RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/michael-flynn-case-judge-sullivan-rules-amicus-briefs/

General Flynn’s counsel, Sidney Powell, has filed petition for a writ of mandamus in the D.C. Circuit, seeking to have the appeals court instruct District judge Emmet Sullivan end his tantrum over the Justice Department’s motion to dismiss the case. Judge Sullivan’s antics include inviting a torrent of amicus briefs to help him figure out a way to deny the motion, which he must know he has no authority to do under the circumstances.

There are many things about the submission that are worth discussing, but I just want to highlight my favorite part: Ms. Powell quotes in full Judge Sullivan’s own order, dated December 20, 2017, explaining why it would be improper for a judge to allow third parties to file amicus briefs in Flynn’s criminal case — something he reportedly refused to permit some two dozen times before the dizzying U-turn he took a few days ago (my italics):

MINUTE ORDER. This Court has received several motions to intervene/file an amicus brief along with letters in support from a private individual who is neither a party to this case nor counsel of record for any party. The Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure do not provide for intervention by third parties in criminal cases. The Court recognizes that the movant sincerely believes that he has information to share that bears on this case, and that, understandably, he wishes to be heard. Options exist for a private citizen to express his views about matters of public interest, but the Court’s docket is not an available option. The docket is the record of official proceedings related to criminal charges brought by the United States against an individual who has pled guilty to a criminal offense. For the benefit of the parties in this case and the public, the docket must be maintained in an orderly fashion and in accordance with court rules. The movant states that he disagrees with the similar Minute Order issued by Judge Berman Jackson in Criminal Case Number 17-201, but the contrary legal authority on which he relies is neither persuasive nor applicable. Therefore, the Clerk is directed not to docket additional filings submitted by the would-be intervenor. If the individual seeks relief from this Court’s rulings, he must appeal the rulings to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Signed by Judge Emmet G. Sullivan on 12/20/2017. (lcegs3) (Entered: 12/20/2017).

As Flynn’s mandamus petition explains, the court rules to which Sullivan refers (i.e., the rules of the court on which he sits as a judge) expressly authorize amicus brief in civil cases, but do not authorize them in criminal cases. Those are rules Sullivan used to apply . . . until he decided to stop being Flynn’s judge and start being Flynn’s prosecutor.

https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/05/coronavirus-crisis-growing-american-divide-red-states-blue-states/

Perhaps in this time of plague, Americans can at least agree that the romance of Arcadia is suddenly preferable to the allure of big-city lights.

Red- and blue-state America was already divided before the coronavirus epidemic hit. Globalization had enriched the East Coast and West Coast corridors but hollowed out much in between.

The traditional values of small towns and rural counties were increasingly at odds with postmodern lifestyles in the cities.

There were, of course, traditionalists in blue states. And lots of progressives live in red states. But people increasingly self-segregate to where they feel at home and where politics, jobs, and culture reflect their tastes.

The ensuing left/right, liberal/conservative, Democrat/Republican divide not only intensified in the 21st century, it also took on a dangerous geographical separatism.

The coasts vs. the interior reflects two Americas — often in a manner similar to the old Mason–Dixon line that geographically split the U.S. for roughly a century.

https://amgreatness.com/2020/05/20/hydroxychloroquine-what-does-trump-have-to-lose/

Fielding questions from reporters on Monday after a roundtable with restaurant executives and industry leaders, President Trump casually announced that for the past week-and-a-half, he had been taking one hydroxychloroquine tablet daily, along with a zinc supplement (HCQ+Zn). Given the media reaction, you’d have thought the president admitted to . . . oh, I don’t know, something really out there, like he’s eaten dog meat.

Asked about Department of Health and Human Services whistleblower Rick Bright’s criticism of the administration’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the president said:

He’s the one that signed the [emergency use authorization] application. . . . Now, if he doesn’t believe in it, why would he sign it? . . . You’d be surprised at how many people are taking [hydroxychloroquine], especially the frontline workers—before you catch it. The frontline workers—many, many are taking it. I happen to be taking it. I happen to be taking it. . . . Right on “The View” now. Yeah. A couple of weeks ago, I started taking it.

Then, President Trump dropped this bombshell when asked if the president’s physician, Dr. Sean Conley, recommended that he take HCQ+Zn:

A White House doctor—didn’t recommend—no, I asked him, “What do you think?” He said, “Well, if you’d like it.” I said, “Yeah, I’d like it. I’d like to take it.” . . . I was just waiting to see your eyes light up when I said this, but—you know, when I announced this. But, yeah, I have taken it for about a week and a half now, and I’m still here. I’m still here.

