Right Wing Granny

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Right Wing Granny

Tag Archives: Just The News

Will We Ever Get The Blindfold Back On Lady Justice?

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On Monday, Just the News posted an article with the following headline, “Biden White House facilitated DOJ’s criminal probe against Trump, scuttled privilege claims: memos.:

The article reports:

“I have therefore decided not to honor the former President’s ‘protective’ claim of privilege,” acting National Archivist Debra Steidel Wall wrote Trump’s team in May.

Long before it professed no prior knowledge of the raid on Donald Trump’s estate, the Biden White House worked directly with the Justice Department and National Archives to instigate the criminal probe into alleged mishandling of documents, allowing the FBI to review evidence retrieved from Mar-a-Lago this spring and eliminating the 45th president’s claims to executive privilege, according to contemporaneous government documents reviewed by Just the News.

Where was the FBI when it came to dealing with the illegal server and email account Hillary Clinton was using? Hillary Clinton was not President and did not have the authority to declassify documents. President Trump did have that authority at the time the documents were removed from the White House.

The article notes:

The memos show then-White House Deputy Counsel Jonathan Su was engaged in conversations with the FBI, DOJ and National Archives as early as April, shortly after 15 boxes of classified and other materials were voluntarily returned to the federal historical agency from Trump’s Florida home.

By May, Su conveyed to the Archives that President Joe Biden would not object to waiving his predecessor’s claims to executive privilege, a decision that opened the door for DOJ to get a grand jury to issue a subpoena compelling Trump to turn over any remaining materials he possessed from his presidency.

The machinations are summarized in several memos and emails exchanged between the various agencies in spring 2022, months before the FBI took the added unprecedented step of raiding Trump’s Florida compound with a court-issued search warrant.

The most complete summary was contained in a lengthy letter dated May 10 that acting National Archivist Debra Steidel Wall sent Trump’s lawyers summarizing the White House’s involvement.

The article reports:

“We have requested the ability to review the documents,” Corcoran wrote National Archives General Counsel Gary Stern on April 29, copying Su on the letter. “That review is necessary in order to ascertain whether any specific document is subject to privilege. We would respectfully request that you restrict access to the documents until we have had the opportunity to review the documents and to consult with President Donald J. Trump so that he may personally make any decision to assert a claim of constitutionally based privilege.”

But a dozen days later, Wall informed Corcoran that she had the blessing of Biden to overrule those privilege claims and share all materials requested by the DOJ and FBI.

Please follow the link above to read the entire article. This is a breathtaking abuse of power on the part of the Biden administration.

Interesting, But Don’t Expect Anything Earthshaking

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On Thursday, Just the News reported that U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart has given he Justice Department one week to deliver a redacted copy of the affidavit used to justify the FBI’s unprecedented search of former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence.

The article reports:

U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart also said at the hearing on that matter that he will decide after the department has completed its redactions whether he wants to make his own.

Reinhart, who approved the warrant for the FBI’s raid last week, also said that if the media or the government object to his proposed redactions, they can file an appeal and that the affidavit will remain sealed during any appeals.

The government argued that unsealing the affidavit would “provide a roadmap” of the ongoing investigation. Prosecutor Jay Bratt said the country is in a “volatile” state and releasing the names of those involved in the probe may “chill” other witnesses. 

“This is not a precedent we want to set,” he said.

Reinhart at the hearing also unsealed more minor documents containing general information, according to NPR.

The Justice Department also argued that redacting the affidavit would leave no substantive information to release and pointed out the search and release of the warrant last week had already resulted in death threats against FBI agents.

I admit that this sounds as if some people might actually be held accountable for using the FBI and Department of Justice for political purposes. However, don’t get your hopes up. We believed in Mueller (for a while), we believed in Barr (for a while), and we believed in Durham (for a while). The deep state has many ways of protecting itself, and there is no reason to believe that protection is weakened. I suspect that when we see the affideavit it will have many redactions (or at least enough to hide what actually happened).

Changing The Language To Fit The Situation

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In discussing the book 1984, a website called bookanalysis.com posts the following definition of Newspeak:

The purpose of the language is to reduce “unnecessary” words and those that might lead the citizens of Oceania into thought patterns the Party wants to avoid. They believe if they can rid the English language of troubling words, then there will be no way that anyone can conceive of the concepts without them.

It is a language that is still under construction as the novel’s plot is playing out. There are various iterations of the Newspeak dictionary, and one of Winston Smith’s associates, Syme, is working on the text. The language reduces words to syllables and combines them together to create new, unusual words.

On Tuesday, Just the News posted an article titled, “6 terms Biden has redefined to further agenda, stigmatize opponents.”

Here is the list of the six terms:

1. Recession

2. Disinformation

3. Domestic terrorist

4. Insurrectionist

5. Voter suppression

6. Illegal alien

The redefining of all these terms has to do with keeping the Democrats in power. The chances of a Democrat victory in the mid-terms will be negatively impacted if America is declared in a recession so the administration will simply change the definition of recession. Disinformation has come to mean anything the Biden administration does not like or anything that paints the administration in a bad light. The Facebook fact-checkers have this concept down pat. A domestic terrorists is anyone who questions the far left agenda the Biden administration is attempting to impose on Americans–anything from school curriculum to men in women’s sports. An insurrectionist is anyone who questions the legitimacy of the 2020 election. Voter suppression is anything that will insure a more secure and honest election. Illegal aliens are now called undocumented citizens or simply non-citizens.

The Biden administration’s ‘Newspeak’ has been somewhat successful in limiting some of the complaints about election fraud in 2020. Many politicians are afraid to bring up the subject out of fear of being labeled insurrectionists. It has also become obvious that the Biden administration is not above sending the law after any citizen that consistently opposes their agenda. The FBI has used excessive force on Americans accused of minor crimes on numerous occasions. In some states the banning of drop boxes is being called voter suppression even as it becomes evident that drop boxes are easily used by those who want to engage in ballot harvesting, an illegal activity in many states. And finally, as we watch our totally open southern border, the term illegal alien has somehow disappeared from any document or speech connected to the Biden administration.

If the trend of redefining words for political purposes continues in the Biden administration, we will one day in the very near future wake up and wonder what has happened to our country.

The Other Side Of The Story

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Anyone who has bothered to watch the committee hearings in the House of Representatives designed to prevent President Trump from running for office again might have noticed that only one side of the story regarding January 6th is being told. There is no mention of the January 6th prisoners who have been denied their constitutional rights. There is no mention of the role FBI undercover agents played in stirring up the crowd. There is no mention of the circumstances surrounding the murder of Ashley Babbitt. There is no mention of the fact that no one seems to know who was actually responsible for security at the Capitol that day. There is no mention of the arrest of people who did not enter the Capitol building; and finally, there is no mention of the extreme intimidation tactics being used against anyone who was anywhere near the Capitol that day.

