Pompeo’s Hong Kong Declaration Shows U.S. Will Hold Chinese Communist Party Accountable

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Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has told Congress that Hong Kong is no longer sufficiently autonomous from the People’s Republic of China, which may mean it will no longer receive different legal treatment from the United States.

Pompeo’s statement was simply a reflection of reality. The People’s Republic of China is taking away the territory’s autonomy.

The Chinese Communist Party’s equivocation during the COVID-19 pandemic, and now China’s announcement last week that it is about to pass a national security law that will allow it to rule Hong Kong without the niceties of the rule of law, were the last straw.

In a briefing with members of the foreign policy community, Pompeo fulminated, “This is a pattern and the Chinese Communist Party will have to be held accountable for the things they have done to endanger the security of the American people.”

Pompeo’s initial statement was issued in response to requirements in the 1992 Hong Kong Policy Act and the 2019 Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act. The die was cast when the act was passed: If Hong Kong is not sufficiently autonomous, it will not retain its special status.

It is not yet clear what it will look like to roll back Hong Kong’s special treatment. President Donald Trump is expected to make a statement further explaining the consequences of decertification, which will provide a clearer picture of what this move means for Hong Kong’s future and the future of U.S.-China relations.

But what is clear is that the State Department has crossed some sort of Rubicon with China’s communist leaders.

The Chinese Communist Party and President Xi Jinping did not need to make the former British colony a less free place. A financial center of 8 million people without an army, air force, or navy represents no threat to a country of 1.4 billion people with the second-largest defense budget in the world.

But it was galling to the Chinese Communist Party and Xi that anybody under their control would have freedoms such as the right to free expression, freedom of conscience, the right to property, and the right to gather peacefully.

Having to explain daily to the 1.4 billion inside mainland China that Hong Kongers wanted to retain these freedoms only reminded them that they themselves lacked them in the first place.

The idea of freedom was the threat. After years of eroding these freedoms, China’s national security law announcement forced Pompeo’s hand. In a statement Wednesday, he said, in part:

The State Department is required by the Hong Kong Policy Act to assess the autonomy of the territory from China. After careful study of developments over the reporting period, I certified to Congress today that Hong Kong does not continue to warrant treatment under United States laws in the same manner as U.S. laws were applied to Hong Kong before July 1997. No reasonable person can assert today that Hong Kong maintains a high degree of autonomy from China, given facts on the ground.

Pompeo said that China’s “intention to unilaterally and arbitrarily impose national security legislation on Hong Kong” was a “disastrous decision.” It was “only the latest in a series of actions that fundamentally undermine Hong Kong’s autonomy and freedoms and China’s own promises to the Hong Kong people under the Sino-British Joint Declaration, a U.N.-filed international treaty.”

We at The Heritage Foundation know well Hong Kong’s value as an outpost that demonstrated, every day, and for decades, the superiority of the free market system. Its low regulatory environment, rule of law, strong anti-corruption stance, and flat tax rate gave it a GDP per capita of $62,726. Mainland China, lacking all these attributes, clocks in at $15,376.

For all these reasons, Hong Kong sat atop our Index of Economic Freedom since we started it in 1995. It dropped from its position as the world’s freest economy only this year in part because of its increasingly close integration with the mainland.

Hong Kong has always been an anomaly. Britain pried the tiny island away from China in 1842 as booty from the first Opium War, making the barely populated place a permanent colony. Britain then took a 99-year lease on the adjacent Kowloon Peninsula in 1898.

In the next century Hong Kong became a powerhouse, scrambling up the value-added ladder, first making toys and textiles, then computer equipment and eventually high-end banking.

Britain did not introduce direct elections for a portion of the Legislative Council until the 1990s, but because Hong Kongers were ruled by a free and democratic colonial power, their liberal freedoms were respected.

With the lease’s end coming up, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher saw no choice but to agree to hand the entire territory to China during negotiation with China’s then-leader Deng Xiaoping in 1984, but not before Deng gave China’s word that Hong Kong “will enjoy a high degree of autonomy, except in foreign and defense affairs.”

That document, the Sino-British Joint Declaration, is an international treaty entered into the United Nations.

China now has broken its word, and for breaking it there will be severe diplomatic consequences. Pompeo’s determination will have implications for U.S.-China relations. It will also affect the business community and the global economy.

