Friday, April 30, 2021
Beach Report 4/30/21 - Windy!
Election 2020: FBI Refuses Possession of Hunter's Hard Drives
They must be really worried about the Maricopa vote audit. WaPoo whines As Trump seizes on Arizona ballot audit, election officials fear partisan vote counts could be the norm in future elections. After entirely partisan elections counts in five cities elected President* Joe Biden. Human Events, Judge Rejects Attempt to Keep Arizona Election Audit Procedures Under Wraps. From Sundance at CTH, Lawfare Groups Ask For Federal Intervention in Arizona Ballot Audit – Send Letter to DOJ Asking for Immediate Involvement
After the Democrat Secretary of State failed to get the Arizona State Attorney General to initiate an investigation of the audit; and after a Democrat state judge rejected the Democrat effort for a temporary restraining order; and after all other efforts have failed…. now we see three outside left-wing election groups (claiming bipartisanship yet led by lawyers from NYU) asking the DOJ to intervene in the Maricopa County, Arizona, ballot audit.
The audit started on April 23. A judge on April 28 rejected the attempt by Democrats to halt the process.
The Brennan Center, Protect Democracy and The Leadership Conference have signed a letter to the civil rights division of the DOJ asking them to get involved.
The arguments within the letter [pdf here] are identical to the arguments made previously by other Lawfare groups, including Perkins Coie, to a state judge. The state judge rejected the arguments because there was no evidence submitted to the court to back them up.
Obviously there is a great amount of fear amid the network of Lawfare and leftist activists about this ongoing ballot audit. The letter only highlights the worry they carry that Arizona’s election fraud might be demonstrably proven the the wider U.S. electorate.
Also, Arizona GOP Chairwoman Kelli Ward Gives and Update on Maricopa Ballot Audit, video at link. Meanwhile, back in New Hampshire, Concerns Mount Over Integrity of Windham New Hampshire Election Audit. A funny vote count from, you guessed it, Dominion voting machines. (HE) Another asterisk for President* Biden?
John Hinderacker at Power Line, Project Veritas Is Sticking It To the Times
This video by Project Veritas’s James O’Keefe is entertaining. O’Keefe is not a lawyer, but what he says about the progress of Veritas’s defamation lawsuit against the New York Times is basically accurate. The case arises out of Veritas’s exposure of voter fraud in Minnesota, which the Times labeled, falsely, as “deceptive” and “probably part of a coordinated disinformation campaign.” Project Veritas alleges that these and other statements by the Times were false. The Times moved to dismiss Veritas’s complaint. That motion was denied by a judge who seems sympathetic to Veritas’s point of view, and the Times has now been required to answer the allegations of the complaint.
The newspaper’s principal defense is that the allegedly defamatory statements were expressions of opinion, like, say, “Blue is my favorite color,” and therefore immune from defamation liability. The funniest thing about this, as O’Keefe points out in the video, is that the Times’s denunciation of Veritas’s expose led to “fact checks” decreeing Veritas’s statements “false” by liberal sources like USA Today.
So when the Times says you are “deceptive” and “probably part of a coordinated disinformation campaign,” which is it? Fact or opinion? On the bright side, it is nice to see the Times not only admitting, but affirmatively alleging, that its “news” pages consists largely of statements of its reporters’ left-wing opinions.
Vince Coyner at Am Think, 100 Days into Mark Zuckerberg’s Latest Acquisition. Breitbart, Alfredo Ortiz: Biden’s 100 Day Victory Lap in Atlanta Can’t Hide His ‘War’ on Georgia Small Businesses Hurt By His Voting Law Lies
Newsweek, U.S. Capitol Police to Be Sued for $10 Million for Killing Unarmed Rioter. We still don't know who killed Ashli Babbitt.
The family of Ashli Babbitt—the only person shot during the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol—plans to sue the U.S. Capitol Police department, and the officer who shot her, for at least $10 million, their attorney said.
The civil suit will follow a decision by federal prosecutors not to seek criminal charges against a plainclothes police lieutenant whose single shot killed Babbitt, who was unarmed.
It's pretty clear the FBI, directed by President* Biden's AG, Merrick Garland, and likely executed by Andy Weissman are determined to get Rudy Giuliani as a result of his support for President Trump. WaPoo has a long article today, FBI warned Giuliani, key Trump ally in Senate of Russian disinformation campaign targeting Biden. But they are curiously shy about whether it's Hunter's Laptop. If I were Giuliani, any such warning from the FBI would be a hint at what to investigate. NewsMax, Giuliani Shocker: FBI Refused to Take Hunter's Hard Drive. Sundance, Rudy Giuliani Joins Tucker Carlson to Give Details of FBI Raid of His Home
Breitbart, Giuliani: FBI Refused Hunter Biden’s Hard Drives During ‘Illegal, Unconstitutional’ Raid, and Nice Deb at Am Great, Giuliani: DOJ Prosecutors ‘Invaded’ His iCloud Account in 2019 While He Was Defending Trump For Impeachment Sham.
Rusty Weiss at the Political Insider, Hawley Mocks Liz Cheney For Possible Presidential Run: She Has ‘No Support In Her Own Caucus’. Conservative credentials incompletely burnished, AllahPundit at Hot Hair whines that Caught on camera: Liz Cheney fist-bumps Biden before his speech.
— Howard Mortman (@HowardMortman) April 29, 2021
Fish Pic Friday - Chloe Turner
Hey there! My name is Chloe, and I grew up in Tyler, Texas. I am a proud Christian. I graduated from Texas A&M (Whoop!) and now sell exotic game animals, as well as guide hunts.
I started fishing when I was very, very young. My mother actually got me into the sport. Every weekend we would go to our ranch and catch bass, and catfish. We would also go to Lake Tyler and Lake Athens from time to time. From there, I was pretty much hooked! As I got older I traveled to Cabo, Key West, St. Petersburg, Destin, etc and found an addiction for saltwater fishing.
I don’t think I could pick one because every species has its own unique attraction to it! But I’d have to say Blue or Striped Marlin. Everyone always says that once you deep-sea fish, it breaks you on bass fishing, but that is certainly not true. Seeing a bass hit a topwater is just as fun as seeing a marlin jump out of the water.
I would definitely have to say either an amberjack while deep dropping, or a blue marlin. Both fights are an absolute blast. They each fight differently, but they sure make you wish you didn’t skip arm day! I’ve also fought some pretty hard tree stumps lol!
And what about when she's not fishing?
I do commercial, fashion, promo, and print modeling. I am very into fitness, and watching football. Hunting, is another huge passion of mine. I also love spending time with friends and family.
Linked at Proof Positive in the weekly Best of the Web* and at the Right Way in the weekly Rule 5 Saturday LinkOrama. Wombat-socho has Rule 5 Sunday: Alegrachan up and running for your digital delight at The Other McCain.
Thursday, April 29, 2021
Trumpsters Sue to Stop Racial Discrimination in Agriculture Dept.
The counter-group to the leftist Lawfare team, organized by Stephen Miller, is called “America First Legal.” Today the Miller group filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration for racial discrimination against farmers and ranchers in the COVID relief bill.
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, America First Legal (AFL) filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas to stop the Biden Administration from administering a program created by Congress in the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 that discriminates against American citizen farmers and ranchers based upon their race. Specifically, Sections 1005 and 1006 of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 provide benefits to farmers and ranchers, but excludes many potential beneficiaries.
AFL President Stephen Miller issued the following statement: based solely upon their ethnicity or race.
America First Legal opposes discrimination in all forms. We hold fast to the immortal words of Martin Luther King Jr. that Americans “should not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” These soul-stirring words are now inscribed onto the heart of every American. And they flow directly from the Declaration of Independence’s recognition that all men are created equal. And they are embodied by AFL’s founding charter. MLK’s vision is fundamental to our democracy, in which all citizens are equal both in front of the law and in the eyes of their Creator. For this reason, AFL is filing a lawsuit today against the Biden Administration to prevent it from administering programs created under the American Rescue Plan Act that discriminate against American farmers and ranchers based upon the basis of race. As Chief Justice John Roberts plainly avowed, “[T]he way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.” With today’s lawsuit against the Biden Administration, AFL makes clear that it will defend MLK’s vision, our Constitutional order, and the civil rights of all citizens.
The Constitution forbids government action that discriminates based upon race. Yet the Biden Administration’s Department of Agriculture—aided by the new Congress—is actively engaging in outright racial discrimination. While Congress is permitted to provide loan forgiveness and certain additional benefits to farmers and ranchers, Americans of all races and ethnicities must have the opportunity to receive them. (read more).
Somehow, I always thought one the ways to end racism was to stop giving government benefits based on race. Silly me.
Wombat-socho has Rule 5 Sunday: Alegrachan up and running for your digital delight at The Other McCain.
Beach Report 4/29/21
Skye and I were on our own again today; Georgia was on babysitting duty.
It was warm, 84, and a little sweaty, with clouds on the horizon threatening to turn into a storm (which has not yet materialized). A taste of summer to come. We had a fair number of people to share the beach with.
