The Sun Has Entered a ‘Lockdown’ Period, Which Could Cause Freezing Weather, Famine

Our sun has gone into lockdown, which could cause freezing weather, earthquakes and famine, scientists say.

The sun is currently in a period of “solar minimum,” meaning activity on its surface has fallen dramatically.

Experts believe we are about to enter the deepest period of sunshine “recession” ever recorded as sunspots have virtually disappeared. . .

NASA scientists fear it could be a repeat of the Dalton Minimum, which happened between 1790 and 1830 — leading to periods of brutal cold, crop loss, famine and powerful volcanic eruptions.

Temperatures plummeted by up to 2 degrees Celsius (35.6 degrees Fahrenheit) over 20 years, devastating the world’s food production. (Read more from “The Sun Has Entered a ‘Lockdown’ Period, Which Could Cause Freezing Weather, Famine” HERE)

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Ex-Flynn Deputy Hits Obama Officials Over Conflicting Collusion Claims

By Fox News. Former Deputy National Security Adviser K.T. McFarland ripped Obama administration officials on “The Story” Thursday for making what she considered to be conflicting public statements about the existence of “collusion” between President Trump and the Russian government.

“The director of national intelligence [James Clapper], the CIA director [John Brennan], the FBI director [James Comey], and the deputy FBI director [Andrew McCabe] in the Obama administration were going into closed, classified healings on Capitol Hill, in the House Intelligence Committee and they were saying there was no collusion,” she said. . .

“And then others were basically accusing President Trump of treason,” added McFarland, who served under retired Army Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn. “Which way is it, guys? You dragged the country through three years of being at each other’s throats over something you knew was a lie and a hoax.

“Why did you do it and who helped you do it?” (Read more from “Ex-Flynn Deputy Hits Obama Officials Over Conflicting Collusion Claims” HERE)

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Former Intelligence Director James Clapper Responds to ‘Unmasking’ Allegations

By New York Post. Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper defended his conduct after being named among top Obama administration officials as having been involved in the effort to “unmask” former national security adviser Michael Flynn.

Speaking during an appearance on CNN Thursday, Clapper argued that it was “routine” to “unmask” US citizens who are inadvertently included in the surveillance of foreign adversaries.

“It’s a routine thing,” the former intelligence chief said. “It’s appropriate and legitimate when you have a valid foreign intelligence target engaging with a US person. Is it, for example, an insider, someone in the government engaging with a foreign adversary? So it’s important from the standpoint of potential jeopardy to national security that you understand what’s going on.”

Clapper told the network that he would request to “unmask” individuals as frequently as “once or twice a week” during his tenure as DNI. (Read more from “Former Intelligence Director James Clapper Responds to ‘Unmasking’ Allegations” HERE)

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WATCH: Biden Says He Doesn’t Remember Accuser, Tells Women Not to Vote for Him If They Believe Her Claims

Former Vice President Joe Biden claimed on Thursday that he does not remember Tara Reade, the former Senate staffer who came forward in March with a 1993 sexual assault allegation and suggested that those who believe her claims shouldn’t vote for him.

During an interview with MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell, Biden was asked whether he remembered Reade being on his staff, a question he previously dodged earlier this month when asked by “Morning Joe” co-host Mika Brzezinski.

“Do you remember Tara Reade who worked there for about a year in 1992-1993?” O’Donnell asked.

“Well, to be honest with you, I don’t,” Biden responded. “But let me get something clear, when a woman makes a claim that she has been harassed or abused, and this claim has changed… she should be taken seriously. She should come forward, share her story, she should be taken seriously and it should be thoroughly vetted. And in every case, what matters is the truth. The truth is what matters. And the truth of the case is nothing like this ever, ever happened… I give you my word. It never, ever happened.”

(Read more from “WATCH: Biden Says He Doesn’t Remember Accuser, Tells Women Not to Vote for Him If They Believe Her Claims” HERE)

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Richard Burr: Senate Intelligence Chief Steps Down for FBI Probe

The Republican chairman of the US Senate intelligence committee will step down while an insider trading inquiry is carried out.

Richard Burr of North Carolina said he had decided to do so because he did not want the investigation to distract the committee from its work.

Mr Burr’s phone has been seized by the FBI as part of the inquiry. . .

Mr Burr said: “The work the Intelligence Committee and its members do is too important to risk hindering in any way. I believe this step is necessary to allow the Committee to continue its essential work free of external distractions.”

