The Department of Justice (DOJ) on Tuesday dropped investigations into allegations that three senators engaged in insider trading before the coronavirus stock market turmoil.
DOJ prosecutors announced that they have closed the insider trading investigations against Sens. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA), James Inhofe (R-OK), and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA). However, the Justice Department will continue the investigation against Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC).
Burr recently stepped down as the Senate Intelligence Committee chairman. He reportedly sold between $628,000 and $1.7 million in a single day in February. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) now serves as the acting Intelligence chairman. Burr reportedly had more direct involvement in his trades compared to the other senators.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) began the investigation after reports suggested that members of Congress, their spouses, or their investment advisers sold hundreds of thousands of shares of stock after lawmakers were briefed about the threats posed by the coronavirus.
Feinstein, Loffler, and Inhofe have contended that their investment advisers made the trades and that they did not learn of them until after the fact. (Read more from “DOJ Drops Insider Trading Investigations Into Three Senators” HERE)
Deputy Head of Wuhan Lab That Likely Released Chinese Virus Says the World Has Seen Only the “Tip of the Iceberg”
By Kate Sheehy. “If we want to prevent human beings from suffering from the next infectious-disease outbreak, we must go in advance to learn of these unknown viruses carried by wild animals in nature and give early warnings,” Shi Zhengli, a top Chinese scientist specializing in viral transmissions from bats, told CGTN in an interview that aired Monday.
“If we don’t study [the viruses], there will possibly be another outbreak,” warned Shi, whose was dubbed “bat woman” by the press because of her research involving the mammals. . .
The Wuhan lab where Shi is deputy director has been suspected of accidentally unleashing the virus on humans. China also has been accused of not coming clean on the danger soon enough and consistently lying about the virus’s toll on its citizens. (Read more from China Threatens World via “Bat Woman” HERE)
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China Warns Against New Cold War
By Edmund DeMarche. Wang Yi, the Chinese foreign minister, said Sunday that the U.S. should “give up on its wishful thinking of changing China” and avoid bringing the two countries to a “new Cold War.”
“China has no intention to change, still replace, the United States,” he said, according to the Washington Post. “It is time for the United States to give up its wishful thinking of changing China and stopping 1.4 billion people in their historic march toward modernization” . . .
Chris Patten, the last British governor of Hong Kong prior to its handover to China, lamented what he called “a new Chinese dictatorship.”
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has called the [CCP’s Hong Kong] proposal “a death knell for the high degree of autonomy” that Beijing promised the former British colony when it was returned to China in 1997. “[A] knockdown fight with China has been thrust upon us,” he said. “The takeover of Hong Kong is the writing on the wall.” (Read more from “China threatens world” HERE)
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Time to Stand Up Against the Race-Card-Pulling Chinese Communists
By James Pinkerton. By now, every American should be familiar with the threat from the CCP’s control of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The CCP’s so-called “hard power” of economic and military might—much of it gained by manipulating and hacking America these past three decades—has surged.
And yet the CCP’s hard power has been joined by “soft power,” which is intangible, but still important, because it affects the human mind and heart. As the philosopher Blaise Pascal once wrote, public opinion is “the queen of the world.” Oftentimes, soft power is thought of as idealism about, say, freedom or democracy, and yet it can be any sort of opinion, including the concern over victimization and racism. Anyone who thinks that these concerns aren’t powerful forces in the world today hasn’t been paying attention. . .
It’s in this media-drenched environment that propagandists in Beijing have proven themselves skilled. Skilled, that is, at claiming victim status for China. Skilled also at playing the racism card.
Specifically, when the totalitarianism of the CCP is criticized by an American or by anyone in the West, Beijing spin doctors often respond by dismissing the criticism as racist. That is, Beijing skips past legitimate criticism of the CCP—for its use of slave labor, its religious persecution, its organ harvesting, its political suppression, its carelessness about the coronavirus—and instead hits back on ethnic grievance.
The goal of this sly strategy is to cloak the odious communist regime in the mantle of the Chinese people as a whole—the billion and more who live in Mainland China, as well as the tens of millions who live around the world, including here in the United States. Beijing’s hope is that the crimes of the communist government will thus be hidden behind the dignity and majesty of the Han people, possessors of a proud civilization stretching back 3,000 years. (Read more from “China threatens world” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/china-Covid.jpg528880Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2020-05-25 22:30:142020-05-30 18:55:31China Threatens World, Coronavirus is “Tip of the Iceberg”; Warns U.S. Not to Start New Cold War; Says It Must Continue to Study Dangerous Viruses; CCP Pulls the Race Card
A viral video shows a mob of Staten Island grocery-store shoppers screaming at a customer who wasn’t wearing a mask.
The furious crowd yelled, “Get out!” “Get the f–k out of here!” and “You’re a loser, bro!” at the woman at the ShopRite, according to footage posted on Facebook on Saturday and later widely shared on Twitter and other online sites.
When a man yelled after the woman, “Dirty ass pig!” a female customer added, “Dirty ass ho!”
One man pulled his mask down around his chin to yell at the lady.
“What happens in Staten Island when you don’t wear a mask at ShopRite!” Facebook poster Christine Lynn wrote above the footage on her page. (Read more from “Woman Fails to Wear Mask” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/Mob-1.jpg6951124Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2020-05-25 22:29:432020-05-30 19:12:20VIRAL VIDEO: Woman Fails to Wear Mask in Store, Mob Curses Her, Forces Her Out
The Washington Post headline reads (emphasis mine): “Federal judge hires high-powered D.C. attorney to defend his actions in Flynn case.” Which gives some insight into the framework and purpose of this event, and how it reached the WaPo narrative engineers.
The Washington Post is, as an institution, adverse to the interests of Michael Flynn. So this story, specifically the events behind the story, are written in a posture to aid Judge Sullivan and oppose Flynn. Keep that in mind (I’ll explain after).
Judge Sullivan has hired a high profile DC lawyer to assist him in responding to the inquires of the DC circuit:
WASHINGTON DC – […] In a rare step that adds to this criminal case’s already unusual path, U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan has retained Beth Wilkinson to represent him in defending his decision to a federal appeals court in Washington, according to a person familiar with the hire who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.
[…] Wilkinson, known for her top-notch legal skills and get-results style, is expected to file a notice with the court in the coming week about representing the judge. She declined to comment when reached Friday evening. Sullivan also declined to comment through his office.
[…] A federal judge doesn’t typically hire private counsel to respond to an appeals court, and yet so much about Flynn’s case has been a departure from the norm.
[…] Flynn’s lawyers then accused Sullivan of bias and asked the U.S. Court of Appeals to intervene. On Thursday, that higher court took the extraordinary step of ordering Sullivan to answer within 10 days. The court also invited the Justice Department to comment.
[…] Wilkinson, a go-to advocate for prominent officials snared in major Washington investigations and high-stakes legal battles, now joins the fray. (read more)
I’m not going into the weeds to outline the motives of of Beth Wilkinson. Suffice to say the reason she is considered ‘high-profile’ or ‘high-powered’ is because of her connections to the DC system; a political system that frequently becomes enmeshed with the legal system. Beth Wilkinson is well-connected; that’s the part that matters.
A DC judge hiring a well connected lawyer to write his response to a DC circuit court appeals panel is the part that’s interesting. There’s no guarantee the appeals court will accept such a response; but that’s also another issue. Bottom line: Judge Sullivan is importing a lawyer to represent his interests. Very unusual.
CTH readers are smart; aware and smart enough not to get stuck in the weeds; so let’s stay elevated on this and look at the whole picture. Consider this decision by Judge Emmet Sullivan through the prism of recent events surrounding Flynn:
♦ The DOJ, joined with the defense position and filed an unopposed motion to drop the case against Michael Flynn.
♦ A USAO from Missouri, Jeff Jensen, has discovered a trail of internal evidence pointing toward a corrupt originating prosecution for the case against Flynn. Mr. Jensen has been revealing those documents and providing them to the court (and defense).
♦ Meanwhile DNI Ric Grenell has declassified and revealed documents showing a corrupt intent by the U.S. Intelligence Community (USIC) against Michael Flynn.
