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The Centers for Disease Control’s Lies Have Destroyed Its Legitimacy


REPORTED BY: Dr. GREGG SCHMEDES | FEBRUARY 22, 2022

Read more at https://thefederalist.com/2022/02/22/the-centers-for-disease-controls-lies-have-destroyed-its-legitimacy/

Centers for Disease Control headquarters

On August 6, 2021, the Centers for Disease Control released a report that the agency claimed showed “Vaccination Offers Higher Protection than Previous COVID-19 Infection.” This assertion came amidst a public battle with Sen. Rand Paul, as the CDC released this data from Kentucky, Paul’s home state.

Yet after indisputable scientific evidence continued to pile up in favor of natural immunity, the CDC finally capitulated on January 19, 2022, recognizing the superiority of natural immunity over vaccination alone: “Between May and November 2021, people who were unvaccinated and did not have a prior COVID-19 infection remained at the highest risk of infection and hospitalization, while those who were previously infected, both with, or without prior vaccination, had the greatest protection.”

The CDC’s reversal came after its previous discounting of natural immunity caused mass layoffs, nursing home resident isolation, and hospital staffing shortages. It must not be forgotten or overlooked, and the CDC must be held accountable.

Last summer, guided by the CDC, President Biden claimed, “If you’re vaccinated, you’re not going to be hospitalized, you’re not going to be in the IC unit, and you’re not going to die.” Biden also spread misinformation about vaccinations preventing the spread of Covid-19 by stating, “You’re not going to get Covid if you have these vaccinations.” 

Who is harmed the most by health misinformation produced by our president and his agencies? Those with low health literacy. Our rich-poor gap is growing in this country and lying about health issues only exacerbates it.

A Positive Test Doesn’t Always Mean Infectiousness

A deeper dive into the August natural immunity study reveals methodology that can be recognized as illogical, even to those without medical experience. The CDC researchers created two groups. The case group included people who tested positive in 2020 and then tested positive again during a two-month window in 2021. The control group included people who had a positive test in 2020 without another positive test during this artificial two-month window.

The study observed that non-vaccinated group registered a positive test 34.4 percent of the time, compared to 20.3 percent of fully vaccinated individuals. The CDC falsely defined the case group’s second positive test as a “reinfection.” This is the central lie of the study. This data conveniently omitted data on people actually becoming symptomatic or what a common person would call “reinfected.”

To illustrate this point, consider if a Covid-recovered person comes into contact with Sars-Cov-2 in their community. They might test positive on a PCR test. Their body can remember the virus, fight it off, and the person never becomes ill. However, shortly after the exposure, a PCR swab can detect bits of genetic material (even if it’s unviable virus). Therefore, this study could be more of a reflection of people’s likelihood of re-exposure to Sars-Cov-2, not reinfection, as the CDC claimed.

By conflating exposure and reinfection, the CDC misled the public. CDC Director Rochelle Walensky stated, “This study shows you were twice as likely to get infected again if you are unvaccinated. Getting the vaccine is the best way to protect yourself and others around you, especially as the more contagious Delta variant spreads around the country.”

This guidance came when mounting evidence indicated Covid vaccines quickly lose their effectiveness against infection and transmission, which the CDC loathed to admit. Unfortunately, Walensky’s guidance undermined the credibility of the CDC for generations to come.

As a physician, it’s frightening that a public health official made a policy recommendation based on such a flawed study. We should encourage critical thinking and scientific skepticism, but such a blatantly flawed study design should not be tolerated in our leading health institutions.

Not an Isolated Incident for the CDC

This isn’t the only time the CDC has been caught misleading the public. Drawing ire from the medical community, the was an uncontrolled study of students in Arizona that Walensky referred to in discussing the CDC’s mask guidance for schools. This study defined a “covid outbreak” as “two or more” positive lab tests among students or staff. So, if your school had two asymptomatic third graders, you’ve got a “covid outbreak” on your hands. Even worse, the study weighted such an “outbreak” equally to a school with dozens of symptomatic teachers or students. According to the CDC, two equals 50—at least for “covid outbreaks.”

In a Georgia study that actually had a sufficient control arm, the CDC minimized the fact that there was no statistically significant difference between masked and unmasked student groups. They’ve also minimized the importance of diet and exercise during the pandemic. They failed to effectively communicate evidence-based, life-saving outpatient treatment protocols. The list goes on.

Why This Matters So Much

How does minimizing natural immunity cause harm in the real world? There are at least three deadly repercussions.

First, many hospitals following the CDC’s guidance mandated that only vaccinated health-care workers be allowed to work at their facilities. This means naturally immune health-care workers were wrongly excluded from the workforce. Based on a toxic lie fabricated by the CDC, hospitals continue to experience staffing shortages, contributing to the hospitalization overcapacity narrative they’ve used to demonize the unvaccinated.

Second, the same problem arose for nursing homes, where seniors were denied visitation rights from unvaccinated, naturally immune family and friends, even though less protected vaccinated people were allowed in. Lack of care workers also prevents patients from being discharged from hospitals to care facilities.

Third, the natural immunity lie also stripped countless Americans of their health coverage and livelihoods. During the delta wave, for example, a worker at Los Alamos National Laboratories was fired from his job for religiously objecting to vaccination, despite working entirely from home and having recovered from a previous Covid infection. The CDC now admits this worker’s immunity provides protection superior to that of his co-workers who had merely vaccine-induced immunity at that time. He lost his job while the less protected did not. By denying natural immunity’s superiority to vaccine-induced immunity, how many others have been fired and lost health-care access the moment we need our population to be at its healthiest?

Punishing People We Should Have Praised

Naturally immune people should have been identified early in the pandemic as the most protected, ushered into hospitals and nursing homes to serve our vulnerable, and certainly should have been allowed to keep their jobs. By refusing to acknowledge the harms of lockdowns, mask mandates, and vaccination, the CDC has brought everlasting shame to itself. There is clear evidence these types of interventions carry measurable risk. A better approach would have been to honestly discuss the risks and benefits with the public, much like I discuss surgical risks and benefits with my patients. This is the very tenet of informed consent, and better communication always results in a better relationship.

Americans need an unbiased, incorruptible, and credible CDC that provides reliable and scientifically sound public health guidance. These lies have de-legitimized and undermined public confidence in the institution of the CDC itself.

The consequences of lying about Covid-19 will spill into other areas of health care. Millions of Americans have lost trust in our hospitals and institutions and are now resorting to “under the table” health care. In health care, loss of trust equals lack of access. The CDC must return to the basics of evidence-based medicine to overcome its crisis of legitimacy.

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9 Times Sen. Ron Johnson Triggered the Left — And Turned Out to Be Right


Reported BY: KYLEE ZEMPEL | JANUARY 14, 2022

Read more at https://thefederalist.com/2022/01/14/9-times-sen-ron-johnson-triggered-the-left-and-turned-out-to-be-right/

Ron Johnson in the Senate

Sen. Ron Johnson is not planning his Senate retirement anytime soon. The Wisconsin lawmaker is running for reelection, he announced this week, at which the corrupt media predictably came out, guns blazing.

CNN’s Chris Cillizza, for instance, announced that the “Senate’s leading conspiracy theorist is running for another term,” and The Nation ran an article calling him an “off-the-deep-end” senator.

But while attention-seeking pundits attack Johnson for opinions that don’t conform to the left-wing narrative (opinions held among many Americans outside the Beltway, by the way), his opinions are often proved to be exactly right. There’s quite a long list of “Ron John” statements and actions that, after sending the media into a tizzy and Big Tech giants into a censorship spree, have held up quite well over time. Here are some of them.

Jan. 6

During a February 2021 hearing to examine the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, Johnson condemned the violence then went on to read an eyewitness account of the day’s events. Originally published in The Federalist, it detailed the presence of provocateurs in the crowd and confusion among many of the pro-police “MAGA” protesters who didn’t attend the rally to perpetrate violence.

The media lost it, ignoring his condemnation of the violence to smear Johnson as a conspiratorial nutjob. CNN, New York Daily News, Daily Beast, The Washington Post, the Boston Globe, and even the Washington Examiner ran articles attacking him as “deranged.”

Yet the account Johnson read was entered into the record without objection from lawmakers of either party. And since then, instead of learning more information about Jan. 6 that refutes eyewitness accounts of “provocateurs,” Americans have been treated to political playacting (including literal musical theater) from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s sham commission, more hyperventilating from the media, and repeated stonewalling from the FBI on questions about potential provocateurs caught on video, such as Ray Epps.

Johnson was also ahead of the game on the Capitol Police component of Jan. 6, including pushing to correct the media and Capitol Police’s lies about what happened to the late Officer Brian Sicknick.

COVID Shots

Johnson has been a consistent voice for those who don’t feel they have one on Covid shots and the mandates that accompany them. He’s given Americans a forum to discuss their firsthand adverse shot reactions, for which he’s been smeared in the corrupt media as “fundamentally dangerous” and as a peddler of “misinformation.”

In November 2021, YouTube suspended Johnson’s channel for the fifth time for seven days for a video of a panel on vaccine-related injuries, labeling it “Covid misinformation.” Yet we know adverse reactions do occur.

In April 2021, when Johnson questioned forcing every American to get vaccinated and slammed the idea of pushing vaccine mandates on citizens, Anthony Fauci came after him on MSNBC — which other outlets amplified, calling the senator an “idiot anti-vaxxer.”

Fast-forward to 2022, and Johnson has been vindicated: Even with a federal vaccine mandate in place, case numbers are up higher than ever; and even the triple-vaccinated are still contracting and spreading the virus.

Early COVID Treatment

Big Tech has twice censored the sitting U.S. senator by nuking videos discussing early Covid treatments. In February 2021, YouTube removed videos of sworn testimony from Dr. Pierre Kory about early treatments. Then in June, YouTube suspended Johnson’s account for one week for remarks he made about early Covid treatments in Milwaukee.

Shutting down scientific inquiry and debate is inherently anti-science, however, as scientists who dissent from some of the questionable Covid conventional wisdom have pointed out.

“For science to work, you have to have an open exchange of ideas,” Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, a professor of medicine at Stanford University, has said of this type of censorship. “If you’re going to make an argument that something is misinformation, you should provide an actual argument. You can’t just take it down and say, ‘Oh, it’s misinformation’ without actually giving a reason. And saying, ‘Look it disagrees with the CDC’ is not enough of a reason. Let’s hear the argument, let’s see the evidence that YouTube used to decide it was misinformation. Let’s have a debate. Science works best when we have an open debate.”

[LISTEN: Sen. Ron Johnson Has Some Questions For The ‘Covid Gods’]

‘Rona Vaccines for Kids

In October 2021, Wisconsin radio host Dan O’Donnell’s YouTube account was suspended after he posted an interview with the senator about opposing vaccine mandates for kids.

We didn’t have to wait for ground-breaking scientific discovery on this one; we’ve known since the beginning of the pandemic that children are at almost zero risk of dying from coronavirus, and now we know that Covid shots don’t prevent people from contracting nor spreading the virus. Johnson was scientifically spot-on to oppose vaxx mandates for children, given children’s near-zero risk from a bout with Covid versus the potential risks of shot complications.

Hunter Biden

Corporate media ginned up all types of attacks when Johnson, as chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, dug into the Biden family corruption linked to Hunter Biden.

The New York Times described it using the “Russian disinformation” moniker. Time Magazine smeared him as the Senate’s “one-man Biden prosecutor.” And the Washington Post described Johnson’s investigation as a nakedly partisan ploy to get Donald Trump re-elected.

This was all a distraction from the fact that Johnson and Sen. Chuck Grassley successfully revealed millions of dollars in questionable financial transactions between Hunter Biden and his associates and foreign individuals, including the wife of the former mayor of Moscow and people with ties to the Chinese Communist Party.

Biden associate Tony Bobulinski confirmed aspects of the report after its release.

Climate Change

Johnson triggered the media in July when he mouthed to a Republican group that climate change is “bullsh-t.” The corporate media went berserk, with CNN and Chris Cuomo calling Johnson a climate change “denier.”

The senator has reinforced repeatedly that he doesn’t deny that the climate is changing, but rather that he isn’t an “alarmist” and doesn’t buy Democrats’ apocalyptic predictions.

Big surprise, plenty of data backs this up. The American Enterprise Institute has documented 50 years of failed doomsday predictions by so-called “experts” in the corrupt media and Democrat Party. For instance, ABC claimed in 2008 that Manhattan would be underwater by 2015. In 2011, The Washington Post claimed that cherry blossoms would bloom in winter.

Climate genius Al Gore also predicted in 2008 that five years later the North Pole would be free of ice. And in 2019, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., predicted that Miami would be underwater in a few years. Yet in 2022, Miami is still very much above ground.

Mouthwash

Last month, Johnson noted a number of simple things Americans can do to keep themselves heathy, such as taking Vitamin D, Vitamin C, and zinc, and gargling mouthwash to reduce viral load if they get COVID.

He was swiftly berated in print and on-air by the likes of MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, HuffPost, The Washington Post, and Rolling Stone. Forbes said Johnson’s “Advice Exemplifies The Rising Tide Of Anti-Science,” and MSNBC’s Joy Reid called him a “fool” and a “public health menace.”

Johnson’s mouthwash claim about viral load is supported by scientific research, however, such as this study. Additionally, Dr. Bruce Davidson, a faculty member of the Georgetown Department of Otolaryngology, conducted a study on the use of antiseptic mouthwash to control coronavirus, published in the American Journal of Medicine, and found that mouthwash can help protect people from Covid-19 pneumonia.

Even FackCheck.org had to admit, “Johnson is right that mouthwashes ‘may’ reduce the virus’ ability to replicate in people.”

Natural Immunity

On July 14, Johnson claimed natural immunity is “as strong if not stronger than vaccinated immunity,” against which WaPo deployed its fake fact-checkers.

“Fact-checker” Salvador Rizzo gave it “four Pinocchios” (an analysis that Johnson’s team eviscerated), and WaPo’s bogus fact-checker-in-chief Glenn Kessler called it one of the “Biggest Pinocchios of 2021.”

Johnson’s claims, however, come straight out of a pair of studies that confirmed natural immunity is stronger than COVID vaccine-acquired immunity. The pre-print Israeli study found that people with natural immunity could be 13 times less likely to contract the virus than those who were solely vaccinated, contradicting CDC findings.

Martin Kulldorff, an epidemiologist and biostatistician who was a professor at Harvard Medical School for a decade, dissected and compared the CDC study and the Israeli pre-print and explained why the latter is more reliable.

Russiagate

Johnson’s years-long involvement in getting to the bottom of the Russia hoax and the Ukraine phone call impeachment is enough to fill a book (see here, here, here, here, here, and here), but suffice it to say that, true to form, the media were relentless, and the right was pretty much right about everything. In fact, the truth about that story is likely far worse than most have heard. Here’s hoping Johnson continues to pursue that truth using the powers of a U.S. senator.

Kylee Zempel is an assistant editor at The Federalist. She previously worked as the copy editor for the Washington Examiner magazine and as an editor and producer at National Geographic. She holds a B.S. in Communication Arts/Speech and an A.S. in Criminal Justice and writes on topics including feminism and gender issues, religious liberty, and criminal justice. Follow her on Twitter @kyleezempel.

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Biden’s Vaccine Mandate Is Outrageously Unconstitutional. Why Couldn’t Lawyers Make That Argument To The Supreme Court?


Posted BY: MARGOT CLEVELAND | JANUARY 10, 2022

Read more at https://www.conservativereview.com/bidens-vaccine-mandate-is-outrageously-unconstitutional-why-couldnt-lawyers-make-that-argument-to-the-supreme-court-2656327300.html/

U.S. supreme court at twilight

All the petitioners needed was for the Supreme Court to enter a stay to prevent the Occupational Safety and Health Administration vaccination rule from taking effect, but, truly, was it too much to ask for a defense of limited government, separation of powers, and federalism?

Apparently so, because on Friday, over more than two hours of argument in National Federation of Independent Business v. Department of Labor, lawyers pushing the Supreme Court to delay the regulation circled and sidled rather than state clearly that the rule, OSHA, the Biden administration, and the entire federal government represented a mockery of our constitutional order.

On November 5, 2021, OSHA issued the rule under review, framing it as an “Emergency Temporary Standard” or ETS. The ETS required all employers of 100 or more employees to “develop, implement, and enforce a mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy,” which required employees to either be fully vaccinated or submit to weekly COVID-19 testing and to wear face coverings at work.

Congress authorized OSHA to issue “an emergency temporary standard to take immediate effect,” and without the traditional notice-and-comment process, if it “determines (A) that employees are exposed to grave danger from exposure to substances or agents determined to be toxic or physically harmful or from new hazards, and (B) that such emergency standard is necessary to protect employees from such danger.”

Massive Overreach Immediately Challenged in Court

The ETS was immediately challenged by individual Americans, religious groups, covered employers, states, and trade organizations, with the cases filed directly in federal courts of appeals throughout the country, bypassing the federal trial courts pursuant to the statute that authorized emergency rules.

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals acted first, issuing a stay on November 6, 2021, preventing enforcement of the rule pending briefing. Less than a week later, a three-judge panel of the Fifth Circuit—consisting of Ronald Reagan appointee Judge Edith Jones and two Donald Trump appointees, Judges Kyle Duncan and Kurt Engelhardt—issued an opinion holding that the ETS remain stayed “pending adequate judicial review” of the lawsuit challenging the OSHA rule.

The 21-page opinion, authored by Judge Engelhardt, analyzed the request for a stay and concluded that, for numerous reasons, the petitioners had a strong likelihood to succeed on the merits of their challenge and that without a stay the businesses and other petitioners would suffer irreparable injury.

Shortly after the Fifth Circuit issued its decision, pursuant to the procedures controlling when multiple lawsuits are filed challenging an ETS, all of the cases throughout the various federal circuits were consolidated and assigned by lottery to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. Then, on December 17, 2021, the Sixth Circuit vacated the stay entered by the Fifth Circuit.

Sixth Circuit Deadlocks

Judge Jane Stranch, a Barack Obama appointee, authored the decision for the three-judge panel of the Sixth Circuit, which Judge Julia Gibbons, a G.W. Bush appointee, joined. Trump-appointee Judge Joan Larsen dissented from the decision, concisely capturing her concern with this opening line: “As the Supreme Court has very recently reminded us, ‘our system does not permit agencies to act unlawfully even in pursuit of desirable ends.’”

Two days before the Sixth Circuit removed the stay, thereby setting the ETS to go into effect this month, the federal appellate court denied a request by the challengers of the OSHA rule for the court to hear the case initially en banc, or as a full court. To obtain en banc review, a majority of the active judges on the Sixth Circuit needed to vote for the full court to decide the case together, but the 16-member court deadlocked 8-8, leaving the three-judge panel in charge.

In voting to hear the request for a stay of the ETS en banc in the Sixth Circuit, Judge John Bush, a Trump appointee, opened with the closer: “Whether it uses a clear statement or not, Congress likely has no authority under the Commerce Clause to impose, much less to delegate the imposition of, a de facto national vaccine mandate upon the American public. Such claimed authority runs contrary to the text and structure of the Constitution and historical practice. The regulation of health and safety through compulsory vaccination is a traditional prerogative of the states—not the domain of Congress and certainly not fodder for the diktat of a federal administrative agency.”

Sidelining the Constitution

With all of the ammunition provided by the dissenting judges in the Sixth Circuit, as well as the Fifth Circuit’s original opinion entering the stay, one would think that when the Supreme Court fast-tracked the case for oral argument, the attorneys seeking the stay would stress the grave attack the ETS represents to our constitutional republic. But they didn’t.

Instead, Scott Keller, counsel for the National Federation of Independent Business, argued “OSHA’s economy-wide one-size-fits-all mandate covering 84 million Americans is not a necessary, indispensable use of OSHA’s extraordinary emergency power which this Court has recognized is narrowly circumscribed.”

Likewise, Benjamin Flowers, the solicitor general of Ohio, arguing on behalf of the slew of states that joined in challenging the ETS, stressed “so sweeping a rule [as the vaccine mandate] is not necessary to protect employees from a grave danger as the emergency provision requires.”

Throughout the argument, Keller and Flowers also focused on the so-called “major questions” doctrine, which stems from a series of Supreme Court cases that stressed that if an agency’s regulatory action “brings about an enormous and transformative expansion in regulatory authority,” Congress must speak clearly that “it wishes to assign to an agency decisions [such issues] of vast ‘economic and political significance.”

The petitioners weren’t wrong. The OSHA rule, which is, in essence, a vaccine mandate given the shortage of tests and the federal government’s decision to force employees to pay for the cost of testing, is not “necessary” to protect employees from a “grave danger” for many reasons.

This Is Obviously Unconstitutional

First, COVID is only a grave danger to a small segment of society, while the ETS adopts the de facto vaccine mandate for all employers of 100 or more employees. The ETS also makes no distinction between employers where working conditions create a higher risk of COVID infection from those facilities where employees have limited risk. Nor, after two years of COVID, with OSHA waiting that time period to issue the ETS and the latest mutation less severe than the former ones, does the ETS fit within the concept of an “emergency” standard.

Also, far from providing the OSHA clear authority to mandate vaccinations (or a weekly medical test) in response to a virus such as COVID, the statute authorizing OSHA to issue an ETS speaks of grave dangers “from exposure to substances or agents determined to be toxic or physically harmful or from new hazards.” Thus, the major question doctrine supports the petitioners’ challenge to the ETS and their request for a stay.

Yes, advocates must be pragmatists, and the petitioners’ attorneys didn’t need a home run; they just needed a rain delay. But so much more could have been said, and indeed needed to be said—and forcefully so—about limited powers, federalism, and separation of powers. Yet in their desire to win the stay, there was barely any mention of these important constitutional principles.

Major Opportunity Lost

Consider this notable exchange between Ohio’s top attorney and Justice Sotomayor.

JUSTICE SOTOMAYOR: “So, if it’s within the police power to protect the health and welfare of workers, you seem to be saying the states can do it, but you’re saying the federal government can’t even though it’s facing the same crisis in interstate commerce that states are facing within their own borders. I — I’m not sure I understand the distinction why the states would have the power but the federal government wouldn’t.”

MR. FLOWERS: “The federal government has no police power, if we’re asking about that.”

JUSTICE SOTOMAYOR: “Oh, it does have power with respect to protecting the health and safety of workers. We have — we have — accept the constitutionality of OSHA.”

MR. FLOWERS: “Yes. I took you to be asking if they had a police power to protect public health. They — they absolutely have the –”

JUSTICE SOTOMAYOR: “No, they have a police power to protect workers.”

MR. FLOWERS: “I would not call it a police power. I think the Commerce Clause power allows them to address health.”

“I would not call it a police power” is as much as the Ohio solicitor general could muster for a pushback. But Congress has no “police power” no matter what it is called, and the federal government cannot “pretextually relabel” a federal de facto vaccination mandate “commerce” to gain what is, in effect, a novel police power of the national government.

The breadth of the OSHA rule and its effects on two-thirds of private businesses also threatens the “system of government ordered by the Constitution,” that gave all legislative powers to Congress. The resulting “nondelegation doctrine constrains Congress’s ability to delegate its legislative authority to executive agencies.”

