Daily News Roundup
NOTABLE QUOTES
Ken Klippenstein, Lee Fang contributors to The Intercept: Prior to the 2020 election, tech companies including Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, Discord, Wikipedia, Microsoft, LinkedIn, and Verizon Media met on a monthly basis with the FBI, CISA, and other government representatives. According to NBC News, the meetings were part of an initiative, still ongoing, between the private sector and government to discuss how firms would handle misinformation during the election.
Kelly O’Connell contributor to Canada Free Press: A true mystery of history is why Marxists, as reformers, repeatedly gained absolute power then uniformly used it to craft the most inefficient, unpleasant and murderous states ever formed. Today we’re at the same crossroads. For as all Democrat ideas fail, their proponents reach for power with ever increasing fury. Were they to retain power today in America, they would simultaneously achieve tyranny as all their policy ideas collapse. The end result would be a leftist Zombie State, whose only purpose is amalgamating increasing power.
Mike Miller contributor to RedState: While the “right” to vote has long been a privilege of American citizens, left-wing activists continue their demand to let non-citizens vote. In one example, as reported by Daily Caller, the Washington, D.C. City Council advanced a bill to let virtually anyone vote in local elections — regardless of citizenship or immigration status — as long as they’ve lived in the city for just 30 days. The bill is so extreme that even the “left-leaning” Washington Post editorial board called it “radical.”
Kurt Schlichter contributor to TownHall: There is nothing that Democrats hate more than powerful women who are not hideous crones or castrating shrews, especially since castration – particularly of vulnerable minors – has become a key component of the Democrat platform. What’s odd is that in 2022, the Democrats have chosen to run a bunch of women who are pretty much archetypes of liberal harridans – fussy know-it-alls, passive-aggressive HR managers, ancient pinkos, and bitter man-haters. And all of them are abortion nuts, of course. The GOP went another way, picking candidates who don’t make normal women roll their eyes and normal men snort in derision. The woman-identifying GOP contenders this cycle, particularly those running for governor but also a key Senate candidate, are the opposite of the Democrat stock characters they face.
Eugyppius: a plague chronicle post: Emily Oster’s latest act of moderation is the suggestion that we forgive and forget all the disastrous policies inflicted on us by terrified wealthy urbanites, clueless technocrats and mad scientist vaccinators since 2020, because, hey, these were just honest mistakes, anybody could’ve messed up like that, it’s all good.
Matthew Peterson’s blog post: Hey—sorry you lost your job b/c of the vax that doesn’t work and your grandmother died alone and you couldn’t have a funeral and your brother’s business was needlessly destroyed and your kids have weird heart problems—but let’s just admit we were all wrong and call a truce, eh?
Sherry Rossiter contributor to Canada Free Press: If the American public had really understood the longterm ramifications of taking an experimental drug (which means it was released without the normal testing), or the ramifications of locking down our society, keeping children out of school, and wearing masks even when outdoors, I do not believe we would have been willing to give up so many of our personal freedoms and liberties so easily during the COVID pandemic. Giving up our personal freedom, especially the freedom of choice, has consequences that can last a lifetime and beyond. But take heart. Americans have a new opportunity to exercise their freedom of choice on November 8, so please go to the polls to cast your vote for America’s future.
J.B. Shurk contributor to American Thinker: When a story comes out about a Pelosi getting hammered, a normal person assumes the news has something to do with a drunk speaker of the House named Nancy slurring through a staged press conference with her Pravda media friends. You do not expect to find out that an alleged commie Castro nudist with a fondness for psychedelics has managed to Mission: Impossible his way past tight security surrounding one of the speaker’s guarded homes in order to play handyman with her husband’s tools. If there were ever an apt metaphor for how horrendous crime has become in the blue hellholes ruled over by pompous, pampered Democrat “elites,” surely a Black Lives Matter–supporting, gay love–loving hippie effortlessly traipsing into the local digs of another out-of-touch, loony leftist — whose wife happens to be third in line of presidential succession — surely takes the cake!
Nikki Schwab contributor to The Daily Mail: Republican Sen. Ron Johnson on Monday hit back at former President Barack Obama, who hammered the incumbent on Social Security at a Saturday rally. ‘It’s pretty rich for a former president who divides his time between Martha’s Vineyard and Washington D.C. to come in here and call somebody who lives in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, and drives all over the state talking to all kinds of folks, to say that I’m out of touch,’ Johnson said on Fox Business Monday.
Alayna Treene, Josh Kraushaar, Andrew Solender reporters for Axios: Democrats are recasting their closing message with more emphasis on the economy and health care, saying a Republican takeover would pose risks on both fronts. They’re deploying Bernie Sanders, Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama as big-name closers, along with calculated Biden cameos.
