Questions Grow Over Coronavirus Vax Trials

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The drugmaker AstraZeneca is pushing back after experts questioned the quality of the company’s coronavirus vaccine tests.

A company spokesperson said Thursday that their vaccine clinical trials were “conducted to the highest standards.” That included oversight by a data and safety monitoring board that found “the analysis … [showed] protection from COVID-19 occurring 14 days or more after receiving two doses of the vaccine.” . . .

Researchers have been raising concerns ever since AstraZeneca and its partner, the University of Oxford, announced Monday that their jab is approximately 70 percent effective. The news was especially welcome since this vaccine could be cheaper and easier to roll out to low and middle income countries than others, but left experts questioning the company’s findings.

The assessment issued Monday was based on data from two groups: One had nearly 9,000 people who received two full doses of the vaccine, which produced a 62 percent efficacy rate, while a smaller group of 2,741 received a half-dose followed by a full dose, which produced 90 percent efficacy. (Read more from “Questions Grow Over Coronavirus Vax Trials” HERE)

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Carter Page Sues DOJ, FBI, James Comey, and Others Behind Crossfire Hurricane FISA Abuse

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In an eight-count complaint filed Friday in the D.C. District Court, Carter Page seeks damages of no less than $75 million from the U.S. government, the Department of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigations, and individuals responsible for obtaining four illegal Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act orders against Page.

Page’s 59-page complaint lists as defendants a veritable “Who’s Who” of the SpyGate scandal, including former FBI Director James Comey, Assistant Director Andrew McCabe, and the disgraced team of Peter Strzok and Lisa Page. Also singled out were Kevin Clinessmith, who earlier this year pleaded guilty to falsifying an email to hide Page’s past service as a source to the CIA, and FBI Agents Joe Pientka, Stephen Somma, and Brian Auten, with additional defendants identified merely as John Doe 1 – 10 and Jane Doe 1 – 10.

The first four counts of his complaint allege claims under FISA, with one count seeking damages for each of the four FISA court orders the defendants obtained against Page. FISA provides a private right of action to allow “an aggrieved person. . . who has been subjected to an electronic surveillance or about whom information obtained by electronic surveillance of such person has been disclosed,” to sue those responsible.

In addition to stating a civil claim for damages under FISA, Page’s attorneys note in the complaint that FISA makes it a criminal offense to illegally “engage in electronic surveillance under color of law.” While only the government can prosecute a criminal violation of FISA, the allegation is a stark reminder that other than Clinesmith, no criminal cases have resulted from the illegal targeting of Page and the Trump campaign—at least not yet. (Read more from “Carter Page Sues DOJ, FBI, James Comey, and Others Behind Crossfire Hurricane FISA Abuse” please click HERE)

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If He Becomes President, Joe Biden May Use Executive Action to Relieve Student Debt — Here’s What Experts Say Could Happen

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[So-called] President-elect Joe Biden, who promised to relieve some student loan debt on the campaign trail, is facing growing calls from fellow Democrats and activists to do so via executive order soon after taking office.

Biden’s campaign plan called for the elimination of $10,000 in student loan debt for any American who had it, with further reductions for graduates of public colleges or historically black colleges and universities making less than $125,000 per year, per CNBC. . .

Matt Bruenig, president of the left-leaning People’s Policy Project, told The Hill that a student debt relief package may be Biden’s best way to pass a stimulus without needing congressional approval. However, Bruenig has also recently written “if we are being honest about things, student debt forgiveness is possibly the least effective stimulus imaginable on a dollar-for-dollar basis. Normal stimulus measures try to put money in people’s pockets so that they can spend it. But student debt forgiveness does not do this.”

Others, like Beth Akers of the conservative Manhattan Institute, say that a middling approach makes the most sense. In a recent WSJ op-ed, she points out that borrowers owing less than $5,000 are the most likely to default because they may not have finished their degree, and those with the most debt often have the highest-paying jobs as a result. For this reason, she says, Biden should aim for debt relief that caps at $5,000.