Yet when provided an opportunity to hammer these points, Flowers served up the vanilla point “that although our non-delegation doctrine is not especially robust today, there are limits on the amount of authority that Congress can give away.”

The justices—and Americans—needed to hear these points because COVID has become both the excuse and the case study for authoritarianism. And from OSHA’s most recent rule, we might divine the civil corollary to the “Show me the man, and I’ll show you the crime,” motto, and it seems to be, “Provide me a public interest, and I’ll find the power.” 

Or, elsewise said, “Cut me a mouse hole, and I’ll squeeze in an elephant.”

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Grant Atkinson Op-ed: Fauci Agency Spent Over $1M to Poison Beagle Puppies, Cut Out Vocal Cords so They Couldn’t Bark: New Report


Commentary By Grant Atkinson  October 6, 2021

Read more at https://www.westernjournal.com/fauci-agency-spent-1m-poison-beagle-puppies-cut-vocal-cords-couldnt-bark-new-report/

Dr. Anthony Fauci has been propped up by the left as a savior throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. If leftists wrote a Marvel superhero movie, former President Donald Trump would be like Thanos, and Fauci is supposed to be some sort of Avenger who saves that day. The problem with that picture is that as far as I’m aware, Avengers are not supposed to brutally murder puppies and mutilate their bodies.

According to a watchdog group called the White Coat Waste Project, that is exactly what the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases did under the leadership of Fauci.

“Documents obtained by WCW through the Freedom of Information Act show that Fauci’s division at the National Institutes of Health ordered cruel and unnecessary drug toxicity tests on dogs and other animals that cost taxpayers $1.68 million,” the group said in a Tuesday news release.

This follows an August report that NIAID sent $424,455 in taxpayer money to the University of Georgia in September 2020 for research that would infect beagles with parasites so that an experimental drug could be tested on them.

In that research, documents obtained by WCW show at least 28 beagles were set to be infected with the parasites for three months. Afterward, they would be euthanized and their blood would be collected. The research was supposed to be completed by January 2022, but it is unclear whether the beagles were euthanized, according to the Daily Caller.

According to the new report from the Daily Caller, additional animal research took place between October 2018 and February 2019. These experiments reportedly included 44 beagle puppies aged 6-8 months who were given experimental drugs through either injection or force-feeding.

Afterward, WCW said the dogs were killed and dissected, supposedly for “research.”

In addition, NIAID paid for the abused puppies to have cordectomies, meaning part or all of their vocal cords were removed. WCW said Fauci’s division paid for these procedures so the puppies “couldn’t bark in the lab while they were being abused.”

NIAID defended the horrific treatment in its documents by saying the experiments were conducted to “provide data of suitable quality and integrity, in order to support applications to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and other regulatory agencies,” according to the Daily Caller.

In July, WCW told KABC-TV that human drugs were being tested on puppies because of a 1930s law requiring drugs to be tested on animals before humans.

However, when KABC reached out to the FDA for comment, the agency said it “requires that an FDA-approved medical product must be demonstrated to be safe and effective,” but “does not mandate that human drugs be studied in dogs.”

This implies that NIAID’s reckless animal testing was conducted by choice, not out of obligation.

The timing of this new information is particularly ironic for Fauci. On Monday’s episode of “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” Carlson revealed Fauci had candles in his own home depicting himself as a saint.

“Tony Fauci isn’t just the high priest of Fauci-ism. He’s also a true believer himself,” Carlson said.

The very next day, Fauci was revealed to have overseen experiments brutalizing innocent puppies. Somehow, that doesn’t seem to be very “saint-like” behavior.

“People are naming puppies after Anthony Fauci, but he’s actually dogs’ and taxpayers’ worst nightmare,” WCW vice president of advocacy and public policy Justin Goodman told the Daily Caller.

“From poisoning puppies here at home to funding gain-of-function experiments in China, the government’s highest-paid employee has proven he can’t be trusted to spend taxpayer dollars responsibly. With NIH director Francis Collins retiring, Fauci should be the next one to go.”

Grant Atkinson, Associate Reporter

Grant is a graduate of Virginia Tech with a bachelor’s degree in journalism. He has five years of writing experience with various outlets and enjoys covering politics and sports.

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Ghoulish Fact-Checkers at Twitter Slap ‘Misleading’ Label on Obituary of Mom Who Died from Vaccine-Induced Blood Clot


Reported By Elizabeth Stauffer  October 4, 2021

Read more at https://www.westernjournal.com/ghoulish-fact-checkers-twitter-slap-misleading-label-obituary-mom-died-vaccine-induced-blood-clot/

Jessica Berg Wilson’s obituary described the Seattle woman as “an exceptionally healthy and vibrant 37-year-old young mother with no underlying health conditions” who “died unexpectedly on Sep. 7 from COVID-19 Vaccine-Induced Thrombotic Thrombocytopenia (VITT).”

The obituary on Legacy.com continued: “Jessica fully embraced motherhood, sharing her passion for life with her daughters. Jessica’s motherly commitment was intense, with unwavering determination to nurture her children to be confident, humble, responsible, and to have concern and compassion for others with high morals built on Faith.”

“Jessica’s greatest passion was to be the best mother possible for Bridget and Clara. Nothing would stand in her way to be present in their lives,” it said. “During the last weeks of her life, however, the world turned dark with heavy-handed vaccine mandates. Local and state governments were determined to strip away her right to consult her wisdom and enjoy her freedom.

“She had been vehemently opposed to taking the vaccine, knowing she was in good health and of a young age and thus not at risk for serious illness. In her mind, the known and unknown risks of the unproven vaccine were more of a threat.

“But, slowly, day by day, her freedom to choose was stripped away. Her passion to be actively involved in her children’s education—which included being a Room Mom—was, once again, blocked by government mandate. Ultimately, those who closed doors and separated mothers from their children prevailed.

“It cost Jessica her life. It cost her children the loving embrace of their caring mother. And it cost her husband the sacred love of his devoted wife. It cost God’s Kingdom on earth a very special soul who was just making her love felt in the hearts of so many.”

This very sad story was made even worse by the Twitter Police.

When a Twitter user shared Wilson’s obituary on Friday, adding in the caption that she had not wanted to get vaccinated, the post was slapped with a warning label.

“This Tweet is misleading,” it said. “Find out why health officials consider COVID-19 vaccines safe for most people.”

It provided a link so users could “find out more,” adding, “This Tweet can’t be replied to, shared or liked.”

Here is a screenshot of the Twitter warning label, which apparently was removed after many users complained about it.

This is what popped up if you clicked on the retweet button.

Misleading? On the contrary, it’s very clear. A healthy young woman, who believed that the vaccine posed a greater risk to her health than contracting the virus itself, was forced to comply with the school’s vaccine requirement for visitors if she wanted to be involved in her children’s classrooms. She took the vaccine and then died of a vaccine-induced blood clot. She was one of the unlucky ones.

The author of the tweet was not misleading readers, either. She was simply mourning the loss of a young mother who would not have gotten the vaccine (and therefore likely would not have died) had she not been forced to. Nobody was trying to convince others not to take the vaccine or claiming that it will cause mass deaths.

I am not anti-vax. Vaccines are a potent tool in the fight against COVID. That said, these vaccines do pose a risk to some individuals. Some might have medical reasons for rejecting the vaccine, and others are highly skeptical about taking a vaccine that was developed so quickly. Not everyone needs to be vaccinated.

This is tyranny, and it’s hard to believe this is happening in America.

Elizabeth Stauffer, Contributor

Elizabeth is a contract writer at The Western Journal. Her articles have appeared on many conservative websites including RedState, Newsmax, The Federalist, Bongino.com, HotAir, Australian National Review, Independent Journal Review, Instapundit, MSN and RealClearPolitics. Please follow Elizabeth on Twitter.@StaufferVaughn

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NCAA Athlete Hit with Severe Heart Complication After COVID Vaccine, Warns Against Vax Mandates


Reported By Grant Atkinson  September 15, 2021

Read more at https://www.westernjournal.com/watch-ncaa-athlete-hit-severe-heart-complication-covid-vaccine-warns-vax-mandates/

On Aug. 31, 2021, John Stokes was preparing for his senior season playing Division 1 NCAA golf at Tennessee State University. By Sept. 6, the 21-year-old was hospitalized with heart complications. What changed during the span of those four days? According to Stokes, he received the second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

“I am a Division 1 student-athlete with no prior health issues, and I got the second COVID shot Tuesday [on Aug. 31],” he said in a now-viral TikTok video. “And within four days, I have been diagnosed with myocarditis and was told that I probably won’t be able to play my senior season now.”

According to his profile on Tennessee State’s website, Stokes was set to begin his second and final season with the program. His newly developed heart condition is putting his ability to play in jeopardy.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines myocarditis as “inflammation of the heart muscle,” and the agency says it can be caused by an immune system response to some trigger, such as an infection. The CDC has admitted myocarditis, along with an “inflammation of the outer lining of the heart” known as pericarditis, has been reported after mRNA COVID vaccines.

The agency even went as far as to say that these side effects are most common in adolescent or young adult males after receiving the second vaccine dose from either Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna. Yet the CDC continues to push the vaccine even on this specific group.

“CDC continues to recommend that everyone aged 12 years and older get vaccinated for COVID-19,” the agency says on its website.

“The known risks of COVID-19 illness and its related, possibly severe complications, such as long-term health problems, hospitalization, and even death, far outweigh the potential risks of having a rare adverse reaction to vaccination, including the possible risk of myocarditis or pericarditis.”

A simple study of the numbers will prove that this theory is questionable, at best. According to Statista, there had been 3,043 COVID-19 deaths among Americans aged 18-29 as of Sept. 8, 2021. In another chart, Statista reported 7,148,719 COVID-19 cases among Americans aged 18-29. That means that if you get COVID-19 between the ages of 18-29, you have approximately a .04 percent chance of dying from the virus.

In addition, that only takes into account known positive cases of COVID-19. It does not include unreported cases, nor does it include Americans aged 18-29 who never even get COVID-19. Suffice to say, the chances of 18 to 29-year-old Americans dying from COVID-19 are very slim.

While cases of myocarditis and pericarditis as a result of the vaccine are admittedly rare, they are at least a possibility. Many 18 to 29-year-olds are not willing to take that risk to protect themselves from a virus that has an extremely low chance of killing them. Even if you feel that 18 to 29-year-olds should be vaccinated, you should at least be able to see the problem with mandating a vaccine that has some potential to cause heart inflammation. The CDC’s argument that the risks of COVID-19 outweigh the risks of the vaccine is a choice that Americans should make for themselves, not one that the government gets to decide for them.

“It isn’t right for people to be forced to take the vaccine because there are actual side effects like this that could happen to you,” Stokes said. “Everyone should be informed of the side effects, and no one should be forced to take something that could cause what has happened to me.”

While the CDC says the possible long-term effects from COVID-19 are a reason to get the vaccine, Stokes said the possible long-term effects from the vaccine itself are unknown.

“No one knows the long-term effects of what’s possibly going to happen from this,” he said. “It’s kind of uncharted territory because everyone else with the same heart issues from the vaccine as me, we’re all being tracked and monitored.’

“We’re basically like test subjects from the vaccine, so it’s a very serious issue that really needs to be spread.”

Just as living unvaccinated could present a higher risk of getting COVID-19, receiving the vaccine presents its own risks. The choice of which risk to take has always been and must remain a personal one.

Grant Atkinson, Editorial Intern

Grant is a graduate of Virginia Tech with a bachelor’s degree in journalism. He has five years of writing experience with various outlets and enjoys covering politics and sports.

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Trump’s FDA Director Crushes Delta Variant Fearmongering, Points to What Happened in the United Kingdom


Reported by Isa Cox | July 31, 2021

Read more at https://www.westernjournal.com/trumps-fda-director-crushes-delta-variant-fearmongering-points-happened-united-kingdom/

There’s something in the air this week. Can you feel it?

It’s not just the super-duper scary Delta variant — it’s the rising consternation of Americans who are being told that, despite the willingness of millions to submit themselves to the novel COVID-19 vaccine so life could “get back to normal,” they’re now being told they need to mask up, regardless of vaccination status, even at home around their own children — some of whom may even be diving into yet another semester of distance learning, if things keep up, all thanks to said Delta variant.

While COVID-19 cases have indeed risen in the U.S. in recent weeks, which is being blamed on Delta, there’s a good chance that the media and health officials may be blowing its long-term impact on daily life out of proportion. Shocking — I know

According to the former head of the Food and Drug Administration, the Delta variant may actually be more widespread than is being reported, but this could signal that hope is right around the corner.

Dr. Scott Gottlieb explained while speaking with CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday that he believes we are “much further” into the resurgence of COVID-19 than we realize, but, based on the trajectory seen in the United Kingdom just a few weeks ago, we might just have a few more weeks ourselves before cases once again decline.

“I believe there’s more virus than we’re picking up right now,” he said, noting that cases detected by at-home antigen tests or infections among younger Americans who might be asymptomatic won’t show up in government data.

“If you look at the U.K. in the last seven days, they do appear to be turning the corner,” Gottlieb explained.

He said that while it’s “unclear” if this downward trajectory is going to be sustained as the U.K. only recently lifted mitigation measures that were previously in place, if our friends across the pond are any indication, “we are perhaps further into this epidemic and hopefully going to turn a corner in the next two or maybe three weeks.”

He repeated his prediction for CNBC’s Squawk Box later in the week while discussing transmission between and mask guidance for vaccinated individuals.

“The bottom line is, the vaccine does not make you impervious to infection,” Gottlieb explained. “There are some people who are developing mild and asymptomatic infections even after vaccination.”

Although the Delta variant is indeed “much more transmissible” than the previous strain, Gottlieb said, and vaccinated individuals should still consider wearing masks, particularly around the vulnerable, he also noted that this shouldn’t necessarily “translate into general guidance” for mask-wearing and vaccine requirements.

“I don’t think we’re going to get enough bang for our buck by telling vaccinated people they have to wear masks at all times to make it worth our while,” he said. “I think we’re further into this Delta wave than we’re picking up. I think in another two or three weeks we’ll be through this.

It’s also worth noting that “this,” i.e. a resurgence of COVID-19 cases as compared to previous months, isn’t anywhere near as scary as the Chicken Little state and media establishments seem to want us to believe. While cases are indeed rising, deaths due to COVID-19 remain at a 16-month low, as Harvard Medical School professor Martin Kulldorff recently tweeted.

No one wants to hear about packed ICUs or young people on ventilators, and there is not a single life in this nation that needs to be reduced to a mere statistic. But since, pragmatically, the statistics are both what public health guidance should be based on and what we’re told it is based on, it’s pretty safe to conclude that there simply may not be a reason to panic. Certainly, there’s no telling what the next few weeks will bring, and Gottlieb was merely making predictions based on the trajectory of cases in a different country than our own.

If we can look at declining case rates in the U.K. as an indication that we may see the same trajectory here at home, perhaps we should also look to their “keep calm and carry on” attitude when it comes to examining the data. But will Americans keep calm as officials seem ready to send us into a new wave of lockdowns and school closures? That, just like the trajectory of COVID-19 cases, remains to be seen.

Isa Cox, Contributor

Isa grew up in San Francisco, where she was briefly a far-left socialist before finding Jesus and her husband in Hawaii. She now homeschools their two boys and freelances in the Ozarks.@crunchyconmama

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Results of Johns Hopkins Study Are All but Conclusive: People Pushing for Forced COVID Measures on Kids Are Fighting Against the Science


A child receives a shot in the stock image above.Commentary: A child receives a shot in the stock image above. (Melinda Nagy / Shutterstock)

Commentator Mike Landry | July 26, 2021

Read more at https://www.westernjournal.com/results-johns-hopkins-study-conclusive-people-pushing-forced-covid-measures-kids-fighting-science/

Get your children vaccinated for COVID. That’s the official position of experts at Johns Hopkins University and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — at least for children 12 and over. But there are growing doubts as to whether all children need the COVID vaccines, including uncertainty from Johns Hopkins faculty member Marty Makary.

In an Op-Ed last week for The Wall Street Journal, Makary wrote that he and a research team reviewed about 48,000 cases of children under 18 reported to have COVID between April and August of last year.

“Our report found a mortality rate of zero among children without a pre-existing medical condition such as leukemia,” he added.

Got that? Among that sample, no individuals under 18 without pre-existing conditions died of COVID.

Not one.

Zero.

None.

Overall, the CDC has reported that 335 children with a COVID diagnosis have died.

“Yet the CDC, which has 21,000 employees, hasn’t researched each death to find out whether Covid caused it or if it involved a pre-existing medical condition,” wrote Makary, a professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Bloomberg School of Public Health and Carey Business School.

“I’ve written hundreds of peer-reviewed medical studies,” he said, “and I can think of no journal editor who would accept the claim that 335 deaths resulted from a virus without data to indicate if the virus was incidental or causal, and without an analysis of relevant risk factors such as obesity.”

Makary is not the only one who has raised questions about whether it’s really necessary to vaccinate children. Amid debate, the U.K., unlike the U.S. and Canada, has delayed vaccinating most children, according to the venerable British medical journal The BMJ.

On Friday, the journal published an article that indicated a government agency had recommended vaccinating 12- to 15-year-old children who had medical conditions (at-risk 16- and 17-year-olds already were eligible) or who were living with someone with immune system problems. In a point-counterpoint debate published in an edition of The BMJ earlier this month, three professors argued against vaccinating children, saying the risks outweigh the benefits and citing limited supplies of vaccines.

They referenced a U.S. CDC slide presentation that outlined the risk of myocarditis, mainly for young males, following vaccination. In boys aged 12 to 17, there were 56 to 69 cases of myocarditis per 1 million vaccine doses over a 120-day period, the CDC presentation said.

“… the risk of myocarditis, mainly for young males, following vaccination. In boys aged 12 to 17, there were 56 to 69 cases of myocarditis per 1 million vaccine doses over a 120-day period, the CDC presentation said. “

These instances may be rare. But they’re something that should go into parents’ decision-making process.

And that’s the key — parents ought to be the ones deciding whether or not their children will get vaccinated, not the government or any other parties that want to get involved. It’s up to the parents to evaluate the risks and benefits, and then decide what they want to do.

And the truth of the matter, as Makary’s research appears to show, is that for most children — not all, of course — COVID poses a much less serious risk.

It isn’t that COVID is something to take lightly (it’s not) or that children can’t get sick or die from it (they can, especially if they have pre-existing conditions). But politicians and others must be wary of pushing parents to just shut up and get their children vaccinated — the science simply isn’t on their side.

About the Commentator:

Mike Landry, Contributor,

Mike Landry, PhD, is a retired business professor. He has been a journalist, broadcaster and church pastor. He writes from Northwest Arkansas on current events and business history.

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Watch Biden’s Transgender Assistant Health Sec: I’m Here to Improve Americans’ Mental Well-Being


Reported by Andrew Thornebrooke June 4, 2021 at 2:20pm

Read more at https://www.westernjournal.com/watch-bidens-transgender-assistant-health-sec-improve-americans-mental/

An obese man who claims to be a woman was tasked by President Joe Biden to tend to the mental and physical health of all Americans.

This is not satire.

In a video from March 26 that went viral on Twitter this week when it was shared by talk show host Chris Stigall, U.S. Assistant Secretary for Health Rachel Levine, a man who identifies as a woman, expressed a commitment to promoting physical and mental health in America.

“Throughout my career, I have focused on the intersection between medical, mental and behavioral health,” Levine said. “And as your ASH, I will continue that focus and support policy initiatives to improve Americans’ physical and mental well-being.”

Just to be clear, despite the watering down of “gender identity disorder” into “gender dysphoria” to protect people’s feelings in recent years, transgenderism certainly represents a mental health crisis in anyone desperate enough to pursue it.

Also to be clear, obesity significantly increases the risk of literally all natural causes of death, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Plainly, no one on earth should be taking health advice from this man.

Of course, Levine’s appointment and subsequent health advice were never actually about the health of Americans, nor even were they about Levine’s qualifications. Rather, they were about the Biden administration’s steadfast dedication to proliferating transgender ideology by any means necessary, up to and including redefining the legal definition of sex to include whatever so-called gender identity a person calls themselves at any given moment.

Indeed, if there were any question as to this administration’s priorities, Biden’s Proclamation on Pride Month was longer than his Proclamation on Memorial Day, and the president has made no secret of his belief that the nation should expand and normalize trans experimentation on children.

So what is one to do with this administration’s sham of a statement on mental health and its relentless propagation of harmful falsehoods? What is one to do with the continuous droning on of Levine who, despite everything, seems to legitimately want to help Americans while also lacking the personal fortitude to help himself?

Levine clearly needs help.

While all Americans should wish him well in that endeavor, however, the nation cannot sit around and wait for the assistant secretary of health to return to mental and physical health. As such, Americans ought to deal with this nonsense the same way they’ve had to deal with all of the administration’s other failures: Ignore it, step up and handle crises locally.

Welcome to the Biden era.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Andrew Thornebrooke

Andrew Thornebrooke is a writer specializing in foreign policy and national security. He is the executive editor of The Rearguard and a MA candidate in military history at Norwich University.@AThornebrooke

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Op-ed: Former Obama WH Doc: Biden ‘Hiding’ from Public Is ‘Major Red Flag,’ Something Isn’t Right


Commentary by By Samantha Chang | Published March 22, 2021

Read more at https://www.westernjournal.com/former-obama-wh-doc-biden-hiding-public-major-red-flag-something-isnt-right/

Then-White House physician Dr. Ronny Jackson speaks to reporters during a briefing at the White House in Washington Jan. 16, 2018.Manuel Balce Ceneta / APThen-White House physician Dr. Ronny Jackson speaks to reporters during a briefing at the White House in Washington Jan. 16, 2018. (Manuel Balce Ceneta / AP)

Ronny Jackson, who was the White House physician to former Presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump, has joined a growing legion of Americans (and medical experts) who are gravely concerned about the physical and mental health of President Joe Biden.

Jackson — a retired Navy rear admiral who now represents Texas as a Republican congressman — sounded the alarm on Sunday when he said Biden’s lack of public appearances is a “MAJOR red flag” signaling that something is seriously wrong with the 78-year-old career politician. Biden has yet to hold a formal news conference as president.

“I served as White House physician under THREE Presidents,” Jackson tweeted. “I’ve seen what it takes physically AND mentally to do the job.’

“I can tell you right now that the way Biden is hiding from the public is a MAJOR red flag. Something’s not right!”

Jackson made the remarks two days after Biden tripped three times while walking up the staircase of Air Force One. Keep in mind that he was previously vice president for eight years, so he has walked up those same steps numerous times before. It’s not as if he’s unfamiliar with those stairs.

The White House comically blamed the wind for Biden’s blunder, but the sad imagery of a septuagenarian stumbling helplessly as cameras rolled ignited a worldwide feeding frenzy.

 

While the liberal American media tried to downplay Biden’s epic stumble, the British and other international press headlined it (as they should, since he’s supposed to be the “leader of the free world”).

 

Jackson is not the only physician who has expressed concern about Biden’s mental and physical fitness.