Bob Adelmann contributor to The New American: Very soon Cheney will be a former politician, with neither party claiming her as their own. From there she will descend to a mere footnote in political history, as in her zealous attempt to burn down Donald Trump she will have succeeded in incinerating herself.
U.S. SUPREME COURT
De Vogue & Sneed: Takeaways from SCOTUS affirmative action cases: Conservatives may overturn precedent allowing race as a factor in admissions
During a marathon session lasting almost five hours, the justices heard from a total of five lawyers. Three argued on behalf of Harvard and the University of North Carolina. Two others – both former clerks to Justice Clarence Thomas – argued for the conservative group Students for Fair Admissions behind the challenge. With a 6-3 conservative-liberal majority, the question may be not whether the court will strike down affirmative action, but how far it will rule. Here are the key takeaways from Monday’s arguments: . . .
Clarence Thomas: ‘I’ve Heard The Word Diversity’ And ‘I Don’t Have A Clue What It Means’
Justice Clarence Thomas expressed skepticism that racial diversity has a salient impact on educational outcomes on Monday as the Supreme Court weighed arguments regarding affirmative action in university admissions. […] “I’ve heard the word ‘diversity’ quite a few times, and I don’t have a clue what it means. It seems to mean everything for everyone,” Thomas, who is known for speaking very rarely during oral arguments, remarked. “I’d also like you to give us a clear idea of exactly what the educational benefits of diversity at the University of North Carolina would be.” […] Alito then appeared to refer to Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s claim of a Native American heritage.
Barkoukis: Alito Channels Elizabeth Warren During Oral Arguments: ‘I Identify as American Indian’
During oral arguments in two cases involving Harvard University and the University of North Carolina, Justice Samuel Alito joined other conservatives on the bench to cast doubt on allowing the consideration of race in college and university admissions decisions. In one exchange, Alito wondered what metrics were used for determining heritage. “We rely on self-reporting,” said North Carolina Solicitor General Ryan Park, who is defending affirmative action policies at UNC. “One great-grandparent,” Alito said. “Are you going to make me continue to go on?”
Read more: https://townhall.com/tipsheet/leahbarkoukis/2022/11/01/alito-american-indian-n2615286
Justice: SCOTUS To Decide If American Indian Babies Can Be Ripped From Adoptive Parents On The Basis Of Skin Color
American Indians are the only group of U.S. citizens whose child custody claims are decided solely on the basis of race instead of the best interests of the child. Under federal law, it doesn’t matter in custody disputes if a child’s home is a crime-infested haven for violent gangs and drug dealers. It doesn’t matter if a child’s home is an avenue of emotional, physical, and even sexual abuse. What does matter is the color of the child’s skin. In 1978, Congress passed the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) codifying this institutional racism. Passed out of fear that the adoption of American Indian children would erode Indian culture, ICWA mandates that children who are up for adoption with the slightest trace of Indian blood be placed under tribal custody instead of a non-Indian family. In practice, this means adoptive parents can have their children stripped away from the only parents they’ve ever known to live on a reservation hundreds of miles away at the will of a tribe.
DEMOCRAT PARTY MARXIST PLAYBOOK: CANCEL THE FIRST AMENDMENT
Bannons War Room: Heather Mullins: Gregg Phillips And Catherine Engelbrecht Arrested For Only Protecting Americans Elections From CCP Influence
True the Vote founders arrested and jailed.
Watch the 4:54 minute interview: https://rumble.com/v1qtrag-heather-mullins.html
(In-depth reporting) Klippenstein & Fang: TRUTH COPS
In a March meeting, Laura Dehmlow, an FBI official, warned that the threat of subversive information on social media could undermine support for the U.S. government. Dehmlow, according to notes of the discussion attended by senior executives from Twitter and JPMorgan Chase, stressed that “we need a media infrastructure that is held accountable.” […] According to a draft copy of DHS’s Quadrennial Homeland Security Review, DHS’s capstone report outlining the department’s strategy and priorities in the coming years, the department plans to target “inaccurate information” on a wide range of topics, including “the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic and the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines, racial justice, U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, and the nature of U.S. support to Ukraine.” “The challenge is particularly acute in marginalized communities,” the report states, “which are often the targets of false or misleading information, such as false information on voting procedures targeting people of color.” […] How disinformation is defined by the government has not been clearly articulated, and the inherently subjective nature of what constitutes disinformation provides a broad opening for DHS officials to make politically motivated determinations about what constitutes dangerous speech. […] Emails between DHS officials, Twitter, and the Center for Internet Security outline the process for such takedown requests during the period leading up to November 2020. Meeting notes show that the tech platforms would be called upon to “process reports and provide timely responses, to include the removal of reported misinformation from the platform where possible.” In practice, this often meant state election officials sent examples of potential forms of disinformation to CISA, which would then forward them on to social media companies for a response. Under President Joe Biden, the shifting focus on disinformation has continued. […] “If a foreign authoritarian government sent these messages,” noted Nadine Strossen, the former president of the American Civil Liberties Union, “there is no doubt we would call it censorship.”
