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“…On his first day in office, President Biden rescinded the Trump administration’s executive order prohibiting critical race theory training for federal agencies and federal contractors. This is a sad reversal for Americans committed to colorblindness in public life. But while the president’s order is binding at the federal level, state legislators still have a say in the matter. They should not shrink from resisting this pernicious philosophy.
Critical race theory understands the world by viewing everything — society, economics, education, family, science — through the lens of “whiteness” and white racism. White people, according to CRT, drift in a kind of amniotic fluid of privilege and unearned gifts based on the brutal ideology of “white supremacy.”…”
Abraham Lincoln:
“From whence shall we expect the approach of danger? Shall some trans-Atlantic military giant step the earth and crush us at a blow? Never. All the armies of Europe and Asia…could not by force take a drink from the Ohio River or make a track on the Blue Ridge in the trial of a thousand years. No, if destruction be our lot we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of free men we will live forever or die by suicide.”
With move by Saudi Arabia, average U.S. price of regular gasoline has jumped 13 cents a gallon since beginning of year
“…Under President Trump, the United States became the largest producer of oil in the world.
In 2019, the U.S. produced 12,248,000 barrels per day (bpd), topping Saudi Arabia, which produced 12,000,000 bpd, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Russia produced 10,800,000 bpd, while other nations in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) were far behind: Iraq at 4,451,516, Iran at 3,990,956 and Kuwait at 2,923,825.
But things might be changing under President Biden…”
“…John Paul Mac Isaac, the Delaware computer shop owner who unwittingly came into possession of Hunter Biden’s laptop, says an FBI agent initially gave a stern warning to his family when first offered a copy of the explosive evidence about Joe Biden’s son: “You better lawyer up and get out of my office.”
In a wide-ranging interview Monday with Just the News, Isaac described what concerned him most about the contents on the laptop, his extensive efforts to get authorities in law enforcement and Congress to pay attention to it and his anger at the news media, Democrats and even security officials who initially accused him of carrying out a Russian disinformation campaign or trying to make money off the discovery.
U.S. intelligence has determined the laptop contents — now in the hands of the FBI and Congress and part of a criminal tax case — were not Russian disinformation. Isaac said he never took a dime for providing the materials to the FBI, Congress and Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani, not even when offered reimbursement for the hard drive equipment he used to make copies.
“Well, for somebody who’s not very political, I assume what happened to me was the quintessential political hit job, to have that many people come out, without even talking to me, or having a conversation without doing a single background check,” he told the John Solomon Reports podcast.
“I still feel a little bit upset about that,” he added. “I have people that I’ve known for a long time, they’re convinced that I’m a tool, or I’ve been a pawn or I got huge payout. And it’s completely decimated my business. I had to leave town.”…”
“…Four days before the FBI secured a surveillance warrant against him in fall 2016, Trump campaign adviser Carter Page repeatedly knocked down the key allegations at the heart of the Russia collusion investigation while talking to a government informant who was wearing a wire.
Page’s unwitting statements of innocence to informer Stefan Halper were never shared with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court before it approved four warrants authorizing a full year of surveillance of Page’s communications.
Page’s exculpatory statements were kept from the American people for four years until President Trump declassified them on his final day in office last week. They were obtained by Just the News…”
In a strong rebuke to LA’s “reforms,” a judge allowed the San Diego County district attorney’s office to reclaim jurisdiction over several charges filed in Los Angeles connected to a violent crime spree that left two people dead.
In a motion filed last week, San Diego County Dist. Atty. Summer Stephan asked a judge to give her office control over five robbery counts filed against Rhett Nelson, 31, part of a broader slate of charges he faces for his alleged role in a days-long crime spree that spanned across Southern California and left two people dead in 2019, including Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy Joseph Solano.
Nelson was charged with two counts of murder, one count of attempted murder and seven robberies committed in or near San Diego, Long Beach and Los Angeles. Under previous Dist. Atty. Jackie Lacey, a slew of sentencing enhancements were also filed against Nelson because he allegedly used a gun in each crime and is charged with multiple murders. If convicted under those terms, he would have been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Stephan had agreed to consolidate all charges in Los Angeles, but changed her mind in response to Gascón’s directive barring prosecutors from using enhancements. According to her filing, Stephan feared Nelson could become eligible for parole after spending 20 years in prison if convicted without enhancements.
A little farther north, Sacramento and Fresno counties district attorneys expressed their anger and frustration at Gascón’s policies.
Last week, Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert characterized many of Gascón’s directives as “illegal and unconstitutional” — a contention repeated again by Fresno County D.A. Lisa A. Smittcamp.
…Smittcamp wrote: “Your special directives are extreme, and they are already wreaking havoc on crime victims and ignoring their constitutional rights. Your lack of concern for victims’ rights and public safety is of great concern to all of us who pride ourselves on protecting those very things. Crime has no boundaries, and these special directives will certainly impact areas outside of Los Angeles County.”
There is very disturbing news that, because of the new rules, Los Angeles deputy district attorneys who successfully prosecuted a case secual assault case will be barred from attending the man’s upcoming parole hearing.
[The victims’ mother] Constance tells FOX 11 she was stunned when she recently received a letter from the state notifying her that Beltran would have his first parole hearing on March 11.
The shock was made even worse when the family learned that under D.A George Gascón’s reforms, their prosecutor won’t be allowed to attend Beltran’s parole hearing, and the family will be left to argue against his release on their own.
“Somehow the responsibility is in our court to protect society, and that’s simply not how it’s supposed to work,” the brother said.
“There’s just every element of protection for him, this violent monster criminal, and very little protection for us,” the sister said.
The fallout from the Gascón reforms has led the union representing Los Angeles County prosecutors to sue their boss.
