CLG News

Breaking: Biden picks Harris for VP | 11 Aug 2020 | Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has chosen Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) as his running mate, he announced Tuesday. "I've decided that Kamala Harris is the best person to help me take this fight to Donald Trump and Mike Pence and then to lead this nation starting in January 2021," Biden said in an email to supporters announcing his VP pick.

Russia receives orders from 20 countries for one billion doses of world's first Covid-19 vaccine | 11 Aug 2020 | A total of 20 nations from Latin America, the Middle East, and Asia have already requested doses of Russia’s breakthrough coronavirus vaccine, which was confirmed to be registered on Tuesday by Russian President Vladimir Putin. At a conference dedicated to the announcement of the vaccine’s registration, the CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) explained that it had already received orders for a billion doses. "Together with our foreign partners, we are ready to produce more than 500 million doses of the vaccine per year," Kirill Dmitriev explained. Everything produced in Russia will be used domestically, and doses for use in other countries will be made abroad.

Madness in Melbourne --1984 dystopian language: billboards everywhere saying 'Staying apart keeps us together.' Have they gone mad? | 04 Aug 2020 |

• Can't go more than 3 miles from your home.
• Weddings are illegal.
• No gatherings of any size.
• Army is on the streets fining/arresting people.
• "Since March 21, a total of 193,740 spot checks have been conducted by police across Victoria."

...Now there are big worries in Melbourne. The Premier has imposed a vicious police state without precedent in this country's history. His name is Dan Andrews (a sweet-sounding name that masks the tyrant he has become), and he tweets out pictures of empty streets to brag about what he has achieved in the name of suppressing a virus... This is lockdown ideology at work. It is tyranny without limit, at the expense of all human dignity, decency, and rights. The politicians make a desert and call it health. And yet, meanwhile, in Australia since March, there have been six times as many deaths from suicide than from Covid-19. Like everywhere else on the planet, Melbourne will have to reach herd immunity from C-19 at some point. Those who deny that are risking not only liberty and health but civilization itself. Perhaps the other states in Australia will observe the destruction in Victoria and learn to take another path when the virus first arrives in their territory, as it surely will. Lockdowns are not science; they are brutality.

Seattle City Council approves plan to defund police department, slashes jobs and salaries | 10 Aug 2020 | The Seattle City Council voted Monday to move forward with a controversial proposal that would begin the process of defunding the police department. The 7-1 vote comes despite objections from the city's police chief, mayor and the Seattle Police Officers' Guild. The plan would ultimately slash funding to the department but not the 50% some had sought. Seattle currently has around 1,400 police officers, and the current plan would see about 100 cut. It was also cut the police department's $400 million budget by about $3 million, according to KOMO.

Trump abruptly escorted out of White House briefing room after shooting near White House | 10 Aug 2020 | President Donald Trump was abruptly escorted by a U.S. Secret Service agent out of the White House briefing room as he was beginning a coronavirus briefing Monday afternoon. He returned minutes later, saying there was a "shooting" outside the White House that was "under control." "There was an actual shooting and somebody's been taken to the hospital," Trump said...Trump said he was escorted to the Oval Office by the agent. The White House was placed on lockdown following the incident.

Breaking: Reports of Shots Fired Near the White House; Trump Abruptly Ends Press Conference -- White House Locked Down --Trump briefing halted by Secret Service after shots fired near White House | 10 Aug 2020 | Secret Service agents abruptly halted President Trump's coronavirus briefing on Monday after an armed suspect was shot outside the White House. The president was just minutes into his briefing when a Secret Service agent whispered in Trump’s ear and asked him to leave the podium along with other administration officials who were in the room. Reporters in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room were briefly placed into lockdown and Secret Service surrounded the West Wing. The president returned to the stage just minutes later to confirm someone had been taken to hospital following a shooting outside of the large White House wall.

