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- Title Changes
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- Let Us Out!
- When hear people ecstatic about their VAX, I I try to remember them as they were at that moment. Happy
- Candanavia Hand Brake Lockdown
- I wanted to share an update with you regarding today’s announcement by the Premier on actions being taken to keep individual, families and workers safe. We are facing a very situation with COVID-19 spreading quickly, infecting more people and threatening our hospitals. As we have said many times, we will do whatever it takes to protect the health and safety of all Ontarians.
- Our government, in consultation with the Chief Medical Officer of Health and other health experts, is imposing a provincewide emergency brake as a result of an alarming surge in case numbers and COVID-19 hospitalizations across the province.
- The provincewide emergency brake will be effective Saturday, April 3, 2021, at 12:01 a.m. and will be in place for at least four weeks.
- Ontario’s key indicators and latest modelling show that additional measures must be taken:
- From March 26 to 28, 2021, provincial case rates have increased by 7.7 per cent to 101.1 cases per 100,000 people;
- Current COVID-19 related ICU admissions are already over the peak of wave two and hospitals in regional hotspots will need to further ramp down scheduled surgeries;
- COVID-19 related ICU admissions are projected to exceed 650 beds in a few weeks; and
- These increases are being driven by COVID-19 variants, which are transmitted easily and result in a higher risk of death and hospitalization, including in younger populations.
- Measures include:
- Restricting indoor organized public events and social gatherings, except with members of the same household (the people you live with) and limiting the capacity for outdoor events to a 5-person maximum. Individuals who live alone may consider having exclusive close contact with one other household;
- Restricting in-person shopping in all retail settings, including a 50 per cent capacity limit for supermarkets, grocery stores, convenience stores, indoor farmers’ markets, other stores that primarily sell food and pharmacies, and 25 per cent for all other retail including big box stores, along with other public health and workplace safety measures;
- Prohibiting personal care services;
- Prohibiting indoor and outdoor dining. Restaurants, bars and other food or drink; establishments will be permitted to operate by take out, drive-through, and delivery only;
- Prohibiting the use of facilities for indoor or outdoor sports and recreational fitness (e.g., gyms) with very limited exceptions; and
- Limiting capacity at weddings, funerals, and religious services, rites or ceremonies to 15 per cent total occupancy indoors, and to the number of individuals that can maintain two metres of physical distance outdoors. This does not include social gatherings associated with these services like receptions, which are not permitted indoors and are limited to five people outdoors.
- I’ve included some resources, for your information:
- https://news.ontario.ca/en/release/60986/ontario-implements-provincewide-emergency-brake
- Provincewide Emergency Brake:
- https://www.ontario.ca/page/enhancing-public-health-and-workplace-safety-measures-provincewide-shutdown
- https://covid19-sciencetable.ca/sciencebrief/update-on-covid-19-projections-5/
- Again, I wanted to commend you all for your leadership throughout the pandemic and commitment to health and safety.
- Ontario, like many other provinces and jurisdictions around the world, is in the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, and our government is taking immediate action required to turn the tide
- The COVID-19 Response Framework will pause once the emergency brake comes into effect. These measures will be evaluated throughout the next four weeks to determine if it is safe to lift any restrictions or if they need to be extended. As we continue to vaccinate more Ontarians, the end is in sight. But right now these necessary measures will help to stop the spread of variants in our communities, protect capacity in our health care system, and save lives.
- Executive Director of Stakeholder Relations
- COVID-19 shutdown: enhanced public health and workplace safety measures | Ontario.ca
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- Oregon Weekly Hospital Rona Report
- Rona cases have SURGED, up 20%!!! In other words we now have 17 over last week's 14, well within the standard variation.
- ICU is 94% full (i.e. roughly at target capacity)
- • Total number of COVID-19+ admitted = 1236
- • Total number of COVID-19+ recovered and discharged = 1096
- • Total number of COVID-19+ deaths (at this hospital) = 124
- Dutch PCR set to 40 cycles again
- Warm weather sees large outside gatherings on the rise in the UK despite lockdown restrictions
- (C) Gareth Morgan on Twitter
- MASSIVE crowds gathered in Cardiff Bay on Good Friday with no respect for Covid restrictions, with some passers-by suggesting the crowd sang songs in opposition to the Welsh Government rules.
- Hundreds were photographed this evening crowded outside the Welsh Parliament and the Pierhead Building.
- Videos posted on Twitter show people singing and dancing, with some saying the gathering is akin to a rave.
- BBC Radio Five Live reporter Mark Hutchings said "police were keeping a low profile at the side of the Senedd" when he passed at 8pm, adding: "Hundreds of people gathered. Calm, if noisy, at the time, though
- no social distancing. I imagine there'll be a bit to clear up in the morning."
- On Tuesday police officers were injured after gatherings in Cardiff Bay and a knife was found as missiles were thrown.
- Cardiff council leader Huw Thomas said those involved were "selfish idiots".
- The Vale of Glamorgan Council also said visitors had piled into their resorts over the
- weekend, with many littering and showing general rudeness. It led to the council asking those people to stay at home this Easter weekend.
- Comment: Note that many of these gatherings, technically banned under lockdown restrictions, are on the increase. Some are protest related but it would appear that a rising number are actually just young people meeting friends in parks to enjoy the warm weather.
- The above scenes bring to mind the theory that, following lockdowns, people are anxious to find some outlet to relieve the tension that they've been under. The UK has been suffering harsh, rolling lockdown restrictions for over a year now and so one can imagine the tension that has built up is significant. One just hopes that there won't be a repeat of last years events with this energy being channeled into pointless and
- divisive avenues, such as with the BLM riots:
- History and psychology predict protests and riots after lockdowns
- PolitiFact | Join us LIVE May 10-13 for a virtual festival of fact-checking with Dr. Anthony Fauci
- Stand up for the facts!Misinformation isn't going away just because it's a new year. Support trusted, factual information with a tax deductible contribution to PolitiFact.
- I would like to contributeJoin us LIVE May 10-13 for a virtual festival of fact-checking with Dr. Anthony Fauci
- National Our first-ever virtual fact-checking festival will feature Dr. Anthony Fauci to talk about the COVID-19 pandemic. You'll have a chance to hear him live and ask questions. (AP)
- If Your Time is shortUnited Facts of America: A Festival of Fact-Checking will bring together leading fact-checkers, journalists, health care professionals and technology leaders for four days of discussion about the role of facts in our democracy, the spread of misinformation surrounding the COVID pandemic and how we all can better spread the truth to our friends and constituents in times of crisis. Featured speakers include Dr. Anthony Fauci, Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., Georgia elections official Gabriel Sterling, CNN's Brian Stelter, author and mental health counselor Steven Hassan, Dr. Dan Fagbuyi, PolitiFact Editor-in-Chief Angie Holan and more. Early-bird registration is available for $25 through April 9.Facts took a bit of a beating in 2020. Let's turn the page and celebrate the truth! United Facts of America, brought to you by PolitiFact and the Poynter Institute, is a celebration of fact-checking featuring some of the most important voices in media, health care, politics and technology.
- Over 10 hours of virtual programming, you'll hear from expert fact-checkers from PolitiFact, the Washington Post and FactCheck.org, doctors on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic and political and technology leaders trying to counter the spate of misinformation that lives online.
- And we'll talk with mental health counselors and experts about how we all can better share the truth with our friends and constituents in times of crisis.
- Get tickets now to access four days of forward-thinking conversation about the role of facts in our lives.
- This virtual festival is for everyone interested in fact-based expression, civic engagement and the role of facts in a free society. Come celebrate facts with us!
- Early bird general: $25 (ends April 9!)
- General ticket: $50 (April 10-May 10)
- VIP experience: $100 (includes a private virtual happy hour with CNN's Brian Stelter and small group break-out sessions with PolitiFact fact-checkers)
- Each day of the festival features more than two hours of lively, thoughtful conversations about facts. Days are broken down by theme: democracy, COVID-19, technology and culture. More speakers will be added as they are confirmed.
- Monday, May 10: Facts and Democracy
- Tia Mitchell, Washington correspondent for the Atlanta Journal Constitution, interviews Gabriel Sterling, the Georgia elections official at the center of countering misinformation surrounding the 2020 election in his state.
- Josie Hollingsworth, PolitiFact audience engagement editor, interviews "Wildland" Mike Clark, the firefighter who went viral last year on TikTok debunking claims about the California wildfires.
- Heaven Taylor-Wynn, MediaWise multimedia reporter, interviews Angie Holan, editor-in-chief of PolitiFact, Glenn Kessler, editor and chief writer of the Washington Post's Fact Checker, and Eugene Kiely, director of FactCheck.org.
- VIP Exclusive: Angie Holan, PolitiFact editor-in-chief, interviews Brian Stelter, anchor of CNN's "Reliable Sources," and the chief media correspondent for CNN Worldwide.
- Tuesday, May 11: The COVID Infodemic '-- with keynote Dr. Anthony Fauci
- 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Eastern time
- Joie Chen, Poynter senior faculty and adviser, interviews Dr. Daniel B. Fagbuyi, known as "Dr. Dan" by his patients, an ER physician, biodefense expert, chief medical officer and war veteran who provides strategic leadership in public health literacy and disaster preparedness.
- Katie Sanders, PolitiFact managing editor, interviews Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a leading voice on COVID-19.
- A discussion about COVID-19 misinformation with Shefali Luthra, health and gender reporter at The 19th, and Elisabeth Rosenthal, editor-in-chief of Kaiser Health News.
- Wednesday, May 12: Big Tech, Big Questions
- 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Eastern time
- Aaron Sharockman, PolitiFact executive director, interviews Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., (pictured) about Section 230 and possible internet regulation in the U.S.
- Thursday, May 13: Speaking the Truth '-- with keynote Steven Hassan
- 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Eastern time
- Hear from Steven Hassan, an American mental health counselor who has written on the subject of mind control and how to help people who have been harmed by the experience. Hassan has written about Q, and the cult of personality surrounding Donald Trump.
- Researchers Ethan Porter and Emily Thorson discuss the efficacy of fact-checking.
- Bios for all speakers are available here. More speakers will be added as they are confirmed.
- Members of PolitiFact's Truth Squad are offered discounted tickets. Truth Squad members should have received an email with more details. If you're unsure about your membership status, contact [email protected]
- If The Pandemic Has Made You Anxious About Returning To ''Normal,'' You're Not Alone
- Could the pandemic really be loosening its grip on us? This month, the majority of US states eased lockdown restrictions, rendering them living laboratories as the Biden administration races to vaccinate the country. We're not nearly close enough to herd immunity to justify, say, maskless partying on spring break. But so far, roughly 1 in 4 Americans has received at least their first dose, inspiring widespread elation and relief. Long-separated loved ones are planning joyous reunions, and long-delayed plans are chugging forward at last.
- Still, what should be a thrilling prospect '-- a return to some sort of ''normalcy'' '-- has left countless people reeling with anxiety and dread.
- Dozens of respondents to a BuzzFeed News survey about post-pandemic life expressed excitement about that return '-- traveling, hugging, seeing family again, an end to mass illness and death '-- but also a slew of concerns. A 23-year-old X-ray technologist who asked to be identified as Mazzy is looking forward to reuniting with friends and taking a romantic trip if ever the pandemic ends. But ''I'm worried that people will stop taking precautions before it's safe to do so,'' Mazzy said. ''I already have had patients that want to take off their masks during their exams, because [they say] 'Aren't you already vaccinated? You can't get sick!'''
- Dispelling that misinformation gets exhausting. ''Even though I'm vaccinated, I could still carry the virus, which scares me because my boyfriend is in a high-risk category and I just started seeing my parents again,'' Mazzy explained. ''People need to listen to exactly what the experts are saying, and not take advantage of frontline workers.''
- ''I'm scared that we might be living in a COVID loop indefinitely."
- ''I'm scared that we might be living in a COVID loop indefinitely,'' said Lisa Russell, 62, a substitute teacher in North Carolina. She's worried that the virus won't get ''under control in other parts of the world, where people will continue to suffer and die.''
- ''I'm really worried that [the pandemic] won't end, that something even worse will happen,'' said Emily, a 32-year-old customer service representative from Illinois and one of several respondents who asked we withhold their last name. ''I'm so scared that this is the beginning of a series of collapses.''
- Consortium experts at Harvard are cautiously optimistic that vaccines can get us to herd immunity despite the concerning rise in coronavirus variants. But that will require an estimated 70% to 85% of the country to eventually be inoculated against the virus, and according to a recent AP-NORC poll, a full third of Americans are skeptical of taking the vaccine.
- ''I don't think there'll be a 'new normal' without the virus entirely, especially when so many people in the USA are anti-vax,'' said Amy Gijsbers van Wijk, a 28-year-old playwright who lives in New York City.
- If the US does get a good handle on stopping the spread, millions of workers who've spent the last year working from home might have to return to the office '-- a possibility that dozens of the 172 survey respondents noted with dismay.
- Hannah Merchant, a curatorial assistant at a museum in Boston, dreads resuming her daily commute. Before the pandemic, the 36-year-old used to spend at least three hours a day on trains and subways. ''It was completely mentally and physically draining,'' she said. ''Since we started working from home, I can sleep two hours later each day. My husband and I are both in better moods without our commutes and have enjoyed the extra time together.''
- Kris Kelley Majors, a photographer from Philadelphia, also reported improved marital satisfaction after her husband's demanding job shifted to remote work. Without his commute, ''we have been able to spend more time together, and he has been able to help with the housework,'' she said. ''There is no word yet when he and his colleagues will return to the office, but I am scared. We have become so used to having more time together, and splitting the household chores was so needed. When all of that goes away, I am not sure how we will handle it.''
- "I realized so many things I was chasing are pretty meaningless. I worry that when I return to the office and competitive environments, I'll lose that perspective."
- The worldwide shift to remote work hasn't only improved the lives of commuters and their families: ''The pandemic has mainstreamed tons of new accessibility technology that I, along with thousands of other disabled people, have benefitted from,'' said Lillie Calman, 24. ''In college, it was an exhausting and expensive fight for classroom accommodations which are now just standard for remote learning '... While the technology has quite a ways to go, it's let me begin a graduate program that I otherwise wouldn't have dreamed of applying to.'' If in-person interaction becomes the standard again, Calman's worried that continuing to work, learn, and socialize primarily online will be stigmatized.
- And some people don't want to return to work as they once knew it at all.
- ''Why on earth am I spending all my time either at work or thinking about it?'' said a 25-year-old researcher from the tristate area who asked to be identified as KB. ''It sure as shit doesn't think about me. As cliche as it sounds, I realized [during the pandemic] that I care so much more about seeing my family, working on my hobbies, etc., than I do about a career. I've definitely reevaluated what success means to me.''
- ''I'm worried about losing my new lease on life,'' said Jane, a 26-year-old digital strategist from Louisiana. ''Before the pandemic, I lived in a stressful city and dealt with a competitive work environment. I got so caught up in the rat race and trying to get ahead that I was burning myself out. After my office went remote, I decided to go back to my hometown. This has allowed me to spend time with family and reflect on what's important to me in life. I realized so many things I was chasing are pretty meaningless. I worry that when I return to the office and competitive environments, I'll lose that perspective and the sense of inner peace I've had over the last couple of months.''
- ''I never want to work for another corporation again,'' said Nicole Peevy, 33, a student and entrepreneur in Los Angeles. She was fired from her job during the pandemic, a crushing blow following a couple of deaths in her family. ''I was so angry [about] how things were initially handled and how employers literally don't care if you work yourself to death, and that really depressed me and caused me to question the purpose of living. I want to work to live, not live to work.''
- Getting back to some kind of ''normal'' has social implications as well as professional ones, and those can be just as nerve-wracking.
- ''The pandemic has shown me there [were] a lot of people in my life before that I spent time with out of fear of not having enough friends or never seeming busy,'' said KB. When the world opens up again, she intends to leave that behind: ''I see my friend group changing a lot and I see myself spending my time much differently.''
- KB is far from alone in shifting her social priorities. Some respondents aren't sure their relationships will stay the same after seeing what others weren't willing to sacrifice for the sake of the collective good.
- Lauren is a formerly unhoused gig worker who recruits for a ride-share company in Seattle. ''I will not have many friends anymore,'' she said. ''A whole generation of elders was lost in my family. It has been stressful to have 7 family members die while rich white people I know bragged about jumping the COVID vaccine line and used this time to travel instead of following CDC guidelines. I cannot keep people in my life who didn't follow guidelines as people died.''
- ''I don't trust people as much as I did before."
- ''I don't trust people as much as I did before,'' said Nicole R., a paralegal in New Jersey. ''I've had friends and family lie to my face about not being in contact with someone who has had COVID, just to see my child.''
- Katrina Ehrnman-Newton, a librarian in Portland, Oregon, said ''I've lost a lot of the little confidence I had in other people to do the right fucking thing when it counts. Between the rise in racist violence, anti-maskers, and failure to do simple helpful things in the face of death and suffering, my Christian charity is running real low.''
- After a year of social distancing, masking up, and avoiding crowds, those with lingering anxieties about getting sick are also wary of resuming close contact with others. Dana, a 35-year-old analyst from Indiana, is nervous about ''letting people back into my home. It's my office now, so my spaces are even less defined than they were before when I'd work from home once or twice a week. Plus, I don't like the idea of someone just coming in '-- I don't know where they've been and who they've been in contact with.''
- Maggie A., a 22-year-old law student, expressed what turned out to be a common concern among respondents: ''I expect I'll be terrified about being around large groups of people for a long, long time.''
- Given the horrifying surge in anti-Asian violence since the start of the pandemic, some Asian Americans find crowds daunting for another reason. ''I don't go out by myself because I'm always looking over my shoulder hoping that nobody attacks me,'' said Jasmine, a student in Texas. ''I shouldn't have to be living in this world afraid.''
- ''The burden of racism that we ... face due to COVID-19 will make my life different,'' said Eunice Kim, a 25-year-old New Yorker. ''I don't want to go to areas where it's predominately white, and I will avoid areas where I know I won't be welcomed because of my race and ethnicity. Being called the Kung Flu, corona, Wuhan virus, and the Chinese virus, I don't think I'll feel safe going back to the life we once had given that so many people make us, Asians, feel guilty.'' Even if the pandemic ends, ''I think I'll be in full survival mode,'' Eunice said.
- The Atlanta spa shootings also served as a reminder that hatred and mass murder are nothing new in America. The country was just absorbing the tragedy when another shooter killed 10 people in a Boulder, Colorado, grocery store.
- ''I'm extremely worried about more mass shootings against people of color,'' said Lauren, the ride-share recruiter in Seattle, expressing concerns many have shared in the wake of this most recent spate of gun violence. Until the Atlanta shootings, there hadn't been a large-scale shooting in about a year. Enduring two mass shootings in a single week might be as good a sign as any that we're ''getting back to normal'' '-- and that ''normal'' in America, as one respondent put it, ''ain't shit'' to begin with.
- ''This year has highlighted our selfishness in some ways, and it makes me nervous that we won't have learned from it."
- Jamie H., a 29-year-old physician assistant in Illinois, is worried that despite the losses we've sustained, we haven't properly heeded the pandemic's warnings. ''This year has highlighted our selfishness in some ways, and it makes me nervous that we won't have learned from it,'' Jamie said. ''We were also able to focus more on human rights and social issues, such as race, poverty, domestic violence. I'm afraid that those will be tossed aside as well. This would have been a chance to grow and change things as a human race, and we'll miss it.''
- The pandemic has only exacerbated long-existing inequities in this country, and recovery, even considering Biden's historic relief bill, is going to be extraordinarily difficult for many. Abigail Dalverny, who works in retail in western Maryland, is worried that ''the people who struggled during the pandemic will be expected to just live like normal even though they are still struggling.''
- ''Just because it is over doesn't mean the struggle to pay bills or rent or mortgages is over, especially when you are already so behind on those payments,'' she said.
- ''I think the lack of distractions (sports, movies, travel, etc.) has forced a lot of folks (mainly white and privileged) to face uncomfortable realities,'' said Rae, a 37-year-old who works in customer support in the Bay Area. ''I hope this is a transformative event rather than a blip in a continuation of trying to ignore or bury the heck out of our societal issues.''
- It can be difficult to celebrate short-term wins when much remains to be done '-- just one of the reasons why the eventual end of the pandemic is sparking anxiety for so many. Katrina, the librarian from Portland, noted that ''it's hard to feel good about moving forward when there's this massive ocean of grief around you, and what seems like mountains of struggle ahead. It's just more work '-- different work, but more work.'' '
- Who is that? 40% of Americans don't recognize themselves in the mirror due to COVID stress - Study Finds
- NEW YORK '-- Who's that in the mirror? While many people haven't seen their friends during the coronavirus pandemic, some believe they haven't even seen themselves recently. Two in five Americans say that they've passed a mirror and not recognized their reflection at least once during COVID-19.
- A national survey of 2,000 American consumers examines the evolution of respondents' relationships with their bodies since the pandemic started last year. Over half the poll (51%) believe the pandemic has negatively affected how they feel about their body. Another 42 percent confessed to not feeling ''at home'' in their bodies anymore. About one in two people (49%) say they don't have the same level of confidence as they did prior to COVID-19.
- The survey, conducted by OnePoll on behalf of Massage Envy, also examined consumer confidence and discovered there are a few things that respondents said they would need in order to regain the level of confidence they had before the pandemic.
- For 52 percent, a vacation would help regain their confidence. A haircut (33%), a night out (37%), and a massage (37%) all top the list as well. For some, confidence involves more than just the physical, with three in ten consumers (31%) saying they would like to start mental health therapy.
- Pandemic wear and tearResearchers find the pandemic has taken more out of us than our confidence. According to the results, 47 percent of Americans say their body has been aching in brand new ways since last March.
- After everyone's daily routine was upended, the new daily ritual has started to take its toll. Nearly three in five (58%) admit their daily routine since the start of the pandemic is inflicting major wear and tear on their bodies.
- Half the poll admitted to feeling physically drained on a daily basis from the general stress of COVID alone. Another 46 percent blame the general ''sameness'' of the passing days for feeling drained.
- Almost two in five people (39%) feel physically drained without in-person interactions and nearly a third (32%) feel tired from practicing safety precautions while out and about. These daily stressors have also had an intense physical impact on those respondents who experienced chronic pain before the pandemic began (45%). Of those with chronic pain, two in three (66%) reveal their pain has increased since the pandemic's start.