But there can be no doubt that the Hong Kong people will bear the brunt.

As Pompeo said in his telephone briefing Wednesday: “Any harm that should befall the Hong Kong people is a consequence of the Chinese Communist Party’s actions.”

As such, it is imperative that U.S. policymakers do all that they can to stand with the Hong Kong people and preserve what is left of their liberty and prosperity while simultaneously seeking to hold China accountable for breaking its word. (For more from the author of “Pompeo’s Hong Kong Declaration Shows U.S. Will Hold Chinese Communist Party Accountable” please click HERE)

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Twitter Uses Fact-Checking as a Weapon Against Trump

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Fact-checking sounds innocuous enough. After all, as the late Senate Democrat Patrick Moynihan reportedly once said, “Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.”

But Twitter just showed that fact-checking can also be weaponized, used in a way that promotes one side’s ideology over another.

The tech giant, which has been under pressure from the left for years to censor or delete President Donald Trump’s tweets, did a “fact check” Tuesday on two of Trump’s tweets about mail-in ballots.

Conveniently for liberals, the fact check, which cited media outlets like The Washington Post and CNN as its only named sources, found that Trump’s facts were wrong. Notably, it was also the first time Twitter—which hosts politicians across the ideological spectrum—fact-checked a tweet.

Unsurprisingly, Trump was furious, threatening in a tweet Wednesday to “strongly regulate, or close them down” in reference to social media companies. He also said: “Republicans feel that Social Media Platforms totally silence conservatives [sic] voices.”

Neither Trump nor Twitter is in the right here. As a private company, Twitter should be legally free to do what it wants on its own platform. Trump is free to suggest that Americans who value serious debate and free expression, regardless of their ideologies, boycott Twitter. But this is no case for government intervention in a private business.

However, unless the goal was to be seen as a left-leaning company, Twitter was irresponsible and foolish with its “fact check”—which I’m putting in scare quotes because it’s not even an accurate fact check.

Here are the two Trump tweets that got slapped with the fact-checking label from Twitter:

Twitter posted below Trump’s tweet: “Get the facts about mail-in ballots.” When you click on that, it takes you to this message:

Trump makes unsubstantiated claim that mail-in ballots will lead to voter fraud

On Tuesday, President Trump made a series of claims about potential voter fraud after California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced an effort to expand mail-in voting in California during the COVID-19 pandemic. These claims are unsubstantiated, according to CNN, Washington Post and others. Experts say mail-in ballots are very rarely linked to voter fraud.

First of all, it’s simply not true that “mail-in ballots are very rarely linked to voter fraud,” or that Trump’s claim was “unsubstantiated.”

The Daily Signal’s national affairs correspondent, Fred Lucas, reported last month on “15 instances in which courts threw out an election result based in whole or in part on absentee voting fraud,” citing The Heritage Foundation’s Election Fraud Database and other sources.

Then there’s Twitter’s telling attribution: “These claims are unsubstantiated, according to CNN, Washington Post and others.”

Ah, yes, CNN, whose White House correspondent Jim Acosta basically has been engaged for years in verbal sparring with Trump. And the Post, which has its own reputation as a liberal outlet, is hardly a completely objective source, either.

So who are these “others”? Did Twitter consult with anyone, researcher or journalist or scholar, at a less liberal publication or institution? Did Twitter make any good faith attempt to consult with a variety of experts of differing ideological leanings, so that it could see the full context and data before making a ruling?

Because if Twitter is only relying on liberals for its fact-checking, it won’t be surprising if the supposedly unbiased fact-checking becomes quite ideological.

Unfortunately, conservatives have reason for concern here. The Daily Caller News Foundation’s Peter Hasson reports:

The Twitter official [Yoel Roth] overseeing the tech company’s efforts to combat misinformation is a left-wing partisan who in the past has derided President Donald Trump as a ‘wretched orange man’ and said he donated to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign.

Of course, ultimately, Twitter is a private company and it can choose its own standards and practices. But consumers are also free to decide whether to remain on a platform that seems to be on the cusp of implementing a double standard when it comes to fact-checking.

It will be extremely telling what Twitter chooses to do in the days ahead.

Will the social media company fact-check liberals, too—or will Trump alone bear the stigma of a fact check? Will fact checks rely only on liberal sources, or will they involve conservative sources as well? Will Twitter modify its fact check of Trump’s tweet, acknowledging that instances of voter fraud are tied to absentee ballots?