Election 2020: Maricopa Audit Back in Gear
From Kaelan Deese and Dan Chaitin at WaEx, Judge denies Democrats' request to stop Maricopa County audit
Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Daniel Martin, who was assigned to the case on Monday after the first judge recused himself, also rejected on Wednesday a motion by Cyber Ninjas, the Florida-based consulting firm hired by the GOP-led Arizona Senate, to keep its audit policies and procedures under seal. During a livestream hearing, the judge ordered that the documents be made public by noon on Thursday, barring action by a higher court.
The Arizona Democratic Party and Maricopa County Supervisor Steve Gallardo, the sole Democrat on the board, sued to stop the audit last week, raising concerns about adherence to state election laws and regulations. The review, which includes 2.1 million ballots cast, a forensic audit of the voting machines, and follow-up interviews with voters, has been subject to intense scrutiny for other issues too, including media access and questions raised about who is funding the effort on top of the $150,000 being doled out by the state Senate.
But, so far, Martin determined that there is no reason to stop the audit from proceeding.
Sundance at CTH, Arizona GOP Chairwoman Kelli Ward Provides Update on Court Drama and Maricopa County Ballot Audit
(1) The audit will continue. The Arizona judge denied a temporary restraining order.
(2) Judge made clear that democrats have provided no evidence to support their claims of audit impropriety.
(3) The lead auditing firm must release their auditing process and systems to the public.
(4) After the Arizona Secretary of State previously refused the invitation to participate in the audit; the democrats have no reversed course and argued with the court to have the SoS and legal counsel present. The judge gave both sides until 5pm to work it out.
(5) Auditing firm Cyber Ninjas continues as previously outlined.
Twitchy, That’s actually what democracy IS, mouth-breather: Rachel Maddow seems
panicked babbling about Maricopa County 2020 election audit (watch). They do seem suspiciously anxious to stop this audit. I wonder why?
From the TNP, NEW: Capitol Authorities Had Advance Warning Of Jan 6th Riot, But Refused
To Act On Intelligence. It's almost like they wanted something to go wrong. In his speech last
night President* Joe Biden called the Jan 6 Capitol Incursion
‘Worst attack on our democracy since the Civil War!’ Can Biden really be
this dumb? (Patricia McCarthy at AmThink). No, he's not really very bright, but he
can be this deceitful. Buzzfeed buzzes that Facebook Stopped Employees From Reading An Internal Report About Its Role
In The Insurrection. You Can Read It Here. "After BuzzFeed News reported on an internal document that examined the
social network’s failings leading up to the Capitol riot, many of Facebook's
employees were prevented from accessing it." Facebook hosted far more that
Parler could ever hope to. But Parler was the one the monopolists decided to
try and kill.
Politico,
How Trump’s renewed election rhetoric is complicating Capitol rioters’
legal fight
"Judges are citing former President Donald Trump’s rhetoric on election fraud
as they deny some accused Capitol rioters bail, saying there’s a risk they’ll
commit violent acts in Trump’s name again." They're leaning on this as an
excuse to make an example out of them. AllahPundit at Hot Hair, Wounded D.C. cop: It's difficult watching elected officials pretend like
the Capitol riot wasn't violent. No, what pisses us off is the Democrats and the media (but I redund)
conflating the giant rally with the much smaller Capitol Incursion. WaPoo
whines that Four months later, there’s been little political accountability for the
Capitol riot. Meaning, they didn't get the mileage out of it they wanted.
Breitbart, Pelosi: ‘I Will Never Forgive’ Trump, Capitol Rioters for Trauma They
Caused. Back at you, Nancy! WaPoo, Trump supporter found guilty of threatening to kill members of Congress
after Jan. 6 insurrection. Turns out, he's a Democrat!
Capt. Ed at Hot Hair, Backfire: Abrams gets two Pinocchios for doubling down after WaPo fact
check. Using Fritz's system for evaluating the Wapoo factchecker will never go far
wrong. If the check favors the Democrats, add two Pinocchios. If it hurts
Republicans, subtract two. Twitchy, Sean Spicer has a note for ‘WOKE CEOS’ after the WaPo gives Stacey Abrams 2
Pinocchios for latest claim on Georgia voting law
Breitbart, Kelly Loeffler Pens Letter to Georgia AG, Asks for Investigation of Raffensperger over 2020 Election. He does seem to be working for the other side.MEMO
— Sean Spicer (@seanspicer) April 28, 2021
TO: WOKE CEOS
FROM: @washingtonpost left wing "fact checker"
RE: Georgia Law
CC: @staceyabrams @POTUS @nytimes @NBCNews
"net effect of the new early-voting rules was to expand the opportunities to vote for most Georgians, not limit them. https://t.co/VFkxb0buR3
Former Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) has penned a letter to Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr requesting an investigation into Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger over his handling of the 2020 presidential election.