Pressed repeatedly by reporters on whether he was taking HCQ+Zn because he tested positive for COVID-19 or was experiencing symptoms, the president clarified:

Zero symptoms. . . . [E]very couple of days, they want to test me, you know, for obvious reasons. I mean, I am the president, alright? . . . So every couple of days, I get tested, and I’ve been—I’ve shown always negative. . . . Totally negative. No symptoms. No nothing. . . . I take it because I think—I hear very good things. Again, you have to go to frontline workers. Many frontline workers take it and they seem to be doing very well.

https://www.frontpagemag.com/point/2020/05/senate-dems-push-who-chinese-propaganda-resolution-daniel-greenfield/

First the Dems insisted that “Chinese Virus” was racist. That argument was wrong, but at least comprehensible. Now they’re going on to insist that the term, “Wuhan Virus” is racist. And leading the charge is Senator Kamala Harris.

 Sen. Kamala Harris (D., Calif.) introduced a bill last week that would malign people as racists for using the term “Chinese Virus,” connecting it to hate crimes.

Senate Resolution 580 condemns “all forms of Anti-Asian sentiment as related to COVID-19,” citing “Chinese Virus,” “Wuhan Virus,” and “Kung Flu” as inaccurate rhetoric perpetuating anti-Asian stigma. The bill calls on public officials to denounce such rhetoric in any form.

The resolution specifically claims that, “the use of anti-Asian terminology and rhetoric related to COVID–19, such as the ‘‘Chinese Virus’’,‘‘Wuhan Virus’’, and ‘‘Kung-flu’’, have perpetuated anti-Asian stigma;”

Then it notes that, “in 2015, the WHO issued guidance calling on media outlets, scientists, and national authorities to avoid naming infectious diseases for locations to avoid stigmatizing groups of people;”

I wonder why an organization that is essentially China’s hand puppet would have issued such guidance.

Harris, Warren, and the rest of the Dem gang are essentially pushing a resolution that is a set of Communist Chinese talking points meant to censor discussion about the origins of the pandemic.

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2020/05/strategic-revelations-susan-rice-lloyd-billingsley/

In her now fully declassified January 20, 2017 email to herself, former national security advisor Susan Rice three times claimed everything about incoming Gen. Michael Flynn was done “by the book.” In the January 5, 2017 meeting, Rice wrote, “President Obama asked if Comey was saying that the NSC should not pass sensitive information related to Russia to Flynn. Comey replied ‘potentially.’ He added that he has no indication that Flynn has passed classified information to Kislyak, but he noted that ‘the level of communication is unusual.”

On March 22, 2017, Judy Woodruff of PBS asked Susan Rice about President Trump’s claim that that the Obama administration had surveilled his campaign in 2016.  “Nothing of the sort occurred,” said Rice.

On April 4, 2017, Woodruff confronted Rice with revelations from House intelligence committee chairman Devin Nunes. As the California Republican charged, during the final days of the Obama administration, the president-elect and the people around him may have been caught up in surveillance of foreign individuals and their identities may have been disclosed.  Woodruff wondered, “Do you know anything about this?”

“I know nothing about this,” answered Rice, who knew everything about it, and this was not her first duty on the falsehood front. Back in 2014, Rice said deserter Bowe Bergdahl had served the United States with “honor and distinction.” That whopper came two years after Rice’s major starring role.

https://patriotpost.us/alexander/70801-what-hero-really-means-2020-05-20

EXCERPT:

What ‘Hero’ Really Means “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” Mark Alexander

In my capacity as a board member of the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center, I’ve been privileged to meet many members of our nation’s most exclusive fraternity — those military personnel whose courage under the most extreme of circumstances has earned them our nation’s highest military award for valor.

Not one of those Medal of Honor recipients would describe their actions as “heroic,” but simply being in a place and time that required something extraordinary of them. To a man, they are then quick to say that most others would have done the same if they’d been in the recipient’s boots.

This week, falling as it does between Armed Forces Day and the upcoming observance of Memorial Day, allow me to express my frame of reference for the meaning of “hero” by telling you about one American.

Last Thursday, I received word from a mutual friend that Staff Sgt. Ronald J. Shurer II had died after a three-year battle with cancer.

In 2008, at the age of 29, Ron was a Senior Medical Sergeant in Special Forces Operational Detachment Alpha 3336, Special Operations Task Force-33, in support of Operation Enduring Freedom during the battle of Shok Valley, Afghanistan. He was an ordinary man who faced extraordinary circumstances and summoned the courage to repeatedly run through enemy fire to provide medical care to his brothers in arms. Despite being wounded himself, he tended to four critically wounded soldiers and 10 injured commandos, then helped evacuate many wounded through fields of fire to waiting medevac helicopters.

