THOUSANDS PACK JERUSALEM STREETS FOR RABBI'S FUNERAL, DEFYING LOCKDOWN RULES

Ultra-Orthodox Jews defy Israel lockdown for rabbi’s funeral

 

AFP

January 31, 2021 

Thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews defied Israel’s coronavirus restrictions to attend a rabbi’s funeral on Sunday, prompting Defence Minister Benny Gantz to demand the community’s repeated breaking of lockdown rules must end.

A huge crowd, many not wearing masks, packed the streets in Jerusalem for the funeral of 99-year-old Rabbi Meshulam Dovid Soloveitchik, head of the influential Brisk yeshiva, or religious educational institute.

 

Soloveitchik died earlier on Sunday.

Israel’s ultra-Orthodox, or haredim, have been at the centre of the country’s struggles to control the spread of coronavirus, with some groups flagrantly defying lockdown rules, especially concerning school and synagogue closures.

Police seeking to enforce the lockdown have in recent days clashed with haredim in Jerusalem’s Mea Shearim neighbourhood and in Bnei Brak near Tel Aviv.

While police were on hand for the rabbi’s funeral, they did not act to disperse crowds, an AFP photographer said.

The funeral comes as Israel’s government is set to debate the extension of the country’s third national lockdown, due to expire at midnight.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who supports a lockdown extension, has faced mounting criticism over what his opponents describe as a failure to ensure haredim comply with safety rules.

Netanyahu, a right-winger facing a difficult re-election contest in March, has relied on the loyalty of ultra-Orthodox political leaders to sustain his record 11 years in power. 

Gantz, Netanyahu’s rival and alternate prime minister in Israel’s collapsed unity government, has said he will not support a lockdown extension unless rules are evenly applied.

“This is what unequal enforcement looks like,” Gantz said on Twitter.

“Millions of families and children are locked in their homes and abide by the rules while thousands of haredim crowd (a) funeral, most of them even without masks.

“We will not agree to the continuation of an ineffective fake lockdown. Either everyone is locked down — or everyone opens. The days of indulgence are over,” Gantz said.

Israel, a country of about 9 million, has recorded more than 640,000 coronavirus cases, including over 4,700 deaths.

While the Jewish state continues to register several thousand new cases a day, it is also conducting a vaccination campaign widely regarded as the world’s fastest per capita, with more than 3 million people having received the first of two required jabs of the Pfizer vaccine.

DON'T MESS WITH TEXAS

Texas Gov. Abbott Fights Back Against Biden Administration’s Order Suspending Oil, Gas Drilling On Federal Lands And Waters

 

By Jack Fink 

CBS DFW

January 28, 2021

In Odessa Thursday, Texas Governor Greg Abbott fired back at President Joe Biden’s executive order armed with an executive order of his own. 

The governor directed all state agencies to sue the federal government over its new policy to place on hold new oil and natural gas leases on federal lands and waters.

During a news conference he said, “Texas is going to protect the oil and gas industry from any type of hostile attack launched from Washington, D.C. Texas is not going to stand idly by and watch the Biden administration kill jobs.”

The governor held a roundtable discussion at Cudd Energy Services.

An employee there, Daniel Posada, told reporters that he and his co-workers feel threatened by the Biden administration’s policy. “This industry is important to not just Texas, but the United States. We made a big part and we are here to stay.”

President Biden’s executive order says, “The United States and the world face a profound climate crisis. We have a narrow moment to pursue action at home and abroad in order to avoid the most catastrophic impacts of that crisis and to seize the opportunity that tackling climate change presents.”

While there is little to no oil and natural gas drilling on federal lands in Texas, off-shore drilling in federal waters is significant.

The Texas Oil and Gas Association warns under the Biden policy, Texas could lose 120,000 jobs and $65 million in revenues by next year.

The President’s executive order even concerned supporters, including Marc Veasey of Fort Worth.

He is one of four Democratic members of Congress from Texas who this week sent a letter to the president.

The letter said, “We urge you to rescind this order… Now is not the time to jeopardize American jobs or the critical tax and royalty revenues that federal leases generate for local, state, and federal government that needs funds now.”

Jim Schermbeck of Downwinders At Risk, a DFW-based environmental justice group, said he’s disappointed in Congressman Veasey’s letter and supports the Biden order. “It’s a good first step in addressing this huge problem of methane pollution, which is poisonous in terms of the climate, and much more damaging in some ways, then Co2 is, carbon dioxide. We hope there’s more dramatic and final action to come.”

Schermbeck downplays the impact on the industry. “The industry is not taking a hit here. What they’re doing is trying to prevent themselves from taking additional hits that might cut further in the future. This one is very shallow.”

But Bud Weinstein, former associate director of the Maguire Energy Institute at SMU, said the moratorium on offshore drilling will no doubt hit the Texas industry. “The fact that there will be number one, no new lease sales, and no new drilling on existing leases is going to affect the Texas industry significantly.”

Weinstein predicts more lawsuits being filed against the Biden administration. “If you have leased a track, and you’ve paid money up front, and you had anticipated drilling, and now the government says you can’t do it, I think there are going to be some serious legal issues there.”

In a statement to CBS 11 News, Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar said, “Should the suspension become permanent, it could have serious impacts to jobs in Texas that rely on robust onshore and offshore exploration and production activity. Furthermore, if this action is an example of what Texas can expect from this administration, I have serious concerns about the potential future impacts to a sector whose innovations in fracking technology helped to lead the nation out of the great recession.”

In a news release Thursday, the Texas Democratic Party criticized the Governor and pointed to General Motors’ announcement that it will stop manufacturing gas-powered light duty vehicles by 2035. “Energy companies have already diversified their portfolios. Abbott needs to be upfront and honest with working Texans about how jobs are going to change over time.”

Last year, the U.S. became a net oil exporter, and Weinstein said that could change. “We could see imports rise by as much as two million barrels per day, make us a net importer again, and that has very significant implications for energy security.”

Meantime, U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) today sent a letter with 24 of their Senate colleagues to President Biden voicing their concerns and requesting a meeting with the president.

The letter is cosigned by U.S. Sens. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Bill Cassidy (R-La.), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), John Hoeven (R-N.D.), Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), John Kennedy (R-La.), James Lankford (R-Okla.), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Rob Portman (R-Ohio), Jim Risch (R-Idaho), Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), and Roger Wicker (R-Miss.).

In the letter, the senators wrote:

“Mr. President, we all watched your inauguration and took your words about unity and putting yourself in other people’s shoes to heart. We know you understand that the COVID-19 pandemic has forced millions of Americans to live paycheck to paycheck and to be worried about how they are going to pay rent and feed their families.

“Unfortunately, by targeting resource development, you have put thousands of good-paying jobs at risk, which is adding to the burden that our constituents are bearing right now and has the potential to further the divide between rural and urban America. The actions you’ve taken have the very real potential to devastate these hard-working Americans and leave them and their families behind for decades to come.”

QANON BELIEVER IS TOO CRAZY TO BE IN CONGRESS

Jewish, pro-Israel groups denounce Rep. Taylor Greene over anti-Semitic statements

 

JNS

January 31, 2021 

 

Jewish and pro-Israel groups are speaking out against Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), with some calling for her to be removed from her congressional committees over anti-Semitic statements.

"We are outraged by the statements, past and present, of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. She routinely traffics in unfounded conspiracy theories that are often anti-Semitic in nature. As an avid supporter of QAnon, Representative Greene espouses anti-Semitic canards, such as placing blame on 'the Rothschilds' for recent wildfires in California and declaring that 'Zionist supremacists' are behind supposed nefarious plots," the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations said of Greene's comments.

They added that "congressional leaders must hold their members accountable for their words and deeds. It is unacceptable for members of Congress to spread baseless hate against the Jewish people. There must be a swift and commensurate response from congressional leadership making clear that this conduct cannot and will not be allowed to debase our politics."

Greene, who drew condemnation during her congressional campaign for her support of anti-Semitic QAnon conspiracy theories, has come under more fire in recent weeks for past statements she has made concerning Muslims; the 9/11 terror attacks; the mass school shootings in Parkland, Fla., and Sandy Hook, Conn., and the 2017 mass shooting in Las Vegas; as well as suggesting that leading Democratic officials should be executed.

In a 2018 Facebook post that was recently revealed by the watchdog group Media Matters, Greene apparently made baseless claims about California's wildfires, which she speculated that the Rothschilds – a longtime wealthy Jewish banking family – along with a California electric company, a solar-power company Solaren and California officials had used "space lasers" to ignite the fires and profit from it.

Meanwhile, the lobbying arm of Christians United for Israel, CUFI Action Fund, is calling on Republican leadership in the House of Representatives to remove Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) from committee assignments over her anti-Semitic statements.

"As we have seen, in recent years there are individuals who subscribe to absurd, dangerous, anti-Semitic lies and react with violence. Leaders of both parties must unequivocally repudiate those who enable these lies to persist," said the pro-Israel group.

"In light of recent reports that Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene advanced wild, anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, we call upon Republican leaders in Congress to immediately remove Greene from her committee assignments pending a full review of her past statements. It is incumbent upon the leadership of both parties to get their respective houses in order and condemn all those who traffic in anti-Semitic tropes."

The Republican Jewish Coalition, which opposed the campaign of the now-congresswoman, said it was "offended and appalled" by her comments and actions.

"We opposed her as a candidate and we continue to oppose her now. She is far outside the mainstream of the Republican Party. The RJC is working closely with the House Republican leadership regarding the next steps in this matter," said the group.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Gov. Asa Huchinson of Arkansas says Greene "just believes something a bit different" and should not be punished for pushing conspiracy theories.

BAHRAINIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: BAHRAIN GRANTS NO ROOM FOR ANTISEMITISM

Moving Message From Bahrain to Israel

 

By Yossi Aloni

 

Israel Today

January 31, 2021

 

A surprising letter arrived from Bahrain on January 27, International Holocaust Remembrance Day, at the office of Israel’s Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi. It stated that the Kingdom of Bahrain mourns the millions of victims killed in the Holocaust and grants no room for antisemitism, racism and extremism.

The letter is surprising because Holocaust denial has been common in the Arab world.

---

Your Excellency,

International Holocaust Remembrance Day stands as a solemn memorial to the victims of the Holocaust, and an enduring reminder of the need to uphold our universal commitment to rejecting all forms of anti-Semitism and hatred, so that our world may never again witness such an atrocity.

As a country long accustomed to multiculturalism and interfaith dialogue, and with our own thriving Jewish community the Kingdom of Bahrain mourns the millions of individual lives taken by this abhorrent crime against humanity, and stands in solidarity with the survivors and their families.

Today, following the vision of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa for peace, and in cooperation with our partners in the Middle East, we continue to sow the seeds of coexistence, demonstrating to the region and the world that three is no place for ignorance and extremism, only peace and understanding…

Dr. Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Kingdom of Bahrain

---

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Ashkenazi spoke with his American counterpart, Secretary of State Tony Blinken, and congratulated him on taking office under the Biden Administration. The two discussed regional strategic issues, the continued expansion of the circle of peace, the Iranian threat and other issues.

Ashkenazi called the United States Israel’s greatest friend and its strategic partner in the regional peace process, as well as in matters of regional security and stability:

“The peace agreements led by the US created a broad peace coalition in the Middle East, and we all must continue to act to widen the circle and remove any threat that can undermine the stability and security of the region.” 

The two agreed to continue talking and arranged to meet as soon as possible given the COVID-19 limitations.

THE RUSSIANS AGAIN

Russian Hack Brings Changes, Uncertainty To US Court System

 

Associated Press

January 31, 2021

 

Trial lawyer Robert Fisher is handling one of America’s most prominent counterintelligence cases, defending an MIT scientist charged with secretly helping China. But how he’ll handle the logistics of the case could feel old school: Under new court rules, he’ll have to print out any highly sensitive documents and hand-deliver them to the courthouse.

Until recently, even the most secretive material — about wiretaps, witnesses and national security concerns – could be filed electronically. But that changed after the massive Russian hacking campaign that breached the U.S. court system’s electronic case files and those of scores of other federal agencies and private companies.

The new rules for filing sensitive documents are one of the clearest ways the hack has affected the court system. But the full impact remains unknown. Hackers probably gained access to the vast trove of confidential information hidden in sealed documents, including trade secrets, espionage targets, whistleblower reports and arrest warrants. It could take years to learn what information was obtained and what hackers are doing with it.

It's also not clear that the intrusion has been stopped, prompting the rules on paper filings. Those documents are now uploaded to a stand-alone computer at the courthouse — one not connected to the network or Internet. That means lawyers cannot access the documents from outside the courthouse.

Fisher is defending Gang Chen, a nanotechnology researcher fighting charges that he defrauded the U.S.

“It would be cumbersome if we do have to start filing pleadings during the litigation on paper. That’s going to be more difficult,” Fisher said. “Particularly during COVID. Most of us are working from home.”

The Russian intrusion through the SolarWinds software has President Joe Biden in an early tussle with his Russian counterpart, President Vladimir Putin, and U.S. senators are worried about the “grave risk” to U.S. intelligence.

The Administrative Office of U.S. Courts confirmed the court system breach on Jan. 6, joining a victims' list that includes the State Department, the National Institutes of Health, tech companies and an unknown number of Fortune 500 companies. U.S. officials have linked the effort, which went on for much of 2020, to elite Russia hackers.

“I don’t think we know what motivated the Russians in this case to target the court system — whether it was a target of opportunity enabled by this SolarWinds breach, or whether it was a ... priority," said Ben Buchanan, who teaches cyberespionage at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service.

Though the entry point in the SolarWinds network software has been plugged, “it is really hard to kick the Russians out once they’re in,” he said.

Federal court operations are largely decentralized. Each of the 13 circuits adopts its own rules and security measures. Some courts encrypt documents filed under seal, but others do not, according to court employees who spoke with The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the security breach.

Either way, anyone sophisticated enough to launch the SolarWinds attack can probably decrypt data, perhaps by stealing an authorized user's credentials, experts said. Targets could include not just court staff, but also “soft targets” such as law firms that upload files to the case management system, known as CM/ECF.

Criminal, civil and bankruptcy filings are believed to have been compromised, but not the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court system, which handles national security surveillance warrants, according to the court employees.

Senators are pressing court officials and the Justice Department for a clear assessment of the damage to the legal system.

“I fear that we do not know how Russia could take advantage of the access and information it may have obtained, and we likely won’t know until it’s far too late," Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., told The Associated Press in a statement. “The cleanup of this breach will be extraordinarily difficult ..., but we cannot cut corners and just hope that the Russians left.”

Some worry that the new rules will reduce public access to court proceedings, but they could also make judges rethink whether a seal or paper filing is really necessary. Court transparency advocates feel that judges have been on a sealing binge in recent years, keeping the public in the dark about important evidence in product liability, public corruption and other cases.

But others say the need for privacy is real, especially when it comes to corporate fights over patent secrets or other intellectual property, or whistleblower complaints, which remain secret while the government investigates. They fear that companies could be shaken down or see their stock price plummet if the information is exposed.

“There's an underlying concern about what was breached. Our cases do ultimately come out from under seal, but the risk is a compromise in the interim, of a federal investigation or our clients,” said lawyer Erica Blachman Hitchings of the Whistleblower Law Collaborative in Boston.

Frank Montoya Jr., a retired FBI agent and counterterrorism expert, believes Russian officials will exploit whatever they can as they sift through the data, just as they did in 2016, when they leaked stolen Democratic National Committee emails during the U.S. presidential election. It could take years, or decades, to gauge their intent.

"We tend to still look at this stuff as spy versus spy. But the reality is, it's not just about a specific targeted interest. It's about exploiting everything to make money, to benefit the state, to undermine the U.S.,” he said.

But Georgetown's Buchanan doesn't see the Russian government selling trade secrets, even for something as valuable as the COVID-19 vaccine or a blockbuster drug. He believes it's all about statecraft — and espionage.

Retired U.S. Circuit Judge Thomas Vanaskie, who led the U.S. Judicial Conference's Information Technology Committee about 12 years ago, worries about the government's duty to people who seek justice from the courts.

“We have assured counsel that you can file on our system, electronically, confidential material that will be sealed, and not subject to being hacked,” he said. "And here we are, hacked.”

COLD CASE SUSPECT ARRESTED

by Bob Walsh

Back in 1979 Jesus Emilio Baraza Valdez, now 75, was as violent asshole.  He and a buddy were drinking and being assholeish in Rocha's 120 Club near Escalon in San Joaquin County on June 27 and were thrown out.  They came back later and were refused service.  At that time Baraza shot and killed the club owner, Joseph Rocha.  Baraza Valdez then fled the country and changed his name.

It worked for along time, but he was arrested in SoCal last month and has now been transferred back to stand trial in the murder.  His accomplish was caught and convicted in 1979.

The Sheriff's Office here has established a cold case squad working old homicide and missing persons cases.  They currently have about 350 cases under review.  We can thank the new Sheriff, Pat Withrow, for this program.   

AND ANOTHER WARDEN BITES THE DUST

by Bob Walsh

The NEW warden, sent in to clean up the Metropolitan Correctional Center after Jeffrey Epstein maybe self-rehabilitated, is now history.

Marti Licon-Vitali, 54, abruptly retired this week.  She had been there one year.

It is generally speculated that her departure may have had something to do with the following.

A severely mentally disabled prisoner was left in a holding cell for 24 hours in violation of policy.  He did, however, make friends with several rodents in the tank.

A report of sexual misconduct by a superior was sat on for a significant period of time.

A gun was found inside the facility.

A shitload of cell phones and shanks were found.  (No huge surprise there.)

Non-custody personnel were drafted into doing custody duties due to extreme staff shortages.

An inmate died in September due to reasons that have yet to be revealed, other than that they were no Covid.  The prisoner, Tony McClam, had complained of ongoing health problems and poor to zero medical treatment.  Autopsy reports have yet to be released. 

IF WE PAY REPARATIONS TO BLACKS, SHOULDN'T WE ALSO PAY THEM TO AMERICA'S INDIANS?

Every inch of American soil was stolen from the Indians who were forced onto reservations that barely sustained life and they are truly suffering because of it today

By Howie Katz

 

Big Jolly Times

January 31, 2021

When I wrote my article about Sheila Jackson Lee's Second Amendment shredding Sabika Sheikh Firearm Licensing and Registration Act, I mentioned that she also introduced H.R. 40, the Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African-Americans Act.

While Jackson Lee's crazy gun control act is not likely to see the light of day, her reparation bill has a good chance of passing in the Democrat controlled House.  Although H.R. 40 does not call for reparations, the commission to study them is the precursor  for doing exactly that. 

You can bet the commission will recommend the payment of reparations on the grounds that today's plight of African-Americans is the result of slavery and Jim Crow laws.   In other words, those blacks who are living near or in poverty are poor because of slavery and Jim Crowism.  One could even say that the Bloods, Crips and other black street gangs are shooting up black neighborhoods because of slavery.

But if we pay reparations to blacks for the wrongs whites exacted on them, what about the American Indians?  Every inch of American soil was stolen from them by whites.  In the Western United States, the government forced them onto reservations that barely sustained life.  And they are truly suffering because of it today. 

I've been to several Indian reservations in Arizona and Riverside County, California and the living conditions there are absolutely deplorable.

There are few jobs and alcoholism is rampant.

 

Of course not all Indians lice in abject poverty.  The Agua Caliente band of Cahuilla Indians are well off because Palm Springs sits on their reservation.  And a number of reservations now have casinos which have improved the lives of the Indians residing thereon.  

 

Texas has three federally-recognized Indian tribes: The Alabama-Coushatta Tribe in Livingston, the Kickapoo Traditional Tribe in Eagle Pass and the Ysleta Del Sur Pueblo tribe of Tigua Indians in El Paso.  Only the Kickapoo Lucky Eagle Casino has been allowed to operate.  Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has shut down casinos run by the Tiguas and the Alabama-Coushatta tribe.  And Gov. Greg Abbott has publicly stated that he opposes gaming establishments on tribal lands. 

 

Meanwhile residents of the Dallas-Fort Worth area and those of the Houston-Galveston area are improving the lives of Oklahoma and Louisiana Indians by spending millions of dollars at nearby Indian casinos in those states.

 

While reparations for blacks is debatable, if any group is deserving of any reparations, it is the American Indians.

MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE JOINS SHEILA JACKSON LEE AS TOO CRAZY FOR CONGRESS

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene: Obama secretly a Muslim, Clintons killed JFK Jr., Pentagon attack on 9/11 is questionable

 

By Catie  Edmondson 

The New York Times

January 30, 2021

Marjorie Taylor Greene had just finished questioning whether a plane really flew into the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001, and flatly stating that President Barack Obama was secretly Muslim when she paused to offer an aside implicating another former president in a crime.

“That’s another one of those Clinton murders,” Greene said, referring to John F. Kennedy Jr.’s death in a 1999 plane crash, suggesting that he had been assassinated because he was a potential rival to Hillary Clinton for a New York Senate seat.

Greene casually unfurled the cascade of dangerous and patently untrue conspiracy theories in a previously unreported 40-minute video that was originally posted to YouTube in 2018. It provides a window into the warped worldview amplified by the freshman Republican congresswoman from Georgia, who in the three months since she was elected has created a national brand for herself as a conservative provocateur who has proudly brought the hard-right fringe to the Capitol.

“Yes, I do believe he is a Muslim,” Greene said of Obama. “And, yes, Valerie Jarrett is too.”

In the process, Greene, 46, has also created a dilemma for Republican leaders, who for months have been unwilling to publicly rebuke or punish her in any way for her inflammatory statements, in part for fear of alienating voters delighted by her incendiary brand of politics and conspiratorial beliefs.

After avoiding the issue for months in the hope that it would resolve itself, Republicans are now facing calls from Democrats to expel Greene from Congress, pressure from a prominent group of Jewish Republicans to discipline her, and private consternation from within their own ranks.

Their reticence to take action is yet another example of how Republican leaders have allowed those forces to fester and strengthen. Some leaders have privately said they are eager to move past the fringe movements and the charged messaging used by President Donald Trump that fueled the assault on the Capitol on Jan. 6.

Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., the minority leader, has yet to say anything personally about Greene’s comments or conduct, even after a week in which a slew of problematic social media posts and videos have surfaced from the years before she was elected. In them, Greene circulated and endorsed a seemingly endless array of hate speech and conspiracy theories explicitly rooted in Islamophobia, anti-Semitism and the belief that government actors were secretly behind a sweeping range of violence.

Greene suggested in 2018 that a devastating wildfire that ravaged California was started by “a laser” beamed from space and controlled by a prominent Jewish banking family with connections to powerful Democrats. She endorsed executing Democratic lawmakers, including Speaker Nancy Pelosi. She served as a prolific writer for a now-defunct conspiracy blog called “American Truth Seekers,” writing posts with headlines including “MUST READ — Democratic Party Involved With Child Sex, Satanism, and The Occult.” And she argued that the 2018 midterm elections — in which the first two Muslim women were elected to the House — were part of “an Islamic invasion of our government.”

Greene has repeatedly claimed in multiple videos and social media posts that several school shooting massacres were “false flag” events perpetrated by government officials in an attempt to drum up support for gun control laws. In an October 2020 video surfaced Friday by Mother Jones, she said that the “only way you get your freedoms back is it’s earned with the price of blood.”

Greene is perhaps best known for having endorsed QAnon, the pro-Trump conspiracy movement that claims that Trump was facing down a shadowy cabal of Democratic pedophiles. (She told Fox News last year that she “chose a different path,” and a spokesman, Nick Dyer, told The New York Times this week that she did not support QAnon.)

Sent a list of detailed questions about her beliefs and postings, Dyer declined to respond to any of them. In her own statement posted on Twitter on Friday afternoon, Greene assailed the “radical, left-wing Democrat mob” and reporters she said were trying to smear her, and claimed she was profiting politically and financially from the outrage she has provoked, saying that every negative news report “strengthens my base of support at home and across the country.”

She also issued what amounted to a threat to top Republicans who might be contemplating punishing her, warning that they would pay steep consequences.

“If Republicans cower to the mob, and let the Democrats and the fake news media take me out,” Greene said, “they’re opening the door to come after every single Republican until there’s none left.”

The statement came as internal pressure was mounting for Republican leaders to address Greene’s comments. The Republican Jewish Coalition, which over the summer intervened in a rare move to back Greene’s primary challenger, disavowed the congresswoman in a scathing statement and said it was “working closely with the House Republican leadership regarding next steps.”

“She repeatedly used offensive language in long online video diatribes, promoted bizarre political conspiracy theories, and refused to admit a mistake after posing for photos with a longtime white supremacist leader,” the group said. “It is unfortunate that she prevailed in her election despite this terrible record.”

A spokesman for McCarthy told Axios this week that newly surfaced Facebook posts written by Greene and reported by CNN, in which she discussed executing top Democratic politicians, were “deeply disturbing” and that McCarthy planned to “have a conversation” with her about them next week.

But McCarthy’s silence so far reflects, in part, the sway Trump still has over the Republican Party and its leaders. The former president has praised Greene effusively and refused to condemn QAnon, despite being asked to disavow it repeatedly while in office.

On Friday evening, Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., chair of the House Rules Committee, suggested Democrats could move unilaterally to strip Greene of her committees if Republicans did not act.

“We could break precedent,” McGovern said on CNN. “We should talk about that if nothing changes.”

In her own telling, Greene became more outspoken about her politics in 2016 after she sold the CrossFit gym she owned and felt she no longer needed to worry about alienating her customers by stating her beliefs.

She began traveling to Washington for conservative events, including a prayer rally hosted by the White House, and to lobby lawmakers against passing gun safety measures. On one such trip, Greene accosted David Hogg, a student who had survived a 2018 school shooting in Parkland, Florida, who was also on Capitol Hill, but to lobby in support of stricter gun laws. In a video that CNN unearthed this week, Greene follows Hogg as he walks toward the Capitol, calling him a “coward” and accusing him of “using kids” to promote his own political agenda.

When Greene decided to run for Congress, she initially started her campaign in a Georgia district held by Rep. Lucy McBath, a Democrat. But after Rep. Tom Graves, a Republican, announced he would retire, Greene moved her campaign to his more conservative district. She eventually placed first in a crowded primary race and advanced to a runoff election against Dr. John Cowan, a mild-mannered neurosurgeon.

On the campaign trail, Greene presented herself as a deeply conservative, pro-Trump Christian mother and business owner, arguing that her work in the construction industry had imbued her with the toughness that comes from working in a male-dominated field. She railed against the ascendant progressive wing in Congress, emphasized the importance of the Second Amendment while toting an AR-15, and warned of “thousands” of immigrants “pouring over” the southwestern border.

Greene largely veered away from the conspiratorial on the trail, though she did cut a campaign ad claiming that “‘Deep State’ actors tried to sabotage President Donald J. Trump before he even took office” and claimed on her campaign accounts that George Soros, the billionaire investor and Democratic donor, was “bankrolling left-wing movements worldwide who want to destroy Israel.”

The messaging raised alarm at the time among House Republican leaders and some members of the Georgia delegation who worried that if elected, Greene could create a grave problem for their party. But they never mobilized to defeat her.

While the top three House Republicans condemned a series of racist videos Greene made, surfaced by Politico, only Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the No. 2 Republican, endorsed Cowan. McCarthy and Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, the third-ranking leader, stayed neutral.

Privately, according to a person familiar with their thinking, top Republicans hoped that outside groups would swoop into the primary race in support of Cowan and weaponize Greene’s incendiary comments against her, dooming her candidacy. But the outside effort never materialized.

Instead, Greene’s campaign received an important boost when the political arm of the ultraconservative Freedom Caucus endorsed her, as did Reps. Andy Biggs of Arizona, the group’s chairman, and Jim Jordan of Ohio, a founder. She handily won the runoff in August and cruised to victory in November.

That left Republican leaders hoping that, once sworn in, Greene would clean up her act, disavowing her past comments and dialing back her outlandish rhetoric.

Instead, she charged into Congress and immediately faced scrutiny for her support of the “Stop the Steal” campaign that falsely claimed that Trump had won the 2020 presidential election.

She referred to Jan. 6, the day Congress was slated to formalize the election results, as Republicans’ “1776 moment” in the lead up to the violent storming of the Capitol by pro-Trump rioters. After the rampage, she pledged that Trump would “remain in office” and that attempts to remove him from the White House constituted “an attack on every American who voted for him.”

Days later, she announced she would file articles of impeachment against President Joe Biden.

“Troll level: EXPERT,” Dinesh D’Souza, a right-wing firebrand, wrote on Twitter.

Greene liked the post.

RALLY THAT PRECEDED THE CAPITOL RIOT WAS BANKROLLED BY JULIE JENKINS FANCELLI AND ALEX JONES

REVEALED: Heir to Publix Super Markets chain bankrolled MAGA rally before Capitol riot with $300,000 donation alongside Alex Jones who gave $50,000 to event that was organized by Trump supporter who charged $730,000

 

By Frances Mulraney

 

Daily Mail

January 30, 2021 

The main donor behind the Washintgon D.C. 'Stop the Steal' rally that sparked a riot on the U.S. Capitol on January 6 has been revealed as the heiress to the Publix Super Markets Inc. chain. 

Julie Jenkins Fancelli, a prominent Trump donor, pledged $300,000 to the MAGA rally in an arrangement set up by far-right show radio host Alex Jones. 

Fancelli's donation funded most of the event, which cost $500,000 in total to run. 

After being initally arranged by Jones, Fancelli tapped Caroline Wren, a top fundraising official on the Trump 2020 campaign, to organize and fund the rally on her behalf.

According to records, Wren and her fundraising consultancy firm were paid $730,000 by the Trump campaign and a joint GOP committee in the 2020 election cycle.   

Jones himself also contributed more than $50,000 in seed money to the event in exchange for a 'top speaking slot of his choice', according to the Wall Street Journal.

Fancelli previously donated more than $980,000 to the Trump campaign and Republican Party during the last election cycle. 

She is a heir to Florida-based Publix Super Markets, established by her father in 1930, making her a member of one of the richest families in America. 

As of December 2020, Forbes listed the Jenkins family as the 39th richest in the U.S., with a worth of $8.8billion.  

The family owns 20 percent of Publix, which has more than 1,200 grocery stores across southeastern U.S.

The other 80 percent is employee owned, making it the largest employee-owned company in the country. 

Founded by her father George, who died in 1996, it is now chaired by his grandson William E. 'Ed' Crenshaw. Jennifer Jenkins and Howard Jenkins also sit on the board.

The company made $38 billion revenue in 2019, according to Forbes. 

According to the Broward News Times, the Fancelli family holds no decision-making power at Publix and has no business with the supermarket chain.  

Yet it had been funneling as $1.7 million a year to vendor Alma Foods, a company Julie Jenkins Fancelli once owned. 

After Fancelli left the company in 2017, Publix stopped using Alma Foods as a vendor.

Publix was the center of controversy in 2018 after the company gave tons of cash to then–gubernatorial candidate Adam Putnam, a strong supporter of the NRA. 

Parkland survivor David Hogg held a number of 'die-in' protests outside their stores as a result.  

Fancelli was born in Lakeland, Florida, and remains there, along with most of her siblings. 

She met her husband Mauro while on a study-abroad year in Florence, Italy, while she was a University of Florida student. 

In 2016, sister Carol Jenkins Barnett, who is worth $2billion, infamously donated $800,000 to a campaign to keep marijuana illegal in Florida, according to Broward News Times. 

Fancelli has not made Forbes' rich list but her two siblings Carol and Howard have both been listed among its billionaires. 

She and two of her children also previously donated to Trump ally, Florida governor Ron DeSantis. 

While she is not involved in the power plays at Publix, Fancelli does run the George Jenkins Foundation alongside Carol and Howard. It has mostly given to a spate of Christian and other religious nonprofits, according to the Miami New Times. 

Few details had previously emerged of the backers of the MAGA rally, held at Washington's Ellipse on the morning of January 6, which descended into chaos and violence. 

Several pro-Trump groups had organized various events around D.C. that day with the main Ellipse event led by Women for America First. 

None of the groups involved had received a permit to march.  

Wren has now been identified among the main organizers, alongside Ali Alexander, a far-right activist and leader of the 'Stop the Steal' movement. 

Women for America First had applied for the permit to hold the rally, listing Wren as 'VIP coordinator'. 

According to the permit and Federal Election Commission records acquired by the Wall Street Journal, Wren and at least five former Trump campaign staffers were involved in the organization of the Ellipse rally. 

A spokesperson for the Trump campaign told the publication that it had no involvement in fundraising for the event. 

The WSJ reports that organizers said that Fancelli had contacted Jones with the offer to fund the rally and she was put in touch with an organizer through Wren. 

It cost $500,000 in total including the cost of a concert stage, a $100,000 grass covering and thousands of feet of security structures.  

Wren was said to be handling funding and played a central role in bringing together the various pro-Trump groups who had planned different events that day.   

She also organized the list of 30 potential speakers and urged Alexander to reschedule his own Capitol rally to 1pm to avoid a clash. 

Women for America First are said to have been concerned about the involvement of fringe characters such as Jones but were persuaded for their inclusion by Wren. 

Organizers said she gave him and Alexander their VIP passes and escorted them from the Ellipse as they headed to march to the Capitol.  

The fundraiser told the WSJ that her role 'was to assist many others in providing and arranging for a professionally produced event at the Ellipse'.

Alexander had used social media to identify January 6, the day Congress would vote to certify the Electoral College votes, as a key protest date as he pushed the unfounded claims that the election had been stolen from Trump. 

'DC becomes FORT TRUMP starting tomorrow on my orders!' he wrote in a tweet. 

In an earlier tweet in December he had also claimed 'If they do this, everyone can guess what me and 500,000 others will do to that building' while speaking about the Electoral College vote at the Capitol.  

Both Alexander and Jones and pushed claims that the election was stolen for weeks in their online commentary and urged others to continue to protest. 

While Jones spoke at the main event, he also attended a break-out rally the night before, at which he also spoke. 

His $50,000 contribution was eventually used for this event, to which he donated $96,000 in total.  

On the day itself, Alexander's 'Stop the Steal' group had organized a seperate protest outside of Capitol buildings. 

Yet he told the Wall Street Journal that his movement's motto is 'peaceful but rowdy' and had no ties to the violence. 

He also claimed that his own comments, such as the previous December tweet, had done nothing to encourage others to use violence. 

Alexander had appeared on Jones show after the riot in which they both claimed that they had tried to stop those storming the Capitol. 

Neither of them has been charged with any wrongdoing on the day of the riot.  

Former President Trump also spoke at the January 6 rally and he has since been impeached for the second time, after being accused by the Democrat-led House of inciting violence.

They claim he encouraged a mob to storm the U.S. Capitol by telling them in his speech to 'fight like hell' against the election result. 

The 'Stop the Steal' rally itself had remained peaceful but after it finished thousands of Trump loyalists marched toward the U.S. Capitol to break their way in. 

Five people died in the following violence, four of whom were Trump's own supporters.

CARJACKER VS. POLICE DOG

Florida man badly loses fight with police, K-9

 

By Jesse O’Neill

 

New York Post

January 29, 2021 

Some pictures are worth a thousand words — but this mugshot only needs six: don’t try to fight the police.

A Florida man was taken into custody after police said he kept attacking two sheriff’s deputies and their K-9 despite losing and regaining consciousness twice — and getting tased — during the scuffle, according to WEARTV.

The ill-advised incident, which left the suspect with multiple scrapes and bruises plus staples on his eyebrow, happened Thursday afternoon in Escambia County, on the state’s panhandle.

A driver called police to report a man was trying to grab his steering wheel and carjack his vehicle while walking in and out of traffic, according to the report.

When the victim drove away and returned home, he reportedly found the same suspect on his porch trying to break into his home, where his daughter was inside.

It is unclear how — or whether — the two men knew each other.

When deputies arrived, they allegedly saw 25-year-old Eric Tyler Mathis hiding behind a blue tarp on the victim’s property.

The suspect told sheriffs that it was his property, and yelled at them to leave, according to the station. Efforts to arrest him were met with “violent resistance,” police reportedly said.

He fought two deputies and resisted their efforts to use a taser,” investigators told the local station.

When the taser failed to subdue the suspect, deputies deployed K-9 Zeek on Mathis. The suspect then tried to fight the police dog, reportedly grabbing him around the neck.

Eventually Mathis was taken into custody and charged with robbery, burglary, battery, resisting an officer and public order crime, officials said in a Facebook post.

His bond was set at $136,000.

“We are also glad neither the deputies or K-9 Zeek were seriously injured,” Sheriff Chip W. Simmons posted.

“A person cannot illegally enter another person’s occupied vehicle, cannot illegally enter another person’s occupied home, and cannot fight the efforts of Law Enforcement Officers. Let’s not forget about the victims of these crimes and how terrifying it must have been for them,” the post continued.

FORMER FBI LAWYER SENTENCED

He Is Sent To Bed Without His Supper

by Bob Walsh

Kevin Clinesmith was a lawyer for the FBI.  He altered (falsified) FBI documents that he knew were to be presented to the FISA court in order to ensure that a FISA wiretap would be initiated against Carter Page.   He pleaded guilty.  He was, for all practical purposes, given a freebie.  He got 30 days suspended and 40 hours of community service.  All of that for violating his oath of office, violating his duties as a lawyer and attempting to destroy a private American citizen as well as bring down the duty elected President.  

When shit like this happens it is REAL HARD to say the Deep State doesn't exist with a straight face. 

PLAGUE REPORT UPDATE FROM STOCKTON CA

by Bob Walsh

It is now OK to be sick or injured in San Joaquin County.

There is now a slight but definite drop in Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations in the county.  Early January saw 5,000 newly verified Covid infections per week, it is now down to less than 2,200 per week.  It is nice to know that if you get injured or seriously ill from something BESIDES Covid they won't park your ass in a broken down mini-van in the parking lot.  

ANOTHER CONSPIRACY THEORY?

Former Intel Official: China Wants to Collect Americans' DNA

 

By Brian Trusdell 

 

Newsmax

January 29, 2021

 

China could be looking to collect DNA of Americans and then use the information to monopolize or control critical medical supplies, a former U.S. intelligence expert says.

Bill Evanina, the director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center in the Trump administration, told ''60 Minutes'' in a report to air Sunday that offers by the Chinese company BGI Group, the largest biotech firm in the world, to set up testing labs shortly after the outbreak of the novel coronavirus were alarming.

The state of Washington was the first company BGI approached followed by five other states including New York and California. It was so disturbing, Evanina authorized a rare public warning that said ''foreign powers can collect, store and exploit biometric information from COVID tests."

Partially due to the warning, none of the states accepted the offer from BGI, which has close ties to the Chinese military and Chinese Communist Party.

"This shows the nefarious mindset of the Communist Party of China, to take advantage of a worldwide crisis like COVID," said Evanina, an FBI and CIA veteran. "We put out an advisory to not only every American, but to hospitals, associations, and clinics. Knowing that BGI is a Chinese company, do we understand where that data's going?"

The primary concern of Evanina and his colleagues was that access to biodata can lead to complete control over healthcare. If an individual’s medical condition is obtained through DNA and other data, a government like China can take steps to control or monopolize the therapy or drugs to treat it.

"From a long-term existential cost to our nation, do we want to do that? Do we want to have another nation systematically eliminate our healthcare services?" Evanina asked rhetorically. "That's what's happening."

Concerns of China’s control over supply chains reached a peak last year with regard to medical protection equipment such as masks, gowns and other items.

"What happens if we realize that all of our future drugs, our future vaccines … are all completely dependent upon a foreign source?'' asked former biochemist and now FBI supervisory agent Edward You. ''If we don't wake up, we'll realize one day we've just become healthcare crack addicts and someone like China has become our pusher.''

The story added that many Americans already have given away their DNA by using genealogy service to learn their ancestry.

JEWISH SPACE LASERS CAUSED THE DEADLY 2018 CAMP FIRE

The Craziest Person in the World (Today)

GOP Congresswoman blamed deadly forest fire on Jewish space laser

 

By Stephen Green 

PJ Media Insanity Wrap

January 29, 2021

 

Insanity Wrap has long believed that Jewish space lasers are the worst space lasers.

Or rather we would, if we believed in space lasers, overtly religious or not, and had a comically pathological fear of half our ethnic heritage

However, it is Insanity Wrap’s duty to remind you on occasion that both sides have their share of crazies:

Among the many posts being unearthed amid renewed scrutiny of Marjorie Taylor Greene’s social media history is one in which the new congresswoman implicated “Rothschild Inc” in connection with a deadly forest fire that, she wrote, was started using secret laser beams from space.

Greene, a freshman Republican from Georgia who made waves during the campaign for her promotion of the QAnon conspiracy theory, made the accusation in a 2018 Facebook post that is no longer visible. In the post, Greene offers a mix of evidence-free speculation as to what caused the 2018 Camp Fire, which burned more than 150,000 acres and killed 85 people.

In reality, the fire was determined to have been started by electrical wiring belonging to Pacific Gas and Electric.

Who needs Jewish space lasers when you have California mismanagement of utilities, infrastructure, and forestry?

While it’s true that Greene never used the phrase “Jewish space lasers,” what she did write was so paranoid and convoluted that “Jewish space lasers” actually sounds slightly less crazy to our ears.

It’s also shorter and easier to type.

Regardless, it is also Insanity Wrap’s duty to remind you that while the Right does have its share of crazies, we’re expected to police them — and that’s a good thing.

On the Left, they put their crazies in positions of great power and insist that they’re all sane.

EXIT QUESTION: Which was Israeli’s greatest New Wave band, Jewish Space Lasers or Magnum Moyles?

'JACKSON-LEE IS TOO CRAZY FOR CONGRESS'

New Gun Control Bill Would Create Public Registry Of Firearms  

 

By Stephen Green 

PJ Media Insanity Wrap

January 29, 2021

Speaking of crazies in positions of power — sorry, but this is Cheap Segue Friday — did you hear about the Democrat in Congress who wants you to submit to a government psych eval in order to get permission to exercise your Second Amendment rights?

Here’s the language from H.R. 127, authored by Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-Texas) — who sits on the Judiciary Committee — and spotted by Insanity Wrap’s Bearing Arms colleague Patrick Richardson:

“(2) PSYCHOLOGICAL EVALUATION.—A psychological evaluation is conducted in accordance with this paragraph if—

“(A) the evaluation is conducted in compliance with such standards as shall be established by the Attorney General;

“(B) the evaluation is conducted by a licensed psychologist approved by the Attorney General;

“(C) as deemed necessary by the licensed psychologist involved, the evaluation included a psychological evaluation of other members of the household in which the individual resides

There’s much more at the link, and Insanity Wrap is practically begging you to go over and read the whole thing.

 

 

For what it’s worth, this is the same Sheila Jackson-Lee who once claimed to have held a .223 caliber AR-15, a firearm famous for its light weight. She claimed it was “as heavy as 10 boxes that you might be moving. And the bullet that is utilized, a .50 caliber, these kinds of bullets need to be licensed and do not need to be on the street.”

Jackson-Lee is the crazy one, and yet is trying to set up a very clever catch-22, much like the one in Joseph Heller’s novel: You’d have to be crazy to submit to a government psych eval, so anyone who applies for one is clearly too nuts to own a firearm.

Jackson-Lee is too crazy for Congress, a feat barely possible even in times as extraordinary as these.

So why have we filed this story under our daily “Brief Moment of Sanity” section?

Because Jackson-Lee’s House bill will die almost the moment it reaches the Senate — meaning our system hasn’t been completely, irrevocably broken.

At least not yet.

LOUISIANA DEPUTY PERFORMED A TRULY HEOIC ACT

Sheriff: Deputy Used ‘Brute Strength' To Rescue Children From Sinking Truck

 

LAPPL News Watch

January 29, 2021

In the middle of the night, in a misty rain and fog, a deputy dove in a canal to punch out the window of a truck sinking in the water and pull a mother and her two children to safety, Ascension Parish Sheriff Bobby Webre said. 

Webre said it appeared that the woman driving the truck veered off the right side of George Lambert Road near St. Amant, then over-corrected, spinning out and sending the truck backwards into New River Canal. The crash occurred about 3:30 a.m. Wednesday. 

A passenger, another woman, was able to get out of the sinking truck and sit on its roof to call 911, Webre said. Deputies helped the passenger to safety, but the driver and her two children were still in the truck. 

Webre said deputies Daniel Haydel and Jamie Wolfe were at the scene, along with two Sorrento firefighters. "They could hear crying and moaning. "

Out of brute strength, Deputy Haydel dove into the water and broke the truck window and was able to pull the mother and the two children, ages 3 and 4, to safety," Webre said. 

The mother and one of the children were taken to a hospital in critical condition, Webre said.

1,700 UNEMPLOYMENT CLAIMS FROM THE SAME ADDRESS DID NOT AROUSE ANY SUSPICIONS

1,700 Claims From 1 Address? How California Missed Widespread Unemployment Fraud

 

LAPPL News Watch

January 29, 2021

 

The state’s Employment Development Department’s response to massive fraud was “marked by significant missteps and inaction,” fraud that so far has resulted in more than $10 billion in suspicious claims, a state audit reported Thursday. 

“Despite repeated warnings, EDD did not bolster its fraud detection efforts until months into the pandemic,” wrote State Auditor Elaine Howle. The audit said $10.4 billion had been paid out to people that “might be fraudulent,” from March to December, and warned, “It is highly probable that EDD will ultimately determine that it improperly paid significantly more than the $10.4 billion we identify in this report as potentially fraudulent.” 

The audit listed several lapses, including a system that allowed claimants to collect benefits even though they were using suspicious addresses. In one case, it said, more than 1,700 claims were coming from a single address. 

People throughout the state had been reporting since August that they were getting mailings with unknown names from EDD, yet the audit found that as late as December the agency was “allowing claimants to continue to collect benefits using suspicious addresses because it did not establish payment blocks for their claims.”

HR-127. FIREARMS CONFISCATION IS BEGINNING

by Bob Walsh

Representative Sheila Jackson Lee has introduced HR-127.  If passed into law this would require the following.

ALL privately owned firearms MUST be registered with the federal government.

You would require a license from the federal government to own or possess firearms or ammunition.

You would require a psych eval to get this license.

You would be required to maintain liability insurance related to possession of firearms.

Significant fees would be required for all of the above.

Fortunately there are no co-sponsors on the bill so it will probably get little traction.  This time.

SHEILA JACKSON LEE GOES BERSERK ON GUN CONTROL

Houston’s embarrassing contribution to the congressional membership introduces the Sabika Sheikh Firearm Licensing and Registration Act

 

By Howie Katz

 

Big Jolly Times

January 29, 2021

It isn't bad enough that Houston has been embarrassed time after time by Sheila Jackson Lee, but now the poorest excuse for a member of Congress has gone berserk by introducing a bill that attacks all gun owners.

"H.R.127 - To provide for the licensing of firearm and ammunition possession and the registration of firearms, and to prohibit the possession of certain ammunition" is a bill Jackson Lee introduced on January4.

The bill is also known as the "Sabika Sheikh Firearm Licensing and Registration Act."   

Sabika Sheikh was a Pakistani exchange student who was killed in 2018 during the Santa Fe High School massacre.  

Here is a summary of H.R.127 from the Firearms Policy Coalition.

HR 127 establishes a federal firearms registration system that will be accessible by federal, state, and local governments, including the military - even the GENERAL PUBLIC! The system will track the make, model, and serial number of all firearms, their owners, the dates they were acquired, and where they are being stored.

The system will also track firearms loans, including the ID of the loan recipient and for how long it is being loaned. This bill applies retroactively, so current firearms owners will have three months to supply their gun information to the federal government from the bill’s effective date. 

HR 127 also establishes a federal licensing requirement. Applicants will have to be at least 21, undergo a NICS check, complete a psychological evaluation, complete 24 hours of firearms training, and pay $800 for firearms insurance from the government. 

For the psychological evaluation, a licensed psychologist will interview individuals’ spouses and at least two other family members or associates to “further determine the state of the mental emotional, and relational stability of the individual in relation to firearms.” Licenses will be denied to individuals hospitalized for issues such as depressive episodes; no duration for license disability is specified, and it does not matter whether the individual sought help voluntarily.

HR 127 will also establish licensing requirements for the display of antique firearms and for the right to possess “military-style weapons.” To display an antique, applicants have to prove they own an antique firearm, describe how they will display it, and demonstrate that they have “safe” storage for it. To possess a “military-style weapon”, applicants will have to undergo 24 hours of safety and live fire training. It is unclear whether this training is in addition to the base 24 hours of training required to possess firearms and ammunition. “Military-style weapons” are defined as they are under assault weapons bans like those in California and New Jersey - weapons are identified by name or because they possess two or more features found on commonly owned, modern semiautomatic firearms such as an adjustable stock, pistol grip, etc.

Finally, HR 127 also criminalizes the possession of “large-capacity magazines” (those carrying greater than 10 rounds) and “ammunition that is 0.50 caliber or greater.”

__________

There is no grandfathering clause in Jackson Lee's bill.  That means if you have an old rusting .22 rifle sitting in an one of your closets, you will have to comply with all the provisions of the bill or face a heavy fine and possible imprisonment.

This bill clearly shreds the Second Amendment and is the worst anti-gun legislation that any lawmaker could ever introduce.  Jackson Lee did not get any cosponsors for her bill which means that it may not get out of the House.  But you can bet that Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, AOC’s Squad and the Marxist-led BLM movement would love to see the Sabika Sheikh Firearm Licensing and Registration Act become law.

I seriously doubt that most of the constituents in Jackson Lee's congressional district support this God-awful anti-gun legislation.   But they will support "H.R. 40, the "Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African-Americans Act" which she also introduced recently.  That bill calls for examining the specific role slavery played in creating inequality in the lives of Black Americans, as well as recommend a formal apology from the U.S. government.

Oh good, Sheila not only wants me to give up my guns, but she also wants me to pay for the problems blacks are experiencing today allegedly because of slavery which ended with the end of the Civil War.

NEW DA WANTS HER OFFICE REMOVED FROM PROSECUTING EIGHT ATLANTA COPS

Prosecutor hands off case against Atlanta officers in death of Rayshard Brooks

By Kate Brumback

Associated Press

January 28, 2021

 

ATLANTA — The new prosecutor in Georgia's most populous county is removing her office from the prosecution of the police officer who shot and killed Rayshard Brooks last summer in Atlanta, citing concerns about her predecessor's actions.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis sent a letter dated Monday to state Attorney General Chris Carr asking that the cases against the two officers in the Brooks shooting and six officers in another high-profile use-of-force case be handled by another prosecutor.

Former Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard announced charges, including felony murder against former Atlanta police officer Garrett Rolfe, less than a week after Brooks' death. A second officer was charged with aggravated assault and violating his oath.

The other use-of-force case Willis asked Carr to reassign stems from an incident two weeks earlier in which two students at historically Black colleges were pulled from a car in downtown Atlanta traffic during a large protest against police brutality. Howard announced charges against six officers within days.

The charges against officers in both cases were announced as Howard was fighting to keep his job amid a Democratic primary challenge from Willis. Howard's conduct, “including using video evidence in campaign television advertisements,” may have violated Georgia Bar rules, Willis wrote in her letter to Carr.

She also noted that Carr had asked the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to investigate whether Howard improperly issued grand jury subpoenas in the Rolfe case.

“I believe both matters create sufficient question of the appropriateness of this office continuing to handle the investigation and possible prosecution of these cases that the public interest is served by disqualifying this office and referring the matter to specially appointed prosecutor,” Willis wrote in the letter which was first reported by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The phone at a number listed for Howard rang unanswered Thursday. 

Police responded June 12 after receiving complaints that Brooks has fallen asleep in his car in a Wendy's drive-thru lane. Police body camera video shows two officers having a calm and respectful conversation with Brooks for more than 40 minutes. When the officers told Brooks he’d had too much to drink to be driving and tried to handcuff him, he resisted in a struggle caught on dash camera video. Brooks grabbed a Taser from one of the officers and fired it at Rolfe as he ran away. Rolfe fired his gun and an autopsy found Brooks was shot twice in the back. Both officers' lawyers have said their actions were justified and both were released on bond.

In the other case, Messiah Young and Taniyah Pilgrim were in a car stuck in downtown traffic on May 30 during protests sparked by the killing of George Floyd in Minnesota when they were confronted by a police officers. Police body camera footage shows officers shouting at the couple, firing Tasers at them and dragging them from the car. Throughout the confrontation, the pair can be heard screaming and asking what they did wrong.

Defense attorney Noah Pines, who represents Rolfe, had asked a judge in July to remove Howard's office from the case. Howard's “unethical actions poisoned the entire Fulton County District Attorney’s Office” he wrote in an email Thursday, adding that he was not surprised Willis decided to recuse herself and her office.

“We look forward to the Attorney General appointing a new prosecutor, who we hope will review the GBI report (which we believe is favorable) and dismiss the case against Garrett Rolfe,” Pines wrote.

L. Chris Stewart and Justin Miller, who represent both Brooks' family and Pilgrim, said in an emailed statement that they were disappointed that the families were not given advance notice of Willis' decision.

“We are hopeful that Attorney General Carr will quickly reassign the cases to another District Attorney who will then use the full resources of their office to prosecute these officers,” the statement says.

Under Georgia law, Carr can assign the cases to another prosecutor. He can also have his office handle the cases or appoint another attorney to serve as a temporary district attorney for those matters. Neither case has been indicted and a new prosecutor will have to decide whether the charges are worth pursuing.

The attorney general's office received the letter Thursday afternoon and is “awaiting additional information necessary to initiate the process for appointing a substitute prosecutor,” spokesman Shawn Conroy said in an email.

NOT THE BRIGHTEST STAR IN THE GALAXY

Bank robber gave teller his actual ID during ill-fated heist 

 

By Joshua Rhett Miller

 

New York Post

January 28, 2021 

This wannabe bank robber took leaving his calling card a little too literally.

A Chicago bank robbery suspect gave a teller his state-issued ID along with a withdrawal slip demanding $10,000 during an ill-fated heist Monday, federal prosecutors said.

Edner Flores, 34, entered a PNC Bank in the city’s Humboldt Park section and waited in line before handing a teller a deposit ticket with the words “armed” and “no die packs,” leading the quick-witted bank employee to press a silent alarm, a criminal complaint shows.

The savvy teller then asked Flores — who was wearing a hood and a surgical mask at the time — if he wanted to make a deposit or a withdrawal, prosecutors said.

The employee then gave Flores a blue withdrawal slip – on which he scrawled “$10,000” and filled out his account number as “12345689” before handing it back, according to a photograph in the complaint.

Flores proceeded to give his authentic ID to the teller when asked, forking over his temporary state ID card issued by the Illinois Secretary of State just days earlier.

The ID contained Flores’ name, photo, driver’s license number and date of birth, according to the redacted complaint.

 

Prosecutors say Edner Flores handed over his real state ID card to a bank teller while trying to rob the PNC bank in Chicago.

 

Edner Flores allegedly wrote $10,000 and filled out his account number as "12345689" on a blue withdrawal slip. 

 

Flores was still standing in front of the teller when Chicago cops responded to the bank and arrested him. Cops also found a knife in his jacket pocket, prosecutors said.

Flores later confessed to trying to rob the bank during an interview with investigators. He also identified himself as the suspect seen in the bank’s video surveillance system, the complaint states.

An attorney for Flores was not listed in court document as of Wednesday, the Chicago Tribune reported. He’s been previously arrested more than a dozen times on allegations of trespassing, driving under the influence and drug offenses, CBS Chicago reported.