Daily News Roundup

Estimated Reading Time: 25 minutes

NOTABLE QUOTES

Jeremy A. Kee contributor to The Imaginative Conservative: As Orwell so succinctly put it, “The farther a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those who speak it.” Man has drifted far, indeed. There is simply no place for the hard, objective truth in this world, and for those who insist upon speaking it regardless, little—if any—grace is afforded. In man’s abundance of sinful pride, he has come to believe himself to be infallible in thought and deed. To be proven wrong is to therefore be proven imperfect, thus contradicting his perceived infallibility. For this reason, every topic on the table of public discourse seems to lead not to rational, intentional, and thoughtful discourse, but rather to virulent, vitriolic, and hostile aggression. We walk on eggshells in our Lord of the Flies society, lest we step out of line and end up with our heads on pikes.

Vince Coyner contributor to American Thinker: How comfortable are you going to be doing or saying anything that might cause the federal government (or state or local) to put you on some watchlist? You ask yourself, “Should I wear this MAGA hat to that school board meeting, or should I wait until my building permit is approved?” “Should I write that blog critical of my senator, or should I wait until my nonprofit application is approved?” “Should I post pictures of my kids at the range, or should I wait until my bank approves my mortgage application?” The reality is that citizens silencing themselves is a far bigger problem than the government censoring them.

Daniel Greenfield contributor to Frontpage Magazine: When democracy is defined, as it is in California and Washington D.C., among many other hyper-leftist places, as the absence of Republicans holding elected office, then eliminating the opposition and seizing total power becomes the new exciting form of democracy.

Ben Shapiro contributor to American Greatness: When you look at the news, you need to feel as though you’re getting all the information. And even if one source isn’t giving you all the information, you can find another source, and all the sources together will give you a broad view of the world. But the World Economic Forum, World Federation of Advertisers and the Global Alliance for Responsible Media don’t want you to have a full view of the news.

Alex Berenson Substack: It couldn’t have happened to a nicer bunch of medical billionaires. Investors are voting on the failure of mRNA technology with their feet, fleeing the stocks of Moderna and BioNTech, the two companies that had the greatest wins on the mRNA Covid jabs.

BIDEN CRIME FAMILY

(Updated) Solomon: Foreign oligarchs moved millions to Biden-tied firms before meeting Joe Biden, investigators say

Firms tied to the Biden family collected more than $20 million from foreign sources, including big payments from controversial oligarchs who afterwards had private dinners with Joe Biden as vice president, congressional investigators disclosed Wednesday. In its third memo analyzing bank records, the GOP-led House Oversight and Accountability Committee reported it had found a clear pattern of the Biden family and its partners doing business with Russian, Ukrainian, Kazakh, Chinese and Romanian figures who had legal and other troubles and then collecting money around the times of gaining access to Joe Biden.

[…] “Thus far, the Committee has identified over $20 million from foreign sources that benefitted the Biden family and their business associates,” it added. According to the report, payments to the Biden family and its associates included: . . .

BIDEN’S DEMOCRAT PARTY MARXIST PLAYBOOK: PERSECUTE YOUR OPPOSITION, PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP

Swan & Cheney: Special counsel still scrutinizing finances of Trump’s PAC

Special counsel Jack Smith’s probe of efforts by Donald Trump and others to subvert the 2020 election remains ongoing — with at least one interview this week that focused on fundraising and spending by Trump’s political action committee. Meanwhile, the grand jury that indicted Trump last week was spotted meeting Tuesday in the federal courthouse in Washington. […] The special counsel has long been thought to be scrutinizing whether Trump or his PAC violated federal laws by raising money off claims of voter fraud they knew were false. Last week’s indictment of Trump, on charges that he conspired to overturn the results of the 2020 election, did not include any allegations of financial crime.

https://www.politico.com/news/2023/08/08/jack-smith-donald-trump-pac-00110279

THE CORRUPT & DANGEROUS U.S. INTELLIGENCE AGENCIES & THE ADMINISTRATIVE STATE APPARATUS

Sundance: Michigan State Police Discover Widespread 2020 Voter Fraud and Turn Over Evidence to FBI – Who Apparently Did Nothing

Stunning discovery being shared by Gateway Pundit about a network of massive ballot fraud and voter registration fraud in Michigan as a result of a city clerk notifying local police. The investigation uncovered a multi-state voter registration operation and the details within the state police report are quite remarkable. On October 8, 2020. only one month before the 2020 general election, Muskegon, MI City Clerk Ann Meisch noticed a black female (whose name was redacted from the police report), dropping off between 8,000-10,000 completed voter registration applications at the city clerk’s office.

