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In The News:

President Trump & The Coronavirus Task Force News Conference 4/22/20

Wednesday, April 22, 2020: President Donald Trump & members of the Coronavirus Task Force hold a news briefing from The White House.

Ex-NYC Mayor Bloomberg to lead New York’s ‘tracing army’ to track down those exposed to coronavirus

“We have to put together a tracing army,” he said. “We’ve put together armies before. Never a tracing army. … We can do it.”

He said that Bloomberg, as a result of owning a multinational company, has experience with reopening economies in China and Europe following coronavirus shutdowns, and will coordinate planning along with Johns Hopkins University and Vital Strategies.

“We’re all eager to begin loosening restrictions on our daily lives and our economy,” Bloomberg said in a news release from Cuomo’s office.

“But in order to do that as safely as possible, we first have to put in place systems to identify people who may have been exposed to the virus and support them as they isolate. …

Coupled with far more testing, it will help us drive the virus into a corner – saving lives and allowing more people to begin getting back to work.”

CHP bans protests at California Capitol after rally against Newsom’s stay-at-home order

Monday’s protest, which mirrored others that have sprung up nationwide and have been dubbed “Operation Gridlock,” featured hundreds of people driving vehicles around the Capitol complex in downtown Sacramento honking horns and hundreds of others standing shoulder to shoulder cheering them on as they expressed opposition to the governor’s stay-at-home order.

The CHP’s Capitol protection section, which issued the permit, would not discuss Monday why the permit was issued, instead referring inquiries to the Senate, which has nothing to do with issuing such permits.

That led to Senate President pro tem Toni G. Atkins’ office issuing a statement Tuesday denying any involvement in the matter.

Cuomo to quarantine protesters: ‘Go take a job as an essential worker’

Wednesday’s protests are part of a series of demonstrations that have taken place across the country in the past few weeks.

The governor was asked during his daily briefing on the viral pandemic if he could hear the protestors outside and what he thought of their concerns.

“The illness is death,” Cuomo replied. “How can the cure be worse than the illness if the illness is potential death?”

Asked about New Yorkers who have now gone weeks without paychecks and yet still have bills and expenses to pay, the governor said that unemployment checks and federal relief checks were intended to address exactly those concerns.

“You want to go to work, go take a job as an essential worker,” he said. “Do it tomorrow. … You can get a job as an essential worker.”

California Announces If Crisis Hits, They Have A Point System To Decide Who Survives

The guidelines state: “The ethical justification for incorporating the life-cycle principle is that it is a valuable goal to give individuals equal opportunity to pass through the stages of life — childhood, young adulthood, middle age, and old age.

The justification for this principle does not rely on considerations of one’s intrinsic worth or social utility.

Rather, younger individuals receive priority because they have had the least opportunity to live through life’s stages.”

Virginia ex-convict donates stimulus check to man laid off during coronavirus crisis

Cameron Crockett, 31, of Chesapeake, served eight years behind bars after being convicted of involuntary manslaughter, WAVY-TV in Portsmouth, Va., reported.

He said he now works as a heating, ventilating and air-conditioning technician, and, therefore, is an essential worker under the stay-at-home order.

“I felt like it would have been selfish for me to still hold onto that money for whatever purpose when I have friends out there who are truly struggling,” Crockett told the station.

Protests against coronavirus lockdown orders once again hit Virginia capital

The ReOpen Virginia protest is the second demonstration in Virginia against the stay-at-home orders in as many weeks, and comes as similar events – mostly organized by conservative groups – have rocked state capitals across the country.

As the rally geared up, a steady stream of cars – horns blaring — could be seen driving the state capitol building in Richmond with placards reading “Reopen Virginia, Shut Down Northam” and “It’s The Constitution, Not Toilet Paper” hanging from the sides.

There were also reports of a number of protesters taking to the street on foot.

San Bernardino County sheriff says inmate releases ‘certainly’ make job harder, community less safe

Appearing on “The Ingraham Angle” with host Laura Ingraham, McMahon said that because of the Golden State’s new $0 cash bail emergency mandate, he was forced to release a repeat felony child abuse suspect immediately after his arrest and will have to release hundreds of potentially dangerous criminals back into the public under the new rules.

The mandate took effect last Monday.

The emergency rule allows for 13 exceptions for serious and violent felonies.

The repeat offender was released because child abuse inexplicably does not appear on the state’s list of exemptions for $0 cash bail.

Louisville mayor reverses drive-in service ban after church was vandalized

“We are grateful to Mayor Fischer and Louisville city officials who worked with us to ensure their policies are both consistent with the Constitution and the CDC’s guidelines,” Roger Byron, First Liberty lawyer representing the church, said in a statement to Fox News.

When Fisher announced the ban ahead of Easter Sunday, he encouraged citizens to report any churches violating the order to the city’s 311 number.

But days later, a federal judge ruled in favor of On Fire, stating the mayor violated the free-exercise clause in the First Amendment of the Constitution “beyond all question.”

“The members of On Fire Christian Church are saddened by this crime. We hope [the] agreement will end the violence against the church,” Roger Byron, First Liberty lawyer, said in a statement to Fox News.