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlich/2020/05/20/five-people-who-say-hydroxychloroquine-saved-their-life-n2569069

When President Trump announced Monday afternoon that he’s been taking hydroxychloroquine for weeks as a way to help prevent Wuhan coronavirus, nearly everyone in the media turned themselves into a doctor to condemn the move. They claimed it was far too dangerous and that it doesn’t work. 

While lengthy scientific studies about the use of the drug to prevent the disease are still being conducted, it is true that a number of frontline healthcare workers have been taking a combination of hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin  as they work to take care of infected patients. Further, we know the drug has been prescribed successfully to a number of Wuhan coronavirus patients who credit it with saving their lives. 

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/trump-hate-is-making-it-harder-to-study-hydroxychloroquine/

Yesterday, I pointed out the potential consequences of having an overwrought, childish, partisan debate over a lifesaving drug that’s used by millions of Americans. Today, I see, Joe Biden is comparing hydroxychloroquine to poison. “It’s like saying maybe if you inject Clorox into your blood it may cure you,” Biden said of Donald Trump’s admission that he takes the drug. “C’mon, man! What is he doing? What in God’s name is he doing?”

Now, I get that Biden thinks it’s cute to merge the myth that Trump wants Americans to inject themselves with bleach and the president’s unproven prophylactic use of hydroxychloroquine. It’s worth noting, however, that the presumptive Democratic Party nominee is also now telling Americans — including those who need this low-risk prescribed drug that has been approved for all public use for over 70 years — that taking hydroxychloroquine is tantamount to injecting yourself with bleach.

Listen to this NPR interview with some doctors trying to conduct tests of hydroxychloroquine effectiveness. Dr. John Giles, a rheumatologist at Columbia University, who says that the partisan fight over hydroxychloroquine has made it virtually impossible for him to find people to test the effectiveness of the drug against coronavirus. Why would anyone want to swallow Clorox, right?

https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/05/coronavirus-crisis-ron-desantis-florida-covid-19-strategy/

The Florida governor explains a COVID-19 strategy that has gotten bad press and favorable results.

A  couple of months ago, the media, almost as one, decided that Governor Ron DeSantis was a public menace who was going to get Floridians killed with his lax response to the coronavirus crisis.

In an interview with National Review, DeSantis says he was surprised at “how knee-jerk” the hostile coverage was, but he “also knew that none of these people knew anything about Florida at all, so I didn’t care what they were saying.”

The conventional wisdom has begun to change about Florida, as the disaster so widely predicted hasn’t materialized. It’s worth delving into the state’s response — as described by DeSantis and a couple of members of his team — because it is the opposite of the media narrative of a Trump-friendly governor disregarding the facts to pursue a reckless agenda. DeSantis and his team have followed the science closely from the beginning, which is why they forged a nuanced approach, but one that focused like a laser on the most vulnerable population, those in nursing homes.

An irony of the national coverage of the coronavirus crisis is that at the same time DeSantis was being made into a villain, New York governor Andrew Cuomo was being elevated as a hero, even though the DeSantis approach to nursing homes was obviously superior to that of Cuomo. Florida went out of its way to get COVID-19-positive people out of nursing homes, while New York went out of its way to get them in, a policy now widely acknowledged to have been a debacle.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/adamandrzejewski/2020/05/19/why-california-is-in-trouble–340000-public-employees-with-100000-paychecks-cost-taxpayers-45-billion/#20e8a6df5fb8

Despite California’s $54 billion budget deficit and $1 trillion unfunded pension liability, there are 340,390 government employees bringing home six-figure salary and pension checks.

Recently, though, Gov. Gavin Newsom asked U.S. taxpayers for a bailout.

The governor wrote a letter to Congress requesting a $1 trillion in coronavirus 50-state aid. Then, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi obliged by adding $500 billion for the states into the HEROES Act – the bill passed and now awaits action in the Senate.

Here, in part, is why California is asking for taxpayers help.

Our auditors at OpentheBooks.com found truck drivers in San Francisco making $159,000 per year; lifeguards in LA County costing taxpayers $365,000; nurses at UCSF making up to $501,000; the UCLA athletic director earning $1.8 million; and 1,420 city employees out-earning all 50 state governors ($202,000).

Using our new interactive mapping tool, quickly review (by ZIP code) the 340,390 California public employees and retirees who earn more than $100,000 and cost taxpayers $45 billion (FY2018-9). Just click a pin and scroll down to see the results rendered in the chart beneath the map.

Here are a few examples of what you’ll uncover: