In The News Today: 5/6/2022

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

US News:

CDC Investigating 109 Mysterious Hepatitis Cases in Children, Including 5 Deaths

(Jessica McGowan/Getty Images)
(Jessica McGowan/Getty Images)

Dr. Jay Butler, the CDC’s deputy director of infectious diseases, said during a briefing said the agency is investigating 109 cases of acute hepatitis, or liver inflammation, in 24 U.S. states and Puerto Rico. The cause of the outbreak is not yet clear, he stressed, adding that about half of the children had adenovirus infections, although Butler said the CDC doesn’t know yet if adenovirus is the actual cause.

Approximately 90 percent of the children required hospitalization, Butler said. Five have died so far, and more have required liver transplants, he added in the briefing.

Last month, the CDC issued a nationwide alert after nine acute hepatitis cases were discovered among children in Georgia. Since then, a number of state agencies have reported cases and several deaths.

Five healthy children aged 10 and under have died in mysterious hepatitis outbreak in the US: 109 cases have been identified in 24 states and 14% of infected kids have needed liver transplants, CDC announces

Five children have died in the unexplained hepatitis outbreak and more than 100 cases have been spotted leading to 15 liver transplants, the CDC revealed today.

At least eight children have now died in the hepatitis outbreak globally, with three cases also now being probed in Indonesia. There are more than 300 cases globally, with most in the UK and US due to better surveillance.  

The leading hypothesis is that adenoviruses — which can cause the common cold — are behind the illnesses across the country, with the majority of cases in the U.S. testing positive for this.

NIH Investigating Why Patients Relapse After Taking Pfizer’s COVID Antiviral Pill, Paxlovid

Bloomberg and ABC News reported on accounts of viral rebound after treatment with Paxlovid that were posted on social media or described by physicians and patients.

People described feeling better rapidly after starting the five-day course of Paxlovid, testing negative on a rapid test after treatment and resuming normal activities, only to have their symptoms come roaring back within days of their last dose. Some patients tested positive again.

The only case of viral rebound reported in the medical literature so far is a preprint study released April 26.

LAWSUIT: Biden Administration Colluding With Social Media Companies To Suppress Free Speech And Propagandize Americans

Photo credit: NumenaStudios / Shutterstock.com, licensed.
Photo credit: NumenaStudios / Shutterstock.com, licensed.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Two red states have sued the Biden Administration over allegations it had colluded with “big tech” companies in an attempt to stifle free speech on the internet.

The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana on April 5 by Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt and Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry, who claim members of the Biden Admin teamed up with social media companies such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube to police and censor speech online – while claiming to be combating “misinformation” – pertaining to subjects such as the COVID-19 pandemic, election integrity, and Hunter Biden’s infamous laptop.

Court documents indicate that the defendants include President Joe Biden, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, Dr. Anthony Fauci, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, and Nina Jankowicz, executive director of DHS’s new “Disinformation Governance Board.”

The lawsuit calls out the Biden Admin’s alleged attempts to censor discourse over the effectiveness of masks against COVID-19, news related to the theory that the virus was leaked from a lab in Wuhan, China, election integrity, and even the news about Hunter Biden’s laptop, the legally-dubious contents of which being initially attacked as “fake” and “disinformation” but later revealed to be legitimate.

Lake Weir Middle School Dean Arrested For Sexually Battering Female Student In Weight Room

40-year-old Henry Lee Anderson, 40, was placed under arrest and transported to the Marion County Jail, where he is held with a $10,000 bond.
40-year-old Henry Lee Anderson, 40, was placed under arrest and transported to the Marion County Jail, where he is held with a $10,000 bond.

On Thursday, May 5, 2022, Major Crimes Detectives received information that Anderson had sexually battered a juvenile victim at Lake Weir Middle School on Wednesday, May 4, 2022. An interview was conducted with the victim, who disclosed that Anderson picked her up from her home around 10 p.m. on Wednesday in order for the two of them to exercise together.

Anderson took the victim to the weight room at Lake Weir Middle School, where he sexually battered the victim during a post-exercise massage.

Anderson then took the victim to Wendy’s for food before returning her to her home after 1:30 a.m. on Thursday, May 5, 2022. Detectives were provided with evidence from the victim’s phone that was consistent with the victim’s account of the incident.

