News and Headlines.8/4/2021

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

In The News:

US Coast Guard turns 231 today – here’s how the military celebrated

(Andrea L. Anderson/U.S. Coast Guard)
(Andrea L. Anderson/U.S. Coast Guard)

The branch shared a string of posts to commemorate the day, the first of which said, “For the past 231 years, we have been proud to serve in the interest of all people around the world. We strive to serve you with #Honor, #Respect and #DevotiontoDuty.”

The Coast Guard was first formed as “The Revenue Cutter Service” by authorization of the Tariff Act signed into law on Aug. 4, 1790, by President George Washington.

The law, originally proposed by Secretary Alexander Hamilton, authorized the construction of ten “cutter” vessels intended to combat smuggling by enforcing federal laws on tariff and trade.

Pentagon identifies Army vet officer killed in attack outside Pentagon

Pentagon Police Officer George Gonzalez killed outside the Pentagon on Aug. 3, 2021. (Department of Defense/Released)

“Last night, the Pentagon Force Protection Agency observed End of Watch for Pentagon Police Officer George Gonzalez who was tragically killed yesterday during the incident at the Pentagon bus platform,” Pentagon Force Protection Agency announced in an email to American Military News.

On Tuesday afternoon, Pentagon Police Chief Woodrow Kusse said only that a Pentagon police officer “was attacked” on the metro platform, and an exchange of gunfire followed. Kusse confirmed “several injuries resulted from the incident,” but did not provide additional details.

The Associated Press reported the suspect was shot by law enforcement and died at the scene.

Multiple law enforcement officials identified the suspect as Austin William Lanz, 27, of Georgia, the Associated Press reported. According to two of the law enforcement officials, Lanz ran at and stabbed Gonzalez in the neck. Responding officers then reportedly shot and killed Lanz.

Who is Pentagon stabbing suspect Austin William Lanz?

Credit: AP
Credit: AP

He was reportedly arrested in April this year, according to court docs, and was charged with criminal trespass and burglary in Cobb County, Georgia.

On the same day, a separate set of charges was also filed against Lanz, including two counts of aggravated battery on police, a count of making a terrorist threat, and a charge for rioting in a penal institution.

His bail amount was reduced by a judge to $30,000 in May with conditions that ordered a mental health evaluation and prohibited the use of illegal drugs. The case was still pending when Lanz died.

Lanz had enlisted in the U.S Marine Corps in October 2012, but they said he “was administratively separated less than a month later and never earned the title Marine,” according to the Associated Press.


Army soldier facing court-martial after being ambushed by Assad’s Syrian forces

U.S. Soldiers from 1st Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, in the Central Command (CENTCOM) area of responsibility, Oct. 25, 2020.
U.S. Soldiers from 1st Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, in the Central Command (CENTCOM) area of responsibility, Oct. 25, 2020. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Jensen Guillory)

On Aug. 17, 2020, Army Sgt. 1st Class Rob Nicoson and his teammates of the 82nd Airborne Division’s Blackhorse Troop, 1st Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment were traveling in Tal Az-Zahab, Syria.

As they came upon a checkpoint manned by forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, they were momentarily allowed to pass before the pro-Assad forces opened fire on them.

What ensued was an approximately 10-minute firefight in which one Syrian soldier was killed and two others were wounded, while Nicoson and his teammates escaped without casualties.

Military officials have not publicly stated specifically what Nicoson did that led them to bring charges against him.

Part of the firefight was caught on camera and a Syrian reporter tweeted at the time,


‘Nasty, Nasty People’: 3 Disney World Employees Arrested on Child Sex Charges

Another suspect, identified as Juan Guadalupe-Arroyo, 47, is a registered nurse.

The sheriff’s office said he had engaged in an online conversation with an undercover detective posing as a 14-year-old boy and described to the “boy” what he wanted to do sexually before driving to meet him.

Another suspect was HIV-positive and intended to have unprotected sex with a girl.

