Former Professor at Emory University Admits to Covering Up Chinese Donations By Eric Lendrum

https://amgreatness.com/2020/05/12/former-professor-at-emory-university-admits-to-covering-up-chinese-donations/

A former professor at Emory University pled guilty on Monday to filing false tax returns after he failed to report over $500,000 in donations from the Chinese government, as reported by the Daily Caller.

Professor Xiao-Jiang Li received at least half a million dollars from the Chinese government over a six-year period from 2012 to 2018, which he allegedly received as income while working at two Chinese universities, according to the Department of Justice. He was paid as a result of the Chinese government’s “Thousand Talents Program,” a recruitment program that preys on some Americans and often violates American financial law.

After pleading guilty to the felony charges, Li was sentenced by a U.S. District Judge to a year of probation and a fine to the IRS of just over $35,000.

Flummoxed Feds Freeze Out Frost Fix Henry I. Miller

https://issuesinsights.com/2020/05/12/flummoxed-feds-freeze-out-frost-fix/

Courtesy of the polar vortex, unseasonably cold temperatures came to a broad swath of the country, from Texas to Maine, last week, causing frost damage to crops and ornamental plants. (And snow in New York City’s Central Park on May 9). Cherry and other fruit trees are particularly susceptible, and losses could be substantial.   

Frost damage to crops is not unusual; it causes American farmers to lose billions of dollars annually. Peaches, plums, citrus, and other crops are regularly threatened by frost in the Southeast, but California is also susceptible: A freeze there in January 2007 cost farmers more than $1 billion in losses of citrus, avocados, and strawberries, and a 1990 freeze that caused about $800 million in damage to agriculture resulted in the layoff of 12,000 citrus industry workers, including pickers, packers, harvesters, and salespeople. In 2002, lettuce prices around the country spiked after an unseasonable frost struck the Arizona and California deserts.

Technology could mitigate much of the damage, but government regulation has placed obstacles in the way of innovative solutions. Those obstacles illustrate what innovators are up against, and how flawed, unscientific public policy prevents science and technology from realizing their potential.

Cuomo’s COVID-19 Panic Condemned Thousands Of Vulnerable Seniors To Death

https://issuesinsights.com/2020/05/13/cuomos-covid-19-panic-condemned-thousands-of-vulnerable-seniors-to-death/

In New York, 5% of the seniors living in nursing homes have died from COVID-19. In Florida, the disease has claimed less than 0.6% of those in nursing homes. What explains the vast difference in death rates among this vulnerable population? New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo panicked about COVID-19, while Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis did not.

Over the weekend, Democrat Cuomo announced that nursing homes would no longer have to accept patients discharged from hospitals unless they were COVID-19 negative. Which leads to a question: Why in the world were they required to do so before?

The reason was that Cuomo was panicked about hospitals being overrun. So to clear beds, he told nursing homes that they had to take the elderly, whether or not they had COVID-19.To be precise, the health department’s order read that nursing homes “are prohibited from requiring a hospitalized resident who is determined medically stable to be tested for COVID-19 prior to admission or readmission.”

New York’s March 25 directive was immediately condemned by the American Health Care Association, the Society for Post-Acute Long-Term Care Medicine and the National Center for Assisted Living, who issued a joint statement calling it “a short-term and short-sighted solution that will only add to the surge in COVID-19 patients that require hospital care.” 

Understanding Viktor Orbán’s Purportedly ‘Unlimited’ Emergency Powers over Hungary By Mario Alexis Portella

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2020/05/understanding_victor_orbns

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is one of the most controversial national leaders in the Western world.  Just over a month ago, his majority Fidesz (Hungarian Civic Alliance) Party pushed through the “unlimited” emergency powers by a two-thirds majority of Parliament on March 30.

Orbán has been harshly criticized by the European Union for his firm stance in keeping (predominantly Muslim) refugees from entering Hungary ever since he closed the borders to them in 2015.  Consequently, Orbán has been accused by the international community of being an Islamophobe, especially after he said: “Islam has never been part of Europe, it came to us.  We in Hungary decide what we want or don’t want. We don’t want that.” 

What Orbán’s critics failed to mention is that Hungary, a country of just under 10 million, was ruled for over a century by the oppressive Islamic Turks and was always on the front line during the many centuries of hostility between Christian Europe and the Muslim Ottoman Empire invaders.  The Hungarian Prime Minster has thus far been able to keep his country safe from Islamic terrorism compared to the United Kingdom, France and Germany, which took in large flows of illegal immigrants.

Yet the focus is Orbán’s emergency powers, now that Hungary is reopening after its lockdown. They entail the suspension of certain Parliamentary Acts, referendums and by-elections, giving Orbán the authority to rule by decree — something France’s Emmanuel Macron is doing unrelated to the coronavirus.  The Act also calls for penal measures to be taken against anyone who “in front of a large audience, [willingly and deliberately] states or disseminates any untrue fact or any misrepresented true fact that is capable of hindering or preventing the efficiency of protection” against the coronavirus.

Rand Paul: Pandemic Response Marred by ‘Wrong Prediction after Wrong Prediction’ By Mairead McArdle

https://www.nationalreview.com/news/coronavirus-rand-paul-pandemic-response-marred-by-wrong-prediction-after-wrong-prediction/

Senator Rand Paul said Tuesday that the response to the coronavirus pandemic has been hampered by “wrong prediction after wrong prediction” as he advocated for schools to reopen in the fall.

“The history of this when we look back will be of wrong prediction after wrong prediction after wrong prediction,” Paul said during a Senate hearing Tuesday at which Dr. Anthony Fauci, the chief medical adviser to the Trump administration’s coronavirus task force, testified.

