News and Headlines: In The News, Politics, World News, Commentary/Opinion.
In The News:
Businesses Across US Defy Lockdown Measures: ‘We Have No Choice’
In recent weeks, businesses across the country have reopened in defiance of their states’ lockdown orders.
In North Carolina, a man who opened his tattoo parlor over concerns he would lose his new home was arrested for violating an executive order.
A barber in Nevada received a warning from her licensing board, including a citation and a $1,000 fine for reopening.
However, restaurants that allowed patrons to dine inside their premises and owners of nonessential businesses who reopened their stores have seen a massive outpouring of support from their local communities.
On GoFundMe, more than $185,541 was raised for the jailed salon owner.
Federal judge upholds California governor’s ban on church services
Judge John Mendez, in a ruling Tuesday afternoon, ordered the Cross Culture Christian Center near Sacramento to cease holding church services after the church sued on the grounds that Newsom had violated their First Amendment rights to free assembly.
Cross Culture is one of several churches that have sued Newsom since the governor shut down the state in March.
California is one of only nine states that has an outright ban on public religious services during the coronavirus pandemic.
Most states either provide exemptions for churches or limit public services to 10 people or fewer.
Florida woman arrested after child found covered with fleas, which also infest responding deputies, cops say
Deputies entered the home and found the child hiding in a closet. While inside the home, deputies reported they became covered in fleas.
Three dogs were inside the home, according to deputies, including one that was 17, covered with flies and unable to walk. Flies, dog feces and urine were found throughout the house.
They also discovered the child’s bedroom had only a bare mattress with a large hole down to its springs, the release said.
Facebook removes hundreds of disinformation accounts linked to Russia, Iran, and Georgia
Facebook announced the move on May 5, saying it took them down in April as part of its ongoing efforts to purge its platforms of misleading information and fake accounts set up to disrupt elections and society in general.
The suspended accounts were active on both Facebook and Instagram, which Facebook owns, and were linked to eight networks, the California-based social-media giant said.
The networks based in Russia and Iran focused their content internationally, while two networks in the South Caucasus nation of Georgia, along with two in the United States and one each in Mauritania and Burma (also known as Myanmar), operated with domestic audiences in mind.
New York Is Charging Samaritan’s Purse Income Tax After the Charity Worked for Free
It’s difficult to separate this matter from the backlash Samaritan’s Purse faced from a loud minority of progressive politicians in New York City who were angered by the group’s Christian bonafides, particularly regarding the mainstream biblical perspective that marriage is a union between one man and one woman.
Despite having provided free medical care to more than 300 patients fighting coronavirus infections, state Sen. Brad Hoylman (D) described the faith-based group’s relationship with Mount Sinai as “poisonous” and New York City Council Speaker Corey Johnson found it “extremely troubling” Samaritan’s Purse was ever in New York to help.
Asked about the backlash, though, Graham told Faithwire they were there “to save lives” and not “argue with people.”
Washington state governor facing lawsuits over coronavirus closures
The lawsuit is asking the court to terminate Inslee’s order unless he can show proof of physical harm to students by schools remaining open.
A study last week in the journal Science that analyzed data in two Chinese cities found that children were about one-third as susceptible to coronavirus as adults, but also had three times as many close contacts as adults while in school.
The second lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court, argues that “the emergency has been contained” and therefore continued restrictions are not legally justifiable.
The lawmakers pointed to Inslee’s decision to return hundreds of ventilators and an Army field hospital to the federal government as proof and said state hospitals are no longer at risk of being overwhelmed.
Texas bar owner, armed men arrested at business reopening after dramatic standoff with police
Ector County sheriff’s deputies and Texas state troopers responded to the scene.
Authorities drove an Armored Personnel Carrier behind the bar before pointing their guns at the armed protesters, telling them to put their hands up, the newspaper reported.
The armed men were then handcuffed and transported to the Ector County Detention Center.
The gunmen said the protest was peaceful and they did not plan on firing their weapons. They claimed they were exercising their Second Amendment rights to protect the bar’s First Amendment rights, the Odessa American reported.
De Blasio, NYPD commissioner: No protests allowed in NYC
The city leaders pointed to the need to maintain social distancing in order to prevent greater spread of COVID-19, stating that this takes precedence over people’s rights to exercise their First Amendment rights of free speech and assembly.
“People who want to make their voices heard, there are plenty of ways to do it without gathering in person,” de Blasio said.
Trump signs proclamation in honor of National Nurses Day
President Trump signs a proclamation in honor of National Nurses Day.
Texas AG tells judge to free Dallas woman ‘unjustly jailed’ for operating hair salon
Paxton, whose office said Shelly Luther was “unjustly jailed” in a release, told Dallas County State District Judge Eric Moyé that he had abused his discretion and emphasized that the woman was keeping her business open in order to feed her family.
“As a mother, Ms. Luther wanted to feed her children,” Paxton said in his letter. “As a small business owner, she wanted to help her employees feed their children.
Needless to say, these are laudable goals that warrant the exercise of enforcement discretion.”
