News and Headlines: In The News, Politics, World News, Commentary/Opinion.
In The News:
Frenchman freaks out during jet fighter joyride, accidentally ejects himself at 2,500 feet
The unidentified evacuator never expressed interest in flying in a supersonic jet and had no military experience, but the report said his co-workers erroneously figured he might like rushing through the clouds in a Dassault Rafale B aircraft, which reaches speeds of nearly 900 miles an hour.
With the jet already at 2,500 feet above Earth, its pilot continued to elevate, further frightening the older passenger. The fear factor reached its apex when the sexagenarian reached for something to hold onto, unwittingly activated his ejector seat and was launched out of the jet and into the clear blue sky.
The unsuspecting Frenchman’s ill-adjusted helmet flew from his head as the terrified homme soared even higher before a parachute was activated, bringing him safely back to earth in a field near the German border.
DOJ Takes Action In Mississippi Drive-In Church Discrimination Case
The DOJ told Fox News they believe the court filing “strongly suggests that the city’s actions target religious conduct.”
The DOJ said the United States files in cases that have “important issues of religious liberty in courts at every level, from trial courts to the Supreme Court of the United States.”
Attorney General William Barr issued a statement giving guidance on how the DOJ should work with religious-liberty cases.
FBI intel analyst dismissed for possessing child pornography, but not prosecuted
Though the supervisory intelligence analyst (SIA) was dismissed, the FBI elected not to prosecute the employee.
The Office of the Inspector General examined the personal and work devices of the analyst, finding pornographic images on the personal devices, though they were determined not to be images of child pornography.
However, the investigation eventually led the agency to determine that the SIA at some point had “knowingly possessed child pornography, in violation of federal law and FBI policy.”
Newsom Lays Out 6-Point Plan to Reopen California
“This can’t be a permanent state, and it will not be a permanent state,” Newsom said.
In a media briefing, Newsom unveiled a 6-point roadmap that he says will guide California’s transition from total lockdown to a functioning society and economy.
The full reopening of the state’s $3 trillion economy will hinge on enhanced testing and a statewide reshaping of businesses, hospitals and schools to further implement physical distancing.
Fauci points to China for late realization coronavirus was his ‘worst nightmare’
He added: “I’m not perfect, and maybe — I wouldn’t say made mistakes — but maybe I should’ve really tried to delve into that a little more about what was going on.”
He appeared to be referring to China’s well-documented efforts to cover up the spread of the coronavirus.
He has previously blamed China by name for spreading misinformation. China muzzled whistleblowers, misled the World Health Organization, and attempted to block outside health experts.
He added: “I’m not perfect, and maybe — I wouldn’t say made mistakes — but maybe I should’ve really tried to delve into that a little more about what was going on.”
Reports showed Chinese doctors knew in about late December and early January that human-to-human transmission of the coronavirus was almost certainly happening, but the Chinese government silenced medical professionals who attempted to go public.
Elderly woman fatally shoots alleged home intruder after he attacks her fiancé
The incident unfolded in Fredericksburg, Texas, in the early hours of Saturday morning when 19-year-old suspect Cleto Neri Solorzano was reportedly attempting to break through an elderly couple’s patio door.
Curtis Roys, the 73-year-old homeowner, attempted to investigate the source of the noise when he came face-to-face with Solorzano.
The suspect reportedly confronted Roys and managed to force his way through the door. He then reportedly proceeded to enter Roys’ home, struck him with a blunt object, and began choking the 73-year-old Roys.
Indiana man waiting for stimulus payment finds $8.2M in his bank account: report
Calvin was supposed to receive $1,700 from the stimulus payments going out to Americans to help assist those impacted by the coronavirus.
The volunteer firefighter said he ran his card through the ATM again to make sure it was accurate, and there it was: He was a millionaire.
Calvin told the station that he immediately called his bank to report his newfound wealth, but by the time they investigated, the money was gone.
Man charged in fatal shooting of Indianapolis police officer
(Indianapolis Police Department via AP)
Elliahs Dorsey, 27, faces one count of murder in last Thursday’s killing of Officer Breann Leath, 24.