YOU CAN READ THE REST OF THIS ARTICLE BY GOING TO https://www.westernjournal.com/former-obama-wh-doc-biden-hiding-public-major-red-flag-something-isnt-right/

ABOUT THE COMMENTATOR:
Samantha Chang
Contributor, Commentary
Samantha Chang is a politics writer, lawyer and financial editor based in New York City.

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Family Who Lived in Camper Thanks Secret Santa for $50K Gift: ‘It Changed Our Lives’


Reported by AMY FURR | 8

Read more at https://www.breitbart.com/health/2020/12/21/family-who-lived-camper-thanks-secret-santa-50k-gift-changed-our-lives/

A family in Driggs, Idaho, is finally back on their feet thanks to a secret Santa’s generous gift that helped them through the past year. In November 2019, the anonymous donor surprised the Crow family with health insurance for one year and $50,000 to help them finish building their house, according to EastIdahoNews.com:

“Erica and Brad had been living in their camp trailer inside a shop for a few years. Brad had been working on building their home when he fell and fractured his leg bone,” the outlet said. Brad’s accident led to several more health challenges such as a staph infection, the loss of his leg, and a hip replacement.

Reporter Nate Eaton recently caught up with the Crow family as they sat inside their finished home.

“There were a lot of days that we thought that the trailer and the shop was gonna be where we were gonna stay for quite some time. Honestly, if we hadn’t gotten the Santa gift, the secret Santa gift, we probably would still be in the trailer,” Erica told him.

“It was a humongous help for us. We are incredibly grateful for it… I don’t even have words right now,” she continued.

Brad also expressed his gratitude for the gift that helped his family through the past year.

“We just really want to thank secret Santa and the people that were involved with this. It changed our lives,” he said.

The community also stepped in to assist, according to Erica, who said they believe there are other people more deserving than them.

“But it has been incredibly humbling to have people, not just in our community but from around the world that have shared their love and concern for us and wanted him to get better and our lives to be better and we are so very grateful for it,” she noted.

Following their interview, YouTube users were excited to learn that the Crow family finished their home.

“Great to see them all together. Stay strong!” one person said.

“This is the follow up I was really hoping for and asked a couple of times for. It really touched a chord with me last year,” another commented.

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Church Leaders Who Cancel Christmas Services Are Clinging To Government Lies, Not Christ


Reported By DECEMBER 2, 2020

Read more at https://thefederalist.com/2020/12/02/church-leaders-who-cancel-christmas-services-are-clinging-to-government-lies-not-christ/
Church Leaders Who Cancel Christmas Services Are Clinging To Government Lies, Not Christ

The Supreme Court’s ruling last Wednesday against discriminatory targeting of religious groups with COVID-19 restrictions marked a significant victory in the ongoing battle to preserve religious liberty. Since the outbreak of the pandemic, hostile stakeholders in public office have assaulted the first freedom through superciliously labeling religious services “nonessential.” Christians in much of the country now find themselves in the demeaning and intolerable position of being allowed to worship only in the manner and on terms dictated by politically motivated governors.

Respecting authorities’ claims about an unknown disease made sense early in the outbreak, but now after better scientific information shows many initial fears are false. Yet politicians refuse to come clean while ignoring their own rules forbidding us from fulfilling our Christian duties. So it is time for us once again to assert that church is the most essential activity, period. Instead of valiantly fighting in the vanguard, however, many religious leaders have quickly retreated.

It is one thing for a church leader to prayerfully consider the individual needs of his church, striving to maintain unity among members in disagreements, protecting the health of the vulnerable, and offering stability amid uncertainty. It is quite another for shepherds to forsake the assembling of their flocks and enable the propaganda that congregating freely to worship God is selfish and “could kill grandma.” This unbiblical stance also overlooks the hypocrites in public office and the media who don’t even play by their own silly rules and ignore the data, for much lesser purposes than the health of our souls.

Many such religious leaders are neglecting the soul-saving mission of the church. The notion that being a good Christian requires indefinite cessation of communal worship — and for Catholics, the suspension of the sacraments — to prevent the spread of illness is a falsehood that has confused the faithful and undermined religious freedom.

Supreme Court Upholds Religious Liberty

In the case brought by the Orthodox Jewish group Agudath Israel of America and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn, New York, against Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the Supreme Court held that “the restrictions at issue here, by effectively barring many from attending religious services, strike at the very heart of the First Amendment’s guarantee of religious liberty.” In a concurring opinion, Justice Neil Gorsuch posed a pertinent rhetorical question: “Who knew that public health would so perfectly align with secular convenience?”

Gorsuch held that “the only explanation for treating religious places differently seems to be a judgment that what happens there just isn’t as ‘essential’ as what happens in secular spaces.” He warned that “in too many places, for far too long, our first freedom has fallen on deaf ears.”

For several months now, elected officials and many church leaders around the country have flagrantly ignored religious liberty. States such as California, Oregon, and Washington have witnessed a new wave of post-election crackdowns on religious services. In San Diego County, churches are currently prohibited from holding indoor services. Meanwhile, a San Diego court just issued a temporary order exempting coronavirus restrictions from applying to a strip club, ruling that such entertainment constitutes “constitutionally protected speech.”

In Oregon, new restrictions limit faith-based gatherings to a maximum of 25 people regardless of church size but allow businesses to continue operating at a reduced percentage of their total capacity. Archbishop of Portland Alexander Sample rightly argued that allowing a measly 25 worshipers in a cathedral that can seat 1,000 isn’t data-driven and doesn’t make sense.

The Church Is Essential

I expressed concern back in May about politicians labeling religious services “nonessential” and allowing the state to determine on what terms churches can hold services. At that time, Washington bishops effectively thumbed their noses at President Trump for declaring that state governments should allow houses of worship to reopen.

The bishops instead hitched their wagon to Gov. Jay Inslee’s rogue horse. Hence six months down the road, Inslee again targeted Washington churches as part of his latest round of arbitrary fiats. Church capacity is reduced to 25 percent, and congregational and choral singing is prohibited.

Meanwhile, the very authorities who tut-tut and wag fingers clearly don’t adhere to or believe in the merits of their own nonsense rules. Sanctimonious public officeholders have lectured us about keeping business closed, taking unemployment on the chin, staying home, and wearing masks while they visit salons, attend private dinners, and jet off out of state for holidays with family. The duplicity of notorious mask shamers such as CNN’s Chris Cuomo and White House correspondents Kaitlan Collins and Jonathan Karl has similarly been on display.

The hypocrisy is not limited to the secular sphere. Pope Francis condemned peaceful lockdown protests despite the World Health Organization’s warning against using lockdowns as the primary means of controlling the virus. Francis believes that closing churches, businesses, and schools, and forcing people out of work are all “necessary for people’s protection.” He has even canceled public celebration of Christmas liturgies at the Vatican.

Yet Francis didn’t appear particularly worried about Wuhan virus transmission when, free from any semblance of social distancing and masks, he enjoyed a cozy chat about poverty and social justice with a group of handsomely paid NBA players and fellow pals of the Chinese Communist Party. Evidently, on protecting the freedom to assemble, to provide for one’s family, and even to freely worship, government-imposed restrictions are non-negotiable, but when it’s about racial and economic politics, the holy grail of neo-Marxists, lockdowns are a suggestion only.

Against this backdrop, Christians should be prepared for the usual suspects in public office and the press, facilitated by an array of religious leaders, to crack down on Christmas celebrations. We will no doubt hear more of the “we do this not out of fear but out of love” mantra. Given, however, that the survival rate is 94.6 percent for those 70 years and older and between 99.5-99.997 percent for those 69 and younger, rapid breakthroughs in therapeutics have been announced, three reportedly effective vaccines are on the way, and government authorities are flouting their own restrictions, the “love thy neighbor” lecture is becoming as tedious as it is false.

Christians Need Church to Obey God’s Commands

The Gospels tell us the greatest commandment is to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, and mind. We cannot fulfill the second greatest commandment to love our neighbor as ourselves if that love is not solidly founded in an encounter with God. This means gathering with the faithful in sung praise and thanksgiving, as we read in Psalms and was the custom from the earliest church, as well as explicitly commanded in scripture.

The Greek word for church, “ekklesia,” comes from the Old Testament and originally referred to the assembly of the people of Israel. When St. Paul first used the term, he intended it as the new community of believers in Christ. This “ekklesia” is not a human association borne of common interests and beliefs but a summoning by God himself.

For Catholics, the encounter with God is achieved even more profoundly through the sacrament of the Eucharist. Jesus is literally and wholly present — body and blood, soul and divinity — under the appearances of consecrated bread and wine. Whatever way you look at it, religious services are essential, and church leaders should say so.

Religious leaders must get their priorities straight. No doubt, pastors are genuinely concerned for the health of the most vulnerable in their communities and trying to accommodate the confusion and fears of their congregants. Some must feel their hands are tied by unsupportive leadership. Still others, I suspect, find themselves effectively cornered by congregants whose political indoctrination runs deeper than their catechesis.

Nevertheless, the role of preachers is to win souls for Christ, not to protect us or themselves from physical infirmity. St. Paul urges a return to God through Christ and cautions against domination by earthly pleasures and preoccupations. In other words, if, as St. Ambrose of Milan taught, we have a wound to heal, Christ is the doctor; if we are parched by fever, he is the spring; if we fear death, he is life; and if we are in darkness, he is light.

After a dismal year, and in sober anticipation of Joe Biden’s threatened “dark winter,” it is more important than ever for Christians to unite in praise of the Light that shines in the darkness and which the darkness has never put out. We should demand that our religious leaders mark the Nativity with fitting pomp and ceremony and refuse to support churches whose pastors spread or cower behind the lie that the celebration of Christmas is nonessential.

ABOUT TYHE AUTHOR:
Carina Benton is a native Australian living in Washington state. She is a practicing Catholic and has taught for many years in Catholic and Christian schools. She is a mother of two young children.
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Politicians Aren’t Canceling Their Celebrations And Gatherings, And Neither Am I


Reported by Dana Loesch NOVEMBER 20, 2020

Read more at https://thefederalist.com/2020/11/20/politicians-arent-canceling-their-celebrations-and-gatherings-and-neither-am-i/

Politicians Aren’t Canceling Their Celebrations And Gatherings, And Neither Am I

My parents and in-laws haven’t seen their grandkids in nearly a year. Because we live states apart, the most time we spend together is during the holidays and a week in the summer. Due to the lockdown this year, the grandparents have only been able to see our kids during video calls.

It could be worse; some dear friends of ours buried a parent during the lockdown with no guests or funeral, and the grandchildren had to stay away. Family bonds do more than just unite people with the same origin or name, however. Those bonds hold us up and together during times of struggle and grief.

These painful life events can shape our perspectives for the remainder of our time on Earth. I learned a lot about dealing with grief when I attended family funerals growing up. When my grandmother passed away years ago, my cousins and I stood solemnly together as we watched our aunts and uncles say their final graveside goodbyes.

When our uncles walked my grandpa to her casket, we witnessed this quiet, strong man cry for the first time in our lives. I would not have been able to watch it without the rest of my family there. He didn’t just cry; his sobs shook his thin, 6’3” frame and threw him off balance. He leaned on the casket to help support his weight, and we gave him a moment before swarming him for comfort.

The sight was a shock that swept us into a new reality: We, the grandkids, wouldn’t be “the grandkids” in our family’s hierarchy much longer. Each generation took one step up that imaginary staircase with the death of our grandparents. Our kids assumed the step below us where we once stood. The presence of family makes that meeting with mortality easier to process.

I had just given birth to my second child when my grandfather passed away, living long enough to learn that his second great-grandson was on this Earth, miles away from him, but healthy. I didn’t get to attend his funeral because it was too soon after childbirth, the day I brought my baby home.

That night, I rocked my son to sleep in the solitude and darkness of his nursery and cried until there was nothing left in my soul to expend. That heavy sort of grief is meant to be borne by more than one. It took a long while to get past that.

Lockdowns Have Caused Immense Harm

That’s the closest experience I have to compare when I read about grief during lockdowns. This is why my heart truly breaks over stories from others who were forced by lockdowns and restrictions to endure this with their loved ones.

The emotional dam of a non-political, grief-stricken friend burst forth on Facebook after she read about politicians defending protest gatherings while she and her sister had to bury their father alone, just themselves, on a cold, clear March day earlier this year. The pain seems endless, and the lockdowns have predictably caused immense unintended consequences:

  • Depression rates for every age demographic have tripled.
  • Domestic abuse has increased globally.
  • Child abuse cases have increased.
  • Foster kids are in jeopardy.
  • Sixty percent of small businesses that closed during the last lockdown will not reopen, and others barely hanging on are giving up.
  • Even though schools aren’t superspreaders and medical professionals have been telling districts to reopen, many haven’t. New York City just closed its schools again.
  • Remote learning isn’t working, and our kids are falling behind — badly.
  • A new nickname has developed for an entire generation of kids: Generation COVID. And no, the kids are not alright.
  • People are turning to drugs and alcohol to cope.
  • Fatal drug overdoses have skyrocketed.
  • Deaths from non-coronavirus health issues have climbed since the start of the last lockdown as people don’t seek medical care for treatable illnesses. The lockdown could kill more than the virus.

‘Experts’ Have Given Us Every Reason Not to Trust Them

This is all to control the spread of a virus that science can’t yet predict. So-called experts told us “15 days to flatten the curve,” but many months later, they say we’re “in an elongated wave.” They still have no idea about immunity. Another study came out showing masks don’t actually reduce coronavirus infection rates. Dr. Anthony Fauci told us in the beginning not to wear masks:

Later, Fauci admitted he lied when he told people masks weren’t essential. Politicians and “experts” shouldn’t be surprised when their actions like these make reasonable people lose faith in their leadership and unwilling to follow their rules.

Many of us comforted ourselves through the dark, lonely spring and desolate summer with visions of family gatherings over the holidays. Now we’re told to skip those too or just have a “virtual Thanksgiving.” If you can’t do that, limit guests, make everyone wear masks, stay away from each other, and have everyone bring their own food — unless your name rhymes with Schmavin Twosome, that is:

California Medical Association officials were among the guests seated next to Gov. Gavin Newsom at a top California political operative’s opulent birthday dinner at the French Laundry restaurant this month.

CEO Dustin Corcoran and top CMA lobbyist Janus Norman both joined the dinner at the French Laundry, an elite Napa fine dining restaurant, to celebrate the 50th birthday of lobbyist and longtime Newsom adviser Jason Kinney, a representative of the powerful interest group confirmed Wednesday morning.

The rest of us would get fined for doing this.

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker dodged a reporter’s question about his family’s Thanksgiving plans — they traveled to their second home in Florida — and it made the rounds on social media. Pritzker had to return to do damage control: “I was taken aback by yesterday’s question about my family’s holiday plans, in part because my wife and I were in the process of making the very hard decision that we may need to celebrate Thanksgiving apart from one another for the first time ever, and it was weighing heavily on my mind.”

He was “taken aback” that reporters, during a press conference about COVID-19 Thanksgiving plans, asked him if he was going to follow his own lockdown orders — especially knowing that Pritzker’s wife violated the last lockdown by fleeing to their multimillion-dollar equestrian estate in Florida?

We would be fined for this, but these Democratic governors are exempt from coronavirus and lockdown concerns, apparently. It’s not just governors, however. Don’t forget House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the shuttered salon.

Before her was Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and her lockdown salon trip. Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser locked down residents while she attended Biden rallies. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo refused to wear a mask and self-quarantine.

California lawmakers lived it up in Maui during lockdown on the excuse of a “conference” (We all have to Zoom, why can’t they?). New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio went to the gym while you were locked down at home. The Daily Caller compiled a list of hypocritical lawmakers violating lockdown, and you can find an additional great thread here.

Americans Are Sick of the Double Standard

We have all sacrificed, some more than others, and we are tired of the double standard. We are sick of bureaucrats leading us around, treating us like children instead of the employers whose tax dollars form their paychecks.

Americans are weary of speculation presented as science. We are tired of being told that our businesses are nonessential, that worker lives are nonessential, and that our kids and their wellbeing are nonessential. We are sick of hearing that any deviation from the mandates passed down to us by politicians who refuse to follow the rules means sentencing our neighbors to death.

I rejected that outright:

I wrote about this accusation in April, noting that the intent of our elitist overlords is murky. Who are they to decide which workers are essential? By the politicians’ own rhetoric, those “essential” workers are actually “expendable,” since they are most susceptible to the same virus the electeds use to scare the rest of us into our homes.

For those maligning business owners as murderous monsters because they simply want to pay their bills consider this — certain businesses were declared essential: Food delivery is essential but cancer treatment isn’t. So you’re fine with risking the lives of delivery drivers to avoid picking up your pizza yourself? Is it acceptable to risk the lives of restaurant staff because you don’t want to make your own food? Is it acceptable to risk the lives and health stability of cancer patients as well as the livelihood of medical staff being furloughed around the country to demonstrate a devotion to saving lives? If you want to discuss murkiness of intent, this is it. By declaring that some people are essential, haven’t you already decided that some lives are expendable?

This is an awful virus. Unlike a military battle, this is a foe that will never be vanquished. We can vaccinate against it and build up our immunities, but just as with chickenpox, polio, and other illnesses before this virus, there is no cure, only prevention and acclimation. Overreaction is a lesser enemy, and moderation is an ally. There is a difference between reasonable concern and “Chicken Little” hysteria.

The hysteria is exhausting. We are tired of being told that contracting the virus means instant death when it emphatically does not — it has a 99.98 percent survivability rate. We are tired of being told that because some can’t venture out, no one should. Nothing in life is perfectly safe, including freedom. But freedom is a lot safer than the statist systems so many leftists champion.

It’s Time to Declare Our Freedom

As a daughter who doesn’t have much of her family left, whose kids are growing up faster than she can even capture with her phone camera, I am not going to miss out on life. I am not going to let my parents age out of this world while lying to my own heart that it’s OK if I missed an entire year or more with them. I am not going to tell my children that it’s alright if they don’t see their family anymore because we have to hide in our homes.

More than anything else, I am sick of being told I don’t have the right of risk when risk is part of freedom. I will not be lectured by people who say that eating in a restaurant with health protocols is riskier than shutting down the largest economy in the world. I won’t be bullied by bureaucrats who say it’s risker to reopen schools than to force an entire generation into lockdown for nearly a year, stunting them in every way but loneliness. I will not be shamed by lawmakers who don’t follow their own rules. I won’t be preached at by pundits too purposefully obtuse to see nuance over their partisanship.

I am going to host my parents for Thanksgiving, and I hope to host my in-laws for Christmas. I will continue living as a free and responsible American with liberties for which my family has taken bullets and mine shards, until the day comes that our government wants to stage a modernized version of 1776 by trying to end that perfectly wonderful freedom.

As Teddy Roosevelt said, “For those who fight for it, life has a flavor the sheltered will never know.” Freedom is beautiful and scary. It’s up to each of us to maintain it.

Dana Loesch is a nationally syndicated talk radio host of “The Dana Show” with Radio America and a best-selling author.

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Human Rights Expert: China Is Practicing ‘Eugenics by Genocide’


Reported by THOMAS D. WILLIAMS, PH.D. | 

Read more at https://www.breitbart.com/asia/2020/11/19/human-rights-expert-china-is-practicing-eugenics-genocide/

In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, leads other Chinese leaders attending the fifth plenary session of the 19th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in Beijing, China on Oct. … Wang Ye/Xinhua via AP

China’s use of forced abortions and sterilizations to weed out undesirable elements in the population is nothing new, declares a leading human rights expert, but reflects policies that go back 100 years.

“The practice of eugenics has been part of the debate on population control since Margaret Sanger’s visit to China in 1922,” Reggie Littlejohn, a China expert and president of Women’s Rights Without Frontiers, told Breitbart News Thursday.

“The language of ‘improving the quality of the population’ is not new,” Ms. Littlejohn said in response to a Breitbart News story highlighting recent revelations that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is doubling down on its eugenic goal of breeding superior subjects.

The CCP has reportedly been carrying out a “systematic campaign” of forced abortions, sterilizations, and implantations of IUDs on Uyghurs and other minorities to lessen their numbers while simultaneously incentivizing procreation among the Han Chinese, the dominant ethnic group in China.

“I have long been concerned about the eugenic overtones of this language,” Littlejohn said, noting that the CCP has no scruples about dictating who is allowed to procreate and under what circumstances.

“The Chinese Communist Party puts couples through a premarital exam,” she added, “and some couples — whose children apparently were not deemed to ‘improve the quality of the population’ — have been required to agree to permanent contraception or sterilization in order to obtain a marriage license.”

Reports on forced abortions and the sterilization of Uyghur women on a massive scale are “deeply disturbing,” Littlejohn said, as are “reports that that the CCP is practicing infanticide on babies born without permission.”

“The CCP has placed an estimated one to three million Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in internment/concentration camps, where there are reports of genetic testing,” she stated, “and a tribunal has found that Uyghurs are among those whose organs are being forcibly harvested for transplant.”

“Does the CCP see this as another way ‘to improve the quality of the population’?” she asked. “If so, in my opinion, this constitutes eugenics by genocide.”

“Governments should press for an independent investigation of these claims, by an international team given full access to the Uyghur internment camps,” she said.

News of the CCP’s unapologetic embrace of eugenics in its latest 5-year plan coincided with efforts by major abortion providers Planned Parenthood and Marie Stopes International to distance themselves from their eugenicist founders, who similarly sought to rid society of “inferior” ethnicities.

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Medical Journal: Death of Man Who Fell Off Ladder ‘Ruled as Natural, Caused by COVID-19′


Reported by HANNAH BLEAU | 

Read more at https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/11/19/doctors-say-man-who-fell-off-ladder-killed-by-chinese-coronavirus/

ladder
Getty Images
Doctors have attributed a Croatian man’s death to the Wuhan coronavirus even though he died after falling off a ladder, according to the Journal of Forensic Pathology.

The 51-year-old man died in what appeared to be a workplace incident, falling off a 10-foot ladder while working on a home this year. The man suffered minor external injuries, as well as a subarachnoid hemorrhage, described as “bleeding within the subarachnoid space, which is the area between the brain and the tissues that cover the brain” — an often fatal condition. However, the autopsy also discovered “visceral congestion,” particularly in his lungs.”

Per the New York Post:

During the autopsy, doctors found that large swaths of the man’s lungs were blocked. The finding then led scientists to conclude that he suffered from Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) — a life-threatening condition that can be caused by COVID-19.

According to the journal, the man had been complaining about a respiratory-like illness in the days leading to the fatal incident, experiencing symptoms including a headache, fever, cough, fatigue, and shortness of breath.

“He had refused the suggestion to see a doctor and had kept working until the moment he died,” the journal wrote.

A test taken postmortem showed him testing positive for the Chinese coronavirus.

“Based on all findings, the death was ruled as natural, caused by COVID-19,” the journal wrote:

Informed by this case, we would like to send a message to healthcare providers working in autopsy suites and to coroners to be vigilant, even with suspected violent deaths, SARS-CoV-2 can be hidden as the natural cause of death. The full autopsy performed on the deceased contributes greatly to the limited data available on the pathological findings in COVID-19 cases.

