,000 customers in Sonoma, Napa, Solano, and Marin counties.  Those outages and the ones that followed were ordered because there was a high risk of wildfires. [...] PG&E labeled the disruption a "public safety power shutoff."  The utility industry calls it "de-energization," a sort of euphemism that sounds less serious than "blackout."  It's not a word that should be used in the 21st century in California.  But there it is.  This state has long considered itself a model of progress, always pressing forward.  Yet California now chooses darkness.  And rather than being a rare exception, these autumn blackouts are more likely a preview of coming long night.

Missouri man charged with starting 13 forest fires in California.  A man found himself in handcuffs while trying to fly home to Missouri after allegedly setting 13 forest fires in California.  Freddie Graham, 68, was apprehended before boarding a plane in San Jose and charged with starting forest fires in the Milpitas foothills.  Graham had flown to California on Sept. 19 and spent two days in the state before attempting to fly back to Kansas City.  The fires in question burned 128 acres.  Graham was charged with 15 counts of committing arson, two of which were heightened charges because the fires were started during a declared emergency.

Al-Baghdadi's Right-Hand Man Killed In U.S. Airstrike.  ISIS leadership continues to crumble with the official spokesman of the terrorist organization being the latest to fall.  Sunday reports claimed the CIA targeted and killed Abu al-Hassan al-Muhajir.  U.S. officials have confirmed the missile attack, which was targeted at the high level ISIS official in the Aleppo province of Syria.  The Texas-born man was named the official spokesperson for the militant group in 2016.  Muhajir climbed the ranks of ISIS, advancing to be the right-hand man of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.  U.S. officials have reassured the public that a strong surveillance operation continues in the region, despite the withdrawal of troops.

Top Secret Spaceplane Lands in Florida After Spending Over 2 Years in Orbit.  The U.S. Air Force's top secret spaceplane, the Boeing X-37B, landed in Florida early Sunday after 780 days — over 2 years and one month — in orbit around the Earth.  And we still have no idea what it was doing while it was up there.  The X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle-5 (OTV-5) mission was the fifth time that the uncrewed vehicle has flown around the world, beating the duration of the fourth mission, which landed in May of 2017 after 718 days in orbit.  This most recent mission launched from a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on September 7, 2017.

1 In 3 Millennials See Communism As Favorable, Survey Finds.  A growing number of Millennials show support for communism and socialism, a survey from the Victims of Communism found.  The survey, conducted by the Victims of Communism and polled by the research and data firm YouGov, found that 70% of Millennials are likely to vote socialist and that one in three Millennials perceive communism as "favorable."  The survey is part of the Victims of Communism's report "U.S. Attitudes Toward Socialism, Communism, and Collectivism," which polled 2,100 people in the United States who were 16 and older with a margin of error of +/- 2.4%.

Syrian Kurdish forces say they killed close al-Baghdadi aide.  One of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's last audio messages was an appeal for his followers to do everything in their power to free Islamic State detainees and the women being held in jails and camps in northeastern Syria.

Baghdadi's aide was key to his capture - Iraqi intelligence sources.  In their long hunt for Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Iraqi intelligence teams secured a break in February 2018 after one of the Islamic State leader's top aides gave them information on how he escaped capture for so many years, said two Iraqi security officials.

George Soros on Lifelong Funding of Leftwing Causes: 'Tide Has Turned Against Me'.  Billionaire George Soros, who has spent his fortune promoting leftwing politicians, media, and organizations, said over the weekend that he hasn't failed in his lifelong quest to put socialism in place in the United States, but has been impeded by his opposition, including President Donald Trump.  "Between the election of President Trump and Britain's ongoing debate over Brexit, the billionaire philanthropist George Soros recognizes that populism is on the rise and that his brand of liberal democracy is faltering," said Michel Martin, host of All Things Considered on taxpayer-funded National Public Radio (NPR).

PG&E will cut power to more than 3 million people over 'historic wind event'.  New evacuations were ordered Saturday for at least 90,000 people across a huge swath of Northern California as millions of Californians prepare to have their power cut — the third time in as many weeks — due to the wildfires whipped up by strong winds.  The entire communities of Healdsburg and Windsor were ordered to evacuate ahead of severe winds that could lead to erratic fire behavior near the blaze burning in wine country.  The Sonoma County Sheriff's Office said it is expected to be the biggest evacuation in the county in more than 25 years.

Scientology spread its magazine across Clearwater.  Residents aren't happy.  Gertrude Zullinger woke up on Monday morning [10/26/2019] to about 10 calls from concerned neighbors.  Somebody had entered the three buildings of the 55-and-older Imperial Pines complex — where Zullinger is president of the condo association — and hung copies of the Church of Scientology's Freedom Magazine on all 168 doorknobs.  "We have gates.  Each building has a lobby that's locked," Zullinger said.  "They felt violated.  They were very upset about it."  One day after the Tampa Bay Times published an investigation showing companies tied to Scientology had bought much of the property in the center of downtown Clearwater, the church responded by spreading its own story across the city.

California enters uncharted territory:  Massive blackouts, historically dangerous wind.  Northern California braced for a weekend in uncharted territory as Pacific Gas & Electric prepared to shut off power to more than 2 million people as the region faced one of the worst periods of fire weather in a generation.  It's a perilous combination that left many anxiously planning for blackouts and the potential for more destructive wildfires, fueled by 36 hours of intense winds.  Some fear they will have to confront fires without power, an experience those who fled this week's Sonoma County fire described as terrifying.

ICE deports Russian operative Marina Butina.  The woman at the center of a Russian influence-peddling scheme has been deported, ICE announced Friday evening [10/25/2019].  Maria Butina was convicted last year of acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government, as part of the FBI's efforts to combat the Russian government's meddling in the 2016 election.  She was sentenced to 18 months, was released Friday [10/25/2019], and deported back to Russia the same day, in a flight from Miami to Moscow, the agency said.

Somethings Up:  Tusli Gabbard Will Not Run For Congress Next Year.  [Scroll down]  If she is calculating that her announcing over a year early she is not running again for her seat will make her look more viable for the Presidential run, I personally don't see how.  Maybe she has started off the 4th quarter raising more money than her campaign anticipated after the Hillary dust-up.  Possibly she just doesn't like being a congress critter anymore after traveling to Iowa and New Hamshire.  Could it be that MSNBC wants to hire her after she drops out as a commentator on the network that currently is offering every excuse in the book for Hillary?  This is one of the stranger moves I have ever seen for someone who does not have a viable path to the nomination of her party.

Tulsi Gabbard announces she is not running for re-election to House of Representatives.  Bad things tend to happen to people who find themselves on Hillary Clinton's enemies list.  Just days after being attacked by Hillary Clinton for being a favorite of the Russians and for allegedly being "groomed" (by Republicans, her spokesman later claimed she meant) to run as a third-party candidate, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard announced late last night that she will not seek re-election to the House of Representatives, where she has served since winning election there in 2012.  It is an odd coincidence that becoming an official enemy of Hillary Clinton preceded this surprise announcement that offered no new reason for the decision announced on Twitter beyond her desire to serve as president.  Curiously, the announcement came just after she was interviewed for ten minutes on Sean Hannity's Fox News program (video embedded below) during which she made no mention of her decision.

DNC Announces All-Female Moderator Panel for Next Debate amid Neutrality Concerns and Sinking Viewership.  The Democratic National Committee (DNC) announced that its upcoming presidential primary debate will be moderated by an an all-female panel amid concerns over the event's neutrality and sinking viewership.  The debate, which is being sponsored by The Washington Post and MSNBC in Georgia on Nov. 20, will be moderated by NBC News's Andrea Mitchel and Kristen Welker, The Washington Post's Ashley Parker, and MSNBC host Rachel Maddow.

The Editor says...
This proves that the debates are all sizzle and no steak.  Nobody wants to hear about global warming, so let's put some women on display!  If the viewers were interested in substantive discussion of the issues, it wouldn't matter who the moderators were.  The debate would draw much better ratings if the moderators were Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, and Rush Limbaugh.

The Deep State Is Assassinating Julian Assange.  WikiLeaks founder and journalist Julian Assange appeared in court to fight his extradition to the United States, sluggishly reciting his name and date of birth in a zombie-like state — displaying signs of either sleep deprivation, torture or poisoning — but quickly recovered to state the rigged case against him to the judge when he was asked if he understood what he was facing.  Assange responded, appearing to fight back tears at his case management hearing, "I can't think properly, I don't understand how this is equitable.  This superpower had 10 years to prepare for this case and I can't access my writings.  It's very difficult where I am to do anything but these people have unlimited resources."

Josh Hawley Has Had Enough Of The Federal Government In The Swamp.  Missouri Republican and arguably the most MAGA member of the Senate, Josh Hawley, introduced a bill on Wednesday [10/23/2019] that would move numerous federal agencies out of the District of Columbia, and disperse the offices throughout cities in the country The bill was co-introduced by Republican Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee and is officially known as the "Helping Infrastructure Restore the Economy (HIRE) Act."  "Every year Americans' hard-earned tax dollars fund federal agencies that are mainly located in the D.C. bubble," Sen. Hawley said in a statement.  "That's a big part of the problem with Washington:  they're too removed from the rest of America.  The HIRE Act will move policymakers directly into the communities they serve, creating thousands of jobs for local communities and saving taxpayers billions of dollars along the way."

Senate GOP bill seeks to move 90% of jobs in 10 federal departments outside D.C.  The decision to move the Bureau of Land Management headquarters to Colorado's Western Slope should be viewed not as a one-off, but a good start, as far as some Senate Republicans are concerned.  GOP Sens. Josh Hawley of Missouri and Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee introduced Wednesday legislation to move 90% of positions in 10 executive departments — including Agriculture, Education and Energy — to 10 states outside Washington, D.C., and "into the heart of economically distressed regions across the country."

The Editor says...
The relocation of the Departments of Agriculture, Education, and Energy, is a waste of money.  All three of those agencies should be shut down.  Drain the swamp, don't just spread it around.

FBI chases down increasing number of Chinese nationals in costly corporate spy cases.  A federal judge last week sentenced a Chinese national to nearly four years in prison for trying to steal U.S. space technology, the latest corporate spy snared by an FBI that has ramped up protection of American businesses amid President Trump's trade war with Beijing.  Over the past year, the Justice Department has brought public charges against Chinese nationals and entities in 10 separate trade secret cases.  That represents a rapid increase from the three the department brought during the previous year, according to The Washington Times' review of Justice Department records.

Venezuelans trade cigarettes, candy bars for gas as economic crisis worsens.  Motorists in socialist Venezuela have long enjoyed the world's cheapest gasoline, with fuel so heavily subsidized that a full tank these days costs a tiny fraction of a US penny.  But the economy is in such shambles that drivers are now paying for fill-ups with a little food, a candy bar or just a cigarette.

94 hospitalized and 4 dead from disease outbreak at hot tub display.  More than 100 people have been infected with Legionnaires' disease after stopping by a public hot tub display at the North Carolina Mountain State Fair.  The fair, which took place Sept. 6-15 in Fletcher, North Carolina, was the common link among those diagnosed.  So far, 133 cases of Legionnaires' disease have been reported to the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, 94 of which resulted in hospitalizations.  Four of those diagnosed with the disease died.

Convoy of Trucks Seen Emptying Obama-Linked Former Ukrainian President Poroschenko's Palace — Confidants Arrested and Flee.  Poroshenko was known for his strong ties to the Obama Administration, specifically Obama's point man for Ukraine:  Now this:  A convoy of trucks were seen emptying former President Poroshenko's home this weekend. [...] If the reportes are accurate this will be horrific news for the Democrats and Biden Crime Family.  Poroshenko was behind all of the dirty dealings between the corrupt Obama admininstration and the Biden family corruption.

Drudge leaves Conservatives, follows Fox down the liberal rabbit hole.  The Drudge Report seems to have lost its conservative-leaning.  More and more the headline aggregator, whose claim to fame was Monica Lewinsky's semen-stained blue dress, is highlighting articles that are anti-Trump, anti-Republican, and pro-Impeachment.  It has been an obvious trend during the Trump Presidency that is accelerating as we get closer to the House Impeachment farce and the 2020 election.

Federal prosecutors interviewed multiple FBI officials for Russia probe review.  Federal prosecutors who are looking into the origins of the government's Russia probe have interviewed about two dozen people, suggesting that the inquiry is further along than previously known, The New York Times reported Saturday [10/19/2019].  The prosecutors have asked witnesses about whether former FBI officials that have been frequent targets of President Trump hold anti-Trump bias, former officials and others familiar with the review told the Times.  U.S. Attorney John Durham, who is leading the investigation, has not interviewed all of the FBI officials who were instrumental in opening the Russia probe in 2016, sources told the newspaper.

'Start Your Day With Maximum Gay:' Kellogg's Launches LGBT Cereal.  Have you ever eaten Froot Loops and thought, "This cereal isn't gay enough?"  Do you seek a safe space to eat your Rice Krispies?  Are you concerned that your Corn Flakes aren't sufficiently woke?  Well, now Kellogg's has the solution! [...] Kellogg's chief diversity officer (why does a cereal company need such a thing??) Priscilla Koranteng said, "At Kellogg, we are firmly committed to equality and inclusion in the workplace, marketplace and in the communities where we work and live."

The Editor says...
Why do manufacturers of consumer goods feel compelled to inject left-wing politics into their products and risk alienating their customers?  I'm no longer a regular consumer of breakfast cereal; but when I was, the least of my concerns was the level of "equality and inclusion" at the cereal factory.  If the product tastes good, I don't care if the factory workers all look alike, nor do I care how little they are paid.  Any salary paid to the "chief diversity officer" is wasted, because workplace diversity adds nothing to productivity.  For example, the Japanese economy is thriving, yet Japan has the least diverse work force in the world.  God himself originated workplace diversity at the Tower of Babel, and inflicted it upon mankind — as punishment! — to stop the entire project overnight.

Sallie Mae paid for employees to go on Hawaiian retreat to celebrate $5 billion in sales.  Student loan servicer Sallie Mae paid for more than 100 of its employees to go on a Hawaiian retreat in August to celebrate a record $5 billion worth of sales.  "We said, 'Hey, look, Maui is a pretty nice spot," Ray Quinlan, CEO of Sallie Mae, said to NBC News while on the grounds of the Fairmont Resort on Hawaii's Wailea beach.  The trip celebrated a year of $5 billion in sales to 374,000 borrowers.  The sales came as combined U.S. student debt topped $1.6 trillion.

'Women for America First' March to 'Stop Impeachment'.  Women for America First organized the march which will take place around the Capitol building in D.C. and in dozens of other cities.  "We want our President to know he is not alone and we stand with him," an announcement of the march states.  "Our President needs us more than ever before.  We must not let him down."

Mark Sanford kicked off his presidential campaign against Donald Trump in Philly.  One person showed up.  The bell in the Independence Hall tower rang at 9 a.m., and Mark Sanford took a deep breath.  He grabbed a giant check for "one trillion dollars," stood next to a tiny wooden lectern, and asked me if I was ready for him to kick off a news conference announcing his bid to challenge President Donald Trump in the 2020 Republican primary.  It didn't really feel like a news conference.  I was the only reporter there.

Dems Decimated in Louisiana:  GOP Gains Senate Supermajority, Dem Governor Now on the Ropes.  In Louisiana's Saturday [10/12/2019] election, Republicans had a lot to cheer about.  Among statewide office-holders, the incumbent GOP Lieutenant Governor (68 percent), Attorney General (66 percent), Treasurer (60 percent, and Agricultural Commissioner (58 percent) were all re-elected without the need for a run-off, under the state's 'jungle primary'-style system.

No fool like an old fool:  Hanoi Jane Fonda makes another comeback.  Does anyone need this?  Eighty-one year old Jane Fonda, whose claim to fame is hopping up on and bouncing around a communist North Vietnamese anti-aircraft gun engaged in downing American fighters as her way of protesting the Vietnam War nearly 50 years ago, has now taken to getting herself arrested at global warming protests in Washington.  She's says she's actually moved to the city for four months for such a mission, undoubtedly leaving a [substantial] jet carbon compound trail behind her.

Half of millennials and 75% of Gen Zers have left their job for mental health reasons.  Cases of burnout have been increasing at an alarming rate in recent years among millennials and Gen Zers.  It's a growing problem in today's workplace because of trends like rising workloads, limited staff and resources and long hours.  It's no surprise, then, that a recent study by Mind Share Partners, Qualtrics and SAP reveals that half of millennials and 75% of Gen Zers have left a job for mental health reasons.  The study, which looked at mental-health challenges and stigmas in the U.S. workplace, polled 1,500 respondents ages 16 and older working full-time.  Another recent study, by the American Psychological Association, found the percentage of young adults experiencing certain types of mental health disorders has increased significantly in the past decade.  In particular, the percentage of people dealing with suicidal thoughts increased 47 percent from 2008 to 2017.

Kurds Report Turkish Shelling of Prison Filled with Islamic State Jihadis.  Kurdish officials in Syria on Thursday [10/10/2019] accused the invading Turkish army of shelling the Chirkin prison, which is filled with captive Islamic State jihadis from 60 different countries.  The Turkish government did not immediately respond to the allegation.

Goodbye, iTunes:  Once-revolutionary app gone in Mac update.  It's time to bid farewell to iTunes, the once-revolutionary program that made online music sales mainstream and effectively blunted the impact of piracy.

Victoria's Secret, Under Siege, Lays Off Employees at Headquarters.  Victoria's Secret is laying off about 15 percent of the brand's employees at its Columbus, Ohio, headquarters as the beleaguered lingerie chain struggles to reshape its image and the chief executive of its parent company remains under scrutiny for his ties to Jeffrey Epstein.  The cuts, which took place on Wednesday and Thursday, involved about 50 people and range from senior leaders to junior staff, according to three people with knowledge of the situation who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

Intelligence agent arrested for spilling secrets to journalists.  The feds busted a Defense Intelligence Agency worker Wednesday for leaking classified national defense information to two journalists in 2018 and 2019 — one of whom he was shacking up with.  Henry Kyle Frese, 30, a counterintelligence analyst from Alexandria, Virginia, who had a Top Secret security clearance, was indicted Tuesday [10/8/2019] on two counts of willful transmission of national defense information to persons not entitled to receive it.  "Frese was caught red-handed disclosing sensitive national security information for personal gain," said John C. Demers, assistant attorney general for national security, who cited ex-Attorney General Jeff Sessions' vow to pursue leakers as the motivation for the probe.

In-N-Out Burger Joins Chick-fil-A as a Company That Openly Celebrates Its Christian Values.  I say "joins," but In-N-Out Burger hasn't necessarily been secretive about the fact that it's a Christian establishment.  It has printed John 3:16 on the bottom of its cups.  However, like Chick-fil-A before it, the owner and heiress of the burger chain, Lynsi Snyder, is letting everyone know just how much Christ means to her publicly.  Snyder gave an interview with The Christian Post and divulged that her life was on a downward spiral until she came to Christ, leaving behind drug and alcohol addiction, broken marriages, physical abuse, and more.  The burger empire heiress said that she "finally found that the deep need in my heart can only be filled by Jesus and my identity in Him."

BoJo to Trump:  Return diplomat's spouse to face vehicular homicide charge.  This has the potential to get very awkward for both leaders who are depending on each other a little more than usual recently.  The US whisked a State Department official's spouse out of the United Kingdom after an accident that killed a motorcyclist, claiming she had diplomatic immunity.  Responding to the outrage at home, Boris Johnson is now demanding her return to face charges, and plans to challenge his key ally Donald Trump — who has problems of his own on international relations at the moment.

Mother stopped possible school massacre by turning in her own son.  A Washington state mom turned her 17-year-old son in to police upon finding plans in his journal to carry out a school shooting on the anniversary of the Columbine High School massacre.  "It's devastating.  I know I did all I can do and that I made the right choice," the mother, who only identified herself as Nicole, told CBS News about the decision that led to her son's Sept. 17 arrest on harassment and bomb threat charges.  The teen, in his journal, said he'd use guns and a variety of explosives to carry out the attack on College Place High School, according to police records obtained by KTEL News.

CrowdStrike and the Impeachment Frenzy.  [Scroll down]  The time stamps contained in the released computer files' metadata establish that, at 6:45 p.m.  July 5, 2016, 1,976 megabytes (not megabits) of data were downloaded from the DNC's server.  This took 87 seconds, which means the transfer rate was 22.7 megabytes per second, a speed, according to VIPS, that "is much faster than what is physically possible with a hack."  Such a speed could be accomplished only by direct connection of a portable storage device to the server.  Accordingly, VIPS concluded that the DNC data theft was an inside job by someone with physical access to the server.  VIPS also found that, if there had been a hack, the NSA would have a record of it that could quickly be retrieved and produced.  But no such evidence has been forthcoming.  Can this be because no hack occurred?  Even more remarkable, the experts determined that the files released by Guccifer 2.0 have been "run, via ordinary cut and paste, through a template that effectively immersed them in what could plausibly be cast as Russian fingerprints."  In other words, the files were deliberately altered to give the false impression that they were hacked by Russian agents.

Florida woman arrested after parents find 24 pipe bombs in her bedroom.  A 27-year-old Florida woman was arrested after her parents found two dozen pipe bombs in her bedroom and called the local sheriff's office, authorities said Friday [10/4/2019].  Michelle Louise Kolts was arrested early Friday [10/4/2019]and booked on 24 counts of making, possessing, throwing, projecting, placing or discharging a destructive device.  "I can only imagine how hard it is to call in about any family member," Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister said, according to Bloomingdale Patch.

The Editor says...
Yes, this is apparently a person who needed to be arrested.  But how does one "project" a destructive device?  This sounds like a law designed to be broad enough to convict anybody.

De Blasio's subsidized ferry primarily used by rich white people: report.  Mayor Bill de Blasio has touted his heavily subsidized ferry service as a tool in his war on economic and social inequality — but long-awaited ridership data released Tuesday [10/1/2019] tells an entirely different story.  Ferry users are overwhelmingly white, wealthy and come from waterfront neighborhoods, according to surveys of over 5,000 riders conducted in June by the city's Economic Development Corporation, which manages the service.  Just 36% of riders are people of color, while 65% make over $75,000 per year, the survey found.

The Editor says...
That's a misleading mix of percentages, but anyway, the cost of living is extremely high in New York City, so $75,000 per year isn't that much.

Never Forget Trash Day Again, Thanks to This Terrifying New AI Garbage Can.  I have been pretty disappointed with "the future" we are inhabiting.  I was promised flying cars and robot maids.  Instead, all we seem to have is boys in the girls' locker rooms and politicians banning plastic straws.  Until today, that is.  Because today I learned that some genius somewhere has invented garbage cans that take themselves to the curb.

U.S. Ambassador to Germany Saves Taxpayers $20 Million.  The Trump administration's ambassador to Germany has saved the U.S. taxpayer some $20 million during the last two fiscal years, according to an announcement from the American mission in Berlin.  Under the leadership of U.S. ambassador Richard Grenell, the foreign mission managed to come in $6 million under budget in fiscal year 2018 and $14 million under budget in fiscal year 2019.  By streamlining operations and cutting down on burdensome bureaucracy, Grenell has been able to carry out the Trump administration's agenda abroad with limited wasteful expenditures.

Giuliani Reveals Trump Admin, Including Himself and Others, May Sue Congressional Democrats!  Trump Attorney and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani told Laura Ingraham on Tuesday night [10/1/2019] that the Trump administration is considering a lawsuit against Congressional Democrats. [...] Rudy Giuliani added, "We have to raise their violation of constitution and civil right!  This is worse than McCarthy."

Dutch Farmers in Mass Revolt Against Green Fascism.  Thousands of Dutch farmers descended on the Netherlands capital to protest against onerous environmental restrictions that threaten their livelihoods.  The demonstrations were sparked after the coalition government proposed that "Dutch livestock farming should be slashed to meet commitments on reducing nitrogen emissions," reports Dutch News NL.  Farmers traveled to the Hague in their tractors, causing tailbacks in excess of 620 miles and huge traffic jams around and in the city.

Tractor Trail Of Protesting Dutch Farmers Snarls Traffic for Hundreds Of Miles.  Thousands of Dutch farmers rolled their tractors over highways to The Hague to protest a possible crackdown on nitrogen emissions from livestock and farming operations.  The angry farmers snarled traffic for hundreds of miles in what has been called the Netherlands' busiest morning rush hour.  Brightly colored rows of the tractors rolled slowly down main roads all morning on Tuesday.  The Dutch automobile association ANWB says it recorded more than 700 miles of traffic jams at the peak of rush hour, mostly due to the protest.

The Editor says...
Nitrogen is not a pollutant.  More than 78 percent of the atmosphere is nitrogen already.  Just like carbon dioxide, nitrogen is plant food.  It's about as harmless as a gas can be, without being completely inert.  I see truckloads of liquid nitrogen on the highway every day.  Wherever those trucks deliver their payloads, the nitrogen will eventually return to the atmosphere.  The radical left is trying to outlaw the emission of everything but oxygen — although that might be next — by anyone engaged in agriculture, industry, or daily life.  They are doing this to obstruct capitalism and obtain leverage and power where they currently have none.

San Francisco tour guide is accused of being a Chinese spy after 'delivering digital cards with classified national security information' to Beijing's Ministry of State Security.  A citizen of the United States is facing federal charges for allegedly spying on behalf of the Chinese government.  Xuehua 'Edward' Peng, 56, delivered classified information relating to national security to the Chinese government according to a complaint that was unsealed on Monday and obtained by DailyMail.com.  The complaint alleges he retrieved four SD cards from hotel rooms between October 2015 and June 2018, and in each instance traveled to Beijing shortly thereafter.  Peng also left behind $20,000 cash in an envelope four times in that same period.

Trump: 'Rep. Adam Schiff Must Resign From Congress!'  As we reported yesterday [9/28/2019], Republican Congressman Andy Biggs wants his fellow Congressman Adam Schiff censured.  The reason, of course, is that Schiff making up dating quotes during a congressional hearing about the conversation President Trump had with Ukraine's leader.  Biggs is now joined by President Trump himself, who takes it one step further.  He calls on Rep. Schiff to resign from Congress.

Police feared Odessa shooter was planning attack — 8 years ago.  When Amarillo, Texas, police officers arrived at her home the night of February 7, 2011, they found what they interpreted as preparations for an attack — a machete hidden in her son's bed and an underground shelter he had dug in the backyard.  In a recording the mother shared with police, her son declared, "911 will bow down before me."  The officers were so troubled by what they encountered that they recorded floor plans of the property and shared the information with the city's SWAT team, according to incident reports.  The woman's then-28-year-old son, they concluded, was volatile and might hurt somebody someday.  Those concerns were tragically realized when the woman's son — Seth Ator — engaged police in a wild shootout not unlike what officers feared might happen eight years earlier.

Study: Top Motivation For Hating Capitalism Isn't Compassion, It's Resentment.  With the 2020 presidential election around the corner, Democratic presidential hopefuls and lawmakers have put forth bold proposals such as returning the top marginal income tax rate to 70 percent, levying wealth taxes as Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have proposed, or "taxing the [heck] out of the wealthy" as New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio put it.  Others such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez claim that capitalism is "irredeemable" and a system that "allows billionaires to exist" is "immoral."  Sanders recently declared he does not think "billionaires should exist."

Colorado governor's staff urges newspapers to remove story.  The press office for Colorado's liberal Democratic governor, Jared Polis, is facing criticism after asking two small-town newspapers to take down an online news story reported by what it calls a biased news organization affiliated with the conservative Koch family.

Susan Rice:  Obama Put Call Transcripts On Top Secret Server, Too.  Former national security adviser Susan Rice acknowledged last night [9/27/2019] that the Obama administration moved transcripts of conversations with foreign leaders onto the same top-secret server where the Trump administration stored his recent phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

US Attorney John Durham looking into Ukrainian involvement in 2016 election.  The Justice Department revealed that U.S. Attorney John Durham, picked by Attorney General William Barr to look into the origins of the Trump-Russia investigation, is investigating whether Ukraine was involved in any 2016 election efforts.  "A Department of Justice team led by U.S. Attorney John Durham is separately exploring the extent to which a number of countries, including Ukraine, played a role in the counterintelligence investigation directed at the Trump campaign during the 2016 election," DOJ spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said Wednesday [9/25/2019].  "While the Attorney General has yet to contact Ukraine in connection with this investigation, certain Ukrainians who are not members of the government have volunteered information to Mr. Durham, which he is evaluating."

Mattel unveils gender-neutral dolls for 'all kids to express themselves freely'.  Mattel Inc. has unveiled a new line of customizable dolls that are free of gender labels in a step toward more "inclusive" play, the company said Wednesday [9/25/2019].  The Creatable World line allows children to create their own characters with "extensive" wardrobe options, accessories, hairstyles and up to six skin tones, Mattel said in a press release.

Federal Judge Throws Out Guilty Verdict for Flynn Partner and Acquits.  In a stunning and very rare move today [9/24/2019] Federal Judge Anthony J Trenga has thrown out the conviction of a Mike Flynn's partner Bijan Rafiekian (Flynn Intel Group) and granted the defendants' motion to acquit.  [Hat Tip to Techno-Fog for the ruling]  This is a huge blow to the DOJ-NSD who framed their special counsel case on sketchy FARA violations and bamboozled the jury with dubious legal theories.  This type of intervention by a federal judge is very rare.

Pope Announces Global Compact On Education For 'New Humanism'.  The global event, set to take place at the Vatican on May 14, 2020, is themed Reinventing the Global Educational Alliance.  According to a Vatican statement issued on Thursday, Sept. 12, the Pope is inviting representatives of the main religions, international organizations and various humanitarian institutions, as well as key figures from the world of politics, economics and academia, and prominent athletes, scientists and sociologists to sign a "Global Pact on Education" so as to "hand on to younger generations a united and fraternal common home."

Sorry, Greta:  Trump skips UN climate summit.  [Scroll down]  Throwing the U.N. into this pathetic record of failure — it can't even run a credible peacekeeping operation without a new pedophile scandal — is pretty much piling failure upon failure.  Would China and India bother to cut their greenhouse gas emissions if the U.N. told them to?  Something says no.  This points to the wisdom of Trump's refusal to even bother with this United Nations clown show.  It's a new takeover bid from unelected leftist bureaucrats to rule the U.S., which has the most pristine record on climate emissions anyway.

U.S.-Pakistan Alliance After 9/11 Was 'One of the Biggest Blunders' for the Country, Imran Khan Says.  Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has said his country's alliance with the U.S. in the immediate aftermath of 9/11 was one of its biggest "blunders," citing the huge death toll and economic cost inflicted on the nation as part of the ongoing War on Terror.  Speaking at a Council on Foreign Relations event in New York on Monday [9/23/2019], Khan also admitted his country's role in funding and training Al-Qaeda militants to fight in Afghanistan, the Hindustan Times reported.

Democrats Wrote to Ukraine in May 2018, Demanding It Investigate Trump.  Democrats wrote to the Ukrainian government in May 2018 urging it to continue investigations into President Donald Trump's alleged collusion with Russia in the 2016 presidential campaign — collusion later found not to exist.  The demand, which came from U.S. Senators Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Dick Durbin (D-IL), and Patrick Leahy (D-VT), resurfaced Wednesday in an opinion piece written by conservative Marc Thiessen in the Washington Post.

Attorney Representing Whistleblower Against Trump Worked For Hillary and Schumer.  One of the attorneys representing the person who anonymously filed a complaint against President Donald Trump claiming Trump asked Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter has a resume that includes working for Senators Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.).  As The Federalist reports, "Andrew Bakaj, now a managing partner at the Compass Rose Legal Group, interned for Schumer in the spring of 2001 and for Clinton in the fall of the same year, according to Bakaj's LinkedIn page."  The Federalist notes that Bakaj's resume also includes stints at the CIA and Pentagon and specializing in whistleblower and security clearances.  The anonymous official, although acknowledging a lack of firsthand knowledge of the conversation between Trump and Zelensky, filed the complaint alleging that Trump asked Zelensky to check into the Bidens' dealings with a Ukrainian energy company.

GOP rep introduces resolution to remove Nadler as Judiciary panel chairman over impeachment probe.  A Republican congressman introduced a resolution on Tuesday calling for the ouster of House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., from his panel post for pursuing impeachment proceedings against President Trump.  The proceedings were formally backed late Tuesday by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.  Lance Gooden, R-Texas, said in a release that Nadler has acted against the will of the House of Representatives, which never gave his committee explicit authorization to begin impeachment proceedings.  The body voted 332-95 in July to table an impeachment resolution from Rep. Al Green, D-Texas.

China buys 10 boatloads of US soybeans after mid-level trade talks.  Chinese companies imported roughly 10 boatloads of soybeans from American farmers on Monday following mid-level trade talks, Reuters reported.  The deals for about 600,000 tons of soybeans were similar in size to a wave of buying earlier this month, two traders told Reuters.

Modi, Trump and protesters converge on Houston's NRG Stadium.  Charismatic, controversial Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to draw 50,000 adoring supporters to "Howdy, Modi!," an event at Houston's NRG Stadium this morning — as well as U.S. president Donald Trump and thousands of protesters outside.  Supporters praise Modi, who was first elected prime minister in 2014, for modernizing India's economy, addressing climate change and ecological issues, and dramatically improving sanitation for some of the world's poorest people.  But critics say that under Modi's Hindu nationalist government, human rights, including religious freedom, are endangered.  They point to this summer's crackdown on largely Muslim Kashmir, an autonomous territory between India and Pakistan.

We've lost sight of the real scandal.  What will Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz's latest investigation reveal?  Will Congress hold hearings about it?  Will former acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe actually get indicted?  After all, it's said that a motivated prosecutor can "indict a ham sandwich" if he really wants to.  We're so wrapped up in the daily tick-tock, we could be losing sight of a big picture that's come into focus over the past two years.  For the first time in our nation's history, an inspector general — one appointed by President Obama — has determined that at least two men who sat in the top spot at the FBI committed multiple violations that warrant possible prosecution.  That in itself is a scandal with national implications deserving of headlines, congressional hearings and promises to overhaul a broken system.  Of course, the complicating factor in the whole mess is that the government entities responsible for addressing any wrongdoing are the same ones inextricably tied to the alleged wrongdoing.

Trump Deploys Troops To Saudi Arabia, UAE After Oil Attacks.  The Pentagon announced it will be deploying U.S. troops and military equipment to Middle Eastern allies, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, following Iran's attack on Saudi oil facilities last weekend.  "The president has approved the deployment of U.S. forces, which are primarily defensive in nature and primarily focused on air and missile defense," Defense Secretary Mark Esper said on Friday, as reported by The Hill.  "We will also work to accelerate the delivery of military equipment to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the UAE to enhance their ability to defend themselves."

Saudi Arabia oil attacks:  US to send troops to Saudi Arabia.  The US has announced plans to send forces to Saudi Arabia in the wake of attacks against the country's oil infrastructure.  Secretary of Defence Mark Esper told reporters the deployment would be "defensive in nature".  Total troop numbers have not yet been decided.  Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels have said they were behind the attacks against two oil facilities last week.

Scientology policy enabled years of child sexual abuse, lawsuit says.  In the third lawsuit filed against the Church of Scientology and its leader, David Miscavige, in three months, a 25-year-old woman alleges she was repeatedly sexually assaulted as a child in Scientology's care, including at the church's Clearwater Academy.  On top of the abuse, the lawsuit explains how church officials allegedly knew it was occurring and did nothing to stop it or alert law enforcement, actions rooted in policy written by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard.  When the woman spoke of her alleged abuse after leaving Scientology in 2018, the church deployed a campaign of harassment against her, a tactic also based on Hubbard's Fair Game policy aimed to destroy those labeled as enemies.

Inspector General Michael Horowitz Testifies on Matters of High Interest — FISA, Comey, McCabe, SpyGate.  DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz testified before congress today on matters relating to the overall IG office.  However, with Democrat majority chairs refusing to call Horowitz for testimony on the recent Comey Report, republicans on the House Oversight Committee took advantage of the opportunity to ask questions about the FISA investigation and the prior IG reports on James Comey and Andrew McCabe.

Snowflake Nation:  Most Millennials Say Life More Stressful for Them Than Our Ancestors.  Are many millennials embracing socialism — which most of them can't even define — for lack of perspective?  Do they see the glass as half empty when its three-quarters full, and when for most of history it contained, materially speaking, the equivalent of bitter dregs?  A recent survey of millennials, and an analysis of it, point to this being the case.

Merriam-Webster Adds Gender-Neutral Pronouns to Dictionary.  Merriam-Webster announced Tuesday [9/18/2019] that gender-neutral pronouns "they" and "themself" have been added to the dictionary, along with more than 530 other words.  Added to "address the complex ways we view ourselves and others," the word "they" is "used to refer to a single person whose gender identity is nonbinary," meaning that they do necessarily not identify with the binary language of male or female.  Nonbinary and gender nonconforming people have existed throughout history and across cultures, but as Merriam-Webster noted, "we've struggled to find the right language to describe these people — and in particular, the right pronouns."

