WORLD NEWS
Vast European Opposition To Central Bank Digital Currency
The European Commission will close a public consultation on the digital euro on Tuesday (June 14), after feedback from EU citizens indicated that a central bank digital currency (CBDC) may not be as welcomed as regulators had hoped for.
A day before closing the consultation, regulators received 16,299 responses, with 98% from EU citizens, and just 0.3% from companies or 0.03% from businesses associations. The overwhelming majority of comments from EU citizens opposed the adoption of a digital euro. Many respondents argued that with a CBDC, citizens would lose privacy in their transactions and the government would have more control over their finances and eventually over their lives.
Other respondents questioned the need for additional digital money when private companies and banks are already offering digital alternatives. The risk of “printing” digital money and causing more inflation was also mentioned in some responses.
Some of the few associations that replied to the consultation showed a more positive view of the project but requested more information to have a better understanding of the CBDC.
The consultation offered valuable information, but the data should still be analyzed with caution. While the majority of respondents have a negative view of the digital euro, there were only 16,266 respondents, out of 450 million citizens in the European Union. Additionally, many of the respondents were “anonymous,” and some of the responses contained almost identical sentences, which could indicate that not all the responses came from genuine European (or non-European) citizens.
But one thing is clear: the European Commission will need to step up their efforts to better explain to its population how a digital euro works, to demystify some beliefs, and perhaps to show the benefits of a digital euro.
While this consultation is not binding for the commission — and, as the regulatory body said, does not prejudge its final decision — it won’t be able to ignore the number of submissions and general public sentiment toward the project.
NATO Set to Boost High-Readiness Force to Over 300,000 in Significant Military Buildup
NATO’s leadership on June 27 announced the bloc would drastically increase its high-readiness force in the midst of the Russia–Ukraine conflict.
Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the military alliance was aiming to increase the force numbers to more than 300,000 in what he termed the “biggest overhaul of collective defense and deterrence since the Cold War.”
“Russia has walked away from the partnership and the dialogue that NATO has tried to establish with Russia for many years,” Stoltenberg said in Brussels ahead of a summit this week in Spain. “They have chosen confrontation instead of dialogue. We regret that … but of course, then we need to respond to that reality.”
Stoltenberg said the NATO Response Force already has some 40,000 troops on high readiness.
“We will transform the NATO Response Force and increase the number of our high readiness forces to well over 300,000,” he said. The announcement reflects a 650 percent increase in troop numbers on the continent.
Earlier this year, NATO announced it would deploy more fast-response units to Eastern Europe and Baltic states after Russia began its invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24.
“These troops will exercise together with home defense forces, and they will become familiar with local terrain facilities … so that they can respond smoothly and swiftly to any emergency,” Stoltenberg said.
Tensions between Russia and the Baltic states have escalated in recent days after Lithuania said it would block certain products and technology from reaching the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, which borders Lithuania and Poland. Lithuanian officials said it’s enforcing a blockade on behalf of the European Union, of which it’s a member.
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda told Politico on June 24 that the new tension “leaves us no time for reaction” because Russian troops “might be easily deployed very near to our border.”
Alongside a focus on Russia, Stoltenberg said NATO’s updated Strategic Concept would address China for the first time “and the challenges that Beijing poses to our security, interests, and values.”
“It will also cover our evolving approach to a number of other threats and challenges, including terrorism, cyber and hybrid,” he said.
The Kremlin hasn’t yet issued a response to Stoltenberg’s announcement. Previously, Russian officials accused NATO of pursuing a strategy of eastward expansion to place pressure on Moscow, while accusing the military alliance of expanding inside Ukraine.
U.S. NEWS, POLITICS & GOVERNMENT
Voicemail indicates Joe Biden knew of Hunter deals with ‘spy chief of China’
Joe Biden called his son Hunter in late 2018 to discuss a New York Times article detailing the younger Biden’s dealings with a Chinese oil tycoon accused of economic crimes — telling him, “I think you’re clear,” according to a report Monday.
The voicemail, discovered on a cellphone backup contained on Hunter Biden’s infamous discarded laptop, would appear to contradict President Biden’s continued denial that he ever talked with his disgraced 52-year-old son about his overseas business transactions — and was aware they could be improper.
“Hey pal, it’s Dad,” Joe Biden said, the Daily Mail reported. “It’s 8:15 on Wednesday night. If you get a chance, just give me a call. Nothing urgent. I just wanted to talk to you.”
Biden then made his intentions clear.
“I thought the article released online, it’s going to be printed tomorrow in the Times, was good,” Biden continued. “I think you’re clear. And anyway if you get a chance, give me a call, I love you.”
During a campaign appearance in Iowa in September 2019, Joe Biden said, “I have never spoken to my son about his overseas business dealings.” His former press secretary, Jen Psaki, and his chief of staff, Ron Klain, have both repeatedly echoed that sentiment.
The unearthed voice message renewed calls for a probe of the now-president’s handling and knowledge of his son’s overseas dealings.
“Joe Biden said he ‘never spoke’ with Hunter about his business dealings. That is simply not true. We need to know what Joe Biden knew and when he knew it,” Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), the No. 3 Republican in the House of Representatives, told The Post Monday.
“This voicemail is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the evidence mounting against the Biden Crime Family. When Republicans take back Congress, we will use our congressional power of oversight to uncover the truth for every American as a matter of national security.”
The Biden voicemail followed a Times report on Dec. 12, 2018, detailing Hunter’s dealings with Ye Jianming, a “fast-rising” Chinese oil tycoon who headed CEFC China Energy Company in 2016 before being arrested two years later amid allegations of economic crimes.
High school football coach scores big win at Supreme Court over post-game prayer
The Supreme Court handed a big win to a former Washington high school football coach who lost his job over reciting a prayer on the 50-yard line after games.
At issue was whether a public school employee praying alone but in view of students was engaging in unprotected “government speech,” and if it is not government speech, does it still pose a problem under the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause.
The Supreme Court ruled Monday in a 6-3 decision that the answer to both questions is no.
“Here, a government entity sought to punish an individual for engaging in a brief, quiet, personal religious observance doubly protected by the Free Exercise and Free Speech Clauses of the First Amendment. And the only meaningful justification the government offered for its reprisal rested on a mistaken view that it had a duty to ferret out and suppress,” Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote in the Court’s opinion. “Religious observances even as it allows comparable secular speech. The Constitution neither mandates nor tolerates that kind of discrimination.”
