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Supporters’ words may haunt Trump at impeachment trial

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AP

(AP) — The words of Donald Trump supporters who are accused of participating in the deadly U.S. Capitol riot may end up being used against him in his Senate impeachment trial as he faces the charge of inciting a violent insurrection.

At least five supporters facing federal charges have suggested they were taking orders from the then-president when they marched on Capitol Hill on Jan. 6 to challenge the certification of Joe Biden’s election win. But now those comments, captured in interviews with reporters and federal agents, are likely to take center stage as Democrats lay out their case. It’s the first time a former president will face such charges after leaving office.

“I feel like I was basically following my president. I was following what we were called to do. He asked us to fly there. He asked us to be there,” Jenna Ryan, a Texas real estate agent who posted a photo on Twitter of herself flashing a peace sign next to a broken Capitol window, told a Dallas-Fort Worth TV station.

Jacob Chansley, the Arizona man photographed on the dais in the Senate who was shirtless and wore face paint and a furry hat with horns, has similarly pointed a finger at Trump.

Chansley called the FBI the day after the insurrection and told agents he traveled “at the request of the president that all ‘patriots’ come to D.C. on January 6, 2021,” authorities wrote in court papers.

Chanley’s lawyer unsuccessfully lobbied for a pardon for his client before Trump’s term ended, saying Chansley “felt like he was answering the call of our president.” Authorities say that while up on the dais in the Senate chamber, Chansley wrote a threatening note to then-Vice President Mike Pence that said: “It’s only a matter of time, justice is coming.”

Trump is the first president to be twice impeached and the first to face a trial after leaving office. The charge this time is “inciting violence against the government of the United States.” His impeachment lawyer, Butch Bowers, did not respond to call for comment.

Opening arguments in the trial will begin the week of Feb. 8. House Democrats who voted to impeach Trump last week for inciting the storming of the Capitol say a full reckoning is necessary before the country — and the Congress — can move on.

For weeks, Trump rallied his supporters against the election outcome and urged them to come to the Capitol on Jan. 6 to rage against Biden’s win. Trump spoke to the crowd near the White House shortly before they marched along Pennsylvania Avenue to Capitol Hill.

“We will never give up. We will never concede. It doesn’t happen,” Trump said. “You don’t concede when there’s theft involved. Our country has had enough. We will not take it anymore.”

Later he said: “If you don’t fight like hell you’re not going to have a country anymore.” He told supporters to walk to the Capitol to “peacefully and patriotically” make your voices heard.

Trump has taken no responsibility for his part in fomenting the violence, saying days after the attack: “People thought that what I said was totally appropriate.”

Unlike a criminal trial, where there are strict rules about what is and isn’t evidence, the Senate can consider anything it wishes. And if they can show that Trump’s words made a real impact, all the better, and scholars expect it in the trial.

“Bringing in those people’s statements is part of proving that it would be at a minimum reasonable for a rational person to expect that if you said and did the things that Trump said and did, then they would be understood in precisely the way these people understood them,” said Frank Bowman, a Constitutional law expert and law professor at University of Missouri.

A retired firefighter from Pennsylvania told a friend that that he traveled to Washington with a group of people and the group listened to Trump’s speech and then “followed the President’s instructions” and went to the Capitol, an agent wrote in court papers. That man, Robert Sanford, is accused of throwing a fire extinguisher that hit three Capitol Police officers.

Another man, Robert Bauer of Kentucky, told FBI agents that “he marched to the U.S. Capitol because President Trump said to do so,” authorities wrote. His cousin, Edward Hemenway, from Virginia, told the FBI that he and Bauer headed toward the Capitol after Trump said “something about taking Pennsylvania Avenue.”

More than 130 people as of Friday were facing federal charges; prosecutors have promised that more cases — and more serious charges — are coming.

Most of those arrested so far are accused of crimes like unlawful entry and disorderly conduct, but prosecutors this week filed conspiracy charges against three self-described members of a paramilitary group who authorities say plotted the attack. A special group of prosecutors is examining whether to bring sedition charges, which carry up to 20 years in prison, against any of the rioters.

Two-thirds of the Senate is needed to convict. And while many Republicans — including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky— have condemned Trump’s words, it remains unclear how many would vote to convict him.

“While the statements of those people kind of bolsters the House manager’s case, I think that President Trump has benefited from a Republican Party that has not been willing to look at evidence,” said Michael Gerhardt, a professor at the University of North Carolina School of Law who testified before the House Judiciary Committee during Trump’s first impeachment hearings in 2019.

“They stood by him for the entire first impeachment proceeding, thinking that the phone call with the president of the Ukraine was perfect and I’m sure they will think that was a perfect speech too. There is nothing yet to suggest that they would think otherwise,” Gerhardt said.

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Richer reported from Boston

The Jewish Connection of the Biden-Harris Team; History Made as Nation Usher’s in 46th President & VP

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Democratic vice presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., and her husband Doug Emhoff take the stage during a drive-in get out the vote rally, Monday, Nov. 2, 2020, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Michael Perez)

By: TJVNews.com

Now that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have been officially inaugurated as our new president and vice-president, it is interesting to note that while neither elected official is Jewish, both Biden and Harris have strong connections to the Jewish people.

