Cut to the News
Cut through the clutter to today's top news
February 2, 2022
Good morning
Welcome to today's top news.
Leading the News . . .
Joe Rogan's podcast is not the reason people distrust public health directives . . . The obsession with COVID “disinformation” on Joe Rogan’s podcast ignores one important fact: Rogan is not the reason people distrust public health directives. The blame for that falls on hypocritical politicians, two-faced bureaucrats, and the collection of policy failures that people have witnessed and had to endure during the pandemic. Rogan
is not the one who, at the beginning of the pandemic, told people not to wear masks because they were not effective. Health bureaucrats in the Trump administration, including former Surgeon General Jerome Adams and Dr. Anthony Fauci, were saying that publicly and privately. Fauci later admitted that he had lied about masks in order to prevent a run on them. He subsequently pivoted to recommending people wear multiple masks, even if they were fully vaccinated like him. Fauci also lied
about the level of herd immunity because he didn’t think the country was ready for the real answer. Washington Examiner
Soviet Playbook: In my birth country, the USSR, we also didn't believe ANYTHING the government and the media were saying. NOTHING. ZERO. It was all propaganda and lies. We have arrived at the same level of distrust to authorities here in America. Look at all the lies that the Washington Establishment has deployed: Trump-Russia collusion; origins of COVID; effectiveness of masks and lockdowns - these are highly
consequential issues for the health of our society. America is becoming seriously ill because the ruling class is waging disinformation on its citizens, just like the Soviet Communist party did on the Russian people.
Psaki says Spotify not doing enough to point out ‘disinformation’ . . . This is great, we have the government telling private companies what is “disinformation.” Faced with allegations its star podcaster Joe Rogan is saying wrong things about vaccines, Spotify has agreed to add a message directing people to “accurate” information. But this is not enough for the White House. Is Psaki calling for censorship? Does she want Rogan to be fired?
VIDEO | White House Dossier
Johns Hopkins Study Shows Government Cure for COVID Was Worse Than Disease, Lockdown Benefit Provided No Mitigation of Death from Virus . . . An interesting study from Johns Hopkins University shows the 2021 government lockdown did virtually nothing to stem death from the pandemic, but likely created more adverse “social ills” and long-term negative health outcomes. The lockdowns during the early phase of the pandemic in 2020 reduced
COVID-19 mortality by about 0.2%, said the broad review of multiple scientific studies. “We find no evidence that lockdowns, school closures, border closures, and limiting gatherings have had a noticeable effect on COVID-19 mortality,” the researchers wrote. But the research paper said lockdowns did have “devastating effects” on the economy and contributed to numerous social ills. “They have contributed to reducing economic activity,
raising unemployment, reducing schooling, causing political unrest, contributing to domestic violence, and undermining liberal democracy,” the report said. “Such a standard benefit-cost calculation leads to a strong conclusion: lockdowns should be rejected out of hand as a pandemic policy instrument,” the paper concluded. (read more) John Hopkins Institute
John Durham going deep into Russiagate . . . “Russiagate” special counsel John H. Durham is signaling he’s not at the end of investigating the Democratic Party scandal of promoting fake allegations to ruin candidate and former President Donald Trump.
Mr. Durham’s court update on Jan. 25 says he has gained access to voluminous FBI internal affairs case files. The Inspection Division is investigating agents for misconduct in Crossfire Hurricane, as the Trump probe was dubbed. Crossfire relied on the Democratic Party’s Christopher Steele dossier, which proved to be a bundle of falsehoods. The U.S. District Court filing also tells of an internal tug-of-war in which the Justice Department’s top watchdog, Inspector General Michael E.
Horowitz, has to be prodded to turn over everything related to Mr. Durham’s wide mandate. The delay is ironic. Mr. Horowitz blew the lid on FBI Crossfire misconduct in a lengthy 2019 report that detailed FBI rule breaking. Three times in his 19-page submission Mr. Durham tells the judge that his team is conducting an “active, ongoing criminal investigation” not limited to the defendant, former Hillary Clinton campaign legal adviser Michael A. Sussmann. This is not good news for
President Biden and his designee at Justice, Merrick Garland. They want a quick end to the narrative of Democratic Party dirty tricks and political pollution. Washington Times
If America is to remain a democracy, Durham must get to the bottom of Russiagate. Then every single government apparatchik (such as the heads of spy agencies, Brennan, Comey, and Clapper) who deployed a Soviet style playbook of lies on the American people must be punished. Otherwise, nothing prevents their ilk from doing this again.
Leaked Memo Reveals Biden Administration’s Last Minute Scramble On Afghanistan Withdrawal . . . Newly leaked notes made during a White House Situation Room meeting as Taliban fighters gathered outside of Kabul, Afghanistan highlight the Biden administration’s lack of preparedness to deal with the ensuing evacuations. The document, obtained and published in full by Axios on Tuesday evening, comes from the National Security Council’s (NSC)
Deputies Small Group meeting. The meeting took place inside the White House Situation Room on August 14, 2021. The obtained memo was the meeting’s “summary of conclusions” and details how officials were still scrambling to work out simple details for a mass evacuation in Afghanistan. In one note, the memo reveals officials had only then come to the agreement to contact locally employed staff to gauge interest levels “in relocation to the United States.” Daily Caller
Biden nominee for judgeship refuses to say if racial discrimination is bad . . . Okay, just, please, imagine if a Trump nominee could bring themselves to say there was something wrong with racial discrimination. White House Dossier
Build Back Better ‘Is Dead’: Sen. Joe Manchin . . . Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) told reporters on Tuesday that the Build Back Better Act (BBB), President Joe Biden’s multi-trillion dollar social spending package, “is dead,” dashing any lingering Democratic hopes that Manchin will rally behind a further scaled-down version. Manchin’s opposition to BBB has been well-known and oft-repeated for months, and his opposition to the package led it
through one price cut after another. In December, Manchin finally gave up on the project, saying that he would not vote for even a smaller package put forward by his party. Manchin linked his opposition to the bill with inflation, which has risen at a breakneck pace despite frantic efforts by the White House and the Federal Reserve to get it under control. Epoch Times
White House does not mention 'China' in statement supporting Dem's China anti-competition bill . . . The White House released a statement in support of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's proposed COMPETES legislation, which aims to take a harder line in financial and manufacturing relations between the U.S. and China. However, the White House's two-page statement of support did not once use the word "China" – a concerning oversight for many
Republicans who claim the America COMPETES Act of 2022 is all bark and no bite. "It's disgraceful the [White House] Statement of Administration Policy on the bill [Pelosi] claims is a counter China bill doesn't even contain the word China. This is proof COMPETES is not a serious effort to combat the generational threat posed by the [Chinese Communist Party]," said Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, the ranking member on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Fox Business
Republicans will grill Biden Fed nominee over support for reparations, riots . . . The Fed is supposed to operate from a nonpartisan framework, often making decisions that harm the political prospects even of the president who appointed its members. It’s questionable whether someone all the way out on the Left can hold to that standard. The battle over a Biden Federal Reserve nominee is escalating as Republicans prepare to grill her over
her outspoken political advocacy, including her political support for reparations and policing reform, and Democrats accuse her critics of bias. Lisa Cook, a professor of economics at Michigan State University who served under President Barack Obama as a senior economist on the Council of Economic Advisers, was nominated by President Joe Biden to serve on the Fed’s Board of Governors. During her confirmation hearing Thursday, Republicans are planning to highlight her past political remarks
and social media use to raise questions about her commitment to remaining nonpartisan as a top Fed official. White House Dossier
'We Don't Agonize–We Organize': Nancy Pelosi Announces Re-election Bid . . . Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) announced Tuesday that she will be running for re-election in the 2022 midterms. Pelosi, 81, who represents the San Fransisco-based 12th Congressional District, released a video on her political Twitter account stating that "we don't agonize–we organize." "I am running for re-election to Congress to deliver For
The People and defend Democracy," Pelosi tweeted, adding that, during the 2022 election, "nothing less is at stake than our Democracy." Newsweek
God help us.