According to Loeffler, in a letter sent Wednesday, Raffensperger “politicized and minimized voters’ legitimate concerns about changes to Georgia’s elections” that came as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
“This request is not about the outcome of an election, but about the loss of confidence in our elections and the importance of holding elected officials accountable for upholding the law and carrying out their constitutional duties,” Loeffler wrote.
“If voters don’t trust the electoral process and their elected officials, we risk sustained damage to voter participation in our state,” Loeffler continued. “We saw the impact of reduced faith in elections in the Senate runoffs, when over 339,000 Republican voters who voted in November did not vote in January.”
Loeffler also laid out seven allegations against Raffensperger, including his failing to address absentee voting and other discrepancies in Georgia’s 2020 primary elections.
In addition, Loeffler says “Raffensperger’s office orchestrated the recording of a call with the President of the United States and subsequently released the recording to the Washington Post just days before the January runoff, interfering with an election that was already underway by reducing faith in the process and eroding trust in our election officials.”
Via the Wombat's In The Mailbox: 04.28.21 the Shark Tank informs us that FL House Passes Election Integrity Bill
The Republican-led House of Representatives has taken up the controversial election integrity bill SB 90 —the measure that prohibits ballot drop boxes and ballot harvesting —and House Democrats have responded in the debate by painting the measure as racist and a modern day Jim Crow Law.
The vote passed in the House by a vote count of 77 to 40.
Thomas Lifson at Am Think thinks Official documents reveal officials colluded with a PR firm working for the Biden campaign pressuring social media to suppress posts. You know, I'm entirely OK with President* Joe Biden funding his program by draconian taxes on social media companies.
At Da Caller, Sen. Murkowski Is Not Afraid To Buck The Party Line Or Criticize Trump. Could It Cost Her In 2022? One can only hope. Ace, Democrat Front Organization "The Dispatch" Forced to Admit That Their Neocon Witch Liz Cheney Is Toxic in the GOP, "But who knows, maybe not so toxic as a Democrat-funded spoiler candidate, which is all these guys are ever interested in."
Linked at Pirate's Cove in the weekly Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup and links.
Tattoo Thursday Again
Sure, why not?
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| Very minimal |
Wombat-socho has Rule 5 Sunday: Alegrachan up and running for your digital delight at The Other McCain.
Wednesday, April 28, 2021
Beach Report 4/28/21 - It's the Little Things
Skye was upset I would not let her give chase.
CDC Drops the Mask
My main takeaway from today’s news is that indoor masking is now essentially permanent.
Sure, sure, we could theoretically reach a degree of herd immunity in which there are only a few thousand cases per day nationally, in which case even the Faucis of the world might soften up and dispense with masks altogether. But something like a quarter of all adults say they won’t get vaccinated, and many cautious parents will decline vaccines for their children in the belief that kids are at low risk from COVID in the first place. We may not see fewer than 10,000 cases per day in 2021.
CDC's Dr. Walensky says guidance for fully vaccinated people to wear masks indoors/mass gatherings is largely to protect unvaccinated from other unvaccinated folks who may be there (given difficulty distinguishing vaccinated people from those that aren't)
— Zeke Miller (@ZekeJMiller) April 27, 2021
Which means the masks are here to stay, for all intents and purposes.
Here are the guidelines announced this morning by the CDC. If you’re vaccinated you can do anything you like, including dining indoors and visiting bars — a notable change from the caution evinced by the likes of Anthony Fauci over the past several months. But, whether vaxxed or not, if you’re in an indoor space then masks are recommended. In fact, of the 14 activities listed, the masking guidance is different for the vaccinated and unvaccinated in just two. Even the unvaccinated are now encouraged to go maskless when engaging in outdoor activities with only a few other people or solo.
So congrats to everyone on now having CDC approval for behaving the same way you’ve been behaving for a year outdoors.
But enough of that, some good news from NYT (also via Hot Hair), Can you have alcohol after getting vaccinated? Yes! I'll drink to that!
There is no evidence that having a drink or two can render any of the current Covid vaccines less effective. Some studies have even found that over the longer term, small or moderate amounts of alcohol might actually benefit the immune system by reducing inflammation. Heavy alcohol consumption, on the other hand, particularly over the long term, can suppress the immune system and potentially interfere with your vaccine response, experts say. Since it can take weeks after a Covid shot for the body to generate protective levels of antibodies against the novel coronavirus, anything that interferes with the immune response would be cause for concern.