Before we delve into that, however, it is noteworthy to mention that history was made on two scores. Firstly, Joe Biden is the oldest person to ever hold the office of the presidency. Many observers thought that our nation’s 40th president, the late Ronald Wilson Reagan was considered old when he took office in the 1980 election, as he was 69 years of age at the time. Then decades later, we had Donald Trump, who was 70 and now Biden. Moreover, the history books are ready to record that Kamala Harris, 56, is the first woman, the first person of color and the first person of South Asian descent to serve as vice president.

Joe Biden is also a grandfather to several Jewish children as all of his three children are betrothed to Jewish spouses. Kamala Harris is a married to Doug Emhoff, an entertainment lawyer, who also happens to be Jewish and is a native of Brooklyn. Emhoff’s children from his first marriage refer to Kamala as “Momalah.”. Kamala and Doug will also shatter the glass ceiling by becoming the first mixed-race couple to occupy their positions, as he is Caucasian and Kamala is the daughter of Indian and Jamaican immigrants.

Celebrating Hanukkah together in 2020, Kamala and Doug could be seen on a Twitter video lighting the Chanukah menorah.

Speaking about why she enjoys Chanukah and what it means to her, Harris said, “I love Chanukah because it really is about the light, and bringing light where there has been darkness. And it is a celebration of, always, tikkun olam [repairing the world], which is about fighting for justice and fighting for the dignity of all people, and it’s about rededication.”

At a political event in Ohio in 2016, Biden referenced is son-in-law Howard Krein in a jocular fashion by saying, “I’m the only Irish Catholic you know who had his dream met because his daughter married a Jewish surgeon.”

According to a national survey conducted in 2013 by the Pew Research Center, a whopping 58% of American Jews marry out of their faith, but somehow manage to raise their children with Jewish values as they inculcate in them Jewish religious and cultural traditions. The non-Jewish spouse in such blended families are very proud to have Jewish children and often encourage celebrations of a religious nature.

Most of these Jews self-identify as Reconstructionist, Reform, Conservative or Humanist and some do not consider themselves affiliated with any branch of Judaism.

The only segment of the Jewish population in the United States that consistently marries within their faith are the Orthodox Jews and as a result their demographics have been on the rise due to the fact that the average Orthodox Jewish couple has five or more children.

According to a recent JTA report, about half a century ago, blended families were exceptionally rare and when a Jew married out of their faith, the Jewish community considered that person to be gone forever in terms of commitment and observance of Jewish tradition. In contemporary times, blended families are on the increase and they take a participatory role in synagogue and temple life, including carrying out Jewish rituals.

 

 

 

Google Threatens to Shutter Search Engine in Australia; Lobbies Against Digital News Code

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AP

By: TJVNews.com

Tech giant Google, which is the world’s largest and most popular search engine on the internet, is now threatening to prevent Australian users from their services by shutting down, according to published reports. The Sydney Morning Herald reported that the move would mean that Google would forfeit  approximately $4 billion in revenue. Google is ramping up its lobbying agenda against draft legislation that is intended to force it to pay news publishers for reuse of their content, according to a recent report on the Tech Crunch web site.

Google, which is worth $1.8 trillion warned in a statement on Friday that “the principle of unrestricted linking between websites is fundamental to Search. Coupled with the unmanageable financial and operational risk if this version of the Code were to become law it would give us no real choice but to stop making Google Search available in Australia.”

The Sydney Morning Herald reported that Google managing director Melanie Silva told a Senate committee hearing on Friday that Google would shut off search in Australia if the government’s proposed media bargaining code becomes law. Experts said the threat is not idle, with Google likely fearful the code could set a global precedent.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said, “Australia makes our rules for things you can do in Australia. That’s done in our Parliament. It’s done by our government, and that’s how things work here in Australia. People who want to work with that, in Australia, you’re very welcome. But we don’t respond to threats.”

The SMH reported that the code “aims to force digital platforms to pay media companies for news content, and follows a 12-month review into Google and Facebook by the competition watchdog. The legislation, which was introduced into the House of Representatives in December, comes amid a push by global governments to rein in the power of digital monopolies.

Google’s threats follow similar remarks made by Facebook Australia’s managing director Will Easton in September, who announced plans to remove news articles from the social media’s main app if the media code is passed by Parliament.”

Tech Crunch reported that “Facebook would also be subject to the law. Facebook has previously said it would ban news from being shared on its products owing if the law was brought in, as well as claiming it’s reduced its investment in the country as a result of the legislative threat.”

Google has changed its lobbying tactics since last summer, as they have jettisoned its attempt to derail the law entirely in favor of trying to reshape it to minimize the financial impact, according to the Tech Crunch report.