No doubt, Twitter has been under unusually high pressure from the left in recent days.

A widower wrote to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey this month, distraught that Trump was tweeting conspiracy theories that the man’s late wife, a staffer for then-Rep. Joe Scarborough, had been murdered.

While Trump’s tweets on this matter are shameful—if he wants to fight with Scarborough, now an MSNBC host, he can do so without bringing up an unrelated person’s death—the answer is not for Twitter to take action on Trump’s tweets.

As we’ve been saying more and more over the past decade and change, America is a divided nation, with heated opinions on both sides on a host of topics. Selective fact-checking, aimed at the right and only looking to the left for the truth, will only increase that division.

Twitter has opened a real Pandora’s box here. Let’s hope the tech giant realizes its mistake, takes down the fact check of Trump’s accurate tweet, and returns to being a company that merely hosts, not criticizes, viewpoints. (For more from the author of “Twitter Uses Fact-Checking as a Weapon Against Trump” please click HERE)

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Conflicting WHO, CDC Mask Guidance Creates Confusion

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An April 6 World Health Organization guidance advised that there is limited evidence that masks for healthy people are beneficial.

Studies of influenza, influenza-like illness, and human coronaviruses provide evidence that the use of a medical mask can prevent the spread of infectious droplets from an infected person to someone else and potential contamination of the environment by these droplets. 13 There is limited evidence that wearing a medical mask by healthy individuals in the households or among contacts of a sick patient, or among attendees of mass gatherings may be beneficial as a preventive measure. 14-23 However, there is currently no evidence that wearing a mask (whether medical or other types) by healthy persons in the wider community setting, including universal community masking, can prevent them from infection with respiratory viruses, including COVID-19.

The CDC refuses to acknowledge facts

Despite these well-known medical facts, our CDC and leaders are still telling everyone to wear masks even when healthy.

CDC is additionally advising the use of simple cloth face coverings to slow the spread of the virus and help people who may have the virus and do not know it from transmitting it to others. Cloth face coverings fashioned from household items or made at home from common materials at low cost can be used as an additional, voluntary public health measure. The cloth face coverings recommended are not surgical masks or N-95 respirators. Those are critical supplies that must continue to be reserved for healthcare workers and other medical first responders, as recommended by current CDC guidance.

(Read more from “Conflicting WHO, CDC Mask Guidance Creates Confusion” HERE)

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Report: Secret Service Rushed President Trump to Underground Bunker

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Secret Service agents moved President Donald Trump to the underground bunker in the White House on Friday, according to a report from the New York Times.

The Times cited “a person with firsthand knowledge” as a source for the report and an official said that the president was never in any real danger.

Hundreds of protesters gathered outside the White House on Friday night, hurling fireworks, debris, and bottles at Secret Service as they stood on Pennsylvania Ave, blocking them from approaching the 13-foot fence at the White House. (Read more from “Report: Secret Service Rushed President Trump to Underground Bunker” HERE)

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COVID-19 Losing Potency

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The new coronavirus is losing its potency and has become much less lethal, a senior Italian doctor said on Sunday.

“In reality, the virus clinically no longer exists in Italy,” said Alberto Zangrillo, the head of the San Raffaele Hospital in Milan in the northern region of Lombardy, which has borne the brunt of Italy’s coronavirus contagion.

“The swabs that were performed over the last 10 days showed a viral load in quantitative terms that was absolutely infinitesimal compared to the ones carried out a month or two months ago,” he told RAI television.

Italy has the third highest death toll in the world from COVID-19, with 33,415 people dying since the outbreak came to light on Feb. 21. It has the sixth highest global tally of cases at 233,019.

However new infections and fatalities have fallen steadily in May and the country is unwinding some of the most rigid lockdown restrictions introduced anywhere on the continent. (Read more from “COVID-19 Losing Potency” HERE)

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WATCH: President Trump National Address on the Death of George Floyd and National Outcry

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There are a lot of people asking for President Trump to give remarks to the nation about the ongoing violence and riots in the aftermath of George Floyd’s horrific murder.