“If you are truly a moderate drinker, then there’s no risk of having a drink around the time of your vaccine,” said Ilhem Messaoudi, director of the Center for Virus Research at the University of California, Irvine, who has conducted research on the effects of alcohol on the immune response. “But be very cognizant of what moderate drinking really means. It’s dangerous to drink large amounts of alcohol because the effects on all biological systems, including the immune system, are pretty severe and they occur pretty quickly after you get out of that moderate zone.”
And speaking of "moderate drinking":
Election 2020: Maricopa Count In Doubt
Among other things. Via the Wombat's In The Mailbox: 04.27.21 The BattleSwarm Blog has NC Lieutenant Governor Isn’t Having Any Of This Voter Suppression Nonsense
John McWhorter wonders DO BLACK PEOPLE ENJOY BEING TOLD THEY ARE WEAK AND DUMB? THE ELECT HOPE SO. Everybody likes to hear how oppressed they are.
And from Wombat's In The Mailbox: 04.27.21 (Evening Edition) Don Surber tells us Democrats Worry That Their Steal Won’t Hold. And speaking of that, never one to spare the alarm, Dan Chaitin at WaEx reports that Rachel Maddow argues Maricopa County election auditor heralds 'end of democracy'. Don't turn on the lights if you don't want to watch the cockroaches scurry away. But he also warns that the Future of Maricopa County audit in doubt with the new Democrat judge overseeing it. Jim Hoft at Gateway, BREAKING — LIVE STREAM VIDEO: Maricopa County, Arizona Audit Update — “TENS OF THOUSANDS, SHY OF 100,000 BALLOTS” INSPECTED SO FAR!. Barely a dent in the total, but it's a start.
It's interesting that California Has Rejected 19.8% of Signatures in Gavin Newsom Recall Effort (Breitbart), even though the rejection rate for signature matching in the 2020 election was 0.6%. I wonder why the changes in standards? /sarc. Also, Ken Cuccinelli, H.R. 1 and Border Crisis Are How Democrats Plan to Steal Elections. Yep, in addition to plain up fraud.
AllahPundit wonders (rhetorically, of course) Why did USA Today stealth-edit Stacey Abrams's op-ed after MLB pulled the All-Star Game from Atlanta?, a step they would never grant Republicans (and shouldn't).
Judicial Watch has done an excellent job discovering direct evidence of collusion between government officials, the Biden campaign and social media companies Facebook, Twitter, Google (YouTube) to censor speech and remove content. California officials were using a list generated by a firm called SKDK (working for Biden campaign) to inform the social media companies of content for removal.
[…] The Office of Election Cybersecurity in the California Secretary of State’s office monitored and tracked social media posts, decided if they were misinformation, stored the posts in an internal database coded by threat level, and on 31 different occasions requested posts be removed.This is an explosive new element to an ongoing story of big tech censorship because the documents directly highlight California government officials and tech companies working together to remove political content adverse to the interests of the Biden campaign; and later the Biden administration.
One of the California government officials, Deputy Secretary of State and Chief Communications Officer Paula Valle, even begins to question the legality of their coordinated conduct after journalists and people who had their content removed started asking for specific answers why. . .
This pretty much confirms what we knew; the big social media companies were conspiring with the Democrats and the media to spike activity contrary to their preferred narrative.
Ace, Surprise! The Woke FBI Is Illegally Searching NSA Records to Find "Racially
Motivated Extremists"
Obama re-tasked the FBI away from finding actual terrorists to finding white people they could claim were terrorists, and the woke leftwing overseers of the FBI were all too eager to stop working for justice and start working for "social justice."
This is and always has been a leftwing propaganda effort to hide the number of terrorists who are associated with the left and exaggerate the number of terrorists that can be used to smear the right.
But now they're not just corrupting the system for bean-counting efforts, but are actively twisting law enforcement to act as the Social Justice Arm of the Democrat Party.
DEFUND.