Read more: https://theintercept.com/2022/10/31/social-media-disinformation-dhs/
Fox News: Tucker Carlson: Democrats have to stop you from asking questions
An important 24:56 minute opening monologue: https://www.foxnews.com/video/6314707694112
Evans: Twitter limits some content moderation tools just days before the midterms: Now staff will not be able to manually change or punish accounts over misleading information
It may hamper staff’s ability to stop misinformation, as they will not be able to manually change or punish accounts. The change is the latest implemented by Musk and comes after he made significant staff cuts and fired the Twitter board, making himself the sole member. He is also reportedly considering other major new ideas, including charging $20 a month for verification. Those working in Twitter’s Trust and Safety organization are currently unable to alter or punish accounts breaking the platform’s rules on misleading information, offensive posts and hate speech.
According to insiders on the matter, they can only penalize people making posts that violate Twitter rules to the extent of real-world harm, according toBloomberg.
2020 ELECTIONS
Faddis: Is It Possible The Chinese Really Did Hack Our Elections?
I do a lot of speaking on election integrity. I say frequently –while there are endless problems with the security of our elections – I don’t believe the Chinese “hacked” the 2020 election. Maybe I was wrong. A number of weeks ago True the Vote broke the story that a company called Konnech in Michigan was storing data on American election workers on servers in China. True the Vote leaders Catherine Engelbrecht and Gregg Phillips were, of course, ridiculed by the so-called mainstream press. Then, Los Angeles arrested the head of Konnech and charged him with violations of U.S. laws on the handling of personally identifiable information – by storing it on servers in China. The ridicule stopped. Even the New York Times had to issue a retraction. It has gotten much worse since then. Konnech wasn’t just storing data in China. Konnech was using . . .[…] Konnech doesn’t only work for state and state electoral systems. Konnech also appears to have access to something called the Uniformed And Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, (UOCAVA) program. The full extent of that access is as yet unclear, but press reporting suggests that Konnech was hired on at least one occasion to do work for the Department of Defense pursuant to the UOCAVA.
Read more: https://andmagazine.substack.com/p/is-it-possible-the-chinese-really
THE FIGHT FOR ELECTION INTEGRITY
Bannons War Room: Anthony Aguero Reports On Election Fraud Already Present In Arizona’s 2022 Elections
Watch the 6:05 minute video: https://rumble.com/v1qtrc4-anthony-aguero-reports-on-election-fraud-already-present-in-arizonas-2022-e.html
Marshall: RNC Sues Flint, Michigan For Stacking Polls With Democrat Workers Ahead Of Key Midterm Election
Michigan law requires election officials appoint an equal number “of election inspectors in each election precinct from each major political party.” Despite a demand letter from the RNC, Flint has failed to comply with state statutes. Roughly only 120 of the 680 election inspectors hired in Flint for the 2022 midterms are Republican, the newly filed lawsuit alleges. While Flint recently told the RNC it hired 50 more Republican-affiliated poll watchers, it refused to further ensure equal party representation among election workers.
2022 ELECTIONS
Solomon & Mittelstadt: Biden voter registration effort targets vulnerable Americans likely to vote Democrat, memos show
Congressional investigators have obtained evidence that the Biden administration has launched a sprawling effort to use federally funded job training and food stamp programs to register new voters in Democrat-skewing demographic groups such as young adults and Native Americans, fueling concerns the federal government is placing a partisan thumb on the scales in the midterm elections. Part of the plan, spurred by a 2021 executive order by President Joe Biden, is captured in an eight-page memo that the Labor Department’s Employment and Training Administration sent out in March to state and local officials responsible for providing training to workers in need of jobs.
Cohen & DePalo: Pre-election voting is surpassing 2018 levels with more than 21 million ballots cast
Catalist – a company that provides data, analytics and other services to Democrats, academics and nonprofit issue advocacy organizations – is giving insights into who is voting before November and has data from those states for the last three cycles. “2022 turnout is very high for a midterm so far, but it’s still difficult to say if we’ll beat the historic turnout we saw in 2018,” Catalist CEO Michael Frias said in a statement to CNN. In total, more than 21.4 million ballots have been cast in 46 states, according to data from election officials, Edison Research and Catalist. Nearly 3 million pre-election ballots have been cast in Texas and almost 2.8 million have been cast in Florida. Some state with large increases in pre-election voting so far have had changes in election rules. Since 2018, Virginia, Vermont and Michigan all expanded access to mail ballots.
Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/31/politics/early-voting-midterms/index.html
Schlichter: GOP Governor Grrrl Power Owning the Libs
The woman-identifying GOP contenders this cycle, particularly those running for governor but also a key Senate candidate, are the opposite of the Democrat stock characters they face. Kari Lake in Arizona, Tudor Dixon in Michigan, Christine Drazan in Oregon, and Senate candidate Tiffany Smiley in Washington all have a solid chance to snuff their Karen competitors in a week, which is proof that Republicans are sexist somehow just like GOP support for Herschel Walker and Tim Scott proves their racism. Though, we Republicans are ableists. We believe you should be able to do the job you are elected to do, which pin-headed lump-monger John Fetterman is manifestly unable to do. But sexist? In the words of Nigel Tufnel, what’s wrong with being sexy? Highlighting the immutable characteristics of candidates is dumb, but that’s how the lib plays so let’s play too. GOP women beat their women, no question, no doubt.
2024 ELECTIONS
ROGER STONE: For DeSantis to Challenge Trump Would Be a Treacherous, Disloyal Mistake
As a forty-year practitioner in politics, I put a high premium on loyalty. Many outside of Florida may not remember that it was Donald Trump’s tweeted endorsement of unknown Republican Congressman Ron DeSantis that catapulted him to the Republican gubernatorial nomination over RINO favorite Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, who had the endorsement of all 67 Republican County Chairmen, every Republican in the State House and Senate, and every member of the Florida Republican Congressional Delegation except my friend Rep. Matt Gaetz. DeSantis was literally polling in single digits before Trump’s endorsement catapulted him to political superstardom. Even then, Trump had to return to Florida twice in the final two weeks of the 2018 campaign to literally drag DeSantis over the finish line in his 34,000 razor-thin victory over Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum.
BIDEN’S FBI
100% FedUp: BREAKING: FBI Reportedly Assisted Ottawa Police During Crackdown On Freedom Convoy Protesters
Confidential minutes from a meeting of the Ottawa Police show that the FBI was providing support to the Canadian police during the trucker convoy protests opposing vaccine mandates. The minutes do not specify what support the FBI was providing to the Canadian police, though it is implied that they were providing financial and intelligence-related support.
Kelly: Scandal-Ridden San Francisco FBI Field Office Involved in Pelosi Investigation
Given the highly partisan nature of the FBI, and the San Francisco field office in particular, there is no reason to believe FBI brass will do anything more than run cover for the Pelosis. No one should accept at face value the strange account of what happened to Paul Pelosi, husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), at their California home last week. Plenty of factors—a wholly dishonest news media, unsubstantiated claims the attacker was a foiled assassin who planned to kill the speaker of the House, and Mr. Pelosi’s recent legal troubles, to name a few—feed justified skepticism surrounding the alleged break-in and hammer attack that occurred in the wee hours of October 28. Details continue to change while leading Democrats including Hillary Clinton blame the incident, without evidence, on Republicans and Donald Trump. This situation is yet another example of how the public’s complete lack of faith in major institutions is fueling doubt and suspicion.
NP Staff Writer: READ: FBI’s Affidavit Against Pelosi Home Intruder Claims He Threatened to Break Nancy’s Kneecaps.
A sworn affidavit by Stephanie Minor, a Special Agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), claims the intruder into the home of the Speaker of the US House of Representatives had intended to wait for her at her house for several days, then kidnap her and break her kneecaps. He also claimed he was tired from carrying his backpack to the Pelosi home, and wanted to tie Nancy Pelosi up so he could go to sleep. Despite the disturbed and nonsensical ramblings in the affidavit, corporate media talking heads have set upon DePape as some kind of far-right activist, despite his connections with far-left causes.
BIDEN’S DOJ
Alexander & Crilly: DOJ makes rare step of weighing in on court case involving armed Arizona groups ‘monitoring’ ballot boxes – warning the vigilantes they will likely be arrested despite federal judge ruling groups CAN camp outside local drop boxes
The Justice Department has waded into the legal row over armed vigilantes ‘monitoring’ voting drop boxes in Arizona – expressing concern about the situation, but stopping short of issuing any orders. The officials on Monday issued a ‘statement of interest’ in a court case filed in response to armed men patrolling voting sites near Phoenix. The League of Women Voters of Arizona is attempting to prevent Lions of Liberty and other right-wing groups from organizing what they term ‘monitoring’ of drop boxes.
Laila: DEVELOPING: Justice Department Files Federal Criminal Charges Against David DePape – Allows Government to Control and Hide Evidence – And Selectively Leak
The Department of Justice on Monday announced two federal criminal charges against David DePape. “DePape was charged with attempted kidnapping, and with retaliating against a federal official by threatening or injuring a family member.” CNBC reported. The US government will now control and hide the evidence – and shape the national media narrative.
Piper: 3% fraudulent trial data would not have stopped Pfizer COVID vax authorization, feds tell court
DOJ’s “unusual” filing in False Claims Act lawsuit against Pfizer and trial site contractors “suggests a split of opinion between the attorneys working the case and the Biden White House,” whistleblower filing says. oes the U.S. government actually want to shut down litigation on behalf of taxpayers against Pfizer and its clinical trial contractors for submitting allegedly fraudulent data to get emergency use authorization (EUA) for its COVID-19 vaccine?
FAUCI’S PANDEMIC
Citizen Free Press: Never forget what they did to kids…
Read more/Watch the 1:18 minute clip: https://citizenfreepress.com/breaking/never-forget-what-they-did-to-kids/
Bannons War Room: Natalie Winters On The Atlantic Calling For Pandemic Amnesty For Big Pharma And Corrupt Politicians
Natalie Winters talks about the Atlantic magazine article that says “Let’s Declare a Pandemic Amnesty,” as a way to forgive and forget the horrid decision-making of U.S. politicians whose policies destroyed the economy, ravaged children’s education and killed some thousands of innocent victims. “It kind of represents the establishment coming to terms with the fact that there are going to be investigations held by Republicans when we take back the House and Senate…
Read more/Watch 8:18 minute interview: https://warroom.org/2022/10/31/natalie-winters-on-the-atlantic-calling-for-pandemic-amnesty-for-big-pharma-and-corrupt-politicians/
Eugyppius: Emily Oster proposes “a pandemic amnesty,” suggests that “we need to forgive one another for what we did and said when we were in the dark about COVID”
I don’t know much about the American pandemic pundits, but I gather that Brown University economist and “parenting guru” Emily Oster is far from the worst of them. Her Twitter timeline suggests she spent the early months of the pandemic terrified about the virus until school closures took their toll on her kids, at which point she repositioned herself as a kind of lockdown moderate, opposing the worst of the hystericist excesses while validating their central premises whenever possible to save face with friends and colleagues. […] Emily Oster may have said a few reasonable things in the depths of her pandemic moderation, but she can take her proposal for pandemic amnesty and shove it all the way up her ass. I’m never going to forget what these villains did to me and my friends. It is just hard to put into words how infuriating it is, to read this breezy triviliasation of the absolute hell we’ve been through, . . .
Read more: https://www.eugyppius.com/p/emily-oster-proposes-a-pandemic-amnes
BIDEN’S VACCINE MANDATES
Bannons War Room: Naomi Wolf Analyzes The Political Fallout From CDCs 15-0 Ruling To Vaccinate Children For Covid
These 15 people saying, yeah we have no idea what it’s going to do to kids until we inject it into their tiny bodies, but let’s just go ahead. There’s no way a sensible, average, thoughtful, compassionate American person is going to think that makes sense of any kind. … This is not normal politics.”
Watch the 5 minute interview: https://warroom.org/2022/10/31/naomi-wolf-analyzes-the-political-fallout-from-cdcs-15-0-ruling-to-vaccinate-children-for-covid/
Schachtel: Military created prohibited digital tool to swiftly deny exemptions to its unlawful Covid-19 vaccine mandate
The Dossier has obtained the “digital tool” that at least one branch of the U.S. military has been using to mass-deny soldiers who apply for an exemption to the Pentagon’s unlawful Covid-19 injection mandate. This system, known as the “Religious Accommodations Appeal Generator” (RAGG), has been used by the Coast Guard to strike down nearly 99% of exemption requests, . . .
Read more: https://dossier.substack.com/p/military-created-prohibited-digital
Hoge: Time For Another Jab: CDC Director Walensky Tests Positive for COVID Again
Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has tested positive for COVID for the second time in recent weeks despite a course of the antiviral Paxlovid. The “fully vaccinated” 53-year-old first contracted the virus on October 21, eventually tested negative, but then came down with symptoms again and is now home in Massachusetts isolating.
THE DEMOCRAT LED WAR ON CHILDREN: MUTILATION, CHILD SACRIFICE, SEXUALIZATION
Christopher Rufo thread: NEW: Left-wing activists in Denver, Colorado, are hosting a child drag show this weekend, featuring “queens, kings & non-binary performers” as young as eight years old. The organization helps pair young boys with “drag moms”—i.e., adult male transvestites—who teach them how to create clothing, put on make-up, and dance for adults in bars and entertainment centers.