Joe Kennedy was a junior varsity head coach and varsity assistant coach with the Bremerton School District in Washington from 2008 to 2015. He began the practice of reciting a post-game prayer by himself, but eventually students started joining him. According to court documents, this evolved into motivational speeches that included religious themes. After an opposing coach brought it to the principal’s attention, the school district told Kennedy to stop. He did, temporarily, then notified the school that he would resume the practice.
The situation garnered media attention, and when Kennedy announced that he would go back to praying on the field, it raised security concerns. When he did pray after the game, a number of people stormed the field in support.
The school district then offered to let Kennedy pray in other locations before and after games, or for him to pray on the 50-yard line after everyone else had left the premises, but he refused, insisting that he would continue his regular practice. After continuing the prayers at two more games, the school district placed Kennedy on leave.
The school district’s reasoning was that if they allowed Kennedy, their employee, to pray on the field at a school game, it would violate the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause, which protects separation of church and state.
“That reasoning was misguided,” the majority opinion said. “Both the Free Exercise and Free Speech Clauses of the First Amendment protect expressions like Mr. Kennedy’s. Nor does a proper understanding of the Amendment’s Establishment Clause require the government to single out private religious speech for special disfavor. “
Gorsuch stated that not just the Constitution, but “the best of our traditions” call for “mutual respect and tolerance, not censorship and suppression, for religious and nonreligious views alike.”
The Court’s ruling also stated that there is a distinct reason for why speech like Kennedy’s is protected by both the Free Speech and Free Exercise Clauses.
“That the First Amendment doubly protects religious speech is no accident. It is a natural outgrowth of the framers’ distrust of government attempts to regulate religion and suppress dissent,” Gorsuch wrote.
The Court explained why Kennedy’s prayer is not government speech, even though he was a government employee. The opinion stated that his words were not “pursuant to a government policy,” he was not “seeking to convey a government-created message,” and he was not acting in the normal scope of his duties because the game was over, he was not providing instruction or game strategy, and that he prayed at a time when he was free to do other things like “attend briefly to personal matters.”
Justice Samuel Alito also recognized in an concurring opinion that Kennedy prayed “while at work but during a time when a brief lull in his duties apparently gave him a few free moments to engage in private activities.”
42 Bodies Found Inside Tractor Trailer in San Antonio
Texas authorities responding to a tip about a truck in San Antonio found a scene of sheer horror: the dead bodies of at least 46 people inside, and others so weak they could barely move.
“Patients that we saw were hot to the touch,” city Fire Chief Charles Hood told reporters at a press conference Monday night.
As investigators opened a human-smuggling case, three suspects were tracked down and arrested—though it was unclear if the driver was among those detained.
Hours after temperatures soared to 103 F in the city, the 18-wheeler was found next to a set of railroad tracks and a salvage yard in a secluded area called Quintana Road, according to KSAT-12.
The discovery prompted an enormous police response, with first responders walking along the tracks with thermal imaging cameras, apparently searching for more people in a wooded area nearby.
Six people, including four minors, were taken to local hospitals. None of the dead were children, officials said at the press conference.
Officials said the truck’s doors had been partially open when authorities first arrived at the scene just after 6 p.m. on Monday. One person was found dead just outside the truck. The rest were inside, with many of those still alive exhibiting symptoms of heat stroke and heat exhaustion, in no state to escape.
“We’re not supposed to open up a truck and see stacks of bodies in there. None of us come to work imagining that. So we’re working through the behavioral health of our folks right now,” Hood said.
There was no indication that the group had had access to water, Hood explained, and the cooling unit in the truck’s box was off.
He said that authorities were, however, “hopeful” about the chances of survival for those hospitalized.
Marcelo Ebrard, Mexico’s foreign minister, said in a tweeted statement that the victims had reportedly suffocated in the trailer. He offered his condolences to them and their families, adding that a Mexican consul general was en route to the area.
Within hours of the truck’s discovery, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott was using the tragedy to score political points. “These deaths are on Biden,” he tweeted. “They are a result of his deadly open border policies. They show the deadly consequences of his refusal to enforce the law.”
Meanwhile, the governor’s $3 billion border security effort has widely been criticized for having fallen short of expectations. He has also drawn fierce criticism for complaining about the “burden” of educating undocumented migrant children in Texas.
Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Beto O’Rourke called the matter “devastating” in a tweet. “We need urgent action—dismantle human smuggling rings and replace them with expanded avenues for legal migration that reflect our values and meet our country’s needs,” he wrote.
Monday’s tragic discovery marked San Antonio’s largest case of migrant death in the city’s history, police chief William McManus said.
It is also one of the darkest episodes in illegal migration in recent months. 2021 was a year pockmarked with incidents of mass migrant death, including in December, when 55 were found dead after a tractor trailer crammed with 200 people hit a pedestrian bridge in Mexico and overturned.
Several months before that, in April, a crowded van carrying 29 migrants crashed along a remote stretch of Texas highway, killing 10. In March, 13 migrants were killed in an SUV carrying 25 when a semitrailer truck slammed into it east of San Diego.
Known and Suspected Terrorists Entering US in Unprecedented Numbers: Rep. Higgins
Known and suspected terrorists are entering the United States in unprecedented numbers amid a surge in illegal immigration, according to Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.).
In an interview with NTD, sister media outlet of The Epoch Times, the Louisiana representative said the Biden administration was providing “absurd” figures on the actual number of known and suspected terrorists entering America through its borders.
Higgins, a decorated law enforcement officer, said he believed the number to be much higher, in part owing to the number of suspected terrorists who have aggressively avoided interaction with law enforcement at the border, referred to as “got-aways.”
Higgins’s comments come after Border Patrol agents captured 50 people who were on the FBI’s terror watchlist from October 2021 to May 2022.
That figure was just 15 in the fiscal year 2021, which included several months under former President Donald Trump’s administration.
“Toward the end of last year [2021], I had estimated that we had lost about 250 KSTs, known and suspected terrorists, so the total numbers now that we’re told could serve about 700,000 ‘got-aways’ are suspected to have crossed into America. I think that’s a low number,” Higgins said.
“From my perspective, with data delivered to me by boots on the ground, from the border and from Central America and Mexico, and from the official numbers that are delivered to Congress from official data collection processes with Customs and Border Patrol, I think it’s reasonable for Americans to sort of step back and say, ‘My God, we have somewhere between 500 and 1,000 known and suspected terrorists [who] have entered into our country across our southern border since President [Joe] Biden has been inaugurated into office.’ This should startle every American citizen regardless of political affiliation.”
