Displaying posts categorized under

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION

50 STATES AND DC, CONGRESS AND THE PRESIDENT

Pfizer Notified Biden Before Trump on Vaccine Success By Julie Kelly

https://amgreatness.com/2020/11/12/pfizer-notified-biden-before-trump-on-vaccine-success/

In an interview with WMAL radio show Wednesday morning, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar appeared to confirm that the Trump administration learned of Pfizer’s successful COVID-19 vaccine trial from press coverage not from company officials directly. “I…learned of this from media reports on Monday morning,” Azar told “Mornings on the Mall” program on November 11. “There certainly was a gap in communications, let’s say.”

Azar, whose agency is a lead government partner in Operation Warp Speed, the president’s ambitious program to manufacture and distribute 300 million COVID-19 vaccine doses by early next year, found out about Pfizer’s results after Joe Biden was notified. “Last night, my public health advisors were informed of this excellent news,” Team Biden said in a statement Monday morning. “I congratulate the brilliant women and men who helped produce this breakthrough and to give us such cause for hope.” The press-ordained president-elect who is promising to unite Americans, however, did not credit the current president or his administration for their efforts.

President Trump is expressing (justified) outrage that Pfizer slow-walked news about their Phase 3 trial until after Election Day. “As I have long said, @Pfizer and the others would only announce a Vaccine after the Election, because they didn’t have the courage to do it before,” Trump tweeted November 9. “Likewise, the @US_FDA should have announced it earlier, not for political purposes, but for saving lives!”

Court-Packing Is Dead in the Water, and a Democrat Dealt the Killing Blow. AOC Is NOT Happy By Tyler O’Neil

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/tyler-o-neil/2020/11/12/joe-manchin-eviscerates-the-far-lefts-hopes-on-court-packing-and-aoc-is-not-happy-n1141175

On Monday, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) put the final nail in the coffin of far-left hopes that Democrats could pack the Supreme Court and abolish the Senate filibuster in 2021. Manchin doubled down on his pledge. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) was none too pleased, while Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) voiced skepticism.

“I commit to tonight, and I commit to all of your viewers and everyone else that’s watching, I want to allay those fears, I want to rest those fears for you right now because when they talk about, whether it be packing the courts or ending the filibuster, I will not vote to do that,” Manchin told Fox News’ Special Report.

Even if Democrats somehow win both of Georgia’s Senate runoffs on January 5, giving Democrats 50 Senate seats plus a tiebreaker with Kamala Harris as vice president (the more likely outcome although the presidential results are contested), Manchin pledged to oppose the more radical policies.

The senator doubled down on this claim in an interview with The Washington Examiner‘s Salena Zito on Wednesday.

“Under no circumstances would I support packing the Court or ending the filibuster if there is a 50-50 tie,” Manchin told Zito.

Lockdown Joe: Biden Wants Everyone To Live In Their Basement

https://issuesinsights.com/2020/11/13/lockdown-joe-looks-as-if-biden-wants-to-close-the-entire-country/

Should Joe Biden survive the election legal challenges ahead, he will roll into the Oval Office fully intent on doing what Democrats do – rob Americans of their liberty. We have every expectation he will try to shut down the country, not because the coronavirus makes it necessary but because the oxygen of the political left is controlling other people’s lives.

The Bongino Report tells us that Biden’s coronavirus adviser is proposing a lengthy national shutdown to mitigate the spread as positive test results climb during the early weeks of the North American flu season.

“Under a Biden presidency (God forbid) we’d return right back to a full lockdown,” writes Matt Palumbo, “and this time they’re not pretending it’ll only last 15 days.”

Apparently Biden is listening to the ravings of Dr. Michael Osterholm, who is suggesting “we” – can he please define “we”? – could “pay for a package right now to cover all of the wages, lost wages for individual workers, for losses to small companies, to medium-sized companies or city, state, county governments,” so the country could “lock down for four to six weeks.”

Will Riots Scare Us into Surrender? Lee Duigon

http://stupidfrogs.org/articles/will_riots_scare_us_into_surrender.html

I was chatting with a neighbor the other day, and trying to lift his spirits; but he was up to his neck in defeatism. Because of this travesty of an election, of course.

“We’ve been scammed,” he said, “and there’s nothing we can do about it. It’s going to wind up in the Supreme Court, and nothing’s going to happen.”

And why will nothing happen?

“The court wouldn’t dare overturn this election, no matter how corrupt it was,” he said. “They just wouldn’t dare. If they did, we’d have a revolution. We’d have riots like you wouldn’t believe.”

So that’s it? A new political doctrine—whoever can stage the biggest riot gets to own the government. Sheesh, I hope he never raised kids that way. As long as you don’t throw a tantrum and break things, you can do anything you want?

