Daily News Roundup
NOTABLE QUOTES
Dr. Anthony Fauci in a recently discovered February 2020 e-mail wrote: Masks are really for infected people to prevent them from spreading infection to people who are not infected rather than protecting uninfected people from acquiring infection. The typical mask you buy in the drug store is not really effective in keeping out virus, which is small enough to pass through material. It might, however, provide some slight benefit in keep out gross droplets if someone coughs or sneezes on you. I do not recommend that you wear a mask, particularly since you are going to a very low risk location. Your instincts are correct money is best spent on medical countermeasures such as diagnostics and vaccines.
Albert Einstein: The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything.
Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice under President George W. Bush said: “What really struck me, and maybe it’s because I’m a political scientist, is that the conditions that produced a populist leader, who had never been in government before, was something I think a lot of us had not paid much attention to, frankly. He touched the nerve of people who felt left out by globalization, who felt diminished by elites that just assumed that the conversation was the conversation they were having, not the conversation that people who’d been left behind we’re having.”
Ken Masugi contributor to American Greatness: “America’s tribal politics” is not some specter aroused by Trump but is rooted in Democratic political strategy, as it has been throughout American history. Since the 1790s the Democratic Party has been cleverly constructed from conflicting groups united in their hatred of their opposition.
Bruce Bawer contributor to Frontpage Magazine reviews Lt. Col. Mathew Lohmeier’s book, Irresistible Revolution: Marxism’s Goal of Conquest & the Unmaking of the American Military: Make no mistake: the kind of indoctrination that Lohmeier recounts in his book is nothing less than treasonous – a manifest attempt to sow discord and crush patriotism, thus rendering the military useless as a fighting force.
Liam Brooks contributor to American Thinker: The tyrants are in charge, and they want your guns. While the left has denied it for decades, anyone who pays attention knows that the ill named “progressives” want to totally eliminate the Second Amendment. Period. The so-called “red flag” laws popping up around the country, as well as the gun-hating zealot nominated by Biden to head the ATF, are just two examples of Marxism’s accelerated drive to disarm law-abiding citizens. It won’t be long before the Democrats attempt to push through a gun registration law, always the final step before total confiscation.
Ray DiLorenzo contributor to Canada Free Press: In spite of thousands of pages of witnesses to significant voting and counting irregularities of the 2020 election, no federal agency is yet to seriously investigate. Our federal courts too have turned a blind eye, including our Supreme Court. Few in authority, from every branch of government, apparently understands that justice in this country has died. It undermines every other institution and puts Equal Justice Under the Law, one of the basic tenants of our country, into the scrap heap of history.
PRESIDENT TRUMP
Chaitin: Trump says loyalty to ‘fallen heroes’ is ‘everlasting’ in Memorial Day message
“On this Memorial Day, we remember the fallen heroes who took their last breaths in defense of our Nation, our families, our citizens, and our sacred freedoms,” he said. “The depth of their devotion, the steel of their resolve, and the purity of their patriotism has no equal in human history. On distant battlefields, in far-off oceans, and high in the skies above, they faced down our enemies and gave their lives so that America would prevail. They made the supreme sacrifice so that our people can live in safety and our Nation can thrive in peace. It is because of their gallantry that we can together, as one people, continue our pursuit of America’s glorious destiny.” […] “We owe all that we are, and everything we ever hope to be, to these unrivaled heroes. Their memory and their legacy is immortal. Our loyalty to them and to their families is eternal and everlasting,” Trump said.
Read more at Washington Examiner.