On Sunday, BizPacReview posted an article that paints a very different picture than the one being painted by the committee.

The article reports:

Despite the hyper-partisan efforts of the Jan. 6 committee hearings and their predetermined objective of recommending criminal charges against former President Donald Trump, evidence has continued to mount on the side of reality leading Fox News senior political analyst Brit Hume to drop the hammer on Reps. Liz Cheney (R-WY) and Adam Kinzinger (R-IL).

Following Thursday’s primetime edition of the Jan. 6 show trial, investigative journalist and founder of Just the News, John Solomon, called out the committee for deliberately ignoring concrete evidence that destroys their narrative while referencing a specific Pentagon memo. Hume shared that post and included a scathing indictment of his own on the Republican committee members said to be participating in the name of being fair.

“This is the sort of information, while not excusing Trump, that the 1/6 committee’s Republicans would have insisted be part of the hearings, if they were trying to be fair,” he captioned the article before slamming Cheney and Kinzinger, “They are not.”

This is the information you are not being told:

As Solomon laid out, “the most compelling piece of evidence that Trump wanted to thwart — rather than incite — violence is contained in a lengthy memo written by the Pentagon inspector general that chronicled the assistance the Defense Department offered Congress both ahead of and during the riot.”

“In it, the IG recounts a fateful meeting on Jan. 3, 2021 in the White House when then-acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller and Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, met with Trump on national security matters,” he explained after referencing the president’s initial offer for National Guard troops on Jan. 2, 2021. “The complete passage — hardly mentioned by Democrats at the hearings of the news media covering them — is worth absorbing in its entirety.”

“‘Mr. Miller and GEN Milley met with the President at the White House at 5:30 p.m.,’ the IG reported. ‘The primary topic they discussed was unrelated to the scheduled rally. GEN Milley told us that at the end of the meeting, the President told Mr. Miller that there would be a large number of protestors on January 6, 2021, and Mr. Miller should ensure sufficient National Guard or Soldiers would be there to make sure it was a safe event. Gen. Milley told us that Mr. Miller responded, “We’ve got a plan and we’ve got it covered.”‘”

I don’t like to sound paranoid, but I firmly believe that the deep state did have a plan and that they did have it covered.

 

What Insider Trading?

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Oh to have the stock trading success of Paul Pelosi. On Tuesday, Just the News reported that Paul Pelosi (husband of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi) just made a really smart stock purchase.

The article reports:

Paul Pelosi, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband, purchased between $1 million and $5 million of stock in a semiconductor company ahead of an upcoming vote on legislation containing $52 billion for chipmakers — the latest in a long history of similar purchases.

…Pelosi’s husband made headlines when he purchased a substantial amount of tech stock last year under his wife’s speakership. Pelosi made millions on “timely” bets with Big Tech stock buys in advance of an antitrust bill that was moving through the House, according to a Fortune report from July 2021. 

The antitrust legislation ultimately stalled, but Pelosi tech stock buys have continued throughout this year. In March, the speaker disclosed that her husband bought Apple as well as Disney and PayPal shares. 

Retail traders track Pelosi’s trades to “find winners,” Yahoo reported.

The article notes:

There are several bills still pending in Congress that impose some form of a ban on lawmakers making individual stock purchases, but some would not cover spouses. 

Peter Schweizer, author of the 2011 book “Throw Them All Out,” was instrumental in educating the public about the lack of stock trading laws applicable to members of Congress. After his book was published, Congress passed the STOCK Act, and former President Obama signed it into law. The bill is designed to prevent insider trading, but it doesn’t ban members of Congress or their spouses from buying individual stocks. Under the bill, lawmakers are required to file financial disclosure reports that show the purchases made. 

Schweizer has long called on Congress to prohibit lawmakers and their spruces [sic] from trading individual stocks. 

The article concludes:

Pelosi’s office has said she had “no prior knowledge” of her husband’s stock purchase.

“The speaker does not own any stocks,” said Pelosi spokesman Drew Hammill, according to FOX Business. “As you can see from the required disclosures, with which the Speaker fully cooperates, these transactions are marked ‘SP’ for Spouse. The Speaker has no prior knowledge or subsequent involvement in any transactions.” 

The legislation with the funding for chipmakers is designed to shore up America’s semiconductor supply chain to better compete with China. The House passed its version of the America COMPETES Act earlier this year. The Senate passed their own version last June. A conference committee is preparing the final legislation, which could be voted on as early as this week.

The article notes:

Retail traders track Pelosi’s trades to “find winners,” Yahoo reported.

I think Martha Steward should ask for her jail time back.

 

There Seems To Be Something Of A Double Standard Here

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On Monday, The American Thinker reported the following:

An account was published Sunday in the San Marcos Record of a massive late June raid on a couple in rural Hays County, Texas that resulted in no arrest. The scale of forces deployed and the tactics used seem designed to intimidate and punish, especially considering the fact that the couple never entered the US Capitol on June 6, and were guilty only of being Trump supporters who were peacefully demonstrating.  

The article recounts the event:

Lora DeWolfe and Darrel Kennemer were startled when FBI agents, during the pre-dawn hours on June 22, broke through their gate leading up to their home which sits on seven acres in rural Hays County. (snip)

Kennemer, concerned, sprung out of bed, grabbed his AR-15 and stepped onto the porch wearing only his briefs.

The couple watched as several other vehicles, estimated between 20-30, poured onto the property, including one armored vehicle with a battering ram.

FBI agents demanded Kennemer “drop his rifle” as they exited the approaching vehicle. Kennemer responded asking if officials had a warrant, and to show him.

Agents instead began tossing a series of flashbang grenades at the 67-year-old after which Kennemer realized a group of targeting lasers on him that forced him to lay down his weapon.

The couple was placed into handcuffs, taken away from their house, and questioned while their home was being searched.

Kennemer said it wasn’t only members of the FBI present, but ATF and SWAT, too.

“All present I would say upwards of 100 agents, at an astronomical cost to the taxpayer, were on site,” Kennemer said. “The warrant wasn’t even a ‘no knock’ warrant. It could have been served with a simple knock on our door during daylight hours.”

This is abuse of power by the federal government. At the present moment, the Department of Justice is so out of control that they are willing to do this to anyone who is a Trump supporter. That is not America.

Meanwhile, Just the News reported the following on Monday:

The same U.S. Attorney’s office that has prosecuted scores of Jan. 6 protesters for trespassing and other crimes has declined to prosecute nine members of TV comedian Stephen Colbert’s The Late Show production team for unlawful entry into a congressional office building, Capitol Police announced Monday evening.

“The United States Capitol Police (USCP) has been working with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia on the June 16, 2022, Unlawful Entry case that involved a group of nine people associated with The Late Show,” the department said in a press release.

“The United States Capitol Police was just informed the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia is declining to prosecute the case,” they added.