Apparently many people did not listen to President Trump’s address on Saturday afternoon about this exact issue. Or perhaps the media’s need to ignore the content of his speech has led to some confusion. Regardless, here’s the transcript:

[Transcript of Remarks] –

“I want to say a few words about the situation in Minnesota. The death of George Floyd on the streets of Minneapolis was a grave tragedy. It should never have happened. It has filled Americans all over the country with horror, anger, and grief.

Yesterday, I spoke to George’s family and expressed the sorrow of our entire nation for their loss. I stand before you as a friend and ally to every American seeking justice and peace. And I stand before you in firm opposition to anyone exploiting this tragedy to loot, rob, attack, and menace. Healing, not hatred; justice, not chaos are the mission at hand.

The police officers involved in this incident have been fired from their jobs. One officer has already been arrested and charged with murder. State and federal authorities are carrying out an investigation to see what further charges may be warranted, including against, sadly, the other three.

In addition, my administration has opened a civil rights investigation, and I have asked the Attorney General and the Justice Department to expedite it.

I understand the pain that people are feeling. We support the right of peaceful protesters, and we hear their pleas. But what we are now seeing on the streets of our cities has nothing to do with justice or with peace.

The memory of George Floyd is being dishonored by rioters, looters, and anarchists. The violence and vandalism is being led by Antifa and other radical left-wing groups who are terrorizing the innocent, destroying jobs, hurting businesses, and burning down buildings.

The main victims of this horrible, horrible situations are the citizens who live in these once lovely communities. The mobs are devastating the life’s work of good people and destroying their dreams. Right now, America needs creation, not destruction; cooperation, not contempt; security, not anarchy. And there will be no anarchy. Civilization must be cherished, defended, and protected. The voices of law-abiding citizens must be heard, and heard very loudly.

We cannot and must not allow a small group of criminals and vandals to wreck our cities and lay waste to our communities. We must defend the rights of every citizen to live without violence, prejudice, or fear.

We support the overwhelming majority of police officers who are incredible in every way and devoted public servants. They keep our cities safe, protect our communities from gangs and drugs, and risk their own lives for us every day.

No one is more upset than fellow law enforcement officers by the small handful who fail to abide by their oath to serve and protect. My administration will stop mob violence and will stop it cold.

It does not serve the interests of justice or any citizen of any race, color, or creed for the government to give into anarchy, abandon police precincts, or allow communities to be burned to the ground. It won’t happen.

Those making excuses or justifications for violence are not helping the downtrodden, but delivering new anguish and new pain.

From day one of my administration, we have made it a top priority to build up distressed communities and revitalize our crumbling inner cities.

We fought hard with Senator Tim Scott and many others to create Opportunity Zones, helping to draw a surge of new investment to the places in our country that need it most. We must all work together as a society to expand opportunity and to create a future of greater dignity and promise for all of our people. We must forge a partnership with community leaders, local law enforcement, and the faith community to restore hope.

Radical-left criminals, thugs, and others all throughout our country and throughout the world will not be allowed to set communities ablaze. We won’t let it happen. It harms those who have the least. And we will be protecting those who have the least.

The leadership of the National Guard and the Department of Justice are now in close communication with state and city officials in Minnesota. And we’re coordinating our efforts with local law enforcement all across our nation.

In America, justice is never achieved at the hands of an angry mob. I will not allow angry mobs to dominate. It won’t happen. It is essential that we protect the crown jewel of American democracy: the rule of law and our independent system of justice. Every citizen in every community has the right to be safe in their workplace, safe in their homes, and safe in our city streets.

This is the sacred right of all Americans that I am totally determined to defend and will defend. My administration will always stand against violence, mayhem, and disorder.

We will stand with the family of George Floyd with the peaceful protesters and with every law-abiding citizen who wants decency, civility, safety, and security.

We are working toward a more just society, but that means building up, not tearing down; joining hands, not hurling fists; standing in solidarity, not surrendering to hostility.

Moments ago, as we witnessed the launch of two great American astronauts into space, we were filled with the sense of pride and unity that brings us together as Americans. That same spirit which powered our astronauts to the Moon has also helped lift our country to ever greater heights of justice and opportunity throughout our history.

So today, as we mark a renewed commitment to America’s future in space, a tremendous commitment it is. Let us also commit to a brighter future for all of our citizens right here on Earth.

