John Durham investigation intensifies focus on John Brennan

Washington Examiner  "U.S. Attorney John Durham’s review of the Russia investigation is putting increased scrutiny on former CIA Director John Brennan, searching for any undue influence he may have had during 2017’s intelligence community assessment of Russian interference.
"Durham, selected by Attorney General William Barr last year to lead this inquiry, drove to Washington, D.C., in March to ensure the investigation stayed on track during the coronavirus outbreak. The top Connecticut federal prosecutor is looking into highly sensitive issues, including whether Brennan took politicized actions to pressure the rest of the intelligence community to match his conclusions about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s motivations, according to sources cited by the Wall Street Journal.
"Officials said Durham has been interviewing CIA officials this year, zeroing in on those at the National Intelligence Council, a center within the Office of the Director of National Intelligence which oversaw the collaboration between the CIA, FBI, and National Security Agency in putting together the 2017 assessment, and looking at how the work product was finalized.
"The 2017 assessment concluded with "high confidence" that Putin “ordered an influence campaign in 2016” and Russia worked to “undermine public faith" in U.S. democracy, "denigrate" former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and "harm her electability and potential presidency,” and “developed a clear preference" for Trump. The NSA diverged on one aspect, expressing only “moderate confidence” that Putin actively tried to help Trump win and Clinton lose." . . .

Why would Russia want to hurt Clinton? She was their BFF!  . . . "As the Russians gradually assumed control of Uranium One in three separate transactions from 2009 to 2013, Canadian records show, a flow of cash made its way to the Clinton Foundation. Uranium One’s chairman used his family foundation to make four donations totaling $2.35 million. Those contributions were not publicly disclosed by the Clintons, despite an agreement Mrs. Clinton had struck with the Obama White House to publicly identify all donors. Other people with ties to the company made donations as well.

"The Foundation wasn’t the only beneficiary:

And shortly after the Russians announced their intention to acquire a majority stake in Uranium One, Mr. Clinton received $500,000 for a Moscow speech from a Russian investment bank with links to the Kremlin that was promoting Uranium One stock.

"The speech was approved by- you guessed it- the Clinton State Department." . . .

Our Garbage Media

Power Line  "Want to know how you can tell when the lockdown became a new great depression? It’s when the media starts experiencing large layoffs. Glenn Reynolds has a roundup of media layoffs currently under way that makes for the feel good story of the week for sure.

"The New York Times reports that “Roughly 33,000 workers at news companies in the U.S. have been laid off, been furloughed or had their pay reduced. Some publications that rely on ads have shut down.” And it seldom gets better than this:

NPR Warns of Major Cuts Due to Coronavirus

NPR will be instituting severe cost-cutting measures as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a Wednesday internal memo, with a budget deficit looming as high as $25 million through fiscal 2021. . .

"I suppose this will just free up a lot of media people to volunteer full time for Democrats, though of course they’re doing that already, so how could we tell?" . . .

"And then naturally the Huffington Post can’t help itself, because of the left’s Ahab fixation:

The White Male Is the Greatest Risk in Spreading the Virus . . .

. . . This White Male Effect will also almost certainly have played a part in how slowly the UK and the US responded to the emerging pandemic. Both the Johnson and Trump administrations have also turned to older white male experts for how to manage this crisis. . .
"This White Male Effect is caused primarily by the education system and society as a whole, which encourages white men to believe in their own superiority." . . .

AOC’s Baseless Accusation That the U.S. Is a 'Brutal, Barbarian Society'

Charlemagne Institute  "According to democratic socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the COVID-19 pandemic is proving that the United States “is a brutal, barbarian society for the vast majority of working-class Americans.” As evidence of this, she claims that “40% of us couldn’t even afford a $400 emergency” before this crisis, and COVID-19 “is more than a $400 emergency.”

