Biden Team Informs DOJ of Third Classified Document Discovery

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President Joe Biden’s personal counsel informed the Justice Department of a third classified document discovery Thursday morning.

The finding came at Biden’s personal residence in Wilmington, Delaware, and follows two other classified batches from his vice presidential days that were flagged last year, Attorney General Merrick Garland revealed Thursday.

“This morning, President Joe Biden’s personal counsel called [the DOJ] and stated that an additional document bearing classified markings was identified at the president’s personal residence in Wilmington, Delaware,” Garland said during a press conference.

Garland made the disclosure during a press conference in which he announced the appointment of former U.S. Attorney Robert Hur to serve as special counsel and oversee an inquiry into whether Biden mishandled classified documents. He did not provide more specifics on the nature of that document. (Read more from “Biden Team Informs DOJ of Third Classified Document Discovery” HERE)

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Vax Makes Stroke, Infection by COVID Subvariant, More Likely: Health Officials Warn, CDC Investigates

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By New York Post. New York City health officials are warning residents that the infectious omicron subvariant XBB.1.5 may be more likely to infect people who have already been vaccinated or infected with COVID-19.

“Omicron subvariant XBB.1.5 now accounts for 73% of all sequenced COVID-19 cases in NYC,” the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene tweeted on Friday. ” XBB.1.5 is the most transmissible form of COVID-19 that we know of to date and may be more likely to infect people who have been vaccinated or already had COVID-19.” . . .

According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, XBB.1.5 accounts for 43% of cases in the U.S.

In the first week of January, the subvariant accounted for about 30% of cases.

XBB.1.5, an offshoot of XBB, was first detected in October. (Read more from “Vax Makes Stroke, Infection by COVID Subvariant, More Likely: Health Officials Warn, CDC Investigates” HERE)

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CDC investigating whether Pfizer COVID vaccine increases stroke risk for people over 65

By New York Post. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says that a preliminary COVID-19 vaccine “safety signal” has been identified and is investigating whether the Bivalent Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine creates an increased risk of ischemic stroke in people 65 and older.

In the Friday statement, the CDC said that the preliminary signal hasn’t been identified with the Bivalent Moderna COVID-19 vaccine.

“Following the availability and use of the updated (bivalent) COVID-19 vaccines, CDC’s Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD), a near real-time surveillance system, met the statistical criteria to prompt additional investigation into whether there was a safety concern for ischemic stroke in people ages 65 and older who received the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine, Bivalent,” the CDC said.

“Rapid-response investigation of the signal in the VSD raised a question of whether people 65 and older who have received the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine, Bivalent were more likely to have an ischemic stroke in the 21 days following vaccination compared with days 22-44 following vaccination.”

According to the CDC, an ischemic stroke “occurs when blood clots or other particles block the blood vessels to the brain.” (Read more from “CDC Investigating Whether Pfizer COVID Vaccine Increases Stroke Risk for People Over 65” HERE)

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In Courts Across America, Religious Liberty Is on the Docket in 2023

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Religious liberty will be a hot-button issue in American courts in 2023, with several cases in particular that could set important precedent for the rights of religious Americans in the future, according to lawyers who spoke with the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Due to Supreme Court cases like Kennedy v. Bremerton High School, regarding education employees’ rights to pray at school, or Carson v. Makin, where the court ruled that public funding could be used for students attending religious schools, religious freedom was often at the center of debate last year. While debates regarding religious freedom and its limits are nothing new, several upcoming legal battles are posed to restructure the debate regarding religious rights at school, in the workplace and in the medical field, the attorneys said.

“If you have a sort of totalitarian regime come in the one thing it can never allow is the citizens to hold an allegiance to one higher than the government,” Kelly Shackelford, president and CEO of First Liberty Institute (FLI), told the DCNF. “So whenever that type of oppression comes in it tends to be that the first flashpoint is almost always a religious freedom issue and if you lose there that’s just a beginning of the dominoes that are going to fall.”

The Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022 sparked conflicts with religious medical professionals after many workplaces decided to offer abortion or contraceptive services, often without the possibility of religious exemption, according to First Liberty Institute. Shackelford told DCNF that abortion-related issues were the highest growth area for religious liberty lawsuits. (Read more from “In Courts Across America, Religious Liberty Is on the Docket in 2023” HERE)

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Sarah Huckabee Sanders Declines To Endorse Trump For President

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Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R-AR) declined on Sunday to endorse her former boss, former President Donald Trump, for president in 2024.

The newly-sworn in governor was asked on “Fox News Sunday” with host Shannon Bream whether she planned on backing Trump in his next presidential run.

“Your bio, on your official page as Governor, describes you as a ‘trusted confidant of President Trump,’” Bream said. “Have you talked to him about his ’24 run? Will you endorse him in that?”

Sanders praised the former president but stopped short of endorsing him. (Read more from “Sarah Huckabee Sanders Declines to Endorse Trump for President” HERE)

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Kevin McCarthy Pledges to Release All Security Footage from January 6 Capitol Riots; McCarthy Says He Will Look at Expunging Trump Impeachment

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By Townhall. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) told reporters Thursday that he intends to release all the security footage from the January 6 Capitol riots.

“I want to be very thoughtful about it, but yes, I’m engaged to do that,” McCarthy told reporters when asked whether he would release footage from that day.

McCarthy continued:

I think the public should see what happened on that day. I watched what Nancy Pelosi did, where she politicized it. Where for the first time in the history as a Speaker, not allowing the minority to appoint to a committee. We watched the politicization of this. I think the American public should actually see what happened instead of a report that’s written on a political basis.

(Read more from “Kevin McCarthy Pledges to Release All Security Footage From January 6 Capitol Riots” HERE)

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McCarthy Says He Will Look at Expunging Trump Impeachment

By The Hill. Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said on Thursday that he would consider expunging one or both of former President Trump’s impeachments.