♦ Just yesterday (5/22/20) the FBI Director announced an internal investigation into officials inside the FBI for wrongful conduct specifically as it relates to a corrupt operation, now discovered and public, against Michael Flynn.
Additionally, we shall not play games and ignore the obvious.
Judge Emmet Sullivan is well aware of the reason why former Judge Rudolph “Rudy” Contreras was recused from the Flynn case; only days after accepting the first plea agreement, and less than 72 hours after the Peter Strzok and Lisa Page text messages publicly surfaced.
Lisa Page: “Rudy is on the [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court]! Did you know that?” “Just appointed two months ago””..
Peter Strzok: “I did. We talked about it before and after. I need to get together with him.”…
On November 30th, 2017, Mike Flynn signed a guilty plea; ostensibly admitting lying to investigators. The plea was accepted by Judge Rudolph “Rudy” Contreras; who is also a FISA court judge. Six days later, December 7, 2017, Judge Contreras “was recused” from the case without explanation.
If the conflict -which required recusal- existed on December 7, 2017, wouldn’t that same conflict have existed days earlier on November 30th?
The same DC court system now ordering Judge Sullivan to explain his decision-making (circuit), is the same DC court system that previously recused and replaced Judge Contreras from the Flynn case (district). None of this, including the specific tone of the panel in their order, is disconnected from the larger background.
So when we take everything in total, the decision by Sullivan to hire a high-profile and well connected DC lawyer to represent his interests in the Flynn case…. well, it looks to me like Sullivan just hired himself a defense attorney.
The phase of the “resistance” that federal Judge Emmet Sullivan was participating in, and had a role to play, is now almost totally engulfed in sunlight. With few options for deniability and justification remaining, Sullivan has hired himself a lawyer. (For more from the author of “Judge Emmet Sullivan Hires “High-Powered” DC Lawyer to Represent His Interests in Flynn Case” please click HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/7637530164_58652da68f_b-10.jpg6811023Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2020-05-25 22:23:392020-05-30 19:04:59Judge Emmet Sullivan Hires “High-Powered” DC Lawyer to Represent His Interests in Flynn Case
On December 9, 2019, long before the world knew anything about it, a video interview took place with one of the key players in the COVID-19 drama, Dr Peter Daszak, President of the EcoHealth Alliance, who inadvertently may have provided indications of its true origin.
Much of that discussion centred around the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS) epidemic of 2002-2004, which was believed to have originated in bats, although civets may have acted as an intermediate host.
While circulating in animals, the SARS virus mutated, acquiring the ability to infect humans, which it was assumed to have done so, infecting workers in a Guangdong, China animal market.
That explanation became the narrative now being promoted by the Chinese Communist Party, the media and some Western scientists to convince the world that COVID-19 was a naturally-occurring outbreak.
Beginning at 27:49, Dr Daszak explains the basis of the naturally-occurring narrative and the collection of over one hundred bat coronaviruses capable of infecting humans, but untreatable with drugs or vaccines. Those coronaviruses are presumed to be stored in Chinese laboratories.
“So, we did a couple of things with it. So, one is around SARS. We focused on SARS coronavirus emerged from a wildlife market. And whilst the first pandemic of this century. So, it’s big event. And, so we started to trace back from the wildlife market, which species carried the virus, that came into those markets. We found that it was bats, not civets, was the original idea. So, we started looking where did they come from. And we went out to southern China. And did surveillance of bats across southern China. And we’ve now found, after six or seven years of doing this, over one hundred new SARS-related coronaviruses, very close to SARS. Some of them get into human cells in the lab. And some of them can cause SARS disease in humanized mouse models. And are untreatable with therapeutic monoclonals [antibodies] and you can’t vaccinate against them with a vaccine.”
At 29:51, Dr Daszak describes bioengineering of those viruses by inserting components of one coronavirus into another.
“Well, I think, coronavirus is a pretty good, I mean, you’re a virologist [the interviewer], you know all this stuff, but the, you can manipulate them in the lab pretty easily. Spike protein drives a lot of what happens with the coronavirus, zoonotic risk. So, you can get the sequence, you can build the protein, and we work with Ralph Baric at UNC [University of North Carolina] to do this. Insert it into a backbone of another virus, and do some work in the lab. So, you can get more predictive, when you find the sequence. You have this diversity. Now, the logical progression for vaccines is, if you are going to develop a vaccine for SARS, people are going to use pandemic SARS, but let’s try to insert these other related and get a better vaccine.”