Capitol Police said they arrested the nine producers on unlawful entry charges, saying “members of the group had been told several times before they entered the Congressional buildings that they had to remain with a staff escort inside the buildings and they failed to do so.”

So a couple that did not enter the Capitol building on January 6th has their house invaded by the FBI with a SWAT team, and a group that entered the Capitol unlawfully is not charged. Meanwhile, some prisoners who were arrested in connection with January 6th are still sitting in jail with no bail and no trial.

If we don’t begin to undo this in the November election, we will no longer have a country.

Fighting For Children’s Education

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Just the News is reporting today that Arizona Governor Doug Ducey has signed a bill allowing school choice for all Arizona school children.

The article reports:

In signing House Bill 2853 into law, all Arizona’s school-age children will be eligible for the Empowerment Scholarship Account. It’s a state-funded account that allows parents to spend money on tuition and other education expenses. Previously, the program was limited to disabled students, those in failing schools, and other specific circumstances.

…The program will now be available to more than 1.1 million students across the state. The average ESA spends $6,400, legislative analysts have previously estimated.

The bill also gives the Arizona Department of Education $2.2 million and allows for the hiring of 26 new workers to aid in administering the expanded program. The report also found that school choice programs nationwide saved taxpayers an average of $7,500 per student that participated.

House Majority Leader Ben Toma, R-Peoria, said education dollars shouldn’t be tied to one building.

“It was my privilege to sponsor the most expansive school choice law in the nation, opening Empowerment Scholarship Account eligibility to all school-age children without restriction,” Toma said. “In Arizona, we fund students, not systems, because we know one size does not fit all students.”

Goldwater Institute President and CEO Victor Riches said the program will benefit children with varying educational needs.

Obviously there is some pushback from those who like the indoctrination centers our public schools have become.

The article reports:

Save Our Schools Arizona announced on Wednesday that it would lead a push to get a veto initiative on the 2024 ballot that would scale back the program if successful.

“Stopping the privatization of Arizona’s public schools has been our mission for 5 years. Now, lawmakers have defied the will of AZ voters by attempting once more to pass universal ESA vouchers & dismantle public education – but we won’t let them win,” the organization said.

The nonprofit and others argue that school choice saps funding from public schools that receive tax dollars based on attendance.

If public schools were doing their job of successfully educating our children, there would be no flight from public schools. I believe that the flight from public schools is the result of parents seeing what their children were being taught during the Covid lockdowns. Because of what they saw being taught in the classroom, parents are looking for other educational options. Arizona is providing one.

You Know You Are Toxic When…

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On Wednesday, Just the News reported that Ohio Senate Democratic nominee Representative Tim Ryan will not be appearing with President Biden next Wednesday when the President visits Ohio to discuss a program benefiting union workers. That is an indication of how low the President is in the polls.

The article reports:

Ryan’s campaign says the candidate will be a no-show due to an unavoidable scheduling conflict – the same explanation given by Democratic gubernatorial nominee Nan Whaley’s campaign.

The absences from candidates in tough elections at the Biden event suggests some hesitancy to appear on stage with a president whose has low poll numbers – amid record inflation.

In addition, Biden in 2020 lost to incumbent GOP President Trump roughly 53-to-45% in Ohio, a traditional labor union state.

Biden will, however, on Wednesday be joined by Ohio lawmakers and fellow Democrats Sen. Sherrod Brown, Reps. Shantel Brown and Marcy Kaptur and Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb, as well as Labor Secretary Marty Walsh.

The address will primarily be aimed at appealing to blue collar voters.

The article concludes:

On Wednesday, Ohio GOP Senate nominee J.D. Vance tried to tie Ryan to Biden and his policies.

“Ryan has worked in lockstep with Biden to destroy our economy and Ohio’s middle class is suffering today because of it,” he said “But now, for the second time in two months, Ryan is refusing to be seen in public with his own party’s president.”

If the blue collar workers cannot see the difference in the impact of President Biden’s policies and the impact of President Trump’s policies, they are not paying attention. Under President Biden, the middle-class is struggling with high gasoline prices, high food prices, high energy prices, and no end in sight. Under President Trump, the middle class prospered.

On January 28, 2022, The Wall Street Journal posted the following:

Part of what made the Trump boom unique, however, is who benefited the most. The economy grew in ways that mostly benefited low-income and middle-class households, categories that cover a disproportionate number of blacks. In 2016 the percentage of blacks who hadn’t completed high school was nearly double that of whites—15% vs. 8%—and the percentage of adults with a bachelor’s degree was 35% for whites and only 21% for blacks.

These education gaps are reflected in work patterns. Blacks are overrepresented in the retail, healthcare and transportation industries, which provide tens of millions of working- and middle-class jobs. In 2019, 54% of black households earned less than $50,000 a year, versus 33% of white households. At the other end of the income distribution, slightly more than half of all white households (50.7%) earned at least $75,000, compared with less than a third (29.4%) of black households. What this means is that reductions in income inequality can translate into reductions in racial inequality, which is what the country experienced in the pre-pandemic Trump economy.

Between 2017 and 2019, median household incomes grew by 15.4% among blacks and only 11.5% among whites. The investment bank Goldman Sachs released a paper in March 2019 that showed pay for those at the lower end of the wage distribution rising at nearly double the rate of pay for those at the upper end. Average hourly earnings were growing at rates that hadn’t been seen in almost a decade, but what “has set this rise apart is that it’s the first time during the economic recovery that began in mid-2009 that the bottom half of earners are benefiting more than the top half—in fact, about twice as much,” CNBC reported.

Citing a graph included in Goldman’s analysis, CNBC added that the “trend began in 2018”—the first year that the corporate tax cuts were in effect—“and has continued into this year and could be signaling a stronger economy than many experts think.”

Unfortunately, the Biden administration’s policies have erased all of those gains in eighteen months. Electing a Republican Congress may help put back some policies that will be beneficial to the middle class, but we won’t see any upward mobility to and within the middle class until we vote Democrats and liberal Republicans out of office.

The Beat Goes On…

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Anyone who has been paying attention for the last few years knows that there are some politicians who would love to take the guns away from law-abiding American citizens. I won’t speculate on their specific motives, but I am cynical enough to believe not all of them actually believe that separating Americans from their guns will make anyone safer.

On Friday, Just the News posted an article about a new law proposed in California that would make owning a gun an expensive proposition in California.

The article reports:

A California state senator introduced legislation that would require gun owners to obtain liability insurance for the “negligent or accidental use” of their firearms, according to a press release from her office.

State Sen. Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, introduced SB 505 in hopes that California would become the first state in the country with this kind of law in place.

“Guns kill more people than cars. Yet gun owners are not required to carry liability insurance like car owners must,” Sen. Skinner said in a press release Thursday. “Why should taxpayers, survivors, families, employers, and communities bear the $280 billion annual cost of gun violence? It’s time for gun owners to shoulder their fair share.”