Mittlestadt: Disgraced FBI agent had ties to 2016 Trump-Russia probe, Clinton defensive briefing, memos show

Former FBI agent Charles McGonigal, who is charged with violating U.S. sanctions by working with a Russian oligarch, was tied to the Trump-Russia collusion investigation, as well as a separate defensive briefing given to Hillary Clinton during the 2016 election. McGonigal, the former head of counterintelligence for the FBI New York field office, was indicted by federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York in January on five counts related to services he allegedly provided to Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska. The five counts include violating and conspiring to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, and conspiring to commit money laundering. The former FBI agent had investigated Deripaska over the since-debunked allegations that the Trump 2016 campaign colluded with Russia.

Sundance: REPORT: January 6 Committee Destroyed Evidence and Did Not Investigate Capitol Hill Security Failures

Most close watchers already knew the motive and intention of the J6 committee was to build narratives useful against their political opposition and the 2022 midterm election cycle. Factually, the makeup of the J6 committee was specifically structured for this intention. That said, this remarkable statement by former J6 Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson is essentially admitting the committee destroyed evidence that undermined their preconceived notions. After being questioned by republicans about the absence of evidence provided to the committee, former Chairman Bennie Thomson says: . . .

Coyner: The Stifling Effect Of Living In A Surveillance State Like The USA

How different would the script of your life be if you knew your every word might end up as part of some government dossier? How much could you embrace freedom and focus on having fun, sowing your wild oats, finding your passion, or risking failure to pursue some crazy dream if you were constantly wondering what some government bureaucrat with the power to throw you in prison or destroy your business or take away your kids might think? And that’s true even if you didn’t do anything illegal. And that’s the problem. Since 2013’s Snowden revelations, we’ve known the government is actively collecting reams of data on virtually all of us. Back then, even the NY Times called it a “Threat to Democracy.” The government, against virtually the entire Bill of Rights, was and currently is looking at everything Americans do. (Want to see how much data they collect? Click here.) […] And it’s not just the government. While, yes, it is the FBI, NSA, IRS, and other agencies in the alphabet soup of the state, it’s also Facebook, Google, Apple, and AT&T. It’s also the banks.

GLOBALISM (GREAT RESET/ONE WORLD ORDER) & TRANS HUMANISM (AI HUMANS 2.0) ARE INEXTRICABLY LINKED

Shapiro: Meet the Company Trying to Control Your Mind

You haven’t heard of them. You don’t know their names, but they determine, through methods both direct and indirect, whether you are allowed to be exposed to particular messages. Their decisions can bankrupt companies, silence voices and fundamentally shift cultural norms. Who are these people and how do they do this? Well, at the top level you have a network of global elites who have created a universal framework full of guidelines and ratings designed to enforce “approved” narratives and punish disapproved ones. It sounds like a conspiracy theory, except it isn’t a secret and we’re not guessing.

First, you have the World Economic Forum, the WEF, and their platform for shaping the future of media, entertainment and culture. Second, you have the World Federation of Advertisers, . . . There is barely a billionaire Fortune 500 CEO, heavyweight philanthropist, government or woke nonprofit that isn’t associated with the WEF or the WFA. […] So, what have these global elites decided to put in their censorship framework? They started with things we can all universally agree on, like preventing the distribution of child pornography or the advocacy of graphic terrorist activity. But they don’t draw the line at what is objectively criminal, abusive or dangerous. They continue expanding the guidelines to include far more subjective parameters. For example, . . . […] So, how exactly do the approved narratives set by these global entities get enforced all the way down to the daily content you consume? Well, here’s how.

TYRANNY IN THE NAME OF CLIMATE DOOM MYTH: GLOBALIST POLITICIANS & BIG BUSINESS ACCUMULATE MORE POWER & CONTROL

(H/T WC) DuHamel: HUGE VOLCANIC ERUPTION NEAR TONGA RESPONSIBLE FOR MOST OF RECENT WARMING

The eruption of an undersea volcano in January of 2022 put large volumes of water vapor into the atmosphere. Water vapor comprises 95% of the greenhouse gases. The volcano is located about 2200 miles east of Australia, near the island nation of Tonga under 490 feet of ocean water. It is that depth which contributed to the large volume of water expelled. According to NASA: “When the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano erupted on Jan. 15, it sent a tsunami racing around the world and set off a sonic boom that circled the globe twice. The underwater eruption in the South Pacific Ocean also blasted an enormous plume of water vapor into Earth’s stratosphere – enough to fill more than 58,000 Olympic-size swimming pools [about 38 billion gallons]. The sheer amount of water vapor could be enough to temporarily affect Earth’s global average temperature.”

(Nudging) Wide Awake Media: Governments Are Using Psychological Warfare To Elicit Mass Compliance With Net Zero

Journalist and author of ‘Free Your Mind’, Laura Dodsworth, describes how governments are using behavioural psychology to subliminally manipulate their citizens into accepting what would otherwise be extremely unpopular policies—a practice that became all too apparent during the Covid lockdowns, but which is now being used to elicit mass compliance with draconian Net Zero policies.

(Nudging) Talin: Social Engineering & Political Nudges – Changing the social behavior of the population on a large scale

[…] Dangers & Ethical Concerns of Social Engineering in Politics While social engineering can be used for good, dangers and ethical concerns arise when few people decide what is good and give them the power to change society.

One of the dangers of social engineering is that it can be used to manipulate people into doing things they wouldn’t normally do. This can be done through the use of propaganda and other forms of persuasion. Ethical concerns arise when people are coerced into doing things against their will or given misleading information to get them to comply with a desired behavior.

Manipulation – People can be easily manipulated if they do not have all of the information. With the rise of fake news and the fast spreading of these, social engineering can be used to manipulate the masses (also in bad ways).
Lack of Freedom – People may not be able to make free choices if they are being nudged or coerced into a certain behavior. As social engineering techniques are manipulating people, they may not be aware of it. This can lead to a loss of freedom and autonomy and a feeling of powerlessness.
Exploitation – The most vulnerable members of society, such as those with low incomes or little education, may be exploited by social engineering campaigns
Political correctness – Social engineering can pressure people into adhering to specific standards of political correctness. This can have a chilling effect on free speech and open debate, as people self-censor for fear of offending someone or being accused of bigotry.
Eroding Privacy – Using social engineering techniques by government agencies and corporations can erode people’s privacy. As more data is collected about individuals, it can be used to influence their behavior in ways they may not be aware of.
Creating echo chambers – The targeting of individuals with personalized messages based on their likes and interests can create “echo chambers” where people only see information confirming their beliefs. This can make it difficult for people to consider other viewpoints and make informed decisions.
The slippery slope – Once social engineering techniques are used for one purpose, it can be difficult to resist using them for other, less savory purposes. For example, if data collected for public health campaigns is also used for political purposes, it may erode trust in the government and its institutions.
Mind control – Some people believe that social engineering is a form of mind control and can be used to manipulate people’s thoughts and emotions. This is a controversial claim, and no evidence supports it. However, it is crucial to be aware of the potential risks associated with social engineering so that we can make informed decisions about its use.
Road to Dictatorship and “Power of the few” – Because social engineering can be used to manipulate people on a large scale, it has been suggested that it could be used to create a dictatorship. In a democracy, the government is supposed to represent the people’s will. However, if the government uses social engineering techniques to control the population’s behavior, it may no longer be representative. This could lead to a loss of freedom and democracy and the rise of a totalitarian state.

Social engineering is a powerful tool that can be used to achieve a wide range of goals. However, it is vital to remember that social engineering is not without risk. Many potential dangers are associated with this manipulation, and there is always the possibility of abuse. Despite these risks, social engineering appears to be here to stay. Governments are increasingly recognizing this technique’s value and are proactively addressing issues like climate change, inequality, and more. It will be interesting to see how social engineering evolves in the years ahead, what new applications emerge, and how the ever-growing apparatus of data, analytics, and social science will impact this.

Duclos: History Of Weaponized Insects And Bugs: As The Climate Change Cult Insists We Stop Eating Meat, Suddenly Ticks Are Causing Deadly Allergies To Meat

Call me a conspiracy theorist if you want, I have been called worse, especially since so many “conspiracy theories” have been proven true, but I read a couple of pieces recently about how ticks, namely ‘lone star ticks,’ are creating meat allergies, which according to the CDC is an “emerging public health concern,” and it got me thinking about coincidences. Like the coincidence of a new “emerging public health concern,” right at a time when we see global warming proponents insisting we stop eating meat. Coincidentally, those telling us to stop eating meat are also the ones pushing us to eat bugs. Alpha-gal syndrome, or AGS, is a serious and potentially life-threatening allergic reaction that comes after people eat red meat or consume products that have alpha-gal, a type of sugar found in most mammals, according to the CDC. […] The global warming crowd, now known as climate change crowd because the previous name didn’t catch on, seem obsessed about getting Americans to stop eating meat, so is there any chance whatsoever that their scientists would weaponize insects and/or arachnids, which many consider ticks to be? That is when I got the searches engines cranking, along with some helpful links Stefan Stanford sent me, and the results truly gave me the creepy-crawlies. […] MODERN DAY WEAPONIZED BUGS/INSECTS From modifying bugs to help plant life, to creating insect drones, to genetically modifying bugs and insects, to military funding for research into delivering bioweapons via bugs and insects, the amount of information out there about this topic will make your skin crawl.

Read more/Watch the 48 minute video: https://www.allnewspipeline.com/Ticks_Are_Causing_Deadly_Allergies_To_Meat.php

U.S. SUPREME COURT

Gonzales: U.S. Supreme Court Sides With Biden, Keeps Regulations on ‘Ghost Guns’

The U.S. Supreme Court has unfortunately sided with the Biden administration, keeping regulations on so-called “ghost guns” that can be manufactured at people’s homes. There’s no such thing as a “ghost gun,” unless one is referring to an actual ghost holding a gun. Remember when President Joe Biden was giving a speech in North Carolina endorsing semiconductor production and proceeded to shake hands with the air? Perhaps “ghost guns” are exactly that — ghosts holding guns. […] Justices Thomas, Alito, Gorsuch, and Kavanaugh stood the line and said they would have allowed the lower court ruling to take effect, while Justices Roberts, Barrett, Sotomayor, Kagan, and Jackson all favored the ruling to undergo the appeal process. According to the Biden administration, such a rule is needed as a response to untraceable guns. […] “We’re deeply disappointed that the Court pressed pause on our defeat of ATF’s rule effectively redefining ‘firearm’ and ‘frame or receiver’ under federal law,” said Cody J. Wisniewski, the organization’s General Counsel and Vice President of Legal.

JUDICIARY

Cathell: The Jury’s Verdict in Andy Ngo’s Case Against Antifa Sends Shockwaves

At the conclusion of journalist Andy Ngo’s multi-day civil trial against Rose City Antifa, whose far-left militant members brutally beat the investigative reporter when he went undercover to expose Antifa’s extremist activities on the riot-torn streets of Portland, a 12-person jury reached a verdict in the case Tuesday evening, reportedly finding both of the defendants not liable for all claims. In closing statements, defense counsel Michelle Burrows told the jurors that not only does she self-identify as an “anti-fascist,” she strongly declared, “I am Antifa,” and insisted upon making herself an “I am Antifa” t-shirt, which the activist attorney said she would wear after the trial. In spite of Antifa’s well-documented history of violence, Burrows told the jury that Antifa’s unfavorable reputation is untrue and depicted the organized militants as activists fighting for social justice and civil rights. “Resistance in this country has never been peaceful,” Burrows argued in defense of Antifa, admitting that Ngo’s tormenters were, in fact, “terrorists.” Rather than taking the time to provide evidence as to why the defendants should be free of liability, Burrow instead defended anti-fascism and attacked Ngo’s credibility as a journalist. Burrows also told jurrors that she “will remember each one of their faces.” […] Before jury deliberation commenced, Judge Chanpone Sinlapasai announced . . . […] On the highly anticipated trial’s penultimate day, the court had ruled in the defense’s favor when it came to witness testimony.

Bannister: Federal Judge Rejects Parents’ Lawsuit Seeking to End Ohio School District’s Gender-Identity Bathroom Policy

In a blow to Christian and Muslim parents and their children, a federal judge has upheld a policy in an Ohio school district that allows students to use bathrooms based on their self-identified gender, rather than biological sex. The ruling, issued Monday by Judge Michael Newman of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, dismisses the concerns of parents of children attending Bethel Local Schools who believe their rights have been infringed upon and that their children’s safety, privacy and religious beliefs have been compromised. The bathroom policy, which was implemented without community input, has faced backlash from a coalition of Christian and Muslim parents represented by America First Legal. These parents argue that bathroom usage should be based on biological sex for a variety of reasons, including safety, privacy, modesty, and religious beliefs.

PUBLIC/PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP: U.S. GOVERNMENT/PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANIES

Eliot: Did President Trump’s Doctors Needlessly Risk His Life With Remdesivir?

It is a travesty that pharmaceutical giant Gilead’s drug remdesivir (brand name VEKLURY®) ended up on the COVID-19 inpatient treatment protocol when a previous trial for Ebola revealed alarming toxicity and death rates, and the COVID-19 trial showed no statistically significant improvement in mortality, just a reduction in the median hospital stay — a trial endpoint selected only after no improvement in mortality was observed. Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s book “The Real Anthony Fauci” explains that Fauci as head of NIAID and supervising the Gilead trials was already too invested in remdesivir to stop. It suggests that the hospital stay endpoint was favorably tainted by discharging the treatment group early (twice as many of this group had to be readmitted). Critical care physician Dr. Paul Marik insists that due to toxicity problems, Gilead “cooked” the first COVID-19 study leading to FDA authorization. Early in the pandemic, President Trump, trusting Fauci’s recommendations, heaped lavish praise on Gilead and remdesivir. When Trump was hospitalized with COVID, he received a cocktail which included remdesivir and was discharged after three days. Ten days later, a large WHO study came out claiming remdesivir was ineffective for COVID, and the MSM collectively mocked Trump for touting it. Well, remdesivir still has FDA approval and is on NIH’s protocol, but I don’t see the MSM mocking Joe Biden or challenging the public health agencies; maybe they’re too busy suppressing the evidence of inefficacy they themselves cited earlier.

It’s one thing for the hoi polloi being forced to take remdesivir, but who made that decision for POTUS? Consider this timeline (pieced together from numerous sources): . . .

CHINA: AMERICA’S MORTAL ENEMY

McKenna: MIT Took Chinese Money To Research AI. The University May Also Have Helped The CCP Surveil Uyghurs.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology took funding from a twice-sanctioned Chinese company to advance aspects of facial recognition technology that the Chinese have reportedly used to track and imprison Uyghurs, a Washington Free Beacon review found. China’s largest facial recognition startup, SenseTime—founded by an MIT graduate, Xiao’ou Tang, who now resides in mainland China—donated an undisclosed amount of money to MIT in 2018, the university said in a press release at the time. A year later, in 2019, the New York Times reported that SenseTime’s technology is part of a “vast, secret system” the Chinese use to “track and control Uyghurs.” The Trump administration went on to blacklist SenseTime in the fall of 2019, after MIT had accepted the money, citing the company’s role in the “repression, mass arbitrary detention and high-technology surveillance” of the country’s Muslim minority in Xinjiang.

BIDEN/HARRIS/OBAMA’S AMERICA LAST REGIME: THE FUNDAMENTAL TRANSFORMATION OF AMERICA

Strack: Biden Declares National Monument in Arizona, Cuts Off Uranium Mining on One Million Acres

Joe Biden designated the Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni Grand Canyon National Monument Tuesday in Arizona, preventing mining on almost one million acres of uranium-rich land. Although the Department of Interior told stakeholders it had no official proposal as of July 28, 2023 to declare a monument in the area, Biden said that, “from day one, I’ve taken historic steps to conserve our natural treasures for all ages.” […] Tuesday’s announcement marks the administration’s fifth national monument designation, a move which energy stakeholders say thwarts Biden’s focus on climate-friendly energy by preventing domestic uranium production. […] Uranium is used for clean nuclear energy, which provides 20 percent of U.S. electricity and 50 percent of carbon-free electricity. […] “Congress did not intend for the president to have the unilateral power to create expansive national monuments consisting of hundreds of thousands or millions of acres (as in the present case) of federal land unconnected to any actual landmark, object, or structure, in order to achieve other unstated goals, such as stopping critical mineral resource development.”

Cox: Credit card balances jumped in the second quarter and are above $1 trillion for the first time

Americans increasingly turned to their credit cards to make ends meet heading into the summer, sending aggregate balances over $1 trillion for the first time ever, the New York Federal Reserve reported Tuesday. Total credit card indebtedness rose by $45 billion in the April-through-June period, an increase of more than 4%. That took the total amount owed to $1.03 trillion, the highest gross value in Fed data going back to 2003. The increase in the category was the most notable area as total household debt edged higher by about $16 billion to $17.06 trillion, also a fresh record.

Greenfield: The Anti-Democratic Party

The central issue is no longer any individual point of disagreement on taxes, abortion or anything else: it’s the total illegitimacy of Republicans and the threat that they represent. Obama was the last Dem presidential candidate to have campaigned on something other than defending democracy from Republicans, but he was the one who ushered it in with Russiagate. Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden, both times, campaigned on the extreme threat that Republicans pose to democracy. The serial investigations and indictments of Trump that have stretched on for over seven years represent the fundamental transformation of our system of elections. Within less than a decade the intelligence community, domestic law enforcement, prosecutors, lawyers and nonprofits had been mobilized in a massive scheme to sue, investigate, and prosecute their political opponents. The Trump investigations and prosecutions form the most obvious examples, but not the only ones, of this new identity of defending democracy. And in the process democracy has ceased to be something that happens at the ballot box. […] This cycle is not a democratic bug, it’s a totalitarian feature. The defenders of democracy are breaking the system, the culture and the marketplace of ideas to eliminate any alternatives.

Kunstler: Normies Awake!