The case furthers mounting concerns among critics, who fear data is not giving a clear picture due to the way deaths are reported, as well as the purported failure to place an emphasis on the prevalence of comorbidities.

This issue arose again in July after Florida’s Orange County Health Officer Dr. Raul Pino revealed that one of their reported coronavirus victims died in a motorcycle accident.

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Rush Limbaugh Gives Harrowing Health Update


Reported By Jack Davis | Published October 20, 2020 at 6:54am

Conservative radio icon Rush Limbaugh on Monday told his listeners “the days where I do not think I’m under a death sentence are over” and his fight with cancer is “terminal.”

In February, the legendary broadcaster revealed he had advanced lung cancer but vowed to stay on the radio as he battled the disease. Limbaugh said in May that his treatment was physically grueling but that he would not stop fighting. As recently as July, he said he was hoping the treatment would give him “extra innings.”

But on Monday, Limbaugh told his audience that the latest results show the cancer that had been stymied is growing once again, according to a transcript of his remarks posted on his website.

“From the moment you get the diagnosis, there’s a part of you every day, OK, that’s it. Life’s over,” he said. “You just don’t know when. But when you get that diagnosis, I mean, that’s … So, during the period of time after the diagnosis, you do what you can to prolong life, do what you can to prolong a happy life. You measure a happy life against whatever medication it takes.

“And at some point you can decide, you know, this medication may be working, but I hate the way I feel every day. I’m not there yet. But it is part and parcel of this.“It’s tough to realize that the days where I do not think I’m under a death sentence are over. Now, we all are, is the point. We all know that we’re going to die at some point, but when you have a terminal disease diagnosis that has a time frame to it, then that puts a different psychological and even physical awareness to it.”

He said that when he went to the doctor last week, “The scans did show some progression of cancer. Now, prior to that, the scans had shown that we had rendered the cancer dormant. That’s my phrase for it. We had stopped the growth. It had been reduced, and it had become manageable.”

Limbaugh said the results were in some ways inevitable “because it is cancer. It eventually outsmarts pretty much everything you throw at it. And this, of course, this is stage four lung cancer.”

Later he noted that “stage four is, as they say, terminal. So we have some recent progression. It’s not dramatic, but it is the wrong direction.”

The results mean that Limbaugh’s treatment is being adjusted “in hopes of keeping additional progression at bay for as long as possible.”

Many on Twitter saluted Limbaugh.

………………………………………….“I try to remain committed to the idea what’s supposed to happen, will happen when it’s meant to. I mentioned at the outset of this — the first day I told you — that I have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ,” he said. “It is of immense value, strength, confidence, and that’s why I’m able to remain fully committed to the idea that what is supposed to happen will happen when it’s meant to.

PLEASE READ THE REST OF THIS ARTICLE AT https://www.westernjournal.com/rush-limbaugh-gives-harrowing-health-update/

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Gavin Newsom’s Office Warns Diners To Wear Masks ‘In Between Bites’


Reported By Jack Davis | Published October 6, 2020 at 10:36am

URL of the originating web site: https://www.westernjournal.com/gavin-newsoms-office-warns-diners-wear-masks-bites/

One of the latest mask mania mandates from the office of Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom is proving a hard pill for many to swallow. Last week, Newsom’s office chided anyone eating in public to wear a mask in between bites.

“Going out to eat with members of your household this weekend?” Newsom’s office tweeted Friday. “Don’t forget to keep your mask on in between bites. Do your part to keep those around you healthy.”

The image that accompanied the text included the words: “Minimize the number of times you take your mask off.”

The tweet had critics aplenty.

“Did you get all that? Spot the contradiction?” Nick Kangadis wrote for the Media Research Center.

“In one sentence, Newsom’s office want[s] you to be masked ‘in between bites’ of your food should you go out to dinner with your family. Then in the graphic, just two sentences later, they tell people to ‘Minimize the number of times you take your mask off,’” he wrote.

“Now, I’m no mathematician, but wouldn’t you be taking off your mask a ton if you had to put it back on ‘in between bites?’

“Of course these edicts don’t make sense, but then again, it is California. Just saying.”

The concept was fodder for Twitter to chew on:

READ THE REST OF THE REPORT HERE https://www.westernjournal.com/gavin-newsoms-office-warns-diners-wear-masks-bites/

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Jack Davis
Contributor, News
Jack Davis is a freelance writer who joined The Western Journal in July 2015 and chronicled the campaign that saw President Donald Trump elected. Since then, he has written extensively for The Western Journal on the Trump administration as well as foreign policy and military issues.

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WATCH: Ohio Mother Tased, Arrested for Not Wearing Mask at Football Game


Reported by WARNER TODD HUSTON | 

URL of the originating web site: https://www.breitbart.com/sports/2020/09/24/watch-ohio-mother-tased-and-arrested-for-not-wearing-mask-at-football-game/

Taser / GUILLAUME SOUVANT/AFP via Getty Images

A woman attending a Logan High School football game in Logan, Ohio, was tased and arrested on Wednesday because she wasn’t wearing a mask. Alecia Kitts, whose son goes to school in Marietta, drove to Logan to watch her son play. But a Logan police officer soon spotted her sitting without a mask among three other people, according to TheOhioStar.com.

A video shows the officer immediately beginning an arrest.

The woman who recorded the video, Tiffany Kennedy, says that Kitts has asthma, and that is why she would not wear a mask. Kennedy also says that Kitts was never warned by the officer about not wearing a mask before being so abruptly arrested.

“There is no reason to tase someone and arrest them for not wearing a mask,” Kennedy said, according to the report.

Kennedy also noted that a female police officer who ran up to the scene was not wearing a mask and only put one on as she reached her fellow officer.

A child also suffered the effects of the taser, Kennedy said.

“Alecia’s mom said that when the officer tased her, the current went through the bleachers and zapped the kid sitting there too,” she said.

Kitts was reportedly charged with criminal trespass and released. The Logan Police Department told the Marietta Times that the incident is under investigation.

Logan Athletic Director Theresa Schultheiss added that the mask mandate is a state order, and notices were placed around the playing field.

“This rule has been in effect since we were told we could play,” Schultheiss said. “Everyone that came through ticketing tonight was reminded, we had regular announcements over the PA reminding you that mouths and noses needed to be covered and we had signs at the bathrooms.”

Follow Warner Todd Huston on Facebook at: facebook.com/Warner.Todd.Huston.

READ MORE AT https://www.breitbart.com/sports/2020/09/24/watch-ohio-mother-tased-and-arrested-for-not-wearing-mask-at-football-game/

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Leaked Emails Reveal Nashville Officials Hid Low COVID Numbers, Maintained Lockdown Anyway


Reported By Erin Erhardt | Published September 17, 2020 at 1:36pm

URL of the originating web site: https://www.westernjournal.com/leaked-emails-reveal-nashville-officials-hid-low-covid-numbers-maintained-lockdown-anyway/

In times of crisis, we often look to our political leaders for guidance. But our faith in those leaders erodes when they hide information from the public for political purposes.

That’s what appears to have happened in Nashville, where local leaders apparently hid low coronavirus numbers related to bars and restaurants in order to support continued lockdowns.

According to WZTV, contact tracing commissioned earlier this year revealed that nursing homes and construction sites were much more responsible for the coronavirus’ spread than bars and restaurants. In fact, the number of coronavirus cases traced back to bars and restaurants in Nashville was so low — just 22 cases as of June 30 — that the office of Democratic Mayor John Cooper and the Metro Health Department allegedly decided not to release the numbers to the public.

Now, however, emails have emerged between the mayor’s office and the health department in which officials appear to allude to hiding the numbers from the public.

“This isn’t going to be publicly released, right? Just info for Mayor’s Office?” Leslie Waller of the health department asked in one email, according to WZTV.

“Correct, not for public consumption,” responded one of the mayor’s senior advisers, Benjamin Eagles.

The exchange certainly suggests that officials didn’t want the public to know just how few coronavirus cases could be traced back to bars and restaurants. Presumably, this is because such officials wanted to keep the city locked down instead of allowing those businesses to reopen. (Bars and restaurants in the city, it’s worth noting, were not allowed to reopen until the middle of last month, WTVF reported.) That’s unnerving and duplicitous.

First, Americans should be trusted to make their own assessment of their coronavirus risk level based on actual data. Government officials shouldn’t hide that data for political purposes.

Second, for months now, the American public has been forced to make sacrifices in the name of slowing the spread and keeping coronavirus cases at a manageable level. Many people — including bar owners and restaurateurs — have lost their entire livelihoods due to the continued shutdowns. These people deserve to know the facts surrounding their sacrifices. It’s one thing to keep bars and restaurants closed. It’s another thing to do so despite knowing that very few coronavirus cases stem from such places.

About a month later, a reporter for the Tennessee Lookout asked the health department about a rumor that only about 80 cases could be traced back to the state capital’s restaurants and bars.

“The figure you gave of ‘more than 80’ does lead to a natural question: If there have been over 20,000 positive cases of COVID-19 in Davidson and only 80 or so are traced to restaurants and bars, doesn’t that mean restaurants and bars aren’t a very big problem?” Tennessee Lookout reporter Nate Rau asked.

In an internal email, according to WZTV, Brian Todd of the health department then asked five fellow health department officials: “Please advise how you recommend I respond.”

One official reportedly replied: “My two cents. We have certainly refused to give counts per bar because those numbers are low per site. We could still release the total though, and then a response to the over 80 could be because that number is increasing all the time and we don’t want to say a specific number.”

The health department and the mayor’s office refused to confirm to WZTV that the emails were real. But a Metro staff attorney has confirmed that they are, according to Nashville Metro Council Member Steve Glover.

“I was able to get verification from the Mayor’s Office and the Department of Health that these emails are real,” the attorney reportedly told Glover.

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Donald Trump: States Sending Unsolicited Ballots Should ‘Give It Up NOW’


Reported by CHARLIE SPIERING | 1

URL of the originating web site: https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/09/17/donald-trump-states-sending-unsolicited-ballots-should-give-now/

Julio Galligaris sorts through mail-in ballots that have been cast and received at the Miami-Dade Election Department headquarters on October 13, 2010 in Doral, Florida. As America starts to cast ballots for the mid-term elections through early voting and absentee ballots, the Miami-Dade County Elections Department is conducting an examination … Joe Raedle/Getty Images

President Donald Trump said on Thursday that states sending unsolicited mail-in ballots should end the process to prevent a delay in election results.

“The big Unsolicited Ballot States should give it up NOW, before it is too late, and ask people to go to the Polling Booths and, like always before, VOTE,” Trump wrote on Twitter. “Otherwise, MAYHEM!!!”

The president clarified, however, that solicited absentee ballots are fine.

California, D.C., Nevada, New Jersey, and Vermont have adopted a system of unsolicited ballots in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Utah, and Washington already had existing systems to send registered voters their ballots, without voters needing to request them. All of the states sending unsolicited ballots in 2020 went for failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in 2016. Only Colorado and Nevada remain battleground states, as Trump lost Nevada by two points and Colorado by five points in 2016.

But Trump warned that the November 3 election results might never be accurate, thanks to an increase of unsolicited ballots.

“Because of the new and unprecedented massive amount of unsolicited ballots which will be sent to ‘voters,’ or wherever, this year, the Nov 3rd Election result may NEVER BE ACCURATELY DETERMINED, which is what some want,” Trump wrote. “Another election disaster yesterday. Stop Ballot Madness!”

 

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Pennsylvania: Judge Rules Wolf, Levine’s Shutdown Orders Unconstitutional BREITBART NEWS | 14 Sep 2020


Posted by BREITBART NEWS | 

URL of the originating web site: https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/09/14/pennsylvania-judge-rules-wolf-levines-shutdown-orders-unconstitutional/

Governor Tom Wolf listening aa Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine speaks to reporters. Governor Tom Wolf and Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine provided an update on the coronavirus known as COVID-19 and outline ongoing efforts to mitigate the virus in Pennsylvania. The Department of Health anticipates that there …

PITTSBURGH (AP) — A federal judge on Monday struck down Gov. Tom Wolf’s pandemic restrictions that required people to stay at home, placed size limits on gatherings and ordered “non-life-sustaining” businesses to shut down, calling them unconstitutional.

U.S. District Judge William Stickman IV sided with plaintiffs that included hair salons, drive-in movie theaters, a farmer’s market vendor, a horse trainer and several Republican officeholders who sued as individuals. Stickman, an appointee of President Donald Trump, wrote in his ruling that the Wolf administration’s pandemic policies have been overreaching, arbitrary and violated citizens’ constitutional rights.

The governor’s efforts to slow the spread of the coronavirus “were undertaken with the good intention of addressing a public health emergency,” Stickman wrote. “But even in an emergency, the authority of government is not unfettered.”

Courts had consistently rejected challenges to Wolf’s power to order businesses to close during the pandemic, and many other governors, Republican and Democrat, undertook similar measures as the virus spread across the country.

Wolf has lifted many of the restrictions since the lawsuit was filed in May, allowing businesses to reopen and canceling a statewide stay-at-home order. But his administration has maintained capacity restrictions and limitations on alcohol sales at bars and restaurants. The state has also imposed a gathering limit of more than 25 people for events held indoors and more than 250 people for those held outside.

A spokesperson for Wolf said the administration was reviewing the decision.

Pennsylvania has reported that more than 145,000 people statewide have contracted the virus since the beginning of the pandemic. More than 7,800 people have died.

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San Francisco Gym Owners Irate After Learning City Government Gyms Are Open


Reported by DYLAN GWINN | 

URL of the originating web site: https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/09/07/san-francisco-gym-owners-irate-after-learning-city-government-gyms-are-open/

U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) adjusts her hair as she speaks during a Day of Action For the Children event at Mission Education Center Elementary School on September 02, 2020 in San Francisco, California. Nancy Pelosi is drawing criticism for patronizing a hair salon to get her … Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Crossfit for me, but not for thee.

That would seem to be a fitting slogan for the City of San Francisco after it was discovered that gyms in government buildings have been open for months, while privately owned gyms in the city remain closed due to the coronavirus.

“It’s shocking, it’s infuriating,” said Daniele Rabkin of Crossfit Golden Gate. “Even though they’re getting exposed, there are no repercussions, no ramifications? It’s shocking.”

One city gym, the Hall of Justice Gym, has been open since July 1st. The Hall of Justice, and the other gyms contained in government buildings, have been available to judges, paralegals, bailiffs, lawyers, and whole host of others in the legal fields. Those fortunate enough to be in a legal profession and have access to those facilities, have in most cases enjoyed uninterrupted access to state-of-the-art exercise facilities. The people paying for those gyms and the salaries of those using them? Not so much.

“It just demonstrates that there seems to be some kind of a double standard between what city employees are allowed to do and what the residents of San Francisco are allowed to do,” said Dave Karraker, owner of MX3 Fitness.

“What the city has unwillingly done is created this great case study that says that working out indoors is actually safe,” Karraker explained. “So, at this point, we’re just demanding that they allow us to have the same workout privileges for the citizens of San Francisco that the employees of San Francisco have.”

Put this report together with last week’s story about the unmasked Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) getting her hair done at a San Francisco salon that was closed to the general public, and one could get the impression that there’s a double-standard going on in the “City by the Bay.”

After Pelosi claimed that she had been “set up” by salon owner Erica Kious, and that Kious should apologize to her for apparently entrapping her in a hair appointment, Kious returned fire.

“For the Speaker of the House of the United States to go on TV and falsely claim she was set up, and publicly defame me and send out PR firms to spin more lies … is bad enough, but for Speaker Pelosi to frame herself as a victim under a total false narrative while small businesses and workers all over California, the state she represents in Congress, suffer and struggle just to survive is beyond shameful.

“I don’t owe anyone an apology; Mrs. Pelosi owes the entire country an apology.”

Pelosi has not apologized for the incident.

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California Legislature Passes Bill Reducing Penalties for Oral, Anal Sex with Willing Children


Reported by DR. SUSAN BERRY | 

URL of the originating web site: https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/09/03/california-legislature-passes-bill-reduce-penalties-oral-anal-sex-willing-children/

San Francisco District 8 Supervisor Scott Weiner (R) looks on as celebrations ensue in the Castro neighborhood of San Francisco, California, June 26, 2012, after the US Supreme Court struck down The Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), and declared that same-sex couples who are legally married deserve equal rights to …Josh Edelson/AFP via Getty Images

California lawmakers passed a bill Monday that would reduce penalties for adults who have oral or anal sex with a willing minor child if the sex offender is within ten years of the age of the victim.

The bill now heads to the desk of Gov. Gavin Newsom (D).

 

According to SB 145, the legislation “would exempt from mandatory registration” as a sex offender “a person convicted of certain offenses involving minors if the person is not more than 10 years older than the minor and if that offense is the only one requiring the person to register.”

The measure would allow a judge to decide if an adult who engages in oral or anal sex with a child must register as a sex offender if that person is within ten years of the age of the victim.

 

In January 2019, the San Francisco Examiner reported on the introduction of the bill by State Sen. Scott Wiener (D), who claimed the current law, which states oral and anal sex between an adult within ten years of the age of a willing minor requires the adult to be registered as a sex offender, discriminates against LGBT individuals.

The bill would put an end to “blatant discrimination against young LGBT people engaged in consensual activity,” Wiener said:

This bill is about treating everyone equally under the law. Discrimination against LGBT people is simply not the California way. These laws were put in place during a more conservative and anti-LGBT time in California’s history. They have ruined people’s lives and made it harder for them to get jobs, secure housing, and live productive lives. It is time we update these laws and treat everyone equally.

Currently in California, judges may decide whether adults who have “penile-vaginal intercourse” with minors close to their age must register as a sex offender. Wiener said the current law targets LGBT individuals because they do not engage in penile-vaginal intercourse.

“This is such horrific homophobia,” Wiener said, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. “It’s irrational, and it ruins people’s lives.”

The Chronicle‘s report stated that, in 1975, California decriminalized oral and anal sex between consenting adults, but adults who engaged in these practices with minors were treated as sex offenders.

In a tweet, Wiener urged his followers to read an Associated Press “fact check” story about the controversial bill that minimizes its impact with the headline, “Bill Would Not Legalize Pedophilia in California.”

“The bill is the subject of a massive misinformation campaign by MAGA/QAnon,”Wiener posted.

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Fleet of Moving Trucks Seen in Manhattan’s Upper West Side: ‘Mass Evacuation in Full Effect’


Reported by AMY FURR | 

URL of the originating web site: https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/08/30/fleet-moving-trucks-seen-manhattans-upper-west-side-mass-evacuation-full-effect/

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – MAY 25: A view of a moving truck during the coronavirus pandemic on May 25, 2020 in the Queens borough of New York City. Government guidelines encourage wearing a mask in public with strong social distancing in effect as all 50 states in the USA …Cindy Ord/Getty Images

 

A string of moving trucks was spotted in Manhattan’s Upper West Side on Saturday, according to Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa.

“The mass evacuation of Upper West Siders from NYC is in full effect,” he told the New York Post.

Sliwa blamed the city’s decision to house hundreds of homeless people in the neighborhood’s hotels for the exodus.

“The moment I walked out on my block, near Central Park West, there was a moving truck. I asked where you going, and they said, ‘Virginia.’ They told me, ‘Curtis, first the pandemic hit us and now the quality of life is so bad,’” he recalled.

Sliwa spoke to others moving to places such as New Hampshire and Tennessee, and one young family told him they were headed to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

“They said in the last month, there have been so many disturbed people in the streets, aggressively panhandling, defecating, urinating — they leave the hotels and have no bathrooms to use,” he explained.

Following complaints from residents, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) promised August 17 to start removing homeless people from the city’s hotels and get them back into shelter facilities.

However, he did not give a timeline as to when that process would begin, according to Breitbart News.

Safety was more a motivating factor for people leaving U.S. cities than the coronavirus pandemic, global investor Barry Sternlicht said Tuesday during an interview on CNBC’s Squawk Box.

“There’s hundreds of thousands of people looking for suburban homes, and I would say it’s not as driven by the Covid situation as it is safety and law and order, and that is now pervasive across the big cities of the United States, sadly,” he stated.

Six people were shot and two killed Tuesday into Wednesday across New York City, Breitbart News reported.

“The fatal and non-fatal shootings Tuesday-Wednesday follow a Monday on which seven shootings left 11 victims. And they follow a weekend which witnessed over 40 shot, five fatally, in de Blasio’s NYC,” the report said.

Sliwa explained Saturday that the people who lived in the area were those who elected de Blasio as mayor.

“It’s a progressive, liberal neighborhood. And now there’s a visceral hate here for him — the feeling that he has virtually singlehandedly destroyed this city,” he concluded.

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Pressley Calls for ‘Unrest in the Streets’ — Republicans ‘Turning a Deaf Ear’ to Americans’ Needs


Reported by PAM KEY | 

URL of the originating web site: https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2020/08/16/pressley-calls-for-unrest-in-the-streets-republicans-turning-a-deaf-ear-to-americans-needs/

 

Saturday on MSNBC, Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) called for “unrest in the streets for as long as there’s unrest in our lives.”

Pressley said, “Donald Trump knows that his failings are on the ballot, that we have lost hundreds of thousands of American lives that were preventable and that’s just the most egregious of his criminal negligence and sluggish response and science denies and his failures of leadership. He knows those failures are on the ballot, that the occupant of the White House is on the way to being a temporary one. As Dan Rather reminds us, cheaters are going to cheat. So the only way that he thinks he can be even remotely successful is to suppress and to undermine our democracy, beginning with the United States Postal Service, which is a war on them and the livelihood of those essential workers and their families and those who rely upon the critical services that the postal service provides. We have to continue to hold this administration accountable. At every turn, they have sought to obstruct, stonewall, and evade justice and accountability. I do think that DeJoy should resign and be subpoenaed to come before the Oversight Committee.”

She continued, “I’m looking to the public. You know, this is as much about public outcry, and organizing, and mobilizing, and applying pressure so that this GOP-led Senate and these governors that continue to carry water for this administration, putting the American people in harm’s way, turning a deaf ear to the needs of our families and our communities, hold them accountable. Make the phone calls, send the emails, show up.”

She added, “There needs to be unrest in the streets for as long as there’s unrest in our lives, and unfortunately, there’s plenty to go around.”

Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN

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Exclusive — Trump Accomplishments List: President Provides Six-Page Document Detailing Successes of Administration


Reported by MATTHEW BOYLE | Washington, DC

URL of the originating web site: https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/08/13/exclusive-trump-accomplishments-list-president-provides-six-page-document-detailing-successes-of-administration/

In this April 21, 2017, file photo, President Donald Trump poses for a portrait in the Oval Office in Washington after an interview with The Associated Press. Andrew Harnik /

President Donald Trump provided Breitbart News during an exclusive Oval Office interview with a six-page document detailing several of his administration’s accomplishments. The document, which is up to date as of early August and provided by the president to Breitbart News during his Oval Office interview on Monday, goes through what the president said was “page after page” of accomplishments.

“This is for you,” President Trump told Breitbart News as he handed the six-page document across the Resolute Desk. “I just had this done. These are the accomplishments. It’s page after page of stuff look—nobody’s done.”