Two labs in the world keep a live smallpox sample.  The one in Russia just had an explosion.  An explosion sparked a fire Monday at a Russian biological research center known for being one of two places in the world that holds live samples of the smallpox virus.  A gas cylinder exploded on the fifth floor of a six story laboratory building at the Russian State Centre for Research on Virology and Biotechnology in the city of Koltsovo, the center said in a statement Monday.  A sanitary inspection room was being repaired when the blast hit the center, also known as VECTOR, causing a fire that spread 30 square meters.  No biohazard material was held in the room where the explosion occurred and only one person was injured, according to the statement.

The Editor says...
Yeah, but it's Russia, so who knows if that's really true.

The Navy Says Those UFO Videos Are Real.  The U.S. Navy has confirmed that three online videos purportedly showing UFOs are genuine.  The service says the videos, taken by Navy pilots, show "unexplained aerial phenomena," but also states that the clips should have never been released to the public in the first place.

The Pope Lies.  [Scroll down]  The lies were understandable because he was making a political statement against capitalism and against America, two of his favorite bugaboos.  Yet is it ever all right for the Pope to lie?  I shall leave that matter for the theologians.  I do wonder, though, who is hearing the Pope's confession these days?  His most obvious lie came when he said that his conservative critics, mainly in the United States, have criticized him for saying what he claims were "the same things" as previous conservative popes have said about capitalism.  He mentioned Pope John Paul II, who is dead and cannot rebut him.  Pope Francis said, "They are the same things John Paul II said.  The same!  I copy him."

'These kids have all vaped': Wisconsin doctors were first to warn of a sudden surge of mystery lung illnesses.  It was June 11 when a teenager showed up at Children's Hospital of Wisconsin short of breath.  He had lost a lot of weight, was fatigued and couldn't do routine activities.  A chest X-ray showed something doctors found odd:  interstitial pneumonia.  Unlike the more common viral or bacterial pneumonia that infects one or two of the lungs' five lobes, interstitial pneumonia looks like a complex spider web crisscrossing the entire lung.  "It's usually associated with bad disease," said Michael Meyer, medical director of the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit.

Purdue Pharma files for bankruptcy as part of settlement.  Purdue Pharma, the company that made billions selling the prescription painkiller OxyContin, filed for bankruptcy in White Plains, New York, days after reaching a tentative settlement with many of the state and local governments suing it over the toll of opioids.  The filing was anticipated before and after the tentative deal, which could be worth up to $12 billion over time, was struck.

Purdue Pharma's Sackler family used hidden accounts to transfer $1B: court docs.  The Sackler family, which owns Purdue Pharma, used Swiss and other hidden bank accounts to transfer around $1 billion from the company to themselves, the New York attorney general's office claimed Friday [9/13/2019].  The family stands to lose billions after a litany of lawsuits claiming that their company marketed the painkiller OxyContin as nonaddictive despite knowing otherwise.

China Buys Soybeans, Exempts Pork and Beans From Additional Tariffs.  In a quiet admission of food dependency, China purchased 600,000 tonnes of soybeans yesterday [9/12/2019], and simultaneously announced that U.S. pork and soybean imports would be exempt from further tariff increases.  The surface message Beijing is selling, surrounds their magnanimous panda narrative of reaching out to diminish trade friction.  However, below the surface everyone knows China cannot feed itself, and if food prices keep rising they could likely have growing unrest.

A penthouse, limousines and private jets:  Inside the globe-trotting life of Bishop Michael Bransfield.  It was billed as a holy journey, a pilgrimage with West Virginia Bishop Michael J. Bransfield to "pray, sing and worship" at the National Shrine in Washington, D.C. Catholics from remote areas of one of the nation's poorest states paid up to $190 for seats on overnight buses and hotel rooms.  Unknown to the worshipers, Bransfield traveled another way.  He hired a private jet and, after a 33-minute flight, took a limousine from the airport.  The church picked up his $6,769 travel bill.  That trip in September 2017 was emblematic of the secret history of Bransfield's lavish travel.  He spent millions of dollars from his diocese on trips in the United States and abroad, records show, while many of his parishioners struggled to find work, feed their families and educate their children.

Secretary Ben Carson Cleared of Any Misconduct in the Furniture Controversy of 2017.  The Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) inspector general cleared Secretary Ben Carson and his wife of any misconduct in the controversy surrounding an order for expensive furniture in late 2017.  The watchdog's report, first obtained by Fox News, confirmed that Carson and his wife did not violate HUD policy when they instructed staffers to buy dining room furniture to replace the old furniture in Carson's office.  "We found no evidence indicating that either Secretary or Mrs. Carson exerted improper influence on any departmental employee in connection with the procurement," the report states, according to Fox News.

U.S. to disclose name of Saudi official redacted in 9/11 FBI report.  The U.S. said Thursday [9/12/2019] that it will disclose the name of a Saudi citizen sought by lawyers for victims of the Sept. 11 attacks who want to link the kingdom to the terrorist plot.

Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax files $400 million lawsuit against CBS.  Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax filed a defamation lawsuit against CBS on Thursday seeking $400 million.  CBS News aired interviews with two women who have accused Fairfax of sexually assaulting them.  CBS News anchor Gayle King interviewed both Vanessa Tyson and Meredith Watson earlier this year, where they described their encounters with Fairfax.  He denies the encounters were non-consensual.

'Not a wandering tourist': Guilty verdict for woman accused of trespass at Trump's Mar-a-Lago.  A Chinese businesswoman was found guilty Wednesday of trespassing at Mar-a-Lago and lying to a federal agent about why she was at President Donald Trump's private Palm Beach club, capping a bizarre federal trial where the enigmatic defendant's true purpose in coming to the resort was never answered.  Was Yujing Zhang, 33, just a bumbling tourist or an agent of Beijing's government?  One thing is certain:  Zhang, who has been in federal custody since her arrest March 30, now faces up to one year in prison on the trespassing charge and five years on the false-statement offense.  She showed no reaction to the verdict.

Chinese Mar-a-Lago Intruder Found Guilty.  The Chinese woman who tried to lie her way into Mar-a-Lago was found guilty today [9/11/2019]. [...] From the BBC:  "Despite the guilty verdict the trial did not establish why exactly she was there.  She told agents after her arrest a friend in China had encouraged her to speak to a member of Trump's family about Chinese-US economic relations."

Why Did the Deficit Just Top $1 Trillion?  Here's Another Clue.  The deficit this year will be larger than the entire budget was in 1987. [...] Spending increases were across the board.  Social Security costs climbed 5.7%; Medicare, 6.5%; Medicaid, 4.6%.  Defense spending is up 7.9%, but spending on everything else in the budget has climbed by 4.5%.  Here's the really worrisome figure:  Interest payments on the national debt is up 14% over the prior year.  It should go without saying that these levels of spending growth are unsustainable.

The whole city is full of perverts.  Why would anyone want to go there?
Times Square's 'creepy' costumed characters are out of control.  The Times Square Elmo busted for grabbing a 14-year-old girl's rear while posing for a photo is far from an isolated incident, according to a new report that found the handsy panhandlers touched an average 24 people per hour without consent.  "This is Times Square.  Quirky is fine, but creepy is not," said Tim Tompkins, president of the Times Square Alliance, which commissioned the report and also found that more than a third of American tourists had a gripe with the costumed creeps.  Forty-seven percent of New Yorkers said that they've had an "unpleasant interaction" with one of the pushy plushies or other street hustlers at the Crossroads of the World in the past year.

Couple spends $120,000 mistakenly deposited in their account — then are arrested.  Robert and Tiffany Williams of Montoursville, Pennsylvania, in May reportedly received an unexpected deposit of more than $120,000, the result of a BB&T bank teller's mistake, according to a police criminal complaint provided to CBS News by the Pennsylvania State Police.  The money was supposed to have been deposited to an investment firm.  Rather than checking with the bank on the nature of the deposit, the pair allegedly spent more than $100,000 on a number of household items, including a $15,000 down payment on a 2015 Chevy Traverse, two four-wheelers for about $10,000, a $4,500 camper and a race car.

The Editor says...
The jury in this case, if it goes to trial, would have been less likely to convict this couple if they had spent the money on necessities rather than an assortment of vehicles they could do without.  On the other hand, the bank made a mistake.  (How is that possible?)  So the bank should bear some of the responsibility.  After all, if you call the bank and insist that your account has half the money it's supposed to have, the people at the bank will insist that the computers never lie.

The Shocking Paper Predicting the End of Democracy.  [Scroll down]  As one of the lions of the profession, 68-year-old Shawn Rosenberg, began delivering his paper, people in the crowd of about a hundred started shifting in their seats.  They loudly whispered objections to their friends.  Three women seated next to me near the back row grew so loud and heated I had difficulty hearing for a moment what Rosenberg was saying.  What caused the stir?  Rosenberg, a professor at UC Irvine, was challenging a core assumption about America and the West.  His theory?  Democracy is devouring itself — his phrase — and it won't last.

Christians Massacred, Media Look the Other Way.  In an interview with Italian paper La Stampa, Pope Francis said that one of the biggest challenges to the Amazon region is the "threat to the life of the populations and territory which derives from the economic and political interests of the dominant sectors of society."  The program for the Amazon's synod in Rome talks about "life threatened", "inculturation and interculturality", "extractivist destruction" and "indigenous peoples", among other matters.  There is, however, another group of "indigenous people" whose life has been "threatened" and who live under an existential physical "destruction." They are the persecuted Christians, and the Vatican should dedicate the next synod to them.  "They asked him to deny Christ and when he refused they cut off his right hand; then he refused [again], they cut to the elbow.  In which he refused, before they shot him in the forehead, the neck, and chest," a Nigerian Christian, Enoch Yeohanna, recently recounted about his father's murder in 2014.  The trial of Nigerian Christians has been defined "a global nightmare."  But it is happening in many countries.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell Throws Cold Water on Latest Media Conspiracy.  Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell spoke with Thomas J. Jordan, chairman of the Swiss National Bank, in Zurich, Switzerland on Friday.  The talk was hosted by the Swiss Institute of International Studies.  During his remarks Powell said he does not foresee the U.S. sliding into a recession soon, despite a slowdown in global growth and uncertainties surrounding the U.S.-China trade war.  "I wouldn't see the recession as the most likely outcome in the U.S.," he said during his remarks in Zurich.

Is China trying to elect a Democrat?  For the last three years, Democrats have obsessed over Russia's relatively trivial participation in the 2016 election.  But if they have any concern about China's reported interest in 2020, they haven't shown it.  Why?  Because China's leaders want to get rid of Donald Trump and replace him with a Democrat who will be more compliant.

China Is Using Fentanyl as 'Chemical Warfare,' Experts Say.  Behind the deadly opioid epidemic ravaging communities across the United States lies a carefully planned strategy by a hostile foreign power that experts describe as a "form of chemical warfare."  It involves the production and trafficking of fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that caused the deaths of more than 32,000 Americans in 2018 alone, and fentanyl-related substances.  China is the "largest source" of illicit fentanyl in the United States, a November 2018 report by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission stated.  That same commission said that since its 2017 report, they found no "substantive curtailment" of fentanyl flows from China to the United States.  They also noted that in "large part, these flows persist due to weak regulations governing pharmaceutical and chemical production in China."

Nunes suing Glenn Simpson and ethics group, claiming conspiracy.  Republican Congressman Devin Nunes of California has filed a lawsuit claiming a left-leaning transparency nonprofit conspired with a research firm to damage his reputation.  The lawsuit in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, follows two that Nunes filed in state court against parody Twitter accounts, Twitter, a Republican strategist and the media company McClatchy for mocking him.

Harry Reid:  Only a Democratic president can issue a proper executive order.  Former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said executive orders can only be executed properly and appropriately when a Democrat occupies the White House.  "We need a Democratic president for a number of reasons," the Nevada Democrat said Wednesday [9/4/2019] during a conference call with reporters about climate change-related issues.  "We've learned over the last few years from trying to govern the country by executive order that there's a lot that can be done legally with executive order," Reid said, a reference to President Trump's unilateral moves on immigration, climate, deregulation generally, and other issues.  "Only the Democratic president can get that done."

The Editor says...
Why do reporters care about Harry Reid's opinion?  He's a has-been.

Bill de Blasio eyes license requirement for bike riders.  New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said he is considering requiring bicyclists to be licensed and registered like automobile drivers currently are.  According to a report in the New York Daily News on Wednesday [9/4/2019], the mayor also wants to expand the city's safety regulations, which already have won it a nanny-state reputation, to include requiring Citi Bike renters to wear helmets.  Mr. de Blasio called the idea of forcing cyclists to have licenses and registration a "valid discussion," the Daily News reported, and added that he also plans a crackdown on cyclists who break traffic laws.

The Editor says...
The mayor is making a crime out of something that's not a crime:  riding a bicycle without a license.  (What about unicycles, skateboards, and dockless scooters?)

Devin Nunes Sues Fusion GPS Over False Media Smears And Bogus Ethics Claims.  The former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee sued Fusion GPS and its founder in a sweeping suit alleging conspiracy to obstruct investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 election.  In the suit, Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., alleges Fusion GPS worked directly with a tax-exempt organization to intimidate and harass him over his investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.  That organization, Campaign for America, filed bogus ethics complaints with the Office of Congressional Ethics to sideline Nunes as he investigated Fusion GPS's role in the false claims that President Donald Trump treasonously colluded with Russia to steal the 2016 election from Hillary Clinton.

Meet the 'super pro-cop' gorgeous young Latina running for Congress who calls herself 'the anti-AOC'.  Catalina Lauf is 26-years-old and running for Congress in Illinois, hoping to unseat a Democrat incumbent and push aside Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as the youngest woman ever to be elected to Congress.

Woman Told to Remove 'Obsolete' 9/11 Memorial Stone from Property.  An Illinois woman has been ordered to remove a 9/11 memorial stone from her property, according to reports.  Leigh Gardella-Wood has lived on the property in Winthrop Harbor with her family since 2011.  The land was once the site of Spring Bluff Elementary School before it closed down the year she bought it.  Reports said Gardella-Wood got a letter from Winthrop Harbor Village saying she must remove "all obsolete signage" related to the school from the property, including the memorial stone.

The Editor says...
The big stone with a plaque embedded in it sounds like it has Ebay written all over it.

Meat the Neighbors:  Giant Cookout Planned for Outside Vegan's House.  Thousands of Aussie meat eaters are planning to attend a mass community BBQ outside the home of a vegan woman who has been fighting neighbors over the smell of their outdoor cooking of meat and fish.  As Breitbart News reported, a "devastated" Australian vegan has taken her neighbors to court alleging they deliberately waft barbecue smoke rich in meat and fish smells across their shared boundary fence and into her property.

The Editor says...
Your vegetarian neighbors may be misguided troublemakers, but to blow smoke in their faces is un-Christian behavior.  1 Cor 8:13.

Cherokee Nation Names First Delegate To Congress.  The Cherokee Nation has named its first delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives.  Former Obama appointee Kimberly Teehee's nomination was approved by the tribe's council on Thursday [8/29/2019].  Although the treaty that created this nonvoting position is almost 200 years old, it had never been filled.

Voice Of America Currently Employs A Former Russian Anti-U.S. Propagandist.  The taxpayer-funded Voice of America (VOA) currently employs a reporter for its Russian website who formerly produced anti-U.S. propaganda videos for a Russian outlet.  Ilya Kolosov is a "contractor with the VOA Russian language service TV team," Bridget Serchak, Director of Public Relations at VOA, told the Daily Caller News Foundation.  He was previously employed at ONT, a Belorussian state-run TV station and RTVI, a Russian station, according to a report by Belsat.  VOA is a U.S. government-funded and state-owned news agency, reaching more than 275 million people around the world every week.  VOA is part of the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), which is a government agency overseeing all U.S. international broadcasting.

'National security imperative': Military spouses struggle to find employment.  Between 35% and 50% of military spouses work in fields that require occupational licenses or certifications, which are not always recognized when couples move to a new state or country.  With the constant moves military life requires, the difficulty drastically increases.  Lawyers and teachers are some of the hardest hit, but thanks to the work of advocacy groups across the country, they are seeing some relief from federal and state governments.

DOJ IG Reveals Deputy Assistant Attorney General Lied Under Oath About Viewing Porn on Govt-Issued Computer, Declined Prosecution.  First it was reported Thursday [8/29/2019] that the DOJ declined to prosecute James Comey despite the fact that he mishandled classified information and leaked to the media, then it was revealed another member of the Justice Department lied under oath to investigators and escaped prosecution!

The Character Assassination of Amy Wax and Her Response.  On August 23rd, the New Yorker ran a hit piece with the sensationalized headline, "A Penn Law Professor Wants to Make America White Again."  The writer, Isaac Chotiner, had interviewed Amy Wax, who had recently received considerable attention after a speech she made at the National Conservative Conference in Washington D.C. last month.  Part of the speech included the controversial comment that "we are better off if our country is dominated numerically, demographically, politically, at least in fact if not formally, by people from the first world, from the West, than by people from countries that had failed to advance."

A surprising number of Americans are retiring the idea of retirement.  Ah, those much-anticipated halcyon days of retirement — sleeping in, golf at will, travel too, leisurely day after leisurely day.  No more whining colleagues, carping bosses, endless meetings with no result, tedious commutes.  Of course, few retirements turn out that way.  And now a new Associated Press poll finds that for a variety of reasons about a quarter of Americans have no intention of ever retiring at all.

Report: ISIS Fighter Blows Himself Up After His Drone-Bomb Runs Low on Batteries.  Since President Trump defeated ISIS, the once-formidable terrorist organization that came into power under Barack Obama, has been forced back into hiding.  The dismantled terror group has suffered so many losses, that they've been reduced to conducting lone-wolf attacks.  And some of those attacks aren't going so well, according to a recent report.  Karma delivered a hefty blow to an ISIS terrorist who had his sights set on killing his enemies in Mosul, Iraq.  The terrorist was using a drone-bomb in his attack — however, his plans went haywire and blew up in his face (literally) when the drone ran out of battery power.

DHS bars Dem staffers from visiting border facilities after 'rude' and 'disruptive' behavior.  The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has barred Democratic staffers from the House Oversight Committee from visiting Customs and Border Protection (CBP) facilities at the U.S.-Mexico border as part of a planned trip this week after committee staff allegedly were "disruptive" and refused to follow instructions during their last trip, Fox News has learned.  Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings, D-Md., had sent his staff to visit border facilities for "oversight inspections" last week and planned to send staff again to view Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and CBP centers.

Bad Law Keeps People Poor.  Why does most of Africa stay poor while other parts of the world prosper?  People blame things like climate, the history of colonialism, racism, etc.  But I say Senegalese businesswoman Magatte Wade gives the right explanation:  too many rules.  "Once you hire someone, good luck getting rid of them for any reason," Wade complains.  Her government must approve every firing.  "Then the tax code is so complicated... worth at least two or three truckloads of paper."

Investigators scrutinizing video outside Epstein's cell find some footage unusable, according to people familiar with the inquiry.  At least one camera in the hallway outside the cell where authorities say registered sex offender Jeffrey Epstein hanged himself earlier this month had footage that is unusable, although other, clearer footage was captured in the area, according to three people briefed on the evidence gathered earlier this month.  It was not immediately clear why some video footage outside Epstein's cell is too flawed for investigators to use or what is visible in the usable footage.  The incident is being investigated by the FBI and the Justice Department's inspector general's office, which are attempting to determine what happened and how to assess whether any policies were violated or crimes committed.

US Air Force's mysterious X-37B space plane sets new record after spending 717 days in orbit.  A pilotless space plane operated by the US Air Force has completed a record 717 days in orbit — and, we still have no idea what its mission is. [...] While it isn't the longest flight ever, the feat marks a personal best for this line of craft, with each pushing a bit further than the mission before.

Fake buyers raiding medicine cabinets at open houses to steal opioids from home sellers.  People are sneaking into open houses under realtors' noses and stealing home sellers' prescription opioids.  As the flood of opioids into vulnerable communities has grown, realtors have had to be on guard to prevent drug theft while hosting open houses and to educate home sellers about their roles in prevention, including hiding their medications in the same way they would firearms.

Hasbro Has a New 'Monopoly:  Socialism' Game and Socialists Are Not Happy.  A few weeks ago, my wife and I took a deep breath and then reluctantly replied "sure" to our kids' request that we play Monopoly for family game night.  As most of us can attest, Monopoly requires a level of commitment that no family game night should require, and it's not really that fun to begin with.  Hasbro's new "Monopoly:  Socialism," though, sounds like a hoot and a great way to continue to teach my kids why socialism is for the math-, economics-, and history-challenged among us.

North Carolina Police Officer Suing Former Department For Religious Discrimination For 'Billy Graham Rule'.  A police officer in North Carolina is suing for religious discrimination after being fired for following the "Billy Graham rule."  The officer in question is 51-year-old Manuel Torres, who served as a deputy for the Lee County Sheriff's office for five years.  He was then asked to train a new female deputy in July of 2017, but refused to do so on religious grounds.  Torres, a practicing Baptist, cited that his belief is that "the Holy Bible prohibits him, as a married man, from being alone for extended periods with a female who is not his wife."

Federal energy program suggests keeping thermostat set at 78 degrees — 82 while you sleep.  To keep your home cool with central air conditioning while also optimizing energy efficiency (and therefore cost), keep the temperature at 78 degrees Fahrenheit or higher.  The suggestion comes from Energy Star, a federal program managed jointly by the Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency that provides information to consumers about energy efficiency practices that not only save consumers money, but also improve air quality and protect the environment.

Update:
DOE Issues Statement on Energy Star Thermostat Report.  After quite widespread discussion on the Energy Star Thermostat Report, and the ridiculous recommendations to set thermostat to 82° when sleeping, the U.S. Department of Energy (Secretary Rick Perry) issued the following statement:  "It is the position of DOE that Americans should set their thermostats to whatever temperature they choose."

Made in Mexico:  Money for the Democratic National Committee.  Desperate for cash — even the deepest blue Democratic vendor has to be paid but the significant Democratic National Committee (DNC) debt does not inspire payment confidence — the DNC, under chairman Tom Perez, has decided to outsource some of its fundraising to Mexico, where an estimated 1.5 million American expats reside.  And so next month there will be a series of events in Mexico City, featuring Perez himself, for the American citizens living there eager to help their party in the old country.

Barr: Epstein's Death Looks Like A Suicide To Us Too.  "Serious irregularities"?  You betcha.  A murder-for-hire to benefit Jeffrey Epstein's friends-cum-extortion-targets?  Naah, says William Barr.  Despite a noticeable lack of cooperation from the people at the jail where Epstein died, the Attorney General says investigators have found no evidence that anyone other than Epstein himself was behind his hanging death earlier this month.

Poll: 63 Percent of Voters Expect a Trump Victory in 2020.  As President Donald Trump's approval rating remains stable, an increasing amount of voters say he is "somewhat likely" to be re-elected as president, according to a survey.  Scott Rasmussen's latest 2020 poll revealed 63 percent of American voters believe President Trump will serve a second term in the White House, which is up 17 percentage points from February.

Amazon's CEO Owns a Terror-Linked Paper.  Millions of Americans brought Alexa into their homes only to learn, belatedly, that not only software, but human beings, were listening in on them.  Amazon employees and contractors from Costa Rica to India were caught reviewing thousands of recordings, of casual requests, private conversations and intimate moments, and sharing clips that they thought were funny in chat sessions with each other.  The Amazon product is always listening and maintains recordings of your conversations indefinitely.  But now there's something bigger at stake than privacy violations.  Amazon expects a $10 billion cloud contract for the military.

ABC Fined $395K by FCC for 'Jimmy Kimmel Live!' Emergency Alert Misuse.  A Jimmy Kimmel Live! bit making fun of President Donald Trump is going to cost ABC $395,000, as the FCC is cracking down on use of the emergency alert tone in entertainment.  The network agreed to pay a fine to the agency after late-night host Jimmy Kimmel in October used a simulated tone during a monologue about the nationwide presidential wireless emergency alert test.  According to the FCC filing, ABC says it was a "misunderstanding that the use of the tone was permissible."

The Editor says...
I worked in broadcasting for 48 years.  There are only a few low-level newcomers in broadcasting who don't know that emergency alert tones are not to be used as sound effects.  The FCC has made this abundantly clear on several occasions.  Somebody in the production control room of the Kimmel show should have know better.  I'm surprised that the fine was not much higher.  A mere $400,000 just blends into the background cost of doing business.

This is what juries are for:
Phoenix father beats a man to death for accosting daughter in bathroom.  A Phoenix father is facing second degree murder charges for allegedly killing a man who allegedly harassed his young daughter.  Police say Melvin Harris, 40, admitted to beating Leon Armstrong, 26, to death after he attempted to break into the teenage girl's stall at a QuikTrip convenience store bathroom.  Harris was waiting for his daughter and her two friends in the store's parking lot when Armstrong approached his car asking for money.  Harris gave him change, then Armstrong walked into the convenience store, police said

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and fellow anti-vaxxers call on judge to delay law barring unvaccinated kids from school.  Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his fellow anti-vaxxers flooded an Albany courtroom Wednesday [8/14/2019] as they implored a judge to overturn a state law barring kids who haven't been vaccinated from attending school.  Hundreds of white-clad supporters later descended on the Capitol to leave photos of their children outside Gov. Cuomo's office in an attempt to draw the governor's attention to thousands who will be affected.  Rita Palma, the founder of a group called My Kids, My Choice, said new law, which ended an exception for kids whose parents objected to vaccines on religious grounds, will keep 26,000 children out of school and daycare.

New York Times:  Lawns Are Symbols of Racism and Bad for Global Warming.  While most Americans are spending time this summer enjoying the sun in the comfort of their houses' yards, the New York Times is out with a new exposé on how lawn care is problematic, once viewed through the lens of social justice.  Lawns are contributing to pollution and climate change, asserts narrator David Botti, and their origins are far from woke, in a seven-minute video on the history of American lawns.

Also posted under everything causes global warming.

Venomous snake has been missing inside Bronx Zoo for a week.  The venomous mangrove snake that escaped its enclosure at the Bronx Zoo was still loose Tuesday — marking a week since it went on the lam.  The 3-foot, tree-climbing serpent got free from its Jungle World exhibit Aug. 6 — when zoo officials claim it escaped via a mesh-covered vent in its glass case — and was still nowhere to be found Tuesday [8/13/2019].  Concerned guests were assured it was still safe to go inside Jungle World, with one ticket vendor even joking to several scared children:  "If you see him, let us know!"

Facial recognition misidentified 26 California lawmakers as criminal suspects.  San Francisco Assemblyman Phil Ting has never been arrested, but facial recognition technology developed by Amazon links his image to a jailhouse mugshot.  Ting is one of 26 state legislators who were wrongly identified as suspected criminals using the technology, according to results from a test released Tuesday by the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California.

Minneapolis Bans New Drive-Thrus.  One of the hottest trends in the restaurant world right now is delivery — and Minneapolis just gave people one more reason to stay home and place their food orders online:  The city has placed a ban on the construction of new drive-thru windows.  Be it restaurant or coffee shop, pharmacy or bank, the Minneapolis City Council approved the new rule this past Thursday [8/8/2019], leaving current drive-thrus untouched (as well as businesses that are currently waiting for approval), but preventing the construction of any new ones within the city.

The Editor says...
In cases such as this, where a decision is made in a Democrat-controlled city, and it makes no sense at all, one can easily surmise that it must be an effort to stop global warming, or some kind of irrational nonsense of that sort.  Either that, or it's another incremental step to push us all onto mass transit.

Mocking [a] suspect's hairstyle could get you prosecuted, police warn.  Police have warned social media users they could face arrest if they "troll" a wanted drug dealer by mocking his distinctive hairstyle.  An online appeal to catch the criminal has resulted in tens of thousands of people posting joke comments.  Jermaine Taylor, 21, is wanted for breaching his licence [sic] conditions after being released from prison in December 2018.  Gwent Police launched the social media appeal to find the convicted drug dealer, but it backfired when people began making jokes about his hairstyle, with one saying it had been "pushed back more times than Brexit".

Jeffrey Epstein Accuser Names Powerful Men in Alleged Sex Ring.  A young woman who says financier Jeffrey Epstein and socialite Ghislaine Maxwell kept her as a sex slave also accused a host of high-powered men of being involved in Epstein's alleged sex-trafficking ring, according to court records unsealed Friday [8/9/2019].  Virginia Giuffre, who says that Epstein and Maxwell trafficked her to powerful people for erotic massages and sex, claimed in a 2016 deposition that Maxwell directed her to have sex with former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, Britain's Prince Andrew (whom she has accused before), wealthy financier Glenn Dubin, former senator George Mitchell, now-deceased MIT scientist Marvin Minsky, and modeling agent Jean-Luc Brunel, as well as "another prince," a "foreign president," and the owner of a "large hotel chain" in France.  None of the men named in the deposition have been charged with a crime or even sued in civil court in connection with the Epstein case.

Jeffrey Epstein's alleged 'sex slave' reveals the men she claims she was forced to sleep with.  Jeffrey Epstein's alleged teenage "sex slave" claims she was ordered to sleep with powerful men — including a former US senator, the former governor of New Mexico, a prominent hedge fund manager and a late longtime MIT professor.  The identities of the men were revealed in some 2,000 documents unsealed Friday in Manhattan federal court related to Virginia Giuffre's defamation lawsuit against British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell.  In a deposition, Giuffre, née Roberts, claimed she was trafficked to MIT professor Marvin Minsky, who died in 2016 at age 88, as well as former Maine Sen. George Mitchell, ex-New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and money manager Glenn Dubin, whose wife, Eva, is an ex-girlfriend of Epstein's.

A 15 Year-Old Girl Was Allegedly Held Hostage on Epstein's Island.  Newly unsealed court documents contain a slew of horrifying allegations against the billionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and those in his inner circle, including claims that a 15-year-old Swedish girl was essentially held hostage on his private island, and that friends of Epstein's had taken her passport and phone, and demanded sex from her.  These claims come from nearly a huge tranche of documents recently unsealed by the United States Second Circuit Court of Appeals related to the defamation lawsuit filed by Epstein victim Virginia Roberts Giuffre against his associate Ghislaine Maxwell.

While media were focused on mass shootings, explosive revelations about the Russia Hoax came out in a Sunday morning interview.  Maria Bartiromo has immersed herself in the details of the Russia Hoax and has used her weekly Fox News program, Sunday Morning Futures, to tease out details of information from current and former Republican congressmen who have seen documents and interviewed witnesses that the public has not yet had access to.  The picture that emerges is ugly, indeed.  Yesterday [8/4/2019], in an interview with former House oversight committee chairman Trey Gowdy, she exposed new details — outrageous behavior by a U.S. intelligence asset — in the setting up of George Papadopoulos in order to obtain a FISA warrant to spy on the Trump campaign and (unsuccessfully) attempt to lure him into a chargeable crime.

In China, Big Brother is watching you even as you sort your trash.  The Chinese state is taking surveillance to the next level.  Vast networks of cameras are not just aimed at reducing crime but also enforcing recycling laws, encouraging civic behaviour.  Privacy concerns aside, the tools are reshaping the relationship between government and citizen.

IBM bans all removable storage, for all staff, everywhere.  IBM has banned its staff from using removable storage devices.  In an advisory to employees, IBM global chief Information security officer Shamla Naidoo said the company "is expanding the practice of prohibiting data transfer to all removable portable storage devices (eg:  USB, SD card, flash drive)."  The advisory stated some pockets of IBM have had this policy for a while, but "over the next few weeks we are implementing this policy worldwide."

Narrative of rampant white nationalist mass shootings overblown.  Seven times this year, a gunman has opened fire in a U.S. public place, killing at least three people.  One shooter is suspected of being a white supremacist.  One was an Elizabeth Warren supporter.  And two were black.  Yet fears over rising white nationalist attacks after the El Paso massacre threaten to obscure what studies describe as the big picture about mass killings:  that they represent a small fraction of annual gun deaths, that they are not surging, and that about half are committed by whites, not a share out of line with the general U.S. populace.

France [is] Slowly Sinking into Chaos.  France today is a country adrift.  Unrest and lawlessness continue to gain ground.  Disorder has become part of daily life.  Polls show that a large majority reject President Macron.  They seem to hate his arrogance and be inclined not to forgive him.  They seem to resent his contempt for the poor; the way he crushed the "yellow vest" movement, and for his not having paid even the slightest attention to the protesters' smallest demands, such as the right to hold a citizens' referendum like those in Switzerland.  Macron can no longer go anywhere in public without risking displays of anger.  The "yellow vests" seem finally to have stopped demonstrating and given up:  too many were maimed or hurt.  Their discontent, however, is still there.  It seems waiting to explode again.

Ohio gunman described himself as pro-Satan 'leftist' who supported Elizabeth Warren.  The Ohio gunman described himself on social media as a pro-Satan "leftist" who wanted Joe Biden's generation to die off, hated President Trump and law enforcement, and hoped to vote for Sen. Elizabeth Warren for president.  In the early hours of Sunday morning [8/4/2019], rifle-wielding Connor Betts rampaged through a Dayton entertainment district, killing his sister and eight other people and leaving dozens of others wounded before police killed him.  "I want socialism, and i'll [sic] not wait for the idiots to finally come round to understanding," he wrote in one tweet, according to Heavy.com.

Chinese Aluminum Billionaire Indicted in $1.8 Billion Tariff Evasion Scheme.  We previously outlined Mr. Zhongtian Liu as part of the early 2018 explanation for how China was exploiting the NAFTA loophole as an end-run around tariffs.  Today the Central District of California U.S. Attorney announces his indictment.

This supercomputer will perform 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 operations per second.  A government laboratory in Illinois will receive the fastest supercomputer in the United States in 2021, and it will be the first to hit what's called exascale-level processing.  The mammoth machine, called Aurora, will live at Argonne National Laboratory, and will be able to accomplish tasks like simulating complex systems, running artificial intelligence, and conducting materials-science research.  So what's the point of a supercomputer?  Experiments like crash-testing a car are expensive, complicated, and sometimes dangerous.  A supercomputer simulation, however, allows researchers to carry out those tests virtually, and track and change countless variables as they play out.  Some supercomputers even simulate nuclear blasts, which is best done virtually, and not in the real world.

Illinois tied for nation's most lax lawmaker/lobbyist revolving door laws.  Illinois is one of the only states in the U.S. that has no rules against lawmakers leaving office on a Friday and returning Monday as a registered lobbyist.  A new analysis of each state's lobbying restrictions for lawmakers by consumer advocacy nonprofit Public Citizen shows Illinois — along with Idaho, Michigan, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Oklahoma and Wyoming — are the most lax in their rules about lawmakers leaving office only to return as lobbyists.  Government affairs lobbyist Craig Holman says the pay that these former lawmakers often see is a stark contrast from their days in public office.

132 House Republicans Vote Against Trump-Pelosi Spending Deal, But House Democrats Push It Through.  The debt-and-spending deal that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D.-Calif.) made with President Donald Trump and the congressional Republican leadership was rejected by a large majority of House Republicans — 132 voted against it — but it was pushed to passage on Thursday with overwhelming support from House Democrats.  The final vote on the deal was 284-149.  The 284 who voted for it included 219 Democrats and 65 Republicans.  The 149 who voted against it included 132 Republicans, 16 Democrats and 1 Independent.

Tainted alcohol killed 19 people in Costa Rica last month.  At least 19 people in Costa Rica have died after drinking alcohol tainted with toxic levels of methanol, local officials said Sunday [7/21/2019]. The Costa Rica Ministry of Health said fourteen men and five women[,] ranging in age from 32 to 72[,] died in June from what appeared to be methanol poisoning, local outlet the Tico Times reported.

New York office towers ordered to set their AC thermostats at 78 degrees to save energy [...] ahead of dangerously hot weather.

The Editor says...
Left-wing environmentalists want to do away with air conditioning, in order to "save the earth."  What then are we supposed to do during "dangerously hot weather?"

Has the duration and extent of heat waves gone up or down in the last century?  Answer:  Not just down but way down.  According to Chris Martz of Weather Facts, the average duration of heat waves is 41 percent shorter than it was in the 1930s.  They lasted nine days then to six and a half now.  Not only that, average high temperatures in the 1930s, when industrialization was minuscule compared to today, were considerably above (roughly two degrees) what they are now.

Who is "anti-science" now?
Protesters continue to block telescope construction in Hawaii.  The protesters believe the telescope project will desecrate Mauna Kea.  Their protest is based on primitive, Earth-worshiping paganism.  On the other hand, I suspect most of the astronomers who would benefit from the project are secular humanists, bent on disproving the Biblical account of creation.