Skinner’s office describes the gun insurance required by SB 505 as “similar to car insurance.” Her office says that under the bill, gun owners would:

Be held civilly liable for property damage, injury, or death resulting from the use of their firearms Have to obtain liability insurance that covers losses or damages resulting from negligent or accidental use of their firearm, including property, damage, injury or death Have to obtain proof of gun insurance, keep that proof with their firearm, and produce it when asked by a peace officer during the course of a lawful detainment.

In other words, let’s make gun ownership so expensive and so inconvenient that no one will own a gun (except for criminals who don’t follow laws). That makes absolutely no sense and would probably increase the crime rate astronomically (see Chicago, Washington, D.C., and New York City for examples of cities with strict gun control laws).

Now is the time to fight to keep our Second Amendment strong. Those who would separate law-abiding citizens from their guns do not have our best interests at heart.

Things To Consider

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If you watch the well-produced televised January 6th hearings, there are a few things that you should keep in mind. I am writing this Thursday afternoon, so I have no idea what we are in for. However, there are a few facts that I doubt will be mentioned in the hearings.

On Wednesday, Just the News reported that the Pentagon had requested National Guard troops for Washington before the January 6th riots. These requests were turned down by the Capitol Police and the Democrats. So who wanted things to get out of hand on January 6th?

The article reports:

An official timeline of the Jan. 6 tragedy assembled by Capitol Police shows that a Defense Department official reached out to a Capitol Police deputy chief, Sean Gallagher, on Jan. 2, 2021 to see if a request for troops was forthcoming, but the offer was quickly rejected after a consultation with then-Chief Steve Sund.

“Carol Corbin (DOD) texts USCP Deputy Chief Sean Gallagher, Protective Service Bureau, to determine whether USCP is considering a request for National Guard soldiers for January 6, 2021 event,” the timeline reads in the lone entry listed for Saturday, Jan. 2, 2021.

The following morning, the timeline states, “Gallagher replies to DOD via text that a request for National Guard support not forthcoming at this time after consultation with COP Sund.”

The assessment of what the Trump rally would be changed as the event drew closer:

“Due to the tense political environment following the 2020 election, the threat of disruptive actions or violence cannot be ruled out,” the new assessment declared. “Supporters of the current president see January 6, 2021 as the last opportunity to overturn the results of the presidential election. This sense of desperation and disappointment may lead to more of an incentive to become violent.”

Within 24 hours, Sund had changed his mind and began seeking permission from the political powers surrounding House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer to deploy the National Guard as a preventive measure on Monday, Jan. 4, 2021.

The Capitol Police official timeline provides the most succinct summary of a series of events around Sund’s request, some of which have been disputed and at times misreported in the news media.

“COP Sund asks Senate Sergeant at Arms (SSAA) Michael Stenger and House Sergeant at Arms (HSAA) Paul Irving for authority to have National Guard to assist with security for the January 6, 2021 event based on briefing with law enforcement partner and revised intelligence Assessment,” the timeline recorded. “COP Sund’s request is denied. SSAA and HSAA tell COP Sund to contact General Walker at DC National Guard to discuss the guard’s ability to support a request if needed.”

The article notes:

“We went to the Capitol Police and the Secret Service and law enforcement agencies and Mayor Bowser days before January 6, and asked them, ‘Do you want thousands of National Guardsmen and women for January 6?'” Patel (Kash Patel) said in a detailed interview earlier this year. “They all said no. Why did we do that? The law requires them to request it before we can deploy them. And the DOD IG found we did not delay, we actually prepared in a preemptive fashion, which is what we do at DOD.”

Please follow the link to read the entire article. January 6th was a planned attack, but not by the people currently being blamed for it.

Spying On Congress

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On Thursday, Just the News reported that the charges against the U.S. Capitol Police for illegally spying on a Congressman have been proven valid.

The article reports:

An internal investigation has confirmed Capitol Police entered Texas Republican Rep. Troy Nehls’ office and photographed a whiteboard containing his sensitive legislative plans, concluding the officer who took the picture exercised “questionable judgment” and the department lacked policies and training to avoid an unnecessary intrusion on lawmakers’ constitutionally protected work.

…Nehls told Just the News on Thursday night he was “a little disappointed” the internal probe did not resolve a key factual question about the officer’s claim of why he entered the congressman’s office over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.

He said the failure to resolve that key question and the surfacing of other unusual facts turned up during the internal probe only heightened his fears that Capitol Police targeted him for investigation for political reasons related to his criticism of the Democrat-led Jan. 6 committee investigation.

“I personally believe that Nancy Pelosi has weaponized the U.S. Capitol Police as her own investigations unit,” Nehls said in an interview with the “Just the News, Not Noise” television show. “She goes after anybody that has dissenting point of views. I obviously have been a very vocal critic of the January 6th committee and the events of January 6.”

The Capitol Police provided a statement to Just the News that did not address the IG’s criticisms of the officer or the department but strongly insisted Nehls was never under criminal investigation and that any suggestion to the contrary only undermined the police force.

The article concludes:

The internal probe determined it was the only time the officer had ever used his department-issued smart phone to take a picture for investigative purposes, and it interviewed a supervisory sergeant who explained the department “does not investigate Members of Congress so he does not understand what” the officer “was thinking when he took the photograph of the whiteboard.”

The officer “exercised questionable judgment in concluding it was his duty or mission to read and photograph the written product of a congressman or the congressman’s staff contained on a whiteboard in a private congressional office,” the inspector general concluded.

“His actions are mitigated by the fact that in its review, OIG found no evidence of where this type of scenario was discussed or relevant guidance was provided by the Department,” the report added.

Nehls told Just the News he hoped a new Congress next year could find consensus to ensure Capitol Police have better policies and procedures to protect the privacy and work of lawmakers.

“I think that it is very incumbent upon whoever the Speaker of the House, the Sergeant at Arms are in the next Congress that we protect the limited amount of integrity that that institution has, and that is making sure that members can feel safe and secure in their offices,” he said

“This, Democrats and Republicans alike should support the idea of saying this should never happen to anybody,” Nehls added. “You cannot go in and start taking pictures of legislative materials or things that you find suspicious.”

There are a lot of indications that the swamp that is Washington, D.C., needs to be filled in and ended.

There Are Always Strings Attached

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On Monday, Just the News reported that there will be a rule change in federal education funding that will require schools to have certain LGBT policies in order to receive federal funding.

The article reports:

The U.S. Department of Agriculture said this month it will change how it interprets Title IX prohibitions on discrimination based on sex “to include discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.”

That change means that schools that accept any kind of funding, including students receiving FAFSA or Pell grants or students who receive federally subsidized school lunch funding, will be subject to the new Title IX LGBT interpretation.

“As a result, state and local agencies, program operators and sponsors that receive funds from FNS must investigate allegations of discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation,” USDA said in a statement. “Those organizations must also update their non-discrimination policies and signage to include prohibitions against discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation.”

