Suspension of Disbelief
Experts and the Power of Self-Deception

Recently, a friend fretted about what she perceived to be the dismal state of the world, based on the pronouncements of “experts” but, anticipating my response, added, “But you tend to dismiss ‘experts.’” I said she misjudged my sentiments, and that:

“I don’t dismiss experts. I simply don’t worship them. I don’t wish to grant them authoritarian power. And, out of a sense of risk-aversion and a knowledge of history, I want them kept on short leashes. As I wrote sometime back, science is a fine expert witness and a bloody dangerous judge.”

Experts are ordinary human beings, with all the fallibilities that come with membership in our species. Like everyone else, experts sometimes suppress truth and disseminate falsehoods for self-preservation or personal gain. Sometimes, they do so in service to some larger cause. Experts, short on time or resources, may cut corners, publishing information they hope is correct, while knowing it may not be. In all these situations, the expert knows his or her information is or may be false.

More interesting, more likely, and more dangerous are those situations where the expert sincerely believes his or her falsehoods to be correct, owing to the lure of self-deception. Paul Simon’s “The Boxer” sings:

“I have squandered my resistance
For a pocketful of mumbles
Such are promises
All lies and jest
Still a man hears what he wants to hear
And disregards the rest”

I don’t “dismiss” experts but am wary of their tendency to squander their resistance, hearing what they wish to hear and disregarding the rest. Such is the sway that the still small voice of self-deception holds over all of us. And that voice is not muted by a doctorate or academic chair. In Duck Soup (1933), Chico Marx asks Margaret Dumont, “Who ya gonna believe? Me, or your own eyes?” I know enough history (and enough experts) to know that one’s own eyes are often at a distinct disadvantage versus a thing devoutly to be wished.

Self-deception can be conspiratorial, communal, or solitary and can be remarkably persistent. Self-deceived expertise is extraordinarily dangerous when issued blank-check authority by governmental or religious authorities. In Bastiat’s Window, “1,600 Years of Medical Hubris” explored the groupthink that ossified Western medicine between the 2nd and 19th centuries, plus the collectively reinforced misinformation that impeded the proper treatment of autism, ulcers, and prion-borne diseases in the 20th century. In “When Sterilization Was Dogma,”

Ted Balaker

and I discussed groupthink, eugenics, and contemporary challenges. “Gloomy Saints and Wandering Virtues” recounted how Alexander Graham Bell dispensed nonsense about the heritability of deafness—contradicted by the genetic histories of his mother and his wife.

To illustrate the powers of self-deception, I’ll offer three stories:

  1. Anna Anderson, who successfully impersonated Russia’s Grand Duchess Anastasia for over 60 years,
  2. Harry Houdini, who persuaded thousands of viewers that he could make an elephant vanish from an open stage, and
  3. Scottie Ferguson, the fictional detective in Hitchcock’s Vertigo, who blindly missed the true connection between two women with whom he was destructively in love.

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Thanks Joe!

Now a Disease from Biblical Times Is Likely Coming Over Our Unsecured Border.

Move over, COVID-19, and say hello to leprosy. Yes, that leprosy, the biblical plague from the Old and New Testaments.

That’s according to the CDC, which says that there is “rising evidence that leprosy has become endemic in the southeastern United States.”

Leprosy, also called Hanson’s Disease, is an infection caused by slow-growing bacteria called Mycobacterium leprae, according to the CDC. “It can affect the nerves, skin, eyes, and lining of the nose (nasal mucosa).” Up to 2 million people worldwide are permanently disabled from the disease, which can be transmitted by “prolonged, close contact with someone with untreated leprosy over many months.” It is thought to be spread via respiratory droplets—or even contact with armadillos. The CDC, which now apparently believes in natural immunity again, says, “more than 95% of all people have natural immunity to the disease.”

But in a Research Letter published in the August 2023 edition of the Emerging Infections Diseases journal, researchers from the Kansas City University–Graduate Medical Education/Advanced Dermatology and Cosmetic Surgery Consortium raised concerns about the rise in the number of cases in the U.S.:

Leprosy has been historically uncommon in the United States; incidence peaked around 1983, and a drastic reduction in the annual number of documented cases occurred from the 1980s through 2000. However, since then, reports demonstrate a gradual increase in the incidence of leprosy in the United States. The number of reported cases has more than doubled in the southeastern states over the last decade. According to the National Hansen’s Disease Program, 159 new cases were reported in the United States in 2020; Florida was among the top reporting states.