- Meanwhile, among those who have never experienced chronic pain before (55%), nearly a third of them say the stress from the pandemic has given them chronic pain for the first time in their lives. Many of these Americans (40%) feel they're going to need professional help to get their body feeling like its pre-pandemic self.
- ''This pandemic has inflicted a mental and physical toll on many of us,'' says Beth Stiller, Chief Executive Officer of Massage Envy, in a statement.
- Getting back into shape after COVIDRespondents did reveal they're hopeful to make some improvements when it comes to their physical well-being as COVID ends. Two in three want to improve their energy levels and 46 percent want to improve their flexibility. Forty-four percent of those polled want to improve the back pain they're experiencing, while 43 percent plan to improve their posture.
- ''When we're stuck at home, staring at our computer screens all day, it's important that we're taking care of our bodies. Incorporating self-care rituals into our everyday routines is key to boosting self-confidence,'' suggests Stiller.
- Freedom Passports
- Multiple producers seeing work mandating full vaccination
- Wristbands and dining cards: New Army policies exclude, isolate unvaccinated '' Freedom First Network
- ''Liberty is always dangerous but it is the safest thing we have.'' '-- Henry Emerson Fosdick
- Article by Pam Long from Children's Health Defense.
- A March 17 memorandum from the commander at the U.S. Army's Fort Drum reservation in New York lists privileges withheld from service members who refuse to get the COVID-19 vaccine '-- an experimental Emergency Use Authorization product not proven to prevent infection or transmission of the COVID virus.
- The memo, ''Prohibited Activities for Personnel Within the Authority of the Commander, 10th Mountain Division and Fort Drum,'' states:
- Fully vaccinated service members do not have ''restriction of movement'' or quarantine after travel and return to post. Unvaccinated must quarantine for 10 days and can test out after seven days of quarantine. ''Family members must be able to quarantine with the service member (i.e. spouse cannot go to work, children cannot go to school).''Vaccinated service members only require an O-3 (captain or company commander) to approve their leave, while unvaccinated must request leave from a higher-ranking O-5 (lieutenant colonel or battalion commander) with an additional procedural step of submitting an Exception to Policy (ETP). These ETPs will be tracked at the division level for additional scrutiny, and likely will be denied.Vaccinated service members may meet with or host any non-local visitor from outside the five states contiguous to New York (New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont). Unvaccinated service members must obtain approval from an O-5 in their chain of command, and then enter a 10-day quarantine to meet with or reside with any non-local visitor.Vaccinated service members have no limits on gatherings at a private residence. Unvaccinated have a limit of 12 guests at indoor gatherings, and 15 guests at outdoor gatherings. ETPs may be granted for larger on-post public social gatherings by an O-5 commander, but If all personnel attending the gathering are vaccinated no ETP is required.Vaccinated service members can conduct outdoor physical training unmasked. Unvaccinated must wear masks during physical training. Vaccinated personnel may be authorized to conduct unmasked physical training at indoor facilities, ''without unvaccinated personnel present.''Face masks may be removed if all people in a room are vaccinated.Perhaps the most shocking item in the new policy is this: Fort Drum authorized a COVID wristband for vaccinated service members.
- What's happening at Fort Drum is bad enough, but maybe not as bad as the civil rights violation occurring against the unvaccinated at Fort Bragg in North Carolina, where the commander of the 82nd Airborne Division has made a vaccination card mandatory to enter a dining facility.
- Because a majority of lower enlisted soldiers don't have access to kitchens in the barracks, they are dependent on the dining facilities for most, if not all of their meals while on duty or in training rotations which don't provide access to public restaurants.
- This mandate will disproportionately affect lower-income personnel who may have to trade accepting an experimental vaccine in order to have food.
- These policies at Fort Drum and Fort Bragg are reminiscent of the fear and prejudice that led to policies of exclusion, removal and detention of loyal Japanese Americans to internment camps '-- or concentration camps, in corrected historical terminology, as the targeted people of Japanese descent were not enemies of the state.
- The Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians concluded that U.S. government policies toward Japanese Americans were based on ''race prejudice, war hysteria and a failure of political leadership'' '-- not military necessity. That conclusion led to the Civil Liberties Act of 1988.
- Likewise, the Army's COVID policies are based on prejudice against the unvaccinated (personnel who do not put the vaccinated at risk) and hysteria concerning a virus with a 99.9% survival rate for most military service members.
- Has the U.S. Army forgotten its historical role in facilitating most of the internment camps that caused loss of income, lack of access to healthcare, psychological trauma and public hostility for thousands of Japanese Americans?
- As COVID policies force quarantines upon healthy people and their entire families, have leaders deserted the Ex parte Endo U.S. Supreme Court decision of 1944 that declared loyal citizens of the U.S. cannot be detained without cause?
- The policies at Fort Drum and Fort Bragg set the stage for a sequel to the shameful chapter in U.S. Army history detailed in the Commission on Wartime Relocation report, ''Personal Justice Denied.''
- It is urgent that service members file complaints to the inspector general to halt this momentum towards medical fascism.
- (C) 2021 Children's Health Defense, Inc. This work is reproduced and distributed with the permission of Children's Health Defense, Inc. Want to learn more from Children's Health Defense? Sign up for free news and updates from Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and the Children's Health Defense. Your donation will help to support us in our efforts.
- The Best Coupon In Your Wallet? Your Vaccination Card - WSJ
- For many Americans, getting the coronavirus vaccine is a reward unto itself. But for Patricia Fasnacht, the shot has come with a sugary bonus.
- Ever since receiving her first injection of the Pfizer vaccine earlier this month, Ms. Fasnacht, a 62-year-old resident of High Point, N.C., has taken advantage of a promotion by the Krispy Kreme Doughnut Corp., which recently announced it is offering a free daily donut through the end of 2021 at its U.S. locations to those who show their Covid-19 vaccination card. Ms. Fasnacht says she has already made a couple of visits and doesn't plan to stop anytime soon.
- ''After being in my house for a year, I am happy to get out and have a sweet treat,'' she says.
- Officials with the North Carolina-based chain, which is part of JAB Holding Co. and has 369 locations across the U.S., estimate the company doled out 125,000 donuts tied to the promotion during the first 96 hours.
- The push to get shots in arms has morphed into a kind of freebie frenzy, with businesses ranging from marijuana dispensaries to arcades promoting giveaways. The companies say the idea is to support the country's vaccination program at a critical time during its rollout'--and if a side effect is a boost for business, all the better.
- In Israel, municipalities have given out free drinks, pizza and cholent, a traditional beef stew, as an enticement. In Dubai, some restaurants have offered discounts of up to 20% for those who have received their shots.
- Greenhouse of Walled Lake, a marijuana dispensary in Walled Lake, Mich., is offering customers a free pre-rolled joint, with an estimated value of $10, for those who show proof of vaccination.
- Jerry Millen, owner of the dispensary, says he has given away at least 6,000 joints as part of his ''Pot for Shots'' promotion, which is being done in conjunction with the UBaked Cannabis Company, a marijuana processor and grower. (Mr. Millen also considered calling the deal ''Pokes for Tokes.'')
- Mr. Millen says he sees the deal as part of his ongoing campaign to ''normalize cannabis,'' which was approved by Michigan voters for recreational use in 2018.
- William Stevens, a resident of Sterling Heights, Mich., is racking up the deals while he can. With his proof of vaccination, he scored his free joint at Greenhouse of Walled Lake and this past week he stopped in for a free donut at his local Krispy Kreme.
- ''I know a gift when I see it,'' he says.
- Mr. Stevens, 72 years old, says he is hoping for even more with his vaccine card. ''What would really rock my boat is free golf,'' he says.
- Some have questioned if the Krispy Kreme promotion is sending a contradictory message, since eating too many donuts arguably goes against the idea of safeguarding health.
- Dr. Leana Wen, an emergency physician and public health professor at George Washington University, says if you took advantage of the Krispy Kreme offer every day and made no other changes to diet or lifestyle, you would pack on an extra 15 pounds by year's end.
- Dr. Wen adds that she isn't opposed to sugary fare as an occasional treat. ''I like donuts,'' she says. But she would prefer the Krispy Kreme offer be a one-time deal, perhaps with a box of donuts going to an organization or charity of a vaccinated individual's choice so they can avoid the constant overindulgence.
- Dave Skena, chief marketing officer of Krispy Kreme, says the chain isn't necessarily expecting people to take advantage of the donut offer daily. Rather, he says, the idea is that the donut is available to them when convenient as a sometime sweet. An Original Glazed has 190 calories, the company says on its website. The promotion is about giving people ''a little pat on the back,'' Mr. Skena says.
- ''We need people to be vaccinated. We need this to be over,'' says Alan Rosen, the third-generation owner of Junior's Restaurant and Bakery, a New York City-based brand famous for its cheesecake.
- On Monday, March 29, the company will begin offering customers who have been vaccinated a free mini cheesecake at its original location in Brooklyn.
- Back of the House, a restaurant company in San Francisco, is offering vaccinated customers free fries at some of its Super Duper Burgers locations and free chips and salsa at its Uno Dos Tacos restaurant.
- ''It's a fun way to spread awareness,'' says Jonathan Banasky, the company's marketing manager. Mr. Banasky adds that the participating restaurants are close to the Moscone Center, the convention center that is serving as a major San Francisco vaccination site, so he expects a few customers might take advantage of the offers right after receiving their shot.
- Up-Down, a Midwest chain of arcades with bars, is offering vaccinated customers a deal of $5 in free tokens for game play.
- David Hayden, communications manager for Up-Down, says the promotion is meant to serve as incentive to get people ''to be around some other people.''
- ''We're coming out of a really rough year,'' he says. Up-Down had to temporarily close locations because of pandemic restrictions.
- Alycia Gionet, 33, a regular at Up-Down's location in Oklahoma City, paid a recent visit to the establishment without even realizing her vaccination status got her the $5 bonus. But she says she was happy to take advantage of it.
- ''I'm carrying this card and I get free tokens?'' she said. Ms. Gionet used her free play to perfect her skills at one of her favorite arcade games, Point Blank 2. ''I crushed it.''
- Write to Charles Passy at cpassy@wsj.com
- Vaccines and such
- LeBron James injury update: Lakers star to miss 3-5 weeks with ankle
- Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James is expected to be sidelined between three to five more weeks after suffering a high right ankle sprain last week, according to an Athletic report.
- ''I really don't have anything to add to where he's at other than he's out indefinitely,'' Lakers coach Frank Vogel said following shootaround in preparation for the team's game on Thursday against Philadelphia. ''We're proceeding right now. My whole focus is the guys we have in uniform and the Philadelphia 76ers. We're not really going to give updates as to where he's at with the recovery.''
- If that timeline bears out, James could return anywhere between April 16 to April 30. That would sideline James for an additional eight to 15 games. But the Lakers have nine regular-season games in May before the playoffs start on May 22.
- Despite the Lakers' refusal to offer a definitive timetable, Vogel has said the team has prepared to for James to have a long-term absence. James injured his right ankle in the second quarter of last Saturday's game against the Atlanta Hawks after Hawks guard Solomon Hill fell on James' right ankle while trying to force a turnover. Although James stayed in the game, he then limped back to the locker room.
- Since then, James attended the Lakers' game in Phoenix on Sunday and sat on the team bench while wearing a walking boot. He then missed Tuesday's game in New Orleans and returned to Los Angeles for more follow-up exams. And on Wednesday evening, James posted video of himself receiving treatment on his right ankle.
- The Lakers (28-16), ranked No. 4 in the Western Conference, plan to reevaluate Anthony Davis sometime this week after missing the past 16 games because of a strained right calf. Marc Gasol will be available for Thursday's game after missing the past nine games, including seven because of the NBA's health and safety protocols and the past two to improve his conditioning.
- D3+K2
- To expand on JCD's point that was discussed on the last show regarding vitamin D3 + vitamin K2: the proper ratio to take is
- 100 Micrograms (mcg) of K2 for every 10,000 IUs of vitamin D3.
- The K2 will work in combination with the D3 to ensure that the calcium in your food will go where it belongs: in your bones.
- 10,000 IUs of D3 is perfectly safe to take daily, it's the equivalent of standing outside in the sun for 15-20 minutes.
- I personally have been taking these every day for years.
- I hope this is helpful information for you,
- Enjoy your upcoming vacation!
- Why say JAB?
- An acivist here in australia pointed out to me an obvoius point, as to why the term "jab" is so widely used, in relation to covid 19.
- Its is marketing spin, as its not an vaccine, its not an immunization, so newspeak term is "jab", and nobody even notices !
- "Experimental mRNA Injection Therapies" (man-made, synthetic bio-drugs) Are available for those 18 yrs old (cannot remember city and/or state) Hard push for our *children* to "vax
- Gab: @CO_Hurricane : @milliman Read somewhere that these "Experimental mRNA Injection Therapies" (man-made, synthetic bio-drugs)Are av'... https://t.co/Vek0CkhyVH
- Fri Apr 02 14:54:14 +0000 2021
- Sherri Tenpenny - Wikipedia
- Anti-vaccination activist
- NationalityAmericanOccupationOsteopathYears active1986-presentKnown forAnti-vaccine activismNotable work
- Saying No to VaccinesSherri Tenpenny is an American anti-vaccination activist who supports the disproved hypothesis that vaccines cause autism.[1] An osteopathic physician, she is the author of four books opposing vaccination, and her 2015 lecture tour of Australia was cancelled due to a public outcry over her views on vaccination, which go against the established scientific consensus.[1]
- Education and career Tenpenny graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Toledo in 1980 and received a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine degree from the Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine in Missouri in 1984.[2]
- From 1986 to 1998, Tenpenny was the director of the emergency department at Blanchard Valley Hospital in Findlay, Ohio. She opened an osteopathic practice in 1994 and went on to establish two more practices in 1996 and 2011.[3]
- Tenpenny had scheduled a speaking tour in Australia to occur starting in February 2015, but in January, after objections were raised to her anti-vaccination views, all the venues at which she was scheduled to speak cancelled the talks, and the tour was called off.[4][5] Tenpenny has been criticized by the Stop The Australian Anti-Vaccination Network for "endangering people's health" and "targeting vulnerable parents".[3]
- Since 2017, Tenpenny and her business partner, Matthew Hunt, have taught a six-week, $623 course titled "Mastering Vaccine Info Boot Camp" designed to "sow seeds of doubt" regarding public health information. During the course, Tenpenny explains her views on the immune system and vaccines, and Hunt instructs participants on how best to use persuasion tactics in conversation to communicate the information.[6]
- COVID-19 misinformation During the COVID-19 pandemic, Tenpenny advocated against the use of face coverings as a mitigation tool[7] despite scientific evidence in favour of their effectiveness.[8][9][10][11][12]
- A Facebook page managed by Tenpenny was deactivated in December 2020 as part of the social network's efforts to reduce the amount of misinformation.[13] Nevertheless, a March 2021 analysis of Twitter and Facebook anti-vaccine content found Tenpenny to be one of 12 individual and organization accounts producing up to 65% of all anti-vaccine content on the platforms.[14] Some of her interviews with anti-vaccination activists and conspiracy theorists have attracted a large audience on Rumble, a video-sharing platform that doesn't have policies against disinformation.[15]
- Despite her prolific promotion of disinformation, her Tenpenny Integrative Medical Center received a federal loan of $72,000 as part of the Paycheck Protection Program during the pandemic.[13]
- In a February 2021 video, Tenpenny falsely stated that COVID-19 vaccines cause death and autoimmune diseases, saying "Some people are going to die from the vaccine directly, but a large number of people are going to start getting horribly sick and get all kinds of autoimmune diseases, 42 days to maybe a year out." However, there is no evidence to suggest that COVID-19 vaccines cause autoimmune diseases or death.[16][17]
- Published works Saying No to Vaccines: A Resource Guide for All Ages. Middleburg Heights, Ohio: NMA Media Press. 2008. ISBN 978-0-97909-104-9. FOWL! Bird Flu: It's Not What You Think. Sevierville, Tenn.: Insight Pub. Co. 2006. ISBN 978-1-93286-387-1. The Risks, the Benefits, the Choices, a Resource Guide for Parents. Sevierville, Tenn.: Insight Publishing. 2006. ISBN 978-0-97434-482-9. A Healthier You! . Sevierville, Tenn.: Insight Publishing. 2005. ISBN 978-1-93286-385-7. References ^ a b "Anti-vaccination views are misguided - but not illegal". The Sydney Morning Herald. 9 January 2015. Archived from the original on 28 March 2021 . Retrieved 28 March 2021 . ^ Tenpenny, Sherri. "Sherri J. Tenpenny, DO, AOBNMM (CV)" (PDF) . Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 February 2015 . Retrieved 9 February 2015 . ^ a b "Sherri Tenpenny: Who is the controversial anti-vaccination campaigner planning to visit Australia?". ABC News. 7 January 2015. Archived from the original on 17 January 2015 . Retrieved 28 March 2021 . ^ Medew, Julia (29 January 2015). "US anti-vaccination campaigner Dr Sherri Tenpenny cancels tour of Australia". Brisbane Times. Archived from the original on 28 March 2021 . Retrieved 28 March 2021 . ^ Milman, Oliver (7 January 2015). "Sydney venue cancels seminar by US anti-vaccine activist Sherri Tenpenny". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 17 January 2015 . Retrieved 28 March 2021 . ^ Pedersen, Katie; Szeto, Eric; Tomlinson, Asha (26 March 2021). "Marketplace attended a COVID-19 conspiracy boot camp to see how instructors are targeting vaccine skeptics". CBC.ca. Archived from the original on 27 March 2021 . Retrieved 28 March 2021 . ^ "Dr. Sherri Tenpenny - Face Masks Are Not Effective Against COVID-19: How Masks Are Being Used To Control The Population". Digital Freedom Platform. 2020-07-28 . Retrieved 2020-09-27 . ^ Offeddu, Vittoria; Yung, Chee Fu; Low, Mabel Sheau Fong; Tam, Clarence C. (2017-11-13). "Effectiveness of Masks and Respirators Against Respiratory Infections in Healthcare Workers: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis". Clinical Infectious Diseases. 65 (11): 1934''1942. doi:10.1093/cid/cix681. ISSN 1058-4838. PMC 7108111 . PMID 29140516. ^ Long, Youlin; Hu, Tengyue; Liu, Liqin; Chen, Rui; Guo, Qiong; Yang, Liu; Cheng, Yifan; Huang, Jin; Du, Liang (2020-03-13). "Effectiveness of N95 respirators versus surgical masks against influenza: A systematic review and meta'analysis". Journal of Evidence-Based Medicine. 13 (2): 93''101. doi:10.1111/jebm.12381. ISSN 1756-5391. PMC 7228345 . PMID 32167245. ^ Eikenberry, Steffen E.; Mancuso, Marina; Iboi, Enahoro; Phan, Tin; Eikenberry, Keenan; Kuang, Yang; Kostelich, Eric; Gumel, Abba B. (2020-01-01). "To mask or not to mask: Modeling the potential for face mask use by the general public to curtail the COVID-19 pandemic". Infectious Disease Modelling. 5: 293''308. arXiv:2004.03251 . doi:10.1016/j.idm.2020.04.001. ISSN 2468-0427. PMC 7186508 . PMID 32355904. ^ Cheng, Vincent Chi-Chung; Wong, Shuk-Ching; Chuang, Vivien Wai-Man; So, Simon Yung-Chun; Chen, Jonathan Hon-Kwan; Sridhar, Siddharth; To, Kelvin Kai-Wang; Chan, Jasper Fuk-Woo; Hung, Ivan Fan-Ngai; Ho, Pak-Leung; Yuen, Kwok-Yung (2020-07-01). "The role of community-wide wearing of face mask for control of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic due to SARS-CoV-2". Journal of Infection. 81 (1): 107''114. doi:10.1016/j.jinf.2020.04.024. ISSN 0163-4453. PMC 7177146 . PMID 32335167. ^ Lyu, Wei; Wehby, George L. (2020-06-16). "Community Use Of Face Masks And COVID-19: Evidence From A Natural Experiment Of State Mandates In The US". Health Affairs. 39 (8): 1419''1425. doi:10.1377/hlthaff.2020.00818 . ISSN 0278-2715. PMID 32543923. S2CID 219724836. ^ a b Dwoskin, Elizabeth; Gregg, Aaron (18 January 2021). "The Trump administration bailed out prominent anti-vaccine groups during a pandemic". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 18 January 2021 . Retrieved 28 March 2021 . ^ Srikanth, Anagha (24 March 2021). "12 prominent people opposed to vaccines are responsible for two-thirds of anti-vaccine content online: report". The Hill. Archived from the original on 25 March 2021 . Retrieved 25 March 2021 . ^ Mak, Aaron (18 March 2021). "Where Anti-Vaccine Propaganda Went When YouTube Banned It". Slate . Retrieved 29 March 2021 . ^ Funke, Daniel (4 March 2021). "COVID-19 vaccine does not cause death, autoimmune diseases". PolitiFact. Archived from the original on 27 March 2021 . Retrieved 28 March 2021 . ^ Kasprak, Alex (1 March 2021). "Will mRNA COVID-19 Vaccines Wreak 'Havoc on The Lungs' in 4 to 14 Months?". Snopes.com. Archived from the original on 28 March 2021 . Retrieved 28 March 2021 . External links Tenpenny IMC websiteTenpenny interview on vaccines and autism
- Wait Until You Find Out What They're Not Telling You About Covid-19 - Revolver
- Support Revolver By Going AD-FREE
- Guest Post by Michael Thau, Ph.D.
- Informed consent isn't possible when the opinions of renowned experts are being censored by those who control which voiced we get to hear.
- Way back in July of 2020, I reported on the thousands of doctors and scientists desperately trying to get the word out that Anthony Fauci's program of economic ruin and crippling social isolation had no scientific justification whatsoever.
- Yet, to this day, the media and tech giants have managed to keep most of the public in the dark about the existence of any dissenting opinions on the wisdom of an historically unprecedented ''public health'' strategy that's rained down more misery and death on the American people than our worst foreign foes could have imagined but, coincidentally, has turned out to be a financial windfall for tech giants and multinational corporations like Facebook and Amazon.
- And, speaking of foreign enemies, only a tiny percentage of Americans know that the whole idea of locking down in response to a respiratory virus had never been so much as suggested in all of history until China's Communist Party rulers started pushing it on the rest of the world in 2020.