But he’s not alone. A recent essay by Robert Arvay in “The American Thinker” came right out and said it: “The courts might be afraid…”.

Oh, boy—living in fear! That’s some nice republic you’ve got there, America. Never mind the law—who’s got a pile of bricks to throw at cops? We have to let them get away with stealing a national election because they’ll riot if we don’t?

Joe Manchin Slams Fellow Dems’ ‘Crazy Socialist Agenda’ amid Intra-Party Battle: ‘Defund, My Butt’ By Mairead McArdle

https://www.nationalreview.com/news/joe-manchin-slams-fellow-dems-crazy-socialist-agenda-amid-intra-party-battle-defund-my-butt/

Senator Joe Manchin on Wednesday slammed efforts by progressive members of his party to slash police department budgets, saying the Democratic Party as he conceives of it does not have “some crazy socialist agenda.”

“Defund the police? Defund, my butt. I’m a proud West Virginia Democrat. We are the party of working men and women. We want to protect Americans’ jobs & healthcare. We do not have some crazy socialist agenda, and we do not believe in defunding the police,” Manchin wrote in a tweet Wednesday evening.

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a New York progressive who has voiced support for cutting police budgets, responded to Manchin by tweeting a photo of herself during the State of the Union address in February offering what appears to be a glare in Manchin’s direction.

Manchin, one of the most moderate members of his party, could end up being the deciding vote on a number of issues should Senate control be split between Republicans and Democrats. Two Georgia Senate races headed for runoff elections in January are expected to decide the balance of power in the upper chamber. Republicans currently have 50 seats in the Senate to Democrats’ 48 seats.

Joe Biden’s Lockdown Lobby His Covid advisers seem to have learned nothing from the spring recession.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/joe-bidens-lockdown-lobby-11605223647?mod=opinion_lead_pos1

Did you enjoy the days at home from mid-March to May? The 22 million lost jobs, the shuttered storefronts, the neighborhood shops out of business, the kids unable to attend school, and the near economic depression? Well, congratulations, a reprise may be coming your way if Joe Biden heeds his Covid-19 advisory team.

We’ve told you about Ezekiel Emanuel, the advisory committee member who wanted new lockdowns during the summer flare-up in the Sunbelt states. Lucky for the country that his only power then was appearing on MSNBC.

Then there’s Michael Osterholm, also a member of the Biden Covid committee, who now wants a new nationwide lockdown for as many as six weeks. Dr. Osterholm is director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. CNBC quoted him as suggesting that we are about to enter “Covid hell” and the government should lock everyone up as we await a vaccine.

“We could pay for a package right now to cover all of the wages, lost wages for individual workers for losses to small companies to medium-sized companies or city, state, county governments. We could do all of that,” Dr. Osterholm said, according to Yahoo Finance. “If we did that, then we could lock down for four to six weeks.”

We Don’t Need Government Mandates for Covid Vaccination This isn’t smallpox and doesn’t require draconian measures that infringe on basic civil liberties. By Joel M. Zinberg

https://www.wsj.com/articles/we-dont-need-government-mandates-for-covid-vaccination-11605222059?mod=opinion_lead_pos5

Covid-19 vaccines are almost here. Pfizer announced Monday that its vaccine has proved more than 90% effective in clinical trials. But vaccines are useless unless people take them, and it’s likely many will refuse.

The drumbeat is growing louder for the government to mandate vaccination. On Saturday the New York State Bar Association urged Albany to require Covid-19 vaccines for all New Yorkers regardless of religious objection. While courts have upheld state vaccine mandates in the past, a societywide mandate would be overbroad and unduly coercive. Private initiatives will work better.

Only 45% of American adults get vaccinated for influenza annually. Concerns about side effects and doubts about effectiveness are the two main reasons people skip the vaccine, according to the University of Chicago’s NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. In a NORC survey conducted at the height of the pandemic in May, Americans expressed similar concerns about a prospective Covid-19 vaccine. While a majority claimed they would likely be vaccinated, far fewer were a definite yes. Less than half said they would definitely be vaccinated, and doubts about safety and effectiveness were common.

The Biden campaign and others have alleged that vaccine makers and the Food and Drug Administration are moving too fast toward approval—claims the FDA and drug companies vehemently deny—further eroding public trust in an eventual vaccine. A Pew Research Center poll found that the number of Americans who would definitely or probably be vaccinated fell to 51% in September from 72% in May.