So-called Normies might be musing, this month of approved mental languor, whether the mighty efforts to suppress news of all kinds, about everything, have concealed the true tendings of our wayward country — leading them to wonder whether it is even possible to be a Normie in such an abnormal time and place. What news is suppressed? That the USA is worse than dead broke. That the people were poisoned, apparently on-purpose. That the spectral “Joe Biden” sold out our country. That the war we started in Ukraine, on purpose, for no good reason, is about to be lost, and with it our standing around world. That there actually is such a criminal organism as the Blob at large in our government, responsible for the astounding abnormality immersing us. But never mind all that… for now, just go see Barbie. Have a clam roll, a dip in the ocean, another margarita…. September will be here soon enough. Eventually, the official perversion of money . . . […] How’s it going with the poisoning of America? Since Elon Musk bought Twitter (now “X”), the app has developed a beefed-up immune system against censorship aimed at it by the FBI, CIA, DHS, and the White House. Twitter is once again a popular medium of information exchange, where news flows pretty freely these days. Even news of previous censorship and cancellation is getting out — and with interesting possibilities for consequences. The many brave doctors who questioned the “vaccine” story, are being heard now.

DEMOCRAT PARTY MARXIST PLAYBOOK: CHILDREN ARE THE TARGET OF THE DARKNESS AFFECTING OUR NATION

Libs of TikTok: In case you’re wondering what @FLOTUS is up to- she’s traveling the country meeting up with drag queens who perform adult sexual themed shows in front of kids. The Biden admin supports this.

Follow the story on X/Twitter.

Berenson: Kids almost NEVER transmitted Covid in schools, a major new study shows

In fall 2021, in four Massachusetts school districts with 18,000 children, researchers found 44 potential cases of in-school transmission. You read that right. 18,000 students. 34 schools. Four months. And 44 Covid infections – including no infections of teachers or other staff members. Throughout 2020 and 2021, as parents pressed with increasing urgency to reopen classrooms, teachers unions and Democratic politicians warned in-school Covid transmission would lead to waves of death. “Teachers are so worried about returning to school that they’re preparing wills,” CNN infamously wrote on July 16, 2020. In reality, schools were among the safest possible places for students and teachers during Covid, this study suggests.

Da Silva: Global child sexual abuse probe that was launched after two FBI agents were killed leads to almost 100 arrests

Almost 100 people in the United States and Australia have so far been arrested over child sexual abuse allegations after the fatal shooting of two FBI agents led to the unraveling of a suspected international pedophile ring, officials announced Tuesday. The Australian Federal Police (AFP) said that 19 men had been arrested on charges of sharing child abuse material online, while at least 13 children were rescued from further harm as a result of a joint operation with the FBI, dubbed “Operation Bakis.” The development brought the total number of people arrested as part of the joint probe up to 98, with at least 79 arrests so far carried out by the FBI, according to the Australian agency.

A CHURCH IN CRISIS

Knuffke: LGBT ‘Pride Mass’ in Buffalo Catholic church sparks backlash from faithful parishioners

Bishop Michael Fisher defended the ‘Pride Mass’ at a Catholic Church in his diocese, revealing the extent of pro-LGBT infiltration. […] Despite the pastor’s assurance to LifeSiteNews that the parish’s “LGBT ministry” upholds and is in line with the Church’s teaching – that all sexual acts outside of lifelong marriage between one man and one woman are gravely sinful – the parish’s Facebook page reveals numerous pro-LGBT posts that express full and unreserved support of the anti-Christian agenda. […] St. Joseph’s was not the only parish in Buffalo to host an LGBT event in the diocese this past June. St. Katherine Drexel Parish held a “Pride Prayer Service” that included an actively gay speaker who received a standing ovation. During the program for the “Pride Prayer Service,” participants recited an LGBT creed that captures the militant agenda behind the façade of inclusion. […] Earlier in the year, in February, a blasphemous image of the Blessed Virgin Mary wearing a rainbow flag called “Mother of Pride” – a sacrilegious mockery of Mary’s title Mother Most Humble – was circulated to promote an LGBT event at St. Joseph University Church organized by the pro-LGBT group Fortunate Families, an offshoot of New Ways Ministry that, among other LGBT-agenda items, advocates for same-sex “marriage.” […] Another problem identified was the “new theology of inclusion,” which welcomes wholesale the LGBT agenda, but castigates with hostility the slightest objection from faithful Catholics who base their assessments on Catholic sexual morality, dubbing such objections “judgmental,” “uncharitable,” and “against the faith.” This new theology of inclusion is what now demands and justifies the sacrilegious use of the Mass as a forum to promote the LGBT agenda within the Church.

Widburg: A minister proudly touting her abortion exemplifies what leftism does to faith

In 2015, David Burge (Iowahawk) posted a now famous tweet describing leftism: “1. Identify a respected institution. 2. Kill it. 3. Gut it. 4. Wear its carcass as a skin suit, while demanding respect.” In that short tweet, he perfectly described what leftism has done to Judaism and Christianity. And that act of wearing a religion’s “carcass as a skin suit, while demanding respect” is the best caption possible for a video in which a female Presbyterian minister, draped in a Planned Parenthood stole, celebrates her abortion and abortions generally. […] This leads us to abortion: if you truly believe that the Bible is God’s word and an instruction manual for living a just, moral, and grace-filled life, you should believe, or at least grapple with, the reverence for human life from conception and the abhorrence for murder, which is unjust killing. Of course, ordinary people aren’t always operating with one eye to Heaven or the ultimate resurrection, so they will often put aside these strictures. […] Religious leaders, however, aren’t supposed to be ordinary people, at least insofar as moral instruction goes. They are supposed to teach us those core religious principles and uphold those same principles in their own lives. If they don’t agree with religious principles, they shouldn’t become priests, pastors, ministers, or rabbis. But that’s not how the left operates. […] And with that introduction, I give you Rebecca Todd Peters, dressed in her Planned Parenthood stole, assuring her congregation that abortion is a religious act and shouting her two abortions.

Read more/Watch the 2:31 minute video at American Thinker.

ADVANCES IN MEDICINE

Tilley: Potential cancer breakthrough as ‘groundbreaking’ pill annihilates ALL types of solid tumors in early study

The new molecule targets a protein present in most cancers that helps tumors grow and multiply in the body. It is significant because this protein – the proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) – was previously thought to be ‘undruggable’. The drug was tested on 70 different cancer cells in the lab – including those derived from breast, prostate, brain, ovarian, cervical, skin, and lung cancer – and was effective against them all. The pill is the culmination of 20 years of research and development by the City of Hope Hospital in Los Angeles, one of America’s largest cancer centers.

Leatham: Hope of a treatment for hundreds of thousands with vascular dementia as scientists discover what could stop ‘devastating condition in its tracks’

Experts are one step closer to a treatment for vascular dementia after discovering what triggers the condition. Vascular dementia, which affects hundreds of thousands in the UK and US, is caused by high blood pressure which leads to a reduced blood supply to the brain. The brain cells become starved of nutrients and eventually become damaged and die, causing symptoms including poor memory and lack of concentration. While it is normal for the brain’s arteries to narrow and widen in response to changes in blood pressure, consistently high blood pressure causes arteries to stay narrow and restrict blood supply.

Until now, it was not known why this occurred. […] Professor Adam Greenstein, one of the leaders of the research, said: ‘By uncovering how high blood pressure causes arteries in the brain to remain constricted, our research reveals a new avenue for drug discovery that may help to find the first treatment for vascular dementia.

ARTICLE REVIEW: THE OBAMA FACTOR BY DAVID SAMUELS

Cashill: What Biographer Garrow Missed in His Obama Takedown

On August 2, two days before Barack Obama’s reported sixty-second birthday, the Jewish journal Tablet published an interview with Pulitzer Prize-winning civil rights historian David Garrow.

Asking the questions and providing extensive commentary of his own was the well-traveled journalist David Samuels. Although Garrow is a progressive and Samuels something of a centrist, their evaluation of Obama’s tenure in the White House borders on cruel. The exchange between the two deserves to be read in full. Rather than summarize that exchange, I will focus on a few key truths, both those they nailed and those that squirmed away. Most intriguing in the latter category are the questions about Obama’s literary talents and about his birth. Garrow’s opinion matters. His 2017 bio, Rising Star. The Making of Barack Obama, is easily the boldest and most accurate of the Obama biographies. […] Bauer, a top gun from the Democrats’ go-to law firm, Perkins Coie, led the legal fight during the 2008 campaign against Democrat attorney Philip Berg. Berg had petitioned to see Obama’s birth certificate. With that suit successfully quashed, Bauer was appointed White House counsel. […] It should be noted that the same law firm that retrieved the birth certificate commissioned the “crap” Steele dossier. For the record, Trump never said Obama was born in Kenya. He merely said Obama was hiding something. I believe he was, not the state of his birth, but the date of his birth, and that’s a story for another day.

REPUBLICAN U.S. HOUSE MAJORITY

Ballasy: Early House GOP efforts to resize government through appropriations target State, Energy

he conservative House Freedom Caucus has begun its tedious campaign to force the government to shrink through the 2024 appropriations process, with an early focus on foreign aid, taxpayer-funded media, green energy and other favorite liberal causes. And that is making the Energy and State Departments favorite targets while putting the House GOP on a collision course with the Biden White House. Under the caucus’ budget, spending on the U.S. Agency for Global Media at the Department of State would be reduced from $798 million to $734 million, saving about $64 million next year. The “Democracy Fund” under the State Department and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is currently receiving a budget of $355.7 million. The caucus’ proposal would reduce the budget to $227.2 million, saving roughly $128.5 million. […] Arizona GOP Rep. Andy Biggs, former chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, argued that domestic spending should be cut below fiscal year 2023 levels given the record deficit. “They [debt limit negotiators] promised that they would hold the spending caps at ’22 numbers, ’22 levels. They’re not. They’re above the ’22 levels for two years and then there’s targets for the rest of the time,” he said on the Just the News Not Noise TV program. “When you start looking at this you say how could any Republican really say, ‘yeah, this is a deal for us,’?” he added.

OTHER NEWS, COMMENTARY, OPINION

(Parental rights loses) Rowan & Whedon: In win for pro-abortion forces, Ohio rejects measure making it harder to amend state constitution

Ohioans went to polls on Tuesday rejected a measure to make it harder for the state to amend its constitution. The ballot initiative known as “Issue 1” generated national interest, drawing large donations from out of state and a whopping 600,000 in early voters. Had it passed, the state would have raised the threshold required to pass a constitutional amendment from a simple majority of ballots to a supermajority of 60%. The Associated Press called the contest in favor on the opposition, with 59.9% of voters rejecting the proposal as of press time.Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose, who now is running for U.S. Senate in 2024, had championed the ballot initiative, telling Just the News changing the state’s founding document should require a more serious vote while acknowledging outside money was pouring in from Democrat donors eager to expand abortion rights in the state.

Schemmel: DC’s City Council Slashed Police Funding. Now, Its Members Want More Cops as Shootings Plague City.

Washington, D.C.’s city council in the summer of 2020 voted to slash millions from the police budget. Now, as homicides surge in the nation’s capital, liberal council members want more cops. After D.C. saw 13 homicides in just the first five days of August, left-wing council members Brianne Nadeau and Phil Mendelson touted their efforts to secure more resources for police, with Nadeau especially stressing the city’s “hot spots.” Those efforts mark a stark turnaround for the council members, both of whom voted to cut $15 million from the city’s police budget at the height of the Black Lives Matter movement in the summer of 2020. […] D.C. Police Union chairman Gregg Pemberton said the council’s “flip-flop” reflects an effort to avoid blame “regarding exponential increases in violent crime.”

Kruta: CEO Behind Hallmark Channel’s ‘Woke’ Journey Announces Plan To Step Down

But while Lucas the niece of late baseball legend Hank Aaron oversaw a move to more diverse and “inclusive” programming, she also oversaw the abrupt exits of a number of the network’s biggest stars. Candace Cameron Bure, who headlined a number of holiday films for the network in addition to starring in the Aurora Teagarden mystery series, announced in 2022 that she was joining ex-CEO Bill Abbott’s new venture — Great American Family — which would keep the focus on traditional marriage and faith-based storylines. Among the other actors who made the jump from Hallmark to Great American Family are Trevor Donovan, Jennie Garth, Daniel Lissing, Lori Loughlin, and Jen Lilley.

Visit the Great American Family channel (Hallmark alternative) website: https://www.greatamericanfamily.com/ And Great American Family channel finder: https://www.greatamericanfamily.com/channel-finder/

Brown: UC Faculty Members Rebelling Against DEI in Math Classes

Given enough time, all bad ideas are eventually shown to be exactly what they are. The issue, of course, is how much collateral damage is created before someone either admits that they were wrong or stands up and declares that it is time to put an end to the madness. And members of the faculty in the University of California (UC) system have decided that DEI just isn’t working, at least in terms of math. One at least sees how the champions of equity can co-opt art, literature, and politics for their purposes. One may not like it, and it may be wrong, but one can understand the blueprint and pathways to ruining students’ educations in pursuit of the popular thing at the moment. But subjects like math, chemistry, astronomy, and geology should all be immune to the siren song of equity by their very nature. Not that those in the “degreed class” haven’t tried. And lo and behold, someone noticed that the equity approach to math was not quite getting the job done. The UC faculty members are speaking out against a policy dating back to 2020, which lowered the requirements for math in order to include more “marginalized” people.

Thompson: Canceled: Washington & Lee University removes plaque honoring Robert E. Lee’s horse

Traveller, the horse which served Confederate General Robert E. Lee, has long been a fixture of campus culture at Washington and Lee University, as the famous steed, known for his courage and stamina, is buried on campus. But Traveller’s Confederate connections recently led university officials to remove two markers erected in his honor, his gravestone as well as a plaque honoring the beloved companion.

U.S. DEBT CLOCK:

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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.

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