Daily News Roundup

Estimated Reading Time: 26 minutes

NOTABLE QUOTES

John J. Mearsheimer contributor to Foreign Affairs magazine: The Biden administration should have worked with Russia to settle the Ukraine crisis before war broke out in February. It is too late now to strike a deal. Russia, Ukraine, and the West are stuck in a terrible situation with no obvious way out. One can only hope that leaders on both sides will manage the war in ways that avoid catastrophic escalation. For the tens of millions of people whose lives are at stake, however, that is cold comfort.

Victor Davis Hanson contributor to American Greatness: So, like the earlier “Russian collusion” hoax, and the January 6 “insurrection,” the supposed right-wing inspired civil war is the latest shrill warning from the Left about how “democracy dies in darkness” and the impending end of progressive control of Congress in a few months. On cue, Hollywood now joins the civil war bandwagon.

Josh Christenson staff write for Washington Free Beacon: A prosecutor in the office of a Virginia district attorney boosted by George Soros has a history of race-baiting on her social media and has predicted a war between white, Christian, heterosexual men and “everyone else.” “We are dangerously close to a civil war but it’s not North vs. South,” tweeted Kimberly Phillips, who works as an assistant commonwealth’s attorney for Loudoun County’s top prosecutor, Buta Biberaj (D.). “It’s White, Male, Christian, Heterosexual, and Wealthy vs. Everyone Else.”

Amy Swearer a legal fellow in the Edwin Meese Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at The Heritage Foundation: Almost every major study on the issue has found that Americans use their firearms in self-defense between 500,000 and 3 million times annually, according to the most recent report on the subject by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Seth Barron contributor to unherd.com: Liz Cheney’s thumping defeat in her bid for renomination for Wyoming’s sole seat in the House of Representatives signals again the utter and total defeat of the Bush-Cheney-Romney era of the Republican Party. The neoconservative period of GOP dominance ended when Donald Trump trounced the field during the 2016 primary season. But the avatars of that political tendency — in favour of military adventurism and “free markets” — keep appearing like ghosts at the feast to rattle their chains and insist on being seated above the salt.

Christian Whiton contributor to The Daily Mail: Outgoing US Representative Liz Cheney didn’t just lose her congressional seat in the state’s Republican primary on Tuesday. She got annihilated. She lost two-to-one. In numbers, that’s 66.3% to 28.9%. Much will be made of former President Donald Trump’s successful quest to dislodge the po-faced Cheney. But onlookers should see the vote for what it is: A stunning rejection of the incompetent and abusive political establishment.

Jeremy Adler spokesperson for Liz Cheney: In coming weeks, Liz will be launching an organization to educate the American people about the ongoing threat to our Republic, and to mobilize a unified effort to oppose any Donald Trump campaign for president.

Alan M. Dershowitz contributor to Gatestone Institute: . . .those of us who — despite our opposition to Trump politically — insist that the same standards of civil liberties must be applied to him as to those we support politically, have lost friends, been defamed by the media and been cancelled. This unacceptable double standard is so widespread that it endangers the rule of law and the historic role of neutral, non-partisan civil liberties that protect it from partisan weaponization.

Dr. Frank Furedi, author of How Fear Works: Culture of Fear in the 21st Century: I became interested in—not so much fear—but the way that the culture around fear works which is really the specific way in which Anglo-American societies have come to regard risk and come to regard threats and the tendency towards what I call worst-case thinking all the time in relation to just about any dimension of human experience. I was interested in the way that fear was focused on children and then kind of expanded into other areas and became clear to me that if you look at the narrative around children or on terrorism or on the environment, although they appear totally different, structurally they have a very similar pattern in the language that is used and in the way that the problem is framed.

Michael Senger contributor to Brownstone Institute: According to odds placed by bookmakers, the World Health Organization is a current frontrunner to win this year’s Nobel Peace Prize for its efforts in the fight against Covid-19. But this would be a terrible mistake by the Nobel Committee, upon whom it is incumbent to ensure credit is given where it’s due. In fact, as had been meticulously recorded for posterity in Snake Oil: How Xi Jinping Shut Down the World, virtually every policy the WHO implemented in response to Covid—from the lockdowns and ventilators to the mass testing and vaccine passes—was actually taken from the mind of a far more deserving candidate: Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party.

Libs of TikTok: The Left’s agenda to groom your children has taken another turn. Various states across America have begun implementing laws and policies to allow children to make healthcare decisions without a parent or guardian’s consent — and the medical industry is promoting it. Many of these states are using these new laws to allow for drastic medical decisions to be made without parental consent including hormone therapy, gender reassignment surgery, and medicated mental health treatment.

