Governor Greg Abbott has threatened to arrest Democratic lawmakers who skipped a special session to prevent Republican-backed election reform legislation from becoming law.
“Isn’t this the most un-Texan thing you’ve ever heard—Texans running from a fight? They’re quitters,” Abbott (R), said on Fox News.
On Monday, about 60 Democratic members of the Texas House of Representatives fled to Washington, DC on two private jets to urge Congress and the Biden administration to enact federal voting rights legislation.
Texas Rep. Julie Johnson and Democratic colleagues on a private jet flight to Washington DC.
The House lacks a quorum and is unable to vote on any legislation due to the members’ not being present.
This is the second time Democrats simply fled in order to deprive the House of a quorum. On May 30, just hours before an expected vote on the election legislation, they walked out of the chamber in the final hours of the regular legislative session.
Gov. Abbott says he will call for another special legislative session just as he did in May.
“Once they step back into the state they will be arrested and brought back to the Capitol and we will be conducting business,” the governor promised.
“We have special sessions that last 30 days,” he added. “And the governor calls them, and I will continue calling special session after special session because over time it is going to continue until they step up to vote.”
According to the Texas Tribune, the House of Representatives can vote to lock the doors to prevent legislators from fleeing. They can even order law enforcement to seek down and jail any members who have already fled.
Republicans contend the voting measures they want to push through—such as ending 24-hour polling places, banning ballot drop boxes, and empowering partisan poll watchers—are intended to guarantee the integrity of the vote by blocking voter fraud.
China’s military said it drove out an American ship from a disputed area of the South China Sea on Monday.
QUICK FACTS:
Beijing asserted its claims to parts of the sea that also are claimed by Southeast Asia governments, according to The Associated Press (AP).
The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) reportedly sent ships and planes after the U.S.S. Benfold when it entered waters claimed by Beijing around the Paracel Islands.
WHAT CHINA’S SAYING:
AP notes that China said from its military’s social media account that forces “warned” the American vessel and “drove them away.”
China also rejected the Biden administration’s Sunday declaration of support for an international tribunal ruling in favor of the Philippines.
The islands are “China’s inherent territory,” the PLA stated. “The actions of the U.S. military have seriously violated China’s sovereignty and security.”
WHAT THE U.S. IS SAYING:
In a statement by the 7th Fleet Public Affairs office, the U.S. Navy rejected China’s statement as “false” without giving further details about the alleged encounter.
The Benfold carried out its operation “in accordance with international law and then continued on to conduct normal operations in international waters,” the statement continued.
The Navy said the statement from Bejing was “the latest in a long string of PRC actions to misrepresent lawful U.S. maritime operations and assert its excessive and illegitimate maritime claims.”
“The United States will continue to fly, sail, and operate wherever international law allows, as USS Benfold did here. Nothing PRC says otherwise will deter us,” affirmed the 7th Fleet Public Affairs office.
BACKGROUND:
China’s move comes on the five-year anniversary of an international court decision rejecting those same Chinese territorial claims in the South China Sea, notes American Military News.
It also comes just after the U.S. warned an attack by China on the Philippines might activate a mutual defense treaty.
Over the weekend, the Biden administration affirmed its support for the Trump-era tribunal ruling rejecting China’s claims outside its internationally recognized territorial waters. “China firmly deplores and rejects the wrongdoings of the United States,” Zhao said at a news briefing.
The country’s increasing assertiveness about territorial claims are fueling tension with Japan, India, Vietnam, and the Philippines.
The Montana Religious Freedom Restoration Act (MRFRA) was signed into law constituting more legal protections for religious freedom among citizens.
QUICK FACTS:
The Montana Religious Freedom Restoration Act (Senate Bill 215) was drafted by Sen. Carl Glimm (R-Mo.) and signed by Montana governor Greg Gianforte in April.
It allows citizens to challenge government regulations seen as impeding on their religious beliefs and requires the government to have a “compelling reason to violate a person’s constitutional right to freedom of religion” and to accomplish its objectives in the “least restrictive way possible.”
Montana now makes a total of 22 states in the U.S. that have established legal protections for religious freedom over the last 30 years.
BACKGROUND:
Laws like SB 215 have protected, for example, a Native American who was charged for illegally possessing eagle feathers despite it being used for religious purposes, according to The Associated Press.
They were also used to defend students’ rights to mention their religious faith during graduation speeches.
The bill originates in the landmark 1990 Supreme Court caseEmployment Division v. Smith that established religious freedom as a second-class right. Justice Antonin Scalia’s majority opinion separated religious freedom from other rights protected by the First Amendment rights. Religious freedom no longer treated the same way caused conservative lawmakers to draft RFRA laws for their respective states.
WHAT CHRISTIAN ORGANIZATIONS ARE SAYING:
Religious freedom group Alliance Defending Freedom defended SB 215 saying, “Citizens should not be left defenseless when their government attempts to burden their ability to live and worship according to their faith.”
“This law provides a sensible balancing test for courts to use when reviewing government policies that infringe upon the religious freedom rights of Montanans,” the group added.
OPPOSITION:
Opponents believe SB 215 will enable businesses, for example, to discriminate based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
Over 250 companies co-signed a document opposing the law.
And House Minority Leader Kim Abbott refered to SB 215 a “Republican attack on freedom” using “religion as an excuse to discriminate against Montanans.”
GOP RESPONSE:
However, Republicans such as Great Falls Sen. Steve Fitzpatrick have defended the bill in light of the above objections, arguing that it “does not apply to individuals’ actions, only government interferences.”
According to Red Voice Media and the Stew Peters Show, United Air Lines and the Air Line Pilots Association have hatched a scheme to incentivize pilots to accept one of the controversial COVID-19 vaccines: Get vaccinated, or be permanently grounded and unable to work.
“United Airlines and the Air Line Pilots Association have openly released a monetary ‘bonus’ for those that decide in favor of the jab, offering 13.5 hours of flight pay bonus, which ends up being anywhere between $2,500 and $4,800 depending on what seat the pilot occupies, and the level of their seniority,” Stew Peters reports. “The truth is United Airlines is going to give pilots the choice: get jabbed, or be grounded, essentially giving pilots an ultimatum to get ‘vaccinated’ or lose their income.”
According to email exchanges provided to the Stew Peters Show, many cities and airports now require pilots to be vaccinated against COVID-19. “If a restricted city appears in an unvaxxed pilot’s monthly schedule,” Peters reports, “That pilot is removed from that trip, without pay.”
Former President Donald Trump reportedly released a letter that exposes Pennsylvania Attorney General Bill Barr forbidding a former United States Attorney from investigating voter fraud and election crimes in the state.
The Gateway Pundit said Trump announced on Sunday during the Conservative Political Action Conference that he just received a letter from an unnamed Pennsylvania U.S. Attorney that proves Attorney General Bill Bar discouraged him from investigating the 2020 Election fraud of the state.
Trump, who stressed on Sunday in CPAC that he “will not back down” in fighting to take back America, proved his word true when he released the letter on Monday. The 2-page letter showed it was from former Eastern District of Pennsylvania U.S. Attorney William McSwain, who is a Marine infantry officer.
As per The Gateway Pundit, McSwain shared in his letter to Trump how Barr instructed him to keep private any “possible election irregularities” but was forced to obey despite disagreeing with it.
“On Election Day and afterwards, our Office received various allegations of voter fraud and election irregularities. As part of my responsibilities as U.S. Attorney, i wanted to be transparent with the public and, of course, investigate fully any allegations. Attorney General Barr, however, instructed me not to make any public statements or put out any press releases regarding possible election irregularities,” McSwain said in the letter.
McSwain empathized with Trump for being “upset” with the Democrats in their manner of running the 2020 elections in Pennsylvania, calling it a “partisan disgrace.” He said that the State Supreme Court along with the Secretary of the Commonwealth and the Governor “made up their own rules and did not follow the law.”
In addition, he revealed that days before Election Day, Attorney General Josh Shapiro declared that Trump “could not win the election,” which he pointed out caused many Pennsylvanians to “lack faith in our state’s election results.” He described Shapiro’s statement as “irresponsible” since it came from “a law enforcement officer, especially during a hotly contested election.”
McSwain also disclosed that he was given additional instructions by Barr to forward any report on election irregularities to Shapiro. He explained that he obeyed all instructions Barr had given him out of his training in the Marines.
“The guns must disappear from the streets. Because there is no longer an enemy confronting us, because there’s no longer any reason to fight anybody. The weapons belong in the barracks. Nobody has the right to a private army here.”
Some guns in the hands of Cuban freedom-lovers would sure come in handy this week, as the biggest and most widespread protests to ever rock the Castro regime erupted island wide.
“The police are killing the Cuban people,” said Darwin V. Martínez with a video, as reported on the ‘Babalú Blog,’ of the police shooting at protesters in Havana. In the video, (WARNING: some may find the video disturbing), the agents are seen getting out of a patrol car and shooting at the Cubans. A woman recorded the moment from a window. The agents left the street.
“Here, pinga! Here!” yelled one of the protesters to the communist police, hitting his chest. “Shoot me HERE!”
Another video on social networks shows police officers shooting at protesters in Havana. “I have never heard so many shots in my life,” said a Cuban identified as Black Sheep on Twitter.
In the video, a Cuban woman can be seen with what appears to be a gunshot wound in the leg. “Feel her pain, man. My God, how they shot a lady!—Yes that’s the Cuban police!” people can be heard saying on camera.
According to the testimonies of Cubans on social media networks, the demonstrations this Sunday were peaceful on the part of the people, despite confrontation with the revolutionaries and the repression of the Police and the military.
“The regime brought trucks of people with the Cuban flag who confronted the peaceful protesters under the slogan of ‘I am Fidel’…I saw how the regime wanted to kill people!” said activist Beatriz Batista on Facebook.
Not since the early 60’s has anything like this ever confronted the one-time Soviet satraps and assorted scumbags and criminals who’ve ruled Stalinist Cuba. You can read more about this HERE.
Former President Donald Trump released a statement yesterday, saying, “Joe Biden must stand up to the communist regime or history will remember. The Cuban people deserve freedom and human rights. They are not afraid!”
But many Cuba-watchers have to wonder about its sincerity, especially given his party’s record of praise for Cuba’s Stalinist regime.
PRAISE FOR COMMUNIST CUBA, CASTRO
Here are just a few of the examples. Starting with Senator Bernie Sanders, who said:
“Everybody was totally convinced that Castro was the worst guy in the world and all of the Cuban people were going to rise up in rebellion against Fidel Castro. They forgot that he educated their kids, gave their kids health care, totally transformed the society.”
“Medical care–the life expectancy of Cubans is equivalent to that of the United States, despite it being a very poor country, because they have access to health care. That’s a huge achievement. They should be congratulated!”
And lest anyone think Obama was blustering empty campaign rhetoric, he proved the veracity of his praise for the sub-Third-World health-care in Stalinist Cuba by actually putting his pen where his mouth was and signing a health agreement with Cuba:
“The US Department of Health and Human Services (under Obama) and the Cuban government on Monday signed a memorandum of understanding to encourage cooperation between the two countries on health matters…Cuba has made significant contributions to health and science,” HHS Secretary (under Obama) Sylvia Mathews Burwell said in a statement. “This new collaboration is a historic opportunity for two nations to build on each other’s knowledge and experience, and benefit biomedical research and public health at large.”
Jimmy Carter:
“They have a superb health system, perhaps the best on earth,” Carter explained. “The year before I was there, for instance, only 1 child was born in Cuba infected with HIV/Aids. That was an extraordinary achievement. They have to manufacture their own pharmaceuticals, some of which have been adopted by other countries to treat diseases.” Carter went on to praise the education system as well. “Illiteracy is non-existent in Cuba,” Carter said. “So, some of the social services are very good. If Castro would modify his position to let the Cuban people have freedom, that would be my main frustrated hope for Castro and his people.”
When Castro died, Carter said he and his wife “remember fondly our visits with him in Cuba and his (Castro’s) love of his country.” Prior to that, in 2011, he referred to him as a “friend.”
Two-time candidate for the Democrat presidential nomination Jesse Jackson, smiled for cameras while arm in arm with Fidel Castro himself in 1984.
“Countries like Cuba or Canada or Russia or a lot of places in this world spend half what we spend per capita and they got better health outcomes than we do.”
Let’s not forget the Democrat party’s press auxiliary.
United Airlines’ move to reduce emissions has landed it with the plan to purchase 100 small electric passenger planes that will one day be used for regional flights. United has an ambitious net-zero greenhouse gas emissions goal by 2050.
United released a press release Tuesday that stated it plans to buy 100 of Heart Aerospace’s ES-19 aircraft, a 19-seat electric airliner, for regional travel up to 250 miles.
“We recognize that customers want even more ownership of their own carbon emissions footprint,” Michael Leskinen, United’s Vice President Corp Development, said in a release.
“We expect the short-haul regional air travel market to play a key role in the evolution of the electric aircraft. As battery technology improves, larger-gauge aircraft should become viable but we’re not going to wait to begin the journey,” Leskinen added.
There was no timeline on when the ES-19 would be commissioned into service, but United said these planes would fly regional routes out of its more than 100 hubs across the US. Some of the first routes could be Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD) to Purdue University Airport (LAF) and San Francisco International Airport (SFO) to Modesto City-County Airport (MOD).
“Electric aircraft are happening now—the technology is already here,” said Anders Forslund CEO of Heart Aerospace.
“We couldn’t be prouder to be partnering with United on taking our ES-19 aircraft to market. I can’t imagine a stronger coalition of partners to advance our mission to electrify short-haul air travel.”
Besides United, some other airline carriers, including Delta and American have committed to carbon neutral by 2050.
The leading 14 Big Pharma firms paid out more to enrich their investors than they spent on research and development from 2016 to 2020, according to a report by the U.S. House Oversight Committee. The report also divulged big payments to top executives.
The leading 14 Big Pharma firms paid out more to enrich their investors than they spent on research and development (R&D) from 2016 to 2020, a report published late last week by the U.S. House Oversight Committee revealed, renewing calls from healthcare reform advocates for urgent action to reduce the high cost of prescription drugs in the U.S.
The report — the sixth in a series on prescription drug prices — notes that the 14 companies spent nearly 10% more on stock buybacks and dividends than they did on developing and testing new medications.
Meanwhile, according to the report, the 14 firms “spent over $3.2 billion in aggregate executive compensation for their highest paid executives in the past five years,” an increase of 14% during the four-year period analyzed by congressional researchers.
The 14 largest drug companies spend exorbitantly on stock buybacks, dividends, and fighting off generic competition—all while American consumers pick up the tab.
— Oversight Committee (@OversightDems) July 8, 2021
According to the committee’s report:
From 2016 to 2020, the 14 leading drug companies spent $577 billion on stock buybacks and dividends, compared with $521 billion on R&D — a $56 billion difference.
Assuming the same rate of spending, these 14 companies are projected to spend $1.15 trillion on buybacks and dividends from 2020 through 2029. This is more than twice the amount the Congressional Budget Office projected would be saved by H.R. 3 (Elijah E. Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now Act) over the same period.
From 2016 to 2020, compensation for the 14 companies’ top executives totaled $3.2 billion, with compensation growing by 14% over that five-year period.
Many drug companies spent a significant portion of their R&D budget on finding ways to suppress generic and biosimilar competition while continuing to raise prices, rather than on innovative research.
“Today’s staff report makes clear that Congress needs to act to rein in out-of-control prescription drug prices,” House Committee on Oversight and Reform Chair Carolyn B. Maloney (D-N.Y.) said in a statement.
Reps demand “A full explanation of when the Agency understands it is lawful to monitor, surveil, collect, unmask, or receive data on a US citizen without a court order.”
Seventeen Republicans in the House have written a letter to the NSA demanding all information relating to claims that the spy agency has been monitoring Tucker Carlson’s private communications and leaking details to left-wing journalists.
The NSA has claimed (again) that it only eavesdrops on foreign adversaries, tweeting in response to the allegations that “Tucker Carlson has never been an intelligence target of the Agency and the NSA has never had any plans to try to take his program off the air.”
Carlson’s own news agency The Daily Caller published the letter from the Republicans which calls for “A detailed description of the ‘limited exceptions’ that would permit the NSA to target a US citizen without a court order, as the Agency understands the term as it is used in its own tweet.”
It also asks for “A detailed description of what constitutes an ’emergency’ that would permit the NSA to target a US citizen without a court order, as the Agency understands the term as used in its own tweet.”
The letter also calls for “A full explanation of when the Agency understands it is lawful to monitor, surveil, collect, unmask, or receive data on a US citizen without a court order explicitly authorizing such targeting, including while conducted in the course of targeting foreign powers.”
The GOP Reps also ask for an explanation as to how the NSA defines what a “domestic terrorist” is, and “What specific actions have been taken to hold accountable those who unmasked, approved unmasking, or shared information on unmasked U.S. citizens?”
Oliver Stone has released a new documentary on the JFK assassination, revisiting a topic that made him a maverick in Hollywood. Despite what the mainstream narrative suggests, the evidence points to a clear conspiracy, he told RT.
Some three decades after the release of his groundbreaking and controversial film ‘JFK,’ Stone has returned once more to the events leading up to and following the gruesome killing in November 1963 of American’s 35th president. For the legendary filmmaker and director, the assassination is as relevant today as it was thirty years ago.
In an interview with RT’s Going Underground, Stone suggested that Kennedy may have been killed for pursuing anti-colonial policies and seeking an end to the Cold War – defying the wishes of America’s rapidly growing and increasingly powerful military and intelligence sectors. JFK’s assassination served as a “warning to other people” – especially to all the presidents who succeeded Kennedy – not to “cross a certain line.” Speaking to host Afshin Rattansi, Stone said that Kennedy’s killing made it “very clear to the American people, subconsciously maybe, that there were forces larger than any one man” involved.
When you blow off a president’s head in the middle of a motorcade like that, which is a very organized black op – so much has to be done. The security along the route was changed, the parade route was changed. All the mechanics of that day were controlled and were part of an operation.
He said that a careful examination of the original evidence used to blame Lee Harvey Oswald for the assassination, including ballistic tests and autopsy reports, shows that the “lone wolf” theory is a “sham.” For example, he claimed that evidence shows that Oswald had been a CIA “asset” for years and that the man who later killed him, Jack Ruby, had been an FBI informant. Even once seemingly uncontested claims, such as the belief that Oswald had been on the sixth floor of the Dallas book depository at the time of Kennedy’s death, have been debunked by newly-revealed information and witness testimonies.