The Association of Deputy District Attorneys for Los Angeles County argues in the lawsuit that deputy district attorneys cannot follow the directives without violating state penal code.
“The directives violate California law, which imposes a mandatory duty on prosecutors to plead and prove strike priors,” the union said in a statement. “Dismissals of those priors can only be based on individual circumstances, not a blanket policy.”
“…On Thursday, teachers and staff at Los Gatos Union School District received a tantalizing offer in their emails: a COVID-19 vaccine ahead of schedule.
According to investigative news outlet San Jose Spotlight, Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Gatos offered district Superintendent Paul Johnson and staff the vaccine as a “gesture” of kindness after the district raised funds for a program to provide frontline workers meals.
“The COO of the hospital says we can access the appointments … and has cleared [Los Gatos schools] staff to sign up under the healthcare buttons,” the email from Johnson to district staff obtained by Spotlight read. Educators are part of Phase 1B in California and Santa Clara County, behind frontline staff, nursing home residents and those 65 and older.
Teachers, per the email, were told to impersonate health care workers despite the threat of perjury — with the approval of COO Gary Purushotham — in order to obtain access to the vaccine. “Remember to register under healthcare initially,” Johnson’s note read. He declined to comment to SFGATE.
Schools in the district are closed for in-person learning.
Now, Santa Clara County is withholding vaccines from the hospital after the offer was extended and an estimated 65 doses were offered to district teachers and staffers…”
Bad government. Bad decisions.
Chicago is a Democrat city up and down the political system. It represents a comprehensive failure to properly govern. It is a disaster.
Speaking of greater and greater candor, here's yet another authoritarian discussion on MSNBC with Joe Scarborough and Ken Dilanian discussing the need — which Dilanian says many Dems believe — for a new War on Terror on US soil:
(follow @tomselliott)https://t.co/LKRavlWGL2
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) January 22, 2021
Related:
TULSI GABBARD ON DEMS’ TERROR LAW: ‘We Don’t Have to Guess About Where This Goes or How This Ends.’
“…For the past year, defenders of the FBI have consistently downplayed the significance of an FBI staff lawyer falsifying evidence in the government’s investigation into Donald Trump’s relationship with Russia. They argue Kevin Clinesmith’s crime of altering a CIA document to obscure the fact that former Trump campaign aide Carter Page worked for U.S., not Russian, intelligence was a rare lapse in judgment by an overworked bureaucrat. It was not, his apologists say, part of any broader conspiracy to conceal exculpatory information from surveillance court judges, who never learned of Page’s history with the CIA before approving FBI warrants to wiretap him as a suspected Russian agent.
But such explanations are challenged by new revelations from court papers filed in the case, which some civil libertarians call the most egregious violation and abuse of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) since it was enacted more than 40 years ago.
The little-noticed documents, which include never-before-seen exhibits, were submitted by Special Counsel John Durham and lawyers for Page, who has been granted time to address the court as a victim when it sentences Clinesmith Jan. 29 as part of a plea agreement. Page and his attorneys argue that the FBI obtained his electronic communications, both written and oral, based on fraudulent warrants in violation of his Fourth Amendment rights. He is suing Clinesmith and the FBI for $75 million in damages.
The court filings reveal, among other things, that Clinesmith knew much earlier than has been reported about Page’s cooperation with the U.S. government, and was not alone in knowing that he had provided information on the Russians to the CIA — or in covering up that knowledge.
Several officials within his tightly compartmentalized chain-of-command — including former deputy FBI director Andrew McCabe, his counselor Lisa Page and counterintelligence chief Peter Strzok — learned of Page’s role with the CIA before they first sought to wiretap him during the 2016 presidential campaign. The CIA had confirmed his role two months earlier in an August 2016 memo it sent to the FBI. And Page’s status as a CIA contact had been documented in the FBI’s own electronic files going back to 2009.
Yet they all withheld this critical information attesting to Page’s loyalty from the spy court…”
“…My guard unit was called up last [week] to help secure the Capitol and has been providing security since [January 16]. In 48 hours of on-duty security I have not seen a single protester — only one drunk guy who cussed my 2nd platoon (which raised morale for a good two hours – soldiers like and respect fluent profanity).
Last night I saw probably 2000 riot-prepared soldiers unload from buses and enter the perimeter. This level of military involvement surpasses overreaction, skips past overkill, and pegs “insane.” Whoever ordered this response is completely out of touch with reality.
Twenty thousand is a difficult number to explain. It’s especially strange how it’s a much larger number, relatively, than in 7 A.D. when Varian lost about that many in the Teutoburg forest. But 20,000 troops is three times as many as I deployed to Kuwait with in 2019 for a rotation there, and that seemed huge.
The cost of having these troops in the District of Columbia for one week, including all the movement, food, hotel rooms, and medical probably runs over $100 million. It is just another data point that indicates the people running the country are not living in the same reality as the rest of us.
And now (I wrote my first draft several days ago) there is word that “some National Guard units” will remain in DC through MARCH to “guard the senate.” To guard the Senate? For THREE MONTHS?
May I just say, if you had any respect for the FBI or any belief that it was not a fully partisan organization, you were completely wrong. If there was any “credible intelligence” that there was enough of a threat to require 20,000 national guard troops at the Capitol this past week, then the FBI is completely failing. The fact that the alleged credible evidence was clearly inaccurate tells me that I should not ever trust the FBI with anything I would give a 19-year-old soldier…”
“…California Gov. Gavin Newsom has from the start said his coronavirus policy decisions would be driven by data shared with the public to provide maximum transparency.
But with the state starting to emerge from its worst surge, his administration won’t disclose key information that will help determine when his latest stay-at-home order is lifted.
State health officials said they rely on a very complex set of measurements that would confuse and potentially mislead the public if they were made public…”
We live in the age of stupid.