This means that schools around the country will be forced to comply with a range of pro-transgender policies in things like sports, housing, locker rooms and bathrooms if they want to continue receiving federal funds. The effort began when President Joe Biden issued an executive order almost immediately upon taking office.

Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your point of view), federal money always comes with strings attached.

Remember, the Teacher Unions control the Democrat party through their donations.

Open Secrets posted the following charts illustrating how money talks:

Again, the strings attached to federal funding could be used to hold up a suspension bridge. Many school districts need to take a look at what it costs to jump through the  hoops to receive federal funding versus the money received.

Is There Anyone In Government Who Cares About The Taxpayers’ Money?

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On Saturday, Just the News posted an article about the Internal Revenue Service’s issuance of improper pandemic tax credits.

The article reports:

This week’s Golden Horseshoe is awarded to the IRS for issuing almost $1 billion in improper pandemic tax credits — and rebuffing an inspector general’s recommendations to recover the erroneous payments.

The tax collectors issued potentially $898 million in improper Recovery Rebate Credits (RRCs) to ineligible individuals, including potential nonresident aliens, according to a final audit report by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA).

The CARES Act authorized Economic Impact Payments in varying amounts depending on income and filing status. Any eligible individual who did not receive the stimulus payment could claim the missing amount on their tax return as an RRC on their taxes in 2020 and 2021.

“As of May 27, 2021, the IRS had processed 26.3 million tax returns with RRC claims totaling $39.2 billion,” according to the TIGTA final audit report. “Of these, the IRS issued potentially improper RRC payments totaling $898 million. These include $79.8 million in the RRC that should have been paid to eligible individuals and $818.5 million in the RRC that was paid to ineligible individuals.”   

The IRS declined to review or take steps to recover approximately two-thirds of the erroneously disbursed amounts, the inspector general revealed.

…Declining to review such ineligible claims processed after May 27, 2021, Corbin said the recovery effort “would require the IRS to divert limited resources to review these returns when such a small percentage, five one-hundredths of one percent, are projected to be affected by the issue.”

Democrats increased the IRS budget by 6% in the recent omnibus spending legislation, and an additional 10,000 agents were expected to be hired. 

How much money would taxpayers save if the additional agents were put to work tracking down erroneous pandemic payments rather than harassing ordinary Americans who might have made an honest mistake on their tax returns?

The ACLU Actually Supports Civil Rights

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On Thursday, Just the News posted the following:

Last week, attorneys for the ACLU wrote a letter to Judge Analisa Torres of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York objecting to the court declining to unseal the search warrant application and related judicial documents filed in connection to the raid of the home of investigative journalist James O’Keefe, founder of Project Veritas.

In November, federal prosecutors obtained and executed warrants to raid the homes of three Project Veritas journalists, including O’Keefe, and seize their electronic devices. O’Keefe was handcuffed by FBI agents during the search of his home and required to stand in the public hallway of his apartment building dressed in his underwear, according to court documents.

In December, the magistrate judge assisting Torres in the case declined requests to unseal the search warrant materials, arguing the government’s stated interest in protecting both the integrity of an ongoing grand jury investigation into Project Veritas and the privacy of uncharged individuals named in the documents outweighed the public’s interest in accessing the information.

The magistrate judge’s opinion led the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press (RCFP) to file a motion calling on the court to unseal the materials.

The ACLU’s new letter expresses support for the RCFP’s objection, noting that a significant amount of information about the government’s investigation has been made public since the magistrate judge issued her order.

If you remember, the FBI search of the home of James O’Keefe happened about the time it became known that James O’Keefe had been offered a copy of Ashley Biden’s diary (see story here). The raid on James O’keefe at his home appeared to be another example of the federal government attacking someone they perceived as a possible enemy or person who might release negative information about people (or relatives of people) in the Biden administration.

The article at Just the News concludes:

Through the Microsoft search warrants, which were unsealed in March, the government seized nearly 200,000 Project Veritas emails and other files, many of which were unrelated to the Justice Department’s purported reason for initiating the warrants.

The Justice Department has contended there’s probable cause to believe Project Veritas was involved in stealing the diary and transporting it — a claim denied by the sources, who have consistently said it was abandoned at the Florida house, and O’Keefe’s legal team.

Calli (O’Keefe’s attorney, Paul Calli,) has accused the FBI and Justice Department of a witch hunt targeting a media organization openly critical of the Biden administration, arguing the government is violating the First Amendment, Fourth Amendment, and the Privacy Protection Act.

“The ACLU has taken a righteous and principled stance regarding the government’s desecration of the First Amendment,” Calli told Just the News. “Project Veritas is grateful for the support of the ACLU and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.”

Calli added, “Sadly, partisan political activists like those at the New York Times, and others in the for-profit, credentialed, cloistered, legacy media, as well as blogs like the Columbia Journalism Review, have not woken to the threat to all journalists.”

Calli has previously told Just the News that the government doesn’t want to unseal the search warrant materials for Project Veritas because federal prosecutors and FBI agents lied and misled in them to obtain warrants from judges.

The Justice Department declined to comment for this story.

The politicization of the Justice Department in America will eventually become a problem for both political parties. It is good to see the ACLU getting involved in this case.

The Trial Begins

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Just the News posted an article today about the trial of 2016 Hillary Clinton campaign attorney Michael Sussmann. It is a long, detailed article, so please follow the link and read the entire article. I will try to hit some of the high points.

The article reports:

An FBI agent testifying Tuesday in the trial for 2016 Hillary Clinton campaign attorney Michael Sussmann discredited evidence Sussmann gave the agency that attempted to connect the Trump Organization with Russia’s Alfa Bank, a purportedly hotline to the Kremlin.

FBI special agent Scott Hellman said the conclusion of the authors of the white paper analysis of the internet data between the email server of the Trump Organization and the Russian Alfa Bank was “not objective” and “far-reaching,” and their conclusion of a secret communications channel “didn’t ring true at all.”

Special counsel John Durham last year charged Sussmann with lying to the FBI when he allegedly told then-FBI general counsel James Baker that he was not working on behalf of any client while providing him with since-debunked collusion allegations.

Sussmann is pleading not guilty to the charge. If convicted, he faces up to five years in prison.  

Hellman, in the second day of the trial, was the prosecution’s second witness and had examined the data on the thumb drives that Sussmann had given to Baker in their meeting – weeks before the presidential election.

Hellman also said that he was frustrated that he didn’t know the source of the data. 

Hellman said he disagreed with the white paper from the thumb drive that explained the Domain Name System data as being a secret communications channel between the Trump Organization and Alfa Bank. He also said that he felt that whoever wrote the white paper jumped to conclusions not supported by the technical data and that the methodology of their analysis was questionable. 