Top 50 Richest Places In America Allocated $350 Million “Coronavirus” Bailout Within HEROES Act by Adam Andrzejewski

https://www.forbes.com/sites/adamandrzejewski/2020/11/12/nancy-pelosis-heroes-act-gives-top-50-richest-towns-in-america-a-350-million-coronavirus-bailout-why/?sh=360dee7cc8d3
Atherton, California, is the richest town in America with an average annual household income of $525,000. Located 20 miles from Silicon Valley, the San Francisco suburb is home to the many tech titans of Google GOOG +0.1% and Facebook.
Knowing this, Americans would be right to ask why Nancy Pelosi’s Heroes Act shelled out $3.8 million in coronavirus “aid” money to Atherton. We contacted Speaker Pelosi and the Atherton city manager for comment and did not receive a response.
Atherton isn’t the only rich suburb to receive bailouts from American taxpayers. Our auditors at OpenTheBooks.com cross-referenced the nation’s 50 richest communities listed in the Bloomberg 2020 Richest Places with Heroes Act coronavirus bailouts.

We found the 50 richest places in the country received $350 million in bailouts.
In these wealthy communities, the average household income ranged from #1 Atherton, CA ($525,324) to #50 Darnestown, MD ($262,988). Other top places included:

Who Killed Philip Haney? Why is the FBI withholding information on the DHS whistleblower’s laptop and thumb drive?Lloyd Billingsley

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2020/11/who-killed-philip-haney-lloyd-billingsley/

In Amador County, California, on February 21, Philip Haney, author of  See Something Say Nothing: A Homeland Security Officer Exposes the Government’s Submission to Jihad, was found dead from a single gunshot wound. News reports suggested suicide but the local sheriff found “this is not the case.” The death of Haney, 66, was a homicide, the unlawful killing of one person by another. The Amador County sheriff had no suspects but did find some clues.

Deputies recovered “numerous thumb drives and a laptop” from the crime scene, and “those items and numerous other pieces of evidence, were turned over to the FBI.” The sheriff “hopes to complete our review of the reports and compare the FBI’s analysis with what we have already collected and analyzed within a few weeks after receipt.”

That was on July 22, and a week after the November 3 election, nearly eight months after the homicide, the FBI “analysis” has not come to light. The lapse could be partly explained by early reporting on the homicide.  

“Haney’s controversial accusations that the Obama administration could have prevented terrorist attacks were polarizing among Americans,” Laura Hoy of CNN reported on February 23. As Hoy explained, “Haney’s death is likely to become political ammo for Republicans heading into the 2020 presidential elections.” Haney’s “death” did not become an election issue because key information failed to emerge from the FBI, which is becoming more like the Soviet KGB.

Soviet bosses showed the KGB a man and they found the crime. The FBI deployed the same method with General Michael Flynn, Trump’s pick for national security advisor. FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith altered a document saying that Trump campaign adviser Carter Page was not a source for the CIA, even though he was. In similar style, former FBI director James Comey, FBI counterintelligence boss Peter Strzok, and FBI lawyer Lisa Page were all participants in illegal covert operations against candidate and President Trump.

The KGB also conducted “wet” operations, code for assassination and murder. Those who doubt the FBI could do likewise might consider the case of Randy Weaver, smeared as a “white separatist” and entrapped on bogus charges. 

After a gun battle that claimed the life of Weaver’s son and a U.S. Marshal, the FBI deployed massive military force against a single family. FBI sniper Lon Horiuchi shot Randy’s wife Vicki through the head as she held her infant daughter. Snipers are trained carefully to “acquire” their targets, so the claim that the killing was accidental is hard to accept.

Horiuchi faced charges and enjoyed the services of a government lawyer. Even so, William Barr, now U.S. attorney general, organized former attorneys general to support the FBI sniper, and assisted in legal arguments in favor of the FBI. Appeal court judge Alex Kozinski, by contrast, said the FBI had established “a 007 standard for the use of deadly force.” In other words, a license to kill.

Haney’s friends and relatives have a right to wonder if the FBI had some role beyond the withholding of evidence until after the November election. No official probe has been announced, but the FBI provides ample grounds for suspicion. 

Trump Paid Tributes to Veterans in the Rain at Arlington National Cemetery By Li Hai

https://www.theepochtimes.com/trump-paid-tributes-to-veterans-in-the-rain-at-arling

President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump participated in Veterans Day Observance at Arlington National Cemetery Wednesday morning in the rain.

Trump was accompanied by Vice President Mike Pence and Second Lady Karen Pence. Robert Wilkie, Secretary of Veterans Affairs, also joined Trump in the ceremony.

Trump approached the wreath and saluted at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, stood for a moment of silence, then retreated and saluted again.

This is the first official public event Trump attended since the election.

“America’s veterans have fought to defend our country, its values, and its interests since the first days of our founding. They have defeated tyrants, eliminated terrorists, and secured freedom at home and abroad,” Trump said in a proclamation released by the White House.

“The gravity of their contribution is immeasurable and so is our debt to every single one of our Nation’s veterans,” Trump continued in the proclamation.