Ousted UK ambassador leaked US intelligence.  Leaked U.K. diplomatic cables critical of President Trump have led Britain's ambassador, Sir Kim Darroch, to announce his departure from Washington earlier than expected.  But the story is not yet concluded.  According to one current and one former U.S. government official speaking on the condition of anonymity, Darroch repeatedly leaked classified U.S. intelligence information, including highly classified information, to a journalist for a U.S.-based media outlet.  The sources are consolidated by the reaction my related inquiries have received from other government officials.  These leaks are unrelated to the diplomatic cables which sparked Trump's anger and Darroch's departure.

Overpopulation:
Our New Planet Is Going to Be Great!  For example, in 1991, when Omar's family fled Somalia due to their complicity in the genocidal regime of the dictator Siad Barre, the population of Somalia was only 7 million.  Today, 28 chaotic years later, Somalia has more than doubled in size to 15 million despite immense outflows of emigrants.  The U.N. forecasts that Somalia's population will reach 35 million in 2050 and 76 million in 2100.  Alternatively, millions of Somalis (or, quite possibly, tens of millions of Somalis) might prefer to follow Rep. Omar to the Magic Dirt of the first world.  According to a Gallup poll, at present one-third of the population of sub-Saharan African wants to migrate, and it's unlikely that additional population growth will make Africa more attractive.

These Are The Most And Least Obese States In America.  According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), their most recent estimate is that 30.1% of adults are obese as of 2017.  The obesity rate in the United States has doubled since 1990 when 15% of the population was classified as obese.  Further, estimates for the costs of obesity range from $147 billion to nearly $210 billion per year.  As consumers, we're footing the bill. [...] The state with the highest levels of obesity in America is West Virginia. [...] West Virginia just beat out Mississippi, the state with the second highest obesity rate in the country.  Mississippi ranks as the state with the lowest life expectancy in America.

New York's power is coming back after Manhattan spent hours in the dark.  [Scroll down]  ConEd CEO John McAvoy said the company is working to understand the cause of the outage and needs to do a full engineering analysis.  The city's fire department responded to numerous transformer fires, the first of which occurred in Manhattan on West 64th Street and West End Avenue, officials said.  [7/13/2019]

The Editor says...
Why would "numerous" transformers catch fire simultaneously in a small area?  Was it a chain reaction, or something else?

American Parents 'Are Afraid of Their Own Kids,' Physician Says.  Family physician and author Dr. Leonard Sax has made a name for himself by seeking to restore common sense to today's crazy world of child-rearing.  He continues this quest toward restored sanity in a recent interview with the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.  As Dr. Sax explains, there is a great difference between parents in European countries, such as the U.K., and those in the U.S. That difference, Sax explains, is fear.

Attention Correction Feature in iOS 13 Beta Enables Appearance of Eye Contact During FaceTime Calls.  A new feature in the latest iOS 13 beta makes users appear as if they're looking directly at the camera to make eye contact during FaceTime calls, when actually they're looking away from the camera at the image of the other person on their screen.

Real Hedge-Fund Managers Have Some Thoughts on What Epstein Was Actually Doing.  Long before Jeffrey Epstein pleaded guilty to prostitution charges in Florida more than a decade ago, his fellow Palm Beach resident and hedge-fund manager Douglas Kass was intrigued by the local gossip about his neighbor.  "I'm hearing about the parties, hearing about a guy who's throwing money around," says Kass, president of Seabreeze Partners Management.  While stories about young girls swarming Epstein's waterfront mansion and the sex parties he hosted for the rich and powerful were the talk of the town, Kass was more focused on how this obscure person, rumored to be managing billions of dollars, had become so wealthy without much of a track record.

Axios: Breitbart Defines Democratic Presidential Field by Dominating Social Media.  Despite widespread, documented cases of bias against conservative media by social media platforms, Breitbart News and other conservative media have dominated online coverage of the Democrat party primaries, according to Axios.  In an article titled "Axios-NewsWhip 2020 attention tracker:  The might of right-wing media," Axios published data from its online media tracker, which tracks the attention received by individual Democrat presidential candidates from stories shared on social media.

American Psychological Association Pushes Polyamory.  Remember when psychologists' goal was to help people live balanced and ordered lives?  Now, it seems, the profession's highest purpose is to empower and validate people's deepest desires and sexual urges without having to suffer "stigma" or any adverse judgments from themselves or society.  Hence, the American Psychological Association has launched the "Non-Monogamy Task Force," the goal of which seem to be the promotion of sexual anarchy and the muting of polyamorists' moral consciences.

APA Task Force Promotes Multiple Sex Partner Status as Legally Protected Class.  The American Psychological Association (APA) has created a task force to promote "consensual non-monogamous relationships" (CNM) and a petition seeking legal protected class status of individuals with multiple sex partners.

Ross Perot, self-made billionaire and presidential candidate, dead at 89.  Ross Perot, the fiery, self-made Texas billionaire whose failed but memorable White House bids as a third-party candidate garnered a sizable slice of the popular vote, died Tuesday [7/9/2019].  He was 89.

Barr's recusal from Epstein case should give Democrats the willies.  [Scroll down]  Now Democrats can have a field day against Trump with the investigation entirely in their hands, right?  Don't think so.  On the surface it may appear to be bad news for President Trump — another rat fleeing a sinking ship? — and the left may be secretly cheering.  But if they are, they don't know Barr very well.  Barr is a canny player in ways that Sessions was not, and more likely, he's clearing the floor to keep any hint of politics out of this bona fide child-molestation case.

Did someone mention Jeffrey Epstein?

A warning about the stalemate in Venezuela.  Colombia has a recent history of one group of bad guys replacing another.  When Pablo Escobar and his M-19 Marxist guerrilla buddies were knocked out in 1990, the Cali Cartel took over.  When the Cali Cartel as knocked out, FARC took over.  When FARC got its vaunted yet locally rejected "peace" deal, they were knocked out (but got free stuff).  Now it's ELN's turn.

New 7.1 earthquake hits Southern California — 1 day after largest temblor in decades.  A magnitude 7.1 earthquake hit Kern County in California on Friday evening [7/5/2019] — just a day after a magnitude 6.4 earthquake that was the largest temblor in the region in two decades, the U.S. Geological Survey confirmed.  Shaking on Friday evening was felt as far away as Las Vegas and Los Angeles and into northern Mexico.  The USGS said there was a 5 percent chance a larger quake could still follow.

Act removed from Du Quoin State Fair lineup.  A band has been removed from the Du Quoin State Fair lineup.  Confederate Railroad will no longer perform on August 27.  The Du Quoin Weekly reports the band was removed because of their name.

Venezuela Forces Killed Thousands, Then Covered It Up, U.N. Says.  Venezuelan special forces have carried out thousands of extrajudicial killings in the past 18 months and then manipulated crime scenes to make it look as if the victims had been resisting arrest, the United Nations said on Thursday [7/4/2019] in a report detailing wide-ranging government abuses targeting political opponents.

Venezuela's implosion is becoming Colombia's security nightmare.  As Venezuela's economic and political situation continues to plumb new depths, analysts fret that the crisis is bound to spill over its borders sooner or later.  The most obvious candidate for destabilization is Colombia, which lies just across a long, porous, heavily populated border region that stretches over the Andes and down through the Amazon jungle.  It's no picnic having a failed state on your border.  As Rwanda found out in the '90s when the perpetrators of its genocide set up camp across the border in the vast, ungoverned jungles of Congo, security threats quickly become unmanageable if your foe has a safe harbor just across a lightly patrolled border.  And while the scale of violence in the northern tip of South America is much less, the basic dynamic looks distressingly similar.

UN finds a torture den in Venezuela's detention centers.  Where are Ocasio-Cortez's fake tears at the fence?  Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is one of the few Democrats who's openly stood up for and defended the socialist Venezuelan regime even as millions of Venezuelans seek to dislodge it from power. [...] Now a report from the United Nations high commissioner of human rights is out, on Venezuela, and it's profoundly ugly. [...] Can we draw one conclusion about her?  She's not about humanitarian concerns.  She's about seeking raw power, using people's emotions about what's humane to achieve her ends.  Socialism is always given a pass.

US customs agents seize rat meat at Chicago's O'Hare Airport.  Officials say U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport thwarted a man's attempt to import several pounds of African rat meat.

Border Protection stops illegal Giant African snails that were smuggled into US in luggage from Nigeria.  Two keen-nosed Beagles at a Georgia airport are being hailed for sniffing out two, illegal Giant African snails which were stashed inside an international passenger's luggage.  US Customs and Border Protection revealed that Candie and Chipper — members of the CBP's 'Beagle Brigade' — were on duty at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in Atlanta, Georgia, on June 23 when they alerted their handlers to the presence of contraband in a traveler's checked luggage.  The traveler, who has not been identified, had arrived in the US from a flight originating in Nigeria.

The Editor says...
From the two articles immediately above, one can reasonably infer that the residents of Africa, where the ten poorest countries in the world are located, are so poor they have to eat snails and rats.  While there is no doubt that slavery was a disgraceful facet of this country's early history, it seems to me that the descendants of African slaves should be glad they live here.

July 4: Feds Warn of Possible Terror Attacks as ISIS Threatens New York, White House.  Federal authorities, in the days leading to Independence Day, warned of potential, not specific, attacks against revelers at the hands of "homegrown terrorists," referring to those inspired by overseas jihadi groups such as the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) and al-Qaeda, according to an intelligence bulletin issued to law enforcement.  The warning came as ISIS threatened to target the celebrations marking the birth of the United States in the nation's capital and New York.

Charlie Kirk Launches 'Turning Point Action' to Organize 1 Million Trump-Supporting Students.  Turning Point USA founder and executive director Charlie Kirk, who has launched Turning Point Action, a national get out the vote initiative for President Donald Trump's 2020 reelection campaign, announced the acquisition of Students for Trump on Tuesday [7/2/2019].  TPUSA's sister 501(c)(4) organization, Turning Point Action (TPA), announced on Tuesday its expansion with the acquisition of Students for Trump, and "all associated media assets."  The new initiative is seeking to organize one million student Trump-supporters in an effort to get out the vote in 2020.

Speaking on behalf of the internet, I'm shocked!
Toll House shocks the internet with surprise raw cookie dough announcement.  Raw cookie dough has always been a popular snack food, but it hasn't always been safe.  Health officials warn that it can cause sickness and infections, such as salmonella.  While that hasn't stopped a lot of people from risking it over the years, several companies have introduced safe-to-eat raw cookie dough over the last few years.  Nestle Toll House just entered the uncooked-cookie market with their own brand of raw cookie dough.

The President, China and the Spooks.  Why is it that every time Donald Trump gets together with Xi Jinping, someone gets busted on a sanctions violation?  I'm not privy to the inner workings of our cops and spooks, so I'm just asking.  While Trump and Xi sat down to dinner at the November 2018 Group of 20 meeting in Argentina, the chief financial officer of Huawei was arrested in a Vancouver airport transit lounge.  Now that Trump and Xi are meeting again next week at the Osaka Group of 20 meeting, there are reports of a contempt-of-court order against Chinese banks for violation of North Korea sanctions.

Second world war bomb explodes after three-quarters of a century.  The second world war may be long over, but its weapons remain deadly.  This huge crater in a field near the town of Limburg, Germany was created when a bomb exploded without warning during the early hours of 23 June.  Nearby residents heard the explosion during the night.  The next day they discovered the crater, which is 10 metres wide and 4 metres deep.  Bomb disposal experts think it was created by a 250-kilogram bomb.  It may have been faulty or failed to explode because it hit soft soil rather than a hard surface.  Around 75 years later, it seems a decaying detonator finally triggered the explosion.

The Editor says...
Maybe that was the last one of its kind.  Or maybe it wasn't.

Former White House lawyer: 'I'm not aware of any situation like' Elaine Chao's reported conflicts of interest.  Department of Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao's personal connections are raising concerns on Capitol Hill and beyond amid recent reports of various conflicts of interest.  Recent reports found that the Trump cabinet member created a "special path" for projects favored by Senate Majority Leader and husband Mitch McConnell for his home state of Kentucky; she retained shares in a construction-materials company for more than a year after promising to relinquish them; and she has "extraordinary proximity to power in China" given her family's American shipping company is largely based in China.

Facebook to hand over identity data of users suspected of hate speech, report says.  Facebook has struck a deal with France to turn over identity information on users suspected of posting hate speech on the platform, Reuters reported Tuesday [6/25/2019].  Digital Affairs Minister Cédric O said he reached an agreement with the social media site, according to the report.  Facebook has also been using artificial intelligence technology to combat the increasing problems of fake accounts, fake news and hate speech.  Between October 2018 and March 2019, Facebook took down more than 3 billion fake accounts, estimating that around 5% of monthly active accounts are fake.

Oregon Republican senator threatens state troopers, warns them to 'come heavily armed'.  After Senate Republican Leader Herman Baertschiger Jr. said Tuesday [6/18/2019] that his caucus was "prepared to take actions" to prevent passage of a major climate change bill, Gov. Brown announced on Wednesday that she was ready to answer Republican stonewalling by calling lawmakers back for a special session.  Brown hinted that she would be willing to send state troopers to round up Republicans if they walk out in the final days of the regular legislative session, saying in a statement that she is "in close communication with Oregon State Police."  That's an option Democratic senators and the governor did not use earlier this year, when Senate Republicans first brought the Senate to a standstill by walking out and preventing the necessary quorum.

The Editor says...
The Democrats did the same thing in Texas in 2003, [see this and this] but they had sense enough to leave the state and hide out in Oklahoma, beyond the reach of the Texas state troopers.

92% of left-wing activists live with their parents and one in three is unemployed, study of Berlin protesters finds.  The vast majority of left-wing protesters arrested on suspicion of politically-fuelled offences in Berlin are young men who live with their parents, a new report found.  The figures, which were published in daily newspaper Bild revealed that 873 suspects were investigated by authorities between 2003 and 2013.  Of these 84 per cent were men, and 72 per cent were aged between 18 and 29.

Monsignor Rossi Boots Me From D.C. Basilica on Corpus Christi Sunday.  For now, Rossi enjoys the PC immunity of the press and the protection of the utterly hypocritical Church of Pope Francis, which preaches poverty by day and practices decadence by night.  Pope Francis goes on and on about "self-interested clericalism" than protects and promotes its most obvious practitioners.  The McCarrick-Bransfield-Rossi triumvirate, with its beach houses, boy toys, and ballooning bank accounts, resembled nothing less than self-interested clericalism on steroids. [...] With one hand, Rossi invites Nancy Pelosi and company to Communion; with the other, he calls the police and his praetorian guard on me.

Pink Floyd frontman David Gilmour sells guitars for over $21 million in auction to combat climate change.  Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour sold over 120 of his guitars for a charity that combats climate change.  According to NBC News, the former frontman's auction raked in $21.5 million, all of which will be donated to ClientEarth, a nonprofit environmental law organization that prides itself on using the law to "combat climate change" and "defend habitats and wildlife," according to its Facebook page.  Gilmour tweeted about his decision to sell the guitars on Friday [6/21/2019], writing, "The choice really is that simple, and I hope that the sale of these guitars will help ClientEarth in their cause to use the law to bring about real change."

The Editor says...
This fellow wants to halt climate change, but then he says he wants "real change."  So he's not against changes.  But he is.

Why The Delay in Public Release of Key Documents?  [Scroll down]  The Inspector General report on FISA abuse has apparently been delayed due to the new angle of interviewing Christopher Steele.  Given the nature of this new aspect; and considering the process for a report assembly after investigation all the way to release (a minimum of a month); it is highly unlikely we will see the IG report until the end of July or August 2019, which triggers suspicions of the proverbial DC can-kicking process.

Feds Seize 16.5 Tons of Cocaine at Philly Port Worth over $1 Billion.  Federal authorities have confiscated 16.5 tons of cocaine from a ship at a port in South Philadelphia.  The U.S. Attorney's office reported the illegal drug was found in a ship at the Packer Marine Terminal on Tuesday, Fox 32 reported.  Officials estimate the seized shipment of 33,000 pounds of cocaine has a street value of over $1 billion.

The Editor says...
If this took place in Philadelphia, wouldn't that be Fox 29?  Fox 32 is in Chicago.

Pro-Life Rep Speaks Out After He Was Uninvited to a Security Conference Over Politics.  Pro-life Republican Texas Rep. Will Hurd responded Tuesday [6/18/2019] after his invitation to speak at a high-profile cyber security conference was rescinded.  "One of the things that's disturbing, I think, this is one more data point in a trend where people are uncomfortable or unwilling to engage with people who disagree with them," Hurd said on "Fox and Friends."

Can the swamp be drained?
City of Secrets:  Estimated 10,000 people in DC are spies.  Waves of civil servants, military and law enforcement officers, business people, students, diplomats and tourists saturate the city.  That is the scene on a typical weekday in the world's most powerful city — whose business revolves around secret meetings, information and documents.  Woven into that orderly bedlam are sophisticated networks of foreign nationals whose sole purpose is to steal secrets.  They are spies.  According to the International Spy Museum in D.C., an educational and historical center of U.S. intelligence documentation and artifacts, there are "more than 10,000 spies in Washington."  While there may be some quibbling about the actual numbers, the FBI agrees with the premise.

Disney World Raises Prices for Annual Passes.  As of Tuesday [6/18/2019], the lower-cost Epcot After 4 pass was $309, up from $289.  Disney's Silver Pass went up from $479 to $519.  The Gold Pass increased $90, from $609 to $699.  Prices for the higher-tier annual passes also went up.  The Platinum Pass now costs $899, up from $749.  The Platinum Plus Pass jumped from $849 to $999, an increase of $150.  The price for the Theme Park Select Pass remains the same.  Prices also increased on the annual passes offered to out-of-state residents.  The Platinum Pass now costs $1,119, while the Platinum Plus Pass increased to $1,219.

The Editor says...
I wouldn't be seen in Disney World if they gave me a lifetime Uranium-plus ultra super duper pass, and free parking, and the air fare to get there.

Oh, by the way...
Dozens of Disney World workers arrested in child sex stings.  Almost three dozen Disney theme park workers have been arrested for alleged kiddie-sex crimes since 2006, according to a broadcast report.  The 35 busts have been for possession of child porn or trying to meet a minor for sex, CNN found after combing through law enforcement and court records.  So far, 32 of those busted have been convicted and the other cases are pending.  Two cases of child porn allegedly happened on Disney property.  Disney spokeswoman Jacquee Wahler said these scary arrests represent only a tiny fraction of the company's workforce.

Trump supporters line up over 36 hours early for President's Orlando rally.  President Donald J. Trump is holding a rally at the Amway Center on Tuesday evening to announce his re-election campaign.  The event does not begin until 8 p.m.  However, people from across the United States began to line up outside of the Amway Center on Monday morning [6/17/2019].  Fox 35 was on scene and spoke to Maureen Bailey, a supporter of President Trump.

Foreign Meddling: [The] Department Of Education [is] Going After Elite Colleges For Allegedly Taking And Hiding Foreign Cash.  The Department of Education is going after U.S universities over supposed ties to foreign governments, after some allegedly took huge quantities of foreign cash and hid it from regulators.  At the top of the list are Georgetown University and Texas A&M, which have taken hundreds of millions of dollars from the government of Qatar, a middle eastern nation with suspected links to international terrorism.  Both schools received letters from the Department of Education Thursday [6/13/2019] saying they should have disclosed that funding but their filings "may not fully capture" the activity, the Associated Press reported.  The letter warned that they could be referred to the attorney general to "compel compliance."

GOP Congressman Nixed As Keynote Speaker For Cybersecurity Conference.  The effort by the left to de-platform conservative speakers continues.  This time it is Rep. Will Hurd, former CIA officer, and cybersecurity expert, who has been disinvited to be a keynote speaker at a cybersecurity conference.  The reason?  He's a pro-life Republican politician.  No, really.  This slight doesn't make any sense at all except to highlight the fact that there is no tolerance from the pro-abortion left for pro-life politicians.  What does a pro-life position have to do with cybersecurity?  The answer is absolutely nothing.

Indian election reveals role of money, questionable morality.  Nearly 43% of the new members of [India's] lower house of Parliament that convenes Monday [6/17/2019] for the first time since the election won despite facing criminal charges.  More than a quarter of those relate to rape, murder or attempted murder, according to a report by the civic group Association of Democratic Reforms.

Hong Kong and China Give In to Protesters, Suspend Extradition Bill.  Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam said on Saturday [6/15/2019] that a proposed extradition bill will be suspended, handing a stunning victory to thousands of protesters who packed the streets for a week to oppose legislation strongly desired by the mainland Chinese government.

DOJ Admits FBI Never Saw Crowdstrike Report on DNC Russian Hacking Claim.  The foundation for the Russian election interference narrative is built on the claim of Russians hacking the servers of the Democrat National Committee (DNC), and subsequently releasing damaging emails that showed the DNC worked to help Hillary Clinton and eliminate Bernie Sanders.  Despite the Russian 'hacking' claim the DOJ previously admitted the DNC would not let FBI investigators review the DNC server.  Instead the DNC provided the FBI with analysis of a technical review done through a cyber-security contract with Crowdstrike.

23 House Republicans Suspect DOJ Cover-up in Progress? — Request "Prompt" Declassification from President Trump.  Twenty-three House republicans request declassification of documents directly from President Trump as soon as possible.  Despite the executive office directive to AG Bill Barr, the republican group seemingly do not trust the DOJ and FBI institutional interests.  It's a smart move to keep the pressure on.

Children should have the right to tell doctors to vaccinate them if parents have 'flawed' anti-vaxx beliefs, rules American Medical Association.  Children should be able to get vaccines even if their parents don't want them to, top doctors in the US have ruled.  The American Medical Association — the country's largest doctors' union — this week voted to give 'mature' children as young as 12 the power of consent.

Denver elects an Ocasio-Cortez wannabe to its city council.  Is the Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez phenomenon spreading through the country?  In Denver, it looks like the Bronx congresswoman has got an imitator, and not just in the Latina looks department, we're talking the bad stuff, the Hugo Chavez socialist department.

Avowed Communist Wins a Seat in the Denver City Council.  Candi CdeBaca, an avowed Communist, just won a seat in the Denver City Council.  She knows literally nothing but firmly believes in communism.  "I don't believe that our current economic system actually works," she said.  "Capitalism by design is extractive and in order to generate profit in a capitalist system, something has to be exploited.  That's land, labor or resources.  And I think that we're in late phase capitalism and we know it doesn't work and we've got to move into something new."

Is Stacey Abrams being groomed for higher office?  The practice of opposing a party rebuttal to the president's State of the Union speech was started in 1966, when Republicans Senator Everett Dirksen and Rep. Gerald Ford responded to Democrat President Lyndon Johnson's State of the Union on television.  Since then, it has become an annual event.  Until 2019, all previous responses were delivered by contemporary senators, representatives, or governors.  Since 2011, there have been two responses — one in English and one in Spanish.  And here I was, under the illusion that English is our national language.  So how did Stacey Abrams, an ungracious loser with no national elective office, become the Democrats' choice to deliver a response?

Good!  It was the students that got you into this mess.
Oberlin College to Jury:  We're cash poor and big punitive award to Gibson's Bakery will hurt students.  The witness testimony completed today [6/12/2019] in the punitive damages hearing, which follows the $11.2 million compensatory verdict last Friday in the lawsuit Gibson's Bakery v. Oberlin College.  The jury could award up to double damages, meaning $22.4 million on top of the $11.2 million, bringing the potential total to $33.6 million, plus a recommendation that the judge award attorney's fees. [...] Gibson's lawyers spent considerable time going over Oberlin College's IRS Form 990, showing over $1 billion in assets and numerous employees earning over $100,000[.]

'Homework gap' shows millions of students lack home internet.  In classrooms, access to laptops and the internet is nearly universal.  But at home, the cost of internet service and gaps in its availability create obstacles in urban areas and rural communities alike.

The Editor says...
That's what books are for.  That's what the library is for.

Record High Employment — Available Jobs Exceed Labor Pool by 1.6 Million.  The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Summary, aka "JOLTS report", lags behind monthly employment reports by a month as the 'hires' and 'quits' are contrast against available job openings.  In the latest JOLTS report we find evidence why the May employment numbers were less than expected.  The data shows the economy is expanding; businesses are hiring; and the reason for lower new hires has nothing to do with an economic slow-down.  In essence, the labor market is tight, very tight, and Main Street businesses are having a hard time finding qualified workers.

The Editor says...
There will always be a shortage of qualified workers because the public schools are not teaching young people to learn and think for themselves.

Mississippi River floods right after climate alarmists predict water shortages.  The Mississippi River is inundated with water this spring, defying climate alarmists' claims and predictions that global warming is drying up the Midwest.  Reuters published an article in February asserting global warming will cause less precipitation and more drought in the Mississippi River basin.  The article, titled "U.S. faces fresh water shortages due to climate change, research shows," claims, "The pressures of climate change and population growth could cause water shortages in most of the United States."  The article specifically mentions the Midwest, where the Mississippi River flows, as one of the regions poised for reduced rainfall and water shortages.

The Toronto School Board's New Marxist 'Dress Code' Is A Huge Red Flag.  The Toronto District School Board recently announced changes to their official dress code.  Shaping the direction of the new code is the TDSB's push to ensure that school attire reflects "individual expression of identity, socio-cultural norms, and economic factors," which it deems "important factors to a person's health and well-being."  What has so far caused the most controversy is that the new policy allows students to wear hats in class while the national anthem plays at the start of the day.  In a tone-deaf move, the news broke the morning Canadians were paying their respects to those who fought at Juno Beach on D-Day.

PG&E Is Cutting Off Power In California So They Don't Get Sued Over Another Wildfire.  There have been a series of blackouts in northern California recently, but these don't have anything to do with storms or equipment failure.  Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) has been intentionally, proactively shutting off the juice in areas where red flag warnings for potential wildfires have been posted.  This has led to numerous complaints (mostly justified or at least understandable) from people losing service, particularly those who rely on electricity for home medical equipment.  But the actions by PG&E are equally understandable.

Oberlin College's identity crisis led to its Gibson's Bakery train wreck.  [Scroll down]  There are two things about this case that are very important, of which some of the commenters and tweets I read are missing.  The first is that Oberlin College, in the minds of the jury, wasn't guilty only of what they did, but also what they didn't do.  They had opportunities early on to see the [nonsense] flying in their faces — thrown by the social justice warrior students — and didn't have the good sense to see a basic problem and recognize the simplest of solutions.  What happened here is that Oberlin College and many universities have lost the understanding of their identity and basic purpose, and when that happens with most of us, when we don't know who we are, we tend to do stupid things.  That's what happened here.

Oberlin College ignored the First Law of Holes responding to the jury verdict against it.  Lack of respect for juries can be very, very costly.  The landmark jury verdict awarding $11 million (with the possibility of triple damages to come) to members of the Gibson Family, owners of a 5-generation bakery boycotted and slandered by students with the encouragement of a College official, is looking to be as much about social class as it is about the excesses social justice warriors (SJWs).

Gibson's Bakery v.  Oberlin College:  More than $11 million awarded.  A Lorain County jury on Friday awarded the owners of Gibson's Bakery more than $11 million from Oberlin College in finding that the college inflicted emotional distress, interfered with business relationships and libeled the family-owned bakery in downtown Oberlin.  The jury also found that Meredith Raimondo, the college's vice president and dean of students, libeled the family and business.  "All the Gibsons ever wanted was for the truth to come out," Lee Plakas, lead attorney for the Gibson family, said afterward.  "All they ever asked from the beginning, from Oberlin College, was to use its power and influence and might to tell the truth, and that letter never came.  But the jury sent the letter that was louder and more visible and more public.  I think the Gibson family is grateful for that and grateful for the jury to have the courage to be able to send a letter that no one else would send for the last almost three years."

Catering to the PC mob is going to cost Oberlin College big bucks.  Oberlin College, which has become one of the most politically correct campuses in the United States, has just discovered that allowing and encouraging social justice warriors to damage their perceived enemies can be expensive.  A local jury has just awarded Gibson's Bakery, a five-generation institution in Oberlin, Ohio, $11 million in its lawsuit against the college for throwing its support behind a student-led boycott over false charges of racism.  This amount could triple to $33 million if punitive damages — intended to punish and disincentivize egregious behavior — are awarded in proceedings Tuesday next week.

Arrogant Conceit and Pratfalls.  It's foolish to think that this case impacts only Oberlin.  Insurance companies are not as stupid as the Oberlin administrators and surely are reviewing the fees they charge colleges and universities for tortious liability claims.  Every one of them will pay more.  Will this come out of the payroll of the very bloated administrative salaries they are paying?  Not unless trustees finally get off their duffs and do their job of fiscal and policy oversight.  I do not see Oberlin long surviving this and that's as it should be.  The staff may have cushy, protected jobs but people like Gibson do not.

California utility proactively cuts power because of weather.  Pacific Gas & Electric implemented a controversial practice of cutting power to selected portions of Northern California on Saturday to guard against wildfires as the weather turned very windy, dry and hot.

Backlash when House Dems propose Congressional pay raise.  House Democrats apparently believe all of their hard work chasing impeachment, collusion and obstruction claims against President Donald Trump deserve a reward.  Tone-deaf Congressional Democrats are now proposing a pay raise for themselves, lifting a nearly decade-long pay freeze that would effectively give them an extra $4,500 next year, according to The Hill.

Jury awards Gibson's Bakery $11 million against Oberlin College.  The Jury in the Gibson's Bakery v.  Oberlin College case has reached a verdict.  According to our reporter in the Courtroom, the jury awarded $11 million.  Here are the details:  Allyn W. Gibson was awarded $3 million, David Gibson $5.8 million, Gibson Bros. $2,274,500.  Next Tuesday [6/11/2019] there will be a separate punitive damages which could be a double award (meaning tripling the $11 million to $33 million).

Construction to Begin Soon on Taller White House Fence.  The White House is getting a new 13-foot fence, almost double its current height, to help keep intruders out.

Liberals are gunning for your 401(k).  Shareholder activists are taking direct aim at companies — such as oil companies and gun-manufacturers — by abusing rules that publicly traded companies must follow to promote a far-left agenda.  Instead of trying to pass gun control laws through Congress, they are forcing public companies to bend to their will.  What they are doing is dangerous.  The most recent example happened to the legendary gun-maker Smith & Wesson.  As The Free Beacon reported, an obscure women's group called the Adrian Dominican Sisters has organized its 600 members to become marginal shareholders in gun companies to pass far-left political resolutions. [...] Other asset-managers and hedge fund leaders are willing to cave to activists — in the form of "virtue-signaling" — because they fear retribution and take actions not in the shareholders' best interest.

Leftwing Academic Calls On Bill Barr To Investigate A Surprising Player In The Russia Hoax Scandal.  Now that the popular consensus in the nation has shifted from "Trump is Putin's tool" to "Trump didn't want to help Mueller destroy his presidency" it is interesting to see some of the folks claim that they never ever supported the whole Russia hoax. [...] What shows that Steele dossier is looking more and more Chernobyl-like is the fact that the left is beginning to run from it.  Stephen F. Cohen, professor emeritus of Russian studies at Princeton University and New York University, who is also Mr. Katrina vanden Heuvel, definitely a lefty, and a contributor at The Nation, thinks that Bill Barr might be onto something.

A New Player Emerges In The Russia Investigation:  Who Is Walter Soriano?  One of the most interesting and maddening things about Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia collusion investigation and report is that it has always felt less than comprehensive.  It has been rightly criticized as only lightly touching on the role Hillary Clinton played in hiring Fusion GPS, to name one example.  Now Politico reports there's a new name added to the mix, discovered as part of an ongoing investigation by the Senate Intelligence Committee's probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election.  That name is Walter Soriano, and no one really seems to know much about him.

Pope Francis Approves Change To Lord's Prayer.  Pope Francis finally approved the changes he has long wanted to implement to the Lord's Prayer by replacing "lead us not into temptation" with "do not let us fall into temptation," reports UCatholic.

The Editor says...
The Pope should attend to his own prayers.  The Pope presumes to know more than Jesus, by editing His model prayer.

Healthy Texas couple dies from mysterious virus in Fiji.  A young and healthy Texas couple on a dream vacation in Fiji died suddenly after they both contracted a mysterious illness.  Family of David and Michelle Paul said the Fort Worth couple began feeling unwell the day before they were supposed to leave Fiji and return home two weeks ago.

Texas couple who died in Fiji said hands went numb in message: reports.  The Texas couple who died suddenly from a mysterious illness in Fiji last month sent messages to relatives saying their hands went numb and that they had been throwing up for at least eight hours prior to rushing to a local doctor to be examined.  David and Michelle Paul of Fort Worth, Texas, were in their 30s and both healthy when they arrived in Fiji on May 22.  According to relatives, the couple were in and out of the hospital due to a violent illness that caused vomiting, diarrhea, extreme weakness, shortness of breath and hand numbness.

An Ornery Old Man.  [T]he Mississippi River, the world's most economically significant watershed, is coming to the end of its lease and considering relocation.  Old Man River is a frightening and uncooperative beast in the best of times.  It's an alluvial river, meaning the Mississippi's bed isn't solid rock like, for example, the Colorado.  At its bottom the Mississippi flows on top of sand and mud, and it moves that sediment hither and yon as it pleases while draining half the North American continent from western Canada to the Appalachians down into the Gulf of Mexico.  Which means every thousand years or so the Mississippi will choose for itself a new channel.

De Blasio blames his staff for missing 9/11 memorial event.  Mayor de Blasio's staff threw themselves under the bus Friday to protect their boss from the fallout over his blowing off a memorial event for those who died from toxic exposure to Ground Zero after 9/11.  A spokesman for de Blasio claimed the mayor was missing from the ceremony for the unveiling of the 9/11 Memorial Glade because nobody told him about it.

New York City Is Facing A Rat Invasion.  Back in 2017, Mayor Bill de Blasio declared war on rats demanding "more rat corpses."  The city council mobilized and minted $32 million for the war.  So, what are the results?  After a small drop, rat sightings are again on the upswing.

Commonwealth: You unwittingly pay billions for political agendas in your electric bill.  Already, these agendas add up to about $300 a year for the average electricity bill.

What if Green Energy Isn't the Future?  What's Warren Buffett doing with a $10 billion bet on the future of oil and gas, helping old-school Occidental Petroleum buy Anadarko, a U.S. shale leader?  For pundits promoting the all-green future, this looks like betting on horse farms circa 1919.  Meanwhile, broad market sentiment is decidedly bearish on hydrocarbons.  The oil and gas share of the S&P 500 is at a 40-year low, and the first quarter of 2019 saw the Nasdaq Clean Edge Green Energy Index and "clean tech" exchange-traded funds outperform the S&P.

WHO will no longer categorize transgender as mental disorder.  The World Health Organization will no longer categorize transgender people as having a mental disorder, according to reports.  "Gender Identity Disorder" was removed from the organization's classification of diseases as of last weekend and will now be referred to as "gender incongruence," included in WHO's section about sexual health, Time reported.

Also in the news, the same day:
Burnout is an official medical diagnosis, World Health Organization says.  It's a feeling of extreme work stress that's long been embedded in the cultural lexicon, and now it might be codified in your medical records as well.  Burnout is now a legitimate medical diagnosis, according to the International Classification of Diseases, or the ICD-11, the World Health Organization's handbook that guides medical providers in diagnosing diseases.  Burnout now appears in the ICD-11's section on problems related to employment or unemployment.

There aren't that many dope smoking hippies, even in Oregon.
Oregon, awash in marijuana, takes steps to curb production.  Oregon is awash in pot, glutted with so much legal weed that if growing were to stop today, it could take more than six years by one estimate to smoke or eat it all.

Why the UFO story is far more interesting than you think.  The New York Times has made waves with a new report on sightings by U.S. Navy aviators of unidentified flying objects between 2014 and 2015.  But the UFO issue, which follows a similar 2017 story, is far more interesting than the reporters let on.

JPMorgan Chase accused of purging accounts of conservative activists.  Conservative activists are calling out America's largest financial institution, charging they are being targeted.  JPMorgan Chase is under fire for closing the bank accounts of several customers in the conservative movement as other right-wingers are threatening to close their accounts unless the bank plays nice.  "If Jamie Dimon can't absolutely guarantee that Chase Bank won't ever discriminate against conservatives, conservatives should consider banking elsewhere," warned David Almasi, vice president of the conservative-leaning National Center for Public Policy Research, referring to JPMorgan's chairman and CEO.

How's that legalized pot working out?  Is the War on Drugs over yet?
42 arrested across metro Denver in massive black market marijuana bust.  Authorities said Friday [5/24/2019] they raided hundreds of black market marijuana operations in Colorado that flouted the state's cannabis law by growing tens of thousands of plants in Denver-area homes and selling it out of state.  Investigators seized more than 80,000 plants and 4,500 pounds of harvested marijuana, state and federal prosecutors said at a news conference.  Officers raided 247 homes and eight businesses and arrested 42 people in Denver and seven nearby counties.