Analysis: Over 1 Million Voters Switch to GOP in Warning for Democrats
At least 1 million voters across 43 states have switched to the Republican Party in the past year alone, according to an analysis released by The Associated Press on June 27.
AP said that it compiled ballot intentions to make the finding, noting that the shift is happening more frequently in suburbs. Over the past year, far more people are switching to the GOP across suburban counties from Denver to Atlanta as well as Pittsburgh and Cleveland, it said.
The GOP also gained ground in counties around medium-size cities such as Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Raleigh, North Carolina; Augusta, Georgia; and Des Moines, Iowa.
The data were sourced by political research firm L2, which provided information on 1.7 million voters who likely switched their party affiliations across 42 states. L2 said it used state voter records and statistical modeling to figure out party affiliation.
In the past 12 months, about two-thirds of the 1.7 million voters who changed their party affiliation shifted to the Republican Party. Around 630,000 people switched to the Democratic Party in the same time period, according to AP.
“Biden and Democrats are woefully out of touch with the American people, and that’s why voters are flocking to the Republican Party in droves,” Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel told The Associated Press, appearing to confirm the news service’s data.
She said that “American suburbs will trend red for cycles to come” due to “Biden’s gas hike, the open border crisis, baby formula shortage, and rising crime.” The Epoch Times has contacted the RNC and Democratic National Committee for comment.
Amid elevated gas prices and decades-high inflation, Republicans have frequently targeted Biden and his policies. They say that executive orders signed by the president in 2021, including ending the Keystone XL pipeline and stopping new oil drilling leases for federal lands, have contributed to the economic turmoil.
Jessica Kroells, of Larimer County, Colorado, said she can’t vote for Democrats any longer, although she did until 2016.
Rudy Giuliani Slapped by Grocery Worker Angry About Abortion Ruling
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani said that he was allegedly slapped on the back by a ShopRite worker, who was later arrested.
“All of a sudden, I feel this ‘Bam!’ on my back,” Giuliani told the New York Post. “I don’t know if they helped me not fall down, but I just about fell down, but I didn’t.”
He added: “I feel this tremendous pain in my back, and I’m thinking, what the—I didn’t even know what it was … All of a sudden, I hear this guy say, ‘You’re a [expletive] scumbag,’ then he moves away so nobody can grab him.”
“And he says, ‘You, you’re one of the people that’s gonna kill women. You’re gonna kill women,’” Giuliani said, quoting the ShopRite worker. “‘You and your [expletive] friend are gonna kill women.’ Then he starts yelling out all kinds of, just curses, and every once in a while, he puts in that woman thing.”
The incident occurred two days after the Supreme Court overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that argued women have the right to obtain an abortion. It’s not clear how the worker connected the ruling to Giuliani, a former mayor of New York City and more recently, former President Donald Trump’s lawyer.
Giuliani was a the ShopRite location on Veterans Road in Charleston, Staten Island, where he’d been out campaigning for his son, Andrew Giuliani, a Republican who is running for governor of New York.
“The assault on my father, America’s mayor, was over politics,” Andrew Giuliani said in a statement to news outlets on Monday. “We will not be intimidated by left-wing attacks. As governor, I will stand up for law and order so that New Yorkers feel safe again.”
The Republican added, “As governor, I will stand up for law and order so that New Yorkers feel safe again. This message has resonated with voters throughout my campaign, leading up to Tuesday’s primary.” The younger Giuliani, who had worked in the Trump administration, is running against Long Island-based Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.), former Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino, and businessman Harry Wilson in the GOP primary.
The New York City Police Department confirmed to ABC7 that the worker, identified as Daniel Gill, was arrested. He is now facing a second-degree assault charge for hitting a senior citizen. Giuliani is 78 years old.
A spokesperson for ShopRite told Pxi11 that it was aware of the incident on Sunday that was “instigated by a store associate.”
“Store security observed the incident, reacted swiftly and the police were notified,” the spokesperson told the station. “We have zero tolerance for aggression toward anyone.”
Pelosi Appears to Elbow Away Daughter of Newly Elected Congresswoman
Rep. Flores (R-Texas) has responded to a video in which House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) appeared to elbow away Flores’ daughter during her swearing-in ceremony last week.
A video posted on social media Sunday night showed Pelosi standing next to Flores’ two daughters on stage as the speaker swore in Flores on June 21. Pelosi looked down at the girl next to her and positioned her forearm and elbow to nudge the child to the side.
In a response on Twitter, Flores said she was proud of her daughter for not letting the incident faze her.
“She continued to smile and pose for the picture like a Queen,” Flores wrote. “No child should be pushed to the side for a photo op. Period!”
Flores was sworn in as the first Republican to represent Texas Congressional District 34 in more than 100 years.
Flores, a legal immigrant from Mexico who is married to a border patrol agent, won a special election to replace former Rep. Filemon Vela (D-Texas), who resigned this spring to work for Akin Gump, a Washington law and lobbying firm.
She will only hold the office until January 2023—unless she can beat Rep. Vicente Gonzalez (D-Texas) in the midterm election this November.
Gonzalez, a moderate Democrat, is switching districts because the Republican-dominated Texas Legislature redrew the South Texas voter map, moving his McAllen home into District 34 from District 15.
Two Christian former college students whose Supreme Court victory allowed them to pursue nominal damages after their right to share their faith on campus was infringed settled their lawsuit in exchange for a payment of more than $800,000 by the college.
As The Epoch Times previously reported, the case goes back to 2016 when Chike Uzuegbunam—then a student at Georgia Gwinnett College, a public college in Lawrenceville, Georgia—was on campus handing out religious literature and sharing his Christian beliefs. A college official stopped him, saying he was breaking school rules by not speaking within the boundaries of an approved “speech zone.”
Uzuegbunam was unaware he wasn’t standing inside one of the two tiny speech zones where students were allowed to express themselves on campus. To use the zones, students had to seek preclearance and submit any leaflets in advance, after which officials would decide on their application. To speak publicly outside the zones, students also had to first obtain a permit from the school.
Uzuegbunam obtained a permit and spoke publicly a second time, making a good-faith effort to follow rules, but someone complained to campus security after he began speaking and college officials accused him of “disorderly conduct.” Student Joseph Bradford also wanted to speak publicly, but the policy led him to back off. Both students are evangelical Christians who believe they have a duty to share their faith.