He turned over his mobile phone to authorities after federal agents issued and executed a search warrant at his Washington, DC, home. (Read more from “Richard Burr: Senate Intelligence Chief Steps Down for FBI Probe” HERE)

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Pompeo Condemns China’s Attempts to Steal Coronavirus Research Data; U.S. to Israel: No More Chinese Deals

By Newsweek. The U.S. State Department released a statement Thursday denouncing attempts to infiltrate systems involved in U.S. COVID-19 research that the Federal Bureau of Investigation has attributed to China.

“The United States condemns attempts by cyber actors and non-traditional collectors affiliated with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to steal U.S. intellectual property and data related to COVID-19 research,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement.

Pompeo’s remarks follow an announcement by the FBI on Wednesday that the bureau is investigating “the targeting and compromise” of organizations conducting research to develop vaccines and other treatments for COVID-19. The efforts were attributed to China-affiliated actors. . .

According to the FBI, digital intruders are seeking to pilfer valuable intellectual property related to this research, jeopardizing “the delivery of secure, effective, and efficient treatment options.” (Read more from “Pompeo Condemns China’s Attempts to Steal Coronavirus Research Data” HERE)

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U.S. to Israel: No More Chinese Deals; Pompeo’s Flying Visit

By Breaking Defense. The United States delivered a clear message to Jerusalem today – avoid further involvement of China in the Israeli economy. The message was one of the main reasons for the very short visit of American Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to Jerusalem — one day before the new cabinet is sworn in.

“The fact that the visit takes place in these problematic times proves its urgency ” an Israeli source said. Pompeo came to Israel with a very strict message – stop all Chinese investment in Israel, either in high tech companies or infrastructure.

Israeli officials said the message relayed during Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s hours-long visit included a very specific political warning – Israel must stop any action that strengthens the Chinese Communist Party, even if that means canceling projects already planned. (Read more from “U.S. to Israel: No More Chinese Deals; Pompeo’s Flying Visit” HERE)

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Joe Biden’s New Insane Claim: Coronavirus Claimed Lives of ‘Millions of People’ (VIDEO)

By Breitbart. Joe Biden marred his facts on Thursday during a virtual roundtable with three governors supporting his campaign.

While speaking with Govs. Ned Lamont (D-CT), Phil Murphy (D-NJ), and Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI), Biden said, “We’re in the middle of a pandemic that has cost us more than 85,000 jobs as of today. Lives of millions of people, millions of people, millions of jobs.”

To date, there have been 85,066 deaths in American blamed on COVID-19, and over 1.4 million cases in the U.S., according to Reuters. There have been 300,798 deaths globally, arcgis.com reported. . .

The event kicked off awkwardly when Biden was introduced but wasn’t notified he was on camera and was supposed to begin.

(Read more from “Joe Biden’s New Insane Claim: Coronavirus Claimed Lives of ‘Millions of People'” HERE)

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New Biden Ad Claims ‘Trump Doesn’t Understand’ That His Coronavirus Missteps ‘Destroyed’ the Economy

By Yahoo News. . .Biden’s campaign released an ad Monday night pummeling Trump on all these points, and also rebutting the Trump campaign’s efforts to attack Biden on China. The long ad, “Timeline,” curates some key moments from Trump’s handling of the new coronavirus.

“April turns into May,” the narrator intones over dramatic strings. “The virus doesn’t disappear. There is no miracle. The cases mount, the death toll grows, more than 33 million Americans lose their jobs to the pandemic. Unemployment reaches Great Depression–era levels. Donald Trump doesn’t understand. We have an economic crisis because we have a public health crisis. And we have a public health crisis because he refused to act. Donald Trump didn’t build a great economy. His failure to lead destroyed one.”

(Read more from “New Biden Ad Claims ‘Trump Doesn’t Understand’ That His Coronavirus Missteps ‘Destroyed’ the Economy” HERE)

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Faith Leaders Ask Congress to Grant Legal Immunity to Religious Organizations Reopening Amid Pandemic

A long list of religious leaders signed onto a letter sent Tuesday requesting that Congress’ next coronavirus relief package include legal immunity for religious organizations reopening amid an onslaught of new regulations surrounding the pandemic.

“[I]n the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a proliferation of complex and often contradictory orders and guidelines at the state, county, and local levels, each purporting to govern when and how to reopen,” read the letter, signed by pastor Franklin Graham, actor Kirk Cameron, and dozens of pastors. In total, the letter has 300 signatories.

“Unfortunately, no religious organization—or any organization—can follow every guideline or order that has been issued around the country. We are concerned that some people—and their lawyers—will cherry pick certain guidelines from around the nation in order to assign liability to religious organizations. They might claim that a religious organization or a house of worship was negligent because it did not follow a single recommendation buried deep within a set of guidelines.”

Spearheaded by the legal non-profit First Liberty Institute, the appeal underscores national uncertainty as businesses and organizations return to normal after the economic shutdown.

“Churches, synagogues, and America’s houses of worship have provided critical care, comfort, and calm in the midst of the uncertainty caused by a worldwide pandemic,” said Kelly Shackelford, President, CEO, and Chief Counsel for First Liberty Institute. “Providing this reasonable measure of protection to religious organizations and houses of worship in America will ensure that they can continue performing their vital functions of serving Americans and ministering to all of our spiritual and physical needs. (Read more from “Faith Leaders Ask Congress to Grant Legal Immunity to Religious Organizations Reopening Amid Pandemic” HERE)

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WATCH: Devin Nunes Discusses Unmasking: “It’s Much Worse Than This” – the Entire Trump Transition Was Under Surveillance…

First things first: ♦Understand Obama’s Surveillance Operation HERE. ♦Michael Flynn wasn’t under a FISA (Title-1) HERE …. that’s the background.

Devin Nunes appears with Lou Dobbs to discuss the recent list of Obama-era officials who unmasked NSA intercepts of Michael Flynn talking to foreign government officials. Rep. Nunes reminds the audience that Flynn is only one person within a much larger group of Trump transition team members who were under surveillance by Team Obama.

March 27, 2017, then House Intelligence Committee Chairman, Devin Nunes, held a brief press conference and stated he was provided intelligence reports brought to him by unnamed sources including ‘significant information’ about President-Elect Trump and his transition team.

These reports included unmaskings of President Trump campaign officials; and included Donald Trump himself…. You know what that means:

1.) …”On numerous occasions the [Obama] intelligence community incidentally collected information about U.S. citizens involved in the Trump transition.”

2.) “Details about U.S. persons associated with the incoming administration; details with little or no apparent foreign intelligence value were widely disseminated in intelligence community reporting.”

3.) “Third, I have confirmed that additional names of Trump transition members were unmasked.”

4.) “Fourth and finally, I want to be clear; none of this surveillance was related to Russia, or the investigation of Russian activities, or of the Trump team.

“The House Intelligence Committee will thoroughly investigate surveillance and its subsequent dissemination, to determine a few things here that I want to read off:”

“Who was aware of it?”

“Why it was not disclosed to congress?”

“Who requested and authorized the additional unmasking?”

“Whether anyone directed the intelligence community to focus on Trump associates?”

“And whether any laws, regulations or procedures were violated?”

“I have asked the Directors of the FBI, NSA and CIA to expeditiously comply with my March 15th letter -that you all received a couple of weeks ago- and to provide a full account of these surveillance activities.”

(For more from the author of “Devin Nunes Discusses Unmasking: “It’s Much Worse Than This” – the Entire Trump Transition Was Under Surveillance…” please click HERE)

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This Is the Most Blatant Example of Inflated COVID-19 Death Stats Yet

I have spectacular news to share with you. Amid all the death, doom, and gloom resulting from the coronavirus, we can now celebrate the fact that the virus has cured all other forms of death. Nobody dies from other causes of death anymore. At least that is what we are seeing in some states that are so eager to use the virus as a pretext to crush our liberties.

This week, Colorado recorded Montezuma County as having suffered its third coronavirus death. The implication of being tagged with more deaths for many Democrat-controlled states is that even small rural counties like Montezuma will not be allowed to resume regular life because they will fail to meet arbitrary and impossible benchmarks established unilaterally by the Governor Kings. The problem in this case is that the county coroner is disputing the cause of the death. This now appears to be a widespread problem.

“COVID was not listed on the death certificate as the cause of death. I disagree with the state for listing it as a COVID death, and will be discussing it with them this week,” said County Coroner George Deavers on Tuesday.

It turns out that even though the decedent tested positive for the virus, he died of alcohol poisoning because toxicology showed his blood-alcohol level was 0.55, way past the lethal level of 0.3.

“The person who died did not die from COVID-19, but they did test positive for the virus,” said county public information officer Vicki Shaffer. “The state is reporting that death as a COVID death, but our health department wanted to let people know that even though the person did have the virus, they did not die from it.”