The document contains just one subjective shot at his opponents in the establishment media, echoing the president’s claim that he has boosted television ratings and subscription sales and website traffic for the media. “Saved the NY Times, saved the Washington Post, and saved Cable TV,” reads the first item at the top of the first page.

In that vein, during his interview with Breitbart News, the president took some shots at establishment media outlets like CNN and MSNBC, which he called MSDNC.

“I think CNN is election interference because, you know, they are just an organ pipeline for the DNC. Look at what they do. Same with MSDNC,” Trump said. “Look, MSDNC is an absolute vehicle to get the word out. They should actually pay campaign contributions on what they’re doing. This is about a campaign contribution. I’ve never seen anything like it. MSDNC, CNN, the networks, everything—and yet, here we are. Look. Do you notice, it’s oval? It’s not round. But when you think about it, it’s hard to believe because the press is corrupt a hundred percent. If you look at it, the press is corrupt. Much of it, not all of it, but I would say most of it.”

Trump said that even Fox News has slipped from its former glory.

“Even Fox is not the same. Let’s not kid ourselves,” Trump said. “Fox is a big difference from what it was.”

Then, he made a comment in line with the document, noting that he believes the establishment media will struggle when the day comes he is no longer president, because whoever replaces him—whether it be Democrat Joe Biden next year, or somebody four years from now—will be boring.

“Someday when I’m not here, they’re all gone,” Trump said. “Because nobody is going to write. They’re not going to write about sleepy Joe Biden.”

While the document does have that one gratuitous shot at the media on the top of the first page, the content on the rest of the six pages of material lists several real demonstrable and actual accomplishments of the Trump administration—including during the coronavirus pandemic. This six-page document that the president handed to Breitbart News serves as perhaps the most substantive compilation the president and his team have put together detailing what they have done to help the American people through the worst of the pandemic, as well as several other successes the president has had throughout his administration.

Trump Accomplishments by Breitbart News on Scribd

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The first major bullet point on the first page is titled: “The Great American Comeback is already underway.” It cites how the Trump administration added 1.8 million jobs in July, “exceeding expectations for the third straight month.” It also notes that Trump oversaw the addition of nine million jobs since May, “surpassing market expectations by a total of 12 million new jobs.”

“Over the last three months, we added over four million leisure and hospitality jobs; 1.47 million retail jobs; 1.17 million education and healthcare jobs; 743,000 service jobs; 623,000 manufacturing jobs; and 639,000 construction jobs,” the document continues.

It notes that half of the new jobs created are full-time, and that wages have increased by 4.8 percent year-over-year. The document cites the rapidly dropping unemployment percentage during the pandemic, now back down as of July to 10.2 percent, and noted that African American and Hispanic job creation has boomed during the past three months, rising by one million and 2.3 million respectively in those communities. Overall, job gains since April, the document from the president says, have recovered 42 percent of jobs lost to the pandemic already with 80 percent of small businesses reopened and retail sales spiking in May and June with a record-setting 18.2 percent increase in May and 7.5 percent increase in June.

The document cites several other economic successes of the Trump administration during the pandemic and then shifts into the next section, which details efforts the president made during the pandemic to provide economic relief to get the country through the worst of times. Walking through the over $3 trillion in relief that the president provided to American workers and businesses, the document says the Trump administration saved “many tens of millions of jobs” through signing the $2 trillion CARES Act, which sent direct cash payments to 80 million American workers, and approved $670 billion for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), which has processed more than five million loans to small businesses and, according to the document, “saved 50 million American jobs.” The document also cites Trump’s recent executive actions to provide a payroll tax holiday through the end of the year, an extra $400 per week in unemployment benefits to those who need it, to help stop evictions, and to defer student loan payments.

Then it shifts into public health actions the president has taken to “vanquish COVID-19,” which the document says is “the greatest national mobilization since WWII.” It cites the Trump administration’s travel restrictions on China, Europe, and Iran, as well as the administration developing the “most advanced testing system on earth” that has already conducted 65 million coronavirus tests—and notes that despite the United States being just five percent of the world’s population, this country, thanks to the Trump administration, has conducted 25 percent of the world’s coronavirus tests so far. The document cites “Operation Warp Speed,” which has moved three vaccine candidates into Phase Three trials already–a “record time” for vaccine production–and the recently announced $1 billion deal with Johnson & Johnson to “manufacture and distribute 100 million doses” of vaccine when approved.

The document notes that the Trump administration has “reduced mortality by 85% since April through the use of therapies such as Remdesivir, dexamethasone, and antibody treatments.” It notes that the Trump administration has “secured over 4.1 million doses of Remdesivir, enough to treat over 650,000 patients,” and has “treated 86,000 Americans with convalescent plasma” which can “reduce mortality by 50%.” It notes too that more than 230 more clinical trials are underway for more potential emerging treatments.

As for personal protective equipment, the document the president gave to Breitbart News noted that the administration has coordinated with private sector partners to deliver more than 196 million N95 respirator masks, 815 million surgical masks, 20 billion gloves, 34 million face shields, and 354 million gowns. The document says the administration has “replenished the long-neglected National Stockpile by tripling the number of N95 masks on hand to over 45 million,” tripled the number of gowns available to 15 million, and quadrupled the number of ventilators to 75,000. It also says the administration, using the Defense Production Act, “awarded contracts for 200,000 ventilators” to be produced, and that no American who has needed a ventilator to fight the coronavirus has been denied one anywhere in the country.

The document also cites various actions the president has taken on prescription drug prices, as well as on law and order. Specifically on that front, it notes that since the president launched Operation LeGend to send federal officers to a number of U.S. cities including Chicago, Albuquerque, Cleveland, Detroit, Milwaukee, Memphis, Kansas City, and St. Louis, the government has already made 156 arrests, and cites the president’s successes in Portland, Oregon.

The document continues by citing the president’s successes on trade, rebuilding the U.S. military, tax cuts, regulation rollbacks, energy production, confirmation of federal judges, immigration and border security, caring for veterans, healthcare, battling the opioid crisis, fighting human trafficking, and other fronts.

The president also provided Breitbart News with, in addition the six-page document, a notecard on official White House card stock detailing the president’s successes when it comes to appointing and then confirming with the GOP-controlled U.S. Senate federal and appellate court judges and Justices to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Trump Judges by Breitbart News on Scribd

That document noted that Trump has so far gotten two U.S. Supreme Court justices confirmed in his first term, as well as 53 appellate court judges and 143 U.S. district court and trade court judges. In total, that’s 232 judges in his first term. By comparison, former President Barack Obama got just 200 total judges confirmed in his first term—and Trump says he will do far more than the 232 he’s at now.

“We’re at 232 judges. We’ll be at 300 judges by the end of the year,” Trump told Breitbart News during the Oval Office interview. “That’s amazing isn’t it?”

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Authors of Largest Gender ‘Transition’ Study Forced To Admit the Uncomfortable Truth


Reported By Jack Davis | Published August 5, 2020 at 4:48pm

A 2019 study that painted a rosy picture of the mental health benefits for individuals who undergo gender reassignment surgery was wrong, its authors have said in a published correction. The correction, published by the American Journal of Psychiatry, concluded that after reviewing how the original study’s numbers were crunched, “the conclusion that ‘the longitudinal association between gender-affirming surgery and lower use of mental health treatment lends support to the decision to provide gender-affirming surgeries to transgender individuals who seek them’ is too strong.”

In an Op-Ed published by the Heritage Foundation, Ryan T. Anderson wrote that the study’s authors now admit that “the results demonstrated no advantage of surgery in relation to subsequent mood or anxiety disorder-related health care.”

Most of the study’s information is behind a paywall.

Anderson also noted that life most certainly did not improve for those who received the treatment in at least one respect, quoting the study’s authors as now claiming that “individuals diagnosed with gender incongruence who had received gender-affirming surgery were more likely to be treated for anxiety disorders compared with individuals diagnosed with gender incongruence who had not received gender-affirming surgery.”

The correction is significant because when the study came out, it was ballyhooed to the skies.

“Sex-change operations yield long-term mental health benefits for transgender people,” Reuters headlined its report.

The wire service also included a comment from Dr. Joshua Safer, executive director at Mount Sinai Center for Transgender Medicine and Surgery in New York City, who had written, “If anything, the study likely under-reports mental health benefits of medical and surgical care for transgender individuals.”

Others had been less kind, and the authors eventually went back to re-evaluate their work and publish the correction.

“Human error is a possibility here,” Anderson told CBN. “But there’s also the possibility that there was a preferred outcome for the study. So that they wanted the study to say a certain thing.

“Obviously, we don’t know in this particular instance whether this was just an honest mistake or if this was motivated research, motivated reasoning to lead to a certain conclusion.”

The study’s fawning reception and the lack of major establishment media reporting on the correction “does show that the cultural moment in which we’re living suggests that there’s only one allowed conclusion to this question,” Anderson said.

“And the only allowed conclusion is that transition is the best solution. The biggest data set now shows and that’s what this study uses, the biggest data set shows that there’s no benefits, psychological benefits to patients of hormonal and surgical transition,” he added.

In his Op-Ed, Anderson cited Mark Regnerus, a professor of sociology at the University of Texas at Austin, who raised questions about the numbers and was able to show that what appeared at first glance to be broad-based conclusions were in fact based on the experiences of three individuals.

The authors of the study wrote that they had analyzed health records of about 9.7 million Swedes (the largest dataset in such a study) and found 2,679 diagnosed with “gender incongruence” between 2005 and 2015. Of those, about 1,000 received gender reassignment surgery.

The initial study had claimed that for people who had received treatment, odds of being treated for mood and anxiety disorders dropped by 8 percent every year after the surgery.

With the study debunked, Anderson concluded that “gender dysphoria is a serious condition. People who experience a gender identity conflict should be treated with respect and compassion. And they deserve to know the truth.”

“Now the world’s largest relevant dataset reveals hormones and surgeries don’t bring wholeness and happiness. We need to find better, more humane, and effective responses to those who experience dysphoria.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Jack Davis
Contributor, News
Jack Davis is a freelance writer who joined The Western Journal in July 2015 and chronicled the campaign that saw President Donald Trump elected. Since then, he has written extensively for The Western Journal on the Trump administration as well as foreign policy and military issues.

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California Threatens John MacArthur’s Church with Hefty Fines for Defying Lockdown


Reported by PENNY STARR | 

URL of the originating web site: https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/08/05/california-church-threatened-with-hefty-fines-for-opening-doors-amid-lockdown/

Pastor John MacArthur speaks at the Shepherds’ Conference in California, March 6, 2020. | Facebook/Shepherds’ Conference

Pastor John MacArthur and Grace Community Church in a Los Angeles suburb have been served a letter from the city threatening to impose a $1,000 daily fine if the church does not comply with Gov. Gavin Newsom’s order for some churches in the state to be shuttered because of the coronavirus.

“The state has absolutely no power to impose the restrictions it is demanding,” Jenna Ellis, one of the attorneys representing the church, said in a report on The Federalist website. “This is not about health and safety, it is about targeting churches.”

In mid-July Newsom ordered churches in 30 counties, including Los Angeles County, to stop holding indoor services, but MacAuthor refused to comply, as Breitbart News reported, saying that Jesus Christ, not the state government, is the head of the church:

When any government official issues orders regulating worship (such as bans on singing, caps on attendance, or prohibitions against gatherings and services), he steps outside the legitimate bounds of his God-ordained authority as a civic official and arrogates to himself authority that God expressly grants only to the Lord Jesus Christ as sovereign over His Kingdom, which is the church. His rule is mediated to local churches through those pastors and elders who teach His Word (Matthew 16:18–19; 2 Timothy 3:16–4:2).

Therefore, in response to the recent state order requiring churches in California to limit or suspend all meetings indefinitely, we, the pastors and elders of Grace Community Church, respectfully inform our civic leaders that they have exceeded their legitimate jurisdiction, and faithfulness to Christ prohibits us from observing the restrictions they want to impose on our corporate worship services.

“Now, the city of Los Angeles is punishing the church for its decision to continue gathering. In addition to fines and threats of arrest, Mayor Eric Garcetti has shown himself willing to use other tactics to keep residents from breaking shutdown orders,” The Federalist reported. “Back in April, he warned that he’d given the Department of Water and Power permission to shut off utilities for nonessential businesses that were operating in defiance of restrictions.”

The Federalist said that in addition to Ellis, who also is a private legal adviser to the Trump 2020 campaign, Charles LiMandri of the Thomas More Society is also providing legal representation for Grace Community Church.

“It is unconstitutional for Governor Newsom and the State of California to discriminate against churches by treating them less favorably than other organizations and activities that are not protected by the First Amendment,” LiMandri said.

Follow Penny Starr on Twitter

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I Looked Up What Happened When Sweden Refused To Shut Down – They Were Right, We Were Wrong


Reported By Josh Manning | Published August 1, 2020 at 3:39pm

Sweden did it.

The Nordic country defeated COVID-19 without seeming to break a sweat — fever-induced or otherwise. They effectively showed that Fauci & Co. were completely wrong about a shutdown being necessary to save civilization as we know it.

While that accomplishment should be lauded and their efforts duplicated around the world, the media has instead chosen to blast the Nordic state and paint a dismal picture that simply doesn’t exist. A few examples (among many, many others) are below:

CBS News declared: “Sweden becomes an example of how not to handle COVID-19.”

Similarly, the University of Virginia Health System issued a news release titled: “Lack of Lockdown Increased COVID-19 Deaths in Sweden.”

Taking a stab at prognostication, Newsweek said: “Sweden COVID-19 Deaths Linked to Failure to Lockdown as Country Prepares for Second Wave.”

Always eager to bravely embrace the status quo, The New York Times ran a piece headlined: “Sweden Tries Out a New Status: Pariah State.”

Finally, Business Insider reported: “Sweden’s coronavirus death toll is now approaching zero, but experts are warning others not to hail it as a success.”

It’s all awfully prickly from a leftist media that used to adore Sweden’s welfare state. The reason for the barbed headlines is simple — Sweden dealt with COVID-19 in its own way.

The country didn’t truckle to the tyranny of over-educated, under-experienced experts. It didn’t implement authoritarian policies designed as much to break spirits as to break the pandemic. And it didn’t turn its voters into quasi-prisoners. In other words, Sweden responded more or less the way the rest of the developed world has responded to contagious diseases until 2020, which just happens to also be President Donald Trump’s re-election year.

What were Sweden’s results?

Well, first let’s consider American results brought to us courtesy of National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci, the establishment media, government officials around the country and legions of panic-prone and morally superior “Karens.” All around the country, the U.S. tried just about every imaginable combination of mask, lockdown, quarantine, curfew and closures orders — up to and including literally refusing entry across some state lines to certain fellow Americans.

The results were, well, not what anyone wanted. As of Saturday, the U.S. coronavirus death rate was 3.35 new deaths per million per day (based on a seven-day rolling average), which ranks as the 11th worst rating on the planet, according to Our World in Data.

And remember, thanks in large part to the Andrew Cuomo nursing home/death camp model of virus containment, New York state accounts for more than a fifth of all U.S. COVID-19 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins data. So we’re probably getting dragged down a little in the ratings by the disproportionate number of deaths in that state.

What else has America’s scattershot, but mostly heavy-handed, response yielded? If you read The Wall Street Journal, you will learn it led to anywhere between 30 million and 40 million lost jobs. (Some of those workers have no doubt been rehired as parts of the economy reopen, but millions more haven’t. And economists don’t really know how many of those job losses are permanent.)

So we destroyed constitutional rights, shed a few dozen million jobs and watched tens of thousands of people die. Oh, and we turned Americans against each other, all the way from the state to family levels.

But at least gross domestic product didn’t take it too hard, right? Not exactly. Commerce Department numbers released Thursday revealed that the U.S. economy shrank by a record 32.9 percent last quarter in what Bloomberg called the “sharpest downturn since at least the 1940s.”

So what about those rebellious Swedes? The ones who refused to play ball with all-knowing scientists and a ridiculously tunnel-visioned medical establishment?

While much of the rest of the developed world drowned themselves in hand sanitizer, locked ankle monitors onto their citizens and bought super cute masks on Etsy, the stalwart Swedes pressed on. They lived their lives. They didn’t mandate masks. They didn’t turn into NKVD-aspiring Karens, eager to publicly shame or quietly narc on neighbors, friends and family who dared bare an uncovered nostril.

Sweden defied the (dare we say) scientific consensus and has performed exceedingly well compared to the U.S. As of Saturday, Sweden had registered 0.65 deaths per million per day, based on a seven-day rolling average. Trading Economics projects a second-quarter GDP change of -4.2 percent (and a third-quarter growth of 2.4 percent). Depending on your preferred method of calculation, we could casually say that’s 7.8 times better than what the U.S. saw last quarter.

As of June 18, Statista forecast a 2.6 percent drop in Sweden’s employment rate for 2020. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, meanwhile, reported unemployment in the U.S. shot up 11.2 percentage points from 3.5 percent in February to 14.7 percent in April, before dropping a bit to 13.3 percent in May and 11.7 percent in June as parts of the economy reopened.

Now we’re not going to be like the dogmatic pro-mask Stasi here. There are lots of factors that impact the difference between U.S. and Swedish outcomes. We can’t say with 100 percent certainty that Sweden’s refusal to lock down saved their economy or is responsible for the miraculously low death rate. But it would also be foolish to say that the decision didn’t play some role in the different outcome.

We can all learn two significant lessons from how COVID-19 responses have played out in the U.S. versus Sweden.

First, it is clear that the expert class in America whom the left appeals to at every turn (aren’t you sick of hearing “scientists say” or “experts find”?) is worth substantially less than we pay them.

We’ve spent literally trillions of dollars as a result of this virus and have only managed to buy our own personal hell.

Second, Sweden succeeded using an approach that left people free. The response they got from the U.S. media complex, however, wasn’t celebration and an urge toward duplication. It was derision and aspersion.

That betrays what lays at the heart of everything COVID-19-related.

In America, COVID-19 has never been first and foremost a virus to fight. It has instead been a tool that the left, anti-Trumpers and the establishment could use to mercilessly kick Americans in our collective groin. With COVID-19, the left finally found a chink in Trump’s armor. The left knew exploiting it was vital, and they knew that Americans would have to suffer if they wanted to succeed.

As America continues to languish economically even as deaths drop, remember to thank the left for that. And when you walk into that voting booth on Tuesday, Nov. 3, remember to pay the left back for the hell they’ve just put us through — pay them back by voting for Donald J. Trump.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Josh Manning

Editor-at-Large, The Western Journal
Josh Manning is deputy managing editor, assignment, at The Western Journal. He holds a masters in public policy from Harvard University and has a background in higher education.

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Facebook, Google/YouTube, Twitter Censor Viral Video of Doctors’ Capitol Hill Coronavirus Press Conference


Reported by ALLUM BOKHARI |

Facebook has removed a video posted by Breitbart News earlier today, which was the top-performing Facebook post in the world Monday afternoon, of a press conference in D.C. held by the group America’s Frontline Doctors and organized and sponsored by the Tea Party Patriots. The press conference featured Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) and frontline doctors sharing their views and opinions on coronavirus and the medical response to the pandemic. YouTube (which is owned by Google) and Twitter subsequently removed footage of the press conference as well.

video source: Matt PerdieThe video accumulated over 17 million views during the eight hours it was hosted on Facebook, with over 185,000 concurrent viewers.

The livestream had accumulated over 17 million views by the time of its censorship by Facebook. 

In terms of viral velocity, the post was beating content from many other prominent accounts on Facebook today, including Hillary Clinton, Rev. Franklin Graham, and Kim Kardashian.

Over 185,000 viewers were concurrently watching the stream when it aired live Monday afternoon.

The event, hosted by the organization America’s Frontline Doctors, a group founded by Dr. Simone Gold, a board-certified physician and attorney, and made up of medical doctors, came together to address what the group calls a “massive disinformation campaign” about the coronavirus. Norman also spoke at the event.

“If Americans continue to let so-called experts and media personalities make their decisions, the great American experiment of a Constitutional Republic with Representative Democracy, will cease,” reads the event’s information page.

The event was organized and sponsored by the Tea Party Patriots.

“We’ve removed this video for sharing false information about cures and treatments for COVID-19,” a Facebook company spokesman, Andy Stone, told Breitbart News. The company did not specify what portion of the video it ruled to be “false information,” who it consulted to make that ruling, and on what basis it was made.

Stone replied to New York Times tech columnist Kevin Roose on Twitter regarding the video:

Stone then added that the platform would direct users who had interacted with the post to information on “myths debunked by the WHO.”

Facebook’s decision to censor the livestream was quickly followed by YouTube, the Google-owned video-sharing platform. The video had over 80,000 views on YouTube prior to its removal.

Following Facebook and YouTube’s removal of the video, Twitter followed suit, removing Breitbart News’s Periscope livestream of the press conference. Jack Dorsey’s platform also then limited the Breitbart News official account, indicating that tweets containing links to multiple stories about the press conference violate the platform’s COVID-19 policies.

Twitter limits Breitbart News account

Twitter limits Breitbart News account

Are you an insider at Google, Reddit, Facebook, Twitter, or any other tech company who wants to confidentially reveal wrongdoing or political bias at your company? Reach out to Allum Bokhari at his secure email address allumbokhari@protonmail.com. 

Allum Bokhari is the senior technology correspondent at Breitbart News. His book #DELETED: Big Tech’s Battle to Erase the Trump Movement and Steal The Election is out in September. 

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Reported by DR. SUSAN BERRY | 

URL of the originating web site: https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/07/21/minnesota-sen-dr-scott-jensen-under-investigation-after-criticism-cdc-classification-virus-deaths/

 

Senator Scott Jensen / Facebook

A physician who serves as a Minnesota state senator announced this month that his state’s Board of Medical Practice is investigating him following his criticism in April that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) guidelines on the classification of coronavirus deaths could artificially inflate counts.

Dr. Scott Jensen (R) tweeted on July 6 that his video message was the “most important” he has done.

The physician said the Board of Medical Practice wrote to him that he was under investigation because of allegations he has been “spreading misinformation in regards to the completion of death certificates on a news program,” and “providing reckless advice” in a comparison between COVID-19 and the flu.

In April, Jensen appeared on Fox News with host Laura Ingraham, who read guidelines developed by CDC for completing death certificates.

“In cases where a definite diagnosis of COVID-19 cannot be made, but it is suspected or likely (e.g., the circumstances are compelling within a reasonable degree of certainty), it is acceptable to report COVID-19 on a death certificate as ‘probable’ or ‘presumed,’” Ingraham read from the guidelines, emphasizing they appeared to concede how the death certificates are completed is a “judgment call.”

Jensen responded the CDC guidance was “ridiculous.”

“The idea that we’re going to allow people to massage and sort of game the numbers is a real issue,” he continued, “Because we’re gonna undermine the trust and, right now, as we see politicians doing things that aren’t necessarily motivated in fact and in science, the public’s … trust in politicians is already wearing thin.”

During the broadcast, Jensen also provided a hypothetical example of a patient who died due to influenza, with symptoms of cough and fever, but who would have the primary cause of death as “respiratory arrest.”

