90 Miles From Tyranny

Monday, May 4, 2020

There’s Something Happening Here

The thousands of Californians in the streets, singing songs and carrying signs, are watching carefully how Governor Gavin Newsom and his staatspolizei respond to the voice of the people.

Thousands of flag-waving Californians descended upon the State Capitol Friday for a protest of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s statewide stay-at-home lockdown order, which has caused millions of residents to lose their jobs and businesses,” wrote Katy Grimes in the California Globe. Down in Huntington Beach in Orange County, as Fox News explained, protesters were backing up traffic for a mile on Pacific Coast Highway, while others staged rallies in San Diego, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. What could have prompted these Californians to get out in the streets?

Governor Gavin Newsom had declared them “nonessential” and they showed up with signs reading “All jobs are essential.” So, basically they want their lives back. This is not what their governor wants, however.

On Wednesday, Newsom told reporters, “we believe we are weeks, not months, away from making meaningful modifications to that indicator,” a reference to his shelter-in-place order. The San Francisco Democrat didn’t say what the modifications would be or when he would make them, and he didn’t want people expressing their opposition in public.

The California Highway Patrol was refusing to issue permits for events at any state properties, including the Capitol, and Thursday the governor shut down access to all state beaches and parks, so he’s not a fan of freedom of movement and association.

Californians showed up anyway by the thousands, in peaceful protests that did not prompt the governor to “modify” his lockdown order. As he told reporters, “I hope to make some announcements of new strategies and partnerships that we’re working on in real-time to address these large crowds.”

There’s something happening here, as the Buffalo Springfield said in 1967, but in 2020 it’s exactly clear what it is. Newsomlini is showing his fascist streak. But as Edward Ring notes, his “nonessential” declaration is really a brand of nihilism. The gang of nihilists in “The Big Lebowski” prompted John Goodman’s character to observe that whatever one thinks of German National Socialism, at least it was an ethos. Newsom, on the other hand, has no discernable ethos, but it’s clear he’s after power.

When he announced the lockdown on March 19, Newsom thanked House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and gushed, “we are so blessed to have her leadership in California.” With Nancy calling the shots, the Democrat Il Duce is unlikely to modify restrictions in any meaningful way before, say, November 3. He wants to maximize the contradictions and keep people from protesting in...

Exclusive– Congressman: Nancy Pelosi Blocking Investigation into Chinese Coronavirus Origins, Tax Money to Wuhan Lab

Rep. Guy Reschenthaler (R-PA) told Breitbart News this weekend that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi would rather investigate President Donald Trump again than focus on the actual origins of the Chinese coronavirus and U.S. tax dollars that went to the Wuhan Institute of Virology from which intelligence officials increasingly believe the virus leaked.

Appearing on Breitbart News Saturday on SiriusXM 125 the Patriot Channel, Reschenthaler discussed his efforts to investigate tax dollars that flowed through a New York firm to the Wuhan lab. He said that Pelosi and House Democrats are not interested in holding the Chinese Communist Party accountable and, instead, want to focus their oversight efforts on politically harming President Trump again just like they tried and failed with the partisan impeachment last year and earlier this year.

“We should have an investigative body looking at these grants, but Nancy Pelosi is not going to do that,” Reschenthaler said. “So you have myself and House Republicans. I can tell you I’m going to continue to look into these grants. I’m going to continue to look into the Department of Homeland Security as well to see what grants are going from there to China. I’m also looking at defunding the World Health Organization and we can talk about that as well. But the bottom line of the Democrats’ behavior is this: They hate this president so badly that they would rather side with the Chinese Communist Party than defend Americans and defend our spending and spend wisely and just be honest. That is their hatred for President Trump and disdain for President Trump’s supporters.”

LISTEN:

“We should have an investigative body looking at these grants, but Nancy Pelosi is not going to do that,” Reschenthaler said. “So you have myself and House Republicans. I can tell you I’m going to continue to look into these grants. I’m going to continue to look into the Department of Homeland Security as well to see what grants are going from there to China. I’m also looking at defunding the World Health Organization and we can talk about that as well. But the bottom line of the Democrats’ behavior is this: They hate this president so badly that they would rather side with the Chinese Communist Party than defend Americans and defend our spending and spend wisely and just be honest. That is their hatred for President Trump and disdain for President Trump’s supporters.”

Reschenthaler wrote a letter this week to Secretary of Defense Mark Esper inquiring about a Pentagon grant to EcoHealth Alliance, Inc., a New York firm that has had a history of funding the Wuhan Institute of Virology with subgrants from American taxpayers. The Pentagon grant the congressman was inquiring about was for research into bat-borne zoonotic diseases and their potential as weapons of mass destruction or biological weapons. While it is unclear if that grant saw U.S. taxpayer money flowing from it out to the Wuhan lab, it is known that another grant that EcoHealth Alliance received did partially spend U.S. tax dollars in the Chinese lab.

That grant, from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) — in particular the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), which is run by the now-famous Dr. Anthony Fauci — saw U.S. tax dollars sent to EcoHealth Alliance for researching coronaviruses from bats flow out to the Chinese lab in Wuhan. Some of the money went to other labs around the world too, an NIH official confirmed...

AP: Intel Docs Claim China “Intentionally Concealed The Severity” Of Coronavirus To Hoard Supplies

China’s changes in imports and export behavior were not within normal range.