The college eventually changed its student speech policies after the students filed suit each seeking $1 in nominal damages to make the point that they had been wronged without seeking further damages. Nominal damages means a trivial sum to reflect the fact that a tort, or civil wrong, has been committed. After the lawsuit was initiated, the college changed its policy and allowed speech anywhere outdoors on campus.
This policy change, and the fact that the two students went on to graduate from the college, led a federal district court to dismiss the case, finding that the case was moot, meaning that any ruling would have no practical impact because there was no longer an actual dispute between the parties. The claim for nominal damages by itself “could not serve as a sufficient basis for the case to proceed.” The ruling was upheld by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit.
They appealed to the Supreme Court, which, on March 8, 2021, ruled 8–1 in their favor (pdf), reversing the 11th Circuit and remanding the case “for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.”
“This case asks whether an award of nominal damages by itself can redress a past injury,” Justice Clarence Thomas wrote for the court. “We hold that it can.”
The sole dissenter, Chief Justice John Roberts, agreed with the district court, noting the two men were no longer students at the college, the restrictions were lifted, and the men “have not alleged actual damages.” The majority “sees no problem with turning judges into advice columnists” by “deciding cases ‘in the rarefied atmosphere of a debating society,’” Roberts wrote, quoting an earlier precedent.
The case returned to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. On Dec. 22, 2021, the judge ruled (pdf)—contrary to the wishes of the college—that for the college to pay out a total of just $2 for violating the former students’ constitutional right to communicate about their religious faith free from interference seemed unfair. The court found the students could seek damages if they desired a larger, more fitting payout.
But instead of continuing to litigate, Georgia Gwinnett College agreed to pay nominal damages and attorneys’ fees totaling more than $800,000, the students’ lawyers at the public interest law firm known as the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) announced. The parties filed a stipulated dismissal (pdf) with the court on June 22, formally ending the lawsuit.
“This settlement represents a victory not only for Chike and Joseph but also for many other students who wish to exercise their constitutionally protected freedoms on the campuses of Georgia’s public colleges and universities,” ADF Senior Counsel Travis Barham said in a statement.
“For five years, Georgia Gwinnett College officials have tried again and again to dodge accountability for their illegal actions in violating Chike’s and Joseph’s rights, even after the U.S. Supreme Court rebuked them.
“But after the district court put a stop to that, the college has finally decided to stop fighting the Constitution. This case should also remind other colleges and universities nationwide of the need to respect their students’ liberties. If they do not, they can and will be held accountable.”
Mississippi Republican Who Supported Jan. 6 Commission Faces June 28 Runoff
Rep. Michael Guest (R-Miss.), a lawmaker who voted in favor of forming a Jan. 6 Commission, has entered the final stretch before a June 28 runoff election against U.S. Navy veteran Michael Cassidy.
The congressman from Mississippi’s 3rd District actually lost the initial June 7 primary election to Cassidy, receiving just 46.9 percent of the vote to Cassidy’s 47.5 percent.
Runoffs are triggered in Mississippi primary elections if no candidate receives more than 50 percent of the vote.
In addition to warring over Guest’s support for a commission, the two candidates have sparred over Cassidy’s alleged economic views.
An attack ad against Cassidy accused him of backing an “extreme socialist agenda” that would have added $48 trillion in social spending, as reported by Mississippi Today. That ad was funded by the Congressional Leadership Fund (CLF), a national super PAC supported by current House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.),
Mississippi Today based the $48 trillion figure on proposals from the candidate’s website, including one that appeared to mirror some Democrats’ vision of “Medicare for All.” Those policy ideas were subsequently taken down.
In a June 24 interview with The Epoch Times, Cassidy acknowledged the proposals were on his website, but claims the assertion that he supports broad new health care spending for Americans is “a complete lie and misrepresentation.”
“The truth is, before I began campaigning, I did a stupid thing,” he said. “And that was to brainstorm policy ideas on my website.”
Cassidy claimed that while he initially hoped that more Americans could access the caliber of health plan that he has through the U.S. Navy, he quickly realized that such a vision was too expensive.
He took issue with the CLF’s efforts to defeat him. OpenSecrets shows that it has spent $448,783 to oppose Cassidy’s candidacy.
According to that same website, top donors to the CLF in the 2022 cycle include Koch Industries and Dan Crenshaw for Congress.
“[CLF] spent half a million dollars in money that should be spent to get Democrats out of office and Republicans in,” he said, stressing his opposition to red flag laws and funding for Planned Parenthood.
Representatives for the CLF didn’t respond to a request for comment by press time.
Cassidy praised the Supreme Court’s June 24 Dobbs v. Jackson decision, which overturned Roe v. Wade and returned abortion law-making to the states.
Pro-abortion protests in Washington and elsewhere in the country followed the decision’s release, continuing a pattern that started when a draft of the decision was leaked through Politico in May.
The leaker of that draft hasn’t yet been identified.
‘We can’t have secret units doing secret surveillance of people that have committed no crime, no probable cause of a crime. Just getting blanket surveillance.’
As previously reported in an exclusive June 20 report, evidence proves that “plainclothes” members of a special Electronic Surveillance Unit (ESU) were embedded among Jan. 6, 2021, protesters for the purposes of conducting video surveillance. According to experts, one believes the activity itself may have been against the law. The other contends it was done for the purpose of entrapment.
Against the Law?
Speaking as a former prosecutor and three-term District Judge, Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) told The Epoch Times, “if you’re going to have electronic surveillance of people there has to be warrants.”
As Gohmert explained, “FISA courts have granted warrants,” with “no particular clarity” and “no probable cause that a crime’s been committed or that this person engaged in a crime.”
The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) was established under the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). “Pursuant to FISA,” the FISC website explains, “the Court entertains applications submitted by the United States Government for approval of electronic surveillance, physical search, and other investigative actions for foreign intelligence purposes.”
Regarding domestic electronic surveillance, the Department of Justice (DOJ) website, “Because of the well-recognized intrusive nature of many types of electronic surveillance, especially wiretaps and ‘bugs,’ and the Fourth Amendment implications of the government’s use of these devices in the course of its investigations, the relevant statutes (and related Department of Justice guidelines) provide restrictions on the use of most electronic surveillance, including the requirement that a high-level Department official specifically approve the use of many of these types of electronic surveillance prior to an Assistant United States Attorney obtaining a court order authorizing interception.”