The agent noted the lack of logic in the charges:

The FBI agent also said the overall conclusion of the connection between Trump and Russia from the data didn’t make any sense because a presidential candidate would not likely put their own name in a domain name that was easily connected to their organization and Russia if it’s supposedly for secret communication.

“Didn’t ring true at all,” Hellman said. He said the analysis of the data was done “inside of a day,” then given for further analysis to theFBI Chicago division, which later agreed with his assessment. 

Hellman added that he found it conveniently coincidental that someone was looking for suspicious activity between the Trump and Russian servers and found it just three weeks after it began. 

It has become very obvious that this was an effort to neuter the candidacy and presidency of President Trump by the Clinton cartel and their friends in the government bureaucracy. Unfortunately, there are still some in the media who are still parroting the original charges as if they were legitimate. Hopefully there will be enough reporting on this trial to show Americans how they were misled by the media and how badly President Trump was treated. I can’t imagine how much President Trump would have accomplished had not the Clinton cartel, their bureaucratic allies, and their media allies attempted to cripple his presidency from the beginning.

Don’t Mess With Ron DeSantis!

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On Friday, Just the News reported that Florida Governor Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed a bill that will strip Walt Disney World of its special tax and administrative status after the company opposed a parental rights bill the state passed in late March. I have very mixed emotions about this. The head of a corporation should be free to express opposition to a law without the state government penalizing the corporation. It is quite possible that it was time for the ‘Disney deal’ to end, but I am uncomfortable with it being in response to a political stand.

The article reports:

The Reedy Creek Improvement District, a special administrative unit under Disney control will cease to exist under the measure, according to CBS News.

After Florida passed a parental rights bill, derided by critics as a “Don’t Say Gay” measure, the company organized opposition to the law and vowed to see it repealed. The company’s stance earned sharp rebuke from Florida Republicans, who quickly moved to revoke the company’s tax privileges.

In late March, DeSantis signed into law the Parental Rights in Education bill which limited discussion of sexual topics in the classroom by grade levels and restricted inappropriate material.

Disney stock fell 2.79% on Friday, according to Google Finance. Company stock has fallen 31.25% in the past 6 months and trades for $118.27 per share as of press time.

I believe that the Parental Rights in Education bill was a good bill and that Governor DeSantis was correct in signing it. I also believe that a lot of what was reported about the bill was inaccurate and designed to create opposition to the bill. However, I am sincerely concerned about the way the Disney situation was handled. Would conservatives be celebrating if the shoe were on the other foot?

To Mask Or Not To Mask

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On Tuesday, Just the News reported that the Biden administration intends to appeal the court decision that mask mandates were unconstitutional. The statement is shrouded in ‘wiggle words,’ but that is the general direction the administration is going.

The article reports:

The Department of Justice on Tuesday announced that if the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention determines masks to be necessary, it will appeal the Florida judge’s decision striking down the Biden administration’s COVID-19 mask mandate on transportation.

So the administration will blame the CDC if it decides to appeal.

Scott Johnson at Power Line Blog also posted an article about mask mandates on Thursday.

The article at Power Line Blog notes:

Speaking of maskaholism, former New York Times science writer John Tierney reviews the record in the outstanding City Journal column “Maskaholics.” Tierney includes the graph below with his column. It was created by data analyst Ian Miller. Tierney comments that the graph should be required viewing for everyone still wearing a mask and every public official or journalist who still insists that mask mandates “control the spread[,]” such as Mr. Playbook above.

Tierney explains:

The graph tracks the results of a natural experiment that occurred nationwide during the pandemic. Eleven states never mandated masks, while the other 39 states enforced mandates. The mandates typically began early in the pandemic in 2020 and remained until at least the summer of 2021, with some extending into 2022. The black line on the graph shows the weekly rate of Covid cases in all the states with mask mandates that week, while the orange line shows the rate in all the states without mandates.

As you can see from the lines’ similar trajectories, the mask mandates hardly controlled the virus. By the time the mandates were introduced in New York and other states in the spring of 2020 (at the left side of the graph), infections had already been declining in those states, and the mandates didn’t prevent a surge later that year, when cases rose and fell in nearly identical trajectories regardless of states’ mask policies. The pandemic’s second year saw slight deviations in both directions, but those reflected the seasonality of the virus and the geography of mask mandates, which remained more common in northern states. Cases were higher in the non-mandate states last summer, when the seasonal surge in the South disproportionately hit Republican states without mandates, but those states went on to have fewer cases during the winter, when the seasonal surge in the North hit more Democratic states with mandates.

If you add up all the numbers on those two lines, you find that the mask mandates made zero difference. The cumulative rate of infection over the course of the pandemic was about 24 percent in the mandate states as well as in the non-mandate states. Their cumulative rates of Covid mortality were virtually identical, too (in fact, there were slightly more deaths per capita in the states with mask mandates).

Please follow the links to both articles for further information and insight into the significance of masks.

The Cost Of The Biden Presidency

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If inflation is a tax, Americans have just received one of the biggest tax increases in history courtesy of the Biden administration.

On April 13th, Just the News posted an article about the latest inflation numbers.

The article reports:

Wholesale prices leapt 1.4% in march from the February figures to hit a record 11.2% annual increase as inflation continues to smack the U.S. economy.

The newly released numbers follow the news Tuesday of an 8.5% annual rise in consumer prices – the highest figure on record since December of 1981.

The Producer Price Index, which is also put out by the Department of Labor, measures the price of goods and services that businesses pay each other.

A significant portion of the wholesale price increase in March was due to the jump in energy prices brought about by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

While outsized factors like the war in Ukraine, and the supply chain issues brought about by the pandemic, continue to impact inflation numbers, some economists are gesturing toward the federal government’s ongoing fiscal response to the pandemic as a driver of the issue.

Hoover Institution economist John H. Cochrane wrote in a beginning-of-year message that “n response to the disruptions of COVID-19, the U.S. government created about $3 trillion of new bank reserves, equivalent to cash, and sent checks to people and businesses. Mechanically, the Treasury issued $3 trillion of new debt, which the Fed quickly bought in return for $3 trillion of new reserves. The Treasury sent out checks, transferring the reserves to people’s banks. The Treasury then borrowed another $2 trillion or so, and sent more checks. Overall, federal debt rose nearly 30 percent. Is it at all a surprise that a year later inflation breaks out?”

The Biden administration has searched left, right, and center for a scapegoat for the inflation issue that is hurting the wallets of so many Americans ahead of the critical midterm election. Thus far, blaming Big Oil companies for price-gauging and Vladimir Putin for escalating gas prices has done little to divert attention of the American people from what they view as failing policies of the administration.

For a little historical perspective on inflation, here is a chart from The U.S. Inflation Calculator:

As you can see from the chart, the inflation rate was beginning to climb before Putin invaded Ukraine. The Biden administration’s spending and energy policies paved the way for the inflation we are now seeing. The best way to deal with the current inflation is to vote out of office anyone in Congress who continues to vote for massive spending bills and to vote President Biden out of office in 2024.