- 15/ When the lockdown of Hubei began, the World Health Organization (WHO)'s representative in China noted that ''trying to contain a city of 11 million people is new to science'... The lockdown of 11 million people is unprecedented in public health history'...''https://t.co/Ct1UIu5OD2
- '-- Michael P Senger (@MichaelPSenger) January 10, 2021
- Just five months before lockdowns were imposed, the World Health Organization had soundly rejected even the much weaker pandemic-mitigation strategy of quarantining symptomless people with a history of exposure.
- pic.twitter.com/RlU3AIcBFy
- '-- Ivor Cummins (@FatEmperor) November 21, 2020
- If any of the above crucial facts had been widely reported, no one in their right mind would have consented to the madness of lockdowns.
- Now that the subject of relentless government and media propagandizing has switched from lockdowns to vaccines, however, the censorship of dissenting expert voices has been ramped up accordingly.
- You've probably never even heard of Harvard University's Dr. Martin Kulldorff, one of the world's most cited epidemiologists and infectious disease experts.
- And it's next to certain that you've never heard of the document eviscerating the madness of lockdowns that he and over 55,000 other scientists and medical professionals have signed onto '-- the Great Barrington Declaration.
- Since its publication on October 4, 2020, The Great Barrington Declaration has been signed by over 55,000 medical practitioners & scientists. Thanks to media & big-tech censorship, it's questionable whether that many Americans have ever even heard of it. pic.twitter.com/r3wNDMYJKg
- '-- Michael Thau (@MichaelThau) March 31, 2021
- Besides being a world-renowned expert, Kulldorff is also a member of the COVID-19 vaccine safety subgroup that advises the CDC, FIH, and FDA. And, to give you an idea of just how far those who control the flow of information are willing to go to make sure you don't hear anything they don't like, the censors at Twitter have had the temerity to actually label a post in which he recommended vaccination for high-risk people but advised against the wisdom of healthy people taking a one as ''misleading.''
- When making unscientific claims, media often refer to "health officials" or "experts" without citing anyone. I challenge @Twitter to name vaccine experts believing that everyone, including children and those with prior immunity from natural infection, MUST be Covid vaccinated. pic.twitter.com/tYhCjdKzgf
- '-- Martin Kulldorff (@MartinKulldorff) March 28, 2021
- Users were also prevented from liking or retweeting this opinion on COVID-19 vaccines from a Harvard epidemiologist who officially advises the CDC, FIH, and FDA on vaccine safety. Take some time to let that sink in, because it's going to get a lot worse.
- Former Pfizer VP, Dr. Mike Yeadon, also signed on to the Great Barrington Declaration. As Pfizer's chief science officer, Yeadon was also in charge of all of the firm's research and development. Towards the end of last year, however, Twitter started censoring Dr. Yeadon's posts on COVID-19.
- Dr Mike Yeadon is an eminent scientist & former CSO & VP Respiratory Disease Research for Pfizer. He is not political.Twitter removes his factual tweets. This is what you should be worried about regardless of your political tribalism!#BigTechCensorship #ElectionResults2020 pic.twitter.com/21hG1mWLK4
- '-- Potkin Azarmehr (@potkazar) November 10, 2020
- Youtube even censored an informational video Dr. Yeadon did, though they later put it back up.
- The Yeadon video that has been censored, removed & reappears'...https://t.co/i0gDizjShQ
- '-- BBC Biden Cheated Trump '' Ned (@NedPamphilon) November 20, 2020
- Watch Dr. Yeadon's video while you can, because the tech giants are ramping up their censorship of the distinguished former head of R&D at Pfizer. In February, Twitter permanently suspended his account.
- And, of course, the media's descent into undisguised propagandists for whatever it is that Anthony Fauci happens to be saying today, means that almost no one knows about any of Dr. Yeadon's other chilling observations.
- In November of 2020, Dr. Yeadon and 22 other renowned scientists published a report eviscerating the first and most widely used test for COVID-19 as fraudulent science and demanded that the paper validating it '-- which was published a day after it was submitted and, hence, couldn't possibly have been subjected to peer-review '-- be retracted.
- Pieter Borger, PhD; Rajesh Maholtra, Michael Yeadon, PhD and 22 other scientists call for the retraction of the Corman-Drosten Paper/flawed PCR protocol. Cycle thresholds >35 have only 3 percent probability of being correct.
- '-- CPHC (@cphealthcare) December 10, 2020
- Let that sink in as well.
- Almost two dozen respected researchers including the former head of R&D at Pfizer have been claiming since November that the COVID-19 test used to generate the case and death numbers that convinced us to accept lockdowns is the product of systematic scientific fraud and completely worthless.
- And you've heard nothing about it.
- Just last week, Dr. Yeadon did an interview with the group America's Frontline Doctors '-- another organization the media and big tech have mercilessly silenced for dissenting on the wisdom of Fauci's destructive policies '-- in which he advised against anyone at all taking a COVID-19 vaccine in the starkest possible terms.
- Mike Yeadon isn't just an illustrious scientist
- He was Pfizer's VP of research.
- If you've seen him, you'll also know he's a calm & measured man.
- So when he says this, maybe you oughta unplug your ears & & quit w/ the delusional "It couldn't happen here"https://t.co/0c7MK3SEkZ pic.twitter.com/Zg8kUun1bv
- '-- Michael Thau (@MichaelThau) March 26, 2021
- I could go on for days on the number of prominent voices that you've probably never heard of who've categorically rejected what the media has shamelessly presented to you as the ''scientific consensus'' on COVID-19. But let's close with that.
- A scientist so esteemed that Pfizer put him in charge of all their R&D is saying that no one ought to take their so-called ''vaccine'' because it's both unnecessary and insufficiently tested for safety. Indeed, he finds himself so shocked that the product is even being marketed, that he believes it's not impossible that the whole point is to kill us and asserts that he has ''absolutely no doubt that we are in the presence of evil (not a determination I've ever made before in a 40-year research career) and dangerous products.''
- Yet you've never heard a word about it as Anthony Fauci makes the round on Sunday talk shows urging you to run out and inject your children with this stuff as soon as possible.
- Perhaps, Mike Yeadon '-- who's about as an esteemed private-sector researcher as you could possibly find '-- is wrong, and Anthony Fauci '-- who's spent his entire career in the federal bureaucracy '-- is the one telling the truth here.
- If the Nobel Prize-winning inventor of the process used to test for COVID-19, the late Kary Mullis, is to be believed, however, the prospects are pretty damned slim.
- The late scientist Kary Mullis, Nobel Prize for inventing PCR, had this strong opinion about the professional ethics and scientific competence of Anthony Fauci. I would side with Mullis on this question. pic.twitter.com/lFdI2plQV4
- '-- Denis Rancourt (@denisrancourt) December 31, 2020
- But the point here isn't which experts are wrong and which are right. The point is that a systematic effort is underway to bury the existence of the mind-numbing number of renowned scientists who vehemently disagree with Anthony Fauci's ever-changing demands.
- They're trying to keep you from making up your own mind.
- Which may itself be the best possible indication of whom you ought to trust with your life.
- Michael Thau is a columnist at RedState. He has a PhD in philosophy from Princeton and has been writing extensively on COVID-19 since this nightmare began.
- ATTENTION NEWS JUNKIES: We are the new Drudge, click here for the News Feed
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- Mass Shooters and Terrorists are Back
- Pentagon Attacker MK-Ultra - The Vax perhaps?
- Noah Green, the suspect who law enforcement sources say rammed his car into two US Capitol Police officers on Friday, posted on social media in the weeks before the attack that he had lost his job and suffered medical ailments, and said he believed the federal government was targeting him with "mind control."
- “The U.S. Government is the #1 enemy of Black people!" a caption on one video read. In another post on the Instagram account, Green wrote last week that he believed Farrakhan had saved him "after the terrible afflictions I have suffered presumably by the CIA and FBI, government agencies of the United States of America."
- Responding to a comment on that post, Green wrote, “I have suffered multiple home break ins, food poisonings, assaults, unauthorized operations in the hospital, mind control.”
- In his Facebook post, Green wrote that he had been “unknowingly” taking a drug and suffering from side effects.
- 'Trump's Vaccine' is causing mass shooters
- SITE is back Baby
- "Green described himself as a follower of the Nation of Islam and its founder, Louis Farrakhan, and spoke of going through a difficult time where he leaned on his faith, according to recent messages posted online that have since been taken down. The messages were captured by the group SITE, which tracks online activity."
- Colorado Muslim attacker Anti-Semitic?
- Did You Know That the King Soopers Supermarket in Boulder Where a Muslim Killed 10 Is a Jewish Supermarket?
- It appears that the gunman drove 20-30 miles (past many other supermarkets) to get to that one.
- Jews in Colorado 'Shaken and Frightened' After Slaughter at Supermarket - Washington Free Beacon
- The Jewish community in Boulder, Colo., is on high-alert following a mass shooting at a supermarket outside of Denver on Monday that left 10 people dead and those in the surrounding neighborhoods "shaken and frightened."
- The area's Jewish community is holding vigils and other events at their synagogues, according to JNS, a Jewish news wire service. Local spiritual leaders have said in various social media postings that the violence has put the community on edge just as the coronavirus pandemic was beginning to subside.
- "Friends, I am sure we are all so shaken and frightened by how close today's horrible shooting was to us," Rabbi Marc Soloway, leader of Boulder's Congregation Bonai Shalom, posted on Facebook. "A store that so many of us have been in multiple times. While we wait with terror and sadness to learn more about the victims, I hope and pray that you and your loved ones are safe."
- Boulder's Jewish Community Center held a vigil Tuesday evening to help the community grieve and remember the victims of the shooting at King Soopers supermarket. The killer has been identified by authorities as 21-year-old Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa. The JCC, in a community statement issued after the attack, said Jewish residents "are shaken to our core, and we mourn the loss of life."
- King Soopers sports a wide variety of kosher goods and supplies for the area's devout Jewish community and includes on its website a detailed description of services catered to the kosher consumer.
- Rabbi Fred Greene, leader of Congregation Har Ha-Shem, also in Boulder, said on Facebook that his synagogue services are attended by those who live in the neighborhood where the shooter went on a rampage.
- "I know that we are feeling shock, fear, anger and so much more. I am sorry that as people were beginning to feel hopeful for [coronavirus] vaccines and a new beginning, another act of violence has shaken our community," Greene wrote. "We are thinking of you who go to that area to shop. We are praying for the healing of those who are experiencing fear and trauma."
- Adam Kredo is senior writer reporting on national security and foreign policy matters for the Washington Free Beacon. An award-winning political reporter who has broken news from across the globe, Kredo's work has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, the Weekly Standard, Commentary Magazine, the Drudge Report, and the Jerusalem Post, among many others. His Twitter handle is @Kredo0. His email address is kredo@freebeacon.com.
- CompoundBoss on Twitter: "And like magic, the story vanishes before our eyes." / Twitter
- CompoundBoss : And like magic, the story vanishes before our eyes. https://t.co/neX6xtcySZ
- Fri Apr 02 20:23:16 +0000 2021
- PedoBear
- Documents detail wild alleged $25M Gaetz extortion scheme
- | March 31, 2021 04:50 PM
- R ep. Matt Gaetz possesses text message screenshots, an email, and a typed document that purportedly support his claims that a federal investigation into his relationship with a 17-year-old is related to an extortion scheme against him.
- On Tuesday, the New York Times reported that the Justice Department is investigating whether Gaetz had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old and paid her to travel with him. Gaetz has called the report "totally false." Gaetz told Axios that his lawyers told him that he "was not a target but a subject of an investigation regarding sexual conduct with women."
- The Florida Republican countered the report on Twitter and in statements to Axios and Fox News with a claim that his family is being extorted for $25 million and that the people pushing stories about an investigation into his relationships with women are the people extorting him and the subjects of an FBI extortion investigation over the last few weeks.
- The documents in Gaetz's possession detail an alleged scheme that revolves around attempts by former Air Force intelligence officer Bob Kent and Beggs & Lane attorney David McGee, a former federal prosecutor, to free ex-FBI agent-turned-private investigator Robert Levinson from imprisonment in Iran.
- Levinson went missing in Iran in March 2007. McGee is the attorney for the Levinson family. Kent in December 2018 had planned a secret mission to try to rescue Levinson, but he was reportedly thwarted by the federal government.
- Screenshots provided to the Washington Examiner show a message that his father, Don Gaetz, a former Florida state Senate president, said he received from Kent on March 16. The message proposes ''a plan that can make [Matt Gaetz's] future legal and political problems go away.'' Gaetz has denied any relationship with a minor.
- READ: FULL DOCUMENTS MATT GAETZ SAYS BACKS UP EXTORTION CLAIM
- Provided to the Washington Examiner
- Despite the family members of Levinson saying in March 2020 that they presumed him to be dead based on information given by U.S. officials, the alleged message from Kent said he had located Levinson in Iran and has two ''proof of life videos.'' Kent also requested the Gaetz family's help returning Levinson in exchange for giving Matt Gaetz credit for the operation and promising a presidential pardon for unnamed legal issues.
- The next day, on March 17, Don Gaetz purportedly met with Kent, and Kent handed him a three-page document outlining ''Project Homecoming.'' That document detailed a plan to save Levinson at the cost of a $25 million loan.
- In 1983, Don Gaetz co-founded VITAS Healthcare, and in 2004, he and his co-founders reportedly sold their stock in the company for $406 million.
- In the Project Homecoming document, Kent then asked that the loan should be deposited in the trust account of Beggs & Land, naming David L. McGee, and deposited no later than March 19.
- The Project Homecoming document states that Gaetz is ''under investigation by the FBI for various public corruption and public integrity issues'' and alleges that the FBI is aware of photos depicting Gaetz in a ''sexual orgy with underage prostitutes.''
- ''In exchange for the funds being arranged, and upon the release of Mr. Levinson, the team that delivers Mr. Levinson to the President of The United States shall strongly advocate that President Biden issue a Presidential Pardon, or instruct the Department of Justice to terminate any and all investigations involving Congressman Gaetz," the document reads.
- Provided to the Washington Examiner
- It also implied that the White House has some knowledge of the plan: "The team has been assured by the President that he will strongly consider such matters because he considers the release of Robert Levinson a matter of National Urgency." The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
- Stephen M. Alford, who has previously faced fraud and extortion charges, was also allegedly at the March 17 meeting and gave Don Gaetz his business card showing Captum Consultants. The April 2020 articles of incorporation for the company indicate they came from Beggs & Land, McGee's firm.
- Provided to the Washington Examiner
- Kent, McGee, and Alford did not respond to requests for comment.
- McGee told the Daily Beast on Tuesday night, following Gaetz naming him on national television, that any claims that he or his law firm were involved in extortion are "completely, totally false," adding, ''This is a blatant attempt to distract from the fact that Matt Gaetz is apparently about to be indicted for sex trafficking underage girls.''
- Another email chain appears to confirm the existence of the FBI investigating extortion claims.
- ''My client, Don Gaetz, was approached by two individuals to make a sizable payment in what I would call a scheme to defraud,'' Jeffrey Neiman said in a March 25 email to the Department of Justice. ''The FBI is not asking Don to voluntarily and proactively assist in their investigation, which Don is willing to do. Please confirm that your Office and the FBI would like Don's assistance in this matter and that he will be working at the Government's request.''
- Assistant U.S. Attorney David Goldberg responded: ''I can confirm that your client is working with my office as well as the FBI at the government's request in order to determine if a federal crime has been committed. This has been discussed with, and approved by, the FBI as well as the leadership of my office and components of Main Justice.''
- The Department of Justice and the FBI declined to comment on the email or the existence of an extortion investigation. Neiman also declined to comment.
- Provided to the Washington Examiner
- Gaetz on Fox News Tuesday night said his father wore a wire in order to assist with the case, and he demanded that the ''Department of Justice and the FBI release the audio recordings that were made under their supervision and at their direction, which will prove my innocence.''
- He suspects that a leak to the New York Times story about the investigation into whether he had a relationship with a 17-year-old was timed to thwart the FBI investigation into the extortion.
- CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
- ''This former Department of Justice official tomorrow was supposed to be contacted by my father so that specific instructions could be given regarding the wiring of $4.5 million as a down payment on this bribe,'' Gaetz said. ''I don't think it's a coincidence that tonight, somehow, the New York Times is leaking this information, smearing me, and ruining the investigation that would likely result in one of the former colleagues of the current DOJ being brought to justice for trying to extort me and my family.''
- The 17-year-old in question "doesn't exist," Gaetz said, adding that he has "not had a relationship with a 17-year-old. That is totally false.''
- Jerry Dunleavy contributed to this story.
- Leaked Texts From Israeli Consulate Employee Show More Details in Gaetz-Levinson Funding Scheme | The American Conservative
- 'We only asked for $25 million as an estimate at first. We came way down.'
- WASHINGTON, DC - DECEMBER 09: Representative Matt Gaetz (R-FL) during a House Armed Services Subcommittee hearing with members of the Fort Hood Independent Review Committee on Capitol Hill on December 9, 2020 in Washington, DC. The U.S. Army has fired or suspended 14 leaders at Fort Hood following an investigation into the death of Specialist Vanessa Guill(C)n and numerous other deaths and reports of sexual abuse on the military base. (Photo by Samuel Corum/Getty Images)
- Three screenshots of texts between Scott Adams, creator of Dilbert, and Jake Novak, media director of the Israeli consulate in New York City were shared with TAC. The messages were authenticated by one of the parties to them.
- In the first screenshot, Novak messaged Adams last Saturday to tell him about the investigation into Gaetz. The New York Times story on the Gaetz investigation was not published until Tuesday.
- In the second, Novak appears to represent himself as deeply involved in the efforts to free Bob Levinson from Iran, telling Adams ''this is screwing up my efforts to free Bob Levinson.''
- ''Gaetz's dad was secretly finding [sic] us,'' he continues. ''So I'm very much wanting this to be untrue. I've got a commando team leader friend of mine nervously waiting for the wire transfers to clear.''
- In the third screenshot, Novak casts doubt on Gaetz's claims that he is being extorted. ''The real documents do not extort,'' he writes, ''And we only asked for $25 million as an estimate at first. We came way down.''
- about the author Arthur Bloom is editor of The American Conservative online. He was previously deputy editor of the Daily Caller and a columnist for the Catholic Herald. He holds masters degrees in urban planning and American studies from the University of Kansas. His work has appeared in The Washington Post, The Washington Times, The Spectator (UK), The Guardian, Quillette, The American Spectator , Modern Age, and Tiny Mix Tapes.
- Matt Gaetz 'showed lawmakers naked photos of women he said he'd slept with' | Daily Mail Online
- Rep. Matt Gaetz allegedly showed other lawmakers naked photos and videos of women he said he had slept with and boasted about his sexual conquests to his colleagues, according to a new report.
- Multiple sources, including two people who said they had been shown the compromising photos first hand, told CNN, the 38-year-old congressman displayed the images of the women on his phone including while he was on the House floor at the US Capitol.
- While there is no known link between these alleged images and the sex trafficking probe into Gaetz, prominent Republicans have largely remained silent on the issue with sources saying the congressman is not well liked because of his avid self-promotion on right-wing news outlets.
- The claims come as former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe said there must be a 'significant degree of information' for federal officials to have launched a sex trafficking probe into a sitting member of Congress.
- McCabe described the allegations as 'very serious' after the New York Times revealed Tuesday that Gaetz is under investigation by the Department of Justice over claims he had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl and paid her to travel with him across state lines.
- 'It's substantial and very serious. You know [after] 21 years of opening and overseeing, conducting investigations, I can tell you that nobody opens a sex trafficking investigation in which the subject is a sitting member of Congress without having a significant degree of information,' McCabe, who was fired by Trump in 2018, told CNN Wednesday.
- 'In any case, I can assure you the FBI doesn't open these cases lightly, and don't get briefed to the attorney general without some significant momentum behind them.'
- Rep. Matt Gaetz allegedly showed other lawmakers naked photos and videos of women he said he had slept with and boasted about his sexual conquests to his colleagues, according to a new report
- Gaetz with his fianc(C)e food analyst Ginger Luckey, 26, who he met in early 2020 at Trump's Mar-a-Lago club
- The complex saga began earlier this week when The New York Times published a report citing three anonymous sources saying that Gaetz was under investigation for his relationship with a 17-year-old girl.
- Gaetz has denied having sex with anyone underage or trafficking a girl across state lines.
- Instead, he claims he is the victim of an extortion plot involving former Justice Department official David McGee.
- He claims McGee was trying to extort him and his family for $25 million using the sex trafficking probe as leverage.
- Gaetz said he and his father - former Florida State Senator Don Gaetz - contacted authorities and were working with the FBI on a simultaneous investigation, with Don backing up his son's claims Wednesday that he wore a wire to try to expose McGee's apparent plot.
- McGee denied he was extorting Gaetz and said he had no involvement in the DOJ sex trafficking probe into Gaetz other than being one of 'a thousand people who have heard the rumors' about the congressman's alleged actions with underage girls.
- On Wednesday, yet another twist emerged in the complex saga as Gaetz released bombshell text message screenshots, an email and a printout purporting to show the alleged extortion plot.
- The documents, which were shared with the Washington Examiner, claim to show the congressman was being extorted by McGee and former Air Force intelligence officer Bob Kent in a ploy to help rescue American hostage Robert Levinson from Iran.
- According to the documents, Gaetz had been seen in compromising photos having sex with underage prostitutes, a grand jury had heard testimony from at least one underage girl who says she was paid to have sex with him and Gaetz was about to be indicted on charges.
- The alleged extorters claimed they could stop the probe if the Gaetz family put up $25million which would help secure Levinson's release.
- Multiple sources, including two people who said they had been shown the compromising photos first hand, told CNN the 38-year-old congressman displayed the images of the women on his phone including while he was on the House floor (above)
- Former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe (above) said there must be a 'significant degree of information' for federal officials to have launched a sex trafficking probe into a sitting member of Congress
- Levinson worked for the FBI for 22 years then vanished in 2007 while in Iran.
- Nothing was known as to whether he was alive or dead until 2011 when Levinson's family shared images and a video of him being held captive and pleading for help.
- Last year, Florida State Rep. Chris Latvala accused Gaetz of designing a 'game' where he and other Florida House members scored points for 'sleeping with aides, interns, lobbyists, and married legislators'
- Levinson's family said in March 2020 that they had been informed by US officials that he had died in Iranian custody, while being held in Iran as the longest-held hostage in American history.
- But Kent claimed he was very much alive and that if Gaetz provided the money to release him, he would be given public credit for the operation and the 'team' would tell President Biden to give him a pardon in the sex trafficking case.
