Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) grilled Dr. Anthony
Fauci during a House panel hearing Friday over whether the government
should limit ongoing protests, like it has other activities, for fueling
the spread of the coronavirus.
Oversight Committee / YouTube
“I’m not in a position to determine what the government can do in a
forceful way,” a visibly uncomfortable Fauci, the top infectious disease
official in the country, said in responding to Jordan’s questions
during the hearing by the House Oversight and Reform Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis.
“You make all kinds of recommendations,” Jordan noted. “You made
comments on dating, on baseball, on everything you can imagine … you
just said that protesting increased the spread. I’m just asking, should
we try to limit the protesting?”
“No, I think I would leave that to people who have more of a position
to do that,” Fauci, a member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force,
said.
Initially, Fauci was reluctant to say “protests” or anything related
are helping spread COVID-19 (coronavirus disease), providing a general
statement about how all “crowding together particularly when you’re not
wearing a mask, contributes to the spread of the virus.”
“I didn’t say protests do anything,” Fauci said.
After Jordan submitted news articles for the record later during the
hearing, quoting Fauci condemning protests as potential breeding grounds
for COVID-19 weeks earlier, the infectious disease expert said:
Like I said, any crowd, any crowd, whether it’s a protest
or any crowd in which you have people close together without masks, is a
risk. And I’ll stick by that statement. It’s a public health statement.
It’s not a judgment on why you’re there in the crowd. It’s a statement
related to the fact that you’re in a crowd.
U.S. President Donald Trump praised Rep. Jordan for his questions via
social media, retweeting the Republican lawmaker’s tweet about the
incidence.
Can’t go to church. Can’t go to work. Can’t go to school.
Even Dr. Fauci says protesting is dangerous.
But Democrats encourage people to riot and protest in the streets. pic.twitter.com/78Dyjkt6D6
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) July 31, 2020
Great job by Jim Jordan, and also some very good statements by Tony Fauci. Big progress being made! https://t.co/8Oeca9H3yq
At the local and state level, some health officials have expressed concerns that protests may contribute to the spread of COVID-19.
The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects both the freedoms to protest, and of religion, Jordan argued.
He also noted that the government prevents some people from going to work to help hinder the spread of the virus.
“Government is stopping people from going to church, Dr. Fauci,” the
Ohio Republican pointed out, later adding, “You’ve advocated for certain
businesses to be shut down.”
Jordan asked, “Is there a world where the Constitution says you can
favor one First Amendment liberty, protesting, over another, practicing
your faith?”
“I’m not favoring anybody over anybody,” Fauci replied.
Jordan noted that Fauci should respond to his questions because protesting “directly impacts the spread of the virus.”
“I’m not going to opine on limiting anything,” the doctor said. “I’m
telling you what it is the danger. And you can make your own conclusion
about that.”
Ultimately, Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC), the chairman of the House Select
Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, put an end to Jordan’s line of
questioning, telling the Republican his time had expired.
They're lying. This isn't about a virus; this is about a presidency.
UPDATE: The Clark County Sheriff’s Office in Ohio has launched an investigation over the photo.
UPDATE 2: The grandmother of the child from the father’s
side, who was not involved, says that the child is safe and with her
son.
A photograph of a man kneeling on the neck of a white baby while
another person holds the diapered child’s arms is stirring up a massive
amount of rage on social media.
The shocking and disturbing photograph, which was captioned by the
abusers as “Blm now mf” is beginning to make the rounds after being
uncovered by Vincent James of Red Elephants.
The man in the photo’s name is Isaiah Jackson and he resides in Ohio. A man with that name was arrested on July 20 in Ohio for a probation violation.
The paternal grandmother of the child wrote on Facebook that
the photo was taken two days ago while the two-year-old was with his
mother, who is dating Jackson. She told TGP that her son did not find
out about it until yesterday morning.
The grandmother, who the Gateway Pundit has opted not to name for the
child’s safety, provided us with screenshots of conversations in which
the mother attempted to defend the photo when confronted about it,
calling the person “ignorant” and claiming that “he wasn’t hurting him.”
She also claimed she was not present when the photo was taken.
The very angry grandmother said that the baby is now with her son and safe.
“My son is beyond pissed. He took his boy to the ER to get checked
out and everything came back good,” she wrote. “He better be glad
nothing bad happened to my grandson and he better hide from all the
people who will be coming for him when he gets out of jail.”
She told Gateway Pundit that the baby had x-rays taken and that there
were no injuries. She said that she does not think the mother has been
arrested or that any charges have been filed against her. “She should
have been charged,” she said.
Child Protective Services is also involved, she explained, and the
mother will only be allowed to see the child while the father is present
for now. She is not allowed to be alone with him, the grandmother said.
When asked how the family is doing, the grandmother said that they are okay, but none of them slept last night.
“All we could see was that picture in our head,” she explained. “We
just want everyone involved charged for what they did. The guy hasn’t
been charged for what he did yet. He did get charged for a probation
violation.”
She said that the mother is not normally like this and that she
suspects it is because of the people she has been hanging out with.
“When I saw the person holding his arms back it made me so much more
upset,” she said. “The fact that he was crying, it makes my stomach
hurt. He didn’t have anyone there to protect him or stop it.”
WHIO TV 7 reports
that “investigators in Clark County said they are investigating the
post, however no arrests have been made and charges have not been
filed.” Their report said that according to emergency scanner traffic,
deputies, police, and medics were called to two different addresses
Tuesday morning in Clark County as a part of the investigation.
“We are looking into this case, however it is still an active
investigation. At this point we are actively looking into it and we are
VERY early on into this investigation,” Maj. Chris Clark said in an
emailed statement to the station.
We will update this story as more information becomes available.
I want to know why no one has been arrested. There is NO WAY he would be free, or the "mother", if the skin colors were reversed! Enough!! Share, because Americans need to know this sort of thing is happening.
While Joe Biden has been criticizing
President Donald Trump’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, some of
the presumptive Democrat nominee’s top donors have been bailed out by
the administration’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).
Funding disbursement data for the program unveiled on
Monday by Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin indicates that a number of
individuals who have bankrolled Biden’s campaign have also benefited
from PPP loans in recent months.
One of the biggest recipients has been a Delaware-based real estate
developer, the Buccini/Pollin Group (BPG). The firm develops and
operates commercial and residential properties, including more than 40
hotels nationwide. It has been a large contributor not only to Biden’s
official campaign, but also to a super PAC formed to aid his White House
ambitions.
Federal Election Commission records denote that one of the companies
in BPG’s portfolio of subsidiaries, BPG Real Estate Services, LLC., donated
$100,000 to Unite the Country, a pro-Biden super PAC, on December 30,
2019. The contribution came on the same day that BPG’s three principal
partners, Robert and Christoper Buccini and David Pollen, each donated around $33,333 to the PAC. At the time of the donations, Unite the Country was gearing up to bolster the former vice president’s position in Iowa, ahead of the state’s first in the nation Democrat caucus.
Robert Buccini, as well as another employee of the firm, also donated to Biden’s presidential campaign, with Buccini maxing out to the campaign in two installments of $2,800 each. The last installment came on April 29 of this year, the same month that BPG received its PPP loans.
Like many companies in the real estate and hospitality industries,
BPG appears to have been hit particularly hard by the outbreak of the
COVID-19 pandemic. The company, through its subsidiaries, has applied
and been awarded millions from the PPP fund since the outbreak began.
BPG Real Estate Services, in particular, was given a loan ranging
between one and two million dollars from the program on April 3. That
same day, another subsidiary, BPG Construction, LLC., was also awarded a
loan ranging from one to two million dollars. A further PPP loan for
between $350,000 and $1 million was awarded to BPG Office Associates,
LLC., on April 8.
The real estate giant was not the only firm with ties to Biden that benefited from the Trump administration’s relief efforts.
An entertainment company based out of Santa Monica, California—Sidney
Kimmel Entertainment, LLC—received between $150,000 to $350,000 in PPP
funds on April 11. The company, which was founded in 2004 by
philanthropist and film producer Sidney Kimmel, is a film production,
finance, and distribution company. It has produced Hollywood
blockbusters like 2007’s the Kite Runner and the American remake of Death at a Funeral in 2010.
Kimmel, whom Forbesestimates has a net worth of $1.3 billion, is a longtime Democrat super donor. On March 16 of this year, he donated $100,000 to Unite the Country. The following day, on March 17, Kimmel donated $2,800 directly to Biden’s presidential campaign.
Unlike BPG or Kimmel Entertainment, the other firm that drew the most
notice for receiving PPP funding on Monday is not only run by a Biden
donor, but a top surrogate of the campaign.
South Carolina state senator Dick Harpootilan, a longtime Biden
confident and lieutenant, received a loan between $150,000 to $350,000
for his law practice. Apart from donating $2,800 to Biden’s campaign and a further $100,000
to Unite the Country, Harpootilan served as the vice president’s top
surrogate in South Carolina ahead of the state’s Democrat primary.
The state senator, in particular, was at the center of controversy in the leadup to the contest for seeming to imply
that one of Biden’s primary rivals, environmentalist billionaire Tom
Steyer, had purchased the support of the leader of the state’s
legislative black caucus. The issue was significant enough that Biden,
himself, had to apologize for his surrogate’s perceived racial insensitivity at a Democrat presidential primary debate in February.
The revelations about BPG, Kimmel Entertainment, and Harppotilan’s
law firm come as the former vice president has castigated Trump for not
doing enough to mitigate the economic fallout of the coronavirus
pandemic. Biden has accused Trump, both on the stump and in national
campaign ads, of having “forgotten”
about small businesses as the virus has ravaged the country. “Make no
mistake, we’re still in a deep, deep job hole because Donald Trump has
so badly bungled the response to coronavirus,” Biden said last week.
The former vice president’s campaign did not return requests for comment on this story.
A lobbying and public relations firm tied to Hunter Biden, the
youngest son of former Vice President Joe Biden, and the Ukrainian
natural gas conglomerate Burisma Holdings, were the beneficiaries of a
coronavirus relief loan from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).
Blue Star Strategies, which at one time was hired by Burisma to help
the company push back against allegations of public corruption, received
a loan from the program for between $150,000 and $350,000, according to PPP funding disbursement data made public on Monday.
The revelations come as Blue Star has been subpoenaed
by the Senate Homeland Security Committee as part of an ongoing probe
into Biden and Burisma. Blue Star became ensnared in the investigation
last year when a Freedom of Information Act request revealed representatives
of the firm had invoked Biden when trying to secure a meeting with the
Obama-era State Department in 2016 to discuss corruption allegations
against Burisma. At the time, Biden was a member of Burima’s board of
directors and has been linked by the New York Times to the company’s hiring of Blue Star.
The younger Biden joined Burisma’s board in April 2014, around the
same time his father was tapped to be the Obama administration’s point
man on Ukraine. Despite having no background in either eastern Europe or
the energy industry, Biden was paid as much $83,000-per-month for his
services.
Adding to concerns was that he joined the natural gas company at a
time when it was actively courting western leaders to prevent scrutiny
of its business practices. The same month as the appointment, Mykola
Zlochevsky, Burisma’s founder, had his assets frozen in the United Kingdom on suspicion of money laundering.
A Ukrainian official with ties to Zlochevsky admitted in October 2019
the only reason Biden was tapped to join Burisma’s board was to “protect” the company from foreign scrutiny.
It is in the context of Burisma and Zlochevsky’s legal troubles that
Joe Biden’s influence has raised red flags. The former vice president
has particularly drawn questions over his conduct in demanding
the Ukrainian government fire its top prosecutor, Viktor Shokin, in
2016. The demand for Shokin’s ouster was tied to more than $1 billion in
U.S. loan guarantees.
The former vice president, who has publicly bragged about
the firing, has claimed the demand came from then-President Barack
Obama, who had allegedly lost faith in the prosecutor’s ability to
tackle corruption. Unofficially, though, it was known that Shokin was
investigating both Burisma and Zlochevsky for public corruption.
It is uncertain if that probe extended to Biden, although Shokin has claimed that prior to his ouster, he was warned to back off the matter. Regardless of what occurred, Shokin’s successor, who is now himself being investigated for public corruption, dropped the investigation into Burisma.
Biden remained on the company’s board until his term expired in April
2019. During his tenure, Burisma wired millions of dollars to a Morgan
Stanley bank account controlled by the younger Biden and his business
associates. Between November 2014 and November 2015 alone, Burisma
transferred more than $3.5 million to the account.
Last month, Ukrainian law enforcement officials announced they
had seized more than $5 million in what is alleged to be a bribery
scheme perpetrated to benefit Mykola Zlochevsky, Burisma’s founder.
According to reports, three suspects, who all have ties to Zlochvesky,
attempted to bribe anti-corruption officials investigating Burisma and
its founder for embezzlement.
The head of Ukraine’s national anti-corruption bureau claimed the
alleged scheme was not connected with either Biden or his father.
Neither Blue Star nor Joe Biden’s presidential campaign returned requests for comment on this story.
Nobu, the posh, high-end restaurant and hotel
chain — backed by left-wing actor and raging Trump-basher Robert De Niro
— took more than a dozen loans from the Trump administration’s Paycheck
Protection Program (PPP).
In DeNiro’s eyes, President Trump is a “mean-spirited, soulless,
amoral, abusive con-artist son of a bitch.” But that didn’t stop one of
the actor’s prime investments from using the Trump administration’s loan
program for cash, a loan program meant to help keep small business
wrecked by the Chinese coronavirus financially afloat.
The Nobu chain of luxury restaurants and hotels took 14 loans from
the U.S. small business relief program for as much as $28 million, which
went toward properties across the country, from California, to Texas,
to New York, according to a report by CNBC. Nobuyuki “Nobu” Matsuhisa — the celebrity chef and owner of the restaurant chain — has a net worth of $200 million. Meanwhile, Robert De Niro — who co-founded it — is worth an estimated $500 million.
Restaurants were among the biggest recipients of PPP loans, which
were part of the government’s response to financial difficulties that
businesses faced during the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic. The report added
that U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has said that the program
was not meant to go toward companies that could reasonably tap other
forms of capital during the pandemic.
The luxury restaurant chain was founded by De Niro, Matsuhisa, and
film producer Meir Teper, who combined are estimated to have a net worth
of roughly $700 million.
The Nobu group appears to have garnered at least $11 million and as
much as $28 million from PPP loans, making it one of the bigger
beneficiaries of the program. And the luxury group is not the only
well-funded chain to have received government bailouts.
P.F. Chang’s, Five Guys hamburgers. and Bojangles’ Famous Chicken ‘n
Biscuits have also received multimillion-dollar loans. Cafe business
Bluestone Lane was also given a loan worth between $5 million and $10
million.
The report added that franchisees of both McDonald’s and Wendy’s also
appeared on the list and in some cases received loans of more than
$150,000.
Media Matters for America, the George
Soros-funded left-wing nonprofit organization, received between $1
million and $2 million in loans under the federal Paycheck Protection
Program (PPP), according to Treasury Department data released Monday.
The loan money, intended to provide relief to small businesses that
were shuttered because of the coronavirus pandemic, was approved for
Media Matters by Bank of America on April 29, after the progressive
outlet criticized
the Trump administration for its handling of the rescue funds,
suggesting the administration would not seek “enough to do the job.”
Politically-affiliated nonprofits benefiting from the small business
loans, which were created as part of the CARES Act and lent $521 billion
through June 30, came to light in April, as Breitbart News reported,
after several groups such as state affiliates of the American Civil
Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Congressional Progressive Caucus Center
filed applications for the loans. Treasury data has so far revealed that
branches of the ACLU in Texas, Montana, and North Carolina borrowed
between $150,000 and $350,000.
“The PPP is providing much-needed relief to millions of American
small businesses, supporting more than 51 million jobs and over 80
percent of all small business employees, who are the drivers of economic
growth in our country,” said Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
Critics have pointed to a conflict of interest for groups with
political motivations — such as the progressive Media Matters, which has
received
funding from prominent liberal donors like Soros — pocketing the
taxpayer-funded relief money. Media Matters founder David Brock also
founded the super PAC American Bridge 21st Century, for example, which funded in key swing states advertisements attacking President Donald Trump’s “incompetency” in his handling of the coronavirus crisis.
Small Business Administration (SBA) Administrator Jovita Carranza
emphasized the benefits of the paycheck relief program, saying, “In
three months, this Administration was able to act quickly to get funding
into the hands of those who faced enormous obstacles as a result of the
pandemic.”
Although a variety of hard-hit industries from health care to
hospitality were able to benefit from the funding, Media Matters
received a higher-than-average loan, with the average being $100,000,
according to Mnuchin.
The loans provided through the PPP will be forgiven
so long as the money is directed toward payroll — with the stipulation
that employees are retained or quickly rehired, and salary levels are
maintained — and interest on mortgages, rent, and utilities, according
to the SBA.
So, they can bash the president an all of his supporters,but then turn around and take money intended for small businesses? Money no one would get if the Leftists these clowns support has their way? Hypocrites, all!! It's all about power for them. Don't forget. Don't support these liars.
A rescue dog in Franklin, Tennessee, is being
praised for alerting her owner to what might have been a tragic
situation on Saturday.
Just before 10:45 p.m., Jeff LeCates’ three-year-old Belgian Malinois, Roux, began barking frantically at his front door, according to a press release from the city.
“When he opened the door to investigate, she went flying out. He
followed and discovered his neighbor’s house was on fire,” the release
said.
LeCates then started banging on the door to wake the three people who lived inside and get them out of the house, Fox 13 reported.
Thankfully, the family and their pets escaped unharmed and LeCates tried to put out the fire while his neighbor called 911.
