News and Headlines: In The News, Politics, World News, Commentary/Opinion.
In The News:
Man smashes through front door, begins beating woman in home. But her husband in his 70s gets his gun and ends attack — along with intruder.
Sheriff’s office investigators identified the intruder as Nathan Jerrell Edwards, 31, of Georgia who was staying in a short-term rental a short distance from the home he entered, officials said.
The sheriff’s office said in a separate Facebook post that Edwards was part of a group of friends visiting the area, and investigators found drugs — including LSD, cocaine, THC resin, and unknown substances believed to be hallucinogens — in plain sight when they made contact with the group.
Investigators also found an unsecured firearm, over $1,600 cash — and children.
Twitter Lets Verified Users Spread Fake Photo Linking MN Cop to ‘Make Whites Great Again’ Hat
Twitter allowed the photos — and a trending topic based on the fake news — to spread one day after the Silicon Valley giant slapped a “fact check” label to a pair of tweets from President Trump expressing widely-held concerns about mail-in ballots increasing the risk of voter fraud.
The “fact check” link, which urged users to “get the facts about mail-in ballots,” directed users to a Twitter “moment” — a collection of links and tweets, handpicked by Twitter employees.
The “moment,” intended to fact-check the President, was filled with establishment media articles from CNN, the Washington Post, and other outlets, baselessly asserting that Trump was lying about mail-in ballots. This is reportedly the first time the social media platform has branded Trump’s tweets with a link to a “fact check” of this type.
Several conservative users are calling out the platform for the apparent double standard of punishing some verified accounts but not others for misinformation.
SpaceX postpones manned mission to space station amid weather concerns
Astronauts Doug Hurley and Robert Behnken were slated to blast off to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard SpaceX’s Dragon Crew capsule at 4:33 p.m.
But strong winds, heavy rain and lightning posed too high a risk. Another complicating factor was Tropical Storm Bertha, which made landfall in South Carolina, hundreds of miles north of Kennedy Space Center.
The next available launch windows will be on Saturday and Sunday, though weather could still pose a problem. Currently, there’s a 60 percent chance of favorable conditions during the coming weekend, according to the Air Force’s 45th Weather Squadron.
Federal judge dismisses OAN lawsuit against MSNBC’S Rachel Maddow, rules in favor of fake news
A federal judge dismissed OAN’s lawsuit against MSNBC’S Rachel Maddow, stating that Maddow’s patently false claims are simply her “opinions.”
However, Maddow made every effort to portray her statements as facts and such a decision should be made by a jury, not a lone judge.
One America’s Pearson Sharp explains.
FBI investigating vandalism of Pittsburgh war memorial
The vandalism drew outrage Monday and a pointed criticism from Mayor Bill Peduto. “This is not Pittsburgh,” the mayor tweeted. “Whoever did this. Please leave. Today.”
A Pittsburgh Public Works crew spent part of the holiday cleaning the statue, and Lawrenceville United created a GoFundMe page to generate $$10,000 donations for statue restoration. People had pledged $1,150 as of Tuesday evening.
The statue in Doughboy Square at Butler Street and Penn Avenue was dedicated in 1921 to World War I veterans from the city’s Sixth Ward.
Trump Renews Intent to Bring US Troops Back from Afghanistan
Responding to a question about whether it was his intention to bring U.S. troops home from Afghanistan by Thanksgiving Day, Trump said, “No, I have no target. But as soon as reasonable. Over a period of time, but as soon as reasonable.”
Noting that the number of American forces in Afghanistan had dropped to below 8,000, Trump touched on the changing character of their deployment.
“We’re really not acting as soldiers; we’re acting as police. And we’re not sent over there to be policemen,” Trump said at a briefing in the Rose Garden, adding, “we’re meant to be a fighting force.”
Court Dismisses Loomer Lawsuit Against Tech Companies
The U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington said Loomer and the nonprofit organization Freedom Watch didn’t prove the companies—including Google, Twitter, and Facebook—violated antitrust laws.
In a statement sent to The Epoch Times, Loomer said: “My lawyer and I are confident of success going en banc to the full court.
Today’s decision is clearly politically motivated, given the fact the DC Circuit’s ruling comes the same day President Trump said his justice department would take serious action against these same big tech giants I have sued for censoring conservatives.”
“There’s no such thing as a coincidence. We are prepared to take this all the way to the Supreme Court,” she added.