“I’ve never been encouraged to [notate ‘influenza’],” he said. “I would probably write ‘respiratory arrest’ to be the top line, and the underlying cause of this disease would be pneumonia … I might well put emphysema or congestive heart failure, but I would never put influenza down as the underlying cause of death and yet that’s what we are being asked to do here.”

Jensen added that, under the CDC guidelines, a patient who died after a bus accident, but then tested positive for coronavirus, would still be counted as having presumed to have died from the virus.

“That doesn’t make any sense,” he said.

Ingraham also played a clip of National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Dr. Anthony Fauci’s response during a briefing to a question about the possibility of coronavirus deaths being “padded.” Fauci replied there are often “conspiracy theories” during “challenging” times in public health crises.

Jensen responded by observing that hospitals receive greater reimbursements for patients being treated for coronavirus. 

The senator said in his recent video that he believes he has been “targeted,” but that he intends to cooperate with the investigation.

He received a statement of support from Minnesota Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka:

Of course I support Dr. Jensen and his medical expertise on COVID because he has proven to be right. USA Today fact-checked and verified Sen. Jensen’s claim that federal payments were greater if patients were confirmed to have COVID.

Gazelka added he is exploring “whether or not the board is compelled to investigate every complaint or if they are choosing to investigate Dr. Jensen.”

“It’s also concerning there are two separate complaints, raising questions about coordination,” the statement continued. “Legislators should not have to fear regulators based on their speech. If the bureaucratic state can silence speech through investigations, we have very dark times ahead for our democracy.”

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Doctor Treating COVID Patients Explains Two Reasons Cases Are Spiking


Reported By Randy DeSoto | Published July 11, 2020 at 8:13am

Dr. Jeff Barke, who is treating COVID-19 patients in Southern California, says there are two reasons that cases are spiking at the moment, and they both were anticipated. California is among the states seeing the steepest increases in confirmed coronavirus cases, with nearly 10,000 new cases reported on Tuesday, a one-day high mark since tracking began in the spring Texas, the nation’s second-most-populous state, is seeing similar numbers, with over 10,000 new cases reported Thursday.

Barke, a primary care physician in Orange County, says the increased numbers were to be expected as states reopened their economies, but also pointed to the impact of the mass protests that occurred in June. The shutdown was never intended to prevent people from getting COVID-19, but to spread out the infection rate and thus flatten the curve to keep hospitals from being overwhelmed, he said.

“We’re seeing increased cases, as expected,” Barke told PragerU’s Will Witt in an interview published this week. “This is not a surprise.”

“We shut down the economy; now we opened it up, so people are going about their businesses, back to restaurants, back to retail, back to shopping, and they’re going to get exposed to the virus and that’s OK.”

Another factor contributing to the spike in cases were large-scale protests following the death of George Floyd.

“The other problem that we’ve seen is that we’ve had massive protests across the United States and rioting,” Barke said.

“Thousands and thousands of people in almost every single state, almost all of whom were in close proximity to each other.”

“Many of them were not wearing masks. So of course a few weeks after these protests, we’re going to see a spike in cases. That shouldn’t be a surprise to anybody.”

Fox News reported officials in Los Angeles, Seattle and Florida’s Miami-Dade County have confirmed the protests may have contributed to the spike in cases in their localities. The good news Barke observed is that most people at the mass gatherings appeared to be young and likely will recover from the coronavirus without much difficulty.

The Hill reported June 20 that young people were driving the latest spike in COVID-19 cases. The majority of new cases in Texas were people under 30 years old, according to Republican Gov. Gregg Abbott.

“In California, 44 percent of recent coronavirus cases occurred in those under the age of 35, according to a study by George Lemp, director of the University of California’s HIV/AIDS Research Program,” The Hill reported.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told CNBC that the average age of those contracting the coronavirus has indeed dropped by 15 years since a few months ago. The lower ages are also apparently contributing to the falling death rate due to the virus.

Overall, the United States is experiencing a relatively low case fatality rate — 4.2 percent — compared with other countries, according to Johns Hopkins University.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Randy DeSoto
Senior Staff Writer
Randy DeSoto has written more than 1,000 articles for The Western Journal since he joined the company in 2015. He is a graduate of West Point and Regent University School of Law. He is the author of the book “We Hold These Truths” and screenwriter of the political documentary “I Want Your Money.”

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Fauci Predicts 100K Coronavirus Cases Daily ‘If Things Don’t Turn Around’


Reported by EDWIN MORA | 

URL of the originating web site: https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/06/30/fauci-predicts-100k-coronavirus-cases-daily-if-things-dont-turn-around/

Fauci: COVID-19 pandemic was his ‘worst nightmare’ and is not yet over / UPI

The number of new Chinese coronavirus cases in the United States could reach 100,000 a day if the country fails to turn things around, Dr. Anthony Fauci, a member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, predicted while testifying before a Senate panel on Tuesday. There are currently about 40,000 new daily infections of COVID-19, the disease associated with the novel coronavirus, Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID), a component of the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), testified.

“We are now having 40-plus thousand new cases a day,”Fauci told the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP). “I would not be surprised if we go up to 100,000 a day if this does not turn around, and so I am very concerned.”

His comments came in response to Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) asking, “How many COVID-19 deaths and infections should America expect before this is all over?”

In responding, Fauci added:

I can’t make an accurate prediction, but it is going to be very disturbing, I will guarantee you that, because when you have an outbreak in one part of the country even though in other parts of the country they are doing well, they are vulnerable… We can’t just focus on those areas that are having the surge. It puts the entire country at risk.

Fauci refused to estimate the overall number of COVID-19 fatalities, saying that he gleaned his prediction in March that there would be between 100,000 and 200,000 deaths from models that tend to change over time.

He told Senators:

I would really be hesitant to give a number [on the overall number of deaths] that will come back in either be contradicted, overblown, or under blown, but I think it’s important to tell you and the American public that I’m very concerned because it could get very bad.

Adm. Brett Giroir, the assistant secretary for health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) who testified alongside Fauci, struck a more optimistic tone, saying the country “can reverse these concerning trends.”

Dr. Giroir suggested that the United States is in a better position to handle a spike in cases, testifying:

All of us are concerned about recent data from several states indicating rising infections and now an uptick in hospitalizations and deaths even as other states and the majority of counties are maintaining a low infection burden.

Knowing what we know now about a symptom of the transmission and the fact that we are in a much better position today in terms of our mitigation strategies, PPE [personal protective equipment] and testing we can reverse these concerning trends if we work together.

He urged U.S. residents to maintain social distancing, wear a face-covering whenever physical distance is impossible, practice good hygiene, and stay home if they are feeling sick.

“If you have been in close contact with someone infected or in a gathering without appropriate precautions, get tested,” Giroir added. “Shield the elderly and the vulnerable of any age. And follow the guidelines for opening up America again.”

Echoing Fauci, Dr. Robert Redfield, the director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), noted that cases are increasing across the United States, particularly in the southern part of the country, following “an extended decline.”

The CDC chief testified:

The number of jurisdictions with an upward trajectory has continued to increase. Now 29 of 55 jurisdictions [in the United States] fall into this category. The evidence tells us that these cases are driven by many factors to include increased testing, community transmission, and outbreaks in settings such as nursing homes and occupational settings.

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While hospitalizations are going up in some states, the number of hospital visits and deaths remains stable in most of the country, Redfield indicated.

“Hospitalizations now are going up in 12 states, and as of this weekend daily death has now increased in the state of Arizona,” Dr. Redfield said. “CDC is closely monitoring these increases.”

Health experts predicted cases would go up as more people ventured out of their homes during the reopening phase. Some public health experts have also warned that the recent protests are an ideal breeding ground for spreading COVID-19.

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WA Sheriff: ‘Don’t Be a Sheep’ and Blindly Follow Leftist Mask Order


Commentary By C. Douglas Golden | Published June 28, 2020 at 9:01am

The idea of mask orders went national this past week when Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden said he would “do everything possible” to force all Americans to wear face coverings while out in public.

“The one thing we do know, these masks make a gigantic difference. I would insist that everybody out in public be wearing that mask. Anyone to reopen — would have to make sure that they walked into a business that had masks,” Biden told KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh.

Asked if he would use the power of the federal government to enforce this, the former vice president replied: “Yes, I would from an executive standpoint, yes, I would.”

“I would do everything possible to make it required that people had to wear masks in public,” he said, when asked if he would “in effect” make make wearing a mask mandatory.

That wouldn’t even happen before next January at the very earliest. By that one time, one prays (rather against the odds) that the whole thing will be redundant. Until then, we’ll still be seeing plenty of similar orders from state and local officials.

One of them is Washington Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee, who issued an executive order on masks effective Friday: “As necessary economic activity increases and more people are out in their communities, it is imperative that we adopt further measures to protect all of us,” Inslee said Tuesday, according to a news release.

“Until a vaccine or cure is developed, this is going to be one of our best defenses.”

The order states that “[n]o individual may appear in a public place without wearing a face covering,” that “[n]o business may operate, allow a customer to enter a business, or conduct business with a customer inside any building that is open to public or outdoors in a public place unless the customer is wearing a face covering” and that “[n]o individual may enter a place of business, whether the business is operating indoors or outdoors, without first donning a face covering, unless the individual does so under circumstances expressly exempted from this requirement under Order of the Secretary of Health 20-03.”

It’s probably not the most unpopular thing to do, given the recent spike in COVID-19 cases nationwide. However, Inslee is governor of a big state, not all of which is urban, experiencing a major increase in cases or particularly liberal. It all becomes more problematic when you parse Inslee’s language and realize he’s essentially signing the state up for mandatory mask-wearing until a vaccine is ready, which could be a year or longer.

It’s this environment and set of conditions that turned Lewis County Sheriff Robert Snaza into a viral superstar.

In a video taken by The Daily Chronicle in Centralia, Washington, Snaza — not wearing a mask — spoke to a mostly maskless crowd outside a church on the same day Inslee issued his order, according to The Washington Post.

“In case you guys didn’t hear, Governor Inslee in his infinite wisdom has decided after over a hundred and some odd days that we should all wear face masks — inside and out,” Snaza said through a megaphone in the clip.

“Here’s what I say — don’t be a sheep.”

The video had over 265,000 views as of Sunday morning, which is certainly more than you’d expect for a short clip of a sheriff of a sparsely populated county giving his opinion on Jay Inslee’s mask order.

Media in the region took note, as well. In an interview with Oregon Public Broadcasting the next day, Snaza expressed frustration with Inslee and skepticism that the new policy would actually work.

“My frustration is we continue to listen to the governor’s requests without asking questions, without saying: ‘Well wait a minute, there’s the other side to this’ and in particular wearing the mask,” Snaza said.

He’s also not convinced the masks would be efficacious: “Yet we’re telling people now to wear it and if you don’t wear it, we’re going to cite you for that,” he said.

Snaza’s remarks got enough attention that Inslee addressed them in a news conference on Wednesday.

“I think we have to be disappointed in any law enforcement officer who would encourage illegal behavior,” Inslee said.

He added that wearing a mask “is about demonstrating our respect and care for the other people around us.” And if you don’t care, the government might punish you with up to 90 days of jail time and a $100 fine.

Yet, Sheriff Snaza says he’s not calling for mass lawbreaking: “Just because I said ‘don’t be sheep’ does not mean that I’m outwardly saying I want you to violate the orders,” he said.

Inslee called this clarification “very helpful.”

Less helpful, at least by Inslee’s rubric, was Klickitat County Sheriff Bob Songer, who called the governor was an “idiot” and said he was “overstepping his bounds, violating people’s constitutional rights.”

Sheriffs in two other counties said they planned to “educate” people about mask usage without enforcing Inslee’s order.

This is the invariable problem with blanket orders like this, which sound great on paper but are wholly unenforceable in reality — particularly given the optics of the government forcing you to wear something. Masks, while potentially efficacious, aren’t the be-all-end-all. After all, the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control were previously at odds over whether they’re even necessary for healthy people.

In the end, personal responsibility is going to play a larger part in this than executive orders.

Even if Joe Biden is in a position (heaven forfend) to issue an executive order mandating mask-wearing, good luck enforcing it.

He’s not going to be able to do what Jay Inslee apparently can’t. Treating people as if they’re sheep won’t solve anything.

ABOUT THE COMMENTATOR: 

C. Douglas Golden
Contributor, Commentary
C. Douglas Golden is a writer who splits his time between the United States and Southeast Asia. Specializing in political commentary and world affairs, he’s written for Conservative Tribune and The Western Journal for four years.

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Nolte: Politico Admits Democrats ‘Dread’ Fast Economic Rebound


Reported by JOHN NOLTE | 

URL of the originating web site: https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/05/26/nolte-politico-admits-democrats-dread-fast-economic-rebound/spencer-davis-yqXH4v6UTJA-unsplash

Spencer Davis / Unsplash

The far-left Politico admitted Tuesday that Democrats are “dreading” the idea of a fast economic boom as America reopens, which explains the anti-science push among many Democrat governors to extend their pointless coronavirus lockdowns.

Thanks to these lockdowns, some 40 million people are unemployed, some 40 million lives have been shattered; lines at food pantries seem to go on forever; countless small businesses are in danger of closing or already have… Nevertheless, what America’s oh-so compassionate Democrats dread most is a quick economic rebound that might undermine their grasping desire to hold on to and obtain power.

“The general election scenario that Democrats are dreading,” the Politico headline reads.

 And what is that scenario?

“We are about to see the best economic data we’ve seen in the history of this country,” a former economic adviser to Barack Obama told a bunch of bigwigs from both parties last month.

His name is Jason Furman and Politico says he “laid out a detailed case for why the months preceding the November election could offer Trump the chance to brag — truthfully — about the most explosive monthly employment numbers and GDP growth ever.”

Furman’s counterintuitive pitch has caused some Democrats, especially Obama alumni, around Washington to panic. “This is my big worry,” said a former Obama White House official who is still close to the former president. Asked about the level of concern among top party officials, he said, “It’s high — high, high, high, high.”

And top policy officials on the Biden campaign are preparing for a fall economic debate that might look very different than the one predicted at the start of the pandemic in March. “They are very much aware of this,” said an informal adviser.

What Furman already sees are signs of what’s known as a “V” recovery, as a opposed to a slower or gradual  recovery,  or a recovery that takes a while to get back to where we were before these stupid lockdowns began. Furman sees an economy that’s already unleashed.

Consumption and hiring started to tick up “in gross terms, not in net terms,” Furman said, describing the phenomenon as a “partial rebound.” The bounce back “can be very very fast, because people go back to their original job, they get called back from furlough, you put the lights back on in your business. Given how many people were furloughed and how many businesses were closed you can get a big jump out of that. It will look like a V.”

Furman’s argument is not that different from the one made by White House economic advisers and Trump, who have predicted an explosive third quarter, and senior adviser Jared Kushner, who said in late April that “the hope is that by July the country’s really rocking again.”

White House officials were thrilled to hear that some of their views have been endorsed by prominent Democrats.

While no one expects the second quarter numbers — the numbers that will tell us the GDP between April 1 and June 30 — to be anything but terrible, if we can come to our senses nationwide and get these absurd lockdowns behind us, the third quarter numbers (that will be released at the end of September) could show real growth. This would be good for the incumbent president, especially since that incumbent president has been predicting a “pent up” desire within the American people to get back to normal.

Good news for America and Americans would, of course, be terrible news for Joe Biden, who is desperate to strangle our economy with record high taxes and an obscene amount of regulations. Biden’s policies would hurt a flourishing economy, but they would kill a post-lockdown recovery in the same way the Obama-Biden economic policies of 2009 killed any hope of a real rebound after the 2008 economic crash. It’s no accident the Obama-Biden administration oversaw the worst “recovery” since the Great Depression. Their taxes, regulations, and constant threats of more kept a boot firmly on the neck of our economy for eight long years.

Plus, no matter how much Biden might crybaby about Trump’s Twitter account, his golf game, and his violation of the establishment’s “precious norms,” the American people tend not to fire a president when the economy is humming — especially if we are coming out of a downturn.

But what does it say about Democrats that with nearly 40 million lives shattered, they “dread” a fast comeback for those 40 million people?

Obviously, that’s a rhetorical question, but it does answer the question as to why — and for no valid scientific or medical reasons, a number of mercenary Democrat governors are desperate to push these pointless lockdowns as far into next month as possible (especially in swing states like Wisconsin, Michigan, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania).

It is all about doing whatever damage they can to those third quarter GDP numbers; even if that means more pain for those who cannot work from home — primarily the working class.

Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC. Follow his Facebook Page here.

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D.C. Mayor: No Coronavirus Deaths in Last 24 Hours for First Time Since March


Reported by EDWIN MORA | 

URL of the originating web site: https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/05/26/d-c-mayor-no-coronavirus-deaths-in-last-24-hours-for-first-time-since-march/

Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser speaks during a press conference on May 11
SAUL LOEB/AFP

Washington, DC, Mayor Muriel Bowser confirmed Tuesday there were no Chinese coronavirus-related deaths reported in the nation’s capital over the last 24 hours, marking the first day without fatalities since the numbers began to accumulate in late March.

D.C. confirmed its first case of COVID-19, the disease produced by the virus, on March 7.

“Today, we report that no D.C. resident lost their life to COVID on May 25, which is a good thing,” Bowser told reporters on Tuesday. Data provided by Bowser’s office showed that D.C. marked its first day with no deaths since March on Monday.

After seeing a slight increase in new cases over the weekend, Bowser indicated that the city is back on track to begin a gradual reopening on Friday, “barring any new spikes.”

“Tomorrow, we hope that the [downward] trends will continue, and we will be able to provide next steps on Phased One opening to be effective on this Friday, May 29,” Bowser said.

However, the mayor suggested that the target date for reopening could change if conditions on the ground call for it.

“We will continue to follow the science and begin our phased reopening when the data suggests that we can,” she said on Tuesday.

Bowser announced that the district stands one day away from the 14-day sustained decline in the community spread — based on a five-day moving average — it needs to begin reopening non-essential businesses shut down to stem the spread of the highly contagious disease.

“If the trend holds, we will be able to report 14 days of decline tomorrow,” she proclaimed. “We, of course, track community spread to understand whether we are able to manage and rapidly respond to any new increases.”

D.C. also has sufficient healthcare capacity, data unveiled by the mayor showed. The district was reportedly operating at a bed occupancy rate of over 70 percent as of Sunday, which means hundreds of beds were still available, independent and city government assessments showed. The hospital bed occupancy rate has been below 80 percent for over 14 days, double the amount of days needed for reopening, Bowser’s data noted.

In D.C., the COVID-19 transmission rate has also been low for 14 days, well beyond the three days required for a phased reopening, the mayor’s data further revealed.

Currently, the nation’s capital can test all priority groups, as mandated by the district’s reopening guidelines.

D.C. also has a “sufficient” capacity to contact trace all new cases and their close contacts, information from the mayor’s office showed.

As of noon on Tuesday, 8,334 D.C. residents had tested positive for coronavirus, about 20 percent of the people tested, and 440 had lost their lives. The cumulative number of new cases is still increasing.

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CDC’s Latest ‘Best Estimate’ of COVID Death Rate Is 13 Times Lower Than Initial WHO Claim


Reported By C. Douglas Golden | Published May 25, 2020 at 8:57am

It’s a number that informed so many of our public policy decisions regarding COVID-19: 3.4 percent.

On March 3, in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, World Health Organization director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus made a remark during a media briefing that guided how we viewed the threat posed by the novel coronavirus.

“Globally, about 3.4 percent of reported COVID-19 cases have died. By comparison, seasonal flu generally kills far fewer than 1 percent of those infected.”

Now, was this based on incomplete information? Of course. At some level, it’s difficult to blame individuals working from a very limited data set.

On the other hand, that limited data set influenced how we approached the disease — and it turns out that, if the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s current “best estimate” of the COVID-19 death rate is accurate, it’s 13 times lower than the initial WHO claim.

According to statistics “based on data received by CDC prior to 4/29/2020,” the death rate from COVID-19 could be as low as 0.26 percent.

The numbers are based on the newest of “five COVID-19 Pandemic Planning Scenarios that are designed to help inform decisions by modelers and public health officials who utilize mathematical modeling,” the CDC said.

“Each scenario is based on a set of numerical values for biological and epidemiological characteristics of COVID-19. These values — called parameter values — can be used to estimate the possible effects of COVID-19 in U.S. states and localities. The parameter values in each scenario will be updated and augmented over time, as we learn more about the epidemiology of COVID-19.”

Scenario 5 — the operative scenario at the moment, at least given the data that we have — has some interesting data regarding the death rates for the novel coronavirus.

According to the CDC’s data, the symptomatic case fatality percentage is 0.4 percent.

Reading further into the data reveals it’s even lower than that.

Scenario 5 includes data on “[p]ercent of infections that are asymptomatic.” That, according to the CDC, is 35 percent.

So, do the math: It turns out that means the death rate is only 0.26 percent, according to the CDC’s own numbers.

Now, does this mean the death rate is truly 0.26 percent? Of course not. Even now, we’re in the early days in terms of statistics for the novel coronavirus. However, what’s clear is that, when all is said and done, we’re going to be nowhere close to the 3.4 percent originally predicted by the World Health Organization.

Now, does this mean that the president or any of the others who predicted this are doctors or epidemiologists? No. However, they had a basic understanding of how statistics work. They knew that, in the early days of the virus, with limited testing and limited data, the numbers were going to seem a lot higher than they actually were.

And yet, Tedros wasn’t the only one who thought the death rate for the coronavirus was an order of magnitude higher than current data says it is. In February, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said it was 2 percent.

“If you look at the cases that have come to the attention of the medical authorities, in China, and you just do the math — the math is about 2 percent. If you look at certain age groups, certain risk groups, the fatality is much higher,” Fauci told Congress, according to CNBC.

There’s a reason this matters. If there’s a disease that spreads rapidly and has a death rate of 2 or 3 percent, yes, locking down the populace is a reasonable reaction. If we’re talking about something closer to 0.26 percent, putting the world into a new Great Depression seems a bit of an overreaction.

We don’t know the final death rate for the novel coronavirus yet. One thing’s for sure, though — it’s not 3.4 percent or anything close to that. It might not be 13 times lower, but it’s a lot closer to that than anything predicted at the beginning.

That has a lot of implications going forward, including when we start second-guessing what we did to our society and economy in order to arrest the spread of the disease.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: 
C. Douglas Golden
Contributor, Commentary
C. Douglas Golden is a writer who splits his time between the United States and Southeast Asia. Specializing in political commentary and world affairs, he’s written for Conservative Tribune and The Western Journal for four years.

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DOJ to Gavin Newsom: Start Reopening Churches in California


Reported by JOEL B. POLLAK | 

URL of the originating web site: https://www.breitbart.com/faith/2020/05/20/doj-to-gavin-newsom-start-reopening-churches/

Attorney General William Barr appears before a Senate Appropriations subcommittee to make his Justice Department budget request, Wednesday, April 10, 2019, in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

 

The Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) warned California Gov. Gavin Newsom Tuesday that his reopening plan discriminates against religion and must be modified to allow for religious services to reopen. Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband pointed out that Newsom’s plan allows a variety of businesses to reopen in “Stage 2,” but does not allow churches and other houses of worship to reopen until “Stage 3,” for no apparent reason.