YouTube will remove any coronavirus content that goes against WHO recommendations

In an interview with CNN’s Brian Stelter, Wojcicki described the aggressive measures YouTube is taking to combat what it perceives to be misinformation about the COVID-19 pandemic.

Anything that would go against World Health Organization recommendations would be a violation of our policy. And so remove is another really important part of our policy.”

Wojcicki’s standard for removing videos is more strict than the standard previously established by YouTube in a statement,

New York state instructs paramedics not to revive cardiac patients amid coronavirus crisis: report

The memo insisted similar guidelines have been issued “in many areas of the U.S. as well as other locations throughout the world.”

“These changes are based on standards widely agreed upon by the physician leaders of EMS Regional Medical Control Systems across NYS and the Medical Standards Committee of the State Emergency Medical Services Advisory Council,” a health department spokesperson said in a statement.

This comes after the Regional Emergency Medical Services Council of New York, which oversees the city’s ambulance service, instructed paramedics last month not to bring patients whose hearts could not be restarted at the scene into hospitals already overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients.

Navy to announce fate of fired Theodore Roosevelt captain as ship’s coronavirus cases surpass 700

Adm. Mike Gilday, chief of naval operations and the service’s top officer, will announce investigation results as early as Wednesday at the Pentagon, according to a Navy official.

The fate of the Roosevelt’s former commanding officer, Capt. Brett Crozier, hinges on whether Gilday agrees with an assessment by former acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modley that Crozier isn’t fit for command because he did not take proper steps to ensure his letter did not leak.

The San Diego-based Theodore Roosevelt left home port at Naval Air Station North Island in January for a routine deployment.

The Navy announced the first known cases of COVID-19 on board March 24, two weeks after the ship visited Vietnam./

US troops say they braved Iranian missile attack despite being warned hours earlier

An intelligence warning gave base leaders only several hours to prepare. Both bases were hit with 12 ballistic missiles that night, but no members of the military were killed, according to the report.

Lt. Col. Staci Coleman, commander of Al Assad airbase, said she told her flight commanders to select who would stay behind, based on ability.

“My flight commanders were responsible for compiling the lists of personnel, and I explained it needed to be divided by combat capability and then by those they believed were emotionally equipped to endure remaining behind for a possible missile attack,” she said.

Politics:

Newly Declassified Documents Show John Kerry’s State Department Spread Russia Collusion Narrative

The State Department’s accusation that Page was a Russian agent “raises questions in light of previous reporting exposing connections on spreading the dossier claims between elements of Kerry’s State Department and Steele, as well as ties to longtime Clinton confidant Sidney Blumenthal and Cody Shearer, who is a controversial figure long tied to various Clinton scandals” notes Breitbart.

John Kerry’s chief of staff at the State Department, John Finer, was also instrumental in distributing the dossier.

When Finer received a summary of the dossier, although it was questionable, he shared it with John Kerry.

Finer had received the dossier summary from an Obama State Department official, Jonathan M. Winer “who acknowledged regularly interfacing and exchanging information with Steele.”

Tucker: Executive order fails to protect American jobs

Commentary/Opinion: President Trump’s immigration pause will last for 60 days and doesn’t apply to temporary workers.

Did John Brennan Expose His Role in the 2016 Election?

Commentary/Opinion:
Did John Brennan Expose Himself?

“In 2016, we know from great work that Trey Gowdy did at the time … that the CIA gave information over to the FBI in 2016,” Nunes told Fox News in an interview.

“We now are laser-focused on that. We need to know: Exactly what did the CIA give to the FBI in 2016? That’s what our investigation is now focusing on.”

Based on publicly available information, including statements from the man himself, then CIA Director John Brennan, under President Barack Obama, appears to have played a key role in establishing the FBI’s counterintelligence investigation into the Trump campaign—including making repeated use of questionable foreign intelligence during the period leading up to the 2016 presidential election.

Brennan, in Congressional testimony and media interviews, has provided significant insight into his own actions and those of the CIA in connection with the investigation of the Trump campaign, including the obtaining of foreign intelligence on members of the Trump campaign.

McConnell harshly responds to Pelosi’s funding criticism

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell details next phase of coronavirus relief on “Bill Hemmer Reports.’

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Calls For National Work Boycott Post-Coronavirus

“When we talk about this idea of ‘reopening society’ you know, only in America- does the President, when the President tweets about liberation, does he mean go back to work.

When we have this discussion about going back or reopening, I think a lot people should just say “no”- we’re not going back to that.

We’re not going back to working 70 hour weeks just so that we can put food on the table and not even feel any sort of semblance of security in our lives,” Ocasio-Cortez said.

The full segment of Ocasio-Cortez’s interview debuts Wednesday at 10 pm on VICE TV.

Schiff gets slapped by acting director of national intelligence

The reprimand came Monday from Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell in response to the Democrat’s letter objecting to the Trump administration’s shakeup of the spy community.

Schiff wrote to Grenell expressing “concern” that the acting DNI was making changes in the office “without consulting and seeking authorization from Congress.”