U.S. SUPREME COURT
Nanos: Justice Gorsuch Calls Out Ninth Circuit for Being an ‘Outlier’ in 9-0 Immigration Decision
In yet another unanimous opinion as the current term draws to a close, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled Tuesday against asylum-seeking immigrants in the companion cases of Garland v. Dai and Garland v. Alcaraz-Enriquez (previously captioned Rosen v. Dai and Rosen v. Alcaraz-Enriquez, respectively). The cases presented a procedural question that promises to have a profound impact on the cases of individuals seeking asylum in the United States. The Court decided 9-0 that an appellate court must not presume an immigrant’s testimony to be credible when a lower court did not specifically address that person’s credibility. In a 15-page opinion, Justice Neil Gorsuch repeatedly derided the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit for its practice of taking immigrants at their word when they are not entitled to such deference. To be granted asylum, an immigrant must…..
Read more at MSN.
Turley: Unpacked and Undivided: Is The Court Sending A Message With A Litany Of 9-0 Decisions?
Today the Supreme Court issued two more unanimous decisions in Garland v. Dai and United States v. Cooley. This follow two unanimous decisions last week. The weekly display of unanimity is notable given the calls by Democratic leaders to pack the Court. Yesterday, I wrote about how the heavy-handed campaigns might backfire with the justices. As we await important and likely divided decisions on issues like abortion, Chief Justice John Roberts and his colleagues seem to be sending a message that the Court is not so rigidly ideological as Democratic members and activists suggest.
Read more at Jonathan Turley.
2020 ELECTION
FYII: Maricopa County Audit May 31. 2021 tweet: Great election audit news! We surpassed counting 50% of the Maricopa ballots last week. The audit continues!
Sherman: Pennsylvania Republican legislators travel to Arizona to observe election audit
A group of Pennsylvania Republican legislators is traveling Wednesday to Arizona to observe an audit of the 2020 election results, with the possible of replicating such an audit in their state. GOP Sens. Doug Mastriano and Cris Dush, and Rep. Rob Kauffman will meet with Arizona Republicans in the state capitol before touring the audit at Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix. They will also receive a brief from the forensic audit team.
Read more at Just The News.
2022 ELECTION
McCarthy: Florida Dem Makes Bid Against DeSantis Official
Fried has spent the last year criticizing DeSantis on the issues, including COVID response and voting reform. She joins former Florida Governor and current Congressman Charlie Crist (D-FL), who is vying for his old job, in the Democratic primary contest.
Read more at Townhall.
PEACEFULLY & PATRIOTICALLY HAVE YOUR VOICES HEARD
Anton: Red Lines
In September, I published a book called The Stakes. It was billed as a “current events” or election-year title. The election is behind us and the candidate I recommended is no longer president. But the analysis that led me to the recommendation is very much still “current.” To recap briefly (but read the whole thing!), the book explains how every prominent and powerful American institution, including the federal government, has been taken over by a hostile elite who use their vast powers to attack, despoil, and insult about half the nation. In the sixth chapter (excerpted here), I outline what I think America will look like if the present ruling class refuses to moderate, cannot be forced to share power, and has the wherewithal to keep its regime going. In the seventh chapter, I sketch several possibilities—from secession to Caesarism to collapse—that might result if it turns out that our overlords are a lot less competent than they think. And in the final chapter (excerpted here), I offer policy and other ideas that might enable America to avoid those fates. That chapter (from which this essay is adapted) culminated with a proposal now being talked about widely, namely, to allow counties, cities, and towns unhappy with their current state government to join another. This would be a practical, and practicable, way to ease Blue and Red Americans’ present discontent and exasperation with each other.
Read more American Greatness.