The suspects face 48 felony charges and two misdemeanors in total, and nine of them have criminal histories.

Transgender YouTuber Chris Chan arrested after allegedly raping mother; will be housed with female inmates

Image source: YouTube screenshot
Image source: YouTube screenshot

Authorities arrested Chandler in Charlottesville, Virginia, Monday after she reportedly admitted to raping her 79-year-old mother, Barbara, who is said to suffer from dementia.

The Daily Mail reported that Chandler was sent to Central Virginia Regional Jail without bail following the arrest for suspicion of incest.

A press release from area law enforcement states that authorities issued a warrant for Chandler’s arrest after investigators “received information involving sex crimes against a family member” in the area.

Chandler made the purported admission during an eight-minute phone conversation with a friend in which she reportedly said that her mother “made the first move,” which led the two to kiss.

Boston’s Dem Mayor Says Vaccine Passports Are Racist

(Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
(Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)

“There’s a long history in this country of people needing to show their papers—whether we’re talking about … during slavery, post-slavery,” Mayor Kim Janey told local reporters.

“We want to make sure that we are not doing anything that would further create a barrier for residents of Boston or disproportionally impact BIPOC communities.”

Janey’s comments follow New York City mayor Bill de Blasio’s (D.) announcement Tuesday that New Yorkers will be required to provide proof of COVID vaccination to enter some public spaces, including restaurants and gyms.

While President Joe Biden has encouraged other cities to enact similar policies, local leaders have criticized the law for disproportionately impacting minority residents, who have lower vaccination rates than the general population.

Former Obama Official Demands ‘a No-Fly List for Unvaccinated Adults’

At the time of publication, the headline for the piece echoed this line, stating bluntly: “Unvaccinated People Belong on the No-Fly List.”

The headline has since been changed to a more ambiguous sentence: “Unvaccinated People Need to Bear the Burden.”

The original headline still appears on social media shares of the article from The Atlantic‘s own account.

“If you submit to heightened scrutiny in advance,” Kayyem said, “TSA PreCheck lets you go through security without taking off your shoes; a no-fly list keeps certain people off the plane entirely.”

Reporters asks about CDC extending eviction moratoriums

Reporters want to know the basis of the legality of the CDC extending eviction moratoriums.

 Sky News Australia’s Sharri Markson talks about how the network was suspended on YouTube for asking questions about masks and lockdowns.

 Sky News Australia’s Sharri Markson talks about how the network was suspended on YouTube for asking questions about masks and lockdowns.

“How Can People Who Are So Smart Say Such Stupid Things?” Dr. Paul on Fox Primetime – August 3, 2021

Despite Deadly Results the FDA will Fast Track Pfizer COVID Vaccine Approval by Early Sept. 

According to the VAERS website there have been 8,182 deaths pinned to the Pfizer/Biontech coronavirus vaccination.

The VAERS database contains information on unverified reports of adverse events (illnesses, health problems and/or symptoms) following immunization with US-licensed vaccines. The CDC government website links to VAERS platform.

There have been over 400,000 adverse reactions reported to the COVID vaccine according to the VAERS website.

Missouri pardons couple who aimed guns at protesters

Missouri Governor Mike Parson said on Tuesday he has granted pardons to Mark and Patricia McCloskey, the St. Louis couple who drew international attention for brandishing guns at racial justice protesters last year. Gloria Tso reports.

Kentucky Attorney General Tells Supreme Court to Overturn Roe v. Wade, We Must “Protect the Unborn”

Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron,
Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron, 

States like Mississippi and Kentucky have been trying to protect unborn babies for years, but their laws constantly are challenged by the abortion industry, he continued.

“The notion of a constitutional right to an abortion is a creation of the courts and has no basis in our Constitution,” Cameron said. “This case gives the high court the chance to correct this profound error by reconsidering Roe v. Wade and returning the issue to the states as required by the Constitution.”

