News and Headlines.7/26/2021

US News, Politics, World News, Commentary/Opinion and Video Post. Keeping you informed.

In The News:

‘QAnon Shaman’ Attorney to Newsmax: Client Suffering Mental Issues Behind Bars

Albert Watkins, the attorney representing Jan. 6 defendant Jacob Chansley, known as the “QAnon Shaman,” told Newsmax Monday that his client is having to deal in prison with the diagnosed mental health issues he suffers even though the government has acknowledged he wasn’t a leader on that day.

“This is despite the fact the government has now for the first time come forward and acknowledged that Mr. Chansley was not leading the insurrection,” Watkins said on Newsmax’s “National Report.”

“He wasn’t a planner. He wasn’t trying to overthrow the government, and he wasn’t violent,” Watkins said.

Facebook and tech giants to target attacker manifestos, far-right militias in database

A counterterrorism organization formed by some of the biggest U.S. tech companies including Facebook (FB.O) and Microsoft (MSFT.O) is significantly expanding the types of extremist content shared between firms in a key database, aiming to crack down on material from white supremacists and far-right militias, the group told Reuters.

Until now, the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism’s (GIFCT) database has focused on videos and images from terrorist groups on a United Nations list and so has largely consisted of content from Islamist extremist organizations such as Islamic State, al Qaeda and the Taliban.

The firms, which include Twitter (TWTR.N) and Alphabet Inc’s (GOOGL.O) YouTube, share “hashes,” unique numerical representations of original pieces of content that have been removed from their services. Other platforms use these to identify the same content on their own sites in order to review or remove it.

Fourteen companies can access the GIFCT database, including Reddit, Snapchat-owner Snap (SNAP.N), Facebook-owned Instagram, Verizon (VZ.N) Media, Microsoft’s LinkedIn and file-sharing service Dropbox (DBX.O).

Jonathan Turley: ‘The line between tyranny and public policy should not be a white lab coat’

Constitutional law expert gives his take on an appeals court ruling that the CDC eviction ban is unlawful on ‘America Reports’

PayPal Is Conspiring With The Anti-Defamation League To Decide Which Political Views Are Acceptable In Finance

PayPal Holdings Inc. and the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) announced a joint partnership on Monday that they say will help them investigate how so-called “extremist and hate movements” use financial platforms to fund their activities.

According to Reuters, “The initiative will be led through ADL’s Center on Extremism, and will focus on uncovering and disrupting the financial flows supporting white supremacist and anti-government organizations.”

Given the ADL’s history of promoting leftist talking points, the announced partnership between the nonprofit and PayPal raises concerns about potential targeting of individuals with dissenting political views.

Back in April 2021, ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt called for advertisers to withdraw their ads from Fox News after Greenblatt falsely claimed host Tucker Carlson was peddling “racist conspiracy theories” when he said the Democrats’ open-border immigration policies could be used to lessen the voting power of Americans.

California to Require Proof of Vaccination for State Workers

***(Frederic J. Brown/ AFP via Getty)***

The new rule will take effect next month, officials announced Monday. There are at least 238,000 state employees, according to the California controller’s office.

Health officials couldn’t immediately provide an estimate on size of the health care workforce in the nation’s most populated state.

New York City also announced Monday that it will require all of its municipal workers — including teachers and police officers — to get coronavirus vaccines by mid-September or face weekly COVID-19 testing.

Study: Recovered COVID-19 Patients Possess Robust Immunity To Virus

Published in Cell Reports Medicine, the comprehensive study analyzed 254 individuals with mostly mild to moderate symptoms of SARS-CoV-2 infection over an eight-month period and found that patients possessed “durable broad-based immune responses” to the virus after recovering from an infection.

“The study serves as a framework to define and predict long-lived immunity to SARS-CoV-2 after natural infection,” said Emory Vaccine Center director Rafi Ahmed. “We also saw indications in this phase that natural immunity could continue to persist.” Ahmed served as a lead author on the study.

The study goes on to note that in response to an active infection in the body, the human immune system produces a multitude of neutralizing antibodies, while also activating certain T and B cells to establish immune memory.

Ahmed denotes that these developments make a strong case for some form of lasting immunity to the virus.

Alabama man accused of attempted rape found with 400 pairs of women’s underwear

Uda was charged with attempted rape, three counts of burglary, aggravated criminal surveillance, two counts of illegal possession of a credit card and 50 counts of voyeurism. (Dothan Police Department )

John Thomas Uda, 27, was arrested after breaking into a woman’s home on July 10 in Dothan, police said.

Uda admitted to investigators during questioning that he had previously broken into the woman’s home on July 1 and stole a video game console, which he then sold, Owens said.