“I’m just glad everybody ended up okay,” he later told reporters.
The press release continued:
Ironically, the woman who lives in the home that caught
fire is a dog groomer and the reason LeCates adopted Roux 15 months
earlier. She knew that LeCates had lost his German Shepherd. She also
knew that Roux, who is a Belgian Malinois – a breed similar to German
Shepherds, was in need of a home. She helped to facilitate the
adoption.
The breed was a smart, confident, versatile, and world-class worker
who “forges an unbreakable bond with his human partner,” the American
Kennel Club’s (AKC) website read.
“If you have ever seen a Mal perform an obedience routine, you know
firsthand what a smart and eager breed this is,” the site noted.
Video evidence revealed that the fire started
on the exterior of the house about one hour after the homeowner threw
away a consumer firework, which was prohibited in Franklin, next to a
trash can and other combustibles, Franklin Fire Marshal Andy King
explained.
“King said the fire burned through the exterior soffit and involved
the attic above the attached garage, causing an estimated $50,000 in
damage,” an earlier press release stated.
Good neighbor, to react as he did! Some good news to counter the mess we see every day!
You just can't make this stuff up. CNN, which is supposed to be a news organization, supposedly capable of research, has now decided that a whole slew of terms are "racist", and should be eliminated. Remember the nonsense about fried chicken and watermelon? Well, it's getting worse! They've gone full bore stupid.
Be prepared; the idiocy is deep. They even admit that the terms they target are not actually rooted in racism, but at the same time claim that they are "subconsciously racialized", meaning they can claim you are racist and don't know it. Yes, same way they claim all white people are "racist" just because they are white.
This is beyond stupid. The terms targeted include "cakewalk", which is just a contest for a cake, and has no racial ties whatsoever. Of course, many sites are now claiming just such ties, though they aren't anything I've ever read before.
Tomorrow is the 4'th of July, American Independence Day, and every year, that seems more important to me, and also more under attack. I watched for eight long years as an evil infiltrator tried to destroy this great nation, and people responded by really pushing their show if independence. I also saw places shut down celebrations, for no solid reason, when said places were known to be run by "less than conservative" local governments. A college-town celebration we attended many times was just gone from one year to the next, no reason, no explanation. People attended, when it was running, and they had good music from a local group, playing patriotic songs, some nice areas set up for kids, plenty of vendors, and a pretty decent fireworks display. Never a safety issue did we see, just families setting up in the nice green grass, enjoying the day, celebrating their freedom. Then, gone. After that we had to drive a little, for a small town celebration not too far away, that also tends to have a good show, and a carnival. This year, who knows if anyone will do anything? I know one long-running event in our area was cancelled back in April, before anyone could even know how things would look in July. That's not about safety; that's about stopping celebrations of our independence!! This particular event always included concerts, with big-name bands,some tribute bands, various animal shows, and a carnival, along with lots of food and item vendors, all set up for several days. Gone. The other event, the one we attended some years, also "rescheduled".
I sincerely hope that a lot of people are furious about this, and refuse to allow out celebrations to be eliminated. We are doing what we've done for a few years, to avoid crowds, and having our own celebration. Cookout, a couple of people over, and fireworks. Of course, there are locations where people aren't allowed to even possess fireworks, much less set them off, so those folks have what, this year? They are "free"to sit at home, hearing news reports about rioters allowed to do whatever they want, destroy monuments and statues, loot businesses, attack innocent bystanders, and at the same timealso be told they can't celebrate the 4'th of July, because, "VIRUS1!!" Even the president is under attack, being accused of promoting "white supremacy" for planning to celebrate at Mount Rushmore, and also for trying to protect our historical monuments and statues.
Make no mistake; the goal of these riots, the targeting of statues, the cries of "RACISM!!" are all about eliminating this free nation, eliminating all freedom everywhere. We cannot allow this. We have to stand, to gather together and show that we still value our independence, and will not permit fascist globalists to take it from us. Not for any reason, and certainly nor for faux outrage or a planned "pandemic".
So, if you have plans for tomorrow, to celebrate, keep them! Invite others, make some noise, shoot off some fireworks, gather together, and be sure to talk about it on social media, so the world knows that Americans still cherish our freedom!! Anyone in the public service, police or firefighters, if people aren't actually doing something dangerous, leave them be. Don't allow yourself to be a tool of fascism. Those who like quiet, be tolerant of your neighbors who want to be a little noisy tomorrow night, in celebration of the greatest country this word has ever known. If we don't stand for our freedom, we will lose it.