Insurers May Rethink Property Risk After Unprecedented Losses From Riots | 06 July 2020 | The civil disturbance that started in Minneapolis after the killing by police of George Floyd spread to 20 other states -- an unprecedented property insurance catastrophe that will likely impact policy renewals and could even persuade some insurers to exclude coverage for damage caused by riots, executives for Verisk's Property Claim Services said. "In the U.S., there has been no precedent for a riot catastrophe like this," Tom Johansmeyer, head of PCS, said during a telephone interview with the Claims Journal on Thursday.

600,000 people were told they had COVID-19 - despite not being tested | 27 July 2020 | The healthcare program Tricare at the United States Department of Defense Military Health System falsely told more than 600,000 people they had been infected with the novel coronavirus, according to the Daily Wire. Turns out they had never been tested...The Daily Wire reported that other healthcare organizations have been epicenters of confusion, writing that "Nashville man Brock Ballou said he received at least three calls from the state regarding his apparent symptoms after testing positive for the novel coronavirus. Mr. Ballou said he was never tested, however."

Trump orders $400-per-week unemployment payments amid COVID crisis, hits Dems for stonewalling --Trump takes action after congressional stalemate | 08 Aug 2020 | President Trump signed four executive orders Saturday aimed at delivering relief to Americans struggling with the economic fallout of the coronavirus while accusing Democrats of stonewalling greater aid efforts. Trump announced a $400-per-week supplemental unemployment payment to out-of-work Americans -- short of the $600 weekly benefit that expired at the end of July. He unveiled an extension of student loan relief and protections from evictions for renters and homeowners. Trump also signed a payroll tax holiday through the end of the year for Americans earning less than $100,000, while promising more relief if he wins a second term.

Eversource says power restoration will take through next Tuesday, promises substantial progress by end of weekend while officials blast power company for 'epic failure' after Tropical Storm Isaias | 06 Aug 2020 | (CT) Eversource announced late Thursday night that it will take until midnight Tuesday to restore nearly all of the hundreds of thousands of power outages caused by Tropical Storm Isaias amid growing anger over the utility’s response to the storm. On Thursday evening, about 545,000 customers remained out of power statewide -- 472,000 Eversource customers and 73,000 customers served by United Illuminating, which serves coastal areas of the state... United Illuminating has not escaped criticism either and on Thursday afternoon the city of Bridgeport became the first municipality to take the utility to court. Bridgeport officials filed a motion in Superior Court asking a judge to compel the utility to hire more crews on its own dime, provide accurate restoration estimates to the city's emergency operations center and expedite certain restorations involving public health, such as senior centers, according to the filing.

Ohio governor tests negative in second coronavirus test | 06 Aug 2020 | Hours after Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) tested positive for the novel coronavirus, the governor announced a second test had come back negative. "In a second COVID-19 test administered today in Columbus, Governor Mike DeWine has tested negative for COVID-19," the governor's Twitter account tweeted Thursday evening. "First Lady Fran DeWine and staff members have also all tested negative." DeWine's office said the second test was a PCR test, which "is known to be extremely sensitive, as well as specific, for the virus," while the one administered Thursday morning was an antigen test. The PCR test came back negative on two different diagnostic platforms.

Over 80,000 mail-in ballots disqualified in NYC primary mess --1 out of 4 mail-in ballots were disqualified for arriving late, lacking a postmark or other defects | 06 Aug 2020 | The mail-in ballots of more than 84,000 New York City Democrats who sought to vote in the presidential primary were disqualified, according to new figures released by the Board of Elections. The city BOE received 403,103 mail-in ballots for the June 23 Democratic presidential primary. But the certified results released Wednesday revealed that only 318,995 mail-in ballots were counted. That means 84,108 ballots were not counted or invalidated -- 21 percent of the total.

Poll: About three quarters support bringing troops home from Iraq, Afghanistan | 06 Aug 2020 |About three-quarters of U.S. adults say they support bringing U.S. troops home from Iraq and Afghanistan in a new poll commissioned by the libertarian Charles Koch Institute obtained exclusively by The Hill. In the poll, which surveyed 2,000 U.S. adults, 44 percent said they strongly support bringing U.S. troops home from Iraq and 30 percent said they somewhat support doing so. For Afghanistan, 46 percent said they strongly support bringing troops home and 30 percent said they somewhat support it. [Exactly. Trump wants to get out of foreign entanglements, while Biden and his deep-state handlers want to stay -- on the US taxpayers' dime -- forever.]