Fact-Checker And ‘Head Of Site Integrity’ For Twitter Has Long History Of Anti-Trump Tweets
Sen. Marco Rubio weighed in on the subject as well tweeting, “
The law still protects social media companies like @Twitter because they are considered forums not publishers.
But if they have now decided to exercise an editorial role like a publisher then they should no longer be shielded from liability & treated as publishers under the law.”
Wednesday morning, Trump was still very much focused on Big Tech censorship tweeting, “Twitter has now shown that everything we have been saying about them (and their other compatriots) is correct. Big action to follow!”
Twitter users immediately offered up Gab and Parler as alternatives, with Gab explaining President Trump’s move from Twitter to Gab would “shake up the social media landscape”.
YouTube deleted comments criticizing Chinese Communist Party
Comments on YouTube videos containing the terms 共匪 (Gòngfěi), meaning “communist bandit,” and 五毛党 (wu mao), meaning “50-cent party” – two insults directed at the CCP – are being removed from the platform.
YouTube confirmed the removals to The Verge, and said that this was an error attributable to the platform’s reliance on automatic comment filters.
“Upon review by our teams, we have confirmed this was an error in our enforcement systems and we are working to fix it as quickly as possible,” a YouTube spokesperson told The Verge.
Under oath! Planned Parenthood officials admit selling baby body parts
Planned Parenthood has vehemently denied in public that it traffics in the body parts of unborn babies, but under oath in a lawsuit, officials tell a different story.
The group that exposed the unseemly trade in 2015 through its undercover videos, the Center for Medical Progress, has released a new video featuring the testimonies.
“The time has come for federal consequences for Planned Parenthood,” said David Daleiden, CMP’s founder and the lead reporter who conducted the undercover investigation.
“Planned Parenthood lied to the public and to Congress, but now there is no longer any reasonable doubt that Planned Parenthood sold fetal body parts, commodifying living children in the womb and treating pregnant women like a cash crop.
The U.S. Department of Justice must escalate the enforcement of laws against fetal trafficking to the highest level of priority.”
Boeing laying off 6,770 employees, with more to come
The plane manufacturer said about 5,500 U.S. workers have also been laid off voluntarily so far, in addition.
In a message to employees sent Wednesday, Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun said the pandemic’s impact “means a deep cut in the number of commercial jets and services our customers will need over the next few years, which in turn means fewer jobs on our lines and in our offices.”
“We have done our very best to project the needs of our commercial airline customers over the next several years as they begin their path to recovery,” Calhoun said. “I wish there were some other way.”
Fauci Softens Predictions For Coronavirus Second Wave — Not An ‘Inevitability’
Fauci, one of the top medical experts on the White House coronavirus task force, told CNN’s Jim Sciutto on Wednesday that he feels “better and better” about the government’s capability of containing the virus as states reopen.
“We often talk about the possibility of a second wave, or of an outbreak when you’re reopening.
We don’t have to accept that as an inevitability,” he explained.
“When people start thinking about the fall, I want people to really appreciate that it could happen, but it is not inevitable.”
Politics:
U.S. senator warns Twitter could lose shield from liability
Rubio was responding to Twitter’s placement of a corrective “get the facts” alert under a series of tweets by President Trump in which he warned of the potential for vote fraud in mail-in balloting.
Talk-radio host Rush Limbaugh explained Rubio essentially is informing Twitter that “actually having a fact-checker and then standing behind whatever the fact-checker says … turns Twitter into something that is not.”
“He says that it’s turning Twitter into publishers,” Limbaugh noted. “It’s an empty vessel, and its users are who fill it with content.
Once they start adding content like this by putting fact-checkers in and then backing the fact-checkers, then they have abandoned this legal position that protects them from liability.”
Internal Emails Contradict Michigan Governor’s Story on Controversial Coronavirus Contracts
The emails also reveal that agency officials expressed doubts about the purpose of the contract and raised questions about the players enlisted to carry out the collection of sensitive health data from Michigan residents.
In fact, the documents show that Whitmer’s office asked the health department to change the names of the organizations listed in the announcement to appear less partisan.
The emails emerge as Whitmer faces accusations of hypocrisy stemming from her rigid shutdown order.
The Democrat admitted Tuesday that her husband tried to use her name to take the family’s boat on the water for Memorial Day weekend even as her administration cracked down on boating during the pandemic lockdown.
Ingraham: Those who bet against America
Commentary/Opinion:
Democrats are reportedly fretting that the American economy will be in massive recovery mode come fall.