Facebook names 20 people to its ‘Supreme Court’ for content moderation
The oversight board is more than two years in the making, its creation prompted by CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who said in 2018 that he wanted to create “some sort of structure, almost like a Supreme Court,” for users to get a final judgment call on what is acceptable speech and relieve the company’s executives of having to decide.
The creation of Facebook’s oversight board is designed to effectively hand the last word over to the expert panel, possibly taking Zuckerberg and other Facebook executives out of the picture on writing speech rules — and sparing them having to answer questions from users, lawmakers and journalists.
The board members will hear cases in five-person panels except in rare cases where the full board weighs in.
They may also gather evidence about the local context of a speech question.
Mike Rowe blasts Gov. Cuomo over his calloused attitude for out-of-work Americans: ‘Cookie-cutter bromides and platitudes’
Commentary/Opinion:
Speaking with Fox News host Dana Perino on Tuesday, the former “Dirty Jobs” host blasted Cuomo over his callous attitude toward the consequences of his statewide lockdown order.
Specifically, Rowe was responding to Cuomo telling those left unemployed by his order to get jobs as “essential” workers.
Speaking with BlazeTV host Glenn Beck earlier in the week, Rowe said he expects the COVID-19 pandemic will make many Americans realize what their governing officials really think of them.
“I think most of the country is going to come through this with the realization that we’re being treated like children and we’re being fed platitudes, bromides, and bowls of warm milk by people who want us to look at them as parents,” Rowe said.
#ExposeCBS Michigan Health Center Workers Stage “Fake Patients” In COVID19 Testing Line For CBS News
A CBS News crew pulled medical professionals off the floor at the Cherry Medical Center in Grand Rapids, Michigan, to line up in their vehicles so a CBS film crew would have a long line for their COVID-19 coverage.
“Our insider witnessed the whole thing and came to Project Veritas, because he knew we would protect him,” said James O’Keefe, the founder and CEO of Project Veritas.
“The insider told us that medical personnel were taken away from treating patients and making the line longer for actual patients wait for the COVID-19 test,” he said.
Tucker: Policymakers just can’t stop breaking coronavirus rules
Commentary/Opinion:
The elite think that they are above the rules they set for the masses.
Politics:
Senate confirms Trump’s counterintelligence chief after nearly 2-year limbo
Lawmakers voted 84-7 to make William Evanina the first Senate-confirmed director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, which is part of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
The confirmation came just days after Sen. Chuck Grassley lifted his hold on Evanina’s nomination, which he had initially placed in June 2018 and renewed in March 2019.
Speaking on the floor Wednesday morning, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Evanina’s decadeslong career — including as an FBI agent and head of the CIA’s counterespionage group — has given him a “well-trained eye.”
GOP Congressional Candidate Worked to Spread Scandalous Rumor About Primary Opponent
Those messages show Yvette Herrell, who is running against Claire Chase for the Republican nomination in New Mexico’s Second Congressional District, working with the internet cartoonist Roger Rael, known for publishing ruthless memes about New Mexican politicians, on a cartoon depicting Chase having an affair with her current husband while her then-husband, Ben Gray, was deployed in Afghanistan.
Chase has called for Herrell to drop out of the race after a news report surfaced indicating that she helped spread the rumor, a charge that Herrell has vigorously denied.
But a review of the text messages and interviews with sources who say that Herrell contacted them and detailed the rumor undermine her denial.
Anatomy of General Flynn’s FRAME-UP with Andrew McCarthy
Commentary/Opinion:
In this episode of Rudy Giuliani’s Common Sense, we are joined by Former Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Andrew McCarthy, to discuss the anatomy of General Michael Flynn’s frame-up!
Intel chief tells Schiff transcripts of Russia probe interviews cleared for release
“All of the transcripts, with our required redactions, can be released to the public without any concerns of disclosing classified material,” Grenell wrote to Schiff in a letter dated May 4.
The committee, in September 2018, voted in “unanimous and bipartisan fashion” to release the transcripts of witness interviews that they conducted during the panel’s Russia probe.
In November 2018, the committee transmitted the transcripts to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence for an “interagency classification review to prevent the inadvertent disclosure of classified information.”
Grenell, in the letter to Schiff, said that the review of 43 of the 53 transcripts “was completed in June 2019.”
Rand Paul accuses Obama of trying ‘to keep a lid on’ alleged Hunter Biden corruption
Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin is leading an investigation related to Biden’s role on the board of Burisma Holdings, a Ukrainian energy firm that faced allegations of corruption.
In March, Obama representative Anita Breckenridge sent a letter to Archivist of the United States David Ferriero, arguing that the investigation was giving credence to “Russian disinformation.”
Paul appeared on Fox News’s America’s Newsroom Wednesday morning to discuss Obama’s pushback on the investigation, which was uncovered by BuzzFeed News on Tuesday.
Trump’s tax cut plans to revive flagging economy run into Democratic wall
The White House is also eyeing a blueprint put out by the conservative Heritage Foundation’s coronavirus recovery commission, which recommends a number of regulatory relief measures.
One proposal is to stop enforcing certain regulations on small businesses temporarily.