THE GREAT GLOBAL RESET

Sundance: Something is Looming Geopolitically, and We Better Start Taking It Seriously

As a result of western governments’ taking collective action under the auspices of a ‘climate change’ agenda, we are on the cusp of something happening with ramifications that no one has ever seen before. Western governments’, specifically western Europe, North America (U.S-Canada) and Australia/New Zealand, are intentionally trying to lower economic activity to meet the intentional drop in energy production. This is the core consequence of the Build Back Better agenda as promoted by the World Economic Forum. Anyone who says there is a reference point to determine both the short-term and long-term consequences is lying. There is no precedent for nations’ collectively and intentionally trying to reduce economic activity. Hiding behind the false justification that current inflation is driven by too much demand, central banks in Europe, the Bank of England, Bank of Canada and U.S. federal reserve are raising interest rates. The outcome we are currently feeling is an intentional economic contraction and global recession. […] There is no precedent for this. Never before in the history of industrialized nations has any government intentionally tried to lower its economic activity. It has never been done with intent before because within the contraction nations get more poor, people suffer. […] . . . someone needs to start talking about, and seriously challenging, the big picture consequence of this Build Back Better future, before it’s too late.

THE MEDICAL INDUSTRY’S WAR ON CHILDREN

Trans Totalitarianism: Time For Moral Panic

The phrase “moral panic” refers to a fear-driven mass overreaction to a phenomenon that is either false or minor. Witch hunts are the usual manifestation of a moral panic. There are no witches (well, technically not true, at least these days, but the witches didn’t poison the well), so to freak out and persecute women because they might be a witch is a classic example of moral panic. The Satanic abuse craze of the 1990s is another. Again: a “moral panic” ensues when there is a mass freakout over something that doesn’t exist, or is extremely minor and in no way justifies the size and intensity of the reaction. The other day, I saw on Twitter someone saying that they are a good liberal and all that, but they are really worried about what they’re seeing regarding the emerging culture of the medical and teaching professions encouraging children to transition to the opposite sex. “But,” said this person, “I don’t want to surrender to a moral panic.” I submit to you that a moral panic is precisely the correct response to this egregious phenomenon. That is, what is happening is so hideous, and so widespread, and the reaction by most people to this point has been so muted to non-existent, that if you are not panicking, you are not paying attention.

(July 8) Libs of Tik Tok: The Left’s alarming push to sever the parent-child relationship has hit the medical industry

The Left’s agenda to groom your children has taken another turn. Various states across America have begun implementing laws and policies to allow children to make healthcare decisions without a parent or guardian’s consent — and the medical industry is promoting it. Many of these states are using these new laws to allow for drastic medical decisions to be made without parental consent including hormone therapy, gender reassignment surgery, and medicated mental health treatment. In Washington, children as young as 13 are now allowed to undergo gender reassignment surgery and other questionable medical treatments without parental consent.

Jewell: Matt Walsh Has ‘A Real Easy Solution’ For Children’s Hospital Worried About Angry Messages Over Transgender Treatment

Daily Wire host Matt Walsh suggested that Boston Children’s Hospital “stop hurting kids” if it wants angry emails and phone calls to go away after the children’s medical center posted a video promoting hysterectomies for girls who want to transition out of a female body. In the video, Pediatric Gynecologist Frances Grimstad, MD, MS — who specializes in transgender reproductive health at Boston Children’s Hospital — explained what a “gender-affirming hysterectomy” entailed. The video quickly spread on Twitter as many people were outraged that a children’s hospital would promote irreversible procedures that render the patient unable to bear children. According to a report from NBC News, backlash to the video led Boston Children’s Hospital to send an email to employees, warning them about “harassing emails including threats of violence toward our clinicians and staff.” […] “In a healthy society, when kids are being drugged and mutilated and castrated and sterilized, the people that are doing this are going to hear about it, and they’re going to be subject, at a minimum, to enormous anger from the public,” Walsh remarked.

Drey: LGBTQIA+ Advocate-Pediatrician Admits Children Can Medically Transition At 10-Years-Old, Minor Females Can Have Breasts Removed

Rep. Dan Frankel (D-PA) recently interviewed a self-described “LGBTQIA+ advocate” and pediatrician at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, who said children can begin to medically transition genders as early as 10 years old, and minor females can have their breasts removed. To clear up the so-called misinformation surrounding the medical culture war involving transgender youth, Dr. Gerald Montano, who also works as the assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and adolescent medicine physician at Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh, explained to Frankel what “gender-affirming care” looks like for children at five and 10 years old.

BIDEN’S STASI

Sundance: Newsweek Sources Claim FBI Raid Was Cover for DOJ to Retrieve Russiagate Evidence Held by Donald Trump

Not wanting to put too much credibility behind any Newsweek report; however, the claims within the article mirror what we have suspected all along. Essentially, the nub of the article states the DOJ claim to “retrieve federal documents” was a cover story so the FBI could retrieve evidence Trump took from DC showing his Russiagate targeting. This is called “throwing a bag over it.”

Kliegman: A new enemies list? Conservatives, Trump allies targeted by the DOJ

The Justice Department has come under intense scrutiny for allegedly weaponizing federal law enforcement to target allies of former President Donald Trump and critics of the Biden administration, stoking fears of a politicized, two-tiered justice system riddled with double standards. […] “The enemies list consists of one name: Donald John Trump,” Bossie told the Just the News, Not Noise television show. “…And then secondly, on the list is every single supporter of Donald John Trump.” Here’s a nonexhaustive list of people close to Trump or critical of the Biden administration who were targeted by the Justice Department, fueling growing suspicions that the department is not be enforcing the law impartially.