Dorsey, who was arrested shortly after the shooting, also faces one count of criminal confinement and four counts of attempted murder.
One of the attempted murder counts stems from Dorsey’s alleged shooting of a woman he had confined inside the apartment on Indianapolis’ far east side before officers arrived, according to a probable cause affidavit filed with the charges.
That woman, who survived her wounds, told officers Dorsey had been acting strangely and saying that she and other other people were trying to kill him or get him.
Police: Woman steals news van, kidnaps reporter to flee crash scene
The bizarre incident kicked off about 5:30 a.m. when the news crew arrived to report on the initial crash near Atlantic Station. A vehicle had wrecked into the gate of The Atlantic Condos on 17th Street, according to police.
Officers were already on scene when the hijacking occurred, Avery said. A CBS 46 photographer was standing outside the news van while the reporter edited footage from the back of the van.
“While the police officers got out to check on the wrecked vehicle, the driver of that vehicle got out of the vehicle — unbeknownst to the officers — walked over to the van that belonged to the news station, got in it and drove away,” he said.
Feds: Online drug dealer from Maryland planned to bomb Nebraska pharmacy
At a court hearing in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, the agent testified that William Burgamy, 32, of Hanover in Anne Arundel County was getting his supply of drugs from a pharmacist in Nebraska.
Under the plan discussed in a journal and text messages, Burgamy and his supplier pharmacist reasoned that if the competing pharmacy were destroyed, Burgamy’s pharmacist would pick up new customers and could then increase his supply to Burgamy without attracting suspicion, authorities said.
“The defendant is a dangerous and volatile individual who schemed to blow up that pharmacy using Molotov cocktails,” prosecutor Raj Parekh said.
Google honors public transportation workers with new Doodle
Google’s homepage features the letter “G” in the company’s logo sending a heart to a bus driver inside of a bus who is represented by the letter “e.”
The company says that as the pandemic continues, Doodles will pay homage to those who are still working on the font lines.
“Today we’d like to say, to all public transportation workers, thank you,” Google said.
Ten U.S. states developing ‘reopening’ plans account for 38% of U.S. economy
California and New York, the biggest and third-biggest states respectively, account for about 23% of total U.S. economic output, figures from the Bureau of Economic Analysis show.
Announcements about the pacts to coordinate plans came after Republican President Donald Trump declared any decision on reopening the economy was up to him. The White House is preparing its own plans which are expected to be announced soon.
But Trump also suggested he would prefer to defer to governors. “I’d rather have them make the decision,” he said in his daily news conference.
Why are some fully-recovered COVID-19 patients getting it again?
Volunteers Needed for COVID-19 Antibody Tests That Can Be Done from Home
Would you like to know if you’ve had the coronavirus? According to current data, the novel coronavirus affects people differently. Many confirmed COVID-19-infected patients go through mild symptoms, whereas three quarters of those who have it are asymptomatic.
In order to gather more crucial information about the coronavirus, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is running a study to try and get to the bottom of the antibodies question surrounding the virus, and it needs your help.
A U.S.-wide serosurvey is taking place, where the NIH is looking for 10,000 healthy participants to be tested for COVID-19 in order to figure out whether they have gained immunity to it thanks to antibodies.
Politics:
Obama Says Biden Has Most Left-Wing Platform Of Any Major Nominee In History
Obama discussed Biden’s platform as he announced his official endorsement of his former vice president to become POTUS.
“The world is different,” he added. “There’s too much unfinished business for us to just look backwards. We have to look to the future. Bernie understands that. And Joe understands that.”
“It’s one of the reasons that Joe already has what is the most progressive platform of any major party nominee in history,” the former president of the United States said.
“Because even before the pandemic turned the world upside-down, it was already clear that we needed real structural change.”
Ex-Clinton lawyer threatens to sue Nevada unless ballot harvesting permitted
In 2018, despite holding substantial leads on Election Day, many Republican candidates in California saw their advantage shrink, and then disappear, as late-arriving Democratic votes were counted in the weeks following the election. Many observers pointed to the Democrats’ use of ballot harvesting as a key to their success in the elections.