- McGee used to work for the Department of Justice but now works in private practice and is the Levinson family's lawyer. Kent has claimed in the past that he has worked on plans to secure Levinson's release.
- Long before this week's saga unfolded, Gaetz had gained a reputation on Capitol Hill for bragging about his sexual exploits to other lawmakers and staff and parading photos of nude women he said he had sex with, sources told CNN Thursday.
- One source described one video showing a naked woman with a hula hoop, as another said 'it was a point of pride' for Gaetz to show the images off.
- There is no evidence that the nude photos are in any way connected to the DOJ's probe into allegations of sex trafficking.
- It is also unclear when these alleged encounters took place.
- Gaetz is engaged to food analyst Ginger Luckey, 26, who he met in early 2020.
- But this isn't the first time Gaetz has been accused of acting inappropriately in Congress.
- Last year, Florida State Rep. Chris Latvala accused Gaetz of designing a 'game' where he and other Florida House members scored points for 'sleeping with aides, interns, lobbyists, and married legislators.'
- Latvala leveled the accusations against Gaetz amid a Twitter spat in January 2020.
- Gaetz's main support since news of the DOJ probe broke has so far come from Marjorie Taylor Greene
- 'And you created a game where members of the FL House got 'points' for sleeping with aides, interns, lobbyists, and married legislators. Hope DC is treating you well, Congressman,' he wrote.
- Gaetz denied the allegations.
- Rumors of a game with a point system involving 'young male FL Reps' first surfaced in a Politico report in 2013 but did not name the alleged culprits.
- Florida congressman Gaetz served in the House from 2010 to 2016.
- While these alleged instances have no known connection to the DOJ sex-trafficking probe, Gaetz has received little in the way of support from members of his own party since the bombshell claims surfaced.
- House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy called the allegations 'serious' and vowed to 'find out' the truth over the allegations.
- 'If a member at my conference gets indicted, they will get removed from a committee,' McCarthy told NBC News.
- 'He says this is not true. And we have a newspaper report that says something else. We'll find out.'
- Meanwhile other top Republicans have stayed silent and Trump has also remained uncharacteristically quiet.
- This is perhaps surprising given the two men's closeness. Gaetz backed the former president during both impeachment trials and is a regular fixture at his Mar-a-Lago estate - even proposing to his fianc(C)e there in December.
- Bombshell texts, an email and a printout with the heading 'Project Homecoming' detail the alleged scheme involving former DOJ official David McGee (left) and former Air Force intelligence officer Bob Kent to free US hostage Robert Levinson (right)
- Several sources told NBC Gaetz is not well-liked on Capitol Hill because of his criticism of fellow Republicans.
- Gaetz railed against GOP Rep. Liz Cheney at the Wyoming capitol back in January after she voted to impeach Trump.
- This is the text Matt Gaetz's father Don says he received from Bob Kent, an Air Force intelligence officer, on March 16, detailing an extortion plot that would involve the Gaetz family giving up $25million
- Meanwhile, his constant self-promotion and near-daily appearances on right-wing news outlets, especially Fox, are also another source of contention among other Republicans, sources said.
- His main support has so far come from Marjorie Taylor Greene, the QAnon-supporting freshman Georgia lawmaker who was stripped of her committee assignments in February as it emerged she had pushed unfounded conspiracy theories and showed support for executing top Democrats before being elected to Congress.
- 'Remember all the conspiracy theories and lies like Trump/Russia collusion and propaganda that the media has spread around. Take it from me rumors and headlines don't equal truth. I stand with @mattgaetz,' she tweeted.
- In another tweet she called for the release of FBI tapes Gaetz has claimed prove the extortion plot.
- 'The DOJ needs to release the tapes instead of allowing another witch hunt to take place,' she wrote.
- Gaetz regularly appears on Fox, reportedly racking up on average 90 minutes of screen time a month in the last year.
- Hours before the allegations of both sex trafficking and extortion surfaced Tuesday, a report from Axios had revealed Gaetz was considering retiring from Congress and taking a media job at Newsmax.
- Gaetz then claimed Wednesday he's had 'many conversations' with right-wing TV networks about a career after Congress including Newsmax, OAN, Fox, Fox Business and Real America's Voice.
- But Fox News instantly denied the claims saying it had 'no interest in hiring him' and denying the congressman had spoken with anyone with authority on the matter.
- The network sought to distance itself from Gaetz after he appeared on Fox News' Tucker Carlson Tuesday night in a bizarre interview where he appeared to try to rope Carlson into the saga.
- Carlson later said the segment was 'one of the weirdest interviews I've ever conducted.'
- This document was given to Gaetz's father Don on March 17, allegedly by Air Force intelligence officer Bob Kent. The plan involved the Gaetz family putting up $25million to secure Levinson's release but it doesn't say how the money would secure that
- Another document that Gaetz has produced is an email from the Assistant US Attorney for the Northern District of Florida which confirms that the family was working with the FBI
- TIMELINE OF THE GAETZ SAGA MARCH 30: The New York Times reports that Gaetz is under investigation for a sexual relationship with an underage girl.
- Details are sparse but the relationship is said to have happened two years ago.
- Gaetz went on Tucker Carlson's FOX News show that night to deny the allegations and claim he was the victim of an extortion plot.
- He names David McGee as a DoJ official who is extorting him.
- MARCH 31 : Gaetz's father Don tells Politico that the extortion plot is real and that he was working with his son and the FBI to expose it
- APRIL 1: Texts emerge to support Gaetz's claim that he was being extorted and they introduce a new element to the saga - that the extortion plot was part of a ruse to rescue American hostage Robert Levinson from Iran.
- Gaetz, 38, is the representative for Florida's 1st congressional district.
- He is a Trump ally who has ties to Roger Stone and he's been known to fan the flames of controversy in the past.
- He has DUI convictions, has been accused of inciting violence on Twitter and claimed that facial recognition technology proved some of the January 6 Capitol rioters were not Trump fans, but 'antifa' masquerading as them.
- Gaetz's father who was a well-liked Senator. He sold his company with his partners for $406million in 2004.
- They had founded VITAS Healthcare in the 1980s. He was a senator for ten years from 2006 until 2016.
- McGee was a prosecutor with the Department of Justice but he is now a private practice attorney.
- According to his bio on his law firm's website, he spent six years as the First Assistant at the United States Attorney's Office and for seven years as the Lead Attorney for a United States Department of Justice Organized Crime Task Force.
- Kent is an Air Force intelligence officer whose involvement in the alleged plot was only revealed on Wednesday night through the texts.
- Levinson spent 22 years working for the FBI before he vanished in Iran in 2007. The government claimed they knew nothing about it but later admitted he had been working there for the CIA.
- The last time he was seen alive was in 2011, when he appeared in proof of life photos.
- His family say that this month, they were given reason to believe he was dead.
- The complex saga took another unexpected turn Wednesday as new texts and documents released by Gaetz Wednesday appeared to support his claim that he was being extorted and suggested that the 'plot' was part of a ploy to rescue American hostage Robert Levinson.
- The texts are purportedly from Kent to Gaetz's father, former Senator Don Gaetz. They were sent on March 16 and 17.
- 'Mr Gaetz, I would like to talk with you immediately about the current federal investigation and the indictment that is about to be filed against your son. I have a plan that can make his future legal and political problems go away,' the first text, sent on March 16 purportedly from Kent, says.
- Kent goes on: 'Last summer, we located Robert Levinson in Iran and took two proof of life videos but the US government foiled our rescue attempt. We have one more opportunity to rescue Levinson. If you and Matt are willing to help us privately and clandestinely obtain the release of Robert Levinson, I will ensure...'
- There is no screenshot of the next part of the text.
- On March 17, the day after the text was sent purportedly by Kent to Gaetz's father, Don claims he met with Kent and Stephen M. Alford, a real estate developer convicted of fraud who McGee has represented in the past, and was given the three-page 'Project Homecoming' document.
- It detailed plans for the Gaetz family to give them $25million. They said they would use the money to free Levinson and that in exchange, 'the team that delivers Mr. Levinson to the President shall strongly advocate that President Biden issue a Presidential Pardon, or instruct the Department of Justice to terminate any and all investigations involving Congressman Gaetz.
- The document begins with details of the alleged probe into Rep. Gaetz over 'various public corruption and public integrity issues.'
- It outlines some of the most damning allegations to surface against Gaetz to date, claiming the FBI has 'compromising pictures' depicting Gaetz and an unidentified election official in a 'sexual orgy with underage prostitutes' in Maitland, Florida.
- The photos came to light during an unrelated probe into political corruption and public integrity in another criminal case, it reads.
- Sources previously told the New York Times the probe was part of a wider investigation into Florida tax collector Joel Greenberg, who was charged with sex trafficking a minor between the age of 14 and 17 last year.
- The document says the discovery of the photos and 'subsequent information' has led to Gaetz being the 'target' of a 'widening investigation into serious underage sex trafficking, political corruption, public integrity, and other criminal allegations.'
- On Tuesday, Gaetz insisted he had been told he was the 'subject' and not the 'target' of a probe.
- The document claims that a Grand Jury has been impaneled to determine if charges should be brought against Gaetz and others.
- It says that a number of people have testified to the Grand Jury about Gaetz including one underage girl who claims she was paid by Gaetz for sex and 'other individuals, whom are facing serious criminal allegations themselves'.
- 'At least one underage female has testified to the Grand Jury that Congressman Gaetz has paid her to engage in sexual activities,' it reads.
- The probe is being handled by the Public Integrity Division of the DOJ and is being managed out of the DC field office, with the US Attorney from the Middle District of Florida overseeing the case.
- The document goes on to describe a 'strategy' to 'mitigate Gaetz's 'legal and political troubles' by arranging for $25 million in funds needed to apparently release Levinson from Iranian captivity.
- The money would be deposited into the trust account of Beggs & Land law firm, where McGee works, no later than March 19, the Examiner reported.
- It describes a setup wherein Gaetz could take the credit for Levinson's release and present the captive's return to the US, and would be put forward for a presidential pardon and for all investigations to be dropped.
- 'In exchange for funds being arranged, and upon the release of Robert Levinson, Congressman Gaetz shall be given credit for facilitating the release of Mr. Levinson. Congressman Gaetz shall also be on the plane that returns Mr. Levinson to freedom, and shall be the person to 'reunited' Mr. Levinson with his family and bring Mr. Levinson back to the United States,' the document reads.
- Gaetz and his father Don Gaetz. Don served as a member of the Florida State Senate from 2006 to 2016
- 'The team that delivers Mr. Levinson to the President of The United States shall strongly advocate that President Biden issue a Presidential Pardon, or instruct the Department of Justice to terminate any and all investigations involving Congressman Gaetz.'
- The three-page document also suggested at least some White House knowledge of the plan claiming: 'The team has been assured by the President that he will strongly consider such matters because he considers the release of Robert Levinson a matter of National Urgency.'
- BILL BARR CANCELED AN APPEARANCE TO APPEAR WITH GAETZ BECAUSE OF PROBEBill Barr was aware of the ongoing sex trafficking investigation into Gaetz and took no objection to it when he was the Attorney General.
- Instead, he made sure he was never seen with him in public.
- According to Politico, Barr canceled an event where he was due to appear with Gaetz in the summer of 2020.
- He had been scheduled to appear at a meet-and-greet with Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee but when he saw that Gaetz was also attending, he pulled out of it.
- Barr has not commented on the investigation into sex trafficking that Gaetz is said to be a target of.
- The White House did not return DailyMail.com's request for comment.
- The Examiner also obtained an email chain allegedly between Don's attorney Jeffrey Neiman and federal prosecutors that appears to confirm the FBI is looking into an alleged extortion.
- Assistant US Attorney David Goldberg wrote to Neiman that he could 'confirm that your client is working with my office as well as the FBI at the government's request in order to determine if a federal crime has been committed'.
- The FBI declined to comment and directed to DailyMail.com to the DOJ. The DOJ did not return a request for comment.
- The release of the documents came after Gaetz's father backed up his extortion claims and said he wore a wire to try help his son expose it.
- 'The FBI asked me to try and get that information for Matt and an indication we would transfer money to Mr. David McGee,' he told Politico Wednesday.
- DailyMail.com has reached out to McGee following the latest claims about the alleged extortion plot.
- The attorney denied any involvement Tuesday telling The Washington Post Tuesday he was not part of a plan to extort Gaetz nor was he connected to the DOJ's sex trafficking probe.
- But McGee, an attorney at Beggs & Lane law firm and the former lead attorney for the DOJ's Organized Crime Task Force, said: 'It is completely false. It's a blatant attempt to distract from the fact that he's under investigation for sex trafficking of minors.
- 'I have no connection with that case at all, other than, one of a thousand people who have heard the rumors.'
- The attorney said Gaetz's father had 'called me and asked to talk to me' and said he would welcome a tape of their conversation being made public. He did not detail what the conversation was about but insisted it was nothing 'untoward' but simply 'a pleasant conversation of a dad concerned about his son and the trouble his son was in'.
- He added: 'If there is a tape, play the tape. There is nothing on that tape that is untoward.'
- Gaetz had on Tuesday claimed he is the victim of a $25 million extortion plot after it was revealed he is under investigation for sex trafficking over allegations he had a sexual relationship with a teenage girl, 17, and paid to have her travel with him.
- The Republican congressman and close ally of Donald Trump accused McGee live on Tucker Carlson of trying to extort millions of dollars out of him and his family in exchange for 'making horrible sex trafficking allegations against me go away.'
- Gaetz accused David McGee, an attorney at Beggs & Lane law firm and the former lead attorney for the DOJ's Organized Crime Task Force, of trying to extort millions from him and his family in exchange for making sex trafficking allegations 'go away' on Fox News Tuesday
- Gaetz claimed he had been working with the FBI and his father Don Gaetz had been wearing a wire to expose the alleged scheme after learning of it earlier this month.
- Florida lawmaker Gaetz made the bombshell allegation hours after the New York Times revealed the DOJ had launched a probe to investigate whether Gaetz violated federal sex trafficking laws.
- Tucker Carlson says Gaetz interview was his 'weirdest ever'Fox News' Tucker Carlson was stunned by Rep Matt Gaetz's appearance on his show Tuesday night, calling it one of the 'weirdest interviews' ever.
- Gaetz claimed he is the victim of a $25million extortion plot after the New York Times revealed he is under investigation for sex trafficking over allegations he had a sexual relationship with a teenage girl, 17, and paid to have her travel with him. During the interview Gaetz denied all of the allegations against him.
- 'It is a horrible allegation and it is a lie,' he told Carlson. 'The New York Times is running a story that I have traveled with a 17-year-old woman and that is verifiably false. People can look at my travel records and see that that is not the case.'
- Fox News' Tucker Carlson was stunned by Rep Matt Gaetz's appearance on his show Tuesday night
- When asked about the alleged sexual relationship with the teen, Gaetz said such a person 'doesn't exist'.
- However, Gaetz recalled a dinner with Carlson, his wife and 'a friend of mine' who he said has since been 'threatened' by authorities to 'cop to the fact that somehow I was involved in some pay for play scheme'.
- 'I can say that actually you and I went to dinner about two years ago, your wife was there and I brought a friend of mine, you will remember her,' he said. 'And she was actually threatened by the FBI, told that if she wouldn't cop to the fact that somehow I was involved in some pay for play scheme that she could face trouble and so I do believe that there are people at the Department of Justice who are trying to smear me.'
- In response to that claim, Carlson says: 'I don't remember the women you're speaking of or the context at all honestly.'
- Following the segment, Carlson told his viewers: 'You just saw our Matt Gaetz interview. That was one of the weirdest interviews I've ever conducted.'
- 'That story just appeared in the news a couple of hours ago, and on the certainty that there's always more than you read in the newspaper, we immediately called Matt Gaetz and asked him to come on and tell us more. Which, as you saw, he did. I don't think that clarified much, but it certainly showed this is a deeply interesting story and we'll be following it,' Carlson added.
- Three sources told the Times an investigation was launched into his alleged sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl during Trump's final months in office under then-Attorney General Bill Barr.
- The inquiry is said to be part of a wider probe into Florida official Joel Greenberg, who was slapped with a string of charges last year including sex trafficking a minor between the age of 14 and 17. No charges have been filed against Gaetz.
- On Wednesday, Politico reported that not only was the sex trafficking investigation underway, but that Bill Barr, the AG at the time, knew about it and had no objection to it.
- Gaetz claimed Tuesday night the sex trafficking allegations against him were 'verifiably false' but said he and his family were victims of an extortion effort by McGee to make the allegations and the DOJ investigation 'go away.'
- A separate probe was launched by the FBI into the extortion plot, he said. Gaetz claimed the Times report had then foiled a plan to transfer a bribe of $4.5 million to McGee Wednesday which would have then exposed the alleged plot.
- However Times' reporter Katie Benner told MSNBC it is the congressman who has in fact 'blown up' the alleged extortion investigation in an effort to divert attention away from the fact the sex trafficking concerns were serious enough for the Trump administration to launch an investigation - even though Gaetz is a close ally of the president. Gaetz, 38, is close to Trump and got engaged to food analyst Ginger Luckey, 26, at his Mar-a-Lago club in late December.
- The FBI declined to comment Tuesday night while the DOJ did not return DailyMail.com's request for comment.
- Reports of the two investigations came just hours after it was revealed Gaetz is considering retiring from Congress and taking a job at right-wing news outlet Newsmax.
- Gaetz's alleged encounters with the 17-year-old girl took place around two years ago with the DOJ investigation focusing on whether the lawmaker paid for her to cross state lines, the Times reported.
- Under federal law, it is a crime to transport someone under the age of 18 across state lines, or coerce them to travel across state lines, to engage in sex in exchange for money.
- It is not clear when or how Gaetz allegedly met the teenager.
- Gaetz, who was the only member of Congress to vote against a largely bipartisan human trafficking bill back in 2017, insisted the allegations are false.
- 'It is a horrible allegation and it is a lie,' he told Carlson.
- 'The New York Times is running a story that I have traveled with a 17-year-old woman and that is verifiably false. People can look at my travel records and see that that is not the case.'
- When asked about his alleged sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl, Gaetz said such a person 'doesn't exist'.
- 'The person doesn't exist. I have not had a relationship with a 17-year-old. That is totally false,' he said.
- However, Gaetz recalled a dinner with Carlson, his wife and 'a friend of mine' who he said has since been 'threatened' by authorities to 'cop to the fact that somehow I was involved in some pay for play scheme.'
- 'I can say that actually you and I went to dinner about two years ago, your wife was there and I brought a friend of mine, you will remember her,' he said.
- 'And she was actually threatened by the FBI, told that if she wouldn't cop to the fact that somehow I was involved in some pay for play scheme that she could face trouble and so I do believe that there are people at the Department of Justice who are trying to smear me.'
- Instead, Gaetz claimed he and his family have fallen foul to a plot to extort money.
- The congressman told Carlson the alleged scheme came to light on March 16 when he claims his father got a text message 'demanding a meeting wherein a person demanded $25 million in exchange for making horrible sex trafficking allegations against me go away'.
- Gaetz's father is Don Gaetz, former member of the Florida State Senate from 2006 to 2016 and Senate President from 2012 to 2014. Don has not publicly commented on the apparent extortion plot.
- Gaetz claimed his family were told about 'pictures of me with child prostitutes' which he insisted are 'obviously false'.
- Gaetz named McGee on air on the Fox News show, accusing the lawyer of being behind the extortion plot.
- The Republican congressman and close ally of Donald Trump fired out a series of tweets Tuesday claiming a former Justice Department employee had been trying to extort $25 million from him and his family while 'threatening to smear my name'
- Rep. Matt Gaetz's father Don sold his hospice company for $406million and used the money to fund his political careerRep. Matt Gaetz's father made millions by selling his hospice company in 2004 and used the money to launch his own political career, years before they were 'extorted' over allegations the younger Gaetz slept with an underage girl.
- Don, a former Florida Senator from 2006 until 2016, has backed up his son's claims of an extortion plot and says he even wore a wire to a meeting with one of the extortionists to try to help expose the plot.
- Gaetz claimed the people involved were claiming to extort him to free American hostage Robert Levinson, who was captured in Iran in 2007.
- He said the extortionists told his family they needed $25million to free Levinson - whose family say is dead - and that in exchange, they would ask Joe Biden to pardon Gaetz from any sex trafficking charges.
- The amount is the same amount that Don Gaetz's net worth was reported as when he launched his first Senatorial campaign in 2006.
- He and his partners had sold Vitas, a hospice company, two years earlier for $406million. It's unclear how many partners there were, but when Don was campaigning, his net worth was well reported.
- The family comes from Niceville, Florida, a conservative, Christian town on the panhandle.
- Don Gaetz is shown, left, on the Florida Senate floor. He is shown right, with his wife Vicki
- Don's own father, Jerry, was the mayor of a small town in North Dakota. Don was referred to as 'baby Gaetz' early on in his career.
- He and his partners founded Vitas in the 1970s and turned it into the largest hospice care provider in the country, after lobbying Congress to have their care paid for under Medicaid and Medicare.
- They sold the company in 2004 but were later sued for Medicaid fraud. The lawsuit did not name Don specifically, and he denied wrongdoing.
- Don was well-liked in the Senate because he was considered 'old fashioned' and 'decent'. His views, while Republican, are less extreme than his son's.
- 'Don Gaetz was very much more of an old-school Republican. He would tell you that Matt is much more tea party Republican than he is,' Ben Wilcox told Mother Jones for a profile on the pair in 2019.
- Matt launched his political career in Florida in 2010 and has since made a name for himself supporting Trump.
- He has spoken in the past about how his mother became partially paralyzed due to complications she suffered while pregnant with his sister, and how her devotion to the pregnancy and baby has enforced his anti-abortion views.
- 'His name is David Mcgee. He was a top official in the leadership in the northern district of Florida as a prosecutor,' he said. 'He currently works at the Beggs & Lane law firm.'
- He claimed: 'There was a demand for money in exchange for a commitment that he could make this investigation go away along with his co-conspirators.'
- Gaetz said he contacted the FBI and the DOJ and has been working with them to expose the plot.
- 'Our family was so troubled by that, we went to the local FBI and the FBI and the Department of Justice were so concerned about this attempted extortion of a member of Congress that they asked my dad to wear a wire, which he did with the former department of justice official,' he claimed.
- Gaetz claimed that, prior to the Times' report of the sex trafficking inquiry, his family and federal authorities had made a plan to send $4.5 million as a down payment to McGee.
- He claimed this plan 'would have shown even more evidence of David McGee's work in this extortion scheme' but that it was 'foiled' by the Times' report.