(Remember Vincent Foster & Randy Weaver?) Billingsley: Live Freeh or Die

Skeletons in the FBI’s closet—and warnings of more violence to come. In their August 8 raid on Mar-a-Lago, FBI agents spent hours in Donald Trump’s private office, broke open his safe, and “scoured Melania Trump’s wardrobe.” As they process this unprecedented home invasion, the people might wonder what a search of FBI closets could possibly turn up. The administration of Bill Clinton is a good place to start looking. On July 19, 1993, President Clinton fired FBI Director William Sessions, a former judge and U.S. attorney appointed in 1987 by President Ronald Reagan. Clinton charged that Sessions used his position to leverage perks. The more likely cause was Sessions’ effort to prevent the politicization of the FBI, then gearing up under the new administration. Clinton’s pick for FBI boss was former FBI agent and federal judge Louis Freeh, who had “investigated and prosecuted some of the most complex crimes of our time.” According to Clinton, Freeh would be “good for the FBI and tough on criminals.” The nominee proclaimed, “I pledge a total commitment to the FBI, whose only beacon is the rule of law.” On July 20, 1993, at approximately 1 p.m., Deputy White House Counsel Vincent Foster came out of his office with his suit jacket in hand. He told Linda Tripp, an aide to White House Counsel Bernard Nussbaum, that he left some M&Ms on a tray if she happened to want any. Foster didn’t say where he was going, but as he headed out the door, he told Tripp “I’ll be back.” He wouldn’t. At approximately 6 p.m. that day, Foster’s body was found in Fort Marcy Park in Virginia.

JUDICIARY

Cleveland: Judge Won’t Unseal The Mar-a-Lago Affidavit, But It’s A Safe Bet The FBI Followed Its Depraved FISA Court M.O.

Ordering the unsealing of the Mar-a-Lago search warrant affidavit would be wrong as a matter of law. But as a matter of lessons learned, Americans can infer that the unprecedented search of former President Donald Trump’s home rested on circular reporting, material omissions, misleading assertions, informants of unproven reliability, and an investigation undertaken by partisan agents. Federal Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart will hear oral arguments Thursday afternoon on the media’s motions to unseal the Trump search warrant materials. The Department of Justice, with Trump’s consent, already released the search warrant and the corresponding attachments: Attachment A, which described the places to be searched, and Attachment B, which identified things to be seized. The government also released a redacted Property Receipt list. The Biden administration opposes, however, unsealing the affidavit filed in support of the search of Trump’s home, arguing that “the search warrant presents a very different set of considerations,” and that there are “compelling reasons, including to protect the integrity of an ongoing law enforcement investigation that implicates national security, that support keeping the affidavit sealed.”

SECOND AMENDMENT

Swearer: These 11 Defensive Gun Uses Show Protective Benefits of Second Amendment

I testified before Congress’ Joint Economic Committee last month in a hearing focused on “the economic toll of gun violence.” Of course, there’s no doubt that gun violence imposes a tremendous cost on society, both financially and in far less readily calculable ways. How does one measure, for example, the mental and emotional toll of being shot? As I explained to the committee, however, lawful gun owners are not largely to blame for these costs, despite many insinuations to the contrary by gun control advocates. Most lawful gun owners never will harm themselves or others and never will add a single dollar to the overall bill for gun violence. Meanwhile, lawful gun ownership provides significant but often underacknowledged protective benefits, enabling peaceable citizens to defend themselves and others far more effectively than if they were unarmed. […] The examples below represent only a small portion of the news stories on defensive gun use that we found in July. You may explore more by using The Heritage Foundation’s interactive Defensive Gun Use Database. (The Daily Signal is Heritage’s multimedia news organization.) July 3, Surprise, Arizona: An armed citizen fatally shot a gunman who opened fire at a neighborhood Fourth of July gathering, police said. Witnesses said the gunman lived in the neighborhood and had engaged in small talk and eaten a plate of food before drawing a handgun and shooting those around him. He killed two and wounded four others before being fatally shot by the armed citizen. Police said they thought the gunman’s actions were unprovoked, but didn’t know his motive. July 5, Houston: . . . July 7, Pensacola, Florida: . . . July 12, Chicago: . . .

WYOMING PRIMARY ELECTION UPDATE

McFarland; Huge Crossover Presence In Wyoming Primary Election: 94% Of Ballots Republican

Tuesday primary election statistics appear to show huge numbers of Democrats “crossed over” to vote Republican in the primary. It’s a contest that stands out from past elections. rom January 1 to Aug. 16 – the date of the election – the Republican party gained 19,016 registered voters, while the Wyoming registry as a whole gained just 6,273. That’s an internal shift of 12,743 voters into the Republican party. The crossover became more intense as the election grew near: the Republican rolls gained 7,521 voters in the first two weeks of August, whereas Wyoming’s total registry grew by just 2,457 voters.

Harriet Hageman Victory Speech: Wyoming Has Spoken On Behalf Of Everyone Concerned That The Game Is Rigged

[Note: It is reported that in liberal Teton County, WY almost 90% of the Democrats re-registered as Republicans and voted for Liz.]