"However, her “40%–$400” statistic is false, and the facts that broadly inform this issue reveal that:

• government social programs, which AOC seeks to enlarge, depress workers’ savings, causing the very outcomes that she decries.
• the people of the U.S. lead the world in charity.
• middle- and low-income Americans are more financially capable of handling COVID-19 than the bulk of people in most developed countries, including those who live in more socialistic nations that AOC says the U.S. should emulate.

"AOC’s Allegations  "In a recent video, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D–NY) declared: “This is supposed to be the richest society in the world, and I think what this crisis is showing us is that this is only a rich society for a very small amount of people, and it is a brutal, barbarian society for the vast majority of working-class Americans because 40% of us couldn’t even afford a $400 emergency before this thing started. This is more than a $400 emergency, and we’re really going to have to step up and completely change our approach to our public systems.” . . .

"Summary" 

"Contrary to AOC’s portrayal of the USA as “a brutal, barbarian society for the vast majority of working-class Americans,” the key facts that inform this matter show that:

• the lone statistic she used to support this allegation is false.
• personal savings – the subject of her statistic – are depressed by government social programs that she champions and seeks to expand.
• when it comes to charity, the people of the U.S. are the most generous in the world.
• middle- and even low-income Americans have more material resources to weather COVID-19 than the majority of people in most developed nations.

Pelosi Called Out for Visit Promoting Tourism to Chinatown in Late February

Tony Branco

The look on Pelosi’s face is priceless when Wallace asks her about the visit to Chinatown:  "Nancy Pelosi joined Chris Wallace for what she thought would be a softball interview on ‘Fox News Sunday’ this morning. She was wrong. Wallace called her out for visiting Chinatown in San Francisco to promote tourism in late February.
"It’s obvious that Pelosi wants the Chinatown visit to be ignored by the media because she deleted the video of her visit from social media last week.
"The look on Pelosi’s face is priceless when Wallace asks her about the visit to Chinatown:
"Pelosi then gets to work lying with no pushback from Wallace. She tries to push the tired narrative that President Trump is racist:

"The problem is that President Trump rightly referred to the pandemic by the name of the Chinese city in which the virus originated…Wuhan Province. He NEVER encouraged discrimination against the Asian-American community. Nancy Pelosi is lying AGAIN…"

Priceless! President Trump tweeted out the video of Pelosi after she deleted it:

Adam Schiff’s Dirty Impeachment Tactics Coming to Light

Robyn Dolgin "Rep. Adam Schiff spent months launching secret impeachment hearings, never thinking his conduct would be called into question.

"He is now caught in the crosshairs of a formidable government agent, Mr. Brendan Carr, Federal Communication Commissioner. The impeachment may be over, but Mr. Carr is formally investigating Rep. Schiff for violating privacy laws -- more like obliterating ethical boundaries -- by setting up his own surveillance state to target the president’s allies.

"Carr is currently uncovering the diabolical nature of the congressman’s “surveillance state.” At the time, Schiff resorted to such desperate measures because he didn’t have much of an impeachment case: Therefore, he issued secret subpoenas to phone carriers hoping to mine the private data of his political opponents, or in effect ransacking their private lives.

"The objective was to obtain and publish the calls of Trump’s allies.

"Much to his delight, Schiff’s subpoenas to the phone carriers resulted in their turning over nearly 4,000 pages of confidential records, in the process violating their customers’ rights to data privacy.

"None of this has escaped the notice of the top gun at the FCC. Carr is proposing a $200 million fine against the phone carriers for failing to protect their customers who have a legitimate expectation of privacy." . . .

. . . "None of this appears of concern to members of the leftist media. Many view Schiff as “the most underestimated politician” California has ever produced, according to Greg Miller, correspondent for the Washington Post. Miller, and many of his colleagues, agree that Schiff “will leave a mark on history, exceeding nearly all contemporaries.”

"It would be unfair to Schiff to say that his impeachment efforts came to nothing. The congressman cemented his rock-star status for his “dazzling” speech at the opening of the hearings, according to Jeffrey Toobin, CNN news analyst." . . .

How long have we been seeing this strangeness in Biden?

