John Durham Investigation Intensifies Focus on John Brennan

/0 Comments/in , /by

U.S. Attorney John Durham’s review of the Russia investigation is putting increased scrutiny on former CIA Director John Brennan, searching for any undue influence he may have had during 2017’s intelligence community assessment of Russian interference.

Durham, selected by Attorney General William Barr last year to lead this inquiry, drove to Washington, D.C., in March to ensure the investigation stayed on track during the coronavirus outbreak. The top Connecticut federal prosecutor is looking into highly sensitive issues, including whether Brennan took politicized actions to pressure the rest of the intelligence community to match his conclusions about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s motivations, according to sources cited by the Wall Street Journal.

Officials said Durham has been interviewing CIA officials this year, zeroing in on those at the National Intelligence Council, a center within the Office of the Director of National Intelligence which oversaw the collaboration between the CIA, FBI, and National Security Agency in putting together the 2017 assessment, and looking at how the work product was finalized.

The 2017 assessment concluded with “high confidence” that Putin “ordered an influence campaign in 2016” and Russia worked to “undermine public faith” in U.S. democracy, “denigrate” former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and “harm her electability and potential presidency,” and “developed a clear preference” for Trump. The NSA diverged on one aspect, expressing only “moderate confidence” that Putin actively tried to help Trump win and Clinton lose. (Read more from “John Durham Investigation Intensifies Focus on John Brennan” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE

Trump Says CDC Wants Americans to Cover Faces With Cloth; U.S. Coronavirus Deaths Top 7,000

/0 Comments/in , /by

By Fox News. President Trump on Friday announced that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is recommending Americans wear facial coverings made of cloth while out in public to help stop the spread of coronavirus — though the president repeatedly called it “voluntary” and said he wouldn’t do it himself.

The change in guidelines signals a major shift in how officials are looking to combat the spread of COVID-19. The president, during a briefing with the White House coronavirus task force, said the recommendation is being made because of studies indicating asymptomatic people are spreading the virus.

“In light of these studies, the CDC is advising the use of non-medical cloth face coverings as an additional voluntary public health measure,” Trump said. “So it’s voluntary. You don’t have to do it.”

The president added: “I don’t think I’m going to be doing it.” He said he can’t imagine himself sitting in the Oval Office of the White House behind “that beautiful Resolute Desk” wearing a mask.

In a Friday statement, the CDC said “the virus can spread between people interacting in close proximity—for example, speaking, coughing, or sneezing—even if those people are not exhibiting symptoms.”

(Read more from “Trump Says CDC Wants Americans to Cover Faces With Cloth” HERE)

____________________________________________________

U.S. Coronavirus Deaths Top 7,000, Fauci Warns About ‘Knockout Drug’

By CNBC. . .Americans shouldn’t assume hydroxychloroquine is a “knockout drug” in preventing or treating COVID-19, White House health advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci warned.

“We still need to do the definitive studies to determine whether any intervention, not just this one, is truly safe and effective,” Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said on Fox News. “But when you don’t have that information, it’s understandable why people might want to take something anyway even with the slightest hint of being effective.”

. . .

US cases: At least 270,473

US deaths: At least 7,077

(Read more from “U.S. Coronavirus Deaths Top 7,000, Fauci Warns About ‘Knockout Drug’” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE

REPORT: New York Doctors Told to Choose Who Lives and Dies Amid Ventilator Shortage

/0 Comments/in , /by

The Medical Society of the State of New York said emergency room doctors “are reporting being told the equivalent of ‘Use your best judgment. You’re on your own'” amid a ventilator shortage that’s crippling hospitals amid the rapid spread of the coronavirus pandemic, WNBC-TV reported. . .

“Ventilators as lifeboats are reaching capacity. At this point, the most difficult decisions facing physicians will have to be made,” and that “we will be seeing increasing depression and PTSD that will eclipse today’s physician burnout,” the premier medical group said Thursday, WNBC reported. . .