Watch Harriet’s 5:01 acceptance speech: https://videos.dailymail.co.uk/video/mol/2022/08/17/3405608226624261994/640x360_MP4_3405608226624261994.mp4

Elkind: Liz Cheney attacks REPUBLICANS: Defeated GOP Rep. says Kevin McCarthy is not up to the job, slams his bond with Trump and calls out colleagues who ‘support election deniers’

Rep. Liz Cheney tore into her soon-to-be-former colleagues on Wednesday in her first television interview after being defeated by Donald Trump-backed challenger Harriet Hageman. She also blasted House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy for aligning himself with Trump after the Capitol riot publicly after privately fuming about his role in the violence. ‘I think what we have seen, not just in Wyoming but across the country, is that Donald Trump has betrayed Republican voters. He’s lied to them. Those who support him have lied to them. And they’re using people’s patriotism against them. They’re preying on people’s patriotism,’ Cheney said on NBC’s Today Show. ‘This is a great, a special, exceptional nation, and we need leaders who have reverence to our Constitution, are faithful to our Constitution, and will do what’s required to abide by our oath no matter whether it’s politically convenient. Kevin McCarthy does not fit that bill.’ […] Hageman took home more than twice the GOP votes that Cheney did in Tuesday night’s race, with the latter winning just two of 23 counties – including the one she calls home.

Schlichter: Cheney’s Humiliating Defeat Is Another Sign That We Are Winning

Here’s a thought exercise – would Liz Cheney have gotten more or fewer votes than she did if she had announced, right before the election, “I have monkeypox?” Considering that the pus plague is polling better than she did in the Wyoming primary the other night, perhaps she should have just announced that “I am monkeypox.” She is Republican monkeypox, you know. She is a walking, talking, warmongering, loathsome disease infecting the nether regions of the Republican Party, and her resounding rejection by the decent Americans of Wyoming demonstrates that we are curing the infection that is her kind. The Bill Kristols, the Jen Rubins, the Jeff Flakes, and the John McCains are gone, and we don’t miss them. Miracle Whip Mitt will be gone next time. He won’t be missed either, except by MSNBCNN and WaPo when they need a sitting senator to sell out the people who once had his yellow back. We are the new Republican Party, one not dedicated to getting its leading lights invited to DC cocktail parties but one determined to drop a turd in the DC punchbowl. And the new Republican Party has no place for Liz Cheney, her horrific father, or other insipid creatures like them. We’re tired of GOP poohbahs who never met a war they didn’t want your kids to fight. The Cheneys are absolutely perfect examples of what we are talking about. What have they ever done? I mean accomplished, as opposed to run their fool mouths about. What’s Dick Cheney’s big score? What’s in his win column? Nothing, and the same with his useless daughter.

Fleetwood: The Best Historical Analog For Liz Cheney Isn’t Lincoln. It’s Colin Kaepernick

While Cheney’s self-indulged fantasies about becoming the country’s next Lincoln is great comedy, there is one figure throughout American history that the Wyoming representative measures up to quite well: former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick. Much like Kaepernick, who made a Civil War era comparison of his own by relating the NFL draft process to a slave auction, Cheney has always been a washed-up nobody that was never good enough to make it in the pros. Rather than engaging in serious self-reflection as to why her popularity plummeted among the Wyomingites she swore to represent in Congress, Cheney decided to play the victim card and cast her work in the disgraceful Jan. 6 Committee as necessary for the future of the republic. From that point forward, anyone who refused to go along with her one-woman war against Trump became the enemy, while the bitter resentment intended to drive the rest of her political career completely divorced her from reality. The same pattern of delusions can also be found in Kaepernick’s story.

FAUCI’S VIRUS

Winters: Research Reveals COVID Lockdowns Claimed 20x More Life Years Than They Saved.

COVID-19 lockdowns could be responsible for claiming 20 times more lives than they were advertised to save, according to a new analysis published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.The paper, which bases its conclusions on a comprehensive review of other relevant, lockdown-focused literature, was authored by researchers at the Jerusalem College of Technology. “In this work, we performed a narrative review of the works studying the above effectiveness, as well as the historic experience of previous pandemics and risk-benefit analysis based on the connection of health and wealth,” summarized the article, titled “Are Lockdowns Effective in Managing Pandemics?” […] The paper doesn’t argue that lockdowns were merely ineffective; however, adding that they actually claimed the lives of the people public health officials claimed to be protecting. “The lockdown policies had a direct side effect of increasing mortality.

Kory, MD, MPA: The Miracle Not-Heard Around The World: The Success of Uttar Pradesh – Part 3

While Uttar Pradesh was “quietly” eradicating COVID, India adopted ivermectin nationally to combat the disastrous Delta wave. The impact of that decision is the world’s 2nd biggest criminal secret. In Part 1 and Part 2, I laid out the structure, function, and escalation of Uttar Pradesh’s (UP) “Test, Track, and Treat”(TTT) Program, which achieved what was essentially a zero infection rate across the state by September of 2021. In this post, I present what was happening at the Federal level in India during the time that UP was eradicating COVID. India’s Federal COVID Response Although I will denounce some aspects of corruption by the Federal Health Agencies in India by the end of this post, I have to give the “Indian Feds” credit for having started out on the right foot in early 2020. They, like UP, started with a goal of trying to protect the country’s population by investigating the use of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) in prevention and treatment for COVID. […] It is my belief that the war on ivermectin is over. Well, if not over, at a stalemate. All the doctors across the world using it to treat COVID will continue (unless we lose our medical licenses to do so like my friend Meryl Nass is being threatened with (not if we have anything to do with it – Paul Marik and I are serving as her expert witnesses). The rest of the system docs will continue to dismiss it as a horse dewormer and prescribe Paxlovid. Good times.