Ohio governor tests positive for coronavirus ahead of Trump visit --DeWine was scheduled to meet President Trump when he landed in Cleveland | 06 Aug 2020 | Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine has tested positive for the coronavirus hours before he was set to greet President Trump at the Cleveland airport, his office announced on Thursday. As part of the standard protocol, DeWine was tested for COVID-19 before he was scheduled to meet with Trump. The state's lieutenant governor, Jon Husted, tested negative for the virus... DeWine is the second U.S. governor to test positive for the virus.

Major U.S. Health Insurers Report Big Profits, Benefiting From the Pandemic | 05 Aug 2020 | The nation's leading health insurers are experiencing an embarrassment of profits. Some of the largest companies, including Anthem, Humana and UnitedHealth Group, are reporting second-quarter earnings that are double what they were a year ago. And while insurance profits are capped under the Affordable Care Act, with the requirement that consumers should benefit from such excesses in the form of rebates, no one should expect an immediate windfall. But the amounts that insurers are retaining have caught the attention of the Trump administration. The Health and Human Services Department advised companies to consider speeding up rebates, and on Tuesday suggested that they reduce premiums to help consumers through the economic downturn caused by the pandemic.

Witnesses Convinced that Cuomo Is Intentionally Hiding Actual Number of Nursing Home Deaths | 05 Aug 2020 | The New York State Assembly and Senate gave New York Health Commissioner [Murderer] Howard Zucker plenty of chances to tell them the number of nursing home residents who have died from COVID, but all he could muster was that he'd "get back" to them... As Democrat James Skoufis noted, even California has managed to share that statistic. He said it "perplexes" him that Zucker couldn't be just as forthcoming. The catalyst for Monday's hearing was Gov. Andrew Cuomo's nursing home mandate back on March 25 that ordered facilities to accept COVID patients who had been discharged from hospitals. Families who have lost someone in a New York nursing home the past few months have no doubt in their mind that Cuomo's dangerous policy put their loved ones in the grave...Zucker didn't stick around to hear testimony from folks who were directly affected by the administration's order. If he had stayed, he would have heard some horrifying tales.

Comey went 'rogue' in Flynn investigation; Obama spilled the beans to Yates --Former deputy attorney general says former FBI chief's actions 'dumbfounded' her | 05 Aug 2020 | Former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates told a Senate panel Wednesday that ex-FBI Director James Comey went "rogue" in the investigation of President Trump's first national security adviser Michael Flynn. Testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Ms. Yates was asked if the ex-FBI director had gone "rogue" when he failed to keep the Justice Department informed about the Flynn investigation. "You can use that term, yes," she responded. Justice Department documents released earlier this year revealed Mr. Comey kept Ms. Yates -- who was his superior -- in the dark about the bureau's probe into Flynn in January 2017.

De Blasio announces coronavirus quarantine checkpoints at 'major entry points' into NYC | 05 Aug 2020 | [Petty Tyrant] Mayor Bill de Blasio announced checkpoints for the bridge-and-tunnel crowd to comply with the state's mandatory 14-day coronavirus quarantine rule for those arriving from COVID-19 hotspots. The NYC Sheriff, deputies and other officials said they will deploy to Penn Station, airports, bridges, tunnels, and on major roadways to quiz travelers about their plans and register with authorities. The city sheriff said most of the traffic stops would be done on a randomized basis, perhaps stopping one in every six or eight cars.

Trump says Italy and Belgium are next 'delinquents' to pony up defense spending for NATO | 05 Aug 2020 | President Trump told Fox and Friends anchor Brian Kilmeade Wednesday that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was "a disaster" and that he got countries to pay $130 billion more a year. "The United States was paying for everybody, I said 'you gotta pay.' Bottom line, after one meeting we got $130 billion a year more, going to $400 billion," Trump said Wednesday. Kilmeade asked the president why the U.S. was removing troops from Germany for not paying their NATO dues, but dispersing them to other countries like Italy and Belgium who also fall short on their NATO defense spending. "But they will be paying," Trump said. "I told them."