Read more: https://twitter.com/realchrisrufo/status/1587173963096264705
Watch the 11 second clip: https://twitter.com/realchrisrufo/status/1587177060224892928
Elordi: Tucking And Binding Are Trendy With Gender Dysphoric Kids. Pediatricians Warn They’re Not Harmless.
A growing number of children and teens are turning to “tucking” their male genitals or “binding” their female breasts as a way to get relief from gender dysphoria or just experiment with their gender. Tucking and binding have been promoted by some in the medical community as harmless ways for children to explore their gender, but they come with medical and psychological risks. Now, some pediatricians are sounding the alarm.
Barkoukis: ‘The View’ Uses Children to Make a Political Statement About Trump During Halloween Show
“The View” was criticized Monday for its Halloween special featuring children dressed in costumes relating to the raid on Mar-a-Lago. Two children dressed as FBI agents walked out with another boy wearing a toilet outfit that contained flushed documents with a “SECRET” label over it. He also donned a wig resembling former President Trump’s hair. […] Designed to be part of the show’s “hottest topics” from 2022 theme, the costumes were met with laughing and applause from the co-hosts, with one exclaiming, “Oh, I love that!” […] Joe Concha: This is TDS on steroids. To do this with little kids. These people are beyond sick.
Read more/Watch the short clips: https://townhall.com/tipsheet/leahbarkoukis/2022/11/01/the-view-halloween-mar-a-lago-n2615287
BIDEN/HARRIS/OBAMA REGIME: TRANSFORMING FOREIGN POLICY
Chia: ‘IT’S DONE’: Did Liz Truss text Antony Blinken after Nord Stream attack?
Kim Dotcom, a self-proclaimed ‘Internet Freedom Fighter’, says the text message is the reason Russia believes the United Kingdom was involved in blowing up the gas pipeline. “Liz Truss used her iPhone to send a message to Secretary Blinken saying ‘it’s done’ a minute after the pipeline blew up and before anybody else knew,” he told his nearly one million Twitter followers. Dotcom, who was born Kim Schmitz in West Germany, suggested the data was obtained through an iCloud hack.
Read more: https://www.asiamarkets.com/did-liz-truss-text-antony-blinken-after-nord-stream/
Ward & Toosi: Ukraine tells GOP it ‘can’t just be about guns’
Ukrainian leaders believe that, despite dissident notes from some on the far right, a fully or partially GOP-led Congress won’t skimp on giving Kyiv military aid. In fact, Ukraine expects “even more robust” weapons packages if Republicans are in charge, said Daniel Vajdich, a lobbyist in touch with Ukrainian officials. The Ukrainians are more concerned about Republicans paring back future economic aid to their country. The United States already has given billions of dollars in such assistance to Kyiv — but more funds will be crucial in the coming months and years, especially if Russia continues to damage Ukraine’s power plants and other critical infrastructure.
Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2022/10/31/ukraines-gop-more-than-weapons-00064092
BIDEN/HARRIS/OBAMA REGIME: TRANSFORMING AMERICA
Hammer: Nearly 40% of small businesses in the US failed to pay rent in October – with more than HALF saying their prices have been hiked at least 10% over the past six months
- The findings, published Tuesday by Boston-based business tracker Alignable, illustrate the stark effect inflation is having on everyday Americans
- The survey of 4,789 small business owners saw more than half of respondents say their rent is at least 10 percent higher than it was six months ago
- If you go back seven months, the majority said rents have increased 20 percent
- The study found that roughly 37 percent of small businesses – almost half of all Americans working in the private sector – were left unable to pay rent in October
- Compounding concerns is the fact that several states, such as New York, and California, are already well over the already-high national average
Shaheen: Lockdown reversed FIVE YEARS of heart disease progress: Deaths rose 4% for first time since 2011, CDC study finds
Heart disease deaths increased in 2020 for the first time in a decade – with a rise so dramatic it reversed five years of progress fighting America’s leading killer. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) led study found that 325 of every 100,000 Americans died of heart disease in 2020 – a four per cent rise from 2019. This figure ends a decades-long trend of heart disease deaths going down in the US, and brings back mortality rate figures to where they were in 2015 – losing progress. Lockdowns around the country restricted Americans’ access to medical care, leading to thousands of ancillary deaths from conditions other than Covid.