Emergency rooms have become “inescapable warzones,” the station said, citing a Manhattan doctor, while a Queens physician told WNBC his ER is so flooded that ventilators are being managed in hallways. Other doctors said they’ve intubated their own colleagues, the station said, adding that nurses have walked out demanding more personal protective equipment. . .

WNBC said New York City — now the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in America — accounts for 26% of the nation’s death toll and nearly a quarter of its overall cases. The city had 51,809 cases and 1,562 dead as of Thursday while the state had 92,381 cases and more than 2,500 deaths, the station said.

State consultants said New York will need 75,000 to 110,000 COVID-only beds when the apex of the outbreak hits, WNBC reported, adding that Cuomo said his team estimates the apex hitting at the earlier end of a seven-to-30-day range. (Read more from “REPORT: New York Doctors Told to Choose Who Lives and Dies Amid Ventilator Shortage” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE

Houston Hit by Plague of Crime

/0 Comments/in , /by

Houston, we’ve got a problem.

Ultimately, there is a limit to how much we can stop a plague from God, once we neglectfully let it into our country with universal travel from China, before it runs its course. However, bending the curve of crime is all in our hands. Sadly, it appears that Houston and other blue-city politicians want to worsen the God-made plague with a man-made crime epidemic.

As I predicted, crime is spiking in Houston following the release of 1,000 prisoners. “Right now, burglaries have spiked 20 percent,” Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo told Breitbart Texas in a phone interview. “Some people are seeing the shutdown of businesses as a target-rich opportunity. Habitual burglars should not be released.”

In a dynamic where business owners could be arrested for simply opening a business while following CDC health guidelines and criminals are told they won’t be arrested for burglarizing those stores, it doesn’t take a genius to foresee the results. And it’s not just “low-level” offenders being released. Some violent criminals, according to KTRK ABC13, have been released on bond as low as $10. So, they are both releasing existing convicts from prison and also trying as hard as they can not to incarcerate new criminals.

This is why, according to Chief Acevedo, in addition to the increase in burglaries, aggravated assaults similarly increased by 19.3 percent.

It’s truly hard to overstate the impact of jailbreak policies. With the universal fear of going outside due to the virus and the fact that so many people are off the streets, without jailbreak policies, you’d expect crime to be close to zero. Yet the jailbreak and lack of deterrent against new criminals is so strong that it’s increasing crime by 20 percent above the baseline of normal day-to-day activity!

Isn’t it a shame that the criminals didn’t take the advice of Mayor Sylvester Turner to “chill” and “stay home”? What, in fact, the mayor was really conveying is that this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to commit crime and get away with it.

What’s interesting about the coronavirus jailbreak is that it is the perfect case study for the entire criminal justice debate. The bipartisan de-incarceration movement is telling us that our prisons are filled with a bunch of “nonviolent, low-level offenders,” and that if we would just release them, we’d save money and society would be fine. Well, if such “low-level” offenders are willing to go out and steal when the media has convinced everyone they will die of the plague, you can imagine how much crime they’d commit under normal circumstances.

Meanwhile, we have coronavirus fascists like Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins sending officers down to Hobby Lobby to shut them down. Well, would he have the officers arrest people for looting the store?

Where is Congress? Where are our legislatures? As governments move closer to more draconian versions of martial law against everyday Americans, is it too much to ask that they lock up the criminals? (For more from the author of “Houston Hit by Plague of Crime” please click HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE

Migrants Riot in Mexican Detention Center at Texas Border — Some Escape

/0 Comments/in , /by

Dozens of Central American migrants rioted and set fire to the furniture inside a local immigration detention center Friday. Some managed to escape.

The rioting started shortly after noon when dozens of migrants tried to take over the facility and set fire to mattresses and other furniture at the offices of the National Immigration Institute (INM). During the confusion, some of the migrants ran into the streets to escape and avoid deportation. Dozens of federal and state police responded to the scene to contain the matter. Some migrants were being held for deportation hearings while others waited for U.S. asylum determinations. . .