Rich Terrell

How about Biden's strange behavior during the Ryan debate in 2012?  Has anything like it ever been seen before?

Castro and Maduro must envy Bernie now

Spectator

Mike Harris

Sunlight Destroys Virus Quickly, New Govt. Tests Find

Weasel Zippers

Via Yahoo:

Preliminary results from government lab experiments show that the coronavirus does not survive long in high temperatures and high humidity, and is quickly destroyed by sunlight, providing evidence from controlled tests of what scientists believed — but had not yet proved — to be true.

A briefing on the preliminary results, marked for official use only and obtained by Yahoo News, offers hope that summertime may offer conditions less hospitable for the virus, though experts caution it will by no means eliminate, or even necessarily decrease, new cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. The results, however, do add an important piece of knowledge that the White House’s science advisers have been seeking as they scramble to respond to the spreading pandemic.

Keep reading…

UPDATED, 4/20: Crenshaw Takes Out Maher: Is The Goal To Make The President ‘Look Bad’ Or ‘Get To The Truth’?

Weasel Zippers  Video  Via Fox News: 
"Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, had a fierce debate with “Real Time” host Bill Maher on Friday over President Trump’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak — one that examined the president’s “style” of communicating versus the substance of his policies."

During the discussion, Crenshaw said some fundamental questions need to be asked whenever anyone criticizes the president.

“When people make these accusations,” Crenshaw said, “I have to ask them: Is the goal to make Trump look bad or is the goal to get to the truth? Because there are two separate sets of answers for that.”  Keep reading…

Maher Says Media’s ‘Panic Porn’ Coronavirus Coverage Could Create Trump Reelection Path  . . . "Maher also hit the media for being “obsessed” with the number of people who have died from COVID-19 while ignoring the far higher death toll from the flu last year." . . .

UPDATE: Rep. Dan Crenshaw politely destroys Bill Maher's blame game against Trump  . . . "On the same show during which Bill Maher earned deserved kudos for attacking mainstream media's execrable, emotion-laden, dishonest coverage of the Wuhan virus, he made the mistake of trying to debate Rep. Dan Crenshaw about whether Trump's response to the Wuhan virus was timely.  If we could all learn to debate as Crenshaw does, the world would be a better, more logical, well ordered, and well run place.

"As Maher hurls out a word soup of alleged facts, all of which are belied by the record, Crenshaw never loses his calm friendliness.  Instead, he keeps setting the record straight, always focusing on accuracy rather than partisanship or the "gotcha" game.  It's a beautiful lesson in how to handle someone who is being factually dishonest."

"Certainly, Crenshaw's performance has resonated with people.  As Benny Johnson points out in his tweet about the debate, Maher's show has an audience of 1.5 million people.  Meanwhile, as of this writing, Crenshaw's devastatingly polite performance, one that leaves Maher intellectually and factually disarmed, has already garnered 2.4 million views on Twitter."

Crenshaw Schools Maher After Comedian Accuses Trump of Poorly Handling the Coronavirus  . . . " 'If you're saying you wish that travel restriction had been more extreme, okay, fine," Crenshaw said. "You apparently had the foresight back then when apparently no one else did, but the fact is that if Joe Biden was in charge at that moment, he's already said he wouldn't have done it. ... Nancy Pelosi actually proposed legislation to stop it.' " . . .

A Wake For Civil Liberties

Mike Adams

"Since drive-in/drive-through church services would involve the presence of not just "minimal staff" but other individuals as well, they are prohibited under Section 10(p) of the (Wake County) Proclamation."