They are now focused on trying to eject the most harmful elements (as it sees it) of the draft legislation — while also pushing its News Showcase program, which it hastily spun up last year, as an alternative model for payments to publishers that it would prefer becomes the vehicle for remittances under the Code, as was reported by TechCrunch.

The SMH reported that “Australian media companies disputed the claims of the tech giants and urged the government to legislate immediately. Executives from News Corp Australia, Nine Entertainment Co (owner of this masthead) and Guardian Australia, presented a largely united front at the hearing, arguing the code would help ensure the long-term sustainability of local journalism and disputing claims the tech giants did not receive value from content.

The draft legislation for Australia’s digital news Code which is currently before the parliament includes a controversial requirement that tech giants Google and Facebook pay publishers for linking to their content — not merely for displaying snippets of text.”

 

 

 

Jared & Ivanka to Lease Luxury Condo in Arte Bldg in Miami’s Exclusive Surfside Neighborhood

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Photo Credit: artesurfside.com

By: Fern Sidman

 

 

Now that former President Trump and wife Melania have once again settled into their Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida for the long haul, it has now been reported that other Trump family members are heading to the Sunshine state to declare residency there.

 

The Wall Street Journal recently reported that first daughter Ivanka Trump, husband Jared Kushner and their three kids will be living in a luxury condominium in the Arte building in Miami’s exclusive Surfside neighborhood. Ivanka and Jared are renting for the time being until they move to their permanent home which is being custom built for them in a high-security area known as the “Billionaire Bunker” on Indian Creek Island.

According to a report by the local CBS affiliate in Miami, their soon to be new home is only a five-minute drive from where they will be renting in Surfside. The couple purchased a two-acre waterfront lot last month for $32 million from iconic singer, Julio Iglesias.

Besides such celebrities as Julio Iglesias who call that part of Miami home, other notable residents include investor Carl Icahn and billionaire Jeff Soffer, according to a recent report in the New York Post.  Soon to be residents of the exclusive area are NFL star Tom Brady and Gisele Bundchen.

Jared, 40, and Ivanka, 39, won’t be too far from the former president and his wife as the property is about 60 miles from Mar-a-Lago, according to the CBS report.

According to published reports, the couple will be leasing a unfurnished unit in Arte Surfside for at least a year, or until their new palatial mansion has completed construction on Indian Creek Island. Reports indicate that the unit they are leasing is quite large.

While the monthly rent on the exclusive apartment has not been disclosed, the WSJ has reported that similar properties in the area typically lease for tens of thousands of dollars per month.

According to their web site, Arte Surfside is “a one-of-a-kind collection of 16 exquisitely finished oceanfront residences, and is the first-ever project in the United States by the legendary Italian architecture and design partnership of Antonio Citterio and Patricia Viel in collaboration with Kobi Karp Architecture and Interior Design.”

As was reported by the local CBS affiliate in Miami, “one of its developers is Alex Sapir, whose organization teamed up with Donald Trump’s firm to build the Trump Soho condo-hotel in New York City in 2008.”

The condo website also said that Arte “embraces its privileged setting in Surfside, an exclusive seaside enclave celebrated for its historic architecture and wide, tranquil beaches. Every residence enjoys spectacular ocean views from private terraces that celebrate outdoor living in a warm, Mediterranean style, as well as first-class services and amenities that rival the world’s most luxurious beachfront resorts.”

The web site also reported the distinct architecture drew inspiration from “classic European apartments of the 1920s and ’30s, as Citterio combines architectural virtuosity with a purist sensibility, weaving a richly layered world of tactile wonder. Each highly individual residence is designed to maintain privacy between entertaining areas and bedrooms.

Soaring floor-to-ceiling glass windows allow the flow of abundant natural light and frame the prized views of the Atlantic Ocean and Miami skylines. Expansive, deep terraces with Brazilian ipe decking are wrapped in travertine and offer seamless indoor and outdoor living. Wide plank 11” European white oak flooring accentuates the impressive layouts and offsets the bronze detailing and architectural travertine seen throughout.”

Also looking for a home in Florida are Donald Trump Jr, 43, and girlfriend Kimberly Guilfoyle, 51. According to a New York Post report they are “looking at homes in Jupiter, about an hour and a half away from Indian Creek Island.”

Vanessa Trump, 43, who is Donald Jr’s ex-wife, lives in Jupiter with the couple’s five children, according to the Post report and the location is fairly close to the Trump National Golf Club in Jupiter. If the name Jupiter rings a bell, it is where the late actor Burt Reynolds made his home and where he maintained a very successful dinner-theater operation.

Tiffany Trump, 27, the president’s second daughter who is the offspring of his fairly brief marriage to actress Marla Maples is also doing some real estate shopping in south Florida, according to the NY Post.

Having just announced her engagement to boyfriend Michael Boulos and having graduated from Georgetown University Law School, the younger Trump daughter is looking for property in the trendy South Beach section of Miami, according to a source who spoke exclusively with the Post.

 

Is lockdown a cure that kills the patient?