On Thursday, Cameron and 23 other state attorneys general filed an amicus brief supporting Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch’s case to the Supreme Court.

“Time has not lessened the belief that unborn life deserves protection …” they wrote.

Twitter unlocks JTN reporter’s account after CDC said his COVID vaccine tweet was correct

CDC spokesman Tom Skinner on Wednesday confirmed the agency’s guidance on the risks that some individuals face from vaccines.

“If you have had a severe allergic reaction (anaphylaxis) or an immediate allergic reaction, even if it was not severe, to any ingredient in an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine (such as polyethylene glycol), you should not get an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine,” he told Just the News. 

Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment on what appeared to be a ban for reciting a medical fact backed up by the CDC.

Twitter suspends JTN reporter for pointing out CDC fact that vaccines are ‘not safe for everyone’

Reporter Greg Piper tweeted Tuesday night: “Vaccines are not safe for everyone.”

Piper’s appended remark is backed up by CDC guidance, which stipulates that “some people should not get certain vaccines or should wait before getting them.”

“I’ve appealed [the suspension], but Twitter is not letting me use direct messages, as it promised,” he said. “It told me to delete the tweet and then my 12-hour lockout can start, but unless I delete the tweet, the appeal continues and has no deadline.”

CDC spokesman Tom Skinner on Wednesday confirmed the agency’s guidance on the risks that some individuals face from vaccines.

Judicial Watch Uncovers New Puzzling Information on Ashli Babbitt’s Corpse 

“The continued secrecy and delayed release of information about the shooting death of Ashli Babbitt are suspicious and smacks of politics,” Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton said in a statement to Just The News.

“That Americans still have no information about who killed her or any police report about her death is a scandal of epic proportions,” he added.

Dovetailing back to Judicial Watch’s findings, they also show that top OCME officials sought to restrict access to Babbitt’s case information.

‘American Horror Story’: Memos show NIH paid university to deliver fetuses intact, remove organs

The National Institutes of Health approved a $3.2 million grant to the University of Pittsburgh that involved inducing labor on full-term pregnant women and quickly removing organs from intact fetuses for its tissue bank, according to newly released public records.

The 2015 grant application also promised about half the fetuses whose organs were removed would be nonwhite, including a quarter black.

Judicial Watch sued NIH on behalf of the Center for Medical Progress (CMP) following “inexplicable delays” by the agency in responding to the pro-life group’s Freedom of Information Act request for the grant applications for Pitt’s proposed “tissue hub and collection site,” CMP said Tuesday.

Twitter enlists Associated Press for fact-checking help despite record of journalistic flubs

Yet, The Associated Press, among others, regularly ran with reports on the alleged Trump-Russia scandal that lent weight and credibility to the conspiracy theory even if much of it rested on opaque sourcing and leaps of logic. Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller ultimately concluded there was no evidence if Trump-Russia collusion.

In one instance, AP allegedly went beyond reporting and injected itself into the federal investigation of former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, according to documents released under a Freedom of Information Act request.

In many cases, the news wire worked to finesse an unfavorable conclusion out of news that seemed markedly favorable to Trump:

Tucker reveals why the New York Times ‘mysteriously’ deleted articles

‘Tucker Carlson Tonight’ host calls out media covering for China.

Trump lawyers ask judge to block Treasury Department from giving client’s tax returns to House Dems

They argued the committee’s stated reason of needing to see the returns to examine how the IRS audits presidents is really a pretext for wanting to look for something embarrassing, according to NBC News.

“While House Democrats had offered countless justifications for obtaining the president’s tax returns, no one at the time had ever mentioned a desire to find out how the IRS audits presidents,” the lawyers said in their court filing, NBC also reports.

“The chairman’s request bore little resemblance to an effort to investigate how the IRS audits presidents.

It asked for the information of only one president, asked for open files for which audits have not been completed, and never asked the IRS for the most relevant information – namely, how it audits presients.”