After the victim’s disclosure, Marion County Sheriff’s deputies responded to Lake Weir Middle School and made contact with Anderson, who was then transported to Marion County Sheriff’s Central Operations for questioning. During the interview, Anderson denied knowing why he was being interviewed and provided several inconsistent statements about the contact he had with the victim on Wednesday night.

Man who stormed US Capitol in caveman costume gets prison sentence

AP/Press Association Images
AP/Press Association Images

US District Judge James Boasberg told Aaron Mostofsky that he was “literally on the front lines” of the mob’s attack on January 6 2021.

“What you and others did on that day imposed an indelible stain on how our nation is perceived, both at home and abroad, and that can’t be undone,” the judge told Mostofsky, 35.

Judge Boasberg also sentenced Mostofsky to one year of supervised release and ordered him to perform 200 hours of community service and pay 2,000 dollars (£1,600) in restitution.

Fox45: Baltimore State’s Attorney Office Credit Card Expenditures

The top law enforcement officer in the City of Baltimore, Marilyn Mosby, is under federal indictment for alleged perjury and false mortgage application charges.

So, our auditors at OpenTheBooks.com filed open records requests for the credit card purchases during calendar year 2021 spent by her office — the State’s Attorney’s office. Mosby has been in office since January 2015.

Fox 45: Red Light Hell In The City Of Baltimore

The City of Baltimore has collected between $51 million and $62 million in fines from 143 red light cameras from 2016 through the beginning of 2022.

However, it’s unclear exactly how much the cameras have truly collected for the city since its own Department of Transportation and Department of Finance produced numbers that were miles apart.

The two agencies differ in total fines collected by $11 million. Furthermore, the number of paid-tickets differs between the two agencies by approximately 143,000.

Intuit, Inc., owner of TurboTax, to pay out $141M to consumers in multistate settlement over misleading advertisements of ‘free’ tax return services

TurboTax (Coolcaesar/WikiCommons)
TurboTax (Coolcaesar/WikiCommons)

“The multistate investigation found that Intuit limited consumers’ participation in the IRS Free File Program, including by using confusingly similar names for both its IRS Free File product and its commercial “freemium” product,” a new release from Healey’s office said.

“Intuit bid on paid search advertisements to direct consumers who were looking for the IRS Free File product to the TurboTax “freemium” product instead.

Intuit also purposefully blocked its IRS Free File landing page from search engine results during the 2019 tax filing season, effectively shutting out eligible taxpayers from filing their taxes for free.

TurboTax’s website also included a “Products and Pricing” page that stated it would “recommend the right tax solution,” but never displayed or recommended the IRS Free File program, even when consumers were ineligible for the “freemium” product.”

UN-Backed Sexualization of Kids in School Exposed, With Allison Royal

Children across New Jersey and the nation are being sexualized with radical “sex education” content backed by Planned Parenthood and even the United Nations, former corporate journalist Allison Royal told The New American magazine’s Alex Newman in this episode of Conversations That Matter. The content, which comes from the UN-funded group “Amaze,” is highly controversial and is being peddled by tax-funded educators, despite concerns by parents and lawmakers. Royal blasted the dishonest media reporting surrounding legislative efforts to protect children from this sort of sexualization, especially the “don’t say gay” propaganda around Florida’s Parental Rights in Education bill. Finally, Royal discusses the bizarre and mysterious fires and explosions at critical food-processing facilities, which she is covering as part of her next big story.

A divided America is united in its freedom to debate those differences

AP/ Alex Brandon

It took just minutes for protestors to be outside the Supreme Court screaming about fascism. And in the days since Monday night’s bombshell no top Democrat has even bothered to condemn the appalling leak of the draft judgement. There are now calls for the Justices to have their home addresses made public. Others have called for pre-emptive revenge against them.

Most countries don’t have a First Amendment, because most countries don’t have America´s faith in free speech. Most countries in the world today, and historically, find free expression to be a nuisance. China’s rulers think a free press is a right pain. So they don’t allow it. If you live in China or Russia today you get told what to believe. You get told what you are allowed to know. And you’re expected to just suck it up.

Over recent years the radical left claimed that words are violence. Say something they don’t like and they will claim that you are causing them “harm.” The same people claimed that “silence is violence.” So if you don’t nod along with everything they are saying you are committing an act of violence.

Of course there is one thing that they don´t think is violence. And that’s violence.

That is why we saw the explosion of burnings, killings and lootings in the summer of 2020. Because the left and their media supporters claimed that actual violence was a form of speech.

In a country this huge we are always going to have different opinions. And we need to learn how to live together, not how to divide ourselves further. The answer is not less speech, or government-approved speech, but more speech.

Sadly many Americans seem to be losing faith in that answer. They want to be the only ones allowed to speak — with the rest of us just meant to listen. Well, the answer to that is “no.” The Founders knew what they were doing. Whether the radicals appreciate that fact or not.

Douglas Murray: Left Would Cancel EVERY “Dead White Male” — Except Karl Marx

gerenme/iStock/Getty Images Plus
gerenme/iStock/Getty Images Plus

If you really want to destroy something, you pull it up by its roots. This explains why today’s cultural revolutionaries attack what is foundational to the West, such as the Founding Fathers; Christianity; and, as author and commentator Douglas Murray mentioned recently, even ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle. Yet while “dead white males” are the focus of this civilization-rending ire, there is one long-gone white man who gets a pass, even though he was a “racist” who used the “n-word” and defended black slavery in America.

That man was Karl Marx.

Murray made this point and others in a Fox Nation special that aired Sunday evening called “The War on the West,” which derives its theme and title from a book by the same name Murray recently had published. Joining him in the discussion were three fellow authors: podcast host Coleman Hughes, American Enterprise Institute research fellow and Schoolhouse Rot author Max Eden, and Manhattan Institute fellow Heather Mac Donald.

The War On The West by Douglas Murray

We went from appreciating our culture to dismantling it

“We appear to be in the process of killing the goose that has laid some very golden eggs” writes Douglas Murray in his new bestseller The War on the West. Murray is referring to our plentiful, cultured Judaeo-Christian Western world, that is being ruthlessly dismantled from within. 

We are in the midst of war, explains Murray, a cultural assault waged remorselessly against the West, its tradition and everything that it has ever achieved. Multi-faceted and unforgiving, it is “carried out across the media, and airwaves, throughout the education system from as early as preschool.” 

Westerners themselves – our civilisation’s biggest threat comes from “people inside the West intent on pulling apart the fabric of our societies, piece by piece.” West-loathing individuals and institutions of the firm conviction that the West is sin-ridden, unworthy and guilty of an infinite number of crimes, while non-Western cultures are innocent and virtuous.

“We went from appreciating our culture to dismantling it” observes Murray – the West is crumbling before our eyes, and its downfall is our own doing.

Recent years have seen “politicians, academics, historians and activists getting away with saying things that are not simply incorrect or injudicious but flat out false” argues Murray, “they have got away with it for far too long.” They have rewritten our history and turned our universally appreciated writers, thinkers and statesmen into shameful ‘dead white males’ – it is time to revise the revisionists and refute their anti West claims. 

Many of us sensed for quite some time that things were fundamentally twisted. We watched helplessly as diversity, anti racism and equity grew to dominate the discourse, and saw racism become “the only lens used to understand our societies.” But there was something not quite right – those crying racism were themselves chanting racist rhetoric, while calls for justice sounded more and more like ideologues’ zeal for revenge.

It was clear that the West was “treated by one set of standards and the rest of the world by another” –  Western states were expected to erase their proud past and lose its cultural identity, while non-Western states were allowed to maintain theirs. 

There also emerged recognition of a crying hypocrisy as leftist commentators and leaders are praised regardless of any misdemeanours, while those not adhering to anti-West doctrines are battered, harassed and cancelled. 

The War on the West demonstrates the devastation caused by ignorance of facts. How anti Westernism has been able to demonize white people and belittle our culture’s greatest heroes by spreading false information.

That, in turn rested on the wider population’s lack of knowledge, allowing the revolutionaries’ claims and accusations to spread like wildfire. Many of these have been repeated so many times that they have become mainstream media gospel. 

The War on the West is unsettling and profoundly moving. It will disturb and enrage you, but it will also deepen your appreciation of the the West’s truly remarkable, often mind blowing achievements. You will recognize the great fortune that has befallen you to be living at the most affluent and peaceful time in history and the duty you hold to conserve it.  

Good Idea to Protest Justices?

Politics:

‘Are You Trying To Stop Illegal Immigration Anymore Or Have You Given Up?’: Hawley Grills Official

At yesterday’s Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) questioned DHS officials about the border.

Expert Constitutional Lawyer, Jenna Ellis, Gives an Explosion Interview | May 6th 2022, Ep 236

z Voted in Turkish Election Days After Skipping Vote in America, Records Show

Dr. Mehmet Oz (Photo by JC Olivera/Getty Images)

Former CIA director and secretary of state Mike Pompeo referenced Oz’s voting discrepancy during a press conference on Friday organized by the campaign of Dave McCormick, a Republican businessman running against Oz. Pompeo said Oz’s links to Turkey pose national security concerns and that his vote in the Turkish election raises questions about his “priorities.”

“The campaign owes the people of Pennsylvania an explanation,” Pompeo said.

Oz’s voting record has become a focal point of an intense GOP primary race. Critics of the TV physician say his vote in the Turkish election highlights a pattern of troubling ties to Turkey. Oz has come under fire for serving in the Turkish military, holding dual Turkish-U.S. citizenship, and rubbing shoulders with Erdogan.

Judge: Marjorie Taylor Greene is qualified for reelection

FILE - U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene sits in the courtroom, Friday, April 22, 2022, in Atlanta.(AP Photo/John Bazemore, Pool)
FILE – U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene sits in the courtroom, Friday, April 22, 2022, in Atlanta.(AP Photo/John Bazemore, Pool)

ATLANTA (AP) — A judge in Georgia on Friday found that U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is qualified to run for reelection, concluding that a group of voters who had challenged her eligibility failed to prove she engaged in insurrection after taking office. But the decision will ultimately be up to Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.

Before reaching his decision, state Administrative Law Judge Charles Beaudrot held a daylong hearing in April that included arguments from lawyers for the voters and for Greene, as well as extensive questioning of Greene herself. He also received extensive briefing from both sides.

State law says Beaudrot must submit his findings to Raffensperger, who has to decide whether Greene should be removed from the ballot.

Raffensperger is being challenged by a Trump-backed candidate in this month’s GOP primary and would likely face huge blowback from right-wing voters if he was to disagree with Beaudrot’s finding.

White House ‘almost encouraging’ protests at justices’ homes: Rep. Mace

South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace remembers the 2021 attack on her home by Antifa protesters as liberal groups encourage protests at Supreme Court justices’ homes.

Tucker: Violence is already beginning

Fox News host reflects on the left’s response to the possible overturn of Roe v. Wade, the state of the Biden presidency, and gives his take on the Russia-Ukraine war on ‘Tucker Carlson Tonight.’

World News:

In Pictures: Hongkongers wait in hours-long queues to register for proof of overseas Covid jabs

Individuals who got vaccinated outside Hong Kong may visit the 18 designated post offices in order to obtain a Provisional Vaccine Pass. Some started lining up at 5 a.m. as the post offices can only process 2,400 applications in one day. Photo: Lea Mok/HKFP.
Individuals who got vaccinated outside Hong Kong may visit the 18 designated post offices in order to obtain a Provisional Vaccine Pass. Some started lining up at 5 a.m. as the post offices can only process 2,400 applications in one day. Photo: Lea Mok/HKFP.

Geraldine, who was vaccinated in Paris, said she had visited the post office three times before, yet had still failed to obtain the QR code, or Provisional Vaccine Pass as it is officially known. “I came at 9:25 a.m. last time, but the queue was very long… I only came this morning because I know I have no work meeting,” she told HKFP.

Yan, a postgraduate student who arrived in Hong Kong through the Return2hk Scheme and received his jabs in mainland China, was the third in the queue outside Wan Chai Post Office. He told HKFP he had arrived at 5.00 a.m.

On Thursday, the government announced that from May 5, inbound travellers would be issued with a vaccination record QR code and a Provisional Vaccine Pass at border control points.

However, those who were vaccinated outside Hong Kong and arrived in the city before May 5 would still need to visit one of the 18 designated post offices to apply for the Provisional Vaccine Pass.

UK man accused of funding ISIS through govt COVID-19 loans

ISIS flag (DoD Photo/Released)
ISIS flag (DoD Photo/Released)

A former pub landlord in the UK has been accused of using government COVID-19 support loans to donate to Daesh (ISIS), The Times has reported.

To fund the terror group, 42-year-old Tarek Namouz allegedly funneled thousands of pounds in cash from the scheme, which was designed to aid small businesses over successive lockdowns in the country.

In total, the government loaned about £47 billion ($59 billion) under the program. It is now estimated that £17 billion will never be repaid, and that £4.9 billion were claimed fraudulently.

Namouz appeared in court through a video call on Monday. He also stands accused of possessing terrorist information.

What happened in the Russia-Ukraine war this week? Catch up with the must-read news and analysis

A Ukrainian soldier sits on an armoured personnel carrier driving on a road near Slovyansk, eastern Ukraine. Photograph: Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP/Getty Images
A Ukrainian soldier sits on an armoured personnel carrier driving on a road near Slovyansk, eastern Ukraine. Photograph: Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP/Getty Images

Every week we wrap up the must-reads from our coverage of the Ukraine war, from news and features to analysis, visual guides and opinion.

The rush to evacuate Mariupol

The last stronghold of resistance to Russia’s siege of Mariupol, the sprawling Azovstal steelworks, has come under intense bombardment this week amid speculation, as Andrew Roth reports, that Russia aims to use the city as a prop in festivities to mark Victory Day on 9 May. This week hundreds of people have been evacuated from the city to safety. Among them, Natalia Usmanova told journalists that she felt her heart would stop as Russian bombs rained down on those hiding in a Soviet-era bunker underground.

Sri Lanka leader declares emergency amid protests

AP/Press Association Images
AP/Press Association Images

Sri Lanka’s president declared a state of emergency on Friday amid widespread public protests demanding his resignation over the country’s worst economic crisis in recent memory.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa issued a decree declaring a public emergency, which gives him authority to make regulations in the interests of public security, preservation of public order, suppression of mutiny, riot or civil commotion or for the maintenance of essential supplies.

The president can authorise detentions, take possession of any property and search any premises. He can also change or suspend any law.

Putin to Send ‘Doomsday’ Warning to West at Russia’s WW2 Victory Parade

Russian service members walk as military vehicles drive along a street during a rehearsal for the Victory Day military parade in Moscow, Russia May 4, 2022. REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina
Russian service members walk as military vehicles drive along a street during a rehearsal for the Victory Day military parade in Moscow, Russia May 4, 2022. REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina

Defiant in the face of deep Western isolation since he ordered the invasion of Russia’s neighbor, Putin will speak on Red Square before a parade of troops, tanks, rockets and intercontinental ballistic missiles.

A fly-past over St Basil’s Cathedral will include supersonic fighters, Tu-160 strategic bombers and, for the first time since 2010, the Il-80 “doomsday” command plane, which would carry Russia’s top brass in the event of a nuclear war, the Defense Ministry said.

The Soviet Union lost 27 million people in World War Two, more than any other country, and Putin has railed in recent years at what Moscow sees as attempts in the West to revise the history of the war to belittle the Soviet victory.

Dutton: Australia can acquire submarine capability ‘much sooner’ than projected

Defence Minister Peter Dutton believes Australia will be able to acquire submarine capability “much sooner” than what some of the pundits are projecting. “

They (AUKUS) want us to acquire that capability because they know that it is required in our part of the world,” Mr Dutton said. “We don’t want a third class of submarines.

“It is not in our national interest to pretend that we could have a third class of submarine.”

Commentary/Opinion:

The War on the West | Douglas Murray & Jordan Peterson

In this episode, Douglas Murray and I discuss the current assault on the West, slavery, gratitude, racist mathematics, whiteness, (non-Western) accomplishments, and individual sovereignty.

Douglas Murray is the associate editor of The Spectator and the bestselling author of seven books, including The Strange Death of Europe: Immigration, Identity, Islam; The Madness of Crowds, and The War on the West.