Americans' Life Savings Disappear From Mexican Bank Accounts.  In late December, Kathy Machir called Marcela Zavala Taylor, her banker of nine years at Mexico's Monex Casa de Bolsa, to get cash for contractors building her retirement home in San Miguel de Allende.  Typically, Zavala would wire money or dispatch her assistant, Juan, on his motorcycle with an envelope full of pesos.  Monex, with $5.2 billion in assets and operations in the U.S., was woven into the lives of Machir and the 10,000 other Americans who've moved to San Miguel de Allende.  The transfer didn't happen.  Juan didn't show, Zavala didn't return calls, and Kathy and Jim Machir discovered that their nest egg was gone.  When the Machirs and other San Miguel expatriates met with Monex officials in early January, the bankers told some of them that about $40 million was missing from as many as 158 accounts, many belonging to English-speaking Americans.

Wendy's employee takes bath in kitchen sink, restaurant still passes inspection.  This doesn't count as washing your hands before returning to work.  An employee at a Wendy's in Florida brought his home hygiene routine to the fast food restaurant, washing up in an industrial sink, a revolting viral video shows.  The 93-second footage, posted Tuesday [5/21/2019] on Facebook, shows a Snapchat video of a shirtless young man without shoes or socks climbing into an oversize sink in the Milton restaurant's kitchen.

FDA looks to swap out 'sell by' dates for 'best if used by'.  The Food and Drug Administration announced Thursday [5/23/2019] that it will work with food manufacturers to use the label "best if used by" to refer to food quality, rather than the phrase "sell by," which can create the impression the product is not safe by a certain date.  The FDA said that the new label will curb food waste.  Setting expiration dates on foods is not an exact science.  The "best if used by" date on milk or eggs means that the products will be the highest quality until a certain date, not that they will expire after that date.  The "best if used by" date shows consumers that the products are still safe by the date indicated, but doesn't lead them to think they have to immediately toss the milk or eggs in the trash after the date.

Sometimes the swamp drains itself:
USDA staffers quit en masse as Trump administration eyes moving offices out of DC.  Employees at the U.S. Department of Agriculture are quitting at a rapid clip as Secretary Sonny Perdue prepares to move forward with plans to relocate two offices far outside the Washington, D.C., Beltway.  Federal employees at the Economic Research Service (ERS) and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) — two small but important agencies within the USDA — are unhappy with Perdue's plan, announced last August, to move the majority of their staff from current offices in the capital to an area closer the country's agricultural centers.

The Editor says...
Here's a better idea:  After all the employees walk out in protest, eliminate the USDA completely.  If anybody misses the USDA, a private company will pop up to take its place.

FBI Warns of New Twist in Virtual Kidnapping Scams.  The FBI and our law enforcement partners are warning the public about a new, concerning twist on virtual kidnapping for ransom scams (VKFR), where criminals are convincing U.S. victims to cross the border into Mexico.  Law enforcement agencies have been warning the public of virtual kidnapping schemes for some time.  Virtual kidnappings happen when a victim is told, over the phone, that his or her family member has been kidnapped.  Then, through deception and threats, criminals coerce victims to pay a ransom.  The criminals also threaten harm to the party(s) if they call law enforcement or alert authorities.  No one is physically kidnapped in these schemes, but they are often traumatic for everyone involved.

After the global warming alarmists were defeated...
ASX closes $33 billion higher at 11-year high.  The S&P/ASX 200 has closed [5/20/2019] 1.7 percent higher at 6476, the highest since 14 December, 2007.  The gains are thanks solely to the financial sector, which had multiple negative overhangs removed with the Coalition's victory on Saturday [5/18/2019].

3 Hectares of Poppy Crops Near Tijuana, BC = 2 Million Plants.  A poppy field of approximately three hectares was located by agents of the State Preventive Police at the height of El Veladero Hill, in the Natura district, in Tijuana.  The first data provided to ZETA that at 4:38 pm on Friday [5/17/2019] they reported to the emergency line that from Camino Vecinal street in Colonia Natura a poppy field was visible.

The Editor says...
That's a surprise, but is that really an emergency?

Jesse Jackson Wants To Help Fix The Venezuelan Embassy Standoff.  After the United States recognized Juan Guaido as the interim President of that country, he appointed a new ambassador to our country named Carlos Vecchio.  But Ambassador Vecchio hasn't been able to get into the Venezuelan embassy in Washington because it's being "occupied" by protesters who support Nicolas Maduro.  They're primarily comprised of Code Pink members and other random socialists, but they've locked themselves in for some time.  In response, officials have cut off the power and, allegedly, the water (the utility company denies the water was cut off), and counter-protesters have not allowed anyone to bring in food.  This has been going on for a couple of weeks.

Microsoft uses artificial intelligence to push what liberals think you should write.  Microsoft has decided that you need help in understanding what words to use when you write.  After all, what you write and how you want to write it should take a backseat to what liberals think you should write.  Fox News reported, "Microsoft is harnessing the power of artificial intelligence to boost the use of 'inclusive language' in Word.  The feature is part of Ideas in Word, a forthcoming AI-powered online tool designed to improve users' writing ... In addition to 'familiar fixes for spelling and grammatical errors,' Ideas in Word will also offer 'advice on more concise and inclusive language,' according to Microsoft.  In the blog post, [John] Roach used the example of 'police officer,' instead of 'policeman.'"

If Globalization Meant China Could Turn off Your Fridge, Would You Still Like It?  The pill many people take in the morning may have come a long way to the breakfast table, from the other side of the world, in fact.  "America needs generic drugs.  They make up 90 percent of the American drug supply.  Without them, every large-scale government health program — the Affordable Care Act, Medicare Part D, the Veterans Health Administration, charitable programs for the developing world — would be unaffordable."  In the fall of 2012, an FDA employee tasked with "inspecting the Indian manufacturing plants that make many of America's low-cost generic drugs" discovered that its reputation as "the world leader in aseptic manufacturing" was a fraud.

California May Go Dark This Summer and Most Aren't Ready.  A plan by California's biggest utility to cut power on high-wind days during the onrushing wildfire season could plunge millions of residents into darkness.  And most people aren't ready.  The plan by PG&E Corp. comes after the bankrupt utility said a transmission line that snapped in windy weather probably started last year's Camp Fire, the deadliest in state history.  While the plan may end one problem, it creates another as Californians seek ways to deal with what some fear could be days and days of blackouts.

'America Needs Men and Women of Integrity... Freedom of Religion Is Under Assault'.  Vice President Mike Pence on Saturday [5/11/2019] delivered the commencement address at the 46th graduation ceremony at Liberty University — and spoke bluntly to the new graduates and their families and friends as over 50,000 people gathered at Williams Stadium on the Liberty University campus in Lynchburg, Virginia.  More than 8,000 graduates were in attendance to hear the vice president's remarks.  The university graduated more than 20,000 students — 80 percent of whom earned their degrees via the school's online programs, as the university noted in a press release.

Soon, Microsoft Word Will Edit Your Document for Political Correctness.  Is Microsoft trying to rehabilitate the image of Clippy? [...] I'm not sure anything can replace that stupid paperclip, but according to the business magazine Fast Company, Microsoft is rolling out a series of features called "Ideas in Word" to help users with their writing — and one of those features will have to do with whether your writing is sufficiently woke.  "Microsoft will soon preview a version of Word that will use artificial intelligence to make your writing not just grammatically but politically correct," Fast Company reported Wednesday [5/8/2019].

Intelligence analyst charged with leaking Top Secret information to left-wing reporter Jeremy Scahill.  A former intelligence analyst and Afghanistan veteran has been charged with leaking classified information to the media.  Daniel Everette Hale, 31, of Nashville, Tenn., was arrested on federal charges Thursday [5/9/2019].  The reporter that Hale leaked this information to is not named in the indictment, but the charging document identifies him as Jeremy Scahill of the Intercept, an outspoken critic of America's military activities overseas.  Hale "printed off a series of Secret and Top Secret documents through his position with the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, many of which he then provided to the reporter."

Secret Knife Missile That Kills Terrorists Without Harming Civilians.  The U.S. has developed a secret missile to kill terrorists in precision strikes without harming civilians nearby, and it has already proven its worth in the field, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing more than a dozen current and former US officials.  The R9X is a modified version of the Hellfire missile.  Instead of exploding, the weapon uses sheer force to kill its target.  "To the targeted person, it is as if a speeding anvil fell from the sky," The Journal wrote.

FCC warns about 'one ring' robocall scam:  Do not call numbers back.  Don't call back phone numbers that ring once and hang up, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has warned.  People throughout the U.S. have been receiving "One Ring" or "Wangiri" robocalls in bursts, according to officials.  The calls are targeting specific area codes "often calling multiple times in the middle of the night."

Nadler Schedules Vote To Hold Barr In Contempt Of Congress.  House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler scheduled a vote Monday [5/6/2019] to hold Attorney General William Barr in contempt of Congress for not giving the committee special counsel Robert Mueller's full unredacted report.  The New York Democrat gave Barr a deadline of 9 a.m.  Monday to turn in the full report with no redactions, which many Republicans believe would be dangerous due to the possibly sensitive material, which could be leaked.

Does this come with a fair trial, or just a decree of guilt?
Democrats prepare to hold William Barr in contempt.  The House Judiciary Committee will proceed with a vote to hold Attorney General William Barr in contempt of Congress on Wednesday [5/8/2019], Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) confirmed late Monday, as the Justice Department attempts to fend off the effort ahead of a negotiating session with the Democratic-led committee on Tuesday.  Nadler's firm stance comes as he seeks punitive actions against the attorney general for defying a subpoena for special counsel Robert Mueller's unredacted report on the Russia investigation and its underlying evidence.

Imprisoning Bill Barr is left's new rallying cry.  The battle between congressional Democrats and the Justice Department over Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia report has reached new levels of vitriol, as some on the left call for Attorney General Bill Barr to be physically dragged in to testify or even locked up for defying congressional subpoenas.  The demands have escalated after the attorney general refused to appear before the House Judiciary Committee last week amid disagreements over the format of the hearing.

Ken Starr:  Leak of Mueller's 'whiny' letter to Barr was an 'unforgivable sin'.  Former independent counsel Ken Starr on Monday sharply criticized the leak of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's letter to Attorney General William Barr following Barr's summary of the Russia report, calling the release of the letter an "unforgivable sin."  "His letter, that was then leaked on the very eve of Bill Barr's testimony, was essentially, I believe, an unfair, whiny complaint," Starr argued on "The Story with Martha MacCallum."  Details of the March 24 letter went public shortly before Barr testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee in a tense hearing last week.

Is Venezuela's military really loyal to Maduro — or its own survival?  The Venezuelan military officers, summoned to the feared headquarters of the Military Counter Intelligence Agency, found themselves in a room wondering what was looming behind the piece of cloth covering the bulletin board facing them.  Having to be there was bad enough.  The agency, known by its acronym DGCIM, is notorious for holding some 200 to 300 officers and military personnel who have been sent over the years for punishment after being arrested on accusations of conspiring to depose the socialist regime headed by Nicolás Maduro.  Reports of dire conditions and torture abound, the term "hell" often used to describe what it's like to be in DGCIM custody.

WaPo reports that Maduro had advance knowledge of Guaido's plans.  Somehow in the events leading up to the May Day protests that rocked Caracas over the last three days, Maduro got advance word that his military leaders were about to defect, forcing acting president Juan Guaido to start his street protests a day earlier than scheduled.  The leak to Maduro also forced military, now on its backfoot, to show an exaggerated sort of loyalty to the Maduro dictatorship to keep themselves out of the torture chambers, or maybe just plain dead — which is why we saw such a brutal military response to the protests in the streets, with in one instance, the military running a truck over protestors.

Conservatives want Catholic bishops to denounce pope as a heretic.  A group of 19 Catholic priests and academics have urged bishops to denounce Pope Francis as a heretic, in the latest ultra-conservative broadside against the pontiff over a range of topics from communion for the divorced to religious diversity.

Marco Rubio: the narrative that Nicolás Maduro is winning in Venezuela is 'ridiculous'.  Venezuela's self-declared president may have tried and failed this week to overthrow and expel the country's embattled ruler, but U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio said Friday that Juan Guaidó is winning a power struggle with Nicolás Maduro.  Appearing in the heart of South Florida's Venezuelan exile community with U.S. Sen. Rick Scott and U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, Rubio argued that Maduro maintains control over the military but can't move around his own country amid a popular uprising.  He described Maduro as a man with reason to be paranoid, and limited time left on the life of an administration propped up by the Cuban and Russian governments.

McConnell: Senate won't take up bill preventing US withdrawal from Paris deal.  Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Thursday that the Senate will not take up a House bill that would force President Trump to keep the U.S. in the Paris climate agreement.  "This futile gesture to handcuff the U.S. economy through the ill-fated Paris deal will go nowhere here in the Senate," McConnell said from the Senate floor.  "We're in the business of actually helping middle-class families, not inventing new obstacles to throw in their paths."

Ukrainian Embassy confirms DNC contractor solicited Trump dirt in 2016.  The boomerang from the Democratic Party's failed attempt to connect Donald Trump to Russia's 2016 election meddling is picking up speed, and its flight path crosses right through Moscow's pesky neighbor, Ukraine.  That is where there is growing evidence a foreign power was asked, and in some cases tried, to help Hillary Clinton.  In its most detailed account yet, the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington says a Democratic National Committee (DNC) insider during the 2016 election solicited dirt on Donald Trump's campaign chairman and even tried to enlist the country's president to help.

Ukraine Embassy Says DNC Operative Reached Out For Dirt On Trump In 2016, Report Says.  A new bombshell report released on Thursday evening alleges that an operative for the Democratic National Committee (DNC) reached out during the 2016 presidential election and asked for dirt on Donald Trump.  The Hill reports that Ukrainian Ambassador Valeriy Chaly's office said in written answers to questions that DNC contractor Alexandra Chalupa sought information on Paul Manafort because Chalupa wanted to force Manafort's business dealings in front Congress.

Journalism Institute Poynter Tries to 'Blacklist' 29 Conservative Outlets as 'UnNews'.  The attack on the conservative internet has reached a new low.  Poynter, the journalism institute responsible for training writers and reporters, decided to promote a left-wing smear of conservative groups online.  The result was a hit job written by someone who works for the anti-conservative Southern Poverty Law Center for a journalism organization funded by prominent liberal billionaires such as George Soros and Pierre Omidyar.  Poynter, which has started the International Fact-Checking Network, shared the new report and dataset called "UnNews," declaring at least 29 right-leaning news outlets and organizations to be "unreliable news websites."

The Editor says...
I was disappointed to see akdart.com did not make the list.

But then, the very next day...
Poynter Shelves Entire Blacklist Of 'Unreliable' News Outlets Following Backlash.  The Poynter Institute, a journalism nonprofit organization, has completely disabled a list of what they labeled as an extensive list of "unreliable" news websites on Thursday night after facing scrutiny in the days since its publication.  A litany of conservative publications, including The Washington Free Beacon and The Washington Examiner, were lumped into the list of "unreliable" publications and it received nearly instantaneous condemnation from them.

Poynter pulls list of 'unreliable' news sites.  Well, that was quick.  Yesterday [5/2/2019], I reported that the Poynter Institute for Media Studies had published a list of 515 "unreliable news websites" that included this blog.  Today I am pleased to report that the list has been pulled with Poynter's apology, albeit a qualified one.

Update:
Poynter 'Blacklist' of Conservative News Sites Was Created by SPLC Employee.  A journalism institute released a "blacklist" of media outlets they deemed as "unreliable" that was created by an employee of the left-wing Southern Poverty Law Center and overwhelmingly contains conservative new media outlets.  The Poynter Institute for Media Studies, a Florida-based nonprofit journalism school, released the list on Wednesday [5/1/2019] and declared dozens of mainstream conservative sites such as the Washington Free Beacon, Daily Caller, Daily Signal, CNS News, and Breitbart as "unreliable" while listing few liberal sites," Newsbusters reports.

For Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Bernie Sanders — Utopia looks like Venezuela.  The already ruined nation of Venezuela descended further into chaos this week.  Opposition leader Juan Guidó has called on the military to overturn the leftist regime of Nicolás Maduro.  The government has blocked CNN from the nation's airwaves.  Every storm cloud has a silver lining.  Doctors have treated at least 50 injured demonstrators, including one woman shot in the abdomen.  A military tank crushed protesters attempting to flee.  Amnesty International reports a systematic policy of repression throughout the country, including widespread extrajudicial executions.  More than one-third of Venezuelans eat just one meal per day.  "We eat what people give us," one desperate mother of three explained to the Miami Herald.  "My husband works as a watchman, but his salary is not enough to buy food.  We have gone up to two days without eating."  So she waits with hundreds of other hungry Venezuelans in breadlines at her local church.

Brutal: Maduro's Thugs Run People Over With Heavy Trucks in Venezuela.  The situation in Venezuela is deteriorating by the minute as President Guan Guido continues to encourage the military to stop taking orders from Dictator Nicolas Maduro.  During opposition protests Tuesday [4/30/2019] in Caracus, Maduro's thugs deliberately plowed into a crowd of people, running them over and causing severe injury.

Venezuela's Guaido makes a bold new push for military uprising.  We've had so many false alarms it's tempting to just ignore this one.  Wake us when it's over.  Venezuela's democratic acting president, Juan Guaido, called for a giant rally on May Day, a bid for the Venezuelan public to come out into the streets and protest yet again.  Not very original, but there isn't much else he can do, given that the Venezuelan military, the traditional avenue for power shifts in that country, hasn't significantly joined the side of the democrats.  And, it's hard to top the avalanchas of protest that have flooded Venezuela in the past.  How could this one be any bigger?  What's more, given that none of the past demonstrations ever brought forth any change, it's hard to see how this one will.  In Venezuela, it seems it's just all there is to do.  But there are some details that suggest maybe a corner is being turned.

Venezuela's Guaido calls for military uprising while flanked by soldiers at Caracas airbase.  The power struggle between embattled Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and the opposition met its most bold action on Tuesday when Juan Guaido called for a military uprising to oust the socialist leader.  Emboldened crowds took to the streets of Caracas — and around the country — after the 35-year-old leader of the opposition-led National Assembly and a small contingent of heavily armed soldiers appeared in an early morning video promoting the "final phase" of his putsch to oust Maduro.

Watch Ben Rhodes Squirm as He Denies Obama White House Involvement in Trump-Russia Probe.  During an interview last week with PJ Media's Nick Ballasy, Ben Rhodes, former deputy national security adviser to President Obama, strenuously denied that the Obama White House had anything to do with the improper surveillance of the Trump campaign.  Echoing a familiar Obama refrain, Rhodes, in fact, insisted that he "literally" read about the FBI's counterintelligence investigation into Trump for the first time in the newspaper ("the [...] Washington Post" to be exact).

Muslim Murders US Soldier - Canada will Apologize to Him and Give Him $10,500,000.  A Toronto-born Muslim is set to receive an apology from Canada's justice and public safety ministers plus pay him more than $10,000,000.00 after he pled guilty to five war crimes, including killing an American soldier.  Omar Khadr, 30, pleaded guilty to five war crimes before a military commission in 2010.  The allegations against him occurred in 2002 in Afghanistan when he was just 15 years old.

Nepal Deports US Citizen, Arrests Four on Allegations of Converting People to Christianity.  Nepalese authorities arrested four people Tuesday and deported a U.S. citizen on allegations of illegally converting people to Christianity by "allurement," sparking outcry from Christian advocates.  Police officers arrested two men and two women, one of whom is a resident of Colorado, around 8 a.m.  Tuesday [4/23/2019], a day after the group of four attended a one day conference for pastors with 70 others at a local church, according to Christian Solidarity Worldwide.

U.S. Broadcaster Under Scrutiny for Disseminating Autocratic Propaganda.  Federal officials are scrutinizing the U.S. government's Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty news service, established to promote democratic values abroad, after complaints it has distributed foreign propaganda favorable to authoritarian regimes in Central Asia, according to the network, its employees and an internal State Department memo.  State Department officials sent a six-page memo to the leaders of Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty earlier this year criticizing a pro-government stance by the service's Tajikistan network and urging them to intervene following repeated complaints by U.S. diplomats, network employees and academics specializing in Central Asia.  They said the network was providing programming favorable to Tajikistan's president, Emomali Rahmon, his government and family.

Navy SEAL combat veteran told that age 37 is too old become a New York firefighter.  A Navy SEAL, 37, who served four combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan has been told he is too old to become a New York firefighter.  Special Operations Chief Shaun Donovan is due to leave the Navy next year and was planning to join the Fire Department of New York.  He enlisted after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, which took place on his twentieth birthday. [...] He took a written exam in October and scored within the top 1% of the nearly 44,000 applicants.  He returned to New York in January for the physical exam and passed that as well.  The two trips from San Diego, Calif., cost him $1,331 and military leave time.

Video: Officer who fatally shot man said she had no choice.  A North Carolina police officer who fatally shot a black man in a parking lot after repeatedly ordering him to drop his gun said multiple times that she had no choice, according to a bodycam video released Wednesday [4/24/2019].

The Editor says...
Despite the news media hype, there is nothing extraordinary about this.  If you don't want to get shot, drop your gun when the cops tell you to.

Chinese family paid $6.5M to admissions scam mastermind.  A Chinese family allegedly paid a whopping $6.5 million to crooked college prep adviser William "Rick" Singer in the nationwide admissions scandal — but still haven't been charged in the case, according to a new report.  Prosecutors mentioned the eye-popping figure last month when announcing they'd busted dozens of rich American parents for allegedly paying Singer to bribe their kids' way into top colleges — but none of those families were accused of paying anywhere near that much.  The Wall Street Journal on Friday [4/26/2019] revealed that the deep-pocketed family in question is from China, and have not been charged.

Mississippi flag ordered out of park near Statue of Liberty.  New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy is ordering that the Mississippi flag be replaced by the American flag at a state park that overlooks the Statue of Liberty because it has a Confederate emblem on it.

So much for E Pluribus Unum.
New Jersey's Dem governor says Mississippi flag won't fly in park near Statue of Liberty.  New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy ordered the Mississippi flag removed from a state park Friday [4/27/2019] over the Confederate emblem that adorns it, as the nationwide debate rages over symbols honoring the antebellum South.  Murphy, a Democrat, ordered the flag be replaced with an American flag at Liberty State Park, a preserve of more than 1,200 acres in Jersey City that overlooks Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty, just across the harbor from New York City, NorthJersey.com reported.  The park has traditionally flown the flags of all 50 states.

The Editor says...
The liberals have to inject politics into everything.  The socialists are bent on destroying American traditions.  Draw your own conclusions about the New Jersey Governor.

Trump denies paying North Korea $2 million for Otto Warmbier's medical care.  President Donald Trump denied that the U.S. paid North Korea $2 million for Otto Warmbier's medical care after reports emerged Thursday [4/25/2019] that the regime forced U.S. officials to sign a pledge to do so.  "No money was paid to North Korea for Otto Warmbier, not two Million Dollars, not anything else," the president tweeted.  Warmbier, an American college student detained by North Korea for allegedly stealing a propaganda poster, died six days after he was freed by North Korea and handed over to U.S. officials in June 2017.

Lettuce weigh the pros and cons.
Lettuce-Farming Robots Might Grow Your Next Salad.  Your next salad might include leafy greens grown by robots in California greenhouses.  About 75 percent of the lettuce farmed in the U.S. comes from that state's Central Coast and San Joaquin Valley.  Cultivating it requires warm temperatures, not too much rain, and lots of time and labor.  Startups such as Iron Ox, a maker of agricultural robots, and big players such as John Deere are investing in artificial intelligence to raise produce more efficiently.

President Trump Speech During NRA Convention at the Indiana Convention Center.  Earlier today [4/26/2019] President Trump delivered exceptional remarks during the National Rifle Association 148th Convention, Indiana Convention Center.  One very important aspect to point out in this speech is the remarks about the "coup" and "overthrow" were not off-the-cuff additions[,] they were written into the teleprompter[.]

Clinton-Era State Department Employee Pleads Guilty to Conspiring With Chinese Agents.  The Department of Justice announced Wednesday that a former State Department employee who also happened to be a Clinton appointee, pleaded guilty to conspiring with foreign agents.  The FBI arrested Candace Marie Claiborne on March 28th, 2017.  She made her first appearance in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia the following day.  According to the DOJ, Candace Marie Claiborne, a former employee of the U.S. Department of State, pleaded guilty Wednesday [4/24/2019] to a charge of conspiracy to defraud the United States, by lying to law enforcement and background investigators, and hiding her extensive contacts with, and gifts from, agents of the People's Republic of China (PRC), in exchange for providing them with internal documents from the U.S. State Department.

2020 candidates are too old, warns Obama's former doctor: 'We're asking for trouble'.  The entrance of former Vice President Joe Biden into the 2020 White House race adds yet another septuagenarian into the crowded field of contenders.  Of the 20 Democrats and two Republicans who are running for president, six are nearing or over the age of 70.  If Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., wins, he would be 79 by the time he reaches the White House, becoming the oldest president in history; Ronald Reagan was 77 years and 349 days on the day he left office.  President Trump, who turns 73 this summer and has long batted back scrutiny about his health, is the oldest president when first sworn in.

The writer of this article sounds like a Russian propagandist, or maybe he reads too many comic books:
Russia reveals its new submarine armed with nuclear-tipped drones capable of wiping out a city by triggering a tsunami.  Russia has launched its latest nuclear-armed submarine under the watchful eye of President Vladimir Putin.  The sub, named Belgorod, was launched from the Sevmash plant in northwestern Russian on Tuesday [4/23/2019] while Putin observed via teleconference.  Belgorod is designed to carry nuclear-armed Poseidon drones, a doomsday weapon that Russia says will be capable of destroying entire cities by triggering a tsunami.

Bad air days on the rise:  The nation's most polluted city is...  California's reign as the U.S. state with the worst air pollution continues as Los Angeles is again the nation's smoggiest metro area, according to a report released Wednesday [4/24/2019].  LA isn't alone when it comes to smog-choked cities in California:  seven of the nation's top 10 smoggiest cities are in the Golden State, including other sprawling cities such as San Francisco, San Diego and Sacramento.

The Editor says...
Note that all ten of the smoggiest cities have been run by Democrats for years.

Pulitzer Prize administrator defends process after prize goes to board member's wife.  The Pulitzer Prizes organization has been accused of being an exclusive club in which members give awards to each other, and the institution did nothing to dispel that notion last week by honoring the wife of a prominent board member.  Author Eliza Griswold won the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for general nonfiction for Amity and Prosperity:  One Family and the Fracturing of America.  Her husband is Steve Coll, dean of the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University, which hosts the prizes, and a Pulitzer board member since 2012.

Vaccine skeptics under siege.  [Scroll down]  As for efficacy, consider this new data:  A recent whooping cough outbreak at the private Harvard-Westlake School in Los Angeles last week resulted in 30 students contracting the illness, all of whom were vaccinated.  Of 18 unvaccinated students, none caught the disease.

Democrats Can Kiss Ohio Goodbye.  You have to go all the way back to 1960 and JFK to find a president who got elected without Ohio.  If I could pick football teams the way Ohio picks presidents, I'd be a very wealthy man.  Ohio hasn't elected a Democrat to state office since Obama took the state by a solid three points (50.6% to 47.6%) over Mitt Romney.  And yet Donald Trump, for all his supposed unelectability, scored nearly 52%, beating Hillary Clinton by a whopping eight points.

Mulvaney: Trump Personally Wrote Pro-Life Comments in State of the Union Speech.  Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney praised President Donald Trump's personal commitment to the protection of religious liberty while speaking at the 15th annual National Catholic Prayer breakfast on Tuesday [4/23/2019].  Mulvaney told the audience of Catholic leaders gathered in Washington, D.C., that in addition to emphasizing religious liberty during his public speeches, during private meetings at the White House Trump also speaks with world leaders about the importance of protecting the rights of Christians.  "He will look at them and say, 'You're not doing enough to take care of the Christians in your country,' or 'Thank you for helping the Christians in your country,'" Mulvaney said.

Half of England Is Owned by Less Than 1% of Its Population, Researcher Says.  Land ownership in England, a source of enormous wealth, is often shielded by a culture of secrecy harking back to the Middle Ages.  But a researcher says that after years of digging, he has an answer:  Less than 1 percent of the population — including aristocrats, royals and wealthy investors — owns about half of the land, according to "Who Owns England," a book that is to be published in May.  And many of them inherited the property as members of families that have held it for generations — even centuries.

49% of workers are stressed out: here are some of the biggest office culprits.  On the heels of April being dubbed National Stress Awareness Month, a new survey found that nearly half of Americans workers are battling the condition at work.  While not all stress is bad, too much of it could lead to extreme health problems like obesity, heart disease and asthma.

Vatican makes history:  Pope allows Islamic prayers, Koran readings.  For the first time in Vatican history, the pope allowed for the reading of Islamic prayers and Koran readings from the Catholic facility.

Documents reveal attempts to 'smear the brand' of Gibson's.  An associate professor at Oberlin College wrote that the protests conducted by students outside of Gibson's Bakery in 2016 to "smear the brand" of the business had been achieved. [...] The transcript of [associate professor Jan] Miyake's message was included in a recently unsealed court filing made by the attorneys for Gibson's as part of the lawsuit filed against the college and Meredith Raimondo, vice president and dean of students, for libel, slander, interference with business relationships, interference with contracts, deceptive trade practices, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligent hiring and trespass.

Venezuela's Guaidó waging election-style campaign in a country with no plans for an election.  This is not how it was supposed to go for Guaidó.  The National Assembly leader declared himself Venezuela's interim president in January and quickly won recognition from the United States and dozens of other countries as he prepared to take control of the struggling South American nation.  But three months later, the military has remained loyal to President Nicolás Maduro, and increasing U.S. sanctions and threats have yet to dislodge him.  So this is Plan B:  An election-style campaign in a country with no plans for an election.  Guaidó is traveling Venezuela, addressing crowds and meeting with interest groups, as aides develop a governing platform, recruit local committee members and try to raise money.  Organizers say the effort is modeled, in part, on a presidential run — and on one level, it's working.

Virus identified as a cause of paralyzing condition in Minnesota children.  A virus appears to be the cause behind a rash of polio-like illnesses that struck Minnesota last fall, causing paralyzing symptoms in several children, including one girl who lost all motor function and remains hospitalized.  Researchers from Minnesota and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Thursday [4/18/2019] that they found Enterovirus-D68 in the spinal fluid of one of six children who suffered acute flaccid myelitis, or AFM.  The virus caused the condition in that child and is presumed to be the cause in the other five, according to the researchers, who described their finding as a key development in addressing a puzzling national outbreak.

Secret 'Memorandums Of Understanding' Among House Democrats; It's Almost As If They Don't Trust Each Other.  Investigative journalist Sara Carter reported that House Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings and House Finance Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters allegedly "executed a secret Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to "target" President Trump and subpoena all his financial and banking records."  Carter obtained a copy of a letter from Rep. Jim Jordan, ranking member of the Oversight Committee, sent to Cummings on Monday [4/15/2019].  She reports that, "The letter also indicates that other MOUs have apparently been signed and agreed to with House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Ca, who has promised to continue investigations into the president despite findings by Special Counsel Robert Mueller's office that there was no conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia."

No one, not even the Secret Service, should randomly plug in a strange USB stick.  The case follows a Chinese national, Yujing Zhang, who is accused of trying to sneak into President Trump's private Florida resort Mar-a-Largo last month.  She was caught by the Secret Service with four cellphones, a laptop, cash, an external hard drive, a signals detector to spot hidden cameras, and a thumb drive.  The arrest sparked new concerns about the president's security amid concerns that foreign governments have tried to infiltrate the resort.  Allegations aside and notwithstanding, what sent alarm bells ringing was how the Secret Service handled the USB drive, which cannot be understated — it was not good.

Putting American flags on police cars sparks backlash in Laguna Beach.  A decision to affix an American flag graphic to the side of freshly painted Laguna Beach police cars is dividing residents, who are alternately praising the image as patriotic or panning it as too aggressive.  After hearing the criticism and acknowledging that the image they approved didn't quite match the final results, officials agreed to reconsider their February decision to paint the Laguna Beach Police Department's fleet of 11 squad cars.  The City Council will take up the issue again at its Tuesday [4/16/2019] meeting.

What is kratom?  And why is it being promoted as a 'wellness' product to our kids?  Mitragyna speciosa, commonly known as "kratom," comes from a tropical tree native to Southeast Asia — primarily Malaysia and Thailand.  Most commonly the leaves are brewed as a tea or even chewed directly.  My son tells me that the tea form is most common, and a tea labeled "green tea and kratom" is quite popular and being sold in most stores around his campus.  However, kratom is not a safe, benign plant.  In fact, emerging data is providing strong evidence that kratom and its compounds work on the same central (brain) nervous system receptors as opioids, and therefore have the potential for addiction and abuse.  It is because of this opioid association that people are using kratom for pain relief and the euphoric high.  But patients are also, according to the FDA, using kratom to treat opioid withdrawal symptoms.  Alarmingly this can lead to further dependence, withdrawal and abuse.

Trump goes after Ilhan Omar with dramatic video using 9/11 footage.  President Trump Friday tweeted out a jarring video juxtaposing remarks last month by Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., which some charged minimized the 9/11 tragedy, with archival footage of the destruction of the World Trade Center.  Writing "WE WILL NEVER FORGET," Trump tweeted a video that repeatedly displays Omar's reference to the terrorists as "some people" and then cuts to planes crashing into the buildings and the towers tumbling to the ground.

GOP trolls 'Georgia' Dem over residency claims, gets her to accept gift basket at 'real home' in Tennessee.  Georgia Democratic Rep. Lucy McBath was the target of some creative trolling by the Republican Party over her widely disputed claim that she actually lives in Georgia, after receiving and signing for a gift basket the GOP sent to her address — in Tennessee.  McBath, a racial justice activist who defeated Republican incumbent Karen Handel in November, has been dogged with questions since the election campaign on whether she actually lives in the state she now represents.

Tesla's Sentry Mode has already caught a suspected car thief.  At the start of the year Tesla teased Sentry Mode, a security feature for its EVs that leverages a 360 dash cam to record damage and attempted break-ins.  It rolled out in February, and it's already earning its keep.  According to ABC 7 news, the feature has resulted in the arrest of a would-be thief.  San Francisco-based Jed Franklin received an alert on his phone informing him that Sentry Mode had been activated.  On arriving at his vehicle, he found that the window had been broken, but that the perp had fled empty-handed.

Senior Obama Cyber Official [is now] Lobbying for China.  China's government-linked telecommunications giant Huawei Technologies has hired a senior Obama administration cyber security official as a lobbyist, according to a congressional filing.  Samir Jain, former senior director for cybersecurity policy at the White House National Security Council, notified Congress March 27 that he is registering as a lobbyist for the Shenzhen-based Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.  Jain is now with the lobbying firm Jones Day.

Hackers attacked California DMV voter registration system marred by bugs, glitches.  California has launched few government projects with higher stakes than its ambitious 2018 program for registering millions of new voters at the Department of Motor Vehicles, an effort with the potential to shape elections for years to come.  Yet six days before the scheduled launch of the DMV's new "motor voter" system last April, state computer security officials noticed something ominous:  The department's computer network was trying to connect to internet servers in Croatia.

Ukrainian to US prosecutors:  Why don't you want our evidence on Democrats?  Ukrainian law enforcement officials believe they have evidence of wrongdoing by American Democrats and their allies in Kiev, ranging from 2016 election interference to obstructing criminal probes.  But, they say, they've been thwarted in trying to get the Trump Justice Department to act.  Kostiantyn Kulyk, deputy head of the Prosecutor General's International Legal Cooperation Department, told me he and other senior law enforcement officials tried unsuccessfully since last year to get visas from the U.S. Embassy in Kiev to deliver their evidence to Washington.

Socialist Venezuela now an exploding supernova of spreading infectious disease.  So much for all that free health care.  Now for what it looks like up close:  Socialist Venezuela is an exploding supernova of spreading disease vectors, with its three million fleeing refugees bringing measles, malaria, diptheria, typhoid fever, tuberculosis, AIDS, Zika, leprosy, dengue, chikungunya virus, and other diseases long thought to have been eradicated in the early 20th century, with them.  What an advertisement for socialism that is.  It's the effect of the collapse of the country's medical system, brought on by socialism's unsustainable economics and Venezuela's Maduro dictatorship (unlike a lot of starving African countries) refusing to permit any aid to enter.