Trump has more money to spend than the two political parties combined . . . Former President Donald Trump is sitting on an absurd amount of campaign cash — more than the Democratic National Committee and Republican National Committee combined. His political committees raised $51 million over the last six months of 2021, and he ended the year with $122 million in the bank, most of that in his Save America Political Action
Committee. His operation said the money came from more than 1.6 million donations, and more than 98% of those were considered “small-dollar” contributions of less than $200, in what political operatives described as an unprecedented show of force for someone not currently in office. His $122 million in cash is more than reported by the DNC, at $65 million, and the RNC, at $56.3 million. The two national party committees did raise more than Mr. Trump, but they were bolstered by
large donations from wealthy supporters. Mr. Trump’s team said his money came chiefly from small-dollar donors. White House Dossier
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US-Russia Showdown & Putin's Playbook
Russia-Ukraine: Putin says West trying to lure Russia into war . . . Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that the U.S. and its allies are ignoring Russia’s security demands in relation to the ongoing situation in Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday—for the first time in weeks—spoke publicly about tensions on Ukraine’s eastern border and blamed the U.S. of using the issue in an attempt to contain Moscow. The
Kremlin has been blamed by the U.S. and European allies for deploying enough troops to the region to wage an invasion of its smaller neighbor. Ukraine is not a NATO ally, the alliance is not obligated to come to Kyiv’s defense if there is a Russian attack.
U.S. and NATO allies have spoken about supporting Ukraine and hitting Moscow with crippling sanctions, but no country has committed to coming to Kyiv's defense with troops. Putin said Washington has little interest in Ukraine’s security, Reuters reported. He said the U.S. is fixated on containing Russia and the Ukraine quagmire is just an “instrument to achieve this goal.” Fox News
If Putin wins, it’s not only Ukraine that loses . . . The U.S. and Europe should have done more to deter Mr. Putin since 2014. A prediction: Mr. Putin will not start a war during the Olympics, which take place in the People’s Republic of China, Feb. 4-20. He has too much respect for — and fear of — Chinese President Xi Jinping. If Mr. Putin does unleash the dogs of war, the sanctions should be massive — including cutting
Russian banks off from the global economic system. Mr. Putin could decide to do what President Biden inadvertently advised: Stage a “minor incursion.” In 2008, he didn’t seize all of Georgia. He chipped off two provinces, Abkhazia and South Ossetia. As noted, six years later, he sliced Crimea from Ukraine. He could send in enough muscle to sever embattled Donbas from Ukraine. Maybe add a little more strategic territory (a land bridge to Crimea?) before agreeing to a ceasefire.
Maybe, he’d escalate hybrid warfare to coerce a pledge from Kyiv not to attempt to join or even cooperate with NATO. Perhaps he could utilize his KGB skills to arrange for the installation of a more pliable Ukrainian government — like that in Belarus. American and European policymakers are setting precedents and teaching lessons. The rulers of China, Iran and North Korea are taking notes. The foundational rules of the international order will either be reinforced or undermined. The
consequences will extend far beyond the borders of Ukraine and deep into the future. Washington Times
In Clash With U.S. Over Ukraine, Putin Has a Lifeline From China . . . As the United States moves to exert maximal pressure on Russia over fears of a Ukraine invasion, the Russian leader, Vladimir V. Putin, has found relief from his most powerful partner on the global stage, China. China has expressed support for Mr. Putin’s grievances against the United States and NATO, joined Russia to try to block action on Ukraine at the United
Nations Security Council, and brushed aside American warnings that an invasion would create “global security and economic risks” that could consume China, too. On Friday, Mr. Putin will meet in Beijing with China’s leader, Xi Jinping, ahead of the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics that President Biden and other leaders have pointedly vowed to boycott.
Although details of any potential agreements between the two countries have not been disclosed, the meeting itself — Mr. Xi’s first in person with a world leader in nearly two years — is expected to be yet another public display of geopolitical amity between the two powers. A Chinese promise of economic and political support for Mr. Putin could undermine Mr. Biden’s strategy to ostracize the Russian leader for his military buildup on Ukraine’s borders. It could also punctuate a tectonic
shift in the rivalry between the United States and China that could reverberate from Europe to the Pacific. New York Times
Opinion: The exit from the Ukraine crisis that’s hiding in plain sight . . . The Biden administration warns of “imminent war,” yet Ukraine’s president tells the administration to calm down, that the false alarms are damaging the country’s economy. Even though President Biden, his two predecessors, Germany and France have made clear that Ukraine is not a national interest worth fighting for, the Biden administration refuses to tell the Russians
that it won’t do what it has no intention of doing, even at the risk of armed conflict. The Russians would win any conventional clash but at a horrendous cost. The Ukrainians would suffer massive casualties and economic ruin. If the United States and Europe were to impose the sanctions that they are planning, the Russian people would suffer, but so would the French and especially the Germans, as Russia provides much of their energy supply. In Russia, Putin is already under fire for not
having taken Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region in 2014, when the Russian military could have walked in. In Washington, Biden is under fire for not being tough enough. Hawks on both sides peddle false historical analogies and lessons, assuming the other side will back down. Their strategy is based on bluster and a prayer. Is there any way out of this exceedingly dangerous crisis? Washington Post
The US-Russia stand-off over Ukraine is unfolding exactly according Putin's Playbook, which I described in my book.