Housman: CDC To De-Emphasize Science, Prioritize Communications In Complete Post-COVID Overhaul

“For 75 years, CDC and public health have been preparing for Covid-19, and in our big moment, our performance did not reliably meet expectations,” Walensky said. “I want us all to do better and it starts with CDC leading the way.  My goal is a new, public health action-oriented culture at CDC that emphasizes accountability, collaboration, communication and timeliness.” […] A new office on equity will be created to improve the organization’s diversity, and new data tracking mechanisms will be developed. The CDC is also planning to ask Congress to expand its powers, namely to force state and local health jurisdictions to share health data with the agency in a standardized manner. The haphazard process of gathering data from across the country was a major obstacle for the agency during the pandemic.

BIDEN’S VACCINE MANDATES

Berenson: The biggest US hospital company quietly removed a report on a case of a fatal brain disease following mRNA vaccination from its Website

Last year, shortly after receiving Pfizer’s mRNA Covid vaccine, a 64-year-old Florida woman named Cheryl Cohen suffered a sudden and devastating case of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease – a progressive brain disorder. Cohen’s symptoms began on May 5, 2021, when she suffered a panic attack while driving. By June, she was unable to care for herself and was hospitalized. She died on July 22, 11 weeks after her symptoms began – and only 13 weeks after she received her second Pfizer shot. This March, several physicians who treated Cohen posted a report about her case to the Scholarly Commons page of HCA Healthcare., devoted to academic work by HCA physicians and other employees. The report on Cohen’s case – highlighting the close timing between her mRNA shots and her illness – quickly became among the page’s most downloaded. […] Still, Cohen’s case concerned her physicians, in part because her illness had moved so fast. Screening had also revealed Cohen had an extraordinarily high level of T-tau protein, a marker of neurodegeneration. They decided to write up a case report and submit it to HCA’s Website, as well as to prepare a longer paper for peer review. […] Even before Cohen’s case, in early 2021, some fringe scientists had conjectured the mRNA vaccines might risk causing or accelerating CJD or other brain diseases by triggering brain proteins to misfold. But their claims were theoretical and speculative and almost universally dismissed.

Piper: Colleges resist ending vaccine, booster mandates after CDC pulls the rug out

The CDC’s about-face on COVID-19 guidance last week does not appear to have prompted a wave of reflection by colleges as the academic year approaches. While many had already dropped across-the-board mask and testing requirements, the most elite are keeping vaccine and booster mandates even as the feds erase distinctions between vaccinated and unvaccinated groups due to breakthrough infections and natural immunity. All seven Ivy League schools continue to mandate primary-series vaccination, and five — the University of Pennsylvania, Brown, Harvard, Dartmouth and Columbia — still require boosters. New York University also kept a booster mandate. […] Published earlier this month in an American Medical Association journal, the study found the probability of reinfection during the Omicron variant wave was “slightly higher” among those who received two or more vaccine doses than one dose or fewer. The reinfection rate was highest among 18-29 year-olds (15%).

BIDEN/HARRIS/OBAMA REGIME: TRANSFORMING FOREIGN POLICY

Mearsheimer: Playing With Fire in Ukraine

Western policymakers appear to have reached a consensus about the war in Ukraine: the conflict will settle into a prolonged stalemate, and eventually a weakened Russia will accept a peace agreement that favors the United States and its NATO allies, as well as Ukraine. Although officials recognize that both Washington and Moscow may escalate to gain an advantage or to prevent defeat, they assume that catastrophic escalation can be avoided. Few imagine that U.S. forces will become directly involved in the fighting or that Russia will dare use nuclear weapons. Washington and its allies are being much too cavalier. Although disastrous escalation may be avoided, the warring parties’ ability to manage that danger is far from certain. The risk of it is substantially greater than the conventional wisdom holds. And given that the consequences of escalation could include a major war in Europe and possibly even nuclear annihilation, there is good reason for extra concern. To understand the dynamics of escalation in Ukraine, start with each side’s goals. […] The U.S. military could get involved in the fighting in a variety of ways. Consider a situation where . . .

CHINA: AMERICA’S MORTAL ENEMY

Mcevoy: CCP-Linked TikTok To Crack Down On Election ‘Misinformation’, Partners With US Gov

TikTok, a social media giant with ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), announced Wednesday it is partnering with a U.S. government organization and ramping up efforts to combat “harmful misinformation” on the app in preparation for the November midterm elections. TikTok, which is owned by Chinese company ByteDance, has faced scrutiny and ban threats from regulators and U.S. politicians for its potential ties to the CCP; Chinese employees at ByteDance reportedly enjoy full access to data from U.S. devices, according to a June BuzzFeed investigation, and many ex-Chinese state media employees work or have worked at the company. […] TikTok is also launching an in-app election center to inform its users of voting information; . . . […] TikTok is also working alongside non-governmental voter assistance organizations that target specific demographics and the Restore Your Vote program, which will assist voters with prior convictions, as well as the Campus Vote Project, which will help college students vote.