“I would understand why members would want to bring that forward,” McCarthy said in response to a question at a press conference on Thursday, before listing off several other key priorities for House Republicans.

“But I understand why individuals want to do it, and we’d look at it,” he added. (Read more from “McCarthy Says He Will Look at Expunging Trump Impeachment” HERE)

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Here’s Why the CDC Just Launched ‘Additional Investigation’ of COVID Vaccine Safety

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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced on Friday afternoon — in something of a pre-weekend news dump — that the agency’s Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD) has “met the statistical criteria to prompt additional investigation into whether there was a safety concern for ischemic stroke in people ages 65 and older who received the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine, Bivalent.” . . .

The CDC explains more about the signal that met its threshold for additional investigation:

Rapid-response investigation of the signal in the VSD raised a question of whether people 65 and older who have received the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine, Bivalent were more likely to have an ischemic stroke in the 21 days following vaccination compared with days 22-44 following vaccination.

This preliminary signal has not been identified with the Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine, Bivalent. There also may be other confounding factors contributing to the signal identified in the VSD that merit further investigation.

(Read more from “Here’s Why the CDC Just Launched ‘Additional Investigation’ of COVID Vaccine Safety” HERE)

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House Republicans To Investigate Biden’s Afghanistan Withdrawal

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The House Foreign Affairs Committee is threatening to subpoena the State Department as part of a probe into the Biden administration’s withdrawal from Afghanistan, CNN first reported late Thursday.

Republican Texas Rep. Michael McCaul, the committee’s new chairman, requested a trove of documents from the State Department related to the withdrawal with a deadline of Jan. 26, CNN reported. He threatened to subpoena the department if it does not turn over the documents.

“It is imperative that the State Department provide complete responses to these longstanding requests, and the Committee will not tolerate continued delay,” McCaul wrote in a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, according to CNN. “In the event of noncompliance, the Committee will use the authorities available to it to enforce these requests as necessary, including through compulsory process.”

Among the questions McCaul reportedly lists in the letter are, “What is the U.S. Government’s current relationship with the Taliban?” and “What are the Administration’s intentions for rescinding and/or reprogramming foreign assistance in Afghanistan?” (Read more from “House Republicans to Investigate Biden’s Afghanistan Withdrawal” HERE)

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Judge Dismisses Obstruction Charge Against January 6th Defendant Who Said ‘Spirit of God’ Moved Him in Capitol

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D.C. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson acquitted a January 6 defendant of obstruction on Friday after ruling that prosecutors presented no evidence that the defendant intended to stop Congress that day.

Joshua Black of Alabama was cleared of the charge because Jackson said the “unique stew in his mind” that was described during the trial showed that Black did not know that what he was participating in was unlawful. Black was convicted of other charges, including carrying a deadly weapon on Capitol grounds.

Black was arrested shortly after the riot at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. After the riot, he traveled back to Alabama and posted a video on YouTube describing his time in the U.S. Capitol. That video, as well as an anonymous tip, led the disgraced FBI to Black. . .

“I just felt like the spirit of God wanted me to go into the Senate room,” he said. (Read more from “Judge Dismisses Obstruction Charge Against January 6th Defendant Who Said ‘Spirit of God’ Moved Him in Capitol” HERE)

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Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Case of Postal Worker Forced Out of Job After Requesting to Observe Sabbath

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The Supreme Court has agreed to take up a case about a postal worker who was forced out of his job when he did not want to work on Sundays due to his religious convictions.

“It is unlawful for employers to discriminate against employees on the basis of religion,” Kelly Shackelford, President, CEO, and Chief Counsel for First Liberty, one of the firms representing Groff, said in a press release provided to The Daily Wire. “It’s time for the Supreme Court to reconsider a decades old case that favors corporations and the government over the religious rights of employees.”

In 2012, Gerald Groff began working for the United States Postal Service in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, after looking for a job that wouldn’t make him work on Sundays. In accordance with his religious beliefs, Groff wanted to keep the Christian Sabbath.

The post office began package delivery on Sundays for Amazon, leading Groff to decide to be moved to a different branch, although it hurt his employment standing.

The post office then began to make deliveries on Sundays, so Groff requested a religious accommodation in order to keep the Sabbath on Sunday. At first, he was given the accommodation and permitted to work more on other days. The postal service then only gave him options that would still make him work on Sundays. (Read more from “Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Case of Postal Worker Forced Out of Job After Requesting to Observe Sabbath” HERE)

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Supreme Court Leaker: One Law Clerk on Short List of Suspects

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Investigators who are examining the leak of Justice Samuel Alito’s draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade have narrowed their inquiry to a handful of suspects, including at least one law clerk, though officials have not affirmatively identified a culprit, according to people familiar with the matter.

Chief Justice John Roberts assigned the high court’s marshal, Gail Curley, to investigate the leak in May. But with the institution’s own police lacking the experience in such complex investigations, the court invited outside assistance from government investigators, people familiar with the matter told the Wall Street Journal.

The latest report marks the most significant update on the hunt for the person who leaked Alito’s draft opinion to Politico on May 2. In a small yet notable report in late July, Fox News anchor Shannon Bream reported investigators looking into the leak had “narrowed it down” to about “70 or so” people who had access to the draft, but no names of suspects emerged in her brief report.

The suspect interviews conducted by investigators were at times brief and superficial, according to a person who spoke to the WSJ. The nature of such questions included examples such as, “Did you do it? Do you know anyone who had a reason to do it?” Publicly available information about court employees was used by investigators to develop theories, one person said. (Read more from “Supreme Court Leaker: One Law Clerk on Short List of Suspects” HERE)

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