Bringing Back The Swamp

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One of the things that the Trump administration attempted to do was drain the Washington swamp. That’s why the inside-Washington types hated him so much. As we go through year two of the Biden administration, President Trump’s attempts to drain the swamp are become more obvious because of the contrast between the two administrations.

On Friday, Just the News posted an article illustrating the Biden administration’s efforts to bring back some of the swamp President Trump had attempted to drain.

The article reports:

The Biden administration quickly rehired senior officials fired for serious security and financial lapses in the waning days of the Trump administration, according to documents reviewed by Just the News.

Why are we not surprised?

The article continues:

The U.S. Agency for Global Media, home to the Voice of America and funder of nonprofit broadcasters targeting Europe, Asia and the Middle East, also rehired an official who resigned shortly before his investigation was complete.

The media portrayed them as whistleblowers protecting journalistic integrity from political appointees who wanted to dictate their coverage. Official summaries of their investigations by an outside law firm, recently entered into the Congressional Record, complicate that narrative.

Many alleged violations were related to the agency’s continued performance of background investigations on workers — often foreign nationals — for several years after it lost its “delegated authority” from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM).

The rehired officials were also granted their security clearances during that time, investigators from McGuireWoods law firm wrote in Dec. 9, 2020 memos. McGuireWoods was the law firm retained to perform an investigation into mismanagement or worse at USAGM.

Please follow the link to read the entire article. It details some of the people and actions that caused the firings by President Trump. There is no way these people should have been rehired unless you were seeking individuals who would follow orders regardless of any ethics involved.

Does Breaking The Law Actually Have Consequences?

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On Friday, The Western Journal posted an article confirming something almost all of us already knew.

The article reports:

Former acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell said the FBI absolutely broke the law with its surveillance of Donald Trump both when he was a candidate and after he became president.

In an interview with Just the News’ John Solomon published on Wednesday, Grenell agreed that leadership at the bureau and the Department of Justice must have known ahead of time that evidence that Trump somehow “colluded” with Russia to affect the outcome of the 2016 election was false.

“Political appointees and the leaders of the FBI and DOJ purposefully manipulated the truth,” he told Solomon.

Grenell also said he has spoken with FBI operatives who knew the investigation into Trump was faulty.

“The people in the middle management, I’ve talked to them. I’ve talked to FBI agents. They knew that this was a phony exercise,” he said.

The people who chose to break the law to further a political agenda need to be in jail. They lied to the courts to get permission to spy on the Trump campaign and later on the President. If this is the kind of activity the FBI and the DOJ choose to engage in, they we either need to eliminate these departments totally or fire everyone in them and start from scratch.

Please read the entire article for details on who has been indicted so far and what the consequences have been for those people.

Important–A Little Late, But Important

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On Thursday, Just the News posted a list of twenty significant problems with the 2020 election. I realize that this does not seem current, but in view of the fact that we have an election coming up in November, we need to correct these problems. I am posting half of that list. Please follow the link to the entire article to read the rest of the list and the details.

The article lists the problems:

1. A Foreign Intrusion. Federal authorities have confirmed that two Iranian nationals successfully hacked into a state computer election system, stole 100,000 voter registrations and used the data to carry out a cyber-intimidation campaign that targeted GOP members of Congress, Trump campaign officials and Democratic voters in the November 2020 election in one of the largest foreign intrusions in U.S. election history.

2. Alleged Bribery. The former state Supreme Court justice appointed by the Wisconsin Legislature to investigate the 2020 election concluded that millions of dollars in donations to election administrators in five Democrat-heavy municipalities from the Mark Zuckerberg-funded Center for Tech and Civic Life violated state anti-bribery laws and corrupted election practices by turning public election authorities into liberal get-out-the-vote activists.

3. Illegal ballot harvesting in Wisconsin. Gableman also exposed an extensive vote collection operation, known as ballot harvesting, in nursing homes in which third-party activists illegally collected the ballots of vulnerable residents, some of whom lacked the mental or physical capacity to vote or were forbidden from voting by guardianship agreements.

4. Ballot harvesting probe in the Peach State. Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger has announced he has opened a criminal investigation into allegations that liberal activists engaged in illegal ballot harvesting, collecting ballots from voters and delivering them in violation of state law. Raffensperger said he is planning to issue subpoenas to identify a whistleblower who admitted he engaged in the operation, and there could be prosecutions.

5. Bad voter signatures? A review of Maricopa County’s mail-in ballots in Arizona’s 2020 presidential election estimated that more than 200,000 ballots with signatures that did not match voter files were counted without being reviewed, more than eight times the number the county acknowledged.

6. 50,000 Arizona ballots called into question. An extensive audit by Arizona’s Senate officially called into question more than 50,000 ballots cast in the 2020 election, including voters who cast ballots from residences they had left.

7. Illegal ballot drop boxes. A Wisconsin judge has ruled the widespread use of ballot drop boxes in 2020 was unlawful, and the state Supreme Court let that ruling stand. 

8. Foreign voters found on Texas rolls. An audit of Texas voter rolls identified nearly 12,000 noncitizens suspected of illegally registering to vote and nearly 600 cases in which ballots may have been cast in the name of a dead resident or by a voter who may also have voted in another state.

9. Foreign voters found on Georgia  rolls. An audit by Georgia’s Secretary of State has identified more than 2,000 suspected foreigners who tried to register to vote in the state, though none reached the point of casting ballots. 

10. Unconstitutional mail-in voting. The Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court has concluded the state law that opened the door to no-excuse mail-in voting in 2020 was unconstitutional and that mail-in voting can only be enacted by a constitutional amendment.

The article also includes links to further information on the subject including  indictments and court decisions.

Ranked Choice Voting

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On Wednesday, Just the News reported that a legislative committee in California is about to hear a proposal to ban ranked choice voting in the state.

Fair vote has posted a map showing where ranked choice voting is in use in America:

The Heritage Foundation has one of the best explanations for Ranked Choice Voting that I have heard:

Think about what ranked choice voting destroys. It destroys your clear and knowing choices as a political consumer. Let us call it the supermarket contemplation. In reality, you are choosing one elected official to represent you, just like you might choose one type of steak sauce to buy when you are splurging for steaks. At the supermarket you ponder whether to buy A1, Heinz 57, HP, or the really cheap generic brand you have never tried.

In the real world, you compare price, taste, mood, and maybe even the size of the bottle and then decide on your steak sauce. You know nothing about the generic brand, so you rank it last among your choices, while A1 is ranked a distant third. In your mind, it comes down to Heinz or HP, and you choose the Heinz. You buy that bottle and head home to the grill.

Now imagine if, instead, you had to rank-order all the steak sauces—even the ones you dislike—and at checkout the cashier swaps out your bottle of Heinz 57 with the cheap generic you ranked dead last. Why? Well, the majority of shoppers also down-voted it, but there was no clear front-runner, so the generic snuck up from behind with enough down ballot picks to win. In fact, in this ranked choice supermarket, you might even have helped the lousy generic brand win.