- 'What was supposed to happen was the transfer of this money that would have implicated the former colleague of these current DOJ officials.
- 'But that's obviously not going to happen tomorrow because the New York Times story was leaked in order to quell that investigative effort,' he claimed.
- Gaetz called on the FBI to release the tapes of his family's alleged encounters with the extorter in order to prove his 'innocence.'
- 'If the FBI and department of justice will release the tapes that they are in possession of, the American people will see what is really going on,' he said.
- New York Times' Justice Department Reporter Katie Benner hit back at Gaetz's claims telling MSNBC that McGee is not involved in the DOJ's sex trafficking probe as he works in private practice.
- 'No that person is not involved in the investigations. That person is currently in private practice and does not work at the Justice Department,' she said.
- Benner questioned Gaetz's motive for speaking out about the alleged extortion plot in a move that she said has 'destroyed and blown up' the FBI investigation into it.
- Gaetz was first to publicly expose the FBI probe into the alleged extortion plot, with no mention made in the Times' initial report.
- Benner said she believes Gaetz was speaking out to deflect from the fact that the sex trafficking probe was 'serious enough' to be launched by Trump's DOJ.
- 'Keep in mind this is an investigation that if you look at the timeline was very serious and was taken seriously by Trump administration officials in the Justice Department,' she said.
- 'I think that one of the reasons why he has talked publicly about this extortion plot, one of the reasons why he has publicly said that the FBI has asked his own father to wear a wire is in order to try to get people to not pay attention to the fact that it was in fact the Trump admin that felt it was worthy to investigation him.'
- She hit back at his claim that the Times' report had 'foiled' the FBI plot.
- 'In publicly talking about the extortion plot that he has described and publicly saying that his father wore a wire he has basically destroyed and blown up an FBI investigation which is in itself something you would think would be against his own interests,' she said.
- 'You would think he wold be wanting to work with the FBI and would think he would be wanting to keep this quiet... in doing this and basically blowing up an FBI investigation into people trying to extort his family he has both complicated that investigation and also cast aspersions on something that was serious enough that Attorney General Bill Barr proved it.'
- Gaetz went on the defense as soon as the Times story broke Tuesday evening, going on a tweet storm describing the alleged extortion plot and slamming the allegations as 'lies'.
- 'Over the past several weeks my family and I have been victims of an organized criminal extortion involving a former DOJ official seeking $25 million while threatening to smear my name,' he tweeted.
- The congressman said he and his family had been working with the FBI on the plot to extort money from his family.
- 'We have been cooperating with federal authorities in this matter and my father has even been wearing a wire at the FBI's direction to catch these criminals.
- 'The planted leak to the FBI tonight was intended to thwart that investigation. No part of the allegations against me are true, and the people pushing these lies are targets of the ongoing extortion investigation.'
- Gaetz called on the Justice Department to release tapes he said shows the alleged scheme by an ex-DOJ employee.
- 'I demand the DOJ immediately release the tapes, made at their direction, which implicate their former colleague in crimes against me based on false allegations,' he tweeted.
- Gaetz went into damage control mode after news of the inquiry surfaced.
- He told the Times his attorneys had been told by the DOJ that he was the subject and not the target of the probe.
- 'I only know that it has to do with women,' he said. 'I have a suspicion that someone is trying to recategorize my generosity to ex-girlfriends as something more untoward.'
- Gaetz denied the accusations against him after the New York Times revealed Tuesday that the DOJ had launched a probe to investigate whether he had violated federal sex trafficking laws. Pictured Trump and Gaetz
- The congressman confirmed the DOJ probe in an interview with Axios and doubled down that the allegations are 'false' and 'unclear' as he blamed the apparent extortion plot.
- 'The allegations of sexual misconduct against me are false,' he said. 'They are rooted in an extortion effort against my family for $25 million'... in exchange for making this case go away.'
- Axios reported that it had seen screenshots of text messages, emails and documents from Gaetz purporting to show the alleged scheme.
- The inquiry is said to be part of a wider probe into Florida official Joel Greenberg (pictured) who was slapped with a string of charges last year including sex trafficking of a minor between the age of 14 and 17
- 'I believe that there are people at the Department of Justice who are trying to criminalize my sexual conduct, you know when I was a single guy,' he said.
- The 38-year-old said while he often 'provided for' women he was dating when he was single, such as paying for flights and hotel rooms, he was 'absolutely' confident none of the women were underage.
- 'I have definitely, in my single days, provided for women I've dated. You know, I've paid for flights, for hotel rooms. I've been, you know, generous as a partner,' he said.
- 'I think someone is trying to make that look criminal when it is not.'
- Sources told the Times that senior Justice Department officials, including some Trump appointees, were aware of the investigation due to its nature and the congressman's profile.
- They said it is part of a larger probe into Greenberg, a former tax collector of Seminole County, Orlando, accused of paying for sex with an underage girl and illegally using Florida's DMV database to look up information on her and other women with whom he was engaged in 'sugar daddy' relationships with.
- Greenberg was indicted last summer on 14 felony charges including child sex trafficking, fraud, identity theft and stalking a former political rival.
- The sex trafficking charge involves alleged encounters with a girl aged between 14 and 17 across a six-month period in 2017.
- Gaetz shared this image on Facebook in July 2017 of himself with Greenberg and Roger Stone
- He was also accused of violating the Driver's Privacy Protection Act by using his access as an elected official to illegally look up information about the minor in The Florida Driver and Vehicle Information Database (DAVID).
- He reportedly looked up the girl's photo, driver identification number, in addition to other information.
- Prosecutors say he also used the database to look up other people, with whom he was embroiled in 'sugar daddy relationships' with.
- Greenberg had first been indicted by a federal grand jury in June on charges that he stalked political opponent Brian Beute in the Republican primary for the Tax Collector's race and for identity theft.
- Greenberg resigned the following day and the additional charges were added in August.
- He was arrested earlier this month for violating the terms of his bond after he allegedly traveled to Jupiter and was involved in some type of police incident there.
- The extent of Gaetz's relationship with Greenberg is unclear but the ex-tax collector shared a photo on Twitter of the two men together at the White House in 2019.
- The year before, Gaetz backed Greenberg's successful bid for local office.
- And back in July 2017, Gaetz shared a photo on his Facebook of himself with Greenberg and Roger Stone - Trump's aide who was convicted of lying to Congress before being pardoned by the former president.
- News of the sex-trafficking inquiry came the same day reports surfaced that Gaetz is mulling quitting politics altogether for a career as a media personality.
- Gaetz has told friends he is considering not seeking re-election in 2022 and may even leave Congress before the end of his term for a job at conservative outlet Newsmax, according to Axios.
- The congressman lost much of his personal power in DC when Trump, a close ally, lost the White House and Republicans failed to take back control of the House of Representatives.
- Gaetz is a frequent guest at Mar-a-Lago and even proposed to his now-fianc(C)e Luckey there in December. Pictured the couple when they got engaged
- Newsmax, meanwhile, has become a favored outlet for conservatives after Trump started criticizing Fox News, leaving an opening for it and competitor One American News.
- Gaetz is already a frequent guest on the network, which recently hired former White House staffer Andrew Guiliani, the son of Rudy Giuliani, and former Trump campaign adviser Jason Miller.
- He has previously called for harsher criminal penalties for child sex offenders, with a 2014 Facebook post pushing for minimum 50-year mandatory minimum sentences for violent predators
- Gaetz is a staunch Trump ally and defended the former president during both impeachment trials.
- He also pushed the false claims that the MAGA mob that stormed the US Capitol on January 6 in a riot that left five dead were from Antifa. Investigations have proven they were not.
- Gaetz also made a name for himself when he became the only House lawmaker to vote against a bill to provide greater funds to fight human trafficking.
- The legislation - the Combating Human Trafficking in Commercial Vehicles Act - gave the federal government more money to tackle human trafficking.
- It was backed by both Republicans and Democrats and sailed through the House and Senate.
- 'Unless there is an overwhelming, compelling reason that our existing agencies in the federal government can't handle that problem, I vote no because voters in Northwest Florida did not send me to Washington to go and create more federal government,' he said at the time.
- He also hit headlines for wearing a gas mask on the House floor during the COVID pandemic and criticizing Democrats for banning guns in Congress.
- He has previously called for harsher criminal penalties for child sex offenders, with a 2014 Facebook post pushing for minimum 50-year mandatory minimum sentences for violent predators.
- Outside of DC, Gaetz is a frequent guest at Mar-a-Lago and even proposed to his now-fianc(C)e Luckey there in December.
- The couple met at an event at the club sometime earlier in 2020.
- Luckey works for a company called Apeel, that says it 'works with nature to reduce food waste and create abundance for all.'
- Rep. Matt Gaetz says he's had 'many conversations' with right-wing TV networks about a career after Congress amid sex trafficking and extortion scandal - but Fox says it has 'no interest in hiring him' Rep. Matt Gaetz has claimed he's had 'many conversations' with right-wing TV networks about a career after Congress as a scandal involving allegations of sex trafficking and an apparent extortion plot.
- The Florida lawmaker and close ally of Donald Trump told the Daily Beast Wednesday he had spoken with 'executives, producers or hosts' at all conservative TV stations including Newsmax, OAN, Fox, Fox Business and Real America's Voice.
- Fox News instantly denied the claims saying it had 'no interest in hiring him' and denying the congressman had spoken with anyone with authority on the matter.
- 'No one with any level of authority has had conversations with Matt Gaetz for any of our platforms and we have no interest in hiring him,' the outlet said.
- The network, which was a longtime favorite of Trump's before it fell out of favor when it was first to call Arizona for Joe Biden on election night, sought to distance itself from Gaetz after he appeared on Fox News' Tucker Carlson Tuesday night.
- In the bizarre interview he denied he had sex trafficked a 17-year-old girl and claimed he was the victim of an extortion plot by a former DOJ official, as he appeared to try to rope Carlson into the saga.
- Carlson later said the segment was 'one of the weirdest interviews I've ever conducted.'
- Just hours before the allegations of both sex trafficking and extortion surfaced, a report from Axios had revealed Gaetz was considering retiring from Congress and taking a media job at Newsmax.
- Gaetz had reportedly told friends he was considering not seeking re-election in 2022 and could even leave Congress before the end of his term as he was in early conversations about a job at the outlet.
- Gaetz told The Daily Beast Wednesday he had inquired with many networks about a possible foray into media including One America News Network and Fox News.
- Fox News instantly denied the claims saying it had 'no interest in hiring him' and denying the congressman had spoken with anyone with authority on the matter
- The Florida lawmaker and close ally of Donald Trump told the Daily Beast Wednesday he had spoken with 'executives, producers or hosts' at all conservative TV stations including Newsmax, OAN, Fox, Fox Business and Real America's Voice
- 'Yes. I've had many conversations with many people about life after Congress. These conversations have been very general in nature and have never included me soliciting or receiving an offer of employment,' he said.
- Gaetz claimed to have had discussions with every right-wing TV station about 'life after Congress.'
- 'There is not a single conservative television station I haven't had a passing conversation with about life after Congress. I have neither received nor solicited offers from any of them,' he said.
- 'But yes, I've talked to either executives, producers or hosts at Newsmax, OAN, Fox, Fox Business, Real America's Voice and probably others I'm forgetting in this moment as I focus intently on refuting false accusations against me.'
- OAN's founder and CEO Robert Herring confirmed to The Daily Beast that Gaetz had been inquiring about a gig on a conservative TV station but said he thinks the congressman should 'stay' in politics.
- 'Somebody did call me and say that Congressman Gaetz might be looking for a job, possibly at Newsmax,' he said.
- 'Right now, I'm not really hiring anybody for talk shows. I think he is a great congressman, and I told [that 'somebody'] to tell him to stay there.
- 'That's what I want Congressman Gaetz to do.'
- Herring did not say when he had received the call or who from.
- Two sources also told the Beast Gaetz had made it known to OAN that he was interested in a TV gig when paid a visit to the right-wing network's HQ in San Diego back in February for an interview with Dan Ball.
- But the sources offered different opinions over whether Gaetz's chances of bagging a job with the network are likely to be scuppered following the revelation of the DOJ probe.
- While one said he would 'probably not' be considered for a job at the network now, the other said the network could look past it, the Beast reported - instead painting Gaetz 'as a victim of the so-called deep state.'
- The network, which was a longtime favorite of Trump's before it fell out of favor when it was first to call Arizona for Joe Biden on election night, sought to distance itself from Gaetz after he appeared on Fox News' Tucker Carlson Tuesday night (above)
- Gaetz's future with Newsmax, the first outlet linked to a potential job offer for Gaetz, is unclear with several insiders telling the Beast they 'highly doubt' he could get a job in light of the scandal.
- A Newsmax spokesperson told the outlet: 'We don't comment on talent discussions or future programming plans.'
- Fox, meanwhile, took a tougher stance in trying to distance itself from the congressman.
- Gaetz regularly appears on the network reportedly racking up on average 90 minutes of screen time a month in the last year.
- He appeared on Carlson's show Tuesday night within hours of news of the DOJ sex trafficking probe surfacing where he tried to drag the host into the saga.
- Gaetz brought up a previous allegation of sexual misconduct against Carlson, which he has denied, saying he was 'not the only person on screen right now who's been falsely accused of a terrible sex act.'
- He then went on to suggest Carlson and his wife had met a woman involved in the allegations.
- When Carlson asked about his alleged sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl, Gaetz said such a person 'doesn't exist'.
- 'The person doesn't exist. I have not had a relationship with a 17-year-old. That is totally false,' he said.
- However, Gaetz then recalled a dinner with Carlson, his wife and 'a friend of mine' who he said has since been 'threatened' by authorities to 'cop to the fact that somehow I was involved in some pay for play scheme.'
- 'I can say that actually you and I went to dinner about two years ago, your wife was there and I brought a friend of mine, you will remember her,' he said.
- 'And she was actually threatened by the FBI, told that if she wouldn't cop to the fact that somehow I was involved in some pay for play scheme that she could face trouble and so I do believe that there are people at the Department of Justice who are trying to smear me.'
- Carlson said he didn't remember what Gaetz was talking about: 'I don't remember the women you're speaking of or the context at all honestly.'
- Following the segment, Carlson told his viewers: 'You just saw our Matt Gaetz interview. That was one of the weirdest interviews I've ever conducted.'
- A source familiar with the matter told CNN Wednesday Carlson was 'p**sed' off about the exchange which may have made him a witness in the DoJ investigation into sex trafficking.
- Florida State Attorney for Palm Beach County Dave Aronberg said on Morning Joe on Wednesday morning: 'He may have made Tucker Carlson a witness because on his show, he said 'Hey, you remember the woman I was with. She was overage.'
- These Text Message Receipts Led Feds to Rep. Matt Gaetz: Report
- Photo: Samuel Corum (Getty Images) Federal investigators began looking into Florida U.S. Representative Matt Gaetz following a mysterious after-hours visit to a Florida tax agency where a former local official was allegedly churning out fake IDs, the Daily Beast reports . Little did they know that was just the tip of the iceberg. Gaetz now faces a Justice Department probe into allegations of sex trafficking in a growing scandal that was outlined in a New York Times report this week.
- The congressman, who was a close ally of former President Donald Trump, purportedly attracted federal scrutiny during an investigation into the aforementioned official, Seminole County tax collector Joel Greenberg, for identity theft and stalking. Greenberg is also the subject of a Justice Department probe over a bevy of eyebrow-raising charges , including allegations that he and Gaetz recruited young women online, at least one of whom was 17 years old, and paid them for sex.
- A series of text messages referencing the clandestine visit and attempts to secure Gaetz an ID under the table eventually led Secret Service agents to the congressman, per the outlet. Three people with direct knowledge of the incident told the Daily Beast that Greenberg brought Gaetz to the Lake Mary, Florida branch of his tax collection agency on a weekend in April 2018. When an employee returned to the office on Monday, she was surprised to find drivers' licenses ''scattered all over the desk instead of in the appropriate disposal basket.'' Upon reviewing security camera footage and seeing that Greenberg and another man had stopped by the office after hours, she said she contacted her boss.
- The Daily Beast reviewed screenshots of the text message thread in which Greenberg confirms he had been ''showing congressman Gaetz what our operation looked like'' that weekend. A few months later, he reached out to an employee outside of proper channels and business hours to request a new ID card for the congressman without him having to jump through the typical legal hoops involved in the process, such as providing additional documentation for security purposes.
- ''Amy- is there anyway to assist one of our Congressmen in getting an emergency replacement ID or DL by Tuesday 2pm? His was lost yesterday and he's got a flight Tuesday. Doesn't have any other form of ID currently on him. Sorry to bother you on Sunday,'' Greenberg wrote in a screenshotted text reviewed by the outlet. He then confirmed that the requested ID was for the Florida representative, ''Matthew Louis Gaetz II'' born on May 7, 1982.
- G/O Media may get a commission
- A source told the Daily Beast that a full copy of these text message conversations was printed out from online At&T records and forwarded to the Secret Service and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement in January 2020. Another undisclosed federal agency also later received a copy.
- Greenberg resigned from his post in 2020 just one day after federal authorities charged him with his first indictment, which included allegations of harassing and stalking a political opponent. As authorities uncovered just how far this bizarre rabbit hole goes, his rap sheet has grown to include a whopping 33 charges, including wire fraud, misuse of driver's license information, aggravated assault, and human trafficking.
- And as horrible as those are, they aren't even the wildest charges. Greenburg is also accused of using $90,000 in taxpayer money to build a cryptocurrency mining rig in his personal office and embezzling $400,000 in government funds to buy and sell cryptocurrency.
- As for the congressman, authorities have been investigating Gaetz since last summer over alleged violations of federal sex trafficking laws, for which a conviction carries a 10-year mandatory minimum prison sentence, the New York Times reports . Sources told CNN this week that even before this investigation came to light, Gaetz gained a reputation on Capitol Hill for oversharing about his sexual escapades, which he purportedly bragged about frequently and even shared photos and videos with other lawmakers of nude women he claimed to have slept with.
- Gaetz, for his part, has vehemently denied the sex trafficking allegations and claims he's being targeted as part of some elaborate extortion scheme. On Friday, his communications director abruptly stepped down in the face of mounting pressure amid the scandal. However, Gaetz apparently doesn't intend to go down without a fight, and has since confirmed he does not plan to resign, the Wall Street Journal reports.
- Big Tech
- Supreme Court's pro-Facebook ruling could unleash ''flood'' of robocalls | Ars Technica
- When autodialers aren't autodialers '-- Robocall systems aren't "autodialers" if they don't generate random numbers. Jon Brodkin - Apr 1, 2021 8:29 pm UTC
- A Supreme Court ruling today in favor of Facebook limits the reach of a 1991 US law that bans certain kinds of robocalls and texts. The court found that the anti-robocall law only applies to systems that have the ability to generate random or sequential phone numbers. Systems that lack that capability are thus not considered autodialers under the law, even if they can store numbers and send calls and texts automatically.
- Advocates say the ruling will make it harder to block automated calls and texts, potentially unleashing a "flood" of new robocalls.
- The ruling "nullifies one of the most important protections against unwanted robocalls: the Telephone Consumer Protection Act's (TCPA) prohibition against autodialed calls and texts to cellphones without the called party's consent," said the National Consumer Law Center (NCLC), which had filed a brief in the case.
- "Companies will use autodialers that are not covered by the Supreme Court's narrow definition to flood our cellphones with even more unwanted robocalls and automated texts," said Margot Saunders, the group's senior counsel. The court ruling "interpreted the statute's definition of autodialer so narrowly that it applies to few or none of the autodialers in use today," the NCLC also said.
- Facebook system not an autodialerThe Facebook case was decided over a question of grammar, as the court had to decide exactly what Congress meant in a key section of the TCPA. The law imposes restrictions on calls made with an "automatic telephone dialing system" and defines that term as "equipment which has the capacity'--(A) to store or produce telephone numbers to be called, using a random or sequential number generator; and (B) to dial such numbers."
- What that sentence means was at the heart of the case that Noah Duguid filed against Facebook. Today's court decision recounted how the case began:
- In 2014, respondent Noah Duguid received several login-notification text messages from Facebook, alerting him that someone had attempted to access the Facebook account associated with his phone number from an unknown browser. But Duguid has never had a Facebook account and never gave Facebook his phone number. Unable to stop the notifications, Duguid brought a putative class action against Facebook. He alleged that Facebook violated the TCPA by maintaining a database that stored phone numbers and programming its equipment to send automated text messages to those numbers each time the associated account was accessed by an unrecognized device or web browser.
- Facebook countered "that Duguid failed to allege that Facebook used an autodialer because he did not claim Facebook sent text messages to numbers that were randomly or sequentially generated. Rather, Facebook argued, Duguid alleged that Facebook sent targeted, individualized texts to numbers linked to specific accounts," today's ruling said.
- Advertisement In 2017, the US District Court for the Northern District of California agreed with Facebook and dismissed Duguid's case. But the US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit reversed that ruling, holding that a system can be an autodialer even if it doesn't use a random or sequential generator to store numbers, as long as it has the ability to "store numbers to be called" and "to dial such numbers automatically."
- The Supreme Court decided to hear the case, noting that another circuit appeals court had ruled differently than the 9th Circuit, creating a conflict among the courts of appeals over whether an autodialer must be able to generate random or sequential phone numbers. Today, the Supreme Court reversed the 9th Circuit judgment.
- The opinion for the court written by Justice Sonia Sotomayor said:
- The question before the Court is whether that definition encompasses equipment that can "store" and dial telephone numbers, even if the device does not "us[e] a random or sequential number generator." It does not. To qualify as an "automatic telephone dialing system," a device must have the capacity either to store a telephone number using a random or sequential generator or to produce a telephone number using a random or sequential number generator.
- Facebook's notification system is not an autodialer because it "neither stores nor produces numbers 'using a random or sequential number generator,'" the court found. All nine justices agreed with the ruling, though Justice Samuel Alito filed an opinion questioning some of the court's reasoning while concurring in the judgment.
- Justice explains grammar rulesSotomayor's opinion explained the question of grammar upon which the case turned:
- We begin with the text. Congress defined an autodialer in terms of what it must do ("store or produce telephone numbers to be called") and how it must do it ("using a random or sequential number generator"). The definition uses a familiar structure: a list of verbs followed by a modifying clause. Under conventional rules of grammar, "[w]hen there is a straightforward, parallel construction that involves all nouns or verbs in a series," a modifier at the end of the list "normally applies to the entire series." The Court often applies this interpretative rule, usually referred to as the "series-qualifier canon." This canon generally reflects the most natural reading of a sentence. Imagine if a teacher announced that "students must not complete or check any homework to be turned in for a grade, using online homework-help websites." It would be strange to read that rule as prohibiting students from completing homework altogether, with or without online support.