DEMOCRAT PARTY MARXIST PLAYBOOK: ANTI POLICE, ANTI VICTIM, PRO CRIMINAL
Gordon: Halloween horror as kids aged 3, 11 and 13 are among 14 shot and injured in bloody drive-by shooting during balloon release at vigil in Chicago
Three children were among 14 people shot during a bloody Halloween drive-by shooting at a vigil in Chicago. […] The group had been attending a vigil on the street corner around 9.30pm, with a balloon release scheduled for later in the evening. But it was shelved when the two shooters raced by and fired on them over the course of three seconds.
Christenson: This House Democrat Says She Fights for Women. As a Prosecutor, She Let Rapists Walk Free.
Rep. Jennifer Wexton (D., Va.) says she’s worked tirelessly in Congress as a defender of abused women. But as a county prosecutor, Wexton went easy on rapists. While serving as a Loudoun County prosecutor in 2001, Wexton had two rapists plead to misdemeanors, letting them walk after just months in prison, according to court records obtained by the Washington Free Beacon. One man was charged with raping a woman four times in the same day. The other, an illegal immigrant, abducted his female victim and forced her into the woods before raping her. Under Virginia law, the men were eligible to serve at minimum five years in prison for each rape. According to Andrew Kersey, a former prosecutor who served in Fairfax County around the same time as Wexton, these plea agreements were unusually lenient.
PHYSICIAN FIRST DO NO HARM
Andrews: Healthcare startups are prescribing KETAMINE to Americans with depression with little oversight — thanks to medical loopholes
Ketamine is being prescribed to Americans with little oversight by healthcare startups, it has emerged. A medical loophole means medics can prescribe the hallucinogen ‘off-label’ to people with severe depression, suicidal thoughts and PTSD. But there are concerns that new companies are dishing out the drug too leniently with little evidence about the long-term impacts. […] The Wall Street Journal reported this weekend that Mindbloom, Nue Life Health and Wonderland are among around a dozen companies prescribing ketamine to patients online – as tablets or lozenges. This is possible thanks to relaxed restrictions on the prescription of controlled substances during the pandemic – a measure brought in to keep people away from hospitals and doctor’s surgeries during Covid. […] The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has already approved a nasal spray using ketamine — sold under brand name Spravato — to treat depression. But users are required to stay in clinics for up to two hours after taking it so doctors can ensure there are no ill-effects. here are no such restrictions for those using ketamine off-label.
GREENPEACE: RECYCLING PLASTIC HARMFUL TO THE ENVIRONMENT
Tierney: On Second Thought, Just Throw Plastic Away
Even Greenpeace has finally acknowledged the truth: recycling plastic makes no sense. This has been obvious for decades to anyone who crunched the numbers, but the fantasy of recycling plastic proved irresistible to generations of environmentalists and politicians. They preached it to children, mandated it for adults, and bludgeoned municipalities and virtue-signaling corporations into wasting vast sums—probably hundreds of billions of dollars worldwide—on an enterprise that has been harmful to the environment as well as to humanity. Now Greenpeace has seen the light, or at least a glimmer of rationality. The group has issued a report accompanied by a press release headlined, “Plastic Recycling Is A Dead-End Street—Year After Year, Plastic Recycling Declines Even as Plastic Waste Increases.” The group’s overall policy remains delusional—the report proposes a far more harmful alternative to recycling—but it’s nonetheless encouraging to see environmentalists put aside their obsessions long enough to contemplate reality. The Greenpeace report offers a wealth of statistics and an admirably succinct diagnosis: . . .
Read more: https://www.city-journal.org/greenpeace-admits-recycling-doesnt-work
BOOK RECOMMENDATION
Recovering Politics, Civilization, and the Soul: Essays on Pierre Manent and Roger Scruton by Daniel J. Mahone
Mahoney: Rescuing Rights from Themselves
Under the democratic dispensation, the human person is increasingly transformed into an “individual.” Human ties or bonds are fully legitimate only to the extent that they are freely chosen. At the time of the great democratic revolutions of the late eighteenth century, rights still had a recognizably political inscription. Rights belonged to citizens and were tied to the fulfillment of certain civic obligations. But today, as Pierre Manent writes in A World beyond Politics?, rights have “an incontestably antipolitical accent.” Collective constraints tied to citizenship, such as compulsory military service, are no longer seen as a crucial means for supporting the political community that guarantees rights. Rather, such measures are said to restrict the free choice of the individual and are thus believed to be incompatible with individual freedom. Manent stresses the ambition of democratic ideology to “voluntarize” all human relations.
Not only are rights increasingly shorn of any real political inscription but consent, individual choice, comes to define “the majority of human actions” as Tocqueville put it in volume I of Democracy in America. The family, the nation, and the Church, every traditional source of authority and identification, are increasingly redefined in light of the categorical imperative of individual choice.