“Anecdotally there was a lot of evidence that ballot harvesting was going on,” Neal Kelley, the registrar for voters in Southern California’s Orange County, told Fox News.
In Orange County – once seen as a Republican stronghold in the state – every House seat went to a Democrat after an unprecedented “250,000” vote-by-mail drop-offs were counted, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
“People were carrying in stacks of 100 and 200 of them. We had had multiple people calling to ask if these people were allowed to do this,” Kelley said.
Obama ‘Proud to Endorse’ Biden for President After Months of Silence
President Barack Obama endorsed his Vice President Joe Biden for president this morning after Biden became the presumptive 2020 Democratic presidential nominee.
I’m proud to endorse my friend @JoeBiden for President of the United States. Let’s go:
New York Times Editor Excuses Paper’s Slow Tara Reade Coverage: ‘Kavanaugh Was a Running, Hot Story.’
Commentary/Opinion:
New York Times media columnist Ben Smith asked his boss—Times Executive Editor Dean Baquet—to explain why it took the paper 19 days to acknowledge Tara Reade’s sexual assault allegation against Joe Biden.
The delay, according to Baquet, was because the Times proceeded cautiously,
That’s all well and good, though, as I have noted several times, this was not the approach the Times took with Kavanaugh’s accusers, whose allegations were publicized by the paper as they came to light, generally without additional or original reporting.
To his credit, Smith raised this very issue with Baquet, and the answer was enlightening:
Obama Bros Called Out for Misrepresenting Interview on Biden’s Accuser
The influential liberal activists invited Salon writer Amanda Marcotte on Monday’s “Pod Save America” episode to discuss allegations that Biden sexually assaulted former staffer Tara Reade in 1993.
Marcotte’s interview included a number of false claims about Reade—who filed a police report Thursday—sparking pushback from fellow progressive journalist Katie Halper.
Halper, who first reported the allegations in a March interview with Reade, said the inaccuracies were part of the media’s “demonstrable double standard” in covering sexual assault allegations against Biden and others who have faced accusations in the #MeToo era.
Napolitano slams leaders: We’re witnessing slow death of civil liberties
Commentary/Opinion:
Governors will overreach again and again until a courageous federal court or an outraged public stops them, says Fox News senior judicial analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano.
Wisconsin Democrats win big in last week’s election
The biggest race on the ballot, the race for the Wisconsin Supreme Court, went to liberal Dane County Judge Jill Karofsky.
Democrats also won the races for Milwaukee mayor and Milwaukee County executive.
Marsy’s Law, the state constitutional amendment to expand the rights for crime victims, easily passed.
Wisconsin joins Pennsylvania, Nevada, Oklahoma, North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Ohio, California, Illinois, North Dakota, and South Dakota in passing Marsy’s Law.
World News:
Top Israeli prof claims simple stats show virus plays itself out after 70 days
Prof. Gabi Barbash, a hospital director and the former Health Ministry director general, insisted in a bitter TV exchange that Ben-Israel is mistaken, and that the death tolls would have been far higher if Israel and other countries had not taken the steps they did.
But Ben-Israel said the figures — notably from countries, such as Singapore, Taiwan, and Sweden, which did not take such radical measures to shutter their economies — proved his point. (He also posted a Hebrew paper to this effect on Facebook, with graphs showing the trajectories.)
When Barbash cited New York as ostensible proof that Ben-Israel was mistaken, Ben-Israel noted the latest indications from New York were precisely in line with his statistics that indicate daily new cases figures peaking and starting to fall after about 40 days.
Police in China raid online Easter church service, detain 8 people from their homes
Police raided an online meeting of the church in a simultaneous operation targeting church deacons, ministers, volunteers and regular members in their homes Sichuan’s provincial capital Chengdu on Sunday.
The church had been holding an online meeting to avoid gathering in public because of the coronavirus pandemic, a church member surnamed Song said.
“Everyone was meeting using computer equipment from their homes,” Song said. “The two people I know about were taken away at around eight or nine in the morning of Easter Sunday.”
