Cut to the News
Cut through the clutter to today's top news
May 25, 2021
Good morning
Welcome to today's top news.
Leading the News . . .
COVID-19 origin dissent 'suppressed' by intelligence community, House GOP report finds . . . US intelligence failures related to the COVID-19 global pandemic include suppression of dissenting views on the origin of the virus, a recent report by House Republicans on the intelligence oversight panel concluded. “We believe the [intelligence community] failed to properly support policymakers with timely products and analysis. The report
that linked China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) to the pandemic’s outbreak states, “Republican members are aware of allegations that [U.S. intelligence agencies] suppressed dissenting views related to the origins of the pandemic and that the community relied upon ‘outside’ experts with concerning yet undisclosed entanglements.”
“Why is this important? This is about bioweapons. This is about biowarfare. This is very concerning,” California Rep. Devin Nunes, the ranking Republican on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, told Fox News in releasing the report last week. Washington Times
How the Liberal Media Dismissed the Lab-Leak Theory and Smeared Its Supporters . . . The hypothesis that COVID-19 may have originated in a lab in Wuhan, China, has gained more and more credibility. A week ago, 18 prominent scientists signed a letter published in Science calling for an open investigation into the virus’s origins. US intelligence reportedly believes three researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology became sick enough in
November 2019 to require hospitalization, lending even more credence to the possibility of a lab leak. This account of the virus’s origins is highly plausible, and at least as well-grounded as the original story of an infection that naturally leapt from a bat to a person. Nevetherless, many mainstream journalists, especially the left-leaning ones, dismissed the lab-leak hypothesis out of hand as a conspiracy theory. In part, they were deceived by some especially voluble public-health
experts. NYMag
My commentary to this awful situation that we are in:
Politicizing intelligence about threats to America is dangerous. It's even more dangerous when the biased media, plays a state propaganda arm, aligned with a specific ideology, and not only doesn't question the predominant "fake" hypothesis, but aids in spread it and suppresses alternative analysis. This type of intelligence-media "collusion" has tragic consequences.
This reminds me of what happened with the Russia threat. Similar to the COVID threat -- mishandled by the Intelligence Community, the government apparatchiks, and the media -- the real Russia threat, back in 2016 and before, was politicized and fell through the cracks. The Democrats, often deliberately, conflated Russia threat with the false narrative, created by corrupt intelligence officials, of "Trump-Russia collusion." The
Republicans didn't want to "touch" the Russia threat, out of concern of casting doubt on the legitimacy of Trump's presidency.
This is why, as a former DIA intelligence analyst, I wrote "Putin's Playbook: Russia's Secret Plan to Defeat America." My hope is that another intel officer steps up and writes a book
about how the COVID threat has fallen the cracks of USG bureaucracy, killing countless Americans.
Biden flips on backing Abraham Accords . . . The White House is now dismissing President Trump’s Abraham Accords between Arab states and Israel — after candidate Joseph R. Biden in 2020 effusively praised the deals and took credit for laying the diplomatic groundwork. The normalization pacts between Israel and a number of Arab states were at the heart of the Trump administration’s Middle East strategy, easing Israel’s
economic and diplomatic isolation and building up a regional coalition of allies to confront Iran and its proxies. Washington Times
Psaki claims rise in crime is due to guns . . . There were more than 20,000 murders last year, the most in about 25 years. Are police afraid to do their jobs because they’ll end up being criticized by the White House for being part of the “systemic racism” that supposedly infects the country. From yesterday's White House transcript: REPORTER: This past weekend there were more than a dozen mass shootings across this
country. 4,000 more people shot and killed by guns in 2020 compared to the year before. Is there a crime problem in this country? PSAKI: Well, I would say certainly there is a guns problem, and that’s something the president would say. There are communities where local violence and community violence is an issue, and that’s one of the reasons that we have proposed and have now are implementing funding for community violence prevention programs across the country. White House Dossier
DeSantis signs bill to fine tech companies for banning politicians . . . Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed a bill Monday that will fine social media platforms that try to permanently ban political candidates. DeSantis and other Republicans have touted the bill as a way to protect Floridians over accusations of tech giants censoring GOP lawmakers, but it faced pushback from Democrats in the state legislature and the tech industry over
imposing control over how platforms moderate content. The bill prohibits most tech companies from banning politicians in the state.