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Steve Apfel (INN) 

Lockdown may be the most brazen experiment in human annals. In unison or in sequence, governments shut down countries, closed borders, installed quasi police states and elevated technocrats who toggle ‘what if?’ scenarios on a keyboard.

The lockdown, an exercise in social engineering that would do Stalin proud, is the mortal threat posed by the latest pandemic. The excuse smacks, if not of manipulation then of convenience for ‘Lords of Lockdown,’ the cute title I give to the political and expert class from whence lockdown orders and made up rules come.

No such overlords rode into battle against contagions of the past – equal, we may add, to Covid in terms of killing power. Until the crowned virus burst out of stealth mode from Wuhan in January 2020, public health policies were variants of laissez faire. Governments stood aside to let a virus play itself out, as they once believed viruses do. However, compare this and this.

All of it poses different puzzles. The supreme one is, why would anyone whose life is disrupted or ruined or terminated by the lockdown, bow to suppression of a magnitude closer to totalitarian rule than to democracy. Why is it that the cleverest people meekly submit, or submit because they feel beneficent, moral and pure?

One admits, the notion of helping to save life is hard to resist. In that cause huddling at home seems the right and good thing to do. The idea of saving life is more than a strong allure; it is an absolute mandate. But if hard evidence counts? It must do, or we might invent any crackpot cure.

Well, if you consider hard evidence there is little to be said in favor of lockdown. Israel is on its umpteenth brutal one, and more of the same threatens. Coronavirus Czar, Nachman Ash says a March lockdown looks likely because of “a bleak forecast.”

And Ireland? Today the country has one of the highest infection rates in the world. Not long ago, consider, Ireland won praise for its early lockdown and the strictest rules on social distancing. The UK went so far as to cancel Christmas, yet experts are warning that the UK will see further “record-breaking” rises in Covid fatalities after the country recorded its highest daily death toll since the pandemic began.

Stop to think. Would you keep going to a doctor who administers a strong drug three times and each time another of your vital organs goes kaput? Well, the lockdown is such a doctor. Round three in the world series. Another lockdown.

Who knows, it could work. Third time lucky. No one gives a faulty kettle or a faddish diet three tries. Yet a medical experiment on humans, numbering hundreds of millions: it gets three chances. What will it take to learn:

The lockdown no more stops transmission of Covid than traffic fines stop car crashes. Unless, of course, a lockdown is meant to buy time until most of the population is vaccinated – what Israel is doing now and which is the purpose of its current lockdown.

The remedy has no science backing, nor as Beatle John Lennon sang, “and no religion too.” The ‘sanctity of life’ principle has been another misapplication, by the religious who misconstrued God’s command, and by the secular who anyway liked the feeling one gets from saving a life.

What of the morality argument for lockdown? Does it score higher than the science and religious arguments? Consider. What if saving the one precious life means sacrificing a multiple of equally precious lives? And what if multiple infinitely precious lives have to be taken to save the one? More, what if the one dies anyway? Was it all for nothing?

Closing down society is not a win-win game. To save one life you have to sacrifice many lives. What is the limit to how many may be taken to save the one?

The UN reckons that 490 million people in 70 countries will become poverty-stricken. How many lives saved will make it worth ruining 490 million others? Is there an international rate of exchange? And what if those who are saved inhabit mansions, while those who are ruined to save them inhabit hovels? Do we give a lower weight to the dirt poor than to the filthy rich?

The West’s knee-jerk copycatting of the command model used by dictatorial China came to be the accepted model. Indeed so accepted that dissenters, be they top medical specialists, have their Tweets, You Tube videos and Face Book pages closed down. The day the Wuhan virus made landfall every commentator and his aunt predicted that freedom-loving people would never tolerate the way Hubei province was shutdown and quarantined by the Chinese command. Well, we did more than tolerate the idea; we clamored for the Chinese cure. Not once, not twice, three times over.

Three lockdowns worldwide, three rounds of making havoc, and those in charge call for more of the same. If you like picturesque parallels, trying out lockdown on a pandemic has no more sanity than trying out a bazooka on a cockroach.

“Considering the surge of cases in countries around the world,” wrote an Israeli Rabbi, “it is not surprising that my family contracted the virus. Yes, we were careful, and we followed all the guidelines, but we got it anyway.” I rest my case.

Steve Apfel is an economist and a cost accountant, but most of all a prolific author of non-fiction and fiction, published in many journals and sites. His books include: ‘The Paymaster’ (Fiction); Hadrian’s Echo (Non-fiction); ‘A bias thicker than faith’ (non-fiction, for publication during 2020), and ‘Balaam’s curse’ a WIP biblical novel.

Twitter bans Khamenei’s account

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AP

(INN) Twitter announced on Friday that it had permanently banned an account connected to the office of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The ban came shortly after the account posted a photo showing former US President Donald Trump playing golf in the shadow of a giant drone, according to The Associated Press.

The image, posted late Thursday by the account linked to Khamenei, appeared to call for an attack on Trump, with the caption “Revenge is certain” written in Farsi.