- With the robocall law, "the series-qualifier canon recommends qualifying both antecedent verbs, 'store' and 'produce,' with the phrase 'using a random or sequential number generator,'" Sotomayor wrote. This grammatical interpretation is "the most natural construction" and is supported by other text in the law, the justices found.
- Advertisement "The statutory context confirms that the TCPA's autodialer definition excludes equipment that does not use a random or sequential number generator," the opinion said. "Congress found autodialer technology harmful because autodialers can dial emergency lines randomly or tie up all of the sequentially numbered phone lines at a single entity. Facebook's interpretation of [the TCPA] better matches the scope of the TCPA to these specific concerns. Duguid's interpretation, on the other hand, would encompass any equipment that stores and dials telephone numbers."
- The court also said, "It would make little sense... to classify as autodialers all equipment with the capacity to store and dial telephone numbers, including virtually all modern cell phones."
- Congress might act as ruling sparks outrageUS Sen. Edward Markey (D-Mass.), one of the TCPA's authors in 1991, and Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) issued a joint statement calling the ruling "disastrous."
- "Today, the Supreme Court tossed aside years of precedent, clear legislative history, and essential consumer protection to issue a ruling that is disastrous for everyone who has a mobile phone in the United States," the lawmakers said. "It was clear when the TCPA was introduced that Congress wanted to ban dialing from a database. By narrowing the scope of the TCPA, the court is allowing companies the ability to assault the public with a non-stop wave of unwanted calls and texts, around the clock."
- Markey and Eshoo said they "plan to soon introduce legislation to amend the TCPA, fix the court's error, and protect consumers."
- Consumer Reports urged Congress to act quickly. "Resting on a strained reading of the punctuation in the definition of 'autodialer,' the court ruled that the technology involved, which Facebook was using to send automated texts to its users, falls through the cracks of the definition," Consumer Reports said. "As a result, prior consent is not required for unleashing a potentially unlimited number of calls and texts using this technology, and there is no enforceable way for a consumer to stop them."
- 'Cash Me Outside' Girl Claims To Have Broken OnlyFans Record, Making $1 Million In 6 Hours | The Daily Wire
- American rapper and internet personality, Bhad Bhabie '-- whose real name is Danielle Bregoli '-- is best known as the ''Cash Me Outside'' girl who famously appeared on '' Dr. Phil '' and then proceeded to threaten the audience whom she referred to as ''hoes.''
- Since her appearance on ''Dr. Phil'' in September 2016, Bregoli's rise to cultural prominence has only continued . According to a TikTok video she posted, she recently made more than $1 million in just six hours after she launched her OnlyFans account.
- '' Bhabie '-- a.k.a. the 'Cash Me Outside' girl, whose real name is Danielle Bregoli '-- posted a video on TikTok of what appears to be her revenue: $1,092,762.63. The video is set to Fat Joe and Remy Ma's 'All the Way Up,''' reported the New York Post .
- In an Instagram post to her 17.1 million followers, Bregoli wrote ''not bad for 6 hours,'' and ''we broke the f*** out of that onlyfans record.'' Included was a screenshot, apparently of her OnlyFans account finances, showing an income for ''subscriptions'' of $757,526.08, ''tips'' of $5,502.35, and ''messages'' of $267,675, amounting to a total of $1,030,703.43.
- '' An insider also says the rapper's account is on path to generate more than $5 million in gross revenue in 24 hours,'' according to the New York Post.
- This ''record'' was previously held by Bella Thorne, who earned $1 million in 24 hours last year.
- OnlyFans is a London-based content subscription service that allows ''content creators'' to earn money from subscribers, known as ''fans.'' Creators are able to receive funds on a monthly basis, as well as from other income streams such as ''tips'' or ''pay-per-view'' features. The app is popular with ''sex workers,'' but is also home to other forms of content creators, such as fitness instructors and musicians.
- According to OnlyFans, 80% of fees are distributed to the content creator, with the company retaining the remaining 20%. After various costs, the company's share is approximately 12%, which would mean that Bregoli brought in over $123,000 for the company in just six hours.
- This is not the first time in recent days that Bergoli has made headlines. Just a few weeks ago, Bregoli leveled allegations of abuse against Turn-About Ranch, '' a self-described therapeutic boarding school for troubled teens.''
- ''After her mother had her taken to the ranch on the suggestion of TV personality Phil McGraw, [ Bhabie] said that ranch employees forced her to stay awake during her first three days there,'' Newsweek reported.
- ''You have to sit there for three days,'' Bregoli said. ''They wouldn't let me lay down for nothing. Like, I was falling asleep and they're like, 'Oh, get up, get up.' So I'm just sitting here like, 'This is gonna be really bad,' when I see these people have no sympathy.''
- According to Newsweek, Bhabie ''also claimed to have been present at the ranch on December 6, 2016, when a teen beat 61-year-old staffer Jimmy Woolsey to death with a metal bar. She said kids at the ranch who heard about Woolsey's death felt 'traumatized.'''
- The Daily Wire is one of America's fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a member .
- Green New Deal
- About: Brand | U.S. Green Building Council
- At USGBC we're committed to transforming buildings, because we believe that every person deserves a better, more sustainable life.
- We're committed to transforming how our buildings are designed, constructed and operated through LEED, because we believe that every person deserves a better, more sustainable life.
- Our vision is that buildings and communities will regenerate and sustain the health and vitality of all life within a generation. Our mission is to transform the way buildings and communities are designed, built and operated, enabling an environmentally and socially responsible, healthy, and prosperous environment that improves the quality of life.
- Today people know that if they are in a LEED-certified building they are using less energy and water, avoiding waste, saving on maintenance costs, improving indoor air quality, offering comfort to their occupants, and creating less environmental burden on their community. They also know that they are in a building that enhances health and wellness. Now green building has grown into a trillion-dollar industry, and LEED has become the most widely used green building program in the world. View our 2017-19 Strategic Plan.
- Our goal is green building for everyone.
- In April 1993, Rick Fedrizzi, David Gottfried and Mike Italiano convened representatives from 60 firms and several nonprofits in the American Institute of Architects' boardroom for the founding meeting. It was then that ideas were shared for an open and balanced coalition spanning the entire building industry and for a green building rating system, which would later become LEED.
- The early yearsThe 1990s saw a growing realization of the need to optimize these systems'--with people and nature in mind'--to create better buildings.
- LEED's development grew from the formation of USGBC in 1993 by three individuals: David Gottfried, Mike Italiano and Rick Fedrizzi, who served as president, CEO and founding chair of the organization.
- LEED v1.0By 1998, USGBC had successfully developed LEED 1.0, and it began pilot testing 19 projects.
- Following the success of the pilot program, LEED for New Construction saw a public launch in March 2000.
- LEED v2.0 and GreenbuildIn March 2001, drawing on lessons learned from the pilot program, USGBC launched LEED 2.0.
- Furthering its movement into new market sectors, USGBC saw the first elementary school achieve LEED Gold, Third Creek Elementary in Statesville, N.C., in November 2002. Meanwhile, as a reflection of the excitement and demand within the green building industry, USGBC hosted the first-ever Greenbuild International Conference and Expo that same month in Austin, Texas, with approximately 4,000 attendees.
- A green building explosion2003 saw a number of significant developments for LEED. USGBC had grown and matured from its start as a fledgling non-profit, gathering strength, staff and resources, and it had launched LEED v2.1 the previous year. In April, LEED for Existing Buildings and LEED for Commercial Interiors both began pilot testing, while in October, LEED for Core and Shell launched. In November, the National Geographic Society building in Washington, D.C, became the first LEED-certified existing building.
- In April 2004, LEED reached a significant milestone: 100 certified projects.
- LEED v2009USGBC launched LEED v2009 in April 2009. Among the many improvements over its predecessor, LEED v2.2, LEED v2009 introduced weightings for credits based on the Environmental Protection Agency's TRACI (Tool for the Reduction and Assessment of Chemical and Other Environmental Impacts) and weightings developed by the National Institute of Standards. This advancement made LEED much more rigorous and indicated which credits were most important. For the first time there was objective scientific intentions behind the assigned credit values.
- That same year, USGBC moved into its new headquarters at 2101 L St. NW, a Platinum-certified LEED for Commercial Interiors space, the first project to certify under LEED v2009 and a showcase of sustainable interior design. In 2010, GBCI certified the 5000th LEED project.
- LEED v4LEED v4 came in 2015 with a lot of new improvements over the previous systems, including increased flexibility, a performance-based, smart grid approach, an emphasis on materials and resources, a comprehensive approach to water, and streamlined documentation. LEED v4 continued to raise the bar for green buildings.
- LEED v4.1 and a new Living StandardLEED v4.1 is for all '' it is more inclusive with updated referenced standards and allows projects to earn LEED points through building performance monitoring. It also continues to drive performance, fully integrating performance outcomes supported by new methodologies and a simple data-driven path to measure performance on an ongoing basis. Lessons learned from those using LEED have led us to take a deeper look at existing buildings, residential projects and cities to develop solutions that address unique markets.
- Living Standard is about connecting green buildings and LEED, and connecting our products to people. Through this campaign, we aim to listen to our communities, share their stories, and build a vision for a more sustainable future for all by making visible the tangible and positive impacts that green buildings and green communities have on our lives.
- USGBC created LEED to measure and define what green building meant, and to provide a roadmap for developing sustainable buildings. With LEED, we established a baseline'--a universally agreed upon holistic system for reducing environmental impact.
- Our team is made up of experts who work to bring LEED and green building to you.
- Staff & industry leaders advance LEED
- Executive staffOur in-house experts and leadership staff are vital to ensuring LEED's success today and tomorrow.
- Mahesh Ramanujam, President and CEO
- Sarah Alexander, Senior Vice PresidentMelissa Baker, Senior Vice PresidentKim Heavner, Vice PresidentTaryn Holowka, Senior Vice PresidentEnterprise operations
- Susan Dorn, General CounselJennifer Druliner, Vice PresidentAshley Fowler, Vice PresidentSarah Karle, Vice PresidentRoger Limoges, Senior Vice PresidentSarah Merricks, Chief of StaffMarket transformation & development
- Roger Platt, Senior Vice PresidentBoard of DirectorsThe USGBC Board of Directors is comprised of seven elected directors, one appointed director and the CEO, who serves as ex-officio and is a non-voting member. They meet in person several times a year and regularly by teleconference. To contact the board, email board@usgbc.org.
- Chair: Aaron Bernstein; Associate Director, Center for Health and the Global Environment, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public HealthVice Chair: Lakisha Ann Woods; President & CEO, National Institute of Building SciencesSecretary/Treasurer: Karen Weigert; Vice President, Business Strategy and Regional Operations, SlipstreamAnyeley Hallov, Founder, AdreDaniel McQuade, Managing Director, Global Infrastructure SolutionsMahesh Ramanujam, Ex-officio; President and CEO, U.S. Green Building CouncilRuth Thomas-Squance, Director of Field Building, Build Healthy Places NetworkMarwa Zaatari, Ph.D., Chief Science Officer at Dzine Partners. Co-Chair of enVerid Systems Advisory BoardReview board minutes
- For more than 25 years, the USGBC community has come together with our members to make our planet greener and more sustainable.
- WinRed
- How Trump Steered Supporters Into Unwitting Donations - The New York Times
- Online donors were guided into weekly recurring contributions. Demands for refunds spiked. Complaints to banks and credit card companies soared. But the money helped keep Donald Trump's struggling campaign afloat.
- Recurring donations swelled former President Donald J. Trump's campaign coffers in September and October, just as his operation's finances were deteriorating. Credit... Doug Mills/The New York Times April 3, 2021
- Stacy Blatt was in hospice care last September listening to Rush Limbaugh's dire warnings about how badly Donald J. Trump's campaign needed money when he went online and chipped in everything he could: $500.
- It was a big sum for a 63-year-old battling cancer and living in Kansas City on less than $1,000 per month. But that single contribution '-- federal records show it was his first ever '-- quickly multiplied. Another $500 was withdrawn the next day, then $500 the next week and every week through mid-October, without his knowledge '-- until Mr. Blatt's bank account had been depleted and frozen. When his utility and rent payments bounced, he called his brother, Russell, for help.
- What the Blatts soon discovered was $3,000 in withdrawals by the Trump campaign in less than 30 days. They called their bank and said they thought they were victims of fraud.
- ''It felt,'' Russell said, ''like it was a scam.''
- But what the Blatts believed was duplicity was actually an intentional scheme to boost revenues by the Trump campaign and the for-profit company that processed its online donations, WinRed. Facing a cash crunch and getting badly outspent by the Democrats, the campaign had begun last September to set up recurring donations by default for online donors, for every week until the election.
- Contributors had to wade through a fine-print disclaimer and manually uncheck a box to opt out.
- As the election neared, the Trump team made that disclaimer increasingly opaque, an investigation by The New York Times showed. It introduced a second prechecked box, known internally as a ''money bomb,'' that doubled a person's contribution. Eventually its solicitations featured lines of text in bold and capital letters that overwhelmed the opt-out language.
- The tactic ensnared scores of unsuspecting Trump loyalists '-- retirees, military veterans, nurses and even experienced political operatives. Soon, banks and credit card companies were inundated with fraud complaints from the president's own supporters about donations they had not intended to make, sometimes for thousands of dollars.
- ''Bandits!'' said Victor Amelino, a 78-year-old Californian, who made a $990 online donation to Mr. Trump in early September via WinRed. It recurred seven more times '-- adding up to almost $8,000. ''I'm retired. I can't afford to pay all that damn money.''
- The sheer magnitude of the money involved is staggering for politics. In the final two and a half months of 2020, the Trump campaign, the Republican National Committee and their shared accounts issued more than 530,000 refunds worth $64.3 million to online donors. All campaigns make refunds for various reasons, including to people who give more than the legal limit. But the sum the Trump operation refunded dwarfed that of Joseph R. Biden Jr.'s campaign and his equivalent Democratic committees, which made 37,000 online refunds totaling $5.6 million in that time.
- The recurring donations swelled Mr. Trump's treasury in September and October, just as his finances were deteriorating. He was then able to use tens of millions of dollars he raised after the election, under the guise of fighting his unfounded fraud claims, to help cover the refunds he owed.
- In effect, the money that Mr. Trump eventually had to refund amounted to an interest-free loan from unwitting supporters at the most important juncture of the 2020 race.
- Image Russell Blatt's brother, Stacy, who was a supporter of Mr. Trump, died of cancer in February. Credit... Katie Currid for The New York Times Marketers have long used ruses like prechecked boxes to steer American consumers into unwanted purchases, like magazine subscriptions. But consumer advocates said deploying the practice on voters in the heat of a presidential campaign '-- at such volume and with withdrawals every week '-- had much more serious ramifications.
- ''It's unfair, it's unethical and it's inappropriate,'' said Ira Rheingold, the executive director of the National Association of Consumer Advocates.
- Harry Brignull, a user-experience designer in London who coined the term ''dark patterns'' for manipulative digital marketing practices, said the Trump team's techniques were a classic of the ''deceptive design'' genre.
- ''It should be in textbooks of what you shouldn't do,'' he said.
- Political strategists, digital operatives and campaign finance experts said they could not recall ever seeing refunds at such a scale. Mr. Trump, the R.N.C. and their shared accounts refunded far more money to online donors in the last election cycle than every federal Democratic candidate and committee in the country combined.
- Over all, the Trump operation refunded 10.7 percent of the money it raised on WinRed in 2020; the Biden operation's refund rate on ActBlue, the parallel Democratic online donation-processing platform, was 2.2 percent, federal records show.
- By September, the Trump operation began to have online donations recur weekly by default.
- By June, the Trump operation and the R.N.C. had added a second pre-filled check box.
- Around March 2020, the pre-filled check box first appeared on Mr. Trump's online donation form.
- Total online refunds in 2020, in millions
- By September, the Trump operation began to have online donations recur weekly by default.
- By June, the Trump operation and the R.N.C. had added a second pre-filled check box.
- Around March 2020, the pre-filled check box first appeared on Mr. Trump's online donation form.
- Total online refunds in 2020, in millions
- By June, the Trump operation and the R.N.C. had added a second pre-filled check box.
- Total online refunds in 2020, in millions
- Total online refunds in 2020,
- Several bank representatives who fielded fraud claims directly from consumers estimated that WinRed cases, at their peak, represented as much as 1 to 3 percent of their workload. An executive for one of the nation's larger credit-card issuers confirmed that WinRed at its height accounted for a similar percentage of its formal disputes.
- That figure may seem small at first glance, but financial experts said it was a shockingly large percentage, considering that political donations represent a tiny fraction of the overall United States economy.
- In its investigation, The Times reviewed filings with the Federal Election Commission from the Trump and Biden campaigns and their shared accounts with political parties, as well as the donation-processing sites ActBlue and WinRed, compiling a database of refunds issued by day. The Times also interviewed two dozen Trump donors who made recurring donations, as well as campaign officials, campaign finance experts and consumer advocates. Nearly a dozen bank and credit card officials from the nation's leading financial institutions spoke for this article on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal matters.
- A clear pattern emerged. Donors typically said they intended to give once or twice and only later discovered on their bank statements and credit card bills that they were donating over and over again. Some, like Mr. Blatt, who died of cancer in February, sought an injunction from their banks and credit cards. Others pursued refunds directly from WinRed, which typically granted them to avoid more costly formal disputes.
- WinRed said that every donor receives at least one follow-up email about pending repeat donations in advance and that the company makes it ''exceptionally easy,'' with 24-hour customer service, for people to request their money back. ''WinRed wants donors to be happy, and puts a premium on customer support,'' said Gerrit Lansing, WinRed's president. ''Donors are the lifeblood of G.O.P. campaigns.'' He noted that Democrats and ActBlue had also used recurring programs.
- Jason Miller, a spokesman for Mr. Trump, downplayed the rash of fraud complaints and the $122.7 million in total refunds issued by the Trump operation. He said internal records showed that 0.87 percent of its WinRed transactions had been subject to formal credit card disputes. ''The fact we had a dispute rate of less than 1 percent of total donations despite raising more grass-roots money than any campaign in history is remarkable,'' he said.
- That still amounts to about 200,000 disputed transactions that Mr. Miller said added up to $19.7 million.
- ''Our campaign was built by the hardworking men and women of America,'' Mr. Miller said, ''and cherishing their investments was paramount to anything else we did.''
- Asked if Mr. Trump had been aware of his operation's use of recurring payments, the campaign did not respond.
- Mr. Trump's hyperaggressive fund-raising practices did not stop once he lost the election. His campaign continued the weekly withdrawals through prechecked boxes all the way through Dec. 14 as he raised tens of millions of dollars for his new political action committee, Save America.
- In March, Mr. Trump urged his followers to send their money to him '-- and not to the traditional party apparatus '-- making plain that he intends to remain the gravitational center of Republican fund-raising online.
- A small yellow box and a flood of fraud complaintsThe small and bright yellow box popped up on Mr. Trump's digital donation portal around March 2020. The text was boldface, simple and straightforward: ''Make this a monthly recurring donation.''
- The box came prefilled with a check mark.
- Even that was more aggressive than what the Biden campaign would do in 2020. Biden officials said they rarely used prechecked boxes to automatically have donations recur monthly or weekly; the exception was on landing pages where advertisements and emails had explicitly asked supporters to become repeat donors.
- But for Mr. Trump, the prechecked monthly box was just the beginning.
- By June, the campaign and the R.N.C. were experimenting with a second prechecked box, to default donors into making an additional contribution '-- called the money bomb. An early test arrived in the run-up to Mr. Trump's birthday, June 14. The results were tantalizing: That date, a seemingly random Sunday, became the biggest day for online donations in the campaign's history.
- Ronna McDaniel, the R.N.C. chairwoman, crowed to Fox News about the achievement without mentioning how exactly the party had pulled it off. ''Republicans are thinking smarter digitally,'' she said, and were poised to ''outwork, outdo, and outmaneuver the Democrats at every turn.''
- The two prechecked yellow boxes would be a fixture for the rest of the campaign. And so would a much larger volume of refunds.
- Until then, the Biden and Trump operations had nearly identical refund rates on WinRed and ActBlue in 2020: 2.18 percent for Mr. Trump and 2.17 percent for Mr. Biden.
- But from the day after Mr. Trump's birthday through the rest of the year, Mr. Biden's refund rate remained nearly flat, at 2.24 percent, while Mr. Trump's soared to 12.29 percent.
- In early September '-- just after learning that it had been outraised by the Biden operation in August by more than $150 million '-- the Trump campaign became even more aggressive.
- It changed the language in the first yellow box to withdraw recurring donations every week instead of every month. Suddenly, some contributors were unwittingly making as many as half a dozen donations in 30 days: the intended contribution, the ''money bomb'' and four more weekly withdrawals.
- ''You don't realize it until after everything is already in motion,'' said Bruce Turner, 72, of Gilbert, Ariz., whose wife's $1,000 donation in early October became $6,000 by Election Day. They were refunded $5,000 the week after the election, records show.
- Around the same time, officials who fielded fraud claims at bank and credit card companies noticed a surge in complaints against the Trump campaign and WinRed.
- ''It started to go absolutely wild,'' said one fraud investigator with Wells Fargo. ''It just became a pattern,'' said another at Capital One. A consumer representative for USAA, which primarily serves military families, recalled an older veteran who discovered repeated WinRed charges from donating to Mr. Trump only after calling to have his balance read to him by phone.
- The unintended payments busted credit card limits. Some donors canceled their cards to avoid recurring payments. Others paid overdraft fees to their bank.
- All the banking officials said they recalled only a negligible number of complaints against ActBlue, the Democratic donation platform, although there are online review sites that feature heated complaints about unwanted charges and customer service.
- The Trump operation was not done modifying the yellow boxes. Soon, the fact that donations would be withdrawn weekly was taken out of boldface type, according to archived versions of the president's website, and moved beneath other bold text.
- As the campaign's financial problems became increasingly acute, the yellow boxes became dizzyingly more complex.
- By October there were sometimes nine lines of boldface text '-- with ALL-CAPS words sprinkled in '-- before the disclosure that there would be weekly withdrawals. As many as eight more lines of boldface text came before the second additional donation disclaimer.