Central Florida accounted for 81% of cases in the Sunshine State—nearly 20% of cases reported nationally.

The letter in the journal described the case of a 54-year-old man who sought treatment in a Florida dermatology clinic. “He denied any domestic or foreign travel, exposure to armadillos, prolonged contact with immigrants from leprosy-endemic countries, or connections with someone known to have leprosy.” The man has been a central Florida resident for his entire life and “works in landscaping, and spends long periods of time outdoors” He was referred to an infectious disease program and was prescribed triple therapy with dapsone, rifampin, and clofazimine.

The Sun reports that a Texas man in his 20s was recently diagnosed with leprosy after months of battling a mysterious skin rash. “He was heavily tattooed and moved to the US from Samoa — where leprosy is still endemic — four years before he was diagnosed. After a course of antibiotics and surgery to repair damaged tendons in his hands, he is said to be improving.

According to the Texas Department of State Health Services, there are “about 200-250 newly diagnosed cases reported to the national registry each year. The largest number of cases in the U.S. live in California, Texas, Louisiana, Florida, New York, Hawaii and Puerto Rico.”

Researchers said a high percentage of cases in the southern United States “were found to carry the same unique strain of M. leprae as nine-banded armadillos in the region, suggesting a strong likelihood of zoonotic transmission.” But while a recent systematic review “supports an increasing role of anthroponotic and zoonotic transmission of leprosy,” another study demonstrated that the cases in the eastern United States, including Georgia and central Florida, “lacked zoonotic exposure or recent residence outside of the United States.”

That led researchers to suspect “that international migration of persons with leprosy is a potential source of autochthonous transmission.” They noted that “The number of international migrants in North America increased from 27.6 million persons in 1990 to 58.7 million in 2020, so a link to migration may account for the increase in incidence of leprosy in historically nonendemic areas.”

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Illinois Firearms Legislation Could Compel Gun Owners to Self-Incriminate

Firearms owners in Illinois are grappling with a series of constitutionally questionable gun laws. These extend beyond the legal challenge against the ban on semi-automatic weapons and their magazines, a case that has progressed through the southern and northern districts and now resides in the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. The controversy also touches on a potential violation of the 5th Amendment due to compulsory registration that firearm owners must complete.

The regulation in question doesn’t merely ban certain types of semi-automatic firearms and their magazines; it also obliges owners to register these items. This mandatory registration is due to start in October.

The alleged 5th Amendment infraction stems from the obligation imposed on Illinois gun owners to register by January 1, 2024. This mandate requires gun owners to provide the State with an inventory of all their newly outlawed firearms, including all “prohibited” semi-automatic guns and components. Essentially, the state of Illinois appears to be coercing its gun owners into self-incrimination, thereby undermining the 5th Amendment rights of American citizens.

The 5th Amendment asserts that no individual should be forced to answer for a serious crime unless indicted by a grand jury, among other protections. This amendment also guards against self-incrimination and deprivation of life, liberty, or property without due process of law.

Lawyer Thomas Maag plans to file a legal challenge against the state of Illinois, citing the 5th Amendment. He voiced concerns about the forthcoming registration process, stating, “We’re really concerned when this whole registration period starts if it’s not previously enjoined, that, with the vagueness, with a whole host of issues, people would be incriminating themselves.”

Though Maag previously filed a 5th Amendment argument in the Southern District, it was deferred, and the law remains in effect. However, he intends to resubmit the challenge, with the aim of safeguarding gun owners from self-incrimination and potential criminal implications if they fail to register. The issue is likely to work its way through the courts, potentially leading to a temporary injunction against the registry element of the law before it takes effect in October.

Man shoots suspect in self-defense after being beaten by stick over food argument

ATLANTA — A fight over food turned violent at a center for people experiencing homelessness in Atlanta on Saturday, according to police.

Atlanta Police officers responded to the Gateway Center at 275 Pryor St. SW just after 4 p.m. after receiving calls of a person shot. When they got there, they found a man who had been shot in each of his arms.

An argument between two men over food escalated into a 32-year-old man finding a large stick where he began to start swinging it at the other man, police said. The suspect then began hitting the man with the stick, when the victim took out a gun and shot the man with the stick several times, according to APD.

Officers said the victim shot the suspect out of self-defense and will not face any charges. The 32-year-old man was arrested and charged. Both men were taken to the hospital to be treated, but were reported to be stable.

The charges against the 32-year-old man are not yet known, although APD’s Aggravated Assault Unit was on scene investigating.

Why Aren’t Female Victims of Domestic Violence Told the Best Way to Protect Themselves?

On Monday, July 17th, Lance Logan brutally murdered 64-year-old Carolyn Williams in her Hartford, Connecticut, home while she was on the telephone with a 9-1-1 operator. He also beat her 30-year-old son.

“He hit me again . . . . Stop it, stop, it, he has a weapon,” she told the 9-1-1 operator immediately before being murdered. Logan had prior convictions for domestic violence and a number of other felonies. Among his previous convictions was a 2016 domestic assault for which he faced a 5-year suspended sentence and 3-years probation, so he served no prison time.

Logan now faces charges of murder, assault in the second degree, and violation of a protective order. It was illegal for him to own guns, but he still obtained two firearms – a sawed-off shotgun and a pistol.

The case clearly illustrates the limits of protective orders when someone is intent on murdering the victim. If the murderer is willing to risk a life sentence for murder, an additional five years in prison and a $5,000 fine won’t deter him.

It is an important problem. Reportedly, 76% of women murdered by someone who had been an intimate partner were stalked.

Violence prevention advocates recommend a long list of safety precautions. These changes require women to uproot their lives.

Among the advice: women should change jobs, travel routes, the time of day they leave home or work, move in with a friend or family, change the locks on their home, or do their shopping and other chores with friends or relatives.

A few recommend that women practice martial arts such as judo, jiu-jitsu, karate, or boxing.

But the most obvious answer is missing from these lists: women should get a concealed handgun permit and a firearm.

As a victim of domestic violence who has suffered some broken teeth, fractured bones, and other permanent physical injuries, I am acutely aware of how important it is to protect victims.

Men are typically much stronger than women, particularly in upper body strength. Unfortunately, real life isn’t like the movies, where one woman can knock out and overpower several well-trained men. Even well-trained women often struggle to defend themselves against much larger and stronger men. Men also tend to be faster runners.

A firearm represents a much bigger change in a woman’s ability to defend herself. Men can readily hurt women without a gun, and if a woman is already in physical contact with the attacker so that he can take away their gun, they are already in trouble.

The peer-reviewed research shows that murder rates decline when people carry concealed handguns, whether men or women. But a woman carrying a concealed handgun reduces the murder rate for women by about 3 to 4 times more than a man doing the same.

And this message is getting across to women. Between 2012 and 2022, in states that provide data by sex, concealed handgun permits increased 115% more quickly among women than among men. The percentage of women who say that gun ownership protects people from crime has also been growing faster. But while they are growing at a faster rate, women still only make up about 30 percent of permit holders.

Many states could make it much easier for stalked women to defend themselves. Even after taking the required training and applying for a permit, it can often take two to three months for a permit to be issued.

But even one month may be much too long for a threatened woman. Even women who have proven to a court that they face serious threats must wait to get a permit. One solution would be to allow women with court orders of protection to carry a concealed handgun while waiting for a permit to be issued.

Many single women with children may also find it difficult to pay fees for a permit, plus additional fees for fingerprinting and training. While there are now 27 Constitutional Carry states that don’t require people pay fees or waiting periods to be able to carry a gun, other states such as California can run $250 to $250 for five years, Illinois $150, and New York City $566.70. Training can easily add hundreds more.

Police are very important, but they almost always arrive after the crime occurs. Protective orders can help. But if we are going to be serious about protecting women like Carolyn Williams, we must let them protect themselves.

Comment O’ The Day

I don’t trust information about studies unless a link is given to read the study or a title of the study is given so that it can be found. Behind this study is Cynthia Miller-Idriss. She’s the same person who claims “Physical fitness has always been central to the far right.”

Everytown

Our new study with @splcenter found that young people with easier access to guns tended to hold stronger beliefs that the government is restricting our freedoms and that the Second Amendment gives citizens the right to overthrow the government.

Moros Kostas

You guys are really telling on yourselves with this one. Gun rights bother you at least in part because they promote small government views.

Government, almost by definition, DOES restrict our freedoms. Those polled aren’t wrong in the least for seeing it that way. The constant struggle is keeping this necessary evil contained to the minimum required for a functioning society.

Orgs like Everytown are part of a broad spectrum of authoritarian social engineers. They want people to be docile, preferably stuffed into cities, owning nothing, and restricted to a narrow overton window of acceptable opinions and lifestyles. The Chinese social credit system is their model.

Guns are a threat to this (as is free speech, which is why that is also a target for them). Not even really guns themselves, but the individualist ideas they can awaken simply by accepting the natural right to bear arms. Because once you accept the natural rights framework, the Bloombergian government dystopia they want is unacceptable.

Notice how the very same people who want to ban guns also tend to want social media to censor more speech, want the government to tax everything they declare undesirable, want to punish thought crimes with a widening net of “hate speech” restrictions that shutter the overton window, and constantly find new things they want banned.

This is also why they insist on federal gun laws. They know Boise or Manchester are doing just fine with minimal gun control laws, which drives them insane. It proves the problem in their violent cities is their own fault, and not due to gun rights. The authoritarians can’t allow such counterexamples to exist.

Control, control, control. Once you see it, you can’t unsee it.

Also, if people polled really said the 2A grants the right to overthrow govt, that’s nonsense. But I wonder if what they meant (these are young laypeople, after all) was that the 2A exists in part as a failsafe against a govt that has gone tyrannical. Because that is absolutely correct.

 

July 31

30 BC – Near Alexandria, Egypt, Mark Antony achieves a minor victory over Octavian’s forces, but most of his army subsequently deserts anyway when more troops under Octavian land in Alexandria.

1492 – The Decreto de la Alhambra, Edicto de Granada – the Alhambra Decree – takes effect, expelling from Spain those Jews who had not converted to Christianity.

1498 – On his third voyage to the Western Hemisphere, Christopher Columbus becomes the first European to discover the island of Trinidad.

1763 – The forces of Odawa Chief Pontiac defeats British troops at the Battle of Bloody Run during Pontiac’s War.

1777 – The Second Continental Congress passes a resolution that the services of Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette “be accepted, and that, in consideration of his zeal, illustrious family and connexions, he have the rank and commission of Major-General of the United States.” 

1790 – The first U.S. patent is issued to inventor Samuel Hopkins for a potash process.

1932 – The Nazi Party wins more than 38% of the vote in German elections.

1938 – Archaeologists discover engraved gold and silver plates from King Darius the Great in Persepolis.

1941 – Under instructions from Adolf Hitler, Nazi official Hermann Göring, orders SS General Reinhard Heydrich to “submit to me as soon as possible a general plan of the administrative material and financial measures necessary for carrying out the desired Final Solution of the Jewish question.”

1948 –  New York International Airport (later renamed John F. Kennedy International Airport) is dedicated at Idlewild Field in New York,

1964 – The Ranger 7 probe sends back the first close up photographs of the moon before it finally crashes into the surface, as planned.

1970 – The last officially sanctioned rum ration in the Royal Navy is issued.

1971 – Apollo 15 astronauts David Scott and James Irwin take the first ride in a lunar rover.

1973 – Delta Air Lines flight DL 723,  a Douglas DC-9, crashes while landing in fog at Logan International Airport, Boston,killing 87 passengers and crew of the 89 on board, with the last 2 passengers dying a short while later.

1991 – The United States and Soviet Union both sign the START I Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty.

1997 – FedEx Express Cargo Flight 14, a McDonnell Douglas MD-11F,  crashes on landing at Newark International Airport, however only injuring the 5 passengers and crew aboard.

2008 – East Coast Jets Flight 81, a Hawker 800, crashes near Owatonna Degner Regional Airport in Owatonna, Minnesota, killing all 8 passengers and crew on board.

2012 – Competing since 2004, U.S. swimmer Michael Phelps breaks the record set in 1964 by Larisa Latynina for the most medals won at the Olympics. He will continue on to 2016, surpassing his previous record by upping his total to 28 with 23 being gold medals.

Worth repeating….

“30-40%” who are willing to tell a stranger over the phone that they have guns” just doesn’t punch quite right as a headline.

Boom: Up to 60% of Americans could own guns, twice estimate

A surge in “quiet gun owners,” much like the so-called “silent majority” in political circles, is leading firearms analysts to believe that far more Americans own weapons than the accepted 30% cited in polls.

At the highest end, it’s possible that up to 60% of Americans own guns, especially with the pandemic-era rise in gun buying among women and minorities, especially in suburban and urban areas.

At the lowest end, it’s likely that at least 40% of Americans own guns, according to a groundbreaking study of those who lie to pollsters about firearms.

The study from Rutgers University’s New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center is spreading like wildfire in the industry, which for years has tried to accurately estimate United States gun ownership and determine why polls show support for gun control, but then there is little follow through when legislation is proposed.

Reason Magazine’s J.D. Tuccille put part of the study in the spotlight in an early July post that began the buzz in the gun industry about the potential of far higher U.S. gun ownership.

He highlighted the study’s conclusion that nearly a third of those polled might be lying when they deny having a firearm.

 

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Cause of fire at Rand Paul’s office remains unknown as senator looks for answers

The cause of a fire at a building housing a Kentucky office of Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., remains unknown as investigators continue to search for answers as to what started the blaze that impacted a handful of buildings in downtown Bowling Green.

A Saturday Facebook post from the Bowling Green Fire Department provides a detailed account of a fire that engulfed the building located at 1029 State Street and nearby buildings early Friday morning. The office building houses Paul’s local office and a local law firm.

A picture of the aftermath posted to the department’s Facebook page Friday shows an upper story of the building, with the numbers “1029” visible at the front entrance, partially collapsed. The department elaborated on the extent of the damage in the Saturday Facebook post.

“Yesterday at 01:45, BGFD responded to multiple reports of smoke and fire coming from the Presbyterian Church on State Street. Soon after these calls, more units were dispatched for a fire alarm at 1025 State Street,” the Saturday Facebook post stated.

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BLUF
Maybe a few honest liberals might come out against this. But don’t hold your breath waiting on a major reaction from the Democratic establishment; unfortunately, this is the exact kind of thing they think the federal government should be doing. And that’s the truly scary part of this whole saga.

Leaked emails expose Biden White House’s attacks on the First Amendment

The “Twitter Files” reporting from last year exposed a disturbing collusion between Twitter executives and officials from the federal government to censor the public’s speech. But new revelations from Congress show that the Biden White House and Facebook have engaged in similar collusion.

On Thursday, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), who leads the House Judiciary Committee, released internal Facebook emails that show the Big Tech platform was explicitly pressured by the Biden administration to take down specific posts that the president’s allies disliked.

Customer with gun thwarts robbery by shooting suspect at Southwest Michigan gas station

CASS COUNTY (WWJ) – A suspect who allegedly tried to rob a Southwest Michigan gas station this week wound up in the hospital after a customer with a gun intervened and shot him, police said.

Village of Cassopolis Police Chief Todd McMichael said in a press release that officers were made aware of the incident after receiving a call about a shooting and armed robbery attempt at the Stone Lake Marathon Gas Station off S. Broadway Street just before 10 p.m. on Thursday, July 27.

Cassopolis is in Southwest Michigan’s Cass County near the Indiana border.

When police arrived on scene, they found a man with several gunshot wounds and another man holding him at gunpoint.

McMichael said that officers determined the armed man had a valid Michigan concealed pistol license (CPL) and was a customer at the gas station when a male suspect tried to rob the clerk.

The customer stepped in, shot the suspect multiple times and kept him at the scene until police arrived, the police chief added.

The suspect was taken to the South Bend Memorial Hospital by ambulance where he was admitted for his injuries. The suspect was listed in stable condition as of Friday, July 28.

As detectives worked the scene, McMichael said they discovered the suspect’s vehicle and arrested a women for possessing methamphetamine and a warrant for the same.

“All names are being withheld pending completion of the investigation and any possible arraignments in court,” McMichael said.

The case is still open at this time. No other information was released.

July 30

762 – Baghdad is founded on the ruins of the city of Babylon by the Abbasid Caliphate.

1502 – Christopher Columbus lands at Guanaja in the Bay Islands off the coast of Honduras during his fourth voyage.

1619 – In Jamestown, Virginia, the first Colonial European representative assembly in the Americas, the Virginia General Assembly, convenes for the first time.

1676 – Nathaniel Bacon issues the “Declaration of the People of Virginia”, beginning Bacon’s Rebellion against the rule of Governor William Berkeley.

1718 – William Penn, the founder of the Province of Pennsylvania, dies at his home in Ruscombe, England.

1729 – Baltimore, Maryland is founded

1863 – Representatives of the United States and tribal leaders, including Shoshone Chief Pocatello, sign the Treaty of Box Elder, compensating the tribe for their land claim at a rate of about 50¢ per acre.

1864 – Union forces attempt to break Confederate lines at Petersburg, Virginia by exploding a large bomb under their trenches.

1865 – The steamboat Brother Jonathan sinks off the coast of Crescent City, California, with the loss of 225 passengers.

1871 – While docked at the South Ferry slip on Manhattan island, the steam boiler of the Staten Island Ferry Westfield explodes, killing 126 people aboard, and on land and injuring hundreds more.

1881 – Marine General Smedley Butler, the last servicemember to be twice awarded the Medal of Honor is born in West Chester, Pennsylvania.

1945 – On the way to the Philippines after delivering the components for the Little Boy nuclear bomb, the USS Indianapolis is torpedoed by Japanese submarine I-58, killing 883 crewmen. Most die during the following four days afloat in the ocean, until an aircraft notices the survivors.

1956 – A joint resolution of the U.S. Congress is signed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, authorizing In God We Trust as the U.S. national motto.

1965 – U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Social Security Act into law, establishing Medicare and Medicaid.

1971 – The Apollo 15 Lunar Module Falcon, piloted by David Scott and James Irwin, lands on the Moon near Hadley Rille with the first Lunar Rover aboard,  for a 3 day visit.

1974 – President Nixon releases subpoenaed White House recordings after being ordered to do so by the Supreme Court.

1975 – Jimmy Hoffa disappears from the parking lot of the Machus Red Fox restaurant in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit, never to be seen again.

2003 – In Mexico, the last ‘old style’ Volkswagen Beetle rolls off the assembly line.

2020 – NASA’s Mars 2020 mission is launched on an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral with the Perseverance rover and Ingenuity helicopter aboard.

2022 – Nichelle Nichols, Uhura of Star Trek fame, dies of heart failure in Silver City, New Mexico, age 89.

Mysterious Chinese COVID Lab Uncovered in City of Reedley CA
Code enforcement check uncovers illegal lab making COVID-19 and pregnancy test kits, bacterial and viral agents and 900 white mice

Why would a COVID lab run by a shady Chinese company be operating in Reedley, CA in the central San Joaquin Valley? The lab, which was supposed to be an empty building, was discovered by Reedley city code enforcement officers when they saw a garden hose attached to the building and investigated.

Darren Fraser at the MidValley Times reported earlier this week that the building has been illegally operated since October 2022 by Wang Zhaolin of Prestige Biotech, and the lab was used to produce COVID-19 tests and pregnancy tests.

City of Reedley officials called in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the FBI, the State Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC), the State Department of Health, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) and the Fresno County Department of Public Health (FCDPH).

“Reedley officials and personnel from CDPH and FCDPH executed a warrant on March 16 to inspect the warehouse at 850 I Street,” MidValley Times reported. “According to a declaration from Humero Prado, Assistant Director of Fresno County Public Health, which was filed in superior court, investigators discovered that one room of the warehouse was used to produce COVID-19 and pregnancy tests. In other rooms, investigators found blood, tissue and other bodily fluid samples. They also found thousands of vials that contained unlabeled fluids.”

And they found 900 genetically engineered mice, engineered to catch and carry COVID-19, living in “inhumane” conditions. 773 of the mice had to be euthanized, and officials found another 178 mice already dead.

We have a few questions:

Why was a Chinese company making COVID-19 tests in California?

Where were these tests to be used? California public health agencies? Medical groups and hospitals?

Is the California Department of Public Health involved?

Who authorized this lab?

What does the Newsom administration know about this?

Mid Valley Times further reports:

“From May 2 through May 4, the CDC’s Division of Select Agents and Toxins inspected 850 I Street. Court documents confirm the CDC found potentially infectious agents at the location. These included both bacterial and viral agents, including: chlamydia, E. Coli, streptococcus pneumonia, hepatitis B and C, herpes 1 and 5 and rubella. The CDC also found samples of malaria.”

“Court documents identify Xiuquin Yao as the alleged president of Prestige. Neither Reedley nor FCDPH was able to obtain from Yao any substantive information regarding Prestige or why infectious agents and mice were being stored at 850 I Street other than to say that the company was developing diagnostic testing kits.”

“Court documents include copies of an email exchange Prado conducted with David He, who identified himself as a representative of Prestige, beginning May 31 and continuing through June 13. Over the course of numerous emails, Prado repeatedly asks He to provide documentation regarding licensed medical waste disposal, Prestige’s reasons for storing infectious agents and how the company will respond to the biological abatement orders handed down by FCDPH.”

“They (Prestige) completely avoided the questions,” Prado said. “This individual (He) was either unaware or was intentionally trying to mislead us.”

As a start, the Globe made Public records requests to the City of Reedly and the Fresno County Department of Public Health for information and communications between the all of the agencies, as well as any documents and materials found at the illegal lab location. Read the entire article at MidValleyTimes.com.

As we reported in February 2021 about the thousands of inconclusive test results coming out of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s $100 million COVID-19 testing lab with the $1.7 billion contract with PerkinElmer, “Is anything about the COVID-19 virus true, or is this the biggest political manipulation this country has ever seen?”

The Globe will report back on this bizarre story.

Woman shoots, kills man who tried to break into her home in Spring Branch

HOUSTON — A woman shot and killed a man Friday she said was trying to break into her home in the Spring Branch area, according to the Houston Police Department.

HPD said the woman, 41, is cooperating with investigators. They believe she fired in self-defense.

This happened right after 7 a.m. in the ABA RV Park on Jacquelyn Drive near Long Point Road.

Police said the man, 53, recently moved into the community and he and the woman had just met.

Police are not sure what the motive is behind the break-in. They said the two were not in any sort of relationship.

David Kwok, an associate professor of law at the University of Houston and co-director of the Criminal Justice Institute says self-defense laws will be considered.

“If it was her RV, that would make a legally relevant difference,” Kwok said. “Another critical factor is this question about whether it’s reasonably necessary to use deadly force,”

A grand jury will decide whether she will face charges.
[which is state law for all homicides in Texas]

“Why do you need AR-15s?”

Home invaders pretended to be Gwinnett police, tossed grenades into homes, police say

After a series of home invasions involving suspects impersonating police officers, Gwinnett County police arrested one of potentially several suspects connected to the crime spree.

Three families were victimized by multiple masked men armed with guns and body armor during home invasions in Lilburn and Norcross from June 9 to June 12, according to police. In the first case, the suspects threw a practice grenade through a window to enter the home and ransack the house.

“Whatever they were looking for,” the victim, who asked to remain anonymous, told Channel 2 Gwinnett County Bureau Chief Matt Johnson. “I hope they find prison time for their trouble.”

The victim shared a video of a man with a mask, a shotgun and body armor at his doorstep in Lilburn off Burns Road on June 9 just after 3:30 a.m. He said the man identified himself as police but threw the inert grenade through the window when the victim didn’t answer the door. From there, police say the suspect, working with others, stole electronics when they couldn’t find any money or drugs.

“They actually sprayed mace around the perimeter of the door and underneath it to try and get me out or prevent me from coming out,” said the victim.

On Tuesday, Gwinnett police arrested Jeron Hernandez-Massa, 23, and charged him with 10 felonies, including three counts of home invasion. However, investigators say he didn’t act alone.

At a home in Norcross, a pregnant mother and her family were held at gunpoint by Hernandez-Massa and as many as four other suspects claiming to be D.E.A. agents, according to police. There were 8-year-old, 4-year-old, and 10-year-old boys home at the time and police say Hernandez-Massa and the suspects threaten to harm the children if the family didn’t give them money and drugs.

“My stepdad is a construction worker,” said one of the family members held at gunpoint. “My mom was just a pregnant lady. They left with nothing, and they hurt us.”

The family says they told the robbers they had the wrong house and that there weren’t drugs or money around. It only made them more upset, they say.

“I ran into the garage and that’s when they hit me,” said the victim, adding she was left bruised from being pistol-whipped.

Police haven’t said how many more suspects they may be looking for or how they believe the homes were targeted. Hernandez-Massa remains in jail without bond.