According to local news, the decedent, Sebastian Yellow, 35, was found dead in a park in Cortez on May 4. Think about that for a moment: a 35-year-old just drops dead in a park (the virus takes a long time to kill), and yet they test his body for coronavirus and find it to be positive, and now the state rules it a coronavirus death instead of the obvious alcohol poisoning!

This is not the first time the state government has been caught inflating the numbers. On April 30, CBS4 reported that the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment reclassified three deaths in a nursing home as COVID-19, overruling the decision of the attending physician who said they died of other ailments while in hospice care. The state officials blamed it on the CDC guidance forcing them to tag anyone who tests positive as a COVID-19 death, irrespective of the circumstances. Recently, Dr. Deborah Birx has reportedly called into question the policy and how it’s inflating the number of coronavirus deaths.

We are seeing disputes between state health departments and local coroners over how to determine cause of death play out in other states as well.

As we’ve reported, most estimates show the infection fatality rate for people in their 30s is roughly 0.007%. A typical 35-year-old has a 0.17% chance of dying in any given year … of anything. Thus, the normal mortality rate is 24 times higher than that of coronavirus for people that age. Now that the virus is so ubiquitous and so rarely lethal in young people, it makes no sense to assume someone died from it unless the autopsy showed the degradation of the lungs or other similar symptoms. They are literally coding every death in this country of anyone who has the virus (which is likely in the tens of millions) as a COVID-19 death.

Approximately 2.8 million people die every year, which means roughly 470,000 will die over a 2-month period. Given that it’s very likely 5%-10% of the country have the virus, but very few die from it as a percentage of those infected – nearly zero among younger people – how many of those typical deaths are now being coded as COVID? This is particularly concerning when we see states report a few random deaths among younger people. While anomalous death from the coronavirus is certainly possible in younger people, this raises serious questions about the accuracy of any existing recorded deaths for those particularly young.

We saw this play out in April when Ventura County, California, coded the death of a 37-year-old who overdosed on fentanyl as a COVID-19 death. Nearly 70,000 are dying every year from drug overdoses, particularly young adults. How many of these respiratory deaths will easily be coded as the coronavirus so long as they test positive?

There was much commotion when Georgia officials announced that death of a 22-year-old in Columbus, but the local coroner absolutely disputes that assertions. The 22-year-old new mother tragically died four days after giving birth, but Muscogee County Coroner Buddy Bryan believes she died from a complication stemming from the C-section. “The E.M.S. personnel and myself pretty much came to the same conclusion,” Bryan said. “I personally don’t believe she died from the virus.”

We all see how this virus has become more political than anything in our lifetime. When places like Los Angeles, with so few deaths per capita, are preemptively announcing a lockdown for another three months, there is no longer any denying that liberal politicians will use this as a pretext to push generation-changing social transformation and will stop at nothing in the misinformation war to justify their actions. At least 60,000 people die in L.A. in any given year. In a county of 10 million people, there are officially only 1,659 coronavirus deaths (including the likely inflation). Are we really to believe that coding of deaths going forward will not be politicized and easily conflated with typical deaths?

Nowhere is this more of a concern than in nursing homes where we are seeing more than 50% of the recorded deaths and where many of them are being added retroactively. Naturally, roughly 25% of the annual 2.8 million national fatalities occur in senior care facilities and so many have already tested positive for the virus, but didn’t necessarily die from it. But per CDC guidance, it must be counted as a COVID-19 death.

Last week, my colleague Steve Deace received an email from a listener who just lost her father in a nursing home in Ohio. She noted that he had advanced Alzheimer’s and tested positive for COVID-19, along with 75% of the residents. However, 90% were asymptomatic and her father had recovered from the virus. None of the staff believed he died from the virus, but it was listed as the cause of the death on his death certificate. “Covid-19 is listed as cause of death. Absolute lie. Hopefully our firsthand experience can be added to your research,” she wrote.

Indeed, we are the ones who will have to do this research because the media and government won’t do it for us. (For more from the author of “This Is the Most Blatant Example of Inflated COVID-19 Death Stats Yet” please click HERE)

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What We Know About the Link Between COVID-19 and a Rare Children’s Disease

One of the biggest unknowns of the COVID-19 pandemic is how it affects children.

Children have managed to avoid most of the severe manifestations of the disease caused by the new coronavirus, making up a small percentage of hospitalizations and almost none of the deaths. Conversely, Americans older than 65 have made up 45% of hospitalizations and 80% of deaths.

Thus, targeted mitigation efforts rightly would focus on nursing homes, which have suffered disproportionately from the COVID-19. Fixing policies that put older Americans at great risk likely will have the greatest effect on driving down national mortality, as opposed to blanket policies that include children.