In response to a request for comment from AP, a Twitter spokesman said that the tweet had violated the company’s “abusive behavior policy,” and that the account had violated its “manipulation and spam policy, specifically the creation of fake accounts,” without elaborating.

The report noted that other accounts thought to be tied to Khamenei’s office remained active.

Twitter has been criticized for allowing Khamenei to make regular use of his account to threaten Israel, the US, and other Western states, while banning accounts of people such as US President Donald Trump out of “fear of continued incitement to violence”.

Earlier this month, Twitter removed a tweet by Khamenei in which he cast doubt on coronavirus vaccines made in the United States and Britain and said they are “untrustworthy”.

Last May, the Iranian Supreme Leader posted a tweet in which he threatened to implement the Nazi “Final Solution” against Israel.

After Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu responded to those threats, Khamenei asserted that, in using the term “Final Solution”, he did not refer to Jews but rather only to the State of Israel.

Khamenei was later at it again, threatening that “the Zionist virus will not last long and the Zionist regime will not survive – and will be destroyed.”

 

Joe Biden: ‘Nothing We Can Do’ to Change Pandemic’s Trajectory for ‘Several Months’

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AP

JOSHUA CAPLAN

President Joe Biden on Friday lowered expectations of his administration’s ability to affect the ongoing coronavirus pandemic in the coming months.

Biden made the remark during a press conference addressing the signage of two more executive orders: one aimed at increasing food stamp benefits and the other for workers’ rights. 

“If we fail to act, there will be a wave of evictions and foreclosures in the coming months as this pandemic rages on,” Biden said. “There’s nothing we can do to change the trajectory of the pandemic in the next several months.”

Biden’s remark comes after the president signed an order mandating both masks and social distancing on federal property — a directive he and members of his family appear to have violated shortly after enacting it. On the day of his inauguration, Biden, first lady Jill Biden, along with several family members took photos with masks — and one without.

Earlier Wednesday, Biden said, “Wearing masks isn’t a partisan issue — it’s a patriotic act that can save countless lives.” When asked Thursday why the Biden family went maskless for a photo, White House press secretary Jen Psaki replied dismissively.

“He was surrounded by his family, we take a number of precautions but I think we have bigger issues to worry about at this moment in time,” Psaki explained. “I think he was celebrating in the evening of a historic day in our country and certainly he signed the mask mandate because it’s a way to send a message to the American public about the importance of wearing masks.”

When pressed on why Biden did not lead by the “power of his example” regarding masks, Paski shot back, “The power of his example is also the message he sends by signing 25 executive orders, including almost half of them related to COVID.”

Breitbart

American Airlines to launch new direct flights between New York and Israel

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American Airlines plane. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

(JNS) American Airlines is scheduled to begin a new direct flight this spring between New York and Israel, traveling to and from John F. Kennedy International Airport and Ben-Gurion International Airport.

While the new direct route was announced in July, the date for the new launch (May 6) and the date for ticket sales (Jan. 25) are new.

Flights will feature kosher food available for pre-order and kosher wine for passengers, regardless of their seating.

Additionally, a direct American Airlines route between Dallas and Tel Aviv is scheduled to begin in September.

American Airlines previously operated flights between Philadelphia and Tel Aviv; that route ended in 2015.

Biden-Linked WHO Adviser Says COVID-19 ‘Likely’ Leaked From Wuhan Lab

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(TJVNEWS.COM) Jamie Metzl – who served as Deputy Staff Director of the Foreign Relations Committee under Biden (2001-2003), after serving on the National Security Council (1997-1999) and the State Department (1999-2001) under Clinton, waited until three days after Biden’s inauguration to tell the Toronto Sun(LINK)that he thinks COVID-19 was most likely an accidental lab leak in Wuhan.

“There’s no irrefutable evidence,” said the Kansas-born Metzl, a senior Atlantic Council fellow who was appointed to the WHO expert advisory committee on human genome editing in 2019. “There’s just more evidence and as more evidence arrives, the case for accidental lab leak, in my view, increases.”

From Metzl’s interview with the Sun

What about the original theory that this all started in a wet market in Wuhan?

That was a lie. And the Chinese government knew very early on that that was a lie. And so in the face of overwhelming evidence in May of last year, the Chinese government shifted its position.

Do you get the idea of scary viruses being created in a lab may seem a little sci-fi?

It may feel like sci-fi to people but what’s happening is sci. There is a field of study called “gain of function” research, which is highly controversial in which some scientists amplify the virility of viruses. We know that the Wuhan Institute of Virology was involved in gain of function research on bat coronaviruses.

Is it because this specifically started in China that we still don’t know how COVID-19 started?

If there had been an outbreak in Congo or some country in Africa and that country, in the earliest days of the pandemic, prevented World Health Organization investigators from going onto the scene of the outbreak, for nearly a month, the world would have gone berserk.

Michigan Mega Millions Ticket Wins $1.05 Billion Jackpot

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AP

(AP) Someone in Michigan bought the winning ticket for the $1.05 billion Mega Millions jackpot, which is the third-largest lottery prize in U.S. history.