More from Sundance, Declassified FISA Court Opinion for 2020 Shows Even More Warrantless FBI Abuses of NSA Database Including Search Queries for Government Officials and Victims and It’s Official, The FISA Court is Compromised – Presiding Judge James Boasberg Hires Former DOJ-NSD Head, Mary McCord, as Amici Curiae to Advise The Court
CNS News, DHS Launches Department-Wide Review to ‘Identify and Combat’ Extremists in Its Ranks, which might not be bad, but since they will take their definition of "extremists" from extremists like the SPLC, it will become an attempt to purge conservative from the ranks, or at least drive them under cover. At Fox, Jason Beardsley: Pentagon's 'extremism' blunder – this move could make US military even more political "Military personnel have been prohibited from advocating 'extremist' doctrine"
**Once DOD defines "extremism," it will be compelled to decide which groups fit that definition and ban membership in them. Here’s where the real danger begins. This will set up an endless chore for DOD – choosing which groups are so bad that affiliation with them will be seen as incompatible with military service. But it’s worse than that – it will create a new battleground for political disputes that will directly harm prospective service members. The list of "extremist" groups will swing wildly as DOD changes hands from Republican to Democratic control, or Democratic to Republican control. Americans who wish to serve will face a permanently changing DOD preference on who can serve, and who cannot.
Mary Chastain at LI busts another media narrative, Prosecutor Admits Defendant Did Not Use Bear Spray Against Officers During Capitol Hill Riot
Assistant U.S. Attorney Gilead Light admitted Julian Elie Khater, 32, did not use the bear spray he had in his hand during the January 6 Capitol Hill riot:
Julian Elie Khater, 32, of State College, Pennsylvania, and George Pierre Tanios, 39, of Morgantown, West Virginia, are charged in spraying the chemical irritant at Capitol police officers Brian Sicknick and Caroline Edwards, as well as Metropolitan Police Department officer Damian Chapman.
However, during the hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Gilead Light acknowledged to Hogan that bear spray was never used, despite video clips presented earlier in the case.
“It does appear the bear spray that Mr. Khater was holding 10 minutes earlier was not used,” Light said, saying empty mace containers were recovered from Tanios and Khater’s homes.However, Light maintained purchasing and carrying the bear spray showed intent: “Why else would you bring bear spray — it’s an uncontested fact there’s no bears in downtown D.C.” Prosecutors said “Khater and Tanios schemed for trouble”:
Julie Kelly on Twitter, " A few interesting developments today in political prosecution of January 6 detainees. Judge and government acknowledge in court that contrary to narrative about Sicknick, he was not hit with bear spray."
On Republican vote for impeachment and potential 2024 Presidential candidate Liz Cheney, ‘She’s On An Island’ — Josh Hawley Slams Liz Cheney, Says She Has ‘No Support In Her Own Caucus’ (Da Caller). Yesterday's Morning Rant at Ace's:
Every time I think that the Republican party has reached Peak Impotence, they come out with a startlingly dumb and feckless statement that reaffirms my conviction that the party as currently constructed is beyond saving, and is a significant impediment to any serious plan to save America from the Democrat/Progressive machine.
GOP: If We Win Back House, We'll Restart Border Wall ConstructionHouse Conference Committee Chairwoman Liz Cheney said at the Republican issues retreat in Orlando that "I think we need to look at every possible tool" to secure the southern border. "That includes the wall, and it includes technology and being able to move again toward agreements where people who are seeking asylum stay in Mexico," according to the Washington Examiner.Shut your whore mouth. Your faux tough-gal affectation doesn't work. Had you been half this combative during President Trump's time in office we wouldn't have a problem on the border...we would have a few thousand miles of big. beautiful wall.
Lizzy, if you think that you can cultivate any conservative support with this nonsense you are sadly mistaken. You have irredeemably stained yourself, and no amount of blather from you and your castrati partners in congress will fool us again.
And just for curiosity's sake; how are you going to compel the administration to resume work on the wall? Have you never read the Constitution? Do you have any self awareness that your words are ridiculous?
Self awareness is not a useful trait among politicians.
Some Wednesday Wetness
Wombat-socho has Rule 5 Sunday: Alegrachan up and running for your digital delight at The Other McCain.
Tuesday, April 27, 2021
Maryland, My Maryland: AG Frosh Targets Chauvin Defense Witness
As Herr Professor Jacobsen at LI reports: Chauvin Defense Forensic Expert Targeted By Maryland A.G. and Colleagues Dr. David Fowler was an effective witness for Chauvin, and now Maryland will review his work as the state’s Chief Medical Examiner looking for errors, as an open letter signed by fornensic colleagues call for his medical license to be investigated.
Derek Chauvin’s use-of-force expert, Barry Brodd, was targeted after his testimony. His former home, which the perps apparently assumed was still his, was vandalized and smeared with pig’s blood.
A different type of targeting now is directed at Chauvin’s forensic expert, Dr. David Fowler. You may recall that Fowler was a very effective witness, testifying that George Floyd had a sudden cardiac arrythmia due to atherosclerotic and hypertensive heart disease, during his restraint by the police.