Uda has a history of taking underwear, having been confronted by police in 2019 for raiding his apartment’s community laundry room, according to Owens.

Police also seized Uda’s electronic devices, on which they discovered over 50 photos Uda had taken of two acquaintances from the neck down and photos of one victim’s credit card information, according to reports.

‘White fragility’ author says comedy is an ‘excuse to get to be racist’

New York Times bestselling author Robin DiAngelo delivered a blow to the comedy world in a video that resurfaced over the weekend, declaring that it’s OK to “punch up” by mocking White people but that it’s racist to mock people of color.

During an April conversation with YouTuber Joseph Jaffe, which was recirculated by the Wisconsin-based non-profit Mythinformed on Saturday, DiAngelo described her definition of racism and her issues with comedy.

“Comedy is, I think, an excuse to get to be racist, right?” the “White Fragility” author said. “I think TV shows like ‘Family Guy’ and ‘South Park’ and maybe a little bit ‘The Simpsons’ allowed White people to be racist self-consciously. Like, ‘I know I’m being racist and therefore it doesn’t count and it’s OK.’

ACLU slammed for arguing racism is ‘foundational’ to the Second Amendment, its inclusion in the Bill of Rights

The ACLU enlisted Ines Santos, a communications intern according to her byline, to pen a news and commentary piece headlined, “Do Black Americans Have the Right to Bear Arms?”

The intern declared that “anti-Blackness determined the inclusion of the Second Amendment in the Bill of Rights, and has informed the unequal and racist application of gun laws.”

Santos wrote the “vigilantism of widespread gun ownership puts Black Americans in an especially vulnerable position” because of brutality and the human cost of discriminatory policing.

Jaco Booyens: ‘Defund The Police’ Movement Hurts the Fight Against Child Sex Trafficking | CLIP

Jaco Booyens explains why the cuts in police funding are directly impacting the ability to rescue children from the horrors of child sex trafficking.

He also describes the familial trafficking—where the child is being trafficked by their own family members—as the fastest rising trend in child sex trafficking, saying that even more manpower and financing is needed to stop it.

Full Measure: July 25, 2021

The group that made its name teaching survival skills to boys— is now struggling for its own survival. The Boy Scouts have agreed to pay $850 million to 60,000 sex abuse victims. We investigate the biggest sexual abuse court case in history.

Some experts consider China to be the biggest foreign policy challenge facing the Biden administration. From espionage to trade, dealing with Beijing is complicated. You might be surprised how similar the Biden approach is proving to be… to the Trump approach. We’ll take a bipartisan look.

And as the border crisis deepens, no place is more impacted than Texas. I’ll talk to Congressman Henry Cuellar, a Democrat, about what’s happening right now in his home state and what he thinks of the Biden approach compared to Trump.

Yonkers Police Officers and Bystanders Rescue Infant From Under a Vehicle

Surveillance and body camera footage capturing hero cops and bystanders rescuing an infant trapped under a vehicle and rendering aid to her mother after an accident on 7/23/21.

The vehicle crashed into a building after striking the two victims.

The driver, David Poncurak of Yonkers, 43, was arrested for driving while intoxicated, and also faces a charge of second degree vehicular assault. Authorities said he did not have a license. Poncurak remained in custody as of Sunday afternoon.

Small business receives ticket for flying American flag

Terry Trobiani, owner of Gianelli’s in Illinois, says he is taking the case to court.

Politics:

Why Do Democrats Support Sending U.S. Taxpayer Dollars To Help Hollywood Spread Chinese Communist Propaganda?

Democrats’ much anticipated China bill, coined the Eagle Act, was an opportunity to stop the onslaught of Communist Chinese Party (CCP) propaganda spreading throughout American corporate media.

Yet Democrats on the Foreign Affairs Committee threw this opportunity down the drain. By voting down my amendment to the Eagle Act, Democrats opted to continue sending taxpayer dollars to Hollywood studios that push CCP propaganda.

Most in Hollywood know that to access the growing Chinese market, filmmakers, directors, and actors must play by the Chinese Communist Party’s rules—and in the words of President Xi Jinping, “tell China’s story well.”

This means no mention of the CCP’s egregious human rights violations, aggressive cyber warfare, predatory economic behavior around the world, or bullying of neighboring countries, especially Taiwan.

How H.R. 4 Would Let Leftist Extremists At The DOJ Control The Entire Nation’s Elections

H.R. 4 isn’t just unnecessary and unjustified. It’s a dangerous bill that would give the partisan bureaucrats of the Voting Section of the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Justice Department administrative veto powers over states’ changes to election procedures.