“President Trump did not nominate you for confirmation as permanent DNI, and it would be inappropriate for you to pursue any additional leadership, organizational, or staffing changes to ODNI during your temporary tenure,” the House Intelligence Committee chairman wrote.

Democratic Georgia rep who endorsed Trump resigns after backlash: report

“Turn the lights off, I have left the plantation,” Jones said in a separate statement officially announcing his resignation, according to the Journal-Constitution. “Someone else can occupy that suite.

Therefore, I intend not to complete my term effective April 22, 2020.”

State Sen. Nikema Williams, chairwoman of the state Democratic Party, issued a statement soon after Jones’ endorsement of Trump calling Jones an “embarrassment,” adding, he “does not stand for our values.”

“I’ve seen more Democrats attack me for my decision to endorse @realdonaldtrump than ask me why,” he said. “They’ve used and abused folks in my community for far too long, taking our votes for granted. Black Americans are waking up. An uprising is near.”

Judicial Watch: Emails Suggest Obama FBI Knew McCain Leaked Trump Dossier

The records include an email dated January 10, 2017, in which Strzok said that the version of the dossier published by BuzzFeed was “identical” to the version given to the FBI by McCain and had “differences” from the dossier provided to the FBI by Fusion GPS co-founder Glenn Simpson and Mother Jones reporter David Corn.

January 10, 2017, is the same day BuzzFeed published the anti-Trump dossier by former British spy Christopher Steele, The emails also show Strzok and other FBI agents mocking President Trump a few weeks before he was inaugurated.

In addition, the emails reveal that Strzok communicated with then-Deputy Director Andrew McCabe about the “leak investigation” tied to the Clinton Foundation (the very leak in which McCabe was later implicated).

World News:

Turkey says virus outbreak is ‘under control’

Speaking to reporters after a meeting of Turkey’s scientific advisory council, Fahrettin Koca reported 117 additional COVID-19 deaths in the past 24 hours, raising the country’s total to 2,376.

The minister also reported 3,083 new confirmed infections, raising the total to 98,674. The number of new reported cases was the lowest since April 4 and down from 4,611 reported the previous day.

A total of 16,477 patients have recovered, the minister said.

“The data indicates that the outbreak is under control,” Koca told reporters.

Terror attack near Jerusalem; Iran’s IRGC launches satellite into orbit – TV7 Israel News 22.04.20

1) Following two-weeks of seeming’ decline in the upward trend of newly confirmed corona-virus cases throughout the state of Israel; it now appears that an exponential rise has once again taken hold.

2) A ramming and stabbing terror attack took place earlier today at a military checkpoint near Jerusalem.

3) The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Crops announced this morning that it had successfully launched its first military satellite into orbit.

Trump says he’s instructed Navy to ‘destroy’ any Iranian gunboats harassing US ships

The Navy said that the Iranian’s dangerous and provocative actions “increased the risk of miscalculation and collision” and were in violation of international maritime “rules of the road.”

The Navy also said they were not in accordance with international law to act safely with other vessels in the area.

The incident last week came one day after Iranian gunmen stormed a Hong Kong-flagged tanker in the Strait of Hormuz before quickly leaving when they learned the vessel was from China.

Coronavirus: South Africa deploys 70,000 troops to enforce lockdown

Businesses that provide essential services have been applying for a special permit from the government that allows their members of staff to go outside.

The restrictions include no jogging outside, no sales of alcohol or cigarettes, no dog-walking, no leaving home except for essential trips and prison or heavy fines for law-breaking.

The initial army deployment came as no surprise – 2,280 troops were deployed at the beginning of the lockdown 27 days ago.

But this latest deployment has shocked many – it is the country’s biggest military deployment for domestic purposes since the dawn of democracy in 1994.

Islamist group kills 52 in ‘cruel and diabolical’ Mozambique massacre

More than 50 people were massacred in an attack in Xitaxi in Muidumbe district after locals refused to be recruited to its ranks, according to police cited by local media. Most were either shot dead or beheaded.

“The criminals tried to recruit young people to join their ranks, but there was resistance.

This provoked the anger of the criminals, who indiscriminately killed – cruelly and diabolically – 52 young people,” police spokesman Orlando Mudumane told the state-owned broadcasting service.

The attack occurred more than two weeks ago but details have only emerged now.

Commentary/Opinion:

Michelle dismantles the “immigration ban” farce, blasts open-borders Tommy Tuberville.

Michelle talks to Alabama talk show host Dale Jackson about the massive loopholes in President Trump’s “immigration ban” and exposes GOP Sen. candidate Tommy Tuberville’s clueless push to bring 400,000(!!!) Indians to America to feed the insatiable appetite of Big Business.

There Is No Such Thing As A Non-Essential Business | The Matt Walsh Show Ep. 471

Today on the Matt Walsh Show, we hear a lot about non-essential businesses these days, but I want to talk about why I think there is no such thing as a non-essential business.

Also, Five Headlines, including a mother arrested on a playground, and airlines coming up with a pretty horrifying way to reconfigure their seating arrangements in response to the coronavirus.

Plus, the Daily Cancellation and your emails.