Venezuela:  The Next Syria.  Venezuela has been transformed from an oil-rich nation into a failed state by the late Hugo Chavez and his successor Nicolás Maduro.  Many of its people are literally starving, unable to barter or buy the essentials of life and living in near-constant nationwide blackouts at night.  Months ago, the only thing holding Venezuela together was Maduro's military which — when it isn't oppressing the people — is feeding itself from the profits it derives from drug trafficking.  But now, with about 500 Russian mercenaries, at least 100 Russian regular troops, an unknown number of Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps troops, and who-knows-how-many Cuban troops, Venezuela is being transformed into a major Russian-Iranian power base in South America.

The Chinese woman caught at Mar-a-Lago.  The Chinese woman arrested at President Trump's Mar-a-Lago club with four cell phones on her last month entered the U.S. on a business visa that allowed her to make repeat trips to the country for a period of a decade.  Yujing Zhang, who had a bond hearing in Florida Monday [4/8/2019], entered the U.S. on a B-1/B-2 visa, according to documents released by the government.  Her visa allowed her to travel to the U.S. for a period ranging from 2016 through 2026.  Those visas are designed for people who need to be in the country on a temporary basis, such as to attend a business conference, or to seek medical treatment.  They allow for repeat visits.

Chinese Woman Arrested at Mar-a-Lago Had Device to Detect Hidden Cameras.  A Chinese woman charged last week for bluffing her way into President Donald Trump's Florida resort, Mar-a-Lago, had a device used to detect hidden cameras and thousands of dollars in cash in her hotel room, prosecutors said April 8.  Yujing Zhang appeared at a Florida court for a bail hearing on April 8, where prosecutors said a search of her Florida hotel room turned up a signal detector — a device used to detect hidden cameras — nine USB drives, five SIM cards, and over $8,000 in cash, the Washington Post reported.

Chinese Woman Had Additional Spy Tech During Security Breach at Mar-a-lago.  During a bond hearing today prosecutors say the FBI is still investigating whether a 32-year-old Yujing Zhang, the Chinese woman accused of lying to illegally enter President Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, is a spy.  After a search warrant, additional spy tech was found in her hotel room including:  $7,500 in one hundred dollar bills; a signal detector device to find hidden cameras; nine USB drives, five SIM cards and an additional cell phone.

Trump fires Secret Service director after agency ducks blame for Chinese malware carrier at Mar-a-Lago.  President Donald Trump followed the ouster of his Homeland Security secretary with another pink slip on Monday, reportedly axing the director of the U.S. Secret Service.  Trump ordered acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney to fire Randolph 'Tex' Alles.  CNN first reported the move.  U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Lee Cissna is also leaving, according to CBS News.  So are DHS undersecretary for management Claire Grady and general counsel John Mitnick.  A person with knowledge of USCIS's front office, however, said late Monday that Cissna was still in his job.  And Alles told his agency's staff that he wasn't forced out.

Update:
Judge in Mar-a-Lago Chinese Spy Case Denies Bail.  The Chinese woman who tried to lie her way into Mar-a-Lago appeared in court today [4/15/2019] to plea 'not guilty'.

'Restore Public Trust' Blacklists Former Trump Administration Employees.  A number of organizations are coalescing to actively blacklist people who have worked for the Trump administration, including former Secretary of the Department of Homeland (DHS) Security Kirstjen Nielsen.  Nielsen resigned Sunday, but could face opposition finding new employment.  A group known as "Restore Public Trust" is targeting her and others in a letter sent Saturday [4/6/2019] that warns corporate America that these purported pariahs may "seek refuge in their corner offices or boardrooms."

Frightening Drug-Resistant Infection Cropping Up Around The World.  The New York Times reported Saturday morning [4/6/2019] that an elderly man was admitted to Mount Sinai Hospital's branch in Brooklyn for abdominal surgery.  After getting his blood tested, it was revealed that he was infected with Candida auris, a fungus that was recently discovered but has been identified in patients around the world.  The fungus is most deadly to those with already weak immune systems.  The elderly man, who was not named by the Times, was isolated in the intensive care unit, but died 90 days later.  What makes his case so frightening is that after his death, doctors tested his room and discovered the fungus was everywhere.

Former Sen. Harry Reid loses civil lawsuit over exercise-device injury.  After about an hour of deliberations Friday, a jury in Las Vegas rejected former U.S. Sen. Harry Reid's lawsuit against the maker of an exercise band that Reid claimed was responsible for injuries he suffered in January 2015.  The injuries included blindness in one eye for Reid, 79, a Nevada Democrat and former party leader who asserted in his lawsuit that his injuries forced him to retire early from the Senate, where he had served for three decades.

The Editor says...
If a man served in the Senate for three decades, and retired at age 79, that is not early retirement.  That's long overdue retirement.

The Arms Race in Space Is Here.  Last week, the world was up-in-arms over the fact that democratic India, one of the world's leading economies with nuclear arms, launched an anti-satellite test.  Codenamed "Mission Shakti" by India's military, the test of their anti-satellite capability was a resounding success:  the target was a derelict Indian weather satellite in low-Earth orbit (LEO).  By launching a missile at the dead weather satellite, India was sending an unmistakable signal to the world that it was a major power and not to be messed with.  Presently, India is experiencing what some might call a quasi-war with its Muslim-majority neighbor of Pakistan and the tensions between India's other major neighbor, China, have long been an issue.

Hate-Based Faith.  [Scroll down]  DNA technology is also making it harder to get away with murder.  For example, in the Queens jogger murder case that was decided this week in New York, the cops started out with the assumption that the pretty young speech pathologist had been killed by "two jacked-up white guys from Howard Beach."  But when the DNA found under her fingernails turned out to be of black ancestry, the NYPD obtained samples from 384 sketchy black guys in the area.  Law enforcement has recently been making arrests in cold cases from decades ago.  Killers and rapists are tracked down via their relatives posting their own DNA online.

Collusion? Russians Gave $35 Million to Company with John Podesta on Board.  Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign manager, John Podesta, played a central role in another potential Russian collusion scandal that has not yet been investigated.  Podesta, the former chief of staff to President Bill Clinton, served on the board of Joule Unlimited, a now defunct alternative energy company, from January 2011 to January 2014.  He resigned from the company's board to accept the powerful job of Counselor to President Barack Obama.  During Podesta's tenure on the board of Joule Unlimited, a significant investment in the company by a firm owned by the Russian government escaped review and scrutiny by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States.

A Mysterious Infection, Spanning the Globe in a Climate of Secrecy.  The germ, a fungus called Candida auris, preys on people with weakened immune systems, and it is quietly spreading across the globe.  Over the last five years, it has hit a neonatal unit in Venezuela, swept through a hospital in Spain, forced a prestigious British medical center to shut down its intensive care unit, and taken root in India, Pakistan and South Africa.  Recently C. auris reached New York, New Jersey and Illinois, leading the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to add it to a list of germs deemed "urgent threats."

Scientists Discover World's Tallest Tropical Tree In Borneo.  Scientists have discovered the world's tallest tropical tree in the tropical rainforest of Sabah, Malaysian Borneo.  The previous record holder is also from the same region. [...] The tree has since been named Menara which means "tower" in Malay, and it stands at 330 feet (100.8 meters) from ground to sky.  The previous record holder for tallest tropical tree was also from the same region and from the same genus as Menara.

US health officials alarmed by paralyzing illness in kids.  One morning last fall, 4-year-old Joey Wilcox woke up with the left side of his face drooping.  It was the first sign of an unfolding nightmare.

Pope Francis Says God Only 'Permits' Islam to Exist.  Pope Francis walked back an earlier statement Wednesday [4/3/2019] on God "willing" a plurality of religions, saying that in reality God only permits the existence of many religions.  In a joint statement with the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Ahmad Al-Tayyeb, Pope Francis said in February that the plurality and diversity of religions "are willed by God in His wisdom," just as God wills a plurality of colors, sexes, races, and languages.

The Editor says...
By the same token, God only permits Catholicism — which is based on superstition, monetized indulgences, bureaucracy, communication with the dead, and the worship of the Pope — to exist, for the moment.

Conservative Wisconsin Supreme Court Candidate Shocks Liberals With Surprise Victory.  It was a statewide race that only the nerdiest of political nerds were following at the national level, but suffice it to say that we'd be hearing a lot about it if the expected outcome had come to pass.  By way of background, Wisconsin's Supreme Court has been decidedly conservative for years, but when a liberal justice won a resounding 12-point victory last fall (Badger State voters choose Supreme Court members in nominally "non-partisan" elections), the Left immediately set it sights on the 2019 contest.  If a left-leaning candidate had defeated another right-leaning jurist — as was widely anticipated by political experts — liberals believed they'd have a very real shot at wresting ideological control of the state's high court in 2020.  But a funny thing happened on the way to that liberal judicial renaissance.  Voters intervened.

A Big Win for Conservatives in Wisconsin?  In Tuesday's [4/2/2019] Wisconsin supreme-court election, conservatives appear to have scored a shocking upset victory.  With only a handful of precincts left to report, conservative-backed Brian Hagedorn leads liberal-backed Lisa Neubauer by nearly 6,000 votes out of 1.2 million cast, according to unofficial results.  The liberal Neubauer called for a recount, which a losing candidate may do — if she pays for it herself — when the margin is less than one percentage point.  (Taxpayers pick up the tab at margins less than 0.25 points.)  But a lead of 6,000 votes would almost certainly be insurmountable in a recount, assuming there were no unusually large tabulation errors Tuesday night, as there was in a 2011 supreme-court election in the state.

Chinese woman carrying thumb drive with malware arrested at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort.  Secret Service agents arrested a Chinese woman after she bypassed layers of security and gained access to the reception area of President Trump's Florida resort this past weekend, saying they found she was carrying two passports and a thumb drive containing malicious software, according to court documents.  The incident renews concerns about how secure the president and his advisers are during their frequent stays at his Mar-a-Lago Club, which stays open for its members and their guests when the president is there.

A Paralyzing Illness In Kids Is On The Rise, But Continues To Mystify Doctors.  It starts with just a droopy eye and a slightly slumped face.  Within just a few days, reflexes begin to lose their sharpness, while the arms and legs become weaker.  If left without therapy, the nervous system continues to become damaged, the ability to breath becomes strained, and paralysis can take hold.  More and more children are falling sick with this polio-like illness.  However, there are currently few solid ideas about how it develops, how it can be treated, or even what it is exactly.

Children of Jamal Khashoggi receiving homes, 'blood money' from Saudis: report.  Saudi Arabia has given multimillion-dollar homes and monthly five-figure payments to the children of Jamal Khashoggi, the Washington Post writer who was killed in a Saudi Consulate in Istanbul last October, as compensation for their father's death, according to a report.  The reported payments to Khashoggi's two sons and two daughters are part of a long-term arrangement to ensure they refrain from speaking out, the Washington Post reported, citing information from current and former Saudi officials.

John Huber leaves Congress in the dark on FBI probe.  Attorney General Jeff Sessions thought he had already answered calls for a special counsel to look into the FBI's handling of sensitive political investigations when he named a Utah prosecutor to conduct an inquiry and report back.  Nearly 18 months later, there has been nary a public peep from U.S. Attorney John Huber, the man Mr. Sessions assigned to get to the bottom of things.  Likely witnesses say Mr. Huber has never contacted them, and members of Congress say they are still in the dark despite regular pleas to see progress.

Conversion is not your mission, pope tells Catholics in Morocco.  Pope Francis told the tiny Catholic community in predominantly Muslim Morocco on Sunday [3/31/2019] that their mission was not to covert their neighbors but to live in brotherhood with other faiths.

Chicago Isn't The Only Town With A Problem In The Office Of Its Chief Prosecutor.  [Scroll down]  This is about the office of St. Louis Circuit Attorney, Kim Gardner.  You may recall that Gardner's office was the driving force behind the prosecution (subsequently dropped) of former (now resigned) Missouri Governor Eric Greitens over his alleged photographing of his mistress in a state of undress prior to taking office.  Even at the time, Gardner's actions were questioned and criticized.  Since then, a grand jury probe has been opened into Gardner's handling of that matter and, in particular, her hiring of ex-FBI agent William Tisaby as an investigator and his purported perjury in that matter.  And it's not been a good look for Gardner.

CNN and MSNBC ratings plummet, Fox News triumphs in wake of 'no collusion'.  Starting on Sunday [3/24/2019] and continuing all day Monday, CNN and MSNBC — the two cable "news" channels that over the past two years have morphed into high-impact electronic facilitators of the anti-Trump resistance — saw their ratings plummet... precipitously.  Meanwhile, the Fox News Channel (FNC), the only mainstream media outlet to even question the whole collusion meme from the outset, trounced the competition.

Devin Nunes Prepares Criminal Referrals for Next Week Delivery to AG Barr.  Two MAGA freight trains are heading full-speed toward each other and there ain't no spur between em'.  The conductor of one engine is HPSCI ranking member Devin Nunes who will be sending criminal referrals to AG Barr next week based on existing evidence and testimony.  The conductor of the opposing engine is Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham, who wants AG Barr to ignore the criminal referrals and instead launch another Special Counsel which will be guaranteed to carry into the 2020 election year.

Is Europe About to Break the Internet?  The European Parliament is about to vote on contentious new regulations that threaten to reshape how the internet operates.  This will end a debate started in 2016 over two key provisions to the EU's Copyright Directive, Article 11 and Article 13.  These changes turn internet policy on its head, moving the web from a world of permissionless innovation to a world where platforms and websites must proactively police internet users.  And given the borderless nature of the internet, America and the rest of the world also will suffer the consequences of Europe's internet makeover.

Sketchy Cesar Sayoc Pleads Guilty to Federal Charges of Mailing "pipe bombs".  Everything about last year's headline story just two-weeks before the mid-term election was weird; including the refusal of the FBI to state what 'specifically' was the material suspect Cesar Sayoc was accused of using to create his Acme looking pipe bombs.  You might remember:  FBI Director Christopher Wray outlined during his remarks that the devices consisted of PVC pipe, clocks, batteries, wiring and "energetic material that can become combustible when subjected to heat or friction".  The FBI director went out of his way to state:  "these were not hoax devices."  The DOJ then moved to seal all court filings and the case against the nut continued behind the curtain of 'national security'.

The Editor says...
Just about anything "can become combustible when subjected to [sufficient] heat or friction."  This guy's "pipe bombs" were a lot less convincing than the gadget built by Clock Boy in 2015.

Mark Kelly Returns $55,000 From Paid Speech in United Arab Emirates.  Mark Kelly, a Democrat running for the Senate in Arizona, this week returned $55,000 that he received from a paid speech in the United Arab Emirates last year.  Kelly, a former astronaut and the husband of former Rep. Gabby Giffords (D., Ariz.), delivered the speech with his twin brother and fellow astronaut Scott Kelly at an event sponsored by the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, as part of a lecture series, CNN reported Friday [3/22/2019].  While Kelly, who is challenging Sen. Martha McSally (R., Ariz.), has vowed to refuse donations from corporate political action committees, he has faced scrutiny from one of his potential challengers, Rep. Ruben Gallego (D., Ariz.), for breaking his "no corporate PAC money" pledge.

Eight Years of Corrosive Lies about Syria.  [Scroll down]  But, then I come across another story about Syria in the Wall Street Journal, suggesting that the United States may leave 1,000 troops in that country after all.  The president, if you'll remember, announced a complete withdrawal of troops from Syria months ago.  Then, weeks later the White House announced that a small force of 200 would stay behind.  Now, the Journal was reporting that it would actually be 1,000.  A few hours later the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of staff said the original plan remained unchanged.  I realized that I no longer knew what to believe.

With Personal Connection to Crash, Ralph Nader Takes on Boeing.  Mr. Nader, the high-profile consumer crusader in the twilight of his career, is determined to translate his family's anguish into action.  He is on a personal mission to find out what caused the Boeing Co. 737 MAX jet to plunge to the ground minutes after takeoff from Addis Ababa.  His goal is to get the plane maker — along with U.S. air-safety regulators who certified the jetliner — to assume legal and moral responsibility for the tragedy and an earlier 737 MAX crash in Indonesia.

Hannity's warm welcome for Donna Brazile has fans changing the channel in disgust.  On Tuesday [3/19/2019] longtime Fox News host Sean Hannity welcomed former Democrat National Committee chairwoman Donna Brazile to the network by inviting her onto his show, "Hannity," so he could grill her to smithereens in a fast-paced "lightning round" debate over various issues.  The scorching, oftentimes hilarious grilling started right away thanks to the former DNC chair's refusal to stick to the "lightning round" rules and keep her answers sweet and to the point.

Green New Deal Would Spark Yellow Vest-Style Protests.  Democrats are predicting a climate-change-fueled apocalypse 12 years from now, but 3,800 miles away in Paris, we're seeing a preview of the real doomsday scenario that would result from radical policies such as the Green New Deal.  For the 18th weekend in a row, violent protests broke out in the streets of one of Europe's oldest cities as French citizens protested their government's efforts to make them bear the costs of transitioning to clean energy.  The mouvement des gilets jaunes, or Yellow Vests Movement, started in response to French President Emmanuel Macron's decision to raise gas taxes by 12 cents per gallon for gasoline and 24 cents per gallon for diesel, prompting the working-class protesters to complain that "the government talks about the end of the world.  We are worried about the end of the month."  With gas prices at nearly $6 per gallon, driving in France is already very expensive, and while public transportation is available in urban centers, most people in rural areas have no realistic alternative to driving.

NYU Students Blame Chelsea Clinton for New Zealand Attack over Condemnation of Rep. Ilhan Omar's Antisemitic Comments.  A group of students confronted Chelsea Clinton on Friday night [3/15/2019] at NYU where they accused the former first daughter of stoking "Islamophobia" and facilitating, with her words, the recent terror attack in Christchurch, New Zealand, that left 49 people dead and dozens of others wounded.  The former first daughter was berated by students as she tried to attend a vigil honoring the victims of the New Zealand terror attack in what turned out to be a bizarre confrontation as students blamed the mosque shootings on her "rhetoric."

The Editor says...
"Islamophobia" is not even a phobia, it's just the word most commonly used for denunciation of Islam.  "Islamophobia" does not cause terrorist attacks.  Criticism of Muslims only rarely induces Islamic terrorism.  The Koran and the daily preaching of hatred in mosques all over the world are the principal causes of Islamic terrorism.

New Zealand Mosque Shooting Leaves Dozens Dead.  [Scroll down]  Some people reading this will note that I am diametrically opposed to Islam, but this is plain murder.  The people were not attacking anyone and no one's life was in danger.  These shooters deserve the same thing I said Anders Behring Breivik deserved:  justice, a swift execution.  Furthermore, there is no doubt that New Zealand will attempt to encroach more on the people's God-given rights to arms in light of this attack by a few people, which only makes the people more defenseless no matter what their religion is.  They already have fairly restrictive regulations against civilians owning handguns, semi-automatic weapons or fully automatic weapons, but pay no attention to the fact that those "restrictions" didn't stop these people from possessing them to murder unarmed people.

Christchurch, Conservatism, and Fascism.  At the time of writing, 49 people have been killed at two separate Christchurch mosques, with dozens more left injured by the shooter.  Both media and public officials, in New Zealand and elsewhere have chosen to lay the blame for the killings on "conservatives."  In fact, conservatism had nothing to do with this. [...] How do we know that the shooter isn't a conservative?  For starters, he explicitly says that he detests conservatism twice, once in the "Q&A" and again in his more ideological section, where he devotes a whole page to it.

How Sears Lost the American Shopper.  Over the last four decades, a succession of CEOs have tried to reinvent, reimagine and, finally, save Sears.  One discussed merging with rivals Best Buy and Home Depot, talks not previously reported.  Another opened the door to hedge-fund billionaire Eddie Lampert, who went on to slash spending with little investment in stores.  Amid changing shopping patterns, technology shifts and Sears's own missteps, customers fled.

Report: Lori Loughlin's Daughter Skipped First Week Of Classes At USC To Vacation In Fiji.  It is not surprising that a child of privilege with zero interest in school, whose parents allegedly had to commit a federal crime just to get her into USC, would decide to blow off the first week of classes for a vacation in a tropical paradise.  What continues to surprise is that someone this young, good-looking, connected, and vacuous doesn't already have her own reality show.

U.S. seeks input on GM petition to deploy cars without steering wheels.  U.S. regulators will ask the public if robotic cars should be allowed on streets without steering wheels or brake pedals as they try to set the first legal boundaries for their design in the world's second largest vehicle market.

DA: Urgent care clinic in Los Gatos charged someone $700 for a pair of foam slippers.  The owner and manager of the facility, Los Gatos Urgent Care Clinic, have been charged with insurance fraud after billing patients' insurance for a range of egregious expenses, according to the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office.  The eye-popping bills include one instance in which the clinic allegedly billed a patient who stepped on a sea urchin $700 for a pair of foam slippers that cost less than $10. [...] The pair behind the clinic are a married couple from Monte Sereno, Ali Moayed, 53, and Dr. Farzaneh Tabrizi, 50.

College Scam:  That's Not the Half of It.  "The biggest college scandal in our history!" exclaims a news reader, referring to the indictment of William Singer, who organized a scheme so the wealthy could bypass the college admissions process and get their children into prestigious schools through a combination of fraud, deceit, and bribery.  The scandal might not have received the attention it generated had it not been for actresses Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman getting caught in the FBI's net.  If there are celebrities involved, the story must be important.  As offensive as this scandal is, it is nowhere near the biggest college scandal in our history.  Our colleges and universities have long been mired in ongoing scandals, but they are so common that we hardly consider them newsworthy.

You Know Who Hates People Who Cheat To Get In To College?  Elizabeth Warren.  Yesterday's top news item, that dozens of parents — including two Hollywood actresses — lied and cheated to get their kids into top colleges, is still getting talked about today.  To be fair, it should be, as the corrupt admissions process should be exposed for all to see.  However, there is one person I figured would avoid any questions about it.  One 2020 hopeful who needed to stay away from the subject of lying or cheating to get into a college or university.  "Surely," thought I (perhaps a bit naively), "she wouldn't speak on this issue.  She can't possibly think it would go over well."

Russian ship with 'vomit-inducing weapon' spotted off UK coast.  A Royal Navy warship has been scrambled to follow a Russian vessel believed to be carrying a "vomit inducing" weapon as it sails close to UK territorial waters.  HMS Defender was deployed at weekend to keep watch on the frigate Admiral Gorshkov and three auxiliary ships. [...] The Gorshkov is reportedly fitted with Russia's Filin 5P-42 device — a "visual optical interference" weapon which can cause "dizziness, nausea and feelings of disorientation".

How bad is Venezuela's economy?  Even the criminals are struggling to get by.  In one of the strangest consequences of this oil-rich country's collapse, cash has virtually disappeared.  With soaring hyperinflation, the government can't print money fast enough to keep up, so many Venezuelans have switched to debit cards — not that they have enough money on them.

Government Jobs Drop by 5,000.  As the number of people employed in the United States climbed to a record 156,949,000, the number of people working for government in the country declined by 5,000, according to data released today [3/8/2019] by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Senate Confirms High-Priority Trump Judges Without Any Democrat Support.  Senators confirmed three high-priority Trump judges to the federal appeals courts last week without a single Democrat voting for any of them, with one of those new judges replacing an irreplaceable conservative judicial icon, Judge Alice Batchelder.  The Senate confirmed Allison Jones Rushing on March 6 as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, which covers five states in the middle of the Eastern Seaboard.

New York man with 600-square-foot apartment gets $38M Con Edison bill: report.  A New York man reportedly received a Con Edison monthly bill of $38 million on Monday [3/11/2019] for his 600 square foot apartment. [...] "Our customer ops team is looking into it and we'll definitely work on it and fix it," a ConEd spokesperson told the New York Daily News, saying that it was most likely a computer error.

The Editor says...
Most likely a computer error, they say.  There's still a chance that he actually consumed that much electricity in a month.  To believe this, and to insist on payment, you would have to believe that his electric meter could pass that much electricity without burning up.  In the case of my very modest house, for example, the main breaker will handle no more than 70 amperes.  That limits the electric consumption to about 17 kilowatts.  In 31 days, I couldn't possibly consume more than 12,650 kilowatt-hours; and even if I paid the highest rates in town (which I might be, I don't know), that would produce an electric bill of only about $2,000 dollars.  Obviously Con Edison has no sanity checking software in their billing computers.

Felicity Huffman, Lori Loughlin among 50 snared in elite college cheating scam, authorities say.  Actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin were among more than four dozen people charged in a nationwide college admissions cheating scandal that involved wealthy individuals paying up to $6.5 million to place their children into elite universities, according to court records revealed Tuesday [3/12/2019].

"Leaving Neverland" — Hollywood's pedophilia problem exposed.  The Michael Jackson estate is suing HBO to the tune of $100 million.  The suit says the documentary makers failed to reach out to the Jackson family for comment on the sexual allegations.  And estate attorneys also claim HBO violated a "non-disparagement agreement" they made as part of its contract to broadcast the pop star's "Dangerous" world tour in 1992.

Scrutinizing Fake Business Reviews Online.  More than 80 percent of people sometimes check reviews for businesses, but half wonder if they can be trusted, according to the Pew Research Center — and they have good reason to, according to experts in online reviews.

Robot workers can't go on strike but they can go up in flames.  Machines may be efficient and safe workers, but their environment is not designed for human intervention when disaster strikes. [...] Fashion brand Asos has had three warehouse fires since 2005.  The online grocer said on Feb 5 that the fire started in what is called the ambient grid, where food is stored at room temperature.  A spokesman declined to comment further on the cause.  The blaze began high in the warehouse and was so difficult to reach that firefighters had to cut holes in the roof, according to chief officer Neil Odin at Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service.  A sprinkler system only contained the fire in its early stages.

Venezuela:  Socialism Dies in the Darkness.  "A major power outage hit crisis-stricken Venezuela on Thursday [3/7/2019], according to Reuters ... a problem the government of President Nicolas Maduro quickly blamed on "sabotage" at a hydroelectric dam that provides much of the country's power."  National life ground to a standstill, telecommunications — including the internet — stopped working, hospitals were plunged into darkness and cities of millions lay helpless without electricity.  As the outage continued into Friday spreading to every Venezuelan state, it became clear this was going to become the biggest of the blackouts yet and Maduro's officials increasingly pointed a finger at the United States.  But the national electric grid had also been teetering for a long time.  "Crumbling infrastructure and lack of investments have hit Venezuela's power supply for years."  Outages had become a way of life and there was no easy way of proving this wasn't "sabotage" but only more of the same dysfunction.

Venezuela Goes Dark In Worst Blackout In Decades, At Least 17 People Dead.  Venezuela entered its fourth day of blackouts in an "electricity crisis" that plunged most of the country's 23 states, including the state home to the Venezuelan capital of Caracas, into complete darkness.  Reuters reports that international non-governmental organizations estimate that at least 17 people have died, nine of whom were waiting for emergency medical attention.  Reuters was not able to independently verify the numbers, but they are being tabulated by the non-partisan NGO, Doctors For Health, which has been treating patients in Venezuela.

They're still in the dark in Venezuela, and it's really ugly.  [Scroll down]  These reports describe the terrible conditions in just Caracas — in the rest of the country, the situation is reportedly far, far worse.  And yes, the result looks as though it's going to be famine.  And coincidence of coincidences, it comes just as dictator Nicolas Maduro is under fire from millions and millions of Venezuelans to get out and allow acting president Juan Guaidó, who's there through democratic mechanisms, to take over.  Guaidó returned to the country last week without much fuss and says he's calling for protests, and now the blackout has followed.  The internet has been shut off, and the subways are out.  Both of those things are instrumental in getting word out of protests and transporting protestors to locations.  Shut.  Down.  How very convenient for Maduro.  And by another coincidence, Maduro has had high-level contacts with Russians in recent weeks — and the Russians just happen to be the masters of blowing out power grids.

Nationwide blackout in socialist Venezuela is more than just turning the country into North Korea.  It's the spectacle of a whole country going dead, with its socialist rulers turning the nation into something quite similar to parts of eastern Nigeria, where the impoverished locals in remote rural areas live with little electrical infrastructure (Lagos and Abuja have no such problems), or, even more similarly, into Pol Pot's inhuman communist regime, which was a nationwide project by Khmer Rouge central planners to rebuild the entire society from the ground up.  I have my doubts that this nationwide blackout was just the characteristic incompetence of socialism and its Cuban masters.  Cubans have made a hash of the electrical grid in Venezuela, it's true, but they also seem to be following the plan of doing what it takes to make Cuba the electrical disaster it also is.

Republicans notch streak of special election victories, ousting Democrats.  Republicans picked up a Kentucky state Senate seat earlier this week, marking the latest in a series of under-the-radar wins at the state level for the GOP since the November midterms.  The pickups have the party claiming momentum going into 2020, after having lost control of the U.S. House last fall.  Republican Phillip Wheeler defeated Democrat Darrell Pugh in a special election to fill an eastern Kentucky state Senate seat.  Wheeler will succeed a Democrat, making it a Republican pickup.

Black journalists' group places CNN on 'special monitoring list'.  The National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) said Tuesday that it would place CNN on a "special media monitoring list," citing a lack of black representation among the network's leadership ranks.  NABJ said in a statement that its preliminary research showed that CNN has no black employees reporting to CNN President Jeff Zucker.  It also showed that the news organization has no black executive producers as well as no black vice presidents or senior vice presidents on the news side.  CNN disputed the group's finding that there are no black vice presidents on the news side, according to NABJ.  But the news network did not provide the name or position of the vice president or vice presidents, NABJ said.

Geraldo Rivera defends AOC, 'generosity' of socialism.  Geraldo Rivera, in a heated debate on Fox News with host Sean Hannity and guest Dan Bongino, defended Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez by saying she was a too-easy target of the ideological right and that conservatives should just leave her alone because, by gosh, "she has heart" and socialism "is so yesterday" and mean old Americans were killing the dreams of all these youthful idealists.

Apple CEO Tim Cook to Conservative Employees Who Feel Shunned: 'Come Talk to Me'.  Apple CEO Tim Cook recently encouraged any conservative employees who felt discriminated against due to their political views to speak with him directly.  Business Insider reports that Apple CEO Tim Cook recently encouraged conservative employees at the Silicon Valley giant to speak with him directly if they felt discriminated against or shunned due to their beliefs.  Cook's statement was in response to a question at the company's annual shareholder meeting; the questioner stated that a friend of hers worked at Apple and this friend did not "share the left-wing view" and suggested that her friend felt discriminated against by her fellow workers as a result.

The Editor says...
Usually, when the CEO of a giant company tells you to come and speak to him directly, it means your employment is about to end.

JetBlue black history display honored convicted killer.  JetBlue has taken down a poster of a convicted murderer that it had included as part of a Black History Month tribute at New York's Kennedy Airport.  The airline said Saturday [3/2/2019] it removed the poster paying tribute to Assata Shakur last month after being alerted via Twitter that Shakur is "a convicted cop killer."

Canadian Economy Halts — GDP Growth Drops to 0.1 Percent, and No-One Is Talking About Why.  The Canadian government shocked the professional financial and economic media with their latest fourth quarter GDP release showing the economy has essentially come to a grinding halt at 0.1% growth.  [Compare to U.S. GDP growth of 3%]  The Canadian Q4 GDP growth isn't one percent, it's one-tenth of one percent: 0.1%, essentially halted; but everyone discussing this is missing something very important.

The Awful Truth of Michael Jackson's Depravity.  Fair warning for those curious about exactly what Michael Jackson did to little boys:  The two-part, four-hour documentary Leaving Neverland goes into gruesome, nauseating, nightmarish detail about the King of Pop's depredations.  But it's also disturbing for another reason, one you might not have anticipated.  Debuting on HBO March 3 and 4 after a previous series of screenings at the Sundance Film Festival, this enraging film by Dan Reed inspired a lawsuit against the pay-cable channel from Jackson's estate, which desperately wants people not to see a story that may significantly diminish the value of his brand.  It's a wonder that there is any brand left to defend, given that four men have now made detailed, credible claims that Jackson sexually abused them as minors over extended periods of time.

'Social justice' is killing organized religion.  A fascinating article by Joel Kotkin in The Tablet describes the precipitous decline in membership to organized churches and synagogues, with a primary reason being the growing influence in these religious organizations of leftists and leftist dogma.  The numbers are shocking.  It's not just the decline of members that's concerning; it's the aging of the church-going population that jumps out at you.  For example, attendance at conservative and reformed synagogues is declining at a time when the average age of Reform congregations is 54, and only 17 percent of members say they attend religious services even once a month.  It's just as bad for Christians. [...]

Millennial Repo: Car Loan Defaults on the Rise.  An interesting data nugget percolated the other day about a "sharp worsening" — that is to say, an increase — in the number of car loan defaults among borrowers under 30 years old.  According to Bloomberg Financial News, the rate for the Millennial demographic was 4.04 percent last quarter vs. 2.36 for the general population, or about twice as high.

There's A Vladimir Lenin Statue In Seattle, and Republican Lawmakers Want It Gone.  In the Fremont neighborhood of Seattle (because, duh, it's Seattle) stands a 16 foot tall statue of communist revolutionary and innovator of mass starvation and firing squads, Vladimir Lenin.  Republican lawmakers in Washington have now introduced a bill "to study and make recommendations on an appropriate historical figure to replace the statue of Lenin, and to represent the state of Washington."

People Search Garbage Truck For Food In Socialist Venezuela.  Starving Venezuelans rummaged through a trash truck this week in a search for food, following Venezuela's collapse due to its socialist policies.  "Amid the increasingly dire situation in Venezuela, Univision's left-leaning anchor Jorge Ramos traveled into the rapidly imploding socialist country for an interview Monday with dictator Nicolas Maduro," The Daily Wire reported. [...] In a video posted on the "Real American with Jorge Ramos" Facebook page, Ramos "said the last straw for Maduro was when the Mexican-American journalist held up his iPad and showed him footage he had filmed himself of three children on the streets of Venezuela rummaging through the back of a garbage truck for scraps of food," Fox News reported.  "He just couldn't stand it," Ramos said.  "He didn't want to continue the interview.  He tried to close my iPad.  They confiscated all of our cameras, all our videos."

Venezuela to deport Univision team after Maduro shown 'garbage eating' video.  U.S. television network Univision said on Monday Venezuela was deporting a news team led by anchor Jorge Ramos after they were briefly detained at the presidential palace because their line of questioning upset President Nicolas Maduro.

George Pell: cardinal found guilty of child sexual assault.  Cardinal George Pell, once the third most powerful man in the Vatican and Australia's most senior Catholic, has been found guilty of child sexual abuse after a trial in Melbourne.  A jury delivered the unanimous verdict on 11 December in Melbourne's county court, but the result was subject to a suppression order and could not be reported until now.

PayPal CEO Admits Partnership with Far-Left SPLC to Blacklist Conservatives.  PayPal CEO Dan Schulman admitted during an interview with the Wall Street Journal that PayPal works with the far-left Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) when it considers blacklisting conservatives.  After being asked by the Wall Street Journal what "values" PayPal identifies with," Schulman replied, "Probably the most important value to us is diversity and inclusion."

Venezuela Ex-spy Chief Reveals Maduro's Ties To Hezbollah, Drugs.  Former head of Venezuela's intelligence services Hugo Carvajal revealed powerful ties between the administration of President Nicolás Maduro and the Hezbollah terrorist group, as well as wide-spread corruption and drug activity, the New York Times reported on Thursday [2/21/2019].  The nefarious activities were directed by Maduro himself as well as Interior Minister Néstor Reverol and former vice-president Tareck El Aissami.

Women May Have to Register for the Draft as Men's Group Wins Selective Service Lawsuit.  On Friday [2/22/2019], a Texas judge ruled that the Selective Service System (SSS) violates the Constitution by requiring only men to register for the draft.  The court ruled with the National Coalition for Men (NCFM) in a lawsuit claiming the male-only draft constitutes discrimination against men.  NCFM's lawyer told PJ Media that even if the SSS appeals, they are likely to lose again.  He also suggested the Pentagon will not end the draft, so women may have to register.

The Corruption of the Vatican's Gay Elite Has Been Exposed.  I spent much of this week reading and trying to absorb the new and devastating book by one Frédéric Martel on the gayness of the hierarchy at the top of the Catholic Church, In the Closet of the Vatican:  Power, Homosexuality, Hypocrisy.  It's a bewildering and vast piece of reporting — Martel interviewed no fewer than "41 cardinals, 52 bishops and monsignori, 45 apostolic nuncios, secretaries of nunciatures or foreign ambassadors, 11 Swiss Guards and over 200 Catholic priests and seminarians."  He conducted more than 1,500 interviews over four years, is quite clear about his sources, and helps the reader weigh their credibility.  He keeps the identity of many of the most egregiously hypocritical cardinals confidential, but is unsparing about the dead.  The picture Martel draws is jaw-dropping.  Many of the Vatican gays — especially the most homophobic — treat their vows of celibacy with an insouciant contempt.  Martel argues that many of these cardinals and officials have lively sex lives, operate within a "don't ask, don't tell" culture, constantly hit on young men, hire prostitutes, throw chem-sex parties, and even pay for sex with church money.  How do we know this?  Because, astonishingly, they tell us.

Catholic Cardinal Marx says files on child abusers 'destroyed'.  Vatican officials worked to silence the victims, senior German Cardinal Reinhard Marx has told the summit on tackling pedophilia within the church.  He said files on the abusers were often destroyed.  Germany's top cardinal, Reinhard Marx, slammed the Catholic Church officials for their response to the decadeslong pedophilia scandal at a conference called by Pope Francis in the Vatican on Saturday [2/23/2019].

Projection:
Pope Francis decries critics of church as 'friends of the devil'.  Pope Francis has said that those who constantly criticise the Catholic church are "friends of the devil".  Speaking to pilgrims from southern Italy, the pontiff said that defects of the church needed to be denounced so they could be corrected, but that those who condemned "without love" were linked to the devil.  "One cannot live a whole life accusing, accusing, accusing, the church," he said.  People who did, he said, were "the friends, cousins and relatives of the devil".  His remarks come as dozens of victims of clerical sexual abuse gathered in Rome ahead of an unprecedented Vatican summit on the issue.

Brian Stelter Reports CNN Staff 'Up in Arms' Over Hiring of Ex-Trump Official as Editor.  Many media figures were instantly horrified by CNN's hiring of former Trump Department of Justice official Sarah Isgur Flores as a political editor, and according to CNN's Brian Stelter, so are many of CNN's other staffers.  Stelter spent much of Tuesday night [2/19/2019] tweeting updates about the hiring, then published a detailed story on the controversy that included extremely dissatisfied comments from several unnamed CNN staffers.

Chinese Cardinal:  Vatican Has Kept Secret the Text of Deal With Atheist Regime on Naming of Bishops.  Cardinal Joseph Zen, bishop emeritus of Hong Kong, said in a video interview with CNSNews.com that the Vatican has kept secret the text of the agreement it made in September with the government of the People's Republic of China on the appointment of Catholic bishops.  According to the U.S. State Department, the government of China is controlled by the Chinese Communist Party, whose members are required to be atheists.  "The People's Republic of China (PRC) is an authoritarian state in which the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is the paramount authority," says the State Department's latest report on human rights in China, which was published on April 20, 2018.

Congress Wants To Bring Thousands More Acres Under Federal Control. The US Can't Afford It.  A lengthy public lands package sitting in Congress adds hundreds of thousands of acres of federally protected wilderness without securing funding to manage it.  The House is preparing to vote on a bipartisan land package next week that is roughly 660 pages and composed of 118 different bills.  The Senate version passed its version, the most comprehensive land package in a decade, on Feb. 12 in a 92 to 8 vote.  "It touches every state, features the input of a wide coalition of our colleagues, and has earned the support of a broad, diverse coalition of many advocates for public lands, economic development and conservation," Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said, according to The Washington Post.

Democrats took $60,000 junket to attend Beyonce concert in South Africa.  Five members of the Congressional Black Caucus took an official three-day trip to South Africa to be feted as VIPs at a Beyonce and Jay Z concert, according to congressional disclosure records.  The stated purpose of the $60,000 trip in December was to attend the "Global Citizen Mandela 100" concert, the stated purpose of which was to celebrate the centenary of the birth of the late Nelson Mandela and raise awareness of global poverty.  The extravaganza was headlined by Beyonce, Jay Z, Ed Sheeran, Pharrell Williams, and Chris Martin.

Chase Bank Shuts Down Personal Account of Vocal Trump-Supporting US Army Combat Vet.  Chase Bank abruptly closed the personal account of US Army combat veteran Joe "Rambo" Biggs.  Mr. Biggs is a very vocal Trump supporter with a bluecheck verified Twitter account and has over 200,000 followers.  "Chase bank just closed out my account!" Biggs said on Twitter Saturday [2/16/2019]. [...] Joe Biggs is a huge supporter of the 2nd Amendment and also makes documentary films focused on the border crisis but he says YouTube has taken down most of his videos and demonetized his channel.  Tyranny from big tech and big banks in the US is reminiscent of the 'social credit score' in China which is used to silence and control the population.

What is the purpose of a secret Facebook account?
Malia Obama's secret Facebook account reveals just how much former First Daughter hates Trump.  Malia Obama described President Trump as 'evil' on a secret Facebook page where she exchanges messages friends including Joe Biden's granddaughter, DailyMail.com can reveal.  The Facebook page operates under a pseudonym and does not appear to have been publicly updated since 2017.

Defrocking McCarrick Before the Abuse Summit.  With his "abuse summit" a few days away, Pope Francis finally got around to defrocking the sexual predator Theodore McCarrick this week.  The move appears to have been driven by optics more than anything else.  It would have simply been too embarrassing for the pope to conduct the summit with the McCarrick matter still unresolved.  The pope's ostensible hope in delaying the abuse summit until this year was that interest in the scandal would dissipate.  It hasn't.

Former Air Force intelligence officer charged with revealing classified information to Iran.  The Justice Department on Wednesday unsealed an indictment against a former Air Force counterintelligence officer on espionage charges for allegedly revealing classified information to Iran.  On a Wednesday [2/13/2019] conference call with reporters, the Justice Department said former Air Force officer Monica Witt defected to Iran in 2013, where she is still suspected to be located.  She allegedly provided the code name and mission of a secret Department of Defense program and information about her former intelligence colleagues to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

House Democrat counters Trump with resolution declaring climate change a national emergency.  Democratic Rep. Earl Blumenauer of Oregon said Friday he intends to introduce a resolution declaring climate change a national emergency.  Blumenauer, who has endorsed the progressive Green New Deal resolution and is active on environmental and renewable energy issues, circulated a letter to colleagues Friday seeking support for a resolution that would declare the "sense of Congress" that climate change is a national emergency.  Blumenauer's resolution would swipe President Trump for declaring a national emergency Friday to build a border wall and address what the congressman called a "manufactured crisis."

The Editor says...
That's all very nice, except that The climate isn't changing.

This is the man who delivered the death blow to Amazon deal.  The watershed moment that led Amazon to reconsider coming to Queens came on Feb. 4, when a fierce political foe was appointed to a state board with the power to thwart the project, said sources involved in the discussions.  That was the day state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins nominated Sen. Michael Gianaris as her appointee to the obscure Public Authorities Control Board.  Gianaris, who represents Long Island City, where Amazon was planning to build one of its new headquarters, bitterly opposed the $3 billion in subsidies offered by the city and state and was miffed that Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio didn't consult him on the deal, according to sources.

Amazon's cancellation of move to NYC is catastrophic and could hurt far-left Dems at polls.  Amazon's announcement Thursday [2/14/2019] that it is abandoning plans to construct a second corporate headquarters New York City is a catastrophic loss for the city, New York state and the metropolitan region.  As a New Yorker, I find it immensely disappointing to see the immediate economic impacts and future economic losses of this unfortunate move.  I wholeheartedly believe that New York is a global city that should always strive to diversify its economy and compete on the world stage.

After Venezuela exchange, the case grows for throwing Ilhan Omar off the House Foreign Affairs Committee.  The unfitness of Rep. Ilhan Omar for the House Foreign Affairs Committee has already been brought up based on her persistent anti-Semitism, her strange habit of repeating Russian propaganda, and her apparent abuse of U.S. immigration law.  Now a new and very big reason has come up:  Her cringe-inducing ignorance of actual foreign affairs.

Judge voids Paul Manafort plea deal, says he 'intentionally' lied to the FBI, special counsel and grand jury.  Paul Manafort "intentionally" lied to special counsel Robert Mueller's office, breaking the plea agreement that made him the star cooperator in the Russia probe, a federal judge found on Wednesday [2/13/2019].  Manafort "made multiple false statements to the FBI, the OSC and the grand jury concerning matters that were material to the investigation," including his contacts with his Russian associate during the campaign and later, Judge Amy Berman Jackson wrote on Wednesday [2/13/2019].

This means they really don't know, or they DO know but won't say.
Feds don't know what caused romaine lettuce food poisoning outbreak.  U.S. food regulators say they weren't able to identify a contamination source for a food poisoning outbreak that prompted them to warn people to avoid romaine lettuce this fall.  The Food and Drug Administration says it wasn't able to determine how a water reservoir on a Santa Barbara County, California, farm became contaminated with E. coli.  It also says the water reservoir doesn't explain how lettuce from other farms may have been contaminated.  The FDA says leafy greens' short shelf life makes it difficult to investigate such outbreaks.

The Editor says...
The two most likely causes, in my opinion, are:  [1] Illegal aliens defecating in the water supply, or out in the lettuce fields (lettuce hope not!), or [2] small-scale Islamic terrorism designed to destabilize the US economy.

Tech Elites, Donor Class Unite with GOP/Dems to Outsource White-Collar American Jobs.  Silicon Valley's business elites and donor-class billionaires are uniting with elected Republicans and Democrats to ensure that white-collar, middle-class American jobs are swiftly outsourced to mostly Indian and Chinese nationals.  A plan known as the Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act, introduced in the Senate by Sens. Mike Lee (R-UT) and Kamala Harris (D-CA), as well as Reps.  Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) and Ken Buck (R-CO), would eliminate the U.S. country caps in the legal immigration system and would fast-track outsourcing of white-collar American jobs to mostly Indian and Chinese nationals imported to the country by businesses, outsourcing firms, and multinational corporations.

Mysterious Turkish Firm Helped Maduro Move $900 Million in Gold.  Two months after Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro visited his counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara, a mysterious company called Sardes sprang into existence.  The firm started business with a bang in January of 2018, when it imported about $41 million worth of gold from Venezuela, the first such transaction between the two countries in records that go back 50 years.  The next month its volume more than doubled, with Sardes transporting almost $100 million worth to Turkey.

Pope signs pact with Islam declaring 'diversity of religions' is 'willed by God'.  Almost without notice from the global media, Pope Francis held a historic meeting last week in the United Arab Emirates with Grand Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayeb, head of Egypt's al-Azhar University, the world's most authoritative institution on Islamic law.  El-Tayeb, while touted as a "moderate" by some in the West, unapologetically teaches that Muslims who leave Islam for other religions, or no religion at all, are guilty of apostasy and should be killed.  So what is the Pope of Rome, the supposed Vicar of Christ, doing cavorting with such a man?

Pope Francis Leading His Flock to the Slaughter?  The two foremost representatives of Christianity and Islam, Pope Francis and Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb — the Grand Imam of Al Azhar who was once named the "most influential Muslim in the world" — just signed "A Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together."  The Document "forcefully rejects," to quote Vatican News, "any justification of violence undertaken in the name of God," and affirms "respect for believers of different faiths, the condemnation of all discrimination, the need to protect all places of worship, and the right to religious liberty, as well as the recognition of the rights of women."  The Document is being portrayed as a "historic pledge of fraternity" and applauded as a "historical breakthrough."  The problem is that one of the two men who signed it, Dr. al-Tayeb, has repeatedly contradicted — when speaking in Arabic and appearing on Arabic media — all the lofty sentiments it highlights.

Panera Bread's Socialist 'Pay What You Want' Experiment Fails Miserably.  Panera Bread has shuttered the last of its ideologically driven "pay what you want" restaurants.  The socialist-tinged ventures were called "Panera Cares" and the higher-ups have finally figured out that "caring" is not synonymous with "viable business model."  On February 15, the final Panera Cares, located in Boston, will close. [...] If Panera had cared more about making money than promoting a constantly refuted ideology, its employees would still be receiving paychecks.  Frighteningly, though, a growing segment of the populace seems to be allergic to common-sense economic principles.

Panera's Socialist Pay-What-You-Want Restaurant Implodes:  Students, Homeless Mob The Place.  According to Eater, after nine years of being in business, Panera Bread's socialist pay-what-you-want restaurant, Panera Cares, will officially be closing shop on February 15 due to the business model's unsustainability.  While Panera Cares billed itself as a "non-profit" restaurant designed to feed low-income people, the business model was anything but.  Rather than create a charitable organization that distributes food to needy families or a discount outlet or even a $1 menu (like every other fast-food restaurant), Panera tried to create a socialist system in which meals were offered at a suggested donation price.  That means some people would pay more while others would pay less based on what they felt like or could afford.  By not simply offering food at a low price (hat-tip, Dollar Tree), Panera completely removed any incentive for patrons to meet even the lowest standards of consumer/retailer exchange.  The result:  some people paid their fair share while others enjoyed a "free lunch."

Why didn't the Panera Cares social experiment pay off?  The concept was introduced in 2010, when Panera Bread Co. opened its first Panera Cares location in a suburb of St.  Louis, where the company is based.  Under the chain's nonprofit arm, the stores operated on a pay-what-you-can model.  Customers could pay as much or as little as they wanted for sandwiches, soups, and other menu items, which carried only suggested prices.  The hope was that enough of them would "pay it forward" for those who were less well off.  To make it work, the company figured, 60 percent of patrons would need to fork over the full price, about 20 percent would have to offer more money, and another 20 percent could leave less than the suggested price, or even pay nothing.  In December 2012, when the Boston Panera Cares was about to open at 3 Center Plaza, company founder Ron Shaich that it would be a place where people could eat with dignity, no matter whether they could afford a meal.  "It's a powerful study of humanity," he said.  "Will people do the right thing?"  The answer, apparently:  Some did, but not enough to make the restaurants sustainable.

Surprise!  Panera's Socialist Restaurant Closes Due To People Not Paying For Their Food.  Panera Cares'll be officially closing on February 15th.  As it turns out, when you don't make people pay for stuff, people don't pay for stuff.

The Editor says...
The "pay whatever you feel it's worth" idea is suitable only for a moral and religious people.  It is wholly inadequate for any others.  The liberal Left has created a culture of entitlement, and there is an abundance of freeloaders in this country who feel they are entitled to take whatever they can get, free of charge.

China and Russia loaned billions to Venezuela — and then the presidency went up for grabs.  Venezuela is in the middle of a power struggle at the highest level, and that could mean trouble for its two biggest foreign allies:  China and Russia.  The socialist petrostate is home to the largest oil reserves on the planet, but endemic corruption has devastated its economy.  Beijing and Moscow have helped the country stave off collapse by repeatedly extending financial lifelines — to the tune of tens of billions of dollars over the last decade.  For the most part, those oil-for-debt swaps were good for all parties involved.  But that may be changing.

Denton County measles case is first in Dallas-Fort Worth, seventh in Texas.  One case of measles has been confirmed in Denton County, raising the statewide total to seven, according to health officials.  Denton County Public Health confirmed the case Wednesday [2/6/2019] and is working to identify and contact other people who may have been exposed.  The case has not been linked to any other cases, the health department said.  The department did not release any information about the person who contracted measles, citing patient confidentiality.

The Editor says...
I suppose it's a sign of the times:  The privacy of the person with the measles is more important than the health of the general population.  What's all the fuss about the measles, anyway?  I had the measles when I was a kid, and it was no big deal.

Yup, Iran/Hezbollah Really Is In Venezuela.  Ghazi Nasr Al-Din fundraisers for and with Hezbollah.  He also is a player in operational issues which includes a Hizbollah community center and operations office in Venezuela.  He speaks Arabic and Spanish.  Born in Beirut, Lebanon, he has been on the FBI Most Wanted List for several years.  Al Din along with Fawzi Kan'an are based in Venezuela and have been since at least 2008.

Earth's Magnetic North Pole keeps moving about and it could be a problem.  Earth's North Magnetic Pole has been drifting so fast in the last few decades that scientists say past estimates are no longer accurate enough for precise navigation.  On Monday [2/4/2019], they released an update of where magnetic north really is, nearly a year ahead of schedule.  The North Magnetic Pole is wandering about 34 miles a year.  It crossed the international dateline in 2017 and is leaving the Canadian Arctic on its way to Siberia.

Getting the gold out:  The rats are fleeing Venezuela's sinking ship.  You can tell that things are not going well for Venezuela's Maduro socialist dictatorship, based on how they're behaving now.  All signs are out now that the rats are fleeing a sinking ship.  Giant contractors, even from Venezuela's allies Russia and China, are pulling out, meaning the money's running out.  Just as interesting are the huge 757 Russian off-radar cargo jet flights into Caracas bearing the name of a newly-founded company, which sounds like a front for the Russian government.  They came and went, with unknown purpose, but lots of room for anyone who might want to ... smuggle out the nation's gold.

Plan to pull nearly $1B in gold out of Venezuela reportedly halted.  Plans by Venezuelan officials to ship 20 tons of gold overseas have reportedly been halted as the embattled presidency of Nicolas Maduro faces international pressure to cede power to a transitional government and protect the country's hard assets.  The gold bars, worth around $850 million, were weighed and separated in the central bank but won't be leaving the country anytime soon, according to reports.  On Tuesday, reports emerged that the gold was ready to be loaded onto a Russian airliner that arrived in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas a day earlier.

How the feds pulled off University of Farmington sting.  Federal agents who created a phony university to bust immigration fraud had help from straw men, a state agency, a national college accreditation group and a dead-end post office box, public records show.  The tapestry of tricks added a sheen of legitimacy to the University of Farmington, a fake university used by Homeland Security agents to arrest eight recruiters who are accused of visa fraud conspiracy and harboring aliens for profit.  The recruiters helped at least 600 foreign nationals illegally remain and work in the United States by recruiting them to enroll as students at the fake university, according to federal prosecutors.

And now they're stuck with a lifetime of student loan debt!
Homeland Security made fake university to lure illegal immigrants.  The Department of Homeland Security created a fake university in Detroit to lure — and arrest — illegal immigrant students and recruiters, according to newly unsealed court documents.  The University of Farmington existed in Farmington Hills, Michigan — but had no real teachers, curriculum or actual classes.  Instead, undercover Homeland Security agents posed as "owners and employees" of the school as "part of a federal law enforcement undercover operation designed to identify recruiters and entities engaged in immigration fraud," according to a federal indictment filed Jan. 15 but unsealed Wednesday [1/30/2019].

Russian Boeing 777 in Caracas set to haul 20 tons of gold from central bank, report says.  About 20 tons of gold from Venezuela's central bank was ready to be hauled away Tuesday [1/29/2019] on a Russian airline's Boeing 777 that landed in Caracas a day earlier, a Venezuelan lawmaker wrote on Twitter.  The destination of the $840 million in gold bars was unknown, but a source told Bloomberg News that it represented about 20 percent of the country's holding of the metal.  The gold was set aside for loading, the report said.

Senator's huge financial win after neighbour tackled him in lawn maintenance dispute.  A jury in Bowling Green, Kentucky, deliberated less than two hours before delivering the award to Republican Rand Paul, who had been attacked while doing yard work at his home.  During the three-day trial Mr Paul told the court he feared for his life as he struggled to breathe after Rene Boucher, an anesthesiologist, slammed into him in late 2017.  The jury awarded $375,000 in punitive damages and $200,000 for pain and suffering, plus $7,834 for medical expenses.

Struggling Newseum Sells Building to Johns Hopkins for $372.5 Million.  The financially struggling Newseum which moved from Virginia to D.C. in 2008 announced that it has agreed to sell its Pennsylvania Ave. location to Johns Hopkins University for $372.5 million.  The Newseum will remain open through 2019 while museum executives search for a new and presumably less costly location at which to operate.

Democrat Who Laughed Out Loud at Pledge of Allegiance will Deliver Dem's SOTU Response in Spanish.  On Tuesday [1/29/2019] it was announced that California Attorney General Xavier Becerra will deliver the Dems' State of the Union response in Spanish.  Schumer and Pelosi praised the incredibly corrupt California Attorney General with more Marxist doublespeak.

Failed gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams gets a SOTU response participation trophy.  On Tuesday [1/29/2019], Senator Chuck Schumer announced that he is pleased that failed gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams had accepted the invitation to give a televised rebuttal directly following President Trump's State of the Union address on February 5.  Given that she's not an elected representative, it's an odd choice [...] It is likely that Democratic leaders are offering Abrams as a sacrificial lamb, considering the failed rebuttal given by the frothymouthed Joe Kennedy last year, which led to thousands of memes and harsh criticisms about his flat and wet delivery.  Before he gave his speech, he was considered the "rising star" of the Democratic Party.  Afterward, he fell back into obscurity.

Israel Kamikaze Drones are Destroying Syria's Air Defenses.  On January 21, Iranian, Syrian and Israeli forces unleashed a hail of missiles upon each other in what is becoming yet another flare-up of violence along the Syria-Israel border.  Afterwards, the Israeli Defense Force released a video depicting unidentified munitions eliminating two or three short-range air defense systems--apparently including Russia's latest short-range system, the Pantsir-S2.  In fact, the recent raids may reveal improvements to Syria's air defense forces due to ongoing Russian training and weapons transfers.  However, they also reveal Israel's continuing ability to defeat, including through likely use of kamikaze-drones.

Thanks to Trump, China's economy is rapidly decelerating — Here's what could happen next.  The Chinese government recently announced that its GDP growth for 2018 of only 6.6 percent — the country's slowest rate of economic development since 1990.  Growth in the fourth quarter declined to 6.4 percent.  For the second half of 2018, Chinese investment, consumer spending, manufacturing and exports all slowed markedly with the current trade war with the U.S. hurting China more than anticipated.  And that's assuming the numbers are accurate.  Economists have long questioned the accuracy of China's official economic data.  In any event, China's economy is rapidly decelerating — and that's no coincidence.

Yes, Venezuela Is a Socialist Catastrophe.  Conspicuous by its absence in much of the mainstream news coverage of Venezuela's political crisis is the word "socialism."  Yes, every sensible observer agrees that Latin America's once-richest country, sitting atop the world's largest proven oil reserves, is an economic basket case, a humanitarian disaster, and a dictatorship whose demise cannot come soon enough.  But ... socialist?  Perish the thought.  Or so goes a line of argument that insists socialism's good name shouldn't be tarred by the results of experience.  On Venezuela, what you're likelier to read is that the crisis is the product of corruption, cronyism, populism, authoritarianism, resource-dependency, U.S. sanctions and trickery, even the residues of capitalism itself.

Venezuela Erupts Against Dictator Maduro as His Socialist Regime Starts to Completely Collapse.  Hundreds-of-thousands of people took to the streets in Venezuela Wednesday afternoon in protest of illegitimate President Nicolas Maduro and in support of internationally recognized President Juan Guadio. [...] On Wednesday afternoon [1/23/2019] the Trump administration, in partnership with a number of Central and South American countries, officially declared Maduro is no longer recognized as the leader of Venezuela and that Guadio is the legitimate President of the country.

Bernie Sanders warns about US, not Russian, intervention in Venezuela.  The story out of Venezuela is revolting: mass Egypt-style protest to get a leftist dictator who's put the country in ruins out, and the whole thing stopped by Russian intervention. [...] Russian president Vladimir Putin's warnings, delivered yesterday via his administrative minions, threatening civil war and hell to pay if Maduro is thrown out, is a clear signal that somebody's rice bowl is threatened in Moscow if Maduro exits and that Russia itself is trying to intervene.  By the wildest coincidence, they just happen to be the Venezuelan military's arms-supplier, supplying the weapons that, so far, are being aimed at Venezuela's protesting people.  China, which has loaned Venezuela billions in exchange for oil at below-market rates, is another one.  And Cuba, which literally runs the critical parts of the Venezuelan government, including much of its military, has the dirtiest hands of them all.

Most supporters of socialism ignore Venezuela's collapse — with one exception.  Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and most other fantasy-embracing leftists are uncharacteristically silent about the collapse of socialism, even as President Trump calls out the real-world refutation of the suddenly trendy failed ideology in the experience of Venezuela.

Trump announces temporary end to partial government shutdown; vows to build wall despite no funding deal.  Both chambers of Congress passed the short-term spending bill to re-open the government, temporarily ending the 35-day partial government shutdown on Friday [1/25/2019], sending the measure to President Trump's desk for him to sign into law.  Trump and congressional Democrats arrived at an agreement Friday to support a short-term spending bill to re-open the government, temporarily ending the partial government shutdown that has dragged on for 35 days, in a move to separate the controversial issue of border security from funding of the government.

Desperate Embrace At Europe's Core.  Europe's most powerful personages on Tuesday [1/22/2019] signed a treaty for the "unification," of Western Europe's biggest countries.  French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel inked the deal at Aachen/Aix la Chapelle.  It was there in the chapel that Charles de Gaulle and Konrad Adenauer had knelt at Holy Mass to celebrate the signing of the 1963 Franco-German treaty of cooperation that sealed their peoples' vow of friendship and cooperation.  In the ensuing half century, it produced just that.  France and Germany became the core of the Common Market and then of the European Union.  Today's treaty, its pretensions notwithstanding, is between regimes that are overwhelmingly occupied trying, with decreasing success, to fend off domestic challenges to their legitimacy.  The treaty is a desperate attempt by France and Germany to change the subject from their internal struggles.  Nevertheless, the treaty cannot but have major and deleterious effects on intra-European relations as well as on relations between Europe and the United States.

Venezuelans set fire to Hugo Chavez statue.  Operation Boot Maduro seems to be moving to stage two.  Following this week's military mutiny, which was squelched, but not before locals ran out and attempted to defend the troops in pitched street battles, now at least sixty — sixty! — neighborhoods in Caracas have erupted into riots — big riots, with people reported shot dead.  Take a look at the series of tweets posted by Caracas Chronicles on its Twitter feed enumerating the names of the neighborhoods now in open revolt.

That weird silence from Democrats over Venezuela's massive rejection of socialism.  All over the world, nations and leaders are throwing expressions of support and praise for Venezuela's leaders and people, who after many years of oppression and missteps, have come together with a courageous plan to non-violently shake off a detested socialist dictatorship that has left their country in ruins.  Television pictures from yesterday's demonstration covered the story in spades, showing the magnificent human spectacle to U.S. viewers.  President Trump and Vice President Pence have been right there for them.  The Organization of American States and the Inter American Development Bank are loudly supporting them.  The European Union is openly encouraging them.  There also are the skunks, such as Russian President Vladimir Putin's government, an official of which dismissed the millions-strong effort to shake off socialism and finally have food to eat, muggers in jail, a full roll of toilet paper and hospitals with sheets, running water and Band Aids as "an attempted coup."  Then there are the Democrats, who are curiously, weirdly silent.

Astronomers Aren't Pleased About a Russian Plan to Put Billboards in Space.  Russian company StartRocket is proposing to use Cubesats, small satellites with inexpensive launch profiles, to put billboards in space.  At an altitude of about 450 km (280 miles), the satellites would unfurl a mylar sail about 9 meters (30 ft.) long.  A group of CubeSats would work together to create a singe billboard, and the result would be a pixelated billboard with a viewable area of about 50 sq. km., visible in morning and evening twilight, when they catch and reflect sunlight.  StartRocket thinks of their billboards in space as the creation of a new media.  The company calls them Orbital Displays, and each one would only last about a year.  They would be easily visible on clear nights, but not overbearingly bright.

Socialists can't stand to see capitalism succeed.
Progressives target Amazon.  Amazon has become a recurring symbol of economic inequality for newly emboldened progressive Democrats.

Like in Nigeria, 20 Mexican oil pipeline thieves die in fire.  Stealing fuel from oil pipelines appears not to be a peculiar Nigerian habit.  It is also a problem in Mexico, where the theft cost the government about $3 billion in 2018.  At least 20 people were killed and 54 were injured on Friday [1/18/2019] when a pipeline ruptured by suspected fuel thieves exploded in central Mexico as dozens of people tried to fill up containers, state and federal authorities said.

Update:
At least 66 dead, dozens injured after pipeline explosion in Mexico.  Forensic experts attempted to separate and count charred heaps of corpses in central Mexico on Saturday after a massive fireball erupted at an illegal pipeline tap, killing at least 66 people.

More updates:
Pipeline explosion witnesses describe scene where 73 died.  Grief-stricken family members and witnesses to Friday's pipeline explosion in central Mexico — which killed at least 73 people, burning many to just bones or ash, and injured at least 74 — were still reeling from the tragedy Saturday [1/19/2019]. [...] Isaias Garcia, a farmer who witnessed the explosion from a distance, explained why so many had come to the area.  "Everyone came to see if they could get a bit of gasoline for their car," he said.  "There isn't any in the gas stations."

Death toll rises in Mexico pipeline blast.  Mexico's state oil firm, Pemex, did not close the valve at a leaking gasoline pipeline when first notified because it was not initially thought to be an "important" leak, Mexico's security minister said on Sunday [1/20/2019].  The number of people who died from the explosion in central Mexico has risen to 85, Mexico's health minister said on Sunday.  An additional 58 people were hospitalized, Health Minister Jorge Alcocer told a news conference.

Death toll in Mexico gasoline pipeline blast climbs to 96.  The number of people who died in a gasoline pipeline explosion in central Mexico late last week has risen to 96, government officials said on Tuesday [1/22/2019], from 91 reported a day earlier.

The Editor says...
This horrific tragedy was caused by gasoline thieves drilling into a pipeline to get free gas.  This event will probably be used by anti-pipeline activists as evidence that pipelines are dangerous, but that is not true, at least in the United States.  Pipelines are safe if you leave them alone.

The 'Pelosi Rule' — "Sen. Joni Ernst Proposes Legislation to Keep Lawmakers in DC During Shutdowns.  On Friday night Speaker Nancy Pelosi was spotted at Reagan International Airport in Washington DC flying commercial as the president suggested.  This was after President Trump grounded Speaker Pelosi and Democrats taking a "public relations tour" to trash the administration in Europe and Afghanistan.  On Friday [1/18/2019] Sen. Joni Ernst (R_IA) proposed legislation to force lawmakers to stay in Washington and meet twice per day until their work is done on national budgets.

The Tense Debate Over Gay Priests.  Since last summer, the Catholic Church has been roiled by accusations that retired Archbishop Theodore McCarrick of Washington, D.C., molested male minors and sexually harassed adult seminarians and priests over more than two decades.  The case has reignited a long and tense debate among Catholics over the question of homosexuality in the all-male priesthood.  Some bishops, other clergy and laypeople have cited Archbishop McCarrick's rise to power, despite widespread rumors of sexual misconduct, as evidence of a "homosexual subculture" in the hierarchy that they blame for allowing sex abuse and covering it up.

GOP Senators:  No Official Travel for Pelosi or Anyone If Budget Deadlines Aren't Met.  After President Trump yanked funding for Speaker Nancy Pelosi's (D., Calif.) Democratic delegation trip to Afghanistan, a trio of GOP senators are pushing a proposal that would bar any congressional travel if Congress can't meet its budget deadlines.  The bill would also prevent Congress from leaving Washington if lawmakers fail to complete their job of funding the government on time in an effort to fix the broken budget process and avoid future government shutdowns, stop-gap funding extensions, and bloated, last-minute, "omnibus" spending deals.

Another FBI Lawyer is Under Criminal Investigation for Leaking to the Media.  Former FBI attorney James Baker is reportedly under criminal investigation for improperly leaking sensitive information the media. [...] Baker reported to fired FBI Director James Comey, who has also been the subject of investigation by the Department of Justice Inspector General for his leaking habits and potential improper handling of classified information.  Comey openly admitted to leaking memos about his conversations with President Trump during a congressional hearing in June 2017.  He said his goal was to launch a special counsel investigation into the president.

Freshman Democrats frustrated with leadership over shutdown impasse.  While Democratic leadership holds the line, apparently refusing to come to the table to negotiate, the resolve of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer in holding out might not be trickling down into the freshman class.  A number of newly sworn-in Democrats have reportedly voiced frustration with the leaders within their own party.  Some are suggesting that they might be willing to at least negotiate and see what kind of a deal could result.

You don't know what's in those vaccines.
Leading cancer expert dies suddenly after routine yellow fever jab.  A leading cancer expert has died suddenly after a routine yellow fever jab.  Martin Gore[,] once described by the Duke of Cambridge as an 'inspiration[,]' suffered total organ failure shortly after having the injection.  The jab is recommended to anyone visiting Sub-Saharan Africa, South and Central America and the Caribbean, reports The Times.

America's progressives are so busy extolling virtues of socialism that they want you to ignore this.  Venezuela is in deep trouble:  hyperinflation, food shortages, scarce medical supplies, and soaring violence born of desperation.  It's all the doing of former Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, his successor Nicolás Maduro, and their fellow kleptocrats.  Though America didn't cause Venezuela's problems, the Trump administration is trying to be part of the solution.  Its primary motive:  to ease the intolerable suffering caused by the socialist regime and its destabilizing effects on the entire region.  Nearly three-quarters of a century ago, Winston Churchill described socialism as "the equal sharing of misery."  Venezuela under Maduro shows that description holds true today.

Libertarian Party Organizes National Park Cleanups.  Republicans and Democrats may be sniping at each other over the partial government shutdown, but it's the Libertarian Party which is putting words to action.  Libertarians have organized multiple national park cleanups over the last week to show maybe the government isn't needed to provide services.  Libertarian Party National Committee Chair Nicholas Sarwark sees it as a real opportunity.

Mercenary:
Joe Lieberman Called Chinese Telecom Giant ZTE a National Security Threat.  Now He's a Lobbyist for It.  Joseph Lieberman, the former Connecticut senator and Democratic vice presidential candidate, is working for a company he once called a national security threat.  In November, Lieberman registered as a lobbyist for ZTE, a Chinese telecom giant with close links to the country's government.  The ex-senator told Politico that, despite his registration, he wouldn't actually be lobbying for the firm.  Rather, he hoped to "raise the level of trust in ZTE."  Lieberman certainly should understand the trust deficit the company faces.  In 2010, he signed a letter saying ZTE and another Chinese telecom company, Huawei, could threaten American national security.

Ex-CIA Interrogator:  Dems Comparing Shutdown to Hostage Situation Is a 'Narcissistic Power Grab'.  Dr. James Mitchell, a U.S. Air Force veteran and former CIA interrogator, blasted Democrats for likening the partial government shutdown to a hostage situation.  A multitude of top Democrats, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) and Sen. Charles Schumer (N.Y.), have recently said President Trump has taken Americans "hostage" by not opening up the government.  Mitchell, who interrogated 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, said Saturday [1/12/2019] on Fox & Friends that the true hostage-takers are the Democrats themselves.  "They're using the federal employees as human shields in order to keep the southern border open to illegal immigration," he said.

The Unraveling of Wuerl's Lies.  In the latest revelation about Donald Wuerl — that, contrary to his claims of ignorance, he knew about McCarrick's misconduct for at least 14 years — he emerges as the amoral but self-protective bureaucrat, undone by his own pass-the-buck-style record-keeping, which gives a grimly ironic dimension to his downfall.  Wuerl's policy wasn't one of zero tolerance but of zero legal exposure, and toward that end he needed to keep records of complaints he had received and transmitted to the papal nuncio.

Gone: More cases emerge of Saudi students vanishing while facing Oregon charges.  In December 2014, a university student from Saudi Arabia was arrested in Monmouth and accused of raping a classmate after giving her marijuana and shots of Jack Daniel's.  Bail was set at a half-million dollars.  The judge ordered the student, Abdulaziz Al Duways, to turn over his passport to the private defense lawyer hired to represent him, according to court records and the Polk County District Attorney's Office.  A few days later, an official from the Royal Consulate General of Saudi Arabia in Los Angeles posted bail.  Al Duways disappeared.  The case preceded a similar one recently reported by The Oregonian/OregonLive involving Abdulrahman Sameer Noorah.  The Portland Community College student jumped bail in the hit-and-run death of a 15-year-old Portland girl and apparently fled with the Saudi Arabian government's help, law enforcement officials said.

Real Mature:  Democratic Lawmakers Deliver National Park Trash To White House Amid Shutdown.  When things get serious, you can always count on Democrats to put the best interest of the country ahead of everything.  Just kidding.  Instead, when the chips are down, you can expect Democrats to pull stunts — pointless, crude and childish.  That's just what two California Democrats did on Wednesday [1/9/2019], making a show of bringing boxes of garbage collected at a national park during the government shutdown, which began December 22.  Reps. Jackie Speier and Jared Huffman went out to Golden Gate National Recreation Area on Saturday [1/5/2019] and helped volunteers pick up trash.  On Wednesday, the two House members brought the garbage to the White House to deliver what they called a "reality check."

Surgeon fined $3K for removing kidney he thought was tumor.  The Florida Board of Medicine says a West Palm Beach surgeon has agreed to pay a $3,000 fine for removing a woman's healthy kidney that he thought was a tumor.

"Biblical plague" swarms into Muslim holy capital.  A plague that seems straight out of the Bible's Old Testament has hit the Muslim holy capital of Mecca — the first time in recorded history such an event has occurred.  Inside Islam's holy city, the Grand Mecca itself has been swarmed by hordes of flying locust[s].  The unexplained event has left authorities struggling to clean up.  According to Newsweek, "The Holy Mecca Municipality issued a statement Monday responding to the swarm of so-called 'night cockroaches,' saying it had dispatched '22 teams consisting of 138 individuals and 111 devices'" to clean up.