NYC health commissioner resigns, citing de Blasio's handling of coronavirus pandemic | 04 Aug 2020 | New York City Health Commissioner Dr. Oxiris Barbot resigned from her post Tuesday, citing Mayor Bill de Blasio's handling of the coronavirus pandemic in a critical letter. De Blasio confirmed that he received Barbot's resignation letter before noon Tuesday, and appointed Dr. Dave A. Choksi as her replacement. The New York Times first reported that Barbot submitted her resignation to de Blasio, amid a clash between the mayor and the city’s health officials. "I leave my post today with deep disappointment that during the most critical public health crisis in our lifetime, that the Health Department's incomparable disease control expertise was not used to the degree it could have been," she wrote to de Blasio.

Mail-in voting update: Due to massive postal failures, New York will count many mailed-in ballots even if they're not postmarked by the deadline, or postmarked at all --Six weeks after the primary, no result | 04 Aug 2020 | A federal judge ruled Monday that approximately 1,000 absentee ballots that were not postmarked by the deadline -- if they were even postmarked at all -- must be counted in a New York congressional primary that still hasn't been decided after six weeks, according to The New York Times. Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y) appears to have beaten challenger Suraj Patel in the Democratic primary for New York's 12th congressional district, but her current margin over Patel is only 3,700 votes, and there are more than 12,000 disputed ballots. Judge Analisa Torres of Federal District Court in Manhattan ruled that 1,000 of the disputed ballots must be counted after failures by the postal service have undermined the election and delayed a final result by nearly two months.

Australian state of Victoria to deploy military as police face resistance to Covid-19 orders --Residents face hefty fines for violating isolation orders, as 2,000 military personnel are deployed to enforce virus-control measures | 04 Aug 2020 | The Australian state of Victoria on Tuesday that military personnel will be deployed to enforce Covid-19 lockdown orders, amid growing concerns about attacks on police... Authorities have warned police were facing a sometimes violent resistance, often by so-called 'sovereign citizens' groups who considered themselves above the law. Chief commissioner Shane Patton told reporters that Victoria Police had seen an "emergence" of "concerning groups of people who classify themselves as 'sovereign citizens'" - an anti-government movement which began in the United States. State Premier Daniel Andrews said an additional 500 unarmed military personnel will this week deploy to Victoria to assist police in ensuring self-isolation orders are being complied with. The latest military deployment will join about 1,500 troops already in Victoria and engaged in contact tracing, testing and assisting police at check points. Australia has deployed almost 3,000 troops to help in virus logistical operations.

FBI has opened 300 'domestic terror' investigations as a result of riots, attorney tells Capitol hearing on Antifa | 04 Aug 2020 | The FBI has opened more than 300 domestic terrorism investigations since George Floyd's death in Minneapolis kicked off nationwide unrest and riots, a federal attorney revealed Tuesday in a hearing on Capitol Hill on Antifa and violent protests. Erin Nealy Cox, a U.S. attorney tapped by Attorney General William Barr to lead a task force on violent anti-government extremists, said the feds have opened hundreds of federal criminal investigations surrounding the violence and rioting since May 28... In addition, Acting Deputy Homeland Security Secretary Ken Cuccinelli told lawmakers that an estimated 140 federal law enforcement officers guarding a Portland federal courthouse sustained 277 injuries due to the violent and sustained nightly attacks at the building.

Beirut explosion kills at least 70, injures thousands in Lebanon's capital | 04 Aug 2020 | A massive explosion rocked Beirut on Tuesday, flattening much of the city's port, damaging buildings across the capital and sending a giant mushroom cloud into the sky. More than 70 people were killed and 3,000 injured, with bodies buried in the rubble, officials said. The blast struck with the force of a 3.5 magnitude earthquake, according to Germany's geosciences center GFZ, and it was heard and felt as far away as Cyprus more than 200 kilometers (180 miles) across the Mediterranean. The sudden devastation overwhelmed a country already struggling with both the coronavirus pandemic and an economic crisis.