- Even political professionals fell prey to the boxes.
- Jeff Kropf, the executive director of the Oregon Capitol Watch Foundation, a conservative group, said he had been ''very careful'' to uncheck recurring boxes '-- yet he missed the ''money bomb'' and got a second charge anyway.
- ''Until WinRed fixes their sneaky way of adding additional contributions to credit cards like they did to me, I won't use them again,'' he said.
- Mr. Brignull, the user-experience designer who also serves as an expert witness in legal cases involving misleading advertising, noted that a Consumer Rights Directive in Europe prohibits companies from deploying a defaulted opt-in tactic for recurring payments.
- ''It is very easy for the eye to skip over,'' he said. ''The only really meaningful information in that box is buried.''
- Image Banks and credit card companies were inundated with fraud complaints last fall from the president's supporters about donations they had not intended to make. Credit... Doug Mills/The New York Times The 'Gary and Gerrit' operationBy last summer, the Biden campaign had begun outraising Mr. Trump's team, and the president was hopping mad. For months, years even, his advisers had been telling him how he had built a one-of-a-kind financial juggernaut. So why, Mr. Trump demanded to know, was he off the television airwaves just months before the election in critical battleground states like Michigan?
- ''Where did all the money go?'' he would lash out, according to two senior advisers.
- Inside the Trump re-election headquarters in Northern Virginia, the pressure was building to wring ever more money out of his supporters.
- Perhaps nowhere was that pressure more acute than on Mr. Trump's expansive and lucrative digital operation. That was the unquestioned domain of Gary Coby, a 30-something strategist whose title '-- digital director '-- and microscopic public profile belied his immense influence on the Trump operation, especially online.
- A veteran of the R.N.C. and the 2016 race, Mr. Coby had the confidence, trust and respect of Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law, who unofficially oversaw the 2020 campaign, according to people familiar with the campaign's operations. Mr. Kushner and the rest of the campaign leadership gave Mr. Coby, whose talents are recognized across the Republican digital industry, wide latitude to raise money however he saw fit.
- That meant almost endless optimization and experimentation, sometimes pushing the traditional boundaries. The Trump team repeatedly used phantom donation matches and faux deadlines to loosen donor wallets (''1000% offer: ACTIVATED'...For the NEXT HOUR''). Eventually it ratcheted up the volume of emails it sent until it was barraging supporters with an average of 15 per day for all of October and November 2020.
- Mr. Coby, who declined an interview request for this article, outlined his philosophical approach when offering advice to other ambitious young strategists after he was named to the American Association of Political Consultants' ''40 under 40'' list in 2017: ''Asking for forgiveness is easier than permission.''
- Mr. Coby's partner in fund-raising was Mr. Lansing, the president of WinRed, which had been created in 2019 as a centralized platform for G.O.P. digital contributions after prominent Republicans feared they were falling irreparably behind Democrats and ActBlue.
- The Trump and WinRed operations had been closely aligned since the platform's inception '-- Mr. Trump reportedly helped come up with the firm's name '-- and the president's re-election operation amounted to a majority of all of WinRed's business last cycle, when it processed more than $2 billion.
- Inside the Trump orbit, ''Gary and Gerrit'' became something of a shorthand term for Mr. Coby and Mr. Lansing, according to multiple senior Trump campaign and White House officials.
- The two strategists were already well acquainted: They had worked together at the R.N.C. in 2016, when Mr. Lansing oversaw its digital operations and Mr. Coby was the director of advertising. And they were business partners in Opn Sesame, a text messaging platform, which Mr. Lansing co-founded and served as chief operating officer for; WinRed said he stepped away from its day-to-day operations in early 2019.
- Top Trump officials said they did not know specifically who had conceived of using the weekly recurring prechecked boxes '-- or who had designed them in the increasingly complex blizzard of text. But they said virtually all online fund-raising decisions were a ''Gary and Gerrit'' production.
- ''The campaigns determine their own fund-raising strategies and make their own decisions on how to use these tools,'' Mr. Lansing said in WinRed's statement.
- Unlike ActBlue, which is a nonprofit, WinRed is a for-profit company. It makes its money by taking 30 cents of every donation, plus 3.8 percent of the amount given. WinRed was paid more than $118 million from federal committees the last election cycle; even after paying credit card fees and expenses like payroll and rent, the profits are believed to be significant.
- WinRed even made money off donations that were refunded by keeping the fees it charged on each transaction, a practice it said was standard in the industry, citing PayPal; ActBlue said it does not keep fees for refunded donations. WinRed's cut of the Trump operation's refunds would amount to roughly $5 million before expenses. (Archived versions of WinRed's website show it added a disclaimer saying it would keep its fees around when refunds surged.)
- There is another reason Mr. Trump's refund rates were so high: His campaign accepted millions of dollars above the legal cap, a problem exacerbated by recurring donations. A pianist in New York, for instance, contributed more than 100 times in the months leading up to Election Day, going far past the legal limit of $2,800. She was refunded $87,716.50 '-- three weeks after Election Day.
- While every large-scale campaign winds up accepting and returning some donations above the legal limit, including Mr. Biden's, the Trump situation stands out. Records show that Mr. Biden's campaign committee issued roughly $47,000 in refunds larger than $5,000 after Election Day; Mr. Trump's campaign issued more than $7 million.
- Trump officials attributed the excessive donations to enthusiastic supporters and said the surge in postelection complaints was a result of losing the election, not of the recurring donation tactics.
- The use of prechecked boxes is not unprecedented in politics, and WinRed said it was simply adopting tactics that ActBlue put in place years ago. ActBlue said in a statement that it had begun to phase out prechecked recurring boxes ''unless groups were explicitly asking for recurring contributions.'' Some prominent Democratic groups, including both congressional campaign committees, continue to precheck recurring boxes regardless of that guidance. Still, Democratic refund rates were only a small fraction of the Trump campaign's last year.
- Republicans widely hailed WinRed as one of the standout successes of the 2020 cycle, and in a memo last October the company declared itself the ''trusted, recognizable platform'' for Republican giving. ''Scam PACs, shady operators and outright fraud is unfortunately a common occurrence in the online political donation world '-- particularly on the right,'' the memo stated. ''WinRed helps civilize the Wild West of the G.O.P. donation ecosystem.''
- But for some Trump supporters like Ron Wilson, WinRed is a scam artist. Mr. Wilson, an 87-year-old retiree in Illinois, made a series of small contributions last fall that he thought would add up to about $200; by December, federal records show, WinRed and Mr. Trump's committees had withdrawn more than 70 separate donations from Mr. Wilson worth roughly $2,300.
- ''Predatory!'' Mr. Wilson said of WinRed. Like multiple other donors interviewed, though, he held Mr. Trump himself blameless, telling The Times, ''I'm 100 percent loyal to Donald Trump.''
- Trump was just the beginningAll told, the Trump and party operation raised $1.2 billion on WinRed, and refunded roughly 10 percent of it.
- Whatever blowback it received, WinRed was not deterred. Soon after the November election ended, the two Republican Senate incumbents in Georgia, David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, deployed prechecked weekly recurring boxes in advance of their January runoffs.
- Predictably, refund rates spiked.
- Keith Millhouse, a transportation consultant in California, intended to donate once to Mr. Perdue, with the aim of keeping Republicans in control of the Senate. He wound up a recurring contributor and called the practice ''repugnant'' and ''deceptive.''
- ''I'm busy like a lot of other people during this Covid era and I just wanted to get in, make a donation, get done and move on to what I needed to do next,'' he said. ''I thought I had done that. Then I find out that, you know, I'm getting these other charges.''
- Image Keith Millhouse wanted to make one donation to David Perdue, the Georgia Senate candidate, but unwittingly made an extra donation. Credit... Jessica Pons for The New York Times He canceled the repeating charge when he saw the reminder email. But by then WinRed had already processed his second $100 ''bonus'' contribution. He figured it was not worth the hassle to protest. ''Don't try to sucker it out of me,'' he said.
- In the final 2020 reporting period, from Nov. 24 through the end of the year, Mr. Perdue and Ms. Loeffler refunded $4.8 million to WinRed donors '-- more than triple the amount refunded by their Democratic rivals via ActBlue, even though the Democrats had raised far more money online. The refunds have stretched into 2021 and have been a source of frustration for the Loeffler campaign, according to a person familiar with the matter.
- Now WinRed is exporting the tools it pioneered during the Trump re-election across the Republican Party, presaging a new normal for G.O.P. campaigns.
- Today, the websites of various Republican Party committees and top congressional Republicans, including Representative Kevin McCarthy, the House minority leader, and Senator Mitch McConnell, the Senate minority leader, include prechecked yellow boxes for multiple or recurring donations.
- And after Mr. Trump's first public speech of his post-presidency at the end of February, his new political operation sent its first text message to supporters since he left the White House. ''Did you miss me?'' he asked.
- The message directed supporters to a WinRed donation page with two prechecked yellow boxes. Mr. Trump raised $3 million that day, according to an adviser, with more to come from the recurring donations in the months ahead.
- Rachel Shorey contributed reporting and Kitty Bennett contributed research.
- Build Back Better
- Biden Pitches $400B Plan to Expand Medicaid Coverage of Home-Based Care Options - Skilled Nursing News
- President Biden on Wednesday proposed a $400 billion plan designed to significantly bolster Medicaid coverage of long-term care outside of institutional settings, marking the first concrete step toward achieving a central campaign promise to support caregivers and expand access to home-based care.
- Pitched as part of a $2 trillion infrastructure package dubbed ''the American Jobs Plan,'' the $400 billion would go toward providing wider access to home- and community-based services (HCBS), while also bolstering the largely underpaid frontline caregiving workforce.
- ''President Biden believes more people should have the opportunity to receive care at home, in a supportive community, or from a loved one,'' the White House observed in a fact sheet describing the plan, which he called on Congress to pass.
- The description was short on specifics, but the president pledged to extend the Money Follows the Person (MFP) program, which encourages states to develop Medicaid-covered alternatives to nursing homes and other institutional long-term care settings; resident advocates have routinely criticized state Medicaid structures that prioritize nursing home care at the potential expense of HCBS options.
- The Biden administration additionally pledged to create an ''infrastructure'' under which caregiving jobs pay higher wages, specifically pointing to statistics showing that one in six caregivers live in poverty and criticizing the average $12 per hour pay rate for home care workers.
- The encouragement of union membership among care workers serves as a key plank of the president's plan.
- ''These investments will help hundreds of thousands of Americans finally obtain the long-term services and support they need, while creating new jobs and offering caregiving workers a long-overdue raise, stronger benefits, and an opportunity to organize or join a union and collectively bargain,'' the White House asserted.
- Beefing up coverage of long-term care outside of institutions has been a particularly important issue for Biden. Back in July 2020, the then-Democratic nominee for president announced a $775 billion plan to overhaul the home-based care landscape, with a focus on improving the lives of underpaid caregivers '-- who disproportionately consist of women and people of color.
- Home health workers do God's work, but aren't paid much. They have few benefits, and 40% are still on SNAP or Medicaid. It's unacceptable.I'll give caregivers and early childhood educators a much-needed raise.
- '-- Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) July 21, 2020Biden also pledged to crack down on nursing homes during the lead-up to the 2020 election, offering a host of proposed regulatory upgrades while declaring that the pandemic's impact on residents and workers ''did not have to be this bad.''
- The Biden-Harris campaign pointed to its preference for HCBS while simultaneously calling for stricter rules regarding infection preventionists and the elimination of generous liability protections for nursing home operators.
- ''As they work to protect those living in nursing homes and long-term care facilities, a Biden-Harris administration will also work to end the institutional bias in the Medicaid program by expanding access to home and community based services, affirm the commitment to people with disabilities and seniors to be able to self-direct services, work with Congress to secure permanent reauthorization of and invest in the Money Follows the Person (MFP) program, and fully implement the HCBS Final Rule,'' the campaign noted.
- With COVID-19 cases in nursing homes plummeting and regulatory attention shifting from crisis management to longer-term reforms, lawmakers in Washington and state capitols are increasingly questioning the ways that Medicare and Medicaid coverage prod seniors through the long-term care system '-- with demand for HCBS often outstripping available capacity.
- ''It can take years for these individuals to get the services they badly need. Aging relatives and people with disabilities deserve better,'' the White House observed. ''They deserve high-quality services and support that meet their unique needs and personal choices.''
- Nursing home occupancies sit at record lows, as seniors delay non-essential surgeries and generally look to avoid institutional care given the toll that COVID-19 took on residents and workers; the specter of strict visitation lockdowns has also prompted families to choose in-home care over SNFs and other options.
- The supply-demand mismatch has brought near-term pressure to nursing homes' financial structures, which rely almost exclusively on the ability to keep beds full. One consulting firm earlier this year encouraged operators to consider giving up bed licenses to reduce expenses and facilitate the creation of single-occupancy rooms; the state of Ohio has publicly mulled a plan that would pay providers to downsize in an attempt to more closely match demand and support reimbursements for the beds that remain.
- The White House proposal comes as the two top trade groups representing nursing homes and other senior care providers '-- the American Health Care Association and LeadingAge '-- called for a combination of tougher staffing rules and additional Medicaid funding for the sector; AHCA in particular has warned of a looming wave of facility closures without further federal support for the nursing home industry, which has received billions through the CARES Act and other sources.
- Alex SpankoAlex covers the skilled nursing industry for Aging Media Network, with a particular focus on the intersection of finance and policy. Outside of work, he reads nonfiction, experiments in the kitchen, enjoys pretty much any type of whiskey or scotch, and yells at Mets games from his couch '-- often all at once.
- Clips
- VIDEO - A Step-By-Step Look At How COVID Passport Propaganda Works | ZeroHedge
- Authored by Adam Dick via The Ron Paul Institute for Peace & Prosperity,
- With reports that President Joe Biden's administration is planning for imposing a vaccine passport mandate in America, expect to see in the media a deluge of vaccine passport propaganda. What will that propaganda look like? A template illustrating several elements you can expect to see in the propaganda push was provided several weeks ago in a CNN interview.
- In the first week of March, host Fareed Zakaria and his guest Arthur Caplan provided at CNN a textbook example of how to present vaccine passport propaganda to the American people. Let's look at some of the major elements of the propaganda template as demonstrated by Zakaria and Caplan.
- 1) Include some short expression that the idea of vaccine passports can be troubling, but make sure to only bring this up superficially. This is accomplished in the CNN segment by starting with a clip from a short scene from the movie Casablanca. In the clip, a policeman asks to see a man's "papers," the man says he does not have them, and the policeman responds, "in that case we'll have to ask you to come along." Not shown is the remainder of the scene in which the accosted man, after presenting apparently expired papers, attempts to flee only to be gunned down. Not showing the full scene demonstrates the care demanded in the propaganda to not allow any depiction of potential dire consequences from imposing vaccine passports.
- 2) Frame the imposing of a vaccine passport mandate as something that is both inevitable and threatens only minimal, if any, harm. Zakaria accomplishes this task with the first sentence he utters to begin the media segment. Zakaria states: "From Casablanca to today, a demand to produce personal documents can be uncomfortable, but, post-pandemic, it's something we'll all likely have to get more and more comfortable with." Masterfully, Zakaria, in addition to minimizing the problems with passports as just causing discomfort, asserts that even that discomfort with time will disappear, suggesting objecting to vaccine passports is just an irrational or silly reaction.
- 3) Bring on a guest who, despite his description making him sound like someone who would be looking out for the interests of people concerned about vaccine passports, pretty much says that vaccine passports are the best thing since sliced bread. In the CNN interview the guest performing this role is Arthur Caplan, who Zakaria introduces as a "medical ethicist" and "professor at NYU." A medical ethicist will surely provide some warning about dangers from vaccine passports, right? Yes, in many cases. But, Caplan is not that sort of medical ethicists. He is the one picked to be interviewed in a media segment designed to promote acceptance of vaccine passports.
- 4) Reiterate that vaccine passports are inevitable, and that people should support them. Zakaria hits the nail on the head with this, presenting this first question to his guest: "So explain why you think, basically, that this is the future and we should be comfortable with it."
- Here's my "vaccine passport" pic.twitter.com/W7jQetW719
- '-- Rep. Jeff Duncan (@RepJeffDuncan) March 31, 20215) Declare that vaccine passports must be imposed on the American people because of coronavirus. Caplan accomplishes this task in his first words in the media segment. He states: "Well, I'm sure that the future holds vaccine passports for us, partly to protect against the spread of Covid." Of course, as coronavirus has turned out not to be a major danger to most people, imposing a vaccine passport mandate to counter it makes no more sense than doing it to counter any other of many diseases. But, this is not a topic to be brought up when selling people on vaccine passports. Fearmongering, no matter how ridiculously unjustified, is the name of the game. This is the fraudulent message people are encouraged to act on without much critical thought: Coronavirus is gonna kill us all unless we take the shots and show our papers!
- 6) Say that mandating vaccine passports is really no big deal because of some other supposedly very similar restriction to which some people are already subjected. Caplan states: "And, you know, it's not a new idea, we have it for yellow fever; there are about more than a dozen countries that say you can't come in if you haven't been vaccinated against yellow fever, and many others require you to show proof of vaccination if you transit through those countries." Are the yellow fever-related requirements justified? Caplan does not say more than that, because these somewhat similar restrictions exist someplace, the mandating of vaccine passports in America is fine. That's medical ethicist reasoning? Anyway, the yellow fever stuff, because most Americans have no experience with or knowledge of it, is a fine example for the propaganda. Few watchers of the segment will have any basis for questioning the current practice that is used to justify the new desired mandate. One big difference, though, jumps out on further consideration. Caplan explains that the yellow fever requirements apply for just coming to several countries. In contrast, Zakaria early in the interview says the vaccine passports that will, he claims, inevitably be imposed on Americans will be required for people "to get on an airplane, to go to a concert, or to go back to work." The vaccine passport mandate is, thus, much more troublesome for most Americans than yellow-fever-related requirements for entry into a few countries that most Americans never visit. But, the point is to quickly present the example as if it provides conclusive support no matter how far that representation is from the truth.
- 7) Dismiss as insignificant people's concerns about being required, in order to go about their daily activities, to present a vaccine passport and to take a vaccine, or, really, an experimental coronavirus vaccine that is not even a vaccine under the normal meaning of the term. Assert instead that the only danger to freedom could be something theoretical that could be additionally required in the future. Here is how Zakaria puts it in a question to Caplan: "What about the concerns that many people have about privacy, about the privacy of their health data, that, you know, is there a slippery slope here '-- 'OK, I'm comfortable telling you whether or not I have Covid, but does that mean it becomes OK to ask about other things?'" Of course, many people are justifiably wary of being pressured to take the shots and then having their mandated vaccine passport used to track them as they go about their daily activities. That is why this media segment and others like it are being presented, after all.
- 8) Dismiss any concern that vaccine passports can in fact harm freedom. Instead, describe people as benefiting from and gaining freedom by their being mandated to take experimental coronavirus vaccines and present vaccination passports in order to go about their daily activities. Oh yeah, and keep quiet about all the mass surveillance facilitated by a vaccine passport program, the vaccinations-based caste system resulting from the mandate that will make people who do not take the shots suffer, and how the vaccine passport program can be expanded to advance many additional types of control over people. Here is how Caplan puts it: "With a Covid certification, you're going to gain freedom, you're going to gain mobility, and I'm going to suggest that you're probably going to be able to get certain jobs." Talk about turning things on their head. The mandate really means that people who do not comply will be barred from the mobility they already have and fired from their jobs. Freedom is supported by rejecting the mandate, not by supporting it.
- 9) Insist that the vaccine passport mandate is fine because it will be applied equally to all people. This is something Zakaria and Caplan spend a long time talking about in the CNN segment. Come on guys, something bad does not become good because it is applied to the maximum number of people, irrespective of their race, sex, or whatever. We are dealing with a mandate here, not giving everyone a serving of his favorite dessert.
- 10) Declare that a vaccine passport mandate helps encourage people to take the shots. (Unlike the other nine elements of the vaccine passport mandate propaganda template, this one is likely true. Threats can yield compliance. Still, the threats could deter some people from taking the experimental coronavirus vaccine shots. It sure makes you wonder about shots' supposed safety when an extreme, and unprecedented, act of force is employed to ensure people take the shots.) States Caplan in the interview: "It also gives you an incentive to overcome vaccine hesitancy. Some people are not sure still whether they want to do the vaccine, but if you promise them more mobility, more ability to get a job, more ability to get travel, that's a very powerful incentive to actually achieve fuller vaccination." What Caplan is really talking about is coercion. He is saying that people who would otherwise refuse taking the shots will be forced to do so by the vaccine passport mandate severely restricting their activities and even depriving them of the ability to earn an income so long as they do not give in to the demand they take the shots. All this authoritarianism is dressed up in deceptive language. "Vaccine hesitancy" is substituted for "vaccine refusal" to disguise that the vaccine passport mandate is about stopping people from exercising free choice. "Incentive" is substituted for "coercive technique."
- Watch Zakaria and Caplan's interview here:
- Hopefully, many people will see through the deception and be able to prevent the implementation of the vaccine passport mandate Zakaria, Caplan, and others are promoting in the media.
- VIDEO - Shot in the Dark with Dr. Sherri Tenpenny
- Support Your Freedom to Speak:
- Shot in the Dark with Dr. Sherri Tenpenny
- Simple and clear explanation of how the 3 shots work by a doctor who had done EXTENSIVE research.
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- VIDEO - State homeless camp catches fire early Friday where 100 people live | KXAN Austin
- Apr 2, 2021 / 05:40 AM CDT / Updated:
- Apr 2, 2021 / 02:06 PM CDTAUSTIN (KXAN) '-- The state-sponsored homeless camp in southeast Austin caught fire early Friday morning. The Austin Fire Department says four of 11 units there suffered damage but no one was hurt.
- AFD said the fire started around 4:20 a.m. Friday. They have not yet determined a cause, but the occupant of the area where the fire started said it was some sort of electrical fire.