However, just as we begin to think we have a handle on it, this virus continues to befuddle. A concerning link may exist between COVID-19 and a rare childhood autoimmune disorder called Kawasaki disease.

Out of 73 recent cases of Kawasaki disease in New York, three children have died and all three also tested positive for COVID-19. We don’t have evidence that this is necessarily a causal relationship, but some of the signs may make sense.

Kawasaki disease is an inflammatory autoimmune disorder of childhood that is thought to result from a previous viral infection. Some part of a virus, or the immune system’s response to it, causes the inflammatory pathway to hyperactivate suddenly and cause damage to the body.

A somewhat similar inflammatory phenomenon is known to occur with adults, and possibly is the main driver of mortality among COVID-19 patients. It stands to reason that Kawasaki disease, as an autoimmune disease of childhood often triggered by a previous viral infection, may be one of the effects of the coronavirus, also known as SARS-CoV-2.

But this is conjecture at this point. We simply don’t have sufficient data to draw any connection. The incidence of Kawasaki disease is estimated to be between nine to 19 cases per 100,000 children under age 5 per year.

And not all cases of Kawasaki disease occur in the context of a coronavirus infection.

For instance, in this report of 15 cases in New York, 10 tested positive either for an active or previous infection by SARS-CoV-2. This raises suspicion of the link, but with so few cases of Kawasaki disease, the correlation may be wholly spurious. After all, finding a case of COVID-19 in New York City would be entirely unremarkable.

The good news is that doctors have treated Kawasaki disease successfully for years with intravenous immunoglobulin. It is possible that Kawasaki disease may appear more severe lately because families have been reluctant to go to the emergency department for fear of COVID-19.

Families must seek treatment for Kawasaki disease, which is characterized by several days of a high fever, red and swollen eyes, rash, redness of the hands and feet, and inflammation of the lips and mouth.

Fear of the hospital has become a much larger problem for both the hospitals and their patients. But based on the data regarding children and SARS-CoV-2 transmission, it is likely safe for them and those around them to seek treatment.

Although children are not invulnerable to the coronavirus, they are less susceptible to severe disease.

A recent literature review of numerous pediatric studies found that children not only are much less likely to develop severe disease from the new coronavirus, but also unlikely to transmit the virus to others.

The review was conducted when there were 150,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the United States. Of those, only 1.7% were children, more than half of whom were infants (62%) and nearly a quarter had underlying conditions (23%).

Among all confirmed pediatric cases of COVID-19, 5.7% required hospitalization. Of them, only 2% were admitted to an intensive care unit. This dataset included three confirmed deaths out of 2,572 cases.

Clearly, children neither are at great risk nor are they completely invincible to the effects of the virus. But statistically, nearly all confirmed COVID-19 cases among children were relatively benign.

Data showing less severe disease in children is easy to find, but data tracing disease transmission from children to adults is difficult to gather. However, one study of multiple pediatric research articles suggests that children are unlikely to be the primary source for infection in a household.

Of the 31 households identified with intrafamilial transmission of COVID-19, only three began with a child. That is, only 9.7% of these household cases began with children. Using similar data in comparison, 54% of H5N1 influenza cases within households began with children.

A similar dynamic exists in the school setting. An Australian study of 10 high schools and five primary schools from March to April found little transmission of the coronavirus from one person to the next. Twelve high school students and four members of the faculty were identified as confirmed cases of COVID-19 who had attended classes while infectious.

Nearly 600 other students were exposed to these COVID-19 cases but none of them tested positive. One student tested positive by antibody testing, which indicated a previous infection from which the student already had recovered.

The primary schools had a similar result, with one student and five faculty members identified as COVID-19 cases and only one student later found to be positive for antibodies.

Although more data is needed to draw a definitive conclusion about the role, if any, that children play in transmitting COVID-19, these findings all suggest that children are at the least risk themselves and pose the lowest risk to others.

Children seem to be mercifully spared the more severe manifestations of this pandemic. Not only do they seem less susceptible to infection, they seem not to spread the disease to others.

That being the case, it is likely that activities for children, such as school or summer camp, should be relatively safe to resume.

But as it has been throughout this ordeal, the new coronavirus easily can surprise us in the worst ways. It is likely we can safely allow our children to return to some semblance of normal life, but with caution and vigilance. (For more from the author of “What We Know About the Link Between COVID-19 and a Rare Children’s Disease” please click HERE)

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