Trump's 1776 Commission urges states to oppose Biden funding for CRT in K-12 . . . A Trump administration commission tasked with promoting "patriotic education" is calling on the Biden administration to withdraw a proposal to fund history and civics programs informed by critical race theory (CRT). The 1776 Commission met in D.C. Monday despite being disbanded by President Biden on his first day in office. It published its final report
just two days before the presidential transfer of power. The proposed federal rule would prioritize funding for history and civics curricula that consider "systemic marginalization, biases, inequities, and discriminatory policy and practice in American history" and incorporate "racially, ethnically, culturally, and linguistically diverse perspectives." Just the news
Rand Paul receives suspicious package containing white powder at home . . . The FBI and Capitol Hill police are investigating a suspicious package that was delivered to the home of Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.). The package also featured an image of Paul in bandages with a gun to his head. The text accompanying the image stated: "I’ll finish what your neighbor started you motherf------". The threat referenced an assault on Paul by his
neighbor in 2017 that left him with five broken ribs. Paul addressed the article about the package in a tweet, writing that he takes threats like this "immensely seriously." "As a repeated target of violence, it is reprehensible that Twitter allows C-list celebrities to encourage violence against me and my family," Paul wrote, slamming the social media platform. The Hill
But Senator Paul is not afraid.
Sasse Urges Biden To Punish Putin After Belarus Hijacks Plane With ‘Moscow’s Blessing’ . . . Republican Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse urged President Joe Biden to punish Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday, arguing that the Belarussian government’s recent hijacking of an airplane was done with “Moscow’s blessing.” Belarus forced down a Ryanair flight between Greece and Lithuania on Sunday and arrested a dissident journalist on board.
Sasse argues the incident shows Putin and his allies are “emboldened” thanks to Biden’s decision to end sanctions against the Nord Stream 2 oil pipeline last week. Daily Caller
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Russian Military Seeks to Outmuscle U.S. in Arctic . . . For Moscow it is the last geopolitical battleground where it holds the advantage over Washington and Beijing. Russia’s military laid the final stretch of reinforced concrete on a runway to Nagurskoye Airbase, located on a largely ice-locked archipelago in the Arctic Ocean, to make it long enough to handle modern jet fighters and strategic bombers. Putin
is turning a once-abandoned staging point for Soviet aircraft into one of Russia’s most advanced military outposts, meant to service the Kremlin’s ambitions in the resource-rich Arctic. A new military district is formed in January under the command of the Northern Fleet, Russia’s foremost Arctic naval force. Russia’s MiG-31 war planes have been landing in Nagurskoye since last year, and the new military district is receiving its own fleet of Su-34 fighter-bombers. The goal is
to project Russian power in a region where Washington is lagging. Wall Street Journal
Power projection? Well, this is a similar reaction that I would get in the IC sometimes, when I brought up some of Russia's suspicious activities. "Nothing to worry about here. This is just for strategic targeting."
Belarus Flight Diversion Worries Airline Industry; ‘We’re in Uncharted Territory’ . . . The forced diversion of a Ryanair flight over Belarus threatens to undermine a set of safety procedures built up over decades between commercial airlines and the governments and militaries of countries they fly over. Belarusian President on Sunday scrambled a jet fighter that escorted the Ryanair commercial aircraft to Minsk as it was passing through
Belarus airspace. Belarus said it did so because of suspicion that explosives were on board. Authorities there then arrested a prominent journalist onboard, before allowing the plane to continue its journey. The European Union, the U.K., Ukraine and Lithuania banned their own airlines from flying over Belarus. Approximately 3,000 flights each week transit Belarus.