Of course, there are also those who oppose any kind of federal student loan debt elimination. Allison Schrager, also of the Manhattan Institute, writes that there are “better, cheaper ways to stimulate the economy.” Preston Cooper, who studies the economics of higher education and is formerly of the Manhattan Institute and the conservative-leaning American Enterprise Institute, says in Forbes that those with the most debt are people with graduate degrees, which grant higher earning power. (Read more from “Joe Biden May Use Executive Action to Relieve Student Debt — Here’s What Experts Say Could Happen” HERE)

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Trump Urges Supporters Not to Boycott Georgia Senate Elections

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President Donald Trump urged his supporters not to boycott the upcoming runoff Senate elections in Georgia on Friday, saying a boycott would be “playing right into the hands” of Democrats.

Trump made the comment hours after announcing that he will travel to Georgia to campaign for Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, who are seeking to defend their seats against challenging Democrats. Republicans currently hold 50 seats in the Senate, meaning both Perdue and Loeffler would have to lose for Democrats to match the party in the chamber. . .

Some of Trump’s supporters in Georgia and across the country have called for a boycott of the runoff elections as a protest over Trump’s accusations of widespread voter fraud. The Trump campaign has yet to put forward concrete evidence of fraud, and it’s legal challenges have been unsuccessful so far. (Read more from “Trump Urges Supporters Not to Boycott Georgia Senate Elections” HERE)

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Republican Senate Releases Evidence From Investigation Showing China, Russia Ties

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. . .The Senate, under GOP leadership, just released some disturbing evidence about Hunter [Biden].

And once again, the media is all mum’s the word about it:

“These new records confirm the connections between the Biden family and the communist Chinese government, as well as the links between Hunter Biden’s business associates and the Russian government, and further support the Committees’ September 23, 2020 report’s finding that such relationships created counterintelligence and extortion concerns,” the senators wrote in the five-page report, which was followed by 65 pages of evidence.

Many have wondered how close Biden has been to communist China and other foreign entities. These new records raise more questions.

Namely, what kind of loyalty does the Biden family have toward China? The Senate even worried about “counterintelligence and extortion concerns.” (Read more from “Republican Senate Releases Evidence From Investigation Showing China, Russia Ties” HERE)

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Johns Hopkins Retracts Report Finding COVID Death Count ‘Not Alarming’

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A report of a senior Johns Hopkins lecturer’s analysis concluding that the coronavirus had no overall effect on the total number of deaths in the United States was retracted by the university on Thursday.

Essentially, Genevieve Briand, a longtime professor of economics and statistics, argued in a recent webinar that the virus is deadly primarily to older people with multiple underlying conditions who already were near death, meaning the overall death count has not been affected.

But an editor’s note posted Friday said an article about her presentation published by the student newsletter has been “used to support dangerous inaccuracies that minimize the impact of the pandemic.”

The article, the Johns Hopkins University News-Letter said, was retracted “to stop the spread of misinformation” but made available as a PDF because it’s “our responsibility as journalists to provide a historical record.

“The controversial report featured Briand’s webinar Nov. 11 titled “COVID-19 Deaths: A Look at U.S. Data,” which was hosted by the university’s Krieger School of Arts & Sciences, where she is assistant program director of the Applied Economics masters degree program. (Read more from “Johns Hopkins Retracts Report Finding COVID Death Count ‘Not Alarming'” HERE)

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Rudy Giuliani Calls Pennsylvania Case a Success, Says ‘a Lot’ of Voter Fraud Evidence Yet to Be Seen

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Rudy Giuliani said there are two ways the Trump legal team is getting around “major censorship” of their widespread voter fraud allegations.

He told Newsmax on Friday that the Trump camp is equally focused on presenting evidence to state legislatures as they are on court hearings, but they are facing an uphill battle because of judges who won’t hear their cases and media that won’t air their presentations.

“We’ve got a lot of evidence. We don’t have a lot of time,” Giuliani said, adding later, “The public has only a small idea of the kind of evidence that we have.”

The Trump legal team, which is led by Giuliani, and their allies have endured dozens of loses, and are now turning to presentations of witnesses to state legislatures in places such as Arizona and Michigan. They had one such event in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, this week, and on Dec. 3, the Trump team says a judge in Nevada is allowing Republicans to present their findings at a hearing. (Read more from “Rudy Giuliani Calls Pennsylvania Case a Success, Says ‘a Lot’ of Voter Fraud Evidence Yet to Be Seen” HERE)

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Democrats Erupt After Scientist Behind Iran’s ‘Clandestine Nuclear Ambitions’ Is Killed

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Democrats lashed out on Friday in response to the news that the scientist who was at the center of Iran’s clandestine nuclear ambitions had been killed in an attack.

