Lab Leak Cover-Up - Michael Barone

 

by Michael Barone

How elite scientists lied and concealed the truth.

 

When the Wall Street Journal reported in a front-page lead story that the Department of Energy had concluded the COVID-19 pandemic resulted from a leak from China’s Wuhan laboratory, you might have argued it was old news. The FBI had already, it turns out, come to the same conclusion and with a higher degree of confidence (moderate) than the Energy Department (low).

Those agencies’ conclusions, moreover, came as a result of a May 21 directive from President Joe Biden to multiple intelligence agencies to review two “equally plausible scenarios” for COVID’s origin, “whether it emerged from human contact with an infected animal” (the zoonotic theory) “or from a laboratory accident” (the lab leak theory).

That should have been big news since the zoonotic theory, advanced early and widely accepted by government scientists and many journalists, had become entrenched as early as February 2020 when COVID first became big news.

Emails unearthed by a House committee and quoted by longtime New York Times science reporter Nicholas Wade showed that Scripps Research Institute scientist Kristian Andersen had written National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci on Jan. 31, 2020, to inform him that he and other scientists had concluded that COVID-19 was “inconsistent with expectations from the evolutionary (that is, zoonotic) theory.”

But former National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins emailed on Feb. 2 that if the lab leak theory were accepted, “the voices of conspiracy will quickly dominate, doing great potential harm to science and international harmony.” Thus, after a teleconference with Collins and Fauci, Andersen, in a Feb. 4 email, characterized the lab leak as one of an unnamed number of “crackpot theories.” Later, on March 20, he said the virus was “not a laboratory construct.”

So why the switch? Well, scientists like Andersen knew that Fauci and Collins controlled huge streams of research funding. Fauci and Collins knew that they had repeatedly approved funding at the Wuhan lab. The conspiracy was not to spread the lab leak theory but to suppress it.

The zoonotic theory had become unassailable dogma by the time Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) advanced the lab leak theory on Fox News on Feb. 16. “Fringe theory” and “conspiracy theory,” huffed The New York Times. “A coronavirus fringe theory,” wrote the Washington Post . Other eminent journalists piled on, even though an accident, by definition, is not the result of a conspiracy.

Facebook, led and staffed almost entirely by left-wingers, promptly followed the lead of government science funders and suppressed news of the lab leak theory for more than a year. The State Department-backed Global Disinformation Index, the Washington Examiner’s Gabe Kaminsky revealed, similarly sought to suppress the theory. Twitter, under its similarly biased pre-Musk regime, used “visibility filtering” to downplay the lab leak theory. President Donald Trump’s March 2020 tweets about “the China virus” were attacked as “racist” by multiple critics, and those advancing the lab leak theory were attacked for “racism.” The lab leak theory, The New York Times science writer Apoorva Mandavilli tweeted in May 2021, has “racist roots.” Even advocates of the zoonotic theory were briefly charged with racism, too.

Nevertheless, serious and carefully nuanced arguments were made for taking the lab leak theory seriously, in multiple articles by Nicholas Wade, in science writer Matt Ridley and Alina Chen’s book “Viral: The Search for the Origin of Covid-19,” in a National Review cover story and in a detailed report from the liberal ProPublica organization published with Vanity Fair.

The press, even while proclaiming that “democracy dies in darkness,” was reluctant to shed any light on the lab leak theory. Even worse was the behavior of scientists. “Welp,” tweeted FiveThirtyEight founder Nate Silver when the Wall Street Journal story on the Energy Department’s decision broke. “The behavior of a certain cadre of scientists who used every trick in the book to suppress discussion of this issue is something I’ll never forget. A huge disservice to science and public health.”

The origin of COVID is not the only issue on which the scientists have disgraced themselves. Just this month, the prestigious British medical journal The Lancet published a review of 65 studies that concluded that the natural immunity of those who have contracted COVID provides more protection than the vaccines. There goes the case for requiring that the previously infected get multiple vaccinations.

And just last week, Britain’s prestigious Cochrane Library released a study of 78 randomized control trials with 610,000 participants, which concluded that masks make no difference — none — in stopping transmission of respiratory diseases like COVID. “There is just no evidence they make any difference. Full stop,” said the study’s lead author. So much for the mask mandates, including the CDC masking guideline, which teachers unions got the CDC to impose upon schoolchildren by applying their undue political influence.

We don’t know for certain — and given Chinese secrecy, we probably never will — that COVID resulted from a lab leak. But we do know that leading scientists and science funders in government lied, distorted and suppressed the truth. We do know that public health officials stuck and still stick to requirements that have negative effects but no scientific basis. We know that many journalists who arrogantly offer themselves as voices speaking truth to power were actually exerting power to suppress truth.

Elite scientists and journalists today complain that they get no respect. Their record shows they don’t deserve much.

Michael Barone

Source: https://www.frontpagemag.com/lab-leak-cover-up/

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Jim Jordan subpoenas former head of Disinformation Governance Board Nina Jankowicz - Ben Whedon

 

by Ben Whedon

"We have repeatedly sought information from you concerning your official actions and duties as a DHS employee and former Executive Director of the Board," Jordan wrote to Jankowicz.

 

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan on Monday announced the issuance of subpoenas to a host of Biden administration officials, among them former Disinformation Governance Board head Nina Jankowicz, as part of the GOP's ongoing efforts to investigate the "weaponization" of the federal government.

Jordan announced subpoenas, not just for Jankowicz, but for former interim Executive Director and CEO of the National School Boards Association Chip Slaven and National Assessment Governing Board Trustee Viola Garcia. He previously sent interview requests to the trio, along with several other officials, in late January.

"We have repeatedly sought information from you concerning your official actions and duties as a DHS employee and former Executive Director of the Board, including how the Board intended to define disinformation, how it planned to collection information and from what sources, how it anticipated countering disinformation, and how it proposed to protect First Amendment rights," Jordan wrote to Jankowicz in his March issuance of the subpoena.

"As the former Executive Director of the Board, you are uniquely situated to provide information that is relevant and necessary to inform the Committee's oversight and potential legislative reforms," he continued. "Accordingly, and in light of your disregard of our earlier voluntary requests, please find attached a subpoena compelling you to appear for a deposition."

The letters to Slaven and Garcia shared similar language. Jordan's interest in the pair stemmed from their support of a National School Boards Association letter to President Joe Biden seeking White House support against parents protesting against the instruction of controversial topics in schools such as Critical Race Theory.

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on Twitter.

Source: https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/jim-jordan-subpoenas-former-head-disinformation-governance-board-nina-jankowicz

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China blocking U.S. investigation of COVID-19 origins, lawmakers assert - Ben Whedon

 

by Ben Whedon

Reports of the virus first emerged in Wuhan, China, in 2019.

 

Both Democratic and Republican lawmakers have asserted that Chinese authorities are obstructing an American probe into the origins of COVID-19 amid increasing support for the theory that the virus originated from a lab in Wuhan.

Reps. Jim Himes, D-Conn, and Mike Turner, R-Ohio, expressed their frustrations with Beijing in a joint weekend appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press."

"We have so few facts because the Chinese regime has obfuscated," Himes said. "It may be forever before we actually know exactly what happened."

Reports of the virus first emerged in Wuhan, China, in 2019. Of particular interest to those exploring the virus's origin is the Wuhan Institute of Virology, a research facility in the area known to have been studying coronaviruses prior to the outbreak.

Formerly maligned as a conspiracy theory, the notion that COVID-19 originated in the lab has increasingly gained traction among major government agencies such as the Department of Energy and the FBI.

"The FBI has for quite some time now assessed that the origins of the pandemic are most likely a potential lab incident in Wuhan," FBI Director Christopher Wray said in late February.

Turner, for his part, acknowledged the relatively weak evidence trail and lamented the unwillingness of the WIV to hand over relevant materials.

"In all of this, because there's no direct evidence, we don't have China admitting it, we don't have [the] Wuhan lab handing these things over, all this is being assessed by looking at other aspects of the release," he said.

The debate over COVID-19's origins is far from settled, however, as various agencies and scientists have suggested the virus was the result of a natural outbreak.

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on Twitter.

Source: https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/china-blockings-us-investigation-covid-19-origins-lawmakers-assert

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Supreme Court denies petition from Florida city to toss atheists' First Amendment suit over prayer vigil - Chris Pandolfo

 

by Chris Pandolfo

Several atheists say they were offended by a prayer vigil held by the City of Ocala, Florida, in 2014 after a mass shooting that injured several children

 

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected a Florida city's request to dismiss a lawsuit brought by atheists who say they were offended after the city held a prayer vigil following a local mass shooting. 

The City of Ocala had asked the Supreme Court to clarify whether "psychic or emotional offense allegedly caused by observation of religious messages" was sufficient to grant the atheists standing to sue, arguing it is not. The Supreme Court denied the city's petition, handing the atheists a temporary win. However, Justice Neil Gorsuch explained in a statement that the lower courts now reviewing the case should ultimately side with Ocala. 

The case concerns two individuals, Lucinda Hale and Art Rojas, who are members of the American Humanist Association. Hale and Rojas have accused Ocala of violating the establishment clause of the First Amendment after police organized a prayer vigil with local religious leaders in response to a 2014 shooting in which several children were injured. Court documents said police chaplains were praying and singing on stage while in uniform. 

FORMER ATTORNEY IN BARR'S DOJ WINS AWARD FOR WORK USED TO FIGHT BIDEN'S EXECUTIVE OVERREACH

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday granted certiorari in several cases, declined to hear others, and issued orders in pending cases. The court rejected a request from the City of Ocala to toss out a lawsuit brought by atheists offended by a prayer vigil after a 2014 mass shooting.  (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)

The atheists claimed that the religious elements of the prayer vigil were offensive and made them feel excluded. The district court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit held that the atheists had standing to sue. 

Ocala sought to have the Supreme Court review 11th Circuit's 2018 decision granting the atheists standing in light of the court's 2022 opinion in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, when the Supreme Court said former football coach Joe Kennedy had the right to lead members of his team in voluntary post game prayers. 

SUPREME COURT SET TO HEAR DISPUTE BETWEEN NEW YORK, NEW JERSEY REGARDING COMMISSION TO COMBAT MOB'S INFLUENCE

Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote in a statement that the atheists should lack standing to sue, but said the Supreme Court will let the case play out in lower courts before intervening. (Erin Schaff/The New York Times via AP, Pool, File)

The Supreme Court rejected the request, but Gorsuch wrote in an accompanying statement that the legal theory the lower courts used to grant the atheists standing — called the "Lemon test" for a 1971 Supreme Court ruling — was now defunct.

In evaluating whether a government action violates the establishment clause, the Lemon test required courts to consider whether the action had a secular purpose, whether the government was entangled with religion and whether the principal or primary effect of the action advanced or inhibited religion. 

SUPREME COURT JUSTICE JACKSON GETS SUPPORT FROM CONSERVATIVES IN FIRST MAJORITY RULING

Justice Clarence Thomas dissented, arguing the Supreme Court should hear Ocala's case now and clear up the confusion about standing in cases concerning the First Amendment's establishment clause. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

"As this Court explained in Kennedy, the Lemon test on which the District Court relied is no longer good law," Gorsuch wrote. While he agreed with Ocala's argument that the atheists lacked standing to sue, he said the Supreme Court did not need to intervene in the case because the 11th Circuit had already vacated it to the district court, where judges will be bound by the Kennedy decision. 

"Moving forward, I expect lower courts will recognize the offended observer standing has no more foundation in the law than the Lemon test that inspired it. If I am wrong, the city is free to seek relief here after final judgment," Gorsuch wrote. 

Justice Clarence Thomas issued a separate dissent arguing that the Supreme Court should have taken up the case. He expressed "serious doubts" to the atheists' theory on standing and said the Supreme Court should have acted without waiting for the lower court process to play out. 

"We should reconsider this seeming aberration before it further erodes bedrock Article III restrictions on the judicial power," he wrote.

 

Chris Pandolfo is a writer for Fox News Digital. Send tips to chris.pandolfo@fox.com and follow him on Twitter @ChrisCPandolfo.

Source: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/supreme-court-denies-petition-florida-city-toss-atheists-first-amendment-suit-prayer-vigil

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Coalition of state attorneys general demands TikTok comply with mental health probes - The Center Square Staff

 

by The Center Square Staff

Coalition demands TikTok produce subpoenaed evidence amid investigations into the company’s impact on youth mental health.

 

A bipartisan coalition of state attorneys general filed an amicus brief in court against TikTok this week.

The coalition demands that TikTok produce subpoenaed materials and evidence amid investigations into the company’s impact on youth mental health.

The brief supports a motion by Tennessee requesting a court order to require TikTok to “preserve and produce relevant evidence in response to an outstanding investigative subpoena,” according to a press release from  California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office.

The attorneys general allege that TikTok failed to preserve some relevant evidence, including employee chat messages, and that its lack of cooperation is hurting investigations into the company nationwide.

“We know that social media is taking a devastating toll on young people’s mental health and well-being, and through our investigation, we are getting a clearer sense of TikTok’s role,” Bonta said.

“TikTok cannot evade accountability — and today we are asking the court to order TikTok to cooperate with our investigation. Our children are hurting, and we have no time to waste in our efforts to determine if TikTok is violating the law in promoting its platform to young Californians.”

The attorneys general want a court order requiring TikTok to comply with requests made by various states regarding the negative mental health effects TikTok may potentially cause and what the company knows about those harms.

“Based on the investigations to date, the states have overwhelming reason to believe that a significant driver of the mental health crisis of American children and teens is the use of social media platforms, particularly TikTok,” the press release from Bonta’s office said. 
 

“Additionally, TikTok has demonstrated its knowledge of this risk, implementing restrictions and protective measures in other countries, including China, that limit the amount of time youth may access the platform each day.”

Bonta’s office said a correlation exists between heavy social media use in teens and self-harm, depression, and low self-esteem. Each additional hour that a teen spends on social media is associated with increased severity of depression symptoms, according to his office.

The amicus brief is available here.

The Center Square Staff

Source: https://justthenews.com/nation/states/center-square/california-ag-joins-coalition-demanding-tiktok-comply-mental-health

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DC City Council tries to undo the damage they inflicted on Biden and the Congressional Dems - Thomas Lifson

 

by Thomas Lifson

The dimwits on the DC City Council unwittingly laid a trap for Biden and the Congressional Dems, and now they can't undo the damage.

 

When the Washington, DC City Council overrode the veto of Mayor Muriel Bowser and made into law a “criminal justice reform” bill that would have reduced mandatory minimum sentences, made serious felonies into misdemeanors, and overwhelmed the courts by allowing jury trials for many misdemeanors, they unconsciously laid a no-win trap for President Biden and the Senate Democrats.

Because Congress and the president have the ability to override DC laws, and because House Republicans quickly “pounced”(as the prog cliché inevitably has it) and passed a bill to override it, Biden and Senate Dems would either have to concur and override it – thereby enraging the pro-criminal SJW bullies – or be seen as endorsing a lunatic bill that would quickly escalate the already intolerable level of crime in the nation’s capital. So toxic was the bill that 31 House Democrats voted with the GOP, flouting party discipline and dealing a blow to House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who lives in the long shadow of iron-willed Nancy Pelosi.

Characteristically, Biden dithered. At first, Biden told Senate Democrats last Thursday that he wouldn’t veto the bill.   That put Senate Dems, who control the majority, on the hot seat. Senators Manchin, Casey, and Fetterman had all announced support, but if it came down to an override vote following Biden’s veto, every Dem up for re-election in 2024 – all 20 of them – would be caught having to take responsibility for the bill if they voted no. That would label them "soft on crime." And if they votrd yes, that would alienate the noisiest and most aggressive portion of their base.

Politico:

Biden’s lack of a veto threat might open the floodgates on the D.C. crime vote. Several Democrats predicted an overwhelming margin of support to roll back some of D.C.'s recent progressive crime measures.

“I think that’s where most of the caucus is. Most of the caucus sees the mayor in a reasonable position as saying: 95 percent of this is really good, some of this is problematic. And we need to keep working on it,” Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) said after the meeting.

Somebody among the puppeteers running the Biden presidency must have told him that if he really is running for re-election, he would lose a lot of undecided and even some Democrat voters over his soft-on-crime position at a time when people are worried about their personal safety, so he abruptly reversed himself. The New York Times:

President Biden said on Thursday that he would not stand in the way of a Republican-led proposal to block a new criminal code for the District of Columbia, steering clear of a veto fight over a measure he had opposed in a move that underscored the rising political potency of public alarm about violent crime.

So, now Biden risks alienating the Squad, the felon vote, and the pro-crime SJWs. And Senate Dems still have to take a position on the DC crime bill that will alienate voters no matter which way they vote.

Having created this problem, the dimwits on the DC City Council are attempting to undo the damage they have inflicted on their party.

DC Council Chairman Phil Mendelson on Monday wrote a letter to the Senate attempting to withdraw the district’s criminal reform legislation from congressional review after it became clear the Senate intended to nix the legislation.

“This morning, I delivered a letter to the Senate withdrawing the criminal code reform commission legislation,” Mendelson said during a news conference on Monday.

“It’s clear that Congress is intending to override that legislation and so my letter, just as I transmit bills for their review, withdraws from consideration the review.”

But there is a BIG problem. The federal law granting limited home rule to DC does not allow for the DC government to withdraw a bill already up for review by Congress and already disapproved by one house of Congress:

A senior Republican aide said the GOP still expects a Senate vote this week to halt the local legislation.

Another leadership aide added: “Not only does the statute not allow for a withdrawal of a transmission, but at this point the Senate Republican privileged motion will be acting on the House disapproval resolution, rather than the DC Council’s transmission to the Senate. We still expect the vote to occur.”

The ridiculous bill was so toxic that DC’s progressive mayor saw the problems and vetoed it. But the City Council was so in thrall to the pro-crime faction of their party that they blew their chance to self-correct. Now, all that’s left is a protracted futile struggle to undo the damage, which can only add more publicity to the issue.

Thomas Lifson

Source: https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2023/03/dc_city_council_tries_to_undo_the_damage_they_inflicted_on_biden_and_the_congressional_dems.html

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UK: Kids at Islamic Republic of Iran Primary School in London pledge to join apocalyptic conflict against infidels - Robert Spencer

 

by Robert Spencer

Should there really be an “Islamic Republic of Iran Primary School” in London?

 

"Iran-run school exposed by JC referred to extremism unit,” by David Rose, The JC, March 2, 2023 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

The London school whose children sang in an Iranian propaganda video that alluded to a myth about massacring Jews has been referred to the Department for Education (DfE) Counter-Extremism Division, the JC has learnt.

It follows a damning report on the school published last month by education watchdog Ofsted that rated it as “inadequate”, adding that its safeguarding policies and practice were “not effective”.

The JC revealed in November that children at the Islamic Republic of Iran Primary School in northwest London, a short walk from numerous synagogues, had been filmed singing a propaganda song called Hello Commander.

In the film, they pledged to join a mythical band of 313 warriors in an apocalyptic conflict against the infidels, when, according to the Iranian regime’s ideology, a great leader known as the Mahdi will return to Earth after a 1,200-year absence and Israel will be obliterated and Jews killed.

The song has been highly praised by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. His government owns the school and it is understood that most of its 110 pupils are the children of Iranian diplomats and regime officials.

The referral to the Counter-Extremism Division was triggered by complaints from two local parents whose concerns were prompted by the JC’s report. Their children attend other schools in the area. An email sent this week to one family stated that their complaint was being handled by the DfE’s Counter-Extremism Division, and requested further information….

Robert Spencer

Source: https://www.jihadwatch.org/2023/03/uk-kids-at-islamic-republic-of-iran-primary-school-in-london-pledge-to-join-apocalyptic-conflict-against-infidels

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Assad Will at Last Let in Aid for Earthquake Victims - Hugh Fitzgerald

 

by Hugh Fitzgerald

Why he waited for more than a week.

 

It’s a sign of Bashar Assad’s deep cruelty toward his political enemies that for more than a week he refused to allow in aid to earthquake victims in Syria’s northwest, because that is where the opponents to his rule still are in control. He’d just as soon see the people opposed to him left without succor, rather than allow aid in to help them survive. It’s too late to find any more Syrians alive under the rubble, but it’s not too late to allow in blankets, tents, medicine, food, and other humanitarian aid to keep those who survived the earthquake to stay alive. And at last Assad, prodded by the UAE, has decided to let that aid in. More on this volte-face can be found here: “Exclusive: Assad approved Syria quake aid with a UAE nudge, sources say,” by Laila Bassam, Ghaida Ghantous, Maya Gebeily and Tom Perry, Reuters, February 23, 2023:

President Bashar al-Assad ceded to calls for more aid access to Syria’s northwest with prodding from the United Arab Emirates, sources say, a diplomatic win for the Gulf state which has rebuilt ties with Damascus despite US disapproval….

The UAE recently renewed ties with Syria, even inviting Assad to visit Abu Dhabi. It did so for two reasons. First, the UAE’s leaders have recognized reality – Assad has won his civil war, even if pockets of resistance to his rule can still be found in Idlib Province. Second, the UAE, and other Arab states following the UAE’s lead, are starting to make overtures to Damascus. Having cut relations with Syria when the civil war began, they are now ready to renew them, in an attempt to bring him back into the Arab fold, and to pull him away from the orbit of the Sunni Arabs’ mortal enemy, Iran.

The UAE’s role in persuading Assad, described by four sources in the region, suggests it has started to carve out a degree of sway in Damascus, even if Russia and Shi’ite Iran remain the dominant foreign players there….

But Assad, having — mostly — won his war, no longer has as much need of the Russian and Iranian military aid that once proved so critical to his regime’s survival. What he needs now is hundreds of billions of dollars in aid to help rebuild his devastated country. Some say it will take $400 billion to put Syria back in the condition it was in in 2011, just before the civil war broke out. Neither Russia nor Iran is in any condition to provide financial aid to Syria. But the rich Sunni states of the Gulf – especially the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Qatar – do have that kind of money, and if Syria responds to their overtures, their aid, while it won’t make Syria whole, could make a big difference. But they won’t be forthcoming unless Assad makes a clean break with Tehran.

The senior source familiar with Syrian government thinking said that the UAE role in persuading Assad should not be underestimated.

The role of the UAE was absolutely critical in persuading Assad to change his mind about letting in aid. Assad reversed course just as soon as the UAE’s Sheik Abdullah spoke to him about the need for humanitarian aid to be delivered to northwestern Syria without further delay. The day after Assad spoke to Sheikh Abdullah, he informed Martin Griffiths, the UN aid chief, that the aid could now come in. Griffiths then told the world.

A Syrian source close to the Gulf said the UAE had used its “soft power” on Assad and a Turkish official also said the UAE had played a part in persuading him….

“Soft power”? It was, of course, “all about the Benjamins.” Does that count as “soft power”? Isn’t money — its absence or its presence — just as “hard” a weapon as tanks and planes? Assad knows that he’ll need the deep-pocketed UAE, and the other Sunni Arab states of the Gulf, to help rebuild his devastated country, still under the rubble which more than a decade of savage civil war has produced.

A Russian diplomatic source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Russia would have blocked a resolution authorizing expanded aid access from Turkey.

However, a Western diplomat, a UN official and a Syrian source with knowledge of discussions said Russia had signaled to Assad that it would not be in a position to veto such a resolution given international pressure on getting aid in….

Russia at first tried to run interference for Syria in the Security Council, claiming there was no need for additional access into Syria to supply humanitarian aid. But the Russians in the end admitted they didn’t dare veto a resolution calling for more access; the outrage with Moscow would have been too great. In any case, the resolution did not go forward because there was no need, once Syria announced it was opening all access routes into northwestern Syria.

A Gulf source said the disaster had created “earthquake diplomacy” that was pushing forward openness towards Damascus and cooperation on the humanitarian crisis.

“Assad spent the last 11 to 12 years looking towards Moscow and Tehran, and now he is back reaching out to his Arab neighbors,” the source said.

It’s not Iran nor Russia that are in a position to supply humanitarian aid at this point. Syria will let in Western aid. But most of the aid now allowed in is likely to come from the deep-pocketed Arab states that hope to renew their ties with Damascus.

Washington has voiced opposition to any moves towards rehabilitating or normalizing ties with Assad, citing his government’s brutality during the conflict and the need to see progress towards a political solution. US sanctions are a big complication for countries seeking to expand commercial ties.

But surely the Bidenites don’t want to prevent aid from getting to earthquake victims in Syria. Washington can’t prevent the Arabs from attempting to improve their ties with Syria, hoping thereby to persuade Damascus to downgrade its relations with Iran. Any further isolation of Iran – even if it is only the loss of its Syrian ally — is in America’s interest.

Saudi Arabia, which remains at odds with Assad, has said consensus was building in the Arab world that isolating Syria was not working and that dialog with Damascus was needed at some point to at least address humanitarian issues.

The UAE official said there was an “urgent need to strengthen the Arab role in Syria.”

The Gulf Arab states would like to help with humanitarian aid to Syria, not only as a worthy goal in itself, but also as part of a developing effort to bring Syria back into the Arab fold, and pulling it away from Iran’s orbit. Furthermore, once that has been accomplished, Iran would no longer be able to have bases in Syria; the Arab states would demand their closure in exchange for the promise of financial aid to Damascus. Those bases have long been used by Tehran as convenient way stations, where weapons are stored, and some even manufactured, for delivery to Iran’s ally Hezbollah in Lebanon. If those bases are closed down, Hezbollah will be cut off from Iran’s supply of weapons, and its opponents in Lebanon – the Christians, the Shi’a, the Druze, and even anti-Hezbollah Shia – may then be prepared to stand up to Nasrallah and his fighters, especially if they are supplied with money and weapons by the Gulf Arab states. With Hezbollah cut down to size, Lebanon, like Syria, can be brought back into the Arab fold, and Iran, now deprived of its bases in Syria and its former domination, through its proxy Hezbollah, of Lebanon, will be completely isolated in the Middle East. That’s a consummation devoutly to be wished.

Hugh Fitzgerald

Source: https://www.frontpagemag.com/assad-will-at-last-let-in-aid-for-earthquake-victims/

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Atlanta 'Cop City' anarchy sees at least 35 'agitators' detained, part of an 'international group' - Danielle Wallace

 

by Danielle Wallace

Suspects from France, Canada and out of Georgia among those arrested in 'significant escalation' at Atlanta's police and fire training facility

 

At least 35 people have been detained after demonstrators allegedly set fire to the construction site of an Atlanta public safety training facility anti-police and environment activists dubbed "Cop City."

A group of "agitators" left the nearby South River Music Festival around 5:30 p.m. and descended on the construction site of the proposed Atlanta Public Safety Training Center "to conduct a coordinated attack on construction equipment and police officers," the Atlanta Police Department said in a statement. 

Authorities noted how the group changed into black clothing and allegedly began to throw commercial-grade fireworks, Molotov cocktails, large rocks and bricks at police officers. 

Though demonstrations at the 85-acre property in DeKalb County secured for a $90 million police and fire training facility have been ongoing, Atlanta Chief of Police Darin Schierbaum said Sunday’s incident marked a "significant escalation" both in the level of violence and the number of individuals involved in the attack.

ATLANTA'S FUTURE POLICE TRAINING FACILITY ‘COP CITY’ SET ABLAZE

Atlanta police released video of fires set to equipment at the construction site of a police and fire training facility dubbed "Cop City." (Atlanta Police Department)

"This wasn’t about a public safety training center. This was about anarchy, and this was about an attempt to destabilize. And we are addressing that quickly," Schierbaum told reporters. "Actions such as this will not be tolerated. You attack law enforcement officers, you damage equipment, you are breaking the law. This was a very violent attack that occurred this evening." 

The FBI and Georgia Bureau of Investigation have joined the probe, he said. 

"Some of those arrested yesterday were from Massachusetts and New York and France and Canada. So this is a national network, an international group of people that are organized to come to our state to undermine a public safety training center," Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr said in an appearance on Fox News Monday morning. 

Atlanta police said at least 35 people had been detained as of Sunday night. Carr said all but two were from out of state and 23 individuals were charged with domestic terrorism. 

Schierbaum said Sunday night law enforcement were consulting with both DeKalb County prosecutors and the Georgia Attorney General’s Office.

Police say at least 35 "agitators" arrested in attack on "Cop City."  (Atlanta Police Department)

GEORGIA GOV. KEMP DEALS BLOW TO BUCKHEAD SUBURB TRYING TO SECEDE FROM ATLANTA OVER VIOLENT CRIME 

"I can tell you by just looking at the initial reports, we continue to see a number of individuals not from Atlanta, Georgia, that are present tonight undertaking criminal activities to destabilize the construction of a police fire and training center," Schierbaum said Sunday night. 