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Politics:

Biden moves NOW to vaccinate illegal aliens

“With the number of migrants coming across the border continuing to surge, the Biden administration is reportedly preparing to vaccinate migrants coming into U.S. custody — amid continued fears of a risk of COVID-19 spreading between migrants, law enforcement and the American public,” the network said.

The Washington Post also noted the Department of Homeland Security wants to vaccinate migrants.

Fox reported, “So far, the vaccine has been administered to migrants in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody, although Fox News reported last month that 30% of immigrants in ICE custody are declining the shot.”

Pete Ricketts: Biden Admin’s 30 by 30 Plan May Prove ‘Devastating’ to Rural Communities | CLIP

Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts, whose state is 97% privately owned, argues that President Biden’s ’30 by 30′ plan will be a “land grab” that will be devastating to rural communities, because it will drive up property taxes, hurt farmers and ranches, and ultimately drive up the cost of food in the US.

Ricketts also explains that Nebraskans care about conservation, and are already doing a tremendous job without interference from the federal government.

John Kennedy slams Biden for ‘unconstitutional’ eviction ban

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., discusses Biden’s renewed eviction ban and his opinion on vaccines and masks.

Jonathan Turley Declares Biden’s Stomping on the Constitution With Eviction Order ‘Chilling

Bonnie Cash/Pool via AP
Bonnie Cash/Pool via AP

One of the things that was most stunning about the Biden bunch’s new eviction moratorium order is how Joe Biden basically admitted that it was likely unconstitutional but that he was going to do it anyway — knowing it was illegal — because it would buy him time.

Now, often Democrats don’t seem to understand or care about the rule of law. But to be so blatant about it when Biden swore an oath to uphold the Constitution is incredibly brazen.

George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley had a few things to say about Biden’s move and he wasn’t shy about it.

What Trump’s enemies are missing

© Getty Images
© Getty Images

Commentary/Opinion:
President Trump left office seven months ago, but the pathologically obsessed left just can’t quit him. Every left-wing media outlet ceaselessly talks about and curses him like it’s August 2018.

Yet their six-year-long, wild-eyed, anti-Trump mania has, in many ways, only made him stronger.

The left will never acknowledge these and other Trump successes.

As with other transformative Republican presidents, such as Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan, the left must try to besmirch Trump for the history books. But they continue their war on Trump for another reason:

They fear him. Following losing campaigns, Nixon and Reagan staged successful political comebacks — and deep down, Trump’s opponents know that he could engineer the most astonishing one of all.

World News:

Lebanese rocket-fire draws Israeli retaliation; Jerusalem not to spare Tehran-TV7 Israel News 4.8.21

1) Lebanese militants launched a barrage of rockets toward Israel’s northern communities – drawing an Israeli retaliatory response.

2) Lebanon marks today its one-year anniversary since a deadly explosion devastated its capital Beirut.

3) Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett emphasizes that Iran’s efforts to distance its direct responsibility from the actions of its proxies, has come to an end.

NSW Police warn false mask exemptions could lead to prison sentence

In the past 24 hours, police issued 362 penalty infringement notices for residents breaking Public Health Orders, with 139 directed at those not wearing face masks.

“NSW Police will continue to reinforce the importance of complying with the requirements of the Public Health Order, with a focus on abiding by mask wearing rules,” a statement on Wednesday said.

NSW Police Deputy Commissioner Metropolitan Field Operations Malcolm Lanyon said people needed to follow the mask requirements unless they had an exemption.

Luxury ‘liquor’ for nuclear talks: Kim Jong-Un wants sanctions lifted before talks with US begin

It is understood North Korea is handing out emergency military reserves of rice due to major food shortages.
It is understood North Korea is handing out emergency military reserves of rice due to major food shortages. Picture: AP

North Korea has bartered its engagement in denuclearisation talks with the United States for a major easing in sanctions imposed on the nation by the international community at large.