"Plymouth Church is located in the City of Raleigh, which makes up much of Wake County, North Carolina. Plymouth’s pastor, Dr. Chris Partin, is struggling to assert his religious liberties in light of restrictions imposed by North Carolina’s Democratic Governor, Roy Cooper, and expanded on by local government. Recently, he came up with a creative idea to allow his congregants to have some semblance of religious freedom during Easter week. But government officials in North Carolina simply will not allow it.
"Dr. Partin’s idea was simple. He wanted to do a so-called drive-through church on Easter with church staff remaining, not just six, but ten feet away from congregants at all times. The drive-through service would be little more than short readings of portions of the Easter story. Partin communicated this simple plan to Wake County Officials in the following simple email:

"Hi. I understand drive in churches are permitted. We want to do a drive through where we as a staff just say hello from a distance to our members and read in portions the Easter story in stations while being 10 ft or more away. People will not get out of their vehicles. Is this ok? . . .

. . . 
"In other words, the authorities in control in Wake County, North Carolina, are engaged in blatant viewpoint discrimination. And there is no need for it given the fact that even North Carolina’s far left governor sees no need for such stringent overreach. In fact, the N.C. Sheriffs’ Association has already asked Governor Cooper whether drive-in church services would be allowed under the state’s shelter in place order. In response, Cooper, told the sheriffs the following:      

"I trust law enforcement’s judgment in directing people to abide by local and state health department guidance. These gatherings appear to be acceptable as long as individuals remain in their vehicles and avoid contact."

. . .  Full article   Meanwhile, in Michigan:

Elon Musk Goes After CNN For Posting Fake News

The Political Insider

Musk: “What I Find Most Surprising is That CNN Still Exists”

"Elon Musk attacked CNN for posting fake news claiming he had not delivered on his promise to produce ventilators for California hospitals.

"In March, Musk promised that he and Tesla would donate over 1,000 ventilators to California hospitals. On Thursday, CNN produced an article that claimed that Musk had never made good on his promise, claiming that the governor’s office told them “none of the promised ventilators have been received” by the hospitals

“ 'Despite the claims, none of the ventilators promised by Musk have been delivered to hospitals, according to the governor’s office,” the article reads. It also includes a statement from the California governor’s Office of Emergency Services, saying that “the Administration is communicating every day with hospitals across the state about their ventilator supply and to date we have not heard of any hospital system that has received a ventilator directly from Tesla or Musk.”

"Musk proceeded to shoot back in a series of tweets.

“ 'What I find most surprising is that CNN still exists,” Musk responded in a quick barb." . . .

Hollywood plans big 150th birthday for Lenin

Don Surber

"Wednesday marks the 150th anniversary of Lenin's birth and the multimillionaire celebrities in Hollywood plan a 3-day celebration.
"Oh, they are calling it Earth Day, but the environment does just fine without them.
"Not a single Earth Day forecast of doom has come true in 50 years of their spreading this nonsense. Their goal is a government controlled society with them in control of the government." . . .
. . . "The event, organized by youth climate activists, features a star-studded lineup that includes Joaquin Phoenix, Moby, Patricia Arquette, Jane Fonda, Robby Romero, Al Gore, Stacey Abrams* in conversation with leading scientists and journalists about the ongoing climate crisis. Musical performances and DJ sets include Jason Mraz, Angélique Kidjo, Emily Wells, Aimee Mann, Ted Leo, Jack Johnson, Questlove, Talib Kweli, Beverly Bond, Madame Gandhi, Soul Clap and others.' " . . .
. . . 
"Parade magazine listed the top predictions over the years at Lenin's Birthday parties:

1. “The air would be so polluted by the 1980s that city dwellers will all have to wear gas masks.”
2. “Civilization would end in 15-30 years if immediate action is not taken.”
3. ” Between 1980-1989, some 4 billion people, including 65 million Americans would die from food shortages.”
4. “All of the oxygen will disappear from America’s rivers because of pollution, killing all the freshwater fish.”
5. “People’s life expectancy by 1980 will only be 42 years old.”
6. “By the year 2000, we will run out of crude oil.”
7. “The world has been chilling sharply for about 20 years and if it continues, the worldwide temperatures will drop by 11 degrees by the year 2000, twice what it would take to put us into an ice age.”

"Despite being wrong every time, they claim science is on their side." . . .

*One heartbeat from being President?