As Cleta Mitchell noted in The Federalist earlier this month, H.R. 4 is “even more insidious” than its cousin, H.R. 1, precisely because “it would enable the vastly well-funded Democrat ‘voting rights’ apparatus to control American elections.”

This control would extend over states’ election integrity measures like voter ID (even if passed by ballot referenda approved by all of the voters of a state).

This blatant bias was perhaps best captured in 1994 in Johnson v. Miller, where a federal court issued a scathing opinion charging that “the considerable influence of ACLU advocacy on the voting rights decisions of the United States attorney general is an embarrassment.” The judge was “surprised” that DOJ “was so blind to this impropriety, especially in a role as sensitive as that of preserving the fundamental right to vote.”

Dems Dismiss Inflation Fears

Sen. Brian Schatz (D., Hawaii) said Monday a “serious inflation problem” would not change his party’s plan to push forward with a multitrillion-dollar spending package. The Democrat argued that voters would rather fight climate change than address rising consumer prices.

With consumer prices surging at the fastest rate in 13 years, Biden has also shrugged off inflation concerns by claiming that the trend is only “temporary,” telling reporters in July that “no serious economist” believes there’s “unchecked inflation on the way.”

Many economic experts are unconvinced. According to Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget senior policy director Marc Goldwein, “a lot of reasonable people think inflation is going to be higher than we thought it was.”

Biden’s COVID-19 Death Count Hits 200K, the Equivalent of 83 Pearl Harbors

Biden achieved the grim milestone over the weekend as American athletes were embarrassing their country at the Tokyo Olympics.

The Washington Free Beacon has been diligently tracking the number of COVID-19 deaths in the United States since Biden was sworn in as president.

Mainstream media outlets have, for some reason, abandoned their obsession with mortality statistics (and other crucial “accountability” projects) now that a Democrat is in the White House.

To put the president’s egregious body count into historical context, the 200,296 American deaths on his watch are equivalent to:

• 28 times the number of American deaths during the Battle of Gettysburg

• 67 times the number of American deaths on 9/11

• Nearly twice the number of American deaths in World War I

EXCLUSIVE: FBI Director Wray stonewalls Congress on ‘Warrantless Surveillance’ of Americans

Wray’s refusal to answer numerous questions posed by Congressional members during a hearing on June 10, was met Monday with a letter from House Judiciary Committee ranking member Rep. Jim Jordan demanding that the FBI respond to Congress.

He said holding the FBI accountable for answering those questions is not easy but “in the end the founders made it so congress controls the purse strings – we want to continue raising the issues and hopefully Wray will get us the answers.”

Jordan also noted “that along with the problems with the FISA issue, there are questions about the southern border that are not being answered, as well there are numerous questions regarding journalists like Tucker Carlson, which it appears the NSA was spying on him. These must be answered.”

Biden’s UN Adviser Met With Group ‘Co-Opting’ Americans To Push CCP’s ‘Preferred Policies’.

In addition to advising the think tank, Tung has repeatedly attended SIIS events including its 50th anniversary, hosted SIIS leaders at his events, and even funded SIIS research.

The National Pulse has previously revealed CUSEF sponsoring trips to China for mainstream corporate media outlets in exchange for “favorable coverage” – a program that SIIS has repeatedly participated in.

And despite the think tank’s ties to the Chinese Communist Party’s influence operations, Vertin met with an SIIS Deputy Director and a research fellow as revealed by the think tank’s website.

Vertin has a long-standing relationship with his new boss, United Nations (UN) Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, who also ties to the Chinese Communist Party through her former consulting firm and speaking engagements at Confucius Institutes.

Fox News contributor Joe Concha on the hypocrisy of the ‘defund the police’ movement.

Fox News contributor Joe Concha on ‘America’s Newsroom’ Monday ripped ‘Squad’ Missouri Rep. Cori Bush for the hypocrisy of pushing to defund the police while paying $70K for her own security.

Dr. Siegel: White House ‘confusing people’ with mask messaging

Fox News medical contributor Dr. Marc Siegel breaks down the science of wearing masks after vaccination and what the White House can do to convince more Americans to get the shot.

John Kennedy: Biden lied during campaign, he wants open borders

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., reacts to the White house spending $2 billion to halt border wall construction.

Homan: Biden admin releasing COVID-positive migrants is major ‘incompetence’

Retired acting ICE director and Fox News contributor Tom Homan slammed President Biden for allowing the U.S. border to remain “wide open” while urging Americans to continue holding themselves “accountable to COVID.”

The northern border we have with Canada is still closed because of COVID and the southern border is wide open. And you’re right, I mean, ICE already had 7,500 positive COVID cases run through their system.