"This is not a protest," the chief added. "I made a clear distinction of what a protest looks like. When it is a legitimate protest, you have the full protection of the Atlanta Police Department. This is not a protest. This is criminal activity. And the charges that will be brought forth will show that." 

Atlanta police say demonstrators set fire to equipment and throw explosives at officers.  (Atlanta Police Department)

Before Sunday, at least 19 people had been arrested and charged with domestic terrorism since December in connection to demonstrations at the "Cop City" site. Six of the 19 arrests came out of a violent riot in downtown Atlanta on Jan. 21 that was sparked by the deadly shooting of 26-year-old environmental activist Manuel Esteban Paez Teran by Georgia State Patrol. 

State patrol had responded to the construction site to clear out demonstrators. Authorities said Teran, who reportedly went by the name Tortuguita and identified as non-binary, shot a trooper in the abdomen before law enforcement officials returned fire and killed Teran.

 

Danielle Wallace

Source: https://www.foxnews.com/us/atlanta-cop-city-anarchy-sees-35-agitators-detained-part-international-group

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House GOP picks first fight over bureaucratic stonewalling in Hunter Biden probe - John Solomon

 

by John Solomon

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer is forcing Treasury to explain why it is withholding suspicious activity reports from Hunter Biden business transactions: "They're just sitting on the ball."

 

Frustrated already by bureaucratic stonewalling, House investigators are picking their first fight to compel evidence from the Biden administration by pressuring the Treasury Department to release suspicious activity reports filed by banks that flagged concerning business transactions involving Hunter Biden and his business associates.

Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), the chairman of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, told Just the News that he has summoned a top Treasury Department official to a hearing this week to explain why the agency is unwilling to release SARs, a prelude to a possible subpoena and financial punishment of the department.

He accused the administration of trying to delay critical evidence until after the 2024 election. 

"That's their whole strategy: run out the clock, run out the clock," he told the "Just the News, No Noise" television show over the weekend. "You know, they want the subpoena. It goes to court. ... They're just sitting on the ball. They wan't the clock to expire."

Comer wrote to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Jan. 11, requesting access to the SARs, the latest of several requests dating back to last year. The Treasury Department has not provided the documents to date. Comer said the Treasury lawyer who has declined to provide the documents will be called to testify this Friday. 

"She can try to explain to us why, under President Biden, this is the first administration that's blocked the House Oversight Committee or the House Financial Services Committee from having access," Comer said. "The whole purpose to these suspicious activity reports was to be be able to help everyone work together in trying to track down crime. And the fact that she's blocking this and that they are on the accounts of the president of the United States and his immediate family is very troubling."

The hearing is the first in a series of steps House Republicans plan to take to get evidence or punish the bureaucrats who won't turn it over. Comer said in addition to subpoena fights, House Republicans plan to vote to defund non-complying witnesses in the government when the new fiscal budget takes effect on Oct 1.

"So we're looking now for when October 1 starts to identify a specific bureaucrat who refuses to cooperate with our investigation, specific bureaucrats who have clearly abused their power, who don't answer to Congress, who don't answer to the legislative agenda that receive the orders from the people," he explained.

"If they don't abide by the Constitution, they're going to be singled out," he warned. "We're going to cut their salary. And this is something that they better take seriously, because this is the one way we can start to chip away at the out-of-control, control excessive bureaucracy."

Comer said Republicans are also looking to cut other expenses, either by forcing the government to get rid of federal lease and building space or to fire bureaucrats who are refusing to come back to work since the end of the pandemic. The head of the Office of Personnel Management, the federal government's HR director, is being summoned to appear before Congress.

"We have 47% of the workforce working from home," he said. "We've got productivity and efficiency going down. We have so many questions for the Director of OPM."

Comer's escalation comes as another powerful investigator, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, has issued his first subpoenas into the treatment of FBI whistleblowers exposing the weaponization of government.

 
John Solomon

Source: https://justthenews.com/accountability/political-ethics/monhouse-gop-picks-first-fight-over-bureaucratic-stonewalling

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