Citing Attorney General William Barr’s April memorandum warning state and local governments to respect First Amendment rights of religious freedom — “[T]he Constitution is not suspended in times of crisis,” Barr wrote — Dreiband argued that while California could determine the pace of its reopening, it could not infringe on religion:

Of course we recognize the duty that you have to protect the health and safety of Californians in the face of a pandemic that is unprecedented in our lifetimes.

…

Laws that do not treat religious activities equally with comparable nonreligious activities are subject to heightened scrutiny under the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment. … Religious gatherings may not be singled out for unequal treatment compared to other nonreligious gatherings that have the same effect on the government’s public health interest, absent the most compelling reasons.

…

California has not shown why interactions in offices and studios of the entertainment industry, and in-person operations to facilitate nonessential ecommerce, are included on the [essential workforce] list as being allowed with social distancing where telework is not practical, while gatherings with social distancing for purposes of religious worship are forbidden, regardless of whether remote worship is practical or not.

…

Places of worship are not permitted to hold religious worship services until Stage 3. However, in Stage 2, schools, restaurants, factories, offices, shopping malls, swap meets, and others are permitted to operate with social distancing.

…

Whatever level of restrictions you adopt, these civil rights protections mandate equal treatment of persons and activities of a secular and religious nature.

Dreiband told Breitbart News Sunday recently that the DOJ had achieved results by writing to local governments to inform them that they were infringing on religious liberty, and they had backed down from draconian restrictions.

The Los Angeles Times notes that while several California churches have already challenged the state’s stay-at-home orders, none has yet been successful. Dreiband acknowledged these decisions, but argued in his letter that the decisions do not address discrimination in the reopening plan.

Politico noted that Gov. Newsom has tried to mollify religious communities: “I want to just express my deep admiration to the faith community and the need and desire to know when their congregants can once again start coming back to the pews, coming back together,” he said Monday.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). His new book, RED NOVEMBER, is available for pre-order. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.

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Oregon Salon Owner: State Sent Child Protective Services After Me Because I Opened My Business


Reported by ROBERT KRAYCHIK | 1

URL of the originating web site: https://www.breitbart.com/radio/2020/05/17/oregon-salon-owner-state-cps-open-business/

lindsey-graham-oregon / Courtesy Lindsey Graham

Lindsey Graham, a salon owner in Salem, Oregon, detailed how state authorities dispatched child protective services (CPS) to her home as part of their response to her ongoing business operations in defiance of Gov. Kate Brown’s (D-OR) statewide “stay-at-home” order.

Graham, owner of Glamour Salon, described “harassment” and “bullying” directed against her by the government on SiriusXM’s Breitbart News Sunday in an interview with host Joel Pollak. Graham recalled how an agent from Oregon’s Child Protective Services, a subsidiary of the state’s Department of Human Services (DHS), was sent to her home on the same day as the reopening of her hair salon.

“On May 7th, I got a phone call from my nanny,” said Graham. “As soon as I went to work, a DHS officer came to my home and tried to speak to her, and she said, ‘I don’t feel comfortable answering any questions for you. I think you need to call the homeowner.’ So DHS basically stopped by my house and said they had some claims against me and my family about our home being unfit.”

The same CPS agent returned to Graham’s home the following Monday, and he separated Graham and her husband from their six-year-old son in order to privately interview the child. Graham is also the mother of a three-year-old girl and an eight-week-old son.

Graham stated, “[The CPS agent] came back to my home, and my intention was, ‘Great, let this guy in and let him see what a great, loving, clean, and happy home we have, so he’ll just kind of get out of here.’ … He interviewed myself and my husband in separate rooms. He interviewed my six-year-old son in a separate room, and he searched our home. He made me lift up toilet seats and open our fridge. None of this is warranted. These are all bogus claims. Our home is completely safe and always has been, so this is definitely some kind of vendetta, sending a government agency after my family.”

LISTEN:

Graham shared the episode during a press conference held last Friday. While holding back tears, Graham shared, “Child protective services showed up my home. They questioned my husband and I. They questioned my child without me present. They searched our home, and I never expected such a violent, aggressive, vindictive thing could ever have been done to me or my family because I’m trying to learn a living [and] because I’m trying to work.”

“They wouldn’t let me in the room while they questioned my child,” Graham noted of CPS’s private questioning of her six-year-old son. “As far as I’m aware, the case is open, and they are still insisting that they want to talk to my three-year-old daughter privately, as well. So, I don’t know if they’re going to talk to my eight-week-old newborn. We’ll see, but they did check his diaper.”

“This is a false claim that wasted CPS’s valuable time when there are children who are really in need,” determined Graham.

“Everyone’s job is essential, not because of what we do or how we do it, but because it’s the way we make our living,” added Graham. “I’m continually terrified for the surrounding businesses in Marion County that are still deemed non-essential. How many more businesses are going to go bankrupt and have to close because of this order?”

WATCH:

Municipal authorities in Salem have threatened to terminate Graham’s lease, given that her business is located on property leased from the city. Graham also said she was initially threatened with a $70,000 fine and eventually issued a $14,000 for operating a “hazardous facility” for her “employees.” She noted that her salon does not have employees but instead partners with independent contractors who voluntarily choose to work at her business.

“I don’t have employees in my salon, right now,” remarked Graham. “I have independent contractors that are choosing to work, and they are choosing to do their clients’ hair, so they can provide for their families and their children.”

Authorities further threatened to revoke Graham’s and her contractors’ professional licenses for operating in defiance of the governor’s “stay-at-home” decree.

“By revoking our licenses, they saying, ‘If you continue to do hair, we will take your entire livelihood from you for the rest of your life,’” explained Graham.

Breitbart News Sunday broadcasts live on SiriusXM Patriot 125 from 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. Eastern.

Follow Robert Kraychik on Twitter.

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Medical Official: Coronavirus Drug Could Be Approved ‘Before the Summer’


Reported by AP Reports | Published May 14, 2020 at 3:20am

URL of the origination web site: https://www.westernjournal.com/ap-eu-possible-virus-drug-approval-summer/

A patient receives a shot in the first-stage safety study clinical trial of a potential vaccine for COVID-1, at the Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute in Seattle on March 16, 2020.Ted S. Warren / APA patient receives a shot in the first-stage safety study clinical trial of a potential vaccine for COVID-1, at the Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute in Seattle on March 16, 2020. (Ted S. Warren / AP)

The European Medicines Agency predicted that there could be licensed drugs to treat the new coronavirus in the next few months and that a vaccine might even be approved in early 2021, in a “best-case scenario.” Dr. Marco Cavaleri, who heads the European regulator’s vaccines department, told a media briefing on Thursday that approving medicines to treat COVID-19 might be possible “before the summer,” citing ongoing clinical trials. Recent early results for the drug remdesivir suggested it could help patients recover from the coronavirus faster, although longer-term data is still needed to confirm any benefit.

Although it typically takes years to develop a vaccine, Cavaleri said that if some of the shots already being tested prove to be effective, they could be licensed as early as the beginning of next year. Cavaleri cautioned, however, that many experimental vaccines never make it to the end and that there are often delays.

“But we can see the possibility that if everything goes as planned, vaccines could be approved a year from now,” he said.

More than 140 heads of states and health experts, including South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan and Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz, issued an appeal Thursday calling on all countries to unite behind a “people’s vaccine” against COVID-19, to ensure any effective treatments and vaccines be available globally to anyone who needs them, for free.

At the moment, there are about a dozen vaccine candidates being tested in the United States, Britain, Germany and China. The World Health Organization has estimated it could take about 12 to 18 months for an effective vaccine to be found.

While some experts have proposed dropping the requirement for large-scale advanced clinical trials altogether, Cavaleri said that wasn’t currently being considered.

“Our current thinking is all vaccines under development should undergo large phase 3 trials to establish what is the level of protection,” he said.

But he acknowledged that could change if the situation worsened.

“Things may evolve as the pandemic will evolve and we will see if we need to do something else,” Cavaleri said.

Some officials have warned that a vaccine might never be found; previous attempts to develop a vaccine against related coronaviruses like SARS and MERS have all failed. However, Cavaleri was optimistic an immunization against COVID-19 would eventually be discovered, as there are various technologies being tried globally.

“I think it’s a bit early to say, but we have good reason to be sufficiently optimistic that at the end of the day, some vaccines will make it,” he said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

ABOUT THE SOURCE:
AP Reports
The Associated Press is an independent, not-for-profit news cooperative headquartered in New York City. Their teams in over 100 countries tell the world’s stories, from breaking news to investigative reporting. They provide content and services to help engage audiences worldwide, working with companies of all types, from broadcasters to brands.

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Maxine Waters: Trump, Protesters ‘Should Be Ashamed’ — We Don’t Want Businesses ‘Opened Back Up’


Reported by PAM KEY | 1

URL of the originating web site: https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2020/05/12/maxine-waters-trump-protesters-should-be-ashamed-we-dont-want-businesses-opened-back-up/

 

Monday night on Spectrum News 1’s “Inside the Issues,” Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) said President Donald Trump and the lockdown protesters should be ashamed of themselves for pressuring governors to reopen their states.

Waters said, “You know our governors are under great stress. The protests that have been organized, the protests trying to intimidate our governors to open up everything are protests where the people participating in that should be ashamed of themselves. They should not be encouraged in any way. They should not be encouraged from the top leadership of this country to go out and do that.”

She continued, “I know the pressure is on. I know that you’re trying to hold the line. I want you to hold the line. I don’t want to see these establishments opened back up. I want the federal government to join with the cities and the states to support these families in every way that we can. I do want a moratorium on rent evictions. I have a huge bill. I have a $100 billion bill to pay the landlords. We don’t want them to risk their properties, many of them have bought a small number of units, ten units, four units as retirement property. I know that they need to pay their mortgages. I am going to absolutely see to it that they are reimbursed, that they are paid for the moratorium on evictions on their apartments.”

Waters added, “So we’re doing everything that we can give support to our constituents, to our citizens, to the people who work every day, who have families to take care of. So if we do that, this will support our states and our governors and not having to open back up. So that you know the small businesses that are in direct contact with people nail shops, beauty shops, barbershops, flower shops, these are people in touch with folks every day, and they’re risking their lives, and we don’t want them opened up. We are very sympathetic to the pressure that is being put on by the president of the United States and organize efforts of these protesters. We want the governors to hold the line. Be as tough as you can be. Be as thoughtful as you can be. Do everything you can to hold the line. I know that Governor Newsom is doing that. And any small steps that he takes, he is doing it with a lot of support. We are with you, governor. Hold the line. ”

Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN

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American Airlines, Hyatt to Give Free Vacations to Thousands of NYC Health Care Workers


Reported by KATHERINE RODRIGUEZ | 1

URL of the originating web site: https://www.breitbart.com/health/2020/05/10/american-airlines-hyatt-give-free-vacations-thousands-nyc-health-care-workers/

buzzfeed blogs

Mike Hewitt/Getty

American Airlines and Hyatt Hotels Corporation announced in a joint statement Friday that they would be giving thousands of free vacations to New York City health care workers on the frontlines of the coronavirus pandemic.

The companies said in the statement that more than 4,000 workers employed at the NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst medical center would be treated to roundtrip vacations to destinations throughout the U.S. and the Caribbean once they can “take time for themselves.”

Hyatt Hotels plans to provide accommodations once they arrive at no cost.

The companies said doctors, nurses, physician assistants, facility workers, and food service teams would be among those who qualify for the trips.

“We are extremely grateful to Hyatt and American Airlines for this generous gift to our health care workers, who have been at the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Israel Rocha, vice president of NYC Health + Hospitals and CEO of NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst, said.

“Our doctors, nurses, and other staff on the front lines of this unprecedented health care crisis really appreciate the outpouring of support,” he continued.

The New York City metropolitan area has emerged as one of the epicenters of the coronavirus outbreak in the U.S. As of Sunday, the New York City Health Department reported more than 177,000 cases and 14,505 confirmed deaths reported by New York state.

New York state as a whole has reported more than 21,000 deaths and more than 333,000 confirmed cases.

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Report: Third Russian Health Worker Falls from Window After Criticizing Coronavirus Response


Reported by BEN KEW | 

URL of the originating web site: https://www.breitbart.com/health/2020/05/04/report-third-russian-health-worker-falls-from-window-after-criticizing-coronavirus-response/

In this photo taken on Tuesday, April 21, 2020, a medical worker puts on protective gear in order to assist coronavirus patients at the intensive care unit of Vinogradov City Clinical Hospital in Moscow, Russia. Reports of Russian medical workers becoming infected with the coronavirus are emerging almost daily as … Pavel Golovkin/AP Photo

A paramedic who complained about being forced to work after contracting the Chinese coronavirus is currently in critical condition after mysteriously falling from a hospital window in western Russia this weekend.

The Moscow Times reports that 37-year-old Alexander Shulepov fell from the second floor of a hospital in the rural Voronezh and suffered a skull fracture, which has left him in critical condition. Voronezh is located 500 kilometers south of Moscow; he was being treated for coronavirus symptoms. Police claim to be investigating his fall.

Last month, Shulepov and his colleague Alexander Kosyakin filmed a video complaining that authorities in the Novaya Usman village hospital were forcing him the work despite the fact he had tested positive for the virus. The complaint occurred after reports surfaced that the Kremlin recently forced third-year medical students to work during the pandemic or face academic and professional consequences.

Days later, he reportedly released another video walking back his comments, arguing that he was in an “emotional state.” The video also featured Igor Potanin, the head doctor of the Novousmanskaya hospital, who insisted his medical staff were being provided with sufficient personal protective equipment (PPE).

“I spoke about this to the department’s employees: I won’t let anyone go to outpatients or inpatients if we don’t have enough means of protection, I told them I’d go myself there, but I will not send anyone,” Potanin said in the video.

In a statement to CNN, Kosyakin confirmed details about his colleague’s condition.

“[Shulepov] is an intensive care unit, as far as I know in a serious condition, last time I spoke to him was on the 30th of April, we checked in with each other,” Kosyakin told CNN. “He felt fine, he was getting ready to get discharged from the hospital … and all of a sudden this happened, it’s not clear why and what for, so many questions that I don’t even have the answer to.”

Kosyakin reportedly faces criminal charges for violating Russia’s recently passed misinformation law, which carries prison sentences of up to five years for spreading “fake news” about the ongoing pandemic. Russian authorities have reported around 145,000 cases of the virus so far but just 1,356 deaths, an abnormally low number compared with other countries.

Shulepov is the third doctor to have reportedly plunged from a hospital building in the past two weeks, with the other two both dying of their injuries. The most recent of these victims was Elena Nepomnyashchaya, the acting head doctor of a hospital in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, who died days after an alleged fall from a window at the hospital she was in charge of. She had recently complained about her staff being forced to treat coronavirus patients without sufficient PPE.

Dr. Natalya Lebedeva — the head of the emergency medical service at Star City, where the majority of Russia’s cosmonauts are trained — allegedly committed suicide on April 24 by jumping from the building after failing to prevent an outbreak. The hospital called her death a “tragic accident.”

Falling or defenestration from buildings appear to have become a signature manner of death for numerous government dissenters in Russia over the past decade. Before the recent spate of falls, the latest case was that of the 32-year-old investigative journalist Maxim Borodin, thrown out of a fourth-floor window in April 2018 as he was investigating Russia’s military involvement in Syria.

Follow Ben Kew on Facebook, Twitter at @ben_kew, or email him at bkew@breitbart.com.

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Pompeo: ‘Enormous Evidence’ Coronavirus Originated in Wuhan Lab


Reported by PAM KEY |

URL of the originating web site: https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2020/05/03/pompeo-enormous-evidence-coronavirus-originated-in-wuhan-lab/
 

Sunday on ABC’s “This Week”  Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said there was “enormous evidence” that coronavirus originated in the Wuhan lab and not a wet market, as some have suspected.

Partial transcript as follows:

RADDATZ: I want to turn to China, with intelligence officials, as we mentioned, saying that the Chinese government intentionally concealed the severity of COVID-19 from the international community in early January, while it stockpiled medical supplies.

In terms of international concealing, I assume you think they did that intentionally to keep as many masks for themselves as possible. Will there be some sort of retaliation?

POMPEO: Martha, you’ve got the facts just about right. We can confirm that the Chinese Communist Party did all that it could to make sure that the world didn’t learn in a timely fashion about what was taking place. There’s lots of evidence of that. Some of it you can see in public, right?

We’ve seen announcements. We’ve seen the fact that they kicked the journalists out. We saw the fact that those who were trying to report on this, medical professionals inside of China, were silenced. They shut down reporting — all the kind of things that authoritarian regimes do, the way Communist parties operate. This is a classic Communist disinformation effort. That created enormous risk, and now you can see hundreds of thousands of people around the world, tens of thousands in the United States, have been harmed. President Trump has been very clear. We’re going to hold those responsible accountable, and we’ll do so on a timeline that is our own.

RADDATZ: And — and as for the origins of COVID-19, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence released a statement this week saying the virus did originate in China, but concurs with the wide scientific consensus that the COVID-19 virus was not man-made or genetically modified, the statement going on to say that they will continue to examine whether the outbreak began through contact with infected animals or if it was the result of an accident in a laboratory in Wuhan. Later, the president was asked if he had seen anything that gave him high confidence that the Wuhan lab was the origin of the virus. Let’s listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUESTION: Have you seen anything at this point that gives you a high degree of confidence that the Wuhan Institute of Virology was the origin of this virus?

TRUMP: Yes, I have. Yes, I have.

QUESTION: What gives you a high degree of confidence that this originated from the Wuhan Institute of Virology?

TRUMP: I can’t tell you that. I’m not allowed to tell you that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RADDATZ: And, Mr. Secretary, have you seen anything that gives you high confidence that it originated in that Wuhan lab?

POMPEO: Martha, there’s enormous evidence that that’s where this began. We’ve said from the beginning that this was a virus that originated in Wuhan, China. We took a lot of grief for that from the outset. But I think the whole world can see now.

Remember, China has a history of infecting the world, and they have a history of running substandard laboratories. These are not the first times that we’ve had a world exposed to viruses as a result of failures in a Chinese lab.

And so, while the intelligence community continues to do its work, they should continue to do that, and verify so that we are certain, I can tell you that there is a significant amount of evidence that this came from that laboratory in Wuhan.

RADDATZ: Do you believe it was man-made or genetically modified?

POMPEO: Look, the best experts so far seem to think it was man-made. I have no reason to disbelieve that at this point.

(PLEASE SEE: https://whatdidyousay.org/2020/04/10/exclusive-dr-shi-zhengli-and-the-wuhan-institute-of-virology-connected-to-coronavirus-experimented-with-live-animals-and-we-have-proof/)

RADDATZ: Your — your Office of the DNI says the consensus, the scientific consensus was not man-made or genetically modified.

POMPEO: That’s right. I agree with that. Yeah. I’ve seen their analysis. I’ve seen the summary that you saw that was released publicly. I have no reason to doubt that that is accurate…

(CROSSTALK)

RADDATZ: OK, so just to be clear, you do not think it was man-made or genetically modified?

POMPEO: I’ve seen what the intelligence community has said. I have no reason to believe that they’ve got it wrong.

(CROSSTALK)

POMPEO: Martha, you have to put this in context. Here’s what — here’s what’s important, Martha. Here’s what’s important. The Chinese Communist Party had the opportunity to prevent all of the calamity that has befallen the world. And here we find ourselves today — you and I were talking about we haven’t seen each other physically for a long time. That’s true of people all across the world.

This — this is an enormous crisis, created by the fact that the Chinese Communist Party reverted to form, reverted to the kinds of disinformation, the kinds of concealment that authoritarian regimes. Had those scientists been operating in America, they would have put this out. There would have been an exchange of ideas. And we would have quickly identified the kinds of things that needed to be done in response.

Instead, China behaved like authoritarian regimes do, attempted to conceal and hide and confuse. It employed the World Health Organization as a tool to do the same. These are the kind of things that have now presented this enormous crisis, an enormous loss of life and tremendous economic cost, all across the globe. The Australians agree with that. You hear the Europeans beginning to say the same thing. I think the whole world is united in understanding that China brought this virus to the world.

RADDATZ: And — and, just very quickly, if we can, Mr. Secretary, running out of time. Do you think they intentionally released that virus or it was an accident in the lab?

POMPEO: You know, I don’t have anything to say about that. I think there’s a lot to know. But I can say this. We’ve done our best to try and answer all of those questions. We tried to get a team in there. The World Health Organization tried to get a team in there. And they have failed. No one’s been allowed to go to this lab or any of the other laboratories — there are many labs inside of China, Martha. This risk remains. This is an ongoing challenge. We still need to get in there. We still don’t have the virus samples we need. This is an ongoing threat, an ongoing pandemic. And the Chinese Communist Party continues to block access to the Western world, the world’s best scientists, to figure out exactly what happened. So I can’t answer your question about that. Because the Chinese Communist Party has refused to cooperate with world health experts.

Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN

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Exclusive — South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem on Beating Coronavirus Without Lockdown: ‘We’re Much Better on Offense’


Reported by MATTHEW BOYLE | Washington, D.C.

URL of the originating web site: https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/04/22/exclusive-south-dakota-gov-kristi-noem-on-beating-coronavirus-without-lockdown-were-much-better-on-offense/

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem gives her first State of the State address in Pierre, S.D., Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2019. / James Nord/AP Photo

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, a Republican and the governor of one of just a handful of states that has not issued a statewide lockdown order, told Breitbart News exclusively on Wednesday her state is winning the war against the coronavirus without the extreme and draconian measures some other states have implemented.

Noem said that despite earlier projections of a surge on the hospitals in South Dakota and nationwide, “no, we haven’t” seen such a surge. In fact, South Dakota has—again, without a lockdown—cut that number down by 75 percent of the projections, with much less than a hundred people in the hospital.

According to the state’s Department of Health website, there have been 1,858 cases of coronavirus in South Dakota—937 people have recovered. There have been only 9 deaths, and there are 62 people currently hospitalized. In total, only 111 people were ever hospitalized for coronavirus in South Dakota—far less than ever was expected.

“I think we’ve got maybe 60 people in the hospital right now,” Noem said in an exclusive interview on Wednesday. “We have 2,500 beds set aside for COVID-19 patients, but we only have 63 in. We probably, from all of our projections and studying the science behind the virus, we won’t peak until the middle of June. But we already have done much better than what we had thought would have been hitting our state already.”

“We already have cut our peak projections by 75 percent just putting in place the recommendations I asked people to do, staying at home and they’ve practiced social distancing,” she explained. “They’ve washed their hands and they stayed home if they weren’t feeling well and called their doctors. Just by doing that, we’ve cut the hospitalization rates by 75 percent. So, I’ve just been super proud of what the people in South Dakota have done—they recognized that I wasn’t going to dictate to them, that I valued their freedoms and liberties and that I was going to let them take action on behalf of their families and communities.”