The winning numbers for Friday night’s drawing were 4, 26, 42, 50 and 60, with a Mega Ball of 24. The winning ticket was purchased at a Kroger store in the Detroit suburb of Novi, the Michigan Lottery said.

“Someone in Michigan woke up to life-changing news this morning, and Kroger Michigan congratulates the newest Michigan multimillionaire,” said Rachel Hurst, a regional spokeswoman for the grocery chain. She declined to comment further.

The Mega Millions top prize had been growing since Sept. 15, when a winning ticket was sold in Wisconsin. The lottery’s next estimated jackpot is $20 million.

Friday night’s drawing came just two days after a ticket sold in Maryland matched all six numbers drawn and won a $731.1 million Powerball jackpot.

The jackpot figures refer to amounts if a winner opts for an annuity, paid in 30 annual installments. Most winners choose a cash prize, which for the Mega Millions game would be $776.6 million before taxes and $557 million after taxes, Michigan Lottery spokesman Jake Harris said.

“No way!” Ryan Gabrielli told The Detroit News after shopping Saturday at the lucky Kroger. “We meant to play the lottery but forgot to.”

Harris said the ticket holder should sign the back and keep it in a safe place.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if the winning ticket holder held onto that ticket for a little bit, got their affairs in order, put together a financial plan and then reached out to contact us,” he said.

Only two lottery prizes in the U.S. have been larger than Friday’s jackpot. Three tickets for a $1.586 billion Powerball jackpot were sold in January 2016, and one winning ticket sold for a $1.537 billion Mega Millions jackpot in October 2018.

In Grosse Ile, a suburb south of Detroit, 126 people bought more than 600 tickets for the Friday drawing but didn’t win the jackpot. They hoped to win enough money to replace a publicly owned bridge on their island in the Detroit River that has been closed indefinitely for major repairs. The only other transportation option for the island’s 10,000 residents is a privately owned toll bridge.

“We used this to lift our spirits and dream a little bit,” said organizer Kyle de Beausset. “Of course we’re open to any help with the bridge, but I can’t imagine the winner would want to finance it.”

The odds of winning a Mega Millions jackpot were incredibly steep, at one in 302.5 million.

The game is played in 45 states as well as Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Who ordered the National Guard troops stuffed into the icy underground parking garage?

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By Monica Showalter

Following the strange inauguration of Joe Biden, some 25,000 to 65,000 National Guard troops brought in to guard the Capitol were in for a string of insults.  First, their loyalty was questioned.  Then their professionalism was questioned.  And with no clear purpose for so many of them to protect the Capitol, it was clear they were being used for photo-op props, not the service they were sworn to.  They found themselves there not to chase off rioters, but to bolster Democrats in their political purpose of smearing Republicans as insurgents.

The final insult came when someone ordered them to get lost from the Capitol.  Like discarded props, or no longer welcome valets, more than a thousand were ordered into an icy underground parking garage to stay out of sight, out of mind.  They had no heat, just one bathroom for 5,000 personnel, and only one outlet.  They had no internet and no beds, forcing them to sleep on hard ground in 38-degree cold.  COVID was present, making the harsh conditions a potential superspreader event.

Upstairs the beautiful people in monochrome colors, heat, fancy bathrooms, and tons of snacks carried on as usual.  It’s good to be the elite.

According to Politico, who asked a Guardsman what was going on:

“Yesterday dozens of senators and congressmen walked down our lines taking photos, shaking our hands and thanking us for our service. Within 24 hours, they had no further use for us and banished us to the corner of a parking garage. We feel incredibly betrayed,” the Guardsman said.

Four governors called their National Guardsmen back, with Florida’s Gov. Ron DeSantis summing it up with this: “They are soldiers.  They’re not Nancy Pelosi’s servants.”

Finally, someone on Team Biden told doddering old Joe there was a public relations problem, and Biden reportedly called the National Guard commander to apologize.  We don’t have a quote, so we don’t know if he really apologized, but the press barreled ahead to claim it was that.  Around the same time, wife Jill, whoops, that’s Dr. Jill Biden, was dispatched to meet a few of the Guard on the outside grounds, to distribute a basket of cookies.  Based on the size of her basket, it didn’t look like enough to feed 65,000; it was just enough for the cameras.  And no, she didn’t take that basket into the garage; she just served the cookies to the Guards guarding, out on the Capitol lawn.

What’s vivid here is how many Democrats fell over themselves to claim they didn’t like it and didn’t do it.

Besides a lot of Republicans, House leftist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweeted “yeah this is not okay” and offered the Guard the use of her office couch, along with a lot of snacks.

President Trump, however, apparently got there first, offering the Guard the luxurious accommodations of the nearby Trump hotel for free.  Nice try, Sandy.

Meanwhile, another leftist, Rep. Bill Keating (D-Mass.) went out of his way to deny that he was the one who did it, as Breitbart News reported, having gone “Karen” by loudly confronting a National Guardsman in a Dunkin Donuts not wearing a mask, and at least appealing to the management — he said Joe Biden signed a mask mandate, so it was very important to him to intervene.  In any case, he said the Guards were just resting and never were sleeping on the floor, so nothing bad went on.