Right now, as we’re speaking, they have nearly 1,200 active cases in custody right now that came across that border. And what really scares me is that nearly 300,000 got away this year.

Newsom challenger warns of ‘unintended consequences’ from liberal tax proposal

San Francisco considers transit fees for drivers who enter busy areas during rush hour. California gubernatorial candidate Major Williams with insight on ‘Fox & Friends.’

Hilton: Biden’s infrastructure bill is ‘the left’s socialism slush fund’

The Next Revolution’ host slams the White House for hiding ‘stealth taxes’ in policy push.

World News:

Israeli Airstrikes in Syria Escalate Tension w/ Russia; Prophetic Implications? | Watchman Newscast

On today’s Watchman Newscast, host Erick Stakelbeck breaks down reports that Russia is “running out of patience” with Israeli airstrikes inside Syria and is set to provide the Assad regime with advanced air defense systems to challenge them.

With Trump and Netanyahu gone, Russia appears prepared to take a harder stance towards Israel in Syria: where Russia is aligned with Assad, Iran and Hezbollah, three of Israel’s greatest enemies.

US combat forces to leave Iraq by end of year

The announcement came after Mr Biden held talks with Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi at the White House.

There are currently 2,500 US troops in Iraq helping local forces counter what remains of the Islamic State group.

Numbers of US troops are likely to stay the same but the move is being seen as an attempt to help the Iraqi PM.

Political parties aligned to Iran have demanded the withdrawal of all forces from the US-led global coalition against IS, despite the continuing threat posed by the Sunni jihadist group.

I stabbed my paedo neighbour to death for abusing my son – I did what any mother would do

***Sarah Sands, 38, killed Michael Pleasted, 77, after he groomed and abused her son Bradley then 12***

At her 2015 trial, it emerged Pleasted had 24 convictions for sex offences over three decades.

“I remember picking up a knife and I went to Mick’s.

“I wanted to persuade him to plead guilty so Bradley would not have to testify.

“Mick opened the door and smirked. He was cocky and abrupt.

”Sarah asked the police for help and they advised her to move.

She said: “We went to my mum’s two-bed flat. I thought it’d only be temporary. I asked Newham Council to move Mick. They said there was nothing they could do.

“They could rehome us but it would be away from London. I begged social services for support. Nobody wanted to listen.”

France Warned The US In 2015 About The Wuhan Lab It Helped Build, Former COVID-19 Investigator Claims

In 2015, French intelligence officials warned the U.S. State Department and their own foreign ministry that China was cutting back on agreed collaboration at the lab, former State official David Asher, now a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute think tank, told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

By 2017, the French “were kicked out” of the lab and cooperation ceased, leading French officials to warn the State Department that they had grave concerns as to Chinese motivations, according to Asher.

The NIH, Defense Department and USAID should have stopped sending U.S. federal funding to the Wuhan lab back when the French warned the State Department in 2015, Asher said.

Putin warns navy can fire ‘unpreventable strike’

The Russian navy can detect any enemy and launch an “unpreventable strike” if needed, President Vladimir Putin said on Sunday, weeks after a UK warship angered Moscow by passing the Crimea peninsula. Bryan Wood reports.

U.S offers further air support to Afghan troops

The United States will to continue to carry out airstrikes to support Afghan forces facing attack from the insurgent Taliban, a regional U.S. commander said on Sunday as U.S. and other international forces have drawn down troops in Afghanistan. Jayson Albano reports.

‘Hope we’re still alive by the time you air this’

This video contains graphic imagery. The mass flooding that has gripped parts of China for the last week has devastated humans and animals alike.

The bloated carcasses of farm animals float by in large numbers, and farmers aren’t sure how they’ll survive until emergency aid arrives. Matthew Larotonda reports.

Torrential rains kill over 160 in India

Rescue teams in India used rafts on Monday (July 26) to rescue residents stranded in flooded areas caused by torrential monsoon rains that have so far claimed more than 160 lives in four days.

Landslide kills nine in northern Indian state

Nine people were killed by a landslide in the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradeshin on Sunday as boulders fell and hit the vehicle they were travelling in, news agency ANI reported. Bryan Wood reports.

S.Korea separates athlete meals over radiation fear

The South Korean team has rented an entire hotel, about 20 minute drive to the Athletes’ Village, to cook food for its competitors separately and screen ingredients for radiation. Flora Bradley-Watson reports.

Thousands of Cars Could Have Been Submerged in a 5-Mile Tunnel in China

Thousands of Cars Could Have Been Submerged in a 5-Mile Tunnel in China. Water conservancy expert Wang Weiluo told Simone Gao why Zhengzhou’s $7 billion water control system turned out to be lethal.