When asked how she made her decision to not issue a closure of businesses in South Dakota and to not issue a statewide stay-at-home order like many other governors did when the crisis was beginning, Noem told Breitbart News that she was focused on providing the best and most scientific response to the coronavirus crisis.

“I looked at our state and our people here and knew they would take on the personal responsibility that would be necessary to protect their families and their communities,” Noem said. “I had a real honest conversation with them and told them what we were facing and that I needed them to make some decisions to follow CDC guidelines and that by doing that we could look at how this virus would impact our state and peak hospitalization rates going forward and do it together.”

“I’m not one who believes in a one-size-fits-all approach, and even in South Dakota I’ve got pretty diverse communities,” she noted. “I’ve got some that are pretty sparse with not many people and then I’ve got some that are big cities as well. So I wanted to leave some flexibility there for local folks to make decisions but also recognizing that when it comes down to it that these guys had to take on the personal responsibility that is necessary to really go after this virus.”

Noem added that when it came to her decision against issuing a lockdown, she factored in her oath to defend the state’s Constitution that she took when she was sworn in as governor and her oath to defend the U.S. Constitution that she took when she was previously sworn in when she was in the U.S. Congress. She was concerned for the civil liberties and freedoms of the people of her state and did not think the facts on the ground warranted a lockdown—something that, again, the statistics have proven to be true.

“It was a decision that I made. The facts on the ground here did not support shelter-in-place,” she said. “We just didn’t have the spread. For me personally, I took an oath to uphold our state Constitution. I took an oath when I was in Congress to uphold the United States Constitution. So I believe in people’s freedoms and liberties and I always balance that with every decision that I make as governor. I get overly concerned with leaders who take too much power in a time of crisis because I think that’s how we directly lose our country someday by leaders overstepping their proper role.”

“So I was balancing all of that perspective and my value system and principles with what I was seeing here in South Dakota and never believed it was appropriate for us to take that kind of action,” Noem explained. “I trust my people. I know that if business owners here are given an opportunity to be innovative, they will protect their customers. They will take actions and change business models to make sure their employees are safe and that they can practice social distancing while still serving their customers. I knew I had to give them an opportunity to survive.”

“What I was going to ask them to do was not going to be something they would have to do just for a week or two,” she explained. “I knew they would have to do it for months, and I didn’t know how they would survive if I shut them down, and for me, it’s always been about whatever I ask you to do today you have to sustain, and I knew that doing that kind of an action was not sustainable. People would not be able to shelter in their homes for six weeks on end, and businesses would not be able to survive and have an economy to be able to put food on the table for folks.”

“All of that was part of my decision-making process, and I decided as well—I knew it was unconventional and it was something that would not be widely embraced across the country–but I knew I had to communicate it and I knew I had to make myself available to South Dakota and tell them why I was making these decisions and make sure we were having real palms-up honest conversations, and I think by and large they’re seeing the wisdom in the action and decisions we’ve made, and they’re grateful for it, but we have a long ways to go though,” Noem said. “We’ve got, that’s the thing, a lot of people want to be done with this now, and I have to keep reminding people we still have not even hit our peak—our numbers are going to continue to get worse, and that reality is something that we’re going to have to deal with for quite some time here.”

Just because there is no stay-at-home order or statewide mandated closure of businesses does not mean South Dakota is just waiting and doing nothing to fight the coronavirus. Noem has undertaken a number of initiatives in South Dakota, including alongside the state’s northern neighbor, North Dakota, the introduction of a cell phone application that helps state health officials with contact tracing of those who test positive for the virus—something she said has been very effective in helping control the spread of the disease.

“The app is called CARE19 and it’s downloadable on both android and iPhones, but what it does is so much of the time of individuals—when somebody tests positive for COVID-19 our Department of Health immediately calls them, asks them to isolate, and then follows up with them and then also does extensive interviews with them to find out about where they had been the previous three or four or five days, where they had been, where they had stopped, so we can identify other individuals that may have been exposed to the virus to let them know and ask them to isolate and slow down the spread,” Noem said. “This app will do all of that in seconds. So, it’s completely voluntary. People can download it on their phone, then turn on location services and then forget about it. Then if they do test positive a week or two weeks down the road they can decide if they want to share that information with us or not and then that will tell us everything about where they were and people that may have been exposed to the virus so they don’t have to try to remember.”

“It literally takes hours of interviews we would have with an individual down to getting all of that same information and having it be much more accurate in seconds,” she explained. “It helps us be much more aggressive in slowing and isolating the spread. The average person we have to contact—if somebody tests positive, we have to call eight or nine people on average that they may have come in contact with and let them know. So even if we only have a hundred cases a day, that’s 800 to 900 phone calls we have to be making to them. Then everybody who tests positive and everybody who has been exposed we call them back the next day and then the next day and so on to make sure they’re still doing okay and that they’re still isolating and all that. By being able to cut down that amount of time it takes to know who may have been exposed, boy it just saves us hundreds of hours and is really helpful. We’re the only—I think North Dakota started it first, I think we started it the next morning, and I think we’re the only two states that are using that kind of technology.”

South Dakota has also, at Noem’s direction, formally launched a statewide, fully-funded, and all-encompassing trial to study the effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine as a potential treatment for coronavirus. There have been some studies that suggest the drug is promising as a potential treatment, and President Donald Trump has touted it as a hopeful possibility, while the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has authorized its usage on a compassionate care basis if a doctor decides a patient should use it. But no formal studies yet exist to demonstrate the effectiveness of the antimalarial hydroxychloroquine against COVID-19, so Noem stepped up and rallied all of the state’s major healthcare systems to lead a statewide test of the drug.

“What’s happening here in South Dakota is really unprecedented,” Noem said. “There has never been anything like this that has happened before. There is the state government partnering with all of our major health systems to run a statewide, state-backed-and-funded clinical trial. We have Sanford Health in our state that does a lot of research, and they’re running many other clinical trials, and they came to the table and said they would lead it, and I said the state would support it and help secure the drugs with the White House’s help, the hydroxychloroquine and whatever else we would need, and then the other two health systems, Avera and Monument, were excited to partner as well. So we will literally have a clinical trial now where every person in the state will be allowed to participate in.”

“So it’s the first statewide one. I think we’re the only state where it would have been possible to get all of the healthcare systems to agree to participate in,” she continued. “It really is unprecedented as well to get them all to step up and agree to participate, and then we can include up to 100,000 people so it is much larger than a typical clinical trial would be.”

“Sometimes the accuracy of a clinical trial is in question when it’s a super small sample and you don’t get enough people to participate,” Noem explained. “By this, including this many people getting access to the drug and seeing what the results would be, not only allows us to meet the current need but also allows us to get the background data and research that we can use to be on offense against this virus into the future.”

“So, I think this is kind of what South Dakota does best—we’re much better on offense than we are just sitting back and playing defense, and this is one way where I said let’s not just sit back and access the drug and let people use it that are in ICUs and in healthcare systems that need it to save their lives,” she said. “But let’s use it as an opportunity to build out our capacity for doing research so that in the long run we’re contributing to addressing COVID-19 for years into the future.”

South Dakota is still, Noem added, planning to have fireworks over Mount Rushmore this year—a promise President Trump made when signing a phase one trade deal with China earlier this year.

“They are—we’ll decide what it looks like but there will be fireworks over Mount Rushmore this year. We’re still moving ahead,” Noem said.

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Star-Studded ‘One World’ Benefit Concert for the W.H.O. Sparks Outrage: ‘Commie Propaganda’


Reported by BEN KEW |

URL of the originating web site: https://www.breitbart.com/entertainment/2020/04/19/star-studded-one-world-benefit-concert-for-the-w-h-o-sparks-outrage-commie-propaganda/

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – NOVEMBER 24: Taylor Swift performs onstage during the 2019 American Music Awards at Microsoft Theater on November 24, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by JC Olivera/Getty Images)

Critics of the World Health Organization (W.H.O.) expressed anger over Saturday’s star-studded “One World” benefit concert held to raise funds for the U.N. body after President Donald Trump pulled funding for the organization over its connections to the Chinese communist regime.

The “One World” concert, led by the W.H.O. and non-profit group Global Citizen, was broadcast across multiple television channels in the U.S. and around the world on Saturday, with the aim of raising money for the W.H.O.’s COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund.

The line-up of stars for the event included Taylor Swift, Paul McCartney, The Rolling Stones, Beyonce, Oprah Winfrey, Jennifer Lopez, Elton John, and Lady Gaga, who even described W.H.O. Director-General Tedros Adhanom as a “superstar.”

The concert also attracted contributions from political figures such as former first ladies Michelle Obama and Laura Bush, as well as celebrity supporters of the cause including former soccer star David Beckham and Microsoft founder Bill Gates.

However, many people were left unimpressed by the event, denouncing the organization’s handling of the Chinese coronavirus pandemic and describing it as a form of globalist propaganda.

“If I could give No stars I would,” one Amazon reviewer wrote. “WHO lied! People died!! Let’s not forgot this!!! While we’re home given up our freedom and most of us without jobs these CELEBRITIES ask us to help raise money for the WHO?! Forget it!”

“Yes, we need useless celebrities preaching to us how this isn’t China’s fault and how we should just all live as one nation,” added another.

Skeptics also lashed out on Twitter against W.H.O. chief Dr. Tedros Adhanom, a former official in Ethiopia’s Marxist Tigray People’s Liberation Front, who has been the subject of widespread criticism for his attempts to downplay China’s role in the outbreak.

Charles Langworthy for Congress@LangworthyUS9th

That one world together at home commie propaganda sponsored by the CCP WHO and this global citizen bull crap is on at least 20 different stations. You can take your commie propaganda and shove it. THIS IS AMERICA! We are not global citizens we are AMERICAN CITIZENS!!
1776 2.0

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Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus

✔@DrTedros

 · 
Replying to @DrTedros

One World: together at home. Thank you to all our frontline heath workers.

Roberto@rmtiberti1

Disgrace, you have no ground to stand on after this episode. Failed to signal what was coming out of 🇨🇳 failed to confirm a pandemic until it was too late, you were behind the curve permanently

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Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus

✔@DrTedros

 · 
Replying to @DrTedros

One World: together at home. Thank you to all our frontline heath workers.

Jay Zario@JayZario

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Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus

✔@DrTedros

 · 
Replying to @DrTedros

One World: together at home. Thank you to all our frontline heath workers.

mcp 🇦🇷 💙✌@mcp1968

Made in 🇨🇳

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Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus

✔@DrTedros

 · 
Replying to @DrTedros

One World: together at home. Thank you to all our frontline heath workers.

odere benji@BenjiOdere

This would be a wonderful message if Tedros had performed in the initial stages of the fight. He should apologise to the world, otherwise, atulekemu!

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“Today I’m instructing my administration to halt funding of the World Health Organization while a review is conducted to assess the World Health Organization’s role in severely mismanaging and covering up the spread of the coronavirus,” Trump said at a White House press conference Tuesday.

“The WHO’s attack on travel restrictions put political correctness above life-saving measures,” he continued. “The reality is that the WHO failed to adequately obtain, vet and share information in a timely and transparent fashion. Fortunately, I was not convinced and suspended travel from China saving untold numbers of lives.”

Follow Ben Kew on Facebook, Twitter at @ben_kew, or email him at bkew@breitbart.com.

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CNN Finds Bright Side to Tens of Thousands of COVID Deaths: The Air Is Cleaner


Reported By Johnathan Jones | Published April 15, 2020 at 8:37am

As governments race to contain the spread of COVID-19, and citizens across the world deal with the health, financial and emotional tolls of the disease, CNN has found the silver lining: Cleaner air! The network’s early Saturday morning B-team went up to bat this past weekend as people slept and airports, which always seem to air CNN’s coverage, were ghost towns. Still, for anyone who might have been watching, the network paraded widespread, draconian lockdowns as an efficacious solution to climate change.

While you’d be hard-pressed to find a sane individual who is content with the current state of life on the planet, CNN gleefully used the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic to suggest social and economic reforms in order to deal with climate change.

CNN early morning anchor Natalie Allen welcomed meteorologist Derek Van Dam during a segment in the 5 a.m. block of the network’s Saturday coverage, according to the Media Research Center. Both Allen and Van Dam were a bit too cheerful in reporting that some folks in India can see the Himalayan mountain range from 100 miles away, due to the absence of smog with the country shut down.

“[India] has been under lockdown for more than two weeks, and that has dramatically improved the air quality and visibility,” Allen said.

Allen and Van Dam, who was reporting from his basement, didn’t stop at marveling at this phenomenon.

Speaking to Van Dam, Allen added, “This is often a topic we talk about here at CNN, and, finally, you know, this is a bright spot in this era of pandemic, like, bring on the electric cars and, you know, climate — solving climate change isn’t that hard.”

“Preaching to the choir right there, Natalie,” Van Dam replied. “You know, I like to consider myself an optimist, and I think you could probably relate to this — just on my daily run today across midtown Atlanta, where we live, the skies have never been this blue, in my opinion.”

“There’s virtually no car traffic, no airline traffic taking place out of Atlanta’s Hartsfield International Airport — of course a few planes, but virtually nothing compared to what it would normally be on any given day. And, yeah, there’s just less air pollution,” the meteorologist concluded.

Van Dam then essentially asked Allen to picture a world where people are forced to live under permanent government control in order to save the planet from climate change.

“Can you imagine if our response to the climate crisis equaled that of the robust nature of the COVID-19 response? Where would we be, Natalie?” he asked.

“I know. That’s a very good question that we all should ponder. And I’m with you,” Allen responded. “I’ve been marveling at the blue sky in Atlanta. It’s just been magnificent.”

It’s probably safe to assume most people would take a hard pass at living life in its current state on a permanent basis. But when you look at the economic toll of the coronavirus, it is essentially what Democrats have pushed for when discussing Green New Deal legislation. Various models of the outrageously expensive environmental plan would essentially force people to use public transportation and do away with most commercial air travel. A Green New Deal would equate to food shortages, large-scale rationing, limited travel and a government takeover of the majority of the economy, as regulations would slowly strong-arm working people into becoming wards of the state.

If anything, CNN has made a strong case against sweeping climate change measures, because we’re essentially living under them already — and they’re no fun. It’s great that a few people in India got a chance to see the Himalayas for a while.

Hopefully, sooner rather than later, those people are going to have to move a bit closer if they want that same view.

Unlike CNN’s climate activists, Americans are ready to fire up the economic engine that has made this country so unique, because we want our lives back.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: 
Johnathan Jones
Johnathan has authored thousands of news articles throughout his career. He has also worked as an editor and producer in radio and television. He is a proud husband and father.

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FBI: SEIU Duped as 39 Million Masks ‘Found’ by Union Was Elaborate Fraud Scheme


Reported by KYLE OLSON | 

URL of the originating web site: https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/04/12/fbi-seiu-duped-39-million-masks-found-union-elaborate-fraud-scheme/

In a May 6, 2009 file photo a store attendantholds an N-95 mask over a box of disposable surgical masks in Manila, Philippines. Health workers caring for patients who have or may have swine flu should wear a special type of mask called an N95 respirator, not looser-fitting surgical masks, …/AP Photo/ Pat Roque/file

The 39 million N95 masks the Service Employees International Union announced it had discovered turned out to be an elaborate scheme, according to the FBI.

In late March, the union rushed out a press release:

The union launched an exhaustive search for masks and other personal protective equipment (PPE) five days ago in response to pleas from frontline healthcare workers that they need more protection and feel unsafe on the job as they treat the growing number of COVID-19 patients. SEIU-UHW has 97,000 members who work in hospitals across California.
Within 48 hours of painstakingly calling leads and potential suppliers, the union discovered a distributor who had the 39 million masks, and has since found another supplier who says his company can produce 20 million more masks a week. The union also has found a supplier who can deliver millions of face shields.

The union didn’t identify the alleged distributor.

Now, the FBI claims the union was “duped” in an elaborate scheme, the Los Angeles Times reported.

U.S. Atty. Scott Brady of the Western District of Pennsylvania said FBI agents and prosecutors stumbled onto the arrangement while looking into whether they could intercept the masks for the Federal Emergency Management Agency under the Defense Production Act. …
Brady said investigators tracked the tip back to a Pittsburgh businessman, who said he had been working with the union to secure millions of masks, some of which were purported to be sitting in a Georgia warehouse. Brady said the businessman had been using WhatsApp to connect with a broker in Australia and a supplier in Kuwait, who are both now the target of a federal investigation.
Brady said the union and the Pittsburgh businessman, whom he declined to identify, appear to be among a string of middlemen who were fooled. The union and the Pittsburgh businessman are not under investigation, Brady said.

The paper reported union President Dave Regan said the organization had “successfully purchased the masks and that workers would soon be receiving them.”

In March, the union said the masks would be sold for $5 apiece.

According to U.S. Attorney Brady, the Pittsburgh businessman said he was buying the masks at $3.50. It’s not clear who intended to pocket the difference.

“As far as we knew, he had legitimate masks,” SEIU spokesman Steve Trossman said, the paper reported, “and the people who were going to purchase those masks were going to fully vet it and check it out and do their due diligence.”
“We believe we disrupted fraud,” Brady said.

Kyle Olson is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter and like him on Facebook.

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Biden to Trump: ‘Step Up and Do Your Job — Stop Campaigning’


Reported by PAM KEY | 

URL of the original posting site: https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/03/30/biden-to-trump-step-up-and-do-your-job-stop-campaigning/
 
Monday on MSNBC,  former Vice President Joe Biden, the frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nod, said President Donald Trump should “step up” and do his job during the coronavirus pandemic.

Biden said, “We don’t need the kind of talk is president is using. In fact, the president has to stop the belittling of the governors with whom he disagrees, stop making accusations that somehow some New York hospitals are — they all of a sudden they need more masks, we ought to investigate them. Maybe they are going out the back door. What is that all about? That is bizarre, absolutely bizarre. Get the help to where it is needed now. And what they are doing right is they should let Dr. Fauci and the experts run the show, speak more, let them lay out exactly what is happening. Just tell the truth to the American people. They are tough. They can take it. But don’t mislead them.”

He continued, “Let’s do everything in our power to do it. And the social distancing the president gets around to it really late. He talked about social distancing not being required. Then he said it is going to be required, but everybody will be in church on Easter. Now he is acknowledging that’s not going to happen. I mean, let’s just level with the American people.”

He added, “Mr. President, let’s get things done. Let’s put the politics aside. You know we need more of everything. Why are you not insisting it be produced and demanding it using your presidential authority to get it done? Nobody disagrees with that. Get it done. Step up and do your job. Stop campaigning.”

Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN

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Chinese Restaurant Hangs Banner ‘Celebrating the Epidemic in the U.S.’


URL of the original posting site: https://www.breitbart.com/asia/2020/03/26/chinese-restaurant-hangs-banner-celebrating-coronavirus-epidemic-u-s/

Chinese state media confirmed on Wednesday the legitimacy of an image circulating online of a Shenyang, China, restaurant banner celebrating Chinese coronavirus deaths in the United States. / Weibo

Chinese state media confirmed on Wednesday the legitimacy of an image circulating online of a Shenyang, China, restaurant banner celebrating Chinese coronavirus deaths in the United States.

The Global Times, a state-run publication that has run conspiracy theories accusing the U.S. Army of artificially engineering the Wuhan virus and unleashing it as an attack on the Chinese state, identified the offending restaurant as “Mother Yang’s Porridge Restaurant” and claimed that police arrested the manager responsible for putting up a banner apparently wishing for the pandemic China allowed to occur to do as much damage in the United States and Japan as possible.

“Celebrating the epidemic in the U.S. and wishing coronavirus a nice trip to Japan,” a large red banner over the restaurant read, according to the Global Times’ translation. Other translations note that the Chinese characters also insult Japan as “little” and hope the virus spread “forever after that [arrival into Japan]”:

Jennifer Zeng 曾錚@jenniferatntd

Banner at restaurant in ruled says: “Congratulations on the in the US! We wish the epidemic in dwarf Japan will last forever and ever!”
What do you think? I call it anti-humanity. Do these kinds of people have the right to protest again “racism”?

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The newspaper identified the manager as a 30-something worker who had been there for some time and claimed that the banner was only up for about 90 minutes before police arrived at the scene. As China does not allow independent media outlets to operate within its borders, there are no independent reports confirming that this was the case. The news service UPI identified the manager as having the last name “Hui,” but not much more is known about the person or his or her fate after being detained by Chinese police.

The banner appeared to celebrate the growing numbers of deaths in both Japan and America. At press time, Japan has documented 1,307 cases of Chinese coronavirus nationwide and 45 deaths. In the United States, which has a much larger population than Japan, medical experts have logged more than 69,000 coronavirus cases and 1,046 deaths. Both nations are attempting to limit social contact to slow the spread of the highly contagious Chinese virus, though America has currently taken much more extreme measures in banning many American businesses from operating, triggering record numbers of jobless claims nationwide.

While the Global Times wrote of the celebration of American deaths on the part of Mother Yang’s, it has participated in the evidence-free accusations that Washington is responsible for the pandemic. An article in the state-run publication this month claimed that a U.S. Army facility in Fort Detrick, Maryland, was responsible for engineering a new form of coronavirus to be more contagious and difficult to treat. Chinese government officials also propagated the conspiracy theory. In the United States, Chinese Foreign Ministry official Zhao Lijian wrote on Twitter, “It might be US army who brought the epidemic to Wuhan.”

The Communist Party bans citizens who are not high-ranking Party members from using Twitter. Twitter has refused to hold Chinese officials to its terms of service about sharing dangerous disinformation.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has repeatedly condemned Beijing for baselessly accusing the United States of fabricating the disease.

“My concern is that this cover-up, this disinformation that the Chinese Communist Party is engaged in, is still denying the world the information it needs so that we can prevent further cases or something like this from recurring again,” Pompeo said this week. “The disinformation campaign from Russia and Iran as well as China continues. They’re talking about it coming from the U.S. Army, and they’re saying maybe it began in Italy, all things to deflect responsibility.”

The Chinese coronavirus originated in Wuhan, central China, in November. Chinese officials did nothing about the growing outbreak for months until privately alerting the World Health Organization (WHO) in January and shutting down a wild meat market that it believed was the origin location for the outbreak, as coronaviruses tend to infect humans after living in animals through consumption. Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province, is home to 11 million people and to China’s Wuhan National Biosafety Laboratory, which is licensed to handle the world’s most dangerous pathogens. The Chinese government boasted that the facility identified the Wuhan virus as a new pathogen at a breakneck pace.

That month – after January 20, when China finally told the world it had identified a new virus – the WHO told the world that, according to Chinese scientists, the coronavirus was not contagious from human to human. Scientists now know that this was not true, and the Chinese coronavirus is highly contagious, thus allegedly necessitating the shutdown of nearly the entirety of the American economy.

A February study also found evidence that the virus did not originate at the shut-down meat market, also raising questions as to China’s initial response to what is now a pandemic.

A study by the University of Southhampton found this month that had the Communist Party not detained doctors warning in December and January about a contagious disease spreading in Wuhan and otherwise silenced evidence about the outbreak, about 95 percent of the world’s coronavirus cases could have been prevented.

Follow Frances Martel on Facebook and Twitter.

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