Just the News reports:

The proposal (to end Ranked Choice Voting), contained in Assembly Bill 2808, would prohibit ranked choice voting in state and local elections. A ranked choice voting system allows voters to rank candidates based on preference, having voters indicate their first choice, second choice and so on.

The bill’s author, Assemblymember Patrick O’Donnell, said in a statement that ranked choice voting “allows an election to be gamed.”

“Our democracy and our recent elections may be under heightened stress and scrutiny right now, but our long-established voting system is strong,” O’Donnell said. “We are a model for the world. We must not abandon our voting principles to chase the election flavor of the month.”

If passed, the proposal would shift how elections are completed in several areas across the state. Berkeley, Oakland, San Leandro and San Francisco adopted a ranked-voting system in the early 2000s and have used it for more than a decade to elect city officials, according to Fair Vote, an advocate of ranked choice voting. Additionally, Albany, Eureka and Palm Desert were set to begin using a ranked-voting system for local elections starting in November 2022.

…This bill is not the first time lawmakers have backed measures to prohibit ranked choice voting. Tennessee recently moved forward with its own ban on ranked choice voting earlier this week. Gov. Bill Lee signed legislation on Monday prohibiting the system from being used in state and local elections.

O’Donnell’s bill could be heard in committee on March 21, according to the state’s legislative tracker.

This is something to keep an eye on. We do not want ranked choice voting to become a national fad.

The Deep State Crosses Party Lines

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In June I posted an article based on a post in The Conservative Treehouse about the appointment of Merrick Garland to the post of Attorney General.

The article in The Conservative Treehouse included the following:

The Democratic-controlled Senate voted 53-44 to approve Jackson’s (Ketanji Brown Jackson) nomination to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. All those in opposition were Republicans, with three voting with Democrats to approve the nomination.

Biden nominated Jackson, a Washington-based U.S. district judge, to the D.C. Circuit to replace Attorney General Merrick Garland on the bench. That appellate court has served as a springboard to the Supreme Court in the past, including for current Justices John Roberts, Clarence Thomas and Brett Kavanaugh. (read more)

On Friday, President Biden nominated Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to serve on the Supreme Court to replace retiring Justice Breyer.

On Friday, Just the News reported:

Jackson, 51, sits on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia and if confirmed by the Senate would become the first black female justice appointed to the nine-member high court. During earlier parts of her career, Jackson served as a clerk for Justice Breyer as well as a public defender, which made her resume appealing to Biden, who has voiced a desire to put more public defenders on the federal bench.

According to CNN, Jackson, received and accepted the offer from President Biden on Thursday night.

A decision Friday by the president would mark exactly two years since then-presidential candidate Biden promised to appoint the first black female justice to the court.

Biden said he would share his choice by late February. On Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said there would absolutely be a public announcement before March 1.

On Friday, The Washington Examiner reported:

The connection between Jackson and Ryan (former House Speaker Paul Ryan) is complex, as Jackson’s husband has a twin brother who is married to Ryan’s sister-in-law.

Ryan has also supported Jackson through previous nomination processes. When former President Barack Obama nominated her to a spot on the U.S. District Court for the D.C. Circuit in 2012, Ryan testified on her behalf at the confirmation hearing and spoke highly of her qualifications, urging his fellow GOP colleagues to confirm her.

Jackson, 51, was known to be on a short list of contenders the White House considered for the role and exhibits a unique background, having been a federal trial court judge for eight years without experience as a prosecutor or major corporate lawyer. She also sat on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals bench, where notably Justices Clarence Thomas and Brett Kavanaugh served as judges before their promotions.

It will be interesting to see exactly what her impact on the Supreme Court will be if she is confirmed.

Sunlight Is Always A Good Thing

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Yesterday Just the News reported that U.S. District Judge Amy Totenberg is considering whether to release a sealed report by a computer security expert who reviewed Dominion Voting Systems equipment after Georgia’s top election official and its governor urged action. The report would be released with redactions, but it still needs to be released.

The article reports:

The report was conducted by University of Michigan computer security expert J. Alex Halderman and was filed last summer under seal in a federal court case that alleges hackers had “the capability” and “easy access” to voting machines in Georgia, according to the Epoch Times.

Little has been released in public about the report though the Atlanta Constitution-Journal has reported it found hackers could change votes if they penetrated the machines.

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a defendant in the lawsuit, announced last week he now supports the public release of the report to dispel “misleading media articles about the Dominion voting equipment used in Georgia.”

“The public deserves to know the context of J. Alex Halderman’s claims and his testimony regarding the 2020 election,” Raffensperger said.

The article concludes:

Dominion CEO John Poulosi said the report did not consider all “procedural and technical safeguards” in the machines but his firm supports any transparency that will give voters confidence in election counting.

“Dominion supports all efforts to bring real facts and evidence forward to defend the integrity of our machines and the credibility of Georgia’s elections,” Poulosi said in a statement released by Raffensperger’s office.

Stay tuned.

The Numbers Are In

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On Tuesday, Just the News posted an article about the first year of the coronavirus pandemic.

The article reports:

COVID-19 was less lethal across nearly every age group in its first full year than previously thought, according to an updated review of global research from Stanford University’s Meta-Research Innovation Center (METRIC).

Between summer and Christmas 2021, METRIC’s estimates of deaths from infection fell by half in multiple age groups, including young people, and less sharply in others.

The international estimates, which have not been peer-reviewed, are not substantially different from the CDC’s own “best estimate” of COVID mortality in the U.S., last updated in March. They use different age ranges, making exact comparisons difficult.

The findings raise questions about ongoing COVID restrictions and mandates, particularly for schoolchildren and college students, who remain at the lowest overall risk from infection. 

The risk-benefit ratio of vaccine boosters is also under scrutiny, with international authorities souring on their wide deployment and a new Israeli study finding that a fourth dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines doesn’t stop the Omicron variant.

The article includes the following screenshot:

I don’t mean to be flip, and I say this as someone who is over 70, but your chances of dying from almost anything increase after age 70, and that’s not news.

The article also notes something that our government and its medical tyrants have chosen to overlook:

Using medical claims records from Change Healthcare and a study population “fully vaccinated” last spring, the researchers found subsequent hospitalization least likely for Moderna and highest for Johnson & Johnson vaccine recipients.

But hospitalization was 50% lower and risk of death 75% lower among those with natural immunity “independent of age, sex, comorbidities, and vaccine type,” the study found.

Natural immunity is the best protection. If Omicron is a mild coronavirus and provides us that protection, then we are done with the pandemic.

Just a note–someone I know who is involved with a large organization told me that the organization currently has 85 coronavirus cases–5 of those are unvaccinated. None or those 85 cases required hospitalization.