Intrepid Research: Exclusive: American Law Firms Collaborate with Chinese Military to Obtain U.S. Patents

As if our federal government weren’t asleep at the wheel enough when it comes to the Chinese Communist Party’s infiltration of the United States, we now have a federal agency actively aiding their military. After reviewing public records from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), Intrepid Research has discovered that the federal agency in charge of intellectual property protection has awarded hundreds of patents to dozens of Chinese military units and other Chinese government agencies. While the FBI opens a new counterintelligence investigation into Chinese activities every 12 hours, the USPTO is awarding intellectual property protections to China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA), as well as the now-infamous Wuhan Institute of Virology, and the Ministry of Public Security, which oversees China’s domestic law enforcement and national police forces.

Ghltonn: How Much Of The U.S. Has China Already Infiltrated Right Under Our Noses?

Numerous pieces have been published discussing the inexorable rise of China, and the likelihood of the Chinese economy overtaking the United States’ economy. More concerning, though, is the fact that Chinese companies closely aligned with Beijing are directly influencing operations in the United States. They are buying up land, influencing news and media networks, and shaping the narratives on college campuses. The Chinese assault is less of a swift invasion and more of an endless infiltration.

BIDEN/HARRIS/OBAMA REGIME: TRANSFORMING THE U.S. MILITARY

Kilpatrick: Defense, Diversity, and the China Threat

The FBI raid on Donald Trump’s estate has temporarily pushed the China threat out of the headlines. But, of course, the threat is still there and so is the question of how to respond to it. Teddy Roosevelt said that when dealing with hostile foreign powers one should “speak softly and carry a big stick.” In other words, don’t provoke your enemies, but let them know that you possess sufficient fire power and personnel to handle any situation that may arise. […] The U.S. still possesses a formidable military. But there is evidence that, in comparison to China, it is no longer as formidable as it once was. […] The fact that warships are now equipped with defensive capabilities that didn’t exist during the Second World War is offset by the fact that our enemies are now equipped with offensive capabilities that far exceed those of that era. Moreover, according to the National Defense piece, some of the counter-missile systems that we need “might not be available until 2030.” In short, “big-stick” diplomacy doesn’t work if you don’t have the big stick. But military power is not measured solely by advanced weaponry. The quantity and quality of personnel is also essential. Does the United States have enough troops to fight a war? Are they well-trained and well-motivated? The evidence is not reassuring.

BIDEN/HARRIS/OBAMA REGIME: TRANSFORMING AMERICA

VDH: ‘Civil War’ Porn

Those who warn most of some mythical civil war are those most likely to incite one. As Joe Biden’s polls stagnate and the midterms approach, we are now serially treated to yet another progressive melodrama about the dangers of a supposed impending radical right-wing violent takeover. This time the alleged threat is a Neanderthal desire for a “civil war.” The FBI raid on Donald Trump’s Florida home, the dubious rationale for such a historic swoop, and the popular pushback at the FBI and Department of Justice from roughly half the country have further fueled these giddy “civil war” conjectures. Recently “presidential historian” Michael Beschloss speculated about the parameters of such an envisioned civil war.

Alexander & Caralle: ‘Unbelievable’! Border patrol agents OPEN the gates at a crossing point letting in illegal migrants at the southern border moments after Greg Abbott’s Texas National Guard had locked them: More than two million have crossed in 2022 – a 22-year high

Footage showed the armed agents – who work under the direction of the Biden administration – unbuckle the barb-wire fence before several asylum seekers – including men, women and children – walked through. Agents then stood around chatting and finally shut the barrier between Mexico and the US after dozens had filed past them into the country, as the Texas National Guard watched on helplessly. The video was roundly slammed online, with Texas Governor Greg Abbott leading the charge by branding it ‘unbelievable’ and blaming Joe Biden’s border policies for the influx.

White: EXCLUSIVE: It pays to be rich! America’s wealthiest, including Tom Brady, Khloe Kardashian, Reese Witherspoon, Kanye and Nancy Pelosi’s husband took millions in PPP loans – and nearly all have been forgiven

The companies of mega-rich celebrities, including billionaires Kanye West and Jay-Z, received millions in government PPP loans – and in virtually every case the A-listers have been let off the hook for paying back the full amount. For the first time, DailyMail.com can reveal the exact amounts that these wealthy companies got through the Payment Protection Program, which was set up for desperate businesses hit by the Covid pandemic. In all but two of the cases we examined, the company was ‘forgiven’ despite the star owners being multi-millionaires. The status of the others is unknown. The loan program cost US taxpayers $953billion, with the University of Texas estimating that 15 percent of PPP claims – around $76billion – were fraudulent.