The Putin-Biden showdown over Ukraine is an extremely complex issue. CTTN seeks to bring you various perspectives on it. If you want to understand Putin's motivations and plans, grab a copy of my book, Putin's
Playbook: Russia's Secret Plan to Defeat America. If you want to support my work, grab an extra copy for a friend or family member.
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War on Police . . . At least 30 police and law enforcement officers were shot in the month of January – up 67% from the same time last year, new statistics show, as the head of the country’s largest police union calls the violence against cops "the worst I have ever seen." Five of the 30 officers shot in the line of duty were killed, and four of the shootings were "ambush-style attacks," the National Fraternal Order of Police said in a Tuesday
press release. The union found that five officers were shot and three were killed by the ambush gunfire. "The number of ambush-style attacks listed does not include the countless incidents where an officer was shot at but not struck by gunfire during an ambush-style attack," the FOP report states. Fox News
FBI chief Wray: China engaged in large-scale hacking operations targeting U.S. tech . . . China’s intelligence services and related hackers are engaged in a “massive, sophisticated” program to steal information as part of a technology theft campaign larger than all other foreign adversaries combined, according to FBI Director Christopher A. Wray. Additionally, Chinese intelligence agents, including professional officers, government
officials and co-opted Americans, are all part of a plan to obtain valuable American proprietary technical know-how to support the ruling Communist Party regime, Mr. Wray said in a speech in California on Monday night. The China threat today “reached a new level — more brazen, more damaging than ever before — and it’s vital that all of us focus on that threat together,” the FBI chief said. He noted that more than 2,000 FBI investigations are focused on Chinese efforts to steal U.S.
information and technology. “There’s just no other country that presents a broader threat to our ideas, innovation and economic security than China,” he said. Washington Times
Islamic State hits back, aided by power vacuum in Iraq and Syria . . . Nearly three years after the group lost its final enclave, Islamic State fighters are re-emerging as a deadly threat, aided by the lack of central control in many areas, according to a dozen security officials, local leaders and residents in northern Iraq. Islamic State is far from the formidable force it once was, but militant cells often operating independently
have survived across a swathe of northern Iraq and northeastern Syria, and in recent months they have launched increasingly brazen attacks.
"Daesh (Islamic State) isn't as powerful as it was in 2014," said Jabar Yawar, a senior official in the Peshmerga forces of Iraq's northern autonomous Kurdistan region. Reuters
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Japanese Study Shows ‘Significant Association’ Between Screen Time and Autism in Boys . . . Research conducted by the University of Yamanashi in Japan indicates a “significant association” between longer screentime for boys at one year of age and being diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) when they are three years old. The research team, led by Megumi Kushima encouraged a review of the health effects of screen time
on infants and to control “excessive” screen time. The research examined 84,030 children born between January 2011 and March 2014 and examined the children’s screentime at one year of age and a diagnosis for ASD at three years of age. The prevalence of children diagnosed with ASD at three years of age was 392 per 100,000 at around 0.4 percent, with boys found to be three times more likely to be diagnosed with ASD than were girls, with no significant association for girls. Epoch Times
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U.S. National Debt Exceeds $30 Trillion for First Time . . . The U.S. national debt exceeded $30 trillion for the first time, reflecting increased federal borrowing during the coronavirus pandemic. Total public debt outstanding was $30.01 trillion as of Jan. 31, according to Treasury Department data released Tuesday. That was a nearly $7 trillion increase from late January 2020, just before the pandemic hit the U.S.
economy. The total debt comprises debt held by the public and intra-governmental debt. The debt milestone comes at a time of transition for U.S. fiscal and monetary policy, which will likely have implications for the broader economy. Many of the federal pandemic aid programs authorized by Congress have expired, leaving Americans with less financial assistance than earlier in the pandemic. Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve has signaled it could soon begin to raise short-term interest
rates from near zero in an effort to curb inflation, which is at its highest level in nearly four decades. Wall Street Journal
Consumers Are Pivoting Spending to Services Like Dining and Travel . . . Goods—including nondurable goods such as food and clothing, and durable goods such as cars and appliances—averaged 31% of total personal consumption in the two years before the pandemic. That soared to 36% in March and April 2021, shortly before Covid-19 vaccines became widely available. The share has been dropping since, to 34% in December. Consumer spending on goods
fell that month for the second month in a row, according to the Commerce Department, while spending on services increased slightly. James Knightley, chief international economist at ING, said consumers are starting this year with “a combination of general fatigue of buying physical things and Omicron reducing the ability to spend on services.” After bingeing on goods earlier in the pandemic, consumers are taking a breather. What’s more, spending on goods has been hit by supply-chain
constraints, rising prices and dwindling government stimulus funds. As warmer springtime weather comes to much of the country and falling infection rates help people feel more comfortable socializing in-person, pent-up demand for services such as travel and dining should recover. Wall Street
Journal
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China’s Grip on the NBA and Corporate America . . . It is no secret that the Biden family has greatly benefited from deals with China – deals that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) undoubtedly has a hand in. In his new book “Red Handed: How American Elites Get Rich Helping China Win,” Peter Schweizer revealed that the Biden family made an estimated $31 million from Chinese business deals. That is no small figure, and
thanks to Schweizer’s excellent and thorough research, we now know where some of that money came from, where it went, and what it cost. However, China’s reach extends far beyond the Biden family. The NBA’s pro-Chinese bias became particularly evident when the Houston Rockets retracted a tweet made in support of the people of Hong Kong during protests back in 2019. Gingrich360
Rand Paul and GOP colleagues support restaurant closed for COVID-19 mandate defiance . . . Sen. Rand Paul and several other Republican members of Congress showed up at a Washington, D.C., restaurant to show support for the establishment just hours after it was given a shutdown notice for defying COVID-19 vaccination and masking mandates.
Paul and members of his staff devoured burgers at The Big Board, a restaurant they had planned to visit last week in a show of support that had already received violation warnings for openly refusing to check patrons’ vaccination statuses, had been fined for its staff not wearing masks, and had its liquor license revoked. But about an hour before Paul arrived, the city's health department slapped a shutdown notice on the restaurant's front door. “It's a big decision — civil resistance,
civil disobedience — when you lose your livelihood. So I'm incredibly proud of him,” the Kentucky Republican told the Washington Examiner, referring to Big Board co-owner Eric Flannery. Washington Examiner
Everyone who is in the DC area, let's grab a friend and go get some lunch or dinner at the Big Board restaurant, to support this brave American.
Nancy Pelosi’s son allegedly tied to fraud and bribery scheme: Report . . . House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s son is allegedly tied to a fraud and bribery scheme that was investigated by the FBI, after documents revealed he was the homeowner of the residence at the center of the investigation.
Paul Pelosi Jr., 53, signed statements that indicated he was the property owner of a flophouse known as “The Pit,” where he had been “legally and financially responsible” for the activity that goes on in the home, according to a report by The Daily Mail. Mrs. Pelosi’s office did not immediately respond for comment on the matter. Mr. Pelosi‘s office has also not responded for comment on the matter. The revelations of Mr. Pelosi’s ownership follow reports of a San Francisco official
being indicted for fraud over being allegedly bribed to stay mum on a real-estate scheme. Washington Times
Drop the Goldberg name you co-opted, Whoopi — you don’t deserve it . . . Opinion. By John Podhoretz. Decades ago, when the performer Caryn Johnson decided her name wasn’t interesting enough and dubbed herself Whoopi Goldberg instead, it wasn’t because Goldberg signified “whiteness.” Through the years, she’s offered many weird and contradictory explanations for her change in moniker, but it might have seemed at the time that
a black person sporting the surname Goldberg would be especially eye-catching and noteworthy (especially in conjunction with that wild first name) because it would represent the proud ownership of her outsider status. She wasn’t trying to blend in. She was doubling down — on race. Note, please, that Caryn Johnson didn’t become Whoopi Rockefeller. No. She knew that by becoming Whoopi Goldberg, she would be choosing to flaunt in every way possible the fact that she was a minority person in a
majority-white country. The “Goldberg” was the cherry on top. New York Post
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