- Austin firefighters are working a homeless camp fire at the camp the state set up in southeast Austin. (KXAN Photo/Metro Video)Austin firefighters are working a homeless camp fire at the camp the state set up in southeast Austin. (KXAN Photo/Metro Video)Austin firefighters are working a homeless camp fire at the camp the state set up in southeast Austin. (KXAN Photo/Metro Video)Austin firefighters are working a homeless camp fire at the camp the state set up in southeast Austin. (KXAN Photo/Metro Video)Fire victims standby as Austin firefighters work a homeless camp fire at the camp the state set up in southeast Austin. (KXAN Photo/Metro Video)Austin firefighters are working a homeless camp fire at the camp the state set up in southeast Austin. (KXAN Photo/Metro Video)Austin firefighters are working a homeless camp fire at the camp the state set up in southeast Austin. (KXAN Photo/Julie Karam)Austin firefighters are working a homeless camp fire at the camp the state set up in southeast Austin. (KXAN Photo/Julie Karam)Austin firefighters are working a homeless camp fire at the camp the state set up in southeast Austin. (KXAN Photo/Julie Karam)Austin firefighters are working a homeless camp fire at the camp the state set up in southeast Austin. (KXAN Photo/Julie Karam)More than 100 people live at the encampment. It exists on land the Texas Department of Transportation owns off U.S. Highway 183 near Montopolis. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott first designated it as an encampment site in November 2019 during one of the flashpoints in the debate over Austin's homelessness policies.
- Last year, residents voted to call this camp the Esperanza Community.
- Firefighters say this was actually the third homeless camp fire of the night.
- ''We are doing several of these a day,'' AFD Battalion Chief Thayer Smith said, ''whether there's an actual fire or we are going by to check on because somebody calls in a cooking fire or something like that. Somebody sees smoke from the cooking fires or the warming fires so we are actually staying really busy with 5 to 6 calls a shift.''
- The fire came just hours after a fire near the Buford Tower, an old AFD drill tower, spread to the tower itself. The Buford Tower was built in the 1930s and is at West Cesar Chavez Street in downtown Austin.
- Location of State Homeless CampAustin-Travis CountyMore Austin StoriesMorning rain showers, afternoon clearing '' warm week aheadAUSTIN (KXAN) '-- After a few peeks of sunshine right before sunset yesterday, clouds have increased again overnight. We're watching a few rain showers and isolated thunderstorms moving into the Hill Country this morning. Like yesterday, as this cluster moves towards I-35 we could see them expand in coverage and intensity.
- While some of the stronger storms could bring briefly heavy rain, gusty winds and lightning, all activity should stay below severe limits.
- Video If you're planning to go to a Travis County Park on Easter Sunday, check out this guideTRAVIS COUNTY, Texas (KXAN) '-- Easter is one of the busiest days for the Travis County Parks system every year.
- Sunday will mark the first major holiday since the state's reopening and as COVID-19 vaccinations in the Austin-Travis County area climb.
- Video Family of George Floyd rallies support for police reform bills at Texas Capitol SaturdayAUSTIN (KXAN) '-- Family members of George Floyd spoke in favor of police reform bills to be heard in the Texas legislature this week at a rally at the Texas Capitol on Saturday.
- His sister, Bridgett Floyd, along with George Floyd's daughter, Gianna, and her mother, Roxanne Washington were at the downtown Austin rally. They spoke about Floyd's death, social injustice and called for change.
- Video Top StoriesMore StoriesTracking the CoronavirusCurrent56° Cloudy
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- VIDEO - 8-year-old boy 'accidentally' vaccinated in Dallas | KXAN Austin
- Wes Wilson and Candace Sweat/NBC DFW
- DALLAS (KXAS/KXAN) '-- An eight-year-old boy in Dallas was vaccinated at a drive-thru site in what authorities there are calling an ''oversight'' and ''human error.''
- Fire Chief Robert Fite of the Grand Prairie Fire Department told NBC DFW in Dallas that 3,800 people were vaccinated the day the boy got his shot.
- ''They're in the car, there's a code, the paramedic did what that paramedic did for thousands of others for that day and went ahead and gave the vaccination, and did not realize it was a child under the age of 18,'' said Fite.
- The boy's father said he did not know that his child wasn't eligible. He said he was able to register his son and got an appointment. The vaccine site was in Dallas County and Fite says the Grand Prairie Fire Department helps operate it.
- ''We had some questions about how a child under 18 could even get registered,'' he said. ''If there was a fail system in place, then we wouldn't even have to worry because you couldn't get registered. If they got a QR code, part of our assumption is they understand who should be registered and who should not.''
- How they found out the 8-year-old boy got the shotThe father only realized the mistake after talking to his pediatrician, Dr. Marcial Oquendo.
- Oquendo says the father was under the assumption that if he submitted his information and got an appointment that everything was good to go. He did not know that the FDA has not approved any vaccine for children younger than 16.
- ''We don't have the data, especially under the age of 12 to say if it works, is it safe, how much should we use, which kid can get it and which kids can't,'' said Oquendo. ''It needs to be in a controlled setting of a clinical trial where we are monitoring every possible angle to be able to say if it's safe and effective to use in kids in this age group.''
- Dr. Oquendo told NBC DFW he notified the Pediatric Society and Dallas County Medical Society about the case.
- ''We're still trying to figure out what to do next,'' he said. ''We're trying to figure out who needs to know what.''
- What happens to the person who administered the shot?Chief Fite says the Grand Prairie Fire Department plans to investigate and find which paramedic administered the shot. He said they are also looking for answers from Dallas County officials about why the boy was allowed to get an appointment.
- Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said ''human error'' allowed the boy's age to go unnoticed through the process and was what allowed him to get a coveted vaccine appointment.
- ''He was put in the suspended ineligible list. There was human error, and that list was moved over to get the people who were under 50 onto the eligible list. They failed to scrub for people who were under eighteen,'' said Jenkins.
- Jenkins added that they are working to make sure an error like that cannot happen again.
- In this Wednesday, March 24, 2021 image from video provided by Duke Health, Alejandra Gerardo, 9, looks up to her mom, Dr. Susanna Naggie, as she gets the first of two Pfizer COVID-19 vaccinations during a clinical trial for children at Duke Health in Durham, N.C. In the U.S. and abroad, researchers are beginning to test younger and younger kids, to make sure the shots are safe and work for each age. (Shawn Rocco/Duke Health via AP)
- VIDEO - 'We are walking into the mouth of this virus monster' expert warns of new surge | TheHill
- A top epidemiologist is warning that a new surge of coronavirus driven by the emergence of variants is set to slam the U.S.
- The U.S. has reported an average of 65,000 new cases in the last seven days, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), an increase of about 10,000 cases per day from the week before. As vaccinations are ramping up and states are easing restrictions, cases are rising in several states, including New York, Michigan, New Jersey, Connecticut and Pennsylvania.
- Our country is in a historic fight against the Coronavirus. Add Changing America to your Facebook or Twitter feed to stay on top of the news.
- Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, on Thursday said a new surge driven by the more contagious B.1.1.7 variant first identified in the United Kingdom is inevitable.
- ''This B.1.1.7 surge is going to happen. It's not an issue of 'if.' It's going to happen,'' Osterholm told CNN's New Day .
- ''We are just beginning this surge and denying it is not going to help us. We are walking into the mouth of this virus monster as if somehow we don't know it's here, and it is here. Now is the time to do all the things that we must do to slow down transmission, not open up, and we've got to get more vaccine out to more people,'' he said.
- Coronavirus cases in the US "are just beginning to surge and denying it is not going to help us,'' says epidemiologist Michael Osterholm. ''This vaccine level that we have is not going to be nearly enough to stop the surge."https://t.co/bRTrOP2N94 pic.twitter.com/o4QU2VXAoC
- '-- New Day (@NewDay) April 1, 2021 Osterholm emphasized that progress made through the vaccination effort in the U.S. has not kept pace with the new spike in cases observed in many states. He said while Michigan is above average in terms of their vaccine program, the state is headed in the wrong way in terms of cases.
- ''If we had another three months to get people vaccinated it would be another story, but we don't,'' he said.
- Osterholm also pushed the idea of administering as many first doses of the vaccine as possible rather than prioritizing two doses weeks apart for each person to stop the surge. He said there would be a very low likelihood of new variants emerging due to a single-dose approach, as just one dose of the two-dose vaccines has shown to be 80 percent effective in protecting against the illness.
- The expert noted that there are still 15 million people in the U.S. 65 years of age and older who have yet to receive even one dose of a vaccine. He predicted the southern sunbelt states will see a surge in the next six weeks.
- According to the CDC , nearly 17 percent of the total U.S. population has been fully vaccinated, with 30 percent receiving at least one dose of a two-dose regimen.
- READ MORE STORIES FROM CHANGING AMERICA
- CORONAVIRUS IS EXPLODING IN MICHIGAN
- HAWAII CONSIDERS VACCINE PASSPORTS FOR INTER-ISLAND TRAVEL
- WHAT HAPPENS AFTER ONE DOSE OF PFIZER OR MODERNA VACCINE?
- FAUCI SAYS NEW SURGE IN COVID-19 CASES HAS THREE MAIN CAUSES
- TRUMP WHITE HOUSE CENSORED HEAD OF ITS OWN CORONAVIRUS TASK FORCE, NEW REPORT SAYS
- VIDEO - Can I be forced to get the Covid vaccine
- President Joe Biden said in March that the U.S. aims to have 200 million Covid vaccine doses administered during his first 100 days in office. By May, every American adult who wants a vaccine will be eligible to get in line for a shot.
- That said, 30% of U.S. adults still don't want to get the Covid vaccine. But many of them may not have much of a choice.
- Both states and cities can mandate vaccines based on their legislative authority, and employers also have the right to require inoculation as a health and safety work rule.Watch this video to find out how you can be forced to take the Covid vaccine.
- VIDEO - (365) 'The shape of the next world-wide conflict is taking place in front of your eyes' - YouTube
- VIDEO - (365) Fox and Friends Satursday 4/3/2021 | FOX BREAKING NEWS Apr 3, 2021 - YouTube
- VIDEO - (8) Geopolitics & Empire on Twitter: "Canadian police tried to shut down a POLISH church on Easter. The Polish have a PROFOUND understanding of totalitarianism (fascism, communism) and sent the police away! #COVID1984 https://t.co/TYMDYrujhC" / Tw
- Geopolitics & Empire : Canadian police tried to shut down a POLISH church on Easter. The Polish have a PROFOUND understanding of totalitar'... https://t.co/2aj5fqsPOz
- Sat Apr 03 21:01:30 +0000 2021
- Jean-Claude J.S. : @Geopolitics_Emp Look at those big pigs, GET OUT!! ð
- Sun Apr 04 11:02:11 +0000 2021
- ðJaybirdð : @Geopolitics_Emp Well done! See how those police just stood there then left without a word? They KNOW it's unenforc'... https://t.co/OKFbsdDdKv
- Sun Apr 04 11:01:56 +0000 2021
- Enzo 96.5% : @Geopolitics_Emp Love this. Get out!
- Sun Apr 04 11:00:27 +0000 2021
- Darren Foster : @Geopolitics_Emp Well said and god bless you al!
- Sun Apr 04 10:58:46 +0000 2021
- ð·Maxð· : @Geopolitics_Emp Guy wants to infect his congregation and send them to god quickly.
- Sun Apr 04 10:58:35 +0000 2021
- Stevie : @Geopolitics_Emp That's the way to do it ððð>>ðð>>ðð>>ðð>>ðð>>ðð>>
- Sun Apr 04 10:56:47 +0000 2021
- Wincent : @Geopolitics_Emp Alleluja. https://t.co/pzQ00fbPof
- Sun Apr 04 10:56:07 +0000 2021
- GðRDðN CðMSTðCK : @Geopolitics_Emp ððððð
- Sun Apr 04 10:54:35 +0000 2021
- Colin Rice : @Geopolitics_Emp Christianity is about caring. He appears to only care about himself. Disgusting.
- Sun Apr 04 10:54:33 +0000 2021
- DadABase.ETH : @Geopolitics_Emp Prayera of protection for that congregation and an awakening for those "LEOs," Christ is Risen!
- Sun Apr 04 10:52:52 +0000 2021
- Caello : @Geopolitics_Emp bloody fucking poles think that the fascism is when you can't spread the virus anymore
- Sun Apr 04 10:52:30 +0000 2021
- jess : @Geopolitics_Emp Clearing the temple.
- Sun Apr 04 10:51:38 +0000 2021
- Fi Long : @Geopolitics_Emp Well done ð
- Sun Apr 04 10:50:45 +0000 2021
- suse : @Geopolitics_Emp Well done ....
- Sun Apr 04 10:50:03 +0000 2021
- Damo : @Geopolitics_Emp What a brilliant way to treat these nazis! Disgusting people deserve no respect...this isn't about'... https://t.co/ZtBGpPOFyp
- Sun Apr 04 10:49:55 +0000 2021
- Larry H : @Geopolitics_Emp Looks fake, they just slowly walk away, since when do cops carry a purse?
- Sun Apr 04 10:47:30 +0000 2021
- john stewart : @Geopolitics_Emp The Polish people have a history of resisting both facism and communism. It's just a pity that the'... https://t.co/WELbA11aNL
- Sun Apr 04 10:46:53 +0000 2021
- Åukasz Kalinowski : @Geopolitics_Emp This is how it should be done everywhere. Simple way of get rid of #pandemic To samo czeka też'... https://t.co/d2HFZ6ximz
- Sun Apr 04 10:46:08 +0000 2021
- ps : @Geopolitics_Emp Always so quick with the ''nazis'' slur.
- Sun Apr 04 10:45:11 +0000 2021
- Alfonso ðªð¸ : @Geopolitics_Emp Bravo! ð¥ð¥
- Sun Apr 04 10:43:29 +0000 2021
- Alexu961ðµð±'ªð'¯ : @Geopolitics_Emp @arekmularczyk To jest przeÅladowanie chrzeÅcijan
- Sun Apr 04 10:43:29 +0000 2021
- Paul Kelly : @Geopolitics_Emp Only one psychopath in this video.
- Sun Apr 04 10:42:58 +0000 2021
- Mauro Ros : @Geopolitics_Emp @DraMonicaGiusti Foi praticamente como um expuls£o de dem´nios!Com autoridade e sem conversa.
- Sun Apr 04 10:37:29 +0000 2021
- Jean Eseldliw '>>¸'¯¸ : @Geopolitics_Emp Poland is currently an authoritarian and oppressive state ruled by an authoritarian government. Po'... https://t.co/z8cupQe2xk
- Sun Apr 04 10:36:52 +0000 2021
- The baker man : @Geopolitics_Emp For those criticising this man remember he had grandparents who were probably taken away by police'... https://t.co/2KmHcL5JZ2
- Sun Apr 04 10:36:31 +0000 2021
- VIDEO - Benjamin Loughnane on Twitter: "UK police officers are breaking up masses during Easter. Do they really feel that they are serving the public good? Video from Balham, SW London. https://t.co/OU6l4XjxPz" / Twitter
- Benjamin Loughnane : UK police officers are breaking up masses during Easter. Do they really feel that they are serving the public good?'... https://t.co/6pnQkZRnwc
- Sat Apr 03 10:41:28 +0000 2021
- Mr_Poopy_Butthole : @Loknayn @PrisonPlanet Going to hell.
- Sat Apr 03 12:33:46 +0000 2021
- Mark : @Loknayn This is shameful.
- Sat Apr 03 12:29:50 +0000 2021
- Constance Bruns : @Loknayn @flatearthaddict They believe they are, because they are order followers. I wonder how quickly his sheepy'... https://t.co/48JoVSo4Nr
- Sat Apr 03 12:25:59 +0000 2021
- Incognito Bandito : @Loknayn @PrisonPlanet Well you're just going to have to arrest us then. I'd tell you to go to hell, but that doe'... https://t.co/vihxvoHSON
- Sat Apr 03 12:25:40 +0000 2021
- i'm not really here : @Loknayn @PrisonPlanet They should all claim sanctuary 2tier British policing
- Sat Apr 03 12:19:03 +0000 2021
- Jason Waterfalls : @Loknayn @PrisonPlanet UK police are wannabe Gestapo.
- Sat Apr 03 12:12:14 +0000 2021
- Lord Protector : @Loknayn So @pritipatel explain this compared with what happened outside the grammar school Are you comfortable wit'... https://t.co/IGe9ZZtrke
- Sat Apr 03 12:08:02 +0000 2021
- Lord Protector : @Loknayn That two tier policing again @metpoliceuk How to make friends and influence people
- Sat Apr 03 12:05:54 +0000 2021
- not ''That'' Karen : @Loknayn @PrisonPlanet Did you knowð¤-- I didn't until I watched a documentary. https://t.co/r3s8PdXA4R
- Sat Apr 03 12:02:16 +0000 2021
- Jim Peterson : @Loknayn @PrisonPlanet Shame on the government for passing these vile laws!!! Shame!!!!!
- Sat Apr 03 12:01:33 +0000 2021
- Angela Flynn : @Loknayn @metpoliceuk Utterly appalled to see this - do you have any idea how offensive this is, your Police standi'... https://t.co/rIY9Mtxq3j
- Sat Apr 03 11:50:15 +0000 2021
- douchey ð¹ : @Loknayn @PrisonPlanet Damn, I wish our police would have the balls to do what's right and break up these ceremonies!
- Sat Apr 03 11:47:02 +0000 2021
- peter o donovan : @Loknayn @PrisonPlanet Picking on the weak, wouldn't care challenge the road in Batley
- Sat Apr 03 11:46:00 +0000 2021
- Stephen W. McGregor : @Loknayn @SMHatLibs They are storm troopers their goal destroy religion, ''The opiate of the people''. This entire ''p'... https://t.co/jNLcmWufdM
- Sat Apr 03 11:35:03 +0000 2021
- The Last DJ Podcast : @Loknayn @PrisonPlanet Conservatives made decisions a long time ago that lead to this. Stop protecting cops. They d'... https://t.co/FgSX3rTBEf
- Sat Apr 03 11:33:23 +0000 2021
- Terry Williams : @Loknayn Looking forward to seeing them enacting this in other places of worship...
- Sat Apr 03 11:32:12 +0000 2021
- Freedom678 : @Loknayn The West is becoming like China. We will share the fate of religious believers in china.
- Sat Apr 03 11:32:05 +0000 2021
- Sat Apr 03 11:30:15 +0000 2021
- JPCK : @Loknayn @PrisonPlanet https://t.co/lhEVguPsv5
- Sat Apr 03 11:29:29 +0000 2021
- C18H26ClN3O+C38H72N2O12+Zn : @Loknayn @PrisonPlanet I see no police invading mosques. Police have no balls to go against muslims.
- Sat Apr 03 11:29:02 +0000 2021
- Andrew Hughes ð...ðº : @Loknayn @PrisonPlanet I hope the masses are waking up to the double standards.
- Sat Apr 03 11:26:17 +0000 2021
- Gerry d'Aquino : @Loknayn @PrisonPlanet The question you must ask is "who" is giving these orders.....@askboris
- Sat Apr 03 11:23:51 +0000 2021
- VIDEO-Curtis Houck on Twitter: "Cavuto moved next to Peter Navarro's "father of COVID" comments and @LindseyGrahamSC wanting him to weigh in on COVID at the border. In both cases, Fauci denounced them as people who've decided he's "a symbol...of what they
- Curtis Houck : Cavuto moved next to Peter Navarro's "father of COVID" comments and @LindseyGrahamSC wanting him to weigh in on COV'... https://t.co/5sKtBXlRk5
- Fri Apr 02 21:09:32 +0000 2021
- VIDEO-Why You Can Be Forced To Get The Covid Vaccine - YouTube
- VIDEO - (362) Danny Glover can't stop laughing about PBA - YouTube
- VIDEO - Hunter Biden Addresses Laptop Saga For The First Time | The Daily Caller
- Hunter Biden said in an interview that a laptop of his purported emails released before the election ''could be'' his, but that it may have been stolen or released with the help of Russian intelligence.
- ''There could be a laptop out there that was stolen from me. It could be that I was hacked. It could be that it was Russian intelligence,'' he said in an interview with CBS, which will air in full Sunday.
- Biden at first said that he was unsure whether the laptop is his.
- ''For real, I don't know.''
- Pressed on the question, Biden conceded that the laptop ''certainly could be'' his.
- The short clip of the CBS interview does not show whether Biden was asked about claims from a Delaware computer shop owner that he dropped off the laptop at his store in April 2019 and never came back to get it. (RELATED: Here's What We Found Digging Through Hunter's Alleged Laptop)
- There have been no reports that Biden filed a police report regarding any possible thefts or hacks of his email account.
- Biden, who has not previously discussed the laptop in public, has been under federal investigation since 2018 over his taxes and foreign business dealings.
- John Paul Mac Isaac, the owner of a repair shop in Delaware, told The New York Post on Oct. 14 a man he believed to be Biden dropped off the laptop for repairs
- Isaac says he provided the device to the FBI in late 2019. He then shared it with Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani in September 2020.
- Giuliani helped place a story about the emails with The New York Post.
- Many Democrats have suggested that Russian intelligence was behind the release of emails from the laptop. Isaac has vehemently denied having any connection to Russians.
- Emails from the laptop, which the Daily Caller News Foundation obtained, provide insight into Biden's business and personal dealings. He emailed frequently with business partners about Burisma Holdings, a Ukrainian energy company that was at the center of President Donald Trump's first impeachment trial.
- Another email shows that Biden referred to his father and an employee of a Chinese energy firm, CEFC China Energy, as ''office mates'' at an office he rented in 2017.
- Senate Republicans this week asked the Biden administration to turn over intelligence documents on Biden's relationship with CEFC China Energy, which had suspected ties to China's military.
- Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.
- VIDEO - Buford Tower in Austin catches fire from nearby homeless camp
- AUSTIN (KXAN) '-- A fire near the old drill tower for the Austin Fire Department spread to the tower itself on West Cesar Chavez Street in downtown Austin Thursday night.
- The Buford Tower was built in the 1930s, according to the Texas State Historical Association, and stands about 67 feet tall. Originally called ''The Old Fireman's Practice Tower,'' TSHA says it was used as a training facility for local firefighters.
- As of 9:30 p.m., AFD says the fire is under control, and the damage is mostly on the outside and windows. The department says the fire was a homeless camp fire.
- TSHA says while the tower was used for many decades, by the 1970s it became unsafe to set fires for training due to the city's growth.
- The tower was dedicated in 1978 and named for AFD veteran Capt. James L. Buford, who died about six years earlier trying to rescue a teen who ended up drowning in flood waters from Shoal Creek, according to AFD.
- Effie Kitchens, whose husband was involved in the tower's original construction, and community volunteers helped to restore the building after it was no longer being used, TSHA says.
- AFD veteran Capt. James L. Buford, who died trying to rescue a teen from flood waters in the 1970s (AFD Photo)Buford Tower (AFD Photo)The building now serves as a bell tower and is used in the department's 9/11 memorial ceremonies, AFD says.