Sundance: Following Boost of $80 Billion from Congress, Treasury Secretary Tells IRS Enforcement to Prepare for New Technology Era

On August 10th, after reviewing the legislative language, CTH said, “I predict (in phase one) the IRS will soon create an office of “digital income verification and audits” or DIVA. This agency will be used to confiscate and remove access to on-line funds. In phase two they trigger the ‘climate change’ control mechanisms.” It’s not that much of a prediction as it is just an acceptance of this ongoing big government continuum. An IRS enforcement agency specifically focused on “Digital Income Verification and Audits” (DIVA), is a transparent mechanism following the basic principles of the government partnership with big tech social media. The IRS version will be a collaboration, and/or monitoring system, between the Treasury Dept and processors of on-line funds like PayPal or GiveSendGo, etc. Just like social media, the payment processing systems will eventually be merged with government systems.

Greenfield: Democrats Don’t Want Federal Employees to Have to Come to Work

The pandemic divided Americans into two classes: those who could work from home and those who could not. Federal government employees were members of the privileged class. And they don’t want that to change. During the pandemic, over 90% of the EPA, USAID, the Department of Education and, ironically, the Department of Labor, were ‘working’ online. […] While the pandemic is over, the privilege of the political pajama class isn’t. Long before the pandemic, Obama had signed into law the Telework Enhancement Act of 2010. Two years before the pandemic, Rep. Sarbanes of Maryland, who had originally introduced the Act, alongside Rep. Gerry Connolly of Virginia, both of whose districts are full of federal workers, proposed the Telework Metrics and Cost Savings Act to free even more federal employees from having to come to work. The 2018 Telework Metrics and Cost Savings Act wanted over a fifth of federal employees working from home in response to efforts by the Trump administration to get them to come to the office. “We must push back against the Trump administration’s repeated attacks on federal telework programs,” Sarbanes had complained. That bill never went anywhere, but it’s now being rebooted by Sarbanes and Connolly as the 2022 Telework Metrics and Cost Savings Act with a new post-pandemic gloss. […] . . . pandemic ‘zoom’ work was not a temporary phenomenon. Nor was it meant to be. Rep. Connolly cheered that due to the pandemic, “the cultural barriers to telework have essentially collapsed.” […] 25% of Department of Health and Human Services personnel didn’t even bother logging in.

Olohan: Betsy DeVos Says Under Proposed Legal Definitions, Biden Allegedly Sexually Harassed Her In A Wheelchair

DeVos discussed Biden’s new Title IX changes during an interview with Megyn Kelly, sharing the “one encounter” she allegedly had with Biden that took place before he decided to run for president. “I was in a wheelchair,” she said. “I was back stage after speaking, he came up to me, I had never met him before in my life, he came up to me, put his hands on my shoulders, and his forehead on my forehead for several seconds, and had conversation with me.” The former secretary of education said that if Biden had behaved in that manner as a student on a college campus, “under his proposed rule, I would have a Title IX sexual harassment allegation to levy against him because of his conduct.”

THE BIG GUY’S SON

Ross: ‘Whatever You Need’: How Hunter Biden Helped the CCP’s Premier Influence Group Gain a US Foothold

The Biden administration last month warned of a Chinese Communist Party front group that seeks to “co-opt” state leaders as part of Beijing’s sprawling foreign influence operation. Emails from Hunter Biden’s laptop show the first son and his business partners helped the organization gain a foothold in the United States while his father was vice president. In 2015, Biden’s partners lobbied the State Department to publicly approve a partnership between the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries and State Legislative Leaders Foundation, a nonprofit group that hosts forums for state legislators and corporate leaders. Hunter’s team portrayed the initiative as a boon for U.S.-Chinese relations. But emails show they hoped the U.S. government’s recognition of the partnership would help the foundation establish an office in Beijing. It is not clear why the partnership—or the Obama administration’s blessing of it—would have helped Hunter Biden’s business prospects. What is clear is that he and his colleagues believed it would: . . .

OTHER NEWS

Vespa: Journalist: Trump Supporters Are the Most Dangerous Animals I’ve Ever Covered

The level of hatred, ignorance, and fear that engulfs the Left about the Trump coalition is the new story involving liberal America’s ongoing derangement over the former president. Even before Trump became a national phenomenon, the Left hated us. Liberal America only likes us when we’re dead, but Trump has struck a never that has remained aggravated since 2016. It’s a hamstring pull that won’t heal, and it’s not just the liberal media or their institutions anymore. Former government officials have joined the chorus making for an unholy triumvirate of media members, Democratic Party members, and public servants who just hate half the country.

Rigolizzo: New Jersey Teachers Union Drops Ad Labelling Parents ‘Extremists’; Republicans React

New Jersey’s statewide teachers union has begun airing a jarring ad depicting concerned parents as “extremists.” The New Jersey Education Association (NJEA) released the advertisement Monday. In the ad, which as one Twitter user pointed out is currently airing, parents concerned about curriculum materials in classrooms are labeled as “extremists” attacking New Jersey schools to score political points. Republicans in the state reacted fiercely to the ad, slamming the union for demonizing parents.

O’Brien: UCLA Law launches project to track ‘attacks’ on critical race theory

The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Law has launched a “CRT Forward Tracking Project,” a database that will allow users to “track attacks on critical race theory” at the “local, state and federal levels.” “UCLA School of Law’s Critical Race Studies Program has created an innovative project to track and analyze legislative, regulatory and administrative efforts to block or undermine the teaching of a more complete history of the United States in schools across the country,” the school’s press release read. […] The project received support from some groups like the National Education Association, the largest labor union in the U.S.