The move to avoid the country adds to restrictions already in place in the east of Ukraine following the downing of a Malaysia Airlines jet in 2014. While not presenting a major detour for most airlines, rerouting adds time and additional fuel expenses to flights predominantly between Europe and Southeast Asia. Wall Street Journal
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Project Veritas exposes how FB shuts down COVID-19 'vaccine hesitancy' . . . Facebook is suppressing “vaccine hesitancy” behind the scenes, limiting the reach of comments that express concerns about COVID-19 inoculations or share negative experiences, even if accurate, according to an investigation released Monday by Project Veritas. Project Veritas posted a video featuring interviews with two anonymous “insiders” identified
as Facebook employees, and produced alleged internal documents detailing the tech platform’s effort to “[d]rastically reduce user exposure to vaccine hesitancy.” The leaked documents indicate that the tech giant set up a “Vaccine Hesitancy Comment Demotion” tier system run on 1.5% of Facebook and Instagram accounts, which number nearly 3.8 billion worldwide. Washington Times
University of Virginia bans unvaccinated students from in-person classes, campus . . . University of Virginia students who have not been fully vaccinated against the COVID-19 vaccine will be barred from participating in in-person classes in the fall semester and cannot step foot on university grounds, school leaders announced Monday. Students will have to provide proof of vaccination by July 1. Otherwise, they cannot attend
in-person classes or step foot on university grounds. Just the News
It won't be too long before high schools and universities start mandating lobotomies for students who oppose critical race theory. Think it's funny - look up what the Soviets did with those who opposed socialism.
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US SECSTATE Blinken will find Hamas’ fiery Islamism nullifies two-state solution . . . When US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrives in the region this week for the talks in Jerusalem, Ramallah, Amman, and Cairo, he will find that the prospect of a two-state solution, resurrected this time by President Biden, is more elusive than ever before. Biden hoped the Gaza conflict and ceasefire would serve US
diplomacy for leveraging fresh negotiations for an independent Palestine to rise alongside the state of Israel. That plan has been overlaid by the radical Hamas’ exploitation of the Gaza conflict to spark an upsurge of violent religious extremism. It has spread its anti-Semitic tentacles into western countries thinly disguised as support for the Palestinian cause. DEBKAfile
Colombia Is Being Threatened by Leftist Violence. Biden’s Silence Is Deafening . . . Colombia, one of the United States’ oldest and most reliable allies in the hemisphere, has been rocked by political violence in the past few months aimed at destabilizing the country. The government of democratically elected President Ivan Duque has been targeted by the same violent, narco-funded, Cuban- and Venezuelan-affiliated leftist guerrillas and
terrorist gangs that have been seeking to overthrow democracy in Colombia for the past seven decades. This latest eruption of deadly violence—in a country that has mourned tens of thousands of similarly needless deaths over many years—began on April 28. Daily Signal
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Amazon Nears Deal to Buy Hollywood Studio MGM . . . Amazon is nearing a deal to buy the Hollywood studio MGM Holdings for almost $9 billion including debt, a pact that would turn a film operation founded in the silent era into a streaming asset for the e-commerce giant. The deal would mark Amazon’s second-largest acquisition in history, behind its $13.7 billion purchase of Whole Foods in 2017, and highlight the premium
that content is commanding as streaming wars force consolidation. Wall Street Journal
China’s renminbi hits three-year high against dollar . . . China’s currency hit its strongest level against the dollar in three years, posing a challenge for Beijing as it seeks to balance demand for the country’s exports with surging commodity prices. The onshore-traded renminbi gained 0.2 per cent to reach Rmb6.4052 per greenback on Tuesday, its highest point since June 2018. Financial Times
Why the Belarusian journalist was snatched from the Ryanair flight . . . Roman Protasevich was reportedly arrested during the enforced stopover of Ryanair flight FR4978 that was supposed to take him from Athens to Vilnius diverted toward Minsk. Ryanair called the forced landing an “act of aviation piracy.” Protasevich, 26, is among a group of inventive journalists who have detailed the violence used by forces loyal to
Lukashenko to help him hang on to power. Belarus ranks 158 out of 180 countries in press freedom, according to the annual ranking by the NGO Reporters Without Borders. “Belarus is the most dangerous country in Europe for media personnel. Critical journalists and bloggers are subjected to threats and violence and are arrested in large numbers,” it said. PoliticoEU
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Scholar Removed From American Psychological Email Group For Saying There Are Only Two Sexes . . . An emeritus professor of psychology and neuroscience at Duke University has been removed from an American Psychological Association (APA) email group for suggesting there are only two sexes. John Staddon was removed from the Society for Behavioral Neuroscience and Comparative Psychology Division 6 listserv, which is overseen by the APA, after
posing a series of questions to the group that apparently “upset others.” . Staddon believes the post that resulted in his removal from the group was one in which he asked: “Hmm… Binary view of sex false? What is the evidence? Is there a Z chromosome?”