Hurricane Isaias bearing down on South Carolina coast, expected to make landfall in hours --Landfall possible Monday | 03 Aug 2020 | The storm Isaias is now a hurricane and expected to make landfall tonight in South Carolina. The 8 p.m. update from the National Hurricane Center clocked the storm's winds at 75 mph, which is a category 1 hurricane. Isaias is expected to make landfall near Myrtle Beach between 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. Widespread rain is falling across the Upstate as a frontal boundary combined with moisture from Isaias is bringing widespread rain from Greenwood to Laurens, and Greenville to Spartanburg.

Chicago Leaders Want to Cancel History Classes 'Until a Suitable Alternative Can Be Found' | 03 Aug 2020 | Chicago-area leaders urged the Illinois State Board of Education on Sunday to halt history classes that "unfairly" communicate history until an "alternative" can be found. Democratic state Rep. LaShawn Ford of Chicago said the current state history curriculum leads to a "racist society" and may cause "white privilege" before a Sunday press conference in Evanston in a release obtained by NBC 5. In the release, Ford called to replace courses and books that "unfairly communicate" history until a "suitable alternative is developed." ..."I'm calling on the Illinois State Board of Education and local school districts to take immediate action by removing current history books and curriculum practices that unfairly communicate our history," Ford said in the release.

White House mandates random coronavirus testing for staffers | 03 Aug 2020 | The White House is mandating random coronavirus testing for members of staff in the Executive Office of the President, an official confirmed Monday. The news, first reported by Politico, comes after a handful of individuals working in the White House tested positive for the novel coronavirus, including President Trump's national security adviser Robert O'Brien. The White House official said Monday that the new policy is part of "ongoing efforts to protect the health and safety of the entire White House Complex." The official said that randomized COVID-19 testing has been in place for "several months" on a voluntary basis but now would become mandatory.

Trump signs executive order barring federal agencies from replacing Americans with foreign workers --The order comes as the US unemployment rate is above 10% amid the coronavirus pandemic | 03 Aug 2020 | President Trump on Monday signed an executive order banning federal agencies from firing American citizens or green card holders and hiring foreign workers to do their jobs... According to Bloomberg, the order would put federal contractors that use H-1B visas for high-skilled jobs under increased scrutiny. "Today, I am signing an executive order to ensure that the Federal government lives by a very simple rule: hire American," Trump said at the signing event. The order comes as the U.S. unemployment rate is above 10 percent amid the coronavirus pandemic, which has left tens of millions of Americans unemployed.

Trump takes ax to TVA leaders, cites foreign outsourcing, CEO pay | 03 Aug 2020 | President Donald Trump said Monday that he had fired the chair of the Tennessee Valley Authority, saying the executive was getting paid too much and was hiring foreign workers. There was some confusion, as the president also railed about the pay for the TVA's chief executive and demanded his pay -- now $8 million, Trump said -- be trimmed to no more than $500,000. Trump told reporters at the White House that he was formally removing the authority's chair of the board and another member of the board, and he threatened to remove other board members if they keep hiring foreign labor. The board members are recommended by the president and confirmed by the U.S. Senate... Trump said the TVA board must immediately hire a new chief executive officer who "puts the interests of Americans first."

White House considering unilateral actions with coronavirus aid bill stuck in Congress - sources --The amount of unemployment benefits are a big part of the stalemate on Capitol Hill | 03 Aug 2020 | The Trump administration is considering taking "a number of options" without congressional approval as negotiations on the fourth coronavirus stimulus relief package are stalled between the White House and lawmakers on Capitol Hill, Fox News has learned. A senior administration official told Fox News Monday that the administration is weighing taking unilateral action to quell the economic repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic. "As the negotiations continue to progress as a snail's pace, the administration is considering a number of options that might be available without congressional legislative action," the official told Fox News... In the meantime, Republicans offered to continue the $600 payments for one more week while lawmakers negotiate, but Democrats, who proposed their bill in the House back in May, rejected this. White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows told Fox News that Democrats rejecting the one-week extension of unemployment benefits was "heartless."