Dictator Kim Jong-Un has revealed he wants sanctions on luxury goods such as top of the range liquors and suits as well as other essential items lifted before he agrees to restart negotiations.

Sanctions banning metal exports, refined fuel imports and other resources deemed necessary were also mentioned as key goods.

South Korean lawmakers revealed the development after a briefing with the head of the National Intelligence Service (NIS) Park Jie-won.

‘You can’t just shut the whole place down’ as ‘realistically’ people need to ‘earn a living’

Sky News contributor Graham Richardson says “the lockdowns can’t continue” because if we don’t learn to live with COVID-19 then we’re going to be “locked down forever”.

“Now it was okay a few times when things were very serious,” Mr Richardson said.

“I mean obviously any deaths are terribly sad – but there have been very few of them.

“I think we ought to just take a step back and look at this realistically, I think we are going to have to make sure people can go to work, earn a living and continue during a COVID period.

“You can’t just shut the whole place down.”

Mexico Sues US Gun Manufacturers Over Arms Trafficking Toll

The Mexican government sued United States gun manufacturers and distributors Wednesday in U.S. federal court, arguing that their negligent and illegal commercial practices have unleashed tremendous bloodshed in Mexico.

In August 2019, a gunmen killed 23 people in a Walmart, including some Mexican citizens. At that time, Foreign Affairs Secretary Marcelo Ebrard said the government would explore its legal options.

The government said Wednesday that recent rulings in U.S. courts contributed to its decision to file the lawsuit.

It cited a decision in California allowing a lawsuit against Smith & Wesson to move forward, a lawsuit filed last week against Century Arms related to a 2019 shooting in Gilroy, California, and the $33 million settlement reached by Remington with some of the families whose children were killed in the Newtown, Connecticut, mass school shooting.

Blasts and gun attack rock Afghan capital

A blast near the office of Afghanistan’s main security agency wounded at least three people on Wednesday hours after a bomb and gun attack on a minister’s compound brought surging Taliban violence to the capital. Maha Albadrawi reports.

WHO calls for moratorium on vaccine booster shots

(AP Photo/Christophe Ena, FILE)
(AP Photo/Christophe Ena, FILE)

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus made the appeal mostly to wealthier countries that have far outpaced the developing world in numbers of vaccinations.

WHO officials say the science is unproven about whether giving booster shots to people who have already received two vaccine doses is effective in preventing the spread of the coronavirus.

The U.N. health agency has repeatedly called for rich countries to do more to help improve access to vaccines in the developing world.


Chinese authorities blow up dam, flood town; Wuhan tests 12 million after Delta variant found

Chinese authorities blow up a dam, flooding several villages—in order to protect wealthier areas. What’s more, authorities banned all rescue efforts in the name of the pandemic.

China’s flood season isn’t over yet, and an epidemic already seems to be around the corner. Amid the water-logging and damages, a number of villages are now hugely contaminated by dead livestock.

Wuhan plans to test all of its 12 million residents for the virus. The city is facing a new round of rigorous pandemic prevention measures.

American Airlines is offering some customers 30 minutes of free access to TikTok. But cybersecurity experts warn that Beijing has used the video app to spy on Americans.

A nuclear power plant in China shuts down one of its reactors to fix a leak, more than a month after the problem was first announced to the public.

Commentary/Opinion:

Sperm bank kids call for an end to the program that gave them life | 60 Minutes Australia

Back in the 70s it was seen as a noble community service, giving real hope to infertile couples.

Sperm donors, mostly young men, mostly students who did their bit to help create happy families. And in Australia alone, an estimated 10,000 babies were born, thanks to this artificial insemination program.

A happy ending you’d think. But no, those babies have grown up and many are disenchanted. Some are desperate to trace their biological fathers.

And some feel so cheated, they want the whole program stopped to prevent any more children being born this way.