In 2015, Ralph Baric from the University of North Carolina and Zheng-Li Shi, the “bat woman” from the Wuhan Institute of Virology jointly published a scientific article describing the combination of the receptor-binding spike protein from a newly isolated coronavirus (SHC014) and the “backbone” from SARS-CoV, the coronavirus responsible for the 2002-2003 pandemic.
That experiment produced a novel virus, chimera SHC014-MA15, which showed “robust viral replication both in vitro [cell cultures] and in vivo [animals],” using models adapted to test human infectivity.
The scientific consensus claims that COVID-19, like SARS, originated in bats.
There is conclusive scientific evidence, however, that COVID-19’s receptor binding domain within the spike protein is structurally closest to that of pangolins (scaly anteaters), not bats, and it was the result of a recombination, not convergent evolution.
Yet, pangolins have been ruled out as the intermediate host for COVID-19.
Even Dr Ralph Baric in a March 15, 2020 interview, beginning at the 27:40 time point, stated unequivocally, that pangolins were not the source of COVID-19:
“Pangolins have over 3,000 nucleotide changes – no way they are the reservoir species [for COVID-19], absolutely no chance.”
It is, therefore, logical to conclude that the recombinant event resulting in a pangolin receptor binding domain within a bat coronavirus backbone must have occurred in a laboratory, in a manner similar to the experiment conducted by Ralph Baric and Zheng-Li Shi in 2015.
Furthermore, COVID-19’s S1/S2 furin polybasic cleavage site, a distinctive feature widely known for its ability to enhance pathogenicity and transmissibility in coronaviruses, does not appear in any of 45 bat, 5 human SARS, 2 civet, 1 pangolin and 1 racoon dog coronaviruses, that have S1/S2 junction structures otherwise identical or nearly identical to COVID-19.
There is no credible scientific evidence that the furin polybasic cleavage site evolved naturally, although the methods for artificially inserting such cleavage sites are well-established.
It is important to note that the EcoHealth Alliance gets 80% of its funding from the U.S. government (9:22), has “been working in China for years” (19:40), and presumably uses U.S. taxpayer money to “hire technicians in labs or Ph.D. students” (12:08) in order to “teach people how to do it and give them the capacity and the tools” and “then you have really made a difference” (13:15).
Indeed. The EcoHealth Alliance may have really made a difference. (For more from the author of “Tracing the Origins of COVID-19” please click HERE)
Lawrence Sellin, Ph.D. is a retired U.S. Army Reserve colonel, who previously worked at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases and conducted basic and clinical research in the pharmaceutical industry. His email address is [email protected].
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/covid-19-4922384_960_720-3.jpg720960Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2020-05-25 22:22:342020-05-30 19:21:12Tracing the Origins of COVID-19 (VIDEO)
Earth’s magnetic field, which is vital to protecting life on our planet from solar radiation, is mysteriously weakening.
On average the planet’s magnetic field has lost almost 10% of its strength over the last two centuries, but there is a large localised region of weakness stretching from Africa to South America.
Known as the South Atlantic Anomaly, the field strength in this area has rapidly shrunk over the past 50 years just as the area itself has grown and moved westward.
Over the past five years a second centre of minimum intensity has developed southwest of Africa, which researchers believe indicates the anomaly could split into two separate cells.
The anomaly is causing technical difficulties for satellites orbiting the Earth. (Read more from “Satellites and Spacecraft Malfunction as Earth’s Magnetic Field Mysteriously Weakens” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/space-2638158_960_720.jpg480960Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2020-05-25 22:15:132020-05-30 19:26:35Satellites and Spacecraft Malfunction as Earth’s Magnetic Field Mysteriously Weakens
President Donald Trump on Monday threatened to move the Republican National Convention from North Carolina, citing a problem with the Democrat governor.