“I think we ought to have a little bit of humility in our belief that we know what’s best for the economy,” the Kentucky Republican said. “As much as I respect you, Dr. Fauci, I don’t think you’re the end all. I don’t think you’re the one person who gets to make a decision,”

Paul said he believes it would be a “huge mistake” not to open schools in the fall and noted that the mortality rate from the coronavirus for children “approaches zero.”

Obamagate Is Not a Conspiracy Theory By David Harsanyi

https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/05/trump-russia-investigation-obamagate-not-conspiracy-theory/

There’s no reason to ignore the mounting evidence that Obama administration officials were corrupt in their handling of the Trump–Russia investigation.

Those sharing #Obamagate hashtags on Twitter would do best to avoid the hysterics we saw from Russian-collusion believers, but they have no reason to ignore the mounting evidence that suggests the Obama administration engaged in serious corruption.

Democrats and their allies, who like to pretend that President Obama’s only scandalous act was wearing a tan suit, are going spend the next few months gaslighting the public by focusing on the most feverish accusations against Obama. But the fact is that we already have more compelling evidence that the Obama administration engaged in misconduct than we ever did for opening the Russian-collusion investigation.

Senator Rand Paul Questions Dr. Fauci, Drops a Bomb in Senate Hearing By Stacey Lennox

Senator Rand Paul Questions Dr. Fauci, Drops a Bomb in Senate Hearing By Stacey Lennoxhttps://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/stacey-lennox/2020/05/12/senator-rand-paul-questions-dr-fauci-drops-a-bomb-in-senate-hearing-n390185

EXCERPT

The doctor in Rand Paul took over for the questioning. He began by challenging Dr. Fauci on the media narrative that there is no evidence that patients who survive coronavirus have immunity. To be helpful Paul pointed out the following:

In experiments, rhesus monkeys infected with COVID-19 can’t be reinfected
Studies have shown plasma from recovered COVID-19 patients neutralizes the virus in lab experiments
The entire premise of convalescent plasma treatment, mentioned by several on the panel as a potential treatment currently in trials, is that recovered patients develop immunity capable of killing the virus
Recovering patients across the board are showing significant antibody response
We know SARS and MERS, coronaviruses with similar clinical presentations, confer immunity for at least 2-3 years

Paul then stated that his view is that the truth is the exact opposite of the media narrative. There is very good evidence that recovered patients will have some durable immunity. And recovered workers, in industries like meatpacking, should be reassured there is a strong likelihood they will not get reinfected. He then referenced that Dr. Fauci had said publicly that he would bet it all that survivors of COVID-19 have some form of immunity and asked him to set the record straight.

Dr. Fauci responded that it is indeed likely. Then he added the standard disclaimers that we won’t know for sure and for how long for years.

Judge in Mike Flynn case REFUSES to dismiss it ‘immediately’ and instead says he will take ‘friend of the court’ submissions on what to do next

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8313525/Judge-Mike-Flynn-case-REFUSES-dismiss-immediately.html?ito=

The judge overseeing the case of fired national security advisor Mike Flynn revealed Tuesday that the case is not dead yet – and issued an invitation for ‘friend of the court’ briefs in the explosive matter. 

U.S. District Judge Judge Emmet Sullivan in a minute order issued Tuesday wrote that ‘given the current posture of this case, the court anticipates that individuals and organizations will seek leave of the court to file amicus curiae briefs …’

He made the statement after the Justice Department made the stunning decision to reverse its position and said last week would no longer prosecute Flynn. 

U.S. District Judge Judge Emmet Sullivan wrote that ‘given the current posture of this case, the court anticipates that individuals and organizations will seek leave of the court to file amicus curiae briefs’ in the case of Gen. Mike Flynn

Such friend of the court briefs allow outside parties to make their views known if they aren’t represented but otherwise have an interest in the case. 

Dr. Fauci Dismisses Narrative of ‘Confrontational’ Relationship with President Trump in Question from Sen. Loeffler Reagan McCarthy

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/reaganmccarthy/2020/05/12/fauci-confrontational-n2568669

In his testimony before the Senate HELP committee on Tuesday, Dr. Fauci was given an avenue to directly correct the media’s fabricated narrative, in a question directed at all of the health officials, from Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA):

“The mainstream media and, indeed, some of my colleagues in the senate seem to want to paint each of your relationships with our president during this wartime effort as confrontational and lacking consensus. Can you categorically say here to the American people today, whether this is true or untrue?” Sen. Loeffler asked. “From your testimony today, I’ve seen a very coordinated effort to address this with the administration to combat this pandemic.”

Indeed, Dr. Fauci refuted the narrative pushed by Democrats and the mainstream media.

“No. There is certainly not a confrontational relationship between me and the president. As I’ve mentioned many times, I give advice and opinion, based on evidence-based scientific information. He hears that, he respects it, he gets opinions from a variety of other people, but in no way, in my experience over the last several months has there been any confrontational relationship between us,” Dr. Fauci said.

Democratic Senate Candidates Stand By Biden To Move Goalposts On Sexual Assault Allegations By Tristan Justice

https://thefederalist.com/2020/05/12/democratic-senate-candidates-stand-by-biden-to-move-goalposts-on-sexual-assault-allegations/

Now facing competitive elections just six months away, Democratic Senate candidates are moving the goalposts for Joe Biden.

It was only a year and a half ago that last-minute sexual assault allegations upended the confirmation process for now-Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Desperate to block President Donald Trump’s second pick for the nation’s highest court, Democrats flocked to give unsubstantiated claims of a 30-year-old rape allegation their unwavering support in an attempted character assassination that threatened to bring about an end to the standard of presumptive innocence.