WORLD NEWS
Russia–Ukraine (April 16): US Says ‘Nothing Will Dissuade’ It From Arming Ukraine
The latest on the Russia–Ukraine crisis, April 16. Click here for updates from April 15.
US Says ‘Nothing Will Dissuade’ It From Arming Ukraine
The United States will continue to pour weapons into Ukraine, despite Russia reportedly warning of “consequences,” State Department spokesman Ned Price told CNN on Friday.
Price told CNN that “nothing will dissuade” the U.S. government from funneling weapons to Ukraine. Earlier, Russia reportedly sent a diplomatic cable to Washington warning of “unpredictable consequences” if these arms shipments continue.
“The Russians have said some things privately, they have said some things publicly; nothing will dissuade us from the strategy that we’ve embarked on,” Price told CNN’s Kate Bolduan. If the Kremlin is concerned that the Biden administration is “providing billions of dollars worth of security assistance to our Ukrainian partners … then we’re guilty as charged,” he added.
The United States has sent more than $2.5 billion worth of arms and other military aid to Ukraine since Russia launched its offensive in February. Having initially shipped thousands of anti-tank missiles and large amounts of ammunition to the war-torn country, Washington has more recently forwarded heavier weapons.
Pictures: Prince William and Kate Lead Royal Easter Service Without The Queen
Senior British royals including Prince William and his wife Kate have attended an Easter Sunday church service at Windsor Castle.
Queen Elizabeth II, who has been experiencing mobility problems, did not attend the service at St. George’s Chapel on the castle grounds, a fixture in the royals’ calendar.
The queen, who turns 96 on Thursday, is celebrating her Platinum Jubilee this year, marking 70 years on the throne.
She cut back on public duties on her doctors’ orders since spending a night in hospital in October, and also had a bout of COVID-19 in February. She attended a memorial service last month for her late husband Prince Philip, and has continued to meet virtually with diplomats and politicians.
Sweden Sees Days of Riots over Qur’an-Burning Danish Politician
On Thursday and Friday, Swedish cities saw cars set on fire and police injured as a result of rioting by people opposed to demonstrations by Qur’an-burning politician Rasmus Paludan.
On Thursday, riots and violence took place in the Skäggetorp area of the city of Linköping ahead of a demonstration by Danish anti-Islam politician Rasmus Paludan, leader of the Stram Kurs party.
The violent riots led to at least three police officers being injured after being hit with stones and rocks and several vehicles set on fire, including a police car, broadcaster SVT reports.
Paludan’s rally was supposed to take place Thursday afternoon at 3:30 p.m. but did not occur. Police say at least two people, both in their thirties, were arrested during the riots.
Boris Johnson, UK Ministers Banned From Entering Russia
The Kremlin on Saturday said it had sanctioned the UK’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson and 12 other senior British Cabinet members and politicians, barring them from entering Russia.
The retaliatory move was a response to Britain’s support of Ukraine and sanctions against Russia during the Russian invasion of Ukraine and Johnson’s role in coordinating similar efforts among the UK’s Western and international allies.
Others on the list are the UK’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Justice Dominic Raab, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, Home Secretary Priti Patel, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace, Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps, Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng, Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries, Minister for the Armed Forces James Heappey, Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, former Prime Minister Theresa May, and Attorney General for England and Wales Suella Braveman.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said the sanctions are a response to London’s sanctions of top Russian officials in what it said were “unprecedented hostile actions of the British government,” and that Russia’s “shopping list” of sanctions will be expanded “in the near future” to include British politicians and parliamentarians who vocally condemn Russia and support Ukraine over the war.
The ministry blamed the UK for aiming at “isolating Russia internationally, creating conditions for containing our country and strangling the domestic economy.”
It accused the British leadership of “deliberately aggravating the situation” by supplying lethal weapons to Ukraine and “coordinating similar efforts on the part of NATO” and said the UK’s role in coordinating Russian sanctions among “not only its Western allies, but also other countries” was “unacceptable.”
China’s Lockdown of Nearly 400 Million Set to Strike an Economic Blow
Factories have suspended production. Truckers are stuck on highways. Containers are piling up at ports. Shipping vessels have been waiting to unload.
China’s economy is set to pay a heavy price as the communist regime’s determination to stamp out the COVID-19 outbreak through harsh lockdowns have brought its manufacturing and commercial hubs such as Shanghai to a halt.
Shanghai is approaching its third week of lockdown. The abrupt closure of the wealthy city that contributes roughly 4 percent of the country’s annual gross domestic product (GDP) began on March 28. While officials allowed 4.8 million people to exit their homes on April 12, the rest of the city’s 25 million residents are still sealed in. As infections hit a record high on April 14, there is no immediate sign of easing.
But Shanghai isn’t alone. About 373 million people are under partial or total lockdown, analysts at Japanese bank Nomura estimate, which accounts for 40 percent of the economy.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang also has warned that downward pressures on the economy have intensified.
“[We] should coordinate epidemic prevention and control and economic and social development,” Li told local officials at an April 11 seminar, official media Xinhua reported.
Economists have predicted the country is likely to miss its official 5.5 percent GDP growth target this year. Now, they worry if the lockdown continues, the effects could ripple far beyond the country’s borders.
“When the Chinese economy sneezes, the global supply chain catches a cold,” French investment bank Natixis said in an April 14 note. “The trend is worrisome.”
U.S. NEWS, POLITICS & GOVERNMENT
RNC Votes to Withdraw From Commission on Presidential Debates
The Republican National Committee (RNC) voted unanimously Thursday to withdraw from the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD), which governs the general election debates.
In a statement, RNC chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said the commission is “biased and has refused to enact simple and commonsense reforms to help ensure fair debates including hosting debates before voting begins and selecting moderators who have never worked for candidates on the debate stage.”
In a tweet, McDaniel added that the GOP is “going to find newer, better debate platforms to ensure that future nominees are not forced to go through the biased CPD in order to make their case to the American people.”
This vote comes months after the GOP in a letter to urge its candidates to not participate in televised debates unless the commission adopts major reforms.
In the letter, McDaniel accused the commission of partisanship and “significant errors” in its organization of the 2020 presidential debates between then-President Donald Trump and then-presidential candidate Joe Biden.
The commission’s “repeated missteps and the partisan actions of its Board Members make clear that the organization no longer provides the fair and impartial forum for presidential debates which the law requires and the American people deserve,” McDaniel wrote.
The reforms McDaniel has advocated for include term limits for the CPD’s board of directors, adopting a “code of conduct” that would prevent staff from making public comments for or against any candidate, committing to hosting at least one debate before the start of early voting, and publicly disclosing criteria for moderator selection.
The CPD is a nonprofit that was established in 1987 and has since sponsored and produced presidential debates in all nine subsequent election cycles.
The commission received criticism from Trump during the 2020 debates for its selection of moderators, muting of microphones to keep candidates from interrupting one another during the debate, and holding a virtual debate as a precaution against the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus.
The Trump campaign also criticized the selection of C-SPAN political editor Steve Scully to moderate what would have been the second debate in the 2020 race. Trump called into question Scully’s political bias when it was revealed he had worked for Biden decades earlier as an intern while Biden was serving in the U.S. Senate.
Trump, ultimately, didn’t agree to the second debate as it was to be held virtually, and Scully was placed on administrative leave by C-SPAN after lying about reaching out to former Trump aide Anthony Scaramucci on Twitter.
The 2022 Elections and the Republican Red Wave: ‘We’re Crushing It All Over the Country’
Capitalizing on the frustration felt by Americans over escalating fuel prices, a long-time Republican activist who recently launched a voter registration campaign at gas stations says “we’re crushing it all over the country.”
“It was kind of a joke at first,” Scott Presler told The Epoch Times, describing how people were posting the idea on social media that somebody should register voters at gas stations. “Of course, I’m the voter registration king so everyone was tagging me,” he said. “So, I thought, what the heck. Nobody else is going to do it so I will.”
Presler gained national recognition in 2019 and 2020 with his campaign to clean up the heaps of trash accumulating in mismanaged liberal-run cities. Now his nationwide effort to grow Republican voter registration is starting to gain some attention.
In case anyone was wondering, Presler noted, he initiated his gas station voter registration campaign two weeks before the Republican National Committee allegedly copied his idea. “I just want to fact check here and say Scott Presler was the first one to get this out there,” he said.
According to Presler, the effort is “very strategic.” First, his team locates gas stations that have access to public sidewalks, which provide them the right to be there. Second, they look for locations that have plenty of parking.
“We go out there with our clipboards and voter registration forms. We have our signs that say ‘Pain at the Pump, Vote Republican,’ or ‘Feeling the Joe Biden Blues, Vote Red,’” Presler explained, noting they also have signs that say “Register to Vote Here.”
“It’s important that people know we’re not just doing a protest,” he said. “There’s an action item behind it. ‘Stop here and register to vote.’ Literally, we have conversations with people at the gas station who are in close proximity to the sidewalk. But we can talk to the people at the pump without making the gas station’s people angry.
“It’s very important that when I am explaining about gas station voter registration that a critical component is that it’s public sidewalks. That way we will be undeterred in our efforts.”
Presler said he is getting a combination of new voters, voters changing their address because they just moved to the area, and voters changing party affiliation. What he is not getting is people registering with, or changing party affiliation to, the Democratic Party. He is currently on a month-long voter registration trip through Florida.
Prominent Democrat Donor Ed Buck Sentenced to 30 Years in Prison\
A longtime donor to prominent Democrats was sentenced on April 14 to 30 years in prison.
Edward Buck, 67, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Christina Snyder approximately nine months after he was found guilty of nine felony counts involving the overdose deaths of two men.
“This defendant preyed upon vulnerable victims—men who were drug-dependent and often without homes—to feed an obsession that led to death and misery,” U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California Tracy Wilkison said in a statement.
“Mr. Buck continues to pose a clear danger to society, as evidenced by him continuing to lure men to his apartment, even after he killed two men with lethal methamphetamine injections. The sentence imposed today will protect other potential victims and hopefully will bring some solace to the families of two men who needlessly died in Mr. Buck’s apartment,” Wilkison added.
According to court papers, Buck for years through 2019 engaged in what authorities called a pattern of “party and play,” which saw the businessman solicit men, some of whom were homeless and struggling with drug addiction, to consume drugs he provided and engage in sexual activities at his apartment in Los Angeles.
In some cases, Buck injected victims with drugs.
Prosecutors had urged Snyder to impose a life sentence, arguing in a memorandum that Buck “is a proven recidivist” who “remained undeterred after his reckless actions resulted in a first death, a second death, and a third overdose requiring hospitalization.”
“Life imprisonment is the only way to ensure the community’s safety from Buck’s criminal conduct,” they said.
Tennessee Man Recognizes Woman’s Hand Signals in Gas Station to Alert Alleged Kidnapping
For Eric Streeval, a tranquil motorcycle ride in Hickman County, Tennessee, on a clear Sunday afternoon turned into a tense rescue operation after he witnessed a woman in a convenience store hand-signaling for help.
Streeval had stepped into the Twice Daily Gas Station to grab a drink on April 10 “a little after 1 p.m.,” he told The Epoch Times, when he saw a woman at the end of the candy aisle mouthing the word, “Help,” while using a hand signal devised to alert others that the signaler is being kidnapped.
Streeval said the woman learned the method from TikTok.
Streeval got his drink and as he paid for it at the counter, he notified the cashiers.
“I told them, ‘Get the cops here. There’s a young woman in the back in the red and white striped shirt who’s possibly being abused,’” Streeval said.
The woman had a red handprint on the side of her face, Streeval said.
Streeval went outside to take pictures of the license plate and the truck while the cashiers attempted to stall the suspect.
“The cashiers did an outstanding job of holding him up,” Streeval said.
When they emerged from the gas station, Streeval said he confronted the suspect after having called 911.
“I said, ‘Hey man, do you think hitting women is OK because we don’t do that around here. If you want to fight, fight a man. Don’t beat up on a woman,’” Streeval said.
The suspect, whom the Hickman County Sheriff’s Department confirmed to The Epoch Times was 31-year-old Johnathon Smith, didn’t respond to Streeval’s attempts to stall him from leaving before the sheriff’s department could arrive, Streeval said.
“I’m a believer in 2nd Amendment rights, so I was prepared if he tried anything just for everyone’s safety, but he just stuck his head down and got in the truck,” Streeval said.
By the time the Smith was pulling out, the sheriff’s department arrived, leading to a car chase, Streeval said.
For Eric Streeval, a tranquil motorcycle ride in Hickman County, Tennessee, on a clear Sunday afternoon turned into a tense rescue operation after he witnessed a woman in a convenience store hand-signaling for help.
Streeval had stepped into the Twice Daily Gas Station to grab a drink on April 10 “a little after 1 p.m.,” he told The Epoch Times, when he saw a woman at the end of the candy aisle mouthing the word, “Help,” while using a hand signal devised to alert others that the signaler is being kidnapped.
Streeval said the woman learned the method from TikTok.
Streeval got his drink and as he paid for it at the counter, he notified the cashiers.
“I told them, ‘Get the cops here. There’s a young woman in the back in the red and white striped shirt who’s possibly being abused,’” Streeval said.
The woman had a red handprint on the side of her face, Streeval said.
Streeval went outside to take pictures of the license plate and the truck while the cashiers attempted to stall the suspect.
“The cashiers did an outstanding job of holding him up,” Streeval said.
When they emerged from the gas station, Streeval said he confronted the suspect after having called 911.
“I said, ‘Hey man, do you think hitting women is OK because we don’t do that around here. If you want to fight, fight a man. Don’t beat up on a woman,’” Streeval said.
The suspect, whom the Hickman County Sheriff’s Department confirmed to The Epoch Times was 31-year-old Johnathon Smith, didn’t respond to Streeval’s attempts to stall him from leaving before the sheriff’s department could arrive, Streeval said.
“I’m a believer in 2nd Amendment rights, so I was prepared if he tried anything just for everyone’s safety, but he just stuck his head down and got in the truck,” Streeval said.
By the time the Smith was pulling out, the sheriff’s department arrived, leading to a car chase, Streeval said.
Pennsylvania Senate Votes to End Ballot Drop-Boxes
The Pennsylvania Senate this week approved legislation preventing the future use of unsecured ballot drop-boxes. The vote was 29-20, along party lines. Republicans have the majority in the House and Senate.
The measure comes after evidence of fraudulent voting methods used in Pennsylvania’s October 2021 general election, documented to Senate members in videos and in a letter written by Lehigh County, District Attorney James B. Martin.
In an April 4, 2022 letter to the Election Board of Lehigh County, Martin described an investigation county detectives conducted at the urging of the Lehigh County Republican Committee, that found hundreds of people put multiple ballots into unmanned drop-boxes. Videos show individuals in Lehigh and Lackawanna counties putting as many as five ballots in drop-boxes.
Pennsylvania law requires a voter to send an absentee ballot by mail or deliver it personally.
Pennsylvania Democrat Gov. Tom Wolf’s wife Frances famously broke this law in the October 2021 election, when she deposited her own ballot along with her husband’s ballot in a York County ballot drop-box. The vote was later casually disclosed by Wolf when he mentioned it on a radio talk show. He later called it an honest mistake.
3rd Bus Carrying Illegal Immigrants From Texas Arrives in Washington
The third bus transporting illegal immigrants from Texas arrived in Washington on April 15.
The bus arrived around 8 a.m., according to footage captured by Fox News. It had about 30 immigrants on board.
The footage showed men, women, and children outside the bus talking in Spanish.
The group went to Ebenezer’s Coffeehouse after they disembarked, according to video footage from WJLA-TV. They then boarded a white van and left to an unknown location.
The arrival marked the third consecutive day with a bus reaching Washington from Texas.
The first bus arrived on Wednesday and the second one arrived on Thursday.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott earlier in April directed the Texas Division of Emergency Management to accept requests from mayors and county judges who were dealing with illegal immigrants released from federal custody in their jurisdictions and coordinate the travel of the immigrants by bus, plane, “or some other means” to Washington “and other locations outside the state of Texas.”
The division referred inquiries to Abbott’s office, which did not respond to requests for comment on Friday.
The move was part of a multiprong plan to respond to what both federal and Texas officials project will be an increase in illegal immigration as the Biden administration ends its use of a pandemic-era authority that enabled quick expulsion of aliens.
The administration and many leaders in Congress “have no idea about the chaos they have caused by their open border policies. And they refuse to come down and see firsthand and talk to the people who are really most adversely affected,” Abbott told reporters in Laredo this week.
With the arrival of the illegal immigrants, “Washington is going to have to respond and deal with the same challenges that we’re dealing with,” he added.
Catholic Charities has been providing food and transportation to the immigrants once they arrive in Washington.
“Most of them do have family or friends in the place where they really want to go. We’re happy to help them if they want to stay here. Most are choosing to move on,” Sister Sharlet Wagner, executive director of the Newcomer Network, which the charity runs, told NTD.
One of President Joe Biden’s top immigration enforcement officials weighed in on the bussing for the first time on Thursday, asserting Texas officials were moving the immigrants “without adequately coordinating with the federal government and local border communities.”
Any assistance from states in “maintaining safe, orderly, and humane immigration processes,” Chris Magnus, the commission of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, said, “should be carefully coordinated with us.”
4th Texas Bus Drops Off Illegal Immigrants Near US Capitol
The fourth bus from Texas carrying illegal immigrants arrived in Washington on April 16.
The bus dropped the immigrants off near the U.S. Capitol at approximately 7 a.m., according to the office of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.
The office didn’t respond to requests for more information.
Only about 10 passengers were on board, according to Fox News, which reported that workers with the Central American Resource Center met the immigrants.
The center provided food and water to the immigrants before transporting them to Union Station.
Previous groups have been helped by Catholic Charities.
A 23-year-old Venezuelan native who arrived from Texas told Fox that he left his country due to high food prices and corruption.
“You can work for an entire month and only make enough money to feed your family, really, for one day,” the man, who was not identified by name, added.
Luis Alberto, another Venezuelan national, told NTD after arriving on an earlier bus that he took the offer of transportation because he heard “there would be someone to facilitate travel” and “because in Texas there is no help.”
Lyoya Family Lawyers Respond to Grand Rapids Police Shooting Videos
Victim’s father says, ‘He was killed like an animal. He was killed for a small mistake’
Congolese immigrant Patrick Lyoya, 26, was shot and killed on April 4 during a confrontation with a white policeman following an 8 a.m. traffic stop in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
The incident was captured on video by at least four cameras—the dashboard camera of the squad car, the officer’s bodycam, the cellphone of a passenger in the car, and the surveillance camera of a nearby home.
Made public on April 13, the footage outraged Lyoya’s family—which is originally from the Democratic Republic of Congo—and provoked several small, peaceful demonstrations in the downtown area.
Within hours of viewing the videos, the family retained nationally known civil rights attorney Ben Crump and a team of lawyers, who held a press conference with the family on April 14.
District of Columbia Jury Pool ‘Saturated with Prejudice,’ Opinion Survey Finds
Attorneys in two Oath Keepers cases file motion to change venue from DC to eastern Virginia
Nearly three out of four District of Columbia residents are likely to find Jan. 6 defendants guilty in federal court, while 85 percent believe the events of Jan. 6 were criminal acts including insurrection, an attack, or a riot, a survey by two defense attorneys found.
Results of the survey by Inlux Research + Analytics were included late April 15 in a change-of-venue motion (pdf) filed by defendants in two Oath Keepers conspiracy cases. The research was commissioned on behalf of Thomas E. Caldwell of Berryville, Virginia, and Connie Meggs of Dunnellon, Florida.
The study is the third recent research project that alleges the pool of potential jurors in the District of Columbia is biased against defendants charged with crimes stemming from unrest at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
“The District of Columbia’s jury pool is saturated with prejudice,” said the motion, filed by attorneys David W. Fischer and Juli Z. Haller.
Former Clinton Campaign Lawyer Made False Statements to Second Government Agency: Durham
Former Hillary Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann, who is accused of lying to the FBI when he claimed he wasn’t representing anyone while handing over information about then-candidate Donald Trump in 2016, also made false statements to CIA officers in a meeting after Trump was sworn into office, according to new filings by special counsel John Durham’s team.
Sussmann told James Baker, the FBI’s general counsel at the time, that he had “time-sensitive (and sensitive)” information to share, before the pair met, according to a text message recently disclosed by prosecutors. In the same message, Sussmann claimed he was “coming on my own—not on behalf of a client or company,” even though he’d been directed to deliver the information by Rodney Joffe, a technology executive, and billed the Clinton campaign for the work, according to prosecutors.
In a Sept. 19, 2016, meeting, Sussmann provided Baker with white papers that alleged Trump’s business had a secret channel with a Russian bank, allegations the FBI later determined were untrue.
On Feb. 9, 2017, Sussmann met with CIA officers—to whom he also made false statements, according to the new filings.
A memorandum introduced by the special counsel’s team and penned by a CIA official said that Sussmann provided documents and thumb drives that he claimed contained data related to potential Russian activities linked with Trump.
Sussmann “advised that he was not representing a particular client,” according to the notes. Instead, he said he was conveying information from “contacts” who he believed “were acting in good faith and out of a sense of loyalty to the USG,” or U.S. government.
That contradicts how Sussmann told a former CIA employee, who was said to have helped set up the February meeting, that he “represents a client who does not want to be known,” according to notes of the meeting taken by the former employee.
It also contradicts testimony Sussmann delivered to the House Intelligence Committee. Under oath, Sussmann said (pdf) he received the information “from a client of mine.”
Sussmann said he learned of the information by the summer of 2016 but only came forward months later because President Barack Obama ordered an intelligence review of possible Russian interference in elections.
“This information seemed to fall roughly within that, and so I thought that might be—or my client thought that that might be something that was relevant for those that were gathering information regarding foreign-based actors,” Sussmann said.
Another apparently false statement relates to what Sussmann said during the meeting with the CIA concerning his previous meeting with the FBI.
Sussmann gave the same information regarding the alleged secret channel to the CIA that he had to Baker. Sussmann told the officers he had previously contacted Baker but on a “similar, though unrelated, matter,” according to the memo.
In front of the congressional panel, Sussmann said he had already passed on the information to the FBI before he met with the CIA.
“In context, the defendant’s statement that he had provided the FBI with ‘similar, though unrelated’ allegations is false, or at best, misleading,” Durham’s team said in one of the new filings.
Further, the CIA later concluded that both the claim about the secret channel and a separate allegation, which was brought to the CIA and not the FBI, concerning Russian-made phones was “technically plausible,” did not “withstand technical scrutiny,” “contained gaps,” and “conflicted with [itself],” and was “user created and not machine/tool generated,” according to the special counsel’s office.
Sussmann’s lawyers in a separate filing said their client’s statement to the CIA “cannot possibly be part of the charged offense (concerning a single, different statement), and it was not made contemporaneously with the charged crime,” adding, “In fact, it was made five months later, in different circumstances, to a different agency, in a way that conflicts with the Special Counsel’s theory that Mr. Sussmann lied to Mr. Baker to help Hillary Clinton win the election—because the election was long since over.”
The lawyers are not objecting to the admission of one of the statements Sussmann made to the House panel concerning the CIA meeting but are objecting to the introduction of any evidence concerning the accuracy of the data he provided to the CIA.
They also reserved the right “to introduce evidence rebutting the Special Counsel’s claims, including evidence that will demonstrate that Mr. Sussmann disclosed to CIA personnel that he had a client and that he had worked with political clients.”
According to the CIA memo, Sussmann did mention that his law firm was involved with Democrats, including Clinton, but also said that the work was unrelated to his reasons for contacting the CIA.
The State and Local Leaders Who Aren’t Ready to Give Up Pandemic Power
While many government leaders sound the all clear message on COVID-19, dropping vaccine restrictions and mask mandates, some states and municipalities are clinging to the emergency powers that allowed them to govern people’s behavior in unprecedented ways.
Citing the need to direct emergency funding and oversee hospitals, they have held on to their emergency orders even as many restaurants, shopping centers, and sports arenas are once again packed and lingering pandemic concerns have faded into the background of a more normal life.
Emergency orders at the state level are usually issued in response to temporary threats, especially weather disasters, and are wrapped up in a few days or weeks. Soon after the new coronavirus exploded in March 2020, most governors issued broad executive orders. Under these powers, governors banned crowds, closed businesses, and imposed mask and vaccination mandates. They have also deferred to unelected public health officials in imposing restrictions.
Critical lawmakers are now challenging the power to take such sweeping actions—and keep the measures in place indefinitely—saying pandemic lockdowns exposed leaders’ unduly stringent authoritarian impulses.
Ruling by decree over an extended period during the pandemic “is part of a broader move to condense power to the executive branch,” said Nick Murray, policy analyst at the conservative Maine Policy Institute, who has studied emergency policies. “You see these things come into play during a crisis and then [remain in place] to give more executive power,” Murray said. “It’s a theme that has devolved into bureaucracy.”
In Nevada, the state of emergency has been declared in perpetuity, even as state lawmakers have unsuccessfully tried to pass measures limiting the authority of Democratic Gov. Steve Sisolak.
VIDEO ON ELECTION FRAUD: Facts Matter (April 15): Exclusive: Election Watchdog Exposes 4.8M Ballot Harvesting Scheme in 6 States: Catherine Engelbrecht
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
Alex Jones’ Infowars files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection
Infowars filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as the website’s founder and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones faces defamation lawsuits over his comments that the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting was a hoax.
The bankruptcy filing Sunday
Twitter Board Approves ‘Poison Pill’ After Musk’s $43 Billion Offer to Buy Company
Twitter’s board of directors has approved a provision aimed at preventing a hostile takeover that’s known in the financial world as a “poison pill,” the company announced on April 15.
The board unanimously chose to adopt the “limited duration shareholder rights plan” after an “unsolicited, non-binding proposal to acquire Twitter,” the company said.
Elon Musk, the founder and CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, offered to purchase the California-based firm for around $43 billion this week shortly after buying nearly 10 percent of the company.
Under the approved provision, if any entity, person, or group acquires 15 percent or more of Twitter’s outstanding stock in a transaction not approved by the board, other stock holders will be able to buy additional shares of common stock at a lower price.
The shareholder plan “will reduce the likelihood that any entity, person or group gains control of Twitter through open market accumulation without paying all shareholders an appropriate control premium or without providing the Board sufficient time to make informed judgments and take actions that are in the best interests of shareholders,” Twitter said.
The poison pill method has been approved by other companies in the past to dilute outstanding stock and make a hostile takeover more financially challenging for the potential acquirer.
More details of the plan will be outlined in a form that Twitter will file with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Why Food Prices Are Expected to Skyrocket
Food shortages and skyrocketing food prices now appear inevitable. The global food price index hit its highest recorded level in March 2022, rising 12.6% in a single month. On average, food prices were one-third higher than in March 2021. In the U.S., food prices rose 9% in 2021, and are predicted to rise another 4.5% to 5% in the next 12 months
Inflation was already ramping up well before Russia went into Ukraine, thanks to the uncontrolled printing of fiat currencies that occurred in response to the COVID pandemic. Governments’ COVID responses have also wreaked havoc with global supply chains, causing disruptions that continue to this day
Ukraine has ceased exports of wheat, oats, millet, buckwheat and cattle, and Russia has banned exports of fertilizer
Together, Russia and Belarus provide nearly 40% of the global exports of potash, a key fertilizer ingredient. Russia also exports 48% of the global ammonium nitrate, and combined with Ukraine, they export 28% of nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium fertilizers. Experts are now predicting fertilizer prices may double as a result of Russia’s ban on fertilizer exports
The long-term answer lies in regenerative biodynamic farming, which does not use any chemical inputs
Small Business Survey Reveals Ample Signs of Stagflation: Economist
Some inflation watchers have been on the lookout for signs of peak inflation, anticipating that the U.S. consumer price index will finally begin to trend lower after soaring to a fresh 40-year high in March.
The latest data, however, has disappointed them.
A recent small business survey and sky-high wholesale prices “telegraphed higher-for-longer inflation in a weakening stagflationary environment,” economist and market strategist Ed Yardeni of Yardeni Research warned in a recent report.
“We are still expecting inflation to peak by June or July, but higher inflation for longer is what the latest batch of price indicators is showing,” he wrote to clients.
Stagflation is defined as the mix of slow economic growth along with high inflation and a high unemployment rate.
The March survey of small business owners conducted by the National Association of Independent Business (NFIB) discovered a slew of stagflationary trends, according to Yardeni.
Inflation has surpassed “labor quality” as the most pressing issue facing U.S. small business owners, with 31 percent citing rising prices as their top concern—an increase of five percentage points from February and the highest reading in 41 years.
The survey found that a record 72 percent of small business owners raised their selling prices, while half of them plan to continue to hike prices.
Price increases were most common in wholesale, construction, agriculture, and retail sales.
The percentage of respondents expecting to increase worker compensation stayed at a record high of 28 percent.
Meanwhile, the proportion of business owners expecting better rather than worse business conditions in the next six months fell 14 points to a net negative 49 percent, the lowest figure ever recorded in the 48-year-old survey.
Small business owners remain worried about their future business conditions, owing to inflation, a persistent labor shortage, and supply chain disruptions.
This might explain, Yardeni says, why the percentage of business owners wanting to grow their workforce dropped since August last year.
“One word comes to mind to describe this sour economic outlook: ‘stagflation,’” he added.
EDUCATION
Florida School Chief Rejects Math Textbooks Over ‘Attempts to Indoctrinate Students’
Florida’s Department of Education has rejected dozens of K–12 mathematics textbooks after officials said they include “indoctrinating concepts,” such as critical race theory (CRT).
According to Florida Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran, his department reviewed 132 submitted textbooks and found that 54 of them, or 41 percent, didn’t meet Florida’s K–12 curriculum standards or contained prohibited topics.
“Reasons for rejecting textbooks included references to Critical Race Theory (CRT), inclusions of Common Core, and the unsolicited addition of Social Emotional Learning (SEL) in mathematics,” the department said in an April 15 statement. “The highest number of books rejected were for grade levels K–5, where an alarming 71 percent were not appropriately aligned with Florida standards or included prohibited topics and unsolicited strategies.”
Specifically, 28 rejected textbooks “incorporate prohibited topics or unsolicited strategies” including CRT, 12 don’t properly align with Florida standards, and 14 were rejected for both reasons.
“It seems that some publishers attempted to slap a coat of paint on an old house built on the foundation of Common Core and indoctrinating concepts like race essentialism, especially, bizarrely, for elementary school students,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said. “I’m grateful that Commissioner Corcoran and his team at the department have conducted such a thorough vetting of these textbooks to ensure they comply with the law.”
SURVEILLANCE STATE
Mercola: Dismantling The Transhumanist Agenda
> In episode 26 of Children’s Health Defense (CHD) Tea Time, I discuss the transhumanist agenda and how its ultimate goal is to control the human population
> You’re being surveilled 24/7, and most of the surveillance you are allowing into your life, as you give up your privacy and consent to surveillance in exchange for convenience
> Google is a primary culprit and the most egregious offender; they have major control and influence since, worldwide, 93% of the searches done online use Google
> Transhumanists don’t have to put a microchip into your arm to gain immeasurable control; they can already alter reality and brainwash the population via data collection and the manipulation of information
> You can help protect your privacy and fight back against the transhumanism movement by avoiding any and all Google products
HEALTH
100+ Brain Tumors Diagnosed Among Staff and Students at One School Leads to Radiation Investigation
Decades of research has determined that exposure to Electromagnetic Fields (aka “Electrosmog”) including sources of wireless “Wi-Fi” radiation can cause symptoms, illnesses, and injuries (see 1, 2, 3, 4, 5) including brain tumors (see 1, 2, 3). An investigation was recently launched in a New Jersey town regarding dozens of brain tumors diagnosed over a 30-year period. Fingers crossed they find and eliminate the culprit/s.
From NBC News:
Brain tumor diagnoses lead to radiation investigation in New Jersey township
A New Jersey town is trying to understand a heartbreaking mystery of dozens diagnosed with brain tumors across three decades. Al Lupiano and his wife, Michele, share a rare non-cancerous brain tumor diagnosis. After the death of his sister, Lupiano found more people with the same diagnosis. He says they share one commonality: they either went to or worked at the same high school in Woodbridge Township, New Jersey. Woodbridge’s mayor has begun an investigation for radiation on school grounds.
The Secret of Zinc’s Immunity-Boosting Power Revealed
Zinc deficiency is common, but more is not necessarily better. In fact, it can backfire.
- Zinc has been acknowledged as an essential mineral for human health since the 1970s. More than 300 enzymes in your body require zinc for normal function, and it’s well-recognized for its role in immunity and normal immune system development
- A March 2022 study has now shed new light on how zinc influences immune function. Zinc is required…
—> Zinc (2 fl oz) available at thepowermall.com
This Nutrient Could Cut Tumor Growth Up to 67%
Data presented at the 2022 Experimental Biology meeting showed omega-3 fatty acids could cut tumor growth by 67% when combined with immunotherapy or anti-inflammatory therapy, but omega-6 fats could accelerate tumor growth
Past research has demonstrated an unbalanced intake of omega-6 fats, commonly found in vegetable oils and processed foods, could promote the growth of cancer cells
Data revealed an omega-3 index greater than 5.7% lowers the risk of death in COVID-19. Past research shows adequate levels of omega-3 have a positive impact on viral infections and a combination of vitamin D and omega-3 can help prevent autoimmune disease
The only way to know if you need a supplement is to test using an omega-3 index. The best type of supplement is sustainable krill oil since fish oil has a higher risk of oxidative damage and krill oil also contains astaxanthin, which helps reduce oxidative damage
—> Power Mall Product of Interest: Super Krill Oil 1000 mg (60 CT)
Improve Your Health by Optimizing Your Circadian Rhythm
Nearly every cell in your body has its own circadian clock, which regulates the activation and deactivation of genes
To optimize your health, it’s important to pay attention to and honor ancient patterns of waking, sleeping and eating
Sleeping less than six hours a night dramatically increases your risk of insulin resistance, which is at the core of most chronic diseases
Meal timing has a significant impact on your circadian rhythm. Many organs need between 12 and 16 hours of rest, meaning a minimum of 12 hours without food, to allow for repair
By optimizing your circadian rhythm, you’re going to optimize your NAD production and vice versa
The Surprising Health Benefits of Methylene Blue
Methylene blue helps mitochondrial respiration and improves brain energy metabolism. By doing that, it can improve cognitive performance and prevent neurodegeneration
Methylene blue is the parent molecule for hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine, off-patent drugs commonly used to treat not only malaria but also COVID-19
Emergency rooms around the world use it, as it’s the only known antidote for metabolic poisons causing methemoglobinemia, which is when a metabolic poison interferes with the transport of oxygen in hemoglobin
Methylene blue is a hormetic drug, so low doses have the opposite effect of high doses
Low doses, 0.5 mg to 1 mg per kilo of bodyweight, are recommended for nonacute, longer-term treatments. Uses include the prevention and treatment of dementia, post-stroke and other brain injuries, cognitive enhancement, and the general optimization of health if you’re already healthy
McKinsey Accused of ‘Serious’ Conflict of Interest in Opioid Consulting
A Congressional report alleges that consulting firm McKinsey engaged in a “serious conflict of interest” by working for the U.S. government on issues relating to the opioid epidemic while, at the same time, advising drugmakers, including on projects meant to persuade regulators about the safety of opioid products.
The U.S. House Oversight Committee alleged in its April 13 report (pdf) that at least 22 McKinsey consultants, including senior partners, worked for both the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and opioid manufacturers, at times simultaneously.
“Today’s report shows that at the same time the FDA was relying on McKinsey’s advice to ensure drug safety and protect American lives, the firm was also being paid by the very companies fueling the deadly opioid epidemic to help them avoid tougher regulation of these dangerous drugs,” Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), chair of the committee, said in a statement.
The report alleged that “McKinsey failed to disclose its serious, longstanding conflicts of interest to FDA, potentially violating contract requirements and federal law.”
Responding to the allegations that it engaged in conflict of interest, McKinsey said in a statement that it had followed the law in its work, though the company added that it “fell short of the high standards we set for ourselves.”
In one case detailed in the report, at least four McKinsey consultants were allegedly working for the FDA on improving drug safety while, at the same time, working for Purdue Pharma, including on projects meant to persuade regulators that Purdue’s opioid products were safe.
One project allegedly involved helping Purdue formulate “scripts” for use in their discussions with the FDA on the safety of using OxyContin to treat pain in adolescents.
The report accused a McKinsey partner of encouraging other consultants to share information with Purdue about the drug safety work the firm was doing for the FDA.
At the same time, the report alleged that McKinsey had failed to disclose to the FDA that it was simultaneously working for opioid manufacturers.
Maloney said that McKinsey’s conduct was “even more egregious considering its central role in driving a public health crisis that has killed half a million Americans and continues to claim tens of thousands of lives every year.”
She added the company must answer for its actions and that the committee would seek testimony from McKinsey officials regarding the alleged conflicts of interest revealed in the report.
ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT
US to Resume Oil, Gas Drilling on Federal Lands, With Increased Oil Royalty Rate
The Biden administration on April 15 said it would resume plans to facilitate oil and gas drilling on federal lands, but that it would offer fewer acres of land than initially proposed for lease sales, and charge higher royalties to oil and gas companies.
The Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will make 144,000 acres of federal land available for leasing by energy companies. The figure is about 80 percent less than the 733,000 acres that had previously been under evaluation.
The decision came as a result of “robust environmental review, engagement with Tribes and communities, and prioritizing the American people’s broad interests in public lands,” the Interior Department stated.
Companies will be charged royalties of 18.75 percent of the value of extracted oil and gas products—a bump up from 12.5 percent—to “ensure fair return for the American taxpayer and on par with rates charged by states and private landowners,” the department said.
“For too long, the federal oil and gas leasing programs have prioritized the wants of extractive industries above local communities, the natural environment, the impact on our air and water, the needs of Tribal Nations, and, moreover, other uses of our shared public lands,” Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland said in a statement.
“Today, we begin to reset how and what we consider to be the highest and best use of Americans’ resources for the benefit of all current and future generations.”
The Green US Supply Chain Rules Set to Unspool and Rattle the Global Economy
Making a box of Cocoa Puffs is a complicated global affair. It could start with cocoa farms in Africa, corn fields in the U.S., or sugar plantations in Latin America. Then thousands of processors, transporters, packagers, distributors, office workers, and retailers join the supply chain before a kid in Minnesota, where General Mills is based, pours the cereal into a bowl.
Now imagine the challenge that General Mills faces in counting the greenhouse gas emissions from all of these people, machines, vehicles, buildings, and other products involved in this Cocoa Puff supply chain—then multiply that by the 100-plus brands belonging to the food giant.
Thousands of public companies may soon have such a daunting task to comply with a new set of climate rules proposed by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Hailed by prominent environmental groups as a long-sought victory, the sweeping plan released in late March would force companies to grapple with the unpredictable impact of climate change by disclosing reams of new information to investors. What are your company’s climate risks, such as severe weather, and the possible financial impacts? How have the threats affected your business strategies and what’s the plan to avoid the dangers? The most consequential and controversial piece of the SEC’s proposed regulations would require corporations to calculate their total greenhouse gas footprint, including from the supply chain.
The regulations also carry political weight for Democrats in the runup to the midterms in November. The Biden administration and centrist Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia are trying once again to breathe life into clean energy legislation that died earlier this year amid a feud between them. If this latest effort at compromise fails—with Manchin reportedly looking for federal support for fossil fuels as well as renewable energy—then much of President Biden’s ambitious climate agenda will be left riding on the SEC proposal.
COVID RELATED NEWS
Americans Should Put a Stop to the ‘Biomedical Security State’: Dr. Aaron Kheriaty
During the COVID-19 pandemic, stringent measures such as mandatory masking, vaccination, and “quarantining healthy populations” have turned the United States into a “Biomedical Security State,” Dr. Aaron Kheriaty told EpochTV’s “American Thought Leaders” program on April 9.
“This welding of public health with digital technologies of surveillance and control and the police powers of the state allows for intrusions on our privacy, on our bodily autonomy, that are unprecedented in history,” said Kheriaty, a psychiatrist and medical ethicist.
Kheriaty, chief of medical ethics at the Unity Project and fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, added that a “probably north of 70 percent of Americans still got COVID in spite of almost a year of lockdowns,” and that the lockdowns have essentially brought on “massive collateral damage” in the form of a mental health crisis.
He cited the pre-pandemic opioid crisis accounting for a total of 70,630 drug overdose deaths in 2019 in the United States, according to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.) The lockdown has only “poured gasoline on [the] fire” of the existing drug overdose crisis, resulting in the skyrocketing of drug overdose deaths to over 100,000 last year, said Kheriaty.
An August 2021 study published on Pub Med found that “state lockdown policies precede greater mental health symptoms,” and that many “non-heavy drinkers” turned to alcohol during lockdowns as a coping mechanism for “anxiety and depressive symptoms.”
The results may warn against “greater addiction following the pandemic warranting further investigation into utilization of substance use treatment,” the study reported.
Furthermore, one insurance company has reported a 40 percent rise in death rates during the third quarter of 2021 compared to pre-pandemic rates, which is the highest rate the company has ever seen.
EXCLUSIVE: Fauci’s Agency Scrambled to Answer Questions on Changing Remdesivir Trial Endpoint: EmailsDr. Anthony Fauci and top officials at the agency he heads scrambled in April 2020 to answer questions about altering the endpoint in a trial testing the antiviral drug called remdesivir, newly obtained emails show.
The endpoint was changed in the middle of the trial from measuring the effectiveness against death and various forms of hospitalization on day 15 to time to recovery through day 29.
Gilead Sciences, which makes the drug, announced the results of the trial in early April 29, 2020. Within hours, Fauci, the longtime head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), was trumpeting them to reporters at the White House.
The trial results proved that remdesivir “can block the virus” that causes COVID-19, said Fauci, who didn’t mention the change in endpoint.
Just hours later, doctors and reporters started questioning researchers involved with the trial and NIAID, which funded the study and said its officials were behind the change.
Officials at the agency were not prepared for questions about the matter, according to emails obtained by The Epoch Times and never published before.
Dr. Andre Kalil, an infectious disease expert at Nebraska Medicine Omaha who was helping run one of the trial sites, told Fauci, Dr. Clifford Lane, and John Beigel, all top NIAID officials, at 3:19 a.m. on April 30, 2020, that he had received multiple requests from colleagues and reporters on why the primary outcome was changed while the trial was underway.
“Believe or not, but I even heard nonsense things such as a conspiracy theory that Gilead opened the database and changed the primary outcome to favor the trial results,” Kalil wrote. “In order to prevent more conspiracies, I thought about a transparent and objective way to respond to these questions, so we can all be on the same page.”
The statement he proposed was redacted. NIAID, which released the emails based on a Freedom of Information Act request, cited an exemption that allows the government to shield inter-agency or intra-agency memorandums or letters “which would not be available by law to a party other than an agency in litigation with the agency.”
About two hours later, Lori Dodd, an NIAID statistician, responded by saying she liked what Kalil wrote. Soon after, Beigel, the trial’s principal investigator, said he was “merging the two” in an email that was otherwise redacted and on which Kalil had been cut out.
A draft statement was sent to the Food and Drug Administration, which “cleared with Gilead” a paragraph about the regulator’s “commitment to expediting” COVID-19 treatments and how the agency had been in touch with Gilead about making remdesivir available to patients “as quickly as possible, as appropriate,” the emails show.
The statement was still being adjusted at 3:20 p.m., according to a missive from Jennifer Routh, an NIAID spokeswoman, sent to Beigel, Lane, and others.
“We now have 10 media inquiries asking about why the primary endpoint in the remdesivir study changed,” she said, adding later: “We need a statement to respond as soon as possible. Is this OK to send or is this still under review?”
The draft statement was redacted.
CANCEL CULTURE
Judge Rejects Stacey Abrams’s Effort to Challenge Georgia Fundraising Law
A federal judge has rejected an effort by Stacey Abrams and her gubernatorial campaign to challenge a new Georgia fundraising law.
Abrams recently filed a lawsuit against Senate Bill 221, which allows groups chaired by the governor, the lieutenant governor, and the nominee for either post from major parties to raise funds without limit.
The law took effect on July 1, 2021, shortly after being passed by the state legislature and signed by Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican who beat Abrams in 2018 and is running for reelection.
U.S. District Judge Mark Cohen, an Obama nominee overseeing the case, said the challenge was turned down because of the relief Abrams sought. In her filings, Abrams claimed to already be the Democratic Party of Georgia’s nominee for governor, even though the primary elections aren’t until May.
“Rather than address the alleged unconstitutional inequity created by the application of the [law] whereby Governor Kemp is able to raise unlimited funds through his leadership committee during a time period when Abrams is not permitted to do the same, the injunctive relief currently sought by Plaintiffs would require this court to find Abrams already is the Democratic Party nominee for Governor despite the fact that the primary election does not take place until May 24, 2022,” Cohen wrote in a 34-page ruling.
Abrams, her campaign, and One Georgia, her leadership committee, “effectively seek to have this Court re-write” Georgia election code and the law “as it relates to when a candidate is recognized as the nominee of a political party,” he said.
Abrams had argued that the law illegally bars her campaign from working with One Georgia, her leadership committee. Abrams and the groups had asked Cohen to enjoin defendants from investigating them for alleged violations of the law.
The ruling was against a motion for a preliminary injunction, which means the case isn’t over.
GOOD NEWS
Chilling surveillance camera footage captured the scene of a man randomly assaulting an 18-year-old female who was talking on her phone, while alone in downtown Phoenix.
The harrowing incident took place near Roosevelt Street during a Suns game on Feb. 1. In the footage, the victim is seen waiting for her boyfriend on a street corner when a man approached and forcefully grabbed her.
Fortunately, a male bystander, later identified as Josh, witnessed the attack. He immediately walked over and after a brief struggle pulled the man off, freeing her from her assailant.
Josh wrestled the suspect to the ground and then applied his weight on top of him, pinning him down while he waited for Phoenix Police officers to arrive.
A patrol vehicle then pulled up, and officers took control of the situation.
Josh’s good deed wasn’t forgotten, however. He was later recognized for his altruism.
On March 17, the Phoenix Police Department honored Josh in a ceremony, presenting him a Citizens Award for his courageous action.
“I just did what I thought was right, I just held him down and waited for the right personnel,” Josh said.
The Phoenix Police Department on March 22 posted the surveillance footage on their Facebook page and thanked the good Samaritan who had intervened. “Josh stepped in during an assault, and apprehended the suspect until police arrived. Thank you, Josh!” the department captioned.