According to the Boston Herald:

Keating said he was in a coffee shop in the House with a large number of people on Thursday when he saw some not wearing masks. President Biden on Wednesday had signed an executive order mandating mask wearing on federal property.

“I commented — to no one in particular — that this has the ingredients of a super-spreader event and we should all keep our masks on. A member of the National Guard chose to loudly refuse,” said Keating, who makes at least $174,000 a year as a congressman and earns a state pension of nearly $114,000 as a former district attorney, according to the comptroller’s office.

“That is the totality of what took place,” Keating said. “Over 400,000 people have already died in this country, roughly 4,000 a day, due to COVID, and if I were in the same situation today, I would say the exact same thing.”

Whoever it was who ordered the National Guard into the garage is not owning up to it.  The media are incurious — not a single reporter asked White House press secretary Jen Psaki about it — but after so many indignities connected to the Biden inaugural, the Guard would surely have a right to know.

What’s known so far is that members of the Guard said the Capitol Police ordered it, but the Capitol Police chief explicitly denied it.  Chief Yogananda Pittmann said she “temporarily” ordered them to a garage where there were heat and bathroom facilities, so nothing bad happened, but the Guard said there was neither.  This, like Keating’s qualifiers, doesn’t quite sound like a denial.

Whether Pittmann was acting on her own or at the behest of House speaker Nancy Pelosi is an interesting question, given Pelosi’s role in controlling the Capitol Police.  Pelosi hasn’t said anything on her Twitter feed, or apparently anywhere else.  She praised the Guard a few days ago, but she blasted them last summer when President Trump called them in to protect federal property.

According to the Washington Examiner, a low-level Capitol police officer acting outside the chain of command is the goat who did it, and in any case, he was sending them to a nice place with heat, not what was really a freezing parking garage.  This sounds like more spin, given that nobody knows who the little fellow is.

Whatever happened, it sounds like the doings of the Democrats, who used the Guard and then tried to bury them underground, out of sight, out of mind.  That sets a mighty interesting tone for the incoming Biden administration.  It might just be the first thing it’s remembered for.

 

ICE Agents Ordered to Free All Illegal Aliens in Custody: ‘Release Them All’

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(AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)

JOHN BINDER

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, tasked with enforcing federal immigration law, are being instructed to free all detainees in their custody, as President Joe Biden’s administration halts deportations.

An internal January 21 ICE memo, independently reviewed by Breitbart News and first reported by Fox News’s Tucker Carlson, orders agents to “stop all removals,” including land and air deportations.

In addition, the memo tells agents that “all cases” of detainees in ICE custody are now to be considered “no significant likelihood of removal in foreseeable future” — suggesting all detainees will need to be released.

“Release them all, immediately,” the ICE official wrote to staff in the memo. Typically, if detainees do not have sponsors in the United States, agents can hold an individual in their custody. The memo, though, states that is no longer the case and that even detainees without sponsors must be released.

It is unclear if ICE is currently carrying out the mass release of all 14,195 detainees in its custody, 71.45 percent of whom are convicted criminals or have pending criminal charges. These detainees are currently held in approximately 138 facilities across the United States.

ICE has halted all deportations, regardless of the criminal convictions of an illegal alien, as a result of Biden’s executive order stopping removals for at least 100 days. The initiative is a long-term goal of the open borders lobby, which has sought a permanent end to deportations.

ICE officials have not responded to a request for comment in time for this publication.

Breitbart

Israel launches coronavirus vaccinations for teenagers

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(AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

(i24) Vaccines now available to high school students aged 16-18 with parental approval

Israel began administering coronavirus vaccines to teenagers Saturday as it pushed ahead with its inoculation drive, health officials said.

On Thursday, Israel’s Health Ministry announced that it approved inoculation of high school students, aged 16-18, whose parents okayed the jab.

The country’s largest health fund, Clalit, was already giving teens shots as of Saturday morning, its website said, while the three smaller funds were due to kick off their campaign later.

Also from Saturday, people aged 40 and up are also allowed to get the vaccine in another expansion of the minimal age for booking an appointment.

Israel began administering vaccines on December 20, beginning with health professionals and quickly proceeding to the elderly, sick and at-risk groups, continuously lowering the minimum age of those entitled to the shot.

Since the rollout of vaccinations one month ago, almost 2.5 million of Israel’s nine-million-strong population have received at least one jab, according to the data released Friday.

The country secured a huge stock of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and has pledged to share the impact data quickly with the US-German manufacturer.

With pandemic figures still relatively high, Israel also extended its third national coronavirus lockdown on Tuesday, its end now slated for January 31.

Schumer: Impeachment Trial will Begin Week of February 8

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AP

JOSHUA CAPLAN

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) announced Friday that former President Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial will begin the week of February 8th.