“Unfortunately, Democrat Governor Roy Cooper is still in Shutdown mood and unable to guarantee that by August we will be allowed full attendance in the arena … Plans are being made by many thousands of enthusiastic Republicans, and others, to head to beautiful North Carolina in August,” he wrote on Twitter.
The Republican convention is scheduled to begin August 24 in Charlotte, North Carolina at the Spectrum Center.
But Gov. Cooper continues the slow process of reopening North Carolina, despite neighboring southern states moving at a faster pace. Trump accused Cooper of unfairly stalling Republicans.
“They must be immediately given an answer by the Governor as to whether or not the space will be allowed to be fully occupied,” Trump wrote. “If not, we will be reluctantly forced to find, with all of the jobs and economic development it brings, another Republican National Convention site.” (Read more from “Trump Demands to Move Republican Convention” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/North-Carolina.png13332000Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2020-05-25 22:14:232020-05-25 22:14:23Donald Trump Threatens to Move Republican Convention from North Carolina
Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., said she believes Tara Reade’s sexual-assault claim against Joe Biden, and that if it were up to her, Biden wouldn’t be the Democrats’ nominee for president.
“I do believe Reade,” Omar told the British Sunday Times. “Justice can be delayed but should never be denied.”
The freshman progressive “Squad” member had endorsed and campaigned for Biden’s rival, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Tara Reade, a former Biden staffer, accused the former vice president of cornering her in a Senate office and sexually assaulting her in 1993. (Read more from the story about Omar saying “I do believe Reade” HERE)
. . .“It was 2004,” says Claire Russo, 40, a former combat veteran running for Congress in Virginia. “I was attending the Marine Corps Ball when I was drugged and raped by a superior.”
Ms. Russo, a Democrat, spent the next few years trying to get her day in court, she says. After the Marine Corps decided not to charge her superior and denied her request to transfer to another base, she took her case to the San Diego district attorney’s office. Her attacker pleaded guilty to sodomy before his civilian trial began and was sentenced to three years in prison. After serving about half of his jail time, he received an honorable discharge from the Marines, according to reports.
Now, Ms. Russo is placing her assault and the battle that followed at the center of her campaign to be the Democratic candidate in a southern Virginia congressional race. Her television ad is the first to feature a candidate’s personal recollection of rape, according to political strategists and organizations that track political ads. Set to air on broadcast and cable networks starting this week, the spot is expected to make up a major portion of her advertising, according to her campaign. (Read more from “Democratic Congressional Candidate: ‘I Was Drugged and Raped,’ Heard in Ad” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/Rape-ad.jpg8871496Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2020-05-25 21:47:422020-05-30 19:10:24Democratic Congressional Candidate: ‘I Was Drugged and Raped,’ Heard in Ad (VIDEO)
Vice President Mike Pence told Breitbart News that the Trump administration is “not going to tolerate” social media and big tech companies aiming to silence conservative voices in the 2020 election.
Asked during an exclusive interview on Friday about big tech companies like Twitter, Facebook, Google, and others downplaying conservative voices, Pence said that President Donald Trump has “made it very clear” this type of behavior is unacceptable. Pence’s interview aired on Breitbart News Saturday on SiriusXM 125 the Patriot Channel.
“Well, the president has made it very clear that we are not going to tolerate censorship on the Internet and social media against conservatives,” Pence said. “We’re just not going to tolerate it.”
The Wall Street Journal reported over the weekend that Trump is mulling creating a panel to review big tech bias against conservatives. The Wall Street Journal’s Alex Leary and John McKinnon wrote:
President Trump is considering establishing a panel to review complaints of anticonservative bias on social media, according to people familiar with the matter, in a move that would likely draw pushback from technology companies and others. The plans are still under discussion but could include the establishment of a White House-created commission that would examine allegations of online bias and censorship, these people said. The administration could also encourage similar reviews by federal regulatory agencies, such as the Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Election Commission, they said.
(Read more about censorship of conservatives HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/Pence-scaled.jpg17062560Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2020-05-25 21:22:382020-05-25 21:24:03Mike Pence on Social Media Censorship of Conservatives: ‘We’re Just Not Going to Tolerate It’