Dr. Fowler now is being targetted professionally, in moves which I predict are intended to render him unable to be an expert witness ever again, and even a vindictive attempt to pull his medical license.
The Baltimore Sun reports:
The Maryland’s Attorney General’s Office said Friday it believes there should be a review of “in custody” death reports produced by the state’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner during the tenure of Dr. David Fowler, nine days after Fowler testified that an ex-Minneapolis police officer was not responsible for the death of George Floyd in police custody.So they are going to pour over his career, ostensibly to serve the interests of justice, but reality as we all understand, as punishment for testifying on behalf of a hated defendant. And make no mistake, the letter from forensic colleagues is a prelude to professional retribution:
The announcement came less than 24 hours after the attorney general’s office received a letter from the former medical examiner of Washington, D.C., Roger A. Mitchell, signed by 431 doctors from around the country, saying Fowler’s testimony and conclusions were so far outside the bounds of accepted forensic practice that all his previous work could come into question.
“Dr. Fowler’s stated opinion that George Floyd’s death during active police restraint should be certified with an ‘undetermined’ manner is outside the standard practice and conventions for investigating and certification of in-custody deaths. This stated opinion raises significant concerns for his previous practice and management,” the letter said.
Attorney General Brian Frosh’s office said Friday afternoon that it agreed for the need to review Fowler’s work, and said it had been in contact with Gov. Larry Hogan’s staff.
“We agree that it is appropriate for independent experts to review reports issued by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) regarding deaths in custody,” Raquel Coombs, a spokeswoman for Frosh, said in an statement to The Baltimore Sun. “We are already in conversations with the Governor’s Office about the need for such a review, and have offered to coordinate it.”We believe the unsubstantiated opinion that carbon monoxide exposure may have contributed to the death of George Floyd is far outside that standard and is grounds for an immediate investigation into the practices of the physician as well as the practice of the Maryland State Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) while under his leadership. In addition, Dr. Fowler’s stated opinion that George Floyd’s death during active police restraint should be certified with an “undetermined” manner is outside the standard practice and conventions for investigating and certification of in-custody deaths. This stated opinion raises significant concerns for his previous practice and management.Among the demands are:
“Investigation into the medical license of David Fowler, MB, ChB.Med.Path for possible ethical violations associated with death in custody diagnosis.”NPR reports that Fowler rejected the attacks:
Fowler has defended his record, telling the Baltimore Sun that he was not solely responsible for autopsy conclusions as he worked with a large team of forensic pathologists, and saying of a potential review that “people need to do what they need to do.”Chauvin had two expert witnesses. Both were attacked outside the courtroom, one physically, the other professionally. It’s part of a pattern of intimidation that surrounded the Chauvin trial, and will carry over to the upcoming trials of the other officers present at the scene that day who are accused of aiding and abetting Chauvin.
“I stand behind the outstanding work that all of our dedicated staff at the Maryland State Medical Examiner’s Office performed during my tenure as the Chief ME,” he told The Washington Post in a statement.
Fowler also stood by his work in the Chauvin trial, explaining that his “opinion was formulated after the collaboration of thirteen other highly experienced colleagues in multiple disciplines” and that it “set an ethical standard for the work needed in sensitive litigation.”
Frosh is a very ambitious and political AG. He is also one of the AG who are attempting to sue oil companies for their contributions to global warming. I'll bet his car runs on gas. This is an unconscionable attempt smear a medical professional of good standing, all in the interest of political gain. Are we going make it a point to go after experts who testify on the losing side every time now?
Stephen Green at Insty, CANCEL CULTURE IS ALL IN YOUR MIND
Chauvin Medical Defense Witness Is Now Being Investigated for Wrong-Think. “Because Fowler was on the ‘wrong’ side of the case, his reputation must die.”
I’d wager this is less about punishing Fowler than it is about pre-intimidating future expert witnesses in “politically sensitive” trials.
And Ed Driscoll, AS ALWAYS, LIFE IMITATES AMERICA’S NEWSPAPER OF RECORD:
● Shot: Payback? Chauvin Defense Witness Dr. David Fowler Under Investigation.
—The Lid, today.
● Chaser: In Closing Argument, Prosecutor Tearfully Addresses Each Juror By Name, Phone Number, And Street Address.
—The Babylon Bee, April 19th.
Beach Report 4/27/21
Election 2020: They're Making a List, and Checking it Twice
They're gonna find out if you're naughty or nice. An odd lot, not much to tie them together.