Furthermore, “when court authorization for video surveillance is deemed necessary, it should be obtained by way of an application and order predicated on Fed. R. Crim. P. 41(b) and the All Writs Act (28 U.S.C. § 1651). The application and order should be based on an affidavit that establishes probable cause to believe that evidence of a Federal crime will be obtained by the surveillance. In addition, the affidavit should comply with certain provisions of the Federal electronic surveillance statutes.”
Gohmert surmised: “When you see confirmed judges are just willing to completely abrogate the U.S. Constitution because they’re the star chamber of the secret court, and they figure nobody will ever find out what they’re doing, then you know when you see there’s an Electronic Surveillance Unit, well, something’s not right.”
Gohmert’s concerns with the ESU surveillance are two-fold:
- Were the legally required warrants obtained?
- If so, how could a judge approve a warrant for surveillance before a crime has been committed and with no probable cause?
“We can’t have secret units doing secret surveillance of people that have committed no crime, no probable cause of a crime. Just getting blanket surveillance,” Gohmert asserted. “We don’t know what kind of warrant they had or even if they had warrants. But to deploy Electronic Surveillance Units tells us there’s a lot more here that we need to find out about and obviously it’s not going to be uncovered at least for another six months.”
But Gohmert added that “there is also more information we haven’t gotten and information that continues to leak out drip by drip.”
“Like this in [article] The Epoch Times,” Gohmert noted, “pointing out how until the deployment of munitions, the crowd was peaceful. I had heard from people and seen people interviewed saying there wasn’t any violence out there. ‘We were just mulling around, chanting stuff from time to time, then they started firing on us with tear gas and provoked the crowd.’ They created chaos, and you just wonder what was going on.”
Gov. Hochul Cruising on Establishment Support Toward Primary Win, Despite Crime Crisis: Experts
New York’s governor, Kathy Hochul, enjoys such deep and entrenched relationships within Democrat Party politics in the deep blue state that she is cruising to an all-but-certain easy victory in the primary election set to take place Tuesday, avoiding the intensive and public campaigning efforts that incumbent politicians make when their seats are up for grabs. But the marked rise in crime in New York City and other parts of the state has caused voters to associate the governor with failed policies and jeopardized her chances of reelection, experts say.
Though Hochul is not running unopposed—her primary challengers include Rep. Thomas Suozzi (D-N.Y.) and Public Advocate Jumaane Williams—she has not conducted her reelection campaign like a politician facing serious challenges. Sources such as Politico and the New York Times have run articles in recent days noting the low profile that Hochul has kept during the run-up to the June 28 primary vote. While her campaign has spent lavishly on advertising, Hochul has pursued a “Rose Garden” approach and largely eschewed public appearances and rallies, to the consternation even of certain of her fellow Democrats such as former Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.).
For some observers, there has never really been much of a contest in the Democrat gubernatorial primary since New York Attorney General Letitia James announced in December 2021 that she would exit the race for governor and focus instead on reelection to her current position. James is a formidable player in state politics who oversaw the preparation of the lengthy investigative report (pdf) into sexual harassment allegations that led to then-Governor Andrew Cuomo’s resignation in August 2021.
“I follow New York politics very closely, and I’ve believed for a long time that Kathy Hochul is just a runaway train of the Democratic primary,” David Carlucci, who served as a Democrat in the New York state Senate from 2011 through 2020, told The Epoch Times.
Hochul is a likely shoo-in for the nomination despite not having experience running for governor. The lieutenant governor stepped into her current role following the resignation of then-governor Cuomo in August 2021 in the midst of the sexual harassment scandal.
The low profile she has kept is not a function of her lack of means, observers say.
“Kathy Hochul definitely has the resources to reach out across the state, but it’s more of a ‘Rose Garden’ campaign—that old saying where if you’re far ahead in the lead, just keep doing what you’re doing,” Carlucci said.
Will the January 6 Committee Fuel Civil War in America?
Commentary By Steven Yates
I’ve written frequently of narratives and of what has become one of the biggest fault lines in the American body-politic: the clash between those who firmly believe Election 2020 was stolen and those who call this “the big lie.”
The latter is the official narrative in Corporate Media, and it is the official narrative of the January 6 Select Committee. Both have refused from the start to consider any possibility that the election was stolen, however it was done and by whom. This included many of Trump’s own people, including his attorney general. One side is holding most of the cards right now while those they label “insurrectionists” sit in prison, their lives ruined.
Millions of people believe Election 2020 was stolen. Multiple polls show that almost 70 percent of Republicans think so, and some 28 percent of Independents agree. Forty percent of Americans doubt that Biden won legitimately. That is a substantial fraction of the population whom Corporate Media and the January 6 Committee are shutting out of the conversation and further alienating.
I’ve discussed my own evidence — which was available on the morning of November 4, 2020 to anyone with an Internet connection and able to read graphs. And as much hysteria as death threats against Adam Kinzinger (RINO—Ill.) generate, this cuts both ways: some who signed affidavits under penalty of perjury testifying to wrongdoing at polling places have dropped from sight because of such threats against them or family members — or the sort of campaigns of personal destruction today’s Corporate Media presstitutes specialize in. These people do not have a Congressman’s resources to protect themselves. Even a former Justice Department official, Jeffrey Clark, had his home raided early June 23. He was put out in the street still in his pajamas, while the thought police seized his electronic devices. Clark’s thought crime: he did not accept the official narrative and communicated to Georgia election officials that there was sufficient evidence of fraud in that state to warrant investigation.
Those who respond “there’s no proof of election fraud” misunderstand something, and it might be useful to sort it out, because proof and evidence are slippery concepts.
Absolute proof does not really exist outside pure mathematics and formal logic. I can’t prove that you exist or that the sun will come up tomorrow morning—although basic physics supplies very strong evidence of the latter, at least.
Evidence is not proof. Evidence can be reinterpreted, so that it seems to be something other than it is. Or it can be blacklisted (dropped down the memory hole) and its advocates labeled “conspiracy theorists” to discredit them so that whatever they claim is ignored. Or deemed a “lie.” Note that calling someone’s evidence-claim a “lie” is stronger than calling it “false.” People make innocent mistakes and get things wrong. Accusing them of promoting a “big lie” implies not mere wrongness but malicious intent.
Bottom line: no, we don’t have absolute proof of a stolen election. But we do have evidence, in the form of those hundreds of affidavits that have been memory-holed as well as the video evidence provided in Dinesh D’Souza’s 2000 Mules and in Mike Lindell’s films.
The fault line now appears uncrossable. Trump called on the January 6 Committee to urge consideration of “the irrefutable evidence of massive and totally pervasive election fraud….”