Policemen See Homeless Man With No Shoes on Cold Night, Buy Him $80 Pair With Their Own Money
At the start of the new year, on a cold winter night in Phoenix, two local police officers checked in on a homeless man sitting outside a PNC Bank.
Officers Benjamin Carro and Michael Hubbs noticed that the man had neither shoes nor socks on. He did not hesitate to tell them how miserably cold the night was without shoes to keep his feet warm.
Their response was one he did not expect.
The interaction between the trio in January was captured on one of the officers’ bodycams, and on March 8 was posted on the Phoenix Police Department’s Facebook page.
The man is heard saying, “You taking me to jail?” One officer responds, “No. I’m going to take you to Ross and buy you some shoes.”
They are heard asking the barefooted man his shoe size. An 18, he replied. After making a call to a nearby clothing store, they learned that only a size 17 or 19 was available.
Within 20 minutes, after spending $80 of their own money, they delivered a new pair of size-19 shoes to the man, along with new socks, pants, and a shirt.
He was still sitting on the sidewalk when they returned with the new clothes, which he graciously accepted from the officers. He is heard thanking them at the end of the video.
The officers said they were able to relate to the man’s misfortune, as they, too, had once experienced tough times.
“We both come from backgrounds, we weren’t the most fortunate people in life,” explained Carro, as CBS reported. “We chose a career that brings us to the depths of people’s lives and sometimes we come across people like this gentleman in this circumstance. This just wasn’t a circumstance you could ignore, it was a really cold night.”
The touching moment went viral on Facebook, garnering 28,000 likes, to date, and comments hailing the officers for their kindness. Facebook user Denise Michael wrote:
OTHER
Teachers Unions’ Other Foes: Liberal Parents
Khulia Pringle would seem an unlikely critic of the local Minneapolis Federation of Teachers. The St. Paul native embarked on a teaching career in the hope of improving a school system that she saw as failing her daughter. By the time she finished her training in 2014, she had grown so disillusioned with the public school system that she took a job with an education reform group, helping to recruit and place hundreds of tutors in schools across the state.
While she shares the union’s emphasis on pushing for higher pay and smaller classrooms, the self-described liberal education activist says the federation’s three-week strike last month provided final confirmation of her worst fear: The union and public education system place a higher priority on serving their own needs than they do on serving students and parents, 60 percent of whom are minorities.
“Students are just coming back to some sort of normalcy—they’re already behind,” she says. “These strikes aren’t asking for any of the things that will solve the disparities between black and brown and indigenous children.”
Pringle is part of a growing chorus of parents and educators across the country who are challenging the public education establishment. While much attention has focused on opposition by conservative parents and red state lawmakers to the teaching of critical race theory and gender issues, resistance is percolating among blue state parents like Pringle who have long championed teacher unions and progressive school boards.
The second front in the battle over public education is clear: From San Francisco, where voters ousted several left-wing, union-endorsed school board members in February, to Chicago, Massachusetts, and other blue enclaves, parents are demanding reform.
Teachers enjoyed immense support in the early days of the pandemic, but their unions’ reluctance to return to the classroom, even as scientific findings established children’s resilience against the disease, appears to have alienated a substantial number of parents.
In December 2020, Gallup found that three-quarters of those polled rated teachers as ethical and trustworthy, setting an all-time record since it began asking the question. When Gallup asked the same question in December 2021, the results were startling. In the space of 12 months, support for teachers fell about 15 percent, to “a point or two below their previous all-time lows,” according to the pollster. A 2021 survey from nonprofit think tank Education Next found the public held less favorable views of the education system than other public services. Americans nationwide were twice as likely to give police forces A or B grades than they were public schools—this despite the backlash against cops in the wake of George Floyd’s death.
The sagging poll numbers reflect a mounting challenge for public school teachers and their unions, which have long counted on public support when they have gone out on strike to secure better pay and working conditions.
“That trust has been so eroded because of what parents have gone through for the past 18 to 20 months, so now parents have to question what they are being told by teachers,” said Keri Rodriguez, a Massachusetts mother of five. “There’s been so much overreach and they have asked for so much grace from parents across the country; well, unfortunately we have watched teachers respond with not much effort in remote learning.”
PET NEWS
A Texas family who lost their dog three years ago were overjoyed when they received a call telling them that she had been found—how she ended up in Indiana, over 1,000 miles away, remains a mystery.
Sugar Land mom 28-year-old Katrina Skelton, along with her husband, Mark, adopted fur baby Daisy before their first child was even born. They had rescued Daisy from a local animal shelter when she was a 12-week-old puppy, Katrina said.
“For the first year of us having Daisy, it was just me, her, and my husband,” Katrina told The Epoch Times. “She was our first baby. We had her for four years before she went missing.”
The dog disappeared in February 2019. “Our back fence gate got left open, and she escaped with our other dog while we were all playing in the backyard,” the mom said. “We found our other dog a few hours later, but Daisy was nowhere around.”
They had no leads as to where she’d gone. The family posted pictures of her on Facebook groups and used website PawBoost to get the word out. They posted signs all around their area and checked local shelters for weeks and months after Daisy vanished.
“We would drive around the area calling her name the first few days and anytime someone contacted us thinking they had seen her,” Katrina said.
They checked online almost every day to see if her microchip had been scanned.
“I don’t think we ever really gave up looking,” Katrina said. “She was always on our minds. My older son Jackson would even talk about her randomly.”
Years passed. Until on Jan. 4, Mark got a call from one Tiffany Clay, from Marion, Indiana, who had found Daisy.
“Daisy walked into their backyard, and Tiffany took her to the vet to scan for a microchip,” said Katrina. They received an email from the chip company as well, reporting the find.
Somehow, Daisy traveled 1,200 miles from her Sugar Land home all the way to the northern Indiana city.
Katrina said she was “shocked and excited” and “couldn’t believe it.” Almost immediately, they set out on a 17-hour marathon road trip—one that taught Katrina a few things about life, as she later posted on her Facebook page.
Among these, she noted: “I truly hate the cold;” “Daisy is amazing on long drives;” “Mark is my favorite copilot;” “Driving doesn’t totally suck;” “Texas is my favorite country;” and last but not least, “Kind people still exist.”
Upon reuniting with Daisy, though it took a moment to sink in, she soon recognized her family.
“My husband, Mark, took his hat off, and it was like a lightbulb went off,” Katrina said. “Daisy started barking excitedly and snuggling into our arms!”
Although Daisy seemed very healthy, Katrina added, like she had been fed and cared for, they nevertheless took her to the vet after returning to Texas; finding out that she had heartworms, they started her on a treatment regime.
All in all, Katrina said “she’s doing well at home” but they “have to keep her activity level low to make sure she gets lots of rest.” Their old pastime of walking in the dog park is on hold until Daisy is all rested up.
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