French Court Orders Amazon to Suspend Nonessential Sales
The emergency ruling Tuesday requires Amazon to evaluate health risks at all its facilities nationwide and negotiate new safety measures with worker representatives, according to lawyers for unions that launched the legal proceedings.
The court stopped short of halting all Amazon activity, as unions had sought.
Amazon must suspend its non-essential trade within 24 hours of Tuesday’s ruling or face $1.1 million in fines per day, said lawyer Judith Krivine. Sales of food, medicine and hygiene supplies are still allowed.
Police officer enforcing coronavirus lockdown in India has hand chopped off in sword attack
(Government of the State of Punjab)
It triggered a pursuit and standoff by police after the suspects fled to a Sikh temple about 6 miles from the market.
A standoff at the temple lasted for about six hours as officers tried to negotiate with the men, who then opened fire on authorities. One of the attackers was injured in the exchange of gunfire, Sky News reported.
The Punjab state government said that 11 men eventually were taken into custody. Officers also seized guns, ammunition, petrol bombs and a large amount of cash.
State Department leaked cables renew theories on origin of coronavirus
U.S. Embassy officials warned in January 2018 about inadequate safety at the Wuhan Institute of Virology lab and passed on information about scientists conducting risky research on coronavirus from bats, The Washington Post reported Tuesday.
Those cables have renewed speculation inside the U.S. government about whether Wuhan-based labs were the source of the novel coronavirus, although no firm connection has been established. The theory, however, has gained traction in recent days.
The United Kingdom has said that the idea that the virus, which has turned into a full-blown global pandemic, was leaked from a Wuhan lab is “no longer being discounted.”
Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, Benny Gantz closer to unity deal
File Photo by Heidi Levine/UPI |
Israeli President Reuven Rivlin extended a mandate for Gantz and his Blue and White Party until midnight Wednesday to complete the process. Gantz had requested two more weeks.
What appears to be a key sticking point is who will have the power to make judicial appointments.
Another divisive issue is that Netanyahu faces a trial on corruption charges, something critics say should bar him from being a part of the coalition-building process. The trial has been delayed due to the coronavirus crisis.
Chinese aircraft carrier sails past Taiwan as US Navy struggles with coronavirus
Japan’s ministry of defense said Monday that the aircraft carrier Liaoning and its strike group, including five warships, passed through the 155-mile wide Miyako Strait between the Japanese islands of Okinawa and Miyako on Saturday, before turning south and passing east of Taiwan on Sunday.
The strait is an international waterway.
“We have conducted reconnaissance and monitoring over the sea and air space around Taiwan,” ministry spokesman Shih Shun-wen said.
The Liaoning, one of China’s two aircraft carriers, is currently the only one in the Western Pacific. The U.S. carriers Theodore Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan are both in port.
Taiwan releases December email to WHO showing unheeded warning about coronavirus
Taiwan is accusing the WHO of downplaying the severity and spread of the coronavirus in an attempt to pander to China, even after Taiwan sounded the alarm about at least seven cases of atypical pneumonia that they were aware of in Wuhan, where the virus originated.
Taiwan said that the WHO and the Chinese CDC both refused to provide adequate information that could have potentially prepared the government for the impact of the virus sooner.
The WHO ignored warnings from Taiwan and continued to reiterate China’s false talking points — that “there was no evidence of human-to-human transmission” of the novel pathogen even as late as Jan 14.
Chernobyl fire under control, Ukraine officials say
There had been fears the blaze could threaten the site of the 1986 nuclear catastrophe.
Greenpeace Russia said on Monday one blaze was just one kilometre from the plant itself.
Though fires are common in the area, Greenpeace said this was the worst in decades. Police have arrested a 27-year-old man and accused him of starting the blaze.
North Korea fires barrage of missiles from ground and air
(AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
A barrage of North Korean missiles fired from both the ground and fighter jets splashed down on the waters off the country’s east coast on Tuesday, South Korea’s military said — a show of force on the eve of a key state anniversary in the North and parliamentary elections in the rival South.
Commentary/Opinion:
California Is Failing
California residents have reached a breaking point;
Tomi Lahren is one of them—she talks to Will Witt about her recent move from CA to Nashville and the mini-documentary “Fleeing California” out now!