Response: Trump is calling for “the impossible” because “it never happened.”
That’s the denial.
Social Media Study Shows Growing DeSantis Boom Among Swing Voters
An analysis of social media posts shared with The Epoch Times shows growing momentum for Florida’s Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis as the GOP presidential nominee in 2024 among voters who aren’t solidly in the Trump camp.
“A sizable portion of the positive discussion (32 percent) speak of him as preferable to Trump,” said the summary analysis of the research paid for by the Ready for Ron Committee—a draft committee that is encouraging DeSantis to run for president.
“To them, he is the rightful heir and suggest the former president step aside and allow the younger man to run the gauntlet,” the analysis said of the majority of surveyed voters.
The research, which was conducted by Impact Social, looked at 40,000 “swing” voters on social media and categorized them into ten segments, from “Disillusioned Trump” voters, Obama-turned-Trump voters, to “Bernie Sanders” voters.
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
ANOTHER CLOSURE: One of the Largest Chicken Producers in the U.S. Announces Tennessee Plant Shutdown
Joe Biden’s ‘Build Back Better’ is not working as planned… Or is it?
One of the top ten largest vertically integrated chicken producers in the US, supplying a broad range of quality poultry products, announced that it will be shutting down one of its plants in Campbell County, Tennessee.
According to WVLT-TV, George’s Inc.: Poultry and Prepared Foods announced it will close one of its food processing plants.
The reason for the closure has not yet been disclosed, even the locals were surprised by the sudden decision.
Campbell County Mayor E.L. Morton told the WVLT-TV that he’s doing his best to keep the plant open.
“I have contacted the Tennessee Economic and Community Development staff to request assistance in keeping the plant open or facilitating a sale to another operator,” Morton said.
The closure of the plant would imperil the livelihoods of nearly 200 of the company’s employees during a time of record-high inflation and the cost of everything is way up, according to Western Journal.
“I have requested Governor Lee’s assistance as well. My primary concern is for the welfare of the dedicated workers who have been the backbone of this operation. Our prayers go out to them as well as our very best efforts to keep them employed in Campbell County,” Morton added.
George’s Inc’s plant closure in Campbell County, Tennessee is another blow to the US food market.
George’s Inc. is a chicken processing company with plants in Arkansas, Missouri, Virginia, and Tennessee. The corporate offices are in Springdale, Arkansas.
Last year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture found that George’s Inc. plant in Edinburg, Virginia was out of compliance with federal regulations after more than 2,500 chickens were found dead on the plant grounds, The Northern Virginia Daily reported.
HEALTH
How to Avoid Hormone-Disrupting Chemicals
Endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) are similar in structure to natural hormones such as the female sex hormone estrogen, the male sex hormone androgen and thyroid hormones
EDCs interfere with development, reproduction, neurological functioning, metabolism, satiety and your immune system function, and much more, and for many of these chemicals, there may be no safe level of exposure
12 of the worst and most widely used EDCs are: BPA, dioxin, atrazine, phthalates, perchlorate, fire retardants, lead, mercury, arsenic, PFCs, organophosphate pesticides and glycol ethers
10 common routes of exposure include personal care products, drinking water, canned and packaged foods, conventionally grown produce and CAFO meat, poultry and dairy products, high-mercury fish, plastic and nonstick kitchenware, cleaning products, household dust, office products and cash register receipts
Suggestions for how to avoid or limit exposure are included
ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT
Catastrophic: Technocrat War On American Energy
The conflict in Ukraine evokes a World War II strategy we had all hoped was gone forever: the purposeful victimization and killing of civilians to weaken and demoralize the opposition. Sadly, climate activists who seem to exert inordinate control over U.S. government policies are exacting an analogously high price from the American public in pursuit of their ideological goals. They are conducting what we call the War On American Energy, or WOAE (pronounced “WHOA!”)
The WOAE strategies include direct actions as well as less obvious “behind the lines” logistics and support functions. The most destructive is the attack on the nation’s fuel supply. Biden administration officials have rescinded permissions for existing pipelines such as the Keystone XL; cancelled the sale of exploration leases in the Gulf of Mexico and off Alaska; and slowed the issuance of permits for collateral construction such as roads necessary to use existing exploration leases. Despite their own culpability for obstructions to drilling, they threaten early cancellation of “unused” leases.
To add insult to injury, President Joe Biden has called on energy to companies to refine more and profit less after disincentivizing investment in fossil fuels to achieve “cleaner energy.” What kind of disincentiving? Who can forget Biden’s emphatic message during the election campaign about his energy policies if he were to become president: “No more subsidies for the fossil fuel industry. No more drilling, including offshore. No ability for the oil industry to continue to drill, period. It ends.”
The results are predictable: Less investment in energy, diminished resilience against supply disruptions, and massive spikes in fuel prices. And earlier this month, the EPA proposed to reverse a Trump-era rule that limited the power of states and Native American tribes to block energy projects like natural-gas pipelines, a certain path to increasing costs and delays.
So much for the once much-vaunted phrase, “American energy independence.”
Activists are also engaged in a relentless disinformation campaign to hide the challenges of renewable energy sources. Wind and solar power without sufficient fossil fuel or battery backup will produce rolling blackouts. Battery backup for just the region of West Texas that lost power for four days in February 2021 would cost about $20 billion (11,000 turbines times 96 hours times two megawatts per turbine-hour times $100,000 per megawatt hour for batteries).
Also, building wind and solar farms consumes millions of tons of steel, concrete, plastic, etc., at a high energy cost. Furthermore, management of power grids is hugely complicated by the variable nature of power generation from renewables, including the mandated purchase of excess electricity from consumers with solar panels on their roofs.
Then there is the fantasy of electric vehicles (EVs) as a panacea. Expensive subsidies remain necessary, and each EV requires 250 tons of minerals to be mined with an energy expenditure of 86 million BTUs, which is equal to 1.5 person-years of total energy consumption. Many of the necessary rare earth elements and lithium are scarce and come from hostile or largely inaccessible parts of the world such as China, Congo, and Russia, and industrial-scale battery demands would exacerbate the problem. And although charging at single-family homes seems straightforward, neighborhood power transformers are generally intended to supply eight to 10 homes without EVs, presaging major renovations of local grids. Plus, are we willing to tear up our streets to install chargers for city dwellers? And who pays for and manages a vastly expanded garage charging infrastructure? And all this while we’re producing less reliable and more expensive electric power.