“Both the House managers and the defense will have a period of time to draft their legal briefs just as they did in previous trials. …Once the briefs are drafted, the presentation by the parties will commence the week of February 8,” Schumer said in a Senate floor speech.

The development comes after Pelosi announced that the House will send its single article of impeachment to the upper chamber on Monday.

The Hill reports:

Under the agreement between Schumer and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), the article will be read at 7 p.m. on Monday. Senators will be sworn in Tuesday and a summons will be issued to Trump. Trump’s response to the article and House’s pre-trial brief will be due by Feb. 2, and Trump’s pre-trial brief will be due six days later. The earliest the trial could start is Feb. 9, when the House’s pre-trial rebuttal is also due.

In a statement, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell ‘s (R-KY) office expressed satisfaction regarding trial timeline.

“Leader McConnell is glad that Leader Schumer agreed to Republicans’ request for additional time during the pre-trial phase. Especially given the fast and minimal process in the House, Republicans set out to ensure the Senate’s next steps will respect former President Trump’s rights and due process, the institution of the Senate, and the office of the presidency,” McConnell spox Doug Andres said.

Last week, McConnell accused Trump of stoking the recent riot at the U.S. Capitol, in which five people died, including a police officer. “The mob was fed lies. They were provoked by the president and other powerful people, and they tried to use fear and violence to stop a specific proceeding … which they did not like,” stated the Kentucky Republican. “But we pressed on. We stood together and said an angry mob would not get veto power over the rule of law in our nation.”

McConnell has yet to decide on whether he will vote to convict Trump in the upcoming trial, while some reports suggest that he may have trouble holding on to his long-held leadership post if he votes against the former president.

“If he does, I don’t know if he can stay as leader,” one unnamed senior Republican senator said, reported CNN. The lawmaker  told the news outlet that “several of his colleagues held similar views and asked not to be named discussing sensitive internal politics.”

Beitbart News

US military convoy enters northeast Syria: report

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(i24) A convoy of 40 trucks and armor vehicles said to have entered Syria from Iraq

A large US military convoy entered northeastern Syria on Thursday, Syrian state news agency SANA reports, citing sources on the ground.

According to the report, the convoy included some 40 trucks and armored vehicles and was backed from the air by helicopters.

It entered Syria from Iraq via the al-Waleed crossing to bring arms and logistical equipment to the bases in Hasakeh and Deir Ezzor provinces.

Other local media report that such maneuvers are not unusual as the US often moves transfers equipment between Iraq and Syria.

At the same time, SANA also reports that some 200 US troops arrived in the Hasakeh province on helicopters.

According to the report, the troops are set to deploy on the nearby oilfields, with Kurdish-controlled eastern Syria rich in energy resources.

The US-led coalition has been working closely with the Kurds during the campaign against the Islamic State terrorist group in Syria, with Kurdish forces often working as ground coordinators for coalition jets during airstrikes.

In late 2020, then-US President Donald Trump ordered US troops withdrawn from the area to redeploy to Iraq.

One Million Jobs Lost in New York State During Pandemic

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People eat at restaurant tables on a street block closed to vehicle traffic to allow social distancing and outdoor dining during the coronavirus pandemic in the borough of Manhattan in New York City on Sunday, December 13, 2020. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey)

By Sandy Fitzgerald(NEWSMAX)

The state of New York lost 1 million jobs in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, including 578,000 in New York City alone, according to a new state Labor Department report.

The job losses, which caused 10 percent of the state workforce to vanish, came after lockdowns, tourism drops, and tanking business activity, reports The New York Post. In New York City, the decline meant that 12 percent of jobs disappeared, marking the highest job loss in the state.

In the United States overall, 6% of jobs dropped, marking half the rate of New York City, which was the initial coronavirus epicenter last spring.

The economy has also stalled during the second COVID-19 surge, with New York State losing 37,200 jobs in December, compared to November of last year.

Most of New York City’s job losses came from the restaurant, food services, and beverage industry. In December 2019, 324,500 people were employed in that sector, compared to 183,800 in December 2020.

The industry also lost 11,700 jobs in December compared to November after Gov. Andrew Cuomo reinstated the ban on indoor dining in New York City in an attempt to contain the second COVID-19 surge.

The hospitality sector, which includes hotels, arts, and entertainment, also dropped 366,000 jobs statewide, with many hotels and the Broadway theater district remaining shuttered.

According to Cuomo’s economic forecast, released as part of his new budget plan this week, the state will probably not recover all of its lost jobs until 2025.

Andrew Rigie, executive director of the NYC Hospitality Alliance, said restaurants and bars are essential to the city’s “social and economic fabric” and the city is at a “crisis level like we’ve never experienced.”

New York City restauranteurs also complain that indoor dining is banned in the city but is allowed elsewhere in the state if combined with social distancing restrictions.

“If New York City is to pull itself out of this economic grave and gain jobs, we must safely bring back regulated indoor dining like it’s permitted in the rest of New York State, and the Biden Administration and Congress must enact the RESTAURANTS Act stimulus plan very soon,” Rigie said.