While the federal building does have some detention capabilities, it was recently refit to house more migrants since some local shelters were forced to close following the arrival of the Coronavirus. Currently, the border city has two confirmed cases. Piedras Negras is immediately south of Eagle Pass, Texas. (Read more from “Migrants Riot in Mexican Detention Center at Texas Border — Some Escape” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE

Nancy Pelosi Signals She’ll Ease Up on Packing Next Relief Bill with Progressive Agenda

/0 Comments/in , /by

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) signaled that she is easing up on what appeared to be her original intention of packing the next phase of economic relief with a host of progressive agenda items, telling reporters on Friday that the next emergency measure should follow the same model as the last.

Democrats, under the leadership of Pelosi, came under fire last week after delaying the Phase 3 emergency relief measure to pursue their own version, which the speaker packed with what critics referred to as “liberal wish list items.” Those included Green New Deal initiatives, ballot harvesting, requirements for racial diversity data, and a bailout for the post office.

While she ultimately did not get any of those agenda items in the latest relief package, she spent the following days signaling her Party’s intention of packing the next relief bill with similar agenda items. However, she struck a different tone on Friday, telling reporters in the Capitol, “Let’s do the same bill we just did, make some changes to make it current.” . . .

“We’ve had three bills that have been bipartisan. I think right now we need a fourth bipartisan bill. And I think the bill could be very much like the bill we just passed,” she told the network.

“I’m very much in favor of doing some of the things that we need to do to meet the needs of clean water, more broadband, and the rest of that. That may have to be for a bill beyond this,” she admitted. (Read more from “Nancy Pelosi Signals She’ll Ease up on Packing Next Relief Bill With Progressive Agenda” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE

HUH?! Feds Issue Tens of Thousands of New Work Visas to Foreigners as Americans Lose Jobs by Millions; UPDATE: DHS Suspension

/0 Comments/in , , /by

By WND. Amid record unemployment claims and predictions of a staggering 32% unemployment rate, the federal government is issuing thousands of visas to guest workers.

Among them are 20,000 new H2B visas announced Wednesday by the Department of Homeland Security for seasonal jobs in industries such as landscaping, food processing and resorts, noted Tucker Carlson on his Fox News show Wednesday night. . .

But these are “bonus visas,” Carlson explains, in addition to the 66,000 H2B visas the federal government must allow each year by law.

A total of 35,000 visas were added at the discretion of DHS Secretary Chad Wolf.

“That’s a total of 100,000 workers coming to this country to take jobs during the single biggest unemployment crisis in a century,” he said. “It’s demented.” (Read more from “Feds Issue Large Numbers of Work Visas as Americans Lose Jobs by Millions” HERE)

_____________________________________________

In Wake of National Outrage, DHS Suspends Visa Lottery

By Jason Hopkins. The increased media scrutiny and surging unemployment claims appeared to be too much for DHS. The department on Thursday announced it was suspending the release of the planned 20,000 H-2B visas.

“To clear up various misreporting — DHS’s rule on the H-2B cap is on hold pending review due to present economic circumstances. No additional H-2B visas will be released until further notice,” read a statement from the DHS Twitter account.

H2-B visas are set aside for foreign workers to come temporarily into the U.S. and work in numerous non-agricultural industries, such as service and landscaping jobs.

Congress set the annual cap on H-2B visas at 66,000, giving temporary legal status to non-agricultural workers. At the same time, lawmakers gave DHS the authority to raise this cap by as much as 64,000 a year. In early March, right before COVID-19 grabbed the nation, DHS chief raised the cap by 35,000. (Read more about the work visa suspension HERE)

However, the 20,000 H-2B visas to be released in April is no longer a go — at least for now.

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE

Jewish GOP Group Targets Congress’s Strongest Constitutionalist For Defeat

/0 Comments/in , , /by

The Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) — specifically its political action committee — has had it with Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky. And he’s a Republican.

Massie infuriated both his own party and US Democrats last week by exercising a procedural motion that might have delayed the vote on the $2 trillion stimulus in the wake of the economic devastation wrought by the coronavirus pandemic. US President Donald Trump, a Republican, called Massie a “third-rate grandstander.”