When Americans are united, there is nothing we cannot do. From day one of my administration, we put America first.” (link)

(For more from the author of “Watch: President Trump National Address on the Death of George Floyd and National Outcry” please click HERE)

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AG Bill Barr Identifies Antifa Activists as Organizers of National Mob Violence, Looting and Arson; 80% of Protesters From Out of State (VIDEO)

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Earlier today U.S. Attorney Bill Barr made a public statement about the George Floyd killing and the opportunistic mob violence that has taken place over the last three days. Within the statement the attorney general correctly identified Antifa as the primary organizing mob behind the riots, looting and mayhem.

[Transcript] – “The greatness of our nation comes from our commitment to the rule of law.

The outrage of our national community about what happened to George Floyd in Minneapolis is real and legitimate. Accountability for his death must be addressed, and is being addressed, through the regular process of our criminal justice system, both at the state and at the federal level. That system is working and moving at exceptional speed. Already initial charges have been filed. That process continues to move forward. Justice will be served.

Unfortunately, with the rioting that is occurring in many of our cities around the country, the voices of peaceful protest are being hijacked by violent radical elements.

Groups of outside radicals and agitators are exploiting the situation to pursue their own separate and violent agenda.

In many places, it appears the violence is planned, organized, and driven by anarchistic and far left extremists, using Antifa-like tactics, many of whom travel from out of state to promote the violence.

We must have law and order on our streets and in our communities, and it is the responsibility of the local and state leadership, in the first instance, to halt this violence. The Department of Justice (including the FBI, Marshals, ATF, and DEA), and all of our 93 U.S. Attorneys across the country, will support these local efforts and take all action necessary to enforce federal law.

In that regard, it is a federal crime to cross state lines or to use interstate facilities to incite or participate in violent rioting. We will enforce these laws.” (link)

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz said Saturday the majority of the people causing destruction in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul are “outsiders.”

According to Walz, an estimated roughly 80% of the people acting violently and destroying businesses are from outside the state. “Our best estimate right now that I heard is about 20%, is what we think are Minnesotans, and about 80% are outside,” he said.

The governor said he believes Minnesota residents were the catalyst for protests, but that the situation has since evolved and grown violent. (link) Additionally, the mayor of St. Paul noted that every person arrested last night was from out of town.

(For more from the author of “AG Bill Barr Identifies Antifa Activists as Organizers of National Mob Violence, Looting and Arson” please click HERE)

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George Floyd, Fired Officer Overlapped Security Shifts; Ex-Police Officer Charged With Murder

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By ABC 5 News. A former club owner in south Minneapolis says the now-fired police officer and the black man who died in his custody this week both worked security for her club up to the end of last year.

George Floyd and now-former Officer Derek Chauvin both worked security at the El Nuevo Rodeo club on Lake Street, according to Maya Santamaria. Santamaria owned the building for nearly two decades, but sold the venue within the last few months.

“Chauvin was our off-duty police for almost the entirety of the 17 years that we were open,” Santamaria said. “They were working together at the same time, it’s just that Chauvin worked outside and the security guards were inside.” . . .

Although the two overlapped working security on popular music nights within the last year, Santamaria can not say for certain they knew each other because there were often a couple dozen security guards, including off-duty officers.

Santamaria says she did not recognize either one of her security guards in the video showing Chauvin kneeling on Floyd’s neck not far from where they used to work. (Read more from “George Floyd, Fired Officer Overlapped Security Shifts” HERE)

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Ex-Police Officer Derek Chauvin Charged With Murder, Manslaughter in George Floyd Death

By Star Tribune. Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman on Friday announced murder and manslaughter charges that accuse a fired Minneapolis police officer of killing George Floyd — an act caught on video and seen around the world, sparking days of violent demonstrations across the Twin Cities.

Derek Chauvin, 44, was arrested late Friday morning and charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter four days after he pinned his knee on Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes Monday at the intersection of E. 38th Street and Chicago Avenue as the unarmed and handcuffed man told him he couldn’t breathe.

Chauvin is being held in the Ramsey County jail on $500,000 bail. The agency that led the investigation resulting in the charges, the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, late Friday explained why he wasn’t jailed in the county where he was charged. (Read more from “Ex-Police Officer Derek Chauvin Charged With Murder, Manslaughter in George Floyd Death” HERE)

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REVEALED: Declassified Flynn Transcripts COMPLETELY CONTRADICT Key Mueller Claims Against Flynn

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By The Federalist. Highly sought-after summaries and transcripts of intercepted phone calls between former White House National Security Adviser Michael Flynn and Russian ambassador Sergei Kislyak contradict key claims made by former Special Counsel Robert Mueller in his criminal case against Flynn. The transcripts were provided to Congress on Friday and obtained by The Federalist. You can read the full documents here and here.