Paradoxically, the ideal available clean energy – nuclear – continues to be disfavored and has long been headed for the WOAE scrap heap. This is despite the potential of small modular reactors and even “nuclear batteries,” which can be used to power devices and machines of any size, from aircraft and rockets to charging electric vehicles. Perfectly safe and serviceable nuclear plants are being decommissioned at an alarming rate. Germany is now deeply regretting former Chancellor Angela Merkel’s decision to phase out nuclear energy.
Why Biden’s Green Energy Policy Will ‘End in Tears’
The lessons for America from Germany’s ‘Energiewende’
News Analysis
American Founding Father Benjamin Franklin once said that “experience is an expensive school but fools will learn in no other.” Germany’s green energy policy, launched in the year 2000, could have been a cheap lesson for America today.
The Biden administration has chosen to follow Germany, providing heavy subsidies for wind and solar, while suppressing industries that could reliably meet America’s energy needs and even reduce its carbon footprint. In January, the administration announced that it had “pulled every lever to position America to scale up clean energy … the Biden-Harris Administration has readied offshore areas to harness power from wind, approved new solar projects on public lands, and passed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to build thousands of miles of transmission lines that deliver clean energy.”
On June 6, the Biden Administration invoked the Defense Production Act to increase the production of green energy and to replace the use of fossil fuels. While the legality of this move is questionable, it established the U.S. government as a major controlling party in America’s heretofore private energy industry. But like most grand government adventures into industrial policy, the push for renewables is already revealing itself to be enormously wasteful and counterproductive.
Twenty-two years ago, Germany stepped into the forefront of the green energy movement, implementing its “Energiewende,” an ambitious program of subsidies for solar panels and wind turbines, coupled with a reduction in coal, oil, and natural gas. After the 2011 nuclear disaster in Fukushima, Japan, Germany decided to also close its nuclear plants.
In 2000, less than 7 percent of Germany’s electricity came from so-called renewables. By 2021, that share exceeded 40 percent of the country’s electricity generation and about 20 percent of its total energy consumption, including electric vehicles (EVs).
By the end of 2021, before the Ukraine war drove prices even higher, German households paid 32 cents per kilowatt-hour for electricity. The rate in France, which kept its nuclear industry intact, was 23 cents. Americans paid an average price of 11 cents for electricity at that time—about a third of what Germans paid. Twenty percent of Germans’ electric bills went to a “renewables surcharge” to subsidize wind and solar.
Germany had spent heavily to increase its renewable energy capacity, but in the case of wind and solar, capacity never delivered the promised output. According to a 2020 report from the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Germany’s electricity output in 2000 was 54 percent of its total capacity, also known as the “capacity factor.” Unused capacity is the norm for power grids because the demand for electricity varies significantly depending on the time of day, the season, and the weather. By 2019, however, while Germany’s total electricity capacity had risen dramatically thanks to a sharp increase in renewables, its capacity factor had fallen to just 20 percent, largely because wind and solar generators were less productive than fossil fuels or nuclear.
The capacity factor for solar energy was just 10 percent because much of the country is often overcast. Wind energy was also producing well below capacity because wind turbines produced no energy on calm days and had to shut down on particularly gusty days to prevent turbine blades from being damaged. Even within those limits, the amount of energy produced by wind turbines was hugely variable depending on how hard the wind was blowing.
“It costs Germany a great deal to maintain such an excess of installed power,” the IEEE report stated. “The average cost of electricity for German households has doubled since 2000.”
A major problem with wind and solar is not only that they are unreliable, but also that they tend to generate the most power when people need it least. The peak seasons for wind generation tend to be fall and spring, but the peak demand for energy occurs in summer and winter when people need to heat or cool homes and offices.
An electricity grid must manage huge variability in demand. It must have enough capacity to cover peak demand, for example during the hottest hours of summer, but also have the flexibility to reduce power during early morning hours or springtime days when demand falls considerably. Because renewables are unpredictable in terms of how much energy they will produce, and when, they add substantial variability to the supply side of the equation as well.
US Shale Producers Seeking to Boost Oil Production Through Re-Fracking
Shale oil producers in the United States are resorting to “re-fracking” to boost the country’s oil output, as well as generate additional profits without having to make significant new investments.
Re-fracking refers to the practice of an oil company returning to old shale oil and gas wells that were fracked in the past, but are no longer in production. The process allows oil producers to take advantage of the higher than $100 per barrel oil price while also creating a higher output with a smaller investment, rather than having to develop an entirely new well.
“You go back and find where you maybe under-completed and under-fracked in the beginning,” Catherine Oster, who manages Devon Energy’s midcontinent properties, told Reuters. “We’ve made the infrastructure investment. As you learn about your resource, you get those technical learnings” that help decide which wells will benefit from a second shot.
Garrett Fowler, chief operating officer for ResFrac, which helps producers optimize the technique, has seen inquiries for re-fracking double in recent times compared to previous years. The process can increase oil flows from aging wells by two to three times, he said.
Experts estimate re-fracking to potentially be up to 40 percent cheaper compared to new wells.
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in late February, oil prices have remained at elevated levels because of tensions over oil supply.
GARDENING, FARMING & HOMESTEADING
Tool Libraries Let You Rent Equipment – Great for DIY Gardening Projects!
Your public library likely offers a collection of rotating tools for checkout. Here are tips to locate tool libraries near you—and save some serious cash in the process.
Your public library might also offer a collection of rotating tools for checkout. But if they don’t, here are some tips to find and use tool libraries near you—and save some serious dough.
Look Local
Finding a tool library near you is easy thanks to sites such as Local Tools, a database of tool libraries around the world. You can easily zoom in to your area to see your nearest library. However, not all available tool libraries near you may be listed on this site. If you don’t see a tool library near you, try asking around—neighborhood maker spaces, recycling and reuse non-profits, community Facebook or Nextdoor pages, and, of course, your public library. Even if your local library doesn’t offer its own tool lending program, there’s a good chance they can point you in the right direction.
Start Your Own Tool Library
If there is no available tool library near you, consider starting your own. Rather than visiting your neighbor to borrow the proverbial cup of sugar, offer to lend them a hand with their projects by lending your tools and vice versa. If you notice several DIY home improvement projects in your neighborhood, gather your neighbors to see if there’s interest in creating a neighborhood tool-sharing co-op. There might even be local government grants available to jumpstart your community initiative, which is how the Berkeley Tool Library got up and running in 1979.