Staddon was informed of his removal in an email from the presidential trio of the APA division, who said they had received complaints against him. Daily Wire
Socialism breeds censorship and, inevitably, snitching. In the totalitarian socialist USSR, there was also a culture of reporting on your neighbor. You were always on the look out -- before you said something that could be interpreted as criticism of the socialist system -- for whom else might be listening.
DeSantis Asks Reporter Why Iran Leader Allowed To ‘Talk About Killing Jews’ On Social Media But Trump Is Banned . . . Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis torched a reporter Monday who asked whether the governor signed a Big Tech censorship bill because of former President Donald Trump. “You’re loyal to former President Donald Trump, and Donald Trump is now a resident in Florida and he was de-platformed,” the unidentified reporter asks.
“Is this bill for him?” “The bill is for everyday Floridians, this is what we’ve said and it will allow any Floridian to be able to provide what they’re doing. But I do think that’s another issue that has been brought to bear: when you de-platform the president of the United States but you let Ayatollah Khomeini talk about killing Jews, that is wrong,” DeSantis said, referring to the Supreme Leader of Iran.
The crowd went into thunderous applause in response. Daily Caller
The Rise of Woke Anti-Semitism . . . In the quarter-century the FBI has kept data records, hate crimes against blacks have declined dramatically—by more than a third between 1996 and 2019, the latest year of full data. By contrast, the number of anti-Semitic crimes—which are, proportionate to the share of Jews in the population, much more frequent than antiblack crime—has scarcely changed. Outbursts of anti-Semitic violence occurred
at times with the encouragement of black leaders such as Louis Farrakhan or the now supposedly respectable Al Sharpton. This latest outbreak, however, has come about in direct response to the recent conflict in Gaza. The rhetoric of some leading leftist Democrats has helped nourish resentments and prejudices. Rep. Ilhan Omar, with a strong track record of promoting anti-Semitic tropes, has talked of “war crimes” committed in Gaza. Her colleague Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has described Israel
as an “apartheid” state, a weighty accusation of violent racism with historic resonance. Wall Street Journal
The Child Soldiers of the Culture War . . . In New York City, adult activists use teenagers as human shields. Last October, a group of New York City parents gathered outside City Hall to defend accelerated academic programs. The city’s Department of Education had been chipping away at those programs for over two years—part of its "equity"-oriented agenda—and the predominantly Asian crowd was fed up. A group of 16- to 17-year-old
students activists called Teens Take Charge started a skirmish, which was an especially bitter episode in the ongoing debate over New York City’s elite public schools, where standardized tests are an important factor in admissions. Those tests, the city’s education department has argued, are systemically racist, since very few black and Latino students do well enough on them to be admitted to top schools like Stuyvesant or Bronx Science. On the other side of the debate are
parents—particularly low-income Asian parents—who see the tests as engines of upward mobility and oppose efforts to eliminate them. Washington Free Beacon
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Kitten trapped under vehicle goes through car wash before rescue . . . Police in New York said a kitten trapped under a vehicle went through a car wash before being discovered by the driver and rescued by authorities.
The Cheektowaga Police Department said the driver had made an approximately 10-mile drive from Buffalo to Cheektowaga, gone through a car wash and parked at a mall before a bystander heard the kitten meowing in distress under the vehicle. A pair of police officers were called to the scene and climbed under the vehicle to rescue the feline. The owner of the vehicle said she did not know where the kitten could have come from, as she does not own a cat.
The kitten was taken to the SPCA for care. UPI
The kitten is adorable. Reminded me of my late kitty Chunya. :-(
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Rebekah
Rebekah Koffler
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