The intercept transcripts and summaries released on Friday afternoon cover calls between Flynn and Russian ambassador Kislyak or his representatives on December 22, 2016; December 23, 2016; December 29, 2016; December 31, 2016; January 12, 2017; and January 19, 2017. The substance of the December 22 conversation remains entirely classified, while the remaining transcripts and conversations are only lightly redacted. . .

Flynn was charged by Mueller in 2017 with making false statements to federal officials about conversations he had with Kislyak on December 22 and December 29, 2017. According to the charging documents from Mueller, Flynn allegedly falsely claimed to Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) agents that he did not ask Kislyak to “refrain from escalating” in response to U.S. expulsion of Russian diplomats and falsely claimed that he did not ask Kislyak to help defeat an anti-Israel resolution pending before the United Nations at the time. Mueller also claimed that Flynn lied when he said he didn’t remember Kislyak telling him that Russia would “moderate its response” to the expulsions.

The transcript of the December 29 conversation, which was cited by Mueller, does not include a request from Flynn that Russia “refrain from escalating” in response to U.S. expulsions of Russian diplomats. According to the transcript, Flynn asked Kislyak for Russia’s response to be “reciprocal” so that the U.S.–not Russia–would not be forced to escalate beyond the expulsions. The transcript makes clear that Flynn fully expected Russia to respond to the situation by expelling U.S. diplomats in response to the Obama administration’s move to expel nearly three dozen Russian diplomats from the U.S., and that his primary concern was preventing a situation where the U.S. would have to escalate tensions in response to Russia.

“Make it reciprocal,” Flynn reportedly said. “[D]on’t go any further than you have to. Because I don’t want us to get into something that has to escalate, on a, you know, on a tit for tat.” (Read more from “Declassified Flynn Transcripts Contradict Key Mueller Claims Against Flynn” HERE)

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Flynn-Kislyak Call Transcripts Released, Revealing Fateful Talks Over Russia Sanctions

By Fox News. Transcripts of phone conversations that took place in December 2016 between then-national security adviser designate Michael Flynn and then-Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak were released Friday, detailing the discussions that would later lead to Flynn’s FBI interview and subsequent charges. . .

The documents include a key Dec. 29, 2016 conversation in which Flynn repeatedly urged Russia not to dramatically escalate tensions in response to sanctions imposed by the outgoing Obama Administration over election interference.

It has been known that Flynn made such appeals to Russia during the transition period ever since the FBI pressed him for details about that discussion in early 2017. Flynn pleaded guilty in December of that year to a single count of lying to investigators.

Since that charge, Flynn has fought to withdraw his plea and the Justice Department earlier this month moved to drop the prosecution entirely, maintaining that the FBI’s interview was “conducted without any legitimate investigative basis.” (Read more from “Flynn-Kislyak Call Transcripts Released, Revealing Fateful Talks Over Russia Sanctions” HERE)

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George Floyd Left a Gospel Legacy in Houston

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The rest of the country knows George Floyd from several minutes of cell phone footage captured during his final hours. But in Houston’s Third Ward, they know Floyd for how he lived for decades—a mentor to a generation of young men and a “person of peace” ushering ministries into the area.

Before moving to Minneapolis for a job opportunity through a Christian work program, the 46-year-old spent almost his entire life in the historically black Third Ward, where he was called “Big Floyd” and regarded as an “OG,” a de-facto community leader and elder statesmen, his ministry partners say.

Floyd spoke of breaking the cycle of violence he saw among young people and used his influence to bring outside ministries to the area to do discipleship and outreach, particularly in the Cuney Homes housing project, locally known as “the Bricks.”

“George Floyd was a person of peace sent from the Lord that helped the gospel go forward in a place that I never lived in,” said Patrick PT Ngwolo, pastor of Resurrection Houston, which held services at Cuney.

“The platform for us to reach that neighborhood and the hundreds of people we reached through that time and up to now was built on the backs of people like Floyd,” he told Christianity Today. (Read more from “George Floyd Left a Gospel Legacy in Houston” HERE)

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