Read more: https://americanmind.org/salvo/rescuing-rights-from-themselves/
OTHER NEWS
Whedon: San Francisco DA announces attempted murder charges against alleged Paul Pelosi attacker
“The charges that we are filing today include attempted murder, residential burglary, assault with a deadly weapon, elder abuse, false imprisonment of an elder as well as threats to a public official and their family,” Jenkins said, per Fox News. […] Federal authorities announced charges against DePape on Monday for attempted kidnapping and assaulting the family of a public official in retaliation for their job performance. {Note: No bail for this perp.]
BBC News: Elon Musk dissolves Twitter’s board of directors
The latest move will mean that he is now chief executive of three companies. Along with taking the top role at Twitter, Mr Musk is chief executive of electric car maker Tesla and rocket company SpaceX. However, he has indicated that his position at the social media company may be temporary.
Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-63458380
Heath: Twitter is planning to start charging $20 per month for verification
Now that he owns Twitter, Elon Musk has given employees their first ultimatum: Meet his deadline to introduce paid verification on Twitter or pack up and leave. The directive is to change Twitter Blue, the company’s optional, $4.99 a month subscription that unlocks additional features, into a more expensive subscription that also verifies users, according to people familiar with the matter and internal correspondence seen by The Verge. Twitter is currently planning to charge $19.99 for the new Twitter Blue subscription. Under the current plan, verified users would have 90 days to subscribe or lose their blue checkmark. Employees working on the project were told on Sunday that they need to meet a deadline of November 7th to launch the feature or they will be fired.
Kindelan: FDA warns one type of amoxicillin, a common antibiotic for children, is in short supply
One version of amoxicillin, a common antibiotic used to treat issues like ear infections in kids, is in short supply, according to the Food and Drug Administration. The shortage of amoxicillin means that parents and other caregivers may need to visit multiple pharmacies in order to fill a prescription for liquid amoxicillin or may need to ask their doctor for an alternative medication. Some pharmacies may also be able to adjust the strength of the supply on hand to meet demand. […] In addition to ear infections, amoxicillin is commonly prescribed to children for strep, whooping cough and some urinary tract infections.
Read more: https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/wellness/story/gma-amoxicillin-shortage-warnings-221031-92428139
Rondeau: California 11-Year-Old Sues Tiktok, Snapchat, Meta for Her Own Grooming, Eating Disorder, Suicide Attempts
An anonymous 11-year-old girl from San Diego, California is suing Snapchat, TikTok, and Meta for destroying her mental health. The child identified as “Jennay” blames the companies for causing her to become addicted to social media, and subsequently getting groomed by a sexual predator, developing an eating disorder, self-harming, and attempting to commit suicide twice. Within a year, Jennay went from a being “normal girl” who liked gymnastics and drawing to becoming completely obsessed with likes and comparing herself to other girls, she told CBS8. As her body image worsened, . . .
INTERNATIONAL
Pollak: Netanyahu Makes Comeback as Israelis Head to Polls for 5th Time Since 2019
Former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is making a comeback bid as Israeli voters head to the polls Tuesday for the fifth time in just over three years. Netanyahu, 73, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, was in office from 2009 to 2021 until his conservative Likud party was ousted by a coalition of smaller parties, including left-wing and Arab parties. That coalition fell apart earlier this year, and Netanyahu’s Likud is on track to become the single biggest party again — although polls suggest that his bloc of right-wing parties may fall short of a majority.
Ely: UK scientists created mutant Covid strains in ‘high-risk, low-benefit’ lab experiments: SAGE-linked team comes under fire amid calls for more regulation over controversial ‘gain-of-function’ research
British scientists intentionally created hybrid Covid strains in risky experiments judged to be like ‘playing with fire’, MailOnline can reveal. Hamsters were infected with mutant viruses, blends of the original Wuhan strain and parts of either Omicron or Delta. Critics of the research, carried out by Imperial College London, called it ‘insanity’ and warned the lab trials could, in theory, unleash a new viral threat. Twenty scientists were involved in the project, including one who sits on the Government’s advisory panel SAGE.
Read more: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-11357387/UK-scientists-mutant-Covid-strains.html
Kaleem & Johnson: Turtlenecks, shared showers and wetsuits for indoor pools: Europe grapples with energy crisis
MONTEROSSO AL MARE, Italy — For years, Antonio Scognamillo paid $1,200 a month to power La Smorfia, his cozy pizzeria offering dozens of styles of pies in this hilly, medieval tourist enclave by the Ligurian Sea. That was before energy and food costs soared in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, threatening the future of his long-profitable business. Today, Scognamillo stares down at a $5,200 monthly power bill — on top of 40% increase in costs for mozzarella, grain and flour in a country where inflation is now at a 40-year high.