The Associated Press has obtained a US Department of Homeland Security intelligence report that concludes China covered up the extent of the coronavirus outbreak, including the fact that it was contagious in humans, in order to stock up on medical supplies and protection equipment before the rest of the world knew.

The four page report dated May 1, outlines how US officials believe China “intentionally concealed the severity” of the outbreak in January.

The report details how China downplayed the spread of the virus while increasing imports and decreasing exports of medical supplies.

China simultaneously denied that “there were export restrictions and obfuscating and delaying provision of its trade data,” the report states.

The document also contends that China intentionally delayed informing the World Health Organization that the coronavirus “was a contagion” for almost a month.

As we have documented, the WHO merely parroted China’s claims, until it was able to send a team to Wuhan on January 20th, whereupon a medical worker immediately told the organisation that the virus was contagious in humans. Even then, the WHO did not declare a pandemic until the 12th of March.

Throughout this time, China was ordering medical supplies from abroad, and its imports of face masks, surgical gowns and gloves increased sharply, according to the report.

The document concludes that there is a 95% probability that China’s changes in imports and export behavior were not within...

California Appeals Court Reinstates Ammunition Background Check Law

The state had one week of freedom.

A California appeals court reinstated one of the state’s unique gun control laws on Saturday, which required background checks for the purchase of ammunition.

U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez had overturned the law last week, which required state background checks for the purchase of ammunition. The laws are the only of their kind in the United States, and often result in law-abiding patriots being denied the opportunity to purchase ammo because of an overloaded and faulty state background check system.

The restriction was removed from place following Benitez’s ruling, but the one-week taste of limited freedom California gun owners enjoyed wasn’t to last. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals granted the state’s emergency motion to stay Benitez’s order, placing the convoluted ammunition laws back into effect.

The NRA had funded the court case to overturn the restrictions, and released a statement on the Circuit Court’s decision to keep the ammunition control law in place. “This means that the same restrictions that have been previously in effect regarding ammunition in California are back for the time being, pending further order from the court.”

When overturning the onerous restriction, Benitez had cited data that indicates the California background check system denies ammunition purchases to law abiding patriots up to...

Our Main Stream Media Of Course...

Sen. Cruz Seeks to Flip the SCRIPT on Hollywood’s Kowtowing to Chinese Censors

A bill proposed by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, that seeks to dissuade Hollywood studios from submitting their movies to the censorship of the People’s Republic of China seems to strike the right policy balance.

It would limit government interference in businesses decisions, but exposes an outrage that most Americans likely are unaware of.

The Stopping Censorship, Restoring Integrity, Protecting Talkies Act (SCRIPT Act) would cut off any assistance by the Department of Defense to those film studios that submit their films to Chinese censors.

That sensibly withdraws government money from studios engaging in an act that harms Americans, but stops short of giving directives to private businesses.

Cruz said he would introduce the legislation when the Senate returns from recess.

The act is timely. As we have seen again with the coronavirus crisis, China’s communist government is obsessed with its external image, in the current instance suppressing the fact that the virus originated in its city of Wuhan and maintaining a level of secrecy that helped the virus spread globally.

With regard to Hollywood, China uses the lure of a market of 1.3 billion potential moviegoers to force studios to comply.

While China’s box office take has been badly hit in 2020 with movie theaters closed, in 2019, box office revenues rose 5.4% to a record $9.2 billion, according to Variety.

Cruz said in a statement:

From buying media outlets to broadcast propaganda into America to coercing Hollywood studios and sports leagues to self-censor by threatening to cut off access to one of the biggest markets for sports and entertainment in the world, the Chinese Communist Party spends billions and billions of dollars to mislead Americans about China and shape what our citizens see, hear, and think.

All of these activities are part of China’s whole-of-state approach to amass more influence around the world through information warfare, and we need to put a stop to it.

For too long, Hollywood has been complicit in China’s censorship and propaganda in the name of bigger profits. The SCRIPT Act will serve as a wake-up call by forcing Hollywood studios to choose between the assistance they need from the American government and the dollars they want from China.

The Texas senator is right.

Hollywood studios have for years responded by kowtowing to the Chinese government’s demands, sending over scripts for approval or even having censors on the set. Even worse is when...

Hundreds of boaters were seen drifting through Palm Beach waterways in support of President Donald Trump Sunday afternoon.

The boat parade departed from Jupiter Inlet and traveled southbound to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort.

Chopper footage showed hundreds of boats of all sizes waving “Trump 2020” and American flags as they floated in unison supporting the president.

According to a Facebook event, the parade was organized to show “overwhelming support for our PRESIDENT TRUMP.” Thousands of people marked themselves as interested in the event, while more than 870 others said would be attending.

The parade caught Trump's attention and he expressed his gratitude in a tweet saying "I will never let you down!"

Thank you very much to our beautiful “boaters.” I will never let you down! pic.twitter.com/Ot5Ffnjj9G
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 3, 2020

Just ahead of the parade, boat ramps in Palm Beach County re-opened on Wednesday after being closed for weeks in effort to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Boat ramps in Miami-Dade and Broward counties also re-opened on Wednesday as state and local officials collaborate on plans to slowly restart the economy.

Strict social distancing guidelines remain in place as more public spaces begin to re-open across South Florida...