Rod Rosenstein to Testify to Senate Committee on Role in Trump-Russia Probe
Rod Rosenstein will testify to the Senate Judiciary Committee on June 3 at 10 a.m. According to the webpage for the hearing, there will be live video.
In a statement sent to news outlets Wednesday, Rosenstein said he was grateful for the opportunity to testify “about information that has come to light concerning the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act process and the FBI’s counterintelligence decision-making, as a result of completed inquiries by Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz and ongoing reviews by U.S. Attorneys John Durham and Jeff Jensen.”
Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said last week that he would start holding “multiple, in-depth congressional hearings regarding all things related to Crossfire Hurricane starting in early June.”
Former Pelosi Aides Cash in as Coronavirus Lobbyists
At least seven ex-Pelosi aides, including her former chief of staff, senior counsel, and senior policy adviser, have registered as lobbyists on behalf of dozens of companies seeking benefits from coronavirus-related legislation.
The records illustrate how coronavirus relief legislation sparked a lobbying bonanza in Washington, D.C., this spring, benefiting well-connected former political staffers on both sides of the aisle. At least 25 former Trump officials also registered to lobby on coronavirus legislation, the Washington Post reported last month.
At least seven ex-Pelosi aides, including her former chief of staff, senior counsel, and senior policy adviser, have registered as lobbyists on behalf of dozens of companies seeking benefits from coronavirus-related legislation.
Doug Collins reacts to newly declassified Russia probe files
Richard Grenell has declassified a new batch of Russia probe documents on his way out as acting director of national intelligence; reaction and analysis from Republican Congressman Doug Collins.
World News:
The Real Reason Behind China’s Desperate New Hong Kong Law
Commentary/Opinion:
Last Sunday, more than ten thousand people took to the streets in Hong Kong after Beijing proposed at the annual meeting of its rubber stamp legislature a new national security law custom made for the special administrative region.
This is a move at once both carefully calculated and taken in a desperate spirit reminiscent of Russian roulette.
Beijing is taking this action after the mayhem unleashed by the pandemic.
More than 122 countries want an investigation into how the CCP virus outbreak happened in China. Why take such a step, knowing it will bring more international condemnation down upon the CCP?
CCP has actually weighed the political and financial risks carefully. In the end, political safety appears more urgent and critical to the party.
Report: Iran-backed group’s drone shot down over Saudi Arabia
The official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported the incident in a Wednesday press release.
The Arab Coalition forces believe the drone was being used by the Yemen-based group to target civilians in the city, located near the border between Saudi Arabia and Yemen.
“The Houthi militia continues to violate the customary International Humanitarian Law by launching and deliberately targeting civilians and densely populated civilian areas with UAVs, threatening the lives of hundreds of civilians in the process,” coalition spokesman Col. Turki Al-Malki said.
New Zealand Officials Report No Current CCP Virus Patients in Hospitals
Dr. Ashley Bloomfield, the country’s director-general of health, stated during a briefing on Wednesday that there “is nobody in [the] hospital with COVID-19,” the disease caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus after one patient was discharged.
“We’ve had a number of people in hospital[s],” he added. “Never a big number but I think this is the first time in a couple of months we haven’t had someone in [the] hospital. That’s another good position to be in.”
The low infection numbers mean that the country will lift lockdown measures within weeks, and officials allow gatherings of up to 100 people.
Hong Kong Police Fire Pepper Pellets, Arrest Hundreds During Protests Over National Anthem Bill
Protests occurred in multiple areas of the city as people took to streets in order to block traffic and attempted to surround Hong Kong’s legislature, according to BBC News.
The protests that took place Wednesday were largely directed toward a national anthem bill, currently being discussed in Hong Kong’s Legislative Council.
If passed, anyone who misuses or insults China’s national anthem would face a fine of up to $6,000 and up to three years in prison.
Coronavirus: Cyprus to pay holiday costs of infected tourists
Tourists “will only need to bear the cost of their airport transfer and repatriation flight”.
It is part of a package of measures aimed at drawing visitors back to the island, which has reported few cases.
According to Johns Hopkins University data, the country has confirmed 939 infections and 17 deaths.
Commentary/Opinion:
Restaurant Defies State Order and Stays Open
Restaurants like The Original Pancake House Norco are defying the lockdown and reopening in order to survive.
Will Witt visited the California restaurant to grab some pancakes and speak with the owner (as well as many happy patrons) about the decision to reopen.