As we've seen, and John Solomon at JTN reports Growing number of black leaders embrace voter ID, reject Biden's Jim Crow claims, "From sports to politics to business, black leaders are beginning a counteroffensive against Stacey Abrams' views on voting". But they won't get the fawning press.
Ken Blackwell, Ohio's first African-American secretary of state, said the news media and some corporations have wrongly twisted the narrative and made something that is popular in Georgia's new election integrity law look racist. But he predicts it will backfire.
"You have the mainstream media, you know, initially trying to gaslight the American people, making those of us who see this as a very common-sense practical policy and procedure to be somewhat crazy or racist, and we're not buying it," Blackwell told Just the News.
The proper remedy to such actions by woke corporate executives is for shareholders to keep wokeness out of corporate public pronouncements. Nearly every Republican and many Democrats will vote against woke corporations with their feet and, when possible, their pocketbooks. Virtue signaling will result in increasing public disaffection and a switch to competitor’s products. It is immeasurably more important to many corporate customers to preserve our Republic through voting regulations that prevent fraud and abuse.
Misguided corporate woke dereliction of duty has caused these two Coke fans, and probably millions more, to switch to Pepsi and challenge of your market share.
Natalie Winters at TNP, Man Admits To Mail-In Ballot Fraud In 2020 Election. Impossible! Our betters have told us this just doesn't happen!
In the Maricopa County audit, HE reports Maricopa County Judge Recuses Himself From 2020 Election Audit Case. It appears to be a trivial case of a judge having had one of the lawyers in the case as an intern, but will it change the complexion of the oversight? The judge excusing himself was appointed by Republicans; he will be replaced by one appointed by Democrats.
At Am Great, Julie Kelly discourses on The Feds’ Nonexistent Case Against Alleged Sicknick Assailants "There is no reason to keep these men in jail, let alone in solitary confinement, in a D.C. prison." The process is the punishment.
Sundance at CTH finds that DHS Begins Internal Investigation to Identify Dangerous Employees with Patriotic Perspectives, aka “Domestic Extremists”
The internal investigation by JoeBama’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) serves two purposes. [Memo Link Here] First, it will identify anyone with nationalist outlooks and/or ‘America First’ ideology; in essence it will identify JoeBama’s political enemies (those that didn’t vote for Biden).
Second, it will send a chill through the ranks within all DHS agencies to quiet any dissent to the approved leftist approach (the DHS political agenda). This is essentially putting DHS through the same process previously deployed against the FBI during Robert Mueller and James Comey’s terms. Eliminate any and all opposition to the JoeBama agenda.
It doesn’t take a deep political thinker to understand exactly what DHS is attempting to do. They need to cement as many leftists, communists and radical left-wing perspectives as quickly as possible. To accomplish this they need to remove any internal opposition to the plan.
Remember, DHS runs just about everything you encounter now with federal law enforcement, including Transportation Safety Administration. This internal purge is needed in order to support a fully weaponized police state. [Insert COVID passport here]
They have already announced similar programs being deployed against Americans; and the FBI is currently promoting the incarceration of anyone suspected of attending the January 6th DC rally. This effort by DHS is more of the same…
And don’t forget the United States Postal Service is also operating their own investigation into Americans, using their technical capability and their own police force… Now tie today’s announcement with: “DHS Preparing to Use Private Contractors to “Scour Public Data and Social Media” To Compile Dissident Citizens for Watch List and No Fly Lists“…. what is described in the Yahoo article about the USPS; and what is described in the DHS memo; is almost identical to what we previously outlined.
More on the new USPS effort from Charlie Kirk at HE: The USPS Is Making a List. Who Is Checking It Twice—and Why?
What is really going on here? The answer is simple. Every totalitarian government relies on surveillance. The Jacobins did in 18th century France. China has the Ministry of State Security; East Germany had the Stasi. Stalin had the NKVD. And so on. In the United States, where totalitarianism doesn’t necessarily come naturally given our founder’s embrace of natural law and the natural rights codified in our constitution and bolstered by amendments, we are off to a clumsy start in using the USPS—although some of the recent actions of the FBI and Justice Department do suggest a more comprehensive and coordinated effort has been underway.
Are you now, or have you ever been, a Trump supporter?
Ace, LOL: Neocon Dynast and Typical Beltway Liberal Liz Cheney Not Ruling Out a 2024 Presidential Run. "As Sheriff J.W. Peppers said, "For which side?"" The Deep State's side, of course.
Wombat-socho has Rule 5 Sunday: Alegrachan and FMJRA 2.0: Island up and running for your digital delight at The Other McCain.