The document states: “A presidential call for a wide-scale policy of nonenforcement would send a very strong signal to businesses that the government is not going to come down hard on them as they try to get back up and running.”
House to vote on massive new round of economic aid ‘as early as next week’
House Democrats are planning legislation at odds with the Senate, which is run by Republicans.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has no immediate plans to take up another major aid package until lawmakers can assess the impact of the $2.8 billion in federal aid signed into law over the past several weeks.
House Democrats are nonetheless pushing ahead with another major spending measure.
World News:
U.S.: Russia, China Spinning Coronavirus Conspiracies To Blame West
Gabrielle said Russia in particular was peddling conspiracy theories that blame the United States for the virus, which has infected more than 3.6 million people globally and killed over 258,000.
“Just to name some of Russia’s most critically harmful narratives — they’ve been using false narratives that the COVID-19 was produced by the U.S. as a bio-weapon.
They’ve pushed out the false narrative that the U.S. and other Western governments have used efforts to contain [the outbreak] as part of a scheme to increase government control over their populations,” Gabrielle explained.
She added that both Russia and China had tried to “push out false narratives” that the two countries “are global leaders in containing the virus, while the EU, NATO, and the U.S. are either unwilling or incapable of addressing” the epidemic.
Israel to keep striking Iran as IRGC scale-back from Syria confirmed – TV7 Israel News 06.05.20
1) After 40 days of relative quiet, Palestinian Islamists launch a rocket from the Gaza Strip toward Israel’s southern communities.
2) Defense Minister Naftali Bennett emphasizes Jerusalem’s resolve to force the Islamic Republic’s Revolutionary Guards out of the Israel’s northern neighbor, Syria; amid corroborated reports of an Iranian scale back.
3) Syrian President Bashar al-Assad voices alarm over his country’s capacity to battle a potentially devastating coronavirus outbreak.
Police Won’t Charge Disgraced Govt Scientist Who Broke Own Lockdown Rules
The Imperial College epidemiologist’s modelling became the basis for the Johnson administration’s reaction to the Chinese coronavirus and resulted in the current lockdown measures.
Professor Ferguson resigned on Tuesday night from his government role after it was revealed that he had allowed left-wing activist Antonia Staats to meet him at least twice at his London home, while she was isolating with her husband and children at a different residence.
Police have been criticised for their heavy-handed approach for enforcing the lockdown, with the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) announcing this week that it would review every charge, conviction, and sentence brought about under the emergency legislation.
While police made a late-night to Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage to tell him that he breached lockdown by travelling to Dover to report on the influx of illegal aliens, police have declined to investigate further into Mr Ferguson’s brazen flouting of the law to carry out his clandestine relationship.
Beijing launches campaign to punish coronavirus patients
The Chinese government is targeting citizens who report contracting new cases, speak out about being infected or mourn the death of a COVID-19 patient;
Gillian Turner reports.
China refuses international probe on Covid-19 source until ‘final victory’ over disease
The World Health Organisation (WHO) says it is waiting on an invitation from China to take part in its investigations into the animal origins of the virus, first reported in the city of Wuhan in December.
The revelation came amid a growing international backlash against China’s “wolf warrior” diplomats, who have launched an aggressive push-back against governments calling for an independent investigation into the outbreak that has killed more than 250,000 people across the world and plunged economies into a global recession.
Over the weekend, Pompeo maintained that there was “enormous evidence” showing that the new coronavirus originated in the Wuhan lab.
Commentary/Opinion:
Victor Davis Hanson: The ‘credentialed class’ keeps getting it wrong with coronavirus response
“Just three states: Massachusetts, New York and New Jersey account for about 55 percent of all the [coronavirus-related] deaths and, yet, they only have about 11 percent of the population,” the senior fellow at the Hoover Institution told “Ingraham Angle.”
Hanson said that, on the other hand, California, Texas and Florida account for 30 percent of the United States population, but have far fewer deaths.
“They’re just radically different situations and this one-size-fits-all just doesn’t work …
We need to focus on [Massachusetts, New York, and New Jersey] and ask ourselves why 11 or 12 percent of the population has suffered 55 percent of the fatalities. Is it the weather? Population density? Is it elevators or subways?”
Is Speaking Out Worth Lost Jobs & Friends? | Bridget Phetasy | POLITICS | Rubin Report
Dave Rubin of The Rubin Report talks to Bridget Phetasy (Comedian and Podcast Host) about Dave’s embracing of his wake-up call in the second chapter of “Don’t Burn This Book”.
Dave has met many people who have told him that they are afraid of speaking their mind for fear of losing their jobs or friends and live in “political closets”.
The social media outrage mob and cancel culture has made it risky to speak what were once considered centrist political opinions.
Dave shares his personal story of how he and others like James Damore and Lindsay Shepherd have come out the other side stronger for not having the beliefs that their peers expected them to have.
Woodstock Happened During a Pandemic & Nobody Cared
It was the summer of love: in 1969 a half a million people gathered together to listen to music, take drugs, have sex, roll around in the mud, and share a densely populated area for one long weekend.
And guess what? The whole thing happened during a health pandemic.