Portland professor behind journal paper hoax fears he could lose his job.  A professor who fooled prestigious journals into running absurd hoax papers, as a test of their bias, says he may now lose his job because of his actions.  Peter Boghossian was one of three people who collaborated last year to test the standards of various university disciplines, submitting papers loaded with left-wing buzzwords to journals in fields like feminism, race studies, queer studies, and cultural studies.  Many prestigious journals fell for their absurd hoax papers.  A leading feminist journal published a section of Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf that had simply been re-written with fashionable buzzwords.  Another journal published a paper about "rape culture and queer performativity" in dog parks.

How Convenient:  Charter Spectrum has Major Outage Across US before President Trump's Address on Border Security.  Spectrum has announced a major cable outage across the country just 1 hour before President Donald Trump is supposed to address the nation about the immigration crisis and the need to build the wall.  What are the odds?  Interesting how the outage is in all major cities and border states.

GOP senator's bill to withhold pay from Congress members during gov't shutdowns catches on.  Republican Montana Sen. Steve Daines introduced a bill on the Senate floor Thursday that would withhold the pay of members of Congress during future government shutdowns.  Daines's introduction of the bill, sponsored by Republican Texas Sen. John Cornyn, comes hours after Daines announced he sent a letter requesting the secretary of the U.S. Senate withhold his pay during the ongoing partial shutdown of the federal government.

Families of Sandy Hook shooting victims win legal victory in lawsuit against InfoWars, Alex Jones.  Six families of victims killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School won a legal victory Friday [1/11/2019] in their fight against controversial radio and internet personality Alex Jones.  A judge in Connecticut has granted the families' discovery requests, allowing them access to, among other things, Infowars' internal marketing and financial documents.

New York now requires changing tables in public men's restrooms.  Change is coming to men's restrooms in New York — and it's going to be a big help to fathers all over the state.  A new law requires all new or renovated buildings in New York that have bathrooms used by the public to make changing tables available to both men and women.  The rule, which passed in April 2018 but didn't go into effect until the new year, applies to restaurants, stores and movie theaters as well as state facilities such as parks and offices of the Department of Motor Vehicles.

Here's The Viral Photo Of The Bloodied Man Female UFC Fighter Allegedly Beat Up For Attempted Robbery.  Twenty-six-year-old UFC fighter Polyana Viana told MMAjunkie on Sunday [1/6/2019] that she was approached by a man while she was waiting for an Uber driver.  After asking her for the time, he demanded she give him her cellphone and told her he was armed.  Making a split-second decision, Viana decided the "gun" he claimed to have was likely "too soft" to be an actual gun and deployed two punches and a kick to the man, and as he fell to the ground, she caught him in a headlock, she recalled.  The fighter said she held him until the cops arrived.

Four-year Senate investigation finds US Marshals Service plagued with corruption.  Wasteful spending.  Favoritism and nepotism.  Sexual harassment.  These were a few of the findings of a four-year Senate investigation into the U.S. Marshals Service, which concluded Thursday [1/3/2019].  A newly released report has revealed the Justice Department agency was rife with misconduct and abuse of authority, and at high levels.  The Senate Judiciary Committee's report, that included more than 100 interviews with current and former agency employees, details a long list of serious offenses that touched every part of internal affairs.

China: We'll Use Force To "Absorb" Taiwan If Necessary.  2019 is shaping up to be the year of Chinese aggression and challenges to the west.  On the technological front, they just landed a spacecraft on the dark side of the moon.  Far more troubling is the increasing level of military saber-rattling going on.  After launching their first domestically constructed aircraft carrier, one of their admirals suggest that they might sink a couple of ours.  And now, renewing a diplomatic battle that's been going on for decades, China's president is suggesting that they will bring Taiwan back under the direct control of Beijing, even if they have to do so by force.

Senate confirms dozens of stalled Trump nominees hours before the 115th Congress ends.  The Senate confirmed dozens of stalled Trump administration nominees Wednesday night, just hours before the close of the 115th Congress.  The list excluded federal judges despite an effort by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to secure a deal for those nominees with Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.  In total, the Senate cleared 77 nominees by voice vote, among them 23 ambassadors to countries including Australia, Armenia, Yemen, Guyana, Kenya, and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Overflowing garbage, feces on roads prompt Yosemite National Park officials to close some campgrounds.  Campgrounds in Yosemite National Park have been closed amid a foul tide of trash and human waste that is being blamed on the partial federal shutdown.  The restrooms and visitor centers at the park in California have been closed since Dec. 22, when the partial government shutdown began, the Los Angeles Times reported.  Trash collection was also suspended at the park but it has remained open.  But on Monday, feces and garbage were beginning to overwhelm Yosemite and other national parks.

The Editor says...
False flag alert:  Are average park visitors suddenly throwing trash wherever they please, or is someone making the government shutdown look more inconvenient than it really is?

Federal workers are suing the US government over the shutdown.  Federal workers on Wednesday sued the U.S. government over the shutdown, protesting the requirement that employees who are considered "essential" must report to work without pay, a major federal workers' union announced Monday.  An estimated 420,000 employees fall into the category of being essential, many of them working for the Department of Homeland Security and the Justice Department, focused on public safety.  In previous government shutdowns, Congress approved back pay for federal employees, something that's likely to happen again once the standoff between President Donald Trump and congressional Democrats ends.

Utah implements nation's strictest drunk-driving law.  Just in time for New Year's Eve, Utah is setting up the strictest DUI law in the country.  The state is lowering its limit on blood-alcohol content from 0.08 to 0.05 percent.  Most states, including New York, set the limit at 0.08 percent.  Utah's mostly Mormon lawmakers embraced the change.

Journalists Dropping the Ball to End 2018.  After another year of embarrassing and sometimes bizarre behavior, the American news media will shamelessly celebrate themselves as 2018 draws to a close.  The irony of people representing media outlets that have polluted our public discourse with some of the most flawed, biased, and conspiratorial news coverage in modern times dropping a ball together in midtown Manhattan is delicious.  And their lack of self-awareness makes it even more spectacular.

Chancellor Merkel Says Nations Must 'Give up Sovereignty' to the EU.  German Chancellor Angela Merkel gave a very troubling speech yesterday to the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in Berlin where she said, "Nation states must today be prepared to give up their sovereignty" and that the will of the people on issues like immigration and border security doesn't matter.

French security services investigate Russian role in yellow vests movement.  Yellow vest protestors claim that tax increases are disproportionally affecting working- and middle-class people and that everyday life is becoming economically unsustainable in France.  Some of the demonstrations have turned violent, and so far at least eight people have died as a result.  The ensuing crisis has become the most significant threat to the government of Emmanuel Macron, as the protests are increasingly evolving into an anti-Macron rallies.  So far, the yellow vests campaign has been largely bipartisan, bringing together protestors from the entirety of the French political spectrum.  Additionally, there are no identified leaders or coordinators of the movement.  However, some suspect that Russian government operatives may be further-inflaming an already incensed protest movement.

Kenya believe it?
China's African debt-trap:  Beijing prepares to seize Kenya's port of Mombasa.  China may be preparing to seize some major assets in the African nation of Kenya, as a result of debt-trap diplomacy.  African media reports that Kenya may soon be forced to relinquish control of its largest and most lucrative port in Mombasa to Chinese control.  Other assets related to the inland shipment of goods from the port, including the Inland Container Depot in Nairobi, and the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR), may also be compromised in the event of a Chinese port takeover.

What the Russian Trolls Were Really Doing in 2016.  [Scroll down]  So the actual story of Russia's Facebook operations is that they targeted African-Americans and even Latinos more than conservatives.  That would be entirely in line with Russia's past propaganda, and its influence operations in the United States, but it doesn't fit the Clinton conspiracy theory.  The Oxford report is even forced to concede that the Russians hit Muslims with "pro-Clinton" messages and that the Russians had "targeted Canadians with ads encouraging donations to Justin Trudeau's campaign."  That doesn't fit the narrative, so it's dismissed as confusing.  When Russia posted pro-Trump material, it's touted as proof of Russian backing.  But when the Russians supported Bernie Sanders, Justin Trudeau or other leftists, suddenly "it's not what it looks like."

Not in my neighborhood!
Plans for homeless shelter on Billionaires' Row are stopped.  The new homeless shelter set to open up in the former Park Savoy Hotel in Manhattan's "Billionaires' Row" has been put on ice — at least, for the time being.  The group of residents suing over the city's contentious housing plan was granted a temporary injunction halting the construction at the West 58th Street shelter.

National debt interest will soon exceed national defense spending.  President Trump has harshly criticized the Federal Reserve in recent weeks for inching up the standard interest rate to guard against rising inflation and threatening the four percent economic growth rate the billionaire likes to brag about.  Here's another reason:  The higher interest rates on your credit card balances and car loans also apply to the federal government's borrowing.

Iraqi politicians attack Trump's visit to US troops as 'blatant violation of sovereignty'.  Iraqi politicians and military leaders have criticised Donald Trump's visit to US troops in the country.  Calling it a "blatant violation of Iraq's sovereignty" Sabah al Saadi, the former head of Iraq's integrity commission and leader of the powerful Islah parliamentary bloc, called for an emergency session of parliament.  He described Mr Trump's visit as "aggressive" before claiming the US president "should know his limits."  He said:  "The US occupation of Iraq is over."

The Editor says...
Why are we in Iraq at all?  Pull out now, I say, and let the ungrateful Iraqis rot.

Top Amazon boss privately advised US government on web portal worth billions to tech firm.  A top Amazon executive privately advised the Trump administration on the launch of a new internet portal that is expected to generate billions of dollars for the technology company and give it a dominant role in how the US government buys everything from paper clips to office chairs.  Emails seen by the Guardian show that the Amazon executive Anne Rung communicated with a top official at the General Services Administration (GSA) about the approach the government would take to create the new portal, even before the legislation that created it — known to its critics as the "Amazon amendment" — was signed into law late last yea

Baltimore police pay $500 for rocket launcher at gun buyback.  Baltimore police say a rocket launcher was among the more than 1,000 firearms turned in during recent gun buyback events.

In Brazil, Bolsonaro gives cops 'license to kill.' What could go wrong?  High crime has made Brazil's cities unlivable, which is why many of even the poorest Brazilians flocked to elect right-wing conservative Jair Bolsonaro for president.  But his solution — which news accounts say is to just get out there and shoot the criminals — isn't likely to work.

License-to-Kill Policing to Get a Trial Run in Rio de Janeiro.  Teams of marksmen next year will patrol swaths of Rio de Janeiro with high-powered weapons and a license to kill, said a security adviser to Governor-elect Wilson Witzel.  As many as 120 sharpshooters will accompany police incursions into the slums of Brazil's postcard city to exterminate gun-toting criminals, according to Flavio Pacca, a longtime associate of Witzel who the governor-elect's press office said will join the administration.  The shooters will work in pairs — one to pull the trigger, one to monitor conditions and videotape deaths.

Report: Huber and Horowitz Investigations Deep State Cons Constructed by DOJ.  Paul Sperry has an interesting report posted at RCP-Investigations outlining numerous interviews with DC politicians and would-be witnesses, if any actual DOJ investigation of the FBI and DOJ misconduct was taking place.  What Sperry discovers is the year-long narrative around John Huber and Michael Horowitz is factually false.  Just like the false framework surrounding the long-forgotten U.S. Attorney John Lausch; the guy who was supposedly hired to facilitate DOJ record production but actually did nothing of the sort; Sperry discovers the framework around U.S. Attorney John Huber was manufactured by career officials inside the DOJ to tamp down problematic demands for a second special counsel.

Former Senate Intel aide accused of passing info to 'young, female reporters' gets 2 months.  A former aide to the Senate Intelligence Committee, who leaked information to a journalist he was having an affair with, has been sentenced to two months in prison for lying to the FBI.  James Wolfe, 58, pleaded guilty in October to one felony count of lying to the FBI.  The count referenced use of encrypted messaging in October 2017 to tell "Reporter #3" about a subpoena the committee had issued.

Ticking Time Bombs in the [Catholic] Church.  Former Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony is long retired, but his scandals keep exploding like ticking time bombs around the feet of his successor.  The latest eruption was this week's revelation that Mahony had elevated Monsignor Alexander Salazar to auxiliary bishop in 2004 despite a credible allegation of abuse against Salazar from the 1990s.

Catholic Church in Illinois Withheld Names of at Least 500 Priests Accused of Abuse, Attorney General Says.  The Catholic Church in Illinois withheld the names of at least 500 priests accused of sexual abuse of minors, the state's attorney general said Wednesday in a scathing report that accused the church of failing victims by neglecting to investigate their allegations.  The preliminary report by Attorney General Lisa Madigan concludes that the Catholic dioceses in Illinois are incapable of investigating themselves and "will not resolve the clergy sexual abuse crisis on their own."

Microsoft Making It Easier to Type Kaomoji.  Last night Microsoft released quite a feature-packed Windows 10 2019 Preview Build to Windows Insiders.  The last major update for the year, build 18305 brought in some pretty useful features.  But, it's the fun ones that deserve some attention.

Illinois finds 500 more Catholic clergy accused of abuse.  Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan on Wednesday issued a blistering report about clergy sexual abuse, saying that Catholic dioceses in Illinois received allegations of child sexual abuse by 500 more clergy than previously publicly identified.

What's Happening to Tucker Carlson (and Others) Is Called 'Blacklisting'.  There is no question political blacklisting has returned with a vengeance.  Once again, just as we saw during the Hollywood blacklist of old, large corporations are de-platforming, refusing to serve, firing, and stripping sponsorship from those who hold beliefs and opinions unpopular with the establishment.  We even have large media corporations, like the far-left CNN, openly demanding the blacklisting of certain opinions.  What's more, in a truly ironic example of history repeating itself, we have the powerful in Hollywood calling for the blacklisting of certain opinions.

Protester Who Climbed Statue Of Liberty To Protest ICE Convicted On All Counts.  On Monday [12/17/2018], the woman who climbed the base of the Statue of Liberty to protest against U.S. immigration policy last July 4, forcing thousands of visitors who wanted to visit the iconic statue on Liberty Island to evacuate the island, was convicted on all counts by a judge in Manhattan.

Federal court says NY ban on nunchucks [is] unconstitutional.  A federal court says New York's ban on nunchucks, the martial arts weapon made famous by Bruce Lee but prohibited in the state for decades, is unconstitutional under the Second Amendment.

Acting AG Matt Whitaker likely in clear in Hatch Act probe, experts say.  Acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker did not violate the Hatch Act when his campaign account from a failed 2014 Senate bid accepted four donations totaling nearly $9,000 earlier this year, campaign finance experts said.  But most of the money is still sitting in the campaign's account because William Gustoff, the campaign's treasurer, is waiting to make sure he can use it to pay back a loan to Mr. Whitaker, who is still owed $50,000 from a personal loan he made to his Senate bid.

Over 40 percent of Americans say no to flu vaccinations.  Have you gotten your flu shot this year?  If the answer is no — and I'm not getting one! — you're not alone.  A new study finds more than 40 percent of Americans have not been vaccinated and, in fact, don't plan on it either.  This is despite the warnings, potential dangers, and last year's record-number of flu deaths.  The survey was done by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago.  People under the age of 45 were the least likely to report being vaccinated.

Joe Lieberman, former 'conscience of the Senate,' becomes a Chinese agent.  Joe Lieberman, a Democrat-turned-independent who has backed Republicans, has found friends in yet another party:  the ruling Communist Party of the People's Republic of China.  The former "conscience of the Senate" has been hired to represent China's ZTE telecommunications company, which is basically a front organization for Chinese intelligence services.  ZTE is under pressure in light of overdue U.S. government efforts to prevent it from entrenching a stronger position in the U.S. economy.  With the U.S. now in a new cold war with Beijing, no former U.S. official, let alone a foreign policy hawk like Lieberman, should be serving ZTE.

How to delete Facebook without losing your friends and photos.  Casey Neistat wrote an article back in 2014 how he 'fixed' his Facebook by unfriending people who shared too much.  I tried this in 2017, and it absolutely didn't work!  People still share way too much and every time I go on Facebook it feels like like a whole plague of negativity that's trying to give me cancer.  Just no.  It's not cool.  Facebook really isn't the 'cool' platform it was back in 2008.

The curiously now-dead Venezuelan PDVSA oil chief was the CITGO guy and a Washington fixer.  Another day, another dead dissident over in the socialist hellhole of Venezuela.  The death of Nelson Martínez in police custody made the news, because no one had ever seen such a high-level official killed off, possibly by bad medical care, which wouldn't be surprising in a Venezuelan dungeon, or maybe a rubout from the mafia state that's currently in power.  Maybe it was both.  It's likely someone wanted him dead.  Martínez had been Venezuela's oil chief, the man at the top of state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A., which brought in 95% of the country's export revenues based on Venezuela's oil shipments, and close to Venezuela's President Nicolás Maduro.

Judge rules Americans can secretly record public officials in victory for Project Veritas.  A federal judge ruled Monday that Americans have a right to secretly record their public officials, including police, when they are engaged in their government duties.  U.S. District Chief Judge Patti B. Saris said a Massachusetts law banning secret recordings violates the First Amendment when it comes to government employees, rejecting the state's claims that officials need some space to be able to operate without having to worry about being monitored.

Project Veritas Gets A Win In Massachusetts.  Chalk up a win for the watchdogs of government.  A federal judge in Massachusetts has ruled in two cases — one including the bane of many Democrats' existence, Project Veritas — that the Massachusetts state law prohibiting secretly recording government officials is unconstitutional.

Naval Air Station Corpus Christi could be re-named after Bush 41.  The naval air station where former President George H.W. Bush earned his naval wings in 1943 could soon be renamed after the late president.  Nueces County commissioners are set to vote Wednesday on a resolution in support of changing the name of the N.A.S. Corpus Christi to the George H.W. Bush Naval Air Station Corpus Christi — a push that's making its way through Texas and Washington.

Barack Obama's Campaign Was Fined $375,000 for Campaign Finance.  Donations — Why Didn't Liberal SDNY Prosecute Obama?  Gregg Jarrett went off after the New York Southern Division accused President Trump of campaign violations by paying hush money to two women from his own pocket. [...] Of course, the NYSD said nothing when Obama was accused of campaign finance donations.  In January 2013 the Obama Campaign was fined $375,000 for campaign reporting violations.

France surrenders to the French.  Macron today [12/10/2018] capitulated to the Yellow Jacket rioters who have turned Paris into Europe's first no-go zone not run by Muslims.  Corporate media in America is alarmed and couched Macron's submission as heroic.  Maybe he can relocate his capital to Vichy.  Some Trump supporters are saying he negotiated with terrorists.  That's being kind.  He merely gave them what they want.  Again.

Are 'deplorables' reaching the breaking point... again?  Another possible government shutdown showdown just ahead of Christmas, along with news of massive protests in France against unfair and unsustainable tax policies, has comments sections on conservative sites buzzing with calls to just "shut it down" if funding for the border wall is not included in the budget.  Candidate Trump's "forgotten" men and women are getting antsy.

AI can solve CAPTCHA tests in under 0.05 seconds.  CAPTCHA is an acronym for "Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart", a type of challenge-response test used in computing to determine whether or not the user is human.  Text-based CAPTCHAs use a jumble of letters and numbers, alongside other security features such as occluding lines, to distinguish between humans and malicious automated computer programmes.  The system relies on people finding it easier to decipher the characters than machines.  Developed by computer scientists at Lancaster University in the UK as well as Northwest University and Peking University in China, the new algorithm delivers significantly higher accuracy than previous CAPTCHA attack systems, and is able to successfully crack versions where previous attacks failed.  It is also highly efficient, able to pass a test within 0.05 seconds on a desktop PC.

Nadler: I'm ending investigation into FBI, DOJ when I become chairman.  The Democrat poised to lead the House Judiciary Committee next year says he has no intention of continuing the GOP-led investigation into FBI and Justice Department (DOJ) decisionmaking [sic] during the 2016 election.  Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), who stepped outside of the ongoing closed-door interview with former FBI Director James Comey, told reporters Friday [12/7/2018] that he plans to end the probe come January.

The Editor says...
Please show me a dictionary (if you attended a public school, that's a hardback book with a lot of definitions and pronunciation guides in it), in which decisionmaking is a single un-hyphenated word.

Macron Shuts Down Paris in Attempt To Stop Protests.  French President Emmanuel Macron has officially shut down Paris this weekend in his attempt to stop the "Yellow Vest" populist uprising against current political policies.  The primary tourist venues are all closed; shops ordered to close; windows boarded up; 8,000 police units dispatched to Paris and 89,000 deployed throughout the country.

The Editor says...
Beware of new reports that tell you about thousands of people rioting in the streets over "political policies" without telling you what those policies are, or why they're bad enough to justify violence.  The riots are all about sudden increases in already-high gasoline taxes to pay for environmental money pits like global warming.  The French people are just now figuring out that socialism comes at a high cost.  They may also learn that carbon dioxide is harmless, global warming and cooling is inevitable and natural, and no amount of money can change the weather.

Paris Is Burning Over Climate Change Taxes — Is America Next?  The City of Lights, Paris, has been illuminated in recent days by cars set alight by thousands of protesting "Yellow Vests" — largely middle class people who earn their living by driving or who commute to get to work.  The cause of their ire is a scheduled 25 cents-per-gallon increase in gas taxes, and about 10 cents on diesel, to fight climate change.  French President Macron, deeply unpopular, just reversed course on the new green tax — Parisians are already paying about $7.06 per gallon for gasoline, almost half of that in taxes.  If Paris streets burned over a proposed 25 cents per gallon climate change tax, imagine the global conflagration over a $49 per gallon tax.

France protests and the 'yellow vests' deep anger reveal the hypocrisy at the heart of the green agenda.  Over the last month, hundreds of thousands of angry French citizens have joined in "yellow vest" protests, initially sparked by proposed carbon taxes on fuel.  This weekend, protester turnout was down, but the violence was up.  While the destructive rioting should be deplored, the underlying problems that led to this moment should not be ignored.  French President Emmanuel Macron once heralded as a visionary "centrist" leader who would pull France and the world into glorious modernity, now finds himself in hot water.

More than a thousand arrested in Paris 'Yellow Vest' protests.  Paris was again the epicentre of clashes as fresh anti-government Yellow Vest protests swept France for a fourth consecutive weekend.

Trump Says Paris Climate Accord 'Isn't Working Out So Well For Paris' As Riots Engulf The City.  For weeks, tens of thousands of French have risen up to oppose planned hikes to carbon taxes on diesel and gasoline as part of Macron's climate agenda.  Carbon taxes provided the spark for what's morphed into protests against Macron's attempts to revamp France's economy.  Thousands of protesters, called "yellow vests" for the safety jackets European law mandates all drivers have on hand, stormed the Champs-Elysées for another round of protests.  The entire city is basically shut down, including major tourist attractions.

More about carbon (dioxide) taxes.

Frexit? French protesters call for EU exit as Macron fails to control deadly Paris riots.  Yellow vest protesters in Paris have been calling for France to leave the European Union as President Emmanuel Macron struggles to control the deadly riots currently shutting down the capital.  The yellow vest protests in the French capital escalated on Saturday [12/8/2018] with protesters firing tear gas canisters against police officers and holding up banners calling for France to leave the European Union.  More than 400 people have already been arrested with thousands of protesters breaking police barriers to inundate the streets of Paris.  The so-called gilets jaunes have been protesting against French President Emmanuel Macon's policies for the fourth weekend in a row.

New Drone City.  The New York Police Department is planning to introduce a new drone program in New York City and we should all be enthusiastic about this development. [...] As the rest of the world finds ways to maximize profits and key results using technology, our cops need the same equipment to maximize our safety.  Imagine how many drug busts, gang activities, and crimes in general can be stopped if a drone is flying nearby.  The power of deterrence is incomparable in its importance to police work and if drones are utilized to monitor potential criminal activity we might be able to stop crimes before they happen, and maybe even save some lives.

The Editor says...
As long as they are investigating felons and fighting violent crimes, I'm all for it.  If they're using the drones as a way to collect overdue payments from tax cheats and "deadbeat dads," that's another matter.

Outrage over Boeing selling top-secret satellite technology to a company financed by ChiComs.  What [...] was Boeing thinking when it agreed to sell a satellite containing top-secret technology to a startup company financed by China?  How [...] did this deal pass muster and gain an export license from the Commerce Department?  I am not the only one baffled: [...]

SDNY Releases Cohen Sentencing Memo — Apparently Media Reports of Cohen Cooperation Were Greatly Exaggerated.  Within a sentencing memo filed today [12/7/2018] the US Attorney's Office in the Southern District of New York recommends "a substantial term of imprisonment" for Michael Cohen, who has pleaded guilty to fraud and tax charges and campaign finance crimes, as well as lying to Congress.  Reading through the memo — the content of cooperation, and the details that surface as a result therein, are entirely different from all previous media claims.

Eye-opening breakdown of America's safest cities — and the one labeled most dangerous.  East Coast cities won first and second place rankings as the safest cities in America, according to a Monday WalletHub study.  Columbia, Maryland, and South Burlington, Vermont, rank as America's two safest cities, respectively, according to the study.  Plano, Texas, and Virginia Beach, Virginia, followed as the third and fourth safest cities in the U.S., respectively, according to the study.  St. Louis ranked as the least safe city, followed by Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and San Bernardino, California, as the most unsafe cities, respectively, according to WalletHub.

Two cemeteries found in violation as Michigan mortuary scandal broadens: reports.  Two cemeteries in Michigan incurred multiple violations related to fetuses and fetal remains found in their facilities, reports said.  Both cemeteries' fetuses with documentation violations were improperly handled by Perry Funeral Home, according to the Detroit News and Detroit Free Press.

54,543 Voters.  That's the extent of the "blue wave" which occurred on November 6th.  True, that isn't what you've heard on MSNBC, who crowed that 8,805,130 more voters voted for Democratic House candidates than voted for Republicans — a record.  That figure isn't wrong.  Just irrelevant.  The 8,800,000 wasted votes in places like California, New York, and Boston that piled up massive "blue" supermajorities in "super-blue" urban districts and states isn't a good thing for the Democrats; it's their central problem.

U.S. military warns electromagnetic pulse weapons in Iran, Russia and North Korea could melt down nuclear power plants.  The military is warning the U.S. government to prepare for a potential electromagnetic pulse weapon attack, as countries like North Korea, Russia and Iran develop the special arms.  The shocking report, published by the Air Force's Air University, reveals that the U.S. is dismally unprepared for such an attack that could wipe out all electricity, kill 90 percent of the East Coast, and lead to utter chaos.  And it could take 18 months to restore the electricity grid and social order.

The Editor says...
Everyone seems to be so afraid of EMP weapons, and the government sounds so sure this sort of weapon would be completely effective; yet no such weapon has ever been used by any country, as far as I know.  Every time you hear alarms sounding about a problem that nobody has (for example:  global warming, light pollution, plastic straws in the ocean), it's almost certainly a ploy to get taxpayer money thrown at somebody's pet project.

The CRISPR Baby Scandal Gets Worse by the Day.  Before last week, few people had heard the name He Jiankui.  But on November 25, the young Chinese researcher became the center of a global firestorm when it emerged that he had allegedly made the first CRISPR-edited babies, twin girls named Lulu and Nana.  Antonio Regalado broke the story for MIT Technology Review, and He himself described the experiment at an international gene-editing summit in Hong Kong.  After his talk, He revealed that another early pregnancy is under way. [...] If you wanted to create the worst possible scenario for introducing the first gene-edited babies into the world, it is difficult to imagine how you could improve on this 15-part farce.

Three charged — including exec with past ties to Clintons — in alleged scheme to defraud Pentagon billions, DOJ says.  Three Northern Virginia men — including one who reportedly celebrated New Year's Eve in 1999 with the Clintons — were charged last week for their alleged roles in a scheme to defraud the Pentagon after receiving an $8 billion contract in 2012 to provide food and supplies to troops in Afghanistan, the Department of Justice announced.  Federal prosecutors said the three — all executives connected to Anham FZCO, a defense contractor based in the United Arab Emirates — knowingly gave false estimates of completion dates for a warehouse intended to provide supplies for troops in Afghanistan in order to win contracts.  They allegedly provided "misleading photographs" to show that the project was further along than it was.

FBI raids home of Atlantic City mayor.  FBI agents raided the home of Atlantic City Mayor Frank Gilliam just before 8 a.m.  Monday morning [12/3/2018], the agency confirmed to NJ Advance Media.  "We can confirm that our agents were executing search warrant at the home of Mayor Frank Gilliam," said Doreen Holder, a public affairs specialist with the FBI's Newark office, declining to comment on the reasons for the possible seizure of documents.  At least a dozen agents were seen going in and out of the Ohio Avenue home Monday morning, removing more than 10 boxes.  An FBI spokeswoman at the scene said both FBI and IRS agents were involved in the search of home.

New Study Provides Further Evidence that Marijuana Is a Gateway Drug.  A new study looking at alcohol, cigarette, and marijuana use among adolescents gives some interesting and helpful conclusions.  Well, helpful conclusions if people will be willing to remove their cultural blinders concerning marijuana.  Since the politically and culturally popular thing to do is to extol the virtues of the recreational use of marijuana, the study's sharp gateway-drug implications will most likely be a warning that is derided and unheeded.  Frankly, I don't really care if people smoke weed or not.  To be clear, if asked, I'll warn against it.  What bugs me, though, is that many who do choose to smoke weed deceive themselves (and others) about marijuana's potential for harm.

My Pillow CEO Puts $1 Million Into Upcoming Pro-Life, Anti-Planned Parenthood Film.  Putting your money where you mouth is would be one way to show how much you believe in something.  One entrepreneur has done just that.  Christian conservative CEO of My Pillow Mike Lindell has reportedly invested in a new film that might not make the folks at abortion mill Planned Parenthood that happy.

Austin Votes to Keep the Books Closed.  It would be hard to find a better example of left-wing naiveité in municipal affairs than what transpired here in November.  Voters in the Lone Star State's progressive bastion, overwhelmingly approved a $925 million bond package but rejected a simple ballot initiative for an independent audit of city spending.  The defeat of the audit wouldn't be so galling if the new bonds didn't so obviously demonstrate the need for an independent review of Austin's books.  Spending in the Texas capital is more like what one would expect in some profligate California city.

Trump hints at the scandal about to blow.  The Clinton Foundation scandal is, as President Trump would say, yuuuuge.  I am told by a knowledgeable source that the official that John Solomon cites "knows where the bodies are buried."  Of course, the news that another whistleblower who came forward with information and documents on the Uranium One scandal, Dennis Nathan Cain, was raided by a team of FBI agents who spent six hours rummaging through his home raises some alarming possibilities.

Top Obama-era officials tangled in watchdog's lawsuit over Clinton Foundation investigation.  A conservative watchdog group announced Friday it had filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the Justice Department seeking communications records that relate the FBI's investigation into whether Hillary and Bill Clinton's charity organization participated in pay-to-play schemes or other improper behavior with the U.S. government.  The latest lawsuit by Judicial Watch related to the Clintons, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia after the FBI denied their FOIA request and appeal this fall, targets the offices of prominent Obama-era officials, including former Attorney General Loretta Lynch, former FBI Director James Comey, and former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe.

Foreboding — FBI Raids Home of Clinton Foundation Whistleblower.  The Daily Caller has an exclusive report tonight that is very troubling, and, unfortunately in alignment with a previous suspicion CTH shared when it was first announced that John Huber was scheduled to testify to congress on December 5th.

FBI Raids Home of Whistleblower on Clinton Foundation, Lawyer Says.  FBI agents raided the home of a recognized Department of Justice whistleblower who privately delivered documents pertaining to the Clinton Foundation and Uranium One to a government watchdog, according to the whistleblower's attorney.  The Justice Department's inspector general was informed that the documents show that federal officials failed to investigate potential criminal activity regarding former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the Clinton Foundation and Rosatom, the Russian company that purchased Uranium One, a document reviewed by The Daily Caller News Foundation alleges.

Revealed: Democrats went $18 million into debt to win control of the House.  Democrats paid a heavy price to win control of the House of Representatives, going $18 million into debt for the election.  The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee went into the red despite raising $272 million for the 2018 election, in which its heavy spending helped flip at least 39 House seats to Democrats.  A source with knowledge of the group's finances confirmed the debt figure to NBC News.  The GOP's counterpart group also spent heavily on House races, ending the election cycle $12 million in debt, a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee confirmed.

Honduran president's brother accused of conspiring to import tons of cocaine to US.  A brother of Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez was charged by federal prosecutors Monday [11/26/2018] with conspiring to import tons of cocaine to the United States, as well as weapons offenses and lying to federal agents.  Juan Antonio Hernandez Alvarado, aka Tony Hernandez, was arrested Friday in Miami and was due to appear in federal court there on Monday.  Federal prosecutors in New York described the suspect, a former Honduran congressman, as "a large-scale drug trafficker" who worked for more than a decade with compatriots as well as traffickers based in Mexico, Colombia and other countries to receive, process and distribute cocaine making its way through Honduras en route to the United States.

Vatican: Climate Change 'Key Challenge' of Our Age.  In its ongoing climate crusade, the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano echoed dire warnings in its weekend edition that the present generation may be the last to be able to battle global warming effectively. [...] "The effects of climate change," the joint declaration states, "are well documented and are felt everywhere in the world."

The Editor says...
With homosexual predators running rampant in the leadership of the Catholic church, I'd say the Pope has bigger fish to fry.

Against the 'Other'.  Rest in peace, John Allen Chau, a Christian missionary killed while attempting to share the Good News with an uncontacted people known as the Sentineli, habitants of North Sentinel Island in the Bay of Bengal. [...] Claims of attempted genocide are predicated on the idea that Chau may have, had he made contact, introduced disease among the primitives.  On the other hand, Americans who object to how tuberculosis, among other diseases, has made a resurgence in the United States as a result of Third World immigration to the U.S. are condemned as racists by many of these same critics.  The tribe that killed Chau, [Josh] Shahryar says, has "chosen deliberately to not reach back and to keep living on THEIR land in THEIR way."  Shahryar argues that people have a right to defend their land and their way of life, but there is a catch — only non-Western people may exercise this right.

The Bitcoin 'pyramid scheme' continues to collapse.  I've been calling it a "bitcon" for a long time.  And now the pyramid seems to be collapsing because fewer and fewer people have confidence that the price of this inherently worthless "cryptocurrency" is going to continue to rise.  I've just repeated some of the comments I made about bitcoin (and you could include other cryptocurrencies here) for years.  But I've been especially vocal since early this year when bitcoin was reaching nearly $20,000 in price and even staid Wall Street firms were being lured to this "investment."

So much to love in Senate Judiciary Committee downsizing plan.  It's been reported that the new, larger Republican Senate majority is going to exercise its power and downsize the Senate Judiciary Committee.  It's a brilliant plan for two different reasons.  The first reason is that fewer Democrat senators will have the opportunity to showboat and eat up precious time with the sort of antics they displayed in the confirmation hearings for Justice Kavanaugh.  Confirmation of more federal judges at the district court and appeals court levels is the most important priority for Senate Republicans, and this proposal would streamline and therefore speed that process.  But the second reason is delicious, because thanks to longstanding Senate tradition, the member who would lose a committee seat first would be the senator with the lowest seniority.  And that would be Senator Kamala Harris of California, who has held office only since 2016.  Not only is she transparently running for the 2020 presidential nod, she is a shameless demagogue.

French Riot Against "Green" Policies.  Protests and riots against the Macron government's economic policies have been going on in France for the last week.  In Paris, the demonstrations have turned violent and police are using tear gas and water cannons to disperse rioters.  The demonstrations are referred to as "yellow vest" protests because demonstrators are wearing the yellow vests that French drivers are required by law to carry in their cars as a safety measure.

Nearly all homes in San Francisco cost over $1M.  San Francisco real estate is holding strong with a new report from housing website Trulia showing 81 percent of homes in the Bay Area cost $1 million or more.  The impressive price tags represent a 13.7 percent increase since October 2017 — only second to neighboring San Jose, which saw a 14.3 percent year-over-year increase.  Number three in the nationwide report on the housing markets with biggest increases is also a Bay Area city, Oakland, which saw a 5.8 percent increase.

EU Army: Just Another Bad Idea From Euro-socialists Macron And Merkel.  The European Union has announced it wants its own army and intelligence services.  Why?  Europeans need to be protected from mean, predatory potential enemies.  Like the U.S.