Now the RJC said it will be backing Massie’s opponent in the Republican primary, which is scheduled for June 23, coronavirus willing. It’s a rare foray for a group that usually focuses on Democrats, plus partisan Jewish groups rarely get involved in primaries.

“After Rep. Massie recklessly decided to hold up the stimulus bill designed to help Americans who are struggling because of the coronavirus, the RJC PAC has decided to endorse and fund-raise for his GOP primary opponent, Todd McMurtry, and the RJC will be activating its nationwide team of volunteers to contact voters in the 4th congressional district of Kentucky to explain why it is so important to support McMurtry,” the group said in a news release last week.

Massie insisted that Congress adhere to a rule that a majority of House members are present to do business. Most members had returned home in order to avoid contracting or spreading the coronavirus. (Read more from “Jewish GOP Group Targets Congress’s Strongest Constitutionalist Representative for Defeat” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE

Desperate Shoppers Say They Can’t Order Groceries for Delivery or Pickup. Amazon and Walmart Are Racing to Meet the Spike in Demand.

/0 Comments/in , /by

Online grocery orders are surging in the US as shoppers increasingly avoid visiting stores, and retailers are racing to keep up with demand.

With the surge in orders, some shoppers are complaining on social media about little or no availability for grocery pickup or delivery. Some say they have given up on trying. Others are refreshing grocers’ websites late at night to try to snag time slots for pickup or delivery as soon as they become available.

In response, leading retailers including Amazon and Walmart are ramping up their online grocery businesses by hiring more workers and adding time slots for delivery and pickup, the companies told Business Insider.

“We are working hard to identify ways to deliver to more customers, like adding more delivery windows throughout the day and hiring over 100,000 positions across the US, enabling us to increase delivery window availability,” an Amazon spokesperson said. “We’ve also accelerated expansion of delivery and pickup from Whole Foods Market, and we’ll continue to expand quickly to reach more customers.” . . .

[Walmart] on Friday extended its grocery pickup and delivery hours to help meet demand after temporarily cutting them back during a sudden sales surge in early-to-mid March. (Read more from “Desperate Shoppers Say They Can’t Order Groceries for Delivery or Pickup. Amazon and Walmart Are Racing to Meet the Spike in Demand.” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE

Steven Mnuchin Speeds up First Round of Coronavirus Relief for Americans to Two Weeks

/2 Comments/in , /by

By Breitbart. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Thursday he had sped up the timing on individual payments to Americans from three weeks to two weeks.

“I’m pleased to report that within two weeks the first payments will be directly deposited into taxpayers’ accounts,” Mnuchin said.

The secretary said the Treasury Department was working quickly to speed up aid to the American people and to get their $1,200 relief checks to them.

Mnuchin said that Americans who had their direct deposit information already in the IRS system would receive their money in a timely fashion. He promised people who did not have their information in the IRS system could put it into a website that would ensure a speedy direct deposit. (Read more from “Steven Mnuchin Speeds up First Round of Coronavirus Relief for Americans to Two Weeks” HERE)

________________________________________________

Government Housing Agency Unveils New Mortgage Relief Policies for Struggling Borrowers

By Politico. The Department of Housing and Urban Development on Thursday directed companies that service government-insured mortgage loans to give beleaguered borrowers the option to defer payments for up to a year, effective immediately.

The move — coming just 15 days after HUD announced a two-month moratorium on evictions and foreclosures — underscores the urgency of the deepening economic crisis caused by the coronavirus outbreak. The $2 trillion economic rescue package passed by Congress last week included up to a year of payment relief on federally backed mortgages.

“If you’re struggling, immediate help is now available,” HUD Secretary Ben Carson said in an emailed statement. “The FHA will continue to work with stakeholders to ensure that the loss mitigation options that are offered for both forward and reverse borrowers are appropriately tailored for the present situation.”

The pandemic has already taken a massive toll on the economy, with some 10 million Americans filing unemployment claims in the last two weeks and some economists forecasting a crippling recession for months. (Read more from “Government Housing Agency Unveils New Mortgage Relief Policies for Struggling Borrowers” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE