Hundreds of Thousands of Americans Sought Medical Care After COVID-19 Vaccination: CDC Data

Hundreds of thousands of Americans sought medical care after getting a COVID-19 vaccine, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data released on Oct. 3.

Roughly 782,900 people reported seeking medical attention, emergency room care, and/or hospitalization following COVID-19 vaccination. Another 2.5 million people reported needing to miss school, work, or other normal activities as a result of a health event after getting a COVID-19 vaccine.

The reports were made to the CDC’s V-safe program, a new vaccine safety monitoring system to which users can report issues through smartphones.

The CDC released the data to the Informed Consent Action Network (ICAN) after being sued over not producing the data when it was requested by the nonprofit. ICAN posted a dashboard summarizing the data.

“It took numerous legal demands, appeals, and two lawsuits, and over a year, but the CDC finally capitulated and agreed to a court order requiring them to do what they should have done from day one, release the V-safe data to the public,” Aaron Siri, a lawyer representing ICAN in the case, told The Epoch Times in an email.

About 10 million people utilized V-safe during the period of time the data covers: Dec. 14, 2020, to July 31, 2022. About 231 million Americans received at least one vaccine dose during that time.

The V-safe users reported about 71 million symptoms.

The most commonly reported symptoms were chills (3.5 million), swelling (3.6 million), joint pain (4 million), muscle or body aches (7.8 million), headache (9.7 million), fatigue (12.7 million), and general pain (19.5 million).

About 4.2 million of the symptoms were of severe severity.

Users of V-safe filled in data for about 13,000 children younger than 2 years old, reporting more than 33,000 symptoms, including pain, loss of appetite, and irritability.

The data produced so far by the CDC don’t include free-text responses, according to ICAN. The data covered fields where users checked boxes.

ICAN, founded by film producer Del Bigtree, stated that the newly released data “reveals shocking information that should have caused the CDC to immediately shut down its COVID-19 vaccine program,” citing the percentage of people who reported needing to get care or missing school, work, or other normal activities, as well as the reported adverse events.

CDC officials didn’t respond by press time to a request for comment.

CDC researchers had presented summaries of the V-safe data during meetings with the agency’s vaccine advisory panel but hadn’t released the data for outside researchers to analyze. CDC researchers have said that V-safe raised no new safety concerns.

ICAN is going to keep pressing to obtain more of the V-safe data.

U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman, an Obama appointee overseeing the litigation, ordered the parties to meet and confer regarding what other data the group will seek following the CDC production of the data.

Pitman said the parties will then file a joint status report “that proposes any additional deadlines that the parties determine are necessary for the resolution of this matter.”

BLM Rioter Who Murdered Retired St. Louis Police Captain Sentenced to Life in Prison Without Parole

The 26-year-old man convicted of killing retired St. Louis Police Captain David Dorn was sentenced to life in prison without parole on Wednesday.

Stephan Cannon’s sentencing comes after a jury convicted him in July of fatally shooting Dorn in June 2020. The 77-year-old was responding to a burglary alarm at a friend’s pawn shop during a night of Black Lives Matter rioting when Cannon shot him.

Cannon was convicted in July on all of felony charges he faced, including first-degree murder, first-degree robbery, first-degree burglary, stealing $750 or more, unlawful possession of a firearm, and three counts of armed criminal action…..

Concealed carry holder shoots burglar in Chinatown

Prosecutors say a concealed carry holder shot a burglar who charged at him when he returned to his home in Chinatown on Monday evening. Now, the burglar is hospitalized and charged with a felony.

Chicago police responded to the victim’s home in the 300 block of West 24th Place around 6:30 p.m. and found Tywone Underwood, 30, with a gunshot wound to his abdomen.

The homeowner, 32, told cops that he saw his garage door open and a bike leaning against the garage when he returned home. When he peeked into the garage’s side door, Underwood charged at him, the prosecutor said.

The victim took a step back, pulled out his gun, and shot Underwood once in the abdomen, said Sarah Dale-Schmidt, a Cook County prosecutor.

Police found the victim’s PlayStation, Yeezy slippers, and an Apple iPod in the garage, all of which had been removed from the man’s home by Underwood. Cops determined that Underwood entered the victim’s home through an unlocked second-floor window and then ransacked the residence, Dale-Schmidt said.

Prosecutors charged him with residential burglary and simple assault. Judge Charles Beach ordered him to pay a $25,000 deposit toward bail to get out of custody.

Dale-Schmidt said Underwood was convicted of manufacture-delivery in 2011 and unlawful use of a weapon in 2012.

But Underwood has also been convicted of burglary-like misdemeanors in more recent years, according to court records.

He was charged with criminal damage and trespassing in February 2019 after a North Center resident reported two men broke the front glass of her building and then started turning door handles on apartments.

Three weeks later, he was charged with misdemeanor theft of lost or mislaid property for allegedly selling three iPads that were taken in a burglary. He pleaded guilty to all charges in both incidents and received a sentence of two days.


Resident shoots, kills man who entered Beach Park home and allegedly pulled knife

Police say a man shot and killed another man who entered his residence in Beach Park Thursday morning and pulled a knife when a fight ensued.

The Lake County Sheriff’s Office and Beach Park Fire Department responded around 12:40 a.m. Thursday to the 38100 block of North Loyola Avenue in Beach Park for a report of a person shot.

Sheriff’s 911 Telecommunicators were told that the person who fired the gun, a 24-year-old man, was involved in an altercation with the man who had been shot.

Lake County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Chief Christopher Covelli said deputies arrived to find Tino Roane, 37, of Waukegan, deceased in the residence.

The person who shot Roane had been living at the residence and remained at the scene until deputies arrived.

A preliminary investigation shows Roane arrived at the residence of the 24-year-old man.

Roane knocked at the door and let himself inside because he was an acquaintance of the female homeowner, who was not home, Covelli said.

The 24-year-old man asked Roane to leave several times and then a physical altercation ensued between the two men.

During the altercation, Roane grabbed a knife from the kitchen, Covelli said.

The 24-year-old man shot and killed Roane. The 24-year-old man is currently in custody as detectives continue their investigation. It is unknown if he will be charged.

There is no known risk to the community, Covelli said.

The Lake County Coroner’s Office said an autopsy showed Roane died from multiple gunshot wounds.


Home Invasion Suspect Shot While Stealing Dog

DUNN – A Johnston County man was shot during a reported home invasion, according to the Harnett County Sheriff’s Office. Around 5:45am Tuesday, Harnett County deputies responded to a reported home invasion on Bear Lane outside of Dunn.

Deputies spoke with a 29 year-old woman who said she was awaken by a “banging” noise coming from her door. She told deputies she observed and confronted the suspect who was attempting to take her pet dog. She reportedly told the intruder to leave but he failed to do so.

Fearing for her safety as the intruder stared at her, she shot the suspect, who then fled the premises, according to a press release.

Responding deputies found the suspect about 200 yards away by his vehicle. He was transported to Central Harnett Hospital in Lillington for treatment of a gunshot wound to the lower right leg and a superficial gunshot wound to the right side.

Malihk Giles, age 20, of Oak Lane, Dunn, a southern Johnston County address, was taken into custody upon his release from the hospital. Giles was charged with first degree burglary and possession of stolen property.

The female victim told authorities she did not know Giles.

Giles vehicle was seized and detectives applied for a search warrant Wednesday as the investigation continues.

At last check, Giles was being held under a $75,000 secured bond at the Harnett County Detention Center.


Police say semi-automatic gun, machete used in Northglenn burglary before teens shot

Northglenn detectives said that two teen burglary suspects had a semi-automatic gun and a machete before they were shot and killed by the homeowner over the weekend after trespassing. Police believe the suspects were also responsible for burglarizing a nearby home on Sunday afternoon.

When LJ Perceval and her son came home Sunday, it was clear someone broke into their house. She immediately called 911 and was told it would be a while before officers responded, due to a “more serious” situation down the street.

Perceval soon learned the crimes were connected and the burglary suspects were dead.

Northglenn police connected her burglary to the juveniles shot and killed after trespassing around the corner.

Northglenn police report the suspects broke a fence to gain entry into the backyard of a home in the 11600 block of Pearl Street. That’s where police say the suspects and the homeowner exchanged gunfire.

The Colorado Make My Day law gives homeowners immunity from prosecution if they kill an intruder in their home under certain conditions.

2 years ago, this would have been called ‘Dangerous Misinformation!™’

Mouthwashes may suppress SARS-CoV-2

SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, is an airborne disease transmitted via aerosols, which are spread from the oral and nasal cavities—the mouth and the nose. In addition to the well-known division and spread of the virus in the cells of the respiratory tract, SARS-CoV-2 is also known to infect the cells of the lining of the mouth and the salivary glands.

Commercially available mouthwashes contain a number of antibiotic and antiviral components that act against microorganisms in the mouth. One of these, cetylpyridinium chloride (CPC), has been shown by a team of researchers led by Professor Kyoko Hida at Hokkaido University to reduce the viral load of SARS-CoV-2 in the , primarily by disrupting the lipid membrane surrounding the virus. While there are other chemicals with similar effects, CPC has the advantage of being tasteless and odorless. Their findings were published in the journal Scientific Reports.

The researchers were interested in studying the effects of CPC in Japanese mouthwashes. Mouthwashes in Japan typically contain a fraction of the CPC compared to previously tested mouthwashes. They tested the effects of CPC on  that express trans-membrane protease serine 2 (TMPRSS2), which is required for SARS-CoV-2 entry into the cell.

Mouthwashes may suppress SARS-CoV-2
Antiviral efficacy of CPC against SARS-CoV-2 in cell cultures expressing TMPRSS2. For all of the four strains tested, a concentration of 40 µg/mL of CPC significantly reduced the viral titers, the number of virus particles. Asterisks indicate significant results. Credit: Ryo Takeda et al, Scientific Reports, August 18, 2022

They found that, within 10 minutes of application, 30–50 µg/mL of CPC inhibited the infectivity and capability for cell entry of SARS-CoV-2. Interestingly, commercially available mouthwashes that contain CPC performed better than CPC alone. They also showed that saliva did not alter the effects of CPC. Most significantly, they tested four variants of SARS-CoV-2—the original, alpha, beta and gamma variants—and showed that the effects of CPC were similar across all strains.

This study shows that low concentrations of CPC in commercial mouthwash suppress the infectivity of four variants of SARS-CoV-2. The authors have already begun assessing the effect on CPC-containing mouthwashes on viral loads in saliva of COVID-19 patients. Future work will also focus on fully understanding the mechanism of effect, as lower concentrations of CPC do not disrupt .

It’s also blatant vote pandering a month from midterm elections that looks to rake the demoncraps over the coals.

Biden Pardons Thousands Convicted of Marijuana Possession Under Federal Law
The move represents a fundamental change in America’s response to a drug that has been at the center of a clash between culture and policing for more than a half-century.

WASHINGTON — President Biden on Thursday pardoned thousands of people convicted of marijuana possession under federal law and said his administration would review whether marijuana should still be in the same legal category as drugs like heroin and LSD.

The pardons will clear everyone convicted on federal charges of simple possession since it became a crime in the 1970s. Officials said full data was not available but noted that about 6,500 people were convicted of simple possession between 1992 and 2021, not counting legal permanent residents. The pardons will also affect people who were convicted under District of Columbia drug laws; officials estimated that number to be in the thousands.

The pardons will not apply to people convicted of selling or distributing marijuana. And officials said there are no people now serving time in federal prisons solely for marijuana possession. But the move will help remove obstacles for people trying to get a job, find housing, apply to college or get federal benefits.

Mr. Biden urged governors to follow his lead for people convicted on state charges of simple possession, who vastly outnumber those charged under federal laws.

Still, the president’s actions — which come about a month before the midterm elections and could help energize Democratic supporters — represent a fundamental change in America’s response to a drug that has been at the center of a clash between culture and policing for more than a half-century.

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Firearms dealers now required to provide buyers’ addresses to feds for denied transactions
Newly implemented measures also mandate that the FBI pass on the personal information to local law enforcement.

As part of a sweeping change that has gun rights groups alarmed, federally licensed firearms dealers (FFLs) are now required to provide the FBI with the personal addresses of individuals whose attempted purchases were denied.

In turn, the FBI must now provide details of the failed transactions — not only those denied but also those just delayed — and the personal information of the rejected individuals to local law enforcement, raising fears of greater government infringement on the Second Amendment.

The changes were quietly implemented last week by the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) to comply with new federal law. NICS was established to determine if an individual is prohibited by law from receiving firearms and can either approve, deny, or delay a firearms purchase.

In March, Congress passed and President Biden signed a massive appropriations package for fiscal year 2022 that included the Violence Against Women Act Reauthorization Act (VAWA). Tucked into the VAWA was a bipartisan measure called the NICS Denial Notification Act, which mandates that the FBI’s NICS Section alert state and local law enforcement of all denied attempts to purchase a firearm within 24 hours.

The stated purpose of the bill is to stop criminals and prevent gun crimes before they happen.

The FBI elaborated on how the law will be implemented in an email obtained by Gun Owners of America.

The NICS Denial Notification Act of 2022 requires the FBI’s NICS Section to notify state, local, or tribal law enforcement of all FBI NICS denied transactions within 24 hours,” the email reads. “The FBI must provide notification to law enforcement based upon the location of the FFL and if different, the purchaser’s address.

The email also explained that FFLs must provide the addresses of purchasers to the feds.

“To support the determination of what local agency should receive the notification, FFLs will be required to provide the buyer’s complete address to NICS as recorded on the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives Form 4473 when transactions are denied or delayed,” the message continued. “The address information will be required before the status can be provided or retrieved either by the NICS contracted call center or via the NICS E-Check.”

Previously, firearms dealers were only required to provide the state of residence of a customer rather than their full address in the event of a delay or denial.

Gun rights groups have expressed outrage at the changes, arguing they lay the groundwork for a registry of potential gun owners maintained by the federal government.

“The NICS process was never intended to hinder the ability of law-abiding firearms consumers by requiring the forced collection of unnecessary personal consumer data in bulk,” Michael Cargill, owner of Central Texas Gun Works, said in a press release. “Neither the ATF nor the FBI can act beyond authority of Congress and violate the Constitution by furthering the ultimate goal of creating an illegal firearms owner database.”

Gun rights advocates have also noted the new law doesn’t actually require the reporting of addresses for delays.

“What the law actually says and how FFLs are being told they must implement it are totally different,” said attorney Emily Taylor on the Armed Attorneys podcast. “The implementation is far broader than the law itself — and of course very, very bad news for gunowners, because who wants their address shot out to local law enforcement because you’re trying to buy a gun.”

Cargill called for the feds to remove from their interpretation of the law their language regarding delays, arguing it “exceeds the scope of the plain language of the NICS Denial Notification Act” and “the constitutional rights of a customer’s privacy are being violated by extending this reporting requirement to delayed customers.”

Delays by NICS require the retailer to pause the transaction for three business days, allowing NICS more time to research the individual in question. The FBI is supposed to follow up with law enforcement if someone is erroneously delayed or denied.

One concern among gun rights advocates is the Biden administration’s “zero tolerance” policy for gun dealers that willfully violate the law. Officials have warned FFLs will have their licenses revoked if they try to skirt the law.

According to critics, however, FFLs are increasingly at risk of losing their licenses as regulations get more complex and dealers become more likely to inadvertently violate the law.

“If you create more and more complex rules that the FFLs have to follow, they will mess up, which means they’re licenses will get yanked,” said Taylor.

Just the News reached out to both the FBI and the ATF for comment for this story. The ATF referred Just the News to the FBI, which didn’t respond.

“Bad Luck” and the Evanescence of Imperfection.

One of the few websites I check in on almost every day is RealClearPolitics.

I do so in part because of the range of its links—the editors cull many of the best columns from all sides of the political debate, so it’s a handy way to stay au courant—and in part for its expanding subsections on books, science, religion, defense, and other cultural topics.

Over the past several years, under the rubric RealClearInvestigations, the site has also been publishing its own incisive and independent investigative reporting on a wide range of issues. Those stories tend to be hard hitting and meticulously researched.

Every election season, they scour the polls and sift through the dross in order to supply readers not only with the results of a representative sampling of individual polls—which, as I note in a forthcoming column elsewhere, are often little more than a form of fan fiction—but also with the valuable “RCP average,” a kind of polling gold standard that pundits and prognosticators eagerly anticipate.

Finally, RealClear provides a constantly evolving digest of the news of the day arranged according to a handful of topics and printed in a single column down the left side of its home page.

In just 30 seconds, you can glance at those headlines and come away with a sense of the national mood.

Things on Sunday, Oct. 2, are not too cheery.

Under the rubric “Biden Administration,” for example, we find “Biden Says ‘We Can Afford’ Student Debt Forgiveness After GOP Lawsuit,” and “Fed-Backed Censorship Machine Targeted 20 News Sites,” a story about the Election Integrity Partnership, a consortium of four private companies that, under the aegis of the government, are surveilling, reporting on, and censoring conservative social media sites that publish stories displeasing to the administration.

Then we come to the topic of “U.S. Economy.”

Corporate Number Crunching Games Signal a Deteriorating Economy,” “Meta to Lay Off People for 1st Time,” “Fed’s Preferred Inflation Gauge Shows Price Surge Again Last Month,” and “Dow Ends Month Down Nearly 9%.”

Yikes.

There are other items on that list. None is what you would call upbeat.

This colloquy of gloom reminded me of a famous observation from the writer Robert Heinlein.

“Throughout history,” Heinlein wrote in 1973, “poverty is the normal condition of man.”

“Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded—here and there, now and then—are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people.”

Then comes the kicker: “Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty.”

“This,” Heinlein added, “is known as ‘bad luck.’”

Of course, Heinlein was speaking ironically with that last bit.

The issue was not “bad luck” but virtue-fired stupidity.

All those “right-thinking people”—the people with the socially certified ideas, the kinder, gentler, mask-wearing, anti-fossil-fuel types—are on the ramparts, proudly toppling the atavistic instruments of their prosperity.

Very soon now, they will look around at the wreckage their good intentions have wrought and wonder who is to blame for the poverty, the chaos, the ruins that lay strewn where once, not so long ago, a vibrant civilization stood, supported by a mighty economy.

I am of two minds about this.

On the one hand, it’s an illustration of what the great philosopher Michael Oakeshott had in mind when he observed that “The evanescence of imperfection may be said to be the first item of the creed of the Rationalist.”

By “Rationalist,” I should add, Oakeshott meant more or less what we mean when we speak of “Progressives.” All are utopians of one stripe or another. Imperfection offends them. They cannot understand why, since they have identified and castigated it, it still exists.

They conclude, wrongly, that it must be because people are insufficiently enlightened by the progressive creed. Either that, or it must be because of people who perversely reject that creed. So they divide people who disagree with them as either ignorant or evil.

The former must be managed, directed, uplifted. The latter must be destroyed. On the other hand, the situation Heinlein describes is not an unavoidable fate. It isn’t “bad luck.”

Just as our mastery of the techniques of scientific inquiry enables us to make reliable progress in plumbing the secrets of nature, so our understanding of how markets work gives us the tools to manage the economy effectively. If, that is, we heed those lessons.

We have just pumped trillions of dollars into the economy, with the result that inflation is the worst it has been in nearly half a century. Who could not have foreseen that result? (Milton Friedman certainly would have.) 

We have willfully ignored the lessons of the market in order to indulge in all manner of utopian social engineering, with the result that economic growth has stalled and people are scared.

Robert Heinlein issued a useful warning. I wonder whether we will heed it?

This is CNN
(The new owner seems to be a lot less of a political organ for the demoncraps)

Inside the White House’s failed effort to dissuade OPEC from cutting oil production to avoid a ‘total disaster

WashingtonCNN —  The Biden administration launched a full-scale pressure campaign in a last-ditch effort to dissuade Middle Eastern allies from dramatically cutting oil production, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.

But that effort appears to have failed, following Wednesday’s crucial meeting of OPEC+, the international cartel of oil producers that, as expected, announced a significant cut to output in an effort to raise oil prices. That in turn will likely cause US gasoline prices to rise at a precarious time for the Biden administration, just five weeks before the midterm elections.

On Wednesday morning, OPEC+ oil ministers meeting in Vienna agreed to an even larger production cut than the White House had feared — 2 million barrels per day, beginning in November, according to a readout of the meeting released on Wednesday. The ministers said the cuts were necessary “in light of the uncertainty that surrounds the global economic and oil market outlooks.”

President Joe Biden told CNN’s Arlette Saenz on Wednesday that he was “concerned” about the cuts, which he viewed as “unnecessary.” Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters when asked about the move that “when it comes to OPEC, we’ve made clear our views to the OPEC members.”

For the past several days, Biden’s senior-most energy, economic and foreign policy officials were enlisted to lobby their foreign counterparts in Middle Eastern allied countries including Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates to vote against cutting oil production. Wednesday’s production cut amounts to the largest cut since the beginning of the pandemic and could lead to a dramatic spike in oil prices.

Some of the draft talking points circulated by the White House to the Treasury Department on Monday that were obtained by CNN framed the prospect of a production cut as a “total disaster” and warned that it could be taken as a “hostile act.”

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Biden To Ease Sanctions On Socialist Venezuela, Releases Maduro’s Convicted Narco Trafficker Nephews.

President Joe Biden (D) is reportedly preparing to ease sanctions on socialist Venezuela to allow a U.S. oil company to resume production there, which comes as OPEC announced early Wednesday that it would be significantly cutting oil production.

The New York Times reported that Russia and Saudi Arabia, acting as the leaders of the 23-member nation OPEC energy cartel, announced a massive reduction in oil production of two million barrels per day, a move that will likely send gas prices skyrocketing and cause political problems for the Biden administration.

The Biden administration is now “preparing” to lift sanctions on Venezuela to allow Chevron to pump oil again from the leftist authoritarian regime in an attempt to stave off political disaster for the administration caused by rising fuel prices.

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11 anti-abortion protesters face charges in blocking Mount Juliet clinic

Eleven people face federal charges for their role in blocking the entrance of a Mount Juliet reproductive health clinic during an anti-abortion protest in 2021, including a Lebanon man who now faces a separate federal lawsuit for a July 2022 protest at the same clinic.

A federal grand jury indicted the 11 on violations of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, which prohibits even temporary interference with reproductive health care services.

The group livestreamed their protest, which they called a “rescue,” outside the doors of the Mount Juliet carafem clinic on March 5, 2021, with several members physically blocking a patient and employee from accessing the clinic, according to court documents.

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Federal Judge Blocks Latest New York Gun-Carry Restrictions

New York’s attempt to restrict gun carry after its previous law was struck down by the Supreme Court has failed.

Federal district judge Glenn Suddaby issued a temporary restraining order against the state’s enforcement of most provisions in the Concealed Carry Improvement Act (CCIA). He found all of the novel policies restricting gun carry by those with valid permits were unconstitutional under the standard set in New York State Pistol and Rifle Association v. Bruen, though he also upheld some more common regulations.

“Simply stated, instead of moving toward becoming a shall-issue jurisdiction, New York State has further entrenched itself as a shall-not-issue jurisdiction,” Suddaby wrote. “And, by doing so, it has further reduced a first-class constitutional right to bear arms in public for self-defense (which, during the 19th and 18th centuries in America, generally came with an assumption that law-abiding responsible citizens were not a danger to themselves or others unless there was specific ground for a contrary finding) into a mere request (which is burdened with a presumption of dangerousness and the need to show ‘good moral character’).”

The ruling represents a further victory for gun-rights advocates who have challenged severe restrictions on gun carry and a further setback for states that have sought to severely limit who can carry a gun and where they can carry it. Judge Suddaby’s decision is also one of the first to apply the Bruen standard to a gun-carry law passed in response to the ruling. It could serve as a guide for other federal courts across the country dealing with challenges to similar laws.

Suddaby ruled the state could not enforce its “good moral character” clause unless there is a preponderance of evidence the applicant is a threat to others with the exception of self-defense. He blocked the requirement that applicants turn over their social media history and information on others who live with them. He also blocked the CCIA’s requirement that applicants meet with permitting officials for an in-person interview,

TPUSA Ambassador Speaks Up for Women’s Rights When It Comes To Firearms

TPUSA Ambassador as well as the CEO and Founder of Alexo Athletica, Amy Robbins, is always on the frontlines to fight for our right to protect ourselves!

Amy was recently on The Chris Salcedo Show on Newsmax, speaking about the frustrating arguments made by the left regarding firearms.

The host, Chris Salcedo, asked Amy, “What makes you pull your hair out, the disingenuous argument from the other side saying you as a women don’t deserve to protect yourself with a firearm. What is the number one argument that just drives you up a wall?”

She replied, “The number one argument that I hear, is that women are weak and incapable of carrying a firearm, and they are more likely to die in the presence of a firearm . . . So instead of encouraging women to go get training, go get armed, learn to be safe and proficient with some kind of self-defense tool.”

“The only thing that we can do, ladies, is stop believing this lie,” Amy added.

I couldn’t agree more — firearms are dubbed “the great equalizer” for a reason, they give women leverage, and the ability to protect themselves against a male aggressor that, in most cases, is going to be both larger and stronger.

It is so empowering to know that you can take your personal safety into your own hands.

The left constantly seeks to demonize firearm owners for gun violence, even though the vast majority of gun crimes have been committed by offenders who did not legally possess the firearm used in the first place. Individuals who have the desire to go through the legal processes to purchase a gun for self-defense and defense of their families should not be discouraged from doing so, or worse, prevented from doing so.

I encourage everyone, but especially females, to pursue training in self-defense specifically with firearms in order to ensure that they have the best means possible to keep themselves and their loved ones safe.

The only real power congress has is ‘The power of the purse™‘ which is to cut whatever amount they can from an agency’s budget.

Can a Republican Majority Rein in the Lawless DOJ?

Happy Thursday, dear Kruiser Morning Briefing friends. Ronald rarely has the energy to socialize after making sure that his neighbor hasn’t installed any lipstick cams in his shower.

I wrote last week about the growing “fascist creep factor” in Merrick Garland’s Department of Justice. The FBI has become a thug political hit squad under Joe Biden and Garland, with agents routinely being dispatched to harass and/or arrest American citizens who dare disagree with the Democrats’ radical progressive lunacy.

As Robert writes, while the DOJ continues its obsession with a right-wing terror threat that doesn’t exist, real criminals who commit Democrat-friendly crimes like firebombing pro-life pregnancy centers go unpunished.

Some Republicans in Congress have made some noise about dealing with Garland and the DOJ should they regain the majority in the House. The threats have been rather vague until now. Lincoln wrote an interesting column yesterday about some detailed ideas that are being considered:

The Washington Times reports that House Republicans have had it up to their eyebrows with misconduct by federal law enforcement and, armed with the information that has been provided to them by whistleblowers, are vowing a crackdown. GOP members of the House Judiciary Committee plan to create new laws and launch investigations into the FBI and DOJ. One of the moves that members have been spitballing includes, but is not limited to, requiring federal law enforcement officials to wear cameras when they stage a raid.

Rep. Dan Bishop (R-N.C.) has suggested moving the DOJ supervision of the FBI out of D.C. and giving it to U.S. Attorneys’ offices around the country. Other ideas include creating special committees to probe the FBI and DOJ and strengthening congressional referrals to the Department of Justice for criminal investigations. That last idea is backed by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), who told the Washington Times that he is drafting the necessary legislation. He recalled how Congress referred Lois Lerner and Eric Holder criminally during the Obama administration, but the moves were unsuccessful. Issa believes the new legislation will prevent this problem in the future.

Of course, it would be better if the FBI started raiding the homes and offices of actual criminals, but some added transparency would be a good start.

The lack of accountability right now is what is most problematic. When those charged with keeping the law aren’t subject to that law, abuse of power is inevitable.

As Lincoln wrote, these ideas are a good start. The real problem with the DOJ and the FBI is the rot at the top. As I’ve written many times, as much as I enjoyed Donald Trump’s presidency, I thought his failure to clean house at the FBI was a permanent stain on his record. I’m still surprised that he didn’t fire Christopher Wray on his way out of the door on Jan. 20, 2021.

More from Lincoln:

There may be some DOJ and FBI employees who are true believers in the progressive agenda. But the rank-and-file didn’t come up with these things on its own. The fact that there are whistleblowers at all would indicate that. No, the problem is deeper and higher than that. To address the problem effectively, the source of the infection itself needs to be removed, along with treating the symptoms.

Bingo.

The big question is whether the Republicans will have the fortitude to follow through with these plans. The party has an annoying history of talking a big game when it’s in the minority, then just behaving like grandstanding bureaucrats once it’s back in the majority. While my skepticism does remain high, I do think that the DOJ under Garland has strengthened the resolve of the Republicans.

A lot will depend on who the new speaker is. If it’s Kevin McCarthy, we could very well be in for more empty grandstanding.

Here’s hoping they elect someone who’s in the mood to go scorched Earth.

Mexican official says new lawsuit against US gunmakers is on the way

There’s no reason to believe the outcome will be any different than the first lawsuit that the administration of Andrés Manuel López Obrador brought against U.S. gun makers; a dismissal of the case long before it ever reached trial. Still, with AMLO’s cartel strategy of “hugs, not bullets” resulting in even more cartel violence, it’s no surprise that he and other officials are trying to distract from their own failures by pinning the blame on the US firearms industry.

Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard told the Mexican Senate on Wednesday that the government’s next lawsuit will be filed in the border state of Arizona, though he didn’t say whether any gun control groups will be a part of this new effort as they were the first time around.

During his speech on Wednesday, Ebrard referred to a bipartisan package of gun safety measures passed by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Joe Biden in June. The law blocks gun sales to those convicted of abusing unmarried intimate partners and cracks down on gun sales to purchasers convicted of domestic violence.

“Illicit arms trafficking is already a crime in the United States,” Ebrard said.

“You have to start establishing criminal responsibilities because the companies that are selling these weapons in these counties (in Arizona), which are very few, of course they know where those weapons are going,” he added, but did not specify which companies he was referring to.

Ebrard makes it sound as if there are no laws whatsoever governing gun sales from licensed firearms retailers, even though border state gun dealers not only have to follow the long list of federal regulations surrounding firearm transfers, but even have special requirements placed on them like reporting multiple sales of modern sporting rifles to the ATF.

Frankly, if he really wants to talk about establishing criminal responsibilities, I’d say he should start much closer to home and crack down on the graft, corruption, and theft within the Mexican armed forces.

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Speaking of BlackRock…….

Louisiana Hits BlackRock With Massive Multi-Million Dollar Divestment For ‘Blatantly Anti-Fossil Fuel Policies’

Louisiana State Treasurer John Schroder announced his state will divest funds from the multi-trillion dollar investment firm, BlackRock, due to environmental, social and governance (ESG) policies some claim boycott the oil, gas and coal industries.

“Your blatantly anti-fossil fuel policies would destroy Louisiana’s economy,” Schroder said in a letter sent Wednesday to BlackRock CEO Larry Fink.

“Once complete, this divestment will reflect $794 million no longer entangled in BlackRock money market funds, mutual funds or exchange-traded funds (ETFs) holdings,” according to the letter.

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BLUF
The globalist climate agenda is more than a misguided but well-intentioned mistake. It is a monstrous crime against humanity, promulgated by some of the most dangerous people who have ever lived. It is a brazen lie for any of them to claim that we are dangerous if we do not think the world is coming to an end, are not promoting panic and fear, and wish to see citizens of all nations achieve prosperity.

The Globalist Climate Agenda is a Crime Against Humanity.

“This anti-sustainability backlash, this anti-woke backlash, is incredibly dangerous for the world.”
— Alan Jope, CEO, Unilever, speaking at the Clinton Global Initiative

It would not be an exaggeration to say this is probably one of the most inverted takes on what is “dangerous” in the history of civilization. Not because anyone is against the concept of sustainability, but because sustainability as defined by Alan Jope is incredibly unsustainable. If he gets his way, he will destroy the world.

Jope, Clinton, the infamous Karl Schwab who heads the World Economic Forum, the ESG movement informally headed by Larry Fink of BlackRock (with over $10 trillion in investments), and all the rest who champion today’s prevailing globalist climate agenda are coercing nearly 8 billion people into an era of poverty and servitude.

The primary target of the “sustainability” movement is fossil fuel, the burning of which allegedly is causing catastrophic climate change. Heedless of the fact that fossil fuel provides more than 80 percent of all energy consumed worldwide, banks, hedge funds and institutional investors throughout the Western world are using ESG criteria  (environment, social, governance), to deny the financing necessary to maintain or build new fossil fuel infrastructure.

It’s working. Pressure from governments, international NGOs, and global finance is now delivering unprecedented shifts in policies around the world, creating needless scarcity and turmoil. In just the last month, new emissions rules have triggered protests by farmers in the NetherlandsCanadaSpainItalyPoland, and elsewhereSri Lanka, in the process of earning a near perfect ESG score, lost its ability to feed its people. In the ensuing fury, the president was forced to flee the country. Undaunted, globalist climate activists are discouraging African nations from developing natural gas.

It should be easy to see the hidden agenda behind this repression. If you control energy and food, you control the world. The biggest multinational corporations on Earth are empowered by ESG mandates, because marginal or emerging competitors lack the financial resiliency to comply. From small independent private farmers and ranchers to small independent nations, once their ability to produce is broken, the big players pick up the pieces for pennies on the dollar. But that’s not what you read in the Washington Post.

In a blistering editorial published on September 18, under “The Post’s View,” the editors wrote “The World’s Ice is Melting: Humanity Must Prepare for the Consequences.” For at least 30 years, and with increasing frequency and intensity, it is not the weather that has become extreme, but rather these proclamations. We have now reached the point where every major institution in the Western world is bent on spreading this panic. Yet very little of it is justified by the facts.

To verify the credibility of the globalist climate agenda, should it have any, several hurdles have to be overcome. If global warming and extreme weather is definitely happening, then how serious is the problem, what is the cause of the problem, and what are rational solutions to the problem? To all four of these questions, serious debate is mostly absent from mainstream discourse. Skeptics are pariahs.

But if a skeptical response to any one of these four questions is accepted, the entire edifice of climate alarm collapses.

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