But if your need is a bit larger (say, farm equipment), you can try partnering with a local hardware or mechanic shop. The West Seattle Tool Library launched thanks to the help of a local garden center that offered special discount coupons to those who donated their own tools to the effort. The Toronto Tool Library got its start thanks to in-kind donations from corporations, such as The Home Depot and Canadian Tire.
Lending Fees vs. Cost of Tools
According to the Urban Sustainability Directors Network (USDN), most tool-lending libraries arise out of local government programs, existing sustainability non-profits, or a non-profit dedicated solely to tool lending. In order to stay in service, these libraries generally require a membership fee or a lending fee per tool. For example, the Tool Library of Buffalo charges a $20 monthly membership fee which gets you up to five tools a week—a pretty good deal considering a power drill alone can cost anywhere from $50 to $70 dollars, and far more if you’re looking for a drill set. Tool libraries that are housed under the umbrella of a public library or other governmental institution, such as the Oakland Tool Library, might have no fees to join but require the prompt return of tools in order to borrow more.
At most tool libraries, late fees will be charged if you return an item late (most charge anywhere from $1 to $10 per day) and there are fees if a tool is returned damaged or not returned at all.
Etiquette of Borrowing
Just as with book borrowing, it’s important to be courteous to your community when borrowing and returning tools. Return everything on time, with the tools as clean and undamaged as they were when you borrowed them.
If you have earth under your home you also have geothermal energy
The use of “Geothermal Energy” for home, greenhouse and offices is one of the fastest growing trends globally. The word
“geo-thermal” simply means “earth-heat”: GEO (earth), THERMAL (heat)
Many people are confused with what Geothermal Energy actually is. The simplest definition is that it is “heat” from the
“earth”, however it is important to understand there are three (3) basic types and not just one
Available In Every Country Of The World
High grade and Medium grade geothermal are quite rare in most of the world, however “Low grade geothermal” is common
and available in virtually every country of the world and in every climate.
This “Low grade geothermal” is the grade that was used for the past 18 years by Russ to heat his home, workshop and
16’x80′ greenhouse -20°F temperatures and still grow healthy crops of fruits, vegetables and tropical flowers without any
other heat source. Low-grade geothermal is referred to as ‘Geo-Air’ and not geothermal.
Not only is he using this very accessible and “free” geothermal energy, he method is using the new “geoair” technology
which everyone, including university professors say, will not work. It is, in fact functioningvery well and even more efficient
than he ever expected.
Circulate Air, Not Water
His “geoair” concept uses “air”, and not “water” or “anti-freeze” to collect, circulate and store the geothermal energy.
Because of this, the initial cost is 50% less and maintenance costs are 90% less.
Low grade Geothermal is available to virtually everyone; less maintenance and less expensive per BTU than either solar cells
or wind energy. [ see Geoair Energy and Citrus In The Snow links ]
Low grade Geothermal energy provides both heating and cooling in Canadian climates or Arizona desert climates. It’s the
most efficient and cost effective energy source and truly eco friendly and sustainable.
COVID RELATED NEWS
Study: Male Fertility Tanks 15.4% After mRNA Injections
A new study conducted by Israeli researchers at Shamir Medical Center, Tel Aviv University, Herzliya Medical Center, and Sheba Medical Center, has published disturbing findings regarding the possible impact of COVID vaccination on male fertility.
The study, peer-reviewed and published in Wiley Online Library, recruited male volunteers for a period of at least six months, testing their sperm parameters at various points prior to and following vaccination. All of the study participants were screened for previous COVID infection and found to be negative.
Previous studies have suggested a brief and transient impact of COVID infection on sperm parameters, with any negative impact reversed by two to three months following infection. In this study, however, the negative impact of vaccination was seen not immediately following vaccination, but rather, between two and five months following vaccination and persisting throughout the remainder of the study.
At T2 (75 to 150 days following vaccination completion), sperm concentration was found to be 15.4% decreased from baseline (prior to vaccination). Total motile count was also down at this point by 22.1%. At T3, over 150 days after vaccination completion, the corresponding figures were -15.9% and -19.4%.
Why Big Pharma Is Desperate to Get COVID Jab Into Babies
The rate of COVID-19 associated hospitalization among children aged 5 to 11 is just 0.0008%. In real-world terms, that’s so close to zero you basically cannot lower it any further
Despite that, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s vaccine advisory panel — the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) — on June 15, 2022, unanimously approved to grant Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) to Pfizer’s and Moderna’s COVID shots for infants and young children
Pfizer’s EUA is for a three-dose regimen (3-microgram shots) for children 6 months to 5 years old; Moderna’s EUA is for a two-dose regimen (25-microgram shots) for children 6 months to 6 years
In granting this EUA, the FDA again ignored injury and death data and swept medical ethics aside
The drug companies need this last remaining age group to be included under the EUA, because once the emergency is finally declared “over,” the next phase of liability shielding requires that the shots receive approval by the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). Once the vaccine is on the childhood vaccination schedule, the vaccine makers are permanently shielded from liability for injuries and deaths that occur in any age group, including adults
The Vaccine Rollout Is Directly Related to Disability
The U.S. population, aged 16 years and over, with a disability remained stable from 2016 to 2020, but jumped sharply in early 2021, coinciding with the rollout of COVID-19 injections
In early 2021, a Twitter user named Ben, who runs a U.S. all-cause mortality site, posted a graph showing the eerily similar rise in disability and cumulative COVID-19 shots, with the number of disabled Americans rising from 30 million to 32.7 million
Within about an hour of posting, the tweet was flagged as “disinformation,” Ben was locked out of his account and comments and sharing of the post were disabled
As of May 27, 2022, 14,181 people reported being permanently disabled after receiving COVID-19 shots
In April 2021, U.S. Army lieutenant colonel Harry Chang predicted that U.S. officials were likely to pause the COVID-19 mRNA injection campaign in light of increasing cases of myocarditis following the shots
No pause for mRNA COVID-19 shots occurred, but as of June 8, 2022, more than 5,000 cases of myocarditis following the injections have been reported
CANCEL CULTURE
It’s part of the whole college experience. Eager young minds, animated in discussion, engaging in robust classroom debate.
It got lively, boisterous—even explosive at times—as bright pupils with great expectations shared, tested, and contested ideas about the world. This was the university, the crucible of learning, the engine of ideas.
How times have changed.
Today, that experience has turned heavy (the crucible cold and unyielding) in many colleges and universities, where discussions are dampened by theories like postmodernism, putting a chill on that wistful classroom experience.
Few know this better than those who’ve been silenced.
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