“Iran’s top nuclear scientist, who American and Israeli intelligence have long charged was behind secret programs to design an atomic warhead, was shot and killed in an ambush on Friday as he was traveling in a vehicle in northern Iran,” The New York Times reported. “The scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, believed to be 59, has been considered the driving force behind Iran’s nuclear weapons program for two decades, and continued to work after the main part of the effort was quietly disbanded in the early 2000s.”

The attack comes after President Donald Trump was reportedly dissuaded from attacking a nuclear facility in Iran a couple of weeks ago after he spoke with top U.S. officials about the idea. The attack also comes just days after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met in Saudi Arabia for talks.

News that Fakhrizadeh had been killed rankled Democrats, who called the action a “criminal act.”

“This was a criminal act & highly reckless. It risks lethal retaliation & a new round of regional conflict,” former Obama-era CIA Director John Brennan said. “Iranian leaders would be wise to wait for the return of responsible American leadership on the global stage & to resist the urge to respond against perceived culprits.”

(Read more from “Democrats Erupt After Scientist Behind Iran’s ‘Clandestine Nuclear Ambitions’ Is Killed” HERE)

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It’s No Shock What Event Will Lead to Trump Conceding the Election to Joe Biden

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A winner is going to be declared one way or another. I wish it wasn’t like this, but you’ll never going to convince me the Joe Biden won this race without a ton of voter fraud. The question is can we prove it. The allies of the Trump campaign have struggled to make their case. No judge is going to just toss out ballots. So far, the legal front has been a spectacle, and not in a good way. The Trump campaign did score a big win in Nevada where they will be able to present their findings. We’ll see what turns up at the December 3 hearing. Yet, what if all else fails. Well, in a presser yesterday, the president offered the conditions of his surrender to Joe Biden. It’s no shock what will cause Trump to leave the Oval Office (via the Hill):

President Trump on Thursday said he would leave the White House on Jan. 20 if the Electoral College declares President-elect Joe Biden the winner of the election, but indicated he was not prepared to concede defeat.

“Certainly I will. And you know that,” said Trump when asked if he would leave the White House if the Electoral College voted for Biden.

He added, “If they do, they made a mistake.”

“It’s going to be a very hard thing to concede,” Trump told reporters during a press call on Thursday.

(Read more from “It’s No Shock What Event Will Lead to Trump Conceding the Election to Joe Biden” HERE)

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Taliban: War with America ‘Will Resume’ if Biden Undoes Trump Peace Deal

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A spokesman for the Taliban told Afghanistan’s Khaama Press in an interview published Thursday that the terrorist group’s “war against the United States will resume … until they leave Afghanistan” if Joe Biden walks back President Donald Trump’s attempts to withdraw U.S. forces from the country.

Trump initiated talks including both the Taliban and the legitimate government of Afghanistan this year to come to an agreement that would result in the end of the American military presence in the country. Afghanistan is America’s longest war, launched in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The Trump administration has sought assurances from the Taliban that it would not harbor terrorists seeking to harm American interests – such as the architects of the 9/11 attacks, al-Qaeda – in exchange for America not continuing to attack the jihadist group.

Civilian casualties in Afghanistan dropped to their lowest level in eight years in 2020, as peace talks in Doha, Qatar – where the Taliban’s political offices are headquartered – marched on. Attacks on American troops have also declined, though the Taliban has become more prolific in attacking the Afghan military.

Joe Biden has indicated that he does not support a full withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan. The Afghan war is not listed as a “priority” on Biden’s administration website, or is any other foreign policy issue.

Taliban spokesman Mohammad Naeem Wardak told Khaama Press that he does not anticipate the peace talks with the United States will change under Biden but that the Taliban was prepared in the event that they did. (Read more from “Taliban: War With America ‘Will Resume’ if Biden Undoes Trump Peace Deal” HERE)

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