GOP
Parsons: To Save The Republican Party, the GOP Must Die
The GOP must die. The Grand Old Party is over and unsalvageable. The name finds its origin in the post-Civil War era as the party that saved the Union, but whatever positive connotations may have come with the GOP moniker are dead and gone now. Today, GOP conjures images of gray hairs at the country club and board meetings at Halliburton, and it seems the only thing it is nterested in saving is the status quo. There was a time when these perceptions could be dismissed as partisan pejoratives, but at some point, Republican Party leadership chose to embrace and embody the characterization. Fool me twice, shame on me. As of late, GOP legacies like Paul Ryan and Liz Cheney have decided that they will draw a line in the sand and say “you’re either with us or against us.” Denouncing the effective but unpolished populism of Donald Trump, they paint the future of the Republican Party as bleak should it continue down this path of uncouth but wildly successful policy. The answer, of course, is a resounding “bye Felicia!” Believing themselves the arbiters of conservatism, they have determined that populism has no place in the Republican Party. By their standards, conservatism amounts to congeniality and infinite surrender. Like a toothless dog that threatens to gum you to death, the GOP has no bite. And I’m left questioning whether it wants to? […] The grassroots of the Republican Party are nothing if not tenacious. Like a predator testing the electric fences for weak spots, the grassroots have consistently mounted offensives against the GOP establishment, only to be rebuffed by the deep pockets and entrenched bureaucracy of Washington, D.C.
Read more at American Thinker.
Bonchie: Lisa Murkowski Gets Served a Great, Big Helping of ‘Unity’ From Joe Biden
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) decided to forgo actually doing her job of advising and consenting to Joe Biden’s various nominees, electing to instead vote for all manner of crazy and unqualified people in the name of bipartisan unity. She also recently voted for the so-called “January 6th commission.” Well, that’s not working out too well, as Murkowski got served a large helping of said unity from Joe Biden today. It came in the form of the administration shutting down more oil leases in Alaska, further harming the state’s chief industry. It’s almost like rubber-stamping appointments that are promising to destroy your state’s economy is a bad idea, right?
Read more at Red State.
Hamachck: Sen. Rand Paul Amendment Succeeds, Stops Gain-Of-Function Research Funding in China
The Senate passed an amendment Wednesday that will permanently ban all funding for gain-of-function research in China. In the simplest explanation, gain-of-function research is research that alters an organism or disease to make it more transmissible, or pathogenic, Business Insider reports. Brought forth by Dr. Rand Paul, the amendment is co-sponsored by Sens. Ron Johnson, Tommy Tuberville, Mike Braun, Thom Tillis and Dr. Roger Marshall.
Read more at Human Events.
CHINA: AMERICA’S MORTAL ENEMY
Gordon Chang tweeted on June, 1, 2021: A strain of bird flu has now jumped to a human for the first time: https://reut.rs/3i8UwCU. #China, for many reasons, is the world’s disease factory. #COVID19 #coronavirus
Beyrer & Foldi: China-Backed Student Group Weaponizes Wokeness To Attack Regime Critics
Student groups backed by the Chinese Communist Party are using the language and tactics of far-left campus activists to advance the party’s agenda, a Hong Kong democracy advocate told the Washington Free Beacon. Nathan Law, a member of the Hong Kong government until his expulsion and imprisonment at the hands of the Chinese regime, experienced this firsthand when a student group tied to the CCP attempted to cancel one of his talks at the University of Chicago. Using the language of American social justice activists, the Chinese Students and Scholars Association (CSSA) told the administration that hosting Law “falls outside the purviews of free speech.” The Chinese regime, Law said, is adept at exploiting power politics to silence critics. At home, they strong-arm dissenters; in the United States, they play the victim card. “They want their narrative to be accepted by western communities,” Law said. “No matter what narrative or terms they use to conceive these facts, it’s easy to spot them once you understand what they are doing.”
Read more at Free Beacon.
PUTIN STRIKES AGAIN
Barkoukis: World’s Biggest Meat Supplier Hit With Ransomware Attack, Affecting One-Fifth of US Beef Capacity
JBS’s five biggest beef plants in the U.S. — which altogether handle 22,500 cattle a day — have halted processing following a weekend attack on the company’s computer networks, according to JBS posts on Facebook, labor unions and employees. Those outages alone have wiped out nearly a fifth of America’s production. Slaughter operations across Australia were also down, according to a trade group. One of Canada’s largest beef plants was idled for a second day. It’s unclear exactly how many plants have been affected by the attack globally as JBS has yet to release details that granular.
Read more at Townhall.