Sundance: Target Profit Drops 90% in Second Quarter as Inflation Changes Consumer Purchasing

In the second quarter of 2021 Target earned $1.82 billion in profit. In the second quarter this year, target earned $183 million. That’s the result of inflation hitting the middle-class consumer.

Jewell: New York’s 9/11 Tribute Museum Closes Permanently

A Manhattan museum dedicated to remembering those lost in the 9/11 terror attacks shut its doors permanently Wednesday afternoon, citing financial losses from the COVID pandemic shutdowns. The 9/11 Tribute Museum struggled to get revenue back to pre-pandemic levels, making it impossible for the museum’s founding group, the September 11th Families’ Association, to get out of debt from its lease. […] The 9/11 Tribute Museum’s closing comes just weeks before the 21st anniversary of the day radical Islamic terrorists flew two hijacked airplanes into the Twin Towers in Manhattan, killing 2,753 Americans. Through the years, the museum also acted as support for survivors and those who lost loved ones in the attacks.

Silverio: ‘About Power And Control’: Planned Parenthood Spends Historical $50 Million On Midterm Elections

Planned Parenthood Advocacy and political organizations announced Wednesday is investing an historic $50 million into the 2022 midterm elections to help elect pro-abortion candidates into office. Planned Parenthood Votes said in a statement that the funds will be “strategically used to elect abortion rights champions” following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade in June. The organization also launched its 2022 electoral website, takecontrol2022.org, to present candidates endorsed by Planned Parenthood Action Fund, the release said. The investments target states with close races, including Georgia, Pennsylvania and Arizona, while also funding races in states that are restricting or banning abortion, the press release said.

Hogan, Hicks, Morphet & Golding: NYC moving migrants into famed luxury Times Square hotel

A luxury Manhattan hotel once touted as the “Lullabuy of Broadway” will soon be providing beddy-bye to hundreds of asylum-seeking migrants, The Post has learned. Mayor Eric Adams plans to convert the Row NYC — formerly known as the Milford Plaza and located in pricey tourist-packed Times Square — into an intake center and shelter for as many as 600 migrant families amid the city’s spiraling homelessness crisis, three sources familiar with the matter said. “In a month or two, we’re about to open up for [the city Department of Homeless Services], for homeless,” a hotel staffer told The Post on Monday. […] City Hall hasn’t said what the hotel plan may cost or provided any other details about it, including who exactly will run the operation. […] The daily weekday rate for a standard room with one full or queen bed in mid-September — around when the hotel could begin housing migrants – – ranges from $414.42 to $435.07 per night, including taxes and “facilities fees” and depending on the view. “Superior” rooms with two double or queen beds for families, and featuring decorations “inspired by the NYC subway system,” range in price from $445.40 to $547.41, including taxes and fees. A one-bedroom “executive suite” promises “stunning” views and “elevated decor for an undeniable notable experience,” all for a non-refundable nightly rate of $724.24 with taxes and fees included.

Times Editorial Board: Editorial: Now that a second recall effort has failed, let George Gascón do the work he was elected to do

Now that a second attempt to recall Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. George Gascón has failed in the petition phase, let’s hope there is not a third. Voters heard Gascón’s change-oriented proposals for the office during a long 2020 campaign and said “yes,” electing him over a two-term incumbent and putting him in office for a full four-year term that is not even half over. Voters can review his record in 2024 and decide then whether to keep him, assuming he runs again, or to move in a different direction.

War Room: Mark Finchem On Hit Piece Released By CNN Immediately After Primary Victory

Watch the 10:16 minute interview: https://rumble.com/v1g9kjh-mark-finchem-on-hit-piece-released-by-cnn-immediately-after-primary-victory.html

ADI Staff Reporter: Maricopa County Supervisors Certify Election Before Justice Of The Peace Race Decided

Despite the fact that Arizona statute requires a recount in a Justice of the Peace race, the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors inexplicably canvassed the 2022 August Primary Election, certifying that the results are accurate.

ADI Staff Reporter: Arizona Wendy’s Employee Facing Murder Charge Following Customer’s Death

According to Prescott Valley Police, the customer complained about his order and in response Kendrick came around the counter and beat him. Kendrick is facing a second-degree murder charge.

The Prickly Pear’s TAKE ACTION focus this year is to help achieve a winning 2024 national and state November 5th election with the removal of the Biden/Obama leftist executive branch disaster, win one U.S. Senate seat, maintain and win strong majorities in all Arizona state offices on the ballot and to insure that unrestricted abortion is not constitutionally embedded in our laws and culture.

Please click the TAKE ACTION link to learn to do’s and don’ts for voting in 2024. Our state and national elections are at great risk from the very aggressive and radical leftist Democrat operatives with documented rigging, mail-in voter fraud and illegals voting across the country (yes, with illegals voting across the country) in the last several election cycles.

Read Part 1 and Part 2 of The Prickly Pear essays entitled How NOT to Vote in the November 5, 2024 Election in Arizona to be well informed of the above issues and to vote in a way to ensure the most likely chance your vote will be counted and counted as you intend.

Please click the following link to learn more.

TAKE ACTION