Francis Has Mobilized The Papacy's Absolute Monarchy Against Justice.  Pope Francis administered a stunning and humiliating shock to the bishops of the Catholic Church in the United States last week.  The American bishops had gathered in Baltimore to discuss a pair of measures to deal with the continuing crisis over clerical sexual abuses in this country.  The measures were fairly modest.  One sought to build on the 2002 "Dallas charter" — measures designed to stop priests' abuse of children, mostly young boys — by extending its rules on reporting and accountability to bishops.  The other would have launched an investigation, led by lay Catholics, into reports of abuses by bishops.  Conceivably, this would have looked into how former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick of Washington, D.C., could have risen to the top of the U.S. Catholic hierarchy, despite being widely known — in secular circles, to the Vatican, and to many in the church — as being a serial abuser and harasser of young adult male seminarians (and at least one young boy).

So What Do You Think:  Hijabs In Congress?  Elections do, indeed, have consequences.  And one of the most interesting and perhaps controversial consequences of Nancy Pelosi and Democrats being elected to take control of the House of Representatives come January is their planned rules change to allow religious head covers on the floor of the House.  Head covers as in hijabs, Muslim head scarves covering an entire woman's head except for her face.  The new House will have the first two Muslim females — Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, a Somali refugee, and Michigan's Rashida Tlaib.  For nearly two centuries, hats have been banned from the House floor.

Hancock Elevator Dropped From 95th To 11th Floor, Passenger Says.  It took nearly three hours to rescue six people stuck in an elevator in Chicago's fourth-tallest building early Friday [11/16/2018].  A broken hoist rope caused the express elevator to malfunction while guests who had just left the Signature Room on the 95th floor rode down toward the lobby.  The elevator and two others have since been closed to the public while repairs are made and investigators figure out what happened.

Was a sexy Italian actor living with the man who would be Washington's new cardinal?  Was the man who who's widely believed to be the next cardinal for the Washington archdiocese, Cardinal Joseph Tobin of Newark, bunking with a houseboy?  It looks like it, given the reporting of the indefatigable George Neumayr.

Noted Vatican Theologian Calls for Examination of Validity of Pope Benedict's XVI's Resignation.  In an important interview that was overlooked last month, a Vatican theologian said that unless Pope Francis corrects himself and reaffirms Church teaching on morals, the faith, and the sacraments, "the apostasy will deepen and the de facto schism will widen."  To address the current crisis, he suggested that an examination of the "juridical validity" of Pope Benedict's XVI's resignation was in order to "overcome problems that today seem insurmountable to us."  The theologian consultor to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints was implying that further study of the situation could reveal that Francis is not and has never been a valid pope, but is, in fact, an antipope who could be removed from the papacy, thus nullifying his "insurmountable" errors.

Amazon Chose DC And NYC Because That's Where The Childless Workaholics Live.  After courting every city in America large enough to support its own Jimmy John's franchise, Amazon is going to split its HQ2 between Long Island City in New York and Crystal City in the D.C. metro area. [...] Besides being boring, what does Amazon's location choice signal?  According to CNN's Jill Filipovic, the predictable selections mean that, "Republicans can no longer lay claim to being a pro-business party, successful as they've been at making the states they control increasingly undesirable to modern businesses and workers."  She also says the lack of a commitment to public education and transportation in Republican states was a determining reason Amazon didn't pick a Republican-governed state.

Report: Cruz Internal Polls Showed Him Leading O'Rourke By Double Digits — Until Trump Showed Up.  What more fitting end could there have been to Cruz's political career than Trump blowing into town and fumbling away a reelection bid for him that was in the bag?  Between that and the 2016 primaries, it would have been Shakespearean tragedy.  Well, Shakespearean comedy, at least.

Democrats pushing losing senate candidate to run for president.  Democratic Rep. Beto O'Rourke narrowly lost to GOP Senator Ted Cruz on Tuesday night [11/6/2018], but that isn't stopping national Democrats, activists, and other left wing loons from pushing O'Rourke to run for the nomination for president in 2020.  This unlikely scenario is nearly unheard of.  Losing candidates don't usually run for anything, much less president.

Rush Limbaugh Rocks Missouri Rally with President Donald Trump.  Talk radio legend Rush Limbaugh took the stage with President Donald Trump at a rally in Missouri on Monday defining the greatness of the first two years of the Trump presidency.  Limbaugh said that Trump was committed to making America great again, which was more than a campaign slogan.  He slammed the left and the media for refusing to concede the 2016 election, repeatedly blaming it on racism and the Russians.

You Had One Job.  Understandably, people worry about the temperament of anyone with access to US nuclear codes.  It turns out Bill Clinton solved that particular problem in a uniquely Clintonian way.  He lost the codes:  ["]For several months during Bill Clinton's administration, a former top military officer says the White House lost the card with a set of numbers for opening the briefcase containing the codes for a nuclear attack.["]

Uber and Lyft Slowing Traffic in San Francisco, Says Report.  The experience of moving through San Francisco in a car has gone from slow to crawl.  Congestion in the Bay Area flagship city has grown increasingly worse, and a new report by the San Francisco County Transportation Authority placed a sizable portion of that blame on ride-hailing services like Lyft or Uber.

New Supercomputer with 1 Million Processors Is World's Fastest Brain-Mimicking Machine.  Since April 2016, SpiNNaker has been simulating neuron activity using 500,000 core processors, but the upgraded machine has twice that capacity, Furber explained.  With the support of the European Union's Human Brain Project — an effort to construct a virtual human brain — SpiNNaker will continue to enable scientists to create detailed brain models.  But now it has the capacity to perform 200 quadrillion actions simultaneously, university representatives reported in the statement. [...] "Even with a million processors, we can only approach 1 percent of the scale of the human brain, and that's with a lot of simplifying assumptions," he said.  However, SpiNNaker could mimic the function of a mouse brain, which is 1,000 times smaller than a human brain, Furber added.

Papadopoulos Wants Congress To Inspect Cash He Says He Was Given During Suspected 'Sting Operation'.  "I am more than happy to deliver the $10,000 in cash I received, as part of what I believe was a sting operation to frame me in summer 2017, to your committee to examine for marked bills.  This is in the interest of me being fully transparent," [George] Papadopoulos wrote on Twitter [10/31/2018] to North Carolina Rep. Mark Meadows and Texas Rep. John Ratcliffe.  The two Republicans are members of a congressional task force investigating the FBI's investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.  The task force interviewed Papadopoulos on Oct. 25.

CNN shocker:  Jake Tapper does a great job grilling DNC Chair Tom Perez.  Yesterday [11/4/2018], Jake Tapper of CNN behaved most uncharacteristically for a CNN interviewer of this day and age, aggressively questioning and confronting DNC chair Tom Perez on the Sunday morning interview show State of the Nation.  Listen to the two segments below with your eyes closed, and you could imagine that this was a Fox News interviewer.  But don't do it!  Watch, instead, the looks on Perez's face:  [Video clip]

Candidates seek to represent districts they don't live in: 'I don't think a lot of voters even know'.  For voters in Maryland's 6th Congressional District, it's proving difficult to find representation right at home.  Four candidates are vying for the seat Tuesday, but only one of them, Libertarian Kevin Caldwell, lives in the 6th District's jigsaw piece of Western Maryland.  Neither the Republican nor Democratic nominee is a resident — nor, for that matter, is Rep. John Delaney, the Democrat retiring from the seat.  "It's sort of a joke that when you say you live in Maryland people will often say, 'Where are you really from?'" said Paul Ellington, a spokesman for Republican Amie Hoeber.  "So in those areas close to D.C., it's not a hindrance.  In some of the other areas, however, there have been questions."

Should News Anchors Wear Ties?  One Station No Longer Thinks So.  Pretty much since the first television newscast, one wardrobe rule has been fairly consistent:  anchors wear ties.  One Boston station is trying to rewrite that rule.  Most of the time, news anchors wear ties and jackets when they deliver the news.  There are some individual newscasts, particularly at less usual news times, such as 4:00 pm or 7:00 pm, where male anchors can get away with not wearing or tie or wearing a tie with no sports coat.  But as a general rule, the biggest newscasts of the day still follow the old fashion format.  In Boston, that just changed for three NBC-owned outlets.

PHOTOS: #WalkAway from Democrats Rally Draws Hundreds of Patriots, 'We Love America and Trump'.  The gathering at Freedom Plaza in Washington, DC, on Saturday [10/27/2018] was a stark contrast to recent rallies where people dressed in black and held signs disparaging President Donald Trump and members of his administration.  The #WalkAway rally featured a sea of red, white, and blue-clad participants, waving flags, wearing Make America Great hats, and even [pink] hats made infamous during the Women's March were transformed into bright red, Trump-supporting headgear.

Murderous communists?  Who knew?  Take a look at what they are doing in Venezuela.  When we think of Venezuela, we think of starving people fleeing their country without access to food, clothing, toilet paper, or medical care.  We think of street urchins fighting over garbage scraps with machetes.  We think of migrant exoduses from socialism.  But there's another reality about the place, and it's not getting the attention, say, Saudi Arabia or Russia is, over the killings of dissidents.  The Maduro regime is showing an alarming willingness to violently attack opposition leaders, and it's moving in on high-profile ones who had previously seemed untouchable.  They've already jailed politician Leopoldo Lopez and driven many others into exile.  But the regime's people have stepped up the thuggery to higher levels since then. [...] What we are looking at is not just a failed regime that can't feed its people; we are looking at a communist thug regime that beats and kills dissidents.  The two go hand in hand in any communist regime, every single time.

Middle school 'Satanists' arrested for mass murder plot in Bartow.  Police say two Polk County middle school students are facing charges following the discovery of a disturbing plot to kill several students, cut them up and eat them.  The investigation began on Tuesday [10/23/2018] at Bartow Middle School when Bartow police were contacted by a school resource officer who had detained two girls that came to school with knives.  An affidavit from the police department says the students, a 12-year-old girl and an 11-year-old girl, came up with the plan after spending the past weekend together watching scary movies.  During an interview with detectives, the girls said they planned to go to their first-period class and then meet in the bathroom.  The affidavit says they planned to then wait for smaller students to come into the bathroom so they could attack them.

The Facts Of The Mail Bomber Case Don't Add Up.  The October spree of packaged mail bombs unsuccessfully delivered to media outlets, politicians and politically active benefactors has gripped the United States ahead of the November midterm elections.  The media is awash with speculation about the suspect's inspiration and why he may have carried out the attacks.  While the official narrative makes for captivating commentary amongst pundits, the case bears several suspicious points.  Inconsistencies between reported facts and the official version of events, the targets chosen to receive packages and details about the suspect and their social media all represent loose ends to the case that have not been adequately addressed.

5 Bizarre Facts About Cesar Sayoc & His Fake Pipe Bomb Scare That Are Making Americans Shout "False Flag!"  A large number of Americans are not sold on this fake pipe bomb story and are entertaining the idea that this was a false flag to benefit Democrats AND that Cesar Sayoc is simply a patsy.  If you are still trying to process the information and figure out what you believe, here are 5 things to consider:  [#1] The timing was suspicious[.] Could the Democrats have asked for a series of bomb scares at a better time?  I think not.  [#2] Look hard at this envelope.  This is the envelope sent to CNN for John Brennan.  The perpetrator can't spell Brennan, nor can he spell Florida, despite supposedly living there.  I think the misspellings just add to the intended end correlation of Republicans being idiots.  I see it as just a little bonus psychological warfare for the American sheeple (those who won't think for themselves).  They want you and I to look at that envelope and draw the conclusion that Republicans are uneducated.

Some Suspected Mail Bombs Were Not Capable of Exploding, Others Yet to Be Analyzed, Officials Say.  Some of the 10 suspected mail bombs addressed to high-profile Democrats and others over the last few days were flawed and not capable of exploding, while others have yet to be fully analyzed, several investigators said Thursday [10/25/2018].  In some cases, the flaws were substantial.  In others, more subtle, they said.  The news comes after investigators said the devices appeared poorly made and that it was unclear if they were hoaxes or simply cases of bad construction.  Earlier in the investigation, officials in multiple states had described the items as live explosives and a number of senior bomb techs briefed on the probe said they had all the components necessary for successful explosions.

Could the "bombs" that targeted Democrats win them the midterm elections?  It's a tactic that has worked before.  Then-President Bill Clinton struck back at anti-government rhetoric in the aftermath of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing and eventually used a heroic survivor of that attack to rebuke congressional Republicans for government shutdowns. [...] Others later invoked the 2011 shooting of then-Rep. Gabby Giffords, D-Ariz., to discredit the burgeoning Tea Party movement, which also used rhetoric sharply critical of liberals, politicians, and the federal government, though no link was ever found.  Giffords survived the assassination attempt and became a gun control advocate.  Arguments about right-wing extremism and Trump's incendiary rhetoric will be easily made now.

Suspicious packages, not bombs.  Always wait 24 hours before reacting politically to crime news because the media generally does a terrible job in reporting national crime stories.  Rumors and hype hound the coverage because the amount of actual news does not warrant the amount of time devoted to the story on cable television.  Commentary from people ignorant of the facts (and limited in their intellect) dominate the airwaves. [...] Finally, the media's history of falling for hoaxes complicates the situation.  Liberals have succeeded in destroying America's ability to trust its media.  Calling a suspicious package a bomb did little to reassure us that the media is run by competent people.

Explosive Packages a False Flag?  The packages may be found to be a real threat from an obviously unbalanced individual or individuals, but it may very well also be a false flag designed to reaffirm the Democrats' continuous slander against the GOP.

Rush Limbaugh suggests bombs mailed to Democrats are a false flag:  "Republicans just don't do this kind of thing".  ["]Mrs. Clinton, it's your party, forgive me, that is encouraging this kind of thing.  It is the Democrat Party that's home to all of these mobs.  It's the Democrat Party — Mrs. Clinton herself who said that being uncivil at this point in time is entirely proper and understandable.  It's — the time to go back to civility will be after the Democrats win.  You've got bought and paid for operatives by Mrs. Clinton money showing up at Trump rallies trying to make them look like deranged Trump supporters.  The Democrats are even paying people to draw swastikas on American flags and waving them around, made to look like deranged, lunatic Trump supporters.  And so, in the midst of this atmosphere, we have this series of bombs that were supposedly sent today, exclusively to Democrats.["]

Feds tell reporter that bombs were 'Complete Hoaxes'!  We should know pretty soon if they were real or not, which would make a big difference as to motivation, and what the attacks mean for the election.

Explosive Packages a False Flag?  As the liberals rise up in righteous condemnation of Trump's "toxic" rhetoric, we will be asked to forget Rep. Maxine Waters' call for nonstop harassment of GOP players, of key Republicans being hounded out of restaurants, confronted in elevators and even in their offices and at their homes.  We will be asked to forget the violent riots on college campuses to keep conservative speakers from speaking.

The Pipe-Bombs Story:  Another Example of Why No One Trusts the Media.  The political Left has been known to orchestrate frame-up attacks designed to make it appear that right-leaning opponents are responsible for violent acts and plots.  If I wrote the paragraph above in the context of reporting or commenting on the pipe bombs that were reportedly sent by an unidentified person or persons to prominent Democrats, many people would react angrily, and rightly so.  After all, there is no evidence that the atrocious but thankfully unsuccessful targeting of the Obamas, the Clintons, CNN, George Soros, and Eric Holder (as well as "Debbie Wasserman Shultz," whose Florida office, with her name misspelled, was given as the return address on some of the packages) was carried out by political leftists.  There is no proof that any Democrat was hoping to cast suspicion on Republican supporters, to suggest to voters, less than two weeks before the midterms, that Trump and GOP rhetoric incites violence.  To intimate, in the absence of any proof, that left-wing agitators may be responsible would be a condemnable smear.

Democrats and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.  On Wednesday [10/24/2018], several pipe bombs were sent to Democrat leaders, none of which detonated.  These suspicious packages were sent to Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, George Soros, former Attorney General Eric Holder, and Rep. Maxine Waters.  The return address name on the suspicious packages sent to Clinton, Obama, Holder and Waters belonged to Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz.  Several investigative journalists have said this stunt seems designed for maximum political and media optics, and not maximum damage.  The political Left has been caught orchestrating attacks on themselves in the past, to make it look as if the right attacked.

George Soros's Son Has Op-Ed Published In NYT Condemning Political Violence Within An Hour Of Pipe Bomb Story Breaking.  The timing of Alexander Soros's published piece in the New York Times today will do nothing to quell the understandable skepticism of the 'pipe bomb' story that broke across all news agencies earlier today given the article was apparently written and then published within an hour of the events being made public.

Caravans, Mobs, and Phony Bombs.  Recently it seems that whatever foul means the Dems turn their hand to they overplay it.  Take the Kavanaugh hearings for example.  Democrat theatrical histrionics and semi-coherent mobs didn't sidetrack Kavanaugh's confirmation, so the Left turned to incoherent mobs and a Dreyfus Affair-style show trial.  Both the mobs and the trial backfired on the Dems big time.  More than anything else they served to further wake up and engage We the People.

Bomb Expert Labels Today's 'Pipe Bomb' Scare A Dumb Hoax.  "Dumb."  That's the assessment of a Navy veteran and professional bomb disposal officer regarding the toy-like 'bombs' that the media has gone gaga over today.  In fact, Tom Sauer likens these non-functional pipe bombs to a few road flares taped to an 'old-timey alarm clock ticking away' like you would see in cartoons.  Which of course leads to the real important question.  Who would send out these fake bombs and why?  Who might have anything political to gain two weeks out from the Midterm Elections by staging a fake bomb hoax against noted Democrat politicians that then generates Establishment Media hysteria?

"Too Coincidental": MAGA-Land Calls Bombing Threats A False Flag.  [Scroll down]  "Here's my bet ... no one will be arrested for these alleged mail bombs," suggested pro-Trump commentator Kurt Schlicter.  "After dozens of college-campus hoaxes by leftists, I don't buy this super-convenient turn of events."  Candace Owens, who is the communications director for Turning Point USA and a frequent Fox News guest, suggested that there was "zero percent chance" that conservatives sent the packages.  "Caravans, fake bomb threats — these leftists are going ALL OUT for midterms."  Rush Limbaugh, the paterfamilias of conservative radio, warned, "It's happening in October.  There's a reason for this."

UPDATE: Fake Bomber is a Registered DEMOCRAT.  Anybody surprised to see how quickly the fake bomb case got resolved.  It's as if the person wanted to get caught.  No ingenuity, as all the packages looked the same.  And there were a multitude of clues.  They solved this case faster than it took the FBI to clear Hillary Clinton, and they did that in advance!

These Prominent Conservatives Think the Bomb Scares Were a Liberal Hoax.  The moment news reports first surfaced on Wednesday of explosive devices sent to the Clintons, Obamas, and CNN, the counterintuitive, conspiracy-fueled takes started rolling in.  It was inevitable.  The bombs were not meant to maim the people to whom they were addressed, the main theory went:  They were planted by liberals hoping to scapegoat the right, distract from the migrant caravan in Mexico, or boost Democratic chances in the midterms.  These mad ravings weren't only coming from the lunatic fringe, either.

Alleged Fake Bomber is a Fillipino Ex-Con Who Claimed to be Seminole.  I don't think there's a profile that fits this guy.  There's no point in even bothering to try. [...] At least one of his businesses seem to have involved male burlesque dancers.  And he has an extensive criminal record for pretty much everything.  The media is going to cynically try to connect him to Trump and Republicans, but he seems to have been a mentally unstable man with a lot of anger and obvious personal issues.

Opening Up the Package Plot.  FBI director Christopher Wray described the packages as improvised explosive devices and not "hoax devices," though according to a U.S. News report it was unclear whether they could be detonated.  To date, none of the devices exploded and no one has been harmed, but Wray believes "we've caught the right guy."  That turned out to be Cesar Sayoc, 56, and the establishment media cranked out stories on what was known about him. [...] Sayoc also had a criminal record, with arrests for bomb threats, grand theft, battery, fraud, drug possession and probation violations.  His lawyer Ronald S. Lowy told CNN Sayoc "didn't fit it" and he questioned Sayoc's ability to execute a scheme of explosive devices.

Why are fake bombs sent to Democrats more shocking than real ricin packages to Republicans?  [Scroll down]  The other difference between this spate of packages and the attack on Trump, Cruz, Mattis, and Richardson it that the ricin attack was real and it was potentially deadly.  The letters really contained ricin.  Whereas, the packages sent to Democrat grandees including Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, George Soros, Maxine Waters, and Joe Biden were apparently inert and were made just to look dangerous according to recent reporting.  Since none of the packages detonated, and possibly were not able to detonate, Occam's Razor demands that we confront the most likely choices:  Either the sender intended harm but was grossly incompetent or the sender never intended harm and meant the packages to be a form of agitprop.  The notes that accompanied the packages read like parodies of how committed progressives think Republicans speak.

The Media climbs out on a limb.  [Scroll down]  Thirteen days before a contentious election and suddenly a bunch of pipe bombs turn up and the targets are all Democrats?  Come on.  I wasn't born yesterday.  And I didn't just fall off a turnip truck from Guatemala.  The "Democrats are the party of the Mob" talking point is clearly having a negative effect on their much anticipated Blue Wave.  And what better way to shift that talking point away from the Democrats than the conveniently-timed Pipe-Bomb-ageddon?  Plus, it just doesn't make sense.  Why would a Trump supporter try and blow up Maxine Waters?  She is a gift to our side.  Come to think of it, so are Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

If democrats campaign on the bombs, you'll know who was behind it.  It's just too convenient.  Politico published a target list.  It includes the Clinton's, the Obama's, John Brennan and CNN, Eric Holder, Wasserman-Schultz, Joe Biden, Maxine Waters and Robert DeNiro.  All these targets and not a single device exploded.  The devices were apparently not meant to detonate.  They were sent to a very specific list of people who have been critical of Trump.  They were sent to people who don't open their own mail.

Feds widen search for others who may have helped the South Florida mail-bomb suspect.  [Scroll down]  Despite allegedly committing practically the entire mail-bombing campaign from South Florida, Sayoc will be whisked away to New York after appearing in federal court in Miami for a removal hearing on Monday.  He will be prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Southern District of New York, based on evidence that at least five of the 14 packages were sent to that area, including CNN's offices in Manhattan.  Many criminal and legal experts in South Florida called the New York U.S. Attorney Office's takeover of the case a classic "power grab" of a national case that really belongs in South Florida.  One former federal prosecutor said Miami's new U.S. attorney, Ariana Fajardo Orshan, got a "dose of the SDNY."

Wondered Why All Those Trump Stickers On Fake "MAGA" Bomber's Van Were So Pristine? - Here's Why.  [Scroll down]  Maybe Cesar Altieri Sayoc is just that stupid.  Maybe he's crazy.  Maybe he's a patsy.  Or just maybe, Mr. Alleged Hoax Bomber wanted to get caught looking like the world's most syrupy Trump fan boy, knowing that his Trump-mobile MAGA bomb delivery vehicle would instantly become the most vividly captured image in the political universe just days before the most important midterm election in American history.  After all, a picture is worth a thousand words.  Or, in this case, maybe a million votes or more.

MAGAbomber Suspect:  A Case of Homosexual Panic?  [Scroll down]  At some point over the past year, the Klan and lynching tableau on Sayoc's van gave way to more explicitly pro-Trump and anti-Democrat bumper stickers.  Every available inch of his van's exterior was spackled with violent imagery featuring rifle crosshairs placed over the faces of people such as Barack Obama, Michael Moore, and Hillary Clinton.  Another sticker said "CNN ****s."  Yet another showed Trump standing atop a tank while a bomb was exploding in the background.  All of this makes him seem like either a demented Trump supporter or a mindless patsy for anti-Trump forces.  One thing is for certain — the story completely deflected attention away from the ominous brown human caravan headed to the USA from points south, a story that was working in Trump's favor.  Yet what seems to have completely escaped notice is how intensely squirrely this alleged Hate Bomber is.

Everything Is Trump's Fault Is Fake News At Its Worst.  [Scroll down]  Next, came the bizarre non-bomb terrorism-by-mail campaign against prominent Democrats, anti-Trump mouthpieces and Far-Left liberal donors.  The fall guy in this is one Cesar Sayoc, a "crazed" former pizza deliveryman, body builder, DJ and casino employee who fancied himself as a defender of the "unconquered" Seminole Indian tribe and allegedly lived out of his vehicle for over a decade.  Sayoc's mother, Madeline Giardiello has been active in Democratic politics and was an officer on her condominium board in Aventura for many years according to reporting by the Washington Post.  USA Today reported that online records show that Sayoc has a string of arrest records that date back to 1991 for alleged theft and drug offenses, along with traffic infractions.

What a small world!
Bomb Suspect Cesar Sayoc And Stormy Daniels Worked at the Same Strip Club.  In a really strange turn of events, it has been discovered that bombing suspect Cesar Sayoc worked at Ultra Gentleman's Club in West Palm Beach, FL, the same strip club that Stormy Daniels performed at back in April, WPTV reported.  Sayoc worked as a DJ at the club on Thursday afternoon and was arrested on Friday [10/26/2018].  According to the club's manager, Stacey Saccal, Sayoc had worked as a DJ for the past two months.  She had received no complaints about him from other staff members and he seemed like a "nice guy."

Democrats [are] Using Every Evil Play in the Book to Silence Americans.  A crazy man sent package bombs to prominent Democrats.  Fake news media and the demonic Democratic Party viewed the mentally ill man's actions as a gift from the gods of liberalism.  They immediately flooded the airwaves with their absurd narrative that Trump was responsible for the package bomber's behavior because he told the truth about CNN and their fellow fake news liars.  Fake news media and Democrats outrageously said Americans who cheer and applaud Trump at his rallies are also responsible for the package bombs.

Update:
'MAGA bomber': I didn't know pipe bombs could hurt anyone.  A Florida man who last week pleaded guilty to sending pipe bombs to prominent Democratic politicians and other targets says in a new court filing that he didn't know the devices could actually hurt anyone.  In a hand-written letter to the Manhattan federal judge presiding over his case, "MAGA bomber" Cesar Sayoc, 65, acknowledged that he pleaded guilty to 65 counts — which included charges of using weapons of mass destruction — at his March 21 hearing.  But he said that when he was asked if he knew whether the devices could harm anyone, his lawyer told him to say, "Yes."

The Editor says...
I find it difficult to believe that a phony pipe bomb, or even a real pipe bomb that's only a few inches long, could be considered a "weapon of mass destruction."  The FBI never did describe the construction of the bombs in any detail.  Maybe it was just a bunch of plastic pipes full of Plumber's Putty.  I also find it hard to believe that a gay, Fillipino, ex-convict, who is a registered Democrat, can be accurately described as a "MAGA bomber."  Moreover, I find it hard to believe that this whole incident was not an elaborate and carefully-timed hoax that was staged, choreographed, and orchestrated by the Democratic Party.

Red Wave Rising:  Over 12,000 Voters Change Party Affiliation in Wyoming — 90% to Republican.  As we reported on Thursday early ballots show a huge increase in voting in favor of Republicans.  It looks like our prediction is holding up!  On June 23, 2018, we reported that the 2018 Mid-terms would be a referendum on government corruption and because of this President Trump and the Republicans would win big.  This was before Democrats made up trumped up charges against a good man — Supreme Court Judge Brett Kavanaugh.

US Marines reveal plans for plasma crowd control weapon that can shout at people from 3,000 feet away - then be 'turned up' to temporarily blind and even burn them.  The US Marines are developing a new laser weapon that can transmit voice messages at long range, or be turned up to deafen, dazzle or even kill.  The Scalable Compact Ultra-short Pulse Laser System (SCUPLS) will be mounted on a truck or tank.  It will initially be used as a non-lethal weapon for crowd control, according to US Government documents.

The Editor says...
Hmmm... How do they know this weapon can kill people?

President Trump Can't Find Venue Big Enough for Houston Rally with Senator Ted Cruz — 77,800 People Already Signed Up!  President Trump is unable to find a location where he can hold all his followers that want to see him and Senator Ted Cruz in Houston, Texas.  The Texas Tribune reported that the original site that President Trump set up for the rally in Houston is too small so they found a bigger venue [...]

Former Minnesota FBI Agent Sentenced to 4 Years in Prison for Leaking Documents.  Terry James Albury, a former FBI agent in Minnesota, was sentenced to four years in prison with an additional three years of supervised release on Thursday [10/18/2018] in U.S. District Court.  Albury admitted that he leaked documents to a reporter from The Intercept, an online news publication.  He worked as an FBI Special Agent at the field office in Minneapolis at the time of the disclosure in 2016-2017.  He was also working as a liaison with the Department of Customs and Border Protection at MSP International Airport during that same time period.

Democrats start to regret piling money on Beto O'Rourke.  Is bulging war chest going to waste?  Despite touting socialist-like policies, Texas Democrat congressional nominee Rep. Beto O'Rourke seems to prefer not sharing his wealth, much to the chagrin of other nominees across the nation. [...] The problem is that the polls continue to show O'Rourke trailing leagues behind Sen. Ted Cruz, whom he seeks to unseat.  The chances of him eking out a victory appear so low that some argue he should redistribute some of the $38 million he's raised in the last three months to other nominees in need.

Trump: I sent weapons to Ukraine, Obama 'sent pillows and blankets'.  President Trump claims his administration has been tougher on Russia than his predecessor's, arguing that former President Obama allowed Russia to annex Ukraine and only offered them "pillows and blankets."  "I'm the one that gave Ukraine offensive weapons and tank killers.  Obama didn't.  You know what he sent?  He sent pillows and blankets.  I'm the one — and he's the one that gave away a part of Ukraine where Russia," Trump said in a "60 Minutes" interview that aired dSunday [sic] evening [10/14/2018] on CBS.

Heitkamp campaign identifies sexual-assault victims in ad without permission.  Sen. Heidi Heitkamp is trying to recover from her vote against President Trump's Supreme Court nominee by standing up for victims of sexual assault, but the North Dakota Democrat's efforts backfired Tuesday [10/16/2018] when she had to apologize for identifying victims without their permission in a recent campaign ad.  Some of the women her ad identified say they weren't even victims of domestic violence or sexual assault.  Others say they don't support her campaign.  Ms. Heitkamp admitted the bungle in a statement Tuesday, blaming victim advocates for feeding her wrong information.

California Christian school brings back gay relationship ban, students protest.  Azusa Pacific University made changes to the school's policy without the approval of the Board of Trustees, seemingly suggesting that students could engage in same-sex relationships.  Pro-LGBTQ students protested after the school's board of trustees clarified that these relationships would, in fact, not be permitted on campus.

What a dope!
Stephen Hawking said 'there is no god' and that humans will 'live in space' in final book.  The late Professor Stephen Hawking revealed his answers to the 10 "big questions" he was often asked in a new book published six months after his death.  In "Brief Answers to the Big Questions," the British scientific hero admitted he thought "there is no god" and that humans would eventually live in space.  Professor Hawking passed away in March this year after a lifelong battle with Motor Neurone Disease.

The Fall of the Gay Mafia's Don.  Some of Donald Wuerl's priests called him the "Tin Man," a reference to his cold, heartless style as the archbishop of Washington, D.C., a position from which he has now formally resigned, though outrageously Pope Francis is permitting him to continue as an "apostolic administrator" until his successor arrives.  It is hilarious that Wuerl became arguably the most powerful American cardinal in the "pastoral church of Pope Francis," given that Wuerl is the least pastoral prelate imaginable.  He instinctively avoided encounters with his flock and priests, unless they served some immediate interest or enjoyed riches and power.  "He is a robot," said one of his priests.  "All he cared about was money and living as comfortably as possible and whatever else he got up to."

Cardinal Wuerl Is Out... Or Is He?  Embattled Cardinal Wuerl is finally out after Pope Francis accepted his resignation.  Wuerl was named in the Pennsylvania grand jury report accusing him of being responsible for shuffling known predator priests around.  In one egregious case, he allegedly paid off a priest who was involved in a child porn ring.  It is disturbing to many Catholics that Wuerl is being allowed to retire with all his benefits after so terrible a cover-up, but at one point it was debatable whether he would even resign.

Joe Biden's Endless Rumination About Running for President.  In Democratic circles, the common nickname for Biden is "Uncle Joe."  But it cuts two ways.  On the one hand, it connotes the kind of familiarity and affection that comes with his longtime presence in the capital, and his tenure as the loyal sidekick to a president who's still popular with the party base.  Grassroots Democrats say he's their top choice for 2020, as evidenced this year in a series of polls.  But a sizable share of Democrats believe there comes a time when even a beloved uncle should be put out to pasture.

CNN Poll:  Biden Leads Field of 2020 Democratic Hopefuls.  Former Vice President Joe Biden is leading the field of prospective 2020 Democratic candidates, according to a recent poll from CNN.  The CNN/SSRS poll, which surveyed 1,009 adults between October 4 and 7, found that one-third — or 33 percent — of Democrats and independents who leaned Democratic thought Biden would be the most likely to take on President Trump in the 2020 presidential election.

Another Shoe Drops In The Catholic Church Abuse Scandal.  Pope Francis accepted the resignation of the Archbishop of Washington, D.C this week, but his letter reveals that he still has a blind spot when it comes to the Catholic abuse scandal.

The Catholic Church's Biggest Crisis Since the Reformation.  The Catholic Church is facing its most serious crisis in 500 years.  In these last few months, a new wave of clerical sexual abuse revelations left the world in shock.  From Australia to Chile to Germany to the United States, horrifying reports revealed thousands of cases of child molestation by members of the clergy.  One U.S. grand jury report documented 1,000 children abused by 300 priests in the state of Pennsylvania alone over seven decades.

Chinese Communist Propaganda Group Paying for Vox Posts.  Explanatory media website Vox has been receiving money from a Chinese communist government-backed front organization.  A recent Vox blog post by foreign editor Yochi Dreazen titled, "The big winner of the Trump-Kim summit?  China" discloses at the bottom of the piece that the reporting was subsidized by the China-United States Exchange Foundation.

Mormon no more:  Tabernacle Choir renamed in big church shift.  The choir was renamed Friday [10/5/2018] to strip out the word Mormon in a move aimed at ending shorthand names for the religion that have been used for generations by church members and others.

Judicial Watch Uncovers Soros Open Society Foundation/Obama State Department Collusion.  The latest Judicial Watch FOIA lawsuit has enabled the release of documents showing U.S. Embassy officials in Albania shown working directly with Soros operatives to channel grant money into left-wing operations that attack traditional, pro-American groups, governments and policies in name of 'civil society.'

Always Believe Women?  Boy's Life Destroyed by Girls' False Allegations.  The accusations plaguing Brett Kavanaugh have captivated the nation.  Yet they're not as damning as two relatively recent allegations of sexual assault made against a Pennsylvania teen — allegations that were backed by corroborating witnesses.  Until a few of the female accusers admitted they'd lied simply because they didn't like the boy.  Unfortunately, this admission came only after they'd ruined his life.  Now the teen's parents, Michael J. and Alecia Flood of Zelienople, Butler County, have filed a federal lawsuit seeking "unspecified civil damages against the girls' parents, the school district and Butler County District Attorney Richard Goldinger's office.

Thirteen states now investigating alleged sexual abuse linked to Catholic church.  Florida's attorney general said Thursday [10/4/2018] she is launching an investigation of potential sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic church, making Florida at least the 13th state with an ongoing statewide probe of the church.  "Any priest that would exploit a position of power and trust to abuse a child is a disgrace to the church and a threat to society," said Attorney General Pam Bondi in a statement.  The Attorney General's Office will coordinate its probe with local prosecutors and review records from all seven of Florida's Catholic dioceses.  It is also launching a tip line for victims.

Rock used as doorstop is actually a meteorite worth $100K.  A Michigan man curious about a rock he'd used for decades as a doorstop now knows its secret:  it's a meteorite worth $100,000.

Study: 91 Percent of Apple Contributions Went to Democrats.  According to a new GovPredict study released Thursday [10/4/2018], Apple employees heavily favored Democrats in their contributions for local, state, and federal elections.  In all, 91 percent of their political giving went to Democrats, with only 9 percent going to Republicans between 2004 and 2018.  Since 2004, 95.5 percent of contributions by Apple employees to local political action committees (PACs) went to Democrats and only 4.5 percent went to Republicans.

Philly's Illegal Tacos restaurant gets stuffed — and not with cheese and lettuce.  Let's just say it wasn't a great night for Illegal Tacos, the restaurant on South Broad Street.  It started when about 35 demonstrators showed up around dinnertime Tuesday, parked themselves at the front door, and loudly decried what they saw as the racism of the eatery's name.  It got worse when the protesters brought in a local taco truck and parked it outside the restaurant.

NSA staffer who took top secret files home so he could do extra work and get promoted is jailed for five years 'after they were stolen by Russians'.  A former NSA employee who took secret files home with him in an effort to get promoted has been jailed after they were allegedly stolen by Russian spies.  Nghia Hoang Pho, 68, from Maryland, was sentenced to five and a half years Tuesday [9/25/2018] after earlier pleading guilty to willful retention of national defense information.  Pho was working as a software developer for the NSA's Tailored Access Operations branch, which hacks into foreign computer networks, at Fort Meade when he began taking the files home in 2010.